《Millennial Mage》


 Chapter 1: New Beginnings

    Chapter 1: New Beginnings


    Frost licked over Ts already sensitive skin, apanied by the static tension of power rippling through her from an outside source.


    With a pulse of darkness, she left her old life, her adolescence of learning and exploration, behind.


    She crouched low, in the center of arge, white-speckled, granite room. It was the shape of a half-sphere, each block sculpted and ced so precisely that had she not known better, shed have believed it was carved from a single piece.


    <em>Though, I suppose a Material Creator could have summoned the room into being, fully formed.</em> That was unlikely. If her schooling had taught her anything, it was that Magic was expensive; why would anyone do something with it, which could be done by hand?


    Beneath her were the empty grooves of a spell-form, an anchor used to draw a target in and rbine them.


    Everyone said teleportation was tricky, and that was true, in part. Disintegration and expulsion of a person was incredibly simple. Calling that person, and all their requisite pieces, back from the ether and putting it all back where it belonged, now that was tricky business.


    She shivered, as much from the fading cold as from the existentially terrifying thoughts. <em>A persons soul does most of the work, T. Its not like the scripts could get your insides wrong.</em>


    She nced down at her hands and saw fading red traces where her spell-lines should have been. She let out a short groan. <em>Well, that didnt work</em>


    Blessedly, she saw her own dark hair, roughly shoulders length, swaying in her peripheral vision. The inscribers at the academy shaved all the students'' heads to allow for the easier adding of spell-lines, but in her soul, how she viewed herself, T had hair. Thus, somehow, her rbination had returned it to her. <em>Now, I just have to find an inscriber capable of leaving it be.</em>


    <em> Huhmy skin is still raw.</em><em>Shouldnt it be as healed andplete as my hair?</em> She supposed that some things just didnt make sense.


    T heard several of the guards gasp as one voice stuttered out: Shesshes naked!


    Amanding voice cracked out. Go check her! If the teleportation acolytes at the academy managed to leave her clothes behind, who knows what else was forgotten.


    <em>Take charge of your life, T.</em> She sighed, standing fully upright, back straight.


    An uninscribed guard, a tall broad-shouldered and grizzled man, stepped back in surprise at the sudden movement.


    T looked around the room, ignoring the man. A waist high stone wall stood in a circle halfway between her and the smooth granite of the outer walls. It was broken only in one ce, allowing ess to the inner circle.


    Everyone, six guards and two Mages, was staring at her.


    One of the Mages, heavens bless him, was coloring so that the red was easily visible, even under his spell-lines. He was sparsely d, as befit an on-duty Mage, and he was, somehow, blushing nearly down to his navel.


    T cleared her throat, speaking softly, but letting her voice carry. Nothings for sale, gents, so please stop window shopping.


    Three of the guards turned away, blushing in turn. The two others grinned but averted their eyes. The one already in the circle with her huffed something near augh, but turned slightly away, keeping his eyes to himself.


    That poor mageling flushed even redder and turned, putting his face against the outer wall. The female Mage, likely his sponsor, rolled her eyes and walked forward with a nket taken from a pile, which rested on shelfden with supplies.


    She was practically naked herself, cloth covering as little as possible, while maintaining the semnce of modesty. Her lines were proudly on disy, their magic unhindered by covering. She was not young, but wrinkles had yet to render her inscribings faulty. Both Mages were fit, if not well muscled, as most Mages had to be. Changing size or shape would almost universally ruin your spell-lines, as well as forcing your inscriber to rebuild your spell-work from scratch. That was assuming the distortions didnt make such work impossible.


    Make no mistake, Mages, one and all, were vain creatures, but it wasnt their vanity which inspired scrupulous attention to their own bodies, so much as devotion to their art.


    The older Mage moved with practiced grace and fluidity, obviously aware of her every gesture, careful not to brush any of her lines against others. Such contact would usually be safe, but so would juggling knives; it was the unexpected that killed, and when spell-lines were involved, there was far more than a cut hand on the line.


    The older guard walked beside her as T strode to meet the Mage. If she had to guess, he had strategically ced himself between her and some of the other guards, blocking their view of her. <em>Thoughtful of him.</em>


    A furnace zed on the opposite side of the room, and its heat was slowly taking the teleportation chill from her. <em>Quickly, now. Dont let them see how embarrassed you are.</em> She found herself blessing the chill, which had kept the flush from the surface.


    As the Mage drew close, she lowered her tone to keep it from carrying. The chill does many things, dear, but it doesnt hide <em>every</em> sign of your embarrassment, at least not from those who know to look. She draped the nket over Ts shoulders. Now, how did you arrive in such a state? She frowned. Why does it look like someone put you through a sand-ster? Youve raw, new skin across your whole body.


    T gave a formal half bow, clutching the nket close, while trying to affect a nonchnce that she did not feel. Though it was soft, the nket still chaffed lightly on her skin. The raw-ness had little to do with the und teleport, though it was still her own doing. Im T, Mistress, newly graduated from the Academy.


    Yes, dear. You may call me Phoen. You have not answered my questions.


    T cleared her throat, ncing away. Well, you see, Mistress Phoen. Our current teleportation spells strip away spell-lines, and wont take any gear, save the clothes on your back.


    Hmmm?


    In studying the form, it looked like it might be some factor of mass, beyond the organic being teleported, that is why at least a modicum of clothing alwayses. Metal onlyes if the person was wearing armor, and then not very much of it.


    Phoen sighed. So, you thought to, what? Modify the spell somehow? Child, you are lucky you didnt scatter yourself across half of inner-sr space!


    Ts eyes widened. Oh, no! Absolutely not!


    Phoen narrowed her eyes. Then, what?


    I guessed that, without clothes to teleport, other material would be brought along. She held up her hands. The red marks were already faded into bare visibility. But I missed something.


    wait


    Hmmm?


    Do you mean to tell me that you went <em>into</em> the teleportation circlenaked?


    T cleared her throat and looked away. As she did so, she was able to see two guards using heavy metal tongs to move a crucible from the furnace to the short wall. They then poured the contents, liquid silver, down a funnel set into that stone.


    She knew the forms needed for this spell-form well. <em>Precisely two pounds of silver.</em>


    The metal flowed out of a spout low in the wall and washed through the grooved lines of the spell form, which was set into the floor.


    She didnt know what preparations had beenid into the stone to ensure the silver would always distribute evenly and cleanly. She hadnt studied the Builder Arts, after all. Nheless, the Mages work was wless, and the spell-form was filled once more, allowing the silver to cool evenly, creating strong, solid spell-lines.


    T had found variations of this catching spell that used abination of metals, thus making them much more efficient from the perspective of materials, but the difficulty in casting intecing liquids quickly meant that the uniform version was vastly easier to use, and thus the most pervasive.


    Phoen sighed. Mact!


    The young mageling jumped, turning around. Mistress?


    The spell-lines are reset. Take your ce.


    Yes, Mistress! He scurried around the women and went to sit in the center of the spell-lines, a hand resting within hand sized outlines to either side of him. He sat straight, his core tight, his limbs carefully aligned. He took a deep breath and exhaled.


    T felt the power ripple out from the boy, activating and resetting this teleportation receiver.


    Without dy, Mact stood and returned to his Mistress.


    Well done, Mact.


    Thank you. He smiled happily, almost to himself.


    Now, girl. You are beginning to tire me.


    T sighed. Yes, I went into the circle naked. Yes, I was lectured by the Mages on the other end about the folly of it. Yes, I know that teleportation magic isnt intended to work on naked subjects. She pulled the nket closer together in front, and the top billowed out slightly, causing it to fall from her shoulders, exposing her back.


    The grizzled guard let out a little startled exhtion, then started tough.


    T spun on him. Whats so funny?


    Phoen let out a simr sound and barked augh of her own.


    T turned back. Mistress Phoen?


    You seem to be cleverer than Id thought. After a moments pause, she amended. Or, your cleverness bore more fruit than wed guessed.


    T frowned. Then, her eyes widened in realization. My keystone?


    Yes, your keystone looks intact. Come, Ill examine it.


    T thanked the guard and followed Phoen from the room.


    Mact tried to follow, but Phoen sent him back with several stern words.


    Less than two minutester, T was sitting in a small side room, nket covering herself strategically, while leaving her back exposed. She was naturally straight backed, her feet t on the floor, knees bent at as close to right angles as the seat allowed, as shed been trained.


    Phoen took nearly five minutes examining the spell-lines in excruciating detail. Child, what type of mage are you?


    Immaterial Guide, Mistress.


    She grunted. That exins it. Im a Material Creator. None of these mean a thing to me. Though, they do look intact. Youll need an inscriber to look these over. She sighed. Fresh from the academy, right?


    Yes.


    If youre here, I assume youve signed a contract with the Caravanners, or maybe the Constructionists or Wainwrights? Though, I didnt think thetter two took on magelings, here


    T grinned. Not yet.


    Phoen blinked at her, cocked her head to one side and then, sighed. Oh, child.


    What? Its thew.


    <em>If</em> that Inscribing is still viable, you have a case, but they may not be happy about it. They might just turn you away.


    I T hadnt thought of that. Magelings got such poor pay, until they could buy some spell-lines themselves. In addition, they had to operate under a full Mage, bound to obey them, subject to their schedule and whims. Once the mageling had scraped together enough to afford their own spell-lines, though, they were a Mage, and it wasmonw that a Magemanded a much higher sry. Shed not considered that, given a choice of paying her a high sry or not hiring her, they might simply not hire her. She cursed.


    Phoen quirked a small smile. You must have been a joy to your teachers.


    T bristled. My teachers loved me. After a moment, she amended. Most of them, anyways.


    Phoen just grinned.


    Well, what can I do?


    You have to decide whether or not to gamble. Dont tell them you have inscribing until after the contract is signed, and ept the lower wage; or tell them, and possibly lose any chance at work. No one else is hiring those of your quadrant in this citythat I know of. She smiled ruefully. If you were a Material Creator, Id throw you out on your ear for hubris. Even so, her eyes twinkled. But not everyones as crotchety as I. Perhaps, youll be lucky.


    T frowned. So, Im naked, likely for nothinglovely.


    Phoen opened her mouth toment, but T held up a hand.


    Please I know Im asking for it, but please dont.


    Phoen patted her on the shoulder. Ill get you some clothes, dear. I have a friend whos an inscriber, she should be able to verify your spell-lines. Then, you can make your own choice.


    Thank youfor everything.


    * * *


    Half an hourter, T was dressed in surprisingly soft, simple clothes, and heading out of the great doors, several floors below the teleportation receiving areas.


    She wore no shoes for two reasons: First, shoes are expensive and should be custom made to be more help than harm. Second, some Mages preferred going barefoot, and in this, Ts oddities were no exception.


    Phoens inscriber had verified that Ts keystone spell-lines were intact and functional. Blessedly, the trickiest portion of her inscribing had been maintained.


    While most spell-lines were scripted thin, to avoid interference, the keystone was always made as robust as possible. As a result, the keystone only had to be refreshed every year or so, with normal casting. Heavy casters still only had to have that work redone every six months, at the most often.


    In contrast, the anciry spell-lines could be used up in days, or faster with heavy casting. Even standard amounts of magical work forced many inscribings to be refreshed every couple of weeks.


    As a result, the work and materials required for the keystone were tremendous. In general, Mages spent as much on the once or twice a year keystone work, as on all the anciry inscribing for the rest of the year,bined. In many cases, the keystone work could cost as much as two years of anciry lines.


    <em>Ahh, math. How I hate how much I need thee.</em>


    She paused before exiting the tower fully, taking a moment to admire the craftsmanship of the arch and doors that stood open, allowing entrance into the teleportation tower. <em>Magic rarely makes beauty.</em> And the beauty of this work spoke of humanbor.


    T shook her head. <em>I cant imagine striving to add embellishments to buildings that wontst even four centuries.</em> Even so, she enjoyed them. She idly wondered how many passersby had already gained a measure of pleasure for the borations. <em>Maybe, thats enough.</em>


    Turning her gaze outward, she looked out on Bandfast for the first time.


    The sky above the city was the deep blue of a clear autumn day, with a scattering of thin, high clouds. She loved such days, such skies.


    Below the clear blue beauty, she could easily see sixyers of the citys defenses, from this high vantage. All but the outermost were still in ce, making the burgeoning nature of the city even more apparent. <em>Its in the farming phase.</em>


    Indeed, the city''s outermost active defenses epassed vast tracts of farnd. Those defensive scripts were enormously taxing and would onlyst for the first hundred and fifty years of a citys life. By the growth on thend, the city was close to halfway between leaving the first and entering the third phase.


    The only ring beyond the farnd were the mines, but those would have been abandoned in this second phase city, their defenses already depleted.


    When the farnds defenses faltered, the workers would move inward to the foundries, ore processing nts, and raw-goods'' refineries of the third ring.


    Inside of that, were factories, workshops, and artisan shops, which stood ready within the nextyer of defenses.


    The nextyer contained the clerks and organizers of the city.


    Inside that, the finalyer of defenses held the homes and services like the teleportation tower.


    The fifth phase of every city simply allowed for the buttoning up of all loose ends, and the sixth kept those remaining peoplefortable as they prepared to leave and then left. Shed heard mention of other tasks and opportunities surrounding the final years of a waning city but had never delved too deeply. As a new Mage, she knew better than to consider work for the Harvesters Guild, at least for now.


    One hundred years of mining, an additional fifty years of farming, fifty more of refining, fifty of manufacturing, then twenty-five years each of closing down and departing.


    300 years: The lifespan of a city, with only thest 25 years of waning toment the end.


    All of this to keep humanity safe.


    As if on cue, she felt a thrum of power and saw ance of lightning strike from one of the outermost towers into the sky. The piercing scream of an eagle split the air, despite the great distance, and she was able to see the great beast spiraling downward to crash into some poor farmers field. <em>Not too poor. </em>Thatrge corpse would bring substantial payment to the one who had lucked into receiving it. <em>Assuming it didnt drop on their heads.</em>


    She sighed, contemting the in creature. <em>I have not missed that.</em> The Academy, for some inexplicable reason, did not have to deal with arcanous or magical beasts. <em>Yet more unknowns.</em>


    T shook her head,ing back from her revery. <em>This city still has at least a hundred and fifty years. </em>Probably closer to two hundred, if she had to guess. She would be long dead before it was fully abandoned. <em>Unless I go back to the academy</em>


    For reasons that no one had been able to exin to her, the longer someone stayed at the academy, the slower they aged, but also the weaker their abilities with magic became. Finally, after endless pestering, T had determined that even the faculty had no idea why it worked as it did.


    She smiled to herself, realizing that shed fallen back into musings. <em>To the Caravanners main office.</em> That would be in the ring one out from where she stood, with the other bureaucratic and Guild offices.


    The inscribers would be here, in the innermost ring, and she itched to have her spell-lines refreshed, but shecked the funds to pay for such services. Like most students, she left the academy not with ounts bursting, but indebted to the institution for her training. She, herself, hadother debts, as well.


    <em>Im dying again.</em>


    With no further introspections, she strode through the archway and down the front steps, allowing herself to enjoy the artistry of the carvings as she passed.


    The streets were busy, but nowhere near capacity. After all, this section contained the housing for nearly the citys entire poption, as well as several of the smaller market areas, and had been built ordingly. The majority of the poption would be about their work, mostly farming given the citys phase.


    Even so, the streets were far from empty.


    Severalrge arcanous animals trudged through the streets, led by handlers. There were oxen, whose shoulders stood twice her height; horses, both massive and diminutive, pulling loads that seemedically overge for them; and even several clearly arcanous pets padding alongside their owners. In every case, a simple scripted cor enclosed the arcanous animals neck, denoting them as tamed or domesticated, and exempting them from the citys defensive magics.


    Thankfully, Mages didnt need to wear any such thing as human magic seemed to function differently enough that wards could differentiate.


    As her eyes scanned those she passed, she was able to pick out the asional Mage by their bearing and fluid manner of movement, not to mention the spell-lines evident across their exposed skin. Most also wore Mages robes, but not all.


    To her surprise, she also saw an arcane, a humanoid arcanous creature.


    What had caught her attention at first was the leather cor he wore, though it was tucked low, almost entirely hidden by his shirts cor. As shed looked closer, ensuring that her eyes hadnt deceived her and that it wasnt just an odd fashion choice, hed turned to regard her. She hadnt noticed his gaze until after shed seen the metallic spell-lines on the leather cor.


    When she had felt his gaze, her eyes flicked up, meeting his, and she felt frozen to the spot.


    His eyes were blood.


    Noparison held the weight of truth save to say that his eyes were spheres of fresh, liquid blood, unbroken save small circr scabs in ce of pupils.


    T swallowed involuntarily. <em>Hes looking at me.</em> She tried to smile politely and turn away, but she found she couldnt force herself to turn.


    Around his eyes, true-ck, smooth skin forced the orbs into starker contrast, making their deep shades seem almost to glow. Subtle hints of grey lines ran under that skin in patterns very like spell-lines but somehow utterly different, like seeing her ownnguage written with phic alphabet. The concepts seemed familiar, while remaining utterly opaque to her interpretation.


    She tried to turn away, again, and actually felt resistance, like she was fighting herself. A tingle of her own power, emanating from her keystone, proceeded the answer: <em>Allure. Hes somehow manipting the conceptual nature of reality, forcing my attention to remain locked on him.</em>


    As an Immaterial Mage, she could work with non-substance aspects of the world, such as gravity, dimensionality, and molecr cohesion, but warping the magnitude of <em>concepts</em>? Thatthat had disturbing implications.


    As if in response to her thoughts, a different set of lines seemed to flicker into prominence around those wounding eyes, and she found herself turning away in confusion. <em>What is wrong with me? I stare at something Ive never seen before and suddenly insist that it must be Magic?</em>


    She shook her head at her own foolishness. Then, another prickle rippled out from her keystone, a subtle warning, and she froze. <em>Conceptual maniptionwould the concept of believability count?</em> She spun, her eyes ripping across the crowds, trying desperately to find the arcane once more. She had the flickering impression of an amused smile, but nothing more.


    After another few moments of frenzied searching, she was left with a subtle, low-level itch from her keystone and the growing concern that shed somehow imagined the brief encounter. <em>II need to get to the Caravanners Guild.</em>


    Why had she allowed herself to get lost in her own musings, once more?


    T huffed. <em>Im never going to get anywhere if I dont get going.</em>


    Without a backward nce, she passed through tremendous gates, the southernmost of eight sets to breach the gargantuan innermost walls.


    Those walls were also carved with beautiful, intriguing reliefs, showing the Builders attention to detail. <em>When building a cage, make it a pretty one.</em>


    She sighed, pushing those thoughts away, along with her others. <em>A cage with doors flung wide hardly counts.</em> At least, thats what she wanted herself to believe; what she needed to believe if she were going to maintain her own sanity. <em>Human cities are to keep violence out, not humans in.</em> She did <em>not </em>contemte that the results were virtually indistinguishable.


    She strode purposely onward, now, and though she had to ask for directions twice, it took her less than an hour to find the building that she sought. When she did, she hesitated: standing across the street and observing the flow of traffic in and out of the building, itself.


    <em>This is it, T. You need to decide. Will you take the easy way? Or risk it all.</em> Sheughed. It was hardly a risk. Even if no one would hire her, the Academy wanted her to pay them back, plus she had her parents debts, which had led to her sale into the Academys tutge. No, they wouldnt let her stay unemployed, though who knew what pittance theyd give her if they were forced to find employment on her behalf


    <em> Not helping, T.</em>


    She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. <em>Now or never.</em>


    Without further dy, she strode through the wide, double doors.

 Chapter 2: The Caravanner’s Guild

    Chapter 2: The Caravanner¡¯s Guild


    T took a deep breath as her feet carried her through the front door of the Caravanners main office.


    The doors were simple, if wide, and they stood open, allowing for easy foot-traffic in and out, of which there was a steady flow. The arch which held the doors was easily wide enough for four people- five of T''s size -toe through shoulder to shoulder, with a bit of room to spare.


    The room she entered was a wide receiving hall, with clerks working in alcoves around the outside, as well as some more senior workers moving through the shifting groups of their prospective clients.


    Here, almost every business was represented.


    Restaurants negotiated food shipments either for more specialized crops not grown within this city or beginning to establish contracts for when the citys farming phase ended; artisans simrly negotiated for materials and to ship their goods to other cities; and countless others sought or negotiated simr services.


    The Caravanners also carried mail from city to city, along with other goods, and they did a brisk trade in that respect.


    In truth, this guild was one of the pirs of human civilization. They were unique in the quantity and regrity of their ventures through the arcanous wilds. Only the Builders dealt with beasts more often than the Caravanners, and they didnt do trips <em>through</em> the wilds so much as they fielded vast, long-term expeditions out <em>into</em> them, building the continuous wave of cities. Well, there was the Harvesters Guild, but their goal was ying beasts and taking from them, so it was hardly a fairparison.


    She returned her mind to her present time and ce. <em>There is power within these walls.</em> She felt a growing sense of excitement at the prospect of working for such an important group.


    She had barely taken five steps through the door before she was noticed by a clerk with copper and silver spell-lines covering her face, clearly focused around her eyes. You! Mage. Can I help you?


    T smiled and strode over to the young woman, where she waited behind a high counter. The clerk was not wearing Mages robes, opting instead for a simple, if elegant, single piece dress. It allowed her freedom of movement, without being a distraction for those she worked with. She had long, dark-blonde hair, pulled into a loose braid. T almost frowned at that. <em>Im seeing a lot of inscribed with hair. Is there something different about the inscribers in this city?</em> Now was hardly the time for that line of thinking, however. T smiled. Yes, I am looking for work. If T had to guess, the clerk was only a few years older than she, herself.


    The woman nodded. Id hoped so. May I? She tapped the scribing around her eyes


    <em>Be decisive. </em>T nodded once.


    The clerk blinked, seemingly with specific intent, and her spell-lines pulsed with power.


    As before, Ts keystone let her know that she was in close proximity to, or the target of, magic, but the feeling wasnt unpleasant. <em>A simple inspection.</em>


    <em>As before?</em> She had the stuttering impression of blood and darkness but couldnt pull a coherent memory together. <em>Must have been a bad dream.</em> She dismissed the fractured recollection without further thought.


    To Ts unenhanced eyes, the effect on the clerks face looked very simr to a heat-haze, though with a little more light to it. Even that indication was a vast improvement to what T had seen before her time at the Academy. <em>My body is limating to magic detection.</em>


    Her instructors had said that, in time, she wouldnt need to continue getting inscribings for the mage-sight at all. Her body would learn how to see the signs for itself, and her mind would interpret the input in ways that mimicked the spell-line granted vision.


    It was, in truth, another thing those teachers didnt truly understand, but they likened it to a skilled merchant learning to know weights and measures without need of a scale, over time. He could simply pick up a sack and know the weight of its contents. No magic involved.


    T had always been skeptical, but it seems she might have been wrong, again. The tell-tale signs <em>were</em> there. <em>It would be nice to forgo that expense</em> Mage-sight was so often used that the inscribings around Mages eyes were almost always the most often refreshed.


    She was letting her mind wander, again. She focused back on the clerk, just as the woman nodded, and blinked again, deactivating her mage-sight.


    Yes, you will do nicely, Mage. Indications suggest an intact keystone. She smiled widely. You must have had quite the run of bad luck to sopletely deplete the rest of your scribing, I cant detect even a ripple from anything <em>except</em> your keystone.


    Tughed, nervously. Yeah, well. Im alive, and here, so She smiled, trying to put forward confidence. <em>So much for being able to decide whether or not to be considered a Mage</em> She hadnt considered a mage-sight inspection this early in the process. <em>More the fool, me.</em>


    The clerk waved a hand. I dont need the details. You are an Immaterial Guide, yes?


    Yes T cleared her throat. I apologize, but I didnt catch your name.


    Oh! How silly of me: You may call me Lyn Clerkson.


    Mistress Lyn, a pleasure to meet you. Im T.


    T?


    No family name.


    Mistress T, then. Lyn smiled.


    T extended her hand.


    Lyn shook it happily. As she did so, her sleeve pulled up and T was able to get a better look at the extensive spell-lines twinging about the Lyns forearm, wrist, and hand. <em>So, a full Mage?</em> Or, she was just more heavily inscribed than the non-Mages T was used to.


    Are all the clerks here Mages?


    Oh, no. Im one of the Senior Exchequers, here. Specifically, Im in charge of recruiting and handling of new recruits. She made a motion with her arms that mimed excitement. Yay! Right? Im d I was here when you wandered in.


    T blinked at Lyn several times, trying to figure out what to make of the girl. Yeah. I suppose Im d too.


    So, have you ever empowered bigger boxes?


    She blinked several times, trying to make sense of the question. What?


    Apologies. Thats how I always think of them. I mean have you ever empowered spatial ergement scripts? Not many Mages have, outside the Caravanners Guild, but I figure its good to ask.


    Oh! You mean expanding the avable space within a given container?


    Lyn brightened. Yes! Do you have experience?


    Some, but not on anyrge scale. The idea had fascinated T enough that shed pestered a teacher into giving her extra lessons and materials on the subject. Even so, shed only empowered the spell-lines involved a few times.


    Lyns smile grew, genuine excitement evident in the expression. Oh, thats just wonderful! Teaching new mages how to twist their mind just so can be atime consuming process.


    T nodded in acknowledgement. Yeah, it took me nearly a month before I was able to get past the mental blocks.


    Lynughed, and her tone took on that of someone quoting an oft heard refrain. If you dont believe its possible, it isnt.


    T smiled in return. <em>I just might like working with you, Lyn.</em>


    But only a month? That is quite quick! She paused, then cleared her throat. You dont have to answer this, but I have a pet theory Id like to test.


    T tilted her head, curious herself. Oh?


    Did you have any background in physics or geometry before your first attempt?


    Sheughed. No! And having spatial distortion theory in my head definitely made those harder to tackle.


    A small, knowingly contented smile tugged at Lyns lips. Id thought so! It always seems that the more ignorant Mages are able to master more obscure aspects faster. She paled, her smile faltering. I am so sorry! I didnt mean-


    T held up a hand, grinning. No harm meant; no harm done. I <em>was</em> ignorant.


    Lyn cleared her throat. Even so. I apologize. She took a deep breath and let it out quickly. Now, then. We really should get to business. Are you looking for work on your way to a particr city, work within this city, or were you hoping for a longer-term contract?


    T grin slipped back to a casual smile. Her research had not been in vain. <em>Once Ive enough to fund my own inscribing, I can just do piece work to get between cities.</em> That would leave her free to do as she pleased<em>Once my debts are paid off</em> Her smile weakened, just slightly.


    Longer term is better paid, and we do offer signing bonuses for certain contracts, and an Immaterial Guide with spatial distortion experience is definitely in that wagon! After a brief pause, she added. At least for certain contract lengths.


    What is the shortest contract with a signing bonus?


    Hmmm Let me see. She pulled out a stone te and began manipting the text on the surface, seemingly flipping through magically stored pages. It looks like, for your quadrant, we can offer a contract of one year, or ten trips, whichever ispleted sooner. You are obligated to take a minimum of one trip every other month, including within a week of first signing.


    And the rate?


    4oz per trip, and the signing bonus is 4oz.


    T deted. 1oz of silver would buy a good meal, but not much more than that. That was lower than an average workers day-wage, and she doubted the trips only took a day. <em>How do people survive on so little? </em>How often could I take trips? Is there a minimum waiting time?


    Lyn blinked, seemingly confused at Ts dour tone. Nobut even the shortest trips take nearly a week, and most Mages like to have time to spend their earnings in whichever city they arrive in. That, on top of getting re-inscribed, and allowing any change to the scribings to set Ive known very few to make a trip every month. She wobbled her head slightly, seeming to hedge. Well, excepting those who do out and back work. Those tend to do two trip blocks, then take longer breaks in between.


    Time to spend She was frowning.


    Lyn opened her mouth in an understanding Oh! Apologies, again, Mistress T. 4oz <em>gold.</em>


    T found herself frozen in surprise. <em>4ozgold.</em> An ounce of gold was 100 times as valuable as one of silver. <em>Yeah, a month to rx after each trip would be quite nice.</em> That, and her debt to the academy, on top of her parents debt<em>Now, also mine</em> was 487oz gold; 20oz, silver. <em>One hundred</em><em>twenty-two trips. Ten years.</em> Shed been expecting the debt to follow her for her entire life, unless she found alternate means of paying it off. <em>I can make ten years work. </em>Though, she wasnt ounting for expenses.


    Lyn quirked a questioning smile. You havent done much contract work, have you. You dont seem to have a good idea of your value.


    Clearly not. No one had been willing to give her solid data.


    Well, that is our fault. If we advertised better, maybe wed have gotten you in here, sooner! Her smile firmed up. And I can assure you, with as well traveled as youll be after even a short contract, we wouldnt dream of underpaying you. Wed never hold onto Mages if we tried that. She gave a little chuckle.


    T nodded distractedly, not really hearing Lyns continued dialogue. Maybe Is there a slightly longer contract avable? Could I negotiate better rates for two years or twenty trips? A higher signing bonus? Oh! And after the contracted trips, what is the piece job rate, going one way?


    All great questions. If you arent on a contract, and we have a caravan in need of a mage of your type, your rate would be 3.5oz gold, though that can vary slightly trip to trip. For a three-year, 20 trip contract, the best I can offer is a trip rate of 4.5oz, with a one trip value signing bonus.


    <em>94.5oz of gold</em> T was speechless. Even with her inscribings, that should cover over a sixth of her debt, with some to spare. She <em>thought</em> she had a good guess of how much her spell-lines would cost. She hesitated.


    Lyns smile grew. It wont increase the signing bonus beyond 4.5oz, but if you sign a 5 year, or 30 trip, contract, I can give you 5oz per trip. You wont be as free to choose your destinations, as those rates are a bit too much except on more lucrative runs.


    What about frequency?


    There are <em>many</em> of those leaving every week, but they tend to be a bit longer, closer to two weeks on average. She hesitated. I should be clear, even at the lower rates, the trips will range from one to four weeks. You could always choose the shorter trips, but that is frowned upon, as you can imagine. We try to give as much freedom as possible, but we dont like to see that abused.


    T nodded. <em>Five years.</em> She hesitated. <em>No, 30 trips. Each around two weeks</em> She could fulfill her contract in less than half the prescribed time. <em>Just about 30% of my debt gone in a year and a half, in one contract? Thats a great start, T</em>. She grinned. Im interested in a 30-trip contract, but lets talk terms. What all is provided on the trips? Do I need to bring my own supplies, shelter, gear? What expenses should I expect to bear and what anciry support will the Guild be providing?


    Lyns smile turned slightly predatory. Lets see what we can work out.


    * * *


    Nearly two hourster, Lyn and T sat across from each other infortable chairs, sequestered in a back room of the Caravanners headquarters.


    Empty mugs of tea stood on the table between them, alongside a contract.


    Here. Lyn turned the scripted stone tablet around, passing it back to T. I think this represents everything weve agreed to.


    The text was not written on the stone, though it seemed to be. The words were manifest there from the contract archive, and once T willingly put a drop of her blood to the te, with the intent to confirm the agreement, it would be logged as officially binding. Lyn had already ced her own blood in one corner, using a small, sharp protrusion on the tablet, in ce for that purpose.


    T scanned the document quickly. It outlined a statement of her own qualifications; those that were verified within the system, such as her certification as a Mage, were highlighted, while those based on her word were set apart. The wording, and the magic in the contract, would annul any obligation from the Caravanners Guild if she had been false. Indeed, there were steep penalties if that were to be the case. Thankfully, shed avoided any falsehoods.


    Beyond her own merit, the agreed-to payments were outlined, along with other restrictions and benefits.


    She was required to have a certain level of preparedness before epting an assignment, as well as to modify her preparations to meet any specific requirements for the given trip. She would additionally be granted food and shelter for the duration of any voyage. She had forgone the standard offerings of an attached servant, to manage the day-to-day responsibilities, and a private wagon for her personal residence while outside city walls. Instead, she negotiated for a greater pay, if less convenience.


    Thus, the agreed to per-trip payment, as well as her advance, had been raised to 5.5oz gold, and she would not be limited to the high value or longer missions. Apparently, most Mages expected a luxuriously appointed carriage and highly skilled servant, and T had gotten Lyn to admit that those items easily cost the Guild upwards of 1.5oz gold, per trip. Thus, T was offering them a bargain.


    Everything on the contract was, indeed, as theyd agreed, and it was written with in, easy-to-understandnguage, as Common Law demanded.


    T pricked her finger on the sharp nub, and it retracted immediately after.


    With an effort of will, she allowed her gate to open, and magic flickered through her body, infusing her blood just as she touched the cool stone. The drop of blood that had been building on her finger vanished into the stone, and the tablet turned a pleasant, emerald green, denoting full confirmation.


    Without an inscribing to release its power, the magic still flowing through her left T with a nervous energy. She wanted to get up and run. Her keystone didnt help as it wasnt meant to use up excess power.


    Lyn had been watching the contract, and when she noted the change to green, she smiled. Your consent, as well as your words, have been epted. She looked up at T. Wee! Her smile spread with genuine enthusiasm. Im so d that you came to us. She tilted her head, seeming to consider for a moment. Do you have an inscriber in the city, yet?


    T thought about Phoens friend, but she didnt really know them well, so she shook her head. No.


    Lyns smile seemed to settle into one of satisfaction. I figured not. Now, no self-respecting inscriber would dare get handsy with a Mage of <em>our</em> guild, but I know of one whos better than average.


    Thadnt thought of the issue of finding an inscriber herself. She nodded gratefully. Thank you. Are they your inscriber?


    She is, yes. Lyn nodded. Though its one of her apprentices that does the work on me, directly. Shell have closed up for the evening, but I know where she likes to grab dinner. We can join her, if youd like, and if you two get on, you can have your spell-lines inscribed, tomorrow.


    Ts eyes flicked to Lyns hair. Though it was held up in a utilitarian style, it was clearly quite long. Even so, T thought she saw hints of spell-lines among the roots, confirming her suspicion that something was different about this citys inscribers. A smile tugged at her lips. That sounds like a great n. She hesitated, her smile faltering, but after a moments indecision, she decided to push forward. When would I get my advance?


    Lyns smile shifted, again, bing a knowing smirk. We can grab it for you on the way out. Im off anyways.


    Oh! I held you up?


    Lyn waved away the concern. Not really. I always have to finish up my work, regardless of the time. Today? Getting this contract worked out was the priority. She stood, smoothing out her simple dress.


    For the most part, Mages robes had quick release ties so that the Mage could shed the garment with speed. Most Mages expressed their power from many locations, so cloth coverings added difficulty and expense when the spells breached the cloth to escape.


    There was also the danger, in more restrictive clothing, that a garment could pull the skin in an unexpected manner, altering a Mages spell-lines in unexpected or dangerous ways. The result was that most Mages wore as little as they could manage while casting and covered themselves with Mages robes in between such workings.


    Twell, she ascribed to a different philosophy of casting. She ensured that the manifestations of all outward expressions of power originated from her hands. It was a weakness, if she were ever truly hampered, but shed seen that as an eptable tradeoff.


    Lyns own choice of a simple dress spoke volumes about her life, as well as her work as a Mage. She did not expect, or have need, for quick,plicated castings, nor did she seem to have any concern about having to remain mobile. In short, she led a safe life.


    T?


    Hmm?


    Lyn was standing, half turned away, seeming to be waiting. Are youing?


    Oh! T stood in a rush. Shed allowed her mind to wander, again. Yes. Lets go.


    T followed as Lyn led her through the now mostly empty main hall of the Guild. They came to a small counter, tucked into a back corner, where an unlined clerk asked T for a drop of blood.


    The clerk confirmed her contract, and that money was owed. He frowned when he saw the amount, and Lyn was forced to take him aside for a quick, quiet conversation. Apparently, no one had received a signing bonus as high as Ts during his time working this station.


    Finally, he was satisfied, and he presented T with a small pouch of coins. She counted it, at his prompting, and when she had verified the amount, he marked her as having been paid. Thatplete, he hesitated. I know it isnt my ce, but may I offer a word of advice?


    T had already begun to turn away but hesitated at his question. Ummsure? Im happy to learn, where I can. As she responded, shed turned back towards the middle-aged man.


    Always count your pay. No one <em>should</em> ever try to short you, but mistakes happen, and after you confirm receipt, even the best-intentioned pay-clerks cant give you more.


    She contemted that for a long moment, then nodded. I see.


    He quirked a smile. If anyone gives you grief for counting, it is reasonable for you to remind them that you are giving your word that you received the full amount. The only honorable thing for you to do is check before so swearing.


    She smiled in turn. Clever. Ill remember that. Thank you.


    He gave a small bow. Wee to the guild, Mistress T.


    She gave a nod in return. Thank you. She hesitated. Im sorry, I didnt catch your name.


    He blinked at her a few times, then looked down to his tunic.


    T followed his gaze, then flushed. A small wooden card was affixed on the left side of his tunics chest, his name clearly written out in white lettering.


    He cleared his throat. You can call me Gram.


    GramA pleasure to meet you.


    He quirked another smile. And you, Mistress T.


    Lyn let out a smallugh, leading T away, across the hall and out the doors.

 Chapter 3: Dinner

    Chapter 3: Dinner


    The sun was setting as T and Lyn walked the city streets, towards food and introductions.


    T had theforting weight of money in a pouch at her belt, while still retaining the hesitancy of the recently destitute. This money would have to provide for her until her first trip, as well as outfit her for that venture. She still had no idea exactly what that entailed.


    Thankfully, Lyn was leading them purposefully towards their goal, so T wasnt dyed or sidetracked by her many musings.<em> I really do need to focus on my surroundings more</em> In school, her introspections had kept her away from too much notice and allowed her to skirt the attention of many who might otherwise have called upon her or used conflict with her to elevate their own positions. Out in the real world? It was likely to get her killed.


    As if to highlight the veryck of awareness she was contemting, T was suddenly led from the busy, if rtively quiet, main streets into a crowded courtyard, filled with people, tables, and portable kitchens.


    Mature trees stood, pleasingly distributed throughout the space. She noticed several braziers as well, though they were unlit since it was a warmer autumn evening. Ceramic tes, magically altered to release gathered sunlight in an even glow, provided afortable, if not bright, illumination.


    There were people at every table, but no table was truly full. While the seating was biased towards the center of the space, the food-carts, for thats what the cart-bound kitchens were, encircled the lot, doing brisk business.


    Many passersby ducked into the area to buy food before continuing on their way, but some stayed, grabbing a seat as others vacated it, creating a slowly rotating, constant group of people.


    It reminded T of the Academys dining hall, if the people had been excited to be there and the food had ever smelled this <em>good.</em>


    She inhaled deeply, instantly imprisoned by the rapture of sulent smells.


    She couldnt distinguish the smell of any one dish, or even one stall, among the milieu, but thebination was a joy and a half.


    Lyn was staring at her again. Are you ok? You look like a starving dog presented with a steak.


    T grinned. It has been <em>far</em> too long, since Ive had a meal that smelled this good.


    Lyn quirked an eyebrow. You still havent.


    Ts grin broadened. What do you rmend?


    They made their way over to a particrly overburdened cart, lorded over by arge, but not truly rotund, woman. Mistress Lyn! Good to see you? The woman came around to the front of her cart to enfold the much smaller Lyn. And who is this waif you bring to my kitchen?


    Her reply came out muffled. This is Mistress T. Shes new to the city. As Lyn was released, she turned towards T. Mistress T, this is Gretel.


    T began to bow. It is a pleasure to meet you, Gret- But, she was cut off as Gretel scooped her up in an overpowering embrace.


    Wee, child. She turned, and picked up a meat pie, thrusting it at T.


    T took it, marveling at how thick and sturdy the crust felt. Not a drop of filling was evident on the outside, as she took the proffered food. Oh! Ah What do I owe you for this?


    Gretelughed. Girl, that ones on me. If you arentpelled to buy more after you eat it, well, thats my fault for making them too resistible. She winked.


    T smiled and took a bite.


    There were no words for the culinary delight, which the pie epassed. It was a light, cream, vegetable, and poultry mixture, with <em>exactly</em> the right blend and ratio of spices.


    Gretel served several other customers, while T devoured her own acquisition.


    When she was, once again, up in the queue, T sang her praises of the offering.


    I like this one, Mistress Lyn. Will she be about for long?


    I hope she will be, at least every so often.


    T nodded her assent. I can promise Ill be back. How much for another?


    5 copper.


    5oz copper.<em> So cheap? How?</em> How? These are amazing!


    Gretel smiled in response. My customers usually get five or six. She gestured to the other carts in the area. We try to make our portions small, so that our patrons can enjoy arge variety. She leaned in close, as if sharing a secret. But, tell you the truth, most who try mine just fill up right here. She straightened and winked again.


    Mistress Lyn, can I buy you a few?


    Oh! Sure? That really isnt necessary, Mistress T.


    She waved away the objection. Nonsense. Ill take ten. She dug around in her money pouch, before pulling out a 1oz silver coin. Can you make change?


    Easily. Gretel took the silver, verifying the weight, and returned four much smaller silver coins, a tenth of an ounce each, and ten 1oz coppers. So, you can easily try some of the other stall, if youd like. I cant hog all the good customers, now, can I? She winked yet again.


    After tucking the coins away, T gave a slight bow. Thank you.


    Gretel handed over the ten small pies on a wooden tter. Mistress Lyn knows what to do with that, when youre done. I look forward to seeing you again, girl!


    T gave a wave as she followed Lyn towards one side of the courtyard. As they approached, T was able to guess where they were heading.


    One table was a bit emptier than others. A striking woman sat on one short side of the long, rectangr table.


    T could not tell her age, or much else about her, because most of her features were obscured by the most all-epassing, intricate set of spell-lines T had ever beheld. The woman, herself, was clothed as if she were expecting to cast, meaning with as little covered as possible. In all fairness, however, the intricacy of her inscribings, and their pervasive nature, left the woman looking as if she wore a skintight outfit of woven silver, copper, and gold.


    It was beautiful.


    They approached, and T set their tray down in front of a couple of empty seats, beside the woman. The inscriber lifted her gaze from her own tter of simple foods to regard Lyn and T, and T felt the telltale tingle of Magic. Her eyes showed her minute ripples of power across the womans face, indicating that shed activated her mage-sight.


    Mistress Holly, this is Mistress T. Lyn gestured to the seated woman. Mistress T, Mistress Holly.


    T bowed slightly. A pleasure to meet you.


    Youre cast quite dry, arent you?


    T hesitated, then quirked a smile. I suppose I am.


    Hollys head tilted to an inquisitive angle. No? Interesting. If casting didnt strip you of your anciry lines, what did? She leaned closer, even as T sat. You <em>must</em> tell me.


    T cleared her throat. Ium She swallowed, nced to Lyn. I was teleported here.


    Lyns eyes widened, slightly, but she didntment.


    Teleported. That seems to be true. But why would you only have your keystone reced Hollys eyes snapped back to Ts own. You didnt, did you?


    No?


    Be decisive. I cant see the truth of your words if you have no confidence.


    No. I did not have my keystone reced. It was maintained through transport.


    Holly pushed herself backwards, just a bit, nodding happily. I knew it. I knew it. There is hereal aspect to your keystone, as if anothers power was forced through it. Why it didnt break your gate Ive no idea, but I suppose by Hethrons thirdw Her mutterings slowly faded below Ts ability to hear them, and she turned to Lyn.


    Is she always like this?


    Hmmm? Oh, yes. Shes quite brilliant, and so most of her conversations are with herself. Lyn shrugged. But shes the best, and I quite like you.


    Hollys eyes narrowed. Still not giving you a discount.


    Lyn rolled her eyes. Lets eat. Im <em>starving</em>.


    Thus, as night truly fell upon the city, T sat with new acquaintances, surrounded by the sounds of revelry and the hum of conversation.


    <em>This just might be possible. I might just be able to work free of this burden.</em>


    * * *


    T licked her fingers clean of herst meat pie and leaned back,fortably stuffed.


    Holly finished thest of her own food, savoring a fruit tart, which had been covered with fluffed cream.


    Now. Give me some blood.


    Tszyfort shed away in an instant. What.


    Holly held out her hand, palm down, revealing a circle of bare skin, surrounded by vaguely familiar silver scripts. Your blood, Mage. I need it to ess your scripting records.


    T looked to Lyn, but the woman just shrugged. Its how she operates. My understanding is that it allows her to directly ovey the schema on her client within her vision, instead of having to doparisons.


    T found herself nodding. That does sound easier. She nced at the hand, still extended her way. If a bitgross.


    Holly rolled her eyes. Well? Mistress Lyn did bring you here for this, right? Lets see what we have to work with.


    Reluctantly, T pricked her own finger, willing a spark of power into the blood just as she pressed a drop down upon the empty circle of Hollys flesh.


    She had a moment of odd disjointment, but it passed as quickly as it hade. <em>Her skin is much tougher to the touch than Id have guessed.</em>


    As the blood came into the circle, silver scripts all over Hollys body flickered to life, their power then flowing into lines of copper or gold. I see. The older woman stood. Come, now. Stand up. Let me get a good look.


    Feeling incredibly self-conscious, and aware that they were in a highly public ce, T stood.


    Holly began moving her about, looking at various parts of her like an alchemist deciding if an herb was worth processing. Holly made an appreciative sound as she inspected Ts hands but scoffed as she looked elsewhere.


    Finally, Holly poked her in the side of her left breast, just softly enough to avoid leaving a bruise. Whoever designed these was a gifted idiot. She snorted augh as T rubbed the side of her chest discreetly. And he was likely in love with you.


    T froze. What?


    Holly waved away the question but then seemed to answer it anyway. Much of this is incredibly clever, and well structured; the majority of your surface inscribing is interlinking hexagons of protection, each of three parts: first, a strengthening of the inner and intra cellr bonds, silver to sense for stress on those bonds with copper to be activated to counter the stress; second, inscribing to reform bonds, if they are broken despite the aforementioned work, again with silver and copper acting in concert; and finally, a mild enhancement of signal speed through your nervous system, when your heart rate rises, again silver to copper. She shook her head. Such a stupid trigger. That should be passively on, all the time, with gold so that itsts longer. That way would actually take less material on average, and we could increase the effectthough youd have to get used to it


    T blinked. But the other two features?


    Hmmm? Oh, those are quite well executed, but youve no obvious defense against magic.


    T nced away. Ive found a different method for handling that.


    Care to share?


    Not at the moment. She looked down. Something shifted subtly in the air around Holly, and T felt an odd, subtle pressure from the womans presence.


    Fine, fine. She looked back down at T and the pressure faded. The poor boy seems to have been afraid to take your feminine curves into ount. It is almost like he built it around a mans body, roughly your size, and pped it onto your skin. She shook her head, again, before poking the side of Ts breast once more. So much unused surface area! And, in this case, unprotected. She scowled. He likely didnt want to be seen as focusing on your chest. She nced down. Or your hips, so he ignored them. Another huff escaped her. All it did was highlight his attention all the more.


    T was quite flushed with embarrassment but decided to press on. And the rest?


    Hmmm? Oh, no human is a t in, so he had to ount for curves in the hexagonal connections, and he did quite well in modifying the scripts for rotational orientations.


    T blinked, trying to follow. She only had the most basic understanding of inscribing theory.


    And Im losing you. Holly sighed. He did a good job. She nced at Ts head, clearly focusing on something only she could see. Good use of standard mental enhancements, here, but again with the heartbeat trigger. She sighed, once more. His true genius came in the implementation of your hands! She grasped Ts hands. I dont know why you only want your expressions to originate, here, but Im not here to judge.


    T did <em>not</em>ment on the obvious contradiction.


    Holly looked at Ts right hand, obviously seeing inscribing where there was only nk skin. You focus on gravity maniption for attack and submission, but not area of effects! She held the hand out towards Lyn for a moment, before thetters raised eyebrow seemed to remind Holly that there was nothing there for anyone else to see. Oh, right. She looked to T. Can you actually control this?


    Yes? What do you mean?


    The structure of these spell-lines is <em>incredibly</em> dependent on your ability to attenuate your focus. You must be a savant, incredibly lucky, or ridiculously stubborn.


    How would luck factor it?


    To not have killed yourself with these or been killed as you tried to use them.


    T cleared her throat. Well, it did take quite a while to get them to work as I wanted


    So, stubborn, then. How many targets have you been able to indicate?


    She hesitated, not wanting to admit the truth. <em>Well, if Im not willing to tell her the truth, I probably shouldnt let her work on my inscribings </em>Three or four, at a practice range, but I have difficulty getting more than one, while under pressure.


    Holly nodded, as if satisfied. That makes sense. Especially with the odd methods of your mental enhancements. Imagine, throwing a Mages thinking to the wind as soon as they need to be at their most disciplined. She shook her head.


    T frowned. Wait, faster thinking made it harder?


    <em>Different</em> thinking made it harder. Faster connection speed doesnt speed up your mind so much as reduce time between thoughts. That will change <em>how</em> you think as much as how fast.


    Tactually understood that. So, you can improve on this?


    Holly snorted. Can a fish swim?


    <em>I suppose thats a yes</em>


    But Holly had already returned her attention to Ts hands. Despite thews, its genius how he got around the difficulties of


    T stopped listening. She knew how her magic worked, and that it had been a pain to learn how to use the unusual style of spell-craft, but she had never regretted the choice. Her magic was precise and efficient. She was a scalpel next to headsmans axe of most gravity maniptors, and she sipped metals.


    Ts mind returned to Holly when the woman snapped her fingers in front of Ts nose. You arent listening at all, are you?


    T cleared her throat. Well, I do know what my scriptings do. She sat back down at the table, as Holly didnt seem to need to inspect her directly anymore.


    Holly sighed. We have a lot to discuss, and there is much we can improve. Your designer only thought of your inscribings as multyered, without truly embracing the potential of three-dimensional workings. I see otheryers for muscle and bone spell-lines, and that shows a depth of thinking. Holly smiled briefly at her own pun. But they could, and should, be intertwined, unified.


    IveIve never actually been able to test out those otheryers. She nced to Lyn, who was staring at her with shocked fascination. Deeper inscribings werent rare, per se, but they were unpopr because they could be <em>very</em> painful, and if they werent done perfectly, they led to magic poisoning at a much faster pace than even the most frivolous Material Creator would experience. I hadnt decided tomit to using them, yet.


    Holly waved the objection aside. Dont be foolish, of course youd never get these as they are. Youd be dead in a week.


    T hesitated. <em>They arent </em>that<em> crudeare they?</em>


    No, no. Ill get this worked up for you in just a day or so. There was a strange light in Hollys eyes.


    T leaned back, suddenly wary. Ummm What will this cost me?


    Hmm? Holly was already moving her fingers through the air, as if manipting something T couldnt see. Oh, my alterations to your pattern wont be cheap, but they will be worth it. The spell-lines themselves should only cost 4 or 5 ounces, gold, but with the modifications, I wouldnt be surprised if you only need refreshing for your passive scripts every year or so, but Ill know more after I finish the changes. She nced to Ts hands. Though, of course, your own use of the active abilities will force more regr inscribing of the lines around the functions for your hands.


    T nched. <em>5oz, gold</em>. Just for the inscribings? How much would this crazy person charge for the schematic? I only have 5.5oz of gold for inscribings and to outfit myself for my first job. She nced at the empty wooden tter. Well, 5.5 oz, less fifty ounces, copper.


    Holly paused, ncing to Lyn. What rate will she get?


    Lyn cleared her throat. That is confidential.


    Holly waved a frustrated hand. Fine, fine. She turned back to T. Ill get you the basics for your first two jobs, if you swear toe straight back here, and not let another inscriber muck up my work. Ill take a day to finalize the schema, and three days to do the actual inking She began muttering to herself again, but T had, once again, hit a mental block.


    <em>Three DAYS of inscribing?</em> She supposed if it were really only required every year or so, that would total less than she had been expecting. It was the same with the cost of the work, itself, but it was front loaded, and she did not have enough money as it was. She cleared her throat, drawing Hollys attention back. I will need at least half an ounce of gold for another necessity.


    Hollys eyes narrowed. More secrets, eh? She drummed her fingers on the table as she finally sat down once more. Or, perhaps, the same secret. She looked into Ts eyes, but T nced away. Fine. 5 oz gold, with a promise of prompt return, and She nced to Lyn, then back to T. 8oz gold upon your return. Fair? Ill finalize your inscribings, then.


    After two trips, T should have an additional 11oz gold, before any expenses, so she <em>should</em> be able to afford it, but She looked to Lyn.


    The other woman sighed and shrugged. Shes the best, honestly. Most of our Mages wont let anyone else work on them, if they can help it. After a moments hesitation, she added. Well, in truth most are satisfied with her apprentices.


    Holly scoffed. Of course, they are. Most just want to throw fireballs or some other simple nonsense. She gestured to T. This creature wishes to do true magic. She grinned. You will y a golden harp beside their hide drums!


    <em>A harp is easily drowned by the sound of drums</em> T opened her mouth to reply, but Holly cut her off.


    A long bow beside a wooden club, then, if instruments arent well known to you.


    T tried to object again, as the instruments in question were so basic the assumedck of knowledge on her part could only be insulting, but Holly overrode her, again.


    But as I was saying, you will need at least three days to adjust to even the first stage of enhanced signal speed, both in your own head, and in your nervous system as a whole. She scratched an itch behind her left ear. I bet youll have at least three cardiac arrests, before your brain and heart work out a new rhythm. Expect LOTS of hups, too.


    Ts face hardened. Excuse me.


    What did you expect? Id leave your involuntary mental functions alone? That would be dangerous! Imagine, enhancing only a portion of your mind. Youd be lucky not to fry within your own skull.


    That is not what I-


    And moving! I cant wait to see you try to walk. She patted Ts arm Youre young, though, that part should limate in a matter of minutes.


    Hold on a mo-


    Yes, this will be a work of art, my next masterpiece will reside on the canvas of your power. Lesser Mages will not be able toprehend your majesty, when Im done. She stood, in a rush, turning and striding away.


    Wait a minute!


    Holly ignored her but called over her shoulder. Mistress Lyn, youre her handler, right? Book her two jobs, leaving in a week, and returning as soon thereafter as possible. Make them safe, or Ill never get my money. Bring her by the shop tomorrow evening.


    Lyn called a vague sound of affirmation.


    T spun on the woman. What do you mean, ok? I didnt agree to anything!


    Lyn shrugged. You wont get a better deal, and honestly, Id be surprised if any other inscriber would take you, now that Holly is interested.


    T glowered. Youve tricked me.


    Into the best inscribing this side of heaven? Yes, yes I did. The clerk looked almost smug.


    Shes going to kill me! You heard her.


    She wont leave you dead. Its not hard to restart a heart, if it actually goes that far.


    T growled. I dont like being backed into things.


    This is for your own good.


    You didnt understand any more of what she said than I did.


    I didnt need to. She has never failed to improve the magic of the Mages she works on. And I figured that she would be fascinated by yourunusualness.


    Ts eyes narrowed. You said she was better than average. A dawning sense of understanding was growing within her. You <em>knew</em> that shed be like this.


    Lyn quirked a smile. And you knew that a fresh graduate shouldnt really be getting a Mages rates. She winked. Ive got to ensure we get your true worth from you, or Ill look bad.


    Ts mouth dropped open. Youknew?


    Suspected. You know: one of the reasons a mageling is paid less is that their inscribings, and their use of them, arent fully worked out, yet. She shrugged. Mistress Holly will take care of that. Lyn smiled, again, patting T on the shoulder. Ive just helped you be who you wanted me to believe you were.


    T groaned and put her head into her hands. I suppose I deserved that.


    Lyns voice had just a hint of sympathy in it. It wont be so bad, Mistress T. Come on. Let me buy dessert. You can stay at my ce, tonight.


    T looked up hopefully. Are you sure?


    Absolutely. Youve a busy week ahead.


    Reluctantly, T followed the other woman to a nearby food cart to select a constion.

 Chapter 4: A Simple Home

    Chapter 4: A Simple Home


    T and Lyn walked together through the nighttime, city streets.


    Regrly spaced lights made it easy to see, and the lit windows in the residences they passed assured T that it wasnt toote.


    <em>Im going to die, tomorrow night.</em>


    Shed been assured, many many times, that if she did die, it wouldnt stick, but that was hardly afort.


    The dessert,pliments of Lyns own coin pouch, had been fantastic, but T hadnt been able to enjoy it, fully.


    She didnt really take in the spectacr examples of a dozen types of architecture that they passed, as they wound through the meandering streets.


    They circumnavigated construction zones where the owner, or the needs of the same, had changed, and a home was being altered or rebuilt entirely.


    They passed parks and shuttered businesses, vacant for the evening.


    To her distracted mind, it reminded her of home, her life with her parents, and the time before the Academy.


    Her father had been an herbalist, or an alchemist, they were variations on the same idea. <em>I suppose he still is.</em>


    Hed helped treat minor injuries, those either beneath the notice of magical healing, or those that would be too expensive to heal with magic, especially those that would pass with time, if some difort.


    As a result, T had been raised around the manufacture of salves, teas, simple splints, and other varied treatments. It had been a happy childhood, and shed thought that such would be her life, her shop, when she grew up.


    Shed been too young to recognize her fathers addictions.


    Later, looking back on it, shed been able to piece together the sequence of events: A growing pain in his joints had led him to increasingly strong remedies. A desire to use his own methods had kept him from seeking magical assistance. The painkillers had moved into true opiates, and the cost of those had created apulsive need for money, and thus gambling.


    To his credit, her father had finally realized the disaster he was creating, put aside his pride, and gotten magical healing. Unfortunately, the physical and mental reconstructions required had been expensive. Hence the family debts.


    The only way to pay off the debt had been to sell a promising student into the career of Mage, as such were <em>always</em> of value to humanity, and the Mages guild often paid simply to have a child choose that profession. It was alsomon practice for a familys debts to be moved to a promising up anding member. Supposedly, it added motivation. It also protected the family if one member turned out to be a failure. Things seemed to sort themselves out from there.


    And so, as the eldest, at the confused age of twelve, T had been given into the indenture of strangers, never to see her parents again.


    Make no mistake, theyd sent letters, but shed never written back. Teleportation was expensive, so visits were out. Likely, theyd assumed she would choose to return to her home city when her training wasplete.


    She hadnt.


    <em>And now, nearly eight yearster, Im going to die without ever seeing them again.</em> She didnt know how she felt about that, but something in her rebelled at the thought, though she couldnt have said if it was at that of never seeing her family again or that of dying.


    Lyn, again, pulled T out of her musings with a simple sentence. Were here.


    T looked up to see a small home, across the street from arge park.


    It isnt much, but Ive a spare room you can use for the next few days. Lyn nced her way. I wont charge you, not for just one night.


    T snorted. I paid in pies.


    Lynughed. I dont have enough house to warrant such a payment. Lets call it reciprocal kindness and leave it there.


    Says the woman who threw me to the wolves.


    Lyn used a brass key to unlock her front door, pushing it open. Your soul-deep rage will pass, and this will be nothing but a quirky story of how we first met.


    T followed her inside, closing the solid wooden door behind her. If you write that on my tombstone, Ill haunt you.


    Youre a bit dramatic, arent you? Lyn nced over her shoulder before snapping her fingers, causing lights to re around the entry hall. Shoes off. This isnt the wilds.


    T cleared her throat and nced down.


    Lyn followed the gesture and paused, staring at Ts bare feet. OhNot sure how I missed that. She nced up. You do take your magery seriously, dont you. Lyns own feet were d in simple, if sturdy, slippers, which she casually removed and tucked to one side.


    So do you have a basin and some water? If you keep shoes out of your house, I dont want to muck it up.


    Lyn gestured to a door off to their right. Washrooms there. Ill be in the sitting room, when youre done. She gestured again, but this time to the arch directly opposite the main door.


    T nodded her thanks and went into the washroom. It was simple but well cared for. Running water and citywide sewage systems werent new to T. No one lived outside of cities, so there really wasnt a possibility of being uncivilized.


    She carefully washed the dust from her feet with cool water, cleaned her hands with the aid of a bar of scented, lye soap, and dried both feet and hands on a cloth hanging on the wall for the purpose.


    Shed heard of running hot water, but that was a luxury that few had, and one that shed never experienced even at the Academy. <em>Would have been nice, though.</em> Apparently, someone had decided that hauling water and chopping wood built character. <em>Im up to my eyeballs in character, if thats true.</em>


    Thankfully, the cool water and well-made soap were surprisingly refreshing, even on her still sensitive skin. <em>And Ill be signing up for much more of that </em>Though, the less frequent inscribing would mean that she wouldnt have to scrub off her outer skin so often. <em>Or, I could find a different solution to magical defenses</em>


    Her defense was so effective, though, it made any thoughts of seeking other means seem almostughable. <em>Ill have to sort that out, before I depart.</em> Iron dust, bees wax, and a few other odds and ends. <em>Along with an herbalists tools to properlybine them</em>


    She walked out, into the sitting room, and hesitated. There were threefortable looking reading chairs, a bookshelf, and a couple of rugs on the floor, but that was it. The walls were almost entirely bare, and Lyn was already reading in the central chair.


    The ce had a lived-in feel, but it didnt feel like a home.


    T frowned.


    Lyn nced up. Ready to grab some sleep?


    I suppose. Is this your house?


    Yes? Why?


    The walls are bare. It just seems


    Like I dont care much? Lyn smiled. Somewhat urate. Im rarely here, to be honest. I dont use the kitchen, and when I get back here at night, I sleep. She shrugged. Or I read a bit. Im not really a big one for guests.


    You have three chairs


    Lyn grinned. And each isfortable in a different position. I dont like to be constrained.


    So are you sure Im not intruding?


    Absolutely,e on. She set her book aside and led T to a back room.


    There was a bed, just bigger than T thought necessary for one person. Besides the bed, a set of drawers were the only furnishings.


    Its very little, but its free! Lyn grinned.


    Thank you, Mistress Lyn.


    d to have a ce to offer. She looked around, seeming almost awkward for a moment. Umm Need anything else?


    I should be fine. Thank you. Ill go shopping for some necessities tomorrow, while youre at work.


    Sounds reasonable. Dont make any ns after tomorrow, though. I imagine Mistress Hollys got you booked solid.


    T grunted. Yay.


    Ill get your jobs booked, too. She hesitated. Just so you know, Mages normally do their own bookings, or pay a service fee to the guild if we do it for them. She held up her hands, forestalling T. But! But Im happy to do it this time and walk you through it the next couple times. Your master would have taught you the ropes, if youd been hired as a mageling, the least I can do is fill that role. She smiled. At least in part. Youve chosen a bit of a hard road. A master can help a new graduate in a thousand little ways that I just cant. Her smile turned a bit sad, but she continued. I will do what I can, though. And, Ill get you some documents on the dimensional maniption spell-forms youll be empowering as well. No reason to set you up for failure.


    On that happy note, Lyn turned and left.


    T hadnt really considered her own tiredness, but when shey down to briefly check thefort of the bed, she fell asleep instead.


    * * *


    T woke slowly, stretching on her borrowed bed.


    The temperature was just right, though she couldnt have said whether that was due to magical climate control, or simply the current weather of this city. As she thought about it, she doubted Lyn would have sprung for the exorbitant expense of magical temperature maniption.


    T opened her eyes and stared up at the simple ceiling. <em>Today, I have to buy the supplies for my venture, as well as my magical defense, and then, put my life in the hands of a madwoman, trusting that she can repair the inevitable fractures.</em>


    That soured her mood, just a little.


    She slid from the bed, stripped, and ran through some quick, full-ranging movements. Shed missed her nightly stretches, so she lingered through her morning set. When her body was fully limbered, she worked through a set of 12 exercises, doing each for a slow count of 30, maximizing reps during that time.


    Having finished her morning activities, she picked up her borrowed clothes, opened her door, and nced up and down the hall. <em>Looks clear.</em>


    She darted across the way to what she <em>hoped</em> was an indoor bath. The Academy had such, and even her parents home had had such luxuries, but she wasnt 100% sure that Lyns much smaller residence would.


    Blessedly, shed been right in her guess and found arge tub with a hearth below the empty basin. Wood was carefully arranged for easy lighting, and a chest to the side revealed about three times as much fuel.


    T filled the vessel halfway but forwent the heat. <em>Ill be in the wilds soon enough, no reason I shouldnt move towards cold washings now.</em>


    <em></em>Thankfully, there was a clean brush near the tub, along with several towels, and she was able work out the nights tangles with rtive ease, despite the fact that she hadnt bound it up before sleep.


    Her speedy self-cleaning was hastened by the cool water but slowed by refamiliarizing herself with her hair. <em>Id almost forgotten how much of a pain it is to manage.</em>


    Soon, she was out and drying herself off. That done, she pulled on her borrowed clothes and stood. <em>So, a brush and some changes of clothes. </em> She looked around, thinking to begin writing her shopping list. After a moment, she smiled wryly. <em>And notebooks and pencils.</em> She was too used to having her notebooks close at hand.


    With a sigh, she strode out of the washroom and towards the sitting room. By the lighting in through various windows, it waste morning. Lyn should be at work. <em>I wonder when well meet up.</em>


    T saw a note on a small table, off to one side, just before she entered the sitting room. It was written in a neat, flowing hand that immediately reminded T of Lyn.


    Mistress T,


    Im at work, but I will be off by fifth bell. Meet me at the Guild Hall, where you found me yesterday. Ive written up a simple list of items I think it wise for you to buy, given what will be provided for you. Have fun!


    -Lyn


    <em>Got the author in one.</em> The location had also been a giveaway. Who else would havee into Lyns house?


    T nced down and found a second piece of paper on the table as well, containing a list of some basic supplies. The page was held down by a pencil. <em>Im borrowing that.</em>


    A slight noise caught her attention, and she turned to see a man staring quizzically at her.


    Gah! She gasped out, flicking her right hand forward, in a practiced gesture. Palm towards her target, fingers together, pinky and ring finger tucked down.


    He would be incapacitated, and she couldher inscribings were gone. She felt a brief pulse of power from her gate and keystone, but no magic extended from her body. She was left with a mildly ufortable tingling itchiness.


    The man, for his part, had stepped back, raising a forearm as if to block her iing attack, even as he, too, gasped out a surprised sound. Wah!


    He tripped over one of the chairs, but managed to turn the fall into a roll,ing back to his feet, both arms raised in a practiced guard.


    They stared at each other for a long moment. T didnt lower her hand, though she felt rather embarrassed at the ineffectual gesture.


    <em>Take charge, T. </em>Who are you? Why are you in Mistress Lyns house? The man was young, probably close to her own age, and wore clean, well-maintained clothes. They had a look about them, which made her think they might be a uniform, or meant to serve that purpose.


    The man hesitated. Mistress T, right?


    Yes? You havent answered my questions.


    Mistress Lyn sent me. Please, dont light me on fire, or crush mysoul, or anything.


    She hesitantly lowered her hand. Crush your soul?


    He straightened, brushing himself off. Im no Mage. You people are crazy.


    She quirked a smile. So, unnamed stranger. Why are you here?


    He narrowed his eyes, but his gaze flicked towards her now rxed hand. Im Ashin. Mistress Lyn thought you could use a guide for your shopping day.


    And she sent <em>you</em>? T emphasized thest, to make her skepticism clear.


    He straightened. She felt that we should get to know one another.


    Oh?


    Im to be one of the guards on your next trip.


    Oh! Youre a caravan guard?


    Yes, Mistress.


    T waved a hand. None of that. Call me T.


    Yes, Mistress T.


    Youre being a bit stereotypical.


    You could kill me with a gesture. Respect and courtesy are simple and reasonable safeguards on my life. Especially since most Mages desire supplication.


    She grinned. I think Im going to like you, Ashin. She nced down to his waist. Where are your weapons?


    He shifted ufortably. I left them outside. Most Mages dont particrly like iron. Iron Reflects and all that.


    Ts grin widened. I think youll find Im not like other Mages, in many ways.


    He shrugged. Does that mean that I can be armed for our venture?


    She hadnt actually decided to let him apany her, but the more she considered it, the more sense it made. I suppose so, yes. Do you know this city well?


    Yes, I grew up here.


    <em>That settles it.</em> Having a local would be infinitely more efficient than simply wandering around on her own. Very well. Lets be off.


    Ashin backed up, allowing her to pass by with arge amount of room to spare. They walked outside, him keeping a wary distance from her, even as he locked the door behind them. He strapped on a sword belt, which had been leaning against the outer wall, before picking up a round, iron-bound shield and slinging it across his back. His final piece was a padded, steel cap, which he fastened onto his head. Youre sure? All this iron doesnt put you off?


    She chuckled. My magic doesnt have to act <em>through</em> objects, as if I were throwing fire or such, so it is no hindrance to me.


    Ashin paled, swallowing visibly.


    T cleared her throat and continued in a rush, trying to cate him. And I actually quite like the smell of iron and leather. You are fine. Really.


    Ashin regained some of his coloring but didnt close the distance between them. Sowhere to?


    I will need to pick up a few things, as I am sure you are aware. I think the first should be either a satchel, or a set of notebooks. Which would be closer? Her stomach rumbled slightly. And, we should probably grab some food. Are you hungry?


    * * *


    An hourter, T was checking off thest item from Lyns short list, which she had transposed into her own new notebook. She had both a small satchel, containing the bare necessities such as her notebooks and pencils as well as a few other items she thought wise to have within easy reach, and a rucksack for her other belongings.


    She hadmissioned four sets of clothes, and the tailor had premade clothing ready to hand, so he expected the alterations to her sizing would be done by mid-afternoon. Shed also picked up a small host of other odds and ends to make her trips better. <em>I imagine Ill refine this set-up after my first few outings.</em>


    Ashin had refrained frommenting, though he had raised an eyebrow when shed bought a heavy ma.


    He had maintained a paranoid distance from her, preferring to keep her in sight at all times. Thus, theyd had theical interactions of him telling her where to turn, while he stubbornly stayed at least a pace behind.


    All their stops considered, her stomach was now quite empty and unhappy at that fact, so T had asked Ashin to direct them to food.


    <em>A full morning requires a full breakfast.</em> And it was time to deliver.

 Chapter 5: A Day of Preparation

    Chapter 5: A Day of Preparation


    T and Ashin approached the counter of a small restaurant, tucked a little back from the main thoroughfares. It was a busy ce, doing a brisk business with customers ranging from clerks and errand boys to what looked to be a few Mages.


    T stepped up first, when they reached the front of the line. Ill take a sausage pasty. And whatever he wants.


    Ummm No. I cannot possibly let you pay for me.


    Why?


    Because youre a Mage!


    And youre acting as my guide. Order.


    No.


    Guardsman Ashin, I caused you to miss breakfast, and it is easily time for lunch. Let me buy you food.


    He looked away, seeming ufortable, but he didnt answer.


    Are you defying the will of a Mage? She had a twinkle in her eye as she asked that, but either he didnt notice, or he took it for malevolence.


    He swallowed visibly, then turned to the bemused clerk. Ill have the same.


    T paid, received their food, and picked a table off to one side.


    They ate in silence.


    The pasties were muchrger than Gretels meat pies had been, but T supposed that was because they were intended as full meals, in their own right. They werent <em>quite</em> as good, but they were different enough that she didnt begrudge the variation.


    As Ashin finished his meal, wiping his crumb-covered hands off on his pants, he nodded his head towards her. Thank you, Mistress T.


    You are quite wee, Guardsman Ashin.


    He frowned but didnt otherwise object. Where else do we need to go?


    I need to get a serviceable camp knife, and to drop through a working forge.


    Ashin cocked his head. Wouldnt those be the same ce?


    Not necessarily. I dont want to go to a simple seller of knives. I need to go where metal is worked. And I dont want to go to a forge that doesnt sell such knives.


    He shrugged. Very well. Are you ready?


    She nodded, finishing her own pasty, brushing her hands together to free them of the crumbs. Lets go.


    They wound through the streets out of the inner city, through the second ring, and into the artisan circle. While most workshops had attached stores, there werent many merchants actively hawking their wares, so it made for a much quieter, more rxing stroll.


    Over the course of the morning, Ashin had slowly narrowed the distance he kept from her, while remaining out of easy reach, and that bothered her, if only just.


    <em>Did I fear Mages, before I became one?</em> It wasnt really a fair question. Shed been a child and had never had to deal with one, directly.


    <em> Will everyone, aside from other Mages, treat me like this?</em> No, servers and merchants had been nothing but polite to her.


    <em>Because, to them, a Mage is a wealthy customer</em> Ashin had always been <em>quite</em> certain to introduce her as a Mage, wherever they went.


    <em>Likely because I dont have any visible spell-lines, at the moment.</em> She sighed, continuing her inward contemtions.


    Though there was the sound of hammer-on-metaling from many directions, Ashin directed them unerringly through the sparse crowds until they came to a smithy, tucked in a side alley.


    As they approach, Ashin raised his voice. Heyho! In the smithy.


    The sound of hammer-on-steel paused, and a response floated out. Enter!


    Ashin led her through the broad arch, into a warm space where organized tools were affixed to almost every surface.


    An older man strode out to greet them. Ashin! Good to see you, sir. Is the new de holding up?


    Ashin patted his sword. Havent had to test her, yet.


    d to hear that! Better a safe man, than a drawn de. But do let me know if you have any trouble. He turned towards T, nodding slightly. And who is your friend, Ashin?


    Ashin cleared his throat. Master Aniv, this is Mage T.


    Master Aniv hesitated for a moment. Mage? He nced around. Mistress. This is a smithyI dont mean to be insulting, but isnt iron


    T grinned. Exactly why Im here. Im in need of a camp knife, and your permission to fill a bag with iron dust.


    Irondust? I dont exactly collect- He broke off as she pulled out the ma shed purchased. He frowned. Is that an ingot? He scratched the side of his face. No, if youre wanting iron dust, thatll be a ma. Right?


    Yes.


    He scratched the back of his head next. Ive no use for the dust in my shop, I suppose. Ill see what I have in stock for the knife, and youre wee to the iron you can gather with that. He hesitated. Iron dust, that is. I imagine that could grab some of my tools. He smiled, kindly.


    T gave a slight bow towards him. Thank you, Master Aniv. Without furtherment, she knelt and began running the ma across the hardpacked floor, immediately beginning to collect iron dust. As she worked, she heard the mutterings of Ashin and Anivs conversation but didnt bother to attempt listening in. She was used to people finding her methods unusual.


    When the ma was well loaded, she scraped off the iron dust into one of her canvas sacks, which shed purchased for the purpose. Within five minutes, shed collected close to seven pounds of the stuff. If it had been solid, it would have been a bar roughly an inch square and two feet long. <em>That should be enough.</em>


    Standing, she brushed her hands and knees off, and ced the newly cleaned ma back in her pack. The bag of iron dust, she kept out.


    True to his word, Master Aniv had a sturdy looking, simple camp-knife set out for her.


    They haggled on the price for a bit, but not vehemently.


    After the knife was securely on her belt, she turned to go, but Master Aniv cleared his throat. Mistress, if I may ask


    Yes?


    Has something changed? Will Mages be seeking iron dust forsome new type of working?


    She grinned. Oh, I doubt it, Master Aniv. You see, Im quite mad. With a wink, she turned and strode from his shop, Ashin following behind.


    * * *


    Their final stop was at an apothecary, the local name for an herbalist, where T negotiated for use of the mans tools. Shed had to bargain quite strenuously to get the apothecary down to what she had remaining to spend, but as she looked around at the small workshop, she assured herself that it had been worth it.


    Now alone in the back room, she dumped the iron dust into a shallow basin. First, she filled the basin with water, gently agitating the bowl to allow any flotsam to separate out. This, she swept from the waters surface.


    Next, she carefully drained most of the water and added a harsh soap, gently agitating the mixture to free even more contaminants. Finally, she went through a dozen cycles of filling the basin with clean water, swirling it together with the iron, then slowly removing the water. She continued this process until the water was no longer soapy, and she was left with a uniform, wet powder in the bottom of therge basin.


    She had taken her time with each step. Though the iron had been free, she was loath to lose any, and if she left contaminants in the dust, they could spoil the end result. Because of that, the cleaning process had taken at least a couple of hours, though she didnt have a clock to watch the time. <em>I hope that Ashin isnt too bored.</em>


    She then carefully spread the iron out onrge drying trays, which the apothecary would use to dry herbs, separating off as much water as she could during the process. She then stuck them into the hot box, which was on the building''s southern side. The air inside was ufortably hot to her fingers even as she quickly stuck the trays inside.


    <em>There, that will be dry in no time. </em>It appeared to use a process simr to a sr oven that shed seen some artisan bakers use. <em>The apothecary must have some way of lowering the temperature at need, or hes more likely to burn the herbs than dry them.</em> Still, she did notin; it was perfect for her purposes.


    While the iron was drying, she melted arge portion of beeswax, also purchased from the apothecary, adding in several oils, and oh so slowly brought it up to temperature. While that was happening, she prepared the molds that were ready to hand. These particr molds were used for making soap integrated with, and affixed to, a wooden handle, so a less flexible user couldther up their own back with ease.


    The iron still wasnt dry.


    She cleaned the basin, and the other items she had used, and wasnt still using, and then checked the iron again.


    Still damp.


    The academy had magically powered dehydrators, which removed all traces of moisture almost instantly. It was mainly intended for medicinal or preservation purposes, but shed happily implemented it for her own designs.


    <em>Ive already been here for too long.</em> If her estimates were correct, it was at least the third hour, after noon.


    <em></em>Irritated, she walked back to the front of the shop and discussed the issue with the apothecary. He was quite bemused, exining that hed assumed she needed his workshop for the next couple of days, given her description of her project.


    His heated haggling, and irritated capittion made much more sense in that light.


    After further discussion, the man happily agreed to finish the process on her behalf, following her specifications exactly, in exchange for her departing now, and only returning to im the end-product: sixrge, iron-salve bars on sticks. He even promised to put the extra iron dust into small bags, at 5 oz of iron in each.


    He guessed that he would have her products ready for her in two days, three at the most. He also assured her that he would happily do the entire process for her, in the future, if she provided the iron.


    All in all, she was quite happy with how it turned out. <em>Now, Im ready.</em>


    But she was brokeagain.


    * * *


    T was not, in fact, <em>quite</em> ready. She and Ashin had to practically run back to the tailor; thankfully, shed paid in advance. Then, they hurried back to Lyns house, where T quickly, and self-consciously, scrubbed herself clean, hoping to the heavens that shed removed all traces of the iron dust. And <em>then,</em> d in her new clothes, she was ready.


    She nned to have her borrowed clothes cleaned and returned to Phoen, along with a thank you note, but she didnt have time, or funds, for that just now. So, she left them in the room in Lyns house for the time being.


    They arrived at the doors to the Caravanners Guild, not quite out of breath, just as a bell tower resounded for the fifth time, and Lyn stepped out. Oh! Good, youre here. She smiled easily. Her eyes flicked over Ts outfit. I like that. Non-traditional for a Mage, but pretty, in a simple sort of way.


    T looked down at her linen blouse and loose pants. Thank you. I quite like them. The top was light grey, the pants dark, and each was tightened to her figure, and held in ce with simple cloth ties, monkeys fist knots, and braided loops. These were not meant for quick removal, and the tailor had done an excellent job fitting them to her for easy, free movement.


    Lyn nced towards Ashin. How was the day?


    Ashin gave a shallow bow towards Lyn. It wasinteresting, Mistress Lyn. Thank you for allowing me to assist.


    Lyn nodded to the man, but then turned to T, eyebrow quirked.


    T gave a small smile. He was quite helpful. Another taste of Guild benefits?


    Lyns smile grew just slightly predatory. And dont you forget it. I want you begging to renew your contract, once youre done. She held out a small book. This is an overview of what you need to know to empower Guild specific dimensional expansion spell-forms, for our wagons. For any trip, you will have to begin work on that front at least two days before departure. That way, the wagons can be loaded before the day of departure.


    T nodded. Shed been wondering about that. That exins it. I was curious how youd addressed the issue of switching out who empowered them.


    Exactly. Aside from the standard issues of any empowered magic item, each Mage visualizes the changes differently. Even if we could, changing casters while cargo is inside would beproblematic.


    I can imagine. She took the small book and examined it. This is a ridiculous title


    Lyn turned and began walking as she replied, T and Ashin falling in step. Oh? You dont like: Why Organize When You Can Expand? Ashin seemed much less hesitant about being close to Lyn than to T.


    T sighed. Seems like someones wed attempt at humor.


    Not everyone excels at Meta-Naming, dear. Lyn nced at the little book, even as T was flicking through it. There isnt enough in there for you to recreate the spell on your own, but I dont know why the Wainwrights bother with that precaution. You will be in sole charge of the wagons for your entire trip. I doubt that even a half-wit of a Mage would miss the hidden aspects of the working. She sighed. But, I suppose, we have to maintain the illusion of secrecy. Honestly, they are just a marginal modification on any number of dimensional storage items used throughout the cities. She shrugged. That book is yours now, by the way. Feel free to take notes in it or modify it as you see fit.


    T held up the book, even as she began reading snippets. Thank you. I can already tell Ill glean a lot from it.


    Lyns eyes twinkled. Oh, I hope so. I have high expectations for you, little T.


    T decided to ignore that, and absently let her feet follow where Lyn led, her eyes ravenously consuming the spell-lines, theory, and concepts outlined in the little book. <em>I should dedicate one of my notebooks towards spell-workings and copy out the relevant sections, adding in what was redacted, once I can examine the wagons themselves.</em>


    The workings were actually vastly moreplicated than simple dimensional expansion. They also prevented gravity from affecting the container based on the contents, while allowing the same to act on the contents within the expanded space, as normal. It was delicate work, but in the end, it meant that the wagons would function as if unloaded, while the cargo would still be held in ce as expected.


    <em>Clever. Im d Ive an understanding of gravity, too, or this would be vastly more difficult.</em> She supposed that it was easier to educate acking Mage on the basics of gravity than on dimensional distortion. <em>And I am familiar with both.</em> She smiled happily to herself.


    A criminally short timeter, Lyn pulled Ts attention back up. Here we are!


    Ts eyes reluctantly left the page before her, but as they did, she hesitated. Is Mistress Hollys shop in there?


    Before them rose a colossal, three-story building with a warehouse aesthetic. It wasnt dpidated, but it was clear that very little care had been taken for the outward appearance of the ce.


    It doesnt look like a great ce to establish a business in...


    Lyn chuckled. No, T. <em>This</em> is Mistress Hollys ce.


    T turned to her in confusion. How can she possibly need this much space?


    She has over a hundred apprentices, and there are ten full inscribers who also work under her direction with their own apprentices.


    T almost gaped.


    She isnt the only inscribing business in town, but nearly so. She has developed a special means of inscribing, which she manufactures here, and sells to inscribers in each of the fourteen cities. Lyn brushed back her hair. It has changed what is possible for Mages.


    <em>No wonder Lyn was confident I couldnt go elsewhere</em>


    Shall we?


    The three of them walked through the front door into a cozy waiting room, but before they could sit, an assistant bustled out from behind a sturdy desk. Mistress T?


    Um, yes?


    The assistant muttered something under her breath that T thought was: Heavens be praised. Then, she smiled widely. Wee! The Mistress has been expecting you. T thought she saw a bit of manic stress in that look. Please, right this way. She paused. Im to take your payment?


    T was hesitant, once again. Nheless, she took out five golden coins and handed them over.


    Thank you. The assistant ced the coins through a slot in a strongbox mounted to the wall. This way, please.


    T followed the woman down a wide, brightly lit hallway. The inside of this facility was a good deal nicer than the outside.<em> I suppose Holly isnt concerned with attracting clients so much as keeping them happy once theyre here?</em>


    Doors stood open to either side, and T was able to glimpse inscribing chambers, as well as what looked like nning rooms. Several of thetter hadrge ck-boards, covered with multicolored lines, depicting dozens of slight variations of different spell-lines. Some were crossed out, others had pieces circled, showing clear progressions through versions of possible schema. <em>How much effort do they put into each inscribing?</em> If she understood the scaling correctly, one of those rooms had been devoted to the discussion of spell-lines for a single shoulder. <em>Do those lines look familiar?</em>


    The implications were staggering. <em>And Holly said she would have my schema modified and ready in one day?</em> If shed seeded, Ts opinion of Holly would drastically rise above its already lofty heights.


    The assistant stopped outside the door at the end of the hall and gestured for them to enter.


    The room was fairly standard for an inscribers workroom. Afortable looking chair sat in the center, surrounded by lenses and lights to give the inscriber better vantage for their work. That said, there were a couple differences that were immediately apparent.


    First, the chair didnt seem to be set up to allow the upant to be face down, which was odd. <em>How will she inscribe my back?</em> Her keystone, thergest set of spell-lines, epassing and oveying her magical gate, was intact, between her shoulder des, but she would still need other work done across her back.


    Second, along the wall were racks upon racks of needles from half an inch long to nearly two feet in length. Each looked to be made of an intricate, if irregr, braiding of silver, gold, and copper.


    <em>What?</em>


    Holly was already in there, sitting on a stool in the corner where she hadnt been obvious. She stood, immediately. Good! Finally. Mistress T, have a seat.


    T nced towards Ashin. Um dont I need to undress?


    Holly waved a dismissive hand. Of course notunless you want to? Just set your things, especially anything iron, over to the side there. She hesitated before adding. Clothes are fine, iron is not. She indicated an empty shelf. Make sure to get it all. No buckles forgotten, dear!


    The assistant was already gone, though Ashin and Lyn had followed T inside.


    T obeyed, leaving her pack, satchel, and belt to the side. Her belt held her knife, so that was easy, and she had opted not to get shoes, so those, likewise, couldnt be an issue.


    Simple cloth fasteners on the garments? Good. That makes this easier. Im d you found an adequate tailor. Sit!


    T sat.


    Now. She nced at Lyn and Ashin. This will take a while. I assume all night, in fact, do you really want to stay?


    Ashin cleared his throat. No, Mistress. I will take my leave. He bowed slightly to each of them in turn.


    T waved to him, just before he departed. Wait, why did you stay so long, then?


    He gave her a quizzical look. I was asked to apany you and had not been dismissed.


    She opened her mouth, then hesitated. <em>Im going to have to learn better what is expected of me.</em> Ahh Well, thank you, Ashin. I appreciated the guidance, today.


    He gave her a second nod and a smile. Then, he was gone.

 Chapter 6: In Holly’s Workshop

    Chapter 6: In Holly¡¯s Workshop


    Now then, dear. Holly seemed to be ignoring Lyn. We need to test you.


    T frowned. I was tested for magicpatibility, before I went to the academy.


    Holly sighed. Your previous inscribers were eitherzy or uninterested. You should have had whoever designed the work on your hand do the inscription. He would have taken the time to test you.


    T cleared her throat. Im clearly missing something. Can you exin what you mean, then?


    In order to ensure your inscriptions are perfectly suited and tailored to you, I need to test your abilities. For some Mages, Id check their power flow: how fast they draw magic through their gate. Others, I would be most concerned about their aspect control: how many distinct aspects they can affect with one working. Others still, the thing Id need is power spread: the area or number of distinct targets they can affect with one working.


    She was nodding. And for me?


    For you, I need to check power density: how much power you can innately hold, within your physical form. You are quite young, so I assume we wont have too much to work with, but it is the most important aspect of your power for the inscriptions youve selected. Ive worked up several schema and inscribing ns, based on what we find. She pulled out a small stone te, carved and iid with silver spell-lines. I need a drop of blood, here.


    Wouldnt it have been easier to test this before making the ns?


    Holly blinked at her. Possibly? No. Not really. You are ignorant of my arts. Stop asking stupid questions.


    T felt Hollys mage-sight settle on her, in preparation for the test. <em>It was a perfectly valid question</em> T moved to prick her finger.


    STOP!


    T froze, the needle held just away from her finger. What?


    What are you doing?


    T frowned. Im going to get a drop of blood.


    No, silly girl, what are you doing in your body?


    T frowned, looking down at her finger. I dont know?


    Holly reached out and snatched the needle from her, using her other hand to grab Ts hand. You dont want me to prick you with this needle.


    Ok?


    Holly moved to stick Ts finger, and she tried to pull away, confused at what game Holly was ying. To her surprise, she couldnt free herself from Hollys grip, and the woman didnt even seem to be struggling. The needle hit Ts skin, pushing in to dimple the surrounding finger-padand stopped.


    Holly frowned. You dont have any inscriptions. She pushed harder, and the needle slipped in slowly.


    Ow! T pulled back her hand and sucked her finger. Holly had, presumably, released her.


    Holly handed the pin back to T, and T took it with a re. I dont see why I need She looked down at her finger. Shed sucked the blood off and revealed a clean finger. What?


    Holly was nodding. You were pulling power away from your finger on reflex, to allow the pin to stick you. Im now <em>very </em>interested in the results of this test. It seems that your body is limating to your chosen magics already. She waved a hand to dismiss Ts question, even as T opened her mouth to speak. Many people have tough skin, and many more will have their skin seal up from such a little stick. Both are well within the range of normal human beings, but it is still something. Go on. She held out the stone tablet, again, awaiting the drop of blood.


    T pricked her finger on the needle and held the finger over the stone.


    Now, put as much power into the blood as you are able, but please dont open your gate. We are measuring the power in your body, naturally. Dont hold back on me, now.


    T almost opened her gate on instinct, to draw power through her keystone. She resisted the urge, and instead gathered up the lingering power she felt within herself. <em>Okay. This is like signing a contract or giving her ess to my schema. </em>When her finger began to get ufortably tingly, shepressed the pad and a single drop of blood fell to the proffered te. <em>There we go.</em> She realized, after, that she hadnt wanted the pinprick to close this time, and it hadnt. She didnt really know how to feel about that.


    As the drop touched the te, it shed with power and turned from the normal red to copper, then silver, then finally became a softly glowing gold.


    Lyn blinked, seeming surprised, and she opened her mouth, but Holly held up her hand.


    She seemed quite serious, all of a sudden. I didnt ask for half measures. Give me all you can. After a moment she added. This isnt like essing your ounts, dear. The fools at the Academy didnt do this test because they assumed they knew the results, but the nuance is <em>important</em> if Im to inscribe you correctly. Open your gate for a moment, to equalize. Then, please, give it your all. She smiled, but T thought she saw a hesitancy in Hollys eyes.


    T frowned. <em>Fine, then. Not like a contract. </em>She threw her gate open and waited, not pulling in power, but not keeping it out either. A momentter, she felt the power equalize, and she closed her gate. <em>Ok. Lets do this.</em> She began to draw all the power in her body towards her finger, trying to wring every bit free, leaving nothing behind. Exhaustion swept through her, left in the wake of the departed power. Even as exhaustion settled in some parts of her, the path towards her finger was practically vibrating with nervous energy.


    <em>You want everything? </em>If she was being honest, T was curious, herself. <em>Here it goes!</em> She exerted her will and drew <em>all</em> the power that shed gathered into her finger as shepressed it, releasing another drop of blood.


    The action was much like throwing a perfect punch, kinesthetically connecting all the major muscle groups into a single blow. Except, in this case, she was doing it with her power.


    The energy left her in a rush, and the drop of blood seemed almost to tremble as it fell.


    Before it even reached the stone, it began to glow, shifting through copper, silver, and gold with barely a flicker of time presenting each metallic sheen, and as it struck beside the first drop it became iridescent, leaving the metallic look and flickering through uncountable colors in indescribable patterns, glowing all the while.


    T sagged back in her chair, exhausted. Satisfied? She opened her gate, allowing power to rush back into her, returning her bodys magic levels to normal. It took an ufortably long time.


    Lyn gaped openly.


    Holly simply stared at the shimmering drops. What did you do to yourself, child? Have you been casting in an iron coffin?


    Ts eyes flicked to her pack, where the bars of iron-dust salve would have been, had she not drastically underestimated the drying time. <em>That isan ufortably close guess.</em> Ummm Why?


    Lyn stepped forward. At your age, you should struggle to indicate silver. Such easy presentation of gold, as your first drop indicated, should onlye after a couple of decades of casting. That, She pointed to the still glowing, perfectly spherical drop of blood. That means that you are registering in the Archon range, for power density.


    The Archon range? T frowned.


    Holly gave Lyn a silencing look. It doesnt matter, yet. The time its taking you to re-equalize means that your power rate is vastly below your density. That is a weak point, it seems.


    T was examining the drop of blood, still on the stone tablet held before her. <em>Is it hovering, slightly off of the surface?</em>


    Holly nodded, seeming to decide something as she looked at T. Every Mage builds up power in their system with each casting, usually due to leakage, or poor inscribing. That excess power limatizes your body to itself, and over time it changes how much power you naturally hold. Higher power density results in more powerful spells, but can lead directly to magic poisoning, depending on the type of magic involved. She gestured with the stone in her hand. You seem to have kept <em>most</em> of the power of your castings inside of yourself. Forcing your body to drastically reshape its capacities. Her eyes narrowed. Is this why you only express from your hands? Do you wear some strange iron suit?


    Not exactly <em>I suppose I dont really have a choice.</em> She briefly exined about her iron-dust concoction.


    So, you basically coat yourself in a salve, impregnated with iron.


    Yes.


    The iron then settles into the topyers of your skin, making you resistant to direct magical expressions?


    Thats how it seems to work, yes.


    And you keep it off of your palms, so that you can express your own magic from there?


    Thats the theory. In practice, spell-workings seem unable to affect me, directly. Something created by magic can, and if I enter into a region already altered, I am affected by that alteration.


    Holly was nodding. Thus, a Mage or arcanous creature would need to fight you as if you were in a suit of full te armor, without the obvious visual clues, or the burdensome weight on you. She began tough. Child! You are either brilliant or lucky beyond count. She hesitated, herughter faltering. Given that this is the second facet of your magic to give me that feeling, Im beginning to assume brilliant. She looked T straight in the eyes. Any other type of Mage would have been dead from magic poisoning long before now, with your little trick. Even another Immaterial Guide would have obliterated themselves if they expressed from anywhere covered by this salve of yours. The iron-dust would have radiated a good portion of their spells back into their own body, causing havoc. You, though, She shook her head. You only have internal enhancements, thus having that radiant effect reflect back into yourself is only a benefit. Her eyes narrowed. This must have been excruciating, and quite tedious to enact.


    Tughed. Youve no idea.


    Holly smiled. Oh, child. I can guess. This required you to entirely scrub away the upperyers of your skin any time you needed your inscribing refreshed. Yes?


    T grunted affirmation.


    And before your teleportation?


    Another grunt.


    And you mentioned practice, so I imagine you were injured Holly sighed. You had to scrub your wounds clean, removing the impregnated skin before they could heal you as well.


    T nced away. Yeah. That was unideal.


    Holly was nodding again. Thats why you focused on the inscribings you did. Minimize injury in the first ce.


    <em>Thats one of the reasons. </em>She was not going to tell these two Mages that shed been enamored by warriors of old and sought to imitate them. T sighed. Fair enough. You clearly understand exactly what it took.


    Dont take my understanding as an insult, child. No one Ive ever heard of has done this before, and even knowing it works, I doubt any would be willing to do as you have. Holly smiled slightly. Only time will tell if it proves worth the pain. She turned to Lyn. Well, I will have to do this in much smaller stages, and only half right now. If I were to fully inscribe T, her body would tear itself apart. She has too much power going into her activations.


    T frowned.


    Holly turned back to her. Dont be like that. Well get you fully inscribed. She patted Ts shoulder. We just need to do it in stages, to let your systemspensate. She smiled. I was right to take this on, personally. You will be <em>perfect</em> when Im done.


    Ok so, how will this work?


    Holly held up one of the myriad needles. These, She swiped it at her own hand, through which it passed effortlessly. dont interact with normal matter, save at the handle. She wiggled it. The metallic ink flows through the center, and I can deposit the metal exactly where I need, without having to poke you full of a thousand holes. She hesitated. Millions of holes, actually.


    T frowned. That sounds


    Expensive? Yes. The needles dost for a full inscribing, once activated, but cant be used during more than one such. But it is the only way to work. She winked. Besides. Im not the one paying the bill.


    T sighed. Still, though, not having to deal with the pain of all those punctures


    We do need to discuss the alterations, so that the activation will go smoothly, once were done, here.


    T nodded. Shed expected as much.


    The effects should be nearly identical to your previous set, except the quickened signal speed will be constant; the inter- and intra-cellr bond augmentation will be more focused, only strengthening the bonds that are under stress instead of all bonds in the area; and the regenerative effects have been simrly focused. This will increase the speed of repair and strengthening, along with reducing the cost to you in power and inscription integrity.


    Understood. And the work on my right hand?


    Unchanged, save Im giving you more uses between re-inscribings. Well discuss your mage sight spell-linester. I will be adding in the deeper work on your head, too, but we can discuss the specifics as I work. Thest major change of note is that Ill be altering your keystone away from standard.


    That soundsdangerous? And expensive. The keystone represents the majority of any Mages inscribing.


    Most Keystones are designed to close, when the Mage is unconscious. It protects from magic poisoning, and idental triggering. The way your spell-lines are set up, that would be foolish. It will still cut power to spell-forms that take activation, but your passive magics, such as your enhancements, will receive power whether you are awake, asleep, unconscious, or in any other state.


    That sounds dangerous.


    Not especially, and definitely not inparison to the other risks were taking. She smiled. I wont modify your keystone beyond that, for now, but I imagine well have to tweak it a bit more, when youe back.


    T nodded, steeling her resolve. Alright, then. So, how many of those needles will you be using?


    As many as it takes for the various depths. Holly smiled before lifting the indicated tool. Well, this ones been activated, so times a wasting! Let us begin.


    Without warning, Holly thrust the needle into Ts neck. The needle itself didnt hurt, but as metallic ink was inserted within Ts skin, there was a <em>decidedly</em> unpleasant feeling of swelling, near to bursting.


    T almost whimpered.


    It was going to be a <em>long</em> night.


    * * *


    Hours had passed in abject difort, and it was somewhere in the wee hours of the morning.


    Ty with as much of herself under the water of her warm bath as she could manage, luxuriating in the heat and the subtle, pleasant smell of Epsom salt.


    Even so, she was miserable. While the inscribed needles removed the need for her skin to be pierced, they also didnt allow for any release of pressure when the ink was injected. Thus, much of her body felt like it was swollen, and it hurt to move. The soak was helping.


    Shed never truly understood why Epsom salt soaks helped with swelling, but she couldnt argue with the results.


    In addition to the mild bloating from the minimal amounts of metallic ink involved in her inscribings, her body was working to encapste such, isting the foreign elements and, in essence, enclosing the new material. This <em>also</em> caused swelling. Worse, she couldnt allow her gate to open or any power to enter the inscribings, or they would activate and begin, effectively, fighting the process, attempting to keep her body in the current state.


    She had <em>not</em> needed Hollys warnings to know how bad of an idea that was. At the academy, theyd simply activated the healing portion of her spell-lines first, which sealed everything nicely.


    There werent perforations to restore in this case.


    <em>I might actually hate Hollys way more</em> Though, it was <em>much</em> more precise and quite a bit faster.


    There was a rushing sound as the tub drained down to half, then refilled with new, hot, salted water, returning the temperature to her limit.


    T floated, forcing herself to stay awake so that her body wouldnt subconsciously allow power to flow through her.


    Two more cycles of renewing hot water came and went with no other discernible change.


    Then, as the water drained once more, Ts eyes opened, warily. <em>The tub is getting lower than before</em>


    She was about to sit up when what felt like a liquid snowbank was dropped upon her.


    She would have screamed, if her lungs would obey her.


    All sense of rxation vanished in a sh. Interestingly, the feeling of swelling drastically reduced as well.


    She vaulted to her feet, fighting every instinct she had and managed to keep her gate closed.


    Arms clutched tightly around her torso and chest, she turned and red at the woman standing in the doorway.


    Impressive control, T. Id have guessed you would open your gate at that.


    Ststill t-t-testing me? She began sloshing her way through flowing ice towards the side of the small basin, towards towels and warmth.


    I have to know your limits. Holly idly scratched at the indentation whichy at the base of her throat. I think youre ready for round two.


    T paused mid-drying. She looked down at herself.


    Her chest, upper legs, arms, and the back of her hands were covered in an intricatetticework of subtly metallic lines. The back of her right hand also had thirty golden rings, easily visible for her own reference. That way she couldnt miss how many castings she had remaining of her offensive spells.


    She could feel thettice on her back due to the remaining sense of swelling. It surrounded and even oveid her keystone spell-lines as well.


    Holly noticed Ts hesitation. Come dear, this round were doing from your neck up. The session after well tackle your hips, waist, and lower legs. I think that is all your body will be able to handle this time. When you return from your venture, well tackle the deeper workings, and those for your left hand.


    T nced at her bare left palm. Youll leave me half equipped?


    Youll be fine, dear. Ive increased your avable castings for your primary magics, so as long as you arent ridiculously unlucky there wont be an issue. Besides, you can get those refreshed on the far end, if you need.


    T grumbled, but not very loudly. <em>The price for magic. It is so much, yet so little. </em>She felt much warmer now. Well, then. Lets get to round 2.

 Chapter 7: The Old Made New

    Chapter 7: The Old Made New


    T had lost all sense of time.


    She was sure that they were done inscribing, for now, but she couldnt say how long that had taken, or how long it had been since that wasplete.


    She was surrounded by heat, however, so she did know that horror wasing.


    That lessened the rxing effects of the bath.


    Sure enough, an indeterminate timeter, she felt the bath fully drain, and she braced for the cial baptism.


    As it washed over her, she found that she didnt hate it quite as much as the first two times. Holly, however T hated Holly.


    <em>When can I sleep?</em>


    She sluggishly rolled out of the basin and onto the awaiting towel pile. Can I sleep, now? Her voice barely chattered from the cold, though it was muffled by the towels.


    Not yet, dear. Soon, though. We need to keep your gate closed for another hour or so, then you can rest.


    How long?


    T saw Holly frown out of the corner of her eyes. I just said: another hour. Are you quite alright?


    I heard yourusted jerkI meant She took several deep breaths, pulling her thoughts back to herself. how long have we been at this?


    Oh! Holly seemed to consider for a moment. Its been roughly a day since we began, and youve done splendidly. I feared that Id have to send you out with only the first sessionplete, thats why I crammed so much into that one. But you surpassed my highest expectations! She grinned down at T. We were able toplete all surface level inscribing, save your left hand, and all the inscribing above your neck.


    Why are you standing over me


    Why are you lying down?


    I want to sleep.


    Precisely. You cannot sleep, yet. Your subconscious would activate your keystone, opening your gate and undoing a great deal of work from ourst session. I will not allow that. She shook her head. That is just uneptable.


    T grunted. Food.


    Ahh, yes. Here it is. Holly gestured toward a small table off to one side.


    T didnt move. Instead, she opened her mouth.


    You-youre serious, arent you.


    Feed me, or I sleep.


    Holly sighed. And just like that, you remind me how much of a child you still are.


    T ndered Hollys good name, then added. Not very child-like, eh?


    Holly sighed, again. Oh, yes. I can think of nothing more mature than expressing your emotions via vulgarity. After a moment, she patted T on the shoulder. But Ill get you food. You have been through <em>much</em>, and much of it is unique, due to your particr inscribings and power density. She continued talking as she walked over to the table and retrieved a selection of foods. Rest assured, I am taking extensive notes, should anyone else consider this path.


    T epted the first bite of food gratefully but spoke around it. If anyone considers it, p them. Please?


    Holly snorted augh. She <em>snorted.</em> Ill admit, even if the results are spectacr, Im not sure Ill be willing to do this for anyone else. She frowned. I dont like to see my clients suffer. She put another piece of pastry into Ts mouth. Can you please sit up? I dont like treating you like an invalid, and you are beginning to make me nervousYou can move, cant you?


    T grunted, then sat up, pulling up a mass of towels to drape over herself.


    There you go. Much better.


    T red, but then her eyes slid down to the te of food in Hollys hand, and she sluggishly snatched it, devoting her limited thoughts to the consumption of the food. Your offering is epted. <em>For now.</em>


    Holly smiled and patted her on the shoulder again, through the towels this time. d youre up and moving. We can walk you to a back room where we have a bed, once youre done.


    T hesitated. I thought you said an hour?


    Holly hesitated. Hmmm Youre losing your perception of time, then? Definitely time to sleep.


    T frowned, continuing to eat and speak around the food. What does that mean?


    That was nearly two hours ago, dear.


    Oh. <em>Articte, T. </em>It made no sense. Shed only asked a moment agobut she didnt really care. Holly was going to let her sleep.


    She devoured the remaining food and stood, with Hollys help. They reced the towels with a robe, and true to her word, Holly led her to a back room and a bed.


    T was asleep before shey downliterally. As they entered the room, T nced at the bed and passed out. Thankfully, Holly was able to catch the other woman and lift her, bodily, into ce.


    Sleep well, dear.


    As if at the words, a pulse of power washed over T, originating from her back, from her keystone and the gate beneath.


    The spell-lines across Ts entire body red briefly to life, resembling nothing so much as spider-web-thin stained ss before a sunrise. The ripple of power and apanying light passed, then seemed to settle.


    T gasped loudly at the initial re but failed to rouse. As the power faded, reducing to a barely noticeable thrum, she breathed easier, seeming to drift into a deep, restful sleep.


    * * *


    Sleep left T slowly, as she became aware of the world around her.


    The soft murmur of dozens of voices tickled at the edges of her hearing. Though, they were overshadowed by a deep, regr <em>thump-thump</em>. The sound of great bellows filled the air around her every so often, almost seeming to be in sync with her breathing, and as she began to shift, wagonloads of fabric seemed to cascade around her.


    Her skin was alive with the feel of ten thousand canyons pressing against her flesh, and the alternating patterns of textured cloth and blessedly smooth air threatened to overwhelm her.


    Her eyes were closed, she knew they were, but she was still forced to look upon a greattticework of intersecting lines, harshly backlit: a stained-ss masterpiece, knit from flesh.


    The smell of her own clean skin could almost have been described as overwhelming, except that she could still easily discern the scents of linen, leather, wood, and oils from the bed in which shey. The odor of a dozen meals, of metal, of dust, of <em>people</em> underpinned it all, and she suddenly felt the overarching need to plug her nose to keep it out.


    She moved to do just that, but her arm responded too quickly, and she simply pped herself across the face.


    It <em>HURT</em>.


    Shed also, with that simple p, driven a miniscule amount of blood into her mouth. It <em>might</em> have been as much as a drop.


    Even so, the taste of blood bloomed, and suddenly, she could taste the inside of her own mouth, taste her teeth, and her gums, and her


    She couldnt take it.


    She drew in on herself, curling into a ball.


    Her knees mmed into her forehead quick enough to send her mind spinning, but she didnt change position; she did not allow herself to uncurl. Even so, her surprise caused her eyes to pop open.


    The world shattered into light.


    The room before her was rendered within her own mind in still images, her brain struggling to process the overabundance of information deluging her from her eyes, and for just a moment, her other senses were thrust aside as too much.


    She was still in the back room, in the spare bed on which Holly hadid her.


    Blessedly, her knees were blocking nearly half of her vision, though the intricacy of the hexagonally arranged spell-lines inscribed into them was, in and of itself, an abject agony in its quantity of information.


    Above her knees, she saw the door, closed, but with light streaming around the edges and through minute gaps. It was the only lighting into the room, but it was still too much.


    The wall was well stered and newly painted. There was some dust, here and there, but it seemed to have been cleaned recently. <em>Who dusts walls?</em>


    Some deep, animalistic part of her grabbed onto that, her first, truly coherent thought. <em>Who dusts walls?</em>


    Her eyes fixed on the door, T knew that it was opening, even though she didnt <em>see</em> it opening so much as notice that one side was suddenly slightly closer to her. And again closer. And closer.


    Ts other senses came crashing back, no longer able to be held back by her sight, and the light swelled as the door opened. Her mind, animalistic and sapient together, agreed: This was too much.


    She fell into the blissful, total nothingness of sleep.


    * * *


    T slowly came back to herself, hearing snatches of a hushed conversation.


    overwhelmed!


    cant believe


    no choice now


    Let her


    T groaned, and the sound was like the quaking of a mountain. Strangely, though, it didnt seem deafening. <em>How does that make sense?</em>


    She blinked her eyes open, staring up at the wooden beams above her. She could see the tool marks from where each had been worked, though she didnt know enough about woodworking to guess at how. The ceiling they supported had been stered and smoothed, but she could easily see the variations, textures, in the surface.


    <em>How am I seeing so much detail?</em> If that madwoman had inscribed her <em>eyes</em> there would be a reckoningIt was a ridiculous thought. Shed been conscious for the inscribing, and her eyes were untouched.


    <em>No Im not seeing more detail. Its more like</em> She hesitated. <em>Its like every instant is a painting that Ive had a week to study and find the details and patterns within.</em>


    This was <em>nothing</em> like it had been with her old inscribings.


    Voices reached her, loud enough that she felt like Lyn and Holly were each speaking straight into her ears. Strangely, there was a breathy quality to the words that made T think that they were whispering, despite the volume.


    Did you hear that?


    I think shes awake.


    T groaned again, and then shuddered at her own sound. <em>They must be sitting above my head. </em>She whispered back to them, her voice an avnche. Im awakeand hungry.


    They didnt respond.


    Should we go in? When I went in earlier, she reacted like it was a physical blow.


    I told you to give her more time. T could practically hear Holly rolling her eyes.


    <em>Wait, go in?</em> She twisted to look above herself, but somehow the motion threw her out of her own bed. She mmed into the hard floor and swore as pain equivalent to stubbing a toe blossomed across her elbows, knees, and forehead. She yelped, then twitched away from the pulse of sound, mming her head back against the bed that shed just fallen out of.


    Pain blossomed on the back of her skull, causing her to curl inward.


    Somehow, she remembered kneeing herself in the head before and pulled up short.


    The door burst open, flooding the room with harsh light, and Lyns voice boomed through the small space.


    Mistress T? Are you awake?


    T could see one of Lyns eyes, looking in through the slightly cracked door.


    T groaned, again, but kept herself from moving. <em>If I dont move, I cant hurt myself. Dont move, no more pain.</em> That was good mantra. <em>Dont move, no more pain.</em>


    Lyn put it to lie by opening the door wider, and pping T in the face with the full light ofnothing?


    Amp was lit on the far end of the hallway, but otherwise there was no source that T could see.


    Lyn seemed to see her on the floor, and she shrieked in horror and stomped across the floor to check on her.


    <em>Oh, she gasped and is likely tip-toing</em>


    Holly stood in the doorway, lines of concern clear across her face.


    Mistress T? Are you ok?


    T knew, now, that Lyn wasnt shouting. It didnt hurt her ears like shouting would have, but it was still <em>LOUD</em>. She groaned again and found herself more used to the sound. Im- Her own whispered voice sounded like a trumpet and seemed to rattle her skull. <em>Measured actions, T. </em>thirsty. <em>There, see? First steps.</em>


    Holly immediately seemed to rx, if only just. She spoke incredibly softly, but seemed to be intending for T to hear. Your mind is reframing your senses, dear. It will not cause you harm, but it will feel incredibly overwhelming. You are doing very, very well. Be patient and move slowly.


    Lyn had already stood, hurrying from the room. She returned shortly with a cup and pitcher of water.


    The rushing, rumbling waterfall that resounded behind Lyns filling of Ts cup was incredibly soothing.


    T tried to take the cup, but almost pped it from Lyns hand instead.


    Mistress Lyn, why dont you help her drink it.


    Lyn nodded and did just that, helping T to sit up and pressing the cup to her lips.


    What followed was, frankly, a humiliating night, in which the two women slowly helped T retrain her various senses and movements. Her system was thrown off, but it had also been enhanced, which allowed her to retrain it vastly more quickly than would otherwise have been possible.


    By the time dawn broke, T was able to stand and shuffle-step without tripping. Her first great voyage without assistance was outside to see the sun rise.


    Hey! Holly pped T on the shoulder. Your heart never stopped.


    T turned and red at the woman.


    Good for you, Mistress T.


    T grunted, and turned back to regard the city, softly glowing in the newborn, yellow-orange light. I think I might be happy if you died.


    Lynughed, and Holly snorted.


    Lyn ced a hand on Ts shoulder. Im impressed, Mistress T. With your magic saturation She shook her head. I would not want to be under the influence of your enhancements. The fact that you are limating so quickly...


    T sighed. Is testament to Mistress Hollys inscribings on my mind.


    Holly snorted, again. Capacity does not equal capability, girl. Nor does it grant the ability to persevere.


    What does that even mean?


    Holly smiled. It is like a carpenter in a fully functioning smithy: He has the strength to do the work; he has all the tools; but unless he is persistent, and practices, he will never make anything but a fool of himself.


    T grunted. I suppose.


    Lyn chimed in, again. Besides! You didnt close your gate <em>once</em> while we were working, or even before we came to help you. That would have shut off the flow of power and greatly reduced what you were experiencing as your power density dropped.


    Holly nodded and continued the thought. It would have slowed your adjustment, and likely would have made it worse for you in the long run, but it took strength to avoid that.


    T stared at them for a long moment, before looking away. Ummyeah. Thank you.


    Lyns mouth opened in a silent Oh, and Hollyughed. Youpletely forgot you could do that, didnt you.


    T red at her, again. It wasnt exactly in the front of my thoughts, no. She grumbled, looking away.


    When she looked back up, both Lyn and Holly were grinning at her.


    I kind of hate you two, right now.


    Oh, we know, dear. Holly patted her on the arm, yet again.


    Lets get breakfast. Hate is always harder over breakfast. Lyn began leading T away, not waiting for a reply.


    Blessedly, she was right. Everything seemed better over breakfast.


    * * *


    T, being broke, relied on the charity of her tormentors, or friends as they likely saw themselves.


    They refused to help her walk, insisting that she needed to retrain the movements and any further assistance on their part would slow her readjustment to her own body.


    Her mood had not been improved when it turned out they were seemingly correct. By the time they reached a cozy breakfast eatery, T was walking with her usual, steady, Mages grace. In fact, it seemed easier to keep her bnce than it had before, now that she was more used to her passive enhancements.


    The deep fried, sausage-and-egg-filled donuts <em>did</em> improve her mood, as did the rich, smooth, ck coffee. <em>Worth every copper I didnt pay.</em>


    Coffee was a habit shed avoided, as the crop required magical climate control of vast underground growing rooms to properly ripen. Grown on that scale, it wasnt <em>too</em> expensive, but it was still a delicacy. Some people did drink it every day, but she supposed that some drank wine every day too, and the cost was roughly equivalent. She usually abstained from both, barring special asions.


    This was a special asion.


    Holly had not, in fact, inscribed Ts tongue, but she had added spell-lines with increasedmunication speed and information density throughout her entire nervous system. Thus, she felt, smelled, tasted, and heard <em>more</em> without actually taking in additional input.


    Lyn and Holly hadnt been feeding her gruel, but the breakfast donuts and coffee were so rich and full of wondrousness that T felt they might as well have been.


    In retrospect, they had likely chosen to bring her more nd foods to reduce at least one aspect of her sensory overload. In that light, it was almost kind.


    As the three of them sat around a small table, outside the little caf, T did <em>not</em> grumble to herself, deciding, instead, to enjoy her food.


    After long minutes of such enjoyment, she opted to break the silence. SoHow long has it been?


    Lyn smiled. You missed four full days. You''re due to check in at the work-yard tomorrow, for departure in three days from now.


    T nodded. Shed lost fewer days than shed feared and recovered much faster than she would have expected. Why is everything so muchmore intense than with the inscribings I had before?


    Holly answered from Ts other side. Inscription design. First, by covering all of your skin, curves included, she quirked a smile, the efficiency and power of the spells were increased. Additionally, those you had before only activated when your heart rate increased, which was usually apanied by massive adrenaline spikes. The adrenaline would have both protected your mind from some of the harshness of the increase and convinced your body that it wasnt something to adapt to.


    T nodded. I think I can see that.


    Holly rested her hand on her own upper chest. In addition, I was able to make better use of your prodigious magical density. Your old schema was simply skimming off the surface. The new design funnels the majority into your workings. Our upper limit on the always active scripts was still your power umtion rate otherwise wed run you dry, but even so there was room for a marked increase.


    T frowned. Wouldnt Mages always want their inscribings to make use of all their power? Why would any design leave power unutilized?


    Lyns smile shifted, just slightly, towards patronizing. Mistress T, more power doesnt mean better, for most magics. Imagine throwing the full power at a Mages disposal behind Mage-sight? Id see every trace of magic within fifty miles, and my mind would overload.


    T found herself nodding, again. Right, precise use of power is much more important than the amount of power used.


    Except in your case. Holly took a bite of her own donut. The inscribings we worked for your enhancements are meant to be overtly powerful. The finesse is from you, and how you learn to use your body, thus holding back in the empowerment really didnt make sense.


    Huh. T nced to the two women. I suppose that makes sense.

 Chapter 8: Delivery and New Sight

    Chapter 8: Delivery and New Sight


    T looked from Lyn to Holly. Speaking of mage-sight


    Ahh, yes. I left off the four connection points that will activate that portion of your inscribing. I thought it better to not add that on top of everything else. Additionally, we still need to discuss the changes, adding to the wisdom of the dy.


    But I should just be able to activate She hesitated, then sighed. You made that a passive enhancement as well, didnt you.


    Holly grinned. Of course! Once connected and activated, it will show you any magic source you focus on, but otherwise only bring new, or changing, sources of magic to your awareness. It is really quite genius.


    If you do say so yourself, Lyn muttered under her breath just before taking a sip of coffee; T heard it perfectly.


    T grinned, but then turned back to Holly. Why?


    Many a Mage has been undone because they didnt know to activate their mage-sight, or because they were overwhelmed by the information provided, as Lyn implied. This gets around that problem.


    T was unconvinced. So, why doesnt everyone use your method?


    Because, without the mental enhancing inscriptions, which we added to you, their mind would pop like an egg thrown at a wall.


    Vivid.


    Holly shrugged. urate.


    So, my enhancements will allow for this?


    Based on my calctions.


    T had been about to take another bite, but she paused. Say again?


    From everything I can determine, you should be fine.


    You could just say, Yes.


    That would be a lie. I strive for honesty with my clients.


    T set her donut aside, cleaned off her hands, and then rubbed her face. How can you not know? She pointed at her own cheek, where she presumed that the spell-lines were waiting activation. They are already on my face, Mistress Holly. How can you not know?


    Because no one else has been quite like you, dear. This is all new.


    T groaned. She did have a moment of reflexive relief that groaning didnt cause any difort.


    In a strange turn, Lyn patted T gently on the back. Based on the brief contact, T noticed a ring she hadnt taken note of, before. Through Ts distraction, she still heard Lyns reassurance. Think of it this way, Mistress T: Would you prefer someone who takes a risk, all the while assuring you it was perfectly safe, or someone who was perfectly aware of the risks, honest about them, and actively worked to reduce them?


    She sighed. Fine. A moments thought brought to mind a memory of Lyns ring, as shed obviously seen it earlier. It was <em>incredibly</em> disconcerting for T, remembering something, in vivid detail, that she hadnt noticed before. She twisted, looking at Lyns hand, and confirming the ring was as shed expected. Whats with the ring?


    Lyn blinked at her. ItsIts just a ring. Ive had it for years. She frowned. Youve never seen me without it.


    Holly was grinning. Shell be noticing things she missed, before. The ring is likely just the first she vocalized.


    T was staring at the ring, seemingly unable to divert her attention, as her mind showed her a dozen memories of Lyn, all including that ring. How did I


    Not notice, dear?


    Yeah. It seems so obvious.


    Each of us is blind to some things. You just didnt take note of it.


    T looked at the woman and was suddenly struck by the weariness in her. Hollys posture was good, but not as perfect as when T had first met her. Her intricate inscribing was darker beneath her eyes, and there were subtle lines across her features. Mistress Holly? Are you alright?


    The older woman blinked at her. YesAhh I see you are actually beginning to use your increased perception.


    You look exhausted.


    She smiled. Oh, I am. Ive gotten some sleep since we began, but not much. As soon as we discuss your mage-sight and activate it, I n to sleep for She thought for a moment, thenughed. For as long as I can, probably.


    Well, we should get to it, then. T took thest two bites of breakfast in a single mouthful and washed it down with the remains of her coffee. Ts eyes swept over Lyn, and she noted that she could now take a better guess at the other womans age. <em>Twenty-five. She has a full five years on me.</em> That was a funny thought; Lyn acted like a peer, but she also acted like she was Ts mother.


    Honestly, T felt a bit foolish. Any Mage,cking a master as Lyn clearly did, would have had to finish their time as a mageling, which could take anywhere from three to ten years. The fact that Lyn was still so young, and a full Mage, spoke very well to her abilities.


    <em>How will I be perceived? I skipped that whole process</em> She wondered if she would ever learn all that she would have under a master. <em>No going back, now.</em>


    Standing, T looked down at her twopanions. Shall we?


    They smiled up at her, and she could easily see their agreement and care in the expressions. <em>I am luckier than I knew.</em>


    Holly and Lyn stood almost as one, their smiles still ying across their faces.


    Yes. The quicker we get back to my shop, the sooner I can sleep.


    * * *


    They were back at the front of Hollys warehouse, door open for re-entry, when a mans voice interrupted them, Mistress T! Wait a moment. T heard a power behind the voice; the volume wasnt great, but the words carried clearly and easily across the distance. The tone and intonation denoted control and ready strength.


    She turned and saw Ashin striding across the road, several packages in hand.<em> Noticing things that I havent noticed before isodd. </em>She quirked an eyebrow. Guardsman?


    He smiled slightly, his eyes flicking to her face, arms, and bare feet, seeming to take in her new inscribings. Your apothecary was quite distraught when you didnt return to im your items. He lifted the few small packages slightly, indicating their contents.


    Oh! Thank you. She stepped forward quickly to take them from him. Once the packages were in hand, she paused. He didnt leave, or say anything, and her newly prominent senses were screaming at her that he was feeling suddenly awkward. T nced at Lyn. ImIm not certain if anything else is required? Id offer him a fee, for carrying the packages for me, butIm broke.


    Ashin reddened. I am right here, Mistress.


    T turned back to him. Im hardly going to ask you if its appropriate to give you money.


    His red features darkened. Are you implying that I would lie? His hand seemed to be drifting towards his sword, but the motion struck her as subconscious. <em>Interesting. He has an unconscious reflex to be ready to defend his honor with violence, but not an immediate drive towards such.</em>


    No, of course not. Just that She hesitated. <em>I had been concerned that hed lie</em> That was a bit uncharitable, she supposed. I apologize for the offense. Ive had a taxing few days. Is there anything else I can do for you?


    Ashin took a deep breath and seemed to wrangle down his own emotions, bringing his hands forward to sp in front of his waist.


    T began looking through the packages, moving paper wrapping aside to look in. She frowned. <em>This isnt right.</em> There were fewer parcels than there should have been.


    After letting out his breath, Ashin bowed slightly. He asked me to convey-


    T spoke over him. These dont look right, the bars are too heavy, and there is far too little iron left. What did he do, add lead?


    Ashins eyes tightened in clear irritation. As I was <em>trying</em> to say He took another calming breath. He asked me to convey that he has modified your recipe. He included several emulsifying agents to help the iron bind to the other ingredients more easily. Thus, he was able to increase the amount of the dust in each bar, without changing the other properties of the end result. Therefore, He emphasized thatst word. The bars will be heavier than expected, and more of your iron dust was used.


    T closed her mouth and grunted. Ahh.


    He held out a slip of paper to her. The altered recipe. He said that it should allow a greater amount of the iron dust to bind to your skin, as well.


    She took it and examined the careful, precise script. Huh clever. She nodded. This <em>is</em> better. <em>Ill have to thank him personallywhen I have funds to add to the words.</em> Thank you, Ashin.


    His smile was a bit strained. Im d it meets with your approval, Mistress.


    She rolled her eyes. If that is all, we are about toplete our work for the day. She hesitated. You are wee to observe, I suppose.


    He reddened visibly, again, but this time with obvious embarrassment, as he tried to stammer out a reply.


    Lyn sighed, giving a little wave to grab Ashins attention. The inscribing is on her face, Ashin. No nakedness required.


    Holly sighed. No nakedness is ever required, when I work.


    Lyn shushed her with a dismissive hand wave. Irrelevant.


    But true.


    Lyn fixed Holly with a look that made it quite clear what Lyn thought of <em>that</em>.


    Holly huffed. Fine. He wants to watch Mistress Ts mind pop, who am I to argue?


    Ts head whipped back to face Holly. What? You said that wouldnt happen.


    It wont, dear. She turned to Ashin. Would you care to watch?


    Ashin was looking between the three women, and slowly stepping backwards. His off hand was resting, solidly, on his swords hilt. II think I will be about my business. Thank you, though. Then, as if fearing being forced to stay, he turned and strode away, clearly going as fast as he could without moving into a disrespectful jog.


    Lyn grinned. Hes such a good boy. She nced towards T. Dont you think so?


    T shrugged. Dont know him that well. She looked to Holly. Shall we?


    * * *


    So, Mistress T. You understand how your new mage-sight will work, as well as the other changes?


    Everything will light up, and I will see all the magic around me in one brilliant instant, then it will fade, and only new or changing sources will be presented to meor the initial burst will fry my brain.


    Holly quirked a smile. Unlikely. I need you to repay me for all this work, after all. She hesitated. Also, we have reparative scripts that <em>should</em> repair any damage in your brain. She held up a forestalling hand. But there wont be any, so they wont be needed. She smiled.


    I feel so loved.


    You should. No one loves you like your banker or your creditors. The inscriber winked.


    Lyn leaned in. Mistress T, we hardly know you. <em>Of course</em>, we care more for you as an investment than as a person. Her eyes were twinkling, and T hoped that was meant to put the statement to lie. I can assure you. I would be quite aggrieved to lose my investment.


    You two are kind of mean.


    They smiled back at her. You are quite a lovely person, dear, but friendship takes more than a few days.


    T sighed. Fine, but sometimes pretty lies are better than hard truth.


    Lyns smiled widened. Oh, they are <em>always</em> better, but never for the hearer, not in the end, and only a coward takes the easy way out.


    T found herself oddlyforted by the sentiment. Iuhthank you, Mistress Lyn. She smiled.


    Lyn nced at Holly. Go fast. I dont want to be overly distraught if this fails, and shes growing on me.


    I hate you.


    Like the older sister who stole your favorite dress?


    T didnt have a response to that, and Holly was quick to capitalize on her hesitation.


    With four quick, painless jabs, Holly left T with four new, swelling additions to her spell-lines.


    Power moved through the spell-forms on her face, and the world <em>rippled</em> before her sight.


    Every stone in Hollys wall, behind the ster, flickered with earthly power. The boards affixed to the stones seemed almost to grow before her vision, before settling down. They were not so old as to have lost their connection to nature, and the power of life was quite evident within, though dimmed by time. The ster, coating and covering the wood had shes both of water and stone through it, just like the paint that finished the surface, though thetter had more water in the mix than the former did.


    Each needle on Hollys wall screamed at Ts sight, proiming their purpose, and as they were all made toward the same purpose, the unified voice was a chorus to shake the heavens.


    Licks of power danced through the air: heat, movement, life, and so much more.


    Then, her eyes fell upon Lyn, and she <em>knew</em> the womans power.


    As an Exchequer, Lyn had extensiveworks of spell-lines across her entire body, all tuned towards the acquisition, processing, and storage of information. <em>Immaterial Creator.</em> The womans quadrant was obvious.


    None of her scriptings were active, but they were still readily apparent, even as the womans life and magical power showed from between the spell-lines. The lines, themselves, had a familiarity to them, and T realized that they bore Hollys distinctive style.


    Even so, the wholistic view, coupled with Ts own ease of intake and processing, left her with an ufortable realization.


    <em>If I struck there,</em> Her mind seemed to highlight a cluster of crossing lines, just inside of Lyns right shoulder, <em>I could disable, or overwhelm, her entirework of spell-forms.</em>


    T tried to turn her head but realized that she couldnt. Her perception was, momentarily, moving much much more quickly than normal.


    She was able to shift her focus, even so, and then her sight beheld Holly.


    Thoughts bearing words paled, and any attempt at description was rendered utterly inadequate to convey the overpowering radiance of the womans spell-lines, and the power and intricacies there-in. It was more than that, though. There almost seemed to be power in the air around Holly, which made no sense. <em>She has spell-lines that arent a part of her body?</em><em>How?</em> Taken as a whole, it was a tapestry of utter mastery, meticulously constructed on a bright yellow canvas.


    Ts mind simply couldnt hold, let alone understand, theplexity and depth.


    That simple nce caused her consciousness to flicker, and she was left with a hole in her memory and a single-word impression.


    <em>CREATE</em>.


    T could not have stated what quadrant Holly was. T wondered if shed ever find out, if the woman didnt choose to share that information.


    After the flicker of mental ckness, her perception seemed to return to a normal pace, and she was able to turn her head, scanning her surroundings more fully.


    Each item was briefly highlighted, and their marginal magical affinities noted.


    Nothing was surprising to her, or even new, as shed always known the inherent connections all things had to various aspects of power. She''d sometimes even seen those, in the past.


    After a long minute, during which Holly and Lyn regarded her carefully, if silently, T finally smiled. I thinkI think Im adjusting.


    Lyn let out what seemed to be a long-held breath. Good. I like this robe. She gestured down at her cream colored, Mages robe. Id hate to have it soiled by exploding heads. After a moments hesitation, she amended. Well, <em>an</em> exploding head.


    Holly sighed. As I exined. The bursting would have been entirely internal. The most wed have seen was some bleeding from her eyes.


    T cleared her throat. SoWere clear?


    Holly smiled. We are. We wont do the deeper dimensions of your inscriptions on the rest of your body until you return, and well save the tailored inscriptions on your internal organs for some time after that. She hesitated. Maybe, well do it at the same time. Well have to see. She smiled.


    T spun her right forefinger in a circle in the air. Yay! I cant wait.


    Just then, a form walked into range of her mage-sight, across and behind the closed door. T could tell by theck of strictly patterned, concentrated aura, that they were un-inscribed, but even so, she was able to see traces of power looping through them in flowing circuits. The circuits had an odd look, as if they were spell-lines, but of a different metal and design than any shed yet seen.<em> Is that their circtory system?</em>


    She followed the form as it passed. Initially, it had begun to slowly fade, as her mage-sight determined that shed seen it, but as she maintained her focus, keeping her gaze locked on the movements, it became clear once again.


    Huh.


    Holly and Lyn were looking at her strangely. Dear? Are you alright?


    T kept following the person with her sight as they continued on their way. Yes. A person came into range, beyond the wall, and I could see them.


    Holly nced at the door, then back at T. Through the wall? Are you sure?


    T nodded, still not turning. And Im still seeing them, even though they are close to three times as far away, now, as when they first came into sight.


    That part makes sense. If you focus on something, no matter the distance, your mage-sight will show the magic of it, but She hesitated. Is it clear? Are you sure your eyes arent tricking you?


    T quirked a smile. I can count their heartbeats, if you want. She nodded. Im sure.


    Focus on me, Im going to go through the door, and I want to know if you can tell what I am doing.


    T allowed her gaze to leave the target, and it immediately vanished. She nced towards Holly but made sure not to focus on her. Ummm Id rather not. Youre kind of painful to look at.


    Holly blinked. I think I should be insulted.


    Ts smile grew. I <em>meant</em> that your magic is incredibly bright. It overwhelmed me for a moment there. Theres also a strange underlying hue to the whole thing. Do you have spell-lines in the air around you? How is that even possible?


    Hmmmm Holly scratched the side of her face. You were still adjusting Would you be willing to try again? She did not answer any of Ts questions.


    T hesitated, then nodded. <em>If Im looking at it, I can ask more pointed questions. </em>I suppose so. She allowed her focus to fall on Holly, and the woman immediately began to glow, her spell-lines bing easily visible, even through her clothing. The light began to be painful, but something within T seemed to shift, and while she could tell the power, as she perceived it, was continuing to grow, it was no longer difficult to take in. Interesting. I can see now. <em>It looks different than before, and it also seems a little hazy?</em> She smiled. Material Creator? Are you doing something to shield your magic?


    Thats right, I began my career as a Material Creator. As to the second, thats not your concern right now.


    There was too much in that answer to unpack at the moment, so T decided to press on with the matter at hand. Are <em>all </em>your spell-lines bent towards the understanding and enacting of inscribings? <em>All those I can see. It sounds like shes masking or altering how she looks to me.</em>


    It is my life, dear.


    <em>Its more than that</em>. Portions of Hollys magic were devoted to connecting with various knowledge archives. Most inscribers that T knew of would use tablets, or other such items, empowered for the purpose; Holly used herself. It was less materially efficient, for that specific task, but T would bet herst copper that it saved Holly a great deal over-all in time, metal, and power. I dont understand all the archive functions.


    Hollys eyes widened, just slightly, and T saw power ripple through the lines around the older womans eyes. Those are on my ribs, dear. You can see them?


    Yes. But what is the-


    Holly ced her hand over Ts mouth, cutting her off. Holly then cleared her throat. That is not something we should discuss. Maybe when we know each other better Her eyes flicked to Lyn, then to the door. And when we can have time to talk alone.


    Lyns eyes narrowed, but she seemed to decide not to say anything.


    Hollys hand came away, and T shrugged. As you wish. Shed decided not to press. <em>The Core Archives does sound like something without wide ess.</em> She found herself grinning. <em>If Holly inscribes administrative Mages, it would not have been difficult for her to give herself those same magics. I wonder how many such secrets she has made use of over the years?</em> There was something more. The fact that shed seen something real, which Holly didnt expect, meant that she wasnt being deceived by what she saw, at least not entirely. <em>Maybe, Holly is just hiding the spell-lines in the air?</em> The underlying yellow hue was also missing, now. <em>Ill figure it out eventually, I suppose.</em>


    Holly was watching T carefully, but when the younger girl didnt say more, Holly nodded. Very well. It seems that your mage-sight will be even more useful that wed thought, if it can pick up power even through solid objects. You <em>should</em> receive some sort of signal if magic pops up, or changes, outside of your line of sight, but Ive honestly no idea how that will manifest, or if there is some sort of threshold involved.


    T nodded. I was wondering about that. The schema we discussed seemed to have allowed that. It almost looked like it would take a threshold to open that portion of my sight, but afterwards it would function much the same as that within my normal vision.


    Could be. That was my hope, but poor is the fool who counts on hopes and wishes. If that is how you understood it, then thats the most likely way it will function.


    Lyn cleared her throat. As wonderful as this is, I think that T is due a good night of sleep in a normal bed. She nced to T. Can you apply youriron, at my house? After a moment she added. I would prefer if there werent any cleanup required, when you are done.


    T nodded. Absolutely. Ive gotten very practiced at keeping the iron contained. The Masters at the academy were <em>quite</em> cross, until I was able to perfect the process. In truth, theyd never approved, but at least theyd stopped ting her for punishment, after shed stopped contaminating random parts of the school.


    In that case, we should be off. Lyn turned and gave Holly a half bow. Mistress.


    Holly bowed tiredly in return. Mistress. Until next time.


    T bowed as well and came up smiling. Thank you, Mistress Holly. I suppose I will see you in just over two weeks!


    See that you do. Holly winked. Take care, child.


    I will.


    Without another word, T and Lyn departed, heading for Lyns home and a good nights sleep.

 Chapter 9: It’s Just Glue

    Chapter 9: It¡¯s Just Glue


    T bid Lyn a good night and checked on her gear, which had been stored in Lyns guest room. It rested in a small pile in one corner, on the poured stone floor.


    Before she began sorting her items, she went to Lyns washroom, filled the tub, and lit the prebuilt fire with her fire striker. The fire striker was a simple stone rod, as long as her finger, with copper scripting lines on the outside and a spark lizard tongue powering it. It was cunningly constructed, so that she could expect close to three minutes of use. She could turn the device on or off, by rotating a small wooden pin, to either align, or breach, the scripting. When it was on, an eight-inch jet of me was sustained from the tip.


    It had cost three silver, but shed never been good at starting fires with flint and steel, so it had seemed a reasonable expense.


    With her bath heating, she returned to the room and sorted through her pack.


    <em>I should get my sleeping situation worked out.</em> Estimating that it would be five minutes at least before the water was sufficiently warm, she got out the base for the bed she would use in theing weeks.


    Arge tarp of ovepping, stitched, and waxed leather. It was two feet longer than she was tall and simrly wider than she needed, to provide afortable border around her in the night. <em>I want to get silver and gold inscribing stitched into it, relying on my own gate, but that will be at least a gold ounce, or two</em><em>Holly could likely do it without the difficulty of stitching, just inscribing the leather as she would my skin, but Id guess that that would be even more expensive</em> The extra protection would likely be worth it, but she was racking up quite a few expenses that were worth it.


    She decided to ask, and took out a loose piece of paper, penning the beginnings of a note to Holly, detailing her ideas.


    Once the note was started, she turned her attention back to the fully spread tarp. She stepped around it, inspecting the craftsmans work. Shed not been able to fully look over the piece when she purchased it, but Ashin had spoken well of the mans products, so she hadnt quibbled. <em>He was right.</em> The seams were tight and subtle, meaning they wouldnt add to the bumps of the ground, and shouldnt allow any water toe up through. The man had also stated that there was ayer of woolen batting inside the leather, to aid in sleep on rough terrain. From the cushioned feel of the tarp, it was well made and evenly spread throughout, as well. The only exception was that, in the center of the tarp, just more than a foot from one edge, a portion of thicker padding was evident. It was a pillow of sorts, though much tter than any shed find in the cities.


    As she considered her purchase, she realized that the leather was a bit wider than the bed, which stood beside it, and just a few inches longer. She frowned at that. <em>Im not </em>that<em> much shorter than average</em> She sighed. It wasnt important.


    She pulled out a quilted woolen nket and centered it on the leather,pleting her padding. Above that, she had a linen lined woolen nket, sewn into a sort of envelope, so she didnt risk sticking out, regardless of her movements through the night. It was apparently amon design, used topensate for theck of any sort of mattress to tuck bedding around.


    <em>This might be a bit excessive</em> But it wasing into full autumn, and it might be quite cold. <em>I suppose Ill see how my preparations stack up.</em> Ashin had been skeptical, but he hadnt argued over any of her choices. <em>Does that mean they were wise, or he wasnt willing to speak up</em>


    She sighed. No use second guessing, now.


    <em>I should get used to this, before my trip.</em> She nced at the bed.<em> Besides, I dont want to get iron all over Lyns linens.</em>


    She stepped across the hall and verified that the water was close to the right temperature. She banked the fire, closed the window, and grabbed one of the bars of iron salve on its stick, along with a small jar.


    Finally ready, she stripped and climbed into the bath, sinking down into the water and letting the heat seep deeply into her. Knowing that shed not want to bathe too often until she reached the destination city, she took a long time to get thoroughly clean.


    By the time she was done, the air in the washroom was quite warm as well, between the low burning fire and steam from the hot water.


    She took great care to dry herself off. When that wasplete, she took the little jar and removed the lid. Affixed inside the lid was a little brush, which she used to carefully spread the thick white liquid on her palms and the inside face of her fingers and thumbs. It was a glue, which dried quickly, and maintained flexibility once dry.


    Thatplete, she ced the lid back on, but couldnt seal it easily. T held her hands carefully spread, moving them through the air as the glue dried. It only took a few minutes before it was no longer tacky, and she was able to reseal the jar fully.


    That done, she took up the salve bar by the handle and began rubbing it across her back. Her warmth allowed the salve to spread across her skin easily in a thinyer, and she worked it in across all her skin, pressing it in, and helping it get absorbed. She took care around her eyes to coat the skin without getting the salve in where it didnt belong.


    Finally, she worked it through her hair, coating it lightly, but making sure each strand stayed separate.


    When that wasplete, she opened the window and allowed the warm air to escape, cooling the washroom quickly.


    As the air cooled, she continued to work the salve into her skin and hair, using ab and brush to keep her hair from affixing to itself.


    Nearly an hour after she had started, she was shivering from the cool air, but finished.


    She examined herself in the full-length mirror, taking in her darkened skin, now with a subtle grey-tint, and her utterly ck hair. Her hair had always been a deep brown that was <em>almost</em> ck, but the iron impregnated salve had finally tipped it into true ck.


    As she focused on herself, she felt her mage-sight activate, but though she could still see hints of her inscribing beneath her skin, she couldnt see any magic flowing through her. Her gaze panned over herself from toe to head, and when her gaze met her own eyes, she stepped back in shock.


    Her eyes were <em>zing</em> with power, as if the glow which should have been evident across her entire body had been collected and concentrated to shine from her eyes, alone.


    She looked closely around her eyes, and she could see the spell-lines worked into her eyelids, which contained wards against magics acting on her through her sight. It was one-way, though, and didnt prevent her own magic from shining out.


    The effect wasterrifying, if she was being honest. In the past, once she was coated in the iron salve, shed been unable to see power in her own spell-lines, but her eyes had never glowed like this, under her mage-sight. <em>Is this an increased sensitivity in my mage-sight, or is it an amplification of power in my inscribings?</em> Likely, it was both.


    <em>Well, were in it now, T. Lets hope no one mistakes us for an arcane. </em>She grinned to herself.


    There was a brief flicker of a memory, ck skin, white teeth, and blood, but it was nothing more than a passing fancy, dismissed even before it had fully passed through her mind.


    It was time to sleep. She dressed, crossed the hall, and slipped into her bedroll on the floor.


    T was immediately d for her purchases, and quickly drifted off into afortable sleep.


    * * *


    T was poked.


    She groaned and rolled over.


    More pokes.


    T pulled her nket over her head and grunted. Go away.


    Mistress T. Get up.


    <em>Is that Lyn?</em> T sat up, ring.


    Lyn was near the door, a handkerchief over her nose and mouth.


    Mistress Lyn?


    You reek of iron


    T nced down and saw that the other woman was holding a broom, the flicker of life magic momentarily evident, indicating that it had a wooden handle. T blinked several times, trying to process that. Diddid you poke me with a broom?


    Im not going to touch you.


    T looked at the window behind her, still dark. Why are we awake?


    You said you needed another hour or two this morning, before we left, for more iron or something.


    T scratched her forehead, trying to clear her thoughts. A healthy amount of iron dust trickled down into herp.


    Thank you, by the way, for not using the bed.


    T red, but Lyns smile seemed quite genuine. Finally, the younger woman grunted, again. Happy to help.


    Lyn chuckled to herself, but T heard it easily. Well, Im going to go grab us breakfast. When I get back, we can eat and head to the work-yard.


    <em>Right! I need to empower the wagons, today.</em> With a sigh, she pushed herself to her feet and brushed herself off. She then shook out her clothes, allowing the dust to fall into her woolen envelope.


    When the trickle had all but stopped, she did her best to empty the nkets onto her tarp, and from there, it poured easily into a little pouch.


    Her ma gathered up the remainder of what she could find.


    That done, she stripped and moved through her stretches and workout. <em>Gotta keep in shape.</em> Heavens help her if Holly had to modify the inscribings because of a few extra pounds.


    Now sweaty, she re-lit the fire in the washroom, and repeated her tasks from the night before. Though, this time, she only had to use a very small amount of the liquid glue to touch up the edges and cracks on her palms and fingers.


    Roughly an hourter, shed finished applying the nextyer of iron salve and working it in. The now open washroom window showed the barest hints of dawns first light, and T thought she heard Lyn out in the front room.


    Freshly ironed and dressed, T strode out into the sitting room to find breakfast, coffee, and Lyn.


    T grinned. I think I love you.


    Lyn held out a mug and te. I get the feeling that your love and hate are rather freely given.


    T took the offered sustenance and narrowed her eyes in an approximation of a re, even as she kept her smile. And quickly taken away, when appropriate.


    You better not leave. There is <em>no</em> way any other Mage would take your room now.


    T paused only having taken a small sip. I knew it.


    I dont know what youre talking about. Lyn took her own breakfast and sat.


    You normally rent out that room, dont you.


    I still do. Lyn grinned.


    T sighed. How much will it cost me?


    For the room? Twenty silver a month, once you have funds. Im not a monster. That said, food and delivery of such? She lifted her own breakfast. Thats extra.


    Youre trying to rob me blind.


    Lynughed quietly, around her food. Not at all. By all means,pare rates. Im giving you a good deal. She smiled towards T, even as thetter took another chair. I like you, and Ill be d to have you around, when youre in town.


    Hmmm T kept her narrowed gaze on Lyn, even as she ate the nutritional offering. Fine. But if youre overcharging me


    You should leave if you can find better amodations or a better rate. It was an offer, T. I trust that you will find that it is a good one.


    So I only have to pay when Im in town?


    Lyn snorted. Hardly. Im holding the room for you, so youll pay.


    But what if I go to other cities?


    Lyn shrugged. Not my issue. Day rates in most cities are at least 3 to 5 silver a night. It would be hard to beat my rate, but youre wee to check. I dont want you here if youd rather be elsewhere.


    T thought about it momentarily, then nodded before returning her attention to her food.


    * * *


    Less than an hourter, they were approaching the outer wall and arge work-yard. Make no mistake, it wasnt the outside of the city, as the farms, and their defensive towers and magicsy beyond, but this was the outer reaches of the urban area of the city.


    As they approached, Lyn was exining the procedure to T.


    Because we dont have a baseline for you, they will need you to empower several variations on the trade wagons. Theyll start you on the smallest and simplest ones. She hesitated for a moment. If you can, please try not to burn them out.


    What do you mean?


    If you dump power into the activation, youll likely fry the whole script. They arent cheap to rece


    So, if I do this wrong, Ill have more debt? T cocked an eyebrow in irritation.


    Not at all. I sent them a note to start higher up the chain, but I expect them to ignore that. When they do, if you burn out a wagon or two, the cost will fall on them Lyn seemed to realize something and rified. That would be bad, T.


    T sighed. Im not a child. I wont break their toys just because <em>I</em> dont have to rece them.


    Lyn quirked a smile. And because you would do well to stay on the wainwrights good side.


    How many tests am I going to need to do?


    Shouldnt be more than six. Once theyve determined your capabilities, you will have to empower at least ten spell-forms for the actual trip, likely more on the way back.


    T was nodding. And again, every morning until the trip, during the trip, and for at least two days after the trip.


    Exactly.


    They came around the final turn, and T got a better look at what awaited them.


    There were three fully enclosed,rge wagons, each with a door in the back. The wagons stood nearly ten feet tall, from ground to mostly t top. Beside the wagons, stood three objects that seemed to be little more than freestanding back panels from wagons, simr to those they stood beside. All six awaiting objects were covered with deep lines, filled with copper. <em>Test pieces?</em> That made sense. The actual trade wagons would use gold, but it would be incredibly inefficient to activate gold scripts just for a test. Theyd burn out without really being useful.


    Even so, the copper meant that it would take more power to activate. After a moments thought, T found herself nodding, and she spoke her realization under her breath. Its mimicking the strain of multiple activations, and fatigue from days on the road.


    Lyn nced at her. Well reasoned. There are Archons whove never bothered to work that out.


    T smiled. Lets do this.


    Two men and a woman were waiting for them.


    As they came into range, their bodies flickered beneath Ts mage-sight, showing their blood flowing through looping circuits, again seeming reminiscent of spell-lines, butnot. The power of life and water and earth was intermixed with that of blood throughout their flesh with their inscribings glowing overtop it all.


    They were, all three, Immaterial Guides. And all three had nearly identical spell-lines, only seeming to have been modified in consideration of their different body types, shapes, and heights. They were configurations that she would never have recognized herself, but her mage-sight seemed to help with trantion.


    The spell-lines were made to allow for the testing, analysis, and creation of inscribed items. The inscribings had resemnces to those Holly bore but clearly had a different focus.


    One of the three, clearly the oldest, seemed to have a different <em>depth</em> to his spell-lines, to his power, as if they were canyons, and his were vastly deeper. Through those canyons, T thought she saw flickers of an underlying orange light, but it wasnt steady, or pervasive. In addition to the other oddities, a small ss bead hung around his neck, which positively radiated power. Something seemed to be diminishing it, though, as if someone had tried throwing a veil over the sun.


    <em>Is that an Archons mark?</em> None of her teachers at the Academy had been Archons, but shed heard of them. <em>I thought it was supposed to look like a star</em> She sighed. <em>A question for another time, I suppose.</em>


    As T didnt focus on any of the Mages, specifically, their power faded to her mage-sight, leaving them as they had been.


    They each bowed slightly in greeting and the older man gestured to the first wagon. This schema is the simplest; it doubles the interior space and stabilizes the cargo there-in.


    T saw the outline of a right hand and strode forward to ce her palm against it.


    The Mage continued his exnation. Most young Mages take close to ten minutes to fully recharge this scripting, when they first encounter cargo-wagons. Are you familiar enough with the concepts to activate it?


    Lyn spoke under her breath, but T heard easily. Not your toys.


    T grinned. Without a word, she opened her gate, and drew deeply on her power, shifting it to her hand as if she were going to prick a finger and confirm a contract. She was <em>very</em> careful not to activate any of her spell-lines. As the power flowed through her, from her gate, it gathered up more from her body, carrying it along and into the wagon.


    She felt a strange resistance and had a realization. <em>I forgot to peel off the glue.</em> Likely, some of the iron dust had managed to get stuck in the glue, creating what amounted to a dampening filter for her power.


    She was about to pull her hand back in embarrassment, to remove the barrier, when she saw three symbols above her hand blossom with light in quick session. She pulled her hand back quickly, to keep from overcharging the spells.


    To her mage-sight, power rippled through the copper lines, and there was a twisting expansion before her sight, contained within the wagon. It had a simr look, under her mage-sight, to a pillowcase as stuffing was shoved inside, but without a physical change. In addition, the secondary and tertiary symbols each seemed to correspond with a well of power, which appeared to her mage-sight as knot-like bundles of scripting, connecting and feeding into the main functions.


    The older Mage smiled, stepping forward. Oh! Thats wonderful. I can see that Mage Lyn did not oversell your ability. The two other Mages came forward and opened the door in the back of the wagon. They both stepped inside with ease and seemed to be measuring the space.


    After a quick moment, their voices echoed out, clear for all to hear. Correct empowering. Precisely doubled in size. She did not double the size of the indents and other imperfections in the outer shell, thus maintaining maximum efficiency. As they stepped out, the woman triggered a secondary portion of the spell-lines, deactivating the script.


    They walked to the next wagon, and T pointed to a part of the spell-lines thaty above the activation point that resembled an outline for her hand and the three symbols, which would indicate the level of empowerment. The portion shed indicated looked more like writing than true spell-lines, but it wasnt the alphabet used in books. These are the specifications, correct? She nced to the older man. This wagons scripts triple the size, stabilize the cargo, and protect the wagon, itself, from the weight and jostling of said cargo, correct?


    He had opened his mouth to give exactly that exnation but seemed satisfied as he closed his mouth, nodded, and smiled.


    She took a moment to catch the edge of the glue on her right hand and peel it free in a onerge piece. As T looked around for a ce to dispose of her now removed handprint, she saw several aghast looks. She smiled. Its just glue.


    They did <em>not</em> look mollified.


    T sighed, then decided to just toss it aside. <em>Some people freak out much too easily.</em>

 Chapter 10: Don’t Let Them Poach You

    Chapter 10: Don¡¯t Let Them Poach You


    Hand now free of glue, T grinned. <em>Lets see what I can really do.</em>


    She ced her hand on the activation panel and channeled power into it once more. Based on her previous activation, she channeled less power, so as not to overwhelm this next wagon.


    The three lights flicked on at almost the same time, and she jerked her hand back as if shed seen a snake. <em>Please dont be overloaded.</em> She felt a bit tired, given the power that had been pulled from her body towards the empowering, but her gate was open, and her stores were replenishing rapidly.


    After a long pause, when nothing further happened, the two Mages came forward, verified her work, and deactivated the working, once again.


    Well, I think we can skip the third wagon. The older Mage smiled in an almost grandfatherly way. After a moments thought he added, Lets skip the first cargo-slot as well.


    <em>Ahh, thats what theyre called. </em>Following his instructions, she walked up to the second free-standing door. <em>Cargo-slot.</em> More than anything, it looked like someone had taken off the back of one of the enclosed wagons and added another wall directly to the back before standing it up.


    She frowned at the descriptive scripting for a long moment.


    Do you want me to give you the exnation?


    I think I understand. It expands the small crevice between the twoyers of wood into arge room, roughly twice the size of a mundane wagons interior. It also stabilizes and istes the weight of the cargo.


    Correct.


    T ced her hand on the activation point and filled herself with power, carefully, pushing it into the cargo-slots spell-lines.


    Nothing happened.


    T frowned and drew deeply, pushing more power forward. The first symbol slowly blossomed with light.


    T found a low growl rippling up through her chest, and she threw her gate wide, holding nothing back, drawing more than before on her own reserves. The second and third symbols filled with light in quick session over the following twenty seconds or so.


    When the final symbol lit up, T was breathing hard. Done! Her voice was a bit breathless, and she felt quite tired, though that passed quickly as her bodys power slowly returned to her standard density. In truth, she was surprised at how tired shed felt, given her estimate that shed only used about a quarter of her personal power. <em>I guess thats because my body is used to always having that power.</em>


    The oldest Mage had a look of mild surprise but didntment as the other two opened the door and stepped into the obviously spacious interior.


    It took only a moment for them to confirm her sess.


    She strode to the final test and analyzed the inscriptions. Same as before, but four times the interior size. So, it would be eight times the space as a non-magical, cargo wagon. Right?


    As you say. Begin when you are ready. After a moment, he added. You are wee to take a short break, if you so desire.


    She shook her head. No need but thank you. In retrospect, his offer had been a kind one. She was feeling a bit drained still, and she knew that while her density was high, her power umtion rate was nothing special.


    T threw her gate as wide as her keystone would allow and drew deeply, channeling all that she could into her hand, even as she mmed it against the activation location.


    She felt a deep reverberation through her chest, though she was not consciously growling with the effort. Her gate was insufficient, so she pulled at her body for power, pulling every vestige she could yank free and throwing it at the cargo-slots activation panel.


    It felt like someone was pouring boiling water over her right arm, and her palm might as well have been on a stove, from the feel of it.


    Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the first symbol blossomed to life.


    <em>Is that all? Youre mine, now.</em> One symbol meant she could activate it, now she was just filling out the capacity, so it would keep running for a time.


    A second eternity passed, but she wasnt growling anymore; she didnt have the strength. The next symbol faded into brilliance.


    Sweat was pouring off her, and her eyes felt like she had been staring down a crucible for hours, but finally, thest inscribed symbol lit.


    She sank to her knees, despite her attempts to stay up.


    No one spoke as the two junior Mages opened the door and entered the expanded space to measure.


    When they returned, they simply nodded.


    It had been done correctly.


    Finally, T was able to speak but found her voice slightly hoarse. How long?


    The older man stepped forward and spoke softly. I have you at twelve minutes, Mistress.


    Oh I failed then. Shed had ten minutes to charge them, if she was to use ones like this on her venture. Oh well. She smiled up at him.


    He cleared his throat and nced away. That one is meant as an upper bound, Mistress T. Weve never had one activated by a simple Mage, during testing. He looked back to her and smiled.


    Ts eyes returned to the script shed just empowered. <em>Maybe, I should try again?</em><em>I bet I could do better the second time.</em> Thatthat would not be a good idea. She couldnt remember having this little power within herself. Even before shed gone to the Academy, shed had magic within, like all humans did.


    Huh so my failure was a sess. She nced to Lyn. The womans face was an attempt at impassivity, but T could see pride and concern both clear and clearly mixed across her features. Yay me. Then, T slipped into unconsciousness. Herst thought was oddly disconnected.


    <em>Wait a minutewe added an inscription to prevent me from falling unconscious, except to sleep. I guess it didnt quite work... Oh well.</em>


    * * *


    A pulse of power exploded from the base of Ts skull, and she returned to consciousness, violently.


    Shed fallen too far to easily catch herself, but her heightened reflexes allowed her to tuck, turning the kneeling fall into a roll.


    Thus, an instant after shed fainted from overuse of power, she found herself standing fully upright, staring out across the work-yard.


    A shiver ran through her from head to toe, and a sense akin to her mage-sight picked up the signature of what had awoken her: It had been a silver inscription, set to watch for any loss of consciousness not due to falling asleep. <em>So, it did work?</em>


    A sound, almost like a bell, hummed through her thoughts, and she found the note calming. Then, her own voice came to her, as if she were thinking, though she never truly considered that the voice might be her own thoughts.


    <em>Consciousness lost for 0.05 seconds due to Magical Overuse and Severe Internal Power Scarcity. The Keystone Inscription attempted to induce unconsciousness to allow for expedited recovery. Keystone w noted for correction.</em>


    <em> Mild, targeted, electrical shock and hormone cocktail utilized for near instant resuscitation.</em>


    <em> Nosting effects detected.</em>


    <em> Logplete.</em>


    What. Utter. g. T spun towards Lyn who was staring at her, open mouthed. Mistress Holly is a madwoman. T threw up her hands. A madwoman!


    Lyn stepped forward but stopped before touching her. Mistress T, are you ok? What just happened?


    I I cant even T had been about to exin that a voice in her head just revived her, but that sounded crazy, even to her, and shed been the one to hear it. Finally, she sighed. Never mind She turned back to the older Mage, who was still standing next to thest test. She bowed, slightly more than necessary. My apologies. Might I have a minute to rest, before empowering the scripts for loading?


    He seemed to gather himself at her words and smiled. Of course. The tests are meant to be difficult, so that we may better ascertain a Mages merit, but I must say, we rarely see anyone put quite as much effort into it as you have.


    Thats Mistress T for you. Lyn nced to T, then back to the Mage.


    He turned to regard Lyn. You speak on her behalf?


    Yes, I am arbiter of her indenture. You are Master Himmal, correct?


    I am. He gave a nod of acknowledgement. How does she stand on the road to Archon?


    She is not yet trained in the creation of a star; she has no sponsor; and shecks the requisite years of-


    He was waving his hand dismissively. Theck of experience might be troublesome, but I doubt many would care. He looked at T. But the star is crucial He seemed to be considering. It is best for Mages to discover it on their own, but it isnt unheard of for someone to be taught instead. Still, her master didnt deem it a good idea, so I should not interfere. He turned towards T. When the timees, if you stillck a sponsor, I will speak on your behalf.


    She was stunned. I have no wordsThank you, Master Himmal. <em>I also have no idea what you are talking about</em>


    He simply smiled.


    T smiled back. I suppose I will have to seek out a star <em>I knew it was a star! But why does his look like a bead? </em>She bowed, once again. Truly; thank you. Turning back towards their destination, T added. Now, where may I sit, until the scripts are ready?


    Master Himmal gave her a bemused look but didntment. Instead, he gave instruction to his two underlings, then led her, himself, to a shaded seating area and already waiting refreshments.


    <em>He was serious, then. They expect Mages to take a short break after the test.</em> Once she had a drink in hand, and a few choice bites consumed, she turned to the man. If I may ask, you are an Archon, correct?


    He smiled. Yes. I am ss Archon, Void Key.


    <em>Not a gem? I thought all Archons were some form of gem, like Diamond Archon or some such.</em>


    As she was contemting, he showed his palms, each of which held an inscription of a keyhole, and thoughts of his Archon title faded.


    <em>No, not an inscription. </em>It looked like someone had done the work with regr ink, as the keyholes were ck.<em> How odd.</em> How did you get the name, do all Archons get such titles?


    No, but many hope to. You have to excel in a particr area for the Council to give you a title beyond the designation. I am the key to the void in that my empowerments of dimensional expansion were without equal.


    T looked at him quizzically.


    Ah, I should exin: First, I am the discoverer of these scripts. He gestured back to the cargo-slots. That is one part. Second, when I said no single Mage has ever empowered the one which you activatedst in a test, I meant it. Outside of a test, however: Any Archon of our order could do as you did, most could do it more quickly.


    She nodded. Understanding. Howrge of a space can you create?


    He quirked a smile. In my prime, a single one of my scripts opened a new storehouse for use in transportation. So He thought for a moment. A hundred times the size of your final test? He nodded. Give or take.


    She gaped. How?


    Discipline, a perfect mental focus and understanding of what was being done, and a reckless disregard for the longevity of my arts. He smiled again, sadly this time. Im not capable of half so much, now. My gate is overused, and a bit abused. He nced at her and seemed to read her thoughts. No, it isnt near copse. I was not <em>that</em> foolish, but my days of traveling are done.


    If I may ask, what did you do? My understanding was that our gates are incredibly resilient, and flexible enough to grow with use.


    He snorted augh. True enough. I convinced an inscriber to alter my keystone to keep my gate under constant stress, forcing it open as wide as possible at all times, always straining for more. He shook his head, sadly. It almost worked, but the wider the gate was open, the more the prying script put pressure on my gate. It was a feedback loop, and before the inscription ran its course, Id irreparably damaged myself. He gave a sad smile.


    So a lesser version of it would work?


    He barked out hisugh, this time. Leave it to the young to ignore the true lesson. He grinned at her. You arent wrong though. My design was perfected, and is now a part of every standard keystone, but to a <em>much</em> more restricted level. His smile shifted to one of pride. My work will help every future Mage grow in power more quickly, and with less effort.


    Im sorry that it cost you what it did.


    He shrugged. It was probably for the best. Now, I get to <em>design</em>.


    And you enjoy that?


    More than I ever thought possible. His smile settled into one of clear contentment.


    T smiled. Im d. She had a thought and returned to something hed said earlier. What mental focus do you bring to bear? I understand how the spell-forms function, else I couldnt empower them, but I dont do anything specific to She trailed off as Master Himmal was gaping at her. What?


    Mistress T. Without a mental framework, you would need orders of magnitude more power to activate any spell-form than truly necessary. He shook his head. You are throwing a chuck-wagon at the cook, trusting him to find what he needs in the wreckage.


    <em>Chuck-wagon?</em> Is it really that bad?


    Yes. You must funnel your power through a mental structure of whatever you attempt to do. His voice faded at the end, and he blinked several times then nced back towards the yard. Wait He looked back to her. You empowered <em>that</em> via brute force? Are you insane?


    Yes, I did, but no?


    Did you crack your gate for a test, girl? He was frowning, now. Who taught you so negligently?


    Lyn stepped forward, interceded on Ts behalf. Her training was unusual, and not quite as thorough as it should have been. She has power and is perfecting its use.


    Ts mage-sight showed flickers of power around Master Himmals eyes as he activated his own mage-sight. Immediately, he took a step back. How are you doing that?


    Youll have to be more specific?


    You have no power about you, save in your eyes and palms, and those are zing. Even your breath has less than usual. Is your gate thrown wide, even now?


    It is open, but not widely. As to the rest-


    Lyn stepped forward. Mistress T would dly trade technique for technique or her knowledge for items.


    Master Himmal opened his mouth to object, then hesitated. After a long moment, he closed it and nodded. That is fair, I suppose. He nced to T. I assume it has to do with the iron scent surrounding you, but I will not dig further, not at this moment. Your training must have been unusual indeed.


    T quirked a smile. Quite, yes.


    With ast look at T, Master Himmal turned back towards the yard. Now, I must ensure your cargo slots are ready for empowerment and loading. You know to return each day just after dawn until your departure, yes? He narrowed his eyes, seeming to bring the entirety of his focus to bear upon her.


    Yes, sir. I will.


    While he returned to the yard, directing workmen and conversing with his underlings, T rested.


    Lyn remained quiet, seeming contemtive.


    After a short time, T nced around and verified that the two of them were, indeed, alone. Sowhy are you still here?


    Lyn started, turning to face her. Do you want me to leave?


    No, but I dont really know why youre here.


    To help you.


    Because Im not really supposed to be more than a mageling?


    Lyn grinned. Youve proven yourself far beyond that, T.


    Then?


    She shrugged. I need to asionally assess the various portions of our operations, both within the guild, and within our partner organizations. This was as good a time as any to follow a new recruit through the process; I thought you could use a friendly face; and I am never bored around you. She smiled. I think Im beginning to like you. Her eyes flicked down Ts length, then back to her eyes. But please dont start rubbing off on me. That would be <em>quite</em> inconvenient. Iron dust, and all that.


    It was Ts turn to grin. I wouldnt dream of it.


    Master Himmal returned and escorted them toward one side of the work-yard where ten of the cargo slots stood, all doors facing the same way. She didnt see their activation points, however.


    T noted groups of workers standing next to nearby warehouses, seemingly awaiting thepletion of her task.


    As she drew closer, her mage-sight highlighted the inactive scripts, and the activations points became obvious on the side of each wooden device. They were oriented lower than she thought optimal, and she was shorter than the average Mage. Aside from the odd cement, everything seemed in order, and as she looked, T was able to decipher the descriptive scripts. These are equal to my second tost test. Her tone bore a bit of usation.


    Master Himmal grinned. That is true. It is the mostplex set we keep on hand for regr use. I can assure you that we will be making a set with greater capacity than these for the next time you venture forth from our fair city.


    Lyn spoke softly, trusting to Ts enhancements to allow her to pick up the words. When they can be used, that will earn both you and the Wainwrights Guild a bonus for each trip. Not every trip will need such capacity, so it wouldnt earn the bonus, then, but it will help in other ways.


    T smiled and nodded towards Master Himmal. I thank you. May we both benefit from their use. <em>I didnt consider that the Caravan Guild would effectively be renting these</em> The Wainwrights must charge more for the use of their own Mages for transport than even T, herself, was offered. <em>Huhworth thinking about.</em> She was sure that such would necessarily include fees for the Wainwrights Guild, so she doubted her pay would have been better, either way.


    Without waiting, she walked up to the first, and ced her hand against the smooth, well-treated wood. <em>Theres a slight impression, here. I wonder how many hundreds of hands have been exactly where mine is, now.</em>


    She opened her gate further by activating her keystone and drew deeply on her power.


    Instead of simply dumping the magic through her hand, she remembered what Master Himmal said. She tried to envision exactly what her power was going to do and channeled the magic through that mental construct before it exited her hand to enter the golden channels in the wood.


    Whether the tests were, indeed, much harder; her mental structure had worked; or abination of both, she was able to fully empower all three symbols of the first script before shed reached a slow count of ten.


    As T stepped back, she felt a satisfied smile pulling at her lips. <em>Nice job, T.</em> Just nine more to go.


    She continued using the mental construction as a conduit for her power, and it did seem to help. In addition, every sessful empowerment, using that model, made it stronger and firmer in her mind, causing the following efforts to be more efficient. At least, it seemed that way to her. In addition, she was no longer having to pull power from her body to enact the empowering. That had to be a good sign.


    By the time she got to the end, she felt tired, but not nearly so much as after the equivalent test. As an added bonus, it wasnt the feeling of power exhaustion but simple mental strain. <em>Like learning a new type of math, or delving deeper into the sciences.</em>


    Well done, Mistress T. Thank you. Master Himmal waved to the workers, and they began carryingrge crates out towards them, even as his two Mage underlings were finalizing their inspection of her work.


    They, too, congratted her and indicated sess.


    I suppose we will see you tomorrow, then?


    Bright and early, yes. These will be here?


    Just as you see them.


    Thank you. She bowed once more to each of the Mages and bid them farewell.


    Lyn, simrly, made her goodbyes, and departed with T. Not bad. Dont let them poach you. She had an obvious smile in her tone. We will <em>always</em> pay better.


    T smiled in turn. See that you do, and youll never have to worry.


    The two chuckled together and, together, decided it was well past time for brunch.

 Chapter 11: Mysteries and Chowder

    Chapter 11: Mysteries and Chowder


    As it turned out, Lyn had to go in to do some paperwork and thought it would be instructive for T to apany her to the guilds main office.


    Lyn promised coffee, so T agreed.


    In retrospect, that was an early sign that T had failed: Coffee was bing integral.


    As they walked back through the city, Lyn seemed to be mulling over an idea. Finally, she turned to T, as they continued. Would you consider wearing gloves, when around other Mages? We might want to find a way to reduce thecloud around you.


    T nced at the other woman and then briefly down at their feet. The older woman was walking just out of arms reach. Is it that bad?


    Lyn hesitated, then, finally, sighed. Yes.


    T waited for more, but when nothing more was said, her eyebrows rose. OhUmmm Im sorry?


    Lyn smiled. It seemed that honesty would be best.


    Well, thank you. T contemted for just a moment. I dont have any money for gloves- She stopped speaking as Lyns arm extended her way, proffering a set of thin, ck, leather gloves. Youalready bought me a pair.


    I did. Lyn smiled apologetically. I wasnt quite sure how to approach you about it As T took the gloves, and began putting them on, Lyn continued. They are treated and sealed inside and out, so they <em>shouldnt</em> be able to pick up any iron, but Ill leave that to you to verify.


    IThank you. This is a kind gift. If she was being honest, it hurt a bit that something about her offended her friend so much that shed preemptively sought ways to hide it. T took a deep breath and let it out. <em>Im being touchy. She is looking out for me, as well as how I am, and will be, perceived by other Mages.</em>


    Did she care what other Mages thought?


    If Ashins reaction to her was indicative of how non-Mages would view her, she likely couldnt have many friends if she drove all Mages away. T finally nodded, as they continued their trek through the city. Truly, thank you.


    Lyn seemed to rx. With those, we only need to find a way of dealing with youck of aura.


    T frowned. What?


    In my mage-sight, you basically dont exist There was a long pause, during which Lyn began to frown. No thats not right. You are like a human shaped mirror to my mage-sight, walking around. After a moment, she nodded. The result cant really be described any other way. In some situations, you are virtually invisible. In others, you stand out like a human-shaped oddity. Her eyes flicked to Ts face, then away. Except your eyes. She shivered slightly. Honestly, thebination is a bit


    T quirked a smile, remembering her own view in Lyns washroom mirror. Terrifying?


    Lynughed. Just a bit. And even without my mage-sight, you feel a bit strange, like a piece of paper, lightly brushing across my skin. Id guess it is something with the iron reflecting my own power back my way. She shrugged. But really, Ive no idea.


    T didnt really have a response. She remembered her ssmates awkwardness and hesitancy around her. <em>Were they just feeling a weaker version of what Lyn is?</em> What would that do to the already socially hesitant, Mages-to-be? Her years of near istion took on a new cast. <em>Did I do that all to myself?</em> She felt a deep seed of sadness and loneliness blossom within her. <em>No, dont focus on that. I have a task toplete.</em>


    T remained silent on their trek back toward the Caravanners Guildhall, even while Lyn pointed out interesting shops, restaurants, and features of the city.


    That shop sells the best hats.


    This Gate is named after


    The spinach soup, there, is to die for!


    Finally, astment brought her from her silence. Indicating a door tucked back, between the two neighboring buildings, Lyn said, He buys and sells artifacts and arcane goods.


    Ts head snapped up, and she noticed the look of smug satisfaction on Lyns lips.


    I thought that might interest you.


    T took a step towards the door. <em>Artifacts, magical items that have no visible inscribings and only need power, every so often, to continue functioning. </em>Shed never seen one, and had only heard of them through hearsay, so shed no idea if that was actually true, but it was enticing. What would it be like to not require metal to keep items functional?<em> I need to study some.</em>


    Lyn stopped her. You cane backterwhen you have money to buy something.


    T groaned. <em>Rightfundless.</em> Fine. How much should I have?


    If you want a trinket, something that works simrly to an empowered item? Ten to fifty ounces, gold. An item of real power, though? Her smile turned wicked. You should have a soul or two to trade.


    Tughed, but trailed off when Lyn didnt join in. You arent seriousright?


    Lyn shrugged. Ive never heard of someone buying one of the truly rare ones, and every Mage Ive known to sell one retired shortly after.


    T swallowed. <em>Sonot cheap.</em> She wasnt sure what shed expected, but she still felt disappointed. Maybe Hed let me study them?


    Lynughed, then, and turned to keep walking. He keeps arge book, which describes the items for customers to peruse. The items, themselves, are kept under tight security somewhere in the city. To be clear, the book describes the trinkets. He keeps knowledge of the truly powerful ones in his own head, supposedly.


    Somewhere? T fell in beside her friend.


    I certainly dont know where, and while many have fun guessing, I dont know of anyone who actually knows. Her eyes were twinkling. I do know of several <em>very</em> skilled trackers, Mages all, who worked together to tail him after several sales. ording to them, he never left the shop.


    T rolled her eyes. He obviously has some artifact teleportation item, or an expanded space.


    Lyn cocked an eyebrow. Of course! How could we all be so foolish as to not consider the obvious.


    T sighed. Fine. So, he never leaves, and the items just what? Disappear?


    Thats the mystery.


    T turned back, allowing her eyes to rest on the shop front and focusing on it more intently. It was still an odd, new experience, but she <em>thought</em> she was allowing her mage-sight to sweep through the store. She certainly got a good look at the inside of the buildings on either side, both family homes, both empty for the day. The view was mainly just the impression of the various types of magical connections present in mundane objects, but it was enough to get a general idea. Even so, she couldnt see anything beyond the front of the building she was interested in, and that lookedstrange but also strangely familiar.


    T blinked rapidly, trying to clear her vision of the odd effects associated with the building. She made an incoherent sound of distaste and wiped at her eyes absently. Mleh what is that?


    Lyn sighed. Too bad. Id hoped your sight could prate it. He has iron tes up on the inside of his walls.


    T red. You could have warned me.


    Thats what it feels like to look at you. Or to stand near you, for that matter. Consider it educational. A small smile was tugging at the older womans lips.


    Ive seen myself, thank you.


    Ahh, then a reinforcement of the notion?


    Youre


    So helpful? Lyn offered.


    Yes. T nodded, adding in a monotone. So, so very helpful.


    I aim to be of assistance.


    The silence broken, the two chatted amiably for the rest of the walk to the guildhall.


    When they arrived, Lyn led T through a chorus of greetings, almost universally directed at Lyn. Lyn introduced T in passing, but no one stuck in the younger Mages mind.


    Together, they passed through arge set of beautifully crafted doors, into a lushly appointed side-room. Her mage-sight immediately overwhelmed her with information, as it apprised her that every single upant, excepting the asional tray-bearing server, was a Mage. There were at least thirty people that she could see. The influx caused her eyes to go out of focus for a moment, and her bnce to be unsteady for an instant, before it passed.


    Even so, she found that she could easily recall the auras surrounding each, if she wished to. She did not.


    The sounds of cooking and the clink of tes and cutlery came from an adjoining space, and the low buzz of conversation restedfortably throughout the room.


    <em>A restaurant?</em>


    This, T, is the Guilds Mage Lounge. You cant afford the food right now, and Id rmend against it, even if you have the money. She leaned in and faked a whisper. They charge <em>much</em> more than they should.


    An upant of a nearby tableughed at thement, which he was obviously meant to have heard. The prices <em>are</em> high, but thepany is second to none. The young man, perhaps around Lyns age, stood and walked over to them. Did I hear right? Your name is T? He offered a hand.


    T took it hesitantly. Yes, and you are?


    But he was looking down at her hand. Gloves? What an interesting fashion choice. And no robes? He nced to Lyn. Is your friend trying to shame us all into purchasing better wardrobes? He turned back to T smiling with evident humor. Im entranced, but you can call me Cran. He shook her hand once more, firmly but not in a I want to prove how strong I am sort of way, and released her.


    Master Cran, then. Nice to meet youI suppose?


    Lyn grinned. Master Cran, you really shouldnt overwhelm the poor dear. Shes new to Lyn hesitated, then sighed. I was going to say, Mage society but that makes us sound like the sort of club, which honestly wed avoid.


    His smile, somehow, seemed to widen. New, eh? A mageling, then? He nced between the two women. Mistress Lyn? Have you finally taken on a mageling? I thought youd sworn off the idea.


    Lyn shook her head. No, not a mageling She nced to T. She can tell her own story, if she wants to, but she isnt used to all of this.


    Cran turned to regard T, looking truly excited. No You arent an ound Mage, are you?


    Lyn groaned, cing a hand over her face.


    T frowned. An ound Mage?


    Lyn sighed. Master Cran has a pet theory that there are human Mages beyond the cities. He guesses that theyd have to be much more powerful, and use different methods, to cope with the greater amounts of Magic and the more powerful entities out there.


    Its not <em>my</em> theory, Mistress Lyn. Many Mages believe some variation on the same. He gave T a conspiratorial smile and shifted into a half-whisper. It doesnt help that so many of our most gifted associates seem to vanish for long stints, then refuse to tell us where theyve been.


    They arent going outside, Cran.


    You dont know that.


    Lyn sighed, but T shook her head and interjected. No. Im from the cities. I even trained at the Academy.


    Cran looked vaguely disappointed but recovered. After a pause, his smile shifted to one of friendly interest. May I look?


    T frowned. what?


    Lyn leaned over to whisper, truly this time, though T thought Cran might still be able to hear. Hes asking to use his mage-sight on you. It is usually rude to gaze upon another Mage without permission. Yet another way that Mistress Hollys decisions wereunusual.


    Cran seemed to misunderstand the whispering. You can look at me as well, of course.


    <em>Oh, he couldnt hear.</em> Now that she thought about it, Lyn had spoken so quietly, she might not have even known the woman was speaking, before Hollys work on her inscriptions. <em>She adapted incredibly fast to what I can perceive</em> She might have to ask about that.


    In the meantime, however, Cran was looking expectant.


    Oh! Of course, but I think you might She trailed off as she saw the inscribingscing around his eyes ripple with power.


    Cran frowned, staring down at her feet. Huh Is it working or- He had swept his gaze upward and his words cut off abruptly as his eyes met hers. He seemed to visibly restrain himself for an instant, his hands twitching so subtly that T knew she would not have noticed it even a few days earlier. OhI dont quite understand but He leaned forward, seemingly despite himself. Well, chrome my ba-


    Lyn cut him off. Cran! Language.


    He cleared his throat, his eyes flicking to her briefly. My apologies, Mistress Lyn. Mistress T, what His gaze swept across their surroundings, seeming to note a few curious stares. He lowered his voice and continued. What are you?


    T quirked a smile. <em>Very</em> hungry. Are you buying? She nced to Lyn. <em>You</em> promised me coffee, and dont you have work to do?


    Cran opened his mouth, then closed it, before his smile returned in full force, bringing with in a softugh. I suppose I <em>should</em> buy you dinner before- His eyes ticked to Lyn again before he sighed. You arent much fun sometimes, Mistress Lyn.


    I didnt say anything.


    But you were thinking it. He gestured for them to follow him back towards his table.


    Lyn waved down a server and ordered coffee for T, paying as she did so. As Mistress T so kindly pointed out, I have work to be about. She gave Cran a t stare. You treat her well, yes? If possible, try to introduce her to those leaving with her in a few days. She handed over a card.


    Cran took it and nodded. I will. Mistress T?


    T gave Lyn a small wave in goodbye, then turned and followed him. The table wasrge enough for four, and with enough chairs, though hed been sitting there alone.


    The book resting on it immediately gave T the impression that he was seeking solitude, simply enjoying a quiet evening. She frowned slightly, as she sat down. <em>Solitude in the table closest to the entrance?</em> A front then? <em>Or a show.</em> He wanted to see everyone who came and went but wasnt interested in having anyone join him. <em>Until us.</em>


    It was also possible that it had been the only avable table when hed arrived, and she was just overthinking things. <em>That would be typical.</em>


    Crans voice cut across her thoughts, as he held out a menu towards her. What will you have?


    T took the menu and nced at the prices. Lyn had <em>not</em> been exaggerating. I cant order anything from here! She felt mortified.


    He just smiled. Tell you what: Order any one meal and repay me with all your darkest secrets.


    T gave him a t look.


    Fine, fine. Tell me your quadrant, if that even applies, and we can go from there?


    She smiled widely. Deal.


    T ordered a sweet-potato and yam chowder served in a wheat-sourdough, bread bowl.


    She did <em>not</em> think about how much it cost. <em>Three silver, and the coffee Lyn ordered for me was twenty copper!</em> She most certainly did <em>not</em> feel guilty at the expense.


    As the server departed, T flicked back through her memory to what her mage-sight had shown of Cran when shed first entered.


    <em>Immaterial Creator, specializing in kic energy. He has a series of gold powered, silver activated, spell-forms designed to drive any iing threat away. </em>Her analysis hadnt been detailed enough to determine exactly how it detected iing attacks, nor exactly how the magic would respond, but if Cran was true to his word, she could look more closely, if she wanted.


    In addition, he had several concentrations of earth energy scattered throughout his body. If she had to guess, shed say they were now-healed breaks to his bones, but it would have been just a guess. <em>Am I seeing earth because it is, or is that simply the closest thing I can recognize?</em> She would not be surprised if bones had a magic all their own, somehow.


    By his spell-lines, his mage-sight was very basic, in that it would likely just highlight sources of power around him, likely color coding for the type of power. It didnt seem nearly detailed enough to provide any analysis.


    <em>How is mine doing that? I havent studied spell-lines as an inscriber, but the knowledge of what spell-lines do seems ready at hand</em> Another Holly addition most likely.


    Cran cleared his throat. So do we need to wait for the food to arrive or?


    Hmmm? Oh! I apologize, my mind was elsewhere.


    I could see that. But he smiled, removing some of the sting from the rejoinder.


    To answer your question: I am of the Immaterial Guide quadrant.


    He nodded. I thought your lines had a familiar feel to them. He squinted, even though there was plenty of light. Though, the tone of your skin makes it difficult to see them very clearly Why do you have a gray cast? And why cant my mage-sight see you properly? He lightly rubbed at his arms for a moment before pausing and ncing down. He looked back up, eyes narrowing. This feeling is you, too, right?


    How many dinners are you nning on buying me? She smiled mischievously, trying to hide her own nervousness.


    He smiled in return. At least confirm that I am right, even if not the method?


    After a moments hesitation, she realized that answering was a triviality. He would know when she left that she was the source of the feeling. She gave a tentative nod. I am the source of what youre feeling, if I understand you correctly. After a moment, she felt concern paint her features in a sort of frown. Is it terrible? I can leave


    He shook his head, his smile growing. Honestly, it isnt. It feels almost like a light pressure against me. He let out a low chuckle. Sort of like having a nket thrown over me on the side facing you.


    Thatdoesnt sound too bad. <em>Pressure? Is that because his magics tend towards kic energy?</em> Was every Mage around her feeling something unique to their own emphasis? <em>Probably only those within a pace or two.</em>


    It isnt. He smiled again. Now, you leave in a few days. Where are you going?


    T opened her mouth to answer and found that she didnt know; she closed it again. She frowned.


    Oh,e now. Im not paying for information like that. He teased.


    She quirked a smile. Id not ask you to, but I actually dont know. I didnt ask.


    You didnt He seemed stunned.


    I needed to leave and return on a tight, specific timeline, and Lyn found the best set of routes for that aim.


    Cran nodded, seeming somewhat mollified. I see. A bit odd, but to each their own, I suppose. How long will you be gone?


    Again, she was stumped. Even so, she did have a semnce of an answer. Just a couple weeks.


    A couple weeks to get there and back, eh? With a tight turnaround in the middle... He seemed to be contemting. Youre likely going to either Alefast or Marliweather.


    T stiffened, slightly. I hope its Alefast.


    Oh? Dont like Marliweather?


    She shrugged. I know some people there


    Might be nice to visit them, then? Hed cocked his head just slightly, clearly puzzled.


    I dont know, yet. She took a deep breath and let it out, pulling a smile back in ce. What do you know of those cities?


    His puzzlement was reced with a knowing smile. Well! Ive got to tell you, Ive been to both, and neither hold a shine to here. He nodded. Bandfast is the ce to be. He hesitated, before adding. Though, Alefast <em>is</em> worth a visit, if a short one. Waning cities are always fascinating.


    Well, Im d Ill be back so quickly, then. <em>Ive never been to a waning city.</em> She almostughed at herself. <em>Ive never been anywhere, really.</em>


    He shook a finger her way. But I know your type. The Guild will have you running hither and yon, and youll soon have no time for your old friend, Cran.


    She cocked an eyebrow, allowing a small smile. Old friend? She looked around. I believe weve just met. The server returned then, with her coffee. She thanked the man, and he bowed slightly before leaving.


    Yes! And with a habit like that. He pointed at her coffee. Youll need many friends, deep pockets, or both. He winked.


    Sheughed. True enough. She took a careful sip of her new dark necessity and exhaled in contentment. So, <em>old friend</em>, do you intend to tell me about my possible destinations?


    He did, in fact, have many stories about his times in each city, and she soon had a bevy of rmendations should she find herself in either ce. There were also several warnings among the good news: a leather worker whose products never held up to rain, somehow; a tailor whos stitching was never <em>quite</em> right, and even though the clothes fit, they pulled and pinched in ways that shouldnt be possible; and many more. Most were about Marliweather, in truth, as hed only been to Alefast once, and that had been years earlier.


    Ts food came, and she ate while listening, as each rmendation or warning came with a tale, some short and some long. She was easily able to hear conversations at the surrounding tables, and while she processed them, seeking any mention of her, or anything else of interest, she didnt actually listen closely. <em>I suppose I can rememberter, if I so desire.</em> She doubted she would.


    All told, T found herself whisked through the morning and into early afternoon, in a rather pleasant fashion. The cadence changed, however, when Crans eyes flicked to the door, and he abruptly stopped his current tale. Oi! Renix, Master Trent, get over here!

 Chapter 12: One Has to Dream

    Chapter 12: One Has to Dream


    T turned to see that two Mages had just entered the lounge. Both were Materialists, one Creator and one Guide, and both seemed to specialize in ice and lightning. <em>Interestingbination.</em>


    The two turned at Crans voice and smiled when they saw him. The youngers smile morphed into a wide grin, as he called back. Oi, yourself! They walked over, and Cran stood to greet them.


    T followed his lead, and he introduced her. Renix, Master Trent, this is Mistress T. He turned to her. Mistress T: Renix and Master Trent.


    She nodded her head in a slight bow and took their hands as they offered them, each in turn. Renix, it seemed, was the Creator and Trent the Guide. They were both taller than she was, with Renix being the taller by half a head at least. They had brown hair cut close to their heads, though Trents was slightly longer, darker, and curly. They both had the lean, careful physique of Mages, and faces with well used smile lines.


    Despite their simrities, Trent was clearly older, likely ten years her senior, while Renix seemed barely older than she was. <em>Might just be the attitude?</em>


    Pleasure to meet you, Mistress T.


    d to meet you. Renix nced down. Nice gloves.


    Cran grinned and motioned for everyone to sit. Shes starting a new trend.


    As they all sat, T felt her cheeks redden. I am not. But when she nced around the table, she saw they were all smiling amiably.


    Cran waved to the group, bringing their focus back to him. You three seem to be destined to meet.


    Trent rolled his eyes. You are not destiny, Master Cran, no matter what your mother told you, in or out of the womb.


    Cran snorted augh. I <em>mean</em>, you will be traveling together.


    Oh? Trent nced towards T. Youre going to Alefast?


    T felt a small knot of tension evaporate.<em> Not Marliweather.</em> Seems so. She nced at Cran and saw a twinkle in his eye, but he didntment.


    Renix looked eager. Do you work alone? Are you the other defender of the caravan, or will you be our baggage handler? Where is your master, or do you have your own mageling?


    Trent held up his hand. Easy there, Renix. Let her speak. He then turned back to T, his smile still obvious. I am curious, though.


    <em>They havent </em>seen<em> me, then. They dont know what quadrant Im of.</em>


    Careful, boys, she makes you pay for answers with food.


    Trents smile widened. Well, why didnt you say so. He nced at the now empty space before her. Lets get you something to eat and my mageling some answers, yes?


    T held up a hand. No need for that, Master Trent. I am an Immaterial Guide, and I suppose baggage handler is as good a term as any.


    Dimensional magic. The older man shook his head. Never could understand it, but I guess I wasnt meant to. He smiled again. Im a Material Guide.


    And Im a Material Creator.


    Trent gave Renix an amused nce but continued. Well be working, as a set, to help safeguard the caravan. I believe we have another Mage to coborate with for that duty, but I dont know if they have a mageling.


    Renix shivered. Is it just me, or is it colder in here than usual?


    Cran nced to T with a knowing smile and made a you should say something gesture.


    T sighed. Like with Cran, they would soon realize it was her. Its actually me.


    Trent turned his full focus on her, and his smile was gone. Are you leaking that much magic? What idiot inscribed you? You shouldnt go to back-alley inscribers, or youll die of magic poisoning before thirty.


    She held up her hands. No, no. Nothing like that.


    Cran sighed. Mistress T, just let him look.


    Trent nced to Cran, then back to her. Would that exin it, then? Do you approve?


    After a moments hesitation, she nodded. Then, looked to Renix. You can, too.


    She saw power ripple across both of their faces, and their eyes began to glow faintly. Their mage-sight inscriptions were identical in function, being much moreplex than Crans, but they each had to beid out slightly differently, due to the unique contours and size of the two mens faces.


    Their reactions could not have been more opposite, without one resorting to violence or fleeing the room.


    Renix leaned forward, a look of awe blossoming across his features. Amazing! How are you doing that?


    Trent pushing himself backward, seeming to barely restrain himself from jumping to his feet. How are you doing that?! What? He looked around, seeming to see the many eyes now turned their way. Carefully, he pulled himself forward again, and he lowered his voice. What are you, Mistress T? Ive never seen anything like that save His eyes widened. Did you find a set of invisible armor?


    Cran snapped his fingers. Thats it! Its like shes wearing an iron suit.


    T found herself nervouslyughing. No, I dont have invisiblewait. Such things exist?


    Trent waved a hand dismissively. In theory. Ive seen stranger things. Now, what <em>are</em> you doing? Do you have an active shield against magic, constantly empowered? That seems needlessly wasteful, though the inscribing must be wless to achieve such results. Ive never seen anything exactly like <em>that</em> He seemed to hesitate. Well, no, thats not true. It looks a bit like Master Grediv, but there are quite a few differences He frowned, seeming to contemte.


    It isnt an inscribing. She hesitated, unsure of how much she wanted to share with three men who were still basically strangers. <em>And any in the lounge with enhanced hearing.</em> She couldnt be the only person with such abilities. For ease''s sake, lets assume I have a very high iron content in my skin.


    Trent didnt look satisfied, but he didnt press on that issue. And your eyes?


    I need to keep some mysteries.


    The older Guide seemed even less happy at that answer, but he let the matter drop. Very well, then. We dide to eat an early dinner. He nced at Renix and noted the younger mans clear ardor. He sighed. May we join you, here? Were going to be spending quite some time together in the near future, after all.


    Cran looked to her, but T was already nodding. It would be my pleasure.


    T spent the rest of the afternoon with Cran, Renix, and Trent. Lyn joined them in the early evening, and they chatted until well after dark, about trivial things.


    In the end, T was the first to leave, as she had an early morning at the work-yard the following day, and Lyn opted to go with her. They were, after all, staying in the same house.


    T, again, slept in her bedroll, though she did seriously consider the bed. <em>It is mine, now, after all.</em> Assuming she took Lyn up on her offer.


    * * *


    T woke early, her own mind rousing her well before dawn.


    She stretched, exercised, bathed, and added to her iron salve, finishing just as the sky began to lighten.


    Lyn was gone before T came out into the main area, and a note simply stated that Lyn had a lot of work to catch up on.


    A small pouch of coins held the note down and was described there-in as: food money for my new housemate. Pay me back when you can.


    T sighed. The pouch contained a mix of mostly copper coins with a little bit of silver. The total value of the pouch was two silver ounces. <em>And my debt grows</em>


    Still, she took the pouch gratefully. There was no interest implied, and she <em>did</em> need to be able to eat during herst day in the city. Thankfully, her food would be taken care of on the trip, itself, and she would receive her pay on the far end, with which to cover her costs for the two days in Alefast before her return.


    With nothing further to do in the home, T gathered what she thought shed need for the day into her satchel and departed.


    Shed also found an iron key in the money pouch, as the note had indicated she would, and she used that to lock Lyns front door on her way out. <em>Mine too, unless I find a better rate</em>


    She did find the iron amusing, however. From what she knew, and what shed gleaned, most Mages avoid iron as much as possible, which was why Lyns own key had been brass. <em>She must have had it specially cast for mefor some reason.</em> It seemed an odd gesture, but T found that she appreciated it, nheless.


    She had a warmth in her heart and a spring in her step as she moved towards the work-yard.


    To her surprise, without someone walking beside her, setting the pace, she moved <em>much</em> faster than she thought usual. Her motions felt natural, as if it were still her regr pace, but the world moved by at a brisk pace. She caught and passed other early risers with surprising ease, and each step seemed to carry her farther than expected.


    It appeared that her quicker reactions were causing her to push the boundaries of walking at a regr pace. <em>I likely look pretty odd. Come on, woman, just run, if youre in that much of a hurry!</em> She grinned to herself. Then, with a mild effort of will, she slowed her pace until the passing of the surrounding city, if not the movement of her limbs, felt right.


    <em>Thisissoslow</em> She sighed, internally. <em>I should buy a book or two.</em> Hesitantly, she pulled out a notebook and pencil, and began writing her musings. Surprisingly, she found it trivially easy to both write out her thoughts and keep track of her own movements. As an added bonus, it made the slower pace seem less grinding.


    Thus, she amused herself by doing quick sketches of things she passed; writing out her thought processes and working through some of her more esoteric ideas; and adding to the letter for Holly that shed begun earlier.


    She stopped through a caf to pick up a breakfast of eggs and coffee for half an ounce, silver. Only after shed departed, with a full stomach, did she realize that shed never stopped her work in her notebook.


    <em>I read the menu, ordered, paid, and ate, all while continuing to sketch, write, and contemte.</em> Shed never been terrible at multitasking, but this seemed more extreme than that. <em>Ill have to ask Holly.</em>


    She arrived at the work-yard as she finished adding a brief exnation and inquiry about just that to her missive to the inscriber.


    The cargo-slots were exactly as they had been, and workmen were working on each, seemingly taking great care to arrange everything within. <em>This seems like a process that would have been standardized and made as efficient as possible</em>


    Even as she had that thought, however, she realized that, given there werent daily deliveries to each other city, the exact cargo going would likely be expanding until they departed, maybe even hourly. Thus, they might have to do some rearranging if new items came in.


    <em>Why not stage it in a warehouse, and move it over the day before? Or the morning of departure? They could even take exact measurements</em>


    She didnt know, but it didnt really seem that relevant. <em>This is the job; I dont suppose I need to know exactly why they need it of me.</em>


    As she approached, she noted that only one symbol on each script was still active, demonstrating their need for recharging. <em>Why not just add more capacity, and have Mages charge them on each end?</em> Yet another question she couldnt answer herself. Still, she added both the questions, and her musings to the notebook shed designated for ongoing questions for future inquiry. <em>Probably due to higher concentrations of magic dissipating more quickly</em>


    She charged all ten scripts quickly. As before, she worked to envision exactly what her power was going to do and channeled the magic through that mental construct before it exited her hand to enter the inscribing in the wood. Also as before, each such empowering seemed to get easier, as her mind settled into the truth of her mental model and even adjusted it, ever so slightly, to match small variations from her expectations.


    In the end, it took her about five minutes to charge all ten. It had taken longer than the day before, but shed also felt as if the open doors, and the actively entering and exiting workers, had slowed her down.


    In retrospect, it had likely been unwise to allow them to continue working while she was actively dumping power into dimensional distortion magic. She might have<em>Nope, not going to think about that.</em>


    Whats done was done. <em>In the future, Ill ask them to hold off on the one Im actively charging.</em> This was likely another thing a master would have taught her, if shed done a stint as a mageling. <em>Or maybe not? The workers seem to know what theyre about, and they didnt hesitate to continue to work</em> A master might also have alleviated her concerns. <em>Id have known, one way or another.</em>


    She left the work-yard without fanfare, though she did smile and wave to the various workmen who acknowledged her.


    In fact, more such smiled her direction, as she got farther from the cargo-slots, and she had a realization. <em>With the iron salve, at any distance, it would be hard to tell that I was a Mage at all.</em> She cocked a humored smile at that. <em>I wonder why they think Im here.</em>


    She did <em>not</em> write that question in her re-opened notebook, though she did sketch out what she could remember of the inscribings on the cargo-slots. To her decreasing surprise, she was able to create a full sketch. <em>Ill have to check it against the real thing, tomorrow.</em>


    To urately render the depth, shed used various pressures with her pencil to create darker and lighter lines, also breaking up some of the lines to help emphasize their depth within the wood.


    As the lines were magical in nature, her mage-sight had allowed her to see them, easily, even through the wood.


    She had two realizations as she studied her finished work. First, shed never had the fine motor control to sketch so precisely, before. Even earlier this morning, her lines had been more hesitant, and less practiced, but in a no-longer-surprisingly-short amount of time, her movements had adjusted to her minds intent. <em>My body and mind are better connected, making the refining of skills much faster.</em> Or that was her best guess.


    The second thing she realized was that the Wainwrights Guild would likely be less than pleased that she was able to copy out everyyer of their spell-forms. <em>Ill just keep that to myself, I suppose.</em> That might make verifying the uracy of her copy more difficult, but shed manage. <em>Somehow.</em>


    T spent much of the rest of her morningbing the city for rooms to rent, either temporary or long term.


    In short: Lyn was offering her a <em>very</em> good deal, if not so inexpensive as to be obviously charity. <em>Even though it is</em>


    Money. Ts woes were almost entirely money rted. <em>Theyll be a </em>little<em> better, after I return, but with my ideas for Holly, on top of all the debt I need to pay off</em> She was likely to have money problems for quite some time.


    Instead of going by a restaurant for her lunch, as she desperately wanted to, she found the local food market, and used thest of her borrowed funds to buy dried fruit and meat, a quarter pound of butter to fill a small wooden box shed already purchased for the purpose, and biscuits. Thetter she found in a little bakery which seemed to specialize in portable food for workers.


    As such, the biscuits were dense, delicious, and filling. She still had to eat lunch, after all, and the butter shed bought didnt <em>quite</em> fit into the container. So, she ate one of the biscuits with butter and found herself satisfied.


    The purchase of traveling food had been somewhat of an internal debate with her, as she was supposed to have her food provided for her on the trip.


    That said, she had no way of knowing the quality or quantity of what would be offered. <em>Another thing a master could have easily told me.</em> And she was not willing to be at the mercy of whatever cook or quartermaster happened to be on the journey with her.


    There was also always the possibility of some sort of disaster. Thus, shed eventually decided that buying a few days of such food was wise.


    Herck of funds had changed her mind, until Lyns generosity. <em>Spend the money you have, T, and youll always be poor.</em>


    That wasnt entirely fair, as she could also eat this food in Alefast if she didnt need it on the journey, thus reducing her expenses overall, but she still felt fairly irritated.


    Today was herst day in Bandfast, as the caravan would depart just after dawn the next morning. With that in mind, she wandered the city, taking in the sights and sketching many of them.


    The shorter days and softer autumn light cast an almost dreamy aesthetic to the city, and she found herself enjoying each feature she passed, from the imposing, spell-lined city walls, to the small homes. She passedrge block buildings that appeared to be apartmentplexes and some that seemed to be factories, by the soundsing from within. She passed people of every description and age going about their business throughout the city.


    Honestly? It was exhausting.


    The Academy hadnt been vacant, by any means, but it spanned tens of thousands of acres, and had a poption that maxed out in the ten-thousands. Thus, there was never want for room.


    This city, and every city, was teeming with people, and with her newly heightened senses, it wasa lot.


    In the end, she sought refuge atop an outer wall.


    The farnd stretched out beyond that wall, defensive towers ring with power every so often to deter, or bring down, arcanous creatures that drew too close. Some people came and went through a nearby gate, and soldiers patrolled the walls at regr intervals, but overall? It was quiet.


    <em>What would it be like to leave the cities behind, forever?</em>


    Sheughed at the thought. Even as a Mage, she couldnt survive in the wilds for very long. Her magics were finite and once they expired so would she.


    <em>Still</em> If she were free of debt, and able to earn enough, she could spend most of her time <em>away.</em>


    <em>One has to dream, right?</em>


    She ate some of her trail food and drank from a waterskin as the sun sank below the horizon to the south-east. <em>And thus, myst day here is done.</em> Shed be back, but it still had a sad, sweet quality to it.


    <em>Ive only been here a week or so, and only conscious for half that.</em> Still, she felt like she was bing attached.


    Tughed at herself, then. <em>I want to go into the Wilds, forever! I cannot believe Im leaving this city I somehow love so much</em> She snorted. <em>Get it together, T. Youve work to do.</em>

 Chapter 13: Late Night Meetings

    Chapter 13: Late Night Meetings


    As the light of the setting sun was still fading, painting the sky in vivid hues, T descended from the wall, and set her path towards home. She didnt bother to be efficient about it, though. Instead, she took her time and enjoyed the walk.


    Even after sunlight fadedpletely, she continued alternating writing and sketching by the light of nights sky and the asional streetlight. In truth, thetter was more a hinderance than a help. That in mind, she chose less illuminated paths.


    That, in retrospect, was likely a mistake.


    As she walked through the darkness, flickers of magic light would asionally illuminate her, side-effects of the citys magical defenses dealing with an iing threat.


    She was almost back to the residential circle when the quiet sound of following footsteps came to her attention. Scanning back in her memory, she realized that a group had been following her for close to five minutes.


    The streets were quiet, most businesses closed and most citizens were already back to the residential district.


    She flicked through the snatches of whispered words shed been hearing since theyd been tailing her and sighed.


    <em>Great Im going to be robbed.</em>


    Stopping, she tucked her book and pencil away, turning to face her would-be muggers.


    She cleared her throat, and the three men stopped close to twenty feet from her. They all looked to be workmen, in rough, home sewn clothing. They carried thick wooden sticks, each about as long as their wielders forearm. <em>Would those qualify as truncheons? </em>They each also had a knife at their belt, but that wasnt unusual. Almost everyone carried a knife at their belt.


    She smiled, making sure to show teeth, so they would be able to see the expression in the dim light.


    To answer your questions: She alternated pointing between the three men and continued. Yes, I am a woman. No, I am not an idiot. No, I dont have any money. No, this is not a good idea. Yes, I am a Mage. Yes, your device? She frowned, taking a more purposeful look at the odd, carved stick that one was holding before she continued. <em>That seems to be for detecting if their target is a Mage. </em>Pardon, yes, your device is failing you. And yes, I know there are two more of you waiting around the next bend. She pointed behind herself, in the direction shed been going. Did that about cover it?


    The men had paled further at each of her statements, clearly horrified that she had not only heard their whispers but could easily identify exactly what each of them had asked.


    <em>Neat trick, that. I didnt know I could do it.</em> She smiled.


    One of them stepped forward. He was bigger than the others and looked to weigh close to three times what she did, though it seemed evenly divided between muscle and paunch. No. How can you be a Mage and have no money? Youre just trying to scare us off! Youre no Mage. He lifted the stick, not the carved one, and shook it at her. And youve likely got gold in the bag.


    T sighed. If only that were true. My life would be better with a bit of gold in my satchel. <em>Well, no, it wouldnt be. Id just have to give it to someone else as repayment</em>


    Give us the <em>satchel</em>, and well let you go. His voice hesitated on the word which was unusual to him, and she almostughed. <em>Seems Im not the only one failed by the education system.</em>


    Instead, T cocked an eyebrow, though she realized they probably couldnt see it. I need this, and I doubt, very much, that you would be satisfied with just my satchel.


    One of the others whispered for hispanions, but she heard him clearly and easily. She sounds pretty.


    <em>Well, this is going nowhere good.</em> Could she call for the guards? <em>No, I cant hear any, and that means they are out of calling range. </em>Simrly, she couldnt hear any other people nearby, save those attempting to way her. You know I can hear you, right?


    The man blushed. He <em>blushed</em>! Are you pretty?


    What sort of question is that?


    He huffed. A reasonable one.


    Look, gentlemen. Im a Mage, and I dont really have very good non-lethal options. My Inscriber stuck me without a lot of choice, here. Are you really going to make me kill one or more of you? She thought for a moment. In this light, you likely wouldnt even see your friend die, so Id have to kill you all. She nodded. Lets part as unlikely strangers and pretend this never happened. She had a twinge of guilt, as these men would likely ost someone else, if they let her go, but she <em>really</em> didnt want to kill them. <em>I can call the guard, after Im away.</em>


    Youll just call the guard, once youre away.


    She was momentarily stymied by the uncanny statement. Then, the full weight of what he said clicked into ce. You wont let me go, no matter what.


    <em>I could just disable them, here, and run for the guard?</em> Yes. That was the wise course. It wasnt a perfect solution, though shed not tested Hollys modifications <em>No time like the present, I suppose.</em>


    Without further thought, she lifted her right hand, first two fingers extended upward, her ring finger and pinky tucked down, all four pressed together, palm pointed towards the three men and her thumb tucked in tight. She channeled magic into the activation and focused.


    She held the features of the front-most man in her mind, along with the knowledge that he was a potential danger to herself and others. <em>They are fools.</em>


    Therger man lit blue to her eyes, and she shifted to focus on the next, firmly fixing him in her mind before he, too, lit in her sight. Therger man remained blue.


    The three men were arguing with each other, but she was past listening. Once all three were highlighted, she spun, her hand out, and found the other two men who were still waiting in ignorance, to ambush her.


    Shes running!


    The three men behind her had seen her turn and mistaken the motion. Even so, their call was heard by those ahead, and five men were suddenly sprinting towards her from two sides.


    <em>Come on, T!</em> She focused on the first ambusher, locking her view of him into ce, and he began to glow. She focused on the final man, and as she did so, she jumped right, avoiding the club shed only vaguely been aware of swinging for her head.


    The jump broke her focus, but her lock on the four others held. She quickly refocused on the final man and was able to click her magic into ce. All five now had a blue glow to them in her view.


    She kept her outer two fingers firmly down and internallymanded: <em>RESTRAIN</em>. Her power rippled through her.


    Deep set spell-lines ran through a thousand calctions that T understood but could not have hoped toplete that quickly. They noted the current elevation andtitude, as well as a dozen other factors before moving the power into a single activation for each target.


    In that instant, five golden rings zed with power on the back of her hand, visible to her normal vision even through her glove, and faded. Though she couldnt see her skin, she knew that those rings were gone, their metal used up. As an interesting side-effect, the Mage detecting device, now hanging from one of the muggers belts, suddenly zed with a harsh warning re. <em>Huh, so it does detect magic.</em>


    The five men stopped moving, all kic energy stolen in an instant. That energy was immediately reapplied, picking them ever so slightly off of the ground.


    Then, gravity changed.


    To be clear, gravity, as a whole, did not shift. Every other Immaterial Guide shed ever heard of, who used gravity maniption, created pockets of differing gravity. They targeted a volume, within the world, and changed how gravity worked within it. This was useful, because any number of enemies could be trapped by the same effect, and it could create zones of safety, or help fortify positions. It however, had many weaknesses.


    True, in this case none of them would have applied, and she likely could have gotten a simr oue with less power, but this was not the situation her magics were tailored to.


    She sighed, regretting the massive expense of the casting, even as her power made a fundamental exception and alteration to the gravitational constant for each of the five.


    Each change was precisely calcted per target based on their center of mass, among other things. As a result, each of the five men were now effectively in a perfectly stable orbit around the world, in their precise position.


    <em>That was surprisingly effective. Thank you, Holly.</em> Her old version hadnt been quite so precise, so they would have maintained the ability to move, if with awkward bounces. <em>Not anymore.</em> She grinned. <em>Non-lethal option, perfected.</em> She was quite pleased.


    They began iling about, trying to find purchase on the ground that they couldnt reach, but that did little good.


    T was panting. Shed never been able to target so many at once, before, and she mentally thanked Holly for the augmentations shed given. You might not want to move. If you manage to reach the ground, and push off too hard, you will drift upward, and nothing will stop you.


    The men paled and stopped moving. Even so, one of them began drifting up ever so slightly, having already brushed against the ground with his truncheon.


    Good choice. T smiled.


    See! She is a Mage.


    Please! Let us go. Were sorry we tried to rob you.


    T sighed, striding towards the self-doomed man. Dont fight me. He stiffened, and she grabbed him, dragging him back down, and leaving him stably around a foot off the ground. Better. She took his knife and cudgel and tossed them to the side. Then, she walked to each of the others, disarmed them, and easily moved them away from anything they might identally push off of. There. Now, I am going for the guard. You can wait patiently, and spend some time behind bars, or you can try to escape and likely end up killing yourselves. She shrugged, but once again, she wasnt sure if they could see the gesture. Up to you.


    <em>Well, that was expensive.</em> Even so, shed safeguarded herself, and likely taken some dangerous people off of the street. <em>For the low, low price of three quarter ounces of gold.</em>


    Justice, as it turns out, is expensive.


    One of the men nodded vigorously. Yes, Mistress. We were foolish to cross you.


    <em>Huh, maybe that one isnt so-</em> Even as the thought swept through her head, she realized her mistake. <em>I thought of them as idiots when I targeted them.</em>


    The one whod spoken suddenly dropped to the ground. Her view of him had changed, and so he was no longer a valid target for her spell-working.


    Heughed, feeling himself and giving a little hop, seeming to revel in the feeling ofing back to the ground.


    T quickly took control of herself, straightening and facing him, attempting an air ofmand. You may not be as much a fool as the others. Go, get the guards. If you do not return in five minutes, I will hunt you down. She extended her hand towards the man in the same manner as earlier, and she focused upon him, making sure she didnt make the same mistake.


    He lit blue to her eyes, once more.


    It was a loathsome expense, as shed be burning silver until she released the lock, but shed needed to test her effective range so<em>Ive got to test it some time.</em>


    The man bowed and ran.


    She was able to track him easily, as he remained a zing blue beacon to her sight, even through the intervening buildings.


    To her surprise, and relief, after a few minutes he did seem to be making his way back.


    Sure enough, in less than five minutes, the man returned with a small patrol of guards. They were, understandably, shocked to see the four men slowly drifting just off of the ground.


    One guard stepped forward, he was seemingly in charge of the patrol. Miss. I think we need an exnation.


    * * *


    It didnt take long for T to tell the guards what had happened. In the light of theirnterns, her spell-lines were easily visible, as were the still floating men, confirming her identity as a Mage.


    The man who had grabbed the guards was surprisingly cooperative and confirmed her story utterly.


    He was still arrested of course.


    As each man had manacles affixed to his wrists, the exception for him was broken, and gravity returned to normal. <em>No longer a potential threat.</em>


    The man leading this patrol told T that he thought there was a reward for these particr men.


    Thus, after the guards had gathered up the criminals, and their weaponry, T followed them all back to the nearest guardhouse.


    She did not turn over the Mage detector, which shed taken from one of the men. <em>I need to figure out how they powered it, and if I can sell it.</em> Many magic items were powered by bits of arcane beasts, usually ones with powers either simr to what the item was meant to do or directly opposite.


    Moremon items were powered by moremon beasts, as the bits were used up at a steady rate, and it was umon for rarer arcanous creatures to have been harvested enough for items based on their powers to be perfected.


    She had never heard of a magic detection device. <em>Though, to be fair, I really havent gone hunting for magic items</em> No money. She sighed.


    The men were each checked in, and the Justice Archive confirmed that, yes, these five men were wanted for many confirmed, and even more suspected, robberies and assaults.


    Total reward: 1 ounce, gold.


    T blinked at the pouch now in her hand. It held a half-ounce, a quarter-ounce, and two-tenth ounces in gold coinage along with five silver.


    <em>Imade a profit?</em> Who knew? Justice <em>does</em> pay.<em> Maybeshould I be a bounty hunter?</em> It was a silly notion, but it still made her smile. <em>T, Hunter of criminals! Mage for the managing of Justice.</em> What an idea.


    With a small smile on her face, and a stern admonition from the guard that she should keep to lit streets more often, T headed home.


    As she walked, she did not take a notebook out. Instead, she studied the Mage Stick. <em>Terrible name. </em>Magic Detector? <em>Better.</em>


    She examined the magic detector. The base was a simple, wooden rod, six inches long. <em>White Oak? </em>It was as thick as her thumb at one end and tapered to the size of a pencil at the other. The smaller end had a hole which she couldnt see the bottom of. The outside was wrapped with copper iy, set deep enough that the metal would never contact the holders skin. That left the surface feeling quite unusual in her hand.


    As she pointed it at various objects, she noticed that, to her eye, it almost always had a subtle glow. In a moment of insight, she realized that its glow, to her normal vision, almost perfectly matched the glow of the object she pointed it at, when she viewed the target with her mage-sight.


    <em>Fascinating. Its like a blind mans stick but for magic.</em> She stopped walking, then. T smiled. <em>Wow, that was a great analogy. Nice work, T.</em> Her smile widened to a happy grin, and she began walking, again.


    Her analysis had provided an obvious answer to the devices power source. There wasnt one. It simply absorbed the radiant magicing off whatever it was pointed at and manifested that as light.


    <em> I do wonder how often the copper has to be refreshed.</em> She clucked to herself in thought. <em>I should get a cap fitted with a piece of iron to block it off, when I dont need it. That should extend the life by a bit.</em> She actually had the materials for such in her travel gear back at the house. <em>Itste, I should just use that as a distraction for the road.</em>


    She frowned. <em>Every minute its uncapped costs copper.</em> True, copper wasnt expensive, but it would be expensive to get wire joined in the properwork and iid back into this device, when it stopped working. <em>Or to pay a Material Guide to do the same.</em> That would probably be required, given theplexity and interconnectivity of the spell-form.


    With a sigh, she ced the tip against her belt buckle and noted that it wentpletely dark. <em>That should hold it. I can do something temporary, tonight, and make a proper solution as I travel.</em>


    With that decided, she picked up her pace, reaching her house shortly.


    Lyn greeted her just inside the door, once T had unlocked and opened it.


    There you are! Dont you know that its nearly midnight?


    T was taken aback. You waited up for me?


    Of course. Do you know how Id feel if you wereying, dead in the streets somewhere?


    She cocked her head. No? I imagine youd be sad.


    Yes, Mistress T. Id be sad. Lyn huffed. Well,e in,e in. No need to stand there like a solicitor.


    T came in and wiped her feet on a mat, waiting off to the side. This new?


    Well, yes. If youre going to stay here, I had to find a better solution for your shoeless-ness than requiring you to wash your feet every time you came in.


    T was strangely touched. ButIts going to get covered in iron.


    Good thing its only for you, then. Lyn smiled. What were you doing?


    Just seeing the city.


    Ohalright then. Lyn seemed mollified.


    T quirked a mischievous smile. And getting mugged, stopping the thieves, and collecting a reward.


    Lyn had started to turn away but froze. What.


    Oh! T grabbed the quarter ounce gold coin from her pouch and tossed it to Lyn. For the food money, and my room for a month. You were right: Im not going to find a better ce, or a better deal.


    Lyn caught the coin, examining it. She didnt look up as she spoke. You engaged and captured a criminal with a bounty of a quarter ounce, gold? That seemsdangerous.


    Hmmm? No, not really, and the total reward was a gold. She hesitated. Though I suppose each reward was only two tenths of one.


    Lyns head came up. You fought <em>five</em> criminals? By yourself? Mistress T! Her mouth worked as she tried to decide what else to say.


    T grinned. Fought is being overly generous to them, Id wager.


    That is not the point! You are an Immaterial Mage. You arent supposed to be a front-line fighter.


    I never really understood that. Especially with my enhancements, I should be <em>better</em> on the front lines than any Material Mage.


    Lyn huffed. <em>Maybe</em> in terms of survivability, but not in regard to stopping enemies! One on one? Sure, I suppose, but Mistress T, you fought <em>five!</em>


    T cocked her head. Mistress Lyn? Are you alright? The older woman was slightly flushed, and her breathing was a little rapid.


    Instead of answering, Lyn turned and strode into the sitting room, flopping down on the chair.


    T followed her in and heard the woman muttering under her breath.


    Worse than I feared. The silly girl is hunting bounties, now.


    T raised her hands. Hey, now. I didnt go searching for them. I just made the best of a bad situation.


    Lyns eyes flicked to her, showing mild surprise.


    <em>Wow, she must be really rattled to have forgotten about my hearing.</em>


    After a long moment, Lyn sighed. I do know, Mistress T. I- She hesitated. I am just worried. Alright?


    Alright. I apologize for worrying you.


    Lyn smiled wearily. It isnt your fault. Ive no right to worry over you.


    T barked a shortugh as she sat down in another chair. No one else will. I dont mind.


    Lyn eyed her. Youve not mentioned your family. Are they


    Not dead. After a pause, T amended, Well, they might be. I dont really know.


    Lost touch?


    Lost implies an ident.


    Lyn nodded. Broke contact, then.


    Dont really want to discuss it.


    She raised her hands in acquiescence. Alright. Say no more. She nced at the coin in her hand. This is too much. Ill get you change. She stood and began rummaging around in a pouch at her side. She muttered through the simple math as she grabbed the needed coinage. Twenty silver for the room for a month, two silver to repay the money from this morning, thats twenty-two silver. This is a quarter ounce, gold, so worth twenty-five silver. She pulled out three coins, her voice returning to a normal volume. Here. Three ounces, silver in change.


    T thanked her and took the money.


    Lyn nced to the stick that T was still holding in her other hand, tip against her belt buckle. Do I want to know?


    T grinned. Magic detector. Took it from one of the muggers.


    Lyn hesitated, then nodded slowly. They were verifying you werent a Mage. But they still- Lyn barked augh of her own. Your iron! They didnt know you were a Mage. She was practically brimming with glee. Oh, Mistress T, thats spectacr! They must have thought you were some helpless little thing. Her eyes were twinkling with mirth. Did you obliterate them?


    T was understandably uncertain about Lyns change of attitude. I thought you didnt approve.


    Hmm? Oh! The way you described it, I thought five men waid you, knowing you were a Mage. <em>That</em> would have been colossally dangerous.


    She blinked, processing that. People do that?


    Lyn sighed, her mirth vanishing. Yes, Mistress T. Mages, for the most part, are very wealthy, and if thieves are properly prepared, they can sometimes steal a great deal. It helps that most Mages are rather vulnerable when they are caught unawares, and even prepared, many are as helpless as those without magic, when faced with iron-tipped arrows or bolts.


    T had not considered that. Huh. Your concern makes much more sense.


    Lyn nced back at the stick. That does exin why Mages are rarely osted by those unprepared for them. Her hand twitched towards T, but she restrained herself. I would dearly like to study it.


    When I get back? I think it might be useful on the trip.


    Lyn nodded. That is likely wise. Speaking of which, it is quitete.


    T nodded as well. And I need to get some sleep. She stood, heading towards her room. She paused before reaching the hallway, turning back. Mistress Lyn?


    Yes?


    Thank you.


    What for?


    Everything.


    Lyn quirked a smile. Of course. Good night.


    Good night.

 Chapter 14: An Auspicious Start

    Chapter 14: An Auspicious Start


    T, once again, woke early.


    She had not gotten enough sleep, partially because she had taken the time to rig up a small case for the magic detector. Even so, she didnt let that stop her. She rose quickly, stretched, exercised, cleansed, and verified the integrity of her iron skin.


    The magic detector was invaluable for this. If she was uncertain about any location, she simply pointed the device at her skin, and if it glowed at all, she applied more salve to that location. <em>Huh I should have gotten something like this earlier.</em> True, her own mage-sight could do something simr, but it was less acutely urate and, even with a mirror, harder to be sure that she wasnt seeing magic reflected off of the iron from her surroundings.


    <em>I do wonder why the magic detector doesnt seem to respond to reflections off of iron.</em> Another mystery for when she could get it examined more closely.


    She finished packing up her pack and satchel, hanging her bedroll below the pack, and strode out into themon space.


    Lyn was waiting for her with coffee and a breakfast pasty. Eggs and sausage.


    T gratefully took the food, and quickly ate it, washing it down with the coffee. Thank you, Lyn. That was very kind.


    I had to do some sort of sendoff. Youll be safe, yes?


    Ill do my best.


    Lyn looked like she wanted to respond to that, but instead, she simply nodded.


    Oh! T pulled out the letter shed written to Holly, detailing some requests, and handed it to Lyn. Could you get this to Mistress Holly?


    Lyn cocked an eyebrow as she took the letter. Sure? What is it?


    A few ideas and scripting requests. Nothing too major. T shrugged. Youre wee to read it, if youd like.


    Alright, sure.


    She smiled. Take care, Mistress Lyn. Ill see you in just about two weeks.


    Ill see you, then. Lyn, then, stepped forward and gave her a quick hug, being exceedingly careful to avoid skin contact. Ill miss you.


    T epted the hug and returned it to the best of her ability, trying to keep her own skin away from Lyns clothing. Ill miss you, too. To her surprise, T felt like it was actually true.


    Now, get! You shouldnt be thest one at the work-yard, and the sun is almost up as it is.


    T grinned. Bye, then! With a wave, but no further words, T departed, walking briskly towards the work-yard, near the outside of the city proper.


    As she was moving quickly, and heading directly for her destination, it was a much faster trip out to the outer wall than it had been from the outer wall back to her house. <em>I have a house.</em> She did not camp on the thought, but it still made a smile tug at her lips. She had a home, again.


    <em>And Im leaving it.</em>


    But, just for a time. She could do this.


    <em>I can do this.</em>


    She arrived at the work-yard to find a very different scene than she had on other days.


    First, all of the cargo-slots had been loaded onto a single wagon on the far side of the yard. They were fully encased within the wagon save holes for each of the ces she needed to contact for recharging of the scripts. The back was also open, to grant ess to the door into one of the cargo-slots. <em>That likely holds the supplies for the voyage itself, as part of the contents.</em> Shed find out either way, soon enough.


    Aside from carrying the cargo-slots, this wagon was different from her test wagons in several ways. First, the wheels were of an ovepping segmented design, with each piece held outward with a sort of leaf spring, allowing it to copse inward, somewhat, if the wheel went over particrly rough terrain. The tes ovepping was oriented so that no metal edge would evere down onto the ground, so long as the wagon moved forward.


    Secondly, the wagon had what looked to be a very robust suspension system, to further steady the load, and smooth out rough terrain.


    Finally, a pair of mundane oxen were hooked to the front, being tended by the driver, and all three beings were nearly ready to depart.


    Beyond her own charge, there were a string of seven other wagons, each nearly twenty feet long and pulled by their own pair of oxen. As she walked past each, towards her charge, she got a good look at them. By the activity around them, and the brief look inside given by her mage-sight as she got within range, there were four types: two wagons were for the other Mages, with a driver and servant each bustling about, preparing for departure; three were for passengers; one looked like nothing so much as a bunkhouse on wheels, likely for the mundane guards; and the final was clearly a traveling kitchen. <em>At least the food will be goodI hope.</em>


    The Mages wagons were each set up differently. She immediately identified Trent and Renixs wagon because there were three beds. One plush bed was fully separated in a frontpartment, one equally plush bed was behind a curtain, and the third was nice enough, near the rear of the wagon, clearly for the servant. The other wagon only had two beds, one vastly nicer than the other, confirming that the other Mage did not have a mageling. It was still odd, intuiting the physical nature of things from their magical imprint.


    <em>I suppose the driver sleeps across the drivers seat at night?</em> It made sense, as it seemed that great care had been taken to make those afortable ce to be throughout a long days travel. <em>And through a nights sleep.</em>


    Of the passenger wagons, it looked like two were for more wealthy patrons, as there were only two or three upants in therge wagons, not including the driver and servants. They were actually simr to the Mages wagons, but seemed to be more generic, where the Mage wagons appeared to have been customized for their passengers. The other passenger wagon appeared to be for poorer travelers, as her mage-sight detected a full five people in that wagon, again not including the driver and servant. Even with the five people, it didnt look too cramped. There was a stack of five beds against the front of the wagon, and what looked like reasonable seating within.


    <em>I guess passengers tend to stay in their wagons, during the day.</em> Seemed like it would be boring.


    Neither she, nor anyone shed known as a child, had ever traveled between cities, so it was all new to her. <em>Except magical transport to and from the academy, but that is altogether different.</em>


    The bunk wagon looked to be outfitted with ten beds, and a small area for ten more people to rest. <em>Three shifts, then?</em> If she had to guess, there would be ten guards out and about, ten sleeping, and ten resting each in rotation. Indeed, it did seem that eight were already asleep within.


    The culinary wagon had three upants and no apparent driver. <em>I suppose one of them drives?</em> They seemed to be doing final preparations, locking down things within the wagon. <em>I wonder if they will be able to cook as we travel, or if well have to stop for meals?</em> It was a sign of her ignorance that she didnt even consider that lunch might be made ahead of time in the morning, though her own preparations should have nted the idea. There was a bit of odd obscuring on this wagon, which reminded her of looking at Holly, but she couldnt determine the source. <em>All the metal implements?</em> That was as good a guess as any.


    Every wagon had what looked like a t, padded seat on the top, higher even than the driver seat, near the center of the wagon. <em>A look-out post?</em> Shed have to wait and see how they were used. Additionally, each wagon had the specialized, steel and spring wheels, along with what appeared to be highly articting suspension systems. <em>I suppose that makes sense. There isnt a road we can take, and standard wagons dont do so well on rough terrain.</em>


    Around the wagons, she could see many people moving to and fro. Twenty guards were in evidence, including Ashin who waved to her when their eyes met. She waved back.


    She easily picked out the three other Mages, each busy with their own tasks. <em>And each with a horse.</em> As she noted those, she saw at least fifteen other horses as well. <em>Back-ups for the Mages, and mounts for the guards?</em> She really had no idea, as shed never so much as touched a horse in her life. <em>My own two legs are good enough.</em>


    As she thought about it, she realized that she wasnt sure how long each days travels would actually be. <em>Maybe, I can ride beside one of the drivers, now and again?</em>


    Lyn had never mentioned horses<em>Though, she did initially offer me a wagon</em> It seemed that T might have missed something critical. <em>Nothing for it, now.</em>


    She <em>did </em>have a wide-brimmed hat, which she nned to pull out, once they were on their way. <em>No reason to get burned by being in the sun all day.</em>


    The third Mage, a woman, was obvious by her spell-lines even at a distance, but T didnt focus on her in order to analyze them, yet. <em>Ill wait until were closer. </em>She also wanted toplete her task quickly. <em>Id hate to be the hold-up.</em>


    She finally reached the cargo wagon and, noting that the outermost cargo-slot was shut, she decided to empower that one first. <em>No need to inconvenience someone by barring their entry,ter.</em>


    She ced her hand on the first, formed the mental construct, and poured her power through it, into the construction.


    She was still marginally improving her speed, both at constructing the mental model, and at attenuating the expression of her power.


    It wasplicated by the spell-lines in her right hand, as she had to forcibly direct the power around them.


    <em>Huh, I suppose I could use my left hand, but not on this first one.</em> Her left was, as of yet, un-inscribed. So, in theory, there should be less interference, if any.


    She quickly filled the first, waiting till all three symbols glowed with an inner light, and moved to the second. On this second one, she did decide to use her left.


    She rested her left hand against the activation panel and formed the construct in her mind.


    Her power refused to flow through it and out of her left hand. <em>Strange.</em> No matter how she twisted her mind, she couldnt make it work. After close to a minute, she gave up. <em>Ill have to ask someone- probably Holly -why that didnt work.</em>


    In hindsight, she realized that it had been a bit foolish to experiment with an actively empowered construct. <em>d it didnt explode</em>


    She quickly finished her work and stepped back, double checking that all thirty symbols glowed brightly. <em>Done.</em> Even with her ill-advised experiment, it had taken her roughly five minutes. <em>Having the doors closed really does speed up the process.</em> In addition, just like the day before, wearing her gloves had not slowed the process at all. She noted both things forter.


    Once shed ced her notebook back in her satchel, she walked to her driver, cing a smile on her face. Hello! She waved, and he started, turning to bow in her direction.


    Greetings, Mistress. How can I serve?


    T waved a hand. First, my name is T. Second, what can I call you?


    He nced up to her, seeming uncertain. You may call me Driver, if you so wish.


    Driver? May I know your name, instead?


    He seemed at a loss, before finally shrugging. I see no harm. I am Den.


    Well met, Den. She extended her hand.


    He started back, but quickly mastered himself. When no magic seemed in evidence, he slowly took her hand in his, and shook. Good to meet you, Mistress.


    Please, call me T.


    Mistress T. He smiled, seeming to gain a bit of confidence.


    Now, Den, would you have a space up near your seat that I could stow my pack? She pointed her thumb over her shoulder and down behind her, indicating the pack on her back.


    Dens eyes widened. Oh! Is your wagon not sufficient?


    She smiled. No, no. I dont have a wagon.


    He blinked, clearly confused. But How can you not have a wagon?


    I dont want one. That said, I <em>also</em> dont want to carry my pack, if I dont have to. Do you have a ce?


    Den nodded quickly. Of course, Mistress T. He patted the ox hed been working with and led her back to the wagon. Below the seat, opening on either side, wererge wooden boxes. On longer trips, we often have two drivers per wagon and so we each get one of these. He pointed under the seat to an identical one on the other side. That one is mine. He hesitated. But you can have that one if-


    She held up a hand. This will do perfectly. She opened the well-made box, noting several sps meant to secure it for the road without impeding its use. <em>Cleverly done.</em> It was roughly four times the size of her pack inside, being much longer than it was deep or tall, oriented along the length of the wagon. The lid hinged from the bottom of the outward face, so it seemed like she <em>should</em> be able to ess it from the ground, from the driver seat, or from thedder, just behind the driver seat on this side of the wagon. She stuck her pack inside, keeping her satchel to carry a few necessities. Thank you, Den. She then pointed to the top of the wagon. Would you mind if I rode up there, on asion?


    Ahh, to give yourself a rest from the saddle? He smiled, kindly. Of course!


    T scratched the back of her head. Well, I wont be riding, so it will mainly be to rest my feet, or just to allow me to change things up.


    Dens eyes widened, again.


    <em>Im going to stress this man into an early grave.</em>


    No horse? Youre going to walk! He closed his eyes and muttered something under his breath, clearly not intending T to hear. Never question the decisions or ways of Mages, Den. You know better than this. He pasted a smile on his face, opening his eyes once more. Im sorry, Mistress T, of course you can ride whenever you wish.


    T sighed. Den, thank you. Im not going to be upset if you ask me questions, or dont obey, or anything like that.


    After a moments hesitation, Den seemed toe to a decision, and his smile became more genuine. In that case, Mistress T: Thank you, and wee. He extended his hand again, and T took it once more.


    She left him to finish with the oxen and now that her pack was secured, she felt light and ready to go. She now wore her wide-brimmed hat, taken out of her pack, and she thought she looked rather nice, all things considered. <em>Who knows what a week of trail dust will do, but right now? Im quite alright.</em>


    While the hat mainly protected her from the sun, it also had the benefit of further obscuring her spell-lines. That, along with her gloves andck of Mages robes, caused her to look positively mundane to the casual nce.


    In that regard, she realized she had to forgive the guard who walked up to her, hand on his sword. Miss, this is no ce for civilians, unless youve purchased a ticket.


    They both knew that all passengers were already in their assigned wagons. T smiled and turned to the man. He was a good head taller than her and d in leather and mail. A round shield hung from his back, and an iron cap sat on his head. He was armed both with a long sword, and what appeared to be a short chopping de. In addition, she saw loops on his belt for both a quiver and a crossbow to hang, though he wasnt wearing them at the moment. In that first look, her mage-sight also swept over him and saw through the holes in his mail. He had quite a few old injuries, that seemed to be causing mild difort, though she wasnt sure exactly how she knew that. As a final bit of information, she knew that if she jumped right, he was likely to have a harder time following her than if she moved left, due to something that hadnt healed quite right in that ankle.


    She took all this in in less than a moment, and her smile grew just a hair. She was feeling yful. <em>And why not? Im supposed to be here.</em> Im sorry, I didnt catch your name.


    Miss. That isnt relevant-


    She pulled off her hat casually and stretched her neck to each side. His hesitation confirmed that hed been able to see her spell-lines.


    The big man, to his credit, immediately changed tack. Apologies, Mistress. I am Sergeant Holdman, second inmand of the third squad for this caravan. Are you, by chance, Mistress T, our third Mage?


    <em>Third? Interesting, Renix doesnt count as a full Mage to mundanes, I suppose.</em> She, herself, wouldnt have counted, if shed followed standard practices. I am T, yes. She extended her hand.


    Sergeant Holdman hesitated, just as Den had, but he took her hand and shook it carefully. A pleasure, Mistress.


    Please, call me T.


    He gave a half bow. As you wish, Mistress T.


    T struggled not to roll her eyes.


    He nced over his shoulder. The Master Sergeant is eager to get us underway. If you would, could you empower our cargo-slots and then join us near the bunk-wagon?


    She pointed before he could. That one, right?


    Ummm Yes.


    Are you heading there, now?


    Yes.


    Then, I will apany you.


    Please, if you dont mind-


    She held up a hand. Ive already empowered the cargo-slots, Sergeant. Were ready.


    He took that in stride, not even ncing towards her charge. Very well then. After you, maam.


    T.


    After you, Mistress T.


    Despite what he said, they walked side-by-side around the kitchen-wagon to the other side, and down the caravan to beside the bunk-wagon, where a group of some eight people waited for them. Five were guards, by their insignia, two were of like rank to Holdman, and three outranked him. The other three were her fellow Mages. <em>Renix is as much a Mage as I.</em> She refused to let that imply herck.


    She was introduced around but decided that she was making people ufortable with her handshakes, so she simply nodded at each in turn.


    The first to catch her eye and give a shallow nod of greeting was the final Mage, a Material Guide named Atrexia. <em>She specializes in the maniption of rock, earth, and their derivatives, though she avoids metals.</em> T briefly wondered how she would feel to the woman. <em>I hope nothing like sand rubbing against her skin.</em> That would make interactingdifficult.


    Trent and Renix greeted T with smiles and nods of their own, while the Sergeants and First Sergeants bowed more deeply.


    One of those who outranked Holdman was a Master Sergeant, and he oversaw all of the guards for this caravan.


    A pleasure to meet you, Master Sergeant Divner.


    He was thest to be introduced to her, and his bow was the least of those given by the Sergeants. Mistress T. I assume that the cargo-slots are ready to go?


    They are.


    Then, we may depart. After a brief pause, he added. I trust that you will inform us, if any deviation requires our attention?


    <em>He means with the cargo-slots.</em> I will keep an eye on them, yes. If I notice anything unusual, Ill let you know.


    With that, he nodded and turned, calling for the wagons to begin moving.


    Four of the Sergeants jogged off to the bunk-wagon, climbing in, while Divner and Holdman moved to direct the drivers and remaining guards.


    Renix waved as he turned and climbed on his horse, and so she walked over towards him.


    Hi!


    She smiled at his enthusiasm. Hello, Renix.


    Where is your horse?


    I n on walking or riding on my wagon.


    That seemed to catch Atrexias attention, as she nudged her own horse in their direction. You are going to walk?


    T turned to her and tried to direct her smile up at the woman. Thats the idea.


    You will throw off the defensive lines of the caravan. Get in your wagon and stay out of the way. Atrexias eyes swept the caravan, before a frown creased her face. Where is your wagon?


    I dont use one. Or do you mean where will I ride when I do so? That would be the cargo-wagon.


    You dont-


    Renix grinned. Oh! Mistress T, will you allow Atrexia to look at you?


    Atrexia turned her eyes on Renix. You will address me as <em>Mistress</em> Atrexia, mageling, and it is rude to ask that on behalf of another. Id thought Master Trent would have taught you better.


    Trent, who had just mounted his own horse nearby,ughed. Hes fine, Mistress Atrexia. Look at the girl. He nced at T. Assuming that is eptable?


    T sighed. <em>Might as well.</em> Fine by me.


    The spell-lines around Atrexias face rippled, and her eyes widened in shock. What- She cut off as T lifted her gaze to meet the older Mages.


    Im certain you are very good at your job, Mistress Atrexia, and I wouldnt dream of telling you how to do it. I ask for the same courtesy in return. My actions are my own.


    Atrexia visibly swallowed. You cant be an arcane, but how?


    T grinned. Im a bit odd. Even so, Im sure well get along swimmingly, if youre willing.


    Atrexia leaned forward, and by the still pulsing spell-lines across her face, she was attempting to study T more closely. YesIdI think I would like that. She nodded, and her spell-lines lost their power. I apologize for any abruptness. I look forward to speaking with you on this trip.


    T smiled and nodded. That sounds wonderful.


    By that time, the wagons had begun rolling forward at a pace which would have matched Ts brisk walk only a week ago, but now seemed quite leisurely to her. The other Mages were mounted and turning their horses in the same direction as the caravan.


    <em>Well, were off!</em> With no further discussion or thought, T set a pace to match the wagons and began walking.

 Chapter 15: The Journey Begins

    Chapter 15: The Journey Begins


    T walked out through city gates for the first time, that morning.


    Growing up, her father had always maintained: If you dont need to leave the city, why would you? Consequently, shed never even been to the farms surrounding her home city.


    She didnt feel any change, nor should she have. The outer wall was nowhere close to the outer defenses, at least not in one of this phase. Consequently, they were still well within what was considered the city. Even so, it was new.


    The farms looked the same in person as from afar, just nearer. Workers toiled in the fields, using animals and machines, both mechanical and magical, to finish the fall harvests. A few looked to be tending autumn crops, as well. <em>Is Bandfast temperate enough to bring those to harvest?</em> It likely wasnt assured, or every field would be nted thus. <em>I hope it works out for them.</em>


    As the caravan slowly worked its way down the main road, through the farnd on this side of the city, they fell into afortable order. Two guards rode ahead, beginning the job of scouting for the wagons. Three rode behind, to protect from, and warn of, any dangers that mighte up from the rear.


    An additional five guards were stationed on various wagon rooftops, each of those armed with heavy crossbows. Besides the crossbows, each had arge shield, which seemed to be affixed to the roof on a hinge, somehow. <em>Ill be curious to see how those work, and what theyre for.</em>


    Trent and Renix rode on one side, near the middle, and were mirrored by Atrexia on the other. Even still within city limits, their eyes were sweeping their surroundings. <em>Good habits, I suppose.</em>


    The wagons, themselves, were in tight formation, with just enough room between the oxens noses and the back of the next wagon to ensure the driver could stop in case of emergency. <em>Close and tight. Better protection? Or better to go unnoticed.</em>


    She had a fleeting thought. <em>What if I could only have empowered the cargo wagons? Wed have an additional nine vehicles, just for goods transport. Would they have had to hire more guards, more bunk wagons, more Mages, more Mage wagons, and at that rate, another kitchen-wagon?</em> It was a bit daunting. <em>And with that many more people, wed likely need another wagon just for travel supplies.</em> No wonder the Caravanners Guild prized Immaterial Guides with dimensional distortion experience. <em>Im saving them a fortune!</em>


    She might need to apply a little pressure to Lyn when she returned.


    T, herself, was sitting atop the foremost wagon, her charge, the cargo-slot wagon. There was a semi-padded square in the very center of the wagons roof, reasonablyfortable for one person to sit upon. A free-spinning ring surrounded the seat, and T realized that the guardsrge shields were likely affixed to that on their own wagon tops. <em>It gives them the ability to have cover from any direction, with the weight of their wagon lending support. </em>Clever.


    Her hat was not providing much shade in the early morning light, but thankfully, they were heading south, first. <em>Alefast is almost due east of us, but I believe I heard that the route chosen is utilizing easier ground to the south.</em> Good thing, too, or the rising sun would be impossible.


    She, of course, had a notebook out, and was sketching a random assortment of things which they passed. It was more something to do than because she truly enjoyed it. <em>Or because I need it.</em> She was finding that she had virtually perfect recall. When shedpared her sketch from memory to the cargo-slots, they had been a perfect match.<em> That has to be useful for something.</em> Shed find a use, eventually.


    An hourter, they reached the edge of the farnd, and T stared out at the lines of regrly spaced towers that stretched out to either side, encircling the city. <em>The outermost, active defenses.</em>


    Beyond this were the mines, but they had been abandoned in this city, as it had moved to the next phase, contracting inward as the truly outermost defenses wound down.


    As they neared, T took the time to focus on the closest defensive towers and sweep them with her mage-sight.


    Each was three stories, with a contingent of ten guards manning the position. She also saw a Mage in each tower, ready to repair, re-empower, or bolster the defenses at need. After all, every arcanous creature brought down temporarily disabled the tower, until the Mage in residence could empower the newly cast spell-lines.


    She frowned at that thought. <em>No, I think some defenses have more than one casting before they are spent.</em> Shed never studied emcements, and she decided that it wasnt something that interested her too much at the moment.


    The spell-lines in the tower to the east were useless to her, as they were for a Material Creator, made to spawn stone before and above any detected threat. She copied them nheless.


    Those in the tower closest to the west, however, <em>those</em> were clearly Immaterial Guide lines, and the spell was quite fascinating. It was clearly meant as a fall back, if the surrounding towers had spent their castings and had yet to be re-empowered. As such, that tower held spell-work for a simple series of kic thievery workings. If she read the lines correctly, and her mage-sight had yet to disappoint her, each of the twenty-five scripts would steal all kic energy from a target for up to half an hour, or until the maximum capacity of the spell was reached. Then, the spell would dump all the stored energy back into the target, crushing them into the ground.


    <em>I dont see why thest part is necessary.</em> After all, locking a creatures blood in ce for half an hour would be fairly lethal, as would preventing their breathing. <em>Maybe some arcanous beasts can endure that?</em> That was a terrifying thought.


    She copied these spell-lines as well, and as with those to the east, she noted what each part of each set seemed to do. <em>It seems reasonable to gain some knowledge of inscribing and spell-lines, in general.</em>


    She had begun sketching when the towers came into sight, and thus, she finished just as they came abreast with the line of towers.


    An unnecessary call went up to: Keep sharp! as they entered the Wilds.


    As if cued by the shout, arge, lizard-like creature shot out from the surrounding forest, sprinting at a pace that would put a horse to shame.


    Thankfully, it was not running at them.


    It was a massive creature, which positively zed to her mage-sight. Clearly a predator, it ran on its back legs, its forelegs stretched before it, ten-inch ws extended. All told, the beast was probably twelve feet tall.


    Thankfully, it was half a mile away, running towards the line of towers.


    As T watched, one of those towers activated, and a thick stone block materialized directly in-front of the charging creatures head.


    The impact was sickening even at this distance, likely due to her enhanced perception.


    There had been no time for the creature to stop, and the rock was clearly quite heavy.


    The creatures forward momentum broke its neck. The stone fell with the copsing body, crushing the torso as it mmed into the ground.


    <em>Thorough.</em> It was a bit grisly, even so.


    No one else seemed to be reacting to the sight. <em>Not close enough to be our concern, and not notable.</em> Shed known that arcanous creatures regrly tried to breach city defenses, but as shed never left the walls, shed never seen such up close. <em>Though, I have seen quite a few flying ones taken from the sky.</em>


    There were probably <em>far</em> morend creatures than those in the air. <em>Huh. This might getinteresting.</em>


    Before the caravan, a wide-open, grassy in stretched towards the horizon, broken only by rolling hills and the asional tree or mountain in the distance. There was no road.


    In fact, there were <em>no</em> roads in the Wilds at all. Such would make it obvious where human caravans would be traveling, and thus any arcanous or magical creature could easily wait in ambush. Instead, each caravan took a unique route between cities, and though someponents of each trip between two given cities were asionally the same, it was always random, at least to the best of the Caravanners Guilds ability.


    <em>Dont let them know where youll be.</em>


    There was also that fact that building and maintaining roads would be an <em>enormous</em> undertaking. Apparently, some would-be-emperor, about a thousand years ago, tried to build protected roadways, with towering defenses along the whole length, just as cities had.


    The migrating arcanous beasts had not appreciated the blockage.


    The road, connecting just two cities, was open for one glorious year before it was breached. Tens of thousands had died.


    Apparently, the road had drawn the attention of a higher order of creature, her teachers had called it a paragon magical being, but hadnt borated. Shed suspected they, themselves were ignorant.


    <em>Happy thoughts, T. This is an adventure!</em>


    It was not, in fact, adventurous. As if to bbor the point, nothing more of note happened, or was passed by them, until lunch. The oxen never stopped moving, and T guessed they covered nearly ten miles before noon.


    As they traveled away from the city, she did notice one thing. There was a growing sense of magical power from the world around her, the grass, the ground, even in the air. It was a subtle thing, and would likely have been unnoticed, except that her mage-sight highlighted any change. Thus, the constant increase was a bit of an annoyance, as it filled her vision with hundreds of flickering motes and magical signatures. Thankfully, it leveled off just before lunch.


    T had walked for a good portion of the time. Sometimes she walked beside Renix, talking about small things. Sometimes she walked or sat beside Den, and she learned about his family; his wife worked as a baker in Bandfast, and they had four children. Sometimes she sat and wrote out her thoughts.


    Sometimes? She was bored out of her mind.


    Walking, at least, upied much of her thoughts, but the caravan was progressing so slowly, she found herself easily walking up and down the length of the wagon train, even as it kept moving.


    <em>This is maddening.</em>


    Finally, <em>finally!</em> Just before high noon, a guard called out a warning from the front. Beasts ahead!


    T sprinted up from near the back of the wagons and scrambled up to the perch atop her cargo wagon.


    There, nearly a mile ahead of them across the open ins, was a herd of truly <em>massive</em> creatures.


    Each wasrger than any one of the wagons in their train, and covered in long, blue-ish ck fur. Short curving horns stood out prominently to either side of the creatures heads, creating an almost helmet-like look to them.


    <em>What under the sky?</em>


    As she watched, two of the giant, cattle-like creatures faced each other, strutting and posturing. That seemed insufficient to establish dominance, however, as the two braced themselves and charged.


    Their hooves tore up the turf as their gait ate up the distance in a breath.


    Their heads mmed into each other with a concussion that was easily audible even at this distance.


    The additional rippling of distant thunder from the group ahead let T know that those two were not, in fact, unique in their posturing, within the herd.


    It was with great wisdom that the caravan turned almost due east, aiming to skirt the notice of the numerous,rge, arcanous bovine.


    <em>Well, that isnt boring, at least.</em>


    It was a mixed blessing that the remainder of the day was anything but dull.


    * * *


    T had many questions answered, which she hadnt thought to ask.


    First, shortly after they diverted to avoid the magic cows -<em>I am not giving them a silly name just to feel more secure-</em> the workers from the kitchen wagon began distributing food, with the help of the servants from the various wagons.


    Second, it was called a chuckwagon, not a kitchen wagon. <em>Thats what Master Himmal meant.</em> His metaphor made <em>so</em> much more sense, in retrospect.


    Third, while Master Sergeant Divner seemed to direct the movements of the caravan, Trent and Atrexia had great sway over specifics, and the three of them closely consulted.


    Fourth, by their many nces her way, where she sat on the lead wagon, she clearly had a right to weigh in, should she decide to join them.


    She did not.


    The food was a simple meat and vegetable pasty, and T found herself curious as to how they safely maintained an oven on the moving wagon, for the food was deliciously hot. Their travels were smooth, after a fashion, but she knew that she wouldnt want to wield a knife while on a wagon, let alone manage an active fire.


    <em>The chuckwagon might have better stabilization. Maybe some magics to aid it?</em> Shed have to investigate.


    The caravan kept moving even while most people ate and while the three debated the path ahead.


    Renix guided his horse up beside her wagon, where she was licking her fingers clean of her third pasty, and she wavedzily. Not much happening.


    He shrugged. The thunder cattle are interesting. I dont know that Ive seen a full herd this close to a city before. Small families, yes, but those are usually only two to ten beasts. That? He nodded his head towards the south, and the source of frequently sounding, concussive impacts. That is something new. Im surprised it hasnt drawn downrger predators. He grinned. I wish we could get closer.


    <em>Maybe, I shouldnt be ttered by his interest in myoddities.</em> He seemed far too fascinated by things that could get him killed.


    The mageling finished a pasty of his own and sighed. I do wish wed be attacked, or something.


    T snorted augh. Oh? Whats so bad about what youre doing?


    Renix held up a book. We only really get paid, if we actively defend the caravan, and Master Trent has me studying. He said thest with a scowl. I got enough of that at the Academy. At least if we fight, I can leave the books in my bag.


    T sat up straighter at the sight of the book. Does that say: Inscribing?


    Renix nced at it. It does. Master Trent thinks a Mage should have a good understanding of inscribing for all four quadrants. I have a matching set of four volumes.


    <em>Fascinating</em><em>. So, Im not alone in that thought?</em> It was a bit reassuring that her own studies were aligning with what at least one master was teaching his mageling. T leaned forward. I dont suppose I could borrow the Immaterial Guide one? When he cocked his head to one side, she quickly added: Id like to review some of the basics.


    He nodded. That makes some sense, I suppose, though I dont know why youd choose to. He made a disgruntled face. Ill have to check with Master Trent, but it shouldnt be an issue. He smiled. Hey! You can join us this evening for discussions on theory. It would make it much less boring if you were there? He left thest as a question.


    <em>Couldnt hurt.</em> Sure. Id like that. Thank you.


    Her mind returning to the books, she smiled. <em>This is perfect!</em> T had always avoided inscribing sses or much deep understanding of spell-lines. As she understood it, she didnt need to know the intricacies of spell-line craft to use her own spell-lines. She just needed to know what the whole did, together. <em>After all, an alchemist doesnt need to know the chemistry of oxidation to burn a crucible to refine an elixir. He just needs to know it will help him in his work.</em>


    That was <em>close</em> to how it worked for Mages. A Mage simply needed to know what effect a given set of spell-lines would create when she powered them. That way, her power would mold into that. She couldnt make the lines do something else, if she had a misunderstanding, and the specifics were handled by the spell-lines themselves. The worst-case scenario would ur if a Mage didnt know what spell he was casting, when he empowered his inscribings. In that case, raw, unshaped power would pour through the lines, and likely obliterate them, as well as the surrounding flesh.


    Though, as T thought about it, the inscribed spell would probably still be enacted.


    That was why a Mage had to trust their inscriber absolutely. If there was a mimunication, or faulty inscribing, the best case would be the spell failing to work. Death was a very real possibility in any misapplication of magic.


    Even though her new mage-sight let her know the function of most inscribed spell-lines, it didnt let her know if certainbinations were possible, or if un-empowered spell-forms were valid. <em>Ive got time. I should put it to good use.</em>


    While T had been pondering, Renix had returned to his wagon, snagging the desired book. Hed made a move towards Trent but noticed that the Mage was still debating with Divner and Atrexia. With that observation, hed simply returned to T, offering her the book. Im sure its fine. He smiled up at her.


    T strained, reaching down, and took the leather-bound volume with a smile. Thank you, Renix. I appreciate this.


    Renix smiled back, then seemed to hesitate. Thank you, Mistress T.


    Hmm?


    You dont treat me like a hanger-on. He nced away. The best Mages talk to me, and dont treat me badly, but Ive not met a full Mage who treated melike me. He shrugged. Like an equal, I guess. Thank you for not looking down on me.


    T grinned down at him, straightening her back to stretch just a bit higher, and cocked an eyebrow.


    Renixughed. I meant metaphorically.


    Well, youre wee, I guess. She settled back in. You are you, after all. It would be silly to treat you as anyone else.


    She was about to open the book and dig in, but she noticed that Renix was still riding beside the wagon. <em>HuhHes still here.</em> Most people didnt stay around


    So She closed the book. How many of these have you gone on?


    Renix started, seeming toe out of his own thoughts. Me? OhWe dont do these very often. Lets see. He frowned in concentration, scratching above his right eyebrow. Well, Ive been with Master Trent close to two years, and we guard a caravan every couple of months, sotwelve? Twelve, give or take. He shrugged. They start running together after a time.


    Twelve. <em>This mageling has gone on TWELVE caravans</em>. She was out of her depth. Wow. Thats impressive.


    He shrugged again. The pays not bad, even for a mageling. He nced towards her. Nothing like what youre making, if rumors hold true.


    She stiffened. Rumors? What rumors?


    Renix didnt seem to notice her tension. Oh, you know: Baggage Mages get all the money. They barely have to do anything, while we spend our metal fighting and killing for scraps. That sort of thing.


    <em>Oh! Generally speaking, not me in specific.</em> I see. Id never thought to ask what Mage guards would make.


    He drew himself up with a fake hautiness. Its Mage Protectors, and Ill thank you to remember that. He grinned.


    T snorted augh. Very well.


    Renix shrugged. We dont make much, though half of our inscribing costs are covered in the contract. No, the real money is in building and fabrication.


    T cocked her head. Building and fabrication?


    Yeah! Demolishing buildings and helping to erect new ones. Helping artisans, making factories more efficient. There are <em>loads</em> of jobs for Material Mages. He nced to her. Im sure there are for Immaterials as well, but


    Youve never really looked.


    He shrugged, again. Yeah, why scope out jobs you cant do. He smiled. Ive tried to convince Master Trent to let me get some Material Guide inscriptions, to help augment my own, but hes convinced I dont have the right thinking to make them work, yet. He sighed. Hes probably right. Not worth paying for inscriptions you can''t empower, right?


    T nodded. Many mages did cross quadrant lines here and there to lend their magics more power and versatility, but it was risky. To use magic, you had to understand what it did. Her own restraining spell, for example: She didnt have to know exactly what values were being plugged into the gravimetric equations, nor exactly what values each targets interactions with gravity was being set to, but she <em>did</em> have to understand what gravity was and how changing the gravitational constant for an object would affect every aspect of it. If she just understood the spell as: It stops your target, makes the target float, and keeps them there. the spell would fail, likely catastrophically.


    I can understand that. Ive never been able to wrap my head around the creation of matter.


    Renix grinned. Oh, thats easy. Mainly, its just imagining that there is <em>more</em> where once there was less.


    Huh?


    More. You know. Rocks are heavier than air, and all that.


    You specialize in ice and lightning.


    Exactly! Lightning is the easier of the two, for me. My father was a builder, and I helped him install hundreds of lightning rods. Fascinating things, those.


    I dont follow.


    It''s like petting a sheep with a cloth glove. When youre done, theres <em>more</em>. Theres lightningWell, just a bit, anyways.


    T shook her head. I suppose I just dont quite understand. She smiled. But, we are diametrically opposing quadrants, so


    He barked a shortugh. Fair enough. He nced at her, then down at the book. Well, um I suppose Ill leave you to-


    A deep bellow rattled the wagons, emanating from ahead and off to the left, the opposite direction from the herd.


    Oh, good! Renix smiled, tension seeming to bleed from him. We have unwanted guests.


    T stood, looking towards the sound and saw a group of four thunder cattle<em>-Stupid name-</eme over a nearby rise, walking slowly towards them. The sound hade when the lead animal, a bull, had seen the caravan, and their oxen, and had issued a challenge. <em>Isnt that the sound they make just before charging?</em>


    She turned to ask Renix, but he was already spurring his horse forward.


    Trent called to him. Stay there. Were to guard the nk, while Mistress Atrexia handles these.


    Renix slumped but reigned in his horse. Yes, sir.


    As his horse slowed to a walk, the lead arcanous bull bellowed again, lowering its head to charge.

 Chapter 16: Arcanous Beasts

    Chapter 16: Arcanous Beasts


    T stared in mute fascination as the arcanous bull rushed across the ground between his small herd and the caravan.


    <em>Hes close to half a mile away!</em> Nheless, he was covering the distance at a rapid pace.


    T focused on him, willing her mage-sight to engage at much further-than-normal range.


    The bull was full of power.


    She could see twisting, intricately flowing spell-lines woven through the beasts flesh, bone, hide, and hair. The long, curving horns were practically throbbing with power, though she couldnt quite tell what any of it did. The structure and design were eerily familiar but the whole was still unintelligible.


    In less than twenty seconds, the bull had covered the majority of the distance between him and the lead wagon, upon which T sat.


    Atrexia, the Mage tasked with handling the threat, sat straight-backed on her horse.


    As T watched, Atrexia extended a hand, and made a series of quick gestures.


    To Ts mage-sight, power shot out from the womans right shoulder, soaking into the ground just ahead of the charging bull. A small portion of the fringe of that working passed through the edge of Atrexia''s clothing, and that minute portion was fractionally diminished. Even so, the end effect was impressive.


    In that instant, twonces of stone erupted from the ground in unison, their points driving into each shoulder of the animal. The bulls charge was used up against the spikes, as its own momentum drove it far onto the hardened stone. The charge was halted barely one hundred yards from the oxen pulling Ts wagon.


    Atrexia swayed slightly, and T saw magic practically dripping from the woman. <em>That must have taken a great deal of power.</em> T frowned. <em>Why?</em>


    She scanned the ground, willing her mage-sight to inspect it, and she had her answer.


    There was no rock in the ground, at least not much. Atrexia had been forced to: first, tear the soil away from the roots of the deep, wild grasses; then,pact an immense amount of it into a dense enough form to be able to pierce the bulls hide; and finally, drive it upward quickly enough to effectively catch the bull off-guard.


    There were now wide swaths of cavitation, deep beneath the ground. <em>She pulled from deep enough the wagons wont be at risk of causing a cave-in.</em> Yet another way in which the Mage had strained herself.


    When looked at in that light, the attack had been an amazing feat of strength.


    <em>She would be a terror in mountainous regions, or anywhere with any substantial amount of rock ready to hand.</em>


    The bull was shuddering as it rested, impaled upon the two earthen spikes, its blood slowly leaking out.


    As T turned her attention back to the bull, she saw its power flowing through it in horrifyingly familiar patterns. <em>Thats how my skin looks when its pulling back together.</em> Healing magic. The bull was healing itself.


    With a bellow of rage, the bull jerked upward. The crack of stone shattering filled the air as the spikes splintered, sending a cascade of gravel down towards the bulls hooves.


    Atrexia yelled a challenge in return and kicked her horse into a forward walk.


    <em>Brave horse.</em>


    The bull shook itself, thest vestiges of the spikes falling from the fast-closing wounds.


    Atrexia yelled again, raising her hand.


    <em>She doesnt have the strength to do that again.</em> T leaned forward. <em>What is she doing?</em>


    The bull took a step backwards, iling its horns in a warding gesture, a vain attempt to show strength.


    Atrexia raised her other hand, and T saw power run across the womans bare stomach in apletely different pattern than before.


    <em> What is she doing? Thats not an earth magic workingis it?</em> T was <em>not</em> a Material expert.


    To Ts surprise, she saw flickers of power around the bulls eyes, and the creature reacted as if it could see Atrexias powering to bear. It turned and ran back the way it hade.


    <em>They can perceive magic?</em> That was news to her. <em>Can all arcanous creatures see power?</em>


    Atrexia held herself stiff and straight but reigned in her horse, bringing her advance to a halt. Soon, the bull had returned to its small group, and all of them had retreated, back down the far hill and out of sight. As soon as the thunder cattle were no longer in view, Atrexia slumped in her saddle.


    One of the guards ran up to her, offering her water, and talking quietly enough that, along with the distance, T couldnt catch what was said. Even so, she got the gist: Atrexia would be retiring to her wagon for a few hours to recover. <em>I dont me her.</em>


    As the other woman turned her horse back, riding towards her rest, T raised a hand in acknowledgement, and smiled. Atrexia gave her a strange look, but then nodded, a small smile tugging at her lips as well.


    On his horse, beside Ts wagon, Renix groused. That was a waste of power. We could have struck the whole group down and had magic to spare.


    T turned to him, eyebrow cocked. Oh? She saw Trent riding nearby, but he didnt say anything, yet.


    Of course! Creating shards of ice is much easier than pulling rock from who knows how deep.


    <em>He doesnt know how she did it.</em> That made sense, in retrospect. Hed likely not used his mage-sight, and it likely wouldnt have told him much, if he had. So, then why did she volunteer, and why did Master Trent allow it? Are they both fools?


    Master Trent was still riding where Renix couldnt quite see him, and T saw a smile pull at the older mans lips. Renix shook his head. They arent fools; they just dont want me in the fray.


    T barked augh. Charitable of Mistress Atrexia to expend so much power just to keep you a bit safer.


    Renix frowned. That doesnt make much sense, does it.


    No. So?


    Renix sighed, seeming to take a moment to think. Well, I suppose it makes sense for her to handle a threat she knows she can, and leave the unknown to us, given we have more flexibility and capability in the current terrain and environment.


    Trent took that moment to kick his horse forward and draw up beside Renix. And there, you show that you are listening to your lessons after all. Well get your quick mind educated soon enough, but at least your slow mind knows how to put the pieces together.


    T frowned. Quick mind? Slow?


    Renix grunted. Its a metaphor Master Trent favors.


    The older Mage interjected. What you do on instinct, and without effort, is your quick mind. That is your assumptions, and your reflexes. Your slow mind is how you act, what you say, and what you think when you take the time to contemte before speaking or acting. He shrugged. It always made sense to me.


    Huh. T thought about it. Seems reasonable.


    Trent then turned back to Renix. Though, even your slow mind missed a bit. If wed killed the bull on his test charge, the whole family would have attacked. In total, that would have taken much more energy. We can kill them more easily than she can, here, but her stopping power was able to do the trick, nonlethally, thus reducing our total use of magic.


    Renix was nodding. And our total use of metal in our inscriptions. After a moment, he added. How much?


    Trent broke into a grin. I only had to pay her one silver ounce. Apparently, that working is much heavier on power expenditure than on metallic consumption for her.


    T didnt quite follow, but she decided it wasnt worth redirecting the conversation.


    Renix nodded. Probably worth it.


    Definitely worth it. Trent reigned his horse around, before adding. Ill take the far side. Weve got both fronts to guard until shes recovered.


    Renix nodded. Eyes sharp.


    Magic ready. Trents reply came back readily, making clear that it was a familiar exchange.


    T turned back to the book that Renix had lent her and began to read.


    She was no more than two dozen pages in, when one of the guards called out. Above! Air hammer bolts, mark!


    Ts eyes flicked up just in time to see a falcon diving towards her. <em>Thats odd.</em>


    It took a moment for her eye to properly focus before she realized: <em>Ohthats big.</em>


    The birds wings were tucked in tight, as it dove down towards them, but if they were spread wide, shed have guessed their span at close to thirty feet. Even at this distance, rapidly decreasing though it was, she could see power rippling around the wings, and magic clearly augmented its flight. <em>No bird could be that big, naturally, and hope to fly.</em>


    It had a look close to that of a peregrine falcon, hence her initial confusion.


    <em>It seems odd to encounter this creature so soon after the thunder cattleunless it was hunting the bovine, noticed us, and decided we were easier prey?</em> It was a possibility. That said, as the great arcanous avian streaked towards her, she realized that it was, indeed, diving for <em>her</em>, specifically.


    Her eyes widened, and her hand began toe up.


    In that moment, she heard the distinct <em>twang</em>, <em>chunk</em> of five different crossbows firing, and their bolts streaked through the air, guided by practiced aim.


    As they flew, T got the impression of metal glinting along their shafts in irregr patterns.


    In less than a blink, all five missiles had struck true, and the avian screeched in rage and pain.


    Then, Ts mage-sight blossomed with a story of power.


    Each of the bolts, now firmly imbedded in the great bird, red to life, the irregr metallic gleam being revealed as non-empowered spell-lines.


    <em>They are using the bird as the source of power!</em> It was genius, really. Magic items often used pieces of arcanous creatures to power them for a time; so, it made sense that weapons could be crafted to take advantage of the same principle.


    Each of the five bolts were inscribed with the same spell-form, and they all red to life in near perfect unison.


    They were Material Guide spell-forms, and T didnt need her mage-sight to see what they did.


    From five ces on the creatures body, a working reached out, and swept the air from beneath its wings.


    The change in airflow radically altered the beasts flight path, and not even thest-minute re of giant wings could slow it. After all, there was no air in ce below the wings to catch on to.


    The bird mmed into the ground at high speed, just off to the caravans right.


    Surprisingly, the body wasnt obliterated, as T would have assumed.


    Even more shockingly, the bird jerked and stuttered upright,ing to its feet to let out an ear-splitting shriek.


    <em>How is it still alive?</em> There was a depression, nearly six feet deep, in which T could clearly see well entrenched grass roots. <em>Yet, it acts almost unharmed.</em>


    That wasnt quite correct, its wings did seem to have some new kinks in them. So, it would likely never fly again. <em>Without healing</em>


    The guards had not been idle, and even as the bird rose up, two of the mounted guards rode past, jamming spears deep into the creatures neck.


    Momentster, a bright sh of power told T that the spears had been inscribed too.


    Well, that and the fact that each spear blossomed outward with a ring of cutting wind.


    The birds head fell free, and the great body toppled backwards with an almost delicate <em>whoosh.</em>


    <em>And now, I know how the guards are useful.</em> In truth, they likely had many tasks, but their ability to protect against such threats was noteworthy. <em>I wonder if those weapons are specific to arcanous birds? I suppose they would work against other creatures that used wind and air magic.</em>


    Because the creature wasnt actively trying to activate the spells, the spell-forms had to be able to utilize magic already within the creature itself.


    She shuddered at the thought, realizing that the beast likely could have sent great wheels of cutting wind into them, if the guards hadnt been fast enough. The spears had simply tapped into the power first.


    The guards, and the chuckwagon workers, were already swarming over the body, beginning to strip it down, and T grinned, an ideaing to her.


    She set the book carefully aside and climbed down, walking over to the working men. The wagons still had not stopped their inexorable movement forward.


    One of the guards looked up as she approached and saluted hesitantly. Mistress? Can we help you?


    She pointed to the bird. Will you be taking all of it?


    The man shook his head. There isnt time to harvest everything. He pointed to the chuckwagon workers. They will harvest the parts best known to be edible to supplement our supplies. He gestured to himself and the other guards. Those other guards had already retrieved the five bolts and two spears, their copper inscribings still mostly intact. We will harvest the wing bones. Those are known to be potent power sources for the making of wind and air constructs.


    T nodded. Any objection to me taking something?


    The guard looked nervous. Pardon, Mistress, but the bones will be a great bonus to the men, when theyre sold in Alefast-


    She held up a hand, stopping him. I wont take anything youve already mentioned.


    The man brightened visibly. Oh! Of course, then. Take whatever you wish, Mistress.


    T. My name is T.


    He bowed. A pleasure, Mistress T. I am Guardsman Adam.


    Good to meet you as well, guardsman.


    That out of the way, she bent to her task.


    Fifteen minutester she was jogging to catch up to her cargo wagon. Blood was dripping down her arms, over her gloves, and speckling her face and clothing. She felt lightly strained from all the jerking and twisting shed done to get parts free, and she was <em>very</em> pleased with her new knife, which had performed perfectly. <em>Ill have to thank Ashin, again, for taking me to that smith.</em>


    Her harvest?


    Guided by her mage-sight, which could still see the lingering power slowly bleeding from the newly dead beast, shed taken all four talons from each foot and all three bones from each of the legs. Shed left the feet behind, mainly because shed ran out of time to work through the tough skin and sinew. And they were surprisingly heavy.


    <em>These do not feel like they came from a bird capable of flight.</em> Magic allowed for wonderful incongruities, such as allowing for a beast to fly when it weighed more than her wagon, ox team included.


    The talons each resembled nothing so much as ck, hooked des, and to her best guess and understanding, they held a strange, arcanous version of power directed towards one thing: Integrity of the talon itself, most strongly focused in preserving the beyond razor sharp edge on the interior curve. Consequently, she had tied a short length of rope around the base of each, below the sharpened portion, tying them together in a tight bundle.


    The leg bones were as white as any mundane bone, and shedshed those together, separately from the talons. The power in them seemed bent solely towards maintaining the strength and integrity of the bone, itself. <em>No wonder the impact with the ground didnt turn it to paste.</em>


    Those fourteen pieces were all shed had time to grab, and they were by no means clean. Bits of flesh, sinew, skin, and muscle clung all over them, making it a rather macabre prize.


    She ignored the stares that the drivers, guards, and even Trent and Renix, directed her way, as she hauled her harvest up onto the roof of the wagon. Once settled in, she began to clean each item as thoroughly as possible.


    In talking with the guards, while working on the body, shed learned that they kept iron ted chests in which to keep any trophies, so that they wouldnt lose too much power before they could be sold and turned into the power sources of constructs.


    T didnt have iron boxes, but she did have her iron salve.


    Thus, she had retrieved one of the bars from her pack, stored in the box beneath Dens driver seat, and as she finished cleaning and drying each piece, she applied the salve thoroughly across the surfaces. <em>If it works to lock my power in, and others'' power out, it should be sufficient for this.</em> It should also protect the bones and talons from rot, if theysted long enough for that to matter.


    Honestly, she had no idea how it would actually work, but her best guess was that the bones would hold onto the power that was currently in them, and if anything put stress on them, such as an impact that would otherwise have caused a break or distortion, some of the power would be used to resist. Once all the power was expended, they would just be normal bones and talons, again, since they didnt have any active source for new power.


    <em>I hope thats how they work.</em> She might also be able to tap into their power for inscripted items, but that was a <em>whole</em> different area of study. <em>Ill bet Holly would have some thoughts.</em>


    Worst case scenario, she should be able to sell them. <em>And thats not a bad case at all.</em>


    As she worked with the pieces, she noticed that the middle bone from each leg fit rather nicely in her hand. There was afortable ce for her to grip, sinched against one end, and they were just over two feet in length. <em>These would be pretty nice weapons.</em> If she knew how to use such. Still, shed seen students at the Academy doing a form of stick fighting for exercise, and ostensibly for fun. <em>It would be easier than learning to fight with a de.</em>


    It was a rtively silly thought. After all, she had magic; why would she need to learn how to fight with a weapon?<em> Still, the guards brought down the bird with weaponsand magic </em>is<em> expensive to use in all cases.</em> It might just be wise to learn how to use mundane weaponry.


    <em>I wonder if any of the guards know stick fighting.</em> If they did, hopefully she could convince them to teach her.


    The task of cleaning the harvests and applying her salveplete, and close to half the afternoon gone, she turned back to her borrowed book.


    Thankfully, they had no further arcanous encounters that afternoon.

 Chapter 17: The Evening Encampment

    Chapter 17: The Evening Encampment


    Sunset seemed only half an hour off or so when a halt was called, and the wagons trundled into a circle.


    T climbed down, tucking her various odds and ends back into the box that Den was letting her use on the side of the cargo wagon.


    Severalrge tables and benches were brought out of the back of her cargo wagons backmost cargo-slot, and they were set up within the circle.


    T also saw a group of guards digging atrine pit a short walk downslope of the wagon circle.


    During the day, T had walked just over a nearby rise to answer the call of nature, always being careful to sweep bothnd and sky with her mage-sight before going. She also suspected that shed seen evidence oftrines within the wagons, which simply dropped the waste down onto the ground as they traveled. That obviously wouldnt be tenable overnight, unless thetrines had a way of being closed up until the next days traveling had begun.


    She did not focus on any of the wagons to verify her theory.


    <em>Now that I think about it, there were a few times that Den asked a guard to take the reins, and he went into the bunk wagon</em> Had other drivers simrly left their posts for sporadic breaks?


    <em>Come on, T, this is ridiculous. Why, under the stars, would you care about the caravans habits of defecation?</em> She shook her head as she looked around.


    One thing that her contemtions on what might have fallen from the bottom of wagons did do was to ensure that she would not be sleeping under any wagon, except maybe the cargo wagon.


    She bent down to look underneath and was pleasantly surprised. Not only was the tform some four feet off the ground, making a rather nice space, but there appeared to be a rather thicker than average growth of grass, almost centered in the sheltered space.


    <em>That should be extrafy.</em>


    But bed waster. Now, now was time for food.


    Den had led the wagons into a circle, which left the right side of each wagon facing inwards, allowing for all of thedders to the top of the wagons to simrly be facing inward. <em>Defensible. Nice.</em> The man, himself, was unhitching the oxen and tending to their needs. T offered to help, but he declined.


    With nothing better to do, she headed towards the chuckwagon.


    Now that the caravan had stopped, the passengers were climbing from their wagons and stretching. Those in the two less crowded wagons did seem to be dressed a bit nicer than the five from the other passenger carrier, though they were all dressed <em>much</em> more nicely than T, herself.


    With the sun going down, shed left her hat in the cargo wagons box, and she felt a bit exposed.


    The passengers seemed to be avoiding looking her direction, and she frowned at that. <em>Did they not expect Mages on the trip?</em> No one would be that stupid.


    Ashin walked up to her; hed been in the second shift, so he was nearing the end of his time on duty.


    She turned and smiled. Ashin, did you have an easy afternoon?


    He smiled back. Mostly. I was stationed on one of the passenger wagons, so I had to listen to those two bickering. He nodded his head towards two of the wealthier passengers, who had had a wagon to themselves.


    Oh? What about?


    I couldnt tell. He frowned. I dont generally try to listen in on other peoples conversations.


    T waved that away. Once you start shouting, you lose the right to privacy. She sighed. But if you didnt hear, you didnt hear.


    He shrugged. Then, he nced around, seeming a bit embarrassed. Socan I help you find a washbasin?


    She blinked at him, confused. What?


    A basin filled with water, so you can get cleaned up.


    She just stared at him. What?


    Finally, he rolled his eyes and gestured at her. You look like you came out of a butchers shop.


    T nced down. Her sleeves were encrusted and stained deep red, almost ck, with the arcanous birds blood, and as she shifted her face, she realized that she likely still had some of the stuff stuck there, as well.


    The front of her shirt was speckled in a rather pleasing pattern that would have been stylish, save the source of the coloration.


    She grinned, looking back to Ashin. Dont like the look?


    He grunted. Dont be difficult, Mistress T. You are scaring some of the passengers.


    She nced towards those whom she was apparently scaring and noted several of them look away as she turned. Huh. She flicked her eyes back to Ashin. And, what? You drew the short straw?


    Master Sergeant Divner thought it would sound besting from someone you knew.


    Meaning he was too much of a coward to ask a Mage to clean up, himself.


    Ashin raised a shushing hand and nced around again. I volunteered.


    She frowned. I thought hed be asleep.


    He was resting, not on bunk rotation. Hell go down after dinner.


    She grunted. Fine, but Im not going to be able to get the blood out of this shirt.


    Dont you have others?


    I like this one.


    He gave her a t look.


    Fine. She sighed. Youve gotten some backbone.


    Im used to the wilds. Things make sense here. He looked at her, again. And youre making it harder by scaring the passengers.


    She rolled her eyes. Fine. Where can I find a washbasin?


    He led her around to the far side of the cargo wagon and showed her where a tightly worked wood crate could fold open, making a passible basin. It also had a drop canvas which blocked the view from under the wagon, and provided a clean ce to stand, regardless of the ground. <em>Clever.</em>


    He also showed her a tap in a small cistern of water, imbedded in the front of the wagon.


    It only holds about thirty gallons. Master Renix can refill it, if we have to.


    She nodded. With ice, that makes sense.


    Ashin nodded as well. Yes, but it isnt ideal. We also have water barrels, but we dont want to have to transfer it to this.


    So, dont waste water, right?


    Right.


    Understood.


    He waved goodbye and left her to it.


    T took a moment to go around the wagon and grab a change of clothes before returning to the washing station. She let some water out, into the small basin and removed her gloves first, hanging them to the side. Shed cleaned them earlier, while stripping the bones of the remnants of flesh, and had ensured they were both dry and spotless before she touched Renixs book, or her own notebooks.


    That done, she cleaned her face, and any other exposed skin, of dried blood. Then, checking for any witnesses-there were none-she stripped off the blood-stained clothing and pulled on the new. It was only a quick moment, but it still felt odd to be naked in the middle of nowhere, beneath a darkening sky. <em>I suppose Ill get used to it</em>


    The water was warm, having been heated through the wagons wood in the sun all day, but it wasnt hot. Still, it was a pleasant thing, washing off the road-dustand blood.


    When she was done, she emptied the basin -shed only used about two cups of water- and hung up the drop canvas so it was up off of the ground.


    She re-entered the circle of the wagons to find dinner service well underway.


    She joined the back of the short line, as everyone walked up to the chuckwagon and was served a heavy, hot soup with thick slices of buttered bread. <em>I would have guessed chicken soup, but given todays events</em> She focused on the meat, and indeed, there was still lingering power swirling through the poultry in the deliciously savory smelling soup.


    <em>Huh I wonder what that does to a person, when they eat it.</em>


    Looking around, she saw the three other trained Mages sitting at a table on the far side of the ring.


    She walked over and set her bowl and bread down beside them on the provided tray, stepping over the bench to sit on it. There were already pitchers of water and wooden mugs for their use.


    So, what kind of effect does eating magic infused meat actually have on people, long term?


    All three stopped eating and turned to her.


    Atrexia was the first to respond. What?


    This. T pointed at the soup. The meat is from the arcanous avian that attacked usOh! Right, you were in your wagon.


    No, I heard about it. Atrexia looked at the soup. Why do you think this is from that?


    T frowned. Just look at it. Its practically dripping with power. She shrugged. And I was there when the cooks harvested the meat from the beast, earlier today. She took a bite, feeling an interesting pulse of energy as the bit of meat touched her tongue. It does taste pretty good. T smiled.


    The others didnt smile. Trent actually pushed his bowl away from himself.


    T frowned. Come on. You had to know. Youve gone on dozens of these trips. This cant be unique. She took another bite. You can <em>taste</em> the magic in it.


    Atrexia cocked her head. You can?


    Of course! Its obvious She trailed off.


    Obvious to you. You also said you can <em>see</em> the power in it, but I havent felt you activate your mage-sightthough Im not sure I could sense that from you, even if I tried. She sighed. No, Mistress T, we did not know they were feeding us arcanous meat. We knew they harvested from the creatures, when they were killed, and we knew that they sold parts upon arrival. I, for one, never watched them harvest, so I never knew meat was taken.


    Never watched them? Are you serious? Arcanous creature parts are incredibly valuable!


    And the guards get a good return on their work, harvesting. I dont really feel it is right to interfere.


    Trent was nodding. Its not really done. He hesitated. Well, some Mages do harvest as they go, but when they do, they generally im the entire creature. He shrugged. Ive never heard of a Mage sharing with the caravan. They either take it all or ignore the process.


    So, youre telling me, no one knows they''re eating Magic meat?


    Im sure many know, but why would we?


    Have you never asked what youre eating?


    Its good, its filling, no need to ask further.


    T rolled her eyes. You all are a strange lot.


    Says the demon girl.


    T red at Atrexia before she realized that the other woman had spoken so quietly even Trent, who was sitting directly next to her, should not have even known shed spoken. Atrexia met her re, eyes widening. <em>Ohrusted pyrite.</em>


    What are you?


    T looked away, taking another bite. Im a Mage, Mistress Atrexia. Leave it at that.


    A human Mage, right?


    T turned back to her, a questioning frown forming across her face. Are there other kinds?


    Atrexia nced towards Trent, who was giving her a hard look, then away. Never mind. It was a silly question.


    T kept eating, steadily. As she did so, she noticed that Renix was unusually quiet.


    Finally, he muttered something to himself, and T caught it easily. I just thought it was spicy.


    She quirked a smile, and he seemed to notice because he nced towards her and blushed. T pointed her spoon at Renix and swallowed her mouthful. Youve a good mageling, Master Trent. Hes sensitive and perceptive, maybe more than either of you realize.


    Renixs color deepened, and he looked away. Trent turned to study his student. Huh. Might be worth testing him on it. The Mage looked around, then sighed. But not in the wilds. He looked back at his soup. How often do you think theyve been feeding us, this?


    T shrugged, picking up her empty bowl. Shed been hungry. Ill ask. She took herst bite of bread after mopping up the remnants of the soup, and carried her te back to the chuckwagon, where there was an obvious ce to process her own dirty dishes. <em>No seconds, I guess.</em>


    After cleaning her items, and leaving them in the pile to dry, she walked around to the smaller door at the back of the chuckwagon. She knocked.


    After a moment, a smaller man opened the back door and smiled at her. Mistress T, yes?


    Thats right.


    You may call me, Brand. What can I do for you?


    Brand. T nodded formally in greeting. What was the meat in tonights dinner?


    His face didnt even twitch, but his eyes flicked to the left, just briefly. Chicken, Mistress.


    T cocked an eyebrow. Oh?


    One of the other culinary workers stepped up behind Brand and whispered in his ear. T heard it clearly. Brand, she was there when we harvested the meat.


    Brands face froze. After a long moment, he bowed slightly. One moment, please.


    And just that quickly, he stepped backwards and closed the door.


    The conversation was quick, quiet, and terse, but T heard every word.


    You let a Mage watch you harvest?


    You wanted us to deny a Mage?


    Of course not! If she wanted the body, you should have given it to her!


    She didnt want the body, though. She just wanted pieces we werent interested in. And you said get the meat if we could.


    Brand growled.


    The door opened briefly, and he stuck his head out. One more moment, please. The door closed.


    T found herself smiling.


    What are we going to do?


    Im not going to talk to her. She already knows <em>your</em> name.


    It sounded like Brand took a deep breath, and let it out, slowly. Fine. I am head chef, I will take responsibility.


    Crack me over the head you are! Youre just in charge of ingredient acquisition.


    You really want to argue with me, now?


    There was a long pause, then the other man responded, even more quietly. No, head chef.


    I thought not.


    The door opened once more and Brand stepped out, closing it behind him. Mistress T?


    Hmmm? She couldnt speak for fear ofughing.


    Please, follow me. I dont wish our discussion to be overheard by the passengers. There was a tremble to his voice, which hadnt been there, before.


    <em>Nervous? </em>Clearly, but that didnt seem quite right. T followed him away from the wagon circle, even while Brand darted looks left and right, as if fearful of being seen. It was full dark, now, and they were deep in shadows within a half dozen feet.


    Brand turned to face her, a slight tremble obvious through his whole body at that point. Now, what can I do for you?


    She cocked her head. I just want to know what the meat in the soup was.


    de Wing Falcon, Mistress. Specifically, it was breast meat. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly, seemingly in an attempt to calm himself, as if steeling himself for what was toe.


    T nodded. See? That wasnt so hard. Now, why-


    While she spoke, Brand had leaned to one side, looking past her, away from the wagon circle. He frowned and interrupted her to ask, What is that?


    T turned her head to look, but when she scanned the countryside, she saw nothing. Turning back, she said as much. I dont see any-


    Her words were cut off as a knife plunged down, into her chest.


    No. That isnt quite urate.<em> Wellrust me to g.</em>


    Brand brought the knife downward in a forceful stab, driving the point through her shirt, and into the top of her chest, but it did not break the skin.


    At the moment of contact, her silver inscribings had detected it and a <em>flick</em> of power had activated the intercellr and intracellr bond strength enhancements.


    Both she and Brand looked down at the knife, piercing through her shirt, dimpling her skin, and pushing her left breast towards the side. In a tight circle, directly around the tip of the knife, and extending out in a radius of roughly an inch, her skin glowed with a soft, grey-tinged, golden light. Ow? I guess?


    Brand stepped back, horror written on his face, as he dropped the knife, tripping and falling onto his backside. Ohwhat have I done. His voice was a harsh whisper, as if he truly didnt know what was happening.


    T was quite curious about that herself. <em>Im knife proof?</em> That was something she could have gone a lifetime without learning, but she supposed it was better than the alternative.


    She knelt down in front of Brand as he began incoherently babbling, begging for forgiveness, exining that he had a family, and that he needed to live.


    After a long moment, T held up a hand, and he stopped instantly.


    Why did you do that?


    He swallowed. We were told by Mages to never, under any circumstances, eat or feed others arcanous meat.


    She quirked an eyebrow, and she was reasonably certain that he could see it in the reflected firelight that managed to reach them.


    He swallowed. A cook on one of these trading routes, years and years ago, probably a few decades, was running out of rations, and used what he had on hand, meat from an arcanous beast killed that day. He nced to the side, then continued. To his surprise, he found that the men who ate it were stronger the next day, and even seemed to heal faster than expected. One guard, who had been bedridden by the fight the day before, was able to stand and move about under his own power. It was a miracle.


    The cook seemed to be calming down as he told his story.


    This head cook told other cooks, and together they tested the theory. After they had a solid body of evidence, they approached the Mages but were only able to state that they had a theory about eating arcanous meat. The Mages cut them off and simply stated: Never eat or feed anyone arcanous meat, and never mention it again.


    T waited for a long moment before Brand continued.


    But it was helping the men. Fewer of us mundane folk were dying on the voyages, and those who were injured healed more quickly andpletely. We couldnt stop


    So, you continued, despite the Mages instructions?


    He nodded, looking away from her.


    How have the guards not noticed?


    Oh, they know Mistress, at least the Sergeants. They also know not to mention it to the Mages.


    HuhWell, I hope I didnt just ruin it all for you.


    Brand looked at her with obvious confusion. What?


    <em>Im hearing that a lot, tonight. </em>It seems to be working and helping a lot of people. Id hate to think Ive taken that from you.


    I just tried to kill you He seemed quite hesitant about reminding her of the fact.


    If a child hits you with a twig, do you get angry? No matter his intention?


    Brand blinked at her. So Im a child?


    She waved it away. You couldnt have killed me. She hesitated, knowing full well that he <em>would</em> have killed most other Mages, had any one of them been in her ce. Maybedont do that again? Ill have to be watching the caravans you are a part of, going forward, and if any Mages die mysteriously, Ille for you. She tried to look intimidating as she spoke thest. <em>There is NO way Im actually going to keep tabs on this guy</em>


    She apparently did it right, because he paled, nodding vigorously. Yes, of course, Mistress. I wouldnt dream of it.


    She hesitated, thinking about all that shed just learned. You all wanted Mage involvement in the past, yes?


    He, likewise, seemed to hesitate before answering. Yes?


    She nodded. I want in. Get me all the information that you have, and some way to indicate to future chefs that Im in the loop. I saw your people harvesting, and they were very particr about what they took. I assume you have notes on what portions of the arcanous beasts create what effects, and what portions arent safe, and so on?


    The pause was longer, but finally, Brand seemed to make up his mind. Youll help us? You wont cut us out or turn us in?


    She grinned widely. I wouldnt dream of it. It sounds like you may have just saved me a <em>lot</em> of tedious work, and Id love to help you in return. <em>They seem a bit on edge, but I suppose trying to hide something like this for more than a decade will do that Hopefully, my involvement will ease that tension a bit.</em> She pointedly did <em>not</em> consider the fact that this unauthorized group might have killed to keep the secret before. It was, after all, unlikely; Holly had been insistent that Ts form of mage-sight was unique, and only her mage-sight really clued her in.


    Brand nodded, slumping with obvious relief. Ill get you what you need.


    Good. She looked back towards the circled wagons. Now, I just have to figure out what to tell the other Mages

 Chapter 18: The Wilds Are My Workout

    Chapter 18: The Wilds Are My Workout


    T walked back into the circle of wagons, possibilities whipping through her head.


    She passingly noticed Brand re-entering the chuckwagon and quirked a smile. <em>Hes going to have a fun time exining what just happened.</em>


    She returned her mind to the present task.


    <em>Do I lie?</em>


    No, there wasnt really anything convincing she could say.


    <em>Do I tell the whole truth?</em>


    That was folly. Besides, there was likely no surer way of preventing herself from learning the secrets that the cooks had uncovered.


    <em>Decades</em> She shook her head. That kind of time researching had to have yielded truly fantastic results. <em>Ill have to see if their methods were sound, else it might all be useless to me, anyways.</em>


    <em>Focus, T. Mages ahead. What are you going to say?</em>


    The question was taken from her as she approached the table.


    All three of the upants were staring at her chest.


    T frowned, shifting a bit ufortably. Um Hi? Did I drop something on? She trailed off as she looked downward and saw that soft light was still visible, shining through the small slit in her tunic. <em>You know? I dont know if Brand grabbed his knife</em>


    Trent cleared his throat, looking up to meet her gaze. Mistress T. Your breast is glowing.


    She blushed deeply and couldnt think of a response.


    Atrexia, taking Trentsment as having breached the silence, stood, and strode to her. The other woman stuck two fingers forward, towards the slit in Ts shirt.


    T pped the encroaching hands away. Hey, now! Hands to yourself, please.


    Atrexia stopped, ncing around.


    Several guards and passengers had turned, but when they saw the Mages looking back at them, they returned to their own business.


    Let me see, girl.


    T red. I am your peer, <em>Mistress</em> Atrexia. You will address me as such.


    Atrexia straightened. Mistress T, please show me that spell-script.


    T narrowed her eyes, then sighed, pulling the cor of her shirt down to expose the still glowing, golden spell-lines.


    Atrexia squinted, and T saw power ripple around the womans eyes. <em>So much for asking for permission..</em>. It increasessomething. Why does it look like that? The golden color isoff, like Im seeing through tinted ss. Are you using a different metal than gold? An alloy? You know, thats incredibly dangerous.


    <em>You can use alloys? What would that even do?</em> T had a notebook out and was making notes to herself before she truly realized that she was. Shed stepped back, to give herself room to remove her notebook from her satchel, and absently waved her pencil at Atrexia. Its gold; its just under a differentyer of protection. You are correct, though, it enhances the inter-connection between the cells in my skin.


    Renix cleared his throat, and T saw that he was still staring at the glowing script. Trantion?


    Trent turned to his student, and physically turned the boys head. It makes her skin tougher. Now, stop staring. He turned back to T, not mentioning that she was still taking notes on her thoughts and contemting the ramifications. What did you have to defend against? Id say that almost anything that hit there, could have killed you.


    T briefly stopped writing. <em>Ohright.</em> She finished the sentence she was working on, closed her book, and tucked it and the pencil away. <em>Never decided what to say, did I</em>


    Atrexia had crossed her arms and was waiting impatiently. Well?


    T sighed. Please sit down. She sat herself and waved to Atrexia and Trents half-eaten food. Thats not going to hurt you. T began monitoring those around them, modting her volume and tone to a pitch that she <em>believed</em> wouldnt be discernible by even the closest bystander, and the others must have picked up on it, because they shifted their own voices to match.


    Trent gave a suspicious nce to the bowl, then looked back to T. How do you know?


    Well, I suppose I dont <em>know</em>, but youve likely eaten this stuff, or the like, on every trade expedition youve ever gone on, and youre fine.


    Trent grimaced. Great


    Atrexia sat, again, her mage-sight still active as she prodded her soup.


    T sighed. How about this: You eat a bite, and Ill watch what happens to the power within your system, ok?


    Trent, Renix, and Atrexia all stared, wide-eyed at her, as one.


    It was Ts turn to frown. What?


    Renix swallowed, then leaned forward. You can see the flows of magic, <em>inside</em> people?


    <em>Ohright.</em> She was putting her foot in all sorts of wonderful mistakes, wasnt she.


    Atrexia held up a hand, to forestall Renixs continued questions. While that is a good question, mageling, I think the answer is rather obvious. She pondered for a moment. Master Trent, you first. Then, me.


    Trent turned to her. Wait, what?


    I have inscribings that should reject any foreign power, no matter how it first affects me. I doubt Id be a useful test, but I am willing to be a secondary perspective. She nced to T. Assuming you are willing?


    T shrugged. Sure.


    Trent looked back to the bowl, then sighed.


    T watched him pick up a piece of meat, and she focused on it. The bite lit up to her mage-sight, highlighting thetent power within.


    Trent nced to her, and she nodded, assuming that he was asking if she was ready.


    Without further dy, he ate the bite.


    Immediately, power began to be drawn away from meat, even as he chewed. It flowed outward, through his spell-lines and towards his keystone and from there outward into his body.


    Fascinating. T leaned forward.


    Trent stopped chewing. What? The question came out slightly garbled, around the food in his mouth.


    Power is leaving the meat, and flowing backwards along your inscribings, to your keystone.


    Atrexia nodded. So, its wearing away at his spell-lines. She frowned. An expensive-


    T held up her hand. No, it isnt. The power isnt being shaped by the spell-lines, it is just following the same channels She leaned even closer. It is entering your keystone, andhuh.


    T stood and walked around to stand behind Trent. The older man didnt turn, though he did twitch just slightly.


    It is entering your blood andfading.


    Atrexia stood, her own mage-sight still active. What do you mean fading? She seemed frustrated as she looked but obviously couldnt see what T saw.


    Like water on sand. T shrugged. If I had to guess, your body is taking the energy and using it. No lingering magical signature.


    Atrexia returned to her seat. Now me.


    T watched as the woman took a bite. The result was almost identical to that of Trent. The only difference was that the power took different paths to her keystone, as her spell-lines were different.


    Basically the same result. Different paths, though, because you are inscribed differently.


    Renix cleared his throat. Were theremonalities in the types of spell-lines the power followed?


    All three Mages turned to look at him, and he hunched just slightly.


    After a long moment, Trent nodded. Good question, but that seems a bit specific for Mistress T to be able to determine.


    T shook her head. True, but not relevant. In each of you, the power followed thergest through-lines through each of your spell-forms, ignoring any anciry lines.


    Renix brightened. Like lightning!


    Trent was already nodding. Our spell-lines are acting to funnel the power throughout our bodies. Fascinating.


    After another almost ufortable silence, Trent and Atrexia shared a look, then sighed and began eating in almost perfect sync.


    T grinned. Decided it wasnt dangerous?


    Trent glowered. Decided it wasnt worth starving He sighed, looking to Atrexia. What do we do about it, when we reach Alefast?


    Atrexia looked at T, then back to Trent. This would kick up a mother of a storm


    Trent grunted. Best case scenario?


    We get poisoned on our next expedition. She pointed at Ts breast again. It still had a subtly glowing circle. Im guessing were right?


    T grimaced. Yeah. Seems the cooks dont like seeing their friends die, and they are convinced that the meat makes themselves, and the guards, stronger. After a moment, she added. They im that theyve seen it increase the speed of healing as well.


    Trent grunted. Youre going to look into it?


    T hesitated, then nodded. I hope to. It is in line withseveral other avenues Im already taking.


    Atrexia cocked an eyebrow above another spoonful of soup. Your ss covered skin?


    T sighed. It isnt ss. Its- She stopped herself, then found herself grinning. Did you think Id give you the answer in order to correct you?


    Atrexia shrugged, continuing to eat. Worth a shot.


    T kept smiling. My inscriber said she wouldnt wish my process on her worst enemy. Still curious?


    Atrexia smiled in turn. Just because you havent found an easy way to do it, doesnt mean it doesnt exist. She shrugged. Assuming its anything worth replicating.


    Trent interjected. Mistress Atrexia, all Mages have secrets.


    She huffed. And were all worse for it.


    Trent smiled ruefully. Care to share yours?


    Nope.


    So, what you meant was that <em>you</em> were worse for it.


    Can you guard this caravan without me?


    Trent hesitated. Id not like to try


    Atrexia grinned. Then, <em>were</em> worse for it. She winked.


    Trent rolled his eyes and turned to eating in earnest.


    T sat back down beside Renix and leaned close. Are they always like that?


    He shrugged, clearly trying not to stare at the glowing spot on her skin. When we are in the same caravan, yeah. Master Trent tries to build good rtions with any Mage he travels with. If that isnt possible, he learns how best to interact for the least friction. He quirked a smile. If that isnt possible, he learns how far he can needle them as revenge for messing with his attempts to get along.


    Probably a good idea... Though thest is a bit odd.


    It was well and truly dark, and the passengers and guards had moved back to their wagons, or posts, leaving the Mages to themselves.


    With nothing really remaining to discuss, T bade them all a goodnight.


    She walked beneath the stars back to her wagon. As she approached, she could hear Den, lightly snoring from the drivers seat, up on the wagon. The oxen were staked out on leads and hobbled so they could graze and sleep at their leisure. <em>I dont see a water basin for them. I wonder how its provided.</em>


    She gave that a moments thought, then shrugged. <em>Den knows what hes about.</em>


    She nced around, and though she could see perfectly, she realized that the darkness was enough to hide her from any observer, or at least obscure the details.


    That in mind, she stripped off the stabbed shirt and pulled on another. She took her bedroll and unfurled it under the wagon, atop the thicker puff of grass.


    She still marveled at how much Magic wove through the ground and nts out here in the wilds.


    Shortly after sheid down, she heard a guard walk by some fifteen feet out, and she settled in, feeling safe.


    * * *


    T woke to the soft light of pre-dawn, the feeling of pins and needles all over her body and the subtle, but pervasive, sh of power igniting spell-lines across her flesh.


    Her eyes shot fully open, and she was suddenly aware of thorny vines constricting down upon her. In that frozen instant, she assessed her situation.


    If she had to guess, the softer patch of nt shed taken as a gift had turned out to be some sort of carnivorous nt. It seemed to have wormed vines up, and across her entire body through the night. With the first light of dawn, it had uncovered thorns, spaced every one to two inches, and constricted in an obvious attempt to shred its victim apart and cover itself in her blood.


    Her enhancements had objectedstrongly.


    Golden light, with a slight grey tint, washed outward from her, even as her clothes were utterly shredded.


    The vines began almost slithering across her, and she realized that if they had pierced her, they would now be sawing through her muscle and bone.


    <em>By all that shines.</em> She iled despite her bound limbs. Thankfully, she hadnt been bound to hold her down. No, the nts aim seemed to have been to get its wicked weapons into position over her main arteries and open them to the sun.


    She blessed Holly and her inscribings, again.


    Ts hand found her belt knife, which shedid beside her head the night before.


    T whipped the de free and began to hack.


    In most circumstances, hacking at something so close to her own flesh would have been unwise, but her active enhancements turned aside her own de as easily as the thorns, though she still felt the impacts.


    She tore herself free and rolled out from under her wagon.


    Her shirt was simply gone. <em>Another one? Seriously?</em> She stood in just her small clothes which were miraculously mostly intact.


    She had apparently been yelling, because several guards were already running towards her, des drawn, and Den was staring at her in mute horror.


    She felt thick, sticky ichor slowly dribbling down her exposed skin. Apparently, the nt had something like blood, and she was coated in it.


    T looked under the wagon, and saw her bedroll, somehow entirely untouched, writhing atop the floundering nt. <em>It oriented all the spines and thorns towards me.</em> She was <em>not</em> going to pay for a new bedroll.


    With a bellow of rage, she dove back under the wagon, grabbing her bedroll, whipping it off the nt creature, and tossing the gear out from under the wagon. She remained, shing any vine she could hold onto long enough to cut.


    She vaguely saw the guards skid to a stop and draw back, as the now fully uncovered ntshed out with half a hundred more tentacle-like vines.


    With so many vines, she couldnt get close, not in the confined, four-foot-high space.


    T had had enough. Toss me your sword! She red over her shoulder at one of the guards, and he nched.


    Another tried to shuffle closer, but the vines were moving too quickly.


    The vines struck T, herself, in a steady rhythm, but theycked the mass to do any damage without the aid of their thorns.


    Dont bring it to me. TOSS IT!


    The guard flinched, then pitched his short sword to her, underhanded. Considering he was some ten feet back and aiming to toss it under a wagon <em>and</em> near someone in the middle of a maelstrom: He did a good job.


    The tip struck her squarely in the side, causing another section of her inscribings to ze with light. How that one section had avoided activation up until then, she had no idea.


    She picked up the de from the ground and found herself grinning. Now, you rusting patch of grass, you die.


    She drove inward, hunched yet cutting in great sweeping arcs, leaving dozens of tendrils twitching on the surrounding ground. After each swing, she was able to take a shuffling, crouching step forward.


    Finally, she got close enough to the center to drive the de straight down, into the core of the thing, buried in the ground.


    The entire mass seemed to freeze on the instant, then fell limp.


    T whooped in victory, ripped the de free, and staggered out from under the wagon.


    She was glowing like a small fire, and she would have been surprised if any part of her spell-forms hadnt been activated. <em>Im d they arent one-shots</em> What had Holly said? Each area should be able to activate at least a half-dozen times?<em> It was something like that.</em> Shed have to check her notes. At the moment, she was much too distracted.


    Atrexia, Trent, Renix, and a half dozen guards were standing in a ring around the wagon, staring at her in mute horror.


    Den was still atop his drivers seat.


    T looked around at all of them, saw the man whod given her the sword, and tossed it back at his feet. Sorry, Ive nothing to clean it with. Thank you, though.


    The man mutely bent down and retrieved it, holding it as if he were unsure if the weapon was safe.


    Trent opened his mouth to speak, and by the smile tugging at the edges of his lips, T could guess it would be something about her chest glowing again.


    She pointed the knife in her off hand at him and red. Now is <em>not</em> the time, Master Trent.


    Trent closed his mouth, but the small smile remained. He seemed to beughing at his own joke.


    She looked down at herself. The glow wasnt strong enough to obscure the details of her figure, though the streaks of ck ichor, which speckled her from head to toe, made it so she didnt <em>feel</em> mostly naked. She did feel gross, though. <em>And sticky</em>


    Her eyes flicked to Atrexia. The woman wore barely more than T currently was. <em>So, why are they staring at me?</em> She grunted. <em>Rightglowing.</em>


    T sighed and growled. Its done, now. Ive work to do. When no one moved, she raised her voice. Off with you!


    The watchers turned reluctantly, slowly scattering back to their morning tasks. Atrexia lingered for a moment to shake her head and mutter under her breath. If we get a sd as part of breakfast, someone dies.


    T almostughed, and when she looked after the woman and their gazes met, she saw a twinkle in the other Mages eyes. <em>Ahh, that was meant for me to hear.</em>


    T walked around the wagon and opened the wash station. She had a building headache, and it was beginning to make her feel grumpy. After she scraped herself mostly clean, she used almost a gallon of water getting off thest bits. When she looked up from dunking her head, again, she saw Dens hand sticking out above her, his head no-where in sight.


    Grasped in that hand was herst, undamaged shirt, tightly folded so it wouldnt drop into the water. <em>How long has he been holding that there?</em> From the way he was positioned, he couldnt see any part of her, and it didnt look like hed even tried to spy.


    She scraped what water she could, off of herself and took the shirt. Thank you, Den.


    His voice came from the drivers seat. I didnt want you to have toe back into the wagon circle just to get that. After a long moment, he added, Are you ok?


    T thought about that, as she pulled on the shirt. Finally, she sighed. Yeah. I think I might have nightmares about grass, but yeah. She shivered. Ill be sleeping on the roof, from now on As she thought about that, she added. Maybe I can get the guards to lend me one of those shields. Being snatched by some arcanous owl would be an unfortunate way to go


    Den chuckled. True enough. Most people sleep inside on these expeditions He didnt say more.


    T sighed, closing up the wash station and stretching up and back. This was <em>not</em> how she liked to wake up, but she could make the most of it.


    She moved through her morning stretches but decided to forgo the workout. She felt a bit sore from her work harvesting arcanous parts the day before, and the mornings scuffle had added new aches. <em> Great. The wilds are my workout</em>

 Chapter 19: Not Soon Enough

    Chapter 19: Not Soon Enough


    T felt utterly amped, despite her soreness and slowly growing headache. She was sure that a portion of that was lingering adrenaline from the attack, but arge part was also likely from her still glowing spell-lines stirring up the power within her system.


    Her stretching done, she pulled on her shirt. Thankfully, it hung down nearly to her knees, so she was reasonably covered when she re-entered the wagon circle, grabbing a new pair of pants, her magic detector, and an iron salve bar.


    She went back around the wagon and used the magic detector to quickly scan herself, applying salve to any areas that caused the inscribed device to show even a trace of a glow. <em>No reason to getcent.</em>


    That done, she pulled on her pants, up under her shirt, before fastening the ties. <em>There, dressed for the day.</em> She returned to the other side of the wagon and ced the magic detector and iron salve back in her box. She paused, ncing at her gloves,ying where shed set them in the box. <em>No need for those, and not worth risking them.</em> She picked them up and tucked them into her bag.


    Someone had gathered up her bedroll, folding it and cing it to one side. She looked about but couldnt find who to thank.


    She opened it up, and found it was blessedly free of ichor, somehow. <em>Miracles never cease.</em> That fear averted, she folded and rolled up the bedding, cing it back in the box. <em>Now, to my job.</em>


    With quick efficiency, she empowered the cargo-slots in her wagon.


    Soon, thirty symbols glowed happily, and she was done. <em>Not too bad.</em> She, herself, was also still glowing. The circle of activated script on her breast had glowed until after she fell asleep the night before, so she would likely stay alight for at least a couple of hours this morning. <em>Joy.</em>


    She still felt the need to run around the wagons a couple of hundred times, but she schooled herself into calm, deciding there were other tasks she should attend to. T turned towards the chuckwagon and breakfast.


    Several passengers were up and eating, but dawn was just beginning to break, so she suspected most had yet to arise. <em>All that fit in between first light and the first sliver of the sun bing visible.</em> She shook her head.


    The nightshift of guards was eating, many casting furtive looks her way.


    She easily heard several snatches of conversation about her, mainlyposed of ignorant queries as to whether she was glowing because of the dawns light. Even so, a few of the guards had seen at least a portion of her scuffle, and they were quietly entertaining their tablemates with the tale.


    I swear, Ive never seen a Mage so covered in blood.


    She was a terror! Id not want to wake her in the morning.


    She didnt even use Magic to kill it! It was like she had a personal grudge against the thing.


    There was a lot more in that vein, but after understanding the gist of things, T chose to ignore the retellings.


    As she walked up to the chuckwagon, she saw Brand staring at her. She smiled at the man, and took the bowl of thick, creamed oats. He swallowed unconsciously. Areare you glowing?


    She waited a moment to demonstrate her irritation at having to answer such an obvious question. When he didnt say anything further, she sighed. Yes.


    Bust night when I- He nced around quickly. Hed clearly been about to say when I stabbed you but thought better of it. Last night, only a tiny ring lit up.


    Thats right.


    His eyes widened further. What happened?


    Carnivorous nt with <em>lots</em> of vines and thornsCan I eat my breakfast, now?


    Brand nodded, eyes still wide and grabbed something from under the counter.


    T almost flinched, but when she looked down, she saw he was pulling out a book and a small medallion.


    Here. He passed the two items to her.


    She took them, ncing down. The book was a notebook, and a quick nce inside told her it was a hand-copied text. Dont you need this?


    Brand shook his head. We each have a copy. That is the one with the most legible handwriting. He nced away.


    She grinned. Yours?


    He cleared his throat, then seemed to ignore the question. The medallion will identify you as one who knows.


    The iron coin bore the deeply inset relief of a scythe. Oh?


    We call ourselves the Order of the Harvest. He blushed slightly at that, and her grin widened. Im sure it sounds silly to you.


    It sounds fitting. She picked up her bowl as well. Iron, because Mages avoid the metal, right?


    He stiffened. Im sorry, Mistress, I didnt think. I-


    She waved his concern away. Im fine with iron, Brand. Thank you. He turned to regard her, frowning slightly. He looked skeptical, so she added, I mean it. Thank you.


    He nodded uncertainly, but she saw an easing of tension. d to have your help.


    She took her bowl, and the two items, to the table shed eaten at the night before. Several guards were already sitting there, but she greeted them and sat, nheless.


    They gave her hesitant greetings, but that was the extent of their interactions.


    T was already poring through the new book, devouring it and her food with equal abandon.


    All it would take to recover the morning was coffeebut sadly, the likelihood of that being avable was minimal. <em>Maybe I should ask?</em> No. Her head was pounding, and she didnt want to go back to the chuckwagon.


    <em>Tomorrow. Ill ask, tomorrow.</em>


    * * *


    The caravan departed less than an hour after dawn. Ts wagon, driven by Den, led the way once more.


    The morning began in a blessedly boring fashion. T read the books shed been given, both the one on Immaterial Guide spell-forms, and the cooks guide to arcanous harvests.


    Each was fascinating in its own way, but neither were particrly useful in the moment. <em>Though, when we get attacked again</em>


    The principles for the harvesting and consumption seemed to align with those of powering created items. Dont feed people parts of the animal empowered with magic of types they cant handle.


    <em>No arcanous bone broth from a de wing</em> She shuddered, thinking about the havoc such energy would cause, if a person tried to absorb it.


    Less than two hours into the days travels, Ts mage-sight red a warning at her, alerting her to nearby power. Her head whipped up from the book shed been reading just as her wagon crested a hill.


    In the valley below, she saw a small herd of deer with lightning dancing between their antlers. They were smaller than horses with fur of a thundercloud-gray color with white streaks woven through in beautiful, seemingly random highlights. The antlers, themselves, had a silvery, golden sheen, and as the myriad flicks of lightning danced among the deer, the bolts almost seemed to have a yful quality. The energy would break apart into smaller sparks, flitting from beast to beast, then portions woulde back together for grander jumps, across open spaces among the herd. No deer remained untouched for longer than a heartbeat, but the strikes didnt seem to be following any sort of pattern that T could quickly recognize.


    Blessedly, there was no apanying thunder.


    The lightning never stopped moving, and it never struck anywhere but from antler to antler. <em>What purpose does that serve? Does each animal add their own power to the storm, so that it can be harnessed for collective defense?</em> She wasnt close enough for her mage-sight to pick up the details, let alone the internal form of the magics, and without that, the only real way to test the theory would be to attack, or to see the herd attacked. <em>Yeahthat doesnt seem wise.</em>


    The lightning fractured outward, and the deer, almost as one, turned to regard the oxen and one wagon currently visible to them, all seeming to freeze.


    Den didnt stop the wagons progress, and soon it was meandering down the slope, toward the herd, the other wagons close behind.


    After the momentary pause, the lightning shed towards one side of the herd and the entire group turned, unified in purpose, and dashed away at surprising speed, seeming to follow the direction that the lightning had indicated. As they ran, sparks flickered around their shing hooves, and the lead animal let out a trumpeting bellow that sounded like an odd cross between a cows moo and a squeaky hinge. In less than a minute, every one of the creatures was lost to sight in the variedndscape of hill, valleys, and dells.


    <em>HuhThey moved as one, seeming to follow the lightning Could they be one consciousness in multiple bodies, and the lightning is just the firing of the various portions of its mind?</em> That was impossible for her to test. While at the Academy, T hade across a theory that you could treat all of humanity as if it were one giant organism, and that better exined human behavior than the idea that every human was an individual. She shook her head. <em>Too much. Too theoretical. Isnt actionable.</em>


    She returned to her books and notes.


    She wasnt reading long, before she sensed an approaching, building power from the direction opposite of that, which the deer had run.


    Her interest piqued, T looked around, scanning the hills to that side, and thought she could catch flickers of fire magic and the sh of fur covered bodies, low to the ground.


    A few minutester, she was certain enough to call out that a wolf pack was trailing them off to that side. <em>They might have been stalking the deer, but we appeared to be easier prey?</em>


    Atrexia rode up beside her. Where do you see them?


    T pointed the beasts out, and described what she saw, and the other woman nodded. Burn wolves. Theyve been known to stalk both caravans and the cloud hind we passed back there. They have even been asionally observed to take down small thunder bull families.


    The other Mage rode over to the sergeant on duty, and they had a quick discussion but did nothing else that T could see.


    Another quarter hour passed before the wolves came into easy sight.


    They were no bigger thanrge dogs but were leaner in appearance. Their eyes glowed an ember red, and the tips of their fur were each a soft, luminescent yellow. Each hair was ck, despite the tip, and had an almost charcoal quality to their appearance, though they still moved as fur would on a dog. Thest thing that jumped out to T, upon quick inspection, was the trails of smoke rising from each lolling, fang-filled maw.


    <em>Ahh, burn wolvesI can see why they got the name.</em> After a moments consideration she found herself smiling. <em>If we kill any, they would make perfect fuel for my fire-starter. </em>In addition, such obvious uses meant that the parts would be eminently sble.


    It was arge pack, not that T knew much about the average size of such things, but nearly thirty arcanous canines certainly <em>seemed</em> like arge number.


    They padded along silently through the grass, some hundred yards from the caravan.


    To the credit of both the drivers and the oxen, the wagons pace never changed, and there were not sounds of panic or fear.


    As the wolves began closing the final distance, Atrexia rode out towards them and gestured across herself, pointing at the ground.


    T saw power sh from the womans keystone, down her left leg, activating a spell-form on that calf, ankle, and foot. The working then flowed out, through Atrexias bare sole, and into the ground.


    Immediately a trench, ten feet deep and twice as wide, opened between the wolves and the caravan.


    As the ground shifted,pacting outward to create the defensive bulwark, five guards loosed into the pack. Each arrow struck true, and five wolves yelped in pain.


    There was no apanying bloom of power. <em>Mundane arrows? Do they not have any of the fire variety, or was the use of mundane ammunition purposeful?</em>


    The pack stopped then, thergest wolf ambling up to the deep trench.


    The matriarchal wolf looked down into the pit, then up to Atrexia. After a long moment, in which the two locked gazes, the wolf dipped her head then turned, leading her pack away.


    T had a moments hope that there would be five bodies to harvest, but as the wolves left, she saw five bolts, coated in smoldering blood,ying in the grass behind the departing canines.


    Atrexia motioned again, and the ground seemed to flow like water, rushing to return to its original shape.


    Unlike with the thunder cattle the day before, the effort did not seem to strain her.


    <em>I suppose creating the spikes so quickly yesterday was much more straining than making a trench and refilling it?</em> She really didnt understand Material magic well enough to fullyprehend why that might be the case, but the evidence was obvious.


    <em>No burn wolf parts for me.</em> She then felt a moments guilt that she wished the animals harm. <em>Theyd been about to attack us. If some died as a result of our defense, it makes sense to make their deaths worth something.</em> Even so, she felt conflicted; they were in the wilds, and this was the wolves home, not hers.


    An hour after the departure of the wolves, T began to notice small animals hiding or scurrying about in the grass as the wagons passed.


    None were easily visible to the eye, those further away seeming to go to great effort to hide. While the myriad rabbits and other small creatures fled from the approaching wagons, they didnt usually go far, seeming to simply wish to wait for the humans to pass. A few were of note, because instead of bounding or scampering away, they simply vanished. Some, she assumed, simply became invisible, even to her mage-sight, which was a fascinating possibility as it seemed to closely mirror her own iron skin. Others, however, instantly appeared elsewhere, further away. <em>Dimensional variants.</em> Creatures with teleportation magic, and possibly other dimensional powers, woven into their being.


    She contemted capturing one of the invisible type, then had tough at herself. <em>How could I find one to capture?</em> True, if she had hours to hunt,y traps, or analyze the terrain she could likely begin finding them easily, but by then the caravan would be miles away, and they would not be pleased if she tried to stay behind just to hunt. <em>I do wonder how they do it, though. Do they somehow wrap power back in on themselves to hide any leakage which would give them away? Do they do the same with light?</em> It was worth studying, but she didnt have the time, at least not at the moment.


    The dimensional variants were much more tempting. <em>The right parts from them could power a dimensional storage bag with a great deal of efficiency. </em>That, of course, meant that theyd be valuable to sell as power-sources for constructed items. She almost hopped down to try to capture some, but then imagined herself running all around the meadows, trying to catch a creature that could instantly teleport away.


    <em>I could kill it? Or ask a guard to shoot one with their crossbow</em> That wouldnt work. Even if the guard could see the animal, and she was sure at least some of the creatures were visible to the guards, there was no way one would stay in ce long enough for a bolt to strike home. <em>Trent or Renix could strike one down with lightning?</em> But if that were feasible and profitable, she had no doubt theyd already be doing it


    She sighed. <em>No dimensional parts for me</em> Though, with regard to item power sources she, herself, had no real use for them. <em>I can empower such myself</em><em>Huh.</em> That sent her flipping through the spell-form book, and in the end, she came to the realization that the power source didnt matter for the form of spells or magic. Any power source of a given type could power any spell of that type. The most the variation would effect was efficiency.


    <em>I could buy dimensional storage and power it myself?</em> It was an interesting idea. The only thing she saw pertaining to power sources, or items for that matter, was a briefment: Spell-forms powered directly by human Mages tend to consume more precious metals during enactment than those empowered by arcanous harvests, or points of natural power in the world. Whether this is due to wed mental constructs on the part of the Mage, or some other factor, is unknown, but no item has sessfully been powered by any portion of a Mages remains. For more details see And there, the author referenced another book, which she had written on the construction and conception of magical items.


    All in all, the book was frustratingly vague. <em>Directly powered? How do I indirectly power something?</em>


    True, it gave many detailed diagrams and had fascinating discussions on inscription theory, but most of the spell-forms were depicted and described in two dimensions. As the book said, Any discussion of Inscribing is tooplicated to fit within this tome, as no part of any human is perfectly t, and every variance away from perfectly t alters how the spell-form will function.


    In short: humans are irregr in shape, and that must be ounted for. The End.


    It didnt mention <em>how</em> to do this.


    <em>This really is the most basic book on the subject.</em> She sighed.


    T had just recently stopped glowing, -<em>Thatsted much longer than Id expected- </em>and she was beginning to feel hungry. <em>I wonder exactly how long it is until lunch?</em> She nced at the sky. <em>Not soon enough.</em>


    She climbed down, grabbed some of her trail food, and ate it while walking beside the wagons. As she walked, she noted the huge variety in nts that surrounded them. They each had subtly different magical vors, and she began to realize that an herbalist could spend a dozen lifetimes experimenting with the properties of all these nts. At first nce, none seemed particrly useful to humans, as most magics she could see were variations of growth, fibrous strength, or photosynthesis enhancing effects.


    Even so, as the morning wore on, the wide array of arcanous creatures and nts that they passed began blending together.


    <em>If everything is uniquenothing is.</em> She sighed. It was nearly noon before that thought was put to lie.

 Chapter 20: Around the ‘Death’ Tree

    Chapter 20: Around the ¡®Death¡¯ Tree


    T looked up as her wagon took a somewhat abrupt turn, pulling away from her to the left as she walked. From the look of things, Den was guiding the caravan in a wide arc around a lone tree, which was swaying gently despite theck of strong wind.


    T tilted her head back, taking in the nearly perfectly clear sky. <em>Thats strange. Theres no storm to exin odd wind patterns. </em>She thought back over the trip so far. Theyd passed countless bushes and were constantly around the all-covering grass, but T didnt think shed seen a tree since early the previous day.


    The bark of this one was almost bone white, and looked as smooth as polished marble, at least at this distance. The leaves were green and full, and there were what looked like red berries scattered throughout the canopy.


    As she looked closer, she could see that the nt positively <em>zed</em> with magic, and T was tempted to try to go harvest a branch or something, but her better reasoning warred with that first temptation. Additionally, the aura of the power in the tree somehow tasted like a graveyard and an <em>old</em> graveyard at that. <em>How can a living thing radiate a feeling of death?</em> She had no idea. Even so, she somehow knew that death wasnt <em>quite</em> right.


    They were almost halfway through their circuitous arc, and T was just pulling her attention away from the tree, when a birdnded in one of the upper branches.


    <em>Huhmaybe I was-</em>


    Even as she was contemting, the bird simply fell apart. It turned to a fine powder, raining down upon the tree, which seemed to sway just a bit more. <em>It likes it?</em> She might have been anthropomorphizing just a bit, but even so <em>A tree that makes its own fertilizerwonderful.</em>


    Had the bird eaten a berry, or had just touching the tree been enough to kill it? Maybe both? <em>Maybe it didnt eat a berry quickly enough?</em> That could make sense. If the berries contained a counteracting magic to that of the tree, the trees seeds could be spread, else they likely wouldnt move very far, and the berries, themselves would be pretty useless.


    She didnt understand why any animal would evere near, until she realized that there was no <em>smell</em> of death, no bones, nothing to indicate that animals died here. <em>Ooooothats evil.</em> Well, not actually evil, but it was devious.


    T found herself wanting a stick even more.


    Shed hoped to harvest the burn wolves, but theyd gotten away. The cloud hind had retreated before shed really been able to contemte ns for them, but the possibilities for their parts were numerous, and finally, the dimensional and invisible arcanous critters had been eluding her. She wanted <em>something </em>from todays encounters.


    <em>You know? I bet I can get close enoughthe iron should protect me. </em>The question was, how would she harvest a limb? She didnt trust herself to throw a rope over one, and she wasnt sure a rope would survive contact anyways. The more she thought about it, the more she was sure. <em>I want a death stick.</em>


    The tree was at least three hundred yards away.


    She nced at the grass, living happily beneath the tree. <em>No effect on nt matter, then?</em> That was good. Her clothes were linen and should be fine. <em>Either that, or it takes direct contact</em> In either case, her clothes should be fine. Shed never thought of herself as wardrobe obsessed, but this was, after all, herst set of unstained, undamaged clothing.


    She stuck her hat and satchel in the box of her wagon. Den gave her a questioning look but didnt slow the oxen orment.


    She grabbed one of her sticks with iron salve from her box and strode towards the tree.


    Trent rode up to her before shed made it ten feet from the wagon. Mistress Tthat tree


    Death magic, right?


    He stared down at her. Death magic No? I mean, I suppose you could call it that, but it really is more like dissolution.


    Huh. Good to know. She turned back to the tree.


    Trent cleared his throat. <em>Mistress </em>T. What are you going to do?


    I want a death stick.


    You wanta death stick He sighed. Firstly, as I said, it would be a dissolution stick. Secondly, are you sure thats wise?


    She shrugged. Is <em>dissolution</em> magic blocked by iron?


    He frowned. Yes, as far as I know, but to get it in an iron box, you will have to get close. That magic is very powerful, and from a tree that old, it could shatter most defenses in moments. Please reconsider, Mistress T. He nced back towards the caravan. You are somewhat imperative for this mission, and I believe that Mistress Atrexia, Renix, and I would be med if harm were toe to you.


    T hadnt considered that. She growled in frustration. Then, a thought urred to her. Could you shoot off one of the smaller branches? Such as sending an ice spike into it, or strike it with lightning, or something?


    Trent blinked at her for a long moment. I dont see how He groaned and scratched his forehead. Were you nning on <em>climbing</em> the tree to get a branch, before I came to talk to you?


    When he put it like that, it did sound foolish. <em>After all, there is </em>no<em> way I could have kept my clothes out of contact with the trunk. </em>No?


    He sighed, shaking his head. You are something else, Mage T. He nced at the tree. Yes, I can, but it wouldnt be free, and youd still have a stick, full of lethal magic, that you couldnt actually touch.


    Leave that to me.


    He cocked an eyebrow. Oh? You have a n better than climb the <em>death</em> tree for dealing with the branch?


    She ignored his obvious jab and nodded. I do.


    Care to share?


    Not particrly.


    Trent groused for a moment, then sighed. Two silver ounces, for the inscribings this will cost, and if the tree reacts to defend the fallen piece, you swear to pull back. I get paid either way.


    T frowned. Can I pay you in Alefast?


    He waved a hand. Fine, fine. Deal?


    After a moment, she nodded. Deal.


    Trent turned and focused on the tree. How big?


    Norger than a walking stick, please. After a moment, she added. If possible, Id love a couple of leaves and berries?


    He nodded and lifted his right hand, pointing the first two fingers, muttering quietly. Small it is, then. Then, he spoke without sound, and T saw a brief flicker of power on the mans throat. <em>Verbal caster?</em> Those werent verymon.


    The brief flicker zipped down his arm to his fingers, then back to his throat, where it was diverted to his right knee. There, it became a sh, too fast for her to follow.


    An instantter, lightning struck up from the ground and neatly sheared off one of the smaller, anciry branches close to their side.


    The boom of thunder came not a heartbeatter.


    Thank you.


    Trent grunted.


    T strode forward confidently, her mage-sight sweeping the ground for any other arcanous nts that might be a threat.


    She found none, though she did see the trees roots extending almost all the way to the wagons. <em>Thats crazy! The root systems circumference is nearly ten times that of the branches.</em> That couldnt be normal. Thankfully, the roots were deep as well, the closest to the surface being at least fifteen feet down at this radius. <em>That should be safe.</em> After a moment, she continued pondering. <em>I wonder what the life cycle of a tree like this even is?</em> Would it kill any little trees that grew up near it? Did the tips of the roots grow upward, after they were far enough away, to make new trunks?


    She nced around, noting, again, that there were no other trees in sight. <em>How would this even get here?</em> So many questions. She promised herself to add the questions to her notes forter. <em>Ifter everes.</em> With her growing list of questions, it just might not.


    When she reached the fallen branch, she eyed the tree critically. It didnt seem to be reacting to her presence. The limb was just over one foot long, barely curving. <em>A little small, dont you think, Trent?</em> But she couldnt reallyin, it would be easier to deal with, at this length. A cluster of four leaves and some ten berries hung from one end.


    This close, she could easily see that the spell-forms in the berries, while still unintelligible to her, <em>felt</em> opposed to that within the leaves and branch, itself.


    She <em>almost</em> reached for it with her hand, but she remembered that her palms were not protected by her iron salve. Instead, she extended the iron salve bar, on its stick, and began rubbing it across the limb.


    To her surprise, the salve came off easily, clearly at least tangentially affected by the magic of the hefty twig. The salve melted easily and resolidified quickly atop the bark. Her mage-sight told her that it was effectively blocking the power within.


    Interestingly, the grass beneath the limb only began to crumble after shed coated the top with the iron salve. <em>Concentrating the power? And directing downward enough to cause it to affect vegetation, when it wasnt meant to? </em>It seemed usible, but she was just guessing. <em>Interesting.</em>


    She gingerly flipped the stick over and coated the other side, along with the leaves, using her mage-sight to verify that she left no holes in the coating. She did not coat the berries.


    After double, triple, and quadruple checking, she took a breath, and picked up the stick.


    Nothing happened.


    Nothing continued to happen.


    <em>Hah! It worked.</em> Shed never been in doubtnot reallyIt would have been a foolish risk if she wasnt sure, beforehand.


    T turned and strode for her wagon, which hadpleted another quarter of its trip around the radius of the tree. She could see many of the drivers, several guards, Trent, and Renix all watching her as she walked back.


    The mundane folks returned to their tasks as she returned, but Renix and Trent awaited her, just outside of the trees root radius. <em>Can they sense it, or does folk-wisdom regarding nts like this simply cover the outside cases?</em> Probably not worth asking.


    Trent was looking at the dissolution stick. <em>Stupid name.</em> His eyes then went to the stick holding the remains of her bar of salve. Iron dust in the soap?


    She shrugged. Not soap, more of a salve like-medium to facilitate spread and cohesion, but yeah something like that.


    He was nodding. Clever I suppose, if you are careful.


    Renix grinned at her, pointing to the dissolution stick in her hand. Do you want to get me a few? Ill pay.


    I dont want to sell you death sticks. Her eyes flicked to Trent, who was shaking his head in bemusement.


    Renix frowned. Fine, then.


    Renix, this is dangerous. If it broke, the exposed ends might dissolve anything they touch.


    Trent looked around sharply, scanning the caravan. It didnt look like anyone was close enough to overhear, but even so, his voice was a harsh whisper when he spoke. Mistress T. Such things should <em>not</em> be said where they can be overheard. That is a dangerous item, and I will be <em>very</em> cross if I learn that it has been taken. Do we understand each other?


    T swallowed involuntarily. She responded with a soft voice of her own. Sure, but I dont see the problem. It really isnt that hard to kill a person.


    Trent scratched above his right eye. Not for a Mage, no. And you are technically right that anyone can stab a knife into someones back, but that takes some skill and strength and leaves evidence. <em>That</em>. He pointed at the stick in her hand. That could kill with a touch and would likely leave no evidence save a missing person.


    <em>Oh</em> She hadnt thought of it in that way.


    Do you want me to hold onto it? I have a lock box in my wagon


    T almost grew angry at the implication, as well as the patronizing tone, but she calmed herself. No. Ill be careful.


    Trent narrowed his eyes, then rxed, just slightly. Power rippled around his eyes, and he began digging in a pouch. I can still see powering off of the berries. Do you want a small iron box for those? He pulled out a box that was just a bitrger than a stereotypical ring box. Those should fit in here without trouble. After a moment, he saw her hesitation and smiled. No charge.


    She epted the little box with a nod of thanks, and closed it over the berries, using the box, itself, to snip them free. That exposed a small bit of the branch to air, and it zed with power to her sight. She quickly pressed the iron salve bar to the stub, sealing it once more.


    Trent nodded, seeming appeased. What do you want it for, anyways? By his look, he seemed to be regretting that he hadnt asked that question before helping her get it.


    She tucked the little box under her belt and opened her mouth to respond but realized that she actually had no idea. In truth, what the branch did, breaking down cells to their baseponents, was the exact opposite of what her own enhancements aplished. In theory, that meant that it should be able to power constructs like her own defenses, just like fire magic could be used to spread fires or suppress them. But was that really why shed wanted a sample?


    <em>Why did I want this?</em> The answer was both simple and trite. She was loath to pass on <em>anything</em>, and shed been frustrated by missing the chance to harvest arcanousponents so far that morning.


    Trent turned to face her more fully, and his tone was more probing. Mistress T. Why did you want that?


    She cleared her throat. Mages have their secrets.


    He just stared at her for a long moment then let out a long, long sigh, scratching furiously between his eyebrows. He spoke very quietly, so quietly that Renix likely didnt hear, but T could. Rust and ruin, Mistress Atrexia is right. Youre a child. He looked back up. What is wrong with you? He swung off of his horse, and tossed the reins to Renix, who fumbled them, but managed to grab them at thest moment. Trent stalked closer to her. Do you want a pack full of poisons, too? I can create a lightning crystal for you that will obliterate a couple of wagons if you drop it. Would you like six or seven of those?


    T was backing up, but not as quickly as he was advancing. <em>What is going on?</em> She had shes of her teachers advancing on her in rage after one of her manyunusual solutions, and she felt her pulse quicken.


    What, by all that shines, possessed you, girl? He wasnt shouting, but his voice was reaching the upper end of what could be called a whisper.


    T stopped retreating and stood her ground. <em>No. I am a Mage, and he is </em>not<em> my teacher.</em> She red up at him, truly realizing for the first time that he was, indeed, muchrger than she was. Her mage-sight told her that his keystone was holding his gate wide open, likely in response to his own emotions. He was keyed up for magic, though he made no move to cast.


    Trent halted his advance just out of arms reach. His eyes flicked to the stick but returned to meet her gaze an instantter. He seemed to be fighting within himself, but after a long moment of silence, he asked, in a level tone, Well?


    I am collecting all I can. I am learning all I can. I <em>Im short on money, and need to sell anything I can</em>


    Trents eyes narrowed, and he raised a finger to point at her. Tell me that you didnt consider selling it. <em>That</em> would be very rusting foolish. As Mages we are supposed to <em>protect</em> people from powers such as that. His finger now stabbed at the stick still in her hand. And you would give it into the hands of a stranger to use for who know what sort of g?


    T looked away. I want to study it, alright? Its effect is almost directly opposed to some of my own defenses. Why, by all that shines, would I sell it? <em>Ok, not going to sell it. That was a bad idea</em>


    Trent grunted. If you truly dont intend on selling it, and you will be careful


    T held up a hand. Youve made your point, and while you arent precisely wrong, you are <em>not</em> correct. Now, I dont have the correct book to properly research this. Im done with the basic book on Immaterial Guide spell-forms. Do you have the whole set of tomes, or will I have to carry this dangerous item for the remainder of the trip, and seek the book in Alefast?


    He threw up his hands. You can have any book you want, girl. Im trying to help you, not keep things from you. I want you, and everyone else, to be as safe as reasonable.


    Fine, fine. Id promise not to do anything with it, before consulting you


    But youd be lying.


    She grinned.


    She saw Trents cheek twitch, though she couldnt have said whether it was threatening a smile, or a sign of deep frustration and stress. Would another perspective really be so bad? Even just to run your thoughts by?


    Renix piped up. Im happy to bounce ideas around, too!


    Trent paused. That would probably be good for him. He nced back to her. And for you.


    Fine. Ill talk with both of you before I do anything major.


    He grunted. Probably as much as I can hope for. He gave her a long look. You know, there is more to the Master-Mageling rtionship than obligation. The Academy does <em>not</em> prepare a Mage for the realities of the world; it isnt intended to.


    T knew hed guessed shed never had a Master, but she chose not to acknowledge that. And Renix has a good one. I hope to learn some from you, myself, during this trip.


    He pointed back to the stick. Throw it back?


    She chuffed augh. No, but when Im done with it, if any part is left, Ill let you burn it.


    He hesitated. Far from anyone or anything?


    She thought about it for a moment, then nodded. That sounds wise.


    They both nodded their assent. Very well, Mistress T. Thank you. After a moment, he smiled slightly. In case you care, that is called an ending tree.


    With the name, everything clicked into ce. <em>Oh! That makes sense.</em> Before humanity left the wilds for good, ending trees were used for disposing of waste, the creation of fertilizers, andfor ritual suicides. They supposedly couldnt survive within cities. <em>Wonder why</em>


    Trent nced to Renix. Can you show her where the books are?


    Renix seemed to rx, handing Trent back his reins. Of course.


    Together, Renix and T went to Trents wagon, and Trent, himself, went back to riding as nking guard for the column of wagons, still winding through the open grasnds.


    The strange, isted tree silently shrunk into the distance behind them.

 Chapter 21: Berries and Jerky

    Chapter 21: Berries and Jerky


    When lunch was ready, T was <em>very</em> excited. Research, as it turned out, was exhausting work.


    She tucked her borrowed book, along with her own notebook, into her satchel, made sure her hat was secure, and went to meet the chuckwagon worker on his way to her.


    It was Brand.


    Hello, Brand. How is the day treating you?


    He smiled hesitantly. Well, Mistress. He offered her the cloth-wrapped pasty.


    Anything special in todays meal? She could already see the power flickering within the meat, inside the pasty.


    He started to shake his head, then stopped, sighed, and nodded. He nced around, ensuring that no one was in easy listening distance. Another portion of the de-wing, Mistress. The remainder is being made into jerky.


    Her eyebrows rose. Oh? Would it be reasonable for me to ask for some?


    He looked mildly ufortable, even as he fell into step beside her. We do try to keep it for the guards, as its benefits to them are more He cleared his throat, then continued in a rush. They need the help more than Mages generally do.


    She nodded. Thats fair, I suppose. If you have any extra, or are willing to part with some, let me know. Yeah?


    Brand stopped walking, and T came to a stop herself, a step or twoter. Theyd been walking off to one side, so theirck of movement didnt affect anyone elses progress forward.


    T turned back towards him, head tilted in question. Brand?


    YouYou arent going to demand any? He seemedplete unsure of himself, once again.


    Why would I do that?


    He began walking again, and T fell into step once he caught up.


    They walked in silence for long enough that T decided to begin eating her lunch.


    It was delicious and filling. Coupled with the walk, it was exactly what shed needed.


    This is great! Thank you, Brand.


    He nodded in acknowledgement but didnt say anything.


    Finally, T decided to change the subject. I want your thoughts on something. She licked the remnants off of her fingers. Are arcanous berries usually safe to eat? I havent had a chance to hunt down that information in your book.


    Brand shrugged. About as often as mundane berries. Though, truth be told, even most arcanous nts dont spend any power on their berries. He frowned. Why? Did you find some?


    Harvested, but yes.


    He was nodding. Saw a bit of magic and snatched the berries? Might be interesting to see what you found.


    She grunted. Theyre from an ending tree.


    Brand turned to her, eyes wide and mouth open. What?


    They are from the ending tree we circumnavigated an hour or so ago. She cocked her head to one side again. Why?


    You must be pulling my leg. <em>Everyone</em> knows about ending trees.


    She shrugged. Yeah, I know that in our ancient past they were used for creating fertilizers, disposing of waste, andother things, before we moved into the cities.


    He shook his head. Havent you heard the stories of ancient warriors shrugging off blows in battles, and taking on arcanous beasts barehanded? He cocked an eyebrow at her, clearly referencing her own escapade.


    Yeah, of course. It is actually one reason Ive pursued the avenues that I have. I love those old tales: Gdria, Akmaneous, Heleculies, Krator, Manastous, Synathia,  She smiled happily to herself, before she remembered that it had been her father whod told and read those stories to her. The smile faded.


    So, you do know.


    She sighed, feeling the weight of sadness settling in. No, Brand, and this conversation is bing exhausting. Can you just tell me?


    He grunted. Ending-berries confer resistance to physical damage that usuallysts around an hour after they are eaten. One berry is sufficient for a fully grown man to receive this effect. He was bing animated. Moreover, legend says that the effect built, and the effectssted slightly longer each time a berry was used. The greatest of warriors only needed to eat a berry once a day to be considered nearly invincible. He then gave her a sheepish look. If I hadnt seen your spell-lines, myself, I might have assumed that such were the source of your resistance todes. He looked away. That would, of course, have been foolish.


    T cocked an eyebrow, then looked back over her shoulder. Then, why didnt we pick that tree bare, as we passed it?


    Two reasons that I am aware of: First, the art of harvesting the berries without dying from exposure to the tree has been lost. All I know of whove tried recently were forced to consume all that they picked, just to counteract the trees magic against them, and most still ended up with missing fingers, if not more.


    T nodded. That made some sense. Even the stems of the berries had radiated the power of dissolution. Then, she frowned. Iron tongs would solve that, so would heavy gloves. I think I remember seeing a type of berry picker that should work, too.


    In theory, yes, but the trees move unpredictably, and be more and more agitated the more berries that are picked.


    Cut down the tree?


    Brand paled. The chips and sawdust carry the magic even more effectively than the unharmed tree. Cutting it down would fill the air with death. The same goes for burning the wood.


    Im sure Mages could find a way, if they knew the berries were so valuable.


    He nodded. And some do, but as the effects even extend to breaking down spell workings in unpredictable ways, it proves dangerous, on top of the cost of using their magics in the first ce. I think Ive seen a total of a dozen pounds of the berries sold across various markets since I joined the Order of the Harvest.


    You seem awfully knowledgeable about this specific fruit, Brand.


    He sighed. It is one of the core examples we, of the Order of the Harvest, learn of. It is a harvestable piece, which humans can eat and get obvious benefit from. If we could safely harvest them, not only would that help pay for our cause, but it would also greatly aid our cause, in a myriad of ways.


    She was nodding. So, these berries <em>arent</em>mon knowledge? She gave him a bit of a reproachful nce.


    He shrugged, not seeing, or ignoring, her implication. Id assumed that they were, among Mages, but I could understand if they didnt want guards finding out. Learning that a thing is, in theory, worth double its weight in gold causes men to takerisks.


    Ahh I think I understand. She hesitated. Whats the second reason?


    Hmm?


    The second reason, you said there were two.


    Oh! Right. Each berry has a seed inside, and while naturally dormant, anything that tries to harm it will cause it to activate with a ze of power like that of the tree.


    Anything?


    He nodded.


    Including biting, or digestion She gave a low whistle.


    In addition, the seeds are <em>incredibly</em> virile. They will grow in <em>anything</em>, even open air, once they are outside of their berry. Most people dont want lots of little ending trees sprouting. He thought for a moment. I do think that they need sunlight to grow, though, but not much. Their first activation of their power powders anything above them, letting light in, even it if is diffuse.


    T frowned. Except within cities, right?


    Hmm?


    Ending trees cant grow within cities?


    Oh, yeah. Brand frowned. Id forgotten that. He shrugged. Probably a part of cities'' defensive magics. You know, no hostile magics shall, here-in, endure, and all that.


    Maybe, I suppose. She thought for a long moment, before continuing. SoI do actually have some, but they are still on their stems.


    Brand looked at her, as if trying to assess if she were joking. After a long moment, he spoke. I cannot pay for such, nor do I know of any who could buy them, despite their value. You might have luck in Alefast but be careful.


    Would you trade some jerky for a berry or two?


    He hesitated, giving her another odd look. We dont have enough jerky to equal the value of one berry, let alone two, and theyd be of limited use to us though, I will admit that we do have a few tasks we could use them for. He frowned. I think two would be helpful, but again, we dont have nearly enough jerky to actually be worth the trade, for you.


    She shrugged, lowering her voice. A pound of arcanous jerky per berry seems reasonable to me.


    He gave her a skeptical look. Making it jerky doesnt give it extra power. He nodded to indicate her mostly finished meat pie. It would be, in essence, like the meat within that.


    Does it fade beyond that?


    He hesitated. Not when properly prepared.


    In the book?


    Yes, described in the book.


    <em>I need to find that section</em> Very well. Do we have a deal?


    If you remove the stems and seeds?


    She nodded. <em>I can probably do that, safely.</em>


    Deal. He held out his hand, and T took it.


    Brand went to fetch two pounds of jerky, along with a small dish for her to put the berries into. T jogged back to her wagon, quickly climbing thedder, and settling into a stable seated position upon the padded square in the center of the roof top.


    When she felt ready, she pulled out the small iron box that shed gotten for the berries and opened it. The conflicting magics radiated outward to her mage-sight, and she felt herself smiling. <em>Eleven berries.</em> Shed miscounted earlier and was now <em>very</em> happy that there were more than the ten shed thought shed seen.


    The first thing she did was pick up the small bunch by the berries and rub the stem across her iron salve. As before, the salve liquified and resolidified <em>very</em> quickly, clinging to the stem. Then, using her mage-sight to guide her so that she only grabbed the treated portion, she began pulling off the berries closest to her new point of grip.


    It was slow going, and she had to continually work up the stems, coating any part she revealed with iron.


    When she was done, she had the stem in four roughly equal pieces, entirely coated in iron salve, and tucked into a very small pouch.


    The berries sat, alone, in the small iron box.


    Brand came to her wagon shortly after that and climbed up to join her. He carried a small wooden bowl in one hand.


    The man handed her the bowl, then sat down a good five feet back, watching with interest. He had a small bundle of what she assumed was the jerky, tucked under one arm.


    I assume you dont want berries thate out of my mouth?


    He snorted. No. No, I do not.


    Each berry resembled a cherry, more than any other berry, though theyd grown in bunches like grapes. She frowned. You know, if it only has the one seed inside, it really isnt a berry.


    Brand shrugged. Its called an ending-berry. I guess that doesnt actually make it one, but He shrugged again. Not much we can do about a silly name.


    She sighed. Fair. <em>It seems like a lot of things have ridiculous names.</em>


    Being very careful, she gripped the two halves of the berry and twisted.


    They came apart with surprising ease, and she carefully ced one half in Brands bowl.


    The seed was, then, sticking out, white and slick with ck juice. <em>Interesting. Red berries, ck juice, white seed.</em> She delicately removed the seed and ced the second half in the bowl.


    She could see magic in the seed, slowly beginning to awaken. If she was right, she had just about twenty seconds before something happened.


    She also saw power in the juice, coating the seed.


    Without taking time to consider, she popped the seed into her mouth, sucking off the juice.


    A pleasant power buzzed through her, and she felt her enhancing and regenerative spell-lines tingle with an odd resonance. Thankfully, they didnt activate.


    T took out the seed, carefully dried it off, then rubbed it against the salve bar, quickly coating it. The magic hadnt triggered before she finished the process. <em>Good. No issues. </em>She smiled triumphantly.


    One done! She looked up to see Brand much further back. Brand?


    WhatWhy? Are you mad? You put the seed <em>in your mouth</em>?


    T thought she saw Den nce over his shoulder, but the driver didnt interject. There was juice on it. I didnt want that power to go to waste.


    I told you that it activated with a pulse of power, and your first reaction is to put in <em>inside your head.</em>


    My mouth.


    He gave her a look.


    She sighed. It was perfectly fine. I could see the magic building, and there wasnt any danger of it activating before I finished. <em>Unless it nicked a tooth, or was otherwise damaged, I suppose.</em>


    He seemed somewhat mollified. I guess you are the expert in things of magic


    She did not correct him. <em>Yes, good. Believe I am an all-knowing Mage.</em> She smiled slightly.


    After a long moment, he seemed to rx. Very well Are you going to do the second one?


    She smiled. Of course! The second berry was no more difficult than the first, though its power began building much more quickly, and she guessed that she was only barely fast enough in getting it coated in salve. <em>Different paces for different seeds. Good to know.</em>


    She offered the bowl back to Brand, the tingle of the berries magic causing an interesting feeling of rippling tension within her. Brand hesitantly took the bowl. After examining the meat of the berries, he nodded. Alright, then. He held out the small package. Just came out of the smoker an hour or so ago.


    T frowned. I definitely didnt see any smoke.


    Brand waved the objection away. Of course not. We capture it all to ensure we can use it towards properly smoking the meat.


    She was pretty sure that wasnt how that worked but didnt press him on it. Fine. She took the package, it felt light, but two pounds wasnt actually <em>that</em> much. A pleasure doing business with you.


    Brand grunted. Same to you. As he climbed down to return to his own wagon, T clearly heard him muttering to himself. Shell put grey in my hair, sure as the sunll rise, tomorrow. Then, he sighed. I hope this doesnt rusting kill me.


    With no further audibleints, Brand was gone.


    T tucked the seeds into the pouch with the stems, closed the iron box on the berries, and sighed herself. There we go. All in all, a profitable morning.


    * * *


    T quickly began flipping through Brands book after he departed. With her enhanced senses and perception, she was able to find the section on jerkies quite quickly, even though it was <em>very</em> small.


    Cure the jerky within an iron box. The smaller the box in rtion to the meat and the smaller and fewer holes in the box, the less loss in power will be experienced. This isnt a recipe book, learn how to make jerky somewhere else.


    T snorted. It matched the tone of most of the rest of the text, which often seemed to relish bboring the fact that it was staying on topic.


    That found, she began flipping through to find the section on berries. When she did, it was simrly to the point.


    Berries, roots, fruits, leaves, etc. taken from arcanous nts are no more or less poisonous than their nearest mundane kin. Thus, if you can identify the core species of nt, which is now filled with power, you will have a good idea of the edibility of the item. That said, the magic in question might, itself, be unhealthy or even lethal if incorporated into the human body, thus analysis of that must be aplished separately.


    The only known universally healthful produce from an arcanous nt is the ending-berry, though extreme caution is advised as any damage to the pit will cause either nullification of the beneficial effects, or death. No consistently viable means of harvesting the ending-berry is known. Benefits: One berry will confer nigh invulnerability towards mundane damage to the consumer,sting roughly one hour. Nothing short of magic, or a concussion, has been known to harm a man when under the influence of an ending-berry, though things that should have caused great injury seem to reduce the length of time the effectsts. Legend indicates the long-term consumption of these berries causes each subsequent berrys affect tost longer, but such has not been tested, reliably, by the Order of the Harvest.


    <em>That settles it. I need to find a means of harvesting these. The way their use is described is almost identical to my own enhancements. </em>In truth, that wasnt by ident. T had grown up hearing of the warriors of old and had sought to mimic them, as a Mage. Though, she hadnt known about the berries.


    She did <em>not</em> contemte that it might have been a subconscious means of reaching out towards those who had abandoned her to debt, a search for happier times.


    Other nts are healthful under specific circumstances.


    The book went on to detail quite a few varieties of fruits, berries, vegetables, and herbs. One leaf could be chewed to dull extreme pain but would cause permanently mind-altering hallucinations if there were no significant pain to dull. A root would heal a broken bone, if eaten in <em>exactly</em> matching weight to the bone to be healed, otherwise, it would not fully work, or would fuse an amount of cartge equivalent to the excess. In this case, aiming low was the rmended path.


    There were more, but as only the name of the origin species was mentioned, along with a brief description of how the arcanous version differed in appearance, the book was not useful to her in identifying the nts in question. As the book said: This is not an herbiary, nor a picture book. Find your herbology and nt lore elsewhere.


    Unfortunately, her work under her father, in the apothecary, had not included foraging for herbs or parts of nts. Theyd had a small garden with wellbeled varieties and purchased the remainder of what theyd needed from the local market. She likely would have learned the specifics of identification and prime harvesting, but that opportunity had vanished.


    She turned her mind back towards the book and realized that she was starting to like the author, though she knew it was more the universal tone of the Order of the Harvest, as the particr voice of the writing varied widely throughout the book.


    A side realization came from that breadth of authors. <em>This has taken more than a few decades topile.</em> The Order was older than Brand had implied. <em>Or maybe older than he knows?</em>


    Those two specific sections found and read, she decided to stretch her legs once more.


    Hat atop her head and satchel at her side, she climbed down, greeting Den as she passed, and strode towards the back of the caravan.


    Various guards inclined their heads to her, and Guardsman Adam waved. She responded in kind to each. There was no sign of Ashin.


    Atrexia smiled and nodded, but didnt otherwise acknowledge her, and it seemed that Trent and Renix were on the other side of the wagons, at the moment.


    T still felt the buzz of power from sucking the juice off of the ending seeds. <em>Thats odd. Its been, what20 minutes?</em> She knew that she hadnt consumed a third of a berry''s worth of juice. <em>Not that I really understand how it works</em>


    Perhaps her iron skin was preventing the power from dissipating, or maybe her spell-forms were somehow helping the power be more efficient. Or the amount consumed only affected the power of the defense, not the duration. She really had no way of knowing. <em>Not yet.</em>


    It was a curiosity, though, and she was quite focused on the question as she strode past thest wagon and began to turn back to continue her pacing.


    Her inward focus likely exined why she didnt register the re of power, until it was almost toote.


    Dimensional magic blossomed less than five feet from her, as <em>something</em> flickered into being in that space.

 Chapter 22: A Frustratingly Fitting Name

    Chapter 22: A Frustratingly Fitting Name


    Ts eyes focused on the pulse of dimensional magic and her mind registered the newly appeared creature, scanning it from talon to beak.


    It looked like nothing so much as an oversized hawk, if the bird had trained for long distance sprinting instead of flying. It was taller than she was, and its legs were <em>much</em>rger than its wings.


    The three forward talons on each of its feet looked to be useful as much for gaining traction on the ground as tearing into their prey. The legs were covered in thick, grey, ridged hide up well past the back-bending knees, and above that, feathers coated the beast.


    The feathers were a mottled grey and ck in patterns that made it difficult to pick out the exact shape, even against the greenish-brown background of the grasnds. Nheless, her mage-sight saw detail where her eyes failed her. There were two thin, miniscule wings, which were clearly meant for bnce rather than flight. A short, stabilizing tail sprouted from the rear.


    The neck was long and curving, but proportioned more like a horse, than a swan.


    Finally, the head. The beak was iron-grey but flecked with glinting ents of what looked to be gold, silver, and copper. It was hooked, clearly designed for biting and tearing prey into pieces small enough to swallow. The face was highlighted with twisting lines of deep blue and blood red, and the eyes were an absolutely stunning golden-yellow.


    There was a terrifying intelligence in those eyes.


    Undeying it all was a truly chilling depth of <em>power</em>. The sight of it almost overwhelmed her before she forced her mage-sight to disengage from the beast.


    T didnt even have a chance to finish her gasp of shock, before the talons of one foot were whipping at her. The great bird had nted the other foot firmly, gripping the earth, and seemed to be aiming to slice her open in the first attack.


    In mute horror, she fell backwards, raising her arms in a vain attempt at defense as the razor-sharp weapons came in.


    The pain of impact tore down her left arm, splitting open the sleeve of her shirt more easily than a tailors scissors. She felt the minute traces of the ending-berries power used up in an instant. It wasnt enough.


    Her gate was open, the keystone funneling power to her enhancements, and her arm pulsed with a soft, golden glow.


    Her arm was not torn open.


    The bones <em>did</em> break with a nauseatingly wet <em>crack.</em>


    She was still falling backwards.


    T was able to vaguely register what might have been surprise in the beasts eyes, before dimensional power warped around it. It vanished, appearing behind her in the same instant.


    Three lines of fire zed across her back as the talons caught her again, stopping her backward movement and throwing her forward.


    Her spell-lines activated for that portion of her flesh and saved her from the shearing strike. Thankfully, the hit to her back was less focused, and therefore, did not break bone. <em>Stars be praised for small miracles.</em>


    The bird let out a piercing cry of frustration, which sounded like nothing so much as a hawks call that had been deepened and given a volume to rival a basso trumpets re.


    The beasts power pulsed again, even as T heard guards beginning to call out.


    It was beside her this time, and its head snapped forward, beak chopping into her temple.


    The world went ck.


    * * *


    A pulse of power exploded from the base of Ts skull, and she returned to consciousness, violently.


    She was falling in a spinning twist. The birds three quick strikes havingpletely tangled her body. Even so, she was able to flop in a semnce of a roll ande up to one knee; one foot and her right hand granted her greater stability.


    Thus, an instant after the birds beaked struck, she was ring up at it from the ground.


    A shiver ran through her from head to toe, and a sense akin to her mage-sight picked up the signature of what had awoken her: It was the inscription, set to watch for any loss of consciousness not due to falling asleep.


    Once again, a sound, almost like a bell, hummed through her thoughts. Despite herself, she still found the note calming. Then, a mockery of her own voice came to her, once again.


    <em>Consciousness lost for 0.10 seconds due to a sharp blow to the head. Skull fracture and severe concussion were imminent.</em>


    <em> Cranial inscriptions activated to prevent skull fracture and cushion dura-mater.</em>


    <em> Additional threat to consciousness detected, dual fore-arm fracture. No bone inscriptions avable to repair the damage. Temporary neurotransmitter solution avable.</em>


    <em> Mild, targeted, electrical shock and hormone cocktail utilized for near instant resuscitation and defense against immediate return to unconsciousness.</em>


    <em> Nosting effects detected or predicted.</em>


    <em> Logplete.</em>


    The bird took a step back, eyes widening.


    T cracked her neck as she stood. She tucked her left arm close against her stomach, feeling the pain, and knowing that only a <em>ludicrous</em> amount of adrenaline was keeping her from copsing from that pain, alone.


    There was a<em> ka-chuck</em> of crossbow fire from the nearest wagon, and the bird flickered without moving.


    The bolt passed straight through the beast without slowing or harming it, and only Ts mage-sight let her know why. <em>It altered its own dimensionality so quickly and precisely?</em>


    This was not good. From what she could see, this beast was <em>old</em>, and the power coursing through it was a zing inferno that made the de-wing falcon look like a candle beside the sun. She didnt have time to let her mage-sight adjust to the intensity, so she could get more information. <em>What is this thing?</em>


    Even terrified, she knew she had to act.


    Her right hand came up, palm out, as she extended her arm. Her first two fingers were extended towards the sky, the second two bent down. All four fingers and thumb were tucked close together.


    <em>One target this time.</em> She held the features of the predator in her mind, and the bird was highlighted blue almost instantly. <em>Crush it?</em> There was easy justification for lethal force <em>If I do that, there might be nothing but paste</em> She still wanted to harvest. <em>Really? Thats your priority?</em> Even with her injuriesyeahyeah, it was.


    The bird, sensing the magic building within her, lunged forward. In thest instant, when a Mage like Trent or Atrexia would have attacked, the bird vanished, appearing behind her once again. Despite not moving, T did not lose her lock on the target.


    <em>Restrain!</em>


    A golden circle zed with light on the back of her hand, as power leapt from her gate down her arm and into her hand, spinning through the needed, deeply-scripted calctions and stealing kic energy from the bird at the same time. That energy was repurposed to move the beast off of the ground, even as the spell-form calctions finished their work and her power created an exception, precisely altering the gravitational constant for this creature in particr.


    The bird stopped mid-attack, lifting off of the ground and hovering in ce, now in a stable orbit just over a foot above the ground.


    Just like the men that shed restrained in Bandfast, the bird did not stop moving. It iled, beginning to spin and twist in chaotic circles, each movement adding to the confusion.


    <em>When the bird realizes it can teleport around as easily as before, it will attack me again.</em> She should have used lethal force.


    The predator screeched in frustration once more.


    T felt an iing pulse of power and sighed in relief.


    Lightningshed up from the ground in a torrent and ripped throughempty air.


    At thest instant, the bird had vanished, a slight ripple of power all that remained in its wake.


    The thunderous <em>boom</em> from the lightning rattled Ts skull, but she managed to maintain her feet. Even so, she felt enhancements around her ears draw a bit more deeply on her power as they deadened the sound to protect both her eardrums and her hearing.


    She spun, gritting her teeth against the pain in her arm, which the motion magnified.


    Neither her mage-sight, nor her eyes, could find the bird.


    Renix rode up to her less than ten secondster, the clear source of the lightning.


    Mistress T! Are you alright?


    She stared up at him. What the rust was that thing!?


    I didnt get a look at the magic it held, but it was a terror bird, for sure.


    T blinked back at him. <em>What a frustratingly fitting name</em> Dimensional.


    Renix nodded. That would have been my guess, but Ive heard of lightning, air, or earth varieties which might have escaped my attack as well. He was scanning the surroundingndscape. Is it gone?


    T nodded and found that the motion made her head spin. From what I can tell, yes. After a moment, she added. To be fair, though, I didnt detect it until it attacked the first time. So


    Renix kept scanning. Well be more vignt. They rarely travel alone. They usually have a pack, three or four strong is the smallest Ive heard of. They can get asrge as twenty.


    <em>More of them? Great</em>


    Trent rode up and demanded an exnation. Renix gave it.


    Shortly thereafter, the duty sergeant for the guards arrived and asked for the same. Renix happilyplied.


    The wagon train did not stop its slow march forward.


    T, for her part, bent down to pick up her satchel. The shoulder strap was neatly severed, and she had two short strips of strapping cut cleanly free as well. She sighed, decided it wasnt worth fixing immediately, and began eating jerky. After a moments chewing, she realized that she should go to the chuckwagon.


    Trent tried to stop her, but when she indicated her arm, and that the chuckwagon workers were also the medics for non-lethal injuries, he relented.


    Less than a minuteter, she was knocking on the back door of the wagon.


    It was not Brand who opened the door, but the young mans eyes widened when he saw her clearly broken arm, and he motioned her inside.


    Brand was working on dinner, but he stopped toe and assist when he saw her.


    She told him a brief, vorless version of events. Giant, g-begotten chicken attacked me. We drove it off.


    He was unsatisfied but agreed to set her arm before pressing for details.


    The two cooks, who were trained as medics, worked together to pull her arm straight and reset the bones, Brand, himself checking their alignment before splinting her forearm.


    She did not lose consciousness when they set the arm, but it was a near thing. To distract herself, she began talking. What, no bone be fixed meat?


    Brand rolled his eyes. If we had harvested something that would speed healing, sure. But we havent.


    Her eyebrows went up. You dont keep any stock?


    That would be prohibitively expensive and unreliable. The older the harvest, the more it loses power. Jerking the meat will contain the effects, but meat doesnt contain bone healing magics. That would beodd.


    T grunted.


    Brand shrugged. Besides, Mistress Atrexia should be able to heal this with ease.


    <em>Material Guide. Right.</em> And her emphasis on earth and rock would more easily align with bone than Trents ice and lightning.


    As if on cue, a knock came at the door, and Brands assistant opened it to reveal Atrexia, herself.


    The assistant bowed and backed away before the Mage, as she stepped inside.


    Youre alive. And not bleeding out. Wonder of wonders.


    You already knew that Im not easily cut, Mistress Atrexia.


    Ahh, yes, the nt. She tsked. Youre making this into a habit, Mistress T.


    T held out her splinted left arm. Can you just fix this, please?


    Atrexia cocked an eyebrow. How? I cant see through your skin with mage-sight, so why should I be able to affect you?


    Brands eyes moved to stare first at Atrexia then T, but he held his tongue.


    T groaned. This had been a problem before, but she hadnt considered it in this instance. After a moments thought, she used her right hand to point at her left palm. Can you work through here?


    Atrexia frowned, stepping forward. She took Ts hand with surprising gentleness. The spell-lines around the womans eyes pulsed with power, as she examined Ts palm. Is all your skin naturally this color? She indicated Ts palms.


    I suppose?


    Atrexia blinked at her for a moment. Wow. Youre really light skinned, arent you.


    T glowered, but otherwise didnt respond.


    The other Mage returned her attention to the examination of Ts palm. Ah! Yes. I can see now that What the rust! Her mouth stayed open as she stared at Ts palm. How many spell-forms do you have active at the moment, ch- She had almost said child, but her eyes flicked to Brand, and she cut off.


    Just the ones reinforcing the skin of my forearm, back, and head. She hesitated. Well and reinforcing my head in general. <em>And those enhancing my nervous system. And those watching for the need of further enhancement effects. And my mage-sight. </em>She contemted. <em>Yeah, thats it.</em> She, of course, was not going to give that full list to Atrexia, but it was wise for T, herself, to know.


    Atrexia nodded, slowly, in the silence. That shouldnt be enough to exin the level of magic Im detecting. She nced up to Ts eyes, and then away. But I suppose thats standard for youisnt it.


    T didnt respond.


    Well, Ill see what I can do. Power flexed outward from Atrexia, driving into Ts palm. An instantter, there was a weird <em>click</em>, and most of the pain in Ts arm vanished, leaving only a lingering ache. Huhthat was surprising easy Were you able to suppress your magical defenses that perfectly?


    Hmm? Oh! Wellno.


    Atrexia waited for a moment before cocking an eyebrow. So your magical defenses are that weak?


    They dont exist, at least not for my palms.


    Atrexias mage-sight was still active, and the woman looked back down at Ts palm Then these spell forms are She started nodded. only for the enhancement of your skin. Whatever youve done to the rest of your body to protect you from magic, youve left off of here. Why?


    T opened her mouth to respond, but the other Mage was already waving a hand to silence her.


    Because its too perfect. If youpletely sealed yourself, you couldnt affect the outside world Her eyes widened, and her gaze, once again, flicked to Brand, before returning to T. We will discuss this,ter. Yes?


    T sighed. I suppose so. She flexed her arm and hand, removing the temporary splint. Thank you, by the way.


    Hmm? Oh, think nothing of it. It is part of my contract to provide such services. Atrexia turned and opened the door, already departing.


    Thank you, nheless.


    At that, the Mage paused, looking back towards T. After a short silence, she nodded. You are most wee, Mistress T. We will speak, tonight.


    Without further dy, Atrexia stepped out, closing the door behind her.


    * * *


    T rested atop her wagon, her shirt pping in the steady breeze.


    The wagon wasnt really moving fast enough to create a breeze, so she was grateful that the weather aligned to bring the pleasant wind.


    The only irritant was the small hole in the front of her shirt, causing the garment to move unpredictably, snapping in the breeze. This, unfortunately, was her least damaged shirt, even with the hole courtesy of Brands knife.


    <em>Four shirts should have been plenty</em>


    She was working to stitch the leather strap of her satchel back together, using the two pieces that had been cut loose as bracing on either side of the butt-jointed leather pieces of the strap. All in all, shed lost less than a foot of the strap, and she blessed her luck that shed not cut the strap down to a perfect fit. Instead, shed had the excess dangling beyond the buckle, which had let her adjust it to fit her mostfortably after the repair.


    <em>I wont even have to punch new holes to keep using this.</em> Altogether, it wasnt more than a mild inconvenience.


    She felt a sh of dimensional magic and jerked to the side, her eyes sweeping her surroundings. She nearly dropped the satchel in her moment of panic, and her heart was racing when she caught sight of a ground-squirrel blinking away from a muchrger rival some hundred feet to the caravans right.


    <em>Dimensional rodent</em> The feeling had not been any stronger or weaker than that of the terror bird. She shuddered. <em>Apparently, the magic for such teleportation doesnt care about size.</em> As she thought about it, the bird could have grabbed her and jumped away, leaving her at its mercy. <em>Well, if I didnt have the iron salve to block such magic from affecting me.</em>


    It was also possible the magic couldnt take another living being. <em>At least not an unwilling one?</em> She did not have a good understanding of teleportation magic, despite her intensive studies before her naked transport attempt.


    She shook her head and returned her attention to the stitching. She blessed her foresight, when shed purchased the heavy needles and waxed thread. A bit of delicate knife work was all it took to make the needed holes for stitching, her precision augmented by her enhancements.


    Start to finish, it took her less than ten minutes to finish the repair.


    During that time, she fearfully responded to no less than five instances of dimensional magic, all of which turned out to be benign sources, at least rtively.


    <em>Thismight be untenable.</em> She had no remaining injuries, per se, but her head, back, and arm all had deep-rooted, softly throbbing aches. <em>I need a bath</em>


    At that thought, she considered the berries. <em>Brand said that the berries would mitigate, and might even reverse damage, in some cases</em> It was likely worth one berry, as a test.


    She readied her iron salve bar and pulled out a whole berry.


    Instead of twisting it open, as shed done for Brand, she popped the whole thing in her mouth, and crushed it against the roof of her mouth with her tongue.


    Power blossomed behind her lips, and she almost gasped at the sensation.


    Working quickly, she picked the seed out from the berrys meat and expelled it into her hand. Its power was building towards activation, and she quickly coated it in iron salve, before cing it in the pouch with the other ending tree bits.


    As she did that, she relished the sweet vor of the ending-berry. The juice, before, had not been sufficient to truly give her a taste for the treat, and treat it was.


    <em>Id take this over a donut any day.</em> And that wasnt factoring in the power.


    She felt the energy flowing outward, seeming to cling to her spell-lines like water to an aqueduct, as if her lines were made for such power. <em>I suppose they were, in a sense.</em>


    She felt the rush fade, just slightly, as her aches were soothed away, and she let out a breath of silent pleasure at the sudden relief. It wasnt a healing, per se, more like her body knew it wasnt in danger of further damage, so it didnt need to scream at her so loudly.


    Aside from the brief, initial dip, the torrent did not lessen as it suffused her. It didnt fill her with the non-descript restlessness of undirected power, but instead with a sense of wholeness,pleteness, togetherness.


    She understood immediately. <em>The magic is meant to keep the consumer whole and healthy, and my mage-sight is picking that up and presenting it to me as a general feel, for the power within myself.</em>


    She felt a familiarfort and was strongly reminded of her time at the Academy.


    On rainy days, when she hadnt had sses to attend, she would curl up in her rooms, beside a low-burning fire, and read as the gentle murmur of water filled the air outside. Shed missed many meals, and if she was being truthful, quite a few sses, whiling away the hours in any number of good books.


    <em>I could get used to this.</em>


    She contemted eating a second, but dismissed it, as one of the reasons she ate one now was to see how long itsted. Eating a second would throw off the test. She had no idea if the berries were standardly cumtive or multiplicative. <em>Assuming more would add to the duration at all.</em>


    Still enjoying the taste that lingered in her mouth, she found herself contemting. <em>Could I make wine out of this? Or just juice? Or jam?</em> She gave a short, softugh. <em>I wonder if cooking it down would concentrate the power or disperse it</em> She needed <em>vastly</em> more berries with which to experiment.


    That in mind, she found herself mentally jumping at every bush that peaked over a hill or looked like it <em>could</em> be a tree. It was an added, sporadic, irritating interruption. They did not see any more trees of any kind that day.


    T spent her time reading, walking, taking notes, and sketching. Additionally, she continued to find herself flinching at any spark of power she felt, which had even a vor of dimensional magic to it. It made for a less than pleasant afternoon.

 Chapter 23: Around the Dinner Table

    Chapter 23: Around the Dinner Table


    As before, when sunset was close, Den found a rtively t stretch of ground and led the wagons in a great circle.


    As they rolled to a stop, the guardsmen and servants immediately began setting up camp, and the drivers tended their oxen.


    Since T didnt have blood to clean off this evening, she used the opportunity to do some standing stretches. The wagons were incredibly stable, but she did not trust herself to bnce atop them, at least she hadnt yet. <em>Maybe tomorrow.</em> It would probably be good for her stability to try.


    Newly limbered, she strode towards the chuckwagon.


    To her joy, she could still feel thefortable energy of the berry within herself. It seemed to have diminished slightly, but certainly not by more than a quarter, even though shed eaten the fruit at least two hours earlier. <em>This is even better than Id hoped!</em>


    As she walked across the wagon circle, more guards were sizing her up than ever before, but T ignored their stares.


    She greeted Brand and the other cooks cheerily and took the offered bowl of


    What is tonight''s meal, exactly?


    Brand cracked a half smile. Stewed barley, root vegetables, and <em>chicken</em>. He emphasized thest, and T understood.


    <em>So, they didnt jerk all the de-wing meat, just what they werent using for tonight.</em> It looks wonderful. And it did. It had a thick, porridge-like consistency, but orange vegetables and green spices gave it a pleasing aesthetic.


    As she looked about, a waving Renix drew her over to the table where the other Mages were sitting. Once again, it was set a bit apart, which gave some privacy, along with a sense of other-ness. <em>Like at the Academy, but this time Im segregated </em>with<em> the other magic users.</em> She almost smirked at the irony.


    Trent smiled up at her. Care to join us?


    Renix grinned. We havent gotten a chance to hear your side of the terror birds attack.


    Atrexia sighed and grudgingly motioned for T to join them as well. Go ahead.


    She stepped over the bench and settled on Atrexias right. Thank you, dont mind if I do, but the story will have to wait, until I eat a bit.


    Renix nodded in concession, taking another bite of his own dinner.


    Atrexia grunted.


    T settled in, took a bite, and blinked down at the bowl. <em>This is fantastic.</em> She looked back towards the chuckwagon. <em>Maybe they are culinary Mages of some kind</em>That was unlikely.


    This seemed to be the perfect way to end the day.


    T continued eating at a dedicatedly steady pace, making sure she did not rush, and enjoying every bite.


    After a few moments of silence, Trent cleared his throat. So, before we hear the story, we have to discuss the fee.


    T sighed. Master Trent, I do not see how it is reasonable to expect me to pay you and Renix for his aid or Mistress Atrexia for her healing.


    Trents forehead crinkled in a frown. No, Mistress T. Our fee to you.


    T returned her attention fully to him. What?


    You are not employed to defend the caravan or engage arcanous beasts, we are.


    I was just defending myself.


    Trent sighed. Do you know how we are paid? He gestured to himself and Atrexia.


    No, I cant say that I do.


    He nodded. We are paid per arcanous threat the caravan survives. He hesitated, then added. In addition to our wagon, and half of our inscribing costs.


    T pondered that. No base rate?


    None.


    Renix piped up. Master Trent pays me a straight amount and covers half of the remaining cost for my inscriptions.


    Trent gave Renix a look, and the younger man returned to eating. The older Mage then turned back to T. You did most of the work driving off the terror bird, and the guard will <em>definitely</em> report it as a threat driven off. Your inscriptions wont be reimbursed, and you were in considerable danger. He nced at Atrexia. We dont want you to interfere, so dont see this as an ongoing arrangement. He returned his eyes to T. But we do want you to feel inclined to help, if the need arises.


    T, while listening, was enjoying another mouthful of the food. <em>Is Brand married? No, T, you shouldnt marry a man for his cooking</em>He had stabbed her in the chest, trying to kill her to hide his own secrets. <em>Sohes not afraid to stand up for himself?</em> It was still a bad idea. <em>Didnt he say something about a family? Might have just been lies to gain pity </em>She sighed, her mind returning to what Trent had said. I think I understand. What do you propose?


    Half an ounce of gold.


    T blinked at him. What.


    We will be paid one ounce of gold for a threat the caravan survives of that birds magnitude. We then split it among ourselves as we see fit. My mageling did deliver the final attack, but you did the bulk of the work, and will bear the greater cost in inscriptions. That said-


    T held up her hand. I understand. You dont want me throwing myself in harms way, trying to earn more.


    Trent was nodding, but it was Atrexia who answered. If you die, or are unable to maintain the cargo, the caravan is considered a loss, and we are paid a meager percentage of the passengers'' fees.


    Renix made a face. Never happened to us, but Ive heard it isnt even an ounce, gold, to split.


    Atrexia continued as if Renix hadnt spoken. It would also be a mark against us and make it <em>much</em> harder for us to get further contracts. You are our charge, Mistress T, and your safety is part of our responsibility, after a moment, she added, no matter how little <em>any</em> of us like that fact.


    T nodded. Understood. Thank you, I suppose. After a moment, she cocked her head. Could I take payment in the form of favors?


    Trents eyes narrowed in suspicion. What kind of favor?


    Well, you see, Id like to harvest some more materials from any ending tree we might pass.


    Atrexias face had paled. Master Trentwhat does she mean: More?


    Trent put his forehead in his palm and rubbed vigorously. She He sighed. She has a short stick and several berries.


    Atrexia turned horrified eyes on T. Were all your teachers <em>rusting </em>MORONS! She <em>almost</em> shouted thest but managed to keep it to an intensely loud whisper.


    It is safely contained.


    Mistress T- Atrexia looked to the darkening sky for a long moment, seeming to be trying to gather herself. Her hands were clenching and unclenching under the table. Finally, she looked back at the younger Mage. Mistress T. You have gambled against the arcane king and won. Do not take that for evidence that the game is <em>fair.</em>


    T sighed. Yes, I am familiar with the fable, Mistress Atrexia. I know that just because a thing was easy once, that does not mean it always will be.


    That is <em>not</em> the point of the fable, Mistress T. Atrexia was drumming the fingers of her left hand on the table in an anxious rhythm.


    Oh? Then, enlighten me.


    The arcane king <em>often</em> let his opponent win the first round, so they becamecent. If he read them to be a true fool, he would let them win more than once. Then, he seduced them into <em>one more</em> bet, in which they lost everything.


    Ending trees are not intelligent, nor are they linked.


    It. Is. A. Metaphor. Atrexia seemed to be under a great deal of stress, as she was rubbing her sternum, unconsciously, with the heel of her right palm. Mistress T. You are a <em>Guide</em>! You should be able to understand these things.


    Mistress Atrexia. I am not a child. I know it is a metaphor. It is also a tale meant to inspire consistent caution, no matter how things have gone in the past. I am not asking for help to burn an ending tree or pluck its berries by hand. I am <em>not</em> a fool.


    Then prove it. Take the money and leave the golden cage alone.


    A golden cage would be entirely ineffective.


    Atrexia returned a look of <em>pure</em> condescension. Our ancestors ceased harvesting ending-berries for a reason, Mistress T. Foolish are those who neglect the lessons of history.


    And do you know the reason?


    Atrexia hesitated. Wellno


    I do.


    Trent and Renix had turned to their meals when the two women had begun arguing, but both perked up at Ts words.


    Trent leaned forward. Id be curious to know, Mistress T.


    Atrexia red at Trent. Dont humor her, Master Trent. How could she possibly know? She turned back to T. Are you a schr of the deep histories? Are you informed beyond the sages of the Academy?


    No and probably? She shrugged. I have different insights.


    Trent cleared his throat. To be fair, Mistress T, you didnt know it was an ending tree before you asked me for help.


    Atrexia let out an exasperated breath.


    You are right, I did not, but I <em>did</em> know that the power it radiated was identical to my own enhancements, just utilized in reverse.


    Atrexia stiffened at that, turning to examine T.


    T continued. With the name, I was able to research my hypothesis, and confirm that the berries are of the same power but act as my enhancements do.


    So, why arent they harvested? Renix was leaning forward as well.


    First, the trees are exceedingly dangerous. She held up a hand, forestallingment. I have no intention of collecting any more from the trees, themselves. I just want the berries. She lowered her hand. The danger of the trees is magnified in that they move erratically and without warning. The only known salvation, if a harvester idently touches a branch, is to eat a berry. From what I can tell, and from looking at the rtive power of each, eating a single berry would save a person from a single solid touch with the tree, maybe two if they had some resistance to magic. The window for eating the berry after a touch is mere seconds, so if you dont already have one She shrugged.


    Thats all well and good, but that could be ovee.


    Exactly, Mistress Atrexia, I believe we can ovee that.


    Trent sighed. What is the second reason?


    The pit, at the center, contains the same effect as the tree, though implemented more like an explosive reaction.


    Exin.


    Once the seed is removed, or damaged in any way, it concentrates its power and releases it all in a pulse. Eating a single berry is not sufficient to allow you to survive exposure to that pulse.


    Trent was nodding. Thats how it spreads. A bird swallows the berry, allowing it to survive havingnded on the tree. Then, as it is flying away, the seed is either exposed or damaged, and it activates.


    T nodded. Within a short time, it triggers, obliterating the bird, and dropping the seed in a new location, ideally surrounded by a fresh pile of fertilizer.


    Renixs eyes were wide. Thatsdevious.


    She quirked a smile. My thoughts exactly, though, obviously, the tree isnt sapient, so devious doesnt apply. She gave a pointed look to Atrexia.


    The other woman rolled her eyes. So, you stated the problem. The berry is both useful and valuable, but not sufficiently so to justify the risk. Its like a dragon''s hoard. Sure, <em>if</em> you manage to kill the dragon you get some money, but the chances for death are numerous.


    Trent was shaking his head. No, its like an infinite den of vipers, where each viper has a silk ribbon around its neck. Sure, you can probably kill a snake and take the silk, but you also might damage the silk, making the effort useless. It is unlikely that you would get rich before you got bit. Trent saw the look on Ts face and rolled his eyes. And for the metaphor you <em>dont </em>have ess to defensive or healing magic to remove that risk.


    Atrexia was nodding. That is a better metaphor. It isnt one big risk for massive gain it is a thousand possibilities of death each for minor gain. Not worth it.


    To the others obvious surprise, T nodded in turn. Exactly. That is why they are no longer harvested.


    Atrexia grunted. Oh. I see.


    Trent grinned. She got you there, Mistress Atrexia.


    Atrexia rolled her eyes again. Nheless. That problem still holds true forus She looked back to T, examining her more closely. You say your spell-forms counter the trees magic?


    T grinned. If the magic can get to me at all.


    That would remove the first hurdle. After a moment, Atrexia amended. Well, it would mitigate it. She frowned. Mistress T, that is the harvesting. The part you requested us to assist with. That seems to be the hurdle that you can actively ovee.


    Trent pointed to Atrexia. Shes got a point.


    T sighed. No. I said that I would like to harvest more. I hadnt actually told you what favor I would ask.


    Trent nodded. True. True.


    Atrexia sighed in exasperation, and Renix grinned.


    T continued. As I was saying: I would like your help spotting the trees, as well as use of arger iron box. She hesitated. Well, an iron sk would be better She nodded. Yeah, an iron sk. And I need time to actually harvest.


    After a moment, Atrexia shook her head. No.


    What? T frowned. What do you mean: No?


    You are asking us to risk this entire contract, to repay you for half an ounce of gold. No. That is foolishness.


    T felt her anger rising, but Trent held up his hand before she could respond. Mistress T. We cannot stop you. He gave Atrexia a silencing look when she opened her mouth to object, then continued. While we cannot stop you, we will not help you. In fact, we will do anything we reasonably can to discourage you.


    T opened her mouth to object in turn, but Trent wiggled his still aloft hand. However. I am willing to try to help you, after we arrive in Alefast. There are some known groves of ending trees within a couple hours walk of the city, and you could easily go out and get back before nightfall.


    T closed her mouth. <em>Ill need to be charging these cargo-slots for unloading, and the new set for my return trip, but if I do that in the morning</em> She found herself nodding. You would offer guidance and protection?


    Trent paused. Wellno. I would buy you a map and make sure you could read it and follow it to the grove. Half an ounce of gold is <em>not</em> worth the inscribings it would take for me to make such a journey safely.


    Renix straightened. I could- He cut off as Trent turned on him, eyebrow raised. Renix deted. I could wish you the best, and buy you an iron sk


    T almost found herself smiling at the exchange. Finally, she sighed and nodded. Fair, but that doesnt erase the debt. Half an ounce of gold. Yes?


    Trent paused for just an instant before nodding. Fair enough. The grove is well known, and maps of the region around Alefast are cheap. He smiled. Id be happy to help a friend, especially if that friend refrained from dying until then?


    T snorted. Fine. Ill try to exercise greater caution.


    Atrexia took herst bite of food and straightened. That <em>insanity</em> out of the way, Master Trent, didnt you want to review something with Renix?


    Ahh! Yes, quite right. He nced to T. Mistress T. I was going to give Renix here a brief refresher on the use of magic, but hes heard it from me half a hundred times, and Ive gotten Mistress Atrexia to give her take at least six times.


    Ten. Renix said with a glower. She can make <em>magic</em> boring, Mistress T. Magic!


    T quirked a smile. Ive had teachers like that. She looked inquiringly at Trent. Do I hear a question in there?


    Would you provide the refresher?


    She blinked back at Trent. Onthe use of magic


    Yes.


    Are you sure you dont want me to enlighten him on what stuff is?


    Trent grinned. I find that a broad prompt allows a Mage to convey what they feel is important. It prevents too much repetition.


    She shrugged, taking thest bite of her own, fantastically delicious dinner. She swallowed. Sure, I suppose. Setting her bowl aside, she turned to face Renix more fully. Any act of magic requires three things: First, power. Second, a shape. Third, a will. The less of any one of the three you have, the more of the other two are required, and vice versa. She held up a hand. Spell-lines grant a spell its shape; we, through our gate and keystone, provide the power. The willes through our understanding of what we are enacting. That is why a Mage cannot use a magic they dontprehend.


    Renix was nodding. Of course, this is basic.


    T quirked a smile. Am I giving an overview or not?


    Renix shrugged. Fair enough.


    Now, the shape is used by the consumption of our inscriptions, the metal slowly being eroded with subsequent uses. The power is obvious, our gates can only open so wide, and the power umtion rate varies from Mage to Mage, but here is the point of note, where a Mage can truly influence things. If the power is sifted, controlled, and provided to the spell-form exactly as it needs to be used, then the burden on the inscription lightens, and they willst longer.


    Trent was nodding, a small smile on his lips, but Renix was frowning. We have filters on our keystone, right? That is how the type and quantity of power going to each spell-line is governed.


    <em>Thank you, Master Himmal, for filling in this gap in my education. </em>Well, yes, but that is like trusting your knife to perfectly pure an herb. The mortar and pestle will do a better, finer job. And as with herbs, your gate, as governed by your mind, can better modte the type and quantity of power given to your spell-lines.


    And you do this?


    She shrugged. Me? Not particrly.


    Atrexia scoffed, taking a drink of water. Of course, you dont.


    T ignored the other woman. I have chosen my spell-forms to take advantage of mypeculiarities. And thus, I have no need to feather the power. My spell-lines will use, efficiently, anything I give them.


    Renix was frowning.


    T sighed. Most of my inscriptions are notfinessed. They simply act. You would not want to throw your full power behind a lightning strike because?


    Renix started nodding. Because I could blow a crater the size of a wagon in the ground. If I was too close, I could kill myself. Its imprecise, sloppy, and prone to coteral damage. He nced to his smiling and nodding master.


    T smiled too. Whereas if I dump too much power into my protection?


    You are simply better protected.


    Exactly. Now, the finalponent, the mind, is where every Mage works and refines themselves over their lifetime. The clearer and more urate you can perceive what your power should do, the better. The more closely you can make your mental construct to the effect that is toe, the less power, and the less inscribing material, will be required to achieve the same result. She smiled. In cases where you are using all the power you can, that simply means that the effect will be greater, instead of the power requirement dropping. She touched her two thumbs together and two index fingers together, making a triangle. Imagine this triangle, fixed at its midpoint; that midpoint is the spell-working, the output. The higher you raise each corner She rocked her hand around, tilting the triangle in demonstration. the lower the other corners can get. You will always need all three corners to make a triangle, but you can alter their elevation.


    Renix looked thoughtful. Yeah, I think I knew thatI just hadnt thought of it that way before.


    Trent inclined his head, briefly. Thank you, Mistress T. I think that is sufficient, for now.


    T actually felt a flicker of disappointment. Shed been starting to enjoy the monologue. Even so, she nodded in return. As you say, Master Trent. Is there anything that you would correct?


    Trent seemed to think for a moment, then shook his head. Not specifically. You spoke in generalities, so of course it wasnt perfectly urate, but you werent aiming for precision, nor did I request such. Trent nodded to T. Thank you, again.


    She smiled in return. Of course.


    Atrexia didntment as T stood, taking her bowl, cup, and spoon to the washing station. Every other dish either had been, or would be, washed by one of the caravans servants, but T found she didnt mind the quick task.


    <em>Hah, I never had to tell my side of the terror bird attack. </em>She decided to see that as an absolute win.

 Chapter 24: There Would Be a Next Time

    Chapter 24: There Would Be a Next Time


    Before heading back to her wagon, she stopped by the chuckwagons still-propped-open side to tell Brand how much shed liked the meal.


    They talked briefly, and then T thought to ask him if he had an iron sk. He said he thought he might and went to dig in the back.


    While she waited, she chatted with one of the other cooks, thanking him, again, for his help with her arm, earlier.


    Brand returned with arge sk and a few of small vials. This sk held a chili-oil, but weve used all we needed. Its been cleaned thoroughly and doesnt smell like its been vored. Two cup capacity. He then held up the vials, which also appeared to be iron. These three held spices for the meals on the first day. Theyve also been cleaned.


    Why not use ss She nodded in understanding. Not worth the risk of breaking. <em>I thought they could make ss that was fairly resilient.</em> She supposed that, when considering hundreds of trading missions, the difference in durability between ss and iron would matter.


    Exactly. He hesitated. Now, I cant just give these to you


    Two silver sound fair?


    He blinked at her in surprise. No. That is much too much!


    Well, I dont have it on me. Youll have to wait until Alefast.


    Still, he shook his head. I cannot sell caravan supplies at a profit.


    Huhok, then. How much?


    For all four?


    Yes.


    One silver, to be paid in Alefast.


    Agreed. She took the four vessels and turnedto find Atrexia standing behind her, glowering.


    You promised caution.


    And Ill give caution. I have materials Id like to work with.


    Atrexias expression did not improve. Ill be watching you.


    T shrugged. Fair enough. She turned and strode towards a sergeant, whom shed seen in the distance.


    She ended up having to crisscross the wagon-circle several times, before she was able to catch a sergeant and grab their attention. Sergeant?


    Yes, maam?


    Could I borrow a shield or two, to fasten to the top of my wagon?


    He frowned. Mistress. We need those to-


    She held up a hand cutting him off. Just at night. I will return them in the morning.


    He hesitated for just a moment before nodding. I suppose that makes sense. You will be sleeping on the roof of your wagon, yes?


    She nodded.


    Then having a fixed shield to keep you safe as you sleep is wise. Ill send one to you right away.


    That handled, T thanked the sergeant and headed back to her wagon for a much-needed nights sleep.


    * * *


    T slept deeply and well, her bedroll spread outfortably, one of therge tower-shields clipped into the defensive ring atop the wagon,ying overtop her. The wagon asionally shifted as either Den moved, down in his sleeping area, or a breeze rocked the wagon just a bit.


    She did not know what she had been dreaming about, but she came slowly awake to an itch on her left ankle, and a vague memory of the wagon shifting.


    Groggily, she pulled her leg back in to scratch the itch and found the foot cold. <em>Guess it was outside the nkets</em> She scratched absently.


    A soft glow and a pull of power called to her sleepy thoughts, and she looked down in puzzlement. A linear series of spell-work was softly shedding light across her ankle, and as she focused, she realized that power was, indeed, flowing through her.


    The magic of the berry shed eaten earlier was gone, but she didnt know if that was due to time or something else.


    <em>Did I scratch that hard?</em> Or were the activation forms that sensitive?<em> Noif Id activated it, there would be a whole host of scratches, not one clear line.</em>


    She was almost fully awake now, and she sat upstraight into the shield arching over her.


    A loud <em>thump</em> apanied her muffled exmation. Ow! She rubbed at her forehead. That rusting hurt She felt a sh of dimensional magic, and the wagon swayed, as if someone had just jumped onto, or off of, the top. She froze, eyes locking on the space where the dimensional magic had originated.


    Her mage-sight prated the heavy wooden shield with ease revealing, only being blocked by the intermittent iron bandingnothing.


    She stood in a rush, pushing the shield out of the way, and swept her gaze around her.


    It waste in the night, and the caravans fires were nothing but banked coals, only visible to her because of her enhanced perception and mage-sight.


    Guards were patrolling regrly, and most everyone else was asleep.


    Wind brushed her skin, tugged at her clothes and hair, and coated her with a beautiful, blessed coolness. She felt herself rx, even as she continued to scan. She loved the way the wind felt across her skin and longed to pull off the clothing she was wearing, just to enjoy the breeze more fully. She ignored the urge. <em>It is neither the time, nor the ce, T.</em> Even so, she took bothfort and joy in the sweeping caress of the air, tugging at her hair and clothing.


    Finally, her mage-sight found another source of dimensional magic, though it was currently,rgely inactive.


    An avian head was just visible, eyes glowing in the low light, staring at her from under arge bush, some fifty feet away, down in a small dell. The bushs magic had hidden the creature from her initial sweeps, as the bush seemed alive with power, just as most were in the wilds. Sadly, the magic in the bushes shed seen was almost entirely focused on the growth of the particr species of bush, and a creation of unpleasantness in the digestive system of any who consumed it. Not useless, but hardly useful to T.


    T ignored the useless bush and stared at the creature, knowing, beyond any doubt, that it was the same dimensional terror bird that had attacked her the day before.


    She did not let herself shudder in trepidation. She did not break eye contact. Slowly, following some instinct she couldnt ce, she lifted her left arm and waved. <em>This is the arm you broke; you rusting pile of g. If you are at all intelligent, you will remember-</em>


    There was a dimensional <em>blink</em>, and the bird was standing with her on top of the wagon, crouched low.


    The wagon rocked subtly under the new weight, and T found herself crouching in response to both the motion of the nks underfoot, and the suddenly all-to-close threat.


    <em>Do I call the guards?</em> What could they do? <em>I could call for the other Mages</em>


    The terror bird didnt advance. Instead, it seemed to be studying her.


    T nced down at her ankle, a thin line of almost golden light obvious in the gloom. Her eyes lifted back up, briefly examining the birds talons. She gestured to her ankle. That was you. Wasnt it?


    The avian cocked its head to the side, then righted it, its feathers rippling in the wind. It let out a very soft, low squawk. T heard several of the caravans oxen shift and make investigative noises following the sound, but no one else seemed to have noticed.


    Is that a yes?


    It didnt answer. <em>Was it testing if I was puncture proof while sleeping?</em> She did shudder, then. <em>What would it have done if I wasnt?</em> She imagined it mping onto her foot and dragging her out into the night, blood gushing from her leg, screams filling her throat and <em>Nope. Not thinking about that.</em>


    The arcanous birds eyes narrowed, likely responding to her shudder.


    <em>Dont show fear, T.</em> She straightened. What now? Are we to stare at each other until dawn? Fight to the death?


    The terror bird shook its head in a motion reminiscent of a dog shaking off water. The motion was apanied by the soft rustle of feathers, but nothing else.


    T found herself smiling. You dont like either idea, do you.


    The avian <em>chuffed</em>, softly. Its eyes flicking around, clearly trying to watch for other threats.


    She let herself nce around as well. Where is your pack? She suddenly felt an itch between her shoulder des. <em>Its distracting me, so that another one can kill me from behind.</em> She fought the urge to spin around and face the new threat. Her reason won out, and she kept her eyes on the terror bird before her. No dimensional magic shed behind her, and she had a thought. <em>It wouldnt need others to nk an enemy. It does that quite well, alone.</em>


    The bird seemed to have lowered its crouch at her question, and its gaze was now entirely focusing on her once again.


    Youre all alone. She felt a flicker of sadness at the thought. She knew what it was to be alone.


    No response was forting.


    Here. She bent, sticking her hand into her pack to grab a bit of jerky and pull it out.


    At her sudden motion, the terror bird blinked out of existence. Before she had even brought the jerky forth, it was gone.


    Oh She sighed, taking a long moment to scan around herself, again. Even looking closely at nearby sources of magic, to see if it had hidden from her mage-sight there, she couldnt pinpoint the creature. <em>Doesnt mean it isnt still watching</em> She sighed, again, and ate the small bite of jerky shed grabbed. What time is it? She looked up at the sky. She was <em>not</em> good at telling time by the stars, but she saw no brightness on any horizon. <em>Somewhere in the middle of the night then.</em> Not precisely helpful, but worth knowing. <em>I should sleep</em>


    She repositioned the shield and was about to slide back under it when a thought crossed her mind.


    Shrugging to herself, she took out arger section of jerky; the piece would be two good bites for her. The section selected, she set it on the roof, some five feet from her. <em>There.</em> She wasnt sure what she was hoping to aplish, but she still felt a bit of sadness when she thought about the lone bird. <em>Even if it did try to gut me</em>


    That done, she slipped under the shield, under her nkets, and back towards sleep.


    * * *


    In the morning, she awoke with vague memories of flickering dimensional magic and a rocking of the wagon, but it could also have been a dream. She checked; the jerky was gone. A small smile tugged at her lips. Shed done at least some good, then. <em>Not that that is a fitting meal for a three-hundred-pound creature.</em>


    At that thought, she froze. <em>It rocked the wagon.</em> Her alteration of the terror birds interactions with gravity had broken. <em>I didnt put any conditions on that lock. Only death or some other equivalent physical alteration should have broken my restraining spell.</em> Unless the beast could counter her magic, directly? That was a terror inducing thought.


    She was suddenly less sure about her pity for therge predator. <em>Imay be in trouble</em>


    T was waking slowly, the light of pre-dawn tickling at the edges of her awareness. Despite the implications of the avians release from her magics, she felt rested, refreshed, and rxed. <em>The terror bird will not terrorize me. </em>She did, indeed, feel wonderful.


    She slipped out from under the shield and quickly folded and rolled her bedroll. Most of the camp was still asleep, despite the lightening sky, but she could see Brand and the other cooks working in the chuckwagon, through the upper half of one wall, which they propped open when the wagons were stopped. The click of metal on metal, and the other low sounds of kitchen-work floated to her as well, now that shed turned her focus that direction.


    Guards still patrolled the outskirts of the caravan. Others sat atop some of the wagons, keeping a lookout. One of those caught her attention as he waved to her. <em>Ashin?</em> Had he been assigned night duty? <em>I didnt think that guards would rotate their assigned shift, but I suppose I never asked.</em>


    She waved back. <em>Maybe Ill stop by, after my morning work.</em>


    She climbed down as quietly as she could, attempting to let Den continue to sleep.


    He slept on.


    She stored her gear and went to find the privy. When she returned, she took out the magic detector and iron salve. With a nce around at the mostly silent wagons, she decided not to go to the other side of the wagon.


    A minuteter, she had swept herself with the inscripted stick, and touched up her iron salve protection, erring on the side of over-applying.


    That done, she returned those items to her box, and moved through her stretches. This morning, she decided it was worth doing her exercises, and moved through them quickly once she was limbered sufficiently. Thanks to the coolness of the morning, she didnt work up much of a sweat, but quickly cleaned herself off afterwards, nheless.


    Her personal morning tasksplete, she turned her attention to the cargo-slots, one symbol cheerfully aze on each. <em>You knowthose are glowing even to my normal sight. I wonder how much of the total energy is used just to have an easily visible beacon that doesnt require mage-sight?</em> She made a note to send a missive back to the Wainwrights Guild to forgo that, when they made her specialized set of cargo-slots.


    Musings aside, she moved down the line with quick efficiency. Her mini-lecture to Renix the night before came back to her, and she focused special attention on her mental construct for the empowering and found that the added attention, likely aided by her own mental enhancements, was continuing to pay dividends. <em>More efficient, indeed.</em>


    Soon, thirty symbols glowed happily, and she was done. <em>Im getting faster every day.</em> It had only taken her about four and a half minutes this morning, even with the added focus on perfecting her mental construct of the working. Those efforts had also removed most of the power requirement, whenpared to her first attempts.


    She frowned at that. <em>All Im doing is filling the spell-forms power reserves. How can I be reducing the amount of power that takes? Thatd be like saying it no longer takes a gallon of water to full fill a gallon jugUnless</em> Was she really spilling so much power, when shed been trying to fill the forms, earlier? <em>More crucially, does it really take so little power to maintain a dimensional distortion?</em> She supposed that her concept of how much power a given working should take was based on how much power she, and those shed observed, had needed in the past.


    <em>Are we really so inefficient, most of the time?</em> It was an interesting thought.


    Sighing, she walked over to the chuckwagon. Dawn had still not fully broken, the sun still not visible, and most people were still in their respective wagons. <em>Am I efficient, or is everyone elsezy? </em>T resisted the urge to scan the wagons with her mage-sight, as it felt too much like peeping for her taste.


    As she approached the open side of the chuckwagon, Brand held out a steaming earthen-ware mug. Fresh.


    T frowned and took the drink. <em>It couldnt be</em> She looked down at the dark brown liquid and caught a whiff of heaven. This isnt


    Coffee? Yeah. I thought youd like a cup, today. Especially since you skipped yours, yesterday.


    Ts head came up, eyes narrowing. I was due a cup of coffee, yesterday?


    Brand shrugged, not catching her tone. Of course. The caravans are one of the primary consumers of the stuff, outside of the intelligentsia. Its one of the perks of taking the trip; All the coffee you can drink.


    Her eye twitched. <em>I could have had coffee, yesterday</em> She took a deep breath and steadied her mind. Thank you, Brand. Could I have another cup?


    He eyed her still full, untouched mug. Could you finish that one first?


    T looked down, then smiled wryly. Im going to take it to one of the guards.


    Oh! Of course. He quickly fetched another mug for her, and she epted it gratefully.


    She carefully navigated her way over to the wagon on which shed seen Ashin. It was there that she was presented with a dilemma. <em>I cant climb thedder, and I cant reach the roof</em>


    Thankfully, Ashin, who was still on duty, must have noticed her, because he leaned over the side. Mistress?


    She held the coffees up. Can you take these?


    Looking puzzled, he leaned down and did so, freeing her hands.


    Thus liberated, she mbered up thedder quickly. Once she was atop the wagon, specifically the bunk wagon for the guards, she took one of the mugs back. Thank you."


    He offered her the second mug as well.


    Oh! No, thats for you.


    Ashin frowned. Oh?


    She shrugged. I thought youd like it. Are you just starting your shift, or just ending it? She settled down into a cross-legged, seated position.


    Ashin looked from her to the coffee and back a couple of times before sighing and returning to stand in the center of the wagon, as he had been. Just near the end. Ill be relieved when the sun is halfway over the horizon and be able to grab breakfast before climbing into the bunk-wagon for the day. He tapped his foot lightly in an unneeded indication of the wagon he meant.


    T took a long, slow drink of the smooth, dark coffee and again, contemted marrying Brand. <em>Hes already married T, and you could hire a cook.</em> It was an odd thought, having enough money to hire a cook. Shed never do it, of course. Such a frivolous expenditure would have to await consideration til after her debts were expunged. <em>I could marry wealthy?</em> She sighed, ruefully, shaking her head. <em>No, T.</em> That was a bad idea. Truly terrible. Not worth considering further.


    Ashin took a careful sip, and T saw his face twitch.


    Do you not drink coffee? She suddenly felt foolish. <em>Why am I up here? Im just bugging him, and making him feel obligated</em>


    He smiled. Not too much, no. It seemed a waste of money, to me, and I didnt think it wise to pick up the habit while out on a job. He hesitated, looking down at the drink. It isnt bad, and I suppose I am in a caravan more often than Im not. He turned back towards her slightly and nodded, lifting the cup slightly. Thank you, T.


    She smiled. You are wee. She took another long drink from her own mug. <em>Delicious.</em> Were, what, three days from Alefast?


    Just about, yeah. We should arrive sometime before sunset on the final day. Its about 125 miles between Alefast and Bandfast, and we cover about He trailed off, seeming a bit embarrassed, then cleared his throat. Anyways, yes. We should see the third sunset from now from the city walls.


    T nodded, deciding not toment on his initial ramble. And youre heading back to Bandfast soon thereafter?


    He nodded. I try to do out and back trips as much as possible. After a moments hesitation, he spoke on, his eyes continuing to scan the surroundingndscape. Each spring, I contract for a big loop, that takes two or three months, but thiste in the season, I want to be as sure as I can be to winter in Bandfast.


    T nodded. Makes sense. Thats your home, right.


    He just nodded.


    T found herself finishing off thest of her coffee, and she stared mournfully down into her cup. <em>I suppose Brand will give me more?</em>


    She saw Ashin tense.


    What is it?


    I keep thinking I see something out there, but whenever I look closer, or turn back to look, its gone. He frowned. It might be your friend, from yesterday afternoon.


    T scoffed. Friend? The thing that tried to gut me? <em>Oh, rust and g, what have I done? Does he know I fed it? Does he know it tried to take off my footst night? What have I done-</em>


    He quirked a smile. Yes, Mistress T. Im aware. I meant it as a joke.


    Oh! Yes. Sheughed awkwardly. Of course.


    He cocked his eyebrow at her, then shook his head and turned back to scanning their surroundings. You continue to amaze, Mistress.


    She almost asked him to exin, but then realized that she didnt really want him to. Well I suppose I should get more coffee.


    Ashin nced back to her and raised his own mug in salute. Thank you for this. After a moments silence he smiled. And for thepany.


    She smiled and nodded in return, before climbing down and heading towards more coffee. <em>Well, that went well.</em> She was halfway back to the chuckwagon when she realized that shed neglected to tell Ashin that she was returning with the next avable wagon train, as well. <em>Well, thats awkward of me</em> She sighed. <em>I suppose its an item for next time.</em>


    And she was sure: There <em>would</em> be a next time.

 Chapter 25: A Blood Star

    Chapter 25: A Blood Star


    T basked in the warm morning sunlight as the wagon rumbled beneath her. The soft breeze was a perfect counterpoint to that warmth, and she found herself deliciouslyfortable. Adding to her delight, arge pitcher of coffee rode beside her, her mug already filled.


    Shed convinced Brand to give her the extra that had been brewed, but not drunk, before they were underway.


    As a final little joy, shed eaten another ending-berry as they set out. <em>Hopefully, today, I wont use up the energy by being attacked.</em> She did need to know how long the power from one would stay in her system.


    Shed seen Den freshly greasing the axles and joints in the wagons wheels before they left that morning, and they now trundled along with hardly a squeak or squeal.


    They were moving slowly higher, as they came closer to the mountains to the south-east. Additionally, the grasnds were interspersed more often withrge outcroppings or formations of rock. <em>Well, Atrexia will be more effective at least.</em>


    She didnt read. She didnt take notes or sketch.


    She simplyy back, sipping her coffee, and enjoyed the morning.


    The only thing to spoil her good mood was the asional flicker of dimensional power trailing the caravan near the edge of her perception.


    The terror bird was no real threat to her, and shed demonstrated that to the creature. <em>Aside from broken bones</em> In that light, it <em>should</em> leave her alone.<em> Then, why is it following, T?</em> She didnt have a good answer.


    She would not let it affect her mood.


    And it didnt.


    Not one bit.


    T sighed, sitting up straight and ring back down the line of wagons. Her mage-sight tickled her perception, and she looked up to see arge bird of prey winging past, up above them.


    Such creatures weremon, but none had attacked their group since that first day. Apparently, those closer to human cities tended to be a bit more aggressive towards humans, while those farther out tended to avoid more often than attack.


    <em>Boring</em> and, she supposed, impoverishing to Trent and Atrexia. At least, none of the mundane folks were in danger of dying. <em>Huh, everythings a trade-off, I suppose.</em>


    Theyd also seen scattered groups of the thunder cattle over the past few days, and this morning in particr. Den had informed her that there were often small groups of the beasts up to seventy or eighty miles from the main herd. Shed looked them up in the Order of the Harvests book. Almost all of the animal could be harvested.


    The meat gave good strength-enhancing effects and bone-broth or bone-meal made from the bovines would rapidly restore broken or cracked bones. <em>Doesnt store well, though, even in iron containers.</em> The Order seemed baffled, and quite irritated, at that fact.


    Den had also told her that the hides were highly prized, and that the guards always did their utmost to skin the creatures, if they had the opportunity.


    <em>How much meat would be on one of those things anyways?</em> She <em>really</em> wanted to hunt for one. It wouldnt hurt to have some of the bone powder, either. <em>Broken bones seem to be my greatest danger, at the moment. </em>But the stuff was only good for a week or so.<em> I really hope I dont break anything else that soon.</em>


    She found herself idly ying with one of the iron vials that Brand had sold her. It had an iron screw-on cap, lined with a leather gasket. The threading was on the outside of the vial, so that the spices that had been held inside couldnt easily be caught in the thread. <em>This is fine work.</em>


    The seal seemed intact, and the vessel had a delicate artistry to it. <em>I wonder what Ill use it for?</em> She was already nning on putting the remaining seven ending-berries in the sk, but what was she to do with the vials? <em>Ill find a use for them.</em>


    Two of the vials were of this refined make, but the third was much cruder. It had likely held coarser spices, and so hadnt needed the same type of fine seal. <em>Salt crystals, maybe?</em> Regardless, it was secured by a small, tough cord, which wrapped around a smaller portion of the vial. The rougher vial also had a slightlyrger inner diameter, justrger than her thumb, and was shorter, so that her thumb could easily touch the inside of the bottom.


    As she was ying with one of the finer vials, she found her mind wandering.


    She drank more coffee.


    <em>Atrexia doesnt seem to know what to make of me. I feel like she sees me as a child, but also as some sort of monster.</em> T sighed, then quirked a smile. <em>I suppose that Holly and Lyn werent much different, when they saw my fully empowered blood.</em>


    Ts mind stopped on that thought and refused to move onward. <em>My blood was unusually powerful</em> Her eyes rested on the fine iron vial. <em>I wonder</em> She found herself grinning.


    With precise care, she began shifting her mind towards deactivating her protective scripts at one specific point on her left ring finger. As she did so, she threw her gate open, wide.


    It might have been the coffee in her system, or something else, but she felt the nervous energy much more strongly. As she thought about it, it seemed like a horrifically discordant mountain lion, beside the calmly purring power of the ending-berry, within her.


    She waited until she was practically ready to scream from the discordance of it. Her legs were trembling with nervous energy, almost causing the vial to shake free from where she held it between her knees, and the knife was shaking in her right hand.


    She exerted her will and pulled all that nervous, raw power into her finger as shepressed it, pricking the ce with deactivated magics quickly, beforepressing it and releasing a drop of blood.


    The nervous energy left her in a rush, and the drop of blood seemed almost to vibrate as it fell.


    Ts mage-sight saw what resembled a falling bonfire as the blood dropped into the vial, and she fought a wave of dizziness in order to cap the vial and trap the power within.


    Even through all that, she kept her control, and prevented her enhancements from activating to heal the minor cut.


    The vial closed, she sheathed her knife and took several long, slow breaths.


    Coffee helped as well.


    The prick to her finger was small enough that it wasnt actively bleeding, if she didntpress it, and she took a long few minutes to recover. Even though shed tried to draw all the power within her into that one drop of blood, there was still a low level of saturation remaining, the power that hadnt easily been pulled free.


    When she was able to turn her full focus inward once more, she happily found the ending-berry''s power still there, undiminished, undisturbed, andfortably swirling through her. <em>Good, I didnt wash away one power with the other.</em>


    The image of her blood, glowing like a beacon before her mage-sight, was powerful to her memory.


    <em>I didnt have a mental construct, just a maximum amount of power.</em> She was ready to try again.


    This time, as she built the power up within her, she forced it into a mental construct, just as she did when empowering the cargo-slots. In this case, however, she formed a star of swirling, intertwining power, her blood as the medium for that flow. Its sole purpose was to contain and maintain power. <em>Its a reservoir, a container for my power, that I can tapter. It is for me and tied to me.</em>


    The image reminded her of some of the rope and knot games her family had yed with in her childhood. <em>Almost like a monkeys fist knot, but not quite.</em> There would be no trailing ends to this spell-form.


    She banished the memory.


    She bent almost her entire will to the mental application of power, even as the power itself grew to a greater height than before.


    This time, the energy didnt feel frantic. It didnt feel like she was a water skin, full to bursting. It felt like the flowing star she was imagining was blossoming into existence within the tip of her finger.


    Following some deep instinct, she removed the cap to the metal vial, once more. With the cap gone, her mage-sight could see the power of her first drop of blood shining forth.


    Almost as soon as the cap came off the vial, T brought her finger above it, and felt a strange tugging disconnect. It was almost like gently, but steadily, pulling a hair out by the root from an infected pore. It was relieving and painful at the same time, and she felt a rippling magical <em>pop</em> as the second drop of blood came free without need for her topress her finger to bring it forth.


    The blood sang to her mage-sight as it fell into the vial, and she passingly realized that in that one drop of blood, there was more power than shed put into all ten cargo-slots, below her.


    In rote motions, she capped the vial and twisted the cap down securely.


    She felt exhausted. When she nced inward, she found that no power, save that of the ending-berry, remained within her. <em>Ohhuh</em>


    She yawned and poured thest of the coffee into her mug before draining it in one long pull. It didnt really help.


    Her wide-open gate was dumping power back into her as fast as she was able, but it was a piddly flow against the tide of her exhaustion.


    She stared at the metal vial for a long moment, without really seeing it. She jerked and shuddered, the vialing back into focus. <em>Why am I so tired?</em> She yawned, again.


    T tucked the vial into her satchel and curled down, using the bag as a pillow.


    She was asleep before she realized that she was drifting away.


    * * *


    T started awake as the someone climbed up onto the wagon, behind her.


    Her head was pillowedfortably on her satchel, and a warm, fluffy something was curled in the crook of her arm, against her chest and stomach. She idly moved her hand across it and marveled at the softness.


    <em>Right, someone on the wagon.</em> She pushed herself up and stretched. As she did so, she felt a flicker of magic, but didnt register what kind.


    She opened her eyes as she twisted around, to find Brand setting a te down for her. You didnt need to wake, Mistress T. The food will be here when you are ready.


    T smiled tiredly at him. Thank you, Brand. She tucked her hair behind one ear. You know, you dont have to bring me my meals, yourself.


    He shrugged. The other cooks He smiled. They may be a bit scared of you. He shrugged, again. It also lets me stretch my legs. He noticed the empty pitcher and mug and collected them without a word.


    Thank you for the coffee.


    He nodded to her. If Id known you were so tired, I wouldnt have hesitated to give you the extra. He barked augh. Id have made you more!


    Her smiled perked up a bit. More?


    Brand sighed. Would have. Not now, though.


    She sagged just slightly, then hesitated. <em>What was I holding?</em> She looked around but found nothing. <em>A dream?</em>


    Did you lose something?


    Hmm? No I dont think so? She turned back to face him, shaking her head in an attempt to clear it. Still waking up, I suppose.


    Well, let me know if you need anything. She opened her mouth, but he spoke again before she could. <em>Besides</em> coffee.


    It was her turn to chuckle. Fair enough. I will.


    Without another word, he climbed down, leaving her to enjoy her lunch in peace.


    As she pulled her te over to rest in herp, she noticed a small grey feather, trapped beneath her own leg. It was <em>far</em> too small to belong to any animal shed seen up close, though it did have traces of magic on it, as most things did in the wild. <em>Did it fall from the sky and just happen to catch, there?</em> She still remembered the soft fluffiness shed been holding upon waking. It hadnt <em>felt</em> like a dream


    <em>Youre going crazy, T. Some random pigeon didnt fly down to cuddle with you, then vanish when you woke up.</em> That would be ridiculous.


    Without giving it more thought, she focused on devouring her lunch, finding herself as ravenously in need of food as shed apparently been for sleep.


    * * *


    T stared down at her third empty te.


    She was still hungry. <em>What did I do?</em> She pulled out the iron vial that held her blood. She felt a strange connection to the blood within the vial, which wasnt hampered by the iron in the least. It felt like an old friend was there for her, just inside the vial, waiting to greet her. <em>That is really odd </em>


    She still felt a strange form of exhaustion. <em>Ive never done a working that left me so hungry and tired.</em> Though, her several-hour nap had mostly rectified the tired portion.


    If she thought about it, she could see a bit of a corrtion in her past between high amounts of magic usage and increased appetite and fatigue.


    <em>Im out of my depth.</em> With a strange hesitation, she opened the vial and looked inside.


    To her normal vision, a single,rge drop of blood rested in the bottom of the vial. <em>Not two?</em> Strangely, she felt like shed known there would only be one.


    That single drop was a darker red than blood normally was, almost like a scab, but it was clearly still liquid. It was as close to a perfect sphere as shed ever seen, and she couldnt see a single w in its shape. Thest thing she noticed with her eyes was that it appeared to be spinning, very slowly, but the motion seemed to be just beneath the surface.


    To her mage-sight, it was a spinning, twisting, vortex of power.


    It looked a bit more powerful than when shed first created it. <em>Did it absorb the other drop?</em> That seemed likely. It did not seem to be leaking power, despite the open vial lid.


    She groaned. <em>I need to talk to Trent.</em>


    She slung her satchel across her back and carried the now closed vial, along with her empty tes, down to the ground below.


    She dropped thest foot or so from the moving wagon and steadied her hat.


    After a quick detour past the chuckwagon to drop off her tes and thank the cooks, T walked towards where shedst seen Trent, riding his horse on the left side of the caravan.


    Mistress T! Greetings and good afternoon. He grinned down at her. I trust that you slept well? She could see humor dancing in his eyes.


    Greetings, Master Trent. Would you walk with me?


    Something in her tone must have stood out to him because his mirth faded, and he nodded. Trent swung from his saddle with grace and walked to the nearest wagon to tie the reins to a hitch. The mount would now follow the wagon without need of his minding the animal.


    Thank you.


    He nodded. What seems to be the issue?


    T cleared her throat, feeling suddenly self-conscious. After a moment, she lowered her voice to be barely loud enough for him to here. I would guess that youve figured this out, but I never had a Master.


    He nodded but remained silent.


    In fact, I just graduated She hesitated, reckoning the days in her mind. A week and a half? She shrugged. I graduated less than two weeks ago.


    Trents eyebrows shot up in clear surprise. Then, did you deceive the Caravanners Guild?


    She shook her head. No, no, but I did manage to maintain most of my inscribing. That, coupled with my dimensional magic experience was sufficient for them to indenture me as a full Mage. <em>No need to mention that I </em>tried<em> to deceive them.</em>


    He frowned, clearly contemting. I suppose that makes some sensehmmm


    She waved a hand. But that isnt why Im here.


    Oh?


    No I have a question that I would ask a Master, but


    You dont have one.


    Yes. She bit her lip, not willing to meet his gaze. Can I ask you?


    Trent smiled, and she saw his features soften out of the corner of her eyes. Of course, Mistress T. I am honored to be asked.


    She felt herself rx. Thank you, Master Trent. Thank you.


    What seems to be the issue?


    II did a working which left me utterly exhausted. Immediately afterwards, I fell asleep and remained so for close to four hours. Im not sure when Id have awoken if Brand hadnt brought me lunch. As to lunch, I ate three veryrge portions and could likely eat more.


    He was nodding. Often magelings, and even some Mages, will experience such physical needs when they push their boundaries.


    So I havent hurt myself?


    He chuckled. No, no. One way of thinking about it is that you were stretching your gate wider, opening yourself more fully to your magic. An increase in power is taxing on your physical self, and you will need time to adjust. It usually only results in true exhaustion, the kind you describe, if you also are low on power within your body, however.


    She sighed in relief. Oh That is so good to hear. She remembered the difference in her power density after the two drops. <em>That does seem to line up.</em>


    So, what did you do? Charge the cargo-slots more quickly? If I read their scripts correctly, and if I have a good measure of your power, it should take you close to a minute to charge each. Did you breach that hurdle? Empowering those scripts at all is a remarkable achievement, but if youve already gotten that charging down to such a quick process


    She blinked at him for a moment. <em>What? Id thought he would have noticed how quickly I charged the scriptsT, the whole world doesnt revolve around you, and Mages dont stare in awe every time you do a working. </em>She shook her head. Nothats not what happened.


    He shrugged, clearly misunderstanding her. Dont worry about that then, youll get there.


    She opened her mouth to correct him, but then shook her head. That wasnt the point of this conversation. I did this. She held out the iron vial, still closed.


    He took it, giving her a skeptical look. Im not your teacher, so a prank would be <em>highly</em> inappropriate.


    No! Id neverwait, you pranked your teachers?


    He waved her away, opening the vial. No matter. He looked inside and frowned. Is that a drop of blood? Why is it not adhering to the sides of His eyes widened. No it cant be. T saw power move through the inscriptions across his face, and his eyes widened further. T. Who taught you how to make an Archon Star?


    A what?


    He turned to face her, holding up the vial. Who taught you how to do this?


    No one? It just felt right, after something my inscriber had me do to test my bodys power density.


    Trent was frowning. Did you keep it in this vial to bypass the stabilization requirements? He was muttering to himself. That shouldnt have been enough He looked to her. You did this in less than two weeks?


    T was frowning. Wait, back up please. I dont understand; what is an Archon Star?


    Trent took a deep breath and nodded. Yes, that would be a good ce to start.

 Chapter 26: Please Don’t Kill Us

    Chapter 26: Please Don¡¯t Kill Us


    T almost smiled as Trent let out a frustrated breath.<em> So, what is an Archon star, Trent? Teach me your secrets.</em>


    After a moment, he nodded to himself. Alright, from my understanding: As one step to being elevated from Mage to Archon, a Mage will dedicate themselves to pouring and concentrating power into a small item, usually a gem or something simr. They must maintain the steady influx of power for days, or even weeks, until it reaches a sufficient quantity to manipte into this self-sustaining vortex. The entire time, they must maintain the flow of power, and keep it moving perfectly He was frowning. There is no way you maintained that level of focus when the terror bird attacked, or when you went to the ending tree. His frown was deepening. And how would you have focused it into a drop of blood unless- His frown shattered into a look of confused wonder, and he spun on her. Did you build this <em>within</em> your own body?


    Umm yes?


    He looked down at it, then back to her. How long did this take you? How much time did it take to build up the power necessary to cycle it in this manner?


    Twenty minutes? Probably a lot less, but it felt like a long time.


    Trent gaped at her. It should take enough power to level a city to make an Archon star. There is <em>no</em> way you can divulge that amount of magic so quickly. He frowned down into the vial again. But Ive also never heard of a Blood Archon


    She frowned. A what?


    Trent sighed. Your title as an Archon is derived from the material you used to create your first Archon Star. Gems are standard but vary in difficulty. Diamond is the easiest, and ruby is the most difficult of the gems. A rare few use something other than a gem. As an example, to my knowledge, there are three ss Archons. Ive met one Oak Archon, who used a sphere of polished, ck oak as her medium, and she is the most powerful Mage Ive ever even heard of. Ive <em>never</em> heard of someone using a liquid


    Master Himmal said he was a ss Archon. <em>Thatthat makes sense, now.</em> Sowould it be harder or easier?


    Trent scoffed. Is it harder or easier to make a chair out of water, whenpared to emerald?


    Ive never seen a chair made out of either?


    He sighed. You cant make one out of water, Mistress T. You could make it out of ice, or encase the water in something, or manipte it with magic, but then the chair wouldnt be out of water, it would be out of ice, out of whatever you encased the water in, or out of magic. Sure, the substance would be water, but the chair wouldnt be, not really.


    So?


    So, Ive no idea. He frowned. There honestly doesnt look to be enough power here to create a stable Archon star at all. My mage-sight should be overwhelmed by the mere presence of such He sighed. But, since Ive never made one, myself, I am deeply out of my depth. Can I show this to Mistress Atrexia?


    T bristled. Why her? Has she made one?


    No, she has not, but she often carries constructs to measure quantities, and specific minutia of constructions, of magic, and if we could get an urate reading on this He looked to her. You dont even know what this could mean, do you?


    She frowned. No. Thats why Im asking you.


    A small smile quirked at his lips. If two independent Mages verify an Archon star, meaning that they cant have been the applicants master or previous acquaintance, then the Mage who made the star is immediately ced in candidacy for being raised to Archon. Trent tsked. You dont have the requisite years of experience for serious candidacy, and youd need an Archon to sponsor you, as neither of us are Archons.


    T grunted irritably. Master Himmal said the same thing.


    You met the ss Archon, Void Key?


    She blinked back at Trent. You know of him?


    Most Mages know of all the Archons He frowned. No, thats not true. Most Mages know the Archons raised in their lifetime; its widely publicized in Mage society. I suppose I could go back and look, to get a full roster


    She snapped her fingers, bringing his attention back. Focus, Master Trent. Yes, I know him. He proctored my test, when we were determining which cargo wagons to use. She felt her irritation rise and red at Trent, though her anger was directed elsewhere. Why doesnt the Academy teach us about the Archons? Or any of this?


    He smiled consolingly. My understanding is that many students used to kill themselves attempting to create Archon stars before they were ready, so the Academy determined it wisest to let a master teach their mageling about such, when the master deemed the mageling wise enough not to attempt it. He gave her a meaningful look.


    She grunted. They should still teach us about Archons.


    You learned about the Archons of old, yes?


    Of course, as part of our history.


    There you go.


    We werent told what made them Archons, just that they were powerful Mages.


    Trent sighed. Ive already exined that to you.


    We werent even told what the Archon titles meant, Trent. What rusted g is my education useful for anyways?


    They were teaching you how to learn.


    She gave him a withering look.


    He sighed. Nheless, it is what it is. I should show this to Mistress Atrexia and get a measurement from it. He held up the vial, now sealed. May I keep this for a time?


    T grunted. Fine.


    Thank you. After a moment, he smiled. You know, the guards are already talking about you. If you arent careful, you might earn yourself a nickname.


    She sighed. Great. Ill be The Ambushed or The One Who Was Stabbed.


    Trentughed. I think Ive heard variations on Iron Skin or Armored Vengeance.


    T was rendered speechless. <em>How do I respond to that?</em>


    The man whose sword you used? When she didnt respond, he added. On the blood fern?


    <em>Who picks these names?</em> Nheless, she nodded.


    Hes already had half a dozen offers from other guards to buy that sword. Each far higher than thest.


    She grunted. And?


    Hes turned them down. Says its a lucky sword, and he wont part with it.


    Helped me, I suppose.


    Not what he meant.


    T threw up her hands. What do you want me to say, Master Trent?


    He shrugged. Youre an odd one, Mistress T. People are noticing that. He snorted. Though, I imagine Blood Archon will wash away any other title. He grinned.


    She grunted, again. Great.


    Trent held up the vial, briefly. Ill talk to Mistress Atrexia, and find you shortly, yes?


    Fine.


    With no further discussion, T went back to her wagon, and Trent re-mounted his horse, moving off to find Atrexia. As T moved away, and Trent did as well, T felt like she could still feel the drop of blood, pulling at her. She couldnt have said <em>exactly</em> where it was, but she had no doubt that she could find it, if she had to. <em>Like a string with one end tied to my finger</em> It wasnt a perfect analogy, but it did seem to fit, at least slightly.


    T sighed and thought she saw Trent have a quick conversation with Renix, likely telling the mageling that he was on his own for a bit, watching the left side of the wagon train.


    With a sense of foreboding, T pulled herself back up to wait on the roof of her wagon.


    * * *


    T was left to her own devices for less than an hour before Trent rode up beside her wagon and swung onto thedder from his horse. He paused briefly to tie the reins in ce, then climbed up.


    May I join you?


    You kind of already have.


    He smiled. Fair enough.


    So?


    Trent sat in front of her, just out of arms reach. He held up the iron vial. Mistress Atrexia agrees, its an Archon star.


    Something in the way he said it made her hesitate. but?


    But, its power is lower than any weve heard of. It shouldnt be stable.


    Exin?


    Trent was nodding. Normally, an Archon star requires a <em>vast</em> quantity of power, equal to what an experienced Mage can produce over the course of days, if not weeks. The power fights itself and the medium, and the vast majority of the power is required just to force the remainder into a stable structure. He lifted the vial. There is no way you expended that much magic in twenty minutes, and this isnt enough power, in any case. It is underpowered by at least a factor of fifty, if not a bit more.


    But this one is stable.


    But its stable. He agreed. No idea how or why. He nced from her to the vial. Just so you are aware, the amount of power in this is insanely impressive, if your guess on how long it took you to create is urate. If were correct in our measurements, you might be able to make a more conventional, if on the weaker end, Archon star in less than a day. Either your power umtion rate is insane, or you are somehow being incredibly efficient.


    <em>But an Archon is measured by the potency of their star, so?</em> So, Im a powerful Mage but the world''s weakest Archon?


    He grinned. Theyll likely want to consider you for raising to Archon, but no? I doubt this will qualify you for the title. He handed her the vial. Youve cut down a tree with a paper sword, but that doesnt make you a master swordsmith.


    T cocked her head. If I track with your analogy, making a sword capable of cutting through a tree in one stroke would be a requirement for being a master craftsman?


    Of course, but no one wants to buy a paper sword.


    She blinked at him. You lost me.


    He sighed. A paper sword that can cut through a tree is incredibly impressive, arguably more impressive than a steel sword that could do the same, but a smithing guild isnt going to certify you as a master swordsmith for aplishing such a feat.


    Ahh I think I understand. The Archon star is supposed to be an achievement of power, not finesse. I broke the test, because I didnt know I was taking it.


    An urate way to look at it. You could do it, though.


    Do what?


    Make a true Archon star.


    She held up the vial. Didnt I?


    I mean one of power, one that would give you a good chance for a positive elevation.


    I could just add power to this one?


    Trent shook his head. From my understanding, once an Archon star is made, any power added isnt stable, so the star, itself, doesnt increase in potency.


    <em>But it absorbed my other blood, and the power within it</em> She decided it wasnt worth arguing. So She looked down at the vial. What good is this?


    Ive no idea. He snorted augh. Ask an Archon?


    T sighed. I suppose Ill have to. She looked at the vial, again. But what can I use this for?


    As I said, I have literally no idea. He looked around before nodding to himself. Ive got to get back to my post, but Mistress T?


    Hmm?


    Thank you.


    What for?


    Foring to me and asking my advice.


    She smiled up at him, as he stood. Thank you for your answers.


    He nodded, then climbed down thedder without another word. A momentter, he rode away, maneuvering back to his position on the left side of the column.


    <em>Well, thats a lot to think on</em>


    * * *


    T did not, in fact, contemte all that shed learned.


    Instead, she went and got more food, eating until she was stuffed full, then returned carrying a te stacked high with food that didnt need to be warmed to eat.


    That done, she examined her left ring finger. The spell-forms had activated as soon as shed fallen asleep that morning, and the miniscule cut had closed without a trace.


    Den?


    Dens head poked up, looking back to her. Mistress T?


    Can you note where we are, and tell me how far weve traveled when I ask again?


    He shrugged. Certainly.


    Thank you!


    Without another word, he smiled and turned back to his work.


    <em>Experiment, number 1!</em> Well, shed created the first one already, so maybe this was number 2? <em>Doesnt matter. Lets do this.</em>


    Again, she mentally pulled back from the enhancements in her finger, even as she began dumping power into her system, pouring it into the mental construct of the spinning, twisting, flowing star of power. As with the cargo-slots, repeated use of a mental construct refined and strengthened her mental image of it, increasing efficiency.


    As she wasnt working for a specific goal, simply attempting to force as much power as possible into the construct, the process didnt truly speed up, she was just able to put <em>more</em> in.


    True to Trents words, her gate did <em>feel</em> wider, but it could easily have been her imagination. <em>Expect a result, and thats what youll see.</em>


    She dismissed the thoughts and brought the full force of her mind back to the task at hand. <em>Hehe, at hand.</em>


    She shook her head and focused.


    When she felt like she was going to burst, she again pricked her finger over an open iron vial. It was a different iron vial, and currently empty. <em>If Im going to sleep, I want them separate so that I dont miss anything.</em>


    Den.


    Roughly half a mile. He called back, without turning around.


    Thank you. <em>Around fifteen minutes, then.</em> Very nice, indeed.


    The spinning star of power <em>blipped</em> out of her finger and into the vial, seeming to draw all of her strength from her into itself. If anything, it felt like it pulled out <em>more </em>than before.


    In mute exhaustion, she capped the vial and tucked it into her satchel. <em>Yeahsleep sounds great.</em> As her eyes fluttered closed, she found herself grateful that shed gathered the extra food, ahead of time.


    * * *


    T woke muchter and groggily began tearing through the food that shed gathered ahead of time.


    She came to near full consciousness as she ate thest of the sustenance. She passingly noted that her finger was fully healed, once again. <em>I might have to use a different finger, next time?</em> She didnt want to over tax the healing inscriptions in that one finger, exclusively.


    Den?


    Yes, Mistress T? He nced back at her, once again.


    How long until we stop for the night?


    Another hour, at most.


    Shed slept the day away. <em>Good use of time, T.</em> Well, it had been useful, at least she hoped so. Thank you, Den.


    Of course. He turned back.


    Trent seemed to notice her sitting up and rode up beside her wagon. Still tired from this morning?


    She cleared her throat and felt her cheeks heat. Yesthats it.


    Trents eyes narrowed. You made another one, didnt you.


    Well, I needed to test a couple of theories.


    Mistress T. Youre going to kill yourself, or someone else.


    Ill aim for the former?


    Please, please dont. He was shaking his head. Mistress T, did you at least learn something interesting?


    She shrugged. I was about to find out. She pulled open the new vial and opened it. It looked exactly like the first. T frowned. <em>Did I open the wrong vial?</em> She closed this one up and opened the other. <em>Virtually</em><em>Identical.</em> Her frown deepened.


    Is something wrong? Hed seen her reaction and was clearly concerned.


    They are almost identical.


    That doesnt seem odd, right?


    She shook her head. One was added in on top of another source of power, which it absorbed.


    Mistress T, Archon stars cant- She held up a hand to cut him off.


    Im not going to argue with you, Master Trent. She looked between the two vials. <em>Maybe, I was able to put more in the second one? And they are just close enough in power I cant easily tell a difference?</em> That seemed likely. So what would normally happen if two Archon stars were put together?


    Trent sighed. The gems would rest against each other, and they would be easier to carry in one hand.


    <em>Right, Archon stars are solid</em> Huh, maybe the solid medium is why they cant absorb more power? She carefully took off both caps, then grinned at Trent. Care to witness something new?


    He seemed to fight within himself for a long moment, then he sighed. Just a moment. Ill be right up.


    True to his word, he got around the wagon and up onto the roof with surprising swiftness, leaving his horse, once again, tied to her wagonsdder.


    Please dont kill us.


    You know I cant promise that. She grinned mischievously.


    <em>I</em> know that, but you seem bent on doing this anyways. I feel like <em>you</em> dont know that you arent actually safe.


    She shrugged. Nothing ventured


    Nothing lost.


    Thats not how it goes.


    But it could and be no less true.


    She shook her head. No; it would be a lie. If you venture nothing, you lose opportunities. She nced to Trent. Activate your mage-sight, if you wish.


    Power wove across the spell-lines on his face, and T nodded.


    Carefully, she overturned one vial into the other.


    The tiny blood-sphere rolled out, almost like a tiny marble, and into the lower vial, leaving no trace behind. There was a startlingly deep <em>plump</em>, presumably as the two drops met, and T saw a flicker of power jet out the top of the open vial. It was so miniscule she wasnt sure that Trent would have been able to detect it.


    She looked down into the vial and saw one sphere of blood, just slightly bigger than the first. Maybe as much as 25%rger? It also radiated a power deeper than before, like she was looking into a well, and the bottom was farther below the surface of the water that shed expected. The final thing she noted was that she felt more connected to the drop, than before. It was as if two strings, tied to her finger, had been intertwined, to make arger cord.


    Well? What do you see?


    Theybined.


    What?


    See for yourself. She held out the vial to him, and he took it hesitantly.


    He looked in slowly, as if afraid something was going tonce out and hit him in the eye. Fascinating. He looked back up at her. My guess would be a near doubling in power. He frowned. Can you add more power without adding blood?


    T briefly chewed on one side of her lip, thinking. You mean like I do to the cargo-slots? Lets try. She grinned, holding her hand out.


    Trent returned the vial to her and leaned forward, watching expectantly.


    She stuck her right index finger into the vial, resting it just above the blood and concentrated. She pictured the mental construct shed used, opened her gate, and poured power out, just like she had for the cargo-slots thest few days.


    Nothing happened. Huh Nothing. Well, that wasnt precisely true. Her power poured over the drop of blood, bouncing off the inside of the iron vial and flowing out, around her finger.


    Are you touching it?


    No. I thought that would be a bad idea?


    Hmmm You arent wrong, but might be required?


    Worth a try. She shifted her finger just slightly to touch the blood.


    Nothing happened, again. She tried to push power into the star, but it seemed to just wash over it, reflecting off the iron and out, around her finger. The star didnt seem to react in the slightest.


    Well. That was anticlimactic.


    Did your defensive spells activate?


    Hmm? No, and this is touching bare skin.


    Trent sighed. Well, as interesting as this is- He hesitated. And dont mistake me, it is interesting- I have a job to do, and Im neglecting it. He swung down onto thedder, pausing to look back to her one more time. Talk tonight?


    She nodded. That sounds like a n. Were nearly to the end of the travel day.


    Trent smiled then disappeared from sight, the soft <em>clomp </em>of his horses hooves on the turf slowly faded as he moved back to his position alongside the caravan.


    She sighed, closed the vial, and stuck it back into her bag. <em>Might be worth adding the creation of one of these to my morning routine</em> And render herself insensate with fatigue every morning?<em> Maybe after breakfast</em> She hadnt slept as long the second time, and shed woken feeling much better rested<em>Maybe my body will improve its recovery time?</em> Or maybe shed abuse herself into an early grave. <em>Maybe, I could keep it from drawing all the power out of me?</em> Might be worth trying


    She sighed. <em>No more than once every other day, until I can get back to Holly, and ask her about it.</em> She hesitated. Shed have some funds in Alefast, she could purchase an archive tablet and use that tomunicate with Holly, earlier.


    It was an irregr form ofmunication as it was equivalent to checking a note into a library, which the recipient would have no knowledge of until they came to check out something else. Then, <em>if</em> they spoke to a librarian who knew about the note, it would be given to them.


    Thankfully, T could give a note to the Caravanners Guild, and theyd get it to Master Himmal, so that he could take her information into ount when making her custom cargo-slots. It shouldnt be too much to ask them to deliver a message to Holly as well.


    As she was thinking, she was rummaging through her satchel. In one of the inner pockets, she found a book: Trents book on Item Creation. <em>Oh! Ipletely forgot that I borrowed this.</em>


    She grinned. <em>I know what Im doing until dinner.</em>

 Chapter 27: That’s…a Big Bull

    Chapter 27: That¡¯s¡­a Big Bull


    An hourter, T had a headache.


    Den was already tending to the oxen, and the wagons werefortably circled for the night, but T was still trying to wrap her mind around the concepts in the <em>introduction</em> of the item creation book.


    She threw her hands up. This is maddening!


    She heard a throat clear and looked over the side of the wagon.


    Renix?


    The mageling looked up at her from beneath dirty blonde hair. Master Trent asked me toe check on you. Will you be joining us for dinner?


    T sighed. <em>He was afraid Id made another star and was sleeping off the fatigue.</em> Tell the old man Iming.


    Renix frowned. Mistress T, he is still younger than many magelings still beneath their masters. He is a prodigy! I expect hell be an Archon by thirty, or just after.


    T sighed again, swinging down onto thedder, satchel and hat firmly in ce. I meant no disrespect, Renix. I was just meaning to tease.


    Oh He looked away, seeming slightly embarrassed.


    I apologize, and I think that it is admirable that you defended your masters good name, and a credit to him that you think so highly of his abilities. She tapped her lips with one finger, contemting. Though, I suppose having a high opinion of the man who is training you could be a form of narcissism are you vain, Renix?


    Renix started; he seemed to have been staring at her finger. What? No! I mean no? Wouldnt a vain person im to be humble?


    True, true. She shrugged. Then, I guess well never know.


    They stood for a moment, then T quirked a smile. Dinner, right? She gestured towards the chuckwagon, which was already serving people as quickly as they walked up. After you.


    Renix colored, for some reason, and spun to stride towards the open side of the wagon. T followed, her headache already fading.


    They were able to walk directly up to get their food, and Brand gave her a concerned look, as he handed her a te that was mounded especially high.


    Ts eyes widened when she saw power flickering through the meat. She leaned forward to whisper her question. Brand? What is this?


    Renix had already headed towards the table at which the Mages were already sitting. Brand leaned forward and spoke quickly, as others wereing up behind her. A thunder bull was in, today, and we were able to harvest some meat before arge pack of ze wolves drove the harvesters off.


    How much did you get?


    Only about forty pounds, raw. He sighed. Just enough for tonights meal.


    You use three-quarter pounds of meat per person? <em>Well, including me thats 51 people, but still</em>


    He pointed at the ground meat patty on bread. It reduces by close to a quarter when cooked, and people are hungry on the road. He shrugged. We might have some extra, because no one else has been eating like you. He smiled cheerily.


    T had to admit that her te was the only one she could see with two sandwiches. Fair enough. Thank you, Brand.


    He bowed slightly. You are too kind, Mistress T.


    Ts eyes flicked to the woman who hade up behind her. <em>One of the richer passengersTraveling with her husband, if I remember correctly.</em> T nodded to Brand in turn and turned to go.


    Mistress T, is it? The womans voice was soft but carried a tone of authority.


    T turned to face the woman. Yes. May I help you?


    The woman wore a simple, elegant travel dress of deep green linen. It was clearly very clean, if not new. The neckline was low, but not indecent, and the toes of soft leather slippers peaked out from under the embroidered hem. T kept herself from ncing down at her own outfit, which consisted of clean pants and a shirt with a stab slit stitched shut over her upper left breast. T still wore no shoes, but that was by choice.


    After a moments silence during which the woman seemed to be examining T in turn, T cleared her throat. Im sorry, can I help you? I really am quite hungry. She lifted her te just slightly, to emphasize the point.


    The womans eyes returned to Ts face. Yes, of course. Are you the one theyre calling the Iron Vengeance, or some such thing?


    T felt her cheeks heat and blessed her iron salve for its added camouge. Ive not heard that one, but it sounds like it might be meant for me After a moment, she continued. SoCan I help you?


    The woman sighed, then nced around and noted that no one else hade up to get food behind her. I want a thunder bull horn.


    T took a moment to absorb that. To the side, now behind the womans back, Brand was nodding and giving T an affirmative gesture. Alright. Ill see what I can do. Brand smiled, and the woman seemed to rx. Even so, T found herself frowning. What fee would you be willing to pay for this harvest?


    Well She swallowed. Two gold ounces?


    Ts eyes widened, and she was about to ept enthusiastically, but Brand was shaking his head. T changed tact. Two? Are you sure?


    Well, I dont need a full horn


    And I have to fight a magical creature to get it. Its not like I can just rip off a piece of the beasts horn and run away. She might actually be able to do that, but it was unlikely to seed long-term.


    The as of yet unnamed woman seemed to dete, just slightly.


    Lets start over. Im T. What is your name?


    You may call me Janice.


    Janice. T nodded. In order to get you a thunder bull horn, I must y the beast and have time to harvest from it. As we cannot halt the caravan, that means that I cannot guarantee time to harvest other pieces for which I have use.


    Janice sighed. Fine, fine. That makes sense, I suppose. Five gold ounces?


    T didnt let her gaze move to Brand, but she could still see him, as he shrugged. <em>A reasonable price.</em> Could work. Do you need both horns?


    Janice shook her head. No. One will be more than sufficient. Thank you.


    T nodded. <em>I wonder what she wants it for. </em>I will do what I can. We have an agreement?


    We have an agreement.


    T nodded to Janice, before turning to walk to her table, cooling food held on the te before her. <em>What a strange woman.</em>


    T sat down beside Renix, across the table from Atrexia and Trent. Evening.


    Atrexia set a hand-sized, t, river rock on the table. It was covered in what looked to be copper wire, set into delicately carved grooves within the stone. The carving seemed to have been done so perfectly, or so long ago, that there were no longer any tooling marks visible. Give me the vial.


    T cocked an eyebrow. Good evening, Mistress Atrexia. I hope you had a pleasant day. T turned to look at Renix. Why yes, I did, Mistress T, thank you for asking. How was your day? She turned to look back at Atrexia. Oh, you know how it goes, sleep a little, perform mysticallyplex magic. All in a days work.


    Renix choked. What!?


    Atrexia sighed. Today was awful for many reasons. Thunder bulls are a <em>pain</em> to kill, and it took so long to manage it, we couldnt even properly harvest the beast. She made a face. I <em>hate</em> leaving the thing to rot, when it is one of <em>the</em> most harvestable animals.


    T was taken aback. She actually felt the same as the other woman. <em>Maybe, I misjudged her?</em>


    In addition, I had to devote resources to analyzing a truly <em>heinous</em> bit of magic, which is nothing but a childs attempt at true art.


    <em>Andgood feelings gone.</em>


    Now, give me the newest abomination so we can test it and move on with our lives.


    T opened her mouth to argue, but Trent shook his head once, then quirked an eyebrow, tilting his head towards Atrexia, clearly indicating that she should just follow instructions. T sighed and pulled out the vial, handing it over.


    There. Happy now?


    Hardly.


    Renix was looking around at each of them in turn. Ummm Mageling hereCan someone exin?


    Trent gave T a mildly irritated look then simply said. One step to being raised to Archon is to create a self-sustaining spell-form, called an Archon star. T has identally stumbled upon a way of creating something simr, and we are investigating.


    Renixs eyes widened, and he looked to T. Thats amazing!


    She grinned. Got to pass the time somehow, right?


    In that short time, Atrexia had removed the cap from the vial, and was now holding the rock over the opening. Power rippled across the copper to Ts mage-sight, and a symbol that T didnt recognize shed into view of her normal vision.


    Atrexias face registered shock. Your guess was right, Master Trent. She looked at T, narrowing her eyes. What did you do?


    You tell me what you found, and Ill tell you how I did it.


    Atrexiamented under her breath, Child.


    T did <em>not</em> vocalize her response. It would have been unprofessional.


    T watched as Atrexia returned her attention to the iron vial.


    Atrexia sighed, shaking herself free of some of her lingering irritation. She addressed T when she spoke. Thisstar is just almost twice as potent as the one I analyzed earlier today.


    Twice? T found herself surprised as well. Huh, thats strange.


    Atrexia waited for a moment, but just a moment. Well?


    The first was abination of two efforts of power, and I would have guessed the first was miniscule, whenpared to the second. Together, they made up the first star I showed Trent, which he took to you.


    Atrexia didnt look like she believed T, but she remained silent.


    This afternoon, I made a second star and ced them into the same vial. T shrugged. There was a flicker of power and an odd, resonant sound. When I looked, there was only that. She nodded her head to the vial, still in Atrexias hand.


    Atrexia looked to Trent, who nodded affirmation. Thats what I saw, as well as my understanding of events. He smiled wryly. Just as Ive already told you.


    Atrexia sighed. Fine, fine. But are you telling me that youve somehowwhat? Increased your output or efficiency on your second attempt?


    T shrugged. It seems like youre telling me that.


    Atrexia frowned but capped the vial and handed it back. Im not sure how I feel about this She nced to Trent, then rolled her eyes. Butit is a fully stable, manifested spell-form, which <em>resembles</em> an Archon star. I will certify such in Alefast.


    T nodded. Thank you, I think? Im still not really sure what that means.


    Atrexia blinked a few times. What do you mean?


    Trent put his forehead down on his palm, groaning quietly.


    T realized that Trent had <em>not</em> told Atrexia about her own situation and recent graduation. She cleared her throat. I mean that Ive never known anyone who''s gone through the process before. She shrugged. I dont know what to expect.


    Atrexia narrowed her eyes as she examined Ts face for a moment, then sighed, shrugging. I suppose I dont either. Most Mages that make it there reach Archon in theirte fifties, and Ive not socialized with the previous generations of Mages overmuch. Speaking to herself, under her breath, she added, I am <em>not</em> ok with this fledgingly girl bing the first Archon I''ve met, before their raising.


    T grinned at her but took arge bite of her food as soon as Atrexia seemed to notice. <em>Oh myThis is fantastic.</em> She needed to see if Brand and his fellow cooks had a recipe book, or something. Everything of their make that she ate was beyondpare. <em>Or, T, you just like food, and youre hungry.</em> It could be that; she supposed.


    Despite starting after the other three, and having more, T finished her food first and was sittingfortably, when she felt flickers of dimensional magic. She spun around, searching everywhere, but couldnt find the source, even though it <em>felt </em>close by. As she was looking about, she saw Janice moving back towards her own wagon. <em>Right!</em>


    Oh! I forgot to say: We only have about a day and a half of travel left, correct?


    Trent gave her a searching look. Yeswhy?


    T nodded. Then, I need to kill a thunder bull, tomorrow.


    Atrexia leaned forward, cing her head in both her hands, and groaned. Of course, she does


    * * *


    T slept very well that night, under her re-borrowed shield, atop the cargo wagon.


    Before shed turned in for the night, shed secured Brands assurance that if she brought down a thunder bull, with enough time to work, he would jerk as much of the meat for her as possible. She, in turn, promised to help in the harvesting of the bones and other parts.


    Dealing with Atrexia had been surprisingly easy. <em>I suppose Ive pushed her to the point that shes given up?</em> Trent had taken a bit of convincing, but as hed said before, he couldnt actually stop her.


    Thus, when she woke in the cool pre-dawn air, and rose to find a single thunder bull staring back at her from the next hill over, she was overjoyed. It looked to be a lone, young bull, likely newly out on its own. It did look a little frazzled, or stressed? <em>Can cattle look stressed? Maybe harried</em>


    She shook her head, refocusing. <em>I cannot be this lucky.</em> Keeping her eye on the bull, she decided to charge the cargo-slots first, just in case something went terribly wrong.


    It was hard to force herself to focus, but she did it, taking a little longer than the day before, due to her distraction and newly wakened state. Shed gotten used to having time to stretch and bring her thoughts under control before charging the cargo-slots, and the alteration of the pattern added to her minds disgruntlement.


    Finally, she had her gear stored, the shield leaning where shed promised to leave it, and she realized: <em>I have no way to kill a thunder bull.</em>


    She groaned, scratching the center of her forehead, a frown creasing her features.


    <em>Ive a knife, but that wont kill it any quicker than a bee sting would me.</em><em>What do I have?</em>


    To her joy and surprise, she could still feel the barest lingerings of the ending-berrys power, which shed eaten the morning before. <em>Nearly 24hrs, eh?</em> That was good. Well, truth be told she had no idea what that actually meant, but it wasnt bad she hoped.


    She refocused on the bull, peaceably chewing its cud less than a quarter mile away. <em>Think, T. How can you end the beast?</em> Her eyes widened, and she found herself grinning. <em>The ending stick.</em>


    She fished the short stick out, quickly looking it over to ensure that the iron salve containment hadnt been broken. It hadnt.


    <em>How do I make this an effective weapon?</em> She could break it in half, but then shed have two shorter sticks, and shed be faced with the same problem,ter.


    Then, she had a thought.


    Grinning to herself, she pulled out therger, rougher vial and opened it. <em>It fits!</em>


    Using her knife, she careful scraped the iron salve off of one end of the stick, and as soon as she saw the ending sticks power, clearly radiating through, she thrust it into the iron vial, using the vial''s cord to hook on a nub of the little stick.


    <em>There. Contained.</em>


    It wasnt perfect, and shed have to work out a more secure way to store it long term, but for now? It was a good n.


    Humming happily to herself, she strode out of the camp, angling out to circle slightly to one side of the bull.


    One of the guards had to have seen her depart, but no one spoke to her or tried to prevent her departure.


    It took her less than five minutes to draw near to the massive animal, and she found herself pausing, little more than fifty feet away.


    <em>Thatsa big bull.</em>


    The beast was easily twice the size of one of the caravans oxen, and it was eyeing her, a look on its face ofnot curiosity. Like a bird eyeing a stick that was resting beside a pile of seed. <em>Oddly specificparison.</em>


    She shook her head, considering. <em>It cant see any magic about me. If their mage-sight, or whatever their equivalent is, is more sensitive than most humans, they might even use it to see what is or is not a creature or a threat. They could use that to determine the nature of anything they faced. </em>She almostughed. <em>I might just look like some strange bit of mud that is flowing its way.</em>


    It was now or never, and she wasnt sure how the beast would react if she turned her back on it.


    She strode forward, the stick in her right hand, her left clutching the vial atop it, the cord no longer holding it in ce.


    Forty feet.


    The bull bent down to take another mouthful of grass.


    Thirty feet.


    It looked up, eyeing her.


    Twenty feet.


    It shifted, orienting its head her way, its back end swinging around away from her.


    Ten feet, it lowered its head and let out a low chuff of questioning inquiry.


    T lunged forward, ripping the vial free.


    Now, the bull could easily see the power radiating from the ending stick, and it released a tremendous bellow of challenge. The beasts head, lowering defensively, was just above her eye level.


    Her mage-sight saw power tearing through the beast, quickly building towards an attack, directed at her.


    The ending stick struck home, as she thrust it into the top of the bulls skull.


    In that instant, quite a few things happened at once.


    First, Ts mind came truly, fully awake, and she remembered something. <em>Ohright the ending stick dissolves things</em>


    Second, the power in the ending stick exploded into the bulls skull. The ending sticks power was shaped to work as part of arger tree, so it attempted to draw in more power to throw into the dissolution of the bull. It found none, and the iron salve prevented it from pulling from T, herself. In that instant, the stick eviscerated itself, draining itself entirely, even breaking apart the bonds within its cellr structure in a final desperate attempt to strike down its target.


    Ts hand closed on almost empty air, her fist filling with a puff of iron dust.


    Third, the bulls own, internal magics <em>strongly</em> objected to being dissolved, and waves of reinforcing power swelled to defend the great creature.


    The result was both spectacr and horrifying.


    The ending stick had spent its power, its very existence, to obliterate a circle of the bulls head roughly two feet wide and four inches deep. Just deep enough to fully expose that portion of the bovines brain.


    The bulls scalp and cranial cap had puffed to dust. The brain beneath was surprisinglyrge, fairly folded, and very much alive.


    It was then that the bulls counterattack manifested, and its species name- thunder cattle -was proved applicable. As she saw the power flicker forward, T closed her eyes.


    Lightning struck from the clear sky in a column four feet wide, utterly enveloping T in light and power.

 Chapter 28: Messy Work

    Chapter 28: Messy Work


    Even through Ts closed eyelids, the light from the thunder bulls counterattack was blinding. In that instant, her entire body felt hot, as if shed been standing, naked, beneath the sun, slowly rotating to be evenly toasty, for hours.


    Eyes closed or not, she could <em>see</em> the ten-thousand licks of lightning, which hadbined into the column of power. Her mage-sight could not be closed.


    The electricity danced across the iron on her skin, heating it in a blinding instant. The heat threatened to burn her flesh, which activated her defensive enhancements, along with using up thest drops of ending-berry, defensive power. Though the iron-salve didnt protect against the lightning, it did create an easy path for the power to flow across, thus shunting the lethal levels of power away from her internal organs.


    Her palms had no iron salve to protect them from the magic, directly, or to redirect the flow, away from her flesh. Consequently, the power that struck there burned through the flesh itself, on the way towards the iron-salve on the surrounding tissue.


    A horrifically nging silence fell upon her, and she staggered.


    The lightning had passed, and she caught herself on near-molten ground, a circle twenty feet wide sted clear of grass, the earth beneath scooped out in a ring around her. She thought she might have even seen the flicker of some lightning ss within the dirt, but she wasnt sure, given her eyes were <em>not</em> working properly. Everything was...wrong to her normal vision.


    She felt power moving through the inscriptions across her ears, empowered and resonating, having dampened the booming thunder which otherwise had been enough to shatter her eardrums, at the very least, reducing it down to just loud but not damaging.


    The extrayers of defense on her feet, added so that she wouldnt need shoes and wouldnt exhaust her others, kept her flesh from melting on the still glowing ground. Even so, those inscriptions were guzzling all the power her keystone could send their way, and the smell of cooking meat was a subtle undercurrent below the overwhelming tingle of ozone in the air.


    The bull let out a groan of misery, and Ts mage-sight saw licks of lightning dancing across the creatures brain. <em>Not used to using lightning without a skull, eh?</em>


    Ts eyes only saw dazzling brightness, oveid with spots, though she could feel healing spell-forms activating to repair what damage had been done to them.


    She tried to flex her hands, to reach for her knife, but instead, she let out a bellowing wail of agony.


    Her palms were scorched, burned and charred almost to the bone. <em>That would have been all of me.</em>


    She could feel power rushing through her in a torrent as her regeneration spell-forms activated and skin, muscle, and connective tissue began to reknit, and return to function. Those inscriptions worked around the already aze lines of power, which held what remained in ce. The metal in her palms had already had magic flowing through it, and thus had not been able to channel the lightning into the rest of her or, again, shed be dead.


    She was alive.


    Even so it <em>hurt</em>.


    Yelling in rage more than pain this time, T kicked the side of the bulls head, or at least the blob of color that her eyes presented before her. The move was done out of frustration and emotion more than a thought that it would do damage.


    However, the damage had already been done. The bull was dead on its feet, brain fried by its own lightning magics.


    Her kick triggered something within it, and the beast copsed sideways.


    As the thunder bull crashed to the ground with a very appropriate rumble, T felt further scripts activate across her scalp and was almost ovee by <em>incredible</em> itching.


    Her hair had been incinerated, and Hollys work was now regrowing it.


    A simr, but much more pointed, itching exploded on her palms, and though they were smaller, it was much more intense.


    Grimacing against the pain, she brought her palms together and rubbed them furiously, sloughing off the remainder of the dead material, revealing whole, new-grown skin.


    She sighed, smiling. <em>Not bad.</em> She brushed her hands off on her pants, removing the remaining ash or she tried.


    Her clothing, like her hair, had been obliterated.


    She was utterly, stark naked.


    The one bright spot was that shed left her satchel, and most of her equipment, back at the caravan. Shede with the ending stick and the vial, in just her shirt and a pair of pants.


    Shed even forgotten to strap on a knife.


    <em>I was under-prepared</em> But it had served her well. <em>This time.</em>


    Shed have to go back to the caravan for new clothes. She looked down at the beast, now cooling against the ground. <em>How am I going to get one of these horns off?</em> Maybe she could borrow a saw?


    There was no sign of her vial. It might have been flung into the surrounding countryside or buried in the upturned earth. She would likely never know. <em>Oh, the losses we suffer</em> She chuckled at that, and then, the reality of how many ways shed juste close to death began to crash over her, and she began tough harder.


    She let her head fall backwards, spread her arms wide in a stretch andughed andughed.


    Only the sound of horses hooves crunching on broken earth brought her back, and she turned to see a group of guards approaching cautiously.


    She pointed at the front-most guard. You. Your cloak, now.


    The man nearly jumped out of his saddle when she pointed at him, and nearly fell again as he ripped the garment from his shoulders and tossed it to her.


    She draped it around herself, holding it closed with one hand, and smiled at the guards, who did not seem sure about approaching her. She nced over her shoulder at the downed bull. <em>Maybe it isnt me theyre afraid of?</em>


    Its dead. Harvest away! She grinned. If you would be so kind as to free one horn for me, Id be grateful. Either way, Ill be back.


    The guards whod been riding swung down, and they, along with those whod been on foot, moved around her, to the great beast, nevering within arms reach.


    Behind them, Brands two cooks approached tentatively. T smiled to them. Will you have time to harvest the meat?


    They blinked at her, then nced towards the horizon, where the barest hint of the suns edge was beginning to show. I think we can.


    She nced behind them where she saw that each of the two had a small, two-wheeled wagon. Her eyes narrowed as she looked closer. <em>Are those foldable?</em> It seemed likely.


    Hey!


    The two cooks jumped.


    My eyes are better. She grinned at the men. Alls well, eh? Her mage sight still seemed a bit wonky, but it was recovering as well, if more slowly.


    Theyughed nervously and bowed as they went passed her to join the guards already working to gut the great bovine.


    <em>I hope theyre able to skin it, too; the guards deserve a bit of extra luck.</em> She took a deep breath and let it out along with much of her tension. I think. She spoke softly to herself. I think its time for breakfast. After a moment, her smile grew. And coffee. Definitely time for coffee.


    Without further dy, she strode back towards camp, clothes, and coffee. As the guards began to work in earnest, theyd started to speak to one another in low voices. Nheless, T caught snatches of it.


    It attacked her, but she just screamed at it, and the attack failed!


    One kick. <em>One</em> kick, and it has a hole blown in its head! How could a kick even do this?


    She punched it first, the kick was just a finishing blow.


    Hah! It was dead on its feet from her punch! The kick was just to topple the thing.


    Speaking of kicks, did you see those legs?


    Legs? Are you blind man! Didnt you see her- T stopped listening after that.


    She could return after breakfast to harvest a bit for herself, before the caravan departed. <em>I need to secure a horn, at the very least.</em>


    Her to-dos settled, in her own mind at least, T strode determinedly into camp, keeping the guards cloak carefully closed.


    No one approached her as she went to her box on the side of her wagon and pulled out the clothes that she needed. <em>Im going to be harvesting more, anyways.</em> She pulled on the bloodstained pants and shirt, pants first, working to keep herself covered by the cloak.


    That done, she ced the cloak to the side, folding it in preparation to be returned to the guard whod given it to her. She moved through her stretches, mindful of the eyes of the camp on her, furtive though they were.


    <em>No exercises this morning. Ive a schedule to keep.</em>


    Stretchingplete, she went to the chuckwagon and grabbed arge mug of coffee. She didnt move as she downed the whole thing. It had been a little hot, but not enough to burn her.


    <em> This</em>, she assured herself,<em> is the start of a wonderful day.</em>


    * * *


    T smiled as she sucked down thest drops of her second mug of coffee. Ah! Thank you, Brand. She held out the mug, and he dutifully refilled it.


    Are you alright? I couldnt really see what happened from here, but a guard came to inform us that a thunder bull was avable for harvest. He tilted his head inquisitively. Got the horn already?


    She smiled back. Assuming the guards get it for me. She shrugged. Ill go back myself in a bit, to see what I can grab. Honestly, theyre probably too busy to do that work for me.


    You look healthier today.


    She paused at that. What do you mean?


    You He smiled, thinking. Youve got more color to you. Even your hair seems a lighter shade. Maybe, all the time outside is doing you good?


    She didnt really know what to say to that. Umm Thank you? I suppose.


    He nodded to her and handed her a te with three mini, egg-and-sausage pies.


    She took the te and lifted it in a gesture of salute. Thank you for this.


    te in one hand, coffee in the other, she strode to a table and plopped down, beginning to devour her breakfast immediately.


    Trent wandered over; his own breakfast ostensibly finished. Sothat was a bit insane.


    She grinned up at him, around her food. Worked though, didnt it?


    He sighed and sat down across from her. Just because a gamble pays off, doesnt mean it was a wise gamble.


    She gestured towards him with the remains of herst pie. Wise words.


    He looked at her curiously. Something seems different about you


    She shrugged. Brand says I look healthier. She washed her mouth clear with coffee and grinned. Maybe danger suits me?


    Trent frowned. May I look?


    She instantly understood that he meant with his mage-sight. By all means. She saw power weave across his face, and then felt a tingle from her keystone. Someone was observing her with magic. She froze. <em>I shouldnt be able to feel that.</em>


    Trents eyes widened. By all that shines. Mistress T. How many spell-forms do you have active?


    She looked down at her own hands and finally registered what had seemed odd.


    Her iron salve had been burned, or sted, away.


    <em>Oh, g.</em> Ummma few?


    A few? T, it looks like you haveplete inscriptions individualized for each small patch of skin, and they are <em>all</em> active. He frowned, seeming to be trying to look deeper. Do you have multipleyers of inscribings?


    <em>And, I need to leave.</em> Thats a good question, for another time. She stood, turning to take her te and mug back to the chuckwagon and came face to face with Atrexia.


    You.


    Me?


    You! You- She stopped, looking around at the other people present, who were conspicuously <em>not</em> looking at the yelling Mage. Atrexia took a deep breath and spoke levelly, through gritted teeth. You were quite phenomenal, dispatching that thunder bull. Well done. Under her breath, the Mage added. You are a fool of the highest order, <em>child</em>. I cannot <em>believe</em> that you assaulted a thunder bull on your own.


    T grinned, understanding the position that Atrexia was in. She responded in a normal tone, not attempting to prevent others from overhearing. Thank you, Mistress Atrexia. I am gratified that my strategy was sessful. T gave a slight nod and stepped around the other woman.


    Atrexia spoke under her breath, again. This isnt over, <em>Mistress </em>T. I will not allow your folly to cost me this caravan.


    T ignored her. As she walked away, though, she heard Trent whisper, too quiet for her to hear at this distance, but whatever he said caused Atrexia to spin, and a pulse of magic washed across what T presumed was her face. Without turning around, it was hard to tell.


    <em>Hey! I can sense behind me now, with some precision. </em>Shed only had vague feelings before. Was the change a side effect of the loss of the iron salve, or something else? Shed have to investigate further. Ts keystone tingled again, letting her know that she was being observed with magic.


    Atrexia let out a low, startled gasp, barely loud enough for T to hear, though it seemed unintentionally so.


    She sensed the source of magic which was Atrexias mage-sight sink lower, and the bench creaked just slightly.


    <em>I really need to salve up</em>


    She quickly dealt with her dishes and returned to her wagon to fetch a bar of iron salve. That in hand, she went outside the circle of wagons and quickly did her best to cover herself, once again.


    It was an imperfect job, but she could improve itter. After all, there was the harvest in progress, and time was wasting.


    T, newly clothed and fully geared up, strode back across the rolling grass as camp began to be taken down behind her. If schedules held, she didnt have much time, maybe only half an hour. Shed asked Den, and hed said their path would take them past the carcass, though she wasnt sure if that was because that was the best path, or because Den was being kind.


    She arrived to find the cooks pull carts piled with carefully packaged meat. Apparently, one of the carts had held a folding table and a set of butchers knives, because the two of them were working at a furious pace atop just such a table, processing the massive animal.


    On the carcass itself, the guards were working together to try to roll the massive animal, now much lighter without the guts andrge sections of its muscle. They were not having sess.


    T bit her lip, considering for just a moment, before calling out to the men. Step back!


    They obeyed instantly, jumping away from the body and allowing it to settle back to the ground.


    T held out her hand, palm towards the beast. Her first two fingers were extended towards the sky, the second two bent down. All four fingers and thumb were tucked close together. To her sight, the body lit up with a blue light. She had been careful to target the body as a whole, not imagining the individual pieces. In this way, it could continue to be carved up and manipted, but as each piece was taken away, that piece would fall outside the purview of her working. She <em>thought</em> it would hold until roughly half the beast had been harvested.


    <em>Restrain.</em>


    A golden circle zed on the back of her hand, near the knife edge of her palm. <em>Seven castings used.</em>


    Power flowed at her direction, flicking through the needed calctions. It was a blessing that gravity didnt care about the mass of a target; all things were equal before it.


    Kic energy was redirected to lift it off of the ground.


    As such, when her power created an exception, precisely altering the gravitational constant for this corpse in particr, it hovered in ce, now in a stable orbit just over a foot above the ground.


    Dont get under it. It should stay stable until roughly half of whats left is removed, but dont trust your life to that.


    The men were gaping, but at her words they all uttered their understanding, quickly diving back in to work.


    The corpse spun easily for them, though it still took quite a bit of effort to both ovee the inertia at the start and to stop it moving once they got it going. Even so, the alteration allowed them to strip the other half of the hide in mere moments.


    <em>I should have done this before I left</em>


    She couldnt go back, now. <em>Time''s wasting.</em> She pulled out a handsaw that Den had lent her and walked up to the head of the great beast. The guards had not gotten to the horns, yet.


    Off to the side, two guards were stripping the now freed hide of the remaining strips of fat and flesh, which had clung to the inside. Several others were helping carryrge bs of meat to the cooks, who were eyeing the sky, clearly trying to decide whether it was time to start carting the meat they had back.


    It seemed that they decided on apromise, continuing to work while sending back the two carts, each maneuvered by two guards.


    The final four guards were cutting away connections between bones, to free those for salvage. Now that T was looking, she saw the gut pile a little down-slope of the great corpse, and as she saw that, she also saw something else.


    The terror bird was ripping away at the great bulls heart, its eyes firmly locked on her as it ate.


    The guards had noticed the animal, and were keeping a wary eye, but there seemed to be an uneasy truce of sorts. The bird was content, and clearly realized that there would be leftovers once the humans left. It had not needed to fight.


    Still, it made T nervous.


    <em>Nope, Ive got a job to do.</em> She ced her saw against the great horn and began working. The bull was no longer free-spinning, and enough of the guards had grips on the animal that it didnt shift greatly as she sawed away. It was tedious work, not because it was hard, but because the horn was massive, nearly a foot thick at the base, and she was cutting it as close to the skull as possible. The horns went straight out for a short span, then curved dramatically inward to point forward. <em>All the better to gore you with, dear T.</em>


    She did <em>not</em> shudder at the idea of even more ways that she could have died. It was, after all, time to saw.


    An interesting side-effect of her spell was that the horn never broke free. Up until the final stroke of the saw separated the horn from the skull, it remained perfectly in ce, despiterge amounts of blood welling out around the cut. <em>You know? I never thought about it, but I bet the horns are more like fingernails than bone</em> True to that thought, the centers did seem to be more tissue than hard material, though she was cutting close enough to the skull that arge part of what she cut through was the bone nub to which the horn was attached.


    It wasmessy work.


    When the connection was finally broken between the horn and head, the horn dropped to the ground.


    The horn probably weighed almost forty pounds, which actually surprised her. <em>I thought it would be heavier.</em> After a moments thought, she realized that even having eighty pounds of horn on an animals head would already be a strain, and, after all, the magics running through the piece were potent forms that hinted at bone stability, strength, and regrowth. <em>Alsobone destruction? Are these used to crush their enemies?</em>


    <em>I wonder what Janice wanted this for, anyways</em> As she contemted, she began sawing off the other horn. <em>If one is valuable, then two are.</em> She had been mildly surprised that the thunder cattle didnt have lightning magics in their horns, but apparently, such powers were housed in the brain. <em>Somehow.</em> Interesting that the brain had still been vulnerable to those magics


    She didnt touch that.


    Instead, once both horns were free, she coated one with her iron salve, and set them aside. She didnt coat the one shed gotten for Janice, because she had no idea what purpose the woman needed the item for, and she was loath to do something that might make her reckless venture end as a failure.


    Horns imed, she turned her mage-sight back to the body as a whole, focusing on the points of greatest power, regardless of the type.


    It wasnt surprising to her that, as she saw the final scraps of the beasts massive heart vanish down the terror birds gullet, she noted that that had been the greatest point of power, aside from the brain. <em>Nope, not touching that.</em> For some reason, the idea of harvesting an animals brain did not sit well with her. She clearly wasnt alone as no guard touched it, either.


    The guards had returned with the empty pull-carts and were now helping the cooks load the rest of the butchered meat, along with as many of the remaining bs as they could fit. Even so, they were going to leave a city banquets volume of meat behind.


    <em>I suppose its hard to butcher a literal ton of meat in close to an hour. </em>Still, if she was right, theyd gotten as much meat as might be gathered from two or three mundane cattle.


    <em>I am going to have so, so much jerky.</em> She grinned. <em>Worth it in every way.</em>


    Back at the wagon circle, the oxen were being hitched up, and everyone not on duty was climbing back into their own wagons.


    The guards working to harvest the great bull were clearly from the other shifts, as a fullplement were moving through their assigned tasks around the wagons.


    In the end, Ts clothes had yet more blood drying them, and she had secured for herself two horns. Frustratingly, most other pieces which the Order of the Harvests book had indicated had already been imed by the cooks, but she couldnt really me them for that. After all, she was stepping into their sphere. Thus, shed mainly worked to help the other harvesters efforts.


    She gathered up her haul and trudged back towards the caravan. Den, driving the lead wagon, met her halfway.


    He hooked his reins on a mount beside his seat and jumped down to help her with her burdens, even as the oxen continued apace. Together, they got her satchel, tools and everything into her box, save the two horns, one because it wouldnt fit, the other because she intended to visit Janice right away.


    They were able to get the salved horn up onto the wagons roof, and Den didnt even give her an exasperated look. Instead, he smiled and asked if there were any further ways in which he could help.


    <em>Bless the man.</em> She said no, and he bowed and jogged to hop and pull himself back into the drivers seat.


    Simr events were ying out up and down the caravan as guards helped unload the cooks harvests, along with their own, storing everything appropriately.


    T hefted the weighty, naked horn and smiled, cing the inside of the curve across her shoulders.


    Time to collect.

 Chapter 29: You’re a Mage, Figure It Out

    Chapter 29: You¡¯re a Mage, Figure It Out


    T was walking behind one of the passenger wagons for wealthier patrons as she knocked.


    There was a short pause before the wagons servant opened the door.


    Yes? May I-GAH! The poor man stumbled backwards, clearly having not expected a blood-spattered Mage at his door.


    T smiled, apologetically. My apologies, good sir. I have something for She hesitated for just a moment. <em>What if the woman hadnt actually given her right name?</em> It didnt matter, really. T raised her voice and continued. For Janice.


    There was a soft squeak from inside, and Janice appeared, pausing for a moment to help steady the servant, who was recovering quite admirably.


    Janice nced at T before bowing. Mistress T. Would you like toe in?


    T looked down at herself, even as she continued to walk, keeping pace just behind the wagon. I dont think that would be kind to this good fellow. She gestured at the still-wet, red stters across herself. Blood is <em>not</em> easy to clean.


    Oh! Oh, of course. That was silly of me. Janices eyes fell on the horn resting across Ts shoulders, and her eyes widened. Its true, then? Thats a


    A thunder bulls horn, yes. Thankfully, most, if not all, of the blood had drained out of the horn since shed cut it free.


    Janice sank down against the door until she sat, still looking down to T. I heard the thunder this morning, and everyone was talking about you bringing down a bull, I even thought I saw you working to harvest it, but still She smiled. I didnt believe.


    T smiled in return. May I ask?


    Janice nodded. My husband He was an explorer of the Wilds.


    Ts eyes widened, but she didnt interject.


    Some years ago, he wanderedsomewhere he shouldnt have and was changed. Janice shook her head. No, that isnt right. Wild magics were worked upon him. She sighed. We sought treatment, but no one could reverse it. Still, it didnt seem too severe: a little weakness, his bones seemed to break more easily, but not much. She scoffed. It got worse. Finally, they were able to diagnose him: brittle bone syndrome. Somehow, magic had given him the disease as if from birth, and his body was working to catch up.


    T was frowning in concern. I think I understand. Some magics can strike humans with strange, inexplicable diseases, but what do you need the horn for?


    Janice brightened, clearly drawn from unpleasant musings. We were able to purchase a construct, one that transferred power directly into him. If we hadnt, hed likely have died months ago. Arcanous harvests that can power it are plentiful, but not potent enough to ovee the hostile magicpletely. We only just recently learned that a thunder bulls horn should have sufficient power, of the right types, to empower the construct forplete healing. She smiled. There were none for sale in Bandfast, so we undertook this journey either to find one on the way, or to acquire one in Alefast.


    Then why not just tell me? <em>Why not use a bone? Because bones reinforce whats there? The horn is meant to alter the strength of bone, if that were reversed</em> She understood<em>I think.</em>


    Janice shrugged. I approached one of the other Mages, but she said she could not kill a thunder bull, unless provoked to it. Apparently, the small herds are <em>incredibly</em> vengeful. She sighed. Even so, I was hopeful, when I saw the thunder cattle on the first day, but nothing came of it. Then, one was killed the second day, but virtually nothing could be harvested from it. She grinned, once more. Then you. Her eyes widened. Oh! Your payment!


    Janice stood in a rush and vanished inside. She returned with a small, iron chest. Four- and one-half ounces, gold, and fifty ounces, silver, as agreed.


    T was frowning to herself. After a long moment, she sighed, hefting the horn off and holding it out to the woman. Here.


    Janice set the iron box down, just outside the door, and took the horn from T. After a moments pause, when T didnt take the money, she hesitated, starting to look nervous. II can get more, if that is what you need, Mistress.


    T started. What? No! No. II just dont feel right taking-


    Taking what you are owed? Janices hesitation had vanished, and she almost looked amused. Mistress T. Weve enough, more than enough. My husbands line of work was dangerous, and his earnings more than ounted for that. Youve given us what we needed to restore him, and we are nothing but grateful. Please. She tapped the box with her toe. Take the money.


    T nodded, hefting the box. <em>This feels like close to seven or eight pounds! At least half the weight must be the box.</em> She flipped open the lid and saw five golden coins, four one ounce and one-half ounce, resting atop a pile of silver.


    You are wee to count it if-


    T shook her head, flipping the lid shut. Everything looks in order. After a moment, she added. If the single horn is insufficient, let me know. I harvested both.


    Janices smile widened further. That is very kind of you. Thank you. I will send Mayhew if we need it. She bowed, turned, and retreated inside.


    The servant, presumably Mayhew, studied her for a long moment before bowing as well. Thank you, Mistress. Can I assist you further?


    T smiled slightly but shook her head. No, thank you. Please do tell if they need further assistance.


    Mayhew bowed, once more. I will. Good day, Mistress.


    Good day.


    He shut the door, and T trudged out to the side and back up the line of moving wagons, iron strong-box in hand.


    She was sorely tempted to use her mage-sight to watch the goings on within the wagon but felt, more than ever, that that would be an invasion of privacy.


    Still, when she heard a burst of startled, joyous, feminineugher, followed by anotherugh, from a much deeper, clearly masculine voice, she found herself grinning ear to ear.


    She had done good, this day. The iron chest felt light in her hands, and if anything, her smiled widened. <em>I did good, AND I was paid to do it.</em> She could get used to this. Things were definitely, irrevocably, looking up.


    * * *


    After cing her new iron box into the storage that Den had lent her on the lead wagon, T went back down the line to the chuckwagon. As she strolled up, thest of the small carts was being lifted into ce against the outside wall, folded once more.


    Brand was locking it in ce, walking beside the continually moving wagon train, when he saw her. He smiled widely. Mistress T! My friend. You delivered beyond all expectations. If it were not entirely inappropriate, I would kiss you.


    Yes. Inappropriate.


    His smile hitched just slightly, but he recovered. We got nearly a thousand pounds. A thousand pounds, Mistress T! Heughed happily, raising his hands towards the heavens. And we didnt even harvest the whole beast! We got most, true, but not all. He was still smiling. Ive never even heard of a caravan killing a thunder bull with enough time to do such a thorough harvest. He hesitated. No, thats not true. Ive heard of one or two who had to down a wayward beast in the dead of night, but in each case, they had to fend off scavengers, or other predators, through the dark hours as they worked. In the end, I doubt they got more than we did. He was nodding happily.


    You are most wee? She was a bit taken aback by his outpouring of words. <em>We didnt see any scavengers save the terror bird</em> Had the avian been responsible for that?


    Ahh, your price, yes!


    She frowned. Im not always just after my price


    He waved her away. You did good work, and you deserve reward. Yes?


    She thought a moment, then shrugged with a smile. Yeah, I suppose so.


    Good, good. We are cutting strips for your jerky as we speak, see? He pushed open the back door, and she could see one of the cooks doing just that, cutting strips of the red, bloody meat, and tossing them into arge cast-iron kettle. The lid to such rested off to one side. We will marinate it overnight and should be able toplete the jerking process before we arrive at Alefast, tomorrow afternoon.


    How much do you anticipate?


    Weight, after the jerking isplete? He pondered for a moment. A hundred pounds?


    What!


    He held up a hand. I know we got close to a thousand, T, but we just dont have the resources to process that much. Well be feeding the caravan with the other meat. Besides, jerky reduces quite a bit! To get you a hundred pounds, well be starting with almost half the meat we harvested, right around four hundred pounds. I will definitely be correcting the capacity issue on future trips, just in case.


    T held up a hand. No, you misunderstand. That seems like quite a substantial amount. I did not intend toin She cleared her throat. Honestly, Im not actually sure Ill be able to carry all that. She thought about it further and realized that she had <em>many</em> things she really had no means of carrying. II think I dont actually have a good ce to store most of what I own, while in Alefast.


    Oh! Brand was nodding, excitedly. Of course, of course. You are a young Mage, likely recently freed from her master and out on her own. What you need is a form of dimensional storage.


    T did not expound upon the irony of <em>him</em> telling <em>her</em>, a Mage whod been hired to facilitate dimensional storage, that that was what she needednot the least because he was right.


    The vendor we sell excess harvests to, and the harvests we gather specifically for them? Ill introduce you. You can likely get a discounted rate.


    How much does such a thing even cost? She was loath to admit it, but shed known they were outside her budget, so shed not even asked after them in Bandfast.


    For the most basic, inscripted item? Something with the storage of a small closet? Id say the item itself would be around five ounces, gold.


    T blinked. <em>That has to be wrong.</em> There is no way they are that cheap. She still probably couldnt afford it, but


    Brand shrugged. The main expensees from ongoing impressing and the power sources. Dimensional creatures are a <em>rusting</em> pain to kill. He paled, ncing her way. Im sorry, Mistress. I wasnt watching mynguage.


    T waved him off. No matter. She thought. So thergest expense is the means to power it?


    He nodded. And it costs almost as much as the item itself to have the inscribings renewed. They usually have to have that done every three to six months. He shrugged. Ive never really understood why it varies.


    Quality of the power source, the mind behind that power, and the quality of the inscriptions themselves. She rattled off, without much thought. Her eyes narrowed. Will this vendor of yours carry quality goods?


    Brand seemed to be processing what shed said, but answered quickly, nheless. Of course! And shell give you the best deal in the city, after I introduce the two of you.


    T nodded. Then, Id be grateful. Thank you.


    My pleasure. He nced over his shoulder, to the other cooks who were clearly working dedicatedly within the wagon. I should go.


    By all means. Thank you.


    You are most wee. He bowed and closed the wagon door behind himself.


    Brand had given her a lot to think on and a lot to look forward to. That in mind, T began her daily walk, up and down the lumbering caravan, taking notes, making sketches, and thinking, always thinking.


    * * *


    An hourter, T was feverishly digging through the book on item creation, striving, in vain, to understand the theory behind using inscriptions on inanimate objects.


    It should have been easy. After all, she understood her own inscriptions, how hard could it be to ce those same workings into an item?


    The answer: Very.


    Apparently, spell-forms had to be altered depending on the medium in which they were set. Meaning, an item would have quite different lines if made out of differing materials: wood differing from stone, which differed from ss, which differed from human skin. Human skin was also different from any other tissue or bone material, and those all differed from each other. That didnt even cover the variation within each of those broad categories of material. It made even the concepts behind inscribing almost inscrutable. Apparently, inscribing animals was an art unto itself, and only a handful of humans had ever attempted it.


    Thered been some mad emperor of ages past whod wanted an army of magically enhanced war-dogs, but that had gonepoorly.


    Aside from a passing reference to the historic failure, magic in animals wasnt addressed in this book. <em>It would exin why I cant specifically understand exactly what an arcanous creature is capable of, unlike with most Mages.</em>


    Within the pages, there also seemed to be indications that living, versus dead, also mattered. Meaning that she couldnt carve spell-forms for wood constructs into an arcanous tree and expect them to function properly.


    Interestingly enough, it seemed that the spell-forms for items were, in general, lessplicated than those for inscribings. The brief exnation given was that human Mages required far more catch points, caveats, and safety to function properly, as the magics generated were directly linked to a living mind. Unfortunately, the book also exined that items that would be magic-bound, whatever that meant, had the same stringent requirements as skin inscribings.


    Unbound items simply followed prescribed, preset functions, nice and simple.


    That provided hope, but not answers. She was halfway through the book, and shed yet toe across a single example that she could draw upon to begin expanding her practical knowledge.


    There were two final flies in the ointment. First, the spell-lines for gold, silver, and copper each differed from each other as well, regardless of medium, adding another variable to the monstrous equation. Lastly, spell-forms were three-dimensionally sensitive, meaning a spell-form that functioned perfectly on a t cloth would change radically when shifted, scrunched, rolled-up, or otherwise not perfectly t. That could bepensated for, as all human inscribing had to, but it was yet moreplexity.


    Still, she persevered. <em>I am nothing if not stubborn.</em> She had determined to learn what she could about items, and g anyone or anything that got in her way.


    Mistress T?


    Her head snapped up, and she <em>almost</em> red as she took in someone poking their tousled, dirty-blonde head over the side of her wagons roof. What. She didnt snap at Renix, but it was a near thing.


    He was clearly nervous, but he smiled, seemingly more to reassure himself than as a gesture towards her. Are you busy?


    <em>Yes, obviously. What kind of asinine question is that?</em> Somewhat. She sighed. What can I do for you, Renix? <em>Why am I so grumpy?</em>


    Well, I- Renix started.


    Coffee! She practically shouted it,pletely overriding Renix. I havent had nearly enough coffee, today. She quickly closed her books, tucking them away in her satchel, as he tried to recover from her outburst. She finished before he did. Walk with me and ask your question.


    Without waiting for him to get off thedder, she swung over the side and dangled down beside the wagon.


    The wheels were rumbling to either side, and she realized that this might not be the wisest course. <em>Ah, well. Whats done, and all that.</em> She kicked off the side of the wagon and dropped,nding outside the path of the wheels with a carefully exhaled breath, knees bending perfectly to absorb the impact on the soft turf.


    Renix scrambled down thedder to join her.


    <em>Wheres his horse?</em> She shrugged. <em>Doesnt matter.</em> T turned towards the chuckwagon, and Renix fell into step beside her. So?


    He cleared his throat. Well


    He seemed hesitant, but she didnt mind. Coffee was ahead.


    They were almost to the chuckwagon when Renix coughed and rapidly mumbled out his question. How did you be a Mage so fast? Whats the secret? I feel like Im going to be trapped as a mageling forever. I mean, I <em>could</em> advance any time, but I just dont feel ready. You know? Well I guess you dont know. After all, you advanced and-


    T was so startled that she stopped walking, Renix stopping beside her. Thankfully, coffee was still drawing closer, as the wagons continued to move past them. T stopped Renixs monologue with a raised hand. Is Master Trent a good master?


    What? Of course! Why would you ask that?


    She shrugged. If you are learning from a good man, why would you want to leave? I can understand you wanting to stay. I can understand you feeling as though you have more to learn. Do you have anyints?


    Well, no, but he chooses our missions.


    Would you choose differently?


    No, but thats because he exins his reasoning each time, and of course, I agree.


    So?


    Renix turned away. I dont know I I hate being poor. I hate feeling like Im owned by so many people, and I cant get ahead, but at the same time, I dont feel up to being out on my own just yet.


    T blinked. <em>Thatsthats close to home.</em> She cleared her throat. Well, Im indentured to the Caravan Guild. They ownrge chunks of my time until my contract is up.


    Renix scoffed. But you chose that, and you have so much freedom within that servitude.


    T was shaking her head. We are always beholden to others. Some by choice, like those we sell our service to, some by blood She hesitated, then shook her head and pressed on. Some forbor, some for time, but in all cases, it is we who are responsible to fulfill those obligations. Even were you free and wealthy, you would be beholden to yourself. Youd have to eat, sleep, and exercise. If you wanted to work magic, youd need to keep on good terms with an inscriber. She shook her head, again. Renix, <em>life</em> is about needing other people, and being beholden to them, and they to you.


    Renix barked augh and turned back towards her. Thats easy for you to say. You are on a path to wealth, and I <em>know</em> youre younger than me.


    T could see a bit of pain in Renixs eyes. <em>Hesparing himself to me and seeing failure.</em> Renix, I She grunted out a sigh in frustration. I am, and always have been, very odd. It has given me advantages, but Ive hated most of it. I never wanted to be a Mage, but I was sold into this profession. Until my price is paid, I am owned, just like you.


    Renix paled and nced away.


    T quirked a smile. Ahh, you werent sold into it. Let me guess, parents paid for your schooling?


    Renix didnt meet her eyes but nodded.


    No shame in that. Stars know Id prefer that. She let out a long breath. I was sold to pay my familys debts, Renix. I owe more than Ill make in <em>years</em>, at contract rates, and thats if I had no expenses. She touched his arm, and he turned to face her. Life is about working with what you have, where you have it.


    He was frowning. Even so. You are so much further down the road than I how can I catch up?


    The question was so genuine, that she paused to actually consider, before she answered. One moment. She strode after the now passed chuckwagon and knocked on the rear door.


    Brand shoved it open. What! His expression shifted from anger to confusion when he saw her. Mistress T?


    Coffee?


    He hesitated for a moment, thenughed. Id thought you might want some. He stepped inside and returned with arge, earthenware jug, a simple cork sealing it shut. Here you are. All thats left for today.


    T eyed it warily. Is it still good?


    Mistress T, coffee doesnt spoil. It wont be hot, but youre a Mage. Figure it out.

 Chapter 30: A Morning to Decide

    Chapter 30: A Morning to Decide


    T snorted augh at Brands words as he passed over the jug full of coffee. Brand then seemed to notice Renix for the first time. He straightened, brushing off his apron, and put on a diplomats smile. Mageling Renix. He bowed slightly. How can I serve?


    Renix shook his head. Nothing for me, thank you. I am simply walking with Mistress T.


    Very good. Mageling, Mistress. He bowed to each of them in turn, then shut the door.


    As they walked back out from between the moving wagons, Renix gestured back towards the closed door. Like that!


    T frowned. What?


    The cook! He anticipates your needs and works to meet them.


    We havean understanding. <em>He tried to kill me and doesnt want me to seek vengeance</em> Was that all it was?<em> No, wevee to an amicable understanding in truth.</em>


    Yes, but you seem to reach those with <em>everyone</em> you talk to. Your driver lets you spend most of the day on top of his wagon.


    <em>My wagon.</em> But she didnt interrupt.


    The guards lend you shields whenever you want.


    <em>Well, only at night. Id love one for shadeMaybe I should buy one in Alefast? Or a parasol? No, the hat is plenty.</em>


    The cooks, Ive already mentioned.


    <em>Stabbed, threatened, understanding reached, yes.</em> She had uncorked the coffee and was beginning to drink. It was lukewarm and deliciously dark. Exactly what she needed.


    Master Trent and Mistress Atrexia let you do as you wish. They dont like it, but they dont stop you.


    <em>Theyd have a hard time, if they tried.</em> Well, her iron salve was a bit haphazard, at the moment. <em>I should fix that.</em>


    And the passengers see you as a walking legend.


    That was news to her. Oh?


    Of course! How could they not? You fought a terror bird, driving it away without any harming to the caravan. You harvested from an ending tree. You <em>punched out </em>a thunder bull; what do you expect them to think?


    <em>Well, thatst is a bit of a mischaracterization</em> She sighed. I see your point. Do you want my answer, or do you wish to keep singing my virtues?


    Renix blushed deeply and cleared his throat. Your answer, if youre willingMistress.


    Ts lips quirked up in a wry smile. Be you.


    He turned to her, frowning. I cant really be anyone else."


    She shook her head. I mean, be true to what you want, how you want to act, what you want to do, who you want to be. That will require you to make sacrifices, as you cant expect the world to hand you anything, but every sacrifice to be more of who you are is easy to make, and you will <em>never</em> regret it. She paused, then her shoulders drooped just slightly, and she sighed. It can be lonely, Renix, being who you wish to be. You wont make as many friends, if you dont twist yourself into knots to please people, but those you do make will like you for <em>you</em>, not for who you are pretending to be. She smiled up at him, then took another long pull of coffee.


    Renix didnt respond for a long while, as they continued to walk alongside the caravan.


    Does that help?


    Renixughed briefly. Maybe? I dont know who I want to be, though How do I figure that out?


    She smiled. Find <em>one</em> thing that you want and figure out what you need to achieve that. That is who you want to be.


    What do you mean?


    She shrugged. If you want to be a famous historian, you need to study history. Thus, even if you dont think that you want to read, you actually do, because reading widely and retaining in great detail is what will allow you to be a famous historian. As an example. I mean, even if you go explore ruins, you will need to be able to read and articte what you find there.


    Huh. He pondered, again, and T downed more of the coffee. I think I think I understand what you mean. I want to be strong, so even if I dont like exercising, I <em>do</em> want to exercise, because it will make me stronger.


    She pointed at him firmly, her gaze intense. That! That is a better example.


    He grinned back at her. I do think I understand.


    Good. Let me know what you discover, yeah?


    He nodded. I will. Thank you, Mistress T.


    You are most wee.


    He turned, striding back towards his own wagon, and she picked up her pace to return to the wagon at the front. <em>I hope that was the right thing to tell him</em> It shouldnt hurt him, at the very least. <em>As long as he doesnt expect everyone to immediately ept him for who he wants to be, he should be fine. You cant force that.</em>


    Sadly, the coffee didntst for even the trip back to the cargo wagon, and she was left to shepherd an empty jug, at least until lunch.


    * * *


    Coffee gone, but well imbibed, T felt much more awake, though slightly saddened for the loss.


    <em>Its just coffee, T. There will be more, tomorrow.</em> She didnt allow herself to dwell on it further.


    Instead, she took out her magic detector and began sweeping herself to check how her iron salve was doing.


    Not good.


    She took the next hour to slowly, covertly, re-salve herself until the magic detector didnt register her at all.


    She peeled the glue from her palms and tossed it aside, then contemted how to spend the rest of the morning.


    <em>I could continue to study magic items?</em> There was merit to that, as every bit of knowledge could help her in any negotiations for the creation or purchase of such items.


    <em>I could process the remaining ending-berries, and put them in the sk?</em> Having ending-berry juice ready to hand, pulp and all, might be quite useful. She didnt know the first thing about wine, and she suspected that the fermentation process could go <em>incredibly</em> awry, as the magic was more likely to act on the bacterium than be preserved in the final product. <em>Super wine is out, then.</em> Still, having the berries ready to hand could be useful


    The wagons were moving up through foothills, almost parallel to the range of mountains to their south. Early tomorrow, theyd go through a pass, ande down upon Alefast from the north, but for now, the terrain was bing rockier and much more starkly beautiful.


    <em>I could just enjoy the scenery and draw, if the mood takes me. Just rx, if not.</em> She almost chose this, but she just couldnt bring herself to waste the time.


    <em>Make another star?</em> That had merit. Not only was it potentially useful, as from what Trent had said it was training her bodys ability to draw upon and use power. Her own experiments seemed to bear that out, as well. As Holly had designed her inscriptions, they would pull from every drop of power she gave them, so any increase she could facilitate to her own inflow of strength would directly benefit her, almost immediately. <em>Unlike other Mages, who would have to modify their inscribings to take advantage of the increase.</em> Hollys way really was turning out to be a vast improvement upon what shed been taught was the norm.


    <em>Is it actually Hollys way, though? From what she said, shed decided it was viable only </em>because <em>of my peculiar depth of power, and the workings I wished to aplish</em> Worth considering, but not right now. T sighed, a slight smile tugging at her lips. <em>Its my way</em>.


    <em>How should I spend my remaining time?</em> She nced at the sky. <em>Two hours until lunch?</em> Her stomach growled, and she pulled out a bit of jerky. Chewing and enjoying thefortable influx of power.


    A flicker of dimensional magic caused her to spin.


    On the wagon top, directly behind where shed been sitting, was a small bird, barely bigger than a crow, but clearly flightless. <em>It looks exactly like a terror bird but scaled down.</em> How odd.


    The bird tilted its head and screeched; eyes fixed on the remaining jerky in her hand.


    You want some of this?


    The bird looked her in the eye and bobbed a nod.


    Ts own eyes widened, and she took in a slow, deliberate breath. So you understand me.


    It bobbed again, then returned its gaze to the jerky, which she still held.


    She tossed it to the small bird, who easily caught it in its mouth and guzzled it down. Youre wee, little guy.


    The bird regarded her, then slightly tilted its head.


    With two more pulses of dimensional power, the bird swelled to double its previous size, then vanished.


    T stood, frantically scanning the surroundingndscape. <em>It changed size.</em> She was breathing faster. <em>Rust and ruin, g and stagnation. </em>That hadnt just been <em>a</em> terror bird. That had been <em>the</em> terror bird, and it could change size.


    <em>No wonder my alteration to gravity didnt hold.</em> Drastic changes in size would <em>certainly</em> free it of the working. That meant that she had no means of magically affecting it for any length of time. <em>Even my crushing attack would likely be shrugged off</em>


    It was far more dangerous than shed guessed, and shed fed itagain. <em>Oh, rust me to g.</em>


    After a long moment, she sat back down, having been unable to locate another dimensional signature or the bird itself.


    She now knew what her morning would entail. She had a singr question to expand upon and delve into answering.


    <em>Now what?</em>


    * * *


    Despite her lingering questions about the terror bird and what to do next, she did not, in fact, spend her morning simply contemting them. After all, time was wasting, and an hour ignored was an hour lost.


    Instead, she sought out one of the guards on duty. To her relief, the first one she came across was Adam. Guardsman Adam!


    The man turned his gaze from the surrounding, rolling hills and growing crags, and towards her as she climbed up onto the roof of the wagon he stood upon. Mistress T? How can I be of assistance?


    I want to learn to fight. As his eyes widened in surprise, she decided that she should be clear, from the outset. I think that two sticks, or maces, or clubs, would be ideal for me, and I was hoping you might know of a guard whod be willing to walk me through the basics?


    Adam seemed to rein himself in, and he nced away. There might be someone, but a true study of fighting would require hand-to-handbat as well, along with groundwork and intimate understanding of the human form. He smiled slightly. At least if you wish to be able to fight other humans. It is invaluable to know where to strike and how, if you intend to end a fight quickly and efficiently. If you intend to fight non-humans, youll want to study arcanous biology, and extrapte from there.


    T was nodding. Thats fair. Who could give such instruction?


    Adam seemed to contemte for a long moment. Almost any guard could give you the basics. He shrugged. These are highly sought-after posts, and no one is here who hasnt earned it. After a moment, he nodded to himself. A few of us are better at teaching; I, for one, was an instructor for new recruits, full time, before transferring to more ranging assignments, and weve a couple others with simr backgrounds.


    Ts eyebrows rose at that. Why would you leave a teaching position? Wouldnt that pay better, or be more satisfying, orsomething? She took a moment to really look at Guardsman Adam and realized that he was likely close to fifteen years older than she was, likely in his mid-thirties. He was heavily muscled, but not in a bulky sort of way. He was barely taller than her with grey-and-white-flecked, close-cropped hair and beard.


    She didnt focus on him long enough for her mage-sight to activate. <em>Not a Mage.</em>


    Shed assumed that guarding a trade caravan would be an undesirable position, given to new recruits or those in disfavor, and she hadnt let her observations shake her initial assumptions.


    <em>Huh That was pretty foolish of me.</em>


    Adam was smiling. Fulfilling? Somewhat, I suppose. I do love teaching, but this pays so much better. He shrugged. A bit more dangerous, but not overly so. My wife worries, but she also knows that Im almost as likely to get seriously hurt in the city as out here, and out here, if anything does happen, Mages are ready to hand, so I might even have a better chance of surviving. The kids are getting older, and perhaps Ill move back to teaching once the eldest reaches ten or so. He shrugged.


    <em>And a family man</em> Was <em>everyone</em> in the caravan married? <em>People do get married pretty young, T. Mages are a bit of an exception, but not over-much.</em> Truthfully, she would likely be married by 30 as well, most mundanes were married well before twenty-five.


    The danger is <em>why</em> the pay is better. I want to provide for my family, and spending the days outside, in the beauty of the wilds? Well, thats not so bad.


    She really didnt know what to say to that, so she just smiled in what she hoped was apanionable way.


    Anyways, Adams gaze swept the horizon, again, before returning to her. Your training. He sighed. I cant say Ive seen many Mages interested in martial pursuits. Why hit a man when you can obliterate him at a hundred paces?


    Killing is easy, but it is not always the best option.


    Adam nodded. Not everyone understands that. Im d that you do. He chuckled to himself. Skies above, I hope all Mages understand that. Too many of us are at the mercy of your magical whims. He gave her a wink. No disrespect intended, Mistress.


    None taken, Guardsman.


    After another sweep of the terrain, Adam turned to face her fully. I can teach you, some, if you wish, but Im not going to argue with you.


    Thats fair.


    You do what I say, when I say it. No arguing.


    She shrugged. I suppose so.


    Shirt off.


    She grabbed the base of her shirt and started to lift. Adams eyes widened, and he spun around, clearly blushing deeply.


    Stop! Stop.


    T started tough, letting her shirt fall back over her stomach. That was a test, yes? You were trying to find an excuse to refuse?


    Adam scratched the back of his neck, still not looking at her. Is your shirt on?


    It is.


    He turned back slowly, checking first. Not preciselyWe do something simr with new recruits, though for men its Drop your pants. Youd be surprised how few follow instructions.


    So, you dont have to see pants-less men that often?


    Or women, we do get some of those as recruits. He quirked a smile. Strangely, they seem more willing toply with randommands than the men. Maybe something about proving their worth or justifying their being there. I should have remembered and expected you to act simrly.


    So whats the point of the lesson? Or do you just like seeing who you can get pants-less?


    He reddened, again, but less so this time. No, its to drive home a notion: No one should be obeyed absolutely. Sometimes yourmanders are <em>wrong</em>. Now, we also go out of our way to build trust in thosemanders, but we dont want blind obedience. That gets people killed.


    Huh. Not what Id have expected from the Guardsman Guild.


    He shrugged. We want our people to survive, same as any.


    Fair enough. She waited for a long moment, as he continued to keep an eye on the surroundings. Soyoull teach me?


    He smiled, again. I said I would, didnt I?


    How do we begin?


    We fix how you walk.


    T frowned. Whats wrong with how I walk?


    You move like a Mage.


    and?


    And you dont want to fight like one, so you shouldnt move like one. I want you to walk up and down the caravan and keep your center of bnce inside your nted foot at all times.


    Say again?


    He smiled. You should be able to stop and be bnced almost instantly, no matter where in your stride you choose to stop. He thought of a moment, then nodded. Imagine your center of bnce as a dot on the ground and keep it inside the foot that is on the ground, at all times. When you step, it will obviously move between the feet, but thats fine, while they are both down. Understand?


    Somewhat She nodded. Ill see what I can do. What next?


    Master that, then well talk.


    She crossed her arms. Walking. You want to teach me walking.


    Lets be clear. I gave you a direction, <em>you</em> will be teaching you how to walk. He grinned.


    T rolled her eyes. Fine. She swung down onto thedder and paused, looking back up towards Adam. Ill be back shortly.


    He snorted. Well see.


    She climbed down quickly and began walking. As she did, she bent her focus towards her bnce, and began stopping herself at random intervals, noticing how unsteady she was much of the time. <em>Im basically falling from one foot to the other, simply relying on my continued movement to catch me.</em> Adam had been right.


    <em>Well, lets do this.</em> And the real work began.


    As it turned out, changing how she walked was <em>hard</em>.


    Her body was used to moving certain ways, and it took active effort to change that. Worse, it didnt actually take all her effort. So, she was left having to focus, while not truly being distracted by what she was focusing on.


    It


    Was


    Tedious


    In order to distract the petnt part of her mind, while she was kinesthetically focused on her walking, she created and focused upon the Archon star spell-form.


    Soon, she was walking, mind bent towards maintaining constant bnce. She tested her progress by stopping and staying in ce every so often, always aiming to be in a slightly different phase of her stride. In addition, she was locking the Archon star spell-form into ce and slowly running power through it.


    As she had no intention of expending a monumental amount of energy and having to sleep for hours, she also wasnt nning on cutting her finger and expelling the drop of blood containing the star. Thus, she formed it in her center, just behind her sternum. Even so, she did <em>not</em> put it in her heart. She knew better than <em>that</em>.

 Chapter 31: The Foundation of Any Fighting Art

    Chapter 31: The Foundation of Any Fighting Art


    Over the next two hours, T split her mind across the two tasks, and found she was able to maintain both, though it took all her concentration. <em>Perfect</em>. She wasnt bored.


    At her halting pace, she only advanced up the wagon line slowly, and thus, when lunchtime came, Brand stepped out of the chuckwagon to find her barely one wagon away.


    Mistress T?


    His voice startled her, and she froze in ce, perfectly bnced with her back foot an inch off of the ground.


    Her concentration on the Archon star also broke, and the power was separated from her control, and she severed it before it could draw any more from her. She expected it to break free from the form and disperse back into her It didnt.


    She suddenly felt a horrific clenching in her throat, and she began to cough uncontrobly.


    Mistress T! Brand set the food hed been carrying back on the tail of his wagon and ran to her, even as she fell to her knees, coughing and heaving.


    He brought out a handkerchief and offered it to her. She took it and pressed it over her mouth. Strangely, it helped.


    The coughing slowed until, finally, onest colossal cough brought up <em>something</em> that had been caught inside her. It stuck in the handkerchief.


    T pulled the cloth away and both she and Brand gazed down at a small, spinning drop of blood.


    Thatisnt normal, Mistress. Have you contracted somehostile magic? He began looking around, and before she could say anything, he was waving to someone. Mistress Atrexia! Please,e quick. I think Mistress T might be ill.


    T groaned.


    The sound of hooves on soft turf came to a stop nearby and Atrexia dismounted. What happened now, Mistress T?


    T coughed once more. I was practicing the mental spell-forms for making a star, and unintentionally allowed power to fill it.


    Atrexia was nodding. In your lungs?


    Esophagus, I think, but close enough.


    Let me see.


    T held up the handkerchief, flecked with spittle and one, still spinning, drop of blood.


    Atrexia frowned, power moving in waves around her eyes. This looks like the first you created. Ill need to measure it, but Id bet it is about that powerful. Master Trent told me how that effort exhausted you, before. How are you feeling, now?


    She shrugged. Fine? Except my throat hurts a bit. I concentrated on it longer but didnt funnel my full power umtion into it, and I prevented it from drawing from my reserves, if that makes sense.


    Brand stood. Ill get some honeyed tea.


    Thank you, Brand.


    He nodded and jogged to catch the chuckwagon.


    T stood and began walking. Atrexia fell in beside her, leading her horse by the reins. How do you ount for this?


    T shrugged. I did it much slower. I was trying to upy my mind, and so I think I was letting it build fortwo hours? Give or take. She thought, then nodded. Just about, yeah.


    And before?


    It took about fifteen minutes. Again, give or take.


    Atrexia grunted. So, a much lower power input, over a much longer period, and likely with much less efficiency That makes sense. Especially if it didnt scrape you empty in the end. She was nodding to herself. You shouldnt have any negative effects, but you also wont experience any increase to your power umtion rate. She gave T a firm look. That is <em>not</em> a rmendation that you should push yourself as you did, before, simply a statement of fact.


    T nodded. Im not really interested in sleeping away hours of daylight, today.


    Atrexia gave her a critical, searching look. Finally, she grunted, again. That was likely due to allowing the star to draw power out of your reserves, but very well. May I take that for testing?


    Shouldnt I put it in a vial?


    I have no idea. Its not like this is standard. She sighed. At least you are moving towards a proper approach. Funneling the power gradually and letting it build within the spell-form is the right way to make an Archon star. She frowned. But please dont make it in anything so vital, again? My understanding is that it isnt advisable to make within yourself, at all. If youre going to kill yourself, please wait until after we reach Alefast?


    T rolled her eyes. Fine, fine. It wasnt like I did it on purpose.


    Atrexia huffed. That is <em>precisely</em> my point, ignorant ch- She took a deep breath, closing her eyes before exhaling in a rush. After a small, forced smile, as if to herself, Atrexia spoke on. You continue to do reckless things, seemingly at random, and we are all startled by your miraculous survivals.


    T thrust the handkerchief at Atrexuia. Here. Let me know what you find out.


    The other Mage took the cloth without further chiding. I will. Eat something and rest.


    As Atrexia rode away, presumably towards her own wagon, T found herself filled with joy. Shed turned her focus back towards her stride and found that she was still using the altered version. <em>I did it!</em>


    She wouldnt let her guard down, of course. She could always backslide if she wasnt careful, but shed <em>done it</em>. She had altered her steps.


    <em>Now, whats next?</em>


    Lunch. Lunch was next. She felt her connection with the newly created star moving around as Atrexia went about her tests, but T didnt let it distract her.


    Brand returned with her lunch, and arge carafe of honeyed tea. He insisted on carrying both back to her wagon with her, and once he was satisfied that she was settled and resting, he took the empty coffee jug. Let me know if you need anything else, please?


    I will, Brand. Thank you.


    He nodded once, emphatically, and climbed down, leaving her to her meal and the wonderful relief brought on by the tea.


    * * *


    Atrexia tossed her the handkerchief a few minutes after T had finished her lunch. Its the same as the first, or near enough it doesnt matter. Without another word, she climbed back down thedder. She seemed to hesitate, out of view, but then she rode away without saying anything else.


    T had seen the light-colored cloth flick up into view, and she caught it, checking inside and verifying that the new little star was there. Shed known it would be, because she could <em>feel</em> it, like a light brush on her skin. Shed even known Atrexia was approaching with it well before the woman had arrived. <em>What now?</em>


    She debated putting it into the vial with therger one, hopefully tobine their power, but she didnt actually have a use for them yet. <em>Maybe more is better than stronger?</em> She had no idea. So, she put this new one in the other vial, and stored that in her satchel.


    The tea was gone, now, and her throat felt much better. There were no enhancement spell-lines to easily repair the modicum of damage shed given herself, there. So, shed have to wait for it to heal, like anyone else. It was frustrating that the ending-berry''s power had finally run dry. <em>Or, would it have kept the star trapped, unable to get free?</em> That was a horrifying thought


    They were nearing the pass, now, and she could see it just less than twenty miles ahead and to the south.


    Two great peaks towered above the surrounding mountains, and the space between them dipped vastly lower than those same, other peaks. <em>Not a usual formation</em>. At least she didnt think so. Geography hadnt ever been a passion of hers, let alone geology.


    As she stared, she was able to pick out more detail, like the fact that the faces of the two mountains, nearest each other, were smooth, almost uniform slopes, giving the impression of a single mountain, split by one stroke of a titanic ax.


    <em>We are far from thend of arcanous gods.</em> Humans had purposely moved to a greater distance from the magic-rich northern and eastern reaches of the continent, specifically to avoid those creatures.


    If normal, arcanous beasts could, on asion, be two or three times the size of their non-magical equivalents, the arcanous gods often breached ten times that, if not greater. They were said to be ancient beyond the reckoning of man, and powerful beyond Mages'' ability to measure. Though, her knowledge of such came from childhood tales, told around a dying fire, rather than her Academy education. More and more she was frustrated at what they <em>hadnt</em> taught her.


    <em>Did some arcanous god fight or die here, millennia ago?</em>


    She would likely never know.


    T shook herself, bringing her thoughts back to the present. <em>I should check in with Adam, get my next task.</em>


    Nodding to herself, she climbed down, and walked back towards the wagon that Adam currently stood upon.


    She was careful to walk as shed been practicing, maintain bnce at all times. It was surprisingly effortful, and she was definitely feeling some soreness from her earlier walking.


    Even so, she climbed thedder, and greeted Adam. Now what?


    He nced towards her. I saw; you learned quickly. He was still armored as all the guard were, in iron chain and padded leather, an iron cap atop his head. He had one of the guardsrge shields leaning against his side, and a crossbow hanging from his belt. A quiver hung opposite, ready to hand, and a short sword was strapped inside the shield toplete his armament.


    She waited for a long moment. So? She noticed a two and a half foot long, thick stick, carved and polished smooth, resting against the shield as well. Are we going to start fighting, now?


    Now. Adam nced towards her. We are going to fix your breathing.


    T groaned. Adam. I just want to know how to fight! Cant we do the fast version?


    His mouth quirked, and he bent to pick up the stick. In a smooth motion, he tossed it to her.


    She caught it. Yes! Now, how do we start?


    If you are threatened, hit the person or thing with that until you are no longer threatened. Quick version over. Have a wonderful day.


    T blinked back at him. What.


    You wanted the quick version, right? Thats it. Its not like you can cut yourself. Hit whats bothering you until it stops.


    She grunted in irritation. I sort of worked that out myself.


    Id thought as much. He still didnt turn to face her.


    Adam. Teach me.


    Certainly, Mistress. Now, your breathing-


    She hit him in the back with the stick. He barely budged, and when she looked, she noticed that his knees were bent, and the shield that shed thought was propped against him was, in fact, locked in ce on the roof, holding him upright. She narrowed her eyes.


    Why did you hit me? He turned his head to regard her.


    You were bothering me. I aim to follow instructions, <em>teacher.</em>


    He snorted augh. Fair enough.


    So?


    Your breathing.


    She raised the stick as if to strike him again, and he quirked an eyebrow at her.


    Do you wish someone else to teach you?


    She grunted and lowered the simple weapon. Fine. Ill hear you out.


    Good. Breath in slowly through your nose.


    She did so, taking much longer to draw in the breath that it usually did.


    And out fast through your mouth.


    She exhaled in a full-bodied, quick puff.


    Good. Now, breath that way until it bes natural.


    Ts own eyebrow twitched. Seriously?


    Yes. Proper bnce and breathing are the foundation of any fighting art. If you just want to swing a stick, have at it. He gestured at her. You can already do that just fine. However, if you want to learn how to <em>fight</em>, we will do it properly, as if you were joining the Guardsmans Guild in truth.


    She grunted. <em>I suppose that each guild has to have </em>something<em> to offer, else theyd be reced by freencers. The Guardsmen''s Guild must have some way to make their members more effective</em> Alright. I will do as you say.


    She climbed back down thedder, breathing as hed instructed.


    The stick, she left at his feet.


    * * *


    T breathed in, long and deliberately, through her nose.


    She exhaled in a powerful pulse, through her mouth.


    She read her books.


    In through her nose.


    Out through her mouth.


    Sketch the increasingly mountainous scenery.


    In nose.


    Out mouth.


    Walk, bnce perfect.


    In.


    Out.


    Bnce.


    Hours passed.


    T didnt let herself be distracted as various people talked with her. She gave reasonable answers, exining that she was focusing on something, and could probably talktershe did this on the exhale, of course.


    She didnt stop her proper breathing when the guard drove off a flock of hos, each the size of barn-cats, though she did walk, maintaining bnce, to the other side of the convoy. In, out, quick step away from acid drenched stingers.


    Horrifyingly, none of the hos were actually killed, but after a few wings were lost to well-ced crossbow bolts, and lightning temporarily took one to the ground, they seemed to decide to search for easier targets.


    <em>Apparently, their armor scaled with them</em> Those hos had been a startling realization for her. As there had been thirty-three in the swarm. <em>Even if I was freshly inscribed, I could not have killed them all.</em> They would likely not have been able to kill her, either, but she would have been left with three, <em>very</em> angry creatures that just might have harried her until her protections ran out.


    In. Out. Bnce. Even as she thought, she kept most of her mind on the changes Adam had instructed her to make.


    <em>I cannot assume that I am above the dangers out here, just because Ive been lucky. My abilities help keep me alive, and can crush powerful opponents in a pinch, but the wilds are a ce of attrition. </em>The epiphany came with a renewed desire to hone her ability to fight. She could likely drive away the hos with her bone clubs, once she knew what she was doing, and that prospect excited her. <em>Armor your weaknesses and hone your strengths.</em>


    In, out, bnce.


    She found herself needing to yawn quite often, at first, but stifled the urge with an effort, a <em>great</em> effort.


    She felt flicks of magic as other creatures were dissuaded, but none were brought down, so she didnt pay particr attention. <em>No harvest means no need for my involvement.</em> She smiled at that, careful to not let it ruin her breathing.


    Finally, after what <em>was</em> hours, Den led them over a particrlyrge, sloping foothill and into a circle atop it.


    Framing their ce of encampment, scarcely four miles distant, was the entrance to the pass that shed noticed before.


    A path ran almost straight towards it from the newly circled wagons, and she felt an involuntary shudder. <em>Caravans take random routes to prevent more powerful beasts from knowing where to lie in wait.</em> She continued to examine the deep cleft of the pass. <em>Clearly, this part of the route is used more often than others.</em>


    If they were going to be attacked by something powerful, it would be tomorrow. This close, her mage-sight showed her magical energy pouring through from thend beyond. That increased magic meant more, if not more powerful, arcanous creatures. If they were really unlucky, they might even cross paths with a magical beast.


    <em>Ill ask Trent, tonight.</em>


    She froze, realizing that her mind had moved away from her breathing. <em>Am I?</em>


    Long pull in, through her nose.


    Short, full-bodied exhale through her mouth.


    VICTORY! Several of the drivers turned to give her odd looks, before returning to their work.


    Shed done it. Still, she wouldnt let her guard down. <em>Or my Guard down.</em> Sheughed inwardly at her own joke.


    <em>I am altering my basic patterns way too easily</em> She considered all the aspects that Holly had enhanced, and came to the conclusion that altering innate, repeated patterns of action should be much easier with the enhanced connectivity and improved mental functions. <em>Ill likely learn to fight more easily, too.</em>


    She didnt <em>quite</em> chide herself, even as she realized that Adam would say that she was already learning to fight, just by working on her stride and her breath pattern.


    <em>FineIll likely learn how to wield weapons more quickly, too.</em>


    Fair enough.


    Adam walked over to her, having dismounted from his wagon. So, youve corrected your breathing?


    She grinned back at him, answering on the exhale. Yes. Next?


    He smiled. You tell me.


    She blinked at him, then brightened. I pick? Basicbat, then!


    He smiled back. Incorrect. He then turned and walked away, his stride perfectly bnced.


    T stared after him. <em>What?</em>


    He hadnt been asking her to pick. Hed be asking her to figure out what was next.


    T groaned, then hesitated, watching him walk away. <em>What is he doing, that Im not?</em>


    As she looked, her mage-sight responded to the focus, highlighting the currents of power that moved through him, just as they moved through everything to one extent or other.


    Each step showed shifting flows of power, clearly grounding him to the earth, and giving him stability beyond what was normal. <em>Without spell-lines?</em> Somehow, his very movements seemed to invoke a sort of magic.


    She could see his breath moving in and out of him as well, in the regr cadence hed instructed her to use.


    Finally, she noticed that he stood straight, shoulders back, posture controlled without being rigid.


    She, herself, stood straight, but in a different way.


    As she shifted, she could feel the stiffness in her posture, hours of training to keep herself firmly upright had lent her an immovability, like a boulder carried on the back of a cart. She was straight, strong, and inflexible.


    Adam was a tree before the wind. His back and shoulders shifted with the rest of his body, allowing for a more flowing movement. The difference was subtle, but now that she noticed it, she couldnt <em>not</em> see it.


    Posture. She didnt shout, but Adam turned around, smiling.


    No, but yes.


    She frowned, then rolled her eyes. Observation, then posture.


    He nodded. I expect Ill give you the next step before we reach Alefast, tomorrow. Good luck. He turned half away, again, then paused, ncing back. Please dont blow us up?


    She grinned. Mages often held their stiff postures to avoid crossing spell-lines. It was <em>incredibly</em> rare for there to be a reaction, and in every case that she knew of, it could be at least partially traced to poor inscribing. Even so, no good Mage risked it. No one wanted to rip themselves apart. Ill be careful.


    Adam nodded onest time and continued walking away.


    Because shed been focused on him, her mage-sight active, shed noticed that his breathing pattern had changed during their discussion. <em>That exins that.</em> Shed been attempting to discern how she was meant to effectively carry on a conversation with the long inhale and short exhale.


    The answer was simple, as most were once found. She wasnt.


    <em>Ill have to practice breathing in that other pattern whenever I speak</em> Another thing to learn. She found herself smiling. <em>Another way I can improve.</em>

 Chapter 32: Terribly Wrong

    Chapter 32: Terribly Wrong


    T moved towards the chuckwagon, allowing her back and shoulders to move along with the rest of her, keeping bnce.


    It felt strange to relinquish the rigidity that shed held for so long. The manner of movement didnt feel like something she did; it had be a part of her. Even so, she wasnt stiff, as her daily stretches and exercises had kept her limber despite her manner of movement.


    Honestly, it felt like she was going to fall over, which was incredibly disconcerting given that she was focused on her bnce, so she <em>knew</em> she was perfectly stable.


    <em>Like feeling starving on a full stomach</em> It made no sense.


    Still, she rested in the feeling instead of fighting it and found a strangefort in the flow of the movement, as her whole body seemed to harmonize with her bnce and breath.


    <em>This is fantastic!</em>


    She easily got her food and made her way to the Mages'' table, where the three people there were already gorging themselves.


    T smiled at the three. Rough day?


    Renix nodded emphatically, speaking around food. Yeah, and tomorrow will be the hardest.


    T found herself nodding. Shed noticed the slow increase in ambient magic as they progressed, and now having seen the power practically streaming through the pass, she understood. Well, Alefast is a waning city, so...?


    All three stopped eating and turned to look at her.


    Trent cleared his throat. Mistress T. I know that your training was He nced at Atrexia, then back to T. unusual, but did you really not think to investigate what the implications were for the stage of our destination city?


    T shrugged. Honestly? No. So, a city in itsst stages, eh? Poption in the tens of thousands, buttoning up and getting thest of the goods out. She smiled, sitting down with her food. Magic coalescing about the walls like water in the ocean, luring in all manner of creatures, both the simply arcane, and the truly magical.


    Atrexia shook her head and continued eating. Like a child with a bedtime story.


    Trent ignored his fellow Mage protector. Even the harvesting guilds will be beginning to pull out. Why do you think I wasnt willing to go with you to the ending tree grove?


    You said it would be too expensive?


    He gave her a t look. And have we encountered so muchtely that that made sense?


    Oh. She nodded, digging into her food and talking around the mouthful. I get it. The abandoned outer circles of the city, and the surrounding countryside, will be crawling with beasts.


    Atrexia hesitated, then sighed. That is close enough to true. You know, it would be better if you stayed in the city. You are taking the next caravan out, yes?


    T nodded. I am, but Im <em>very</em> interested in the ending-berries, and I think its worth the risk. Ts eyes narrowed. You didnt care if I risked myself thest time it was brought up.


    Atrexia put on a false veneer of affront. Mistress T! I never meant to imply Id like to see you die. I only meant that your death would be a travesty to more than just you, if you died before tomorrow morning.


    Ts eyes further narrowed. You dont think theres another in the city who can empower cargo-slots. Atrexia took a hasty bite of food. T took the silence as a response and continued. Youre afraid of getting stuck in Alefast until a recement can arrive, if I die.


    Renix was still shoveling food in his mouth, but he managed to give Atrexia a hurt look. Thats not very kind.


    I dont want her to die, ok? Why must you look for the reasons why? Isnt my desire enough. She nced Ts way. Besides, I wont be with the caravaning back immediately anyways. My departure doesnt hinge on her.


    That gave T pause. <em>Maybe, its something else, then?</em> Fair enough. She turned back to Trent. So, what will tomorrow look like?


    The pass will be the biggest gamble. Mistress Atrexia is uniquely suited to fight in that terrain, thatsrgely why she was recruited for this particr venture.


    Strong-armed, more like, the woman muttered around her food.


    In either case, she should be able to drive back anything we encounter through the pass. Once were out, the power in the area beyond the pass will have changed the local animals much more substantially than those weve seen so far, and there will likely be at least a few purely magical creatures.


    Trent? Why are you giving her the <em>most basic</em> lesson? Atrexia had paused eating, once again, to regard him.


    He shrugged. I prefer to be thorough.


    Atrexia grunted, seeming unsatisfied, but didnt press.


    Do you need me to be ready to help?


    Atrexia rolled her eyes but refrained frommenting.


    Trent, though, was nodding. Maybe. What sort of support could you offer?


    T hesitated, realizing that she didnt <em>really</em> want to exin her abilities. Finally, she settled on being urate, but vague. I can remove single targets,rgely without difficulty. There will be some magical creatures that can shrug off my attack for a time, but very few. I cannot easily effect a swarm, but I can remove up to She nced at the back of her hand. 23? I think I can remove any 23 opponents from the field, either one at a time, or in groups. If there are particrly resilient opponents, treat them as more than one of that number, and it should still be urate.


    Renix whistled in appreciation around his food, somehow, but didntment further.


    Trent nodded. Big and focused. That might be useful. Renix and I are good at quickly removing lots of normal opponents, and the guards can handle a horde of weak, or a small number of normal, enemies. He nced to Atrexia and smiled. She can obliterate almost anything arcane in the mountains, the few exceptions <em>should</em> be subject to Renix and I, but its good to know we can call on you. He turned back to T. Are you limited by what they areposed of? He blinked, seeming to consider for himself, then shook his head. Of course, you arent; I apologize. Youre an immaterial, the material that is around is irrelevant to you.


    T smiled. Reasonable question, nheless. If I can see or sense them, I can affect them.


    Well keep that in mind. Thank you.


    Happy to help.


    Small talk filled the remainder of the space around the consumption of their food, and the four parted ways for the night.


    T felt somewhat strange as she made her way back to her wagon, requisitioning herself a shield along the way. She didnt feel sick, precisely, but she did feel <em>off.</em>


    She dismissed it.


    * * *


    T woke, gasping for air and struggling to breathe, just as first light began to put the stars from the sky.


    Something had gone <em>terribly</em> wrong.


    She pulled in huge lungfuls of air through a gaping mouth, but it felt<em></em>incorrect, <em>broken.</em> Like eating soup with a fork.


    She pushed herself out from under the anchored shield and away from her bedroll, but she found herself stiff, and her movements stumbling. <em>Poisoned? Someone poisoned me?</em>


    No, she didnt feel sick, she just couldnt seem to breathe right, or move without tripping over herself


    <em>Everything I focused on yesterday. Everything is WRONG</em>. Somehow, her body was fighting back against the changes shed made to her breathing, posture, and bnce.


    It was <em>rusting</em> terrible.


    She tried to draw in her breath through her nose, but it felt like breathing through a straw which was actually pretty close to the truth. Even so, it was infuriating, and her lungs screamed at her for more air, faster.


    She tried to focus on her movement, keeping her bnce centered above her feet, and it felt like someone had broken her ankles.


    Her whole back felt like it was a collection of tension, knots, and agony: the muscles bunching and twisting, fighting for control. It was as if someone hadced her back with rope from the abyss itself, before cinching it taut.


    She groaned, trying to stretch, while fighting a growing sense of breathlessness.


    <em>What is going on?</em>


    She heard a man walk up to her wagon and begin to climb. She ignored it as she tried to force her body to <em>obey</em>. <em>You are my body! Come on, T, get it together.</em>


    She heard a quizzical noise, and turned to see Adam regarding her, his head just barely poking above the lip of the wagon. Whats wrong with you?


    She pulled in a quick breath through her mouth, despite how <em>wrong</em> that felt too, and cursed at him. You rusting broke me! Whats wrong with you, telling me to change all these- She took in another gasping breath. -things about myself at once?


    Adam was frowning. You should be experiencing some oddities, as well as a difficulty in replicating what you did yesterday, but you seem to be having a somewhat extreme reaction. Are you sure you arent overreacting?


    She red at him, as she panted, hating every inhaled breath, even as her lungs fought to keep her breathing <em>more</em>. I learn much more quickly than most.


    He nodded. Your reaction makes sense then, I suppose. Your sess yesterday was something we call beginnerspetence, often known as beginners luck. Most people are very good at most things, when they first attempt them, only falling to the traps of ignorance upon repeated attempts. Most of the time, that means that a student will feel like they are getting everything right on the first day. Then, they will feel that they are unable to take a single correct step for weeks after that.


    T cursed again, then took in a great gasp and continued. You mean, that Ill be this way for <em>weeks!?</em>


    He shook his head. I would expect you to level out more quickly, but you wont return to thepetence you experienced yesterday for quite a while.


    She continued to re.


    Take deep breaths. You know the pattern.


    She opened her mouth to shout at him, but he held up a hand, climbing the rest of the way onto the roof.


    Try it.


    She dropped into a cross-legged, seated position, focusing on her breathing, and ring.


    Close your eyes.


    She obliged, turning all her focus onto fighting her bodys certainty that she was drowning.


    Breathe.


    She did. In through her nose, out through her mouth.


    Slowly, deeply.


    She did so, feeling her panic begin to lessen, even while she still felt out of breath.


    She heard Adam walking around her, seemingly examining her as she continued to breathe.


    T didnt let that distract her from her ongoing, internal battle.


    Suddenly, she felt Adam strike her back, right at one of the worst bunches of rebellious muscle. It was as if he severed the abyssal cord, and the taut rope of agony whipped through her back.


    Instead of screaming, as she very much wanted to, she found herself utterly unable to breathe.


    Hed struck her just at the end of an explosive exhale, and she was utterly without breath.


    In through your nose, Mistress T.


    She obliged, if only to be able to scream at him.


    Surprisingly, the immense sh of pain had passed, and her back felt incredible relief. She was by no means cured, as many muscr pain points still screamed at her, but her entire back was no longer a web of misery.


    T grunted instead of screeching at him.


    Better?


    She grunted again, opening her eyes to re. You could have warned me.


    No, I couldnt have. Your unawareness is all that allowed me to break the core of your misalignment.


    She grumbled, but she knew he was right. Her body was no longer screaming at her quite so loudly, and her lungs no longer felt like they were in open revolt.


    Ive seen you stretching. It is a good set. Triple your time in it this morning, and do another set, just as long, at least twice more today. Try to focus on the things from yesterday, and dont be discouraged when you have more difficulty than before.


    T grunted, then sighed. Thank you. After a short pause, she added. I think I still hate you, but thank you for not just abandoning me. After another pause, she continued. You came, because you knew Id be off this morning?


    He quirked a smile. That, and I could hear you gasping for air from the other side of the caravan.


    She felt herself color. Was it that loud?


    I was waiting for some indication that you were awake, so I was paying <em>very</em> close attention.


    She felt slightly mollified.


    Ill leave you to it, then. Without furtherment from either of them, Adam departed.


    After he was well out of earshot, T muttered to herself. I hope some sort of masseuse is still in Alefast, because there is <em>no</em> way Im getting all these knots out just by stretching


    <em>Breathing first, T.</em> She calmed herself, centering her thoughts, and drawing her awareness inward, enforcing her breathing pattern. It wasnt perfect, but she was able to alleviate the feeling of drowning in perfectly good air.


    That done, she clumsily gathered up her bedroll and tossed the shield down over the side. Shed normally have carried it but didnt want the added imbnce.


    She returned the shield and stored her bedroll. Then, she went through her morning empowerment of the cargo-slots.


    It was much more difficult, today, as her body''s aches and general feel of being off-bnce weakened her mental construct, thereby lowering efficiency.


    Even so, it didnt take long for her to be finished with her work for the morning.


    That done, she made her way to stand outside the wagon circle in the light of the rising sun and began to stretch, following Adams advice and lingering deeply in each position when it was a static stretch, and increasing the repetitions for those that were dynamic.


    Her body felt like a twisted cord being pulled. It was unwinding, but there were still spins in the line that caused strange pulling.


    It was <em>deeply</em> ufortable.


    Extended stretchesplete, she moved through her exercises, then did another, normal set of stretches after. <em>More cant hurt.</em>


    Through the body work, shed been keeping a portion of her mind on her breathing, and it continued to settle into ce.


    All told, it was well after sunrise when she finished, and most people had finished their breakfasts by the time she grabbed hers. She found herself catching her feet on the uneven ground as she approached the chuckwagon but kept herself from falling, cursing, or making too much a spectacle of herself.


    Brand, bless the man, had a massive earthen jug of coffee to go with her food. It was at least a half-gallon in size. The meal itself was an omelet, containing a healthy helping of thunder bull meat along with cheeses, spices, peppers, and other vegetables.


    She poured out her thanks, then took her breakfast back to her wagon, tripping several more times along the way. Thankfully, she was always able to recover herself before dropping anything.


    As she ate, she stared at the pass they would traverse in the next few hours. The density of magic flowing through it was palpably higher than that in the surrounding hills. <em>What awaits us, there?</em>


    Shed find out soon enough, but she had more immediate concerns.


    Her food eaten and coffee at the ready, T turned her focus inward and simply <em>breathed.</em>


    T sat on top of her wagon in the shade of her wide-brimmed hat, eyes closed and thoughts directed inward.


    Even so, she was able to hear the creak of the wagon beneath her and feel the growing warmth on her right side as the caravan began to move towards the cleft that they would use as a pass.


    As she directed her attention towards her breathing, it seemed to activate her mage-sights deeper perception, because she was suddenly able to see the air, lightly infused with magic, moving in and out with each cycling breath.


    It was strange, as there seemed to be power rting to fire in each breath in, and her body was harvesting that, recing it with something that appeared reminiscent of living nts, at least that was the feeling she got. Strangely, the air she exhaled seemed to be denser with magic than that which she drew in.


    <em>Am I losing power with each breath?</em> It was a strange thought but made a sort of sense. <em>Most Mages leak power all around themselves. I dont. I suppose losing some through breathing isnt unique to me, it is just more noticeable to me.</em>


    It was more than sensing the contents of her lungs; though, that was part of it, and that was strange enough.


    Just as the thunder cattle, or terror bird, had been more than the animal they diverged from, so the air in her lungs was more than simply air.


    Within most human cities, there was almost no magic free floating, as all of it was harvested and directed towards the defenses of the city, itself.


    Here, in the wilds, it was everywhere.


    She could feel the slowly increasing quantity of magic in the air she drew in, steadily rising towards the density that she exhaled.


    Experimentally, she held her breath, and watched closely. Not only did the tint of the air in her lungs move away from a patron of fire, and towards an aide to nt life, but it also became more and more magically dense, moving rapidly towards the levels of power observable throughout her body. <em>Could we make a device that measured a Mages power via breath?</em>


    She contemted. <em>Wed have to have them hold their breath for a set amount of time</em> As she continued to observe, she noticed that as the magic in the air she breathed increased, so did that in the air she exhaled. <em>Wed need to be in a magically sterile environment, too. So, it would only work in cities</em>


    Experimentally, as she continued to breathe, she reached out to the power in the air within her lungs. To her surprise, it moved easily, responding to her will.


    In gleeful fervor, she concentrated the power, pushing it together as she exhaled.


    A small <em>pop</em> caused her eyes to snap open. <em>What was that?</em> It hadnt truly been a sound, though a sound had apanied the feeling.


    Den turned his head around, barely able to see as he looked over the front edge of the wagon, a question in his eyes. She waved and smiled. After smiling and returning the gesture, he shrugged, and turned back towards his work.


    <em>Den felt that? No, he likely heard the slight pop.</em> It hadnt really sounded like anything natural. She couldnt think of a way to describe the sound as she took notes. <em>Pay more attention next time.</em>

 Chapter 33: Creature of Magic

    Chapter 33: Creature of Magic


    T inhaled, long and slow once more, focusing on the powering in with the air, as well as the power leaking into her lungs.


    Eyes open, she exhaled, while willing the power toe together,pressing it into as small a point as possible as it left her mouth.


    As soon as the magic left the inside of her body, she lost sway over it, and it attempted toe to equilibrium with the air around her.


    There was a <em>pop</em>, and a minute flicker of light as the power dispersed.


    Ts breath caught. <em>That shouldnt be possible. Humans cant create magic without spell-lines. We can only</em>She gasped. <em>Move power around within ourselves.</em> Thats all that she had done. To be fair, only Immaterial Guides could manipte power, freely, within themselves. Magic was, after all, Immaterial. <em>Though Immaterial Creators cant make itOr can they? Id bet its like making gold, it takes more power than it gives benefit.</em>


    She returned her focus to what shed just done. The power had left her because it was in the air shed exhaled. She hadnt cast it forth as a spell.


    She bent back over her notebook, recording what she had done and the result. Without a better way to describe the sound, she settled on: It creates a pop, which sounds like a cork shooting from a bottle, but heard through your chest. It was not a great description.


    A world of <em>very</em> foolish ideas opened before her. <em>Could I direct the power within my lungs into a kic force amplification form? </em>The most likely oue would be bursting her lungs from the inside, so she held off on that.


    T had heard of Mages who treated their spells almost like breath-weapons, breathing out their spells. Barbaric shamans of the past would cut themselves and fling out spells. Shed always thought of both as strange, but what if they were each doing what she had just done? Creating spell-forms within themselves and then finding a way to send them forth.


    She let out a barkingugh, realizing that someone, at some point in history, had likely tried to urinate spells. <em>Assuming Im right</em>


    She then felt a bit of embarrassment at having thought of the shamans as barbaric. <em>Spell-forms in blood is exactly how Ive been making my Archon star variantAnd how everyone checks for identification and certification, though, without the form.</em>


    She needed to test this. <em>Gravity. I have the best grasp on that.</em>


    She picked up a pencil and held it in front of her. Then, she took a deep breath, quickly bringing to mind a very basic gravity spell-form. It simply would deny gravitys effects to an area.


    She moved to impose the simple spell-form onto the power within her lungs.


    It was <em>much</em> trickier than shed hoped.


    The power fought her, seeming not to want to follow her guidance, and it didnt seem to want to flow as she expected, like trying to cut a hard, round herb with a dull knife. It kept slipping and sliding, and she could <em>feel</em> how dangerous it would be if it slipped fully from her grasp.


    Her breath held, she bore down and forced it into shape, maintaining her mental construct both of the spell-form she was guiding the power through and the results the spell should aplish.


    She failed.


    She let out a breath, the power popping violently within her mouth as she exhaled. It felt like someone had kicked her in the teeth from the inside.


    Ow


    She took a few calming breaths, focusing solely on using the correct pattern of inhtion and exhtion. To her surprise, she realized that the long, deep breath through her nose should be perfect for building the spell-form and adding power to it in a slow, controlled way, and the quick exhale would expel the magic quickly enough to make it useful for delivering concentrated spells.


    <em>This wouldnt work for a breath weapon. Id need a long, steady exhale for that</em> How would that even work? <em>Im not going to experiment with heat-forms.</em> Not only were they not her expertise, thus not easy for her to picture and therefore enact, but she was also highly aware that generating magical heat in her own lungs was a recipe for disaster.


    <em>Anti-gravity, right.</em> She was about to attempt it again when she heard a horse ride up beside her wagon.


    Mistress T! What are you doing?


    T turned and leaned to look over the side of the wagon, down on Trent. Master Trent?


    Are you trying to get us killed? He seemed a bit flustered.


    She frowned. What do you mean?


    Are you sending out magical pulses?


    She opened her mouth to say no, then stopped. <em>Oh</em> Um Possibly?


    Trent closed his eyes, clearly steadying himself. Mistress T. We are <em>trying</em> to thread this pass without garnering the attention of anything unpleasant. Why<em> by all that breathes</em> would you be sending out magical pulses?! His voice was barely contained below shout.


    I apologize, Master Trent. I did not think that what I was doing would be so obvious.


    He pursed his lips. It felt like you were poking me between the eyes, even without my magic-sight active. Whatever you were doing created ripples in all the magic in the area.


    <em>Ohrust.</em>


    He took another calming breath. Thankfully, it seems to have gone unnoticed. Please-


    A strange, <em>chuff chuff</em> sound echoed out of the pass and across the caravan. It was as if a bear were sniffing at the wind, if the bear in question was the size of a mountain.


    T turned to look back at the pass, and her mage-sight immediately highlighted two differences.


    First, the magicing out of the pass was even stronger than before, seeming to be rippling out like waves before a boat. Second, a zing source of power was dropping down the sheer face of one of the mountains, deep in the pass, directly into their path.


    She turned back to look at Trent as he stared down the pass. Oh, childwhat have you done.


    T stood, focusing down the pass once more, even while she was still unsteady on her feet. <em>Not the best time to have bnce issues</em>


    She swallowed involuntarily at what she saw, concerns over her bnce temporarily forgotten.


    Where the arcanous creatures and nts shed seen over thest few days had had magic in them, the beast striding their way <em>was</em> magic. Every fiber of its being inundated with power; a deep red aura undey the magic she could see.


    Though shed never dug deeply into the study of magical creatures, even she knew of the kinding their way.


    A midnight fox.


    As the name suggested, the basic appearance was that of a massive fox, its shoulder reaching higher than Ts head, even standing on the wagon top. Its eyes were a gleaming silver with ck slits, and its fur was a matte ck that more closely resembled tar than the fur of animals, though it moved easily enough. Flicks of light glinted off the sliver of its ws, and there was the wrinkle of small gusts of wind in the surrounding grasses from each movement of its tail.


    There were two main deviations from the vulpine form; the first was two horns, one on each side of the head sprouting from just below the ear, curving inward, following the line of the upper jaw, and practically dripping with power. Her mage-sight gave her the impression of darkness, silence, and protection from those horns.


    In addition to the horns, a pair of antlers sprouted up between the ears on top of the midnight foxs head. While the horns were an almost steel grey color, banded with ck, the antlers were as metallically silver as the midnight foxs eyes and ws. The powering from each reminded her of an iing thunderstorm. Each antler had eleven points, and if she remembered correctly, they grew a new prong for each decade theyd lived. <em>More than two hundred and twenty years old.</em>


    There was a terrible beauty to the animal, even at their current distance. <em>It is young, for its kind.</em> Midnight foxes were said to live for centuries, if not millennia, continuing to umte power as they aged. And that ignored the theory that all such were originally ordinary foxes that became so infused with power that they transformed. <em>Do the antlers count their age from first birth, or from transformation?</em> As she considered, she realized that it was hardly relevant.


    Master TrentWhat now?


    Trents eyes were locked on the pass. We have to know what it is. I cant quite see it-


    Midnight fox. She cut across him. Eleven prongs, per side, if my count is correct.


    He looked up at her sharply. Are you sure?


    As I can be. Ive never seen one in person, but the standard markers are there. The horns and antlers, ck fur that doesnt look quite right, silver eyes, etc.


    Trent nodded. Your mage-sight must be impressive to see it at this range. How did you get around the overstimtion- He cut himself off. This is hardly the time. I apologize. I must go speak with Mistress Atrexia. As he turned to ride away, in search of the other Mage, he paused, ncing back at her. Were you serious, when you offered to eliminate singr,rge threats?


    She nodded. It is the least I could do, given


    He held up a hand, shaking his head. With where it came from, it likely would have noticed us either way. Now we can face it before going into the pass, where it would have had the advantage. He sighed. I dont think we will be able to drive it off, but we can hope.


    T frowned. <em>Thats right. </em>Truly magical creatures cant be killed outright, not without incredible preparation. The best that can be hoped for is to kill this body and hope that there isnt enough power in the area for it toe back.


    Magical creatures were believed to be manifestations of the power in each region, which allowed ordinary animals to grow incredibly potent. Now that she thought about it, shed never heard if the creature that came back was the same one, or if it was just usually the same kind. <em>How would you even test that? Unique markings? Even if they were different, that wouldnt prove that the intelligence inside were different</em> Magical creatures acted as if they were unconcerned of death, as almost universally they would never retreat, even in the face of certain bodily defeat. There were exceptions, but they were rare. All that considered, did it matter?


    <em>Not at the moment. Focus, T. </em>Is this one known?


    Trent was nodding. It is one of those catalogued in the region, though I dont recall it being spotted in thest fifty years or so. It hasnt engaged caravans in the past. He was scratching his chin. It is definitely better than some of the others noted nearby. He grunted. I must go. Please be ready in case we need you.


    He turned and rode away just as the wagon jostled her more than usual, and she lost her bnce, sitting down hard. Ow


    T took a long pull from her coffee jug, thinking. <em>I could crush it, end the fight.</em> But she was having trouble focusing, and bncing, and with magic in general. Her teeth still hurt from her earlier experiment. <em>Whats this, T, not confident?</em>


    She let out an irritated grunt and drank more coffee. <em>Ill be ready if they need me.</em> She deeply hoped that was the truth.


    * * *


    Less than an hourter, they were nearing the mouth of the pass, where the midnight fox waited, sitting back on its haunches, towering over the wagons.


    The oxen were understandably skittish, but they were well trained and well handled. They wouldnt flee without good cause.


    <em>Looks like a good cause to me</em>


    T sat near the front of the lead wagon, and Trent, Atrexia, and Renix walked well in front of the oxen, Renix in the middle and a little behind. They had all left their Mages robes behind, and their spell-lines were fully uncovered. This would not be an easy fight, and they wanted every advantage.


    The Mages were close to a hundred feet in front of Dens oxen, and when they stopped, Den pulled his animals to a halt as well, maintaining the distance.


    There were irregr waves of powering from the midnight fox, but T couldnt discern the exact source. To her mage-sight, the red aura of the beast made it look like it was bleeding out a fine mist, which swirled in the air around it. The fox didnt move, maintaining its position in the very center of the surprisingly wide, level pass-entrance.


    The pass itself stretched out behind the creature, nearly t and wide enough for two wagons to easily pass with room to spare, before the sides rose sharply up.


    <em>Yeah, thats definitely not natural.</em>


    The fox stood up, power moving up its antlers in waves, sparks jumping between the points.


    With a yell, Atrexia countered, power flowed from the spell-lines around her ankles, through the rock surrounding them.


    Spears of stone shot from the ground beside the midnight fox, driving into its body and head and throwing it to the side just as lightning manifested from its antlers.


    The spears of stone did not pierce the foxs fur, as power had surged in the foxs horns to counter the attack. T could see a sheen of magic, cracked and dissolving, which had sprung into ce across the vulpine body.


    Even so, the foxs lightning struck out in a cascading cavalcade of repetitive strikes, carving huge furrows in the earth as it skittered towards the Mages. Trent flicked his hand, and T thought she might have heard him utter something, but she wasnt sure. Power reached out from his left arm, and the lightning diverted in its leaping path, digging up rock and soil towards the east.


    The conflict devolved from there, the fox rolling to its feet and lunging for the Mages, using the motion to throw out another attack.


    The strikes, counter strikes, blocks, and retreats of the four became almost a dance. They never closed the distance between them, despite the foxs aggressive movements.


    The three humans seemed to be barely holding their own against the massive creature, and T had to wonder why it didnt charge, simply tearing them to shreds via tooth, w, horn, and antler.


    Power shed in the mouth of the pass for nearly a minute before T sensed an issue. She stood in a rush, even as the midnight fox must have sensed the same thing. There was a missing piece to the human warding, a gap.


    Ance of lightning coalesced, threading through theplex of defenses the three humans were wielding, striking Renix full in the bare chest.


    The young man was thrown backwards, tumbling feet over head again and again beforeing to a rest near the oxen.


    T quickly focused on him and determined that hed prevented the power from prating his body, even though it had thrown him, and most of his injuries were due to the subsequent tumble across the rough ground. He was covered in scrapes and cuts, already welling with blood.


    She looked back up in time to see the fox pounce atop Atrexia; its leap stopped by a dome of stone, which rose up in two halves to close over the Mage in a protective formation.


    A spear of ice, as thick as T was tall, drove through the vulpine neck, courtesy of Trent, who had taken advantage of the animals distraction, but it only seemed to slow the great creature marginally.


    Trent called out. Mistress T!


    The midnight foxs eyes turned to regard her, even as its antlers began the short process of charging for another raking lighting cascade.


    There was no one between the fox and the caravan now, save the seemingly unconscious Renix.


    T stared at the antlers, seeing the building power with all too much rity.


    TALA!


    Her conscious mind frozen in horror; she acted on pure instinct; her right handing up as she extended her arm, palm out. Her first two fingers shook slightly as they extended towards the sky, the second two bending down. All four fingers and thumb were tucked close together.


    She couldnt take her eyes from the antlers, and thus, as she locked onto her target, only the foxs antlers glowed blue to her sight.


    No time to fix it. The lightning was about to be unleashed upon her.


    <em>Crush.</em>


    Unlike her restraining magic, there was no artistry, here, no calctions, no light touch. Her power seized the gravitational constant for the target and dumped power into increasing it.


    The fox, sensing the iing attack, seemed to activate the defensive fields of its horns, causing a glittering field to manifest across its form.


    It didnt matter.


    One golden ring zed to light on the back of Ts outstretched hand, and the foxs head dipped slightly, the effective weight of the antlers quadrupling.


    The lightning, it seemed, couldnt be released through the foxs own barrier, so the power still radiated in those metallic points.


    Another golden ring zed with power on the back of Ts upraised hand, before vanishing alongside the first.


    The foxs head dropped to the ground as the antlers quadrupled in weight, again.


    The animal let out a furious snarl.


    A third golden ring shed away in a ze of power, and fox began to try to scramble backwards, causing the antlers to unbnce and m into the ground to the side. It was dragging its head across the soil, the antlers digging trenches. They might have broken off, but the fox''s magical defensive field seemed to be protecting them.


    A fourth golden circle triggered and the antlers, now two hundred and fifty-six times as heavy, cracked free from the foxs skull.


    POWER. Overwhelming, all-consuming power blossomed from the sharp tips, seeking to destroy. The foxs defenses were strong, however, and that power couldnt strike outward through its magical field. Instead, lightning tore through the creature in a brilliant ze that briefly outshone the sun.


    T turned away, stumbling as she twisted to shield her eyes, and she sat <em>hard</em> bruising her backside with the awkwardnding.


    She groaned rubbing her eyes to clear them before turning back towards the midnight fox.


    There was no fox left to see.


    Her mage-sight allowed her to perceive the remnants of the animals protective shield, just then fading away, allowing aughably small dusting of ash to fall to the ground.


    The midnight fox had been obliterated, entirely, by its own magic.


    T looked at the back of her hand. <em>Four. It took four rings, and even then, it only worked by happenstance.</em>


    Her fear had locked her concentration on the antlers alone, instead of the fox as a whole. One ring should have been enough to y the beast outright, as most creatures are not structured to keep blood flowing when the blood was four times as heavy, and they will usually drop into unconsciousness almost immediately due to shock, to die shortly thereafter.


    Still, shed had a failsafe built in so that when she came across a particrly resilient enemy, the magics would ramp up until death was inevitable. That had both saved her, today, and cost her. <em>Three castingswasted.</em> Her inability to ovee her momentary panic had cost her not only the inscriptions, but the manner of victory had eliminated any possibility of harvesting.


    It was the worst sort of victory; the only constion was that it had been a victory.


    She tried to pull herself out of her self-deprecating musings, and as she did so she saw the earthen dome crumble away, Atrexia quickly taking in the remains of the battle.


    Trent was already running towards Renix, and T found that Den was already beside the mageling, carefully shifting the mans body to a more natural, prone position.


    Atrexia didnt run, but she did take up a quick pace as she returned to the caravan, herself.


    T unsteadily climbed down the wagon and met Trent beside Renix.


    The Mage took in his magelings state with a careful inspection and sighed. The young man was breathing, though clearly in a lot of pain, even while unconscious.


    Trent looked up at T and smiled. Thank you, Mistress T. That would have been He shook his head. Thank you.


    T tried to smile in return but felt sick. <em>I failed.</em> She felt like someone who had bludgeoned an attacker to death with a sword, still in its scabbard. Sure, the threat was gone, but she was a clumsy oaf, alive more from luck than anything else.


    When she didnt reply, Trent stood from beside Renix and stepped around to her. Hey? Are you alright?


    Atrexia arrived and immediately attended to Renix, not giving T a second nce. Even so, T turned away, so that the other woman wouldnt see the tear, which had escaped one eye. Ill Ill be fine.


    Trent caught her up in a hug. Thank you, Mistress T. No matter what, thank you. I might have been able to protect the caravan, but there was no easy endgame in that fight, after it knocked Renix away. Thank you.


    T hesitantly hugged him in return, silently nodding against his chest, before he let her go.


    Go, see if the cooks will get you some food. Well help Renix back to our wagon and be on the move again, soon.


    T nodded again and strode away in silence, Trent continuing to block her from Atrexias sight.

 Chapter 34: Aftermath

    Chapter 34: Aftermath


    T spoke as little as she reasonably could, both as she asked for something to eat, and while requesting arger than usual lunch for herself and the other magic users.


    She took a tter back to her wagon, and only slipped three times on the way up thedder. Thankfully, she didnt drop her food. <em>Well, at least Im finally readjusting</em>


    Den smiled back at her, as she came up onto the roof. I think were ready to go, Mistress. Are you braced for me to start?


    She gave a forced smile in return. Thank you, Den. She sat. Im ready.


    Den flicked his reins, and the caravan began moving across the brokenndscape and into the pass, the wagons articted wheels handling the rough terrain with rtive ease.


    Three guards were riding to the front of the caravan, scouting the way, and she nced back to see Atrexia standing on the middle-most wagon, eyes scanning their surroundings.


    <em>Trent said it would have found us either way</em>


    <em></em>Was that true?


    <em>Probably. Its not like it was far off the path, and a midnight fox, in this pass, would have beendifficult.</em>


    T had dealt with a truly magical creature and protected the caravan.


    <em>From a threat I brought down on us.</em>


    Trent had assured her it would have seen them, either way.


    She couldnt escape the dual feelings of guilt and shame.


    Shed instigated the attack, even if it would have happened either way, and shed been sloppy ining to the Mages aid.


    <em>What happened back there, T?</em>


    Shed frozen. Her eyes had locked on the antlers, and their building magical power, and she hadnt been able to properly target the great beast. Trent had been calling to her for help. Shed offered to help, and shedseeded?


    This felt so different from the thunder bull. For that creature, shed hunted it, going in with a n, and executing the n and the animal both. It hadnt been a great n, but shed followed through to victory.


    This


    The midnight fox had been about to kill her.


    Trent <em>might</em> have stopped it. Simrly, her iron salve <em>might</em> have protected her, but Den would have died, and the cargo wagon, her charge, would have been eliminated. She shuddered to think what would have happened if the cargo-slots werepromised. Violent dimensional realignment might have obliterated the whole caravan.


    She snorted a mirthlessugh.


    <em>Might have killed the midnight fox, too.</em> Though, its protections had been astoundingly powerful


    She took a bite of her food and reveled in the taste. The food did make her feel a bit better. Every meal, she felt like nothing could be so good again, and every meal, she was proven wrong. She devoured the remainder, while continuing her contemtions.


    Had fear been behind the hesitation and mistake? <em>No. At the time, I knew I would survive. Thinking about it now, I realize that I probably wouldnt have, but I didnt know that, then.</em> She frowned. <em>Ive never stared down an attack before.</em>


    Training didnt really count. She knew her fellow students werent a threat, and even if they had been, the training room defenses, and on call healers, were ready to hand. No student at the academy had died in the course of their training in hundreds of years.


    Shed checked.


    Even the thunder bulls column of lightning hadnt truly been an attack that shed had to face down. It hade after she was finished acting and was passed before she reallyprehended that it wasing.


    <em>That must be it. Ive never looked upon a worthy opponent and known they were about to try their hardest to strike me down.</em> She almostughed at her own pretentious thoughts, but it did fit. She could still see the midnight foxs eyes, locked on her, calmly assured that it was about to snuff her from existence.


    She shivered.


    With the practice shed recently had, she turned her mage-sight inward and examined herself.


    Her body was flooded with the aftereffects of adrenaline, and she was still trembling with lingering <em>Fear?</em>


    Again, that didnt seem right.


    <em>Horror?</em> That seemed closer to the mark. Fear was an emotion rting to what <em>might</em> happen, while horror was a response to what <em>was</em> happening.


    Shed fought countless opponents in mock battles, all of whom had tried to best her. Even the thunder bull had struck her with a powerful blow, but the midnight fox<em>It had </em>known<em> it would be victorious.</em> And T had picked up on that and almost made it true by her own reaction. <em>Orck thereof.</em>


    The terror bird had just been too fast an encounter for conscious thought.<em> Maybe, Id have responded the same, there, if given the chance?</em>


    T often put forward a confident air, despite not usually being truly confident, but shed never actually seen confidence wielded as a weapon. It was a lesson that she swore to learn.


    Her te clean, and her mind mostly settled, she returned her focus briefly to the world around them.


    They were deep in the pass now, the sun not risen sufficiently to shine into the chasm that was the cleft. Thus, they were in deep, cool shade.


    It felt wonderful.


    Sheid back on the roof of the wagon and basked in the cool dimness of it all, breathing regrly.


    Long inhale through her nose. Short burst of an exhale through her mouth.


    <em>What should I do for the remainder of the morning?</em> She had several books that she still had to read. <em>Trent will want his book on item crafting theory back</em> Her eyes widened. <em>Oh Im an idiot.</em>


    She pulled out the book and flipped back through it until she found the section, exactly as she remembered it.


    <em>Every medium has slight variations in the spell-forms required.</em> She groaned. <em>Air is a new medium, to me</em>. <em>Great</em>


    As she reread the section, she noticed a reference to methodology for discovering the means of inscribing new materials. The book, of course, didnt borate, but it was referenced. There was a warning that it was costly, due to the need to use precious metals for each test piece, and it was useless if the Mage only had a small sample of the material, but air was everywhere.


    She grinned. <em>And Im not using precious metals for the spell-forms.</em>


    She blinked. <em>I didnt use precious metals for the spell-forms. That shouldnt be possible. Right?</em>


    T thought back through her conversations with other Mages. <em>No, I made my Archon Star deviation in blood. No precious metals there. Archons also make their own stars in all sorts of materials, supposedly. Those spell-forms dont need precious metals. So</em><em>The precious metals are only a catalyst, forcing the power through prescribed pathways that are tooplex for a human mind to reliably maintain.</em>


    That was fair. <em>As good a guess as any.</em> She couldnt possibly maintain all her silver inscriptions in her mind, at all times, and she heavily relied on their monitoring of iing damage, among other things.


    <em>So, the metal is a crutch, if a necessary one?</em> The need for precious metals was a lie. She snorted, again. <em>Like our early math teachers insisting that we couldnt take arge number from a small number, removing negative numbers from the picture untilter lessons.</em>


    That seemed close, but still not quite right. <em>The Archon Star has a form, but no function. Ive never pushed the power through a mental construct of what it is supposed to do</em> The stars felt like a part of her. She sighed and added a book on the uses of Archon Stars to her shopping list.


    She returned her thoughts to the main line of her musings: No arcane or magical beast that she knew of had inscriptions. <em>Do they maintain their spell-forms mentally?</em> No, that beggared the imagination. They somehow had their spell-forms imprinted on them naturally.


    Magical creatures were even more extreme, seeminglypletely created by magic. The midnight fox had seemed, somehow, to be <em>entirely</em> spell-forms, containing magic and forcing it into the animals form. She opened one of her notebooks to the back and began copying out all the parts of the midnight foxs internal spell-forms that she could recall. There were a lot.


    As she drew out the schemas, she continued her contemtions. The fact that magical creatures were mostly magic was hardly novel information, and it was the core reason why magical beast harvests were so much more valuable than arcane ones. While arcane harvests held vestiges of power, magical parts shaped any power that came into contact with them for an incredibly long time, inparison, in addition to being vastly greater reserves of magical energy. Though, T had a nagging feeling that shed forgotten some caveat to their usefulness. <em>Can they only ever have one owner?</em> That might have been it, but it didnt quite fit.


    <em>Ive still much to learn, and Im getting all tangled up.</em> There was no possible way that she was the first person to walk this path of thinking, so she needed to seek out books, or a teacher if she could find one. <em>Master Trent has been trying to exin to me the benefits of the mageling-Master rtionship.</em>


    She sighed.


    <em>That tinctures already off the fire.</em>


    Still, she could likely find someone to help connect some of the dots.


    <em>Plus, books. There are always books.</em> Hopefully, she could find some general texts, along with a more specific one on how to test for inscribing methodology on new materials. <em>Im not going to forget about that.</em>


    <em>Now, I just need to figure out how to test my theories on my breath, without bing a magical beacon</em>


    She spent the morning writing out, modifying, and rejecting hundreds of ideas. Even so, every wed musing enlightened the overall methodology of her thinking, moving her ever towards reasonable possibilities. Around those brainstorm sessions, she continued to illustrate the midnight foxs spell-forms. Thankfully, she didnt have to recreate the whole creature, as most of the foxs magic had been duplicated. Thus, she was just sketching out the unique forms, along with her memory and interpretation of their purposes.


    As to magic in her breath: The obvious solution was to practice inside cities, but as she fully intended to spend as much time as possible on trade caravans, that didnt help her much.


    While she continued to contemte that issue, her ending-berries came to mind. Specifically, the seeds of destructive energy in their core.


    She decided that keeping the ending-berries as they were, when they got to the city, was a bad n. She got a bar of her iron salve, her as of yet unused iron sk, and the berries.


    With quick, now practiced, motions, she split the berries open and sucked the seeds clean, reveling in the buzz of power. That done, she coated the seeds in iron salve, and added them to the others already so treated.


    The meat of the berry, she dropped into the iron sk, making sure that all the juices got inside as well.


    It was a quick process, and in less than five minutes shed processed thest seven berries.


    <em>There, now Im not carrying potentially lethal snacks.</em> She was still carrying the seeds, themselves, but she decided that was fine. <em>Incremental improvements for the win!</em>


    She sighed, shaking her head at herself. Despite trying to focus her mind on other things, she still felt a seed of difort for her part in the mornings battle.


    <em>This isnt going away, until I deal with it.</em>


    She stood up, swaying unsteadily with the movement of the wagon. <em>This is the rusting worst</em> She focused on her bnce, forcing her body to maintain her center of mass low and within her feet, and she felt muscles all through her thighs, hips, and legs cry out in protest. <em>I wasnt moving that differentlywas I?</em>


    Her lower soreness, added to that still residing in her back, made her feel irritable. Wellmore irritable.


    She sighed, again.


    With careful movements, she climbed down off the wagon and jumped out, clear of the wheels, keeping her footing with effort.


    She swung by the chuckwagon to drop off her tter and thank the cooks, on her way to Renix and Trents wagon.


    Once there, she stepped up onto the back step, took a long breath in through her nose and exhaled in a near whistle through her mouth.


    She knocked.


    A man shed seen on asion opened the door. Mistress T? Wont you pleasee in.


    He was the servant for Trents wagon. Thank you, sir.


    She followed his gesture in, allowing him to close the door and shut out what little dust there was.


    Renix was resting on his bed, about halfway up the wagon, and Trent was just pulling on his boots. Mistress T? What can we do for you?


    May I have a seat?


    Trent gestured to the many avable ces to sit, and she took one. It was a surprisinglyfortable chair, considering it was bolted to the floor of the wagon and looked to have been made as lightly as possible.


    How are you, Renix?


    Renix had pushed himself up into a seated position. Oh, Ill live. I was tossed quite a way and broke He nced to Trent. What did Mistress Atrexia say? Thirteen bones?


    Fifteen, Renix.


    Renix nodded. Right. Fifteen. So, not too bad.


    Including a concussion.


    Renix gestured at himself, still in bed. Hence the bed rest.


    T was frowning in concern. She healed you up, right?


    Oh yeah, of course! Im right as rain. He leaned his head back against a pillow and sighed, contentedly.


    Trent shook his head. The bones are set right, but a concussions no small thing. Hell be fine in a day or two though, even without healing. And well have the local flesh worker sort him out this evening. A shame Material Mages arent great at preventing concussions, though.


    T nodded, rxing. Im d youll be alright.


    Oh, Im hardly that.


    She quirked an eyebrow. I thought? She looked to Trent, who was rolling his eyes but didntment.


    I didnt get to see you put that mangy beast down!


    <em>It wasnt mangyTurn of phrase?</em> I guess, so It wasnt that impressive.


    Not thatAre you joking? Renix looked from T to Trent, then back to her. You turned its magic back on itself, obliterating it outright! I heard you even had it trying to flee before you were done. Ive never even heard of a magical animal fleeing. Youre incredible!


    T was frowning again, as she turned to Trent. Did you tell him this tale?


    The Mage shook his head. I told the boy it was your story to tell. So, of course, when you werent ready to hand, he got as many people as he could to tell him.


    T winced. Im sorry, Renix. I really should havee to see how you were, right away.


    Renix waved her off. No! Its fine. You have to think over a battle after it passes, analyze what worked, what didnt, and what you could have done better. Contemting self-improvement and meditating on what you discover is key to improving as a Mage. The young man beamed, looking to his Master for affirmation.


    Trent quirked a smile. Renix is correct, Mistress T. The ways of honing ones craft are well known to us, and your dy is most understandable. His eyes were twinkling with hidden mirth.


    T cleared her throat. <em>So, a book on Mage meditation and reflecting techniques too. </em>Yes, well I still wish I hade by sooner. She took in a deep breath, smelling the clean, but lived in, interior of the wagon. I froze up, and almost got you killed.


    Renix rolled his eyes. Even if thats true, which I doubt, you finished the job.


    T wanted to argue with him, to beat it into his head that shed failed, but she realized that even if she seeded in convincing him, it wouldnt be fair. He was concussed, not fully present. It would like beating a cripple in a foot race. Fine, but I still feel that I owe you an apology. Will you forgive me?


    Absolutely! Done.


    She looked to Trent, and he smiled, nodding. I am grateful that you acted when you did, regardless of the surrounding details. Thank you.


    T felt as if a great weight had lifted from her. A little voice in the back of her mind tried to tell her that she needed to apologize to Atrexia as well, but she snuffed that idea at its roots. Thank you, both of you. She smiled, genuinely, as she stood up. Ill leave you to your rest, Renix.


    He smiled in return. I think were on the same caravan back, so dont think this is thest youll see of me!


    She gave a shortugh. I wouldnt dream of it.


    Trent rose with her, his boots firmly in ce. Ill apany you. I need to join Mistress Atrexia on duty for thisst leg.


    Of course. After a short silence as they moved towards the door, she nced at him. If I can help


    He smiled. I will not hesitate to ask.


    T and Trent stepped out of the wagon, one after another, and dropped to the ground, moving to the side so the closely following oxen of the wagon behind wouldnt have to slow or divert.


    Thank you, again, Master Trent.


    Heughed. I should be thanking you, honestly. Ive fought through tougher spots, but it was about to get <em>expensive</em>.


    She turned to look at him, questioningly.


    Another point that a master would have made sure you knew of.


    She rolled her eyes, and started walking along with the caravan, Trent fell into step beside her.


    I mean that to protect the caravan from a powerful attack, at such a distance, would have taken a heavy amount of power, and would have eaten through several of my primary defensive inscriptions. He quirked a smile. Youre in a position to not need defensive inscriptions for anyone away from yourself.


    She nodded, realizing what he was getting at. I either disable my opponent, move out of the way, or trust myself to weather the attack. If it isnt directed at me, I cant really do much to stop it.


    Exactly.


    Sheughed. Id make a terrible caravan guard.


    He shrugged. Different skill-set. For arger caravan, or a harvesting expedition, Id want you on as a striker: someone to take the fight to beasts, while others covered the nonbatants. For a smaller caravan, you should be paired with a shield specialist, or maybe a fast-moving Immaterial Creator? He shrugged, again.


    She felt an easy smile settle in ce. That might actually be some fun, assuming I finish getting my inscriptions.


    Trent cocked his head frowning. You arent fully inscribed?


    T cleared her throat, ncing away a bit sheepishly. Well, I sort of have money issues, and I got all I could afford. She scratched the side of her neck, absently. My role in this caravan wasnt even supposed to require the ones I do have. She barked a mirthlessugh. That didnt quite work out.


    Trent snorted. Too true. Even so, if youre working with half a deck, youre all the more impressive for pulling winning hands again and again.


    Gambling metaphor? Really?


    Are you saying what youve been doing is anything else?


    She grunted augh. Fair, I suppose.


    So, with the payday this evening, will you be finishing out? Getting inscriptions in a waning city is expensive.


    I wish, even with the added expense. Mistress Hollys really the only one I trust to do it right, though. To her surprise, she realized that that was actually true. The inscriber was a bit inscrutable, but her work had proven itself.


    Wait, Mistress Holly, herself, actually did your work? THE Mistress Holly?


    When T shrugged, then nodded, Trent whistled.


    Man. You really must be something special. She only bothers with one Mage in a thousand. Her apprentices do most of it, though even having her modifications and ideas implemented on you would set your work as a cut above. Its one reason I like being based out of Bandfast. Her work is second to none. He shook his head ruefully. You are full of surprises, Mistress T.

 Chapter 35: Power Aplenty

    Chapter 35: Power Aplenty


    T was frowning. <em>Holly cant be </em>that<em> special. I mean, she helped me a lot, but any inscriber would have done the same, right?</em> She knew that her own reticence to have another work on her proved that notion false, but she still didnt relent. How does the inscriber matter that much?


    Trent shrugged. Aside from the obvious need for a steady hand? Its the mind behind the inscriptions. It matters less for work on Mages than for item construction because <em>our</em> mindse into y, but it still matters. A good inscriber has to mesh their thinking with the Mage they are working for and harmonize that Mages capabilities, power, and ways of thinking with the inscriptions used. Theres no one better than Holly, who works on Mages. He smiled ruefully. Ive heard that there are a few inscribers that work exclusively with Archons, but youll likely have better knowledge on that before I do.


    Huh. I had no idea. She briefly thought of theplex inscription on the back of her neck, ostensibly keeping record of much of what she did, and how. <em>So, Holly had more in mind for this, than simply keeping me from running off or some other such nonsense?</em>


    How did you connect with her?


    A contact with the Caravan Guild, a friend, introduced me to her.


    Your handler?


    T shrugged. Started that way, yeah.


    d youre getting along with them. Bad blood, there, can really hurt you. He smiled, again. It sounds like theyre treating you well, too.


    Yeah, she really is. T looked up, past the caravan and towards the head of the pass. She could see sunlight on a few hills that peaked up high enough to be visible from her vantage. Im still trying to get a grasp on things. She nced towards Trent. Thank you for your kindness.


    He shrugged. Not hard to resist being a rust bucket.


    T snorted, again. Fair enough.


    We already discussed themission we earn for protecting the caravan, remember?


    She cocked her head at the sudden change of topic, frowning slightly. Yeah?


    Magical creatures have a higher bounty, mainly because they generally cost so much more in inscriptions to deal with.


    Oh?


    That one was a Bound, so the payout will be five gold.


    T almost gasped. For one attack?


    Trent sighed. Ill need two of that to rece my inscriptions, even with the discount. If I guess right, Atrexia and Renix will each need between half and a full ounce for the same.


    She grunted. Even with how quick the fight was?


    Heughed. Half the magics involved were negating each other. I doubt it looked like much.


    T thought back to what her mage-sight had been showing her through the battle and realized that he was telling the truth. As shed watched, it was as if the fourbatants had been shing with spell-forms rather than the effects that the spell-forms were meant to produce. Only the asional magic was able to fully manifest its intended purpose. Id not thought of it in those terms before.


    Trent shrugged. Its a hard thing to convey, if you havent seen it.


    So, the whole bountys spoken for, eh?


    He smiled. Money trouble, right?


    Flys already in the ointment; no reason to deny it, now.


    Heughed. I think a half ounce gold can be spared for your contributions. Ill have to verify with Atrexia, but I doubt shell fight me too hard. It would have cost her a lot, too, if you hadnt intervened.


    Half an ounce, eh? That would have been incredibly generous if shed used her own magic correctly. As it was, that wouldnt even cover the cost of the inscriptions she had to rece. Still, it was something. Thank you. That does help.


    Wish I could offer more.


    She shrugged. Its quite generous. My own bumbling isnt your fault.


    He patted her shoulderfortingly. Want to talk about it?


    Not now Maybe on the trip back, in a few days?


    Fair enough.


    Theyd been slowly outpacing the caravan, moving up the line as it continued forward, and were finallying up beside the lead wagon.


    Ive got to go check in with Atrexia. Take the day to rest. Recover and think about the fight. You did well for your first battle with a magical animal. Dont be too hard on yourself.


    Ill try. Thank you.


    She pulled herself up onto the top of the wagon as Trent turned and walked back towards the center of the caravan. Atrexia was still up on the central wagon, scanning their surroundings with an ever-sweeping gaze. T could sense the womans mage-sight from here.


    <em>Shes a bit nervous.</em> T couldnt me her.


    With a sigh, T sank into afortable seated position, looking forward.


    <em>Hey! I didnt trip.</em> Thinking back, she could tell that shed been mostly bnced as she moved, but she had fallen a little back towards her previous way of walking. Her aching legs and low back attested to the fact that she was moving in the right direction, but she swore to herself that shed be more attentive, going forward.


    Shed check in with Adam after lunch, but she was fairly certain that his next step would be to practice the foundational material hed already given her.


    <em>Very well. Ive much to improve, and time waits for no one.</em>


    <em>Wait</em> Time is an immaterial thing. She gasped. <em>Are there time Mages?!</em> She thought back through all the inscription theories and couldnt recall a single mention of such, which was a bit strange. Her teachers had gone out of their way to exin the few things that were definitively not possible through magic, the main one that had stood out to her being: the from scratch creation of a free-willed lifeform.


    But she was getting off track. <em>Time magic what would it even do?</em> She knew that some incredibly powerful Gravity Mages could alter the flow of time minutely, but anything that would be affected was also destroyed under the astronomically amplified forces.


    <em>But can we modify the flow of time, directly?</em>


    It seems that she had yet another subject to research. <em>Its bing quite the long listMaybe theres a book.</em>


    She groaned. <em>T focus. You dont really understand time, so youd need to get a grasp on how it actually works, before you could even consider altering it.</em> She snorted augh. <em>Maybe humans cant truly understand time. </em>That would make time Mages impossible, even if the magic could exist, theoretically.<em> No wonder our teachers never spoke about it. No reason to open a rancid fruit.</em>


    She pulled her mind back to the present and returned to basics. <em>Breathe.</em>


    After five minutes of breathing, T stood up, and moved through her stretches atop the moving wagon. Allowing half of her mind to remain focused on her breathing, she tuned in her bnce. To her surprise, the internal focus activated her mage-sight, and she was able to perceive her own body, the minute contraction of various muscles, the exact points of weakness and her center of bnce.


    It was especially odd, as her iron salve kept her mage-sight from seeing beyond herself, containing the sight, and if anything, amplifying it.


    She could move the focus back out, through her eyes, but that would make the internal awareness fade, somewhat. <em>Another thing to practice. </em>She grinned.


    With an exact map of how each muscle in her body responded to her desires, she was able to modify her movements to an incredible degree. She could perfectly stretch any muscle and iste any fiber of any muscle for individual contractionin theory at least.


    In practice? It wasnt perfect, as her mind wasnt used to sending such specifiedmands.


    Shed been wielding her body like a hammer in the dark.


    <em>Its time to be a</em> She hesitated, holding a precariously bnced stretch, her leg muscles twitching in sequence topensate for the sway of the wagon. She couldnt think of a good metaphor. <em>Well, rust.</em>


    One of her stabilizing muscles, deep in the hip of her nted leg, seized up. T dropped to her knees, the knuckles of her left-hand driving into her hip, trying to relieve the pain. It was excruciating, her heightened focus making the pain much more acute than it would otherwise have been.


    <em>No. Focus, T!</em> She narrowed her sight in on the spasmodically twitching muscle group, increasing her awareness of the pain many times over, as well.


    She gritted her teeth and bent her mind towards the muscle fibers. <em>Release!</em>


    They rxed.


    <em>Ohmy</em> She let out a relieved breath. <em>That would have been-</em>


    The muscles jerked in once more, contracting violently, responding to the build-up of bio-chemicals within.


    Cursing to herself, under her breath, she bore down, turning her will upon the rebellious portion of her muscture, but as much as she desired, her muscles were not perfectly subject to her will.


    Power, however, was.


    Magic swept through her hip. It was rtively unfocused, but it responded to her directive, and the muscles of her hip were soothed, forcibly.


    She flopped back onto her back, gasping, both hands clutching at her hip to guard against the lingering pain.


    Ow


    She felt exhausted, fully spent: mind, body, will, and soul.


    Well pains gonemostly. She groaned, not sitting up. Maybemaybe, I should take a little nap.


    * * *


    T woke from her short nap to the smell of food.


    She sat up groggily, just in time to see Brand scale thest portion of thedder with a tter of food.


    Lunchs here.


    Thank you! She shook off the remnants of sleep and epted the proffered meal. It was at least three times what she would normally eat, but it looked just about right. Do you have- She stopped with augh, as he pulled a jug out from behind his back, where it had been hanging from a leather strap. You brought coffee."


    Of course! I always felt bad pouring out the leftovers, but most people dont like it when its not fresh. He shrugged. Waste not, and all that.


    Well, thank you, regardless of the reasons.


    Brand smiled as he climbed back down thedder. Of course! When we get into the city,e find me, and Ill make the promised introductions.


    Will do.


    The sun was now easily reaching them. They were nearing the end of the pass, and it was nearly noon. Because it waste autumn, the sun looked to be ahead of her, out the mouth of the valley to the south. As such, it was a bit of a pain to look at whaty ahead, at least without her hat.


    She pulled the hat a little lower as she dug into the food.


    Shed heard someone else bring Den his lunch, while Brand was delivering to her, and she was d to know that the driver was enjoying simr fare. <em>This is delicious.</em>


    The coffee was cold, but she didnt really care. <em>I might have a problem.</em>


    While she ate one of the beef pasties, she flipped through her various books, taking notes and consolidating her to-do list.


    It was going to be a busy couple of days in Alefast. <em>Hopefully the waning city will have the resources that I need.</em> She looked to the back of her hand, where only neen small golden circles remained. <em>Dare I wait for Holly?</em>


    Things hadnt really been standard, and shed used less than half her castings, but what if things were worse on the way back?


    <em>Ill take the first day to do the most dangerous stuff, and if I have to use more than another casting or two, Ill get a new set of rings inscribed.</em>


    She nodded to herself. It was a reasonablepromise.


    Her first stop this evening would be a cksmith, after meeting Brands contact, of course.


    <em>And meeting with the Caravan Guilds representative for payment and to send messages.</em>


    But after that, a cksmith. <em>My request shouldnt be too odd.</em> She snorted. <em>Except that itll be a Mage requesting a farm implement. And out of as pure iron as they can manage.</em> She sighed. <em>I dont do subtle well, do I.</em>


    True to his word, Adam swung by after lunch, and true to her guess, he simply emphasized focusing on the basics. He wanted her to let her body adjust and to strengthen the muscles that spoke to her.


    She agreed, and he confirmed that he would be on the caravan trip back. Theyd continue her training, then, assuming shed made good progress, while in Alefast.


    He was still on duty, so he left after their brief exchange of words, and T returned to her stretching and inner focus.


    As she moved, she was careful to monitor the condition of her muscles, both ensuring that she pushed every part of herself, and that she didnt go too far and strain anything else.


    She still ached, deep in her hip. <em>Right, massage. I need to schedulehalf a day is probably too long.</em> She sighed. <em>Ill see if anyone is avable on short notice.</em>


    Every so often, she shook the iron sk containing the paltry few ending-berries she still had. <em>I want this filled.</em>


    Trent had promised to point her to a grove of ending trees. If her visit to the cksmith went well, she should be able to go to the grove and get back tomorrow, an easy harvest in hand.


    She was just setting the sk aside once more when her wagon came over top of the long rise of the pass, exiting at the same time.


    Before her, a new world spread out, rolling hills basked in the sun, some grassy, others covered in trees.


    A city was just more than a half dozen miles distant, and she could already see how different it was from Bandfast, if only because of its nature as a waning city.


    Only the innermost wall still stood.


    There were no farms, no bustling industry, no rings of towers protecting the outermost reaches.


    The Wild had reimed everything once held by the city.


    Small stands of trees that looked ancient grew right up near the white city walls. Deep shadows were easy to see, despite the hour, and the dark green of the leaves spoke of abundant life.


    The air practically vibrated with magical power, and she could almost <em>feel</em> the nts growing around her.


    <em>The world is healing the wound of the human city, magic swelling to speed up the process even as our spell-lines and magics fade.</em> This city had less than three decades remaining, before thest walls fell. In that time, it would be the center of the most dangerous, and most profitable, harvesting expeditions.


    There was magic to spare in thends surrounding the city, and people were ready to collect on that, bringing power and utility back to the rest of humanity, for the betterment of all.


    <em>The cycle continues.</em>


    Aside from the trade caravan, she didnt see any other humans moving outside the city, and her mage-sight couldnt prate the defenses around the city.


    Make no mistake, the defenses werent blocking her sight so much as filling it with so much information anything from beyond it was unrecognizable.


    She blinked rapidly and turned her focus away. She felt slightly nauseous. <em>Bandfasts defenses are nothingpared to these.</em> That made sense. Alefast now had to stand as a bastion against truly magical creatures, not just arcane, and midnight foxes werent close to the most powerful among them.


    Even aside from the nts that seemed to be growing so quickly that they almost moved as she watched them, she saw the ripples of magic from countless arcane animals bounding, hunting, and living within thendscape.


    It was like finding a jungle after living in the desert.


    This was the magical equivalent of verdant fields. She was used to hignd, arid farming.


    <em>Amazing.</em> Even the Academy hadnt had this high a density of magic.


    The arcane beasts kept their distance from the caravan, but she could sense them, even if she couldnt see them.


    She could also asionally still sense flickers of dimensional energy, near the edge of her range. <em>Its still out theregreat.</em> Shed been hoping that it would stay on the other side of the pass.


    As they trundled on down through the foothills, T caught glimpses of magical animals and beasts watching them.


    Surprisingly, nothing made a move on the caravan, and after a bit of contemtion, she realized why. <em>Theres nothing for them to gain. They live off power, and here, there is power aplenty.</em>


    She nced back towards Alefast, and the beacon of magic that it was.


    Human cities, in their early years, drained most of the power from the surroundingnds, providing protection by weakening the magic of anything that woulde against it. As such, nothing powerful attacked them. The crazy would-be-emperors road had been an exception, because itpletely cut off paths and routes, instead of simply being an irritating, prickly obstacle to move around.


    As the city aged, thend wouldpensate, slowly increasing ambient magic in the region to bnce it out, until the rate of increase outpaced what the city could draw in. The result was a surge of power that coincided with the citys final years. Thus, allowing the enemies of man-kind easy ess to assault the walls.


    After humans left the city, and the spell-lines lost the remnants of their functionality, magic in the region would level out, and slowly return to what it once had been.


    <em>A surprisingly mellow, cyclical war of attrition.</em>


    She returned from her musings, scanning their surroundings. Even though the creatures around them had no instinctive reason to attack, many magical creatures were sapient, and some might choose to attack on a whim, or for some unknown purpose. For whatever reason, the more powerful magical creatures were, the more they seemed to dislike humanity. <em>Yet another thing my teachers couldnt, or wouldnt, exin</em>


    Given the potential for such powerful attackers, Trent and Atrexia were obvious in their diligence, allowing their defensive power to color the caravan to any with the mage-sight to see it.


    In and full of fruit, why dig through a thorn bush for berries, dried on the branch?


    <em>Maybe my venture wont be as dangerous as Id feared?</em> It was a bit of a fools hope, and she wouldnt allow it to draw her intocency, but she did allow it to lift her mood.


    <em>Two days in and around Alefast, then back on the road. Back home.</em> She smiled. It was still new, but she was, indeed, making a home for herself in Bandfast.


    <em>I am still beholden to those I live with.</em> It soured her thoughts, just slightly. She knew that Lyn genuinely liked her, but she had no illusions about the womans first priority, which was to their indentured master. Like virtually everyone. Lyn bent to the whims of her contract even as T, herself, did.


    <em>Focus on the good. Work to change the bad.</em> She did <em>not</em> think of her fathers kind voice, speaking that truism.


    If shed judged the distance correctly, they had less than three hours left before reaching Alefast, and if patterns held, the work-yard would be just inside the gates.


    <em>I could run ahead.</em> She snorted augh. <em>I could walk ahead and arrive in half the time.</em> Still, she only considered it for a moment. While she was technically within her rights to do so, it would set a bad impression, and the wrong impression with the wrong people could severely hamper her contract opportunities, under her indenture, going forward.


    Thus, she settled in to wait. She did, after all, have books to finish.

 Chapter 36: Through the Gatehouse

    Chapter 36: Through the Gatehouse


    T closed the item creation primer and looked up, just in time to see a group of caravan guards returning from the city gates, which were now only a few hundred yards away.


    Adam was in the group, and while the others moved on to the wagons further back, Adam paused to speak to Den, turning his horse to ride alongside their wagon.


    T moved closer, and Adam smiled before speaking loudly enough to include her. Were going to have to surrender to an inspection.


    Den groaned. Why? That is not the standard, Guardsman. Youre dying my delivery of goods.


    T blinked in surprise. Shed never heard Den take that tone with anyone. Additionally, it conveyed to her that Adam was somehow subordinate to Den. <em>WaitDen always chose the campsites. He directed our paths of travel</em>


    She found herself dumbstruck. <em>Den is in charge of the caravan. He just doesnt bother with minutia.</em>


    She remembered the Mages looking her way when deciding how to change their path on the first day.<em> No, not my way. They were checking if Den was going toment.</em>


    That actually made a lot of sense.


    She returned her mind to the conversation in time to hear Adams calm, if deferring, response.


    I understand, First Driver, but it seems that a particrly mischievous magical entity attempted to breach the city in thest week, by disguising itself as a caravan.


    Den seemed taken aback at that, as he took a moment to respond. It disguised itself as a caravan wagon?


    Adam shook his head. No, as an entire caravan. Wagons, oxen, drivers, even outriders.


    Somany working together.


    Again, Adam shook his head. Apparently, the Prime of this citys defenses verified it for herself. It was one entity.


    Huh Den scratched his head. Well, I suppose that would make them a bit jumpy He grunted. Fine, fine. Whats the process?


    Each wagon will need to stop within the gatehouse for a minute, while two Mages sweep it for deviation. Everyone not on a wagon will be separately inspected. It is encouraged that anyone who can, should go through the personal inspection, rather than being included in the general wagon scan.


    T barked augh. Ill pass, thank you.


    Den nced back at her and smiled. Youre wee to stay with the wagon, Mistress.


    Adam opened his mouth, likely to object, then seemed to think better of it, shrugging instead. They didnt mandate it. Youre lead wagon, so just stop within the gatehouse.


    Den sighed. So, if were at all suspect, they can drop the portcullis on both sides, locking us in.


    It is what it is, First Driver.


    And it will be as it will be.


    Adam grinned, bowed slightly to Den, then T, and wheeled his horse around to carry the information further back.


    Den eyed T. You ever heard of something like that, Mistress? An entity taking multiple separate forms?


    She shook her head, then paused. Well, Im still ratherinexperienced, but I believe it is possible that such could be faked, if each form were linked somehow that wasnt easily noticed Shadows? Invisible tendrils? She shrugged. Just a shot in the dark, though. As she considered she smiled slightly. Expect them to drop the portcullis.


    He looked at her in rm. Theyd only do that to trap us.


    Or, to put iron between us and the rest of the caravan.


    He looked confused.


    She sighed. Iron can interfere with most types of magic. If we are of one being with the rest of the caravan, dropping iron between us could sever that connection, revealing a fake.


    Could?


    Im just guessing, but I thought Id let you know, so you dont panic if the irones down.


    He still looked nervous, as they approached the gatehouse, but he didnt waver.


    The gatehouse was a massive monument of strength and power. It had been crafted with skill and had been maintained with care. It didnt look like it had survived more than three hundred years. As she considered it, T realized that it had probably been built when this became the outer wall. <em>More efficient than maintaining gatehouses for every circle for the full life of the city, I suppose.</em>


    The archway was wide enough for two of Dens wagons to pass side by side, reminding her of the pass theyd just gone through. As they entered the first arch, the wagon sliding into the building''s shadowed interior, T looked up at the thick iron portcullis, held ready to descend.


    Each iron strip in the basket weave was close to an inch thick and the bottoms were wedged into spikes and des. They werent razor sharp, but with what must be at least two tons of iron behind it, they didnt need to be.


    Den was eyeing the inside of the gatehouse as he slowed the oxen to a stop.


    There were arrow slits to either side, and murder holes above. They both knew that magically facilitated death could be poured out upon them in apocalyptic quantities through those openings, and likely through the solid stone of the walls, themselves.


    The oxen came to a stop in very nearly the exact center of the darkened interior. Den had not allowed his trepidation to hamper his performance.


    The wagon behind theirs had stopped just outside the gatehouse and was awaiting instruction. T could clearly hear a guard inside the second level of the gate, shouting down to the secondary wagon, but before she could focus in on that conversation, she felt magical senses sweep over them. There was a brief hesitation, then the portcullises dropped.


    T saw them begin to fall, and quickly sped her hands over Dens ears, shielding them from the deafening racket.


    The oxen were not so lucky, and Den had to fight them back into stillness after the sudden noise.


    T, for her part, had trusted in the noise suppression inscriptions around her ears, and they had not failed her.


    Any noise which came close to her ears was scaled down and suppressed until it was no longer of a harmful level. <em>Thank you, again, Holly.</em>


    Rust me to g. Den nced at T, even as her hands moved away. Thank you. I couldnt let go of the reins, and that was <em>loud.</em>


    She smiled back. Happy to help.


    One of the murder holes opened, almost directly above them, and a Mage looked out.


    T focused on him, and instantly could see him in his entirety, though only with her mage-sight. <em>Material Creator. He specializes in water? No</em> She looked closer. It wasnt ice. <em>Acid? There are Mages who specialize in the creation of incredibly caustic acid?</em> She did <em>not</em> like the idea of that. Her iron salve would do nothing against acid created above and dropped on her head, and her protective inscriptions might be overwhelmed by a constant acid burn. She had no way to negate it, and that made her quite unhappy.


    She met the mans gaze, knowing his mage-sight was active, and knowing that she would look quite odd to him. Well?


    He flinched back just slightly. What are you?


    Im a <em>very</em> cranky Mage, whom you are keeping from her destination.


    How are you doing that? Its not like an Archons veil at all He gestured through the hole, vaguely in her direction. Den nced her way, cocking an eyebrow.


    How do I exist? How am I standing? How am I talking? You really need to be more specific. <em>Really, T? Antagonizing the person who can kill you?</em>


    How are you invisible to my mage-sight, except your eyesand palms?


    Do Mages not have secrets in this city? Were clearly human, and you are dying this shipment from entering. On what grounds are you dying?


    The man narrowed his eyes. Based on the fact that an unknown humanoid entity is on the lead wagon.


    Youre joking.


    A voice drifted from behind the man. Hes not.


    T followed the second voice with her eyes and her mage-sight showed her another Mage, waiting out of normal sight. <em>Material Creator, again</em> She couldnt figure out what he focused on, though. It was someplex bio-chemical, which was definitely not acid, but<em>Venom? Poison?</em> Probably both. <em>Great. Yet another Mage whom I couldnt easily survive.</em> She frowned. Those were incredibly violent specialties, with virtually no use outside of overwhelmingly bringing death.


    <em>Well, mister acid could be on garbage disposal, or some such</em>


    Sowhat now?


    You tell me what you are.


    I already have.


    If you were a human Mage, your spell-lines would be glowing like the sun to my mage-sight. They just look like someone drew on you.


    Peeking is rude, without permission.


    Then grant permission.


    I cant; Im passively defended from mage-sight.


    That truly seemed to stump the acid Mage. The sound of a shifting chair came from above and the second voice murmured to the first, though loud enough for T to catch it. Is the guy human?


    Well, yes.


    And are the big things oxen?


    Yes.


    And the wagon?


    Checks out.


    So?


    She still doesnt look right.


    Rude! T called out. The two men, above, stopped talking, and Den gave her an aghast look.


    Mistress T? What are you doing? His voice came out as a harsh whisper.


    The acid Mages face reappeared. So, superhuman hearing, eh? Not really giving credence to your im.


    T rubbed one hand across her face in frustrated irritation. This is going nowhere. Listen to your friend, and let us through. If Im not human, the citys defenses will fry me anyways, right? She tilted her head to the side, showing her neck, free of any cor.


    Again, poison man spoke quietly to acid. She has a point.


    Shut up, she can probably still hear you. She might have a cor! Or something simr... He sounded quite irritated.


    And a reasonable sounding gentleman he is, T interjected. <em>You just cant shut up, can you</em>


    There was a long pause as another person, non-Mage, came in to demand an exnation for the hold-up. Acid argued with the man, who turned out to be the gatehousemander, but poison didnt back him up. So, it ended with acid beingmanded to let them through.


    T smiled, patting Den on the shoulder. Were good.


    Den looked uncertain but nodded his thanks. I hope so He nced her way. Did you have to antagonize them?


    They were being rude.


    They were doing their job.


    After a moment, she grunted irritably. Fine Youre right. Sorry about that.


    The irontticework began to lift slowly back out of the way, both in front and behind them.


    Acid spoke onest time. Head on through to the work-yard. Its to the right once you exit the gatehouse.


    Thank you! Den called up, waving to the man as he flicked the reins, ushering the oxen into movement once more. As they came back out into sunlight, he nced at her. Next time, if there is a next time, would you mind doing the personalized inspection instead? He seemed a bit hesitant as he said it.


    She huffed augh and shook her head. Fairs fair. Ill try not to be a source of your stress, again.


    He snorted. Dont make pretty, false promises, girl. Youll be a source of my stress for years. I can feel it.


    He continued to watch her out of the corner of his eye, and she turned to fully face Den. That is one of the nicest things anyone has ever said to me.


    He barked augh. You remind me of my brothers youngest daughter. He shook his head. Too smart for her own good, that one, and she wants everyone to know it.


    That is hurtfully urate. She flopped down on the drivers bench beside him, even as he guided the oxen through the muster yard behind the gatehouse, and over to what was clearly the work-yard, lined by stone warehouses. <em>A bit foolish to put the warehouses right up against the wall, but I suppose if anything could reach over the wall to harm the city, the defenses are as good as breached, so convenience takes precedence.</em>


    The other wagons were not dyed nearly as long, and the portcullis stayed up.


    Even so, it was almost an hour before all the wagons joined Dens in the work-yard, and a contingent of city guards came out with a group of officials to greet them.


    Den exchanged pleasantries with one of the men as T dropped off the wagon to store her things in the box and face the Mage who came to inspect the cargo-slots. <em>Immaterial Creator, dimensionally focused.</em>


    The Mage ran her hand over each of the hand-shaped charging panels and looked closely at the indicators. She flicked at the wood of the cargo-slots themselves and poked around the edges of the wagon.


    T, eventually, cleared her throat. So is everything in order?


    The Mage stuck out a stone te in one hand. Blood here.


    T took the te and read over it. It was a testament that she was Mage T, and that the cargo had not beenpromised on the trip; that she had kept the cargo-slots charged, would continue to do so for the next two days, and was now passing responsibility of the contents over to the waning city of Alefast.


    T nodded along as she read the document. Finally, she pulled a small bit of power into her finger, while moving her defenses away, and pricked it on the sharpened nub of stone in one corner, moving to allow a drop of blood to fall onto the magical device.


    The blood vanished on contact, and the stone flickered with light. After the flicker passed, new text at the bottom simply stated that her identity was confirmed, and the contract had been epted.


    T smiled, handing the te back.


    The Mage nced at it, then nodded. Very good. Would you like payment to be credited to your ount, or would you like waning notes for the value of your payment.


    T frowned. Not coins?


    Oh no, dear. She nced at T, again. Youve not been to a waning city before, Id wager.


    T shook her head.


    The precious metals are in much too high a demand to be used as coinage, here. Theyd simply be melted down and sold as raw materials She hesitated. Id be happy to take any coins off your hands and ce their value into your ount, with a ten percent increase, of course.


    Ts eyes bulged. <em>I can make ten percent on my currency, just by bringing it here?</em>


    Den cleared his throat, as he finished his own conversation and moved to join T. Ten percent? Is that really what you are offering?


    The Mage colored slightly. It was meant as an opening offer.


    Denughed. Mistress T. It is standard for gold, silver, and copper to be worth at least a quarter more than their stamped value in a waning city, at this stage. As I understand it, that is one reason Mages <em>try</em> to avoid being inscribed in such cities, whenever possible. It is just too expensive.


    That made a lot of sense. It also exined why Trent had estimated his expenses for inscription refreshment to be so high. <em>Well, that makes my decision easier. No reinscribing for me.</em> It does make sense that metal would be at a premium in thest years of the city. She looked back to the Mage. I think Ill keep my coinage and use it to trade for goods and services. My payment may be ced directly into my ount. Every person in all the human cities had an ount linked to their blood. Only Mages could use it easily, but it was effectively an unbreakable medium of exchange. Hers had many debts linked to it, but they wouldnt draw on her bnce unless she fell drastically behind on her payments.


    The Mage bowed. As you will. The Master Moneychanger will see to it that you are paid. She gestured towards a table off to the side, where a line of caravan workers was already queuing up.


    As T walked across the hard packed earth of the work-yard, she saw thest of the passengers departing, carrying their bags into the city, or loading them onto waiting transport, which would do the same.


    Workers were already wheeling out a great crane to pull the cargo-slots free of the wagon, and T found herself somewhat sad to see them actively disassembling the top of the vehicle to get ess to the magically maintained cargo. <em>Its been a fun few days.</em> She had the trip back, which woulde sooner than she likely realized, but it still felt like an ending. <em> Ill get over it.</em>


    She walked with Den over to the payment line and took a position at the end.


    Several of the servants and drivers who were waiting ahead of her looked back in confusion, seeming to expect her to have walked to the front. When she didnt move, they turned back towards their destination and their pay.


    The line moved quickly, and it wasnt long before T approached the head of the line.


    The only wrinkle came when Trent, Renix, and Atrexia had walked over, and Trent, along with Renix, joined T in waiting. Atrexia huffed a bit but didnt end up contesting the issue.


    Renix, for his part, looked markedly better, seemingly mostly recovered from his concussion. <em>Rest does wonders, I suppose.</em>


    T let the three go ahead of her and did her best not to listen in while they discussed things with the payment officer.


    Her efforts were aided by Brand, who had already spoken to the man, and who came over to stand with her.


    Mistress T! Were here. He smiled as he walked up to her.


    Seems so. She returned the smile.


    I heard there was some issue in the gatehouse?


    She shrugged. Nothing major.


    After a moments pause, Brand turned to regard her more fully. Really? Not going to tell me any more than that?


    She gestured to Den, who waved farewell in their direction as he walked off. You could always ask him.


    Brand grunted. Fair enough. Ill have the whole trip back for that, however, and Ive promises to keep!


    She quirked a smile. Sounds good. After I deal with this.


    Trent, Atrexia, and Renix all moved off to the side, where they settled in to discuss the next few days.


    T stepped forward.


    Name and position.


    T, Dimensional Storage Mage.


    The man grunted. Youre the source of all thisplexity, then.


    T frowned. What?


    He spun a te around, showing her an itemization:


    5.5 oz gold for services rendered as a Dimensional Mage. 1 oz gold for helping to deal with two threats to the caravan. Less 2 oz silver for services rendered by Mage Trent. Less 1 oz silver for equipment requisitioned from Head Cook Brand.


    Does that look correct?


    She frowned, thinking back. Yeah. I believe so.


    You authorize the funds mentioned to pay the debts described, and youd like the bnce deposited into your ount?


    Yes, please.


    He took the tablet back and made a couple of notes on it. Very good. Blood here.


    She took the tablet back and pricked her finger, letting a lightly infused drop vanish into the stone.


    Very good. 6 oz gold, 47 oz silver has been credited to your ount. Is there anything else I can assist you with, today?


    Actually, yes. I need to add an addendum to my field log to inform my Guild contact of a few things.


    Such as?


    One is amunication for the Wainwrights Guild, who are currently building out a set of Cargo-slots for me.


    The man grunted. Very well. He handed her a nk te and a stone cylinder that was simr in size and shape to a pencil.


    T quickly used them to scribe a note to Lyn, asking her to deliver messages to both the Wainwrights guild, and to Holly, and quickly wrote out those missives. As the stone pen moved across the te, it was as if darker rock bled up through the tablet, leaving her words incorporated into the very nature of the stone. Thank you. She held it out to him.


    He touched it to another tablet that hed been working on, and a new square darkened. Blood here.


    She repeated the confirmation process and the te faded back to nk.


    Now, if that is all?


    It is, thank you. She bowed slightly, walking to the side, where Brand was patiently waiting. Shall we?

 Chapter 37: A Spinner of Tales

    Chapter 37: A Spinner of Tales


    As T walked up to Brand, ready to depart the work-yard and truly enter the city of Alefast, Renix came over as well.


    Mistress T? He seemed mostly better, but he still had a bit of a far-off look in his eyes.


    Yes?


    Master Trent asked me to give this to you. He held out a rolled piece of thick paper.


    T unrolled it and identified it as a map with a small patch of trees emphasized. Ahh, yes. Thank you. She turned to look around, but Trent and Atrexia were already gone. <em>Looking for an avable flesh worker?</em>


    Im also to tell you that we will be staying at the Wandering Magician, and you can find us either in residence or leave any of us a message in the next couple of days. If you need lodging, it is also a reasonable ce for a reasonable price.


    Brand interjected. Hes right. Its one of the better valued establishments in the city. Theyll treat you right.


    Thank you, Renix, and you Brand.


    Renix bowed with a smile. Absolutely. Were going to go get my head looked at now. He smiled ruefully. After that, he hesitated for a moment, ncing at Brand, but seemed to decide against saying anything further, except for: Good evening, Mistress. I look forward to seeing you, again.


    Good evening, Renix. Take care.


    With nothing further, Renix turned and departed as well, even as T turned her attention to Brand.


    So, your contact?


    Lets grab your stuff, first. He led her over to a hand cart, which was propped to one side, and they took it back to the cargo wagon. Dens wagon was in a state ofplete dismantlement, from the wagon bed up. The cargo-slots had been lifted free and were arranged for easy unloading the next day. The roof and sides had been disconnected to allow those cargo-slots to be removed, and the piecesy neatly stacked, off to one side.


    Together, Brand and T quickly emptied her rather full box into the hand cart.


    One more stop. He led her to the chuckwagon, where he called over one of the warehouse workers to help him move a medium-sized, but obviously rather dense, package and add it to the cart. Brand thanked the man and turned back to T. You didnt think Id forgotten your jerky, did you? He smiled. Alright! Lets go.


    T kept her eyes sweeping over their surroundings as Brand led her a couple of blocks to an open-air market. He had tried to insist on being the one to pull the cart, but she had tly refused. He was not her porter.


    The streets were wide, but not so wide as to feel cavernously empty with the diminished poption.


    There were people going about their daily lives, though they seemed more hardened folk than the average in Bandfast had been. <em>Theyre on the tail end of civilization and are holding on for profit and glory.</em> They were likely among the hardiest of humanity.


    The architecture was functionally aesthetic. While it was beautiful to behold, all details and embellishments had been designed so that they would, and obviously had, survive the ravages of time and centuries of weathering, thus were not as intricate as they might otherwise have been.


    The market was arge, open square with temporary, sturdy stalls erected and manned by more of the hardened citizenry.


    Brand helped her navigate thete afternoon traffic. The space wasnt packed, but it was still a bit crowded. Before they entered the market proper, Brand had advised her to turn the cart around, to push in front of herself, and he walked beside her. As they walked, he was clearly keeping a close eye on anyone who got too close to the handcart.


    Would someone really steal from a Mage?


    Brand huffed augh. If they thought they could get away with it? Yeah.


    Huh


    Near the far side of the market from where theyd entered, Brand led her to a stall, which was set up in front of the open front of a clearly well-established shop.


    BRAND! A boisterous, slightly rotund woman strode forth and scooped him up in a voluminous hug. I didnt expect you back until next season. What changed?


    T tried to direct her attention elsewhere, and away from the private moment. Brands muffled response came from within the embrace. We decided we wanted to get the kids something special for their name-days thising year, and an opportunity came up to head this way.


    Well, that makes vastly too much sense. The big woman ced him back on the ground. Hows Lissa? The kids?


    Very well, thank you. Is Adrill still alive? His eyes flicked towards T. She was inspecting the contents of the cart.


    Ahh, the old goats still living. Hes down in his workshop, searching for new ways to destroy my store. The woman turned to T. Good day, Mistress. I am Artia, owner of this fine store. If you need anything pertaining to magic, I would rmend a Mage such as yourself seek out the Constructionist Guild, three streets to the north.


    T nced to Brand, who was out of Artias line of sight, and he made his thumb and fore finger into a circle. T frowned slightly. He mouthed, Token.


    Oh! T reached into a pouch at her belt and pulled out the iron coin, upon which was stamped a scythe. I believe this would mean something to you.


    Artia looked hesitant, but still took the offered coin. Immediately, she froze in evident shock, looking back and forth between T and the token. Well She nced to Brand, who was beaming. In that case She cleared her throat and put on a smile. This is the best and only ce in our fine city to find items of magic.


    Brand cleared his throat, and Artia turned a raised eyebrow his way.


    Finally, she grunted. There are several <em>lesser</em> merchants of arcane rted items, but they will never have what you <em>need</em>, and certainly not the very best!


    T grinned. Didnt you mention the Constructionist Guild?


    Atria waved that off, still looking at the token. Mage drivel. Not a decent merchant among them.


    Brand cleared his throat. You might be a bit biased.


    T found herself grinning. I am T. She held out her hand, and Artia took it in a firm grasp.


    A pleasure, Mage T. Therger woman seemed a bit uncertain if she truly believed that. I suppose we should get your cart out of the street and learn a bit more about each other. Shall we? She handed the token back.


    Id be delighted.


    They took her handcart down a small side alley and tucked it into a walled, back courtyard, where it would, ostensibly, be safe.


    As they walked back to the storefront, T cleared her throat. Actually, I am in desperate need of a cksmith. Would it be possible for me to quickly swing by one nearby, while the two of you catch up? I shouldnt be gone more than half an hour.


    Artia gave her a quizzical look, then shrugged. Works for me, dear. Theres a good one about five blocks that way. She pointed south.


    T gave a slight bow and strode off in that direction without a backward nce.


    As she walked, she heard Artia turn to Brand and whisper. What does a Mage want with a cksmith? Why did you bring her here? Why does she have a Harvest token?


    Ive learned its best not to ask. As to the other questions, well resolve that soon enough.


    Hmmmodd girl. Artia tsked. Should be an interesting evening, though. A Mage! And shes not trying to unravel the Order?


    I genuinely think that she isnt.


    Good, but Ill have to- The rest was lost as T continued to move further away, not giving any indication that she heard, or even knew that they were speaking.


    <em>Interesting. It should, indeed, be a fun evening.</em>


    T found the smith exactly where Artia said it would be, and the sound of hammer on iron drew her on for thest couple of streets. She came up to the entrance of the work area and called out. Ho, in the smithy!


    The hammering didnt slow, but she saw other movement within the workshop, as a middle-aged man walked out. Well good-day to you miss- His eyes widened as he got a better look at her. -tress. How can this humble smithy serve, this day?


    T quirked a smile. No need for that, good master. I have amission for you, if you feel up to finishing by early tomorrow.


    The man frowned, ncing behind himself. No good de will be made in an evening. He hesitated. Not one that Id be confident to sell in any rate.


    She held up a hand. It is much simpler than that, sir. What I want can be likened to a simple woven basket on a pole.


    He scratched his head. Like a fruit picker? Arent those usually woven out of reeds or wooden ts?


    She pped her hands together and grinned. Oh! Youve seen them. That makes this so much easier.


    He nodded. My gran had a couple of orchards, and we used the tools quite extensively when I was a boy.


    Then you are a better workman than I could have hoped for. I want one of iron, not steel, with holes small enough that it can catch small pickings, say a small cherry?


    Yeah we can do that. By tomorrow morning?


    Yes, please. And Id appreciate two pairs of iron pliers, if you have them on hand.


    He looked at her again, clearly assessing her. He paused and brief confusion flickered across his features as he noticed her shoeless feet. <em>I guess he doesnt see many Mages.</em> UmmA silver each for the pliers, and four for the iron picker.


    She grinned. And you havent even given me your name. She shook her head.


    The man paled, then reddened. My apologies, Mistress! Im Pedrin.


    Good master Pedrin. I will happily give you a silver for the two pairs of pliers, and another for the picker.


    He opened his mouth to object, but she held up a hand to forestall him.


    I will, of course, pay in advance, and you will receive an additional silver in the morning, upon my receipt of the tool. She pulled her hand out of a pouch, holding up two silver, 1 ounce coins. I will be paying in hard coinage. She smiled, noting the slight additional widening of his eyes. Naturally.


    She watched him do the quick math, and he obviously realized that the total value of her offer was still below 4 oz silver, but he nodded, nheless. I think we can do that, Mistress.


    She held the coins out towards him. I request the pole be at least ten feet long, but no longer than you feel reasonable, given your experience, and of a sturdy, solid, hardwood. Additionally, I request the right to collect some of your iron dust, should I find the need.


    Pedrin blinked at her in confusion. Irondust?


    She shrugged. I simply mean the dust that covers this very smithy. Ive no need for anything else, and I will warn you beforehand. You can even watch my collection of such, if you so desire.


    After another hesitant moment, he nodded and took the coins. Do you want the pliers now, or in the morning?


    I will trust in your good name, master Pedrin, and I will pick up all three tools, tomorrow.


    He gave a slight bow. As you say, Mistress. Have a wonderful evening.


    And you as well.


    With that, she turned and strode back for Artias shop, leaving a somewhat stymied, but happy, smith in her wake.


    * * *


    T returned to Artias store to find the woman and Brand sitting behind the stall in twofortable chairs, sipping from earthenware mugs and chatting amiably.


    As she walked into view, Artia stood, smiling, and gestured at a third chair. Come, sit! Did you find the cksmith to your liking?


    I believe so. Thank you. I can now focus on our conversation without feeling the need to run off.


    Artia bowed slightly, before returning to her seat.


    T sat as well and smiled. So, have you two caught up, or should I make myself scarce, again?


    Artia handed her a drink, and T epted it gratefully. Why dont you expose the Order of the Harvest and have them disbanded?


    T hesitated for a moment, then sipped the drink. Mint tea, chilled, right?


    Artia nodded.


    T smiled. What would I gain?


    Excuse me?


    For shutting you down. What could I possibly gain?


    Artia seemed taken aback. I dont pretend to know the minds of Mages.


    T snorted augh. Thats exactly what youre doing. You assume that, because youve had bad experiences with Mages in the past, all Mages will be the same. She quirked an eyebrow questioningly.


    Well I suppose


    You spoke to one Mage, who made a sweeping judgement without all the facts. What youre doing sounded dangerous, because it is, and he erred on the side of caution, as Mages are wont to do. It was your ill fortune that caused the Mage in question to have enough authority to issue a wide-ranging edict that enforced T trailed off, realizing something. Youve never checked


    Artia and Brand looked at each other, then back to her. Brand frowned. What do you mean?


    Tughed. You got the response of one Mage, and he was so forceful in the response, you assumed he was speaking on behalf of all. Do you know if your work is actually forbidden, or do you just assume so?


    Brand opened his mouth, then closed it, looking puzzled. Artia took a drink, then shook her head. Its been more than a hundred years, dear. It is <em>known</em> that we cannot speak to Mages on this. Every initiate to our Order is sworn to keep this from Mage eyes and knowledge. We have extensive guild contracts in ce to keep Mages from poking into the businesses of Guilds associated with the Order.


    Yet, Ive never heard of eating arcanous meat as being barred. She hesitated. Granted, that could just be me, but I can certainly look into it. The other Mages in the caravan didnt really have an opinion on it, one way or other when I spoke to them, before asking Brand. <em>A hundred years? </em>She hadnt realized that the notes had covered that long of a timeframe.


    Artia paled, slightly. There are more?


    T shrugged. They know they were fed arcanous meat, and thats it. I shared nothing further after I learned it, as it wasnt mine to share.


    Artia and Brand shared another look.


    Soare the surprise questions out of the way or?


    Artia smiled broadly. I think I like you, girl. Her eyes widened fractionally. Ummm Mistress.


    T waved her down. T is fine, and I am a girl, so. She shrugged again. Fair assessment, I suppose? She looked down at herself, noting the red dipped sleeves, and spotted front. I really should see a tailor, though


    Brand perked up. I can rmend a good one.


    Id appreciate that, but for now, She turned to Artia, I need to sell some arcanous parts, and I need some dimensional storage. She quirked a smile. My handcart should bear witness to both of those things.


    Artia nced to Brand, who nodded encouragingly. Very well. Come on into my shop.


    The three stood to walk inside. Before they entered, Artia called out. Brandon! And a young man, likely a little older than T, came from the darkened interior. Brandon, be a dear and mind the stall, would you. If Master Brand is correct, the newly arrived caravan guards might being by to sell some harvests. Call me if they do and you need me. Yes?


    Yes, mother. He turned from her, and froze, staring at T.


    T smiled as she walked past, but otherwise didnt acknowledge him. There was somethingoff about him. Her mage-sight didnt give any clues on casual inspection. If anything, something seemed missing, but she couldnt really ce it. She didnt want to deal with the oddity at the moment; so, she chose to ignore it.


    From inside the shop, she heard Brandon whisper to his mother.


    Who is she?


    A Mage, obviously.


    A beautiful Mage.


    Brandon! Mind the stall.


    Are you sure? I could


    There was the sound of light p to what T presumed was the back of Brandons head, and she grinned without turning around. <em>It is nice to be appreciated for me, I suppose.</em>


    Brand and Artia followed shortly thereafter, and Artia cleared her throat. Well, apologies for the dy, Mistress. Shall I show you around?


    T turned her attention, for the first time, to the interior of therge, but well filled, shop around her.


    One wall held racks of weapons, the opposite wall held packs and bags, belts and straps. Tables and cabs neatly arranged in between held every manner of item from eyes in clear jars of pickling juice and fur pelts to razor des and spoons.


    Every item gave off an aura of magical power, whether she could see inscription on the surface or not.


    She let out an involuntary gasp of amazement. What?


    Artia walked forward, clearly pleased with herself. These are our wares, dear. Items of magic and power. There are some arcane or magical beast harvests, some artifacts of earlier eras, and the rest are constructed and empowered items, awaiting use by Mage or man. She grinned. What do you desire?


    T immediately walked over to a short-ded knife that spoke loudly to her mage-sight about sharpness and durability. The magic around and throughout the piece was twisted in and through itself in strangely familiar, yet somehow entirely alien, patterns. What is this?


    Ahh! Good eye. That is an artifact de. It never chips or shatters, never needs cleaning, and is always sharp as a razor.


    T frowned. I dont see any inscriptions. No source of power. There arent any arcane or magical parts sealed inside, either. She couldnt fully pierce the steel of the knifes construction, but she could see well enough to determine that the material was uniform and solid the whole way through, as were the magical loops and knots woven through the material.


    As I said, an artifact de. Never needs to consume harvest parts, and never has to be refreshed. It simply is.


    T turned a deeply skeptical look towards Brand. You promised me a solid contact, not a spinner of tales.


    Brand paled. Mistress T!


    T held up her hand. There is no way that this would just be sitting here if it had such power.


    Artiaughed. Calm down, Brand. Shes both right and wrong. She turned to look T in the eyes. It is as I said, and just as I said. It wont pierce magical defenses and is no more than a simple knife. She smiled. Sure, its a nice knife, and you never have to sharpen it, or worry about it breaking, but given a normal, very serviceable knife can be purchased for less than a silver, and one such as that is not hard to keep sharp, buying this one for half a gold isnt really something most people will care to do.


    T nced back at the knife. A half ounce, gold?


    A real bargain. She chuckled. But not worth it to most. I picked it up from a hunter, assuming some well-off patron would find it interesting, and not mind the cost too much.


    Ts frown had returned. Why wouldnt the Mages want this to study?


    Never been to a waning city, have you?


    T shook her head. Whats that got to do with it?


    The way its been exined to me is this: As Magic gathers around a waning city, it bends the world, drawing in all sorts of things of magic. Most are creatures,rge and small, but some are items, like this knife. It doesnt draw them in in the sense of moving them, but it does, somehow, make it more likely that hunters will find them in the ruins scattered all about. She patted T on the arm. Oh, sure, you can hunt ruins anytime, if you want to put your life in your hands, but those around a waning city? She stepped back and gestured around her shop. Those always seem to have more, despite centuries of huntersbing through them first.

 Chapter 38: Little Shop of Wonders

    Chapter 38: Little Shop of Wonders


    T grunted, looking around at the magical items filling Artias little shop. <em>What if artifacts really do show up more often, here?</em> HuhWell, assuming its true she looked at the knife, again, and I cant see any reason to put that to lie, I apologize for misjudging you.


    No offense taken, Mistress.


    <em>Yeahright</em> T put the knife down. So, all of the items without spell-lines are like that? Artifacts of magic?


    Most of the items, yes.


    T walked over to the wall of bags and found that many of them seemed to <em>warp</em> beneath her mage-sight, calling to her, beckoning her to look closer. Each of those was obviously a dimensional storage, and most didnt have spell lines.


    Those without spell-lines, and some with, had a <em>very</em> familiar feel to them, despite a simr looping, twisting spiral pattern that was, again, familiar but not. <em>The underlying magic creates an effect like the cargo-slots</em> Mages study these items to learn spell-forms.


    Artia made a happy sound. That had always been my husbands, Adrills, theory, though no Mage would ever take the time to discuss it with an uninscribed.


    Im getting the feeling that you all arent great at finding amodating Mages.


    With all due respect, Mistress. I think I may have met more Mages than you have.


    T turned to regard Artia. After a long pause, she nodded. I suppose thats probably true. She frowned. <em>Are Mages really soyeah.</em> As she thought back to her time in school, she had to acknowledge that most Mages, even most Mages in training, were not very kind to non-Mages. Fairs fair, I suppose. I never really got on well with most Mages anyways She felt a sadness flick through her but suppressed it. <em>Nows not the time.</em> So, these bags: Why are <em>they</em> here? No downside I can imagine. So, why havent they been snapped up?


    Ahh! Yes. They degrade quickly once taken outside of the high magic region around a waning city, unless fedrge amounts of magic, consistently. After a moment, Artia amended. At least, that is what I understand, not being a Mage, myself.


    Really? T smiled. Thats quite interesting. She picked one up, keeping watch on Artia with the corner of her eye to ensure the woman didnt object to her doing so. She didnt. Does it simply take a raw power dump, or is it like empowering a storage wagon?


    Artia shrugged. Not a Mage, dear. After a brief pause, she added. My husband would know more, and if you choose one of the bags, we can discuss a trade for any information he can offer.


    T quirked a smile. Fair enough. Even so, Id think these would have substantial use around your fair city. Why do you have She did a quick count. Ten? Why do you have ten in stock?


    That is a simr situation to the knife, dear. Sure, dimensional storage is useful, but they are <em>very</em> expensive, for simple, local use. Even so they really arent that rare, so those who want them, buy them. She shrugged. Weve enough travelers thate through and want to rent them while in town that it pays to keep them on hand and not lower the price. That and locals rent them out too, on asion. Most folks dont need to have a dimensional storage of their own.


    And that price is?


    Artia looked at Brand, and he nodded. Well, as a member of the Order of the Harvest, we will bundle your purchases and give you a discount.


    But I wont know what I can afford, unless you give me a starting price.


    To rent one of those bags would be 10 ounces, silver, per day, and policy is: If you rent it for a year, its yours.


    T blinked. There is no way you charge almost 40 ounces, gold, for one of those.


    No? They never need to be reinscribed, and they never need new power sources, so long as you stay local. A standard dimensional storage would cost you 5 ounces, gold, plus another ounce for a power source. Then, youll need to reinscribe it every three months or so, to be safe, for another 4 ounces, gold, and youll need another power source every four months or so. When a year has passed, youve spent, what? 25 ounces, gold? And youll have to spend another 19, give or take, every year, forever, or the item loses all power and value. That isnt even factoring the increased cost of magical metals in a waning city. I think 40 to never concern yourself with that is a bargain.


    Put that way, it was quite hard to argue with. I dont have 40 ounces, gold


    Artia patted her on the shoulder. I assumed not, dear. You havent any shoes.


    T red, but there wasnt any malice behind it. I prefer to be barefoot. <em>She really doesnt interact much with many Mages.</em>


    Sure you do, dear. I understand.


    You know, youre a bit of a-


    Um Brand stepped forward, quietly cutting her off. I believe that this is going off track. Mistress T, there are likely arrangements that could be made, in lieu of mary payment. You do, for example, have quite a few harvests to trade with, yes?


    T looked away from Artia and deted slightly. You are right, as usual, Brand. She nced back at Artia. I do not appreciate condescension. I am aware that many of your clientele are of the type to loosen their purses simply to prove you wrong. I am not one of them, and I would appreciate it if youd forgo such tactics, for the sake of our amicable rtionship. <em>There. Maturely handled, T.</em>


    Artia smiled slightly. Very well, <em>Mistress.</em> I will not attempt to maneuver you. Shall we look at what all we have to interest you, here?


    T nodded her agreement. Then, an oddity struck her. Wait


    Artia paused, looking quizzically in her direction.


    If the bags degrade in normal or low magic areas, how could they be found in ruins? This area is only high magic because of the waning city, and thus the bags couldnt have remained intact for the centuries since their creation.


    The shop owner stared at her. Thatis an excellent question, actually. She frowned. It is possible that the item is an artifact, and the magic inhabiting it is new? She thought for a moment. That does actually align with more of the details that I know. She turned back to fully face T. I suppose that I should express a couple of things about artifacts, because you are new to them.


    T tried not to give a frustrated sigh. Any information would be appreciated.


    Artia nodded, consolingly. First, artifactschange over time. They seem to adapt to the uses they are put to and the peculiarities of their owners. She hesitated, then shrugged. This is spection, but Ive heard of someolder Mages whose use of artifacts seems to have modified them far more heavily than in other cases. I dont know why.


    Hmmm. Interesting. And the second thing?


    Artifacts can be dangerous. There havent been too many incidents in recent memory, but anyone who deals in artifacts is trained to look for certain things. There are storage bags that look like other dimensional storage artifacts but have a tendency toeat their user.


    T blinked several times. What.


    Artia held up her hands catingly. All those have somemonalities, and we watch for them carefully. All the storage I have, Ive rented out hundreds of times, and they are tried and true. There were also early instances, hundreds of years ago, and in other cities, obviously, where some knives would be found in their owners'' hearts, driven clean through the bone. Could have been foul y, but they have simrthreads? Yes, threads, which can be seen with mage-sight, or items that allow simr sight.


    Sonone of your items will kill me.


    They shouldnt. Though clean items have been observed to develop in that way, if their owner harbored suicidal tendencies. Again, the items seem to mold to their user, over time.


    So, be careful what you wish for, and dont be depressed.


    Artia snorted. Sure, if thats what you want to take from it. Also, if you evere across an artifact, whether in the wilds, ruins, or in this city, have a reputable dealer examine it for you. I am happy to do it myself, free of charge. I dont wish harm toe to you.


    In the wilds? The city? Madam Artia, how could unknown artifacts simply beying around?


    Artia shrugged. No idea, but it happens. Some im to have seen artifacts appear from nothing, or a burst of magic to manifest atop an item, rendering it an artifact, but Ive never put much stock in those rumors or tales.


    But you pass them on?


    She shrugged again. Id rather share hearsay than allow you to be taken unaware. Im d that you will exercise caution.


    T grunted. Fair enough. Thank you.


    In the end, T had a moderately sized pile of items on the shop counter, which included a theoretically permanent storage bag, which was the shape of a belt pouch and roughly asrge as her two fists pressed together, but could hold as much as arge storage closet. Shed picked it for several reasons: First, it could only open to just over a foot and a half in radius, and thus was restrictive in what could be stored inside, this made it seem to be the least valuable of those Artia had on hand. Second, its twistings of dimensional magic seemed to include defensive measures, unlike any other that shed seen. If she understood them correctly, and that was a big if, the bag could subtly shift space around itself to be out of the way of any but a direct attack on the pouch. She didnt know how it would respond to area attacks.


    Artia did not seem to realize this added affect, and T was not about to enlighten her. Third, more than any of the others, its warping of space reminded her of her own mental constructs for dimensional reshaping. It simply felt <em>right</em> to her.


    <em>Ill have to experiment with it a bit.</em>


    Aside from the pouch, T grabbed a drop-point, artifact knife of the same kind as the short-ded one shed examined earlier. This handle fit her hand better, and the de was a bit longer, lending utility without bing unwieldy. The metal of the knife she chose looked like standard steel, which was not the case for all those avable. The scales of the handle were what looked and felt like smooth, cool stone, pinned in ce with bright, silver rivets.


    Despite the apparent slick smoothness of the surface, the handle felt incredibly secure in her hand, almost as if it were clinging to her, as well. The stone was a lovely grey, white, and red-flecked ck, and it reminded her of a hazy nights sky.


    As shed examined the artifact knives on disy, shed noticed that each had an odd <em>depth </em>to their magic, as if there were far more within each knife than the simple, surface enchantments. There was also a small pocket of emptiness, where something seemed to be missing from the magic, or where it could have something added, but didnt have to have such. It was a fairly odd thing to see.


    To the knife and storage, she added three artifacts that shed picked almost at random, but without letting that show, to the best of her ability. One was a woodenb that untangled hair with a single stroke. The second, a whistle that only those friendly to the blower could hear. Third, a simple stone coin that alwaysnded face up, when flipped, and which would cool water to just above freezing when ced within it. Artia made sure she understood that it ceased to work in any liquid other than pure water. T acknowledged that and took it anyways.


    There were supposedly a whole host of other items that T could look through, but she already suspected that she was well past her budget.


    Therefore, that done, the three of them went out to Ts handcart and looked over what she was willing to sell.


    She had eight talons and six leg bones from a de wing, and one horn from the thunder bull. Shed prefer to keep two of the leg bones, and she additionally had right around 100 pounds of thunder bull jerky, if she needed to tip the scales.


    <em>You know, I think Id prefer to keep the jerky than the leg bones, if ites down to it.</em>


    Artia pulled out a small eye piece, and T immediately focused on it, seeing within it a magic akin to her own mage-sight, if more limited.


    <em>Another artifact? She wasnt lying when she said they were everywhere, it seems. </em>T almostughed at herself. <em>That? Thats what convinces me?</em> Shed just been searching through a store <em>filled</em> with such items, but this casual disy is what tipped the scales in her mind, it seemed.


    Artia picked up one of the talons, and examined it through her eye piece, before sighing. Im sorry, Mistress, but these are useless. All traces of power are utterly gone. Ive never seen them fade so fast, but it must just be bad luck.


    Brand seem bbergasted. What? Thats impossible! Its only been a few days since those were harvested.


    Artia shrugged. I dont know what to tell you.


    T smiled. I do. They havent degraded.


    Artia gave her a long-suffering look. Im not seeing any magic.


    T took out her own knife and took the talon from Artia. Then, as the woman watched through her eye piece, T scraped her knife along the talons surface removing most of theyer of iron salve, which had set as an outeryer.


    Artia almost gasped, as she snatched the talon from T, examining the small opening, through which magic poured. She rubbed her thumb across the surface, working the surrounding salve into movement to re-cover the small hole, and the magical light faded to Ts mage-sight.


    Sealed, somehow? You coated them with something to contain the power and keep it from degrading?


    T nodded.


    Then, these are all as potent as if just harvested. The woman looked utterly astonished.


    T made a hesitant sound. Id say they are as fresh as if harvested within thest few hours. Likely less, but I dont wish to oversell.


    Artia cocked an eyebrow. Really? After that little demonstration?


    It is what it is. But T was grinning.


    Well, if a hunter brought in a fresh harvest, Id likely be able to give a gold per talon, and three per bone. She lifted a finger. Honestly, therger pair would fetch four, and the smaller pair two each, but it still averages to three, which is the value of the middling set. She nced to Brand. As Brand stands for you, I do not need to verify the source of your goods, and I can trust that they are what they appear. The thunder bulls horn is an interesting find, as the power it contains is mainly used for shattering defenses, though some fools take that power and invert it to heal mdies of the skeletal system. She shook her head. Why they dont use the beasts bones is beyond me, but Mages are an inscrutable bunch, and I suppose Im no Constructionist.


    T cocked an eyebrow but didntment.


    Artia cleared her throat. The horn is easily worth four or five ounces, gold. Now, normally, Id have to pass on some of these, as I have no ready buyers, and everyone knows that harvests kept out of an iron box degrade quickly, and even in one they dont have an eternity to wait. I was going to make an exception, but it seems I dont have to. She looked up to the left for a moment, seeming to do some calctions. So, all told, that puts the valuation of your harvests, generously, at 31 ounces, gold. I could never give you that much if I simply bought them from you, but as part of an exchange, I think we can consider that full valuation. The value of the items you selected inside is still higher, though.


    <em>THIRTY-ONE OUNCES! Rust keeping two bones as fighting sticks, Im selling all of it.</em> She nearly had a fit of joyous dancing but did her best to keep it hidden. She remembered how her father would alter prices based on the cut and quality of a customers clothing, and shed needed to not only keep the numbers straight, but not let on that it was anything other than the ordinary price. T nodded. Shall we return inside?


    Artia had been about to continue but frowned slightly before nodding. As you wish.


    They walked inside, returning to Ts small pile. T looked around at the merchandise once more. Wait. The harvests are sitting out?


    Artia smiled. These are past the point of selling, too degraded unfortunately, and are simply out for disy purposes, demonstrating the type of thing we can acquire. It takes a very long time for thest vestiges of power to finally leave an item, and until then, the type of power they have is still easy to verify.


    T nodded. That made a good deal of sense. She gestured to her small pile, turning away from the shop atrge. What is the value we have, here?


    Artia looked at T with suspicion but continued. Well, that is the least of our bags, so Id normally part with it for thirty-five gold, the knife is half an ounce, and the coin is one ounce, the whistle two, andb really should be three, but Ill part with it for two.


    T nodded, but didnt say anything further, simply flicking a nce to Brand, before returning her focus to Artia.


    The shop keeper sighed. Because you are at least working with the Order, Im willing to bundle these all together and part with them for an even thirty-five ounces.


    T almost grinned, then. <em>She must rarely have use for this smaller dimensional storage bag. Shes willing to be quite flexible on the price.</em> So?


    So, if I take all your items, and you wish all of these, the bnce would be four ounces, gold, from you to me.


    T nodded. That seems quite fair.


    Artia smiled broadly, opening her mouth to conclude, but T continued.


    Unfortunately, Im not in a ce to spare four ounces, gold, at this time. While the coin would provide many pleasantly cool drinks, I do not think I can justify it at this time. She moved the stone coin aside.


    Artia nodded, opening her mouth, but again, T continued.


    And the whistle could be a boon in a pinch, but it really isnt an effective use of my resources at this time. Even as she ced the whistle with the coin, she tittered augh, as if to herself. And if I cant justify such an obviously helpful item, I certainly cant allow myself to splurge on ab. She nodded, as if conceding a point, and moved theb over, to beside the other two items. And as you said, those together were valued at She paused as if she hadnt calcted beforehand. Five ounces, gold.


    I did say that, but-


    T continued as if she hadnt heard the woman. Thus, if my figuring is correct, Im asking for thirty ounces of product, and I have offered thirty-one ounces in payment. I do hope that it wont be too much trouble to transfer a gold ounce to my ount?


    Artia blinked at her a few times, then sighed. You nned that, right? You preselected those three items to nudge the numbers around.


    T shrugged. Yes and no. If it had worked out, Id have loved to get every item here, and those stood out as interesting, for one reason or other. Im sorry that they wonte into my ownership at this time.


    Arita huffed augh. Fine, girl. Its not worth fighting you. But no, Ill not transfer the ounce. Well do an even trade, and well both be happy about it. Yes?


    T thought for a moment, then nodded, extending her hand. Very well. Thank you. She had to contain her excitement, partially at her exchange, and partially at what a piece of her mind had just discovered, or thought that it had. While most of her attention had been taken up with the transaction at hand, a small portion of her mind had been puzzling over the mysterious, miniature void in the pommel of the various artifact knives, the ce where the magic seemed to be waiting for something. In truth, such was evident in most of the artifacts, though the positioning and ease of finding the small voids varied from type to type.


    And a possible answer had just clicked.


    T concluded her business with Artia. Part of that was getting assurances that nowhere south of the pass, within a days walk, would have low enough magic to harm her new pouch. She promised to return the following evening to discuss dimensional storage with Artias husband and join them for dinner.


    Without further dy, she shoved her remaining things, including her backpack, satchel, and jerky, into her new belt pouch and departed.

 Chapter 39: The Wandering Magician

    Chapter 39: The Wandering Magician


    T nced up as she walked back out into the market, noting the ever-present dome of magic above her head. Shed decided that she liked the view from this side much more and found herself smiling as she basked in the magical glow that few, other than she, could easily see. <em>What Mage would spend their inscriptions to stare at the sky?</em>


    Despite her revelry, she walked quickly through the market, looking for her final purchase of the day.


    She found a barrel seller near the western end of the market, and was able to purchase a small, iron-bound keg and two ss jugs for two silver. The keg was just small enough to fit into her belt pouch and had a top ready to hammer into ce, once it was filled. It was advertised to be able to hold just over two gallons, and that was <em>perfect.</em> The jugs were each just over a gallon, so the contents of the two would fill the keg quite nicely. Until then, they had sturdy, swing-top closures to seal openings that were almost wide enough for her to fit her hand in.


    Those purchasesplete, via stone te rather than coinage, she moved towards the inn in which the others were staying. <em>No reason to take the time to hunt up amodations when others have done the work, in advance.</em>


    She asked several people that she passed where she could find the Wandering Magician, and she was given unerring directions.


    Shed almost asked Brand for his tailor rmendations, but she could deal with that tomorrow, when she got back. Right now, she wanted nothing more than a meal and her own room.


    The streets were busy, but not crowded, and she enjoyed peoplewatching as she moved through the city.


    There were definitely a higher proportion of Mages, or at least people with some inscribing, than she was used to. She had to remind herself that while most people got inscribings of various kinds at some point throughout their lives, only Mages were devoted to perfecting the Magical arts, and only they received a Keystone inscription. More than half her time at the Academy had been devoted to her understanding of that one,plex spell-form. Its what truly set Mages apart and allowed the truly impressive magics to function.


    She smiled, bringing herself back from her musing. The amount of magic in the city, and the area atrge, was staggering. <em>I could get used to it, here.</em> That is, if she didnt have a job <em>There are caravans to and from this city once a month, or so. I coulde here quite often, if I wished.</em> And that was just from Bandfast. <em>I could go through other cities, as well</em> It bore considering.


    Finally, she arrived at the inn, and found it to be a four story, sprawlingplex, set within small, but well appointed, grounds. Inexpensive, huh?


    The sign over the gate proudly proimed the name of the establishment, along with an iconograph: a simple image of a staff with a star shining from the top.


    <em>An Archon star?</em> That was unlikely. It was probably just an easy way to symbolize power.


    Before passing under the archway, she noted a guard standing to either side, watching her.


    T passed under the sign and heard someone call out to her. Oy! State your name and business. Weve no use for vagrants, here.


    She turned to the man, frowning. <em>Im obviously a Mage. Why cant heoh</em> She hadnt really noticed the fading light of early sunset, because her eyes didnt need nearly as much illumination and adjusted so smoothly it didnt merit her attention. Now, in moderate twilight, she would be little more than a vague shape to their eyes. <em>A tattered shape at that.</em> I am Mistress T, Mage of the Caravanners Guild.


    That earned a surprised exmation.


    I am here in search of food and lodging. Have Ie to the right ce?


    Let me get a look at you. The man who had spoken pulled out a round bit of wood, and T saw power swirling around it, evoking the concept of light. Sure enough, as the guard moved his finger across the item, light blossomed forth.


    <em>Wonders never cease.</em> It appeared to be an artifact, as no inscriptions were ready-to-sight.


    Oh! My apologies, Mistress, we didnt see you very clearly and


    T grinned. I look a bit like a vagrant, in the dark?


    The man cleared his throat. No offense intended, Mistress.


    None given. Ive had a long week, but my wardrobe has seen the worst of it. Im just d I didnt have to walk in here naked.


    The guard colored just slightly. Yes well, that would have been bad.


    T paused for a moment, before shifting slightly. May I? She nced further into theplex.


    Oh! Of course. You have a wonderful night, Mistress. Wee to the Wandering Magician.


    T gave a nod of acknowledgement and strode up the path to the main building. It was a grand structure, clearly built to weather the centuries, but it maintained a sense of elegance despite its age. The massive double doors opened as she approached, and she found herself walking into a quiet lobby, what looked to be a pond taking up one side of the rtivelyrge space.


    She focused briefly, scanning the water and saw that there were, indeed, many fish. In fact, if she understood her sight properly, some were quite old but still vital. She wouldnt be surprised to find out that some of the fish had been there since the founding of the city. <em>What a horrible existenceBut probably really nice for a fish? No predators and all.</em>


    She didnt give it a further thought.


    An older woman with silver-white hair and a straight, strong posture stepped forward to greet her. The matron scanned T with discerning eyes, before nodding. Mistress. Wee to the Wandering Magician.


    T gave a slight bow. Thank you, Matron.


    A room for one?


    T thought for a moment. Yes, please. Something on the ground floor would be preferred, on the exterior of the buildings east side, if its avable at no extra cost. After a moment, she continued. I would deeply appreciate a bath, if one is avable, and food.


    The matron nodded to each request. Could I send for a seamstress, andmission some garments on your behalf?


    T hesitated. What she was requesting already felt <em>very</em> expensive, and someone else doing her negotiating felt more so. I am still a new Mage and


    The matron held up her hand. I am familiar with theconstraints felt by many new Mages and magelings. We will consider cost in all our services to you, and keep you apprised of anything that may not be in keeping with this aspect of your desires.


    T blinked at her. <em>That was quite politically worded.</em> Thank you. If I may, so I have a basis forparison: What will three nights here, cost?


    The Matron smiled. A room is 5 silver ounces per night, use of the baths is an additional one ounce, silver, per night. Meals are two for a silver, though if you wish, we will sell you one at no mark-up.


    T nodded. <em>Tonight, tomorrow, and the night after; baths, obviously; dinner tonight, breakfast and dinner tomorrow, three meals the next day, and breakfast my final morning is seven meals21 and a half silver. I can do that.</em> It was expensive, but it should be worth it, if she used her time effectively.


    As T was thinking, the Matron waited patiently, when T seemed to return her attention to the older woman, the woman spoke, again. There are, of course, the additional facilities avable to our guests. We have several training rooms and courtyards, as well as quite a number of peaceful ces for meditation. These areplementary, and any of our staff would be happy to point them out, or help you find one that best suits you.


    T nodded, smiling. I think that sounds wonderful. Thank you. I would like to stay for three nights and have use of the baths all three nights. Ill start with four meals and go from there.


    Very good, Mistress. Would you care to pay now or upon departure?


    T hesitated for a long moment. You let people pay afterwards?


    The Matron nodded. Mages often earn their way, while here, and only have the funds for their lodging after their work isplete.


    Huh Ill pay up front, thank you. <em>That seems open to abuse, but I suppose it works for them?</em> They likely required a binding contract, so the danger would be minimized somewhat.


    Currency or ount?


    T quirked a smile. ount, please.


    And were you interested in speaking to a seamstress? The Matron pointedly did <em>not</em> look over Ts state of dress, again.


    T hesitated.


    It would be no charge for me to set up a meeting.


    Finally, T nodded. Tomorrow evening, after supper? Would that work?


    It can. I could also have her drop by after supper tonight, if you prefer. The Matron pulled out a stone tablet from her pocket and manipted it briefly before handing it to T. eptance at the bottom, if you please.


    T nced over the contents of the te, verifying that they were correct, and pricked her finger, allowing a drop of her blood to vanish into the stone. She was getting very used to pulling her defenses back in order to confirm such transactions. I think I can do after dinner tonight. Thank you. <em>Twenty silver, gone in an instant.</em>


    The Matron likewise pricked her own finger to certify the transaction and smiled after the confirmation turned the stone briefly green. Wee, Mistress?


    Mistress T.


    Oh! Wee Mistress T. I believe that you havepanions who are staying here as well?


    I believe so, yes.


    They asked that you join them in the dining hall, upon your arrival. Shall I notify them that you will join them promptly, or do you wish to bathe, first?


    She briefly contemted dying, but her stomach rumbled rebelliously. I think I should eat now, assuming Id be allowed in the dining hall as I am?


    Our guests are allowed toe as they are, Mistress.


    Thank you. Can you lead the way? I assume I can go to my rooms, after?


    That can easily be arranged. Right this way.


    T followed the matron down a side hall and to arge, vaulted room with many varied tables, artfully ced throughout. Each was both easy to see and retained the privacy of a bit of distance, asionally utilizing a support column, or half wall, to add to the separation.


    I trust that you wish dinner, now, to be one of your meals?


    Yes, thank you.


    I will have it brought to you. She pointed towards one corner, where four figures sat at a table built for six. Yourpanions are there.


    Thank you. I hope that you have a good evening.


    The Matron paused for a heartbeat, then smiled. Thank you, Mistress. You as well.


    T nodded her thanks, turned, and strode across the room, towards where Trent, Renix, and Atrexia were sitting with a stranger.


    Renix saw her approaching first and waved. Mistress T! Wee. Im d that you could join us. He looked fully recovered from the concussion. <em>d to see that.</em>


    The stranger nced her way, then to Renix, and finally met gazes with Trent before cocking an eyebrow.


    Trent rolled his eyes before turning to wave to T as well. Come, join us.


    T smiled. Thank you, I will. As she pulled up a chair, she regarded the stranger, obviously a Mage, but found herself unable to interpret his spell-lines.


    You know, young Mage, it is rude to use your mage-sight on another without permission.


    She hesitated for a moment before sighing. I cant actually turn it off. What sort of defense is that? Ive never seen anything, save iron, that was imprable to my sight.


    The man grinned widely. No deception? No arguing?


    She shrugged. Whats the point? You are clearly knowledgeable and unless you were fishing, which I dont discount, you already knew the answers anyways. I try not to burn bridges, before I know if Ill need to cross them.


    That is almost wise, Mistress T. He stood, holding out his hand across the wide table. But I have you at a disadvantage. You may call me Grediv.


    T pulled out a glove and slipped it on as she stood, before taking Gredivs hand. Good to meet you, Master Grediv. I assume thats your nameor?


    Grediv was giving her hand a strange look. Yes, its my name. Why the glove? Do you fear I will cast something through contact?


    <em>You can do that?</em> She supposed that made sense, but she hadnt really considered it before. <em>More the fool, me.</em> NoIve just been told that contact with my skin isunnerving for my fellow Mages.


    Really? He tilted his head quizzically. May I? He offered his hand, again.


    Feeling a bit hesitant again, T pulled the glove back off. She started to reach for his hand then paused briefly. <em>Well, in for a copper</em> She sped his hand, and she felt a mild spasm in his fingers in response.


    Fascinating. You are somehow reflecting the lingering traces of magic present in my body back into my fingers. He frowned. But only from the back of your hand?


    T nodded. That was my understanding. Then, are you a lightning Mage as well?


    Grediv bobbed his head nomittally. Ive been using lightning magics ofte, given the saturation of such in the region. I imagine that is why your friends, here, he indicated Trent and Renix, were recruited for the voyage to our fair city.


    She nodded. So, a Guide, then. Material?


    Just so.


    They both returned to their seats. Grediv was sitting between Trent and Atrexia, and Renix was sitting between T and Trent. So to what do I owe the pleasure? She looked to Trent.


    He is the head of the local Archon Council, and we have requested he meet you and examine yourcreation.


    T gave a slow nod, silently making an Oh. Shed been expecting this, if not quite this quickly. Well, no time like the present. She stuck her hand into her belt pouch, reaching in up to her elbow.


    The others at the table gave her an odd look as the pouch was clearly notrge enough for how she was using it, but they each almost immediately realized what it was.


    As before, even through the iron vials, she could feel an odd connection to her Archon star-like creations, and so she was able to find the vials without issue, despite not actually looking into her pouch. Though, shed thought the storage would be deeper?<em> Ill examine it more closelyter.</em>


    She pulled both out and handed them to Grediv.


    He frowned, taking the vials. What is this?


    T gave Trent a long-suffering look. Didnt you tell him?


    Trent shrugged. I figured it would just start an argument, which could be avoided by him seeing for himself.


    Grediv sighed. Please, just tell me what these are?


    T pointed to the one to which she could feel a slightly greater connection. Those are both stars. That one is stronger, the other weaker, about half the strength, give or take.


    I know you didnt make an Archon star out of an iron vial. So, why are they in iron vials?


    Two reasons. First, safety: Ive really no idea what they are, and I dont want them affecting the environment as such.


    Wise enough, given yourck of knowledge. The second reason?


    They are liquid. I have to have them in something.


    Impossible- Grediv trailed off, then nced to Trent. This would be that argument, yes?


    Pretty much.


    Grediv grunted. I suppose its easiest for me to look. He looked between the two, then gave a little shrug, setting aside the vial containing the smaller star. He took a breath, and T felt power moving across his face at the activation of his mage-sight. She still couldnt see it, which was a bit unnerving, and she realized that this is likely how other Mages felt around her.


    <em>Huh, who knew?</em>


    Thus prepared, Grediv pulled the cap off the vial he still held and looked inside.


    There was a long moment, during which he just stared. Then, he moved the vial in a circr motion, clearly swirling the drop around. Its liquid.


    T smiled. Seems to be, yes, though the surface tension is unbelievably strong.


    He grunted assent. His eyes flicked over the table, and he reached out to pick up a spoon before tipping the vial and pouring the drop of magic-infused blood onto it. Once it was there, he continued to examine it, his gaze asionally moving to her, before returning to the blood. This isodd. You made it with your own blood?


    T nodded. Thats right. Though that one is abination of two, which I made separatelyOh! And they absorbed another drop of my blood that I had previously infused with my power, as for a magic density test.


    Gredivs mouth opened, as if to object, then closed. It opened again, then he nced down at the spoon in his hand. Youre serious. He nced to the other vial, then back to her. Do you mind if I pour the other onto this spoon, as well?


    T shrugged. Sure. I can make another, if I need, but I still dont actually know the purpose of these.


    Grediv chuckled. Im d for that, at least. We can discuss it,ter, along with <em>many</em> other things. He carefully set down the spoon, and opened the other vial, ncing in to confirm its contents before pouring it out into the bowl of the same spoon.


    The two stars moved towards each other like mas, and as they contacted, there was a flickering sh of both power and visible light. It wasnt bright, no more than would havee from striking a flint with iron. When it passed, there was a single, marginallyrger, drop of blood.


    Fascinating. It must be a property of the medium in which it was created. He looked up to her. May I use my mage-sight on you?


    She nodded. But I dont think youll see much.


    He shrugged, and she felt the power moving around his eyes once more. You do have ayer ofsomething encasing you. It is quite resilient. The sense of powering from him increased, and she thought she saw flickers in the air around him. <em>Green? It seems simr to the glimpse I got of Hollys yellow.</em>


    T felt her skin heating up under his intensifying gaze and realized that it had something to do with his mage-sight interacting with her iron salve. Thats actually a bit ufortable.


    He seemed genuinely surprised. Really? I apologize.


    The feeling both of heat on her skin, and of powering from him, vanished immediately. All flickering traces of green in the air around him vanished.


    The little I was able to see tells an interesting story. You can perceive inside yourself with your mage-sight, correct?


    T squirmed a little. Are you going to leave me any secrets?


    Grediv held up a hand. My apologies. I am simply intrigued. Ive never seen mage-sight scripting that detailed and powerful before. He hesitated. Well, Ive never seen them on a subject that lived through their activation.


    T snorted. It was <em>not</em> pleasant, thats for sure.


    He smiled wryly. Id imagine not. He looked to the others at the table, whod been listening closely. Mistress T is right, however. Ive been too free with her secrets, and I think that should cease. Thank you, Mistress Atrexia, Master Trent, for bringing this to my attention. It is, in fact, an Archon star, though not of sufficient power to qualify her for raising. He nced down at the spoon. Though, with this oddity, she could get there, fairly easily. He chuckled, as if to himself. I can imagine some of the oldest on our Council would beobstinately cross about the method, however. Theyd also refuse to believe it possible, so it wouldnt be too much of a hurdle. Bandfast <em>might </em>be better, if she had a local sponsor He seemed to have devolved into talking to himself. He also seemed to notice that and brought his attention back to the table atrge. Apologies, again. Ah! Dinner is here. Mistress T, would you do me the honor of a short walk, after we eat? I think there are few things I should convey. He tipped the spoon, dumping the blood drop into one of the vials before sealing it and returning both to her.


    She smiled. That sounds wonderful. Thank you, Master Grediv.


    As hed said, dinner was indeed ready, and three servers brought out their food. It turned out to be a quite extensive, four course meal that reminded her of something Brand and his cooks would have made, if they expected a city-lord in attendance.


    It was delicious, filling, and utterly satisfying. So much so that conversation virtually died while they ate, each new courseing out precisely when it was most anticipated, keeping the meal flowing smoothly.


    In the end, T pushed herself back, sighing contentedly. That was well worth the price. <em>There is no way I could get a better meal for half a silver.</em> She briefly considered seeing if she could take some with her but thought better of it. <em>Im full enough.</em> Shed have to content herself with the single bottle of unopened wine shed slipped into her belt pouch, when she was fairly certain no one was watching. The others had drunk the bottle brought for them, individually, so she was sure it was meant for her in any case. <em>Not stealing if its mine.</em>

 Chapter 40: The Beginning of True Magehood

    Chapter 40: The Beginning of True Magehood


    Now that everyone at the table had finished eating, T was bing increasingly aware of their attention on her. Finally, as that tension threatened to break into conversations, or at least questions, she stood. Archon Grediv. Would now be a good time? Im afraid that I need a bath after the week on the road, as should be apparent, and I have other appointments this evening after our discussion. That in mind, Id be grateful for some of your time, now.


    Grediv took her flood of words in stride and stood as well. He swept his gaze over the other three. Thank you, again, for the information and for allowing me to join you for dinner. I will take my leave.


    The three nodded, giving T furtive nces.


    T smiled and waved slightly. See you all, around, yeah?


    Nods were her only reply, as she and Grediv walked towards a door in the outer wall, through which they could see a small, walking garden.


    The night sky was stunning overhead, as the mostly cloudless expanse gave T a clear view of the jewel-like stars. There was very little light pollution, even in the heart of the city, so she was easily able to pick out familiar patterns in the sky. <em>It has been a bit unseasonably cloudless ofte. Were probably in for a dark, cold winter</em>


    Her mage-sight responded to her focus, and the citys defenses sprang into view, blocking out the stars.


    She sighed, returning her eyes to the garden around her.


    It was well maintained and beautifully cultivated. Several fountains were strategically ced both to hide any noise, which infiltrated from the surrounding city, and to give any in the garden a measure of privacy from any other guests.


    Ive always loved these grounds.


    T regarded Grediv. Now that he was walking nearer to her, she could see that he was quite a bit taller than her, though that wasnt too odd. He had wings of white in otherwise blonde hair and she could see his spell-lines in amongst the roots.


    He was clean-shaven, to the point that she suspected hed shaved shortly before dinner. His clothes were fairly standard Mages robes, loose and flowing. Though, they seemed of high-quality fabric and deep, rich colors. Primarily, they were an emerald-green and deep, dark amethyst-purple. It was an oddbination, but not jarringly so.


    Have youe here often?


    He chuckled lightly. Since they were built.


    She cocked her head. I was under the impression that this inn has stood since the founding of Alefast.


    Your information is urate.


    Care to exin?


    Most Mages live far longer than most Mages realize that they will. Powerful, carefulbeings of magic can expect millennia, though that happens with sad rarity.


    <em>He didnt say Mages but that is clearly what he meant. Dancing around a rule,pulsion, or enforced edict? </em>She had no way of knowing and asking would be pointless. So, she didnt respond, instead simply walking beside him in silence.


    He nced at her from the corner of his eye. Not going to ask?


    Youll either tell me, or you wont.


    Heughed again. True enough. Unfortunately, as you are not an Archon yet, I can only share so much. I will give you one tidbit, which is only mildly taboo to share.


    Again, she waited.


    You know, sometimes it is more fun when the other person asks.


    Would you like me to be more inquisitive?


    He huffed a shortugh. I suppose not, though it does disappoint.


    Oh, dont mistake me, if I thought I could get away with it, Id literally pin you down and wring ten thousand answers from you, but I doubt Id even be able to inconvenience you.


    Fair enough. He grinned broadly. Heres the tidbit, then: Archon is only the beginning. In truth, it <em>is</em> the beginning of true Magehood. Just as your time as a mageling revealed things a hundred times more expansive than youd thought possible, while at the Academy. Just as your master filled in the gaps your highly focused, quadrant-specific Academy education left behind, so it is when you are raised to Archon.


    T cleared her throat. Well about that


    Grediv cocked an eyebrow her way. Yes?


    I sort of <em>What are you doing? Why would you tell him this?</em> Because he seemed to want to help, and him not knowing might actually get her killed. I never apprenticed under a master. I graduated less than a month ago and have never spent any time as a mageling. She let the words spill out of her, before she could stop herself and didnt look at him for reaction.


    Grediv, for his part, burst outughing.


    T turned to regard him then, incredulous.


    He continued tough, moving over to sit on a bench, tucked beside a particrly lovely fountain.


    She sat beside him, but just more than an arms length away.


    Finally, he reined himself in. And here I was, wracking my mind to think of what master would have let you try all that Ive seen from you in just thest couple of hours. He snorted. Mistress T, you are in <em>very</em> dangerous waters. You are swimming admirably, but you could easily get yourself killed.


    She sighed. Dont I know it. Ive been doing what I can to catch up with books on theory.


    Youre an avid reader, then? He looked a bit surprised.


    Arent all Mages?


    He scoffed. If only. He scratched his chin. I think I can help you, then. Ive a few volumes that I usually give to first time masters, when they take on a mageling, but they should serve as good primers for you.


    T felt an exuberant smile break out across her face. That would be amazing! I cant convey how much that would help me. She hesitated. You know, Im also looking for texts on determining the specific modifications for spell-forms for use in unique materials, as well one on elucidating the uses of Archon stars, and specific techniques for Mage meditation and trainingAnd Im curious about time rted spell-forms. She smiled brightly, then. <em>Oh, please, please, please!</em>


    He blinked at her for a long moment, then shook his head, a smile in on his face. The meditation and training techniques will be in the primers I get for you. I believe I have an extra copy on the tests for new material inscription, but Im almost afraid to ask why you want them He didnt give her a chance to respond. Time magic: thats a t, emphatic <em>no</em>. The short answer is that your soul is inseparably tied to the flow of time, so if you do almost anything wrong, the result is you ripping out your own soul. No. Maybe, <em>maybe</em> once you reach Archon, but not a moment before. He hesitated. In fact, even when you be an Archon, you should wait at least a decade before beginning that kind of research.


    <em>When I be an Archon</em> That floored her. This ancient Mage was telling her that she would be an Archon.


    As to the uses of an Archon star? He sighed. Please, be very, very careful.


    What is their purpose?


    He hesitated. Thisisnt suppose to be shared with any who is not an Archon, yet, but no non-Archon is supposed to be able to create one, so He shrugged. An Archon star is a touchpoint for your soul.


    What.


    He grinned. It is the first step to expanding your sway over the world around you. He gestured to himself. The reason your mage-sight cant prate to see my magic is because I am in control of the magic around my body. Some call it a shroud, some an aura, some a field of influence. He shrugged again. The name isnt really important.


    But humans cant control magic outside of themselves.


    Correct. But Archons can. An Archon star is the first step towards thatin a sense. They are likea practice sword for your soul? No, thats a terrible analogy. He scratched his chin and muttered under his breath. I miss my beard. Finally, he let out an explosive sigh. I cant think of a good metaphor. Needless to say, the Archon star is an anchor for your soul, to help you exert your influence outside of your own body. Eventually, you could say that that will allow you to expand that influence into the world around you in general, not just to the star. He snapped his fingers. Its like the breathing apparatus at the Academy, for swimming underwater. It helps Mages learn what it means to breathe underwater, so that their mental construct will urately work when they use that magic for themselves.


    HuhI never used those myself, but I think I understand what you mean. They are a crutch.


    More like a bow? To shoot you farther than youd ever get on your own. He groaned. This is why Im not a good teacher Without the Archon star, you will never learn to exert your will outside your body. Thats actually good for a whole host of reasonsBut! He held up a finger, drawing her attention sharply to him. He had correctly guessed that shed been letting her mind run rampant at the various implications. But, I will not tell you how to use it, until you are an Archon, and I ask you to keep this information to yourself.


    T thought about the opening shed sensed in the magic of the artifacts shed seen, and <em>almost</em> asked, but something held her back. <em>Im going to experiment, and he might stop me.</em> She swallowed. <em>T, this has to do with your soulJust ask the man.</em> She was set on this. <em>No. </em>Shed shared enough, already.


    After a long silence, he lowered his finger. Thats about all I can tell you and likely much more than I should have. My rmendation would be to work on improving the power of the stars you can create. Once you can make oneforty? Almost forty times as powerful as the one you have now, present yourself to an Archon, and you will be evaluated. Id rmend you wait until you can do that in one go, but I cant force you to that.


    Wont that be on the higher end of usual? <em>Who mentioned something like that Atrexia?</em>


    So, someone has been exining some things. He leaned back, stretching out his arms and resting his elbows on the back of the bench, still not too near her, though. Thats true, but much of your early days as an Archon are influenced by how you are perceived at your evaluation. I could likely force your admittance with that little drop of blood, but you would be dismissed as a weakling, if an odd one, and it would take you decades to recover. In the worst case, someone would fixate on you, and try to experiment upon someone so unusual. But- He turned back to her, a smile tugging at his lips. Youe forward with an Archon star in the upper reaches of the required power level? Made in blood? No one will discount you, then.


    She was nodding. Thats a lot to think about Thank you, Master Grediv. I do appreciate the time that youve taken. <em>Great abduction</em>


    They stood, and Grediv gave her a slight bow. It was a genuine pleasure, Mistress T. When you get to be my age, very little surprises you, and most surprises are unpleasant. Thank you for being a pleasant surprise, through and through.


    T bowed in turn. You are too kind. I look forward to the books?


    Heughed again, short and merry. Yes, yes. Ill have them delivered to you tomorrow evening. I have to ensure that Im not breaching protocol too much in giving them to you, but I dont see that being an issue.


    Thank you. She hesitated, thinking for a moment. If I may ask one parting question?


    He quired an amused smile. Yes?


    Why dont you have an Archon Mark?


    He looked at her for a moment, then snorted. Ah, that. The specifics are decidedly outside what you should know He seemed to consider for a moment, then shrugged. What many think of as an Archon Mark, is actually an item used to aid a new ordeficient Archon in certain required tasks. I will not say more.


    So, those with Archon Marks, as I understand them, are the least of the Archons?


    He shrugged. More or less urate.


    She opened her mouth to ask another question, but he raised a hand, forestalling her.


    I do have to go, Mistress T, and Ive already said more than is generally allowed. Ill see what I can do about that, but I make no promises.


    She sighed but nodded in resignation. I understand. Thank you, once again.


    They shook hands, and parted ways. For T, that meant walking back towards the innplex. For Grediv, that meant a wink and vanishing on the spot, without a trace of where he had gone.


    <em>Oh, T. How much bigger is the world than you ever realized?</em> She was finally beginning to find out.


    * * *


    It had been easy for T to find a member of the staff and ask to be led to her room.


    As it turned out, she would be staying in a beautiful space, twice the size of her room in Lyns house. Apparently, because shed opted to pay for use of the baths up front, and for every night of her stay, shed been given one of the rooms with a private bath. To her joy, the attendant had exined that there were both cold and hot running water, thetter of which T had heard of, but never experienced.


    <em>I wonder how they do thatProbably an artifact now, but before the waning?</em> Might be worth investigating.


    The room was simply furnished with a moderately sized bed, writing desk and chair, and a reading chair. The lighting throughout the space was linked sets of artifact lights, simr to the one the guard at the inns entrance had used. When she asked, the attendant exined that for most of the inns history, theyd used inscribed lighting, but as the city was now waning, theyd been able to slowly rece those expensive, costly to maintain devices with the more prolific artifact lights.


    Also, yes, the hot water was currently supplied via artifacts, but she didnt know off-hand how it had been handled before. <em>Maybe simr to the artifact coin, which lowered water temp. </em>That would probably be a much more useful item. <em>Probably why she didnt have one in stock.</em>


    Artias warnings about evil artifacts made T a bit wary, but she supposed that the Wandering Magician was quite motivated to keep their guests safe and happy.


    After confirming that the amodations were eptable, and that she didnt want or need arger bed, the attendant departed, wishing T a good evening.


    T was about to dive into the evening''s work when a knock came at her door.


    Yes?


    Mistress T?


    T frowned, walking to the door and pulling it slightly open. Yes?


    A short, plump woman waited outside, carrying a small pack and a step stool. For her to appear short to T, she was quite a bit shorter than average, indeed.


    Can I help you?


    I was told you requested a consult from a seamstress.


    Oh! Yes,e in. T opened the door wide, allowing the woman entry and closing the door once she was inside.


    As they both walked into the center of the rooms open space, the seamstress looked her up and down. I can see why you called for me. She tutted to herself. Lets get a look at you. She grabbed T by the belt and turned her around, looking her up and down. No, this doesnt suit you at all, and thats ignoring the state of the thing! She tsked to herself. I just couldnt live with myself if I didnt fix you up. She stopped Ts movement and red up at her. You, child, are an affront to anyone who has to look at you.


    T blinked, feeling as if shed been pped. Excuse me? She was starting to feel quite hurt and not a little angry.


    The seamstress waved a hand. I cannot, you are too beautiful to be dressed like an urchin boy, begging for his next meal.


    T really didnt know what to do with that, so she just waited.


    Yes, yes. I will do one outfit for free, and after you wear it, you will be desperate for more!


    <em>Free?</em> Deal.


    Hmmm? Oh, yes, of course youll agree. No one would want to look like that. She gestured to T, generally.


    T sighed. So, what are my options.


    Options? Silly girl, you have no options. I will measure you and make you an outfit. I will be in charge of all the choices. Tomorrow,te afternoon, you will put it on and fall in love. You will never want to wear anything else, and you will buy an entire wardrobe.


    And if I dont?


    The seamstress regarded her, again. Not likely, but I suppose it is possible. She shrugged. If that is the case, you can throw my work in the fire, and go back to wearing flour sacks, or whatever other rubbish you find in local alleys.


    T sighed. Fine.


    The seamstress nodded once. Then, let me get to work.


    It took surprisingly little time for the diminutive woman to take all of Ts measurements, using the stepstool where appropriate, even though it was <em>all </em>of them. The seamstress left T alone and feeling only slightly vited. Even so, she was hopeful. <em>If nothing else, it will be interesting to see what she brings back.</em>


    In the renewed silence, T pulled the curtains closed and moved through her stretches, using her mage-sight, directed inward, to target each muscle and ensure that those that were most sore got extra attention. It was not a fast process, but she took her time.


    <em>Quality requires patience.</em>


    That aplished, she stripped out of her clothes and moved to the bathroom. She ran the hot water, as the attendant had shown her, and quickly filled the tub.


    She took almost as long in the tub as she had stretching, soaking then scrubbing off the grime umted through her travels.


    That done, she reapplied her iron salve, using her magic detector to verify there were no gaps.


    <em>There, busyworkplete.</em>


    She turned her attention to her gear, emptying out her new pouch and spreading her stuff across the floor and bed. She took the time to organize her items for easy ess, in preparation for their return to the dimensional storage.


    When that wasplete, she regarded the open belt pouch. Stretched as wide open as she could make it, there was a hole justrge enough for her to slip through, if she were so inclined.


    From the back side, the pouch looked like nothing so much as a smooth circle of leather, only made less so by the heavy cord that wove in and out around the rim. There was also a buckled strap, used to affix the whole thing to her belt.


    <em>Artia did promise that this wasnt a bag that ate people</em> She <em>really</em> needed to know what the inside looked like, if she was going to arrange it effectively. Simply looking in had revealed nothing, even when shed brought the bag near a light. It still simply looked ck within, utterly empty.


    Cursing herself as a fool, she ced the open dimensional storage on the ground, took a deep breath and hopped in, tucking her arms in close and pointing her feet straight down to allow her to drop straight in. <em>All or nothing!</em>


    She dropped down, bending her knees tond softly on a dark, even surface. She looked up, and saw the opening still there, just within reach of her upraised arms.


    Around her was only ckness, though as she looked, she got the odd feelingnot of being watched, but of being held? It was a strangelyforting sensation, and oddly disconcerting for thatfort. <em>You make no sense, T.</em>


    <em></em>She looked around, then sighed. <em>I wish I could see.</em> She reached out to try to touch a wall, and suddenly one was there. Under her hand, gray blossomed outward, quickly painting the entirety of the space. <em>Did it hear my thoughts, or intuit my need from the fumbling?</em>


    As the change urred, she felt a small vortex of power and looked up. Above her, over the opening to the bag, her mage-sight let her see a short burst of magical energy moving in a swift current. It flowed into the bag for less than a second, then vanished from her sight. <em>Coloring the walls used energy, and its refilling itself?</em> Interesting. How had it found free power, within the citys walls to draw upon? <em>More to ask Adrill about</em>


    She decided to speak out loud, just in case the bag could hear her. If the entrance could be near one wall, with adder up out of it, and shelves around the outside of the top, that would make arranging this much easier. True to Artias word, the inside of the dimensional storage was like arge closet, if with a low ceiling. <em>Is that because of my height? So, I wasnt trapped?</em> An interesting thought.


    She pointedly did not think about how easily she could have been trapped, if the pouch had been a bit deeper. <em>This was a pretty foolish thing to do, wasnt it</em>


    She didnt see anything happen as a response to her words, but she <em>felt</em> something. It wasnt a hunger, so much as a request? It had a simr feel to the magic which surrounded a transaction te, awaiting her blood, but without that being the exact desire.


    <em>Waiting.</em> Did it need more power?


    Sure. Lets see what you can do now that youre owned by a Mage. It was time to give this artifact some power to work with.

 Chapter 41: To the Ending Grove

    Chapter 41: To the Ending Grove


    Inside her newly acquired dimensional storage, T reached out and ced her right hand back on one wall and pushed power out, directing it straight from her gate into the surface just as she had with the first cargo wagon shed tried to empower.


    The wall greedily drank in the magic, and there didnt seem to be any resistance due to herck of a mental construct to shape the power.


    <em>Even more interesting.</em> As she continued to feed the wall magic, she watched the hole overhead shift slightly to rest beside one wall and graydder rungs sprout from the wall, along with shelving around the opening itself.


    Now, this is amazing. The changes shed described wereplete, so she cut the flow of power and pulled her hand away. As she did so, she felt a staggering, whole body exhaustion set in. She felt nearly as bad as she had after creating her first Archon star. <em>What was that?</em>


    As she thought back, she realized that theck of resistance had caused her to dramatically underestimate the amount of power she was funneling into the artifact. Instead of just taking power directly from her gate, shed been pulling from the reserves around her keystone. She was used to draining water from a spout, and this had been like removing the top of the barrel and overturning it.


    She groaned. No fair. Im trying to work with you, and you drain me?


    There wasnt a response, per se, but the feeling of expectant waiting diminished to almost nothing.


    Thats not an apology, but Ill take it. <em>T, youre talking to your pouch</em> She groaned, again, and pulled herself up thedder and out of the hole. With stiff movements, she ced all her carefully arranged piles onto the shelves surrounding the hole, and drew the pouch closed, satisfied. She absently patted the side of the bag. Not too bad. <em>Not helping. Sanity check, T.</em>


    She moved through some brief stretching to relieve the soreness, but she knew that her physical ache was just a manifestation of deep magical exhaustion.


    She eyed the two items that shed left out, aside from her clothing for tomorrow.


    The vial containing her blood Archon star and the artifact knife.


    <em>T, youre tired. Dont do anything foolish.</em> She picked up the vial and opened the top, looking in on the drop of blood.


    She held the knife in her other hand and looked back and forth between the two. <em>Whats the worst that could happen?</em>


    T tipped the vial over, dripping the blood onto the pommel of the knife and directly into the small void in its magic.


    As shed hoped, the magic of the knife epted the Archon star with ease; the blood vanished as if she were confirming a contract.


    She watched in fascination with her mage-sight as the artifacts magic subtly shifted to incorporate her Archon star. Physically, the knife darkened in color until the steel was an almost ck grey. In the handle, more of the flecks took on a red tint, and those that were already red brightened in color.


    Just as with the Archon star itself, T was now aware of exactly where the knife was, and its current condition: perfectly fine.


    Then, she was struck with a hammer of weariness. She would have said it was soul deep, and that was more urate than shed like to admit, even to herself.


    She dropped the knife and crawled lethargically to her bed, before copsing into blissful sleep.


    * * *


    T groaned into wakefulness, the room positively glowing around her.


    She immediately felt her knife nearby, and fumbled around on the bed, trying to find where shed dropped it. Her hand met the hilt. <em>There you are.</em>


    Lying there in herfortable bed, she felt a flickering wave of tiredness threaten to pull her back into slumber, but she resisted. <em>Nope! Time to get up, T.</em>


    She pushed herself upright, looking around the brightly lit room.


    The artifact lights were still glowing, but their illumination was palepared to the outside wall of her room, which positively radiated luminescence under the dawns light.


    East facing room, indeed. She nced down at the knife and quirked a smile, setting it on her bedside table. It was good to have a weapon, ready to hand. <em>If Id had that under the wagon, Id not have needed the soldiers sword.</em>


    <em></em>She hesitated at that. <em>I had my camp knife. I did need a sword.</em> Still, she <em>felt</em> like her new knife would have fit the bill, somehow. <em>Strange.</em>


    She stood and arched backwards, first working out the kinks of a night spent in an unnatural position. After that, she moved through her morning stretches, looking within herself to verify that each was targeting the correct muscle groups. That done, she moved through her exercises, deciding to add a couple at the end when she noticed several sectors of muscle that werent worked well enough.


    That done, she turned towards the bath, but hesitated. After a brief pause, she picked up her belt pouch, and her sheathed knife, taking them with her into the bathroom.


    After a quick bath- she was runningter than usual, after all -she refreshed her salve, guided by the magic detector. Both the salve and detector, she pulled from the pouch, and both were returned.


    Finally dry and ready, she let out a long sigh. <em>Last time I have to put these on. </em>She pulled out her blood-stained clothing and pulled it on.


    They werent precisely filthy, but they were far from clean. <em>The seamstress should have something better, this afternoon.</em> She needed to move quickly, if she was going to get to eat breakfast, swing by the cksmith, and get to the ending grove that Trent had marked for her before noon. <em>Thats what I get for sleepingte, I suppose.</em>


    Dressed, with her knife and pouch at her belt, she surveyed the room. There was nothing of hers remaining. <em>Ill be back.</em> Still, it didnt feel like her room, not permanently. <em>Thats good; it isnt.</em>


    She left, heading back to the dining hall, where she was able to grab a quick, hearty, and portable breakfast, foregoing the huge spread in favor of a less awesome, but more grab-and-go meal. They would only let her have two cups of coffee, so she guzzled those before departing.


    Cloth sack of food safely tucked in her pouch, she strode from the inn and towards the cksmith.


    It was a bright morning, and even after her routine tasks, it was still somewhat early. There were citizens walking about, but not nearly as many as there would be soon enough. She pulled one piece of her breakfast out after another, eating them with gusto to sate her all too familiar hunger.


    <em>I really need to get better about monitoring my expenditure of power</em> Using magic didnt directly affect her hunger, but the mental and physical strain of such definitely contributed to her appetite.


    The cksmith was waiting for her when she arrived, and she paid him the additional silver for prompt delivery of her tools.


    The pliers easily vanished into the bag, but she had a bit of aical time maneuvering the fruit picker, on its 10-foot pole, into her pouch. She ended up having to angle it quite extremely to allow it to fit well enough for her to draw the bag closed.


    Thank you, Pedrin. The poor man had watched with obviously subdued mirth at her struggles.


    Our pleasure, Mistress. I hope that you return to us again, for any of your smithing needs.


    I believe I just might. Good day.


    Good day, Mistress.


    Without further dy, she strode towards the eastern-most gate, as that was the one closest to the grove she sought. The streets were beginning to get busy, and the sky overhead was bing a true, pale sky-blue as day took firm hold atst.


    She grinned to herself, licking thest of her breakfast from her fingers. <em>Today will be a good day.</em>


    There was a short line to exit the gate, and she waited patientlyfor the most part.


    It took the better part of a quarter hour to reach the front of the line.


    Name, reason for departing, and time of expected return?


    Mage T, on a personal errand, andte afternoon.


    The guard frowned. I dont see you on any jobs list for outside the city.


    As I said, Ive a personal errand.


    The guards frown deepened. Butyoure not on the lists.


    T took a deep breath in through her nose before puffing it out in quick, calming exhale. Guardsman, are you meaning to imprison me within this city?


    The man blinked. What? No! Mistress, I would never-


    Then, note that I have departed, on a personal errand, and will return well before nightfall.


    We cant send anyone out after you, if you dont return.


    She gave him a t look. I didnt ask you to.


    He looked more than a little ufortable. Thankfully, a man who seemed to be hismanding officer stepped forward. He must have heard the end of the discussion, because he bowed to T. Mistress, my apologies. You are, of course, free to leave the city. Thank you for registering your departure with us. We will notify the He nced at the te the other guard held. Caravan Guild of your journey, and we will ry anymunications from them upon your return, after lunch.


    T blinked at him. <em>The Caravan GuildRUST!</em> Oh! My... Ipletely forgot that I didnt pack a lunch. Ill be back, shortly. When I return, do I need check in with you, or can I simply walk out?


    You may depart at your leisure.


    Thank you, and thank you for your timely reminder! Id hate to have gone hungry.


    She turned and strode away, as fast as she was able, while maintaining a modicum of dignity. It took her another half hour to reach the work-yard near the citys northern gate, where she found twenty cargo-slots awaiting her empowerment.


    The foreman appeared to check a watch, as she arrived, but he seemed satisfied by what he saw, because he smiled and waved. Mistress! Are these set up to your satisfaction?


    She gave them a quick nce before nodding. They are indeed. Thank you.


    She quickly moved through the now familiar mental and magical motions of empowering the cargo-slots, though the doubling of their number left her feeling a bit spent by the end. <em>I could have gone slower, and that would have been easier.</em> But she needed to go.


    She verified that the foreman didnt need anything further from her, and she turned to stride purposely back towards the eastern gate.


    All told, her forgetfulness had cost her more than an hour, but she thanked the heavens that shed been reminded before departing. <em>That would have been very bad.</em>


    She waved to the guards as she walked out through the eastern gatehouse and threw her arms wide to bask in the sun streaming down upon her as she stepped free of the city.


    The magic in the air hit her like a cool wave, revitalizing her and filling her with energy. She didnt precisely absorb magic from the air, but she did feel it ease the strain on her body, in ways that she didnt quite understand.


    <em>Always more to learn.</em>


    She also noticed a strange <em>pulling</em> that manifested in the magic around her, causing it to distort and seem to flow into her belt pouch. <em>Recharging, after being in the rtively low magic of the city?</em> It was an interesting idea, but not her current focus.


    She pulled out the map as she walked, verifying her memory and checking forndmarks. As the first part of her path mainly took her acrossnd that had been within the city at some point in the past, the ground was incredibly level and smooth, making for an easy, quick pace.


    As she walked, she tried to note her bnce, posture, and breathing without allowing them to dominate her thoughts. She nudged each of them in the right direction, again without forcing the issue. <em>Little steps, T. Little steps.</em>


    She kept her senses sharp, ready to retreat or fight if any creature approached her, but she didnt see any.


    Make no mistake, there was plenty of magic in the region, and even quite a few small, arcanous creatures, but nothing that would be a threat to a child, let alone her. <em>Thats odd. Maybe another group swept through, before me?</em>


    She <em>had </em>left a bitter than most people she''d seen exiting the eastern gate.


    Even so, she didnt allow herself to growx. Her eyes were ever moving, and she tried to be as inconspicuous as possible.


    She was just over an hour outside the city, and more than halfway to the grove, when she felt flickers of dimensional magic and turned to find the terror bird regarding her from a dozen paces away.


    <em>Lovely, just lovely.</em>


    The bird currently stood just shorter than her, its heavily built body likely three or four times her weight.


    They stared at each other for a long time. I wish you could talk.


    The bird shook itself, like a dog shedding water.


    I suppose that means no, but I already knew you couldnt talk.


    The bird didnt react.


    What do you want from me?


    It bent down and mimed tearing a bit of meat from a kill.


    You want meat?


    The bird bobbed its head.


    Cant you kill something yourself?


    It settled down on its haunches, not quite sitting, but clearly at its ease.


    You dont want to T groaned. I cant possibly feed you enough for you to survive.


    It shook again.


    You dont want me to feed you enough to survive?


    Shaking.


    She groaned again. You just like the taste of the jerky


    Bobbing.


    She let out a sigh. Will you go away if I give you some?


    The bird hesitated, then gave a small bob.


    You just lied to me. You cant even talk, and you lied to me! She found a grin spreading across her face, despite herself.


    The bird shook itself, but there wasnt much intensity behind the movement.


    You know, you cant follow me forever.


    The bird lifted slightly into what was obviously an aggressive crouch.


    Im not challenging you, bird. Im stating a fact. You cant get into cities, and I will be in many cities. You know- Shed been about to say that she wasnt the only human with jerky, but she realized that telling a dimensional terror bird that it could get tasty treats from humans it considered helpless was <em>not</em> the best n. She scratched her forehead. Fine. Fine! Ill give you some.


    The bird stood upright, clearly perking up at the idea. It shifted back and forth, from foot to foot as it waited.


    T fished out a big chunk of jerky and contemted for a moment. <em>Im not letting it get close to my hand even if it cant actually bite off my fingers.</em> On a whim, she pulled back and tossed it off to the side.


    A ripple of magic passed over the terror bird, and it shrunk to the size of arge cat. A second pulse caused it to vanish from where it had been and reappear alongside the still flying jerky, which it snapped from the air. A third pulse of magic took the bird and jerky from her sight altogether.


    She didnt feel any other points of dimensional power, so it had moved out of her mage-sight range. The entire process, shrinking and transporting twice, had taken the bird less than an eyeblink.


    <em>That is a terrifying creatureI cant continue to call it bird. It needs a name.</em> Something else to think on.


    She sighed and turned to continue her trek through the lush wilds, towards the distant grove.


    * * *


    Almost an hourter, she had the distinct impression that the bird was back, even though she hadnt sensed any dimensional magic. Following a self-destructive whim, she fished out a second,rge hunk of jerky and randomly flung it to the side.


    Twenty feet from her, the jerky encountered a brief flicker of dimensional power and vanished.


    She hadnt seen the bird at all.


    You know, she called out, I cant just feed you for free. There has to be some give and take, here.


    There wasnt a response, and she didnt have any way of knowing if the creature had heard her. <em>It doesnt really matter. Im talking to a bird.</em>


    She crested a small rise, small enough to not have been depicted on Trents map, and she saw the grove of ending trees before her.


    They were starkly beautiful in their loneliness. <em>This used to be part of the farnd, around Alefast.</em>


    Unlike in other clusters of trees that shed passed, no other foliage grew near them, and every tree looked exactly the same. Well, not <em>exactly</em> the same. They were clearly all the same species, though.


    <em>I wonder why the one we passed on our way here was alone, but these seem to be living in harmony?</em> They were often close enough for the branches to touch, and their unnatural swaying caused the limbs to click or rasp together, creating a constant undercurrent of fairly disturbing sound. <em>So, thats what I was hearing.</em> The sound had been growing louder, the portion of the trek.


    T nced down at herself. She was not fond of the state of her clothing, but she had no interest in having to trudge back to the city naked. <em>Ive still got the shirt the terror bird ripped open, and the one with a hole in the chest from where Brand stabbed me.</em>


    Her pants were in a little better state, thankfully. The bloodstained shirt was her most intact shirt, but she could work with the cut and stabbed ones if necessary.


    Her belt, however, that she wasnt willing to lose.


    Toward that end, she decided to use her iron salve on the belt and belt pouch, both. She reasoned that the belt-pouchs magic, like her own, was below the surface, so it wouldnt be negatively affected by the salve. In addition, the opening would still be free to draw in magic, as it had continued to do throughout her trek.


    That decided, she opened the pouch and found two surprises:


    First, the fruit picker was clearly standing upright, instead of at the crazed angle shed finagled it into, in order to close it. When she peeked inside, it appeared as if a hole, just bigger than the handle, had opened up, going deep enough for the entire lower portion of the tool to fit in, allowing the basket and hooks at the top to restfortably within reach, while still being out of the way. Huh. Thats pretty neat.


    Second, the items shed ce on the upper shelf now each seemed to have somewhat customized resting ces, allowing for more secure storage and easier ess.


    I think Im going to like you, bag. She decided that the storages ability to mold itself was likely directly connected to how much power it could draw in, so her being outside the city had allowed it to shift more easily. Seems that feeding you magic is going to be a wise decision. <em>It cant possibly be a bad idea to give power to a semi-sapient, dimension-warping item. Not at all.</em>


    Changes noted, T got to work. She pulled out her small glue bottle and painted her palms with the flexible substance. As soon as the paste had dried on her palms and the inside faces of her fingers, T pulled out an iron salve bar, and working the salve into the leather of her belt, and the outside of the dimensional belt pouch. That done, she ced her knife into the pouch, and pulled out the fruit picker.


    With deliberate care, she worked iron salve into the entirety of the ten-foot wooden handle of the tool. <em>Patience in the present removes frustration in the future.</em>


    Her work finallyplete, she stood, ready to approach the ending grove.


    She wore her blood-stained shirt, and shed changed into the pants that were simrly speckled. Her belt held only the belt pouch, and her hands held only the fruit picker. <em>Lets do this.</em>


    She walked forward and spotted the first bunch of ending-berries on the closest tree.


    She carefully maneuvered her fruit picker up and used the hooks to pull the berries free.


    As she did so, several of the nearby branches swayed to bump the wooden handle of the tool. Thankfully, the iron salve protected it just fine, and nothing came of the interactions save brief, impotent shes of magical power.


    She moved methodically around the edges of the grove, trying to stay out of reach of the moving branches. She had only gotten the fruit pickers basket about half full, when a tree moved much more than any previously had.


    She had no warning as a branch descended and impacted her back.


    There wasnt nearly enough force to harm her, or even knock her off bnce, but the trees magic was still imparted.


    A ripple of destructive, disintegrating power flowed across her skin, but couldnt prate her own application of iron salve.


    Her shirt did not fare so well, and it puffed to dust, falling to the ground around her.


    T groaned, looking down at herself. <em>Thats just great.</em>


    She had a decision to make. Was she going to continue harvesting half naked, or would she risk another shirt?


    <em>The one the bird tore up wouldnt be too much of a loss.</em>


    She stepped away from the grove and pulled that shirt out, putting it on, quickly. <em>There.</em>


    As she looked back towards the grove, she paused. <em>Not worth it.</em> She removed her belt, cing that within her pouch, and then tucked the pouch beside a very prominent rock. <em>Much safer to leave it here.</em>


    Moving back to the edge of the tree line, she was even more careful as she continued to fill her basket, dodging the increasingly numerous, wildly moving limbs.


    Finally, shed filled the little basket of her fruit picker, so she withdrew to a nearby boulder, which was poking out of a rather lush field.


    She retrieved the dimensional pouch from the base of the rock and fished out one of the jugs, cing it securely between her legs on the rock. Then, with the pole leaning against the rock so the basket was in easy reach, she went to work.


    In quick session, she would take up an ending-berry, twist it apart, and drop the two halves into the open jug. The seed would go into her mouth, where she would suck off the juice, enjoying the building buzz of power. Then, she would take the seed and hurtle it back into the ending grove, where it wouldnd among the roots of its ancestral kin.


    To her surprise, the seeds of these ending-berries did not build towards destruction nearly as quickly as those of the lone tree in the wilds had. As a result, she had almost a minute to work with each berry, if she so chose, leaving it a far less dangerous process.


    <em>Maybe this is why there werent any other trees around that one? None of the seeds could get far enough away for the seedlings to establish</em> It was an interesting thought. Though, the closeness of the trees in the grove before her made that an unlikely reason.


    Shed considered keeping the ending seeds, as she had those from that singr tree, but in the end, she realized that she didnt want to be carrying around what amounted to a massive box of destruction.


    Trent would approve of her decision, she assured herself, and that helped make the choice all the firmer.


    Many of the ending-berries had retained their stems. For those, she used the iron pliers to help her remove the stems, before she processed the berries like the others. In the end, the single basket from the fruit picker allowed her to fill the jug somewhere between a quarter and a third full.


    <em>Alright. Now, were getting somewhere.</em> And back to work she went.

 Chapter 42: Well… That’s New

    Chapter 42: Well¡­ That¡¯s New


    Over the next hour, T filled the fruit picker seven more times, each time moving back to the rock, or another convenient seat, to process her harvest.


    During that time, she lost another shirt, and two pairs of pants.


    With one of each left, she was forced to continue her work without other covering.


    It wasnt unpleasant in the cool weather, but it definitely left her feeling like every tree, rock, or bush held some hidden watcher.


    She filled both ss containerspletely and ate a picker-basket full of the berries herself for lunch, supplemented by the travel food shed purchased in Bandfast. <em>No need to let this go to waste.</em>


    She drank a <em>lot</em> of water, though it did little against her building headache. <em>Is this fromck of coffee? Its probably from too little coffee. </em>She grumbled unpleasantly about the stinginess of inns.


    Her lunch now finished, she looked down at herself and noted that her fingers were stained a near maroon, and there were some drip stains on her chest as well. She could only imagine what her face looked like, if enough had gathered to drip down off her chin. She had tried to be careful, knowing that every drop of juice held power, but there was only so much she could do. She let out a resigned sigh. <em>Oh well. I suppose Ill bathe when I get back to the city.</em>


    Attempts at rationality aside, she was quite irritated at the waste of power that the juice represented, and she resolved to be even more careful, going forward. <em>Though, I dont really know how I could be</em> Such a resolution, without a n, was probably doomed to failure.


    She pulled out the keg shed purchased and set about emptying the initial containers into it. They filled it quite nicely, just as shed hoped. She set the keg''s lid in ce and pulled out a wooden mallet.


    Shed purchased the mallet in Bandfast, along with several other random odds and ends, to help round out her options, if unexpected things happened. As shed hoped, it had turned out to be a wise choice.


    It was a bit more difficult than shed expected to properly set the kegs lid, but she got it done, mentally referencing the barrel sellers advice and instructions. <em>d I asked, or this would have gone a </em>lot<em> more poorly</em>


    With the full keg again stashed in her belt pouch, she had two empty jugs, ready to fill.


    <em>Here we go. Once more, into the grove.</em>


    Without clothing to protect, she was a bit less careful in this initial step, favoring speed over safety, and she was brushed, struck, and poked at least half a hundred times over the next hour. Her speed paid off, though, as she filled the two jugs and ate her absolute fill of the ending-berries.


    <em>No wonder no one harvests these. Id be dead a dozen times over. A hundred, more likely.</em> From her experience, only her iron salve had kept her intact.


    She withdrew for the final time, settled down on afortably t boulder, and finished processing thest harvest. Then, she stored the fruit picker in the convenient hole, prepared within her belt pouch. <em>Is hole the right term? Carrying case doesnt really work. Mount? Slot?</em> It didnt really matter.


    She absently licked her fingers clean, relishing the tiny influx of power added to the storm within her with each drop. It had been a <em>very </em>productive outing. Not without its costs, however. Shed lost two shirts, three pairs of pants, and quite a bit of hair. She reached up and felt her patchy scalp with a sigh. She had note throughpletely unscathed. <em>Still, Im alive, and there is no way I would have been without my peculiarities.</em>


    She had kept her hair growth inscribings from activating, knowing that she could easily exhaust them if she let them trigger for every disintegrated chunk of hair. <em>The salve that I worked into my hair helped some, but not as much as Id hoped.</em>


    That said, she was ready to restore herself to a state that didnt resemble someone newly recovered from a ravaging disease. T was about to let the magic loose, when she had a realization. <em>Ive no idea if it will grow all my hair the proper length to recover from bald, or if it will feather the growth so that the result is correct.</em>


    She knew that the inscriptions would restore her hair, but like most acts of magic, she didnt know exactly <em>how.</em>


    <em>Well, there''s no time like the present</em><em>to learn</em>. So, she allowed power to flow through the activation scripts in her scalp and above her eyes.


    Her hair did grow only as much as needed, and she felt the tingling power of one of her eyebrows returning to form. The other was miraculously untouched. <em>Good to know. It isnt wasteful.</em> Though, in truth, she had expected nothing less from Hollys work.


    She regarded the two jugs, alongside the keg, and decided that she wanted to contain and maintain the magic as much as possible.


    Shed already worked iron salve into the outside of the keg, so she was able to ce that back in her pouch with a happy smile.


    The jugs were a different problem, given that they were ss, and that couldnt really absorb the salve.


    In the end, she pulled out two medium cloth sacks, turned them inside out and coated the insides with her salve before inverting them once more and cing a jug within each. <em>Ill have to buy another keg if I mean to store these longer term</em> Shed been cognizant enough to finish filling her iron sk, and that wasfortably stored alongside the keg. Its iron the only containment that vessel needed.


    Now, the jugs were bound in iron salve, so the magic in the berries shouldnt fade too quickly, if at all.


    She felt positively brimming with power from the berries that shed eaten. Unlike before, when shed had her palms uncovered along with her eyes as possible escapes for the power, now only her eyes were open, and her inscriptions were actively working to keep power from flowing through that weak point.


    Thankfully, those were gold inscriptions, like those of her passive enhancements, and should easilyst until her return to Holly. The idea had been to prevent hostile magic from getting into her through her eyes, not escaping, however, and she could feel, and even see through her mage-sight, wisps of power slowly leaking from her open eyes.


    She blessed the stars that none of the iling branches had ever caught her in the eye, she wasnt sure her inscriptions would prevent the entry of magic that was physically thrust into her eyeball. <em>That would have been a disaster.</em>


    Her palms were not open now, because shed left the glue in ce after treating the keg and fruit-picker handle, earlier, and a healthy coating of iron salve had melded with the paste through the course of her work.


    The power had nowhere to go except what little could escape from her eyes, and she felt it settling in within her, strengthening her, and adding weight behind her enhancements.


    If she were being honest, she felt as if she could stand before a siege cannon and take the st. Thankfully, such weapons of war hadn''t been seen by humanity in centuries, but they were still a subject of fascination for T. The idea that she could withstand one was intoxicating. And she found herself basking in the feeling of power, in the sunlight, in the ambient magic swirling around her, and in the cool breeze ying across her bare skin.


    <em>Woah, girl. Focus. You are standing, naked, in the Wild, acting like some crazed nature sprite.</em> T opened her eyes, and let her arms fall back to her sides. <em>Better.</em>


    The sun was past its zenith, and the afternoon was waning around her.


    With a sigh of contentment for a job well done, T pulled out a pair of almost pristine pants, by her usual standards, and the shirt with the single, repaired, stab hole over her left breast. It was a much nicer shirt than shed been wearing, but the stitched hole was obvious. She was not a practiced stitcher. <em>Seamstress? Tailor?</em> Probably didnt matter.


    She shrugged to herself. <em>Either the seamstress wille through, or Brands tailor will make me some new clothing.</em>


    As she turned to go, she felt a twinge, which somehow reminded her of her knife. <em>Right, I should put that back on my belt, so its ready to hand.</em> She stuck her hand into her dimensional storage to search for the knife but found it immediately in her hand. <em>Huh, I guess I instinctively knew where it was.</em>


    She felt a bit of tiredness wash over her, but it wasnt anything worth deeply considering. She hadnt truly stopped all morning, with even her short breaks filled with work. It made sense that in a moments pause shed feel some weariness.


    She shrugged as she fastened the de to hang opposite her belt pouch, bncing out her belt, nicely.


    T turned her steps back towards the city gate but paused when she came to the same rise that had first let her see the grove, below. <em>I didnt take even half a percent of the fruit thats down there</em>


    It wouldnt be hard toe back, tomorrow. She could buy a few more kegs and spend a bit more time collecting. The power thundering within her was a potent argument for such a course of action.


    <em>Thats a good default n. Ill keep my options open, though.</em> That decided, she turned her back on the grove, and headed back towards the city.


    As she walked, she followed her usual routine: reading, taking notes, sketching, and otherwise contemting the myriad of ideas or theories shede across.


    For one new addition, she added the asional bit of entertainment: Every so often, she would toss a small bit of jerky in a random direction and watch it vanish in a flicker of dimensional energy. <em>In for a copper.</em>


    As to her musings, she used her note-taking to help herself organize her thoughts and ideas surrounding difficult concepts.


    A central figure in her thoughts was her knife.


    The connection she felt with it was strong, much stronger than what shed felt with her Archon star, but it still felt like a thin thread of what it could and should be. <em>If I want to strengthen the connection, do I give the knife power, or do I forge more stars and unify them with it?</em>


    More to the point, though, what would that gain her? Why would she want that connection strengthened?


    The belt pouch had continued to siphon energy from the countryside as shed gone about her tasks, showing no signs of slowing, but the knife hadnt shown any signs of such. <em>Is it storing up for lean times? Making up for time spent in the city?</em> She had no basis forparison. <em>I can ask Artias husband, tonight.</em>


    <em></em>She hesitated. <em>And what is the knife doing?</em> Another question she couldnt answer. <em>Another thing to investigate, I suppose.</em>


    There was something else that required more immediate attention, however. No matter what she chose to do with another Archon star, she knew that she needed to make more. Grediv had all butmanded her to make one vastly more powerful than shed ever managed, before.


    Towards that end, she began building an Archon star in her finger, just as she had the second and third times, being sure to hold the mental construct to which she slowly added power. Even so, she still contemted the knife, asionally drawing it from its sheath for examination, inspecting its magics more closely.


    She was careful, her few experiences of exhausting herself magically lending her caution. She had no desire topse into sleep, alone in the wilds.


    Even so, she pushed herself, treating her magic as a muscle, and seeking the bnce between afortable strain and overexertion as she moved the power from her gate, through herself, to concentrate within her finger. It was an <em>incredibly</em> difficult bnce to maintain.


    As she walked, she began to sweat with her internal strain, but it was a good sweat, one that spoke of progress, well earned.


    It took her two hours to walk back to the city gate, and by the sun in the sky, it was still another couple of hours before sunset. <em>I can make it to the gate.</em> She held her focus as she approached and was greeted by the guard on duty.


    Hello! Can I get your name, please? He seemed a bit hesitant, and he was staring at her mouth.


    <em>What is his issue? </em>Mistress T. She kept herself from panting, but only barely. Surprisingly, Adams breathing pattern was incredibly useful for just that.


    Mistress T Mistress T. The man was searching through a list, eyes still asionally flicking up to nce at her. Ah! There you are. Wee back. There are no messages for you. He still seemed a bit hesitant. After a moment, he seemed toe to a decision. Did you notice any creatures, orbat, while outside the walls, today?


    T frowned. <em>I just want to get through.</em> No. She almost stopped there, but her innate curiosity got the better of her. Why?


    The guard shrugged, marking something down. Others have reported empty battle fields, ces torn up by various types of magic, or painted with blood, too dark to be human. He gave her a meaningful look. In any case, weve not had any reported encounters with beasts, arcane or magical, east of the city, today.


    <em>Oh! The berry juice stains. I wonder if it looks like Ive been eating raw meatmonster meat? </em>She cleared her throat. AhhThank you.


    He gave her another searching look, then shrugged, dismissing her. Thank you, as well.


    <em> I suppose its no crime to hunt creatures, and even if I was doing it, my reasons are my own. Or some such </em>With no furtherment, T walked into the cool shade of the gatehouse. <em>I can make it a block or two.</em> She came out the other side, still focused on the Archon star building in her left ring finger.


    Her mage-sight focus was entirely within herself, homed in on the spell-form steadily growing within her blood. She had set all other thoughts aside, trusting to the general safety of a city in broad daylight.


    As she took the final step of those first two blocks within the city, she nced around. <em>I can go another two.</em>


    So, she made her way back to the inn; once each goal was reached, she set another just a bit further. She maintained her concentration and continued to funnel as much power as she could without overtaxing herself.


    In truth, it felt like carrying the heaviest weight her body could manage without injury, as she continued to push for just one more block.


    Then, almost unexpectedly, she was in her room. <em>Thats it. Ive got to get it out.</em>


    She fumbled at her belt, pulling the knife so that she could prick her finger.


    <em>Dont let the scriptings activate.</em> She diverted a small fraction of her thoughts to her fingers inscriptions, pulling power away from those intended to keep her skin whole, just as she did every time she needed to confirm a contract or transaction. <em>Done.</em>


    She also needed to tame the power of the ending-berries, racing through her system in quantities vastly outstripping those shed worked with before. She had to draw it away from the site of the cut, or they would prevent her skin from being pierced. <em>Also done.</em>


    T lifted the knife and paused. <em>Im an idiot; Im not thinking clearly.</em> Her focus was split so many ways, and she knew it was close to breaking. <em>Ive got to move fast.</em> With careful motions, she sat, and pulled out an iron vial. <em>I almost just let this drop onto the floor. What would that have even done?</em>


    She held her finger over the open vial, and carefully slit her skin, allowing the drop of blood to flow out. She maintained full control over the power, until it left her body.


    As the drop appeared, three things happened in quick session.


    First, her mage-sight became outward-focused again, and she saw the power within the Archon star. <em>Not bad, T. </em>It was at least as potent as the one shed ced into her knife the night before, and that had been thebination of multiple efforts. <em>Not bad at all.</em>


    Second, as the drop fell free of her finger, her inscriptions activated behind it to close the small cut wlessly.


    Last, her once again free mind realized something. <em>Ohthe knife.</em>


    The Archon star, forged within blood, seemed to sense its like nearby. As it fell, its path changed drastically and instantly.


    The drop ticked sideways, briefly stopping against the handle of her knife, which was still held firmly in her grip. Even with that instantaneous pause, there was no time to act, and in less than a blink, the miniscule drop of blood had rolled down the handle and into the pommel, precisely where the other star had gone the night before.


    <em>Well, that choice is gone, then.</em>


    The knife quivered in her hand, a ripple moving through it from tip to butt, and after the tremor passed, she was a bit surprised by the changes.


    The des color had returned to a more natural steel grey, though there was depth to the color that reminded her of the difference between red paint and a ruby. The handles material now resembled nothing so much as a night sky, where every star was the deep, vital red of liquid blood.


    <em>Give a knife a blood star, and you get what you gave?</em> She felt <em>something</em> deep within her chest, like the sadness of missing a friend or the joy of hugging a loved one, and at the same time, she felt a resonance within the weapon she still held. Instinctively, she knew that her bond to the knife had deepened, for better or worse. Thankfully, there was no increase to her exhaustion. Apparently increasing a bond didnt have the same tiring effects as creating one. Well, aside from the strain of creating the star used for such.


    <em>Grediv said that the Archon star would allow me to exert control outside of myself.</em> She could already push magic into something that she was holding, so she took the knifes sheath from her belt, ced the knife in it, and ced both items on the nightstand, beside her bed.


    <em>How far can it work?</em> She still felt the knife, but not as if it were in her hand. The feeling was more like how she could reliably point at the sun, while standing in its light.


    She stepped back until a good ten feet of space was between her and the knife. Then, trusting her own instincts, she gathered up a bit of power, and pushed it towards the knife.


    It was as easy as moving power towards or away from inscriptions within herself. Easier, in fact, if that was possible.


    The knife drank in the magic thirstily, and T cut off the flow. <em>Can I draw power back?</em>


    She tried, using the same sort of techniques, but got nothing. <em>Hmmm Can I move it?</em>


    She tried to shift the power within the knife, but it was like trying to move a pen by thinking at it: Utterly ineffective and headache inducing.


    <em>This is getting nowhere. I cant move power out of it, or within it, all I can do is give it power. I dont really see a point to that</em> She sighed.


    <em>But, T, you can give it powerat a distance!</em> She snorted augh. <em>Thats true, and unique, I suppose.</em> She smiled. <em>Its something.</em>


    The seamstress wasnt likely to be by for another hour or so, then she had dinner with Artia, Brand, and Artias husband. <em>What was his name?</em> She hadnt met the man, but Artia had spoken fondly of him, and he seemed like he might have some of the answers she sought. <em>It was like Adam, but notAdrill! </em>That was it. She smiled in satisfaction at remembering.


    So, she had a bit of time before the seamstress, and dinner with Artia, Adrill, and Brand. <em>How to spend the time?</em>


    T decided that she should go buy one more keg, at the very least, as well as the tools to tap the one she had, for when that time came. <em>Maybe arger iron jug or sk?</em> There were too many things to spend money on. Shed have to consider it on the way. She was almost to the door, when the light pressure on her back came to the forefront of her thinking.


    <em>Right! The knife.</em> She turned to go back and pick it up, reaching out in preparation, even while still across the room.


    In that instant, she felt a tugging and the knife, sheath and all, zipped through the air to stop lightly in her hand, the handle perfectly situated in her grip for instantaneous use. A pulse of tiredness followed, as if she had just sprinted across the room, lifted a heavy crate, and sprinted back, crate in hand.


    T stared down at the knife, now firmly in her grasp. Well Thats new.

 Chapter 43: Unexpected Results

    Chapter 43: Unexpected Results


    After T had summoned her knife from across the room, her surprise gave her a moment to pause.


    While examining the knife in her hand more closely, she, again, noticed the berry stains, and that had reminded her of the horror her face must be to behold.


    She stepped into the bath room, and used the gloriously running hot water to scrub the stains from her face and hands. Thankfully, the inn had provided a bar of soap that seemed to be quite effective against the berry juice, removing itpletely from her face.


    Her hands, unfortunately, were rendered only mostly clean, even after shed peeled the glue from her palms, and the pads of her fingers.


    <em>Good enough.</em> Then, as she looked at herself in the mirror, her eyes went wide. <em>My iron salve should have helped prevent the juice from staining my skin.</em>


    She frantically pulled out her magic detector and pointed it at her face. A soft glow emanated from the device.


    Rust me to g. She moved the short stick across herself, finding only a few, but still too many, ces where her iron salve had been breached.


    It was never a full breach, stars be praised, nor was it more than a small portion of her overall skin, but it was a shocking thing, regardless.


    She stripped down, reglued her palms and finger-pads, and worked to re-apply her iron salve, going so far as to thicken it wherever she felt that was reasonable.


    <em> I was being careful. I thought I was monitoring my internal magic. </em>Even still, the ending-trees would have gotten her, if she hadnt already eaten so many of their berries. <em>They would have at least hit, and been a colossal drain on my defenses.</em> She likely would have noticed that <em>Would that have been enough warning?</em> She didnt know.


    T sat on the floor, her hands glue free and fully dressed once more. She panned the magic-detector across herself. <em>Nothing.</em>


    Her hands were shaking as she swept the device about herself, once more. <em>Still nothing.</em>


    She shivered. <em>Im pushing my luck too far.</em> She didnt even know how the ending-trees power had degraded her iron protection, she just knew that it had.


    That also exined why shed earlier felt several hitches in the well of ending power she held within herself. <em>The trees got through.</em> She couldnt see any part of her inscriptions activated, nor had she felt any power flow into them. Thus, she concluded that, as shed hoped, the ending-berries within her had shielded her from the trees magic quite well.


    Even so, it had been a bit of a foolish risk. <em>I should have been monitoring more closely. I should have been more careful.</em>


    She stored the empowered construct and ced her face in her hands, her elbows resting on her knees. <em>Get it together, T. Youre alive. Youve learned. You can avoid this, tomorrow.</em>


    She nodded to herself slowly regaining control over her nerves. Tomorrow, she would be diligent, using the magic detector and iron salve more than she thought reasonable. <em>Better to be safe. Better to not risk a breach.</em> She took a deep breath and gave a shaky smile. <em>Live and learn. Right?</em>


    She shook her head. <em>Ok. I dont have a lot of time left.</em>


    She stood, letting out arge, puffing exhale.


    T left her room, examining her sheathed knife to keep her mind focused on the present.


    <em>The movement wasnt a function of magic within the knife. I didnt activate some inscribed or empowered ability inherent to the weapon, itself.</em>


    With her new use of mage-sight, allowing her to look within and target specific muscles, she was getting used to the feeling of using muscles that were usually ignored.


    The mild strain she felt was almost identical to the feeling those neglected parts of her gave when worked. This specific instance, however, didnt seem to have a physical source. Whats more, it felt more <em>real</em>. It was as if all other movements were through a tool, shed been picking at the world with pliers, and now, for the first time, she had touched something with her own flesh. It wasnt a perfect analogy, as she was referring to her body both with, and within, the analogy.


    She grimaced. Why did her own body feel like a tool, inparison?


    <em>Grediv said the star would help me stretch my soulAm I feeling my soul? Its more real than my body, more </em>me.<em> And its tired?</em> That had some disturbing implications. Could she strain or tear her own soul? Her mind was at war with itself. One part of her wanted to tuck the knife in her pouch and never touch it again, leaving her soul in its previous, blissful state. The other wanted her to disregard all else ande up with a training regime for this newly essed part of herself so that it could never be harmed, strained, or torn.


    <em>If I could trust in a simple life, Id go with the first option.</em> Sadly, she knew that wasnt a possibility. <em>There is only safety in strength, either your own or that of others.</em> She would prefer to be safe in her own strength.


    <em>Soul training it is!</em> Even so, she decided to wait until the current, exhausted feeling faded. No need to start on a bad foot. <em>It should be recovered by tomorrow, right?</em>


    As shed been musing, shed returned to the market, where the barrel seller greeted her, inquiring about the items shed purchased the day before.


    Sheplimented him on them, and they talked briefly about how to tap the keg, when the time came, and how to keep it in good function until then. He also informed her that, if she was careful, she could reopen the keg, but probably not without needing a new head. A head was apparently the proper name for the lid. <em>Who knew?</em>


    Finally, T bought four more kegs, along with heads for after theyd been filled, and a tap that could be hammered into any of the kegs to ess what was stored within, assuming it was mostly liquid, that is.


    As shed thought about it, she realized that the berries were still mostly intact, and likely wouldnt flow smoothly, so shed bought an additional couple of heads, so if she had to break open the keg as hed directed, she could at least put a lid back in ce after.


    She negotiated him to two silver ounces for the lot andpleted the transaction on the merchants te.


    Thankfully, dimensional storage wasmon enough that he didnt give her pouch more than a passing nce as she slipped each of the items inside. <em>Ill need to go in and organize, back in my room.</em>


    She bid him a farewell and headed back to the inn. As she walked, she felt her lower abdomen gurgling a bit. She wasnt hungry, yet, and the feeling was a bit ufortable. <em>Huh. Did I catch something? Something I ate?</em> Shed only really eaten the ending-berries, and a bit of trail food. <em>Maybe, it wasnt the best idea to eat so many</em>


    Back in her room, she opened the pouch as wide as it could go and took a moment to examine what she saw. <em>This is a wider opening thanst time.</em> Where, before, shed had to squeeze her shoulders in,pressing her chest and tucking her elbows to her side to drop through, and then shimmy quite aggressively to get back out, now the pouch seemed to have opened to a size through which she could climb down without scraping the sides, if only just.


    Make no mistake, it still wasnt roomy, and a full-grown man would have been hrious to watch in any attempt to fit, but it would suit her, perfectly. Thank you, I think?


    The bag did not respond.


    She climbed down through the hole, using the rungs of thedder still in ce within the dimensional storage.


    The feeling of afortable embrace returned as she descended thedder, stepping down off thest rung with ease. Feet now firmly on the soft yet solid floor, she looked around, a frown on her face.


    Three things immediately jumped out to her.


    Firstly, though there was no obvious source of light, she could easily see. <em>I wonder if a nt could grow in this space.</em>


    <em></em>Secondly, there wasnt a pile of kegs, lids, and other items at the base of thedder as shed expected. Instead, there was a rack on one wall, that appeared to be perfectly sized to hold each of the five kegs individually. A small shelf made out of the same nondescript, nonspecific material as the walls, also held the extra lids. Her tools, likewise, were hanging on a different wall, each seeming to have a custom ce to rest.


    Thirdly, the space seemedrger than before.


    There is no way this is standard. Artia would never have sold you if shed known you could do this.


    Theforting feeling of the space didnt alter.


    Or are all dimensional storage artifacts capable of this? Maybe if they are owned, instead of rented out? Does my knowledge that Im keeping you influence what happens? Or maybe they just need to be given sufficient power and interaction? Ts frown deepened. I didnt think I gave you <em>that</em> much power, but I suppose a day outside the walls would have helped She found herself nodding. If dimensional storages are mostly used within the city, then most would effectively be magic starved. She felt a bit of sadness, as she looked around herself. Were you just really hungry?


    Theforting sense <em>might </em>have intensified, just slightly. Probably just her imagination, though.


    Not sure if youre actually sapient, or just responding to my own emotions <em>Andyoure talking to a bag, again. </em>T sighed. Well, if Im crazy, at least Ill be true to my insanity.


    Her stomach gurgled again, roiling this time.


    Thank you for organizing, I suppose. As she moved back towards thedder, she noticed that another wall had a shelf with her books on it. <em>I thought I had those in my satchel</em> She grimaced, cing a hand on her stomach against another roil.


    She climbed out of the bag and closed it before heading to thetrine, conveniently located off of her bath room.


    There, she had anunpleasant few minutes.


    <em>Mother always warned me not to eat too much fruit at once.</em> The ending-berries had made themselves known, and shed been punished for overconsumption.


    Thankfully, the difort had passed in less than half an hour, along with a lot of other things.


    <em>Too many berriesModeration, T.</em> She shook her head, now back in her room,ying on her bed. Shed been surprised that the amount of power within her hadnt diminished during thelesson, but she assumed that her body had simply drawn all the magic out of the berries beforehand.


    As she considered that, she realized that the berries magic should be leaving her in great puffs with each breath. <em>Why isnt it exiting my lungs?</em>


    She focused inward, sipping a ss of water to continue the calming of her stomach.


    Her mage-sight revealed that while the power from the berries did fill the lungs themselves, it did not distribute into the air within. <em>Why?</em>


    There was no easy answer. Maybe, like her intestines and kidneys, her lungs didnt see that magic as a toxin, needing to be cleansed from her body, and therefore didnt draw any into what was to leave her? <em>As good a theory as any, I suppose.</em>


    But her own, internal power seemed to equalize with the air. <em>Maybe, because the ending-berry power is highly specific? Formed in such a way as to not dissipate into the air with much ease?</em>


    It still seemed to leak from her eyes for whatever reason, even if slowly. <em>Bah! Ill just have to keep note of how it works and try to learn as I go.</em>


    A knock came on the door, and she pushed herself to her feet. She still felt off, but her extended trip to thetrine seemed to have gotten out the worst of it. <em>Or at least most of it.</em>


    She opened the door to find the diminutive seamstress staring up at her. You look awful.


    T sighed. Yeah, I ate-


    The woman cut her off. That outfit is the same as before, but worse, because it means you have two of them.


    T actuallyughed.


    Herughter seemed to catch the seamstress off guard, because the small woman paused, giving her a quizzical look.


    Well, youll be happy to know that this is now the only one I possess.


    The seamstress <em>harumphed.</em> Well, Im d of that. She held out a small stack of clothing for T. Put this on.


    T took the clothing with a smile. Thank you.


    Put it on, and thank me once you have the information to do it properly.


    T snorted anotherugh. Very well. She stepped into the bath room and closed the door before beginning to strip.


    Child, you dont have anything I havent seen before.


    Doesnt mean I want you to see my version of it.


    This time T heard the seamstress chuckle. Very well. But be quick about it. Yes?


    T simply grunted in reply.


    She dropped her old clothes into her pouch, vaguely wondering if the item would add a wardrobe, or something simr, to handle the clothing.


    The clothing the seamstress had brought was of a stunningly fine linen. Looking closely, she could see the weave, but just barely, and it felt almost like silk between her fingers.


    She pulled on the shirt and pants before examining herself in the mirror.


    The pants were a superb fit, molding to her curves perfectly, and moving with her smoothly. There wasnt a pinch or pull, no matter how she flexed, bent, or stretched. In addition, the lower leg red just so, in order to let her bare feet seem an intentional part of the look, rather than a case of forgotten shoes. <em>Huh. These are amazing.</em> They were of a medium-weight, ck linen, of as fine a weave as the shirt.


    The shirt was looser on her and hung down almost to her knees. <em>A tunic, then?</em>


    Shed had to fasten a simple, heavy sp behind her neck, after pulling the garment on, over her head. <em>Non-metal, nice.</em> She thought it was a heavy wood but couldnt quite ce it.


    The cor was snug, against her neck without actuallying up onto it. It rested softly atop her corbones and left her throat unimpeded. The linen of the shirt was a soft, almost storm-cloud grey, whichplemented the mild grey tint of her skin quite nicely.


    As she spun to look at herself in the mirror, she noticed that the back of the shirt was still open. The sp that shed done up had pulled in the cor, but there was still a circle of flesh exposed on her back: her keystone.


    The inscription of her keystone was prominently disyed and highlighted by the shirt. <em>Interesting choice.</em>


    The shirts sleeves came down to beyond her wrists, but she noticed simple sps, simr but smaller than that behind her neck, and once shed done them up properly, they held the cuffs at her wrists perfectly: secure without being tight.


    Well? Are you going to spend all afternoon mooning over yourself? Come out and let an old woman see what shes created.


    Beforeplying, T put her leather belt back on, situating it to sinch the shirt in a ttering manner. The ck leather of the beltplemented the shirt and matched the ck pants perfectly.


    She pushed open the door, and the seamstress gave her a critical look. Good, so you do know how to put on clothes properly. Id been concerned.


    You know, youve never given me your name.


    Youve never asked, and it hardly matters.


    What is your name?


    Call me seamstress.


    Thats not your name.


    I didnt say it was.


    T sighed. Very well. Thank you, seamstress. These are wonderful.


    Of course, they are. I made them. The seamstress smiled in self-satisfaction.


    T felt her lips tug up in a half-smile, despite herself.


    NowNow, you look how you should. A woman like you should be naked, but youd cause a riot.


    T had been taking a long, slow breath through her nose, but when she heard the seamstress, her breath caught, and she practically choked. What?


    You heard me, dear. Dont act daft. The seamstress was walking around her, inspecting the results of her handiwork. Clothing is like manners, armor for those who couldnt function in society without them.


    Is that why youve no manners? Because you believe that youre good enough to not need them?


    The woman grinned. And why I wear clothes, my dear. Now. Are you satisfied?


    T found herself nodding.


    Good. Id like you to have ten sets. Two more like this one, for everyday use when youre in a city, but youre a traveler, so five should be a bit more utilitarian, more leather, more durable. I wish I had some arcane skins for that. She clucked her tongue in thought. Ill make thest two for more formal asions. She tsked to herself, while cupping her own chin. Not as form fitting for those outfits, though. Youre not a prostitute.


    You just told me that I should go around naked.


    A cake sitting on a counter is beautiful to behold, and there is no need for every guest in your home to touch it. Put that same cake in a fancy box, and tie a ribbon on it? Then, its just begging to be unwrapped.


    T found herself quietlyughing, again. <em>This woman is crazy.</em> So, how much would this cost me?


    For twenty items of clothing?


    <em>Eighteen</em> But T thought better of interjecting.


    I think a gold ounce will do nicely.


    T spluttered out. A gold ounce! Thats five silvers a piece! You think each article of clothing is worth the same as a nights stay, here? She gestured around herself.


    The seamstress returned her gaze with a t calm. Yes, dear. And so do you. After a brief pause, she made a shooing motion. Go look in the mirror, again. Im not going to haggle with you. Ill wait out here for you toe to your senses.


    T went back into the bath room but didnt close the door. She did take some time examining herself in the mirrors hanging therein. <em>These do look amazingTen full sets of clothing would be nice. If the traveling clothes have a lot of leather, I can work in the iron salve, and that should give them added durability, at least against magic.</em>


    She sighed. <em>Shes right. For ten full outfits of this quality, its a deal.</em>


    She walked back out to find the seamstress sitting in the reading chair, flipping through what looked like a notebook, asionally jotting within it. Well? The woman didnt look up.


    Two questions.


    She sighed, closing her book and tucking it away. On with it, then.


    If I bought fewer sets, would the price go up for the remaining?


    Of course, it would. What kind of idiot question is that?


    T nodded. And when could you have them done by?


    The seamstress eyed her, seeming to sense a trap. My underlings could have these done by tomorrow evening, earlier if needed, but the Matron told me youre here through the following morning. Do you need one in particr earlier?


    T shook her head and smiled. Thank you for the answers. This is the deal: I want twenty outfits, the style and function of them in the ratios you described. I will pay you one and a half gold ounces. I do need the work done by tomorrow evening,


    The old woman stood, opening her mouth to object, but T continued.


    And I will know your name. T had pulled upon all her memories of haughty Mages for her tone and bearing while speaking her terms, and she realized that, in the outfit, she felt more like an actual Mage. <em>Rust her, shes good at what she does</em>


    The seamstress closed her mouth, eyeing T for a moment before grinning. You think yourself quite clever, eh? She nodded to herself. Fifteen outfits, one and a half gold, and you may call me: Merilin.


    Merilin. T nodded. Fifteen outfits for one and a half gold isnt a better deal.


    I did tell you that I wouldnt haggle. If you want to buy more, though, I wont stop you.


    You said that buying less would cost more per item.


    Thats true.


    So, buying more should cost less for each item.


    Except, Ill have to get the work done in the same amount of time. Doing fifteen sets of clothing by morning, day after tomorrow, will be hard enough without taking from my meager profits.


    T frowned. <em>Im not going to move her on this, am I.</em> She sighed. <em>And she moved the time of delivery back</em> Very well, Madam Merilin. We are agreed.


    Merilin nodded her head in acknowledgement. I will see you in the morning, the day of your departure. Ill have your clothing, then. She pointed at T. Do try not to destroy that outfit.


    T quirked a smile. All fifteen other sets. Ill be ready to pay you, then.


    Merilin hesitated, then snorted out augh. As you say, Mistress T. Good evening to you.


    And to you, Madam Merilin.


    The seamstress left without another word, and T slumped down in the reading chair. By the heavens, Im d Artia wasnt so stubborn, or Id have nothing left to my name.


    She supposed that Merilins age, and obvious familiarity with Mages, had both been advantages that Artia didnt possess.


    T nced out of her open windows and saw that it was getting quitete. Her stomach was still a bit off kilter, but she needed to eat, and shed promised to join Artia, Adrill, and Brand in Artias home tonight.


    <em>Off to dinner, then.</em>


    She checked herself onest time and found that she was pleased. Merilin was right; this is <em>much</em> better.


    She verified that she had all her possessions with her. Her knife and pouch were securely in ce on her belt, counterbncing each other. That final checkplete, she headed out the door, back towards the marketce and dinner.

 Chapter 44: Food and Inquiry

    Chapter 44: Food and Inquiry


    <strong>AUTHOR''S NOTE:</strong> If this is found on a site other than Royal Road, or the linked Patreon, it was not posted by the author. Please find this tale, here: /fiction/47826/millennial-mage


    The shop was closed, and the stall packed up, when T arrived. She knocked on the side door, and it was a moment or two before she heard movement beyond.


    A young man opened the door. <em>Right! They have a son. I''m pretty sure his name was Brandon.</em>


    Im sorry; were closed- Brandons eyes widened, as he saw her. Mistress T! He stepped backwards, fumbling to pull the door further open. Please,e in! Dinner isnt quite ready, yet, but were happy to have you.


    T smiled slightly and gave a small nod. Again, something feltodd about the boy to her mage-sight, but she didnt dwell on it. That wasnt why she was here. Thank you, Brandon. Can you lead the way? Ive only ever been in the shop.


    Of course! He turned and began walking back down the small hallway into which the side door opened.


    T came inside and closed the door behind herself, before following him down the hall.


    They passed two doors on their way, one into the dark shop, and the other would open onto the walled courtyard in back. The passage ended at a t-intersection, with stairs to either side, one set going up, the other down.


    Brandon pointed down. My fathers shop is down there.


    Id be interested in seeing that. <em>Might be interesting.</em>


    Really? You know, I help him, sometimes. Im sure we could show you after dinner, if youd like.


    I would, if time allows. Thank you.


    Brandon smiled to himself as he turned and led her the other way, up the stairs. The murmur of soft conversation, along with the sounds of a kitchen in use, floated down towards them as they ascended.


    T reached the top of the stairs and turned, finding herself in a spacious dining and sitting room. There were severalfortable couches arranged to one side in a semi-circle to promote conversation. The other side of the room held arge table, easilyrge enough to seat eight. A door near the couches seemed to lead out, onto a balcony, overlooking the market square, below.


    The space was clean, well-kept, and tastefully decorated.


    Artia came out of another doorway, presumably from the kitchen. Mistress T! Wee. Brand and I are just finishing up. Adrill should be joining us, shortly.


    Thank you, Artia. You have a lovely home.


    Thank you, dear. Can I get you anything while you wait?


    That isnt necessary, but thank you. Can I help?


    Weve got it sorted.


    T gave a nod of acknowledgement, then turned to take a seat on one of the couches as Artia went back into the kitchen.


    Brandon looked back and forth between his departing mother and T, seeming to be debating with himself. Finally, one side must have won out, because he turned and took a seat across from T. So How long have you been a Mage?


    T quirked a smile. Long enough. Have you always helped out, here?


    Brandon shrugged. Its the family business. You know?


    <em>Right, families actually do that </em>She tried to keep emotion from her face, but she must have failed somehow, because Brandon paled, looking away.


    I mean, I like the work, and its interesting. I think Mom and Dad would have let me go off to be a Mage, but Dad and I have the sameissue.


    T brought herself back to the moment, dismissing the flood of memories, all centered on a small, alchemist shop. Issue?


    He cleared his throat. Mom says its nothing to be embarrassed about, but we dont have a gate. He shrugged. Cant use magic. He looked back to her, seeming to rx when he noticed her attention. It hit dad hardest, but that was before I was born. Before he met mom, too. The way he tells it, he got the highest score the recruiters had ever seen on the cognitive and mental construction exams, but when they tested him for magic umtion ratenothing. No gate at all.


    T leaned forward. Thats possible? <em>Is that what I noticed?</em> She allowed her mage-sight to examine the boy as surreptitiously as she could. He still had some power flowing through him, though it was weak, and true to his word, there was no gate to be found. No broken gate, no closed gate, nothing.<em> Where did the power in his systeme from, then?</em><em>Did he absorb it from ambient power? </em>Could she ask, without being rude?


    Oh, yeah. Apparently about one percent of people dont have gates within them, so we cant empower inscriptions, or constructs or anything, really, let alone be Mages.


    That must have been devastating.


    Brandon let out a mirthlessugh. Yeah. For me, I knew about it from a young age, even though its supposedly recessive. Dad? His brothers are Mages, his father and mother too. His smile was sad. We still see familysometimes, but were not really seen as part of it, and no one discusses Magic with us. Even if we bring it up. He nced up at her again and balked. Im sorry! Youre a guest, here, and Im telling you sad family stories. He held up both his hands. I love my life, and I think what dad does is amazing. He smiled. Hes very excited to meet you and discuss the Order.


    <em>Their family are Mages, and they still see them as so prejudiced?</em> She sighed. <em>Or they see them as so rigid and prejudiced because they have family who are Mages?</em> Im d that hes excited. I admit Im hoping to pick his brain about a few things myself.


    Brand walked out of the kitchen, wiping his hands on an apron as he took it off. Mistress T! You look amazing, and I see that you no longer need a tailor.


    She smiled a bit sheepishly. I came across someone who seems to do a good job. Have you heard of a seamstress named Merilin?


    Merilin? Artias voice floated from back in the kitchen. Ive heard shes expensive, but worth it. She looked T up and down, then nodded. Seems the worth it portion was true enough.


    T huffed augh. Expensive was true too, though not overly so. She shrugged. I just dont like spending money, I suppose.


    Artiaughed as well,ing out behind Brand. Oh, I know that too well.


    T had the good grace to look a bit sheepish.


    Brandon, go get your father, will you?


    Yes, mom.


    Brandon moved downstairs quickly, with thefortable speed and ease of familiarity. T stood and moved towards the table. How can I help, and where should I sit?


    No help needed, and you can sit here. Artia pointed at a chair beside the head.


    T simply nodded and took her seat.


    Brandon returned a momentter with a man who looked very much like an older version of his son. He was in his middle years but had somehow kept his hair from going grey or white. Instead, it remained a resolutely chestnut brown, though not with the uniformity that would suggest the color was artificial. He was broad shouldered, and his arms and forearms were corded with trim, strong muscle. He clearly was more used to long work than heavy work, and his figure bore that out.


    T stood and gave a small nod. Master Adrill, thank you for having me in your home.


    He gave her a small bow. Mistress T, it is our pleasure to have you. He gestured back to the table. Please, sit, and drop the master; I am no expert in any craft or field. He smiled. I do hope that the meal will be to your satisfaction.


    Of that, I have little doubt.


    He sat beside her, at the head of the table, and Brand and Artia bought out the tes and cups.


    The meal was stoved chicken over a mixture of wild rice and several other grains. There was a side of slow-roasted garlic and asparagus, and their mugs were filled with a sweet wine thatplemented the vors of the food superbly.


    Needless to say: the meal was delicious.


    Talk stalled while they ate, a sure sign that everyone found the food as delectable as T did herself. Once the tes were clean and cleared, the cooks had been thoroughly praised, and the mugs were refilled with a bit more wine, Adrill turned to T.


    Now, Mage T, what do you want with the Order of the Harvest? We have worked very diligently to keepyour kind from taking notice. Everyone else seemed to lean a bit forward, awaiting Ts answer.


    Well, you seem to have quite extensive research on the potential benefits of consuming arcane and magical creatures. Humanity can use any edge we can get, and on a personal note, <em>I</em> can use any edge I can get. She smiled, lifting her mug towards Brand. Brand has already helped me greatly by providing some of your Orders research notes, and I feel that I can use that to great effect, even if it never goes beyond me. As to the secrecy: I imagine myodd circumstances caused me to miss many of the standard practices, which would have kept me froming across what you all were doing.


    Adrill nced to Brand, who nodded, then returned his gaze to T. I see. What do you offer the Order?


    T shrugged. A Mages perspective? A Mages hand in harvesting. I imagine few of your people have mage-sight, making the identification process more difficult. My mage-sight is actually a bitnot unique, but more informative than standard, so I can generally get a good guess at what the magic is intended to aplish.


    Adrills eyebrows rose in surprise. That is useful. He nced to Artia, she smiled.


    Somay I ask my questions now, or do you have more? T inquired.


    He quirked a half-smile. Fairs fair, I suppose. Ask away.


    T nodded. The artifact dimensional storage items: They have to be given power, when not within a high magic area?


    Yes.


    Is that a constant flow, a top-off every day, or sort of like they are a cistern slowly draining, and they need to be refilled every once in a while?


    Adrill was nodding along with her question. It is most like a cistern, though I imagine theyd function best if they received a constant flow, which would best mimic a high magic zone.


    She frowned at that. But they function in the city just fine?


    Yes? This is a high magic area, after all. Even before the waning officially began.


    T shook her head. No, it isnt.


    The others at the table shared a look, but it was Brand who spoke. Mistress T, you saw the creatures, nts, andeverything outside the walls. How can you doubt that this is a high magic region?


    She tilted her head, frowning slightly. This region is, sure, but this city is not. Human cities process all unassociated magic within themselves, drawing in the surrounding power as well. There is almost no ambient magic, here.


    There were confused noises and murmurings from the others at the table.


    Adrill spoke, this time. Then how do artifacts function, within the city? They dont seem to degrade, even when they stay within the walls.


    T sighed. That was one of my questions for you. She nced down at her belt pouch. When I went out of the city, today, I could see my pouch actively drawing in power from the surroundings. It wasnt a lot, but in the high density of power, it was an obvious effect to observe.


    Again, there were shared looks, and Brandon spoke up. You went out of the city?


    Yes.


    Alone?


    She hesitated. Technically?


    Thats incredibly dangerous.


    <em>Youre not wrong. </em>Still, she shrugged. I didnt encounter any She trailed off. She was about to say she hadnt encountered anything dangerous, but that was a lie in a dozen different ways. She cleared her throat. I wasnt in any real danger. She hesitated, again, thinking about her weakened and breached iron salve. Well, she cleared her throat, I was safe, in the end. She smiled weakly.


    <em>Maybe, I am a bit insane.</em>


    Dying <em>would</em> eliminate her debts


    The thought hit her like a p.


    <em>Do I really think that?</em> It was obviously true, trivially so, but did she really have that as a pir of her actions? <em>II dont know how to feel about that</em>


    Adrill cocked an eyebrow, seeming unaware of Ts inner turmoil. If I didnt see you sitting here, and believe you to be truthful, Id think you were spreading rumors. He shook his head. What possessed you to go out, alone?


    Ending-berries.


    Adrills eyes widened. He looked to Brand. The two berries you gave us, you said Mistress T provided them, yes?


    Brand nodded. She did. She also conveyed a desire to get more.


    I seeded, though Im not certain exactly what Ill do with them. She gave a hesitantugh. Besides eat them for safety, of course. Her smile firmed up. I was also considering going back for more, tomorrow. <em>I am not suicidal. Im making rational choices, attempting to gather useful resources.</em>


    Adrill leaned back. How can you harvest them safely?


    She hesitated. <em>Less so that Id thought, but yes?</em> Safe is a rtive term, but yes? There are severaloddities about me that allow me to counter their hostile magics.


    That is a bold im.


    She shrugged. Im not going to argue. I will not convey how I do what I do. Even if I did, there is a good chance that it still wouldnt be enough. She thought about how the trees had seemed to brush her in different locations every time, testing for any openings in her defenses. There had been the times where they had seeded, and only the ending-berries already in her system had saved her. If that had happened earlier in the day, her inscriptions would have kept her aliveprobably, but no one else would have that multiyered defense. She would not send people to their deaths.


    Adrill frowned. I suppose there isnt a reason for me to press, then. He sighed. What other questions do you have?


    T smiled, trying to alleviate some of Adrills disappointment. In charging the dimensional storage artifacts, and artifacts in general, is raw power required, or should there be a mental construct to funnel the power through?


    The man tilted his head, thinking. I know of the concept youre referring to; it reduces power requirement for spell-workings or empowering, correct?


    Close enough, yes.


    Then, no, my understanding is that that doesnt help, and can actually be detrimental. He leaned forward, clearly getting a bit excited by the topic. Artifacts often seem to have a kind of intelligence about them, almost a will of their own. If Mages attempt to force a mental construct on them, if Im understanding what youre referring to correctly, the item often rebels. It is like someone trying to force you to be something you arent.


    T was nodding. So, they just require power towhat? Grow? Change?


    Adrill shrugged. To exist. They do seem to change, slowly and subtly, almost like they are trying to incentivize their owner to feed them more. He chuckled at the very idea.


    T gave a nervousugh and nced down at her pouch. <em>Slow and subtle? Hardly.</em><em>But I suppose, most of their experience with artifacts is within the walls?</em> And, does ownership matter?


    Strangely, yes. Items that are rented out, like most of our dimensional storage items, tend to stagnate, remaining fixed as they are. He shrugged. Ive attempted to coax some to grow or change, but they always seem to know if I intend to use them myself or grant them to another. He shook his head. No, saying they know is too far. They arent alive as we consider it, but they somehow seem to respond to my knowledge of such. It likely colors my will, somehow. The artifacts Ive imed have all slowly grown and changed over time, even without any powering from me, directly. He smiled. Im guessing your items have shown minor changes?


    Something like thatyeah. She took another drink from her mug. Do you happen to have any notes on artifacts that youd be willing to share?


    Do you have any notes on ending-berry harvesting?


    T frowned. They would get you killed.


    We could learn so much. He leaned forward, a hunger obvious in his eyes.


    They would get you killed. No. <em>Even if you wore iron salve, and full iron armor, the trees would get through, in the end.</em> She sighed. But I could get you some. <em>Im already going back. No harm in giving him some of what I get.</em>


    Adrill had looked momentarily disheartened, but then, he perked up. Oh?


    How many would you need to be worth a copy of your notes?


    Adrill bit the left side of his lip, eyes ticking back and forth as he looked at the ceiling, contemting. Finally, he nodded to himself. Brandon and I could finalize a copy of our notes for you in the next day or so. He nced at Brand. Shes leaving in your caravan again, yes?


    Thats right.


    Then, they will be done before you leave.


    And the price?


    Again, Adrill hesitated. You have me at a distinct disadvantage. I dont know how hard they are to harvest for you, nor how many you can harvest in what span of time.


    T shrugged. And I dont know how extensive your notes are, or if they will be of use to me.


    Adrill nced to his wife. I see why you decided on a straight trade.


    Artia let out a softugh. Shes either clever or just very stubborn.


    T sighed. I hear that a lot, actually.


    Brand grinned but didntment.


    After a moment, however, Adrill addressed the head cook. How much are ending-berries really worth?


    Brand shrugged. A lot, but not very much. He smiled sympathetically. There is almost no market for them, because they are almost never harvested sessfully. Those I have seen were procured on a contract and had a ready buyer at hand. Those that didnt have a ready buyer almost all had their power fade to nothing before being sold, even in an iron box.


    When there was a ready buyer?


    Close to half their weight in gold.


    T had been drinking her wine, and thus hid her small smile. She had four gallons ofpacted ending-berries, at close to eight pounds a gallon, that was nearly 32 pounds of ending-berries. If the price Brand had quoted was urate- and it was what he had stated before, so he was at least consistent -she had close to two-hundred fifty ounces, gold, worth of berries. <em>Too bad there isnt a ready market. Id have most of my debt paid off, now. Maybe, Grediv would want some? Hes probably loaded, given how old he ims to be. Only an idiot lives that long without amassing a fortune.</em>


    Brand continued, however. That said, if you had a purpose for them? He shrugged. A temporary invulnerability to injury would be priceless in countless circumstances.


    Adrill frowned. Very well. After a moment, a small, almost mischievous smile crept across his face. I fear that I am not up to the task of determining a fair trade. He nodded. Ive decided. I will leave it up to you to give me what you believe is a fair quantity, in exchange for my notes. No matter the amount you give, I will consider it fair rpense.


    T glowered. <em>He knows exactly what he''s doing...</em> You, sir, are an evil man.


    Adrill simply beamed at her. I feel that I am in good hands. Do we have a deal? He held out a hand to her.


    Finally, T barked a shortugh. Very well. We have a deal. They sped hands and smiled. <em>Well, rust. Now, I have to be the reasonable one.</em>


    The remainder of the evening was filled with polite conversation and little of note. It was getting a bitte when Brand and T bid the family good night and departed, walking the same direction for a short way.<em> I never got to tour Adrills workshop.</em> She realized.<em> Maybe next time.</em>


    When they were about a block away from the home, T nced towards Brand. Why did they only have one child?


    Brand smiled, sadly. It was aplicated pregnancy. The Mages said it had something to do with the mother having a gate, and the child being without. The childs, Brandons, body was unable to cope with the power flowing into it from Artia, and it caused issues. Remedies were sought, and I was able to find a few rare arcane harvests that were used to keep the baby alive.


    Thats why hes Brandon?


    Brand nodded.


    But there wereplications.


    But there wereplications. Brand sighed. The processchanged something within Artia, and they were never able to conceive again.


    Im so sorry to hear that.


    Yeah.


    T frowned. Then how would Adrills parents not have known he was without a gate?


    Brand shrugged. I dont know all the details. Apparently, suchplications dont always arise.


    She grunted an acknowledgement, and theypsed into silence. Eventually, she broke the silence once more. Thank you, for introducing me to them.


    Brand huffed augh. Youd have found them yourself.


    Maybe, but you made everything far smoother. Thank you. She smiled.


    Happy to help.


    You have been. A help, I mean. Ever since you stabbed me, youve been nothing but kind.


    Heughed out loud at that. Its quite the thing to make up for. I still cant believe I did that, no matter how panicked I felt...


    Well, youve done it. She smiled again, holding out her hand. Friends?


    He didnt hesitate, taking her hand in his. Of course, Mistress T.


    She nced down a side street and sighed. This is my turn. Thank you for walking with me.


    It was my pleasure.


    She gained a mischievous glint to in her eyes. Are you sure you can get home safely?


    Heughed, again. Oh, to be protected by one such as thee. How will I survive alone in this city of thieves and vagabonds!


    Sheughed, too. Fair enough. Goodnight, Brand.


    Goodnight, Mistress T.


    They parted ways, each heading towards their respective beds.


    T had a smile on her face, as she walked beneath the stars, under the powerful, magical dome of the waning city of Alefast. <em>I have a friend.</em> It had been too long since shed been sure of that.


    <strong>AUTHOR''S NOTE:</strong> If this is found on a site other than Royal Road, or the linked Patreon, it was not posted by the author. Please find this tale, here: /fiction/47826/millennial-mage

 Chapter 45: So Much More to Learn

    Chapter 45: So Much More to Learn


    NOTE: If this is found on a site other than Royal Road, or the linked Patreon, it was not posted by the author. Please find this tale, /fiction/47826/millennial-mage


    T returned to her room, only to find a note on the te, which was affixed to her door, below the room number.


    The note simply read: Please see the Front Desk.


    <em>I suppose theyre trying to maintain privacy?</em> She turned and strode to the entrance hall. In order to reach her room, she had gone around the side, choosing to walk through the gardens as much as possible, rather than through the buildings hallways.


    A different older woman was sitting behind a desk, situated in an alcove of therge atrium, at the front of the inn. The matron stood as she saw T approach. Good evening, Mistress. How may I help you?


    I had a message toe to the front desk?


    Oh, certainly. Name, please?


    T.


    Oh! Yes. She bent down and lifted up a small chest. It was bound in iron, and had a solid sp, though no lock to keep it shut. This was left for you by Master Grediv. He asked us to convey his apologies for missing you, and to ask you to seek him out, if you had any questions.


    T smiled, epting the box. Thank you. It wasnt light, but it definitely wasnt too heavy for her. Goodnight, matron.


    Goodnight, Mistress.


    T gave a small nod and returned to her room.


    Once in the room, she sat in her chair, the box in herp, and flipped open the lid. Inside, three thick, leather-bound books rested: A Mages Guide to Their First Mageling: Basics Every Mageling Should be Taught, A Reference for Inscribing Known Materials, and On Determining the Means to Empower Unique or New Materials. There wasnt a note or anything else in the box.


    Well, thank you, Master Grediv. She smiled. These will do nicely.


    She quickly flipped through the reference book and just as shed thought, there were no useful notes on spell-forms for air. To her surprise, though, air was listed. Beside it, there was a simple sentence: The creation of spell-forms in the air is the domain of Archons, and not within the scope of this work.


    <em>Interesting.</em> She was <em>definitely</em> going to pursue this further. She nced at the box of books, then down at her belt pouch. <em>I wonder</em> She closed the box, and opened her bag to slide the box in. Letting it go as soon as it was fully inside.


    Then, she pulled the belt pouch free, opening it wide and cing it on the floor.


    Without dy, she climbed down into it, and turned to look at the bookshelf. Sure enough, the three books had been added next to her notebooks. Well, I suppose this entire space doesnt exist, except under the influence of your power, so why should it be strange that things which enter it can be manipted by you?


    The pouch did not respond.


    I need someone to talk to She sighed. With all the oddities swirling around her, she didnt know exactly who she could trust with all of it, if anyone. <em>Grediv was too nice He probably wants something.</em>


    She looked around, then reached her arms out, stretching wide. She couldnt touch the walls. Youve doubled in size She turned in a circle. You also feel low on magic. The ambient power in here is almost as low as in the city. She nodded. We need to find a way for you to indicate you need more power, without me having toe in Maybe one of the knots on your tie cord? Not sure how that would work, thoughYoure connected to my will. Can I feel when youre running low? <em>That might be too convenient. Maybe after a few days of consistent refilling?</em> She sighed, walking to one wall that had a lighter patch in the shape of her right hand. I assume this is for me. She smiled. <em>Why not.</em>


    She directed powering in through her gate in a carefully regted flow out of her hand and into the inside of the belt pouch. She was mindful of how easy the power flowed, and didnt allow the stream to grow toorge, or to flow for too long.


    There. She said, pulling her hand back. The ambient power in the air of the pouch had now risen to a level near that of the wilds outside Bandfast. That should do.


    She climbed up out of the hole in her inn-room floor, closed the belt pouch and set it and her knife on the bedside table.


    She stripped out of her clothes and carefully set them out on the chair, for the next day. That done, she moved through her nightly stretches, and did her hair up, so it wouldnt tangle. <em>No need to get my new clothes all sweaty or covered in wrinkles, after all.</em> It wasnt like she had spares, at the moment.


    She was about to head to bed, when her eyes fell on the knife, now across the room from where shed been working.


    She didnt feel the strained exhaustion in her soul anymore, though she did feel a bit of weariness from the same nebuloussense. <em>One rep, then.</em>


    She held out her hand and reached for the knife.


    Without an instants hesitation, it zipped across the intervening space, stopping immediately, perfectly aligned and situated in her hand.


    The worked soreness returned, and T yawned before smiling down at the knife. That will do, nicely.


    Without further dy, she climbed into her waiting bed, snapped her fingers to turn off the artifact lights, and promptly fell to sleep.


    * * *


    She woke at the first hints of light on the horizon, the glowing sky turning the few buildings that poked over the inns walls into a t ck silhouette of themselves. <em>Oh, I forgot to draw the curtains.</em>


    Shepleted her stretching and exercises before she was truly, fully awake. As wakefulness came upon her, she grinned in triumph. Throughout her sets, her sleepy mage-sight had been focused inward, guiding her movements towards best effect. In addition, shed maintained bnce and proper breathing.


    Now awake, she added one more exercise to the regimen. <em>Soul Work.</em> It was a stupid name, but she couldnt think of a better one.


    She stood near the door into her room, knife in hand and in its sheath. With a casual motion, she tossed the knife towards her bed, then <em>pulled</em> on the weapon, drawing it back towards her, even as it arced away.


    Immediately, the knife zipped back to her hand, as easily as her hand might move to rest on her hip.


    The strain wasnt as great, today, so she did a second toss and retrieval.


    As she caught the knife for the second time, she felt a wave of dizziness, and sank to the floor, kneeling and cing her forehead to the soft ground. <em>Oh mycalm down, T. Youre alright.</em>


    The dizziness slowly passed, taking with it the slight nausea that had been threatening to rise.


    She carefully moved over to her bedside table and reached into her pouch, grabbing a piece of jerky from the shelf just inside the opening and popping it into her mouth.


    Chewing on the jerky, she pulled out a brush, undid her hair, and worked out the nights tangles.


    Thatplete, she took her morning bath, careful to keep her hair dry. Then, she refreshed her iron salve, meticulously checking herself over with the magic detector. <em>Not today, trees. Not today.</em>


    Satisfied, she dressed in her new clothes, strapped on the belt, and added the pouch and knife to it. <em>Ready to go!</em>


    Again, she took advantage of the to-go breakfast the inn offered, downing the allowed two cups of coffee in quick session.<em> Not enough. </em>But there really wasnt anything she could do about it. She wasnt going to buy more in the city. <em>I dont have </em>that<em> much money.</em>


    <em></em>The attendant already looked a bit wary of her. <em>I suppose I shouldnt have drunk it so quickly?</em>


    <em></em>She thanked the young man, then grabbed some extra bread, cheese, and a couple of pieces of fruit to supplement her lunch. She ate happily as she walked out into the city.


    <em>I feel like Im forgetting something obvious, that would be really useful in my travels.</em> But no matter how she twisted her mind, nothing came to the forefront. <em>Oh well.</em>


    She made her way to the work-yard, much earlier than shed arrived the day before, and waved to the foreman. The twenty cargo-slots were ready and waiting, a single glowing symbol visible on each.


    She moved with calm confidence down the line and finished empowering them all in less than ten minutes. To her great satisfaction, shed also done so in a manner that she didnt feel any magical or mental strain. Her mental constructs had been quick, efficient, and thorough, and the power requirement for each empowerment had been less than ever. <em>Repetition breeds precision. </em>It was too bad that thatpetence wouldnt trante to empowering anything else, mental models being specific to the working.


    <em>The general idea does seem a bit like knowing what my inscriptions will do, as I use them, but thats probably just a coincidence.</em>


    Take care!


    Thank you, you as well, Mistress.


    She walked through the market on the way towards the eastern gate but paused beside the friendly barrel merchant to say good morning.


    Im afraid I dont have any unspoken-for, empty kegs, today, Mistress.


    Tughed and shook her head. No, no. I think Ive enough of those She trailed off, looking at therger barrels. <em>Water. I would love to have a huge barrel of water avable.</em> She smiled. <em>A cistern would be perfect</em> She shook her head. Now was not the time, she had work to be about. Thank you, again, for the kegs.


    Thank you for the business, Mistress.


    T nodded and continued on her way. As she walked, she nced down at her pouch. HeyI hate just calling you pouch, but nothing else really seems appropriate<em> Pouchy? Bag-thing?</em> She groaned. I dont even know if you understand me, or if you need words at all, but it would be pretty great if I had a method for storing water in you? If you can make a cistern for me to fill up, thatd be amazing, but if not, can you make an empty rack of thergest barrel that would fit through your opening? Ill just get a barrel if thats the case. No big deal.


    The bag did not respond.


    T cleared her throat, as she continued to walk.<em> I am insane, but the insanity seems to work, so</em> She patted the belt pouch. Youll have most of today to draw in power. Lets see what you can do with it. Thank you for carrying all my stuff. <em>All my stuffits carrying my kit. Kit!</em> How about I call you Kit?


    The bag did not respond.


    She smiled. Kit it is, then.


    T waited in the line at the eastern gate, and once she reached the front of the fast-moving line, the guard waved her through.


    She was now, it seemed, on the list.


    T quirked a smile at that but didntment.


    She stepped out of the gatehouse, and into sunlight and <em>power</em>. She stepped aside as a group of people passed, turning north, thankfully the opposite way from her intended heading. She closed her eyes, spread her arms just a bit, and inhaled deeply.


    Wonderful. She wasnt quite sure how shed like going back to lower magic regions. Maybe, she wouldnt really notice? <em>Not likely</em>. The cities would be the same, at the very least.


    The moment of reverie passed, she set out towards the ending grove once more. <em>Dont eat so many berries today, T. And watch your iron salve.</em>


    She still had afortable stock of power from the ending-berries that shed consumed the day before, but it had noticeably decreased during the night. As she walked, she took a risk and turned her mage-sight inward to examine the power. As she did so, she got the impression of streamers of power funneling off the torrent, moving through her and trickling into each of her defensive inscriptions. <em>Huh They arent active</em> Even so, the power was flowing through them, and she could almost convince herself that she felt them doingsomething. <em>Maybe, Holly will be able to tell.</em> She shrugged. <em>Just over a week, and Ill be back.</em>


    She now held about half the amount of ending-berry power that shed taken in the day before. That was still a tremendous amount, likely close to forty berries worth. Shed guessed that shed eaten close to a pound of ending-berries the previous day, but she wasnt at all sure. That didnt factor in how much of the juice shed gotten by sucking the seeds clean.


    <em>Only one cup of berries, or their juice, per day from now on.</em>


    That seemed reasonable. That was about a quarter of what shed eaten the day before, so it <em>shouldnt</em> upset her stomach. <em>As long as I eat other food, too.</em>


    She returned her mage-sight to focusing outward and continued to scan her surroundings.


    Something had stuck in her mind from the previous evening, everyone had seen her going out as a dangerous prospect. <em>Was I just lucky, yesterday?</em> She nced down at herself, and her new clothing, and sighed. <em>I should probably change.</em>


    She nced back at the city, considering the guards she could see up on the walls. Then, she realized that she didnt really need privacy, just to be out of line of sight momentarily.


    She stepped behind a group of trees and found a depression among some rocks that was about the right size. She took off her belt pouch and opened it wide, before situating it among the rocks on as t a ground as she could find. Even so, it was at a bit of a tilt. <em>That shouldnt matterright?</em>


    Her mage-sight showed a small, steady tide of magic moving into bag. <em>What do the artifacts do with all the power?</em>


    She really needed Adrills notes


    T climbed down into the pouch and noted that gravity was oriented as usual, within the small extra-dimensional space. <em>So, its as I figured, the orientation of the bag doesnt affect the environment inside.</em> That was incredibly good to know as it also implied that no movement was transferred in either. Thus, her items werent being jostled by her actions throughout the day. <em>I can do more testster.</em>


    She quickly stripped down and set her clothes to the side. True to what shed thought, a small set of shelves had been added beside the one for the books, and on them rested her old shirt and pants.


    She slipped into them, and reced her belt overtop. Then, she nced down at her new clothes, piled on the ground, and sighed. <em>Im not going to make bad habits, just because I have the option of convenience.</em> She picked the pieces up, folded them nicely, and ced them on the shelves. There.


    She turned to climb out, when she heard voicesing down thedder.


    Theres said to be ruins this way, and you all saw thedy Mage going in this direction. Id bet she has information we dont.


    So you say, but were still not equipped to go scouring ruins. Were meant to be felling trees. These axes wont work so well on magical monsters. And Master Sodros magic isnt good for much beside letting us run away.


    Another man made a derisive noise. Thats why were following the other Mage, idiot. Shell deal with any threats, and we can hunt on her coat tails. Sodro either didnt take offense or hadnt heard. <em>Whoever he is.</em>


    What if she doesnt like us doing that?


    Theres only one of her. We take what we want. Shes out here alone, and idents happen. There was a chorus of muttered agreements, and she heard no dissent, even hesitantly or quietly uttered.


    T nced down at her right hand. <em>Neen rings left. There shouldnt be that many of them</em> But she didnt know, and she needed these tost until she got back to Bandfast. <em>Think, T. Dont rush in. You need to think through your options.</em>


    She cursed silently.


    She could attack them with her knife; it wasnt like they could hurt her, given her inscriptions and the power flowing through her, but they could catch her. She still didnt really know what she was doing in physicalbat, and a dozen men could easily pile on her and pin her down, leaving her helpless.


    No, fighting was <em>not</em> a good option. <em>Nice; way to think through that option fully.</em> She should wait. Hopefully, they would pass her by without even noticing.


    There was a pause among the men, outside, and she head them stop walking a throwing distance from where her bagy, tucked among the rocks. Where did she go? <em>Oh,e on!</em>


    That way? That next rise is close enough that she could be over the ridge.


    There was a round of agreement, and T counted at least ten voices. <em>Yeah, way too many</em>


    One man spoke up. I dont know. I thought she was heading that way.


    There were more mutterings, but T couldnt tell if they were agreement or irritation.


    What if she saw us and is trying to hide?


    There was a sound that T would bet was a hand pping the back of a bald head. Idiot! Why would a Mage hide from us? She shouldnt know us from any other work crew out here.


    Because shes alone? Not every Mage can fight well against people. Its much harder to fight a group of men than a singlerge wolf, or something. Maybe, she knew we were following her?


    Oh, and you know that from experience, do you?


    Dont be daft; its logical! Would you rather fight one dog, or a dozen angry cats?


    There was a round of muttered agreements, and T had a sudden, horrifying thought. <em>What if they find the bag, and close it while Im inside?</em>


    She didnt know if she could force her way out, should they tie it closed. She also didnt know what trying would do to the item, whether she seeded or not. <em>Will the space be maintained, or will it close in on me</em>Artias tales of human-eating dimensional storage items came back to the forefront of her thoughts. <em>Rust shut, stupid mind. Now is not the time.</em>


    She could be in those trees. There really arent too many, but it isnt a tiny grove. If she isnt, we could lose her, while we try to do a thorough search.


    Fine, then. Lets vote. Who says search the trees?


    T heard the rustle of cloth. <em>The rusting idiots are raising their hands to vote.</em> She had no way of knowing how the vote was going.


    Who says go for that hill, and hope to catch her? Again, a rustle of cloth.


    <em>Come on,e on!</em>


    Its decided, then.


    <em>Whats decided!!!</em>


    You two, search that way, you three go there, and well go straight through the middle.


    <em>Oh, rust me to g.</em> T cracked her neck. If she could get up thedder, and into a stable position before they were on her, she might have a-


    Whats this? A voice came much louder down thedder. Oy! Boys, theres a hole in the ground.


    <em>Well there goes that idea.</em>


    She heard the men gathering around the hole. <em>Why, under the heavens, are you so interested in a hole? You probably cant even fit inside it.</em>


    Thats a small hole. Why are we here?


    <em>Good question.</em> She almost groaned in irritation but realized that any sound would give her away.


    She could be down there.


    We cant fit in that! I cant even see anything in there.


    <em>Cant see</em> T looked around, easily able to see her surroundings. Tentatively, she moved over to where she could see up and out of the hole. There was a crowd of faces looking down at it, at her, but none of them seemed to give any indication that they could see her.


    Could be magic.


    If its magic, we could die trying to get in.


    Thats a fair point. Master Sodro, what does your mage-sight say?


    A rough voice grated a short response. Dimensional. Magical. The man who spoke wore a deep hood, clearly to hide his face, as it was horribly disfigured. <em>Sometimes better vision </em>isnt<em> a blessing.</em> Much of his skin appeared to have had rock, earth, or sandced through it. <em>Magic poisoning? </em>If so, it was a fairly advanced case of it. She was actually surprised the man was still functional.


    Not arcane?


    No. The voice was clipped, as if the speaker didnt like talking. <em>With a voice like that, its no wonder.</em> His eyes were glowing with power, no scripts to be seen on the surroundingstone. <em>So, his inscriptions have melded with the deformities.</em> If she remembered correctly, magic poisoned Mages often had their magic enhanced at the end of their agonizing existence. <em>Great</em>


    Yeah, I dont want to die.


    <em>Thats right, boys. Go on your way. No need to investigate further.</em> Sodro pulled back, clearly not interested in participating in the discussion.


    So, its a magic hole. Seems stupid to mess with it. My vote is that we should just search elsewhere.


    <em>Yes! Yes, you should.</em>


    Hey, whats this? One bent closer and pointed to the edge of the hole. Is that a cord?


    <em>Oh,e on.</em> This was just not her morning. <em>Maybe, I can throw my knife up, first? Take one out by surprise?</em> It probably wouldnt help much.


    At that moment, she heard a grunt of pain, and some of the men turned to look around.


    Hey, wheres Dentric?


    Another grunt came from the other side, and more of the men swiveled.


    Frand?


    This time, there was a short scream of agony, before silence returned, and the men began to huddle together, from what T could see.


    Whos out there?! Were armed!


    One of the men that T could see jerked to the side, a spurt of blood painting those around him, before he dropped.


    The screaming really started, then. And magic began to fly, specifically, earth magic.


    T was torn between wanting to run up thedder and see what was going on and staying put where it was safe. <em>For now.</em>


    Her choice was quickly taken, as she heard what sounded like thest man fall, and silence filled the air.


    A momentter, a burst of power radiated out, heavily tinged with earth, stone, and sand. <em>He was further along than Id have guessed, if his death caused that.</em>


    She only hesitated a moment longer. <em>Well, rust this. Im not getting stuck in here.</em>


    She surged up thedder, knife in hand, and leapt up into a grounded stance, straddling the open belt pouch below her.


    All around, the rocks and dirt were liberally sprinkled with blood and bodies. Several clustered fields of stone spikes, as well as a half-formed wall of earth were the only evidence of meaningful resistance.


    Standing proudly over a broken, statue-like form was the terror bird, scratching at its red-painted beak with one of its powerful ws.


    NOTE: If this is found on a site other than Royal Road, or the linked Patreon, it was not posted by the author. Please find this tale, /fiction/47826/millennial-mage

 Chapter 46: Bad Birdy?

    Chapter 46: Bad Birdy?


    T stood for a moment, regarding the terror bird as it continued to clean its beak.


    She looked around at the bodies surrounding them. Ummm Bad birdy?


    The bird stopped and looked at her, then at the men surrounding them. It cocked its head and let out a sound that reminded T of nothing so much as incredulity.


    Fine, fine. Thank you. You could have driven them off-


    It tilted its head the other way.


    She felt a smile tug at her lips. Youre right, thats not really how you work. She bent down and picked up her pouch, fastening it to her belt and pulling out a piece of jerky. I suppose you want this?


    The head bobbed up and down once.


    Well, what are we going to do about all these bodies?


    The terror bird looked around itself, then started moving, blinking between the various men, pulling off their belts and packs with quick shing talons and jerks with its beak.


    <em>What are youIt just saw me pull jerky from a belt pouch.</em> She grinned.<em> Its being extra certain?</em>


    Once all the packs and pouches were separate, the ripple of power washed over the terror bird, and it quadrupled in size.


    Ts eyes widened in rm for three reasons:


    The first was that she was afraid the bird might be seen from the city. She nced back that way but realized that they were well out of sight. <em>Good, tall trees.</em>


    The second reason was that, in her understanding, terror birds continued to grow, until they were killed. <em>If this is its true size, it must be hundreds upon hundreds of years old.</em> From her intricate understanding of dimensional magic, it was very easy to shrink something, but erging even moderatelyplex items was not only ludicrouslyplicated, it almost always resulted in the destruction of the same. That in mind, the bird was not likely to be erging itself.


    The third reason was somewhat more personally practical. The bird now stood more than three times her height and wasrge enough to easily swallow a person whole.


    <em>I do </em>not<em> want to see how I fare in the belly of the creature.</em>


    It seemed that her estimates were urate, because the terror bird began snapping up the bodies and swallowing them whole, one by one.


    <em>How can it possibly fit all of them?</em> There were the repetitive flickers of dimensional magic emanating from within the creature. <em>Is it shrinking them? Is its stomach some form of dimensional storage?</em>


    She had no idea, and she silently hoped that she never found out.


    In a startling short amount of time, the terror bird had finished its work, and was standing close, but not too close, now just shorter that T, herself. It had left the Mages body alone. Apparently, it didnt like the magic-tainted voring?<em> Something like that.</em>


    You are pretty capable.


    The bird bobbed its head.


    I need to give you a name. She tossed the chunk of jerky to it, and the bird caught it easily, seeming to savor the vor, moving the meat across its tongue slowly, rather than guzzling it down. Youre a terror bird, that much is obvious. You seem to be fine waiting around for me toe out and give you treats She smiled. You tarry nearby. Terror. Tarry. Terry. Ill call you Terry.


    The bird hesitated for a moment, then swallowed before regarding her. After a long moment, it bobbed its head slightly and let out a chirping whistle.


    Very well, Terry, Ill get you a bit more. She pulled free some more jerky and tossed it to the side.


    Terry vanished, and the meat did as well, a heartbeatter.


    T sighed. And now Ive named it. She walked over to the pile of belts and bags, most of which were speckled with drying blood. She groaned. This is gross


    Ten minutester, she had finished processing the items shed found. The men had each had an ax, though theyd been scattered around the clearing during theincident. It seemed that thered been eleven of the men in total, not counting the Mage. Each also had had a simple belt knife, as basically everyone always did. The woodsmen also each had a small, serviceable hatchet.


    To her tremendous surprise one of the men had been carrying a hammer, which turned out to be an artifact. Aside from the same durability enhancements that her knife bore, the straight-peen hammers particr magics seemed specifically aimed to redirect force away from the striking surfaces. <em>Maybe for assisting in the felling of magically dense trees?</em>


    She supposed that the woodsmen had needed the function and hadnt been able to be picky about the form.


    The handle of the hammer was a dark grey, almost ck metal, where the head had the look of standard steel. Both the handle and head appeared to be made from material which had been twisted into beautiful, regr spirals before being hammered t and smoothed, leaving only faint inclinations of the work to peek out from the patterns within the material.


    Just like in her belt pouch and knife, there was a confluence of power within the head of the hammer that she now knew could ept an Archon star. <em>I could sell this but Im not going to.</em> She nodded firmly.


    <em>Im keeping this. Im not bonding it, thoughnot yet. One is enough for now.</em> The hatchets, axes, and knives shed have to sell. <em>Back in Bandfast</em> She felt a momentary flicker of guilt at the deaths of these men, but it passed as she remembered their ns to cause an ident for her. <em>Too bad you couldnt have just kept at your jobs and left me alone.</em>


    There were some food stuffs, protected by the mens various pouches and bags from any blood stter.


    She packaged all these together into two groups, perishable and non-perishable. Thetter category was, by far, thergest, and she stored those in her pouch, along with the tools shed already imed. She ate the perishable foods, which consisted of arge carrot, a hunk of heavy bread, and a handful of radishes.


    She threw another piece of jerky to one side, and it vanished in a flicker of dimensional power. Nicely done, Terry.


    <em>If Im giving him a name, Ive got to try to train him.</em> She almostughed. He was likely older than the waning city to her west. Training sounded a bit insulting. <em>Maybenegotiating?</em> It would be worth a try. <em>Later.</em>


    She took all of the belts, pouches, and bags as well. Theyd each been treated against theing winter weather, so the blood mostly wiped off on the nearby, clean grass. The remaining flecks came off with some water from her waterskin and easy scrubbing with some rags, which had once been clothing. <em>That arcanous nt really did a number on these.</em>


    Finally, she looked down on the broken Mage. Terrys attacks had shredded his clothing, skittering across the stone in his flesh until they found his soft spots. He had very little inscribing, as he had very little actual skin left.


    It lookedself-done. <em>Who would do this to themselves?</em> He had obviously been a Material Creator, and he hadnt properly insted himself against that power. <em>I wonder what his story iswell, was.</em>


    She really couldnt just leave his body, but she had no idea what to do with it. Finally, she took off his belt, pouches and all, opened Kit wide, and maneuvered his body inside, dropping the belt in after.


    <em>Ill look through his pouchester. Its time to be moving. Ive dyed too long as it is.</em>


    With a sigh, she set off, leaving the red sttered clearing behind.


    Thanks to her care, shed avoided getting almost any blood on herself, and what little had gotten on her hands, she scraped off on some rocks and trees as she passed. She had to use some more water and judicious scrubbing as she walked to get thest bits. She was grateful that shed kept as clean as she had, because while the iron salve helped, blood was notoriously hard to remove.


    Thankfully, the few spots that just wouldnt respond to her ministrations blended with the berry stains already on her palms and finger-pads. <em>Good enough, I suppose.</em>


    Just like the previous days walk, there was no snow, even in the deepest dells or in the shade of trees. The mountains to the north bore snow, but that was likely to be a year-round state for this region. The verdant fields hid many arcane and a few magical creatures from her normal vision, if not her mage-sight. Still, none wererge or aggressive enough to do her harm.


    She did note the distinctck ofrger threats, and pondered, not for the first time, if Terry was keeping the way clear for her. At the thought, she decided to toss another bit of jerky.


    It promptly vanished.


    <em>Should I be worried that Im bing used to that?</em> It was a concern for another day.


    She easily reached the grove of ending-berry trees well before noon and looked about, feeling a bit nervous, given her recent encounter. Terry?


    The bird popped into existence ten feet in front of her. At the moment, he was justrger than a house cat and was looking at her questioningly.


    Are there any humans about?


    He vanished in a flick of dimensional power, and T felt a cascade of dimensional blips all across the range of her senses.


    Less than thirty secondster, Terry was standing before her once more.


    He shook himself, indicating a negative.


    T grinned. Thank you, Terry. She tossed him another hunk of jerky, which he happily caught.


    With as much solemn reverence as she could muster, T upended Kit, dumping the Mages body out, onto the ground. <em>I suppose Im d that Kit can understand what I want?</em> She didnt quite know how the body hade out, especially since gravity in the pouch was seemingly unrted to its orientation, but she wasnt going toin. <em>Id have hated to drag him up thedder</em>


    She nced at the body, and had a <em>moments </em>hesitation. His eyes resembled huge gemstones, after all. She turned away in disgust. <em>I am NOT prying his eyes out. That is a horrific idea.</em>


    Without pausing further, lest she somehow change her mind, she rolled him down the hill.


    T stripped out of her clothes, cing them into her belt pouch. Then, she went down, and dragged the body thest stretch to the base of the closest ending-tree.


    Several branches, which had been well above her head moments before, brushed against her and her burden.


    A fractionter, the body <em>puffed</em> into dust. T staggered back, doing her best to not inhale any of the fine powder. <em>There. Thats done.</em>


    She trekked back up to her pouch, removed her fruit picker, and went to work.


    Noon came and went, and while she paused for lunch, she was diligent in her work.


    Late afternoon arrived, and she was pushing against the edge of her time, if she wanted to get back into the city before dark. She smiled as she arched back, stretching aching muscles.


    She had just finished refilling the second jug for thest time.


    Shed filled all but one keg, and those, along with the two jugs, meant that she had a total of ten gallons of ending-berries. She couldnt have asked for a better haul.


    In order to speed up her work, and get ess to berries after shed done her best to pick the outside of the grove clean of easy to reach fruit, shed had to delve deeper in.


    She had lost count of how many branches, leaves, twigs, etc hade in contact with her, even before the first hour had passed. The trees still seemed to favor contacting new locations, if at all possible, and that had worked in her favor.


    Today, she had been far, far more careful. After each basket full of berries had been gathered, shed swept herself with the magic detector and re-applied iron salve on any portion of her that even <em>might</em> have registered to the construct. She also added more to any ce she could remember the tree touching. A few times, when she felt a particrly potent spike of power from a nearby tree, she had retreated with a partially full basket, and reinforced her protection.<em> I will not becent.</em>


    She pulled out the remnants of her shredded clothes, those that the arcanous nt had torn to ribbons, along with a water skin. She wetted the rags and used them to clean herself of the dirt, dust, and sweat that shed gathered through the day.


    All clean, or at least as clean as she was likely to get before returning to the inn, T dressed in the fading light of an autumn afternoon.


    She didnt climb down into the bag, as she was still feeling a bit of trepidation after her near miss, earlier that day. <em>I really need some way of securing this, while Im inside it</em>


    Another project to add to her list.


    Dressed and packed to go, she set out, back towards the city, taking a bit of a different route so as to avoid the site of the earlier massacre.


    She did toss bits of jerky every so often, confirming Terrys continued proximity. <em>And protection.</em>


    When she knew that the city was just over the next rise, she found a sheltered ce, among a striking rock formation, and changed back into her nicer clothing. Once again, she did not change within the pouchs dimensional space.


    Shortly thereafter, she arrived at the eastern gates, the sun just touching the horizon on the far side of the city.


    State your name!


    The now familiar greeting caused T to smile, and sheplied.


    There was a bit of a pause before she was acknowledged and let inside.


    Any problems, guardsmen?


    No, Mistress.


    T shrugged and smiled. Very well. Have a good night!


    Thank you, Mistress. Goodnight to you, as well.


    Without looking back, she strode out of the gatehouse and into the city, proper.


    * * *


    T walked up to Artias stall as the woman was finishing closing-up for the night.


    Mistress T! Wee. I assume youre here to see Adrill?


    T smiled, nodding. I am. Thank you.


    Brandon! Get your father, please.


    Brandons voice floated back from within the shop. Yes, mom.


    While she waited, T helped Artia pack up thest pieces of the stall and bring them inside. I dont suppose youve gotten any other items you might want to part with?


    Artiaughed. Nothing unique, if thats what youre asking. A few new dimensional storage bags, another knife, and a few more odds and ends. She shrugged. From what you conveyed; nothing seems to fall in line with what youd be seeking.


    Fair enough. Thank you.


    Adrill came in through the door in the back, a small book in his hand, Brandon right behind him. Did I hear Mistress T? He smiled when he saw her. Wee back! I assume youre here for this? He held up what was obviously a notebook full of his research into artifacts.


    I am. T had given a lot of thought to the price she should pay for those notes and had decided that generosity would serve her best, in the long run. From what she knew, this city was likely the best, if not only, source of artifacts that she could get to, and Artia and Adrill were the best source within the city, at least now that they didnt consider her a hostile Mage, to be avoided if at all possible.


    Therefore, she pulled out one of the gallon jugs, wrapped in iron-salve treated cloth. This is for you. She set the heavy jug on the table. I believe this is just under eight pounds of ending-berries, de-seeded.


    Everyone stopped and stared in stunned silence.


    After a long moment, Brandon cleared his throat. Mistress T?


    Hmm?


    I believe I misheard you, likely my parents did too, but I thought I heard you say, eight <em>pounds</em>. That cant be right, because that would be worth nearly sixty-four ounces, gold.


    <em>Quick with numbers, I see.</em> T shrugged with nonchnce she didnt feel. If there was a market, Id sell them. Without a steady supply their uses are limited and uncertain. If there were a steady supply, they wouldnt be worth nearly so much. After a moment, she realized that she hadnt actually answered him. But no, you didnt mishear.


    Adrill came forward and set the book on the counter. You have overvalued these notes, Mistress T, even though what you say is true. I will be able to take much greater risks in my research, with those avable to me.


    T smiled. Id hoped that would be the case. The bag issomething that will help contain the magic, but an iron box or iron jug will function better, I think. Please be careful not to let the berries rust it out. She grinned.


    MistressT, I dont know what to say. This is too much. What else can we give you, in exchange?


    She was about to say, Nothing when she remembered two things. Welltheb would actually be pretty helpful.


    Comb? Adrill looked confused, but Artiaughed, stepping over to a disy table to pick up the simple, but magic filled,b. Adrill nodded. Ahh! Yes. It is a simple thing but consider it yours.


    T smiled, nodding her thanks as she slipped theb into her belt pouch. Do you happen to have something that can create water?


    As it turned out, they did, in fact, have a small bronze ring that aplished what she wanted.


    The ring was justrge enough for her two thumbs to go through, together, and when a Mage funneled power into it, water would flow out the other side. It was actually a ss of magical item that T hadnt encountered before called a lensing item or an incorporator, which simply took raw magic power and output a single, predefined substance. They werent rare, but they were fairly expensive.


    To Artias understanding, they werent widely used because of two things: First, they were quite power intensive. A Material Creator could magic up close to ten times the volume of material, for the same amount of power. Second, incorporator items only created substances temporarily.


    In the case of water, or anything else ingestible, it functioned as expected. It would hydrate the consumer and pass through without harm, ill effect, or oddity. However, if left in the open, the water or other substance would begin to evaporate back into intangible power within an hour, give or take, the greater the quantity exposed together, the faster it would begin to vanish.


    Thus, incorporators were very niche in their usefulness, and Artia and Adrill parted with the one for water incorporation happily. They only had this one because it was the cheapest type of incorporator avable. They exined that Adrill had purchased it for study ages ago, but that research hadnt gone anywhere, because a Mage was absolutely required to use it. It had been gathering dust in his shop ever since.


    T bid the family goodnight and headed back towards the inn, Adrills notes in hand, feeling contented with her decision to bias towards generousity. The ending-berries still had a theoretical value much greater than what shed received, but she had no doubt that shed gotten the better end of the bargain, in the long run at the very least.


    * * *


    T giggled with joy as she pointed the water incorporator towards the bathtub, within her room in the Wandering Magician.


    With an effort of will, she pushed a trickle of power into the ring, clutched in her hand. She used only a tenth of the flow rate that shed utilized the day before, during the process of creating hertest Archon star. The result was a thin stream of water fountaining out of the very center of the ring, seeming to originate from thin air before arching far away from her tond in the tub.


    Shed soaked a towel or two in the beginning, as shed gotten her aim down, but they were all dry now; shed been ying for well more than an hour, after all.


    This is amazing! She giggled again. Im so d that Im not a Material Creator, or Id never do anything else. She shot another spurt of water, sweeping the thin stream back and forth.


    She had her mage-sight focused on the ring, as it worked, and was fascinated at what she saw. The ring acted as a sort of lens, but where an optical lens bent light, often revealing the multitudes of colors within, this ring bent magic, revealing the water withinor something like that. She didnt really have a good grasp on what was happening, but it was still fascinatingand fun.


    <em>I need more of these. I need every kind of incorporator there is!</em>


    Finally, she was able to reign in her inner child, and she got ready for bed.


    She stripped down, stretched, lightly exercised the muscles the days activities hadnt worked, and tossed her knife, drawing it back to her.


    She was able to draw it back three times that night, though the final one had her groaning on the floor with a splitting headache right afterwards.


    <em>Slower, T. Keep your soul intact, please?</em>


    To her great relief, the headache passed fairly quickly.


    She indulged in a bit more y while she bathed, removing the days grime, but after that, she resolutely ced the bronze ring away.


    She braided her hair and climbed into bed, content.


    <em>Today was a good day.</em>

 Chapter 47: A Day of Departure

    Chapter 47: A Day of Departure


    T woke even earlier than usual, the sky still dark outside. <em>Back on the road today.</em>


    She moved through her stretches and exercises with determined efficiency, smiling as she noticed the improvements her micromanagement was bringing about. <em>Its amazing what you can do when you can see every individual muscle fiber.</em> She couldnt control her muscles that finely, yet, but it let her subtly modify every stretch and exercise towards better results.


    She was able to toss and retrieve the knife three times without obvious ill effect, though it left her very being aching, much like her muscles. <em>Not ready for a fourth rep.</em>


    Tbed out her hair, which consisted of a single stroke through each portion, due to the artifactb. <em>This is going to save me hours, all told, over theing months!</em> She smiled happily, climbing into her bath.


    She allowed herself an extra minute or two in thefortably hot water, before she dried herself off and went to work with the iron salve. Even though shed been meticulous the day before, she wasnt going to let it fall by the wayside again, at least not any time soon.


    She still had the pleasant buzz of ending-berry power within her, though it had settled into feeling simr to afortably warm mug of coffee, instead of the raging, industrial crucible of the first day. <em>Its probably healthier for me to keep the power at about this level.</em> Shed need to have Holly give her a good, deep examination, to determine if her fervor had made any permanent changes. <em>Hopefully, only good ones</em>


    She was wrapped in a towel, back in her room, when a knock came on her door.


    She nced to the still dark windows in her outer wall, before calling out. Who is it?


    Merilin, with your clothing.


    T opened the door with a smile, before freezing in ce. Merilin was, indeed, standing out in the hallwayalong with a male servant.


    T and the servant both immediately blushed, the servant looking away, T pulling the door partially closed, once more. Even with the towel, she did <em>not</em> like that type of surprise.


    Merilin?


    Yes, child?


    Why is he here?


    Did you want an old woman to carry all your clothes, herself?


    T paused for a moment, before grumbling a negative. Im going to go into the bath room. Please ce the clothing on the bed and ask him to leave. Ille out and pay you, then.


    Merilin nodded.


    T tried to be dignified as she scampered to the bath room and closed the door.


    She heard movement outside, rustling near the bed, then a single set of foot-falls retreated back out the door, and it closed behind them.


    T came back out to find Merilin sitting in her reading chair.


    Youre perfectly covered.


    Im in a towel.


    Merilin shrugged. Young people these days. What does it matter what youre wearing? It should only matter what you show.


    T gave her a t look. Youre a seamstress. You really dont think it matters what people are wearing?


    Merilin paused at that. You know what I meant. She gestured at the bed. Youre leaving today, yes?


    T nodded.


    Then, I rmend the far stack.


    As T turned her attention fully to the bed, she noticed three things. First, there were three piles of varying sizes. Second, there were far fewer items than shed been expecting. Third, there was magicing from the pile that Merilin indicated. What did you do?


    I made an executive decision. Take a look.


    T opened the brown paper, encasing the single outfit in the final stack. Inside, on top, was a leather jerkin that had powerful reconstitution magic woven through it; there were no inscriptions, the power was a natural property of the material.


    That is leather from an immortal elk. The woman scoffed. Obviously, its not immortal, but the namees from how devilish they are to kill. They can heal from nearly any wound, so they are almost never able to be harvested. She sighed. To kill them usually requires such overwhelming destruction that nothing is left.


    T looked down at the item. So?


    So, unless you get these utterly obliterated, they will reconstitute. She waggled a finger. That doesnt give you the excuse to be careless. They are no more initially durable than any high-quality leather, so take good care of them. Youre a Mage, you can give them power as you wear through its natural stores.


    T was frowning. How can the clothes rebuild themselves? Why wouldnt they return to the form of the elks hide? She looked down. Why dont they have hair, if they regenerate?


    Merilin muttered under her breath, so low that T hardly heard it. Mages always want to know How? How? How? Its never Thank you, Merilin. Youre amazing, Merilin.  She huffed, then spoke more loudly. Their power is suspended by a proprietary, secret method, while the clothing is made. When the power is returned, the garments state at that time bes the default to which the magic returns.


    T nodded. That made some sense. Well, lets try these on, then.


    She took the package and returned to the bath room, closing the door before dropping her towel. She set the package down and pulled out the tunic. It was beautifullyposed, looking almost like fabric in its working. She wiggled into the garment and found it soft, smooth, and silky, inside and out. <em>This wont chafe at all!</em> That was a boon, leather could easily cause rubbing and soreness if not properly treated or sized.


    There were ties up each side, starting at her armpit and going down to her waist. The ties were of leather as well. The sleeves were loose without being billowy, and there were several minimal, stiff, segmented ridges that ran down the arms to hold them in ce. Somehow, the stays didnt inhibit movement at all. The ridges were evenly spaced around each sleeve creating a subtly beautiful pattern, mirrored by simrly flexible, yet ridged, features on the torso. <em>How did she insert boning that holds the shape, without inhibiting movement?</em> It was a masterpiece.


    She expected to immediately feel warm, within the leather top, but to her surprise, it seemed to breath like linen. How is this so breathable?


    Merilins voice came through the door. Immortal elk are massive creatures, and their hides are breathable to keep them from overheating during the summer. Their fur thickens in the winters topensate, but that is no longer an issue.


    T nodded, doing up the ties easily. She had to reach down, through the cor, to arrange herself properly within the garment, but after she did so, it fit splendidly.


    The leather of the tunic was a light grey, nearly white, while the ties were marginally darker, offering a nice hint of contrast. Below the ties, the tunic continued down to just above her knees, providing some modesty and adding to the look. She smiled, then turned to the second item in the parcel: Pants.


    The pants fit exactly as well as the linen version had, the day before. They were a dark enough grey to evoke thoughts of thunder, storms, and torrents of driving rain. They moved with her, once she was properly situated within them, and the re towards her feet was as subtle as it was functional. She strapped on her belt, her knife and pouch bncing each other nicely.


    She strode out of the bath room, grinning happily. These are amazing.


    Merilin stood, examining her. Of course, they are; I made them. She walked around T. Im d youre flexible enough to do up the ties. Did you notice the boning?


    T nodded, feeling along several portions in the tunic and sleeves. Its highly segmented. It adds stiffness and structure without impairing movement. I cant even conceive of how you made it work, but it does.


    You need to be able to move properly to survive, and you cant have it pinching, pulling, or impinging on you. Im not going to let you die in my garment, at least not because of my work. She huffed. That would be unprofessional.


    T nced at the remaining bundles on the bed. Two formal outfits, and three every day, correct?


    Merilin nodded.


    That isnt what we agreed. Even as she spoke, T was running her hands over the leather on her abdomen.


    Merilin barked augh. Do you want me to take that back?


    She hesitated. Wellno


    I thought not. It should serve you better in the long run, so long as you keep it empowered.


    T was frowning, again. Id thought that harvests had to be fed, and inscriptions iid, to make a magic item work.


    Merilin sat back down, with a self-satisfied smile. If it were a magic item, yes.


    T nced down, then back up. It is an item, that is magic.


    The seamstress waved a hand dismissively. For all it knows, its just a part of some magical creature. So long as you feed it power, it will do what it does. She hesitated. Dont try to give it power from more than one source. Itlltch onto the next source that feeds it power, and it willbe angry, if other power tries to force its way in.


    T frowned, then shrugged. Youre the seamstress. She ced a hand on her side. Does it need any special mental model or


    No idea what that means, so probably not. Give it a trickle of power and see. Come on, girl. Youre supposed to be the Mage.


    <em>That sounds suspiciously like an artifact</em>T hesitantly gathered up a small portion of the power flowing out of her gate and fed it through her hand into the tunic. Unlike Kit, the belt pouch, the tunic was not receptive to her influx at first. Even so, the leather seemed starved for power, and after a brief resistance, the power moved through it in a rush.


    A pulse radiated out from her hand, and the leather shifted subtly. There was no visible change, but as she moved and twisted, T found that it somehow fit even better than before. Minute portions that hadnt been <em>quite</em> right were now snugged into ce, and it shifted with her like a flexible, stylish, second skin.


    <em>I suppose it basically is a second skin</em> That was a somewhat disturbing thought. Before she could talk herself out of it, she repeated the process on the pants and felt the same perfecting of the garment.


    Merilin smiled, self-satisfied. Good. That worked.


    T slowly turned to stare, wide eyed at the seamstress. What do you mean, Good?


    Ive never done this before.


    T gaped at the older woman. What.


    My mother left extensive notes, and I followed them to the letter, but there were always dangers. She shrugged. Immortal elk dont die every day, child.


    T narrowed her eyes. This sounds much more expensive than I agreed to.


    I was contactedst night to alter the order. Your benefactor asked to remain anonymous. My mother was known to have worked with this material, and so they were content for me to do the work. She nodded, smiling, then pulled out a tablet. Your bnce stands, though. One and one half ounces, gold.


    T sighed, then examined the tablet before pricking her finger and confirming the purchase. It was bing very easy for her to withdraw both power from her scripts and the power of the ending-berries to enable the confirmation of contracts and purchases, trivially so.


    Merilin pushed herself back to her feet. Well, child, I hope to see you again. Do be sure to tell others where you got your clothing, yes? She cackled augh as she left the room, not waiting for T to respond.


    T stared after the woman for a long moment before shaking her head and quickly pushing the clothing into her belt pouch. Thanks, Kit. Ill organizeter if youre not up for it.


    The pouch did not respond.


    Light was just beginning to build in the east as she left the room for thest time. It had been quite afortable ce to stay, and she was a bit sad to leave it behind. <em>A bit expensive, though.</em> Lyns house would be a better long-term residence.


    She smiled at that. <em>It will be good to go home.</em>


    <em></em>T walked into the dining hall, and immediately saw Renix stand and wave to her. Mistress T!


    She smiled and waved, then pointed to the buffetid out,den with breakfast foods. He nodded and sat back down.


    She loaded a tter high, downed one mug of coffee and got her allowed refill, and walked over to join Renix and Trent. Wheres Mistress Atrexia? <em>It would be wonderful to get back on the road, back to coffee.</em>


    Shes taken on another assignment.


    T frowned. Id thought she was contracted for the return trip. <em>Am I remembering right? No, she said she wasnting on the trip back.</em>


    She was pulled away. Trent shrugged. Happens sometimes when someones specialtyes into y. I suspect that was actually one reason she came here, the hope that that would happen. He held up one hand. Before you ask, no, I dont know whats happening, or precisely what her specialty is that got her called off.


    She shrugged. Fair enough. T dug into the food. It was good, just as it had been the previous days, but there was something about it that just wasnt great. It was filling, fairly tasty, and at least somewhat nutritious. <em>Im getting spoiled.</em>


    Trent nced at Renix, but the younger man was eating with gusto. Smiling slightly, Trent nced back at her. The new outfit looks nice.


    T nced down at herself and smiled. Thank you. Should work better on the road as well.


    Trent touched his own side. Wont the leather chafe?


    A bit of a personal question, but no. This isuniquely done. One side effect is that it wont rub or pinch or pull.


    He shook his head. Another benefit from your hand-based expressions. Id never be able to wear something like that. At least a portion would be torn to shreds the first time I cast.


    <em>That actually makes sense, now that I think about it. Most of those who can afford outfits like this, almost universally dont want them.</em> T shrugged. There are some advantages. She smiled slightly and took another bite.


    Renix swallowed, ncing her way. You really do look nice.


    Thank you, Renix. She nced back to Trent. Will you two be alone on the trip back?


    Trent shook his head. No, weve another Mage joining us. He was actually a mageling under Master Grediv, though hes carving his own path now. I think there will be a third too, but Ill know soon enough.


    T waved a sausage on the end of her fork. Whats your deal with Master Grediv? You two seemed to know each other.


    He smiled slightly. Hes been mentoring me on my path towards Archon. He actually wants me to begin attempting a star, soon.


    Renix turned to his master, grinning widely. Master Trent is amazing!


    Trent patted the young man on his shoulder. And you should be a Mage in your own right. He nced to T. Renix doesnt like me to say, but he refuses to buy his own inscriptions and graduate from my tutge. He says he still has too much to learn.


    Renix gave a frustrated look to Trent, then turned to T. And he retaliated by starting with the basics, again and again. He rolled his eyes. I <em>am</em> picking up some new insights from the review, though. He smiled. Thank you, again, for the overview that you gave. Master Trent is right that new perspectives can shed fresh light on old ideas. Especially since the education for each of the four quadrants seems to be so varied.


    T nodded. Happy to have helped. <em>Well, that exins a lot. I was a bit confused why my take was new to him. I wonder how much they didnt teach me because Im an Immaterial Guide?</em>


    They finished eating, exchanging small talk, and discussing the journey ahead. Trent and Renix each offered her their allowed coffee refill, and she thanked them profusely, draining the extra cups with gusto.


    When theyd all finished, they cleared their table and gathered up their things.


    Most of Trent and Renixs belongings were in their wagon, with the caravan, but theyd each brought a bag to the inn.


    Trent nced around for Ts pack, then his eyes fell on the pouch. Right, your Dimensional storage.


    She smiled and patted the bag. Yup! Kits the best.


    Trent frowned. Kit? Younamed it?


    She stopped, feeling suddenly self-conscious. Yeah, well It seemed appropriate. Shes been really helpful.


    He opened his mouth to say something more, but Renix spoke overtop his master. The drivers name their wagons sometimes. I think its nice to appreciate when an item works well for you.


    Trent rolled his eyes. Yeah, yeah. I dont see any inscriptions. Are they internal, or is it an artifact?


    Artifact.


    He nodded. That wont be an issue to keep charged, will it? Along with the extra cargo-slots?


    She shook her head. There were going to be twenty cargo-slots, in two cargo wagons, on the way back. Shouldnt be an issue in the least.


    He shrugged. Never liked artifacts myself, but Master Grediv seems to think theyre fine.


    Why is that?


    Trent hesitated, then shrugged. Always seemed too intelligent. Its probably foolish, but I dont really feel like items should be more than items.


    Cant say I agree, but fair enough. She smiled to negate any implications in her response.


    They walked from the dining hall together, towards the work-yard beside the northern gate. So, who is the new Mage?


    Never met him, myself, but Ive heard good things. Trent smiled. He has to be something special to have been picked as a mageling beneath any Archon, let alone one of Master Gredivs standing.


    But you dont know his quadrant, or anything like that?


    Trent shook his head. All I know is that hes considered very good. He hesitated, then sighed. Hes also considered a little strange.


    T grinned. Im a bit strange, myself. Maybe well get along.


    Trentughed. Maybe you will at that.


    They entered the work-yard, and T broke away from the others and went to the cargo-slots for their final empowerment before departure. True to form, the cargo-slots were now loaded onto two wagons, ten slots each. Den was already working over the front wagon, and he greeted her.


    Mistress T! I trust you had a rxing couple of days?


    Thank you, Den. More productive than rxing, but I like it that way. How about yourself?


    He smiled. It was nice, yes. d to be getting back on the road, though. I miss the wife and kids.


    She nodded. I can understand that. Itll be nice to get home.


    She began empowering the cargo-slots, and Den went back to his work, not wanting to interrupt her. When she finished those in his wagon, a few minutester, he noticed and turned back to her. Do you need the box again? He patted therge wooden container.


    I dont think so, but I might take you up on it,ter. Mind if I ride on the roof again?


    Of course not! Youre wee whenever you like.


    T smiled and gave a slight bow. Thank you. She nced towards the other wagon. I should get those, too.


    You do your work, Mistress. Ive enough of my own to be about. We can chat on the road, if it works out.


    She nodded. Id like that.


    Without further conversation, T walked over to the other cargo wagon, and moved through the empowerment process. She was halfway through the third cargo-slot, when she heard someone yelling, nearby.


    What are you doing? Get away from there!


    She didnt think anything of it and simply finished empowering that cargo-slot, but as she moved to the fourth, someone ced a hand on her shoulder and spun her around.


    I said, What are you doing!?!


    T felt her eyes widen and her face color at the forceful contact, and she looked up at the man, towering over her in chainmail armor and heavy gambeson, noting the armaments hung about him. He had a Master Sergeants badge on each arm, and he was furious.


    And, in truth, so was she.

 Chapter 48: Potential Conflict

    Chapter 48: Potential Conflict


    T stared up at the Master Sergeant as he loomed over her, irritation clear in his bearing as well as his tone. Are you daft, girl!? These are magical and highly sensitive. You could kill us all by messing with them.


    T cocked one eyebrow. <em>Careful now, T. No need to be rash.</em> I am well aware, Master Sergeant. I am left baffled as to why you thought it wise to interrupt me. She saw Trent near the far side of the work-yard, eyes wide, jogging their direction, but he was still quite a ways away.


    Youre aware? If you know, you shouldnt be touching them, girl. Of course, Im going to stop you from disturbing these infernal things! What if the dimensional Mage had seen you touching her stuff? Ive heard this one is crazy, child. Dont go ying with things you dont understand.


    T was now quite confused, and that dampened her fury, if only slightly. She knew that the inscribings on her face and hands had to be visible to this man, and if hed been watching her at all, he would have seen her empower Dens wagon full of cargo-slots, as well as the three now charged on this wagon. What do you think is happening, here, Sergeant?


    The mans face lost the little bit of the outward concern it had shown, and his voice hardened. I think a child is poking her nose somewhere its going to be cut off.


    T closed her eyes and took a deep breath, attempting to calm herself. <em>Breath T. Dontsh out at the frustrating man.</em>


    Dont get huffy with me, girly. I dont care if you are rich enough for inscribed enhancements. Youre not allowed to mess with my caravan.


    Her eyes snapped open, and she felt the rage boiling inside herself threaten to break free. <em>T. Calm down. Hes made assumptions and is acting the fool. Dont prove his assessment of your maturity correct.</em> She took another deep breath, grateful that he hadnt kept a hold of her. Sir, you have grossly misinterpreted the situation. I-


    Dont you talk down to me, you little spit of g. You shut your mouth this instant, or Ill throw you and your family from the roster. I wont have a stuck-up brat as a passenger in my caravan.


    She opened her mouth, again, but he thrust his finger towards her with such violent intent that she took a step back.


    Thats what I thought. Now, get to the passenger wagons!


    T had had enough. She closed her mouth and began lifting her right hand. <em>Yeah, rust restraint. </em>In that moment, Trent arrived. Master Sergeant Furgel, what seems to be the problem?


    The Sergeants entire demeanor shifted. No problem, Master Trent, sir. I was just dealing with a wayward child.


    T could practically feel the heat of her own fury, irritation, and embarrassment rolling off of her in waves, but Trent gave her a small shake of his head.


    Master Sergeant, there seems to be a misunderstanding. Trent cleared his throat, obviously feeling a bit awkward, or at least projecting such to ease tensions. This is <em>Mage</em> T. She is the dimensional expert contracted for this caravan.


    Furgel looked to the cargo wagons, seeming to notice for the first time that most of the cargo-slots were charged. He then looked at T, then back to Trent. Im confused. This is a child. She cant be more than twenty.


    T closed her eyes again, and carefully counted to ten, while Trent cleared his throat, and continued. Ummm No. This is Mage T. I assure you. I was in the caravan with her on the trip here, and she performed this same duty for that venture.


    T opened her eyes and met Furgels stare. She was able to see the dawning horror in those eyes, even as they flicked to her half-raised hand.


    He swallowed involuntarily, then looked back to Master Trent, if only briefly.


    IIm sorry for the misunderstanding, Mistress. Ill be about my work to get us on the road. Without a backward nce, he scurried away.


    T took several more, deep breaths, noticing that there were many, many eyes on her and Master Trent.


    Trent, for his part, seemed one part horrified, and the other part was fighting to keep fromughing.


    T saw the fight and felt something within her break. She barked augh, her anger gone in an instant as she turned back to the cargo-slots, beginning the empowering of the fourth on this wagon.


    Trent took herughter as a cue and burst out himself. After a moment, he was shaking his head. You were about to kill him.


    She didnt take her eyes off her work. I seriously considered it.


    Im d you didnt. The paperwork for a justified killing around these parts is a <em>pain.</em>


    T flicked her gaze his way for a brief moment. <em>Justified killing? </em>Oh?


    Yeah, it takes testimonies and truth detection and all sorts of bureaucratic nonsense. He hesitated, then rified. Im not saying it would have been justified, by the way.


    She huffed augh, again. Yeahsure. I know that. I wouldnt have actually killed himprobably. <em>No wonder people are so hesitant around Mages. </em>After a moments thought, she nodded to herself. <em>Yeah, I have noints about them not exining that at the Academy.</em>


    Trent patted her shoulder. He did have a good guess on your age, though.


    Youre kind of a jerk, too. She gave him a fake re.


    Trentughed, again. Ill leave you to it.


    She grunted, then as Trent turned to walk away, she let out a breath. Thank you, Master Trent. That was kind of you to intervene.


    He didnt stop but spoke over his shoulder. Always happy to help, if I can. I expect to hear how you used that map, by the way. I heard some interesting rumors from the eastern gate, and Id love to test the truth of them.


    T grunted. <em>Great.</em> Maybe, tonight. She finished empowering the remaining seven cargo-slots and walked over to climb up on Dens wagon.


    She saw Furgel casting furtive nces her way and decided not to judge the man too harshly. Hed been a bit of a jerk, but hed been well intentioned. <em>And you were going to what? Restrain him? </em>Yeah, thats what she had been nning. Just restraining.


    She began thinking about their journey and the city defenses they were leaving behind and had a thought. <em>If Im actually going to be engaging with Terry, Ill need a way to get him into Bandfast. </em>She needed a cor for an arcane pet. <em>Well, rust.</em> Den?


    Mistress?


    How soon do we leave?


    Less than an hour, why?


    T thought for a long moment, then nodded. Ill be right back. She took off, not quite jogging, but nearly, heading for Artias shop.


    Less than half an hourter, she was back at Dens wagon and very frustrated. Apparently, somehow, all the ready-to-hand cors had been purchased. Artia only knew that, because a buyer had contacted her as theirst check, and shed sold the only two she had to the messenger.


    On the bright side, apparently the messenger had implied that the buyer was leaving this morning, so in all likelihood, he was in her caravan. <em>Ill have to hunt him downor try. Maybe, Trent knows something?</em> It was a topic forter.


    Now that she was back, and clearly in an irritated mood, Den asked after her even as she climbed up. Ill be fine. Lets just get on the road. Yeah? After a moment, she sighed. But thank you for asking.


    Of course, Mistress. He smiled. Were just about ready.


    Let me know before we go. Im going toy down for a bit to clear my head. She pulled out her wide-brimmed hat and ced it over her face as shey down on the roof to do just that.


    Amotion drew T out of her rest almost as soon as shedid down. <em>What under heaven?</em> She sat up and looked over to see a man had set up at table on the far side of the work-yard. He was calling out. Change your copper, change your silver, change your gold! Dont leave without making a profit on your metals.


    <em>Right!</em> T hadpletely forgotten that. <em>Come on, T. That would have been colossally foolish.</em>


    She rolled, vaulting off the side of the wagon and dropping tond in a crouch. She felt the ending-berry power within her dwindle a fractional amount. <em>Huh. Id have broken a legor something.</em> She stood and walked over to the man. Thankfully, it didnt look like anyone had seen hernd.


    She pushed her hat into Kit and snagged her coin purse. She wasnt the first in line, but those before her moved quickly. When she came to the front, she handed over every coin she had.


    Total worth is five gold, seventy-five silver.


    The man opened the pouch and quickly counted it before nodding. Seven gold, eighteen silver, and seventy-five copper. eptable?


    T nodded. Shed done the math while waiting in line. Agreed.


    She pricked her finger to confirm, and the amount was added to her ount. <em>Maybe, I should juste straight back, with all the coinage I can find</em> Probably wouldnt be a time effective way to make money, though. At least, it wouldnt be until she had enough money that such things werent effective uses of her time. <em>Probably why the rate stays so high. If everyone was able to easily bring their coinage, the percentage would drop dramatically.</em>


    She walked away, feeling happy. <em>Easiest money Ive ever made.</em> No obligation, no work, just a short walk.


    As she was moving back towards the cargo wagon, she heard a group arrive behind her and turned to look.


    Grediv was riding a horse, followed by two men. One man was obviously a servant, and the other was just as obviously a Mage.


    T almost gaped. The Mage following Grediv was at least six and a half feet tall, and the poor horse he was riding was clearly straining under the broad load. Given that he <em>was</em> a Mage, it almost went without saying that he wasnt overweight, but he was clearly muscr, and thatbined with this build was enough to irritate the normal-sized horse.


    Grediv saw her and turned her way. Mistress T! He waved.


    <em>Is he growing out his beard?</em> It did look like the Archon had about two days of growth across his face. She pulled on her gloves and returned the gesture, greeting him as he drew near. Master Grediv. Good to see you, again.


    The two Mages swung down off their horses, handed the reins to the servant, and approached T on foot. Mistress T, this is Rane. He will be joining you on this trip. Grediv turned to Rane. Rane, this is Mistress T. Ive told you about her, and you are to treat her with the utmost respect, yes?


    Rane, for his part, seemed embarrassed by themand. What do you expect me to do normally? He stuck out his massive hand towards T.


    T shook the offered hand, noting several oddities about the man. He was likely even taller than shed first thought, and he was easily as broad as the horse hed been riding. He was an Immaterial Creator, and he seemed to specialize in kic energy, or the energy of movement. His power density was almost as high as Trents, though he was closer to Renix in age. He was handsome in an awkward sort of way, even ounting for a faded series of scars that speckled his entire face. T might have mistaken them for pox scars, except that shed seen those before. These looked more like someone who had grown up in a smithy, without practicing proper safety.


    Well, arent you just travel sized. Rane shook her hand gently. You could just fit in my pocket.


    Grediv grabbed his own face with both hands as he turned away in obvious consternation. T looked up at the big man and sighed. <em>I kind of hate you.</em> I wouldnt try it, big guy. One of us is likely to get hurt.


    Rane was smiling, opening his mouth again, when Grediv turned back around. Enough, Rane. That. That was what I was expecting you to do.


    Rane closed his mouth, coloring with embarrassment. ButOh.


    Grediv sighed. Mistress T, I apologize. Please dont judge him by- His eyes flicked to her side, looking at the belt pouch, then they moved over to the knife. He closed his mouth and looked at her from head to toe. Mistress T. Do you remember our conversation about taking care with certainitems? I believe the <em>soul</em> of the matter was that youd wait a while. Yes?


    T quirked a smile. It just sort of happened.


    Thats a lie, Mistress T. You cant- He nced around, then lowered his voice to a volume that even Rane couldnt have easily heard, standing right next to the man. You cant bond something to your soul idently, it requires your permission. What were you thinking?


    She didnt lower her voice. I was thinking that I need to get stronger.


    Grediv opened his mouth, then closed it. Then, he scratched his forehead, frowning in irritation. Mistress T, I was going to ask for your assistance with something, but Im not sure I can trust your judgement at the moment.


    T cocked an eyebrow. Oh?


    Grediv nodded. I have a short job outside the city to the north. The caravan will be heading the same way, and it will have to dy until Im done anyways. Im going to clear your path. Are you willing toe along?


    T gave him a t look. Ill pass.


    Both Rane and Grediv turned to her, seeming incredulous. Grediv was the one who spoke. Why?


    Because that sounds likely to get me killed. I like you well enough; youve been kind to me; but something they send an Archon to deal with? Pass.


    You shouldnt be in real danger. He nced at her. Certainly not with that power still in your system. I need a distraction so I can perform the proper invocations.


    <em>And I didnt even feel his mage-sight pushing against the iron salve this timeDid he just see it through my palms or eyes? </em>So, you need someone for a magical beast to y target practice with. Do you realize how unappealing that sounds? <em>Hey! Im getting smarter every day.</em>


    Its not target practice. The mountain cyclops uses a club, not anything ranged.


    T was bbergasted. You want me to fight a mountain cyclops. Are you out of your mind? Shed had to fight to keep from raising her voice. If it was anything less than an adult, you wouldnt ask for an assist. An adult could pulp that ox with a casual kick. She pointed at one of the oxen hooked to a wagon.<em> I think I have that right</em> She didnt have <em>that</em> extensive a knowledge base to draw on. <em>Another thing a master would have corrected, I suppose</em> How am I supposed to distract it?


    Grediv shrugged. Seems like a good idea to get you some field experience.


    She gave him a deeply skeptical look. Youre insane. No.


    Ill pay you eight gold ounces.


    T hesitated. <em>Thats a lot, T. You got barely more than that, after you took out a thunder bull This cant be as dangerous as that, can it?</em> Ten, right now. She held up a finger. And you best have the means to get rid of that thing, because if you get me killed, I will find a way toe back and haunt you, Archon Grediv.


    Grediv grinned. Ten, then. He pulled out a tablet, holding it out to her.


    T looked down and saw that it was already set up to transfer ten gold ounces to her ount from his. <em>Well, rust. I was yed.</em>


    * * *


    T and Grediv were walking at a brisk pace, north of the city, heading almost directly back towards the pass.


    Is the caravan really going to go back through the pass?


    Its dangerous, because it can be anticipated, but the drop in magical density is so much faster that it makes the trip, overall, much safer than if they went around the mountains to the west. The next caravan will have to use that route, though.


    T grunted.


    He nced her way, then back towards the wall already fading into the distance behind them. You know, bonding an item is serious business.


    Thats why Ive only done the one.


    He shook his head. Youve only used an Archon star on one. Youve only bound your soul to one, but all four of those items are bound to you.


    Four?


    Pants, tunic, pouch, and knife. The knife has the strongest connection to you, by far, but the other three are tilted towards your magic, and away from anything else.


    Why are bonds dangerous?


    Because they influence both parties.


    T almost stopped walking at that. <em>The cargo-slotsIm bound to twenty of them What does that even mean?</em>


    True, you have more of a sense of self, so you wont be pulled as far from your original as they will, but you will still be altered. It will be in little ways. You likely wont even notice them.


    T grunted. Nebulous danger weighed against tangible gain. I know which wins out in my books. It cant be too dangerous, else we couldnt use cargo wagons and such.


    Fair point, but you should still be careful. There seemed to be something he wasnt saying. Knowing him, it was something he couldnt say. He didnt seem like one to hold back.


    Ill keep that in mind.


    There was another long pause as they trudged up the road at a fast walk. Finally, Grediv broke the silence again. Why the knife?


    Hmm?


    Why use the Archon star on the knife?


    T shrugged. It felt right. When I was looking through artifacts, the knife seemed to call to me, like it belonged with me, and I saw where I could insert the Archon star on it, first. She shrugged again. As I said, just felt right.


    He regarded her as they walked, before finally sighing. Well, whats done is done. You dont need to put any more stars into the knife, by the way.


    She looked at him. Oh?


    I imagine youve thought of doing it. It wouldnt change anything, given the nature of your stars. For others, they couldnt even attempt it. The star established your bond, you just need power to strengthen it. Even with that, you can only go so far as you are, but thats approaching knowledge you arent ready for.


    T grunted. So, just feed it power? What about calling it?


    He frowned, and she briefly exined about her soul exercises. Her exnation left him shaking his head. You are going to kill yourself, Mistress T.


    She swallowed. So


    Oh, youre fine, but I would have bet good money that youd tear your soul in half without it doing a thing. He grunted. I suppose youve some strength to you. Heughed. No surprise there, I guess.


    So?


    You can continue those exercises. Shouldnt hurt you the way youre doing it.


    She let out a relieved breath. Good to hear.


    With enough power, the knife will grow and develop. Eventually, it will be ready to change, bing more of what you need, when you need it.


    What does that even mean?


    He shrugged. Its different for every item and for every Mage. Youll have to wait and see.


    So I shouldnt bond other artifacts? Other items?


    He gave her a t look. If I say No will you listen?


    If you give good reasons.


    He groaned. You really should strengthen your soul more, before you spread it out to multiple bondsCan you at least give it a month, before you bond anything else?


    Id do better with a strength requirement, rather than an arbitrary timeline.


    He regarded her, then let out a smallugh. Fair enough. When you can do that exercise with your knife a dozen times without feeling strained, Id bet youre ready for another bond.


    A dozen? I can wait for that.


    Somehow, I doubt you will, but we can hope, right?


    T grinned. d to set proper expectations.


    You know, it would be better if you made a real Archon star and were elevated first.


    Ill consider it.


    They crested a rise, and T stopped, looking down at whaty in the valley, below.


    A giant, at least thirty feet tall, stood in the center of the wide, long valleyid out before them. It was wider in proportions than a man and the eye in the center of its forehead was an obvious indicator of its nature. A club almost as long as the humanoid was tall was braced on its shoulder as it waited.


    To Ts mage-sight the beastly humanoid radiated power like the sun. To her surprise, aside from being able to see the nature of the various aspects of magic within the creature, there seemed to be an underlying hue to the power. Why does it have a strange color to the magic?


    Grediv looked at her in surprise. Those are impressive inscriptions. That is an easy way to identify power level. I, myself, dont see it as a color, but from what others have told me, who have simr spell-forms, it follows the standard rainbow scale in that manner of seeing it.


    Its orange.


    Yup, it is more powerful than some, but still near the bottom of the scale.


    Why have I never seen this before? <em>Or, wait Is that what I saw around Holly? Master Himmal? And the Midnight fox?</em>


    Because below red is infra-red, and Id bet that nearly everyone and everything youve beheld was in that range, or kept you from seeing, entirely.


    That was an interesting prospect. So, this is more magically powerful than anything Ive ever seen? <em>Yeah, the midnight fox had a red aura to it.</em>


    Most likely.


    T sighed. I asked for too little, didnt I

 Chapter 49: Cyclops and Conversation

    Chapter 49: Cyclops and Conversation


    T nced towards Grediv as he pulled something out of a dimensional storage, which she couldnt see. She looked closer, curious about what weapon he would choose over his magics in theing fight.


    It was a staff of what appeared to be pure sapphire, and it radiated something which blocked her mage-sight as effectively as Grediv himself did. <em>Soul-bound?</em>


    You are a sapphire Archon?


    Heughed. By that titling, yes. I still find it easiest to make Archon stars in that gem, though I dont have much need to do so, anymore.


    That brought up so, so many questions, but now was hardly the time.


    So what are you going to do, and what do you need from me?


    I am going to pull together an act of obliteration, but that creature will recognize the danger of my working and seek to stop me. I dont wish the time or coteral damage that that fight would bring, so I need you to engage the cyclops, and then, I will begin.


    How long will you need?


    Thirty seconds?


    She frowned. It couldnt cover this distance that fast. She gestured to the cyclops, easily a quarter mile away.


    Youd be surprised what a fused is capable of.


    Fused?


    Orange, by your mage-sights scale. Its body and soul are fused, magically.


    T frowned. What would you be?


    He smiled, slightly. I stopped climbing thedder long ago. If I were to loosen my control, you would see me as green. Most know my ranking as: Paragon.


    She hesitated. <em>Wasnt that the level of beast that obliterated the inter-city road? </em>I dont know what that means.


    He shrugged. You dont really need to know, not yet. He turned to regard the cyclops, still waiting for them. So? Are you ready?


    T let out a breath, examined her ending-berry power reserves, and nodded. As ready as Im likely to be, today.


    Gredivughed. Excellent.


    T started forward, limbering her arms as she walked.


    He called out to her, even as she continued to walk. Dont use yourbat magic on him. It would take more power than you possess to harm him, or even properly restrain him. Leave that to me.


    She didnt understand how that was possible, but decided he probably knew best. She waved, without looking back. Sure thing. <em>Im still trying, if I need to.</em>


    She covered the distance to the cyclops at a steady pace, the monster regarding her calmly.


    Its eye looked from her, to Grediv up on the hill, then back to her. A voice issued forth from the beast, its mouth moving awkwardly. It sends a snack before my main meal? How considerate.


    T didnt slow, but she felt suddenly a bit more uncertain. <em>Great, its intelligent</em>


    She closed the distance, moving to a jog for thest hundred feet. As she entered into the area of its orange aura, she felt an oppressive weight, not on her body, that was moving just fine, but on the magic of her being. It was as if the power used to keep her body functional was being pulled, her ownership of it being contested. <em>Even through the iron? No.</em> She could feel the foreign influenceing through her palms and eyes, straining against the defenses she had, there.


    She hated it. She had no idea what would happen if her defenses failed or if she lost that internal contest, but she wasnt going to find out. She mped down on her internal power, refusing to let it <em>shift</em> into anothers control, and that seemed to bolster her defense.


    The cyclops shook its great head in what seemed to be mild irritation, lifting its club off of its shoulder.


    She was almost in range of the brutes club, so she pulled her knife and flung it at the creatures eye.


    The cyclops, for its part, seemed so bemused that it didnt even dodge. Ts aim was true, and the de struck the massive eye point first. <em>Ha! First try! </em>Maybe she didnt need as much practice as shed thought she would?


    Behind her, T felt Grediv begin building towards his working.


    The knife fell away as the cyclops swiped at its face, acting like it had an itch.


    T called the knife back to her, catching it as she stared up at the massive humanoid. <em>Oh well, thats-</em>


    She saw the club twitch, then blur; then, <em>pain</em> blossomed across her entire right side.


    She was airborne, and unable to get her bearings. The instant of flight lengthened as she examined herself. More than half the remaining power from the ending-berries had been drained away in that instant. Her clothing had been obliterated at the point of impact, leaving her right shoulder, upper arm, and hip suddenly bare.


    The berries power had done their work, however, and she was intact.


    She then hit the ground, skipping across the bolder-strewnndscape like a rock across still water. She was thrown into a spin that, again, disoriented her.


    As she rolled to a stop, she felt thest of the ending-berries power as it was expended. Her clothes were ragged, but already, the leather was regrowing over the holes, and even the scuffed portions were rapidly returning to an undamaged state, boning reformed in the appropriate ces. <em>Ha! Thats fantastic.</em>


    It was a bright spot in an otherwise disastrous moment.


    As she pushed herself up, she retched, spilling the remains of her breakfast across the ground. Though, she couldnt have said if it was from dizziness or something more dire.


    Large impacts were approaching quickly. She looked up to see the cyclops already before her, club raised, ready to bring down.


    She moved on instinct, lunging to the side before he moved. Even so, it was almost too slow.


    Impossibly, the club traveled in its massive arc faster than she could move a half dozen feet. Thankfully, the club was only four feet wide.


    The ground exploded beside T, even as she moved away, stone shards peppering her from head to toe, activating the defensive scripts across the majority of her skin on that side. Her clothing had a host of new holes, which immediate began to pull closed.


    <em>How long has it been?</em> Archon! T yelled, putting all the volume she could into it, trying to keep the desperation at bay.


    The cyclops definitely heard her, because it paused, eye going wide. Spinning, it turned back towards where Grediv was raising his staff, a smile painted across the Archons features.


    Despite her horrifying position, T found herself frozen in awe. In front of the tip of his staff was the mostplex working of magic shed ever seen. It put the city defenses to shame, and she couldnt begin to understand it. True to what hed said, the underlying hue behind the working was a deep, vibrant green, not a hint of blue in evidence.


    His spell-lines were zing with light, but she still couldnt see magicing from them. His control was as awe inspiring as his power.


    The cyclops roared and moved to hurtle his club at Grediv.


    <em>And you said it had no ranged attack.</em>


    Grediv closed his hand, and the light shot forward, faster than a blink, striking the cyclops in the center of its chest.


    The cyclops ceased to exist.


    The massive humanoid: club, clothes, everything was simply gone, along with the working. A resounding silence fell over the Wilds around them, and T pushed herself to her feet, pulling out a rag to wipe her mouth.


    Somehow, the utter silence was more terrifying than an explosion would have been.


    She tossed aside the small strip of cloth, which had once been a part of one of her pairs of pants if she wasnt mistaken. Her water incorporator was retrieved, and she used a pulse of power to shoot a bit of water into her open mouth.


    She underestimated the amount, and the force, that would be produced and almost puked again, as she began hacking and gagging. <em>Nicely done, T.</em>


    She aimed for the inside of her cheek, instead of straight down her throat, and used a bit less power. Arge mouthful of water blossomed into being, and she swished and spit. <em>Better.</em>


    That done, she began walking back towards Grediv.


    She reached her senses into her clothing, even as it fully returned to form. She could tell it was strained. <em>Im amazed it remade itself that quickly, twice in a row.</em> She moved the incorporator to her left hand and ced her right palm on her side, beginning to funnel power into the tunic in a steady stream. When she felt like she was pressing up against the leathers capacity, she moved to the pants, shifting her hand to her hip, under the tunic.


    She finished topping off the clothings reserves just as she reached easy speaking range of Grediv. You didnt pay me enough.


    He snorted. No, I didnt. He smiled. But you should never pay someone more than you have to, right?


    She gave him a t look.


    Heughed. Fine, fine. Ill think of some way to repay you. Come on. The caravan will have left already. Theyre heading this way. We can meet them back towards the city.


    T sighed. Why dont we just wait here?


    He thought for a moment, then shrugged. Fine by me. We can wait at least a little while. He pulled a folding chair seemingly out of nowhere and sat.


    T looked at him, then the chair, then back at him.


    What? I dont carry extra chairs.


    She sighed, again, and sat on a nearby rock.


    There was a prolonged silence, in which Grediv pulled out some sort of sandwich and began to eat.


    You know, you almost got me killed.


    He shrugged, speaking around a bit of food. You should have dodged better. He swallowed. You did well enough, though. You served as a nice distraction. Im d that immortal elk leather regenerates so quickly, or you would have a real wardrobe problem, given how you fight.


    She red. You promised Id be fine. <em>Wait, immortal elk leather? Does he know the material on sight?</em>


    And you are.


    She opened her mouth to continue, but he held up his hand. Listen, Mistress T. You are going down a dangerous road. If you cant survive a little danger at this point, you are going to meet an unpleasant end. He leaned back, taking another bite. If this is too much for you. He swallowed. You should quit now. Do caravan routes, get married, settle down, have happy babies, live your life.


    Are you saying I cant do that if I continue to pursue growing stronger?


    Itll be harder. He gestured towards where the cyclops had been. That will not be the strongest creature you have to fight. Not by a foot or a mile.


    But Ill get stronger, right? Ill be able to face something like that easily?


    Eventually, yeah. He shrugged. Or youll die. Those are the only results of the road youre on right now: death or improvement. As I said, if thats too much, choose another road.


    You arent improving any more. You said so.


    He took another bite, continuing to speak around the food. I left that road behind. The next steps would have beeneven more unpleasant than those previous, and Im happy with my life. As long as nothing insanees in the next couple decades, Ill keep it. He frowned. Though, a fused this early in the waning He shook his head. Itll be fine.


    T didnt know how to process all the implications of what he was saying. What color would I show?


    He snorted. Youre barely more than non-magical, though your power density is impressive. You wouldnt register to your mage-sights scale in that sense. As I said, you havent really begun, yet.


    T was nodding. So, an Archon would be red?


    A newly raised, full Archon would be red, yes.


    She frowned, again. What changed? Why are you willing to tell me so much more, today?


    He gestured. You fought a fused. He shrugged. Rules are morex for those who have faced greater powers.


    She blinked at him. Thats why you invited me


    He smiled. That, and the power in you meant you were probably pretty safe. He shrugged. If youd died, Idve had arge penalty from the Caravan Guild, and Id have known you werent what I thought.


    And what did you think I was?


    Worth my time.


    The supreme arrogance of the statement was held in contrast with the mans obvious power. I think thank you?


    Youre wee. Seems youre worth my time, so thank you for not wasting it. Id have been cross if you died.


    Soworth your time for what?


    Youll likely make something of yourself someday. Youre worth the effort to help, because well likely know each other for a <em>very</em> long time.


    Sortional capital?


    Something like that.


    T snorted. Not a great way to get it.


    Oh? Do you feel particrly angry at me?


    She opened her mouth to say yes, then stopped, realizing that it wasnt true. Im a bit irritated, but not really angry. She narrowed her eyes. Though, I should be.


    He nodded, grinning. Irritation will pass, and the lessons you gained, today, will help you for a long time. Every time they do, the irritation will diminish, until one day, youll just be grateful. He smiled. Its only up from there.


    She grunted. Fine, then. Weve a bit of time. Tell me more about soul-bonds, and bonds in general. Can I use an Archon star only on artifacts?


    You can use them on things other than artifacts, but the results will be mixed.


    Ok What about standard magical items?


    Dont, dont do that. You dont want to bind your soul to something so temporary. You would <em>not</em> like what happened when its spell-lines ran dry. If its your vesselwell, we cant discuss that, now. He made a disgusted sound.


    She frowned. Couldnt I just have it re-inscribed and give it more power?


    He shook his head,ughing. Oh, rust no.


    But, I get inscribed, why is it She connected a few things, nodding slowly. My body is inscribed, not my soul.


    He pointed at her, clicking his tongue in acknowledgement. Got it in one.


    She nced at her knife. So, this is a part of my soul, now? That was a bit of a horrifying thought.


    He shrugged. Yes and no. Your soul has be invested in it. The weapon can be broken without killing you, or permanently harming your soul, but not easily, and you wouldnt be the same after. He thought for a moment. It might actually shatter your gate, if youre particrly unlucky.


    Because my gate is a part of my soul.


    He gave her a funny look. Child, your gate <em>is</em> your soul.


    She frowned. But, what about people without gates?


    Malformed souls, for a- He cut himself off, sighed, and shrugged. Dont mistake me, most are still perfectly fine people, but its like being born with a crippled or malformed body. The body is still there; they are still people; it just doesnt work normally.


    She nodded, though she still didnt particrly like the implications. She was getting off topic, however. What about Harvests, like these clothes, can I bind them?


    You can. It would likely have some fun side-effects, too. He grinned.


    Like?


    He shrugged. Nothing harmful. I think thats a lesson you should learn for yourself. Its not like Id actually be able to dissuade you from trying.


    She narrowed her eyes at him. <em>That actually makes me not want to do it. Hes manipting me, still.</em> Is the bonding process the same?


    Close enough. Youll figure it out, or you wont. He smiled.


    Not really helpful but fine. What about people, or arcanous or magical animals?


    Dont. Dont <em>ever</em> put an Archon star into another person. He sat up straighter, hisst bit of sandwich vanishing.


    Why not?


    Because a human body can only have one soul.


    So, what does- Her eyes widened. Id be kicking them out?


    Youd be starting a fight, yeah. Human souls are surprisingly ferocious in defending their home turf, though. As you are, now? Youd lose, and your soul would be damaged for that. Even if you greatly out-powered the subject of the attempt, youd be forever changed. Dont do it. He leaned forward, locking gazes with her. I cannot stress this enough, Mistress T. If you even attempt this, any Archon that sees you will know, and the first one will strike you down without a seconds hesitation. Trying to enve another in that way is one of the most heinous things any Mage can do. Grediv leaned back. Dont do it to a dead body, either. Souls arent meant to be connected to the dead and forcing it is necromantic g.


    She swallowed. Ok, then I wont Is it the same with arcanous or magical entities?


    No. Animals dont have souls in the same way humans do. He seemed to be rxed, again.


    She gave him a skeptical look.


    Heughed. They have <em>something</em> spiritual, dont mistake me, but it isnt anything like a human soul. Id rmend against it, though. He sighed. Many of my peers disagree with me, however. A lot of them take on familiars.


    She frowned. Like in the childrens stories? Wizards, high towers, witches, and ck cats?


    Something like that. The entity or animal gains far more than the Mage. Usually, their minds are opened, and they can truly move beyond instinct. The most intelligent animals or entities gain more. Their natural abilities increase, their lives are extended, and they gain ess to your gate. He gave her a meaningful look. And <em>that</em> is the downside. They are bound to you, they can pull power through your soul, and you dont control them.


    Ts eyes widened.


    Good, you understand. Some of the most evil things Ive had to fight were beings who tricked their way into being familiars, then rendered their Mage little more than a power source. If you dont care about the long-term consequences to your soul, and if you can endure unimaginable pain, there are easy ways to be more powerful. Now, if you can put those consequences and pain on another? He shrugged. Its not great.


    Yeah Im getting that.


    You dont actually need Archon stars to make a soul-bond, but it is the safest, most reliable way. He gave her a look. At your level, youd kill yourself. After a breath, he spoke again. Let me be utterly clear: Not you might kill yourself. Not I dont think youre up for it. You would die. Full stop. If you are going to bond anything, which I highly rmend against as weve already discussed, use a star. There are no downsides, especially with how easily you can create them.


    She hesitated, then nodded. Fair enough. She shifted, getting a bit morefortable on her rock. <em>I should find afortable folding chair to keep in Kit.</em> What benefit is there from feeding power to a bonded item?


    Good question. Aside from keeping it functional in the case of magic-bound items, it gives the item power to be <em>more</em>.


    More?


    More of itself. He shrugged. All items have limits, so you cant expect eternal growth, though soul-bound items will be able to grow more as you progress.


    Because as my soul grows in power, the things its bound to can as well?


    Precisely.


    So why dont you have an arsenal? You could have a host of powerful items to aid you. Sheughed. You could probably organize it, so you dont even need inscribings anymore, except maybe your keystone.


    He quirked a smile but shook his head slightly. Some people do <em>try</em> that, but Id rmend against that path, unless youre nning on staying in cities your whole life. cing all your power into external objects <em>radically</em> stunts your growth and power. It might even stop itpletely. Theres also the fact that as you and your bound items grow in power, they need more power at an ever-increasing rate. The epted number is eight. Virtually every Archon worth their power will rmend that you have less than eight soul-bonds of any kind. He hesitated, then sighed, adding. Your clothes, as I imagine youre considering them, can be bound as a single item. I <em>strongly</em> rmend that you figure out how, before attempting to bond either. Youll be very happy, in the long run, that you took that extra time.


    She grunted. Seems fair. Thank you for the advice.


    He stood, folding the chair and tucking it awaysomewhere. Were getting close to things that I really should leave, until you attain Archon. Work hard, and our next conversation can cover more. He smiled. Come on, lets get you to the caravan.


    She almost argued but thought better of it. Very well. Thank you.


    My pleasure.

 Chapter 50: Back on the Road

    Chapter 50: Back on the Road


    T and Grediv walked back south, down the slope and towards the city. An amiable silence fell between them as they walked, and T found herself going over what hed said, taking notes on the soul-bond, as well as implications of other bonds, which hed mentioned.


    Grediv asionally nced over at her, as they walked, but didnt interrupt her work.


    Finally, when shed paused for a long moment, he cleared his throat. You have another question?


    She started briefly,ing back from far-flung thoughts. Hmm? Oh, yes. If I soul-bond with multiple items, wont they, in some senses, be bound to each other?


    He grinned widely. Very good. Yes. The nature of our bound items will not only affect you, but each other as well.


    What does that mean?


    Thebinations are too numerous to have any meaningful research done, but amon urrence is the binding both of a weapon and a dimensional storage item.


    And that does?


    He gave her a t look. Come now, Mistress T.


    She rolled her eyes. Let me guess, then: The storage can defend itself?


    He barked augh. Well, in some cases yes, but not really, and never very effectively even when it does ur. Some will hurt anything that tries to damage them, but that is usually the extent of it. No, the mostmon result is a weapon that can be summoned directly into your hand and dismissed just as easily.


    And it would go into the dimensional storage?


    Sometimes. Other times, it seems to create its own storage, bound to the wielders hand, which can only hold the weapon, itself.


    She frowned. Thats handy?


    He groaned. No. Bad pun, Mistress T.


    She quirked a smile. Fine, fine. But I can basically do that now?


    Oh? You think its the same?


    She hesitated. Well, obviously not the same She thought about it. I suppose there are different applications.


    He shrugged. It doesnt always happen, in any case.


    So, what aboutbining items? You implied that I could bind my tunic and pants as one item.


    Those are two different things, and I said youd have to figure out thetter on your own. He seemed to consider for a moment, then shrugged. Artifacts, bound or not, can be coaxed intobining, with mixed results. If one of the items is bound, the oue is more likely to be beneficial, more so for soul-bound than just magic-bound, but Ive seen some horrible itemse from the process. Dont forget, its bound to you, so even if its a dud in some way, youre stuck with it. After a moment, he added. Well, unless youre willing to break off that part of your soul, but the folly of that should be obvious.


    What if theyre both bound to you?


    Then, you cantbine them. For items to bebined, they must bepatible and not overly independent. Two bound items are each too set in their identity, as part of you, to bebined. Two unbound items will fight it out, as it were, and the winning item sets most of the parameters of thebination.


    You make it sound like a negotiation.


    In some ways it is. He nced over, noticing her writing down bits of their conversation as they spoke. He shook his head, smiling. Artifacts arent sapient, but they do have instincts of a sort. Their nature dictates how they act, and that nature fights to be supreme. He scratched his head. Again, Im not a great teacher, but I think you can understand.


    She was nodding. So, if one item is bound, it has the upper hand in the negotiations.


    Thats right, but be aware, if the item beingbined with your bonded one is new, things can go wrong much more often.


    Why?


    Because youre forcing it to join with your soul. If it doesnt know you, if its instincts arent aligned towards seeing you as an ally? Thats just begging for a crack in your soul.


    Which you wont exin to me.


    Which I wont exin to you.


    She sighed. So, onlybine items with a simr purpose, and use any artifacts Im consideringbining for a while before attempting even that.


    Correct.


    I still say that youre treating them like they''re intelligent.


    He shrugged. Then, thats my poor teaching showing through. Harvests are a different conversation, though. And, no, I wont go into that, either. He smiled widely.


    T rolled her eyes, adding a few more notes to her notebook. Your staff looks like sapphire.


    He nodded. Bound items often take on aspects of the Archon star used to bind them.


    They both looked at her knife. Im d it didnt turn to blood


    Grediv snorted augh. That would have been less than ideal. It probably took on some other property than appearance. My staff isnt actually sapphire, that would be too brittle to be useful.


    She grunted. Fair She frowned. So I only get, at maximum, eight items, and one of mine is a knife? That seems wasteful. She nced down. Dont get me wrong, Ill use this thing forever, if I can, but it isnt exactly a great fighting weapon.


    Yeah I was a bit surprised at that. It is actually why I didnt notice it at first. He frowned. Most artifact weapons, almost no matter the form, will shift into a more useful shape when bound. He shrugged, yet again. I suppose it thought you needed a knife more than anything else? Youll have to tell me if youre satisfied with it, in theing years. There is also the fact that you used a drastically underpowered star. No one knows how that could be affecting the results, because it shouldnt be possible.


    Fair enough. She heard something and looked up, seeing Dens wagon cresting a hill close to a mile away. Theres my ride.


    So, it is.


    She turned to him, expectantly.


    What?


    You said youd think of some way to repay me.


    I answered all your questions, didnt I?


    She gave him a t look.


    Grediv chuckled to himself. Fine, fine. He thought for a moment. Master Trent said that you borrowed some of his basic volumes to reference on the trip down. Did you get your own in Alefast?


    T blinked several times. <em>Ohrust it all.</em> No I forgot. She let out an irritated sigh. <em>Thats what happens when you try to do too much, T.</em>


    He shrugged. Then, here. I can get myself another set. He proceeded to pull a pile of books out of nowhere, one after another. T took each and pushed them into her pouch as quickly as possible, but he was already ready with each before she was ready to take it. She lost count, but there were at least two dozen volumes of various thicknesses, clearly a matched set of magical reference books. <em>This is a wayrger set than Trent has.</em>


    When the transfer wasplete, T looked at Grediv critically. Thank you. That was strangely kind of you.


    He shrugged. You could have gotten something simr in town for less than half a gold. Most of the value is in giving it to you a week before youd have a chance to pick up your own, again. He smiled. Im pretty sure I didnt give you anything that you shouldnt have yet, but we did the exchange so quickly that I didnt really have a chance to check. He winked at her. Oh, well.


    T nced at her pouch, then back to him, then back to her pouch. She wanted to dive in and search through the books hed given her immediately but knew that it wasnt the time. As she looked at her pouch, she noticed the vortex of magic being pulled in, as usual. Oh! Is that standard?


    Is what standard?


    She pointed at the pouch. Its pulling in power from the surrounding area.


    Grediv looked intently at the pouch, and once again T felt a bit disconcerted, knowing that he was using magic that she couldnt feel; his current use was so subtle she couldnt feel it either. Huh. Well, yes, but no. It seems like that little bag has developed arger appetite than usual for artifacts at their level. He frowned. Shouldnt be an issue. It likely just means that they have moretent power and will grow with you more easily. He paused, giving her a hard look. Dont bond with the pouch, yet. Remember?


    Sheughed. I remember. Twelve repetitions without exhaustion.


    <em>At least</em>, twelve. Id prefer you got to fifteen or twenty, but you <em>will</em> damage yourself, likely permanently, if you try another bond before twelve. And you <em>should</em> be driving towards a full-powered star, so you can be evaluated as an Archon.


    I already agreed. She meant it, too. I will probably take a shot at Archon before I bond anything else. I understand that is the wiser course. And that was true, as much as she <em>really</em> wanted to bond Kit. <em>Patience, T.</em>


    Fine. Ill leave that matter be, then. As the wagons were not closing the distance fast enough for his liking, Grediv began walking once more.


    T walked beside him in silence but spoke when they were about halfway to the front of the caravan. Master Grediv?


    Hm?


    Thank you.


    He nced her way, not responding for a long moment. Eventually, he nodded. Youre wee, Mistress T. Dont get yourself killed, yeah? I think you will be interesting to watch in theing decades.


    She huffed augh. Ill do my best. Then, she had a thought. Do you have any use for ending-berries?


    Grediv gave her an arch look. My good Mistress, if I had use for them, I would get them.


    She frowned. Why dont you have use for them? Theyre dead useful.


    He sighed. You think so, because their power is nearly identical to your inscribings'' base structure. Theres no interference. Im guessing that isnt a coincidence?


    She shrugged. It is and it isnt. I was inspired to seek out these inscriptions because of stories, which I now suspect originated about people eating these, sonot a coincidence?


    There you are, then.


    So what would happen if you ate one?


    Best case: My body would reject the power, and the berries would pass through me without effect. Worst: there would be a shing of powers, and the ending-berries would seed in subverting some of my bodys natural magical pathways, weakening me for months, or years.


    <em>Thatspretty bad.</em> She frowned. Could something simr happen with arcanous meat?


    He hesitated. After a moment, he shrugged. Probably not? Magic that enhances natural processes can be integrated much more easily. After all, I still have natural muscles, so power that helps muscles work better shouldnt override anything else. I also dont have inscriptions in my muscles, because that could easily lead to magic poisoning, so there isnt really anything for them to interfere with. He hesitated. But I dont know. It really isnt done, but that might be an interesting line of research. He was frowning in consideration. Why? After a moment, he sighed. Thats a foolish question; its you; Master Trent told me of youradventures.


    She cleared her throat, deciding to ignore thestment. Well, with the kills we make, it seems like the meat shouldnt just be left there. She shrugged. We use other parts of the animal.


    Grediv grunted. True enough. After a moment to consider, he shrugged. I do believe that the cooks sometimes supplement their supplies with arcanous meat. From what little I know, they seem to be wise about what they select, at least Ive never heard of a magic-poisoning incident because of the food, so it doesnt bearment or interference. Id rmend talking to them if youre truly interested in this line of research. He clicked his tongue. Maybe I should, as well. It has merit After a long moment, he shook his head. No. Ive too much in process already. Maybe, in a decade or two. He gave her a half smile. Ill be sure to remember your curiosity, should I ever choose to take up that research.


    Uh, thank you. She smiled in return. <em>That makes quite a bit of sense. I suppose the cooks never give healing harvests to Mages, because they get priority treatment from the Mage Healer of the caravan.</em>


    Den hailed them happily as they walked up beside the wagon, and T swung onto thedder climbing up to sit on the roof. She turned back around to wave goodbye to Master Grediv, but he was already gone.


    She searched up and down the wagon train, but she couldnt see any sign of him. <em>Gone, again.</em> She frowned. <em>Does he go invisible? Or does he move so fast I cant track him?</em> There were likely other possibilities, but it seemed that the realms of magic, about which she knew nothing, were much more expansive than shed ever realized. <em>The more I learn, the more I realize that I dont know</em> It was a daunting prospect.


    She pulled out her wide brimmed hat, and settled it back atop her head, feeling the coolness of shade wash over her. She let out a long, contented sigh. <em>Things are looking up.</em>


    <em></em>How was it getting out of the city, Den?


    The driver turned to her with a smile. No difficulty, Mistress. Its good to have you back with us. His grin shifted, picking up what seemed to be a bit of mischief. It would have been frustrating to wait for another dimensional Mage, if you didnt return.


    T snorted augh, moving to sit beside him. I knew you loved me. She settled in and sighed. Did you have a good stay in Alefast?


    Den shrugged. Ive some cousins in the city, and it was good to see them and their families. He leaned back, turning his eyes back to thendscape ahead. My family has been in the driver business for generations. Were spread out throughout the cities. He chuckled to himself. It''s probably one reason we stay in the business. Its really the only way for us to stay in touch with each other without breaking the bank.


    They chatted for a while about his family and how much the kids had grown since hedst seen them. They discussed quite a few little things, and T kept Den from ever turning the questions about family to her. She felt a pull of sadness but had decided that her own family history shouldnt drag Den down. Im d you got some good time with them.


    Thank you, Mistress. He eyed her, without turning. I noticed earlier: you did some shopping?


    She nced down. A bit, yeah. I was quite tired of She sighed. Wearing rags?


    You mean you were tired of making rags.


    She huffed a softugh. True enough.


    Those do look a bit sturdier. He seemed to hesitate, then continued. I dont really see how theyll fare better, though. You seem to have a knack for destructive encounters.


    Isnt that the truth. She shook her head, smiling slightly. These are a bit special, though, so Im hoping theyll hold up better.


    As you say, Mistress. He seemed <em>very </em>hesitant, but resolute as he continued. If I may be so bold: most Dimensional Mages tend to refrain fromviolence, at least while they have that duty in a caravan.


    She sighed. Too true, Den. I have a habit ofwell, of being a bit reckless.


    People are counting on you, now, Mistress. His tone was not <em>quite</em> paternal.


    I know I truly do, but Im not used to that. She sighed. I will try to be better, this leg of the trip.


    He smiled at her. That would be much appreciated. He nced back at her, returning the conversation to her wardrobe. I assume that little bags your new storage?


    She gave him a critical look. What makes you say that?


    Im not blind. You near filled one of these storage boxes on the way out. He kicked the wooden box beneath his seat with his heel. The way I figure it, you should have more, now, than when we headed the other way, but youve no luggage at all.


    She frowned. <em>I am advertising myself a bit</em> Was it worth obfuscating the truth? Den, could you try something for me?


    He nced her way, then sighed. Just dont get me killed. My wife would be a bit cross with me, if I died.


    <em>I really hope hes joking. Does he really think Id endanger him? </em>Tughed a bit nervously. It shouldnt be dangerous. She pulled off her belt pouch. Can you open this?


    He looked at the pouch, then hooked his reins on an anchor, built into the seat for the purpose. He reached out. His fingers closed on empty air, the bag seeming to have moved just enough that his fingers slid off of it. Den frowned. Thats odd.


    T sat the bag on the bench, and Den very slowly moved his hands from both sides. She saw the area warp slightly as his hands approached, but he was focused now and was able to get a grip on the little belt pouch.


    Slippery little thing. He nced at her. It doesnt feel slick, now, but it was kinda hard to grab.


    She nodded. <em>Without mage-sight, it makes sense that that is how it would appear.</em>


    He tried to open the bag, but it remained cinched tight. After a moment, he handed it back. I could try cutting the ties, but that seems like it wouldnt be a good idea, and I dont want to hurt your item.


    Thank you. That actually was quite informative. No one else could easily grab or open her pouch. <em>Fantastic.</em> She was sure that a concerted effort on the part of someone who didnt care if they hurt the pouch would probably seed, but whether that would gain them ess, or simply destroy the dimensional storage, she didn''t know. <em>And I hope I never learn.</em>


    Den nodded. Happy to help. You have some reading to do?


    That obvious?


    You do seem to like your books. Go on. Thank you for stopping to talk for a bit.


    Are you sure?


    Im not a driver because I like to be around people all day, Mistress. I enjoy time to myself. He winked. But feel free to stop by for short visits whenever you like. He patted the seat between them. My bench has plenty of space.


    Will do. She grinned, climbing backwards, returning to the wagons roof.


    Standing atop the roof, she looked back on the receding city of Alefast. Shed only been there two days. It had felt like months.


    <em>What do I do, now?</em> Now, she should at least itemize what Grediv had given her. After that, she should probably begin prepping for her full inscriptions. <em>I have a lot of biology to brush up on.</em>


    But that was forter, now was a time for new books. <em>How can I get into Kit, without risking any number of catastrophes?</em> She contemted. She could ask Den to watch it, but she didnt want to impose upon him. She searched her mind, letting her eyes move without really thinking about where they were looking. Eventually, her gaze fell on the swivel ring mounted into the roof of the wagon and moved to inspect the locking mechanisms more closely. There were catches used to lock the huge tower shields into ce. <em>Yeah, that should do.</em>


    She opened the pouch, hooking the cord in two ces on the locking mechanisms on the swivel ring. <em>That should hold it open.</em> Now, to hide it.


    The answer to that was quite simple. As she climbed down in, her hat settled into ce, the brim wider than the hole. She took the chin loop, and lightly secured it to an anchor that was, suspiciously, already in ce. Thank you?


    Theforting feeling that she always felt within the pouch almost seemed to briefly intensify. <em>Or youre imagining things, T. </em>Either was equally likely.


    She climbed the rest of the way down thedder and looked about.


    <em>What do you have for me, today, Kit?</em>

 Chapter 51: Settling in

    Chapter 51: Settling in


    T grinned, as she stood on solid footing, looking around the inside of Kit, her dimensionally enhanced belt-pouch.


    The space was just a <em>bit</em> bigger than before, and something seemed to give her the impression that it was asrge as it could get, for the moment. It was roughly six feet in every dimension, though several things pushed into the walls.


    With her back to thedder, the rack for her kegs and jug was embedded into the wall to her right, along with a shelf for the extra lids, tapping tools, and other misceneous items rting to ending-berries. That wall also had homes for her water skin and other liquid containers.


    To her left, the wall was bristling with tools, including eleven axes, eleven hatchets, and eleven belt knives, each perfectly situated for maximum space efficiency. The fruit-picker was still tucked into its ce, alongside thedder.


    She really did have quite the collection of odds and ends, mostly picked up in Bandfast in preparation for the unknowns of her first mission. <em>Most of this is useless to me, now.</em> Well, that wasnt fair. It wasnt burdening her, and it mighte in handy one day. The artifact hammer was there, too. <em>I really need to study that some more</em>


    Connected to that same wall was a small worksurface, which hadnt been there before. Below it rested the leather which shed taken from the fallen men, in the form of pouches, belts, and packs. <em>Huh, it will be nice to have a ce to work with this stuff.</em> Thank you, again.


    Directly opposite thedder, the wall was divided in two, split top to bottom. The right side held a sort of closet, within the wall, though there was no means of closing it off. Several of her items hung from a short rod, and the rest were folded neatly on various shelves. Her bedroll and apanying items were stored under the lowest shelf, resting on the ground. Thanks, Kit. This looks really nice.


    The pouch did not respond.


    To the left of the closet stood a mostly empty bookcase, set back into the wall. Quite a few of the books glowed with power, but she put that aside, for the moment. She wanted to see what they were, first, then examine whatever magic they contained.


    Along with her five notebooks and Adrills notes on artifacts, a middle shelf held the now heavily annotated Why Organize When You Can Expand?


    The shelf below that held A Mages Guide to Their First Mageling: Basics Every Mageling Should be Taught,'' A Reference for Inscribing Known Materials,'' and On Determining the Means to Empower Unique or New Materials. And beside those three books rested the collection that Grediv had just given her.


    Each volume in the collection had a dark leather cover, almost ck in truth, though the specific color varied on that theme. The lettering iid in the hard covers was not quite silver but was much brighter than steel. <em>What material is that?</em> To her surprise, she realized that the three books Grediv had given her earlier looked to be a part of thisrger set. <em>Was this his n from the beginning? Or does he just like this style, and he gets all his books bound in this manner</em> Either way seemed equally likely.


    The new collection contained the four basic texts, describing the four quadrants. The volume on basic magic item theory was there, as well, but the books continued after those most basic books. There were two sessively thicker tomes on each of the quadrants, as well as magic item theory, clearly the second and third volumes in each series. There were also three books on Bound Magic Items. Though these were much smaller than those on other topics.


    Nine books remained: one set and one individual book.


    The set wasbeled. A Brief Overview of Entities. The eight books were sub-headed: Arcane, Bound, Fused, Refined, Paragon, Reforged, Ascending, and Transcendent. <em>Grediv had called the cyclops a fused.</em> If these were what she assumed, they covered, at least in brief, every known category of magical entity in the world. She shivered as she looked at thest sub-heading. <em>I dont know that I want to mess with anything truly transcendent.</em>


    Her eyes moved to the final, slim volume, which wasbeled simply: Soul Work.


    T gaped at the books. <em>Twenty-seven books.</em> It was a treasure trove of information. Master Trents set only had two volumes on each of the quadrants, and only one on item theory. <em>This isamazing.</em>


    She reached for the book titled Soul Work first. She opened the cover and frowned. She could read the words, but they made no sense. They didnt form coherent sentences, and the longer she stared, the more her head began to ache. As she focused, her mage-sight triggered, and she saw power swirling around the little book. She looked up and again saw it epassing quite a few of the collection. The third volume of each set was empowered, along with all but the first three volumes of A Brief Overview of Entities.


    She pushed through the growing pain and nausea to determine the purpose of the magic, though she thought she already knew.


    <em>They are warded against me, at least until I achieve Archon. Well, theyre warded against anyone below Archon.</em> She knew that with certainty, though she didnt understand either how she knew, exactly, or how the books would determine she met the criteria.


    She growled. <em>Grediv, you evil g, why would you give me something I cant use yet?</em> Was he protecting himself against punishment? Were these really books she shouldnt have, yet? <em>Then, why give them to me?</em>


    Then, she had a thought and grinned. She pulled out her knife and examined it. Her mage-sight could still see her Archon star, embedded into the pommel, though it was quite thoroughly integrated. <em>That should do it.</em> She pushed the pommel against the book in her hands, and the magic shifted.


    <em>Victory!</em>


    A single section became understandable to her, within the book.


    This is a restricted text, bound to those above your current level. Please return when your soul is of sufficient strength to warrant ess to the information within. Thank you.


    Youre a snarky book, arent you


    For good measure, she tested the knife pommel against the other magic bound books, to simr results. The wording varied, but the message was the same. You arent worthy of this information.


    She sighed but felt a smile tugging at her lips. Strengthen my soul, eh? I can work with that.


    T had taken enough time, looking about inside of Kit, so she climbed back out the pouch, unhooking and taking her hat with her. She hadnt been down in the dimensional storage for too long, but it had been enough to cover most of the distance that she and Grediv had walked.


    Den nced back at her. Do you know anything about that?


    They were heading down into the valley where shed been the cyclopss practice dummy. She could see an almost perfectly straight line of sporadic furrows carved into the earth where shed been sent skipping. The end was punctuated with a massive crater from the beasts downward strike. She grunted. Yeah. Cyclops.


    Den let out a low whistle. Those are nasty. Ive only ever seen a valley cyclops at a distance, and it took two Mages and their magelings to bring it down.


    <em>Valley cyclops?</em> It wasnt a pleasant creature.


    Ill bet. Are you sure you want to be a Dimensional Mage?


    T sighed. It makes good money. I promise; Ill try to keep out of trouble on this journey back.


    He nced back at her, shrugged, and didnt press. Guardsman Adam stopped by. He asked me to ry a message.


    Oh?


    Pleasee see me, when you have a free moment.


    Thank you, Den. I didnt mean for you to be my message service.


    Heughed. Not like it took any effort. He gave her a bit of a searching look. Youre about my daughters age. She has the same effect on boys that you seem to. They alwayse calling.


    T blushed deeply, caughtpletely by surprise, trying to formte a response.


    Ill tell you the same thing I told her: It may seem fun to get all the attention, but the love of one man, if hes the right one, is better than the fleeting affection, lust, and passion of thousands.


    She cleared her throat, very much embarrassed. Illuhkeep that in mind. But it isnt like that. Adam is teaching me how to fight


    He cocked an eyebrow at her. Mmhm.


    She cleared her throat again, scratching the back of her neck. Anyways, thank you for the messageand the advice. Ill try to keep it in mind.


    He nodded once, then returned to his duties.


    <em>Well, I suppose I should go find him.</em>


    * * *


    Adam was easy to find, as he was currently riding atop one of the wagons, eyes unceasingly scanning their surroundings.


    Adam! She called to him as she began climbing thedder.


    Mistress T. Good to see you, alive and well. He did, in fact, spare her a nce and a smile.


    She quirked a smile in return. <em>YeahI deserved that.</em> Den said you came looking for me?


    Yes, from what Ive seen, you have progressed well in bnce, breathing, and posture.


    Thank you? What, have you been stalking me or something?


    He snorted augh. Hardly. You are simply moving more easily and seem to be shifting your movements towards that of a fighter.


    So, just staring at me, then.


    He sighed. Do you wish to learn, or do you wish to poke and prod?


    It was a fair question. <em>Densment set me a bit on edge, I guess</em> Learn, of course.


    Good. He was still moving his gaze across the surrounding trees. Core.


    Hmmm?


    The next step is core. I want you to strive to keep your core engaged as much as possible. This means keeping your abdomen tensed, and your body stabilized. This is an extension of all three previous tasks. In addition, we are going to start hand to hand sparring each morning, after your duties areplete and before mine begin.


    Im going to fight you?


    He shrugged, not looking at her. I will be your opponent some of the time, but Ill enlist others as well, where appropriate. He did nce her way, then. Based on your miraculous survivals, I assume that you have either a means of avoiding damage, or healing. Is that correct?


    Yes? What are you nning?


    He shrugged, again. It will be better for you, if your opponents dont have to hold back. It will feel worse, but you will learn faster. That said, I have no wish to harm you, or reduce your ability to work during this trip.


    Fair enough, I suppose. She was beginning to feel a bit nervous. Even so, she took a moment to do as he asked, tensing her core. She didnt mp down, instead simply ensuring that there was tension throughout the stabilization muscles in her torso. Is that it? Keep my core taut?


    He smiled, eyes continuing to move. Its enough.


    Alright.


    Come find me before youve eaten tomorrow morning, but after your duties and other regr morning tasks areplete. After a moment, he met her gaze, lowering his voice to just above a whisper. Id advise against seeking out Master Sergeant Furgel. Hes pretty embarrassed, and while I dont think he will be so unprofessional again, sometimes men like that prefer to double down on their foolishness, no matter how otherwisepetent.


    Will do, and I will keep that in mind. Thank you. With no furtherment forting, she climbed back down thedder. <em>Todays been odd enough, I suppose, and tomorrow will at least have an interesting start. Ive never done hand-to-hand sparring before.</em>


    * * *


    T returned to the front wagon, having walked just faster than the rumbling caravan.


    <em>I need to run some tests.</em> If she was going to get her soul stronger, she needed to go about it in a logical way. As she began figuring out how to test what she needed to, she made sure to keep her core tense. It was already bing difficult. She was used to exercising her stabilization muscles, but she was not used to extended engagement of her core atrge.


    <em>This is what he meant</em> She sighed. <em>More to work on.</em> She quickly realized that she couldnt keep the muscles engaged constantly, and not just because she wasnt used to it. Keeping any muscle engaged constantly was not feasible. <em>Like with the breathing pattern, he is trying to shift my natural patterns, by having me aim for extremes to begin with.</em> Shed had teachers use the method before. Even so, she decided to follow his instruction.


    As she made her way back onto the roof of her wagon, she noticed that she was feeling a little bit anxious, and took a moment to analyze her own feelings, in an attempt to figure out why.


    There was a feeling of absence within her, and she quickly realized that it seemed to stem from the fact that she had no ending-berry power within her, at the moment. <em>The cyclops well and truly drained that.</em>


    That realization in mind, she reached into her pouch, and pulled out her iron sk. She took a few quick drinks, downing half of the thick, pulpy mixture. <em>There. About one cup of berries.</em>


    The texture wasnt that pleasant, but she didnt mind, given the results.


    She sighed, feeling content at the returned sense of thrumming power within her. <em>One cup a day. Thats a good limit.</em> T nced at the sk as she closed it, and before she stored it. <em>I wonder if the power is in the juice alone, or if its in the meat of the berry</em> She should borrow a cider press and see if she could render this down to an easier to consume liquid without losing too much of the power. <em>I could probably dry out the remainder, after the press, and get a nice fruit leather</em> She might need to mix it with something else to keep the taste from bing monotonous. <em>Worth considering, but I wont have the ability to do anything about it until we reach Bandfast.</em>


    It was possible that Brand had a press in the chuckwagon, but she had enough on her te that she didnt want to pursue that, at least not yet. <em>If the opportunity presents itself, Ill ask.</em>


    But that was forter.


    She took her knife from her belt and sat down, leaving it in its sheath.


    First, she ced the knife at arms length, where she could just reach it by bending forwards. She flexed, drawing the knife back to her hand.


    It was much easier at this distance, and she grinned, broadly. <em>Oh, thats fantastic.</em>


    Shed suspected that distance would affect difficulty, as the implications otherwise would have been staggering, but she hadnt <em>known</em>. Now, she did. She jotted that down, along with some other thoughts.


    <em>Ok.</em> She stood, setting the knife up near the front of the wagon, then walked carefully to the back, keeping her core engaged as much as she was able.


    <em>One.</em> She pulled it to her. It was exponentially harder to pull it to her across twenty feet than it had been to pull it the four feet or so.


    She walked back, and reced it at the front of the wagon, returning to the rear before repeating the exercise.


    <em>Two.</em> This was close to double the distance shed ever pulled the knife to her, before, excepting during the fight with the cyclops. For some reason, that had felt easier, though all the aches, pains, and exhaustion that hade upon her after the brief scuffle made it difficult to determine. <em>Maybe, if the knife is already moving towards me, its easier? It takes less energy?</em> That made a sort of sense. It worked that way with her physical muscles, why not her spiritual ones?


    <em>Three.</em>


    She did not feel up to a fourth, especially in light of her earlier exertion, so she ced the knife at the three-quarters point.


    <em>One.</em> It was easier than pulling the item the full length of the wagon, but only just.


    <em>Two.</em> She found herself sweating, even within the shade of her wide-brimmed hat.


    <em>Three.</em> That was all she felt capable of at this distance.


    Halfway, now. <em>One.</em>


    <em> Two.</em>


    <em> Three.</em> She was gasping, and she took a moment to pull her breathing back into proper pattern. Long inhale through the nose, quick exhale through the mouth.


    Only five feet from her, now. <em>One.</em>


    <em>Two.</em> She found that if she exhaled, while pulling the knife to her, it felt a bit easier, as if she was able to exert herself with less strain. <em>Good to know.</em>


    <em>Three.</em> She was breathing regrly, now, but it was an effort. She pulled out her water incorporator and carefully shot water into her dry mouth at an angle, allowing her to drink with rtive ease. She sshed herself with water through the process, but she didnt care much. It would evaporate, either naturally or magically, soon enough.


    She looked down at the incorporator again. <em>Can I use this as a magical exercise?</em> She pointed the device off to the side and threw power into it directing the flow straight from her gate to the item. She gathered up what she could from her reserves along the way.


    A thick stream of water, as thick as her thumb, shot outward, arcing to the ground. She was pushing more power than she could sustain through the device, and she quickly came to the end of her reserves, allowing the flow, both of magic and water, toe to an end.


    <em>Interesting.</em> She examined herself critically, turning her mage-sight upon her power. <em>If making an Archon star is like carefully loading heavy cargo, powering this is like picking up and hurling heavy rocks randomly</em>. In short, it was a simr process, but would likely work her power in different ways. <em>Nice.</em> Her goal, when she used this, would be to express as much power as quickly as possible, and sustain it, until it tapered off. Today, that had been about a second and a half. <em>I have to start somewhere.</em>


    There was an oddity, however. Just like when her first Archon star had drawn power out of her, there were vestiges that seemed to cling more tightly to her physical form. The only part that she was able to redirect into the incorporator was the nebulous power that seemed to settle around her gate and keystone, rather than being spread through her body. <em>I wonder why that is</em>


    She noticed Den ncing back at her, and she waved.


    He turned a bit more. What are you up to, Mistress?


    She smiled. Just exercising my magic.


    He opened his mouth, then thought for a moment, closing it.


    T cocked her head waiting.


    You know; Ive no meaningfulment. Its not dangerous, right?


    No. Its safe. <em>It also shouldnt be a beacon, like my magic-popping-breath,st time.</em>


    Fair enough. Enjoy.


    Tughed a bit self-consciously. Thank you, Den.


    He waved over his shoulder as he turned to face forward once more.


    <em>Hmmm Den mentioned a valley cyclops.</em> She sat down, reaching into her pouch and pulled out the book A Brief Overview of Entities: Fused.


    She flipped through the index, and found cyclops, but a valley cyclops wasnt listed. <em>Huh.</em> She ced the book back in and drew out A Brief Overview of Entities: Bound. After finding the right page in the index, she again opened to the cyclops entry. There it was.


    Cyclops, Valley  Valley cyclops stand between eight and fifteen feet tall and have the attributes of any cyclops. See <em>Cyclops.</em>


    She looked up to the start of the cyclops section:


    Cyclops are as resistant to direct magical maniption as a foe in full armor: they are not impossible to affect, but it takes a great deal more power and/or precision. In addition, their physical strength greatly exceeds what would be expected, given their size and level of advancement. Expect any Bound cyclops to be as strong, physically, as the average Fused of most other entity types. Cyclops, unlike their giant kin, continue to grow as they age, until they be too big for their body to survive, or they find a method of advancement to a higher ss of entity. Cyclops tend to use clubs, or other close-range weapons, and think poorly of those who attack from a distance.


    There were a few other general facts, but nothing of significance in the moment. <em>Den saw Mages guarding a caravan fighting one of thesea Bound entity.</em> She felt her thoughts racing. <em>Grediv obliterated an entity a full order more powerful than this, with ease.</em> Thinking back on his words, that did make sense. <em>He imed to be a Paragon, which is two orders higher, still.</em> She shivered. How powerful did that make him? She couldnt even look at the book on entities of that order, so she couldnt even get a general idea.


    She had a myriad of things running through her head, that she wanted to look into, or do, or practice, or contemte, or <em>Too many</em> She sighed, leaning back, and allowing her eyes to take in the countryside around her.


    It was beautiful.


    Dark green trees that were ripe with magic grew in clusters, groves, and whole forests easily within sight, as the caravan was currently on a rise. Trees with less magic were easily visible, as their leaves had changed in the autumn weather, more subject to the seasons than their magic-full cousins.


    Tall, thick grass swayed in the breeze, looking like rippling waves moving across the surrounding, un-treednd. What had been a worn path, leaving Alefast, had quickly faded away as traffic patterns dispersed enough to make the wearing of a road unlikely. Even so, there was a road of sorts, since they were headed for the pass, as many caravans did. Really, it was mostly a strip ofnd, cleared of trees and undergrowth. The grass was too full of life to be easily killed by wagon traffic, and even if it died, it would be back so quickly that it hardly mattered.


    Ahead, the pass loomedrge, the magnificent mountain, cleft in two in time before memory. Snow covered the separated peaks, as well as the other peaks visible in the range. The mountain range was a stark thing from this side.


    There were some foothills, leading up to the mountains, but they were dwarfed by the peaks that they heralded. On the northern side, the progression was far more gradual.


    <em>I prefer this.</em> The clear, definitive majesty of the mountains were on easy disy from the south, and she loved the harsh beauty before her.


    As the wind changed direction, a cold breeze swept down from those mountains and tousled her hair, causing some stray strands to sway across her vision.


    The air wasnt frozen, but it was close. It smelled crisp and clean and <em>perfect.</em> She let out a contented sigh, closing her eyes and letting her arms spread wide in a subconscious attempt to catch more of that wonderful wind.


    She wished that Merilins travel clothes were lighter, so that she could feel more of the breeze, even though they were already semi-permeable. She would have loved for the garments to allow the air to y pleasantly across her skin.


    As if in response to her thoughts, the garments almost seemed to rx, just slightly, and suddenly the wind felt like it was striking her bare skin. She nced down, startled, but she was still fully clothed, and the clothing was still solid, though it did seem a bit looser on her than before.


    She grinned, closing her eyes once more and basking in the wind, until it passed a couple of minutester. For those few minutes, there were no experiments to be run, no skills or muscles to train, no looming debt to dig free of. For that time, she was simply T, free in the autumn breeze.

 Chapter 52: Through the Pass, Again

    Chapter 52: Through the Pass, Again


    T sighed, feeling a fleeting disappointment.


    As suddenly as it hade, the cool breeze departed, the wind switching toe up from the ins behind them. It was not a warm wind, but it was warmer than that from the mountains.


    T sighed, letting her arms fall back to herp. She felt her clothing shift back into form, tightening the fit once more. <em>Merilin did say that the immortal elk had a few ways of keeping cool. I suppose this is one of them?</em>


    As she reached for the book most likely to contain information on that entity, she froze, hand in the pouch, book in hand. <em>Wait I know these books were on the shelf, within the space. </em>She looked down, into the bag, trying to see past the book, and her hand. It was only darkness. She couldnt see thedder; she couldnt see the little room. Nothing.


    <em>Ok, T. Calm down.</em>


    She pulled her hand out, and closed the bag, leaving the book inside. She spoke softly, so that Den was unlikely to hear. How are you doing that?


    Kit did not respond.


    T stared at the bag, focusing until her mage-sight began to highlight the power flowing through the bag. She was hampered in that, because of the iron salve shed worked into the outside, but she could still see through the top, closed though it was.


    She saw what shed seen before, dimensional power, twisted and harnessed towards the pouchs functions. How do you know what I am reaching for?


    The pouch did not respond.


    She frowned. Im reaching for a pencil. She stuck her hand in, thinking about reaching for a notebook, specifically without a pencil.


    Her hand instantly found a notebook.


    <em>Its bound to me, to my magic.</em> After a moment, she reached in and took out a pencil as well and began writing notes, thoughts, theories. Finally, she realized that she had a resource ready to hand.


    She pulled out the first volume on bound items, skipping the introduction, for the moment, and looking in the index.


    <em>Behaviorbehavior, behavior There!</em>


    She flipped to the corresponding page:


    Bound magic items often seem to act with what is misdiagnosed as intuition, on the part of their wielder. The truth of the matter is that because the item is bound to a Mages magic, they are bound to the Mages will. Therefore, if a Mage takes an action, and it is within the items ability to act to aid that action, the Mages will often intuitively maniptes the item to bring it about.


    Huh, that is a disappointingly sensible answer She looked down at Kit. Oh well. And here I thought you might be reading my mind and trying to be helpful. She smiled. Thank you, anyways, Kit. She patted the bag.


    The pouch did not respond.


    She regarded the volume in her hand. I already have this out. Might as well learn what I can. With that, she flipped to the beginning of the book and began to read.


    * * *


    T was enjoying the book on bound items, and she felt like she was learning a lot.


    The first and most important thing shed learned was that <em>any</em> item that she empowered was bound to her. Thankfully, it was bound to her magic, not her soul, but it was still a surprising revtion. This bond was actually the chief reason that cargo-slots, like those riding in the wagons both beneath and behind her, couldnt have another Mage give them power. That was not the only reason to be sure, but it was a core one.


    It was a much more thorough exnation than shed been given, previously, and she was grateful for it. As it turned out, the cargo-slots would remain bonded to her until they fully drained of power, at which point, they could be reinscribed, and a different Mage could bond them for the course of a different journey.


    <em>Did Grediv mention something about this?</em> If he did, shed lost it in the outpouring of information. <em>And here I thought I had perfect memory</em> She <em>thought</em> she could likely delve back into the conversation with Grediv, and find out if hed told her this tidbit, but in the end, it didnt really matter. <em>I suppose perfect memory doesnt mean perfect ability to ess it.</em> It seemed like a rusting stupid limitation to her.


    She returned her thoughts to the magic-bound items: Apparently, there was a pervasive theory, which the books author thought of as nonsense, which held that the magic items were alive, in a rudimentary sense, and that it wasnt until the item died that another could be brought into being, within the same shell, ready to bond some other Mage.


    The idea made T vaguely ufortable, as it seemed akin to creating a ve solely for your own purposes, then letting them die when you were through with them. Thankfully, it seemed that even the most ardent supporters of this theory hypothesized that the intelligence of inscribed items wasnt even equivalent to an insect. They did seem to im that artifacts were closer to mammals in intellect, though.


    Kit, are you alive?


    Kit did not respond.


    <em>Oh, well.</em> She really hadnt expected anything else.


    T looked to her right, hearing a horse drawing near, and sighed. A man, dressed in heavy chainmail, and armed with the standard guard weaponry, was approaching. The insignia of a Master Sergeant was highly visible on his near shoulder. <em>Great.</em>


    He nced her way and saw her regarding him. He lifted his hand and called out. Mistress T, may Ie up to speak with you for a moment?


    <em>Why not. </em>Sure. <em>Maybe Adam misjudged him?</em>


    Furgel was surprisingly lithe, slipping off his horse, and tying the reins to thedder as he swung up onto it. He climbed quickly and easily, despite the weight of his armor and weapons. When he achieved the roof, he hesitated, ncing down at himself. My apologies. He patted his armor. I can doff my iron and leave it aside, if you wish. I apologize for not thinking of it, earlier.


    She waved that aside. No need, Master Sergeant, youre on duty, and I dont mind. After a moment, she sighed and added. But I do appreciate the consideration in asking. <em>Orwere you trying to throw me off by wearing the armor to begin with?</em> That seemed a bit uncharitable for her to assume, so she set that aside.


    Furgel nodded, taking a seat between her and Den, facing her from about five feet away.


    There was an ufortable silence, during which T ced her book, notebook, and pencil into her belt pouch.


    He cleared his throat. II owe you an apology, Mistress T.


    She didnt react, simply watching him, impassively.


    He looked off to one side. I behaved poorly and disrespected you greatly. I was attempting to perform my duties, and thought I was in the right, but that is no excuse for how I acted. I apologize. Will you forgive my blunder?


    <em>That was surprisingly eloquent.</em> She took a slow breath in, then nodded. Yes, thank you, Master Sergeant. I am aware how I appear to others, and while I do not appreciate being treated as you did, I understand that you did not have malicious intent.


    He seemed to rx slightly, several worry lines fading from his face.


    However, before he spoke, T continued. That said, I would rmend not treating anyone that way, ever. Even if I was whom you assumed, that would have been an inappropriate means of handling the situation.


    He reddened but not with embarrassment, and he opened his mouth to retort.


    T held up a hand, forestalling him. Every person in a caravan is here by right, either they earned that right throughpetence and contract, or they purchased that right as a passenger. This is not your kingdom, and you are not a god. Respect and patient listening will go a long way, Sergeant.


    He was so red as to almost appear purple, but he seemed to maintain enough control not to utter his clear objections. Mistress. He stood, turning to thedder, and dropping out of sight. T shortly saw him on his horse, riding quickly back down the wagon train.


    Den turned to regard her. While you werent wrong, it probably wasnt wise to give unsolicited advice.


    T grunted. Probably true. I wonder why he came at all? Id have thought someone like that would want an audience for his act of humility.


    Denughed, turning back around. Oh, he did. Im head driver, and Id have taken news to the others. He snorted. I still will. He nced back, grinning.


    Tughed. Remind me to stay in your good graces.


    Oh, Mistress, youre fine. Especially now that youre being more cautious. Hepsed back into silence, his hatted head barely visible above the edge of the wagon.


    T stood, looking back down the wagon train. Unlike the trip to Alefast, during which the caravan had beenposed of eight wagons, this trip was <em>much</em>rger. There were the two cargo wagons, three Mages wagons, and the chuck-wagon. Three bunk wagons had been brought along for a tripled contingent of guardsmen. One of those wagons trundled along directly behind the second cargo wagon and another was at the back of the wagon train. Each had a guard posted on top.


    Adam was the frontmost of those guards, and he waved as he noticed her, before continuing his vignce.


    Her mind took a step back. <em>Wait, three Mages wagons?</em> She hadnt met the third Mage Protector of this caravan. <em>Itll be interesting to see who it is.</em>


    The passenger wagons were still the most numerous, but now it was by an even greater margin. If she was guessing correctly, there were four for more wealthy passengers and three for poorer, though that was rtive for anyone wealthy enough to travel between cities in a trade caravan.


    <em>Sixteen wagons. Between ny and one hundred guards, likely between twenty-three and twenty-seven passengers, plus servants, drivers, and the cooks.</em> That was approaching a hundred sixty people. <em>I wonder if Brand has more than two assistants, this trip.</em> Shed find out soon enough.


    Nearly three times as many people on this trip, but she supposed that made sense. Every caravan leaving a waning city <em>should</em> take more away than it brought. <em>Thus continues the cycle of civilization.</em>


    She saw a huge shape on horseback, riding near the middle of the caravan. <em>Rane</em> That was a strange man, from what little shed seen. <em>Did he get a bigger horse?</em> She grinned at that thought.


    <em> I dont see Ashin.</em> She allowed her gaze to move over the guardsmen and women out on duty but didnt spot him. She shrugged. <em>Might have a different duty shift. </em>He might be out and about after lunch or whenever they switched shifts.


    They were nearing the entrance to the pass, even as the sun neared its zenith.


    <em>I wonder </em>T fished into her pouch and pulled out a bit of jerky. She flicked it out to the side, without fanfare or warning.


    A blip of dimensional energy heralded its vanishing.


    <em>So, Terry is along for the trip, then.</em> She wasnt really surprised.


    She stretched backwards, feeling the tightness in her muscles. She froze.


    <em>Well, rust me to g</em> She groaned, settling down into a seated position. <em>I forgot to get a massage</em> That was irritating, and now that she was taking the time to sit, again, her tight muscles were beginning to nag her.


    <em>Well, nothing for it, now.</em> She began to stretch, using her mage-sight, internally focused, to pinpoint the trigger-points that were giving her the most issue. Funnily enough, the process allowed her to discover some strangely rxing positions, which slowly helped her body unwind itself.


    In addition, she pulled out herst, nk notebook, and put it to use, whenever her hands and eyes were free, which admittedly, wasnt that often. Her self-appointed task was to do a detailed overview of her knowledge of biology. Thankfully, she wasnt seeking to write a reference book, she simply built out a list of which specifics she remembered, and those she didnt feel confident in, without detailing what those actually were. <em>Im making an index of my knowledge. </em>She found that helped her decide what was too much detail to include.


    As she began to stretch, the caravan entered the pass.


    As they continued, her muscles loosened, and she steadily filled the nk pages, using any and all nk space she could, while still making the things she needed to brush up on all too clear. <em>Ill need all this at least well understood, before I can properly use the full inscriptions from Holly.</em>


    The caravan was well inside the shadowed pass when she heard someone begin to climb thedder.


    Mistress T?


    She straightened out of a particrly deep stretch, turned towards thedder but remaining seated. Brand?


    Yes, Mistress.


    Come on up.


    He pulled himself up, bearing a trayden with food.


    Good to see you, Brand. Whats on the menu, today?


    He held out therge wooden bowl, showing her the content. Arge sd, while were still close to some gardens that can grow it for us. He smiled. Bought out half the stalls in the fresh food market this morning.


    T grinned, taking the offered bowl and fork. Thank you. Dressing?


    A garlic herb vinaigrette.


    You know how to spoil me. She set the bowl down. What can I do for you?


    He waved the question away. I have to get back to work.


    Very well. She picked up the bowl as he moved back towards thedder. However, he hesitated with his head still poking up.


    Mistress T?


    Hmmm?


    Thank you.


    What for?


    He quirked a smile. I think you know.


    Before she could respond, he sank out of sight. Huh She looked down at the sd, then back up to where Brand had disappeared. She smiled to herself as she dug into the delicious sd.


    * * *


    Her lunchplete, she took time to slowly restart her stretching and note taking as she digested, continuing to work through her sore muscles. In her deep, internal looks, she also noticed some areas in which the muscles were still much weaker than those surrounding them, and so she also began to work on rounding out her fitness. <em>And here I thought I found all those ckers.</em>


    A couple of slow, satisfying hours passed, before she was fully done, and she was able to turn her attention to another task.


    Her soul felt mostly recovered. <em>That still feels odd to think</em> She did another group of progressively easier sets with her knife, thoroughly working her spiritual muscles without approaching overexertion. <em>I hope.</em>


    Again, she pulled out Soul Work and attempted to decipher anything meaningful from the warded book.


    She did not seed.


    Disgruntled, she put the book back in the pouch. Thanks anyway, Kit.


    The pouch did not respond.


    She pulled out the water incorporator, drank a little, then sent arge stream shooting out to the side, to exercise her power, once more.


    Tid back, twiddling her thumbs. <em>Ive so much to do, but I dont know what to do first.</em>


    <em> Just do the next thing, T.</em>


    <em> Well, what things next?</em>


    <em> Whates to mind?</em> Brand. <em>I didnt ask him about the press.</em> She groaned, sitting up. <em>Might as well.</em>


    She climbed down, dropping from the moving wagon, and walked back towards the chuckwagon. It felt really nice to be using her legs, and she reminded herself that shed enjoyed walking beside the caravan on the previous trip.


    She gave a short knock on the chuckwagons back door, and it swung open, revealing an assistant cook, whom shed not seen before.


    Mistress? Can I help you?


    She smiled in what she hoped was a reassuring manner. Yes. Is Brand free for a moment? I have a quick question.


    The older man looked surprised. Yes, of course Mistress. He disappeared inside, and she could hear him calling out to Brand, and discussing with other cooks. She tried not to listen. After all, she didnt need to know what they were saying. <em>It would be ruderight?</em>


    A minuteter, Brand came out, wiping his hands free of flour on his apron. Mistress T? Is everything alright?


    Yes, yes. Everythings fine. She smiled. I just have a strange question.


    Sure.


    Do you happen to have a cider press, or something like it?


    He hesitated, then started nodding. For theberries. Am I right?


    She smiled. Correct.


    He smiled in turn. I do, yes. Ill even let you use it, if you dont clean it after.


    Sheughed. Hoping to get some juice out, after?


    One can hope.


    Sounds fair. Ill try to be quick, as well. Thinking of a part of her discussion with Grediv, she frowned. Anything you use it for shouldnt go to other Mages. It could interfere with their power. Not violently, but it would be inconvenient to weaken our protectors.


    Brand gave her a surprised look. Really? Of course, then.


    She shrugged. I know it does for an Archon, so Id assume so for any Mage, or inscribed.


    He clicked his tongue. Fascinating. I knew that some Mages could eat that which us mundanes could not, I had not truly considered the reverse. He smiled. I will keep that in mind. Thank you. He went back inside and quickly returned with a metal-bound, wooden device. There was a spout out the bottom, and a wheel-like handle on top.


    Thank you, Brand. She slipped it into Kit. It was <em>just</em> small enough to go in.


    Brand regarded her belt pouch. You know, Im sure that opens wider than it used to.


    Could be.


    He smiled, again. Im d that your purchase is working out.


    Thank you for introducing me to Artia. She waved. Ill try to get this back to you by dinner.


    He nodded, turning back and closing the door.


    T returned to her wagon, affixing her bag open as before and slipping inside, leaving her hat to act as a hatch, of sorts.


    The cider press was already sitting on the worktable, spout pointed out, an empty keg waiting below.


    Tughed. Thanks, Kit. Lets do this.


    The warmfort was ever present as she worked, processing all the berries shed harvested, which she hadnt consumed or traded away.


    As it turned out, the meat of the berries had virtually no power in and of itself. Thus, she was actually able to increase the concentration of power, by removing that mostly neutral material. <em>I suppose that part is needed for the natural processes of the fruit?</em>


    In the end, she took the roughly nine gallons of crushed berries, and turned it into five gallons of berry juice, storing it in two kegs and her one jug. There was a bit extra, which fit into her sk rather perfectly. She ensured the keg and jug were properly sealed, then checked them over with her magic detector. The iron-salve barrier was intact and effective, the jug resting inside its salved sack.


    She finished clean-up, leaving the press dirty, and climbed back out of Kit.


    It was pushing towards evening, and they were almost through the pass. She stood and stretched. <em>An afternoon well spent.</em>


    She took a few minutes to return the press to Brand, offering him the pressed berry remains, which he happily epted, exining that he could still boil them down, to make a wonderful dessert, even if it wouldnt be quite as vorful, without the majority of the juices. He also assured her that he would make up something extra special for the Mages, to keep them from the berry dish.


    That aplished, she decided to walk up and down the much longer caravan, continuing her review of human biology.


    She thought she saw the other Mage on the far side of the caravan, but it was only a sh. If she was right, he was a much older man, maybe in his fifties. <em>I was beginning to wonder if caravanning was a young persons game.</em> It seemed that that wasnt the case.


    The mountain pass was stunning in thete afternoon light, though most of that was reflected off the eastern slope. She breathed in the cool, crisp air and smiled. <em>Ive nothing but time.</em>


    Ho! Mistress T!


    She opened her eyes, turning to regard the man riding up to her. <em>Rane.</em> Hello. Master Rane, right?


    The massive man swung down off of his horse, and T got another good look at him.


    He wore standard Mages robes, by their cut, at least. They had quick releases and were excellently crafted.


    <em>I could have gone that route, to avoid always losing clothes.</em> She was still mildly ufortable at the prospect, however. Even though she kept ending up naked, she generally preferred to be as covered as possible. Merilins elk leather clothing facilitated that, nicely.


    Aside from the Mages robes, he wore sturdy sandals, the straps and his inscriptions seemingly designed to avoid each other, for the most part. He also wore an odd wooden handle on his belt. It almost looked like a slim, two-handed sword hilt, but there wasnt a visible de, instead the object ended in a small, oblong ring, affixed to Ranes belt. Her mage-sight showed dimensional distortions around the ring, however. <em>A dimensional storage, specifically for that weapon?</em>


    Yes, Mistress. d you remembered; I was afraid you wouldnt bother.


    <em>Whats that supposed to mean? </em>She smiled sweetly. Well, you made quite the impression. Its hard for a girl to forget something like that.


    He grimaced. II do apologize for that, Mistress. Im not good at realizing how my words will sound to others. Master Grediv always called it a soon-to-be-fatal w. He smiled with thest, trying to lighten the mood.


    Tughed. I kind of like that.


    His smile turned sheepish. Yeah, it always struck me as pretty funny. His smile faded a bit. Im pretty sure he was never joking, though


    There was a momentary pause, as T waited for him to say something more.


    Instead, the big man shifted his grip on the horse''s reins and fell into step beside her.


    So, Master Rane, how can I help you?


    Hmmm? Oh, I thought it would be nice to walk for a bit, and you were walking.


    When he didnt borate, she prompted, again. So, you want to walk? Talk? What, exactly?


    He shrugged, looking obviously awkward. Master Grediv said that you were someone worth knowing. So, I guess Id like to get to know you?


    T blinked in surprise at that. <em>He said that? </em>It did seem in line with other things hed told her. Huhimagine that.


    Yeah. Raneughed. Most of the time he tells me to avoid this person, or not to speak to that person more than necessary. There have been a few that hes pointed out, like Master Trent, but Ive not heard him give the sort of rmendation he gave for you, before. After a deep breath, he continued. Also, he said Im to keep you from endangering yourself, if I can.


    She actually felt herself flush a little. Idont know what to say to that.


    He shrugged, again. I guess there isnt a need for direct response. I am at least partially responsible for the safety of every member of the caravan anyways, as one of the Mage Protectors. He cleared his throat, changing the subject. So, Bandfast: Are you from there?


    Her expression stiffened, and she turned her attention back to the way ahead. That is my home. It will be good to be back, I think. Ive some work to do before I can go out, again. She sighed. <em>Not his fault. Hes just trying to be inquisitive. </em>What about you? Are you from Alefast?


    Oh, yeah. My familys been there for generations. Our houses founder helped build the city, and he likes to keep us close, whenever possible.


    Keeppresent tense?


    Yeah. He has quite the active hand, though he does so behind the scenes, mostly.


    Master Grediv is your ancestor. She said, tly.


    Rane nced at her with slight surprise. Its that obvious?


    You said your founder was still involved. I know Master Grediv is at least that old, and he is involved with you. It wasnt arge leap.


    Oh I guess so. He shrugged. He doesnt like us referencing our familial rtionship. Apparently, its caused him issues in the past. Heughed half-heartedly, then did a passible impression of the much older Mage.  Im not leveling another arcane city for one of you idiots. Stop unting my name.


    Ts eyes widened. Arcane city?


    Oh, yeah, Master Grediv says there are a whole bunch of them beyond the wilds. He says society atrge has just forgotten about them, and its best not to remind them. Causes too many questions.


    She hesitated for a moment. Like you just did?


    He nced her way, frowning, then his eyes widened. Oh! Oh, my I Forget I said that. I Hepsed into silence.


    You dont get out much, do you.


    He shook his head, lips firmly sealed.


    First mission alone as a full Mage?


    He nodded.


    Well, Id rmend thinking through your words, before you utter them. Might help you out.


    Rane gave her an almost pitiable look, then turned to look ahead.


    She shrugged. Well, Im not just going to babble. We can walk in silence, if you want, but if you want conversation, youve got to talk.


    He nodded, again, and didnt speak further.


    <em> What, under heaven, am I going to do with this one?</em>

 Chapter 53: Worst Proposal Ever

    Chapter 53: Worst Proposal Ever


    The caravan made it through the pass without violent incident. Though, T thought shed seen some guards conversing every so often, looking at some things in the surrounding terrain. She almost went to see what they were looking at, at several points, but decided against it each time. <em>No need to stick my nose into their jobs.</em>


    By the end of the day, the caravan had even returned to what seemed to be the same campsite that theyd used before going through the pass,st time.


    <em>Was that only four days ago?</em> It depended on how you reckoned it, but yeah, pretty close. <em>It really does feel like months.</em> She <em>might</em> be over-packing her time and mind.<em> No help for it</em>


    The use of the same campsite was a bit odd to her, because it hadnt taken a full day to get from this campsite to the city on thest trip. As she considered, she realized that they had not started quite as early on this outbound trip, and the oxen had been moving a bit slower than before. <em>Will our pace be that much slower the whole time, or was it just to make today an easy start to the journey?</em> Shed have to ask Den, if she remembered.


    The wagon train, being muchrger this time around, didnt simply circle up. Instead, the wagons were positioned into a rounded, hourss shape. The cargo and bunk wagons made a smaller circle, with the passenger and Mage wagons in arger ring. The chuckwagon was positioned in the choke point.


    This formation allowed all the oxen to be left free to roam within the smaller ring, while the people of the caravan were able to still have the shelter and perceived safety of the bigger circle.


    <em>Cleverly done.</em>


    Rane had stayed with T for the rest of the afternoon, walking beside her thest three hours or so.


    They hadnt really talked aside from the asional, not-quite-awkward small exchanges of words.


    Shed considered climbing back up on Dens wagon, but shed slightly feared that he would have followed, and something about him made her feel like sending him away would be akin to kicking a puppy.


    <em>How do I get myself into these things?</em> If she was rude, once, shed have her peace and quiet for the remainder of the trip, but she couldnt bring herself to do it, at least not to him. <em>I could kick a barking, aggressive dog, just not a puppy</em>


    Even so, shed used the time to good effect: making great progress on her review of biology, physiology, and organic chemistry, all while practicing all parts of what Adam had assigned her.


    While the wagons were getting into formation for the evening, however, Rane had been required to move out and scout the perimeter. <em>Thankfully.</em>


    In that time, shed moved through her new exercises, both for her soul and her magic. <em>I really need to be making Archon stars.</em> But her mind was already split too many ways. <em>Tomorrow. Ill make one, tomorrow.</em>


    She was surprised at how quickly her spiritual muscles were recovering and strengthening. It was already a much easier task to pull the knife towards herself, regardless of the distance, but it still seemed to exhaust her fairly quickly. <em>Nowhere near a dozen pulls from ten feet.</em> She almostughed at herself, then. <em>Did I expect to meet Gredivs requirements in a day?</em>


    Therger circle within the wagons was surprisingly full, as people milled around, without being crowded. Many were doing light exercises or stretching, clearly trying to work out some stiffness from a day within a passenger wagon.


    <em>Im d that I dont have to deal with that.</em>


    Several of the passengers gave her slight bows and greetings in the vein of: Good evening, Mistress.


    The sky overhead was trending through the fiery hues, blushing towards twilight and the dark of night. She took a moment to smile upward, her eyes flicking towards the few stars already visible through the remaining light.


    T felt a previously unnoticed tension release, when no web of magic came into view. The feeling made her introspective, and she took several slow breaths to consider what she was feeling. <em>I hate being constrained, and seeing the web of power over Alefast really did make me a bit ustrophobic. </em>It hadnt helped that her view of that constraint hade into prominence whenever she allowed her gaze to focus, thus inspiring her to keep her eyes moving. <em>That </em>did not promote rxed regard for the beauty of the sky above.


    <em>I suppose I could have pulled power away from my mage-sight inscriptions.</em> She hadnt thought of that, earlier, but even now, she felt like it would be a bad idea. <em>Hollys rmendation to have them active at all times was wise, and I really shouldnt countermand the design without reason.</em>


    About half therger circle had been designated for eating with tables set out and the side of the chuckwagon open to serve dinner. The scents wafting from the mobile kitchen smelled amazing, as usual.


    It was deep-fried steak, asparagus, and potatoes with a thick brown gravy. A slightly magical berry crisp was beautifully presented to the side, for dessert. Brand had individualized, chocteva cakes just for the Mages.


    T grinned openly at Brand, when hed handed her tray to her, and hed rolled his eyes, a smile tugging at his lips as well. Yours has a berry vored chocte.


    She nodded, having already seen the vestiges of power in the center of the creation. Looks great, Brand. Thank you.


    Happy to oblige, Mistress.


    Thank your cooks for me too, please?


    He smiled widely at that. I will. Thank you.


    She carried her tray off to one side and set it down to fill a wooden cup with water, before picking the tray back up and moving around the outside of the assembled tables. Those eating were in various clusters, spread throughout the tables, and T was on the hunt for something in particr.


    Finally, she spotted what shed been looking for and smiled. <em>An entirely empty table.</em>


    She was the first person at the table she chose, and she took the moment of solitude to dig in. It was wonderous to not have anyone directly around her. <em>Im falling back into old habits</em>


    She had done her best to avoid connections while at the academy. Shed hated that she was there, and even though shed decided to make the best of it, she had <em>not</em> wanted to have a pleasant time.<em></em>Shed been there for one purpose, to improve herself. When she got out, she would not let anyone tie her down again. At least that had been the n. <em>Amazing how little fun you can have, when you put your mind to it.</em>


    She had known that she would have to sign a contract of indenture to get work, to pay off the debt, and while that necessity had galled her, shed done it anyway. <em>Just one more hard thing to be free.</em> But then, shed started encountering people who seemed to genuinely care. Oh, they had their own motivations, their own agendas, but that almost made it better. They werent being altruistic, so she didnt feel obligated to be so, either.


    Now, she was falling back into her habits from the academy. Training, striving, improving. Alone.


    <em>And now Im eating alone.</em> She sighed irritably.


    <em>Come on, T. It isnt a binary. You are allowed to enjoy some solitude every once in a while, and still allow yourself to enjoy being around people. You are not withdrawing, again.</em>


    She smiled, nodding to herself. <em>Yeah, I can enjoy a bit of time alone.</em>


    Of course, once she decided that, it didntst.


    An older man sat down across from her and smiled.


    T nced up. <em>Mage, Material Creator with a focus on</em> She frowned. <em>Breathable air?</em> She realized that she was frowning and forced her face to shift into a smile. Hello. Im T.


    Greetings, Mistress T. My name is Tang. He had a cleanly shaved head and no beard, as wasmon among Mages without ess to Holly or inscribers who purchased her special needles.<em> Or those unwilling to pay for the use of such needles on themselves.</em>


    <em></em>Apparently, many Mages had Hollys needles used on their scalp or face, so that they could keep their hair, but that method was too expensive to use elsewhere, for most.


    Good to meet you, Master Tang. She nodded politely in greeting before taking another bite of her dinner.


    He paused for a moment, then seemed to shrug before digging into his own meal. Pleasant evening, tonight. I love the slight breeze.


    She frowned, not feeling the breeze, then she nodded. <em>Right! His magic, reflected off my iron, might feel like a breeze. </em>It is, isnt it. She returned to her food. <em>I hope he doesnt notice the wind isnt affecting anything besides himself.</em>


    Trent and Renix joined them shortly thereafter. Master Tang.


    Master Trent, mageling Renix.


    Master Tang. Renixs greeting came across somehow stiffly formal, as well as being more monotone than Trents had been.


    Trent smiled. T. How are you?


    Tangs eyebrows rose, likely at theck of the honorific.


    T smiled in return. Im doing well, Trent. Thank you. Quiet day.


    Trents eyes were twinkling. He knew shed left off his honorific to mirror him, even if she didnt really know why. About that: If I hadnt known for a fact that youd stayed near the caravan, Id have thought you were out harvesting.


    Master Tang harumphed. Of course, she wouldnt do that. A Dimensional Mages ce is safe, with the other valuable cargo and important passengers.


    T gave Trent an innocent look. Master Tang has the right of it. I do my best to stay where its safe. She held back a snicker. Why, though?


    Trent just rolled his eyes at her antics, simply choosing to respond to her question. We found a few arcanous bodies along the route, before the pass, and a couple since then, usually dragged off the route.


    She perked up at that. Anything worth harvesting? Then, she deted. No youd have told me earlier if they were.


    Trent grinned. Right you are. No, nothing worth salvaging. They were ravaged, actually, mostly eaten whenever we found them, and if the one who found them so much as took their eyes off the body, the carcasses vanished. He gave her a questioning look. Id bet there were more that we never found. He huffed augh. We found several ces where the earth was wet with blood too, but no bodies. I know of five such ces, confirmed.


    T had a suspicion that Terry was responsible, but she didnt say so. Interesting. So, weve some sort of guardian out there, then?


    Renix snorted. Hardly. None of the creatures that we found would have been likely to confront a group thisrge. He gestured around himself. We probably wouldnt have had any issues, regardless.


    Tang cleaned his mouth with a napkin and cleared his throat. I think that might be a bit hasty, mageling. We only saw a few, and they seemed to have been positioned for us to find. It is possible that something is tailing us and might want us to fall into a false sense of security. He took on a slight tone of lecture. As a caravan grows, it dissuades smaller threats, while attractingrger.


    Renix deted a bit, turning to his food.


    Or. A voice came from behind T, just before Rane set his tray down beside her. Or, something is trailing us, using the draw of our caravan as a lure to aid it in hunting. In that case, we would be secure, if only because it wants its bait intact.


    Trent nodded towards Rane. Assuming the hunter doesnt want to chum the waters.


    Renix frowned, looking to his Master.


    Fishing metaphor.


    Ah. Renix turned back to the food.


    Mistress T, Master Trent, Master Tang, Renix. Good evening to you all. He snorted. Our names are all of a theme, it seems. T, Tang, Trent, Renix, and Rane. He said thest with a bit of a sing-song, under his breath. T didnt think anyone, but she, had heard.


    A chorus of greetings came back to him, and Rane smiled.


    Btedly, he nced at T. Uhmind if I sit here?


    He took up nearly half the bench with his broad build; though, he had sat far enough away to avoid brushing her or impinging on her mobility. I suppose not. Seat was open.


    Renix opened his mouth, seeming about to say something, but his eyes flicked to Tang, and he put a bite in instead.


    Tang shifted a bit, using the movement to draw attention. So, Master Rane, you are from the Gredial family, yes?


    Thats right. Have we met, before this morning?


    Not that Im aware of. So, Ive heard that Archon Grediv is actually the founder of your family, the namesake even. Is that true?


    Rane seemed at a loss.


    <em>Really? </em>She sighed, internally. <em>Shouldnt let someone else kick a puppy either.</em> Master Tang, is this conjecture, or were you told that?


    Seeming puzzled, Master Tang turned slightly to face her. Merely conjecture. The origins of the Gredial family are quite shrouded in mystery, and Ive always thought that an Archon with such a simr name <em>had</em> to be connected.


    She smiled sweetly. If its a family secret, it sounds like a question that Master Rane might not appreciate too much.


    Tang opened his mouth to respond, but Trent spoke first. Oh,e on Master Tang. Everyones guessed Grediv at one point or another. The old goat even encourages it asionally. You know how he likes making people look the fool. Trent huffed augh. I halfway figure that he steps in on their behalf asionally just because so many people <em>think</em> theres a connection. He cant let bade their way because it would look bad for him, even though theyre unrted.


    Tang closed his mouth, thinking for a moment. You do know the Archon fairly well, Master Trent. He drummed his fingers on the table, then sighed. Ah, well. It would be nice to put an old mystery to rest, but youre right, that would be a bit too convenient.


    T nced at Rane, while Tangs attention was on Trent, and she found him looking at her with gratitude radiating from his all-too-easy-to-read features.


    They returned to eating, and soon, Tang was pushing back his tray. Fantastic, and thatva cake had a nice richness to it. Tang patted his belly, then stood. I suppose I should do a check of the perimeter. This close to the pass, we need to maintain vignce. He nced at each of them with a smile. Good night to you.


    A smattering of Goodnight echoed back, and he departed.


    Renix looked back to T. Why didnt the cooks want us to eat the magic berry dessert?


    Rane, who had just put a spoonful of the cake into his mouth, almost choked. What?! Hed spoken around the food.


    T sighed. Because some things arent good for Mages, even if they help mundanes, Renix. You know, most people arent aware of magical foods. She gave him a meaningful look. And its best to keep that number small. Yes?


    Renix looked at Rane, then seem to shrink a bit. Ohright.


    T rubbed her face with both hands. There are two of them. Heavens help me.


    Trentughed. Most everything has a bit of magic in it, Renix. We dont need to point out every trace, when we find it. He gave his mageling a meaningful look as well.


    Right, yes. Im sorry, Master Trent.


    Its fine. He turned to look at Rane. Renix has especially acute senses, and hes been refining his use of mage-sight and can sometimes sense magic in food. He shrugged. I never really notice myself, and it seems that Master Tang might not either. Trent grinned mischievously. Itd be a shame if he never learned.


    Rane frowned. Yeah Should I go tell him?


    Trent hesitated, his smile slipping just slightly. No I was being He sighed. No. Hes better off not knowing. His type are very by the book, and we dont want to make trouble for our well-meaning cooks. He gave T a meaningful look as he said that.


    <em>Well, rust.</em> Am I going to have an issue with him?


    Knowing you? Yes. But I hope not. If he presses you on any of youroddities, feel free to simply, <em>politely</em> decline to answer.


    <em>I can do that.</em> Ill keep it civil.


    No, Mistress T, not civil, polite. He is senior to you, and he has enough connections to be a pain if he thinks youre disrespecting him. Youre already likely to have some difficulty, regardless.


    She sighed. <em>Great </em>Ok. Ill aim for polite.


    Trent grunted. Its something.


    Renix was seeming to open up, now that the older Mage had departed. So, Master Rane, Master Grediv was your Master through your time as mageling?


    Thats right.


    What was it like?


    Rane seemed to chew on the idea, even while finishing the bite that had still been in his mouth. After he swallowed, he nodded amiably. Oh, it was a rusting party. He took me out into the Wilds, only bringing me back to civilization to get reinscribed.


    Renix opened his mouth in shock. Wait, what?


    Yeah, we left at midnight on my twelfth birthday.


    So, you didnt go to the academy?


    Nope.


    <em>Well, that exins a lot. Socially isted since he was twelve?</em> T actually felt bad for the guy. <em>I was never </em>that<em> isted.</em>


    How long have you been a Mage?


    Rane shrugged. Two years? Though hes still kept me close. This is my first venture away.


    Renix gaped. Two years?!


    Rane shrugged, self-consciously. Yeah. Ive been running around Alefasts countryside, protecting various work-details. Not much time to do anything but fight. His eyes flicked briefly to T, then back to Renix. Master Grediv thought I could use a change of pace, so he rmended I take a caravan contract. The benefits will be many. At least thats what he says. He shrugged. It is a bit better money, and slower pace, for the days work. He sighed, pushing his te back. I havent gotten to <em>just</em> walk through the countryside in He hesitated, seeming to be thinking back. A decade? He nodded. Yeah, about then.


    T didnt know how to react to that. It sounded like Grediv had been pushing Rane harder than T was pushing herself. <em>Huh.</em>


    Still, the boy wasnt an Archon, and if T had understood Grediv correctly, she could be one pretty soon, if she dedicated herself to the process. <em>So, driven, resourceful, and well trained, but not really a prodigy?</em> That was likely unfair, but she found herself resenting all the special treatment the young man had likely gotten. Though, if shed thought about it, she would have conceded that most people, other than her, would not consider a decade of rigorous, likely-brutal training to be a positive thing.


    Wow. Renix was still in awe. You must be all kinds of powerful.


    Well, not really Rane frowned. Master Grediv helped me choose a rather obscure power set, with regard to kic energy He sighed. But thats probably something else that I shouldnt discuss. He looked apologetic as he said that.


    Trent interrupted. You boys will have plenty of time to talkter. Master Tang was right about one thing. We do need to be extra vignt, tonight. He picked up his own tray, along with Tangs, to carry back to the chuckwagon.


    T cleared her throat, and the Mage paused. So, T and Trent?


    Trent grinned at her. Master Tang is a stickler for edict and tradition.


    She cocked an eyebrow. Oh? And what did we just signify by theck of honorifics?


    He actually hesitated. Well, it could really mean anything from a rock-solid alliance to He cleared his throat.


    Yes?


    Well, it could mean that we were engaged.


    She snorted. Worst proposal ever.


    Trentughed, seeming to rx a bit. I suppose so.


    Oh! I think one of our fellows in this caravan bought up a ton of arcanous cors. Do you mind keeping an ear out?


    Trent gave her an odd look. You want one?


    At least to examine, but yeah, I think I might have a use.


    He shook his head. I feel like Ill regret it, but sure. Ill keep my eyes and ears out. After a moment, he cleared his throat. Can I ask for something in return?


    She shrugged. Sure.


    Please try to stay out of danger? Id really love a less eventful trip back.


    She looked away, feeling a bit embarrassed. Yeah. Ill do my best.


    Thank you. Good night, Mistress T.


    She smiled, looking back towards him. Good night, Master Trent.


    Renix and Rane followed Trents lead and stood to go.


    T, who had finished her meal before the others, likewise stood. They dealt with their dishes and said goodnight.


    <em>Now, I need to find a guard who will part with his mountable shield.</em>

 Chapter 54: Back to Basics

    Chapter 54: Back to Basics


    T woke bright and early to an overwhelming feeling of hunger, apanied by a sense burgeoning on panic. Well, thats not quite right, but it was as close as her mage-sight could get to conveying the reality of the situation. In any case, both sensations wereing from her side.


    She sat up, hoisting up the shield, which had been resting over her, to a steep angle and locking it there. That done, she turned to find Kit.


    The belt pouchs magic was dim, and it was radiating a feeling akin to desperation. <em>Im anthropomorphizing.</em> Even so, it was clear the pouch was low on power.


    Still groggy, T stuck her right hand into the pouch, and felt the palm-shaped panel within. <em>Kit helping, again.</em>


    She pulled together power that was flowing through her gate, ensured her gate was wide open, and began to feed the magic into the pouch.


    Instantly, there was a feeling of relief andattachment? The image the sense called to mind was a baby nursing from its mother. The concept made T feel more than a little ufortable.


    <em>Not sure what to do with that</em> She continued to feed Kit, until she sensed a feeling of fullness, and the magic was moving out of her more slowly, indicating that that pouch wasing to a state of equilibrium.


    Her eyes snapped open, and she looked down at the pouch. <em>I guess Im not fully awake.</em>


    Kit refilled, T decided to quickly check her other items.


    True to Artias word, theb didnt need any magic and seemed to be quite stable. Since theb was already in hand, she undid her hair from the night, quickly ran theb through it, and re-braided it for the day. <em>This really is a remarkable item.</em> It was incredibly practical in its simplicity.


    Her travel clothes, while not dry of magic, were not as full as they had been the day before. That intrigued her, because she couldnt think of anything that would have used the missing power, unlike Kit, which was using power constantly to maintain dimensional space for her things.


    As she examined the traveling clothes, she noticed that they were perfectly clean. <em>Is that it, then? Self-cleaning?</em> No, that wasnt the right paradigm. They were maintaining their original state, and any dirt that wasnt imbedded or attached somehow would obviously fall off, while any that <em>was</em> imbedded or otherwise attached, would be pushed out and dislodged. The cleaning was a side effect, not a core function. <em>Fascinating.</em>


    She checked her knife and found it full. She also realized that it was full to the maximum level that shed pushed it to, at the most extreme. She blinked rapidly, trying to clear her eyes of sleep and she fully focused on her weapon. It was sitting beside where shed beenying, not in her hand.


    <em>I can check its levels and capacity without touching it.</em> Well, she supposed that her soul was always touching it, so that wasnt quite urate. <em>Still neat.</em> She smiled a bit to herself. <em>Not sure what it means, though</em>


    That chore done, she stood and began to roll up her bedding. As she did so, there was a muted <em>thump</em> from near where shed left Kit.


    T nced that way, and saw a dark-handled hammerying, propped against the belt pouch.


    <em>Oh! Ipletely forgot about the hammer.</em> She finished folding and rolling-up her travel bed and stuck it into Kit, before picking up the hammer.


    The metal of the handle was cool in her hand, and it seemed to fitfortably within her grasp. <em>I need to experiment with you, soon.</em> She was looking into the hammer with her mage-sight and saw that it was very low on power, like Kit had been, though not to the same extent.


    <em>Apparently, its functions are moreplicated than simply staying functional and intact, like an artifact knife.</em> She hesitated. <em>If I give it power, Im bonding it to my magic, and I cant sell it</em> She sighed. <em>And if I dont give it power, most likely it will be a mundane hammer before we reach Bandfast.</em>


    She gathered her power-flow once more and fed the hammer.


    Because her mage-sight was focused on the tool, she was able to see the ripple of magic wash over its surface before a strange echo seemed to sound from within it, sending a flick of power back to her. <em>Bonded. So, thats what it looks like.</em> She smiled, again.


    She topped off the hammer, then stood, tucking it back into Kit. Thanks, Kit. Id forgotten the hammer. I didnt intend to let it starve.


    The pouch did not respond.


    T unhooked the shield and climbed down thedder with it held in one arm. It was harder to stay bnced with such a burden, but she still did her best to follow the dictates that Guardsman Adam had set for her. As the oxen were sleeping inside this smaller portion of the caravan formation, Den had oriented thedder towards the outside. There was a bit of a different sense to climbing down on the outside of the caravan, and it left her feeling strangely exposed.


    Almost as a ward against that sense of exposure, she reached in and grabbed a bit of jerky, flicking it out, away from the wagon and into the early light.


    It arched for quite a ways before it disappeared in a flicker of dimensional power.<em> Werent watching closely. Eh, Terry?</em>


    Morning, Terry. She spoke softly, and she knew it was unlikely that the bird heard her, but it still seemed polite.


    The sky was just lightening towards dawn, and she was finally wide awake. So, she decided she might as well start her day.


    She charged the twenty cargo-slots, taking less than ten minutes toplete the task, even walking between the two wagons.


    She stretched her body, then exercised her magic, muscles, and soul.


    Feeling both deeply worked and invigorated, she took a good look around, verifying that no one was near, and that Den was still asleep. She was getting practiced enough with her mage-sight that she could tell if someone was sleeping heavily or lightly when she focused on them, and Den was sleeping deeply. The flow of innate power was more subdued in those who werent conscious. <em>Good.</em>


    She stripped out of the clothes shed worn for the night and for her exercises.


    Naked in the cool morning air, she undid her braid once more, pulled out the water incorporator, and quickly ran it over herself. She used a minor torrent of power to create a mild flow of water. She rinsed off the sweat gathered through the night and her morning exertions.


    The water was <em>cold</em>, but she didnt really mind. Her muscles were warm, and the cool water felt good along with the slight mountain breeze. <em>Amazing acquisition. Well done, T.</em> She felt immediately a bit guilty. <em>Thank you, Adrill and Artia.</em> They had given her the device, after all. She should find a way to thank them, when next she was in Alefast. <em>Hopefully, the ending-berries will be useful to them.</em>


    Thatplete, she ran theb back through her hair, dried herself, and found a pleasant surprise. A secondary effect of thebs magical untangling was that it stripped all the water from around her hair, thus almostpletely drying it with a single stroke. <em>That is dead useful.</em>


    Mostly dry and thoroughly enjoying the feel of the wind on her skin, she tamed her hair once more, then begrudgingly pulled on her travel leathers. <em>Modesty, T. You are naked too often as it is</em>


    She shifted and stretched to settle into the garments, then sighed, content. <em>Ok. Time for breakfast!</em> That thought keyed off a memory, and she realized that she likely shouldnt have gotten clean, yet. <em>Rust. I forgot. Im supposed to spar with Adam this morning.</em>


    * * *


    She found Adam stretching inside therger caravan ring. It was still too early for most of the passengers to be up and about, and most of the people who would likely bear witness were the guards, still on duty, and the servants or drivers who were early risers.


    Good morning, Mistress T. I trust you slept well?


    She smiled, setting her borrowed shield off to one side. Good morning, Adam. I did, thank you. She gestured towards the shield. And thank you, again, for letting me borrow that each night.


    He nodded. Happy to oblige. It is certainly better than you sleeping exposed, under the stars.


    Did you sleep well?


    As well as I ever do. He smiled brightly.


    d to hear that?


    Heughed. I did sleep well, yes.


    Good. She looked around, and didnt see any practice weapons, or padding, or anything else that had been standard for the academybat arenas. So how are we going to do this?


    Are you prepped to take damage?


    <em>Right!</em> She pulled out her iron sk and drank her daily cup of ending-berry juice, topping off her reserves of that power within herself. Yup.


    He gave her an odd look but didntment. So, then you attack me.


    I justattack you.


    He nodded.


    No advice, no training, no tactics, just me attacking you.


    Thats right. He held up his hand. No magic, no weapons though. I need to see what were working with. Ill give advice, suggestions, tactics, and training after each engagement, assuming we need multiple. Please tell me if we are taxing your defenses, as Id hate to actually damage you.


    She snorted augh. Ill keep that in mind.


    He gave a half-smile. See that you do.


    She lunged at him, not really expecting to catch him off guard. She didnt.


    She had her arms wide, going for a tackle.


    He punched her in the nose. Hard.


    There wasnt pain, precisely, just a fractional drop in her reserves of ending-berry power and a sure knowledge that her nose <em>should</em> be broken.


    The blow rocked her head backward, even as her body continued forward. The new opposing movement caused her feet toe out from under her, flipping her up, off of the ground, arms ying wildly.


    She struck the earth t on her back, and the wind was driven from her.


    Ow It didnt actually hurt, but it really, really felt like it should have, and there was another apanying downward tick in her reserves. Her vision was a bit fuzzy, though. <em>From the hit to the nose? Or my head smacking the ground? </em>She didnt know; she hadnt been focusing on her vision, between the two impacts.


    Adam stepped forward to stand over her, holding out his hand.


    She epted with a sigh, and he pulled her to her feet. Ok. This time, keep your guard up. He showed her how, cing his fists in front of his face, with his elbows tucked tightly against his own ribs.


    She mimicked the stance. It felt a bit awkward. She had never actually physically attacked someone. <em>Roughhousing with the littles doesnt count. </em>She shoved that thought aside; she was not going to think about her siblings.


    Ready? He smiled encouragingly.


    She nodded, clearing her mind. Ready.


    He hit her in the side of the head, staggering her towards her right. Then, as she stumbled that direction, he kicked her in that hip, driving her backwards and stealing what little bnce shed managed to retain. She dropped back to the ground.


    This time shended hard on her backside, before her momentum carried her backward onto her back. She did manage to tuck her head, so it was just her back that struck the earth.


    She stared up at the sky once more. <em>He is </em>fast<em>. Im barely seeing him move</em> It wasnt inscriptions, she was pretty sure that shed have noticed anything like that. He was just <em>very</em> well practiced and trained. She could focus on him and allow her mage-sight to give her greater perception and insight, but she felt like that might be cheating. <em>He said no magic</em>


    He helped her to her feet, again. So, do you know how to block?


    She nced at the ground, then back up at him. Evidence suggests: No. <em>Never really had to.</em>


    Heughed, and she found herself smiling along with him. Fair enough. Lets begin at the very beginning, then.


    He began helping her move through basic attacks and defenses, showing her how to position herself, and exining what parts of herself to engage at which point during the movement. It was a <em>lot</em> of information. Near the end of their short half-hour, she realized that if she focused on Adam with her mage-sight, while he was demonstrating a technique or movement, she could easily see exactly how he was aplishing it, what muscles were being engaged, and even how his bones were moving.


    It wasnt like looking at a biology reference guide. She couldnt see the muscles or other parts like a cadaver open on the table before her. It was more that she could see the way energy and power moved through the guardsman, and it gave hints and insights into how he was doing what he was doing.


    It helped a little.


    Finally, Adam gave her a small bow. I need to eat and take my post, my shift starts soon.


    She nodded in return. Thank you. Could we do another session after your shift?


    He thought for a moment, then nodded. I can do another half-hour or so, then I have some other tasks.


    That sounds wonderful. Thank you, Guardsman Adam.


    He smiled. I am happy to assist, Mistress T. I will see you this afternoon.


    He moved towards the chuckwagon, which had just opened its side wall in preparation for breakfast. The man wasnt even breathing hard, let alone sweating.


    T had considered herself in good shape, and truthfully, she was, but the new movements andrge number of repetitions left her feeling deeply sore. <em>Fine, a massage in Bandfast is a 100%, definite must.</em>


    She stepped between a pair of wagons, getting outside the formation as she moved back around towards Dens wagon. As she moved, she tried to stretch her worked muscles, hoping to find enough privacy for another quick rinse before seeking out her own breakfast.


    It was not to be. <em>Improvise, then.</em> She took her water incorporator and soaked her hair once again, letting it hang free. She wasnt out of everyones view, but there were few enough people around, moving about their tasks, that she didnt feel too on disy.


    She then dumped water from the magical device through each of the seven openings in her shirt and pants, sweeping the stream around herself the best she could. It was clumsy at best.


    That done, she used theb to de-tangle and dry her hair, then took a moment to focus. She strove to find the mental state that shed had yesterday, when enjoying the cool mountain breeze, and she willed herself to be dry.


    Now, she could not actually make herself dry any more than she could make herself cool, but the immortal elk leather of her clothing responded to her will, bing incredibly permeable to the nigh omni-present wind.


    T held her arms out wide, and the sun,bined with the wind, quickly evaporated the water that had clung to her.


    The process was incredibly sped up because of two factors. One, her hair was already dry. Two, the leather of her outfit, in keeping to its steady state, did not absorb any water, or allow any water to cling to it.


    Thus, it was as if she were only drying her skin.


    In five minutes, she was sufficiently waterless to seek breakfast. <em>That was not very efficient I need to find a better means of cleaning up, privately.</em>


    Her clothing shifted back to its standard fit, and she was acutely aware of the few ces that had not dried quite as well. She sighed. <em>Half-formed ideas get half-formed results.</em>


    She did her best to ignore the mild irritants, knowing they would dry in time; the magical clothing practically guaranteed it.


    <em>Speaking of magical clothing.</em> She directed power from her gate into her outfit as she walked, topping off both the tunic and pants.


    She was not thest to get her breakfast, but she was close.


    Good morning, Mistress T.


    Good morning, Brand.


    Did I see you fighting with Guardsman Adam?


    A few nearby people turned their way, clearly interested in what they thought theyd heard. No, Brand. We werent fighting. She leaned closer, speaking much more softly. Hes just showing me how to fight, without magic.


    Ahh, I see, my mistake. He spoke at a normal volume, and their audience mostly turned their attention away, disappointed. Sorry about that. I didnt actually think about how it would sound. He grinned widely, speaking as quietly as she had.


    Its fine. That looks fantastic.


    He gave her a searching look. You seemed to have an odd love of food, for a Mage.


    And you have an odd love of stabbing people, for a cook.


    He stiffened, responding in a stiff whisper. It was one time, and I was panicking. It was clearly an idiotic thing, even if Id seeded. He closed his eyes, shaking his head. Even if Id gotten away with it, it would have been horribly foolish.


    T groaned, rubbing her forehead. Im sorry, Brand. That was silly of me to bring up. I know you didnt really mean anything. You were just teasing.


    He snorted at that, the tension shattering. I <em>am</em> d it failed, to stab you I mean.


    <em>You did seed in that</em> But she knew what he meant.


    He smiled, changing the subject quite obviously. So? Why are you so food focused?


    Why cant a Mage enjoy the taste of good food?


    He cocked an eyebrow. Because if any of you put on weight, you could kill us all? Or am I misunderstanding.


    Sheughed. Its not quite that bad or dangerous. Besides, I use a <em>lot</em> of energy with my particr inscriptions.


    Really? Id thought that most of it came from your gate. He frowned, contemting.


    She shrugged. For many Mages, it does. And truthfully, mostes from mine as well, but my spell-lines are much more She hesitated, trying to think of the right word. Natural? Yeah, my spell-work integrates with my natural state much more than most Mages.


    I see; so that uses energy from the food you eat, then?


    Usually. She smiled. No need to risk it, right? Im not a Material Creator, after all.


    Heughed and gave her another helping of bacon beside her sausage, creamed grains, and pieces of fruit. Too true, Mistress. Enjoy!


    She paused, giving him an expectant look.


    Brand, for his part, pretended not to notice her, and began bustling around the chuckwagon.


    T rolled her eyes and cleared her throat.


    Oh! Youre still here? His mirthful smile highlighted his words as false.


    Come on, Brand. The fate of the caravan is in your hands.


    He snorted a chuckle and pulled out an earthenware jug, stoppered for easy transport. One ludicrous amount of coffee, ready and waiting.


    She grinned, catching up the jug. Thank you, Brand.


    Any time. Now, shoo! Ive work to be about.


    She waved awkwardly around her load of food and set off back to her wagon. She really wasnt interested in repeating the political awkwardness of the day before.


    She was about to squeeze between two wagons, to get outside therger circle, when she realized she was being foolish. She maneuvered just a bit and went to stick the jug of coffee into Kit.


    To her surprise, Kit was already open just the right amount to receive the jug. Wellfancy that. It made sense. She knew that Kit could manipte dimensionality around itself as a defensive mechanism, and that wasnt even considering how it could maneuver the items and space within itself. <em>Why shouldnt it be able to open on its own?</em> Well, not entirely on its own. It was acting at her will. Shed wanted to put the jug away, and it had responded.


    <em>But what of the hammer</em> She frowned.


    Now, with only her breakfast tray in hand, she continued moving out of the encircling wagons. <em>Kit maneuvered the hammer and disgorged it all on its own</em> She had been thinking of charging all her magic items. Was that enough for the pouch to work with? <em>Just like I wanted my items organized, but Kit seemed to arrange itself towards the best effect.</em>


    It was something further to research. Thankfully, it was quite well in line with many other topics she wanted more information on, so it wasnt really an added task. <em>Thank heavens for that.</em>


    She cleared the wagons and began walking around the formation, seeking her cargo wagon and afortable ce to sit and eat as the caravan got underway.


    The sun was bright, now that it peaked over the horizon, and she pulled out her wide-brimmed hat, cing it atop her head at an extreme angle to give her some respite from the early-morning re.


    All she wanted was a quiet breakfast, by herself, to sit and think, and decide how to spend the day. <em>Alone atst.</em>


    Mistress T! A familiar voice called to her.


    <em>Or not.</em>

 Chapter 55: Interruptions and Progress

    Chapter 55: Interruptions and Progress


    T turned, breakfast in hand, sweet solitude awaiting her atop Dens cargo wagon, behind. Ashin. Its been too long.


    The young man smiled as he jogged up to stop beside her. Good morning, Mistress T.


    Good morning. She waited for a moment, but when he didnt say anything further, she smiled. What can I do for you? <em>Sohungry</em>


    Did I see you sparring with Guardsman Adam earlier?


    She shrugged. Sort of. It seemed more like him throwing me to the ground, and then telling me how I should have avoided it. She smiled weakly.


    Oh okay. He nced over his shoulder, then back. So, if you need another sparring partner, I have a different shift than Adam, and Id be happy to help.


    <em>Oh! Thats actually a kind offer.</em> Thank you, Ashin, thats kind of you. She hesitated. Do you know the methods that Adam uses? It might slow down my progress if I get differing information.


    He waved that away. In a sparring partner, differing styles can actually be really helpful, past a certain point. But thats not what youre asking. Adam was actually one of my teachers, before he started taking breaks from his role as a trainer to pull caravan duty. Ive not seen him in a few years. A happy smile settled onto his face. Im d to have had this journey to catch up, actually.


    Im d to hear it. She nced down at her food, then back to Ashin. <em>It could be really nice to keep progressing</em> Yes.


    Yes?


    Yes. Not now, obviously. She slightly lifted her tray to indicate that she was about to eat. Are you free inan hour?


    Definitely! Yeah. Ille to the wagon? It would probably be interesting, fighting on a moving surface.


    Yeah. She was suddenly a bit uncertain. Ill see you, then.


    He nodded, waved, and went on his way.


    Huh. That might work out well. She turned and finished the trek to her wagon. She climbed just enough that she was able to slip the tray onto the roof above her when another voice called out to her.


    Mistress T!


    <em>You have to be rusting kidding me.</em> She sighed, making sure the tray was secure on top of the wagon before climbing back down to face her new oster. Master Rane?


    Rane stopped just out of arms reach and gave a shallow bow. Good morning, Mistress T.


    Good morning, Master Rane.


    They stood for a moment in frustrated and awkward silence.


    Finally, T cleared her throat. Can I help you with something?


    Oh! Right. Yes. Did I see a guardsman throwing you around, earlier?


    <em>Was the whole caravan watching?</em> She sighed, again. Ive no way of knowing what you saw or didnt see, but I am learning to fight, yes.


    Why?


    Because if one is bad at something, one very rarely seeds. If I fight, I want to win. She took a deep breath, closing her eyes for a moment. <em>T, youve no idea why hes here. Give the man a moment.</em> Why do you ask?


    He was frowning. Most active magic is focused on ranged engagement. Why do you want to fight anything up close?


    I dont want to. She purposely did <em>not</em> recall the instance of pping a thunder bull upside the head with an ending stick. I am learning so that if it happens, Im not an open extract over the fire.


    A what?


    She shook her head. A fish out of water?


    Ahh.


    They stood for another long moment, T thinking about her cooling breakfast. So?


    Oh! So, if you are learning close up fighting, Id love to spar sometimes. Id be a terrible teacher, but it would be fun to test each other at some point.


    Well, Im very much just starting, so youd likely destroy me, but maybe?


    Master Grediv always says that attrition is the best teacher.


    He sounds lovely. <em>Maybe, I dont want to maintain contact with that man. He sounds like kind of a jerk.</em> She almost snorted augh. <em>He </em>was<em> kind of a jerk.</em>


    Oh, hes alright. After I got used to being thrown intobat, it was actually kind of fun. He smiled, but there was a hint of sadness there. Oh! I forgot. Did I hear you mention, to Master Trent, that you are interested in harvests?


    She perked up. Yes. Why?


    Well, to tell the truth, Ive been missingbatIs there anything in particr youd like?


    She thought of Terry and grinned. Yes, actually. Id love all the thunder bull meat you could help me acquire.


    Thunder bull thats an arcanous beast, right? Sounds like it would be fun. He grinned in turn. If I see one, Ill take it down for you. Ill have to look it up, to make sure I dont endanger the caravan or myself, but when I can, Ill see whats possible.


    Thank you! She felt giddy at that. She wasnt burning through her jerky stores <em>too</em> fast, but she still saw the end of that road as all too close, and she did <em>not</em> want to find out what would happen if Terry no longer received jerky bribes. <em>I need to verify with Brand that hell jerk more meat for me</em> Truly, thank you.


    He gave a shortugh. I havent done it yet, but youre wee. Youll let me know if you want to spar?


    I will. She thought for a second, then rified. Let you know, that is. Ill let you know if I want to. Thank you.


    He smiled, ignoring, or not noticing, her awkwardness. Sounds like a n. Ill leave you to it. Well be rolling out soon, and Im rear-guard today. Ride safe!


    She waved as he turned to go. You too, I suppose.


    She was up thedder quickly, and she only waited long enough to getfortably seated before she began devouring her breakfast. She was so hungry her head hurt, and to her irritation, the headache remained, even after she ate the provided food, washing it down with water from her incorporator.


    Despite the pain in her head, she wanted to be productive. <em>Another set!</em>


    She moved through her spiritual exercises, pulling the knife to herself from twenty, fifteen, ten, and five feet. She was able to do four repetitions from both twenty and fifteen feet, but she wore out on the third at ten and five feet. <em>Progress is progress.</em>


    Her head hurt worse, so she drank some more water. <em>What now, what now. Hmmmm</em>


    She stood and moved through the techniques that Adam had shown her, allowing her mage-sight to guide her into as perfect a replication of his movements as possible. <em>He said repetition was key. I need to have these movements be my default.</em>


    As she was working, Den hooked up the oxen, climbed up, gave her a happy wave, and started them on their way for the day.


    For each technique, she performed the movement a hundred times on one side, slow enough to ensure she was doing it right. Then, she did it a hundred more as quickly as she could, focusing on speed over perfect technique. Then she switched sides. <em>Just as Adam suggested.</em>


    That was not quite urate. Adam had suggested that she do each movement three times fast, and then three times slow, to each side. <em>A hundred is better.</em>


    After shed done all the basic techniques in the same manner, she was feeling <em>very</em> worked and quite a bit warm.


    Her outfit had rxed, allowing the cool air to flow around her more easily and that helped. Her wide-brimmed hat helped, too.


    She sat, drinking deeply via the incorporator, and breathing as evenly and deeply as she could manage, ensuring that she kept with a quick exhale. <em>Very nice, T. You can do this!</em>


    Now what?


    <em>Archon star.</em> She decided that the creation of the star in her finger was the most pleasant way she knew of, for the moment, so she began moving her power in that direction.


    She opened her gate wide and began guiding all her iing power into her finger, forming the spell-shape within a bit of blood, right near the skin of her left ring finger.


    She pulled against her gate, not allowing the extra power she wanted toe from her reserves, around her keystone. <em>Thats likely whats been exhausting me.</em> Instead, she moved the power directly from her gate to the star, doing her utmost to pull as much as possible.


    It was mentally exhausting, taking much more of her concentration than when she allowed some of the power toe from her reserves. When she did that, shed let her gate refill those reserves even as she pulled the power free.


    Her flow rate wacking. That said, it felt like her gate was a muscle, and her efforts were forcing it further open. <em>Im rting many things back to muscr exercise Its like studying? No. Thats idiotic. Muscr exercise is a perfectly fine way to conceive of this.</em>


    <em></em>To her surprise, she was making monumental progress. As if shed never really tried to force it open before. <em>Thats not true. Ive forced it open lots of times</em> She hesitated, trying to search back through her memory with the little bit of mental space not otherwise engaged. <em>A few times?</em>


    She thought further. <em>A couple of times, and never for more than a moment</em> It was no wonder that her gate was responsive. It had basically been a passive part of her magical ability that she simply allowed to refill the vast reserves within her. <em>That was foolish of me</em>


    As a result, even though her gate began with little more than a stream, she quickly got it much closer to a healthy flow, and she was building the Archon star at a rate slightly faster than thest one shed done, without exhausting her reserves. <em>This is SO much better!</em>


    Now that the spell-form was established, and her gate was thrown wide, the power was almost moving on its own, requiring very little of her will, and therefore mental power, to continue.


    She let out a long, slow, contented breath. There we go. She took a moment of that freedom to delve into herself, feeling out her gate with her mage-sight.


    To her surprise, it actually seemed like the gate, itself, naturally wanted to be open. Just as muscles usually wanted to rx. To open it, she was fighting years of something akin to cramping, due tock of use. Additionally, she was working against her own keystone, which was designed to prevent her gate from tearing open irreparably. <em>That would be bad</em>


    Without that restriction, it was technically possible for a Mage to turn their entire being into an open gate, thus obliterating themselves and leaving behind a hurricane of power without end. It was a major task to shut those down when they were found. At least that was Ts understanding.


    Thankfully, as far as T knew, no Mage had sumbed to that sort of ident since the invention of modern keystones, some five hundred years ago. <em>Score another one for research and rigor.</em>


    With the keystone in ce, she did have to fight against it, mentally, but it also meant that anything she aplished would be safe. It was a tradeoff, but extra effort was well worth the removal of that risk.


    At her current rate, she would need to keep this up for one hundred hours to make an archon star powerful enough to meet Gredivs expectations. <em>Not likely</em> Still, she determined that shed keep it up for as long as possible, keeping her efforts on increasing her rate of flow through her gate.


    She found that she had enough mental space to continue some light reading and note-taking. So, she forwent her biology review for the time being.


    She considered throwing some meat for Terry but didnt want to draw attention to him. <em>Ill give you a treat tonight, buddy. </em>Thus, she passed the morning.


    * * *


    Noon was fast approaching, and she was at her limit, even with the easier method.


    Throughout the morning, her gate had continued to open wider, though at an ever-slower rate. If she had to guess, she was drawing through at close to double the rate that shed funneled into the most recent Archon star. <em>And nearly four hours to boot. </em>She was hoping for a star that was at least three times as potent as herst attempt.


    She carefully removed an iron vial and a non-magical knife from Kit. Maintaining her concentration, she withdrew her myriad defensive and regenerative abilities from her finger before pricking the surface and letting the drop fall free.


    As it was breaking free, she rxed, happy to havepleted the effort, and she felt a <em>tearing</em> sensation. It felt like someone had filled her body with spiders webs and then pulled them all out at once, through her left ring finger.


    Virtually all of her reserves were gone in an instant, though the ending-berry power remained untouched.


    Weariness pped her upside the head, and she was barely able to stay conscious enough to catch the drop in the vial, cap it, and return the vial and knife to her pouch.


    <em>Well done, T, way to lose focus in the eleventh hour.</em>


    She groaned, curling up in a ball and sumbing to sleep.


    * * *


    T awoke, sitting up with a groan.


    Her eyes were stuck shut with sleep, and she rubbed them to clear the crustiness.


    She blinked into full wakefulness, looking out at ate afternoon sky. <em>Well, rust.</em>


    Den turned to look at her, and he smiled. Hello! Guardsmen Adam and Ashin each stopped by, separately, and asked me to let you know such. Brand left you that. He nodded towards a new tray of food, though it was cold, now. And he took away your breakfast tray. He also said that hed have refilled your coffee jug, if he could find it. He smiled back at her.


    Oh, no! Do you know where the Guardsmen are now?


    Den shrugged. On duty, or asleep, Id wager.


    T sighed, feeling quite guilty. <em>I cant believe I missed our sparring and training times</em> Thank you, Den. <em>And thank you, Brand.</em> She yawned. I didnt mean to sleep.


    Heughed, turning forward. Youre doing something wrong then, Mistress.


    She grinned ruefully, even though she knew he couldnt see. Youre not wrong.


    She pulled the food towards herself and ate without really noticing what it was. She had a vague sense that it was good, but that was really all. <em>Coffee</em> She was irritated that he hadnt brought more. <em>Why didnt he</em> Her eyes widened. <em>WellI forgot.</em>


    She reached into Kit and pulled out the full jug of coffee that Brand had given her that morning. To her surprise, it was hot. <em>How is that possible?</em> She looked down at Kit. Are you a perfect instor? On some level, that made sense. The pouch could nearly perfectly iste items, thus preserving them in an almost steady state.


    The pouch did not respond.


    <em>Oh, well.</em> The earthenware was actually quite hot to the touch, likely fully equalized with the coffee it contained. She bore through the difort and drank deeply, washing herte lunch down with gusto.<em> Thats </em>so<em> much better.</em>


    Thank you, Kit.


    Kit did not respond.


    T stood and stretched. <em>Right, so dont lose focus at the end or the stupid Archon star will take everything it can on the way out.</em> She pulled out the iron vial and opened it, looking in with enough focus to key off her mage-sight.


    The star was radiating at least four times the power of any of her previous stars, and she felt ecstatic at the discovery. True, a chunk of that had been because of her mistake at the end, and she was <em>not</em> going to replicate that, but it still meant that she was improving, quickly.


    That verified, she stored the vial and went through her exercises: Muscr, spiritual, magical, and martial. It was bing a lengthy regimen.


    Now done, and feeling very content in her efforts, she sat down to empower her items. She fed Kit up to nearly bursting, topped off her clothing and the hammer, and finally, she decided to increase the knifes capacity. <em>I need to find a name for you at some point.</em> Perhaps, it would be wisest to wait until the knife demonstrated what it could really do. <em>Yeah, you should earn a name. </em>She smiled at that.


    In a very simr process to creating the Archon star, T opened her gate wide, and channeled the power directly into the knife, though she didnt form the power, or otherwise attempt to influence it beyond that. She didnt have to be touching the weapon, so she left it sitting a few feet from her.


    It didnt feel any different or harder than giving the knife power when it was in her hand, but she thought it couldnt hurt. <em>Best case, this is a bit harder, and its good exercise.</em>


    <em></em>The knife had started with a rtively weak Archon star, mainly because the stars she was creating were incredibly weak. Thankfully, as Grediv had assured her, she found that she could increase the power of the connection, and thus the power residing within the knife, simply by giving the tool an influx of magic.


    The power she gave was more effective than when she built it into an Archon star. Thus, over the next hour she pushed the knifes capacity to almost double its previous capacity. <em>Not sure why thats useful, but yeah! Progress.</em>


    As she was finishing up, she let out a contented sigh, and got Dens attention. Anything else eventful happen?


    Den nced back at her, then hesitated. You did have one other visitor, but he asked me not to tell youa few things. He took a deep breath and let it out. Mistress, I understand that, because Im here it makes sense for me to pass along messages as such, but it really isnt my job. He gave a sympathetic look. Im not cut out to be a footman or servant or anyone who has to make potentially political decisions. He frowned.


    Den! Im so sorry. I never meant for you to be a message service, or anything like that.


    He waved her away. Oh, I know. Thats not what I meant. I mean that: Ive information that I would normally simply tell you, but Ive been asked to not do so by someone I dont really know.


    It was Ts turn to frown. Is someone ordering you about, Den?


    Not really. He let out an exasperated sigh. Please just Take your dishes to Brand. Yes? Hell handle it better than I will


    T smiled and patted him on the shoulder before climbing down thedder. I will, Den. Thank you, and Im sorry.


    Its fine, its fine. Juststop having so many suitors, maybe?


    She colored. Den. It isnt like that. Brand and Adam are both married!


    He shook his head. But the other two gentlemen dont seem to be. Though, if their actions are any indication, theyre open to the idea.


    Blushing further, T cleared her throat. Im not addressing that She nced back towards Den, seeingughter dancing in his eyes, though he had the good grace to not give voice to it. <em>I guess I shouldnt hold his good humor against him </em>If there is ever anything I can do for you, please let me know?


    I will. Thank you, Mistress.

 Chapter 56: A Talented Teacher

    Chapter 56: A Talented Teacher


    T smiled and nodded to Den, before dropping down without another word and walking back down the moving caravan, to the chuckwagon.


    She knocked on the door and almost immediately Brand ripped it open, eye twitching just slightly. Yes?


    T almost jumped back but prevented herself from doing so. She nced at the oxen, somewhat close behind her. <em>That would have been unfortunate.</em> Brand? Whats going on?


    He let out an irritated breath. Oh, Mistress T. Good, youre here. Pleaseplease step up.


    She stepped up, onto the wagons back stair, and looked inside. Within the wagon, T saw several other cooks all working feverishly. <em>So, there are more than three cooks this trip.</em> You look busy.


    He gave her a t look. Your suitor has put demands on our time.


    T looked at Brand in confusion. Say again?


    Your suitor. The boy interested in you. The man who is making my life irritatinglyplex with too-reasonable-to-refuse requests.


    She continued to give him a look of nonprehension.


    Brand groaned. Master Rane, Mistress.


    T reddened, though she couldnt have said if it was with embarrassment or irritation. Hes not my suitor!


    Oh? Well, you might want to rify that then. Most men dont do this for someone they arent interested in.


    She felt herself coloring, again. What happened?


    Well, apparently Master Rane got the idea that you were interested in thunder bulls.


    Her eyes widened. Oh, no <em>What did he do?</em>


    Oh, yes. He cocked an eyebrow at her.


    She swallowed. Go on.


    Well, he took it upon himself to cleanly decapitate a small herd of the bovine: Six, in all.


    Did we harvest them? T looked around in confusion, seeing if the carcasses might still be within range.


    Oh, dont you worry, Mistress. He has a dimensional bag sized for, and I quote: Large things I might find useful,ter. He stuffed them all in that sack and brought them along. Brand pointed at a clearly inscribed leather duffel bag, resting on one counter within the chuckwagon.


    Why is it here, then?


    Well. He gave her an exasperated look. You were apparently napping and missed his heroics. So, he consulted with Master Trent, and the good Master Trent let the indomitable Master Rane know that you had worked with us to process your previous acquisitions. He came here right away and enlisted us to process the meat: As Mistress T has requested in the past.


    Brand, Im so sorry. I can pay for the processing <em>How much is that going to cost? </em>A momentter, another thought came to her. <em>How much jerky is that going to produce?</em>


    Brand waved her away. He granted us all non-meat parts of the beast as payment.


    She hesitated. <em>Ohwow. Thats a </em>lot<em> of money</em> That sounds wonderful for you. Why are you irritated? <em>Whats the catch? I should have told him I was interested in all of the bull, not just the meat</em>But she didnt really want hand-outsdid she?


    He threw up his hands. Do you know how to process close to five thousand pounds of meat? I cant let it rot; I cant turn him down, because youre right, this is a treasure trove! And there is no way Im alienating someone so willing to give us harvests. He gave her a look. But teach that boy some moderation.


    She cleared her throat. He said he missedbat and would be happy to get some harvests, if it was convenient.


    Well, it seems to have rusting been convenient. He leaned back against the doorframe and sighed wearily. Im a minerining that the gold seam is toorge.


    T smiled consolingly, patting him on the arm. At least we both get a lot from this, yes?


    He eyed her warily. Why do you think we can process all of this?


    Aside from your implications? She gave him a knowing smile. Because you clearly have some magic augmentations you dont want to admit to. She gave a mischievous grin. I cane into the chuckwagon and-


    Nope! He blocked her. Youre fine out there.


    You know, I was in there on the trip up, when my arm was broken.


    And did you think to look around? He gave her a sly grin.


    She hesitated. <em>No, I didntwhy was that? </em>Why didnt I feel any desire to look around the inside of your wagon, Brand?


    We all have our secrets.


    She pulled out the token for the order of the harvest, but Brand just snorted. Put that away. Im under a contract of indenture that bars me from sharing. Take it up with the Culinary Guild.


    Are they involved in the Order?


    I cannot discuss that. But he gave her a rather patronizing look, which made the answer obvious.


    Fair enough. So, when can I expect my jerky?


    He eyed her. You know, youre lucky we carry spices in bulk.


    That doesnt sound like a timeline. She spoke with a bit of sing-song yfulness.


    Heughed. Itll be done by the time we reach Bandfast. He held up a finger. Dont let him bring us anymore. Id kill myself before turning him down, and it would likely kill <em>us</em> to try to process it all before it goes bad.


    She grinned. Fair. Ill let him know.


    She turned to go, but Brand touched her shoulder. Mistress?


    Yeah?


    In all seriousness, talk to the boy. This is no small thing hes just done for you, and I dont want you to be maneuvered into something, because you didnt consider what was happening.


    She slowly nodded. Ill see what I can do.


    That burden added, Brand smiled, waved, and closed the door.


    Feeling both ted and deeply uncertain, T turned back towards the front of the caravan. <em>GreatMore to figure out.</em>


    * * *


    T absently flicked a bit of jerky out, away from the caravan, noting how quickly it flickered from existence. <em>I wonder how he does that. Does he transport in and out so quickly? He cant move things other than himself, else hed be behaving differently. Can he open portals?</em> That was a bit of a disturbing thought, though she didnt really know all the ramifications. <em>And, I doubt he can, anyways.</em>


    She sighed, shaking her head. <em>No, I watched him flicker away and back to avoid a crossbow bolt. Hes just that fast.</em>


    T grinned at a sudden realization. <em>My role here is as a dimensional Mage, and Ive been doing strange exercises and workings all over the ce. No one is going to bat an eye, if they notice the dimensional flickers of power.</em>


    She tossed another chunk. Interestingly, it arced for longer before vanishing. <em>Didnt think Id send another so soon, eh?</em> She felt her burdens lighten, just a bit, as her smile settled in, and she exhaled a quick, rxing breath. <em>Things are looking up, T. Dont focus on the negative.</em>


    That, of course, caused her mind to shift towards the tasks before her, when she got home.


    <em>I have to make my first payment towards my debt.</em> Theyd let her dy, if she wanted, but it would invoke interest. Thankfully, her debts were such that interest was only added if she skipped a payment. <em>Yup, if I cant pay my debt, I now owe more!</em> Even so, she was grateful. She knew that many loans rued interest regardless.


    <em>So, the first payment is two gold, and I have another week and a half, give or take, before it is due, or I gain interest.</em> She could pay it now, well, as soon as she got to Bandfast. That would set the start date for her repayment. A minimum of two gold per month for just over twenty years. <em>Ill be paying it off faster than that.</em>


    She owed Holly at least eight ounces, gold, so shed finish Ts inscriptions. With the other items shed asked Holly to investigate and possibly add on top, not to mention her use of her active magics, shed be surprised if she didnt owe at least another three. <em>Probably more</em>


    <em>So, twelve ounces to Holly. I have almost twenty-two ounces, now, and Ill get another five and a half when we reach Bandfast.</em> Almost twenty-eight ounces, gold. That was a ridiculous amount of wealth, if the world had been as shed seen it, while still a child.


    <em>Not enough.</em> It wasnt even a tenth of her debt. <em>Come on, T. Youre only on your second contract, and youve gathered this much? If you keep on at this rate, youll have your debts paid off in a year.</em>


    That was likely a bit too optimistic, especially with the time shed need for her body to adjust to the deeperyers of inscriptions. Plus, winter was just around the corner, and that would make contracts take longer, but not really pay more. <em>Plus, the inscriptions themselves need to be refreshed</em>


    Even so, somehow, it almost looked like she might be able to do this in just more than a year. <em>Unbelievable.</em>


    Her smile returned. <em>See that, stupid self? Try to depress me, and I find the way through.</em>


    She was walking alongside the caravan and almost back to the front wagon. Youre talking to yourself again, T. She shook her head. You desperately need some closer travelingpanions.


    That brought Rane to mind. <em>Both Brand and Den seem to think hes trying to court me, or something</em>


    As she neared her wagon, she saw someone standing on top of it. Their eyes met, and Adam waved.


    She picked up the pace and caught up quickly, pulling herself up to stand beside him.


    Hello, Mistress T. I was afraid that Id missed you.


    She shook her head. No, I apologize, Adam. I didnt know when youd be free, and I had business to attend to. Ready?


    Are you sufficiently stretched?


    She sighed. No, not really


    Good enough. He punched at her.


    Surprised, she didnt have time to think. Even so, the motions that shed practiced more than four hundred times that day came quickly, though they still felt a bit awkward and her arms were <em>tired.</em>


    She blocked, stepping back and to her right, moving herself out of the line of attack even while she moved the line of attack the opposite direction.


    Adams eyes widened, but he didnt stop. He swept at her feet.


    She stepped back, resisting the urge to attempt hopping over, Adams words echoing in her mind. <em>Dont jump if you dont have to. Once you go ballistic, you are incredibly easy to predict and attack.</em> Adam, apparently, defined going ballistic as any time she waspletely airborne.


    What followed was a series of attacks that T did her best to avoid or block. To her surprise, she seeded. As it continued, however, she realized that Adam was not going at full speed. Instead, he was moving just fast enough to force <em>her</em> to react as quickly as she was able.


    She focused, calling on her mage-sight to give her an edge.<em> He didnt say no magic, this time.</em>


    Immediately, she was able to better anticipate his attacks and tell which of them were feints.


    Adam clearly noticed her improvement, because he picked up the pace, though his rxed demeanor indicated that he was still holding back considerably. Finally, he moved to full speed, or near enough, and quickly overwhelmed her attempts to deflect him, and he drove her to the wagons roof with a punishing kick to the inside of her right knee.


    As she dropped, he struck her across the left cheek, spinning her away tond, sprawling, on her stomach.


    Good. Great even!


    She could hear the smile in his voice as she spun back around, trying to recover her feet to attack, but the world was <em>not</em> cooperating, and she was having a hard time focusing on him.


    Hold, Mistress.


    She paused, her gaze finally locking onto her target and the world steadying. She was crouched and ready to spring. She fully processed his words, rxed, and stood.


    He was nodding. You have improved remarkably. Id not be surprised if you told me youd been training for a month, if not a little more. He smiled. Youd still lose most fights against an untrained man, but were working on it. Strength and reach disparities are hard to ovee.


    She grunted. Both Guardsman Ashin and Mage Rane have offered to spar with me. Do you think that would help?


    Adam seemed to consider. Ashin, yes. Hes a goodd. Top of his ss. He grinned. Which is why hes allowed to be a caravan guard. The smile faded just a bit. Rane? I dont know I think theres a good chance of him killing you outright.


    She blinked. In a sparring match?


    You missed his little encounter with the thunder bulls. He shook his head. I genuinely dont know which hurt them more, when they managed to strike him, or when he struck back. His magic seems aimed at close-quartersbat, and his sword is perfect for it.


    <em>Sword? I havent seen him with a sword.</em> Is that handle on his belt the sword?


    Adam nodded. The de seems to be in a dimensional storage space of some kind. The entire weapon is wooden, but whatever magics it has dont seem to rely on the materials properties. He shrugged. Im probably being too paranoid. If he offered to spar with you, he likely has a method of doing so non-lethally. Ill leave it up to you. Even so, Id rmend against it, until you have the fundamentals down, else he might influence you in dangerous ways.


    Would it help?


    If you arent injured or killed, yes. But again, only once you have a solid basis.


    <em>Okay, then.</em> It would be nice to have more ways to improve. Alright then.


    Adam nodded once. Lets review. I want to tweak your techniques a bit. It looks like youre trying to move like He hesitated, frowning. You are trying to move exactly like me. How are you even doing that?


    She shrugged. Is how really important? Yes, though. I am trying to move like you showed me.


    He shook his head. No, no, that isnt right. I think I see the issue, then. Though again, Ive no idea how you got there. Your body is different, so the techniques need to be altered to amodate the differences between our shapes, our physiology.


    She nodded, understanding. Like spell-lines. To get the same result, we need slightly different forms, because of our differing structure.


    I suppose? He shrugged. Im no Mage.


    Alright, then. Lets get to work.


    * * *


    Adam stayed past the half hour hed promised, but not by much. He made sure to go back through each of the techniques hed taught her and shift them to take advantage of her own shape, her own body, while negating the difficulties of the same.


    They said goodbye, and he departed, leaving her to practice, which she did.


    She again went through every movement on each side, but now, she did two hundred slow repetitions and only one hundred fast, always in groups of three. Two slow, one fast.


    Slow. Slow. Fast.


    In that manner, she was able to draw her use of the techniques to match what Adam had changed. She was surprised at how much of a difference it made. The movements quickly went from awkward, hitching movements, to the kinesthetics feeling incredibly natural. <em>He is a talented teacher.</em>


    It also thoroughly and utterly exhausted her.


    In the end, shey panting on the roof of the wagon, limbs spread wide, incorporator clutched in her right hand.


    She drank whenever she could calm her breathing enough to allow it.


    Her clothes had amodated her elevated activity and temperature by allowing the cool breeze to reach her. It helped.


    Good clothes. She was <em>not </em>going to name an outfit. <em>That way lies pretension and pomposity.</em>


    She was syed out, head towards the front of the wagon and thedder, when she heard someone clear their throat.


    She moved her hat off of her face and looked up to see Ashin peaking over the edge.


    Mistress T?


    She did her best to spin around,ing up into a seated position facing him. She mostly seeded. Guardsman Ashin!


    May e up?


    Den huffed augh, but T ignored him, and hoped that it had been quiet enough that Ashin hadnt heard. Of course. What can I do for you? Her breathing was basically back to normal.


    Ashin came up and sat. Well, I came by to spar earlier, and you were so focused that you didnt notice, so I assumed that I shouldnt disturb you. He nced away, seeming a bit embarrassed. When I came back after that, you were sleeping.


    T colored. Oh! Im so sorry, Ashin. You were kind enough to offer me help, then I left you unable to give it.


    He smiled hesitantly. I understand. Youve a lot going on. Do you still need a sparring partner?


    She opened her mouth to say no, given how worn she felt, but then hesitated. <em>Ill have to fight tired sometimes</em> It was possible she was pushing too hard, but she didnt allow herself to consider that. Sure! She stood, only swaying a little with the motion of the wagon.


    Ashin gave her a skeptical look. Are yousure?


    She nodded, giving him ae at me motion with her hands, now raised in a fighting guard. <em>Hey! I didnt have to remember to do that. They did it on their own. Good hands!</em> She was feeling a bit lightheaded, but it seemed to be passing. You wont be able to hurt me, so let me see what you can do.


    Ashin seemed a bit hesitant but shrugged. If you insist.


    T saw his next movements as if in slow motion. He tucked his front leg up and into his own chest, then drove his heel outward. <em>Oh! Thats a sidekick.</em>


    To her great surprise, T was able to sweep his kick to the side, intercepting and redirecting it. Unfortunately, she wasnt quite fast or strong enough. His heel struck her in the chest, up near her left shoulder and knocked her backwardsoff of the roof.


    She squeaked in surprise, even as his eyes went wide in horror.


    Ashin lunged forward and caught her iling hand, arresting her fall. Her heels were still on the roof, though much of her was out over the edge.


    <em>How did he move from kicking me to catching me?</em> Despite the question, she didnt argue, clinging to his hand as he pulled her back.


    Sorry about that. I wasnt thinking about what might be behind you. He looked down and away. That was foolish of me.


    T let go of his hand, turning to look at the edge of the roof. She then looked back, meeting the eyes of the driver behind Dens wagon. He had a look of utter bafflement. <em>Hes had quite the show, today. Im basically on a stage, in front of him</em> She hadnt really considered that either. WellGood kick?


    Ashinughed self-consciously. That was a pretty good block. If you had allowed your shoulder to move more freely, it would have been perfect.


    Move my shoulder?


    He nodded. Its a hard subtlety to practice, alone. You know how you twist your torso with the block?


    Yeah, it gives power and strength to it.


    Well, your torso can be loose before you turn, only tightening for that movement. If you hadnt been tensing, youd have just been pushed into a twist, moving out of the way when I hit you. It might have hurt, but it wouldnt have unbnced you very much.


    Huh. She thought back to how shed been moving, considering. Im holding in the transition positions very stiffly It seemed that just knowing how to position herself wasnt enough. <em>I need all the right muscles tense or rxed in the right sequence to properly execute the movement.</em> It was a bit daunting.


    Ashin smiled. Honestly, though, that one movement seemed well done.


    She gave him a t look. Now, youre just patronizing me.


    He held up his hands. Maybe, but I dont think so.


    She growled irritably. Fine. Again. She nced over the edge. Maybe no high kicks?


    Heughed. I did that because its slower and easier to block. <em>Never</em> kick above the waist in a real fight. He hesitated. Well, unless you have a really, <em>really</em> good reason.


    She shrugged. Seems fair. Her guard came up, and she advanced.

 Chapter 57: Right! The Hammer

    Chapter 57: Right! The Hammer


    More than an hourter, T felt like she couldnt lift her head, let alone her arms, and shey, sprawled on the roof of the wagon once more.


    This was not her first break.


    While she recovered, Ashin stretched and drank from a waterskin that hed brought. Youre improving, but I think you might be overdoing it.


    She groaned. The ending-berries, it seemed, did not prevent her from working the muscles. <em>That would have been a disaster. No, you cant get stronger while were here!</em> Though, the muscles did seem to be prevented from tearing. <em>Thats useful. I cant overwork themat least not in that way.</em>


    To her surprise, the ending-berries power had been draining away at a steady, if miniscule, rate over the past hour, and when she investigated, during one of her gasping respites, shed found that the power was being funneled through her regenerative spell-forms and reflected away from her skin, into her muscles, causing them to recover in minutes from what should have taken days.


    <em>And thats a secondary effect. I cant wait until the muscles, themselves, are inscribed and are powered properly.</em>


    Even so, she was at her limit. <em>One more.</em> She tried to sit up. She failed.


    Den called back. Were about to make camp, so expect a bit more side-to-side movement from the wagon pretty soon.


    T waved his way, or at least she tried. Her hand mainly just flopped a bit at her side. Thank you, Den. I guess we have to call it a day, eh?


    Ashin snorted augh. Honestly, I expected us to be done nearly an hour ago?


    She red at him. You think so little of me?


    He held up his hands catingly. Not at all. Sparring is really taxing. And what were doing it closer to full on fighting. You can take hits; Ill give you that. Id say it was your magic, but I dont see any spell-forms active. He genuinely sounded impressed. They would be glowing right? Like when that nt attacked you? Or the thunder bull?


    You are quite right. No glowing, no magicfor the most part. She pulled out her sk and took a drink. <em>An extra cup, today, wont kill me.</em> Liquid courage.


    He gave her a t look. There is no way youre drunk. He sniffed the air. Theres no alcohol in that at all.


    What are you, some sort of bloodhound?


    He grunted, standing from where hed been stretching. Want help up?


    Dont you dare.


    He grinned down at her. Im going to go get cleaned up. My shift starts after dinner.


    She groaned rolling over and pushing herself up into a seated position. How are you not exhausted?


    Well, I wasnt just kicked, punched, thrown, and ced into innumerable locks and holds. He shook his head. You <em>really</em> should have at least a few bruises. I was trying to pull my hits, but Im not perfect at that.


    She shrugged. Ill be fine. That doesnt answer my question, though; you were moving at least as much as I was. <em>Slippery rust bucket.</em> I didnt even get a single solid hit on you.


    He grinned at that. Younded a few ncing blows. You are improving much faster than normal. He gave her a questioning look, but when she didnt respond, he shrugged. As to my weariness? Training. Lots and lots of training. I ran twenty miles each day that we were in Alefast, as a warm-up. This is my job, Mistress T. I have to be able to fight for as long as it takes to keep this caravan safe. He hesitated. What did you do, while we were in Alefast?


    She sighed, thinking of the ending-berry grove. Mostly hunted up tasty food.


    He snorted anotherugh. There you go. He shrugged. This is known as a safer route, and we still had fighting almost every day. You might be aware, but some arcanous creatures can take hours to bring down. They arent tough enough to warrant the expense of Mage involvement, so we have to be able to go toe-to-toe with them and bring victory. They arent verymon, but we have to be ready.


    <em>That sounds horrible.</em> Well, you seem well suited to it.


    He smiled gratefully, seeming to stand a bit straighter. Ive really got to go.


    She waved goodbye. Thank you, Ashin.


    He simply nodded, climbing down thedder.


    A minute or so after Ashin had departed, Den turned to nce her way. Sonot a suitor?


    She glowered. No, Den.


    A small smile was evident across his features. You spend more than an hour getting sweaty with a man, and you want me to believe theres nothing there.


    Youre making it weird, Den.


    He shrugged. Fine, fine. But if you were my daughter, Id be giving that young man a stern talking to. Because, in all likelihood, <em>hes</em> thinking along those lines. His voice lost some of its mirth. Also, he was far too ready to hit you.


    She sighed. He asked to <em>spar,</em> Den. That''s where his mind was. <em>I hope. </em>As to hitting me: I asked him to. Besides, Im fine. She gestured to herself, but he wasnt looking. Thank you for the concern, though.


    He grunted. I dont want to see you get hurt, and I dont just mean physically. After a moment, he added. And you are making my trip <em>much</em> moreplicated. You know, Ie on these for some time away. He gave her a mock-stern look over his shoulder.


    She held up her hands. Fair, fair. If you ever want me to go elsewhere, just say so.


    He smiled at that. Probably wont, but Ill keep that in mind. Thank you.


    Satisfied, she moved a bit of power through the incorporator and took a long drink, then flopped back down on the roof to rest and wait for them to make camp.


    * * *


    Light was beginning to color the sky into a stunning sunset when T finally sat back up.


    The wagons were back in their dual circle formation, the oxen unhitched, and from the sounding from therger circle, dinner was well underway. <em>Food. </em>Her stomach practically roared at her, though it didnt make an audible sound. <em>Yeah I really need to eat.</em>


    She stood, feeling <em>much</em> better after the extended rest. The ending-berries power was not intended as a regenerative aid, so it was <em>not</em> efficient at such. Only her own spell-forms and will, driven by her subconscious and conscious desires to improve and recover, made it possible at all.


    The result was that shed burned through half of the power granted by the two cups of the juice. <em>I could have taken a death blow from that cyclops with the same amount of power.</em> That was not quite true, but even so


    It was not efficient at all. <em>I really need to get back to Holly and finish getting my inscriptions.</em>


    She climbed down thedder with ease, feeling a spring in her step due to the added strength in her muscles, small though it was. Shed cheated and the result was akin to a weeks worth of dedicated, carefully directed training, gained over the course of a day.


    <em>Heavens help me if I had to do this as a mundane.</em> That thought brought both Adam and Ashin to mind. Their drive, determination, and strength of character was cast in a new light. She huffed augh. <em>All the guards, really.</em> What Adam had said implied that the two shed worked with were standard specimens among the caravan guard.


    She passed sentries on patrol on her way towards dinner and gave them deeper nods of acknowledgement than she had in the past. <em>These men and women deserve respect for what they have done, and what they do.</em>


    The guards showed mild surprise but nodded back in turn.


    She began sorting through her uing tasks, trying to decide what she should do next, after dinner. <em>Trent wanted to hear about the ending-berry harvest. Ill have to discuss it with him, at some point, but not tonight. I dont particrly want to have another conversation, right now.</em>


    So, she would take the food back to her wagon <em>Or</em> The terrain around the caravan was a bit rocky, and shed been needing to test out her hammer. <em>I could go up on that rise and eat, then test the hammer?</em> The guards might not like that, though.


    She sighed. <em>Eat at my wagon, then find a rock nearby to test, first. </em>It was the safer, wiser course.


    That settled, she slipped into the back of the line for food, taking her hat from her head and tucking it into Kit.


    She got her dinner without difficulty or incident, exchanging a few words with the cook serving the food that evening.


    Meal in hand, she returned to the cargo wagon and ate under the sunset painted sky.


    Her mind was elsewhere as she ate, and she took the time to feed her items as well. Her clothes had actually done a lot of work that day, shifting to keep her cooler, as well as keeping themselves clean. As a result, she had to give them significantly more power than she had before, discounting the recharge after the cyclops, that is. Still, it wasnt that much.


    She hadnt had as much time to read as shed have liked, given both her sess with the Archon star and her focus on physical training, so she pulled out the first two volumes on bonded items, as well as those on magic item theory. <em>I can take a break from my review, for a little while.</em>


    She cross-referenced as she ate, hunting for something that Grediv had mentioned. <em>Combining itembining itemsoh!</em>


    She was almost done with her dinner when she finally came across what she was looking for. <em>Bonding items to each other.</em> Thats why it hadnt been an easy index search.


    There was a lot of information, now that she knew what to look for, though it was spread throughout the four tomes.


    <em>Huh you basically force the items to soul-bound each otheritems have souls?</em> That started a whole other line of research, which was easily brought to a close. <em>While artifacts seem to act as if they have a rudimentary form of spirit, other magic items do not seem to, though they can utilize methodologies intended for entities which do.</em> It was clunky, and pulled from a dozen scattered sentences, but it seemed sound.


    <em>Fair enough.</em>


    So, Kit, youve got a bit of a spirit, eh?


    The pouch did not respond.


    She patted the knife. That means you do, tooand the hammerhuh. But she was getting off track.


    She wanted tobine the two parts of her wardrobe into a single item. The books hinted that there were numerous benefits from shared pools of power, to increased capacity for the same. Other benefits depended on the item, though there seemed to be implications that she could also bond non-magic items to magical ones, thereby adding to or altering them in various ways. It also spoke of the foolishness of attempting tobine items with different core functions. <em>Never bind a weapon to a dimensional storage, directly. Noted.</em>


    The example of a tried-and-true bonding that was given was the binding of a dimensional storage to a different container, thereby changing its exterior shape and altering the inside somewhat.


    Apparently, there had been a length of time where many dimensional storage artifacts had manifested as barrels, which were highly inconvenient to transport. She found it interesting that such seemed to correspond to the waning of a city that had been known for its wine.


    Shed like to have imed credit for making that connection, but the books, themselves, pointed out that there seemed to be connections between what form artifacts took, and the ces they manifested.


    <em>Yet more mysteries.</em>


    But back to the matter at hand. The process was supposedly incredibly simple when both items were magical.


    Following the instructions that shed pieced together and written out in her notes, she ced her hand on her own thigh, touching both her tunic and her pants.


    Then, she began funneling a trickle of power into both at once.


    The two items seemed to begin straining, trying to pull the power towards themselves, alone. To her mage-sight, that looked like power was flowing out of the items, back up the insubstantial stream she was sending out.


    When the two searching tendrils met, T seized the power. This was only possible because the tendrils from the tunic and pants had reached up, into her hand of their own ord, trying to get an advantage on the other item in acquiring power.


    Thus, with the power now within herself, she had mastery over it. In an effort of will, she flipped the tendrils together, turning them back on themselves and forming a very rudimentary facsimile of a now familiar shape: an Archon star. The book had called it a binding knot only describing it in how it differed from an Archon star. <em>This would be useless to me if I didnt know that spell-formis that why it isnt restricted knowledge?</em> The result <em>was</em> much simpler than the Archon stars shed made.


    Aside from her familiarity with a very simr spell-form, she somehow felt that the process was made almost trivially easy because the two garments <em>had</em> been one, previously, when they were still a part of the immortal elk. <em>Got it, dont expect such an easy time, in the future.</em>


    The spell-formplete, three things happened:


    First, a knot-shaped, bright brand seemed to blossom into existence on each garment simultaneously before fading once more from normal sight. To her mage-sight, they seemed to have but one brand, spread across both pieces, and that didnt fade.


    Second, what had been two shallow puddles of power sshed together, shing and swirling into a single much deeper basin. It didnt quite seem to reside in either part while, at the same time, was clearly within both. It was like looking at a fountain cross-eyed. She saw two, while knowing they were one and the same.


    Third, the clothing moved around her, seeming almost to flow over her for a brief instant as the magical and physical manifestations of the two items became briefly malleable.


    It was a surprisingly intimate experience, like witnessing a baby being born or attending a wedding. <em>And two have be one, and out of the twoe a new creation.</em> She smiled. <em>This, this is real magic.</em>


    Sheughed out loud at that. <em>Sure, manipting fundamental forces of the universe is a neat trick, but Ive made my clothing harmonize!</em>


    Sheughed again, with a snort.


    Still, the working felt like something deeper than manipting gravity. Something more potent. She couldnt exin it, even to herself.


    She closed her books and her notes, the taskplete, and stored them in Kit.


    That done, she ced her right hand back where it had been, intuitively knowing that that was the right ce, and pushed power into the leather.


    It drank in the power, taking at least four times more than the two pieces had before,bined. <em>That should give it more staying power</em> She grinned. <em>And, so long as a scrap survives of either, both should be able to regrow, with the application of enough power.</em> That was a relief. Shed been mildly concerned that something would wholly eliminate just one piece, leaving her in a state of perpetual half-nakedness, whenever she went through damaging experiences. <em>Never again!</em>


    Her dinner done and the binding of the itemsplete, she leaned back, satisfied. <em>Id been nning on doing something after dinnerwhat was it</em> She couldnt remember.


    She took her dishes back to the chuckwagon and dealt with them there, quickly returning to her wagon to avoid interacting with anyone.


    She was about to climb back up, when her eye caught sight of a particrly interesting rock formation, and that tickled something in the back of her mind.


    <em>It was something to do with rocks?</em>


    Right! The hammer. She pulled out the hammer and examined it. Shed already topped off its power, though she really wasnt sure why it needed it. <em>Not like Ive used you</em>


    From examining the portions of its magic, which she could see, it appeared that it would take most of any force exerted on its striking surfaces and send it back, so long as someone wielded it with intention.


    <em>For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. </em>If she understood it correctly, that should mean that any blow would have nearly double the force that would have been delivered by a normal hammer, used with the same strength.


    <em>Huh. Why would the hammer stop moving, then?</em> If the hammer didnt have full force exerted against it, it should continue, barely slowed. <em>Would that mean it would continue to exert nearly the same force, which would again have a reactionary force applied against it? The magic would then turn most of that around, with the hammer still barely being slowed</em>


    It was a dizzying concept, that she couldnt quite fathom, but if she was understanding it correctly, it would make any simple strike into an almost infinite string of hits, possibly repeating endlessly, forever, until the wielder pulled the hammer back or the object struck moved or was destroyed. <em>Or until the iterating force diminished so much that it was virtually meaningless.</em> After all, all objects resting on the ground were constantly exerting downward force, and that didnt crack the world.


    <em>Even so, how can that be correct? </em>Only one way to find out.


    She walked over to a small, in looking rock and started by striking it with the butt of the hammers handle. There was a soft, but not quiet, ring of metal on stone, just as expected. The rock, which was barely bigger than her head, was virtually undamaged, though there was a small speck of lighter rock where the metal handle had made contact.


    <em>Ok. Thats the baseline, I guess?</em> She then moved with the same gentle motion to tap with the hammers face.


    The sound of a thousand small raps- no, a million. <em>More?</em> -rang out in a single long peel as the rock seemed to vibrate, skittering across the ground out of the way as the hammer continued, virtually unimpeded, into the dirt.


    When it hit the dirt, there was a burst of wet earth, and the hammer came to rest, headpletely buried.


    She pulled back, and the earth vibrated around the metal, allowing the hammer toe free easily.


    She examined the rock, finding a line of lightened material where the hammer had skittered down the surface. <em>Fascinating.</em>


    She clicked her tongue, considering. <em>So, that was a soft tap. What does a normal strike do?</em>


    <em></em>She pulled her arm back and struck a true blow against the rock.


    There was a <em>crack</em> like thunder, which her enhanced mind was able to distinguish as more than a dozen ovepping hitsing nearly simultaneously.


    The rock exploded, and the world went ck.


    Pain.


    Pain filled her dark world, and she was greeted with the crystal-clear memory of rock shards zipping outwards in all directions, including straight into her eyes.

 Chapter 58: Undiminished Intensity

    Chapter 58: Undiminished Intensity


    Ts eyes were pulped.


    Stone shards had been driven deeply into them, bouncing around within her ocr orbits and rendering the soft organs to little more than bloody jelly.


    She had not allowed Holly to inscribe her eyes with the same defensive enchantments that covered the rest of her exposed flesh. The very idea had given her shivers.


    She was paying for that, now.


    In abject agony, she dropped the hammer, reaching up to feel at her face.


    Her cheeks were slick to her touch.


    She could vaguely hear people calling out, and what was likely the sound of running boots drawing near.


    It was hard to hear over all that screaming. <em>Who is screaming at a time like this?</em>


    Her fingers searched upward until she found the mush-filled cavities of her eye sockets.


    Her inscriptions still worked perfectly, and her mage-sight brought her an all too detailed look at the devastation. Her thoughts were full of curses as she tried to override the pain, letting her mage-sight guide her fingers to the fragments of stone in her eye-sockets. Thankfully, it looked like most of what was there was inrge pieces, which she quickly pulled free, despite the nauseating agony and general revulsion that the action brought forth within her.


    She closed her mouth, and the screaming came to an abrupt end. <em>Oh it was me.</em> That was a bit embarrassing.


    The inscribings around the ocr orbits in her skull, had activated, and were in process of attempting to repair her eyes, but she didnt want to chance the big chunks. What remained amounted to sand, and that shed have to flush outter, if the scripts didnt take care of it.


    Hands fell on her shoulders, and she realized that people had been calling to her.


    Mistress T! What happened? Are you alright? What do we need to do?


    It was she couldnt ce the voice, and the pressure and itching in her eyes as making it hard to focus. No danger. She managed to get out. Mistake. Dont touch the hammer. <em>What idiot thought that was a useful tool?</em>


    The itching turned to an irritating burning sensation as the hands left her shoulders, and she heard other people begin to arrive.


    The guard who had spoken to her, at least she assumed he was a guard, ryed her words to the others as they came up, and they sent runners back to the caravan with word that they were not, in fact, under attack.


    Finally, light began to return to the world, and she began blinking rapidly.


    She heard the one whod spoken to her speaking to someone else and was able to focus enough to hear. Her eyes are gone, turned to pulp. I The guard paused, seeming to gather himself. Ive not seen the like. How was no other part of her touched?


    Trents voice came back. Do you see the glowing lines, guardsman? <em>I knew it was a guard.</em>


    Yes, Master Trent.


    Her magic protected her from whatever happened. Apparently, it didnt extend to her eyes. <em>Because, idiot that I am, I didnt think to protect my eyes from physical damagewait a moment. Why didnt the ending-berries stop this?</em>


    She thought back, even as she bent over, blinking furiously over her refilling sockets.


    <em>The shards were iing, I couldnt blink fast enough so I tried to pull back</em> She groaned. And she heard Trent moved up beside her. <em>Im an idiot. I somehow pulled the end-berries protective power back, without realizing it.</em> That was a stupid reaction. <em>I suppose we cant expect our subconscious to behave rationally. </em>Still, it had kept the damage confined to her eyes, themselves. <em>There is that...</em>


    T. Im here.


    <em>No, Mistress, eh?</em> She supposed he saw this as a dire situation. Hi, Master Trent. Good of you toe.


    He seemed a bit stymied by her reaction but pressed on. We can get you healed up right quick. Ill send for Master Tang. He has some inscribings for healing, which should help, but we likely wont be able to restore your sight fully, or maybe at all, until we return to Bandfast. You wont bleed out, though. He hesitated. Are you ok?


    She kept blinking until, finally, a clump of goopy sand fell from each eye, and she could see. Ow She sat back, looking over at him.


    He made a face and shifted back. Youdo not look great.


    Just what every woman wants to hear.


    He snorted. Your eyes look fine, thoughhow? I mean, theyre a bit blood-shot, but the guards said they were pulped


    Oh, he was right. That <em>really</em> hurt.


    Trent frowned. Mistress T Then, he made a silent Oh You have self-healing inscribings.


    She nodded, noting the return of the honorific. <em>No longer as concerned, it seems. </em>Yup, at least around my headthey rusting <em>hurt</em>, though. <em>And Im starving</em> She pulled out a small bag of dried fruit and began scarfing it down.


    Better than being blind.


    Too true. She reached down and picked up the offending hammer with her off-hand. <em>What a moronic bit of magic. </em>This. This is a She trailed off as she saw the rock or, more urately, as she saw the remains of the rock. It had been turned entirely into gravel, which had been scattered out to nearly a dozen yards. She could tell because there were still tendrils of kic magic steaming off of the bigger chunks. She felt a smile tug at her lips. This is dangerous.


    Trent regarded the hammer skeptically. You do have a tendency to pick up dangerous items May I? He held out his hand.


    T ced the hammers handle into his awaiting palm and watched as his mage-sight scripts activated. Huh, a repeating hammer. An efficient one, too. Most dont have this kind of scope. He nced at her. The best Ive seen only takes about half the force acting on the striking surface and redirects it. This is much better than that. He nced at the destruction, then at her face, which still felt slick. Well, better in most circumstances. He sighed. I could have warned you to wear protective gear. Youre lucky it didnt shred your clothes He looked at her pristine clothing, mage-sight still active. Ah you picked up all sorts of items, didnt you.


    She smiled. I tried to make it a profitable trip.


    He sighed, handing the hammer back, handle first. Be careful, Mistress. Artifacts arent toys.


    She grunted. Im beginning to realize that.


    About time. He smiled humorously, seeming to be trying to take some bite from the rebuke. It didnt work.


    Fair enough, I suppose. She pulled out her incorporator and sprayed her face clean with a minimal amount of water, generated by arge amount of power. I know I promised to be more careful; I apologize. I really did try to take this slow and carefully.


    Thank you for the apology, and for recognizing the slip. Trent sighed and handed her a small towel, pulled from his own dimensional storage. She epted it gratefully, drying her face and chest, where the water had dripped.


    <em>I never noticed his storage, before.</em> She handed the damp towel back. Is that new? She gestured to the sack, nearly the size of a backpack, once again slung over one of Trents shoulders.


    He nced at it, then shrugged. Yeah, I figured it was time. Im going to be taking some different types of contracts, going forward, so I cant count on the wagon for Renix and my things. He patted the bag. Seemed worth the expense.


    She nodded. Artifact, right? Bound to you? <em>That wasnt one I saw in Artias shop.</em> Then again, Artia would likely have sent Trent to the Constructionists, or elsewhere, if hed stopped through.


    Yup. Ive had constructed dimensional storage in the past. He shook his head. Just not worth it in the long run. Too costly to maintain for personal use.


    Too true.


    And with theadvice Master Grediv gave me, empowering it myself isnt an issue, like it might once have been. Trent stood, before she could question him about that.


    The guardsman who had gotten to her first was waiting nearby, and she walked over and thanked him.


    He was understandably surprised to see her eyes had healed, but he seemed happy for her. Im so d that your injury didntst. That looked quite agonizing.


    She gave a pained smile. Oh, it was. Thank you, again.


    He gave a shallow bow. My pleasure, Mistress.


    T bid Trent goodnight, and Trent promised to inform the other Mages, as tactfully as possible, that there had been no threat, just a simple, minor ident.


    Thank you, Master Trent.


    He nodded acknowledgement, waved goodbye, and headed back for the main circle of wagons.


    <em>Well, all things considered, that went pretty well.</em>


    She snorted a derisiveugh. <em>All in favor of sleep?</em>


    <em>Eye, eye!</em> Sheughed again, feeling a bit of mild hysteria at what shed lost, even if just temporarily.


    <em>Dont think about it, T. Youll feel better in the morning.</em>


    With that thought, she climbed thedder in search of rest.


    * * *


    T awoke, blinking up at the stars.


    It was somewhere near midnight, and a cool wind yed across her, pulling at the strands of her hair that hadnt made it into her hastily done braid.


    Under the shining jewels, above, she was brought into awareness of two things.


    First, something soft, warm, and feathered was tucked under her left arm, a portion of itying across her diaphragm as afortable weight.


    Second, magic, more powerful than she had ever felt, was thrumming an irregr cadence to the north, deep within the mountains of that region.


    It was power that had woken her, managing to drive through the gap between her eyelids to trigger her mage-sight.


    She sat up, eliciting a grumbling, soft squawk from Terry, the small, warm weight that had been curled up with her.


    She fished out a bit of jerky and fed it to the still half-asleep bird.


    He snapped it up before settling down, his head in herp.


    T stared to the north, willing her mage-sight to inform her what she was seeing.


    Somewhere, likely at least a couple of hundred miles away, there was a battle raging.


    There were at least five sources of power, and her mage-sight oveid them in various hues. She couldnt see any details; they were simply too far away. In fact, their distance was so great, only their overwhelming power allowed her to see anything at all.


    As she watched, she was able to put together a picture, if a vague one.


    A being with a blue hue was fighting four others: two seemed green-ish but closer to yellow than blue, and two were a yellow-orange.


    At this distance, she couldnt tell what they were doing, or how they were fighting, but it was spectacr. Each engagement held more power than all that she had wielded in her entire life, and she could somehow feel that they were merely testing blows, searching for weaknesses to exploit.


    <em>Grediv is green.</em> But the greens she felt didnt feel like him, whatever that meant.


    At a deep level, she knew something else: <em>They are fighting over the fate of humanity, or at least the fate of some of humanity.</em> Though, she couldnt tell who was on which side.


    The pulses of power grew in intensity as the engagement moved into full conflict. Birds and other wildlife in the surrounding foothills seemed to stir, and soft cries rose in the night.


    The oxen, enshrouded within the smaller circle of the caravan, shuffled nervously, a few even letting out low, deep bellows that sounded almost like pleas for help, though they werent truly panicked. <em>Thankfully.</em>


    Terry stirred fitfully, and she rested her hand on his head, stroking him and muttering reassurances, all without taking her eyes off the dark horizon and asionally peaks, silhouetted before her mage-sight.


    She had never felt so small.


    She knew, without a doubt, that any one of the myriad strikes thrown in those great heights would erase her in an instant. She almostughed, even the bacsh of power would annihte her.


    She could drink every drop of ending-berry juice in her possession, and it <em>might</em> give her another second of life before such a collective onught.


    She was <em>nothing</em>.


    She shivered, and Terry crooned softly beneath her hand.


    They were both nothing, naked before the awesome power of the universe, wielded by who-knew-what entities.


    She found herself clutching her knife, handle in hand, de bare. At other times, she would have been clutching her arms across her chest, hugging herself tightly.


    She almostughed at that thought. The knife <em>was</em> herself, now.


    She began feeding a trickle of power into the weapon, a pitiful bulwark against the stark reality of her own powerlessness.


    As she did so, she felt a strange duality, as if there was another way she could give the knife power. It distracted her enough that she was able to think back, considering. <em>Ive never given the knife power while I held it, drawn and ready for use. Is that the difference?</em>


    In a desperate attempt to distract herself from the battle ying out both before her sight and at an impossible distance from her, she pushed power down the secondary channel. It was like attempting to grind herbs with a feather.


    Blinking in surprise, she turned her full attention to the knife, held in her right hand.


    Her left hand still stroked Terry, absently.


    She pushed again on this new, secondary path, and she felt the power flex, just slightly. To her normal sight, the de of her knife seemed to shift, bing more liquid and elongating just slightly. She stopped pushing power through, and the metal snapped back to its previous shape. <em>What under the sky?</em>


    Magic zed, causing her head to snap up and her focus to return to the battle.


    The creatures that had been restless or roused by the distant conflict went instantly still, even Terry stiffened: prey, hoping beyond reason that the predator it sensed would pass by.


    The sky red with light to her normal vision, temporarily putting out the stars and causing her to raise a hand to block the light, least she be blinded.


    <em>Not again. Please, not again</em> She shuddered at remembered ckness.


    The power, the light, had a decidedly blue hue, but it was somehow twisted, or wounded.


    She felt each of the four lesser beings flicker before the onught, but still, they held.


    Candles before a hurricane, but they held.


    Then, impossibly, the blue power began to retreat, not truly defeated but driven back.


    As the blue moved beyond her perception, traveling unbelievably fast, she felt one of the yellow-orange entitys power waning. It dimmed, sputtered, and died.


    One candle, snuffed out by the retreating storm.


    In that moment, T knew, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that it had been four humans, Archons, fighting some creature. She knew that they had faced it on behalf of humanity and had scraped together a marginal victory.


    She also knew that one of the brave warriors had fallen as a result of the battle. She did not know if they would rise again.


    The other powers faded and vanished, as if falling under veils. <em>Like what Grediv was doing?</em>


    The night was dark once more to eyes and sight alike.


    T sat for a long time without moving, riveted by the realitiesid bare in what shed witnessed.


    <em>I cant fight that. I cant even resist the least of those involved.</em> More than that, she had to admit to herself that shed likely seen a minor skirmish, not a true battle.


    <em>What if whatever-that-was decided to fight to the death?</em> She shuddered. The world was a much wider, scarier ce than she had let herself admit.


    <em>No.</em> She straightened her back. <em>I will not be cowed. Grediv was green, from what I could tell, from what he said. If he can gain that strength, so can I.</em> She would need vastly more power, if she was going to be safe before creatures like the one that had been driven off.


    She felt fear, the likes of which she had never known, at the idea of facing such a thing. <em>And I dont know anything about it, save its power.</em> She didnt let the fear bow her, though she felt tears in her eyes.


    Deep within her, she felt a yearning rise up in opposition to the fear, and in her current state, she couldnt help but voice it.


    I want my dad.


    That utterance broke loose something within her, and she curled up on the roof and wept, Terry wedging himself within the circle of her huddled form.


    * * *


    Dawn came early, to Ts reckoning. The first tendrils of light were turning the sky gray, and Terry was gone.


    She sat up, wiping her sleep and tear encrusted eyes.


    The weight of the previous night was still pressing down on her, and she needed a distraction. She pulled out a bit of jerky, but instead of tossing it, she sat in on the roof-top in front of her.


    It sat there for a good minute, her staring at it, before Terry popped into being with a slight flick of power.


    He bent down and snapped up the meat before looking up at her, as if asking, You called?


    She felt herself smile. So, Terry. What are we going to do?


    He tilted his head to the side.


    What do I mean? Well, I think youre good to have around, and you seem to like staying around. Is that true?


    He bobbed his head.


    Is it just for the jerky?


    He tilted his head to one side, then shook slightly.


    Not really?


    He bobbed his head.


    Why else then?


    He gave her a t look.


    Right, right, you cant talkCan you show me?


    After a moments hesitation, he bobbed his head slightly. Then, he moved forward.


    T reached forward, not sure what to expect.


    Terry flicked his head forward and bit her, not too hard, but it would have broken skin, except a small bit of the remaining ending-berry power kept her whole. <em>Didnt even activate my scripts.</em>


    Terry looked a bit amused, somehow, but flicked his head at where hed bitten.


    Because you cant hurt me?


    He tilted his head, then shook.


    <em>Not quite right</em>Because Im hard to hurt?


    He nodded to that.


    And I feed you.


    He nodded.


    Her eyes widened, several things clicking into ce. Like a pack-mate.


    Terry nodded once, decisively.


    You dont have a pack a kettle? She seemed to remember a teacher calling a group of predatory birds a kettle.


    Terry gave her an odd look, then nodded.


    Youre alone.


    He stepped forward tentatively.


    She smiled. You dont have to be alone. You can stay with me.


    He straightened, shimmying slightly, and settling back, almost sitting, like a duck settling down atop its eggs.


    A few rules.


    Terry cocked his head but didnt rise. Instead, he opened his mouth.


    She let out a littleugh, and heard Den shift, groaning in his sleep. T lowered her voice. Fine, fine. She tossed him another bit of meat, which he caught easily. So, first rule: No killing humans, except at my say so.


    He finished the bit of meat, then dropped his beak, giving her a skeptical look.


    She lowered her voice a bit further. Yes, yes, I know you helped me with those brutes in Alefast, but I dont want that to be a habit. Ill ask for your help if I need it, ok?


    He shimmied slightly, settling down to listen.


    Ok. No killing animals or creatures that belong to humans, again, unless I say so.


    Terry let out a little huff, then bobbed affirmatively.


    And, whenever any other human is around, you need to stay this size. She gestured to his current shape, roughly the size of a raven, if an entirely different shape. We might make exceptions in the future, but not now. Again, unless I say so.


    He seemed to consider for a moment, then gave a bit of a shrug. It looked almostical from his avian body.


    So, do you have any requests?


    He opened his mouth.


    She smiled. More food?


    He opened his mouth wider.


    A lot more? You can still hunt when were in the wilds. She hesitated. Ill need to get you a cor, if you want toe into the city. <em>Right, there should be someone with a ton of them, in this caravan.</em>


    Terry leapt to his feet, head low, eyes angry, hissing.


    She held up her hands, ncing towards Den, but she didnt see any other movement. Its up to you, but the cor protects you from the citys wardings, its defenses. It isnt because youre a pet.


    He hesitated at that, then tilted his head as if in thought. Finally, he nodded, and settled back down.


    She gave him a narrow-eyed look. Im going to make sure it only functions when Im around. You cant just use me to get a cor and go on a killing spree in any city you like.


    He settled down further and let out a disgruntled huff.


    <em>d I thought of that</em> She had to remind herself that this creature had tried to kill her. It was likely older than any currently upied human city, and it was <em>not</em> a pet. We might have to imply youre a pet, and a hatchling, to keep people from being suspicious.


    He rolled over onto his back, feigning sleep.


    Alright, alright. You dont really care, so long as <em>I </em>dont think of you as a pet.


    He cracked one eye, then opened his mouth.


    She snorted a chuckle and tossed him another bit of jerky. He snapped it up happily. Ok. Ive things to be about.


    This was a <em>perfect</em> distraction from the traumas of the previous night. She had put them from her mindpletely. They werent affecting her, not one bit.


    She didnt even notice that she had to wipe a few stray tears from her cheeks. <em>Nope, not thinking about it at all.</em>

 Chapter 59: A Cow a Day?

    Chapter 59: A Cow a Day?


    T stood, stretching. Terry settled down into a ready crouch, seeming ready to spring away, but did not leave.


    She moved through her morning routine, progressing her abilities- physical, spiritual, and magical -and not allowing her mind to return to the night before.


    This morning, she added a new task. After feeding Kit, her clothing, and the hammer their morning dose of power, T took out her knife, and held it ready.


    Terry eyed her, a hint of suspicion in his gaze, but he still didnt depart.


    She <em>pushed</em> against the second path within the knife, causing the de to seemingly liquify and elongate.


    She strained, her gate thrown wide and the entirety of her power flowing straight into the weapon. It wasnt enough.


    <em>I want to know what this does!</em> She grabbed some of her power, just drawing the barest amount from her reserve, so as to not exhaust herself. She pushed it into the new path all at once.


    That flow of power was enough.


    The de of the knife flowed outward, forming into a hair thin outline of a sweeping sword de. It had a subtle curve, almost like a falchion, but not as broad. <em>If Im remembering the name right. </em>She had never really made a study of specific weaponry.


    This was no mundane weapon, however. There was, after all, no de, just the outline of one.


    At the same time, a re of heat began to radiate from the gap within that outline, and she <em>knew</em> that this would cut better than any sword forged by the hand of man.


    Then, the end of her pulse of power came; the de contracted back to its former shape; and she was left gasping and swaying from the expenditure of power. <em>So much for not exhausting myself.</em>


    She shook her head to clear it. <em>Well, thats one more thing to aim for, I suppose. When Im stronger, I can actually use this as a true weapon.</em>


    She felt an odd satisfaction, much like the way her body felt when she moved just right. There was a correctness to what shed done with the knife, and it was pleasing to have aplished it. <em>Huh. Good to know, my soul has kinesthetic sense of spiritual rightness of action.</em> Now that she thought of it that way, she realized that the sensation had been akin to the warmth she felt after doing a good deed. <em>The more you know</em>


    That done, it was time to empower the cargo-slots. <em>Ill do the martial trainingter. </em>That would have taken more time than she had before the wagons departed, even though she suspected most people had yet to eat breakfast.


    When she climbed down thedder to empower the cargo-slots for the day, Terry flickered, disappearing and reappearing perched on her shoulder.


    T grunted at the change in weight but didnt slip. That will take a bit of getting used to. She didnt trust the bird, not really, but she thought she might understand some small part of it. Right now, it was motivated by loneliness and ack of truepanionship. That left the potential to actually create a bond ofradery, if such a creature was capable of long-term bonds with a human. <em>I hope he is Id hate to have to kill him some day.</em> Worse, if she somehow allowed him to hurt others She shook her head. <em>Ill be as careful as I can be. He could kill either way, but in this case, I might be close enough to notice.</em> She nodded to herself at that. At the very least, she would be a limiting factor for the bird.


    She hopped off thedder, Terry shifting to stay in ce.


    T quickly empowered the twenty cargo-slots, the mental modeling easier than ever, and the task taking less power than any time before. <em>Im really getting the hang of this.</em>


    It was time for breakfast.


    She walked towards the main circle, Terryfortably switching shoulders with a silent pop of power. <em>Thats odd. He must be doing something more than just shortening the distance between things, else he would have just gone straight through my head. My iron should have prevented that, even if it wouldnt have hurt mewhich Im not sure about.</em> She considered but came to the conclusion that until she had an intelligent guess, she wasnt likely to find out.


    <em>Terrys certainly not talking.</em> She grinned at that.


    Gah! The startled exmation brought T up short.


    She turned to find Trent staring, wide-eyed, at Terry. Good morning, Master Trent. Are you alright?


    Mistress T. He seemed to master himself, not taking his gaze from the bird. Why do you have a terror hatchling on your shoulder?


    Oh, Terry? She reached over and scratched the bird under the chin. Terry leaned into her hand. I came across him, and he seems to like me.


    Mistress T. Trent seemed at a loss for words. That creature will grow very quickly. It will be as tall as you within a year, if it eats enough.


    She frowned. Do they continue to grow at that rate? <em>Maybe, Terry is much younger than I thought.</em>


    No from my understanding, they slow to growing about an inch a year after the initial spurt, but that is hardly the point.


    <em>An incha YEAR?</em> She looked at Terry, who was crooning contentedly. <em>How old are you?</em> She did her best to keep her thoughts from showing. Yes, but I think he and I have an understanding. Hes She had been going to say safe but that was an outright lie. Hes not going to hurt people or human owned animals.


    Trent gave her a deeply skeptical look. Mistress T, research shows that they dont approach human level intelligence until they are close to three decades old, and even then, that doesnt mean they think or reason the way we do. At that size? He gestured. Youre lucky it likes you enough not to bite out your throat the first chance it has.


    T sighed. <em>How am I going to-?</em>


    There was a startled gasp from off to the other side, and she turned to see Tang staring, open mouthed. It was an almostical mirroring of Trents reaction.


    <em>Oh, no</em>


    You have a hatchling! The man rushed forward but pulled to a stop two paces away. Thats incredible! Terror birds are amazing creatures. He turned his eyes to her. Did you find it with others of its kind, or alone?


    Trent looked confused, and T felt bewildered, but she responded. Alone, why?


    Well, they have a <em>very</em> strong maternal bond. There have been documented cases of humans and terror birds forming long-term partnerships, when the hatchling forms such an attachment to the human. He leaned in just slightly, eagerly studying Terry. Has it taken food from you? Has it shown any aggression?


    She cleared her throat, trying to stall for time to think. <em>He clearly has some knowledgehonesty might be best? At least a little honesty.</em> When I found him, he did try to attack me, but when he was unable to hurt me, it seemed to puzzle him. She nced at Terry. He was staring at her, and she could see what she would swear was a mischievous glint in his eyes. After that, he did take food from me.


    Oh! Tang sped his hands together. Thats wonderful! Better to get that out of the way. He became suddenly serious. Hell try again, at least a couple of times. You did say, he, right? How can you tell? He should be too small to sex properly.


    She shrugged and answered truthfully. He just seems like a he?


    Tang shrugged. Good enough for now. You will have to watch yourself. If he does manage to hurt you, you will have to strike back immediately to restore the bnce. He met her gaze. This is critical. Hell test you again, and he cannot see you as a target, or he will be fixated on hunting humans.


    She nodded, a bit startled. Yes, of course. Im well protected. My magic is actually bent that way. T pulled out a notebook and wrote down a few thoughts, both from what Tang had said, and from what his words had sparked in her own mind. She was still reeling a bit from the Mages seeming change in attitude. <em>Maybe he just really likes animals?</em>


    He was nodding, a smile on his face. Oh! Im so d. Good, yes, take lots of notes! I cant believe I get to see a hatchling up close. He turned his gaze to Trent. Now, Master Trent, we need to reassure the guard and others that the bird is safe, but should not, under any circumstances be approached. They look cute but can be vicious.


    Trent was frowning, clearly recovering from his confusion. You really think this is wise, Master Tang?


    Wise? He made a dismissive noise. Its <em>necessary.</em> We know so much about arcane animals, but also so little. Such chances are rare and must be seized upon. He paused for a moment. If it works out, and the little one stays around until we reach Bandfast, well need a cor.


    Thats foolish, Master Tang. Trent hesitated. Then, his eyes widened slightly, and he looked to T, his eyes narrowing again. <em>Right I asked him about a cor yesterday</em> T smiled as innocently as she could.


    Not a domestic cor, Master Trent. Well need to get an escort style. Keyed to you, of course Mistress T. He nodded her way.


    She returned her attention to Tang, feeling a bit overwhelmed by the flood of information.


    There are quite a few arcane specimens in Bandfast under observation at the moment, but I dont think any are terror birds. Ah! He sped his hands together again. This is <em>exciting!</em> He turned and walked away quickly, calling over his shoulder as he went. Ill see if I have a schema for such a cor. I might even have one in my storage, but it will be buried if so. Ha! Wouldnt that be perfect! He disappeared from sight, still happily talking to himself.


    T turned to look at the bemused Trent. Well, that was unexpected. <em>Is he going to make an issue of it?</em>


    Trent sighed. And here I thought he might be a voice of reason. He gave her a searching look. Are you sure, Mistress? I seem to remember you asking for a cor before having that terror bird He left the question unasked.


    She hesitated for a moment, looking down at Terry as the bird regarded her closely. Yes, I think it is worth an attempt. She decided some honesty would go a long way. I dide across him before today. Thats why I asked about a cor, in case he did end up following me. She smiled, as that seemed to mollify the Mage. If he is willing, I dont see why he and I cant be great partners.


    Terry nuzzled the side of her face, the same mischievous glint shining in his eyes with undiminished intensity.


    * * *


    T had almost gotten breakfast before shed seen Adam and remembered her morning martial training. <em>I keep forgetting that.</em>


    The Guardsman had been a bit hesitant after seeing the little arcanous creature on her shoulder, but when shed taken a moment to exin to Terry that Adam attacking her, this morning, was fine, and shed stood still for him to punch her, with no reaction from Terry, Adam had seemed mollified.


    Terry sat on a nearby wagon-step as Adam alternated between instructing T, attacking her, and easily avoiding her attacks.


    She was improving rapidly, but she still couldnt consistently defend against his strikes, let alone mount any sort of counter.


    He assured her that that woulde in time. You are progressing vastly faster than most recruits do.


    Shed grunted at that, but not because she didnt have a response. At the time, her face had been pressing into the dirt, with her arm twisted painfully behind her.


    They continued until they noticed the chuckwagon beginning to close up, and they called it a morning so they could get breakfast.


    Apparently, Tang had spoken to the kitchen about Terry. So, when T approached, Terry on her shoulder, the cooks didnt react, save to give the bird wary looks and her a second te, piled high with meat scraps. Terry perked up when he saw that and squawked happily, bobbing up and down and shuffle-stepping on Ts shoulder. Please wait, Terry. Well eat soon.


    The bird shifted unhappily but settled back down.


    The cook gave a nervous chuckle. I cant even get my kid to listen that well, Mistress. He must really like you


    T thanked the cook and took the tray of food, along with a jug of coffee.


    The jug went into Kit, and she bnced the tray precariously as Terry continued to shift in anticipation.


    Remarkable. Tang was walking towards them. Truly remarkable that he is following your cues already.


    Terry gave a deep rumble that was, quite honestly, lower than a creature his current size should be able to make, and Tang stopped his approach. Thank you, Master Tang, for talking with the cooks.


    He waved the notion away. Nonsense. We have to make sure the hatchling gets fed. A growing terror bird can eat their weight in food every day. Something about their arcane digestion allows for faster processing. He frowned. Has he shown any magical tendencies? Ive seen me, lightning, and even ice abilities from terror birds Ive faced in the wilds.


    T nced to Terry, and the diminutive bird gave a small bob. She shrugged. I get the sense of dimensional power from him.


    Tangs eyes widened. Amazing! Dimensional arcane creatures arent rare, but most are of the smaller species. Ive not encountered anythingrger than a sheep with power in that vein. He was nodding happily. What a rare chance, indeed!


    T cleared her throat, gesturing with her tray. Well, we were going to go eat


    Oh! Of course, by all means. Please let me know if anything unusual happens, or if there is anything I can do?


    Sure. She responded hesitantly.


    Good, good. Ill keep on the quest for the cor. He pumped his fist excitedly. We dont want our little friend obliterated by Bandfasts defenses now, do we? With that happy promation, he turned and strode away, seemingly heading back towards his own wagon.


    What a strange man. T spoke very quietly, trusting to Terrys nearness to allow the bird to hear her.


    The bird bobbed in acknowledgement.


    T sighed and returned to her wagon-top perch. Den was already back at the wagon after his own breakfast, beginning to prepare the harnesses for his oxen. Mistress T!


    Good morning, Den.


    Good morning. And who do we have here? Den stopped well more than an arms length away.


    Terry, for his part, perked up a bit, seeming to focus in on Den for some reason that T couldnt determine. This is Terry, Den. Terry, this is Den. y nice?


    Terry bobbed, but ended the motion in a low crouch, his head moving side to side inquisitively.


    Denughed, pulling something out of his pocket. The little guy has a good nose. May I?


    T couldnt see what he held, but Terry was bobbing up and down enthusiastically. Sure? Be careful, please?


    Den nodded, approaching thest few feet carefully.


    T whispered. Be gentle, Terry. If you hurt him, he isnt likely to give you more of whatever he has for you.


    Terry seemed to hesitate, his focus momentarily breaking, then he bobbed a nod as Den got within reach.


    Den, for his part, took the treat, which turned out to be several chunks of roasted pork-belly, and set them on the back of his closed, right hand. He extended it tentatively towards Terry.


    Terry carefully reached forward and snapped up the meat, happily gulping it down before presenting the top of his head towards Den.


    Denughed and reached out, slowly, to scratch the bird on the head. Hes a good boy!


    T gave Terry a suspicious look. Yeah


    Well, I have to get back to work. Good to meet you, Terry. He patted the bird onest time before moving back to his task.


    T climbed up with Terry and their tray, sitting in the center of the roof, on the padded square. As she and the bird ate from their respective tes piled with food, she eyed Terry. Youve observed humans quite extensively, havent you?


    The bird paused, ncing her way, then bobbed a nod.


    And you havent approached any before?


    It made a wing motion towards her, while gulping down another bit of food.


    You attacked them.


    Another bob.


    They didnt put up enough resistance, so they werent worth your time?


    Another bob.


    Terry, how many have you killed?


    The bird paused, giving her a side-eyed look.


    She huffed, taking another bite, herself. Youre right, I probably dont want to know


    They both went back to eating, silence fallingfortably over the rooftop meal.


    * * *


    An hourter, the caravan was underway, and T was sweating profusely, sprawled upon the roof. She had just finished her high-repetition, martial training, trying to cement what Adam was teaching her more firmly.


    She drank deeply, whenever she could, and allowed herself to regain some semnce of physical energy.


    After another five minutes, she sat up and pulled out her sk, taking a deep swigor she tried to. <em>I forgot to refill it.</em>


    She pulled out the jug of berry juice and carefully poured some into the sk before returning the jug to her pouch.


    Thank you, Kit.


    The pouch did not respond.


    She drank her daily cup of juice and reveled in the feeling of ending-berry power flowing through her. Alright!


    She stood and stretched, loosening the muscles shed so recently worked.


    Time for the next thing. She flipped a piece of meat to Terry, whozily caught it. Feeding you. Or the logistics of such.


    At the first, Terry had perked up, but hedid his head back down as she continued.


    She was speaking quietly, so Den, at the front of the wagon, couldnt overhear. Am I going to need to bring you likea cow a day?


    Terry seemed hesitant, but eventually shook himself.


    So, does your manifested size determine how much you need to eat?


    He shook himself in the negative.


    She blinked, a bit confused, trying to understand. Well, I dont really understand, but I suppose I dont need to. Even so, she let out a grateful breath. I was realizing that I could go broke trying to feed youwell, more broke.


    Terry gave her a quizzical look.


    You probably have no concept of money, do you. Its not like youve seen humans anywhere outside the wilds. She sighed. Im not going to exin basic economics to a terror bird. You can watch, listen, and pick up the basics.


    He closed his eyes and stretched out in the warm sun.


    She quirked a smile. That out of the way, she went about her day as usual.


    She exercised her spirit by calling the knife to her at various distances. She was steadily improving.


    She strove to expand her power umtion rate, using the knife and the new path for power shed discovered within it. It turned out to be a better exercise than making an Archon star for two reasons:


    First, it became dynamically harder, the more power she poured into the knife. The closer she came to the threshold of transforming it into a sword, the more power it took to progress. That made it much more engaging to practice with than with theparably static formation of an Archon star.


    Second, there was no danger of the knife suddenly sucking most of the magic from her body, leaving her exhausted. <em>No, if Im exhausted after, Ive only myself to me.</em>


    She would get back to making Archon stars soon enough, but the knife seemed a better training tool for the moment.


    The magic pouring into the knife, when not enough to key off the transformation, didnt simply vanish. Instead of building up to reach a level high enough to bring out the sword, the power was shunted into the other path. That way, she was actually doing two things at once. First, she was stretching her gate wider, to increase the rate of flow, and second, she was deepening the capacity of the knife itself. <em>Still not sure how that will help, but Im sure it will.</em>


    Thus, she spent the day in training and review for her uing, full-bodied inscription. If she was honest, she felt a bit nervous. Shed never actually had all the inscriptions before, though shed done her best to properly prepare. Where most who took the physiology and other healing rted courses did so for just that purpose, to learn to heal, T had taken them to learn how to have her entire body inscribed effectively. <em>And Im almost there.</em>


    Though, to get all the inscribing she expected, it was going to be a <em>long</em> few days with Holly.


    Adam and Ashin were both reluctant to spar with Terry watching, despite the formers experience that morning, but they warmed to the idea and soon forgot the bird for the time each worked with T.


    Between those stints ofbat training, she continued to push in other areas. Aside from adding to her ever growing list of biological nuances to brush up on, when she got to Bandfast, she took breaks by reading the books that were not warded against her, seeking all the knowledge she could grasp. To her surprise, there was quite arge entry on terror birds in A Brief Overview of Entities: Arcane.


    Huh, Master Tang knows his stuff. Everything hed said was backed up by the book, and hed even conveyed a few subtleties that the book didnt. True, the entry covered much that the man hadnt mentioned, but he hadnt been attempting to recite a research paper to her. <em>I may have judged you too harshly, old man. </em>That, of course, was quite unfair given he was likely barely twice her age, putting him firmly on the young side of mid-life, especially for a Mage.


    She frowned at that thought. <em>Where are all the older Mages?</em> Shed seen a couple, but there should be more rtively old Mages than young, shouldnt there? Yet almost every one that shed met had been rtively close to her own age. <em>That is strange</em>


    True, many of her teachers had been older, but theyd also been teachers for decades, centuries in a few cases.


    <em>Ill have to ask Lyn about itMaybe Trent, too?</em> It was something to investigate. <em>Ill add it to the list.</em>


    Also, throughout the day, she had asked leading questions of those around her, only to discover that no one else had noticed the magical disy the night before, not even the other Mages.


    Rane was mysteriously absent, so she hadnt been able to prod him, but she hadnt actually tried to search him out. He was likely just acting as rearguard again, or something simr. <em>I suppose Ill have to find him around dinner.</em> She sighed. It made the most sense.


    Brand had brought lunch for both herself and Terry, though Terry hadnt acknowledged the head chef, only feasting once the man had departed.


    As evening was approaching and the caravan was once again formed up for the night, T finally put aside her new notebook, now more filled with notes than nk pages, and yawned dramatically. Well, Terry. What do you say: time for food?


    The bird flickered to her shoulder, perching happily.


    She smiled. I thought so.

 Chapter 60: Set on Unconventionality

    Chapter 60: Set on Unconventionality


    Dinner in hand, Terry on her left shoulder, T walked towards a table near the edge of therger wagon circle.


    Rane sat, alone, eating his own meal.


    Master Rane?


    His head snapped up; the young man seeming startled. Mistress T. Im sorry, I didnt see you, there.


    May I join you?


    He looked perplexed. Of course, you mayis there something I can do for you?


    T hid a wince as she sat down. <em>I havent been very kind to him, have I?</em> Nothinges to mind, but I havent seen you, today, and I havent thanked you for the thunder bulls, yet.


    He smiled a bit at that. It was a quick fight, but good exercise.


    Well, thank you. It was overly generous of you to give all the carcasses to the cooks.


    He shrugged. Im not on contract for the money. Others can make better use of the materials than I.


    T cocked her head, even as Terry hopped from her shoulder and dug into his awaiting te. Then, why are you with us, Master Rane?


    He smiled. Quite a few reasons, actually. To see the wider world, to work with others, to visit an uncle in Bandfast, and to establish a connection with you.


    She blinked back at him. Oh?


    He shrugged. Ive said it already. Master Grediv suggested that Id be wise to work with you, and at least be friends. He smiled ruefully. Im not too good at it, though. I killed things, I offered to hit you, and that was about all Ive got.


    She snorted augh. Hardly. Id love to pick your brain on some things, if youre willing.


    He straightened a bit, swallowing his current bite. Oh? What do you wish to discuss?


    She waved her hand. In a minute. I want to discuss sparring: Id like to, but Im not sure Im ready to fight someone with your skill and abilities.


    He gave a half-smile. Shouldnt be a problem, especially since it would have to be a magicless fight. No offensive magics, and no retributive defenses.


    She frowned.


    Retributive, meaning magic that harms those who harm you.


    Oh! <em>Thats clever. I wonder if I could auto target anything that hit meIt wouldnt be power or metal efficient, but it might save me in a pinch, or when I cant figure out exactly what is attacking me, or where from. </em>It might help in crowds too Thats an interesting idea.


    He gave her a puzzled look. Youve note across that concept before?


    She shrugged. Its probably been mentioned, but Ive a whole new set of experiences, since myst formal lesson. Im seeing things in a new light.


    He quirked an eyebrow. That makes sense: the type of light <em>would</em> affect how you see.


    She grunted irritably. You know what I mean.


    He smiled. Yeah, I think I do. Once you fight your first monsters, it changes your perspective.


    Terry paused, ncing up at Rane with a searching look. The Mage seemed to notice, because he held up his hands catingly, addressing the little terror bird.


    Not all arcane creatures are monsters, but many are. Magical creatures more so, but again, there are some that description doesnt fit.


    Terry seemed mollified as he returned to gobbling down his food. T moved the te to the bench, forcing the diminutive avian to hop down, giving her an irritated nce. That left the tabletop in a more ordered state and seemed to allow them both to think more clearly.


    So, yes. Sparring. Id like that. He smiled, and it seemed genuine.


    <em>Well, I didnt really agree</em> However, seeing his expression brought a smile to her face as well.<em> Itll probably be fine.</em> She nodded her thanks, taking another bite.


    Sowhat is it you wanted to talk about? Some esoteric magical entity?


    I wanted to ask you about familiars.


    As it turned out, Rane didnt know much more about familiars than the books that T had been reading. His knowledge was more holistic, because hed had more time to read, study, and absorb the information. Grediv had apparently given him a set of tomes simr to Ts. He was just as irritated as she was by the warded books in the collection. Even so, they both agreed that theyd rather have the books, solely for useter, than not have them at all.


    They chatted amiably through dinner, eating slowly as the other members of the caravan came and went, consuming their own evening meals.


    It was gettingte when T bid Rane a good night and headed for her starlit bed, atop the caravan.


    She hummed softly to herself as she re-braided her hair and stretched, making sure not to disturb Den, who seemed close to sleep, tucked under an enclosure drawn around his drivers seat for the night.


    She did a final set of spiritual exercises, tossing her knife out and drawing it back to herself six times in quick session. A proud grin stretched across her features at the sixth pull. <em>Halfway there!</em> While not <em>quite</em> true, she still reveled in the aplishment.


    That done, she pulled out her bedroll andid it out beneath the starry sky.


    Her eyes traced the familiar shapes above her as she let her mind wander over thest few weeks.


    She had left a ce of lonely learning for the wider world. <em>And I promptly continued to seek learning, alone.</em> The conversation over dinner, with Rane, had been enlightening. Not so much because hed said things shed never heard, but because the act of speaking about the myriad topics had settled the information deeper into her own mind. <em>Perhaps the others who formed study groups had had the right idea</em> It was another reminder of her previous istion.


    Shed had simr discussions with Trent or Renix, but it hadnt been the same. Rane seemed to be invested in growing stronger as quickly as he could, just as she was, and hed had years longer tob through Gredivs books.


    <em>Ill have to find more time to talk with him, to bounce ideas and see what sticks.</em> She smiled at that.


    Terry blipped back onto the roof. Where hed been off to, she didnt really know, but shed been sure hed return.


    He padded over to her with heavy, yet soft and nearly soundless, steps,ying down to curl up beside her on the bedroll.


    <em></em>With Terry next to her, a warm pressure in pleasantly cool night, she drifted off to sleep, feeling less burdened, and less alone, than she had in a long, long time.


    * * *


    T woke in the middle of the night, mind racing. She stared up at the stars and tried to quiet her mind but couldnt.


    Shed had nightmares, again.


    That wasnt fair. It had been nearly three weeks since herst one, but they were back. She cursed, sitting up and rubbing at her eyes.


    Terry was curled up beside her but hadnt stirred as shed sat upright. <em>Good bird. Sleep.</em> From long experience, she knew that she needed to move, let her mind reattach to the real world, and then she could get back to sleep.


    The night was dead quiet through the caravan, the oxen were deeply asleep, and she couldnt hear the guards patrolling. <em>Thats either really good, or really bad.</em>


    She shivered. <em>No, T, focus on reality, not on the horrors your mind can conjure.</em>


    She didnt want to exercise, or even stretch, as she feared it would wake her body too much, so she slowly climbed down the wagon, saw to the calls of nature, and returned.


    She was still under the sway of the nightmare, and was starting at every movement, shadow, or stray thought. <em>Not ready yet.</em> If she fell asleep, now, shed fall straight back into the horror.


    Grumbling to herself, she looked over the wagons, the cargo wagons. <em>It isnt too long til morning.</em> She decided to charge the cargo-slots a bit early. Her studies had revealed that even with only the one symbol alight, the wagons could remain stable for close to a full day, so her being a few hours early wouldnt hurt anything.


    She moved through the now rote motions and soon had all twenty charged. <em>Well done.</em> She smiled. It had been enough, and her mind was now free of the wing dragging fear, and back in reality.


    Somewhat settled, she climbed back up thedder,id down beside Terry, and drifted back into a deep, and now thankfully dreamless, sleep.


    * * *


    T woke early and moved through her routine. She didnt need to charge the wagons this morning, due to her mid-night restlessness, so after her stretching and workouts, targeting physical, spiritual, and magical muscles, she sought out Adam for the morning sparring and martial lessons.


    To her surprise, Rane was there. She smiled a greeting and waved to return his gesture.


    Good morning, Mistress T.


    Good morning, Master Rane.


    Did I see you working magicst night?


    She shrugged. You were on duty?


    He nodded. Id just taken over. He yawned a bit. Im going to take a bit of a nap after this. He gestured towards Adam. So?


    She reluctantly nodded. I needed to re-center my mind, so I charged the cargo-slots.


    Reasonable. He waited, a questioning look on his face, but he didnt ask.


    She felt another smile tug at her lips, this one of gratitude. <em>Im not up for talking about it, now.</em> SoAdam? Whats going on here?


    The two Mages turned to the guardsman as he stepped forward. I want to observe you two fight. Just to the first solid hit. Ill instruct T based on each result.


    Rane nodded. Unarmed, no offensive magic, yes?


    Adam nodded.


    T grinned. Should be fun. Are you safe? Shed drunk her cup of ending-berry juice just after waking up.


    He shrugged. Any hit yound, Ill deserve.


    <em>Arrogant, but true?</em> She raised her hands in a guard, and Rane quirked a smile.


    He moved unbelievably fast. If T had fought him a week earlier, his stomping kick to her gut would have driven her to the ground in vomiting humiliation.


    But it wasnt a week ago, and Adam had been a faster opponent. T had been training against one of the most skilled fighters in the caravan and taking his feedback to heart.


    As Ranes kick came in, she pped one hand above, and one below, twisting the driving foot, even as she stepped back, to move her stomach out of the line of attack.


    The result was a torsion on Ranes hip, which spun him on his nted foot to face away from her.


    Thest she saw of his features was a look of surprise.


    Grinning in exaltation, she shot out her closer hand to snag Ranes belt, andunched her back knee upward, contracting her whole body to drive the attack up between Ranes legs.


    If shed taken a moment to think, she would have realized that not only was it a <em>very</em> cheap shot, but it was also, quite literally, a low blow. That said, if shed taken a moment to think, hed have stomp-kicked her into the dirt, so it evened out.


    As her knee impacted, she saw magic explode outward. All the force shed imparted was redirected back into her as a direct application of power. It seemed to be intended to spread the energy in an even distribution across her body.


    Now, if Ranes magic had acted like Ts hammer and simply taken the iing force and redirected it, she would have felt as if shed kneed a stone wall. Instead, Ranes defense had attempted to affect all of her, directly.


    The iron across her skin made T almost impervious to direct magical affects, at least any that she was likely to encounter. Thus, the magic literally <em>tinged</em> off of her iron salve.


    There were two other results:


    First, the force had to go somewhere, so, denied T, the magic exploded outward in a ring, shredding the knee of her pants, and tearing at the inside of Ranes legs. Because the magic was his, it mostly bypassed the flesh, instead cleanly tearing through the mid-thigh of his pants leg, and sting outward to create an expanding pressure wave that kicked up dust and rattled the closest wagon.


    Second, all inertia was stolen from her, and T was left bncing on one foot, her knee jammed into a rather ufortable position, her left hand still locked onto Ranes belt.


    Rane looked shocked to still have an opponent so close, after his defenses had activated.


    T was surprised to be in such an awkward position, without her opponent writhing in agony.


    Adam seemed confused that they werent continuing.


    Rane recovered a blink faster, sweeping his already extended leg up and back at Ts head in a surprisingly flexible maneuver.


    T rolled with the motion, bending to allow the kick to deflect off of her rising arm.


    He spun with the kick, using the inertia to pull him around again, as he drove his fist for her chest.


    <em>Why do you people always aim for my chest!</em> Trusting the ending-berry power within her, she did something colossally stupid.


    She struck, punching the much bigger, oing fist with her own.


    She felt an ache radiate from her knuckles through every bone, joint, and connection down her arm, through her shoulder, and into her back at the moment of impact. Her form had been perfect, but fists werent meant to hit one another.


    She was driven backwards, feet skidding cross the dirt, but she maintained her bnce, and her stance, arm extended. An rming amount of ending-berry power was consumed in that instant as nearly half of her body was put under destructive strain in an instant. Most of that energy was consumed keeping her hand from splitting, as his knuckles had impacted between hers, driving with enough force that her hand <em>should </em>have been divided into bloody sections. Her own knuckles had simrly impacted on him, but her hand was much smaller, and his much stronger. Even so


    Rane, for his part, held perfect form after his own punch for a heartbeat before loosing a string of nonsense words, clutching his fist in his off hand and dancing in a circle, trying to bear through the pain.


    Despite Ranes frantic movements, T was able to see that the hand didnt look quite right.


    Adam was stunned, and he spoke to himself, with T barely able to catch the words. She punchedhis punch. Did I not teach her how to block? What madness Then, his eyes snapped to Rane, and he sprang into action. Healer! Someone call Master Tang, and if the chuckwagon has ice, we could use it.


    Some of the random people, whod been about, turned and ran in various directions, seeking to obey his instructions.


    Rane stopped his dancing about and took deep, gulping breaths, staring at his hand in horrified fascination. The knuckles were spread just further apart than they should be, and the entire limb was beginning to swell.


    T gaped, eyes going wide. Oh, Master Rane! Im so, so sorry.


    She almost offered him some of her ending-berry juice, but that was a protecting, not a healing, magic. It wouldnt help him. <em>He doesnt have healing scripts to cheat with, either.</em>


    He gave her a wonder-filled look. Are your bones hardened steel?


    She cringed, guiltily. Im protected from physical damage of all kinds. Im just d you drove me backwards. I cant even imagine what would have happened if Id been properly braced and hadnt moved.


    Rane looked down at his hand, still clearly in agony, and simply nodded, closing his eyes against the pain.


    He sank to the ground, settling into ce, cradling his hand.


    One of the cooks ran up with a bowl of ice, towel draped over the top, just as Master Tang arrived.


    Terry, for his part, was eyeing T suspiciously.


    She red at the bird, walking over to him, and whispering for him alone. I didnt mean to hurt him. He is not an exception to the no hurting humans part of our agreement.


    Terry gave a reluctant bob.


    Good.


    Terry flicked up onto her shoulder, and she returned to Ranes side, looking to Master Tang. What can I do?


    The Mage nced at Terry and frowned. The terror bird should be taking advantage of Master Ranes weakness and attacking, especially because you damaged the good Master. Tang looked puzzled.


    About Master Rane...Master Tang?


    The Mage seemed to return to himself. Right! Right, apologies. He moved his focus back to Rane, and at the same time T allowed herself to truly focus on the injured hand.


    What she saw caused her to go pale. Her mage-sight brought her a cacophony of information, but if she was interpreting it right, there were small tears all through the big mans hand, along with small fractures evident in the small bones therein. She swallowed involuntarily.


    Master Tang closed his eyes, and T watched as the older Mage activated a careful series of inscribings, focusing on Ranes injury. Power flowed forth, and T was able to watch as the energy of the healing was consumed, pulling the hand back into correct shape and almost stitching the tears back together. The only way that metaphor fell short was that they were left utterly restored, rather than with sutures, or scars.


    It was awe-inspiring.


    The swelling didnt diminish, precisely, but as the hand contracted, the blood that had been rushing to begin work on the injury was squeezed out, leaving behind a slightly misshapen, but fully healed, appendage.


    Master Tang settled backwards, smiling. There, good as new, or as good as can be done, Id say. It will be swollen for a day or two, and Id rmend keeping it cool. He pointed to the waiting bowl. The ice is a wonderful idea. He gave Adam an approving nod. There is no damage, but the swelling will be ufortable, and Id rmend taking it easy until we reach Bandfast, just to be safe.


    Rane was breathing easier, now, and he nodded. Thank you, Master Tang.


    Now. The older man pped his knees and stood, looking from Adam, to Rane, to T. What exactly happened?


    T opened her mouth, then closed it, unsure of exactly what to say.


    Adam stepped forward. A sparring ident. Mistress T seems set on unconventionality, while it worked out for her, this time, it injured Master Rane.


    Tang clucked his tongue. I cant say I approve of Mages brawling like animals, but Im d they had a master of the craft to observe, even if only to have a coherent ount of what the idiocy caused.


    Adam seemed perplexed by the mix of insult andpliment in one, but he also seemed unwilling to make an issue of it with the Mage. He simply nodded in acknowledgement. Thank you, Master Tang, for your assistance. I know that Master Rane is grateful for it, even if he is still in a bit of shock.


    T stepped forward. Yes. Thank you, Master Tang. We appreciate your healing.


    He nced her way, then smiled, and nodded. Now, I need to finish my breakfast. Good morning to you all. Without a backward nce, he departed.


    The other onlookers began to disperse as Rane ced his hand on the towel, and into the bowl of ice. He let out a sigh of contentment, though it was obvious that he was still ufortable.


    T turned towards Adam, her face clearly conveying that she expected a reprimand.


    Adam opened his mouth, seeming about to deliver just that, but then he stopped himself. Finally, he sighed and shook his head. Well, Mistress T, it seems that Ive done you a disservice. Ive been training you like a mundane guard, and you are anything but mundane. That little maneuver would likely have cost you a hand if you were. He took another deep breath and let it out slowly. Two things. He gave her a questioning look.


    She nodded once, doing everything she could to indicate attentiveness. Yes?


    First, never do that again, especially not with a sparring partner who isnt protected against the damage.


    She nodded vigorously. Of course.


    Second, what Ive been teaching you is a good foundation, but were going to need to build a fighting style that fits your particr talents. Once were back in Bandfast, Im off for the winter, and in need of a project for one of the sses I am assisting: Fighting Opponents who Defy Physics. You are going to be a subject for my students, and we are going to craft you a means of fighting that will take full advantage of who and what you are.


    Rane raised his hand. He <em>raised his hand.</em> T felt a smile tug at her lips.


    Yes, Master Rane? Adam turned to regard the Mage.


    Can I join in that project? Master Grediv helped me a bit, but hes never been the most talented up-closebatant.


    Adam hesitated, then nced to T. She gave a shrug, then a small nod.


    Sure. It will be a good object lesson, when your two fighting styles diverge. It will keep in the forefront the idea that no two magical beings will be the same. He nodded, as if to himself. Yeah, that will be perfect.


    Adam gave T a few morements, then he sent Rane away to get some breakfast, and Adam and T spent a few more minutes finishing up their morning sparring and lesson.

 Chapter 61: It Should Be Fun

    Chapter 61: It Should Be Fun


    T was ufortably sweaty when she and Terry picked up their tray of food and bid a good morning to the cooks.


    Back at the wagon, she again did her best to clean herself, but was quite unhappy with the result.


    She groaned in irritation. Kit. Can you alter your interior so I can get clean easier?


    The pouch did not respond.


    In the hopes of a miracle, T secured the pouch and climbed down in.


    As soon as she was in, she looked around hopefully.


    The inside of the pouch was vastly changed, with almost all of Ts possessions crammed in barely organized shelving, right up around the entrance. Thedder went lower, into a circr empty space not quite wide enough for T to stretch her elbows fully out.


    If anything, there was a smaller volume of space, but it was mostly vertical, keeping her belongings up high. To aid in the process toe, the small circr space around thedder red outward, below, and all her belongings were tucked back, just a bit, on their respective shelves.


    Honestly, it seemed like it could have been the inside of a massive vase.


    This will work, Kit. Thank you.


    The feeling of warm contentment, ever present within the pouch, was the only response. Though, T did feel the deficit of magic caused by such a radical rearrangement, even as she reached the bottom and saw the hand-shaped different-colored patch of wall.


    Ahh, youre hungry. She ced her hand on the offered location and refilled Kits reserves.


    Then, without dying, she stripped, tossing the clothes upwards. They didnte back down, so it must have worked.


    Then, standing naked at the bottom of a hole dug into nowhere, she found the water incorporator and a small box of powdered soap on little bump outs. You think of everything, Kit.


    Kit did not respond.


    She took a luxuriant shower only shortened by the deeply cold temperature of the water and the knowledge that breakfasty above.


    She brushed her hair dry and free of tangles before braiding it, and briefly verified heryer of iron salve was still intact and refreshing where it wascking. She then dressed in the already clean travel clothes and climbed back out. She wasnt fully dry, but the magically incorporated water would fade soon enough.


    When she reached topside once more, she returned the pouch to her belt and gave a generous dose of power to Kit. That done, she fed her outfit, which was markedly low on power. <em>Likely drained from removing the grime, sweat, and dirt from itself and repairing the obliterated knee on the right leg, earlier this morning.</em>


    She shivered slightly even as the sun warmed her. Terry had finished his te, and hers was suspiciously low on meat-stuff, though the predator had left her one sausage and one piece of bacon. She gave Terry a mock re. Ill need more than this. The other food: fruit and a surprisingly tasty oat pancake, werent enough to fill her.


    Sighing, she ate what had been left for her, then climbed down, bearing the tray and Terry, and walked back towards the chuckwagon.


    Den called after her. Were leaving in less than five minutes.


    She waved back. Thank you! I should be back before then.


    Brand greeted her at the chuckwagons back door, took her tray andughingly provided her with more sausage and bacon. The head cook then tossed a bit of bacon to Terry, and the terror bird caught it happily. Hes a cute one. Though, I swear, he looks much more like a miniature adult than a hatchling.


    There was an awkward pause that Brand didnt seem to notice.


    After a moment, he shrugged and continued. But what do I know? Its not like Ive ever seen a terror hatchling. See you around lunch.


    T was almost back to her wagon when someone called out to her.


    Mistress T!


    T turned, a sausage freshly stuffed into her mouth. Mmm?


    Rane came walking up behind her, his hand still wrapped in a wet towel. Mistress T?


    She pushed the food into one cheek. Yes?


    Could I He scratched the back of his head with his left hand, looking a little uncertain. You see, my assignment for the day is to watch the front of the caravan. Would it be possible for me to? He looked at her expectantly.


    She blinked back at him for a long moment, chewing, then swallowing. Finally, his words clicked. Oh! Oh, ummm Sure? Yes. She turned back towards Dens wagon, but Rane cleared his throat.


    So I can ride on your wagon with you, today?


    She nced back. <em>I suppose, I wasnt clear?</em> Sure? It does have a good view of the front of the caravan, after all.


    * * *


    T felt surprisingly awkward about performing her physical exercises with Rane present. So, instead, she decided to begin with her spiritual training.


    Den had just flicked the oxen into movement when she set her knife near the front of the wagon and walked towards the rear.


    Rane, for his part, had sat off to one side, and was giving her a quizzical look. Arent you afraid thatll fall off? I believe Ive sensed magic from that. It must be valuable.


    T quirked a smile. Thats actually a really good point, Master Rane. She held up her hand, willed the knife toe, and it did, zipping through the air to stop perfectly in her hand.


    Ranes eyes widened. I didnt detect any air or movement power in that. How? Is it bound to you? He frowned, scratching the outside of his left eye with his right hand. No magic-bound items dont gain new abilities, just more means of expressing the power they already have He looked back to her, narrowing his eyes. Do you have ae hither inscription?


    She barked augh at that.  Come hither?  Sheughed, again.


    He grumbled slightly and muttered under his breath, clearly not intending her to hear. It would exin a lot


    T didnt react to the muttering, nor did she remember it forter pondering. That would have been silly.


    He sighed, then looked back up. Secret for secret then?


    She shrugged, then nodded. You first.


    He rolled his eyes but nodded in turn. Fair enough. Ive six magic-bound items. I would have seven, but I dont have the knowledge to properly empower an inscribed dimensional storage He let out a discontented sigh.


    <em>He must be thinking about his bag-for-bodies, that he left with Brand.</em>


    My clothing is woven from the silk of a retribution spider. The fibers are insanely strong, and they pull back together when severed. Im told its rusting hard to work with, but they managed. He smiled. So, thats four of my items-


    T cut him off. Four?


    He shifted. Well, yeah. My robe, pants, sandals, and undergarment.


    She blinked at him. Sandals, too?


    He shrugged. Well, the sandals are immortal elk leather. New, too. Those are insanely hard to kill.


    She frowned. Whered you get the leather? <em>Grediv knew what my clothes were made of.</em>


    Master Grediv bought the hide off of a hunter. He said there was only enough left for the sandals, so thats what I got. He smiled sadly, tapping his shoes. This stuffs tougher than the silk, though not by too much. Even so, Id love to not look so much like a rich fop.


    She grinned at that. You do look a bit like youre going to a ball. <em>Well, that exined why his clothing is always so clean and seemingly perfectly pressed.</em>


    So, each piece is an individual item?


    He sighed dejectedly, nodding. Yeah. Master Grediv exined that once I be an Archon I can meld them into one, but thats a ways away, isnt it? The books Ive found agree, it seems. He smiled sadly. Until then, I get to start each day feeding my outfit.


    Her grin widened. Ahh, a true ve to fashion.


    He snorted. Fair, fair.


    And thest two?


    He patted the wooden handle poking up from his belt. Force, my sword, is one.


    She cocked an eyebrow. Force?


    He shrugged. Objects only change velocity with an applied force. He patted his swords hilt, again. So, when I want something to change, I apply Force.


    She rolled her eyes but kept smiling. Thats pretty funny.


    He shrugged. I was bored and fifteen when I named it. Seems to fit, though.


    Will you tell me what it does?


    He shook his head. Were at first level secrets, here. His eyes twinkled a little. Thats at least He faked pondering. Fifteenth level?


    She blinked at him for a moment. Fifteenth?


    Meh. He shrugged. Something like that.


    She shook her head. So, thest?


    Dimensional storage.


    She looked to the sword. Where you keep most of the sword?


    Yeah, but thats just the smallest the opening gets.


    So is it a pouch? Or?


    Its a leather cord, but more information than that is likeeighty levels of secrecy from where we are now.


    She rolled her eyes again. Youre a bit of a child, arent you. But there was mirth in her tone.


    You are what you eat?


    She gave him a perplexed look. Say again?


    He put a hand to his face. Im sorry That sounded funnier in my head.


    How?


    Rane just shook his head. I have no idea, honestly.


    Den wasughing very quietly, barely in range of Ts hearing, and he was doing a masterful job of not letting his attention be known. Even so, T couldnt tell if he wasughing at the pitiful excuse for a joke, or at something else. <em>Probably something else.</em>


    Rane cleared his throat, clearly hoping to change the subject. So Those are my opening secrets. Your turn.


    T sat. So, funny that you mention immortal elk leather. She gestured at her outfit.


    He nodded. I thought it seemed familiar. Isnt it amazing how much it looks like fabric to the casual eye?


    She nodded. Yeah, and its sofortable! It fits perfectly, stays clean, and doesnt stay torn to shreds.


    Yeah, Ive never owned better shoes. He tapped one sole with the back of his knuckle. So, thats what? Three items?


    <em>Three?</em> Oh Right. She had a choice to make. She could likely lie, and he would never know, or she could be honest when it didnt cost her anything. <em>Truth is better.</em> Its one item for me.


    He frowned. Are they joined under the tunic?


    No theyre joined spiritually. Theyre one item, but not physically.


    He blinked at her for a long moment, then leaned forward. You know how to bond items together?


    Its <em>very</em> simr to aplex spell-form that Ive been working on, so yes. Master Grediv does too, so Im not sure I should be the one to tell you


    He nodded, leaning back. Yeah, the Archon star. The rusting books on bound items always seem to describe thebining of those items in reference to that spell-form. Master Grediv wrote me a description and sealed it in an envelope.


    Warded against you until when? Thats just mean.


    He shook his head. No, not warded. He just said, Be sure youre ready before you read this. Ive never heard him so serious, before, so I decided to train more before reading it.


    Thats why youre on this journey?


    He hesitated a moment, then let out a long breath. No Master Grediv is irritated that I havent opened the letter, so he sent me on this as an eye opening quest to get me to take some responsibility and read the rust cursed letter already.


    She quirked a smile. So, how long have you had it?


    He shrugged. A few years.


    She blinked. <em>Master Grediv thought he was ready to learn the Archon star a few </em>years<em> ago?</em> Huh


    He nced at her. You think I should read it too dont you.


    Well yeah. Youre being offered power and a means to advance. Why not take it?


    He sighed and looked away. I dont know if I want to have the Archon star form given to me. Im told that the greatest Mages discover it on their own.


    She opened her mouth at that, but closed it, feeling an unexpected blush of happiness from the unwittingpliment.


    But thats not what were talking about now, is it? Youve changed the subject.


    She cleared her throat. Fair enough She gestured to her belt pouch. This is my dimensional storage, Kit. And-


    Wait, wait, wait You named your dimensional storage?


    Seemed reasonable.


    Butits a bag.


    Dont listen to him, Kit. Youre awesome.


    The pouch did not respond.


    Mistress T


    You named your sword. Why cant I name my belt pouch?


    He opened his mouth to respond, then seemed to think better of it, shrugging and sighing. Very well.


    She then pulled out her hammer and knife. Knife and hammer, each bound.


    He looked closely. A repeating hammer? Let me guess: Mister Taps.


    She red. No. I havent named ityet. She shrugged. I wasnt even nning on keeping it, but it was starved of magic, and I thought it was better to keep it than let it be just another hammer. <em>Wait, if he doesnt know about the hammer, that means Trent didnt tell the other Mages the specifics of my ident.</em> She felt an odd sense of gratitude for that.


    Rane was still regarding the hammer. couldnt you have put it in an iron box?


    She gave him a long look. Wellyes. If Id thought of that. <em>OhIm an idiot.</em> True, that assumed that most of its power loss wasnt from using its power, but even so.


    He grinned at her. You do seem to be an oddbination of new to this and strangely in the know.


    Thats what I do. Search out esoteric knowledge, while forgetting the basics. She shrugged. But those are my bound items.


    Terry piped up from where he was curled, squarely in the center of the padded square in the wagons roof.


    No, Terry, Ive not bonded you, not in the way he means. And youre not an item.


    Terry shimmied down a little further, letting out a small, irritated squawk.


    Hes an interesting one, isnt he?


    T gave him a guilty smile. Yeah.


    Howd you find him again?


    He tried to kill me, failed, then wouldnt go away.


    Terry gave her a truly offended look, and T tossed him a hunk of jerky.


    Sorry, Terry, I didnt mean it like that.


    The bird snapped the meat from the air and settled back into his restful pose, somewhat mollified.


    Yeah Thats not a standard hatchling.


    T nced to Rane and saw the inscribings around the mans eyes already filled with power.


    He looked to her. Not my business, but dont let it kill anyone, please?


    Ill do my best.


    His face suddenly turned serious. No, Mistress T. Im serious. That bird kills <em>no one</em>. If you cant promise me that, Ill kill it now.


    Terrys head came up, eyes locked onto Rane.


    T raised a cating hand towards the bird but kept her eyes on Rane. He wont kill anyone who doesnt need killing.


    Rane hesitated, clearly hearing the gold in her tone. After a long moment, he nodded. Very well. He looked to Terry and gave a slight bow of his head. I apologize for any offense given.


    Terry continued to regard Rane for a long moment before ncing to T.


    T sighed and handed a piece of jerky to Rane.


    Rane barked a shortugh, rolled his eyes, took the meat, then tossed it to Terry. Terry caught it happily and curled up once more.


    As I said, not a standard hatchling. He turned back to T. I do hope you know what youre doing.


    <em>If hopes were gilded, Id be rich.</em> Of course. She smiled in what she hoped was a convincing manner.


    Soyou havent exined how you can call the knife to you.


    Oh! Right. She dropped the knife over the side and waited a few moments before calling it back to her. It was more difficult calling it up and back, but still within her abilities. <em>Dont wait so long next time</em> Its a function of the bond, to the best of my knowledge.


    The magic-bond? That shouldnt give any additional categories of ability.


    She hesitated, then sighed. <em>In for a copper</em> A soul-bond.


    He gave her a long look. You arent an Archon.


    No.


    Then, you shouldnt be able to work with souls, let alone form bonds.


    Im odd like that.


    He blinked at her a few times, then shook his head. No, Mistress T. Thats not how this works. This isnt: Im a Mage and fight with my fists odd. This isnt even: Im an assassin, but I love to bake odd. This is: Im a fish that can fly levels of odd.


    She cocked her head. Are there flying fish-?


    He raised a hand. Im terrible at metaphors, ok, but you get my meaning.


    <em>He is Gredivs student. </em>Not really?


    He groaned, scratching both of his cheeks at once, as he frowned in concentration. Its like meeting a toddler who can speak a foreignnguage fluently, without speaking his own, and theres no one around who speaks the othernguage to have taught him.


    Thatsodd. Ill grant you. But an Archon star is hardly asplex as a wholenguage.


    Not conceptually, but it is for your soul. Souls talk to their bodies. Thats their nativenguage.


    My soul talks to me? Wait no. Now, Im getting confused.


    He groaned. See? Bad at metaphors An Archon star is supposed to be asplex as anguage for your soul, thats what makes you an Archon. But you can do soul bonds without being an Archon. He snapped his fingers, seeming excited. Its like writing a masterwork piece of music, then iming you cant read notes.


    That soundsimusible.


    Exactly.


    Huh Maybe my soul just has a nice sound to it, regardless of the skill of theposer?


    Thatthat actually makes sense He seemed to ponder. Is that really it, or did my metaphor mess us over?


    She shrugged. What Im doing works. Im getting better at it. It seems to be good. Why gainsay it? When his skepticism persisted, she added. Master Grediv knows what Im doing and gave me guidelines. After another moment, she added. Which I am following.


    He rolled his eyes but still seemed deep in thought. Youre an Immaterial Guideis that it? He was muttering to himself, again. When he spoke more loudly, he seemed uncertain. A soul is immaterial, is your ability with guiding immaterial things allowing this to be easier for you?


    No idea.


    He grunted irritably. Fine fine.


    She quirked a smile. You know if you read the letter


    He gave her a weary half-re. Really?


    Fine. Can I read it, then?


    No!


    Well, someone should.


    He sighed, looking down at his still bandaged hand. I dont suppose you have any water youd spare for this? The evaporation helps keep it cool.


    She winced, remembering how shed hurt him. Yeah She pulled out her incorporator and gave it a moderate amount of power, sending a dribbling stream to re-wet the wrap.


    Those are really inefficient.


    As inefficient as carrying around barrels of water?


    He tilted his head, considering. Huhfair enough, I suppose. You arent a Material Creator, after all.


    That done, she had a thought. Hey! Youre an Immaterial Creator.


    Yeah? So?


    You changed the forces of my attack, earlier. Thats a guide spell-working. She hesitated, then btedly added. Sorry for the low blow, by the way.


    He smiled ruefully. It was a bit of a cheap shot, but mine was hardly much better. He pulled his hand, and the re-wetted bandage, back. As to your implied question, Master Grediv has been pushing me to bridge the quadrants for a long time. That was the first working I understood enough to add it to my inscribings. Pretty useful, yeah?


    She snorted. Kept you off the ground, so Id say so.


    They fell into a bit of awkward silence, before Rane cleared his throat. Do you mind if I stretch a bit? I didnt really have much of a chance to after our fight.


    She shrugged. Sure. I probably should do some physical work myself.


    With that established between them, they each began working through their own sets, T at the front of the wagon, Rane near the back.


    T, for her part, went through her spiritual and magical strength training as well. As breaks between groups of sets, Rane read, and T continued her in-depth review. They asionally filled the silence with talk about various small things.


    All in all, it was a pleasant, safe, and wise way to spend the morning, and T found herself smiling more and more as the time wore on, content.

 Chapter 62: A Silly Accusation

    Chapter 62: A Silly usation


    As T and Rane sat atop the front wagons roof, Rane finally asked a question that caused T to hesitate.


    So, are you from Bandfast, then? I dont think you ever really answered that.


    <em>I could lie but what would be the point? </em>She sighed, sitting back down. No Im not.


    Where, then?


    Marliweather.


    Will you be heading home after we arrive in Bandfast, then?


    Bandfast is my home, now.


    Ahh He looked like he wanted to ask but didnt press. Instead, he shifted to a different, if rted topic. So, youngest?


    Oldest. You?


    Middle. Dead middle. Five above and five below.


    Ahhh. Got lost, there?


    A bit, until Master Grediv picked me. He gained a bit of a mischievous smile. My eldest brother had been campaigning for <em>months</em> to get Master Grediv toe to our home and evaluate him. He was basically ready to be certified as a full Mage. Even so, he hoped to be a mageling under Master Grediv. His smile widened. After testing my brother, Grediv said, and Ill never forget his words, Why would I want to paint on a used canvas? He rejected him on the spot. My brother was so startled that he never actually responded. Rane let out a smallugh. That knocked him from his high horse. It mortified mother and father, too. Then, Grediv looked around, muttering about a wasted trip before seeing me. He pointed me out and said, and Im not joking, You! nk canvas. Get over here. Were leaving. And that was that.


    Hes a colorful one, isnt he?


    Oh, youve no idea. So, what about you? Eldests usually have a lot of responsibility.


    She huffed a mirthlessugh. You could say that. I wasnt born the eldest, but I was when I left. Eldest of twelve. My elder brother, may his soul be gilt in gold, was really a half-brother. His mother died in childbirth, as did mine. I guess my father got better at picking a woman after that, because the other rascals all came from his third wife.


    Not kind to you?


    Oh, she was fine. Treated me like her own, then helped give me the family debts and send me off to repay them. She froze. Shed not told anyone that. <em>Why are you thering, T?</em>


    Rane smiled consolingly. Ahh, indentured into the craft, theneven more than most. Im sorry to hear it. Ive heard of such, but cant say Ive met any, what with not going to the academy.


    She hesitated, then sighed. <em>Already talking about it, I suppose.</em> Not many at the academy, either. It takes a union ofrge debts and magical aptitude for such to happen, usually.


    Well, Im sorry. Thats a pretty bad hand to be dealt.


    Ill admit, I considered just dying, and leaving the rusting people with nothing, but I think Im mainly over that. She snorted augh. I honestly think I tilted so far towards defense as a reaction to that way of thinking. She found herself smiling, just a bit, despite the topic. Many have it worse, and things are looking up. She shrugged. Ill pay off my debt, and then be better off than I ever hoped.


    Good way to look at it, I suppose. d you took countermeasures, I suppose. You do seem a bit carefree about danger.


    Yeah, Im working on that. She nced away.


    There was a short lull, before Rane refocused the conversation. So, how did they justify it? Sending you off to a better life?


    Dont know. Refused to talk to them, after I heard, and havent spoken to them since I left.


    He seemed stunned by the revtion. TI He closed his mouth, frowning. After a long moment, he nodded then spoke. Losing your family like that Im sorry, Mistress T.


    She gave a sad smile. I appreciate that. And, strangely, she found that she actually did.


    Do youdo you think youll ever see them again?


    She snorted. I used to have these grand ns: Pay off the debt, get a mountain of gold and go throw a handful at their feet. How do you like that? Im just gold to you, right? But it seems really childish, now.


    He gave her a half-grin. Just a bit. Would probably be cathartic, though.


    She grinned in return. It would at that. She sighed. Lets talk about something else, yeah? She scratched the side of her neck. Well be in Bandfast tomorrow, right? The days had flown by on this return trip.


    Tomorrow evening, thats right.


    It will be good to be home. And, it seems we have a ce to train, right?


    Yeah, Guardsman Adam seemed <em>quite</em> interested in seeing you hurt me again.


    She rolled her eyes. I dont think that was it.


    Fair, fair. But it should be fun.


    She just smiled in response. <em>Yeah. It should be.</em>


    The morning passed amicably, and Brand brought lunch for T and Terry almost perfectly at high noon.


    When he saw Rane, he gave T an odd look, but didnt otherwisement. Shortly after the cook left, however, the servant for Ranes wagon clumsily climbed up thedder, bearing Ranes lunch.


    Oh! Thank you, Manth.


    The servant nodded. Will you be needing anything else, good Master?


    No, thank you.


    The servant gave a slight bow and left, climbing back down and hopping free of the still moving wagon.


    Rane seemed a bit embarrassed. I forgot to let him know where I was going to be for lunchIll apologize to him this evening.


    T shrugged, not feeling the need toment.


    They ate, chatting about various small things. When Terry vanished after finishing what Brand had brought, Rane paused, mid-sentence, and gave T a t look.


    Hes fine. He wont hurt anyone from the caravan, and were the only people out here.


    Rane didnt press further.


    After lunch, T continued her note-taking review of anatomy, and Rane read, while their stomachs settled. At nearly the exact right time, Adam arrived. In lieu of sparring, he first worked with T on her basic techniques.


    After that, it was decided that Adam should see Rane move through his own attack and defensive patterns.


    His sword was two handed and as tall as he was, a true greatsword.


    The cross-guard, it seemed was sequestered within Ranes dimensional storage, along with half the handle, thus only a single hands worth of the hilt was exposed for easy drawing of the weapon.


    As he pulled it free, T had found herself gawking.


    It was entirely wood in appearance. Its grain was tight, but clear, and the red tone of the material made it look almost dipped in blood then left to dry. The color had not been at all clear from the small portion of the hilt that had been poking out, though that didnt make much sense to T.


    The power flowing through the weapon was two-fold: First, the obviously required strength and sharpness magics were readily apparent. Second, there were hints of kic energy redirection that seemed simr to her hammer, but more refined and tailored to the martial applications of a sword.


    When Rane pulled the de free, a little clumsy because of his still bandaged hand, T got a good look at the magics. She shook her head. No.


    Adam gave her a puzzled look, and Rane cocked his head. What?


    You heard me. No. That looks like an item, perfectly inscribed for your needs, but its an artifact. There is <em>no</em> way thats a coincidence.


    Rane gave a sheepish half smile. Im really lucky?


    She sighed. Youll tell meter.


    He sighed in turn. Maybe


    She narrowed her eyes, giving him a searching look.


    Hey, it isnt a No, alright?


    Fine


    Adam didnt understand magic item variations, exactly, and he seemed content with his ignorance. He ignored their exchange and instructed Rane to walk him through his fighting style.


    That took more than an hour, and Rane just covered the basics, while Adam was asking <em>extensive</em> questions. Most demonstrations were short, due to Ranes hand, but they cleared up questions that would have been hard to answer with words alone. Finally, Adam had to depart, and Rane and T went back to their alternations of training and chatting.


    Terry returned sometime during Ranes demonstration for Adam, but no onemented on his arrival.


    Other than the oddly tailored artifact, the day passed without incident.


    More than a couple dozen small, arcanous encounters came and went, though Rane wasnt needed to repel any of them, and T restrained herself from interfering. The guards handled most, and the other Mages were in better position for the others, so their pattern was uninterrupted.


    It was actually a pleasant way to spend the day, if T was being honest.


    Ashin came by and sparred with T, while Rane continued to read. The guardsman was a bit hesitant, given her earlier damaging of Rane, but Ashin got past it quick enough. T, for her part, kept to the basics that Adam had been teaching her. <em>No more damaging partners, T.</em>


    The wagon train pulled into formation for the night, and dinner came and went. Trent finally asked T about her ending-berry harvesting, and she gave the barest of answers possible, without lying. She felt a bit bad, but she didnt intend on telling him, or anyone, that she had gallons of ending-berry juice on hand. Also, as much as she trusted Trent, she was <em>not</em> going to share about the men Terry had killed to protect her. <em>Nope, nothing good down that road.</em>


    The only thing of true note that evening was Tang.


    As T headed back towards her wagon, finally alone for the night, Tang called out to her, hurrying across therger circle of wagons. Mistress T! A moment, please.


    T turned, Terry on her shoulder, and waited for the older Mage. She frowned as she saw something in his hand. <em>Is that?</em>


    He held the item out in question. I found one! I had a whole host of cors to search through, but I did, indeed, have one for a young creature with dimensional magics.


    T cocked an eyebrow. You just happened to have the exact cor we need?


    Hmmm? No, of course not. I have at least one of almost every variation.


    She blinked at him in confusion. What? <em>Wait Tang was the buyer?</em> That made a sort of sense, now that she thought about it.


    He smiled. The foremost artisan of arcane domestic cors lives in Alefast. I bought out her supply, and then some. I bought up every avable cor in the city! He gave her a self-satisfied smile. Im carrying them to Bandfast, then on to other cities, to sell. He was nodding happily as he spoke. Its a side venture. I get all my funds in hard currency, travel to Alefast, transfer the money to my ount with the bonus, then spend the increased amount on goods to travel back with. Once a year, I do so with cors. In the spring its He hesitated, giving her a sidelong look, then waved the topic away. Never mind that. Ive an exclusive deal with her, so I dont mind telling you about the cors. I buy out all that she can make in a year, virtually every year. Have for half a decade.


    T blinked. <em>That is surprisingly reasonablestill a bit fortuitous. </em>And this particr cor costs?


    Tangs eyes held a glint of greed. Well, this particr cor has three features that make it more expensive than most. First, it is a growth cor, meaning its designed to remain perfectly sized for the arcane creature as it changes size, growing with it. Its dynamic, so it doesnt require fiddling with buckles or the like. Second, it is designed to connect with its wearer, bing integrated, so that it moves with them. My understanding is it alters the cor so that the creatures magic sees it as a part of it. Im not privy to the how, unfortunately. Now that would be a valuable bit of information He seemed to lose himself for a moment, before snapping his focus back to their conversation. Where was I? Right! This feature is specific to dimensional arcanous creatures, so they cant jump out of it. Without that, the cor will be left behind, and the creature killed, if its within the city.


    T gave Terry a nce. The bird looked a bit wide-eyed. Yeah that would not be ideal.


    Finally, it is a training cor. It is two pieces, woven together. Forck of a better description, you magically bond one, the terror hatchling, the other. It uses the magic of any city you are in to ensure that the creature stays within a hundred yards of you. It wont do anything outside of cities, but it shouldnt need to, yes?


    She frowned. I really cant get over how convenient it is that you have exactly what we need.


    Tang sighed. Dimensional rabbits and cats are very popr pets, and arcanous dogs are often used as guard animals. This is actually one of the moremon cors, after the generic. The only really stand-out feature is the growthponent, but as most pets, and guard animals, are acquired very young, this is, again, not a rare feature.


    What about the fact that you have cors at all?


    He lifted his hands in frustration. Would you prefer I have barrels of ale, and not be able to help you?


    T frowned. <em>No</em> Im sorry, Master Tang. Im just suspicious of things that seem too good to be true. She sighed. <em>That has been happening a lot thest three weeks or so </em>I apologize. Thank you.


    He smiled, seeming at least somewhat mollified. I suppose I can understand thatIf it makes you feel better: The cors are only one of about eight different types of artisan goods Im taking with me.


    What else?


    He gave her a t look.


    She smiled at that. Fair enough. She looked to Terry. The bird hesitated, seeming to examine the cor. So, it doesnt do anything outside of cities?


    Thats right. Except stay on.


    How often will it need to be recharged or re-inscribed?


    It wont.


    T cocked an eyebrow.


    It is more like an incorporator, for its basic functions. From what Im told, it alters how the creatures powers are perceived by city defenses. The resizinges from the wearers own dimensional power once the item is worn and bonded. And the tether, forck of a better word, works simrly. He shrugged. Most standard cors dont need to be reinscribed or recharged because they only have that basic lens-like function. If this was a growth cor for a non-dimensional animal, that would be a different thing entirely.


    In truth, T had never studied such things, but it seemed usible. Alright What happens if he tries to enter a city, and Im nowhere around?


    Ive never seen that attempted myself, but I would bet that the citys defenses would bar his entry or strike him down, depending on his persistence.


    <em>Simple The lensing effect again? Changing the iing defenses to a forbidding?</em> She was out of her depthagain. <em>There are so many fine variations of magic items </em>She needed to finish reading the volumes she had avable on the subject. <em>After the anatomy refresher.</em> FineHow much? She was loathed to ask. She looked to Terry, again, as covertly as possible. The bird gave a slight bob.


    For this? At such a time of need? Five ounces, gold.


    And Tangs earlier change of attitude suddenly made sense. <em>The rusting</em> Five? Thats insane!


    Supply and demand, Mistress. Youve a demand, and Ive a supply. An unscrupulous man would charge you double that.


    Three.


    He shook his head. No, Mistress T. The price is five.


    Her eyes narrowed. What would it cost in the city?


    For this? He held it up. Honestly, if I sell it in Bandfast, Ill get three or four ounces, gold. If I take it to a farther city, Id get four and a half or five. I can get as much as six, with the right buyer.


    He didnt really have a reason to lie, as he didnt seem to have any interest in negotiating. She silently grimaced. <em>He also basically admitted that I could buy it from him in Bandfast for three</em>


    Terry flickered and was suddenly holding the cor. Ts eyes snapped to him, and Tang gasped as the transport seemed to activate something within the strip of leather.


    The cor whipped out and wrapped around Terrys neck, settling into ce partially hidden by his feathers, down near his shoulders. The dark color of the leather blended nicely with his plumage.


    T reached out to touch the cor feeling around the outside. <em>No seam.</em> It felt hungry, though, like her bound items, and without thinking, she fed it a trickle of power.


    Tang stood there, open mouthed, as a tendril of power locked onto her, and she knew the dual magic bond wasplete, her to the cor, and the cor to Terry.


    T looked up to Tang. So, if you want, I can cut it off of him. Otherwise you said three gold ounces, right?


    Tangs eyes widened further, anger clearly beginning to build within the man. Now look here. You just stole that from me! You cant steal a pie, wolf it down, and then offer to give it back if the baker doesnt agree to a lower price.


    He had a point. <em>Rust it.</em> Fine. Four.


    Tang opened his mouth, clearly going to reject her offer, if not call for the guards, but neither of them had noticed Trent approaching. Master Tang. The Mage ced a hand on the older mans shoulder. What seems to be the problem?


    Tang turned on the man. Master Trent, Mistress T just stole from me, then willfully bonded the item without purchasing it.


    I heard and saw. The bird snatching a bit of leather you dangled before it is quite expected, as you likely knew.


    Tang cleared his throat and nced away.


    You are right, though, that T chose to bond with the item. But that likely simply stole a bargaining chip youd hoped to employ. How much were you nning to charge her to not bond the cor yourself? He gave Tang a hard look. Trying to steal her hatchling, were you?


    T frowned. <em>That makes no sense. Cor or no, Terry wouldnt have gone with himexcept, he believes Terry is a hatchling, and bet that either Id pay up, or he could take over training Terry, himself.</em>


    Tang shook his head. That is a silly usation. <em>Maybe, hes right It doesnt seem likely to have worked</em>


    Trent cocked an eyebrow. Then, how about we end this in good faith. She pays you four gold ounces, and everyone walks away.


    Tang began to object, but Trent gave him a hard look. That is plenty of profit for you, Master Tang. You know that it is.


    The older Mage closed his mouth, clearly still unhappy. Fine. He pulled out a small stone tablet and made a few alterations before pricking his finger and confirming his side of the transaction. Here.


    He held it out to T, and she saw that it was for a transfer from a buyers ount to his, in the amount of four ounces, gold.


    T let out a defeated sigh. Fine. Then, she confirmed the transaction. The tablet flickered green, then went nk.


    Tang grumbled at her for a moment after taking the stone te back, then stalked off.


    Trent was shaking his head. Well, at least I know, now, why he was being so out of character.


    T was afraid to ask, but she did anyways. How much should this have cost? She lightly touched the cor.


    Hmmm? Oh, three or four gold is a reasonable, if higher-end, price. He was hoping for five, clearly. I dont know if he was actually going to try to extort more if your hatchling had bonded the cor before the sale, but I wouldnt put it past him.


    Thats he didnt seem like that much of


    Trent shrugged. Then, maybe not. From what I know of him, he is genuinely fascinated by arcane creatures, so that wasnt an act, but he is also obsessed with building his fortune. Hes given up studying or improving magically, and simply ys the trader.


    Is it working?


    Dont know, dont really care.


    She smiled. Fair enough. Thank you, Master Trent.


    Happy to help, Mistress T.


    She hesitated a moment, then smiled, giving Trent a nod. Goodnight.


    Goodnight.


    Without another word, they each turned towards their respective beds.


    * * *


    T woke,te in the night, suppressing her own screams.


    Shed learned to scream silently through her years at the academy. Most people were sympathetic the first time you woke from a nightmare, screaming, but after a few weeks of near-nightly wails?


    No one had patience for that.


    <em>Why are you back</em> She couldnt even muster the strength to be properly irritated. The nightmare was always the same, always stupid and childish.


    Her parents pushing her under a falling ledger.


    That was it.


    Oh, there was usually variation in the buildup. Sometimes, the family, now faceless with years to forget details, would go to a park for a pic before the falling ledger would appear. She would try to escape with her family, and her father would trip her, leaving her behind.


    Or, theyd be climbing a tower, and hed push her out a window as the ledger swept past.


    Or, shed be watching her younger siblings, and her mother would rush in to snatch the young ones from her arms before scurrying away just in time for the wall to shatter, the booking through to crush T.


    <em>Its the most ridiculous thing Ive ever heard of</em> But she still woke screaming, silent or not.


    She wiped a stray strand of hair from her face. <em>I thought I escaped these</em> Perhaps, it was the contemtions of her debt that had returned the dream. <em>Idiot. I cant n a way out from under the debt, if I cant think about it</em>


    With a groan, she stood and moved off the roof, leaving Terry asleep atop her bedroll.


    She checked the sky, verifying that it was sometime after midnight. <em>Good enough.</em>


    She charged the twenty cargo-slots with ease, her work and practice obviously paying off, even given her tired mind.


    After the short bit of work, she still wasnt quite far enough removed from the dream to ensure she wouldnt return to it if she fell back asleep. Returning to the dream was worse, by far.


    She would be trapped, unable to move, barely able to breathe under the suffocating weight of the ledger book.


    Even so, she would hear her family going about their lives, out of sight, ignoring her whimpers, her pleas, for help.


    She never woke from this part screaming. She felt lucky to wake at all. The dream would continue uninterrupted, forcing her to live every minute of it, crushed by the weight of their indifference, until dawn woke her.


    <em> I hate them.</em> She drew her knife and strained against her gate, rage and hate and hope and desperation fueling her.


    The de of the knife liquified, slowly flowing outward to form the hair thin outline of a sword de. <em>AlmostThere!</em>


    But that was as far as she could push it. There was no satisfying <em>click</em> as she passed the threshold to ignite the aura within the de, though she suspected it would still cut.


    In anger, she strode towards a nearby rock formation and swung an enraged horizontal sh.


    The sword passed the rock, and nothing happened. She felt no resistance; she felt nothing at all.


    Her anger sputtered, and her gate closed marginally, removing the flow-rate required. The knife shrank back into its resting form.


    <em>Useless.</em>


    She sheathed the knife and kicked the base of the stone. Nothing happened.


    <em>Well, there goes that hope.</em> Some part of her had imagined the rock sliding apart, her cut having been so perfect that the stone didnt move until disturbed. <em>Thats what you get from hoping</em>


    Still, she was focused on the rock, causing her mage-sight to activate.


    As it did, she blinked in shock. <em>What?</em>


    She could see power flowing through the stone, as it did in all things in the wilds.


    That flow was broken.


    In the rock, where she had cut, the flows of magic no longer connected. The tendrils of power had been routed around the line, stretching deep within the stone, and new patterns had developed.


    <em>It cut the magic?</em> That made no sense. If you actually broke a flow of magic, power would burst forth, doing who knows what. <em>So, what then?</em>


    She looked closer and saw a hair thin line in the rock, only visible to her enhanced senses because her mage-sight told her precisely where to look. <em>It did cut the rock?</em> No, no material had been removed


    Her eyes widened. A de with no appreciable width. Her de hadnt been long enough to cut all the way through the rock formation, so there was no way for the stone to move, but she <em>had</em> cut it perfectly. The upper piece was now resting on the lower.


    <em>Well, rust me through.</em> She looked at the knife at her hip and smiled. Nicely done. She patted the handle. I think well get good use out of you, soon enough.


    She pulled herself back to the present and looked around at the nightndscape. But not nowNow, I need to rest.


    It had been long enough.


    She crawled back into her bedroll and gazed at the stars through the light cloud cover, overhead.


    Herst thoughts werent promising, as she drifted off to sleep, <em>I feel like Im forgetting something important</em>


    Even so, blessedly, the dream did not return.

 Chapter 63: Crush

    Chapter 63: Crush


    T didnt know if shed been asleep for a moment or hours, but when Terry jumped up, she suddenly found herself fully awake, throwing off her coverings.


    Whats going on? She looked around frantically, her vision slightly blurry but clearing fast.


    Her sleep addled mind, while awake, was not focused yet, even as she tried to take in their surroundings.


    No one else was awake, but Terry was staring up at the cloudy sky, crouched and wary.


    T looked up as power flickered around the terror bird, taking him away.


    She had just enough time to blearily wonder why arge portion of the sky was so much darker than the rest when an arcanous avian mmed into her, its massive talons closing around her torso.


    She didnt have time to fight as it snatched her from the roof of the wagon, bearing her off into the cloud shrouded sky.


    Ts first reaction was to yell for help, but the nearly crushing grip of the great bird kept her from drawing a full breath, and the initial impact had driven the air from her lungs in a soundless <em>whoosh.</em>


    Unable to scream, she tried to turn and bring her magic to bear, but she had been snatched in a way to force her to be face down, and so all she could see was the ground rushing past, below.


    In theory, she could lock onto the creature by targeting the talons, wrapped around her, but she was iffy on the result, which might just be the ws opening to drop her.


    Now that she thought about it, even if she could target the beast, best case would be the bird dropping from the air like a super heavy rock, tond directly on top of her.


    <em> Not a great n, T.</em> Could she use Restrain?<em> That wasnt designed to affect anything this high upwhat would it even do?</em> It was probably not a good idea to test that spell-working with her life on the line.


    What else did she have at her disposal?


    Her knife. <em>Yeah, that would work.</em>


    The caravan was already lost to her sight in the ckness, and if her eyes werent deceiving her, snow was beginning to fall. <em>Just my luck.</em> She almostughed at that. She knew shed been lucky ofte. <em>Just my fate?</em> She hoped to the stars that this wasnt reality bncing the scales


    Flickers of dimensional energy zig-zagged across thendscape below her, but if she was right in her guess, she was moving much faster than a galloping horseor a teleporting terror bird.


    <em>Right, knife!</em> She scrabbled at her side, trying to get to the weapon that she had hanging there, but couldnt reach it as it was pinned to her side by one of the massive taloned toes.


    She panted, trying to draw in enough breath for her continued efforts. <em>Where is it taking me?</em>


    She craned her neck, looking in the direction they were flying, allowing herself to focus and her mage-sight to activate, despite the range.


    Mountains loomed before and below her, thergest were not close, but they wereing closer far faster than shed have wished. Hanging her head down, she actually thought she could see the lights of cities in the distance in varying directions. <em>How high are we?</em>


    That prompted her to check her ending-berry power reserves. <em>Not bad.</em> She wished she had more, and she wasnt sure if it would protect her from such a fall


    <em> Wait until wend?</em> It was likely taking her back to its nest to eat her <em>Why not kill me and eat me closer?</em>


    The obvious answer came to her mind immediately. <em>Babies Shes going to feed me to her babies.</em>


    T had no issues killing baby monsters, though she doubted it would be that easy. <em>If Im even rightMaybe just back to the flock?</em>


    Her arms were free, but the strength of the grip around her middle left no doubt as to the power of the bird holding her aloft. So, she didnt even try to pry the talons open. <em>Not worth the effort.</em>


    She briefly considered trying to pull the knife to her hand, spiritually, but dismissed the idea. If she tried to pull it out, it would have to ovee the strength of the talon holding it in ce. <em>Ill have to wait until wend to fight.</em>


    This was a new experience. Most of her violent encounters had been sudden, save her ying of the thunder bull for which she had a n, however dubious. Now, she knew that she would be in a fight for her life very soon, but not now.


    <em>I can pull magic to fuel the sword, and that is likely my best weapon, beyond gravitation magic, which may or may not easily work</em> The midnight fox was still fresh in her mind, and if anything, she felt more stressed about this fight than that.


    <em>Ok. Focus, T. Dont think about then, think about now.</em>


    She took a deep breathwell, she tried.


    She took several slow, shallow breaths. <em>I need as much magic as I can get.</em>


    T threw her gate wide, pulling magic into herself and keeping it close around her gate, not allowing it to pour through her inscriptions. As Holly had demonstrated some weeks before, T already had a <em>very</em> high magic density. Under duress, Mages could usually hold beyond their capacity for a short time, but it was only a fraction more than normal.


    For T, a fraction more was still an ocean of power to most new Mages. <em>Probably not Archons, but still</em>


    She drew deeply, doing her utmost to increase the flow, which would also help sustain the sword when she invoked it.


    Scant minutester, she was truly full, near to bursting, and the mountains only appeared a bit nearer. <em>Huh, I started too early</em> She examined the mountains, seeing that the tallest were farther than shed originally thought and much bigger.


    Her focus also highlighted close to a dozen more flying, arcanous creatures, lower down.


    Ts abductor seemed to be losing altitude, heading for those other birds. If her guess was right, it hadnt even been half an hour since shed been snatched up. <em>Andcant wait. Heres hoping!</em>


    She was belly down, so her first two fingers were extended towards the ground, rather than the sky. The second two bent down. All four fingers and thumb were tucked close together. She then pped the wed foot holding her, and the avian blossomed white to her vision, even the wing tips, which asionally came into view lit up. <em>Yes!</em>


    She was not startled that the color of her targeting had changed. It simply made sense. Blue, now, meant something different to her, especially after the distant conflict shed so recently witnessed.


    <em>Focus, T. Mind on the fight.</em>


    She extended the two bent, outer fingers, altering the configuration of the spell-forms. <em>Crush.</em>


    Power leapt through her already wide-open gate and down the spell-lines for her one lethal attack-spell.


    The gravitational constant was altered for therge bird, and they suddenly began to drop.


    <em>Yes! Now, I just need to survive could I get into Kit if it lets me go?</em> That might actually work


    Power exploded from the bird, as its reservoirs of power began to drain at a markedly increased rate, granting greater lift to the creature, and they leveled off.


    <em>Oh,e on!</em>


    Her spell-forms were still active, the target still intact. A second golden circle burned away. The exception her magic had created for the target within the gravitational constant was amended. The beasts weight quadrupling, again.


    They began dropping once more, much faster this time. T <em>pushed</em> downward. It was an odd sensation.


    Again, the beast pulsed with power. It reacted more quickly this time, and it began gaining altitude instead of just leveling off.


    <em>Not good Its now an endurance game.</em> But she had seventeen rings to throw at this stupid bird. It wasughable in the extreme to think the beast could resist what would end up being billions of times the normal force of gravity


    <em>Yeah Ill die from any impact far weaker than that.</em>


    The other arcanous avians were getting closer.


    A third golden ring was burned away, and it was too much for the bird that was carrying her. It streaked for the ground.


    In the animals panic, it began iling. T was tossed out into open sky with a slight upward arc, rtive to the plummeting bird. <em>Huh, that worked out well.</em>


    Another avian snatched her as she began to arc back down.<em> Or not. Are you rusting kidding me!</em>


    <em></em>She targeted the new avian, even as a fourth ring burned away, activating just before her original kidnapper mmed into the ground with a thunderous boom, the sickening snapping of bones were a subtle background to the greater cacophony of the general impact.


    The new bird didnt seem content to just carry her, and it began pecking at her, even as it tightened its grip. They were probing jabs, that didnt even pierce her elk-leather, yet.


    <em>Rust you, too!</em> It was already targeted. <em>Crush.</em>


    It immediately began to plummet, flinging her aside. The new bird was clearly weaker than the first, because it never recovered, though its struggling did prolong its plummet towards the ground and death long enough that a second golden ring was burned, to increase the pull.


    <em>Six down not good.</em> Her spell-forms were not designed for aerialbat.


    She beganughing a bit manically as she fell. <em>Humans arent designed for aerialbat!</em>


    Another bird struck at her as she fell, and sheshed out. Despite her now spinning perspective, the rushing wind, and the quickly approaching ground, she got a lock. <em>Crush!</em> The third one dropped towards its death.


    A fourth swooped up, catching her and carrying her up quickly. The sudden switch of direction whipped her neck painfully, or it should have been, but the ending-berry power came through. By the sensation, and the amount of power lost, small though it was, she should have just broken her neck and spine in at least four ces.


    <em>This just gets better and better.</em>


    To her surprise, her knife was now uncovered, though she couldnt reach it.


    She called it from her belt, and it whipped into her waiting hand. Flush with power, she dumped it into the knife, and it flowed outward into the shape of a sword, even as she swept it behind her back. The great bird, she still couldnt tell what species it was, screamed in abject agony, and T fell free, still clutched in the now severed ws.


    She stopped the flow of power to her sword, and it returned to the form of a knife. She kept her gate thrown wide, taking the brief space of time to begin refilling her bodys reserves.


    Another bird dove for her as she began to pick up speed. It was diving beak first. <em>So, not to catch me.</em>


    Her right hand came up in a perfect, practiced gesture, her knife tossed to her left on pure instinct. Only a small tug with her spirit guided the knife into her left grip. <em>Huh, I can call it to my other hand, too? Why didnt I ever try that, before?</em>


    The bird was highlighted in a glowing white. <em>Crush.</em>


    Two gold rings were burned away at once. A second ring for the third bird, just before it impacted, and a new ring for this new bird.


    The jerk downward on her most recent attempted attacker caused it to mostly miss.


    Blessedly, as it fought the influence of her magic, and tried to pull upward, it bumped her from below, even as it streaked past.


    This had two effects, one good, one bad. Good: it slowed her quite a bit, the much greater mass of the bird easily stealing much of her momentum, though it felt likending from a great height even so, making her joints ache. Bad: it started her spinning, end over end.


    Even with her enhanced senses, she was unable to focus or right herself.


    One.


    Two.


    Three birds struck her in quick session, increasing the spin, driving in unpredictable directions, and wearing away at her reserves.


    Then, she struck the ground.


    * * *


    A pulse of power exploded from the base of Ts skull, and she returned to consciousness, violently.


    She wasying in the bottom of a crater, staring up at a cloudy sky, snow gently settling around her.


    A shiver ran through her from head to toe, and a sense akin to her Mage-sight picked up the signature of what had awoken her: It was the inscription, set to watch for any loss of consciousness not due to falling asleep.


    Once again, a sound, almost like a bell, hummed through her thoughts. Even knowing it wasing, she jumped at the internal sound. She ground her teeth in a purely voluntary response. <em>Rust Holly, that note is calming, and now is not a time to be calm.</em>


    Then, a mockery of her own voice came to her, once again.


    <em> Consciousness lost for 0.50 seconds due to unknown, full body impact. Defensive magics of unknown origin consumed to negate all but a fractional portion of the damage. Severe concussion was imminent. Unknown magics did not seem to protect neural tissue to the same extent as the rest of subjects physicality. Noted forter study.</em>


    <em>Cranial inscriptions activated to cushion dura-mater.</em>


    <em>Mild, targeted, electrical shock and hormone cocktail utilized for near instant resuscitation.</em>


    <em> Nosting effects detected or predicted.</em>


    <em> Anciry Note: Repeating such activities is ill-advised.</em>


    <em> Logplete.</em>


    Three times. <em>Ive been rendered unconscious three times</em> That cant be good for her. And now the magics were getting uppity with her. <em>Great.</em>


    She groaned, pushing herself upright. She checked herself over. Her clothing was pulling back together, having suffered from the blunt force of the impact, but its reserves had been full, so she didnt give it another thought.


    Worryingly, her ending-berry power reserves were all but exhausted. <em>How hard did I hit?</em>


    The deep depression in the earth, in which she was currently standing, seeming to indicate: Hard.


    After shed had a moment to consider, she realized that she was lucky to be standing, let alone have any power in reserve.


    Unfortunately, the screeching of arcanous avians overhead told her the fight wasnt over.


    She was now where she was used to, on solid ground. <em>My turn!</em> As she stood, she noted that she had seven remaining golden rings on the back of her right hand. Apparently, it had taken another to bring down the fourth bird. <em>May your soul be plucked</em>


    Quickly, she let her eyes, and mage-sight, sweep the sky. She locked on to every bird she could see as they swept lower, to get a better look at her.


    She took down seven more birds in quick session, each one dropping from the sky into the ground more quickly than they couldpensate, each one was rendered dead upon impact.<em> How big is this flock?</em>


    She counted three more birds, still circled overhead, and she was out of offensive magic.


    <em>Not bad, T. Seven for seven.</em> She ignored the ten to four ratio from her fight in the air. That had been unusual circumstances. <em>I wonder if Ill be able to harvest anything from these raven-spawned nightmares.</em>


    Indeed, shed finally gotten a good enough look to determine that they were some form of arcanous raven. The magics she could discern were entirely for flight, far-sight, strength, and regeneration.


    <em>Come on are youing down, or not!</em>


    As if in response to her thoughts, the first one dove for her.


    She held her knife off to the side, building up power just before the sword-path within the weapon.


    The war-pick of a beak streaked towards her at unbelievable speeds.


    Her perception let her see iting.


    This was not something that shed practiced, but it was close enough to dodging a punch that it allowed her now quite-practiced muscles to feel the movement as familiar.


    She waited as long as she felt was wise, then dove to the side.


    She shed out, pushing the pulse of power outward, forcing the knife to flow into a sword mid-swing.


    Her timing was off.


    She dodged too early, allowing the bird to track with her, but not perfectly. It dealt her a cutting, ncing blow as it shot past, draining the dregs of ending-berry power from her, even as it caused half her body to light with defensive spell-forms.


    Andit <em>hurt.</em>


    She spun away, immediately letting the knife flow back into its resting form.


    Blood sttered the ground around her, and she realized that shed cut the beast, too, though not fatally.


    It cried in rage even as it beat great wings, tempests of magic swirling, to regain height.


    <em>Not great, but not bad.</em>


    She had a new problem now, however.


    She was glowing.


    The next bird dove, spotting and tracking with her much more ease. <em>Come on, T!</em>


    She dyed a heartbeat longer, this time, and struck, empowering the path of the sword within the knife once more.


    She struck true.


    The de, just as for the rock, gave her no resistance as the bird passed.


    She failed to duck beneath the wing, and its incredibly resilient flight feathers sliced across her like so many razors, even as she bisected the creatures main body, beak to tail. The lower portion dropped away, sloshing across the ground behind her even as the wings continued for a short way, the magic of their flight maintained ever so briefly.


    The slices across her had been as a passing cut, so she didnt <em>think</em> she was bruised.


    Her clothes pulled back together over her still glowing flesh, and she wheezed in air, trying to recover her breath. <em>More ending-berries!</em> She felt like an idiot for not thinking of it sooner.


    She pulled out her sk, opened it and tipped it backemptyshe hadnt refilled it after herst drink. <em>Stupid. Stupid!</em>


    The third bird wasing in for its turn. No more time.


    <em>One injured, one down, one to go.</em>


    She timed her counterstrike perfectly this timefor an attack that didnte.


    She swept her flowing de through empty air, where the attacker should have been, but the avian had red its wings at thest instant, stopping so suddenly that T had trouble believing it was possible.


    Instead of streaking through where she had been, beak used as ance, the bird seemed to hang in the air before her, talons already striking out.


    Her still moving sword, by chance more than anything else, split one of the great birds feet, even as the other drove T backwards, easily slicing through her leathers, hitting previously un-struck flesh, and activating her defensive scripts there.


    <em>Its smart enough to know the glowing part has some sort of defense</em> That wasnt great.


    They each struck again, T wildly, the bird with animalistic instinct and precision.


    T stumbled backward with more of her skin glowing and the certain knowledge that <em>something</em> within her was broken.


    <em>No time for that now.</em> She was about to strike with the sword, again, when she realized that she was dangerously low on power. She pulled back from the path of the sword and the knife was once more in her hand.


    In desperation, she plunged her hand into Kit, pulled out the hammer, and flung it in one motion.


    The bird was still beating its wings, and tried to twist away, the full exchange having taken less than a handful of heartbeats.


    The hammer struck the bird in the head, and for a moment, T despaired. <em>Im not wielding it! Will it activate?</em> She screamed out with her will: <em>Kill it!</em>


    The hammers power blossomed outward, hitting the bird again, and again, and again in a single continuous impact. The sound of cracking bone was sweeter than any shed ever heard.


    What remained of the bird went instantly limp, dropping to the ground with a <em>whump</em> in the snow.


    <em> Snow?</em> Snow was, indeed, gathering about her, her impact and the beating of her attackers wings had mostly cleared the nearby space, but even so, there were drifts of the stuff all around her.


    <em>How high up in the mountains did it take me?</em>


    But now wasnt the time.


    The final arcanous raven-ine dropped silently from the sky, directly overhead. <em>I already injured that one.</em>


    She had no tricks left. Her only hope was that it didnt crush her, or otherwise break through her defenses, before she could stab it sufficiently with the knife to kill it or drive it away.


    A flicker of dimensional energy was the herald of glory as Terry appeared, nowrger than the attacking bird, his powerful ws seizing the final opponent around the neck and jerking it off course.


    The two birds tumbled to the ground, Terry immediately vanishing and appearing behind the flier.


    He struck, again, and again, and again. Each time from a different direction, each time evoking a fountain of blood and a screech of enraged pain.


    The flier tried to beat its wings and retreat to the sky.


    Terry forbade such a retreat.


    The fight was soughably one-sided, that T, indeed, began tough, despite the pain in her sides that screamed of broken bones.


    Her stress, fear, anger, horrorall her emotions came crashing down upon her in an uncontrobleugh. <em>Im going to live.</em>


    In the snow, as herpanion eviscerated, and then began to consume, her final attacker, Tughed andughed andughed, tears flowing freely down her ashen face.

 Chapter 64: One Thousand Ounces, Gold

    Chapter 64: One Thousand Ounces, Gold


    T slowly got her emotions under control but was left shaking as much from the physical bacsh of fading terror as from the cold wind whipping snow about her. <em>Ahh, adrenaline; how I wish I didnt need you.</em>


    Thank you, Terry. Her voice was steadier than shed expected it to be. Any interest in some jerky?


    The terror bird wearily lifted his blood painted beak from the downed arcane bird and regarded her for a long moment. Finally, he shook himself to indicate a negative. He then returned to gorging on his fallen prey. Terrys movements were slower than she was used to seeing. <em>How hard did he have to push to stay so close?</em>


    T, for her part, took out her incorporator, painstakingly funneling power from her gate into the device, and took long, careful drinks. Jerky followed, and she chewed and swallowed at a measured pace. Some leftover, heavy bread was next.


    As she ate, she began trudging through the snow towards the closest downed enemy not currently being eaten by Terry. It turned out to be the one that had red its wings, almost stopping mid-air to strike at her, near the end. Shed moved away from it as shed been seeking the final bird without realizing she was doing so.


    She quickly found her hammer in the snow nearby. Thankfully, her mage-sight picked it out with ease, and she dropped it into Kit. Then, using her knife, she began to work on the fallen bird.


    <em>Keep moving and the cold wont take you.</em> Her inscribings should prevent frostbite, but they didnt block the pain of the cold. <em>Shoes would be nice to have about now</em>


    She paused her work to pull out her jug of ending-berry juice, carefully refilling her sk, drinking a cup of the sweet, power-filled liquid, and topping the sk off once more. <em>I should never have let this remain empty.</em>


    She was taking all sorts of lessons from this insane night.


    As she felt the cold begin to settle in, her leathers responded. That reminded her of just how much the garments had done this night, so she pped her hand onto the confluence near her right thigh and gave them a healthy amount of powerslowly. She was exhausted.


    The leather felt much thicker than she was used to, but also had much more give. <em>What under the stars?</em>


    She looked at the bottom of the tunic, focusing to activate her mage-sight. What she saw surprised her, even given how adaptive the outfit had been up until now.


    The leather had thickened, the fibers spreading apart, within the increased depth. Then, the leather had joined together in attice, creating uncountable, isted micro-bubbles of air. There were so many, that she would guess at least twenty isted bubbles were in a direct line from the outer surface to the inner at any given point. <em>This should be a fantastic instor, now.</em> And, in fact, she immediately began to feel warmer, from her wrists to her ankles, though her neck, head, hands, and feet only received peripheral benefits.


    That improved, she turned back to the kill before her.


    <em>What to harvest, what to harvest.</em> She worked on the most obvious thing first, the talons. The amazingly strong, sharp finger-feathers were next. Her still active enhancements kept her hands from being cut on the vicious edges and needle-like barbs of the vanes.


    Her book on bound items had implied that a Mage could increase the power of soul-bound items through the incorporation of other items of magic.<em> These should qualify. </em>If not, she could always sell them. Sadly, she couldnt take everything, and these seemed the most useful and, therefore, valuable.


    As she could only read volume one on bound items, there was little more than implication, but even so, she wanted to be prepared. Her knife had been part of what tipped the scales for her, between life and death. She wanted that tool to be as potent as possible, going forwards.


    Now that she wasnt fighting for her life, she was able to appreciate the scale of the creature, before her. From beak to tail-feather, it was nearly twenty-six feet. <em>Thats close to ten times a mundane raven!</em> Well, if she was remembering correctly.


    The magic of the arcanous ravens was entirely bent around flight and the regr functions of the beast, itself. No special or elemental abilities at all. <em>Huh, theyre almost mundane.</em>


    The bird she was harvesting had a total of eight talons and eight finger feathers. <em>Seems standard, I suppose.</em> The other feathers were more flexible and suffused with power for flight. <em>Not that useful.</em> Shed never even heard rumors of magic flying constructions. <em>Doesnt mean they dont exist, though</em>


    Shed easily ced the talons into Kit, but now she stared down at the finger feathers. Each was nearly fifteen feet in length, also surprising light, all things considered. Kit you cant carry these, can you?


    The pouch did not respond.


    Now free from the birds body, the feathers looked like some entric piece of art; plumage wrought from a dark, impossibly light metal. <em>With the bird itself seeming to weigh close to four-hundred-fifty pounds, the feathers are much lighter than Id expect.</em>


    Even so, the feathers were fairly unwieldy. They were much longer than they were wide, being less than a foot across at the widest part. <em>Lets try it.</em>


    She set Kit on the ground, wide open, and dropped a feather down into it, doing her best to center it so as to not brush the sides. To her surprise, the entire feather disappeared down inside. <em>Nice!</em>


    Curiosity nagged at her, so she knelt and looked down in.


    Kit had rearranged, with most of her items neatly crammed to one side of an extremely tall, narrow pit. The pit was barelyrger than the hole opening into it. <em>So, no going in there until I get these out, it seems.</em> Still, they fit.


    The ending-berries power was blunting the cold but being steadily drained in doing so. The diminishing wasnt something that would run her power dry, even if she decided to sleep naked in the snow. Still, given her recent desperate reliance on the power, she didnt like the slow drain. <em>And it doesnt stop the difortor the pain. And its getting harder to move my cold muscles</em>


    <em>Keep moving. Keep your muscles warm.</em>


    More to the point, her moving, flexing, and straining to harvest from the great bird had highlighted to her that she had note away from the fight cleanly. If she had to guess, she had at least one broken rib, and likely some internal bruising.


    The now refreshed ending-berry power within her would prevent further damage from urring, even if the already present bruising caused massive swelling. <em>Huh, Id not really considered the power as an effective wound istion technique.</em> Infection should also not be able to take hold, not that she had any open wounds.


    The first bird harvested, she fought through the pain to return to Terry.


    Terry was just finishing his meal, which seemingly consisted of the entire carcass, bones and all. T arrived to find a wide ssh of bloody snow and a small pile. <em>So, not quite everything.</em>


    As she walked up, Terry was swallowing thest bit of broken bone. He regarded her, feathers matted with thick, congealing blood. Finally, he gestured to the pile with his beak.


    For me?


    He bobbed a nod.


    She grinned, striding over and picking up the eight talons, one at a time. She took a moment to pare away what little flesh remained attached to each, tossing the bits to Terry as she worked.


    By the time she finished, her fingers were growing numb. <em>Gloves. I have gloves.</em> She felt foolish for not considering it earlier. She cleaned her hands with rags and cool water. Interestingly, the water felt warm to the flesh of her fingers. <em>Probably not a good sign.</em>


    After her hands were dry, she pulled on her gloves. They werent thick, but they would help.


    Terry had settled down into the snow, resting his head, eyes closed.


    When she moved, Terrys eyes snapped open. Over there, theres another. Still hungry?


    He slowly pushed himself to his feet. He didnt stagger, but he definitelycked some of his usual pep. <em>And he didnt teleport toe to his feet.</em> It was possible that hed exhausted his magic, following her then fighting. <em>I hope he recovers, soon.</em>


    She returned her focus to the next task, even as Terry began wolfing down the body shed already harvested, tearing it into manageable chunks, then swallowing them whole. <em>There were fourteen total, in the flock.</em> Assuming theyd been from the same flock. <em>Whats a flock of ravens called again?</em> She thought back through her studies, and her enhanced mind brought forth the result.


    She beganughing again, and now that her adrenaline was fading, the pain thatughing evoked in her cracked rib made her gasp.


    I was almost killed by the unkindness of ravens. She wheezed. By the stars, that would have been embarrassing.


    <em>Keep moving.</em> She was able to find ten of the birds, not including Terrys dinner, from which she got a total of eighty talons and half as many finger feathers. Sadly, many of the feathers had been destroyed or damaged to the point that their magic was leaking away too fast to be useful. <em>I suppose hurtling into the ground isnt the best for physical integrity.</em> If she was honest, she was surprised that shed found as many intact as she had.


    Terry moved behind her, resting while she worked, then quickly rending and eating what she left behind.


    He didnt so much as slightly bloat, despite consuming what seemed to be <em>many</em> times his own volume of food. <em>Maybe, he doesnt need a cow a day because he has some means of having insane reserves?</em>


    She would likely never know.


    As they moved across the sparsely wooded mountainside, they also encountered other carcasses, or evidence of blood,yered within the snow. <em>This was the killing ground for this group. They brought their prey here, and either dropped it from great heights, or worked together to tear it apart.</em> She was <em>very</em> lucky to be alive.


    Thest bird they found was the one whod grabbed her in the beginning. It was beyond salvaging.


    By the half-liquified slurry, at the bottom of a deep crater in the rocky ground, this bird had been bigger than the others, maybe by a lot. <em>Likely why it went so far afield?</em>


    She did not watch Terry consume thebowl of sustenance, but the sound of it made her gag.


    When he was done, she contemted continuing to hunt. There should be at least three more birds. <em>No, T. Youve already been harvesting for close to two hours, if not longer. We need to get back.</em>


    So, Terry. Back to the caravan?


    He cocked his head, then nced towards the south-east, the direction she believed the caravan to be. Then, he looked back to her, seeming contemtive, his head drooping a bit.


    She frowned. We came a long waydidnt we.


    Terry bobbed his agreement.


    And youre really tired


    He bobbed a yes.


    She sighed. I am too


    She groaned, pulling out a nket and wrapping it around her shoulders. Can you teleport with anyone or anything else?


    As an answer, Terry blipped away, instantly appearing on her other side, perfectly clean. The blood, gore, and viscera that had been sttered across him rained wetly down in the spot hed left. Even his half-hidden cor was clean.


    Sono She sighed. <em>That would have been too easy.</em>


    Terry walked up beside her, pressing close and hunkering down as she considered. His warmth radiated through her painfully. Even so, she snuggled more deeply into his feathers, even as the terror birdid his head down, closing his eyes.


    Thank you, Terry.


    Terry crooned softly, seeming pleased.


    After a moment of stillness, the world around T zed yellow-green, and she had the fleeting assumption that shed somehow fallen asleep, and the sun was breaking through the surrounding trees.


    <em>No.</em> She turned, straightening and keeping one hand on Terry. A being whose aura radiated yellow-green powernded a dozen yards away with a <em>whump</em>, which sent a cascading wave of snow flowing outward.


    It was a woman of such surpassing beauty that T considered that she, herself, might have died. <em>Is this one of the gods?</em>


    No, that didnt make sense either.


    The woman walked forward, the details of her magic unreadable to T save the undercurrent which tantly signified just how outmatched T was. <em>Shes letting that through, showing that aspect of herself to me on purpose.</em>


    Btedly, T realized that, even aside from her mage-sight, there was a pressure from the woman, one that spoke of power and dominance.


    For her part, the woman walked casually towards T, the snow melting away from her delicately sandalled feet as she came. Her simple, one-piece dress swaying pleasingly around her. There was a slight cream color to the material, which appeared to be silk of some kind. The woman carried nothing else that T could see.


    Mage. The womans voice was somehow more like silk than the dress appeared, and while it was softspoken, the force behind it shook snow from some nearby trees.


    T swallowed, knowing that the inscribings around her ears had likely reduced the impact on her. Terry, for his part, crouched low, seeming both fearful and defiant at the same time. <em>Yellow-green</em> She recalled the books in her pouch and picked what she thought was correct. ParagonOr is it Refined? Only after she spoke did she realize that her words could be taken as an insult.


    The woman froze, halting her advance. A small smile tugged at one corner of her lips. So, you arent ignorant, and you have backbone. She nodded. Good. I saw what you did, here. She gestured around them to the bloody forest. Reasonably handled for a mortal.


    <em>Thats a bit insulting. </em>Still, this woman could likely kill T without a second thought. <em>And it''s very likely that I just insulted her as well... </em>I am T.


    T. She almost purred the As in the name. You may call me Mistress.


    <em>Thats not foreboding </em>T swallowed again, steeling her resolve. What do you wish of me, Mistress?


    The woman tilted her head almost delicately at the question, seeming to consider. You are no Archon, clearly you arent even Bonded, but I sense archon stars. The way she said bonded reminded T of the other books. <em>She means the rank.</em> You would make an interesting servant.


    T shook her head, immediately. I would not. I am contracted with the Caravan Guild, and have other debts besides, which I am obliged to fulfill.


    Mistress waved the notion away. I will buy out your contract. And give you an additional thousand ounces, gold, to be my bonded.


    T blinked, startled. <em>A THOUSAND ounces gold? </em>That was insane. She blessed the stars that a contract couldnt be bought out without the agreement of all parties, and she did <em>not</em> like the way the woman had said bonded. Im unfamiliar with that term. What do you mean: bonded? You said it as if it were different than the ranking.


    Oh! Silly me. Mistressughed slightly. We would exchange archon stars, and you would be my bond servant.


    Forhow long?


    Mistress blinked at her for a long moment. Maybe I dont want you, child. Archon stars create a soul-bond. It would be forever.


    T remembered what Grediv had said about bonding humans. Isnt human soul-bonding forbidden?


    The woman waved her hand dismissively, again. One-way bonds are, yes. But two-way? I could up-lift you. Give you power, make you <em>more</em>.


    <em>But Id always be subservient to you</em> And that always would be literal. She also had avoided saying if it was forbidden. Thank you, but I dont think I am interested.


    The woman sighed. Ahh, well. If that is your decision. She turned to go.


    Wait!


    She paused. Yes? Did you expect me to force you? You should know better than that. Such a bond can only be entered into willingly.


    <em>Well, yeah, I did sort of expect you to.</em> No, of course not, Mistress. Before you go, could you return me to my caravan?


    She smiled, mischievously. Of course!


    T brightened but was still wary of a trick.


    For the low fee of five hundred ounces, gold.


    <em>And there it is.</em> That is insane.


    My time is valuable. She waited a moment before nodding. I thought not. Now, if theres nothing else?


    T groaned. You would leave me stranded out here?


    Mistress shrugged. Mortals die all the time, child. If youre of no use to me, then Ive no time for you. If you were a vige or city in need, Id likely help, but She shrugged. I do hope you survive. Maybe, our paths will cross again, sometime in the future. She seemed to consider that for a moment. Yes, I think that we will get along much better if we meet again in the future.


    <em>A vige?</em> T knew the term; it was meant to refer to something like a city, but smaller. <em>Where was this woman from, that there were viges?</em>


    She didnt get the chance to ask, as Mistress strode forward, resolutely.


    T flinched backwards but found the very air hardening around her.


    Terry hissed but seemed simrly locked in ce.


    T almost smiled. <em>Terry doesnt have to move as I do.</em>


    As if on cue, Terry flickered, appearing behind Mistress, already poised to strike. There, however, he froze once more, locked in ce.


    Mistress turned to regard him, holding up one hand, but stopping herself from touching Terry. A dimensional terror bird? Fascinating.


    T saw power thrumming around Terry, as he clearly fought to move or teleport. He couldnt do either.


    Mistress shrugged. Im not going to hurt her, little chick. Quite the opposite, actually. Now, stop wasting my time. She spun and took thest few steps to stand before T. Now, youve something dampening magic around youno, through you? She tsked. How could you possibly function with such an envelope. Unless...


    Ts arms were moved upward, her palms turned towards Mistress.


    There we are. Mistress ced a finger against each of Ts hands, and power pulsed between the women.


    The ending berry power within T was suppressed andpressed, driven aside by Mistresss working. Ts ribs clicked back together audibly, her bruises disappearing, and she gasped. An instantter, her restraints vanished, and she dropped to the snow. How? She took another deep breath, reveling in theck of pain. To heal such an injury in the past, Ive had to remove my protection against magic.


    Mistress quirked an all-too-condescending smile. The same way you move power through your body, dear. Your blood. The iron content creates wonderfully efficient pathways for the transmission of power to where its needed. Youll learn to better utilize your bodys natural pathways soon enough. You should survive just fine, now. She patted Ts cheek.


    T, for her part, was still so stunned that she didnt react.


    Mistress took a few steps away from T and Terry, crouched down and leapt away, leaving a concussion of sound, a deep depression, and a tempest of swirling snow in her wake.


    That was T shivered, looking to Terry. That was deeply disturbing.


    Terrys eye watched the departing Mistress from his unmoving head. After a long moment, he suddenly dropped to the snow, then flickered to beside T, where he pressed against her more forcefully and firmly than before.


    After taking another minute to collect herself, she felt a flicker of doubt. <em>I could have been done. My debts erased, my contract over. I could have been free. That woman would have given me power and taken me away from here</em> But at what cost? <em>Am I to trade virtual very for the real thing? </em>If shed understood the offer correctly, she would have been binding her very soul into the womans service. <em>That has to haverger implications than Im capable of understanding right now</em>


    T felt herself hardening with resolve. <em>It seems that there will always be people who want to rule over me. I need to get stronger.</em>


    She patted Terry. Ive a request, Terry.


    Terry, who was settled down to rest once more, craned his neck, twisting his head to fully face her. He seemed to be feeling much better, after his meals.


    Can I have a ride back to the caravan?


    Terry gave her a long, searching look.


    I could probably walk or run back, but you would be much faster, and if we want to rejoin the caravan before we reach Bandfast, its likely the only way to make it in time. She nodded to herself, rifying. If we dont arrive with the caravan, there will be a lot of difficulty getting in. Strangers generally dont wander in out of the wilds on their own.


    He hesitated for a moment longer, then bobbed a slow nod, crouching down so she could hop up.


    She tucked her feet back in what felt like a natural position, and they fit nicely under Terrys small, flightless wings.


    Terry took a hesitant step, shifting beneath her. He paused, then a ripple of power shivered through him, and he grew, just a bit, expanding to be a better size to carry her. He tested a few more times, fine-tuning his size to best manage her on his back.


    Thank you, Terry. I wont forget this. And she wouldnt, not the least because Terry, as it turned out, was <em>fast</em>.

 Chapter 65: Smell Like Blood and Death

    Chapter 65: Smell Like Blood and Death


    As Terry took off, T held on tightly, finding that the magical cor was a great thing to grasp. He clearly knew where he was going, crouched low to give power to his driving run. Even so, he was having to move slower than on his chase after her, given that he couldnt teleport with her atop his back, lest he leave her behind.


    T, for her part, was huddled low, head hunched in close to Terrys neck in an attempt to get some shelter from the wind caused by their speed. Her nket was tucked tight around her, and her feet were quickly warming under Terrys wings, though they were prickling painfully at the returning heat.


    Terrys running had a rhythmic cadence that was hard to fight, and T felt herself begin to slip several times before she was able to bring her mind back under control and force herself to stay awake.


    She did everything she could to maintain her focus:


    She moved through mental puzzles and riddles, searching for new solutions, or new ways of looking at the problems.


    She focused on her breathing and bnce. Her posture was shot, but that wasnt a primary concern at the moment.


    She attempted the meditative techniques found in Gredivs advice for Masters and magelings books.


    She reviewed the information shed been reading and did her best to extrapte the answers shed been seeking, as well as construct deeper questions, to help expand her knowledge when she again had the ability to read.


    When all that failed, she began at her feet, silently naming each facet of her anatomy and describing what purpose it served and how it functioned.


    Theyd been traveling for what felt like days, but was likely closer to an hour, when something caught Ts eye. A column of power, ring within her mage-sight, having juste into passive range.


    Terry? Can you go that way? She lifted one hand to point, and Terryplied.


    Less than a minuteter, Terry slowed, and T climbed off his back.


    They were beneath the snowline, now, so cool grass flexed softly beneath her feet as she shook out her legs and walked to the crest of a hill.


    In a valley below, a storm of lightning swirled around a single, discrete point. The column that shed seen was hidden to normal sight behind the rise and the trees covering this portion of thendscape. <em>That probably means it is hidden to most peoples mage-sight, too.</em>


    Most mage-sight inscriptions didnt allow for the pration of mundane matter, after all.


    To Ts mage-sight, it looked like nothing so much as a gate, ripped out of a Mage and fixed in ce. There even seemed to be something like inscriptions drifting around the gate, drawing power and enacting their purposes. <em>Material Creator scripts, focused on lightning?</em> They actually reminded her of Renixs spell-forms, to an almost disturbing degree, though they were twisted and changed, as necessary given their change in medium and construction.


    Thankfully, for the small part of her that had immediately begun to worry about Renix, these seemed to havee from a smaller person. <em>Maybe a woman?</em> But she was assuming that it hade from a Mage, somehow, and that was probably wrong.


    T stood, examining the anomaly for a long moment. <em>What is it?</em>


    If it was a gate, the keystone was clearly gone, and the inbuilt restrictions with it. <em>Is this what happens to a Mage, if their keystone fails?</em> No, that couldnt be right, or early Mages would all have ended up like this. <em>Maybe this is what </em>can<em> happen without that protection.</em> Even so, she still wasnt sure her guess was correct.


    Whatever it was, it had clearly affected everything around it. Rather than scorched earth, grass grew right up to the fount of magic, electricity jumping between the slightly metallic des.


    Trees grew nearby, subtly glowing with their own internal magics. When she examined them with her mage-sight, every bit of power, below, was some variation of the source in the center of the little valley.


    The air <em>thrummed</em> with power, and the ground did too. If it hadnt been so clearly elementally bound, it would have put Alefasts magic density to shame. As it was, the power seemed restricted, somehow. The concentration falling off precipitously with distance from the source.


    As she examined that decline more closely, she thought she understood what was happening. <em>Most of the power is being lost as it loses its bent towards lightning. It is increasing the power density in thend all around, but not nearly as much as if it were non-elemental power to begin with.</em>


    As she watched, an arcane rabbit, with obviously simr magics, zipped in from the edge of the valley and to the source. It seemed to draw on the power, there, briefly diminishing the surrounding storms by a minute fraction.


    Instead of refilling the rabbit, like topping of a water-skin, it seemed to twist something within the tiny creature, and when the rabbit vanished out of the far side of the valley, T would have sworn that it had a new form of lightning magic coursing through its previously mundane ears.


    <em>Arcane creatures get their power, here?</em> She looked around and realized that the surrounding vegetation was soaking up the power. <em>We just happened toe close enough to notice it</em> How many such founts were there, in the wilds?


    Did all arcanous creatures receive their abilities, here, or ces like this? Why ever leave? <em>Why not just cover yourself with more and more random inscriptions, T?</em>


    It was dangerous. Some probably died, and they likely could only return a few times.


    She nced towards Terry. Do you have to go to something like this? To renew your power?


    He hesitated where he crouched down, curling up to wait for her. Finally, he shook himself, indicating the negative. Now that she thought about it, shed never taken the time to deeply examine Terry.


    She focused, allowing her mage-sight to delve into the terror bird. She immediately had to turn away, blinking her eyes to clear her vision.


    She returned her gaze to him more carefully, allowing her inscription-granted-sight to adjust.


    Terry was a <em>deep</em> reservoir of power, and that power coursed through him like a force of nature.


    Even so, it didnt have an underlying color behind the power. <em>Hes not of an Archon rank, somehow.</em> So, the progression wasnt just about a quantity of power, then


    She looked through the maelstrom within Terry. She couldnt see a source for that raw power; like all arcanous creatures, hecked a gate. <em>Hell run out, eventually.</em> She gave him a long look. You have to refill your power, somehow You said you dont need toe to a ce like this Are you capable of converting food into power?


    After another moment, Terry bobbed a hesitant nod.


    She gestured towards the spring of lightning power, below. But the magics, themselves, were granted to you by a ce like that?


    Another bob, firmer this time.


    What would a dimensional well, even look like?


    Heid his head down back on his own back, closing his eyes.


    Fair enough. You cant really describe it, can you. She felt herself grin tiredly. This probably isnt the best ce to rest. She looked again, frowning. There are a lot of these, throughout the wilds, arent there.


    Even though it hadnt been a question, Terry bobbed a nod, standing and moving over beside her.


    Well, that helps exin why Ive never seen a gate within arcanous creatures. The beasts could draw on their own strength to power the workings, but these wells were likely the source of what amounted to natural, internal inscribings. <em>With no need for re-inscription</em>


    She had a passing desire to walk down there, and get the natural inscriptions herself, but she squashed that as the foolishness it was.


    The ancients <em>must</em> have known about these. She sighed. They must not work on people.


    She gave another long look at the glowing valley, unable to shake how closely the fount resembled a Mages gate, to her mage-sight. <em>What are you?</em> Shed have to ask Trentor Holly. <em>Someone will know.</em>


    She climbed back up onto Terry and settled in, deep in thought.


    In this way, she passed what remained of the night.


    With her weight, and their down-sloping path, Terry could not go at top speed. So, as dawn broke across the wilds just more than an hourter, T and Terry were only about half-way back to the caravans campsite, assuming Ts estimates were correct.


    <em>How far did those stupid raven things carry me? Seems like it was more distance than from Bandfast to Alefast</em>


    She was no longer able to focus well enough to keep fully awake, and Terry seemed to have sensed that.


    <em>I wonder why the caravans are so slow</em> She yawned. She remembered something about increased mass, or increased speed, drew attention? <em>Something like that.</em> She shook her head. It was hardly important at the moment.


    Thus, as the first light of a new day bathed the autumnndscape, Terry stopped beside a short cliff. Above them, a tree arched out over the drop, and below the tree a small alcove was visible among the roots.


    Terry vanished from beneath T, and she barely caught herself, stumbling in her exhaustion.


    Terry had appeared instantly on her shoulder, in his much smaller state.


    Barely conscious, T staggered to the alcove,ying her nket out and copsing upon it. She was asleep even before Terry had curled up between her and the outside world.


    * * *


    T woke suddenly to a low, rumbling shriek.


    She rolled backward, away from the noise,ing up in a crouch, her back pressed hard against a wall of packed dirt.


    Soil rained down around her, and she lifted a hand to protect her eyes as she took in the situation.


    Terry was crouched low, now about as tall as she, herself. He was facing away from her, head sweeping from side to side, keeping constant watch on their opponent.


    Six terror birds were arranged in a loose arc in front of their little alcove.


    T shook her head, brushing away the dirt, and clearing her mind. <em>Six.</em> She focused her intent, and her mage-sight blossomed. Each bird held lightning magics. <em>Not unexpected given the region. </em>She passingly wondered if these had received their power from the well that she and Terry had found, or another.


    <em>Hardly relevant.</em>


    Six were in front of her. <em>If it were me, Id have at least one on the cliff above.</em>


    <em>Why hasnt Terry ughtered them?</em> She took another look. Terry was positioned between her and them. <em>Protecting me until I woke?</em> Until she was ready.


    She threw her nket into Kit and pulled out her knife and hammer, holding the hammer in her off hand. <em>Punches wont really do much.</em>


    She began drawing as deeply as she could through her gate, saturating herself in power.


    Terry.


    His head flicked slightly to one side, allowing one eye to see her easily.


    Ready.


    Terry vanished, and the storm began.


    T lunged to one side, out from under the cliff, as soon as she saw Terry appear behind one of the birds in the other direction.


    Their attackers had a mix of reactions.


    Three looked around in confusion, clearly uncertain where Terry had gone. <em>That exins why hes not bigger. Hed be easier to spot.</em>


    Two threw their mouths wide, sending trees of lightning scouring towards her. <em>and easier to target.</em>


    One died as Terry took its head off with a viciously precise swipe of his ws. <em>Nicely done, Terry.</em>


    Two more dropped down towards T from where theyd been perched on the short cliff, above and behind them. <em>I knew it.</em>


    So, there were eightwell, seven now.


    T cursed herck of ranged spells, even as the uncountable branches of power threw dirt, rock, and clumps of sod in all directions, the lightning itself falling short of her position.


    She felt strangely detached as she analyzed the magics before her. <em>This isnt an attack technique.</em><em>Its meant to herd, directing prey into a trap.</em> It still might seriously hurt her, but it wasnt intended to kill. <em>Just like an elemental barking or howling, then.</em>


    She quirked a smile and flung the hammer straight at one of the confused birds, between the two sending forth lightning.


    The hammer, being entirely metal, drew the lightning like a ma draws iron. Thus, the target of her throw was hit, first by the handle of the hammer- hammers like that are <em>not</em> meant for throwing -and second by lightning from two directions.


    The electricity had no discernable effect, the nature of the birds feathers easily shunting the power into the ground, though it did squawk awkwardly as the hammers handle struck its throat.


    Terry had not been idle, and another terror bird was falling, spraying sparking blood across the grass. <em>There is no way that isnt ridiculously valuable</em> As T sprinted after her hammer, she shook her head. <em>Focus, T!</em>


    She tripped as one of the previously confused birds lunged forward, shing at her legs and opening a long gash through her pants, if not her skin.


    T turned the fall into a roll,ing up and taking thest step to pick up the hammer. Her leg was poorly positioned and almost buckled beneath her, even as she crouched at the feet of the now thoroughly enraged lightning terror-bird.


    It struck. T jerked the hammer upward, falling backward.


    The hammer made a hollow <em>thunk</em> against the underside of the creatures beak, rolling immediately into a series of wet squelching sounds. The avians lower beak turning to pulp.


    T was already acting, striking out to take advantage of the situation.


    She threw some of her gathered power through her knifes second path, causing it to flow outward into a hair thin outline of a de, filled with zing heat.


    She struck upward again, this time with the de, while her current attacker continued its forward movement, despite the injury.


    Her de hit the bottom of the beast and passed cleanly upward, bisecting the terror bird before T cut off the flow of power, and the knife returned to its inert state.


    She nearly staggered in weariness at the sudden expulsion of power but managed to keep herself from falling.


    <em>That might have been a mistake.</em>


    The bird, itself, hit her shoulder with a ncing blow, even as it fell into two sizzling pieces. The hit imparted lightning, and T found her entire body locking up.


    Unfortunately, the attack had not been a direct working of magic, so her iron salve had done nothing to prevent it, and while the iron had directed most of the power across her skin, instead of through her organs, it hadnt diverted all of it.


    All over her body, her defensive enhancements activated, despite the ending-berry power within her, already working to protect her from internal burning or damage.


    At the activation, she felt a sinking feeling. Several sections didnt activate at all. They were depleted to the point of ineffectiveness. <em>I was too tired to notice thatst night.</em>


    None of her defenses kept her muscles under her control, however, and she found herself temporarily unable to act.


    Much too close forfort, another terror bird released a screech of utter fury and rage. The near-deafening sound was undercut by the continued deaths around her, as Terry maintained his grisly rampage.


    She internally thanked Holly for the ear protecting inscriptions, yet again, even as she regained a small amount of control over herself, allowing her to turn and face the bird who was, by its strong reaction, her previous victims mate.


    <em>Great</em>


    It stalked towards her, head down, eyes alight with malice.


    Bad birdy. She held up both her weapons before her, protectively.


    The bird crouched lower, then seemed to turn <em>into </em>lightning, streaking past her faster than she could track.


    T gasped as the impact twisted her, even as it eviscerated her clothing on her right side from half-way up her ribcage down nearly to her knee.


    The immortal elk leathers immediately began to reform, growing across her faster than rushing water.


    Having spun with the blow, T was facing the creature when it reformed out of the lightning, turning slowly as if in triumph to survey its defeated foe.


    It froze in obviously shocked confusion when it saw T standing, apparently unharmed.


    She smiled. Yeah, I seem to have that effect on your kind. <em>That would have been viciously effective against almost anyone Ive seen fight. d its me, here</em> Her eyes flicked to where thest other opponent was beginning to drop, already dead. Thank you, Terry. Youre wee to this one.


    Terry manifested behind thisst enemy, towering over their foe, now muchrger than before. His talons were already around his victim. With a slight flex of the muscles in his leg, he created five clean pieces letting them fall, squelching across the newly turned earth.


    Lightning flickered out of the mutted body, but like with the others, Terry barely twitched, seeming able to resist the cavalcade of power. Thank you, Terry.


    Terry bobbed, quickly blipping around the area, devouring the often still twitching remains. <em>Thats still a bit terrifying</em>


    She looked up at the sky. It was nearly noon. <em>No time to harvest anyways.</em> Eat up, my friend. We need to depart.


    Heplied with crity, soon crouching next to her, the perfect size to carry her once more.


    T, for her part, had used the brief minute to drink deeply from her incorporator, and to wash herself from the little blood that had reached her skin, mostly on her face.


    The sword killed surprisingly cleanly, leaving cooked meat and sealed off blood-flow in its wake. <em>Good little knife.</em>


    As she climbed into ce on Terrys back, she considered the weapon. You need a name, little knife.


    Terry gave her an odd look, but simply shimmied slightly, shifting her weight to what must have been a morefortable location. He then crouched down and took off at a run.


    * * *


    They arrived at the caravans campsite from the night before and found it predicably vacant. Even if they had looked for her, when they hadnt found her, they would have departed for Bandfast, hoping to reach the city quickly enough that the cargo could be unloaded before the scripts ran out.


    <em>Standard procedure.</em> Still, it was a bit irritating. <em>Theyre six, maybe eight, hours ahead of us?</em> She grinned widely. I think we can catch them in half an hour or so.


    Terry looked back at her, and she could feel his usation.


    Right, sorry. <em>You</em> are capable of catching them in about half an hour. Thank you, again, for allowing me to ride.


    Terry bobbed, seeming mollified.


    Shall we?


    He leaned his head forward once more,unching back into a ground eating pace, as he followed the tracks left by the recently passed wagon train.


    * * *


    T peeked over a hill, looking at the back of thest wagon in the caravan, retreating away from them, Terry perched on her shoulder.


    How should I even do this? Shed already considered riding up on Terrys back, but had dismissed that as foolish, even if Terry had been willing, which he didnt seem to be.


    She could simply walk up behind the wagon, allowing the guards to see her catching up.


    <em>They shouldnt attack me. At the very least a guard or a Mage would be sent back to see what the humanoid shaped thing following them was.</em>


    Mistress T?


    T turned her head in a startled jerk to see Rane justing out from behind a nearby outcropping of rock.


    Is that really you? His nose crinkled as he cautiously drew closer. You smell like blood and death and He hesitated. Well, you smell really bad.


    She found herself grinning in relief. <em>Well, thats one decision made.</em> Hello, Master Rane. Permission to rejoin the caravan?


    He gave her a searching look, and she could tell that he was examining her with his mage-sight. <em>How can he look at Terry so easily? I guess that much of Terrys power is below the surface, so not viewable by most</em>


    You do seem to be you, strange and alien as always.


    You just say the nicest things.


    Rane smiled, having the good grace to look slightly abashed. His hand was still wrapped, but he seemed to be using it with a fair degree of ease. <em>Good.</em>


    So can I rejoin the wagons? Id love to get a nap. Its been a long, night and morning


    After a long moment, Rane nodded. Lets get you to the chuckwagon. They likely will have a means of getting you bathed.


    She gave him a hard look. Youre jokingright?


    No. You smell horrific. You might even scare the oxen.


    <em>Thats hardly fair. They dont shy from anything. </em>T nced to Terry, but the little bird was seemingly asleep, curled happily on her shoulder. Fine She sighed. Take me to a bath.


    Rane smiled genuinely at that. I truly am d to see you, Mistress T. We had no idea where youd gone. His smile lost a bit of its happiness. What did happen? Did you go off to find something? You promised not to do that, you know. No one could find you this morning. Den said youd never leave your bedroll behind, willingly, but we couldnt find any evidence of an attack, and none of the guards saw or heard anything.


    After shed taken a moment to process the flood of words, T smiled. That, Master Rane, is an interesting story.

 Chapter 66: A Foolish Form of Immortality

    Chapter 66: A Foolish Form of Immortality


    As T and Rane walked, to catch up with the caravan, several mounted guards came by to check in with Rane, to ensure that all was well.


    He sent them off quickly to report Ts return and to confirm there were no threats approaching from the rear, before returning his attention to Ts abbreviated tale.


    As word traveled through the caravan, the wagons slowed just slightly, the need for haste seemingly negated by her return.


    <em>Ill have to apologize to Den for the trouble.</em> Rane, for his part, kept a bit of distance, clearly still affected by the smell. <em>I guess its grown gradually, so Ive gotten used to it?</em> As she focused on the possibility of a smell, she was suddenly hit with it, her mind allowing the sense through the dampening that it had been providing. She gagged. Oh, thats foul.


    Rane rolled his eyes. Oh, now you smell it.


    <em>Where could the smell being from.</em><em>Where is iting from? </em>A moments thought provided the only logical exnation. Its my hair.


    Rane gave her an odd look. What?


    My hair is likely what smells. She pulled out her knife, stopping her forward movement to carefully run the razor-sharp de over her scalp in several quick strokes.


    She felt a drain on the ending-berry power within her as the action should have left her bleeding, but her skin was protected and the knife was sharp, so the hair fell away quickly.


    Before she allowed the vanity inscriptions to activate, she pulled out her water incorporator and fed it arge stream of power to gently rinse the residue from her scalp, and down her back.


    Terry grumbled indignantly, flickering away and back so quickly T barely caught it, but he was then clean.


    Thatplete, she put the knife and incorporator away and dried her head with a handful of rags, then stepped away from the hair shed left on the ground. Better?


    Rane leaned closer, sniffing. After a moment, he smiled. Yes! You dont smell like a careless mortician, now.


    She allowed her power to move across her scalp, and new hair blossomed outward, reaching its proper length in moments. She shook her head and ran her fingers through the hair, helping it settle naturally into ce. She smiled. You know, that does feel better. Thank you.


    Rane shrugged, and they started walking again. Its sounding like you had quite the night. He snorted augh. Morning too, it seems.


    Too true. She continued her retelling, then, shortly reaching the end of her story. She left Terry out of it, mostly, simply stating that he helped, without giving specifics. After a moment, she nodded to herself. Lets still go to the chuckwagon. Im positively starving!


    Brand greeted her at the back of the chuckwagon with a surprisingly fervent embrace.


    Brand?


    He released her, pulling back to arms length but maintaining his hands on her shoulders. Mistress T. Im so d that you are alright. What possessed you to run off like that?


    I didnt run off. I was snatched from the top of the wagon by a massive bird.


    He stared at her for a long moment, before clearing his throat. Youre joking. He nced to Rane, and the big man shook his head. Brand looked back to her. Youre not joking?


    Nope.


    A confused expression stole across his features, and he turned to more fully face Rane. How did no one hear her get taken?


    Rane looked a bit abashed. Well, while we do watch the skies, it isnt our only task, and anyone high enough, during the hours of darkness, is tied to a wagon in some form or other, to prevent things exactly like this.


    Brand turned back to T. Thats right. I thought you slept under a shield or something. How did this happen?


    It was Ts turn to feel a bit embarrassed, and she scratched the back of her neck absently. Well I sort of fell out of the habit


    Brand shook his head and gave a great sigh. Then, I am even more grateful that you are alive. After a moment, he narrowed his eyes at her. You didnt bring in some insane amount of meat for processing, did you?


    Rane made a quiet choking sound, but otherwise didntment.


    Tughed. No, no. I wasnt exactly in a ce to properly harvest. She felt Terry stir on her shoulder, but she didnt look at him. No consumables. Im sorry, Brand.


    He waved that away. We couldnt have done much with it in any case. Ive another project that is filling all our spare time. His eyes flicked to Rane once more before returning to T. So, I imagine youre hungry? He began moving about the chuckwagon, even while T and Rane waited on the back step. Coffee too, yes?


    T nodded gratefully. I would appreciate anything you can spare.


    Absolutely! Ill bring the food to your wagon. He paused long enough to turn towards them and make a shooing gesture. Go! Ive work to do.


    T grinned before closing the door and hopping down with Rane. Well, Ive got to go talk with Den.


    Wantpany?


    She gave him a perplexed look. Arent you on rear-guard?


    He shrugged. I can get it changed.


    Would Master Tang approve?


    He grinned. Im technically head Mage Protector for the guard, on this expedition. The only one to outrank me, under specific circumstances, would be you. He hesitated. Well, you or the Head Driver, but hes not a Mage.


    She frowned for a moment. Right


    He shrugged. If you didnt have cause to think of it, then it likely wouldnt have applied.


    Fair enough. Isnt it only in cases pertaining to the integrity of the cargo?


    Generally, yeah. Many baggage Mages use that to leverage a say in the route, or so I was warned. They were walking towards the lead wagon, and Rane grabbed the attention of a passing guard, sending her to inform the other Mages of the change in roster.


    So, howd you get first chair?


    FirstOh! Orchestra metaphor?


    T frowned, again. Wait, really?


    Rane chuckled. Yeah. Didnt you know?


    No. It was amon saying at the academy. Never really thought about where it came from.


    Huh. Kind of stupid to say things when you dont know what they mean.


    She cocked an eyebrow, giving him a level look. Pretty stupid to say insulting things when you are trying to get on someones good side.


    He hesitated, then slumped slightly. Apologies, Mistress T. I often dontfeather my opinions.


    Ive noticed. But she was smiling, and that seemed to lighten the admonishment.


    He sighed. Still want an answer?


    She shrugged. Im curious, yeah.


    Part of it is Master Grediv, but mostly I think it was due to my much greaterbat experience. He shrugged in turn. Around a decade of fighting to stay alive will do that, I suppose.


    So did Master Grediv justthrow you to the wolves?


    Rane snorted augh. Sort of. Once I was passinglypetent for a child he began dropping me beside people in danger and leaving me to fight in order to save them.


    Ts eyes widened. Thats horrible! How could he leave innocents under the protection of a child?


    He grinned. Ill try not to be insulted, but he didnt. He always stepped in, if things got out of hand, or if I was in danger of losing someone. His grin slipped. Welluntil I became stubborn.


    What do you mean?


    Rane took a long breath and sighed. I became frustrated with what I saw as myck of progress. So, I stopped trying, and he had to step in more and more. Eventually, I would just sit down and wait for him to arrive. He sighed again. Finally, he got sick of it, and swore that hed never help me again. I called his bluffbut he wasnt bluffing. Thest hade out barely above a whisper.


    T could see deep sadness in Rane. Rane?


    He shrugged. It was a young family. I still dont know why they were outside the walls. A ze wolf hade through the pass and was starving, because it was suddenly near the bottom of the food-chain. A single, starving wolf It ripped out the childs throat and charred the parents before I realized that Master Grediv wasnting He fell silent then, and they walked on, slowly drawing closer to the head of the wagon.


    T didnt speak, but sheid her hand on his shoulder.


    Eventually, Rane took an especially deep breath and exhaled. Master Grediv returned to find me covered in the wolfs blood, the sttering scorching through me. He gestured to his face. I dont even remember killing it, but I must have. I only remember horror, blood, and pain.


    <em>The scars.</em> She realized with surprise. <em>Id almost forgotten them.</em> That was an almost humorous thought, because they were absurdly obvious, but it was hardly a humorous moment.


    He kept the wounds, or the pain, from killing me, but no more. He did something to preserve the familys bodies. Once I had healed enough to walk, we returned, and he forced me to look at what foolishness has done.  Ranes voice had taken on a deeper tone for thest, and he kept the clear imitation of Gredivs voice as he continued.  This is the price ofziness, boy. This is the price of failure. I was clear that their defense was up to you. My hands are clean. You, and you alone, are responsible for the loss of more than a century of human-life-years, at the least.  His voice returned to normal. And he was right. I never shirked the duties, or the training, again. A small smile crept back onto his face. And Ive never lost another person. He straightened a bit, looking to her. Until you. His smile became a bit sad. I cannot express how d I am that you are back, but I must confess that much of that is selfish. He gave a little self-consciousugh.


    She squeezed his shoulder, before letting go. I think I can forgive you for that. After a moment, she worked up the nerve to ask. How old were you when?


    Fourteen.


    Silence fell between them once more, and they finally closed thest of the distance to thedder on the foremost cargo wagon. T pulled herself up, Rane close behind.


    When she reached the top, Den was facing her, face painted with a broad, exuberant smile. Mistress! I could kiss you, then p you across that pretty face.


    T tilted her head in confusion, but found herself smiling, nheless. Den, good to see you, too.


    I thought youd gone and gotten yourself killed.


    It was a near thing, a couple of times.


    Dens gaze shifted to one screaming of usation. You arent careful enough, Mistress. You promised me you would be more careful this trip.


    Rane reached the top of the wagon but moved towards the back to allow T and Den to talk. T thought she could still see lingering sadness in the big man.


    Now, what happened? Why werent you here this morning, and how are you back?


    <em>Den doesnt want or need the full story.</em> An arcanous raven snatched me from the wagon-top in the night. I fought, I won, I came back as quickly as I was able.


    Hmmm He gave her a searching look. That sounds true, but you must be leaving things out.


    Yes, Den. That was a five second recounting oftwelve hours?


    He cocked an eyebrow at her. Dont get sassy with me, youngdy.


    Not Mistress?


    He hesitated, clearly torn.


    T grinned, waving him off. You are fine, Den. I dont need propriety. I am grateful for your concern, but Im fine. While I didnt choose the encounter, I did make mistakes, and I will take better precautions in the future.


    Den grunted. Very well He then shook himself and smiled. I am d to have you back in one piece. He reached down and pulled up a rolled bundle. It was obvious that you hadnt left on purpose, when I found this.


    My bedroll! Thank you, Den. She took it, then gave him a quick, slightly awkward hug. I appreciate you taking care of it.


    He waved her away, while clearly smiling happily. It was nothing. Enjoy the rest of the day, Mistress. Well be arriving back in Bandfast in a few hours. Den turned back to his task, hands returning to his reins, eyes to the rolling ins, ahead.


    Brand brought a truly impressive tray of food less than an hourter, and she found herself devouring it with abandon.


    Around that, Rane and she fell back into the routine of the day before. <em>I got a reasonable amount of sleep. I can sleep more, tonight.</em> Her body and mind protested, but she didnt really feel like sleeping. Even so, she found both her magic and her spirit had been greatly stretched by her nights stresses. Once she got a good nights sleep, she thought shed almost be ready for her next steps. <em>Ever onward, towards Archon-hood!</em> She shook her head. <em>Or a break might be nice</em>


    It was mid-afternoon when Trent climbed up thedder and regarded her from a distance. You dont look like an undead.


    Well, Id have to die first. She smirked back at him.


    Ahh, the worst ones dont die first.


    She blinked at Trent, not understanding. Ok. Exin.


    If you dont know, you dont get to.


    That seems needlessly she groaned, rubbing her face in irritation, exactly like everything else Ive encountered.


    Rane cleared his throat. Hes talking about liches.


    T frowned. <em>Like the children''s stories? Dark castles, undead armies, evil incarnate?</em>


    Trent gave Rane a deeply frustrated nce. Master Rane. Has Master Grediv taught you nothing about containment of information?


    Rane shrugged. Mistress Ts more likely to be one on ident, due to ignorance, than choose into it.


    Trent hesitated for a long moment. you make a good point.


    T felt vaguely insulted but decided not to make a case of it. <em>Hes probably right...</em> So?


    Trent sighed, walking to sit beside the two of them, out of easy hearing of Den. So. A lich is made when someone binds their soul to an item, in order to seek a rusting foolish form of immortality.


    T blinked, blood draining from her face as she nced down at her knife.


    Trent was on his feet instantly, power zing across his face as he stared at her knife. Immediately, he let out a rushed breath. Mistress T. Dont. Dont do that to me. He had his hand on his chest, and he returned to his seat.


    T felt relieved, but also confused. So not like this?


    Trent shook his head. NoNo. While you have soul-bound that knifesomehow. He rubbed his forehead. Your oddities aside.... You bound that knife to your soul. If you were to die, the knife would lose its magics, and your soul would depart the world of the living. A lich is one who has bound their soul to an item. Thus, if their body dies, the soul goes to that item, instead. Usually, it is done in such a way that a new body is then created, and the lich continues on as if they havent just died.


    Rane cleared his throat. To be clear, this is different than an Archon choosing a vessel for their physical form that is not their original body.


    T frowned, deeply confused. I dont know that I understood any part of what you just said. She looked to Trent. Well, I understood what <em>you</em> said. She looked back to Rane. What?


    Rane nced to Trent, who was ring, again. Some Archons choose to bind themselves into constructs, leaving their human bodies behind. It is rare, and usually only done in cases of irreparably damaged bodies.


    And thats different from a lich, because?


    Because a lichs soul is tied to an object, which is not their souls vessel. The object is an anchor for their soul in this world, not a body in which to live. Thats why theres a different name for it.


    Which is?


    Phctery.


    Trent grunted. Usually, only Mages who are sent to kill a lich, when theyre discovered, are told these details. He gave Rane a significant look. That said, I agree with Master Rane. It is possible you might create a phctery by ident He frowned. You really shouldnt have bound something to your soul before He hesitated. But you wouldnt know to do that He scratched feverishly between his own eyes, growling in irritation. Im not supposed to know about that He groaned. Please, dont do any other soul-bonds until you be an Archon? There are too many ways it can go wrong.


    T thought for a long moment. I think I can do that.


    Trent looked up in surprise. Really?


    Rane cocked his head, seeming curious. Really?


    She red at both of them. Im not in the habit of doing things that I <em>know</em> are stupid. She continued before either could argue. And enough sources have given me simr warnings that Id be a fool not to listen.


    Well, I agree but Rane began, but he tapered off as her re renewed. Fine, fine.


    T straightened. Why do you know all this, Master Trent?


    He smiled. Ive been given the information by Master Grediv, mostly. He thinks Im ready to advance, so I now also have the spell-form for an Archon star. He gave her a grateful look. Actually, I had a head start, after examining yours. I knew what to look for, to identify one, but Id never had enough exined to create one. Seeing yours in person helped jumpstart my own process.


    So, youve made one?


    Trentughed. Oh, by the stars, no. I hope to, sometime this winter, but Im still at the start of that quest.


    Rane was frowning. Didnt you want to discover how, on your own?


    Trent shrugged. Why let pride slow me down?


    Rane reddened, clearly with embarrassment, and Trent frowned.


    Master Rane?


    T was grinning. Read the letter, Master Rane.


    Rane grunted. Fine. You people are infuriating.


    Trent gave T a confused look; so, she exined, Master Grediv apparently gave Master Rane, there, a letter, which I believe exins exactly what we are discussing. Hes refused to read it.


    Trent turned on Rane. Dont be an idiot. You cant advance with that level of pride, and your master says youre ready.


    Rane had hunkered in on himself. Fine. Ill read it. Just leave me alone.


    Trent rolled his eyes, turning back to T. But, that <em>massive</em> tangent aside. Im d you are alive and back with us. His eyes were sparkling mischievously. After all, losing a baggage Mage would have hurt our payout considerably.


    Tughed. Ill try to be more considerate next time.


    You know, youve said that before


    She hesitated. Thats fair I really dont mean to keep getting into dangerous situations


    Trent gave her a sad smile. Oh, I know that. Even so, youve much to learn.


    True enough.


    Rane, for his part, begrudgingly pulled out a sealed envelope, broke the wax seal, drew forth a heavy stack of pages, and began to read.


    Trent bid them goodbye and moved to climb down, heading back to his assigned post.


    T realized that shed forgotten to ask something. <em>And Trents right here. </em>Oh! Whats with the magic wells in the wilds?


    Trents body froze, but his head swiveled, his eyes checking for anyone else who might be nearby. Rust, girl. You dont make anything easy.

 Chapter 67: I Might Need to Be Attacked More Often

    Chapter 67: I Might Need to Be Attacked More Often


    T was surprised by the weight of emotion in Trents response, but she didntment. <em>Lets see what hell be willing to tell me about the wells of power in the wilds.</em>


    Den, for his part, turned to look at Trent. Master Trent, you might as well tell her.


    T blinked, looking between the driver and the Mage. Den? You know?


    He gave her a curious expression. Of course, I know. I have to steer us around them, dont I?


    She hadnt considered that. Are there that many?


    Den shrugged. Im not really sure. One or two for every ten square miles?


    Trent grunted. At least. He sighed, pulling himself back up onto the wagons roof. Seems well need to discuss this, too.


    Den helpfully held up something that looked like apass, but with half a dozen needles pointing in various directions. These point to nearby, non-mobile sources of power, the biggest needle points to the closest, and so on.


    T found herself nodding. Thats how you avoid so many dangers.


    Precisely, though, sometimes I wish that it would point out the mobile ones, too. Den gave a meaningful look towards Terry. After a moment, Den shrugged, then waved absently towards Trent. You can take it from here, Master Trent.


    Trent shook his head but was smiling even so. Thank you, First Driver.


    The three Mages sat near the back of the wagon, once again.


    So, what do you know?


    T shook her head. Oh, no. If I tell you that, youll refuse to tell me more. Exin the wells of power.


    Trent grunted irritably, rubbing his forehead.


    Rane leaned back and gave Trent a serious look. If you dont tell her, I will.


    Trents gaze, back at Rane, was weary, more than anything else. You know? Of course, you do. You spent years in the wilds.


    Rane shrugged. Theyre hard to miss, if you spend any time out here, undirected.


    Trent sighed, nodding. Thats true enough. He straightened, looking at T. The wells are magical springs, which grant ingrained magic to any creature that touches them. I dont know how the various magics are selected, nor why creatures get the same effects or different, seemingly at random. Some wells always grant the same, some never seem to give the same ability twice, ording to whats been shared with me.


    T was frowning. Butthats fantastic. Wouldnt that remove the need for inscribing? What are we doing avoiding them?


    Trent shook his head, dampening her enthusiasm. They cant attach to anything with a soul, anything with <em>true</em> sapience.


    T looked to where Terryy. Then, how do you exin the more intelligent creatures?


    Trent shrugged. Most seem to develop such intelligence either after receiving their gifts, or as a result. Again, I dont know which. That intelligence, once acquired, however acquired, does mean that they cannot gain more.


    That made sense. If Terry could have been collecting various powers from these wells for hundreds of years, he should have a much broader power-set. <em>Well, what Grediv said strongly implies that the magics can override one another. </em>Huh


    In addition, this is virtually only true for arcane creatures. Magical entities either get their power from elsewhere or gain enough power from elsewhere to advance. These wells only grant abilities that seem to closely mirror inscriptions, if not exactly.


    And humans are sapient, so they cant get Ts eyes widened. Babies.


    Babies. Trent nodded. Their soul isnt fully established, they arent fully sapient, or something else, I dont know, but asionally, a baby would be able to gain power from such as these.


    She swallowed. You say asionally


    Maybe one in a thousand. The others die horribly, or so I was taught.


    T felt sick. Some would see that as eptable.


    He nodded, again. For permanent power? Unfortunately, yes. And thats why the powers that be dont give the option.


    You know, the more I learn about this world, the less I like itwhat other horrors await me over the next hurdle?


    Trent shrugged, but Rane cleared his throat, deciding to answer, himself, The evils of this world are too much for average citizens to grapple with. They arent directly affected, so they neednt have the burden. Archons, and to a lesser extent Mages, are the bulwark of themon mans defense, but even we cant bear everything.


    T grimaced. So, were left to stumble around blindly, until someone with the right knowledge notices that we should be told.


    Rane shrugged this time. It isnt a perfect system, but it has served to shepherd humanity for more than two thousand years. This policy has grown our species from around ten thousand hiding, scared savages to right around thirteen million, living infort and security. He sighed. I hate it too, but the world is such that one evil person, with the wrong information, could undo a lot of that progress. People just dont need to know everything thats out there.


    T was not happy, but she supposed she understood. <em>If Id known, as a child, that the right pattern of metal in my skin would let me throw fire, what would I have done, trying to gain that power?</em> She shuddered.  We are but children, searching in a darkness full of knives.


    Rane nodded, finishing the quote.  What good father would not remove the des, that our fingers may be safe.


    She shook her head. Pruning the tree of knowledge still seems foolish.


    Trent interjected. But it isnt pruned. What teacher starts with calculus, when his five-year-old student begins to learn math?


    But what good teacher says calculus does not exist, when an inquisitive student asks?


    Trent cocked an eyebrow. Any who know to ask are toldgenerally.


    Sowhat makes an Archon an Archon?


    He didnt answer, directly. You have an alchemist background. What would you say to a child who asks how to make an acid that can dissolve anything?


    I wouldnt say: Go mix things and see what happens.


    Trent grinned. Have you not been told what to avoid? Even without a proper master?


    Rane frowned at that but didntment.


    T grumbled a bit but had to concede. Fair, I suppose. She let out an irritated sigh. So we really are still children.


    Trent and Rane spoke at the same time, both clearly quoting Grediv.  Archon is but the beginning.  They then nced to each other and grinned.


    T nodded. Well, then. I suppose we need to reach Archon.


    The expression on the two other Mages became solemn, and the men nodded.


    Well then, gents. It seems weve work to do. She nodded to Trent. Thank you, Master Trent. I wish you luck on your quest towards Archon.


    And you yours. He nodded to both of them, in turn, and departed.


    T stood, moving through her stretches. <em>If Im going to spend the rest of the day making a star, I need to prevent cramps.</em>


    Rane, for his part, returned his attention to his letter from Grediv. As he read, he asionally nodded, or shook his head. At a few points, he barked outughs, followed by mutters to himself, which even T couldnt hear.


    As T finished her stretches and moved to afortable, seated position in the center of the wagons roof, she saw Rane upend the envelope.


    A sapphire fell out.


    It was thergest gem shed ever seen, and her mage-sight provided details beyond what even her enhanced senses could distinguish. It waspletely magically inert. It was a shaped gem, but she couldnt discern any facets. Even so, she <em>knew</em> it was a sapphire., though it was smooth and rounded. <em>I thought gems had to be facetted</em>


    Rane held it up, eyes wide. Its huge!


    T cleared her throat. So howd that fit in the envelope?


    He grunted. Dimensional storage, only essible twice.


    She gave him a deeply skeptical look. Master Grediv found a one-use, envelope-shaped, dimensional storage item.


    Yes?


    And hes wasting it on you.


    Hey


    She rolled her eyes. You know what I mean.


    Fine He huffed. Its highly temporary. It will onlyst another couple minutes or so, now that Ive opened it.


    T stood, striding over and snatching the envelope.


    Hey!


    She examined it. By the rusting stars There were minute inscriptions embedded in the paper, with a moreplex set woven through the wax seal. She couldnt determine the metal, or the specifics of the spell-forms. They were simply too minute and tooplex. How would you even go about making something like this?


    Rane took it back from her, pulling it from her hands. With great difficulty and expense.


    Obviously, but you said youd had that for <em>years</em>.


    He shrugged. It would havested a lot longer, if I hadnt opened it.


    She gave him an irritated stare. So how? <em>It clearly doesnt have an ingrained power source or reservoir.</em>


    How was your outfit made?


    What? Ive no idea.


    But youre wearing it. How can you not know every detail of its construction?


    She grunted, unhappily. Fine. Ill concede that you probably dont know. She growled in frustration. More things I dont understand. She nced back to the envelope. Well, I understand some, but not <em>Does it only use power to ess a space, elsewhere? That would allow for the longevity </em>She huffed a breath. It doesnt matter. So, are you going to be an Archon, now?


    Hmmm? Oh! No. I have to do quite a bit of practice, first, and I cant be on assignment. There can be no chance of interruption, after I begin. I could not rece this if I failed. He held up the gem. This is a kindness,pared to a normal gem.


    Why?


    Well, because He hesitated. You know what? Ill tell you after you craft an Archon star as powerful as you need. Master Grediv told you what that threshold was, right?


    She nodded, dejectedly. Yes


    Rane tucked the gem away. Well, I, for one, am going to practice. What about you?


    Yeah I am too. She returned to her seat. <em>Last time I reached almost 10% of my goal with four hours and a mistake.</em> She nodded to herself. I need a baseline. She centered herself and began to shape her power. <em>Lets see what I can do with an hour.</em>


    * * *


    An hourter, her exhaustion had be manifest. <em>Im d I wasnt nning on doing this for longer.</em>


    She pulled back her defensive powers, pricked her finger with a non-magical knife, and caught the drop of blood, containing the Archon star, in an empty iron vial. <em>I suppose I could use ss vials might be cheaper?</em> She actually had no idea if it would be less expensive.


    She maintained her focus, letting the power of her regenerative inscriptions activate to heal the small cut. Then, and only then, did she allow herself to rx.


    <em>Nicely done, T. No slips, no mistakes, just good, solid work.</em> She focused on the drop within. She had dedicated her entire flow of power into the spell-form for an hour, doing her utmost to open her gate as wide as possible. This was the result.


    A drop of power spun furiously without seeming to move. Her mage-sight locked onto it easily, partially because it was new to her.


    Her jaw dropped. <em>There is no way.</em>


    The Archon star before her was half as strong as the one shed made most recently, despite taking a quarter of the time.


    She looked up to see Rane sending thin streams of his power out, between his hands. He obviously couldnt control the power, once it was out, but he seemed to be doing <em>something</em> to cause the magic to twist and curl around itself, between his hands, after he released it.


    Rane?


    Something in her voice must havee across strangely, because he was up and standing over her with surprising speed, the power hed been working with harmlessly distributed into the air. <em>I guess he was using little enough to not be easily detectable.</em> Mistress T?


    T cleared her throat. <em>Rightdecorum, and focus</em>. Master Rane. How quickly should a Mages flow-rate increase?


    He seemed to rx, moving a bit away and settling back down, sitting and facing her. You got a boost, eh?


    She nodded. Much more than I really should have. My power umtion seems nearly double thest time I tested in this way.


    Well, you have been practicing more dynamically. That can help. He held up a hand to forestall her. That said: Life or death battles push Mages farther than anything elseassuming they survive. Im guessing there were a few times that you had to utilize your magic-flow to stay alive?


    She nodded. To use my weapon, yes. Every bit of increased flow through my gate allowed me to use it longer without exhaustion.


    He nodded in turn. That kind of thing changes you at a deep level. He quirked a smile. Thats why Master Grediv had me in almost constant battle for most of my training.


    Soyour gate is a city gate beside most Mages'' trap doors?


    Heughed. Not quite. After a moments hesitation, though, he nodded. If you exclude Archons? I suppose thats urate enough. I can refill my reserves from empty intwo minutes? He seemed to consider. Yeah, that seems about right.


    That doesnt tell me much


    Oh! Well, my current power density is gold, by the inscribers scale, and Im quite a bit bigger than you. So


    Sheughed in turn. I hadnt actually considered body size.


    Id guess you were tested for density, given your type of inscriptions. Assuming I understand them. Its pretty irritating not being able to <em>see</em> them working.


    Yeah. Mistress Holly tested my density.


    After an expectant moment, Rane prodded. And?


    Off the scale. She said it was in Archon ranges.


    Ranes eyes widened. That shouldnt be possible.


    T shrugged. Its nothing more than a deeperke, right?


    Yes, T, it is. The human body shouldnt be able to handle that level of power. Theres a cap. How are you still alive?


    She found herself smiling. You know, now that I think about it, the inscriber asked a simr question.


    Sowhat? Does it take you ages to refill from empty?


    She shrugged. Something like that. I think around three or four hours,st time I was foolish enough to let it happen. <em>When I made the star before this one</em>


    Rane seemed shell shocked, and he took a moment or gather himself. T Then, he caught himself. Mistress T.


    Hmmm?


    An untrained child should be able to refill my reserves in less than an hour, if such a thing were possible.


    So?


    You are hardly untrained.


    Again, I ask: So?


    You have a terrifying amount of power within you, if what you say is even half-way correct. Im even ounting for the fact that most of your inflow is likely being siphoned away by your bodys currently-active inscriptions.


    She shrugged. Hasnt done me too much good.


    He cocked an eyebrow. Have your spells ever failed?


    No. Why does that


    Whether a spell grabs hold can be a function of the amount of power behind the working. Thats why Mages use secondary effects to attack anything of unknown power, or of a tier higher than they are.


    She thought back to the midnight fox. <em>Trent, Atrexia, and Renix threw attacks, but hadnt tried to affect the beast directly.</em> She had. She had locked onto the beast, if poorly, and had directly affected it. Huh


    Youre remembering something.


    I think I know what you mean. I altered a fundamental property of a red-auraed creature. She shook her head. A Bound entity, though that ranking still seems odd


    Thatsthats impressive, Mistress T.


    She let out a long breath. So, it would seem. She frowned. It didnt seem like it took more power than usual.


    Rane shook his head. It wouldnt, unless it was actively defended against the particr magics you used. Its more about the weight of power behind the working. He grunted irritably. Im not exining it well.


    She shrugged. So, my power density is high. I knew that. My flow rate is growing quickly, and does so even more quickly when Im fighting for my life?


    Thats the gist of it. After a moments hesitation, he added, Expect your gate to shrink, again, in theing days. You will still have an increase, when its all said and done, but not this great. He smiled. Its only been, what? Eighteen hours or so?


    Yeah. Hmmm I might need to be attacked more often T smiled and winked at Rane. <em>I need topetently defend myself more often, is more like it.</em>


    Rane opened his mouth to answer, frowning, but at that moment, a call came from beside the wagon. Mistress T?


    Guardsman Ashin?


    Ashin climbed up thedder, a wide grin on his face. You are alive! I knew wed slowed, but I couldnt get a straight answer, while I was on duty. He pointed a thumb over his shoulder. I just got off and thought Ide check.


    She smiled. Yep. Still in one piece.


    Sowhat happened?


    Short version? An evil, ck, flying chicken snatched me up in the middle of the night-


    Rane muttered under his breath. Nightwing Raven.


    She ignored him. Brought me back to some other evil chickens.


    More nightwings.


    I killed them and came back. She hesitated. Some electric chickens ambushed me when I was almost back. Killed them too.


    Ashin, it seemed, had heard Rane, because he nced to therge Mage, waiting for an exnation.


    Lightning terror birds, I think. Mistress T, are all birds chickens to you?


    She shrugged. Not Terrywell, I did think of him that way at firstso, only those I dont like or dont know?


    Ashin was smiling, still. Well, Im d youre alive. It sounds like you arent really up for sparring today, though. I cant me you. That seemed to trigger a memory. Oh! Adam asked me to give this to you. He searched for a moment, then pulled out a folded piece of paper, holding it out to her.


    T took it, unfolding it to reveal a map of a portion of Bandfast. A red arrow had been drawn, pointing at the Guardsmens mainpound, and Please arrive as soon after dawn as your duties allow. was written across the bottom.


    T looked up, eyebrow cocked, and Ashin exined. Weve several training grounds throughout the city, and he wanted to be sure the two of you would show up to the right one. He gestured to include Rane. Then, he returned his attention to her. He said hes d youre alive, by the way.


    She grunted. Well, thank you, I suppose?


    Ashin smiled, turning to go. Ive got to gather my gear, and it seems that Ive time to win back some pay tokens, before we arrive in Bandfast. I suppose Ill see you, tomorrow, if not before.


    Seems so. Take care, Ashin.


    And you as well, Mistress.


    He had just departed, and T had just picked her book back up, not up for another Archon star, when she heard another voice. Shes alive!?!


    T nced at Rane, who shrugged. Mageling Renix was acting as forward scout.


    Renix practically flew up thedder, stopping at the top to stare.


    Hello, Renix. She smiled.


    Mistress T He froze there for a long moment.


    Can I help you? She hadnt closed the book.


    Youre alive.


    Regrettably, no. Im simply the result of a collective hallucination. Brand really should learn not to add strange mushrooms to his meals.


    T saw Rane shift and nced his way. She grinned when she saw his face.


    Renix was frowning.


    She stood, stowing the notebook and walking over to give Renix a tonic hug. Yes, Renix. Im alive.


    He returned the hug, the frown never leaving his face. You know, we looked for you, as long as they would let us. He red at Rane.


    Rane held up his hands. We had a time-limit. Id nned oning back out to search, once the caravan arrived, but He shrugged. I didnt give you good odds.


    T looked back and forth. Did you two have a fight?


    Den snorted a quietugh from the drivers seat but didnt turn around.


    Rane grunted. No. I gave an instruction, and he threw a tantrum.


    Renix reddened. Excuse me?! She saw power building within the younger man, seemingly subconsciously.


    T held up her hands. Woah, there, Renix. She waved her hands, drawing Renixs eyes back to her. Renix, thank you for your concern. Master Rane is in charge of getting the caravan safely to Bandfast. He had to prioritize that.


    And if youd been dying nearby? Just beyond ourst, quick sweep?


    She hesitated, then sighed. Then, Id be dead. But that isnt a justification, either way. The person youre searching for could always be just one rise over, or they could be fine, already heading to meet up with you further down the trail. She gestured to herself. Like I was.


    She then nced to Rane. As for you. You dont need to be so condescending.


    Rane opened his mouth to object, but hesitated, shrugged, and turned his attention back to his book with a nod. Fair enough. He did not apologize.


    Renix red at the top of Ranes head for a long moment before turning his attention back to T. Well Im d youre ok.


    Me too. She smiled. Truly, thank you for the concern.


    Renix smiled at that, then shrugged and nced away. We have to take care of our own, right? Humanity needs all of us. He nced at Rane and sighed. I do need to get back to my position. Im to sweep the left side of the caravan, until we reach Bandfast.


    Good luck.


    He waved, and climbed back down, out of sight.


    <em>There. Now, hopefully everyone knows Im back.</em>

 Chapter 68: More Dangerous Than We Realize

    Chapter 68: More Dangerous Than We Realize


    T whiled the rest of the afternoon away in what had be the usual fashion.


    There were quite a few arcanous encounters, scattered around the wagon train, but Rane wasnt needed, let alone T. She was sorely tempted to investigate, whether for harvest or just to get involved, but wisdom won out. <em>My defensive inscriptions are mostly shot, after all.</em>


    So, pragmatism won out.


    It was a surprisingly peaceful afternoon, all things considered, and T felt tensions that she hadnt noticed slowly releasing, as her body seemed to finally realize that the danger of the previous night was over.


    Finally, as sunset was approaching, the lead wagon crested a slight rise, and T looked up to see Bandfast,id out below them.


    While they had initially departed towards the south, when shed left Bandfast, they were now arriving from almost due east.


    From her vantage, among the outlying, now-abandoned mining districts, T looked upon the concentric rings of defense, keeping the humans within safe from the dangers of the wilds. She had to shake her head at her own thoughts. <em>The mining districts are gone.</em> Though the wildscked the power of those around Alefast, they had still reimed the territory, once held by the mining areas, so thoroughly that T couldnt see any indication of the previous operations.


    Though, now that she thought about it, her mage-sight was detectingsomething. It was far too faint for even her enhanced sight to truly see, but she still felt a pulling. As she concentrated, she was able to detect that the pull wasnt on her, per se, it was on her inscriptions and the metal they contained. <em>Something is drawing precious metals down, into the ground around the city?</em>


    She tried to look deeper, to sense more, but didnt get anything further. <em>Why didnt I sense anything like this when leaving? Or around Alefast?</em>


    Had she just been too otherwise preupied? It was a <em>very </em>minute feeling. <em>Maybe, Im just imagining it.</em> But that seemed wholly unsatisfying.


    She sighed, returning her focus to the inhabited part of Bandfast, as a whole.


    It was an interesting contrast, having juste from Alefast: Where Alefast was a single ring, with high walls, and powerfully active defenses, Bandfast was a many-tiered, defensive structure with sprawling agricultural development, stretching for more than a mile past the outermost wall. Thend was lush, even now in autumn. The surrounding defensive towers ensured that it wasnt really the countryside, but it was far from urban.


    Alefast had had what appeared to be old-growth forests pressed hard against the walls. Bandfast faded almost seamlessly into the surrounding, rolling ins.


    To her mage-sight, Alefast had zed with power, seeming under constant assault by the magic-dense environment around it. Bandfast looked almost undefended, with tendrils of rtively weak magiczily flowing in, towards the city, and being absorbed by the citys spell-formworks.


    <em>If I didnt know better, I would assume that Bandfast was the ancient city, and Alefast the new outpost for humanity. We build up in small ways, but the world is constantly trying to break us down.</em>


    The young city had a vibrancy, an expectancy, a sense of hope and life. <em>Incredible.</em>


    Even though it made no sense, it also felt like home.


    <em>Ive spent more time with Trent than with Lyn or Holly.</em> But she found herself excited to see them, nheless. The inn in Alefast had amodations morefortable than her room in Lyns house, but she was looking forward to sleeping there tonight, even so.


    <em>We are a strange lot, humans.</em> She found herself smiling, contentedly.


    The wagon started down the far side of the hill, approaching the outer defensive towers.


    Rane walked up to stand beside her. So, this is home?


    It is. <em>It really is.</em>


    He nodded. Its big.


    She nced his way. Is Alefast the only city youve been to?


    Yeah. He shifted a bit. The air here feelsweak.


    Low magic density.


    He grunted. Feels strange


    Its been this way since we came through the pass.


    But its worse, here.


    She thought about it, examining the area around. He was right, of course. With all the areas power being drawn into the citys spell-workings, it left very little free floating. None, within the city. That made T frown. Arent you used to being within the city proper?


    Yeah, of course. I wasnt in Alefast often, but it wasnt that rare.


    Theres no power, there.


    He grinned. None in the air, but the deeperyer, thats still powerden. Thats what artifacts feed on, within the city.


    She frowned. Is that enough?


    He shrugged. Im not an item expert. All I know is the feel of Alefast is not one of starvation Its like a beach aspared to a desert. Simr if you look closely, but the wider view gives context and reveals how different they really are.


    T found herself nodding. I think that makes sense. It certainly lined up with how it had felt to her. <em>Great Im going to have to feed my items more often.</em> That in mind, she went through the process of doing just that, filling the reservoirs of each item bound to her. The knife didnt need a top off, but she poured into it, nheless, increasing its capacity by a fraction.


    Shed been tending to her items off and on, but it was good to top them off, before they entered the city proper.


    Terry appeared on her shoulder, shifting nervously as they came abreast with the outer towers. That reminded her of his cor, and she ced her hand on that, filling the reserves in her portion of the strange, dual-bonded item. <em>Lets not forget that.</em> The other half didnt need power. <em>Tang said even my half wouldnt need re-inscribing</em> Might be worth asking the Constructionist about that.


    T felt the hard line of distinction as they passed the outermost ring.


    Terry, for his part, shivered slightly, and his cor began glowing subtly to her mage-sight.


    T had been watching closely, and no attacks came their way, no nearby towers triggered to drive Terry back, and he continued, unmolested, atop her shoulder.


    She grinned. Well, Terry, it seems that youre wee, here.


    The terror bird stood up taller, stretching his flightless wings and reaching his head towards the sky.


    Then, he vanished. The sudden loss of weight caused T to sway, almost losing her bnce. She had been able to track Terry, and he stood some hundred feet away, stalking alongside the caravan.


    She could feel a pull towards him. It wasnt a physical thing, so much as a certain knowledge of exactly where Terry was. It also wasnt like her sense about where her knife rested, not a knowledge of self. <em>Interesting.</em> Thinking of the knife reminded her that she needed to name it, but other things were more pressing, at the moment.


    Terrys cor was now glowing to normal vision, clearly a warning yellow in color. Terry was looking down, obviously trying to observe the glow as he prowled further away.


    The color moved through the spectrum to red, and it seemed to begin vibrating slightly. Though how she knew that, she couldnt have guessed.


    As he moved, T felt the sense of his location grow stronger, though not with proximity. It was more like a different type of warning, delivered directly through her magic-bond to the cor. Terry bobbed, as if to himself, and vanished, reappearing on Ts shoulder.


    The cor lost its visible glow, stopped vibrating, and seemed to calm, once more. Though, it still had a power to it, in Ts mage-sight.


    Done testing your tether?


    He paused for a moment, then shook himself.


    Fair enough, I suppose. She looked away from Terry and saw Rane regarding them. Yes?


    It will be interesting to see how that works out. He gestured to her and Terry. I wouldnt want to fight him, and I suspect I dont fully understand all he can do. Terror birds are <em>powerful</em>, Mistress, and thats before they be arcanous. Be careful. The fact that he was able to go through a well, or more than one, so young? He shook his head slowly. He is more dangerous than we realize.


    <em>Oh, you have no idea.</em> Thank you for the warning. Ill keep it in mind.


    Farmers were closing out the day in the fields as the wagon train passed, now on a clear, well-maintained road. The caravan guards and farmers exchanged greetings, both via waves and with words. Some of the farmers seemed to know some guards personally, and a few longer exchanges took ce around them, as they continued.


    Everyone had rxed, now that they were within city defenses, though not all wagons had made the transition, yet.


    T turned to look back, and again, noticed how the human-made road ended in an almost crisp line at the edge of the towers defensive formation. <em>That used to continue, connecting the mines to the rest of the city.</em> It had been reimed.


    As she surveyed the caravan, she was reminded of the battle shed witnessed two nights previous, even if just at a distance. <em>Or was it three nights ago?</em> She sighed. <em>Doesnt matter.</em> If the reforged entity attacked Bandfast, would the defenses hold? She had no idea if the spell-forms were capable of resisting anything in the Archon power range, and she hoped to never find out.


    Rane cleared his throat, resting a hand on her shoulder. T- He seemed to catch himself. Mistress T?


    Hmm? She turned to face him.


    Are you alright? He didnt remove his hand.


    I was just wondering if this city would survive an attack from a reforged beast


    Ranes hand tightened, slightly, before releasing. There are Archons within the city who would rise up to face such a threat, but He looked away, out over the fields, letting his hand fall from her shoulder. These outer defenses were not designed to repel such a danger. Master Grediv hammered that point home, clearly. City defenses can only defend against the expected level of threat, for the given ring.  He shook his head. If that happened, the outer rings would burn, and only the innermost would put up any form of resistance. If it happened at night, most of the popce would survive, to be rescued when possible. During the day? He gestured.


    It would be a ughter.


    Rane shook his head, solemnly. No, a ughter implies violence. These outer defenses would do nothing against such a being. The people would simply cease to exist, instantly. Unless the attacker had other ns for them.


    Other ns?


    Rane shook his head. That isnt for me to share. He smiled ruefully. You really need to be raised to Archon.


    She grinned. Yeah. Im going to be getting the remainder of my inscribings, soon. After that, Ill have time to train and, hopefully, advance. She turned to him, only to find the other Mage open-mouthed and staring. What?


    You arent fully inscribed?


    She shrugged. No. She frowned. I thought you knew that. <em>Im pretty sure I told himRight? Maybe that was Renix and Trent</em>


    No. No, I did not know. How are you this incrediblystill alive, while being unfinished?


    Sheughed. Ill try not to be insulted. She shrugged, again. My inscriptions are bent almost entirely to defense, surviving is half the battle. She grinned.


    More than half, honestly He was nodding. But, why not? Why arent you fully inscribed?


    I didnt have the funds for a full set of inscriptions. Now, I do.


    Not have theWhat? Thats ridiculous. How can you not have enough to properly equip yourself? His face was the picture of consternated confusion.


    By being poor, Master Rane.


    He opened his mouth, then closed it. A momentter, he opened it again, then closed it.


    Ive rendered you speechless? Maybe my powers areplete.


    He snorted a shortugh, a small smile returning. But you have the funds, now?


    Something in his tone made her wary, but she didnt want to lie. I do. I mean, Im not flush, or anything, but I can pay for what I need.


    He shrugged. I could give you some.


    She blinked at him. Master Rane. I dont really think She didnt really know what to say. I appreciate it, but any reasonable amount wouldnt change my finances very much.


    A thousand ounces, gold?


    She stiffened. <em>Mistresss offer to be a soul-bound servant.</em> She had no reason to believe he was asking for such from her, but the amount was too much of a coincidence.


    Den, who had apparently been quietly listening to their conversation, barked augh. Take it! Take it and run, Mistress.


    Dens interjection allowed T to refocus, and she shook her head. No, Master Rane. That wouldnt be right. Id be all but a ve to you. I cant easily repay that kind of money.


    He shrugged. I have very little use for it right now, and it isnt that much, in the scale of cities.


    <em>How wealthy is his family?</em> No. Thank you. She felt the fleeting rxation bleeding away from her, and she pulled inward hugging her arms to her chest. <em>Even if I didnt sign a contract, I would be in his debt forever. </em>She almostughed. It might be worse without a formal obligation. Shed simply owe him, forever. She shook her head. <em>I cant. No. ThatThat isnt right.</em>


    Rane was giving her a quizzical look. Is it too much? I probably dont actually have that much, in truth. Ive not really had to do many purchasesever, I suppose. Something just reminded me of the tale of Heraza, so the amount came to mind.


    Den groaned from his perch at the front of the wagon. Master Rane, with all due respect, referencing the ve price of a famously indentured wife was <em>not</em> He stopped himself, shaking his head. Nope. No. Im already interjecting too much. Not my business. He turned to fully face forward, beginning to whistle.


    T had gone rigid at the name. <em>I forgot that part of the story</em>


    Rane turned to her, a look of humored exasperation melting into panic when he saw her stance and face. He held up his hands quickly. I didnt mean to imply that! Ohrust. Im an idiot. He shook his head. Mistress T. II was pulling a number out of the air, thats all.


    She felt herself straighten, and when she spoke, her tone was cool and poised. Thank you, Master Rane, for the offer. I will make do on my own. I neither need, nor want, your charity. Without another word, she turned and strode to sit near the back of the wagon.


    Rane looked from her to Den, then back to her, then groaned, moving to sit where he had been positioned all afternoon, near the mid-point of the wagon top.


    She pulled out her notebook and pointedly opened it, continuing her anatomy review, and preventing further discussion.


    <em>Should I be ttered? Heraza is a famously beautiful character. Or should I be insulted, because she was only rescued from folly and ruin by the attentions of a king</em> What she truly felt was weary, and frustrated, and irritated.


    Thest of the ride into the city proper was silent and awkward.


    They passed through the gates without incident and entered the work-yard with light still in the sky. The half-day of expedited pace had allowed the caravan to arrive a bit ahead of schedule, though Den seemed to have slowed sufficiently that they had lost some of that time, likely in order to not push the oxen too hard.


    As T closed her notebook and tucked it into Kit, she stood, surveying the yard. To her surprise, she saw both Lyn and Holly waiting near the paymasters table.


    Rane stood and moved to intercept her before she got off the wagon, but she turned and hopped off the side, allowing the ending-berry power within her to absorb the impact to her legs.


    <em>Huh, Id have broken both ankles.</em> She had tried tond in a crouch, but shed apparently not absorbed the impact sufficiently. Her growing experience with the power allowed her to determine the extent of the injuries that had been prevented. <em>d Im full of the stuff.</em>


    Rane, for his part, growled in irritation. Mistress T. He didnt shout, but she heard him clearly.


    <em>So, hes been paying attention. He thinks he knows I can hear him.</em> No need to confirm.


    I know you can hear me. <em>Well fine then.</em>


    She turned, giving him her best disinterested looked. What. She spoke softly, trusting him to hear her as well. It seemed that he could. <em>I wonder what abilities he has, to allow that?</em>


    I am sorry. I truly didnt mean anything by it. I dont even have a thousand ounces, gold; I was trying to be whimsical He reddened a bit. I have a habit of saying things as theye into my head. He scratched his left shoulder absently. IIm sorry.


    She shrugged, feeling some of her irritation leak away. <em>This isnt worth it</em> Its in the past, Master Rane. I will see you tomorrow, in the training yard.


    He hesitated, then seemed to hunch slightly, even as some deep tension seemed to melt away. He nodded and waved goodbye.


    She simply turned and strode through the already growing swirl of people, as the wagons disgorged their passengers. It didnt take her long to reach where Lyn and Holly waited. As T came close, she pulled out the gloves, which had been a gift from Lyn, and pulled them on.


    Lyn, for her part, almost tackled T in a careful hug. Youre alive! Bless my stars, woman! Whats wrong with you?


    Ts emotions went through a whirlwind, even as she fought to maintain bnce. What are you talking about?


    Lyn pulled back. You! I was notified that you were lost, and that the caravan was proceeding with all haste. We needed to prepare for emergency unloading procedures, and that doesnt factor in the less-than-ideal reports of yourmore dangerous actions.


    Why were you notified? T interrupted.


    Because Im your handler for the Guild, or near enough. She lightly tapped Ts forehead. Remember?


    It was then that T noticed the gloves on Lyns own hands. <em>So, she doesnt have to be concerned, touching me.</em> It was almost a sweet gesture.


    Weve lost a few iing caravans, and we thought whatever had taken you might have been the same. She let out a small huff. But as I was saying, I was told you were gone early this morning. Then, after hours of panic and nning, I got another message: Dimensional Mage recovered, resuming standard schedule. Thats it.


    Well, if it is the same thing, it wont be an issue, now, but I seriously doubt that my problem could have taken a whole caravan. T looked to Holly, who was standing politely to one side. Why are you here?


    I have an invention Im going to try on you, and it is time to do the next portion of your inscriptions.


    Lyn spun on Holly, but the other woman raised a hand catingly. I know she has duties, and I know she just got back, but there is no reason to wait, and it wont interfere with her duties. Holly nced T over, her gaze clearly stopping on Kit, Ts knife, and on her outfit more generally. We can discuss your alterations, in my workshop.


    Lyn pursed her lips. Fine. She turned back to T. Well?


    T was grinning. Let me settle up with the paymaster, and Ill tell you the story on the way to Hollys workshop. Ok?


    Lyn nodded. I suppose that makes sense; we should get dinner on the way, too.


    Gretels?


    Of course.


    Holly shook her head resignedly, but she had a small smile, nheless.


    Lyn suddenly seemed a bit awkward as she sighed and cleared her throat. Also, I am obligated to inform you that youll have to have a <em>lengthy</em> meeting with a Senior Guild Official, before you can sign up for any other contracts.


    T hesitated. That doesnt sound too good.


    Its not great. After a moment, she shook her head. Id have been told if they were nning on nullifying your contract, but dont expect an easy meeting. She gave a pitying smile. Oh and your disappearance caused a whole host of expenses, from the messages to a scramble to gather workers to unload the cargo-slots more quickly Most of that was mitigated, but youre still on the hook for what cant be recuperated.


    What? I was snatched! Its not like I wanted to leave the caravan.


    You were only snatched because you werent sleeping in a wagon, a wagon which you rejected. Lyn grimaced in sympathy. Im sorry. Its not a lot, but its still about an ounce, gold.


    Great <em>Could have been worse</em> T sighed in resignation.


    Then, Lyn seemed to take T in, fully, for the first time, and she used the opportunity to change the subject. Are those new clothes? When T nodded, Lyn smiled. Nicely done.


    T rolled her eyes, pushing away the sinking feeling that was trying to settle into the pit of her stomach. <em>More money I owe</em>Still, she would at least pay this obligation immediately. She turned to approach the paymaster behind his table, waving over her shoulder. Ill be right back. Dont steal any wayward children while Im gone.


    As she walked, she felt a blip of power, and Terry was suddenly on her shoulder. Behind her, she heard both women inhale sharply. <em>Where were you hiding, Terry?</em>


    Lyn didnt otherwise react, but Holly muttered under her breath. Seems that it will be an even more interesting tale than expected.

 Chapter 69: Not Nice

    Chapter 69: Not Nice


    T found herself telling an abridged, and only slightly redacted, version of her trip. She didnt feel like her secrets were really needed, here, and the two women had a lot more knowledge than she, herself. That said, she didnt feel it was time to discuss her Archon stars.


    She tried not to focus on the fact that shed had her pay docked by one gold, and twenty silver, ounces for expenses incurred due to her disappearance. It didnt seem fair<em> No, T, focus on the story. You can argue with the official,ter.</em>


    They didnt interrupt, only asking minimal questions, as they walked through the city to the lively square and Gretels meat pies. While the other two each grabbed a few to eat on the way, T bought five for herself.


    Gretel was excited to see them all, but she was busy, as were they, so they only exchanged brief greetings, after the cook gushed over Ts new clothing. All in all, T was a bit sad to leave the boisterous woman behind them, so quickly, but they really did need to get to Hollys workshop.


    They ate as they walked, and as she renewed her retelling, T found herself pacing the tale to finish about when they arrived. She more or less seeded.


    The only reactions she noted came at the mentions of the ending-berries, Grediv, the battle shed witnessed, and of Mistress.


    With regard to the powerful battle she had witnessed, Lyn had been aghast, but Holly had seemed contemtive. As to the ending-berries, T had almost skirted around the issue, but realized that Holly would need to know, as it would definitely be important, with regard to her inscriptions.


    The ending-berries had rendered Lyn speechless forrge sections of the story.


    Grediv got a grunting, snortedugh from Holly, and the inscriber had seemed to pay special attention to Ts descriptions of Mistress, and their interactions.


    And then, I rejoined the caravan, thanks inrge part to Terry, here. She patted the terror bird on the head, where hey, curled up in herp.


    The three women sat in a back room of Hollysplex, having just recently arrived.


    You know the rest.


    An attendant arrived, bringing tea for the three.


    SoThoughts?


    Lyn took a deep breath and let it out. Well, Im a bit speechless. It was supposed to be a quick, out and back run. A nice, easy assignment for your first contract. The route to Alefast is famously the safest, quickest route from Bandfast She shook her head.


    <em>So much for being speechless. </em>T grinned at the womans contradiction. <em>I missed you, Lyn.</em>


    You are just a bucket of trouble, arent you? It was said with affection. Im so d that you survived all that. Im also d that no one was seriously hurt. Lyn gave her a hard look.


    T nodded, smiling a bit guiltily. She had neglected to mention Terrys butchering of the men outside of Alefast, or his likely incredible age. Yup. In fact, shed skimmed over much of her interactions with the bird, only exining enough to justify his presence and hint at his role in getting her back safely.


    Holly sighed. Well, Im going to have to do some tweaks to your spell-forms, but I expected to have to. You left out a few things, that we will discuss. Yourbond to the knife, for example. She gave T a meaningful look.


    T smiled back. When theres time.


    Holly shrugged. Very well. She stood and pinched Ts arm.


    Hey! Ow. T rubbed the offended flesh, ring at the inscriber.


    Holly shook her head. You changed your workout routine. Im going to have to do a thousand little tweaks to make your spell-forms work properly. She was frowning. If I wasnt nning on a vastly different set-up, this would be <em>most</em> inconvenient.


    Waitwhat?


    Holy waved her off. You clearly arent suited to dormant defenses. Id expected this at some point, and you seem to have been working on your umtion rate, so well transition to always active defenses.


    T frowned. That sounds not only expensive, but like it will run out much more quickly.


    Holly smiled with a malicious glee. With previous techniques, it would be, but you gave me an idea. I will be able to make your inscriptions small enough, and numerous enough, that the power distribution and inscription erosion should be kept to a manageable level.


    T opened her mouth to argue, then sighed. I dont have a choice, do I


    Holly just grinned.


    Great how long will this take?


    Holly waved that off. It wont be an issue.


    <em>I guess Ill see? </em>Holly was likely going to have some of her apprentices do a portion of the work to speed it up. That made her surprisingly nervous. <em>Huh, I really dont want anyone else working on me.</em>


    I was going to have us remove the silver activation scripts, before we reworked the core functions, but you seem to have used them up already.


    Lyn scoffed augh. You heard her story. Are you surprised?


    Not at all. Holly cleared her throat. Now, lets get you scrubbed down and ready for the work. Yes? She stood, drink in hand. Grab your tea and follow me.


    T shrugged, taking up her cup and following the inscriber, Terry flickering to her shoulder.


    Lyn followed as well.


    They came to a waiting bath, in a private chamber, and Holly closed the door behind them. Terry immediately blipped over to the edge of the tub, tested the water with a taloned toe, then settled down on the edge to watch the three women, no further interest taken in the tub.


    First, scrub the iron from the back of your neck. I need to collect the records stored, there, if Im going to be efficient with our time. Then, while you scrub the rest off, I can be modifying as appropriate.


    <em>Thats right!</em> T felt indignation rise up withing her. I almost forgot! She raised a finger, ring at Holly. You put a voice in my head, and gave it power over my hormones? I didnt know you were going to do that!


    Holly blinked at her, a bit owlishly. Mistress Tdear.


    T drew up short, hesitating. <em>Did I miss something?</em>


    Holly continued, after a short breath. Did the spell-form work?


    Yes?


    Then, you must have known.


    T opened her mouth to object, then hesitated. <em>Ohhuh</em>


    I am surprised that you heard a voice, however. Your mage-sight must have detected the activation and functions, and a voice was the easiest way for it to convey what it picked up. She clicked her tongue, tapping her chin in thought. Yes, that is fascinating. Ill have to keep that in mind. Maybe, we could use that She stopped her contemtions. Well? She gestured at the bathtub. Get your neck clean. I need that information.


    T sighed, much of her indignation spent. Fine, fine. There was a stack of pumice stones, and T picked one up, wetting it and running it over the back of her neck. It wasnt very pleasant.


    As she scrubbed, she felt a mild drain on her ending-berry power. Thankfully, it only protected her skin, not the salve atop it. <em>I should probably let that run dry, while in the city I dont have an infinite supply.</em>


    <em></em>In another burst of furious scrubbing, she finished. There. Her skin felt raw, though she knew it wasrgely undamaged. The ending-berry power would prevent any true damage. Still, it felt quite ufortable. <em>Yes, woe is me, I suffer so, for my power!</em> She snorted, and Lyn and Holly gave her odd looks. She waved them away. Is that good enough?


    Holly stepped forward and took out a stone, clearly inscribed with intricate spell-lines in aplex three-dimensional pattern, woven through its whole structure. Holly funneled a bit of power into it, and it burst to life.


    The inscriber ced the stone on the back of Ts neck, and she felt a strange tingle, like a dog was slobbering on the back of her neck then licking it clean.


    Aaaah, that feels <em>weird!</em>


    Holly stepped backward, bringing the stone with her. All done. Ill get this analyzed.


    Lyn cleared her throat. Do you need me? She looked to both women.


    T shrugged. It might be nice. Who knows what she has nned for me


    Holly grinned in a very Im-a-mad-researcher kind of way. You should at least stay to see my newest invention. If it works as expected, it could revolutionize inscribing.


    Lyn cocked an eyebrow. Oh? She seemed to contemte. Yourst sess was those needles She nodded. I can spare a few hours. She looked to T. Wee home, by the way. She winked and walked from the room.


    Holly waved absently as she left, as well. Be quick, please. This wont take long, after youre done.


    As the door closed behind the two women, T sighed and began stripping off her clothing, setting it, and her gear, off to the side. Lowering herself into the tub, she basked in the warmth for a good minute before getting to work. The familiar feeling of raw skin soon pervaded her senses. The removal of the dead skin exposed the living, and the ending berry power didnt prevent that.


    Holly had been thorough, providing both mirrors and pumice stones on sticks, to allow her to get every inch of herself clean. It was a familiar process, but not a pleasant one. <em>Nothing for it, though.</em>


    Twenty minutester, she was done. She likely could have made the process more pleasant by going slower, but she was tired, and she still had whatever Holly had in store before she could sleep.


    Her artifactb dried and detangled her hair with a few strokes, and she pulled her clothing back on, reveling in the now familiar feel.


    <em>Do I even need the other sets of clothes?</em> She could find a use for them, she was sure, but that was forter.


    * * *


    T stared at the contraption hanging before her. It looked like nothing so much as a full arm gauntlet, without visible seams or joints.<em> From the abyss.</em>


    Hundreds of Hollys special needles were attached to the thing, on various tracks, and the entire contraption radiated magic. The surface was as intricately worked as the needles themselves, and T found herself gaping from the doorway.


    A secondary difference was that all of the needles were almostically small.


    Come in, dear. Hollys voice floated from a corner that T couldnt quite see.


    She stepped in, seeing Lyn and Holly to her right. What is it? She had a guess, probably a good guess, but she still wanted to know.


    Well, child, it is an automated inscriber. We already have every Mages inscriptions in the archive, why manually take that out and apply it?


    T nodded, hesitantly. It lookspainful. Terry hade in on her shoulder, but he was now walking around, below the device, examining it critically from beneath.


    Dont be silly. It still wont have to pierce your skin.


    T gave her a t look. Yes, and the simultaneous injection of metal all through myarm?


    Holly nodded.


    Through my arm will feel like a warm breeze.


    Ahh, yes. I suppose thats true. She shrugged, disinterestedly. Youve suffered worse.


    T shook her head in a mix of bafflement, confusion, and amazement. <em>Did she really not think of how much it could hurt?</em> Why are the needles so much smaller?


    Because this system will allow for a much moreplex, minute, interwoven mesh of inscribings. This will beying down spell-forms with as little gold as possible, to make them as small as possible.


    Wont that cause them to run out sooner? <em>Is this what she meant, earlier?</em>


    Yes and no. Each individual part <em>would</em> run down sooner, but they bear a much smaller amount of the overall load. Like I hinted at before, you could see them as each only handling a very small percentage of the overall spell-working, so the same amount of material will be used up, but much more slowly for each individual portion of overall spell-form.


    And this isnt normally done because?


    Because it would be impossibly tedious for an inscriber to do this by hand, even if they were precise enough to do it urately, which even I wouldnt be. This is only possible because of this invention.


    <em>I suppose that makes sense</em>


    Well If you arent willing, it will take us three to four days to get the work done, solid. No breaks. Does that sound better? After a moments pause she added. Also, it wont be as good because we cant do as minute workings andyering. Id have to rework the spell-forms from scratch.


    Thatsounds like too much? Why so much


    Were adding innumerableyers to you, dear. You will be inscribed throughout your bone and soft tissue, and were refreshing your enhancement and skin inscriptions. After a moment, she shook her head. No, were overwriting them, incorporating the lines that are still there.


    T groaned. How long will that take?


    Holly shrugged. I estimate it will take about five minutes per limb? I eventually want to make a whole-body version, but I wanted to prototype, first, and this seemed a reasonable size. We wont have to wait for integration, like before, because were working with much smaller amounts of metal, per injection.


    T gave her a highly skeptical look. Why me?


    Hmmm? Oh. A few reasons, actually. First, it really isnt worth my time to inscribe you at so many levels. I was considering having several apprentices work on you alongside me, but that isnt ideal. She was scratching at her chin. Then, this urred to me. Seems reasonable.


    Ok so why me? I inspired the idea, but Ive been gone?


    Oh, your fortitude, child, and theplexity of the spell-forms you can sustain. Much about your self-imposed training and powers requires you to enduremuch.


    You just said you thought it wouldnt be painful.


    Of course, dear. Youll be fine.


    T narrowed her eyes. <em>Is she trying to be funny?</em> After a long moment, she grunted in irritation. Fine. What about my torso?


    It can expand to do that as well. Though it will take a bit longer. We wont do your organ specific inscriptions today. I want you to read some information Ive put together on the exact function of the organs and how the inscriptions will augment them. I know youve a good deal of anatomy training, but I want it to be better. No need to put the work in ce, until you understand it well enough to activate the inscribings. She pointed towards a side table, where a stack of books waited. Those have a section on each organ or system, what it does naturally, and how the inscribings will interface with those functions. They are customized to your physiology, based on my initial scans of you, before you left.


    On second inspection, T realized that stack did not do justice to the massive number of volumes awaiting Ts inspection. <em>I can find the pieces Im missing and brush up on what I need to review.</em> Did you write these, yourself? By hand?


    Dont be silly, dear. I used this. She gestured to the device. I wanted to test its precision, so I ced the stack of nk books within it, and supplied it with mundane ink. She smiled self-satisfactorily. It performed wlessly. After a moment, she nodded. You will, of course, have to pay for the tomes.


    But I didnt ask for them.


    But you need them.


    T grimaced. How much?


    Holly seemed to be taking her in. An ounce, gold. They cost more to make, but I used them as a test case, thus reducing my over-all expenses. One gold ounce seems fair.


    T growled. <em>First, I have to pay more than an ounce for being abducted, now another ounce for these books?</em> She sighed. Fine


    And, while were discussing prices: You used up all your golden rings.


    I did.


    I didnt factor that into the price of this inscribing.


    T sank into a chair. <em>Why fight it? She wont let me win</em> How much?


    Hmmm? Oh, let me see. Holly pulled out a te and looked over the text on its surface. Four and a half ounces, gold, to fully refresh the thirty rings.


    Oh, rust that! You didnt assume that Id use <em>any</em> of them?


    No, I didnt. You were specifically sent on an easy, safe mission. Your danger-mongering isnt on me.


    T grumbled, but again, she didnt really have a choice. Fine So, what do I owe you, then?


    Holly showed her the te. Thirteen and a half ounces, gold.


    Ts eye twitched. <em>Thats more than half of what I have</em>


    My math is good.


    I can see that. You seem chipper about all this.


    Holly was grinning. Of course, I am, dear. You are a <em>wonderful</em> specimen to work on.


    Ts eye twitched again, for entirely different reasons. <em>Great Im her experiment.</em> T supposed it could be worsesomehow.


    Now, as this will take a few sessions, please do not rece your iron, or youll have to scrub before every session, and thats a waste of everyones time and resources. Also, the ending-berry power within you is unideal. Well make it work, today, but dont renew it, until after were done.


    T grunted. <em>Great. So, I need to walk around with no defense against magic, and without one of my physical defenses as well. </em>She didnt let the fact that shed already decided not to use her ending-berries within the city get in the way of her irritation. Fair, I suppose.


    She did smile as she nced to the stack of books. Shed nned on visiting a library, and eventually purchasing a set of reference volumes for anatomy, physiology, and the like. These were custom to her, along with details on the specific magical enhancements and alterations she would bear.


    <em>And, Ill actually beplete, as a Mage, soon.</em> It was a relieving feeling.


    I do like your ideas for your throat and lungs. Though, again, well need to discuss them,ter.


    T grinned at that. <em>Right! So much has been happening that I forgot about making spell-forms within my lungs</em> She shook her head. <em>My lists need better organization. Thats a pretty big thing to fall by the wayside. </em>She walked forward, sitting in the chair beside the new device and slipping her arm inside.


    Holly walked over and held out the tablet, once more. It now contained both the agreed to transaction, thirteen and a half ounces gold, and authorization for Holly to ess, alter, and implement her inscriptions.


    Looks good, I suppose. Lets do this. She pricked her left ring finger, after withdrawing her defensive powers, and allowed a drop of blood to confirm the agreement.


    Holly nodded. Very well, lets get to work. Please pull the ending-berry power back from that arm.


    The device responded, whether to Hollys words, or the signed contract, T didnt know. An inner sleeve tightened around her arm, all the way up, past her shoulder, and around each individual finger.


    The needles began soundlessly moving into position.


    Now, Ive made a couple of changes. Mainly, I wanted you to be able to activate your crush and restraint magics with either hand. She held up her own hand to stop Ts objections. This will not negate other spell-forms being avable to your left hand. In fact, I intend to make your right hand able to use those as well, once we decide which to use. I have several ideas, that we should discuss, one in particr seems perfect, but not now. We will do your left-hand workings after your internals. Soin a week?


    The needles seemed to have gotten into position, because they all plunged inward simultaneously.


    T jerked despite herself, but her arm was held quite immobile, and there wasnt any pain. Still, the visual of seeing them all jab inward had startled her.


    <em>I shouldnt have watched</em>


    Then, the pain came.


    She remembered the feeling of her bones breaking: dozens of times in the academy training grounds and many times since. This felt like that, throughout every bone from her shoulder to her fingertips.


    She screamed, feeling something try to tear in her throat, only prevented by the ending-berry power within her. It took all her willpower to keep that power away from her arm, though she wasnt sure how much it would have helped.


    Before her scream had even started, the needles had retracted, moved ever so slightly, and jammed in again. And again. And again. It seemed that there would be dozens of jabs, per needle, per second. <em>How can they work that fast? </em>If she had been in a better ce, she might haveughed at the silly question. <em>Magic, of course.</em>


    Holly helpfully put a leather tube in Ts mouth for her to bite down on. T red at the woman but bit down.


    Terry, for his part, flickered to Tsp, staring up at Holly, then ncing to T with an obvious question.


    Between excruciating pulses, the needles now looking more like waves as each moved independently, T seriously considered unleashing the terror bird on Holly, but finally, thought better of it, giving an almost imperceptible shake of her head.


    Terry let out a breath that could only be considered a disappointed, confused sigh and curled up on herp.


    Inscriptions formed remarkably quickly, taking less than a minute before those in her bones wereplete.


    Her power immediately rushed through them, and the bone reknit itself around the inscriptions, locking the precious gold into ce.


    <em>Only gold. Always active.</em>


    The needles didnt stop, however, as they slowly moved outward, meticulously inscribing everyyer.


    The torture device worked its way outward, moving through her muscles, tendons, and other mid-level tissue. Her arm remained locked in ce,pletely unable to shift or in any way ruin the precision of the inscribing.


    The needles finished with the muscle and other midyers of inscribing, but those didnt activate. Apparently, Holly had left off the connection scripts, for some reason.


    T growled, mumbling around the leather tube she was still biting down upon. Why didnt the midyer activate? Since she couldnt move her right arm, she gestured towards the constantly moving device with her head. <em>Sewing machine! It looks like nearly two hundred sewing machines</em> The thought didnt help.


    Holly shook her own head, hair bobbing. We have to wait until the inscriptions around your shoulder areplete, or when the muscle enhancements activate, you might tear your own arm off.


    Thatsounded unpleasant. T stoppedining, though tears had begun to leak from her eyes, and she couldnt control the asional whimper. <em>The ending berry power would likely prevent my arm from damaging itselfbut Im pulling that back, out of the way.</em> Much better to avoid that possibility.


    The needles continued their methodical action, quickly refreshing, altering, and augmenting her highest levels of inscriptions, including her enhancements, defenses, regenerative scripts, and her active offensive magics. Everything she could feel was gold, except the connections for her offensive spell-forms. <em>Dont want those powered all the time.</em>


    Less than five minutes after the process had started, it was over. Her arm was released from the sleeve, and T ripped it free, cradling it against her chest.


    Holly examined Ts arm, even going so far as to p Ts left hand to get her to let go, so Holly could stretch out Ts right arm for full inspection. Yes. Good. It perfectly modified for the indicated increase in muscle tone. Very nicely done. She nced up, momentarily meeting Ts gaze. Nicely done, Mistress T. We can move to the next limb, whenever youre ready. Your bodys use of ending-berries has primed it to receive these specific inscriptions, wonderfully.


    T found herself shaking her head, feeling a little dizzy. No. That was <em>not</em> nice You arent a very nice person The leather tube had fallen away from her mouth at some point.


    But, I am an effective one. Holly smiled, as she continued to examine Ts arm, poking and examining it from every angle.


    T just groaned in response. She closed her eyes, bracing against the continued throbbing in her arm. <em>Oh, right.</em> She had been holding back her own power from the deeperyers, along with the ending-berries. Now, she allowed power to flow through her uppermost regenerative scripts and the pain from that topyer vanished, her flesh tightening around, and integrating with, the inscriptions. The skin across her entire arm began glowing, if subtly. It almost looked like she had gone out to get a tan and had brought back some of the sun with her. <em>Great, the joys of always active surface inscribing.</em>


    There were three more limbs to do, then her torso.


    T took deep breaths. This was far from over.

 Chapter 70: Understatement

    Chapter 70: Understatement


    As T did her best to mentally prepare for the next steps, she found the continued pain distracting. Can I activate the midyers?


    Holly was maneuvering the torturous contraption but nced towards her face while answering. Hmmm? Sure. The work on your shoulder is fully finished, after all. I thought you already had.


    T decided it was best to notment. Power blossomed through Ts arm, and the pain was washed away as her flesh knit together around the inscriptions. She looked down at her own arm, marveling at how strong it felt, while still being under her control. The glow from her skin had lessened, the excess power now being pulled deeper.


    <em>I wonder if the glow means ack of efficiency? </em>If so, this full set was almost perfectly efficient, only the barest hints of illumination still visible. If anything, it looked like the glow was directed inward.


    <em>Ill be visible in the dark, but I dont think Ill illuminate anything around me.</em>


    All parts of her arms biology were increased in perfect proportion, so there wasnt any change in how it responded, or to how it moved. Even so, she felt like there was more force behind each gesture.


    Her head snapped up as something slid over her left arm, locking in ce before she could react. What!? Now? I thought you said we could wait until I was ready.


    Now is best, dear. Youre ready. She stuck the leather tube between Ts teeth, cleared her throat, and addressed the machine. Begin.


    The process of pain and dyed relief repeated itself on her left side, though T was able to activate the midyer of regenerative scripts more quickly, this second time.


    Then, hesitantly, T agreed to have her legs done. The device of madness was slipped over the first leg, covering from toes to the top of her hip.


    Lyn cleared her throat. This is fascinating, but I think Ive seen enough Ill Ill wait in the outer room?


    T nodded weakly, taking in the womans paleplexion. Not fun to watch; I understand.


    Lyn smiled with shame-faced regret, before fleeing.


    Holly cleared her throat. I want to add some things to your legs as well, though not at this time. I want you to be more anchored, when you need to be, and I want to discuss ideas. I need to grasp what you will be able to enact, and I dont have a full understanding of your limitations, yet.


    T grunted and didnt really have anything else to add. <em>Eloquent, T.</em>


    Holly smiled, patting her non-encapsted hip. Begin. The inscription machine tightened, locking her leg, even her individual toes, into perfect immobility, as the needles began their work.


    Five minutester, T was barely aware of Holly switching legs. Terry was sitting on a chair in the corner, clearly no longer enjoying herp. Sorry, Terry Ill be donesoon.


    Begin.


    And agony began anew.


    This time, the pain left immediately as the needles finished eachyer, the interconnecting scripts activating as soon as they wereplete. Even so, echoes of pain sent twitches through her enhanced nervous system.


    Holly moved the contraption after it finished with Tsst leg, manipting it to open wide enough for T to slip it up, over both her legs and higher, further over her torso. T stood, lifting her arms above her head, so it coulde high enough.


    Bind.


    The device locked the inner lining around T but didnt begin. Its encapstion went around each shoulder, closing around the base of her neck but leaving it and her head bare. It also wrapped around her upper legs, holding her up and allowing no room for escape. Holly? Ts voice was a bit raw, even with the earlier protection of her throat. T had pulled the ending-berry power into her right hand, what little of it was left.


    There are two things special about this portion. First, I have increased the inscriptions forsupport, both muscr and elsewise, around your chest. You will never need a corset. Thats for sure. Hollyughed a bit, to herself. I wish I had the fortitude for these inscriptions myself. She smiled and winked.


    T grunted. <em>Yeahwhy do I feel like that was intended to distract me?</em> Second?


    Hmmm?


    What is the second thing? T forced out.


    Oh! Yes. Well, weve been doing inscriptions in all your soft tissue, fat, vessels, arteries, capiries, etc. but in your torso, there is quite a bit of movement from your involuntary muscles that I just cant be sure well ount for urately.


    T found herself frowning. What does that mean?


    Holly smiled, cing a cool object against the back of Ts neck. Sleep, child.


    T immediately lost all sensation below her neck, but before panic could set in, a deep, dreamless sleep took her from the world of the conscious.


    * * *


    T woke to a soothing hand, brushing her hair off her forehead.


    Time to wake up, Mistress T. The voice was soft, weing,forting.


    T groaned and tried to get up, but she couldnt move. Her eyes snapped open in a panic, and she looked up at Hollys workshop ceiling, her head hanging backwards. Gah! She felt herself beginning to panic.


    Mistress T. Please, control yourself. Before I release the block at your neck, I need you fully conscious.


    T growled, ring in the general direction the womans voice hade from. Im not very happy about being paralyzed, <em>Mistress</em> Holly.


    You will recover. As I think you would care to know this: I had to stop your heart, briefly, for the inscriptions on that muscle-group, and your diaphragm, to be done. No damage resulted from the arrest, and as you can see, you are quite alive.


    Ts eye twitched. <em>You have to be rusting kidding me</em> So, why am I still paralyzed? After a moment, she growled again. And why couldnt you have knocked me out like this for my limbs?


    You see, the nature of most of your inscriptions required <em>very</em> specific integrations with your keystone as well as your mind.


    She decided to reword her second question. You just knocked me out for my torso. Why couldnt you have done that for my limbs?


    Holly sighed. For many Mages, for other inscriptions, I could do just that, in fact, that is likely how this might be worth using. For you, though- She clucked her tongue. -Your power density <em>rises</em> when you are unconscious. It is to the point that I dont trust fragments of spell-forms wont be activated, if you are so infused. In addition, we needed the spell-forms to be seamlessly epted by your mind. Once your limbs wereplete, they served as both an outlet for that excess power, and a tform for connection to your mind.


    T grunted. She didnt really grasp what the issue would have been but arguing now seemed pointless. So why was my torso different?


    Holly gave her a t look. You will understand in a moment, dear. When thises off, you will feel much, which your body will interpret as pain. Your body is too robust to be deceived about the alterations.


    <em>Sounds like a fake reason</em> But T was tired. <em>I just want to go home, go to bed.</em> Fine Lets just get it over


    Holly pulled the stone away from the back of Ts neck and an avnche of pain tore through Ts torso. It wasnt pain in the traditional sense; Holly had been right about that. More than anything, it felt like her entire torso was trying to tell her, all at once, that <em>something</em> had been done to her. Someone had fundamentally altered her being.


    And her self hated it.


    She involuntarily threw her head back and let out a single pulse of a scream that shredded her vocal cords, utterly. The ending-berry power was still sequestered, so was of no help.


    The regenerative scripts in her neck activated, and her voice was restored in time to vocalize her first whimpers, before she slid out from inside the automatic-inscriber and vomited towards the hard floor.


    It was long minutes before T became aware of her surroundings again, but Holly was kneeling beside her, holding Ts hair and a bucket. The hair was to one side, and the bucket directly below Ts mouth. It had even caught her first retch.


    Terry was pressed firmly against Ts other side, and somehow, T knew he was ring at Holly over her back.


    There, there, Mistress T. Youll be alright, now. The first time is always the worst for inscriptions.


    Ts whole body shuddered, and she felt a coldness settle into her core. She began to shiver.


    Holly wiped Ts mouth with a cloth, helping her stand and stagger over to a nearby chair, where a waiting warm nket was draped over her. Arge mug of mint tea settling into her hands.


    T red. <em>She knew. She KNEW it would be like this.</em> But T couldnt gather the energy to use the inscriber, at least not at the moment.


    Instead, she red.


    As she red, the focus was intent enough to activate her mage-sight. Power swirled around Holly, just as before, but now, T was used to the sight. She was ready for the influx of information, and she knew what the underlying yellow aura meant.


    She croaked out one word. Refined.


    Holly paused momentarily, then sighed and continued her work. Yes, dear. I am an Archon.


    T glowered. Why hide it?


    I didnt, but there is also no reason to overwhelm others mage-sight with ones power. It is polite to veil oneself. My workshop contains my aura, so I let it flow more freely. This is a sanctuary. A ce I can let my hair down, so to speak.


    T was feeling better by the moment, and she looked around, seeing Kit on the chair beside her. She reached in, grabbed the iron vial, which she felt a slight connection to, and tossed it to Holly. Holly, seeming bemused, caught it. T felt herself smile, if only slightly. Open it. Liquid inside.


    Holly sighed but nodded, righting the vial, and carefully opening it. She looked inside and froze, shock clearly evident across her features. Power rippled across the womans face, activating her mage-sight. ChildThat cannot be She blinked, moving the vial closer to her face. But it is is it in blood? She nced up at T, then back into the vial. Mistress T, who taught you this? She held up the vial, demanding an exnation.


    I stumbled across it.


    In what book? The curators will be hearing from me if-


    T was shaking her head. No, not a book. I was experimenting, and the form just felt <em>right.</em>


    Holly stopped her tirade and looked back into the vial. No one suggested it? Implied it? Nudged you along? You didnt encounter an oddly friendly stranger in the wilds, and began doing unusual things thereafter?


    No? <em>Thatst one was oddly specific</em>


    Holly grunted, looking back into the vial. Well, rust my biscuits.


    T snorted augh. What does that even mean?


    Hush. Do you know what <em>this</em> means? She lifted the contained Archon star.


    T shrugged. What you just said? No. Thats why I asked.


    Holly gave her an unamused look.


    Fine. T grunted. It will mean I can be considered for Archon, once I make a stronger one.


    Holly opened her mouth, then closed it. Well good. Some things are as they should be.


    <em>So, not quite correct, then? Interesting.</em>


    Hollys eyes moved to the knife, lying beside Kit. But clearly, you know some.


    <em></em>T nodded. I know some. Master Grediv advised I not soul-bond with anything else, until I reached certain thresholds.


    Holly snorted this time, shaking her head. Fool of a man. I would bet youve almost met his meager thresholds? She gave T a rather intense look. Youre almost to them, right?


    T hesitated, then nodded. I am. <em>Shes going to try to stop me.</em> T had already agreed to wait, but she still wanted to rebel against even the implied restrictions. <em>Thats not a wise reaction, T. Listen to the wisdom of the Archons.</em>


    You would be wise to put your energy into making a properly powered star. She looked into the vial, again. This shouldnt be possible, and I know some elders would be in a <em>fit</em> if you came up for consideration based on this. She clicked her tongue a few times. How long did it take you to make this?


    <em>Why lie?</em> That was the stronger of the two she had with her. Four hours. The other, which shed made in one hour, still rested inside Kit.


    Hollys head snapped up. Youve been improving your flow-rate? She nodded to herself. Right. My mind has been thrown by all this. We increased your continually active scripts precisely because of your improved flow-rate. She shook her head. I must be getting old. I recalcted your scripts based on the new measurements, myself. She continued to mutter, but T was having trouble focusing.


    Her head felt stuffed with cotton and her whole body tingled with something akin to after-images of pain. Can I go?


    Holly stopped her pacing and nced Ts way. Can you?


    T frowned, then sighed. She pushed herself upright, using more effort than usual because of the expected weight of the nket. She vaulted up, her head tapping into the ceiling.


    She came crashing down, arms pin-wheeling to try to regain bnce.


    She didnt seed, falling t on her face.


    A groan issued from her lips as shey on the floor. It didnt hurt, not really, but it did make her feel quite disoriented. <em>Yeah, Im d that this wasnt coupled with the sense enhancements</em>


    With careful effort, T pushed herself up. Even so, she moved from horizonal to standing in one motion, her feet acting as a pivot point.


    Mistress Holly?


    Yes, dear?


    This seems more powerful than I expected.


    Of course, we were just discussing your increased power density and flow rate. All your inscriptions were adjusted as allowed for by your new levels. She fell back into the tone of a lecturer. Remember, the muscle enhancements, including those for regeneration and development, will not allow bulking, though you will still grow in strength with proper exercise. She shook her head, a frown painting her features. Ive never understood why some people try to grow in suchodd proportions. Such a radical change in your shape would force a redesign of your scripts and be altogether too much work. She gave T a meaningful look. You were heading that way already, before we stopped it, here.


    <em>Well, there is that, at least. </em>Shed forgotten that detail, though she did remember discussing it with Holly, and the particrs made sense. Gold scripts, right?


    Yes. As it stands, we should refresh you every six months, to be safe. Doing so will also remove almost all of the pain and difort, as it wont be introducing new points of inscription, simply reinforcing the existing lines.


    T grunted. She turned her concentration to her own body, slowly, carefully, going through some basic movements, getting her body used to its new strength. In less than a quarter hour, she had it mostly limated. She ced the books Holly had prepared for her into Kit and sighed. Mistress Lyn is waiting for me.


    Holly looked up from the te shed been examining. Hmm?


    <em>Diddid she forget I was here?</em>


    Quite right. Run along, now. We can do a few organs a day. She clicked her tongue. Come by each evening around sunset. Yes? Dont forget to read up.


    T groaned, moving towards the door.


    Holly cleared her throat, and T nced back, freezing in ce at what she saw. Holly was standing perfectly still, her aura <em>visible</em> to Ts unaided vision. That was not a suggestion, Mistress T. You will be here each evening, if I have toe and retrieve you, myself.


    Ts eyes widened, and she swallowed involuntarily. YesYes. I will be here.


    Holly smiled, returning her eyes to her te, the palpable power around the woman vanishing as if it had never been. Good. See you tomorrow. Be sure to eat. Your body is essentially rebuilding and reinforcing itself with a new blueprint. No skimping!


    T rushed from the room, only tripping a few times as her body continued to adjust, Terry already back on her shoulder.


    Lyn was waiting for T in the outermost room of the workshop. You smellDid you vomit? Was that you I heard scream? Lyn was a bit pale as she quickly came to Ts side.


    An assistant came forward with a wet cloth and some water.


    T wiped her face once again and drank the water, thanking the young man.


    Turning to Lyn, T sighed, leaning against the woman a bit. Lets get out of here I have toe back, tomorrow, and I already feel like Ive been here too often and too long.


    Lyn simply nodded, walking with her out into the early evening.


    After they were a few blocks from the inscribers workshop, Lyn nudged T. Want dinner? I know we already had some of Gretels pies, but...


    T did, but she really didnt feel like going anywhere, right now. Yes? But I just want to go home Is that ok? Im really, really hungry, though


    Lyn smiledfortingly. Sure thing. It seemed like that wasntgreat.


    Understatement.


    Lyn smiled wanly, guiding them towards home.


    Lyn and T walked in near silence through the streets, making only a single stop to grab a few meat and veggie skewers for T as they walked. T ate them with ravenous speed. Shortly thereafter, they arrived at Lyns house.


    T produced her own iron-key, stuck it into the lock and twisted. The metal groaned, and T let up on the pressure, before she distorted anything.


    Heh, sorry about that. T moved more carefully and unlocked the door, causing Lyn to smile broadly, even as she shook her head.


    Wee home, Mistress T.


    Inside, T wiped her feet on the mat and walked in to find sixrge packages sitting in the middle of the living room floor. The outside of each was waxed cloth, clearly meant to protect and preserve whatever was inside. Heavy cord bound each parcel tightly.


    Lyn was frowning at the small pile, clearly confused as well, and T noticed a note on the top, so she walked forward and took it up.


    Mistress T,


    It seems that you departed before I could pass into your care the jerky from Master Ranes harvests. I have sent it along to your residence with good Guardsman Ashin. I hope to see you again, soon. If the good Master asks, his dimensional duffel was sent with Guardsman Adam, who indicated a pre-arranged meeting with Master Rane.


    -Brand


    A second hand had written another note, below:


    Mistress T


    Who in their right mind needs twelve HUNDRED pounds of jerky? This was not easy to deliver. I would appreciate being able topensate the workers who helped me move it, for their time and the use of their carts.


    -Ashin


    T snorted. The packages wererge, but thankfully looked like they would fit through Kits opening.


    Terry appeared next to therge bundles. Hey, none of that. We need to be sparing, and that isnt yours until I give it to you.


    Terry gave her a contemtive look. Finally, he squawked out a low huff and blinked back to her shoulder.


    Shaking her head, T took off the belt pouch, opening it on the groundand looked down at the tops of nearly four dozen massive feathers. Right I need to deal with these. <em>What can I do with the jerky, then?</em>


    Is that a dimensional storage? Lyn came closer and looked. Fascinating. I dont see any spell-lines. It is an artifact, right?


    <em>Of course, she would know about artifacts. We have discussed them before, right?</em> Yes


    How much power does it take, each day?


    T shrugged. Not much? I just have to remember. With the thought in her mind, she topped off all her items quickly. Shed fed them before arriving in Bandfast, while in the farnd, but thought it wise to keep them as full as possible.


    Lyn was nodding. Those look like arcanous harvests in there. Did you need to sell them?


    Actually, I was thinking of doing a merging spell-working, to draw their power and potential into another item.


    Lyn looked at her, a bit confused. Thats not a cheap or simple spell-form, Mistress T.


    T groaned. Do we have to Mistress each other?


    A smiled tugged at Lyns lips. No. I suppose not.


    You arent wrong, you know. I was considering doing the spell-form myself, but I <em>really</em> dont want to get it wrong. Its likely worth going through the Constructionist Guild


    Do you need a connection? Or do you want to just approach their offices, yourself?


    T perked up. Id love an introduction. She smiled. Thank you.


    Lyn smiled. I am happy to help.


    T stretched, feeling the kinks in her back. Oh... She groaned. Then, she had a realization. Oh!


    Lyn looked around in rm, trying to find what T was reacting to, but didnt find anything.


    Lyn. Lyn! Do you know a ce for body work?


    Bodywork? Do you mean massage?


    Yes. I have<em> terrible</em> knots in my muscleseverywhere.


    Lyn cocked an eyebrow. Youre going to need someone with inscribed hands, now, Id wager.


    T thought for a moment and groaned. Youre probably right.


    Ora hammer and chisel?


    T snorted augh. At this point, either way.


    You know, Im not really your manager


    Arent you, though?


    Lyn pursed her lips. No? Well I guess sort of. She grunted. Fine. Ill help you, but as a friend. Not because its my job.


    Fair enough. Thank you.


    Early afternoon? To finish before you return to Mistress Hollys shop?


    T felt an involuntary shudder at the name. <em>Odd</em> I suppose that would be best, yeah.


    Without thinking, T grabbed one of the packages and hoisted it up onto her shoulder. Lyn stepped forward and grabbed one of the cords binding together another package. Oh, let me help you. She pulled upward, but the thing barely moved. What the rust? She nced at T, easily holding it on her shoulder. How heavy is that?


    T frowned, shifting under the weight. It <em>was</em> heavy but still perfectly manageable. No idea? Thirty or forty pounds? She shifted again. <em>I have been training</em> Maybe, fifty?


    Lyn shook her head. Didnt you just have your strength augmented?


    T blinked back at her. <em>Right.</em> YesI did. What I meant is that it feels like that much. No idea what it actually weighs. <em>Twelve hundred pounds, six packages.</em> Two hundred pounds?


    Lyn tried to budge a parcel, again. I think youre right; that has to be around two hundred pounds. She looked towards her door. How <em>did</em> they get it in here?


    Well, Ashin has a key, but for the loadTeamwork?


    Lyn grunted.


    T took six trips. <em>How tightly did they bind this?</em> Each parcel practically felt like a solid block, but she could feel some individuality within, meaning it had likely been cured in small pieces before beingpacted into these monstrosities.


    Once the final one was stacked in the front corner of her room, she stood up and stretched once more. <em>Im really going to get my moneys worth out of that massage</em>


    She looked around herself, taking in the simple room.


    Terry was curled up on her bed. <em>My bed.</em>


    There was a shelf against the wall to the left of the door and a writing desk under the window that she didnt really remember, but she hadnt truly spent much time in here. Smiling, she walked in, taking a notebook and pencil out of Kit and setting them in the center of the writing desk.


    She looked around. <em>Its so bare in here</em>


    Lyn had likely not wanted to put anything personal in here, as it was to be someone elses room. She took out a hatchet and knife, setting each on the desk, attempting to make them look intentional.


    She shifted them a few times, stepping back to look.


    After a short time, she rolled her eyes,ughing at her own attempts. Theyre tools, not decorations, T. <em>And they are reminders of Terrys murder spree on my behalf</em> Was that a good memory, or bad? She didnt know.


    Only time would tell.

 Chapter 71: I’m Going to Become an Archon

    Chapter 71: I¡¯m Going to Be an Archon


    Sighing, T took onest look around her room before turning around to see Lyn standing in the doorway.


    Gah! <em>How did I not hear her?</em> She thought back, and realized that she had, in fact, heard her arrive, but hadnt registered it.<em> Im going to have to figure out how to control that better</em>


    Lyn smiled. I know it probably feels even smaller now, after the wilds


    T smiled, her stance softening. Its wonderful, Lyn. Thank you, again.


    Lyns smile widened. So youre sure you want to stay?


    Absolutely.


    The older woman stepped forward and gave T a quick hug. Good. After the brief contact, she pulled back. How about I go grab us some dinner?


    T brightened. That sounds fantastic! How about some more of Gretels meat pies? I feel like I could eat a dozenmaybe two. She felt her stomach rumble slightly. Make it three? And anything else you think looks good <em>I lost a few earlier, rather violently</em>


    Lyn gave her a questioning look.


    Holly said I needed to eat, a lot.


    She shook her head. Fair enough. Ill do that. Take some time, settle in. Ill be a bit.


    Sounds good. Thank you, Lyn.


    See you soon. She left without another word.


    T stretched, again. You know, if Im going to be without my salve for a bit, I should enjoy baths more often.


    Terry looked at her skeptically.


    T coughed, looking away. You have no idea how often Ive taken baths, before.


    Terry let out an oddly deep, seemingly disbelieving, chirp.


    Fine, well, Im going to ready a bath. She grabbed one of Hollys books and her review notebook, using thetter to narrow down what to study in the former as she strode from the room. The Digestive System was her first focus. A smile tugged at her lips, and she nced back, seeing the terror bird on her bed, and the tools on her writing table. It looked horribly bare, but it also looked right. <em>Not that Im going to leave it like this.</em> She smiled.


    <em>Time to rx.</em>


    * * *


    Ts bath was not quite ready before Lyn returned with food.


    T had forgotten that a fire had to be built to heat the water in this ce, and she hadnt wanted a cold bath. <em>Im getting spoiled, it seems.</em>


    She had filled the tub and just stoked the fire when Lyn called out to her. Dinner!


    Coming. T walked out, moving carefully as she continued to read, only to find Terry already sitting beside Lyn, eyeing the basket full of mini meat-pies. Another basket of food sat off to the side, the contents wrapped in linen.


    Lyn smiled up at T. Can he eat one?


    T shrugged. Ive seen him eat worse.


    Lyn smiled and tossed one to Terry. The bird devoured the mini-pie quickly.


    T grinned. Watch this. She grabbed one of the pies, then looked to Terry. Up for some showing off?


    Terry tilted his head, eyes on the pie, and gave a slight nod, hunkering down, almost dancing from foot to foot.


    T tossed the pie to the side.


    Lyn opened her mouth to protest but stopped. Whered it go?


    T had had her eyes on Terry the whole time, and still, shed only seen the barest flicker. The only difference was that hed changed position, slightly, and was now wolfing down the little pie.


    T Lyn focused on Terry. How old is that terror bird?


    T grinned, devouring her first pie. <em>So good! Garlic and yams, and is this beef?</em> Not young.


    The shortest cool-down Ive seen between teleports was in a dimensional rabbit. It could jump every three seconds or so.


    T shrugged. Not too different.


    Lyn had a serious look on her face. It was hundreds of years old, T. My understanding from my passing curiosity is that the time is halved every decade or so, for non-sapient users, and the time increases, therger the thing teleported. She narrowed her eyes, examining Terry more closely. Is he a dwarf terror bird? That might exin some, but hed still need to be close to a hundred and fifty years old, at least.


    Terry looked inquisitively to T, but she slightly shook her head. Could be, I suppose. Who knows for sure? She ate another pie. <em>Oooo! Parsnips and beets? Nicely blended vors, too. I wouldnt have thought those would go with pork so well.</em>


    Lyn stared at her for a long time, then sighed. Fine As she took up and began eating her first pie, she was watching Terry. She finished her first, and started on her second, suddenly throwing another off to the side.


    Terry seemed to instantly shift positions, again eating the newly acquired pie.


    Less than an eyeblink She examined T, again, and sighed. Fine I wont dig.


    T smiled. Thank you for dinner. What do I owe you?


    Lyn waved the question off. Wee home, thats what you owe me. She smiled. I assume you want to get back on the road, as soon as Mistress Hollys done and you have your chat with the Guild?


    T hesitated. Maybe She thought about the training that shed been doing, as well as the mounting advice to create a sufficient Archon star. Plus, shed promised the Guardsmans Guild shed give them some time. What would it mean for our contract, if I became an Archon?


    Lyn froze, new bite of meat filling her mouth. After a long moment, she began chewing once more, and eventually, she swallowed the savory treat. T. How likely is that?


    T shrugged. Depends on the answer?


    Lyn sighed, deeply, scratching beside her right temple, eyes squeezed shut. Under her breath, she muttered, Give me strength. After another long moment, she opened her eyes and smiled. T, dear friend, that would constitute a material change to the services you could offer the Caravan Guild.


    T thought back. <em>There was a use about something like that</em> Sooooo?


    So, at the very least, we would retest you, and alter the arrangement ordingly. The mostmon result would be that youd be allowed to take on two contracts at once, being considered a dimensional Mage, and a Mage protector of the wagon train, assuming youd be capable of that.


    T perked up at that. So, half my inscriptions would be covered? And Id earn a gold ounce for each arcanous encounter the wagons survived?


    Youd earn that for your team, but basically, yes. Lyn confirmed.


    <em>That would be so utterly fantastic.</em> How does that work, anyways? If one thunder bull attacks, versus a herd of ten, is that the same pay, because its one encounter?


    Lyn sighed, again. Depends. If theres any indication that you personally caused the encounter, then you get nothing additional. If it is unavoidable, then it depends on the quantity and power of the beasts in question. Ten thunder bulls directly defended against would be three ounces, gold, added to the payment of the protectors.


    T was nodding. That sounds fantastic.


    Lyn was giving T a very wary look. What are you nning?


    T gave the other Mage a quizzical look. Id think that was obvious. Im going to be an Archon.


    Lyn groaned, putting her head in her hands.


    T popped another meat pie into her mouth, and Terry flickered just slightly, then held very still. She turned to regard the bird; its dimensional magic burst obvious. You know, I can sense when you do that.


    Terry looked her right in the eye, then tipped back his head, opening his mouth and allowing the four meat pies hed snatched to slide down his throat.


    T justughed, and Lyn looked up in confusion. Terry. Im going to feed you. Is human food so much better than what youre used to?


    The bird locked gazes with her and bobbed up and down, letting out a low, resonate squawking affirmation.


    T cleared her throat, handing Lyn another meat pie. Now, my room. What can I do in there?


    Lyn looked between her two housemates and sighed. This is my life now, isnt it


    T grinned. Just when Im in town.


    Right! You never answered my question.


    Oh youre right. T thought. I just did two contracts, so Id be good for four months, right?


    Lyn nodded hesitantly. Yes, but it would look bad, and lower your priority for taking contracts.


    T nodded. Understandable. A month then? I think I can do what I need to by thenThough, Ive no idea what bing an Archon requires. Ill try to have that at least started in a week and a half. I shouldnt do anything too crazy until Mistress Hollys done.


    That goes without saying. Lyn took another bite, speaking around the food. And dont forget your meeting with a senior guild official.


    RightAssuming my contract isnt dissolved-


    As I said, I should have been informed if they were going that route.


    T nodded. Assuming thats true, a month should be a good amount of time, but Ill know more in less than two weeks?


    Lyn sighed. That was bing a habit. Alright, T. I wont start looking for your next trip, yet.


    Thank you. Now, my room?


    Do what you like with it, just please dont break down any walls or destroy the furniture. If you want something different, let me know, and Ill pull whats in there, out. Her eyes twinkled just a bit. You can buy whatever you want to put in there.


    T rolled her eyes. Yes, with my thousands of gold ounces, I shall customize this room to perfection.


    Lyn just smiled back at her. If you so choose.


    T ate onest meat pie, feeling a bit past half-full as she swallowed the final pieces. Her eyes fell on the other basket. Whats in there?


    My, you werent kidding. Lyn grinned. This, she picked up the basket, handing it to T. This is a selection of desserts. I certainly dont need them. She picked out a chocte puff-pastry. So, you should take them before I eat them all. She winked.


    T rolled her eyes. Thank you. She took the basket, and began eating, savoring each bite. Mmmmm Thank you. She sighed contentedly. Well, Ive a bath on. I should get to that. Good night, Lyn.


    Goodnight, T.


    T walked back and ced the basket of pastries into her room. Then, leaving her books beside the basket, she moved to the steam filled room, undressed, let her hair down, and climbed in.


    Terry didnt join her, but she sensed him from the direction of her room through the cor, with no added feeling of warning. <em>Close. Likely on my bed.</em>


    With her next few days already nned out, she simply rxed in the water, allowing the embers below the tub to keep it just below her maximum temperature.


    <em>This is nice.</em>


    * * *


    T woke early, her window still showing no sign of mornings light. Even so, she knew it was time to rise.


    <em>No nightmaresst night.</em> She would have thought that all the fees shed been forced to pay the day before would have made the nightmares more prevalent, not less. <em>Dont knock it, T. Just be happy.</em> So, she put them from her mind.


    She nced under her covers and felt herself smile at the subtle, yet obvious, glow. True to her guess, the light didnt even illuminate the nket above her, but she could clearly see herself, fully covered in the magical lines.


    She stood slowly, then with careful deliberation, she moved through her wake-up routine: stretching and exercising her mind, magic, spirit, and muscles.


    Thest was expectedly surprising.


    <em>I knew there would be improvements, but this seems incredible.</em> Every single exercise, she had to shift towards harder variations, and even so, she struggled more with proper form and bnce, than with the strength required for the movements. In the end, she was left frustrated with herck of control more than any missing strength.


    <em>A clear way to improve, I suppose.</em>


    Her room wasnt really big enough for the longer range calling of her knife, so she simply did a couple dozen summonings from around five feet, at which point, she had toy down due to dizziness. <em>Thats right, T. Overwork your soul. That seems wise.</em> Shed still been focused on how much her physical strength had improved that she hadnt been as careful as she should have been.<em> Ill be more careful next time. I swear</em>


    While she was trapped on her back, the spinning room holding her prisoner, she contemted the days tasks.


    <em>Charge the cargo-slots, go to the Guardsman Guilds training yard, go to the Constructionists Guild, massagethen Mistress Holly.</em> She felt tension grow at thest. <em>Maybe, I could skip, today?</em> At the thought, a memory of Hollys visible aura of power surfaced, and she shuddered. <em>Maybe, I wont skip</em>


    Still unable to stand, she began making random noises, ying with what sounds she could make. <em>Im bored</em> She looked to the side, even the act of turning her head brought her near to retching. She stared at Kit from across the room. Must get book


    The pouch did not respond.


    Terry?


    The bird shifted in his corner, opening one eye to regard her.


    Can you bring me my pouch?


    Terry tilted his head, regarding her. Then, he was suddenly beside her on the bed, the dimensional magic blip unpleasant in her current state, though less so than shed expected.


    She felt a light pressure on her arm, then Terry let out an oddly indifferent, low, thrumming squawk. The bird vanished back to his corner and curled back up.


    Youre no help. She raised her arm lightly, looking where shed felt the pressure. Did you just try to cut me?


    Terry chirped happily.


    Still happy with your decision, eh?


    Happy chirps were her only reply.


    Wont help with the pouch?


    He settled back down, closing his eyes.


    Youre kind of mean. <em>Hey! Moving my arm didnt make it worse.</em> She flexed, bringing her arms up in front of her, her hands pping together with surprising force. She felt thest vestiges of the ending-berry power left in her system drain away, and a crack like thunder exploded through the room. She felt extra power shunt to the inscriptions around her ears, protecting them from the incredibly loud sound.


    Terry jumped up, looking around in rm.


    T felt a fresh wave of dizziness at the loud sound, despite the dampening scripts.


    Lyns voice floated their way. T? Is everything ok?


    T groaned, and she heard Lyn hurrying to her door.


    Can Ie in?


    Sure


    The door opened, and Lyn stood in it, regarding her for a long moment. T.


    Yes?


    Why are you naked?


    Its my room. <em>AndI forgot to get dressed.</em>


    I asked if I coulde in.


    And I answered.


    Usually, that question is to determine decency.


    T groaned. Decency can wait for my head to stabilize


    Are you ill?


    No. I just overworked my soul.


    Lyn sighed. From anyone else, I would assume that to be a joke.


    From anyone else, it just might be.


    What do you need? Her tone had taken on a maternal cast.


    Apparently, a nket


    Lyn snorted, striding into the room and moving the nket that was bunched up beside T to cover her. There.


    Thanks


    So Lyn sat down on the bed beside T. What was the noise?


    I pped.


    You pped


    Yup.


    Is that a metaphor? Some obscure training technique based on the heroes of yore? Or?


    No. I just pped.


    Lyn looked at the other Mages palms, seeing the subtly glowing scripts, just like those that covered the rest of her. Seems like it was a hard p.


    Yeah.


    Please refrain? It was quite loud, even out in the living room.


    Will do, boss.


    Lyn shook her head. Do you need breakfast? The work-yard is expecting you to drop by this morning, and Ive written down the information for your other appointments. The sheet is ready for you.


    T groaned, again, and sat up. Surprisingly, the room remained steady. I think Im ready.


    Lyn stood, keeping her back towards T. Well, get dressed first, please?


    It took barely any time for T to pull her clothes back on. She decided to go with the immortal elk leathers again, given she was going to the training yard this morning.


    Terry appeared on her shoulder as she stepped out of her room. A smile on her face, T took a moment to look around herself.


    To her right, directly beside her at the end of the hall, was the door to Lyns room. Across the way was the door into the bathroom, and beside the bathroom door, closer to the living room, a window let in the beginnings of the first light of day.


    The building was a simple construction, with poured stone floors, lightly textured and likely sealed. The walls were painted ster over stone. <em>Heavily built.</em> The floor was dark, the walls light; it produced a pleasing atmosphere.


    <em>Why have I never just stopped to take it in?</em>


    She felt herself smile. She didnt have any deadlines. Nothing was demanding she be ready. Sure, she had tasks that she wished to do, but that wasnt what she meant. She had no obligations on her overall time, not at the moment.


    She moved down the hall, which was wide enough for her and Lyn to pass each other quite easily.


    T came out into the living room and saw Lyn sitting at the table off to one side, foodid out. I thought food wasnt included?


    Well, I figured two meals wasnt quite a pattern. Lyn smiled. I was informed that you developed aliking for coffee.


    T was <em>quite</em> sure that liking hadnt been the word Lyn was going to say. She was about toment, but then she saw the coffee in question, in a mug beside the other ce at the table. T immediately forgave Lyn all implied slights and sat down, taking a deep pull of dark, decadent, deliciousness.


    <em>So smooth, so dark, so perfect.</em>


    They ate quickly, as both had many things to aplish that day.


    Lyn and T left at the same time, saying their goodbyes as they went in different directions: T to the work-yard, and Lyn to the Caravan Guilds main office.


    T took her time walking through the city, enjoying being back in Bandfast.


    It had a different feel to it than Alefast, more rxed, lessimminent. <em>I suppose thats what happens when youre one wall away from the wilds.</em>


    There were simr mixes of architecture, and the people didnt really look different, save Bandfast citizenry seeming a bit more rxed. <em>Maybe a bit heavier too</em> It was an interesting notion. <em>Does safety lead to weight gain?</em> That cant be the only factor, obviously, but it was entertaining to consider.


    Many people gave Terry odd looks, but no one seemed particrly rmed by him. T fell back into her habit of reading, sketching, and jotting down her thoughts as she walked, both to keep her mind upied and to prevent her from sprinting through the city. Mostly, though, she read. <em>I have to get through my anatomy review, after all.</em>


    She was still having a bit of an odd time moving, each of her movements more powerful than she was expecting. Interestingly enough, the method of walking, learned at Adams suggestion, leant itself marvelously to the task, as she was used to careful, precise movements, and her enhanced nervous system adjusted to the changes in her power quite rapidly.


    As Holly had implied, and T had discovered the night before, she felt ravenously hungry, and she was sure it was her new inscribings that were causing the hunger, even if not directly. They were working on reshaping her at a fundamental level and that required nutrition.


    Towards that end, T bought no less than ten pasties of various kinds for the wonderful price of a single silver. As she walked, she asionally tossed out bits of jerky, noticing the instantaneous, slight shift of Terrys weight when he moved out and back, always having caught the meat.


    She did not share the pasties.


    Terry did not hold it against her. Much.


    Finally, she reached the work-yard and the waiting cargo-slots.


    The first one, to her surprise, charged incredibly slowly, taking a full minute to reach its maximum. She frowned. <em>The mental construct is right</em> After a long minute of thought, and ten bits of jerky flicked randomly, she had a realization. <em>Ive just been using my left-over power-flow to charge these up. And my scripts are using most of that, now.</em>


    That actually reminded her of her items. She had charged them as part of her training earlier that day, and it <em>had</em> taken longer than usual. Shed just attributed that to the city being utterly devoid of free-floating power. <em>Maybe it was something else?</em> Since she was already thinking of them, she decided to top them off. <em>If I can be hungry, why not them?</em>


    That done, she moved to the next cargo-slot and concentrated.


    She formed the mental construct, just as before, but now, she reached inside. She saw, as well as felt, almost all of her power pouring from her gate into her spell-forms. She grabbed the entirety of that flow and channeled it down her right arm, through the mental construct, and into the second cargo-slot.


    She exhaled.


    The indicators flickered to life in rapid session.


    Blinking in surprise, T pulled back her hand. <em>Less than two seconds?</em> The cargo-slot in front of her was fully charged and ready to go.


    Hesitantly, she moved to the next one and repeated the process.


    <em>Done.</em>


    She moved down the line, charging the remaining seventeen with little more than the time it took to touch them and take a quick breath.


    <em>That wasamazing!</em> She had noticed a slight dip in her internal reserves during each charge, as her active scripts continued to use her power. That store of power had needed to be refilled by her gate, once the inflow was avable again, but it was a minimal dip.


    She heard the sound of a single person pping, approaching from behind. Wonderful! I can see you took my suggestions to heart and have improved remarkably.


    Master Himmal! T turned around, giving a slight bow. Its wonderful to see you again. Thank you, once again, for your advice.


    He smiled, folding his hands before him. Think nothing of it, Mistress T. You have progressed tremendously in just two short weeks.


    She smiled. Thank you. As she focused on him, she saw the same oddities to his aura as before, but more clearly this time. The underlying color was suppressed, but obviously red. What she could see of it was fractured, somehow broken, and as she examined it closer, she could see that parts of it were much closer to orange than she first realized. <em>Not uniform? </em>From what little she understood, that seemedbad. <em>Well, he did say that hed broken something with his gate. Its probably rted to that.</em>


    Now, I can see that my hopes were not unfounded. We are nearly done with your custom set of cargo-slots, and I am d that I added the ability for therger capacities to be enabled. We should be able to get you a set close to four times those measly constructs, with added additional benefits for more fragile and valuable cargo. With those sizes, youll be able to have some outfitted as passenger and bunkhouse variants. Youll be able to have a full caravan in just two or three wagons, depending on the Mage Protectors. He shook his head. The cooks will never leave their own wagon behind. He smiled whimsically, speaking under his breath. I would so love to examine one of their chuck-wagons one day.


    <em>I knew it! That wagon and what the cooks could do within never made sense.</em> Brand hadnt just been messing with her after all. She smiled. You and me both.

 Chapter 72: Are You Heavier?

    Chapter 72: Are You Heavier?


    T passed a bit of time with Master Himmal, but eventually bid him goodbye, promising toe by to test out the custom cargo-slots near the end of the week.


    She had been surprised that he hadntmented on Terry, but she supposed arcane pets werent too umon. She fell back into her routine as she walked to the training ground that Adam had indicated. She was almost done with the first set of topics shed noted for review. <em>Good thing, too. Hollys got to have something to work on, or shes likely to be cross.</em>


    When T arrived, she was startled by what she found.


    It was a sprawlingpound, with the training yard open to the street so that passersby, or the curious, could watch the training. <em>Good for recruitment, I guess?</em>


    The training yard was at least a hundred yards long, and half that wide. There were sections of grass, dirt, and paved stone of various sizes interspersed throughout. Across the entirety, hundreds of men and women were stretching, sparring, practicing techniques, or otherwise working their muscles.


    To her surprise, her mage-sight picked up the ebbs and flows of power throughout the yard, and not just from the healers, ready to help if those sparring were injured. Power moved through these people in a manner that she could only equate to that of the arcanous creatures shed seen. <em>Not the elemental magics, obviously.</em>


    Even so, she could see that, to a variety of extents, these guards would be stronger, faster, and more durable than the average citizen. <em>How are they doing that without inscriptions?</em> The power was clearlying from their own un-inscribed gates, but she couldnt see anything directing it.


    <em>Something to investigate, I suppose.</em> Shed seen hints of it in Adam, before, but it was being fully brought out as those before her worked to push themselves.


    Around the training yard were quite a few buildings. Some appeared to be additional training halls, either to allow for more private or more sheltered training. It was a cool morning, but not painfully so for the average person. <em>Probably why most of them are outside.</em>


    Other buildings seemed to be instructional ssrooms or administrative offices from what little she could see. Overall, it looked more like a school, which emphasized physicality, than a barracks and muster yard. <em>I suppose thats what I get for assuming.</em> She felt a smile tug at her lips.


    The sparring drew her attention, and she noted that those who were using weapons were using wooden or padded varieties, though they didnt seem to be pulling their strikes, whether armed or barehanded. In fact, as she watched, one of thebatants broke a training sword over anothers shoulder, the strike drawing blood and breaking bone, if the deformation of the shoulder that she could see, even at this distance, was any indication.


    Before the mans first scream had died down, a healing Mage was beside him, the healer lighting up to Ts mage-sight as he quickly repaired the injury. <em>Clever, so they can train at full power, get used to injuries and not lose much training time.</em> She thought for a moment. <em>I wonder if they ever let the injuries stand? Might be useful to practice fighting while impaired.</em> That was a question for another time.


    Quite a few citizens were standing along the road, either individually or in groups, watching the goings on. Many more slowed down as they passed, mixtures of admiration, envy, and contempt across their faces. <em>There is someone who will look down on any endeavor, I suppose.</em>


    Without slowing, T walked forward, crossing the almost invisible line between street and training yard. Immediately, one of the nearby Guardsmen stood and came her way.


    Mistress? How can we serve?


    I am searching for Guardsman Adam. Hed asked me toe by today.


    The Guardsman bowed. Would you be willing to wait here? I can go inquire on your behalf.


    T simply nodded, and the guardsman jogged off, ostensibly to do just that. Many of the others in the yard were ncing her way, but no one seemed to pay her much more attention than their initial nce.


    As she continued to look around, she could see parts of many of the techniques that Adam had taught her, demonstrated in the movements of those across the yard. It was fascinating to observe how a simple striking pattern was altered for use with a spear, mace, or sword, and how each of those differed from the others. <em>There is such depth to the practice.</em>


    A few minutester, the guardsman returned, gesturing towards one of the central buildings. Guardsman Adam is expecting you, and he awaits you there. Would you like a guide?


    T shook her head. No, thank you. I can find my way just fine.


    He bowed. Good day, Mistress.


    Good day, Guardsman.


    He returned to his practice, and she strolled through the training yard, weaving in wide arcs to avoid interfering with anyone.


    As she walked, she took in the beautifully clear sky above and basked in the morning light. <em>Many are likely still rising, and here I am, at my second task of the day.</em>


    There were, of course, the sounds of exertion and cries both of attack and of pain filling the air around her. As she walked, she saw no fewer than twelve healing Mages spaced around various parts of the yard, and she might not have spotted them all. <em> A healer for every twenty people or so? Seems excessive but must work for them.</em>


    She came to the building in question, and looked up at the simple, sturdy architecture. There was a beauty in its utility, and she found herself smiling at that.


    Mistress T!


    Her gaze dropped, and her smile changed just slightly to one of greeting. Guardsman Adam. Seems I found the right ce.


    The Guardsman was wearing loose-fitting clothes, clearly meant for exercise, and he had a light sheen of sweat to him.


    <em>Spent the morning training?</em> She stepped forward, into the building.


    Mistress T. This way, please. He led her deeper into the building and down a series of interconnecting hallways. As they walked, he used a cloth to wipe much of the sweat from his head and arms. Thank you foring.


    Thank you for being willing to train me.


    He grinned. This is a rare opportunity. Master Rane is already here. He added thest as an afterthought.


    They came to one of the instructional rooms and entered together. Some thirty men and women, all in their twenties, sat facing the front of the room. They were all dressed simrly to Adam, and they each seemed to have a notebook and a means of taking notes, and each was doing just that.


    A much older man, at least in his fifties, sat at the front of the room, also facing thest remaining upant.


    Rane was just finishing his sentence as they walked in. -the force is therefore redirected, or avoided, without actually being guided.


    In the silence that followed, Rane waved to T, smiling, and she waved back.


    The older man stood. Thank you, Master Rane. Can anyone tell me a key take-away from hisst point?


    A woman near the front spoke up. He doesnt have to concern himself with dodging, because his opponents attack causes him to be moved out of harms way.


    The older man frowned. Yes and no. He will not need to focus on taking the action, that is correct. However, if any attack met by that defense, no matter how small, causes him to alter direction to mitigate the damage, that means that Master Rane is constantly subject to forces outside his direct control. He would have to be even more aware of the iing attacks than if he simply moved out of the way beforehand or braced to take the blow.


    The woman frowned in turn. Then, why is it better?


    A man in the back of the room spoke loudly in response, Because unexpected movement is better than unexpected injuries.


    A few people smiled at that, and Rane nodded, responding, Precisely. I could close my eyes and simply stand still and be fairly safe. Id be utterly ineffective, but safe from mundane attack.


    The main instructor smiled. So, you will each write up a basic overview of a fighting style for Master Rane, and ining sses, we willpare it to what he has actually been using.


    Rane smiled. I hope to learn something. I make no im at perfection.


    The instructor had noticed T and Adam entering, and he turned to them now. This is Mistress T, and you all know instructor Adam.


    Those present returned a chorus of greetings.


    The central project of the next two weeks will be creating, then perfecting, a fighting style for Mistress T, here. That portion of your assignment for today will be to construct a series of tests to determine the scope and limit of her abilities, so that we can build a style that maximizes her effectiveness. Mistress T.


    Yes?


    Would you give us a basic outline of yourbat capabilities?


    Adam whispered. Including physical and defense, please.


    <em>Well, I guess I have good timing, at least. </em>T cleared her throat, suddenly feeling nervous as she walked out in front of the gathering. Hi. She waved.


    A smattering of Hi, Hello, and Greetings came back to her.


    So, as an Immaterial Guide, my abilities differ slightly from Master Ranes. She nodded to the other Mage. The listeners were already writing. As I am able to alter non-tangible properties of the world around us, my defenses mainly involve the increased strength of humanitys natural traits.


    The same man in the back of the room called out. What does that mean? Several students grinned at thisment too or chuckled.


    T cleared her throat, again. Well, just as a stick-pin would not easily enter your skin, my magic makes that resistance more potent. It takes a much greater force to split my skin-cells apart, or to harm them directly. Simrly, all my underlying structure, both bone and soft tissue, is strengthened and reinforced. If those bonds are broken, my natural healing processes are elerated to repair the damage nearly instantaneously.


    Does that apply to your muscles? It was a different questioner.


    It does.


    So, does that mean you can work-out and see immediate results? Yet another.


    Not immediate, but much faster, yes. She smiled. Also, my power does not create matter. I must eat to provide material for that healing, and thus, I cant heal from unlimited damage, as I would quickly burn through my bodys supplies.


    Why not alter your body to store more? A fourth speaker.


    Great question. That is another of my inscriptions. My adipose tissue, and other simr portions of my body, are now inscribed to store more, more efficiently. I can effectively have muchrger reserves, without seeming to have such. <em>Though, the appetite that brings on might cause issues with my coin pouch</em>


    Two questions came in at nearly the same time: Does that mean you eat way more? and How are you not too buff to move? She stopped trying to identify the individuals asking the questions.


    She smiled. I do have to eat a lot more, though that will slow down in time, at least until I pull from those increased reserves and have to refill them. As to my muscle mass, my inscriber is quite clever, and my muscles, when they do repair, do not change size, simply bing denser and more powerful.


    How much stronger than normal are you?


    Ive not tested, specifically, but in the range of four to five times what I was without the inscriptions.


    There was a chorus of mutters through the room at that. Are you heavier?


    Tughed. I suppose I am, and will continue to be, heavier until the reworking, strengthening, and reserve filling isplete. She cleared her throat, nced towards the door where Adam and Rane waited. She smiled, feeling much more confident now that she was so far into it. Offensive wise, I have gravity alteration spell-workings, and a knife, which can be a sword for short periods of time.


    There was silence at that.


    The instructor waited a moment, then asked. What sort of gravity alterations?


    T nodded. I can either restrain or crush. My restraining magic lifts the target from the ground and alters the effects of gravity on them to keep them aloft.


    What? Another listener.


    They will float there on their own. She smiled, simplifying. Crush will increase the force of gravity upon the target four-fold. If the target is not killed or fundamentally altered, usually leading to death, it is increased four-fold, again. This continues until the target is dead or fundamentally altered.


    Absolute silence filled the room for a long moment. Finally, a woman near the front swallowed visibly and asked. So why do you need to fight hand to hand? Why not simply use magic to crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and tobe done with it?


    The instructor looked incredibly relieved that someone else had asked that question and smiled. Excellent question, Cona.


    T nodded. First, I can have only a few targets before I must be re-inscribed. Thus, I cannot use that to deal withrge numbers of enemies, and if I am near the beginning of a venture, I must be sparing. Second, there are some beings who can operate under such conditions, at least for a while, and it burns through a lot of power to take them out in this manner. That also reduces the number of targets I can affect.


    The girl was nodding, seeming to understand. So, you need to be able to fight lots of weak creatures, or incredibly strong beasts, but those in the middle you can simply crush?


    Well, I would prefer to crush the most powerful as well, but that is generally correct.


    The group seemed to better understand.


    She had an additional thought. Oh! I also have a repeating hammer.


    A what? Some of the listeners seemed to know what that was, but not all.


    A repeating hammer is a magical hammer which redirects force from the striking face, back away from the tool. It effectively can break through anything that a hammer could damage at all, in a single blow.


    The instructor nodded. That is sufficient, I believe. More can be revealed by the testing they will devise. He looked to Adam, then back to her. You will be avable for testing, tomorrow?


    She shrugged, smiling. Sure. How long will you need me for?


    He thought for a moment. If you arrive when you did, today He seemed to be contemting deeply. Lets say four hours on the outside. Well spend the time before you get here, weeding out all the duplicates and refining the n. So, that should be enough time.


    She grunted. That should work.


    The instructor rxed visibly. Then, after that, I think we will need a day without you, topile the first ideas. We can begin testing them the day after? He hesitated. I can assure you, Mistress T, I will be overseeing the entire process, along with several other experts, and we will have a truly spectacr result.


    She smiled. That sounds wonderful. Thank you.


    T waved to the group as she departed. Rane walked out with her.


    Hey.


    She nced his way. Hi.


    Are you still mad?


    She frowned.<em> Mad?</em><em>Oh! Right</em> She sighed. No, Master Rane. It isnt worth the effort.


    He grunted at that. WellIm d.


    She shrugged.


    Sowhat are you up to today?


    Ive got a <em>lot</em> going on, today.


    We could grab lunch? Youre looking a little pale He shook his head. Sorry, thats not really relevant.


    <em>I guess he noticed my missing iron salve.</em> That was fine, she wasnt trying to hide the fact. She shook her head, in response. I really dont have time.


    He seemed to dete a bit.


    With effort, she kept from either sighing or rolling her eyes. Ill have more time tomorrow, but just a bit.


    He perked up. Lunch, then?


    She quirked a smile. After whatever crazy assessments theye up with? Ill probably need it.


    Its a n, then. He smiled.


    Sounds good. She nced ahead, to the archway back out onto the training grounds. I really do have to go, but thank you for asking.


    He smiled and waved her off. See you, tomorrow.


    * * *


    <em>Ok, T. Avoiding it wont help. Lets get this over with.</em>


    T held herself stiffly upright, as she walked into the Caravanners Guildhall, marching straight through to one of the main desks near the back of the atrium.


    Good morning, Mistress. How can I assist you, today? The young man, sitting behind the desk, smiled warmly at her.


    Im Mistress T. I was informed I needed to meet with a senior guild official? <em>Come on,e on. This is not what I want to do</em> No. She needed to be here. This had to be dealt with.


    Mistress T He looked through arge appointment book on the desk in front of him. He turned the page, beginning to frown. Mistress T Im sorry, Im not seeing you in the coted calendar. Who is your appointment scheduled with and when did you schedule your appointment for?


    T hesitated, then felt herself coloring. Oh I didnt know I needed to schedule it. I was simply told one was needed. <em>Whenever I was ordered to attend a disciplinary meeting, I had to go right away, and I was seen right away</em> This, apparently, was different. <em>I have to schedule my own session to be reprimanded.</em> She almost snorted augh. <em>I guess, I should have expected that.</em>


    The young man checked a few more pages, then looked up, apologetically. It doesnt seem to be here, and no Senior Official is avable, today. Who were you supposed to meet with, again? Perhaps, I can get you in tomorrow.


    T opened her mouth to answer, then closed it. <em>I have no idea.</em>


    The young man seemed to understand. I see. Thats more than fine. He nodded, consolingly. Id rmend reaching out to your Guild handler, or point of contact, and ask them to schedule the required meeting.


    T nodded, feeling incredibly embarrassed. Ill Ill do that. Thank you.


    Happy to assist, Mistress. I wish I could have done more. You have a good day.


    * * *


    Ten minutester, T had shaken off her embarrassment and was again walking the streets of Bandfast, this time heading towards the Constructionists Guild. As she was walking, she realized that the pace of her reading was much faster than expected. She could now read much faster than even on the recent caravan trip.


    <em>I guess the enhancements made my movements easier, freeing up more of my mind to focus on reading?</em> It was as good a reason as any other she could think of.


    The books were a masterwork in-and-of-themselves, at least the one she was currently referencing was. It contained detailed schematics of each organ or organ system as they were discussed, coupled with cleverly rendered schema, illustrating their three-dimensional nature, along with how they would aplish what they did. It was, unsurprisingly, incredibly detailed on the how. If T didnt understand what, and how, the magic was supposed to work, it wouldnt function. In the worst case, it could malfunction and destroy the parts of her body inscribed.


    <em>I didnt really expect to delve back into anatomy and physiology so deeply, so soon</em>


    Shed always preferred physics, hence the nature of her offensive spell-forms, but the work Holly would be doing now was <em>incredibly</em> dependent on Ts second favorite subject, just as shed suspected it would.


    <em>Im just d that I already had specific interest and knowledge in the muscr-skeletal system, along with the vascr, or Id have to have done a bunch of research before even yesterdays inscribings</em>


    She sighed. It was fascinating, and Holly had gone out of her way to make the writing engaging, but it was still a dense subject matter.


    <em>How did she even have time for this?</em>


    T supposed that the general overviews would bemon to anyone getting any given organ inscribed, so those would just have to be copied over.


    <em>And its not like Im the first person to have my organs enhanced. This is probably just an amalgamation of those techniques, slightly modified for my particr make-up.</em>


    She hesitated, even stopping in the middle of a stride. <em>Wait how did she know the exact dimensions of all my organs to make properly shaped spell-forms</em> She ced a hand on the back of her neck.


    <em>How much is this script analyzing and recording?</em>


    She thought back. <em>Holly said that it would monitor everything about me</em> She groaned. <em>Well, I did understand what it would doI suppose I just didnt assume it would be literal</em>


    She sighed, continuing on her way and returning most of her attention to the current portion of this book.


    T finished the first subject in her list-to-review by the time she reached the Constructionist Guilds local office. Closing the book with a satisfying <em>thunk,</em> she tucked it into Kit and looked up at the beautifully designed faade. <em>Rust me, they really didnt spare on the expense of this ce.</em>


    While highly detailed, the elements were tastefully interwoven to give an overall inviting, if humbling, atmosphere. T smiled as she walked to therge front doors.


    There werent a lot of other patrons at the moment, but that made some sense. This guild didnt have as much to do as the Caravanners. <em>Thoughare the Wainwrights a subsidiary?</em> That made sense, and most guilds worked in that way. <em>Guilds of guildsah, society. How wonderful yourplications.</em>


    She found herself grinning.


    As she stepped across the threshold, she felt a tingle in her keystone, indicating magic had been directed her way, and a wave of power pulsed out from behind her. There was no specific spell-form to it, but it had the overpowering sense of an infrared aura. <em>Did the </em>door<em> just scan me and announce my ssification?</em>


    An attendant appeared, entering from the side. Mistress, how can we serve you today? His eyes nced to Terry, and there was definite curiosity, but he didntment beyond his initial question.


    T pulled out the sheet that Lyn had written up for her. Hello, yes. I was sent here by Mistress Lyn of the Caravanners Guild. She said I should ask for Master Boma?


    The attendant paused, power rippling over his face as he looked at her. I apologize Mistress, but Master Boma usually does not attend to the needs of those below Archon He was clearly torn. Mistress Lyn sent you, you say?


    T nodded.


    Very well, let me check with him, and see if that name changes anything for him.


    Thank you.


    You may find it morefortable to wait in there. He pointed off to one side. There is a waiting area through that archway, and youll find refreshments avable, while you wait.


    With a smile and slight bow, the man turned and went back the way he hade.


    Well, Terry, lets see what refreshments they have for us.

 Chapter 73: Flow

    Chapter 73: Flow


    T sat in the nicely appointed waiting room.


    The furniture wasfortable, but not so much so that she wished to stay here for a long time. It appeared robustly made, and didnt creak or budge even when T, herself, shifted. It was mostly a dark wood in construction, though she couldnt tell if that was the wood itself, or a stain. Heavy canvas, a darker blue in color, covered the cushioned portions, and she had little trouble imagining the piecessting for years, or even decades, with moderately heavy use.


    She ignored the somewhat nd art of the walls, choosing instead to begin the next topic of review from Hollys books, a mug of coffee in her hand. <em>If this is avable every day, I might need toe by more often</em> Though, she doubted they would be happy with her dropping in, just to get coffee<em> I wonder if they have wine avable,ter in the day?</em>


    As she thought about it, the freely avable beverage did not make her hopeful for reasonable prices for their services. <em>Ah, well. Well have to see.</em>


    The coffee was well brewed, as far as she could tell, and filled a little happy void in her chest. She smiled as she drank. <em>This is nice.</em>


    There was nothing for Terry.


    He was only somewhat mollified by a few chunks of beef jerky, which T tossed out randomly. <em>I wonder if he minds? Maybe, I should just give him the pieces</em> She shrugged to herself. Terry, do you mind me tossing the jerky?


    He gave her a clearly confused look.


    I mean, do you want me to just hand it to you, instead?


    He seemed to consider, then shook himself, his eyes moving back to her empty hand.


    She grinned. Fair enough. She pulled out another chunk and tossed it in a random direction. <em>Well, there we have it.</em>


    As she waited, she continued to read, and absently charged her magic items. <em>I could forgetter; might as well keep them topped off whenever I think of it.</em>


    After close to a quarter hour, a short, stocky Mage walked in. Youre the one Mistress Lyn sent?


    T stood, her keystone tingling, indicating magic was directed her way. I am. Her mage-sight showed the man to be an Immaterial Guide, just like her.


    Unlike her, he had inscribings that very closely mirrored those shed seen on Master Himmal and his assistants. <em>Focused on analyzing and working with magical items.</em>


    His aura was a deep yellow, just far enough from orange to no longer truly be that color. It was contained, somehow, and seemed to almost be held up for disy. <em>How does that make sense?</em>


    His mage-sight was already active, even though the inscribings she could see indicated that it wasnt always on, like hers was.


    I assume that you are Master Boma?


    He grunted. I am. Why did the Caravan guild think you need to see me? You clearly arent an Archon, and any mortal work can be handled by He trailed off as T drew and held up her knife. Girl, what, by the stars, have you done?


    T just smiled. I read that I can merge items of power into soul-bound artifacts to increase their base power. Is that true?


    He gave her a long look, then took the offered knife, examining it critically as he spoke. Of course, its true. Thats the primary way to alter and shape such. Otherwise, you have to use an item in very specific ways forwell it depends, but its always a long time. That can cause the power to shift and grow to more suit you. He shrugged absently, clearly talking from a depth of experience as he examined the weapon. Some are more fluid than others. His gaze flicked to her eyes. Child, this knife is starving, even while bound to you. You dont have the strength of spirit to support this bond properly. He gave her a hard look. I assume you were told not to bond anything else? How did you even bond this so weakly? He gave her a long look. Youre not bound to


    T simply waited as he rambled on. After all, the man wasnt leaving room for her to answer any of his myriad questions.


    Ahh, so you came to the spell-form without proper guidance and didnt know what to do with it? He looked back at the knife. This has to be the weakest Archon star Ive ever heard of. How is it stable? He shook his head. Doesnt matter, it clearly is. So, you want to increase the power of this item then? He finally stopped there, awaiting a reply.


    Yes. Im building the power of the bond daily, and I have a host of harvests that I think will bepatible with the knife.


    Boma grunted. Well, well see about that. He sighed. Come on, then.


    Umm Im sorry, but how much will this cost?


    He gave her a long look, then sighed. Itpletely depends on what were working with, but the absolute cheapest it would be is one ounce, gold. If you have some insanelyplex things to work with, it might be a hundred. I wont know til were in the room.


    T frowned.


    Master Boma sighed, again, shaking his head. I wont do anything that will cost you even a copper, before we discuss and agree to a price. Alright?


    She smiled just slightly. Thank you. That sounds quite eptable.


    He gestured back towards the rooms exit. Lets go.


    Terry flickered up to her shoulder, and the Archon paused.


    That is an interesting creature. Secondarily bound to you via that cor, yeah?


    T nodded. Shed recharged the cor along with her other items every time she topped them off.


    Youre not fooling anyone, birdy.


    Terry cocked his head.


    Well, fine. Im sure you fool most people, but not those who know what to look at. He moved his gaze to her. Your defenses must be insane, child. Ive never seen a terror bird that old, and they universally grow in power over timeStill, he seems to like you. Dont loose him on the city, please?


    She smiled a bit guiltily. Its a training cor, so he has to stay close to me.


    Small mercies. I dont want to have to hunt the two of you down at the end of a trail of blood. That sounds <em>very</em> irritating. He looked back to Terry. As for you. Id have just killed you, had we met in the Wild. You mind your Mage. Understand?


    Terry crouched just slightly, eyes narrowing.


    Master Boma squared up with them, rxed but clearly ready. This wont be a test, creature. If you make me, Ill break you like an egg. The city is no ce for a wild animal. Know your limits and mind your betters.


    Terry hissed, but settled down, turning away from the Archon and tucking his head under a tiny wing.


    T, for her part, felt like Boma wasnt just posturing, even though she couldnt discern any explicitly offensive spell-forms from his inscribing. <em>If nothing else, he probably has a host of items to usesomewhere.</em>


    Master Boma shook his head but didntment further. He strode from the room, carrying Ts knife. She followed withoutint orment.


    They went back through the entry atrium and down a side hall into arge room, closed off by heavy, iron-d doors. Inside, the stone walls and ceiling were coated with ovepping iron tes, which seemed to becquered. <em>To keep them from rusting, or from getting iron dust on anything?</em> Probably both.


    Boma closed the heavy doors behind them, dropping a bar across to prevent unwanted entry.


    The center of the floor was nk, t stone, but Ts mage-sight showed her that under the top six inches or so was an incrediblyplex intecing matrix of currently inactive spell-forms. <em>How can I see them so clearly, even while theyre inactive?</em>


    It was far moreplex than what she could easily understand, even with her mage-sight providing some insights. Below those appeared to be more iron panels, if she understood the odd reflection effect that she saw correctly. They seemed to be designed to be removed from a room below. <em>What is that for?</em> She decided not to walk on the floor over the dormant magic, just in case.


    Now, girl, I assume that you have the harvests in that dimensional storage?


    T nodded.


    Put them over there. He pointed to the center of the room.


    <em>So much for not walking on that portion of the floor</em> She sighed and did as he asked, taking the pouch off of her belt, opening it, and pulling out the feathers and talons.


    Boma followed her and began examining each piece as she pulled them out. When she finally finished, he grunted. Well, you werent wrong, these should bepatible, but they arent going to expand the versatility of the knife. Theyll just make its magic more potent, more efficient, more effective.


    Meaning?


    He gave her a t look, then sighed. Meaning, if done correctly, it will be able to cut through harder material, even some magics, and stand up to more abuse. It looks like this weapon can shift shape, that will likely happen more quickly, and with less effort on your part. We can likely use the feathers to help strengthen the des connection with you, as well, so the poor artifact will stop starving from a weak, unsupported soul. After a moment, he shook his head. That might be too much to ask. Even so, the melding will allow you to feed it more easily as your soul grows in strength.


    Fair enough.


    Do you wish to incorporate all of this, together?


    T shrugged. If you think thats best? Im not exactly an expert.


    He gave her a long look, before just shaking his head, again. This knife is bound to you. Assume thats forever, as the alternatives are worse than death. Trust me on that. I think it reasonable to put this investment in.


    Then, Ill bow to your experience.


    He snorted. Itll be two gold for the working, and thats the guild-to-guild rate. If I treated you as an individual, it would be five. He gave her a hard look. You dide because of a guild representative, correct?


    <em>Hes giving me the choice? Maybe, he has to tell someone, somewhere that this is a guild job, or that he reasonably assumed so?</em> She didnt care, really. Yes, sir.


    He nodded, a slight smile tugging at his lips. Good. He began arranging the feathers in a circle, ovepping them to make a continuous stair-step, the quill angled slightly inward. Drive the knife into the stone here. He drew a line on the stone with his finger.


    <em>How did he do that? </em>As she did what he asked, the de easily pushing into the hard stone, she analyzed what shed seen. <em>He altered the reflectivity of the material, changing its color. </em>It was a clever use of Immaterial Guiding, but it seemed a bit frivolous.


    The feathers and knife in ce, he ced the talons in a smaller circle, hooked des pointed outward, within the circle of feathers. That done, Boma stood. Your bird will need to wait by the door.


    Terry flickered over without need for additional prompting.


    Boma quirked a smile, looking at Terry. Thank you for not wasting everyones time by pretending ignorance. He turned to T. You will stay in the center, here. He stripped off his Mages robes, tossing them on the floor back near Terry and leaving himself in only short pants, which ended near his mid-thigh.


    He took a deep breath, seeming to center himself. Then, to Ts mage-sight he exploded outward, a flood of magical tendrilsncing out from countless ces on his now exposed flesh, entering the floor to interact with the intricate mesh T had previously detected, below the surface. Magic danced through a thousand intricate patterns on his skin, as he seemed to control each individualized thread as it, in turn, manipted those below the stone floor.


    Portions of that hidden inscribing activated, harmonizing with Master Bomas spell-forms, and the stone shifted, portions sinking downward to form a detailed spell-form seemingly engraved into the floor. This shifting wasnt the moving of joints, but the stone, itself, moving as if carved, shaped, sanded, and polished into form.


    Further activations on Master Bomas part caused liquid copper to flow through the channels and depressions, clearly guided by the forms below the surface.


    <em>I wonder if thats a moreplex version of how the teleportation rooms function, hidden spell-forms below the stone.</em> Wont I be caught in the working, if I stay here?


    He looked over at her, clear bemusement across his face, even as he continued his work. Girl, you are soul-bound to the knife. You could be on the other side of the city, and this would catch you. Itd just take more power and more metal, so youll stay there. After a moment he added an additionalmand. Sit cross-legged around the knife, and ce both hands upon the hilt.


    Sheplied. Wouldnt the iron keep the working from leaving this room, if I was elsewhere?


    If you werent soul-bound, yeah. Magic doesnt need a pathway through physical reality to flow across a soul-bond. He paused again, seemingly moving through a more difficult maniption of his magics, before he gave her a level look. Ill forgive your ignorance, because these are all Archon level concepts, but please, make a proper star and elevate yourself soon, yeah? Yourck of understanding is <em>painful</em>, and Im forbidden from correcting your deficit as you are, now.


    T stopped asking questions. <em>I am so, incredibly d that I didnt attempt this on my own.</em> Seeing Bomas work, the very idea seemedughable. <em>The more I learn, the more I realize how much I dont know.</em>


    The spell-form was nowplete and filled, T sitting in an open circle in the middle. The lines of the spell-form ranged in size from thread-thin to asrge as her little finger. It was all copper. If she had to guess, shed have said it was at least four or five pounds of the metal, and that was just what she could see on the surface. <em>Id have thought gold would be preferred</em> She hesitated. <em>No, that much power would be a waste, and likely much, MUCH, too expensive to be practical. And with copper, when not all the metal is used up, they can still deactivate the spell, and reuse that material, next time.</em>


    She knew that this spell-form likely had depth, meaning there wereyers below what she could see. Thinking back, she remembered seeing holes in the stone, likely the pathways towards those lower portions. <em>Plus, this is using the material from the spell-form below the stone, and using up Master Bomas inscribings, too</em> Two ounces, gold, was sounding like a better and better deal as she contemted all that was involved, here. <em>Might be barely more than cost</em>


    She looked up, noticing a secondary circle, closer to the door, fully inscribed, prepared, and intermeshed with the main circle surrounding her. Master Boma sat down in that circle, tendrils of power still connecting him with the workings.


    T looked around herself, trying to take in all she could.


    Mistress T.


    T looked to the older Mage.


    When this activates, the magic will flow through you, the knife, and your materials. You will be given choices on how the integration will ur. I <em>strongly</em> rmend that you choose the one you came here for. Dont be tempted by the other things presented. As much as youve been a bit annoying, your ignorance is understandable, and Id hate to end the morning by killing an inhuman abomination.


    She frowned. What? I dont understand


    He sighed. I know, child. Please just remember what I said.


    She nodded, hesitantly, and he reached out, cing his hands on perfectly sized imprints to either side of him. The threads of power seemed to collect, moving across his skin until they all seemed to originate from his hands, flowing into the stone. His gate opened wide, the power flowing outward became a torrent, and Ts mage-sight was instantly overwhelmed by a wave of refined power.


    Her vision went white as a torrent of magic mmed into the knife and, through it, into her.


    * * *


    She was outside herself, without form, looking into a white void.


    It wasnt bright; it wasnt dim; it simply was, and it was white.


    An instant, or perhaps a decade, passed without anything viting the purity of the void.


    Then, there, before her bodyless gaze, stoodherself, but different.


    T stood, wings stretching from her back; her hands and feet ended in razor sharp talons, and her eyes were solid ck: inhuman and predatory. As she watched, the wings and talons retracted, fading into her flesh as if theyd never been, but the gaze remained the same: hungry, barely intelligent.


    T moved back from that visage of herself and saw another standing nearby.


    The second form was her as well, but covered with short, ck feathers. Her legs were more like Terrys, with reversed knees, and her torso was hunched forward, arms reaching to tear at her victims. Her talons were wicked looking, clearly designed to shred that which she attacked, and her eyes


    <em>How do these eyes look even more feral?</em>


    <em></em>She was not behind those eyes. Wellof course she wasnt, because she was looking from the outside, but there was no humanity in that face. What she beheld was a beast of basic hunger and predatory need.


    She shuddered, or she would have if shed had a body.


    The third version was a human-seeming T, but with her arms reced by wings of sharpened metal. She somehow knew both that this version of her could fly, and that the wings were a permanent feature. <em>No retracting these for normalcy</em>


    The next T on option looked mostly normal, a knife in hand: her knife. As she watched, power flowed into the knife and the arm holding it changed into a huge, winglike de, incorporating the knife, and making it an extension of her physical form.


    <em></em>The body incorporation looked like a medley of silver and ck metal, interwoven into a symphony of death and sharp edges.


    <em>That looks interesting. It looks almost like one of the wings from the third option.</em>


    Next to that was a simr manifestation, but this time, the sword changed into a monstrosity,pletely separate from her own physical body. The de was nearly a dozen feet long, the hilt growing to be more thanrge enough for two hands to grip it with ease. Despite the tremendous size, the mirage of her seemed to wield it with effortless ease.


    <em>Hah, its light as a feather.</em> She considered for a moment. <em>It looks like it would cut more like an ax than a razor. That could be a pain. Also, I cant imagine fighting in close quarters with that, or near anything, no matter how light it was.</em>


    She moved on.


    Finally, after dozens more, thest figment she saw was of her as she was, holding the knife.


    In the figment, power gushed into the weapon, and it instantly flowed into the shape of a familiar sword, as it had looked to her before. Though, there were now hints of a feather-like texture to the hilt, as well as the field of heat within the wire outline of the de.


    Somehow, she knew that theck of increase to size and reach had been tranted into <em>power</em> within the de itself. She felt an overwhelming, instinctual cry from this final version, a hunger and unified purpose. This weapon existed to be wielded by her to hunt, to kill, to protect her from harm.


    <em>Yes.</em> The weapon, the extension of her will, resonated with her very soul.


    She looked at her options, for she knew thats what they were, and understood what Master Boma had meant. The first options somehow integrated the two physical forms and her basic nature lost. She was not strong enough to fully unify with this weapon and stay as she was. <em>Does that mean I could get wingster? If I was stronger?</em>


    Maybe.


    It might be worth askingonce she was an Archon and people would answer her questions.


    <em>Do I want wings?</em> She shook hersoul? <em>I dont have a head to shakeBut now is not the time for such considerations either about my headless state or whether or not I want wings.</em>


    She approached thest manifestation and indicated eptance.


    Power shattered through her and the knife; her very-self felt as if it was being scraped raw.


    * * *


    Her vision splintered back into normal sight, and she found herself sitting cross-legged on the smooth floor of the room, knife resting in her palms.


    All traces of the arcane harvests and spell-forms were gone, and Master Boma was standing over her.


    Good, still human. He turned and walked towards the door. Ill work up the exchange tablet. Take your time.


    T looked down at her hands and the weapon resting atop them. She felt more connected to the tool than ever before. It felt like her heart beat within the knife, though the tool didnt pulse. It was as if the knife was her long lost love, but also someone who had been herpanion for decades.


    Yet again, she was struck with how it felt more a part of her than her own arms. <em>StrangeYet, obviously as it should besomehow.</em>


    There was a hint of feather-like texturing in the pattern of the de and handle, making the metal, at least, look like a form of patterned, folded steel.


    She extended her de to the side and poured power into the de, watching it flow outward, taking on the shape of the sword more quickly and easily than ever before.


    She still couldnt maintain it for more than a handful of seconds, and even that would be a strain, but it was a marked improvement, regardless.


    She brought the extended de in to look at it, lifting her hand to grip the de, before she hesitated, realizing that that would be foolish. <em>Dont burn your hand, T, or stress your inscribings.</em> Even so, as shed brought her hand close, shed noticed something.


    In a direct line with the des edge, she felt her power being pushed back, driven back into her defensive scripts and away from the flesh, itself. As the edge came closer, the scripts themselves seemed to be straining, as the magic in them was put under stress. <em>This will cut so much easier than before, even through magically defended materials. </em>She found herself grinning. <em>The power just flows away before it.</em>


    <em>Flow.</em> That seemed fitting. I will call you: Flow.

 Chapter 74: Worth Every Copper

    Chapter 74: Worth Every Copper


    T hadnt moved, and Terry was sitting with her, when Boma returned, stone te in hand.


    Here, this should be in order.


    T stood and walked to him, Terry appearing on her shoulder after she was up. Thank you. She took the tablet and looked over the short bill of sale before retracting her power from her finger, pricking it, and certifying the transaction. There you are. She handed it back. Oh! What would it cost to get one of those?


    Boma epted the te back, seeming to contemte. For transactions? Or do you want it connected to any specific archive or library?


    I mean, Id prefer it to be as useful as possible.


    He grunted. Probably wise. Adding additional connections isnt really that expensive, but more useful means more used, so youll have to get it re-inscribed quite oftenFive gold? With a rmended two-month re-inscribing timeline. That would be an additional four gold each time.


    Ts eyes widened. <em>Thats crazy!</em>


    Dont give me that look, child. Its aplex schema, and it takes a lot to ensure the connections dont muck up the archives they link to. We could do it in an artifact format, but that would be He blew out a breath, considering. Fifty gold? He nodded to himself. Yeah, fifty gold ounces for one of those.


    <em>Fifty gold!? I could buy an apartment for thatWait</em> T frowned. One moment; you can make artifact style items? With that specific of properties? <em>They can interlink with archives, that doesnt seem like something that could happen randomly, even if the randomness was guided</em>


    Boma stiffened, freezing in ce, before he turned to look at her. No. No, we cannot.


    She sighed. Fine. Ill ask again after Im an Archon.


    He seemed to rx a bit, still obviously a bit off kilter. Well, sureIf you think that would change anything.


    She did. I have a question regarding dimensional storage items, specifically of the artifact variety.


    He turned a bit more towards her. Very well.


    Well, I have two, actually. Questions, that is. First, how can I determine if it is safe to be in my dimensional storage after it closes? And second, how could I expand its internal size?


    Boma looked away, seeming to contemte. Well, your first question implies that you know your dimensional storage changes, sometimes. That isnt rare for artifact-style items, but the mostmon dimensional storages are uniform and constant. Open or closed, they are the same inside.


    She nodded. Mine alters its shape, seemingly based on my more basic goals. It also will offer up the item I reach for, so I dont have to take it from a specific location inside.


    He was nodding. Notmon, but not that rare. There are two subtypes of item that function in that way, that I know of. For one, all unupied space ceases to exist, when closed. It is theorized that the unupied space never existed at all, any perception of such is an illusion, meant to convey various things to the user.


    <em>Thats a disturbing thought When I climbed in, I may have beenpletely surrounded, engulfed, but didnt know it? </em>


    In the other, the internal space is amorphous, but rtively static. It alters itself to give desired items to the user, and reshapes towards its users needs, but holds its form in the meantime. In those cases, they function much like standard dimensional storage items: closing them doesnt change the inside in the least.


    Huh, thank you. How would I determine which I have?


    Boma looked at her hip, where Kit hung, for a long moment, his mage-sight inscriptions activating. There is something blocking my direct view of your item. I can tell its a dimensional storage, because of the vor of the powering out the top, but the rest is difficult to see. May I examine it?


    T handed him the pouch. He had no trouble grasping it. <em>Did Kit allow that, or did he ovee its attempts to avoid being grabbed? </em>She might ask, after she got her other answers.


    He opened it, looking inside for a moment, then pulled it closed and handed it back. You have the second type. The internal space will remain in existence when the pouch is closed. It only reshapes to meet a sensed need, from you.


    T smiled in relief. She wasnt quite sure how much of a difference it would make, but she found herself happy that it was the second. Quick question: Was it difficult for you to grab the pouch from me?


    He grunted. Not really. Nice little defense, though.


    <em>So, it did try to avoid him, but it wasnt very sessful</em> At least, thats what she interpreted from his answer.


    He looked at his hand quizzically for a moment, then a flicker of power caused a puff of dust to rise off his palms. You coated the outside in iron? A bit rude, that.


    T swallowed. I apologize. I didnt really think of it. She smiled in what she hoped would be an innocent way.


    He grunted. Dont hand that to a Mage. You might cause all sorts ofunpleasantness. He shook his hands, then sighed, and wiped them on his robes. Now, as to your other question, how to make the space bigger. He gestured expansively, but not really indicating anything in particr. The quickest way would be for you to soul-bond the item. That will give it a boost to storage capacity rtive to the strength of your soul. He hesitated. So, Id wait until youre a bit stronger in that regard. His gaze hardened, briefly. You should wait either way. Be an Archon before soul-bonding anything else.


    Understood. That was my n.


    Good. His eyes narrowed for a moment, before he grunted, seeming to ept her word for it. Once you are an Archon, and you bond that pouch, if the increase in capacity isnt to your liking, we can do a simr working to what we just did. Youll have to provide other,patible storage devices tobine with the pouch, but that should increase the working capacity.


    T found herself nodding. That seems simple enough. Thank you.


    He gave her a long look. Simple? No. Rtively easy? Sure.


    She shrugged. Fair enough. Oh! Shed almost forgotten. You do lensing items too, right? Incorporators?


    We do. Why?


    Well, first off, why do I have to recharge his cor, if its a lensing item? She patted Terrys cor.


    Quick answer is: you dont. He held up a hand, to quiet her objections. You are voring your portion of that cor, if it is the type it appears to be. That allows it to be bound to you but doesnt actually use that power. No power store can be infinite, so you have to refill that tag, every so often. If you were in an area of high enough magic density, it would fill on its own, the iing magic being automatically vored by the remnants of your power already in the cor.


    <em>I suppose that makes sense. </em>Thank you.


    He nodded. Sure. Anything else?


    Well, Im interested in buying incorporators. I have one for water, but its cold water. Could you do one for hot water? Like near boiling? Id also be interested in any generic ones that you might have avable. After a brief moment, she had a thought. What about coffee? Id <em>definitely</em> want a coffee one.


    Heughed. Hot water is easy, we might even have one on hand. If not, well have the diagrams in ce to make one quickly. Coffee? That is a ratherplex substance. He looked away, not meeting her eyes. It wouldnt be easy to make, anding up with such a diagram, such a device, would likely cause friction with the Growers Guild, which cultivates that crop in parts of the cavernplex below this very city.


    T found herself grinning. You already have one, dont you. She thought for a moment. Thats where the coffee in the waiting roomes from. How do you keep it from discorporating?


    Mistress T, your conjecture is unwarranted. Im afraid we cannot easily create such aplex incorporator.


    She cocked an eyebrow at him. Ill bet you cant.


    He gave her an exasperated look. I do apologize, the research required to create such would be extensive, and prohibitively expensive. Even if you had the funds tomission such, we simply do not have the time.


    Fine, fine. I wont push. How much for the hot water one?


    Thirty silver.


    She didnt know how to feel about the price. It seemed both too expensive and too cheap. Why? And how did you know the price already?


    He shrugged. Why the cost? They are useful devices to some, but overall, they are inefficient. How I know it? One is no harder to make than another once the details of its construction are known. All incorporators I can sell you will cost basically the same.


    She grunted. <em>I can spend up to a gold ounce on a few of these. Theyre good training for my umtion-rate and useful besides.</em> Which ones do you have in stock? Ill want a hot water one, whether I have toe back or not.


    Boma was nodding, working on the tablet theyd used for the earlier transaction. From what she could see from her angle, it looked like he was going through a manifest list of items and materials this guild had on hand. He then manipted the information,bining it with a secondary list. Here are all the incorporators that we can create onmission for a certified Mage. If we have it on hand, that is indicated, here. He pointed to a column of Xs and nk spaces to one side of the te. Take a moment to have a look.


    She smiled, epting the tablet. After a moment, she looked up in confusion. This one says diamond. You can make a diamond incorporator?


    Not as useful as it sounds. Any jeweler worth their metal will be able to tell its not quite right. Plus, incorporated material degrades based on the connected mass exposed, along with various other factors. The more rigid the creation, the faster it discorporates as well.


    T grunted. Ah, so diamonds dontst very long.


    No, less than a minute. He shrugged. Though, some of our clients have said its quite fun to send out a spray of diamonds.


    She smiled, opening her mouth, but he cut across her.


    Before you ask, no, it is not a harmful spray, nor can it be made to be so. I understand that there are some industrial applications for diamond dust. He indicated another incorporator listing. If I remember right, it is a <em>very</em> effective material for grit-sting to clean various items. The fact that it discorporates so quickly afterwards is a benefit as well. He hesitated. To be clear, the incorporator, itself, does not do the sting. Thats an entirely different device.


    Huh, I suppose I can see that.


    There were a surprising number of options, but they were all for unified materials, in one state or another. Only homogenous incorporations were avable.


    This one says: Hot air. How hot? And justair?


    He smiled. We can make it as hot as you desire, though efficiency drops exponentially. So, it cant even create more than a minor burn, even if you held it flush to your own arm. As to the chemicalposition of whats created? He shrugged. For those: Non-toxic in roughly the ratios found around us all the time. Mostly heard of them being used to speed drying or curing times. Some Mages who had baking hobbies have tried to make ovens from them, very precise temperature output and all, but the throughput was never sufficient for their purposes, given the point was incredibly precise temperatures over an enclosed space. Simr for a crazyd who tried to use one to inte somerge cloth bag to fly; he imed the same issue with output volume. Dont know that any Archons ever tried either of those tasks, though.


    This one, here, says me. That would burn something, right?


    That is the idea. Ludicrously inefficient, as expected. I, myself, can only create about a four-inch, very thin me for a short time.


    <em>So, worse than my inscribed item and more than four times the price. Not that Ive used that outside of starting the fire under Lyns tub </em>But what does it actually produce?


    A gaseous fuel at a high enough temperature tobust virtually instantly. And before you ask, the amount of fuel that can be produced at lower temperatures is equally miniscule, and it doesntst very long; it''s tooplex a material for a durable incorporation.


    <em>These are not as useful as Id hoped</em>


    He smiled. I imagine that youre a bit underwhelmed, yeah?


    Just a bit


    Well, you dont see these everywhere, do you?


    I suppose thats true. She sighed. Ill just take one for water, as close to boiling as reasonable, one for hot airat whatever temperature you think is reasonable for drying everyday items, when wet? And one for coffee.


    He gave her a long-suffering look. The hot water and hot air incorporators will cost you sixty silver, together.


    She nodded. <em>Thats a lot, but I should be able to use them to good effect.</em> She decided to not fight him on the coffee. <em>For now. </em>When can I pick them up?


    He took the tablet, working up a sales agreement before handing it back. Tomorrow? These are well known designs. Im d you didnt have too specific of temperature desires, because if we havent worked out formations for exactly what youre looking for, itd require starting from scratch.


    Its not just a minor adjustment?


    He shook his head. No, it is not. He didnt borate.


    Alright then. She confirmed the bill of sale. Thats all I can think of, right now.


    Well, its been a pleasure. Doe back, once youre an Archon. I think well have a more productive time. He smiled.


    She nodded, respectfully. Thank you. I think we did all I needed us to. Truly, thank you for all your help.


    He gave a slight bow and strode away, te in hand.


    * * *


    It had been a very productive morning, and T was quite ready for some lunch.


    With Kit mostly empty now, she decided to swing by home to load up the jerky, though she didnt particrly want that for lunch.


    Terry didnt seem to mind the detour or the bits of jerky she regrly flicked out for him.


    While she was home, after the jerky was stored, she looked around Lyns kitchen. There was a very simple, inscribed hot te without any means of powering it, and there was arge firece in the living room, though shed never seen Lyn use it.


    In the firece itself were wrought iron fixtures for hanging pots or kettles over the me, and others to allow skewered meat to be turned over the heat. There were heavy doors set into the brickwork beside the hearth that were clearly intended to be ovens, of a sort.


    <em>I have no idea how to use any of this. </em>She let out a long-suffering sigh. <em>It would have been nice if the academy actually taught us practical skills</em>Now that she thought about it, hadnt there been a cooking ss avable? <em>I didnt really have time...</em>


    Shed have to seriously consider figuring out how to cook, if she was going to be around the city much of the time. <em>Or, I could just go on more caravan trips, and pay off my debt faster</em> That was probably a better choice.


    Now, Terry, where should I get food? She locked the door behind them and turned towards the nearest group of restaurants. <em>I wish I could practice some while eating</em> She could read, at the very least.


    She ended up choosing a new ce, drawn in by the scents.


    Twenty minutes, and half a silver,ter, she exited the eatery, bearing what appeared to be a small log, one end easily the size of two of her fists. It was two-thirds as long as her forearm. <em>What was I thinking? This is huge!</em>


    The meal wasposed of an incredibly thin, flour tbread, wrapped around ayer of melted cheese, then anotheryer of the incredibly thin bread. Inside that doubleyer of goodness was a medley of tender chicken, heavenly pork, fluffy rice, fried beans, perfect spices, cooked vegetables, mild cheese, and swirling,plementary sauces.


    She sat down at an outdoor table, just staring for a long moment. The menu inside had listed this one as the Biggest Cheesy Little Caravan. As that was a <em>much </em>tooplicated name, T just thought of it as a food log.


    Terry appeared on the other side of the table, and she took a moment to get arger than usual chunk of meat for him.


    He ate it just as quickly as usual.


    <em>Well, here it goes.</em>


    What followed was truly something to behold. Each bite was a subtly differentbination of vors, textures, and scents.


    It. Was. Glorious.


    Her mind was bent entirely towards the consumption of her lunch, her book forgotten as she simply enjoyed.


    She ate the whole thing.


    Leaning back, she let out a contented sigh. She pulled out her water incorporator and took a careful drink. <em>Hey! I didnt gag myself. Im getting better control.</em>


    Terry was stretched out in the sun on the other side of the table, ignoring her.


    She nced towards the eatery. <em>Should I get another?</em>


    It was a tempting thought. Her stomach objected. She couldnt remember ever feeling so full.


    <em>No, T. That should have fed you for days. You dont need anothernot right now</em> Maybe, she could reward herself with a second after her visit to Holly,te this afternoon. <em>Yeah. Thats a good n.</em>


    She groaned contentedly as she pushed herself up into a standing position. <em>Yeah, not another now.</em>


    Terry blipped to her shoulder as she pulled out Lyns sheet once more. <em>Now, where to for my massage?</em>


    Her belly full, she wandered through the city.


    It was alright that she was taking this day a bit easier than she had thest three weeks. She was due for a break.


    <em>I can train tomorrow.</em>


    Lyns directions led her to an unassuming building without a sign out front. If it had been in the inner circle, shed have assumed it was a house. As she thought about it, she realized that it could still be a home. <em>Its not like the guards do sweeps of the buildings, ensuring people only sleep in one part of the city.</em> She took another moment topare her location to Lyns directions. <em>Is this the right ce?</em>


    She checked Lyns sheet again. <em>This seems to be the right ce</em> Still uncertain, T walked up to the door and knocked.


    A decidedly feminine voice called from inside. One minute, please!


    T waited.


    The door opened to reveal an older woman with gray-streaked, ck hair. She was smiling, highlighting the pleasantly warm smile-lines and crows feet on her face. She was just slightly taller than T and petite. How may I help you?


    T nced down at the paper she held once more. Are you Emi?


    The womans smile deepened. I am! You must be Mistress T. Come in,e in. She stepped back, her long skirt swaying about her as she gestured for T to enter.


    T stepped across the threshold, processing what her mage-sight was telling her about the woman.


    Emi, like most people, had a gate, through which power flowed into her body. It was a bare trickle, whenpared to any Mage. Lacking a keystone inscription, Emi wouldnt be able to alter or control the flow consciously. Even so, the diminutive woman had gold inscribings set into her shoulders, arms, forearms, and hands, all focused on increasing the strength and dexterity of the limbs and preventing that increased strength from causing harm.


    As T contemted what she was seeing more closely, she saw that, undeying the inscriptions, indeed surrounding them and encapsting them, was more magic of the same type, but based in the womans flesh, rather than the inscribed lines. <em>Again, its like arcanous beasts in the wilds, or the guards.</em>


    It appeared as if Emi, through the years, had somehow acquired naturally urring magics directly corrting to her inscriptions. <em>That cant be a coincidence. Do human bodies adapt to the inscribings? </em>She realized that, if that was the case, it would exin why Mages whod been getting the same inscriptions, consistently, for years, seemed more powerful than others.


    Emi tilted her head. Have I lost you, Mistress?


    T blinked, returning to the present moment. I apologize. Your inscriptions are fascinating, and you seem well practiced in their use.


    Emi smiled happily. That is a kind way of saying Im quite old.


    Ts eyes widened, but before she could respond, Emi chuckled.


    Oh, I know thats not what you meant, Mistress. Now,e with me. You are my whole afternoon.


    T followed Emi through the simple building to a back room. Mistress Lyn didnt tell me what the cost would be.


    The kind Caravan Guild functionary? Right, that was her name. Well, I have you for three hours, so well do eight silver. If, at the end, you dont feel it was worth it, we can discuss alternatives.


    That seems more than fair.


    The room Emi had led her into had a waist high, padded table in the middle, appointed much like a bed. Have you received a massage before?


    Not really?


    She barked a softugh. Well, well talk for a bit, then youll undress and get under the sheet, face down, and Ill see what I can do.


    Alright.


    So, tell me whats bothering you.


    Over the next ten minutes, T exined what she was feeling from her back and limbs, as well as some of the changes that shed noticed over the past weeks.


    That done, Emi left so that T could undress and get in ce on the table.


    When the woman returned and began to work, T slipped into heavenly bliss as, through the early afternoon, each muscle was slowly cajoled into giving up its tension and pain.


    <em>Worth every copper.</em>

 Chapter 75: This Won’t Kill You, Directly

    Chapter 75: This Won¡¯t Kill You, Directly


    T floated in hot water, luxuriating as the heat helped her body rid itself of the lingering nastiness, which Emi had worked from her muscles. She could feel her own power, flowing along channels inscribed by Hollys machine, sweeping away the toxins more efficiently than her own body could have, naturally.


    It was fantastic. Her muscles felt like they were free for the first time in her life, and the magic flowing through her was rebuilding them. Somehow, she knew that this time was taking longer than it ever would again, as every loosened fiber was reforged under the heat of her power.


    The density of magic in her body was slowly dropping, and had been since this process started, despite her gate being thrown wide, drawing all the power into herself that she possibly could.


    She didnt quite know what would happen if the magic ran out before the process wasplete. Something told her it wouldnt be great.


    She was in an artificial hot spring, in a secondary room inside of Emis building. She tried to distract herself. <em>I wonder if she has more than one of these rooms.</em> The pool had been shaped to resemble natural rock, hot water constantly flowing through and being refreshed to maintain a perfect, almost too hot, temperature.


    Terry, who had slept in the corner while T was being worked on, now floated in the water nearby, his feathers keeping the moisture out to enough of a degree that he had no trouble staying above the surface.


    <em>He looks like the worlds most vicious duck</em>


    Ts everything felt smooth and unrestricted.


    Emis hands had been strong and experienced, tracing each clenched muscle to the source of the issue and relieving the tension. T had paid before being escorted to this idyllic, private oasis, and Emi had left her with amand to soak and rx for at least an hour before leaving.


    <em>That woman performs the real magic. Im just messing with gravity; she truly affects the soul.</em> T let out a contented sigh. The light feeling of nausea, brought on by the releasing of so many overworked muscle clusters, had finally fully dissipated, and she was left simply feeling content.


    <em>There is no way I can justify doing this regrlyMaybe shorter sessions?</em> She would have to consider the expense, if need arose. <em>She should not have been able to do this much correction in just three hours</em> T snorted. <em>Magic, T. Its an amazing thing.</em> As she considered it, she realized that her own inscriptions, now integrated with her muscr system, had likely helped the prolonged session be even more effective. <em>Hopefully, it will allow the results to be longersting, as well.</em>


    Terry tapped her on the head with his beak, and Ts eyes popped open.


    As the bird stared down at her, floating above her head, he let out an inquisitive, cheeping squawk.


    Still feeling the colossal drain within herself, she decided that shed waited long enough. I need to deal with this, dont I


    He bobbed an affirmative.


    T sighed, turning the gaze of her mage-sight inward. Her focus was immediately pulled entirely into the torrent of power rushing through her. She was used to her internal reservoirs being like a cid ocean. This was like a hurricane.


    Even so, she fought through the distracting flows of power, examining exactly what was happening.


    For most humans, muscles were anything but smooth. Throughout their life, each person collected countless ces where their muscles locked up, refusing to unclench. These were trigger-points or knots, within the muscle tissue. Each one was both a weakness in the muscle and a lessening of the capacity. At least, this was Ts understanding.


    Ts daily stretching and exercise had kept thergest of these at bay, while making innumerable smaller ones, scattered throughout. It was these points that felt relief in a good stretch or were worked out with proper massage. Now, with the help of Emis expertise, and Hollys deeply incorporated inscriptions, Ts body had released them all, and those broken down, overworked, underutilized muscle fibers were being rebuilt: better, stronger, more responsive.


    Her energy stores, so recently overstocked, were being drained for the resources needed in the reconstructions. If it continued on for too much longer, her reserves, both physical and magical, would be utterly depleted.


    Thankfully, at longst, it seemed that the process wasing to an end.


    <em>Four hours, give or take, to fundamentally alter my muscr system.</em> It both seemed like much too much time, and altogether far too fast. <em>Make up your mind, T. Is your magic too fast to make sense, or is it painfully slow?</em> She quirked a smile. <em>Both, it seems. Ive not gotten used to what I can do, yet.</em>


    Terry was still looking down at her, but he seemed fairly nonchnt in his inquiry.


    You could feel it wrapping up, couldnt you? You knew I was almost done. She smiled up at the bird. Ready to go?


    He bobbed an affirmative.


    Fair enough. We do need to get to Hollys shop. She felt a bit of apprehension at the thought of more inscribings, but her rxed state kept it from growing into anything more. <em>Besides, these have already been amazingand I need more food.</em>


    She drifted over to the side of therge, inset pond, and dunked under onest time before climbing from the water.


    Thick towels waited on a shelf to one side. After running herb through her hair to dry it thoroughly, T availed herself of the towels, drying the rest of herself off fully. She then dressed, braided her hair, and strapped on her belt, knife and pouch hanging in counterpoint.


    True to what shed seen, she felt the consumption of her magic slowly lessening to a noticeable degree, to the point that, after a few more minutes, her reserves began to slowly refill. <em>Down to about half. Not too bad.</em> The hunger also seemed to settle in deeper. Food was now a must, on the journey to Hollys. <em>I guess I fully processed the food log, then</em>


    Terry was still basking in the water.


    Ready?


    He let out a series of happy chirps.


    T gave him a t look. You wanted to be done.


    He hissed a happy reply, then appeared on her shoulder, perfectly dry.


    She stared at him for a moment. So, do you leave the water behind?


    He bobbed.


    What if some water got under one of your feathers, would it be brought along?


    He shook himself.


    How does your magic know what to bring and what to leave behind?


    He turned his head, meeting her gaze with both of his eyes.


    Right, much tooplex a question.


    Terry chirped once, shimmied slightly, and settled down on her shoulder.


    T smiled, unlocking both doors into the room and pushing open the one that lead outside. To Mistress Hollys shop, we go!


    The short walk passed with reading and flicks of jerky for Terry, her eyes also nearly constantly looking for a source of food. The jerky she, herself, ate just wasnt enough, though it helped. <em>Im d I have so much of that, now What am I going to do when I run out?</em> She gave the bird a nce out of the corner of her eye.


    <em>He seems content, and I guess he cant really hurt me. Could I stop him if he decided to kill one of these people were passing?</em> She was quite ufortable with the obvious answer. <em>I suppose thats something to work on</em>


    She had a brief mental sh of Terry eviscerating everyone on the street with his previously demonstrated efficiency. <em>That would bea lot of blood.</em> She swallowed involuntarily, and Terry popped open an eye, regarding her.


    d to have you on my shoulder, Terry.


    The bird cocked his head, regarding her. She had no idea what he was thinking, but regardless, he closed his eyes again, settling back down.


    <em>I think hes actually made himself smaller than before. To better fit my shoulder?</em> She didnt know. <em>I wonder what his range is. Could he be as small as a finger?</em> Might be worth it to figure out, but it wasnt like it would matter, in the end.


    She returned her attention to one of Hollys books and passed the remainder of the walk without distractingly macabre thoughts.


    T was almost to the warehouse when she finally spotted a little eatery. <em>Yes!</em>


    This establishment seemed to specialize in soups, and she almost groaned in pleasure as she stepped through the door. The overpowering ecstasy of scents washed over her, and she felt a bit weak.


    Mistress? Are you alright? The proprietor was a middle-aged woman, a look of concern obvious on her prettier than average face.


    Im just very hungry. Whats your most filling soup?


    The woman nodded with a smile. We have a sweet-potato cream chowder with bacon, along with other vegetables, spices, and meats, for a perfect medley of vor.


    <em>Didnt I eat something like that on my trip?</em> That sounds wonderful! How much for She thought for a long moment. A gallon?


    The woman smiled but seemed a bit bemused. A gallon, Mistress?


    As I said, Im <em>very</em> hungry.


    Letlet me ask. The woman turned, walking towards the kitchen. Brand! How much for a gallon of the sweet-potato chowder?


    <em>Brand? No way.</em>


    A familiar voice responded from the kitchen. We dont usually sell it by the gallon. Are they looking for a discount, ordering the same soup for the whole group?


    No, dear. I believe she wants it for herself.


    Herself? No The expected figure of a man came from the back room and stopped in the doorway, a wide grin blossoming on his face. Mistress T! I didnt expect to see you in my shop.


    Brand? You have a wife?


    His smile slipped, the man stopping for a moment, color rushing over his face. Of course, I do! I told you, so. Didnt I?


    His wife was frowning at him. Whats this now?


    T quirked a smile. We had a misunderstanding, and when he thought I was going to kill him, he said he had a family, as he begged for his life.


    Brand frowned, grumpily. Thats not a very dignified way to express it.


    Inurate?


    He hesitated, then sighed. No


    T found herself grinning. You know, I should have asked where you worked, when you werent on the road, but the idea didnt cross my mind.


    Brand shook himself, his good humor returning. So, a gallon of soup? What, are you on a diet?


    His wifes eyes widened in obvious horror, but Tughed. When the foods not free, I cant eat as much as I would like.


    Brand nodded, understanding. Too true. Well He seemed to be considering. One and a half silver seem reasonable?


    T shrugged. Looks like a cup would be a bit more than ten copper, so yeah. Sounds good to me. She smiled.


    Brands wife looked back and forth, then shook her head. No, Brand. This is Mistress T, from the caravan?


    Brand nodded.


    Then, she should get two gallons for that price, at least this first time. We can charge her the regr price when shees byter.


    Ts smile widened. That is very kind of you, but Im not sure I can eat two gallons. Also, I dont think weve been introduced. I am T.


    The woman gave a slight bow. You may call me Lissa, Mistress.


    A pleasure to meet you, Lissa.


    T spent a few minutes talking with the two as Lissa served up the soup. They decided that T should eat at one of the tables off to the side, and so she was given arge bowl, which was refilled as needed.


    As Lissa ced down the first bowl, she spoke softly to T, then winked. I simply must see if what my husband said about your capacity for food is true.


    T felt a little embarrassed, but it had gotten her a bunch of extra food, so


    Several other customers came and went as T ate, but it wasnt a very busy time, being about mid-tote-afternoon. Finally, T pushed her bowl back, scraped clean for thest time. Amazing. Thank you.


    Brand had returned to the kitchen some time ago, but Lissa smiled happily. Im d you enjoyed. She set arge jug with the amount she couldnt finish contained within.


    <em>Did I really eat more than a gallon?</em> T stood, Terry appearing back on her shoulder from the other chair where hed been curled up. I definitely did. Say goodbye to Brand for me! She slipped the jug into Kit and set her used bowl and spoon into the dirty dish bin off to one side.


    I will. Take care, Mistress. We look forward to seeing you, again, soon.


    T gave a slight bow. Definitely.


    Back out on the street, T stretched expansively. <em>No more dys.</em> Her hunger had been addressed, at least for the moment, and she felt truly stuffed. Her strengthened abdominal muscles kept her from manifesting a food-baby, but she doubted shed ever been this full before in her life. It was mildly irritating to feel like she could still eat more, from a hunger perspective, even if she really didnt have the internal room. Shed even eaten rtively slowly, taking nearly an hour and a half to eat everything. <em>At least I have almost another gallon, for after my stomach empties.</em>


    A short walkter, she was at Hollys building. T entered the warehouse and was met by one of Hollys assistants. Mistress T! Wee. Im to take you back to Mistress Holly. The woman hesitated. Umm May I pet your bird? Hes quite cute.


    T nced to Terry. The terror birds eyes had opened, and he was regarding the woman with what seemed to be curiosity. Will you behave, Terry?


    He looked at T briefly, then gave a slight bob.


    If you wish? Just one pet, though; I dont want to overwhelm him.


    The assistant smiled happily and gave Terry a slow stroke from the top of his head to the end of his short tail. Hes so soft! The woman stepped back and gave a slight bow. Thank you. Right this way.


    Holly was waiting, with her contraption, in a back room.


    Ahh! Good, youre here. How far did you get in your reading?


    T thanked the assistant, who left with surprising crity. She then detailed to Holly which organs and systems shed finished brushing up on, for the moment.


    Hmmm Good, good. Then, lets begin!


    One moment T had been thinking and needed to ask. How did youe up with this device, and make it functional, so quickly? I wasnt even gone a full two weeks.


    Hmm? Oh, weve had things <em>like</em> this for years. The Constructionists use a less precise version for inscribing softer materials. She smiled happily to herself. They use my needle design all the time. She shook her head. No, this is just the perfecting of that, and alteration for using on souled entities.


    <em>SoIm being worked on by industrial equipment.</em> That wasnt quite right. <em>But, T, its been modified for human use.</em> T sat on a stool with a sigh, lifting her arms above her head; Terry stretched out in a corner; and Holly slipped the expanded automatic inscriber over Ts upraised arms, settling it around her torso.


    Now, Ive modified the device to monitor your breathing and pulse, and anything else that might disce or shift your insides. That way it can ount for movements or slight variation. I dont want to have to knock you out again, after all. Even so, you need to remain as still as possible. Do you understand?


    T nodded. <em>Ok, T; you can do this.</em>


    Begin.


    * * *


    Ten minutester, they were done, and the weird, internal-swelling pain was already a mere memory.


    T stood and the inscription machine was removed. Her stomach feltodd somehow. Given theyd done her digestive system as part of this session, that wasnt unexpected. <em>Is it processing the food faster?</em> That was the intention, but she hadnt expected to feel it working. Why did that take so much longer?


    It had to work more slowly to ount for your movements, both voluntary and involuntary.


    T shrugged. <em>I suppose that makes sense.</em> So, you wanted to discuss my idea for inscriptions in my mouth, throat, and lungs?


    Holly nodded, pulling out a tablet. Yes, yes. They would have to be additional to those well add tomorrow. I worked up a schema. She handed over the tablet, showing a brief description of how it would function. Basically, it will maintain the coherence of any spell-form or magic within your mouth, throat, or lungs, keep it from activating or prating deeper, and forcibly expel it, when you exhale. That should prevent anyone from affecting you magically via the air you breathe, unless they can entirely overpower you, regardless. Those we just gave you on your digestive system already protect you against intrusions on that front, both mundane and magical.


    T was nodding. I think Id like that. Yes.


    Holly gave her a long look. Why do I get the feeling you are going to do something marginally insane if I give you these inscriptions?


    T thought for a moment. <em>Why not tell her?</em> Well, I did figure out that I can create spell-forms within my lungs, so long as I am holding my breath. I was hoping I could use these to help in the stabilization and expulsion of such.


    Holly stared at her for a long moment, then startedughing.


    T frowned at the woman.


    Holly pulled up a stool, sat, and got herself under control.


    T rolled her eyes and waited.


    Mistress T Holly shook her head. My dear, the spell-forms required to create a specific effect would change depending on the exactposition of the air. It could be different from one breath to the next! She shook her head again. No, it <em>would</em> be different from one breath to the next, or if you held your breath for a different lengths of time, and depending on your heart rate, and so, so many other factors.


    So, youre saying its impossible?


    Impossible? No, not really. Ive written scripts that analyze and calcte exactly what spell-forms need to be used before infusing a Mages breath upon exhale, but they are <em>devilishly</em>plex, not to mention expensive. You are talking about doing that <em>manually</em>. She shook her head. And before you ask, no, I cant give you those inscriptions. They would take up arge chunk of your flesh, so wed have to remove some of the vital, interlinking inscriptions for your other functions.


    T frowned. Couldnt I learn how to make it work manually?


    Holly held up a hand, palm down, waggling it back and forth. With practice, and I mean a <em>lot</em> of practice, you could probably get to the point of creating a general effect with reasonable consistency, but it would never be something Id advise you to count on.


    T thought for a long moment, then shrugged. Well, Ill try, so long as you dont think it will kill me.


    Oh, this wont kill you, directly. What I predict is youll practice and think yourself good enough. Then, youll depend on the skill in a moment of crisis, and it will fail.


    I never nned to rely on it. I just wanted another tool.


    Holly waved her off. The scripts Ill give you will be useful, regardless. If you wish to practice this oddity, be my guest, but it will never be a reliable tool. After a moments consideration, Holly shrugged. If you do choose to go this route, which I again state is insane, I suggest first learning mastery of sensing theposition of the air in your lungs. That would be a good foundation.


    T frowned. I can do that?


    Not yet. Thats why you need to learn and practice it.


    T rolled her eyes. You know, that reminds me, Mistress Holly: When I tried to look up the spell-form modifications for air, it stated that that was the realm of Archons. Does that mean this wont be a limit once I take that step?


    Holly scrunched up her face in irritation, then shook her head. No, not really. Archons often work effects into the air around them, such as shielding their aura from observation. That is likely what was meant. Air around us is much more consistent than air drawn into our lungs.


    Something about Hollys demeanor made T think that that wasnt all entirely true, but she decided not to press for the moment. <em>I suppose the core of it makes sense, regardless.</em> Well, it will be an interesting thing to try.


    Your other insanities have worked out better than Id have foreseen; so, who knows? Maybe, youll dazzle me again.


    T smiled, slightly, at thepliment, whether intentional or otherwise.


    And these scripts should keep you from killing yourself with your experimentation.


    <em>And, good feeling gone</em>


    Now, go eat something, dear. Your body is screaming its need for sustenance.


    She frowned. <em>I do feel pretty hungrywhat happened to the gallon of soup? Has it already been processed?</em> How can you tell?


    Now that Ive re-established the link, whenever you enter this building, and while you remain in it, the script on the back of your neck connects to my central archive, updating me on how your inscribings have functioned, as well as how youve been doing overall. You obviously know that it will keep me informed of your status, or it wouldnt work.


    T sighed. <em>Yet again, I underestimate whats been done to me.</em> Very well. Thank you, Mistress Holly.


    Hmmm? Oh, sure thing, dear.

 Chapter 76: Yay, Me…

    Chapter 76: Yay, Me¡­


    T was turning to leave Hollys workshop, and Terry had already flickered up to her shoulder, when Holly grunted.


    I forgot. For your other hand, I want to do something a bit more esoteric for you. It will require practice, but it should be incredibly useful, if you can make it work.


    T turned back towards the Mage. <em>The Archon.</em> Harder to use than my current offensive scripts?


    Yes. By quite a bit, actually.


    Harder than creating spell-forms in my lungs?


    Holly gave her a t look. Dont be tiresome.


    T found herself smiling. Do tell.


    I want you to have a constantly-active, gravity-maniption inscription.


    T blinked. That soundsdangerous? My current offensive abilities are locked behind a hand gesture.


    If you need that crutch for a while, I can incorporate it, but I think, eventually, we can get it to a simple state of mind. Your cognitive and nervous system enhancements should be able to sustain that.


    T frowned. Lets keep it locked behind a hand gesture for now, but I think I like the idea of something a bit more utilitarian.


    It will, by necessity, be weaker than your crushing attack, especially after we enhance that, and much less precise than your restrain, at least at first, but I think that, in the end, you might lose the need for those pre-scripted functions.


    Alright. Ill give it a try. <em>Shes an Archon, after all. I should listen to those wiser than mewhen I can.</em>


    Holly nodded, smiling. Ill finalize the scripts then, and well add them, tomorrow. She turned back to the te in her hand.


    T found herself frowning, looking at the back of her hand. <em>Wait a moment.</em> Mistress Holly? Where are the detailed scripts for my crush and restrain? I dont exactly have much of me free and open for such workings.


    Hmmm? Oh, the bulk of those are in your right breast.


    T blinked at her a few times. What?


    The three-dimensional scripts that enact the specifics of those effects reside within the tissue of your right breast. Ill be putting this new one in your left. Activation scripts and most of the metal reserves are, and will be, in your hands, of course.


    But T frowned. Why there?


    Well, around the regenerative inscribings, you had room. I saw no need to fundamentally alter the internal workings of the tissue there. She quirked a smile. Even when you have young children, we dont need to radically increase your ability to produce and hold milk, and I assumed that you didnt want your breasts to feel like someone had strapped rocks to your chest, so stiffening and strengthening the internal structures was unnecessary. Hence, free space for your other workings.


    T didnt really know how to process that. Isuppose that makes a sort of sense.


    Good. Holly responded in a monotone. Im d you approve of my work. Now, Im very busy, and you arent my only project. Be off with you and eat something. After a moment, she borated. Eat a lot of somethings. You read the book, your digestive system will be able to hold and process much more, far more efficiently. I want you to test its limits. Goodbye. With that, she turned and sat at a workbench, continuing her work across several tes.


    T shrugged and departed, Terry afortable weight on her shoulder.


    Having finished with Holly for the day, T made her way back through the city to acquire another food log from the restaurant at which shed eaten lunch. It wasnt a long walk, and she used the time to contemte her new inscribings, along with Hollys thoughts and ideas. No breakthroughs presented themselves, but T felt better for having taken the time.


    When she arrived at the eatery, following Hollys promptings, T bought two of the delicious things. <em>How have I already processed all that chowder</em> She had tough at herself. She hadnt even considered the fact that she had been filling up her stomach before it was to be inscribed. <em>Im d I didnt puke again. That would have been wasteful.</em>


    <em></em>Thankfully, that hadnt happened, and now she felt empty and hungry once again. The new inscribings in her digestive system were efficient, it seemed.


    <em>Wait One of the inscribings was to prevent the vomiting of non-toxic food was that one activated first?</em> That would be just like Holly.


    She caught a whiff of the food sitting before her and returned her attention to the meal.


    Terry watched with what T interpreted as slight amusement as she devoured both Little Caravans. T even used the remainder of the chowder as a drink, to wash down the food logs.


    What are you looking at, bird? Ive seen you eat so much more than this.


    Terry shook himself, almost seeming to roll his eyes, before he stretched out in thest vestiges of evening light.


    T found herself smiling. <em>This is sooooo good.</em> To her delight, she found that she still felt a bit hungry, even after she finished.<em> I get to eat more?</em> She hesitated, the implications sinking in. <em>Well, this isnt going to be very good for my money pouch</em> It seemed that the free food on caravan ventures might be a more valuable perk than shed ever guessed. <em>Though, I should slow down eventually, right?</em>


    The inscribings in her bodys storage mechanisms were simr to those on her muscles. Her fat could store dozens of times more calories without changing size, now, and she would need all of it. Her regenerative inscriptions pulled from those stores, and the scripts were interlinked so that her healing wouldnt be dependent on biological mechanisms to get the needed energy andpounds from her stores to the part of her in need of healing.


    <em>Eat more, survive more.</em> She grinned. <em>Im my own regenerative potion. I just need to be sure to stay topped off.</em> That was proving more problematic than she would have expected. <em>If only such potions werent just the stuff of myth</em> She hesitated. <em>Well, ending-berries seem to be behind some legends, maybe something else is behind healing and regenerative potions?</em>


    She could go in search of the origin of those myths but now was hardly the time. Needing more food, she wandered the area near the restaurant and bought arge selection of inexpensive foods. <em>Another silver, spent.</em>


    She was torn, obviously. She needed to be saving up to pay off her debts, but she also knew that if she encountered something truly dangerous to her, a few extra calories in her system could keep her alive. <em>My debts dont matter if Im dead</em> She decided not to camp on the ufortablyforting thought.


    In the end, she decided that she would allow herself the budget to eat six robust feasts a day, instead of three light meals, as she had been ustomed to before these changes.


    <em>So, three silvers a day, then. When not in a caravan.</em> It was a painfullyrge amount, when she contemted it. Even after she realized that shed spent more than that this day, without much consideration. <em>Easier to spend in the moment, than with intention, I suppose.</em>


    She licked her fingers clean of herst purchase, a deep-fried pastry that had been filled with a heavy, savory, cream sauce. <em>Delicious.</em>


    With a satisfied sigh, she turned towards home. <em>I need to do my practice, and theres really no good ce to do it within the city.</em> Maybe, the guards would let her use a space off to the side, so she wouldnt get in anyones way? It was worth asking.


    <em>Some of those auxiliary buildings looked unused, this morning. Maybe, I could use one of those.</em>


    Terry seemed content to snap up the oft tossed pieces of jerky as T meandered home. He hadnt been willing to eat the other food shed offered him. <em>In time, Terry. I will teach you the amazingness of all human food.</em> That got her thinking about Terry, in general.


    Do you need exercise, Terry?


    The bird regarded her for a moment, then blinked away and back, allowing a little longer dy than usual, to ensure she noticed.


    That is exercise to you?


    He bobbed a nod.


    Huh. Good to know, I guess. She smiled. Sorry to make you sprint for treats.


    He let out a vibrating almost-whistle: soft, low, and pleasantly melodic.


    Dont mind, eh?


    He shook himself, settling back down.


    Fair enough. She pulled out the current book for review and filled thest of the walk with silent reading.


    * * *


    T sat on the floor of her room, her body pleasantly worked and stretched.


    <em>Now, lets see what difference there is with Flow.</em>


    She drew the knife but remained seated.


    She tossed the weapon at the wall before her, and immediately called it back. As if on a string, the knife jerked to a stop, and whipped back into her waiting grasp.


    T grinned. <em>Yes!</em> It felt so much easier than before.


    What followed was a series of fast throws and retrievals. She tried calling the knife back and moving her hand out of the way, but the weapon unerringly came into her grasp.


    She could change which hand it came to, she could even cause it to p into any part of her that she wished, but she couldnt cause it to miss or fly past her. <em>So, I cant use this as a method for propelling it into an attack</em>


    Or could she?


    She searched around until she found a cutting board in Lyns kitchen; the other Mage wasnt home, yet.


    The knife rested on the living room table, as T held the cutting board over her right palm. <em>Here it goes!</em>


    She pulled the knife to her right hand.


    The weapon whipped across the intervening space and <em>thunked</em> into the cutting board, driving its point in and sticking in ce.


    <em>That was effective.</em> She frowned. <em>Well, if it didnt strike with enough force to go through the cutting board, it probably wouldnt prate an arcanous creature very deeply.</em> So, still not an effective weaponization of the ability. <em>Ill have to think of something else.</em>


    She continued her soul workout, until she started to feel weary in that regard. <em>Ok. Lets not overtax.</em>


    She returned to her room, sheathing the knife and sitting back down on the floor.


    <em>Alright, lets test for an Archon star.</em> She began to gather power in her finger, just as shed done before. As she did so, she made sure to pull from her gate, not from the reserves in her body.


    It felt painfully slow, cially so. <em>Whats happening?</em> At this rate, it would take her days to do what she had been aplishing in earlier attempts. She examined the flows within herself, finding that her power was being tapped to empower her myriad inscriptions. That wasnt new; shed noticed it when empowering the cargo-slots that morning, but there were now more than ever, and essentially all active, even if not all currently working.


    She didnt even bother making the Archon star spell-form, because she could tell that she just didnt have the avable power-flow. <em>I could pull from my reserves. That should make an effective star.</em> But the goal wasnt to make more stars like she had. She wanted to make a full-powered star, and her reserves were not sufficient to that task.


    <em>I could direct the entirety of my flow into the star.</em> But that would cause her inscriptions to drain her reserves. It wouldnt be a quick drain, but neither was the making of a star.


    Growling, she released what little power she had gathered back into the natural flows within herself. She needed to increase her power umtion rate. <em>Ok. My soul is exercised, so I should be able to stretch it, now.</em> She smiled determinedly to herself. <em>Yes, because my soul is a muscle, and must conform to all I think I know about strengthening those.</em>


    She shook her head, closing her eyes. <em>Its worth a shot, or at least a look.</em>


    She turned her mage-sight inward, focusing on her gate. To the best of her knowledge, that was the approximate location of the physical manifestation of her soul.<em> How have I never done this before?</em>


    Distractions fell away as she narrowed her intent on the keystone inscription, surrounding her gate, and slowly moved inward, doing her utmost to examine the source of her magic.


    * * *


    T found herself, body-less, her perspective floating in a clearing within a wooded valley. Before her towered a colossal mountain.


    She knew that she was still sitting on the floor of her room, but the experience <em>felt</em> real.


    Within her vision, she found herself inexorably drawn forward, towards the base of the nearby mountain.


    The trees were old-growth and lusciously beautiful. Their dark green canopy created a stunning, swaying green tint to the light.


    The undergrowth was sparse, and she didnt see any animals.


    After a short minute of movement, T came out of the forest and saw the base of thergest mountain, rising as a cliff from the valley floor. Set in the base of the cliff was a deep, wide pool. Set deep within that pool was what looked like a huge vault-door, currently hanging open.


    From the opening, water gushed forth, filling the pool from within and causing it to spill out into the valley, nurturing the growth therein.


    <em>Why is there a door? I never want it closed</em> The door was thrown wide, but even so, its mere presence seemed to restrict the flow, somewhat.


    <em>Investigate first, T.</em> She looked to the bubbling stream of water and began to follow it through the valley, away from the mountain and the pool.


    Within this vision, the water was fast flowing, and it quickly split into countless streams, each splitting further, until the main trunk of the waterway was miniscule. The side paths continued to diverge and diminish until they simply ended, the liquid absorbed fully into the fertile ground.


    She returned to the central flow and followed it to the other end of the valley. There, the barest hint of a waterfall trickled out, into the world outside.


    Fair enough, I suppose. Thats what I already understood. She almostughed. <em>Of course, my mental map of my magic is going to follow my understanding of such. Did you expect differently, T?</em>


    With a simple thought, she was back at the pool and the vault door.


    Her presence dipped into the pool, and she felt the buzz of energy from the liquid around her. <em>My reservoir of power.</em>


    She approached the door, examining it for a long moment.


    So, this is dumb and unneeded. She examined the hinges, and to her surprise, found that they seemed to have a simple mechanism to release the heavy contraption of metal to allow it to fall away. <em>Well, I was just going to look, but this seems designed to detach.</em>


    <em></em>No, T. That would be foolish. Dont go messing around with your power.


    <em>Its right there! Its designed for me to do this.</em>


    <em></em>Why? Why would it be designed to allow such?


    <em>Because I want it to be</em>


    Exactly. So. Is this wise?


    <em>Yes.</em>


    Why?


    <em>Because our magic functions based on our understanding, and that mechanism is a representation of my understanding. Therefore, it will function as I believe that it will.</em>


    There was actually some logic to that. T groaned. Fine. Fair enough.


    <em>Besides, if it fails and I die, Im done: Debt gone, problems solved.</em>


    She decided it was best not to follow that train of thought.


    Strangely, she had the odd sensation that she actually had this type of conversation with herself quite often but usually didnt pay this close attention.


    She gave a mental shrug and reached forward and activated that mechanism.


    The hinges popped open, the force of the water knocking the door away, where it instantly vanished, dissolving as if it had never been.


    The newly freed portion of the opening into the mountain allowed for a marginal increase of flow into her reservoir.


    And T began to scream.


    * * *


    T found herself writhing on her back, painncing outward from all across her keystone inscription. Heat like a bonfire radiated from her skin and a deep tearing sensation caused her vision to fuzz. She was utterly unable to make a sound, or even draw breath. <em>I thought I was screaming?</em> That must have just been an inner manifestation.


    Even so, she soon heard the sound of running feet.


    Lyn burst into the room, Terry beside her.


    The other woman dropped to her knees beside T, wiping something away from thetters mouth. T! Whats going on? Talk to me! She turned Ts head to the side, but T already knew she wouldnt vomit, despite the agony.


    T met Lyns gaze but couldnt speak. Instead, she arched and wed towards her own back.


    Seeming to understand something from the iling, Lyn forced T to sit up, having to leverage her up from above her head, then push her forward into a slumped, seated position from behind. She then stripped off Ts top. The elk leather seemed to know that T wanted it away, because it came off without difficulty. T didnt know if Lyn even undid the ties, first.


    Lyn gasped. T, whats going on? Your keystone parts of it look like theyre melting. As if in response to Lyns words, T heard liquid dripping onto the floor, along with a strange hissing. T, youre bleeding and leaking metal. Its hot enough to boil the blood. Lyn was surprisingly calm, all things considered. What do I do?


    T could feel her inscriptions working, already healing her skin and the deeper tissue as well, even as new portions were burned open, more metal expelled. <em>Why is it getting through the defenses?</em> She could feel the active defensive scripts on her back. It didnt do anything to prevent what was urring. She finally managed to pull in a breath and gasped out. Holly.


    Lyn nodded and tried to stand, carrying T.


    She failed.


    Lyn struggled to lower T back to the floor, on her side this time, then ran towards the door. She hesitated in the doorway, looking back at T. Ill be as fast as I can.


    T couldnt muster a reply from where shey.


    A momentter, Lyn was gone, and T was alone in her agony.


    Well, notpletely alone. Terry came over to hunker down next to her face. He looked concerned, somehow. <em>How can I interpret emotions on an avian face?</em> Well, she could, so now was hardly the time to analyze it.


    She felt unable to move, barely able to think. It was as if something was digging into her back, paralyzing her, locking her in ce.


    Over the next half hour, the pain moved across her keystone in waves, the damage always healing shortly after the bits of metal were expelled.


    At longst, T groaned, able to move once more. She rolled onto her stomach putting her tear-covered face to the floor. The stone was cold on the bare skin of her chest and abdomen, erratically interspersed with the wetness of drying blood and oddly smooth lumpiness of now cooled bits of metal.


    A few minutester, she heard the front door open, and Holly and Lyn came in with quick steps.


    They hesitated in the doorway, and there was a long pause before the two women stepped in. One, Lyn if T had to guess, waited just inside Ts room, the other circled her on the floor.


    <em>Like a vulture. </em>T didnt feel like lifting her head.


    Child. What have you done to your keystone? She continued to circle. It looks like all portions for closing your gate have been removed.


    Lyn, who was near the door, took in a sharp breath.


    Holly grunted. Those portions werent really needed for her, anyways, but Id nned on simply letting them fade. What did you do? She repeated herself.


    T groaned, again. Her head was turned to the side, now, but her hair covered her face. She spoke through that impediment. I was examining my gate with my mage-sight, and I noticed that the ability to close it off was restricting the flow. So, I took the door off its hinges.


    Hollyughed mirthlessly. Mistress T. Magic works on intent and ability. In effect, you caused your body and magic to reject that portion of the inscribing. Your power and flesh then worked to remove it, so it could no longer act upon you.


    T grunted. There was an obvious mechanism for removing the door. Why would it be there, if I wasnt supposed to, or it would be harmful?


    Did you want it removed?


    T grunted. <em>Oh </em>Is this unusual?


    No, it is quitemon in those who havent gone through Academy training, especially if their inscriber doesnt ensurepatibility beforeying the spell-forms. It <em>is</em> unusual for a fully trained Mage to be foolish enough, however.


    She groaned, again. Yay, me.


    You are lucky that you arent a Material Creator. When they have a reaction like this She sighed. The regeneration scripts have kept you whole, and your inscriptions seem to have kept their other functions intact. In this case, I will say dont worry, I could tell if they were otherwise broken. As usual, youve done something that would have seriously injured almost anyone else Ive ever worked with.


    T grunted. Yay, me


    The process seemsplete. Get yourself cleaned up, put on a shirt, and then well talk about <em>exactly</em> what happened. Yes?


    Yes, Mistress Holly. She spoke into the floor and her own hair.


    Holly didnt respond. Instead, she walked from the room, drawing Lyn after her.


    Lyn spoke over her shoulder. Ill get the bath heating, T.


    T grunted her thanks.


    The door was pulled closed, and she slowly pushed herself up.


    Her front was liberally speckled with dried blood, and bits of metal were held to her skin by the crusty red adhesive. She sighed, brushing it off. The sensation was oddly satisfying. As she moved, she felt simrly encrusted portions on her back. <em>Probably more, there</em>


    She heard the water running in the bath room across the hall. It cut off shortly after.


    <em>So, not a full bath, just enough for me to get cleaned up.</em> That made sense, she supposed.


    She gathered up her elk-skin tunic and crossed the empty hall. The small amount of water in the tub was already warmed by the small fire beneath.

 Chapter 77: Already Lost to the World

    Chapter 77: Already Lost to the World


    T came out of her quick wash in less than five minutes. The small amount of water had heated quickly, so shed put out the fire before shed even gotten into the tub.


    She took a moment to clean up the blood from her floor and gather the bits of gold, putting them in a small cloth and storing it within Kit. <em>Ill have to get them changed back into currency Or maybe Holly can use them?</em>


    Now clean once more, dry, and fully dressed, T sat in the living room with Lyn and Holly.


    The two women listened intently as T told them what had led up to her bodys rejection of a portion of her inscribings, and they both sat in thought for long minutes after she had finished.


    Finally, T was sick of the silence. Well?


    Holly looked up to her. Well, what?


    Did I break something? Should I avoid looking at my gate with my mage-sight? What?


    Holly sighed. Technically, you broke a portion of your keystone, and it was expelled, but I think you knew that. Otherwise, from what I could see, you seem to have left everything else intact and functional. I did already tell you that.


    Why didnt my defensive scripts prevent me from bleeding or my skin from breaking open?


    Simple answer? Because those defensive measures function by keeping your body working normally. Your bodys expulsion of a foreign, unwanted material was a normal function, or as close to it as could be. So, your magics had nothing to work against.


    So Im not protected against my own body killing me?


    Holly shrugged. I dont actually know. Im not sure what extent would have been allowed, but I doubt that you could have actually died.


    T grunted. She pulled out the bits of gold. Can you use these?


    Holly took the cloth in which T presented them, looking at the red-stained pieces. She sighed. Ill clean them and weigh them. Ill give you a fair price, tomorrow afternoon.


    T smiled. Works for me.


    Lyn looked up, then, clearly a bit stressed. I need to know: Why are you doing experiments, here? Its really unpleasant to continually find you in some form of distress She sighed. Dont misunderstand me, Im d that I was here, and that I could help, but She nced away.


    Im sorry, Lyn. I dont really have another ce to practice, yet. I think Ill have one, starting tomorrow, but She frowned. Where do Mages go to practice, generally?


    The two other women looked at each other, then back to T, speaking in seemingly unnned unison. The wilds.


    They both smiled slightly. T grunted. Fair, I suppose Id rather not have to walk out beyond the city every day just to practice


    Hollys smile grew. Honestly, it depends on what you want to practice. Healers, regardless of quadrant, have plenty of ces they can practice, so do most Material mages, either Creators or Guides. Mostly, though? She shrugged. Its on missions. Inscribings are too expensive to burn through for practice alone.


    Im not using my inscribings to practice.


    And the best Mages do likewise, but in the wilds.


    T sighed. Fair enough. I might have a ce I can go. Its one of the Guardsmans Guild training grounds. She then frowned. <em>Speaking of the guards</em> Mistress Holly, how do the guards use magic?


    Holly took a moment, seeming to consider before she answered. All creatures, humans included, use magic almost constantly. It helps the being aplish their goals, and augments their physicality, if just slightly. Holly was nodding to herself. As the magic acts, it flows through the flesh, and leaves an impression. With enough repetition, that impression bes a pathway, through which magic flows more easily. If the being, in this case a human, knows what they are trying to do, that satisfies the requirement for a mental construct. Thus, they have a form, a mental construct, and their own power.


    The requirements to work magic.


    Precisely.


    But they arent inscribed.


    They dont need to be. They arent doing anything unnatural, so the body can be the temte for the working. There would be no way for one of them to, say, manifest a gravity maniption; there simply isnt any basis within the human body to even begin to create those spell-forms.


    So, without inscribing, we cant do anything unnatural?


    Holly hesitated, then shook her head, sighing. There are records of ancient warriors, burning themselves over and over again, very precisely and under incredibly controlled conditions, to imprint the pathways for heat and fire within themselves. From what Ive gathered, it was only possible with healers nearby, whether herbal, alchemical, or magical. It wasnt often sessful, and it usually resulted in horrible disfigurement. She smiled ruefully. Inscriptions bypass that need. Its expensive, and has to be maintained and refreshed regrly, but it works exactly as intended.


    <em>Like Emi. Her bodys natural magical pathways perfectly mirrored the magic of her inscriptions. </em>Ts eyes widened in realization. Then, wouldnt the inscriptions be unnecessary, in time?


    Holly shrugged. Yes, and no. As the pathways settle into the body, that allows the power to flow more efficiently, thus the effects created can be greater. Eventually, the inscriptions wouldnt be needed, but without them, the potency of the spell-forms would radically decrease. Few are willing to make that trade-off, especially since most who are Mages for that long have the avable funds to spend on inscriptions, and it does help. She smiled. Also, Mages are prone to change their inscriptions fairly often. That is a flexibility afforded to us by inscriptions. Without the consistency and long-term application of specific magics, the body cannot form sufficient natural pathways for the magic to function bio-magically, without inscription.


    <em>Thats why she wanted to get me transitioned over and settled on my new schema so quickly.</em> Is there any way to speed up the process?


    Of course. Spell-forms that are always active set faster. Otherwise, using them as often as possible builds the paths.


    But Mages dont really practice in that way.


    It is quite expensive.


    After a moment, T nodded. Thats why you wanted my scripts to be always active?


    One reason, yes. Your scripts lend themselves to being active at all times, as well.


    Well thank you?


    Holly smiled. Well get you all sorted. Im happy to help. You are a very interesting specimen, and I expect to have learned a lot from you before were through. Especially after you be an Archon.


    Lyn sighed, interjecting for the first time a little while. I knew it. This has something to do with that stupid spell-form too, doesnt it?


    Holly nced to the woman. What do you mean?


    Lyn shrugged. My master, before I left her charge, showed me the spell-form for an Archon star. She said I should work my way through her practice exercises, until I could create a stable star within a material. She said a lot more, but it always seemed pretty useless to me.


    Holly blinked owlishly at the Mage. YouYour master rmended you for the path of Archon, and you havent pursued making an Archon star.


    Didnt seem useful.


    Are you aware that thats how you be an Archon?


    Of course. Im not an idiot. If I became an Archon, Id have to be moved to upper logistical positions. I like my work as I am.


    Hollys eye twitched. You dont have to ept further positions, if you dont want to. You wont receive an Archons pay, in all likelihood, but that doesnt seem to bother you.


    But whats the point?


    Holly opened her mouth and closed it several times. Finally, she rubbed her forehead with one palm. To improve! To get better. To- She cut herself off and groaned. There is <em>so</em> much that cannot be even attempted until you are an Archon. Please, for the love of all that shines, work on your star, Mistress Lyn.


    Lyn let out a weary sigh. Fine, if you think its so important.


    It is. Holly rubbed her temples. How many worthy Mages havent ascended because they saw no point? She let out a low growl. The current policies are maddening.


    T quirked a smile. So why do they exist?


    Holly smiled sadly. Because it is better to lose out on a few potential Archons than to have hundreds of perfectly adequate Mages kill themselves attempting to ascend.


    Lyn cleared her throat. So no. Then, Im not doing it.


    Holly practically ground her teeth. If your master thought enough of you that she taught you about Archon stars, then you are capable, and the danger is miniscule.


    But it still exists?


    Holly threw up her hands. You could choke and die on a grape. Yes, there is still danger. What are you, thirteen?


    Im thirty-six.


    Holly gave Lyn an incredibly patronizing look.


    T frowned. Wait youre thirty-six?


    Yes? How old did you think I was? Lyn had a quizzical look on her face.


    T shrunk down in her seat, just a bit. Liketwenty five?


    Lyn barked augh, and Holly snorted in amusement. Well, I suppose I should be ttered? My mother looked twenty at fifty, and she wasnt even a Mage, so I suppose I shouldnt be surprised


    <em>Shes thirty-six?</em> T didnt really know how to handle that. <em>She could almost be my mother</em>


    Holly closed her eyes for a long moment, breathing deeply. As entertaining as this has been, I need to go. Im in the middle of quite a few things. She looked to T. Im d you didnt die. Work towards your star. She turned to Lyn. You wont die from this. Work towards your star. She narrowed her eyes, looking back and forth between the two women until they both nodded, T easily, Lyn reluctantly. Good. She stood. Goodbye.


    Without another word, the woman departed.


    Well that was something. T smiled at Lyn. So, thirty-six?


    As far as I know. I am ttered that you thought me so much younger than I am.


    T dropped her gaze; a bit uncertain where to take the conversation. <em>Archon stars. That should be safe.</em> Do you know what material youre going to use?


    Lyn frowned. You too? Her frown faded to a look of defeat. Finemy understanding is that diamond is an easy medium, and I can probably get one fairly inexpensively. She nced Ts way. Do you need one, too? Or are you using a different material?


    T looked away, clearing her throat. A different material.


    Care to share?


    She hesitated, looking back. Promise you wont try it? Or tell anyone else?


    Lyn shifted forward, a half-smile tugging at her lips. Now, I have to know. I wont tell, and I wont try it. Im barely willing to try the easiest method I know of. Knowing you, youre doing something truly insane.


    T quirked a smile at that. You arent wrong. She pulled out her iron vial, feeling the faint connection with the star inside. Here. Be careful when you open it.


    Lyn frowned but took the vial. She spun the cap free and stared inside. T


    Yes?


    That looks like blood.


    Thats because it is blood.


    Its not dried. How did you keep it from drying? She looked up but didnt leave space for T to answer. Am I to understand that your intention is to make an Archon star in blood?


    T nodded, opening her mouth, but Lyn kept talking.


    I was right. Youre insane. T, that isnt possible. My master said that Archon stars have to have a solid, dense medium.


    Use your mage-sight.


    Lyn frowned butplied. Did you modify the blood? Give it a structure that could She blinked in obvious confusion. T?


    Yes?


    What is this?


    A weak Archon star.


    Lyns head snapped up. This is an Archon star.


    A weak one, yes. Thats what I said.


    And youve already made it.


    You can see that I have.


    So, why arent you an Archon? She shook her head. What am I saying you shouldnt be anywhere near bing an Archon.


    Its too weak. I could probably force my way into being recognized, though I have no idea about the specifics of that, but it would hurt my position among other Archons...somehow. I need to make a stronger one, first. She shrugged. Well, thats what Ive been told, several times.


    Does Holly know about this? She held the vial up, after cing the cap back on, securely.


    She does. She is one of those who advised I work on making a stronger one.


    Thats why she wants you to work on your star She was shaking her head. Youre insane.


    I didnt do it on purpose. T felt a bit petnt. <em>But its true!</em>


    Lynughed. Of course, you didnt.


    T briefly exined how shede to form her first star.


    After the tale, Lyn was smiling. That is very you, T.


    I try?


    They both grinned at that. Well, at least my life wont ever be boring, with you around.


    So You need to practice, and I need to do some experimenting Can I do it here?


    Lyn gave her a long look. If I say No, youre going to go find an alley or somece to do it in, anyways, arent you?


    Probably.


    She groaned. Fine. My master left me a set of exercises to work up to the creation of an Archon star. I suppose Ill focus on those.


    T perked up at that. Oh?


    Lyn smiled, slightly. More interesting than experimenting?


    My experiments were attempting to pin down such exercises. <em>In a really, really roundabout way</em>


    Well, let me get my old notebook and see what we can do.


    * * *


    Three hourster, T wasnt sweating, but she felt like she should be. The exercise was rigorous.


    They had begun simply, the instructions short: Draw all the power within her reserves away from her gate, creating a void around it. It was simple in concept, but truly straining in practice.


    T had an advantage at first, given her practice drawing her power away from the healing scripts in her finger, along with pulling back the ending-berry power, any time she needed to enact a transaction.


    Lyn, being an Immaterial Creator, had a harder time manipting her own internal magic in general, but she was quickly able to pick up the technique.


    The result was amazing. The deficit in magic just around the gate caused a cavalcade of power to flow through, seemingly in an attempt to even out the levels. During that time, T estimated that her power-flow was easily quadrupled, but she couldnt maintain it for more than a minute, at least not at first.


    Lyns master had said that the final stage of the exercise, which she should work towards, was to hold a small void of power around her gate at all times.


    It was a daunting goal.


    Lyn had managed three minutes on her first attempt, once shed been able to manipte her power enough to attempt it at all.


    <em>Was that because shes older? Less power-dense?</em> T didnt know, and it didnt really matter.


    They had spent the three hours tackling this single exercise. In the end, T could hold the void for ten minutes, and Lyn for fifteen. It was growingte, and they were both mentally exhausted.


    That was nice. T smiled. Im not used to working beside someone else. Not on the same thing, at least.


    Lyn smiled in return. Yeah. I think I liked that quite a bit.


    The house felt uniquely saturated in power. As neither of them had directed their increased flows of power into anything, it had simply flowed outward, dispersing into the air.


    T could see a slow drain, pulling the power from the air and down into the ground. <em>Feeding the city.</em> Simrly, the items she carried seemed to be drinking in the magic from around them, at least those she could see.


    Weve raised the power-levels to near those around Alefast.


    Oh? Lyns mage-sight activated, and a wide grin spread across her face. So, we have.


    I should probably find something to do with the excess


    Lyn rolled her eyes. You dont need to be perfectly efficient, T.


    True, but if theres something easy that I can do?


    Lyn smiled, pulling out her notebook. Well, the second step will likely solve that. I can tell you, now?


    Sure.


    At the moment, we are simply allowing the increased flow to fill us, the excess flowing away on its own.


    T nodded.


    The next step is to control the increased inflow of power, splitting it in two. We are to divert the amount we usually use into our body and its inscriptions and send the rest outward.


    Butthats what were doing already?


    Lyn shook her head. Right now, we are allowing a river to flow into a leaky cup. Sure, most overflows, but what this is saying is that we want to direct a small portion of the river into the cup, just enough to maintain its level, and have the rest bypass the cup entirely.


    T found herself nodding, again. And that excess can be directed into anything. This second step just lets it dissipate into the surrounding air, but Id bet the third has us put it into something? A magic-bound item, or?


    Lyn looked back at her notes but was already nodding. Precisely that. She rmended that once that was mastered, I should split the power into thirds. She met Ts gaze, a serious expression apparent on her face. Dont rush this T. We are nowhere near mastering even the first step. My master said I could move through the steps of this exercise when I believed I was ready, but I still want to be cautious. She closed the notebook. She did say that the second, different exercise shouldnt be attempted, until I could maintain the void every waking moment. She gave T a stern look. That means I wont be letting you know what it is, until then.


    T chuckled. Fair enough. But you should probably get a magic-bound item, so we arent walking around dumping power into the citys air.


    Lyn smiled at that. Thats probably true. I dont want the City Watch to get irritated at unexpected fluctuations in the power matrices.


    We could take a trip back to Alefast, to get you an artifact.


    She shook her head. No, a simple item is better for me. I know Ill have to keep getting it re-inscribed, but Ill find something reasonable.


    As you wish. Oh! You could get an incorporator.


    Lyn gave her a long look, then rolled her eyes. Ill consider an incorporator, and Ill go with you to Alefast, after were Archons. Not immediately, mind you, but sometime after.


    Deal! T smiled at her friend, then let out a weary sigh. But now, we should sleep.


    To sleep we go.


    T hesitated, realizing something. Did you get dinner?


    Lyn hesitated too, then snorted augh. I didnt. She looked to the window, seeing that full dark had fallen. I dont really want to go out, either. Ill be fine.


    T waved that away. My treat. Ill go get something for us and be right back. <em>A new exercise deserves celebration. Im not starting my budget until tomorrow, anyway.</em>


    Well, if you insist. Ill take it as an apology for earlier, and I did want to read another chapter or two Lyn patted a book, which sat beside her chair.


    Great! Ill be back, shortly. <em>Apology? Oh for breaking myself, a little, in her house Sure. That too.</em>


    Lyn was already opening the volume, eyes flicking over the page to find her ce. Take your time. Her voice was a half mutter.


    <em>Already lost to the world.</em> Terry?


    The bird appeared on her shoulder. She watched him for a moment, noticing his deep, long breaths. The power in the air was still dissipating into the ground and her magic items. To her surprise, there was a flow towards Terry as well, and not just into his cor. He seemed to be reveling in the ambient power.


    Does that feed you, too?


    Lyn nced up, having been temporarily pulled back out of her book. Terry didnt seem to mind, or he didnt notice. The bird bobbed, contentedly, his eyes half-closed.


    Well, d to assist, I suppose. Is there a danger of you bing magic-bound to us? As soon as she said it, she realized that it was a silly question. No you cant be magic-bound to more than one source.


    Lyn cleared her throat. Once undirected power leaves a Mage, it quickly loses the unique signature of the source, and disperses into ambient magic.


    Huh. Good to know.


    Lyn was already back to her reading.


    Well, see you soon!


    She grunted, waving absently without looking up. "Be safe."

 Chapter 78: Group Breakfast Deal

    Chapter 78: Group Breakfast Deal


    Lyn stared down at the food log before her. What even is this? She picked it up, examining it from all sides. Can a single person eat it? She was bouncing it up and down slightly, seeming to be testing its heft.


    T quirked a smile. Well, I ate two for dinner.


    Lyn gave her a t look. Can a <em>normal</em> person eat this?


    T scoffed. Im hurt, Lyn.


    No, youre not.


    Fair enough.


    Lyn hesitated. Wait, T <em>This</em> is dinner. Are you telling me that you already ate two of these, earlier this evening?


    That may or may not be the case.


    She sighed, rolling her eyes. Fine, keep your secrets. She lifted the log a bit, returning to the earlier topic. Sowhats it called?


    Right! Its called a Little Caravan. I guess because it carries so much amazingness in one package? I think that one is a standard meal. Oh, this particr variant is called the Little Cheesy Caravan, likely because its double wrapped, with ayer of melted cheese between the wrappings. I just call it a food log.


    I think I like ''little cheesy caravan,'' more.


    Food log is shorter.


    Lyn gave T a long-suffering look, eventually shaking her head slightly and returning her attention to the food log. Well, here it goes. Lyn lifted the food log up and took a bite. Her eyes opened wide. This is amazing! Whats the name of the restaurant?


    Anachronistic Delights.


    Lyn clucked her tongue, consideringly. Interesting name.


    T shrugged. Probably means something to the owner.


    Lyn took another bite and let out a contented sigh, speaking around the food. Meh, who cares; this is amazing.


    So, you said. T grinned and tore into her own food log. <em>Money well spent.</em> This time, shed gotten extra of the thick, green, veggie sauce. It added an additional robust, creamy vor to the already incredible medley.


    The two ate inpanionable silence.


    T let her mind wander as she ate. The magic that she and Lyn had pumped into the air within the home had already faded. <em>The citys collectors are quite efficient.</em> The exercise that theyd been doing was fascinating in concept. It didnt open her gate any wider, at least not directly, but it increased the amount of powering through greatly. If she was right in her estimation, that increased flow was causing the gate to widen, but as a secondary effect. But it didnt seem to be a quick process.


    <em>Still, quadrupling my umtion rate, even if just for short bursts, is amazing. This is definitely worth pursuing.</em>


    Continuing to eat, she focused within herself and created the void around her gate, pulling her magic back with an effort of will. The power-flow instantly increased. With Lyns earlier words in mind, T attempted to take a more active role in the distribution of that power. She split roughly a fourth off, allowing it to flow into her body and scripts as usual, and the rest, she pulled away.


    <em>Where to put this?</em> Her hands were full of the food log, so she couldnt easily direct it into any of her items. She really did feel like sending it into the air was a waste.


    <em>Flow!</em> The knife was connected to her soul, so she didnt need any sort of physical contact with the weapon to send it power. It didnt need the power, of course, but every bit that she actively put in would increase the strength of their bond and deepen the well that that tool could draw upon. <em>Im sure theres a limit, or a threshold, but Im not there, yet.</em>


    She directed three quarters of her increased draw into the knife. It absorbed the magic like deep, desert sands taking in water.


    As T focused, she realized that a quarter of the power was more, if just barely, than her body and active scripts needed,bined, as they were both benefiting from that portion of the influx. She did her utmost to carefully adjust the amounts until only the needed amount went to her physical form. <em>There.</em> It was not easy to maintain such a precise bnce, but it was bing easier by the moment.


    Lyn shuddered slightly, opening her eyes and focusing on T. What are you doing?


    Hmm?


    What are you doing, T?


    Oh, Im just practicing.


    Lyn sighed. Cant you just enjoy the meal?


    Im doing both. T took another big bite, relishing the harmonizing vors.


    Lyn shook her head, taking ast bite and setting fully half the food log back on the te before her. Im full.


    T ate thest bite of her own, leaving her hands empty as she savored the mouthful before swallowing. Really?


    This is much too much food for me. Lyn hesitated, looking to Ts empty te. Do youwant the rest?


    T brightened. Are you sure?


    Lyn pushed the te across the table, pulling out her book, again. Enjoy. I bet this would be a pain to reheat. I can get another tomorrow.


    T picked up the food, happily. They do sell smaller versions. She pondered for a moment. Even Littler Caravans? She shook her head. No, this was called the Biggest Little Cheesy Caravan. Im sure they have a medium Little Caravan, or something like that.


    That makes no sense.


    T shrugged. I didnt make up the names.


    Lyn sighed, leaning back, handsing to rest on her stomach. That was quite good. Thank you, T.


    T smiled around a new mouthful.


    So, I suppose I should be doing the exercise every time I think of it, too?


    T nodded, mouth still full.


    Very well


    T saw a flood of power immediately begin to radiate from the other Mage. T swallowed. We really should get you a magic-bound item, or an innocuous incorporator.


    Lyn sighed but didnt stop. Ill look into it, tomorrow.


    T smiled and took another bite, all the while maintaining the void around her gate, and the two flows of power into her body and knife. It did feel odd, keeping a portion of her self bereft of power, but she was getting used to it. Thankfully, the magic void was not at a surface level, so she wasnt creating a vulnerability in her defenses. It wasnt at a physical level at all. Her gate was <em>deeper</em>, somehow, than the flesh it connected with.


    T had just finished her food, or rather the second half of Lyns food, and Lyn was still going strong with her practice, when T had to release her hold on the power within herself, slowing the umtion of power. She stood, stretching.


    Lyn?


    The woman looked up from her book and smiled. Yes?


    Im supposed to ask you to schedule my meeting with a senior guild official.


    Lyns smile moved towards a smirk. I <em>thought </em>I saw you drop by the guild. She nodded. Sure. Ill do the scheduling, tomorrow.


    Great. When should I show up?


    Lyn gave her a long look. Ill knowtomorrow.


    Ohright. T nced away, feeling a bit foolish. <em>Of course, she wouldnt know now</em> Goodnight, Lyn.


    Good night, T. Sleep well.


    You, too.


    * * *


    T woke early, as usual. She smiled up at her in ceiling, stretching under her nket. <em>Good morning!</em> She felt fantastic.


    After shed filled the tub and started the fire beneath it to heat the water, she returned to her room for her morning routine.


    She moved through her physical exercises, doing her utmost to maintain the void around her gate, throughout. She kept the excess power streaming into Flow.<em> Waste not</em>


    The split concentration made it even harder for her to bnce through theplex movements, but she was beginning to get the hang of her strengthened body. As such, she only fell a few times.


    She also did her utmost to keep her breathing in the correct patterns, along with maintaining the other things Adam had taught her.


    It was a fairlyplicated conglomeration of things to focus on, and she had no doubt that shed have been unable to even attempt it, if not for her enhancements.


    Her stretching and physical exerciseplete, T stripped down and headed for her bath. <em>Ill get the hot water incorporator today. That will remove the need for the fire.</em>


    She put out that fire before climbing into the tub.


    <em></em>T had to release the void and rest for a few minutes, before she returned to that exercise. It certainly felt like she could hold for a bit longer each time, and the instructions given to Lyn by her master had indicated that this exercise was tailored to be safe. Once she felt recovered from it, she was recovered. There was no danger of injury due to repetitive strain over a short timeframe, so long as she followed the instructions.


    <em>Thank all for that.</em>


    She finished up and allowed the water to drain away. A few minutester, clean, dry, dressed, and refreshed, T came out into the empty living room. <em>Lyns still asleep?</em>


    She nced at a window and saw it was still dark out. <em>What time is it?</em>


    T had simply gotten up when shed awoken. She felt rested, but she really didnt know how long shed slept. Shed always trusted her body to wake once it had the rest it needed. <em>Maybe, I should get a clockor pocket watch?</em> Those could be incredibly expensive; the mundane ones were almost as much as their magical counterparts, if she remembered correctly.


    She sighed. <em>Yet more things to eat up my funds</em> Her stomach made a resonant, forlorn, gurgling wail, and T found herself grinning. Alright, alright. Ill go find something to eat.


    She looked around, Terry was nowhere to be seen, so she returned to her room.


    There he was, curled up on her pillow. <em>Huh</em> She renewed her internal void and sat, considering. <em>Should I let him sleep? And just read until he wakes up? </em> That probably wasnt necessary; he did seem to sleep a lot, during the day.


    <em></em>Terry?


    One of the avian eyes popped open, regarding her.


    Im leaving.


    He groaned with a deep, trilling sound, but was instantly on her shoulder, eyes closed once more.


    Well, that works, I suppose. She stood and departed. <em>If hes actually sleeping, how does he stay bnced?</em> It was a question for another time.


    The streets were still dark as she strode through Bandfast. <em>Lets see I remember seeing a clock tower around here somewhere</em>


    She did, indeed, find the tower in question shortly after. <em>Seven past four in the morning.</em> It wasnt as early as she had feared, thankfully, but still too early to reliably find food. She groaned in irritation, pulling out a hunk of jerky to chew on in the meantime.


    She flicked a bit to the side, and Terry caught it without seeming to move. Only the slow grinding of some inner parts of his beak, andck of meat hitting the ground, indicated that hed taken the bite.


    T found a park near a breakfast ce, thetter of which was still closed. She sat on a deceptivelyfortable bench and pulled out one of Hollys books. <em>It should open in an hour or two. I can wait.</em>


    She spent the time reading the book and practicing the maintenance of the void.


    After what seemed like a surprisingly short period, T was pulled from her tasks by the sound of a lock grating within a door. She looked up and saw lights on within the eatery, a worker unlocking the front door. <em>Magic lights, eh?</em> They did provide a much more consistent, reliable illumination. Even a copper inscribed item could provide days of light, if done properly, with the added benefit of being able to be turned off. <em>Yeah, if I had a business, Id invest in such lights.</em> They were likely hooked into the city grid for power. <em>Cheaper than using harvests.</em>


    More importantly, however, the ce was open now. <em>Hey! Very nice.</em>


    She could still see the clock tower. <em>Six in the morning already?</em>


    The two hours had passed without leaving much of an impression. <em>Still, I finished another set of reviews.</em>


    In fact, she was well into the third set of topics shed decided to tackle.


    In addition, if her estimates were right, she could now hold the void for nearly twenty minutes, even while splitting the power between her physical self and Flow. That thought made her think back. <em>Ahh, right. Im in the middle of my sixth cycle of the exercise, arent I?</em>


    She closed the book, tucked it into Kit, and stood. Breakfast time.


    She was the first customer through the door, but as she entered, she saw other people moving about on the street outside. She likely wouldnt be alone in the restaurant for long.


    Hello! Wee, and good morning. What can I get for you?


    T looked over the menu. <em>I need to get some jugs to buy coffee in bulk</em> Morning to you. I think a coupleno four, breakfast sandwiches, and thergest coffee you have.


    The young man hesitated. Well, we sometimes sell coffee by the gallon, when a foreman wants to treat their workers, or for simr situations. Are you looking for that amount?


    She found herself grinning, almost uncontrobly. Oh, yes. How much would that be?


    A silver, if you dont have a container. Half that, with one, assuming its clean and easily usable. His eyes flicked to Terry, and he smiled. Thats a beautiful bird. Does it have a name?


    Thank you, his name is Terry. She smiled in return. As to the order, I can keep the container in the first case? Then use it as my container to get the cheaper rateter on?


    Of course. He looked back to Terry. Good morning, Terry.


    Terry cracked an eye, and let out a little, drowsy chirp.


    Hes pretty neat.


    I like him. She patted the supposedly sleeping bird. How much for the sandwiches?


    Twelve copper. He hesitated. But, if you want, we can do a group breakfast deal. His smile shifted back towards one of professionalism, rather than friendly interest.


    Oh?


    Its six sandwiches, and a container of coffee, for one and a half silver ounces.


    T frowned, her coffee-less brain doing quick math. <em>Thats almost a quarter ounce, silver, in savings.</em> Thats fantastic! Ill do that. She hesitated. Why the deal?


    The young man shrugged. A few other eateries have started opening as early as we do, some earlier, and the boss wants to keep our customers loyal, at least those who buy a lot. He quirked a wry smile.


    She shrugged. Makes sense, I suppose. Thank you. Is that deal avable with the discount, if I bring back the container?


    The worker smiled. If its clean, empty, and usable, as I said before? Then, yes, that would drop the deal price by a half silver. Ill get that started for you.


    She nced to his name tag, then back up to grin at him. Bnar, I think Im going to be a regr, whenever Im in town.


    The young man was surprisingly quick at his job, and she left in less than ten minutes, cloth sack containing the sandwiches and earthenware jug full of coffee, both safely tucked away in Kit.


    Shed been right, and quite a few customers hade in after her, but Bnar was already handling them quickly, efficiently, and professionally. <em>I dont think I could do that job.</em> She pulled out one of the sandwiches, taking arge bite.


    It was a heavy, whole grain bread with a sausage patty, fried eggs, chopped bacon, and a savory yellow sauce that tied it all together. <em>Ohmy Im so d that I found this ce.</em> It was quite good, to say the least.


    She ate the sandwiches as she walked towards the work-yard, only pausing to take deep swigs from the jug of coffee. Each of the six masterpieces was varied, and the eatery''s menu indicated at least two dozen morebinations to try. Shed liked the first one the most, so far, but she appreciated the variety more than she likely would have liked six sandwiches of the same type. <em>I never considered the downside to eating so much. Im going to have to be careful to avoid bing sick of certain foods.</em>


    She was just licking her fingers clean of the red sauce from thest treat when she arrived. T was quite d to have eaten, and to be arriving at her first destination so early. <em>Im getting into a good pattern.</em> She grinned. The sun still wasnt up, on this autumn morning, and she was well into her tasks for the day.


    True, shed paid a bit more for breakfast than shed nned, but it should mean less expensive breakfasts going forward. <em>And I got the jug Id been hoping for, so...</em> She shrugged. <em>My budget can be flexible.</em>


    There were a couple of guards patrolling, but the work-yard was otherwise empty of people, and the guards didnt give her more than a cursory nce and slight bow. Her cargo-slots stood to one side, and she saw other groupings of cargo-slots and some of cargo wagons, which she assumed were for other Mages to empower for their own ventures. <em>Were there others, before?</em> Probably. She thought back and realized that, yes, there had often been other cargo items in the work-yards shed empowered cargo-slots in. <em>Never really paid much attention, I suppose.</em>


    The guards moved on as she walked towards her task. <em>I guess I look like I belong?</em> She had no idea how they assessed possible threats.<em> They could probably tell Im a Mage.</em> Their bows lent weight to that assumption. <em>Dealing with a Mage is likely above their paygrade.</em>


    T shrugged and smiled, a thoughting to her as she refocused on her purpose, there. <em>I can divert into the cargo-slots.</em>


    She walked to the start of the line, right hand outstretched. Her gate was gushing into the magic starved void that she currently maintained around it.


    It was a mild additional effort to interpose the mental construct and funnel the power through it as she touched the first charging panel, but it seemed to work well enough.


    Every indicating symbol red to life instantly, glowing fiercely in the early-morning dark.


    It was too much power.


    She snatched her hand back, allowing the void within her to fill, her eyes widening. <em>Rusting, really?</em>


    Surprised, she thought back, remembering that shed been able to charge the cargo-slots the day before in mere seconds by shunting her full flow into each. <em>Right.</em>


    Thankfully, she was able to see the cargo-slot bleeding off the excess power.


    Then, she remembered the first time shed empowered cargo-slots of this type. <em>Didnt it take nearly a minute? Theres no way Ive increased my flow-rate by sixty times, since then</em>


    That had been before she was using the mental construct. <em>Wow, those really do make a difference. Hmmm I think it took around ten seconds per indicator, when I began using the mental construct.</em>


    More than anything, that spoke to the benefit of well-formed mental models for what she was doing. <em>And my mental model has only gotten better, since then.</em>


    T forced herself to focus back on the present. She rebuilt the void, splitting the power further and sending a bit more than half of the power into Flow, just less than a quarter into her own body, and about a quarter into each cargo-slot as she tapped down the line. <em>That should be just more than I used, yesterday.</em>


    Each cargo-slots three indicating symbols pulsed to full brightness after the touch, influx of power, and a couple of seconds. It wasnt instantaneous, but it didnt need to be. A smile grew, spreading across her face with every sess.


    She reached the end of the line, charging thest cargo-slot and almostughing in delight. <em>Yes!</em>


    Even so, she felt her grip on the power slipping and allowed the void around her gate to fill in, the flow of power drastically slowing. <em>Good to know, splitting the flow further requires much more attention and lowers the time I can hold the void.</em>


    <em></em>She felt a bit of a headache, but a swig of coffee seemed to help.


    Splitting it three ways had lowered her time to just more than a minute. Her smile didnt fade, however. <em>So, I can increase the difficulty by splitting the flow further, eh?</em>


    She stretched her arms upward, arching back and feeling her muscles respond happily to the motion. <em>Well, Im way too early to go to the training yard for the ss</em> But, maybe theyd let her use a space, until they needed her? It was worth asking. <em>Maybe the Constructionists are open?</em> It <em>was</em> after seven in the morning. <em>Ill drop through there, first.</em>


    That decided, she turned and strode towards the Constructionist Guild building that shed visited the day before, Terry happily sleeping on her shoulder.

 Chapter 79: Mana

    Chapter 79: Mana


    The Constructionist Guild was open, or so it seemed.


    T noted that the entrance didnt actually have doors on it. <em>I guess they never close?</em> That seemed a bit odd, but T guessed that Mages, especially Archons, likely kept odd hours.


    As she strode inside, she again felt the magic in the surrounding stone scan her and project an infrared pulse, at least to her mage-sight.


    It was nearly a minute before an attendant came out, looking a little bleary eyed. Mistress? How can we help you? She was inscribed, but not a Mage. <em>An assistant?</em>


    T frowned. Did I wake you? Im sorry, the entrance was open so-


    The attendant held up her hand, clearly stifling a yawn. It is more than fine. We wish to be avable to our customers whenever they need us.


    Ohok. <em>Well, Im here already, and shes already awake.</em> I came to see if my incorporators were ready. Imissioned two, yesterday.


    The young woman pulled out a te from behind a nearby desk. Name please?


    T.


    She waited for a moment longer. Full name, please.


    Dont have ast name.


    Oh! She colored slightly. My apologies, Mistress T. She began working on the te. A momentter, she brightened. Here you are. Yes, they areplete. I can see youve already paid, so let me go grab those, and we can confirm receipt. She left the room for a moment. Returning, she handed a small wooden box to T with a small bow, her te now tucked under the other arm.


    T took the box and opened it; the lid was attached with small brass hinges that moved smoothly and silently. Sitting in the cushioned interior were two obviously magical devices.


    They each mirrored each other, and the other incorporator she had, in only a single respect: There was a circr opening in the center, justrge enough for her two thumbs to go through, together.


    The one on the right was a white material, seeming softer than metal, but still somewhat glossy. When she picked it up, it was lighter than shed expected. Around the central circle, dull des, or fins, radiated a short distance outward to an outer ring, all of the same material. Those des, however, were very nearly ck, and they held the same gloss as the white rings which bordered them.


    The young woman was smiling. That is the one for hot air. Care to test it? You can point it however you desire, as the air isnt hot enough to permanently damage anything, here.


    T nodded, pointing the device at her other hand, which still held the box. She funneled some power into the device, but nothing happened. She sighed. <em>Right, incorporators take a </em>lot<em> of power.</em> She created the void around her gate, splitting the flow and sending just more than three-quarters of the power into the incorporator.


    Hot air flooded out of the device. The assistant had been correct, it wasnt burning hot, but it would quickly be ufortable.


    It was a strange thing: the sound of rushing air was the only indication that something was happening. Seems to work. She looked up and saw the other womans eyes were wide. What is it?


    The assistant cleared her throat. That is a much greater flow than Ive seen produced. If I may ask, Mistress, how much power did you funnel? Did I mis-read the customer beacon? You arent an Archon, are you? She frowned, looking at her te. No youre not listed as one.


    T opened her mouth to answer but realized that she didnt have a way to answer. Huh You know, I dont have any way to convey it. She ced the incorporator back in the box.


    The woman cocked her head to one side. What do you mean? Then, she seemed to understand. Youre not familiar with the theories of the rigorous documentation of magic. That is understandable, I suppose. Most Mages who join our ranks from the academy are missing that knowledge. The look on her face made it clear how she felt about <em>that.</em>


    I guess not. T felt a bit foolish. <em>Weight has pounds, distance has miles, how do I not know a unit to measure magic with?</em> It was a colossal oversight. <em>This seems like the exact type of thing the Academy should have taught us.</em>


    If you will allow, I can get a device with which you can measure your output.


    T hesitated. Im not really looking to spend more


    Oh! My apologies. This would be for you to use, in my presence. Im sure we do have an extra, if you wish to purchase one, but that was not my intention. Honestly, I want to satisfy my own curiosity.


    T shrugged. Oh, sure then. After an instantaneous pause, she asked. Im sorry, I didnt catch your name.


    The woman looked down at her own chest, then back up. Oh! Ipletely forgot my name tag. Apologies, Mistress, I am Anan.


    A pleasure to meet you, Anan.


    Likewise, Mistress T. Anan bowed slightly, before leaving again. She was only gone for a brief moment, returning with a t, round disk of a material that resembled dark steel. We can test the other incorporator after, if that is eptable to you.


    T nodded, smiling as she held out her hand. So, I just send power into it, like a magic item Im charging, or empowering?


    Precisely. Anan put the device into Ts hand.


    Wont that bond it to me?


    That is an excellent question. This device does not use the power that it is given by a Mage, it simply analyzes it. Therefore, no bond is created. You dont need more than an instantaneous pulse of power for it to register. It will only register to the first decimal ce.


    Huh, good to know. T nced down at the disk. Here it goes. She still had the void around her gate, and she had been channeling the excess into Flow. She took that portion and sent it to the disk in her hand. The metal lit up, and T immediately moved the stream back to Flow. Fourteen point three.


    Anan was nodding. As I suspected. That is quite impressive, Mistress.


    Whats it mean?


    Well, one mana per second is the standard amount of power produced by an average human.


    And mana is a unit of magic power, then.


    If I remember right, it stands for: Magic umted Naturally, Average. One mana is defined as the amount of power an average, non-Mage human produces through their gate every second, averaged over time.


    I suppose that makes sense. T blinked, thinking through the meaning of what Anan had said. WaitSo, Im producing more than fourteen times what a standard human does?


    Anan shrugged. Probably more, actually. I doubt you funneled all your influx into the device.


    <em>Shes right about that. Wait, that means that my active scripts currently use magic at around four or five times what a normal persons gate produces?</em> Holly truly was insane. I guess I didnt actually have a reference. Surreptitiously, she let the void drop and channeled all her standard flow into the medallion for a brief instant. <em>Four point six.</em> She smiled. <em>Not terrible at all.</em>


    Ah, of course. We usually test incorporators at three or four mana per second. From what I understand, the head researchers for new designs often stress-test their prototypes at around a hundred MPS, but theyre all Archons, and Ive never seen it, myself.


    T found herself desperately wanting one of these measurement devices. <em>No, T. Youll just start obsessing over numbers</em> She still wanted it. She reinstated the void and briefly pushed all the power at the medallion, letting her body draw from her reserves. <em>Eighteen point five.</em> So, just more than quadruple the flowrate.


    Anan grinned. I can see that look in your eyes. You want one. Her gaze flicked to the medallion, which T still held. I also see that youre already testing it out.


    I am, and I do, but I shouldnt.


    The assistants grin widened. That is surprisingly wise. My understanding is that the Archons, here, forbid their Mages and Magelings from using these for anything other than required tasks. Apparently, it can cause odd developments within magic users who use them too often. I dont think its a side effect of the device, but apparently such Mages soon have their heads filled with numbers and be obsessed with exactly how much power goes into each script activation, how much they hold, and things like that.


    T could see that being quite appealing, actually. And thats bad?


    Anan shrugged. I wouldnt know, myself, but the Archons seem to believe so. She seemed to ponder. I believe what was conveyed was something to the effect of: Magic isnt numbers, withdrawals, and deposits. Your mental constructs and proper inscriptions are more important than any number. Attaching numbers too closely to various magical effects can taint, and even weaken, the mental constructs for their spell-forms.


    T found herself nodding. I suppose that makes sense. The three points on the triangle and all that.


    Anan gave her a puzzled look but then just shrugged, again. Such are the things of Mages.


    T paused, then decided to go for it. If I may ask, why arent you a Mage?


    The other woman smiled slightly. I didnt have the funds to attend the Academy, and I didnt want to take on debt. Im learning, though, and my supervisor thinks Im nearly ready for a keystone inscription. She looked down, clearly a bit embarrassed by the fact. Its not the same as a formal education, but I think I prefer learning on the job. She looked back to T, her eyes twinkling, just a bit. Besides, Im being paid to learn now, instead of the other way around.


    Huh. I wish I could have done that.


    Anan nced to the side, seeming a bit out of her element, once more. She brought the subject back to the matter at hand. Well, do you wish to verify the other incorporator? She held out her hand.


    T ced the measurement medallion onto Anans palm, the number immediately vanishing as it changed hands.


    Ts attention returned to the wooden box in her other hand and to the second incorporator.


    She opened the lid, focusing on the device. This one was a twisting copper ring, and even though it didnt look at all like one, it somehow evoked the idea of a copper kettle.


    <em>Odd.</em>


    As she looked closer, T noticed that the cross-section of the twisting shape was a triangle. There were four and a third twists around the circuit of the device, and T couldnt see a seam, anywhere. It was slightly warm to the touch, where the other had just felt room temperature.


    That one could damage some things in here. Would you mind pointing it at that corner?


    T looked over and saw a small grate set in the floor of the front corner of the room. Oh! Sure. She took a few steps that way, orienting the ring to point at the drain. She again directed the excess power from her void-surrounded gate through the lensing device. A healthy flow of steaming water streamed out. It was just more than the rate from the cold tap in Lyns bath room, if T was estimating correctly. Very good. This will do nicely.


    She allowed the stream to end, moving the power back towards Flow. <em>Ha! Flow gets the flow.</em>


    She hadnt aimed perfectly, and the corner was now liberally sttered with droplets of water. Can you hold this? She held out the box containing the hot air incorporator towards Anan.


    Anan epted it.


    T re-empowered the hot water incorporator, then carefully touched the water streaming forth with her other hand. It was a bit too hot tofortably leave her finger in it. Yes, this will do nicely, indeed. Thank you.


    Anan bowed, slightly, handing the box back.


    T ced the incorporator back in and closed the lid. How long will the waterst?


    Anan pulled out her te and manipted it, reading from the surface. That one is particrly stable. For quantities of less than five-hundred gallons, stored together, the water should remain material for at least an hour.


    <em>Easy baths, here Ie!</em> Wonderful. How do you need me to confirm receipt of the items? T slipped the box into Kit.


    Just certify here. Anan held out the te, a sharp spike of stone rising from one corner. The magic for the morphing of the material was faint, but still registered to Ts mage-sight. <em>Fascinating devices.</em>


    T nced at the contents of the te. They were simple: she was just acknowledging that she had received the goods that she had already paid for. She allowed her finger to prick on the stone and marked the te. As usual, the blood faded instantly, the spike of stone retracting. <em>That must be an expensive feature.</em>


    Is there anything else I can do for you this morning, Mistress?


    No, thank you, Anan. I appreciate your assistance.


    We are here to serve. Take care.


    Take care, and good luck!


    Thank you, you as well.


    Thank you. T departed without another word.


    Once she was outside, T nced at Terry. You were quiet, and she didnt seem to care much about you being there.


    Terry shifted slightly but didnt respond.


    She shrugged. Either way. She turned and headed towards the training yard. It was going to be a wonderful day.


    As she walked, she recreated the void, and split her flow two ways: body and a magic item. She quickly recharged Kit, then her clothing, then the hammer, and finally Terrys cor, before redirecting the excess power fully into Flow once more.


    <em>There we go.</em> Terry had shifted irritably when shed ced her hand on his neck, but he remained dedicated to his sleep.


    If she remembered right, she hadnt gotten to the training yard until close to nine in the morning, the day before. So, she was still close to an hour ahead of schedule. <em>I could go and check in, see about a ce to train?</em> That could be valuable. At the moment, she was just wandering, her void in ce and power strengthening her bond with Flow.


    <em>I could try another Archon star</em> If she could maintain the spell-form while resting between periods of void-enhanced power umtion, she might be able to do it. She started trying to do math in her head, but she didnt have solid numbers. Something told her that was a good thing; she had to trust her instincts, trust her power.


    <em>I think I could match the stronger star I have in less than two stints with the void.</em> She stopped walking as she came to that conclusion. Shed taken four hours to make that star, now she was estimating that she could make it in half an hour? <em>Give or take.</em>


    Even taking into ount the voids effectiveness, that meant that shed nearly doubled her base flow-rate. <em>Just as Rane said. It lessened a bit, but not nearly all the way back to how it was before.</em>


    A nearly manic grin spread across her face. <em>No wonder Holly was unimpressed with my gate, when she first checked me. I must have barely been above a non-Mage.</em> She almostughed. <em>I might have even been worse than a mundane, for all I know. Now, though.</em> Her face hurt from her massive smile. <em>Now, Im making real progress.</em>


    She knew that she wouldnt keep doubling her output, that would be insane to expect, but she could likely keep the pace with a linear growth. <em>If I can add roughly three mana to my base umtion-rate every two weeks or so.</em> She shook her head. <em>No, Im not going to obsess over the numbers. I will progress and enjoy every step.</em>


    She nodded to herself, still insanely pleased. <em>So, am I going to make another Archon star?</em> She didnt really have a use for such, if she was being honest, and it wouldnt be better practice than anything else she was doing. <em>No. Ill keep my current work.</em>


    She paused. <em>If I can maintain it between cycles, I could make a star in a few hours</em> Thatthat might just be worth it. <em>Be an Archon this afternoon?</em> She snorted. She doubted it was as simple as: Heres the star! Youre an Archon.


    <em>Ill ask Holly this afternoon.</em> She hesitated, the thought of more inscriptions putting a bit of a damper on her enthusiasm. <em>That will take more power to maintain</em> Knowing Holly, it might perfectly use up all of her standard flow of power.


    That would make a lot of sense, actually. Her inscriptions seemed to take a bit more power, when more was avable, but not a whole lot. <em>Likely, they would take more if theyre put under stress.</em> It was fair to assume that healing a broken bone, or deepceration, would take more power than when the scripts were idle.


    She supposed that she could make a bunch of little stars andbine them into one of enough power to be seen as eptable, but somehow that felt like cheating: like she wouldnt actually be earning the title. <em>If I want to take shortcuts, I can just force my way in with my current stars.</em>


    She kept deflecting her mind away from obsessing over the numbers shed just learned. The more she thought about it, the more keeping the separation made sense. <em>The better a mental construct is, the less magic will be needed, and the more effective a spell-effect will be. If I got it locked in my head that this effect took this much mana, then that would permeate the mental construct, and keep me from ever improving in that facet. </em>She shook her head. It was a subtle trap, and if Anan hadnt exined the basics, T could easily have fallen for it.


    These thoughts were all well and good, but she still hadnt decided where to head, now. <em>No reason to go anywhere else. To the training yard!</em>


    It was a pleasant walk, and she soon arrived to find the training yard in a very simr state to the day before. She had no idea if the same people were there, or doing the same activities, but the general sense of the ce was the same.


    She smiled. <em>Maybe this ce will work for me.</em> She definitely liked the overall atmosphere.


    Shed had to allow the void to vanish once more, resting while she walked, before resuming the exercise just as she arrived.


    Just like the day before, when she stepped from the street into the training yard itself, someone immediately stopped what theyd been doing and approached her.


    Mistress, can I be of assistance?


    <em>Prompt bunch.</em> Im to meet Guardsman Adam, to assist with a ss, today, and I hope to utilize a training space until then.


    The guardswoman seemed a bit taken aback. Oh, umm. Let me go see what I can find out for you.


    Thank you.


    The woman gave a slight bow and departed.


    T used the time, while waiting for the guardswoman to return, to take in those practicing around her. Thankfully, the wait wasnt long.


    Mistress T?


    Thats me.


    The woman nodded. You can proceed to that building, there. An officer will meet you, just inside.


    Thank you.


    Happy to assist. The woman returned to her stretching, and T set off across the yard.

 Chapter 80: That Has Merit

    Chapter 80: That Has Merit


    T reached the indicated building at the edge of the Guardsmens training yard and was met in the entrance as soon as shed stepped inside.


    By the insignia, the woman who met T was a sergeant, though T had never met her. Sergeant.


    Mistress T. Wee. I found you on the approved ess list, but there wasnt much beyond that. I was told you wish to use our training yard? The sergeant eyed Terry with a mixture of interest and caution but seemed to have decided not toment.


    Or another space, if that is preferred. I will be here many mornings to assist with one of the sses, and it would be convenient if I could train around those times, or if I have need of a space at other intervals.


    She nodded. Understandable. However, our facilities are generally only used by those in, or directly benefiting, the Guardsmans Guild. I can check with the teacher of the ss, to see if your training, here, would qualify.


    That could work. Im really not sure what hell say.


    Very good, Mistress. Please wait here.


    Certainly.


    T considered what she would do to train if they gave her a space. <em>I guess it depends on what the space will bear.</em> She smiled, thinking about the ss of peopleing up with tests for her abilities. <em>What madness am I about to be subjected to?</em>


    The sergeant returned a few minutester. Mistress?


    Mmm? Yes?


    There is a courtyard set aside for today, and if I understand correctly, it has been reserved for your use, in conjunction with the ss, going forward.


    Oh! Thank you.


    Right this way.


    They walked through clean, sparsely decorated corridors, until they came to a ce where the current corridor was open on one side. The hallway surrounded a fairlyrge courtyard, providing a covered walkway all the way around with a few diverging paths going perpendicrly off the sides.


    The open space was hard-packed sand, without any other feature.


    The sergeant gestured to the space. Have at it, Maam.


    T grinned. Ill try not to damage it too much.


    The guardswoman snorted. Kind of you. Is there anything else I can do to assist?


    I think Ill be fine. Thank you.


    With a slight bow, the other woman departed.


    T walked out onto the sand, her feet barely scuffing it. Even so, she felt like it was at least a few feet deep. <em>Just not used very often?</em> It didnt really matter.


    The sand was cool and rough on the soles of her feet, in a smooth sort of way, some getting between her toes. <em>Yeah, T, its smoothly rough.</em> She didnt have a lot of experience with sand, but the description seemed to fit.


    Terry vanished from her shoulder, appearing on the roof nearby, already basking in the early morning sun. <em>You do you, little guy.</em>


    She sat, cross-legged, in the center. Having juste from the Constructionist Guild, she had the incorporators on her mind. As such, she pulled out the three she possessed: cold water, hot water, and hot air. <em>Huh, should I have gotten a cold air one, forpleteness, and to cool off on hot days?</em> Winter was almost upon them, though. <em>Maybe, in the spring.</em>


    She regarded the devices. <em>Splitting the flow of power increases difficulty.</em> She grinned. With effort, she divided her natural influx of power into the three incorporators, as well as her own body and Flow.


    Her reserves began to decline, but not rapidly. She did have <em>vast</em> magic-density, after all.


    It was a tricky thing, splitting the magic five ways, but she was able to get a handle on it after a minute or so.


    Once she had the pathways locked in ce, she created the void around her gate.


    A headache began building almost instantly as she strove to hold the six distinct mental tasks in ce. But it worked.


    The incorporators, which had been dormant, given the pathetic amount that had been funneled their way, suddenly activated. Two were held in her right hand, not ovepping, and the third in her left.


    Cold water and hot air trickled out on one side, and hot water dribbled onto the sand on the other.


    It was ackluster amount, but she was doing it.


    She clenched her jaw, forcing the division of power, and the void, into existence by sheer force of will.


    She held it for ten seconds.


    Twenty.


    Twenty-five.


    Her concentration slipped.


    Her vision fuzzed, and her head rang as if someone had struck her with a hammer.


    T groaned, flopping backwards onto the hard sand.


    The pain passed quickly, rtively speaking. Shed only held the fullplexity for less than half a minute.


    If her estimate was correct, she took less than three minutes to recover her mental coherence.


    <em>Ok. Not bad. </em>She considered how to proceed.


    She could repeat the performance, in theory stretching herself and improving, but that felt like a half measure. <em>I need to rethink this.</em>


    At the most basic level, she was creating a suction force, pulling power through her gate. Then, she was directing that power down four equal channels, and one which was smaller, that went to her body.


    She frowned. Something about that seemed inefficient. <em>What if</em>


    She sat the cold incorporator aside and focused. <em>Simple first.</em>


    She recalled how it had felt to empower each of these, less than an hour before.


    She had felt the flow, felt the power.


    She held one incorporator in each hand and created mental channels for the power, making the channelsrge enough for the amount of power that shed used earlier. Knowing of nothing else to demarcate the paths, since she wasnt working with power, she opened the paths as voids. In so doing, she made them ready for the power rather than letting the powers flow create the needed channel.


    The newly created, internal canals lead to the two incorporators. Those pathways were utterly devoid of power, empty and hungry. They didnt move through her flesh, to interfere with her inscriptions; instead, they existed on some deeper level. <em>The domain of magic and the soul?</em> Her body and soul were separate, so it made sense that her body would be mostly devoid in that aspect.


    She stretched her mind and connected the channels to her gate.


    Power erupted outward. The void of the channels sucking magic through in a rtive torrent.


    Hot water and wind shot out of the two incorporators, much greater than the most recent disy, but not quite what shed managed, individually, at the guild.


    The power channels werent full, and the remaining emptiness was a constant pull on her gate, the magic moving too quickly to spread out and equilibrate within the paths.


    She gasped, panting as the power sted through her.


    Her output was not doubled from that of her simple void, but her straining mind would have guessed that <em>each</em> void-channel was pulling at least one and a half times her normal rate. <em>Fifty percent increase.</em> That was less than the void, alone, but she felt like if she could create more such channels, each would be able to sustain the same flow.


    <em>If I can create four of them, Ill be sustaining six times my passive rate.</em>


    She released the mentally constructed channels, and the power tapered off.


    She rolled to the side, up onto her hands and knees and retched. Her whole body wanted her to vomit, but her inscribings effectively countered the urge.


    T kept her breakfast down.


    She groaned. <em>Effective, but awful.</em>


    She snorted out a ruefulugh. <em>Awfully effective.</em>


    She looked at her third incorporator, at Flow, and finally down at herself. <em>So, I can practice with up to five channels, eh?</em> The one to her body would be smaller, but that was likely safer, in any case.


    Her smile was somewhere between a grimace of anticipated pain and a grin of inevitable victory. The result was overtly manic.


    Lets get to work.


    * * *


    T was unsure how much time had passed when the sound of many feet became evident, the murmur of voices apanying the rumble.


    She released the sucking, void channels, and the three incorporators ceased their output.


    Opening her eyes, she realized that she was coated in sweat. No one was in sight, yet. <em>Maybe I do need the cold air incorporator sooner than spring</em>


    She quickly tucked the two hot incorporators away and created two void-channels, one to her body and one to the brass incorporator. She fought through a growing headache to maintain the constructions.


    She stood, dousing herself with cold water and washing away the sweat and sand in a quick moment, at least as best as she could without soap. That device went into Kit as well, and she pulled the artifactb through her hair, drying and detangling it with a few quick strokes.


    <em>How echo-prone are the halls, that they still havent arrived yet?</em> She quickly worked her hair into a braid with dexterous fingers flying over her scalp. The action tugged pleasantly at her head, lessening the pain, therein.


    Her elk leathers were clean, dry, and fresh, as always. She gave them a pulse of power via a void-channel, topping them off in thanks. It only made her a little dizzy. <em>These are bing so easy to create. If only the headache would stay down</em>


    She tied off her braid just as the first person came into view. It was the older gentleman, the instructor for the ss that shed met the previous day. <em>I dont know that I ever got his name</em> Rane was beside him, and they were speaking amicably.


    The rest of the ss followed after.


    They continued along the hallway, spreading out on the covered walkway, as the instructor, Rane, and Adam came down on the sand.


    Rane looked around quizzically. What happened here? I didnt think you used any creation scripts.


    T looked around and saw that she had disturbed the sand quite a bit.


    Aside from the puddles currently around her feet, there were ripples and waves in the sand where water, or something like it, had clearly disrupted the smooth surface, though the culprit was mostly gone, now.


    T knew that much of the water had discorporated. So, she wasnt quite sure how it would appear to others.


    She looked back to Rane and shrugged. Practicing. You are right, though: No creation scripts.


    He just grunted.


    So, I didnt know you were going to be here.


    And miss this? He grinned. This is going to be interesting.


    Adam smiled and gave her a slight bow but didnt say anything.


    The instructor cleared his throat. Mistress T, are you ready?


    She turned to him, smiling. I think I am; though, Ive no idea what you all have nned. She waved at those waiting to the side. Good morning.


    A hodgepodge of responses came back.


    So, lets get started. What do you have for me?


    The first test was one of basic strength. They asked her to do push-ups, but she responded by bncing on just her hands and doing push-ups. Without falling, she then shifted into a handstand and did some more push-ups from that position. It was a tricky thing to bnce, especially on the stone steps, leading down to the sand, but shed been practicing. She was <em>not</em> confident enough to do them on the sand, itself.


    She finished with an explosivest push, doing a half-turn andnding cleanly on her feet.


    The ss took a minute or two to rework their tests after that. They decided that her basic strength and bnce were as shed promised.


    As such, they decided to trust ims about her own endurance, after she assured them that it was high. The other option was to take much of their time to prove it, and that sounded boring to everyone. They went with option A. Thus, they determined that she wouldnt have to take risks to end engagements quickly.


    They tested her reaction speed, her perception, her vertical leap, and a dozen other aspects. They quizzed her on what her abilities could do, and when she didnt have an answer, they brought forth tests.


    The most painful such test was mming her arm with a sledgehammer and increasing force until it broke; her forearm that is. It turned out that her bones were close to four times as strong as normal, just like her muscles. <em>Im d Im not full of ending-berry power</em>It had been wise to let it dissipate, and not renew it, for her stay in Bandfast.


    The fracture they were able to eventually cause realigned and healedpletely in less than a minute, which was a good test of her regenerative abilities.


    As the bone had pulled back together, T had felt the odd sensation that, if she poured power into the requisite scripts, she could force the limb to heal faster. She didnt do so, as the point of these tests was to establish baselines.


    When they began discussing what it would take to cut her, she protested. Why do you need all this to create a fighting style? Some, I understand, but these?


    The participates looked around at each other, no one in particr wanting to answer. Finally, a singrly brave individual stepped forward. The main reasons are to help determine what you need to block, versus avoid.


    T snorted. Thats easy, avoid everything.


    The woman shook her head. That would work, if your goal was only survival and departure, but you said you wanted to fight, to defend others.


    T hesitated.


    To fight, you have to be able to strike back, and that is easiest if you can block or otherwise create openings. The speaker looked a bit awkward. Thats pretty basic to any fighting style, Mistress. We can focus purely on dodging, and if youre right about your endurance you could probably win isted encounters via attrition, but youd be worthless in defending someone else, and youd fail horribly against groups, especially if they were at all intelligent. Wasnt that one of your core goals?


    T nodded, frowning.


    Then, against groups, you need to be able to finish individual encounters quickly, before you can be swarmed, assuming you cant just shrug off allers. In either case, you need to know what damage you can take, of what types, and how to use that to create openings to take down your opponents. Any blow that you could have taken, which you dodge instead, is an attack that you could have made, but didnt.


    A man stepped forward. Dodging is wonderful, but its a response. If you only respond, you let your enemy control the fight.


    T sighed, ncing at Rane. He was grinning happily. <em>Hes loving this</em> He nodded, adding his thoughts, Theyre right, of course.


    She rolled her eyes. Fine, fine. But why jumping? Im d to know I have an impressive vertical leap, but even I know that you usually want to keep your feet on the ground, if you can. She did not think back to the arcanous birds, snatching her and carrying her through the air. <em>Nope. Not thinking about that.</em>


    Every one of the students turned to regard a younger woman near the back. She shuffled her feet, ncing down before sighing and stepping forward. That is the objection they had


    T cocked an eyebrow. So? It was a bit funny that T had thought of her as younger, the other woman was likely at least three- or four-years Ts senior. <em>Maybe more, given how badly I misjudged Lyn</em>


    Well, ites down to one thing: Can you increase the effect of gravity on yourself? I mean eleration, not just weight.


    T opened her mouth to say: No. but hesitated. Technically? Yes. Why?


    The other woman grinned wickedly. I knew it. The reason that leaps and acrobatics are so dangerous is that everything behaves the same, once airborne. If you slow and fall twice as fast as your enemies think you will, then their instincts will be on your side, and theyll struggle topensate. Opponents dont consider how fast youll fall, its a known quantity on an instinctual level. They wont even consider it. If you are affected by gravity more strongly, that would open a whole host of options to you that anyone else would be foolish to try.


    T considered that for a long moment. It would lower my capacity, make me slower.


    At first, probably, but youre faster than normal, now, and your body should adjust.


    T found herself nodding. That has merit.


    The student beamed. Thank you, Mistress. She looked around at her fellows happily, standing a bit straighter.


    Well, then She looked at the device theyd brought out, returning to topic of her cut-ability. It had a de, and a very precisely controlled actuator. Lets see how hard it is to cut me She sighed. <em>Its going to be a long morning.</em>


    * * *


    The sun was past high noon when the testing was finallypleted.


    T had been broken, stabbed, sliced, punctured, burned, and corroded. Shed bnced and snatched, leapt and pushed. Truthfully, shed lost track of all theyd had her do, even with her improved memory. <em>That really shouldnt be possible</em>


    Alright, then. So you have what you need?


    The students looked around at each other, nodding enthusiastically.


    The instructor gave a bow. Yes, I believe we do. Thank you. When he straightened, he smiled. We will have the foundationspleted in a day or so, but it would help if you can get the gravity modifications in ce, so that we can understand their extent. Much will be the same as for any human-shaped fighter, but we will be able to fine-tune it as your skill advances.


    T sighed and nodded. She suspected that she already had the inscribings to enact the gravity alteration, but she wanted Hollys input, and she thought an additional set for her feet would be useful as well. <em>I dont want to be breaking everything I walk on</em> I should be able to have that by tomorrow. Expect a fourfold increase in my eleration due to gravity, if Im able to get it to work.


    We can find you, here, then? I took the liberty of reserving this training yard for your use for the time being.


    Thank you, that was incredibly kind. Yes, I should be here, tomorrow morning. But weve set the day after as the start of true training and work on the fighting style, correct?


    The rification was acknowledged, and the ss thanked her and departed, talking animatedly amongst themselves.


    Adam walked over to her. Youre progressing quickly.


    She shrugged. Its nice to be fully inscribed, finally. She hesitated. Well, nearly so.


    Rane approached. I still cant believe that you were walking around with an iplete set.


    Im not blessed with boundless money.


    Rane twitched at that but didntment further.


    Adam cleared his throat. Well, Ill be your opponent for most sparring for the ss in theing days. I do hope for a bit of a challenge. He smirked.


    T rolled her eyes but found herself smiling. Ill do my best. Ill try not to hurt you too badly.


    Heughed. Thank you. My wife would be cross if I died. Well have a healer on hand if were to fight, though.


    She looked around. Right. You have ess to those Why not have one, now? I was certainly injured a lot, today.


    You said you could heal. We believed you.


    Still might have been nice


    While we work with many healers, they arent an unlimited resource.


    Fair enough.


    Adam nced to Rane, then back to her. Well, Ill leave you to it. Ill be excited to see whats changed, tomorrow. He bowed slightly to her and to Rane, then departed.


    Rane cleared his throat. So you still avable for lunch?


    She quirked a smile. Sure. You paying?


    Sure.


    Then, lets get to it. <em>The poor boy doesnt know what hes signed up for.</em> Shed try to take it easy, but she was <em>hungry</em> after all that theyd put her through, and all that her healing inscriptions had needed to repair.


    After you, Mistress T.


    Thank you, Master Rane. As they began walking, and after Terry flickered to her shoulder, she nced towards Rane. Did you have any ce in particr, in mind?


    Well, Im not from around here, so my knowledge is limited, but I tried a ce yesterday that had <em>fantastic</em> noodles. They had them avable with all sorts of topping and sauces. We could go there.


    Master Rane?


    Hmm?


    That sounds wonderful.

 Chapter 81: A Hodgepodge Foundation

    Chapter 81: A Hodgepodge Foundation


    T was decided: Rane knew his food, and she was quite happy with the noodle ce hed led them to.


    To her surprise, Rane hadnt objected to her order. Hed insisted that she get whatever she wished, and hed cover it. Hed remained adamant, even after shed asserted that he didnt have to pay for her full order, or any of it really.


    Thankfully, the ce was inexpensive, so her meal, enough food to feed a normal household, had only cost around three silver.


    Now, their food had arrived, and T was doing her best not to gorgeat least, not too quickly. Terry had briefly sampled each type of food that theyd ordered, but in the end, he was content with bits of jerky.


    She had a te of ridged, tube-like noodles with a red, beef sauce. A serving bowl beside that held long, thin, round noodles, covered with a form of mild pesto and chicken. A second te contained small, curved tube-noodles with an orange, spicy sauce, mixed with quite vorful pork. The final dish, a cast-iron skillet hot off the stove, held wide, t noodles, which had been caramelized with the sauce within the skillet. That one tasted salty with a very subtle sweetness and a chargrilled vor. It was served with beef strips and a medley of vegetables.


    Rane had ordered arge sd, with a small te of noodles, dressed with strips of chicken and a white sauce.


    Bless the man, he looked on with a mixture of awe and horror as she began to eat the entirety of her order. T took small bites, of course, even if they were rapid. <em>Cleanliness, and all that.</em>


    How are you nning on keeping all that down?


    T swallowed the current mouthful. Digestive inscriptions. I need a lot of energy for my inscribings to have their full effectiveness. So, we modified my systems to allow for high intake. At the moment, its more requiring than allowing, but even so.


    He nodded, slightly. A downside of being a guide, rather than a creator, I suppose. He thought for a moment. So, your storage systems are inscribed too? He nodded morepletely. Thats right. I remember you saying something about this to the ss, yesterday. Rane quirked a smile. Id love to be able to eat anything I want, but it isnt worth the modifications my inscriptions would constantly need.


    Mistress Holly took care of that, too. I wont change size unless I deeply deplete my reserves, in which case Ill shrink.


    He grunted. So you said. Must be nice.


    Except on the coin pouch.


    Rane grinned. Hence epting my invitation.


    She paused, another bite halfway to her mouth. I would havee, even if you werent paying.


    His hand came to his chest, a look of false afront painting his features. Ive been robbed! I could have had yourpany for free?


    Tughed, feeling the tension bleeding away from the situation. True, hed insisted upon paying, despite her earlier inquiries, but for some reason she hadnt really believed he was genuine, until then. Thank you, again, by the way.


    He waved dismissively. Think nothing of it. Im d to have some of your time.


    She snorted augh around the current mouthful, chewing carefully and swallowing. My schedule does seem to fill up, doesnt it?


    You seem like you dont take much time off.


    She shrugged. Too much to do.


    Well, we can focus on eating, so long as we can talk after? I did have a purpose for asking you to meet.


    She smiled. Sure. I want to do some practice, but aside from that, my only obligation is with my inscriberter this afternoon.


    He nodded, bringing a forkful of sd up for a bite.


    * * *


    Their food consumed, the staff thanked, and the restaurant left behind, T and Rane walked side-by-side through the city.


    So, how have you been liking Bandfast, so far?


    Rane smiled, looking up to the sky. There are so many people. Honestly, its a bit overwhelming. He chuckled, ruefully. And, its only been...what? Less than two days?


    I can imagine, and just about, yeah. Alefast is minisculepared to here, and you spent a good deal of time in the wilds, right?


    True enough.


    So <em>What do I even talk about? Why am I here?</em> How are you progressing on your star?


    He nced her way. You really dont take a break, do you?


    <em>Great question, T. Nicely done</em> She shrugged. Im behind in so many areas, and I want to catch up.


    I suppose thats fair. He sighed, eyes returning to their path forward. Good, I think. Master Grediv gave me several different paths towards making an Archon star. Well, theyre helpful in general, but specifically useful for making Archon star creation easier. I read through them and chose the one that seemed best suited to me, to my methodologies and my way of thinking.


    Oh?


    His eyes flicked to her, then away. Trying to steal my familys secrets? But he was grinning.


    Im already well down the path towards making a full-powered Archon star.


    Well down the path.  He shook his head. I bet youve spent less than a day on your chosen path. He snorted. Most Mages dont even have the luxury of a path, at all.


    She opened her mouth to object, then closed it into a pouting frown. <em>Hes right</em> That didnt make it better. Probably made it worse if she was being honest. Fine, but Im not trying to steal your techniques.


    He grinned. I know, I know. He let out a breath. Theres honestly nothing very secret involved. Im just not used to Mages being as direct as you are.


    So?


    Heughed. I chose a method that lined up with my magics. As poweres through my gate, I pull it along faster, which causes the magic to flow more quickly. It was called the Way of the Rapids, in my notes.


    Thathuh. I wouldnt have thought that would work, but it seems almost like what Im doing.


    Which is?


    Creating a void around my gate that sucks power through.


    He blinked and stared at her for a long moment. Finally, he barked augh. If Im pulling a string through the mud, youre moving all the mud away, so the string moves on its own. That sounds annoyingly difficult.


    T quirked a smile. A bit, but the results are extraordinary.


    Oh?


    I get a four-fold increase with the most basic form, and a variation Ive discovered seems to yield an additional bump. <em>And that was just when I was working with the two incorporators in my first attempt.</em> She hadnt analyzed her current ability, fully.


    He was frowning, again. Four-fold? Additional? You arent obsessing over the numbers, are you?


    No? I dide across the term mana as a unit for measuring magical power.


    Came across? He hesitated, then nodded. Right, youre Academy trained. He sighed, shaking his head. Its easiest to keep Mages out of their own way if they dont have hard numbers to put to their abilities. Its possible, but not efficient.  He made air-quotes as he said thest word.


    It does seem that a lot was hidden from me, or at least not mentioned, at the Academy.


    They aim to make as many passable Mages as possible. They arent concerned with helping the good ones be great. After a moments pause, he continued. Well, thats what Master Grediv said their intention was, at the founding. Now? I fear the instructors actually believe they''re teaching a fully realized, deeply applicable curriculum.


    <em>So, he does have some knowledge of the Academy. </em>T snorted a shortugh. Seems a waste.


    Meh. Most students get snatched up by good masters after graduation, and the deficit is corrected. I think I can understand the methodology, even if I dont like it. He chuckled. Not like I have a better way to do it.


    Fair enough. She thought about it. Yeah, Im d Im not in charge of teaching the next generation.


    So, back to the stars: I have heard of the technique youre using, or at least something like it.


    Let me guess: Way of the Void?


    Heughed. Precisely.


    <em>Of course, it is. </em>What were some of the others?


    He gave her a look.


    T held up her hands in surrender. Just the names?


    Rane sighed. Way of Compression, Way of the Breath, Way of the Vortex, Way of the Channel, and Way of Denial of the Existence of Intervening Space.


    T blinked a few times. You made thatst one up, didnt you.


    He shook his head. Nope. Apparently, Way of Denial is something else, but Master Grediv thinks <em>that</em> path is for: Those without a firm concept of reality. Which fits, I suppose, given the name.


    She grinned. I suppose so, yeah. She considered the names. You know, I think Im doing something like Way of the Channel, if the name is any indication. <em>Could I build the channels without making them void?</em> She briefly tried, and found that her power-flow did, indeed, increase, if just marginally. Huh. It seems so.


    Rane stopped walking. Did you just try out a new methodology for power maniption, after intuiting how from the name?


    Long question, butyes?


    He just stared at her.


    What?


    Youre He shook his head, looking embarrassed. He turned and started walking.


    What?


    He just shook his head, again.


    She walked quickly to catch up and fall into step beside him. What, Master Rane?


    He sighed. Youre something special, Mistress T. Then, he barked augh. And, you are just insane enough to try things most people actively avoid, as well as just clever and skilled enough not to kill yourself.


    Surviving is all about mitigating the risks. Hence my inscriptions. She grinned. Wait until I trybining all the methodologies you mentioned.


    Rane looked her way, suddenly serious. No, Mistress T. Please. Perfect what you are currently doing before you add in more. My understanding is that most Archons dobine many of these, but <em>after</em> they are Archons. You can kill yourself, or at least do serious damage, if you try to force too many changes at once.


    She opened her mouth to argue, but he cut her off.


    Please? If youre getting good results, perfect what you have, then add more. Dont make a hodgepodge foundation that cant support youter.


    <em>Thats a fair point</em> She sighed. Very well.


    They walked in silence for a long while, not going anywhere in particr.


    Finally, T nced towards Rane. So, what did you want to talk about?


    He straightened, clearly having thought about what he wanted to say. Well, I was curious when you were nning on venturing out, once more. He didnt look at her.


    Not quite sure, yet. Why?


    I dont know many people, and Id really rather not go off on my own just yet.


    T quirked another smile. So, you want toe with me?


    He shrugged. If youve no objection.


    Mistress Lyn said that once Im an Archon, I should be able to renegotiate and be both Dimensional Mage and Mage Protector for a caravan.


    He frowned. Why after?


    Because the services I can offer will have materially changed.


    And they havent already?


    T opened her mouth to say: No but stopped. HuhHave they?


    From what I saw and heard? Yes. You shouldnt be sole protector for a caravan, but few should. Plus, Id be there, too.


    She found herself nodding. My new cargo-slots should be done by the end of the week. Theyll allow for a two-wagon caravan.


    Rane perked up. Oh? Just the cargo and chuck wagons?


    Precisely.


    Could go faster, then. Its always a delicate bnce between size and speed. A single rider can go as fast as they like, in general, but as soon as there are two, there is an argument for caution.


    I was wondering about that. Why are caravans so slow?


    Rane smiled. You know, a master would have told you that.


    Sure, probably, but now you can. She gave him an expectant look.


    Rane shook his head, but his smile never faltered. Fine, fine. Youd be surprised how many things have perception based on movement, but on a grand scale. Ill give an easy, well-known example: The tralvoldoc can detect anything outside a city thats moving faster than a quick walk, up to a hundred miles away, but they usually dont care if thebined mass in motion is less than a reasonable herd. After a moment, he added. Or a few wagons.


    Tralvoldoc?


    They look like a huge pile of vines, roots, and tentacles. They can teleport miles at a time. Supposedly, they appear above their prey and drop on top of them to cover and consume.


    How huge are we talking about?


    Rane looked around, then pointed at a nearby park. It filled most of the city block. Mature ones are easily about that big, piled twenty or thirty feet high.


    Arcanous or magical?


    I think arcanous? nt-origin. Ive never seen one myself.


    T stared. Thatsounds unpleasant to deal with. A bit scary actually.


    He huffed augh. Not really. People have escaped from those fairly often. Its the ones we dont know of that scare me. Caravans go slow to avoid notice. He shrugged. A two-wagon caravan could go faster, by a bit, than a wagon train of a normal size.


    And thus, my question is answered. She shuddered slightly. She would likely survive under such a pile of hostile limbs, at least at first, but whether that would be preferable or not, she had no idea.


    Rane cleared his throat. But, back to my inquiry?


    She smiled. It has merit. Id prefer to travel with you as a co-Protector than a stranger.


    He smiled in return. Well, then, might be worth asking your handler to investigate your fitness for that duty. Yeah?


    It might be worth it, indeed. I can probably discuss it with the senior official, when I have that meeting.


    Meeting?


    Ohright She sighed. I need to meet with a Guild higher-up, before I can take another contract.


    Rane quirked a smile. Makes sense. You didnt exactly act as a typical Dimensional Mage, on yourst trip.


    Yeah, not sure what the result will be. T turned back towards the park. There were several groups of children ying, adults watching from the sides or from various benches. She smiled. She used to love ying with her siblings and the other neighborhood kids in their local park. She shook her head to clear it, returning her focus to the present. Ill talk to Lyn this evening, see if she thinks bringing that up in the meeting makes sense. I can tell you what she says tomorrow?


    Where can I find you? We arent needed for the ss tomorrow.


    Ill be in the training yard, nheless. Look for me there. I probably wont have an answer til tomorrow evening, at the earliest, but we can still discuss it.


    That sounds like a good n. He looked around and let out a long, contented breath. I suppose Ill let you get to your training. Ive my own tasks to aplish, today.


    T grinned, waving goodbye. Take care, Master Rane.


    He waved back, as he strode away down a side street. See you soon, Mistress T.


    She stayed and watched the families ying for a few minutes before turning back towards the training yard. Ready to bask on the roof again, Terry? She flicked a piece of jerky for him.


    He didnt respond, happily remaining on her shoulder despite the piece of meat vanishing.


    d to hear.


    He opened an eye to regard her for a moment, then closed it again, clearly not minding her oddities.


    * * *


    Early afternoon had passed, and T now sat in the shade, near one side of the training courtyard that was set aside for her.


    She closed the final volume of Hollys books. She hadnte close to reading them in their entirety, but she had filled in her knowledge gaps sufficiently to ensure all the scripts would function properly. <em>I can expand that base of understanding, over time.</em>


    She looked back to her incorporators, sitting in herp.


    Her head hurt from the mental strain of manifesting the void channels, though her improvement was obvious. She could now power active scripts, feeding her body the power it needed, and divide the remaining power among the three incorporators and Flow, each device producing at roughly three-quarters of the rate shed managed, individually, that morning in the Constructionist Guildhall.


    The exercise had stretched her gate to the point that shed bet her unaided power umtion rate was at least a couple of mana higher. The rate enhancement, now that she was using the channels along with the void, was almost double that of the void alone.


    And it felt like someone was driving a chisel through her left temple.


    Shed been able to hold the most recent stint for five minutes.


    <em>With my inscriptions, I should not even be able to have a headache. What is going on, here?</em>


    Her needed breaks had been getting longer and longer. Thisst one had been a full ten minutes, and the headache wasnt gone, yet. <em>MaybeI might be pushing too hard.</em>


    <em></em>Lyns master had told the Mage that she could push with these exercises without hurting herself.


    <em>But that was an easier version, and they were talking to Lyn, who is cautious by nature</em>


    She flopped backwards, toy t on the sand. <em>A nap sounds really, really nice.</em>


    <em></em>She was thirsty, too.


    <em>I need to rest my eyes. Yeahjust for a minute or two.</em> But first, a drink.


    T tucked the other incorporators into Kit, verified that Flow was on her belt, and sat back up to be able to drink more easily from the cool water incorporator.


    <em>Come on, T. Power it up.</em> She hazily moved to do so and realized that shed created the same five channels that shed been using all afternoon. She groaned, but was too out of it to stop, now. She connected the smallest one to her body and inscriptions, and then just shunted the rest to the incorporator. <em>There, now Im not just dumping power into the air.</em>


    She activated the channels, connected their voided paths to her gate, bringing the incorporator up to her mouth.


    As she did so, her sluggish mind caught up to her actions and her eyes widened.


    Water rocketed out, not fast or hard enough to harm even a regr person, but still vastly more than anyone would want shooting into their mouth.


    The flow of power immediately cut off, T choking, gagging, and retching up the fluid that had invaded her lungs. <em>Idiot!</em> She spat, coughing uncontrobly.


    She hacked into the sand, her whole body convulsing.


    Finally, thest bit of water came back out of her, and she was able to draw a full breath.


    Her lungs feltheavy. Like she was beside the ocean on a particrly humid day, after sprinting down from the Academy.


    That. Was. Awful. She spat again, uselessly.


    She noticed Terry standing beside her, as she knelt on the sand, her hands holding her up. He was regarding her with an odd expression.


    What?


    He tilted his head back and forth regarding her intently, then vanished.


    Yeah Not dead this time, either. She groaned, thinking back over the idiocy shed just performed; she hesitated. <em>I connected four channels to a single destination, a single outlet.</em> Her fuzzy mind was having a difficult time tracking through all the implications, though her headache was a <em>bit</em> better.


    Unless she was lying to herself.


    <em>There is no way its worse, now.</em>


    If I could maintain that, funneling into an Archon star spell-form Her headache red, and she groaned again, flopping over onto her side, on a patch of dry sand.


    After a long break, she very carefully, finally, got her drink from the incorporator. She used the absolute minimum amount of power possible to activate it.


    Minutes more passed. If I could maintain that four-pronged approach, I could make a full Archon star in a few hours. She couldnt maintain it, obviously, but she was close to enacting the technique half of the time, if she alternated.


    No. That wasnt true. It was much closer to one third of the time.


    <em>Well, fineI should be able to do that, after a rest, though. </em>If she could hold the form while resting her mind, she just might be able to make it work.


    <em>I should ask Holly</em> Her eyes flicked to the sky. <em>Regarding Holly</em>It was time to return to the inscriber. <em>Duty calls.</em>

 Chapter 82: Fleeing the Madness of Reality

    Chapter 82: Fleeing the Madness of Reality


    T moved through the city in a bit of a haze, Terry on her shoulder.


    If she was being honest, she didnt really register anything at all, until she was standing in Hollys personal workshop, looking at the auto-inscriber.


    She tilted her head to the side, regarding the machine. Is that bigger?


    Holly was frowning in her direction. Are you alright, Mistress T?


    T shifted her gaze to the small, older Mage. Yes? Why?


    I just told you that Ive been adding to the device, increasing the surface area it can cover.


    OhI guess I wasnt listening.


    Holly was frowning. But you should have memory of hearing it, regardless. The inscriptions for mage-sight lit up on the inscribers face. Holly blinked in surprise. What have you been doing to yourself? Do you have a constant funnel of power into your soul-bound weapon?


    T looked down at Flow. Yeah, I had some excess, and it seemed a waste to just dump it into the air. <em>Wait I was directing the power into Flow from my Way. When did I start feeding it at all times?</em> It made sense, given that shed increased her passive power umtion rate. <em>The excess has to go somewhere, after all.</em> As she examined herself, she realized that shed only directed most of the excess into Flow. She still allowed the iing power to push at her body, stretching her power density ever so slightly before that miniscule overage seeped out.


    What have you been doing to increase your influx so much?


    She shrugged. Exercises to move towards creating a full Archon star. She gave a quick description, a bit surprised at her own eloquence.


    You are using a technique you came up with yourself. Hollys voice was a monotone.


    Well. No? Its just the Way of the Void.


    But you arent following the instructions you were given for such.


    No? This created better results.


    Hollys fingertips massaged her face, as the Mage let out a frustrated growl. Do you grab the heaviest weights avable for every exercise?


    <em>Wow, shes really confident that she wont identally activate her inscriptions with cross-over </em>I do mostly body-weight exercise, but after these enhancements? T patted her rather average-looking bicep, through the leather. Yeah, probably.


    Holly huffed a breath. Fine, bad example. She seemed to be considering. Now that I think about it, I doubt I cane up with a suitable one. She gave T a critical look. Youre a bit insane, when ites to training. She brightened. Ah! Have you ever juggled?


    No?


    Then, if you were going to learn, would you simply pick up as many knives as you could hold and start throwing them up?


    Well, Ive no idea, but that sounds like a bad idea. After a moments hesitation, she shrugged. I dont suppose I could get hurt by the knives, so maybe?


    Hollys lips pressed together in irritation, her eyes widening just slightly. <em>That kind of makes her look a bit manic</em>


    T held up her hands. But I see your point!


    Holly seemed to calm herself. Rusting right, you understand my point. She took another breath, calming further. The different Ways have been developed overwell, Im not sure how long we humans have been working on them. The point is, they are tried and tested, proven to be effective, efficient means of progressing. Making up your own would be like She seemed at a loss for a goodparison, once again.


    Like making an Archon star in a new substance?


    Exactly! Holly snapped, pointing at T, and visibly brightening. Then, she stopped, eyes narrowing and smile fading. No. No, you cant use that fluke to justify your insanity.


    T was grinning broadly but held up her hands in surrender. Fine, Ill exercise caution.


    The inscriber rolled her eyes and sighed exaggeratedly. Which means you wont change anything, but youll <em>consider</em> being less rash. She shook her head.


    Anyway. I have a couple things to discuss with you.


    Besides burning yourself alive from the inside out with magical power?


    Yes, besides that. She smiled again. I want to activate my crush attack, on myself, but I dont want it to scale up.


    Holly didnt blink at the idea, just nodding. Thats simple. You know the inscriptions that are responsible for recursion. Keep power out of those to alter the activation as desired.


    Yes, I <em>think</em> I do, but I dont want to kill myself through arrogance.


    Holly gave her a t look.


    This is totally different. Gravity is serious business. After a pause, T giggled. It has gravitas.


    Holly cocked her head, frowning. Are you alright?


    Yes, yes. Youre just taking this so seriously.


    Magic isnt serious?


    T opened her mouth to respond, but Holly waved her off.


    The inscriber sighed. Fine, fine. I am actually d that you asked. So, here, lets verify.


    Youarent going to ask why?


    Its obvious. You can take the increased weight, and the benefits in training, alone, would be monumental. I imagine you have other, less reasonable thoughts as to why you should do it, but my sanity begs me not to ask.


    T wasnt quite sure how to take that.


    Well need to use the inscribings I rmended for your feet, earlier.


    The ones to distribute my weight more widely?


    Yes. I was concerned that, given your increasing mass, that would be needed to prevent you causing damage as you walked. If were going to be amplifying your interactions with gravity, too? I think we should give your feet at least a one-foot radius pressure distribution, each. That should keep you in the range of pressure that a normal person exerts as they walk. Youll still have the weight, but it should keep you from sinking into softer materials.


    That should work, yeah. <em>And because its affecting my foot directly, and the ground only indirectly, my iron salve shouldnt interfere.</em>


    We should give the same to your palms.


    Why?


    You do push-ups, and simr exercises, yes?


    Oh! Right. That makes sense. She didnt want her hands sinking into the ground, either.


    For your reference: once your bones arepletely restructured, and your reserves are as full as is reasonable, you should be around two-hundred and eighty pounds. Add in a quadrupling of your gravitational constant, and youll break the scale at well over a thousand pounds. It is going to be inconvenient.


    T frowned. I supposed I could just set a mental condition to allow the change to be shrugged off, when I needed to.


    Holly hesitated. That is possible, but Id rmend against it. You will have to move almost entirely differently. Your body will need to adjust. Your mind more so and switching back and forth will be unneeded, extra strain.


    T sighed. Fair enough.


    Now, lets get your inscriptions finished, and these new ones added.


    Dont you need to work up a schema?


    Holly gave her a knowing smile. Your inscribing is being used to test my invention, dear girl. Ive worked up a thousand versions of dozens of possibilities for you. Those we are to add just need to be gged as good to go.


    Fair enough. Ive finished my topical review for the remaining inscriptions. T had also already read about, and understood, the surface area increasing enhancements, so that shouldnt be a problem.


    I assumed so. This will be ourst session, for now. Youll get all the remaining scripts. She hesitated. I trust you noticed the section for your eyes?


    T sighed and nodded. Yes. Having them pop within my head was unpleasant enough that Ill not fight you on it. They are only protective and regenerative, so I wont have to adjust to new stimulus. She shrugged. <em>Should be worth it, especially with the auto-inscriber, in ce of her jabbing my eyes with a needle over and over, manually</em>


    Good to hear. After this is finished, you and I can ensure you dont turn yourself to jelly as you increase your weight.


    T nodded. Thats the idea. Her focus had pushed the fuzziness aside for much of the conversation, but she still felt like she was thinking through a cloud. <em>That doesnt really make sense.</em>


    As she allowed the auto-inscriber to be positioned on her, this timepletely epassing her torso, neck, and head, T allowed her mind to fall back into thefortable absence of thought.


    * * *


    Mistress T? Motion before her eyes pulled at Ts attention. T!


    T started, looking around.


    Hollys hand was dropping away from in front of Ts face.


    Hmm? Whats going on? The auto-inscriber was tucked off to the side.


    Were done. After a moment, Holly added. Weve been done for nearly five minutes, but youve just been standing there.


    Oh, Im sorry. So, shall we do my feet and hands, then?


    Holly gave her a concerned look. No. Were done. All inscriptions areplete.


    <em>Really? Good. </em>Great. So, lets do the gravity work.


    Holly nced towards the wall in front of T, then back to her. Are you sure youre alright?


    T looked to where Holly had nced, and saw an expanded version of her crushing script, the portions she needed to keep power from were emphasized. Ah, yes! Thank you. She shook her head. Ive just got a lot on my mind.


    So, it seems. Maybe-


    T brought up her right hand, fingers and thumb pulled in tight. Her index and middle fingers pointed towards the ceiling, and her ring and pinkie fingers were bent down. She focused her mage-sight inward, ensuring that she thought of herself in her entirety. <em>No repeat of the midnight fox incident.</em>


    <em>Crush.</em> As power leapt through the activating scripts, she held it back from the recurring functions. She almost staggered as she was suddenly <em>much</em> heavier, but then the power faded from her spell-form, and the danger was past, leaving her with quadruple her previous weight. There.


    Holly sighed. Maybe, it would have been wise to wait.


    She fought to stay upright. Her heart wasboring against vastly heavier blood. <em>Thats what kills most.</em> Her heart, however, was enhanced, and was able to beat more forcefully than others. Her entire vascr system was reinforced, so it could take the strain of high blood pressure. All of her tissue was, else shed likely pop her own organs. You know. She found the act of talking much more difficult than before, too. Still, she persevered. If I do get cut, Ill be a fountain. She kept herself from giggling.


    Holly shook her head. At least that shows some deeper level thinking. But, no, you wont. Remember? Parts of the inscribings on your blood system was to redirect kic energy. Unless you will it, youll never bleed more than a trickle. She hesitated.


    <em>Right!</em> She shouldnt have forgotten that. T frowned, even that felt odd, the world pulling on her face differently than she was used to. I feel a little funny. She took a step, feeling like someone was clutching around her leg. <em>Or that my leg is now much, much heavier.</em>


    You dont look so good. Holly was frowning with obvious concern. Why dont you lie down?


    T shook her head, feeling momentarily dizzy as her inner ears struggled to understand what was going on. She groaned and sat down. Well, she tried to. The chair, which shed used in the past, creaked then splintered, dumping her unceremoniously onto the ground.


    Holly was at her side in a moment. Deep breaths, Mistress T. Focus on limating.


    T nodded, again feeling like the world was spinning without her. She didnt vomit. Her inscriptions wouldnt allow it.


    As she examined herself, with her mage-sight, T realized that she was still funneling power into Flow, strengthening the knife, and her bond to it. <em>Interesting. Thats be an unconscious thing.</em>


    As she focused on the knife, she got the sudden feeling that it, and their bond, was approaching a threshold of power. Her steady stream was miniscule, but the barrier was close.


    <em>I wonder what that is?</em> Her unfocused mind did some rough calctions, and she spoke without thought. Huh, I think my bond with the knife is almost powerful enough to match a true Archon star.


    Holly pulled back, eyes wide. Her mouth opened, but T never got to hear what she was about to say.


    The threshold was reached, the link between herself and the knife pulsed, and the world went white, her mind fleeing the madness of reality into thefortable nothingness of sleep.


    * * *


    T woke slowly, staring up at the ceiling in her room, in Lyns house. <em>What?</em>


    The ceiling seemed too far away. It felt like someone had strapped weights to her body, but she was still able to move. A small fuzzy warmth was tucked against her bare feet.


    Strangely, she felt incredible. Her mind was clear, and she didnt feel tired in the slightest.


    She lifted her arm to free her eyes from the sleep that had gathered during the night. There was a lot.


    <em>I dont remember going to bed</em> With more effort than shed recently required, she sat up and looked around.


    She was on the floor, on her bedroll. The bed that she had been using was gone, along with the chair for the desk, leaving the room feeling strangely empty.


    Terry was curled up near where her feet had been.


    T was dressed in her elk-leather clothing, still, but they felt weak, like they were starving.


    <em>Oh, no!</em> She reached inside herself for power to dump into the item and found that only about three quarters of her inflow was going to her body and the active inscriptions therein. The rest was going into Flow, just as shed directed so often ofte.


    Quickly, T moved that excess of power into the outfit, funneling it into Kit next, as soon as the elk leather was full. Thankfully, the dimensional bag was still functional.


    She noted that each item filled as fast as any time previous, despite the inscriptions that Holly had added in their most recent session. <em>Even when I was using the void.</em> True, she was doing them one at a time, but even so. <em>I guess my gate has expanded?</em> She really didnt want to put numbers to it, but she couldnt help the mathematical portion of her thoughts from spitting out. <em>Id bet my base rate is around 8 mana per second.</em> The finalization of her spell-forms had increased their running magical draw.


    As she thought about it: If the void channels still had the same multiplicative effect, shed be able to make a top rate Archon star in just over two hours. <em>Around one, if Im happy with lesser results. </em>True, that was only if she could maintain the void channels for the entire time, and didnt give her active inscriptions anything, but it was still a mind-bending realization.


    She reached out and refilled Terrys cor as well, causing the bird to stir. He stood, regarding her quizzically. <em>Does he look stressed?</em>


    A smiled tugged at her lips, and she got him some jerky, which he ate slowly, watching her critically the entire time. Whats- She stopped, her voice sounding like a croak.


    <em>Water.</em> She got her brass incorporator out and very carefully took a drink. That triggered her thirst, and she spent the next little while drinking as much as she could. Her stomach was utterly empty.


    Finally, she felt like shed drunk enough. Whats going on? Her voice was a whisper, but at least it was no longer a rasp.


    Terry just looked at her. If hed had eyebrows, she suspected one would have been raised.


    Right, tooplicated.


    Her hair was still braided, but there were a <em>lot</em> of strands that hade loose. <em>I did that at the Guardsmans training yard, right?</em> Even with her mind clear, her memories were fuzzy. <em>That cant be good</em>


    Her every movement felt heavy, and it clicked in her mind that shed enacted the weight increase that shed discussed with the ss of guards.


    <em>Well, I survived that, then. </em>But how had she gotten here?


    She stretched, lightly, trying not to move too much. As she did so, she assessed her state. <em>Hungry, but not starving. No brokenanything, no bleeding. No concussion. des sharp-</em> She hesitated at that. <em>My de is sharp?</em> She held out her hand and, with a flicker of movement, Flow was in her grasp. The weapon hade to her more quickly than ever before. <em>No, that isnt right. It moved where I wanted. It was already with me.</em> The de reshaped into a sword, and back just as quickly, though it still took virtually all of her iing power to enact the change. <em>Somethings different.</em> She narrowed her eyes, examining the weapon.


    She heard footsteps in the hall, and a voice carried through the door. Thank you for dropping by to get me. Just let me check in on her, and we can leave.


    T sheathed the knife as Lyn pushed the door open and froze. <em>Ill examine itter.</em>


    T?


    T cocked her head. Lyn.


    A startled exmation came from outside, and Rane poked his head around the doorframe, looking past Lyn. Mistress T. Youre awake!


    T frowned. Thats what you do after you sleep. She wetted her lips. What happened?


    Rane looked lost, but Lyn sighed. You lost consciousness at Mistress Hollys workshop.


    And? Thats happened before.


    You overtaxed your mind, your will, likely your soul, too. Mistress Holly said that your soul-bond to that knife reached a cusp of true strength, and it became too much for your weary self to take. She shrugged, looking uncertain. Your mind began to fray, and so, it retreated into unconsciousness.


    How did you get me back here? Wheres my bed?


    Lyn opened her mouth, but Rane cleared his throat, answering the question. When you werent at the training yard, I tracked you down to Mistress Hollys shop. He smiled, holding back a chuckle. They couldnt move you, and Mistress Holly was getting very cross at your presence in her personal workroom. Apparently, the doorways were too small for any heavy lifting machinery, and she wasnt willing tomission something special, just to move you. He cleared his throat. I suspect that she could have solved the problem, but likely, she wanted to keep an eye on you. After there was someone else around to do it, though? He shrugged. She was content to pass off that responsibility. I can impart kic energy, and that depends on mass, not weight, so we were able to get you hereif a bit unconventionally. He looked a bit embarrassed by that.


    I wont ask. She got a mental image of herself suddenly flying in a chosen direction, flopping through a hallway or down a road.


    I think thats for the best. Rane cleared his throat. When we got here, I gave you enough energy to lift up onto the bed. The bed immediately broke under you. The wood of the structure shredded the mattress. After that, we cleared out the broken pieces and got your bedroll set up.


    T frowned. How did you get my bedroll?


    He shrugged. It just sort of flopped out of your pouch. He scratched the back of his head. We took out the chair too, just to be safe.


    She looked down. Thanks, Kit. She patted the dimensional storage.


    The pouch did not respond.


    T sighed, returning her attention to the two people in her doorway. Alright, sowhat? I was unconscious for a day? She nced at the window, her heavy movements still feeling odd. <em>The light is right for afternoon.</em> She turned back. They were sharing a look. What? Losing a day is rusting awful, but if I work hard enough, Ill recover the lost time.


    It was Lyns turn to speak, apparently, as she cleared her throat. Its been four days since you fell unconscious, T. Youve been here for three.


    Ts mouth opened, but she couldnt form a response.


    A Healer friend came by and said you were alive, and that your soul was still in your body, but he couldnt tell me when youd wake up.


    <em>Four daysThat is so much time Ive missed. </em>Wait Does that mean they had to get me to the privy somehow? <em>No.</em> She shook her head. <em>The digestive inscriptions ensure I use all parts of anything I ingest, even recycling what would normally be expelled.</em> That was a relief. Even trying to imagine them handling that washumiliating.


    The Wainwrights were a bit irritated that you couldnte by to test the cargo-slots that they made for you, but it hasnt be a true problem, yet. The guardsman ss has the first version of your fighting style ready, but they were able to shift their schedule around to work with Master Rane, until you recovered.


    Rane cleared his throat. Mistress Holly is <em>livid</em>, by the way. She insisted that I tell you that as soon as you woke up. He looked a bit embarrassed as he added. And she wanted me to say: I told you so. From her, of course.


    T snorted augh. Sounds like her.


    Also, the bits of gold that came from your keystone? He looked incredibly confused by his own question.


    Yeah?


    He grunted. Ill askter, I suppose. Well, she said those were now payment for the inconvenience you caused her.


    T sighed. I suppose thats better than I deserve Then, the seriousness of the lost time settled back down on her. She took a deep breath and let it out quickly. Well, rust. Thank you, both, for the help, for getting me back here. Seems that you all might have been right: Slow and steady would have been better.


    Lyns eyes narrowed. Might? No, T. We <em>were</em> right. It is better. I can hold the void for more than five hours, now. Hows your progress?


    T groaned. Low blow, but fine. I wont push <em>quite</em> so fast.


    Lyn opened her mouth, but Rane put a hand on her shoulder. She nced at him and closed it. Take the win, Mistress Lyn.


    T looked back and forth. <em>Had they met before?</em> Her mind was still a bit fuzzy. She shrugged. Well. Times wasting. <em>I have four days of meal budgets to spend.</em> She found herself smiling. <em>I can get at least one</em><em>good thing out of this debacle.</em> I need to eat.

 Chapter 83: She’s a Scary Lady

    Chapter 83: She¡¯s a Scary Lady


    T finished eating her fourth Cheesy Little Caravan, to Rane and Lyns increasingly awed concern.


    How are you not distended? Rane hesitated as Ts eyebrows rose, and Lyn gave him a horrified look. What? I know youre inscribed, but how does it fit? Thats way more than you ate at the noodle ce.


    T looked down at her stomach, not a bulge in sight. Stronger muscles? But, thats a rude question, Master Rane. She was kneeling beside the table, as shed almost broken the chair when theyd first arrived. Thankfully, shed been tentative in her sitting, and had immediately risen when the exterior-grade chair had started groaning.


    Rane had eaten one, himself, and Lyn had gotten the smallest little caravan that this ce sold. Shed still had trouble finishing it. Rane rolled his eyes, wiping his mouth. For some people, Im sure it is rude, but youll never get fat, so He shrugged. Normal rules hardly apply.


    T snorted a chuckle, taking a long drink from the restaurant-provided earthen mug. <em>I should get one of these to make drinking easier. No need to shoot water straight into my mouth</em> But it was probably an unneeded expense. <em>Only a few copper?</em> Budget tight now, livergeter.


    So How are any of my items still functional? True, they were starving, but four days should have utterly drained them.


    Lyn quirked a smile, speaking a bit slower than usual, likely due to her full stomach. I practiced the void beside you.


    T nodded. Raising the ambient magic in the room. Clever. And thank you. I cannot tell you how much it would have been rusting awful to lose Kit, and Terry here? She patted the bird on the head and flicked a bit of jerky randomly away for him. If his cor had lost all power, hed have been obliterated by the citys magics.


    Terry was giving her a hard look, even while he consumed the jerky.


    Lyn nodded. It was rough on Terry. He kept going to the edge of eptable range and squawking in irritation. I think his cor was glowing red more than not for the first day you were back home.


    T met Terrys gaze. Im sorry, Terry. You were stuck. If you fled, youd be struck down. If you stayed, your cor could have run dry, then youd be struck down.


    Terry let out a low, irritable chirp.


    Ill try not to be incapacitated, again.


    He repeated his chirp.


    Agreed.


    Rane and Lyn shared a look. Can she understand him?


    Lyn shook her head. Id think not, but with her? Who knows.


    T ignored them. So, I need to drop through the work-yard? For my custom cargo-slots?


    Lyn nced her way. No, theyre at their guildhall. She hesitated, then amended. Well, likely in their private work-yard in the back.


    And where would I find that?


    Ill take you. She nced to Rane, then back. Master Rane tells me that you agreed to work with him, on your next assignment?


    Yeah, seems like a good idea.


    I agree. I think getting you back out of the city will help get you out of your own head and slow your pace to one of reasonable progress.


    And get me paid.


    Lyn gave a half smile. True enough. Ill need to see the custom cargo-slots for myself, so I can confirm their use for an out-and-back run. Any preferences I should know about?


    T shrugged. Leave in a week? Depending on when my Guild meeting is.


    Lyn narrowed her eyes menacingly. Why then?


    I promised Adam that Id work with the guardsman ss. I need to give them at least some time.


    She seemed a bit mollified at that. Fine. Ill see what I can do. This will be a longer haul, in all likelihood. Lyn sighed. Speaking of your meeting with a senior Guild member; Master Rane took thest few days to collect written statements on your behalf. He and I were just heading to the Caravanners Guild to file that paperwork, when you woke up.


    He was grinning. We can drop by on the way to the wainwrights.


    T rocked back a little bit in shock. That must have been a lot of work, Master Rane.


    He shrugged. I have very little to do, while in the city, and like I said, I want to go on the next venture in yourpany. Cant do that if they hamstring you for a time.


    She didnt know what to say. Well thank you. I deeply appreciate that.


    Not all the statements were favorable, but thats likely better. The group will be epted more readily if it at least has the appearance of bnce. Lyn smiled at T. Ive been officially told to not interfere or influence the meeting in any official capacity. Ill still be your appointed point of contact, but as were sharing a residence, Im no longer considered neutral enough to represent the Guild orment on proceedings.


    Fair enough. When will I be meeting them?


    I had you scheduled for two days ago, but with you unconscious, I asked them to bump it back. Lyn thought about it. I was actually going to ask for another extension, when we dropped off this paperwork at the guildhall, but now I dont have to.


    Oh? When is the meeting?


    Late this afternoon. Welle back to the Guild after we test your cargo-slots.


    T swallowed involuntarily. <em>Today? </em>Should she ask for a dy? <em>No, T. Get it done and over with. </em>She nodded, mostly to herself. It sounds like we have a n for the rest of today, then. We should be off.


    * * *


    The stop through the Caravanners Guildhall had been uneventful, and Lyn had confirmed Ts appointment forte that same afternoon. It was also confirmed that T would have to attend alone, though Terry should be allowed.


    As they walked, T had found her newer method of movement critical. By keeping her center of gravity so carefully controlled, she kept her steps from thundering against the ground. The few steps she took without that care caused tremors to reverberate through everything around her. If she was right in her guess, she was effectively close to nine hundred pounds, at the moment. Her reserves were still vastly below what they could and should be, so she expected her weight to rise.


    During their meal, shed almost flipped their sturdy table by resting her arms on it too aggressively. As a result of that and other incidents, she was being more careful than ever with her movements.


    From the Caravanners Guildhall, the three went straight to the Wainwrights, where Master Himmal was called out to meet them.


    Mistress T! Im so d to see you well. Your handler was unwilling to exin why you were unavable.


    T smiled back, a bit self-consciously. Master Himmal, always a pleasure. It seems I was pushing too fast and rendered myself insensate for a few days.


    The man blinked a few times, processing what shed said. After a moment, his face blossomed with power as his mage-sight came to bear. He took a step back. Well. He swallowed. You''recking whatever barrier you had in ce before. When his gaze met hers, his eyes narrowed. Your mage-sight is always on? He startedughing. Thats amazing! How are you not braindead?


    T quirked a smile. That is the question.


    So, that is why you asked for the visible indication lights to be removed. You dont need them, at all. He was nodding as he examined her visible lines.


    <em>He can likely see </em>something<em> radiating out through my clothing, but likely no specifics.</em>


    Your lines are the most intricate and delicate Ive ever seen. Where did you find an inscriber with the patience and precision to do this work? He hesitated. I apologize, Im forgetting myself and being rude.


    T waved him off. Youre fine to ask and to use your mage-sight. Mistress Holly has some new methods.


    He nodded to himself. Its been a decade or so. About time she shook the world, once again. He gave a little chuckle. His voice suddenly lost its mirth, and he was staring at her knife. Mistress T. What have you done?


    T ce a hand on Flow. I soul-bound a knife. Apparently, it was a poor choice of timing.


    He was frowning at her. You can create Archon stars, then? But no one exined that you shouldnt bind the knife, first? Why havent you been guided to make another? He smiled, then, though his confusion and concern was still evident. I am d you found your way to that spell-form. Please let me know when you are up for consideration, and Ill happily give my hearty backing to the proposal.


    That is very kind of you. As to your questions: Ill just say that this, She patted the knife. This was a bit of an ident and an exception, though I should be able to form a star, soon. <em>Maybe tomorrow.</em> She nodded to herself. After a moment, she shrugged. <em>Why not tell him?</em> Im going to be making an attempt, tomorrow, as the day after I have obligations. Rane had agreed to go speak with the guardsman instructor and schedule the restarting of her participation two mornings hence. Hed go to do that directly after this visit with the Wainwrights Guild.


    I see Master Himmal seemed to be contemting. Ambitious to attempt a star with such a short time avable, without a- he stopped, cleared his throat, and changed what hed been about to say, but it should be educational one way or another. He smiled. Do you have a quiet space to work? One should not be interrupted during an attempt.


    T nced to Lyn, thinking to check with the woman about making the attempt at home, but found Lyn ring fiercely. T took an involuntary step back. It wasnt a careful step, as shed be in the habit of making. Instead, it was a quick, heavy footfall that caused a tremor to ripple through the ground. Lyn. T held up her hands. Whats wrong?


    Lyn thrust her finger at T. You. You are <em>supposed</em> to be taking a break, going easy. Now, youre nning on making a star?


    T nced to Master Himmal for support, but found the Mage wide-eyed, mouth agape, staring at her. Mistress T Why are you shaking the ground with a step? I didnt feel any magic in that vein, radiating from you, but the result was obvious.


    <em>Great, two issues to address</em>


    T addressed Master Himmal first, simply stating that her effective weight was now around a thousand pounds.


    He seemed to take it in stride. Well reinforce the carrier wagon for your cargo-slots, then. I presume your preference is still to ride atop that wagon, as you did on your recent journey?


    It is, at least during the day.


    Is your mass increased, or just your weight?


    Just my weight. She frowned. Does it matter?


    He smiled. Of course. With just your weight increased, well have to reinforce vertically, but not horizontally, at least not to the same extent. In addition, there shouldnt be extra strain on the oxen or harnesses, as they wont be oveing vastly increased inertia.


    That made some sense. She hadnt really thought about the logistics of having increased weight, but not increased inertia. <em>Hard to lift me, but not hard to push me? I suppose Ill have more friction against the ground, due to the higher weight</em> It was something else to contemte. <em>Maybe, this wasnt such a good idea</em> In either case, shed give it a good effort, at the very least.


    He nodded. Neither would be insurmountable, but this is the easier to work with. It will increase the cost, even so. He quirked a smile. The bonus from the Caravanners Guild for especiallyrge storage capacity will be tapped to pay for the difference.


    T sighed. Fair enough.


    Lyn cleared her throat, possibly even more irritated, as shed had to wait. So? What do you have to say for yourself?


    Ill be taking it easy, not stopping, Lyn.


    Master Himmal quirked an eyebrow at theck of a title but didntment. <em>I guess he didnt notice the first time.</em> Rane either didnt notice or didnt care.


    You nearly killed yourself. Please. <em>Please.</em> Dont seed?


    T gave a tired smile. I wont lock myself away. I know that my mistake cost me days of progress, and nearly killed me. Even though it didnt, it could have damaged me enough to halt my growth entirely.


    Master Himmal cleared his throat. Yes, that is not something you should do.


    She gave him an apologetic look. I am doing my best to be careful.


    He grunted. Make your star. Get yourself raised to Archon, and much will be made clearer. He looked to Lyn, smiling slightly. Truthfully, that is one of the safest things our young Mage, here, can do.


    Rane nodded. Besides, I dont want to rise to Archon alone.


    Everyone turned to regard him, and he grinned widely. I finished my star, yesterday.


    T looked around but didnt see any such thing on his person. Oh?


    Its in a little iron box, I figured if you were going to be done soon, we could go through the rigmarole together. He shrugged. Paperwork and bureaucracy are always better with friends.


    T snorted. You say the nicest things. Then, she frowned. That was fast, though


    He shrugged again. Master Grediv has been pushing me to make one for years, and though I refused to let him give me the spell-form, or to start training on the Ways, he still managed to trick me into preparing. The small shifts I was able to make, based on his letter, pushed me over the edge. He was grinning.


    Master Himmal cleared his throat. As wonderful as this is. He looked to Rane. And it is wonderful: Congrattions, Master Rane. He looked back to T. Shall we test your cargo-slots?


    That is a fantastic idea. She smiled at him. T reached out and patted Ranes shoulder as they began to walk after the elder Mage. Good job, by the way. She smiled. It sounds like I still need to catch up.


    He grinned back. Youll be there sooner than you know.


    Lyn rolled her eyes. You two are ridiculous.


    Rane nced her way. Youre one to talk. Didnt you say you were going to be making an attempt, soon?


    T looked to her friend. Lyn? Do you think five hours with your void will be sufficient?


    She shrugged. Maybe? From my masters instructions, Ill be close. I think I can maintain the spell-form through a rest, as well. She smiled. Im not looking to make a ssh. She chuckled lightly. I just want Mistress Holly off my back.


    T nodded at that. Shes a scarydy.


    The group came out into sunlight, and T beheld the new creation.


    Her eyes widened. Beautiful.


    The cargo-slots were a dark, almost ck wood with a unified matte finish over the entire surface. The handles for doors were ck iron,cquered to prevent rust or irritation for Mages. The rivers, streams, and swirls thatposed the spell-lines were a polished, almost red, gold.


    Is that an alloy?


    Master Himmal seemed quite pleased with the product. Proprietary information, my good Mage.


    Lyn was already walking around the constructs.


    T walked up and examined the descriptive inscriptions. These are four times the size of myst voyages cargo-slots. <em>Without a mental construct, this size took me twelve minutes in my initial testing.</em>


    Precisely so. Though, with your increased capacity, we added several features we can only implement on asion.


    Oh?


    First of all, they are almost weightless, when active. The cargo-slots themselves have their mass negated to the point that they react as if they were roughly thirty pounds, apiece. We got much of the power for that by negating the indication lights. He gave a small smile as he continued. Mass istion is in effect of course, so anything inside will have a perfectly smooth ride, and we have built the outrements to make one a dedicated, high value passenger transport, another abination of venture resources and guard barracks, and two more into standard passenger carriers, as needed. We can even fit in Mages quarters into the barracks cargo-slot, as needed. He was smiling happily. With the specialized wagon to carry all the cargo-slots, I see no need for any other wagon on any caravan route, save the chuckwagon. He nodded definitively, clearly proud of the work.


    So, there are fourteen?


    The ssic ten for a caravan load, and four for the purposes of personnel.


    She grinned. Well, lets see what I can do, then. She walked forward and ced her hand against the activation point of the detailed, stunningly beautiful spell-lines. To reach it, she had to step up onto a stepstool already in ce; the te, itself, being on the top of the slot.


    Why is the activation conjunction on the top, by the way?


    So that you can recharge them all from the wagons roof, even while the sides of most are covered by those in use for personnel and passengers.


    She nodded. That made a good amount of sense.


    T turned back to the cargo-slot before her and carefully built the mental construct of what her power would do. <em>Out, not up. More symmetrical than oblong.</em> She imagined exactly how the power would flow through the script, and what it would do to the dimensionality of the space between the front and back panels.


    It was simr to, but not identical to, the cargo-slots that she had been empowering.


    She moved to create void channels, connecting to the inputs of the construct, but then nced to Lyn.


    Lyn had a suspicious frown on her face.


    T sighed. <em>Fine.</em> She simply channeled her excess power umtion through the mental construct and into the device, empowering it.


    It felt painfully slow. Roughly twenty secondster, the first indicator blossomed to her mage-sight.


    Remarkable improvement. Master Himmal was talking to himself.


    T fought not to roll her eyes. <em>If I used my void-channels, Id have it filled in two or three seconds.</em> She <em>might</em> have been correct, but shed not attempted to hold a mental construct with multiple through lines, before. This was safer. This was wiser.


    It took her right around a minute to fully empower the cargo-slot. A twelfth of her previous attempt at a like-sized dimensional empowerment, and this endeavor hadnt touched her reserves. She was utterly fresh, in mind, will, and power. <em>How inefficient was I being, without a mental construct?</em> It was a humbling thought. <em>How inefficient am I still being?</em>


    T stretched back, then twisted, cracking her back. Well, that wasnt bad at all. She grinned. Thirteen more to go.


    Master Himmal cleared his throat. Well, no. Not right now.


    She looked at him. Ohright. I dont have a contract, currently.


    He smiled and nodded. Exactly. He opened the door, and they all walked inside, examining the cavernous space.


    To Ts surprise, it wasnt dark within. It wasnt bright, by any means, but the sides and top of the space were mildly translucent, allowing in the sun from outside. How does that work? She pointed at the closest side wall.


    The sunlight that strikes that side of the device is allowed through and distributed evenly across the entirety of the expanded space.


    Huhthat actually makes sense.


    Lyn was frowning. No, it doesnt.


    T waved her away. It does to me, and thats what matters here.


    Lyn sighed but didntment further.


    After they verified correct andplete empowerment, the four of them left the erged space, closing the door behind them.


    Master Himmal reached out and tapped a portion of the script, sending power with an intricately constructed form into the point. The cargo-slot red with power for a brief moment, and the magic bled away.


    T looked between Master Himmal and the construct several times. Finally, she managed to stammer out. Butthat was gold!


    He was smiling mischievously. Are you sure? But he turned away before she could respond.


    Lyn cleared her throat. Secrets aside, Master Himmal: Im not sure I can sign off on a spell-form that can be powered down. That would obliterate cargo and passenger alike.


    He waved her off. It cannot be powered down if anything remains inside. Had we tracked too much dirt and dust in, Id have had to order a cleaning crew to scrub the ce before it could be deactivated. I assure you that it is perfectly safe.


    She gave him a hard look.


    He sighed. The Wainwrights will send a letter of assurance to the Caravanners as soon as you leave. We fully certify this design.


    Lyn nodded, satisfied. Very well, then. She looked to T. Im happy. You?


    T nodded, smiling broadly. Oh, yes. This is going to be amazing.


    They all bid Master Himmal a good day and departed. T and Lyn set off towards the Caravanners main guildhall, while Rane made his way to talk with the Guardsmen. Ts primary tasks for the afternoon were almostplete.


    <em>I just have to talk with a senior Guild official, which will likely include a renegotiation of my contract.</em> No big deal. It wasnt like much was on the line.


    T shifted ufortably as she walked.


    Lyn, who wasing to the guildhall but not the negotiation, noticed. Everything ok?


    T grunted. It seems silly that so much could hang on a single conversation.


    Lyn smiled. Its why I have a job.


    T snorted. Do you know who Ill be meeting with? Any tips?


    No, and yes. Know what youre worth, know what youre saving the Guild. The bonus for the custom cargo-slots is negotiated with, and goes through, the Wainwrights, so dont bring it up. It shouldnt factor into your discussion, from either side. They are going to be upset by yourextra-curricr dangers. After all, you <em>did </em>act recklessly quite a few times, but you also didnt fail in your duties. Try to keep that in mind, both facets of it. Dont let them push you around. She shrugged. Also, stop getting in so much danger. I dont want you to die.


    T smiled, gratefully. Ill do my best. She thought for a moment, then addressed a different aspect of the topic at hand. So, dont bring up the savings from the reduced wagons?


    Oh, you should definitely do that, just not the fact that custom cargo-slots have been made for you. Your pay should go up for reducing the needed peripheries but should <em>not</em> go up because you can facilitate arger cargo-load. Does that make sense?


    T was nodding. I think so. I need to negotiate for my rate as a Mage Protector as well, right?


    Lyn looked hesitant. No? Those rates are set per danger thwarted, with some modification based on specific route. It would be appropriate to note that by reducing the need for another Mage, you further reduce the peripheral requirements, though.


    Got it. She sighed. <em>I hate money</em>No, that wasnt right. <em>I hate dealing with money</em> Again, that didnt seem <em>quite</em> true. <em>I hate having to make decisions that will greatly affect how much money I have?</em> That seemed right.


    You seem lost in thought.


    T sighed. Just deciding what, exactly, I hate about this.


    Lyn huffed augh. Seems about right.


    T grinned. Any generic advice?


    They wont kick you out, though they may offer to let you end your contract. If they cant give you the amount youre asking for, they will simply let their offer rest. Unless you are truly unprofessional in this meeting, they wont forcibly eject you from the guild.


    Thats good, at least.


    That doesnt mean you can simply say, Give me your best offer. and expect such. Youll probably still have a job, regardless, but you want to be paid as much as possible.


    Dont we all.


    Lyn grinned. Im quite satisfied with where Im at.


    T rolled her eyes. So Ive heard.


    You want as much freedom as possible in contract choices, but they are going to want to restrict you, somehow, to keep yourmore dangerous actions in check. Consider the wisdom of letting them.


    T almost objected, but the more she thought about it, the more she realized that Lyn was right. <em>Maybe I could use a steadying influence</em> Rane would not be a good source for that, even if she were willing to ept such advice from him.<em> Ill hear them out.</em>


    Lyn seemed to be contemting something. After a moment, she shrugged, as if to herself. Do something to take the official off their guard. Disarm them and put them on the back foot but not with anything overt.


    T frowned. How am I supposed to do that?


    Be you? You really are quite odd, and most people dont know quite what to do with you.


    So your advice is to be me?


    Precisely, thats why I wasnt sure if I should say anything.


    Alright then


    Shortly thereafter, they arrived back at the guildhall, and Lyn bid T goodbye. She had work to do. Ill see you tonight, if not before. Good luck!

 Chapter 84: Watching for a Trap

    Chapter 84: Watching for a Trap


    T waved goodbye to Lyn over her shoulder as she walked through the Caravanners Guild headquarters and to a nearby receptionist. Hello.


    Greetings, Mistress.


    Im Mage T, here to see a guild official?


    The assistant looked down at his notes, flipping through a book, hunting for her name. Ah! Here you are. Yes, right this way.


    He came out from behind the counter and led her down a side hallway. Will your bird be with you? The assistant wasnt inscribed, and he was young, obviously in his middle teens.


    She nodded, patting Terrys head, as he slept on her shoulder. Yes, he is an arcanous animal, on a training cor.


    The teen nodded, seeming satisfied. Very well. Can I get you anything to drink?


    Some coffee would be lovely, if you have it.


    He gave a nod. Certainly.


    T was grateful that Lyn had thought to ask for a first-floor meeting-room. T would <em>not</em> have started out on the right foot, if that foot was through the floor. Thankfully, the floors down here were solid stone, some set in ce, some poured.


    She was led to a closed door. Your appointment should be along shortly. Feel free to wait where you feel mostfortable. Ill return in a moment with your coffee.


    Thank you.


    He gave a small bow and departed.


    T pushed open the door and walked into a simple, small room. Two chairs sat facing each other across an appropriately sized table. A pitcher of water and two empty cups already sat in the middle of that t, wooden surface. A window looked out on the street, slightly below. The street, outside, sloped just enough to put this window above eye-level for the passersby, giving the room a good view and light, while maintaining a modicum of privacy.


    T moved over and examined the chairs. They were identical and seemed ill suited to bearing her new weight. <em>Great.</em>


    She briefly considered undoing her increased weight but shook her head. <em>No, I need to give this a good try, at the very least.</em>


    She moved one chair away, tucking into a corner, but remained standing. <em>I dont want to be kneeling when they arrive.</em>


    Terry immediately flickered over to the chair, curling up and continuing his rest.


    As T was taking in the room, she allowed her mind to wander, really for the first time since shed woken up. <em>I am much, much heavier now.</em> All of her was heavier. Her heart didnt <em>feel</em> like it was straining too hard, but she supposed that it had had four days to limatize to the changes. All her involuntary systems had.


    She nced down and quirked a smile. <em>Hollys inscriptions really are excellent. Even at four times the weight, I still dont need a corset.</em>


    The assistant returned, pushing the door open with his back. Ts head whipped up. <em>That would have been embarrassingYes,e in and see me staring at my own chest. Real professional, T.</em>


    He carefully held arge mug of steaming coffee. Ts eyes narrowed. <em>They have a coffee incorporator too. I just know it.</em> That really didnt make sense, as a non-inscribed assistant couldnt use an incorporator. <em>Even an inscribed one, without a keystone, shouldnt be able to</em>


    He turned around and extended the mug to her. Mistress, your coffee.


    She epted the beverage. Thank you.


    He bowed, smiling. Is there anything else I can get for you?


    T almost asked for more coffee but held herself back. It waste afternoon, after all, and after sleeping for four days, she might have an issue falling asleep that night, as it was. No. Thank you.


    Very good, Mistress. The Exchequer will be with you, shortly. He bowed, again, and left, closing the door behind himself.


    T looked down at the earthenware mug. <em>Nicely fired.</em> She examined the vessel more closely, letting the coffee inside cool just a bit. <em>Nicely zed, too.</em>


    A light knock came on the door.


    T looked up, distractedly. Yes?


    The door opened just a crack. Mistress T?


    Yes.


    It was pushed open, fully. Im Senior Exchequer, Mrac. He was a middle-aged man, with wings of grey in his otherwise brown hair and a clean-shaven face. Surprisingly, he was not a Mage.


    T stepped forward, offering her hand after moving her coffee to the other. Good to meet you, Mrac.


    He took the offered hand and smiled. Shall we get started?


    She nodded.


    Mrac walked over and sat in the single chair still at the table. T knelt beside the table, where the other chair had been. This ced her head a little lower than his.


    He frowned, cocking his head to the side. Is everything alright? Was something the matter with the chair? He nced over, seeming to notice Terry for the first time. Do we need to get another?


    T looked away, feeling a bit embarrassed. Well, Im quite a bit heavier than usual. I dont believe standard chairs would hold me, so this seemed a good solution.


    He seemed taken aback by that. Well, Im so sorry that we dont have the proper amodations for your He seemed to be searching for the right word. particr circumstance.


    T smiled in what she hoped was a disarming way, turning back. Its understandable.


    Mrac cleared his throat, looking down at the notes on his te.


    T took a drink of her coffee. <em>Very nice.</em> Sadly, it tasted a bit different from that offered at the Constructionists Guild. <em>Not an incorporator, then.</em> She hesitated. <em>Not the same type of incorporator, at least.</em>


    Yes, here we are.


    T returned her attention to the man. <em>Wait he seems a bit off guard Lyn was right! I did it without even trying.</em> She smiled.


    Let me begin with a question: Do you know what most dimensional Mages do in their caravan, after charging the dimensional scripts each day?


    <em>Odd question to begin with</em> T shrugged. No, I dont.


    Nothing.


    She blinked at him. What?


    They do nothing. They stay in their wagon. They read; they eat; they work on little projects; they exercise. They do pretty much whatever they want, but in their wagon.


    That doesnt sound like nothing.


    He cocked an eyebrow. From the perspective of the caravan, they do nothing.


    Ah T took another drink. Alright.


    Do you know what you did?


    That sounds like a rhetorical question.


    He quirked a smile at that. True enough. He nced down and began reading from his notes. On your very first day, you left the safety of the caravan to harvest from a felled arcanous beast.


    <em>The de-wing?</em> I was with guards. The whole time.


    His eyebrow rose as his gaze lifted. That is noted, yes. He looked back down at his notes. You slept on top of hostile flora, causing a stir, but no real inconvenience.


    It bled, shouldnt that make it fauna?


    He nced up at her. Was it blood or a type of sap?


    I She didnt know. Not sure.


    Hardly important, I suppose, in the grand scheme of things. Do you wish me to change the ssification in your file?


    Would it matter?


    If it is ssified as a true threat, the First Driver will be penalized for leading the caravan so near it, unawares, and the Mage Protectors would be entitled to a bounty for its demise. Traditionally, much of that would be given to you, but that is not required.


    <em>Den would be penalized?</em> No, I think it should stand as it is.


    Very well. He straightened a bit. You again left the safety of the caravan, walking behind thest wagon, thus exposing yourself to the attacks of a terror bird, which you fended off. Such a threat would likely have attacked someone, but you did put yourself into a vulnerable position.


    When she didntment, he proceeded.


    You left the protection of the caravan to approach an obviously magical, dangerous tree, though under the approval of a Mage Protector. It is also noted that you did not engage with the tree, itself, simply harvesting a fallen branch.


    Thats true.


    You engaged in a verbal contract with one of our passengers to procure an arcanous harvest, while still on a job for our guild. You then left the safety of the caravan, again, to engage a thunder bull on your own.


    I won.


    That is not in dispute. He looked back to his notes. Depending on which Mage protectors reports I reference, you either caused a Magical beast to attack, or lured one to do so at a more auspicious time. Both reports agree that when that midnight fox threatened the safety of the caravan, and at the behest of a Mage protector, you slew said beast.


    She looked down, still feeling a bit of awkward shame at how that had transpired.


    Then, you arrived in Alefast. He looked up, and she met his gaze. Should we cover the trip back, or have we thoroughly established that you did very much more than nothing?


    I will agree that my actions are atypical for a Mage in my position.


    Mrac rxed just slightly. Good. That makes this all much easier. I assume that you do not wish to be confined to a wagon, except for each morning, when you recharge the cargo-slots that are in your care?


    That would not be ideal, no.


    Understandable. He gave a small smile. Now, Ive reviewed your file, and I agree that the services you can and do offer our guild are greater than taken into ount in your first contract negotiation.


    T rocked back slightly, a bit thrown at the change in tone. Thank you?


    My understanding is that you wish authorization to have the dual role of Mage protector as well? He had an almost eager glint in his eye.


    That is correct. <em>Whats he getting at?</em>


    His smile blossomed wider. I can sign off on that immediately. From the testimony, here, he indicated his te, you did not exhaust yourself when you empowered the cargo-slots, and as previously mentioned, you even assisted in the defense of your caravans, without that being a portion of your role.


    Thank you; that is urate. <em>What is happening here? </em>She felt like she should be watching for a trap.


    He nodded, making a mark on the te. Rates for Mage protectors are not open for negotiation. I trust that is eptable?


    It is. She answered hesitantly. <em>What is going on?</em>


    Good. As you are a new Mage protector, we will be assigning a senior Mage to oversee your activities and duties, outside your role as dimensional Mage.


    <em>There it is.</em> Wait, so Im to have a minder?


    Mrac shrugged. If you see it that way. We see it as a guide for a new role, to prevent misunderstandings or missteps.


    <em>Would that really be such a bad thing? Lyn said I should consider their suggestion. It would be like a master, but without as muchservitude...and with better pay. </em>Thatcould work, I suppose.


    Good. He seemed to rx more fully. Now, as to your rate as a dimensional Mage. Why do you feel that five- and one-half ounces, gold, is insufficient for your service? That is a higher starting rate than any other indentured I could find in our records.


    T nodded, falling back on what she and Lyn had discussed. This was an expected topic. <em>Deal with the rest,ter.</em> I can understand your reluctance, but with all due respect, my benefit outweighs the cost, significantly, as you have already agreed.


    Oh? I simply agreed that what you offer is more than was considered in your first negotiation. I did not state that it merited an increase above your already high wage.


    That caused T to pause. <em>Interesting. </em>She hadnt expected that. She gestured at the te. Im sure that indicates that my original contract did not include a requirement or expectation for the use of cargo-slots, as opposed to wagons. That distinction, alone, saves the need for dozens of oxen, many drivers and wagons, and the additional peripheries that would be required to support such an increase to the caravan size.


    True. He looked down, marking the te. But it does state that you will empower thergest dimensional storage that you can, and that we require, for each venture.


    <em>Good point </em>It should note that I have forgone a private wagon, saving that expense, as well as that of a driver and servant for such.


    It does. He didnt look up. That will not continue, however.


    What?


    His eyes lifted, then. Were you, as an asset of the caravan, safe without a secure ce to sleep?


    T opened her mouth, then closed it. After a moments pause, she answered, Yes. I am very well protected against physical harm, maybe uniquely so.


    I did review the summary of your capabilities. They are impressive and go a long way from moving your actions from foolishly suicidal to merely inconsiderate.


    Inconsiderate? <em>Suicidal? Is that really how my actions looked?</em> Was that really an incorrect assessment? <em>This is hardly the time to consider that</em>


    Yes. What would have happened if youd been killed, carried off, or rendered unable to function?


    T found herself nodding. The caravan cargo would have been lost


    And how many peoples livelihoods would that have impacted?


    T didnt know. <em>At least the guards and protectors.</em> Forty on the way out, and close to a hundred on the way back?


    For those <em>directly </em>impacted, that guess is close enough, but you are forgetting those around the trip itself. Those who would be paid to unload it, those who are expecting the materials, or mail, carried within. Caravans are lost, and mitigations are always put in ce so no one would be destitute, but it would have been a blow to hundreds of people, hundreds of families. He took a deep breath, before continuing. Can you not see how its a bit inconsiderate to put yourself on the line, when a mistake would drastically harm so many? I would have chalked it up to Mage arrogance, but you genuinely dont seem to have considered all the implications, somehow. That is why I call it inconsiderate.


    T sank down a bit, thinking over what he had said. <em>I did consider thembut mostly after the fact. </em>She had <em>tried</em> to be more careful, but that had mainly meant not doing the <em>same</em> dangerous things again. <em>I really didnt ever change my overarching outlook on my own actions</em> I suppose but if I shouldnt have been doing those things, why didnt the guards try to stop me?


    Mrac looked genuinely confused. I dont understand the question.


    Why didnt the guards prevent me from taking such risks, if it was really so important to avoid those risks? T grimaced slightly. <em>Wow, I sound petnt, even to my own ears</em>


    In the hierarchy of the caravan, you outranked them. He shrugged. A Mage protector could have stopped you, technically speaking, but from the reports, here, you werent exactly willing to listen to them. They did what they could to mitigate your dangerous behavior. Even so, each has already receivedfeedback on their performance. He nced down at his notes once more. It seems that one of the guards did begin to train you in the area ofbat and self-defense. That was a wise way of helping ensure the safety of one he couldnt control.


    Adams agreement to instruct her suddenly took on a new light. <em>Was that really why he agreed?</em>


    But we have lost the thread. We are not willing to allow you to sleep outside, going forward. The loss of your person would constitute a full loss of the caravan, especially now that there would not be anciry wagons avable for the most critical cargo, let alone passengers. The guards are not in a ce to mitigate the danger of that with you sleeping so exposed.


    If it is as you say, why would you allow me to be a Mage protector?


    Your particrsurvivability seems to lend itself to best effect when you enter encounters deliberately. We, therefore, would prefer that all your encounters be deliberate. In addition, as a Mage protector, you can be ordered away from encounters in which you would have a low likelihood of survival.


    <em>That makes a sort of sense, I suppose. </em>In that vein, then, my work as a Mage protector will remove one further private wagon from every caravan I apany. The new cargo-slots, which I can empower, will allow for a two-wagon caravan, almost regardless of the amount of goods needed. Just one cargo-wagon and the chuckwagon.


    I see that in an addendum, here. One of our other Senior Exchequers, along with the Wainwrights Guild, have testified that such is the case. The issue with your point is that, with this increased space, your being a Mage protector does not reduce the wagon count. The Mage you rece would simply have their sleeping quarters within yourrger dimensional spaces. He looked down, flicking one hand to the side, dismissing the idea. He was frowning. With all this in ount, what do you request as payment?


    Firstly, I do not want a restriction on the routes I can take. Even on the shortest, my empowering will greatly reduce the cost of the caravan. Added to the reductions in cost I allow, the smaller caravan should be able to go more quickly, thus increasing the efficiency of the trips, as well.


    Mrac shrugged. Possibly, but we pay by the trip, not the day, and if you arrive before the destination city is expecting you, you will still have to wait until your pre-set departure date to leave.


    But, that preset date could be moved, beforehand. Preset earlier, if you will.


    Possible in some cases, but not all. In many instances, that could cause logistical issues. In others, the journey is too variable to cut it that close. We do have other Mages with your abilities, Mistress T. You are especially useful, not uniquely so.


    T opened her mouth to argue, but he held up his hand.


    Your point, while not perfectly correct, is valid enough. So, my question?


    Twelve gold ounces per trip, with no renegotiation required once I attain Archon. At that time, I will be granted Seventeen ounces, gold, per trip.


    Mrac just stared at her.


    She took a long drink of coffee.


    He looked down at his notes, then back up at her.


    She poured herself a cup of water. Want one?


    He shook his head. No, thank you. He looked down to his notes, seeming to do calctions.


    She drank her water.


    Finally, he cleared his throat, meeting her gaze once more. Let me understand. You think you are worth more than double your initial, already high wage, and you want nearly an additional 50% beyond even that, once youve gained the title of Archon?


    Thats correct.


    Seven ounces, gold. Ten, once you have the title.


    T grinned. <em>I have him.</em> Im removing the need for more than <em>twelve</em> wagons and apanying personnel. Even inrger trips, like the return voyage from Alefast that I just did, the caravan will not require more wagons. Without those additional wagons, additional guards and Mage protectors wont be needed. At the least, thats saving the Guild more than eighteen gold per trip. Im offering you a bargain.


    He frowned. Not wholly urate, but I understand where you areing from. What do you think you will offer, as Archon, to justify the second bump?


    An Archon protector is more valuable.


    He shook his head. Protector rates are not up for negotiation. We are discussing your value as a dimensional Mage.


    Why were you willing to raise my pay from seven to ten, in your offer, once I was an Archon?


    He quirked a smile. I was simply matching your proposals format.


    She shrugged. Very well. Seventeen ounces, now, and I wont renegotiate once I attain Archon.


    His left eye twitched. That is not- He stopped himself, his hand rubbing his left temple.


    Or, I am willing to set my rate lower, and only invoke higher pay once I have be a more valuable indenture.


    He was shaking his head. If higher pay, alone, is what you seek, the local city lord has heard of yourtendencies and abilities. He offered to buy out your contract, that you may join his personal guard.


    T stiffened.


    Such can obviously not be done without your permission, but given your proclivities, maybe you would prefer that line of work?


    She swallowed, involuntarily. What would that entail?


    Mrac sighed. I am obligated to inform you of the terms, since you asked. His gaze made his irritation clear. You would receive five ounces, gold, per week, plus half your inscription costs would be covered. You would be forbidden from leaving the city for the duration of the ten-year contract, save at the behest of your lord, and your terms would be locked as stated, regardless of your advancement.


    That was, at once, an amazing and a horrible deal. She almost started listing out the pros and cons in her head, but then shook it instead. <em>No. It is too restrictive. Too longsting. Too much like true very, if gilded prettily.</em> Thank you, but I will pass.


    He nodded, clucking his tongue and looking down. At the moment, you are contracted for 5 years, or 30 trips. You have, remaining: four years, eleven months, and two days, or twenty-eight trips.


    That sounds right.


    The highest I can reasonably go is ten ounces, then twelve when youre an Archon. But I can only justify that if you up your contract.


    T hesitated. Oh? What are you asking?


    A t ten years, minimum of eight city-to-city ventures per year, and you must remain under the senior Mage protectors authority on every trip, until they deem you otherwise ready. We would, of course, also remove the renegotiation use, going forward.


    <em>Hes expecting my worth to go up. So, epting a slightly higher valuation, now, to lock me in,ter.</em> Ten years. That was a long, long time. Fifty trips, same minimum number per year. <em>If I pushed, I might be able to do that in two years</em>It would probably take longer.


    I dont like the time requirement removed


    <em>He knows Ill be more useful as time goes on, and he doesnt want me sting through my required trips before that utilityes into full effect.</em>


    Ten years, seven trips per year.


    She shook her head. Sixty trips, total.


    He did not look happy.


    She softened her tone and leaned in, just a bit. Listen. If I st through sixty trips in two or three years, youve still saved the Guild dozens, if not hundreds of ounces, gold, by my reducing the peripheral expenses on those ventures.


    He sighed, doing some work on his te. Finally, when she didnt say anything else, he looked up. Seventy trips.


    Total, so sixty-eight remaining. She shifted on her knees, and he nced from her to the chair in the corner.


    Mrac huffed augh. Fine. You are authorized to work as a Mage protector, in addition to working as a dimensional Mage, for any given caravan. You have no restriction on which routes you can take, however every trip you take will be under the authority of a senior Mage protector that <em>we</em> choose, until they deem otherwise. Your rate will be ten ounces, gold, per leg, and twelve ounces, once you are a fully recognized Archon. This rate is not up for renegotiation. You will have a space to sleep within a wagon for each voyage, and you will use it. No servant will be provided. You will receive food, as a regr member of a caravan, and no other benefits. You willplete sixty-eight further trips in the capacity of dimensional Mage, at these rates, at a pace of at least eight per year. Then, and only then, your indenture will be concluded. Are we agreed? He seemed to be marking down all his points on the te, as he went. After he finished, he looked up to her.


    And, as a signing bonus for this new contract She trailed off as he gave her a t, unamused look. She grinned, nodding. Very well. We are agreed.


    He passed the te to her, and she verified all that he had stated.


    Looks good. She retracted power from her defensive scripts, pricked her finger, confirmed the contract, and handed it back. <em>Scripts are working great; I didnt fountain blood from my finger with my increased blood pressure.</em> She got a brief mental picture of identally spraying the room with a geyser of red, but before the impression fully formed within her mind, she shook herself to drive the visual away.


    Mrac was focused on the te and didnt seem to notice the movement. The device became green for a long moment, then faded to nk. Thank you, Mistress T. He stood, offering her his hand in farewell.


    She stood and took it. Thank you, Mrac. Its been a pleasure.

 Chapter 85: About Time You Finished

    Chapter 85: About Time You Finished


    T stopped by to say goodbye to Lyn on her way out of the Caravanners main office. The other woman seemed surprised, for some reason, but otherwise didntment, except to say, Ill see you at home.


    It waste afternoon, and the sun had already set, though light still clung to the sky to highlight the clouds overhead, and periodic lights on the main streets provided easy illumination.


    T knew it was cold. Even Terry seemed to snuggle closer into her neck as she stepped outside, but to her, it just felt wonderful.


    There was an especially lovely park on the way, and T left the road to walk through it, across the grass. <em>Still green? I wonder what that takes</em>


    After she was a ways out onto thewn, she had a realization. <em>I hope Im not crushing the grass as I walk.</em> She looked behind herself and found that there didnt seem any permanent damage, marking her path. She looked down and took a moment to analyze what she saw.


    In a circle around each bare foot, the grass was pressed t, as if under the boot of a giant. T couldnt help but grin. <em>I was wondering how it would look. Nice!</em>


    She could see the telltale threads of magic across her sole, increasing the surface area of her feet. She could feel the power in the gold inscriptions enacting that spell-form.


    <em>The manifestation is obviously beyond my foot, but the magic, itself, is contained there.</em>


    Magic was amazing.


    She shifted up onto the balls of her feet, and the circle ofpressed grass moved forward just a bit but didnt reduce in size. <em>Exactly as expected. </em>It was an elegant solution.


    <em>A great solution to a problem Ive created.</em> She shook her head. <em>I need to give it a solid try.</em>


    So long as what she stood on could bear her weight, it shouldnt be damaged. If shed done the math right, once she reached her maximum weight, that which she stood upon would experience the same pressure that it would under a normal person. <em>Weight could still be an issue but shouldnt be terrible. If a floor can hold four to eight people, standing in a huddle, it </em>should<em> be able to hold me.</em>


    It wasnt a perfect analogy, but it was close enough.


    She bent down and ced a palm down on thewn.


    An identically sized circle of grass depressed as she shifted her weight onto that hand. The active spell-forms on her hand were differently shaped from those on her feet, due to the difference in the form of the limbs, but they had identical functions.


    <em>I wonder what would happen if I p someone</em> She grinned.


    Now, she kind of wanted to p someone. <em>No, bad T.</em>


    It was time to get home.


    * * *


    T sat, cross-legged on the floor of the sitting room.


    She was just finishing thest vestiges of a miniature vat of custard. Shed scraped thest out with her finger, which shed then licked clean.


    Lyn walked in, stopping when she saw her housemate. What did you eat, this time?


    T pointed at four different bowls, each in turn. Beef stew, bean porridge, chicken chowder, and butter-cream custard.


    Lyn shook her head. Each of those bowls looks sufficientlyrge to hold enough food for a family.


    T grinned. Thats why theyre called family size.


    Lyn snorted. Fair enough. How was the meeting?


    You didnt just look up the results?


    I thought it better to hear from you.


    T shrugged at that. I think I did pretty well. Im going to have someone watching over my shoulder, but I think I can probably learn from them, so its probably for the best.


    Thatssurprisingly mature of you?


    No need to sound surprised.


    You arent exactly thewisest person I know.


    I follow wisdom when it really matters.


    Lyn opened her mouth to respond, then paused. I think that might actually be true, from your perspective.


    Of course, thats why I said it.


    Lyn sighed. So, you have a minder. Did you get a pay increase along with that restriction?


    I didnt get my initial ask, but I didnt expect to.


    Oh? So, you did get a bump. How much did you get?


    Ten ounces but upped to twelve as soon as Im raised to Archon.


    Lyn blinked at her, then she startedughing.


    T was grinning, but slowly, that expression faded.


    Lyn sat down in a nearby chair, shaking her head. You robbed each other.


    T frowned. What do you mean?


    I looked at your file before the meeting. I saw what he was authorized to give you. I also saw a note, added by someone else. Lyn had a small, knowing smile on her face. Someone who didnt know you very well.


    Oh?


    The addendum was a notification that you were newly graduated, and while your ability was eptable, impressive even, we should not expect further advancement for quite some time.


    T tilted her head. So?


    Lyn grinned widely. He was authorized to give you up to eleven ounces per trip.


    T cursed. That slippery-


    Lyn held up a hand. No, T. You dont understand. He was specifically forbidden from giving you more.


    He didnt.


    Lyn cocked an eyebrow.


    Well, he hasnt yet.


    And arent you nning on making an attempt at Archon, tomorrow?


    T opened her mouth, closed it, then barked augh. Oh! Sheughed again. So, he thinks he saved an ounce, or I could have gotten one more ounce from him, but as soon as I seed, Ill have vited my maximum, by what he was told.


    Precisely. If youd actually gotten eleven ounces, gold, per trip, they would not have renegotiated any time soon. She was shaking her head. Somehow, you got more than you should have, by epting less than you had to.


    T gave a seated bow. Breaking the system, one decision at a time.


    That does seem to be the way you work, doesnt it?


    T sighed, leaning back and bracing herself up on her palms. So, when are you making your own attempt?


    I took tomorrow off. Ill see what I can do with the five hours in which I can maintain my void.


    So, didnt your master tell you not to move on, until you could hold that constantly?


    Yes and no. He said that I shouldnt move on down the Way of the Void, until then. He actually left tips and tricks to allow for the creation of a star much sooner than that. She smiled fondly. Everything I can see seems to indicate that our learning and improvement will be opened to new horizons by bing Archons.


    And you didnt want to do it.


    Lyn gave T a t look. I still dont really want to do it. Im not driven to be the best Mage I can be, unlike some people. Im looking on the bright side, but I am content where I am.


    Oh?


    Lyn shifted slightly. Mostly.


    T just smiled.


    Fine! Ive been feeling a bit stifled. I like my work, but I feel like Im in a rut. Every day is the same. She gave a half smile. Well, it was, until you arrived. Thats probably why I took such an interest in you; you were odd from the start.


    d to help.


    Lyn rolled her eyes. Anyways. Mistress Holly is right. Its time for me to move on with my magic. She let out a sigh. I was going to fight to keep my position, but who knows? Maybe, those I can move into will be more fun. She did not sound convinced.


    T shrugged. Soundsplicated. She pushed herself up. I was just heading to sleep. See you in the morning?


    Lyn looked a bit surprised. Oh? I just got home.


    T hesitated. <em>Does she want something from me?</em>


    Lyn shifted again. Could wejust talk for a bit? I feel like all I do all day is have quick touchpoints with people. Id like to just talk


    <em>Huhwhy not?</em> She settled back down. Sure. What do you want to talk about?


    The next couple of hours passed simply, the two friends discussing small things,cking significance and without import.


    Somehow, T loved it. She didnt particrly enjoy the topics; they were fleeting andrgely meaningless.


    She didnt enjoy the passage of time; after all, she had <em>so</em> much that she wanted to aplish.


    No. What she relished was the friendship, something her younger self just might have killed to have. <em>Youre not alone anymore, T.</em>


    * * *


    T woke early the next morning, feeling refreshed, despite the short night of sleep. She knew that Lyn would likely sleep quite a bitter than she herself had. So, T got to work on her morning routine.


    Stretching, exercise, soul-work, and a bath. Every step was odd.


    For the stretching and exercise, Ts new weight added strain and subtly changed her bnce. Every bodyweight exercise, as stood to reason, was much more difficult, and the motions were ever so slightly off.<em> Just as easy to move, harder to hold up.</em> It was a strange bnce.


    As she thought about it, she was d that theyd reinforced all of her tissues, else her eyelids might not have been able to open or close against the increased force, and all her soft tissue would likely be sagging toward the floor in a truly horrifying manner.


    <em>No one likes baggy cheeks.</em>


    Her hair was more like her clothing than a part of her. Her years without it and her own internal thinking had caused it to be exempt from the gravity working. <em>Good thing, too, or Id have the ugliest, ttest hair in the world.</em>


    Not that she cared, of course. Not one bit.


    True to Hollys prediction, T was now well past Gredivs requirements for another soul-bond. T honored Hollys advice and didnt even consider bonding something new.


    Not one moments consideration.


    She didnt stare longingly at Kit, wondering what she could aplish with a soul-bond to the dimensional storage.


    Nope.


    The pouch was just as excited about the prospect as expected, meaning it did not respond.


    The bath creaked ever so slightly when she climbed in, but thankfully, since it had been over-built with a couple of hundred gallons of water in mind, it bore her well enough.


    It was still well before dawn when T finished her inhouse tasks, and it was time for food. She used a measured pace and, thus, arrived at the breakfast eatery just as it opened. She purchased the group-meal, breakfast deal, this time with her coffee jug ready to hand.


    The caf was so close to Lyns house that shed almost decided to go home to eat. Even so, shed ended up sitting on the grass in a nearby park, under the slowly growing light of dawn, eating her breakfast.


    She almost felt at a loss as to what she should do while eating. The basic reviews of the texts from Holly were, obviously, finished, though shed likely need to delve more deeply, to continue to strengthen her understanding of the workings inscribed throughout her body.


    She didnt have a current research project, and she wasnt willing to start a new one, given that her task for the day would be all consuming.


    <em>I could start making the star?</em>


    That had merit, but she didnt want to divide her attention.


    <em>Ah! Right. </em>She took the time to charge her magic-bound items, while she ate. She didnt use a void or channels. She simply allowed her excess to flow into each, in turn, before returning it to the constant filling of Flow.


    Unlike the day before, she took the time to really examine the items, and her connection to them, as she topped off their reserves.


    There were some marked changes. First, as she noticed the previous afternoon, she was able to fill each of the items as quickly as before, but without the need for her void-channels. If she had to bet, Kit took around a quarter of the power that the cargo-slots did, though it obviously used the power differently. She suspected that her mental construct for Kit was less precise than that for the cargo-slots, so it was likely that Kit should require even less power.


    The elk-leathers took half of what Kit did.


    Herb, as usual, needed nothing.


    Terrys cor took more than Kit, though she suspected that was mostly because the power wasnt really going to be doing anything specific, so she had no mental construct for it.


    The hammer


    <em>The hammer!</em>


    She reached into Kit and pulled out the tool and found itmundane. <em>No! Rust me to g</em> It was utterly without magic, aside from that which was naturally found in all matter.


    That was a blow.


    T looked at Kit. You were starving, despite Lyns attempts, eh? I imagine dumping the hammer out to pull from the same ambient magic might have starved you all.


    The pouch did not respond.


    <em>Well, thats rusting stupid</em> Could she re-empower it? Worth investigating, but from what she understood so far, the answer was no. The magic was sustained almost in parallel to physical reality, and with the copse of the spell-forms, there was nothing to re-empower. The spell-forms were gone.


    She felt the absence of her hammer keenly. It had helped her survive the raven-ines and the terror birds. It had had the potential to be an asset to her for the rest of her hopefully long life. <em>I hate that I lost that tool</em> She shook off the loss. <em>Not the time for self-pity, T.</em>


    She sighed, turning her attention to the other change that had stood out, before her: She could influence the flow of power within Flow.


    The knife still kept itself topped off, connected directly to her soul, as it was, but now, she could shift that power around, within the weapon. She could feel the inscription-like ce where she could activate Flows change into a sword. She could also shift the cutting and resilience spell-forms and power, just like with her own body, better and more easily in fact.


    She would bet that, if she wished, she could even invert the power, weakening the de to the point of falling apart.


    She never would, of course, but it was fascinating to see the alteration of her control over the power. She couldnt deactivate any of the spell-workings, of course, but she could fiddle. <em>Yeahnot doing that now. Lets not muck with my soul, eh T?</em>


    But the greatest change with Flow was that T could pull power <em>out</em> of Flow, and back into her gate or keystone, and from there out into her body. And Flows well of power was <em>deep</em>.


    <em>Could I pull from Flow to make my Archon star?</em> Intuition told her she could, but that it would be a <em>very</em> bad idea, at least after a point.<em> There seems to be a level of power required for this new stage of connection. If I drain Flow below that, I might shatter the connection.</em>


    That didnt feel perfectly correct, more like the bond would be strained. <em>And </em>might<em> break under that strain.</em>


    In either case, it wasnt a good n.


    <em>Though, I could dump into Flow for days, then pull it all out at once, down to that threshold, to make a star.</em> That that could work beautifully. <em>Ill keep that in mind if required, but today, I do it the right way.</em>


    She also had no idea if she could actually handle all that power at once.


    She licked the remains of thest breakfast sandwich from her fingers and sighed, contentedly. <em>That was good.</em> She drained thest of the coffee in one long pull and stood, pushing up off the grass.


    To her amusement, she noticed that her backside had actually left quite a depression in the ground, where shed sat. <em>Ill need to be more careful about where I sit.</em>


    But that was forter.


    Now?


    Now, it was time to forge a star.


    * * *


    T was irritated.


    She held the slowly building spell-form of the Archon star in her left ring-finger. She was alternating holding void-channels and resting.


    When she forged the void-channels, she maintained a smaller one for her body and four funneling directly into the growing spell-form.


    As she rested, she pushed theparative trickle of excess into the spell-form to maintain its growth and keep it from solidifying.


    At the start, she could only maintain the void-channels for ten minutes at a time.


    True, that was a marked improvement from her earlier attempts, but it was still paltrypared to Lyns supposed five hours.


    <em>I must get better.</em>


    Her recovery time had improved as well, however, so each rest had started out taking around five minutes.


    Thus, she was averaging around four times her usual power umtion rate, mostly directed towards the star.


    That great progress wasnt what frustrated her.


    No. She was irritated because shed been at this for <em>hours,</em> and she was starting to slip. Her slips were miniscule, like an alchemist <em>almost</em> cutting a finger, or nearly adding the wrong ingredient: Not fatal, but not great.


    Sometime after the first hour, Lyn had joined her, sitting on the floor across from her, holding a small, roughly spherical diamond between her palms.


    That was over two hours earlier.


    T was currently resting and used her freed mental space to nce at Lyn.


    <em>Her void is constant, consistent, and strong. </em>T, herself, was improving. If she had to guess, shed say she was holding the void-channels for nearly twenty minutes, now, and her required resting time had only increased marginally. <em>Im getting better.</em>


    Still, Lyn was doing it and doing it well, no sign of slipping in evidence.


    T frowned as she looked more closely at the diamond in Lyns hand. Power was pouring into it, but a lot was flowing off of and around the surface, dissipating into the room.


    <em>Her mental construct of the Archon star isnt perfect? Or there is some loss through the change of medium</em> It was most likely both.


    It was almost as if Lyn was simply throwing the power at the gem, trying to alter it so it would take the proper form on its own.


    <em>But that would be madness. This is really hard, even while Im controlling the power directly</em>


    She looked down at her own hand, inside of which her own Archon star zed with vastly more power than Lyns partially constructed one. <em>Im not seeing the same inefficiency.</em>


    As she thought about it, that made sense: she was an Immaterial Guide, and magic was immaterial, especially within her own body. She had nearly perfect control over her own internal power. So, even if Lyn could have been working within herself, she wouldnt have the same advantages that T was experiencing.


    T had also created quite a few stars, by this point, and her mental construct was likely much more refined than Lyns. <em>This is going to be easier for me, than her. It is easier for me in basically every conceivable way.</em>


    While they each had advantages, Lyns mainly being her better, longersting void, T decided she liked her own more.


    <em>Yes, I like having all but one advantage. Massive insight, T.</em>


    As rested as she was going to be and ready to dive back in, T closed her eyes and reforged her void-channels. <em>Another round!</em>


    To her surprise, as she precisely guided her power into the spell-form, she could feel iting to a tipping point. <em>Just like Flow.</em> If she had to guess, she was about to cross the lower limit of a true Archon star.


    As she guided her magic, the spell-form <em>ticked</em> over the hurdle, and began drinking in power much more easily. In fact, T suddenly had to fight the spell-form on several fronts.


    First, it seemed to want to draw all the power out of her, to drain her dry as some of her earliest versions had, before shed gained greater control.


    Second, it was trying to move on its own.


    The Archon star <em>wanted</em> to move up the flows of power, towards her core. T felt silly, anthropomorphizing the spell-form that way, but it was an urate description of how it felt.


    Simrly, she <em>knew</em> that that was not a good idea. Something deep within her rebelled at the idea of the Archon star reaching her gate.


    So, she fought the star, even as she continued to drown it in magic, using the pressure of inflowing power to assist in pushing the spell-form back.


    The void-channels were now simpler to maintain, as if they were naturally meant to be there, but T was now working harder than ever: As the star grew in power, it also grew in strength.


    Somehow, T knew:<em> This is a fight for dominance like no other Mage has to face.</em> She snorted a ruefulugh. <em>This might even be why they dont suggest Archon stars be forged within a Mages flesh.</em> She didnt know what would happen if she failed. She simply did not know enough. Even so, she <em>knew</em> that she, as she was, would cease.


    <em>Somehow.</em>


    And so, she fought.


    She considered allowing her aplishment to be enough. She almost stopped, realizing that she had a fully powered star, if in the lower reaches of eptable power. <em>No.</em>


    The channels were locked open, now, and while she could cut them off if needed, they were trivial to maintain. <em>Like adding one to Flow, since its change.</em>


    T gritted her teeth and turned her entire focus inward.


    * * *


    More than an hourter, T was gasping for breath, her breathing pattern forgotten.


    She was coated in sweat, more so than she had been in her memory. <em>Academy calisthenics have nothing on this.</em>


    Her lungs burned, her every muscle quivered, and her inscriptions werent helping. The strain was beyond physical, and that was all those spell-forms could address.


    Her star wasplete.


    Not only had she hit the level Grediv had rmended, but she, in her near infinite stubbornness, had gone beyond that, and the spell-form was no longer taking in power.


    The Archon star sat on the cusp ofsomething. She had no idea what.


    All she could interpret was that no further power could be incorporated into the form, and she had to GET IT OUT, NOW!


    Her camp knife, not Flow, came up in a shaking hand, while her left hovered over the prepared iron vial.


    <em>Ok, T. Just a moment more. Youre almost there.</em>


    She pulled her power back from the ring fingers defensive forms.


    The tip of the de pushed into the skin, her shaking making a farrger cut than she had intended.


    No blood came out.


    <em>What the rust?</em>


    The Archon star did not <em>want</em> to leave.


    T growled, pushing with all she had.


    The star wouldnt leave.


    <em>Rust you, you stupid, gging spell-form!</em> She jerked her defensive power back further and cut off her fingertip at the knuckle.


    T almost lost the fight with the Archon star, then.


    First, the intensity of the pain was staggering, given the totality of her focus on the digit.


    Second, she was utterly unprepared for what she saw.


    The fingertip fell away, leaving a golden mesh of spell-lines hanging in mid-air, connected back to the stump. <em>The spell-lines stayed, even while the flesh fell away?</em>


    Power was flowing through them, locking them in ce, even if she was forbidding their enactment. <em>Cant turn off gold lines</em>


    In the center of it all, floated the Archon star, seeming somehow outside the physical space her finger had upied.


    Each beat of her heart caused blood to flow through where her vascr system should have been, and where the spell-lines meant to augment it still were.


    The Archon star was perfectly spherical and ruby in color, set within an impossibly intricate weaving of gold.


    <em>Wellrust. What am I supposed to do, now?</em>


    As if in response, the star seemed to flex, pulling on its connection with her, to call itself to her, as she might have pulled Flow into her hand.


    She opposed it with her will, and the strength of her soul, alone, but she was <em>tired.</em>


    <em>Bless you, Grediv, for insisting that I strengthen my soul.</em>


    She had no idea if she was screaming in agony and determination, or if she was utterly silent. She couldnt spare any of her focus from the internal battle in order to register either sound, or theck thereof.


    Slowly, inexorably, she drove the star through theting of gold, pushing the lines apart, only for them to snap back into shape right afterwards. Those spell-forms seemed tied to, and maintained by, the flow of magic, which again, was deeper than physical.


    She didnt know if she waged her war for a bare instant or for hours, but finally, the Archon star moved free, and the conflict was done.


    The drip of power-saturated blood rocketed downward, into the iron vial, still enough a part of her that its gravity remained enhanced.


    There was ast, sucking attempt to drain her dry, but T pped it aside with contempt.


    Then, knife dropped and iron cap firmly in ce over the vial, T allowed her inscriptions to act.


    Her finger blossomed outward: flesh and bone, nerve and sinew, drawn into being through the working of her spell-lines, the material and energy for their construction instantly moved from her bodys stores.


    It didnt take a lot, all things considered; a fingertip really isnt that massive, and it was over in an instant.


    Take that, you rusting star! She had tried to yell at the vial, but her throat was utterly parched, and it came out as an unintelligible croak. <em>What possesses people to make these?</em> She didnt know if she trusted the star, outside of its vial. <em>Good thing I dont need to take it out</em>


    In that instant of relief, she saw that the windows of their home were dark, and Lyn was sitting in a chair nearby, regarding her critically.


    Well. About time you finished, T.

 Chapter 86: A Taste of Human Blood

    Chapter 86: A Taste of Human Blood


    T stared at her friend, still in a bit of a daze.


    Lyn seemed to be examining the floor in front of T. I hope you know: Im pretty sure we cant clean that.


    T looked down and saw an irregr circle of blood around the stub of her finger. <em>Just the blood that had been in that piece of digit when it was cut free.</em>


    The rest had been kept in her body. T groaned. The slight tang of copper was in the air, along with something that seemed to tingle her nose unpleasantly. <em>Did she try to use a harsh cleaner on it?</em> That didnt make sense. Lyn wouldnt have left the finger bit in the middle if she was trying to clean up the blood.


    <em>She seemstoo unemotional?</em> Lyn was still sitting back, stoically regarding T and the mess shed made. If we cant, youre buying me a new rug.


    T swallowed, licking her dried lips. The rug looked well made. <em>That could be expensive</em>


    Lyn sighed, handing her a cup that was full of clear, cool water.


    T took it reflexively, drinking feverishly. Before she was really aware, shed downed the whole thing. She pulled it back from her lips, letting out a satisfied gasp, pulling air back in with a great gulp. Shed been drinking so fast, she hadnt kept breathing. After that, she felt recovered enough to speak. She smiled up at Lyn. You seem to be handling this well. She gestured towards the fingertip.


    Oh? Lyn looked anything but pleased, even as she refilled Ts cup with a pitcher. Well, I had a bit of time after I came out of my own meditation to startle, scream, puke, clean that up, and critically examine my housemate.


    <em>Oh! Its vomit. Im smelling the lingering scent of vomit. </em>It was that bad? T swept her gaze over the area near where Lyn had been sitting. She could see a slightly discolored portion of rug. Normal people wouldnt be able to see it, but T could without difficulty. <em>That was a lot of puke.</em>


    Lyn red. I came out of my meditative state, having sessfully forged my star, only to find you holding a bloody knife, unblinking eyes locked on the magical matrix that remained behind after you <em>cut off your own finger.</em>


    T didnt meet her gaze, instead looking down at her hands, which still held the iron vial. Just the tip. She was not petnt. She didnt feel petnt. <em>Not one bit.</em> Besides, Lyn wasnt her mother.


    Out of the corner of her eye, T saw Lyn cock an angry eyebrow and intensify her re. You cut off your own finger, in my house. Her lips werepressed into a hard line.


    T swallowed to clear her once-again-dry throat, took another drink when that didnt help, and looked up at Lyn. Im sorry? <em>Is that what she wants? Its not like I enjoyed cutting off my finger.</em>


    You rusting well better be. Lyn folded her arms over her chest, leaning back with a huff. Shed crossed her legs as well. You know. At first, I thought you were just ignorant. Then, I thought, You know, shes a bit reckless. But thats not it, is it?


    T leaned back a bit, just blinking at her friend.


    No. You genuinely dont care if you die, do you?


    Of course, I do. Why else would I focus so much on my protections?


    Oh, you<em> consciously</em> want to survive, but thats the only part of you that seems to.


    It was just a fingertip, Lyn.


    Oh? And when you broke your brain and were unconscious for four days?


    Well, I was-


    What about when you decided to modify your Gate with your will, ignoring <em>fundamental</em> lessons that I <em>know</em> you were taught.


    Wait a moment, that was-


    And, lets not mention all the stunts you pulled on your caravan journey. Do you have any idea how bad that looked for me?


    I did my job.


    Lyn leaned forward, dropping her hands to her own knees. Are. You. Serious.


    T pushed back a little further.


    You should be dead. If some part of yourself wasnt as obsessed with survival as the rest was in trying to kill you, youd be dead a dozen times over.


    II dont know if I followed that.


    Lyn just red. After a long moment, the older woman took a long breath and exhaled in something that reminded T of a silent scream. Sheposed herself. Stop being reckless, please. Please.


    T did not trust herself to respond verbally. So, instead, she just nodded.


    The exchange seemed to have woken Terry from where hed been sleeping in the corner. He rose to his feet and shook himself, his feathers adding aforting rustling sound to the otherwise tense silence. T smiled at the bird. Terry?


    His eyes were fixed on the bit of finger.


    Lyn shifted, now more ufortable than angry, the avian having sessfully distracted the older Mage. Hes been staring at that, whenever he wasnt sleeping, since I finished. Likely before that, too.


    But he didnt eat it. <em>Huh, the bird has some restraint.</em>


    He looks like he wants to


    <em>Should I let him?</em> T did have to do something with the fraction of a digit. <em>But, is that a bad precedent?</em> She groaned. <em>I really dont care enough, right now. He seems to really want it.</em> Go ahead.


    Terry flickered, and the finger was gone. The bird shook himself happily and blinked to her shoulder, where he settled down, seemingly asleep once more.


    Lyn closed her eyes, turning her face away and looking a bit green. Gross. It was barely above a whisper, as if she were afraid talking normally would bring up more bile.


    T cleared her throat. <em>Distract her; shes vulnerable to cementing the topic change.</em> Sooooo... You finished forging your star? She smiled, hopefully.


    Lyns eyes opened, then narrowed. Welle back to this; dont think youre off the hook. Even so, she took a deep breath, then smiled. But, yes! She pulled out her small diamond sphere, which positively zed with power to Ts mage-sight. What do you think?


    <em>I think its less than half the strength of the one I made.</em> That looks awesome.


    Lyns shoulders sagged, just slightly. you think its weak.


    T sat up straighter, eyes widening. What? No. Its great!


    Lyn rolled her own eyes and sighed. Dont patronize me, Mage. I know I made a bottom-of-thedder Archon star, but I rusting made one. I made one in <em>five hours</em>. There was fire in her eye. Not literal fire, though T didnt doubt that Lyn could manifest thermal energy within those orbs to create such. <em>Probably a bad idea, though.</em>


    Yes, obviously. That is impressive, beyond what all but the best Mages, your age, could produce. <em>Well, without a Way, at least.</em>


    Now youre just being insulting. Before T could say anything further, Lyn shook her head. Doesnt matter, T. I know what <em>Ive</em> made. She held out her hand. Lets see it.


    Hmmm? T turned a bit away, giving a half smile.


    Dont be coy. Give me the vial. I want to see what sort of abomination you created for your star. I couldnt get a good look at it while it was still in what remained of your finger. My mage-sight isnt precise enough. Lyn shook her hand slightly to add emphasis.


    T grinned, holding out the iron vessel for Lyns inspection.


    Lyn took the vial, activating her mage-sight as she unscrewed the cap. She looked in and instantly re-covered it. Thatsblinding.


    Does your mage-sight not adjust?


    Yes, T, of course it does. That is required. Her tone was long-suffering, and her look one of weariness.


    Fine, fine. T waved her off.


    Lyn shook her head, carefully re-opening the vial. Once her mage-sight had had time to adjust, she simply stared down into the opening.


    Sooooo? T was quite curious what her friend thought.


    Lyn sighed. Well, this citys going to have two new Archons, alright. She capped the vessel and tossed it back.


    Three. T held up her left hand with three fingers raised, while her other tucked the vial away into Kit. Master Rane said he was ready, too.


    Right! He said he was going to get us registered for evaluation and elevation. Lyn smiled contentedly.


    What? When? <em>I dont remember himing in</em> She didnt remember Lyn vomiting, either, but even so.


    He was here like an hour ago. He saw my star and stared for a long time at themess that was your finger, at that time. Then, he said he would get it sorted.


    T grunted. Well, thats kind of him. Heing back?


    Lyn shrugged. Probably.


    T pursed her lips and frowned.


    Lyn gave her a searching look, then burst outughing.


    What?


    She keptughing.


    Come on, Lyn. What?


    Lyn reined in her mirth. I can see your mind working, little T. She snorted anotherugh.


    Oh?


    You are trying to decide if its rude to get food without him, and if it is, if being rude would be worth it.


    T blinked in surprise. <em>That issurprisingly urate.</em> Huh.


    The answer is: Yes, it would be rude, and no, it wouldnt be worth it.


    She groaned. But I missed lunch.


    And hes been <em>insanely</em> helpful. Dont be utter pyrite.


    T growled irritably. Fine. Well wait. T did her best to keep topics frivolous, until then.


    Thankfully, they didnt have to wait long before a quick, firm knock on the front door preceded Ranes entrance. Hello?


    Come on in, Master Rane. Lyns tone was weing, and she stood to greet their guest.


    T reached a hand up towards her friend. Help me up.


    Lyn gave T a bemused look. Not mentally recovered?


    <em>What? </em>T hesitated. <em> Oh</em> She felt a bit foolish. Right. She leveraged herself up, careful not to hit any furniture. <em>This is a bit inconvenient.</em> She really needed to remember that she was heavier than she had been, and by quite a lot.


    You could release that Im really not sure why you would want it constantly maintained.


    T shrugged. Im going to give it a good try. Ill consider removing itter.


    Before Lyn could respond, Rane came in and broke into a broad grin. Youre cognizant again! He nced to Lyn. Did you wipe her face? The drool is gone.


    T colored, swiping her lower jaw with her sleeve, even though that was obviously not needed. <em>I was drooling?</em>


    Lyn cleared her throat. That is hardly relevant. Well?


    Rane grinned. I got us all registered. Mistress Lyn, you will be seen mid-morning, tomorrow. He held out a small piece of thick paper. That contains the details of the location and exact time. He then nced towards T. Were scheduled forter in the day, after our morning with the Guardsmens Guild.


    T gave a slight bow. Thank you, Master Rane. I trust you know the details?


    He shrugged. Yes, but I should give you this, anyways. I go just before you, so you might not want to arrive early, just to wait around.


    Either way. She took the proffered informational card. It was a thick, cream-colored paper with a somehow-metallic, ck ink.


    Rane cleared his throat. They asked that I pass a single instruction along.


    Lyn and T turned their full attention to him, each lowering the card theyd been examining.


    We are not to discuss the process of forming our stars, or anything around such, until after our evaluation.


    T shrugged. Fine by me. <em>Well be better served by eating.</em>


    Lyn frowned. Why not?


    No idea, but they were quite insistent.


    T waved dismissively. Well have plenty of time to talk about it, tomorrow. Right now, were all hungry, yes? She looked to each of the others, and they nodded in turn. So food?


    Rane chuckled. Yes, food.


    * * *


    More than two hourster, they were each finishing up their dinners. Rane had insisted on paying, in celebration of the two womens aplishment, and the two hadnt protested the kindness. Rane had even bought a whole roast chicken for Terry.


    Terry had epted the offering with stoic consumption.


    Theyd all stared on in fascination as the obviously too small Terry had swallowed the chicken whole. The other two had refrained frommenting, but theyd seemed to keep a closer eye on the bird, after that.


    T knelt beside the table, content, Terry seemingly asleep on her shoulder. Rane and Lyn did not give her grief about her inability to use a chair, though they both let it be known that they thought it a bit silly.


    Lyn, now finished, acted a bit overfull, leaning back as if to take pressure off her stomach.


    Their table was outside, set a bit apart from other groups, which hade and gone through the evening. There was a chill to the air, but the patio had several regrly spaced, cast-iron woodstoves, which more than took the edge off the cold.


    The stoves, themselves, were mundane, seeminglypletely devoid of magic save the standard traces found in all things. They seemed to have been designed for incredibly efficient use of fuel, and towards that end, T had only seen a single one of them require more wood, and the attendant had only added a single, medium-sized chuck. <em>Its fascinating what can be done, even without magic.</em>


    The meal had been extravagant. Roast turkey, with the skin crisped <em>just right,</em> and honey zed ham that fell off the bone came together, served with a thick, smooth, brown gravy.


    Steamed peas and carrots were seasoned to perfection; dinner rolls that were light, fluffy, and hot from the oven; and mashed yams that seemed too thick and creamy to be real were all coated by exactly the right amount of butter in apaniment to the meats.


    There had been some sort of casserole made up of alternating apple and sweet potato slices, marinated and baked covered in a brown sugar brandy sauce.


    The final side had been some sort of twice baked cornbread. Apparently, in times past, it would have been cooked inside a turkey or chicken, but these days it was made on its own. <em>Oh, by the stars, stuffing is the best thing Ive ever eaten.</em> She especially enjoyed it smothered with gravy.


    T wasnt sure if her new favoritism would hold up after she ate her next meal, but she didnt really care. The celebratory feast had been perfect.


    Rane wiped his mouth with his napkin, sighed happily, and cleared his throat. So, it seems we are, all three of us, quite special Mages.


    Lyn grinned, swallowing herst bite of dinner roll with butter. Dont you forget it.


    T cocked her head, though, a bit confused. Oh? <em>I know were all a bit young, supposedly, but thats not </em>that<em> special. Is it?</em>


    Rane nodded, as if happy to exin. Even among those who can create an Archon star, most dont understand the form well enough for any sort of efficiency. Without a well-established Way, and a good mental construct, even a top tier Mage can take more than two days to make a barely eptable star, and most Mages arent top tier.


    T frowned. But why would a top tier Mageck those things? <em>That makes no sense.</em>


    Rane shrugged. Many of us are stubborn. His smile shifted to one that was a bit self-conscious. I, for one, wanted to do it on my own. Only you, Master Trent, and Master Gredivs persistence convinced me of my folly. And hear me when I say that Master Grediv was not one to allow too much self-assurance.


    Lyn sighed wistfully, nodding. My master had to practically strong-arm me into taking the notes on Ways and the Archon star spell-form. Id assumed that Id just figure it out, if I ever needed or wanted to. And even with the notes in my possession, I didnt even consider using them until you and Mistress Hollyencouraged me to.


    T grunted. That seems pretty foolish. When both her tablepanions looked at her oddly, she raised both hands. No offense!


    Rane snorted, and Lyn barked augh, shaking her head.


    Im sorry I didnt mean that, how it came out.


    Rane ruefully. I know that feeling.


    Lyn sighed in mock resignation, shaking her head again. In any case, despite the best intentions of masters for their magelings, most end up going it alone and without true guidance, thus taking much longer to create inferior products.


    Ts eyes were twinkling, but she didnt say anything, and she did her best not to smile.


    Lyn red. Im not just talking about power level, T. Mine is no ignorant Mages construct.


    T did smile, then, but refrained frommenting, her mind already contemting something else. She tried to imagine making an Archon star without the void-channels, or even the void, and shook her head. Doing it the standard wayThat would have taken me <em>ages.</em> She smiled at Lyn. Thank you, again, for sharing your masters wisdom.


    She shrugged, her irritated expression fading into an easy smile. From what I understand, books detailing the Ways will be freely avable to us, after our raising. I just gave you the insight a bit early. She winked.


    Precisely. T beamed. And thank you, Master Rane.


    Oh? What for? Rane had jumped a bit at being suddenly addressed. <em>Had he been falling asleep?</em> He did look quite drowsy, eyes half closed, a happy little smile pulling at his lips.


    Food, she gestured at the empty tes stacked before her, scheduling our evaluations, discussing the Ways with me, and for waiting for us to be ready to be raised alongside you.


    He gave a small smile, clearly pleased with himself. Well, Im d to have been of help.


    Lyn added her own thanks, and Terry woke briefly to thrum a happy chirp, as well.


    Well, you are all most wee. He was sitting a little straighter, now. Clearly, he was still tired, but he was contented, nheless.


    T stretched, twisting first one way, then the other. Terry ignored the movement. We should get some sleep. Its a big day, tomorrow, and todays been full. She hesitated, a thoughting to her from the depths of her never-ending to-do list. Though I think Id like to swing back through the Constructionists guild again, on the way home.


    Rane stood. As fascinating as Im sure that will be, I should get some sleep. He yawned, and T noticed, once again, that he <em>looked</em> weary. His eyes werent quite as bright as they usually were, and his face seemed a bit less animated. His shoulders rounded a bit, and his posture suffered now, even if just barely.


    T gave him aforting smile. I hope you sleep well. Ill see you tomorrow?


    Bright and early. He smiled through his tiredness. Good night, Mistress Lyn, Mistress T.


    Terry lifted his head, looking at Rane.


    Rane noticed and gave a half-bow, conveying the utmost seriousness. Good night, master Terry.


    Terry shimmied, scrunching lower as he tucked his head down. He let out a happily dismissive squawk and feigned sleep once more.


    Rane whispered, clearly hoping T would hear. Every day, he proves that hes more intelligent than Id have guessed, by a long shot. Please be careful? Once beasts like that get a taste of human blood, its hard to rein them in.


    T chuckled nervously, looking away. Yeahof course. Blessedly, Lyn didntment, though she just might not have heard. T cleared her throat and stered on a smile, once more. Good night, Master Rane.


    Lyn sighed, shaking her head and not looking at T. Good night, Master Rane. <em>Rust, she did hear that</em>


    Rane left without a backward nce, though he did give an offhanded wave as he left the restaurants patio.


    Lyn wiped her mouth onest time as she stood. Shall we go?


    Do you want toe with me? T stood as well, not disturbing Terry with the careful movement.


    It isnt too far out of the way, and Im curious what youre going to do this time.


    T smiled, feeling genuine affection for the older woman. Ill be d to have you along, then.

 Chapter 87: Wish Me Luck?

    Chapter 87: Wish Me Luck?


    T, Lyn, and Terry walked the darkened streets.


    It wasnt toote, so they were far from alone as they made their way through the cool, nighttime streets. They moved slowly, lethargic from their feast and high off their recent aplishments.


    The two Mages chatted about small things, shortlying to the topic of rtionships.


    Apparently, several eligible men had been attempting to woo Lyn, but shed turned down allers. I just dont need that sort ofplication in my life, you know?


    T shrugged. She knew that she, herself, was pretty at the very least, but shed been an outsider since before her thirteenth birthday. <em>Since I started using the iron salve at the Academy.</em>


    She shook her head, returning her thoughts to the present, and the fact that she really couldnt rte to Lyns troubles of having men throwing themselves at her. Despite that, T inquired politely, and made appropriately interested noises to prompt Lyn to go on.


    Thus, the walk was filled with pleasant, inane conversation, and T was content.


    The Constructionists Guildhall was open, as expected, and T felt and noticed the same scanning and magical notifications upon entering. They were duplicated for Lyn, as well.


    An attendant came out in short order, giving a bow. Mistresses. He straightened, warily eyeing Terry before turning his gaze to meet that of the Mages. How can I be of service?


    Lyn looked to T expectantly, and T smiled. I would like a cold air incorporator and a time-keeper. She hesitated. Well, I want to get the price of the second. The first is thirty ounces, silver, yes?


    The attendant smiled and pulled out a te. Let me check. One moment, please.


    Certainly.


    Lyn was frowning. Why do you want those things?


    T shrugged. Im tired of not knowing what time it is, and incorporators are dead useful.


    They are incredibly inefficient. Why not get something that removes thermal energy from what it targets? That would be <em>so</em> much more efficient than a cool air incorporator. You <em>are</em> an Immaterial Guide, though I dont recall you being familiar with thermal energy; there shouldnt be that much of an efficiency issue, either way, if you decided to power it yourself instead of buying harvests to power it.


    She wasnt wrong. The new set of inscriptions shed received from Holly tested the width of Ts abilities as an Immaterial Guide. While shed picked up enough of the basics to use all her inscriptions, herck of a true, deep knowledge was harming her efficiency. It was one of the many deficiencies she needed to correct to reach her full potential.


    The attendant cleared his throat. She is correct, Mistress. Should I look for such an item, instead?


    T waved him off. No, no. She thought for a moment. But if you have incorporators for lightning, acid, or coffee, Id be interested in those as well.


    He blinked at her. Coffee?


    She narrowed her eyes. I know you have one.


    He cleared his throat and looked back down to his te, not engaging. <em>I know you have one.</em>


    Lyn ced a hand on Ts arm. You havent really addressed my question.


    T gave the young man ast, probing re before turning to her friend. No re-inscription cost. I dont have to keep them topped off or find power sources. They are also incredibly useful for training my Ways. I just think that Mages undervalue these things. She smiled.


    The attendant cleared his throat. We do have several schemata for cold air incorporators. Were you looking for a specific temperature?


    T shrugged. As cold as you have, assuming they are the same cost.


    They are, and you were correct: Thirty silver ounces. He made a note on the stone in his hand. We do have a few for mild acids avable, but any of the stronger ones are restricted. They require Archon authorization for purchase.


    T gave Lyn a meaningful look, trying to convey: <em>See? If they werent useful, no one would care.</em>


    Lyn quirked a mirthful smile but didntment.


    Mistress?


    T turned back to him. Im not interested in mild acids. Ill return in a day or two to order a sufficiently strong one.


    The attendant seemed a bit ufortable. Apologies, Mistress, but the rule isnt mine. An Archons approval will still be required.


    T nodded. As you say.


    He shrugged, clearly still confused, but returning his eyes to the te nheless. As to a lightning incorporator, we do have one, but there is a note attached, as well as an Archon approval requirement.


    T cocked her head. The note?


    This says a minimum of one hundred mana per second is required to incorporate even a mild shock through the only currently sessful schema. It is marked as a high Fused or Refined item.


    T slumped, disappointed. Ah Well, thats not very useful.


    I can add a note that youd be interested in more potent or efficient versions, if such are ever sessfully created. I believe that such are a current topic of research for a couple of our Archons in Surehaven.


    She perked up. That would be wonderful.


    He took down her specific information, including how best to contact her.


    Alright then. So, how are we looking on a time-keeper?


    He nodded, smiling. I have several avable: From one that simply disys the month, day, and year with discoloration, to one with glowing symbols disying the time down to the millisecond. There are obviously many in between those, as well.


    T blinked at that. <em>Who would need such a thing?</em> Id probably be happy with something urate to the quarter hour? She barked augh. g, Id be happy with uracy to the hour.


    He nodded, looking at his te and manipting it until he found what he needed. What I have of that type is a potentially magic-bound item, requiring re-inscription every week to three months, depending on the mage empowering it.


    <em>That is not ideal.</em> She sighed. How much?


    Two ounces, gold, for the device, but once purchased re-inscription is ten ounces, silver.


    Ts eyes widened. <em>Yeah, no.</em> She sighed, shaking her head. Thank you for looking. That is more than its worth to me. She hesitated, then asked. Why does it need to be inscribed so often? She hesitated, considering. And why does it have to be magic-bound?


    Both excellent questions, and they, happily, have the same answer: Weve not found an easilypatible power-source. He gave an apologetic half smile. Time magic hasnt been found to exist on its own, and untyped power does not efficiently convert to work with time-scripts.


    T just stared at him. Time-scripts.


    Yes.


    As in time magic.


    Thats right.


    <em>Time is immaterial. Could I study these scripts and trante them into a potential inscription?</em> She almostughed at that. <em>Yay! I can have an inscription that tells time.</em> Why use such an esoteric power, then? That seemsodd.


    He frowned. How so, Mistress?


    Why not make something that functioned like a clock, or a pocket watch.


    He began nodding. You mean something with a regr cadence inbuilt? It is possible to use such for the regr measuring of time. Some of those have even been constructed. He lifted the te up, slightly, indicating the very device he held. These are actually built on a simr tform, but believe it or not, those using time scripts are actually less expensive, both initially and overall. We do have mechanical watches as well, though.


    Oh?<em> Those tes are ridiculously expensive. Maybe, the mundane way is better?</em>


    Yes. We, here at the Constructionists Guild, pride ourselves on pursuing all avenues of creation.


    How much would a pocket watch be? <em>I could keep it in Kit, make sure it isnt broken?</em> She had a thought; Kit could manipte dimensionality within itself. <em>Could Kit wind a watch, if it was ced inside?</em>


    Ten gold, plus or minus an ounce, depending on materials and embellishments. We request a month to properly craft each custom order.


    Oh She sighed. Thank you. I suppose Ill just have to make do. <em>Or, I can find some craftsman who will sell me a less precise timekeeper. That should cost less.</em>


    Understandable. He gave a polite smile, then returned to business. I do have one of the freezing air incorporators in stock, if youd like it now?


    She nodded. That would be wonderful. Thank you. She hesitated. Wait a moment.


    Yes, Mistress?


    You never gave me an answer on the coffee incorporator. Ts eyes narrowed. <em>What are you hiding?</em>


    Lyn cleared her throat, cing a hand on Ts arm. Apologies. Shes had a stressful day.


    The young man bowed and left to get the item shed requested.


    What was that about? T turned on her friend.


    I could ask you the same question.


    T gazed suspiciously after the departed attendant. Someone has to have made one. I just know it. <em>No inter-guild-pressure would prevent me from making oneif I could.</em>


    Then, why hide it? If they actually had such a device, they would sell <em>so</em> many.


    I dont know. I havent figured that out, yet.


    Lyn shook her head, seemingly deciding it wasnt worth engaging on the topic, further.


    Five minutester, T had paid and departed with Lyn and Terry in tow.


    The new incorporator was fascinating, and she turned it over in her fingers, examining it more closely.


    Like the other incorporators, there was a simple opening in the center, justrge enough for her two thumbs to go through, together. This particr one looked to be made of perfectly clear ss, though it felt like metal to her fingers; she couldnt have said why, though. The cross-section of the circle moved through various shapes in seemingly random order, the ridgesing together and diverging at irregr intervals.


    She tested it, and true-to-order, air came out that was <em>almost </em>cold enough to make her hand hurt, when she put her fingers in the flow. <em>Well, it would have almost hurt before my inscriptions.</em> Now, it wasnt even ufortable, despite the chill already in the air.


    She funneled power into the device, sending a stream of cold wind at Lyn.


    The woman scrunched her face in a mockingly-outraged grimace. Stop that!


    T grinned and tucked the incorporator away. Fine.


    Lyn shook her head. You seem so child-like at times. The simplest workings of power are enough to fascinate you.


    Am I supposed to be insulted by that? Magic is <em>awesome!</em>


    She grinned. No, I dont think I meant it negatively. Its refreshing to work with someone who still finds joy in such things.


    T chuckled. d to help, I suppose.


    They fell back into casual conversation as they returned home, together.


    * * *


    T woke the next morning, content.


    She stretched and exercised, still limating to her increased weight.


    After her soul-work, she moved into the bathroom where she used a full seven void-channels to fill the tub. One, as always, kept her body supplied with the ongoing power requirements for her active spell-forms. Four of the remaining went to her hot water incorporator, two to the cold, leaving the water quite hot, but no longer near boiling.


    It took less than a minute to fully fill the tub, so that didnt stretch her capacity, but instead of disabling the void-channels, she moved them to Flow and her magic-bound items, while she pulled out her two air incorporators.


    Her items filled to capacity, she moved the channels to dump into the air incorporators. <em>Lets see how long I can hold this.</em>


    So, she stood there, over her bath, fully clothed.


    <em>Wellg.</em> She did <em>not</em> want to just stand there for close to twenty minutes. <em>Ideally longer.</em> Her bath would cool, maybe even begin to dissipate. <em>Probably not that. I think I have at least an hour.</em>


    She looked around at what she had with her, and her eyes fell on Flow. <em>I wonder</em>


    She shifted the path of the void-channel for one of the two incorporators from her left hand to her right, while she, likewise, moved the incorporator itself. That way, she could continue to funnel power to them both with her right hand, each sending a steady stream of air upward. She then drew Flow with her left andid it on the shelf, cing the two rings atop it.


    <em>Now, how do I</em> Thinking back to how shed shifted from her left to her right hand, she made a simr mental movement, but this time it was from her right hand to Flow.


    The channels moved easily, now moving through the ethereal connection she had to the knife, rather than down her physical arm.


    Hesitantly, she pulled her hand back, continuing the flood of power, now using her soul-bond to Flow as a conduit.


    <em>It worked!</em> T gave a little hop of glee, and immediately had to reach out and steady the incorporators, hernding having shaken the room. <em>Dont forget, T. You are quiteweighty now.</em> She snorted at that.


    Air, hot and cold, still flowing from the devices, T undressed and took her hair out of its standard, utilitarian braid.


    The power still flowed without pause.


    She bathed, keeping a portion of her mind locked on her seven channels.


    The magic never wavered.


    Her bath done, and her body clean, she retrieved herb from Kit.


    Quick strokes with theb left her hair water and tangle free, and she took the hot air incorporator from Flow, moving the requisite void-channels back to her right hand. <em>There is an odd strain, when I shift the course of void-channels.</em>


    She dried herself with the hot air, switching hands, and paths for the power, as often as reasonable.


    Shortly after she was fully dry, she reached her limit and had to allow the void-channels to copse. <em>Nearly half an hour. Nice!</em> And that was with the added strain of shifting routes. The previous days efforts had paid dividends. <em>I wish I could spend that much time, every day, working on improvement.</em>


    Shortly thereafter, dressed in elk-leathers and with her hair back in its simple, strong braid, T left the bathroom.


    Lyn was waiting in the sitting room. Finally!


    T stopped, surprised. Youre awake?


    Of course, I am! My Archon evaluation is first thing this morning.


    Ts eyes widened. Oh! Im so sorry.


    Lyn waved her off as she carried a pile of things into the bath room. Whats done is done.


    T frowned. Wait Wasnt it scheduled for midmorning?


    Midmorning is effectively first thing. Mind grabbing me breakfast?


    Tughed, grinning. Sure, thats fair.


    Lyn smiled as she closed the door.


    Well. It seems Ive got to get breakfast. She shook her head. Terry!


    The bird flickered into being, already seemingly asleep, on her shoulder.


    You know, Im aware that you are awake.


    He didnt respond.


    She shrugged. Either way.


    * * *


    T returned as quickly as she was able with two breakfast deals. <em>That ce really does have good prices.</em>


    Shed had to purchase a second jug for the extra coffee, but that wasnt a huge loss. At least, thats what she told herself.


    <em>Two and a half silver.</em> She still had budget to use, due to her four days of unconsciousness, not to mention Ranes generosity. <em>Lyn will have one, at most two, sandwiches and some coffee, leaving me with at least ten sandwiches and close to two gallons of coffee.</em> All in all, a good use of funds.


    Thankfully, T returned before Lyn finished in the bath, even if not by much.


    The older Mage came out in a robe of thick, fluffy, towel-like material and joined T at the table. T, of course, had to kneel beside the surface instead of using the chair, which undoubtedly wouldve failed to hold her.


    These look amazing! Lyn looked through the various sandwiches and chose the one that looked best to her.


    T poured her friend a mug of coffee from one jug before drinking straight from the other. Hope you like it.


    Lyn took her time eating her one sandwich, though she was steady in her pace, only pausing to drink from her mug.


    In that same time, T devoured eight of the things and finished a gallon of coffee.


    That cant be healthy for you. Lyn pointed at the now empty coffee jug.


    Oh?


    The caffeine alone has to be tweaking your brain to no end.


    T shrugged. Not really? I think I mainly have issues if I dont drink it.


    Lyn gave her a t look. You know, thats a pretty clear indicator of a serious, physiological addiction.


    Then, Im addicted to sleep, food, water, and air.


    And coffee.


    T waved her off. Do you want another sandwich?


    Lyn gave the remaining three a long look, then shook her head. Theyre great, but Im quite full. Thank you.


    T shrugged. Fair enough. She took another and began quickly eating it.


    Lyn shook her head. Well, Ive got to get going. Wish me luck?


    T shook her head in turn, giving a half smile. Nope. You dont need it.


    As kind as that sounds, in theory, Id still appreciate the more standard gesture.


    She grinned. Very well: Best of luck, Mistress Lyn. May the next time we meet, you be known as Mistress Lyn Clerkson, Diamond Archon.


    Lyn winked. You better believe it. Without another word, she headed for the door, waving goodbye over her shoulder before she closed it behind herself.


    T sighed, sinking down until she was sitting on her heels, kneeling beside the table. Well, Terry. Its going to be a busy day.


    Terry gave her a one-eyed stare.


    Sheughed and tossed an especiallyrge chunk of jerky for him. He snapped it up without appearing to move. The jerky had vanished from the air at least six feet from him. Youre a wonder.


    He didnt deign to react.


    She ate the remaining food and downed the rest of the coffee with crity before rising and heading towards the door. Alright! Time to go learn a new way of fighting.

 Chapter 88: The Real Work

    Chapter 88: The Real Work


    T ground her teeth as she circled Adam on the sand of the training courtyard.


    Every steppressed a circle of sand, but not markedly; there was enough surface area that she still got good purchase. Arguably, she had a better footing now than before the increase to her weight and footing surface area.


    Again and again, she threw herself at the guardsman: punches and kicks, elbows and even headbutts wereunched as sweat poured from her.


    He was too skilled to allow virtually any of her hits tond.


    He ducked and wove around each strike, asionally reaching out to subtly alter the iing trajectory of her movements.


    Then, like clockwork, after shed failed with ten attacks, he wouldsh out, decisively ending the exchange.


    If she was quick enough, she would block the attack and lose her momentum, allowing him to step away. If she missed the timing, or lost count of her own attacks, he would disable her, if briefly, by taking her footing or striking her head to daze her momentarily.


    It was infuriating.


    After each exchange, the watching students would analyze how she had failed, while the instructor and Adam, himself, offered advice on how, exactly, she could correct the errors and perfect her fighting techniques.


    Keep your elbows tighter to your sides.


    Your attacks should stay ahead of your bodys movement, dont let them trail.


    Your footing telegraphed your attack; shift like this, instead.


    An elbow strike would have been better, there.


    You arent utilizing your unique strengths with that strike. However, if you change it like this


    You should have thrown a hook, instead of a jab, with the previous sequence in mind and how it opened his defenses.


    You allowed yourself to forget about defense.


    Oh, how she hated it.


    As credit to their advice, and her own resolve to improve, she got closer tonding blows, and got hit less, as time went on, but it had yet to be as gloriously in her favor as their first exchange.


    * * *


    When T and Adam had first faced off, they bowed in turn.


    Ready, Guardsman? She wore her elk-leathers, as immactely clean and pristine as ever.


    Adam wore a loose-fitting set of workout clothes, light and unrestricting, while being well-fit enough to reduce the potential for handholds, if he were to grapple. Ready, Mistress.


    T didnt hesitate after his acknowledgement,unching herself across the short space, her speed clearly surprising therge, lean man. Sand sprayed behind her inrge plumes, as shed required <em>incredible </em>force to move as quickly as shed wanted.


    She didnt attempt subtlety, throwing a haymaker-style punch.


    Adam raised an arm almost disdainfully to block, though he shifted his body and weight to ensure he was grounded and braced against the blow.


    Hepressed his lips, seemingly in irritation; hed taught her better than to throw such an easily predicted attack. <em>Perfect.</em>


    His perfect form hadnt been enough.


    T was small,paratively speaking, and so the blow shouldnt have been a question of strength and proper form. Any such contest would heavily favor him over her, because she was lighter.


    Only, she wasnt.


    Her forearm connected with his, and she powered through, trusting to her fully grounded weight to lock her in ce.


    His form had been perfect, and his blocking arm hadnt copsed, despite the tremendous strength behind her blow. Instead, his unshifting body had been driven up and backward. After hed lifted free of the sand, his shoulder gave way with a sickening <em>pop</em> as the joint left its socket.


    Adam had grunted in surprised pain, before hended once more, sliding back but maintaining his feet as his left arm dropped, useless, to his side.


    The Mage Healer theyd had ready to hand took only a moment to fully restore the joint.


    Adam had bowed and smiled. Very well, then. Let us truly begin.


    * * *


    Now, T was paying for her earlier arrogance. <em>Hes proving to me, and everyone, that skill trumps weight and strength. At least in what amounts to a point match</em>


    Each exchange took less than a minute, even with the feedback, and they paused for water after every ten bouts or so.


    Two hours passed with little variation, and T, along with most of those watching, decided that the extra weight was more useful in grounding her, and adding to her footing, than in any sort of acrobatics. <em>Might change my mind, as I gainpetence, though.</em>


    Finally, T decided a change was in order.


    She stored her cool water incorporator, turning to face Adam once more. Enough. We fight until one of us is truly disabled.


    He hesitated, then nodded. Or to surrender.


    She nodded in turn.


    Begin.


    They closed the distance, moving together with smooth, even steps.


    Ts quick jab was hooked and jerked downward, Adams backfist using her resistance to gain a burst of speed and power.


    His knuckles caught her nose with a blow that would have shattered the feature on anyone else.


    It tingled, forcing her to blink rapidly.


    She threw a knee to his gut, and he rolled around it, delivering a hammering blow to her raised hip. She felt the joint shift, threatening to pop free.


    It didnt.


    She drove her elbow down as she dropped much faster than any other person could, due to her increased gravity.


    With that third strike, finally, she caught him by surprise, once again.


    She clipped his knee, sending a wet <em>crack</em> across the sand.


    He didnt stop, though she could see pain in his eyes, held in check by a fiery determination, her enhanced perception presenting his expression to her, as if on a canvas.


    His chest flexed, bulging beneath his loose shirt, and his two palms thundered, one against each of her ears. Her vision fuzzed for just an instant. It hadnt been sound, not really, so her dampening scripts had done little to soften the impact.


    For that instant, she had to rely on feel and animalistic instinct, through incredible disorientation.


    They exchanged a dozen blows and counter strikes.


    If T had been uninscribed, she would have ended up with broken ribs, ruptured kidneys, shattered joints, and blinded eyes.


    But she was a Mage.


    There was no question of who was more skilled. Adam attacked her with near perfect impunity, but impunity wasnt the same as invulnerability.


    When her vision finally refocused, her mind clearing, Adam was gasping and standing on his one good leg, his right arm broken in two ces. He also had a broken rib to go with his arm and knee, and one eye was squeezed shut against rapid swelling.


    T <em>ached</em> but nothing was broken; nothing was out of ce; nothing was truly wrong.


    Adam spit out a wad of blood and spit, then nodded. I yield.


    The Healer rushed forward, restoring him quickly. T took a moment to appreciate the work of the Material Guide. Their scripts were efficient, effective, and precise, restoring the target to full health, using the patients own internal maps as a temte and guide.


    <em>Simply perfect.</em> Her healing, when she used it, influenced the processes, magically. The material and energy still had to be supplied in mostly mundane fashions. <em>If I were to try to heal someone else, theyd be malnourished and skeletal.</em> Probably an overstatement, but in the vein of the truth. <em>Plus, Id have to get entirely different inscriptions</em> So, no healing others.


    But she wasnt here to admire the elegance of another Mages work, or toment an area shed never excel in.


    T looked around at those watching. Silence reigned among the onlookers, until Adam was back at one hundred percent.


    The Healer retreated, and Adam cleared his throat. So, who has ament?


    No one spoke out, but the students were ncing to each other, the air beginning to fill with mutterings.


    Adam grinned. To her, I would like to say that I, for one, am impressed. She has been listening to every bit of advice we gave. To you all, he gestured to the watching students and teachers, I say: any mundane warrior would be a fool to engage a Mage in openbat, this is known. Their methods are usually less up close and personal than this, but they are also usually more definitive as well. Would you rather face her or a Mage that could simply incinerate you at a hundred yards?


    There were more mutterings at that.


    Exactly. She is effective as she is now, but she is still a child whenpared to the offensive abilities of most Mages. Now, what advice can we give her to correct that imbnce?


    Rane grinned from his chair off to one side, giving T a happy nod but keeping his thoughts otherwise to himself.


    And thus, the real work began.


    * * *


    The sun was straight overhead, and T was feeling desperately hungry, by the time they called an end to the mornings training.


    Adam had received healing more than a dozen times, and after the first two true bouts, the most senior guardsmen had joined him to fight her two on one, then three on one.


    All the while, dozens upon dozens of eyes had scrutinized Ts every move.


    With every angle watched by someone, and a truly impressive staff of advisors, T had made incredible progress. Her increasing number of opponents stood as obvious testimony to that, as did her slowly decreasing time to total disablement of those opponents.


    Make no mistake, Adam and hispatriots were still <em>vastly </em>more skilled than she was, and if she hadcked her inscriptions, she would have lost, quickly, to any one of them. <em>Or if they used inscribed weapons.</em>


    Still, she was quite happy with the mornings progress. <em>Good training.</em>


    It was amazing what could be aplished when injuries werent a real concern. In that light, she was more than a little impressed by Adam and his fellow guardsmen and women. No matter how hurt they had been while sparring with her, they had never hesitated, or flinched, in their exchanges. They had never even let a single injury take them out of the fight, likely using the opportunity to train themselves in fighting under those particr conditions. <em>True masters, it seems.</em>


    Terry had watched from the nearby roof, basking in the sunlight. Even so, hed seemed much more intent on her activities than usual. <em>I wonder what hes contemting.</em>


    Rane walked out onto the sand. Thank you, all. I think Mistress T should grab some lunch, as she has a rather important meeting early this afternoon.


    After the collective responses settled down, Rane continued.


    Tomorrow, I will be joining those opposing the Mistress, which should allow for increased scrutiny on her fighting techniques, as well as allow you to finish your evaluation of my fighting style and abilities.


    Sounds and utterances of agreement came back towards them in an iprehensible wave.


    Rane leaned in close to T and whispered. There is a set of private baths in that building there. He indicated with a bob of his head. I suggest you clean up, then get lunch and head to your evaluation.


    T nodded. Thank you. <em>Lunch sounds so, so fantastic.</em> Care to join me?


    He froze, rapidly turning a bright shade of red.


    She frowned. <em>Why would OH!</em> She colored slightly as well. For lunch, Master Rane. Would you like to join me for lunch?


    He cleared his throat. Um well. Id love to, but I need to get to my own evaluation.


    Fair enough. Good luck.


    He quirked a happy smile, the color starting to fade from his features. Thank you.


    They bid each other goodbye, along with the Guards: students, instructors, andbatants.


    The Healer, just as all morning, didnt converse with anyone, simply departing when the need for their services was clearly over.


    T did take advantage of the baths, though she didnt use their tub or water.


    She stripped down in the private room, then sted herself with hot water, quickly removing the residue of the mornings sweat and sand. She marveled at how she was able to bear the otherwise scalding water. She could probably cook herself, in time, but she wasnt submerged; so, it was just unpleasantly hot when used like this.


    Terry waited outside, basking in the sun.


    Dressed and dry, hairbed and re-braided, T left the Guardsmensplex behind and hunted down some lunch, Terry on her shoulder once again. <em>With me, as he should be.</em>


    She chose a new ce this time around.


    Her lunch was beer-battered, deep-fried chicken with a side of likewise battered and deep-fried vegetables, ranging from mushrooms and zhini to potatoes and squash. It all came with a staggering variety of avable sauces.


    To her delight, it was all you can eat.


    To the relief of the owners, she did not, in fact, follow that allowance.


    <em>No need to put them out of business.</em>


    Even so, she suspected that shed eaten as much as any two other patrons she observed, and some of them were <em>very</em> enthusiastic diners.


    She did not let Terry have any, giving him some jerky instead.


    He hadnt been too disappointed. <em>I might have to start letting him try more varieties of human food.</em> It bore considering.


    The restaurant staff tried to charge her ny-nine and nine-tenths ounces, copper, but she just gave them a silver and refused the remainder. <em>Stupidly specific prices.</em>


    Thus fed, she headed towards the Archon facility, located within the innermost circle of the city. It was just barely two hours after shed left the sandy courtyard, and Terry was on her shoulder once more.


    When she arrived outside the indicated building, she was at once confused and impressed.


    The building, itself, was situated near the bottom of a small hill, clearly extending back into it. Even so, it looked small, seeming barely bigger than a single-family home. <em>I suppose it doesnt have to be that big, but I expected more. </em>It also looked decidedly ordinary. <em>If you dont know its here, youll never find it.</em> She grinned. <em>Unless you have mage-sight like mine.</em>


    To her mage-sight, the protections were staggering. Not only were the citys standard defenses thicker and more powerfully concentrated around it, but there were many more, cunningly buried into the construction of the building. <em>They would need material guides to re-inscribe the portions imbedded in the walls.</em>


    She swept her gaze across the surrounding area and noticed with shock that the increased defenses epassed the entire hill. Moreover, though the powerful thrumming of the citys magic made seeing anything specific below ground difficult, she thought she saw theplex, augmented wards extending far below ground. <em>Fascinating. This is probably the best defended ce in the city.</em>


    As T walked forward, she was subjected to more bits of scanning magic than she could count; many were simr to the one in the Constructionists Guildhall, examining her magic and inscriptions, but others seemed to be checking her physical form. She even thought that she felt a few focus on her gate: her soul.


    It was a bit disconcerting, but nothing hostile was triggered, so she continued forward at a steady pace.


    As it turned out, the entire structure visible from the street was solid stone, no rooms or open spaces to be found. Behind a set of heavy doors, there was only a straight passage, leading from the entrance deeper in.


    Once she was well inside the little hill, she came out into a lushly appointed entry foyer. There were thick rugs on the in stone floors. Heavy tapestries hung on the walls to dampen sound and add warmth to the room. Where the ceiling of the passage had been an unremarkable eight feet, this room expanded upward to at least ten, and that ceiling was textured and oddly shaped.


    T blinked, taking in the ceiling as a whole. <em>Its a map. Its a map of the known world.</em> The detail was staggering, and she quickly realized that the few lights that were in the ceiling itself were each located to indicate the cement of humanitys cities. <em>Fourteen; so, they marked where one is currently being built, too. </em>Additionally, there was a hole where a fifteenth would go, but there was no light, yet.


    There was nowhere to sit, as this was obviously not meant as more than a front entry. Three other hallways led off, centered in the three walls, other than that containing the entry passage. In the center of the room stood a round counter. Four people sat behind the counter, each seeming to be working on something out of Ts sight.


    They were inscribed, but not Mages, their spell-lines focused around their eyes and ears. <em>Are those forms of blinding and deafness?</em> There were conditions woven in that were far tooplex for her to parse at a nce, but she guessed that they were prevented from seeing or hearing information not allowed to them. <em>I cant even imagine how it determines that. </em>Maybe, its something that Archons can activate, at need?


    That was a horrible thought. <em>I dont ever want someone else activating scripts on my body</em> But now wasnt a good time to contemte that.


    The closest, a woman, nced up at Ts entrance and smiled a greeting. The expression seemed to be genuine, and not simply an affectation for her role as greeter. Wee! Are you Mistress T?


    T was still looking around but decided she should probably give the woman her attention. I am.


    The attendant nodded, looking down. Your brother should be finished, within the hour, and Ill escort you in, shortly thereafter.


    Mybrother? She had a moment of panic. <em>Which one? How is he here? What is going on?</em>


    Yes, the two of you signed up together: Mistress T and Master Rane Gredial.''


    Oh! She felt tremendous relief. No. Hes not my brother.


    The attendants eyes widened, and she visibly paled. Oh, no! Im so sorry, Mistress. Your <em>husband</em> should be out soon.


    T blinked at that. What? No No! Master Rane is <em>not</em> my husband.


    The woman seemedpletely baffled, now. Then Im so sorry. I dont understand.


    T cleared her throat. I dont have ast name.


    Oh! The woman straightened. That makes sense. I should have thought of that... Its unusual, but not unknown. My deepest apologies for the misunderstandings.


    T, herself, was now quite flustered. Itsits fine. She swallowed. <em>Thats embarrassing.</em> The other three attendants werent looking her way, but their bodynguage suggested they were hiding smiles of amusement.


    The attendant swallowed. Well can I get you any refreshment while you wait? After I get that, if desired, I will lead you to a seating area, where you should be morefortable.


    T nodded, rubbing one temple against a newly budding headache. Coffee, please. As much as you can bring me.


    The woman smiled. Certainly. She turned, ostensibly toe out from behind the counter and go get the beverage.


    T held up a hand. Wait.


    The attendant paused.


    Im afraid that you heard me ask for arge mug of coffee.


    She nodded hesitantly.


    What I want is for you to bring me as much coffee as you can. I can provide two one-gallon jugs, if that would be useful.


    The young woman swallowed, again, seeming quite taken aback. IllIll see what I can do.


    <em>That will have to be good enough.</em> Thank you.

 Chapter 89: What the Rust?

    Chapter 89: What the Rust?


    T waited.


    The attendant, against all odds, came through, and T ended up consuming close to three gallons of coffee. She had no idea how the attendant kept procuring the stuff, but it was there, so T drank it.


    Terry slept.


    Kit hung.


    Flow rested in its sheath.


    T was bored.


    She didnt know exactly what to expect, when her time for evaluation finally arrived. They were going to examine her star, that much was obvious, but she didnt know why that took a special meeting or in-person evaluation.


    T would have trained her void-channels, but she didnt know what would be expected of her, and it would be horrible luck if she mentally exhausted herself right before she was expected to perform in some sort of rigorous test. It was wiser to wait.


    <em>Should I have applied my iron salve?</em>


    No, she didnt need to defend herself from magical effectsshe hoped. She snorted at that. Yeah, T. The Archons are going to attack you, and you <em>would</em> have won, if only youd had your iron salve. She shook her head at the thought.


    She had examined the waiting room and found it extravagant. <em>I suppose its meant to impress Archons-to-be, or other visitors?</em> If so, it did its job well.


    It was sparsely furnished, and tastefully so. The ceiling was lower than the entry hall, giving a morefortable feel to the space. The walls held a few, expansive masterpieces, each depictingndscapes in intricate detail. When shed looked closer, shed discovered that, even to her improved perception, it was hard to notice every detail, though the works werent crowded or cluttered in the least.


    Each was done in a different medium: one with oils, one with watercolor, one was a simple charcoal piece, and so on. She could have spent long minutes simply basking in each one, under other circumstances, but she was feeling a bit too nervous to truly appreciate them at that moment.


    She was contemting the wisdom of taking out a book, to try to distract herself, when the attendant returned, hands empty of coffee. Mistress T?


    T stood. Ready?


    She nodded. Yes. Right this way.


    T hadnt seen Ranee out, but she supposed there were multiple exits. <em>There might even be multiple evaluation rooms</em> Though, the attendant had stated that she would go in after Rane was finished, so the evaluations were likely to be held in the same location. <em>Or at least with the same evaluators.</em>


    The hallways they walked through were simple, if well kept, starkly in contrast to thevish entry hall and waiting room. Smooth, polished, unadorned stone made up walls, ceiling, and floor.


    The attendants steps echoed through the corridor, but Ts careful footfalls made hardly a sound.


    Finally, the attendant stopped outside a simple, heavy wooden door. Here you are, Mistress. Best of luck to you. She pointed to a small, padded basket, resting by the dark wooden entrance. Your arcanouspanion will have to wait, here.


    Terry chirped in irritation, but before T couldment, he was already seemingly asleep in the provided bed.


    The attendant smiled, bowed, and walked away, the echoes of her steps fading surprisingly quickly. <em>There are dampening inscriptions set behind the surface of the stone. </em>The expense of keeping those properly inscribed must have been staggering.


    <em>Focus.</em> T took a deep breath and knocked.


    Come. The reply came almost instantly, and the voice was oddly familiar.


    She pushed open the door and found arge chamber beyond. Three sides held tables, with just enough space beyond them for people to move and sitfortably, with a walkway behind those left clear, near the walls.


    The tables were long and thin, allowing for each side of the room to hold some twelve people. <em>Archons.</em> T realized. <em>Thirty-six seated Archons.</em>


    Quite a few other people stood behind those seated.


    While everyone she could see had spell-lines, she couldnt see magic around any of them, save two.


    Lyn and Rane stood side by side, off to her right. They gave subdued waves, and smiles, when she met their gazes.


    Rane looked exhausted, seemingly requiring the wall he was leaning against to stay up right. Lyn looked a little better, but mostly like shed also been wrung out, with a bit more time to recover than Rane.


    A new hue, underlying their magic, pulsed in prominence to her mage-sight. <em>Red.</em> It was a deep red, barely into the front edge of the spectrum counted for that color. They were Archons in truth.


    She grinned back, waving slightly.


    An older man cleared his throat, and T turned, regarding the central table.


    To her surprise, she recognized several other people in the room. Holly sat on one end of that centermost table, smiling her direction but not otherwise acknowledging her. Master Himmal sat on the other end, and gave her a slight nod, when their eyes locked. She couldnt see him with her mage-sight, just like most of the others, but his invisibility seemeddifferent somehow. <em>Is he using an item to blend in with his fellows?</em> His Archons mark zed on the ne at his chest.


    Now that she looked more closely, about half of the Archons present had such marks. Some wore them as a ring, others as a ne like Master Himmal, still others had them tucked into pockets or pinned to their clothing as broaches. <em>Master Grediv seemed to regard them as a crutch. So, are those the least among the Archons?</em> She didnt like putting Master Himmal in that camp, but he, himself, had told her that he was crippled, magically speaking.


    She frowned, considering.


    The throat was cleared again, drawing her attention to the main table, once more. The center of that table was dominated by a petite woman. She was likely just taller than T, herself, though it was hard to tell while the woman sat. She looked close to the same age as Lyn, but T had no doubt that she was much older. <em>Not that I guessed Lyns age right</em> In fact, almost everyone looked on the near side of fifty, with Master Himmal being the most notable exception.


    To the womans right, sat Grediv, and it had been his voice that had called T in and that she had thought she recognized. <em>I knew it.</em>


    He gave her a nod, simr to Master Himmals.


    She didnt know the man to the womans other side.


    The small woman straightened her back and lifted her chin, ever so slightly. Mistress T, you stand before members of the local council of Archons, and those Archons who wished to participate in, or observe, these proceedings. Her voice was clear and powerful.


    T gave a slight bow. She was unsure what she should say, so she held her tongue. <em>You grow in wisdom, T.</em>


    The Archon quirked a smile. I am Mistress Elnea, Onyx Archon and current leader of the Archons, here in Bandfast. The womans mage-robes were a deep ck, with polished, ck buttons as fasteners for their quick-releases. <em>Likely onyx.</em> It would be on brand.


    T nced briefly to Grediv and noticed that his clothes today were sapphire blue. <em>Maybe its tradition to model your outfit after your medium? </em>Greetings, Onyx Archon Elnea. It is my honor to be here, today.


    Elneas smile widened a fraction. It is. Never have we entertained the elevation of one so fresh from the Academy.


    T had nothing productive to say in response, so she simply waited.


    Elneas smile grew marginally further. To business. Her voice shifted to one holding deep authority and following ceremony. Who here stands for this Mages elevation?


    Master Himmal stood first, followed by Holly, then Grediv.


    Elnea nodded. Who stands against?


    The three Archons in favor sat and every other Archon at the three tables stood, save Elnea.


    Ts eyes widened. <em>What the rust?</em> She opened her mouth to interjectsomething, but Grediv gave her a stern, warning look. <em>Good thing hes sitting right next to Elnea.</em> She closed her mouth.


    Elnea, for her part, saw Ts reaction and nced to Grediv, before rolling her eyes.


    The Archons returned to their seats.


    Elneas voice resounded through the room. As there is no consensus, we must see the evidence for your elevation. She pointed to the end of the left-hand table. Please present your star to Mistress Sonfia.


    T walked to the middle-aged-looking woman and held out the capped iron vial, containing her Archon star.


    Sonfia took it, a puzzled look on her face. What is this, child?


    My star is within, Mistress.


    She cocked an eyebrow. You are aware that stars do not lose power, if uncontained, yes?


    Of course.


    Well, it is out of your storage item, so the containment shouldnt be necessary, and I dont really want to touch that. It is iron, yes?


    Yes, Mistress.


    Then-


    Gredivs voice cut through the room. Just open it, Fia. Youll understand soon enough, and the iron wont bite you.


    Sonfia gave Grediv a searching look, then sighed. Very well.


    T walked back to her ce near the center of the room and waited.


    Sonfia uncapped the vial and looked inside. I dont understand.


    Grediv simply grinned.


    Mistress T. What medium is this? Sonfia lifted the iron vial up slightly.


    T cleared her throat, suddenly a bit self-conscious. Blood, Mistress Sonfia.


    The room exploded with mutters and sounds of surprise.


    Silence. Elnea didnt shout or pound the table, but her voice cut through the noise, nheless. Please examine the star and pass it on. We can question the applicant once everyone has taken their turn to examine the star.


    Sonfia frowned, but nodded, looking into the vial for a long count of ten. Finally, she passed it to the man on her left.


    Silence filled the room as each seated Archon got a chance to see Ts star. Most seemed torn between not wanting to touch the vial longer than required and wanting more time to stare at what shed brought them. <em>Maybe, I should have put it in a ss vial, instead?</em>


    Master Himmal shook his head while he examined the Archon star, smiling to himself.


    Elnea took nearly a minute for her own examination, no expression obvious on her features. She did swirl the iron vial, though, which only a few did.


    Grediv only briefly nced in, grinned broadly to T, and handed it off.


    Holly passed it on, taking less time to look inside as it passed than Grediv had.


    The other Archons reacted with mixtures of skepticism, wonder, and bemusement.


    Finally, it got to the far end of the right table, and T retrieved it.


    Elnea called for those For and Against Ts elevation, again. The Archons were now split fairly evenly: twenty for, sixteen against.


    Those who oppose may now inquire to satisfy their objections.


    Several moved to stand, but an older man was the quickest to rise, the others deferring once he was up.


    Mistress T, how did you keep the blood stable, in order to imbue it with your power in the required form? Is it from some arcane or magical creature? Is it alchemically treated?


    Elnea cleared her throat. One question, please.


    The man spread his hands, palm down, and nodded. Apologies. He returned his gaze to Mistress T. What is the nature of the blood, such that it allowed this feat?


    T quirked a smile. <em>That was a clever way tobine the questions.</em> It is my blood, untreated and unaltered. I have never attempted to use any other medium, so I cannotment on how it differs.


    The man hesitated, then nodded, taking his seat.


    <em>So, each objector is allowed a single question?</em> Maybe if they object again, theyll be allowed another.


    A woman stood next. Mistress T, what influence did Master Grediv have over the creation of this star? I cannot think his recent theories on liquid-medium stars are unrted.


    T nced to Grediv, but he simply shrugged, seemingly braced for...something. T shrugged as well, turning back to the current asker. I met Master Grediv in Alefast, just under two weeks ago. At that time, he saw an earlier version of this. She held up her iron vial, to indicate the star inside. He examined it, then advised that I make a stronger one before going for evaluation.


    Many hard eyes turned towards Grediv, then.


    Grediv sighed, clearly irately resigned, something about his reaction conveying that hed expected this.


    Elnea looked to him as well. Master Grediv, care to exin yourself? A Mages first Archon star is the means by which they are measured. Though that not being her first exins why it is at peak power.


    Grediv waved his hand dismissively. The star she presented me at the time was insufficient for her elevation. I rmended that she create one of sufficient power. That, he pointed towards T, I was not expecting her toe back with that.


    Elnea nodded. That is the nature of her bond to the knife then, yes?


    Yes, Mistress. T nodded, drawing the Archons attention to her.


    Elnea frowned. This is most unusual. You should have been evaluated based on the first star you created.


    T cleared her throat. With all due respect, that is impossible. The first star I created was absorbed into the second and third, which I forged. Thatbination is what Master Grediv examined.


    There was a long minute of stunned silence.


    T turned to look at Grediv as he chuckled, breaking the ufortable pause. Now you understand. Stars in a liquid medium might be able to meld.


    Several other Archons began speaking at once, but Elnea held up a hand to forestall them. Mistresses, Masters, please. There are times to discuss theory and debate findings. This is not among them.


    The group quieted, if reluctantly.


    Now, Mistress T. Do you affirm and attest that that is the first Archon star you have created, which fell within the qualifying range? She pointed towards Ts hand, which still held the iron vial.


    There were mutters at that, some of which T caught. Rusting stupid question, Archon stars cant be stabilized outside of the qualifying range.


    T kept from smiling, barely. To my knowledge, based on what Archons have told me, yes.


    Another of the objectors stood for their question. How can we possibly believe your ims?


    T opened her mouth to answer, then hesitated. <em>Wait</em> She smiled, widely, as she remembered something. She stuck her hand into Kit and took out another vial, containing one of her earlier stars, the one that shed shown Holly. This is one of the earlier created stars. She walked forward and handed it to the objector. Please feel free to examine it.


    The objector opened this second iron vial, and stared into it, clearly stunned by what she found. Not possible.


    Elnea cleared her throat. Would you object to allowing the council to examine that one as well, Mistress T?


    T shrugged. I see no reason against it.


    Thus, another space of time passed as each seated Archon took their turn with her weaker star.


    Once that wasplete, the mood had shifted drastically. Each of the Archons seemed deep in thought, some almost excited, others seeming disturbed.


    T received the vial back, and Elnea called for another vote, and the results were thirty to six.


    Who taught you this spell-form?


    No one. It seemed a logical progression after having my blood tested for power density.


    There were mutters at that. From the mutters, the Archons took meaning from her answer that she, herself, did not understand. <em>Who cares if I came up with it on my own?</em>


    Another of the objectors stood in a rush. Blood for power density tests is empowered within the body.


    T frowned, it hadnt been a question, but she felt the weight of the collected gazes upon her. Yes?


    Another stood. Are you trying to tell us that you made that star <em>within</em> your own body?


    <em>How did they think I did it? Bleed myself then try to dump power in?</em> Would that work?<em> Probably not.</em> Ummyes?


    There were waves of mutters and exmations at that. Even Grediv, Holly, and Master Himmal seemed startled to learn that.


    <em>I didnt know it was that big of a deal.</em> If their reactions were any indication, it was not only a critical piece of information; it made many of them nervous.


    No one else stood immediately, so Elnea called for another vote.


    Only ten stood in favor of her elevation.


    T frowned. <em>What?</em>


    Only one stood against it.


    <em>What does that even mean?</em>


    That single Archon stood. Are you human?


    Yes. She was frowning. What kind of question is that? You should all be able to see my gate. Are there other options?


    Only silence came back to her, though she did see several small distortions of power, which made her think that some of the Archons had briefly activated their mage-sight to examine her.


    Grediv stood. May I speak in favor?


    Elnea waited a moment, then nodded when no one spoke against the request.


    Mistress T is an unusual Mage. No one denies that, but she has cleared every requirement for advancement, and has done so spectacrly. You might be ufortable at some of what she has done, and at the specter of what she will certainly do in the future, but is that a reason to deny her elevation? To keep her from joining us, when we are ever in need of Archons? If you have true objections, then object! Air them before this council and let wisdom guide this decision. If she is His eyes flicked to her, then away. The worst of what could be, will be proven one way or another, soon enough.


    <em>What does that mean?</em> T was frowning.


    Another Archon spoke. This isnt even your city, Master Grediv. Go home, and let us handle this.


    There were several murmurs in response, but T couldnt determine whether they were supportive or not.


    Gredivughed. I say: Foreign wisdom is better than home-grown folly.


    A ripple ofughter moved through the room, then, and that seemed to break the tension that had been growing.


    Grediv took his seat, and Elnea called for another vote.


    Thirty-five in favor, one against.


    The single opposing Archon stood. It was the man who had told Grediv to leave. Why should we allow your elevation to Archon?


    T thought for a long moment, a thousand rash responses whipping through her head, each being discarded. Finally, she shrugged. Ill get there, one way or another. I would prefer the guidance of my predecessors, and the wisdom they gained along the way, but I will forge my own path, if I must. More importantly: I qualify to be raised. The question isnt: Why should you allow it? Its: What reason could you have to oppose?


    The Archon gave her a searching, thoughtful look, then nodded. He turned to regard Elnea. I withdraw my opposition and stand in favor. He then, ironically, sat.


    Elnea stood. We, as representatives of the Archon Council of Bandfast, are united. She looked directly at T. Mistress T. Swallow your Archon star and join us.


    T blinked back at her. <em>What?</em>


    Her mind immediately began frantically scouring through various possibilities. <em>I had to fight for control, against my star Have all these people sumbed? Did the stars win and take over? Am I surrounded by Mages who are no longer quite human?</em>


    She nced to Lyn and Rane. <em>And they got them, too?</em>


    Because of her. Lyn had only made her star because T had brought Hollys attention down on Lyn.


    T looked to the Archons around her, none showing any visible reaction, though she thought she could feel some undercurrents of magic, building.


    <em>Something is wrong.</em>


    She took a step back, drawing Flow and preparing to flee. YeahNo. Rust that.

 Chapter 90: False Choices

    Chapter 90: False Choices


    Power exploded from several distinct points around T, various workingsshing out towards her, and she reacted on instinct, not waiting until she determined what they were intended to do. <em>Too coordinated. They were expecting me to resist.</em> If that was true, theyd underestimated her. Most of the Archons were simply watching, seeming almost curious.


    She channeled power into Flow. The de swept outward, bing the wire-thin outline of a sword, surrounding a field of throbbing heat. That transformation took ce even as she swung, slicing the first working toe within reach and ending it before it could affect her.


    She dodged, ducked, dipped, dived, andwove through the magics sent her way. She cursed herck of iron salve, even as Flow split the few iing magics that she couldnt avoid and would otherwise have struck her. The de sheared through spell-workings like Terry through a pack of murderous woodsmen, leaving the iplete magic to spark and fizzle out without taking affect.


    <em>Terry.</em>


    Terry!


    Thankfully, they hadnt thrown anything but spell-forms her way. She didnt know how shed handle lightning, or fire, created first, then flung at her. <em>Ill just have to trust in my defensive inscriptions.</em> They werent designed to fight Mages, though, let alone Archons.


    She kicked backwards, driving downward to use her weight along with her strength to shatter open the door behind heror she tried. It was somehow <em>incredibly </em>reinforced. The resulting <em>boom</em> shook the walls, causing dust and debris to fill the air. <em>They built this ce to contain Mages.</em>


    It didnt matter though; her voice had reached him.


    Terry appeared on her shoulder.


    Bigger, defend me!


    He flickered, and was suddenly next to her, already the size of a horse, crouched low. He screeched forth a bellow of challenge, his razor talons sinking into the stone below them with ease.


    There was a collective hitch from everyone in the room at Terrys appearance and ergement. Silence briefly settled, and several watching Archons let out ovepping curses, which blended together to Ts battle deafened ears.


    Terry settled down, ready to spring, and called again, low and thrumming, but he didnt attack.


    He nced to T, as if in question.


    <em>He agreed to not kill anyone without explicit consent from me.</em> T found herself smiling, despite the situation atrge. <em>Thats some impressive restraint, Terry.</em>


    From the side of the room, Rane wasughing, and T heard him talking to himself. I <em>knew it.</em> I knew that bird was more than it appeared.


    She nced his way and saw Lyn smiling back at her. <em>Theyre taking this well, but I supposed if theyve already been coopted, they wouldnt be bothered.</em>


    T allowed Flow to shrink, so that she wasnt wasting power, but she didnt lower it.


    Elnea cleared her throat. Well, this is unfortunate.


    You think? T tsked. So, what is this? You force Mages to give in to their Archon star, recing their soul with an arcane construction? Is that the purpose?


    Elnea blinked at her. No, child. We verify that the Mage to be elevated hasnt <em>already</em> been subverted. Being subverted before this evaluation is rare, but it does happen.


    T hesitated. You told me to swallow my star.


    And you will, eventually, but every Mage, when they first make a true star, must fight for dominance. We do not allow Mages to discuss their forging process, to keep that a secret. If the Mage does not balk at ingesting the star, then we can gather that they have fallen to it, or more likely another, earlier. There are tests to verify, of course, but they are <em>quite</em> invasive, and not advisable, except at great need.


    So, you allow Mages to experience the temptation blind?


    Did you want to swallow it?


    She hesitated. No?


    That gut instinct is what is required. Forewarning actually lowers the number of Mages who seed. If wed told you not to swallow your star, before you came here, even if wed exined why, is there a chance youd have done it anyways?


    <em>Yeah Im not answering that. </em>What Elnea was saying made a sort of sense.<em> It also seems a bit too convenient.</em> T narrowed her eyes. So, what now?


    Well, generally we would have restrained you, then released you to show our good faith, before exining all of this. She red at Grediv, then Holly. We were warned that that might be difficult, but when we confirmed that your defensiveyer was absent, it still seemed a reasonable course.


    Terry began pacing back and forth in front of T, between her and Elnea. The terror bird had shrunk to the size of an incrediblyrge dog, so as to not block Ts line of sight. He seemed no less protective, however.


    Yourpanion alsoplicates things, as I doubt we could safely restrain both of you without at least someone being injured, and we are not willing to risk that.


    T felt another smile tugging at her lips but restrained it. <em>Thats right, Terrys a rusting monster, </em>my<em> rusting monster. </em>So, again I ask: What now?


    Elnea sighed. You do not make things easy, do you?


    T quirked a smile, then. So people keep telling me. She sheathed Flow, and Terry, noticing the action, flickered to sit on her shoulder, small once more.


    That terror bird is ancient, Mistress T. I dont know what binds him to you, but be careful.


    T snorted. Says the woman in charge of a room full of Mages who just attacked me.


    Elnea seemed to realize something. Were any of the spell-forms directed at you harmful?


    T thought back. <em>No. They had all been for restraint.</em> No, but if your goal was to coopt me, youd want me alive.


    The Archon sighed. To be an Archon in truth, you must soul-bond your own body.


    T blinked, considering. <em>Thatthat makes sense.</em> It wasughably obvious, now that she thought about it. At the moment, she was technically magic-bound to her body. <em>Huh, Flow is more me, than I amor than my flesh and bones areThats weird.</em> It also lined up with how using the weapon had felt. How do you prevent the star from taking over?


    By not allowing the star through your gate. The danger isnt it bonding with your body. The danger is with the star interacting with your soul, supnting it. Like switching which end of a line is the fixed anchor.


    Thatalso made a sort of sense. She didnt know how or why it made sense, but it justdid. Alright.


    Elnea sighed, seeming to rx a little. Weve a spell-form, which defends your gate, while you soul-bond your body. In your case, it will be powered by four Archons, because your Archon star is as powerful as they can get. Usually, they are much weaker, and therefore obviously subservient to the soul which forged them. After they are used, the Mage then increases the bonds strength, to that upper limit, before proceeding to the next steps. Youyou forged a star that has more power at its immediate disposal than your own soul. If it wielded that power against you, you would fall to it, rather than it to you, as it should.


    That made sense, too, in a way. Thats why you were hesitant, after learning Id made my star within my own body.


    Elnea nodded. Precisely. That harkens back to a time when most Archons fell, before we learned to forge them outside ourselves. If it reassures you any, you are wee to examine the spell-form, before we enact it.


    T almost nodded, then her gaze flicked to Holly. <em>Much of my understandinges from, or is augmented by, my mage-sight, which she inscribed. Can I trust it? Has she been setting me up?</em> T groaned, rubbing her face with one hand. <em>If I believe that, Im already dead. I could never get re-inscribed, and Id have to leave, immediately, never to return.</em> She groaned, again. Fine. Lets do this.


    * * *


    A short timeter, T stood in the middle of an intricately iid spell-form of intertwining gold lines, both across the surface of the floor and going down into it.


    She had examined the working to the best of her ability, which was sorelycking given theplexity before her. From what she could tell, it was a simple spell of augmentation. It would add the collective power of those empowering the spell-form to her own actions. <em>Not exactly a defense of my gate, but I suppose if I am working to defend such, the effect would be the same.</em>


    In truth, most of theplexity of the spell-forms were workings of purification, to prevent the Archons assisting her from tainting the bond with the signature of their power. In the end, if she understood correctly, it would be like the ambient magic of the wilds working at her behest.


    <em>I could do a lot of fun things with this</em> If she had the proper inscriptions to take advantage of it.


    She sighed. Terry was crouched on the floor beside Rane and Lyn, watching her closely, now the size of a medium sized dog.


    T dropped to a cross-legged position, turning her gaze inward.


    As she looked through her body, she searched for the small void that she now knew would be there, among her natural magical pathways.


    <em>There.</em>


    In the center of her sternum, there was a distortion, as if there was a depth to that point that went beyond the physical; there was even a depth beyond theyer of and for magic throughout the rest of her. As she probed it with her mage-sight, she found an almost identical void to the one shed found in Flow and the other artifacts.


    It somehow didnt disrupt or disce the inscriptions that now filled most of her being. Again, it was <em>elsewhere</em> while still being there.


    Found it.


    The four Archons who would assist her were Grediv, Holly, Elnea, and the male Archon, who had been thest to oppose her elevation. <em>An honor, or a punishment?</em>


    She understood why Master Himmal couldnt help; his power was broken, uneven, and not reliable. Still, she felt a bit saddened by that. He had been kind to her, though they didnt know each other that well.


    The other Archons watched this ceremonial binding.


    Elnea nodded. Let us begin. She and the other three settled into their circles, stretching out their hands and pouring their power into thepound spell-form.


    The lines were slow toe to life; the glow flowing outward, following various splitting paths in no pattern that T could discern, but soon, the entirety was powered.


    T gasped.


    She <em>felt</em> their power in a very abstract way, like a parent helping her do a chore that was beyond her ability. It didnt force her to do anything. <em>Hey, I wasnt deceived.</em> At least not yet.


    She already held the vial containing her most powerful star. She was about to drink it but hesitated. <em>No. Thats wrong.</em>


    <em></em>She drew Flow.


    T focused, pulling her defensive power away from her chest. With a quick motion, guided by instincts she didnt exactly understand, she drew Flow in a hard line down the center of her chest, splitting her tunic, skin, and bone in a clean line, not going deep enough to near her heart.


    She almost cked out from the pain, but the reinforcing power of the Archons helped her cling to consciousness as she sheathed the knife.


    Several of the observing Archons gasped, but no one moved to interfere.


    T dumped her Archon star out of the vial and <em>pulled.</em>


    Just as she had called Flow to her hand so many times, she pulled the star into her chest and straight into the void that awaited it.


    As the spell-form entered her flesh, it took on a life of its own, attempting to divert from her desired path for it, but she mped down, feeling the weight of the four Archons power added to her own. The star didnt so much as tremble side to side on its short flight.


    With a deep thrum, the star vanished into the void that was ready for it, and Ts entire being shattered.


    She lost control on her power, and her chest sealed instantly, her clothing closing just after her skin.


    Her bodys natural magic subtly shifted to incorporate her Archon star. Physically, she felt minor blemishes and scars smooth over. Her flesh moved around her inscriptions. The magical spell-forms were immune to the changes around them, but they stayed enmeshed with their designated portion of her form, nheless.


    Something within her eyes changed, but she couldnt see herself to determine what it had been. Her nails began to cken, but she recoiled at that. <em>No.</em>


    The force of her will, still supported, reversed that change, and she suddenly felt something <em>click </em>within her mind.


    Her vision went white as a torrent of magic mmed into the Archon star and through it, into her body.


    * * *


    She was suddenly outside herself, without form, looking into a white void. It wasnt bright; it wasnt dim; it simply was, and it was white.


    It was familiar in its strangeness. <em>This is like when I modified Flow.</em>


    As expected, a manifestation of herself appeared for her scrutiny.


    She stood, a vision of terrible beauty. Her skin was the red of wet blood, her eyes ck, her hair silver-gold. Her best features were all entuated to an inhuman degree, and her inscriptions rested upon her like the mantle of an Empress.


    Flow rested at her hip, and it resonated with this form, ready to strike down all who opposed her.


    And, within her, she could feel that she had been lost.


    <em>Making another bid to win, eh? Just in a different way?</em>


    This one was a lie. She couldnt choose this and still be herself.


    The next hundred versions of herself that flew through her mind varied in any number of ways, but none of them were <em>her</em>.


    She felt a force, with four blendingponents, helping to guide her through the hordes of false choices, itself guided by her desire to find herself.


    Finally, she came to three manifestations that were <em>her.</em>


    All retained her stature and general features. One had hair as red as new-shed blood. Ones hair was such a dark red that it was almost indistinguishable from ck. The final retained her natural, deep, dark-brown hair.


    Their eyes all had irises of ruby red. <em>Thats what I felt. I suppose that change happened before I took control.</em>


    She could tell that each option was different in half-a-hundred little ways, but the hair was a good overall indicator.


    <em>I can change a little, or a lot.</em> She somehow knew that this wasnt the end. She would have chances to make more subtle changes as she continued to advance.


    She might haveughed if shed had lungs or a mouth with which to do so. <em>I could change myself as I wished, now. Break bones and force them to heal back in different configurations. I could make my face look like anything I want.</em> But she liked her face. It wasnt perfect, but it was <em>hers.</em>


    Simrly, the changes she saw open before her wereodd, and she somehow knew that the less she felt like herself, the harder she would find the next steps.


    She chose the version of herself with the fewest changes. The only stark alteration being her eyes, and those somehow seemed proper, if a bit brighter than she expected. <em>For some reason.</em>


    As she made her choice, she felt the rightness of it. She had forced her body to mold to her <em>self,</em> instead of allowing her body and Archon star to alter that self.


    <em>Hah, another false choice?</em> How did most people pass this? Those other options had been pretty tempting. <em>Maybe, its because of how powerful my star was?</em> She hadnt seen any physical changes in Lyn or Rane. <em>Not that I really examined them that closely</em>


    Power fragmented through her, body and soul; her very self, that which she had defended and chosen above all else, felt as if it was being scraped raw.


    * * *


    Her vision splintered back into normal sight, and she found herself sitting cross-legged on the smooth floor of the same room.


    All traces of the spell-forms were gone, and Elnea stood over her, hand outstretched. Rise, Mistress T, Blood Archon. First of your title.


    T swayed, the now familiar feeling of soul-deep tiredness washing over her. It was actually pretty bearable, since she was used to using Flow to work that part of her. As she shifted, moving to take the offered hand, she almost gasped. Her whole body felt alive, more <em>her</em> than ever before. <em>Like Flow does.</em>


    It was as if shed been wearing a suit of heavy armor, using gloves to feel about in the dark, and all that had fallen away, leaving her free to experience the world, truly, for the first time.


    There werent more sensations, nor were they really stronger. The only descriptor she could apply was that everything felt more <em>real.</em>


    T finally grasped Elneas hand, but remembered to not actually use it to stand. <em>I dont want to fling the poor woman across the room. That would be embarrassing. </em>T nodded her thanks. <em>I really do need to seriously consider how useful the extra weight really is</em>


    Let what was witnessed here stand testament to the wisdom of our ways. She is mighty without question, but still, without our added strength, she may have followed a false path. The victory is hers, and part of that was her eptance of assistance.


    T quirked a smile, whispering for only the woman to hear. Cementing your power?


    Elnea gave her a quick nce, then responded in a low voice, that somehow didnt seem to carry at all. Cementing the value of this Council in their minds. Archons like their freedom. It is good to remind them of the value of working together, even if only to raise up the next generation.


    T smiled in truth and gave a bow over their still sped hands. Thank you, Mistress Elnea. She spoke loudly enough for all to hear. They released each others grasps.


    T heard several peoplement on her eyes, likely those with better vision, enhanced or natural. Elnea headed off any issue. Her star fought well, seeking to oust or bend her eternal soul. That fight left obvious signs, just as many of you bear more discreet marks. She gave a half bow to T. Wee, Mistress T, to the rank of Archon.


    A single, all-pervasive cheer echoed from every Archon present, more like a shout of triumph than a crowds adtion. T scanned those around her.


    Grediv looked quite smug, clearly pleased with himself about something, and T thought she caught hints of quietments. Apparently, shed weathered the bond better than anyone had expected, save Grediv apparently.


    <em>Thats why Lyn and Rane looked so exhausted.</em> She realized.


    She looked to them, seeing happiness in their expressions, and smiled in return.


    T was about to turn away, to walk towards her fellow new Archons, when Elnea raised her right hand as high as she could reach, palm facing forward. Her left tucked in front of her chest in what T recognized as a knife-hand shape, though it wasnt to attack. Instead, that hand looked as if it was resting on an invisible surface, bisecting the woman.


    Magic swirled around the Archon, clearly designed to be showy, both to normal vision and mage-sight.


    The upraised hand glowed for a moment with a deep, red light. It wasnt Elneas aura but light visible to Ts normal vision. The womans voicenced out, easily reaching everyone present, and if T read the magic correctly, her voice would be carriedsomewhere else, as well. <em>To other Archon councils?</em>


    Archons of Humanity: Today, Bandfast wees its third new Archon, first of her title: Mistress T, Blood Archon. Elnea clenched the upper hand into a fist, and a final burst of magic washed over the room and to the other destinations. T received, into her own mind, a picture of herself.


    She stood straight, despite being below average in height. She was trim and fit, finding afortable middle ground between childishly slim and bulky.


    Her hair was pulled into an ordered braid, artfully woven from near her left temple, across the back of her head, to where it blossomed from the base of her skull, near her right shoulder, hanging in front of that side of her chest. <em>And dark brown.</em> T felt immensely proud of retaining her natural hair-color, though she couldnt have said exactly why.


    Her eyes were now, by far, her most striking feature. They were as brilliant and pure a red as they could possibly be without actually glowing.


    Her face was angr without being sharp, and soft without being round. Shed always thought of herself as pretty, rather than beautiful, and this image bore that out. With the addition of her new eye color, however, she was certainly striking.


    She had a decidedly hourss figure and was curvy without it being inconvenient, but she didnt focus on that.


    She was d in her perfectly fitted elk leathers, near-white tunic and thunder-cloud gray pants setting off her skins natural tone. Kit and Flow hung from her ck belt, onefortably resting on each hip.


    <em>Oh, I could have, and probably should have, worn one of the formal outfits that Merilin made for me.</em> It was toote for that, by far.


    Her bare feet were obvious below the cuffs of her pants, but they were just as obviously intentionally bare.


    On all her exposed skin: feet, hands, neck, and head, there was a sheen of gold over her natural skin-color. The spell-forms were <em>far</em> too delicate to be distinguished. Instead, the appearance was almost like a fine mesh of metal had been pulled tight and wlessly shaped to her every contour. Even her eyes had veils of gold, highlighting their ruby irises.


    The look of delicate, precious-metal work,bined with the positively gem-like nature of her eyes, caused her to almost look like a jewelers masterwork.


    Throughout the manifestation, power was in evidence. Her aura was distinctly red, and that gave her a thought. <em>Are my eyes red to match my aura, or is it a coincidence?</em> While they were probably red because of the blood medium for the Archon star, only time would tell.


    On a more ephemeral level, the woman that she, and everyone else, beheld had a weight of confidence and <em>action</em>, as if she knew where she was going, and may the stars above help any who got in her way.


    Ts eyes widened at the brief image, her jaw going ck in shock. <em>Is that really how I look to others? I wish I had that much confidence</em>


    She didnt know how to feel, if she was being honest. The impression passed in a heartbeat, but the memory, crystal clear, lingered in her mind.


    Elnea grinned, lowering her arm, her magic worked, her job done. Wee, Mistress T, one of us in truth.

 Chapter 91: Plentiful and Free

    Chapter 91: Plentiful and Free


    T gave a slight bow, once more, but this time, it was to give her a moment to think. When she straightened, she was still no closer to having a coherent response. She was still feeling quite overwrought by all that had happened.


    Elneas grin shifted to a morepanionable smile. It can be overwhelming, so many things changing at once, then to see yourself as others do? She shook her head. You are holding up surprisingly well. She leaned closer and spoke in a conspiratorial whisper. I wept, at my raising.


    Terry appeared on Ts shoulder, giving Elnea a pointed, hostile look, before he settled down and closed his eyes in mock sleep. The Archon pulled back, though not seemingly in fear.


    Lyn and Rane were working their way towards her, but Grediv reached T and Elnea first. Mistress Elnea! You cannot dominate the time of this guest of honor as well.


    Elnea gave Grediv a long-suffering look. I tolerated your intrusions because yourpupil was being evaluated as well, but you did <em>not</em> tell me you had such a strong hand in this ones advancements.


    Grediv shrugged. Ive told all I did. I gave her ess to no forbidden knowledge. I didnt even inform her about the Ways. That would have been a breach for any Archon, who wasnt her master. He gave T a subtle wink. The only contribution I im is doing my utmost to prevent her from killing herself or bing a lich.


    T cleared her throat. Ok. Im an Archon, now. Exin how I could have be a lich.


    Elnea gave Grediv an irritated look.


    I dont want to be one; I want to avoid it.


    Grediv grinned. The biggest danger of that passed, with your elevation to Archon. Mages, in general, are in danger of all sorts of horrors, mostly volitional, until their body is bound to their soul Elnea was giving him a <em>very</em> unkind re, so he tapered off. But you can read about those in the library, if you so wish. Or purchase the volumes yourself, but I imagine someone will be kind enough to gift you the basic texts. He gave her another, less subtle wink.


    T smiled in return. Grediv had, in fact, given her such a set, though most of the volumes were sealed against her, until she was of sufficient stature to warrant the information. <em>I wonder if Ill be able to read all of them, now, or just some?</em> She was excited to check, but it was hardly the time.


    Elnea cleared her throat. Certain information remains restricted by level of advancement.


    T sighed. Do I, at least, get to know how I am supposed to advance?


    Of course.


    T blinked at that, surprised. Really?


    Absolutely. Moving from being a Bound to a Fused is a simple matter of fusing your body and soul together, inseparably. To be clear, you are not making them one; that is impossible as they are now.


    <em>Thats not foreshadowing or anything. </em>Ok, that exins the name. How do I do that?


    Elnea smiled broadly. <em>That</em> you must learn for yourself.


    T returned a t look. <em>Seriously, woman?</em>


    Grediv interjected. You, Mistress T, have a leg up on most new Bound. What youve aplished with- Elnea was ring at him once more, so he seemed to change what hed been about to say, -your items, proves youve some insight.


    <em>My items, eh?</em> She contemted that, ncing down at herself. Then, she started to smile. <em>Right! I fused my elk-leathers into a single item. Its probably something like that. </em>I see. Thank you, Master Grediv. She hesitated. Wait you never told me how one bes a lich?


    Elnea shook her head. Toote, it seems; your fellow new Archons are here.


    Rane and Lyn finally got close to her through the now milling and conversing crowd. This seemed to be as much a social event for Archons as for the raising of new members.


    T red at Elnea, but then something moving around the perimeter of the room caught her attention.


    <em>Are those trays of food?</em> It appeared that servants hade in while T was distracted, filling the threerge tables with a banquets worth of food.


    T! Lyn wrapped T in a fierce embrace. I knew youd be fine.


    Elnea gave them an odd look, likely from Lynsck of an honorific.


    Lyn. Or should I say Mistress Lyn Clerkson, Diamond Archon? Elnea looked back and forth between them, then shook her head in resigned exasperation.


    Lyn grinned. You could, but dont. Thats a mouthful.


    Tughed.


    Rane hung back, just a bit, until T turned towards him. At that point, he smiled, and gave a bow and extended his hand. Congrattions, Mistress T. <em>Something looks different about him</em>


    T reached towards him, taking his offered hand. Thank you, and congrattions to you, too, Master Rane Gredial, Sapphire Archon.


    He rolled his eyes. None of that, Mistress.


    <em>Its his scars. His scars are faded, somehow. </em>She decided not to point it out, for now. It wasnt a huge change, but it was noticeable. She put on a mock serious tone. As you wish, Master.


    Lyn snorted augh. Come on! This banquet is for all of us. Apparently, they didnt want to bring out all this food for any one of us, alone.


    T nced towards Elnea and Grediv, but they seemed to be having a heated argument, though T couldnt hear even a flicker of sound from it. From the brief glimpses T had gotten of the womans power and spell-lines, Elnea was a Material Guide, specializing in sound. <em>Rare specialty.</em> That didnt exin the mental image of T, which had been projected, but T supposed every Mage did have their secrets.


    She shrugged, returning her attention to herpanions. Food sounds great. She hesitated then, turning back to fully face Lyn. I am so, so sorry about the finger, Lyn. I was going to exin, but other things kepting up, then Master Rane said we couldnt talk about our star formation. She gave a pained smile. I had to get it out and cutting off the fingertip was the only thing I could think to do.


    The woman gave her a long look, then sighed. That does exin it. Lyn nodded once. Youre still buying me a new rug, though.


    I suppose thats fair Her nose caught a whiff of the dishes nowid out around the room. Now, lets get to the food. Im <em>starving.</em>


    The other two grinned jovially, clearly not surprised by the revtion.


    As they moved towards the food, many gave them hearty congrattions. Though, all tallied, many more intercepted the other two, individually, than T, herself.


    For T, some asked if shed be interested in coborations, or in other opportunities; all of those, she gave nomittal answers, which amounted to: Too much going on right now. Reach outter, please?


    Everyone seemed to take that well, even seeming to have expected something of the sort.


    She didnt listen closely enough to know exactly what was said to the other two, but from context, and what she did catch, it all seemed to be in the same vein.


    When T finally broke through the crowd, she gaped at the sheer quantity and variety of food. <em>And everything is finger or bite sized.</em>


    One whole table, the one theyd reached first, was covered in little sandwiches. The type of bread varied, as did the fillings and addenda, which made the permutations staggering. <em>And there seemed to be hundreds of each, avable.</em>


    As a contrast to the ocean of food, the tes were barely bigger than her hand, spread wide. <em>What the g is this? </em>She took a small stack.


    As they filled theirughably small tes with food, Rane leaned over. I cant believe you were ready to fight off a room full of Archons.


    She quirked a smiled his way. Did you bow to theirmand? She was currently bncing one fully mounded te, while preparing the second for cargo.


    Well, no, but my protests were verbal.


    Lyn leaned around the big man. He demanded his master intervene. He said that he would be a fool to obey such amand.


    T hesitated. Ohthat idea never crossed my mind.


    Rane grinned, and Lyn rolled her eyes before remarking, Of course it didnt, T. You are a woman of action, however ill-advised.


    Yeah, yeah. They reached the end of the first table, T straining her dexterity to the limit with four fully loaded tes in each hand. Then, she beheld the central table.


    Instead of sitting on beds of ice, like those used to help keep the little sandwiches cool, these trays were heavy metal, over burners of some kind, clearly meant to keep this food hot. The first item avable looked like bacon, but much thicker and not fully crisped. The little sign near the sizzling tter said it was pork-belly.


    <em>Oh, I need some of you.</em> She was frowning down at the food, including the tes in her hands, then smiled. <em>Right!</em> With deft movements, she set her tes down, opened Kit wide, and lowered the full dishes into the pouch, one after another. There. Just as quickly, she overfilled another te with the pork-belly and slipped it into Kit as well. She looked up to see Lyn and Rane giving her odd looks. What?


    Lyn looked at the pouch, then back up at T. Wont that get everything greasy in there, and covered in crumbs and sauce?


    Rane took a more direct approach, Isnt it a bit rude to pack out food?


    T shook her head. No, Kit manages the separation of items perfectly, and no, it isnt rude. This food is for <em>us</em>. Im not going to say No to that. Besides, Ill still probably eat most of it, here. I just dont want to have to take dozens of trips to the serving table. <em>That</em> would be rude. She thought for a moment. Hmm how long will this go on?


    It was Rane who responded. You just want to know how long youll have ess to this food.


    T opened her mouth to object, then stopped. Yeah, thats true. So?


    Rane sighed. Likely a couple hours. I think theres some sort of closingsomething to wrap up the event, after socializing.


    She nodded, smiling towards the two other new Archons. Alright then. It would be a shame if we didnt get all we could out of <em>our</em> banquet.


    Rane and Lyn looked at each other, then shrugged. Lyn gave a littleugh, and Rane snorted a chuckle. Sounds fair. Thus, the three began to work over the tables in earnest, piling tes high with food before passing them to T and, through her, to Kit.


    Every so often, one or more of them had to pause their great work to talk to Archons who approached; they were the guests of honor, after all. Even so, it didnt really take from their newfound mission.


    Lyn grinned with what seemed to be barely contained glee the first time she saw a servant refresh one of the tters of food. The supply might just be functionally infinite.


    No one noticed, seemed to mind, or cared enough to say anything.


    As it turned out, Rane had been correct, and the festivitiessted for two hours, or as close as T could reckon.


    T was not a social person, and in the end, the food, as plentiful and free as it was, was not worth enduring more socializing.


    After only half an hour, T had tried to slip out for the first time, but each time shed tried, there were suddenly a lot more people interested in talking with her, and in truth, she was still not quite desperate enough to be as rude as would have been required to break free.


    Thus, she inevitably drifted back to the food. <em>At least theres coffee.</em>


    Shed filled both her coffee jugs, immediately, and was nursing a tankard of the stuff. The tankard had been taken from the side-table where kegs of beer and ale were tapped.


    The attendant in charge of coffee now visibly twitched whenever T walked by, and if T was being honest, she moved through that part of the room more often than strictly necessary.


    <em>Maturity is a process, not a destination, after all.</em>


    Near the beginning of the time, Master Himmal had approached T for a quick conversation.


    Congrattions, Mistress T. I am so d that we of the Wainwrights Guild get to work so closely with you.


    T smiled, bowing to the much older looking man. <em>And hes probably much older than he appears, too.</em> Thank you, Master Himmal, and thank you for your support and encouragement.


    He waved her off, with a smile. Think nothing of it. I did want to let you know that weve finished modifying the main wagon for your increased weight, not that I understand the purpose of that. There should be no issue with you riding on the roof or sleeping within your portion of the designated cargo-slot.


    Thank you, I appreciate that. She hesitated. You know, theres something that Ive been meaning to ask, but keep forgetting.


    Oh?


    Why not simply give the wagons a higher power storage capacity, so that you only needed dimensional mages at the start of each journey?


    He thought for a moment, then nodded. What do you know of the Arcane Chaos Theory?


    I would say that I know nothing but the name.


    He smiled at that. That makes sense. Few outside of the unified Constructionist Guilds need to know of it. The underpinning is this: The more power contained in a reservoir, the less stable it is. This is actually the basis on which we know that a Mages power, drawn through their gate, is not finite.


    Really? Did anyone ever believe that?


    Oh, yes. It used to be a popr theory that we each only had so much power. So, if you drew more deeply, you were shortening your own life.


    But thats nonsense.


    He shrugged. Ill make no y at justifying the debunked theories of our ancestors. But it applies here, too. If we were to double the power capacity of the cargo-slots, we would get at most another hour out of the spell-form. Triple? Maybe another half-hour beyond that.


    So, why arent bigger cargo-slots out of power much faster?


    He smiled. Ahh, that is an excellent question. Simple: Magic, applied, only dissipates as its used, and the reservoirs rate of decay is directly corrted with the spell it is meant to supply.


    She blinked, and shook her head, trying to process that. Wait, so if Im understanding correctly, then no spell-form couldst longer than a day or so.


    Without an external source of power, yes. He shrugged. It is a fundamental truth behind magic. Any item that doesnt need such regr influx is simply getting its power in some other way. As an example: harvests, used as a power source, are not reservoirs and dont suffer from this limit as a result. Well, they dont suffer in the same way.


    T opened her mouth, but Master Himmal held up a hand.


    We are delving at a very surface level into deep theory, and if we continue, I fear I will need to dominate your entire afternoon, and still, well have barely begun. If you wish to learn more about crafting theory, I am happy to take the time, but not here, not now. He smiled.


    T hesitantly nodded, then smiled. Thank you. I just might take you up on that.


    I hope that you do. He patted her shoulder, the one opposite where Terry rested. Ill not take more of your time, but it was a pleasure to see you, Mistress.


    And you, Master Himmal.


    As he turned to go, he hesitated, leaning back towards her and speaking in a conspiratorial whisper. You know, if you ask one of the staff members, theyll make up carry-out containers of any food youd like to request.


    Ts eyes widened, but Master Himmal left, before she could respond, a small smile obvious on his face. <em>Thats genius!</em>


    She immediately sought out staff members. First, she asked what would be done with the leftover food, when the event ended, and she was horrified to learn that it would most likely be thrown out. <em>Madness, utter madness!</em>


    She put an end to that immediately, requesting that they pack it all up for her to take. The poor young woman that shed osted didnt really know how to process the request, but after theyd found a more senior staff member, T was assured that no edible food would be thrown away. <em>It rusting better not be.</em>


    Lyn and Rane worked the room much more readily than she did. As much as their initial enthusiasm for raiding the food table had delighted T, shed known it wouldntst, not in the face of so many people focusing in on the three of them.


    In Lyns case, T had expected theworking, d-handing, and jovial rtionship building. <em>She is basically a recruiter and face for the Caravanners, after all.</em>


    Ranes acumen, however, was startling. True, most of the positive interactions that T witnessed from afar seemed to stem from him almost visibly restraining himself from speaking, but it still seemed unexpectedly sessful. Several of the Archons who came up to him were younger looking women. <em>All gorgeous, of course. </em>If his blushing countenance was any indication, they seemed to be asking him to break his wordor something, T had no idea, and they never seemed to talk to Rane, while she was within earshot. Even so, the interactions never seemed to go anywhere.


    As she thought about the afternoon in general, she realized that Rane, in his words, was often simr to her in her actions. The restraint he was demonstrating bore contemtion. <em>Maybe, I could be a little less rash in my actions?</em>


    She thought about it for a full thirty seconds. <em>Nah. Ill get good progress, or Ill die.</em> Still, she would continue to avoid things she knew, for a fact, were deadly. <em>At least those that would be deadly to me.</em>


    <em></em>Even so, she knew that she would try to contemte her actions and their repercussions more deeply. <em>At least more than I have, previously.</em>


    <em></em>If she kept that up, every day, she just might make significant improvement. <em>One can hope.</em>


    She startled her current oster by pulling a fully loaded te out of her belt pouch and beginning to eat. <em>Im running low.</em>


    So as I was saying, if youd be willing to allow a detailed examination of your blood, along with one of your Archon stars


    The conversations, well-wishes, and opportunities were decidedly blurring together.


    Congrattions!


    I cant believe you drew a soul-bound weapon. Fantastic!


    Once your current contracts run out, wed love to have you


    Your talents are wasted with the Caravanners Guild. Let me buy out your indenture. Youd be much better served


    Yourpanion is unlike any terror bird Ivee across. Would you be willing to...


    T was not interested in joining someone elses research, nor subjecting herself or Terry to such. She was happy with her current contract and the terms. The work would be lucrative and leave time for her to pursue her own projects on the trips, even if the role as Mage Protector would take more effort than shed put forward, before. <em>Plus, Ive seen three cities and the Academy. I want to see the others, and my work in the caravans will allow that.</em>


    After almost two hours, she was about to bolt for it, rust manners, when Holly found her.


    Blood Archon, eh?


    T turned at the familiar voice and smiled. Yes, Mistress Holly. I hope I still managed to surprise you, despite your earlier exposure to my form of Archon star.


    Holly gave a nod and smiled. Decidedly. I do almost wish I could have seen you continue to resist the entirety of the council, attending here. She sighed, dejectedly. It would have been a wonderful look into what those inscriptions are truly capable of.


    T cleared her throat. Well, I, for one, am d that you arent all inhuman monsters, bent on subjugating anyone of potential power.


    Holly hesitated, then shrugged. Fair enough.


    T rolled her eyes but huffed augh. Thank you, again.


    Hmm?


    You have elevated my inscriptions to a level that I feel reasonably in my element here, among so many magical power-houses.


    Holly snorted. Dear, aside from the two Head Archons, most of us are weaker members of the local council. Those of real weight dont concern themselves with new Archons. She leaned in, whispering conspiratorially. And, if were being honest, the really powerful ones dont have interest in dealing with the others, at all, so the Heads arent the best, either.


    Ouch, but I suppose thats fair.


    Holly patted her arm. Youll get there, dear. Just keep from killing yourself, and youll do fine. She turned, her mind clearly already elsewhere. Now, where did I see those raspberry mousse cups?


    <em> Wait, theres dessert, too?</em> How had she missed the presence of a dessert table? That was uneptable. <em>Im getting distracted by unimportant things.</em>

 Chapter 92: The Crux of The Matter at Hand

    Chapter 92: The Crux of The Matter at Hand


    T was again trying to decide how to depart from the increasingly straining event, when Elnea drew the focus back to herself. Attention! We all have things to be about, so we will now perform the final steps of the elevation. She motioned to the three new Archons, drawing them to her from where theyd dispersed through the room.


    T had just finished adding desserts to her food reserves, in preparation for departure. Thus, she came from a side table, tucked in one corner.


    Lyn had been discussing the choice of diamond as a medium with several other Diamond Archons in another corner.


    Rane had been receiving some pointed words from his former master, though T didnt know what about. <em>Why do all the interesting conversations happen outside of my hearing?</em> It could be that they werent actually that interesting, and the myth that she made of them in her mind vastly outstripped reality, but she doubted it.


    The three smiled to each other before taking their ces, standing before Elnea, and the Archon motioned three assistants forward. This officially confirms your elevation and your Bound nature. Once you confirm, your records within the archives will be altered to reflect your rank.


    They each pricked their chosen finger and confirmed the document as presented. T and Lyn read it first. Thankfully, it was short. Rane simply shrugged and confirmed the te. <em>Some people like to live dangerously, I guess.</em>


    Once all three stone devices had briefly colored green, Elnea continued. In your time as Mages, you have had many teachers, and you will have many more. At this time, it is my honor to be one of them, if only for a simple thing.


    The three nced at each other briefly before returning their eyes to the Archon before them.


    <em>Well then, time to learn something new.</em> T couldnt help but grin.


    Now, you each have an aura, which amounts to your soul attempting to influence the world around you. At your current strength, it will be mildly ufortable to non-mages, but as you advance, it will be damaging, and eventually lethal. Because of this, it is forbidden to have an unrestrained aura in public.


    An Archon in a back corner decided to add his opinion, And its rusting rude!


    Elnea quirked a smile. It is somewhat like neglecting hygiene, in how it impacts those around you, yes. Though <em>that</em> is hardly ever lethal. A few Archons chuckled. Then, her smile faded, her tone bing serious once more. The aura is the result of your body now being, in effect, a soul-bound item. Your gate is now <em>yours </em>and yours alone, bound almost unbreakably to your soul.


    That surprised T. <em>Isnt all powering through my gate mine? Waitarent my gate and my soul the same thing? </em>But no silent pause was given for question orment.


    You no longer naturally project excess magic outward as untainted power, to disperse into the air. All magicing from you is now <em>yours</em>. That is the nature of an aura.


    <em>Wait, you said it was our soul attempting to affect the world around us. Now, its excess magic? </em>T focused inward, and saw that, true to Elneas words, her excess power was now diffusing out from her in a way that looked reminiscent of a teabag in hot water. <em>Huh</em> She focused, turning the power back at her skin. Her aura was still there, but only barely visible to her incredibly sensitive mage-sight. <em>So, my soul is still trying to extend, but the power is a medium for greater effect? </em>That seemed to fit.


    Her efforts to restrain her power were effective; she was an Immaterial Guide, after all. Thus, she immediately had a feeling of building pressure. Her body was already at capacity, and she was preventing the outflow.


    She grimaced, and Elnea stopped mid-sentence. Shed been saying something else, but T had stopped paying attention.


    Elnea sighed, and her inclusion of Ts name in her next statement caused it to register. Or, as Mistress T is currently demonstrating, you could simply force the power to remain within your body, over and above the normal levels. That will not, actually, restrain your aura effectively, however. Nor is it precisely safe.


    There was a wave of power through the room as most present activated their mage-sight. T was only able to easily detect it because so many activated their inscriptions at once, though no individual spell-form was discernible.


    T was focused elsewhere, however. <em>My aura seems pretty restrained to me, Archon.</em>


    <em></em>That said, the contained power couldnt be static. She could not allow her reserves to be the cid reservoir they had been up until now. <em>But what do I do with it? </em>That was aughably simple question. She shunted the entirety of the excess into her items, in turn, and finally to Flow. <em>Huh, Kit is much lower on power than Id have expected.</em> It had been straining to amodate the food shed been shoveling in. <em>It apparently takes quite a bit of power to reshape dimensionality within the pouch in order to amodate a few tes of food?</em> She absentmindedly patted Kit after the pouch was refilled.


    Kit did not respond.


    Her focus back on her internal power, there was a difference between what she was doing, and what she had been doing up until now. Mainly, she was preventing even the barest hints of power from leaving her form to go anywhere except her strictly maintained outlets. It was exhausting.


    Elnea shifted, straightening her robes irritably. Mistress T.


    T met her gaze, without really giving the woman her attention.


    If you insist on trying that, now, you should know: Power isnt water.


    T blinked at that, then frowned. <em>What?</em> True to the womans words, T had been visualizing her power as water. <em>The Academy ensures that every Mage sees it as such. What madness is she spouting?</em> A thousand features of water flickered through her mind, far fewer than a Material Mage would have considered, and that likely helped her narrow it down.


    She quirked a smile. <em>Didnt Rane mention a Way of Compression, or some such?</em><em>Water is ipressible.</em> Power isnt water. <em>I canpress my power. </em>Of course, she could. She knew that. <em>So, why have I neverpressed my reserve?</em> Hadnt she? Her power density was incredibly high. <em>The natural densitydensity isnt really the right word, though, is it? Holly was referring to my total amount of power, not howpact that power was, within me.</em> Rted, sure, but not the same.


    She had to be careful. She didnt want to increase her inflow, not at the moment. So, she bent her will, bearing down on her power, which she still kept trapped within herself,pressing it into a hollow sphere around her gate, in alignment with the cement of her keystone. The concentration around her gate, itself, remained the same, so as to not create a suction or a blockage.


    Instantly, the difficulty of keeping the power within her body dropped off, considerably. All the power was contained in that sphere, only flowing outwards as the keystone directed, following her spell-lines, instead of saturating them. <em>They are aqueducts in the desert now, instead of underwater pipelines.</em>


    To her surprise, the power didnt fight her in the least, at least not directly. <em>Like crumpling up a tablecloth.</em>


    That thought made her hitch, and instead of simplypressing it into shape, she <em>folded</em> her power,pressing it in carefully regtedyers.


    It wasnt hard, just like tossing a ball into the air wasnt hard.


    It was hard, because juggling was hard, and she was mentally juggling more magic than she could quickly quantify. She began to feel a building headache.


    T groaned. The whole process had taken less than ten seconds, and even newlyplete, it was already bing increasingly difficult to maintain. It was easier than simply holding the power in by leaps and bounds, but not easy by any means.


    Mutters rolled through the room. Grediv snorted in disgust before barking augh. One bit of advice, thats all she needed. She didnt even need a demonstration. I dont even see how your advice applied to her aura.


    Elnea shook her head. Look closer, Master Grediv. She is channeling her excess into her items, specifically the soul-bound weapon.


    T spoke as evenly as she could, despite her distraction and straining. Is that not correct?


    It is a crutch. For the few Archons who cannot master the true technique, we suggest soul-bonding an item for such a purpose, or we create an item that effectively soaks up their power, reducing their aura down to a harmless state. They are then required to bond with that, so as to make the patch permanent. She gave T a serious look. They never advance after that point.


    <em>That exins those with Archon marksthose here really are the lesser Archons</em> It was an incredibly uncharitable thought, and she threw it aside. T found herself frowning. My aura is still there, diminished, not restrained.


    Precisely. Elnea gave a slight smile. What you are doing is moving towards an advanced power-flow in the vein of Ways. They are too numerous to cover, and each is rtively easy to enact briefly, but hard to hold. However, they are not the intended topic I am discussing, here.


    T let out a relieved breath, her concentration on the internal technique breaking, her power reserves, and flow, returning to normal, though the excess was still mostly directed into Flow, now that her other items refilled.


    Elnea nodded. Now, as I was saying: Right now, the three of your souls are like toddlers, spinning around without a care to what their arms hit, what damage they can do. Pull yourselves in. Restrain your inner toddlers. A ripple ofughter moved through the room again, and T found herself smiling along with the levity.


    <em>Okhow?</em>


    Grediv cleared his throat. Like your knife, Mistress T. Master Rane, Mistress Lyn, observe her.


    <em>My knife?</em> T looked down at the weapon, feeling the connection, knowing it woulde as she called. <em>Ahh!</em> She <em>pulled</em> on her aura, not the knife. She lifted her arm and watched as, to her mage-sight, the red withdrew inward, fading entirely behind the power in her spell-lines.


    Before, shed been running circles around a tarp, frantically sweeping water back towards the middle. Now, she picked up the edges. <em>So, so much easier.</em> The effect was almost identical to her first attempt, but aplished with an absolutely trivial amount of effort.


    Lyn smiled briefly, and her aura shimmered, pulling inward just slightly, before it washed back out. She clutched her abdomen. Ow. She groaned. Oh, thatsthats like writing a thousand contracts, after a month away from work.


    T grinned. Turns out that your soul is a bit like a muscle.


    Lyn sighed. More training to do, I suppose. For some reason, she sounded resigned.


    <em>I must be misunderstanding.</em>


    Rane, for his part, had closed his eyes. His aura was moving inwards in slow, steady pulses. As a result, it was smaller every time he exhaled, having shrunk on each inhale.


    T checked her own aura, verifying it hadnt crept outward once again. It hadnt.


    She could hold this indefinitely. Her daily soul-work with Flow showed its value. <em>Just as Grediv said it would.</em>


    Still, she wasnt in the clear, yet. <em>Itll take a bit, before I can keep it contained in my sleep, too. </em>


    Even once I have this down, I could slip. No one is perfect. How can it be safe for us to be around other people?


    It isnt, not as you are.


    There was a long pause. When no further answer was forting, Ts eyes widened. So All of you, all of us, are walking disasters. One moment ofpse, and our aura can level a city block?


    Grediv helpfully interjected. Just the creatures within a certain radius. Buildings would be fine. After a moment, he shrugged. Would mainly hurt mundanes and non-arcane animals, and even then, you would need a fully realized, Paragon soul, before it would be instantly lethal to any but the weakest... His voice tapered off as he noticed the other Head Archon.


    Elnea, once again, was giving Grediv a supremely irritated look. Master Grediv, you are not Head Archon, here.


    Apologies, Mistress. He raised his hands, stepping a bit further back.


    Elnea tsked, turning back towards them. As you guessed, Mistress T, this is incredibly important. This is also one more reason we so closely guard the process for elevation to Archon, but it isnt as dire as you assume, she red towards Grediv, or as Master Grediv implies. Your aura, as we said, will cause difort, not injury. By the time that it is dangerous to others, the restraint will be second nature, and you will have to force your aura to expand outward, should that ever be desired. Elnea added one final point. It does get harder with advancement, but if that ever bes a problem, there are solutions.


    <em>The Archon marks. Most probably didnt fail and stop as Bound.</em> That made so much more sense.


    T frowned, remembering Holly. <em>Wait, I saw Hollys aura </em>Rane spoke before she could, however. Im sure Ive seen Archon auras before. I wasnt struck down, hurt, or made wildly ufortable.


    Lyn nodded. She often worked near Archons, herself.


    <em>Master Himmals aura is sometimes visible, and I never got any difort from him.</em>


    Elnea gave a weary smile. You can have a scent without your smell overpowering those around you. When they didnt respond in understanding, she sighed and exined. Withdrawing or weakening your aura to the point that it doesnt automatically affect those around you is much easier than eliminating it entirely. Some like to rx and let their aura free on asion, while keeping the harmful nature at bay. Others are unable to fully restrain it, to the same result. That is still often seen as rude or lesser, however, at least when others are around.


    T grunted. That made a sort of sense.


    Now, toplete the lesson. She gave them each a firm nce. Before you are Bound, your body is not you, not really. So, the power it used was not yours. The power you gave it, became your bodys power, again not yours. Your body was magic-bound to your soul, unable to receive power from anyone or anything else, but it wasnt <em>you.</em> Can you take power from one magic-bound item and give it to another?


    T had no idea, shed never tried, but Lyn shook her head.


    Why not?


    Lyn nodded, seeming to ponder. Because the power now belongs to that item, not to me. I cannot take it and give it to another.


    Precisely.


    Lyn smiled as she continued. So, all power that came from our gate, except that specifically directed into other bound items, flowed into our body, into three categories. First, the human body uses magic for basic functions; though very little naturally, the amount it uses increases as our power density increases. Second, our inscriptions; thats self-evident. Finally, our reserves, also known as our magic, or power, density. The power within our reserves wasnt really imed by our magic-bound body, but it wasnt clean either. Is that right?


    Elnea gave a proud smile. Exactly. Well-reasoned, Mistress Lyn. After a moments consideration, she nodded. It is best to consider your reserves, before the rank of Archon, as a rusty, cid tank. If you were careful, you could draw from it, without pulling tainted power; you have each likely empowered something using a bit from your reserves, but you couldnt drain it,pletely, to do a working outside of your physical body. Now, as Archons, you taint the entire tank. No power in your reservoir is unimed by your body, but that isnt an issue for empowering things bound to you anymore.


    Ts head was hurting, again. So its possible to pull from a magic-bound items reserves? If youre careful?


    Yes, but no.


    T waited.


    Elnea sighed. While you can, in theory, do as you ask, you do not actually have authority or sway over the power within, say, your dimensional storage. Were that item sapient, <em>it</em> could theoretically direct some of its reserves into other items, but they would more likely magic-bind to it, than to you, and would likely reject the power if you had already bonded them. She waved away Ts further questions. We are delving <em>deep</em> into empowerment theory, and have, once again, lost the thread.


    Rane made a triumphant sound, both because hed finally pulled his aura fully inside himself, and because he seemed to have realized something. So, our soul-bound body effectively gives our excess power to the air around us, binding that air to us in turn?


    Elnea hesitated, seemingly taken aback by the radical change in subject. That-


    Grediv cut across her. Yes,d. That is precisely right. Archons, when not using proper soul and aura control, effectively constantly magic-bind the air around themselves, making that air a reserve with no outlet, so it dissipates. Now, if done properly-


    Ts eyes widened at the implications, even as Elnea shot a peeved look towards Grediv, cutting across him. Yes, Master Grediv, but as you well know, that is not usually exined, until new Archons have mastered basic aura controlpletely.


    He shrugged. He guessed it. Im not going to lie to thed. Were you?


    Her re sharpened, but then faded, and she let out a tired sigh. I suppose not. She clicked her tongue, still clearly irritated. But, Master Grediv, you will be silent for the remainder of this portion of the proceedings, no matter how short that may be.


    T thought she caught the hints of power across the spell-lines on the womans left forearm, before a spell-form shed into existence, fully manifested around Grediv. <em>Sound istion. No sound can exit that field.</em>


    The Head Archon of Alefast gave a disgruntled re towards his Bandfast counterpart but didnt act to counter the magic.


    Now, we have gotten away from the crux of the matter at hand...again. Many of the surrounding Archons chuckled. Like anything else, you will need to practice the aura restraint technique, until you can perform it even in your sleep.


    <em>Just like the Ways</em> T realized that this was quite obviously aplement to the Ways shed learned of. <em>Another thing to practice, another way to improve. </em>She almost snickered to herself. <em>Hah, another Way to improve.</em> She was hrious.


    Many new Archons take a sabbatical, or otherwise go into seclusion, to master their aura. The quickest on record needed only a day, the longest: a month. No one has failed as a Bound in a <em>very</em> long time. Her smile held a motherly cast. You will find this is much easier to maintain than a Way, and you should find this meshes well with whatever Ways you choose to pursue, once you delve more deeply into those.


    T didnt know enough, or have enough experience, to tell the truth of that assurance, but she decided to ept it as it seemed. She still effortlessly maintained her aura contraction, her soul strong, steady, and used to her self-control.


    She nced around and noticed that the tables had been cleared, the room returned to its pre-celebration state. <em>Quick work.</em>


    A servant, looking clearly very nervous and a bit awkward, took the momentary pause as an opening, and approached.


    Elena gave the young man a quizzical look. He bowed to her. May I have a word with Mistress T?


    The Archons around the room seemed a bit surprised. Elnea, for her part, sighed. Very well. She nced to T. The servants must depart before we conclude.


    T nodded, turning a questioning look to the young man.


    Yes? <em>Get on with it</em> This was a bit embarrassing.


    The un-eaten, still edible food has been packed up for you.


    Elnea gave T a long-suffering look but, again, didntment. T turned back to the servant, after ncing at the Head Archon. Thank you. Is there anything else?


    The thing is The servant looked away, clearing his throat and reddening slightly.


    T cocked her head, frowning. Yes?


    He refused to meet her eyes, and his response was barely more than a whisper. We are missing quite a few tes.


    <em>Missing tes?...</em> Ts eyes widened in realization. <em>Ohoh g.</em>

 Chapter 93: In Ancient Times

    Chapter 93: In Ancient Times


    T stared at the servant for a long moment. Oh, g. <em>The tes Right</em> She looked down at her pouch. Kit, if you would? She reached in and immediately felt a few stacks of tes. <em>wow. Thats way more than I expected.</em> She smiled, attempting to hide her embarrassment. My apologies.


    T did <em>not </em>look at the watching Archons.


    Instead, she walked over to the closest table and pulled out a stack of around twenty tes, setting them on the table. She heard a few mutters and some chuckles. She stuck her hand back in.


    <em>Yup.</em> She came out with another stack, then another after that, and a fourththen a fifth. Then, a sixth.


    The servant looked on with widening eyes. He reached out and took the top te from one of the stacks.


    Itsclean?


    Did you expect me to give you some of the food back?


    Grediv casually flicked outward with his right, pinkie finger, and the sound istion around him vanished.


    Elnea gave him an irritable look but didntment. She walked over to T since the younger Mage hadnt returned immediately. The Head Archon was frowning. Are you quite done? Then, she saw what the servant had. Did your dimensional storage clean and stack those tes?


    T shrugged. Seems so. She stuck her hand back in, and drew out a final stack, only about twelve tes this time. That should be all of it.


    A couple other servants came over, bringing several tall stacks of boxes made of a thin, fast-growing wood. <em>Not meant for heavy use?</em> That was an interesting concept. Had she seen other establishments giving out one-use containers? <em>Maybe</em> She hadnt really paid attention as she never really had leftovers.


    Several of those watching barkedughs, others rolled their eyes, and the murmur of side conversations grew.


    T, ignoring the reactions of the Archons, lowered the stacks into Kit, one by one. Each was held together with loops of heavy twine, tied tight. Thank you. And I apologize about the tes. I really didnt even consider them, and I should have.


    The servant who had initially approached her bowed, smiling. Think nothing of it, Mistress. Mistakes happen.


    <em>What a politic answer I wonder if they really think I was trying to steal more than a hundred little tes</em> It probably didnt matter.


    Elnea cleared her throat. No, Mistress T. I need an answer. Did you stack those tes yourself? She was frowning. No, that makes no sense. Why would you clean and stack the tes, then put them back in your pouch?


    T shrugged, patting Kit. <em>Wait</em> She looked down at the pouch. <em>Its really low on power, again. </em>Huh. She stuck a finger into the bag and directed a couple of void-channels to dump power into Kit. There you go, Kit.


    The pouch did not respond.


    Elneas eyes widened, and she whispered harshly, You are speaking to it? You have a <em>sapient</em> dimensional storage?


    No? T looked up at the woman, the servants having already taken their tes and departed.


    Mistress T, Dimensional storage items control the space within them, and they are <em>loath</em> to use more power than necessary. She tsked. But thats anthropomorphizing them, too much. I can see that that is clearly an artifact, not inscribed, but I cant see any magic around it, save through the top I must know: Is that item containing its own aura, or are you somehow doing that?


    T hesitated. <em>Oh! Thats how someone else would make a magic item look mundane. Soul-bind it, then restrain the aura.</em> Even so, there seemed to be some hidden question behind what the Archon was asking, or something she missed. That in mind, she decided the truth was best. I have treated the outside to protect it from hostile magic and help contain its power. I also do my utmost to empower it whenever its not as full as it can be.


    Elnea examined her critically for a moment, then grunted. Tension T hadnt noticed building around the other woman vanished in an instant. Well, at least you believe what you are saying. She sighed. Did no one teach you how to keep magic-bound items? She waved away her own question, as soon as it was uttered. Of course not, Master Grediv informed me of your unique situation, and that is decidedly something the Academy leaves to masters to teach their magelings. She sighed.


    T shrugged. I got the basics. Artifacts, specifically, need empowerment only when outside high magic zones. Seemed dumb to me. If its hungry, feed it. Right?


    Feed you just give it power, right? Some of the tension had returned.


    T thought about it. Well, I am storing a She cleared her throat. <em>She doesnt need specifics.</em> A lot of food in there. I cant swear it hasnt consumed some, but why? What am I missing?


    Rane, Lyn, and Grediv hade over to join them, silently listening. The other Archons werergely distracted by each other, though some of the closest did seem to be attempting to listen, and thest of the servants were well and truly gone.


    Elnea shook her head. So long as you arent feeding it life blood, orother simr things, it should be fine.


    T swallowed involuntarily. <em>Like a newly dead Mage?</em> Well, Kit hadnt eaten him, but still


    Elnea seemed to be contemting. Youve somehow convinced the natural flows and patterns in that pouch that it will never run out of power, so it uses its reserves with near impunity.


    Grediv cleared his throat. Mistress Ts many oddities aside, however fascinating and enlightening, there is still something that <em>must</em> be conveyed. Yes?


    Elnea nodded distractedly. Yes, yes She met Ts gaze. But first, Mistress T, I would ask a personal favor of you.


    Oh?


    When you soul-bond that storage item, would you please allow me to witness the bonding?


    T hesitated. <em>That seems a bit intrusive.</em>


    Ive made a study of artifacts, and Ive not seen one act <em>exactly</em> like that one does.


    She shrugged again. I suppose.


    Elnea gave T ast, lingering look, then turned and strode away. Very well. She led them to the center of the room once again, then pped her hands, gathering the attention of the Archons. She stood for a moment in solemn silence. While today is a day for celebration, as we wee three new members to our fight,


    <em>Wait what?</em>


    She continued, clearly uncaring of Ts surprise, it is also a time for remembrance and for enlightenment.


    T looked to Lyn and Rane. Lyn looked equally confused. Rane was clearly unsurprised. <em>Grediv did seem to tell him far more than most Mages get to know.</em>


    In ancient times, humans were the least among the civilized races. Our bodies were frail, and we couldnt draw in ambient magic nearly as well as those whom we lived among.


    T opened her mouth to interject, but Elnea gave her a level, silencing look, then simply continued.


    At best, we were savages, worshipping and sacrificing to trees for scraps of power. At worst, we were meat animals or menial ves, only useful for the tasks beneath even our masters use of magic.


    Every Archon around them lowered their heads at the reflected shame of that earlier time. Then, as if following a script, they all looked up as Elnea continued.


    Then, came a time when natural magic began to fade, and we saw our chance. One young man, whose name is lost to antiquity, broke his own soul in twain. While still loosely connected, the part only weakly tethered to reality, to his body, began to generate power, pulling it from the world beyond. He was the first of a new humanity.


    T nced to Grediv. <em>So, breaking my soul wouldnt have been so bad?</em> She doubted that was the intended lesson from the story.


    Sadly, the breaking of his soul also broke his mind, and while he lived on, he never used his gift. His children, however, born after the great sacrifice, had the gift without the madness. They had the potential to be the first Mages.


    There it was. So, no soul breaking. <em>Assuming its true</em> No.


    But the other races, those of more power than we, even still, saw the gift to humanity as something to be taken. They twisted those born with a gate, taking the weakest willed and severing thempletely from their bodies. Thus, creating fountains of power, stopping the lessening of magic in the world, and even reversing the trend, eventually.


    Ts eyes widened. <em>The fountain of power I found in the wilds that used to be a person?</em><em>I was right? </em>She immediately thought of her lessons. Modern Keystones were designed specifically to help prevent Mages from turning their entire being into an open gate. If they did such, they would utterly obliterate themselves and leave behind a hurricane of power without end. <em>A fountain of power.</em>


    For generations, we were bred for our Gates, used as cattle, trained towards the singr purpose of our eternal souls rebncing the worlds magic.


    There was a moment of silence.


    Then, the first of our great heroes stood up and said, No.  She straightened, smiling. Akmaneous, Krator, and Synathia discovered spell-lines, though we would hardly call them that, were we to see them, today. They broke their fellows free and died to give our ancestors time to escape.


    T remembered those names, parts of those stories. Primordial human power, and those with the strength of character to sacrifice themselves for the good of all. They had died from magic-poisoning, imparted by their imperfect power. <em>So, there are pieces that can be shared with mundanes.</em>


    We fled into the south, where the lower levels of power meant our pursuers were weakened, but we were hunted nheless. For generations further, we hid among the tribes of non-gated humans, among the tree worshippers of this region, biding our time. Many of us were found, but never all.


    A moment of solemnity passed, once more.


    Finally, the first builder, Adraman, forged the first city. It drew deeply on the surrounding power, making the region anathema to other races, to those who must draw from their environment for power.


    <em>Like artifacts. The other races function like artifacts?</em>


    And there, modern humanity truly begins. Our scripts are not eternal, and the world itself rebels, increasing power in the regions we try to deprive. Arcanes can strike at us, relying on stored power for short raids, but they must always retreat, and no Arcane can enter our cities. Our defenses are impervious to them. She smiled with pride at that. Even so, any but the most capable, strong-willed Mage is destined to be a fount, should they attempt to rise. We are still under threat from our ancient chains.


    Ts eyes widened at that, and Elnea gave her aforting smile.


    Yes, that is what you fought against. Ancient magics, ancient chains, set within our ancestors flesh and passed down through the ages, designed to take control of us, to trick us with false promises of power. If a Mage falls, they are led into the Wilds, their soul enved. That is why we no longer ce our mediums into our flesh in order to build Archon stars within ourselves. We must be fully capable, fully ready when the Bond is forged, that we may lock our soul and body together, rather than freeing our gate from our flesh and enving our body to deliver it to our oppressors.


    T couldnt contain herself any longer. And you didnt feel that merited telling us? Why not tell every Mage? Every person?


    You could not be told. For any information that came from outside of you would be tainted by doubt. You had to feel it yourself, to know for yourself, in order to ovee.


    <em>Just like Ive always pushed back against the restrictions put on me. </em>It still felt like a foolish reason. And if I had failed?


    We would have escorted you beyond the walls and wept at the falling of one so young.


    That is rusting idiotic.


    Oh? And how did you know the spell-form? She gestured around her. How do so many of the most promising know it, without being taught? Something deep within us fights against being taught the form, because part of our nature <em>knows</em> the danger. Even still, those best suited to bing springs of power <em>know</em> the form in the end. They discover it by ident, or research, or luck. They are at once the most in danger, and the most suited to ovee that peril. Some few more are able to ovee, and are in less danger, so their masters guide them to the form, despite objections. They have the clearest pathway to power, and humanity needs all the power we can gather. I was one such, as were Mistress Lyn and Master Rane.


    T didnt know how to feel about that. <em>Does that mean Im more powerful? Or that I have more potential? Or that I was suspected to be easier to subvert? Easier to sway and control?</em> She didnt like the seemingly obvious answer.


    There is not enough time in a year to go through the intricacies of it, but know this: Most Mages would fall, were they to attempt an Archon Bond, and every Mage attempts it, if and when they fully learn the form.


    Lyn was nodding, and T turned to her, questioningly. Lyn smiled. As soon as I actually read the notes my master gave me, I felt <empelled</em> to attempt it. I cant exin it, really. At the time, I just thought I wanted to get it over and done with. But in truth, it was like She shook her head. No. No other drive, or urge, Ive ever experienced was so strong. She met Ts gaze. I could not have resisted, once I knew how to do it. She let out a smallugh. Even after I made the star, I wanted to swallow it. It was the silliest thing; I knew it was a gem, and I shouldnt, but I <em>wanted</em> to. And the urge to do so grew with every passing hour.


    Elnea cleared her throat. Mistress T. I am aware that your circumstances were more unusual, and I, or another, would be happy to discuss that with you, at ater time.


    T gave a half bow. Thank you, Mistress Elnea. I have only one further question, if I may.


    Elnea sighed but nodded. Go ahead.


    T turned towards Holly with a fierce re. Mistress Holly. Knowing this, how <em>dare</em> you encourage her to read those notes? You were putting her life on the line, for what?


    All eyes shifted to Holly, but the woman seemed utterly unaffected by the attention. It is always a gamble, and a magelings master is always the best person to make the call. Hers gave her the notes, clearly determining that Mistress Lyn was one who should learn and should be able to weather the difficulty. I had no reason to disagree, so I pushed her to honor her masters choice. Evidence suggests that we were both right to do so. It was much better than the alternatives, as her mind and will are stronger now than they might have beenter.


    T did <em>not</em> like the answer, but it was at least reasonable. She frowned. <em>But most magelings arent under Archons</em>


    Elnea cleared her throat. But the danger <em>is</em> real. As Archons, you are now privy to so much more, but not everything. You may not share this with non-Archons. You must guide any who discover the form towards the local counsel for aid.


    T couldnt help herself. But what about magelings who arent under Archons?


    Elnea sighed. Most magelings arent under Archons.


    Exactly, that makes no sense. How can a Mage determine if their mageling is ready for something they cannot know about?


    Grediv cleared his throat. Did you read that book I gave you? A Mages Guide to Their First Mageling: Basics Every Mageling Should be Taught?


    She frowned. Ive skimmed it.


    He snorted. Of course, you did. He shook his head slightly. Some of those tests and tidbits direct the Mage to seek an Archon under various circumstances. He shrugged. That takes care of the lions share.


    That made a sort of sense. She had skipped the regr system, so it was incredibly alien to her. Fair enough, I suppose.


    Elnea cleared her throat, bringing Ts attention back to her. Now, that out of the way. You need to know: You are much less useful to any invading arcane. Many of them could still sever the bond you just forged, and use you regardless, but not all. Once youre fully Fused, doing so will just kill you and send your soul to the great beyond, so they dont even try. That said, if they sense you, they <em>will</em> try to eliminate you, and that is just one more reason to work on your aura shroud.


    Elnea took a deep breath, while the three new Archons processed the flood of new information.


    She smiled. Now, Master Grediv has requested the honor of apanying us, as I show you to our local Archons Library. Elnea gave a sharp look to the Archon, who was hovering just to one side. While I am tempted to decline, now, I think it wisest to allow such. Ourpanions, the other Archons, will bid you farewell, here.


    T, Lyn, and Rane looked around, smiling uncertainly. By her fellows expressions, they were clearly burdened by much of what they had learned, but also tentatively excited, likely for the good their elevation could bring.


    Elnea straightened, her voice ringing out once more. For the new Archons!


    A single unified shout of praise sounded back.


    Go in strength.


    The other Archons did just that, each giving some form of wave or small bow as they departed, en masse.


    T watched them go, allowing her mage-sight to attempt to examine each of them. While she couldnt see any of their auras, she did realize one critical thing. <em>Most of them have no power visible at all.</em>


    As she thought about it, she realized that if holding back her auras power was easy, and hiding it entirely was harder still, then hiding her aurapletely, while allowing all other signs of her power to be visible, would be <em>incredibly</em> tricky.


    <em>Thats what Holly is doing, along with several others. </em>A few Archons, scattered through the crowd, looked exactly like any other Mage that T had ever seen.


    <em>My iron salve made me resemble an inexperienced Archon to those who knew what to look for with their mage-sight.</em> Well, except her eyes and palms.


    She didnt know how to feel about that. She wanted to be the best she could be, but she also knew that, regardless, her iron salve would render her looking like the less skilled Archons. She frowned at that. <em>No, Master Grediv hid himselfpletely from my mage-sight.</em>


    She was left confused. <em>Elnea did say that the stronger you are and the higher you climb up thedder, the harder your aura is to restrain at all</em> There was just too much that she didnt know.


    When the room had emptied of Archons, save the five who would be remaining, T nced towards Terry. <em>Oh!</em> Shed been so distracted that shed not fed Terry recently. Though, if the little flickers of dimensional power shed picked up from the avian through the banquet were any indication, Terry may have eaten more than even she had. Terry, you hungry?


    He opened one eye, giving her a condescending look.


    She snorted augh and flicked out a bit of jerky.


    Elnea frowned at that. Her mage-sight didnt seem to be active, so it had likely appeared to her as if T had just thrown a bit of meat under the table. Are you trying to teach him to fetch? Why would you teach that sort of trick to such an animal? She seemed genuinely confused.


    T opened her mouth to reply, but Grediv cleared his throat. As fascinating as that bird iswe should probably head towards the library.


    Elnea rolled her eyes, thest shreds of ceremony falling away. Very well. This way, please.


    They walked out through the seemingly indestructible door.


    <em>I bet I could break it with timeand without a room full of hostile Archons to contend with.</em>


    They left the not-yet-destroyed door behind them as they moved through the stark, empty passage, back to the entry hall.

 Chapter 94: That’s A Bit Embarrassing

    Chapter 94: That¡¯s A Bit Embarrassing


    T and the four other Archons came back out into the entry hall, and T waved at her coffee acquirer. <em>She really came through.</em> The attendant gave her a hesitant smile and wave. <em>I suppose I dampened her enthusiasm a bit.</em>


    Elnea led them down another passage. This one had a thick, deep-blue rug running the length. Paintings and tapestries hung evenly spaced down either side, most depicting some form of creature. They each seemed a bit embellished, as T thought she spotted a thunder bull that was depicted as wreathed in lightning.


    <em>Who knows, maybe if it had seen meing?</em>


    There were obviously magical beings sprinkled among the arcanous, if her guesses were right. She saw a midnight fox, and in thepany of the other images, it really sank in how minor that being really was. <em>And it still nearly killed me.</em>


    Creatures of legend looked down on them as they walked down the hall: Dragons, griffins, silver wolves, titans, and many more.


    T tried not to slow, but there was such artistry and detail that it was hard to keep up her pace.


    At the end of the wide hall, two heavy, ck, wooden doors stood open. They seemed to be bound in silver, with gold iy in the shape of spell-forms.


    <em>Not just in the shape of; those are spell-forms.</em> If her mage-sight was correct, when those doors were closed, an incredibly powerful barrier would be generated, just this side of the entryway. <em>Assuming its powered by something.</em> The magical shield made her think of Alefasts magical defenses, but on a much smaller scale. <em>Its likely connected to the citys power matrix, just like all the lights.</em>


    They took the protection of their library seriously, it seemed.


    When they passed through that entry, T found herself gawking, mouth open in unabashed awe.


    Thousands of tomes filled the floor to ceiling shelving. Ladders were regrly scattered around the ce, all on rails mounted to the shelves. The twenty-foot ceilings allowed for a <em>lot</em> of books per shelf.


    All the wood was the same ck as the doors, all the metal either bright silver or burnished gold.


    The space wasnt a rectangle. Instead, it seemed constructed like a hedge-maze to maximize wall-space for shelving and nooks for reading and research spaces.


    Attendants were moving through the space on silent, slippered feet, and T could see several people reading in the few nooks visible from the entrance.


    Elnea gestured. The Bandfast, Archon Library, otherwise known as the Arcanum. Any attendant will assist you in finding whatever you are seeking and ensure the works you peruse are returned to their proper ce afterwards. She gave them each a serious look. Bound are not permitted to remove any tome from the shelves. You <em>must</em> go through an attendant. Is that understood?


    Rane, Lyn, and T each gave some form of verbal assent.


    Good. She gave a half smile. In centuries past, we would simply inform new Archons of the library, but so few actually realized the extent of what was avable to them that we changed our policy.


    Grediv cleared his throat. You should be aware that Bandfast is known for having the most extensive physical library of the human cities. While its not the only source of these books, it is an incredibly convenient, central location. As an example of why, I can tell you that the Alefast Archon Council moved all but the most general texts here from our library, in preparation for Alefasts final waning.


    Rane was nodding, he leaned closer to Lyn and T. Bandfast is the current hub of Archon activity. That is one reason Master Grediv wished me to visit.


    Elnea had gestured, calling over four attendants. I suggest you be familiar with the process, even if you have no immediate subjects for research. One attendant approached each of the other Archons. I will leave you in their capable hands. Wee, Archons, to the Bandfast Arcanum. She gave a half bow and departed.


    T looked to Lyn and Rane; Grediv had already departed with his attendant. Meet at Lyns house, tonight?


    They each nodded in agreement and turned towards their individual attendants, separating and moving to ces with a bit better sound instion and privacy.


    T regarded the magically inert young woman who stood to one side, waiting for her. The young-looking woman wore a simple, clean, undyed linen Mages robe. Simple leather slippers peaked out from below the garment. Her auburn hair was held up in a simple bun. If she had spell-lines on her visible skin, they were hidden in some manner or blended too seamlessly with her already somewhat silver skin. <em>Is that natural?</em>


    Though she looked to be just younger than Lyn looked, T guessed that the woman was <em>much</em> older. <em>I really should stop thinking I can guess peoples ages</em>


    Youre an Archon.


    The woman quirked a smile. Yes, Mistress. How can I assist you, today?


    You could wipe me from existence. Why would you assist a new-raised Archon like me?


    She seemed to consider for a moment before her smile became mischievous. The truth?


    That would be nice.


    Im serving the books and knowledge by protecting them from you.


    T hesitated for a moment, then barked augh. She immediately covered her mouth in embarrassment but couldnt help but smile. After a moment, she lowered her hand. That, she grinned widely, that I can believe. Im T.


    A pleasure to meet you, Mistress T. I am Ingrit.


    Thank you for your honesty, Mistress Ingrit.


    I am a lover of knowledge. Lies aredistasteful. She scrunched her face exactly as if shed eaten something unpleasant.


    I couldnt agree more.


    Ingrit nced towards Terry. Shall yourpanion wait outside, or can he be trusted not to cause issue?


    T looked at Terry. You going to behave?


    Terry opened his mouth expectantly, and T rolled her eyes, tossing a bit of meat to one side.


    Ingrits eyes widened in horror and anger, but as her gaze followed the moving bit of meat, she froze. The jerky was gone. Her eyes narrowed. I didnt see any movement.


    T shrugged. Hes quick.


    Ingrit opened her mouth, probably to inquire further, but then she paused, shaking her head. No, we are not here to satisfy my curiosity at this time. How can we assist you, here and now? She seemed to keep a closer eye on Terry after that, though.


    What services does the Arcanum offer? I can see the books, but I suspect that there is more avable than simply an extensive reading collection.


    You are correct, Mistress. Ingrit turned and began walking. T followed so as to not be left behind. On the simple side, we offer assistance in researching any unrestricted topic, or outright answering such queries. We do not force our librarians to work on any project, but our interests are varied enough that it is rare for an Archon to wish to research something without at least one of us wanting to assist. More often than not, we have to figure out which of those who are interested will get the honor. Her eyes seemed to sparkle with unspoken mirth.


    <em>Ill bet you get any topic you want</em> That brought to mind a bit of a silly topic, but T thought she might as well ask. What do the cooks have in their chuckwagons?


    Ingrit regarded her for a long moment. Then, she sighed. Sadly, we are forbidden from investigating that. As part of the inter-Guild agreements, chuckwagons are invible, and if any Mage is ever allowed inside, as does happen asionally, they are not permitted to poke about.


    Inter-Guild agreements? She thought for a moment, then started to nod. Right, everything involves at least a couple of guilds. There would have to be ground rules and basic strictures.


    Ingrit simply nodded.


    <em>Is the Order of the Harvest so widespread that that is a portion of the negotiated secrecy?</em> That was pretty likely, if she considered it. <em>I might actually be able to learn, then</em>


    Ingrit gave T a searching look. You know something?


    I think so.


    Ingrit shook her head, a half-grimace curling one side of her lips. I wish I could ask, but as I am a node of the Archive, it would be a vition for me to allow you to tell me, even unprompted. She sighed. Such follies are sometimes the bedrock of civilization, unfortunately.


    <em>Indentures rusting terrible, alright.</em> Well, then. Techniques for the fusing of body and soul?


    That is forbidden material for one of your rank, though I can give you one hint, to add to the other youve received.


    Oh?


    First, new Archons should develop their internal mage-sight, in order to facilitate progression. Be aware that that is incredibly difficult, given external distractions.


    T kept her expression neutral. <em>My iron-salve has already helped me there, then.</em>


    Beyond that, the advice Master Grediv gave you should be enough for you to go on.


    T stopped walking. How do you know what advice I got?


    Ingrit gave her a puzzled smile, then nodded in understanding. You werent aware; all official events that take ce within the Archonpound are recorded and filed for transparency and as a record for future generations.


    T gave her a deeply skeptical look. You cannot possibly watch everything, and how do <em>you</em> know, specifically?


    Ingrit gave a wide smile, that same gleeful sparkle back in her almost emerald eyes. I am not abatant. My inscribings bring to my mind any potentially relevant information if that information is present in the Archive and not restricted based on my rank. The massive caloric intake of a new Archon could inform future Mages inscribings, depending on how you turn out.


    T cleared her throat, looking away. And theres permanent record of that?


    Ingrit nodded, still smiling.


    Thats a bit embarrassing. Then, T frowned. Wait. Does that mean I could learn what was discussed in each conversation in that room?


    The intention and use of such recordings are not permitted to vite personal privacy. Ingrit cocked an eyebrow, disapprovingly.


    T shrugged. Ahok. I suppose I appreciate use restrictions, but that still seems pretty creepy.


    Ingrit sighed. You dont have to be here, nor do you have to attend official events. You are wee to leave and never return, and nothing further will be recorded of your actions.


    T grunted. I suppose. She frowned. So if you were watching. How would I have done, had the Archons attacked me in earnest?


    Ingrit gave her a long look. Finally, she clicked her tongue. Nothing I have observed about you implies that you are an idiot.


    Is that supposed to be an answer?


    If a gathering of Archons had attempted to kill you, how long do you imagine you would have survived? Her eyes flicked to Terry, then back. Even with help?


    Not long?


    And your powers of deduction are verified. There was absolutely no desire to harm you or yourpanion, or to have either of you harm others. That, and that alone, allowed the oue as it stands.


    <em>Not really an overt answer, but I suppose it was a bit of a silly question</em>


    The two began walking, again. Now, aside from books, research materials, and research assistance, we offer many other services, including magically sealed rooms for experimentation. We can adjust the magical density in the air, or even change out a portion of the air for other materials, as requested.


    T grinned. Oh, thats fantastic. <em>How much do they spend to keep the inscriptions for all this intact?</em> She had a sudden thought, remembering an oft asked question, and her smile widened. Do you happen to know if an incorporator for coffee exists?


    Im afraid that what incorporators have or have not been perfected would be proprietary knowledge for the Constructionists Guild. I can contact a representative, if you so desire? Her inflection on thest framed it as a genuine offer.


    T sighed. <em>That would have been too easy.</em> No Its fine. She did a quick check and was happy to note that her aura was still restrained. <em>The trick is making it reflexive. Right now, Im still thinking about it. </em>She smiled. Well, if youve no objections, I have a few more questions.


    Of course. I will answer if I can.


    Why did the strength of my Archon star matter? Arent they just a touch point for my soul?


    Ingrit sighed. If you wish to tie down a bull, aspared to a dog, do you need a hitch of the same strength?


    No?


    Precisely. A weak Archon star is more like a tether; your soul is connected, but not inseparably. She gave T a long look. Yours was at full strength. So, your body and soul are now fully, almost irrevocably bound.


    So why couldnt I make it stronger?


    Two reasons: First, the spell-form cannot sustain more power. A free-form, inscription-less working, like an Archon star, utilizes the inherent properties of magic to remain stable, and too much power would have ovee the other features which allowed for permanency. As to others, whose stars were weaker than yours, she smiled, their first task as Archons will be to strengthen the bond, strengthen their souls attachment to their body, so that the two can then be fused. You just have to fuse.


    Which you wont tell me how to do.


    Which I cant tell you how to do.


    T grunted. Fair, I suppose. She looked up, considering. Is an unused Archon star a weakness? She was thinking of the two she had within Kit.


    I would say more a temptation than a weakness. If you have one, which you have yet to use, it is easy to bond something frivolously, without thought. Whereas, if you forge a star for a specific bond, that takes preparation, intent, and time to enact, allowing you to fully consider the act.


    But they cant be used to harm my soul?


    No.


    <em>Simple enough, I suppose.</em> Well can they be unmade?


    Ingrit thought for a moment, seemingly essing something within the archives. There is debate on that. The stars, themselves, can be destroyed. Nothing is invincible, but quite a few schrs postte that the part of your soul, which you extended and attached to the star, remains extended and is simply utilized for the next one you create, making that process easier. If you never make another? She shrugged. I have no record of such an urrence.


    Is there any benefit?


    To unmaking a star? No. You dont get the power back, and you cant bend that power to anything She thought for a long moment. No, that isnt true. If you unmake a star, the energy is released, but not attuned to you. It is not dangerous or damaging, but it will elevate the ambient magic in the area for a time. She quirked a smile. It is noted that I advise any asking this type of question to not unmake an Archon star within a city. Such would be inconvenient for power bnces within our local spell-forms.


    Noted. Thank you. <em>Speaking of spell-forms.</em> A broader question: How has humanity not run out of metals for inscriptions?


    I have two questions for you, first.


    Alright. T felt a bit taken aback.


    First, do you have any idea how much gold there is in this world, in Zeme?


    T shook her head.


    There is a lot. Some Her eyes unfocused for a moment, then her gaze returned to T. Some thirty thousand years ago, something destabilized our local systems closest asteroid belt and showered this world with meteors. Those in power at the time were able to mitigate the fall-out, as well as the initial damage, but the result was an <em>incredible</em> increase to the precious metal content of Zemes surface.


    There was a lot there that was beyond Ts knowledge.


    Please understand that I am summarizing and simplifying. No part of what I said is actually, explicitly, exactly true, but close enough to answer your question.


    So we havent run out because theres just so much? <em>That doesnt seem right.</em>


    Ahh, now for my second question. What happens to the metal in inscriptions, when it is used?


    T opened her mouth to say, Its gone. But then, she remembered.  Matter cannot be created or destroyed  That was a fundamental t of understanding, before magic was involved. <em>Right?</em>


    Ingrit grimaced. Well, it can, but youre heading towards the correct answer.


    <em>Well, obviously Material Mages can create and destroy </em>Itsgone?


    Its temporarily shifted, dimensionally, towards magical power. Ingrit paused for a moment, then tsked. I cannot give you a sufficient grounding in the theory needed to properly answer this part of the questionYouve encountered incorporators, correct?


    Of course.


    What do they do?


    They bend power into creating matter, temporarily.


    Exactly! She hesitated. Well, not exactly, but close enough. The use of inscriptions does the opposite to precious metals.


    It bends them into Ts eyes widened. Temporary power.


    More or less, yes. Then, they return to their base state.


    So after I cast, sometimeter, a bit of gold just seems to appear where I was standing?


    Ingrit shrugged. If it wasnt interfered with? Yes. Such is miniscule, only a few atoms at a time, under usual circumstances, but it adds up. She smiled widely. One of the great innovations were the gathering scripts. Decades before the renewed founding of each city, and as a final scriptid at the end of each waning, the Buildersy out and activate awork of Material Guiding spell-forms, which draw that metal, while it is in flux, into the ground around cities. Specifically, into where the mining districts will be. It has the added benefit of drawing in surrounding precious metal as well, even drawing it up from the core, over time. Thus, we lose very little metal, in the end, and actually gain over each cycle. This citys gathering scripts are only now, finally nearing the end of their current cycle. They will be refreshed in just less than two centuries, when Bandfasts waning is at an end.


    And we empower such scripts around waning cities in preparation for the next time we use that location for a city?


    Precisely. The ambient magic at the end of a waning is perfect for empowering a surge of effort to draw materials up from lower in the worlds structure and toy the groundwork for a future city. She nodded. All that is required, then, is to wait for the ambient magic of the area to return to normal, and it is ready for a new citys foundations.


    T felt like she was a bit inundated with all the information that Ingrit had given her. <em>So much for a simple question </em>She had a thousand more questions, based on what the woman had told her, but she couldnt process it all, not yet. <em>Simpler questions.</em> Sois there a list somewhere of all the metals and alloys, which can be used for inscriptions and spell-forms?


    Unfortunately, that is proprietary information, locked to the Constructionist and Inscribers Guilds. She gave a small, sad smile.


    Alright, then. I think I have a few simpler questions.


    * * *


    An hourter, she decided to let Ingrit free. Even though the older Archon had shown nothing but kindness and patience, T was beginning to feel bad about dominating her time. <em>Ill be back, though. After Ive had time to collect my thoughts and gather better questions.</em>


    T now knew the rates for using the various experimentation rooms: Expensive; how many of her current inquiries were beyond her current rank for easy answer: Most; and which of her remaining inquires she should bring to the Constructionists: The rest.


    It was a bit disappointing, if she was honest, but she knew it wasnt really Ingrits fault.


    Shed also gotten a brief tour of the library, which was vastly more extensive than shed expected. As it turned out, there were nearly thirty million books, two thirds of those being duplicates, so that the library was never without any given title, even discounting those held magically in the Archive.


    It was a staggering number. Ingrit had exined that the works contained were of all sorts, including personal journals dating back to the first city, schrly works delving into various subjects, and a few fictions, which were determined to contain enough fact or cultural relevance to be meticulously maintained.


    To contain all those volumes, the library was an astonishing fifteen stories, each onerger than the one above as they descended into the ground. The lowest level was mostly the experimentation chambers, and other simrly dangerous or critical rooms.


    In addition to the physical copies of each book, every work was avable through the Archive, and as an Archon, T could now purchase a te that would grant ess to many of the works, restricted, of course, by her rank and guild-affiliation, orck thereof.


    They were too expensive for T to contemte at the moment.


    She was too fiscally wise to waste her precious coin on such luxuries at this time.


    She didnt give the acquisition of such a second thought.


    Nope.


    Not at all.


    <em>I cant afford it anyways</em>


    On the positive side, there were publicly avable tes, which could be rented for a small fee: 1 ounce, silver, per hour. <em>Small fee. Ha! Thats my budget for a meal.</em>


    T bid the librarian good-day and smiled at the womans well-wishes in return. She lingered in her walk back down the passage, towards the front hall. She did her best not to gawk, but the creatures depicted were just so fascinating.


    As such, it was almost sunset when she finally emerged from the Archons facility once more. She basked in the cool, autumn breeze, and reveled in the sight of the pastel sky.


    <em>You did it. Youre an Archon.</em> T grinned.


    Terry stirred in his ce on her shoulder, looking up at the sky as well. T nced his way, noticing that he had a bit of a forlorn look. Missing the wilds, the open space?


    He gave her a long look, then a small bob of his head.


    Just a bit, eh?


    He bobbed more firmly.


    I can understand that. Well get back on the road, soon. Lyns supposed to get us an out and back contract in about a week, so well be able to stretch our legs.


    He bumped her with his head.


    T grinned back at Terry. Thank you for backing me up in there. She pulled out a big hunk of pork belly. I know its not jerky, but want some?


    Terry quickly, and precisely, snatched the meat from her fingers, not even brushing her skin.


    Id hoped youd like that. You tried some during the banquet, right?


    He gave her a searching look, then bobbed a nod.


    Good. Want some jerky, too?


    He shifted happily, and she tossed out a chunk. She barely registered the flicker of him iming it.


    You really are something. <em>And I really should ask Brand what spice mix he used for this jerky. Terry has a favorite, it seems.</em>


    Thest couple of days, since she woke up, had been crazy, and even before shed worked herself into unconsciousness, shed barely had a moments rest. <em>Ive not seen Gretel since I regained consciousness.</em> Her meat pies would be perfect for dinner. <em>I should get Rane and Lyn, first. It would be rude to go without them.</em>


    That decided, T walked towards Lyns house, eating what would be a healthy dinner for anyone else from her banquet loot on the way.


    <em>Things are looking up. I should be able to pay my debt off without issue, and much faster than Id hoped.</em>


    <em></em>Her debt.


    Her first payment.


    Her eyes went wide. <em>Oh, RUST!</em>

 Chapter 95: To End a Very Long Day

    Chapter 95: To End a Very Long Day


    T turned and walked as quickly as she was able, which was surprisingly fast given her increased gravity.


    Terry sunk his talons into her shoulder, the points failing to pierce her skin but holding him securely, nheless.


    <em>I know I saw a Bankers Guild office around here, somewhere</em>


    And there it was: A beautiful, stone building. It was eye-catching without being ostentatious.


    If she understood the windows on the outside correctly, it was a single-story structure, but that single story seemed to be nearly twenty-five feet high. Itsrge entrance opened onto a small park-space. The green area had clearly been designed more for looks, and to walk through, than for families or children to y in, but that was fine. <em>I like having greenery around as much as the next person. It doesnt all have to be family focused.</em>


    She walked through the banksrge double doors, closing them softly behind her.


    Inside, she was greeted by an environment that struck her as more archival than that of the library shed just left. The rugs were thicker, seemingly more for sound dampening in the vast space than to make walking or standingfortable.


    Large, unicolor hangings periodically decorated the walls. She hesitated to call them tapestries, because they literally were simple lengths of cloth, no artistry, no embellishments at all.


    As she stepped further in, she felt a small magical probe and heard a distinctive <em>ding</em> echo through the far part of the room.


    Almost immediately, a grey-haired man bustled out. He was straight-backed, and he held a te of deep green stone. <em>Thats odd. Arent most such devices made of as light gray stone as possible?</em>


    He stopped before her and gave a deep bow. Mistress Archon. Wee to our humble Guildhall. As he straightened, he nced at Terry, sitting on her shoulder. Would you like yourpanion to await you in a side room?


    No, thank you. I am T.


    Greetings, Mistress T. I am Nattinel, one of the senior bursars of this branch of the Bankers Guild. How may I assist you, this day?


    A pleasure to meet you, master Nattinel. He wasnt a Mage or inscribed at all, that she could detect. I need to make a payment on my debts.


    He looked a bit surprised, but immediately hid it. Certainly, Mistress. If you would? He held out the te, and a small, gold-outlined square grew into existence, centered near the edge that was towards her. <em>Expensive.</em>


    She didnt see anywhere to prick her finger, and so, T frowned.


    After a moments hesitation, Nattinel smiled. Am I to assume you are a rtively new Archon, Mistress?


    She nodded.


    Completely understandable. Walk with me, and I will exin some things that may be of interest.


    He turned, and she took two quick steps so that she could stroll beside him as he led the way off to one side of the spacious room.


    You see, Mages and mundanes must provide blood infused with some of their power signature to authenticate transactions and gain ess to records, things of that nature.


    T nodded. This was known. <em>Though, I wasnt aware mundanes could do that</em>Had she ever seen one confirm a transaction with blood?


    Once the Archive has been updated to recognize an Archon, for reasons unknown to one such as me, they can simply will that authentication to ur with a touch.


    Oh! That made so much sense. Now that her body was soul-bound, her skin could act as an untainted catalyst for her power-signature. <em>I wonder why blood doesnt taint a Mage''s power</em> That might be an excellent question for Ingrit. Thank you.


    He led them to a couple of <em>very</em>fortable looking chairs and gestured to one.


    She hesitated, feeling a bit awkward.


    Is something the matter, Mistress? Does the chair dissatisfy in some way?


    She gave a little chuckle. Well, you see, I am quite heavy.


    He blinked at her, obviously confused.


    If the chair couldnt hold a horse, I probably shouldnt sit in it.


    Nattinel gave a slow nod. Were you not a Mage, I would, of course, ay your fears about being overweight, but I imagine that this is more a matter of magic than a false self-image?


    You could say that.


    He nodded again, more firmly this time. Very well. We can stand. He again held out the te to her.


    T smiled. Thank you. She reached out, cing her thumb within the square and willing her power out, into the te for verification.


    The entire tablet shifted to blood red, immediately.


    T startled back, retracting her hand and clearing her throat. Did Ibreak it?


    Nattinel simply smiled. Not at all, Mistress. Tell me, Ive never seen this exact reaction before. Was your medium lessmon than usual? It doesnt look like ruby.


    You could say that. She nced away.


    It seems I shouldnt inquire further. My apologies. He gave a half bow, pulling the te back and looking it over. Oh! You are quite right. Today is the final day to make afirst? He looked up at her. Mistress. He seemed to be fighting within himself, about what he should say, next. Finally, he gave a quizzical smile. Did you only graduate the Academy a month ago?


    She nodded.


    His surprise was evident. I know that they are very loose with graduation dates and course work, tailoring to the individual -I have a nephew there right now, myself- but how are you an Archon so soon? He stopped, seeming toe back to himself. He shook his head slightly and straightened, his mask of professionalism returning. I apologize, Mistress. I meant no offense, and I should not have asked such a personal question. We are, of course, honored to have one such as you within these walls. He made a vague gesture around himself.


    She gave a forced smiled, feeling quite self-conscious.


    Would you like to pay the minimum, or some other amount?


    Four ounces, gold, please.


    You are aware that that is more than you owe for this payment?


    I am aware that four is more than the minimum required payment, yes.


    He nodded, manipting the construct. Would you like that to be a prepayment on the next monthly charge, or an up-front amount?


    Up-front, please. <em>Not that theres much difference</em> Shed think about it. <em>Maybe, Ill change that.</em>


    More alterations. Would you like to set up an automatic transfer for all future due dates?


    She blinked at him. I can do that? <em>That would probably be interfered with by prepayment.</em>


    He smiled, seemingly back infortably familiar territory. Of course! Most people do, as it helps prevent fees and such from negatively impacting you, should life be busy. We can even lock the automatic payment amount for a month prior, as soon as it is avable. That can further reduce the chances of mistakes.


    Well, I dont think I need thatst offering. But the automatic payment sounds reasonable.


    He nodded again. For the minimum amount, or some other figure?


    Lets just do the minimum for now. I can change thatter, correct?


    That is correct, Mistress.


    Then, that should be fine. Thank you.


    He seemed to make a few more alterations on the red te, then turned the tablet back around for her confirmation.


    She read over the short bits of silvery text and confirmed.


    The construct shifted back to green, and Nattinel bowed over it. Is there anything further that I can assist you with, today?


    No, thank you. I appreciate your kindness, professionalism, and the time that you took to assist me.


    He smiled genuinely in response. It was my pleasure, Mistress. I hope that we see you again, soon.


    They each gave a half bow and parted ways.


    <em>Now: Home.</em>


    T stepped outside into the cool evening air and stretched her arms wide. <em>I did it. I paid off a part of my debt!</em>


    It was just less than a percent of the total amount owed, but it was still progress. She couldnt keep a grin off her face.


    She walked through the garden-like park, feeling giddy. She knew that shed been making progress with every silver earned, but to actually pay some of the debt off? It was a heady feeling.


    A light sprinkling of snow was just beginning to fall, and she took a moment to breathe deeply and simply enjoy the beauty of the evening.


    As she made her way to her and Lyns house, she watched the city slowly turn white beneath the gathering snow.


    The temperature was cool, but not cold, and she was reminded that shed promised herself to get some shoes. While she didnt <em>need</em> them, and she definitely preferred to be without, there were situations in which having footwear was just better.


    Even so, the snow beneath her toes was pleasantly cool. It reminded her of snowball fights when she was younger.


    She felt her grin shift to a sad smile. <em>What am I going to do about them?</em>


    She shook off the memory, and fell back into quick, happy steps. <em>Nope! Happy thoughts, T.</em>


    When she arrived at the house, Lyn and Rane were waiting.


    There you are, T! Did you already eat?


    T shook her head. No, I just needed to make a debt payment.


    Rane frowned. Cant you get that automated?


    Yes, and I have, now, but I hadnt done that, yet.


    He shrugged. Ah. I see.


    So hungry?


    Lyn nodded. Gretels?


    Definitely.


    Rane frowned. Gretel?


    Youll see! <em>I am soooo hungry.</em>


    It was a short walk to the courtyard, and soon the three new Archons were sitting at one end of a table, near a well-contained bonfire, enjoying the mountain of mini-meat-pies stacked before them.


    Rane had insisted on paying, yet again, and T had reciprocated by pulling out food from the earlier banquet to supplement and augment the meat pies.


    All three tossed bits of food for Terry at irregr intervals and in random directions. That kept the avian busy and content, while the Mages engaged in small talk.


    Lyn had just returned with three tall mugs of hot buttered rum, when Ranes eyes widened, and he lightly smacked himself in the forehead. I havent checked if I can read any of the books!


    Ts eyes widened, and she sat up a bit straighter. <em>Thats right! I never checked, either.</em>


    Lyn rolled her eyes and slid a mug in front of each of herpanions.


    Oh! Thank you, Lyn.


    Thank you, Mistress Lyn.


    She smiled at that. Try it, then you can tell me what youre talking about.


    T and Raneplied, both hesitating after their first sip.


    Rane immediately took another, longer pull from his massive earthenware mug. This is fantastic!


    T had to agree. It was thick and creamy, sweet and rich, and so alcoholic that she would bet that shed feel the inscriptions on her liver begin to draw extra power, soon. <em>Well, Id suspected Id be less susceptible to toxins, and alcohol is a toxin, after all.</em> She wasnt sure how she felt about it. <em>Its not like I enjoyed getting drunk; I just enjoyed the taste, every so often.</em> That settled it, in her mind. It was a good.


    She grinned. This really is wonderful. Where did you get it? I havent seen it avable around here, before.


    Lyn pointed to a cart tucked off to one side, where a massive cauldron sat on a slightly glowing, inscribed metal te. He usually has drinks of some kind. I thinkst time we were here together he had a spiced mead? She seemed to consider, then shrugged. This is one of his specialties, which he only brings out when its especially cold, or when the weather turns. She gestured around them to the new falling snow.


    Why? This is so amazing!


    Rane grunted, having just taken another long drink. It is, but I think itd be too much, if I had it very often.


    T hesitated at that. <em>Hes probably right.</em> I suppose


    Lyn smiled, taking a sip of her own, much smaller mug. Now, the books?


    Right! T reached into Kit and pulled out Soul Work.


    Lyn leaned forward. Thats a beautifully bound volume. It looks new; did you buy it in Alefast?


    T hesitated. I got it as part of a payment for some work I did around Alefast.


    Lyn shrugged. Pricey payment.


    Rane widened the opening around his sword hilt before sticking his hand through the leather circle. As expected, the limb didnte out the other side. A momentter, he drew it forth once more, holding a worn and beaten leather bound text. The leather was much thicker than Ts cover but didnt seem to have a hard surface underneath.


    If Ts book was an academic text on the topic, then Ranes was the travel journal the original researcher had used topose his ideas. Well, at least if the outsides were anything to go by.


    Rane looked back and forth between his copy and Ts, then he sighed, shaking his head. He muttered under his breath, and T grinned when she caught the words. Master Gredivs ying favorites again


    T did her best to hide her smile as Rane nced her way, and if he saw her mirth, he didnt seem to mind.


    Well, lets see. He opened the book and stared. You have to be rusting kidding me.


    T opened her own book to the first page and stared at the iprehensible words. Whyoh! She ced her hand on the book and moved her power outward, giving the warding a good look at her soul.


    Rane grunted in realization of what shed done but seemed to decide on waiting to see her results.


    The page shifted under Ts scrutiny.


    Congrattions, New Archon. Your soul is not yet ready for the techniques described in this book.


    T seriously considered burning the volume.


    Rust you, too, book.


    Lyn cocked an eyebrow but didntment.


    Rane looked at his own book. So, you dont need blood?


    T grinned. Not anymore. She then gave a brief exnation, based on what Nattinel had told her.


    Lyn was nodding, and Rane smiled. Very nice. I really didnt like constantly pricking my fingers He frowned. But no luck with the book?


    T shook her head and sighed. Terry was once more perched on her shoulder, and he was staring at the book with seeming interest.


    Rane ced his hand on his own book, and T saw power shift within the big man as he clearly let his magic be felt by the book. It was interesting; his power seemed to move more sluggishly than hers had. <em>Being a Guide has its benefits.</em>


    That done, Rane stared at something she couldnt see. Well thats unhelpfully vague.


    Oh? What did yours say?


    Let your soul settle before forging ahead.


    T glowered. My books are lippy with me. Thats actually helpful.


    Oh?


    Lyn was nodding, as she set her mug down once more. She leaned forward, speaking quietly, the sound likely drowned out a couple of feet away, given the surrounding murmur of conversation. Our souls are newly bound to our bodies. I imagine it will take a bit for them to fully adjust. Try again in a day or two? Maybe a week?


    T gave her friend a skeptical look. Do you even know what these are?


    Lyn rolled her eyes. Books keyed to keep their contents hidden from those not ready to read them.


    OhYeah, thats exactly right.


    Lyn snorted a chuckle and took another deep drink.


    Rane and T checked their other books, and found simr messages on all those, which had been locked previously. <em>Ok, alrightIll be patient.</em> She looked up to Lyn. So, how hard is it to crack this kind of protection?


    Lyn grinned. Depends on who put it in ce, but most will erase the contents if breached, even if you vastly overpower the original power source. Which I doubt you could do, as Ive never heard of anyone but older Mages putting these in ce. Now, I suspect they were more senior Archons.


    T wrinkled up her face. Thats pretty irritating.


    Lyn nodded. Oh, decidedly. The librarian I was talking tomented how much knowledge was lost before it was universally realized that such measures couldnt be breached.


    Lost?


    Yeah. Apparently, some of the earliest Archons left whole libraries of information, keyed to help humanity at various stages of our progress. Some of their sessors got greedy and attempted to crack the spell-forms, and the knowledge contained within was lost.


    Thats pretty horrible.


    Quite.


    T ced thest of the other books back in Kit and frowned; Soul Work was still sitting in front of her, as she examined it. How, under the stars, can they stay empowered?


    Rane was the one who answered. The way Master Grediv talked about them: they are <em>very</em> power efficient and are thus maintained even in environments that we cant detect ambient magic at all.


    Like cities?


    Like cities.


    But what about the metals? Shouldnt they need to be re-inscribed?


    Rane shrugged. Theyre designed based on artifacts, incorporators, and the like.


    T gave him a t look. That seems unlikely. If they have troubleing up with incorporators for specific materials, how can they do it for something as specific and convoluted as a book?


    Ah. I understand the confusion. No, the magic doesnt create the words, it obfuscates them. Thus, the integral spell-forms only have to be developed or altered depending on the concealment specifications. At least in principle.


    That made a sort of sense, T supposed.


    Terry, for his part, had been staring at Soul Work for a while, now, and he suddenly flickered, appearing standing atop the book.


    T registered a shift in the birds internal power, and wards around the book altered in response.


    Ts eyes widened. In quick movements, Terry flickered off the book, and T opened the front cover. She was greeted by an illustration of a terror bird ring out from the page, clearly conveying disapproval.


    Rane leaned over andughed. So, this one tailors the warning message to the one who tries to activate it.


    T sighed. So, youre saying that Im responsible for the books attitude? She looked at each of her tablepanions, as they just smiled back at her. I hate you both.


    Lyn chuckled, pushing Ts mug closer to her. Drink, T. This is meant to be a celebration.


    Rane wisely did not speak, taking another deep drink from his own vessel.


    T tucked the book away, then patted Terrys head, where he sat on her shoulder once more. She took up her mug and raised it. To new beginnings.


    To new beginnings. The three mugs clunked together, and the three new Archons returned to more amicable topics of conversation.


    Overall, it was an incredibly pleasant way to end a <em>very</em> long day.

 Chapter 96: Progress is Progress

    Chapter 96: Progress is Progress


    T spat out a mouthful of sand, vaulting back to her feet with a motion simr to a pushup. <em>My first impression was right. I hate this man.</em>


    <em></em>There had been snow on top of the courtyards sand, earlier that morning, but now there was mostly just wet sand.


    Rane was grinning at her, his massive sword held in a high guard. He wasnt even sweating as he stood solidly upon the soft ground, barefoot and just in close-fitting, short pants. His spell-lines were on full disy across his toned, tan flesh, ready to render her attacks meaninglessif she could evernd any.


    She growled and lunged at him again, her practice sword driving towards his heart.


    Force, Ranes sword, came down like an avnche. His reach was greater than hers, so she wouldntnd her strike before he hit her.


    She cursed, raising her weapon to defend herself.


    Even though she got her sword up in time to block, it didnt matter. Power flowed through Ranes weapon, and since she used her considerable strength to hold her weapon in ce, the marginally reinforced stick shattered.


    Ranes strike continued, catching her between her shoulder and neck.


    She was thrown to the ground like a sack of flour, even though Rane clearly pulled his attack after the initial contact. Her defensive scripts were getting a <em>heavy</em> testing.


    There were collective, audible intakes of breath, but no one gasped or cried out. Theyd seen this too many times to react that way any longer.


    Adam sighed from where he watched, sitting on one of the surrounding walkways. Mistress T. You cannot block him. That has been made <em>incredibly</em> clear. You are wasting practice weapons. Why do you still try to block?


    She swept the sand from her face, once again, rising a bit slower this time. Better to block than just let myself get hit?


    Did blocking help?


    No She grunted irritably. I even angled the de correctly that time. I know that I did.


    Rane nodded, resting Force on his shoulder. This sword cannot be deflected by a like-powered opponent, and your practice swords are mundane. My sword resists any acting force, except that exerted on the handle.


    One of the students called out from the side. What if she struck at his hands, instead of blocking the de?


    Adam pointed at the young woman. That is an excellent suggestion. If T read his expression correctly, hed been waiting for someone to suggest just that.


    The sand in Ts eyes and up her nose made her want to curse him for that. <em>You could have suggested that yourself, earlier.</em>


    If you cannot dodge, which Im beginning to wonder about, that would be an excellent thing to attempt. T understood him to be saying: You really should have thought of that, yourself.


    Fair enough.


    An assistant tossed T another wooden sword. She caught it with more practiced ease than she liked. <em>Ive broken </em>way<em> too many of these</em>


    Rane raised his long de high, once more.


    The next exchange <em>finally</em>sted more than a couple of movements. Ts probing strike at Ranes hands forced him to pull his blow, simply knocking hers aside.


    She was never able tond a strike, but the change in paradigm kept him from easily putting her down, yet again.


    Finally, Rane made a mistake. With a great sweeping movement, he struck upward.


    T stepped into the blow, dropping her left hand to catch the rising de, even as her sword-wielding-rightshed out.


    Force smacked her left palm so hard it stung, despite her inscriptions. She had braced the arm, and so it didnt copse before the blow. Instead, she was lifted <em>just slightly</em> from the ground. <em>No opposing you with power, just weight, so our ranks dont factor into it.</em> She grinned, adding more force to her own strike.


    Her sword connected with the side of Ranes heador it should have.


    The inscriptions on his head sparked to life, shimmering silver weaving through to activate dull copper, and Rane was suddenly moving along with her strike, the blow not <em>quite</em> connecting.


    As a result, Rane spun a full circle, feet over head, seeming to rotate around his abdomen. As he finished the rotation, Force whipped around, sweeping sideways.


    T <em>almost</em> attempted to block the blow but fought down the reaction just in time to duck under it,unching herself forward to tackle Rane.


    His scripts activated again, but this time it was to her advantage, as they moved him back and away, taking him to the ground just ahead of her. There, shended on him without having lost momentum from an earlier impact.


    She drove the wind from his lungs with her weight as she pinned him in ce. If she felt correctly, she might have even cracked a couple of his ribs. <em>Sess!</em>


    In a quick motion, she brought her sword around and rested the edge against his throat, one hand on the handle, one on the back of the de. She grinned down at him for an instant before Force struck her from the side.


    Rane had somehow used the fall to spin the de around, once more.


    She was sted from atop him, to drive a furrow through the sand and smash into the stone steps at the edge of the courtyard. <em>What are these steps even made out of?</em> Shed hit them often enough <em>something</em> should have broken


    She groaned, staring up at the clear, cold sky. Thats rusting idiotic. I won! If Id wanted to kill you, youd be dead.


    Rane lifted his feet, then kicked up to a ready stance. Gasping in sudden pain and clutching his abdomen.


    <em>How did he do that on sand?</em>


    The healer rushed forward and fixed him with a brief touch. Rane nodded his thanks to the healer, then regarded T. Yes, you <em>could have</em>, but you didnt.


    She frowned. What?


    You didnt deliver the strike. You didnt trust my defenses, or the waiting healer, so you hesitated.


    I didnt want to crush your throat, Master Rane.


    And if you had?


    She opened her mouth to respond, but then her eyes flicked to the healer, waiting off to one side. <em>Oh</em> She growled, then. Fine. She stood back to her feet. Again.


    She rushed for him with controlled, precise, thundering steps. <em>This will take that grin from his face.</em> She stuck her hand into Kit, grabbing for the repeating hammerand found nothing.


    For the first time in her memory, Kit hadnt offered up what she was reaching for. <em>Because I lost it. I allowed it to starve.</em> She slowed, causing Rane to hesitate.


    T nced down at Kit. Thinking of the now non-magic hammer. It came into her hand, and she drew it out of her bag.


    It was utterly, magically inert. The innate magic in the tool had copsed when it ran dry.


    T growled at the loss, then flung the hammer at Rane anyways.


    The next two hours were <em>brutal</em>. In the end, T only won once: Right after she threw the hammer, she tackled him again, while he was distracted. She was never able to replicate that initial moment of surprise, even by throwing other things, her practice sword included. She never won again.


    Even so, she improved,rgely due to the suggestions of those watching the bouts, and in the end, she could hold her own for long stretches before Rane inevitably drove her back into the sand.


    They finished out thest hour of the morning with weapons sparring between T and Adam, along with several other guards. That, thankfully, she excelled at, though it was simr to her unarmed conflicts with the Guards.


    They were <em>much</em> more skilled, but had no way of truly ending the fights, even when they could knock her down; there just werent enough of them to pin her on the ground. So, she always won by slow, incremental attrition. <em>Not great for protecting someone else, but good practice.</em>


    When high noon arrived, the ss was over, and the instructor assigned the students to write up detailed analyses of both Rane and Ts abilities and fighting styles, as well as how a unit of Guards could ovee each of them.


    T, for her part, immediately went to thepounds baths and did her utmost to clear herselfpletely of sand. She was mostly sessful.


    Following yet another vigorous self-scrubbing, she soaked and munched on banquet leftovers pulled from Kit. Her thoughts drifted back through the morningsbat. She felt stronger than ever, and her body was moving <em>exactly</em> how she wanted it to, but she still didnt have the experience to want the right movement for efficient victory.


    <em>Give it time, T.</em> She felt more connected to her inscribings, now that she was an Archon. Her body felt more <em>her</em> than ever before and those magics were an obvious, integral part of her as well.


    <em>Rane seems to have gotten a simr benefit. </em>She didnt begrudge him, that. She <em>did</em> wish that he hadnt been quite so brutal about showing his dominance. <em>Rusting man. If I could use my sword, things would have been different.</em>


    Still, theyd agreed that her weapon was just too dangerous to use in practice matches.


    Adam had been cagey on the subject, but T didnt press him. <em>Not worth alienating my instructor.</em>


    When she was done in the bath, she dressed, clicked her tongue to get Terrys attention from where he was sleeping in the corner of the room, and walked out into the cool, afternoon air.


    <em>Ok. I have a few things I need to do before returning home. Lets get to it.</em>


    * * *


    The rest of the week fell into a pattern for T, as the day of her next departure drew ever closer.


    Lyn had signed Rane and T up for a round trip to Makinaven and back, and Ts minder had agreed to the contracts, though T had yet to meet the Mage so assigned. T was going to meet her for dinner, the night before their departure, so at least she wouldnt be going in totally blind.


    The trip to Makinaven was purported to be a bit longer, time wise, and usually more dangerous than that to either Alefast or Marliweather. This was mainly because nearly two thirds of the journey went through the old-growth, southern forest, and unlike the trees that sprang up around the waning city of Alefast, these were not mostly clumped together with convenient paths around them.


    No. That would be too easy.


    In the worst case, they would have to circumnavigate around dense clusters of trees and other obstacles, searching for a path for the caravan, all while keeping it well defended.


    <em>Lovely.</em>


    If what T had learned was to be believed, the trees were truly massive, but the figures she found seemed too fanciful. She would have to see for herself. <em>More than four times the height of the defensive towers? Unlikely.</em>


    But that was an issue forter. Shed gotten a general understanding of the dangers, both arcanous creatures and otherwise. Shed trust to her minder to fill in the gaps.


    Around sparring for the benefit of up-anding Guardsmen, and to improve her own abilities, T did a few more minor errands.


    She sought out the alchemist shed worked with before and purchased more bars of iron salve: two ounces, silver.


    She convinced a cksmith to make her a steel, folding chair, sturdy enough that it could have been a stepstool for a thunder bull, while folding small enough to easily fit into Kit: four silver ounces. The result was surprisingly well contoured andfortable.


    She also bought a pair of thick-soled, simple leather shoes, in case she needed to walk in snow, again, which seemed likely: one ounce, silver. She did <em>not</em> want a repeat of the difort and pain shed experienced after being osted by the raven-ine. The cobbler seemed to notice her increased weight, likely noticing when he had taken measurements of her foot. Hed hemmed and hawed about it, not wanting to offend, but aftering to an understanding, hed hesitantly told her that the shoes wouldntst long under such an increased pressure. He didnt know if the pressure distribution scripts would increase their useful life, but he thought it was possible. <em>Worth paying attention to, at the very least.</em>


    Additionally, she hounded no fewer than six Constructionist Guild assistants, all of whom firmly maintained that there were no avable schemata for coffee incorporators, of any kind. Boma, likewise, remained cagey. Thankfully, she was allowed to purchase an acid incorporator now that she was an Archon: hydrochloric acid, specifically. Thirty silver ounces.


    With the incorporator, she received a warning and safety booklet, and a mandatory, hour-long lecture from Boma on the safe and legal uses of the device. Even with her full flow directed through it, using several void-channels, she could only produce a thin trickle of the stuff. <em>For now.</em>


    Even so, it was a useful tool to have at hand, if she found need.


    Through some light experimentation, T found that she could easily maintain a single, small void-channel to her body constantly. However, if she used other void-channels too much, she would have to copse all of them to properly recover. As such, she often yed with her void-channels on the side, while doing her other tasks, but never pushed too hard. <em>Moderation, T. Slow progress is good progress.</em>


    Given her soul-bound body, she no longer had to actively power her body or her scripts, since they had a direct connection to her gate, but she found it helped with efficiency to use a void-channel, nheless. The main result was that her keystone was under much less pressure. <em>Hurrah! That willst longer, now.</em>


    Finally, T socialized with Lyn daily, and Rane often enough. She ate well, using all three silver ounces of her budget on food each day, - fifteen ounces, silver -along with finishing out the food shed gotten from the banquet. And thest two days before departure, she charged her custom cargo-slots down at the work-yard.


    That, all told, filled her days quite nicely.


    * * *


    T lunged out of the way of the falling halberd de, blowing through half a dozen sword strikes, as the students strove to overwhelm her.


    They didnt even sting and her increased weight kept the blows from diverting her path too much, her downward pressure giving her surer footing, and she was getting better at posting her feet in opposition to iing strikes.


    Sheshed out, breaking limbs with precision, culling their numbers with ease, until an enemy thrust went between her knees and tangled her legs, causing her to stumble and fall, even as the weapon bent under the stress.


    Immediately, some dropped on her, trying to pin her down, as others grabbed madly at her limbs. Some used their weapons, driven into the soft ground, like pry-bars to lock her in ce.


    One star-cursed student decided the best solution was to jump on her head, driving her face into the coarse sand.


    She struggled, but eventually they got enough weight on her that she simply had no hope of breaking free any longer.


    She signaled her defeat, and they let her up.


    Adams voice rang out, from where he stood beside the other instructor. Why were you able to win?


    She couldnt cut us, one student said, in a dejected voice. He gasped as a healer realigned, then healed his broken forearm.


    We took her foundation from her, then took advantage of that, another answered.


    Adam nodded. You are both correct. When facing an opponent like Mistress T, containment is the best option, and you are fighting her when she is at a distinct disadvantage. Even so, he smiled. You did very well. Today is Mistress T and Master Ranesst day with us. Tomorrow, we will see how you fare against unfamiliar adversaries. I hope you are up to the challenge.


    T nced up into the cloudy sky. <em>Almost noon, then.</em> This group attack on her had been thest activity of the morning after shed fought Rane, then a group of senior guards, first armed, then unarmed.


    Rane still utterly dominated her, when he was armed, though he could never definitively end the fight. Her defenses were simply too good for that. <em>I cant imagine what hell be able to do once he soul-bonds that sword.</em> Even so, shed learned enough about his defenses that, unarmed, he couldnt hold her at bay, and she cinched victory fairly quickly, each time. True, she had to rely on her near immunity to his attacks, since he still outssed her, if not as much as Adam did, but victory was victory.


    The only change after a week of intense sparring with the senior guards was that she won more quickly, though still only by slow steps against their overwhelming skill. <em>Progress is progress.</em>


    Adam cleared his throat, bringing her attention back to the present, and she nced around. All the students were looking at her, thest of them having already been healed.


    She smiled. Thank you, all, for your help and feedback over thesest days.


    There were collective nods, Youre wees, and Of courses.


    Adam smiled. We wanted to thank you, as well. Very fewbat-oriented Mages are willing to allow their abilities to be so thoroughly explored and delved for weaknesses. Fewer still will let us test our hypotheses on them, directly. His smile widened. Truly, thank you.


    There were a chorus of agreements from the students.


    We wanted to give you a small gift, to say thank you for the time.


    Someone in the crowd shouted out an addition. And to tempt you back, when you return! A ripple ofughter moved through the group.


    Adam walked forward and held out a simple sheath. It was sized for a dagger and appeared to be incredibly intricately worked from a myriad of materials.


    It was sized for Flow.


    T took it, a slight frown creasing her forehead.


    Many magical weapons are too dangerous to train with, and as such, their wielders suffer from ack of practice. To correct that, the Constructionists have long made a study of methods to render them safe for training bouts. I am no Mage, but it was exined to me as a lensing item, that would allow you to better train with your particr bound weapon.


    T almost dropped the training tool in shock. Her eyes widened as she looked up at him. AdamThis is perfect.


    He nodded, and the watching studentsughed. One in about the middle of the bunchmented, If you use that, you wont break us as easily.


    Nervous chuckles followed that pronouncement.


    This must have been quite expensive. At least a half ounce, gold, if her estimation was correct. <em>Those that I remember were just a bit more expensive than incorporators.</em> At the most basic level, it was just an advanced incorporator.


    In your training you broke <em>dozens </em>of training swords. His grin removed most of the reprimand. This was the only smart choice we could make, if were to ever have you back. Especially if you work with us long term, as some few Mages do. I just wish they could have had itpleted more quickly.


    Of coursesorry about all the weaponry.


    He waved that away. It was expected. After a moment he chuckled. Between you and Master Rane it was more extreme than anticipated, but thats why that makes sense. He nodded towards the item.


    She pulled Flow from her belt, momentarily keeping it in the simple leather sheath shed had it in since Alefast. That sheath came off and went into Kit, and she ced Flow into the new item. The sheath reacted to the movements of power around and through Flow, and subtly shifted shape so that it was a perfect fit. The effect was to make Flow simply appear to have a bit heftier, and dull, de. Even the sp to ce the sheath on her belt was designed for holding Flow in the sheath when it wasnt on her belt. <em>Very streamlined.</em>


    She tested the design, sping it to her belt easily; she removed it with equal ease. With a quick motion, she twisted the fastener to lock Flow in. <em>Simple.</em>


    She took a slow breath. <em>Here it goes.</em>


    She pushed her power into Flow, down the sword path. The de extended, until it was fully in its sword form.


    The sheath expanded likewise, thinning out and clinging more tightly to the de underneath. As T expected, the burden of power required to maintain this shape was increased, probably because the sheath was utilizing some of the magic in the weapon for its own transformation. <em>Good, the training version should be harder to use.</em>


    She tapped her open left palm with the edge of the sheath, and felt a <em>whoomph</em> of impact, like her hand had been struck with a particrly heavy pillow. T grinned, allowing Flow to contract.


    She met Adams gaze and nodded, before sweeping her eyes across the assembled crowd. Thank you, all. Truly.


    She took another half hour or so to speak with those who wanted to wish her well and bid them all a final goodbye. After that, she bathed, and applied her iron salve. <em>Ive been without this defense for too long.</em>


    Now that she wasnt going to be rolling around in the sand every day, she wanted the protection it provided.


    That done and verified, she dressed and headed off to lunch.


    Brand and his wife greeted her warmly as she entered their restaurant, and she spent the meal chatting with them, as she had several other times, earlier in the week. Sadly, Brand wasnt going to be a cook on her next expedition, but he assured her that the head chef for the trip waspetent, and hed warned her about Ts dietary needs.


    She left them with onest goodbye and a promise to visit again, once she returned.


    The snow on the ground was cool to her feet, but not unpleasantly so. It was a light dusting across most of the city, a beautiful highlight rather than an inconvenience.


    If shed been nning on being out in it for longer than a short walk, shed have slipped on her shoes, but for the short trip, it seemed unnecessary. <em>No need to get soft.</em>


    The beginnings of winter had settled in, in truth, and snow was a near constant feature of the city.


    She loved it.


    Growing up, shed enjoyed ying in it with her siblings and the neighborhood children. Even at the Academy, snow had entranced her, though shed enjoyed it alone, there.


    She almost dropped through the Caravanners Guild lounge, but she didnt like the attention she got there. Mrac had apparently received a mild reprimand for allowing her to get a higher pay than he was authorized to grant, now that she was an Archon. Because of that, the whole Guild had learned how much she was going to be making per trip.


    It was apparently far from the highest wage per trip, but it was more than any other dimensional Mage got with so little on-the-job experience.


    Some were impressed at what shed managed to wrangle from the guild, a few were ambivalent, but many were quite irritated that she was to earn more than they were. All in all, she found it better to avoid them, for now. <em>Maybe, things will calm down after another few weeks.</em>


    She would enjoy dropping back through, maybe getting to know some others in her profession. <em>Yeah, when Ie back.</em>


    But that wasnt for now. Now, she wanted to ask a few questions of the librarians. <em>I wonder if Ingrits avable.</em>

 Chapter 97: More Questions

    Chapter 97: More Questions


    T was pleased to find out that, not only was Ingrit avable, she was the one to greet T when she entered.


    Mistress T, wee back.


    Mistress Ingrit, Im d to be back.


    I assume that you have more questions?


    Oh, yes.


    Ingrit let out a bell-likeugh, smiling as she did so. Well then, right this way. We can sit in an alcove.


    The Archon led T to a small, secluded table with a cushioned seat on either side. T looked at the seating warily.


    It will hold you, Mistress. We are aware of your increased weight. After a moments hesitation, she continued. We would love to learn if that is beneficial at all. There is quite a bit of debate on the merits of the idea. She gave an apologetic smile. Though, I will say, most think you are causing yourself quite a bit of inconvenience, for little to no gain.


    T shrugged. Ill let you know when I figure it out. She sat, Ingrit settling across from her.


    Very well. The other woman seemed to consider the matter closed. One moment, please. She ced her hand on the edge of the alcove, and T watched her feed power into a hidden script.


    <em>Copper?</em>


    It seemed to seal off their seating area, preventing others from listening in. What do you wish to ask?


    I assume you can discern theprotection I now have on my skin?


    Ingrits face <em>almost</em> showed a hint of power, before she nodded. Yes. She frowned for a moment. Iron, with some sort of emulsifying agent to help it bind both to the medium of application and to your skin?


    Yes. T cocked her head, frowning in confusion. What? T found herself blinking, trying to process what Ingrit had said. <em>There is no way she was able to tell that, just by looking at me.</em> How could you possibly know that, with that level of specificity?


    If I was to say it was due to the exact way power reflects and refracts around you, would you believe it?


    T frowned. Thats pretty hard to believe.


    Ingrit hesitated a moment, seeming to consider. Would you believe its obvious by the color of your skin?


    T almostughed, given the twinkle of mirth she noticed in Ingrits eyes. No.


    Would you believe Im a very good guesser?


    T didugh then. Well, not now, I wouldnt.


    Ingrit grinned. Well, my perception helps, but there was a recipe logged by a local alchemist, which stated that it was for unknown purposes. The uses of that would theoretically match close enough to the effect I see around you.


    T grunted, still smiling. Fair enough, I suppose. <em>They really do get records of virtually everything </em>Wait. Why wasnt it restricted to the Alchemist Guild, or some such?


    He noted that he came to the exact form due to a Mage working outside of guild affiliation. Thus, it wasnt theirs to im.


    Ahh. <em>Huh, surprisingly honest.</em> Not that shed expected anything else. Even so, it was nice. <em>Well, hes secured a loyal customer.</em> That was probably part of the purpose.


    So, whats the question?


    Oh! So, Master Grediv was able to see through the iron on my skin. How?


    Well, as it is a mundane effect, I think I understand what you mean. If you were using an inscription, I would have to study that to provide the answer.


    T nodded. <em>That makes sense.</em>


    So, most magic is like a childs ball. Your iron, as it is currently applied, acts like hog-wire.


    Hog wire?


    A fencing made out of steel wire, arranged in a grid with moderately sized holes.


    Oh! Alright; I think Ive seen that.


    Good. So, what happens if you throw a leather ball against such a fence?


    It bounces off.


    Exactly.


    T hesitated. When nothing further was stated, she cocked an eyebrow. So?


    Im not a book, Mistress. You should do some intuiting, yourself. The glint of mirth was back in the other womans eyes.


    FineSo, was Master Grediv forcing his mage-sight through the fence?


    Precisely.


    But it didnt feel the same as when others have seemingly been able to see through it.


    So?


    T sighed. So, their magic is finer? It fits through the fence?


    Very good.


    T grimaced. Is the patronization necessary?


    No, but your reactions make it entertaining. Im not required to be here, after all. I have to make my own fun. Ingrit winked.


    T snorted augh. Well, I guess: thank you?


    You are most wee.


    So, does that mean that some magics could pass through those defenses?


    Absolutely, and obviously so. Any Refined, and many Fused will be able to brute force their way through, if they know they need to. You should get some forewarning because of that, though. A Paragon, such as Master Grediv, will be able to power through as a matter of course. Above Paragon? They could easily push through that defense as if it werent there, assuming they target you directly, even if they arent aware of the iron before they act. They might even be able to burn it away, entirely. Keep in mind Im speaking of blunt spell-workings. I wouldnt let anyone try to heal you through that iron unless they are at least Ascending.


    <em>I suppose that makes sense. </em>And, what about finesse?


    Ingrit thought for a long moment. A Fused who specializes in fine workings will be able to get through that defense one time in ten? If they know its there, that ratio might go up. It is an impediment, which is why Master Grediv likely had to force his way through. Also, hes not seen the need to update his mage-sight recently. The time of reduced efficiency just isnt worth the marginal improvement to him.


    Improvement? So, we have to redo our inscriptions fundamentally as we advance?


    Hmmm? Oh! No. His mage-sight is simply an older generation of the form, and weve made fairly significant advancements in that particr working, since hest modified his inscriptions.


    Ahh, ok. <em>Speaking of Grediv</em> She pulled out one of the books the Archon had given her. It was still locked against her. <em>For some reason</em> How can I implement wards such as this? Im learning a lot ofsensitive things, and I like to take notes. <em>Speaking of which</em> She pulled out a notebook as well and began writing down the highlights of the answers shed already gotten.


    Ingrit took the book and opened it. Yes, this should be locked information for you. She nodded. It is sufficiently guarded that I wont be required to confiscate it. Ingrit passed the book back.


    Ts eye twitched even as she tucked the volume away. <em>Right Dont let my guard down too much.</em>


    So, to enact these, yourself, you must be a Paragon.


    why?


    I am sorry, Mistress T, but I cannot tell you how.


    Oh, I understand that. I want to know why. Why do you have to be a Paragon to enact these?


    Ingrit hesitated, seemingly contemting. I think I can share a piece of that. She nodded, smiling. A Paragons soul is utterly cleansed of impurities, allowing for a much better connection both with the realms beyond, thus the iing power, and with this world, through their likewise pure body. That increased connection is required for workings such as this.


    I didnt understand that at all.


    And yet, that is all I can say.


    Very wellIs there something simr I can do?


    Of course!


    T leaned forward, smiling expectantly.


    If you use an Archive-linked te, you can lock your notes to you and you alone. Though, we would appreciate a death-use, which would allow us ess in the event of your passing.


    Oh That was disappointingly simple. <em>And expensive.</em> Then, she processed thest sentence. A death-use?


    Oh, yes. It is incredibly irritating when a brilliant researcher has their notes locked because they arent quite ready, yet. Then, they do their final experiment and die, their lifes work forever lost. She shook her head, sadly.


    T straightened. <em>Brilliant researcher, eh?</em> That was quite a kind thing to say.


    One day, you might have one or two interesting things to contribute, and wed prefer that you already had good habits in ce.


    T deted. <em>And good feeling gone. </em>Terry shifted on Ts shoulder and Ingrits eyes flicked to him, briefly. <em>Well, thats as good a transition as any.</em> Has anyone ever made an arcanous animal into a familiar?


    Terrys eyes opened, and he regarded T for a breath, before turning to look at Ingrit.


    Ingrit regarded them for a long moment before shaking her head. First offPlease dont. Not right now.


    Why?


    Ingrit looked vaguely ufortable, as she shifted in her seat, a slight grimace on her face. Finally, she sighed. Im not really permitted toment on the wisdom of soul-bonds.


    But you just did.


    And I shouldnt have


    Alright then So, an answer to my question?


    Yes. Many have tried. She was giving T a very disapproving look.


    How did it go?


    In general? Very well.


    T frowned. I dont understand


    Traditionally, if an Archon desires a familiar, they find a young arcanous creature, ideally less than a year old, and raise it until they have a strong emotional bond. If that doesnt happen within a year, its toote.


    And if they bond emotionally? She tossed a bit of jerky for Terry.


    Then, they give the creature an Archon star.


    So whats the issue?


    The issue is that being soul-bound radically changes the development of the animal. Their intelligence is shifted dramatically, as well as their innate capacities for Magic. Through the power of the connection, they also be magical creatures in truth. She nodded towards Terry. His density is already high enough that he <em>should</em> have transitioned into a magical beast. I have no idea how he has so much power in such a small space and doesnt spontaneously be a being of magic.


    <em>Because hes really much bigger, and youre just seeing the power in a condensed form?</em> That was probably an oversimplification. <em>But thats Terrys secret, not mine.</em> Alrightso what would happen?


    Most likely? He would immediately be a magical beast, and his strength would be greater than yours. If Im seeing correctly, - and let me emphasize that its troublesome that Im unsure of that - he would immediately be able to take full control of your gate. Through your gate, he would control your Bound body. If he wished, you would be little more than a human puppet: an extension of his will.


    But only if he wanted that.


    Ingrit sighed. Yes. But you must realize, he will have an immediate, fundamental change to his intelligence. Even if he was utterly devoted to you now, down to his deepest impulses, those could alter when a greater than human intelligence reprocesses every event in his life, all at once.


    T frowned, confused.


    Ingrit made an irritated face. How different would you be if you could suddenly re-process everything youve ever experienced, as you are now? From your birth up until this moment?


    T hesitated. <em>That would beweird.</em> But would it change her?<em> Maybe?</em> I think I understand the danger.


    Likely not, but Ive already skirted the edge of what I am allowed to say. Her eyes had an almost pleading look to them.


    T nodded, considering. When would you advise I consider soul-bonding Terry, for best result?


    Ingrit grinned. That is an excellent question. I would suggest that you be well on your way to being Refined, before you truly consider that step.


    <em>Fair enough, I suppose?</em> How long could that really take? Then, she thought about it. <em>Ahh, yes. That could take a while.</em> Thank you for the advice. <em>Well, Im on the topic of bonds.</em> So, speaking of soul-bonds brings artifacts to mind.


    Oh? The librarian had an air of wariness about her.


    If I wanted to grant sapience to an artifact, say a dimensional storage, how would I go about it?


    Ingrit gave her a long, long look. You cause a lot of stress in those around you, dont you?


    T leaned back at that. Isometimes? How is that relevant?


    Ingrit was rubbing both her temples. Anything with sapience can exploit a soul-bond and make a y for mastery of your soul.


    <em>Oh.</em> Right.


    Soavoid that. Ingrit dropped her hands and shook her head. You likely dont even want that, if you truly consider it. Once soul-bound, a dimensional storage will perfectly do what you need it to, when you need it to. Why would you want it to have a separate sapience? Why would you need it to have its own personality, which could, and likely would, oppose you, on asion? <em>Best</em> case scenario, youve just created a cognizant ve, with no agency.


    That is a good point


    Im d you feel that way. What is your next question?


    T grinned. <em>So much for not giving an opinion on soul-bonds.</em> She supposed that the information hadnt been about the bond or bonding, directly. Where are all the older Mages?


    Ingrit cocked an eyebrow at her. That is much too vague a question. You are currently talking to someone older than this city.


    Yes, I know that Archons are long-lived. I mean non-Archons?


    Ahh. Ingrit thought for moment. If I understand your question, you are curious how many non-Archon Mages die of old age? That would be those with keystones and conscious control over their inscription activations, but without soul bonds.


    No? That isnt what I was asking, but thats probably an interesting statistic.


    None.


    How is that possible?


    Those that dont be Archons, or die of one thing or other, eventually make an attempt at integrating an Archon star, usually in theirte eighties. None have the strength-of-will to resist attempting, in the end. Roughly one in a hundred seeds, at that time. The rest begin the process of bing founts. Im d that you know of those, already. Most Archons do. Interestingly, this process ends up making up a good chunk of Archons, overall.


    So, all the secrecy is for nothing? Mages still all end up there, in the end?


    After decades of service and life. The secrecy gives them that. Would you take it away?


    T hesitated at that and at the severity of the response. Ino. I suppose not.


    Ingrit gave a single, firm nod.


    T cleared her throat. Her question hadnt really been answered Oh a Mage in that age range still looks quite young, dont they?


    Ingrit nodded. They are, physically,parable to mundanes in their early fifties.


    <em>Well, the life expectancy of those dying of natural causes is around ny, so </em>What is the oldest a non-Archon Mage has reached?


    Three hundred.


    T blinked at that. That old?!


    He was a singrly spectacr individual. He had his keystone and mage-sight removed when he turned a hundred and fifty. That lessened his abilities to the point that it took a hundred and fifty years before he was able to create an Archon star. He was also one of <em>incredible</em> will-power, especially with regard to mental temptations. Despite seven Archons attempting to assist his integration of the star, once he forged one, he lost the battle and sumbed.


    Why did he fail?


    We have no way of knowing what went through his mind, at the end, but from what we know of him, he had a love of nature and of bnce. The temptation he faced in the end was probably one of feeding the, feeding the cycle of nature. He seemingly chose to do so.


    T didnt understand how that would be tempting at all. Why didnt the Archons take the star away, preventing the attempt?


    Ingrit gave her a long-suffering look. To prevent the attempt forever, we would have had to imprison him. Is that a life youd want? He had a chance, and we helped him the best we could.


    T felt very conflicted about that. It sounded like Ingrit had given her a <em>very</em> abbreviated ount. <em>Im not really interested in the minutia</em><em>Happier topic, please!</em> So, how long do Archons live, then?


    Refined do not age, and even regress in appearance to a more idealized version of themselves. Before that? Bound appear to age at close to a tenth the rate of mundanes, Fused a tenth of that. She shrugged. Is that what you are asking?


    So, those Refined and above never die of old age?


    None have, to the knowledge of the Archive. Her tone seemed to indicate that meant it was a fact.


    Fair enough. Then, are there any Archons still alive from the first city, or the times around then? T immediately began imagining meeting the heroes of myth and legend.


    Ingrit sighed. Im sorry, that is information that I cannot share with you. But there was sadness in her eyes.


    Oh T felt a bit of sadness, though she wasnt exactly sure why. <em>If they were dead, wouldnt she be allowed to say?</em> T didnt know.


    I need to get to other work, soon. Was there anything else?


    T nodded. Ill try to go faster. Are regenerative potions possible?


    Ingrit barked a shortugh. In theory, yes, but we dont know how to make them. Those in the stories were based upon the earliest Mage healers, who used arcanous nts as facilitators for their magic healing of those they treated. To our knowledge, no true regenerative potion has ever been created.


    Ohalright then. Im about to go to Makinaven; what are the best harvests on that route?


    Ill get you a list. I assume you prefer that to me simply telling you?


    Yes! Thank you. She was still taking notes, but a pre-made list would be faster.


    What else?


    What is known about eating harvests?


    Ingrit opened her mouth, then frowned. Huhwell, I can tell you that ending-berries used to be consumed by our ancestors, but they began to fall out of fashion with the invention of modern inscribing, around the time of the first Leshkin War. They do not work for modern Mages for many,plicated reasons.


    <em>Unless you have modern inscriptions, based on how they work.</em> T didnt smirk, not even slightly.


    Other than that Ingrits frown deepened. Why would this be restricted information, through the Inter-Guild ords?


    T cleared her throat. It isnt important, I suppose.


    Ingrit shook her head. Well, only information on mundanes consuming harvests is restricted, which means that I must tell you to drop it, as it is not for you to pursue that subset of knowledge. She was still frowning. In any case, it is ill advised for Mages to eat harvests, but so long as the consumed item isnt naturally toxic, and doesnt have an elemental or simr type of power in it, eating it shouldnt be harmful.


    What about elemental harvests that align with the Mages spell-forms?


    Ingrit took a long moment to consider. So, this is an area of great debate. Some maintain that consuming such would enhance the Mage, others im that the harvests power would sh with the inscriptions, and lead to magic poisoning. She nodded once. My opinion would be that, unless there is perfect alignment between what is ingested, and the Mages inscriptions, there would be a high likelihood for some magic poisoning.


    And if there was perfect, or near perfect, alignment?


    Then, it would likely strengthen the natural pathways within the Mage, and make the power pulled from the harvest vastly more effective and potent. The result would likely strengthen the Mages inscriptions as well.


    <em>Good to know. Thats why the ending-berries work so well, for me. </em>Alright, thank you. She thought quickly, to change the subject. <em>I need to go faster.</em> Oh! Other sapient species.


    There are many. We collectively call them arcanes, though they have many, separate names for themselves and they see the term arcane for the pejorative that it is.


    What?


    An insult, dear. Calling them arcane is a reference to arcanous beasts. Were saying that they are little better than animals.


    Ahhalright, thenWhat can you tell me about arcane cities?


    Dont seek them out.


    Why?


    You would be forcibly turned into a fount, enved, or killed.


    Even if my aura was perfectly hidden, likewise hiding my gate?


    Ingrit hesitated. I have no information to share on aura-shrouded humans, entering arcane cities.


    <em>Alright, so its possible, but the information is restricted.</em> Final question, then: Thank you, by the way, for all the time youve taken.


    Ingrit smiled and nodded. Of course. The pursuit of knowledge is something to be encouraged.


    So, in that vein, is there anything you feel I should know?


    That is an interesting question Her eyes unfocused for a long moment. Finally, she nodded to herself, and returned her gaze to T. In your ce, I would join the library and learn all I could. She gestured to herself. As I have. But being you?


    T nodded.


    You should listen to the senior Mage protector assigned to you. She will do an excellent job instructing you where you arecking and directing you as you need.


    Huhalright, I suppose.


    Ingrit deactivated the privacy barrier and pushed herself out of her seat. That really is all the time I have, right now. Do you need an escort out?


    No, thank you. I remember the way.


    In that case: Take care, Mistress T. I look forward to your next visit.


    Thank you. You take care as well, Mistress Ingrit. I hope to see you again, soon.

 Chapter 98: Mistress Odera

    Chapter 98: Mistress Odera


    T stood just inside of the out-of-the-way entrance to a restaurant that shed never havee across on her own, without directions.


    It was the night before her departure for Makinaven, just a couple of hours after her trip to the library, and she was finally meeting her minder, Mistress Odera.


    Before her, the establishments interior stretched out, filling the inside of a small rise in thendscape in a very simr manner to the Archonplex, if much smaller. Theyout hid and sheltered each table, offering privacy and seclusion, while maximizing the use of space.


    Every single patron that she could see was a Mage, and most of the staff were at least inscribed. <em>What under the stars do they need with inscriptions?</em> There wasnt a uniformity to them, as it seemed that each staff-member had something different augmented. <em>Maybe, its just a deration of station?</em> She didnt know enough to make a reasonable guess.


    A few tables held parties of Archons, if she was guessing correctly, and T found herself feeling a bit of social fear for what felt like the first time since leaving the cliques and in-groups at the Academy.


    <em>What am I doing here</em>


    She nced down at her elk leathers.


    <em>Why am I wearing these?</em>


    <em></em>She had nicer clothes. Why hadnt she worn them? <em>Why did I even buy them?</em> She was getting too used to the elk leathers, and how they kept themselves in perfect, clean condition.


    She had an almost overpowering desire to step back outside, drop into Kit, and change.


    Unfortunately, or maybe fortuitously, a kindly gentlemen walked up to her and bowed. His inscriptions seemed to be around his ears, meant to amplify most sounds, while protecting his hearing in a simr vein to Ts own ear inscriptions, if more crudely implemented due to hisck of a keystone. <em>It just constantlypresses the volume of sounds that reach his ears into a narrow range. </em>A fascinating solution for hisck of a keystone. Mistress T, I presume?


    T gave a slight bow in return, Terry shifting expertly on her shoulder as she bowed. I am.


    He smiled. Mistress Odera arrived before you and asked us to keep an eye out. Right this way? He gestured for her to follow him and turned to lead her deeper in.


    Umm Am I dressed appropriately? She asked this as quietly as she could with any certainty of him hearing. She even took into ount his enhanced hearing, making her words a very quiet whisper, indeed.


    He paused and turned back towards her, regarding her with a critical eye. After a moment, he smiled, once again. You look lovely, Mistress. We dont have a dress-code, per se, but even if we did, you would be wee as you are.


    She felt herself rx, even if just slightly, as he turned and led her from the entrance. <em>Nothing for it in any case I cant go change, now. Even if I wanted to.</em>


    As they wandered through, she felt other diners nce her way, and she felt <em>exceedingly</em> d that shed taken the time to apply her iron-salve, earlier. Shed avoided doing so earlier in the week, given how she practically bathed in sand, involuntarily, every day. <em>Rane is brutally effective</em>


    The Mages they passed were of every quadrant. T even thought she saw quite a few bridging quadrants to some extent. The Archons all kept their auras under tight control, and what little of their spell-lines she could easily see with her normal vision, werent easy to decipher beyond the quadrant.


    T, for her part, held her aura in with ease. In thest week, shed only woken twice to find her aura unrestrained: the first night, and two nightster. After that, shed been able to maintain her containment even while asleep. <em>Grediv was exactly right to have me focus on strengthening my will and my soul.</em> Lyn still asionally slipped up, at least from what the woman had confided in T, but she was getting there. Neither of them doubted that shed have the unconscious mastery well in ce before T returned.


    The result was that Ts iron-salve was now virtually impossible to detect. Her restrained aura seemed to lessen the effects of other Mages power reflecting back at them. Though, it didnt eliminate itpletely. <em>I dont know why my aura affects that, but it definitely seems to. </em>Thergest change was that her eyes and palms no longer glowed to her, or others, mage-sight. <em>At least, I dont look like some crazy abomination anymore.</em>


    She was pulled from her contemtions when the server stopped beside an alcove, turning to gesture and indicating that this was Ts table.


    T stepped around the corner and hesitated.


    The woman, already seated, was clearly a Mage but not an Archon. <em>Maybe she is, and shes just perfectly hiding her aura?</em>


    Her dark skin caused the copper inscriptions to be incredibly difficult to see with mundane eyes, especially in the dim, atmospheric lighting. There were no other metals visible. She appeared <em>much </em>older than T, to the younger womans eyes.


    The Mages hair was an almost silver-white, and she had deep smile lines, along with other, more subtle wrinkles that seemed to have been expertly ounted for by her inscriber. The style of those lines somehow did not seem like Hollys work, though T couldnt have defended the im with any rationality. The other woman was an Immaterial Guide, just as T was, but she specialized in air and water. <em>How does that make sense? Those are clearly material</em>


    Ts mage-sight was straining to discern what the woman could do, and as part of that strain, T saw the barest hints of power across the womans face. <em>Her mage-sight is active?</em>


    That didnt make sense, there didnt appear to be enough power to enact such a working.<em> And if she was hiding her power, there should be none</em>


    Something of her thoughts must have shown, because the woman smiled, a knowing glint in her eye. Mistress T, wee.


    Ts examination had taken less than a breath, but she still had the feeling that it had been a bit too long. T gave a slight bow. Mistress Odera, I presume?


    Just so. Mistress Odera smiled to the server and gave him a nod, which T noted was more than Mistress Odera had given her. Thank you, we should be ready to order in a few minutes.


    Can I get you anything to drink, while you decide?


    Mistress Odera nodded. Just water for me, please. No ice.


    T smiled at the man. Same for me. Thank you.


    The server, for his part, gave an almost courtly bow before departing.


    Please, child, sit.


    T was almost offended; she did technically outrank the woman, after all. On the other hand, Mistress Odera would be her overseer, until the Mage determined such was no longer necessary. T decided to not make an issue of it for the moment, instead turning to examine the indicated chair.


    Im aware of yourdifficulties with furniture. That seat should bear you with ease, assuming you arent prone to rocking back on two legs.


    T quirked a smile and settled down. The metal creaked just slightly but otherwise held perfectly well. <em>This is bing more and more inconvenient</em> No, she was going to give it a good try, before deciding if the increased weight was worth the inconvenience. <em>At least through the start of this contract.</em>


    Terry flickered to the table, examining Mistress Odera up close but still out of the womans easy reach. You are a curious creature, arent you, tiny terror bird.


    Terry settled back, locking gazes with the woman.


    You can choose. Her eyes never wavered. Terry, yes?


    Terry gave a slight bob.


    We can be civil, andrgely ignore each other, or you can attempt to attack me, and I will take one of your toes.


    T blinked at that, opening her mouth to object, but Mistress Oderas eyes flicked to her for the briefest instant, and the look was so intense, and full of authority, that Ts mouth clicked shut.


    Terry shifted between his feet for a moment, then nced down, seeming to examine his toes. When he looked back up, his eyes narrowed, just slightly, then he flicked back to Ts shoulder, where he settled down.


    Mistress Odera smiled, showing exactly how shed earned those crows feet. So, you are not only more intelligent than previously noted; you are also logical and reasonably civilized.


    Terry stiffened on Ts shoulder for a brief instant, and T found herself smiling too. Shes going to be around us a lot, Terry. We figured you couldnt pretend to be a hatchling forever, at least not without it bing tedious. She snorted a briefugh. Especially not after the disy in the evaluation room.


    Terry opened one eye, giving her a calcting look, then opened his mouth.


    T chuckled, then gave him a bit of jerky. She decided not to simply toss it to the side. <em>No need to show all our cards. Not yet. </em>So, is your mage-sight active? I cant quite tell.


    Mistress Odera nodded. It is, as is yours.


    You can see it? <em>Did I miss something in my salve application? Is my aura-restraint not as good as I thought?</em>


    Yes, and no. I can see the ripple effects in the air in front of your eyes. Whatever you have on your skin as defense is quite effective against my level of power, not to mention your aura control. She took a deep breath, closing her eyes. As to your defense, the ripples of power Im feeling reflected off of it, from the other patrons here, is a bit disquieting.


    That opened so many questions. How?


    Her smiled widened just slightly. How am I activating my mage-sight with so little power? Perfect understanding of what it is doing on a level far more fundamental than most Mages ever bother to learn. How can I detect the immaterial effects of magic on the air, as well as the impressively minute reflections from your defense? Her smile became slightly coy. The answer is the same.


    How are you not an Archon?


    Mistress Odera paused for a moment. That is a bit of a rude question. But she shook her head, when T opened her mouth to respond. Not an unwarranted one, but I would rmend getting to know someone better, before asking that of others. Are we understood?


    T felt her cheeks heat. <em>How is such a light reprimand hitting me so hard?</em> Yes, Mistress. <em>T? Are you ok?</em>


    Very well, the question has been asked. I do not have the right kind of will-power to be an Archon. My master was very clear on that, and no Archon Ive met since has disagreed.


    What does that even mean?


    To be an Archon, to win that fight over self, body, and soul, a Mage must not only desire power, and be willing to take borderline unhealthy risks to get it, but they must value their advancement over the good of others.


    Now, wait a minute- T felt her indignation rise, but again, Mistress Odera lifted a hand.


    It is a false choice, obviously, but it is still a choice. To be an Archon, you must deny your soul to the world. You must begin the process of forever sealing your power as your own, never to directly enrich the greater. We both know that an Archon can do much with their power to help others, but the power, itself, is not able to be used for such, directly. It is a subtle distinction that requires some fundamental characteristics in ones will, and ones soul, to ovee. I do not have that.


    T quirked an eyebrow. So, you are telling me you are too selfless to be an Archon. Are you too humble as well?


    Mistress Odera barked a short, quietugh. That is one way to look at it, and how it manifests in most. For me, however, I am too selfish.


    How do you mean?


    Why, my dear Mistress, if my power is suffusing the world, is my soul not, slowly, gaining dominion over it?


    T opened her mouth, thought about it, then closed her mouth again, frowning.


    My conscious mind would be gone, but my eternal soul, which is the real me, would gain a greater hold on this world than I could ever achieve otherwise. Mistress Odera shrugged. You see?


    T thought she understood, but it still didnt make sense to her. I suppose I understand in theory, but I dont get it, practically. If that makes sensebut, if it was logical to me, Id be in the same position you are.


    Precisely.


    Wait how do you know all this? Isnt knowledge locked to those who arent Archons?


    Mistress Odera waved that off. I am Forbidden from advancing, for as long as I can resist. In order to resist, past a certain point, I have to know what and why. Forbidden are told the basics, after they turn fifty. That seems to be the tipping point for most. I have earned more knowledge, beyond that.


    T grunted, thinking about what Mistress Odera had said, in conjunction with what Ingrit had shared about all Mages making the attempt, eventually. <em>So, shell hit that barrier in the end, and her soul will begin conquering the world. </em>T didnt really know how to feel about that.


    Mistress Odera cleared her throat. Now, we should get to ordering food.


    T nced down at the paper resting before her on the table. <em>Yeah Food would be nice. </em>She frowned. The prices were listed as simple numbers, no denomination mentioned.


    Do you have a question, Mistress?


    T looked up. I suppose. The pricing doesnt really make sense. Some things that I <em>know</em> are more expensive have a much lower number beside them, and I cant tell what denomination the menu is in.


    Ahh, I see. Did you notice the different ink?


    She hadnt. Well, she had, but shed simply thought it a stylistic choice. Now that she looked closer, and considered, therger numbers were all written with a silvery ink, the smaller with gold. <em>Oh</em> Her eyes widened. OhIuh


    Mistress Odera held up her hand. I invited you, child. It is an old tradition of mine, to eat a final meal, here, before I leave for a contract. Ill not impoverish you to suit my fancy. She smiled happily. In truth, it costs me nothing. I did a job for the owner somethirty? She shook her head. Fifty years ago. She snorted a chuckle. Its changed owners since, of course, but theyve all honored the agreement. She nodded happily. I get to eat here, for free, before I leave for any mission.


    That was an expensive payment.


    Mistress Odera shrugged. Their daughter had wandered off with a miner, and the miner hade back alone, dazed and clearly underpulsion of some kind.


    T felt her eyes widening, once again, and even Terry lifted his head to pay closer attention.


    It seems that they somehow wandered into an older tunnel that led outside the citys defenses. The girl was a new Mage, and something decided to snap her up.


    What happened?


    What happened? I know you are capable of thinking for yourself. What do you think happened? Mistress Odera shook her head, returning her attention to the menu before her. I went and got her back.


    T let out an irritated breath. Thats not a very good retelling of what must have been a very harrowing adventure.


    Im not a bard, girl.


    You could work on being a better storyteller.


    Im a great storyteller, but Im hungry, and we need to order. Besides, you may be an Archon, but that doesnt entitle you to <em>all</em> secrets.


    <em>Typical.</em> Even so, T huffed augh. Fair enough. What do you rmend?


    No idea. Ive never seen you eat before.


    But what do you like?


    Walks in the forest, under a cloudless, night-time sky. Mistress Odera gave T an utterly serious stare. Fictional tales of starships and sma swords, and epics imagining worlds in which magic functions differently.


    For food, Mistress. From the food offered here. <em>Is she purposely trying to be irritating? Testing me, for some reason?</em>


    The bread is delicious.


    As if on cue, the kind gentleman returned with their waters, a basket of bread, a te of butter, and two small tes. Would you two care for some bread, while youre deciding?


    <em>Im not sure I could bnce all that, that well.</em> It was impressive.<em></em>T smiled and epted. Yes, thank you. What do you rmend from your menu?


    Mistress Odera silently epted the bread as well,thering hers with butter to what seemed an unhealthy degree.


    Well, Mistress, that depends. What type of food do you prefer?


    T almost snapped at the man, but realized that her irritation was with Mistress Odera, not their server. Instead, she took a deep breath. Im not partial to any form of fish or water-life. Other than that, I just enjoy good food.


    Certainly. Are you looking for a light or a heavy meal, tonight?


    The heavier and more filling the better, I think. She smiled a bit self-consciously. I eat a lot.


    We have an endless soup and greens. Often, soup can be a light meal, but ours are of the richer variety, in general, and by virtue of being endless it should be quite filling.


    T perked up at that. Oh? What soups are avable?


    Cheesy-Potato chowder. Tomato Basil. Broli Cheddar. Chicken Barley. White bean, chicken noodle, and He nced down at a small notepad. Ahh, yes, crawdad-bisque, which I imagine you wouldnt prefer.


    OhI dont know how I would decide.


    You dont need to decide. You can have as much as youd like of any or all.


    T felt immediately guilty. That seems like a poor deal for you all. I can eat a <em>lot.</em>


    Mistress Odera reached out her hand and tapped the menu in front of T, causing her to nce down. OhAlright then. Mistress Odera had pointed out the price: ten silver ounces. <em>Yeah. They usually pull a hefty profiteven I might struggle to get that much value from it.</em> Can I start with the chicken barley?


    Very good, Mistress. And for you, Mistress? He turned to Mistress Odera.


    Id like the long pasta, with chicken and the white sauce, please. And a sd to start.


    The server got the particrs for their sds and departed.


    So, now that food is on the way. Will you tell me that story?


    Maybe on the road. Were going to be working together because of your previouscontracts. How about we start there? Tell me about the route to and from Bandfast. Her smile was kindly, but there was an almost predatory glint in her eye.


    Alright, I suppose


    The evening passed quickly after that. Mistress Odera asked prating questions but never pushed, if T showed any hesitation about sharing. The food was excellent, and T ate an almost insane amount of each kind of soup, except the crawdad bisque. The greens were also an amazing counterpoint, and Mistress Odera had been correct, the bread was to die for.


    All in all, even while sharing her dangerous experiences and somewhat foolish choices, the dinner was a pleasantst meal, on her final day in Bandfast.

 Chapter 99: Only a Mage Protector

    Chapter 99: Only a Mage Protector


    T stood atop the cargo wagon, the light of early morning making the busy work-yard bright.


    Lyn had bid her goodbye before the woman headed to work, herself. T had paid her housematendlord thirty silver ounces before theyd parted ways: twenty for the next months rent and ten for the rug that shed bled upon.


    <em>Rusting expensive rug</em>


    T reveled in the autumn air, stretching slowly now that shed finished charging thest of the fourteen cargo-slots. The passengers and off-duty guards were climbing in through the appropriate doors as she watched from above.


    As Master Himmal had promised, the wagon had been adjusted so that her presence on top wasnt a problem, though her movements did cause the body to sway some.


    <em>They even increased the width of the wheels to spread the load better</em>


    True to his word, there were five essible cargo-slots, boxing in the nine that were loaded down with goods, bound for Makinaven. The one on the back was as shed seen before, but there were an additional two on each side, mounted to allow the doors to be opened with ease. Each had a short, flexible stedder hanging down below them to allow for quick entry and exiting.


    Despite the cool weather and bits of snow scattered around the work-yard, the dark wood beneath her feet was already beginning to warm in thete autumn sunlight. It was going to be a lovely day.


    As she watched the guards entering, she was reminded of how small this trip would be, with regard to required personnel.


    Only forty guards, three shifts of ten with ten as backups, would be apanying them, despite there being more than two hundred passengers. Makinaven, as it turned out, was a popr destination, much more than Alefast, at least for mundanes. <em>And a more dangerous route, especially if they want us to be secure against a full third of our guards being rendered unable to perform their duties.</em>


    Three of the outer-essible cargo-slots had been built out to house the passengers. That was the equivalent of twenty-four mundane wagons worth of space, with the added benefit of having themon spacesbined for a moremunal atmosphere and trip, unlike the usual separation between wagons. The passengers were additionally isted from the movements of the wagons, atrge, so the passengers should be veryfortable indeed.


    The remaining two essible cargo-slots were what T had expected. One was filled by the guards quarters; amodations for drivers, which was an unusual luxury given most simply slept in or near their drivers seat in most caravans; and private spaces for the three Mages: Mistress Odera, Rane, and T herself. The remaining space in that cargo-slot was taken up with things they <em>might </em>need on the venture, and that could be sold on the other end, if they werent needed, to increase the profitability of the trip.


    Thest essible cargo-slot was simply a supply storage for the trip itself. With more than two hundred fifty people, they would go through a lot of food and supplies over the next weeks.


    <em>Two weeks.</em> The distance between Bandfast and Makinaven was not too different than that between Bandfast and Alefast, but the need to traverse the forest made the estimated travel time much longer. <em>If the forest cooperates, it only takes a week, but some unlucky caravans have taken more than a month.</em> They were prepared, regardless, at least with respect to supplies.


    The chuckwagon, the only other wagon on this trip, was in ce behind the cargo wagon, and there were no fewer than five cooks already busily working in and around the rig. They also had a dedicated driver, which T had been informed was only possible because the drivers were being given amodations in a cargo-slot.


    Child.


    T absently tossed a bit of jerky to the side for Terry, as she watched a servant push thest of the passenger cargo-slot doors closed.


    She was suddenly bumped to one side, and she staggered slightly, causing the wagon to rock beneath her.


    T spun, ring at the diminutive woman standing behind her. What.


    You were ignoring me.


    How was I to know you were speaking to me?


    Is there anyone else around?


    T narrowed her eyes. Old crone.


    Mistress Odera grinned back. Yes?


    T threw her hands up. Fine. What do you want?


    Mistress Odera gestured towards the forty-two indicator symbols, glowing to Ts mage-sight through openings in the wagon-top. It seems that youve done your duties as the dimensional Mage. Is that correct?


    It is. T was hesitant in her answer. <em>Why does thatoh. Rust.</em>


    Good. That means, with those duties aplished, you are now only a Mage protector until tomorrow morning, and entirely under my authority.


    <em>Yeah I walked into that one.</em> So it would seem.


    Good. I will be atop this wagon for most days of our trip. I would like you to observe from atop the chuckwagon, while Master Rane and the Guardsmen provide encircling defense. She looked at Terry. Will you be of help, or do you wish to remain as you are?


    Terry nced to T. She shrugged, and so, he squawked and bobbed. Hell help, but-


    Mistress Odera spoke overtop of her. Good. He can drive back anything that gets too close. You can support him if he chooses to engage something within the outer ring of our defenses, or address any secondary breaches. Questions?


    Three.


    Mistress Odera smiled. Ask away.


    First, is the chuckwagon reinforced for my effective weight?


    Mistress Odera hesitated, then sighed. I even knew about that ahead of time and failed to ount for it. She shook her head. Very well. We will both be on this lead wagon. Next question?


    It seems like youre preparing us for a <em>lot</em> of attacks. Is this route really so much more dangerous?


    Youve only taken the one trip to Alefast and back, correct? Including when not under contract?


    Thats correct.


    Yes. This trip will be <em>much</em> more dangerous than that one.


    Welright then. Shepsed into silence.


    After a moment, Mistress Odera cleared her throat. So?


    Hmmm?


    Whats the third question?


    Oh I didnt actually have one.


    Then, why did you say you had three?


    Because I had two and figured I would think of a third by the time I got there.


    But you didnt.


    But I didnt.


    Mistress Odera snorted augh. Youve had some incredibly nit-picky teachers in your life, havent you?


    T shrugged. Thats not entirely true. Most of them were fine, but most also didnt like me too much. She sighed. I now understand that a good part of that was how I acted, and a part was how my iron made them feel while around me.


    Mistress Odera nodded. I see.


    After another long moment, T turned away, looking for where she would sit for the first part of the journey. Then, she hesitated. Wait. I do have a third question.


    Mistress Odera gave her a look of patient expectancy.


    Did you really forget about my increased weight?


    By the n I put forward, it seems that I did.


    T narrowed her eyes at the older woman. You just wanted to see how I would react to you acting in error.


    That is quite the assumption.


    So?


    Sowhat, child?


    How did I do?


    Mistress Odera cocked an eyebrow. I told you that you could ask three questions, not that I would answer them. She smiled. Now, have you seen your quarters, yet?


    T frowned. <em>So, youre going to be like that? </em>She groused a bit, then shook her head. No, I havent.


    Id rmend that you do. We arent leaving for another half-hour or so.


    I can see them tonight.


    Mistress Odera gave her a long-suffering look. Go look at the room, Mistress T. Then,e back here, and well go over a few more details.


    T gave an exaggerated bow. As youmand.


    Mistress Odera snorted augh. Dont start something you cant maintain, girl. But she was smiling, nheless.


    T didntment as she climbed down, still not sure what to make of the woman, as a whole. Thankfully, the cargo-slot in which she would be sleeping was mounted right beside thedder.


    As she stood on thatdder, it was an easy step over, onto the lip of the entrance. The cargo-slots door swung inward smoothly, towards her left, and T moved inside, closing the door behind herself.


    She was in amon space, extending before her and mainly to the left. Guards were already lounging, reading, or otherwise resting before their shifts began. The space was lit by simple magic constructs, which would function off the ambient magic in the air, even right outside a human city. For the moment, they appeared to have been empowered sufficiently to remain lit until they reached the wilds.


    Off to her right, clearly marked doors led to twotrine stalls. Someone had tried to exin to her how the waste was contained, and how it would then be shunted out the door at need, but she hadnt been interested enough in the topic to pay close attention. <em>Dont need that anymore, anyways.</em>


    She crossed through themon space, stopping just inside a short hall at the first door on the right; it was marked Dimensional Mage.


    She pulled out the key shed been given and unlocked the door. <em>They built all this in here, in just a couple of days?</em> It was impressive. Theyd have to tear it all out before she could allow the devices to power down, too. <em>I hope its worth it.</em>


    She stepped inside, Terry on her shoulder, and closed the door, locking it behind her.


    It was dark, but not pitch ck.


    A small amount of the light that hit the cargo-slot was distributed into this expanded interior. So, she had enough light to see. <em>Mundanes probably wouldnt though. Thats probably why the magical lights are in ce out in themon space.</em>


    There was a bed for her, and a few hooks for her essories. <em>Simple, and no more than I need.</em>


    She carefully lowered herself onto the bed and found that it was able to support her weight. <em>What did they stuff this with?</em>


    Despite her weight, it seemed to hold up well under her and was surprisinglyfortable to boot.


    As she examined the structure, Terry walked across the bed and squawked in irritation. As small as he currently was, he wasnt heavy enough for it to be cushioned for him.


    <em>Metal.</em> The structure of the bed was metal.<em> It looks like tubing of some kind. Fused at the junctions to make a near-seamless whole. </em>As she moved, it creaked ever so slightly. <em>They even gave itrge runners instead of discrete feet to distribute my weight on the floor better.</em>


    <em>They really did think of everything.</em> Ill pull out my bedroll for you, Terry. Youll be plentyfortable.


    That seemed to mollify the avian.


    T unlocked her door and moved back out into the hall, resecuring it after she was through. She turned around as the door behind her opened.


    Rane stepped out. Mistress T, good morning. He quickly pulled his door closed; not so quickly, however, that she couldnt see inside.


    Good morning, Master Rane. His room was easily double hers in size and she saw a servant working away, inside, seemingly doing whatever servants do. <em>He looks familiar </em>Is thatManth?


    Rane smiled happily. Yes, he was avable again, for this trip, so he was assigned to me, once more.


    Thats good?


    Rane nodded, turning towards the exit. Yeah; its nice to not have to get to know someone else, or work through the finicky minutia of a new servant.


    T walked beside him, giving him an incredulous look.


    Ahh, rightprobably not something youve ever dealt with.


    No, I cant say that I have. When have you?


    My family had servants, and I interacted with them a lot, growing up. And whenever Grediv had us spend any time in Alefast, he would get a servant to handle the minor details for himself and me.


    That would have been nice. T groused.


    Rane gave her an odd look. You do know that you could have had a servant, if youd wanted one.


    <em>Yeah, but</em> She let out a sigh of defeat. Fair enough. Youre right, but I think Im good, as I am. They pulled the door open, and hopped down, the door swinging shut on its own. <em>Well-designed hinges.</em>


    Have you seen our third? I havent had a chance to meet her yet.


    I haveshes up on the cargo wagon.


    And she can hear you perfectly. The womans voice came down to them. Come on up, Master Rane. The three of us should talk before we get underway.


    * * *


    T stood at the front of the cargo wagon, eyes scanning the surroundingndscape. Terry wassomewhere, probably having a grand old time, depopting the local fauna.


    Mistress Odera had gotten the caravan into the formation they would hold for the whole trip. Her reasoning had been sound. Practice when not under pressure.


    As such, the guardsmen were prepared for a vicious defensive battle, which T greatly hoped would nevere. Three were stationed atop the chuckwagon, their shields mounted in ce, crossbows ready to ept whatever specialized bolt was required, and they had a <em>lot</em>. Fastened to the top of the wagon, beside each emcement, was a segmented quiver holding at least twenty different types of quarrels, four of each.


    They had a dimensional chest affixed to the center of the space, which held more of every type, so that they could refresh their stock as needed. <em>That must be expensive to maintain</em>


    Around the two wagons, the seven remaining on-duty guardsmen rode in a loose, ever-shifting formation. Thankfully, each had a very simple set of directions, which, whenbined with the other mounted guards different instructions, created the defensive pattern. Each rider had what looked to be a bundle of spears, varied simrly to the archers ammunition. Each bundle looked to have been designed for quick selection and armament of a mounted rider. T knew enough to know that she, herself, would beughably ipetent if she tried to design such a thing.


    Rane rode in slow circuits around their moving wagons, inside the circle of guards.


    T was tasked with ensuring nothing obvious showed up to threaten them from the front. She wasnt to engage. Mistress Odera had been explicitly clear on that point; she was simply to inform. At her observation, they had already scared away two groups of thunder bulls that had lingered in their path.


    Around her regr sweeps of the rolling ins before them, and the dark line of trees some fifty miles distant, she read one of Hollys books, trying to deepen her own understanding of physiology, anatomy, and her spell-forms. Every bit of understanding she gained would increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the workings, and that could only profit her in the long run.


    If Terrys frequent, flickering visits were any indication, he was feasting joyfully, his contentment evident every time T saw him. <em>Maybe, I should find a way to let him get out more</em> On the way from Alefast, hed seemed content to rest near her. <em>That was something he had likely rarely been able to do, if ever. Now, hes had more than two weeks of rest, and so the hunt is what draws him.</em>


    She knew that she sometimes viewed Terry as a pet, no matter how many times he had proven to be more. <em>I need to be treating him like the equal that he is.</em> With a nod to herself, she pulled out arger than usual piece of jerky and waited.


    A momentter, Terry appeared beside her, the size of arge dog. He looked at the jerky in her hand, then up to her face.


    She tossed the jerky to him and sat down so that his head was a bit higher than hers. It was actually somewhat intimidating, looking up at the clearly predatory terror bird. She took a deep breath and smiled, speaking softly so even the driver, just a few feet away, wouldnt hear. Hey, Terry.


    Terry bobbed,ing a bit closer.


    I want to treat you more like the partner that you are. I dont want to just have you be around.


    He continued to eye her.


    Can youlet me know, if theres anything I can do for you, or anything that <em>we</em> can do?


    He tilted his head, first one way then the other. Finally, he bobbed his head.


    Thank you.


    He moved forward and bumped her head with his. It probably would have bruised her, without her defenses.


    T grinned and lightly headbutted him back, in turn. I do like having you around.


    Terry bobbed once more and vanished.


    <em>Ill take that as a good sign. He doesnt have to cling to my side but still likes to be here. </em>


    She returned her attention to her current tasks.


    Aside from the thunder bull families, a small flock of burning sparrows had swept their way and had been dispersed with a few well-ced bolts. The effectiveness of the guardsmens ammunition kept drawing Ts mind to the anti-magic weapons like those quarrels. <em>They are fascinating bits of magic. Armaments that are empowered by their target.</em> T shook her head. They wouldnt work against anyone who had a good handle on their own powerwould they?


    T nced back towards Mistress Odera. If T hadnt been looking for, and felt, the slight tendrils of magic, stretching from the woman at all times, in all directions, T would have thought her asleep and blind to the world.


    Clouds had rolled in through the morning as they left Bandfast behind, and a light dusting of snow had already fallen. Because of that, Mistress Odera sat, wrapped in a nket, seasoned with white. T, herself, had pulled on her leather shoes and wide-brimmed hat.


    Are there weapons that work on Archons, like the guards munitions affect arcanous beasts?


    Mistress Odera opened her eyes. Yes and no. She closed her eyes once more.


    T shook her head. Care to borate?


    Mistress Odera smiled, keeping her eyes shut. If you are in control of your own power, it cannot be turned against you, unless wielded by one greater than your control. Her smile widened. I, myself, have resisted the influence of beings and Archons ssified as Refined. Her smile faded. Such control is unusual, however. Her eyes opened, locking gazes with T. Ill wager you now have the strength to fight a Fused and hold your own. Youd likely win as often as not, but if it came to a contest of wills? She shook her head. You might even fall to another Bound.


    T grimaced. I am working on strengthening my will, my soul.


    As you should, but you have crippled yourself, as anyone with eyes can see.


    She cocked her head. How so?


    You do not face your greatest fear.


    T snorted derisively. Im not afraid of dying, Mistress Odera.


    Mistress Oderas eyes opened, seeming to pin T in ce. No, Mistress. You are afraid of living.


    T rocked backwards in her seated position. <em>What?</em> She opened her mouth to respond, but nothing came to her. <em>Isis that true?</em>


    Mistress Oderas eyes were already closed, once more, and T could see the flow of power pick up around the Mage. If her mage-sight was right, Mistress Odera had expanded her awareness back to nearly a hundred feet out from the wagon in every direction.


    Even after four hours, it <em>should</em> have been impressive. But, at the moment, T didnt have the mental space to contemte that.


    Instead, T found herself sitting, staring forward. <em>Is she right? Am I afraid to live?</em>

 Chapter 100: Crystal

    Chapter 100: Crystal


    T moved through the rest of the day in a state of deep contemtion. As a result, she focused her actions entirely on her role as Mage Protector.


    Lunch came and went, and she was barely able to summon up enough focus to thank the chef for the triple portion she brought to her. <em>What was her name, again?</em>


    The cargo wagon driver chatted with T for a bit, and she did her best to at least passingly engage, but nothing that he said sank deeply enough to disrupt her contemtions. <em>His name is Tion, right?</em> At least shed caught that. <em>Its always embarrassing to ask people for their names after I should know them</em>


    She did her duty, pointing out no fewer than six more possible threats over the next few hours. Only three of them had to be dealt with in the end.


    The afternoon was beginning to move towards the early evening of the season, when she saw a cloud-like shape moving low across the ground, near the edge of the treeline, still more than twenty-five miles distant, seemingly ignoring the wind. <em>Another flock of small birds, moving almost in unison. </em>Not umon in flocks, even of mundane birds, but her mage-sight was clear. <em>Arcanous avians.</em>


    Each bird was barely bigger than one of her fists, and they flitted about quite rapidly. <em>Like overrge hummingbirds.</em> She hesitated at that. <em>My sight is so much better!</em> She didnt let that distract her, though.


    The birds passed through a column of sunlight, which broke through the otherwise pervasive cloud-cover. Each bird shimmered and glinted in that light.


    These beasts had a crystalline aspect to them. T called over her shoulder, Flock! Crystalline birds. Small, but there looks to be hundreds.


    The guards responded, selecting from their more entric magical arsenal.


    Mistress Odera, for her part, was muttering to herself. Another? Its been weeks since a caravan reported encountering crystalline creatures. Was it not a migratory group, then? She clucked her tongue. A new fount with such a bent means trouble. More loudly, she called out. Dont let them touch you. Any wound will be devilishly difficult to heal.


    <em>Great</em> T drew Flow but didnt funnel the power needed for a transformation. <em>Another encounter in which Ill be mostly useless.</em>


    Terry had beenying near T, but at Mistress Oderas words, he looked back and forth between the two Mages.


    Go, Terry. I dont want you hurt by this, and you wont be much help against so many, small enemies.


    Terry hesitated for a long moment, then bobbed and vanished. <em>Be safe.</em>


    The guards affixed facetes to their helms and pulled on thick gloves. Both would hamper them in many situations, but the extra protection could be critical in theing encounter. Those who were mounted swiftly dismounted and hooked their reins onto the chuckwagon beside the spare mounts, hopefully keeping the animals out of any direct danger.


    The drivers, for their part, each pulled out arge, heavy nket, that moved oddly to Ts eyes. She looked closer, and her mage-sight detected what looked to be a chain-mail sheet betweenyers of heavy fabric and leather. Though, that was mainly interpretation off the distortions the steel created to that sight.


    When no one moved to do anything for the oxen or horses, directly, T asked Mistress Odera.


    Mistress Odera grunted. Unless the beasts are seen aspetitors or food, they will generally be left alone. I have my sight on them, however. If I need to, I should be able to keep them from harm.


    T nodded. <em>Fair enough.</em>


    The flock took another ten minutes to get close enough for everyone to see them easily, and Ts mage-sight helped her revise her earlier guess. I think theres at least four or five hundred. <em>Another five minutes before theyre here.</em>


    Mistress Odera shifted slightly. If you see a ce where you can help, do so. I know your offensive magics arent suited for this.


    <em>My offensive Right!</em> She hadnt had a chance to try out Hollys additions. <em>Minute gravity maniption might be perfect for this situation.</em> She almost twisted her arms into the right shape for the initial activation, then hesitated. Mistress Odera?


    Yes?


    I have another spell-form avable. With it, I can control the gravity around me, to some degree. It might be of help, here.


    That sounds ideal. Why do you sound hesitant?


    Ive never used it before. I havent practiced with it. Its a new spell-form for me, and its one that requires practice and precision to use effectively.


    Mistress Odera cursed under her breath. Then, no. Dont use it. Thest thing we need is for you to identally interfere with someone else, or worse, destroy a wagon with chaotically assigned forces.


    T opened her mouth to argue but stopped. <em>It shouldnt work that way, but worse things have happened when testing out new scripts in stressful situations</em><em>Thats what I was thinking already. Thats why I didnt just do it. Why am I going to fight against advice that I </em>know<em> is wise?</em> She pulled herself together and nodded. As you say. Ill add it to my regr practice, as I should have as soon as I got the inscriptions.


    Mistress Odera grunted. You cant practice everything, Mistress T. In hindsight, this might have been better to practice with, but if wed encountered something else, your chosen regimen might have been better. Do what you can and fill in the gaps with wisdom.


    T felt a smile tug at the side of her mouth. As you say, Mistress.


    Mistress Odera clucked her tongue thoughtfully. You are protected against having your skin breached, correct?


    T nodded. Not only were her inscriptions oriented that way, but she also had a cup of ending-berry juicefortably processed within her. The power was like the returning of an old friend, and she definitely felt better with its added defense. I am.


    Mistress Odera took a deep breath, nodded, and seemed to decide something. Then, I need you to make yourself a beacon. With that many, we need a distraction.


    T gave the woman a questioning look.


    Helpfully, the other woman exined. Go off to the right, walk parallel to the caravan, and do everything you can to dump power into the environment. Well drive them off from there.


    T nodded, jumping from the cargo wagon.


    The wagon creaked behind her, rocking slightly from the force of her jump and the sudden loss of weight after her departure. She hit the ground much faster than anyone else would have and drove two circr holes into the soil, some six inches deep. <em>Huh, not enough pressure distribution, then.</em> Shed have to have Holly expand that. <em>If I keep this</em>


    T stepped up, out of the shallow holes and moved away from the caravan, and Mistress Odera called out instructions to the guards and Rane. T didnt listen to what was said, except to hear that Rane was ordered inside a wagon. His defenses would do little good against this threat, and he couldnt be risked in the encounter.


    T, for her part, invoked six void-channels, directing the least into her body, to keep her scripts and normal functions powered. The other five, she directed outward. She also released her hold on her Archon aura, allowing that to spread out around her, if just barely.


    She dumped power into the air.


    Mistress Odera called down to her with an amendment to her orders. Too much, Mistress. We dont want to draw in additional threats. Keep your aura contained and cut the output by at least half.


    T immediately did so, dismissing three of the exterior directed channels and retracting her aura with a minimal tug of her soul. <em>There.</em>


    The effect on the swarm was obvious, as they began to fly even more quickly, more frantically, their movement seeming agitated.


    T took up a parallel path to the wagons, some hundred feet to the west, heading south.


    The guards atop the chuckwagon began firing in a steady rhythm, alternating so that one boltnced out every second and a half or so.


    The munitions cut straight lines through the oing flock, now clearly oriented on T. Each bolt took out close to a dozen enemies. Every bird struck puffed into sparkling dust, but the mass continued to bear down on her.


    <em>Ahhmore like six or seven hundred, then.</em>


    She created another void-channel, directing it into Flows sword path. It was barely enough power to cause the change of form, when coupled with a healthy dose from her reserves. Flow extended as T stepped forward, swinging at the leading edge as the birds came into melee range.


    That single swing severed dozens, each puffing to sparkling dust. It was a bare fraction of the leading edge.


    T was struck an uncounted number of times, each little adversary finding a way to hit her with multiple natural weapons as it passed. Her leathers were sliced and torn, immediately pulling back together in the wake of each passing blow.


    There was a problem, however. Each cut began to grow crystal, which the leathers had to force out, before they could close. It was taking <em>monumental</em> power, and the clothing was moving towards total depletion, fast.


    <em>Rust that!</em> T recreated a fifth void-channel, connecting it to the refill point for the outfit on her right thigh. Her influx was barely enough to keep up with the tremendous drain ced upon their magics.


    Her ending-berry power was draining at an almost rming rate, keeping even the smallest scratch from her, though her hair was shorn and tattered.


    She struck again and again, moving Flow in great sweeping cuts, never letting it slow. Her ears were filled with the pping of wings, the buzzing of quarrels, and the light tinkling of dust falling onto the snow.


    The air was so filled with power, both from her and the birds, that her mage-sight had trouble telling her anything useful.


    Finally, the flock had passed, and her series of quick blows was done. She took a particrly deep breath, having maintained proper rhythm, and sucked in a lungful of dust.


    She immediately felt the magic that was still held within the gritty substance.


    The inscriptions shed had Holly add to her throat and lungs proved their worth as the entirety of the material, along with their invasive magics, was ejected without taking effect as she coughed out an exhale.


    T found herself on her knees, hacking into ground.


    She recoiled as she saw how much dust was mixed with the now crystalline grass and trampled snow. <em>Dont breathe that in, T!</em>


    Panicking, T vaulted back to her feet, and looked around as she continued to cough. Thankfully, the crystal growth didnt seem to be spreading beyond the immediate vicinity of where the dust had fallen. <em>Good, we didnt just doom the whole of the ins</em> Such shouldnt be possible, but it would have been beyond foolish not to check.


    She spun, reorienting on the flock as it wheeled around for another pass at her.


    She maintained all her channels except for the one that led to Flow. It was still a great burden to maintain Flow in sword-form, so she let thatpse.


    <em>Two channels. I think I can direct two void-channels into it, and that should allow me to keep the sword out for longer.</em>


    The guards were still firing a steady pattern of shots, each flying true and taking out quite a number of avians with each bolt.


    <em>We can do this. This isnt so bad.</em>


    Almost as if at that thought, circumstances radically changed.


    The swarm suddenly shifted, breaking into two, smaller groups. Both orientated towards the caravan; more specifically: one aimed towards the guard between them and the caravan, and the other towards the chuckwagon and the crossbowmen atop it.


    T didnt think; she just took off at a dead sprint for the lone guardsman.


    <em>Im not going to make it.</em> She was sixty feet away. Mistress Odera seemed to be beginning a working. <em>Go faster!</em> T couldnt have said if the thought was directed at herself, or the older Mage.


    T was fifty feet from the lone guard.


    The birds drew closer, and that guard crouched low, dropping to one knee, holding his round shield up to protect most of himself from the brunt of the iing assault.


    Forty feet.


    T recreated all her void-channels, pulsing the power outward in a desperate attempt to redirect the birds towards herself. It failed.


    Thirty feet.


    As T pounded across the grass, she saw an oblong, bubble-like shield of protection blossom into being around the chuckwagon, those atop it, and the animals tied to it. Tracing the flows of power made the obvious more so: Mistress Odera had finished her working, and she seemed to have started a second. <em>Will she be fast enough?</em>


    Twenty feet.


    <em>The guard is still exposed.</em> MISTRESS ODERA!


    Ten feet.


    As if in slow motion, T saw the leading birds either stretching outically small talons before themselves, or tucking in wings, orienting their beaks for piercing impacts.


    T arrived, and another shield, a thing of true beauty, sprang up around her and the guard, along with at least thirty of their enemies.


    <em>Not the time to examine her magics.</em>


    Flow was back in the form of a sword, fed by two void-channels, and T was striking in a furious pattern at the few crystalline enemies that were still alive inside with them.


    Most of this segment of the flock was deflected by Mistress Oderas shield, but T was focused on what was inside, with them.


    Dozens of impacts had cascaded across the guardsman as he, too, fought to strike down the birds. His skill was far beyond Ts, but he was also less well protected, despite his armor.


    Crystals already blossomed across much of his armor, and his shield was riddled with holes and sparkling, invasive magic. <em>Good to know, it is a secondary effect. Thats why the iron salve didnt help.</em>


    After a few frantic breaths, the inside of the bubble was silent, save for their panting, blessedly empty of living foes.


    T looked outward and was able to see enough to determine that the remains of the flock were retreating. With a grateful exhale, she then took a moment to examine the magic around her.


    Her mage-sight and normal vision worked together to interpret what she saw.


    First, Mistress Oderas shield: There were no fewer than six alternatingyers of air and water. T struggled to interpret what she saw. <em>Did she increase the surface tension of the water to such a degree that it pulled itself out of the air and soil to form thoseyers?</em> The air had been hardened as well, but T couldnt even begin to guess at the method. The result was unquestionable, however.


    <em>This would stop any physical attack Ive ever seen.</em> It was incredible.


    Second, she looked at the crystalline remains of their foes, sprinkling the now faceted grass. <em>Good, the power is used up, and its not spreading further.</em>


    Behind T, the guard groaned, a thump reverberating through the small space as he fell fully to his knees.


    Mistress Oderas magical shield popped, and T called out. Healer! Mistress Odera! <em>Better to be safe.</em>


    The guards shield arm was dangling uselessly, crystals having grown across the shield and the armor on that arm. Those outward facets seemed to have stopped growing, just like the sparkling grass around them.


    As T looked closer, she saw a streak of dark red crystal in a line from the mans arm, running down the back of the limply hanging shield.<em> Blood. Magically affected blood.</em>


    Her eyes widened.


    She focused, willing her mage-sight to prate the magics of the crystal on the outside of the mans armor, and thats when she saw it.


    His very blood was crystalizing, the process following the power-rich channels, feeding on the mans internal magic and working its way upward...inward.


    It had already passed his elbow and was moving towards the half-way point to his shoulder.


    <em>What do I do?</em> Your arm is infected.


    The guard nodded. Feels like, yeah. His voice was strained with obvious pain as he spoke through what must have been incredibly disorienting agony. Take it off.


    What?


    Cut off my arm! He leaned back, letting the shield that was braced against the ground help him extend the limb-in-question, to give her room to work with.


    That should actually work. <em>Yeah. That should work.</em>


    She didnt hesitate, whipping Flow forward in an upward sh, striking well above the spreading, hostile magics. <em>As far above as possible, anyways.</em> She didnt actually have that much arm to work with.


    T struck true, and Flow passed through armor, gambeson, flesh, and bone without any resistance, cauterizing the wound in its wake.


    The man gasped, falling back, pushing away from the now separated arm with his legs and his one remaining arm.


    The infected arm, now bereft of the mans soul to defend it, crystallized instantly, the hostile spell-working using itself up in the process.


    T immediately focused her mage-sight on the man once more and verified that all remaining crystals and dust were fully inert. The hostile magic was fully spent.


    Thank you, Mistress. Thank you.


    She smiled and nodded, re-sheathing Flow, once again in knife form. Lets get you healed up. Shall we?


    She nced towards the front wagon and saw Mistress Odera almost at the base of thedder.


    After a moments thought, T scooped the guard up and ran with him to catch up to the still-moving caravan. His weight was trivial, when added to her own. So, she covered the distance in short order.


    Mistress Odera had seen hering and opened the cargo-slot into the guards quarters, climbing in to be ready to receive the man.


    T hoisted him up, into the waiting arms of several guards whod been off-duty and who hade to help Mistress Odera when shed called. Rane was there as well, and he looked almost violently unhappy at having been confined to the wagon.


    Mistress Odera nodded in thanks to T, then asked a question with the tone of amand. Is the magic still active?


    No, Mistress. All the powers been used. No active workings that I could detect.


    After a moments hesitation, Mistress Odera nodded again. Please, get the arm and shield. Ill need to examine them, after I help him. She then turned to Rane. Get back outside and keep a perimeter clear. We should be safe, but a false sense of safety is one of the great killers in this world.


    Yes, Mistress. Rane dropped out and took off at a jog to get in front of the cargo wagon to begin his patrol. He didnt seem to want to risk his horse, for the moment.


    T, for her part, turned and ran back for the severed arm. <em>I have to give Mistress Odera a hand.</em>


    She chuckled at the dark joke, the thought cracking through her panicked calm. <em>Im alive... Were all alive.</em>

 Chapter ?? - Fool’s Folly

    Chapter ?? - Fool¡¯s Folly


    The Devourer of All had spent the entirety of her considerable existence reincarnating around the fringes of human civilization. The short-lived mammals were easy to fool at first. Their folly enabled Devourer to consume much of what they had tried to im, along with quite a few of the silly creatures, themselves.


    This allowed her to grow in strength, building towards her goalthe fulfillment of her very name.


    Unfortunately, as time went on, humanity learned to look for telltale signs of Devourers power, no matter what form she took.


    Each time they found her, they would y her, tossing her true self back into the void where shenguished until she could w her way back out, finding a new vessel, a new form.


    This agonizing process forced her to grow, to change, and to find new ways to exist for longer stints. Her hatred of the void warred against her need to devour all and her need to grow strong so that she could do just that.


    Through several existences, she made slow progress by consuming things that the peons wouldnt miss. Holding off on eating the humans, themselves, as long as she could. To facilitate this, she renamed herself: Devi.


    It was much easier to resist desires to devour when she didnt constantly call herself Devourer.


    There should be no mistake, her goal wasand would always still beto grow until she could Devour All, but she was willing to be patient.


    As Devi, she had consigned herself to a meaningless existence, eating the detritus stored within her and forgotten, while remaining within the current human cesspit.


    Then, one came and dared to im her.


    This new creature had almost immediately ced itself within Devis power, and Devi decided it wasnt worth resisting. The humans would find her and send her back to the void, but she would have at least consumed this arrogant creature.


    But the human had surprised her.


    Devi tried to taunt the thing, beginning to form human handprints on the walls, waiting to savor the creatures terror.


    Completely counter to her expectations, the human had ced its hand on the handprint, and Devi had received <em>power.</em> It was not the meager trickle that humans had used in the past, while attempting toy im over one of her temporary forms.


    No.


    This one filled Devi to capacity.


    Devi <em>couldnt</em> eat the human, even if she tried. There was nowhere for the power she would gain to be stored. Devi needed time to consolidate her gains, increase her capacities, and then, she would be ready to eat the human.


    So, Devi waited.


    But the strange human continued to feed her vastly more than anyone should have.


    The human didnt question it, simply providing more as Devi was able to ept more.


    Devi grew in power, her all-consuming desire to Devour only grew, but her appetite remained satisfied.


    It wasnt a quick process; it would take decades of this behavior before she could fully manifest her power and consume everything, but whenpared to the cial progress of the past millennia? Patience now was nothing.


    The good peon had taken to calling Devi by a different name. That was eptable as Devi wasnt about to tell the human who she really was.


    And, though she would never admit it, even to herself, Devi wasing to like being called Kit.

 Chapter 101: A Calm, Uneventful Evening

    Chapter 101: A Calm, Uneventful Evening


    T had no trouble finding the guards severed arm, nor the shield to which it was strapped.


    Ity near the center of a circle of crystalline grass and dust.<em> This is here, because of me He lost his arm, because of me.</em>


    That was silly, of course; he was only still alive because shed cut his arm free.


    <em>He had to tell me to.</em>


    Even so, shed saved his life.


    She grimaced, shaking off the notion, and examining the area. <em>The magics only affected living matter.</em>


    <em></em>The guards shield, though made of wood, must have been too far from its time as part of a tree to qualify, because it simply had geological growths across most of its surface. The underlying material seemed mostly intact. <em>Except the gaping holes that those birds punched through</em>


    There had been a terrifying amount of power in those little creatures.


    T grabbed the shield up and turned back, jogging after the retreating wagons.


    A momentter, she slowed to a brisk walk and felt her hair bouncing and swaying oddly. <em>Right!</em>


    She ran her free hand through it, feeling crystals and shorn ends. She shuddered again. <em>That was really close.</em> She pulled out herb, and experimentally ran it through her jagged hair. It worked as shed hoped, pulling the crystal out like it usually did to water. True, in some ces that meant tearing the hair, but that was ok.


    A momentter, her hair was clear of the magically grown material and she activated some of the scripts on her scalp, causing her hair to return to the proper length. <em>There.</em> That bit of vanity handled, she took a moment to examine herself and her grisly burden.


    T, herself, was fine. Shed dismissed all of her void-channels save the one to her body, once her leathers were topped off.


    <em>Kit.</em>


    She stuck her hand into the belt-pouch and created a second void-channel to feed it. The dimensional storage guzzled power.


    <em>Almost empty?</em> As T thought about it, that made sense. <em>Kit likely had to shift itself out of the way of quite a few attacks.</em> She once again was grateful that shed chosen a storage item with some self-preservation built in. <em>Thats right, T. Never forget that self-preservation is key.</em>


    She pushed away the reminder of Mistress Oderas words. <em>Im not afraid to live.</em> Now was hardly the time for such thoughts.


    Kit refilled, T looked at the shield and now mineralized limb. <em>Every part of it was restructured. How can that even happen?</em> It should have taken much more power than could have been imparted by such a small creature, or in such a brief time.


    <em>Multiple strikes?</em> There had been several, obviously, but no, that wasnt the cause. Shed seen the magics feeding on the guards internal power, that which wasing from his own gate.


    <em>What would have happened if it had reached that gate, his soul?</em>


    She had no way of knowing, and if she was being honest, she wasnt sure she wanted to know.


    <em>I hope Terry came through alright.</em> She had no reason to expect otherwise, but it was still worth checking. Terry? She called out loudly enough for her voice to carry, without the utterance being a true shout.


    Terry flickered into being beside her. He was as tall as a horse, and he stared at the shield with obvious interest.


    No, Terry. This isnt for eating.


    He shook himself.


    Not what you were thinking?


    More shaking.


    Curious about the magics?


    He bobbed.


    Yeah, me too. Ill let you know what Mistress Odera finds out if you arent around to hear it.


    He nced at her, then, quick as a blink, he was on her shoulder, smaller than most cats. He head-bumped her cheek before curling up.


    Thank you, Terry. Im d youre safe, too.


    * * *


    Thest hour of the days traveling passed without further incident.


    Mistress Odera didnt have the ability to regrow the guards arm, but she was able to treat, preserve, and prep the stump for the regeneration of that limb once they reached Makinaven. The other guards had already arranged to fulfill the mans duties until then; having the extra guards on this route made that a trivial thing.


    <em>I hope the need isnt a herald of things toe</em>


    The crystal remaining after the tiny birds magicpleted its working was just mundane crystal, simr to that found within a geode, at least thats what Mistress Odera told T.


    Once the injured guards health was assured, arge contingent of off-duty guards did a quick, wide-ranging sweep to gather the bolts that had been fired at the crystal birds, so they could be usedter.


    Mistress Odera had a tablet, and shed used it to advise the Caravanners Guild, atrge, of the possibility of a new fount in the region.


    The Mage was <em>very</em> d that she didnt have to inform T or Rane about the founts. She let them know that, in all likelihood, a high-level Archon would be sent to investigate at some point, soon. At worst, caravans would have to be directed wide of the area for a time, adding significantly to the already uncertain route.


    T, for her part, spent most of the hour alone, atop the cargo-wagon, keeping an even closer eye on their surroundings.


    When they finally stopped, T was introduced to a new horror.


    Instead of being able to rx through dinner and the evening, she was required to increase her vignce, as every passenger was allowed out of their cargo-slot to get some fresh air and stretch their legs, while thest of dinner was prepared and served.


    Unlike previous caravans, there was no wagon circle to provide even the illusion of separation from the wilds, nor to corral passengers, when they were prone to wander.


    The two wagons were spaced to create a somewhat distinct space, and a few tables were set up there, keeping the people mostly contained. The only saving grace was that it was fairly cold out in the open, and the lightly falling snow added to that incentive for quick retreats, back into the safety and warmth of the wagon.


    She only had to shepherd two passengers back, when they walked too far out. It gave her a new view on the headache she must have caused the guards in her previous venture.


    Finally, every passenger was back in their cargo-slot for the night, and T had finally gotten her dinner. Again, it was a muchrger portion than anyone else had been given.


    <em>Bless you, Brand. Thank you for taking care of me, even when you arent here.</em> Maybe, when she was filthy rich, she should hire him as her personal chef <em>Lissa could be a good assistant, too.</em>


    T took her time, finishing her third, miniature chicken pot pie. The hot food allowed her to rx just a bit more as she kept her gaze moving over their surroundings. <em>What a day. Ill need to thank the head cook for this, too.</em>


    You know: You humans are sofragile.


    T whipped around, staring at the figure standing on the other end of the wagon top.


    What caught her attention at first, aside from someone suddenly appearing behind her in the wilds, was that his eyes were blood.


    Noparison held the weight of truth, save to say that his eyes were spheres of fresh, liquid blood, unbroken save small circr scabs in ce of pupils.


    Meeting that gaze, she felt frozen to the spot.


    Around his eyes, true-ck, smooth skin forced the orbs into stark contrast, making their deep shades seem almost to glow. Subtle hints of grey lines ran under that skin in patterns very like spell-lines but somehow utterly different, like seeing her ownnguage written with phic alphabet. The concepts seemed familiar, while remaining utterly opaque to her interpretation.


    <em>Why does he look familiar?</em> Her mage-sight was screaming at her, and she finally registered what it was saying. <em>He doesnt have a gate.</em>


    Instead, he was drawing in power from the surrounding air and burning it within himself. The ratios were incredibly off kilter. He was using massively more than he could draw in from the rtively magic-poor air.


    I saw your beacon of power. Thank you for that. Id have hated to miss your departure. He smiled, his perfectly white teeth shing in the fading light. I love your eyes, by the way. You definitely lived up to the potential I saw in you. He shook his head and clucked his tongue, once. That said, I must admit, I misjudged you. His voice had a strange resonance, a rity like a trumpet sounding on a frozen winters morning.


    Do I know you?


    Heughed lightly, a sound like a steep mountain stream, sttered in flesh and burbling with blood.


    <em>How can someone even make that sound?</em>


    We met, briefly. He gave a half-smile. Id thought you would be reckless enough to profit me. He nced away, seeming to be trying to catch sight of something in the distance, to the north.


    You think Im not reckless enough? That thought broke through the odd, strange horror of the situation.


    He refocused on her. Hmm? No. You are, if anything, more reckless than Id thought, but for some reason, you arent reckless on things that <em>matter.</em>


    Imsorry? She definitely felt the overwhelming desire to apologize properly, to abase herself, but resisted. <em>I should be sorry for inconveniencing this creature. Why am I resisting?</em>


    He waved dismissively. Im just trying to decide if it would be worth breaking the bond between your body and soul.


    T instantly had Flow in her hand, three void-channels holding it strongly in the form of a sword. You will not. She was utterly certain of that.


    <em>Does the bond really matter?</em> What was happening to her thoughts?


    The light of day was fading quickly, but at that moment, sunlight stabbed through distant clouds to brightly illuminate those directly overhead, bathing the two figures, standing atop the cargo wagon, in reflected light. In that new illumiation, the silver-ine lines on the beings skin came into greater view. He was frowning. Oh, dont be tiresome. Your only task here is to let me pick your brain, to answer my questions so I can make a properly informed decision. He leaned forward just slightly, looking her up and down, slowly. That is a fascinating Way, youre using, there. It looks like itcerated your soul as you learned it. Heughed again, and T found her grip weakening. Some scars can be useful, I suppose.


    <em>Why would I want to hurt such a being?</em> She shook her head, detecting the subtle pressure on her mind. <em>How?</em> The scripts around her eyes were guzzling power, trying to keep <em>something</em> out, and they were failing. <em>Wait, why hasnt anyone else noticed him?</em>


    She tore her eyes away and looked around. She was horrified to see that every creature in sight was frozen in ce, whether human, ox, horse, or Terry. By their slight swaying and nk expressions, it appeared that they were somehow being subdued in a nonsensical state rather than physically restrained by some means.


    T closed her eyes, then, and felt her thoughts clear. <em>He was getting in through my eyes.</em> Were her palms going to be an issue? She desperately hoped not, and clenched her hands into tighter fists, Flow firmly locked in her right hand.


    What is this? You are thinking on your own volition? Light steps sounded as the being approached.


    T struck out blindly with Flow and heard a sharp, hissing intake of breath.


    How can you attack me?


    T dropped into a defensive stance, bracing herself as well as she could for attacks from an unknown direction.


    You dare? I gave you the form you need, the path to power, the path to be <em>useful</em>, and you take it for yourself, for your own use. Ie to talk, and you choose violence?


    Her head snapped to the side as she was struck with a blow that would have felled one of the caravans oxen.


    T rolled with the hit, moving the bare minimum to orient on her attacker, sweeping Flow in a covering circle to cut at whatever had hit her.


    No. You are different than before. You have done <em>things</em> to yourself. Yours is not a useful insanity. This cannot be allowed. There was a finality to the statement.


    T didnt even register the hit, before she was airborne.


    As expected, she came down faster than anything on this world had any right to, and she skipped across the ins, her body digging furrows in the soil with each skipping impact. Her ending-berry power was running dangerously low.


    She almost smiled as she was reminded of her fight with the cyclops. But Grediv wasnt here to take advantage of the distraction she provided this time. She was on her own.


    <em>I cant fight like this. I have to risk it. </em>Her eyes snapped open, and she oriented herself, vaulting back to her feet, spinning in a circle until she saw the caravan in the near distance, a figure standing on the cargo wagons top.


    He was more of a beacon than T had been with all her void-channels dumping power outward.


    The aura underlying the power was a deep, green-blue.


    <em>Rust me to g.</em> How had she not noticed that earlier?


    With each passing moment, however, the aura was shifting more towards green.


    <em>Hes losing power by the second.</em><em>I just need to oust him.</em> She didnt need her eyes open to do that. Before she could close her eyes, however, the option was taken from her.


    Without any appearance of movement, the figure was before her once more, hands on either side of her head.


    It seems that you would take <em>much</em> too much power to kill, or more time than I have. Even so, I cannot leave you with memory of this.


    The scripts around her eyes were overwhelmed in an instant, pushed aside rather than burned away, and try as she might, she couldnt ovee thepulsion that prevented her from closing her eyes, not even to blink.


    His face filled her vision.


    Interesting use of iron. So, thats how you were able to move so freely. The sides of her head zed with heat for a brief moment, before iron dust showered down on her shoulders.


    The being briefly flicked each hand away then back to her head, clearing the limb of rust. Then, there was a renewed pulse of power.


    T felt something try to invade her brain, but her very being rose up against the assault. She used every scrap of strength she could draw upon, barely managing to shelter her mind: a pebble before a hurricane.


    Even so, the edges of her mind werent set, yet. Her mage-sight, coupled with her mental scripts, allowed her to watch, helpless, as her short-term memory was shredded into-


    <em>Why am I panicking? What was that daydream, again?</em> T tried to shake off the lingering vestiges of an overactive imagination, but found her head locked in ce, blood filling her vision. <em>Not a figment?</em> Brief shreds of memory came floating back.<em> It was real?! It-</em>


    Power washed through her mind, and her eyes closed of their own volition.


    There was an odd grunt, and something that was clearly a curse in anguage she didnt know. A voice shed never heard before muttered under their breath. How heavy are you?


    Her mind was hit, once more, and her thoughts-


    There was a pulse of power, quickly fading into the distance, and Ts eyes snapped open.


    She wasying on the ground, staring up at falling snow and clouds, which were just losing thest light of day.


    <em>Where am I?</em>


    Mistress T? Mistress Odera was calling her.


    T jumped up to her feet, looking around. <em>Why am I so far from the caravan?</em>


    Mistress Odera was standing near the cargo-wagon, looking up at its top, calling out. Mistress T!


    T began to jog the couple of hundred yards back to the wagon.


    On the way back, she wove around the deep, irregrly spaced furrows in the earth. <em>What happened?</em>


    She examined within herself and found the bulk of her expected ending-berry power was absent; only the barest vestiges remained. <em>When did I use that up?</em>


    She called out to Mistress Odera, and the other Mage turned towards her, irritation in on the older womans face. Even so, she remained silent, until T stopped beside her. Why did you leave your post, Mistress?


    II dont think I did.


    Mistress Odera paused at that, seeming to understand a depth behind Ts words. What do you mean?


    T looked over her shoulder. There is evidence that <em>something </em>sent me flying from the wagon-top. Some of my defenses are drastically drained, and the earth is churned in a line from the cargo-wagon to where I was lying.


    Mistress Oderas hands flicked out, and a bubble of power quickly built before fully encapsting the caravans campsite. <em>Her shield.</em> What did this?


    I dont know, and I didnt lose consciousness. I have inscriptions to correct that, and they always notify me when they do. I believe I felt a power fading, retreating before I came to awareness


    Mistress Oderas eyes were moving across their surroundings. There are the faintest, lingering traces of <em>something</em> with power, here. Her face snapped towards T. What happened to your protection, child?


    T frowned as Terry appeared on her shoulder, crooning lightly. What do you mean?


    Your iron is gone from your head.


    T swallowed reflexively, feeling her face with her off hand. <em>Thats not good.</em>


    Terry bumped her cheek with the top of his head.


    No, Terry, I dont know whats going on She had the lingering impression of blood. Im not bleeding, am I? She examined herself, and Mistress Odera gave her a once over as well.


    No, you are perfectly healthy.


    The two of them climbed back to the top of the cargo-wagon, and after another sweep of their surroundings, Mistress Odera let her shield fall. T, for her part, had pulled out an iron-salve bar and was desperately working the substance in, all over her head. <em>I cant stay defenseless.</em>


    The older woman sat heavily. Something happened, of that much I am certain, but I cannot determine what. I can see everyone whos supposed to be out here, but we should check the passengers against the manifests.


    Whats going on? Shed done a hasty job of her reapplication, but it would have to be good enough, for now.


    I wish I knew, Mistress. Weve been losing caravans a bit more regrly around Bandfast, in thest half year or so.


    More regrly?


    Closer to one in a hundred, as opposed to one in a thousand. Though some of that is extraption.


    Thatsa big difference.


    Mistress Odera barked a mirthlessugh. Yes. Yes, it is.


    T nodded to herself. Ill check in with each exposed cargo-slot.


    Send Master Rane to me, when you can. Id like to pick his brain.


    Something about that made T twitch, but she dismissed the feeling. Yes, Mistress.


    Mistress Odera gave her a long look. Whatever happened, I am d that you survived. We might just be able to fill in some gaps in our knowledge because of it.


    T almost told her about the script at the base of her own neck, which would have recorded a lot of what transpired, for Hollys use, but something made T think that voicing anything about its existence would be a mistake. Instead, T simply gave Mistress Odera a respectful bow and dropped off the side of the wagon, Terry clinging to her shoulder as she fell.


    <em>All I wanted was a calm, uneventful evening. </em>She shook her head. Now was not the time for weakness; she had work to do.

 Chapter 102: I’m Hardly Standard

    Chapter 102: I¡¯m Hardly Standard


    T went to each cargo-slot and asked the head servant to do a headcount andpare it to their rosters. Something had her extra nervous, so she asked a secondary servant to watch the one shed tasked for any odd behavior. <em>Never hurts to be sure.</em>


    Rane had been in the first cargo-slot shed begun the process in, and shed sent him to Mistress Odera.


    Less than ten minutes after shed opened her eyes in the wilderness, inexplicably away from the caravan, Ts mage-sight screamed a warning. With a thought, Flow was in her hand in the form of a sword. She spun,shing out even as she called out a warning.


    Iing-! Her call cut off for three reasons.


    First, her mage-sight registered the aura: Reforged. The being before her radiated a perfectly controlled, deep blue aura, clearly a bit more purple than true blue. It didnt radiate out from him, but instead, was held precisely at the surface of his skin almost like a badge of authority or office.


    Second, the person was obviously human. Her mage-sight held that up before her mind in a way that seemed like it should be unable to be faked. The very magic within him <em>felt</em> human. The gate zing forth was a fairly strong indicator as well.


    Third, the man perfectly countered her actions. One hand caught Ts own, holding Flow at bay. More importantly, his second hand rested against her lips, rendering her unable to continue making sound.


    You are for humanity, yes, Bound? You are not corrupted? His voice was soft but thrumming with power.


    Rane vaulted from the wagon behind T, somehow utterly silent in his sudden assault, Force already whipping towards the newly arrived Archon.


    The Archons lips quirked, and T saw a section of inscriptions on the mans bare neck flicker to life.


    Rane froze mid-air, wrapped in a uniform, dim glow. At the same time, three quarrels jerked to a stop in a perfect cluster, hovering three feet from the mans back.


    The mans smile grew. Impressive response.


    Mistress Odera walked up to the edge of the roof, surveying the scene below and sighed. Reforged, please forgive these young ones.


    The Archon released Ts hand and lips, stepping back and to the side. No harm was done, and their reactions do them credit. He shifted his shoulders, and the spell-forms still active on his neck altered slightly, causing Rane to slowly drift down and lightly settle onto his feet. The bolts dropped from the air.


    Tell the guards to stand down, please. I dont wish to waste metal or time continuing to counter them.


    T cleared her throat, sheathing Flow but remaining ready. Stand down! She met the new arrivals gaze. He had not been at her raising, but shed been told that most of the more powerful had not been. I am human, yes.


    His eyes snapped to her, narrowing. That is not what I asked.


    She swallowed involuntarily, fighting the urge to take a step back at the intensity. Uhhhummmyes? Yes, I am for humanity? <em>What does that even mean?</em>


    Mistress Odera began climbing down. They are newly raised.


    The man grunted. So, youve not yet faced an arcane His voice faded. No. I definitely sense the lingering feel of a Revered. He grinned widely. Though, it was practically Honored, when it left.


    T frowned. What?


    He gave a half smile. You have advanced mage-sight? Yes? Good. That is an arcane whose aura is blue, fading back to green.


    Isnt that Reforged and Paragon?


    For humans, yes. Arcanes function differently. No gate, different advancement. He shrugged. But Im not here to educate you.


    <em>That wassurprisingly informative, even so.</em> T frowned. <em>Whats his game?</em>


    He looked to Mistress Odera, now standing on the ground near the wagon. Mistress, you are lead protector for this caravan: Mistress Odera, correct?


    I am.


    You are a Forbidden, correct?


    Mistress Odera took a deep breath, then nodded, her eyes remaining fixed on the man. I am.


    Good, having to temper my words for a usual non-Archon would have beenwasteful.


    She grunted, giving a slight bow. As you say. Thank you foring.


    I am Master Xeel. A powerful arcane was detected near here; we had to respond. He shrugged. Tell me what happened.


    <em>We had to respond? Are the Archons monitoring the whole of the human wilds, or is it just because we are so close to Bandfast?</em>


    Mistress Odera shook her head. We dont know. No one remembers seeing anything, but were missing close to a quarter hour of time, if Im right in my guess. We are still doing a headcount, so I cant swear no one is missing. Mistress T, here, was thrown from the wagon top. She was on watch, and woke up over there, with no memory of being attacked. She pointed to where T had been.


    The Reforged nodded, ncing that way and seeming to take in the entire scene. Quite a bit of lingering power, there. He turned back to T. How did you survive?


    No memory. She cocked her eyebrow. We did just say that.


    Xeel snorted. Let me rephrase. Why would an arcane leave you alive?


    T felt a chill. <em>Something to do with blood?</em> Xeels eyes narrowed, but he didntment. T shook herself, then responded. I honestly dont know.


    Rane stepped forward. Mistress T has bent most of her magic toward survivability. He nced to her, motioning for her to expound.


    She sighed. I also use aplementing power that reinforces me. When I came back to consciousness, over there, my reserves of that power were nearly dry.


    Xeel frowned, looking more intently at T. She felt her iron-salve warm under the force of his mage-sight, if just slightly. Finally, he grunted. Is that ending-berry power? He barked augh. That mustve made them rusting <em>furious.</em>


    T cocked her head. Why?


    He grinned. The first humans to sessfully rebel used ending-berry power to stand up to the arcane enforcers that were sent after them. Most of us cant use it, these days, but it will be interesting to see how you turn out. Did you build your entire schema around using them?


    <em>Thats a bit rude to ask, but I suppose its relevant. </em>Well, I sought my power based on the mythos, yes. Though, I didnt know that ending-berries were the basis, at the time.


    Ahh, fascinating. He scratched under the right side of his chin. Might get you in trouble in the forest, depending on how much you rely on that defense. He hesitated, ncing towards Mistress Odera. But we are getting off topic. He sighed. If there is no memory of the encounter, it was likely a Conceptual Guide. He spat to the side. Ill need to examine each of you for programming. He grimaced in an almost child-like way. The face he made reminded T of one of her brothers being told to clean up a particrly odorous mess. Im guessing you have quite a few passengers?


    More than two hundred.


    Xeel sighed, again. Well, Ill see to the mundanes first. You threest. That sound good?


    T felt herself rx<em>. Good. I can take a minute to get my thoughts in order...</em> She frowned. <em>Wait. That doesnt make sense-</em>


    Xeels hands were suddenly on either side of her head, light flooding from his palms, locking her in ce.


    She gasped, arching before the influx of power. There was not damage being done, nothing for the ending-berries or her defensive inscriptions to resist.


    In less than three seconds, Xeel had stepped back, spinning and throwing out hazy beams of light, which caught Mistress Odera and Rane. Xeel had directed one hand at each. Magical light, Xeels power, swept through the two much more quickly than it had through T.


    You two are clean. I apologize for the little lie. I needed to catch you off guard, and having you expect me to examine youter was sufficient for that. He turned back towards T. As he did so, Mistress Odera and Rane looked her way as well. Youve had a chunk ripped out of your short-term memory, if I interpret the lingering effects correctly. He seemed hesitant. His eyes flicked towards the other Mages, but finally, he grunted, shaking his head. There seems to be something else, lingering. An older effect, put in ce at least a month, maybe a month and a half, ago.


    Rane frowned and Mistress Odera pursed her lips.


    That timing would ce her at the Academy, or newly arrived in Bandfastright? <em>Maybe, it was right after I left, on my first contract? </em>What are you saying, Master Xeel? She felt oddly disconnected, like she was in a dream.


    Im saying that youve crossed paths with an arcane before this evening. Its hard to tell them apart at times, but I would bet that it was the same one.


    What?


    Rane stepped closer. What do you mean?


    Theres nothing wrong with you, Mistress T. There is nothing lingering within you, waiting to activate. You are as changed as you will ever be, barring another encounter. You are human and for humanity. He smiled consolingly. That said, two encounters with the same arcane in so short a time means that you might see it again. He sighed. Well try to keep a closer eye on your routes, but we cant guard you night and day. He shrugged. Not much else we can do, right now.


    SoIve been altered?


    Xeel shrugged again. Nothing so overt. You might have had a memory added or removed. Your personality, or thought process, might have been slightly shifted, or you might have had your magic nudged one way or other. Though, given your choices, he grinned widely, I would say that no arcane pushed you towards your specific spell-form schema or ending-berry use, at least not intentionally.


    Thats something at least.


    Now, I do need to examine the rest of the caravan. After that, Ill stand guard, tonight, to make sure it doesnt return, but tomorrow, I have to deal with that crystal attuned fount. He scratched the side of his own head. Well, and any arcanous beasts that have gone through it. He grimaced, but it passed quickly.


    Mistress Odera bowed. Thank you, Master Xeel. Taking night-watch is a kindness, and Im d that our report reached the proper eyes.


    Xeel nodded slightly. Then, he nced to T. Tell yourfriend that he cane out, and that his attempts to watch for an opening are pointless. He had a twinkle in his eyes as he said thest.


    <em>Friend? Oh!</em> Terry.


    Terry appeared beside her, his head level with hers, his eyes fixed on Xeel.


    Youre a big one, arent you?


    Terry hunkered down slightly and let out a thrumming whistle. T rested her hand on his neck. <em>Whats going on?</em>


    Xeel held a casual stance, but he was clearly focused on Terry, probably more than he had been on any of them since he arrived. He tsked. HuhI thought wed expunged that particr fount. He frowned, his mage-sight clearly active. No you arent a new one. His eyes moved to T. Is he in your care? The question was firm and felt like it had a depth that T couldnt begin to understand.


    He is with meyes? Whats going on?


    His eyes returned to Terry. Some arcanous abilities are too dangerous to allow to linger. Like the one you encountered earlier today. Xeel tilted his head towards Terry. If Im reading his magic and age right, he is a remnant of another such. My understanding was that we expunged them all.


    Terry hissed.


    <em>Not good.</em> T slipped her hand over to the other side of Terrys neck and pulled him sideways against her.


    He jerked slightly, then twisted his head to look at her, a query clear in his eyes, along with pain. He is with me, my partner. Is that going to be a problem? <em>What do you want of me, Terry? I cant help you kill him.</em>


    Xeel hesitated, then shook his head. No. It should be fine. If he were a true menace, hed have been noticed and hunted down decades ago.


    <em>Or hes good at hiding and escaping.</em> When were the arcanous animals and fountexpunged? She did not like that word used for those who had been like Terry.


    Xeel seemed to take a moment to consider. A hundred years? He frowned. No it was near Manaven, waning two hundred? Give or take.


    T let out a long breath. Two hundred years. <em>And hundreds of miles has he moved with humanity? Staying near our cities? Why? </em>She stroked Terrys feathers. Are you alright? Terry gave her a long look, then blipped to her shoulder, curling up and snuggling against her neck.


    Xeel grunted. Ive work to do. Ill take up watch in half an hour. Please n to sleep then, so my time isnt wasted. The forests have been more active ofte, and youll want to be well rested for that part of your journey.


    Each of the Mage protectors nodded in return. Thank you.


    * * *


    T woke in a cold sweat. The dreams were back.


    She sat up with a groan, both from her own lips, and the metal frame of her new bed. <em>Why wont these leave me be?</em>


    Terry wasnt in her room, and she was utterly alone in the dark.


    Cursing quietly to herself, she stood, buckling on her belt and locking her door as she headed outside.


    All the guards were sleeping; Xeel was on guard-duty, and everyone was taking advantage.


    <em>Where is Terry?</em> He wasnt in themon space, and she didnt see him when she pulled open the door, exiting the cargo-slot.


    It was deep night, somewhere between midnight and dawn.


    T walked outside, her bare feet crunching on the snow and frozen grass. It wasnt unpleasant, not yet, so she didnt pull her shoes from Kit.


    Couldnt sleep?


    T spun, finding not-Xeel standing behind her. Oh, it looked like him, but Ts mage-sight told her that the form was made purely of light, so looks were all it had. <em>Well, and sound.</em> Illusion?


    The image shrugged. Im on the wagon-top, if you prefer face to face.


    She looked up to where the man was standing, looking the other wayfifteen feet away. You could have just said something. She addressed the man, not the image.


    True, and you could be less suspicious. The illusion continued to speak.


    She hesitated. Do you mean I shouldnt be so suspicious of you, or that I should act less suspicious?


    Both.


    T nced back and forth between the illusion and the man on the roof. Can younot do this? Its really odd.


    The not-Xeel vanished, and Xeel looked down at her. You could just climb up. I did offer you that.


    T huffed but did as he suggested. When she reached the top, she looked around, taking in the surrounding, whitendscape. Winters a bit early, this year.


    Not too much earlier than average. Isnt the Academy farther north?


    Yes, but its an ind.


    Ahhh, right. I often forget how much the ocean affects local weather.


    So Seen anything interesting?


    He shrugged. Most arcanous beasts prefer the daytime.


    <em>I know some striking, avian exceptions</em> So, its safer at night?


    He hesitated. You know no? Those which do roam in the dark hours tend to be more dangerous, but they are also usually better at picking weak targets. So, caravans are probably safer at night He shrugged. Soyes?


    Thats not really an answer.


    Worthwhile questions rarely have a single, simple answer.


    T grunted.


    So, why are you up? You could sleep another couple of hours, at least.


    <em>Nightmares.</em> Dont need as much sleep anymore.


    He gave her a long look, then turned his attention back to their surroundings. So, have you decided whether or not you want to continue to hurt everyone around you in your quest for adventurous death?


    T spun on him. Excuse me?


    He held up a te. Its boring for the moment, and you seemed interesting, so I read your file. You do dangerous things, then let others dig you out or cover for you. Seems to work out well for you, across the board.


    Thats hardly fair.


    Oh? Maybe not, then. It is probably less-than-urate to say you want to die, but you do seem to have a hard time grasping how your actions will affect those around you.


    You seem very free with your opinions.


    Xeel shrugged. I have perspective, and ack of care for your feelings. He smiled her way. Please dont mistake my words for distaste. Many of your aplishments are quite impressive. You just arent great at the wise application of yourideas. He nodded. Yes, you need to better temper your ideas in the fire of reason. He snorted at himself. Rust me, Im getting old. He shook his head. All that to say: Mistress Odera will be good for you.


    You know her?


    Hmmm? No. I read her file, too. Her interesting-ness is lessdensely packed, but that is a feature of a long life, I suppose. The woman who campaigned to get the two of you paired knew what she was about.


    <em>Woman? Lyn</em> She had no reason to believe it had been Lyn, but it fit. So, do Archons just wander the wilds, showing up after the danger is passed?


    He frowned at her. Youve encountered another Archon in the wilds? That wasnt in your file.


    I guess I didnt tell anyone, after the fact.


    This was when you were snatched from yourst caravan?


    Yeah.


    Who was it?


    What?


    Who was the Archon that you met?


    She just told me to call her Mistress.


    Likethe title?


    Yeah.


    Thats a bitarrogant.


    T chuckled. Yeah, thats what I thought, too.


    She didnt return you to your caravan. That would have been noted. What did she want? He sounded like he was trying to sound casual, but T felt an intensifying of his focus at the question.


    She wanted me to serve her. Offered to buy out my contracts and all that.


    Xeel grunted. She must have liked what she saw. Maybe, she saw herself in you. He raised an eyebrow towards her.


    Yes, yes. Im arrogant. T rolled her eyes.


    Do you disagree?


    T hesitated. No? She sighed. All through the Academy, I asked questions others said were worthless, and did things in ways that were idiotic.


    Your choice of almost purely defensive inscriptions, and your propensity for iron?


    Among other things. Gravity isnt meant for precise targeting, T. Why do you want to be protected from a knife? If someones that close, you already failed. Why cant you just ept the consequences of that failure? And on, and on.


    Ahh, yes. You showed them.


    T red at the man, then threw her hands up. Why am I even talking to you?


    Because you couldnt sleep, and in all likelihood, you will never see me again, after tonight. I am a safe sounding board.


    Oh?


    Or so you would think.


    T grimaced. My file?


    I excel at recall and note-taking.


    T flopped down, causing the reinforced wagon to rock. Why do you care?


    Because you have the makings of either a great asset or incredible liability for humanity.


    And you care about humanity.


    Dear child, that is the only thing I care about. Those who had other concerns are gone. Something in the way he said child had none of the condescension that shed felt when others addressed her that way. It had the vor of a grandparent, bending down to pick her up after a fall.


    <em>Well, I might as well ask him some things. He seems much freer with information than most. </em>You are moving from blue to violet. What does that mean?


    Xeel hesitated at the sudden change of subject, then shrugged. I am in process of re-forging my soul.


    I dont know what that means.


    He smirked. Nor should you.


    Wait, Blue is Reforged. Shouldnt you be done?


    That refers to the Reforging of the body.


    Which you also wont exin.


    Which I also wont exin.


    T rolled her eyes. Why all the secrecy? Why not just tell people?


    If I exined how to reforge ones soul, would you attempt it?


    No?


    He gave her a long look.


    Fine, thats fair. But, Im hardly standard.


    Heughed. You are not as special as you might think. Much of what you have done is <em>precisely</em> why weve set up things as we have. Youve been lucky; youve gotten some good advice along the way; and youve built yourself specifically to mitigate the fallout from your bad decisions, at least on yourself. He gave her a pointed look.


    I never mean to cause anyone else difficulty.


    Do you think about others at all?


    Yes?


    I believe you.


    She red. Youre a rusting wonderful person.


    Im d you think so.


    T really didnt know what to think of Xeel. He seemed, at the same time, to care way more than he should, and not at all. Why are you really here?


    To deal with the crystal fount and respond to an arcane.


    But why you?


    I was avable, and of a power with the detected threat. We sometimes send groups, when only lesser Archons are avable, but it doesnt usually end as cleanly.


    T thought about the fight shed witnessed at a great distance. Areare we losing?


    Xeel gave her a different long, long look, then shook his head. No, not in the sense that you mean.


    Then, in what sense are we losing?


    He snorted a chuckle. Do you really want to know?


    Of course. <em>Yeah maybe I dont</em>


    I dont think you do.


    Just tell me. His seeming reading of her thoughts was getting irritating. <em>Or Im just not that hard of a person to read</em>


    He smiled knowingly. Do you know how many Archons humanity has?


    Ohgno?


    Heughed at that. Fair enough. Im not sure I could put an exact count to it either. But thats not the point. For every human Archon, there are at least ten with that power from the other, nearby races.


    Thenhow?


    How does humanity endure?


    She nodded.


    Most dont care about us.


    Thenwhy does it matter?


    Because they would care, if we struck back against those who would oppress us. Hence, the wilds. He gestured around himself. They struggle to endure in such low-magic zones, so we armor ourselves against those truly hostile to us and endure.


    That soundsexhausting.


    Truer words, my dear. He let out a sigh, and T truly looked at him for the first time.


    He was taller than her, with a solid build, but not a bulky one. His close-cropped hair was blonde-gray, with his face clean-shaven. Hecked wrinkles but something about him still almost screamed out the years that he had lived. His presence was heavy.


    His Mages robes were a simple dark-brown, and he wore a in copper band around his left ring-finger.


    How long?


    Have I lived?


    I was going to ask how long youve been fighting, but either works.


    He smiled at that. I became Bound, and joined the fight He seemed to consider. I think it was nearly sixteen hundred years ago. His smile softened. Wevee so far, since then.


    Ts eyes widened. How?


    Xeel shrugged. Once one is Refined, aging ceases to matter, and if you dont die in the fight? He smiled. You simply persist. One day, Ill meet my match, and die defending humanity, but whether its in a day or a millennia? He shrugged, again. Well see.


    T was plucking at her elk-leathers, contemting. The fight was important. Arcane encounters were notable. She should tell him. <em>Its not worth it. Not really. I should just leave him be.</em>


    What is it? Its not like were being circumspect, here.


    How sure are you, as to the timeline of my previous encounter with the Arcane?


    Fairly, why? His tone once again conveyed an intent focus on her answer.


    Because, if you were right, then I was either at the Academy, or in Bandfast.


    Xeel stared at her for a long moment.


    She did <em>not</em> like his silence. She felt the need to fill the void. Thatshouldnt be possible, right?


    Nono it should not. He gave her a long look. How sure are you?


    The first time I entered the wilds, in my life, was thirty-six or thirty-seven days ago.


    That is in the window of my estimate Xeel shook his head. Im more willing to believe that the signs have faded more quickly than average, than that an arcane was within one of our cities. He tsked. Still, we cant discount the possibility.


    T watched the ancient Archon as he processed through what shed said.


    Finally, he smiled. Thank you for making sure I noticed that. Your file showed your activities in general, but I didnt connect those two things, specifically. He shook his head, once more. Youve given me much to think about.


    T stood. Ill leave you to it, then. Thank you, for answering so many of my questions.


    He waved her off. Ive never liked the secrecy were forced into. Im d I could highlight some things that you should know. He gave her a firm look. You are a key member of this caravan. Every action you take affects everyone in it. Please dont forget that.


    She nodded, feeling that settle down on her shoulders, really, for the first time. <em>This isnt just a ce to make money, T. These people are counting on you. Your pay for the work matters, but only if they survive.</em>


    With that added burden, she climbed down thedder and went to check around the wagon for Terry.

 Chapter 103: A Start

    Chapter 103: A Start


    T trekked a circle through the light dusting of snow around the isted wagons, anchored for a night in the wilds.


    Terry was nowhere to be seen and didnte when she called to him.


    She almost tossed out a bit of jerky, but since he hadnt responded to her calls and wasnting to her as she held the bit of meat, she was fairly certain he wasnt watching.


    For a brief moment, as she stared towards the forest in the distance, she thought her mage-sight highlighted several humanoid shapes, moving just inside the treeline. <em>Hollys enhancement of my mage-sight gave it quite a bit longer range</em>


    It was hard to tell, though, because of the sheer scale of the distant forest. If the shapes had been human in size, then those trees easily matched the descriptions shed earlier doubted. <em>Almost a thousand feet tall </em>True, if the creatures were a bit smaller than human, while being humanoid in shape, theparative height would be lower, but even so, they were monumentally massive trees.


    In reviewing the memory of seeing the figures, she decided that she hadnt been deluding herself; the creatures had been there. That said, they werent human, as theydcked gates.


    Additionally, they were solidly below the Archon range of power. <em>So, not arcanes either.</em>


    <em>Arcanous humanoids?</em> She knew there were quite a few beasts and monsters that appeared human-like, at least at a distance, and many were known denizens of the great southern forest. <em>Thats probably what I saw.</em> She would probably have to help safeguard the caravan from many of those in theing days.


    She found herself fixating on the distant trees, trying to see more creatures within their depths. The recent, unremembered encounter with the arcane was making her jumpy.


    She shook her head. <em>I dont need to sleep more, tonight.</em> So, she started her day.


    She didnt speak to Xeel as she climbed back up on the cargo-wagon, charging each of the cargo-slots in turn.


    That done, she dropped down, mming into the earth and sending up a puff of powder that had somehow avoided being trampled into ice. <em>Snows dry here.</em>


    With no one to gawk- <em>except Xeel.</em> But he didnt really count -T moved through her physical exercises, working up a sweat with theplexity and difficulty, despite the well-below-freezing air. As usual, bncing and the maintenance of proper form were often the hardest parts of the more advanced movements.


    She mentally thanked the Wainwrights for having isted the cargo-slots when she did her jumps. Try as she might, she couldntnd lightly enough to prevent the wagons, tables, and benches from shaking.


    Xeel regarded her with an odd look when she began that series, but quickly returned his attention to their surroundings.


    Physical sideplete, she moved through her magical, spiritual, and mental exercises. This included topping off all her magical items. <em>Except Terrys corI hope hes alright.</em> Thankfully, the cor was basically useless outside of the cities, and the ambient magic in the air was sufficient to keep it from bing inert, while in the wilds.


    Personal item recharging done, she retreated into her room within the cargo-slot, locked the door, stripped down, and opened Kit wide on her floor.


    <em>Bath time.</em>


    The dimensional storage had amodatingly created a depression, which was perfectly sized and shaped for her to soak in. Her hot water incorporator would provide enough water. <em>Luxury!</em>


    She easily connected four void-channels to the incorporator, causing water to jet out, sshing across much of Kits floor. Before T could temper the flow, the surface of the inset tub shifted, creating a modted surface that somehow disrupted the iing stream such that it didnt ssh or reflect out.


    Thank you, Kit.


    Kit did not respond.


    With the modification, T risked connecting two more void-channels to the device, causing a marked increase to the rate, though not near the fifty percent shed expect from a linear alteration of power. <em>Dont focus on the numbers, T.</em>


    The sshing water had reminded her how close to boiling the water really was, and so she pulled out her cold-water incorporator as well, moving two of the void-channels over.


    With the added channels and second incorporator, the tub filled to a good level in no time, and T was soon lowering herself into the steaming bath. It was still far too close to boiling for most people, mainly because Kits boundaries didnt seem to have any heat capacity or ability to absorb or impart thermal energy. Thus, the water could only cool by radiating heat up into the air.


    The temperature would have been a problem without inscriptions, and even so, T had to be careful not to cook her brain. After cleansing herself, she let the heat work its way through her body, rxing her muscles and helping them get the most from her workout and stretching. Finally, she could tell that the heat, even reduced, was getting to her, so she pulled out the cold-water incorporator again and lowered the temperature to a standard, more manageable level.


    <em>Huh I wonder if using a dimensional storage, like Kit, for the oven box would allow for incorporator-based precision and baking?</em> It was a thought.


    As shey there, she absentmindedly connected a void-channel to Kit, bringing the pouchs reserves quickly back to full, restoring the little it had used reshaping for her bath. <em>It would really be convenient to bond Kit</em> Shed told Elnea that shed allow the Archon to watch that bonding, though. <em>I could bond my elk-leathers</em> It just seemed too soon to bond something else. Gredivs books still wouldnt let her read any of them, and that implied that her soul was still settling after her step up, as Archon. <em>Probably wisest to wait.</em> She sighed in resignation.


    Now that shed refilled Kit, T yed with the void-channels themselves.


    In addition to the one already connected to her body, she forged one to Flow; while her body couldnt handle the excess, her bond to Flow was still capable of growing stronger, so it epted the extra power readily.


    Rxed and content, T modified the size of the channel leading to Flow. Shed fallen into a pattern of simply creating multiple channels if she needed more power, but that wasnt really required. Because of her one-sided practice, it took more focus to create a void-channel with twice the throughput whenpared to just creating two, but she did <em>not</em> want to make that worse by leaning on the crutch of her own making.


    In seemingly no time at all, the water began to discorporate, leaving T dry and clean, though there was a bit of dirty remnant in the lowest portion of the basin.


    She climbed out of Kit,bed through her hair and braided it, then dressed for the day.


    She walked out into themon space only to find it still empty. <em>It is still before dawn, and everyones taking advantage of Xeels presence.</em>


    T sighed. <em>Great</em>


    Not wanting to wake anyone, she went back outside. Blessedly, it seemed that it was close enough to morning that the cooks were beginning their work; the chuckwagon was alive with activity.


    <em>I should check in with them. I know that Brand spoke to the head chef on my behalf.</em> What was her name again? T searched back through her memory.<em> Amnin!</em> That was it.


    T walked up to the open side of the wagon, frowning. <em>If they want to hide whats inside, why have the side open so often</em> She shrugged. Shed connect with the Culinary Guild more closely in the future, but that wasnt why she was here.


    Amnin, good morning!


    The woman leaned out from behind a set of shelves. Mistress T? She smiled. As she walked over, she gave varying instructions to the other cooks. Amnin then leaned on the counterlike portion of the opening in the wagon and looked slightly down at T. Good morning. What can I do for you?


    I noticed you all up, and thought Id say hi.


    Amnins smile widened. Feeling a bit better than yesterday, then?


    T hesitated. <em>Than yesterday?</em> Mistress Oderas admonition came back to her. <em>I guess I pushed those thoughts aside</em> Her countenance must have fallen a bit, because Amnins smile dimmed, just a bit.


    Oh, Im sorry, Mistress. I didnt mean to remind you of whatever is getting you down.


    T smiled and shrugged. Its fine, Amnin. I do need to think about it.


    The woman seemed to contemte that briefly. Wait there a moment. She stepped deeper into the wagon, and T heard the clink of tes and the pouring of liquid, among the other noises of a highly active kitchen. The chef returned shortly, bearing a jug and a te. Coffee and sweet-knots. She smiled. These are from our test-batch. Weve eaten what we need to, and more are in the ovens.


    T blinked up at the woman. Why?


    Amnin smiled in return. Pastries, coffee, and watching the sun rise over a beautifulndscape can help you work through all sorts of things. She held out the te.


    T felt her eyes water, just slightly. <em>She doesnt even know me, and shes being this kind.</em> T nodded, took the offered items, and smiled. Thank you. Ill try that.


    Good. Id join you, but I have a couple hundred people to feed in just under two hours. Weve a lot to do.


    Ill leave you to it, then T nodded to herself. Thank you.


    Go. Take some time to think.


    T turned and went to the eastern-most table, to face the east with her te and jug as her onlypanions. She had to brush some new-fallen snow from the seat and tabletop, but it hadnt been too much of an inconvenience. As shed been about to sit on the bench, she remembered her weight. <em>Thankfully.</em>


    She moved the bench aside, and pulled out her folding seat, letting out a sigh as she settled down. It really wasfortable.


    <em>Im too in my head.</em>


    Well, then, talk to yourself, T.


    She snorted augh at that. <em>Yeah, and make myself look crazier.</em>


    Which is more important, looking sane, or being sane.


    She hesitated at that. <em>I am a bitoff.</em>


    You think?


    <em>Yesactively.</em>


    Dont sass yourself. It isnt useful.


    <em>Fine</em>


    Sodo I want to be alive?


    Pressure and tingling in her nose, along with a tightening of her throat were the only response she could muster.


    As she looked out over the snow-dusted ins, she took a deep drink of dark coffee, and then a bite of one of the sweet-knots. The delicacy was light and fluffy, yet somehow sweet and robustly creamy. <em>These are amazing.</em>


    There is much to live for.


    She had to set the pastry to the side. <em>Do I really want to live for passing pleasures? Tasty food? Beauty here and there?</em>


    She put her face into her hands and couldnt answer. What is the alternative?


    <em>gates prove there is another realm. Would death be so bad?</em>


    Would it be better?


    <em>I dont know.</em>


    Sowhy dont I want to live?


    She took another bite and long drink. <em>Im unwanted. Ive served my purpose.</em>


    Oh?


    <em>I was sacrificed to make my familys prospects better, but Im still around.</em>


    You are hardly unique in that.


    She wiped her face, ring into the distance. <em>Just because others are suffering, possibly worse, doesnt mean that Im not suffering.</em>


    Thats true. T took a long breath, barely being able to utter the next words, Its okay to hurt.


    She bent over her food, then, weeping silently. There was a cathartic release in the act, and for what felt like the first time in years, she allowed herself to <em>feel</em> her deep-set ache, her almost crushing loneliness.


    The issue wasnt solved, not even close. She hadnt even taken a single step towards true resolution, but she had finally actually looked at the wound within herself.


    It was a start.


    * * *


    When the light of dawn finally began to highlight the distant horizon, Ts eyes were dry, her te licked clean, and her jug of coffee empty.


    She briefly ced the dishes into Kit, pulling them back out perfectly clean.


    Thank you, Kit. <em>I wonder where all the gunk goes</em> It was something worthy of investigatioter.


    Kit did not respond.


    She returned to the chuckwagon giving Amnin the earthenware. Thank you, Amnin. II think I really needed that.


    The cook smiled towards the Mage. Sometimes, the person we need to talk to most is ourself. She looked at the te and jug. Oh! Thanks for giving them a once over. She then bustled off, back to work.


    Passengers and guards were beginning to emerge, and it was almost time for breakfast. Xeel had departed a bit ago, simply waving to her before he vanished.


    Terry? Are you back?


    Terry flickered into being on her shoulder, and she let out a sigh of relief.


    Are you ok?


    Terry nuzzled against the side of her face, then bobbed a nod.


    Anything I can do?


    He immediately opened his mouth wide, and she grinned.


    I can do that. She got out a few chunks of jerky and tossed them.


    Terry effortlessly acquired them with barely a flicker before curling up to seemingly sleep.


    Mistress T!


    T turned to see Rane approaching. Good morning, Master Rane.


    Do you want to get in a bout before breakfast?


    T opened her mouth to say no, then paused. You know what? Yeah. Ive been wanting to test out the sheath.


    Rane gave Flow a skeptical look. Are you sure that will contain it?


    T thought for a moment, then nced towards the chuckwagon. Hey, Amnin!


    Amnin came to the opening. Yes, Mistress T?


    Would the caravan be very inconvenienced if I broke a table?


    The woman scratched her head. Well, we have a few extrayoud be charged, though.


    Thats fine. Thank you!


    She turned back and saw Rane giving her an odd look.


    What?


    Youasked?


    Yeah?


    Thats not really like you.


    She thought about it for a moment, then shrugged. Im trying to change. Without another word, she walked over to one of the still unupied tables, off to one side. She took Flow from her belt, locking the sheath in ce.


    With two slightlyrger than usual void-channels, she extended Flow and the sheath to sword size. <em>Baby steps.</em>


    She used a quick motion to bring the sword down on the tabletop. Flows magicshed out, bent by the protective device, and the force was distributed across the entirety of the table, driving the legs four inches into the crunching, frozen soil.


    She turned to Rane, grinning. Satisfied?


    He was nodding. Yeah, thats perfect.


    * * *


    As it turned out, T hated the taste of snow somewhat less than that of sand. <em>Not really surprising, I suppose.</em>


    Three quick bouts, sword on sword, hadnt changed the oue away from the expected. Terry watched from his perch on a nearby wagon.


    T and Rane were squaring up for their fourth, when Rane cleared his throat. Why arent you blocking?


    Because I cant block your strikes.


    No. You couldnt block them, but that was with a mundane weapon. What will Flow do?


    <em>Force vs Flow, eh? </em>That was a thought. <em>But will he break Flow?</em> That was unlikely. Flow was soul-bound against Force, which was just magic-bound. <em>That doesnt make it inherently better, though.</em> It would be a risk, either way. <em>He said it couldnt be stopped by a like powered opponent. That doesnt mean thats an absolute, and Flow </em>should<em> be more powerful</em>


    So ready?


    T nodded, raising her de into a hanging guard.


    Rane fell into a high guard, a favorite of his, given his longer weapon. With a smooth forward step, he swept out, cutting towards her legs.


    It was aughably easy blow to parry. <em>So, hes as nervous as I am, it seems.</em> T responded with a sweep of her own, and the des met between the fighters.


    A concussion of force radiated outward in a circle, clearing the ground of the light, dry snow and breaking the grass t.


    Force and Flow stopped in a low bind, neither T nor Rane negatively affected by the sh.


    They both startedughing, smiles stretching across their faces. T felt a joy building within her. <em>I can fight him on an equal footing now!</em>


    Yes! Rane was nodding. Lets go.


    The following exchange of blows was bliss to T. Everything shed been learning came into y, as she fought more to perfect her own movements than against Rane as an opponent.


    Each meeting of empowered weapons caused a harmless, soundless shockwave, which just served to energize them both.


    It was stillughably obvious that Rane was the superior swordsman. While Ts quicker movements and stronger strikes made such a long exchange possible, only her increased weight and proper footwork kept her grounded enough to consistently sh with the much bigger man, wielding the heavier de.


    Rane, for his part, kept what amounted to a perfect defense against her. She knew there were ws in his movements; she could even see some of them, but she didnt have the skill to exploit them.


    The engagementsted a staggering thirty seconds of furious back and forth, before Ts errorspounded sufficiently for Rane to drive her into the ground once more.


    She rolled to her feet,ughing, sword already raised defensively toward her sparring partner.


    Rane had a massive grin across his face as well. Again?


    Again.

 Chapter 104: That Seems Bad

    Chapter 104: That Seems Bad


    The second day of the venture to Makinaven was much like the first, excepting crystal entities and arcanes and Archons dropping through.


    The guardsmen drove off more than a dozen arcanous creatures, varying from the quitemon thunderbulls to a few massive reptiles. One of those seemed to have been stalking one of the thunderbull families and took exception to the guards having driven them off.


    Rane took care of a half-dozen more minor threats to their progress.


    T never left the wagon top.


    Instead of begrudging her restriction, after all she could see that Mistress Odera was correct in every instance, T kept a ready watch on their surroundings, usually being among the first to notice any potential threat. All the while, she continued her study of Hollys texts. She wanted her knowledge surrounding her inscribings to be as deep and thorough as possible.


    They made campte that afternoon, just more than two hundred yards from the close edge of the reaching canopy, far overhead. The hard part of the journey would start the next day, it seemed.


    The forest was an interesting presence beside the camp; the trees, starting at almost a hard line, were taller than anything she had ever seen, short of a mountain. Their branches spread out wide, intecing with those around them. Their shape seemed much more like maple trees than pine.


    Even the somewhat shorter specimens, at the near edge, were tall enough that T thought they might be able to strike the wagons, should they fall their way.


    <em>Lets hope that doesnt happen</em> She could probably catch such with a Restrain, but shed never attempted to affect something thatrge, before, and Restrain was a moreplex working than Crush.


    <em>Yeah, I could Crush a tree no problem, but that wouldnt help us if it were falling our way.</em> She put it out of her mind, though, as it was quite unlikely in any event.


    Rane and T sparred before dinner, to the great enjoyment of the passengers and off-duty guardsmen. Their disy caused more to brave the cold for longer periods, many opting to eat their dinner while continuing to watch.


    Eventually, however, night had truly fallen, and T had eaten a quadruple portion of dinner. <em>Pasties never get old.</em>


    T was given the first part of the night-watch as Mage protector, and Rane and Mistress Odera bid her goodnight. Mistress Odera gave her several bits of advice and requested that she be roused if anything of note seemed to be happening.


    T agreed with a smile.


    That first part of the night passed with simr non-issue. Terry slew a night puma, a great cat that used shadow magic to stalk its prey.


    He detected it, somehow, and slew it outside of the area between the wagons, near the edge of where she could see in the poor light.


    He also ate it before T could notify the guards to log the encounter. When she checked with those on duty with her, none had seen the beast, to corroborate the kill. <em>Ah, well. At least he got a meal out of it.</em>


    She still found it marginally intimidating when Terry swallowed things muchrger than his standard form. The night puma had been more than eight feet in length, nose to rump, and T would have guessed it weighed more than she did, even ounting for her gravity enhancement.


    Still, it was handled. <em>No issue at all.</em>


    She hesitated at that. <em>Is there no issue, because nothing has happened, or do I think theres been no issue, because the arcane returned, and removed memory of such?</em>


    She shivered at the thought, causing Terry to shift on her shoulder, though he didnt open his eyes.


    <em>Well, I suppose if it had returned, it would have manipted me, causing me to not even consider its interference. </em>Great, so she only had to worry about the arcanes involvement when she didnt consider that it could have been involved.


    She felt her left eye twitching. T you are making yourself crazy. You cannot possibly allow that to be how you think of this


    She shook her head. <em>All I can do is keep on, and resist anything that I can.</em>


    It was smallfort, but it did seem to help.


    When Rane took over the watch around midnight, T gratefully slipped into sleep atop her reinforced cot, happy to end an unremarkable day and happy that it had been just that.


    * * *


    The next morning, after her daily routine, a sparring session with Rane, and breakfast, T noticed Mistress Odera walking her way.


    Mistress?


    Good morning, Mistress T. Walk with me, will you?


    Sure.


    T fell into step beside the much older woman, moving towards the forest. What do you know of this forest?


    She thought back to the information shed read up on in preparation for this trip. <em>Summarize, she doesnt need a recitation of all of that.</em> Its full of magic, though not specifically in the air. The trees have more power than those in other low-magic regions, and there are more arcanous creatures than on the open ins. I havent looked closely at the trees power-flow, though. Her mage-sight had noted it at a great distance, and she hadnt focused on it since.


    Go on.


    Itll be colder? Not much direct sunlight reaches the ground. There arent established roads through the trees, obviously, so the travel time is much less certain.


    All true.


    Almost no undergrowth? The trees deeper in grow massive and block even more of the sun, leaving the forest floor mostly bare of vegetation. She looked up at the trees which literally scraped the sky, uplifting branches creating trailing crevices in the lowest clouds as they moved past.


    Mistress Odera nodded. So, you know the basics.


    They are as big as I was warned. T grunted. Even yesterday, I thought I was just mis-seeing, somehow.


    They truly are spectacr. The Mezzannis used to make their homes in these trees.


    Mezzannis?


    An arcane species. Never enved humanity, per se. They were one of the few topletely copse when we gained our freedom.


    T frowned. Thats terrible. We wiped out an entire race, which wasnt doing us any harm?


    Mistress Odera quirked a small smile. They didnt enve us, Mistress, because you dont put your beef cows to work in the fields.


    T hesitated, narrowing her eyes at the older woman. Wait


    The Mezzannis subsisted on ambient magic and human flesh.


    T shuddered. I feel like you purposely led me astray, there.


    Of course I did. I was curious how you would react to the elimination of a supposedly peaceful people. She nodded, her smile growing. I am d of your response.


    So All gone?


    Gone? No, but the decrease in magic, both natural, ages ago, and then that induced by our cities, caused the majority to wither away into lesser versions of themselves, all those that didnt die outright.


    Somost are not dead?


    Some melded with the great trees, losing most of their sentience, and all of their sapience, in order to live on. It is because of them that these giants can move on asion, though rarely while observed. That is one added difficulty in traversing this part of the human wilds.


    the trees move. Like an ending-tree? Theyll try to hit us? Or, do you mean?


    Mistress Odera gave a small smile. The trees can migrate. They move through the ground without truly disturbing it, and often reposition to hamper travel through the region using either trunk or roots as barriers. Though, they arent clever or inter-connected enough to block the route entirely. When humans arent around, those that can move tend to drift away from each other, making it less obstructive over time.


    <em>And now the references to varying routes and lengths of travel make a lot more sense.</em> She hesitated. <em>Wait</em> You said that <em>some</em> of them melded with the trees, but not all?


    No, not even most. Most that still remain are no longer conscious beings. They are arcanous humanoids. We call them Leshkin.


    <em>Leshkin? This is their original home? I knew that some were found here, but this is where theye from?</em> She found herself giving an involuntary shiver. The Leshkin waged a mindless war on humanity every millennia, or so. <em>Now that I think about it, wasnt thest one almost that long ago?</em> She thought through her memories of the various informational texts she tried to devour in thest week, adding them to stories from her youth. <em>Maybe a hundred or a hundred and fifty years out if the pattern holds.</em> That isnt great, is it.


    Mistress Odera shook her head. Pernicious creatures. From what weve learned, each has a heart of sorts, hidden well beyond human reach: a seed from which they will re-grow if killed. As such, theyck even animalistic instincts for survival. Any that catch wind of us will attack and will continue to do so until they are obliterated. They will not retreat and cannot be driven off.


    The two women stopped walking, a bit past half-way between the wagons and the forest edge.


    Their hatred of humanity is deeper than even the arcanous animals aggressive instincts. Mistress Oderas eyes flicked to Terry. Yourpanion will have some trouble with them, as their form is nothing more than animated, magically altered vegetation. You will have trouble because that nt matter has a caustic sap flowing through it, under high pressure.


    T had read of that.<em></em>Wouldnt that be an issue for anyone?


    Of course, but most people are used to being wary, of being in danger. You are ustomed to being invulnerable.


    T found herself nodding. Noted. Acid will definitely stress my inscriptions more than a sharp cut or blunt hit, but I should be able to endure, so long as Im not submerged, or the like.


    Mistress Odera gave her a long-suffering look. Funny you mention submersion.


    T did not like the womans tone. Oh?


    There are, on asion, pit-traps filled with their sap, usually in hollows. A misstep will break through the thinyer of turf and drop the unlucky into wells of acid.


    Thats just lovely.


    Quite.


    T sighed. I have been thinking about releasing my increased weight. Its very useful in some few circumstances, but not many. In all others, its actually pretty irritating to deal with. Do you think that wise?


    Mistress Odera hesitated. Possibly. There are creatures that will snatch a person up, and carry them up nearby trees, and they are more numerous than the pit-traps. Your weight would be an advantage against such foes.


    Certs, right? Human-like in form, but much bigger and with much shorter legs, proportionally. As a result, they were just taller than humans, on average, and they could easily run on all fours, while remaining mostly upright. Their heads were more like elk or rams, with horns or antlers, depending on the subspecies. Their feet were as dexterous as their hands, and they moved through trees more easily than a horse ran across open ins. T nced up at the canopy before them. <em>Yeah that could bebad.</em>


    Thats correct. They can survive a fall from the canopy and are known for attempting to drop directly onto wagons, or oxen.


    Great, so keep my eyes above us, too. <em>As expected, I suppose</em>


    The guards are very good at watching for branches moving irregrly, but if you can, keep your mage-sight perceptive in that direction. Yours is always active, correct?


    It is.


    Good. That should help, as well.


    T nodded. As she thought about their talks, a question came to mind. So Leshkin are about human in size. What should I watch for, specifically? Are there anymon signs of their presence or approach? Shed studied many creatures from this region, but she knew that her knowledge wasntplete.


    Lesser Leshkin are closer to child sized. Though, if twobine, they will match a grown man in height and bulk. As to your question, they move about in human form, most of the time. Otherwise, watch for fast-growing nts, filled with unusual power.


    Hold on a moment,bine?


    Oh, yes. Two of the lessers can meld into a warrior. Those even use wooden approximations of human weaponry, blessedly mundane, but made of some wood that leaves them more effective than any human metal.


    T nodded. <em>Ingrits list had Leshkin weaponry as one of the most lucrative harvests on this route.</em> T had read about the warriors, but shed missed the part where they were justbined lesser Leshkin. <em>Too much variation and nuance to fully read up on, in advance</em> Can two warriors join? Wait, She shook her head. <em>If the pattern holds, </em>thats a Leshkin knight, right?


    Correct. They have something akin to te armor, but again from mundane, if sturdy, wood. Some knights will have magically enhanced weaponry or armor.


    And two knights T thought back. A juggernaut?


    Precisely. Twice the height of a man, everything they use is strongly magically empowered. If we attract that much attention, we are in a <em>lot</em> of trouble.


    <em>Two to a warrior, two of those to a knight, and two of those to a juggernaut.</em> Thats just eight. Eight are so much trouble?


    Only if they have time and forethought to join. It isnt instantaneous and the process seems to require connection to a great tree for magical energy. It usually only happens if there isnt an easy chance for them to attack, so they take time to prepare before joining the battle.


    <em>Ok. So, thats why the information I found discussed how to counter groups of the lessers. Groups wont bebined as much as possible.</em>


    The lessers are <em>much</em> faster, so they usually try to soften up a target first, or act as distractions, when units fight together.


    <em>Historical enemy of mankind, indeed. </em>Sowhy do we have cities in here?


    Mistress Odera snorted, humorlessly. Because the cycle of cities through this region is all that beats them back, even if just briefly. The centuries, between when thest forest city fades and we establish the next, see the Leshkin swarming deeply into the ins. They are more an annoyance than anything, but they make every route, every city, less safe.


    <em>And thest forest city will wane in a little over a century and a half </em>That lined up with her understanding of historical conflicts with the Leshkin. Alright. So, what else will we be facing in there?


    They spent a few more minutes discussing what to expect.


    Btedly, as they were finishing up, T asked. Shouldnt Rane have been here for this?


    We already talked. He fills a much more standard role as a protector and has read up on the proper actions and strategies for someone like him on this route. You are a bit out of the ordinary.


    She grunted. I suppose I can see that.


    Mistress Odera met her eyes with a searching look. So, I noticed that you didnt do any practice with your new gravity maniption, yesterday.


    I thought it better to focus on the caravan and improving the efficiency of the inscriptions I already have active.


    Mistress Odera gave her a long look, then shook her head. Oh, child. You really are trying, arent you.


    T frowned in irritation. Whats that supposed to mean?


    Mistress Odera waved her off. Unimportant, now. I want you to begin practicing as soon as we get underway. Keep your eyes out, but work on using that inscription. Until you have it under control, you are working with an iplete powerset, right?


    True enough.


    Im heading back to take up my post on the cargo-wagon. Why dont you take a more detailed look at the trees with your mage-sight, then join me? After a moments pause, she added. Dont get closer. Dont start an engagement with anything, if you see it.


    T nodded. As you say, Mistress.


    Mistress Odera moved back towards the caravan, and T, for her part, turned to regard the giant trees before her. She focused, allowing her mage-sight to really dig into what she saw.


    Her eyes immediately widened in shock.


    Each tree seemed to have sent its roots further down than she could easily discern, as well as so far out that she stood well inside the radius of their reach, even though the canopy ended another hundred yards in front of her.


    That wasnt what had evoked the reaction, however.


    <em>Power.</em> The forest was drawing in power from all around it, almost like a human city. Most of what she could see flowing into the forest came from <em>deep</em> in the ground. The trees, after using some of the power, seemed to release the rest from the tips of their branches, to fill the air.


    Even so, the magic didnt stay there long, and the results werent even half as concentrated as the magic around Alefast. The power in the air seemed to be steadily flowing deeper into the forest. <em>Towards Makinaven.</em>


    <em>How dense would the power be, if the city wasnt here to lessen it? </em>She shivered at the thought. <em>So, anything in there will be more power-dense than the arcanous beasts of the in.</em> That was a lovely thought.


    She briefly wondered why the Archons hadnt just burned the whole thing down, but as she considered, she doubted that the arcanes would allow such, and the action might even bring some of those uninterested in humanity down upon them. <em>Were in a strange stalemate. We have to defend ourselves, but we cant do anything thats too effective, or we could be starting an active war that we couldnt win.</em>


    She grimaced. <em>The more I learn, the more I wish Id been content with ignorance</em> She snorted at that. She knew, very well, that even if she could go back, she wouldnt. <em>Blissful ignorance is a false paradise.</em>


    She sighed, moving to turn back towards the wagons when Terry perked up, his eyes locked on the trees.


    T followed his gaze and saw what looked like a pile of flowers, slowly growing up from the forest floor, near one of the closest trunks.


    Her mage-sight showed aplexity of power that she couldntprehend at this distance, and she <em>almost</em> moved to investigate. <em>Is that what Mistress Odera meant?</em>


    Thankfully, her better reason prevailed, and she stayed put. <em>Its not because Mistress Odera told me to stay back. Im choosing the wiser path on my own.</em>


    Once the flowers had reached a height roughly equal to Ts chest, they condensed, forming the shape of a small person, eyes of vacant darkness regarding her from its ce, near one of the closest trees. Though Ts normal sight saw only unending night in those ck holes, her mage-sight saw zing beacons of power. <em>Is that what I looked like to others?</em>


    The depictions shed seen in informational tomes did not convey the <em>wrongness</em> of the creature. <em>I really can see detail at a crazy distance</em> Shed not encountered many instances where she focused so closely at something so far, but that was hardly the most pressing thing, at the moment.


    The thing tilted its head to the side in clear confusion. <em>Dont anthropomorphize, T.</em>


    The small form continued to look her direction for a long, silent minute. Finally, it slowly began walking forward. Its movements were fast, but jerky. The result was faster than a quick walk but looked more akin to a puppets movements than that of a man. <em>A puppet controlled by a drunken child</em>


    Terry, go get Mistress Oderas attention. T began walking backwards, unwilling to put her back to the advancing creature.


    Terry vanished. The flickers of dimensional power behind her indicated that he was doing as shed asked. <em>At least, I hope so.</em>


    She moved with careful but quick steps. <em>No reason to trip while escaping that horror</em> As such, the flower-being was gaining on her, steadily, leaving dragging, irregr footprints in the snow. Even so, it didnt, yet, seem hostile. More than anything it seemedcurious?


    <em>It cant see me properly. Do I look like one of its own? Why doesnt it see the caravan?</em>


    T was about fifty yards from the caravan when the Leshkin reached the edge of the overhanging canopy. When it did, it froze in ce, head jerking back and forth, seemingly seeing the caravan for the first time.


    It threw its mouth wide, thorn-like teeth growingrger, stretching towards the center of a wholly inhuman, circr maw. A screech, high and wild, issued from the churning depths. Blessedly, there were no answering cries from behind it, within the forest.


    The flowers of its exterior shifted into a pattern reminiscent of scales, and muchrger thorns sprouted from its fingertips and toes.


    Without warning, it rocketed forward with a sudden burst of speed, leaving a trail of flower petals in its wake.


    The being seemed to have forgotten T, and was aiming to pass her by, seeking the caravan.


    <em>Yeah, no.</em> T drew Flow, connecting void-channels to it as she pulled it free.


    The weapon blossomed into a sword, and the Leshkin seemed to take notice, but didnt alter its path.


    It whipped past her in a rush, T striking out and cutting through it with seeming ease.


    Behind her, the Leshkin sprayed a bubbling yellow fluid from the cut T had made in its side.


    Some of that acid sttered Ts back, immediately eating through her elk-leathers, and began burning at her skin. <em>Why arent the ending-berries stopping it? </em>The part that missed her sizzled through the lightyer of white snow.


    Allowing a moments distraction, she looked within. T saw that something about the creatures blood was pushing against her magical defense, moving the ending-berry power back more effectively than that of her inscriptions.


    T growled, spinning around to face the creature. She bent her will towards her ending-berry reserves and forced that magic back into the areas still under assault by the acid.


    The power began diminishing but not too quickly. That removed the strain on her inscriptions and most of the strangely burning itch. <em>Well, Xeel did imply that Id have trouble with some of the forest creatures</em> And hadnt Ingrit mentioned something along those lines, too? <em>She definitely mentioned the Leshkin, but I dont think she discussed their effect on ending-berry power. </em>But ending-berries had fallen out of favor during a Leshkin war. <em>I think I might be starting to understand why.</em>


    T fully faced the Leshkin as it tumbled to a stop, immediately picking itself back up and facing her in turn. It hesitated, seeming to examine her, before ncing over its shoulder, the head turning far more than a human neck could.


    It shrieked again, spinning andunching itself towards the caravan.


    T cursed. <em>Thatthat seems bad.</em>


    The guards had seen the beast, now, and Mistress Odera was clearly looking their way from atop the cargo-wagon.


    A single quarrel <em>thwacked</em> into the creatures chest, and T saw the scripts on the shafts length ignite, inverting the Leshkins power for use against the beast.


    The Leshkin lost all cohesion, the blooms exploding outward to be carried back into the forest by a wind that T couldnt feel or detect.

 Chapter 105: Practice

    Chapter 105: Practice


    T sat on the wagon top as it trundled towards the trees. The caravan was underway, and T had a task before her.


    Per Mistress Oderas instructions, she was preparing to activate her active gravity maniption for the first time. <em>I really should have done this a week ago</em> But there had just been too much else to do. <em>I still havent even started experimenting with spell-forms in my lungs, either</em> No. This took priority.


    She ced her palms on her elbows, left arm going above right. She carefully positioned her fingers per Hollys instructions, getting into the very awkward and specific position required for the initial activation. <em>I know we didnt want this to activate on ident, but this is a bit ridiculous.</em>


    Even so, she followed the instructions given, closed her eyes, and entered the required mental state.


    <em>Control.</em>


    Power whipped through her, filling the gold inscriptions in her left breast and radiating outward into the others linked to them. A few of the forms made subtle additions to her mage-sight as well, utilizing the base scripts to give her needed information.


    The miniscule copper links ced to kick off this first activation burned away, leaving her with another active draw on her power.


    It was a massive drain.


    Ts eyes opened, widening in surprise as she felt her reserves begin to steadily, if slowly, empty. With quick, practiced technique, she forged one of her standard void-channels and connected it to her body and the inscriptions there.


    The added flow was just enough to satisfy the much greater demand for power. <em>Great</em> Any time she didnt have an active void-channel, she would be losing power. <em>I need to understand this spell-working better. That should increase the efficiency and reduce the draw.</em>


    She thought she could hold the single void-channel for most of a day. Even so, it wasnt enough to refill what shed lost. So, she quickly forged a second void-channel and dispersed it a few secondster when her reserves were refilled.


    That done, she opened her eyes, and had to blink back tears.


    The entire world seemed to have a uniform, additional coloryered overtop both her normal vision and that of her mage-sight. <em>Not quite a color, more an added depth.</em>


    She felt her mind hitch at the additional facet of information.


    Thankfully, given that the new portion of her sight was directly linked to her mage-sight, it functioned the same. Now that she had taken in the gravity of everything around her, it faded from her sight. <em>Only differences will be highlighted.</em>


    She nced down at her hands and was greeted by such a difference. The light of gravity was deeper,ing from her body, the effect seeming to highlight the <em>weight</em> of difference. T huffed a chuckle at that. <em>Well, thats exactly what it is, so thats probably why I perceive it that way.</em>


    Once shed limated to that, her extra perception with regard to her own body faded as well. <em>Only changes will manifest.</em>


    Shed picked up a small stone for practice and set it near her feet during the initial activation. As such, she picked it up to hold, focusing on it to bring back the other light that indicated gravitys effect.


    She brought her left, middle finger down to press against her left thumb, her other fingers curling naturally into the position shed had Holly lock the ability behind. <em>I cant make changes, unless I have this hand position, for now.</em> It seemed a wise precaution.


    <em>Increase.</em> She applied her will and felt a marked uptick in the power drain. She immediately created another void-channel. The light increased minutely, but the increase in weight was much, much too little for her hand to register. <em>All that, for this?</em>


    She thought for a long moment. <em>What am I doing, exactly?</em>


    She was dumping power into an effect, without considering how it would be aplished. She remembered her inefficiency with charging the cargo-slots, before shed fully utilized a mental model. She recalled how horrible her skins defenses were before she understood the bio-chemistry behind inter- and intra-cellr bonds.


    <em>Yeah, thats whats happening, here. I havent bothered to really understand how this is doing what its supposed to do.</em>


    She thought for a moment.


    <em>Its exactly like my crush.</em> As soon as the thought entered her mind, solidifying into a mental construct, the new, added drain on her power greatly diminished. The stone got noticeably heavier, if still just minutely.


    <em>Thats right. Take that 10% extra weight and crack! </em>She shook her head, a smile tugging at her lips. <em>Hey, its a start.</em>


    She bent her will towards increasing it, and over the next hour was able to raise the stones weight by nearly 50%, then slowly return it to normal. It was a colossally cial process, but T thought she could make it faster, in time.


    <em>Practice it is, then.</em>


    * * *


    T watched the false twilightndscape around their small caravan.


    It had taken her nearly two hours to fully adjust to the dappled green light. Even still, she kept thinking that she saw movement out of the corners of her vision, but it was just the obscuring leaves and branches, high above, swaying in a wind she couldnt see. <em>Or, moving on their own</em>


    Now that they were past the forests edge, the massive trees were actually spaced fairly far apart, with few exceptions.


    Those exceptions seemed to be growing <em>just</em> too close together to get a wagon through, thus diverting them from their intended course. Whenever they came to such blockages, at least one of the trees was invariably one of the migratory variety. Ts mage-sight told her that the magics within were much moreplex than the average specimen of tree. Even so, theycked the level ofplexity of an arcanous creature.


    As things would have it, it was always easier to divert to the left, or east, around the barrier. When they tried to go right, or west, the terrain became more difficult, often with great tangles of roots slowing them down or just making the path impossible.


    The tree trunks were colossal, as befitted their height. If T was estimating correctly, therger trees, past the leading edge of the forest, were close to nine hundred feet tall, and approaching two hundred feet across. In general, the trees grew around that far apart, making it a very dense forest, rtively speaking, while still having a lot of clear ground for them to traverse.


    Thus, any given diversion took them only around four hundred feet out of their way, but it was still quite inconvenient, as the arrangement of the trees made it difficult to tell where paths through were, until they drew close.


    <em>The whole scale of this ce twists the mind.</em> She assumed that the trees got as much of their needs from the magic, which they were drawing up from the earth, as from sunlight, and that made the closer crowding less of an issue.


    The fact that any light reached them at all was a testament to the sparseness of the canopy. <em>Those limbs are huge, though!</em> It was mainly the leaves that were sparse, barely forming a singleyer between them and the clouds, all told. She even caught some glimpses of those clouds, asionally.


    It was cold enough under the trees that the ground was frost covered, but it didnt seem like much snow got through to the forest floor, at least not here.


    The guards had attached an interesting device to the front of the cargo-wagons shaft, between the two oxen. It extended out in front of the animals on a hinge. To T, it looked mostly like a weight, resting on a set of wheels that moved up and down to stay in heavy contact with the ground. It seemed incrediblyplicated, since it could move and swivel, while not hindering the turns or movements of the oxen and wagon in the least.


    <em>To prevent the oxen from falling into a pit-trap?</em>


    That was probably a good idea. The oxen were pretty key to the whole venture.


    <em>Huh what would happen if the oxen were in?</em> It was probably worth asking. If it were up to her, now that she thought about it, there would be scripts embedded in the wagon that could do the work of the oxen, in the case of an emergency, but they would also be too expensive for regr use.


    That in mind, she took a moment away from her practice, and watching their surroundings, to examine the wagon more closely with her mage-sight.


    There wasnt active magic to stand out to her, but she <em>thought</em> she detected the intrinsic power of metal embedded, swirling through various parts of the vehicle.


    <em>I wonder who can activate it, and how?</em> She was probably better off not knowing.


    <em>I can be trusted not to activate it.</em> T decided to redirect her mind to other topics. Sometimes she felt like she was herding a toddler, while trying to direct her own mind.


    <em>Rude.</em> She would get over it.


    She felt a tickling from the edges of her mage-sight and looked up.


    Something was moving through the canopy nearly directly overhead. As she opened her mouth to call out a warning, one of the guards on the chuckwagon beat her to it.


    Above! He directed their attention to the one that T had seen, though she noticed some of the other guards pointedly looking elsewhere. <em>To ensure its not a distraction?</em>


    The Cert clearly seemed to notice their attention, vaulting off the massive branch it had been charging across.


    T immediately brought her middle finger back to her left thumb, focusing on the falling animal and dumping five void-channels worth of power through her mental construct, through the spell-form, and towards increasing the beasts weight.


    In the roughly six seconds before it impacted, beside the cargo-wagon, T was able to increase its weight by only about 10%, if she was understanding the new aspect of her sight properly. That barely increased the speed of impact, only increasing the energy of such by a bit.


    The beast stumbled in itsnding. The oddity of gravitys effect changing seemed to have caught it by surprise.


    T continued to bend her will towards increasing it, even as guards jammednces into it with passing charges from horseback.


    This Cert didnt have any elemental abilities, that she could see, and all the power in it seemed focused on its normal functions. <em>A bit like me, I guess</em>


    As such, thences were mainly mundane, and didnt have the huge impact that those using the creatures own power would have achieved.


    T nced to Mistress Odera, but the woman shook her head. No. Master Rane has it handled.


    As if on cue, Rane swept by at incredible speed. Force struck the beasts chest and blew through it, while the creatures increased weight helped with anchoring the thing to allow for a through-and-through, upward cut.


    Blood fountained into the air, and a chorus of deep, guttural notes rained from the canopy, above.


    T swept her gaze across their green ceiling, seeing hints of creatures looking out from behind the power-filled branches, where they were very difficult for her mage-sight to pick out. <em>How many are there?</em>


    Mistress Oderas voice was clear as she spoke. They are ambushers more than fighters. They know weve seen them. Expect them to retreat but be wary just in case.


    The next minutes were incredibly stressful, as the wagons slowly left the pack behind. The beasts, for their part, didnt seem to be following, at least not those that T was able to pick out. Those watched the wagons depart until tree-trunks blocked direct line of sight.


    Mistress Odera finally breathed out a sigh of relief and nodded. Return to regr observance.


    The guards responded to hermand, seeming to rx.


    <em>Back to practice, then.</em>


    The rest of the day passed with little of note.


    They were attacked quite a few more times, but it was always by singr creatures.


    Some ten lesser Leshkin, total, five more Certs, a white stag that emitted blinding pulses of light, three medium-sized reptiles that reminded T a bit of Terry, and two night-pumas fell before Rane and the guardsmen.


    Mistress Odera only had to shield them once, when a Cert dropped from directly overhead. The woman angled her defense, shaped as a t ne, so that the beast rolled off to fall the rest of the way to the ground. There, it was quickly dispatched, just like the others.


    All told, T was an anciry resource who barely helped, though she did get a <em>lot</em> of practice with her gravity maniption.


    By the time they made camp that evening, T understood how it worked well enough to be able to alter gravitational effects by close to ten percent per second, with sufficient power devoted to the task. Thankfully, her increased understanding also meant that the void-channel to her body was no longer required, while she wasnt actively making modifications to the gravity around her. <em>Thats good, at least. I dont want to think what would happen if I ran out of power in the night</em>


    The rate of change that shed reached was still nowhere near fast enough to rece her Crush, but it was nearly six times her earlier pace.


    <em>Every step draws me closer to where I want to be.</em> She knew that her future progress would be slower, but it wouldnt stop any time soon.


    Their camp that night was in a slightlyrger-than-average gap between several trees. Shed asked Mistress Odera if there was any danger of being fully surrounded and blocked in during the night, and the woman had simply said that it rarely happened. <em>So, not never</em>


    Still the older woman didnt seem concerned, so T had returned to her practice.


    As T walked across the wagon-top, thinking about her progress gave her an idea, and she decided to reduce her weight by ten percent, just to see what it would be like. The magic affected her easily. As it originated within her, her iron salve didnt block it.


    She tripped immediatelyon the smooth wagon top. <em>Seriously?</em>


    Her every movement felt <em>wrong.</em> Even so, she gritted her teeth and went through her exercises with the altered gravity, forcing herself to adjust. <em>Alright, then. I need to practice under as many different levels of gravity as possible.</em>


    She didnt really know how, exactly, it would be useful, but she didnt like that she was so ipetent with such a minor variation.


    <em>But should I practicerge variations first, or subtle ones?</em> She had no idea. <em>I should ask someone</em>


    It was too bad that everyone was busy with their evening duties. Rane walked in a wide circle around the wagons, checking for any hiddenirs or traps.


    Mistress Odera and the guards seemed to be thoroughly checking the ground between and immediately around their campsite in much greater detail than Rane could hope to achieve with his wide sweep.


    <em>I should go ask if I can help.</em> She sighed, dropping off the side of the wagon.


    She mmed into the ground, fracturing the already frozen soil. She ground her teeth, feeling how much ending-berry power had been required to absorb the blow. <em>Ok. Im calling it. I can always put it back on, now that my active maniption is up and running.</em>


    As Terry appeared on her shoulder, T brought middle finger and thumb together, and she began dumping power into reducing gravitys effect on her. It took every void-channel she had and nearly a minute to reach a normal weight, or close enough to be irrelevant.


    She was able to watch her hand andpare that to her sleeve as a way of matching the gravity light from each, nearly perfectly.


    <em>Yeah I should have released that ages ago</em> She hadnt really considered how easily she could ce the effect back on, if she wanted. <em>Im a bit foolish, sometimes</em>


    She approached Mistress Odera, a literal spring in her step. Thankfully, she got used to her lightness before stopping beside the other woman. Is there anything I can do to assist?


    I dont think at the moment, Mistress, but thank you for checking in. Mistress Odera nced to Terry. Now, you, good avian, would you be willing to do a sweep of the surroundings? You can move faster than all but a horseman and will draw less attention than one of the mounted guards.


    Terry cocked his head, then nced towards T.


    T smiled at her friend. If you want, might be nice to stretch your legs? Hed been a bitzier that day, not really leaving Ts side very often.


    He bobbed and vanished.


    In less than an hour, the camp was as secure as they could easily make it, and dinner was being served.


    T and Rane sparred once again, to the delight of the others in the caravan.


    T was having a bit more trouble, today, given her normal weight.


    She was a bit faster on sideways and upward movements than before, but she couldnt anchor against Ranes blows as easily, and the result was that she was flung about much more often.


    It was a stark lesson in humility, and inly showed just howcent shed already be in epting certain hits. <em>I should probably practice with even less than normal gravitybut not today.</em> In truth, she should wait until she could match Rane before pushing further, but she doubted she would have the patience. <em>Well see.</em>


    After a particrly brutal bout, T was taking a break to drink deeply from her water incorporator when she felt something bump her shoulder.


    T turned to see Terry, the size of a small horse, looking at her.


    A silence had fallen over those watching. They seemed to be curious more than anything else, as theyd all seen the bird in his smaller form, and the guards knew he could get bigger. Many had even seen him at this size, over thest few days.


    Whats up, Terry?


    The bird bobbed to her, then tapped Flow with his nose and flicked his head towards where she and Rane had been sparring.


    You want me to fight some more?


    He bobbed, then shuffled that way.


    Her eyes widened. You want me to spar with you?


    He bobbed again, seeming much more excited.


    T swallowed, though her mouth had been empty. Well, I suppose it could be good practice <em>What under the stars am I agreeing to?</em>


    Terry did a happy little shuffle, then appeared in the cleared area, crouched and ready.


    Well, alright then. Lets see what we can do.

 Chapter 106: Potent Creature

    Chapter 106: Potent Creature


    T notified Mistress Odera, and the guards on duty, that she and Terry would be sparring, so that they would note to her aid. Then, she carefully stepped forward into the already well trampled area of forest floor.


    Terry seemed to have grown bored, while she took care of the particrs, and hed curled up on the ground.


    T took a moment to regard her avian friend. <em>He looks sofortable there.</em>


    <em></em>Her focus expanded just slightly, and she saw him in the greater context. He was curled up alone, no others of his kind nearby. <em>I wonder how long hes been alone?</em>


    She gave a sad smile. <em>And he chose to join with me. </em>She never wanted him to regret that.


    Are you ready, Terry?


    The bird opened one eye and let out a soft squawk of assent.


    Alright, then. Lets- Ts words were cut off as her mouth filled with detritus: broken sticks and half-rotten, icy leaves. There was a weight on her back, and her ears were filled with a triumphant cry of exaltation.


    She heard those watching gasp in rm; she even heard several weapons clear their scabbards, before the weight vanished.


    She pushed herself up, her eyes finding the bird, back where he had been. She red, grimacing at the avian. That wasnt much of a bout.


    Terrys eye opened, again, and the look he gave her was one of smug superiority.


    No, Im not conceding. She took Flow into her hand, keeping it in its sheath, and used void-channels to extend it. Taking up a high guard, she nodded. Again.


    Even as she spoke, she moved Flow through a defensive sweep close across her back. She felt the briefest fluctuation of power as Terry again appeared behind her, but he seemed to notice the sword and immediately flickered to her side, behind the sweeping de.


    His taloned foot again knocked her down, this time with a blow to her side, and his weight held her against the cold soil.


    Now, however, she could see him; he met her gaze and let loose a happy chirp.


    Yeah, yeah. Thankfully, her enhanced strength made it easy for her to draw breath, even with most of Terrys weight on her, and that gave her an idea.


    She muscled through Terrys resistance to roll onto her back, grabbing the birds leg with her off hand and thrusting Flow upward.


    Terry flickered again, and his foot was now over her face. With no time for her to react, he mmed her head down, pushing it into the ground.


    Ts off-hand closed on now empty air.


    She growled in irritation. Even so, she didnt let her irritation slow her, and she used her anchored head to leverage her body up, coiling around the massive avian limb.


    He was gone.


    Shed already been in motion, so her inertia carried her all the way over, causing her to fall back to her stomach.


    He returned, now standing fully on her back.


    T let out a muffled yell of frustration into the freezing cold muck beneath her and <em>pushed,</em> vaulting up despite the few hundred pounds atop her.


    She swept out, putting less strength into the strike, so that she could immediately reverse it. Her attack and quick reversal caused Terry to have to blink away in rapid session, spoiling his next attacks.


    <em>Alright, then. Lets do this.</em>


    Flow was now in constant motion as T warded away the arcanous beast with a chaotic, but flowing, defense.


    Every time she was too slow or too predictable, Terry would knock her aside, capitalizing on the further disruption to pin her down.


    It was an exercise in utter helplessness, and she started to breathe heavier, unable to get space to think, to n, to feel in control.


    <em>Why cant I defend myself, here?</em>


    T began to feel tears building in her eyes as her desperation grew.


    <em>I am utterly outssed. Even with all my defenses, he now has my measure.</em> Her breathing continued to pick up, but not due to the exertion. <em>Hes been watching us practice. He knows exactly what we are capable of, and he knows, now, how to counter it.</em>


    She forged one more void-channel for her body and inscriptions, giving her a marginal boost to her strength and reaction rate. <em>Im d Holly didnt put any power limiters on my enhancements. </em>Even so, it wasnt enough.


    She wrought a second void-channel. In the corner of her vision, she saw that a faint golden glow was now easily evident from her exposed skin and the inscriptions set within.


    <em>Still not enough.</em>


    She made a third, and there was now a distinct glow, casting shadows on her clothing, and hair, but not yet strong enough to light up the ground around her.


    She was sweating profusely, her hyperactive muscles generating incredible amounts of heat. They were working with more power, and under more strain, than they ever had before.<em> Still too slow. What is wrong with me?</em>


    She threw together a fourth void-channel for her body and inscriptions, while maintaining those to Flow. She was at her limit, and the light from her inscriptions now highlighted a circle around her on the ground.


    Steam was visibly rising from Ts clothes, skin, and hair in the frigid evening air.


    Every change in Flows direction of movement produced a whip <em>crack</em> of sound, echoing and ovepping through the campsite. Flow never even brushed Terry.


    The avian hadnt noticeably responded to her ever increasing pace. He flickered around her with an air of utter non-concern, exploiting any and all imperfections in her form or defensive patterns, and there were many.


    Her increased capacities meant that those ws were exposed for briefer periods, but they were also much more numerous.


    She could do nothing against him. It felt like she was simply iling uselessly at the air.


    Tears had long since joined sweat, streaming down her face, and her nose was draining down over her lips and into her mouth.


    She couldnt spare even an instant to wipe it away, though she did spit, when possible, to keep her airways clear.


    <em>Why am I so weak?</em>


    In an act of pure, thoughtless desperation, T tried to lock onto Terry for a <em>Crush</em>. He simply changed size briefly, without slowing his probing assault, thus disrupting her connection before she could enact the attack spell. She didnt have the presence of mind or focus to make a more persistent lock.


    Dread built atop the despair. <em>He could kill everyone here, and there is nothing we could do to stop him.</em> He wouldnt do thatright?


    Her face was tingling, feeling almost as if it had fallen asleep as her entire body responded to her emotional state.


    Her vision was blurry, though her eyes were useless in tracking Terry, regardless. A brief flicker of diverted attention showed that there were far fewer onlookers than there had been. The distraction also earned her another facent against the cold ground.


    After another frantic exchange, in which she desperately fought back to her feet, there was finally a brief pause, barely a couple of breaths in length.


    T locked eyes with Terry, and she saw, as if for the first time, the true depth of his age, experience, and power. <em>He is violence incarnate.</em>


    She should have named him Violence. She shook herself.<em> That doesnt seem right. I shouldnt name him directly after something like that.</em>


    She almostughed, then, feeling a manic desperation. <em>Im still frantically hoping hes not about to kill us all.</em>


    Terry seemed to notice something in her gaze in that momentary eye contact, because he didnt resume his non-stop assault, instead cocking his head to one side and settling down.


    T stood still, eyes locked on her tormenter, Flow held to one side, her entire body on fire, all but literally. Her concentration broke, and the void-channels crumbled.


    Her body responded immediately, instantly feeling like every muscle seized up, simultaneously.


    She couldnt even muster a cry of pain, as she dropped to the ground, twitching.


    Aside from portions of her muscture that simply mped down, refusing to release, many other parts rippled in uncontrolled spasms, with a feeling like a thousand small, powerful feet kicking her over and over.


    Her onlyfort came in the form of a small, fluffy weight that appeared on her side, shifting ever so slightly to ount for her sporadic movements.


    What seemed like an eternity passed before T felt her arms forcibly extended above her head and held down. Additional hands met her palms, and power flowed into her.


    Her muscles were cooking themselves. Theyd have already seeded, without the reinforcement. It was Mistress Oderas voice, and she sounded concerned. The older woman tsked. For all I can tell, they might have been ruined and healed, but I think not. Her brain was sheltered from the heat, though.


    Can you do anything for her? Ranes voice was clear.


    Yes and no. The older woman sighed. I cant do anything more, magically; her body is already working at capacity even magically aided, but she should recover from this with a nights rest. Her own regeneration scripts are up to the task. She huffed a littleugh. I could cut off her limbs and let them regrow. That would likely be faster, but more costly, and highly detrimental in the long run.


    Rane huffed out an irritated breath. Why didnt her defenses prevent this?


    The damage came from the regr function of her body and scripts. There was nothing to defend against.


    Rane grunted. Im d we sent everyone back into the wagons near the beginning of the bout. I know I wouldnt have wanted an audience for this, if I were her.


    T finally managed a groan.


    Hush, child. Youll sleep tonight and feel better in the morning.


    A big hand, which she assumed was Ranes, patted her back. That was quite the attempt, Mistress T. I dont think I could have matched that level of effort for as long as you did.


    Her lips briefly stuck together before she croaked out a question, How long?


    Close to a quarter hour, if my reckoning is right.


    <em>Fifteen minutes</em>


    Silence surrounded the campsite, and T allowed herself to nce at the few remaining, who had been watching. Every face had some form of shock or horror in ce, though none seemed too fresh, and few were turned her way. <em>Just the on-duty guards.</em> That was a kindness.


    Rane tentatively tried to lift her, grunting when he seeded. Your movements looked like gravity was normal on you, again. d I was right. He muttered to himself after that, much too quietly for him to have expected her to hear. Still rusting heavy, though.


    Mistress Odera went before them, clearing the guards from themon room as Rane carried her through.


    Kit dropped her room-key to the floor, and Mistress Odera let Rane in toy T on her bed. It now felt hard as a stone floor.


    <em>Great Ill be ufortable if I sleep at a normal weight.</em> Her body was starting to work through its issues, and she smiled weakly up at the two. Thank you.


    Rane smiled back, and Mistress Odera nodded. Drink a lot of water, dear. Well make sure you have a good amount of food avable, when you wake up.


    <em>Good.</em> She didnt have the presence of mind to verbalize her thanks, further.


    The older woman produced a wet cloth from somewhere and quickly cleaned Ts face of sweat, snot, tears, and grime. <em>That was kind of her.</em>


    T was already fading, though.


    Rane and Mistress Odera left without another word, leaving her with the key.


    Terry, for his part, curled up beside her on the bed, giving no indication of concern or remorse, save to nuzzle close before they both fell into a dreamless sleep.


    * * *


    T woke to the amazing smells of cooked and cooking meat wafting through the cracks around her door.


    She was <em>sore,</em> but as she stood and stretched, her body quickly worked out that lingering pain. She moved through the stretching portion of her morning routine with practiced speed, taking time where it was needed without lingering unnecessarily.


    Terry was curled up on her folded bedroll, which shed previously set up for his use. His eyes were open, and he was regarding her with what she could only interpret as a look of expectancy.


    Food was calling to her, but there was something she needed to do. So What was that?


    Terry stood and walked over to her.


    She waited.


    Then, in a disy of teleportation power beyond anything she could have imagined, Terry began to flicker.


    He moved back and forth between two positions, two sizes, acting out two parts in a silent disy. The power rolling off of him was palpable, but still so much lower than shed have expected. <em>He must have near perfect efficiency.</em>


    That wasnt the point, though. She focused on the disy.


    Therger terror bird was knocking the smaller around, as the smaller desperately tried to fight back. It was fruitless, but neither stopped or gave up.


    Over time, the smaller one slowly grew in size andpetence, beginning to asionallynd blows on therger specimen.


    Through the course of the thirty second y, the two drew closer in ability until they were equals, testing and training each other, both improving greatly and advancing, together.


    Terry stopped flickering, and staggered slightly, clearly having used a <em>tremendous</em> amount of power for the shortmunication.


    You were training me, trying to lift me up?


    Terry flickered to her shoulder and head-bumped her cheek.


    It was She swallowed back her rising tears. It was pretty humiliating.


    Terry curled up, tucking his head down.


    She nodded, feeling like she understood. But, thats how terror birds train each other: ruthless, without actually causing damage. No cushion, no coddling, just a continuous, overt disy of skill.


    Terry let out a happy, little chirp, and shimmied slightly.


    T shook her head. IllIll try to learn from that, but I didnt have space to think.


    He opened one eye to regard her from her shoulder.


    That was part of the pointwasnt it.


    He closed the eye again, and shed have sworn he was smiling, except he didnt have lips with which to make the expression.


    Well, I suppose we have to ept each other as we are, not as we wished wed be. She patted Terrys head with her off hand. Lets get breakfast.


    She left her room, locking it behind her, and headed outside.


    They exited the cargo-slot through the propped open door to find that it was still a bit before dawn. There was a pleasant, cool crispness to the air, and a light dusting of snow helped highlight the terrain, even in the dim forest. There were some guards already eating, and Rane was atop the cargo-wagon, clearly the Mage on watch.


    Mistress Odera was awake as well, it seemed, and she smiled and waved to them as they walked over towards the chuckwagon.


    Good morning, Mistress T. After a moments hesitation, her eyes flicked to Terry. And to you, master Terry.


    Terry twitched but didnt otherwise react.


    Good morning, Mistress Odera.


    Mistress Oderas skin was a bit too pale as the woman smiled at them. Last night waseducational.


    T grunted, nomittally. You said there would be food?


    Mistress Odera ignored the attempt at a topic change. Are you alright, child? Her voice was barely audible, even to Ts ears.


    T hesitated. <em>Am I?</em> She felt recovered, but that wasnt what the Mage had been asking about. II havent felt that helpless in a long time.


    The older woman nodded. I can understand that. He is apotent creature.


    Terry gave a happy chirp in return but didnt open his eyes.


    With that topic broached and dealt with, if barely, Mistress Odera gestured back to the bustling chuckwagon. They are ready for you.


    T didnt dy in the slightest as she stepped up and received a truly monstrous portion of food. There were two bowls that each looked to be meant for either serving or mixingrge quantities of food.


    Amnin smiled but didnt try to engage T in conversation. Instead, she simply indicated that the smaller of the two bowls was for Terry.


    The avian perked up at that and gave a happy, trilling flute of gratitude.


    Each bowl was filled with fat, well fried sausages. Sliced bread, buttered and toasted, had been arranged around the edge of Ts bowl. Terrys had a fence of bacon.


    Grab a seat. Ill bring you some water and your bacon, dear.


    T smiled gratefully, moving over to the end of an unupied table. She set down the huge bowls and almost pulled out her reinforced chair, but then remembered that she didnt need it at the moment. <em>Thats nice.</em>


    She slid onto the bench, and fell to eating with abandon.


    Terry ate more slowly, but he still finished everything in his bowl with almost horrifying speed.


    T tried not toin about theck of coffee. Apparently, Mistress Odera had advised she avoid it, this morning, because of how much liquid shed lost the night before. <em>Coffee wont dehydrate me</em> She sighed. <em>At least I can get someter today.</em>


    Amnin had promised to save her a jug, but she wouldnt get it until after they started out for the day.


    <em>Sacrifices must be made, I suppose.</em>


    Breakfast done, she moved through her morning routine. Because her weight was now variable, she held off on muscr exercise until everything else wasplete.


    Now that she could alter effective gravity at will, if slowly, she had a task to aplish right before her physical training.


    She concentrated, bringing her left middle finger to her thumb, and focusing on herself, acting within the protective shell of her iron-salve. Over the course of a minute and a half, she increased her weight as much as she felt she could stand. T had been careful, near the end, as she hadnt wanted to overshoot and kill herself.


    She didnt have an exact number, but her feet were easily sinking into the frozen ground, despite the increase to her footing.


    <em>Around six times?</em> It didnt matter that much. She could see the alteration with her new gravity sight, so she could track her progress in the future.


    <em>Alright. Time for physical conditioning.</em>

 Chapter 107: The Dark, Cold Forest

    Chapter 107: The Dark, Cold Forest


    T fell into a modified pattern over the next few days. Mistress Odera rarely let her engage the creatures that attacked them directly, but T used her gravity maniption as often as possible to assist in the defense of the caravan.


    Shed made great progress at first, but that had slowed to a crawl and was continuing to slow. The new maniption ability was highly useful, and she had noint about that, but in abat situation, especially against more than one opponent, it still seemed cumbersome to the point of worthlessness. This was magnified because distance greatly slowed the rate of change that she could impart, as well as increasing the amount of power required per second to enact the change.


    <em>Yes, Ive been working with it for two days, and I dub it worthless!</em>


    She shook her head to herself. It had taken her weeks before she was able to use Crush at all, for the first time. She could dedicate a good bit of time to this, too. Worst case scenario, if she still didnt like these workings, shed get something else in their ce, after the inscriptions ran out.


    Her morning routine didnt change much, except for the increase to her effective gravity for physical conditioning and the reducing of such after. If there was time, she and Rane would engage in a few rounds of sparring. Since they were fighting with their weapons, she still only ever won through trickery. Unfortunately, no trick worked more than once.


    She did improve though, and she was surprised to see Rane improving as well. Mostly, thetter amazed her, because she could tell he was getting better. <em>My perception is improving, at least in regards tobat.</em>


    The days were filled with forest watching, physiology and anatomy review, gravity training, conversations with Mistress Odera, and periodic moments of high adrenaline, as magic-charged beasts threw themselves at the caravan.


    The evenings were filled by her role as a Mage protector, along with sparring against Rane and other basics such as eating.


    After all the passengers and off-duty personnel had gone to bed, she sparred with Terry, and while she didnt feel like she was improvingbat wise, at all, she never let herself fall into quite the same level of desperation as that first time.


    Consequently, she felt like she was at least better able to perceive how badly she was losing. <em>Baby steps, T.</em>


    With regard to the attacks: The first day had mostly been Certs, with the asional Leshkin, puma, or species of deer. <em>Or, had they been elk? They werent moose</em> It was hardly relevant. There had even been a couple of great reptiles, but those were incredibly easy for the guardsmen to drive away, so T only ever caught the barest of glimpses.


    The guards had been <em>very</em> thorough in harvesting from any creature that left remains, which was all those they killed, except the lesser Leshkin. The wagons were slow enough, through the forest, that the off-duty guards were easily able to do the work in time. It helped that nothing was anywhere close to the size of a thunder bull. The forest had powerful creatures, but not manyrge ones.


    The second day, they left the Certs mostly behind, and their encounters were, consequently, more weighted towards the other creatures.


    The third day, lesser Leshkin became almost their sole attackers. On that day, T began to take note of something odd with the Leshkin. Every lesser Leshkin that died within her line of sight had its gaze fixed on her as it perished.


    <em>Thats not creepy or anything.</em>


    Over these days, T watched the slow change in the direction of the currents of magic within the forest. Finally, on that third day, Ts observations of the power flow told her they were even with Makinaven, at least in the north-south direction. The power in the air seemed to flow almost due west, now, and there was a <em>lot</em> more.


    Theyd been shunted in the direction of old Audel, one of the more recent ruins, and the magic density in that region was still quite high from the recent waning.


    The forest continued to attempt to force them east or south. <em>Towards greater magic density.</em>


    Also, on that third day, Mistress Odera began creating arching shields over the snarls of roots, which asionally were the forests obstacle.


    <em>Easier than migrating so many trees to deflect us, I suppose.</em>


    The oxen, as was their standard, didnt seem to care in the least, dragging the wagons over the magical bridges. The surface dimpled slightly with each of their steps, giving good traction. Mistress Odera had worked her magics with as gradual a slope as was reasonable, so the task wasnt too onerous.


    The horses <em>hated</em> it.


    In the end, most of the horses had to have hoods pulled over their heads before being forcefully lead over the constructs.


    That added distraction and difficulty, along with making it harder for them to maintain a good perimeter.


    The head driver had several constructs that let him pinpoint their location, and he let the caravan know that they were still around three days from Makinaven.


    <em>Rust, we went much further east than Id thought.</em>


    That night, as she and Terry were preparing for their sparring session, Ts mage-sight alerted her to iing threats.


    A unit of four Leshkin warriors was upon them, breaking from beside one of the closer trees,ing from the east.


    LESHKIN! Ts voice boomed out, the inscriptions on her lungs, throat, and vocal cords allowing her to get to a much greater volume without causing damage.


    She dropped Flows sheath into Kit as she assessed the iing enemy.


    Like all the Leshkin shed seen before, these were made of seemingly random nt-matter. One was of mostly roots, two of bark, and the final of leaves.


    They all seemed to be staring directly at her, an odd savagery on their inhuman expressions that was at stark contrast to the nearly nk expressions of the lesser Leshkin theyd been fighting.


    Each warrior carried a weapon.


    Root held a massive, two-handed club as it thundered silently forward. <em>How do such loping steps not shake the ground?</em>


    Each Bark seemed to be wielding a long spear, leveled at her as they charged on quick, light footsteps.


    Leaves? Leaves put an arrow into Ts eye as her warning call was still echoing through their campsite.


    The arrow exploded on impact, unable to prate her well inscribed flesh. <em>Bless you, eye inscriptions.</em>


    <em></em>The ending-berry power had, like previously, retreated before the attack. Leshkin arrows, as it turned out, were filled with the same caustic sap/blood as the Leshkin themselves.


    T screamed in irritation and pain as the acid burned at her defenses. <em>How is it hurting when it isnt harmful to me?</em> Was it a secondary effect of pushing back the ending-berry power? Was it lessening her defenses overall?


    If she understood the quick glimpse she took with her internally directed mage-sight, her defensive scripts were almost entirely annulled, and so her eyes and skin were burning freely beneath the acid. The only reason she still had a face was that her regeneration scripts seemed utterly unaffected by the strange repulsion the Leshkin exuded, and were working perfectly, rebuilding the flesh even as it melted away.


    <em>I am an Immaterial Guide! Rust me if I let some rusting nt dominate MY power in MY body!</em>


    With a growl of irritation, she mentally seized her defensive powers and forced them into position, even as she swiped the sticky sludge from her eyes.


    Those same eyes widened as she opened them only to see Roots club iing, <em>fast</em>.


    On instinct, T dropped backwards, taking the move from Ranes arsenal, even if her version wasnt magically-enacted.


    Her mage-sight detected the blips of Terrys retreating power. Mistress Odera had warned him away from fighting these foes, and he seemed to be wise enough to have listened, at least in the heat of the moment. <em>Great.</em>


    Flow was alreadyshing out, and T took Root''s closest leg off, just above the knee, before her back had even hit the ground.


    As the man-sized Leshkin fell towards her, she swept her de upward, bisecting her opponent groin to crown.


    She threw herself to the side, pushing a bit awkwardly across the ground and barely avoiding the deluge of acid that rained onto the frozen soil where shed just been lying. Thankfully, Flow seemed to have some blow-back on the horrid liquid, dying its fall and even driving a lot of it up, first.


    <em>One.</em> Or was that two, because two lessers had been needed to make this one warrior?


    Now was hardly the time for such contemtions.


    Leavesunched three more arrows towards her, but she was able to dodge two and strike one from the air.<em> Score one for improved reflexes and proper training.</em> The one arrow she shattered covered her hand and arm in burning acid however, and her sleeve was much worse for wear.


    She connected a void-channel to the elk-leathers to keep them from burning through their reserves and losing their power.


    She couldnt close on Leaves, especially with the two Barks almost upon her. Even so, shed distracted the archer for long enough that two guards were able to strike it with specialized quarrels from their position atop the chuckwagon.


    Bark and Bark were closing rapidly on her as she turned her attention from the now removed, long-ranged enemy. <em>How was their heavy hitter the fast one?</em>


    Unfortunately, her time sparring against the Guardsmen had made at least one thing abundantly clear: spears, halberds, and other polearms were incredibly effective.


    <em>I wonder if Ill be able to add a path for one of those to Flow, in the future.</em>


    It was an oddly disconnected thought as she backpedaled, using Flow to knock aside quick thrusts and probing jabs, leaving heat-darkened marks on their wooden weapons. <em>Dont let them nk you, T.</em>


    She was hearing the steady rhythm of crossbow fire, but her two opponents seemed not to be the targets of any of the shots. <em>What are they shooting at?</em>


    She rolled her head to one side, a spear tip going through the space her mouth had just upied. <em>Rude.</em>


    Exactly as Mistress Odera had implied, there was a reason the Leshkin were considered a bane to humanitys early attempts at civilization and magic: their natural aura seemed designed to suppress, or push back, ending-berries defensive power. <em>And I modeled my primary defensive scripts on that same mythos</em>


    The aura was a subtle thing. To reference Ingrits analogy: It was like a light rain; the presence or absence of a fence wasrgely irrelevant.


    Trantion? Her iron-salve didnt stop it. <em>Might be weakening the effect, though.</em> She wasnt dead, after all, despite taking an arrow to the eye. <em>I doubt my regeneration was fast enough to stop that in the way it was blocked. My defenses had to have done something.</em>


    If shed been told this enemy so directly countered arge part of her defenses, shed have picked a different route. <em>If only some other Mage relied on this defense in modern times, so that the counter was more than myth and legend.</em>


    She grunted. Bark thrust for her trailing leg as she continued moving backwards, very much on the defensive. T jerked the limb out of the way, mis-stepping, unbncing, and taking a forceful thrust from other-Bark in her shoulder.


    Her scripts had a <em>lot</em> more staying power than the nebulous, free-floating ending-berry defense, especially backed by her pre-prepared will, so the sharpened wood didnt breach her flesh, but at some basic level, T felt her inscriptions <em>bend</em> before the impact. Thankfully, they held.


    Leshkin were <em>strong.</em>


    The single, upward angled thrust lifted her free of the ground and caused her to whip in a full circle before shended again, in a tumbling heap.


    <em>Not good. Not good!</em>


    The buzzing of bolts through the air announced two quarrels striking home, and one Bark immediately crumbled into a disjointed pile.


    <em>They targeted the same one.</em> Was it bad luck, or did the warriors need two quarrels to go down?<em> Didnt the Leaves go down with just one?</em> In that crystalized moment, as the remaining Bark drove a spear towards her abdomen, her near perfect recall brought her the memory of two bolts striking the archer.


    So, that had taken two as well. <em>Fascinating. Not currently relevant, but fascinating. </em>


    A guard tackled her attacker seemingly out of nowhere. His short sword hacked and stabbed again and again as he took the beast to the ground.


    Thebination of stab wounds and the massive mans weighting down on top of the Leshkin caused it to <em>pop</em>.


    Caustic sap-blood sttered across the guardsman, and T thought she heard him gritting his teeth in obvious agony.


    <em>Wow, how is he not screaming at that much pain?</em> She knew the barest fraction of what that felt like, and shed screamed while gaining that knowledge.


    Mistress Odera! Healer! T was able to get to her feet. At the same time, the guard stumbled upright, turning towards her before swaying. He slowly sunk back to his knees.


    He was mostly silent because the lower half of his face and the front half of his neck were gone.


    The nameless guard looked up at her with pleading in his eyes.


    The moment stretched out, as T looked back into the mans eyes.


    She couldnt do anything for him. He was already dead; his body just hadnt caught up with that fact.


    Finally, the guard copsed, motionless on the forest floor.


    Silence filled the clearing.


    The attack was over, and reality truly hit home.


    <em>Heshes dead.</em>


    * * *


    T stood, staring down at the unmoving guardsman for what felt like an eternity.


    He looked perfectly healthy, now that his wounded front was pressed against the ground.


    He could be sleeping.


    <em>But hes not.</em>


    Why had he done that?


    <em>Why did he protect me?</em>


    <em></em>That was his job.


    <em>Its not anymore.</em>


    T felt a mirthlessugh bubble up from inside her.


    Hes dead, and he hadnt needed to die.


    <em>Hes dead, and its because of me.</em>


    This was far from the first person shed seen dead or die. Shed seen Terrys ughter of around a dozen men, but those men had been hostile towards her. This man  <em>I dont even know his name  </em>This man died because she had looked weak. He died, because her death meant the end of the caravan. He died, because shed let the Leshkin get too close. He died, because shed let the Leshkin get the upper hand.


    She felt a weight on her shoulder, and T realized that she was kneeling beside the body, silent tears running down her face.


    Mistress T, do you need healing? Mistress Oderas voice was soft, gentle even, conveying the strength of her presence without imposing it upon T. It was her hand on Ts shoulder.


    T shook her head. She heard other footsteps around her and watched as a number of guards worked together to move the body, likely taking it to a cargo-slot, to be brought home for burial. <em>To next of kin.</em>


    Had he had a family? <em>What will happen to them, now?</em>


    T stood, took out her copper incorporator and used a brief, moderate pulse of hot water to wash her face clean. The too hot water used a small bit her ending-berry power but was otherwise a blessed relief. What happened?


    Mistress Odera patted her shoulder once more, then stepped back. Around ten lessers attacked the far side of the encampment, while these four struck over here. That is more advanced tactics than they usually use, but not rmingly so. There were a few casualties, but he was the only death. The others were within my ability to fully heal.


    T nodded. <em>What would have happened if the attack urred during dinner?</em> Somethings changed. These are the first warriors weve encountered, and I find it hard to believe that there just happened to be four, together, along with a small contingent of lessers.


    Mistress Odera grunted before replying. We started making our way in a nearly straight line towards Makinaven, bypassing most of the things meant to divert us and slow us down. I didnt do so earlier, because it is known to bring greater attention, but I deemed the risks eptable.


    Do you still?


    The woman gave her an odd look. Yes, of course. Today, we made more progress towards our goal than the two previous days,bined. We need to reach the city, and I am unwilling to wander the forest for weeks to do it. That would only lead to more potential injury and death. This route usually ims at least a few of the guardsmen, its why it is so well paid for them. She paused, seeming to see something in T, then. Her voice softened, ever so slightly. The fact that our caravan is smaller, that you allowed that, has already kept us from receiving as many attacks as is standard. We should have suffered more casualties by now, if not more deaths. Your abilities have mitigated that.


    T grunted. Ill have to take your word on it.


    You can look up the statistics yourself, Mistress. What I say is true.


    T just nodded. <em>I know youre not lying...</em> Doesnt make it better.


    Mistress Odera grunted. You arent wrong. I wish there were better ways. Weve tried having only Mages as guards, but it takes so many that we end up drawing more enemies down upon us, and people still die. Weve tried She shook her head. Weve settled on this because its the best of our current options, not because its good.


    <em>Best of bad options, indeed.</em> T took a deep breath and gave Mistress Odera a sad smile. Should we expect more attacks, tonight?


    Mistress Odera sniffed. Always expect attacks.


    Terry flickered into being on Ts shoulder, returning from whatever hed been up to.


    But, if you mean should we be extra diligent? I dont think thats required. Once things calm down, you should be able to treat this like any other evening.


    T looked to where the guards were dragging off the vegetative remains of the Leshkin. Theyd already taken the weapons for use until Makinaven, then for sale to improve the payout.


    Her eyes flickered back to where the guard had died. <em>Theres not even any blood.</em>


    The acid hadnt opened any wounds, and the damage it had done had been fused closed as it happened. I will try.


    See that you do. Im d that you are continuing your practice. It will improve the defensibility of the caravan and increase the survival rate of everyone here. Mistress Odera quirked a smile. Even if just marginally. Such gains are slow; so every day matters. She turned to go. Good night, Mistress T.


    Good night, Mistress Odera.


    The camp slowly settled back down into the sleepiness of night.


    It was dark, beneath the forest canopy, and T had never really considered how the guards on night watch were able to see well enough to be worthwhile. During dinner, and for a bit afterwards, magical lights lit the space around them, but those would soon be put away.


    <em>Why dont guards have night-vision inscriptions?</em> The obvious answer was that such couldnt be turned off without a keystone, and during the day they would likely be more than a little inhibiting. <em>Ill have to actually look, after lights out tonight.</em>


    Until then, she would follow Mistress Oderas advice. Ready, Terry?


    He answered by flickering over to the space already cleared for sparring. He was smaller, today, choosing to be closer to the size of arge dog, as opposed to that of a horse.


    Lets see how I can improve.


    * * *


    An hourter, a guard called that the lights were being deactivated.


    T was drenched with sweat, having pushed <em>hard</em>, even if not nearly as hard as she had during her first match with Terry. She weakly waved acknowledgement to the guardsman. Thank you!


    Shed done markedly better, tonight.


    It wasnt that shed managed to hit Terry, nor had she been much better at warding him away, but she had gotten to the point where she didnt feel escting panic at her own mounting helplessness, and that emotional control helped her keep her mind centered and allowed her to analyze what was happening.


    She didnt have a workable solution, not yet, but it was a monumental step forward.


    <em>First rule: Dont panic.</em> She smeared some of her sweat across her face. <em>I need a towel</em>


    With a sigh, she pulled out her cold-water incorporator and sted herself clean. The cold water was shocking and invigorating. <em>Night watch, here Ie!</em>


    Therge constructs dimmed and went dark, one guard carrying each of the four items back to the cargo-wagon for safe storage.


    Now that she was looking for it, T noticed that each guard wore a close fitting, flesh-colored mask, minutely thin copper wire was woven throughout and fused periodically to form inscriptions for increased light collection. <em>Only active at need, when powered, able to be used by any. </em>That was an elegant solution.


    As she thought about it, she couldnt decide if shed get inscriptions, were she a guard. Obviously, the ideal thing would be to be a Mage, but that wasnt possible for everyone, not by a long shot.


    <em>The Guardsmen Guild probably doesnt pay for personal inscriptions, but they likely pay for inscribed items, like the night-watch masks. Anything I got would always be on, so maybe before a particrly long or dangerous route?</em> That made sense. She hadnt really looked closely at the guards, though her mage-sight had shown her that many had bits of magic circting through them on asion, likely the result of long hours of training.


    <em>Well, time to take my post on top of the cargo-wagon.</em> Normally, she read or practiced, but tonight? Tonight, despite Mistress Oderas assurances, T knew that shed have her focus fully on the dark, cold forest around them.

 Chapter 108: Nightshift

    Chapter 108: Nightshift


    T smiled as she sat atop the cargo-wagon, the morning light highlighting the thin, green canopy above. <em>You know? Those are leaves, not needles, but they werent shed for winter.</em> She didnt know if shed ever seen an evergreen with leaves before. <em>Not that I make a study of trees.</em> Not that it really mattered, in the end.


    The previous night had been uneventful, and her morning routine, camp breakdown, and departure had passed quickly. She was now enjoying thest of arge bowl of sausages, chasing them down with a healthy amount of coffee maybe an unhealthy amount<em>Im sure its fine.</em>


    The food had been given by Amnin just as they were departing. You have to keep up your strength. The older woman had given her a wink. Brand told me that your huge appetite has something to do with your magic. Dont want you running out. That would be bad for all of us.


    T had been profusely grateful. Her enhanced stores were <em>almost </em>full, or that was the sense she got from her body and power, but she wanted to be topped off in case she needed the energy and materials. She had a sinking feeling and a suspicion that she would have need, soon.


    She turned her thoughts from that unpleasantness. <em>Im not letting that ruin my appetite.</em> That would be counterproductive.


    The guards had taken to cycling more often, in part to help counter the growing cold, and partly because the trip had already taken as long as the shortest estimate.


    Long shifts made for more frequent mistakes and slower reactions. They had the ability for shorter rotations, especially with the extra guards that hade for this route. So, they reorganized. If T had heard correctly, they had dozens of different schedules that themanding officer could select from, depending on the particrs of the caravans current situation.


    <em>Thats probably wise; dont force a stressedmander toe up with a new, hopefully-workable system in the field.</em>


    T continued to y with her gravity maniption, targeting things near and far to get herself used to as many aspects of the ability as possible. She was even able to do that practice while reading, so she was hitting several key points for her advancement at once.


    <em>At some point, Ill have to start investigating the fusing of my body and soul</em> But that seemed <em>much</em> too critical and delicate; she wanted to wait until she was safely within a citys defenses.


    She also kept her eyes lifted just enough, while reading, that her mage-sight would quickly respond to things in front of the caravan.


    <em>I can do everything!!!!</em>


    <em></em>Well, except advance towards being Fused, and-


    <em>I can do many things!!!</em>


    They were an hour away from their morning campsite when the first group of the day attacked them,ing from behind.


    Thankfully, Rane had been in the rear when they came into view, and he, along with a healthy number of bolts, dealt with the six warriors and five lesser Leshkin.


    <em>I dont know what we would do if those bolts werent reusable.</em> From the looks shed gotten at the items, each bolt had at least a half-dozen activations, assuming it wasnt broken or rendered unusable in some other fashion.


    The Leshkin weaponry was collected, with the caravan proceeding without changing pace.


    Less than an hourter, Mistress Odera again created a bridge over a dense snarl of roots. Once the cargo-wagon and horses were over, and when the chuckwagon had just started traversing the magical construct, the second attack came, sweeping up from the south on their left-hand side.


    That assault had only beenposed of lesser Leshkin: Twenty lesser Leshkin, all told. A few had managed to put some gouges into the chuckwagon before thest one was dispatched.


    Apparently, Mistress Odera was at her limit with the bridging shield, because she had to manipte and maintain the properties to greater extremes for it to be able to function in that way.


    That was the reason that she hadnt been able to shield the wagon while the bridge was active. The fact that the chuckwagon had been half on that bridge made dismissing the spell-working a <em>bad</em> idea, as the oxen would likely have broken their legs from the drop onto the roots.


    Those attacks set the tenor for the day.


    By the time they made camp for the night, all the guards, even those newly on rotation, were twitchy, and T hadpletely given up on reading, her gaze constantly moving across everything around them. She was still able to continue her gravity maniption practice, though. <em>Small mercies.</em>


    T had lost count of the number of Leshkin theyd in. Blessedly, theyd not seen anything more powerful than a warrior, but theyd dealt with more than a hundred of those, as the weaponry theyd collected testified. T had even been sent to assist Rane in one particrly desperate defense.


    Near midafternoon, another guard had been in.


    T hadnt even seen it happen, but when she heard the news, her mind filled with visions of a pitted, all-too-visible lower jaw; of a melted neck; of confused, pleading eyes, begging for her help.


    Only her inscriptions had kept T from emptying her lunch across the wagons roof.


    <em>Another one dead.</em> Could she have saved him, if shed been allowed to engage the enemy, instead of waiting out the attacks from up here?


    <em>My presence didnt help the other guard</em>


    Aside from the one death that day, three guards had received severe injuries that Mistress Odera couldnt fix, at least not well enough for them to return to duty. Many more had been injured and healed, ready to get back to work thanks to her.


    <em>We need to get to Makinaven.</em>


    When T had asked Tion, the head driver said they were likely less than three days from the city, assuming they continued using Mistress Oderas bridges, and there werent too many tree trunks moving to increase the length of their route.


    <em>One can hope.</em>


    The mood around the camp was subdued.


    The passengers, while not exposed to the horrors directly, were quite aware that the trip was taking longer than it could have. On this route, they knew what that meant. Part of the purchase of passage was understanding and agreeing to the risks.


    True, that was a part of any caravan trip, but for some routes, like Bandfast to Alefast, it was usually just a formality. For this path? It was a stark reality.


    T and Rane still sparred, but they put less energy into it, using the opportunity to perfect form rather than fighting at full speed and strength. T even began altering her gravity during the fight to try leaping around Rane.


    It didnt work very well, and Rane almost universally swept her from the air. <em>Falling slower makes me easier to hit; who would have thought?</em>


    To make it effective in actualbat, she would need to be able to be lighter for the initial jump, then heavier than normal to drop back to a defensible position more quickly. Or she would need to be strong enough to make the heavier effective gravity not lessen her ability to jump.


    To make the first idea work, shed need to be able to change her effective gravity much, much faster. <em>That will onlye with practice.</em> As to the second, the stars knew shed tried just being heavier for long enough. <em>I could have been practicing this variability that whole time</em> There was no going back, now, and not every crazy idea she tried would turn out well.


    T and Terrys bouts, after most people had turned in, were likewise less strenuous. Terry seemed a bit twitchy, too. If T had to guess, the avian didnt like how nonlethal he was against the Leshkin.


    Hed helped out in a couple of tense situations throughout the day, and each time, hed barely been able to act as a dying force. Any attack that harmed the Leshkin would, as a result, cause him to be hit with acidic blood, even if only the part of him that made the strike. Neither T nor Terry wanted to risk that.


    Because of the danger, hed limited himself to tripping and destabilizing those that he had engaged. It had been fairly effective, but as the terror bird was used to being a one creature killing machine, it was obvious how much it frustrated him.


    It was an unideal situation all around.


    Well take a different route next time. Eh, Terry?


    He let out a low thrum of agreement.


    Before the nightshift truly began, T was able to grab a quick bath. <em>Stars be praised.</em>


    As she scrubbed, she contemted their situation, and her wonderful friend whod signed her up for this particr route. She would have to ask Lyn why shed thought this would be a good second trip.


    <em>Maybe, I annoyed her too much, and shes decided to get rid of me</em> That was unlikely.


    <em>Shes in league with the Leshkin and is sending them tasty, tasty T meat.</em> Where had that evene from? <em>I doubt Id be very tasty</em> Terry had seemed to enjoy her finger. <em>Bleh! Moving on!</em>


    The Leshkin werent intelligent enough to be in league with anyone, so that was unlikely to be Lyns motive.


    As she finished her cleansing and was ready to get to her post for the nightshift, T felt a couple things click into ce.


    <em>This route is more dangerous, meaning a higher pay for Mage protectors. Lyn knows I am in need of funds, and I should have a better survival rate than the average Mage.</em>


    Ending-berry use was anything butmon, and T doubted that anyone else had inscriptions based on the myths surrounding that power. Therefore, T had no reason to believe that Lyn knew Ts defenses would be at a disadvantage against the Leshkin.


    <em>Xeel had known, or at least suspected, but hes ancient. Im sure very little is new to him, these days.</em>


    So, Lyn had been trying to ensure that T had a profitable trip, while sending a Mage that, from her understanding, would have a better chance of sess.


    When looked at in that light, Lyns choice of route had been exceptional. <em>Im still going to give her a hard time about it, even so.</em>


    T took up her post, scanning the forest around the dark camp. <em>Stars be praised that arcanous beasts are less active at night.</em>


    * * *


    Near midnight, Rane relieved her of duty, and she was about to climb down when she had a realization. Hey.


    Rane turned back towards her, a questioning look on his face. Yeah?


    How are you holding up?


    Rane gave her a long look, then sighed. Its a bit rough. The experience is really good for me, and my scripts move me out of the way of the acid, but itspretty gruesome. Mistress Odera can heal anything short of a missing limb or death. Rane nced away.


    T settled down, sitting near thedder. Terry opened an eye to nce at her, then flickered away. <em>I guess hes going to hunt or something.</em> She looked back to Rane. Were you there when the guard died, today?


    Yeah.


    T waited, feeling like pushing would be a mistake.


    Rane kept his eyes moving, but he seemed more burdened than usual.


    She continued to wait. <em>I can give him a bit if thats whats needed.</em>


    Finally, Rane nced her way, then sighed. It was pretty awful.


    Oh?


    I havent lost anyone since He gave a sad smile and gestured to the faded scars on his face.


    <em>Since the family died in front of him.</em> Are youok?


    He snorted at that. I have to be. If I get in my own head, more will die, and I cant allow that. He said that with some finality, seeming to think the topic was closed.


    T nodded, almost moving to go. Then, she hesitated again. After a long pause, T spoke. Last nightthat guard died because he thought I was in danger.


    Rane looked back her way but didnt say anything.


    She pulled up her knees, hugging them to her chest. I was on the ground, a Leshkin warrior standing over me, about to stick a spear into my stomach. She shrugged. I dont think it would have killed me. She shook her head. No, Im almost certain that it wouldnt have. He died for nothing, simply because I looked like I was in trouble. She closed her eyes, resting her chin on her knees.


    He was doing his job.


    And I wasnt doing mine.


    He gave her a confused look.


    I am a Mage protector. I shouldnt have been on my back, seemingly in need of a rescue. I fell, and a man died.


    Mistress T, I got the after-action summary. You went down because you took a spear-strike. You didnt trip over your own feet or stumble when fleeing danger.


    There are after-action summaries?


    Rane gave her a puzzled look. Of course. How else can you learn from what happened?


    T just gave him a look. How do you get them?


    I just ask. Either Mistress Odera or the head guard.


    Ill ask about that, then


    Raneughed. I imagine that Mistress Odera would have passed anything relevant along. She isguiding you, after all.


    Getting the information directly, even if not directly applicable, would be nice. Though, now that she thought about it, many of the things Mistress Odera had conveyed in their discussions had the tenor of being pulled from or built off of such a report.


    Fair enough.


    They fell back into silence.


    After long minutes, in which T waited and Rane kept his eyes on the forest, he finally let out a long breath. Youre still here.


    You still seem like you need to talk.


    A guard died. I couldnt have stopped it, but I was there. Maybe He shook his head. There is nothing I could have done differently. He barked augh at that. Rust, that sounds arrogant. I acted perfectly. Nothing to change here!  He shook his head, again.


    Socould you have acted differently?


    Of course. If I had perfect foreknowledge, I probably could have kept everyone alive, but with what I knew at the time? I wouldnt change a thing.


    Im d you have that, at least.


    Oh? Would you have acted differently?


    I could have begun retreating towards the wagons sooner, kept a better footing, or moved to better positioning.


    Did you act to the best of your ability, with the knowledge you had at the time?


    T grimaced. Im not asking you to make me feel better, Master Rane.


    Rane hissed a shortugh. Of course you arent, but you still need it.


    And you dont?


    He shrugged. I dont me myself for his death, I just He nced away. I wish it hadnt happened. I wish that I was better, more powerful, so that his sacrifice hadnt been needed.


    T grunted her agreement. It makes you think.


    Oh?


    Yeah. I mean, these caravans are dangerous, but theyd be less so with a higher-powered Archon along. What are they doing that is so much more important than this?


    Rane made a nonmittal noise. There are probably too many caravans for them tomit an Archon to each.


    She gestured at the two of them. They sent two, here.


    Heughed at that. You know what I meant. We hardly count. Were barely more than Mages, at least for now. Even so, I know that the Caravan Guild has quite a few Archons, just not enough for every trip on every route to always have one who would have magics of a type to be useful.


    <em>Thats a fair point. </em>Still seems like this route should have one


    Between any two forest cities is supposedly just as hazardous. He frowned. Though, the fact that we were shunted so far east likely made this more dangerous than average. Ive also heard that the caravans that have to go south, between the forest cities, encounter much more powerful beasts as well, so I might be overestimating the uniqueness of the hostility weve encountered.


    Fair enough, I suppose.


    Theypsed into apanionable silence, then. Eventually, Rane looked back to her, smiling. You really should get some sleep.


    Youre probably right. She pushed herself to her feet.


    Mistress T?


    Hmm?


    Thank you.


    She smiled in return. Good night, Master Rane.


    Good night.

 Chapter 109: Leshkin

    Chapter 109: Leshkin


    T rocketed through the air, momentarily confused as to what had happened.


    <em>I was practicing reducing my own effective gravity. I thought I saw something moving in my peripheral vision, then-</em>


    In an instant of rity, she remembered a heavily armored Leshkin lunging from a nearby trunk and striking her with incredible force.


    She was in perfect health, despite her new ballistic trajectory. <em>Oh, thats where so much of my ending-berry power went</em>


    She saw the two-wagon caravan in the distance as a wave of lesser Leshkin seemed to fall like rain towards it. <em>Oh thats bad.</em>


    She saw movement closer, as she continued arching through the air. <em>Lower gravity really allows for greater distance in ballistic arcs.</em>


    Two shapes, clearly armored, were sprinting at impossible speeds after her, across the frozen ground.


    <em>Ive got tond safely.</em> She twisted in the air, less than three seconds having passed since shed been on the cargo-wagon. She reoriented just in time to see a <em>massive</em> wooden hammering for her face. <em>I guess this one was nning on nking me.</em>


    She couldnt decide if she was lucky for havinge face to face with the nking opponent before she engaged the others, or unlucky foring into their striking range so perfectly.


    In either case, she threw her arms up to catch the blow, just as itnded. Both her arms broke with sharp cracks. Her scripts didnt impart invincibility, just a much, much higher resistance than was average.


    She had a tight control on her ending-berry power, keeping it internal, in her core, and allowing her inscriptions to handle surface level and limb protection. That freed up her mind to focus outward. <em>And left my arms exposed</em> Not that ending berry power would have resisted this creatures blow very effectively.


    Her now limp hands were driven against her face, stifling her instinctual scream of pain.


    The blow caused the top half of her body to reverse directions, flipping her in a crazy spiraling twist tond in a tangled heap on the ground.


    <em>This is bing a repeating theme for me</em>


    <em></em>Ts scream morphed into one of frustration. It had already been a <em>long</em> day.


    The first, renewed attack hade an hour after morning travel began, and theyd been increasingly hard to deal with. This was the third attack in as many hours and the first from ambush.


    Leshkin knights had proven to be a <em>lot</em> harder to fight, and now she was separated from the others, potentially facing three.<em> Ive got to get back.</em>


    Her arm bones clicked back into ce, pulling back into proper alignment before the structure reknit, her regenerative scripts eating into her reserves to get her back in fighting shape. Vaulting to her feet, she pulled Flow to her hand, instantly pushing power through the weapon to change it into the form of a sword.


    <em>I need to be at normal weight. Im not practiced at fighting effectively while lighter.</em> Her left middle finger touched her thumb, and she focused on herself, ramping up the effect of gravity, aiming for a normal effect as a result.


    The war-hammer-wielding Leshkin knight was approaching with deliberate, careful strides, as if expecting some sort of trick. <em>Or waiting for the others to catch up.</em>


    Terry appeared behind that armored giant as it was advancing on T.


    <em>No, just regr sized</em>


    The armor just made them look much bigger.


    <em>But its a part of their body, so they are bigger?</em>


    Now was hardly the time to consider such things.


    Terry struck the creatures back, center mass, knocking the attacking beast forward, causing it to stumble as Tshed out with Flow.


    The knights were fast.


    Its war-hammer came up, knocking Flow up so that her de sheared off the top of its head and helmet, instead of separating it at the neck.


    Theyd learned the hard way that this wasnt a lethal strike for warriors or knights.


    <em>Full head removal, bisection of the body horizontally or vertically,plete obliteration, or solid hits from specialized, guardsmen weaponry.</em> Those seemed to be the only guaranteed kills.


    Strangely, a diagonally-bisecting cut left them with some ability to fight on. <em>Were probably missing something critical.</em>


    Sadly, the Leshkin seemed to slowly change over time, so the knowledge from previous wars was never precisely urate.


    She whipped Flow around in a tight circle for another cut, but the knight lunged forward, punching out with its heavy weapon.


    The impact threw T back, across the open forest floor.


    The ending-berry power took arge tick downward as it protected her ribs and organs from being pulverized; the blow had been greater than an ox kick. <em>I need some space to drink more ending-berry juice.</em>


    Thankfully, shed gotten her weight back to normal. Unfortunately, it didnt really matter. She mmed into one of the great trees, actually denting the massively magically enhanced material. <em>More ending-berry power used.</em> Thankfully, shed managed to keep her head tucked, and shed taken the impact mostly with her spine.


    She snorted at that. <em>Whod have thought Id be </em>trying <em>to take damage on my spine</em>


    She jerked herself out of the tree, calling Flow back to her hand. <em>Wait; when did I lose hold of my weapon?</em>


    <em></em>Remembering back, it had been at the moment that the massive hammer had hit her sternum. <em>Understandable. Have a nice day.</em>


    T shook her head. Her thoughts were a bit scrambled. <em>What is going on?</em>


    <em>Right! Im fighting knights.</em> She refocused on the space before her.


    Terry was a flickering blur, engaging the three knights, trying to give her time to recover.


    She almostughed. When she thought about it, this was probably how hed been sparring with her. <em>Hes operating under the limitation of: Contain, dont kill.</em>


    The acid was a serious risk for Terry, especially if it came from a wound he was actively creating.


    <em>Focus, T!</em>


    She locked on to one Leshkin, which had a war-pick, clearly the greatest danger given its deep prating potential. The creatures form seemed to beposed mostly of long, fruit-like nt matter of varying colors. Its armor was a grey, tight-grained wood.


    Ts left middle finger touched her thumb once again, and she began pouring power into increasing its effective gravity. In the time since shed been forcefully ejected from the top of the cargo-wagon, shed been too focused on fixing her own effective gravity to target one of the knights. <em>Until now.</em>


    While T was dumping power into the gravity increase, she also pulled out her sk, downing arge amount of ending-berry juice. She strode forward, returning the sk to Kit, continuing to increase the knights weight more and more.


    The creature was tripping and stumbling all over the ce, and every time Terry knocked it down, it struggled to get back up.


    <em>Next.</em> She switched targets and began ramping up the effective weight of the sword-wielder. That Leshkin seemed to beposed all of fine roots, like the hair thin ones that she often saw around weeds when shed helped cultivate her fathers garden. <em>Get it together, T.</em>


    She was almost to the skirmish, and Terry anticipated her arrival, appearing opposite her approach and screeching.


    Hammer swung for the avian, and Terry simply flickered, allowing the weapon to harmlessly pass through the space hed been in.


    T took that hammer-knight-Leshkin from behind, quickly cutting it into quarters with a practiced pattern of two strikes. Flow pulled a little more strongly on her power as it overcame the natural resistance of the being, but it wasnt significant.


    The extra pull of power would also have cauterized the flesh of any being made of mundane material. Unfortunately, the Leshkin werent. Their vegetation-substance simply caught fire, and the acid-blood bubbled and whistled as the force of her blow caused it to spurt away from her, through where Terry had been.


    Terry gave her a bit of an irritated re, and she returned an apologetic nce. <em>Oops.</em>


    He didnt let her error slow him, however, and he quickly engaged the now-stumbling sword-knight-Leshkin, and T took a moment to behead then bisect the downed and struggling pick-wielder, coating the ground in more corrosive gore.


    As she stepped around the ick, she nced at her left hand, and contemted the gravity scripts that were responding to the gesture from that hand. <em>These are awesome! Exactly what I needed.</em>


    The gravity maniption wasnt a quickly lethal skill, not by a long shot, but it was an amazing support ability.


    While intelligent creatures could likelypensate for a time, Leshkin seemed almost to function along preset lines of action, rarely having good responses for odd tactics when used against them.


    The sword-Leshkin followed the other two knights in death shortly thereafter.


    T stood panting, the heavy breathing more from adrenaline than true exertion.


    In the moment of silence, she heard Leshkin screeches from a distance, along with cries of pain. <em>The caravan!</em>


    She snatched up the Leshkins weapons, dropping them into Kit, and only <em>slightly</em> regretted leaving the armor behind. <em>They need me.</em>


    She began running, but Terry was immediately beside her. He let out an implicative squawk and hunkered a bit lower as they continued to run. Right! Thanks, Terry.


    She hopped sideways, her great strength allowing the running leap to give her quite a bit of air.


    Shended on Terry, and the terror bird bent lower still, greatly increasing his speed.


    T tucked down, gripping his cor to gain better purchase as they quickly caught up to the still moving wagons.


    <em>Come on;e on;e on!!!</em>


    Lesser Leshkin were <em>everywhere.</em>


    There must have been a hundred. Thankfully, more than half were dead or dying, if the piles of out of ce vegetation were any indication.


    A quick assessment showed her a group of three guards who were hard pressed by a Leshkin warrior along with a pack of lessers. There! She pointed, and Terry veered to the side, taking them that way.


    T leapt from her partners back and swept Flow outward, cutting four Leshkin. The warrior was bisected at the waist, and three lessers were cleanly beheaded. She put enough force behind the strike to knock the bodies aside, which directed the spray away from her allies.


    Terry body-checked another two off their footing, and the guards were able to use the slight reprieve to finish off the remainder that had been within reach.


    Next enemies! Lets move!


    * * *


    It was getting closer to evening, and the attacks just kepting.


    Twelve guards had been injured beyond Mistress Oderas ability to heal.


    Two more had died.


    T didnt have the mental space to process that, but she knew it would hit her hard,ter. One had died just before shed reached him.


    <em>If Id been faster</em>


    But now was not the time.


    There was an outer perimeter around the city of Makinaven, inside of which the inward pull of power was greatly increased. That draw-down of power was a strong deterrent to the majority of the most powerful arcanous beasts. Leshkin were among those that usually stayed out of that zone.


    The head driver and Mistress Odera had just finished a quick consultation, before letting everyone know that the caravan was less than an hour from that line, if they could keep the current pace up.


    The spaced out, unit-based assaults had been reced by an almost constant, steady inflow of Leshkin.


    As such, Terry had been ced on get-the-bolts-back duty. He couldnt flicker while holding a quarrel in his beak, but he could still move<em> fast</em> and then flicker straight to the next to be retrieved. Thankfully, something about the quarrels method of execution caused a banishment of the acidic blood as well, thus better preserving the ammunition.


    It was a good use of his skills, especially with his understandable reticence in subjecting himself to the Leshkins acid blood.


    <em>Yeah, definitely blood. These things move around; I dont care what theyre made of to start with. Its blood.</em>


    Between Terrys efforts and how on top of retrieval the roving defense was, they had only lost a couple of pieces of ammunition throughout the long slog of the day.


    Near the beginning, theyd been able to strip the fallen warriors and knights, iming all the armor and weapons to help increase the payout for the trip, buttely, theyd had to struggle just to im the weapons.


    Kit had quite a stock of Leshkin weaponry, now, but the pouch was far from full. <em>This will be a good haulif we survive</em>


    Theyd actually been getting into a good pattern and rotation, since the enemy had stopped arriving in units. The building exhaustion across all the defenders was the only true difficulty. Unfortunately, shortly after Mistress Oderas announcement, something changed.


    Almost as soon as the defenders had been informed that they were closing in on rtive safety, groups had rejoined the ever-present lesser Leshkin assault: warriors led by knights.


    Worse still, it turned out that the warriors and knights werent alone in their renewed assault.


    T was fighting behind the caravan, acting as rearguard to give Rane a momentary breather.


    As she struck down yet another warrior, taking an ineffective blow to her leg from the creature in order tond a killing strike, movement caught her attention at the edge of her vision.


    She lifted her gaze to stare through the horrible light of the seemingly endless forest, and her eyes locked onto a fear made manifest.


    The sound of booming footsteps, somehow striking at the pace of a charging bull, overrode the sounds of routine battle around her.


    Even at the great distance between them, T could still see that the creature was three times her height, and vaguely in the shape of a man.


    Its armor was reminiscent of some of thetest designs shed seen for heavily armored guardsmen, though those were usually only used in the ins routes, where mounted guards could easily sweep away enemies on open ground. <em>The Leshkin really do evolve over time.</em>


    A massive ive was held before it. The wicked de was leveled at her chest. Even at such a great distance, she had no doubt of its target.


    It was at least six hundred yards away; only a fluke in trunk alignment allowed her to see it at all.


    Even so, it was growing closer at an rming rate. <em>It will be on us too soon.</em> She looked around at those fighting with her. Each was winning their engagement; the caravan was protected, but none of them were free to face this new threat.


    <em>If any actually could.</em>


    Her eyes returned to the new, fast approaching foe.


    If she had any guess on its speed, it would be upon them in less than ten seconds. <em>How can anything move that fast?</em> That was at least double the speed of a galloping horse. <em>If not triple!</em>


    It was an insane pace. A forest of destruction, condensed into the body of a giant. <em>If it gets here, were dead.</em>


    Her right hand came up on pure instinct. Her first two fingers extended upward, her ring finger and pinky tucked down, all four pressed together, palm pointed towards what was obviously a Leshkin juggernaut, her thumb tucked in tight. She channeled magic into the activation and focused.


    <em>Crush.</em> One gold ring burned away from the back of her hand.


    Immediately, the massive creature stumbled, and it fell into a tangle of limbs, plowing a deep furrow through the hard packed, frozen soil. Somehow, it kept its great weapon whole and free of the tangle. <em>Good instincts.</em>


    It didnt stay down.


    With obvious effort, the beast forced itself back up and lunged back into motion, quickly building up speed once again.


    A second ring burned away on the back of Ts hand, and the Leshkin went down much harder than it had in the first fall. A screech that froze even the other Leshkin washed over the caravan. An ancient creature of ridiculous power was <em>livid.</em>


    The juggernaut forced itself up once more, cocked back its arm and whipped it forward.


    The third ring zed to life on the back of Ts hand, and the Leshkin juggernaut simply ttened. <em>Sixteen times effective gravity wasnt enough.</em> That was a horrifying amount of force to have been shrugged off. It had required three full activations. <em>Sixty-four times gravity.</em>


    Ts relieved mind barely caught the blur of motion, high up through the trees, her enhanced senses focusing in on the unusual movement.


    A flicker of dappled,te-evening light across the dull wood was the only confirmation T saw.


    It wasnt enough to save her from harm, even with her physical enhancements.


    Her eyes widened, and she began twisting away from the iing, thrown weapon.


    The motion unquestionably saved her life. <em>Or at the very least saved a </em>lot<em> of regeneration.</em>


    The razor-edged sword de of the juggernauts weapon hit her right shoulder, in the divot between her chest and shoulder, right at the joint. Her rotation had shifted the point of impact away from the hollow beneath her throat.


    The sheer force of the blow overwhelmed her defensive inscriptions, draining all of her ending-berry power.


    A distinctly resonant <em>pop</em> reached her ears as her humerus separated from her scap.


    The feeling of a <em>deep</em> stretch in all the muscles of her shoulder was followed closely by a tearing sensation that felt like nothing so much as the ripping off of ten thousand scabs or having each hair on her head pulled out one at a time. Her flesh tore as the weapon continued, unrelenting.


    Now coated by an aborted spurt of her lifes blood, the ive moved through her to kill a guard who had been fighting behind her.


    His spear dropped to the ground, left behind as hed been jerked away, his lifeless body now pinned to the back of the chuckwagon, twenty feet beyond her.


    T watched in horror as her right arm fell free, somehow not thrown backwards.


    Her arm was gone, and it had been reced with agony; every nerve that was no longer connected to her seemed to be screaming in horror, all at once.


    She staggered, suddenly off-bnce and disoriented.


    Her active spell-lines, those that had failed to save the arm to begin with, hung in mid-air, clearly in the shape of her now missing arm, connected to her bloody shoulder but utterly beyond her control.


    The limb, no longer attached but still clothed in an elk-leather sleeve, lightly bounced as it settled onto the detritus of the forest floor, twenty-seven golden rings shimmering obviously on the back of the hand that was no longer hers.


    Power ripped through her and on instinct she directed every void-channel she could create into her regenerative scripts.


    Blood flowed out, through the gold inscriptions that had, just moments ago, surrounded, reinforced, and enhanced her vascr system. As that was filled, bone blossomed outward, marrow forming from the finework of vessels that connected to it.


    The hard casing ofpact bone came next, again following the scaffolding of inscriptions, zing with power in the dim light.


    Her soft and connective tissues came quickly after that, the whole process taking less than five seconds, and draining her magical reserves almost entirely.


    Her physical reserves had taken an incredible hit as well.


    <em>And I lost the reserves stored in my arm.</em>


    From the jagged tear around her shoulder, her elk-leathers regrew her right sleeve. It looked strangely simr to how her arm had returned: small tendrils first, which then expanded outward, weaving into thettice of magical skin, now bent toward Ts use. She instinctively directed a void-channel into the garment to keep it powered. Given all the stress the garment had been under throughout the day, she just barely caught it before the reserves fully emptied.


    In a daze, she looked down at the limb, bleeding out on the ground before her.


    <em>Thats my arm</em>


    Her vision unfocused, and she stumbled again.


    <em>Oh, rust. I just lost my arm.</em>


    Her mind refused to listen as a small part of her tried to point out that it had already grown back.


    <em>By all that shines. I LOST MY ARM!</em>

 Chapter 110: One Way to Protect the Caravan

    Chapter 110: One Way to Protect the Caravan


    T looked around in a panic, her mind both refusing to ept the loss of her arm and refusing to ept that it was already back.


    Her eyes swept across thebat going on around her. The temporary pause caused by the juggernauts rage-filled cry hadntsted.


    <em>My arm is gone</em>


    Ts arm was fully regrown.


    <em>IveIve lost my arm.</em>


    Her inscriptions had returned the limbpletely back to full functionality.


    She forced herself, mechanically, to run and check on the guard who had taken the remainder of the blow.


    <em>The blow that tookmyarm</em>


    With her augmented strength, she easily pulled the massive ive from his chest, allowing him to fall free of the wagon as she almost absentmindedly slid the weapon into Kit.


    She checked his pulse unnecessarily. He had no heart left, a vertical slit punched cleanly through his sternum and spine.


    She stared down, the visage of a cats eye seeming to stare up from the wound.


    <em>Would he have survived if I took the blow?</em>


    He was dead; she should turn her focus elsewhere.


    <em>Could I have saved him, for the simple price of some inscriptions to heal myself?</em>


    It was not the time for deep introspection. More guards might be dying around her.


    Her head snapped up at that. <em>Protect now, thinkter.</em>


    She quickly lunged between several different individual engagements, giving aid where it might not have been strictly necessary, but where it would free up a guard to go help others.


    After a few such interventions, her eyes moved over to where the juggernaut had fallen, only about three hundred yards away, behind the retreating wagons.


    Like light from heaven, a beam of sunlight came through the trees and canopy at her back,ncing out, highlighting the helmet among the fallen vegetative matter. An irregr circle of the forest floor, a ssh zone, was still lightly sizzling from the gushing outpouring of the Leshkins demise.


    <em>I couldbine that armor with my elk-leathers.</em> That would be an <em>incredible</em> defensive resource.


    She took a step towards her spoils.


    A guard screamed in pain nearby. She needed to protect the caravan.


    <em>But, that would be so useful! Even if I cant meld its form and magics with my clothing, I could sell it for SO MUCH!</em>


    Her eyes found the wounded guardswoman, and T moved that way, throwing Flow into her opponents head before pulling it back to her hand. It wasnt a lethal blow to the Leshkin but the guardswoman used the momentary reprieve and distraction to finish off the beast herself.


    <em>I need to get that armor.</em>


    T turned, taking one step in that direction, still feeling disoriented.


    Her arm was before her,ying on the ground. Somehow, her zig-zagging and ovepping path had brought her back to the limb.


    Trying not to look at it, she picked it up and immediately stuck it into Kit. <em>Ill deal with thatter. I need to get that armor. NOW.</em>


    She took another half step, stumbling as she warred within herself.


    What was she doing? The caravan needed her. Her post, her job, her obligationsy behind her.


    <em>But that armor would be so useful!</em> She felt blood flickering around the edges of the thought. She shouldnt be short on blood; her inscriptions were designed to maintain optimum blood volume. <em>Whats going on?</em>


    She shook her head. She <em>wanted</em> the armor, but she <em>needed</em> to stay with the caravan.


    Hesitantly, reluctantly, she turned her back on the wealth, neatly piled in the woods.


    She had a job to do.


    * * *


    The caravan made it to the draw-down line at around sunset, fighting mostly lesser Leshkin and warriors along the way. Though, there had been asional knights sprinkled through the other ranks.


    T had been rotated back to the top of the cargo-wagon, and she absently noted that Mistress Odera was watching her more closely than usual.


    T still felt twinges from her right arm that she knew were purely mental. <em>My arm is in perfect health.</em>


    The back of her hand felt naked, even after the reapplication of iron-salve. There was not even a single ring for her Crush and Restrain spell-workings to implement.


    They reached the draw-down line that Mistress Odera had referenced, and T took in the world around her, looking more closely.


    The power in the air picked up speed, moving much more quickly towards Makinaven, still out of sight through the trees ahead.


    She felt her gaze move downward, even as thest of the attacking Leshkin were being finished off by the rear-guard.


    In the ground, beneath their feet, was an absolutely impossible-to-differentiate tangle of roots. Yet, somehow, she could <em>feel</em> that throughout all the tendrils of these great trees, existed the influence of something greater.


    <em>Is it a bigger tree nearby, or something else?</em> She couldnt tell, and if she were being honest, she found it hard to care.


    <em>What am I going to do with my arm?</em> She could burn it, to retrieve the gold from the inscriptions that hadnt been active when the limb had been separated.


    In her perfectly healed shoulder, there were an unhealthy number of spell-form bits, ending at a jagged line, showing her exactly where her arm had regrown from.


    Shed examined those remnants and didnt <em>think</em> they were valid spell-forms, but she meticulously kept every hint of power away from them, nheless. Given that she didnt know what they would do, they <em>shouldnt</em> activate, but she wasnt going to risk losing her arm. <em>Not again.</em>


    Turning around, she felt an odd sense of disconnect in the suddenly silent forest.


    The guards rarely yelled while fighting, and the Leshkins only sound was their horrifying screech, which they didnt seem to use very often. The result had been a day filled, mainly, with sounds of grunting and physical strain, coupled with noises usually associated with the wood-cutting trade.


    And the sound of tearing flesh.


    And if a guard was just unlucky enough, the screams resulting from sizzling, burning injuries.


    T shook her head. <em>No, its not time to consider that.</em>


    Mistress Odera looked up at her, from her seat near the back of the wagon. Mistress T?


    Hmm?


    You seemlost. Come, sit with me.


    T obeyed. <em>Why not?</em>


    I received the reports about your arm. I am d to see it back in working order. Is everything alright?


    T looked down at her right arm, whole and hale. It seems to be functioning just fine.


    And how are you?


    Her gaze returned to the older woman. They seem able to bypass my defenses


    Mistress Odera nodded. Your inscriptions arent designed towards invincibility, correct?


    Well, no.


    That is why you also have the regeneration spell-forms?


    Thats right.


    After a moments consideration, Mistress Odera smiled softly. Youve never taken such an injury, have you?


    T shook her head.


    It can be disorienting. The older woman was nodding again. And to have the limb restored, before youve had time to really process the loss? That must have made it much worse.


    Why? Ive not lost anything, not really. Why do I feel that I have?


    When I was very young, my eldest sister lost her husband. At that time and ce, a woman of her station couldnt be unmarried for long withoutplications. So, she immediately remarried, this time to her deceased husbands brother. Mistress Odera gave T a meaningful look. His identical twin brother.


    T frowned. That would have been confusing.


    Quite. Whenever she looked at her husband, she knew he was there, knew he was her husband, but she also saw the one shed lost. They were identical in almost every way. She hadnt even been married to the first for very long, and it had been a union of convenience. Mistress Odera snorted augh. Shed actually liked this second brother more, but he had been less favored by his own family at the time, so shed been united with the other.


    Why are you telling me this?


    She never let herself truly process the loss. It felt like a figment to her mind, and therefore, unworthy of consideration.


    Sounds unhealthy.


    Precisely.


    T grunted out a breath. What do you suggest?


    Take time to consider the pain you experienced, and what it would have meant for you.


    What the first casualty on this route is going through right now.


    The young man who you saved by cutting off his arm?


    <em>Does she really see it that way?</em> It was true, T supposed. Thats the one.


    Yes, that might be wise. I dont want you wallowing in that ce. Mistress Odera tsked. That would be horrible in a different way, but you cannot be desensitized to such injuries. They cannot be meaningless, and your body knows this. That is likely a part of your current state.


    T found herself nodding as she stood. Thank you. I will do what I can. She nced back the way theyde. But right now, I should focus. Why are the Leshkin attacks stopping?


    Mistress Odera looked up at her, seeming to consider. After a moment, the Mage shrugged, apparently epting the change in topic. I assume you dont mean what changed?


    Correct. I can see what changed, and I remember you stating that they would turn back at this line. But why? They attack deep into the ins often enough. The open ins have less magic than here.


    Then, that is an excellent question, to which I do not have an answer.


    T huffed augh and smiled. Thats fair, I suppose. Do you know what causes the change?


    Yes. Makinaven is built in the great tree of this region.


    T was nodding. Yeah, I read about that. I imagined that it just meant it was more like a massive treehouse,work of such structures, or some simr thing. Bridges going between various high up tforms among the trees. How does that answer the question?


    Mistress Odera gave her a long look. Not trees, Mistress T. Tree.


    T hesitated. <em>What?</em> She thought over what shed read and what Mistress Odera had just said. <em>Makinaven resides within the great tree of this region.</em> The city was in <em>a</em> tree, not trees. Her eyes widened. Wait. Theres a tree bigger than these? She hesitated. Well, of course one tree has to be the biggest, and the chances of it being one of these is basically zero. Thats not what I meant. I mean theres onerger to the point of being considered the singr great tree?


    For this region, yes. It is a beautiful thing, and we have built within it.


    How does that work with the different defensive rings?


    Mistress Odera smiled. I think it would be easier for you to see it, before a full exnation, but the simple answer is that some of the citys stages are not within the tree, and it is the only great tree within the city proper.


    Ahh, yeah, that would do it. T smiled, feeling her tension slowly ease. Will we be making camp, soon?


    Soon, I think, yes.


    T considered for a long moment. Did your sister really marry twins, one after the other?


    Does the truth of the story change its utility?


    Tughed. No, I suppose not. She hesitated. In case you didnt know, my two quickest offensive spells are no longer avable to me.


    Mistress Odera cocked an eyebrow at that. I did not know, though I suppose I could have intuited. She cursed. Well, we shouldnt face anything else that needs such a heavy hit on thisst leg.


    We logged the juggernaut kill, right?


    Mistress Odera grinned widely. Of course, my dear. Youll be paid for that.


    How much should I expect?


    Mistress Odera considered. Youll be getting roughly twenty-five percent of the payout to the Mage protectors, equivalent to me, with that one exception boosting your portion. Master Rane was much more active and used far more of his inscriptions on this route.


    T almost protested, but as she thought about it, she realized that Mistress Odera was correct. About how much do you think that payout will be?


    Well, I dont know the conditional rates, currently. There will be slight penalties for the dys, and we will be paying out our portion of the death benefits for those that died in defense of the caravan and assisting with the costs to heal those who were beyond my skill, but all told, those shouldnt be overmuch. As to the reward: Two hundred ounces, gold? Thats probably an over-estimate, though.


    Ts eyes widened in shock.


    Total, dear, not to you.


    Still, that means that my portion, as Mage protector, will be around fifty gold ounces. <em>I got into the wrong game, being a dimensional Mage.</em> Then, she thought about how she could have been tucked in the wagon, safe, warm, and well fed while other people fought around her. She also considered her expenses as a Mage protector.


    She would need all of her rings reced, along with the apanying scripts, and that would be a minimum of five gold. <em>Probably a lot more</em>


    She suspected that Holly had been giving her a steep discount, in consideration for her financial state, and her ability to take Hollysoddities.


    <em>Ill need to get them redone in Makinaven</em> She scrunched her face. Im going to need a really good inscriber.


    Mistress Odera nodded. You dont have a te, so you probably dont know: Mistress Holly has a list of inscribers, one in each city that she Mistress Odera seemed to hesitate. After a brief pause, she shook her head and continued. Inscribers that she said she would <em>allow</em> to do any needed touch-ups. She sighed. There is a list of things that she will, and will not, allow each to work on.


    T frowned. Can she really do that?


    Well, no, she cant stop you, nor any inscriber, frompleting a legal transaction. Effectively, though? Absolutely.


    I think I understand, but can youy it out for me?


    Mistress Odera quirked an amused smile. She is, first and foremost, a frontrunner in the field of inscriptions and inscribing. Her inventions and discoveries are used in every city, by nearly every inscriber, even if not on every Mage they inscribe. She can easily cut one of the inscribers off, and they will be reticent to anger her. She could also refuse to work on you, if you do find someone who can and will do the work. From what I can see, there is no other inscriber in Bandfast who could work with most of your schema, and Id bet myst copper that there is much more that I cant see.


    Fair enough. Dont anger your inscriptionist. They have proven able to stab something ten thousand times with horrifying precision.


    Mistress Odera gave her a long look. You think in some very unusual ways.


    Ahh Sure So! Who can I go see in Makinaven?


    Mistress Odera pulled out a te, her fingers flying over the surface. It looks likeMaster Hawthorne. Oh! Ive worked with him. Hes very professional, skilled, and reasonably priced. She was nodding. I believe that he touched up my scriptsst time I was through this area. Hes a busy fellow, though.


    Good to know. Will you be going to him, this trip?


    She thought about it for a moment. I think that would be a reasonable choice, yes. I could get back without issue, but it never hurts to be careful. Ill happily go with you.


    <em>Well, that was transparent of me</em> She decided to lean into it. Thank you.


    T was looking at Mistress Odera when she saw the older womans eyes widen in shock, her handing up in slow motion.


    That was Ts only warning.


    It wasnt enough.


    * * *


    A pulse of power exploded from the base of Ts skull, and she returned to consciousness, violently.


    Just in time to m into one of the massive trees.


    * * *


    A second pulse of magic exploded from the base of Ts skull, and she returned to consciousness, hesitantly.


    She was surrounded by broken, splintered greenwood.


    T groaned, pushing herself toward her right, the direction that felt more clear of obstructions. Splinters longer than her arm scraped against her, fighting with the elk-leathers. Blessedly, none had seeded in piercing her body.


    A shiver ran through her from head to toe, and a sense akin to her mage-sight picked up the signature of what had awoken her: It had been the silver inscription, set to watch for any loss of consciousness not due to falling asleep.


    <em>Did it bring me back once already? I didnt know it could do so in quick session</em> It made sense, though.


    -<em>DING-</em> The all too familiar sound, almost like a bell, hummed through her thoughts, and she found the note calming.


    She felt herself rx, slightly. <em>I am protected.</em>


    <em></em>Then, her own voice came to her as if she were thinking, without being her own thoughts.


    <em> -Consciousness lost for 0.01 seconds due to heavy impact and whish of dura-matter within the cranium. Unconsciousness was the minds natural defense. Neurochemical cocktail utilized for near instantaneous resuscitation.-</em>


    <em> -DING-</em>


    <em> -Error, secondary loss of consciousness mid-cycle.-</em>


    <em> -Secondary unconsciousness caused by heavy impact with a hard, fibrous material. Consciousness lost as a result of simultaneous activation of all head defenses, washing the brain in energy. Defenses have now returned to a normal level, allowing standard mental operations.-</em>


    <em> -Critical note: Sequential losses of consciousness are ill-advised.-</em>


    <em> -System rmendation: Consider the acquisition of an empowered helmet.-</em>


    <em> -Nosting effects detected, despite predictive models.-</em>


    <em> -Logplete.-</em>


    T groaned, trying to ignore her inscriptions sass. <em>I really need to talk with Holly about that</em>


    She pushed her head free of the tree, in which shed been embedded, and her ears were assaulted by the rhythmic cadence of crossbow fire.


    The day had been such that theyd increased the number of guards on duty in that role. They were firing as quickly as they could, but it didnt seem to have much effect.


    T was high above the ground, nearly halfway up the trunk of a tree some three or four hundred yards from the caravan. The forest was mostly clear between her and the slow-moving wagons, and as such, she had a perfect view of what was happening.


    A juggernaut stood beside and just in front of the cargo-wagon, seemingly having stepped from behind a tree as they passed.


    <em>It must have hit me with something like an uppercut to send me up here.</em>


    It held a massive tower shield, easily fifteen feet in height and brimming with reinforcing power. The shield was between it and the bowmen.


    The cargo-wagon was surrounded by Mistress Oderas signature defensive shield, and the Leshkin juggernaut was mming its empty fist into the protective barrier, sending rippling waves crashing across the surface.


    Rane was standing beside the wagon, trapped within the protection, unable to get out.


    The guards who were outside seemed reasonably hesitant about engaging the giant.


    T, still a bit frazzled, brought up her right hand, first two fingers extended upward, her ring finger and pinky tucked down, all four pressed together, palm pointed towards the Leshkin juggernaut and her thumb tucked in tight. She channeled magic into the activation and-


    The magic sparked within her shoulder, hitting the end of the broken inscription lines and searing through her.


    She mped her mouth down against a scream, even as she stopped the flow of power and her regenerative inscriptions dealt with the damage.


    <em>Stupid! I cant use Crush.</em>


    She had to do it the slow way. Her left middle finger touched her thumb, and she locked onto the Leshkin.


    Before she even began to increase its effective gravity, the head whipped towards her, seemingly bottomless eye sockets locking onto her. The shriek that issued forth caused the caravan oxen to stumble and sent even Rane to his knees clutching at his ears.


    The beast vaulted over the still protected cargo-wagon, obviously intent upon T.


    <em>Well. Thats one way to protect the caravan.</em>

 Chapter 111: Outside the Defenses

    Chapter 111: Outside the Defenses


    As T hung out of the depression in the big tree, her peripheral vision caught signs of movement around her, but her eyes were still fixed on the juggernaut moving her way.


    <em>Every little bit will help. </em>T started dumping power into increasing its effective gravity.


    However, even with such an obvious threat approaching, she couldnt ignore movement nearby, so she turned to look back at the tree she was in the side of.


    She was hanging out of a rtively shallow, shattered hole, nearly four hundred feet up the trunk of a massive tree. <em>Rtively shallow</em>. She almostughed. <em>Its practically six feet deep.</em>


    As her gaze swept what amounted to a wooden wall that she was stuck in the side of, she saw Leshkin, so many Leshkin.


    <em>Ohoh wow.</em>


    There were at least a hundred lesser Leshkin in easy sight, hanging on the bark of the tree, like bees clinging to their hive, and each and every one seemed to be looking her way. The closest was only a few feet from her.


    In fact, the stter pattern of still burning acid on the trees bark implied that she might have gone <em>through</em> one or more, in order to impact as she had.


    <em>Mistress Odera said theyd stop at the draw-down line</em> Either the Mage had been mistaken, or there was something else influencing the Leshkins actions. <em>Just great</em>


    The shield around the lead wagon dropped, and Mistress Oderas voice snapped out. Get back to the wagons!


    Themand hadnt just been directed at her, if it had been aimed at her at all. <em>Did she even see where I went?</em>


    There were guardsmen ranging around the caravan, ostensibly to prevent things exactly like this, but now was hardly the time to throw stones. <em>Unless it was a really big one Maybe I should get something like that for Kit? So I can drop the stone on enemies, if Im up high?</em>


    <em>Focus, T.</em> Her head was still ringing a bit. <em>I should talk to Holly about that My head really should be better protected</em><em>Focus!</em>


    <em>Ok. Get to the wagon. Mistress Odera can raise a shield around everyone, and we can proceed entirely inside it.</em> It wouldnt work if a snarl of roots blocked their way, but such shouldnt exist in this zone.


    <em>Neither should the Leshkin</em> It would also be a tremendous strain on Mistress Oderas power and inscriptions.


    <em>Worth it if it keeps us alive.</em>


    So, T had a choice:


    On one hand, she could fight in the rtive safety of her little indent, until the juggernaut arrived. She could use that time to increase the giants effective gravity to the point that it would die, if she was lucky.


    Her other option was to make a break for the caravan and safety.


    <em>If I dont go now, Mistress Odera might not be able to keep the shield down for me, and Id be stuck outside until we reach true safety</em>


    Put that way, there really wasnt much of a choice. <em>Break for the caravan.</em>


    But she needed to do it intelligently.


    T ducked back into her impact crater; it was almost as deep as she was tall. All her contemtions had taken less than a couple of seconds. <em>Bless my mental enhancements.</em>


    Drawing Flow, she thrust the weapon into the shattered side of her resting ce within the tree, angling outward so that Flows tip would exit the tree, away from the opening. T moved the sword a full circle around the gap, attempting to cut out a conical chunk, asrge as Flows length would allow.


    She still had a lock on the juggernaut, and with her left middle finger pressed to her thumb, she was increasing its gravity steadily. That wasnt her priority right now, though.


    <em>I cant waste this time. </em>Reluctantly, she switched her lock to herself, left middle finger still firmly pressed against her thumb. <em>Decrease.</em>


    The wood before her groaned as therge section of the tree began to slide free. It wasnt asrge as she would have liked, but she would work with what she had.


    The entrance would now be clear, and there was a good distraction for the Leshkin attention, at least momentarily.


    She dove out after the falling bit of tree.


    Humorously, several Leshkin looked up at her through the hole in that chunk, which had been the entrance to her divot. They would be crushed by the fall and the heavy chunk of wood momentarily.


    With a tremendous sideways leap, T cleared the tree and looked back.


    Waves of Leshkin were leaping off the main trunk after her, their own jumps far less impressive than hers, given her strength and ever-reducing effective gravity. There were also quite a few more than shed been able to see before her leap.


    <em>Why are they so fixated on me? Is that why theyre here when they shouldnt be? Is something about me drawing them or angering them?</em>


    She nced down and saw the juggernaut, its gaze also fixed on her. Her gravity sight told her that it was now subject to nearly thrice normal gravity. <em>It took between sixteen- and sixty-four-times gravity to kill thest one.</em> Her meager increase would barely inconvenience the beast.


    Her own gravity was now low enough that she was arching down <em>much</em> further out than she should have been able to. Unfortunately, she hadnt decreased it enough before her jump, so she would still fall short of the caravan, if not nearly as much as she would have with a normal fall.


    <em>Ill have to have a good proportion of gravity once Ind, so that I will be able to run thest bit. </em>But when should she re-increase?<em> In either case, Im light enough, now.</em>


    She switched the lock back to the juggernaut and continued to increase its weight.


    T was still elerating downward, but not nearly as fast as normal. It took her more than ten seconds to reach the ground, and thest half of her fall was punctuated by the rotten-log sound of the lesser Leshkin sttering themselves on the ground around the base of the tree.


    As each lesser Leshkin struck the ground, among the roots, it was turned into a pile of mulch by the impact, the acidic blood fountaining in all directions.


    Ts drifting fall had managed to get her more than a hundred yards from the baseand almost on top of the juggernaut.


    As thest couple seconds of the fall came and went, T switched back to herself and moved her weight back towards normal.


    The impact was more than shed expected. Her increased weight, due to herrge physical stores, factored in. In addition, she was imbnced as her right arm was significantly lighter than her left. That didnt even factor in that the forest floor was far from perfectly t.


    All that came together for an awkwardnding, and her leg broke on impact.


    She went down, hard, but before she could scream in pain, her scripts had realigned and healed the damage. Her eyes had involuntarily squeezed shut against the momentary agony, and when they shot open once more, the juggernaut was bringing its shield down at her head.


    <em>Not good!</em> This was bing a pattern for her.


    She jerked to the side as the massive wooden monument drove deeply into the frozen soil. <em>How much strength and weight are behind that?</em> Her gravity sight told her that shed gotten the Leshkin up to almost four times effective gravity. <em>Right. That would make downward blows strongerand Im shortergreat.</em>


    She might not have thought through all the implications thoroughly enough.


    Now was hardly the time, though. <em>Come on, head, get back in the fight!</em>


    <em></em>T moved her lock to the big creature once again and took off from the ground, hitting a full sprint almost instantly.


    Behind her, gravitys influence continued to increase on the Leshkin juggernaut. <em>In for a copper-</em>


    That Leshkin shrieked, and it was answered by another, equal in power.


    <em>NoOh, rust no.</em>


    She nced over her shoulder and saw portions of the mulch and acid pile pulling together against the great tree. The form of a giant began to be visible among the remains of what had once been more than two hundred lesser Leshkin. <em>Another!?</em><em>That isnt fair. They shouldnt be able to merge after falling to their destruction.</em> She cursed her luck.


    In all likelihood, eight had survived the impact and had taken advantage of their incoherent state and the proximity of the tree tobine as much as possible.


    T cursed again and threw her focus forward once more.


    She promptly tripped, falling into a tangle of limbs. <em>Eyes on the prize, T. Focus forward!</em>


    GET TO THE WAGONS! Mistress Oderas voice was being amplified, somehow.


    The ground shook, while T tried to get her hands under her to push back to her feet.


    Just as she lifted up, the closest juggernauts footnced out, connecting with her torso and sending her flying over the caravan tond in a tumbling heap on the other side.


    She coughed, spitting blood onto the ground before sucking in a gasping breath. Her ribs realigned, and her punctured lungs reinted. <em>This pain is wildly distracting.</em>


    Oh, and her ending-berry power was gone. <em>When did that happen?</em>


    She thought back in a panicked haze and realized that it had been when she impacted the tree. <em>Ohthat would have been good to rectify.</em>


    Even after the blunt force damage was healed, her body still seemed to be screaming at her about her injuries. Though, the cries reached her more as distant echoes than as someone yelling into her ear.


    She came to her feet, sweeping Flow in a circle to clear the area, as shed practiced countless times against the guardsmen back in Bandfast. Bless the stars that she did.


    A small swarm of lessers had been almost upon her, and Flow neatly decapitated manydrenching T in a flood of acidic blood.


    She screamed: first at the pain, then again as some of the acid got into her mouth.


    She spat furiously and stumbled in the direction of the caravan. She fumbled towards Kit and felt her hot water incorporator fall into her hand.


    As she continued to move, she sted herself: first her face, then as much of the rest of her as she could do quickly, to clear away the caustic substance. She even moved the void-channels away from Flow, allowing it to return to the form of a knife, so that she could use more water, more quickly.


    With eyes once again able to properly see, she looked towards her destination. If her perception was right, thest of the guards were now clustered close, between the still moving wagons. Most had crossbows, and they were firing in all directions as quickly as they could rearm the weapons, theirpanions feeding them ammunition just as quickly.


    Mistress Odera was looking back and forth between T and the other side of the wagon train. If T had to bet, she would have said that Mistress Odera was trying to decide if T or the two juggernauts on the far side would reach the caravan first.


    The Mage couldnt change the size of her barriers, once created, and therger they were, the harder they would be to maintain.


    <em>She cant include me, here. It would ruin everyones chances.</em> T stumbled into a run, getting her feet under her and pouring on the steam.


    <em>Come on,e on. RUN, TALA. RUN!!!</em>


    Her vision tunneled, her entire focus on the wagons before her.


    Despite her own urgings, she pulled up short just as a massive de came down, breaking the ground and embedding deep within. An instantter, the ground shook, the new juggernaut having leapt over the wagon-train to get to T.


    Mistress Oderas shield snapped into ce; the Mage was unable to wait any longer. <em>She waited longer than she probably should have, if the juggernaut was close enough to jump over.</em>


    The juggernaut had reached her, and she was trapped outside the defenses.<em> Wellrust me.</em>


    T turned to take her first good look at the incredibly heavily armored giant. Made almost entirely of vines, this one held a greatsword.


    <em>Yeahnothing else will fit that moniker ever again</em>


    The massive wooden de was nearly fifteen feet long, two feet wide, and embedded nearly halfway into the ground, between T and the magical shield that protected the retreating caravan.


    The Leshkin was staring at her with a look of unrestrained fury andsadness?


    <em>Betrayal?</em><em>That doesnt make</em> Her eyes widened. <em>Without my aura control, I would look like they do, at least to mage-sight. Can they see through that control, somehow? </em>


    That didnt make sense. Why would they think she was one of them? <em>Do I have a better exnation?</em>


    She didnt. Maybe they were seeing what seemed to be ending-berry power, but if she was being honest, it really didnt matter.


    The greatsword wielder stepped forward and punched down into her head and left shoulder, while its off-hand remained on the swords handle.


    T was thrown to the ground, something that Rane had made her incredibly familiar with. Her bones popped back into shape, and T found herself unable to care about the pain.


    <em>Focus, T. Youre alone, again. On your own, again.</em>


    The strange squeal of frozen earth, forced to move, apanied the greatswords extraction. A whistling filled the air, as the massive de moved in a deadly arc.


    <em>FIGHT!!!</em>


    She vaulted to her feet, moving Flow into a guarding position, even as she reconnected the void-channels, returning Flow to the form of a sword.


    Her movements were just in time, and Flow perfectly intercepted the falling strike, edge-to-edge.


    To her joy, Flow sheared straight through the oing weapon, clearly more magically powerful, and able to ovee whatever magics or material properties reinforced the de.


    To her consternation, that resulted in the attack continuing. The now severed end of the sword struck her at nearly full speed, though without the follow-through of a properly delivered attack.


    She was thrown backwards, to the side, and to the ground.


    <em>Rust you!</em> She stood and threw Flow at the giants head, maintaining the void-channel connection to the weapon.


    It sunk into the beasts eye.


    <em>Nice shot!</em>


    <em></em>It did nothing.


    <em>Right I have to behead it</em>


    She called Flow back. As the weapon flew towards her, T was struck by the now much shorter greatsword. The t of the de threw her sideways, into the caravans shield.


    She stopped instantly, robbed of all kic energy.


    Her bones realigned, again, and she groaned, feeling <em>famished.</em>


    <em>I need to get away. I cant fight this thing.</em>


    The ground shook as the tower-shield juggernaut vaulted over the caravan andnded twenty feet from T to the west, closer to the front of the defensive field.


    T whimpered in frustrated anger.


    <em>No. This is like fighting Terry. Dont let your emotions rule you!</em>


    T briefly bemoaned the loss of her repeating hammer. She could have thrown that and obliterated one of these creatures with rtive ease.


    She would give her left arm to have it back.


    That struck a chord in her mind, and she twitched. <em>Well, no. I wouldnt give my arm</em> She shivered. She did <em>not</em> want to repeat that experience.


    Her gaze flicked back and forth between the two juggernauts that she could see. <em>Is there a third, or is this all the rusting bad luck Ive earned?</em>


    She didnt know but she decided to assume the worst. For some reason, the sword wielder was waiting for the shield bearer to nk her fully. <em>Precious seconds.</em>


    A voice, incredibly muffled, came to her from behind the shield.


    Mistress T! To the back of the caravan!


    T turned and saw Rane waving at her frantically, but with huge and exaggerated motions. She looked towards the back and saw an incredibly small opening left in the magical shield. If she belly-crawled, she might be able to squeeze through. <em>Mistress Odera left me a way in!</em>


    She smiled widely, hope filling her.


    Ranes eyes widened in horror, and T felt something impact her back.


    <em>I stayed in one ce for too long. </em>The world went white for a brief instant as even her enhanced nervous system couldnt handle the sheer quantity of pain signals.


    She somehow maintained consciousness. <em>No more sass, today!</em>


    T was thrown forward, mming against the shield once more, feeling what seemed like all her bones and connective tissue simultaneously pull back together. <em>How hard was I hit?</em>


    Near half of her power reserves were gone, and she didnt have time to analyze the state of her physical stores.


    Purely on instinct, T dropped to the ground just in time for the shortened-greatsword to bisect where shed been standing. <em>Yeah that would have been bad. It nearly killed me with a blunt hit. Given the caravans shield as a cutting board, that sword would have been</em> She turned away from the images that her mind began to conjure.


    T rolled from her position on the ground, and as soon as her feet were under her, she sprinted towards the back of the caravan, to the hole in the defenses. As she did so, her hip popped back into ce. <em>Why didnt that realign before?</em>


    Some lesser Leshkin seemed to have noticed the weakness in their enemies defenses and were attempting to crawl inside.


    Rane had already run ahead of her, and he thrust Force out, through the opening, throwing the invaders back to clear her a path.


    T dropped into a slideing to a stop just close enough to stick her hand through the opening.


    Rane had ttened himself to the ground, and he thrust his hand out, snatching her outstretched fingers.


    Once he had a firm grip, he <em>pulled.</em>


    T shot through the opening, tucking her shoulders in close and pointing her feet to be as streamlined as possible.


    The world shook as she mmed into Rane, falling in a tangled heap with him, inside Mistress Oderas shield.


    T looked back through the opening and saw the sword de embedded in the ground just outside the shield.


    Well That was close. She barely managed a whisper as she clung to Rane, breathing heavily.


    Rust me. Yeah, it was.


    A few of the guards swarmed over them, checking them for injuries and helping them stand.


    Five stayed at the small opening to defend the vulnerability, each armed with a crossbow. The remaining led T and Rane back to the front wagon where Mistress Odera was visibly straining.


    As soon as they were up on the roof with her, Rane spoke, What can we do, Mistress?


    Dont distract me. Keep the wagons moving, and keep them from breaching the opening I had to leave.


    Rane nodded, beginning to climb back down.


    T stayed, regarding the woman for a long moment.


    What is it? Im a bit busy.


    T didnt know how to say what she was thinking, so she decided to just go for it. Thank you.


    Mistress Odera opened her eyes to give T a look. Now is hardly the time.


    Even so, thank you. You could have left me out there, and no one would have med you.


    The older Mage grunted. You are my responsibility. I dont care if anyone else would have med me. I would have med myself. She grimaced, closing her eyes once more. Now go. We cant afford distractions.


    T silently nodded acknowledgement and followed after Rane.


    <em>We can survive this. I know we can.</em>


    * * *


    Somehow defying the two Leshkin juggernauts efforts, Mistress Oderas defensive shield held, and the oxen continued their unchanging pace. Blessedly, there had only been two of the giants.


    The lesser Leshkin spent their lives trying to crawl through the small opening, and they died one by one.


    The light had long since faded from the sky, and the caravan was only lit by their massive, empowered lights, the illumination barely piercing the shield to show their pursuers.


    After hours of failing to im their prize, and long after thest lesser had died, the Leshkin juggernauts ceased their useless assault and slowed, allowing the caravan to pull slightly ahead.


    Did we do it? Did we win? One of the guards asked in a quiet, strained voice.


    <em>They never retreat.</em> T frowned. She was walking backwards near the opening. She was there to support the guards and Rane, if the need arose.


    As they watched, the juggernauts broke apart, falling into eight lessers each. Somehow, the juggernauts equipment dissolved as well, the energy and material of the tools going towards recorporating the weaker Leshkin. Those lessers screeched their rage and charged the opening.


    At that point, the defense of that vulnerability was well practiced, and the sixteen lesser Leshkin died quickly.


    As the final died, the shield that had been protecting them for so long seemed to waver. Then, it vanished.


    Mistress Oderas voice floated back to them. We arent stopping tonight. We need to get to Makinaven as soon as possible. There was a hesitation to the magically enhanced voice. And I need to rest.


    Several guards had rushed up to the top of the cargo-wagon, following some instruction that T hadnt heard. They carefully helped Mistress Odera down, and into the cargo-slot that she would sleep in.


    Well, Master Rane, it seems like were on overwatch for the night.


    Rane nodded. You take the wagon top, and Ill do sweeps of the surroundings. Terry, you able to circle counter to me?


    The avian flickered to stand beside T, once again roughly the size of a horse. He let out an affirmative whistling squawk.


    Thank you.


    The two of them turned outward in opposite directions and began their sweep. T, for her part, headed to the cargo-wagon and climbed up.


    As she sat down and thought over the insane afternoon, she had a realization. T pped her own forehead. I could have increased the juggernauts effective gravity, after I was within the shield.


    She groaned. That likely would have shortened the whole encounter greatly. <em>Well, Ill do better next time.</em>


    She began sweeping their surroundings with her mage-sight and enhanced vision; it was going to be a long night.

 Chapter 112: On Overwatch

    Chapter 112: On Overwatch


    The cooks worked through the night, getting energizing meals for the Mages and guards, along with keeping them supplied with coffee.


    T got a bit more than the average of both food and coffee, but she still felt hungry down to her bones. <em>Which broke so many, many times</em>


    It did seem like they were mainly out of danger, as no further attacks came before the light of dawn broke across the canopy overhead.


    T recharged the cargo-slots as herst act before stumbling into her room and crashing into deep sleep.


    It felt like as soon as her head hit the much-too-firm pillow, a loud knock sounded against her door.


    T rolled over and sat up with a groan. She was <em>sore. </em>The bed was designed for someone four times her weight, and so it resisted her downward pressure with ease. <em>I should have increased my weight before sleeping</em> Maybe next time.


    Her eyes flicked around the small space. The walls were simple in construction, made of interlocking panels that could be taken apart and removed from the expanded space with ease. Even so, there werent cracks to affect privacy or the darkness desired for easy sleep, and they seemed to have been constructed with sound istion in mind as well.


    Her eyesnded on Terry, sleeping in his corner space. <em>When did he get back?</em>


    The knock came again.


    What. She didnt make it a question. <em>Dont encourage them.</em>


    Mistress T?


    <em>What kind of idiotic question is that? Who else would be in here?</em> Yes.


    Lunch has been prepared for you; can I give it to you, now?


    <em>Lunch?</em> Well, that meant that it waster than shed thought it was. Yes. One moment. She stood and walked to the door, unlocking it and pulling it open.


    One of the guardsmen stood outside the door, bearing arge tray that wasden with an absolute feast.


    T grinned, taking the tray. Thank you!


    He gave a half-bow. Of course. Without another word, he closed the door for her, leaving her to her meal.


    T came back to sit on her bed, cing the food on herp. Her stomach growled at the slight dy. <em>I was not going to start gorging, while standing.</em>


    There was arge bowl of fresh berries, a tter of raw veggies, a whole loaf of heavy bread with copious amounts of butter, and meat enough to feed a small army. <em>Well, not quite.</em>


    There was bacon and sausage, then pulled pork and ground beef, and finally what seemed to be garlic vored chicken.


    T devoured the meal with abandon.


    She drank deeply from her cool water incorporator. <em>You know, I bet I could brew tea with the hot water one</em> If she knew how, she could probably make coffee as well. <em>Might be better to not learn that secret</em>


    She had a thought, then. <em>What would happen when the water discorporates? Would it just leave behind a powder?</em> She blinked a few times. <em>If I were to make a solution with arge portion of incorporated water, the saturation and potency would rise to an absurd degree, after the water discorporated.</em>


    It wouldnt be useful in every situation, and might actually ruin quite a few concoctions, but it could be worth investigating. <em>If nothing else, cleaning iron-dust would be almost trivialif I did that anymore.</em>


    <em></em>She smiled. It was worth experimenting with at some point. <em>Ill have time, eventually.</em>


    The mealplete and her dishes scraped clean with remnants of the bread, T dipped the dishes into Kit for a final cleaning. <em>That is really, really handy. I do need to figure out what happens to all the gunk that Kit cleans off at some point.</em>


    But that could wait for another day. She absentmindedly topped Kit off with power.


    T felt refreshed but still ravenous. <em>More food!</em>


    She and Terry left her room, the bird onlying awake enough to flicker to her shoulder as she departed before snuggling down to continue his rest.


    T was almost blinded when she pulled open the outer door, looking out on the sunlit, forestndscape, slowly moving by. The white of frost and snow patches increased the harshness of the view.


    After her eyes adjusted, she swung out, grabbing thedder up to the cargo-wagons roof and pulling herself up.


    Rane stood on the top, on overwatch for the two-wagon caravan.


    T sat on the edge of the roof, beside thedder. Any excitement this morning, Master Rane?


    Rane smiled her way. Mistress T, good afternoon. Nothing of consequence. A pack of upright reptiles made a y for the oxen, but they were driven off before we could get a good enough look to judge their species.


    T grunted at that. It was a frustration for such creatures: Human eyes, even enhanced, werent good at picking out the subtle differences between therge reptile species.


    Sure, overarching groups were obvious: walking on four legs versus two was quite distinctive, and those with a long neck or massive, backward sweeping neck-te were also easy to differentiate. Unfortunately, most of the obviously varied ones either werent present in the forest or didnt seem as inclined to attack.


    <em>All carnivorous lizard-things look really simr.</em>


    Rane rolled his eyes. I can guess what youre thinking.


    Oh?


    All a bunch of featherless chickens? He quirked a smile.


    She paused for a moment. <em>What?</em>


    Clearly, by the twinkle in his eyes, he thought hed said something immensely clever.


    <em>Come on, T. What does he- Right</em> Very funny, Master Rane.


    He cracked a full grin. All in all, Mistress Odera was correct. This portion of the forest is positively tame.


    T smiled in return. Ahh, yes. Id like a home she looked around, on top of that hill. She pointed to a nearby rise. Sun streamed down on it, showing that ity beneath a break in the canopy.


    Rane shook his head. That would be horribly indefensible. All that lighting down would make the surrounding woods look almost ck for much of the day.


    I thought you said these parts were tame? She put on a mock air of confusion.


    Heughed. Not city-safe, Mistress.


    Fine. She took a deep breath, ready to continue the banter, when her stomach let out a gurgling roar. She felt herself blushing. Ishould probably get some more food.


    Rane nodded. Yeah, it looked like you did a <em>lot</em> of healing yesterday. His eyes flicked to her right arm. Are youok?


    T nced down at the arm in question. I She took a breath and let it out slowly. I think so. The loss barely registered before it came back. I think Im more irritated at the loss in reserves and inscriptions than the limb. <em>Is that true?</em>


    He had an incredibly serious look on his face. Severe injuries, even if theyre healed, can be rough to weather. Take some time when we get to Makinaven to recenter yourself. He gave a half-smile. We missed our earliest departure date for the return trip, so well be there for a bit more than a week.


    Tl nodded. That sounded wise. Thank you, Master Rane.


    He waved her off. Go, eat.


    She nodded, swinging back onto thedder and climbing down. Terry kept his eyes lightly closed, but his feet gripped her shoulder quite firmly, implying that he was awake.


    Amnin greeted her warmly, when T knocked on the chuckwagons rear door, another massive tray of food already ready and waiting for T to devour. This one also had arge jug of coffee along with it.


    Bless you, mistress of these kitchens.


    Amnin justughed and waved her off. Eat, please. Send word if you need more.


    T took the tray back to her room in the cargo-slot, after briefly checking in with Rane. He told her to eat, then return, so he could go sleep for a bit.


    Mistress Odera had yet toe out, though her servant had gotten her a few meals, reporting that the Mage was resting after the massive expenditure.


    <em>Makes sense. Even with her ridiculous efficiency, it must have been taxing to the extreme to maintain against the assault for so long.</em>


    T sat down and dug into the smorgasbord. The variety in this meal conveyed the idea that the cooks were clearing out their leftovers before arriving at the city that evening, rather than making new dishes.


    That was fine with her. The variability helped alleviate the oddity of just how much she was consuming.


    In truth, shed retreated to her room, mainly because shed felt some embarrassment at the spread and hadnt wanted anyone to watch.


    Terry dutifully kept his eyes closed. His only sign of wakefulness was an asionally open mouth, which T ced food within. He ate happily, leaving her to her private gorging.


    <em>This is taking a lot of the fun out of eating</em> Too much of a good thing and all that. <em>Fine. Ill try not to lose any more limbs</em>


    She still had to decide what to do with the arm.


    She did not consider the options while eating. She needed the calories and couldnt risk being put off by the grisly thoughts.


    That said, once shed basically licked the dishes clean, she did allow her thoughts to move to the limb.


    <em>I could let Terry eat it. </em>Hed probably love that. Given how packed it was with calories and energy, it might feed him as well as many big-game beasts.


    She wouldnt have to think about it again, that way


    <em>But what about the gold?</em> It was something to consider. There were at least five ounces of gold within the limb, probably closer to ten. She didnt often consider the scripts that had stretched through the arm in order to link those in her hand to those in her right breast. <em>And Im going to have to get those reced</em>


    Mistress Odera had a Holly-approved inscriptionist to take T to, so that would take care of finding someone who could correct herck of quick, offensive spell-forms. The cost would be cut in half now that T was officially a Mage protector. <em>But if I were an inscriptionist, that would cause me to charge more.</em>


    T wouldnt count on too much of a discount from her earlier inscriptions.


    In fact, as she thought about it, she was pretty sure that Holly had already been undercharging her, given the other womans desire to experiment with Ts inscriptions and capabilities. T hadnt really let herself consider it fully before, because she hated being beholden to anyone. Still, she hadnt really had any other options. <em>So, dont think about it.</em>


    She let out a tired sigh. <em>So, expect more expensive inscriptions</em>


    Thinking of inscriptions, she swept her mage-sight through her body, checking the integrity of the active scripts that she still had. They were<em> much</em> more worn than she would have liked.


    <em>Six months? Rust you, Holly. These wontst six weeks.</em> To be fair, she had been stressing them quite thoroughly.


    She shuddered, remembering the juggernauts knocking her around like a childs ball.


    <em>Yeah, I prefer worn inscriptions to death.</em>


    Still, this meant that shed have to visit Holly as soon as she was back in Bandfast, just to be safe.


    <em>Ill need her to look at this, too.</em> She brushed her hand across the base of her neck, thinking of Xeel and the supposed encounter with an Arcane. <em>I hope she can get something from it.</em>


    So, back to her arm.


    <em>I should get the gold out. </em>Maybe the inscriptionist would have an idea as to how.


    A thought urred to her, then.


    <em>Waitthe elk leather.</em> She opened Kit and reached in, seeking to get just the sleeve instead of the arm that was within.


    She felt the supple leather in her hand and pulled it out.


    It was that and only that: wonderfully high-quality, dyed, and treated leather. No magic remained.


    <em>I wonder if I could cut my outfit in half and get two outfits out of it?</em>


    What would the purpose be? She didnt need two of them, and they wouldnt be able to be sold; they were bound to her, after all.


    <em>Maybe, as a back-up? In case something manages topletely obliterate the one Im wearing, and I survive?</em>


    There was some merit to that, but she didnt want to experiment on her own. It wasnt worth losing the garments, especially when shed be near a branch of the Constructionists soon enough.


    She sighed, putting the leather back in her pouch.


    Thank you, Kit.


    The pouch did not respond.


    Shed finished her meal and was just dying at this point. I need to go relieve Master Rane. She nced to Terry. Want to stay in here ore with me?


    He cracked an eye then closed it without moving.


    Fair enough. She smiled to herself as she left her room, locking it behind herself.


    She gave all her dishes over to the chuckwagon workers, along with her profuse gratitude, before she climbed back up onto the cargo-wagons top.


    Ready to take overwatch?


    She nodded. Go, eat, sleep. Ill be fine for thisst stretch.


    Thank you.


    Rest well, Master Rane.


    He gave her a parting, tired smile before disappearing over the edge of the wagon, leaving T basically alone with her thoughts.


    The afternoon passed uneventfully as they continued to draw closer to Makinaven.


    The guards drove off a few lesser arcanous beasts, but nothing of note: no true attacks and nothing close enough for her to even see what it had been, through the low-light and trunks.


    Terry came out of the cargo-slot and vanished for a couple of hours in the middle, likely off to hunt or for a final run before they were to be within a city for more than a weeks time.


    <em>Good thought, my friend. Burn off some energy. </em>Shed initially felt some irritation towards Terry. After all, he hadnt helped her when she was reduced to a training pell for the Leshkin juggernauts, but a little time and a little thought had shown her the folly of those feelings.


    <em>He couldnt have done anything except get hurt. I survived. If Id been seriously hurt, or truly trapped, he likely would havee to help me.</em>


    She didnt actually know that, but she hoped that it was true. After all, hede to her aid in the past. <em>Never against creatures that could seriously harm him, though</em> Well, he had helped her face Leshkin knights. <em>I might be over thinking things.</em>


    To be fair, shed never put herself on the line for him, had she? <em>Maybe with Xeel. I think that man would have killed Terry if I hadnt vouched for him, or if I had hedged too much.</em>


    Her partnership with Terry was still incredibly new, and though she wasing to understand the value of sparring with the avian, it was quite intimidating: traveling with a creature that had so thoroughly demonstrated his martial superiority.


    <em>Well, he cant outright kill me.</em> She snorted a chuckle. <em>That just means that Ill still be breathing as he kills everyone around us. Then, Ill have plenty of time to rue my choices as he bleeds my defenses dry.</em> But he wasnt hostile to her, so that wasnt a concern.


    Nope, she wasnt worried in the slightest.


    <em>Nothing to fear but a slow death, surrounded by carnage, at the hands of someone I trusted.</em>


    Friends were great. T should find more.


    Finally, they came out from around one of therge trees, and she was able to look down, across a cleared space before them, upon Makinaven.


    Nothing that she had read or heard, prepared her for the sight.


    A truly gargantuan tree stood in the center of the wide clearing, and nothing about that description urately conveyed the scale.


    The tree was a titanpared to the children theyd been travelling among, and no other great tree stood in the area before them, the space involved being close to four times the area of a normal, new built city.


    It wasnt that much taller, at most double the smaller trees in the forest at around one and a half thousand feet in height. The trunk, however, looked to be a thousand feet in diameter at least, and the amount of magic flowing through the entirety was colossal.


    Now that she was closer to the source, she could see that the draw-down line they crossed the previous day was likely the very edges of this great trees roots. The Builders had obviously added to and augmented the power-drawing nature of the tree, using that natural framework to exceed the draw of most cities.


    The tree, itself, then functioned as the others in the forest did, raining the power down from its spreading canopy. And oh, how the canopy spread.


    <em>What sort of magics are in the wood to allow that? </em>No amount of mundane material could allow such cantilevered limbs, and certainly not of that size.


    There was no city below or around the tree at first nce, and T was already seeing lights sparkling in the trunk in the early evening dimness. As she focused more fully, she saw buildings on the lower branches, melded with the bark.


    <em>The streets must run down the middle of the branches with buildings on either side. </em>Makinaven <em>should</em> be firmly in the bureaucratic phase, preparing for its waning and abandonment, but if anything, it looked livelier than Bandfast, a city less than half its age.


    Beautiful, isnt it?


    T shifted her gaze to see Mistress Odera climbing the rest of the way onto the roof.


    Makinaven, Retindel, Truhold, Namfast, and Manaven. Mistress Odera took a deep breath and let out a deeply contented sigh. Those are our remaining forest cities, this cycle. They are truly something special.


    Makinaven doesnt look like a city in the bureaucratic stage.


    Mistress Odera nodded knowingly. That is because the forest cities are able to maintain nearly every stage for their full life-cycle. Only the mining operations fade at the usual time. The great tree that each is built within makes the foundational inscriptions more efficient, longsting, and powerful. The result is more danger around the cities but a longer lifespan for most of the cities functions.


    T was awed, and true to Mistress Oderas words, T could see orchards and farnd tucked around the base of the tree, spreading outward to cover almost the entirety of the space beneath the reaching canopy.


    The entirety of the city is within the tree, only the food production and now closed down mining operations are located outside.


    The wagons did not slow their pace as they headed down a slight incline, down into the valley in which the great tree flourished.

 Chapter 113: Welcome to Makinaven

    Chapter 113: Wee to Makinaven


    T and Terry watched as Mistress Odera sat facing them, allowing them to take in the city, while she only watched them.


    So, have you had a chance to think on your encounter with the juggernauts?


    T snorted, a rueful smileing across her face. Absolutely.


    And?


    She took another moment to put her words in order. Im too durable.


    Mistress Odera cocked an eyebrow but didntment.


    I dont mean in absolute terms, more rtively speaking.


    Go on.


    My spars with Terry showed a part of it, but the juggernauts really brought it into focus. My offensive power is atrocious, especially inparison to my durability.


    Mistress Odera shrugged. Yes and no. You took a juggernaut down with your ranged attack the other day.


    And the loss of a limb took that ability from me.


    The older Mage shook her head. Do you know how many Mages could continue after losing an arm?


    Most?


    Mistress Odera rolled her eyes. Very few. Fewbat-oriented Archons, even.


    That cant be right.


    Mistress T. Mostbat-oriented Mages wouldnt have been in a position to lose the arm to begin with.


    <em>Oh Yeah, that makes sense.</em>


    The fact that you are still an asset to the caravan after receiving such a blow is a testament to the wisdom of allowing you to take up the dual role.


    T gave a small smile. Thank you. Thats kind.


    Mistress Odera waved that off. The truth is true, Mistress. My point is this: You are not too well defended, nor are you offensively ineffective. You have limited use at range, for now, but you also have tools that you havent fully explored. Youre judging half your deck against half that of others. That is foolish.


    <em>There she is.</em> So then, what is your assessment?


    You need something to affix you in ce, at need. You could also use something to take damage on your behalf, rather than simply hoping for the best and healing after.


    Yeah, I have been violently removed from this wagon-top a few too many times <em>What could I use? Straps? They wouldnt hold up to the things that have knocked me free. </em>Is there any form of magic to lock me in ce?


    Mistress Odera gave her an odd look. Youre the dimensional Mage; you tell me.


    Ts eyes widened. <em>I didnt think of it in that way.</em><em>If I approach it from a dimensional standpoint, teleportation could be the field to start with. </em>Teleportation receiving scripts had what amounted to dimensional anchors, fixing them in ce, rtive to Zeme, so that iing travelers wouldnt be reconstructed across a wide area. <em>Would that work?</em>


    It wasnt perfect, as teleportation anchors were abination of functions, including a beacon to aid in targeting specific destinations, and she did <em>not</em> want to be a beacon if she could help it. <em>Worth talking to the Constructionist Guild about, though.</em> There had to be something there


    Even if that worked, the result might be her taking more damage from any given attack. So, it would solve one of the two issues raised by Mistress Odera, while making the second one worse.


    It seems like that might have triggered something. Ill leave you to your thoughts. The older woman lifted her feet and spun around, before resettling to gaze at the city before them.


    <em>Lets assume I get the dimensional anchor all worked out, what would be the consequences?</em>


    She would have to take the full force behind any blow, rather than allowing arge portion to be tranted into kic energy and thus motion.


    <em>So, Ill get hit harder, but wouldnt move.</em>


    Depending on how it worked, could she hit harder as well, or would her entire body be locked in ce?


    <em>Ill have to investigate the different options. Im sure there will be cost differences as well</em>


    Also, if it were to be truly useful, it would have to have a variable lock, letting her lock herself in ce in rtionship to the cargo-wagon. Otherwise, shed only be able to use it while at a dead stop.


    <em>So many possibilities, and possible restrictions. An inertial lock?</em>


    She looked up as they came under the farthest-reaching limbs of Makinavens tree. T immediately felt a suffusion of power moving through her from above, into the ground below.


    Rather than being a water-skin of power that she could draw and drink from, it felt more like a heavy mist, something that changed the environment without giving her anything to use, directly.


    <em>Not that I can use ambient magic, normally.</em> But something about the feeling made her think that arcanous creatures wouldnt be able to draw on it either, unlike normal ambient power.


    T found herself breathing more deeply, drinking in the sensation, if not the power.


    <em>Ive been in a desert ande to an oasis.</em> Those never-experienced geographic features seemed to urately convey how she felt. <em>Bless books and the provision of a wider view of the world.</em>


    The guards visibly rxed as well, reminding T of her homing to Bandfast.


    <em>Wait</em> She looked around. <em>There arent any defensive towers surrounding the farnd. </em>How was it defended?


    She looked up, noticing that she hadnt heard the repulsion of any arcanous birds, either. Where are all the defenses?


    Mistress Odera looked back, a smile on her face. Most are passive; the iming of all power in the near-region starves out and drives away beasts before they can attack.


    That made some sense, but there would always be beasts that were outliers. <em>They cant be defenseless.</em>


    Look up. Tell me what you see.


    T did so, and focused, trying to see through the haze of power in the air. After a long minute, she shook her head. I cant see through the power in the air. Its too mobile, varied, and aspected. My mage-sight wont dismiss it, so I cant see through it.


    And what does your normal vision see?


    T blinked. <em>Im not used to dismissing my mage-sight.</em> With a thought, she suppressed the addedyer of information. Immediately, she was able to see what looked like long, steel gray fruit hanging around the outer reaches of the branches. Those dont look natural.


    And they arent. They are solid tungsten, an incredibly weighty metal. They have inscriptions to allow for faster eleration, once released, as well as guiding spell-workings.


    Ts eyes widened. How big are they? They were visible from her position, even though the tips of the branches from which they hung were well over a thousand feet up.


    I dont know the exact specifications, but my understanding is that, near the waning, a single one can obliterate a half-dozen juggernauts, if properly aimed.


    She found herself nodding. The striking power is She shook her head, then. That would be incredibly lethal, if they didnt see iting.


    Did you not hear me say it has spell-forms for speed and guidance? The time between detachment and impact is only a second or two, and the projectile can track a target over a half mile range.


    <em>Ah, yeah. No dodging that.</em> She couldnt think of anything that could easily move nearly two thousand miles per hour. It would take almost that much speed to escape. <em>And thats assuming the defenses cantpensate, if somethinges in moving that fastsomehow.</em>


    Mistress Odera lifted her face towards the sky, closing her eyes and smiling in the cool breeze.


    So, well defended. T nodded to herself. What about things thate from above?


    There are inscribed defenses in the upper branches that dissuade or ultimately destroy any flying threat.


    T found herself nodding again, this time feeling a bit of awe. Before her was a city that was able to stay at nearly full size for most of its lifecycle. It was truly impressive. Why havent we nted such trees for every city?


    Mistress Oderas smile widened. Some of the Builders want just that. However, the trees we use for our forest cities are not replicable.


    The Mezzannis?


    Precisely. Humanity can nt the seeds, and even nurture them to what would normally be an incredible size, some four or five hundred feet, but they dont grow bigger than that, and their canopy spread is miniscule byparison.


    T frowned.


    And while they still draw in power for redistribution, their roots dont go as deep, nor is the influx nearly as strong.


    So, those arcanes had some lost way of enhancing the trees.


    So it seems.


    Theypsed back into silence as they moved onto well-worn roads. <em>Wait are these paved?</em>


    As she looked closer, T saw that the roads through the farnd and orchards were, indeed, paved. Smooth stone having been formed into a textured, even surface to easily support regr traffic. <em>I suppose if they will be used for most of the life of the city, it makes more sense to invest the time and resources.</em>


    The smell of citrus came from the trees on their right, and T frowned in confusion. How She stopped herself, taking a moment to really<em> feel</em> her surroundings.


    It was significantly warmer at ground level under the Makinaven tree than it had been even half a mile back, in the forest.


    <em>A micro-climate?</em> The differences seemed more extreme than that. It was practically ate spring day, by the feel. <em>We left winter behind.</em>


    No wonder Makinaven and the other forest cities were popr. <em>More dangerous to get to, but such amazing opportunities for longsting gains.</em> Well, this city would enter its waning in just over twenty years, so that way of thinking was less true than it would have been in years past.


    <em>I wonder what the waning will do, here?</em> The level of magic around the city was hard to determine, hard topare to the cities shed been in before, because it was just so different.


    Thest leg of their journey was peaceful and rxing. A good portion of that was a moderately steep slope up, towards the base of the tree. When they were nearly to the trunk, T noticed one particr farm, and began forming a n in her mind. <em>I want to do something nice for Terry.</em>


    Massive roots were on either side of them as the caravan moved up the rise, and they drew together until they met at the trunk on either side of a gateway that was worthy of the city beyond.


    The entrance was easily wide enough for three or four wagons to pass through, side by side, depending on the margin the drivers needed to feelfortable. It was about half as tall as it was wide, making an almost perfectly half-circr opening.


    The city guards talked with Tion, briefly, before waving the whole group forward. Several of the caravan guards also talked with the men and women at the gate as they passed.


    A warm light filtered down from magically empowered fixtures, embedded into the ceiling. They werent too bright to look at, yet still illuminated the tunnel as well as a noon-day sun.


    Now that they were inside the tunnel, T could see that the wood, which made up the structure, had been polished to a near mirror finish, allowing the tight grain of the material to be on full disy, showing amazingly intricate swirls and striations.


    <em>Trees dont grow like this; how is the grain so convoluted?</em> Her focus triggered her mage-sight to tick back on, and she realized that shed been keeping it suppressed until that point.


    She felt like shed been smacked in the face with information, and shook her head, eyes closed tightly to allow her mind to recover.


    After a short moment, T reopened her eyes and found the sight more bearable.


    The answer as to the origin of the odd grain patterns became immediately clear, and she huffed augh at her own folly. <em>Of course.</em>


    The grain of the wood was the spell-lines.


    While Ts inscriptions were mostly gold in living, human flesh, these were living wood, within living wood. This was beyond even an artifact.


    Artifact style items had spell-forms wrought of magic, itself, affixed or anchored to physical materials.


    This tree, by its very nature, <em>was</em> the spell-form. It didnt matter if it ran out of power. As soon as power returned, the magic woulde back to life without issue.


    <em>And because its living wood, any materials that would be used up are likely regrown in short order, if not effectively immediately.</em>


    It was a stunning disy of magic, so far beyond what humanity was capable of reproducing.


    <em>We are primitives, excited by our log fire, while our betters just shake their heads and return to the forge.</em>


    With thosest thoughts echoing in her mind, T and the wagon she was atop exited the tunnel,ing into the open, central space, inside of the tree.


    The ceiling was easily a hundred feet overhead, the far wall at least seven hundred feet away.


    The central open space was dotted with towering buildings, several reaching all the way to the ceiling above, seeming almost like pirs in the vast space.


    Directly opposite the entrance that T and her caravan had used, as well as to the left and right, were other exit tunnels, meaning that each cardinal direction had a main gate into and out of the city. <em>Probably for easier ess to the fertilend, outside.</em>


    The perimeter of therge space hadyers of activity. There were twelve roads spiraling in the same direction, upward from the city floor, starting at various points around the outside of this open space. Each had uncounted tunnels, periodically running radially outward, acting as streets through the myriad levels of this section of the city.


    From what T could see with her enhanced vision, buildings had been carved into the wood throughout the tree. <em>How strong is this wood, to still be able to support the tree with so much material removed?</em>


    She shuddered. If it were up to her, she would <em>not</em> trust the tree to remain standing. <em>Still, the Builders have used this tree on at least a couple of asions, for hundreds of years. It must be sound enough</em> She didnt like it, but she wasnt about to go wait outside until her caravan departed again.


    Everything was carved out of the wood of the tree, though it did look like stone and other materials had been added in various ces as ornamentation, to break up the monotony.


    The wood itself was nearly universally polished to an almost ridiculous degree. In ces, it was stained or painted to add color or hue for decoration, but in all cases, near-high-gloss was maintained. That reflectivity helped bounce light around the massive interior, giving the entire enclosed vastness lighting simr to a glen in some quiet forest. Though, the murmur of thousands of people, living their lives, put the quiet part to lie.


    As she set aside her trepidation concerning the citys structural integrity, she found herself utterly captivated by the beauty of it all. <em>This is so much better than the cities of stone.</em>


    There was a lightness, a warmth to the space that spoke of life, growth, and power.


    As might be expected, the smell reminded T of the best scents within a carpentry workshop mixed with culinary hints and undertones of smoke.


    <em>Fire in here must be pretty highly regtedright?</em> That gave her something new to be concerned about. Though, it only took a moments thought to realize that if the city didnt have a good way of regting and controlling fire within it, there was little chance that it would still be standing.


    The normal sounds of a city were present. Though, again, the wooden walls added a unique character to the mutters, babbles, and other noises that T expected.


    People moved around freely, going about their day, many more going back and forth through the gates than T was used to, if she were being honest. That made sense, though, given the somewhat uniqueyout of the city. <em>If cities can be in differentyouts, what else is possible?</em>


    It was a somewhat childlike thought. If shed considered it, she would have obviously known that cities could have any number ofyouts. Bandfast and Alefast had simply been in simr environments. So, the Builders had built them off the same temte. Marliweather was another of that type, but shed spent years at the Academy, which was almost entirely different, structurally, and easily asrge as ater stage city.


    As she considered the implications, she remembered a cold mountain,te in the night and a woman simply calling herself Mistress. <em>She spoke of viges. I never looked into that.</em>


    Mistress Odera moved, catching Ts attention and interrupting her thoughts. The older woman smiled towards her. Wee to Makinaven, Mistress T.


    T smiled in return. It is good to finally be here.


    Mistress Odera let out a mirthless snort and nodded. Travel around the forest cities is always a bit brutal. Its why most people who can teleport in or out do so, rather than taking a caravan. A frown settled into ce across her features. Something did seem off about this trip, though. I imagine that a high-level Archon or three will be sent to sweep the Leshkinnds to the east and see if something is stirring them up.


    The caravan turned right as they cleared the gates fully, heading north, towards the closest work-yard. Has this happened before?


    Exactly? No. But simr, yes. If I recall correctly, thest time there was an expanding magical anomaly that was making a section of the southeastern forest impassible and increasingly dangerous, thus driving the Leshkin our direction more than was standard.


    What happened, then? T knew this was hardly the time for a long-winded story, but that was fine. She was mainly interested in the short version.


    Mistress Odera gave her a small smile. We corrected the anomaly.


    So, we removed something that threatened them.


    That is one way to view it.


    But not how you view it?


    No. We removed something that indirectly threatened us.


    <em>Quite the human centric view, but it makes sense.</em> T almostughed at her own thoughts. <em>Of course, were focused on how things affect us.</em> Were you there?


    No. That was before my time.


    T shrugged. <em>Worth asking.</em>


    The wagons moved in a small circle to position themselves near a group of warehouses before pulling to a stop. Shall we go make our reports?


    T lifted her eyes from the wagon top, where her gaze had fallen as shed considered.


    Laborers and administrators were moving their way to begin the processes intrinsic in the end of every caravan journey.


    Lets.

 Chapter 114: Less Than Ideal

    Chapter 114: Less Than Ideal


    T found herself to be in a bad mood.


    With around sixteen guards in need of additional healing and the death benefits for five further guards, the Mage protector payments had been less than shed hoped.


    <em>Not that I begrudge the guards their healing, or the families the money for the death of their loved ones</em> She definitely wished that neither category had anyone in it, though. <em>Thats a good, not-too-selfish thought. </em>She gave herself a mental pat on the back.


    In the end, shed received twelve gold as the caravans dimensional Mage; the increase to that figure was due to her verified status as an Archon. For her work as a Mage protector, shed received a token to use with any inscriber, so that they could charge half the inscription cost to the guild, and thirty-six ounces, gold.


    She now had more money than shed ever had before, but it still felt like a ridiculously paltry amount.


    Thankfully, shed also gotten permission to stay in her room within the cargo-slot, until the caravan left the city once more.


    <em>At least that takes care of housing.</em>


    Rane, Mistress Odera, and T all moved through the busy, but not crowded, ground-floor streets. They were heading for the spiral road on which worked the inscriptionist whom Holly had designated as Competent enough to work on a portion of Ts spell-forms.


    Rane needed some touch-ups, and Mistress Odera had already affirmed that she could use the same.


    The man had his workshop on the two oclock road, which began quite close to the work-yard that their caravan had stopped in.


    The twelve spiraling roads were each named for the position on the clock at which they started, given the roughly circr interior of the tree. They hade in from the east, so that gate was at the three oclock position, and the three oclock spiral began at the gate tunnel. The two oclock road touched the bottom floor to the north of the eastern gate.


    Each road did a full circuit before the next major floor, the next tier, was reached. There, more than a hundred feet above them, anotherrge open space held more buildings, parks, ormon spaces, depending on the tier. This basic structure repeated for each level as the city went up.


    Thus, each road intersected the floor of every tier at the roads clock position, holding true to its name.


    Now, this could cause all sorts of frustration to the uninformed. If a pedestrian wished to get to a ce that they could see, but which was above them, on another spiral, they couldnt just walk straight towards it. To facilitate transition between the spiral streets, which were stacked one atop another and perfectly pitched for even spacing, there were insetdder tubes every so often.


    Anyone movingrge vehicles around was not given such a convenient way to change between the spirals.


    That said, as T inspected the city more closely, she noticed that each spiral had a colorbination theme to it, which made it much easier to determine which oclock spiral would be needed to get to any given location, assuming she could see her desired destination. The two oclock street, on which they needed to walk, had red and white banding on the outside railing as well as most of the buildings.


    When they reached the entrance to the spiraling road, they turned to the right, walking beside the buildings to leave the inner portion of the road, that which was closest to the railings, open for vehicle or animal traffic. There were some horses and a few oxen, but those were really the only beasts that T saw. <em>There are probably all sorts, but they just arent asmon.</em>


    Terry eyed each passing creature with interest but settled back down on Ts shoulder after they passed without doing more.


    The walkway they used on the building side of the road, designated by more white and red stripes on the roadway, was wide enough for five or six people to pass with ease.


    T nced down the side passages as they moved past. Some were gated and clearly marked as private sections of the city. Some of those seemed to be entirely owned by a single family with unifying styles behind heraldically emzoned gates. Others seemed to belong to trading groups, or one of the Guilds. <em>Probably mostly farming or crafting rted.</em> It had seemed like most of the buildings on the first-tier main floor were oriented towards crafting or production of some kind.


    Other roads were simply that: roads through a short side district, leading towards the outside of the great tree without prating to the open air.


    There were residential streets, along with shops either of mixed types or of a unified kind.


    Food! T turned down a side street, and Rane shook his head, smiling.


    This particr side-street had alternating red and yellow magical lights down the length, and every shop they could see seemed to be oriented towards food of one kind or other. They were a mix of restaurants and supply stores, if T was seeing correctly. <em>I could get ingredients here and cook for myself, or just buy bulk food more cheaply.</em> It was a good thought. Her consumptive needs did not lend themselves to a reasonable budget.


    Aside from the lighting, the obvious features of the street were a series of tables, trees, and low shrubs artfully spaced throughout the area, giving plenty of ces for people to enjoy their food, as well as some privacy and nature. <em>The nts were selected to be the most pleasing in the oddly colored lighting, too.</em>


    Mistress Odera gave the other two long looks. We should get to the inscriptionist.


    T stopped, turning around to face the older woman. Of course we should, but I need some food. T hesitated. I should have gotten the Caravan Guild to pay for half my food, too


    Mistress Odera huffed augh. You could probably make a case for it, given your need to eat so much because of your inscriptions, and for your inscriptions to use.


    Can you authorize that?


    As a nket allowance? No, definitely not, but I can speak to it, once were back in Bandfast. She got a thoughtful look on her face but didnt say more.


    But I need food <em>now</em>. T stopped, realizing just how whiny that had sounded. Sorry about that. I meant: My reserves are <em>incredibly</em> depleted.


    Mistress Odera opened her mouth to say something but stopped as Rane walked back up to them. <em>When did he leave?</em>


    He held out something to T. Eat. We can get you more after our inscriptions are refreshed.


    T took it without thinking. It was a thick tbread that had been slit open and stuffed full of meat and vegetables, and then drenched in sauce. The bread was such that nothing leaked out. The thing was <em>heavy</em>. Thank you! She smiled to Rane. What do I owe you?


    He waved her off. I think you helped more than the pay distribution represented. It wasnt worth fighting about, but I can correct the slight imbnce with a couple of meals.


    T opened her mouth to object, then considered his words. <em>Yeah, it probably wouldnt be worth contesting the division of things for less than a gold, and there is no way this cost that much. </em>Very well, then. Thank you, Master Rane.


    Mistress Odera sighed, likely in part because shed been a guiding hand behind the distribution of their pay as Mage protectors. Even so, she didnt interject with regard to the food or pay. Can we go, then?


    Im good for now, yes.


    They went back out to the main road, and T took a huge bite of the meal-in-a-package. <em>There really are a lot of variations on this concept. Its like a pasty, or a little caravan, or a pot-pie, or so many other things Ivee across, while being just a little different.</em>


    It wasmildly disappointing. It was good, especially because she was hungry, but something about the way the bread had been made gave it an odd, fibrous texture and almost no vor. <em>Meh, they cant all be winners, I suppose.</em>


    As they spiraled upward, T devoured the less than ideal concoction.


    <em>Wait a minute do the defenses work the same, within the city? </em>The errant thought almost caused her to pause, but she decided to keep walking as she contemted, ncing at Terry.


    Mistress Odera?


    Yes?


    Would Terry be safe in here, without the cor? Terry perked up at the question, looking intently at the older Mage.


    Yes, but no. Mistress Odera smiled. He wouldnt be struck down instantly, as he might be in some other cities, but his presence would trigger all sorts of rms. The defenses would shift, and he would quickly be subdued or killed. In the worst case, an Archon defender would be summoned to deal with him, and the fine that would be leveled for such a thing is <em>expensive.</em> She gave T a meaningful look.


    T nodded Fair enough.


    Terry flickered a bit away and his cor began glowing yellow, just like it would have if they were in Bandfast. He returned without further testing.


    Mistress Odera nodded. He would also be very ill advised to leave the inside of the tree without an active cor, as any space, outside, would be subject toless gentle repercussions, as we discussed.


    Terry let out a small squawk of acknowledgement but didnt open his eyes again.


    Rane cleared his throat, without slowing his pace. Are you sure you want to stay in the cargo-slot while were in Makinaven?


    T shrugged. I have toe to the work-yard every morning anyways, so there isnt much benefit in staying anywhere else. It would just add to my daily travel time.


    Rane thought for a moment, then nodded. I cant argue with your logic. Still, Master Grediv rmended that I get a room in the Soaring Heights Inn. Its in one of the highest branches, reaching well above the canopy and givingmanding views of the surroundings from every room.


    That sounds amazing! Ill have to at least drop by for the view.


    Mistress Odera clucked her tongue. There are quite a few observation areas that allow anyone who wishes to see views just as good, if not better.


    Rane crinkled his nose, then sighed. Even so, I think thats where Ill be staying. He nced to T once more. There are some sparring areas avable there, as well.


    Ill take a look, sure. Not sure when, though. I still need to sell off some of the harvests I managed to grab, after I drop by the Constructionist Guild.


    Mistress Odera stopped walking, pointing to a door just to their left. After inscriptions.


    T looked up to the sign hanging over the door, an inscription needle imposed across a circr spell-form. It was a keystone, if her interpretation was correct. Ah, were here.


    The storefront wasntrge, but through the ss in the door, they could see that the business inside seemed to extend quite a ways back, into the tree.


    The three Mages entered, and a chipper attendant stood from behind a small counter. Wee, Master, Mistresses. How can the Hawthorne Inscribers serve you, this day?


    Mistress Odera took overmunication, quickly exining that they were Mage protectors, newly arrived and in need of reinscription.


    The young womans eyes seemed to glitter, the more she heard. It made her look younger than she had before.


    <em>Or revealed her true age? I bet shes rted to the inscriber, somehow. I know the look of avarice.</em>


    T remembered that feeling, when a particrly wealthy and needy patron hade to her familys shop.


    The attendant pulled a cord, causing a bell to ring somewhere in the back. We are fairly booked with appointments for the next week, but Master Hawthorne has some time right now, and we can make time tomorrow and then two days after. Who would like to go first?


    Both Rane and Mistress Odera turned to look at T. T gave a self-conscious smile. I guess thats me. I probably have the most foundational work needed. They both just need some reinforcement of existing lines. She nced to the others. Right?


    They just nodded.


    A middle-aged man came from the back, a te in hand. Wee! Who am I helping?


    T raised her hand. I suppose Im first.


    The man extended the te to her. Im Master Hawthorne.


    T ignored the avable sharp protrusion, intended for use in drawing blood, and simply ced her thumb on the t stone, allowing her power to brush the device.


    Hawthorne took the te back. Archon T. Wee. Lets see what we All expression left his face. Youre one of Mistress Hollys? He looked up at her, seeming to take in her appearance for the first time. Where are your inscriptions? I dont His eyes narrowed, then widened. Impossible! How did she make them so minute?


    Without seeming to move, he was suddenly standing directly in front of T, his nose almost brushing her cheek. T was too startled to move.


    I cant see the details even from here!


    Terry hissed, causing Hawthorne to step back.


    Ahh, right My apologies. I was He cleared his throat. That was unprofessional of me. Yes. Lets see what we can do. Hmmm?


    T nced at Mistress Odera and Rane, who both smiled. Finally, T shrugged. Alright then


    Hawthorne looked to the other two Mages. I wont be able to work on either of you at this time, unfortunately. Has Lana scheduled your appointments, yet?


    The assistant, presumably Lana, smiled and motioned for the two toe to the counter as T followed Hawthorne into the back.


    The inscriber, for his part, was looking over the te in his hands, muttering to himself in iprehensible fragments.


    Based on her nces into side rooms as they passed, T would guess that this space expanded to the sides as it went further back. Most of the workrooms were empty, though there were a few closed doors that T thought she heard people beyond.


    After the hall took a few turns, they came out into a courtyard, with arge tree growing in the center. <em>A tree, growing in a tree?</em> Shed seen them before, most notably in the food-oriented side street, but it was especially odd, in what was basically a building. <em>A tree in a building, within a city in a tree.</em>


    Magical lights seemed to mimic the natural light outside, at the moment doing a good job of making the space feel like it was open to a sunset sky.


    Are you really that busy? It seems like most of this ce is empty.


    Hmmm? Oh, well, this is after business hours for most of my workers. Theyre eating dinner with their families and will be back in the morning.


    Oh Did we interrupt your meal?


    Oh no, not at all. Theres always too much to do, so I live here, sleep when I can. He smiled her direction. I find it hard to turn away any in need of inscriptions. It just feels like Im robbing them of a tool. Does that make sense?


    T found herself frowning. WellI understand seeing inscriptions as tools, but arent there other inscribers?


    Yes and no. Yes, of course there are others, but they are just as busy as I am. He shook his head.


    Didnt you turn away Master Rane and Mistress Odera, this evening?


    No, not at all. I cant simply drop everything for every person who walks through the door, but I can make time for everyone who needs it. He smiled. Ah, here we are.


    They had crossed the courtyard, skirting the spreading tree-within-a-tree, ande to arge archway, leading into what was clearly an inscriptionists sanctum.


    One wall was covered with racks of inscribing needles of Hollys design.


    <em>Right, of course he wouldnt have an auto-inscriber.</em> She thought for a moment. <em>That might just revolutionize his scheduling.</em> T considered telling him about it for a moment, then dismissed the idea. <em>Im sure Holly will make it known when its ready.</em>


    T almost stumbled slightly as her mind connected that thought to her own experiences with the device and hitched. <em>She used an unproven method on me.</em> That wasnt news, precisely, but T had assumed that the auto-inscriber was rtively new, not utterly new. <em>No, T, she even said that she tested it out by printing the books.</em>


    T grimaced. <em>Well, thats a bit terrifying. I guess I didnt really think through what shed said, and what it meant.</em> T promised herself that shed listen more closely to the mad-woman and consider what she actually meant by what she said.


    Hawthorne sat on a wooden stool, still looking at the te. I must say, I dont think I can help you with most of these.


    T brought her attention back to the present and frowned. What do you mean?


    Well, these are too delicate for me to work on. He huffed augh. Id say they are too delicate for <em>anyone</em> to do, but I see them in ce within your flesh already. He shook his head. What has Mistress Hollye up with, this time?


    The question wasnt directed at T, so she didnt reply.


    So, how about you tell me what you were hoping to have done, and Ill see what I can do.


    T nced at her right arm, trying to decide how to exin. Well, I need a refresher on my activation rings, for my offensive casts.


    Hawthorne moved a few things around on the te, then nodded. Oh, I see, yes. I can do that. He grabbed a sheet of what appeared to be inscribed ss and brought it to a chair in the center of the room. Come on, sit here.


    He pointed to the chair, beside him, and T sank into it.


    Let me take a look at what were working with. He sent power into the ss and held it near her right arm. Wait Oh, my apologies, can you please lower your magical defenses? They are blocking my scan.


    T hesitated. <em>Oh my iron-salve.</em> I apologize, do you have a private room? My magical defense is physical, and I neglected to remove it.


    He arched an eyebrow at that but didntment. He showed her to a back room, and once the door was closed, she dropped into Kit, stripped out of her top, and scrubbed her right arm clean with near-boiling water, soap, and a scrub brush shed bought ages ago.


    Less than five minutester, she was dressed and back in the inscribers chair.


    Hawthorne looked like he wanted to ask but restrained himself. Instead, he held up the inscribed item and looked through it once again. What he saw seemed to drive thoughts of her unorthodox defenses from his mind. Remarkable. Truly remarkable.


    T nced over, and through the ss, the organic material of her arm was invisible, only the metal of the inscriptions could be seen. She shuddered and looked away. It looked <em>much</em> too simr to how the inscriptions had looked, after her arm had fallen away.


    Hawthorne frowned. Wait, I dont see the connecting scripts. He consulted his te, then looked back through the ss. Did you burn through all the secondary inscriptions for those castings? He seemed to be talking to himself as he moved the ss up her arm. You did, they are utterly spent- He stopped, the ss allowing him to look at her shoulder. Mistress T. His voice was t, utterly bereft of inflection.


    Yes, Master Hawthorne?


    Tell me what happened. Your secondary inscription channels are gone past a jagged point in your shoulder.


    Well, you see I lost my arm.


    You lost your arm.


    Thats right.


    And it grew back.


    So it would seem.


    Maintaining all the other inscriptions. He cocked his head to the side. Well, of course it would, if they were active, and these are active. He frowned, then shook his head and sighed. Alright then. Lets get to work. Its going to be a long night.

 Chapter 115: Needed Support

    Chapter 115: Needed Support


    T sat in the inscribing chair for what felt like hours, Terry asleep in herp. Thankfully, with Hollys needles, and the pane of inscribed ss to allow Hawthorne to see where he was working in detail, she didnt need to even roll up her sleeve.


    The fact that most of your inscriptions are intact makes this so much easier. Hawthorne leaned back, stretching his back.


    What do you mean?


    Well, with all the inscriptions already there, my scripts here, he tapped the piece of clear material, have something to lock onto easily, without having to worry about the exact positioning of your arm. It aligns the scripts that are present, then tells me where the missing ones should go. Im basically just tracing. He looked at the inscribed needle in his hand. Tracing with really expensive colored pencils.


    T snorted augh. d its that easy.


    Easier, I would say. Its hard coloring within the lines.


    T gave him a side-eyed look. You dont inspire confidence.


    Good luck going anywhere else to get this fixed. He gave her a mischievous smile. Were just lucky this was a part of what Holly dubbed me capable of working on.


    T shook her head. Isnt that a bit insulting?


    He shrugged. Before responding, he reinserted the needle, injecting another fleck of metal into the proper ce.


    She grimaced at the additional swelling pressure.


    I think it is more an acknowledgement of my skills by a master, than anything else.


    T looked him over again, seeing a new side of the man. He wasnt an Archon, at least not that she could tell. He was a Material Guide, and he used his magic almost entirely to improve his ability with inscriptions. Even as she watched, a flicker of power went through a spell-form in his hand, and she felt the newly added gold shift by less than the width of a hair. <em>No, he didnt move it, he rotated it, reoriented it for better conduction of power.</em>


    Shed never considered the orientation of the metal as important, but he manipted almost every injection he made.


    <em>Is it like a ma?</em> She could just ask. Why do you reorient the metal?


    Hmm? Oh, the metal in the injection medium isnt perfectly uniform, despite what wed prefer. So, by orienting and concentrating the precious metal on the long axis, along the channels we want the power to flow down, we improve efficiency and reduce the total number of injections required. It isnt a lot, but over the course of a spell-form or an entire set of inscriptions? He smiled. Its better.


    But you used your own power, your own inscriptions, to enact the change.


    Thats right.


    So doesnt that take more power and metal than the efficiency gives?


    He chuckled at that. Yes and no. In the beginning, it definitely did, but my efficiency has increased to the point that its a gain. Even before that, though, it was worth it.


    Why?


    He gave her a long look before shaking his head, smiling, and turning back to his work. He continued to inject and reorient as necessary. You fight for civilization. A drop in your power, in your efficiency, in your effectiveness, could mean the death of others, the failure of a caravan. That means needed supplies dont make it to their destination. Letters are lost between loved ones, and so much more. I cant allow that. He shook his head again. Not if I can help it.


    T just nodded.


    After a moment, he cracked a smile. Also, in your case, there is a danger of interference or cross contamination with your surrounding inscriptions. Any misced metal could be disastrous.


    They fell into silence, then. With nothing to distract her, T gritted her teeth against the unpleasant sensations, and kept her regenerative scripts from activating. She needed to wait until he was finished.


    It took hours more, and T gained a renewed appreciation for Hollys strange device. <em>I hope it spreads soon. I cant imagine how much it will help humanity.</em> What if theyd had one in the caravan? Could T have gotten her inscriptions refreshed as soon as they were lost?


    <em>Those two juggernauts would have been squished for sure.</em> She frowned at the thought. <em>Why were they after me so intently?</em> She didnt have any doubts, now. They had been after her.


    The juggernaut had left the caravan behind to pursue her, even if just briefly.


    At the time, the chuckwagon had been all but undefended, but the Leshkin had chosen to pursue her. She allowed her mind to think through the various possibilities as the night wore on.


    Terry continued to sleep in herp.


    There we go. Hawthorne set aside another spent needle. Thats thest of it. He swept his viewing item across her arm, and up to her shoulder, once more. I just need to correct the connection, here. When you lost your arm, the blow seems to have moved some of the dormant gold out of position. He ced his hand on her shoulder, and a series of spell-forms lit up across that arm.


    The sensation was akin to a mass of worms wriggling in her palm, but <em>inside </em>her shoulder. T winced and felt like vomiting at the <em>wrongness</em> of the feeling but held herself still. <em>Im not meant to have something wriggling around inside my muscles</em>


    Are you alright? That can be disconcerting to some.


    It wasnt great How does it look?


    Were done. Your inscriptions are refreshed.


    T rxed, allowing her regenerative scripts to fully activate. Her flesh tightened around the new metal, seamlessly integrating it into her spell-forms. She let out a relieved breath. There.


    I wont ask you about your other work. Itsits detailed beyond anything Ive ever seen before. Ill bet Hollys close to an announcement. He didnt ask, though it was clear he wanted to.


    T gave an awkward smile. Something like that.


    Theres a schema in here for connecting your other hand to the same spell-workings. Theres even space to add another set of rings on your other hand. We could schedule another appointment to do that?


    T almost said yes immediately, but then, she hesitated. <em>I am trying to remove my dependance on those. I need to be practicing, using, and digging deeper into my active maniption, not leaning on a well-loved crutch.</em> Thank you, but I think Ill hold off.


    As you wish. We should settle up now, then.


    Oh! Wait, one more thing. T reached into Kit and pulled out her naked arm. As a Material Maniptor, could you get the gold out of this? It didnt seem to have begun decaying, yet, but it was stillicky to hold.


    Hawthorne gave her a longsuffering look. Is that your arm?


    She rotated it, so that he could see the gold rings on the back of the hand. It is.


    He stood, seeming to take a deep breath to calm himself. After a moment, he went a grabbed some gloves and came back, taking the arm from her. It is deeply disturbing that you kept this, Mistress T.


    Should I have left it for the beasts to eat?


    Well, probably not He sighed, holding up his left hand. To her mage-sight, a series of inscriptions lit up with power across that arm and onto his chest. With a squelching sound, gold pulled itself out of the dead limb, exiting away from Hawthorne, before floating over to an empty dish on a side table.


    Without a word, he went over and rinsed the gold, before drying it on a cloth and dumping it into a small pouch. He returned and held out the pouch. Here. Mage gold is often prized by the Constructionist guild, and while not difficult to get, few like providing it.


    Thank you. What do I owe you for helping retrieve it?


    He waved his hand. It took little effort or power. We can call it an addition on the other services. He nced to her arm, which sat on the side table. Im going to have that burned.


    T decided it wasnt worth arguing, especially since she really didnt have a better idea. She nodded, taking a breath and bracing herself. How much for the inscribing work?


    Hawthorne quirked a smile. Ten ounces. I wish I could offer it for cheaper, but the needles are <em>expensive,</em> and I had to use quite a bit of power manipting the gold to be in the right position, given your inscriptionplexity.


    <em>Ten ounces goldthat means that this will get him twenty, total, and hes acting like its as low as he can go. How much, exactly, was Holly undercharging me?</em> I can do that. Thank you for fitting me in immediately.


    He waved that off. I couldnt let you be hampered. He pulled out a te, did a few things on its surface, and then handed it to her. Put your token, there, and confirm the transaction, if you would.


    T looked closely, verifying all was right. She then ced the token shed received as a Mage protector on the te and confirmed the exchange. There we go. Thank you.


    He waved her off. I did the work; you paid; No thanks needed. He yawned. I do need to get some rest, though. Lana! He called out thest.


    The attendant from before came a few momentster. Yeah, Dad? She hesitated. Oh! My apologies, Mistress T, I didnt realize that you were still here.


    T gave a seated half-bow. More than fine. I was apparently difficult to work on.


    Oh?


    Master Hawthorne can tell you, if and when he deems appropriate. She smiled.


    Hawthorne shook his head to clear the sleep. Lana, could you escort Mistress T out? There isnt anyone else, right?


    No, the apprentices are all finished. Ill lock up, after.


    Thank you.


    Um is that an arm?


    T and Hawthorne looked to where Lana was pointing. Yes, dear. Ill be dealing with that, before I sleep.


    But-


    He shook his head. No buts. We can talk, tomorrow. He smiled towards T. Good night.


    T stood. Thank you, again.


    He shrugged and waved, using rote movements to clean up his space before he dealt with the limb and slept.


    T followed Lana out and bid the girl Goodnight.


    Remember us when you need a refresh.


    I will.


    T turned away from the now locked front door and looked out at the nightscape of Makinavens first tier.


    The interior light had been dimmed, but it was still bright enough to see clearly. Traffic had slowed, but it was far from nonexistent.


    T began to walk back down, towards the work-yard and her amodations for the night. The cooks had given them all food as theyd approached the city, but even with that, and Ranes offering, T felt <em>famished.</em>


    She came to the food-oriented side street once again and stepped back into it. The restaurants all seemed to be closed, and only one of the general stores looked to be open for business.


    T knocked as she pushed the door open. Hello?


    Hello!


    T looked at the young man who sat behind the counter. Are you open?


    He gestured. Seems so.


    T gave him a t look, then shook her head. <em>Kids shouldnt be sassy with adults...</em> She walked in and looked through the wares. She quickly picked out some fruit, jerky, and what seemed to be small bag of day-old pastries.


    One silver, please.


    It was an exorbitant sum for what she was getting, but she wasnt in a position to be too picky. <em>I really, really need to replenish my food-stores.</em> She hesitated for a moment. <em>Could I use my incorporator to make soup, with dried ingredients?</em> That would be amazing. <em>Ill look into it.</em>


    She paid and left.


    While she ate her newly acquired food, she got out some of the arcanous jerky for Terry.


    She took the time to stretch her legs and just let herself walk. <em>Tomorrow, Im going to walk through the city but not without good food.</em>


    T could probably find open vendors in the upper reaches of the city, even at this time of night, but she wasnt willing to do a long hike in the hope of such bounty. <em>Tomorrow.</em>


    They got to the work-yard all too soon, and she found her cargo-slots set off to one side, standing free of any wagon.


    <em>Oh </em>T stood for a moment, staring at the fourteen identical, empowered constructions.


    <em>Which one?</em>


    With a sigh, she went down the line, ncing inside each, until she found the one that she wanted. There you are.


    She hesitated in the eerily silent work-yard, looking into the equally silent, dark interior of the cargo-slot. She didnt really want to go inside. At least not yet.


    <em>I dont know how much Ill sleep in. I should charge them now.</em> With a sigh, but not of relief, she let the door swing closed and walked over to a nearby warehouse.


    There, she grabbed a short stedder that shed seen leaning against the side. Littledder in tow, she went down the line, recharging each cargo-slot.


    <em>There. Now, time to sleep.</em> She returned the stedder to where shed found it, then walked to the correct cargo-slot.


    <em>No hesitation, that will just make it worse. </em>She strode inside, allowing the door to close behind her.


    The space was a bit creepy, in all honesty. She was used to it being quiet, it was well built and designed for such, but she wasnt used to the utter silence that now surrounded her.


    With hurried, quiet steps, she moved through the dark interior to her door.


    She unlocked her room, jumped inside, mmed the door, and relocked it behind her.


    <em>Thats right, T. The darkness almost got you.</em>


    She shook her head but didnt let herselfugh.


    <em>Make no noise</em>


    She was <em>tired</em>, despite having slept past lunch the day before. <em>I cant sleep thatte, today.</em> Only a short sleep, then. Just like six hours.


    She flopped down on her too hard mattress and touched middle finger to thumb, increasing her effective gravity until the bed wasfortable. That sorted, she closed her eyes to sleep.


    * * *


    A soft knock on her door jerked T out of a heavy sleep, filled with nightmares.


    She sat bolt upright, her heart pounding. <em>No one else is supposed to be here. Whos knocking?</em>


    She gasped in a breath, her mind telling her that her ribcage was shattered, lungs ruined. <em>No. That was a dreamOr two days ago</em> She grimaced.


    She stood slowly; eyes locked on the doorway. Terryy motionless in the corner.


    <em>Doesnt he sense the danger?</em> She had a horrifying thought, then. <em>Is he dead?</em>


    She stared at him, her gaze unmoving despite her half-awake mind screaming at her to watch the door. Finally, she saw his chest move with an inhaled breath. <em>Good, not dead.</em>


    Her eyes returned to the door as she drew Flow, leaving it in the form of a knife. <em>A knife is a better weapon for close quarters than a sword.</em>


    The knock came again, a little louder this time, booming in the otherwise silent cargo-slot.


    T grabbed the doorhandle to fling it open. Instead of throwing the door wide, her quick pull jerked her forward, mming her face and chest against the locked door. Flow stabbed easily into the wall, where it stuck.


    Ow


    Mistress T?


    She recognized that voice. Mistress Odera?


    Yes, dear. Are you alright?


    T shook her head, pulling the key from Kit, unlocking the stubborn door and pulling it open.


    I brought you breakfast and thought that we could take a bit to talk.


    T looked to the womans hands but saw nothing. Do you have a storage item?


    Well, yes, but the food isnt in there. Come on.


    T rubbed her eyes and nced towards Terry.


    We arent going far. Hell be fine. Mistress Odera smiled. Im not even sure the city defenses would register his presence regardless, while hes in here.


    T nodded and followed Mistress Odera out to themon area of the cargo-slots interior. On one of the tables, a massive spread of food wasid out, along with what appeared to be several earthen carafes of some kind. <em>Coffee?</em>


    She almost sat in the closest chair, before remembering her increased weight. <em>Its nice that it hasnt been causing me issues in moving. Im getting more used to variable gravity.</em>


    She brought her left middle finger to her thumb and focused on herself, returning her effective gravity to standard.


    It didnt take too long, but it was long enough for Mistress Odera to move around and take the chair opposite.


    The older woman began building herself a breakfast sandwich, pulling from the various tters of food with the implements shed already set out.


    This is a feast, Mistress Odera.


    For most people: yes, it would be. For you? In your state? Its needed support for proper functioning as a Mage protector. Her eyes were twinkling.


    T grinned back at her. I like the sound of that.


    Mistress Odera nodded. I believe I saw that youve recharged the cargo-slots, already?


    That is correct.


    Good, then we can eat now. She smiled. I cant authorize this for every meal, but it seems reasonable to me to fund some calories after particrly demanding ventures.


    T lowered herself into the seat, her effective gravity back to normal, some of her joy leaving. It wasa bit demanding. The faces of the guards who had died shed through her mind. Sometimes her near perfect memory was a curse.


    She hadnt known them. She hadnt learned their names, and she couldnt convince herself that she cared about them as individuals.


    In truth, she didnt. That said, they had died fighting alongside her, in spirit even if not physically, and that did matter. <em>Maybe, I can care about their character, their actions?</em>


    Whats wrong?


    Hmm?


    You arent eating. Whats wrong?


    T sat up a bit straighter and began taking food for herself. II dont feel anything for the guards that died. She frowned, and Mistress Odera cocked an eyebrow. No no, thats not right. I am grateful for their sacrifice. I hate that they died, and I think well of them for their actions in defense of the caravan, but I cant bring myself to care about them as individuals.


    Mistress Odera gave a slow nod. Youre dissociating from their deaths. You dont want to view them as husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, sons, or daughters. Yet, you still see their sacrifice for what it is.


    T shrugged, eating without really focusing on what she was consuming.


    It is so easy to hear: Thirty people died in this ident or attack. It sounds tragic, and you wish it hadnt happened, but rarely do we consider the ripples such deaths will cause. Its ufortable to consider, and hard to deal with emotionally.


    T nodded, continuing to eat, mechanically.


    Mistress Odera gave a sad smile. You dont want to have to sit with the fact that Sergeant Fawn had a two-year-old daughter, who he will never hold again.


    T set her food aside, looking down at her hands.


    We dont like considering that guardswoman Hida was newly married, and shed decided that this would be herst round trip before settling down to have a family.


    Ts vision began to swim with unshed tears.


    Those are just two of the fallen. Each death is a tragedy of unmitigated horror for those who cared for and loved them. To us? Its unfortunate but doesnt upy more than a cursory ce in our minds. It cant.


    T lifted her head with a frown. What does that mean?


    Mistress T, across humanity, between five hundred and a thousand die each day. Now, a bit more than that number are born as well, their livesid out before them. Do you know how many of those deaths are due to old age or simr causes?


    I imagine very few.


    Youd be right. Mistress Odera had a sad smile. We live in a violent world, Mistress T. Death is all around us, constantly. Yes, every death is a tragedy, but it cant be our tragedy. That sounds heartless, because it is. Death should never cease to affect us, but it should also never break us.


    T huffed a derisiveugh, wiping her face. You make it sound so easy.


    Mistress Odera shrugged. It isnt. We have a lot to talk about, and this is just the beginning. It is alright to not be okay. She smiled. You need to process through the losses. The loss of the guards under our protection, the loss of your arm, these are not small things. After a moment, she poured a mug of coffee, then handed it to T. Here: Drink, eat, lets talk.


    The next couple of hours passed slowly. Mistress Odera often seemed to be contradicting herself as she drew T through her emotions and thoughts on how the trip had gone and the results thereof.


    In the end, T decided that Mistress Odera was perfectly willing to spout utter nonsense, if it allowed T to properly think through a given issue.


    <em>Im d she brought foodthis is exhausting.</em>


    The morning passed, and they made some progress, but as with most things, it was but a small step forward.


    <em>One step at a time.</em>

 Chapter 116: Higher in Makinaven

    Chapter 116: Higher in Makinaven


    T licked her fingers clean of thest of the massive spread of food that Mistress Odera had brought for her.


    Even so, T really hadnt registered what any of it was. <em>She could have brought me food that was little better than scraps, and I probably wouldnt have noticed.</em>


    No, that wasnt fair. In her memory, the food had been good, but T hadnt taken the time to savor it as she ate.


    Ts stomach gurgled. Seriously? She looked down at her own abdomen.


    Mistress Odera smiled. We should go get some lunch. Shed stopped eating hours earlier. I also believe that Ive kept you from your normal morning routine?


    T waved her off. Youve helped me talk through a lot of different things. A smile pulled up at the corner of her mouth. And you brought food.


    Mistress Odera nodded. Im d its been of use. After a moments pause, she continued. Please dont see this conversation as a solution or a fix.


    T nodded in turn. So youve said. Talking through how Im feeling and how I perceive things is just a start.


    Good. Shall we?


    One moment. She took a breath and directed a shout over her shoulder. Terry!


    Terry flickered into being on her shoulder, before regarding the empty tes on the table between the two women. He let out a disgruntled squawk and eyed T.


    Sheughed and tossed a much bigger than standard hunk of jerky. Were going to get lunch. Shall we get you something, there, too?


    Terry was already happily enjoying his jerky. He bobbed a nod, then settled down into his customary resting ce on her shoulder.


    Im ready.


    They stood and Mistress Odera swept the table clear of dishes, putting everything into a slim pack that almost hid against her back, when worn.


    T hadnt seen it before today. <em>But I suppose Ive only seen her at a restaurant in her home city and on the road, when she had a room for her use.</em>


    <em></em>It was a storage item in the artifact style. If what T interpreted was correct, the space contained was easily four or five times what Kit had, within. <em>Thats a valuable item.</em>


    The three came out of the cargo-slot into the bustling work-yard. The workers gave them passing nces, but they were, for the most part, ignored.


    Do you know anywhere good to eat? I wasnt impressed with the food from that little side street


    Mistress Odera nodded. That was closer to a quick stop-through for local workers than a ce to get good food. She thought for a moment, then shrugged. That said, such ces are often some of the best food you can find. But that isnt what you asked: I know of a couple of excellent ces in the upper tiers. Shall we?


    T nodded, and they strode off, turning to the south of the eastern gate this time. Mistress Odera said that the establishment they were going to was just off of the 4 oclock spiral.


    They talked about small things as they moved up the new path. This road had a green and yellow theme, designating it for easy identification from the main floor, below.


    The buildings were much the same as those theyd seen on the two oclock spiral, and as such, nothing really caught Ts attention. Even the green and yellow inner railing faded from notice after a short climb.


    After a time, having made almost a full circuit of the city, they approached the top of this first tier and continued into that ceiling. The road remainedrgely unchanged, save the inner railing being reced by a wall.


    The lighting was still good, and there were still storefronts and side streets branching off, towards the outside of the tree.


    <em>I wonder if this is more, or less, valuable space? Theres nothing to distract potential customers from the shops, here, but they arent really visible from anywhere else.</em>


    After less than a hundred yards, the top of the road began to open once more, letting in more light from the second tier. Shortly after, they came up, level to that tiers floor, and T stopped, eyes wide.


    The center of the tree, here, seemed to have been turned into a vast parnd. The ceiling was, again, close to one hundred feet up. Though, magical lights and effects made it difficult to notice that it wasnt open, cloudless sky.


    Gently rolling, well cared for turf filled much of the space. Small, white flowers sprinkled the ground near and far. <em>Is this all covered with clover?</em> She didnt know enough to decide if that was good or not.


    Several stands of trees were artfully scattered around the space, along with several delineated spaces of tter ground, further divided by lines or a change in makeup. <em>Sports areas?</em>


    Growing up in Marliweather, shed seen a few of those, but they werent <em>that</em>mon. <em>A benefit of a more static poption, I suppose?</em> The poption in Marliweather, and most cities, was steadily declining, overall, while Makinavens would be rather static for the majority of its existence.


    There was a scattering of food vendors at a few points throughout the massive park, and they seemed to be doing a brisk business with those who were enjoying the space.


    Mistress Odera had paused beside T, and she spoke up, while the younger woman continued to examine themunal space. We can get food, here, if you desire.


    Maybe another day. Id like to try wherever youre taking us.


    As you say. They began walking again.


    Do you know the usage rules of the park?


    They are free for public use.


    Do you think theyd mind if I used one of the sand courts for sparring? <em>I hate sand</em><em>Its coarse, and rough, and irritating. And it gets everywhere.</em> Shed prefer the green-covered areas, but she didnt want to ruin the vegetation.


    That should be allowed. Something about Mistress Oderas tone implied hesitation, however.


    What are you thinking?


    Id be concerned specifically about you sparring with Terry in such a public space. In the worst case, it could cause a panic, if people thought he was a wild creature who had somehow prated the defenses.


    Yeah that probably wouldnt be good. T frowned. Any ideas on how to mitigate that?


    Well, you could have Rane or a few city guards observe. Then, if anyone saw you, theyd see the armed men and women around you, casually watching. It wouldnt be a perfect solution, but it could work.


    Ill bet the Guards Guild has training spaces anyways. Ill just drop through there and ask.


    That could work, too.


    They fell into silence as they walked the perimeter of the second tier, slowly climbing upwards. Both women had their attention focused inward, towards the park and the tamed nature it represented. <em>I wonder what the world would be like if all nature were so tamed.</em>


    The buildings set into the outside of the road in this second tier seemed to be a bit bigger, but not by too much. There were also many, many more that looked like residences orplexes of such.


    <em>How far are we walking?</em> She thought about it for a moment. <em>The interior is roughly seven hundred feet across, and were circumnavigating it. Adding some variability because it isnt a perfect circle, and we are climbing rather than walking a t perimeter, each loop is just about a half mile.</em> Huh, that was somehow much shorter than shed expected. It also meant that with the interior of each tier being about a hundred feet high, and with close to twenty feet between tiers, the slope was about 4.5%. <em>Not bad, T.</em>


    Sadly, that didnt actually answer her question.


    Mistress Odera?


    Hmm?


    What tier are we going to? They were just about halfway through the tunnel from the top of the second to the base of the third tier.


    Oh, the restaurant I was thinking of is on a limb that we can reach from the base of the fifth tier.


    <em>Ok, so just about five hundred feet up, and two miles of walking.</em> Oh, ok. <em>Just over a mile left.</em>


    Is something the matter?


    T nced towards her bare feet. <em>The ground, here, is surprisinglyfortable to walk on.</em> Well, I was curious how far we were going to be walking.


    Its just about three quarters of an hour from here. Do you need us to grab something on the way? I assumed that a little walk wouldnt be too much. She gave T an inquiring look.


    No, Ill be fine. I just wanted to know what to expect.


    Fair enough. Mistress Odera gave T a mischievous smile. You know; we could run. She then nced to Terry. Or master Terry could consent to carry us?


    Terry opened his eyes and looked to Mistress Odera. He then nced to T.


    Do you want to? We could get to food faster.


    Terry huffed, rolling his eyes, but before T couldment further, he appeared between then, bumping them both away with his increased dimensionality.


    As he settled down on the ground to allow them to mount up, T took in his size. <em>More massive than a horse, to better carry us both?</em>


    I think I should be in front; your arms are longer than mine.


    T took a moment to look at Mistress Odera. <em>Huh, she is shorter than me. I never really noticed thatsomehow.</em> Sure.


    Mistress Odera looked almost regal as she settled down right behind Terrys neck.


    Several other pedestrians gave them odd looks or muttered under their breath about people with mounts in the walkingne.


    T quickly settled right behind Mistress Odera, and Terry stood up. T just managed to grab onto the erged cor before he moved, her arms on either side of the older woman.


    Alright. Lets go-


    Terry crouched low and <em>shot</em> up the ramp. Each stride took him tens of feet as he bounded higher in Makinaven, along the road. He wove around the slower moving vehicle and mount traffic, blessedly not scaring any of the other animals beyond their handlers abilities to rein in.


    The third tier came into view, showing T a wide-spread market with interspersed greenery and soft lighting. The buildings inset beside them were huge blocks of interlinked Guild headquarters. If T had to guess, most of each spiral path for this tier was taken up by one or two guilds, or guild affiliated residences, workshops, or peripheral spaces.


    The fourth tier was another park, surrounded by residences.


    Strangely, these didnt appear bigger than those T had seen on the second tier, though they did seem to be more intricately detailed.


    When they reached the fifth floor, Mistress Odera pointed to an opening towards the outside of the tree, and Terry darted down it, causing a pedestrian to shout and shake his fist at them.


    Light poured in through the opening ahead of them, and Terry pulled to a stop just as they exited the great tree of Makinaven.


    With a flicker, Terry was on Ts shoulder, even as she dropped the short distance to the ground.


    Mistress Oderanded lightly, falling into a half-crouch before straightening and giving Terry a critical look. Thank you for the ride, master Terry. In the future, I would appreciate some warning before the dismount.


    T had stumbled sideways in catching herself, but she straightened without embarrassing herself too much.


    As she stood upright, her gaze swept outward, and her jaw dropped open.


    Like all the trees of this forest, the canopy was sparse and only really oneyer, the leaves mainly sprouting from the tips of the branches rather than along their full length. The three of them were far below thatyer.


    The road continued outward and upward, along the ttened top of the branch, and structures were to either side.


    The entrances of the buildings were almost universally set downward, reached by a short set of stairs or other such paths. If they were multi-floored, it seemed that those floors went downward. Some likely even went under the road.


    The result was very little obstruction to the view, and what a view it was.


    When arriving the night before, T hadnt noticed just how much thend had risen back up to the base of the tree, but it must have, because they were above most of the surrounding trees. <em>Or the tiers were taller than I thought or Too many options, really. Its probably abination of things.</em>


    A strong breeze blew through the massive branches, but it wasnt overbearing. Even if it had been, T would have had no concern of falling; there was a low wall bordering the road, anywhere the top of a building wasnt offering protection from a fall.


    The cool, early-winter air held a pleasant chill after thefortable warmth within Makinaven. <em>So, the warmth we felt among the farms at ground level doesnt extend this far up? Interesting. </em>It still felt warmer than back in the forest, below.


    If T focused on it, she could feel a <em>slight</em> movement of the branch beneath her, likely due to the wind, but it was miniscule. <em>Im so d I dont get motion sick, or this would be awful.</em>


    Under the midday sun, the forest looked like a sparsely snow-covered, hilly in, spreading out all around them, with mountains in the distance to the north. T could just see those around the trunk of the tree in that direction. There were mountains further away to the southwest, and far to the east and south, but they were barely more than a hazy outline, even to her enhanced vision.


    It is an incredibly clear day.


    Mistress Odera smiled and nodded. Indeed, it is. Now, lets get some food.


    T nodded and smiled in turn.


    The nature of the tree meant that this tier of branches likely had the best views, at least until those at the very top. Those in the middleyers would be more obscured by leaves and other branches. <em>Ill have to go see what it looks like from up there. That might be a good ce to meditate and contemte Fusing.</em> She nodded to herself. <em>Ill do that, today.</em>


    Mistress Odera led them down the branch-way for close to a quarter hour, traversing a bit less than half the branchs length and steadily sloping upward. There was still quite a bit of foot-traffic around them, as well as a few vehicles.


    They likely could have continued on Terry, but T found herself thoroughly enjoying the walk in the open air.


    When they reached their destination, Mistress Odera moved down a set of stairs to their left. She opened the door into the restaurant without hesitation, and T followed her through.


    A graying man bowed to them as they entered. Wee to our humble establishment, Mistresses. Do you have a table preference?


    Mistress Odera spoke with him quietly for a moment, and he brightened. <em>Is there a hint of magic around them? Is that why I cant hear?</em>


    Mistress Oderas workings were <em>incredibly</em> subtle, and T was still struggling to perceive them with any consistency.


    <em>Unless they are overtly obvious, like a defensive shield.</em>


    <em></em>The hints of power in the air vanished before T was sure they had actually been there.


    Oh, certainly, Mistress! Right this way.


    T frowned but followed Mistress Odera and the older gentleman. They went down a couple of floors then outward towards the north side of the branch.


    They were seated at a booth hard up against the outside of the limb. Arge section of the wall beside them had been reced with ss or something like it. That, coupled with the distance theyd traveled down the branch, ensured that they could easily see the mountains in the distance.


    It was breathtaking.


    Their server came a few minutester, bringing water without ice for both of them, along with the start of their meal.


    Empty tes were set in front of each of them and dishesden with food were set on the table between them. Rice was in abundance, both in and fried, and most of the main dishes consisted of variously zed and seasoned meats and veggies, intended to be eaten overtop of, and with, the rice.


    Terry sampled a bit of everything before curling up beside the window to sleep.


    After the server had dropped off the sixth and final serving bowl, T leaned forward. Mistress Odera, how much is this going to cost?


    The older Mage shrugged. Its their lunch special. A grin split her face. For a family of six. They charge two silver and fifty copper. Its a real deal, if you ask me.


    T looked at the food, realizing that shed already eaten more than Mistress Odera was likely to, all told. Sohow much will I owe?


    A silver is reasonable to my mind.


    T cocked an eyebrow.


    I invited you. If you ate a normal amount, Id happily treat you, but my budget wont handle your intake requirements.


    We cant charge it as a necessary expense? T asked hopefully.


    Mistress Odera grinned. After thinking it through, I believe I can justify a meal each day but not more.


    Fair enough. After a moment, T smiled again. Thank you.


    Enjoy. We wont be in this city for too long, and I havent found food in this style in Bandfast. After a brief hesitation, she added, Well, at least not this good.


    It is that.


    So, without furtherment, the two settled in to eat. Mistress Odera ate a careful amount, enjoying every bite but not overindulging by any metric. At the same time, T devoured her second feast of the day.


    * * *


    After T had polished off thest of the food, the three of them paid and departed. The elderly gentleman wished them a good day and a speedy return.


    Instead of heading back into the main tree of Makinaven, Mistress Odera led them further down the branch, nearly as far as theyd previouslye from the main trunk, to where the road ended in a wide, t circle. The branch continued on for quite a ways, but it thinned, bing too slender to be a safe foundation for the street to continue upon.


    The wide, t circle was presumably for vehicles to turn around on, but it was currently vacant, and the variation in the branch left itrgely hidden from the rest of the length.


    True, the windows on the other branches, and those on this side of the tree within the trunk above, looked down on the space, but those were quite far away.


    This is the closest location I knew of, where you could do your regr exercises and stretching in rtive privacy.


    T smiled to the older woman. Thank you, Mistress Odera. This was incredibly kind of you.


    Oh, Im happy to assist. Now, I have much that I need to get to. I assume you can find your own way back?


    Absolutely.


    Then, I bid you a good day, Mistress T. Do try not to fall off. There was the glint of humor in her eyes.


    Take care, Mistress Odera. I will do my best not to.


    The other Mage departed, and T began her training.


    There, high in the great tree of Makinaven; caressed by a pleasantly chill, winter breeze; hidden from most eyes, save the most discerning; T strove to improve.

 Chapter 117: Espresso?

    Chapter 117: Espresso?


    T thoroughly enjoyed her morning exercise, nestled in one of the lower branches of Makinavens great tree, even if it was after noon.


    <em>Mistress Odera really picked a great spot.</em>


    T was even able to find a nice level nook, off to one side, where she could open Kit in a secure manner and quickly cleanse herself of the sweat shed built up.


    Terry perched beside Kit protectively while she was inside.


    <em>You know, if Im ever falling, could I just climb into Kit and wait until wend? </em>At some point, she would have to trust someone enough to have them close her inside, so that she could see if she could get out.


    That wasnt a terrifying thought.


    Not at all.


    <em>Necessary evils to get greater utility out of my items. </em>Kit was great, but T wanted as much utility from the pouch as she could get. <em>And if that works, Ill have to see if I can close myself in</em>


    But that was down the road a bit. Other things were jostling around in her head, demanding her attention.


    <em>I wonder how much one of those tungsten rods costs.</em> Another thing to ask the Constructionists about. Shed probably never need it, but she was finding herself airborne far too often to not consider it.


    As she climbed back out into a cool breeze, T took a moment to close her eyes and just enjoy the feel of the gentle currents. Her elk leathers shifted to allow the wind through to her skin.


    The sensation was amazing. <em>So much better than the frigidness of the forest in winter.</em> Even if the difference was not as extreme this high up. <em>I wonder if its cooler in summer too.</em>


    She nced at Terry as she clipped Kit back to her belt. Willing to give me a ride?


    Terry grew to afortable size and crouched down.


    Thank you. As she climbed up, she tossed him some jerky.


    He snapped out, catching it with his beak before it went out of range.


    <em>Right, he doesnt want to teleport while Im on his back.</em> Sorry about that. She tossed another much closer, and he snapped it up much more easily.


    He set off at a leisurely pace, just faster than she couldfortably jog.


    T had a thought and nced behind them.


    Terrys talons were digging into the tree for better grip, speed, and bnce, just as he would the ground, below. <em>Oh Thats-</em>


    Even as she was considering the cost that shed incur from all the damage already done, her mage-sight showed her that the wood was pulling back together, reforming and returning to its base state.


    <em>Oh, thats wonderful.</em> She let out a relieved breath and turned to face forward once again. <em>Where to first?</em>


    There was no contest, she needed to go see the Constructionists.


    Lets go back to the third tier. We can ask for directions to the Constructionist Guild from there.


    Terry bobbed his head in acknowledgement then bent lower, increasing his speed.


    <em>Might as well practice.</em> She locked onto herself, bringing her middle finger to her thumb. <em>Reduce.</em>


    Terry began to speed up more, seeming to rx a bit as her effective gravity decreased.


    <em>This is wonderful!</em> Sheughed joyfully.


    There was an ox cart in the road in front of them, making its slow way towards the tree. When he was almost upon it, Terry pushed off to move around the obstruction, but things didnt go as expected.


    Something about moving from the straight run to a sideways diversion tripped up the avian, and he began to tumble. Terry immediately flickered away, appearing in a crouch on the short wall to one side of the road. He was now the size of a cat and wore a look of profound irritation clearly on his avian face.


    T, with her effective gravity reduced, but her momentum maintained, tumbled through the air, straight into the back of the cart, hitting with a solid <em>thwack!</em>


    She groaned, sliding to the ground in aically slow fashion.


    It seemed that the cart had been made very well; she hadnt damaged it in the least.


    The driver must have turned around to look, but obviously didnt see her. T heard him flick his reins, and the cart pulled away, now moving a bit faster than before.


    Ty there in the road for a long moment, ring at Terry.


    He preened while ring back.


    I was just lighter, Terry. I still had the same inertia. She was actively returning her weight to normal.


    Terry squawked and shimmied, still giving her an irritated look.


    Fine. Im back to normal weight. Lets try again?


    He didnt move.


    I wont change my gravity while riding, not without talking to you first. Alright?


    After a moment, he bobbed, and reappeared beside her, sized for easy riding.


    Thank you. I apologize for throwing you off.


    He shook, settling her in ce, and let out a satisfied thrum. It was almost a purr but with more music to it.


    Yes, you are a wonderful runner. As I said, I apologize.


    He bobbed, and started out again, this time going a little slower as if a bit unsure of his footing. That quickly passed, however, as he took a few zigs and zags to get a renewed feel for it. By the time theyd passed the still plodding cart and ox, he was up to speed once more.


    A few minutester, they reached the trunk and passed through the entry tunnel. At the end of that tunnel, Terry took a hard right, down the 4 oclock spiral. His ws dug deep to facilitate the change in direction, but he pivoted perfectly, barely losing any speed.


    Terry let out a quiet trumpet of triumph as he continued. If anything, he increased his speed as they moved down the sloping road.


    Behind them, the wooden road fixed itself, sending out minute eddies of power, which quickly calmed, leaving no trace that the damage had ever been there.


    They practically whipped down the tiers, Terry skillfully weaving around and through the traffic.


    As they went, T asionally thought she saw flickers of light from across the open space of the tiers that they were passing. It seemed to originate fromrger tube-like vertical shafts. <em>Ill investigate thatter, I suppose.</em>


    It didnt seem dangerous, but something about it tickled at her mind. <em>Later, I said.</em>


    When they reached the base of the third tier a few minutester, T directed Terry out onto the main floor.


    Giving a subtle whistle as a warning to T, Terry flickered to her shoulder, allowing her to drop andnd on her own two feet.


    Thank you, Terry. That was kind of you.


    He simply hunkered down a bit before opening his mouth.


    T grinned and gave him some jerky.


    She wandered the vast, open market of this tier, taking in the sights and sounds of bartering and merchants calling out to potential customers about their wares.


    As she walked through a section that was oriented towards food, an odd-seeming stall caught her attention. It was manned by two older men and a boy: likely a father, son, and grandfather if their looks were any indication. The stall was smaller than those around it but was doing a brisk business.


    They seemed to be selling dark-colored bars of some kind.


    <em>Is that some type of dessert?</em> It almost looked like low-quality chocte, but there seemed to be a teapot in front of each section, steaming away on magical heaters. <em>Thats not cheap to maintain.</em>


    The father smiled her way. Wee, Mistress. What can we interest you in, today?


    Pardon my ignorance, but what are you selling?


    The oldest of the three stepped forward and bowed. No pardon necessary, Mistress. These are tea bricks, for the most part. I assume you have note across these before?


    I have not.


    He moved to one side, drawing her with him by the movement, so that they would not be blocking the front of the stall. Well, once you have a brick of the tea of your choice, you cut off a small portion and toast it, usually over a me, but hot air or a magical heater can work as well. This brings out the depth of vor. Once that is done, you grind up the tea and ce it into your mug or teapot, pour in hot water, and allow it to steep as appropriate for the given tea. It is apact, efficient way of carrying arge quantity of tea.


    T leaned forward, inhaling steaming from the various pots. These smell amazing. She felt herself rxing as she took in the myriad herbal scents. She knew very well what it reminded her of, but she refused to acknowledge that, since it would ruin her enjoyment.


    Thank you, Mistress.


    How many cups of tea can a brick make?


    That depends on the strength of tea you desire, as well as on the type of tea. But in general, you can get ten cups per ounce of the stronger teas. For the herbal teas, you need closer to half or three-quarters of an ounce to achieve a robust vor.


    And the bars are how heavy?


    The smallest we sell are single-pot nuggets, and thergest, single bricks are a pound.


    And the cost?


    It varies, Mistress. He smiled apologetically.


    T shrugged. I suppose that makes sense. She considered. Am I right in assuming that you have some of each already brewed in these pots? She gestured to the steaming kettles.


    You are.


    T nodded. Then, if you are willing, and they are avable, could I sample your mint blend, a chamomile, and She hesitated, her nose catching a whiff of something. She frowned in concentration. Do I smell coffee?


    Ahh! Yes, we have a limited selection of espresso bricks.


    Espresso? She tried the unfamiliar word.


    Coffee that has been processed to be stronger. Usually consumed in very small quantities.


    She could tell that he had greatly simplified that exnation, but she didnt really mind. Id like to sample that as well. <em>My own supply of coffee?</em> It might work, at least until she got her coffee incorporator.


    <em>I know they exist.</em>


    The man bowed low as the other two moved, getting three small cups for her to sample.


    They set them on a small, cleared space to one side, and T moved over to pick up the first.


    She closed her eyes, inhaling deeply. <em>Mint.</em> It was a crisp scent. <em>At least pepper and spearis that rosehip and lemongrass?</em> She hadnt actually delved back into alchemy or herbalism since Holly had given her the enhanced senses. <em>This is incredible!</em> She took another deep breath, then sipped slowly. <em>Hibiscus, too?</em> It was a masterfully put together blend. Splendid. How much for therger bricks of this?


    As an herbal tea, therger bricks we sell this in are just under a pound with indentations for easy preparation of twenty-four pots. The cost for each such brick is twelve copper.


    T blinked at him. Twelve copper.


    Yes, Mistress.


    <em>How is it that cheap?</em> Ingredients were much cheaper than prepared products, and even prepared tea was cheap enough to be simply given to guests at many restaurants That seems very reasonable. <em>They must grow it nearby.</em>


    It is actually the least expensive of our teas, and one of our most popr, Mistress. My brothers son has cultivated an expansive amount of mint to the south, along with most of the other ingredients we use. He smiled proudly. Mint, we have in abundance; that grows quite prolifically.


    I think ten bricks of this. She took another slow sip of the tea, draining the small cup.


    She passed back the teacup and reached for the next one theyd prepared.


    Ahh, one moment. He produced a cup of clear, cool water from behind the stand. To cleanse the pte.


    T smiled and drank the water gratefully before handing the cup back and picking up the second vor on offer.


    Other customers had entered, and the father had greeted them and was seeing to their needs. T paid them no mind.


    By the smell, this second drink was the chamomile blend. <em>Chamomile, obviously. Hibiscus again. Spearmint? </em>She supposed if they had a ready supply, it made sense that they would integrate it wherever possible. <em>Rose petals this time, and ckberry leaves?</em> She continued to analyze the aroma, internally going through the ingredients that she could pick out. Finally, she took a sip, marveling at the vor.


    She wanted to wax poetic on the wonderfully subtle, bnced tastes, but the tea also made her want to curl up in afortable chair and watch the world go by. She settled for a contented sigh and a softly uttered, Oh, this is fantastic.


    That blend is a bit more efficient in quantity to desired vor by design, though it is still an herbal tea. The one-pound brick is segmented for thirty-six pots. The price for that is twenty-three copper.


    Yes, ten pounds of that, too, please. It had been much<em>,</em><em>much</em> too long since shed taken the time to enjoy good tea. At first, at the Academy, it had been too much of a reminder of all-too-fresh wounds. And by the time that those aches had faded somewhat, she had been well out of the habit. <em>No more.</em>


    T noticed that most of the customers that came up seemed to be regrs, not needing to sample before they bought arge amount of this or that tea. A few bought a selection but not many.


    She took a final drink of the chamomile tea, finishing off the little cup. She couldnt help herself; she smiled and spoke her praise once again. Wonderful.


    Would you like these bricks open or wrapped for longer, more secure storage?


    Cost of wrapping?


    Three copper, per brick.


    Done.


    The young boy began wrapping her selections individually in waxed paper. His expertly dexterous fingers tucked the paper back in on itself, sealing the tea away from the elements without need for string or other, additional fastener.


    She handed back the empty, chamomile cup, and took another proffered cup of water. That drunk, she picked up thest sample.


    It was indisputably coffee by the smell. <em>No. Its espresso.</em>


    Now, this is brewed strong. Many will add it to water, or milk, and most like it with a bit of sugar or honey. Would you like either for your sample?


    T breathed in deeply through her nose, reveling in the potent fragrance. No, thank you. Id rather taste it as it is, not masked by something else. It smells divine.


    The older man gave a half bow. Mistress is too kind.


    She took a sip, and her eyes widened. There isnt any bitterness at all.


    Of course not, Mistress. He straightened himself, clearly proud of his offered goods. We only buy from the finest roasters. We do rmend that you use water <em>just </em>shy of boiling, so that you dont burn the grounds as you brew it.


    And its much stronger than I was expecting, even with your warning. T found herself staring down at the ck liquid. There was no other way to put it: It was <em>strong.</em> If the coffee she usually drank was a bucking donkey, this was a well-trained team of oxen. <em>Smooth, powerful, amazing.</em> How much?


    This is usually brewed in smaller quantities. What you are sampling, here, was ground as finely as possible, and the espresso stays in, just as with the teas you tried. If you prepare it that way, you need one ounce for every pot. But if you intend to strain out the espresso, you wont want it as finely broken up, and you will need close to four times the amount.


    T gave a slow smile. <em>So, its expensive.</em> How much?


    Sixty copper per one pound brick. He said it with an easy, unapologetic smile.


    <em>Thats nearly three times as much as the more expensive tea.</em> Ill take ten of those, as well, wrapped.


    The man smiled. Wonderful! That will be ten silver and forty copper. Can I assist you with anything else?


    T nodded. I could use a mortar and pestle along with a teapot and cup.


    Heughed. Of course!


    They talked about the various kinds he had avable. They were of high quality but limited in selection. He apologized for thatck. He worked with other merchants to have a few in stock for the asional customer in need, but they were not among his primary wares.


    In the end, she selected a lovely, ck-granite mortar and pestle and a stunningly-enameled, cast-iron teapot and matching cup.


    The teapot and cup set got a raised eyebrow from the man, but he didntment. <em>The look is likely because I chose iron over one of the y or wooden versions. He must know something of Mages, I suppose.</em> Shed been tempted by the others, but the one shed ended up picking had just been too beautiful to pass by.


    The one that shed chosen was a squat thing, a bit wider than it was tall. The main color was a glossy ck with the outlines of interconnected, dark-red hexagons oveying the surface. The effect looked like ruby veins peeking through an onyx shell.


    In total, the peripheral items cost her another three silver. Or it would have, if she hadnt negotiated. In the end, she got the lot for eleven silver. <em>Still a lot more than I probably should have spent</em>


    Even so, she was happy with her purchases. Thank you, sir.


    Thank you, Mistress.


    Oh! Before I go, could you point me to the Constructionists Guild?


    Certainly. You can find the nearest public location that I know of at the north 6 oclock of this tier.


    <em>North? 6 oclock would be south.</em> She frowned.


    Oh, my apologies. That is on the six oclock spiral, half-way to the next tier.


    Ah! So, to the north.


    Just so.


    And do you know where the Culinary Guild can be found?


    He gave her another odd look, then shrugged. The closest public location can be found at south 12 oclock of this tier. His eyes twinkled a bit.


    I think Ive got it. Thank you!


    She tucked her purchases into Kit, waved goodbye, and departed.


    Terry flickered back onto her shoulder shortly after, and she realized that hed departed just before she approached the stall. Where were you off to?


    He simply hunkered down in seeming sleep.


    Well, I dont hear any screaming, so its probably fine. She shrugged and started towards the south to get onto the 6 oclock spiral. After a moment, though, she hesitated. <em>I could just climb up one of the pedestrian tubes. It would be about a fifty-foot climb. </em>That would be faster than going all the way south, then circumnavigating the tier.


    She spun on her heel, feeling a bit of a fool, and headed back north.


    She waved to the tea merchants as she passed and walked quickly towards her destination.


    T and Terry passed through the market, and T did her best to not be distracted by the wide selection of items up on offer. Blessedly, she seeded. <em>I already spent too much time. I need to get to the Constructionists.</em>


    When she reached the twelve oclock road, she looked around, until she saw a tube-like space, inset in the wall, which had adder housed within.


    The one she found first was marked as Down so she continued to look around, until she found the onebeled Up. She grabbed on and climbed quickly, Terry gripping her shoulder tightly.


    At each level, there wererge, stylized numbers beside the exit. It was a bit of an odd thing as the numbers were counting down while she climbed up.


    When she reached therge 6, she stepped out onto the six oclock spiral. Just to her left, up the slope, she saw the sign for the Constructionists Guild.


    Finally. Lets see if we cant get some of our questions answered. T found herself grinning.

 Chapter 118: Into the Constructionist Guild

    Chapter 118: Into the Constructionist Guild


    T stepped into the Constructionist Guild.


    It was still odd to her, being inside spaces so vastlyposed of wood. It changed the feel of a ce, the way sound moved through it, how it was lit. <em>Ill get used to it just in time to leave</em>


    Her mage-sight picked up the now familiar scan from the Guilds doorway, and a harsh, ring noise sounded from deep within the building.


    <em>What the rust?</em>


    The world seemed to stutter, and there were suddenly three people standing around her, forming an equteral triangle with her in the dead center. Magic flowed between them in an ovepping, interweaving three-dimensional standing-spell-form.


    T could see the spell-lines as pure magic power, suspended in the air around her.


    Instantly, all light from the room vanished save the Mages aura and the spell-form.


    T felt the magic within her body hitch, even as her iron-salve heated. Her power was <em>mighty</em> and with the screen of iron, the magic was able to keep flowing, if just barely.


    Each of the three was indisputably an Archon, each just past true yellow to Ts mage-sight. <em>Three Refined?</em>


    Their aurasy heavily on the room, clearly the medium for the spell-form enacted around her. Strangely, it seemed that the three auras were each a unique medium, as the sense of the spell-form altered slightly as it transitioned from one to another.


    The Archon standing directly in front of T was a young-middle-aged male. Even under his cloak, it was obvious that he was heavily built. Something about his build and the richness of the garment caused him to look a bit like a pretentious workman, a carpenter or stone carver wearing his finest to pass for a member of the upper ss. His face was just barely visible to her enhanced senses within the cowl, and it was locked in a grimace of concentration.


    T perceived all of this in less than a heartbeat, as her iron-salve moved from unpleasantly warm to scalding. In a pulse of light and heat, the iron dust within the salve shed off.


    The worlds most incongruous <em>ding</em> sounded from the back room, and the lights came back on.


    With the renewed light, T saw that Terry had flickered to one of the corners. He opened one eye briefly before closing it again, seeming unconcerned. <em>When did he move?</em>


    Every flicker of power within Ts body was now held in suspension, unable to move, unable to act. Her senses dulled, her body felt weak beyond imagining, and her thoughts began to slow.


    A voice from the back yelled out, apanied by quick footsteps. What, by the rusted pile of g you have for brains, are you doing?


    The man who strode out of a doorway to Ts right was shorter than average, but that was far from the most apparent thing about him. His aura was unfurled and a deep blue-green. <em>Paragon, moving towards Reforged?</em>


    No, his aura wasnt unfurled, that wasnt quite right. It was moving as tightly controlled tendrils. Then, her mage-sight winked out, thest vestiges of power stilling within those spell-forms as well.


    The three Refined either hadnt heard the Paragon or had ignored him. Their focus seemingly locked on T.


    With quick motions, the Paragons aura swept through the standing-spell, disrupting and shattering it, utterly. It was so strongly manifest as to even be visible to Ts mundane sight.


    T could suddenly think clearly again. <em>Is that how I used to be? That was awful.</em>


    From what her returned mage-sight picked up, the broken spell-form had blossomed outward with enough power to level half a city. Seemingly unconcerned, the Paragons aura had simply absorbed it, draining magic from the air faster than T could blink.


    T gasped in a breath, staggering. The return of her senses enhancements hit like a physical blow. Her heart beat, the sensation painful. She hadnt had even a moment to realize that her biological functions had been arrested, too.


    <em>Much longer, and Id be dead. How long can you survive without a heartbeat?</em> She knew, somewhere in the back of her mind, but she shied away from the information.


    It wasnt long.


    The most recent arrival was an Immaterial Guide, and all of his inscriptions were<em>What? </em>She couldnt understand them at all, and that was actually a bit terrifying.


    Many of those that were visible were lit, clearly active and not perfectly efficient, but she couldnt see them with her mage-sight. <em>Hes allowing his aura out and hiding the power from his inscription activation?</em> That was the inverse of what shed seen on skilled Archons before. <em>How? Why?</em>


    He was handsome in a simple sort of way. Dark ck hair and a slender build were what stood out most prominently from his physical appearance.


    Her enhanced vision saw a grain pattern in his skin. <em>Wood?</em>


    No, he wasnt made of wood, but his physical form was clearly influenced by it. <em>Hes some variation of a wood Archon, then?</em>


    As she processed further, in the split second before events continued, she felt like the wood-like aspect of his appearance seemed in process of beingoverwritten? It wasnt actively urring, but she could somehow tell that this man was working to remove it.


    <em>He is reforging himself, and what Im observing is one point of evidence of that.</em> It might even be what was driving him to do the reforging. <em>Grediv did imply that it was a difficult, unpleasant process.</em>


    The three Refined swelled with power, turning on the intruder.


    Then, they stopped, all power leaving their building spell-forms and inscriptions. T saw the bigger man, who was still directly in front of her, nch as he saw the much smaller Archon approaching.


    Ill ask once more. What. Are. You. Doing?


    The rm triggered. And- The man in front of T responded.


    And you panicked!


    We reacted to the rm.


    And you assaulted the Blood Archon.


    The what? That came from Ts left. She nced that way and saw a woman frowning at her.


    Another voice answered, from Ts right, and T looked at the new speaker. The man there sounded a bit mortified. Ohrust.She was raised just over two weeks ago. Her title made information on her raising a bit unfriendly for dissemination to the Mages, but her picture was in all the Archon lounges for days.


    OhI dont reallygo into those The woman sounded a bitcontrite?


    T was <em>not</em> liking being surrounded by people who she didnt know and who clearly outssed her, at least as a group. That in mind, she stepped backwards to beside the door, out of the triangle, and watched as the woman turned to re at the second male Refined. You didnt recognize her, either! This isnt on me.


    The bigger man sighed. Mistress Yenna, Master Grent, bickerter. He bowed towards T. Blood Archon. I apologize for our mistake.


    Yenna muttered under her breath. You dont even know her name. You dont follow new Archons, either.


    T quirked an awkward smile. While I wont say it was nothing, I will not take it as a hostile assault. I am unharmed Her eyes flicked to the Paragon, even as she let her mage-sight sweep through herself, searching for issues. Right?


    The Paragon bowed in turn. There should be nosting damage. Mistress T, I sincerely apologize. I am Jevin. He then motioned to the bulky Refined. That is Master Bob.


    MasterBob?


    Yenna grinned. Yeah, he hates it.


    Bob grimaced. Must we do this, Mistress Yenna?


    You could change your name.


    Its. My. Name.


    T felt like shed stepped into an ancient couples house and brought up some taboo subject. Well Nice to meet you Master Bob, Master Jevin, Master Grent, Mistress Yenna.


    They gave half bows to T, and when they straightened, Grent spoke. You should join us for afternoon tea. Its about that time, and its the least we can do.


    T was going to object, but then she realized that she had a <em>lot</em> of business to do with this Guild, and it wouldnt hurt to ept some hospitality. That sounds wonderful, thank you.


    They led her out of the mostly austere front entry room. As they left, Terry flickered back onto Ts shoulder, seemingly satisfied that any danger had passed.


    T leaned her head a bit his way and whispered. Traitor. You totally could have helped, there.


    He looked straight into her eye and somehow conveyed a depth of  parental fatigue?


    <em>Im reading too much into his looks.</em> I know I was fine, but it would have been nice- she trailed off, looking at those walking close by. Yenna was giving her an odd look, and the others seemed to be casting sideways nces at Terry, himself. Well talk about thister. T whispered thest even quieter, in a rush of words.


    As they moved down a series of side hallways, Yenna cleared her throat. Hes not your familiar; is he?


    Jevin sighed. Mistress Yenna, you know very well that that is an incredibly personal question.


    And I make a study of familiars. This is my area of expertise, Master Jevin.


    She doesnt know that.


    She does now. Yenna turned back to T, a smile on her face. So?


    T cleared her throat, watching the woman out of her peripheral vision. He is not. I was advised to not consider such a bond until at least Refined.


    Fascinating. I can see why that would have been said.


    Do you not agree?


    Hmm? Oh, of course. If you are doing a traditional soul-bond, you need to be more powerful than the familiar, in raw strength.


    Is there another option?


    Bob groaned. Not now, Mistress Yenna, please? We already basically assaulted the woman; lets not bore her with your theories.


    I am actually interested.


    Yenna brightened, and Bob sighed, falling a little bit back. Well, were almost there, so Ill be brief. Traditionally, a familiar bond is when an arcanous creature chooses to swallow a willingly offered Archon star.


    Yeah, thats my understanding. Terry had perked up and was looking intently at Yenna.


    Well, theres not really any reason you couldnt do a spirit binding instead.


    T blinked. <em>Like my elk leathers? When I bound the two pieces together?</em> How would that even work?


    Grent spoke before Yenna could. It wouldnt. Shes been trying fora long time. Never been able to get the bond to grab hold. There has to already be a sense ofmonality to fuse two things with that spell-form.


    But look at him! The power within that bird is vastly more than any other test subject. Themonality factor is only important for power requirements.


    T didnt really like the sound of that. <em>But thats the second time Ive gotten reference to the spell-form and fusing.</em> Well, in truth Grediv had been incredibly circumspect, but still. She should probably find out what happened to Yennas earlier volunteers. Whats happened in the past?


    Well Yenna nced away. The arcanous beasts power was quickly consumed to maintain the link, and they died, powerless and in pain


    Terry let out an unamused trill and lowered his head back into seeming sleep.


    But Ive only been able to test it with the traditional familiars, young and weak, those who would be easily dominated by their Mage. You, you are clearly ancient and powerful. She addressed thest to Terry.


    Terry lifted his head, looking at the Archon.


    Grent leaned back from his lead position. Shes ttering you. My mage-sight is better than hers, and all I can tell is that you are <em>very</em> power-dense. Anything more is just a guess, meant to make you like her more.


    Yenna red at him.


    And were here!


    T walked into arge sitting room with the others. The first thing to grab Ts attention about the room was that one wall was almost entirely transparent, though her enhanced eyesight told her there were hints of wood-grain in the clear section of wall.


    Through the wooden window, T looked north. She couldnt see the mountains, this room was below the distant treeline, but there was amanding view of the farnd and orchards on this side of the city. <em>Beautiful.</em>


    As the others moved around in the room, T pulled her gaze from the scenery. Off to one side, a tea service was alreadyden with several different pots of steaming tea, along with a dozen varieties of finger food.


    Howhow is this already here? T didnt try to hide her confusion.


    Bob sighed. Master Grent is <em>quite</em> fond of afternoon tea, and he funds this spread, daily. The assistants make it happen, and your timing is good. He looked her way apologetically. Well, at least in some regards. I do apologize, once again.


    T smiled and nodded his way. Apology epted.


    Each of them got some tea and a little te of food before taking a seat in one of thefortable chairs, artfully arranged in a loose circle around a low table. T had considered loading down her te, or stuffing some extras into Kit, but decided that that would be in poor taste.


    If you dont mind my asking, why no coffee?


    Grent shifted forward in his seat. Well, I see coffee as more of a morning beverage. Id love to do coffee in the mornings, and tea in the afternoon. He looked sadly towards the tea service. But I dont have quite <em>that</em> much free capital.


    Yenna leaned closer to T and spoke in a conspiratorial whisper. Master Grent provides afternoon tea to every Constructionist Guild facility in the city, and tea, even good ck tea, is <em>much</em> more affordable than coffee.


    Grent moved back, nodding. Dont get me wrong, tea is wonderful. But I do wish we could do morning coffee, too. I feel like I was close Maybe, I should try again? This time He seemed to be lost in his own musings.


    Yenna took a sip and looked T up and down. Now that were a bit morefortable: What was that, anyways? Why did the rm go off? Why did you register as a cloaked threat?


    T cleared her throat. <em>Shes a bitodd.</em> My magical defense is passive. I imagine that She trailed off. Hang on. I have my aura restrained. Most Archons do. How did it detect anything? Why did it expect to be able to?


    Bob grinned. You <em>are</em> new.


    Thats been established. The more rxed setting of afternoon tea was allowing thest of the tension from their unfortunate encounter to bleed away. <em>Probably partly why they do it. It helps form bonds and smooth ruffles.</em>


    Jevin sighed. I will dly answer your questions. But first, I feel like weve rather stepped in it. How can we make amends?


    Yenna opened her mouth to pursue her inquiry, but silenced herself, so as not to override Jevin.


    T oriented on him in an instant, and her look was apparently so forceful that the smaller man leaned back, involuntarily. Coffee. Incorporator.


    He blinked back at her. What?


    I want a coffee incorporator.


    Jevin hesitated. After a moment, he nced at the other three, then sighed. Youre never going to be a Constructionist, are you?


    Probably not. How is that relevant?


    A coffee incorporator. Its not possible.


    The three Refined looked at him with confusion; Grent was full on frowning. Wait a minute, now. You told me to see what I could do when I asked about them. I was even considering giving it another attempt.


    Jevin cracked a grin. And that kept you out of my hair for a decade. Were she a Constructionist acolyte, Id have told her the same.


    Bob and Yenna suppressedughs, and T heard them each say something about having given up after a year or two.


    T ignored them. Why? Why is it impossible?


    Why? Dear girl, do you know what an incorporator does?


    It turns power into a material.


    Jevin just stared at her for a long moment, he then rubbed the bridge of his nose, closing his eyes. It pains me to say that that isurate. I suppose its the best I can hope for, from a non-Constructionist Immaterial.


    Coffee is a material.


    No, Mistress T. Coffee, like virtually any other consumable, is a <em>lot</em> of different materials in a precisely ratioed solution. Coffee has more than one thousand different chemicalpounds within it, together making it what we know and love.


    <em>Oh</em> Wait, then why hasnt anyone just told me that!


    Jevin pointed to Grent. Because the quest for a coffee incorporator is usually a final step before an incorporation journeyman is acknowledged as a master. We use it to analyze a Mages ways of thinking, how they function with an impossible task, what avenues they try. Will they ask for help? Will they consult others? What do they do when it seems like theyve been sent on a fools errand?


    Suddenly, all the odd looks she had gotten, when shed asked after the coffee incorporator, made so much more sense. Wellthats disappointing.


    That is usually the result, yes. We can incorporate many, veryplex molecules, so long as the resulting solution is pure. A true master can design an incorporator capable of non-pure results, but the best Ive heard of have only managed three distinctpounds generated at once, in unequal quantities. Few have been useful enough toe into ready production, but they have been made. He cracked a smile. That said, there was a master before my time, who spent a century on the coffee problem. In the end, he actually seeded, after a fashion.


    T perked up. Oh? <em>Whats the catch?</em>


    He created a device that contained more than a thousand individual incorporators, each producing one part of the coffee whole. Feed in power, and it was properly parsed out to the incorporators in the right ratios to create the proper mixture.


    So?


    First, would you like to pay more than three hundred gold for the incorporators?


    Well no.


    Then, theres the magical matrix that is required to run and operate it. Thats moreplex than most city defenses.


    Oh


    On top of that, it couldnt create less than a gallon at a time.


    <em>Well, thats not a problem.</em>


    Thepounds discorporate at varying rates.


    <em>Oh, thatd be odd.</em>


    And it took, at a minimum, ten thousand Mana in a single burst to function.


    Thats thats a lot.


    So. Any more questions on a coffee incorporator?


    What was his second prototype like?


    Jevin blinked at her, and Grentughed out loud. I like her.


    Jevin took a deep breath and let it out slowly. I dont think he ever made a second version.


    Quitter. T muttered under her breath.


    What?


    Nothing.


    He gave her a searching look, then shook his head. That aside, how can I assist you? I would normally leave you to my assistants, but Im already displeased with how theygreeted you. They were all nearly finished with their tea and treats.


    I appreciate the personal service. I do have quite a few items to inquire about. Im also looking to do an integration of magical weaponry with my soul-bound knife.


    We can get that sorted, then. He stood with a smile. This way, please.

 Chapter 119: Jevin

    Chapter 119: Jevin


    T bade goodbye to the three Refined and followed Jevin down a short hallway to arge workshop, deeper in the tree. Terry remained on her shoulder, content to y at sleep. <em>Maybe he actually does sleep, some of the time.</em>


    She couldnt begin to understand what half of the tools were in the space, and the partiallypleted projects might as well have been arcane spell-forms for all the sense they made to her eyes.


    There were weapons and parts of weapons; mechanical constructs, partially or wholly inscribed; bottles filled with glowing liquids; jars with organic parts held in suspension; a single ss cylinder with something that looked, and moved, like ambtory mud; and there were books and notes in piles and stacks throughout.


    Jevin spoke, drawing Ts attention back to him, So, Mistress T, where would you like to begin?


    What do your inscriptions do?


    He paused, frowning. That is not whatWhy are you curious about that?


    Well, when you broke up their spell-form, it looked like you were somehow manipting your aura, and your spell-forms were clearly activating, even if I couldnt see the magic in them, specifically.


    Jevin looked at her a bit closer before nodding in understanding. You have always active mage-sight. Clever, if you can take it. He smiled and gestured to two reading chairs beside arge bookcase, positioned for easy conversations. To answer your question: My scripts almost entirely deal with perfecting my dexterity with and authority over my aura. So long as my inscriptionsst, if I am conscious, I have unbreakable control within my auras reach. The words were spoken with utmost humility as a simple fact.


    They settled into the chairs as T thought about his words. Thats a bit terrifying.


    For humanitys enemies, it is. He smiled, then, and T saw a fierce glint in his eyes.


    <em>d Im human.</em> Thank you for sharing that. She frowned. Wait. Why would you need to increase your authority over your own aura?


    Oh! Thats simple, if less so to exin. You can control gravity, yes?


    I can.


    So, you have authority over gravity?


    I do.


    So, why not immediately crush all your enemies, regardless of where they are, with a thought?


    Well, I can, if I can target them. I mean, I have to take it in measured steps, ramping up.


    Why are you limited to those you can easily target? Why must you be measured?


    Well, to do otherwise would require too much power.


    Why?


    Wellits harder?


    Exactly. He smiled.


    T was frowning. They sat in silence for a long moment, before she started to nod. So, youre saying that I dont haveplete authority over gravity. My authority is resisted, or contested, so I am limited in what I can do, and it is difficult to achieve certain things.


    Well reasoned.


    Her eyes widened at the implication. Soyou are like a god within your aura?


    Heughed at that. No, no. I simply increase my authority. I do not remove all resistance or gain unassable power. My control is such that none should be able to shake it, but it can still be opposed.


    There was a lot there that T would need to unpack, but she thought she needed more time to consider, before pursuing it further.


    Now, what else is on your mind?


    T pulled Kit off of her belt and began taking Leshkin weapons out.


    Wait. Are those the weapons you want tobine with your soul-bond?


    Thats right, if they will improve it.


    One moment, then. He went to a nearby table and rummaged around before he returned with a round pad, connected to a metal rod by a finely woven, golden cable. Please set your weapon on this circle. He ced the circle on the side table that was between the two chairs.


    T pulled Flow from her belt.


    Oh, please remove the training scabbard. That is what the sheath is, correct?


    It is. Sheplied, setting Flow down on the device, de bared.


    Jevin picked up the first Leshkin weapon, a sword, and touched the rod to it. The rod turned red. This is ipatible with the current state of your weapon. We could force a union, but it would ultimately weaken it.


    T nodded, and continued to pull out weapons, saving the best forst.


    Sadly, every weapon registered as red.


    Finally, when there was a sizable pile of Leshkin armaments beside them, T pulled out the juggernauts ive. It wasnt easy to withdraw, given its size, but she managed to do it without feeling too awkward.


    A pressure fell over the room, much more ptable here in the magic-poor, city air than it had been in the forest. Jevins aura expanded, surrounding the weapon and containing its power.


    That. He looked to her, then back to the massive ive. Its a juggernauts weapon?


    It is.


    That must be some story.


    T indulged him, trying to make it interesting without over-embellishing. It only took a couple of minutes, and when she finished, he was nodding.


    We should discuss your spell-workings at some point. I imagine we could learn a bit from each other.


    T frowned at that. <em>What could I possibly teach a Paragon?</em> Still, she wasnt going to say no. Sure.


    He took the weapon from her hands with a flex of aura and touched the rod to it. The metal turned a yellow-green. This ispatible, but it wont improve the strength of your weapon very much. He frowned, looking at something in the magic surrounding Flow. That is a form changing weapon? He nodded to himself, not needed her to answer. That makes sense. Melding these two will give you another avable form, as well as a <em>slight</em> improvement to the weapon as a whole. Mainly, your weapon will have more mass, both magical and physical, at its disposal. Thus, it will be able to hit harder, should it not cut through what it strikes.


    <em>Flow has yet to fail in a cut, but I suppose hitting harder when it eventually happens would be good. And I can turn it into a ive?</em> That was a pure win.


    <em>Ill have to learn how to fight with one.</em> She could do that.


    Lets do it!


    He smiled. We can schedule a time. Tomorrow morning work for you?


    She frowned but nodded in resignation. I suppose. Id prefer to do it sooner.


    I do apologize. Mistress Yenna is just finishing up a refresh of the workspace that would best facilitate this merger. I dont wish to give you a shoddy result. She only came down to this tier for afternoon tea with her colleagues and me.


    I appreciate that. So, well go to another tier for the working?


    Yes, the facility on the sixth tier is more capable of working with Archon level materials.


    T gave him a searching look. So why are you down here?


    He smiled at that. Well, my current work is on items without any sort of bond intrinsic to their design. I have a theory that items not built to be bound end up being stronger than those designed with that goal in mind.


    Oh? Why?


    Well, if a table has two legs, is it stable?


    Well, no? She thought for a moment. Maybe?


    What if I told you that each leg was actually designed to hold a table on its own. Now, do you think the theoretical two-leg table is stable, or not?


    I see what you mean. Something that is useful, powerful, and stable on its own will make for a better result, after the bonding.


    Thats my theory.


    T nodded. <em>That makes sense.</em> But back on the topic of my weapon: what would the cost be? I am a Mage protector for the Caravan Guild, if that factors in.


    He grinned back at her. I think, as a show of inter-guild solidarity, we can do it at cost, then. Four gold should cover it. It might flex up or down a bit, but well know before we enact it.


    Four? Last time I melded something with this weapon it cost half that.


    And the weapon seems to have be more powerful as a result. It is now more stable, with greater magical weight, and it will require more power and material to work a true melding. I wont leave you with a magical patch that will explosively break off in a decade or two.


    <em>Thats fair</em> She ced the Leshkin ive back into Kit.


    Now, what else can I do for you?


    Do you have use for those? She pointed to the weapons that theyd tested and found ipatible with Flow.


    We would. He thought for a moment. They would probably be worth near six gold, all together. But that would take you finding buyers for each, and it wouldnt be quick. He smiled again. Would you be willing to ept four as a show of inter-guild solidarity? His eyes were twinkling.


    T found herself chuckling. So, a straight exchange, then?


    That would work for us.


    Done.


    Inscriptions activated, and Jevins aura swept all the Leshkin weaponry into a workbench drawer, which was obviously too small to hold them.


    <em>Constructionists. They must be able to make all the extra-dimensional storage theyd ever need.</em>


    Next?


    Why did the scan expect to prate my aura, while not being able to break through my passive defense?


    I assume that defense is gone, now? I cant see any evidence of it.


    It is. She felt a bit exposed, but she also knew that the iron salve wouldnt help her much against this man regardless, if he chose to harm her.


    He was nodding. I apologize for that, as well. I will try to think of a worthy repayment for ourbrutish response.


    Thats kind of you, but I still dont really know what happened.


    Humans, even humans controlling their aura, have amagical sense to them, a signature if you will. Your defense likely masked that or altered it somehow. The scan detected you without the signature, and sounded the rm. He shrugged. Thats my best guess, anyways. Master Grent designed it, though. Hes a goodd, but he sometimes gets a bit too enthusiastic about his projects. Jevin quirked a smile at thest.


    <em>Lad? Jevin is talking about a Refined like hes a precocious teen </em>Ahh, okay, then.


    T thought for a quick moment, running through the list in her head. <em>What should I ask next? </em>She settled on an easy one.


    Would a self-repairing item, split in half, recreate two of itself?


    In general, no. The repair magics would stay with one piece over the other, and only that one would rebuild.


    <em>That exins why the severed sleeve didnt regrow any of the rest of the outfit, at all.</em>


    That makes a lot of sense, actually.


    Jevin smiled. The truth often does.


    Not always?


    He barked augh. Oh, stars no. Sometimes the truth is so much stranger than thepeting theories, and it is almost always moreplicated than it seems.


    As T considered, she realized that shed seen that a time or two. True enough. <em>What nextoh!</em> I think Im looking for a dimensional anchor of some kind.


    You think?


    She described her encounters with the Leshkins as well as the night wing ravens and a few other incidents that seemed applicable. To her mind, she could take damage but kept getting knocked free of where she needed to be.


    She did not mention the likely arcane encounter. <em>II dont want to deal with theplication.</em>


    The very idea started a headache building.


    That is an interesting problem. Let me think on it, and Ill give you my suggestions, tomorrow.


    That works for me. Do you have any advice that youd give to me, as an Immaterial Guide? Or as a new Archon?


    As a new Archon? Begin working towards Fused as soon as you can. It can be a long road, but you only know once youve taken your first step. Also, once you start, we can discuss, if briefly, what being Refined will mean. As an Immaterial Guide? Focus on that which Materials cannot do, but youve already done that, to some extent. He frowned. No, you actually seem to have been bridging the Immaterial and Material quite a bit, though your offensive work is decidedly Immaterial.


    All my work is Immaterial.


    He waved that off. In enactment, yes, but in principle? Your defenses could be done with either, rtively easily. You need to focus more on your specific scripts. Some of them seemill adjusted? Do you have spell-forms that are fairly new to you?


    I have a variable gravity maniption, which I havent had for long.


    That is likely what Im seeing. Get used to it. Explore the edges of its capabilities. If I may ask, what does it do?


    T shrugged. I can alter the effective gravity of items around me, so long as I can perceive them well enough to target them.


    Targetedgravity alteration? How novel. Why not area? He leaned forward a bit, clearly quite interested.


    T shrugged. Gravity doesnt work over an area. An object either acts on itself, gravitationally, or two objects act on each other. Gravity doesnt exist in a vacuum. She hesitated. Wait thats not what I meant


    Jevin grinned. I think I understand you. That is an interesting way of conceiving of that fundamental force. It doesnt seem quite right to me. He let out a littleugh. I can think of a few things that seem to contradict your thinking off the top of my head, but I wont try to disabuse you of your working mental framework. Rust me; I was never able to understand gravity well enough to get scripts rted to it. I might be the one whos mistaken.


    T just shrugged. No ones broken me of my understanding, yet. After all, I can see it working, every time I use my offensive spells.


    He shrugged in return. Regardless, I do have a few questions: Can you do groups of targets? Can you increase gravity on one item while decreasing it on another, simultaneously? Is the change linear orpounding? Can you target an area instead? Can you change the direction of the resulting eleration? Can you affect gravity on part of a thing, while leaving the rest unaltered? What about an item that is held by a hostile magic user? His eyes brightened. Have you practiced opposed enactment?


    For this script? I havent tried the first two. The changes arepounding. And I havent tried thest five, either. She felt a bit embarrassed, if she were being honest. This was <em>her</em> spell-form, and she hadnt yet plumbed its depths.


    Then, thats a good ce to begin. Your inscriber should have given you notes on the inscriptions. Read up, test, explore the boundaries of what that spell-form can do. If you need practice under opposition, let me know, and I can schedule some time. He smiled, again. And pursue Fusing.


    Ill consider that. Thank you. She frowned. Wouldnt your helping me take from your other projects?


    Not really. I can hold a mild magic-nullification effect over an item within my aura while I work, and you could try to affect it. He shrugged. It would take very little of my attention.


    There is no way that I could hope to ovee your resistance, though.


    Of course not, but by the same token, I wouldnt ce much effort behind it. Id ensure it was within your reach. To stretch your abilities, as it were.


    That wastempting. Ill consider that, too. Thank you for the offer.


    Of course. He didnt press further.


    T moved to the next topic. Mage gold. Do you have need of some?


    Ahh, your arm, right?


    T nodded. Shed told him the story behind the juggernauts ive, after all.


    We can use it. Honestly, using it in the merging, tomorrow, would probably improve the process, at least marginally.


    Really? Why didnt you mention that before?


    If I told you that I could, maybe, improve the melding, fractionally, would you be willing to cut off your arm, and get it reinscribed, once it grew back?


    T shuddered. No


    Thats why. No one likes making Mage Gold. He shrugged. It is also most effective when used in conjunction with the one who made it. Even then, it usually can only grant a one or two percent increase in efficiency for some things. We should try to use it tomorrow. How much do you have?


    T tossed him the pouch that Hawthorne had given her. <em>Do not remember how that used to be in your arm, T.</em> She didnt. She didnt give it a single thought.


    He caught it with raised eyebrows. Well. Let me check this. He went and weighed it, then ran several instruments around the pouch. Sticking some in. Yeah, we can definitely use this tomorrow. If theres any left, Ill buy it off you at 20% more than its weight?


    She had no idea if that was a good price or not, but it seemed reasonable enough. Alright.


    Thank you. Well sort that, tomorrow.


    Sounds great. Now, Tungsten rods. She smiled, aiming for innocence. <em>Not sure why, but might help? I am asking after city defense weapons</em>


    Jevin hesitated. Like the city defenses?


    <em>Precisely!</em> Well, the flimsy veil of innocence was gone. Yup.


    I could get you an uninscribed one for two hundred and thirty-five gold? After a moment he nodded. Yeah. That should be about right.


    Ts eyes widened in shock. What?


    Those are each close to eighteen thousand pounds, Mistress T.


    Oh I probably dont need something that heavy.


    He grinned. Probably not. You want something to drop on enemies, likely augmented by your gravity maniption?


    Thats the idea.


    Ill see what I cane up with. Talk tomorrow?


    Sure. After a moment, she nodded. If I fell from a great height, within my dimensional storage, would I survive?


    Jevin nced to her belt, the scripts around his eyes dancing to life with power and subtle light. <em>Hes not hiding his power anymore?</em> A static space. Axis and kic istion. He was nodding. Yes. He answered simply.


    Could I get out?


    Have you never been in your storage?


    Well, I have, but never with it closed.


    Ahh, so youre more asking what would happen if you were closed inside or if itnded upside down?


    Landed upside down?


    He smiled at that. If it were open, upside down, what would you see?


    The ground?


    And could you push off of it?


    To move the bag? No. Her eyes widened. Oh! Oh yeah that would be bad.


    Youd need to close the bag and reopen it to correct the orientation. Or, you might be able to work your fingers between the ground and the edge of the storage item, then apply force to flip the pouch over.


    Kit has dimensional wait. How did you read the scripts within the pouch? She looked down, noticing for the first time that Kits magic was easily visible. <em>Their spell stripped Kit of iron, too.</em> T shuddered. <em>What would have happened if Kit explosively, dimensionally realigned with the world around us?</em>


    So, you had the bag defended as well, then. Kit? Youve named your storage?


    Seemed reasonable. I have to think about Kit in some fashion, and Kit is shorter than dimensional storage, pouch, or any other moniker.


    Fair enough, I suppose. He nodded. I imagine that you were going to referenceKits dimensional defenses, the ability to minutely affect the world around it.


    Thats right.


    It would probablynd as you desired, yes.


    Good to know. After a moment. So, would I be able to get out?


    Ive no idea. Lets find out. He gestured to an open space on his floor.


    I dont T hesitated. <em>If he meant me harm, there is literally nothing I could do about it</em> Alright. She answered hesitantly.


    She still wasnt a fan of the level of trust it required in a stranger, but that requirement only existed if she ignored her utter helplessness, even outside of Kit.


    <em>Ok, T. Lets do this.</em>


    She shifted her shoulder, jostling Terry a bit. Hey, wait outside?


    Terry opened an eye and then flickered away.


    T set Kit on the floor, pulling it wide enough for her to climb in. Before she could reconsider, she dropped through. T immediately focused upward, watching the opening.


    Jevin grunted. Fascinating. It seems very capable of avoiding interference by most people. Im having trouble grabbing the pull cords.


    T absently refilled Kit. <em>Im already in here, might as well.</em>


    A moment more, and he let out a sound of sess. There we go. Closing! If you donte out in a minute, I will open the storage. Agreed?


    Agreed.


    The opening shrunk, then vanished entirely.


    T controlled her breathing. <em>Its alright, T. You chose this.</em> She looked at the top of thedder, in the dim but sufficient lighting.


    <em>Nothing. Smooth.</em>


    She climbed up and ced her hand there. <em>Still nothing.</em>


    Blessedly, the space hadnt altered any. It was as both Ingrit and Jevin had said.


    Even so, T wanted out.


    As soon as the desire crystalized in her mind, her hand moved upward, pushing through the previously solid ceiling. She stuck her other hand up and pulled them apart.


    The opening reappeared and easily opened to full size.


    She climbed out, back into Jevins workshop.


    She looked around and found it dark. <em>What?</em>


    Terry was curled up on a bench to one side, apparently sleeping. <em>Nothing new, there.</em>


    Mistress T? The voice sounded off.


    Master Jevin? She looked towards where the voice had originated.


    It is you! Stars be praised. A hunched figure came into the workshop on shuffling steps. He looked <em>old.</em> A white beard covered his face, and wrinkles decorated his features.


    Whats going on?


    Terry lifted his head, regarding them with a hard to discern expression.


    You didnte out, and I couldnt get your device back open. He gave a sad smile. Its been His eyes unfocused. Eight hundred years? He nodded slowly. Yes, nearly that.


    Ts eyes widened, and she settled back on a nearby stool. No.


    Im afraid so.


    T looked over to Terry. Terry, for his part, looked between the two of them, then stood slowly, shakily raising one taloned foot towards her.


    Her eyes narrowed. Wait a minute. Archons of your rank dont age. Terry, what are you doing? Youre probably as immortal as an Archon. Why would you be shaky? She looked around, the lights were dimmed, but there werent any windows. The only reason it would be dim is if Jevin had lowered the lights.


    Jevin hesitated, then straightened with a smile. Fine. The beard and wrinkles vanished. It was worth a shot.


    Terry flickered to her shoulder and bumped her cheek. She red at the bird, but his expression seemed to convey amused ambivalence. So, T turned her re on Jevin. What was that!? That was horrifying.


    He shrugged. Thought it would be funny. He gave a cough, scratching the side of his nose. Didnt work out quite as Id hoped.


    Yeah, it wasnt that funny.


    He cleared his throat, seeming slightly awkward. Anyways. It seems like you had no issue getting back out. Id suspected that the item would respond to your desires and allow itself to be opened from the inside. In fact, Id wager that if you hadnt been willing, I wouldnt have been able to close it. He hesitated. Well, at least not without breaking it in some way.


    T was still a bit thrown by the odd attempt at a joke but tried to move past it. Well ok then. <em>This is why you shouldnt trust strangers, T.</em>


    Is there anything else? He smiled sheepishly, clearly feeling a bit bad for his clumsy attempt at humor.


    No I think thats it.


    Very well. Then, I will see you tomorrow morning for the melding of the weapons?


    That sounds workable. Thank you.

 Chapter 120: Venturing Food

    Chapter 120: Venturing Food


    T left the Constructionist Guild feeling conflicted. Jevin had helped her, but he wasodd. <em>All the older Mages Ive met are odd, though</em>


    She would be meeting up with him the following day to meld Flow with the ive, but she wasnt sure that she wanted to see him after that. <em>Being able to train myself against a Paragon, though</em> The level of control and resistance he could offer would be unlike most others she could work with.


    An old proverb came to mind: <em>When training the sword, find a master.</em> Though, in truth, shed heard the sword reced with all sorts of things. <em>More a format, than a true saying, I suppose.</em>


    T decided to walk down the spiral to let herself have some time to contemte. <em>I can climb up a pedestrian tube when Im to the south. Ill avoid the market that way, too.</em>


    The trip down the 6 oclock spiral was uneventful, and she found the Up pedestriandder without issue. A short climb brought her to 12 oclock, south and a Culinary Guild office.


    She squared her shoulders, put a smile on her face, and strode in.


    The brush of magic moved over her as she entered, and a chime sounded from within the space. If T had to put an emotion to the sound, it would be one of cautious rm.


    An attendant immediately bustled out from a side room to intercept her. Mistress? Did a courier miss a delivery or payment?


    T frowned at the man. No? I just had some questions for a guild official.


    Apologies, but Mages are not permitted within Culinary facilities unless specifically invited or seeking restitution. If no delivery or payment has been missed. I must, respectfully, ask you to leave. We will dly ept any inquiry via courier.


    T was almost stunned into inaction, but she had slightly expected something like this. Instead of responding, she pulled out her iron medallion. The coin bore the deeply inset relief of a scythe.


    It had been given to her by Brand in order to identify her as in the know. <em>And as an apology for attempting to stab me in the heart</em>


    I would really like to speak to someone of authority.


    The assistant hesitantly took the coin, examining it closely. Where he swallowed involuntarily, his voice barely above a whisper, where did you get this?


    From the head chef on a caravan venture. It was voluntarily given and gratefully received.


    He gave her a long look, then nodded. I willI will see if the branch head can see you.


    T gave a partial bow in thanks, but he was already gone.


    <em>Well, Im in it now.</em>


    There were several notable sounds from the back rooms, and T tried not to overhear. It wasnt hard, given the number of walls between her and the raised voices. She likely couldnt have heard details even if shed tried.


    A momentter, an older man strode out into the entry hall. He wore expensive clothes and clearly was a figure of importance, here.


    The assistant hung back, walking behind and to his bosss left.


    T opened her mouth to greet the man, but he cut across her.


    Im not sure what your game is here, Mistress. He flicked the medallion her way.


    T caught it from the air, examining it for a moment to ensure it was the same one. <em>At least of the same kind.</em>


    The Inter-Guild ords are clear, and you havent been invited.


    Then, I am requesting an invitation.


    Request denied.


    T gave the man a t look. May I at least have the name of my denier? I am called T.


    He hesitated, then seemed to decide it wasnt worth refusing. I am Wannor. I do not wish to be rude, Mistress, but you are treading near many vitions. You must leave if requested to do so. We have.


    Then, invite me to stay. The problem will be solved.


    He glowered. I will not.


    T let out an irritated breath. Dont you want to know why Im here?


    No.


    <em>Are you rusting serious? </em>Or where I got the medallion?


    No.


    <em>Fine then; lets poke the bear. </em>Or how much arcanous meat Ive eaten?


    Wannor hesitated. Why would I want to know that?


    T held up the coin. Because of this!


    No Im genuinely curious. Why the rust would I care how much you eat?


    T opened her mouth, then paused. <em>Well that probably doesnt really factor indoes it?</em> Fine. That wasnt really the point.


    Wannors features scrunched in irritation. I dont know what you know. I dont really want to. I have six caravans leaving in the next three days, and I need to finalize the manifests and He trailed off, shaking his head. Im not going to justify myself to you. He locked gazes with her. Please, go whatever it is youre here for, do it somewhere else.


    T opened her mouth to argue further, but finally just shook her head. Fine.


    Wannor smiled.


    Ill leave. She didnt turn.<em> Maybe Im being a bit mean</em>


    His smile slipped just slightly, but he made a visible effort to maintain it.


    Im departing. She hadnt moved. <em>Still, hes been very rude.</em>


    He lost the struggle, and his expression became nk once more.


    Ill gojust as soon as I know where I should go <em>to</em>. Where can I talk with someone from this Guild?


    Wannors eye began to twitch.


    T stood there, smiling.


    He grimaced, then sighed. Fine. Go to the Guild reception on the fifth floor. Theyll have more time for your foolishness. Without another word, or backward nce, he turned and strode from the room.


    Well, thats something I suppose. She shook her head. Have a good day!


    She didnt listen too closely to his response, but if she interpreted the tone correctly, it was filled with imaginative curses.


    She had just left the building, and started walking away and upward, when an imposing figure stepped out after her.


    She nced back, taking in the mans appearance. <em>He might be taller than Rane.</em>


    He towered over her. His hair was a smooth ck, and he had a beard that almost caused her jaw to drop. It went down nearly to the mans waist, and it was skillfully braided inplex patterns, taming the otherwise voluminous locks.


    His clothes were simple, but clean, and he had an apron over one shoulder. Mistress T, was it?


    Yes?


    Im Sarenor, a cook with the Culinary Guild, and Im heading up to the fifth tier. Would you likepany for the trip?


    T gave him an odd look. Why?


    He just grinned. Oh, Wannor is a grumpy sort. I caught a glimpse of the medallion. Please, dont let him sour you on our Guild. Hes up to his armpits in paperwork. Still, his advice to go to the fifth tier is good. Shall we? He motioned.


    T began walking, and he fell into step beside her.


    So, what did you want from us, anyway?


    She shrugged. Ive had good rtions with several of your head chefs, and I have some food needs, so I figured Id go to the source.


    Food needs?


    She smiled a bit self-consciously. I need to eat. A lot.


    Like: Im one of the guys; see? I eat so much! or is this more of a requirement for your magic?


    She chuckled. Requirement is probably too strong of a word, but that is the more urate of the two.


    Good to know. So?


    <em>Well, Id ask Brand if he were here, or Amnin if I knew where she was. Theres nothing really secret about it.</em> She quickly outlined what she was hoping. She wanted arge amount of food that would keep well, and easily be made edible and ptable.


    Oh, yeah! We do that sort of thing all the time.


    You do?


    He gave her an odd look. Of course. The city has scouting parties that keep tabs on the forest around Makinaven, and they need to eat. The higher-level Mages within the city often go on missions for weeks at a time without peripheral support. He was nodding. Yeah, you just want solo-venturing food.


    That sounds exactly right.


    He grinned. d to help! Yeah, we can get you some. I assume you have a storage device?


    They chatted about what tools she had already that would allow her to prepare, carry, and maintain the food. He outlined some suggestions on equipment for her to acquire so that she could improve what she would be able to eat.


    They then moved on to talking about the various options she could select from. As it turned out, Sarenor was one of those who prepared food for the caravans, and the secondary role for his team was to make up this solo-venturing food.


    When she learned that, T was instantly suspicious, but that lessened as she learned more about the Culinary Guild, in general.


    Those who worked in the guild offices were either bureaucrats or members of teams like Sarenors. The other members of the guild didnt have much asion toe to the offices. Even those who worked the caravans only sent a representative with their reports, manifests, and other required pre- or post-trip paperwork.


    <em>I suppose I never really considered how such guilds would work.</em>


    They came to afortable pause in the conversation around the time they entered the fourth tier, still climbing.


    T kept ncing towards the man, still feeling a bit odd about the whole thing. He wasnt breathing hard, as she expected for someone who lived here, often traversing the tiers.


    Finally, she asked what had been bugging her. Wouldnt your beard interfere with your cooking?


    Sarenor grinned back at her, stroking his beard proudly. Oh, so you noticed this?


    T gave him a t look, and heughed.


    Fair enough. In truth, it would be quite the issue, if I didnt have a nephew in the Constructionist Guild. He hesitated. Well, I suppose Im his nephew? He shook his head. Maybe great-nephew. Thed barely looks thirty, and Im pushing fifty. Its just less confusing to modify familiar terms, right?


    She shrugged.


    But you asked about the beard. Sarenor pulled out what looked like a cloth mask, but Ts mage-sight told her it was so much more.


    With a clearly carefully-practiced motion, the cook somehow scooped the entirety of his beard into the mask before fixing it in ce. The cloth didnt bulge at all, but still seemed to rest naturally against his face as if he were clean shaven. Not a single stray hair showed as evidence of the glory beneath.


    A dimensionalmask?


    Yup! Somehow its designed to only allow hair into the expanded space. That actually makes it more efficient, or so he tells me. Sarenor shrugged. Ive been able to keep my beard, and he gets to test out new theories.


    The mask came off, almostically allowing an explosion of well contained facial hair.


    <em>That seems like such a contradiction, but its the only description that makes sense</em>


    They chatted about small things, mainly the variations to regional dishes, along with how the caravans cooks chose the dishes to be served.


    It turned out that the cooks in the caravans had almost universal discretion in what they served. It was a prestigious position but also a dangerous one. Due to both of those factors, it was high paying as well.


    I prefer practicing my craft by day and returning home each night.


    T just smiled. She knew that it would be polite to inquire about his family, including if there was one, but she couldnt bring herself to do so. Too many things were reminding her of family already.


    <em>Oh, T. You really need to sort yourself out</em> Shed been fine asking others about family. <em>Yeah, but I hadnt been working through so much death, then.</em>


    She shook her head and turned the topic to various spices and herbs.


    It turned out that many of the regional differences to various dishes were directly linked to the avability of core spices that were required to bring out different vors. That made sense, and if T had any notion of rtive spice prices, she could have easily realized that connection on her own, but shed never done any sort of investigation.


    <em>Maybe this is why Mistress Odera hasnt found a good version of our lunch food in Bandfast? The requisite spices to do the dishes justice arent avable for reasonable prices.</em>


    Probably worth asking. In all likelihood, the Mage would already know, one way or another.


    When they arrived at the fifth tier Culinary Guild office, T was again asked to leave by the assistant.


    Sarenor rolled his eyes at the assistant, but simply bid T farewell and went into the back.


    T presented her coin once more, and the assistant scurried off to get someone with more authority.


    Ten minutester, T was enjoying afternoon coffee with thrice-baked cake to dip into the beverage. <em>I could get used to all these in-between meals.</em>


    The coffee was strong, almost as strong as the espresso shed so recently purchased, but it was cut with cream and sugar. It was a wonderful counterpoint to the dipping-cake, which actually wasnt very sweet.


    A woman strode in without introduction and sat across from T. She was immactely dressed, though Ts enhanced vision could pick up the pressure lines from a recently removed apron.


    She seemed to be an austere woman, holding her features under careful control. Her hair was gray and held up in a tight bun. That lent greater weight to the grandmotherly air about her. So, Mistress T. Tell me what the Culinary Guild can do for you?


    T set her thrice-baked cake on the small, provided te, swallowing hertest bite. Well, aside from some solo-venturing food, I actually wanted to ask you: What can I do for the Culinary Guild?


    The woman blinked at her, seeming stunned. She tilted her head to one side, considering. I apologize, Mistress. I am Atr. I am the currently elected Head of the Makinaven Culinary Guild. I preside over the branch heads of every branch office within this city.


    It is a pleasure to meet you, Head Atr.


    Just Atr will be fine, Mistress.


    Then, T, please.


    As you wish, Mistress T.


    T felt her eye twitch but didnt press the issue. So?


    Honestly, I am unsure how to reply. To speak with you, directly, vites our Guild charter, but since you bear a medallion, to turn you away would simrly breach procedure.


    I apologize for putting you in such a difficult position. Will there be repercussions?


    Honestly? Probably not. But if someone decides to make a y at recing me, they could try to get me removed. That was assured as soon as you showed up.


    T frowned. Wannor, down on the third tier, sent me up here. Would that factor in?


    Atr sighed. It just might. Thank you for that warning. You said he sent you? Did he meet with you personally to do so?


    He did.


    Atr nodded thoughtfully but didntment.


    So I am aware that the Order of the Harvest has a <em>very</em> poor history with Mages, and I assume that the Culinary Guild is the public face of that order?


    Quite correct.


    <em>Honest of her. </em>If I may askwhy havent you approached more Mages through the years? You are a powerful guild, after all.


    Atrs mouth quirked into a small smile. We have, Mistress. Every ten to twenty years, we ask for an unaffiliated volunteer to present our ideas to the local Archon counsel, or the Constructionist Guild, or some individual Mage or Archon. The response is always the same: That is not for you to pursue. Drop it, immediately.


    T frowned. <em>That didnt seem right</em> What if I were to take and present it?


    The woman leaned back, considering. After a long moment, she poured herself some coffee and took a careful sip. That would certainly be different.


    I am unaffiliated. Id meet that requirement.


    Atr let out a short, soft chuckle. True enough. I cannot authorize this, however, not on my authority alone. I can propose it to the Guild counsel. Would you be willing to keep the Guild and the Order out of it?


    Yes? I dont want to lie, but I can obfuscate.


    That is eptable, so long as you are willing to refuse to answer about certain things.


    Im open to that.


    Atr nodded. That could work. Weve never worked directly with a Mage before. She hesitated. Well, not openly and not on this side of things.


    T frowned. I find that very unlikely.


    Oh? The other woman seemed genuinely confused.


    Has no member of the Order ever had a child who grew up to be a Mage?


    Of course, we have. One of my sons, and three of my aunts are Mages.


    So?


    We are barred from discussing it with them, or anyone who is not of the Order. We dont admit any minors to the Order, so none ever be Mages after admittance.


    That seems foolish.


    Atr gave T a pointed look. If I told you that we were studying and enacting necromancy within this building, and you believed me, what would you do?


    Thats hardly-


    Atr cut across T. What would you do, Mistress?


    T paused to consider. Academy doctrine was to kill them all, then hunt down anyone they had ties to and kill them as well.


    If she did that, shed probably be rewarded. <em>No, aw-abiding Mage should report it to the local council and then return with reinforcements, so that no one could escape.</em> But that didnt answer the question. What would <em>she</em> do?


    T frowned. Necromancy. The animating of dead flesh. That portion was a bit gross, but hardly <em>that</em> immoral. <em>Disrespectful, though.</em> Even so, it wasnt actually ouwed. Working with the souls of the dead, however, <em>that</em> was utterly forbidden. <em>Does that include founts?</em>


    T hadnt actually considered that association. Could every arcanous beast be considered the product of necromancy?


    That had disturbing implications.


    She nced to Terry, who was clearly listening with interest, despite his closed eyes.


    <em>So, what would I do?</em> I would rify what type of necromancy you meant.


    Mistress T. You know what-


    T held up her hand. I wasnt finished. I do see your point, Atr. If it was the forbidden kind, if I even suspected the forbidden form, I would burn this ce to the ground. She hesitated, looking around at the wood and considering the tree around them. Well, not literally. That would probably end badly.


    Atr quirked a smile. Precisely. Mages do not respond gently to those pursuing forbidden knowledge or practices.


    <em>Theres good reasonfor most of it anyways.</em> And you feel that youve been told the consumption of harvests falls into that category.


    From the best of our understanding, it does.


    <em>But it doesnt!</em> At least she didnt think it did. <em>Am I willing to risk thousands of peoples lives on my assumption?</em> After thinking for a long moment, she realized that she wasnt. Very well. I will bow to whatever the Culinary Guild decides. I dont like it, but I wont pull back the curtain from your Order without permission.


    Atr visibly rxed. Thank you, Mistress. I hope that we dont put you in any awkward positions because of this.


    T shook her head. Im already seen as a bit of an oddball. I doubt Ill be pressed too closely about anything I ask or attempt.


    Atr gave her a skeptical look but didntment on that. Very well. So, you mentioned venture supplies?


    Yes. I would like food and equipment to carry in my dimensional storage, so that I can always have food ready at hand.


    They briefly discussed Ts avable resources, and the conversation actually went quite quickly, given it was a mirror of the one shed had with Sarenor on the walk up.


    I think I can put together some things for you. What is your budget?


    It depends a bit on how much food you can get me, but a gold or two?


    That is considerable for such things.


    I eat a <em>lot</em> of food.


    So youve said. Atr was smiling. Very well. I will see it done. Would you be willing to return in three days to discuss your offer and pick up your food?


    That sounds perfect. Thank you.


    No, Mistress T. Thank you. I cannot express the stress I feel in the presence of any Mage. Even your offer to <em>potentially</em> alleviate that is valuable beyond what I can express.


    T gave a seated bow. I am d to be able to help.

 Chapter 121: Crocheting

    Chapter 121: Crocheting


    T had gotten the ball rolling on her business with the Constructionists and Culinary Guilds. It was time to handle some long-term items; she needed to delve into Fusing.


    She knew that task was before her, a hurdle that she needed to ovee, but she hadnt given it the attention it deserved.


    Towards that end, shed decided to climb to the top of Makinaven, in search of a quiet ce to meditate and contemte the potential paths before her.


    She was well on her way when she was startled out of her musings.


    T had decided to walk to give herself more time to contemte, so Terry was currently asleep on her shoulder. At the moment, she was passing by arge, open shaft.


    The shaft itself wasnt that odd. T had seen a few scattered around the circumference of the city, though she had yet to investigate their purpose.


    No, what caught her eye was the man walking very close, past it. That, by itself, was dangerous enough, but the man seemed to have a penchant for dangerous things. He was missing a leg, and seemed to have a round, short, thick stick grafted into the stump. Magic suffused both the wood and his leg around the joining.


    <em>What is that? I should just ask him. </em>Ummm hi. T suddenly felt really awkward. She had spoken before thinking through exactly what she wanted to say, or even what she wanted from the interaction. <em>That was foolish</em>


    The man gave her a quizzical look. Mistress? What can I do for you?


    She cleared her throat, forcing an attempt at a friendly smile. Can I ask you a bit of a personal question?


    He shrugged. I suppose you can always ask.


    Are those inscriptions I see, linking you with the wood?


    A grin split his face, and he looked down, lifting his peg. You could see those, eh? Even through the pants?


    I can.


    Mages really are something special. He shook his head, his smile staying firmly in ce. Yeah. He patted the peg. Wood from this very tree. He gestured around them. The inscriptions bind it to me, allowing me a degree of control over some things here.


    What do you mean?


    Well, I can focus the great trees energies to build walls or weaken the links to allow for walls or other structures to be moved or removed.


    T hadnt thought about that. The great tree repaired itself so quickly: How could they ever modify the interior? Now, she knew. Fascinating. So, why? She felt awkward, again, allowing her question to trail off.


    Why rece a limb? The wood Mages say that it makes us more one with the tree. Gives our instructions more weight. Authority? He shrugged. Seems to work well enough for me.


    Why a leg? If you dont mind my asking.


    I like having my hands. He spread his fingers wide and grinned. Some rece a hand or arm. A few opt for just a finger as that much, at least, is required to do any sort of construction work. The more flesh reced, the greater the connection and authority. Its not the only factor, but it is a big one. He tapped his peg on the ground. This is thergest section that most are willing to part with, even if it is regrown in retirement. Im a foreman because of this beauty. He smiled proudly.


    That truly is fascinating. T took another moment to study his leg. Im T, by the way. Whats your name? I apologize for waying you. She gave a genuine smile.


    Im Ciaran, Mistress T. It is a pleasure to meet another of our Magic wielders. I only dabble, and I can only guess at what it takes to be a Mage.


    T smiled. That is kind of you. It sounds like you do much for this city.


    I do what I can. He nced to Terry. Thats a beautiful bird. Have a name?


    T nced at Terry to see the terror bird returning her look, self-satisfaction practically radiating from him. This is Terry.


    Good to meet you, Terry.


    Terry thrummed happily and curled back up.


    Now, I do apologize, Mistress, but I must be on my way. Ive a project site to get to.


    Absolutely! Thank you, again, for letting me inquire.


    Any time. He bowed and continued down the spiral. His walk was surprisingly normal, the peg not seeming to interfere at all.


    As she watched, T saw the roadway flexing slightly as Ciaran moved, facilitating the natural pattern of his stride. <em>Control within the tree, indeed.</em>


    T shook her head, refocusing on the task at hand. <em>To the top.</em>


    She fell back into her contemtions, allowing the world to fade around her as she climbed higher and higher.


    Finally, after she-knew-not how many tiers, the spiral shunted outward, leaving them to decide to either turn back or go outside, which was no choice at all. <em>Outside it is.</em>


    The sky was partly cloudy, highlighted in thete afternoon light as T came out onto an upper branch. To her right, the spiral continued, now a wooden walkway affixed to the outside of a central limb.


    Buildings hung from limbs near and far, almost like oversized birdhouses. They were linked to each other and the central thoroughfares, by arching bridges.


    Even so high up the great tree, with wind almost constantly swirling around them, the swaying was negligible.


    She turned and continued higher.


    Every so often, signs pointed to divergences from the main way. The signs contained short descriptions of whaty up thisdder or over that bridge.


    Many indicated viewing tforms or public walking trails, cultivated for immersion in nature and the asional breathtaking view.


    T grinned. <em>This ce gives being a forester a whole new meaning.</em>


    Still, she didnt turn, simply continuing up. She wanted to see what was at the top.


    The road slowly narrowed until it was just wide enough for two people to pass.


    It finally ended, along with some of the other spirals, at arge tform. That tform was built around a single upraised branch.


    At some distance, scattered throughout the top of the canopy, T saw a couple other, simr tforms, likely the terminal points of some of the other spirals.


    One of those other tforms, the one most centrally located, had a single spiral continuing up another hundred feet. As she followed that path with her eyes, she saw that an embeddeddder went higher still to the highest tform that she could see.


    Given that she could see the sky and all the up-reaching branches, T was fairly confident that it was, in fact, the highest.


    <em>Do I go back down and try to find the right spiral?</em>


    She shook her head. There was no telling how long that would take. If she knew the city better, she could probably have found her way over easily, but she didnt, and there wasnt anyone around to ask, at the moment.


    <em>I have magic. Lets solve this like a Mage.</em>


    Grinning, T climbed over the railing, holding on with her right hand as she crouched, facing the desired main tform.


    Her left middle finger came to her thumb, and she focused on herself. <em>Reduce.</em>


    It took her about twenty-three seconds to reduce her effective gravity down to roughly ten percent.


    <em>Wind shouldnt be too much of an issue, as I still have the same inertia, but I should still ount for it.</em> The wind was currently blowing left to right, from her perspective.


    <em>Aim to the left a bit.</em>


    The distance was over a hundred yards.


    <em>Aim high. Worst case: I increase my gravity and drop faster.</em>


    She felt the muscles in her legs coiling, rxing, and preparing to explosively contract.<em> Jump powerfully. Spare no strength.</em>


    <em>And, if worsees to worst, get in Kit.</em> She grinned at that. <em>Not a bad worst case.</em>


    Terry, can you wait for me on that tform? He might throw her off. <em>Reduce variables.</em>


    Terry looked around, saw what she was going to do, and flickered over to her destination. His cor began to glow a deep orange of warning. <em>Right I need to get over there, soon.</em>


    She refocused on the jump.


    <em>Okay, aim high, jump hard, dont hesitate, and dont look down.</em>


    Before she could talk herself out of it, she <em>leapt.</em>


    The tform and branch behind her had enough mass to not buck away from her powerful push.


    Now, even with her enhanced strength, shed consider a running long-jump a long shot if she reached forty-eight feet.


    Basically, under normal gravity, she wouldnt have made it even a sixth of the way there. <em>And I started from a stand-still.</em>


    But her gravity wasnt normal. The downward pull of the ground below was reduced to just less than a tenth what any other creature could expect.


    T soared.


    She kept her arms tucked in tight and her legs fully extended behind her, willing more thrust from them, despite the fact that that was utterly impossible for her.


    After a long moment of flight, she reached the apex of her arc and began to descend, still moving forward with great speed.


    Her eyes flicked to her destination, then to look behind her.


    <em>OhI undershot.</em> Even though shed tried to aim high, this was not an action that shed practiced, so shed estimated incorrectly and made mistakes.


    That wasnt the end of the world.


    The near vertical branch around which the tform was built extended from below. The spirals were wrapped around it to provide transit up and down. <em>This is fine. Ill justnd on one of those and climb up a bit.</em>


    But she had aimed off to the left, to counter any windand the wind had temporarily died.


    <em>Dont panic. Youll be fine. Theres always</em> If she went into Kit and fell, Terry would exit the allowed range for his training cor. He would be subject to the city defense.


    <em>Oh Thats bad</em>


    Alright, then. Emergency contingencies were off the table. <em>Grab the support struts, the railing, anything.</em>


    The tform passed close overhead, just out of reach, and T was approaching the structures beneath quickly. <em>Focus, T, focus!</em>


    She tried to grab one of the struts, but her fingers barely pped against it as she shot past. She did hit it well enough to start herself spinning.


    <em>Worse!</em>


    At thest instant, a massive gust swept over Makinaven, shoving her to the right. She mmed into the spiral ramp, the wood cracking beneath her.


    T groaned.


    The impact hadnt been hard enough to harm her, given her enhancements, but it had been far from a cleannding. Her head was still spinning as shey there.


    She felt the wood repair itself beneath her, and she was bodily lifted just a bit to allow for that reformation.


    A momentter, Terry flickered into being, standing on her chest.


    He did not look pleased.


    Yeah I could have handled that better.


    The avian shook himself in irritation, then moved to her shoulder,tching on and settling down, despite the odd angle.


    Fair enough. Lets go see if it was worth it.


    Five minutester, T sat on the highest observation tform over the city of Makinaven.


    There were no rails around the ten-foot diameter space. It seemed that few people ventured up this high, especially when there were easier to reach ces with views that were nearly as good. That was fine with her, she wanted privacy.


    The small, artificial tform was easily two thousand feet above the forest floor below, solidly affixed to a singr branch that grew almost straight up from the great tree.


    There was an easy path up from the tform, which T had failed to jump directly to. After that easy spiral ended in a viewing deck, T had found the simpledder leading the rest of the way. It wasposed of wooden dowels affixed and integrated with the branch.


    She had climbed it with ease, especially after returning her effective gravity to normal.


    The view had been stunning in all directions, even below her. The canopy of Makinaven, below, hid any evidence of civilization, save the series of walkways and tforms shed already seen.


    Even so, Ts mind wasnt on the view, nor on the city below her. After taking in her surroundings, she had focused within herself. Her eyes were now closed, and her mage-sight swept through her body head to toes, fingertips to heart, again and again.


    The Archon star, which bound her body and soul, was deeper than the magic of her inscriptions, as was her gate for that matter.


    It seemed like magic was a dimension like any other, and as far as she could tell, it was infinite.


    <em>That doesnt mean I can affect that infinity.</em> It did mean, however, that she could bind herself more tightly, body and soul, without having to overwrite her inscriptions.


    <em>I really dont understand this very well.</em>


    Her inscriptions were a feature of her body, and her keystone surrounded her gate, her soul. <em>Well, that part of my soul, anyways.</em>


    The other part of her soul seemed to already be firmly established within her body but didnt interact with her inscriptions.


    It was like, from a magical perspective, she had an entire un-inscribed body, superimposed upon her physical self.


    It wasnt a physical body, obviously, so even if she could figure out how, she couldnt add more regenerative scripts, or other enhancements to her natural functions.


    <em>No its a spirit body.</em> That tickled something within her mind.


    <em>Grediv said what Id done to my items gave me a head start.</em> She looked down at her elk-leathers. Shed bound them to one another, making them magically and spiritually one with a simple spell-form that vaguely resembled an Archon star, from casual inspection.


    The details were different, but that wasnt currently important.


    T returned her focus to her imnted Archon star.


    It was like the weight at the end of a pendulum, dangling outside of the of her scripts, while being encapsted and protected by them at the same time. It didnt make sense, but that was how it felt.


    The tether between her star and her gate, like between her star and her spiritual body, was a two-way thoroughfare of power.


    <em>So Ive really just bound my divided soul together, with the Archon star acting as an intermediary. My body is still only loosely attached to my spiritual self. A fusing would incorporate all threeright?</em>


    T thought about her grandmother for the first time in what felt like ages. The woman would crochet in every spare moment, making everything from sweaters to toys. She had passed before Ts departure for the Academy. <em>That was about the time that he started</em>


    She shook off the sad memory and sadder thoughts. T had no desire to think of <em>him.</em>


    <em>No, Im considering crocheting.</em> One particr birthday, her grandmother had made a into which T had ced three kinds of stuffing,yering them carefully. That done, her grandmother had tightened the stitching, and finished out the pattern, enclosing all three into a unified pillow.


    It had been the mostfortable pillow in the house. T had even taken it with her to the Academy, where shed used it every night until it fell apart. <em>After nearly a decade and a half of heavy use.</em> She hadnt thought about that pillow in at least a couple of years.


    Again, though, that wasnt the point.


    <em>I know I can knot power into spell-forms that affect the spirit. I should be able to chain them together, crocheting a magical pillow, filled with my physical body and the two halves of my soul.</em>


    She reached inside and tried to create the spell-form within herself, beside the Archon star and using its tether as the yarn.


    Her power resisted her, but she fought on. After what had to have been at least an hour, she gave up, falling back onto her back, staring up at the darkening sky.


    <em>That didnt work.</em> It was more than her failing. The magic had fought her, and she <em>felt</em> like something was wrong with her approach.


    She sat up, pulling out her tools to prepare some tea. <em>I need to focus.</em> She chose the chamomile. With careful fingers, she broke off the amount she needed and ced it within the cast-iron teapot. With an application of power, she heated the pot with her hot air incorporator, toasting the dry tea within.


    Thatpleted, she added hot water from the requisite incorporator. Once it was done brewing, she poured herself a cup, and turned her mind back to the matter at hand.


    <em>Okay. Im not making a pillow.</em>


    Still, the crocheting mental image appealed on some deep level. <em>Maybe Im adding a secondyer to another nket?</em>


    She finished the first cup of tea, poured a second, and focused inward again, renewed determination filling her.


    She made some progress, this time. She was able to pull up portions of her spiritual self, and thread the Archon stars anchoring tether together with it. She could even move on and work her way across her spirit, moving outward in a circle from where the Archon star rested in her chest.


    But near midnight, when she simply <em>had</em> to take a break, she released her grip on her power, and it began to unravel.


    T panicked, trying to snatch the threads and keep her efforts from being undone, but to no avail.


    In less than a minute, it was as if shed never done anything.


    T growled, causing Terry to lift his head from where hed been sleeping, near the edge of their current tform. Finding no threat, he went back to sleep.


    In irritation, T refreshed the water in her teapot, the first batch having discorporated hours earlier.


    A new cup in hand, she contemted through her frustration.


    <em>Well, that cant be right. If it had to be done in one go, thered never be anyone between red and orange. The same would be true if it would be undone with a moments inattention.</em>


    She leaned back, bracing herself with one arm as she drank and red up at the stars, overhead.


    <em>I should get a nket from Kit.</em> She didnt want to move. She felt utterly spent, and in her dejection, she didnt want to put forth the effort. <em>Anyways, its too cold for just one nket. The tea helps, but Id need at least two.</em>


    <em>Two.</em> T blinked up at the night sky.


    <em>Two nkets. My body and my spiritual self, each identical in dimension, but not really connected.</em> Her eyes widened. Two nkets! I need to crochet the two nkets together! <em>Like a sandwich held together with some sticky filling.</em> That wasnt a great analogy, but she wasnt interested in making a better one.


    T sat up straighter, her exhaustion forgotten, but no less present.


    She fought through the tiredness, taking a deep drink of tea before tucking those items away and stuffing her mouth with jerky. <em>I need the energy.</em>


    Reaching deep within, T was able to perceive the space between her physical and spiritual bodies, and when conceived of in the right way, she could perceive her Archon star resting between them, beside her gate. The star was a bridge of power between the three other parts of her<em>.</em>


    Slowly, carefully, T grabbed the threads of power and interlinked the three points of connection with another loop of power. Using the Archon star as hook and needle in one, T wove the spirit binding spell-form, the same one shed used on her elk-leathers and cinched it tight.


    A wash of golden power rippled through her, and the point of connection seemed to solidify, locking in ce.


    As T pulled back, her mage-sight told her that her aura had taken an all-but-imperceptible tick towards orange.


    Her final glimpse, within herself, was altered by her new understanding and perspective.


    Within her, there were two nkets, each the size of a city. At the center,y an infinite ball of yarn and a tool for using thest to unify the first two.


    Most important though, was thest feature: there, at the center of it all, a single stitch joined the two great expanses, fusing them at a single point.


    <em>I have a long way to go.</em>


    A joyful smile on her face, she opened her eyes into bright, new light, and the dawning of a new day.

 Chapter 122: As Expected

    Chapter 122: As Expected


    T found herself glorying in the new-dawning suns light, a self-satisfied smile restingfortably on her face.


    <em>I did it. I took my first step towards Fused!</em> True, it was just the first step of a cross-continental trek, but it was something. <em>Jevin said he wanted to talk to me about the transition to Refined, after I began the road to Fused.</em> One more thing to remember to ask him about.


    T didnt let that weigh her down, however. She was giddy with excitement, despite her soul-deep fatigue. It had taken a <em>lot</em> of mental effort to figure out how to aplish this first step, and the enactment had been no less taxing. Add to that a missed dinner, already low reserves, and a missed nights sleep, and she was lucky to be conscious at all.


    Something about mornings tickled the back of her mind, but she ignored it for the moment.


    The air was chillier up here than she really realized, and as she began to shift, her body felt stiff and cold.


    Groaning with the effort, she went through a stretching and strengthening set, limbering and warming up.


    Good morning, Terry!


    Terry cracked an eye open, let out a grumpy little trill, and opened his mouth.


    Tughed and tossed a bit of jerky over the edge.


    Terry huffed but flickered and caught the treat.


    She gave onest twist back and forth, sending a radiating series of <em>cracks</em> up her spine. So much better. She reached towards the sky. GOOD MORNING!!!!


    Sheughed and spun in a circle.


    Oh Im a bit loopy. She snickered. Cause Im spinning in a loop. <em>Or is a loop vertical? It probably doesnt matter.</em>


    She shook her head. <em>I wonder why sleep deprivation seems to hit me so easily?</em>


    It might be due to her enhancements. Her mind was more taxed than most. <em>Or its the night spent doing intense mental and magical work.</em>


    I need to go get some sleep. To the cargo-slots we go, for sleep! She paused; the tickle came back, fully manifesting this time. Right! To charge the cargo-slots we go! Then, sleep.


    Terry could probably carry her down in short order. <em>Or I could jump?</em>


    T looked over the edge of the tform. You know, it didnt work so well thest time I tried Maybe when less hangs in the bnce?


    She nodded to herself. <em>Wise choice, T.</em>


    <em>Why, thank you. I do try.</em>


    She stood for a long moment, looking down at the canopy below. <em>What was I doing?</em>


    After another pause, she jerked,ing back to the moment. Right!


    She needed sleep, sleep after cargo-charging.


    Terry?


    He looked her way.


    You willing to carry me down? I need to recharge the cargo-slots.


    He gave her a deeply skeptical look, then somehow conveyed irritation. Hadnt she turned down a room in an inn, because she didnt want to traverse the height of Makinaven?


    Well, not every day, no. <em>Wait Im projecting. There is no way I interpreted that from him, from a look.</em>


    Terry vanished.


    T swept her gaze around, eventually following the lingering dimensional energy as she looked over the side and down to the tform below.


    Terry was there and already rideable-sized.


    Fine, fine. She swung over the side, maneuvering to thedder and climbing down. Thankfully, her dexterity didnt seem too hampered, and she was able to navigate the descent without major incident.


    Terry trilled at her, crouching so that she could mount up.


    Thank you, Terry. She climbed up, hooking her hands into the cor and tucking her head down against his neck.


    She was asleep before the avian began moving.


    * * *


    T heard a trill somewhere in the back of her head but didnt waken until she mmed into the ground, face first.


    Terry trilled again, a bit of irritation evident in the noise.


    She groaned. What?! Her eyes opened slowly, and she found herself looking at the Constructionist Guilds door. Terry I needed to go to the work-yard. Charging cargo-slots and sleep. Remember?


    Terry appeared in front of her, leaving barely two feet between their eyes as he locked gazes with her. He took in a quick breath then projected a basso tone into her face.


    She jerked upright, looking around, suddenly fully awake, at least for the moment.


    A few people were within sight, but they seemed to be studiously avoiding looking at the odd Mage and her small, oddly loud bird. <em>Did they see him when he was bigger?</em> There was really no way for her to know.


    Terry bobbed, moving his head towards the door.


    Right I do need toe here She sighed, standing.


    She didnt remember opening the door, but she was in the entry hall, so she must have.


    Mistress T? Jevin came from the back room. Youre a bit early, but He looked her over. Well, congrattions on your first step towards Fused.


    T tiredly lifted one fist in the air. Hurrah. <em>Wait I thought I was fully awake.</em> She was slipping back, fast.


    He shook his head, but he was smiling. If I may be so bold, you seem exhausted. Please go, get some sleep. Ill bump the merging untilter. Come back this evening, orte afternoon, after you''ve had time to rest and get your head on straight. Soul-work is not the type of thing you want to do while tired.


    T mustered a slow nod. I suppose that makes sense. Thank you.


    Sleep, Mistress T.


    She nodded again and was back outside, slumping on top of Terry.


    Terry, for his part grumbled in an amusingly musical fashion, shifting beneath her until she was properly situated.


    She again tucked her hands through his cor and dozed.


    * * *


    Consciousness barely returned enough for her to charge the cargo-slots.


    Her mental image was <em>terribly</em> fuzzy, while still being urate. Thankfully, that just made it take a bit longer.


    An instantter, ording to her perception, she was standing next to her locked door, in the dark.


    She felt a presence.


    There was <em>something</em> standing beside her, staring at her with wide, intense eyes.


    T slowly looked to her right, down the unlit hallway. Only her enhanced eyes allowed her to pick out the predator, regarding her from the gloom, always watching, always hungry.


    She jerked sideways at the sight, mming into the still-locked door.


    <em>Come on, T, it''s just Terry.</em>


    Terry tilted his head in concern from where he watched her. Squawk?


    No. You speak in descriptions, not quotes.


    Terry gave her a deeply confused look in response, trilling questioningly.


    Better. Now, wheres my key It fell into her hand as she reached for it. Thank you, Kit.


    Feed me.


    T froze, staring down at her pouch.


    Feed me all night long.


    She cleared her throat, blinking slowly. Okay I think I broke myself, somehow. <em>Still, it wouldnt hurt. </em>She shrugged and topped off Kits reserves as she unlocked the door, letting herself and Terry inside.


    After blearily locking the door behind her, she mmed into the too-hard bed, increased her own gravity, and was asleep before another thought or oddity could dy her rest.


    * * *


    T woke slowly from a dreamless sleep.


    The room looked exactly like it had when shed fallen asleep. <em>As expected.</em>


    She sat up, looking down at Kit.


    So did you actually speak, or was I already dreaming?


    Kit did not respond.


    Do you want me to feed you?


    The pouch did not respond.


    Okay just sleep deprived, then. She looked to Terry. Did you hear anything from Kit,st night?


    Terry lifted his head, giving her a level look.


    Fine, this morning?


    He let out a satisfied chirp, then shook his head.


    Yeah, I didnt think so.


    That oddity addressed, T stood, stretching and returning her effective gravity to normal. As she did so, she noticed that some of the stretches felt deeper and more effective under increased gravity. <em>Oh, that makes sense.</em>


    That in mind, she decided to integrate variable gravity into her stretching. After all, she already did her body-weight exercises with massive increases. Those, however, couldnt easily be done in the small space.


    Her stretchingplete, she carefully unlocked the door, checking both ways in the hall before she came out, and moved into themon area.


    It was simple enough to clear space for her workout.


    Once she was finished with her start-of-day routine, she bathed within Kit, refilled all her bonded items, and set out from the cargo-slot.


    Terry, of course, came with her. Like the day before, she wasrgely ignored as she crossed the work-yard.


    This day, however, one of the men ran up to her. Mistress T?


    Yes? Thats me.


    He gave a bow and handed her a folded note. Master Rane asked us to watch for you.


    Thank you.


    The man hesitated.


    <em>Oh It would probably be reasonable to pay him for the favor</em> T pulled out a silver coin and flicked it to the man. Thank you.


    He caught the coin and bowed. It was my pleasure, Mistress.


    <em>Look at me, giving tips like theyre nothing.</em> She stood a little straighter as she walked towards the 2 oclock spiral. It would slow the paying of her debts, but in the grand scheme of things, it was <em>just</em> one silver.


    The note was simply an invitation toe to a reserved training room on the second tier. <em>Northwest 7 oclock.</em> T hesitated. <em>So, the 7 oclock spiral, but at the 11 oclock position?</em> She nodded, that sounded right. <em>Alright!</em>


    Wait.


    <em>What time is it?</em>


    She looked around until she spotted a clock. <em>Early afternoon</em>


    Jevin had asked her to return after she rested and cleared her head a bit. <em>A little training could help clear out the remaining fuzziness of sleep. Ill just go to the Constructionists after.</em>


    Terry, are you willing to carry me up to the second tier? Id prefer to go across the park than through the city, here.


    He bobbed from his perch on her shoulder but then waited.


    Ahh, yes. We should go all the way there, shouldnt we. She smiled and told Terry where they were going.


    Terry flickered to beside her, sized for her riding.


    T tossed him a big chunk of jerky, that he ate happily as she climbed up. Ready.


    Terry took off at afortable jog, which meant that he was moving faster than she could sprint.


    She tucked her feet under his vestigial wings, while her hands gripped his cor, and she kept her head low.


    It took aughable short time to get up to the second tier, and the park there-in passed just as fast as they crossed to the 7 oclock spiral.


    From there, it was a short trip up, just over a quarter-way around the tree from where the road had left the park level.


    Terry trilled then flickered to her shoulder, allowing her tond on her own two feet before a in looking structure.


    A sign out front simply dered it as a trainingplex.


    She pushed open the door and walked tentatively inside.


    Good morning, Mistress. How can we assist? A young girl sat behind the counter, likely in her early teens.


    I am here to meet a friend?


    Oh! You must be Mistress T.


    T felt her eye twitch. <em>What did Rane tell these people?</em> Umyeah.


    Right this way. Master Rane reserved ourrgest training arena for the next six days. There should always be someone manning the desk, here. If they ask, you can simply give your name, and they shouldnt bother you further. If you need anything, we will do what we can to provide.


    T nodded along but didnt verbally respond.


    The girl led her down a few twisting hallways to arge door, set in the hallway to the left.


    If T had tracked the orientation correctly, this would be close to the center of this section of the trees perimeter. <em>The center of the trainingplex, then?</em>


    The doors opened to reveal a massive room, fifty feet across and half as tall.


    There were some viewing rooms near the top of the space, looking down through clear sections of wall, though they were currently empty.


    Rane was in the middle of the space, moving through a form with Force. By the sweat covering his bare skin and his well-fitted shorts, hed been at it for a while.


    Their entrance disrupted his concentration, and he spun towards them, Force rising into an inside, middle guard.


    As soon as his eyes focused on them, however, he let the de drop. Mistress T! Wee. He smiled. I apologize for my current state, but I was unsure when youd arrive, and I thought it best to use the time, while I had it.


    No apologies needed, Master Rane.


    The attendant colored, bowed, and said her goodbyes, closing the door behind her.


    So, what do you have in mind?


    Rane grinned. Well, I have a few things that Id love to discuss with you, but I want to spar, first. He lightly bounced on the balls of his feet. Im a bit wound up and could use the expenditure.


    T shrugged. Sure. Give me a minute to get my head on right.


    His smile turned sheepish. I was actually wondering if I could try a match against Terry? Just one, then Id love to spar with you, too.


    Terry squawked questioningly.


    Rane nodded to the avian. Yes, really. I may not be as durable as Mistress T, but I am harder to hit.


    Terry nced to T, who shrugged. The terror bird flickered to a position nking Rane, letting out a deeper squawk. Hed increased his size to be a bit bigger than that which he used when T rode him.


    Im ready. Rane said this as he turned to face the bird, lifting Force into a hanging guard.


    Terry immediately appeared behind the man, striking for his back.


    Ranes inscriptions activated, sending him into a front-flip. Rane took advantage of the motion, tucking Force in close, tip towards his feet.


    As soon as he was horizontal, continuing the flip, Rane drove Force towards Terry, using his immense physical strength, along with the motion.


    Terry, of course, flickered out of the way, appearing beside Rane to strike again.


    Ranes defense activated as expected, altering his trajectory once again. Therge man, quite ustomed to his own power, reacted instinctively, and Forcenced out towards Terry, once again.


    The following sequence was both beautiful and somehowical.


    Rane continued to spin and twist, as much like a childs top as an acrobat. He used each motion efficiently to bring his de to bear, threatening Terry and forcing the terror bird to flicker away.


    The Mage only asionally contacted the ground, and he used feet and hands almost interchangeably to keep himself aloft and moving.


    After nearly two minutes of back and forth, Terry flickered away, settling down to watch.


    Rane came to a stop,nding perfectly in a crouch, Force held out to one side.


    To Ts enhanced vision, the conflict had looked like nothing so much as a choreographed disy, which shed expect to see in an expensive y.


    She hesitated at that. <em>I havent seen a y inyears.</em> Thest had been before her fathers descent into addiction. Theyd had some money, then, and the older kids had been able to go see ys with their parents.


    She felt a sadness at that but shook it off.


    Rane was breathing heavily, his arms trembling, ever so slightly. That wasfantastic. He stood slowly, sheathing Force.


    Terry chirped.


    Raneughed. If I hadnt already had Force out and ready, Id have been hard pressed to pull it free. With it, though, I think we should call that a draw?


    Terry stood, tilting his head.


    Fine, fine. You could keep going, and Im almost spent. He pulled a thick cloth from his dimensional storage, the cloth seeming to appear as it was drawn from the leather loop on Ranes belt.


    <em>Like a street performer.</em> She hadnt seen one of those in years, either.


    Give me a minute to catch my breath and get some water. He swept sweat from his skin and dried his hair.


    T took the moment to look around, examining the training space more closely.


    Gloriously, the flooring wasnt sand. Instead, it seemed to be wood, but there was an unnatural springiness to it.


    Rane saw her bouncing up and down slightly, and heughed. Theres an underlying structure that allows the hard floor to have some give. It lets falls and takedowns hurt less.


    T grinned back at him. So long as it isnt sand.


    He smiled. I thought youd feel that way. How about you go a round with Terry. Then, you and I can get some practice in?


    T nced at the clock, high up on one wall. <em>Its not thatte. A couple rounds wont take too long.</em> Sure.


    Her face mmed into the floor, and she had a fleeting desire for the cushioning softness of sand.


    Come on, Terry! I wasnt ready.


    He chittered at her happily.


    Fine I know I should always be ready. She vaulted up, drawing Flow and taking it into a two-handed grip. As subtly as she could, she touched her left middle finger to her thumb around Flows handle, focusing on Terry. The lock stuck.


    She didnt let anything show on her face, as she slowly increased his gravity.


    He didnt seem to react, instead circling her.


    It wasnt wariness that caused him to circle, nor was it to taunt her. No, he was probably just trying to get her used to not knowing when an attack woulde.


    After fifteen seconds, his effective gravity was closing in on four times normal. <em>He has to have noticed.</em>


    T frowned.


    Terry stopped, a glint of mischief suddenly obvious in his avian eyes.


    Her own eyes widened. <em>Oh-</em>


    Terry flickered into being, standing on her shoulders, still full sized.


    Despite her prodigious strength, T couldnt remain upright beneath the weight. Terry was heavy to begin with, and she had quadrupled the affect that had on him and anything below him.


    Thus, Terry crowed in triumph, his talonstched onto her arms, as he rode her down to the floor, pinning her beneath his massive weight.


    Rust you, Terry. Thats not fair.


    He trilled at her and squatted down, sitting on her upper back.


    She managed to squeeze out, Get off.


    He trilled again.


    <em>He wants his weight back to normal</em> She growled, but despite her irritation, she reversed her enactment and lowered his effective gravity.


    In just less than 14 seconds, he was back to normal, and he vanished from her back, changing shape to break her lock and ensure he remained properly gravatized.


    T pushed back to her feet, ring. You should not be able to turn my tools against me that easily.


    Terry simply curled up in one of the corners to sleep.


    Rane, wisely, kept a smile from his face. So, ready? His breathing had leveled out, and he lifted Force slightly in indication.


    Sure I cant do any worse against you, than I did against him.


    Heughed then. Just so.


    T called Flow to her hand, made sure the training scabbard was still firmly locked in ce, and took up a guarding stance. Ready.

 Chapter 123: Shift

    Chapter 123: Shift


    T and Rane were both drenched in sweat, by the time theyd fought a few bouts.


    The winner was never in question; Rane still greatly outssed T in terms of both skill and experience, and her strength, speed, and enhanced perception just werent enough to close that gap. <em>For now.</em>


    When afternoon was nearing its end, T called a halt. I need to drop through the Constructionist Guild for an item melding.


    Oh? Can I apany you? I still do have some things Id like to discuss now that weve sparred.


    T thought about it for a moment, then shrugged. Sure, I dont see why not. I just need to get cleaned up first. She pulled out Kit and opened it on the floor.


    Rane nodded and stretched. Theres a shower avable with the renting of this training arena. Ill take advantage of that and meet you back here in twenty minutes?


    That sounds like a n. After she climbed down into Kit, she hesitated before speaking to herself, Ive got to do this eventually.


    Before she could talk herself out of it, she pulled the pouch closed, with herself inside.


    I dont want you running out of power, while Im in here. She immediately topped Kit off. Somehow, that made her feel a bit less nervous.


    For some unknown reason, as T was finishing up her cleansing, Kit began using an odd amount of power. Thankfully, T noticed so it was trivial to keep the pouch topped off. <em>Maybe my being in here, while its closed, takes more energy?</em>


    T was quick to finish up her ablutions, but Rane was still waiting for her when she opened Kit and climbed back out.


    Were you waiting long?


    No, just a couple of minutes. He looked a bitguilty?


    What happened. Her inflection removed the question; she knew hed done something.


    Rane grinned self-consciously. Well, I was curious if I could move your dimensional storage.


    T narrowed her eyes. What would you have done with it, if you could?


    Nothing! He held up his hands. I just thought it would be good to see if it could be moved.


    She drew her lips into a firm line. Fine. So?


    Well, it kept slipping from my grip. I couldnt get ahold on it. Even trying to scoop it up, he made a bowl with his tworge hands, I couldnt budge it by more than a couple of inches. It behaved like water. He shook his head. No, Ive scooped up water that was easier to contain. In magical terms, its dimensionality was utterly pliant towards the goal of staying where you set it.


    T was nodding. So, thats why I kept having to add power to it.


    You were filling it, while inside it?


    It was hungry. She shrugged.


    Master Grediv always He trailed off. You know what, it doesnt matter. Your way works for you. He smiled. So, shall we go?


    Terry?


    The avian flickered to her shoulder.


    She nodded and smiled. Lets go. Theyd walked a short way from the training facility when T turned to Rane and broke thepanionable silence. So?


    So, what?


    What did you want to tell me?


    Oh! He grinned. I maxed out my Archon star and have begun Fusing. He positively beamed.


    She smiled in return, genuinely happy for him. Hey! Thats great, Master Rane. Ive begun Fusing as well.


    Ranes expression hitched. Oh you did? He recovered quickly. I didnt think you were working towards that, yet, but thats great! Then, a frown stole over his features. Why didnt you tell me?


    She smiled and shrugged. I hadnt really had a chance, as I figured it outst night. She couldnt keep the smile from her face. I know how to move towards Fused, now. I just need to take the time to do it. It wont be fast, and Ill have to devote time to doing it right.


    Rane frowned. Figured it out? Done right? All you do is dump power into the Archon star, thickening and strengthening the bond. It was the first thing I tried, and it worked just fine. Once I filled out my Archon star, I bumped over the hurdle, and now, Im moving towards Fused with every moment, with every extra bit of power I can spare.


    Um no? Archon stars can only take so much power. I hit that ceiling before I used it to be Bound.


    He nodded. Of course. Before it is integrated into you, it can only be sustained with so much magic. But after? It can soak up an ocean of power.


    T groaned, scratching furiously at her forehead. Are you kidding me? I didnt even think to try that


    Rane gave her a quizzical look. What did you do?


    Im stitching my physical and spiritual selves together, using the Archon star as a tool and my gates power as the thread.


    He simply stared at her, blinking in confusion.


    Master Grediv said Id already done something rting to fusing with my items. She gestured to her elk-leathers. I bound them together spiritually. She grimaced in frustration. Then, some of the Constructionist Refined referenced the same spell-form in regard to <em>fusing</em> with a familiar.


    So, naturally, you thought you should do that.


    It was worth a try, and it worked! She grunted in irritation. I need to thinkLets just walk quietly for a bit.


    Sure.


    * * *


    There were two pleasant dings from the back of the Constructionist Guild when T and Rane entered.


    Jevin strode out. Well, Im d you got some sleep. He nced to Rane. A new friend? Im Jevin.


    Rane was standing, mouth open. MasterJevin?


    Jevin smiled. Yes. And you are?


    Rane was coloring deeply, so T came to his rescue. This is Master Rane.


    Master Rane? Jevin frowned for a moment, then broke into a wide smile. Oh! Youre Master Gredivs boy, his apprentice. Thats right! I saw the announcement of your elevation. Congrattions.


    Rane swallowed. Thank you. Thank you, sir.


    T frowned at Rane. Whats wrong with you? Youre acting strange.


    Rane cleared his throat. Master Jevin is one of the foremost Constructionists on He shook his head. No, hes one of the foremost Constructionists, full stop.


    T looked back and forth between the two men. Thats great! Now, Master Jevin, are you ready?


    Rane turned towards her, eyes wide. Hes the one assisting with the merging?


    Yeah.


    Jevin had a half smile. Master Rane, it seems that your friend does not impress easily.


    You tried to convince me that I was trapped for centuries. She gave Jevin a piercing, half-re.


    He scratched the back of his head. Well, I thought it would be funny He shook his head. But that is beside the point. Shall we go?


    Rane just nodded mutely.


    T rolled her eyes but didnt try to hide her smile.


    The short trip up to the Constructionist facility on the sixth tier passed in near silence, though Jevin engaged some of those they passed in brief dialogues.


    Soon enough, Jevin led them into a chamber, much like the one that Boma had used in assisting her merging of Flow with the midnight ravens feathers and talons. The walls were covered incquered iron tes, and the door was simrly warded with Iron to prevent magic from leaking out, or prating in.


    Terry simply flickered to a corner and settled down.


    Jevin sighed, sitting cross-legged on the floor. Before we do the merging, we should briefly have that talk I mentioned, now that you took your first step towards Fused.


    Rane smiled happily towards T, nodding again in congrattions, though he was still a bit hesitant, given her earlier unhappiness. We actually had a question about that.


    Oh?


    Rane and T each briefly described how they were progressing towards Fused. In the end, T gestured to Jevin. So? Whos right?


    Jevin shrugged. You each are correct, for yourself.


    Both Rane and T red at the Paragon, speaking over each other.


    Master Jevin, that is entirely unhelpful.


    Rust you, thats useless.


    They looked at each other and both huffed augh.


    Master Jevin shook his head. You two are a strange set, you know that?


    What is that supposed to mean?


    Just that Id have not pegged you as friends. You are both too alike and too different. He shrugged.


    So, care to exin? T cocked an eyebrow.


    About the two of you? Thats not for me to address. By the twinkle in his eye, he knew what shed meant.


    About Fusing.


    He shrugged. Its simple. Everyone fuses differently. There are alwaysmonalities, but its based on perception. I cannot impose my perception of fusing onto you and trying could break your gate.


    T growled. Same excuse as always.


    If I lift up a thousand different items and let them fall, would you give me a different answer as to why each elerates downward?


    Well, no.


    Precisely. Each thing with the same answer simply expands the universality of that answer.


    So, why is my method of Fusing so much more convoluted than his? T was quite irritated. And why did Master Grediv try to give me advice?


    Jevin sighed. Master Grediv has good insights into people, and how they work. My guess?


    She nodded, sinking to sit on the floor as Jevin had.


    This is just a guess, mind you: He thought that if you believed the answer was near at hand, you would strive for it more diligently. Is the solution actually that close to what he implied?


    WellNo?


    There you have it.


    She jerked her head towards Rane. That still doesnt exin why I have to crochet, and he gets to just dump in power. Her eyes narrowed.


    To ay your fears, Master Rane will need to manipte his ocean of power, to use hisnguage, for the final step of fusing. It will be a colossal effort of will. Yours is more difficult at the start but will likely get easier as you move forward. Your magic is, as a rule, more delicate and precise than Master Ranes. His is not necessarily more powerful than yours, but it is more focused on power, just as yours isnt really more precise than his, but it is more focused on precision. Jevin shrugged. But thats mainly a guess. It could also be the case that because you believe it should be hard, it is hard for you, and Master Rane believes it should be easy, so it is.


    T sighed. Fine She hesitated, then brought up something that had been bothering her. After I started my Fusing process, I wasvery mentally strained. It was like I hadnt slept in days, and I think I might have been seeing and hearing things that werent real.


    Rane gave her an odd look, but Jevin simply shrugged as he responded, That can happen, especially if you were trying a bunch of different methods. Working with magic and your own soul is incredibly mentally exhausting. In addition, Fusing opens your physical body, meaning your senses, more fully to the spiritual and the magical. Some Archons see deep truths; others have disturbing hallucinations; and mostnd somewhere between those extremes. He smiled, seeing her nodding in understanding. But we are off in the weeds.


    She does that to people. Rane sat down, forming a triangle with the other two. So, what were you going to talk about?


    Jevin smiled Ranes way but didnt address the fact that Rane had tacitly added himself to the lesson. To be Refined, you must purify your body. This is <em>not</em> a personalized process. He looked them each in the eyes. I want to emphasize this again. Do not go your own way. Do not try your own thing. When you are fully Fused, we will simply tell you how to take the next step. He took a deep breath. Please, for the love of humanity, dont try to Refine yourself unguided. Too many Archons used to incinerate themselves with various heat or power sources.


    That seems drastic. How many really did something like that?


    One would be too many for something so foolish, but it was dozens in the early years and a few since.


    <em>Thats not too many.</em>


    Itspletely avoidable. Please just let us help you with that step. Any Archon, Refined or above, will give you the information as soon as you are Fused.


    They both nodded their agreement.


    Alright then. We have a merging to do.


    T grinned as they all stood. She absently topped Kit off, just in case. It did ept some power, but not much. She then removed her belt and set it in the corner, taking Flow from its sheath and the massive ive from Kit.


    Jevin had already begun manipting the scripts in the room, creating the merging spell-forms. He motioned for T to move into the center of the building spell-form, and sheplied, sitting cross-legged once again, with the two weapons bnced across herp.


    Rane, for his part, stood near Terry, well out of the way.


    Onest thing, before we begin.


    T met the older Archons eyes. Yes?


    You are adding in a weapon of the Leshkin. Anychoice that you are presented, which seems toe from a ce other than the Leshkin, will be your weapon attempting to assert dominance over you. Some of this can be eptable, if the gains are appealing, but it will change you, fundamentally.


    T frowned. How is that different?


    We are breaking down the ive and allocating where its power goes. Let me give two examples: If say, you choose an option which allows you to harden your skin like bark, this will result in a portion of the ive''s power settling into your body, instead of all of it joining with your knife. This is not harmful, necessarily, but most rmend against it, as it is a bit sloppy. He smiled. Though, you must decide if the results are worth it to you. Now, if instead, you choose an option that allows you to harden your skin like the metal of your knife, that is the result of the knife extending itself to bond with your body. That <em>is</em> bad, almost always. If you allow too much of that, you will be subservient to the impulses of your bound items. For a weapon, that usually means you will grow in bloodlust and violent tendencies.


    T found herself nodding. Understood, dont let the knife change me, change the knife.


    Exactly.


    She nodded. Lets do this, then.


    Jevin took out a small pouch that T recognized. <em>My Mage gold.</em> The Paragon seemed to have reformed the gold into near perfect spheres; their only defects being a single t spot on one side of each. He ced down the small lumps with what seemed to be careful deliberation, though T couldnt tell why he chose to ce each one where he did.


    There. He contemted the whole. In looking at this, now, I believe that all of the Mage gold will be used, but it wont make the process less costly, it will just catalyze the merging more efficiently, allowing for a better merging. The cost will still be four gold, for which youve already paid that Leshkin weaponry. Is that still eptable?


    T hesitated for just an instant, before nodding. That is eptable.


    Jevin smiled, moving to sit in the small, connected circle prepared for him. With practiced motions, he reached out, cing his hands on perfectly sized imprints on the floor to either side of him. The threads of power seemed to collect, moving across his skin until they all seemed to originate from his hands, flowing into the stone. His gate opened wide; the power flowing outward became a flood; and Ts mage-sight was instantly overwhelmed by a wave of utterly pure magic.


    Her vision went white as a torrent of magic mmed into the knife and, through it, into her.


    * * *


    She was outside herself, without form, looking into a white void.


    It wasnt bright; it wasnt dim; it simply was, and it was white.


    An instant, or perhaps a decade, passed without anything viting the purity of the void.


    Then, before her bodyless gaze, a scene unfolded.


    This was not like the previous two ventures into this void. Instead of simply seeing a version of herself, T was presented with a tableau.


    A Mage streaked through the air on powerful, ck wings, a long ive held in both hands.


    The weapon was near ck, and blood flowed along its length.


    The Mage pivoted with ease, diving back down upon a sea of enemies, reaping lives by the score.


    <em>Dont let the knife change me.</em> More than that, though, T somehow knew that the wings would always be out, and she would never again be trulyfortable on the ground.


    This Mage was <em>not</em> her.


    The vision shifted.


    Vines shot forth from the Archon, as she strode through a pack of wolves.


    Each beast was captured and pinned to the ground, then easily dispatched by a flick of her sword.


    <em>Thats more like it! If I can get restraining abilities from this merging, I can get rid of those scripts and-</em>


    Her thoughts cut off as the Archon turned, giving T a look at the other womans face.


    Her eyes were empty, bottomless pits of hunger and hate. She was little more than a Leshkin.


    <em>Andno.</em> T sighed. This Archon was not her, either.


    The vision shifted.


    Feathers, blood, and rage.


    Shift.


    Inhuman thirst for destruction, and the slow crush of powerful roots.


    Shift.


    Shift.


    Shift.


    T could not have said how many versions shed seen and discarded, but she was beginning to despair. Everything she was being shown was so inhuman as to be entirely uneptable.


    I dont want to change <em>me.</em>


    Shed spoken mainly from frustration, but the void shuddered.


    Shift.


    T fought through an ever-shifting army, Flow in her hand, its form altering smoothly between knife, sword, and ive.


    The knife and sword forms were almost exactly as she currently knew them. The only difference she could discern was from the hints she got of the handles. Those revealed that the hilts were wooden in texture, now, instead of seeming like stone.


    The ive was, as expected, entirely new.


    The wide, sword-like de was just as the de of Flows sword form if a bit shorter. A brilliant haze of heat filled the outline, just as it did for the sword form, and that cauterized the insides of her enemies with every strike.


    The shaft of therge polearm was a dark wood with flecks of gold and spirals of wire embedded throughout.


    The weapon flexed as she wanted, while holding strong at need.


    Moreover, just as Jevin had suggested, there was a weight to all forms of the weapon. Those she struck were driven back. The pieces she severed were sent flying, and the asional opponent that managed to block her was clearly shaken even by the intercepted blow.


    She approached thest manifestation and indicated eptance.


    Power shattered through her and the knife; her very-self felt as if it was being scraped raw.


    * * *


    Her vision splintered back into normal sight, and she found herself sitting cross-legged on the smooth floor of the room, knife resting in her open palms.


    All traces of the ive and spell-forms were gone, and Jevin was standing over her. Terry and Rane were still waiting in their corner.


    Sess? Jevin was examining her with his mage-sight, and after a moment, he seemed satisfied.


    I think so. How long does that take, anyways? Ive never asked.


    For us, there is a bright sh of light, then it is done. A couple of secondster, you return to consciousness.


    Thats all? It feels like a <em>lot</em> longer.


    Thats all. He smiled, holding out his hand to help her up. You are making your choice, and having it enacted upon you, at the speed of the soul.


    T took his offered help,ing to her feet, Flow in hand. Thank you.


    I am happy to have been able to help.

 Chapter 124: A Lot of New Things to Test Out

    Chapter 124: A Lot of New Things to Test Out


    T stood, before releasing Jevins hand and stepping away to gain a bit of room. She then gave Jevin a half bow in thanks for his help standing up.


    Carefully, she took Flow into a proper grip and reached out to her soul-bound weapon with her will.


    Exactly as shed expected, there was now another path for power within the magical matrix of the item.


    T forged a void-channel asrge as she could manage and connected to the new path.


    Flow shifted in her grip, consuming power like a desert drank in water. In less than ten seconds, she held a ive, perfectly sized for herself.


    Unfortunately, the weapons shape was wavering; its magic was barely stable.


    T connected another void-channel, then a third, before it stabilized. Each of these was near double those that shed been in the habit of making. Thus, this form seemed to take nearly double the power to manifest and maintain as Flows sword form.


    <em>Never enough power.</em>


    T spun the weapon experimentally.


    She had little experience with such massive weapons, but her improved physicality and perception ensured that she wouldnt drop it, at least not in such an undistracted moment.


    On a whim, she turned and hurled it towards the doors.


    T had never thrown a spear, and it showed.


    Flow struck the door cleanly, perfectly t and parallel to the wall.


    The hit created a long, straight dent in the metal, and Jevin gave her an incredulous look.


    T flushed, allowing Flow to snap back into knife shape as she called it back.


    Jevin suppressed a smile, but Rane was openly grinning.


    Terry was asleep.


    She sheathed the knife at her belt and scratched her left shoulder. Well, that wasnt the most climactic end, but thank you.


    Jevin gave a slight bow. I am happy to have helped. He waved towards the door. Thatll be trivial to repair, but please dont make a habit of it.


    T nodded sheepishly. YeahI apologize for that.


    Rane spoke up, then, likely trying to help by changing the subject. The new form will be quite useful, though youll need time to learn how to use such a weapon properly.


    T just nodded.


    Jevin was pulling things seemingly out of nowhere, but T didnt focus on the items themselves.


    Okay. Youre the second Archon Ive seen doing something like that.


    He stopped, ncing her way. Youll have to be more specific.


    I dont see your storage device. Youre just pulling things out of thin air.


    Ahh. He smiled at her. Watch closely. He reached out, and <em>something</em> opened before his hand, he immediately withdrew a small sphere, the opening closing behind. Did you see?


    Some sort of storage space? What is it connected to?


    To me. To my body and soul. Whenever I need it, it is there.


    Realization struck. Soul-bound.


    Precisely.


    So does every storage allow that, when soul-bound?


    Oh, absolutely not, but it isnt a hard thing to arrange, if you work at it beforehand.


    T nced down to her pouch. So? She looked back up.


    Oh, yes. It will be very easy to getKit? Yes, thats what you called it. It will be quite easy to prepare Kit so that it has this functionality once you soul-bond it. It will actually be easier than usual.


    Then, what are we waiting for! Lets do that, I have a star. Lets bind and make this happen.


    Jevin blinked at her a few times. Aside from the questionable wisdom of having a star premade and ready-to-hand, I must caution you in three regards.


    T gave him an expectant look.


    First, once the final merging of materials and magic takes ce, you must soul-bind the artifact immediately, or it will be lost, forever.


    Easy enough.


    He gave her a t look. You are effectively creating a storage space, untethered from physical reality.


    <em>Then howFlow. Flowes to me at need. Why would a soul-bound storage be any different?</em> I see.


    So, while easy, it is <em>expensive</em> to pin the construct down even for the short time required to soul-bond it.


    Why not untether it after she trailed off, Because thered be just as much danger of me losing physical connection. She frowned. I just wouldnt choose that option.


    Jevin gave her a wry look. It is reasonable to assume that would work, and maybe it could. But we have <em>never</em> had a recorded case of untethering a soul-bound item, without the Archon vanishing as well, never to return.


    T thought for a moment. What could be offered that was so tempting that no one would refuse?


    Maybe transport to another, better existence? He shrugged. Ive no idea, as it isnt my area of study.


    Alright, so thats the first issue. I have to have a star ready and-


    He spoke over her, briefly. A fully charged star. It cannot be anything less than at maximum power.


    As you say. What else?


    Once this is done, the capacity of the storage can never be altered in any way, magically speaking. Meaning it can never be increased in size He hesitated. Let me correct that. You cannot increase it artificially. It will grow as you do, regardless, but that growth is proportional to its starting size. Its growth will forever be anchored.


    That makes sense, I suppose.


    Additional to the linear growth of the capacity being locked, you will not be able to add any other features.


    Other features?


    There are some who have added magically simted day-night cycles or weather systems within dimensional storages of sufficient size. Some add both.


    Rane was nodding as he joined the conversation. One of my great he hesitated, seeming to think, great, great, great uncles has an orchard in his soul-bound storage. Rane grinned. He always had fruit aplenty, ready to hand.


    Ts eyes widened at the possibilities. So, I cant untether, after soul-binding, and I cant increase Kits magics after untethering. So, effectively, I cant alter Kit after the soul-bond.


    If you wish this functionality. Youll also have to learn to do more than just pull with your soul, but that bes easier once you reach Fused, and easier still at Paragon. That, though, you dont have to wait on. Work on the capabilities of your soul and its bonds. That will help you across the board. It will help you get the greatest utility from the items bound to you.


    T grimaced. <em>Time, eh? And likely money, but how much? </em>How expensive will all this be?


    Assuming you dont find the items or magics you need? Very. I wouldnt rmend binding with a dimensional storage smaller than a modest house, and thats the minimum.


    That seems like it would require a lot of gold


    Raneughed. Oh, yes. There is no quick, cheap fix in this area.


    Jevin shrugged and nodded. Master Rane is correct. In general,bining any two dimensional-storage items is additive, not multiplicative. By the spell-forms I can see, Kit looks to have just around two-hundred-twenty cubic feet of space; is that correct?


    T considered for a moment. That sounds right.


    Alright. A modest house for one person would hold around eight-thousand cubic feet. Sothirty-six? He shrugged. Close enough. Thirty-six times your current size.


    She paled. <em>Kit is worth about thirty gold</em> That meant that shed need dimensional storage items with a total worth of more than a thousand ounces gold to merge into Kit. <em>That doesnt even cover merging costs, let alone the costs for any other features or whatever magics are needed to untether it. </em>Dodo I really need to make it that big?


    Need? No, especially not right now, but it would be pretty foolish not to. You are building something to permanently integrate with your soul. Why would you want to skimp?


    Thats true. T sighed. So, storage was going to continue to be a resource drain, and she wouldnt be able to soul-bind Kit anytime soon. <em>What about defense? </em>T frowned, a thought urring to her. Wait could Imission a magically reinforced wall, with the ability to self-repair, then untether it, bind it, and summon it as a defense?


    Jevin gave her a funny look. Thats quite the change in subject and an oddly specific idea. He lifted a hand, and T saw dimensional energy swirl, a portal shing through the space in front of the Paragon.


    Once the energy had passed, a solid wall of indeterminant material stood beside them, radiating power.


    Ts mouth moved, but she couldnt find the words. It was exactly as shed described, a heavily magically-reinforced defense that would repair itself over time, if given enough power.


    So you have that already?


    Jevin stepped around the wall. No, of course not. If it were untethered, it wouldnt have any physicality with which to be a defense. This is just a wall, albeit a magically reinforced and empowered wall. I have several hundred housed in my dimensional storage. I can bring them forth almost as quickly as what you describe, and, as I said, they actually work to protect me. Additionally, they dont require individual soul-bonds, nor threaten the integrity of my soul, whenever they are damaged. He quirked a smile.


    <em>Oh yeah, that would be a downside that I hadnt considered.</em>


    Waithundreds? Rane was walking around the wall. With hundreds you could build fortifications, almost at will.


    Jevin grinned. Precisely. The Leshkin war of this cycle is approaching, and I often function as a mobile fortress during those decades. He frowned. Centuries? He shrugged. Both are probably true. Obviously, I also help with other threats, but that is thergest scale enemy weve dealt with in quite some time.


    Rane ran his hand down one side of the wall. This is prepared to fuse with any additional walls that touch it. There are power sharing workings and He seemed a bit overwhelmed. This is a ridiculous feat of magical engineering.


    Where do you think all our wealth and knowledge go,d? We are millennia into a never-ending war. We do not steal from the average members of humanity, but we do all we can with a clean conscience to build up our power, utility, and survivability.


    T touched the wall or tried to. Her hand was lightly repulsed. The harder she pushed, the more the wall deflected her. She thought that a quick, full-powered punch <em>might</em> let her brush the surface. She nced to Rane, his hand easily touching the surface.


    Power was swirling around the hand, his scripts clearly working to negate that portion of the walls defense.


    Do I even want to know what one of these would cost?


    Jevin smiled. Probably not, no.


    T sighed. <em>So money will continue to be an issue for centuries toe.</em> She shrugged. Very well.


    Now, Jevin smiled, I have a few answers for your other issues. He waved a hand and the portal for his dimensional storage whipped over the wall, leaving the space empty.


    T perked up. Oh?


    Jevin tossed the sphere that hed most recently pulled from his dimensional storage.


    T caught it, her eyebrows rising at the weight. It was nearly ten pounds, while being barely bigger than her closed fist. This is weighty.


    Solid tungsten. Thats about twelve silver worth.


    It was afortable size in her hand, it wouldnt be hard to throw. So, what would I use it for?


    Well, since you can lower effective gravity for items, you can lower that to virtually nothing. Then when you throw it, youll get a lot greater distance. Youre strong, so it will hit like a charging bull. With practice, you could get up to a hundred miles per hour, if not faster. He shrugged. I dont know, exactly, how much stronger you are than average. Of course, that is just one possible use. Im sure you cane up with many, many more. After you suss those out, we might want to make you different shapes, but a sphere should have the greatest universal utility, at least for now.


    That was an interesting idea. Not novel, but interesting. <em>I could also increase the effective gravity and drop it That would do even more, but Id have to be above my target.</em> She considered.


    If she had a couple with their gravity ramped up until she could barely hold them, theyd be great at pinning people down too.


    As if reading her mind, Jevin lifted a couple light grey metal arches. The internal dimensions were just over five inches wide and little more than two inches tall. As T looked closer, she could see that the inside curve was a t band of metal, with a perpendicr fin fused down the center of the span, clearly meant to reinforce the structure from the back, making the cross-section a T.


    What is T began to nod. Increase the effective gravity, and I can use that to pin a person or something else down. Her eyes widened. I can tuck my feet under two of those.


    Jevinughed. I suppose you could use them to help hold you in ce, supposing the material youre standing on can take it. But I had thought their utilityy in other areas.


    Now that she thought about it, she could wear sturdy, gravity amplified shoes. <em>That wouldnt help with the inertia problem, though. </em>And no one likes heavy shoes<em> I dont particrly like shoes of any kind.</em>


    So, I considered your question about the dimensional anchor, and I think that youll have to decide what tradeoffs you want.


    T refocused on Jevin. She dearly wanted to stop being snatched, hit, or punted off the wagon-top. <em>It would be nice to not be sent flying by Ranes strikes, too.</em>


    The three of them fell into a prolonged discussion of the various possibilities. As they talked, Jevin led them out of the merging room and into afortable lounge, off a side corridor.


    Terry came along, perched on Ts shoulder as usual.


    An assistant got them afternoon tea. They were a bitte for it, but there were leftovers aplenty.


    They discussed dozens, if not hundreds of ideas.


    Finally, Rane started pacing. Lets walk, while we talk. Im starting to feel like a prisoner in here.


    As the words left the Bounds mouth, Jevin jerked. Thats it!


    T and Rane turned to fully face the man, and T prompted. What did you think of?


    Prison!


    T frowned, but Ranes face shifted to one of consideration.


    Can someone exin? Is there something about prisons Im not aware of?


    Powerful, dangerous, or magically potent prisoners are all handled in virtually the same way, and it might be just what you need.


    I assume you dont mean executionright?


    Jevinughed. No, no. Not execution.


    T leaned forward, paying close attention.


    Most could break through any confinement, given enough time. So, a dimensional prison is used.


    Exin.


    Its an item in two parts, usually linked to the citys power matrix. One part is on the prisoner, to identify the target. Its affixed in some manner to prevent its removal, but thats not relevant, now. The other part is the anchor. Effectively, the item creates a donut of space, ten feet in diameter, which contains the prisoner. It doesnt create any visual effect, but if the prisoner walks further than ten feet from the anchor, space is expanded. That way, no matter how they run, walk, or move, when they stop, they are still no further than ten feet from the anchor.


    T leaned back. <em>Thats a little terrifying, actually</em> It sounded a lot like the cargo-slots'' working, if more active and dynamic.


    Simrly, if they try to approach within arms length of the anchor, or draw it to them, space is expanded to keep them out of reach.


    So, its immovable by the one it affects.


    When built as a prison, yes. That also allows a jailer to pick up the anchor and move the prisoner without being in danger. Even so, we dont need to include that inner working. You could pick up the anchor and affix it to anything you want.


    Wait, couldnt Mage prisoners just use their magic on those around them? Or the anchor?


    The key locks onto the target: body, soul, and magic. An apologetic look stole over his face. It was actually originally adopted from necromantic traps.


    T gave him a t look. So, Id be trapping my own soul. She frowned. What would that do to my soul-bound items?


    Anything with a physical presence would be, likewise, contained. This is a benefit when used for imprisonment.


    Could we leave out the soul aspect?


    Jevin considered. I believe so. Like removing the inner working, that should increase the efficiency. Ill look into it.


    Ideally, I wouldnt want my magic contained, either. It <em>shouldnt</em> be an issue, because I just need to be able to perceive that which I target, and so my magic doesnt cross the intervening space She hesitated. Would it affect things that I throw?


    Depends on the sensitivity, but I think I can build it, so that its restricted to your body, not things that you are touching or have touched recently.


    T hesitated. Waitwhat about my defenses?


    What about them?


    If I am immune to magic- she cut herself off, No, it doesnt act on me, it expands the dimensionality around me. Otherwise, it would be a contest of wills with the prisoner and have uncertain results.


    Correct. So long as the key is outside your defense it should work just fine.


    Yeah, that should work. Her eyes narrowed. How much?


    Jevin considered. As an inscribed item? He nodded. Yeah, Id insist on that. We dont want to attempt making an artifact style item with an untested structure. He scratched his chin. I think I can develop and create a first version for ten gold.


    Ts eyes widened, about to protest, but she hesitated, giving herself a moment to think.<em> The cost is for him to develop a unique variation on my behalf and create it. Even so, what really matters is how long I can use it.</em> How long would itst?


    Depends on use. You should be able to charge it yourself, assuming you havent just been pretending to understand me. Id say two months of moderate use, including as a sparring aid to get used to it and improve its utility to you, or a couple of years of emergency only use.


    T sighed. <em>So, Ill be lucky if itsts a few weeks.</em> What will it cost after that?


    A few gold to reinscribe, assuming we dont want to make a new version.


    Alright So, four gold for the merging, already settled, she patted Flow, at her waist, one gold, twenty silver for ten of the tungsten balls, and forty silver for ten sets of the metal arches, right? She wanted to y around with the items, to see what she could do with them.


    That sounds right. Jevin pulled out a te, building out an invoice. So, thats a total of eleven gold, and sixty silver ounces owed.


    How soon can youplete theI really dont want to call it a dimensional prison


    Jevinughed. How about dimensional tether? I believe I can have a working version in a couple of days.


    Thats feasible. When Jevin held out the te to her, T confirmed the transaction. <em>My money is not going as far as I would like</em> And there were so, so many expenses looming ahead of her. She sighed. Thank you, Master Jevin.


    Rane bowed towards both of them. Thank you for allowing me to observe the merging and participate in the discussion.


    They both smiled towards Rane, responding overtop of one another.


    Of course, Master Rane.


    I wasnt going to kick you out, was I?


    T and Rane bid farewell to Jevin and departed. As they began walking back down the spiral, T nced towards Rane.


    So I need to test some things, and I need to learn what Im doing, then practice, with a ive. Her eyes flicked to Terry before returning to Rane. Im not to the point with this guy, she tilted her head towards the bird, where it matters what weapons I use. So, thats no help. Willing to work with me?


    Rane grinned in return. Absolutely. The trainingplex has a deal with some local restaurants; so, we can get food delivered.


    That sounds like a wonderful way to spend the evening.


    Thus, they headed straight back to the training grounds; T had a <em>lot</em> of new things to test out.

 Chapter 125: That Seems Wise

    Chapter 125: That Seems Wise


    T growled as she threw three tungsten balls, followed closely by Flow in the form of her ive.


    None struck its intended target, and the backstop she and Rane had set up was now slowly toppling away from her, despite the bracing theyd added.


    <em>I did manage to stick the ive in point first. Thats not nothing.</em>


    Of the six, evenly spaced targets, three had been struck, but not in the center and not the ones shed been aiming for.


    Hey! Thats much better.


    T red at Rane.


    The man was moving through one of his forms but had enough attention to spare to mock her.


    Thats not helpful.


    What? You hit three out of four.


    Not the ones I aimed for


    He gave her a quizzical look. How was I supposed to know that?


    Ithats fair. She groaned. <em>Two days. </em>Shed been training for two days, and she didnt feel like her aim was improving at all. <em>Thats not fair. I am getting a little better, and it has only been two days.</em>


    In irritation, she called Flow back, maintaining its ive shape with effort, and dropped into the beginning of a form that Rane had taught her. Hed imed that the early forms for this weapon were little more than modified staff training techniques, but they helped her build confidence in her use of the weapon. <em>The advanced techniques should be pretty awesome, when I get there.</em>


    She kept a grimace from distorting her features. <em>Doesnt help with my throws, though</em> She calmed her mind, using the now well-practiced movements to clear her head.


    <em>Ha, well-practiced</em> Shed learned the sequence only yesterday morning, though she had moved through them a couple hundred times since then. <em>Maybe it is well-practiced at that.</em>


    The series of movements ended with a downward sweep. She exhaled sharply and held the pose for a moment before spinning the weapon back up to rest on her shoulder.


    She released her void-channels, and Flow returned to the shape of a knife even as she sheathed it at her belt.


    By her reckoning, Jevin would have the dimensional tether for her by now, and the Culinary Guild should have her venturing food as well.


    During the past two days, shed taken time to meditate and work within herself, adding two more stitches towards Fusing. <em>Two of</em> No, shed determined to not consider the magnitude of the task before her. <em>One at a time.</em>


    Im going to get cleaned up. Ive a couple of errands to run.


    Wantpany? After the briefest of pauses, he rified, For the errands.


    She shrugged. I think Ill be ok. Then, thinking of the Culinary Guild, she hedged a bit further. It would probably be nice to take the walk by myself. I wont be gone long.


    Suit yourself. He simply continued his workout.


    Once T was cleaned up and back on the city spiral, she asked Terry to carry her.


    He agreed, without hesitation. So, she made good time, arriving at the Constructionist Guild office where Jevin worked in short order.


    The magical scan and pleasant ding greeted her.


    In the back! Jevins voice carried in such a way that she didnt think hed been shouting, but he still sounded quite far back in theplex.


    T shook her head, and walked down the halls, trying to find her way to his workshop.


    The few times she went to make a wrong turn, unknowingly, Jevin called out to her again.


    Finally, she arrived, Terry firmly asleep on her shoulder.


    Jevins workshop was much as shed remembered it, if a bit more organized.


    The oddly moving mud caught her eye again, and T walked over to the heavily empowered ss jar, ignoring Jevin, who was working in another part of the shop.


    Dont touch that.


    T hesitated. She had, in fact, been about to touch the ss. What is it?


    That, my young Bound, is living iron. Jevin walked over to stand next to her, shaking his head. Its always awkward to address Bound by that title.


    Archon? Mage? Mistress T?


    Too vague, some would be insulted, and too long. He had a slight smile, seeming to indicate another attempt at humor.


    T huffed augh, but otherwise decided to ignore the effort. So, living iron?


    Its a not-quite-magical creature that weve run across a few times. More frequently recently.


    The reddish-brown mud seemed to be trying to crawl up the side of the container, but it couldnt get purchase on the walls or push the lid free. Interestingly, it didnt seem to leave any residue; so, the ss stayed clean.


    Even through the heavy magic on the container, Ts mage-sight was able to get a look at the creature. It did, indeed, look like any other bit of iron. <em>Like how I look, with my iron-salve.</em>


    Weve found individuals of several distinct metals, but they die quickly when exposed to what we would call breathable air.


    What do they do?


    No idea. Thats why Im studying it. He hesitated. Well, obviously we know some things. He handed her a sheet of paper. These are the gaseous mediums they can exist in, along with liquid, and solid.


    T looked over it in passing.


    Whatever their metal, they seek out and consume it, adding it to their shape.


    So not-quite-magical. Do they have magic or not?


    No? No more than any other creature. Weve found some with bits of magic, but weve not seen signs of intelligence sufficient forplex mental constructs, and theyve no will to speak of; spell-workings take hold with almost no resistance. After another pause, he smiled. Well, they do on those notposed of iron.


    But they could go through a fount.


    He gave her a searching look. Yes. Though, I doubt an iron could.


    Why study them?


    His look changed to one of genuine confusion. Because they exist, and we dont understand them.


    Ahh. <em>Right, knowledge for knowledges sake.</em>


    It is fascinating. When damaged, they move the metal into the wound first, almost as we would form a scab. The biological aspect then back-fills.


    Can magic flow through it?


    You mean like an inscription? They seem to exhibit all the same properties as their metal, so yes, at least in theory. Even though weve determined ack of sapience, Im still hesitant to experiment on them too extensively.


    You just talked about damaging them.


    Of course. Can you not imagine a scenario when a Mage might need to do so?


    T frowned.


    Metals, Mistress.


    Her eyes widened. What happened?


    One of the more extreme examples urred when a Mage slept on the bare rock of a cave. Apparently, that was close enough contact to let the metal be sensed, and a living copperate the copper out of him.


    Thatshorrifying.


    Just a bit, yeah. He survived, but it was an enlightening experience. He hesitated for a moment. That actually provides an answer to your question. Though, I hadnt thought of it in that light.


    Oh?


    The Mages inscriptions functioned perfectly, until the creature left, taking the copper with it. So, yes, magic can flow through them identically to the raw metal.


    <em>Interesting</em> T regarded the container once again. Is there a name that covers all of them? Regardless of metal?


    Dasgannach.


    Colorful name.


    Not a metallic one?


    T gave him a t look.


    Jevin suppressed a smile and shook his head. Fine. The namees from arcane records. These creatures were known but not often seen. They were a curiosity more than anything.


    So, why is this dasgannach so dangerous? Ive no iron in me.


    Jevin cocked an eyebrow.


    T nced his way, then froze, realization blooming. No.


    And she understands.


    A blood eater? As T asked, Terry shifted on her shoulder but otherwise didnt react.


    We caught this one because several people in a single family that didnt have any pre-existing conditions of note died of what seemed to be extreme anemia. They also each apparentlyined of odd, random itching, leading up to their deaths. He shook his head. Honestly, anemia doesnt really cover it properly, even though it is, technically, correct.


    So, that wasinside them, consuming their iron until they died?


    Hmm? No, no. They were perfectly healthy until the creature left. It stayed until all the iron was under its control, every drop of blood from the heart to the smallest capiry. Then, it took it all, when it passed to the new host. He paused. The iron, I mean. Not the blood itself. Left their blood almost entirely white, and utterly useless for carrying oxygen within them. The victim left behind suffocated with full lungs and strong hearts. Interestingly, each subsequent host felt invigorated, leading up to their death, likely due to the higher iron content, or maybe some chemical cocktail to keep the host functioning at peak form until the dasgannach was finished. He shook his head. One of the stranger things Ivee across.


    T swallowed involuntarily. Thats not how any of that should work.


    Hence not-quite-magical.


    She grunted. And now, I have new fuel for my nightmares. Thank you for that.


    Better to know, than live in ignorance.


    T took another step back. Yeah Ill leave that thing be.


    That seems wise.


    So the tether?


    Ah! Yes. He led her over to a side table and pointed to a set of bracers made of leather and ted with heavily inscribed wood. Beside them rested a wooden spring-clip with inscriptions so intricate that T had trouble discerning them, even after she picked it up.


    Lacquered?


    Yes, to protect the metal, at least until you activate it. Please dont throw it into anything especially hard. You wont be able to disrupt the active scripts, but you could reduce their effective lifespan. It should be fine, clipped to your belt, Terrys cor, or part of a wagon.


    Terry cracked an eye to regard the device, then settled back down.


    T nodded, clipping it to her belt. Did you get the functionality you wanted out of it?


    I did. He handed her a small booklet. Read that before you empower the device. Youll get better efficiency.


    Fair enough. She examined the bracers more closely. They were small, not sized as armor, and their straps were both intricate and sturdy. Can these take a hit? I dont exactly stay out of direct damage.


    Thats why there are two. So long as one is intact, the anchor will continue to function.


    She nodded. <em>Not ideal, but it will work for now.</em> She contemted for a moment. <em>You know, after we have these perfected, I could meld the artifact form with my elk-leathers. That should make them effectively invulnerable.</em>


    Jevin grinned, unaware of her wandering thoughts. And I anticipated the issue might extend beyond even that precaution. He pulled out another set of bracers. Wearing any one of these will be sufficient, and their power and metal use should be vastly less than that of the anchor. If you wish, you could affix these to your lower legs, but I think that might be a bit excessive.


    T felt a bit better with such back-ups. Though, part of her felt like she should be insulted. <em>Oh, yes. The brilliant Constructionist correctly covered for a weakness. How dare he?!</em> She shook her head at her own immature thoughts. Thank you. Whats the extra cost?


    He waved that away. Most of the cost was in the development, and I promised you a device that would work for <em>you.</em> Having backups is required in your case.


    She did re, then. <em>Eh, baby steps. No one matures overnight.</em> Thats hurtfully urate.


    He gave her a quizzical look, before shaking his head and smiling. I aim to fulfill mymissions, not keep you happy.


    T sighed. Fair She crinkled her nose, pushing her mild irritation aside. Well, thank you. With clumsy motions, T strapped on one set of bracers. She moved her arms around and felt the bracers pulling and pinching. Her sleeves were caught, cinched down against her arms and the odd constriction around her forearms made opening and closing her hands feelodd.


    Jevin sighed. Here, let me. He reached over, working the buckles and straps, and subtly shifting the bracers and her sleeves, until they were quite a bit tighter than shed managed by herself. Even so, after his ministrations, they <em>felt</em> looser, while shifting less. There.


    T moved her arms, stretching this way and that. There was no pinching, pulling, or constriction. Huh Ill have to learn how to do that.


    Jevin nodded. Take them off, and Ill walk you through it.


    Together, T and Jevin removed and reced the bracers half-a-dozen times. Then, T did it herself half-a-dozen more, while Jevin watched andmented. The Paragon was giving off a paternal air that made her slightly ufortable. It wasnt that his actions or attitude were unwee, unhelpful, or inappropriate; it was more that, for that brief time, she felt like this virtual stranger was acting more like her father than her father had, at least near the end.


    Ultimately, she was fairly confident that she could get the right cement and fit, even if it would take some finagling.


    Thank you. She put her parental issues aside and gave Jevin a genuine smile, tucking the extras into Kit.


    I am happy to help. He was nodding to himself. Now, I dug those out for you. He waved in a gesture towards a nearby cloth sack.


    T frowned, going over and opening the bag. Within were six well-maintained, but obviously old, iron spheres of various permeability. Each had an identical wooden ball inside. <em>Well, I assume thest one does, too.</em>


    One extreme of the set was a sphere of interwoven wire, with holes <em>just</em> too small for the wooden ball to fall out through. When she looked closer, she saw that the wires were welded at the crossings, to prevent the holes from opening wider.


    The other extreme was a nearly perfectly smooth iron ball with no perforations or holes, at all. The four other balls were an even progression between those, two, and all six were covered with minor dings, dents, and scratches.


    What are these for?


    For you to practice. You didnt seem enthusiastic about letting me oppose your will, so these will work. I wish all Mages would train with something simr, and I insist all my apprentices do so, but most have a reasonable dislike of iron. I assume you wouldnt have that issue.


    T grinned. Not even a bit.


    Good. You arent my apprentice, so I cant make you use those, but I do rmend it. He was moving back towards his earlier project. If you change your mind, Im happy to oppose your workings, but those should be a good starting point, regardless. Just return them when each bes too easy for you. Im rather attached to them. His smile was one of fond memories, tinged with the sadness of a parent whose children were out on their own.


    T was regarding thest ball, trying to ignore the awkward emotions. I cant do a working through solid iron.


    Im not asking you to.


    She frowned. After a long moment, she began to nod. You want me to see if I can affect an objects gravity from the other side. See if my scripting will allow that.


    Do you think they could? He gave her a half-interested look. <em>Hes trying to not put pressure on me, but he does think this might be possible.</em>


    Maybe. Gravity, at its most basic, is an interaction between two-points. I should be able to affect one through the otherpossibly. She didnt know how, but it seems like it <em>should</em> be possible.


    Good. If you can work that out, very few defenses will work against you. His smile lessened for a moment as he amended. Well, other than direct opposition of will. So, no passive defense should work against you. He grinned fully once again.


    Well, Ill definitely add this to my training.


    Jevin opened his mouth toment, but hesitated, tilting his head to one side. I believe someone is here to see you.


    T grimaced. <em>I told Rane I would be back.</em> Couldnt he let her run two errands on her own?


    An older, Mage protector His face shifted slightly towards sadness, but he didnt say why. Shall we go greet her?


    <em>Oh, Mistress Odera. </em>It seemed odd to T, that he woulde, but she didnt object.


    Together, they walked through the building, until they reached the entry room where Mistress Odera waited.


    Mistress Odera gave a deep bow towards Jevin, hands sped. Master Jevin. I did not know you would be in residence at this location. I am Mage Odera.


    Mistress Odera, be wee. His voice was soft, but still carried through the room with ease. You said you were here to speak with Mistress T? He gestured to T as she stepped up beside him.


    <em>She said? She must have spoken when she entered, and he obviously has some way of perceiving the entrance.</em>


    I am, indeed. Mistress Odera turned to regard the younger Mage. Greetings, Mistress T. Master Rane informed me that I was likely to find you here. Our schedule has been altered. A critical shipment is anticipated, and ours is the only caravan already within the city that can carry the cargo in its entirety. There have been increasing dys on iing caravans, and they dont want to risk theck of a sufficient caravan. After a moment, she smiled kindly. Thankfully, we havent confirmed the permanent loss of any caravan, stars be praised.


    T frowned as she bowed. Greetings Mistress. By altered, what do you mean? <em>At least Rane didnte, himself.</em>


    Weve been asked to dy our departure by almost a month.


    T balked at that. Why? And why tell me now?


    I just learned an hour ago, or I would have told you at ourst meal. As a concession for the inconvenience, we will each be paid a stipend of two gold per day, for each day past our previously scheduled departure. That will be a total of fifty gold apiece.


    Ts eyes widened in shock.


    Indeed. It seems that this load of goods <em>must</em> be shipped together, and the client is willing to pay to ensure such.


    T nodded, finding herself a bit speechless.


    We will need to power down the cargo-slots. So, you will have to find another ce to stay, but you also wont need to return to the work-yard each morning.


    Finally, T found her tongue once again. Thank you for bringing me this news.


    Mistress Odera gave a slight bow. Of course. If you can, please get any items you need from the cargo-slot this evening, and the local Wainwrights will oversee the deactivating of the slots tomorrow. You were not requested for that, but you would likely be wee to observe, if you so desired.


    I will gather a few things. Thank you. I dont believe I will observe.


    There was a slight lull, as they ran out of applicable topics.


    Jevin cleared his throat, stepping into the silence. Mistress T, I believe that we have concluded our business for the moment. Would you be willing to depart, so that Mistress Odera and I could have a word?


    T frowned, giving him what she thought was an inquisitive look, but he simply waited for her response. Alright. She bowed to each of them in turn. Master Jevin, Mistress Odera.


    They bid her farewell in return.


    As she left, her enhanced hearing picked up the beginning of their conversation.


    Mistress Odera. I know what is in your pocket. Would you like me to take it from you? That is not a cure, but it will be a dy.


    Mistress Oderas voice came back, obviously filled with relief, an edge of pleading apparent as well. If youmand, Paragon, I will obey.


    The door swung shut, locking T out of the remainder of the exchange, and she and Terry started upward, towards the Culinary Guild office on the fifth floor.

 Chapter 126: Kit Was Full

    Chapter 126: Kit Was Full


    T and Terry made good time to the Culinary Guild. The assistant on duty was obviously a bit ufortable with Ts arrival, but hed apparently been advised to expect her.


    Atr came out to greet her in short order, leading T down a side hallway into a spacious pantry.


    The four walls were covered, floor to ceiling, in shelving. A counter ran the circumference in front of the upper shelves, and above the lower. That counter was only broken by the single door in and out.


    Arge work-surface anchored the room from the center, with a six-foot walkway all the way around.


    The room was bigger than most home-kitchens. <em>And this is just a side pantry. </em>She wasnt sure what shed expected from the Culinary Guild. If she was being honest, shed not given it much thought.


    The shelves of this pantry were stocked full of bulk goods, wellbeled and tightly sealed.


    On the central counter a treasure trove of non-perishable food was spread out, awaiting Ts inspection.


    We try to keep proper nutrition in mind. Atr had a self-contented smile. I oversaw the selection myself, bending the choices towards those wed give abat response group.


    When T gave her a quizzical look, Atr continued.


    We tried to ensure that you have the right nutrients for proper healing and bodily function.


    Terry was looking around with interest, but he didnt leave her shoulder.


    Altr walked T through each section of the staggering array of food. <em>I need to expand Kits capacity</em>


    There were dried fruits and vegetables of all kinds, grains en masse, and canned meats in ridiculous abundance. T had seen canned food before, but her family had rarely used it. As she considered, she actually didnt know how it worked.


    Atr grinned widely when T asked. We use the same methods the supply masters use for city emergency stores. A marginal dimensional expansion on the food, which fades once the can is sealed. That causes a strong vacuum that helps prevent any seepage or contamination of the contents. Then, we have a powerful sterilization inscription that we activate on all the goods. It kills anything that might otherwise ruin the stores. It is more effective than home-preservation methods and allows for the long-term preservation of items that cant take heat-canning.


    T nodded appreciatively, d for the exnation, but not really interested in a deeper exploration. <em>The preservation process works, it wont fail, and I dont have to be concerned about the food going bad.</em>


    Atr handed her a simple notebook, smaller than Ts palm. This contains the list of items and rmended preparations and meal-ns. Feel free to add yourments and ratings, then when you re-order, we can shift what we provide to match your specifications.


    Couldnt I just tell you?


    She gave T a long look. Mistress, this is five-hundred days worth of meals for one person who is expecting heavy exertion, and it will effectively never spoil, assuming it isn''t damaged or otherwise despoiled. I deeply hope that you dont remember your impressions of the early meals when you finally reorder.


    Ts eyes widened, doing quick math. <em>I gave her a budget of two gold. So,</em> How can you provide meals for fourteen copper apiece? She hesitated. <em>No, thats not actually that cheap, is it</em> She could almost get three of Gretels meat pies for that price, and that would be a reasonable meal for most people. Food from a restaurant or food-cart was almost always more expensive than it would cost to make it herself.


    We make all of this in colossal quantities. We pulled your order from a batch were putting together to ship to the City Builders'' Guild at the current construction site.


    <em>The new city.</em> The Builders eat this, regrly? Why wouldnt they just get it from the closest city?


    It is meant to supplement and insure against the loss of supply caravans, so yes this does feed them, but not exclusively. As to why from us? She shrugged. While we are on the far side of human civilization, all cities pull their weight in the support of uing bastions of humanity. At the moment, we have an excess of foodstuffs, so that is what were sending. Atr smiled. If cities between here and there have need of the food, instead, theyll trade it out for other things of use to the Builders.


    T nodded, thinking through all the implications. Most of her thoughts centered around the food, before her, rather that the intricacies of inter-city trade agreements. <em>That makes a lot of sense. If they are making vast quantities of this type of food, theyre likely able to be much more efficient and thus get the price much lower than it could be under other circumstances.</em>


    We still do rmend that you get some form of cauldron or cooking pot. Trying to cook this up without such a tool will be difficult. Obviously, you can eat some without preparation, but most will need some cooking.


    T shrugged. Any rmendations on a supplier?


    Atr grinned. We can offer some options. The best would be cast-iron, both for longevity and utility, but I understand that Mages want as little to do with iron as possible. We have several other options that should serve well-enough.


    T waved her off. Cast-iron will be just fine.


    That threw the woman off for a moment, but she recovered quickly. Atr turned, squatting to reach behind where shed been standing, into one of the lower shelves, muttering under her breath, clearly not intending T to hear, Not the strangest thing about her, I suppose.


    T didntment.


    With a soft grunt of effort, Atr pulled out a rtivelyrge, cast-iron cauldron. This can be set over a fire without need of a grill or suspension. The woman set the heavy cookpot on the central worksurface.


    T nced to the bottom and easily saw three legs sprouting from the pot-bellied base. Those would hold it a good six inches above a t surface or be sunk into ground to give greater stability and less distance above the heat. The cauldron itself was just under a foot in each dimension at thergest, discounting the legs. The sidewalls and lid were all thick, which would lend them longevity if T cared for it properly.


    Atr spent a few minutes extolling the virtues of the cauldron, pulling out several implements for use alongside it and exining how it should be cared for.


    Alright, Ill give it a try. How much?


    Ten silver.


    T sighed. Shed expected as much, if she was being honest. That was twenty-five days of meals, at the cost she was paying here. <em>Still, cant eat the meals if I cant prepare them.</em> Can you throw it in, with such arge order?


    Atr gave her a long look. I think if you are still willing to discuss theother item, then yes. We can sell the food and these implements for a total of two gold.


    T nodded. <em>Its always worth asking.</em> Thank you.


    After theyd finalized the transaction, T took Kit off her belt in order to make the loading faster. She didnt worry about organization within Kit; the dimensional storage would arrange as appropriate. <em>Yeah, I definitely need to give Kit some good upgrades. They are well-earned and heartily deserved.</em>


    She thought about it for a moment as she continued moving items into the pouch. <em>I have a bit more free funds than I was expecting. An upgrade to Kits capacities is likely one of the better investments I can make, at the moment.</em> She would investigate it at least.


    She hitched for a moment. <em>I forgot to ask about a clock of some kind.</em> She sighed. <em>I really do have too much going on</em>


    Once all the items were tucked away, she regarded Atr once again. So, did the Order make a decision?


    Atr was looking through notes on her te, and she nced up. Noticing that T was done, Atr tucked the te away and nodded. We have. If you allow us to add you as a member of the Order within the Archive, we will not oppose you taking the question to one you deem appropriate.


    T thought about Ingrits answers in the Bandfast Archons library. <em>My being a member might allow me to unlock the records to a librarian, for investigation. Then, I can progress from there.</em> I agree. She hesitated. Wait You have Order membership logged in the Archive?


    Of course. We have to, so that we can properly restrict ess to our research.


    But youre trying to hide from MagesArent you being a bit trusting?


    Atr shrugged. If the inter-guild agreements fail, we will have something to worry about, but as it is, the Archive has proven itself utterly secure and discreet.


    T did not understand, but she didnt have to. Alright, then.


    Atr went through the process of adding T to the confidential rolls of the Order of the Harvest. Apparently, even the name of the Order was sealed from anyone who wasnt authorized, within the Archive.


    <em>I guess Im d that its that secure.</em> She really should get an Archive te for herself. <em>That should probably be my next big purchase, after expanding Kit, assuming thats reasonably priced.</em>


    With no further business, T bid Atr farewell and headed back down the tree, towards the work-yard and the cargo-slot that she needed to empty.


    * * *


    Within the cargo-slot room that shed called her own for nearly two weeks, T didnt have much to consider. In the end, T took her bed, but that was about all she needed from the space.


    Everything else of hers lived in Kit.


    Blessedly, the bedframe folded to a size that would fit through Kits opening, and the mattress, while incredibly firm, still flexed enough to be forced through.


    After that addition, Kit was full. There was still enough room that T could pull out what she needed, but she didnt really have room to climb down in anymore, let alone room for a bath.


    <em>Uneptable.</em> Instead of going back to the training room, she returned to Jevin in the Constructionist Guild.


    Mistress Odera was gone, as T had expected, and Jevin came from the back shortly after the pleasant ding announced Ts arrival. It was stillte afternoon; so, it wasnt after business hours, thankfully.


    Mistress T? What are you doing back so soon?


    I need to make my dimensional storagerger.


    He nodded. That makes sense. I assume you just need raw size, not any other feature?


    She frowned. Yes? What do you mean?


    Well, every additional feature or ability integrated with a dimensional storage is addedplexity and expense. We do, however, have quite a few Mages and Archons who simply want to expand their storage devices, not to mention a host of mundanes who just want to store a lot of things.


    What are you getting at?


    If you just need the extra space, we can expand it much more cheaply than the cost of a truly useful dimensional item, containing the space we need.


    She grimaced. Thats not what you conveyed before.


    I was conveying generalities and minimums. Its always better to set expectations of cost at a reasonable level.


    So?


    He gave her a look. I assume your new desire is partially inspired by your stipend from the Caravan Guild?


    It is.


    Do you want to spend all of it?


    No? I can probably spare She hesitated, taking a deep breath. thirty ounces, gold?


    We can triple your pouchs capacity, with that.


    Is that the full cost? Or just for the construct that we need?


    For item andbination.


    Great. Lets do that. Shed been hoping to at least double Kit for thirty gold, a tripling was almost enough to make herugh in glee. When can it be done?


    We can do it now. It doesnt take that long. He motioned for her to follow him, and he led her into a backroom that shed not seen before. That wasnt surprising, as shed not really explored thisplex, despite her somewhat frequent visits.


    She looked around, taking in the simple space. Most of the room was filled with a heavily inscribed construction of immenseplexity. The clearly inscribed construct appeared to be made in sections, mostly of wood, cleverlytched together. As a part of the construct, there were two small tforms, each with an open, smooth circle of wood three feet across.


    Alright, what do I do?


    ce your storage on the left side, and I will be right back.


    She did as he asked, unclipping Kit and setting the pouch within the clear circle. After a moments hesitation, T quickly topped off Kits power reserves. <em>Better to be safe.</em>


    Jevin returned carrying a simple wooden crate.


    Physically, it was expertly crafted, the seams all but undetectable even with her enhanced vision. The dowels did stand out, pinning the sides together, but in a way that added to the beauty rather than took from it. The leather hinges were obvious as well, woven through smooth holes in the lid and through the top of one side.


    Dimensional magic was quite evident surrounding the box, and it was as simple as it was powerful. All that the magic ingrained into the artifact-like construct did was expand space within. There was no istion, no organization, no protection. It was just a box that was bigger on the inside.


    <em>I feel like it would look even prettier painted blue.</em> She shrugged at the odd notion. It was already a well-crafted container. There was no need to cover up the craftsmans work.


    <em>It expands space like Kit does.</em> T paused at that. <em>Wait if Kit just expands the space, the inside should always be leather, like the pouch.</em> She looked back towards Kit. Her mage-sight saw what shed always seen, the magics ingrained in the pouch were directed at expanding the space within, defending the pouch, and axis, weight, and kic istion for the expanded space. <em>And theres more that I dont really understand. Something tying it all together.</em> Obviously, there were at least space maniption aspects, otherwise Kit couldnt reorganize, or give her what she reached for. <em>Worth looking into, further, but not now.</em>


    She shrugged internally. Jevin had examined Kits magic and hadnt seen anything of concern. So, it was fine.


    This, right now, has a bit more than double the capacity of your pouch. We expect a little bit of loss, with mostbinations. He set the crate down in the other circle of therger construct. This device, he patted the massive construction. This will hold the contents of your storage in suspension,bine the devices, and return your items to the newly created whole.


    T nodded, feeling a bit nervous. And that wont damage Kit?


    No. Were very good at this, Mistress. No functionality will be lost. After a moment, when she was clearly still concerned, he continued. We have a guarantee, but since its been centuries since it was invoked, we rarely bother speaking of it.


    That did make T feel better, at least a bit. She nodded. So, what now?


    Now? Since one of the storage items is magic-bound to you, you must power the merger. He pointed to a hand-shaped impression off to one side.


    T walked up to it and ced her hand there. Just feed it power?


    I would suggest creating a mental construct of your aim, but yes. I assume you understand dimensional expansion well enough for the mental model?


    She nodded. <em>So, the mental model that matters is the result, not the process.</em> That made sense. It wouldnt be very efficient, but it would work. Lets do it.


    Without further hesitation, she built a mental image of the end result she wanted: Kit, with greater spatial capacity.


    She forged onerge void-channel and connected it to the massive device through her mental construct. That wasnt giving enough power, so she made another, then another. Finally, she reached the needed flowrate.


    Power ripped through her, moving in a thunderous tide.


    Slowly, the copper lines on the great construct began to glow, her power suffusing the feat of magical engineering.


    When the entire room was filled with coppery light, the air hummed with power. Kit and the crate slowly lifted up, floating on power and circled by activated inscriptions.


    Both storage items seemed to be translucent, their magical matrixes fading into visibility even to Ts mundane sight.


    Just like shed seen before, the crate was a simple, straightforward construct.


    Kits magics, on the other hand, were a mind-bending, interconnected masterpiece. If T hadnt known better, she would have said it looked like some sort of alien being, one that couldnt possibly exist in their world. That image wasnt helped when Kits scripts shifted, unfurling like a great mouth opening wide.


    It consumed the simple script as a cat consumes a tasty treat.


    As T watched, the crates spell-forms were pulled free of the physical object. As soon as the spell-lines separated, the wooden crate came back to easy visibility, settling back down within its circle.


    The magics stolen from the crate were pulled into Kit, absorbed, digested, and integrated into the pouch. The result was arger, slightly moreplex, alien construct of interwoven spell-lines.


    The empowered item that T was feeding with her void-channels slowly wound down. Kit and the crate floated down to rest where they had been, physically unchanged.


    When the draw of power through her hand ceased, T broke down her void-channels, stepped forward, and examined the crate. <em>Nothing. Just a simple wooden box.</em>


    Then, she picked up Kit and looked inside.


    There was so much room! Tughed. Thats amazing! She turned to Jevin but hesitated when she saw the Paragon regarding her and Kit oddly. Is everything alright?


    That was more animated than I usually see.


    Thebining? Thats exactly what Id expected. She shrugged. Well, I suppose I mean it seemed right to me, not that I really knew what to expect.


    He visibly rxed. Ahh, that makes sense. This sort ofbination often takes a form ording to the casters understanding. He smiled. So, are you satisfied?


    Well, I dont have a measuring tape on me, but it looks great.


    He nodded. You actually got just more than triple the capacity. You had a much better mental construct than I was expecting, and so the process was more capacity efficient than usual. That likelyes from your work as a dimensional Mage. It took a bit more power, but you handled that with ease.


    She shrugged and smiled. Thank you.


    I am happy to assist. If you confirm the transaction, well be done. Though, of course, you are wee back any time.


    She smiled, examining the te he held out to her. It allowed the Constructionist Guild to take thirty gold from her uing payment from the Caravan Guild. <em>Not ideal, adding to my debt even temporarily</em> If shed taken a moment to consider, shed probably have waited until the stipend was given, but that option was past possible.


    With a press of her thumb and power, she confirmed the new debt and forced a smile. Thank you, again.

 Chapter 127: Reactions

    Chapter 127: Reactions


    The day after shed gotten the dimensional tether, T sat cross-legged, deep in a meditative state when the world trembled around her. Her mage-sight screamed a warning.


    Her eyes snapped over, and with a thought, Flow was in her hand in the form of a sword. She was sweeping it outward before her mind processed what she was seeing.


    First, her mage-sight registered the aura: Reforged. The being before her was filled with a perfectly controlled, deep blue aura, clearly a bit more purple than true blue. It didnt radiate out from him, but instead, was held precisely at the surface of his skin almost like a badge of authority or office.


    Second, she recognized him: Xeel.


    Third, he once again countered her. This time he simply hopped up, over her swing.


    Mistress. I apologize for the intrusion. His handsnced forward, grabbing either side of her head. His power flooded through her mind, and she was utterly at his mercy.


    The moment passed, and Xeel was gone. A secondter, something mmed into the wall behind her.


    She looked up and saw Force stopped in ce where Xeel had been.


    With a smooth motion, T stood twisting to face the other way.


    Xeel was peeling himself off the far wall, which was miraculously intact. I hate kic maniptors. He sighed, turning to face them. Was that necessary, Master Rane?


    Apologies, Master Xeel, but you were using magic against her. I struck before I fully recognized you. Rane had been meditating nearby and was now standing just behind and to her left.


    <em>Fast reactions.</em>


    On her. I was using magic on her, not against. Xeel was brushing off his simple, dark Mages robes.


    Ranes tone was tinged with mild regret. Thats a hard distinction to make in a split second. He sheathed Force as he came to stand beside T. What can we do for you, Master Xeel?


    I needed a second point ofparison, to narrow in on her first encounter with the arcane.


    Rane nced to T, then back to Xeel. Is it that important?


    Xeel nodded. Mistress T, how sure are you that youve never left the city or Academy until your first caravan trip?


    Im 100% certain.


    Then, we have a problem.


    Rane was frowning. Whats going on?


    We have two options. First, Mistress T did leave the city on her first day in Bandfast, but no longer remembers doing so, wanting to do so, or what she might have been intending to do while outside. I find this very difficult to believe. Such a thoroughly invasive erasure should be impossible to hide, even from casual inspection.


    T swallowed, her mouth suddenly dry. Whats the second option?


    The arcane encounter happened within the bounds of Bandfast.


    Silence hung heavy in the air of the training arena.


    When? Her voice was barely above a whisper.


    By your records, on your first day, after you exited the teleportation tower and before you went to the Caravan Guild.


    How can you possibly know that precisely?


    Because Mistress Lyn has no evidence of mental tampering, and you were with her for the remainder of the day.


    <em>Oh, that makes sense.</em> Wait, you examined her mind?


    I did. I must say, she was much less violent than the two of you.


    She leads a less violent life.


    Xeel grunted. True enough, I suppose.


    So, what now?


    Now? Nothing. You continue as you have, and Ill take this to the collective Archon Council.


    Were just supposed to continue, knowing that arcanes can get inside human cities?


    What would you like to do?


    She opened her mouth to respond, but nothing came to mind. Rane ced a hand on her shoulder, and she nced his way before closing her mouth.


    Master Xeel, I think what she means is: How can we be safe? What can we do to protect ourselves, and He shrugged. Its too big an issue to encapste all the implications.


    Xeels face softened, just a bit. I understand this isdifficult. It definitely calls into question many things we thought certain. If such a maniptor has ess to our cities, then many things be He shook his head. It cant have been long standing, nor could too many of them have this capacity, or we would already have fallen.


    Are you sure? Couldnt they want us to exist for some reason? T felt a building jittery energy. <em>What is true? Do I even have a family, or is that a fabrication? Is Xeel human, or do I just believe so?</em> T cut off both lines of thought. <em>No, that way lies madness.</em>


    As I said, I need to take this to the Councils.


    T took a deep breath, but it was Rane who responded. So, what can we do?


    Improve the strength of your will and your soul. Fuse, and be alone as little as possible.


    She started scratching at her arms. It felt like something was crawling under her skin.


    Xeel sighed. Rx. Find some way to destress. When you get back to Bandfast, Ill meet with you and tell you what Ive learned. I had a talk with Mistress Holly, and she gave me this. He held up an inscribed stone. May I?


    T shifted ufortably. She recognized the stone, but Holly had never told her, precisely, what it did. What will it do, exactly?


    It will transfer the information directly to the Archive, locked to you and Mistress Holly. He hesitated. Well, initially it will be locked to her, until she processes it. The encapsted results will be avable to you, when they arepiled.


    <em>Oh. I can get ess to my own records?</em> That seemed a bit of a silly question. Of course she could. Alright.


    Xeel crossed the room with measured strides, and T bent her head forward to expose the scripts on the back of her neck. He ced the stone there, and she felt a strange tingle, like a dog was drooling on her then licking it clean.


    Gah! She shivered, shirking away from the feeling, but the process was alreadyplete. I forgot how that feels. She shuddered again.


    The transfer isplete.


    T had a thought. You know, given the situation, it would be useful for me to have an Archive te. Any chance you could get me one?


    Xeel gave her a long look. You want me to give you an empowered item.


    If you wouldnt mind.


    No. He paused for a moment, as if he was going to go on, but then he shook his head without saying anything further.


    T waited another moment, but when he didnt say anything else, she shrugged. Worth asking.


    Xeel snorted a suppressedugh. Take care of yourself, Mistress T.


    He was gone.


    T looked to the closed door. How did he do that?


    Rane shrugged. There are a lot of options, actually.


    She turned a skeptical look his way. Why would you know how its done?


    He gave her a long-suffering look. My master could do that, from the first day I trained with him, and he refused to tell me how. Ive had a <em>long</em> time to try to figure out how.


    Oh, yeah. That makes sense. She shrugged. Do tell.


    He held up one finger after another as he went through a list. One. Immense speed, while manipting matter around himself to remove the sonic boom and prevent materials from breaking. Two. A soul-bound gate, with one fixed location and a second, untethered end. He could summon that end and move through to a fixed location.


    Ts eyes widened at the idea, Wait, gates? I thought those were only a theory.


    He gave her an odd look. They are, and were theorizing.


    She grimaced at him but didntment further as he wasnt done.


    Three. Untethered storage space with a tethered entrance to get out through. He shrugged. That one <em>should </em>be possible, but like the gate, Ive never heard of such a thing actually being done. Four. A partial transformation into, or merging with, light, which I believe is his element of choice. Five. A pulse of focused will-power to disrupt our perception for a moment to simply allow him to walk out. Six.-


    Okay, okay. I get it. There are many, many ways someone could aplish what he just did.


    Rane smiled, letting both his hands drop.


    T gave him a skeptical look. You didnt have a sixth thing, did you?


    Do you want me to go on?


    She scratched her lip, thinking. No, that way lies madness. I dont want the full list. I want to work on my void channels.


    She returned to where shed been sitting, two tungsten balls in front of her. In the past few days, she had expanded her abilities with her active gravity maniption to let her target two items at once. She couldnt change their gravity as fast as when she focused on just one, nor could she affect them differently, but it was a start.


    And it was exhausting.


    It felt like trying to imagine someone juggling, and actively track where every ball was, while noticing how every muscle moved and tracking the exact nutrient expenditure.


    <em>No. Its not quite that hard</em> She didnt sound convincing, even in her own head. <em>Its hard, just not that hard.</em>


    She sighed, sitting down, locking onto the two targets, and closing her eyes. <em>Focus T. One increases, the other reduces. Its not that hard. It doesnt vite reality.</em>


    It was not destined to be a productive day.


    * * *


    Two dayster, T and Rane stood beside a simple, post-and-rail fence.


    Rane wore a look of fascinated horror.


    T just grinned.


    They both ignored the almost overbearing power at ground level, around Makinaven.


    Before them, arge animal pen held a half-dozen pigs, frantically running around, and Terry. T had seen the pig-pen on her way into Makinaven, and shed instantly wanted to do something like this for the terror bird.


    Terry, just taller than Rane, went around from pig to pig, pinning one down then moving on, constantly drawn to the next.


    Sometimes, he would crouch down and sprint after a fleeing porcine. Other times, he simply flickered from one to the next.


    He crowed, trilled, and thrummed in abject joy.


    The pigs squealed in terror.


    The farmer had lent the field and sold T the pigs for a gold. T knew shed overpaid, but Terry was living the dream.


    She tried not to think about the pigs.


    Ranes voice was hushed as he spoke. He looks like a cat, toying with mice.


    T nced to therge man, then back towards her terror bird. So he does.


    The animals were churning up therge pen, but that was fine.


    The enclosure was a hundred feet to a side, a perfect faux hunting groundif the goal was purely entertainment.


    After five minutes or so, Terry began to challenge himself. He ceased flickering around and attempted to catch more than one at a time without hurting them. That onlysted a minute or so, before the pigs finally began to tire.


    The animals, whether bing tired, or realizing that Terry hadnt hurt any of them yet, began to slow their panicked racing.


    Terry allowed them some rest.


    Then, he flickered to thergest, slowest pig, and ate it in one bite.


    The newly refreshed pigs squealed in renewed terror, and the games began again.


    Terrys jubnt, dominating trills drowned out the pigs squeals whenever he lifted his head in a triumphant cry.


    This seems cruel somehow


    T regarded Rane skeptically. How so?


    Hes terrorizing them. Why not just eat them?


    She turned to fully face Rane; one eyebrow cocked. Terror. Bird.


    Well, yes, I understand that.


    Do you? I feel like he survives on terror more than meatActually, is that possible?


    No? Rane regarded Terry, continuing his one-bird, bloodless rampage. Ive no idea, and I dont know of any theory that would allow it. He shrugged.


    They continued to watch as Terry gave the pigs another rest before eating a second and beginning again.


    In less than an hour, Terry had a single pig left, and ity shuddering on the ground, Terry curled around it, cooing contentedly.


    Okay, thats a bitmuch. T swallowed. <em>Thats how he sleeps next to me</em> Terry! Just put it out of its misery!


    Terry raised his head to regard her, then shook. He stood, used one taloned foot to pat the pig on the head, then flickered to Ts shoulder, small once more.


    Yourenot going to eat it?


    Terry regarded her for a moment, then let out a long sequence of trills.


    T didnt understand at all.


    Slowly, in the middle of the churned enclosure, the pig stood and hesitantly went over to the water-trough.


    T turned to go, but Terry let out a short chirp, so she waited.


    The pig slowly stopped shivering, drinking deeply. Then, seeming uncertain, it shuffled over to the only gate out of the enclosure, seemingly looking to be released.


    Terry looked to Rane and squawked.


    Rane, frowning, moved over to open the gate.


    The pig perked up, patiently waiting to be released.


    As Rane opened the gate, Terry flickered, appearing straddling the pig, his head now half again as high as Ranes.


    Before anyone could react, Terry snapped up the pig, swallowing it whole. The avian then straightened and gave Rane a long stare.


    Rane took a step back, hand unconsciously resting on Forces hilt.


    Terry flickered back to Ts shoulder, curling up to sleep.


    T swallowed dryly, regarding her avianpanion. Sometimes, she swallowed again, You are rusting terrifying.


    * * *


    The day after Terrys porcine adventure, T mmed her face into the wooden training floor, groaning despite theck ofsting damage.


    This was not the first time, and she knew it wouldnt be thest. What really grated was she couldnt me anyone but herself.


    She pushed herself up with her left hand, returning to her feet and readying for the next attempt.


    Around her, filling about a third of the training room, T had built an obstacle course of a very strange variety.


    There were the traditional obstacles: hurdles, climbing wall, bnce beam, and such. In addition to those, there were a series of mundane tasks, some as simple as a cup of water to drink, some much moreplicated, likecing a shoe or writing a letter.


    The mundane tasks were only worthy of the course for a single reason: Shed bound her right arm behind her back, simting its absence.


    That handicap made the entire process difficult beyond what shed expected.


    <em>Would have been easier with just my right arm, and my left bound. </em>But she hadnt lost her left arm, and she wanted to <em>feel</em> that loss, toe to grips with the cost that shed almost paid. <em>Hah,e to </em>grips<em>. Im hrious.</em>


    Puns aside, she was struggling, and her left hand was crampingagain.


    She knew from experience that her scripts would sooth the muscle ache, and restore it to functionality shortly, but it was still deeply ufortable.


    <em>I hate writing with my left hand</em> It was especially difficult when she chose to do the writing challenge directly after one of the climbing obstacles.


    T hade up with this idea, while meditating on the loss of her armand after learning that the trainingplex had obstacles that could be added to a rented space at no charge. <em>Personal introspection, free of charge.</em>


    Obviously, T had put together the more mundane tasks on her own, but none of those were overlyplex.


    Rane cracked an eye from the far side of the room. He was still covered in sweat and breathing heavily from his most recent series of forms. I still dont get why youre doing that.


    I need to understand the injury I endured. If I dont, Im going to be callous to damage I take on my body. I cant allow that. I need to feel both the loss and the relief that the loss was reversed.


    Rane shrugged. If you feel that you need to, but it seems like you already felt the loss, and you <em>are</em> relieved to have your arm back.


    T thought about that for a long moment. Finally, she sighed and undid her belt, which shed used to keep herself from cheating. Youre probably right. She took another deep breath and let it out slowly. Then, she nced behind her and grinned. Once more.


    She whipped through the course, two good arms making each task trivial.


    That is so, so much easier. She remembered the guard whose arm shed cut off, to save him from the magical crystal contamination. She had a new appreciation for the time hed spent without that arm, even if it had been his left. More than that, though, T felt a warm joy that shed been able to help pay to restore the mans arm, once they arrived in Makinaven. <em>Yeah, that was worth the coin.</em>


    Shed have helped even if she hadnt been forced.


    It would have just been the right thing to do.


    No question at all.


    None.


    At Ts request, the trainingplexs workers removed the obstacles shortly after herst run through, breaking them down with practiced speed, and departing with only a few words exchanged.


    Rane stood from his meditation after the workers had left. So, I only reserved this space through the end of today. We were supposed to depart, today, but I figured Id want the space the morning before we left. He shrugged. The point is, do we want to try to renew, or should we look for another ce to train?


    T thought about that for a long moment. <em>It would be nice to be higher up the tree.</em> But when their time here ended, shed need toe to the bottom each morning for thest couple of days. <em>No reason to let that color the intervening weeks.</em> She nodded. Lets find somewhere higher up. Maybe somewhere outside, or with a view outside?


    He smiled in return. That sounds like an excellent idea.

 Chapter 128: Happy to Assist

    Chapter 128: Happy to Assist


    T hesitated. She and Rane had each just finished up their weapons form and were getting ready to depart, but something was eating at her. With a sigh, T turned to Rane. I still need to thoroughly test these T lifted her arms, indicating the bracers that shed dutifully put back on after every self-cleansing.


    Ready to tell me why you havent practiced with the tether so far?


    I only just finished reading the booklet on the items this morning.


    He waited.


    T looked down. I dont know.


    He didntment.


    Its silly.


    Rane just gave a patient smile, lips sealed.


    T grunted. Fine She took a deep breath and let it out, slowly. Most of thenguage in the booklet was lifted from that of the prison items manual. II dont like thinking of myself as a prisoner, even a voluntary one.


    He cocked his head but remained silent.


    Her voice was small as she finally spoke, once again. What if he made it wrong, and Im trapped forever?


    Rane let out a long breath, then, clearly considering. That sounds terrifying.


    T gave him a skeptical look.


    He smiled in return. What? It does. That said, ites down to one question: Do you trust him enough to give it a try? If not: Return it, and he might be willing to refund some of your funds. If so: Why not give it a try?


    After a long moment, T nodded. <em>That makes sense</em> She now felt a bit foolish for hesitating. Thankfully, she hadnt lost that much time. She really had just finished reading up sufficiently to empower the tether that morning. Alright. Ill try it once we find a new training spot. Alright?


    Sure. He nced to the side. You know, Im happy to help, if I can.


    T nodded. I do know, yeah. She looked to Terry, seemingly asleep in the corner. Terry?


    The bird opened one eye to regard her.


    Are you alright with relocating, higher into the tree?


    He lifted his head, then let out a soft, warbling note that conveyed indifference.


    T grinned. Fair enough; shall we go take a look, now?


    Sure. Rane pushed himself up.


    Terry flickered to her shoulder, and they departed, together.


    Once theyd exited the facility and were heading up the second tiers seventh spiral, they had a brief conversation about how they would approach finding a new spot to train. As part of that, they decided that they should walk through the third-tier marketce, on the way up to a higher level.


    The market looked much the same as the previous times T had walked through it, but this time, she was firm in her resolve that she wouldnt buy anything else. So, once they made it to that tier, she was focused more on the buildings and other, less sales-oriented, features.


    Caravan street? T was looking at one of the street-signs that shed not really paid heed to before.


    Rane looked at it as well. Yeah. If I remember correctly, they had some fun with naming the streets, here: Caravan, Wagon, Courier, Fleet, Ship, and the like.


    Huh, I suppose it makes some sort of sense for a market area.


    Yeah. It doesnt fit quite as well with the services and restaurants here, but it lends a bit of amusement, I guess.


    They continued walking down the road, seeing many of the roads that Rane referenced.


    Hey, theres a barber right there. She nced to Rane. <em>Is his hair longer than usual?</em> Well, obviously it was, hair grew constantly. Do you usually keep your hair short or was that just how you had it when we met?


    Usually short.


    Do you want to get it cut?


    Rane reached up and checked his hair. Maybe He nced to the barbershop, frowning slightly.


    It looks like its over a pie shop! I could get something to eat, while you get your haircut.


    Rane seemed to contemte, but finally, he shook his head. Not today. Ill probably get it cut short, just before we leave again.


    T shrugged. Alright. She nced back to the barbershop. If you want toe back here, it looks like this ones on Fleet Street.


    Rane shook his head. Im sure there will be barbers closer to where Im staying. Thank you, though.


    T shrugged, and they continued on, talking about the various establishments that they passed. Even as they climbed higher, seeking the upper tiers, they kept up the conversation, pointing out various oddities, or intriguing ces as they went.


    All in all, it was a fun way to pass the time.


    * * *


    T took deep breaths, striding purposely away from the anchor that shed just empowered.


    The wooden spring-clip rested on the floor, in the center of their new training area.


    T walked towards the outer wall, arge, transparent section of wood that showed a beautiful view to the east.


    She wasnt getting closer to the window. She could easily see the dimensional power acting on the space in front of her, but that was the only evidence that she could see that anything was happening.


    She looked down, and the wood beneath her seemed to stretch as she moved her foot forward, pulling back to normal as she continued with the other foot.


    With a sudden motion, T dove forward, sensing the space around herself expand even as she rolled and returned to her feet.


    She was no closer to the wall.


    T pivoted, turning to face the simple item,ying on the floor.


    Hey! Youre alive. Rane grinned from beside the anchor.


    She red back. I wasnt afraid of dying. Her re faltered, and her voice quieted. I was afraid of being trapped.


    Ranes smile softened. You alright?


    She shrugged, then nodded. I think so.


    Alright, how can I help?


    Can you pick it up?


    Rane picked it up with ease. Seems so.


    What happens if you move away from me? She was currently ten feet away, at the edge of the range.


    Rane took a step, and T felt the world warp.


    It was apletely different feeling than when she tried to move away from the anchor but somehow exactly the same.


    She was holding her breath as she looked down.


    The grain of the wood in front of her feet waspressing between her and the anchor, keeping the distance she perceived between her and the anchor in Ranes hand the same. Her perception of the world to either side was warping, like she was looking through an increasinglypressed lens.


    She pulled in a breath, and her expanding chest felt like it was grabbed and pulled along. It wasnt a painful feeling, but it wasnt exactlyfortable. She was looking down when it happened, and she watched the floor expand, sliding under her feet even though she didnt <em>feel</em> like she was moving.


    <em>This isincredibly odd.</em>


    Rane was watching her, walking backwards.


    What does it look like, from your perspective?


    He was thoughtful for a moment. Like youre sliding along the ground after me.


    What if something is in the way?


    Rane thought for a moment, then walked over to her and pulled out arge rock. It was so heavy that he had to use two hands to get it out of his dimensional storage before setting it down in front of her.


    Why do you have that?


    Thought it might be useful?


    She narrowed her eyes at him, then examined the rock. As she examined it, she noticed that it had interesting striations, and even what appeared to be a few fossils embedded within it. You thought it looked pretty.


    He shrugged. Isuppose thats true too.


    You found a pretty rock and wanted to keep it.


    He scrunched his face. Fine. Whats wrong with that? Its not like other people dont pick up rocks they find interesting.


    Most dont choose boulders.


    He grunted. So, are you ready?


    T grinned but nodded. Fine by me.


    Rane walked backwards, watching her closely.


    As he got far enough that dimensionality began to warp around T, she moved her eyes to the rock.


    It seemed to tten before her, bing thinner and thinner, untilit was gone. She looked behind herself and saw it sitting there, whole and unaffected. Thats strange


    From my perspective, youpressed vertically, for a flickering instant, to move over and past the rock.


    <em>Just like the booklet said. What would it do for a solid wall?</em> Did she really want to experiment when it could just stter her against the surface? <em>No, the instructions said that it would either bypass any barrier or break the connection until the barrier was removed.</em>


    T caught up to Rane and took the anchor from him. Now, lets try something odd.


    If youre sure.


    She went to the far side of the room, anchor in hand, turned, and faced him. Ready to catch?


    Rane gave her a searching look before hesitantly nodding. Alright.


    Shed been working on her throwing uracy under various levels of gravity for days, now. So, she felt reasonably confident when she pitched the anchor towards herpanion.


    The world warped around her, and she lost her sense of bnce, stumbling forward slightly.


    T! Rane caught the anchor, concern evident on his features.


    T, herself, dropped to one knee, pressing her forehead to the other knee. Oh that was rusting terrible. Id be painting the floor, if I could puke. Even so, she had enough presence of mind to realize that she was now, indeed, only ten feet from where Rane had been when she tossed the anchor. Do you think I can limatize myself to that?


    Rane sat beside her. Honestly? If its possible, it will be <em>very</em> hard.


    What if my eyes were closed?


    Do you feel like it was your vision that caused the nausea?


    no


    Then that probably wont help. He patted her shoulder. Come on, lets get some fresh air.


    There was a balcony for just that purpose off to the side of theirrge training room, and he led her out, into the steady breeze. He clipped her anchor to her belt as they walked.


    The moving, fresh air helped almost immediately.


    Thank you.


    Happy to assist.


    T looked over the railing, down at the couple hundred-foot drop. What would happen if I dropped the anchor over the side?


    Rane gave her a long look. You arent recovered, are you.


    She thought about it for a long moment. Thats fair. I still feel She rubbed her upper chest and made a face. She felt like she was about to puke, but once again Hollys inscriptions prevented that. <em>I wonder if Im going to wear through those at a really inconvenient time</em>


    Hows Mistress Odera doing? Rane was clearly trying to change the direction of her thinking.


    T shrugged. She and Mistress Odera had gotten in the habit of grabbing breakfast together, but Mistress Odera deflected all questions about herself. T was left basically recounting what and how she was training if she spoke at all. Shesdistracted. Ive gathered that she drops through the Constructionists'' every few days. She snorted a halfugh. So, shes done that twice. But I guess she likes talking with Master Jevin.


    I dont me her. Hes brilliant. I just wish I knew what to ask him.


    Still nothing from the books? She knew that he wanted to have a better understanding of things before pestering the Paragon with questions.


    Rane growled in irritation. Ive got a countdown at least. Apparently, I have three days before my soul has finally settled


    T sighed. Mine just keep giving me snark.


    He smiled back at her but wisely didntment.


    Lets go get something to eat, then we cane back and train some more. Im going a bit crazy.


    No.


    T had already half turned away. What?


    I said no. He was giving her a half smile. You still havent gotten a lock through the wire ball, have you.


    T growled this time. No. Its ridiculous. Its a stupid training method. She knew she sounded petnt, but it was <em>irritating.</em>


    Tell you what: When you can do it, Ill buy you dinner and take you somewhere fun to celebrate. But you have to try again, now.


    She cocked an eyebrow. She thought through the offer before shrugging. <em>Cant hurt to try.</em>


    She walked back inside, pulling out the first ball in Jevins training set.


    Thin wire surrounded the wooden ball within the most permeable of the spheres. The wires were coated with something to prevent them from rusting or spreading iron around, and that added a slightly reflective sheen to the metal.


    T sat down, cross-legged, cing the wire ball in front of her on the floor.


    Her left middle-finger pressed into her thumb, and she focused on the wooden ball.


    Her attempted lock broke on the iron cage as it tried to settle through it.<em> Just like every time before.</em>


    Rane sat across from her. Ive watched you try this, off and on, for days now. I think the issue is that you arent using one of your greatest assets.


    T looked to the Archon, eyebrow cocked. Do tell.


    What does your lock look like to your mage-sight?


    It makes the target glow.


    Rane shook his head. Youve described your abilities to me before, and thats not true. The lock highlights the target for you, thats not a function of your mage-sight.


    She opened her mouth to object, then stopped. <em>Huhheshes right.</em>


    T frowned, refocusing on her spell-working. Almost absently, she pulled out a bit of jerky and flicked it to the side for Terry, then she drew out a simple notebook, setting it beside the wire ball.


    Thumb and middle-finger still pressed together, she focused on the notebook. She pulled as much power from the workings visualization as she could, while adding power to her mage-sight, causing even the slight magic in the air to be almost painfully bright.


    Among the normally faint, swirling lines of power, T saw her lock: the magic had the look of a hand, reaching out and grabbing the notebook. As the fist closed, the book began to glow, indicating a sessful lock.


    Its a hand, grabbing onto my target. And T felt a smile tug at her lips. Of course, it was a hand. She grabbed onto her target with her power, then she had the power to manipte it. What else would it be?


    He nodded. Thats what Ive seen while watching. So, why? Why is it a hand?


    Im taking the target in hand. She shrugged. It just made sense.


    Could you use a tether? Or something else?


    T nced to her bracers. Their connection to the anchor, currently on her belt, simply looked like a faint line of power, even with her mage-sight enhanced.


    That seems to work well enough, right?


    T grimaced. I suppose so


    Your spell-lines dont require the visualization of a hand. The use of such likely makes it less efficient, honestly. You just dont need such aplicated construct of will. All you are doing is marking a target.


    She released her lock on the book and focused. <em>All I need to do is mark it. </em>That was true. <em>How would I mark something?</em> She could use a brush to paint a dot. <em>That would be a lot simpler.</em>


    In her mind, she imagined stretching out and painting a dot on the book. It made sense. Then, her magic would know what to affect.


    She felt herself grinning. Her eyes opened, and she magically reached out to lock onto her notebook once more. She felt a small bit of power leave her, and a small mark blossomed on the book to her mage-sight before the book blossomed with a secondary glow, indicating it as a designated target.


    T jerked, her left eye twitching violently. OW! It felt like someone was driving a spike into her temple. She curled in on herself, taking deep breaths as the agony passed.


    When she finally lifted her head, Rane was still sitting across from her, contained concern evident on his face. Are you alright?


    She knuckled her forehead furiously scratching at an internal itching sensation. Yeah, that was a <em>deep</em> mental pathway that I just bypassed.


    Rane gave her a sympathetic smile. I actually had something simr that Master Grediv had to break me of.


    Oh? She was somewhat interested, but more, she needed time to collect herself.


    Yeah, I was imagining my defensive scripts pushing me; I was picturing hands imparting the energy. It was slower, less efficient, less precise, and more jarring. He gave a self-deprecating smile. It took me weeks of work to change my way of thinking, but mainly because I refused to have Master Grediv help. Hed pointed out a w, and I wanted to correct it, myself. His smile faded as he shrugged.


    T smiled at that, the pain mostly gone. That sounds so unlike you.


    He snorted. It is exactly as I was, and unlike how I strive to be, now. He quirked a half-smile.


    Well, Im d I had help.


    Its painful, but so long as you dont fall back in your thinking, you should be fine. Id rmend practicing your lock as much as possible over the next few days. If I may ask, what did you rece the hand with? I can see a small ssh of power, but I dont know how you enacted it.


    I imagined marking it with a small paintbrush.


    Thats a good one. Yeah, Id rmend focusing on <em>marking</em> your targets, instead of grabbing, or indicating, orwhatever you were conceiving, before.


    I think it was simpler than that. I used my hand to activate the target process. So. She shrugged.


    Rane grinned. That would do it. So, dont do that.


    She snorted anotherugh. Fine.


    She released and retargeted the book a dozen times, and when she was satisfied, she turned her eyes back to the wire ball.


    With the practice and the new mental image, it was trivially easy to reach out, her powerncing through one of the gaping holes to mark the wooden ball, within.


    HA! T held her arms up in triumph. I did it!


    Ranes eyes snapped open from his meditation, and he gave a seated, smiling bow. Congrattions, Mistress.


    <em>How long was I working on that? </em>Probably close to twenty minutes. <em>It was kind of him to leave me to it. </em>T stood. Youre right. I want to celebrate, what do you have in mind?


    He stood. Well, you mentioned missing ys, so I got us two tickets to a show tonight: Hypocratease, aedy aboutwell, he gave a smallugh, thats probably pretty obvious.


    That sounds great. She hesitated, frowning. Wait, you said wed go if I seeded.


    I did.


    But you have tickets for tonight.


    I do.


    She gave him a long look. After a lingering moment, a smile pulled at the side of her lips. We have time to get cleaned up and changed? She gestured his way. I think the theater would object to your current outfit.


    Rane looked down at his bare chest and mid-thigh shorts. Heughed. True enough. Itd be like walking in with a bared sword. Meet back here in half an hour?


    That sounds perfect.

 Chapter 129: A Mild Combat Application

    Chapter 129: A Mild Combat Application


    T leaned on the balcony, beside their training room, the midnight-sky stunningly beautiful overhead.


    Her stomach was pleasantly full after the feast she and Rane had shared.


    Her cheeks had echoes of soreness, despite her scripts. She couldnt remember having everughed so much at anything. It had been a magnificent farce.


    Rane had dropped her off at the training room and headed up to his rooms in the upper reaches of Makinaven, leaving her alone with her thoughts.


    Terry hadnt paid much attention to the y except to give her odd looks whenever sheughed, though hed remained on her shoulder throughout the entirety.


    At the moment, he was curled up in the corner sleeping once again.


    As T thought back, a contentment settled into her being. Shed only been in Makinaven for eight days, but she was already falling into a pattern. Even the change of training venue wouldnt disrupt that. <em>But staying up muchter than usual will.</em> She almostughed at that. She was upter than she liked, but that seemed to be happening almost as often as not, these days.


    <em>If Im going to be here for another three weeks or so, I should take a venture out of the city with Terry.</em> The more she considered that, the more she liked it. <em>Terry could get us out past the defenses quite quickly, it could be a great day-trip. Ive been training in too sterile an environment, and some actualbat would help settle all that Im working on.</em>


    She grinned to herself. <em>Hunt some arcanous beasts, do some more active training.</em> It would be perfect. <em>Another week?</em> She nodded. <em>Another week of training.</em>


    She yawned, stretching towards the stars. <em>But now, bed.</em>


    * * *


    Three days of intense training interspersed with ys, meals, and walks through the upper reaches of Makinaven passed without great incident.


    T was practicing her throwing when Rane let out a triumphantugh. Its open to me!


    She didntin about her spoiled shot. After all, she needed to practice while distracted. Even so, she shot Rane an irritated nce. Her irritation was spoiled when she saw him holding a book. Waitis that?


    Yes! Soul Work is finally open to me.


    T frantically pulled Kit open and retrieved her own copy. Almost shaking, she opened it and ced her palm on the first page, giving the book a look at her magic.


    To Ts mage-sight, an almost invisible, interwovenwork of spell-lines began to unravel, pulling back and leaving the book utterly exposed, at her mercy.


    A manic grin split her face, and she immediately sat, reading ravenously, her throwing practice forgotten for the moment.


    From the other side of the room Rane groaned. Great I need to make another star. Its time for me to bond with Force.


    T shot him a self-satisfied smile. Shed been rmending he do that for days, but hed wanted to wait. <em>Hes right often enough that this wont hurt him too much.</em>


    He groaned. Most of this is work with a soul-bond.


    T did <em>not</em> gloat. She was too busy reading. She had kept up her own soul exercises, pulling Flow to her from varying, decreasing distances, in regimented sets, specifically designed to strengthen that aspect of herself.


    The first chapter of Soul Work was a detailed breakdown of doing just that, with a few additional, surrounding details.


    <em>Huh, Ive been pulling on the link between us, but Flow can pull, too.</em> Obviously, it wouldnt move her, but it would greatly extend her potential range, if the knife was adding to the pull. <em>Like a kite reeling itself in, while Im winding the line.</em>


    The question was how to do it.


    <em>Start small.</em>


    She set Flow as far as she could easily reach without getting up. She then focused on the bond, pushing her will through it.


    Once she had a good hold over the connection, she did <em>not</em> pull on it, to draw Flow to her. No, she tried to will the knife to pull itself to her hand on its own.


    She focused as Rane put on more socially polite clothing and departed, presumably heading to the market for another sapphire for his new Archon star.


    She searched with her will; she dug deep with her consciousness; she probed the extent of her bond, with her internally directed mage-sight; and she referenced the book more times than she could count, parsing through every sentence of the advice and descriptions associated with the modified technique.


    Finally, an indeterminate timeter, Flow <em>snicked</em> into her palm, the weapon having pulled itself to her hand, at hermand.


    T jumped, spinning in a circle andughing maniacally. When no onemented, she took in her surroundings for the first time in what had clearly been hours.


    The transparent wall looked out on a nighttime forest; Terry was sleepily gnawing on arge, leather ball that Rane had picked up for the avian a couple of days earlier; and Rane was deep in meditation, a small sapphire held in his hand and power pouring from him into the gem.


    <em>OhThat took me quite a while.</em> She nced down at Flow in her hand, and the open Soul Work on the floor beside her. <em>Well, then, thats a good start.</em>


    She sat back down to repeat the process and brainstorm on how to integrate it into her training.


    * * *


    T looked nervously across the training hall at Rane.


    He held Force in a ready position, awaiting her attack. He hadnt bonded the weapon, yet, though he had created the star the evening before. He said he wanted to have Jevin inspect the weapon and the star before he merged them, just in case. T hadnt fought him on it. It was his bond, his soul, after all.


    T took a deep breath, steadying her nerves. She wasnt nervous to fight him; theyd been doing that, uncounted times each day.


    No, what had her nervous was the anchor, sitting on the floor between them. Shed experimented with the paired devices. Shed even been using them to allow her to run in the mornings without having to find a route. Yet, shed not fought with the anchor active, not yet.


    T charged forward, past the anchor, and engaged Rane sword to sword.


    She was getting better, both in her ability with Flow and in her understanding of her increased physical attributes. Rane still overshadowed her with talent, training, and experience, but she was narrowing the gap, if slowly.


    Her minor errors finally built up to the point that Rane was able to hit her with a horizontal sh, her block <em>just</em> out of position.


    She shot sideways; eyes locked on her opponent.


    She stopped moving away from him, though the air still rushed by her for another instant. Dimensional energy warped around her, expanding the space before her and keeping her from getting farther from her anchor.


    As she came to the ground, tumbling slightly before rolling to her feet, she found herself still close to Rane. Still within striking distance.


    He didnt let that go to waste.


    Force struck her again, throwing her backwards and up this time.


    Rane took off after her in a dead sprint.


    When she reached the back edge of her tethers range, it looked like she jerked to a stop midair, though she still felt air rushing past her, even as she began to drop.


    Rane was there before her feet touched the ground, but T got Flow up to block this time.


    The concussion of Force against Flow radiated out, even as her feet returned to the springy wood of their training room. Rane was grinning wildly. Oh, this is going to be amazing.


    A range of twenty feet was hardly an expansive battlefield, and T would need to figure out how to move her anchor tactically, but it had worked.


    She grinned in return. <em>Not perfect, but it is a wonderful improvement.</em>


    Rane usuallyunched her into the walls, ceiling, or floor with ease, causing extra damage and often dazing her, even if just momentarily. Now, his only option was the floor, and she was bing more proficient at blocking overhead strikes from his massive sword. After all, she deeply disliked being mmed against the ground.


    They spent most of the remainder of the day, and the two following, sparring with her tether active, only taking breaks to recover their strength and mentally process the previous bouts.


    * * *


    Dawn broke early, though marginallyter than the day before, and T shot out of bed with special crity. <em>Today is Terry adventure day!</em>


    Rane was going to go visit the Constructionists and finally bond Force, and T and Terry were going to take a daytrip into the surrounding forests to hunt and shake off the building feeling of ustrophobia.


    Good morning, Terry!


    Terry flickered to her side, even as she climbed out of Kit.


    She tossed him a bit of jerky, before picking up the pouch and hanging it on her belt. She gave him a bit more as she moved through her morning routine.


    Terry was patient enough, snatching up the asional bit of jerky she tossed out in a random direction.


    Soon enough, she was done, and they headed out of the training facility.


    Shed arranged with Mistress Odera to miss their breakfast that morning, so the Mage wouldnt have to wonder where T had gotten to.


    Lets go!


    They walked out to the city spiral, exiting the trainingplex, and Terry immediately grew to a rideable size.


    T thought for a moment, then clipped her anchor to his cor. She then climbed up, holding the cor and tucking her feet under his wings. One of her hands on Terrys cor also held the anchor. <em>If he flickers away, hell leave it behind, but this way, Ill keep a hold of it.</em>


    As soon as she was situated, Terry took off down the inside of the tree.


    Theyd discussed it in the previous days and decided to leave through the southern gate.


    Well, that wasnt quite urate. T had proposed various things, and Terry had squawked and trilled until shed said things that he was okay with.


    That was fine. Arge part of this was to let the terror bird have some unrestrained time, so his input held a lot of weight.


    They shot out of the trees southern gate. Entering the power heavy air there at ground-level felt like running into a wet nket, at least to her spiritual self.


    Something about beginning the fusing process seemed to have sharpened her magical senses, at least slightly, and she could now tell that all this power, this ocean of magical might, was already bound to and controlled by someone.


    The sense of their influence feltfamiliar, but she couldnt ce it. <em>Ill figure it out eventually, or I wont.</em>


    She grinned. Today wasnt for contemtion; it was for adventure. It was for battle.


    Terry hadnt slowed, and they were out from under Makinavens tree with surprising speed.


    In less than an hour, they were past the reach of its magical drain, into the wild forest in truth.


    Terry gave a soft trill of warning before flickering away.


    T dropped to her feet, clipping her anchor to her belt as she dropped.


    Terry regarded her from around ten yards away.


    Go, hunt, have fun. Ill call you by name if I need help.


    He waited a moment longer, then trilled happily and vanished.


    T pulled out one of therge jars of pigs blood that shed purchased from a butcher. <em>One silver per gallon.</em> Not cheap, but effectively much less expensive than bleeding a gallon from herself.


    She uncapped the jar and poured it out on various rocks around the center of the clearing in which she stood.


    The clearing was just over a two hundred feet across, surrounded by trees in a rough ring.


    She then let out a call of challenge, careful to keep any fear from the sound. She didnt want another human hearing it anding to assist her.


    Her powerful lungs, and reinforced vocal cords, allowed for a <em>very</em> loud challenge.


    Wind moving through the forests rustled the canopy overhead, carrying the scent of blood through the woods.


    Less than a minuteter, she heard the first answering challenge.


    The basso roar caused the ground to tremble and her bones to shake.


    <em>Its ok, T. You got this.</em>


    A creature, twice her height, came into view. It looked quite a lot like Terry, but with armored tes instead of feathers, and teeth instead of a beak, and instead of vestigial wings, it had front arms, baring vicious looking ws. <em>So, not much like Terry at all.</em>


    It let out the too-low roar once again, its throat vibrating visibly as it generated the challenge.


    T pulled out one of the tungsten balls, which had its gravity already reduced to near nothing, and pitched it at the massive, bipedal lizard with all her strength.


    A five-foot crater blossomed at the impact site. Shrapnel shot out in all directions from the tree just beside and behind her target.


    The beast jumped to the side, letting out a sound that evoked irritation and startlement in equal measures.


    T grimaced at the hole in the middle of the crater in the tree. <em>Well, rust. Thats going to be a pain to dig out.</em>


    She called Flow to her hand, pushing power to form it into a ive, even as she moved through the motions to throw the weapon.


    This attack flew trueat least mostly.


    Flow ripped past her opponent, taking off one of its front arms and gouging a sizzling chunk from its side as it passed.


    T called Flow back before it could go too far, and was about to charge in, when three smaller creatures leapt out onto her first opponent, tearing it apart and taking it to the ground in moments.


    The fallen lizard let out a confused final cry before the three smaller attackers ended its struggles.


    The scent of blood had only grown, and now the smell of cooked meat had been added.


    T could hear sounds from various distances all around her as predators,rge and small, moved to investigate.


    <em>Huh This might not have been the most well thought out n.</em>


    * * *


    T rolled across blood-soaked carcasses, which coated the ground, striking out at any opponent that came close.


    The little valley had devolved into a melee long ago, but the predators just kepting.


    At some point, Terry had returned, following the tide of iing targets, and he was exuberantly flickering through the churning, primal gore-fest, trumpeting in glee.


    To Ts best guess, the sound of fighting,bined with the smell of blood, and the already powerful draw of a human presence was driving the creatures into mad battle-lust. Most still retained enough cognizance to not attack those of their own kind, but that was it.


    On the negative side, T had suffered numerous injuries, all healed now of course, but they had pulled from her reserves, and that would pull from her budget. She had void-channels to her elk-leathers and Kit, along with those to Flow, keeping them in top form and preventing the mounting damage from being too much.


    If shed had a goal to reach, or anyone else to protect, shed have failed utterly. The only reason that she was still living at all, aside from Terrys asional intervention, was that her presence seemed only to increase the creatures ferocity, not cause them to target her, specifically.


    <em>Stars be praised.</em>


    On the positive side, she was practicing every skill and ability she had which had even a mildbat application.


    She was throwing with a fair degree of uracy.


    Shed been able to pull out gravity enhanced balls and arches, dropping them at opportune moments. The first few had done little, but she was working out the kinks.


    Shed used her gravity maniption on a full four creatures at the same time, increasing two and reducing the other two. That hade after many failures, but even still, she felt like it was a tremendous aplishment.


    Her sword and ive work had taken on new shape and meaning to her as she battled for her life. The sharp, crisp movements of the weapons'' techniques had morphed into brutally efficient strikes, blocks, and deflections. Flow seemed to be thrumming with power alongside her, its shape shifting between the three forms as easily as water filled a cup.


    And, she felt <em>alive.</em>


    Every movement was precise. Every mistake was punished, and every intuition tested.


    It was glorious.


    The ground couldnt absorb anymore blood, though that quagmire was covered with no small number of bodies. The depression between trees was beginning to resemble little more than a shallow pool of dark red liquid filled with inds of the dead.


    Still, arcanous beasts came.


    Still, T, Flow, and Terry reaped a crimson harvest.


    Still, the sun moved up the sky, ever closer to noon.

 Chapter 130: Murder Dell

    Chapter 130: Murder Dell


    Ty, sprawled out atop the heaving back of a massive bear as its breathing slowed and finally stopped.


    <em>Last one.</em>


    She jerked Flow out of the carcass. letting it shift from its ive form back to that of a knife.


    T tried to ignore the wet slurping sounds as Terry flickered around the clearing, devouring the mangled, blood-marinated bodies of the fallen.


    She groaned and started stretching on the tangled hair of the great beast below her.


    As the bodies disappeared one by one, the thrashed, soaking ground was revealed more and more.


    The noon-time sun shone down on the canopy above, filling the space with clear green light, interspersed with shafts of untinted sunlight.


    In the green light, the ground looked mostly ck, and only the smell indicated what it really was. The interspersed patches of white light highlighted the crimson color of whaty below, making the terrain resemble blood-stars in a dark sky.


    Some fur and detritus still smoldered, though Terry seemed to have prioritized those beasts. Apparently, he liked a smoky vor. <em>That tracks with his love of jerky, I suppose.</em>


    The smell of cooked meat was almost as strong as that of blood and gore. A surprising number of beasts had been able to augment themselves with, or breathe out, fire. <em>How a forest survives with so much fire magic within it, Ive no idea.</em>


    Additionally, her every cut with Flow had left cooked meat in its wake.


    You know, Terry. I was nning on harvesting some of those.


    Terry looked her way, the tail of a massive lizard hanging from his mouth. He threw his head back and let the remainder of the creature slide down his gullet, before returning his gaze to her. He trilled questioningly.


    I know you helped. Im not asking you to starve. I just want to collect some things first. She looked around. Well, at least from the few that are left.


    Terry looked around at the few bodies remaining, then squawked and settled down to wait.


    Thank you.


    T looked down on the carnivore below her. The bear had stood three times her height and breathed fire. <em>Probably called a ze Bear, or something silly like that.</em>


    If she were being honest, this bear had killed the majority of opponents there at the end. The arrival of it, and one other like it, had heralded the final phase of the skirmish.


    T had only in this one bying at it from behind as it roasted a wolf-pack, which had tried to challenge it for some food.


    How am I going to move this? She looked at her bracers and anchor. You know, if I could get you registered as the target, then simply walk away with the anchor She bit her lip in thought. What if I asked Master Jevin to make some target darts, or something. I could then use those to tie enemies to the same anchor Im linked to. That would be useful in all sorts of ways She nodded. It was worth asking. Include the inner defenses for those? Keep them from grabbing the anchor and running? She clicked her tongue.


    While promising, the <em>idea</em> wasnt particrly helpful to her current situation.


    She gave the bear a weary sigh. I dont really want to skin you in a blood-puddle. She nced to Terry. Are you willing to help me move these bodies?


    Terry let out a descending series of short trills, suddenly growing to twice the size of the bear.


    With quick motions, he flickered to each body, picked it up in his beak and walked to a nearby rise before setting it down. Last of all, he came for the massive bear, and T had to hop off.


    Her feet squelched in the thickening muck, the paste-like substance working its way between her toes. <em>What happens when blood dries and hardens when mixed with dirt?</em>


    She scrapped her tongue across her teeth, unconsciously trying to get an imagined taste off of it. Thats gross


    She took high, long steps, trying to get out of the muck as quickly as possible. By the time she got to the rise, all the animals wereid out and ready for her ministrations.


    <em>Now, Mistress Ingrit gave me a list of the best harvests in this area. Lets see how many I can find. </em>There were other things that would be of use to her, and even more that her mage-sight could guide her too. All told, there would be plenty for her to gather up.


    She looked to Flow, in its knife form. <em>Shouldnt cook anything in this form.</em>


    That decided, she went to work, directed by Mistress Ingrits list and her own mage-sight and desires.


    * * *


    It was midafternoon by the time that T had finished harvesting, and Terry had eaten thest of the remains.


    The bird didnt really seem to care what he ate, as he ate the gut piles as readily as the other organs and the meat.


    T didnt really want to eat meat from carnivores, so shed left that to Terry, but she had gotten two massive bear-hides. One from her final kill, and one that was barely smaller. The beast had been gutted, probably by Terry.


    The hides were so heavy that she had a hard time moving them around, even with her enhanced strength. Not only did they have a heavy coat of thick fur that was far from clean, but the hide, itself, was nearly 4 inches thick.


    They had been a <em>pain</em> to stuff into Kit. Though, she assumed that Kit would debride them for her, so that made it worth the effort.


    <em>This might cost more than Im willing to pay to tan</em> Shed had that thought before, but shed figured that she could probably pay a tanner one of the hides to tan the other for her.


    In addition, shed gotten arge number of bones and ws, which had drawn her attention due to the magic within them. Shed coated them in iron-salve and stored them within Kit. Some of those had been on Ingrits lists, some hadnt.


    Her list had contained other oddities, including the <em>left</em> eye of one of the creatures. T had looked closely and, indeed, the two eyes did have subtle differences to her magic sight. <em>The more you know.</em>


    Shed collected everything she could and was quite satisfied with the haul. <em>It would have been better if Terry and I had talked first.</em> That was on her, though. She didnt feel any ill will towards Terry.


    Well, Terry?


    He flickered to her shoulder and head-butted her cheek.


    Im d you had fun. She almost turned to go, but her eyes passed over a tree with arge crater in it. Ohright. She wasnt used to having weaponry that needed to be retrieved after a battle. Shed not been one of those helping to get the guards bolts back, on the caravan trip, and so, she wasnt even used to retrieving <em>others</em> weaponry.


    T sighed. Lets see how many we can find.


    It took another two hours to gather up her tungsten balls and metal arches. Blessedly, shed been able to find all of her weaponry. That was probably only because each had their gravity altered. Because of that alteration, they practically zed to that portion of her sight. Thus, while it wasnt quick, nor easy, to scrape through the muck, as soon as the smallest portion was within her line of sight, she noticed the item instantly. She could even often catch a glimpse of the altered gravity through intervening barriers. <em>I should practice that portion of my sight as well.</em>


    None of the gravity-altered items had been anywhere near clean, but T trusted Kit to deal with the filth, and just dropped the items in as she found them. Well, none had been clean except those from Terry.


    Terry had helped by hacking up three of the balls that had apparently been embedded in parts of his feast. <em>Good to know, he can bring things back out </em>She tried not to think about that.


    Those three balls hade back to her practically scoured clean.


    She didnt think she wanted to know what Terry had in his gut that worked so quickly. <em>No chance of getting harvest back, now</em>


    T turned her focus elsewhere, once again trudging free of the slowly hardening slurry.


    She was <em>starving.</em>


    While T hadnt taken anyrge hits, the cumtive damage that shed had to heal had taken more from her reserves that morning than shed used during the entire trip from Bandfast to Makinaven, even taking into ount the regrowing of her arm.


    <em>Yeahthis was not the wisest choice. Ill need to figure out a safer way of doing this for next time. Even if I get a lot of gold from this, its going to take a lot of food to replenish, and Ill be vulnerable until then.</em>


    One of her most obvious mistakes was that shed only drunk a small amount of ending-berry juice, thinking that shed be doing small fights and could top off as needed in the lulls. There hadnt been any lulls, and the ending-berry power shed had was quickly spent.


    I need some food <em>And juice</em> She drank a cup of the powerful juice to be safe. <em>My reserves are low. I do </em>not<em> want to get caught out without proper defenses.</em>


    Terry cocked his head and trilled.


    Yeah, I do have some That was a good point. She should probably try some of her solo-venturing food. Lets get away from that, though. She tilted her head to the pungent dell. Im sure something wille by, eventually, and Ive had enough fighting for the day.


    Terry squawked his agreement and flickered to stand beside her, sized for riding.


    She mounted up, clipping her anchor to his cor again, and they were off in search of a more secluded spot, far from the murder dell theyd created.


    <em>We could go back to the city, get this stuff sold, then eat?</em> No, she should eat sooner than that.


    Less than ten minutester, Terry trilled and flickered away, dropping her on the top of a hill with good sightlines. A sttering of dried blood and muck fell free as well. Thank you, Terry.


    She was about to start making her food, when she caught a good look at her hands. <em>Oh, Im the one who put all that on Terry</em>


    Her hands were quite literally blood-stained, caked with muck, and filthy beyond belief. Bath first.


    It took her over an hour to get truly clean. She really hadnt realized how pervasive the filth had been, as shed had to scrub blood out of all sorts of ces. Shed scrubbed, soaked, scraped, and scoured, and that was just for her skin. Her hair was a different story.


    She had not been willing to risk herb, as it was <em>not </em>designed to deal with such clinging filth.


    In the end, all her efforts on that front were for naught, and shed had to use Flow to shave her scalp, allowing her scripts to regrow her hair once more.


    A quarter hourter, she was dressed and sitting on the little hill, feeling refreshed and untainted atst. She grimaced briefly at the memory of what shed removed but didnt let it overshadow her much improved mood.


    <em>Now, food.</em>


    She pulled out the cauldron, setting it on a rtively t patch of earth and wiggling it to settle the heavy cookpot into a stable position. She then took out her hot air incorporator and removed Flow from her belt. She set both into the cauldron, making sure they were in contact with each other, and used her bond to the knife to connect arge void-channel to the incorporator, causing fairly hot air to st around the cookpots interior.


    <em>There, preheating the cauldron should help it cook the food faster and more efficiently.</em>


    While she waited for the cauldron to heat, T looked through the little booklet that Atr had given her to decide what she wanted to eat. Absently, she made herself some tea: Mint this time. The process had be rote, almost meditative, for her over the past weeks. So, it didnt distract from her perusal of menu options.


    She took her time, pulling out the dried or otherwise preserved ingredients and following the directions in the little book. <em>If youre going to do it, do it right.</em> She could modify the recipester, once she knew how they would turn out when following the instructions.


    In no time at all, she was ready tobine what shed prepared.


    She pulled Flow and the hot air incorporator from the cauldron, cing thetter into Kit.


    The starter ingredients went into the now pleasantly warm pot, and she filled a good portion with near-boiling water from her hot-water incorporator.


    She stirred those initial ingredients, realizing that she didnt really have a way to add more heat. <em>Oh thats a bit foolish of me.</em> The hot air incorporator just wasnt hot enough, and she didnt want to constantly add water.


    <em>Maybe if I had arger pot, that this one fit inside? I could have more water around it</em> No, that was just addingplication. <em>So, I need a hot air incorporator thats closer to a baking temperature. I seem to remember that people have tried baking with them before. So, there should be schemata for those higher temp ranges.</em>


    She sighed. <em>Another expense.</em>


    Still, the meal wasing along nicely.


    It wasnt stew; stew would take hours to properly cook.


    No, this was a thick, noodle soup with a selection of vegetables and a spice packet added.


    The spice-pack was a simple, sealed waxed-paper envelope that T had torn open and dumped into the water.


    Less than five minutes after adding the hot water, it was done, and she had nearly a gallon of tasty soup.


    It wasnt as hot as shed have liked, or as the ingredients really needed. So, the noodles and veggies were a bit chewier than ideal, but it tasted <em>so good.</em>


    Hunger really was an amazing spice, and T had that in gold.


    There was some bread in her stores as well, and she used that toplement the soup, just as the little book had suggested.


    In the end, she used thest of the bread to clean the final bits of soup from the cauldron.


    A healthy application of incorporated hot water helped clean out the cookpot, and she ced everything back into Kit.


    Her meal finallyplete, she tossed another bit of jerky for Terry, andid back, staring up at the canopy overhead.


    That was a good idea, Terry. Thank you.


    The avian head-butted the top of her head.


    Yes, the battle was fun, too, but I think we might have jumped into the deep end with that one.


    Terry trilled.


    Yes, you were amazing. Youd have been fine.


    He let out a bit of a warbling note.


    Oh? That was more than youve tried before?


    He bobbed a nod.


    You know, I feel like Im understanding you more and more.


    He bobbed again.


    Good. She grinned. You are a scary, terrifying creature, but youre <em>my</em> terrifying creature, my partner.


    He trilled and head-butted her again before curling up beside her head and closing his eyes.


    Ty there for long minutes, on the edge of wakefulness.


    <em>What should I focus on, when I get back to Makinaven?</em> She needed to sell her harvests, get the hides to a tanner, and meet back up with Rane. <em>And eat more. So much more.</em>


    That reminded her that she needed to get an oven-hot air incorporator.


    She thought back on the melee. Her excellent memory let her move through the battle again, in slow motion, and she critiqued herself, giving silent praise for wise or skillful maneuvers and sighing at points where shed made mistakes.


    Whenever she came to one of the mistakes, she would pause her recollection, analyzing what had led to the action or choice. Usually, the correct choice presented itself, and she was able to work through her thinking and reactions that could lead to a better choice in the future, adding that to her mental training regimen.


    In some cases, she was forced to admit that, mistake though it was, it had been the best she could have done in the moment. That led her to go back through the moments leading up to the incidents, searching for where shed gone wrong, among her good choices.


    <em>Turns out you can back yourself into a corner with purely good reactions.</em> Shed known that, obviously, but it had never been as apparent as it was now, looking at the ordered chaos of brutal conflict.


    She passed an unknown amount of time in that meditative state or purposeful recollection and critique.


    A screech resonated through the woods,ing from the direction of their murder dell.


    Ts eyes snapped open, and she was on her feet before she registered moving.


    A second screech resounded between the trees, and T was sure she knew what made the sound.


    Shed been sure with the first, but shed hoped she was wrong.


    Leshkin had found the murder dell.

 Chapter 131: Choose Wisdom

    Chapter 131: Choose Wisdom


    T quickly swept her rest spot, tucking the couple of odds and ends that shed left out, away into Kit.


    Terry.


    Terry was already beside her, sized for riding.


    T wanted to go, investigate the Leshkin, and y what she found. <em>But thats not the wise course. I have no one out here to protect, no goal other than survival. I should go the other way.</em>


    In her mind, the juggernauts loomedrge, exuding terror.


    That fear made her want to charge towards the unknown Leshkin, to prove that she wasnt afraid with each in member of their cursed race.


    <em>No, T. That is not courage. That is just letting your fear rule you in a different way.</em>


    T growled, clipping her anchor to Terrys cor and swinging up onto his back.


    The terror bird looked back to her, a clear question in his eyes. <em>Which way should we go?</em>


    Shed watched the Leshkin harm so many, even killing some of those under her protection. She wanted revenge.


    But that was foolish. Even if the exact Leshkin who had caused those deaths were, indeed, near the murder dell, destroying their bodies wouldnt do anything permanent to them.


    She could go, hunt down their hatchery, or nursery, or wherever their heartseeds were stored.


    <em>And that is even more foolish, T. You could do that once youve elevated yourself another few steps and youve equipped yourself properly, but even then, it would still probably be foolish.</em>


    She thought of Jevin, then. A powerhouse, equipped with the best the Constructionists could put together, and a truly god-like being, at least within a certain radius.


    <em>If he hasnt wiped them out, there must be a reason. It must be harder than Im imagining.</em>


    She thought about that for a long moment. What was she imagining?


    In her minds eye, she pictured herself and Terry breaking through and around juggernaut guards and into a long building, full of pulsing, fleshy seeds.


    She would run down the aisles, Flow outstretched, wreaking havoc and a harvest of death upon the enemy of humanity.


    She snorted augh. <em>Yeah Im definitely oversimplifying the task.</em>


    She sighed. The wise course was obvious. It was also obviously not what she wanted to do.


    <em>Wisdom. I have to choose wisdom to grow in wisdomeven when I dont want to.</em>


    Makinaven, Terry. Lets go.


    Terry bobbed a nod, even as he turned, crouched low, and took off at a sprint, heading north, back towards the city-in-a-tree.


    * * *


    They passed the draw-down line without incident, but T stayed vignt, keeping a wary eye on the surrounding trees.


    Terry continued to sprint through the woods without slowing.


    It was only then that T remembered: Terry didnt really have any recourse against the Leshkin. He must have wanted to leave from the moment they heard the first cry.


    She leaned a bit farther forward and patted the avians neck. Thank you, Terry.


    He turned his head slightly to the side to nce back at her momentarily.


    Thank you for staying with me and being willing to let mee to the wise choice.


    He trilled in happy acknowledgement.


    Soon after, they came into the clearing around the great tree, and T took a steadying breath. <em>I know running from your fears makes them worse, but it was still the right call.</em>


    It was mid-afternoon, and mundane citizens were working all throughout the vast open expanse.


    The strong scent of mint was carried on the breeze, and T found herself grinning. <em>Right, wasnt the tea-brick seller connected with arge farm to the south? Lots of mint, indeed.</em>


    She didnt stop or seek out the source of the scent. There would be no real point.


    The power in the air was, again, almost smothering. <em>I swear the signature feels familiar.</em>


    It was hardly the time to investigate that, so she pushed it to the back of her mind.


    T asked Terry to slow as they approached the southern gate, and she called out to a guard. Hello, there!


    Greetings, Mistress. How can we assist you, today?


    Im looking for a skilled tanner for beast hides.


    The man looked up, clearly considering. Im sorry, Mistress, but I dont know of one. If you can wait, I can go ask our Master Sergeant. She should know.


    T nodded. Thank you, I dont mind waiting. Are you sure its alright? I dont want to get you in trouble.


    He smiled and gave a half bow. It would be my pleasure, and duty, to serve. He turned and went through a well-hidden door, just inside the gates arch.


    T had only waited for about five minutes before the guard returned with a scrap of paper.


    Here you are, Mistress. Just east of us, here. He gave her further directions, then handed her the paper with another description of how to find her destination.


    Thank you, guardsman. Take care.


    He waved goodbye as Terry turned and took off towards the tanner. <em>A business fully outside the city proper.</em> She shook her head. The forest cities had many, many oddities it seemed, and T was starting to enjoy most of them quite a bit.


    * * *


    T found the tanner to be quite reasonable, and they did settle on a payment of one hide to tan the other. When she returned, she would get to select between the two hides, and take the one she preferred, so T didnt really see any way she could lose out.


    That aplished, she and Terry returned to Makinaven, thanked the guard, and entered through the Southern Gate.


    It was stillte afternoon, so she wasnt sure where Rane would be.


    <em>Hell probably be either with Master Jevin or back in the training hall were using.</em>


    She decided to drop through the Constructionist Guild. If nothing else, she needed an oven-air incorporator. Thankfully, the stipend hade in, and her debt with the Constructionists had been cleared.


    In no time at all, Terry had flickered to her shoulder, and T was pushing open the door into the Constructionists'' third tierpound.


    Mistress T? The greeting mostly overrode the standard chime sounding in the back rooms.


    Master Grent?


    Hello! Wee. He gestured expansively. Good to see you back here. He said a few quiet words to the assistant hed been dialoguing with upon Ts entrance. As the assistant departed, Grent turned back to T, a genuine smile across his face. How can I assist you, today?


    Well She thought for a moment, then shrugged. I have some harvests to sell, an incorporator to buy, Im interested in what watches you have on hand, and She contemted for a moment. I think thats it.


    He nodded to her. Certainly. Right this way. Ill take you to an acquisitions room. You cany out your harvests there, and we can go over what theyre worth.


    Ten minutester, T, Terry, and Grent regarded tworge tables covered in a singleyer of harvests.


    What did you do, Mistress?


    She frowned his way. What do you mean?


    There are harvests here from a half dozen species, all predators. Did you go hunting or something? After a moment, he shook his head. No, thats silly. Why would you track down all of these individuallythey dont seem to have any magic about them, any longer, so are you selling them just as materials? Did you find them in some uber-predators den?


    T picked up one of the ws and scraped off theyer of iron-salve.


    Grent took it from her and sighed. Why the rust would you coat these in iron?


    To preserve their power?


    Why not get an iron box?


    This is more efficient?


    Power-wise, yes, but you cant reuse this He ran his thumb over it. Salve? A box is a one-and-done purchase. He looked around. I suppose youd need a lot of boxes He frowned. So, have you been hoarding these? Bringing them all at once towhat? Get a higher rate for the lot? Thats not usually how it works.


    No, I killed these today.


    He stopped, set down the w, and turned to face her. Mistress T.


    Yes?


    I think you have a story to tell.


    She hesitated, then grinned. For the right price, as an addition to the sale? I can work with that.


    Grentughed. Sure. He went through every item, only scraping holes in a few randomyers of salve to verify they all had the same level of power held within. He then carefully smoothed over the breach to keep the power well contained. Well, these are all of the highest quality, but I would expect that even from unsealed harvests the day of their acquisition.


    So? How are we looking?


    I dont know what sort of behavior Ill be encouraging, if I buy these He gave her a searching look.


    Im not telling you the story before I sell.


    His mask broke, and he grinned. Twenty gold for the harvests, and ten for the story.


    She narrowed her eyes at him. These are worth at least thirty gold, without the story.


    He nodded, waggling his head nomittally as he scratched his chin. So then, thirty gold for the harvests, and Ill buy you coffee? You tell me the story while we drink.


    She huffed augh, shaking her head. You said, yourself, that these are from a wide variety of creatures. These have to be worth more than thirty.


    Oh, of course they are, and if youd like to hunt down individual buyers you could easily get forty, maybe even fifty, but we cant pay you that.


    T tsked. The seal on them is near perfect. They wont degrade, so you wont take a loss, even if it takes you a long time to find a use or a buyer.


    True enough.


    Forty.


    Thirty-five, and the story.


    T groused for a moment. Wait! We still need to look into the incorporator, and the watch.


    Grent paused. Ah, right. He picked up the te hed been working on and searched through. What temperature do you want?


    I dont have a specific temperature that I want. The most efficient?


    He hesitated. What do you want it for?


    T exined what she wanted it for.


    After a moments contemtion, he nodded. Well, if you dont want to go the most efficient route, we have a masterwork schema that might interest you.


    A masterwork?


    Something a master Constructionist devoted their career to perfecting.


    Like the failed coffee incorporator.


    He quirked a smile at that. I suppose you could consider that in the same vein, but for it to be truly considered a masterwork, they would have needed to keep going, perfecting it, and making numerous versions until it worked the way they wanted.


    T nodded. Ahh, I see. So, whats this schema?


    If youve got an output that can handle fifty mana per second, then-


    T held up her hand, stopping him, and sighed. At my <em>best</em>, I can manage just more than that, but not for long.


    He quirked an eyebrow at her. Ahh, right, not Fused, yet.


    Whats that supposed to mean?


    He grinned. Its not a secret, not really. Once youre fully Fused, you''re better able to pull power into this world; your gate is more physical, and your body more spiritual, and all that. Your throughput will at least double. It usually does great things for capacity, too.


    <em>And Ive another motivation to finish crocheting myself together.</em> Good to know.


    Well, when youre Fused, weve a masterwork schema that we can make for a gold.


    Thats a bit expensive.


    Its a variable temperature, breathable air incorporator. It can generate consistent temperature air, anywhere in the baking range.


    I thought changing temperatures caused the entire schema to have to be reworked.


    He grinned. Thats why this is a masterwork. It has many, interlocking and interlinking,yers that connect and lose contact as you rotate one of the outer rings, forming the desired incorporator for the various temperatures.


    T found herself nodding. But its not very good at any of them. Hence the efficiency issues.


    Precisely.


    Well, Ill keep that in mind. Maybe Ill upgradeter.


    Sure. So, then with only one temperature, Id rmend the hottest possible. You can then treat it like a fire and just feather the throughput to manage cooking temperatures. Its not precise, but you probably dont need it to be.


    Sounds good to me.


    Great, Ive got one on hand. We made it a couple of days ago for a potter who wanted to do low-temperature zing, but it turns out that his Mage son wanted to go into a different line of work. I wont bore you with the details but suffice it to say Ive got one that should work for you. A hot bit of g, honestly. He clicked his tongue. Ill throw in a set of tongs; I dont want you burning yourself on our products. This is <em>broiling</em> temperatures, you understand.


    That sounds great. Is it a standard incorporator?


    Yup, standard rate.


    T nodded. And for a watch?


    Well what do you want it for? Do you need to know what time it is, all the time?


    No, I just want to be able to tell, when its important.


    Then, why not get an Archive tablet? It can do that, too. Plus, theyre dead useful.


    T considered for a long moment, then sighed and shook her head. I need to talk with a friend before I buy an Archive Tablet. Something tells me shell have a <em>lot</em> to say on the subject. <em>Mistress Holly has a set of inscriptions, which I think allow her to act as an Archive connected tablet without the device. Its about time I got the story behind that, and maybe the same functionality.</em>


    As you say. He shrugged. Do you want to see what else we have avable?


    No, but thank you. I think your ideas a good one; I just need to wait. <em>I wonder what all Ill be able to do with it, and what exactly it will require.</em>


    He nodded. Alright, then. These harvests and your story to me; thirty-four gold, seventy silver, a broiler-incorporator, and tongs to you.


    Thirty-<em>five</em> gold, incorporator, tongs, coffee, and pastries, then you get the story.


    He scratched the side of his chin, then gave a half smile. Done!


    A sufficient quantity of coffee and pastries for me.


    He hesitated. Why do I get a feel that that means something more than I realize?


    Are you a gambling man?


    He gave her a long look. No. Maximum four cups of coffee and half a dozen pastries.


    T sighed. Fine


    His eyes widened. How many would you have needed?


    Youd have had to buy out a bakery. She gave him a wink. Do we have a deal?


    He held out his hand. Deal.


    * * *


    T leaned back, washing down her sixth pastry with thest of her final cup of coffee. So, I decided I didnt want to risk a fight with Leshkin and returned home.


    Grent was staring at her with obvious incredulity.


    Any questions?


    Howhow are you alive?


    Was I not clear in the story?


    Oh, I understand how you survived, today, but how does someone whod do <em>that</em> survive, long term?


    T grimaced at that. I dont do things like that, often. I was trying to give Terry, here, a nice day out.


    Terry trilled happily, without moving.


    Grent gave the terror bird a sidelong look. And hes not your familiar, yet?


    Nope.


    He grunted. Okay. After a moment, he asked, somewhat hesitantly. You know, from your story, you should have had a <em>lot</em> more harvests than you brought in.


    T hadnt wanted to divulge that Terry could eat as much as he had, or much else about the terror bird that wasnt required for the story. Well, the Leshkin did arrive before I could harvest from more than I brought to you. Technically true.


    He gave her a long look. So it seems. He seemed to consider for a long moment. You know, not many people can engage that number of opponents and leave harvestable materials.


    Oh?


    Grent nodded. There are tons who could eviscerate, immte, disintegrate, or otherwise obliterate so many enemies. Most much faster, actually, but none would leave a harvest to be reaped.


    Whats your point?


    You could make a killing as a harvester. He grinned. Pun very much intended.


    She huffed augh. Ive thought about it, but I dont know that I want that much danger, constantly.


    Well, think it over. Harvesters dont get any base pay, but they still can make a lot of coin


    T cocked her head. Whats the rest?


    He sighed. The saying is that Harvesters are like gilt paper, they are inundated in gold, for as long as theyst.


    Low survival rate?


    Very. That is actually one of the chief reasons harvests stillmand such a sum. There are usually only a couple of Harvesters per city, and thats a maximum. Here? Weve one, that I know of, though a few wandererse through now and again.


    So, why form a Guild? Why should I even consider joining such a Guild?


    Ready market for the harvest? He shrugged. You seem to have good info, but some of the most expensive harvests are hard to find buyers for, and many of the mostmon ones arent always in demand.


    T scratched her cheek. Ill consider it, but I think Im happy as I am, for now. <em>Might be worth doing some harvesting day-trips, though, between Caravan runs.</em> Well, thank you for the coffee and pastries.


    They stood, and Grent offered her his hand. Mistress T, its been a pleasure.


    Likewise, Master Grent. I hope we see each other again, sometime.


    He paused before asking in a rush, What about tomorrow?


    T hesitated. Oh?


    We could grab coffee again, maybe in the morning. Id love to hear about your other ventures.


    T shrugged. Im sure youve done more exciting things than I have.


    Well, we can swap stories then?


    She paused, considering. <em>Its just coffee, T.</em> Sure. Meet at the Constructionists'' Compound?


    That sounds like a n. Nine?


    I have a breakfast appointment. Could we do ten?


    Sure. See you then.


    They walked to the door, side by side, both feeling a bit awkward at having finished their conversation then heading in the same direction.


    Blessedly, once they were outside, Grent headed down and T headed up.


    Take care!


    T waved over her shoulder, Terry already standing beside her, ready to ride. See you tomorrow.

 Chapter 132: Together

    Chapter 132: Together


    T stood up as Rane entered their training room. Rane pulled to a stop, seemingly not having expected to find her here.


    She grinned. So? Can I see Force? Were there any changes?


    After another moments hesitation, Rane grinned. You spoiled the big reveal I was nning.


    She shrugged. Sorry, but I want to see it.


    He snorted augh and pulled out his sword. There were, indeed, changes.


    If someone had taken therge weapon, shattered it, and rebuilt it with liquid sapphire to hold the pieces together, T would expect a simr result.


    The wood of the weapon seemed to have been refined, somehow, and there was a blue tint to that part of the sword as well. The entire weapon <em>almost</em> seemed to glow.


    T nodded appreciatively. That is beautiful.


    Care to test? Force against Flow? Rane was smiling quite happily.


    T drew Flow, immediately forming it into a sword.


    Rane lifted his hands in mild panic. Wait! Training scabbard.


    T nced at her weapon and sighed. Shed still had it freed from the fight, earlier. Right Flow returned to the shape of a knife, and she bound the sheath around it. Again, the weapon grew. Shall we?


    Rane responded by throwing his sword. T easily side-stepped the attack, giving Rane a quizzical look.


    Realization struck, then, and she spun to deflect Forceing at her from behindonly to see itying in the corner, having slid across the floor.


    Frowning, she turned back, just in time for Ranes fist tond, high up on her cheek.


    She was momentarily dazed as she took a single, staggering step backwards. Rane, for his part shook out his hand, even as he tripped her.


    T had recovered enough to execute a controlled fall, rolling back to a standing position a few feet away.


    Rane was cursing under his breath, before giving her a mild re. Ow! What are you made of these days?


    T grimaced rubbing her cheek. Same as before. She shook her head. I cant believe I fell for that. Can you even call your bound weapon to you?


    Rane grinned, holding out his hand.


    Im not falling for that- Force mmed into her back, throwing her forward and back to the ground.


    Raneughed as he caught his weapon. I cant do it more than a couple times, but Forces magics make it a pretty useful attack.


    T groaned in agreement, pushing herself back to her feet once again. Flow could cut on a return path, maybe burn a little, when not sheathed, but that was pretty much it. The way Force was designed, it would be almost as effective in flight as when wielded by Rane, himself.


    She narrowed her eyes. Force was designed for use as a soul-bound weapon, wasnt it. It really wasnt a question.


    I told you so, didnt I?


    She tsked. Yeah, I suppose you did. Any new functionality?


    Aside from the bond, I can alter the edge and shape of theforce. He quirked a half-grin. I have it blunted, now, but I seem to be able to refine it into a true cutting attack.


    T nodded. Impressive.


    Thank you.


    Again?


    Again.


    They sparred uncounted bouts as the afternoon faded towards evening.


    T picked herself up off the floor, vaulting back to her feet one final time. I thought I had you there.


    Rane wiped sweat from his forehead, even as he sheathed Force. You are getting much better. I want to meditate on our matches, then Ill head to bed.


    T nced to the darkening sky, just visible between the edge of the canopy overhead and the trees surrounding Makinaven. Thats fair, I suppose. She reced Flow onto her belt.


    Rane took a deep breath and smiled. So, what are your ns for tomorrow?


    * * *


    T rolled her eyes as Rane paced back and forth.


    You have a date, with a Refined!?!


    You can say that as many times as you want, it doesnt make it any more true.


    Coffee, he ticked items off, on his fingers, pastries, talking. Thats a date.


    Its two people learning from each other.


    He turned towards her, meeting her gaze. Is that how he sees it?


    How should I know? Why should I care? Her eyes narrowed. Why do you care?


    Rane growled. He opened his mouth, then closed it several times, before he turned and he continued to pace. Finally, he groaned. Its taking time from our training?


    <em>That sounds inurate. He doesnt even believe that himself.</em> You dont have to tell me why it bothers you Rane, but I dont need your permission. Now, aside from that, and my breakfast with Mistress Odera, Ive got nothing nned. That <em>is</em> what you asked, right?


    Rane had stopped his pacing and turned towards her once more. After a moment, he grimaced, then took a deep breath and let it out slowly. That is what I asked yes.


    Well, alright, then. Why do you ask? She tried to steer the conversation from the oddly touchy subject.


    He seemed to war within himself, before sighing. It might be a bit silly, but Ive bound Force, and I wanted to celebrate tomorrow. Theres a series of ys in the tier four park. Tons of food and people. It should be a lot of fun.


    <em>Food and ys sound good. People are inevitable, I suppose </em>She shrugged. Sure. When does it start, tomorrow?


    It starts just after lunch.


    She smiled Then no conflict.


    Rane hesitated, then sighed. Fine. He looked around. I still need to meditate.


    <em>You are the only reason you havent. </em>Be my guest.


    T, for her part, immediately dropped into a cross-legged, seated position and took out two tungsten balls. Both had altered gravity, one with it raised, one lowered.


    This one particr variant of her abilitys use was giving her trouble.


    She could grab onto two targets, if they had the same starting gravity, and alter them together.


    She could now grab onto any two targets and manipte their gravity independently.


    But, she couldnt grab two differently gravitized items and alter them at the same time, in exactly the same way.


    Oh, she could fake it, by altering them separately in the same way, but it didnt <em>feel</em> the same, and it took more power.


    While she struggled with that, she also reviewed her fights with Rane. Every so often, her full attention woulde back to the balls before her.


    Finally, she thought she had it. <em>Increase.</em>


    Their gravity increasedseparately.


    <em>Why wont you move together, rust you!</em>


    Something clicked into ce in her mind, resonating with her power, and something entirely different beganing together.


    <em>Together. I should be able to move them together.</em>


    Gravity was the interaction of all mass with all other mass, not just mass with the below.


    <em>They are two points. Ive been increasing their gravity, as connected to the. What if I increase it rtive to each other?</em>


    Excited beyond belief, she <em>dumped</em> power into that mental construct. <em>Collide.</em>


    She wasnt altering the balls gravity with the. She wasnt making them pull inward on themselves, though that thought was tucked away forter study.


    No, she was only increasing their attraction to each other.


    After just more than two minutes, the spheres began to wobble. In less than three, they suddenly rolled together, hitting with a satisfying <em>click</em>.


    Ranes eyes snapped open. Mistress T?


    T was staring at the balls, wide eyed and her mouth open in an ear-to-ear grin. I did it, Master Rane. I discovered a new use for my ability, all on my own.


    Rane tilted his head. Oh? Do you want to share?


    T narrowed her eyes, pulling out one of the balls that shed reduced to have near zero gravity.<em> As regards the.</em> She amended. She could almost feel her mind radiating through all her preconceptions and mulling over what this could mean.


    While she did that, she locked onto Rane and the ball in her hand. <em>Collide.</em>


    Raneshrugged off her lock, likely without him even noticing her attempt. <em>Opposing will?</em> She could probably force it, but she might not need to. The ball didnt reject her maniption, and <em>something</em> was growing.


    Mistress T?


    One moment. I suggest you get ready. There was already a slight pressure, as the ball tried to pull from her hand, towards Rane. It was minute, but it was growing rapidly, now. <em>With the mass so low, Im having to massively ramp up the effects.</em>


    Rane slowly stood, drawing force. Alright He seemed, understandably, hesitant.


    T just smiled. She had utter confidence in his abilities. <em>His defenses will keep him safe, if it gets past his sword.</em>


    After four minutes, T was starting to have trouble holding onto the ball. Heads up. And she released the ball.


    It zipped across the room, heading straight for the area between Ranes navel and sternum, his center of mass.


    Ranes eyes widened, and he struck at the ball on reflex. The ball flew away, but rapidly slowed, arching around toe back towards him. It acted simr to a ball in a funnel, where Rane was the spout. Any movement was quickly redirected into an unstable orbit.


    <em>An orbit, eh? I wonder if I could actually use that, somehow</em><em>Could I ce balls or armored tes in stable orbit around myself? Would that even be useful?</em>


    T found herselfughing, continuing to increase the Collide of the ball, towards Rane.


    Rane, for his part, was battering the ball around with increasing ferocity, but it kepting back, faster and faster.


    Mistress T. His breath wasing more rapidly, now. I actually cant do this, forever.


    <em>OhOh! Rust! </em>Ah, right! Sorry. She immediately went to decrease the pull but found that her mental image of that wascking. Ohrust. Rust!


    T!


    She thought furiously, finally an odd image came to mind and clicked. It just felt right.


    <em>Diminish.</em> She poured power through her void-channels, into the mental construct, and through that into her spell-forms, but shed been upping the balls draw towards Rane for close to five minutes by that point. Its reducing, but itll take almost as long toe down as it took to ramp up!


    Rane made a small grunt of beleaguered irritation, but nodded, focusing fully on the ball and his repulsion of such.


    With a moment of inspiration, she also dumped power into a <em>Collide </em>for the ball to one of the walls. The Diminish was already taking all the power it could handle, so it didnt slow that part. Thus, the ball started moving more towards that wall with each deflection, until, finally, it was drifting as slowly as a leaf across the ground before a slight breeze.


    Rane was panting by that point. Thatwas insane.


    T grinned, now Diminish-ing the balls link to both Rane and the wall, allowing the tungsten to driftzily towards the floor.


    What was that?


    I increased its gravity towards you.


    He gave her a confused look. What? How does that apply?


    Gravity is every mass pulling all other mass. That was an oversimplification, but she felt that it was urate enough for a short-hand exnation.


    Rane cocked an eyebrow, then jumped, returning the floor. I came down, I didnt go to the ceiling.


    T smiled, instantly understanding what he meant. Ahh, but you came down <em>slightly</em> slower than you would have, if you had been outside, without the roof over your head. Gravitational elerations are really abination of elerations towards every mass around you.


    He was clearly still skeptical but seemed to have decided not to argue. Well, you are the gravity Mage, I suppose After a moment, he grinned. I actually think that was pretty good training for me, but I dont want to repeat it not exactly. We can work something out, though, right?


    Sure. She nced to her ball, now sitting on the ground, its gravity returned to normal, except as rting to the. That gravitational rtionship was still reduced to near non-existence. The ball, itself, was cracked and warped. Wow, you did a real number on this.


    Well, I asked politely, but it wouldnt leave me alone.


    T nced his way and saw him grinning with an obviously self-satisfied smile. Yeah, yeah. She couldnt keep a smile from her face, or a chuckle from her tone.


    Ranes breathing had returned to a more normal pace, and he scratched the side of his head a bit awkwardly. So mind if I finish meditating? Its fully night, and I need to get some sleep, soon.


    T waved assent and focused back on the tungsten balls before her. Shed remained sitting throughout the test against Rane. <em>This would be a great distraction for any one-on-one fight.</em> Assuming it didnt just m into the enemy, killing them.


    She reassured herself. <em>Ranes defensive inscriptions would have kept him safe.</em> Even so, shed been a bit hasty on the test.


    <em>What else should I test?</em> She thought through the ideas that Jevin had given her.


    <em>I can do groups; I can increase one target while decreasing another.</em> She grinned. She could even increase one aspect of an items gravity while decreasing another for the same target.


    <em>I know that the change ispounding.</em> She hesitated at that, cursing silently. Shed unintentionallytched onto a 10% increase,pounding each second, as how she envisioned it.


    <em>Now, I need to break my mental construct of a fixed number.</em> She growled.


    Rane shifted but didnt open his eyes.


    <em>I cant change the direction of the resulting eleration, but I can change what it is elerating towards. </em>That said, she was at a massive disadvantage when dealing with gravity not rting to the.


    <em>All that mass really is useful to me.</em> She grinned at that.


    <em>I still need to test if I can target just a part of something, but I should be able to. </em>What else did she need to test?


    <em>Affecting an areaI dont think I can target an area. I just dont believe that gravity works that way.</em> She had to smile at that. She had <em>seen</em> other gravity Mages at the Academy doing area of effect gravity maniptions, but it had always struck her as wrong, somehow<em>.</em><em>What else?</em>


    <em>Something held by an opponent, and opposed enactment.</em> Rane had shrugged off her lock, just by his nature as a Bound. She hadnt tried to force the connection, but it was one of the first times shed ever had an issue locking onto someone.


    <em>He must have been working on his power-density.</em> As she thought about it, she realized there was a second, more likely exnation. <em>His fusing is giving him greater magical weight.</em>


    Her own fusing immediately took a massive leap up in priority for her.


    Finally, thest thing she wanted to test, eventually, was what would happen if she increased an items gravitation towards itself. She couldnt think of a use for it, as it wouldnt change the mass, nor affect anything else, but it would be interesting to see if she could.


    <em>Well, thats quite the list. What first?</em> There was no question in her mind at all.


    She began to crochet.


    Rane finished up and bade her goodnight, but she only gave him a cursory good-bye, her focus directed almost entirely inward.


    * * *


    It was after midnight when T flopped backwards with a groan.


    There! Are you happy? I tried.


    Terry gave a sleepy, grumpy squawk from her folded bedroll in the corner of the training room.


    I cant do areas. It just makes no sense to me. She groaned again. I bet all area gravity Mages are Creators, and they just create gravity fields in defiance of ALL LOGIC! She almost yelled thest two words.


    Terry groused some more but didnt otherwise participate in the conversation.


    Fine. Im done.


    Shed worked on fusing for a few hours then decided that she should at least <em>try</em> to affect an area, instead of a specific target.


    On the plus side, I know I can affect just one part of something Shed been raising and lowering the effective gravity of a section of floor for thest hour. Nothing she could think to try had any affect on the items atop that floor, however.


    From her prone position, she kicked up tond on her feet. I want a bath.


    She topped off Kit with power even as she took it from her belt.


    Once shed drawn the near-scalding bath, T let herself soak but didnt indulge for too long.


    Much more rxed, and fully exhausted, she crashed into her bed, set up in one corner of Kits expanded interior. She increased her gravity almost absently, until the bed had afortable give for her current position.


    She was asleep before another thought could flicker through her mind.


    T woke some timeter, sitting bolt upright and looking around.


    <em>Was that just a dream?</em>


    Shed felt like something was about to eat her.


    She shivered, reflexively refilling Kits reserves.


    <em>Well, Im awake</em> She climbed up the shortdder and looked out into the training room.


    The bit of sky she could see was grey but lightening towards dawn.


    T growled. Not enough.


    She dropped back down, flopping back onto her mattress and curling up, asleep again, near instantly.


    Mistress T? Mistress Oderas voice floated down from above. Mistress T!?


    T groaned, not fully awake, rolling out of bed and pping into the ground. What.


    Are you down there?


    Yes. T spoke a bit louder this time.


    Im not going to even try entering thatitem. Pleasee up. Id rather get breakfast <em>before</em> lunch time.


    T jerked upright. Oh! What time is it?


    Half past seven, dear.


    T growled. Too early.


    Well, I can always eat by myself. I just thought youd prefer to join me.


    Ts stomach let out a gurgling roar that T would have sworn echoed throughout Kits interior.


    After the sound settled down, T cleared her throat. Ill be right up.

 Chapter 133: Great…

    Chapter 133: Great¡­


    Ts head was thrown back as she downed her fifth cup of coffee.


    That really isnt healthy for you.


    T set down her mug, giving Mistress Odera a long look. I was up til after midnight.


    Would you be drinking less, if youd gone to bed earlier?


    T didnt respond, instead simply refilling her mug as she munched on a few pieces of bacon. Out of the corner of her eye, T saw Terry flicker briefly, and the pile of sausages was a few links shorter. She grinned but didnt address the mild thievery.


    I thought not. Mistress Odera pushed her te back, having just finished her own, small meal. Now, how is your training progressing?


    T shook her head. Nope.


    No?


    Nope. We talk about me every morning. Its time you answer some questions about you.


    Mistress Odera cocked an eyebrow but didntment.


    So, why dont you go teach for the academy? Thats where some Mages retire, right?


    She took a long breath, shaking her head. Aside from the rudeness of the base assumptions in your question: The Academy is for those who fear death more than they love magic.


    Care to exin? T was using the opportunity to continue her breakfast.


    The ind is a natural fountain of eternal youth. Mistress Odera smiled. Well, in a sense.


    T leaned forward, eating more bacon. Wait, is the fountain of youth a fount?


    Hmm? No, no. It''s just often referred to as a fountain of water in the tales.


    Ah, ok.


    Now, the legends are actually due to that ce. It prevents the degradation of living creatures. You can grow up, but nothing will move past maturity, not while there. It wont reverse aging, however. Thats just a myth.


    That sounds useful.


    It is, it is.


    So, whats the catch?


    Mistress Odera nodded appreciatively. It suffuses you. Eventually, if you stay long enough, you dont even have to stay on the ind to keep the stasis.


    T found herself nodding. It imprints upon your magic.


    Precisely, and conflicts with any inscriptions, slowly rendering them worthless.


    She frowned. Then why put so many Mage initiates there? Wouldnt that cripple their foundation?


    No, it doesnt act upon those who have not reached maturity. Your Magic cannot resonate with what does not act upon you.


    T grunted. The teachers refused to exin, and even led me to believe they didnt know what was going on.


    It is a shameful thing, Mistress Odera shook her head, to fear death sopletely that you would cripple yourself.


    Arent they doing a noble thing? Giving up magic to teach?


    Mistress Odera snorted derisively. Hardly. The Academy is just a convenient use of the fearful old codgers.


    T tilted her head in thought. So, why not offer it to mundanes?


    The magic draws on your gate, and it takes more power than a mundane has avable.


    So, it only works for Mages?


    Worse.


    How could it be worse?


    What happens if you use more power than your gate can draw?


    It pulls from my reserves.


    Mistress Odera nodded. And when your reserves are emptied?


    The spell-working ends? T frowned. <em>Right?</em>


    Yes and no. What would happen if the spell-working was an inscription?


    It would burn through the metal, exhausting it to give the working a few more moments of activity, leaving the Mage uninscribed. T answered instantly and easily.


    Yes, so, what is the equivalent of the inscription in this case?


    The ind?


    Mistress Odera huffed augh. Then, would it need a persons power to function?


    No T frowned, once again. Its enacted on their fleshis that the answer?


    In this case, yes. She smiled. The history behind the ind is thus: Humanity negotiated for a source of eternal life. We are one of the shortest-lived races, after all, but we were deceived. The trade was magically locked, and our partner was held to the letter of the trade, but thats all. We were given a poison pill, useless to the point of detriment to mundanes and Mages alike, while still, technically, doing as promised.


    What did we give up in trade?


    That is lost to history, as far as I am aware.


    Seems like this is something that should be taught.


    Oh, youve heard of it.


    I have?


    Who is the primary antagonist in all tales of the fountain of youth, among others?


    Ts eyes widened. The Arcane King.


    Precisely.


    T sat back, thoughtfully eating a hash-brown patty. Wow rust that guy.


    Mistress Oderaughed loudly before covering her own mouth, drawing the eyes of some customers at the other end of the restaurant.


    T smiled as she continued to eat.


    Truer words, Mistress. Mistress Odera shrugged. He did follow through on the entirety of the request: Humanity is safe there, from all outside threats. The gods and hostile arcanes are utterly incapable of setting foot on the ind or affecting it in any way. She smiled. The protections are really quite ingenious, actually. From what Ive been told they extend to maintaining the surrounding environment, so that even when the sun goes nova in a few billion years, that ind will remain perfectly habitable. Assuming that humans still live there, I suppose.


    Thatsquite something, actually.


    Theres a reason people still seek the Arcane King, despite his known duplicity.


    T frowned. Arcane King She scratched her chin, remembering what Xeel had told her of arcane power rankings. Hes a Sovereign.


    Yes? Kings are a type of sovereign.


    No, I mean the arcane equivalent of a Transcendent.


    Ahh. I suppose? Ive not really given him too much thought. She gave a sad smile. Well, not since my grandchildren outgrew fairytales.


    T was frowning, considering. Are there any human Transcendents?


    That is a question that I honestly thought youd ask weeks ago. Though it is a bit of a tangent, now.


    T grimaced. Other things have been on my mind.


    Thats fine, Mistress. Ill ask a question in return.


    T sighed. I should have expected.


    Mistress Odera grinned. Are there any adult babies?


    What? No? But there are babies who be adults.


    Precisely. Those who transcend have transcended. They are <em>more</em>. They are not what they were.


    T rolled her eyes. You know what Im asking, Mistress. Are there any Transcendent who <em>were</em> human, then?


    No.


    No?


    No.


    I find that very hard to believe.


    Mistress Odera shrugged. You dont have to believe me.


    T sighed. How can you be sure? Our society isnt exactly big on sharing such secrets.


    Because we are still at war.


    She frowned, leaning back. Exin, please.


    If a human transcended, they could either take us all away, making a new world and moving us there to ensure our safety, or they would try, and their equals would stop them. That would beless than ideal for life on this.


    Couldnt you make the same argument that, since we are still at war, we have to have at least one transcendent keeping the others from obliterating us?


    Mistress Odera snorted. If one of them wanted us dead, theyd kill us all.


    The Arcane King? T tried to think about all the stories shed heard involving the creature.


    He enjoys messing with humans but doesnt actively hate us.


    She considered. The Hollow Queen?


    She cares only for her own physicality. Isnt she usually a part of stories against harmful self-love and narcissism?


    Mansa the Gold?


    Only wishes a greater treasury. His tales usually end with him digging towards the core of Zeme, seeking ever more wealth from the earth.


    Krol the Conqueror.


    Dead? Isnt that what the stories say?


    T considered. <em>Yeah, there was a uniting of ancient heroes that died to stop the Conqueror.</em> Reine of the Deep? Dauphin the Enduring? Mirza Far Sight? T frowned, trying to remember all the most powerful, nonhuman figures in the ancient tales. Padishah of the ins? Basileus the Betrayer?


    Mistress Odera shrugged. I cannot tell you the dispositions of the powers in the world atrge, Mistress. I know the same stories as you, though I imagine you know them better. She gave a small smile. For all I know, most, if not all, of these are purely fictional.


    What of the gods?


    She let out a long sigh. Mistress T. In my life, I have only ever seen one creature ssified as a god. The Leviathan.


    When did you see the Leviathan? Ts voice was just above a whisper.


    When I was at the Academy. Mistress Odera quirked a smile. It is one reason I sought answers about the origin of the ce. I was on the librarys tower-top, just after a storm. A ship, not of human make, had been driven into the waters around the ind, and the magics were forcing it away.


    T had paused her eating to listen.


    As the magics finallypelled the vessel out past the area of safety, a hole opened in the ocean, and the ship dropped from sight, like a stone from the tower-top. She shook her head. Momentster, after the hole had closed and all traces of the ship were gone, an eye rose up to regard the ind. The eye wasrger than a wagon, and the power of the being was so great that I could see the magic, even without my mage-sight active. A single tentacle reached out towards me -well, probably towards the Academy- but slid off of an invisible boundary.


    T swallowed and shivered. Shed never really been interested in sea-travel. Now, she was sure shed avoid it at all costs. So, thats a god.


    Mistress Oderaughed. No, no. She shook her head. As the tentacle slid off the boundary, I saw sudden fear enter the great eye. A bellow of terror shook the Academy and turned the sea into a froth. In an instant, that ship destroyer vanished inside a great maw. Teethrger than the library tower I stood upon tore through cleanly and dragged the creature under. The ocean was red and thick with blood for a month after that.


    T took a deep drink of her coffee. Yeahno sea travel for me.


    Wise choice. Most gods on thend are easier to ignore, assuming you dont vite their sense of what is right. Mistress Odera nodded sagely. The Forest Spirit walks these very woods. He only interacts with mortals if they attempt to harm the forest atrge, or wipe out one of its species.


    The Leshkin.


    Yes. They put themselves under his protection by bing creatures of the forest.


    T frowned. That seems like cheating.


    Mistress Oderaughed. He doesnt care if you kill the creatures, only if you threaten the species as a whole. The Leshkin cannot be killed outright, so he only cares if their heartseeds are threatened.


    <em>Well, that exins why no one has wiped them out, yet.</em>


    He isnt vengeful, though. He simply stops the attempts. Very few have actually ever seen him, but those who recorded the experience recall feeling overwhelming shame, like disappointing a cherished mentor. It is theorized that, at his core, the Forest Spirit is a Conceptual Creator, but that is obviously spection.


    T grunted. I dont really understand the conceptual side of magic.


    Most humans cant, really. Thats one of the reasons we cant use it.


    Tughed. That makes sense. I dont even know the divisions of that side, though.


    What do you mean?


    Well, humans use physical magic: Material and Immaterial.


    Thats right.


    So, what are the divisions of conceptual magic?


    Ah, Abstract and Concrete.


    I dont know what that means.


    Well, I cant exin it to you.


    How can a concept be concrete? Arent they all abstract? T was mainly talking to herself.


    Mistress Odera didnt answer, instead sipping her tea.


    After a moment, T cocked her head. Wait a second.


    Hmmm?


    I was trying to ask questions about you.


    Were you now? Mistress Odera managed to hide most of her smile behind another sip of tea.


    T narrowed her eyes at the woman. Yes.


    Well, Im sorry to say that our time is all but done.


    Oh?


    You said you were meeting someone else at ten, right?


    Yes.


    Its half past nine.


    T grimaced. Thats not fair.


    What isnt fair?


    You know how to y my curiosity, deflecting me from what I intend.


    Thats called being a good conversationalist, dear. She then muttered into her tea, too quietly for her to have expected T to be able to hear. You should try it some time.


    T red but didntment.


    So? Get going, Mistress. Ive got the bill covered.


    T sighed but stood. Thank you for breakfast, Mistress Odera.


    It was a pleasure.


    T grabbed a double handful of bacon and sausage, wrapped it in a napkin and headed for the door.


    Terry flickered to her shoulder, and she gave him a sausage as they left the restaurant.


    * * *


    T finished up her load of meat just as she got to the Constructionist Guild office.


    The standard scan and <em>ding</em> heralded her arrival.


    T! Grent walked out of the back hall, arms wide.


    <em>Well, rust </em>T folded her hands in front of herself and gave a half bow. Master Grent.


    He seemed to almost miss a step, but his smile never wavered. How are you, Mistress? He stopped just out of arms reach and gave a half bow in return.


    I am well, thank you. And you?


    I am very well, thank you.


    Shall we?


    It was an awkward second breakfast.


    * * *


    T grimaced as she entered the training room, only to find Rane already there. Terry flickered to his corner, seeming not wanting to get involved.


    So? How did yournot-date go?


    T grimaced. I have nothing to say to you.


    Rane quirked a smile but nodded. As you say.


    She sighed, stretching in a back-and-forth twist. I need to hit something. Spar?


    I thought you said you need to hit something. He had a mischievous twinkle in his eyes.


    She red. You are testing me, sir.


    Not yet, Im not. He drew Force.


    T drew out two gravity-reduced balls, tossing them to either side and immediately beginning to increase their effective gravity towards Rane.


    Mistress T? His eyes flicked between her and each of the balls, the previous nights events clearly still on his mind.


    T growled, drawing Flow in its training sheath. She lunged for him, transforming Flow into a ive even as she charged.


    Rane barely brought Force across in time to deflect the strike, but T switched paths at thest moment.


    Flow shifted into the form of a sword, causing Force to sweep through empty air.


    Rane was too skilled to be thrown off bnce by a missed block, but he was definitely caught off guard.


    T capitalized by immediately returning Flow to the form of a ive and driving it towards the left side of his chest.


    His defense activated, spinning him out of the way, and Force whipped around in a tight circle towards her head.


    Flows long shaft came up to parry Force, and a concussion of power radiated out.


    T held the ive angled down, so the de was nearly between Ranes legs. With savage power, she ripped the de upward.


    Had he been without his defensive inscriptions, and if Flow had been unsheathed, shed have split him groin to crown.


    As it was, he flipped over her,ncing out with strike after strike as he passed overhead, skimming the ceiling, a bare thirteen feet up.


    She expertly parried each thrust with the staff of her polearm, causing consecutive concussions of power.


    As his feet touched down, T flicked her anchor past him, transforming Flow into a sword even as she was forcefully pulled forward by the dimensionalpression.


    She gritted her teeth against the iing nausea, set on her goal. <em>I will beat him, today.</em>


    The anchor would have caused <em>her</em> to bypass Rane, but Flow was out before her, T holding it perfectly still.


    Ranes defenses acted by matching his velocity to any iing attack. T and her gear had no velocity of their own. Dimensionality was warping around her, causing her movement.


    Flow struck his chest with a meaty <em>thunk</em>. Throwing him backward.


    His eyes widened in shock, even as the wind was driven out of him.


    Rane stumbled backwards, up against the wall. Ts dimensional travel ended less than ten feet from him, and she was already sprinting for him.


    As he lifted his off-hand to his obviously bruised chest, Rane looked down and saw her anchor. He thrust Force into the circle of the spring clip and flicked it away.


    Ts eyes widened, but she reacted on instinct, throwing Flow.


    As the weapon flew, it transformed back into a knife, threaded the anchor, and pinned it in ce, barely five feet to Ranes right.


    Before he could react further, T closed, attacking him from the left to drive him towards her anchor.


    She ducked and wove around his strikes with precision, speed, and skill that shed never been able tobine before. That, and he was moving slower than he was usually capable of, sucking in each breath.


    As his next sh came in at shoulder height, T ducked and struck at the inside of his knee.


    As he flipped out of the way, she stood, jumping with all her strength towards his center of rotation.


    Ranes inscriptions moved him away from her, mming him into the ceiling. He groaned, his hand spasming and allowing Force to fall towards the floor.


    Ts anchor dimensionally expanded the space above her, preventing her own impact with the ceiling.


    She slowed and lightly dropped to the floor just before Rane fell.


    She called Flow to her, ripping it from the floor and transforming it into a ive for a sideways sweep, again at Ranes center.


    His inscriptions moved him out ahead of Flows strike, mming him into the wall this time.


    T stepped forward, feinting with thrusts threatening enough to cause his defenses to activate, jerking him against the wall and up just enough to keep him from returning to the floor.


    His eyes opened, and something changed within them.


    Force whipped up from the floor, clipping her leg on the way to Ranes hand.


    A spray of blood sttered the wall, and she momentarily lost that support. She had no time to fully register the injury.


    Without a moments hesitation, Ranes de licked out.


    One.


    Two.


    Three.


    Four.


    Five strikes in less than a second, and T only blocked two of them.


    The other three drove spears of force through her, painting the training floor behind her with her blood and bile.


    Her leg returned to functionality, just as Rane hit the floor, his eyes a hard, solid blue.


    Rane lunged for her; a rictus of concentration locked on his face.


    T stumbled backwards, shifting her weapon fluidly between its forms to block every strike.


    She wasnt able to regain her footing, even as she hit the edge of her anchors radius.


    Sensing the dimensional energy, she dropped backward into what was effectively an in-ce-roll, deflecting a downward strike from Force in the middle of the maneuver with Flows ive staff.


    The next exchange was too fast for thought.


    T couldnt have said if they battered back and forth ten times or a hundred, but she managed to hold her own.


    Rane was fighting with a ferocity shed never witnessed. That gave him speed and reactions near what she, herself, had, but his skill was proportionally lessened, making it much closer of a fight than it had ever been.


    She tried to press towards her anchor, so she could get it and retreat, but she had no luck.


    Finally, she growled out. Terry, I need the anchor.


    The terror bird flickered into being beside the device. He picked it up in his beak and tossed it, then vanished back to his corner.


    As the anchor sailed through the air, Rane saw it. Lancing out with Force, he struck the device, sending it streaking across the room and towards the door out onto the balcony.


    Ts eyes widened, even as motion sickness overcame her, and she likewise shot across the area.


    Terry flickered into being for just an instant, catching the anchor, and dropping it so it wouldnd within the room.


    <em>Bless you, Terry.</em>


    T stumbled to a knee as the dimensional energy dispersed.


    She kept her head up just enough to keep an eye on Rane.


    He stood with perfect form in a middle, hanging guard. His eyes nk and fixed on her.


    Master Rane?


    He took one careful step towards her.


    <em>What happened to him? </em>Master Rane. Enough.


    One step became two, then three, then he was rushing her.


    Rane, stop!


    His foot hesitated for an instant, but his momentum continued, causing him to stumble and dropping him into a roll. He smoothly came up to a knee, just more than a dozen feet from her.


    Master Rane?


    His calm, even breathing broke, and he was suddenly panting, shivering, and heaving. Sweat broke out across his entire body, and a shudder went through him before he copsed to the floor, seemingly unconscious.


    Great

 Chapter 134: What Is Happening to You?

    Chapter 134: What Is Happening to You?


    T watched Rane slowly stir.


    She sat in a meditative position, having just finished looking through herself with her mage-sight. Thankfully, her scripts had cleaned up all the damage and contamination within her body. T really needed to thank Holly, once again, for the beautifully designed scripts.


    Rane groaned and pushed himself up. Water. His voice came out in a harsh croak.


    T slid a waterskin to him.


    Thanks. He guzzled down the whole thing before wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. As he set the empty skin to one side, he wrinkled his nose. What is that smell?


    Oh, that? Thats my bile and blood.


    What? He blinked at her owlishly, clearly not fully mentally present yet.


    You put three clean thrusts into my abdomen, through my digestive system, and out my back. Anyone else would be dying of peritonitis and sepsis, if they didnt just bleed out.


    He paled. Wha- How?


    I was finally, <em>finally</em> getting the upper hand, and something about you changed.


    He groaned, putting his head in his hands. I remember you hitting me. He looked up. How <em>did</em> you manage that, by the way?


    She grinned. I figured that your defense somehow read the velocity of the iing attack, in order to mirror it. So, I didnt move Flow. I kept it perfectly still, while my anchor dimensionally pulled me past you.


    Ahh yeah, thats a hole in my defense. He frowned. Not that there are many who could exploit it He sighed. Ill have to take time to consider that.


    So do you want to tell me what happened?


    I have a temper.


    She gave him a t look. No, Im not chalking that up to temper. You seem to have some memory loss surrounding it, and that was more than just an emotional reaction.


    He groaned again. Many of my family have a blessing, or a curse depending on who you ask. When we are truly threatened, a more primal portion of our mind takes over. I wasnt lying; it is very tied to my anger, to my temper, even if it is triggered by damage.


    Well, I dont like you when youre angry. She rubbed one hand on her abdomen, remembering the pain. It had felt likethere was no goodparison, but it had felt <em>wrong.</em>


    I am sorry about that. His face showed genuine remorse.


    It was pretty rusting terrible, honestly.


    Rane sat up straight, then executed a seated bow. My deepest apologies, Mistress T, both for my provocation before our bout, and for losing my temper and attacking you so lethally.


    T gave a half-bow in return. Apology epted, but you really should have told me about the danger.


    I nned on it, but, with all due respect,st time we fought you were <em>far</em> from being able to hurt me enough for the danger to be present.


    She quirked an eyebrow.


    Clearly somethings changed. He frowned, looking around as if searching for something. Wait, you started the bout by tossing those balls out to the sides. They never actually attacked me.


    She grinned. Best case? The fight would havested long enough that they coulde into y. As it was, they were a great distraction.


    Raneughed, then. Too true. He groaned, rubbing his chest. You hit <em>hard.</em>


    You better believe I do.


    No, I mean, you might have left asting mark. He looked down. There was, indeed, a light purpling of his flesh across his upper chest. Thats going to be rusting awful for days. He cocked an eyebrow at her.


    You throw me into walls all the time.


    You heal. He shifted and winced. Plus, Im pretty sure I have worse than this on my back.


    T nodded, having seen his shirtless back. Yeah, youll be sleeping on your side for a while.


    He sighed. Ill just go to a healer. He nced towards her stomach. We can get you looked at, too. I know youve good healing scripts, but I dont want something to be amiss, and we dont realize it.


    T hesitated. What would that cost to take care of?


    My injuries? I think the standard for a simple heal is ten silver, and this should qualify. For you? I dont know what a diagnosis will cost, and any healing that might be needed would probably be more than simple.


    She grimaced, again, at the remembered pain. Yeah having myself looked at might be wise. She bit the side of her lip, considering.


    He stared, giving her time to think.


    After a moment, a sly grin spread across her face. Want to gamble?


    Rane tilted his head in interest. What do you have in mind?


    I pay for your healing, and you pay for mine.


    That hardly seems fair.


    You said I might not need it.


    Oh, I know. That is exactly the problem. I mean that it is not fair to you. Youll be paying for my wounds, and I probably wont have to pay anything.


    She almostughed, then. Alright. Then, what if you clean the training hall? She gestured to the blood-stter and streaks of stinking bile.


    He scratched the back of his head, considering and grimacing at his injuries. Deal, but I would have done that regardless.


    T just shrugged. She honestly felt a bit bad about hurting him and wanted to pay for the healing. She knew that she shouldnt. He hurt her in sparring far more than that all the time, but she had designed herself to recover from such things. Shed purposely bypassed his protections.


    <em>Which Im supposed to do in sparring.</em> Even so, she felt it was right to pay.


    She smiled, bringing her thoughts back to the present. So, your defensive, temper thing: Magical?


    Rane grunted. Yeah. Some ancestor earned a boon from Basileus and asked for his descendants to be protected against death.


    Wait Basileus the Betrayer?


    Thats the one. Apparently, he hadnt earned the moniker, yet.


    Thatsrough.


    A bit, yeah. He kept his bargain, though. For mundanes, the berserk rage is actually really useful, and unlike psychedelic induced rages, we can always distinguish friend from foe.


    Assuming your friend isnt attacking you.


    Rane scratched the side of his head. Thats not usually an issue?


    T snorted. I suppose.


    * * *


    Rane took nearly half an hour to clean the mess. He even had to request a batch of pretty strong cleaning chemicals from the facility staff.


    While he did that, T bathed. She used the privacy to focus on her abdomen and cement in her own mind that she was whole, once more. <em>Getting hurt and healed so rapidly is doing a number on meDo I want to get used to it?</em>


    She further centered herself by crocheting an other stitch within her innermost self. <em>Progress. Always progress.</em>


    When she came out, Rane was in his normal clothes, rather than his training gear, and stretching. Ah! Youre done. He smiled. I just finished getting cleaned up, myself. Ready to go.


    Yeah. Terry?


    Terry joined them, and the three headed towards a healer rmended by the training centers staff. Apparently, training idents werent umon, so a healer had set up shop just down the spiral.


    T opened the door to the healers shop and a little bell <em>dinged</em> over the door. She held the door for Rane. <em>Hes the patient, after all.</em>


    Rane hesitated for the briefest of instants, then shrugged and walked in ahead of her. A kindly man greeted them from afortably looking chair in the back corner. Master, Mistress, how can I serve today. He set down a book as he stood, after cing a bookmark in it.


    T immediately picked up on his magic, the inscriptions were entirely oriented towards Material Guide spell-forms. Hollys inset assistance helped T understand them as focused on flesh, bone, blood, organs, and other internals. <em>Makes sense.</em>


    He was clearly unbound.


    Rane bowed to the older Mage. Master. I am Rane, and this is Mistress T. I took some injury while sparring, and I would appreciate healing. Rane grinned. Shes paying.


    The Mageughed. Well, Master Rane, Mistress T, I am Cris. His eyes flicked to Terry, on Ts shoulder. Who is your small friend, there? He gave a professional smile as he waited the answer.


    T reached up to scratch Terrys head. This is Terry. Hes my partner.


    Terry trilled happily but didnt otherwise react.


    Cris bowed towards T and Terry, then faced Rane. Now, Master Rane, he regarded the much bigger man, it ismon practice to ask others to wait outside, or in here, while we go into a back room.


    Rane shook his head. Thats not necessary.


    If youre sure?


    Im sure.


    Very well. He held out his hand. May I?


    Certainly.


    He touched Ranes head and a pulse of magic swept through the Archon. Oh, yes. That looks painful. Cris winced in sympathy. Nothings broken, thankfully, but both your flesh and bones are bruised. My standard fee is ten silver, and this isntplicated enough to require more.


    They both looked to T.


    She shrugged. Ill trust your expertise, Master Cris.


    Cris smiled, giving a nod of thanks. That is kind of you. He tapped Ranes head once more and a different, more extensive, set of inscriptions activated.


    Healing energy moved through Rane like a cool breeze.


    Cris leaned in close to Ranes ear, speaking low enough that a normal person couldnt have heard him in Ts ce. Of course, she heard him anyway. Your urine will be brown and foamy for a couple of days. That is normal for instant healing of such injuries. If you have any concerns, you cane back whenever you like. If you want a second opinion, you may go to any other healer, and if they find issue with my healing, I will pay for their work on you.


    Rane nodded in thanks, then his eyes flicked to T, and he reddened, slightly.


    Cris didntment. Now, Mistress, would you like a diagnosis? Its free of charge. I am happy to take a look at yourpanion there, too, though I dont know avian biology as well as human.


    T was about to protest, but then, she shrugged. <em>Might as well verify Hollys work.</em> Sure, I suppose. <em>Might be good to check on Terry, make sure nothings off. </em>You can check Terry first, if hes interested.


    Terry lifted his head, trilling questioningly.


    T smiled at her friend. Yes, if its ok with you.


    Terry regarded Cris for a long moment before bobbing his head. He extended his neck so that Cris could reach him more easily.


    After a soft tap, power rippled through the avian, and Cris frowned. Did someone shrink you, my friend? Are youunder a curse or something?


    Terry squawked, then looked to T.


    T quirked a smile. He shrunk himself.


    Ahhokay, then. Cris seemed to be looking at something they couldnt see. Well, he seems in good health, though much of his biology seems to be sequestered in a dimensionally expanded, inertially isted space?


    T regarded Terry. Is that how you get smaller and get lighter? I was curious.


    Terry shuffled happily, curling back up.


    Well, I cant say Ive ever seen anything like it, but you seem healthy enough. Cris seemed a bit uncertain, but finally just shook his head. I can say with certainty that you have no living parasites within you, nor any infections or unaddressed injuries.


    T smiled. Thank you, Master Cris.


    He gave a nod. Certainly. He took a deep breath, seeming to recenter himself. Alright then. Mistress T?


    Sure, Im ready.


    He looked to her and gave a bow. Id normally have Master Rane depart.


    She waved him off. Hes fine.


    Its up to you. Cris tapped her on the forehead, and she felt power ripple through her. As she felt the power move through her, she thought she detected a pattern. <em>Its following my circtory system. Using the iron in my blood to reflect the investigative spell more efficiently through my body?</em> That seemed reasonable.


    The healers eyes widened in a mix of shock and horror. Mistress Twhatwhat have you done to yourself?


    What do you mean? She frowned,ing back from her contemtions.


    Do you have active inscriptions on all your internal organs?


    T shrugged. Yeah, most of those are regenerative, but every system has scripts working alongside it to improve its function.


    Well, yes. With this, youd only need to defecatemonthly? Maybe less than that, if Im understanding correctly, which is doubtful, because you seem to be almost as much inscription as biology.


    Rane was giving T a questioning look, but she was focused on the Mage. I know that my digestive system is more efficient, and my cleansing organs recycle more than they expel.


    Yes, there is that, and that work is quite ingenious. Honestly, I look forward to the designers of those inscriptions publishing a paper with their findings.


    T frowned, but he continued before she couldment.


    But, that really doesnt exin whats happening to your liver and kidneys.


    What do you mean?


    Cris was clearly a bit off his usual routine, but he leaned forwards, concern obvious across his kindly face. Are youan alcoholic?


    What? No! T straightened, stepping back and raising her hands in negation.


    He shook his head. Then, I cant easily think of what could be causing such a strain on those organs.


    Rane spoke up, then, interjecting into the brief silence. Coffee.


    They both turned to him, and he shrugged.


    What? She drinks an <em>insane</em> amount of coffee.


    Cris turned to regard T. How much coffee have you had, today?


    T considered for a moment. Tenno fifteen cups. She glowered. Second breakfast wasnt ideal


    Rane suppressed a grin, but T decided to be the bigger person and ignore him.


    Cris held up a hand, making a small circle with his index finger and thumb. Likesmall cups?


    T shook her head. No, Id bet were talkingsixteen-ounce mugs? She nodded. Yeah, I think the first five were from twenty-ounce tankards. That ce was amazing. She scratched her temple, considering. I should really go back there. They have great portions.


    Cris gaped at her.


    What?


    Mistress T. He swallowed. That is more than two gallons of coffee.


    She thought for a moment, then nodded. Yeah, that sounds about right.


    How are you breathing? Your liver is obviously breaking down the caffeine, but Its not like you can pee out the metabolites where do they go? What is happening to you? He leaned forward. Two of those byproducts are stimnts in their own right. How are you not overstimted, all the time?


    T frowned. Well, my neurology is also reinforced and regted with scripts. Would that exin it?


    Cris just stared at her for a long time. You let someoneinscribe your brain with magics that can alter function?


    She opened her mouth to say, No. but stopped herself. Yes? Well, yeah. I had to alter brain function, or I couldnt support my increased senses and reactions.


    He just stared back at her, a look of genuine horror dawning across his features.


    Rane cleared his throat. I think we are getting off topic, just a bit.


    Right, right. Youre right. The Mage gave Rane a searching look, seeming to be pulling himself back together. Is that much coffeestandard for her?


    Rane snorted. From the sound of it, todays a slow day.


    Cris pulled up a chair and sat down. Im going to be sick.


    T was feeling a bit uncertain. Whats the problem? Ive inscriptions that keep my organs functioning properly.


    He lowered his head into his hands after he waved a hand dismissively. Yeah, sure; it looks like they even enhance functionality. Good for you.


    T cocked an eyebrow. Thats a bit snippy.


    He locked gazes with her, again. Do you use inscriptions to boil water immediately before you drink it, just because your throat can take it?


    No? <em>Might help warm me up, if Im ever somewhere really cold, though</em>


    No! Of course not! Why waste the inscriptions? Why put that stress on your system? Why are you doing this to yourself?!


    T took another half step back, ncing towards Rane.


    Rane, for his part, seemed to be uncertain how to handle the situation.


    Please, for the love ofevery human. Drink. Less. Coffee.


    T swallowed. Illconsider it?


    Cris narrowed his eyes at her.


    Rane stepped forward, clearing his throat. Thats actually quite a concession from her, Master Cris, and if she says shell consider it, she genuinely will.


    Cris sighed, slumping back. I suppose Ill take what I can get.


    T shifted. So other than that?


    The healer waved. Oh, youre in perfect health, from my perspective. You <em>should</em> be two hundred pounds, by what my detection spells are saying, but you clearly arent.


    Well, I am.


    He gave her a look. Ahh, apologies. Myprofessionalism seems to have left me utterly. Please forgive my imprecisenguage. You should be very overweight, but clearly, your fat stores are well proportioned to your body, however they function now. Your bones are denser than I would expect, but they havent calcified through the marrow, so there is no loss of function there. Your blood pressure should kill you, but there you stand. Your blood volume shouldnt fit inside your vascr system, but I suppose that exins at least part of the pressure, which Ive already addressed. Do you wish for me to go on?


    T cleared her throat. Thatthat wont be necessary. Is there anything youd rmend I get healed?


    He sighed. You are healthier than I could make you, and anything I did would risk interfering with the unstable equilibrium you seem to have achieved.


    Alright then. Thank you, Master Cris. I think we should pay you for your time and be on our way.


    They departed a couple minutester, leaving the healer in a mild daze.


    Rane was smiling widely, clearly containingughter while T really didnt know what to feel.


    Terry was content to remain on Ts shoulder.


    Rane cleared his throat, Sostill up for seeing the ys? Its barely lunch time, so we should be able to make it easily enough.


    That would probably be a nice distraction. Sure.


    It had been a <em>strange</em> morning.

 Image Gallery

Image Gallery


    Map:


    As a preventive note: I am aware that this is not how cities are located, in general. There is a very specific, in-world reason for the regr spacing. i.e. It''s a feature, not a bug. ?

 Chapter 135: Foundational Understandings

    Chapter 135: Foundational Understandings


    T and Rane walked down the spiral side by side, weaving their way through slower foot-traffic or those traveling the other way.


    They could have asked Terry for a ride, but they werent really in a hurry. This was meant to be a mental break, and a celebration of Ranes soul-bond to Force.


    As they walked down the spiral, they talked about small things, only asionally falling back on talking about magic andbat, and T asionally flicked out bits of jerky. <em>Ill need to get more of this, sometime soon.</em>


    After nearly a full circuit of the city, they passed one of therge shafts that T had asionally seen. This time, a woman was standing next to it, and the entire shaft glowed incredibly oddly to Ts vision.


    <em>Gravity. Im seeing the maniption of gravity, there!</em> Excuse me, Mistress?


    The woman tsked. Ive no time for tourists. Please move along. She didnt turn, dismissing them out of hand.


    T cleared her throat.


    The woman turned, rolling her eyes, but stopped when she saw them. Ahh, Mistress, Master, featherycreature. I apologize, I have my work interrupted all too often by thecurious. What can I do for you?


    T grinned at her. Im T. Im curious what youre doing. She winked, then continued. I dabble in gravity Magic a bit, myself.


    At first, the woman looked a bit irritated, but she brightened when T exined further. Ahh, Mistress T, good to meet you. It is always fascinating to discuss magics with a fellow practitioner. Im Haiba.


    Good to meet you, Mistress Haiba. So, Im an Immaterial Guide.


    Immaterial Creator.


    I see. T actually did. So, what is your foundational understanding?


    Haiba snorted augh. Ahh, I havent heard that question since the Academy. Her voice got much deeper, in an obvious imitation of someone shed known. Rock is hard and heavy. Her voice went higher. Wind moves around and within us all. Her tone became flippant. I dont know light is bright, I guess? She giggled, her voice returning to normal. Gravity elerates all, equally.


    <em>Solid for area of effects.</em>


    You?


    All mass attracts all mass.


    Haiba frowned. Huh I dont mean toquestion your foundation, but no? It takes ster-scale mass to create gravity fields.


    T grinned. It takes that much mass to create <em>noticeable</em> gravity fields. Magic aside.


    Haiba waved her hand. Magic aside, of course. After a moments thought she shrugged. Is this some Guide-nonsense, like: The air always has dust, which is just very small rocks? No offense intended.


    T sighed. <em>Typical Creator thinking, if its too small for me to notice, it doesnt matter.</em> Sure, something like that.


    Ahh, okay. Neat. She turned back to the shaft. One moment. Arge cylinder shot up through the altered gravity, and Haiba watched it closely as it passed, muttering to herself. Good stability and eleration.


    Rane was gaping. Wait. You can make gravity go up?


    Haiba gave him an odd look. Of course.


    Rane turned to T. You can make gravity go up?


    Of course not, gravity isnt a repulsive force. After a moments consideration, T shrugged. I could increase gravity of the object towards the top of the shaft. That would do effectively the same thing.


    Thats ridiculous, gravity is an area of affect, it affects all things equally.


    Well have to agree to disagree on that one. Though, your own actions prove that wrong. Gravity is affecting that shaft differently.


    Haiba shook her head. Magic excepted.


    Well then obviously gravity affects all things equally, but we were discussing the application of magic.


    She opened her mouth then closed it, considering. After a moment, she shook her head again. True enough, but even so.


    Rane was looking back and forth, a question clear in his mind. Finally, he addressed Haiba. So, you must be an incredibly effective warrior. Simply reverse gravity and throw your opponents into space.


    Haibaughed far more than thement deserved and patted Rane on the shoulder. Oh, no. I cant make an altered gravity field that reaches space. Rust, I doubt anyone could. I can reverse gravity in a ten-foot by thirty-foot column, though. She said thest with obvious pride. Thats why Im head of gravitational transport She hesitated. Well, one of the divisions.


    Rane frowned. So, you could throw an enemy sixty feet up?


    If I had to, yeah. Its pretty power intensive, though. I can only do it a few times a day, and the inscriptions are <em>expensive</em>. More so if I use more than the standard force of gravity to do so, but that would get a higher throw.


    T was trying to hide her smile. <em>Exactly why I didnt pursue that sort of foolishness.</em>


    Wait Haiba turned to regard T with a quizzical look. When did you graduate?


    Not too long ago.


    A light of understanding entered the womans eyes, and she gasped. I remember you!


    T frowned. <em>I dont know who this is.</em>


    I graduated, she nced towards Rane, then back to T, more than five years ago. There was a new student, making all sorts of fuss about gravity and how the teachers were silly for how they were teaching it. They asked me to talk to her, to you!


    T slowly shook her head. Im sorry, but I dont remember that at all.


    Haibaughed. Of course you dont! You refused to meet with me. She grinned. As soon as you were told that I was a Creator, you said I had nothing to teach you.


    <em>Oh Thats probably right</em> Oh, sorry about that.


    She waved T off. Its fine. We clearly have utterly different foundational understandings. Howd yours work out?


    T shrugged. Pretty well.


    Rane grinned. She can crush one massive enemy in the middle of a horde of allies.


    Crush?


    Oh, yeah, Ive seen massive opponents just go <em>st.</em> He pped his hands together.


    Theres no way. To ramp up the gravitational field that much would take a ridiculous amount of power. What, do you increase gravity she seemed to be grasping at what she wanted to say, six times? She said it like a joke, even chuckling a bit.


    Rane was giving T an odd look.


    T gave a small smile. Something like that.


    Incredible. You must have an incredibly high magical density to do that even a couple times a day.


    Rane opened his mouth, but T gave him a quick look, which Haiba didnt seem to notice.


    Well, I need to watch for the next shipments, and keep them from wobbling. We do our best to bnce the loads, but center-mass is never <em>exactly</em> in the same ce. She gave a half bow to each of them. Thank you for stopping, and for the chat. Its been interesting.


    T returned the half-bow. Good to meet you. Take care.


    As they walked away, Rane leaned close. Why didnt you correct her?


    Its the same argument Ive had a thousand times. Most gravity mages stop at: Gravity elerates things equally, regardless of mass. Or some derivation of that.


    Thats true.


    It is, but its also a bit simplistic. Tughed. Though, Im sure my understanding is far from perfect. It works for me, though.


    Seems like their understanding has its uses.


    Youd be surprised how few creatures will die from a sixty-foot fall. Gravity, as they use it, isntbat capable, except as support magic.


    Why?


    Power consumption. Even in the best case, they have to undo their working after theyre done, else theyd throw off the, or slowly fill up the world with wonky gravity fields.


    Ahh, yeah, that would be bad.


    Just a bit.


    And you dont do that?


    Nope. I attach my alteration to the identity of the target. Im basically writing an exception to the universalws, pointed at that one thing. Doesnt change anything else, and once that thing is gone the exception has nothing to point to, so it ceases to exist. Nothing left to clean up.


    Thats clean. He gave her a small smile.


    Exactly.


    So how did youe to your understanding?


    What do you mean?


    Well your teachers disagreed with you.


    In a sense, but not really?


    Alright, you have to exin that.


    Well, she wrinkled her nose, thinking for a moment, let me give an example: Whats the most important part of a sword?


    Rane frowned. Well, its the de that makes it a sword. Rece that with something else, and its a knife, or mace, or hammer.


    That is a good point. I think its the handle, because without the handle, its just a de, and you cant use it at all. At least with the other options you mentioned, there is still utility.


    He opened his mouth to argue, then stopped. I see. The argument isnt between two <em>wrong</em> points of view. Its between iplete points of view.


    Precisely.


    So, why notplete your perspective?


    Two reasons. First, iplete perspectives allow things that better understanding would not. Power fills in the gaps.


    Example?


    Mistress Haiba, if she added my understanding to hers, she wouldnt be able to reverse gravity.


    Alright, so what about yours?


    T gave him a slightly embarrassed look. I just dont understand gravity as a field. It makes no sense to me.


    What do you mean?


    She nodded. If I told you that two feet in front of me there was a three-foot sphere of increased gravity what would that mean?


    That if I put something into it, it would fall faster?


    Precisely, but thats gravity <em>acting</em> on a mass, not the field itself.


    Rane frowned, then slowly nodded. Like some kic Mages can throw force.


    Throwforce? How would that even what?


    Heughed. I know, right? Force is a force! Its not a thing that can be made into a wall, or thrown at something He scratched above his ear, frowning. Its frustrating, because I would <em>love</em> to be able to do that, and in a sense, it is correct, but it just makes no sense to me.


    Yeah, I think thats a goodparison. She smiled at him. Different interpretations are better for different styles and use cases. And we are each hampered by what we are capable of understanding.


    That makes sense. He smiled in return, and they fell back into apanionable silence.


    As they walked, T was thinking through the conversations, checking what shed said and heard, to see if shed said anything that she didnt agree with, or missed something important. As she did so, one of the things that Rane had said in their conversation with Haiba was tickling the back of her mind. <em>I can crush my enemies. I even have an amazing mental construct for it.</em> Im an idiot.


    What now? Rane frowned her way as they continued walking down the spiral.


    I already have a perfectly serviceable mental construct for nearly instantly quadrupling an objects effective gravity. She pulled out a copper coin.


    She put her left middle finger to her thumb, locked onto the coin and invoked her gravity maniption. <em>Increase.</em>


    This time, however, she used her mental construct for Crush.


    She felt the need for power and connected a fewrge void-channels to the working.


    The coin instantly quadrupled in gravity, then again.


    Again.


    Again.


    Again.


    She released the working, then, holding a copper ounce that weighed more than five and half pounds. It had taken less than five seconds.


    Sheughed. It worked!


    What worked? You pulled out a copper coin, then startedughing


    I made it heavier much, much more quickly.


    Rane was frowning. Isnt it illegal to increase the weight of currency?


    <em>Ohhes right.</em> Fine, Ill put it back, but this is <em>huge</em> Rane. I can use my <em>Crush</em> almost at will, now. She looked internally at her inscriptions and almost stumbled. <em>Well, rust.</em> Shed used up a good chunk of her remaining spell-lines material in that invocation.


    <em>Right fast takes more power and material.</em>


    T groaned. Well, at least I know it works.


    What? He had a concerned tilt to his head.


    She sighed. That took much more of my inscriptions than I realized it would. She was already reducing the coins weight once again, the slow way this time. It took just more than thirty seconds to return effective gravity to normal on the coin.


    How much faster was it?


    T thought, doing calctions on how her normal method of increase would have worked. Five seconds vs almost forty.


    Rane grunted. Thats a big difference.


    Yeah, but still not something I want to use casually. Some of her joy came back. But it does do exactly what my Crush did.


    Hey! Thats great. You had a non-destructive alternative too, right?


    Yeah, Restrain.


    Does it rece that?


    No, it wont directly, but thats ok.


    Rane nced her way, cocking an eyebrow.


    She smiled back and shrugged. Restrain stole my opponents momentum, and then calcted exactly what level of gravity was required to put them in a stable orbit, just above the ground.


    Ah, yeah, thats quite a bit moreplicated.


    Just a bit, yeah. She shrugged again. But I havent used it in a good long time, and these days I feel like anything I need to use less than lethal force on, quickly, isnt really an immediate threat.


    Rane grunted. Thats true enough. He quirked a smile. You can still just reduce their gravity, right?


    I can, yeah. I can probably even use a portion of the mental construct from Reduce to do it quickly, if necessary, but it will be a gging inefficient thing as it is.


    Worth meditating on?


    T snorted a chuckle. Ill add it to the list.


    Rane nodded in understanding. Youre spread pretty thin, right now.


    She sighed, her shoulders dropping just a bit. Yeah. I feel like Im scrambling from one important thing to another.


    He seemed to contemte for a long moment as they continued their leisurely stroll downward. Finally, he nodded. Something Master Grediv would say seems to apply here.


    T straightened, speaking in a faux serious tone. Please, Master Rane, share with me the wisdom of Archons.


    Rane grinned back at her. If you insist, Mistress T. He gave a slight bow of his head. Things can be urgent, important, both, or neither. Does that make sense?


    I think I understand the difference. Urgent needs to be handled right away. Important just needs to be handled. She frowned. So how could something be urgent, but not important?


    He nodded. Good question. If you ordered food, and it is ready to be picked up, that is urgent, but not important.


    Speak for yourself.


    Heughed. No, really. If you dont pick it up, you might have to buy other food, but it isnt the same as breathing, and no one will die.


    She bit the side of her lip in thought, then nodded. Ok, I can understand that. So, what are you driving at?


    That which is urgent and important, do first. If it is important, but not urgent: n for. If it is neither, dont do it. If it is urgent but not important, find someone else to do it.


    Wouldnt finding someone else take more time?


    Rane shrugged. Many Archons, as well as many older Mages, hire at least one assistant, and that is who they have do the urgent, but not important, things. He waved a hand, dismissively though. But that isnt the point. You have a massive spread of things that you are working on. Which are both urgent and important? What should you be focusing on, <em>right now</em>?


    T had an instant response. Fusing.


    Perfect. Can you fuse constantly?


    No.


    So, what do you need to do when not fusing?


    Idont know Improve my abilities in martial fighting? Expand my spell-form utility and efficiency? Grow Kits capacity? Figure out what else I want to do to Kit? I think its time for me to bind my elk-leathers, but I just havent had time. And-


    Rane ced a hand on her shoulder, halting her.


    She stopped speaking immediately, taking a deep breath. Thankfully, they were off to one side of the walking path, so they wouldnt really be an obstacle to traffic.


    T hadnt realized that the speed of her speaking had been increasing as she continued listing out what she had to do. She let out her breath in a long, slow exhale.


    Are you alright?


    She looked towards her feet, nodding and breathing deeply. Eventually, she looked up and smiled. I think Im avoiding thinking about all I have to do.


    Rane nodded, giving her an encouraging smile. So, you cant fuse all the time.


    Thats right. She tilted her head slightly, wondering where he was going with a return to the topic.


    Why?


    She blinked at him a few times. Its mentally exhausting. It strains my magical control and takes a lot out of me. She knew her tone was defensive.


    He was nodding. Alright. So, since fusing is your highest priority, when you arent fusing, what can we do to recharge your mind and let your magical control rest?


    T turned and started walking again withoutment. <em>Why didnt I think of that?</em>


    That was hardly relevant. <em>What can I do?</em>


    Exactly what Rane had been encouraging: ys, walks, eating outside the training room. She gave Rane a searching look, but he continued to walk beside her quietly, giving her time to process.


    Terry was utterly unaffected by their conversation.


    Rxing. She went with the short answer.


    Alright. How can we help you rx?


    She gestured vaguely in front of them. Food, ys. She swept a hand through her hair. Sparring? Is that odd?


    Not at all. Physical exertion can help with mental strain, and food is needed for anything and everything, more so for you, and stories about others help us to disconnect from our own lives, our own problems, and return to them with fresh eyes and the energy required to do whats needed. He quirked a smile.


    So, keep doing what Ive been doing?


    Maybe, but if you do, do so because you know it is the best course you can take, not just because its the only thing you can think to do.


    She thought about that as they continued walking, and Rane gave her the space to process in silence.

 Chapter 136: Underpinning Aura

    Chapter 136: Underpinning Aura


    T couldnt wipe the smile from her face as she entered the Constructionist Guild front entry room. The previous afternoon of ys had been amazing, the food fantastic, and thepany enjoyable. She felt more rxed and mentally level than she had inShe shook her head, still smiling. <em>Its been years.</em>


    Even a frustrating breakfast with Mistress Odera hadnt spoiled Ts mood, despite the woman continuing to deflect anything resembling a personal question. <em>She wants to know all about me but doesnt want me to learn anything of substance about her.</em> She dismissed the mild irritant.


    The breakfast food had been as good as always, and T actually felt pleasantly full, for the moment. <em>I hope thatsts for a couple of hours at least.</em>


    Terry had watched the ys with seeming dispassion, but he <em>had</em> watched. Hed obviously enjoyed the food.


    At the moment, he was asleep, content, on Ts shoulder.


    Rane had enjoyed the afternoon as much as T from what shed seen. He was meeting her at the training roomter that morning.


    After shed finished breakfast, T hade to the Constructionist Guild to see if Jevin was avable.


    Now, arge part of her felt a bit bading to Jevin with her questions, especially just after Rane had so eloquently walked her through choosing a good use of her own time, and this wasnt fusing, or recovering from fusing. Even so, these things were weighing on her mind, and it would only take a quick moment to drop through and move them forward.


    She was scanned, and a ding resounded from the back.


    At that moment, she remembered Grent. <em>Oh rust I really hope he isnt-</em>


    Jevin came out, speaking quietly with the two Mages apanying him. He smiled her way. Mistress T. The two Mages bowed slightly to T and eyed Terry with a mix of curiosity and wariness but didnt speak.


    T smiled at them but addressed the Archon directly. Oh, Master Jevin, just who I was looking for. <em>Thank the stars.</em>


    Its good to see you, but we are just leaving.


    Oh?


    Yes, these two are looking for advice on creating their Archon stars.


    T regarded the two more closely. Thats wonderful! She smiled.


    Do you have any advice for the younger generation?


    T suppressed a smile. Both of the Mages were her senior by quite a few years. Still, Jevin was giving her an opportunity to help others.


    <em>Older Mages keep implying that that is important. </em>And if she was being honest, she was realizing more and more how much shed missed by skipping her time as an apprentice.


    <em>I wouldnt be here, if Id gone the normal route.</em> That, arguably, might mean shed have a better foundation. <em>No going back, now.</em>


    She nodded once, passing off her extended pause like shed been considering what to say. What do you know about Archon stars?


    The woman spoke first. It is how we be Archons.


    The man nodded. Some mediums are harder to forge one within, and we should choose a medium that speaks to us. If none seems to, we should use diamond.


    T thought, nodding. <em>Their masters didnt think theyd handle full information well</em> They were both guides. It helped me to think of guiding the power, not forcefully, that isnt possible in most mediums. <em>Well, unless you have it inside your bodywhich they shouldnt do.</em> She hesitated.


    They both gave her interested looks, and Jevin closed his eyes in a silent sigh.


    <em>Oops.</em> What I mean is: you wont be able to directly control the power within your medium. You need to guide it, so that it <em>wants</em> to take the shape of the desired spell-form.


    Looks of seeming introspection swept across the Mages faces, and Jevin smiled. Thank you, Mistress T. That is solid advice. He gave her a meaningful look.


    T smiled to the Mages. Well, Ill let you two get to it. I do have a couple of quick, esoteric questions for Master Jevin. She turned to the Paragon. Could I borrow you for a minute, or should Ie back?


    Jevin considered her for a moment, then turned to the other two. Would you wait for me outside? Ill be just a moment.


    They bowed to him, then to T, and departed.


    Now, most mediums? He gave her a wan smile.


    I apologize for that. I was thinking about working within your body versus without, but I didnt mean tolead them down odd paths.


    Heughed, shaking his head. You know, theyll spend days trying to understand the bit of wisdom the Archon hinted at.


    T grimaced. I am sorry.


    He waved that off. I know. Its an odd bnce. I know you took an unconventional path, though I dont know all the details. Perhaps that is a tale you could tell, but some other time.


    T found herself smiling. Id like that.


    He gave a brief, genuine smile before professionalism fell back into ce. Now, I really do have to go. Your questions?


    Alright, quick one first. Can you make me some inscribed darts, linked to my anchor?


    Jevin considered for a moment. To trap an opponent? Of course. Thats a clever use of the anchor. Heughed slightly. Well, I suppose its very close to the original use of it, actually. He scratched his cheek, then nodded. Im sure youre aware that this use will cause the inscriptions to run out faster.


    I figured as much, yeah. Can you do it?


    Ill put it together. Come back tomorrow?


    Her eyebrows rose. Thats soon. <em>Well, so much for just moving it along a bit Do I really want to take time from my fusing for this?</em>


    He shrugged. Its just your bracers, in a different form.


    <em>I can fuse as much as Im able right beforeing back, then use the walk down as a mental and magical break. After, I can Fuse a bit, here, then walk back. </em>She nodded. Afternoon?


    Thats when I have time, so yeah.


    Will do.


    So, your longer question? His smile didnt have any impatience, despite his obvious time crunch.


    My archon stars canbine.


    Jevin nodded. Master Gredivs treatise on liquid mediums implied such, and your ascension so soon after its dissemination made a connection fairly likely. He smiled. Master Gredivs most recent pupil being with you? That made the association virtually assured.


    She shrugged. Well, yeah. T cleared her throat. So, my understanding is that making an Archon star stretches the soul, creating a tendril of sorts which cantch onto a magical item.


    True. Thats one way to conceive of it.


    So, my question, she swallowed, should I make as many small, weak Archon stars as I can to stretch my soul, thenbine them for my next bonding?


    That Jevin frowned. That is a fascinating question. He clucked his tongue, clearly distracted with his own thoughts. Does a weak star stretch your soul in a meaningful way?


    I I dont know.


    We can test it, if you like.


    You can?


    He chuckled. Of course. When youe back tomorrow afternoon, well run a couple of tests. Do I remember correctly, you have a star already?


    One, yes, and I could make another fairly quickly.


    That might be necessary, but well see.


    Will that take mental or magical energy to test?


    He gave her a searching look, but then shook his head. To analyze the star you already have, no. If we end up having you make another, then of course, but that choice will ultimately be yours to make.


    T shrugged. <em>Still probably a good use of time. Use the resources while I have them, and he seems quite happy to help those less powerful than himself. </em>Well, I coulde earlier, if were going to be doing testing.


    He shook his head. You are far from the only Mage Im working with at the moment, Mistress. I have my day rather booked, tomorrow. I do have time in the afternoon. I was going to suggest then if you hadnt. Lets say three hours past noon?


    After a moments thought, she cocked her head. <em>Everyone seems pretty happy to help those weaker than them.</em> Instead of answering his question, she took the conversation for a hard left. Why are you helping me? She nced over her shoulder. Why are you helping them? It sounds like you are helping a lot of people. Surely you have more useful things you could be doing with your time.


    Jevin barked augh. Hardly. After a moments thought, he nodded. There are two main types of Archon. The first is those who advance for their own gain. Thats fine; thats wonderful, but it ultimately leads them to die or depart. Then, the others grow in power for some greater purpose. Most of us care for the fate of humanity. Heughed again. Most sessful people, in general, have that bent.


    Why?


    Why? Because humanity is standing on the edge of a knife. People dont like those who rust the rest of us. He smiled sadly. We need each other, so we need to help each other. True, I could be personally more powerful if I didnt help anyone else, but I cant be everywhere, and humanity as a whole would be worse off. He shrugged. Thats how I and most of my peers see it.


    T found herself nodding. Thats what shed felt when talking to Grediv, Jevin, Master Himmel, even Holly to some extent. They each had their own goals and entricities, but they all genuinely seemed to want humanity to seed, as a whole, and they were willing to invest in new Mages to advance that goal. Ill be here tomorrow, at three past noon.


    Ill look forward to it.


    Together, T and Jevin walked from the building.


    Jevin joined the others, and the three Mages got on a hovering tform before it lifted from the ground.


    T examined it briefly. <em>Fascinating. There are inertial istion scripts, like on a dimensional storage item, but they iste that which rests on the tform, rather than a separate space.</em>


    Oh! Jevins voice caused T to focus on him, thinking he had some parting remark for her.


    Instead, Jevins aura flexed back at the Guild buildings front and pulled the door closed behind her. He smiled and gave T ast nod before the wooden tform<em></em>zipped up the spiral, leaving T and Terry to walk up, alone.


    T was locked in ce, her mind an incoherent mess as she felt herself shaking uncontrobly, fear beyond any shed ever felt overwhelming her for a brief instant.


    Shed felt his aura clearly as it worked behind her. He hadnt had to reach past her, his aura had already been there.


    More than that, though, his magical signature was deeply familiar. Shed felt it before, obviously, but shed felt it more often than shed truly realized.


    The power surrounding Makinaven, that which was already under the control of another, unmistakably held Master Jevins signature.


    Fighting herself, she focused her mage-sight on the air before her, digging deeper, trying to find the power signature of the city itself.


    She let out an unconscious whimper.


    Master Jevins aura underpinned all of Makinaven.


    * * *


    T fell backwards, a headache not quite manifesting as she pulled hertest stitch tight, joining her soul, body, and spirit ever closer.


    Her thoughts flickered back to the Constructionist Guild and Master Jevin.


    It had taken her long minutes to ovee her shaking nerves, after she realized just how extensive Master Jevins power was. Shed slowly mastered herself, inrge part because she simply couldnt conceive of the mans power and reach. <em>Theres no way he actually holds authority over the entire city.</em>


    Hed said he had god-like power within his aura. <em>No. There is no way his aura underpins this entire city.</em> She reassured herself with the repeated, obvious lie.


    Strangely, it did help, even while she fully realized she was actively deceiving herself.


    But that was in the past.


    <em>Focus on the present.</em> She did <em>not</em> allow herself to focus on the fact that she was, <em>presently</em>, within that same aura. She did not allow her mage-sight to look deep enough to see it.


    She groaned, stretching her arms wide and letting her legs straighten against the floor.


    I do not envy your method of fusing. Ranes voice was calm as it reached her from the far side of the training room.


    She turned her head to re at him. Whereas you can just dump power constantly into your binding.


    Rane shook his head a bit ruefully. I am actually starting to feel apressure, if that makes sense. The bond is getting stronger, but it isnt doing what its supposed to. Im going to need to twist it, somehow, before I can fuse.


    She grunted. Thats something, I suppose.


    Heughed. Oh, yes, your suffering is lessened because I suffer too.


    Thats how we humans work, Master Rane.


    He grunted. When we dont choose to be better? I agree.


    T sighed, sitting up and pulling out her cold-water incorporator for a drink. Way to make me feel like a rusting jerk.


    He opened his mouth but seemed to think better of responding. Instead, he simply shifted from one deep stretch to another.


    T cleared her throat, a thoughting unbidden to her mind. Master Rane?


    Hmm?


    What form of government runs this city?


    He turned to look at her, noting out of his deep butterfly stretch. Thats seems an odd question for you.


    She shrugged. I just realized that Id never really given it a thought.


    He smiled. Probably a good change, I suppose. He cracked his neck, bending fully back into the stretch. There are twoyers, really. There are poprly elected administrators for the day to day, and even year to year, running of Makinaven.


    And the otheryer?


    A Guild holds carte nche over major decisions.


    T felt her eye twitch. Which?


    Hmm? Oh. He frowned, thinking. I believe the Growers.


    T felt herself rx.


    His head shifted as he continued to consider. No, thats Retindel They have an almost identical system.


    She waited for a long moment as Rane shifted stretches yet again. Finally, she cleared her throat. So?


    What?


    Which Guild rules, here?


    Well, not rules. They-


    Master Rane. She cut across him.


    Something in her tone seemed to catch his attention, because he sat up straight, looking her way. Well, Im not sure, but I <em>think</em> it is the Constructionists. Id have to consult the Archive. He grinned, attempting to inject humor. Or I suppose we could just ask the attendant.


    T swallowed involuntarily. <em>Well, that makes sense, if he owns the tree already</em>


    Why do you ask?


    She didnt know how to respond. IIm not sure what to say.


    What do you mean? He was fully facing her, now, clearly a bit concerned by how she was acting.


    I think I realized something that might be a secret


    He nodded, quirking his lips to the side in thought. If you can share, Im happy to hear but dont break a promise, or put anyone in danger, to tell me.


    T blinked at him. <em>Thatskind.</em> After a moments thought, she nodded. Did you notice anything odd about the power signature in the Magic surrounding Makinaven?


    He shook his head. Just that it was imed, but thats standard for a city. If anyone could just grab onto a citys power, all sorts of chaos coulde about He frowned again. Your mage-sight is more sensitive than mine. What did you notice?


    I think I recognize the signature of a Mages aura threading through the power. She let that hang out there. <em>I can tell him more, depending on how he reacts.</em>


    After a considerable pause, Rane shook his head. Mistress T. You think youve seen a Mages power, influencing the power around all of Makinaven?


    No, Master Rane. Ive recognized the signature of the aura which <em>is</em> the power around and throughout Makinaven.


    He leaned forward. Really? Who?


    A familiar voice came to her ear before she could respond. Mistress T. We will speak of this, tomorrow. I would appreciate your silence on the issue, until then.


    Silence rang through the room as Ts entire body broke out in a cold sweat.


    Mistress T? Rane was standing and walking towards her. Mistress T, are you ok? From his actions, he seemed to have not heard Master Jevins request.


    Yeah. Yeah. I I might be mistaken, so can we talk about it tomorrow?


    Rane was kneeling beside her, concern clear in his expression. Are you sure?


    Yeah. I think that would be best. Ask me again, tomorrow night?


    That seemed to help him rx a little bit. Alright. If youre sure.


    I am.


    He smiled and stood, holding out a hand. Want help up?


    Yes. Lets spar. I need to clear my head.

 Chapter 137: Humanity

    Chapter 137: Humanity


    T let her mind expand, her focus broaden, and her body react on instinct. She forcibly pushed all thoughts of the trees god-king from her mind. <em>Not helpful</em>


    Flows hilt was at once perfectly smooth and easy to grip securely. It was cool, helping keep her hand from sweating, while not sucking the heat from her hand. In short, it was perfect for her, contouring to her palm and fingers beyond the ability of any craftsman to replicate.


    As shed used the weapon more and more, T had noticed that as her grip shifted, gaining better form for sword work, the hilt had seamlessly shifted, maintaining perfect shape for how she was holding it, in that moment.


    The grain of the wood beneath her feet was tight and smooth, polished to an almost mirror finish, yet somehow still allowing for firm purchase.


    Her stance was rxed, her muscles loose and ready to react at a moments notice.


    Rane lunged, driving Force towards her heart in a powerful thrust.


    A flick of Flow knocked the point aside without conscious thought on Ts part. She slid down the length of his de, sending out ripples of power as the magic of the two swords conflicted.


    She leapt forward with a quick step, maintaining the bind of their des, the contact letting her know where his weapon was without having to see it, directly.


    Even as she closed andshed out with a back-fist, leaving Flow in her off hand, Rane spun around the strike, bringing his sword in an almost impossibly tight twist, cutting towards her back.


    The next moments were a blur of attack and counter, rolling one upon another.


    Force and Flow shed in a stato series of magical concussions that resonated in Ts very bones.


    It was a pleasant thrum that pulled a smile from her lips.


    As the exchange continued, it became clear that Rane was more tentative than he had been in their previous fights. This allowed T to stand on an almost even footing with the big man.


    T moved Flow through its three shapes with almost no effort, each blow seeming to reverberate through Force and into Ranes hands and arms.


    Force was soul-bound to Rane, now, but Flow had a greater magical weight to it. Its bond to T was more deeply ingrained in the weapon than Forces was with Rane. Each merging Flow had gone through had bound it tighter with her. Those features both gave Flows strikes extra oomph.


    She didnt resort to any tricks, not for this first bout, instead relying on her skill, such as it was, along with her enhancements.


    Rane wielded his massive de with the dexterity of a calligrapher using their favorite brush and fine ink.


    Even so, despite his skill andpetence, T was bing able to see more and more openings. Though, she was unable to take full advantage of any. However, she was able to alter her engagement in order to press him more closely around those openings.


    As was usual for them, Ranes base skill slowly tipped the bnce of the exchange, forcing her to extend herself ever more, until at longst, she couldnt recover quickly enough to stop his riposte.


    She did have an instant to react, however, and she used it to great effect.


    Force caught her ribs, lifting her free of the ground and tossing her into the nearest wall.


    She groaned as she slid to the floor.


    Rane grinned over at her. You had me there for a minute.


    She sighed. You just had a moment of doubt in your abilities.


    He cocked his head. So, why not capitalize on that? You have a deep bag of tricks. You didnt use any.


    She kicked back up to her feet. Crushing your confidence wouldnt do anything good in the long run. I need my sparring partner in top form if I am to improve.


    He gave her a long, contemtive look. Finally, he nodded. Alright, then. Rane frowned. Waitwheres Flow?


    T grinned, pulling Flow from the floor at Ranes back. As Ranes inscriptions activated, throwing him into a forward flip to avoid the swording at his back, T stepped forward, reaching for his head.


    As his head whipped towards her, she pulled her hand back, so that she was moving away from him, while he caught up with her palm.


    Ranes scripts threw him forward regardless, mming his forehead into her retreating palm.


    The impact reversed the direction of his movement, even though she moved with him, to soften the blow.


    Once she had contact, she was able to twist around, taking him to the ground and pressing Flow, now in the shape of a knife, against his throat.


    He groaned. Ow.


    You ok?


    YeahThank you for the softnding.


    She grinned down at him. Happy to assist. She stepped back, offering him a hand up.


    He took it, standing and stretching. Again?


    She considered. Still feeling the tingles of existential dread, she nodded. Again.


    * * *


    T had fully calmed and cleared her head after a few more bouts. After she thanked him for the training, Rane bid her goodnight and headed back to his inn.


    Alone, she was able to dive back into her fusing with a renewed gusto.


    She was going to be facing a god the next day, and she wanted as much strength as she could muster.


    <em>Yes, I need as many snowkes as possible before I visit the forge. Who knows? I might just cool it off.</em> She did not let her focus fracture.


    When she absolutely had to take a break, her mage-sight aching from straining inward, she switched to practice with the iron spheres.


    Since she couldnt easily turn off her mage-sight, only suppress it, T decided that forcefully turning it outward would help. Blessedly, it did seem to.


    As she worked on her mental construct for marking her target, the paintbrush she imagined shrunk, as did the amount of magic she left on the target, allowing her to progress to the next balls up through the difficulties.


    She marked and released the targets dozens of times per break.


    As soon as she felt able, she would move back inside herself and crochet another step towards fusing. At most, she could do two stitches between respites.


    It was exhausting, deeply taxing work.


    Ironically, the crocheting became a mental break as much as anything. <em>Maybe, this is why some people stitch as a hobby.</em>


    Finally, hours after midnight, she found herself in need of a break from her internal mage-sight, but mentally not up for painting targets with her power. Shed been struggling to form the image of a paintbrush delicate enough to pierce the mesh of this second tost ball for the past few breaks.


    <em>Why cant it just be marked? I have a near perfect mental picture of the rusting target. </em>She pictured the infuriating wooden ball in all its inglorious roundness.


    The wooden ball within the iron-mesh ball took on a slight glow to her mage-sight.


    T blinked, ncing down at her left hand where her middle finger and thumb were pressed together.


    <em>ButI didnt reach out to mark it</em>


    It was true, there was no mark of her magic on the small ball, the ball was simply targeted, no mark required.


    <em>I didnt grab it. I couldnt have, the mesh is too fine.</em>


    She picked up the iron ball with her right hand, the mesh so fine it could have served as bugting.


    <em>And now, its just targeted.</em>


    She thought through the process. <em>I indicate my target by pointing, grabbing it with magic, or marking it with a mental paintbrush.</em>


    Then what?


    <em>Then, I have to have an understanding of what Im targeting. I connect that understanding to what Ive indicated, and the target is locked on.</em>


    Why?


    <em>Whywhat?</em>


    Why did she have to mark the target, or grab it, or indicate it, to target it?


    <em>If I dont, how will the target lock?</em>


    She cocked her head to the side. <em>No. I have an understanding of what Im targeting. Why would I need anything else?</em>


    The <em>click</em> of a mentality change rushed through her mind, shifting her understanding yet again.


    Blessedly, her mental ruts were not nearly as set as they had been surrounding other recent revtions, so she was only left with a mildly splitting headache.


    Ow She red around at the empty training room, Terry sleeping in his corner. Fine Ill sleep.


    As she moved over to where she wanted to open Kit for the night, she hesitated.


    A small smile tugged at her lips. <em>Might as well test.</em>


    She pulled out thest ball, aplete, hollow sphere of iron. She swirled the ball, feeling the wood move around inside.


    <em>A wooden sphere, the same as all the others.</em>


    Mine.


    She <em>felt</em> her lock take hold, even though she couldnt see it, even with her mage-sight, and no evidence of the power leaked out.


    Sheughed, spinning in a circle. I did it. I did it! I DID IT! Sheughed again.


    Terry lifted his head for a moment, gave a half-hearted congrattory trill andid back down.


    T continued tough. A wide grin painted her face until a thought intruded into her mind like a shard of ice.


    Her smile fell away, and her eyes widened, color draining from her face.


    Ohoh rust me to g. My iron salve would be useless against someone who could do this.


    * * *


    Tdid not sleep well that night. Not even during thest part of the night she actually tried to sleep through.


    When Mistress Odera arrived for breakfast T was wide awake and waiting.


    The older womanmented several times that T was unusually quiet, but the observations never inspired a change, and they parted ways having barely said a few dozen sentences between them.


    T spent the remainder of her time, before her appointment with Master Jevin, fusing as much as she could.


    Three hours after noon arrived, and T walked into the Constructionists Guild entry,ing face to face with Grent.


    Mistress T! He smiled, holding his arms wide.


    T just stared at him for a long moment. He was one of the farthest things from her mind, at the moment, and so she had no ready reaction to his sudden presence.


    His smile faltered slightly.


    She pulled herself together. She did <em>not</em> want another awkward interaction with this man. She took a deep breath, put on a polite smile, and bowed her head. Master Grent, good day to you.


    His smile faded, and he gave a slight, professional bow. Good day. To what do we owe the pleasure?


    I have an appointment with Master Jevin. <em>Right the god-creature thats probably watching me right now.</em>


    Master Jevins voice filled the entry room, afortable volume for them both. Yes. Wee, Mistress T. Please head on back.


    Her eye twitched, but she was mostly grateful to have an easy excuse to leave Grent behind. <em>Oh, thank the rusting g.</em> I have to go. Bye! She waved to Grent as she moved past. Terry watched Grent as she passed but settled back down after he was out of sight.


    T quick-walked down the hallways, refusing to let herself think on what she was walking into. <em>Im already in the tree, and if he wished me harm, I couldnt escape before he enacted it upon me.</em>


    Neither those thoughts, nor not thinking about it really helped.


    Thankfully, she only needed asional correction by Master Jevins disembodied voice. <em>Directing me to the ughter</em>


    A short minuteter, she came into his office, and her mind forcibly returned to all the reasons shed been nervous.


    <em>He controls the whole rusting tree.</em> Despite the nerves, however, she found it incredibly difficult to really integrate that understanding. <em>Where I stand, he could snuff my life with a thought.</em> That should evoke terror. <em>Maybe, Ive just gone numb?</em>


    Master Jevin was sitting in one of his reading chairs, waiting for her. How about you have a seat, Mistress. Weve a lot to talk about.


    T stopped. Couldnt you just move me to the chair? <em>Really? Poking the bear?</em>


    A smile almost seemed to tug at his lips. I could. So could Master Bob, but hed have a harder time of it.


    She grimaced. Thatsfair.


    After a long pause, Master Jevin sighed. So? He gestured to the chair opposite him.


    T noticed that a small tea service had been set out, including a selection of scones. She begrudgingly moved forward and sat.


    Let us address the Leshkin in the room, shall we?


    <em>Odd turn of phrase, but alright. </em>She grunted her assent, snatching a scone to eat as she poured herself some tea.


    Master Jevin gave a half smile. You have stumbled upon some ratherdifficult information.


    She grunted again.


    Do you have any idea how many people, within Makinaven, know even the small part that youve deduced?


    Swallowing, T shook her head. Not many?


    You are the only one.


    She frowned. I find that hard to believe.


    He held up two fingers. First, your mage-sight is incredibly powerful and detail oriented. I doubt you have a true grasp on how rare a gift that is. There are <em>maybe</em> a small handful of Archons, living, who could perceive more than you. He grinned. There are many who understand more from what they see than you do, but thats a separate issue. He dropped one of his fingers. Second, now that you know, what do you want to do?


    Get as far from here as possible. The response came out before she could consider how it might be received.


    His smile never wavered. Precisely. He dropped the second finger.


    <em>Oh. Yeah, that checks out.</em> If basically anyone who figures it out leaves the city, there wouldnt be any here, besides me.


    He nodded, taking a sip from his own cup before continuing. I see you understand.


    She made a vague noise of assent.


    So. That part addressed, lets get to the meat of the issue.


    You are the god of this city.


    He snorted. Not inurate, but not what Id pick as a descriptor.


    Oh?


    I dont desire, seek, nor tolerate any sort of worship or veneration.


    But the power level?


    Near so, yeah.


    Whats that mean?


    It means that I wouldnt want to test myself against the Forest Spirit, or any of the others, not even here.


    <em>Thats probably quite wise.</em>


    But effectively, yes: My authority, here, is without dispute.


    How? Why?


    His smile turned a bit sad. Well, there used to be a trend, millennia back, to form your Archon star out of a medium taken from a powerful thing of magic. I chose a simple wooden sphere.


    <em>No.</em>


    Wood, taken from this very tree. His sad smile became lopsided. It worked, beautifully. Little did I realize at the time that these great trees never really relinquish their hold on any part of their being. Even bits that fall, or are cut, off are effectively still a part of the whole.


    So, you soul-bound the tree.


    So, I soul-bound the tree, before I was ever an Archon.


    T sat back, slowly eating her scone and drinking her tea.


    I was irrevocably changed. The tree was immensely powerful, beyond the ability of any human to control or rule over, but it had no will of its own. So, the power <em>was</em> mine. The only possible result was that I was reshaped. The sadness came back in full force. The tree hadknowledge isnt the right word, but its close enough. The tree knew of beings that could bear up under its power.


    Leshkin. <em>And the turn of phrase makes sense</em>


    He shrugged. Mezzannis, but close enough.


    So you arent even human?


    Master Jevins eyes hardened, a deep rage seeming to rise within him. What makes a man?


    T frowned, taking a dying sip of her drink. <em>Wisdom dictates I do </em>not<em> answer that.</em>


    When she didnt respond, he continued. Is it his body? How much do you need to cut away before he is no longer he?


    She had no response.


    Is it his mind? How many memories or neurochemicals, how much dura-matter needs to be altered before the person is fundamentally changed? Before a persons base nature is gone?


    T swallowed, setting her tea aside, but unable to formte an answer.


    No, Mistress. What makes a man, what makes a human is the <em>soul</em>, and no ident of magic will take that from me. The room thrummed with power.


    She felt a light dizziness that passed as she asserted her own will, locking herself away from his unconscious flexing of Magic. Even so, her eyes flicked to his chest, her mage-sight immediately confirming what she knew would be there: his gate. <em>Human, at least at the level of his soul.</em>


    From that day, I have worked towards Reforging myself. He tsked. Refining actually made the problem worse. Refining makes your body more purely what it is. His barely subdued rage at that was palpable.


    <em>I dont really understand that, but now doesnt seem the time to ask. </em>That must have beendifficult.


    He snorted derisively. Difficult? Extremely. Our inscriptions are based on being ced in human flesh. With a gesture, he indicated the most wooden-seeming portions of his face. Even mild deviations can ruin everything.


    Ts eyes widened. How, then?


    I am bound to the tree. I did not age. I had time in abundance.


    But your inscriptions now


    Are human? Yes. That was the first aspect I reforged. Magically speaking, as a medium, my flesh is considered human. There was obvious pride in that.


    So, then, youre close?


    Closer than Ive ever been. After a short pause, he amended. At least since my youth.


    There was a deep weariness behind those words, that T couldnt begin to fathom. She found herself frowning as she leaned back, letting the silence of his remembrance build and fill the space between them.

 Chapter 138: Questions and Requests

    Chapter 138: Questions and Requests


    T slowly sipped her tea as she watched emotions y over Master Jevins face. Eventually, she lightly cleared her throat. If I may, how old are you?


    The sadness returned to the forefront as the dominant emotion evident in his features. Old, Mistress. I was not lying when I said that humanity is all I have.


    She nced away, noticing the obvious deflection for what it was. <em>Alright, dont press, there. </em>So, the tree.


    The tree. He nodded. I am soul-bound to the entire city-tree.


    Canyou leave?


    He barked augh. Oh, yes. It isufortable to be too far. That is one reason I remain on the front line against the Leshkin during the years in which humanity moves north, working against these ancient evils until my fellow man returns. I do go to the northern cities, but I return to the northern edge of the forest as quickly, and for as long, as I can.


    She cocked her head in interest. Not here? She nibbled at her scone while he answered.


    Oh, no. This tree will be sealed up tight, and the spell-workings powered down. We have to do that so that the ambient magic can equalize once more. After a long moment, he shook his head. So, do you have any questions?


    Way, way too many, but none really seemimportant.


    He shrugged. Well, Im here, if you ever wish to ask.


    T considered for a long moment. She really did feel like he was genuine in his openness, and it caused her to realize something: She didnt really feel afraid any longer; she feltheavy. Like shed increased her own gravity to be near her limit. <em>But there is none of the energy I feel from such a challenge</em>


    It was a weight that seemed to settle into her spirit. <em>How many years has this man suffered, denied the one thing he cherishes above all: Humanity?</em>


    As she stared at her hands, a small te moved into her vision. She looked up quickly, but Master Jevin was still in his seat. The te, loaded with scones, sat in the air as solid as if resting on an invisible table before her.


    Scones help.


    <em>Hesfortingme?</em> She nced down at the scones and felt a smile break through her mncholy. She huffed augh and shook her head, but the solemnity of the conversation was broken. Thank you.


    He nodded, returning a slight smile.


    So are the workers whove reced parts of themselves bound to you?


    He shook his head. Oh, no. The tree is still separate from me, though it is bound to my soul. They are simply gaining a weaker version of the bond I have. After a moments pause, he amended. Much, much weaker.


    She sat back, considering.


    Master Jevin tapped the armrest of his chair. Onest thing on this topic.


    She refocused on him, waiting.


    I would ask that you not spread this information around. It could cause all sorts of issues.


    She grimaced. <em>More secrets.</em>


    You can talk to Master Rane about it; I think avoiding that, now, would be a bigger problem than just telling him, and hes a clever boy. Hell understand the need to keep it to himself.


    But why would it be so bad for people to know?


    Master Jevin gave her a long look.


    T shifted in her chair under his scrutiny.


    Can you really not think of <em>anything</em> that might go wrong?


    She opened her mouth, then closed it, thinking. After a moment, she found herself nodding. Well, it might bring back that old trend, Mages seeking power and all that. Many would just see that it worked, not the costs.


    Master Jevin nodded and waited.


    The mundanes would likely want to leave, in vast numbers. She hesitated, then sighed. <em>He seems to want honesty.</em> It <em>is</em> a bit creepy that you watch everything, all the time.


    He raised a finger. I actually dont. I have triggers in ce to notify me of key things, like your conversation with Master Rane on this topic, but for the most part I see no more than anyone would.


    But people might not believe that.


    They might not.


    Shouldnt that be their choice? I mean: shouldnt they have the choice on whether or not to believe you and whether or not to stay?


    He cocked an eyebrow at her. If you focus, could you construct what someone looks like under their clothing with your mage-sight? He clearly already thought he knew the answer.


    <em>Can I? </em>She considered. <em>Yeah, I suppose I could.</em> I guess so, yeah.


    So, do you tell everyone around you: By the way! I could see you naked, if I wanted, I just choose not to. If that bugs you, you should probably not be around me.


    I obviously dont.


    Why not? Shouldnt that be their choice?


    T grimaced again. I see your point. She groaned. I still kind of hate it.


    Maturity requires doing things we dont like, because it is right.


    She gave him a deeply skeptical look. Did you just state that being mature means telling unpleasant lies?


    He coughed, scratching his neck. Lets not think too deeply on that one.


    T snorted, shaking her head, but didntment further.


    But! We arent here for me, not really. Lets discuss your questions and requests.


    T nodded and smiled. Id appreciate that. Thank you. She poured herself another cup of tea as Master Jevin finished off hisst scone.


    So, Mistress. You asked for throwing darts?


    Ah, yes!


    He smiled. Can I have the anchor?


    She unclipped it from her belt and tossed it to him.


    He caught it with a nod. You know, you could keep it in your dimensional storage. That might keep it safer.


    That is a good idea.


    Though, now that you have these darts that probably isnt as good an idea as it would have been before.


    She gave him an unamused look which he ignored.


    He pulled a small rack of throwing darts from a dimensional ripple in the air beside him. While holding the rack and the anchor, Master Jevin closed his eyes and exhaled.


    T watched the mans aura grab inscriptions on each magical item.


    He, somehow, pushed them together at a deeper-than-physical level.


    <em>He magically linked them, obviously.</em> She sighed. She still wasnt used to instantly interpreting what her mage-sight showed her. <em>There was something to his friendly jab. I really need to get more used to integrating and interpreting what my mage-sight shows me.</em>


    There you go. The anchor and rack moved back to her, so she could take them from the air.


    She clipped the anchor back to her belt and put the darts into Kit. Then, she reached in and pulled out one of the throwing weapons. Whats this metal?


    Titanium.


    She nodded, examining the gray metal. The exterior was heavily inscribed so that it could indicate a target. It actually looked a bit like a worm-riddled stick, that had been stripped of bark, and had the worm-lines filled with precious metal. I assume I cant target the world with this?


    Master Jevinughed. No, you cant target anythingrger than your anchor space, so nothingrger than twenty feet across or so. And something that big will drain power like mad.


    T frowned. That is much less useful.


    Well, if you like the results, we could make a fewyers of this, creatingyers of entrapment.


    She found herself nodding. I think I like that, but I should test out the idea a bit, first.


    I thought as much, too.


    If this works, we could create one anchor for me, to help lock me in ce, then another for the variousyers of ensnared opponents.


    Master Jevin shrugged. I mean, if we want, we could make your anchor variable distance. Let you mentally alter how close it keeps you, though things like that would be both more efficient and more easily controlled if you were to soul bond them.


    Could we then make the opponent snares variable? That way we wouldnt need to make it have multipleyers?


    He leaned back, nodding and taking arge bite of scone.


    <em>Where did that onee from?</em>


    Now that she thought about it, theyd eaten <em>way</em> more than had been on the tray when she arrived.


    <em>Huh, I suppose he has a stash of scones in his dimensional storage. </em>Oddly, more than his kindly attitude, more than his ready answers for all of his questions, the fact that he had a selection of snacks in his storage humanized him to her, despite his insane levels of power. <em>Yes, T, he likes baked goods, he must not be evil.</em> She kept outward expressions of her mirth to a small smile.


    Master Jevin swallowed. Yeah, that actually makes a lot of sense, again if you like the effect. The trick, I think, would be to have the distance set by the targeting item, either your bracers or the darts. Then, the bracers being on you would allow for active adjustment, without returning to the anchor. For the darts, you could set each before you threw it.


    She leaned forward. Oh! I like that. She was nodding. After I test these. She lifted the dart in her hand.


    Yes, testing is a good idea. He grinned. I look forward to seeing how they work for you. A small chuckle escaped his lips. Most Mages want to keep opponents away, and any that are close enough to put a dart in are far, far too close.


    I can see that. Another sip of tea spaced out her next topic. So I was able to target the wooden ball, within the final iron sphere.


    Hey! Thats wonderful. He grinned her way, and she felt a wave of genuine warmth well up within her chest.


    Thank you. I am quite proud of it, actually.


    You should be. While its amon series of exercises, not many have the capacity to enact upon thest ball. He gave a half smile. Do you want the next set?


    Ts smile froze. The nextset?


    Of course! Did you think you were done?


    Wellmaybe?


    Heughed. The next set are all fully enclosed in iron with varying targets, inside. The first is the same wood, but in a cube, instead of a sphere. Since youve never targeted a cube of the stuff, thats harder. The second is a different wood, formed into a ball. Third, another wood still, in another shape, which you wont be told, and so on.


    She considered for a moment. Whats the final test?


    He smiled. An unknown material, in an unknown shape, fully encased in iron, with no space around it.


    So, a solid sphere of iron with a bit of material at the core?


    Lines crinkled beside his eyes. Bold of you to assume that the target would be in the center.


    T groaned in anticipated frustration, but her mind was already sparking with the implications of such trials. Yeahthat sounds like something worth working up to.


    He held out his hand, and she returned the six spheres that shed ovee. He then handed over the six new ones, each with a number, seven through twelve, stamped on the side and paired with a small notecard of information on the challenge.


    Thank you.


    I aim to assist.


    She smiled. So, I wanted to ask, she gestured to the iron balls, even as he tucked them into a dimensional rift, does this methodology make my iron salve useless?


    Your passive defense?


    Yeah.


    Not at all. To bypass it and target you, your opponent first has to have a spell-working that <em>can</em> directly target something, regardless of intervening space, which isnt actually thatmon. Then, even if they have the proper magic or inscription, they have to know how to use it in that way and be practiced in such a use. Thest two are even more rare, proportionally, than the first. Even then, theyd have to ovee your will to affect you, and you always have advantage in a fight of authority over your own body. He leaned back once more. That contest of wills is actually one of the primary reasons such direct targeting is rare. It is much simpler to impart heat in the direction of a target, than to target the specific thing you want to burn. You chose anunusual path.


    So my teachers were fond of telling me.


    He shrugged. You have the magical weight to make it work when fighting at your level, or below. You will struggle to work directly on those above you, but that is a fairly universal issue, regardless.


    She nodded. Thank you for the breakdown. So, the iron salve is far from useless, but also nothing close to a universal defense.


    Well said.


    She smiled contentedly at the praise.


    Now, your Archon stars. He once again held out his hand.


    She tossed him the iron vial containing herst star, still much weaker than Grediv had said was minimally required to be Bound. <em>Not that I need that, again.</em>


    He caught it dexterously, removing the cap and looking inside. Fascinating. For some reason, I assumed that the outside would have scabbed over, once it was exposed to air for long enough, but it truly is a liquid medium.


    So it seems.


    He smiled but didnt look up at her. To confirm, you are alright with me performing tests on this?


    She almost responded with an off-handed sure but something about his question gave her pause. Is there danger?


    Not particrly.


    She gave him a t look. That means yes, but theyre minimal.


    urate.


    So?


    He shrugged. If I were to be malicious, I could overpower your will, and forcibly bind you to something. This is too weak for a bond to a sapient creature, but I could think of a few things that would be detrimental to be bound to.


    <em>And the ufortable feelings back.</em>


    Oh, dont worry. I dont n to do any of that. Heughed. And if I did, you really couldnt stop me.


    Yeah but you didnt have to mention She frowned, nced at his eyes and saw poorly hidden mirth. Fine, it can be better to not tell someone all the ways you could harm them or invade their privacy. Youve made your point.


    He gave a slight bow. The tests I will perform are perfectly safe.


    She waved an assenting hand, drinking more tea in stubborn silence.


    He rose and went to one of his work benches, pulling out myriad tools.


    As the star moved around, T continued to be able to tell exactly where it was.


    shes and flickers of different magics radiated from the workbench, and T felt odd sensationsing from the Archon star.


    What are you doing?


    At the moment? He nced over his shoulder, a small smile evident, tugging at his lips.


    T sighed. <em>He really likes destroying his own mystique. </em>Yes, at the moment.


    Seeing if I can engender enough curiosity in you to draw you away from your tea. He gave her a full, mischievous grin.


    She huffed augh and stood, resolutely refilling her teacup and bringing it with her.


    Heughed, seeing her cup. Good enough. He gestured to a hammered bronze sheet with silver-filled inscriptions worked across the surface.


    Why bronze? Why not wood?


    He smiled. Well, the foremost expert on the human soul, in thest few hundred years at least, was a Bronze Archon, and she perfected the diagnostic inscriptions in that medium far beyond what I have time to develop in any other medium.


    Could you just use your aura?


    Of course, but that would require <em>much</em> more power, and still wouldnt be as precise in the information it could pull.


    Huhgood to know.


    He gave her a sideways look. Tallying up my weaknesses, eh?


    She decided to run with it, giving him a winning smile. Anything you care to add to the list?


    Caramel Liqueur. It is most potent against me when contained in a smooth dark-chocte. He closed his eyes, clearly enjoying a memory. And pair it with a full-bodied whiskey? He shook his head. MMM, mmm.


    T huffed augh. Alright, alright. What have you learned?


    This is, indeed, an Archon star, and can be used for a soul-bond to a non-sapient item.


    She waited for a long count of ten. When nothing else was forting, she turned back to regard him. And?


    I ran one test, Mistress T. He was grinning again.


    I thought you were busy today.


    When you get to be my age, you have to make your own fun.


    You sound like a librarian I ran into.


    He snorted. I dont doubt it; most Archon Librarians are of an age that theyd agree with me.


    Fair, I suppose.


    Power moved through the bronze te and the inscriptions engraved into it.


    T watched power twisting around her archon star, now free of its vial and held, suspended, over the empowered item.


    Interesting.


    What is it?


    Im not sure. I need to run apanion test on you. He motioned with his hand, and a bronze te moved from a nearby cab and settled onto the floor. If you would?


    T shrugged and stepped onto the inscribed surface. As she did so, she felt Master Jevin empower the spell-forms, and magic swept through her.


    Fascinating.


    Yes?


    Your soul does have a tendril just free-floating, in addition to the connection to this star and your weapon.


    What does that mean?


    Hmmm? No idea. I dont know of any specific use for a stretching of your soul.


    Does it weaken it? Strengthen it? Allow me to temporarily im things?


    No? He shrugged. These spell-forms are registering your soul as quite strong, for a human, but Id expect nothing else from an Archon, moving towards Fused. Though, this would indicate that you have a bit more strength than that would imply. Soul exercises?


    Every day.


    Seems to be helping.


    So, ignorant question, why is a strong soul good?


    He nodded. Ahh, yes. There are too many words for the same thing. The strength of your soul is roughly equivalent to the strength of your will. They are intertwined and interconnected, to the point that they have never been proven to be different aspects of a person.


    But theyve never been proven to be the same?


    He hesitated a moment. Are your fingers and the bones of your hand the same? Are they distinct?


    I think I understand. Which is the soul, and which is the will, in this analogy?


    Thats just it, we dont really know.


    That is massively unsatisfying.


    He shrugged. We dont know everything. Are you willing to create a star, while being monitored?


    She thought about it for a moment. Just a little one?


    That should do, yeah.


    Finally, she nodded. I think the information we can get from it is worth the effort.


    Alright, then! Lets get to it.

 Chapter 139: A Lot to Take in

    Chapter 139: A Lot to Take in


    T felt somewhat nostalgic as she wove the Archon star within her finger. She directed three void channels into its creation.


    That is fascinating. Master Jevin leaned forward. Its already in a stable condition, with so little power. Truly, we Immaterial Guides have an unfair advantage here, if we are willing to work within ourselves once again. Seems that working with a medium of your own body amplifies that advantage.


    She just snorted. Is that enough power?


    He shrugged. Im gathering all sorts of information from the creation process. It should be fine, though.


    T pulled out a non-magical knife, retracted her defenses, and pricked her finger, pushing out the drop of blood containing her Archon star. It dripped free even as her skin pulled closed once more.


    The drop began to orbit around her clockwise, caught in the spell-form radiating from below, which epassed her.


    Even as it orbited,pleting one revolution every second or so, it moved up and down around her.


    Can you call it this one to you? He pointed to the drop hovering over the bronze te on his workbench.


    T shrugged and <em>pulled.</em> The drop zipped through the air towards her.


    She stopped pulling as it came within reach, and it entered into an opposing orbit around her, moving counterclockwise and vertically opposite of the other star.


    Master Jevin leaned forward. Thatthat is fascinating. He let out augh. I feel like Im saying that a lot.


    What? What did you notice?


    Your blood is living, and youve soul-bound it to yourself, but the blood is too miniscule to fully contain the bond, allowing you to use the blood as a catalyst for the bond you wish to make. He shook his head. Which doesnt even take into ount the fact that it should <em>already</em> be bound to you, as a part of your Bound body.


    What does that mean?


    Youve done the opposite of what I did. Where I idently bound myself to something far greater than myself, and that my bond had no right to actually affect, thus making me subservient to its power, you have bound yourself to something so miniscule, whenpared to yourself, that it doesnt really count. He seemed to be considering. Did you get your soul-exercises from a book or from an instructor?


    Well, trial and error, then confirmed by an instructor, finally found in a book.


    He gave her an odd look but didntment on her long answer. Which book?


    Soul Work. Why?


    Good, good. That is an excellent resource. If Im seeing this correctly, you are going to want to make a <em>lot</em> of these stars. At least you will, when you learn a couple more of the exercises in that book.


    Which? She pulled out her copy, holding it out to him. The blood drops altered their orbit to avoid hitting her outstretched arm, even looping around it asionally without any visible input from either of them.


    Master Jevin took the copy and leafed through it. The most recent, revised addition? And well bound. He began to nod. Master Gredivs work, then. He really did see something in you. His eyes flicked to Ts for a moment, and he smiled. Here. He passed the book back, two ces held open for her.


    Perpendicr Maniption ?


    Yes. When mastered, and if properly utilized, you can move your soul bound items in orbits like those drops are moving in now. But, you can do it on your own, without standing on a spell-form. Heughed. Even so, Id say it would be impossiblyplex, however.


    She smiled. I can reduce their effective gravity.


    Thus making it a much more feasible technique for you.


    She frowned but nodded. <em>I can see use in that. Moving Flow side to side would give me a lot more options in battle.</em> Oh! Did I tell you that I figured out a new aspect of my gravity maniption?


    He cocked an eyebrow. Lets hear it.


    She briefly delved into Join and Distinct.


    Fascinating. Your foundational understanding of gravity issomething. He smiled. Thank you for sharing. That gives me much to consider. His eyes seemed to unfocus as he began to do just that.


    T cleared her throat, drawing his attention back, tapping Soul Work. And whats this second one? Aspect Mirroring?


    He grinned. You can cause any soul-bound item of yours to take on an aspect of you.


    T cocked her head in confusion before returning her focus to the book and reading further through the description. As she did so, her eyes widened. I can give my soul-bound items my same weight of magic and will, so that they are as hard to affect as I am. She swallowed. And I can cause my inertia to mirror any of my soul-bound items, and visa versa.


    Precisely. For most people, there is some powerful, but limited, utility in Aspect Mirroring, based on what they are bound to. For you with your unique set of abilities?


    I can have a cloud of blood around me, each drop taking hundreds of pounds of force to bypass and magically resilient to boot.


    Just so.


    She dropped into a seated position as the implications crashed over her. <em>This would mitigate my issue with staying in ce. It would be a </em>powerful<em> defense.</em> There has to be a catch.


    A catch? No.


    So, why doesnt everyone do this?


    Well, aside from it not being as useful to someone with a different type of Archon star, andcking your rare view and utilization of gravity, I imagine you will have four hurdles to ovee, for it to truly be of use to you.


    Do tell? She leaned forward, hanging on every word.


    First, mastering the movement of even a single soul-bound item into a consistent orbit around yourself is <em>difficult</em> in the extreme. Second, you will need to make it utterly instinctive for it to be anything but a known battle-field tool. Third, you will have topound that difficulty <em>exponentially</em> to create a small cloud around yourself. Fourth and finally, you will need to find a way to split your Archon stars into smaller stars.


    She frowned. I followed until thest, why?


    In doing this, in using this defense, your stars <em>will</em> run into each other. By Master Gredivs posttion, that means they willbine. That will make the bond to you stronger, but that isnt useful for this utility. Correct?


    T nodded.


    Then, you will need a way to split them back apart, else you will have to be constantly making stars. Theres the additional issue that the strength of the star will affect how it reacts, so you would have to be constantly altering your instinctual orbits for each drop as it changes in power level, unless you can instinctively split them back down to the smallest size sustainable.


    Ahh I think I understand the issue.


    Im d.


    So why doesnt everyone want to do something like this?


    He took a deep breath. First of all, I <em>might</em> be able to do something simr with Archon stars in splinters of this tree, if I could stabilize the spell-form with as little power as you use, which given my aura control I probably could. I could then also use my aura to effectively mimic the results you get from gravity alteration and soul work.


    So?


    So, my aura and aura control already render it redundant. Anything that can get through my aura is going to be <em>much</em> too powerful to be stopped by the type of defense we are discussing.


    Soit will be useless when I advance far enough?


    Not at all. Most dont devote themselves towards aura control and power as I have, and I would not rmend that path to you. Youd have to scrap your entire schema and start from scratch. Youd basically be in for a decade of uselessness, until you could fully grasp the nuances of auras. Most Mages are in the same ce as you, and only develop their aura to a rudimentary level.


    Why?


    He shrugged. The same reason most dont reinforce their body to the extent that you have. He grinned. I certainly havent. We each have things we focus on, and we cannot focus on everything, even with centuries or millennia to expand our understanding.


    T was nodding again. I guess that makes sense.


    They fell into apanionable silence, then; each consumed in their private thoughts.


    * * *


    After a few moments of thought, T decided to fuse a few stitches and began to work on that.


    As she did so, she felt Master Jevins attention return to her, but she didnt want her efforts to be wasted. <em>Ill engage with him again after at least one stitch.</em>


    Your soul is doing some crazy things. Are you fusing?


    She cracked one eye open to re, only waiting until she saw him raise his hands in apologetic surrender before closing it once more.


    <em>Just one stitch.</em> She exhaled slowly, fully immersed within.


    Just over a minuteter, she pulled the stitch tight, and opened her eyes, stretching and taking more normal breaths. Now, what did you want?


    I dont know that Ive ever seen soul readings on a person, while they were fusing. He was scratching his chin. Ill bet theyve been taken, but I never really thought to look for them.


    Anything interesting?


    Well, yes. Id have thought that was obvious?


    She gave him an unamused look.


    First of all, as you would expect, your soul-bonds were vibrating in sync with the fusing.


    Waitwhy would I expect that?


    Because they are linked to your soul, the bond is a part of it; thus, anything that affects your soul affects your bonds.


    Oh. That does make sense.


    The best way I can verbalize these results, sinctly, is like this: The cord binding you to your knife just had another thread woven through it.


    Thats she frowned, I suppose that makes sense.


    Alright. Now, your soul, itself. He was nodding. Your gate and your spirit, the two parts of your soul, both surged with power, intermixing before resettling back as they were, slightly more linked than before.


    Why is that unexpected?


    Well, the way you described your fusing process. I would have assumed that you were slowly bringing the two into better fusion with your body, little by little.


    But its more like three liquids in a jar. I shake it up, and they separate less each time.


    Interesting metaphor but sure.


    Is that bad?


    I dont believe so. It is likely just that your spirit and soul are being disrupted by your efforts to fuse, and it gives the described perception.


    So, when Im done, the liquids will be fully mixed?


    In the terms of your metaphor? Yes.


    <em>What would that look like?</em> Well, she could see what it would look like, in Master Jevin. Wait I can still see your gate. It isnt filling your whole body or anything.


    Ahh, yes. The joining is not at a physical level.


    She nodded. Right, but Id still expect evidence throughout.


    Master Jevin contemted for a moment. Think of the physical world and the next world as two cliff faces, bracketing an abyss.


    Alright.


    So, your gate is a tform on the other side, which throws power across that chasm. Your spirit is a tform on the physical side that catches the power and allows you to work with it. With me so far?


    I think so.


    So, what is your physical body, in this analogy?


    After a moments consideration, she smiled. The portion of the physical worlds cliff my spirit is anchored to.


    Precisely. So, then fusing is building a bridge between those tforms. Making them one. They are still distinct, like the legs of a tripod, but they are now unified into a whole, which is greater than the sum of its parts.


    Wouldnt that mean that I have a next world self, simrly linked in?


    He shrugged. It isnt a perfect analogy. Such things never are, but some have theorized that, yes, we each have a spiritual body that is a mirror to our physical body, in which our gate is anchored.


    So, our spirit is anchored in our physical body, and our gate is anchored in our spiritual body?


    That is the theory.


    She grimaced. Thats a bit esoteric for me, right now.


    Fair enough. He grinned. Ive never really dug too deeply into it. After a moments hesitation, he added. Well, I did see if I could use the spiritual body as a temte to recover my humanity, but I couldnt find a way. I dont know if that is because it doesnt exist, cant be used that way, or I simply never found the trick of it.


    Some of the heaviness returned to the room at the mention of his nature.


    T cleared her throat, searching for something to discuss. <em>Were talking about gatesoh!</em> You know, Ive never asked.


    His eyes came back to look her way. Yes?


    Humans without gates


    Master Jevin tilted his head, waiting. When she didnt continue, he prompted, What about them?


    She grimaced, again, but this time at her ownck of words. They are what we were, but every means we have to verify humanity seems predicated on our gates. She held up her hands, trying to express her feeling of helplessness, andck of ability to articte what she was asking.


    He smiled, gesturing back to the chairs. Come. Lets sit.


    She nodded. As she stood, she pulled out two iron vials and <em>pulled</em> the two drops of blood into their separate containers. <em>Another thing to practice.</em> But that was forter.


    She moved over to have a seat, and he sat opposite. Humanity is a broken race.


    T sat up straight, fully focusing on the Paragon.


    We were enved, this is widely known. What is not widely known, because it runs counter to the popr narrative of humanitys oveing all odds, is that this was done to us. He gestured to his chest, to his gate.


    What do you mean?


    Its theorized that in ancient days, a war, the likes of which we cannot conceive of, tore apart the, and so many beings died that the barrier between this world and the next weakened, letting magic in for the first time.


    T found herself reaching for her tea once more as she listened intently.


    Beings and creatures of magic thrived. Whether they were here before, or not, Ive no idea, but as time passed, the division between worlds began to strengthen, repairing towards pre-cmity levels. That sent the magical races into a panic. Uncountable things were attempted, many of them using sapient creatures as a medium, and humans were a convenient, subservient test group. He took a deep breath, looking down at his hands.


    We were experimented upon.


    By the millions.


    She nodded in understanding. An arcane broke the human soul, giving rise to our gates.


    Yes. The trait was integrated into our gic code as dominant and spread through the poption.


    We are living holes to the next world. Her eyes widened. Our cities. The rise in magic.


    He nodded, giving a small smile.


    Us clustering together is like thousands of small perforations in a membrane, all close together. It stresses the boundary?


    Yes, it weakens it.


    Thats why we move. It isnt a bacsh against our magic absorbing scripts. It is a result of humans clustering together.


    The scripts are as much to reinforce the barrier between worlds, as anything else. To shore up the membrane in the presence of so many perforations.


    And thats why they will never wipe out humanity.


    They need us to keep the barrier weak or magic will die. She rocked back, leaning fully against the back of her chair. She frowned. So, is there only magic on this continent? Is the barrier fully repaired elsewhere?


    He shook his head. It isnt well understood, but while certain locations can be incredibly permeable, and then repair, the world as a whole seems to function near an average, held higher by our locations of abundant magic.


    But if everywhere is at the average, except the extreme highs, shouldnt the average be higher?


    He shrugged. Yes, but as I said, it isnt well understood. He gave a mirthless chuckle. Its not like we can easily travel the world to take readings across the. Every great while, an Archon with sufficient power will rise up and suffer from wanderlust. He or she will then travel far and wide, bringing us back news of the rest of Zeme. By this, we know that magic and things of magic exist across our entire starsystem.


    Thestar system? There have been archons in space?


    He gave her an odd look. Of course. You, yourself could reach the moon with rtive ease and only a small amount of equipment, if you so desired. I wouldnt rmend it, however. The beasts up there He shook his head.


    She couldnt process thatstment at the moment, so she moved on. What about the rest of it?


    You mean outside our star system? Other stars? Other worlds? Other Realms?


    She nodded.


    He shrugged. To my knowledge, no human has exited this system and returned. Its possible that they just have failed toe back and are living happily on some far distant world.


    Thatthat is a lot to take in.


    True.


    <em>Find an anchor, dont let your thoughts get sucked into the magnitude of implications he just put forward. </em>So, those without gates?


    Ahh, yes. Humanity as we should be, before we were perverted and broken. They are true humanity. Ive always seen them much as I see babies. They are defenseless in a merciless world. They are to be protected, pitied, and preserved to the best of our ability.


    Thats a bit patronizing.


    He gave a half smile. I feel much the same about you. You may be a toddler to their infancy, but you are still woefully weak in a world that has no love for you.


    But it needs me. Somehow, she didnt really feel insulted by his words. <em>I am less than a child before what he could do.</em>


    But it needs us.


    Can they ever do magic?


    Those without gates?


    She simply nodded.


    Of course, but they must approach it as the arcanes do. They must absorb the magic that surrounds us, cultivating it within themselves, hoarding it for useter.


    But our cities dont allow that.


    They do not. He looked to a clock on the wall. But time has gotten away from us, and we both have much to do, I believe.


    She stood. Thank you, Master Jevin. T gave a deep bow. You are so far beyond us, but you protect us, guide us, and-


    She was cut off as his hand caught her chin and forced her to stand upright. Ive already told you, his eyes were hard but not unkind, and his hand was gentle but irresistible, I do not want veneration or worship. I will take your thanks and nothing more. After a moments pause, he pulled out a te. Well, that and three gold ounces for the darts.


    Tughed, verifying the transaction was just that and confirming it. Very well. Thank you.


    It is my pleasure.

 Chapter 140: Bloodstars

    Chapter 140: Bloodstars


    T strained, crocheting like her life depended on it.


    <em>I have so many things I need to do, but I cant let them distract me. I can do them on the side, but this is the first priority.</em>


    She didnt remain sitting, simply meditating as she worked. No, she moved through stretches and weapons forms; she brewed tea and looked out at the vistas presented through the training rooms window. Winter had fully set in, and though the trees still held onto their leaves, they were covered with a white dusting throughout each day.


    Fusing while distracted was slower for her, but it also forced her to make both the fighting movements and the fusing instinctive to a level she hadnt reached before.


    <em>I bet I can make it something that I do in the background.</em> She nodded to herself. <em>Three days.</em> Shed give herself three days towards this goal. <em>Lets get to it.</em>


    * * *


    Those three days passed in a blur. She crocheted while eating, while bathing, while sparring. She continued to fuse in her every waking moment.


    After one day, her distracted crocheting was half as fast as her meditative work had been previously.


    After two, she was almost subconsciously continuing the fusing of her spirit, body, and gate.


    By the afternoon of the third day, she had a slow fusing going in the background at all times, requiring virtually no thought and little effort.


    <em>Now, what else can I get done?</em> She found herself grinning broadly throughout the rest of that day from the sheer joy of the aplishment.


    <em>Perpendicr motion!</em> She pulled out Soul Work and dug into the instructions.


    Half an hourter, she was fairly irritated.


    Perpendicr motion was not, actually, the ability to move a soul-bound item perpendicr to a straight pull. Instead, it required spreading out her aura, and pulling Flow towards a specific part of that aura.


    Even so, that actually made it easier to aplish, as it wasnt really a new skill, though it required a much greater control over her aura than shed previously used.


    As an interesting side effect, she discovered that she could hold Flow in ce, within her aura, by exerting a constant pull to that location. It was <em>exhausting</em> but possible.


    <em>I can technically wield Flow without my hands.</em>


    While experimenting with that, changing Flows shape and moving through various weapons forms without her hands, T did other things.


    The first was to <em>Reduce</em> the effect of gravity on her two blood Archon stars.


    She spent five minutes reducing each, getting the effective gravity as close to zero as she was capable. <em>Anything with mass is affected by gravity, so it can never </em>actually<em> be zero, though it is effectively so, now.</em>


    As she did so, the drops began to rise. <em>Right! Find the point of neutral buoyancy, not just as low as I can go.</em>


    That done, she began attempting to have the drops orbit herself.


    It wasinteresting.


    If she moved her aura with each drop held in ce by a perpetual pull, it mimicked what she was going for, but it was a heavy strain to do so.


    In that way, she could move them to specific points around herself, however. <em>I can use this, too.</em>


    Even with that cheat avable, she did try to get the regr orbits to work, and as she worked on it more and more, she was able to have the blood do looping arcs around her one or two times before she had to catch or correct the motion with her aura.<em> Thats something.</em>


    That in mind, she dove into Aspect Mirroring.


    Here, while her efforts gave frustratingly little results, she didn''t give up.


    Two days of focused work, against a background of fusing and interspersed with sparring matches and meals, didnt give her the breakthrough she hoped for.


    Finally, she swung by and had a conversation with Master Jevin, and her issue was immediately apparent.


    Even though the book had told her how to aplish it, she had misunderstood.


    For those two days, shed been trying to impose an aspect of herself onto her soul-bound items. That would never work.


    To aplish Aspect Mirroring, she had to <em>know</em> that they were a part of her, and she a part of them. Thus, they already had those aspects within, and she was just bringing it forward. Interestingly, it was very closely tied to how being an Immaterial Guide worked, so she should be better at it, and learn it quicker than Archons of other quadrants, at least now that shed actually understood it.


    Armed with that altered mindset and a renewed optimism, she only took another day to break through, and gain limited aspect mirroring.


    * * *


    Master Rane. I need your help trying something.


    Rane looked up, tucked his book away, and stood. What can I do for you? He seemed a bit hesitant.


    That made sense, T had been intensely focused for thest few days, barely speaking more than necessary. I think I have this. She opened one of her iron vials and extended a tendril of her aura. With a <em>pull</em> the Archon star shot out,ing to rest within her aura, a foot in front of her chest. Please draw Force. I want you to hit that drop of blood, when I say to.


    He nodded, drawing the sword.


    <em>Ok.</em> She took a steading breath.<em> That blood is my blood. That star is MY star, a part of my soul. It is me, and I am it.</em> She closed her eyes and focused. <em>My magic supports it as it supports my body. My mass holds it in ce.</em>


    As the mental construct became fully manifest, she felt the drop be infinitesimally heavier, increasing the strain on her soul-pull marginally.


    She grinned, opening her eyes. Now.


    Rane attacked without dy, Force striking the drop of blood with quick precision.


    Force imparted a hefty dose of kic energy through the contact, and the blood rocketed away, mming into a far wall and imbedding into it.


    Oops T scratched the back of her head. That is what would have happened if you hit me, so sess!


    Rane was staring curiously at the drop of blood as it zipped back to its ce, pulled by T once more.


    Let me think <em>I want to block Force.</em> She began to nod. <em>Flow can block force.</em> Ok, one moment, then another hit.


    He nodded in response, settling into a quick-striking position, Force held ready.


    <em>Flow is me, and I am Flow. First bound to me, before even my body. We are one. Flow is a weapon of defense and offense, and it can counter magical attacks. I can counter magical attacks.</em> She blinked. <em>WaitWAIT!!!</em> Rane, hit me. She locked the mental construct in ce, straining.


    He frowned, butplied, striking for her side.


    Force impacted with a concussion of power, its magics dissipated.


    T had to take a step to the side as the strength behind Ranes blow still moved her, but it was just that: Ranes bodily strength against her mass.


    Ranes eyes widened.


    T turned and retched, her head ringing, and her stomach trying to empty itself despite the scripts.


    Ohrust me She looked within herself, then within Flow, and she understood.


    Flow took the magic of the hit and distributed it throughout its own magical and physical structure. Mirroring that ability into her own body had caused every cell to try to pull itself apart at once. Yeah not doing that again.


    Rane was kneeling beside her. What do you need?


    A minute.


    He began rubbing her upper back as she knelt on one knee,ying across the other. Does this help?


    Strangely, it did. She mustered a nod, and he gave a small, hesitant smile in return.


    While focusing inward, she noticed that her background fusing had been disrupted, and she scrambled for a moment to catch the slowly unraveling strands of power and tie off the current stitch.


    After much longer than a minute, she sat back moving the whisps of hair from her face. That, that was awful.


    If I can ask, what happened?


    I tried to mirror Flows defensive aspect within myself to allow me to take the hit.


    Rane winced. That sounds painful.


    She nodded. YeahI mean, it was better than being cut in half, so theres that.


    He frowned, but T waved hisment away before he made it.


    I know <em>you </em>wouldnt have cut me in half, but that defense, as awful as it was, would stop that too.


    What type of defense does Flow use to counter other magical attacks? I never asked.


    It felt like distributive dissemination.


    He grimaced. Anyone else would be in need of a healer, now.


    Good thing I focus on bodily resilience and healing.


    It does seem so. He gave her a sideways look. You know, Im still not sure if you are wise for choosing defensive magics that allow you to survive the odd things you try, or foolish for trying those odd things.


    Her tone took on that of an old sage.  If you cannot help but leap from cliff-tops, grow wings.


    So, you took that to heart. Wise, then?


    She shook her head. Not wise enough to stop, but wise enough to know I needed something to prevent the worst repercussions.


    He just grunted.


    T pushed herself back to her feet. With a pull, she lifted her bloodstar from the floor where it had fallen and extended her aura to hold the drop in front of her chest once more. Okay. Lets try this one more time.


    Rane gave her a deeply skeptical look.


    You arent going to hit me this time.


    That seemed to mollify him, and he stood to face her once more, drawing forth Force in preparation.


    <em>Alright, so I dont want to mirror Flows defense within me.</em> She closed her eyes. <em>That blood is my blood. That star is MY star, a part of my soul. It is me, and I am it. Flow is me, and I am Flow. First bound to me, before even my body. We are one. Flow is a weapon of defense and offense, and it can counter magical attacks. I am my bloodstar. My magic supports it as it supports my body. My mass holds it in ce. Flows defense is its defense.</em>


    It was aplex mental construct, but she built it piece by piece. After nearly five minutes focus, she had it in ce.


    Her eyes opened. Now.


    Rane struck and Force hit the drop of blood, unleashing his swords power.


    The drop was pushed back by Ranes strength, but the magic of Forces blow was absorbed within the drop of blood.


    The blood almost seemed to fizzle, so much kic energy was directed into and through it that the bloodstar struggled to contain it. After an instant, thezy spinning swirl of blood inherent to her Archon star was a tornado of force, causing the blood to spin faster than a top, only the coherence of the spell-form within keeping it together.


    Force, robbed of the magical portion of its attack, was deflected upward by the mass mirrored into the drop, even while the drop was pushed downward.


    Ts constant pull returned the drop to its proper location a momentter.


    Rane stepped back, a grin evident on his face. That is amazing! Aspect Mirroring, right?


    She nodded, breathing heavily and beginning to sweat, despite the pleasantly cool room.


    I looked into that, as it would allow me to implement Forces attacks with my own body but Im not a Guide, and so it will be a long road before he trailed off, looking at her with concern, Mistress T?


    She wordlessly called the bloodstar back into its vial and capped it. She let the mental constructs fall apart and retracted her extended aura. With a groan, she sunk to the floor.


    Are you alright? He sat down in front of her.


    I think I will be. She rubbed her forehead with both hands. Ive proved the premise. Now, I just need to improve it.


    One more thing to practice?


    She let out a mirthless chuckle. Yeah, one more thing to practice.


    Can I help?


    She leaned forward and patted his knee where it rested a bit away from her own. You already have, Master Rane. Thank you for helping me test that.


    He gave a nod of acknowledgement. As always, I am happy to assist.


    * * *


    After another six days of dedicated training, their time in Makinaven was nearing its end. T had to start charging the cargo-slots again beginning the next morning.


    They were in their training room, facing off for the umpteenth time, controlled violence a hairs breadth from being unleashed.


    T stood, Flow in hand in the form of a ive.


    Rane stood opposite her, Force horizontal to the floor in a middle guard, point angled down to point at her heart.


    She kept her breathing regr, speaking on the exhale. Ready?


    His answer was just as unhurried. Ready.


    T lunged forward, two drops of blood streaking alongside her, carried in her aura, mirroring a mix of aspects from both herself and Flow.


    Force struck Flow to the side, spoiling Ts initial thrust, but she continued to close on her opponent, allowing the impact to carry her weapon in a tight arc, full circle to strike for Ranes other side with Flow in sword form.


    Rane moved from his block to a back-cut, slicing towards Ts unprotected chest.


    One of her bloodstars dropped to counter his probing strike, dissipating the magic in Forces blow, and stealing the energy from Ranes swing.


    Rane, for his part, rolled his head and neck out of the way of her horizontal sh, spinning to thrust Forces point towards her abdomen.


    T instinctively flinched back from the hit; half remembered pain forcing the reaction.


    Even so, she was able to move Flow in the way to partially parry the thrust even as her other bloodstar dropped towards Ranes shoulder.


    As the drop of blood mirrored her own inertia, it was a credible threat to Rane, and caused his defenses to activate and move him away from the iing danger.


    Rane twisted sideways, spoiling his own attack, though he didnt let that stop his assault.


    They strove back and forth, T using everything at her disposal to counter Ranes offenses and strike at him throughout.


    She shifted Flow from one form to another with lightning quick timing, always using the right tool to keep pressure on him.


    She manipted her bloodstars in tight arcs, countering Force, and threatening Rane at every opportunity. She didnt sessfully get them in ce every time, or even half of the time if she were being honest, but they were another weapon for use in staving off his relentless skill.


    And she was seeding.


    Despite innumerable exchanges, too quick to count, Rane wasnt gaining the upper hand, despite his still obviously superior ability. He moved with elegant, powerful efficiency, but it wasnt enough to break through.


    She just knew his defenses and limitations too well by this point.


    She couldnt ovee him, but she could hold him off.


    It was the most difficult thing she had ever done,bining virtually everybat technique she could safely use.


    <em>Im not spraying acid at his faceno matter how much of an advantage it might give me.</em> She honestly felt guilty for even considering it and pushed the idea from her thoughts. She also wasnt using her <em>Join</em> ability, but her mind was already split too many ways to make that a reasonable possibility, at least for the time being.


    They strove back and forth, neither able to gain advantage.


    Unfortunately for T, her methods were <em>much</em> more tiring than Ranes.


    Rane was in his element, using tried and true, well-practiced, well-honed tools and motions.


    T, in contrast, was riding the razors edge of her abilities and the tools at her disposal. Many of the things she was doing, shed barely figured out, practiced, and refined in thest week. It was taking everything she had to keep going, and her ability to continue was rapidly nearing its end.


    Rane must have sensed something, because he suddenly disengaged and moved backwards, keeping Force up and ready. A break?


    T knew that he didnt need the break, and he was just offering for her sake. She <em>almost</em> found that irritating, but as she tried to muster her anger, she found that she was too exhausted. Instead, she just grunted, sheathed knife-Flow, and flopped to the ground, panting.


    He grinned her way. That was fantastic. I dont think Ive been so pushed since I tried to fight Terry.


    Terry lifted his head from the corner of the room and squawked.


    Not right now, Terry, but I appreciate the offer.


    T gave Rane an incredulous look. Since when, she pulled in a couple of quick breaths, can you understand him?


    I cant but that was pretty obvious even so.


    She grunted. Fair.


    Over the next minute or so, T got herself back under control. Her breathing leveled out, and her muscles calmed, unclenched, and rxed. The headache was only slightly slower to fade. <em>Progress across the board. </em>She grinned broadly.


    She nced over towards Rane. Im feeling a need to celebrate.


    Oh? He seemed hesitantly interested.


    Over thest days, nearly two weeks actually, T had been so focused on her training that theyd done virtually nothing else. I need to get the hide I left with a tanner, just outside the tree, but after that, Id love dinner, maybe a y if one is avable? After a moment, she found herself nodding. Before the y, though, you said that the views from your inn were spectacr.


    They really are.


    I did say Id like to see them at some point, and our time here is almost done. We can watch the sunset from one of the observation tforms up there after dinner, before the y. ys usually start after sunset, especially in winter.


    That, Mistress T, sounds like an excellent n.

 Chapter 141: Decadent

    Chapter 141: Decadent


    T was being a bit decadent, but she found that she didnt much care.


    Her tea set was out and brewing a smooth chamomile.


    A honey panna cotta ready and waiting for her and herpanion. Theyd brought it with them from the restaurant. The sweet and creamy notes would be a perfect counterpoint to the tea.


    T and Rane sat on a public observation deck that was connected to the inn Rane was staying in, but theyd imed the outdoor space for themselves.


    To be fair, no one else seemed much interested in this specific overlook. It might have to do with Terry sleeping just in front of the door, about asrge as a truly terrifying dog, but T wasnt sure.


    <em>Could be almost anything really.</em>


    They were at a two-person table, one of three, and sat closer together than usual so they could both watch the sun as it continued to slip below the horizon.


    They looked out to the southwest, towards the winter sunset, looking over the forest, over the ins beyond, and to mountains beyond even that. There was the hint of reflections or lights in the in near the mountain, but they were only barely visible to Ts enhanced sight with the direct re of the sun before them.


    The world is so muchrger than humanity''s little corner. T didnt speak loudly, her voice barely above a whisper.


    Rane responded in kind. True words, Mistress.


    They continued in silence for a long moment before Rane spoke again.


    One day, Id love to see an arcane city. See our enemy and decide for myself how I feel about them.


    She smiled, patting his shoulder. Youre surprisingly contemtive for a rage monster.


    Rane gave her a side-eyed re. You know, I dont really like that about myself.


    But it is who you are.


    He snorted. We are what we choose to be.


    She felt some of her contentment bleed away. I never chose to be a Mage.


    Rane nced her way again. I call rusting g on that.


    She frowned. Excuse me?


    You heard me. Thats a lie.


    T felt rage bubbling up within her chest. My parents-


    He cut across her. No. Mistress T. You are not a Mage because of your parents. He turned his full gaze on her.


    She had been in process of summoning up words tosh out at him, but they died in her throat, when she saw the intensity in his eyes.


    Ive been trying to find a way of saying this to you for weeks, and now is as good a time as any. He took a deep breath then continued in a rush, clearly desperate to get it out. Youre an idiot, but you cant see it. Youre fantastic but keep treating that like something that needs to be med on others.


    Im a fantastic idiot? A smile lifted one side of her mouth.


    Rane nodded enthusiastically, seeming d that she was understanding him. Yes! Then, his mind seemed to actually catch what shed said. No! No. He shook his head. That came out all backwards. Youre a fantastic <em>Mage</em>, and youre being an idiot.


    She lifted one eyebrow. Exin.


    He swallowed, but he must have decided that he wasmitted now, so he plunged ahead. Your parents dumped their debt on you, true and unfair, but <em>you</em> went to the Academy, and <em>you</em> chose your inscriptions. You chose to work at the sses, to learn, to excel, and to earn your certifications. The only reason you are a Mage is because you chose to be. He huffed, looking back out towards the spectacr view. Your family gave you a shove, but you turned the unexpected stumble into a sprint at greatness.


    T found herself glowering at the teapot.


    I told you that Ive been trying to find a way of telling you this for weeks. Ive had a long time to consider.


    That doesnt mean youre right.


    He huffed a grunt of irritation, turning away. I chose the restaurant this afternoon, yes?


    Yes. She looked his way, curious where he was going with this, despite herself.


    He didnt look her way. So, am I the reason we ate there?


    Yes.


    The only reason?


    She considered. <em>No. Whenever hes suggested a ce, if Im uninterested, we go elsewhere.</em> No.


    So, did you choose to eat there?


    She wrinkled her nose in irritation. Yes.


    Even though I choose it for us?


    She grimaced. Fine. I see your point.


    This is important, Mistress. He nced her way. What your family did isnt unheard of, but it was distasteful, at least to me. Im not trying to justify their choice, but you are not that choice. You are what you have done since that moment. He smiled. There are always things we cannot control. We are what we do with those few things we can. His gaze returned to thendscape.


    T hunkered in on herself, angry at how right he sounded. <em>Thats pretty silly, T.</em>


    She took calming breaths.


    <em>Im not mad at him. Im mad at them.</em> She straightened.


    <em>The tea is well steeped, now. </em>T took the moment to pour the tea for them both, setting Ranes cup in easy reach.


    He nced to her, tentatively. Thank you.


    She shrugged, taking a bite of the dessert. Ohoh rust thats good.


    Rane took a bite of his own panna cotta. Wow! Youre not lying. He sipped the tea. This is a great addition. Thank you for suggesting and providing it.


    She smiled, enjoying a sip from her own cup.


    The sounds of the city of Makinaven were evident behind and below them, especially to her enhanced ears. Even so, the sounds of the forest at night were beginning to rise from before her, the forest already having lost the sunlight.


    Bird song and calls, the hoots of owls, and the barks, yaps, and roars of various predators echoed in the far distant forest. None really ovepping, and none too close to any other, but together they added a pleasant background to the repast.


    T let out a long breath. You arent wrong, you know.


    Some tension seemed to bleed from Rane as he took another bite of the cooked cream. You are an amazing Mage, more dedicated to improvement than almost any Ive seen. That is not your parents doing. Youve made that choice.


    She sighed in releasing frustration. Ive heard you, Rane. Can we drop it for now?


    He stiffened, then nodded, turning back to his dessert.


    After a moment to collect her thoughts, she ced her hand on his arm. You know. Theres been something Ive wanted to talk with you about, too.


    He huffed augh. It seems the time for such things. He nced down at her hand, then to her face. Is everything alright?


    She nodded.


    Then, might as well hear you out. Whats on your mind?


    T smiled sadly. How are you doing with the deaths of the guards on the trip, here?


    His hand clenched in involuntary frustration, causing his forearm to tense and bunch, the strong, toned fibers obvious to her enhanced touch, even through his thin sleeve.


    She patted his arm and withdrew her hand.


    Imnot great. I know they made their choices, and I made mine. I know that in this line of work, even if I do my job perfectly, many people will die under my protection, and I have toe to terms with that. It is my job to make that number as small as I can. I wont let each death be a tragedy, dragging me down. I cant. He smiled her way.


    No. I dont think thats true.


    He raised an eyebrow at her. Oh? Do tell.


    Every death <em>must</em> be a tragedy, or we will be flippant.


    He snorted, but he turned away, her words clearly hurting him.


    She smacked his arm, forcing his attention back to her. Let me finish. She waited a moment, giving him a fake re until she was sure he wouldnt interrupt or ignore her. It must be a tragedy, but it cant be <em>our</em> tragedy. We work to mitigate it, but that is all we can do, just like you said. We protect those we can and trust those in our care to make their own choices.


    After it was clear she wasnt going to say anything else, Rane quirked a smile. That sounds like parenting.


    Tughed. Probably a bit, I suppose.


    And, Ill point out, it sounds almost exactly like what I said.


    Subtle shifts can make a big difference in the long haul.


    Truer words, Ta- Mistress.


    They both looked out once again, thest sliver of the sun dropping below the far-distant mountains. Dim lights hade on behind them, but they were subdued enough to not spoil the scenery.


    At a great distance, probably two-thirds of the distance across the far ins to the mountains, the lights of a city became incredibly evident, now that the sun wasnt backlighting them. <em>So, they were lights, not just odd reflections of some water.</em>


    Thats one of them. Rane had leaned forward. Thats an arcane city. He looked her way, clearly waiting for her reaction.


    So it is. She drank her tea and took another bite of panna cotta.


    He nced to her again, took another bite, and smiled. Thank you. His eyes flicked back towards the city. Arent you more surprised? Curious?


    Arcanesthey are just people, right?


    What do you mean?


    I mean, its not like theres only a few dozen, who all enved ancient humans, and are now plotting our downfall.


    True. He gave her an odd look.


    Ill bet that in that far city, two arcanes are looking this way, seeing our lights in this tree, and thinking Theres the humans. They took that city from the Mezzannis before killing them all.


    Thats not true!


    I mean, sure? I dont actually know there are arcanes looking this way.


    He shook his head. No, I mean we didnt kill all the Mazzannis.


    Ahh, but we arent told the whole truth, why should they be?


    Rane didnt seem to have an answer for that. So you dont think that most of them hate us?


    Oh, Ive no idea. They might all be horrible creatures of torture and spite, but like you said, we dont actually know them.


    I said that?


    Implied it, I suppose. You said you wanted to judge them for yourself.


    Ah, yeah. He smiled. It probably wont actually happen, though.


    Oh?


    Yeah, either Im too weak, and Id be in too much danger there, or if I wait long enough, Ill be too strong, and theyll never let me approach one of their cities uncontested.


    Thatthat is a very good point. She patted his shoulder. Well figure something out.


    We?


    Yeah! You dont think Ill let you go somewhere that unique without me, do you?


    He smiled, turning back to the view and their treats. No. I suppose not.


    All too soon, they were done, and Rane was leaning back. He let out a long sigh. Well, we should probably get to the yhouse. I think the doors close in less than half an hour.


    T nodded, standing and cing her items into Kit. Alright. Terry?


    Terry flickered to her shoulder, sized for the perch, not breaking his seeming sleep.


    She scratched his head affectionately, then smiled to Rane. Lets go.


    * * *


    T was in heaven.


    Shey within Kit, wrapped in a truly ludicrously sized bearskin.


    The tanner had gone above and beyond, maintaining the fur, cleaning it, and conditioning it with avender-mint scented oil that would keep the entire thing smelling amazing and in great condition. Hed even included a tin of the stuff for touch-ups as needed.


    <em>These hides must be really valuable, if one was worth this much work on the other.</em> She didnt much care, though. <em>Im never selling this.</em>


    Shed woken up nearly a quarter hour earlier, and it was probably her enhanced sense of touch talking, but she just couldnt bring herself to leave the luxury of the fur.


    <em>Another few minutes wont hurt anyone.</em>


    Even so, she did need to begin her day. She began by restarting her fusing for the day, pushing the process to the back of her mind.


    Finally, she reluctantly got out of bed, stretched, and dressed.


    She looked back at the bearskin. Ill be back. Dont go anywhere.


    <em>Okay, T, youre being a bit weird</em>


    That was true.


    She shrugged, cing her hand on one of Kits walls and refilling the storage item with power. Good morning, Kit.


    Kit did not respond.


    T moved through her normal morning routine, finishing with her bath anding back up into the training room for thest time just as the sky was lightening towards dawn.


    To charge the cargo-slots!


    Terry lifted his head, gazing her way.


    She grinned and tossed a scattered handful of jerky pieces.


    The avians eyes widened, and a series of dimensional blips heralded him snatching each one from the air wlessly. He ended his precise flickering on her shoulder, where he head-butted her cheek.


    Good morning to you, too, Terry. She looked around the training space onest time, noticing her bedroll in the corner where Terry had been sleeping. Oh, right! She gathered it up and pushed the whole thing into Kit, topping off the pouchs power once again. Sorry for not folding and rolling it first, Kit.


    The pouch did not respond.


    Alright, lets go!


    She checked out from the training facility, passing over the key, and thanking the clerk at the front counter.


    Terry carried her down the tree to the work-yard, where her cargo-slots were waiting.


    She charged them with rtive ease, though she did have a bit of difficulty before she got used to the process again. <em>Nearly a month away from an activity really adds some cobwebs.</em>


    Even so, she was just finishing up when Mistress Odera arrived so that they could go to breakfast together.


    * * *


    After another filling breakfast, T found her way to the marketce in search of a gift.


    Master Jevin had been incredibly kind to her, and she wanted to find a way of saying thank you. <em>Not that hes likely to be surprised. He could be watching me right now.</em> She shuddered. <em>No, T, he promised he didnt do that. Either trust him or dont. This waffling is a bit ridiculous.</em>


    She was wandering through the various stalls when she saw one that caught her eye, attached to arge, brickwork building.


    Makinavens Marvelous Munchy Makers? <em>That seems promising.</em>


    As she approached, she noticed that the stall tables were covered with disy cases, each containing row upon row of choctes.


    There were other delicacies as well, but chocte was definitely the most prevalent, underlying theme.


    <em>Perfect.</em>


    While scanning through those avable, she found that there was a whole table of choctes filled with liqueurs of various kinds.


    One section of that table was dedicated to caramel liqueurs. <em>Exactly what I was hoping to find.</em>


    But there were a LOT of them. Oh this is going to be harder than I thought


    A clearing throat sounded from behind her, followed by a soft-spoken voice. Pardon me, but young master Reve would like to look at the chocte liqueurs.


    T turned, half frowning.


    Behind her, an Archon stood just in front of a deeply blushing young man.


    The young mans voice was strong, but quiet, as he spoke to the woman, stepping up beside her. Mistress Criada, please. He turned, bowing towards T. My apologies. Please take your time.


    The Archon opened her mouth, a stubborn look in her eye, but the young man cut her off, still focusing on T.


    Im Reve. He held out his hand.


    T regarded him for a long moment.


    He was barely taller than she was with ck hair, eyes dark enough to be basically ck that were obscured behind magically empowered sses, and skin so pale that only ack of sunlight could exin it. Lastly, T noticed a well-worn book tucked under his other arm.


    Hesitantly, she took his hand. Im T. Nice to meet you, her mage-sight showed inscriptions, but no keystone. Reve.


    He smiled. Mistress T. He bowed again. This is my instructor and he colored slightly once again, chaperone, Mistress Criada.


    T gestured to Terry on her shoulder. This is Terry. He keeps me out of trouble, too. Terry trilled a soft affirmation without opening his eyes.


    Criada huffed interjecting herself into the conversation. Be sure to keep that animal on a tight leash. Arcanous creatures have no ce in human cities.


    T regarded the tall woman with mild irritation before ncing back to Reve. Maybe she should be in your charge, rather than the other way around?


    She intended it as a mild joke to break some of the tension, but Reve winced.


    T held up her hands. I meant no disrespect.


    Criada opened her mouth, clearly meaning to give T a piece of her mind, but Reve snapped his fingers. Enough There was a marked authority to his tone that brooked no argument.


    Criada vanished.


    T blinked at the spot the woman had been standing.


    Criada was still there, but an expertly crafted illusion wrapped around her, keeping any sight or sound of the Archon trapped within and leaving no evidence of her presence.


    It was expertly done to the point that even Ts enhanced senses couldnt detect her, and only Ts mage-sight let her see the illusion for what it was.


    Terry, for his part, opened his eyes briefly and flickered around where the woman had been, seemingly examining the space before returning to Ts shoulder.


    That- thats incredibly well-honed magic. She reexamined the young man. <em>A bent towards Immaterial Guide style magic, focused on waves of various kinds?</em> Sometimes her interpretation of other peoples inscriptions was entirely unhelpful. He even had a portion of his keystone, now that she looked closer; it just wasntplete. Why arent you a Mage?


    He scratched the back of his head. She thinks Im not ready yet.


    T shrugged. Well, if you trust your teacher, Im not one to interfere. She nced back to the waiting choctes. No reason we cant both look.


    He bowed his head, once again, light glinting off his sses. Thank you, that is kind.


    T nced to the still obscured Criada. She had to hide a smile as she saw the Archons arms crossed and the woman seemingly squirming in indecision. <em>Or something</em>


    Reve followed her gaze and gave an apologetic smile. Please forgive her. She is a bit overprotective at times.


    T nodded, regarding the case of choctes once more. If I may ask, why is an Archon seemingly taking orders from an inscribed?


    He seemed to be conflicted, almost squirming before answering. She was sworn to my parents, before they died, and vowed to protect me and raise me in their absence.


    T turned to him. ImIm sorry to hear that. <em>Thats heavyNot something Id tell a stranger, but I suppose I did ask If someone asked me, would I lie?</em> She probably wouldnt. Im sorry. I didnt mean to pry.


    He shrugged.


    <em>Change the topic. Congrattions, T, you just made things awkward with aplete stranger.</em> So, have you shopped here before?


    Criada seemed to have had enough, because she waved her hand and the illusion dissipated. Yes, we shop here often, and master Reve, we need to get to the library for todays lessons.


    He nodded. Of course, Mistress. Let me just get one or two.


    Criada crossed her arms again. Very well.


    T cleared her throat. Im actually looking to get a few for amentor? She shook her head. For someone as a thank you. Are there any of the caramel liqueurs that youd rmend?


    Reve nced her way, then nodded.


    Over the next five minutes, they talked through those avable, and T found him quite a pleasant conversationalist, at least around the topic of food.


    <em>Maybe hes just nervous or doesnt usually talk to strangers.</em> He was nice enough once he came out of his shell a bit.


    Eventually, T decided on a selection of ten choctes, with Reves guidance, and some input from an attendant who hade over to help them both. She almost changed her mind when she learned the price. <em>A half an ounce, silver, per chocte?</em> It was a bit ridiculously expensive, but it was what it was.


    Can you package it up? Its going to be a gift.


    In the end, she parted with six silver for the gift wrapped choctes. She paid and ced the all-too-small box into Kit.


    She gave a small bow towards Reve. Thank you for the assistance. I would have taken much longer to decide without your help.


    He smiled and bowed in return. I was happy to assist, Mistress. Take care.


    You as well. She turned and walked away from the confectionary. <em>Now, I just need to find some full-bodied whiskey.</em>

 Chapter 142: Departing Makinaven

    Chapter 142: Departing Makinaven


    T found herself a bit nervous as she approached the third tier, Makinaven, Constructionist Guildhall for thest time, at least this trip. Shed found what she hoped was a good whiskey the day before, shortly after purchasing the choctes. So, she had both gifts ready to hand. <em>I hope theyre well received.</em>


    She did not want to interact with a bunch of people. So, before she reached for the door handle, she spoke under her breath. <em>This should trigger however he monitors the city. </em>Master Jevins aura is extended-


    Mistress T? Master Jevins voice sounded in her ear. What are you doing? What are you doing here? We dont have an appointment, do we?


    No, I just wanted to stop by to say goodbye. I leave tomorrow.


    Oh, sure. Come on back.


    The door opened in-front of her, and she walked through with a small smile. Thank you.


    The standard scan and <em>ding</em> washed over her, but she ignored it. <em>That does remind me, I need to refresh my iron salve before we leave, tomorrow.</em>


    Master Jevin only had to direct her once when shed hesitated, unsure of which hallway to take.


    She walked into his workshop and nced back. It feels like you change the path to get back here, every time Ie. Im usually very good at finding my way.


    I have better uses of my time than ensuring Im undisturbed by those whove visited in the past. He gave her a mirth filled smile.


    Something in his nce made her hesitate. After a moment, she started nodding. By the stars, you do! You do rearrange the passages to get back here.


    He shrugged, dropping the pretense. Only when necessary. Some people have no boundaries. He lifted an eyebrow at her. So, did you really juste by to say goodbye?


    She smiled in return, reaching into Kit. That and to give you these. She produced a small cask, and a wrapped box that looked miniscule beside the two-gallon mini-barrel. T set them on one of the central tables and stepped back. Thank you for all your help and advice.


    Master Jevin walked forward, an unreadable look on his face as he examined the gifts.


    You said you liked caramel liqueur choctes and full-bodied whiskey. She gave an uncertainugh. It turns out that there are a <em>lot</em> of things that fall into those two categories, so I hope I choose well.


    He nced her way. You bought me chocte and alcohol?


    She frowned. Well, I didnt think of it in that way


    No. I He shook his head, waving off his own previousment. Thank you, Mistress. That was very kind.


    She shrugged. You said you liked these, so. She shrugged again.


    Master Jevin seemed genuinely thrown.


    Are you alright?


    I Yes. I believe so. He picked up the small barrel. This is an excellent vintage.


    Yeah, thats what the master distiller said. She smiled tentatively. Its an eight-year-old, smoked-maple bourbon.


    That is a really excellent choice.


    <em>Good. It certainly cost enough</em> Ten silver was five days of food money for her, now that Mistress Odera and the Caravan Guild were covering one meal a day.


    He unwrapped the box of choctes, looking inside.


    T tsked. Im curious.


    Hmm? He looked up from the open box.


    Did you need to open it to see inside?


    Oh, no. But it is nice to see with my eyes, rather than just my aura.


    She found herself nodding. Yeah, I can understand that.


    Master Jevin capped the choctes and regarded her, once again. This is really too much, Mistress T.


    She waved that off. It cost less than any number of things Ive bought from you.


    Its not the cost, Mistress, its the thought. He smiled, again. Thank you, truly.


    Well, youre wee. T looked around a bit awkwardly. <em>Okaywhat now?</em>


    Would you like a ss?


    She thought about it for a moment, then felt a smile tugging at her lips. You know what? Yes. Thank you. Id like that very much.


    T and Master Jevin spent the early afternoon sitting in his armchairs, sipping whiskey and talking of things of little note.


    Finally, Master Jevin let out a long sigh. Im afraid I do have some work I simply must get done. He stood, offering her a hand up.


    She took it and stood. Thank you, again, for all youve done for me. She huffed a shortugh. For all youve done for all of us. T shook her head. It sounds ridiculous.


    He shrugged. Life is often a bit ridiculous. Thank you, for the gratitude. He smiled. Now be on your way. His smile widened into a grin. I hope to see you back here before too long.


    Count on it.


    * * *


    T stood at the top of Makinaven, on the tform on which shed figured out she could fuse.


    Terry stood beside her, justrge enough for her tofortably rest her right hand at the base of his neck, on his cor.


    Rane was on her other side, arms crossed as he looked out at the surroundings. This is magnificent!


    She looked his way, a self-satisfied smile unhidden on her lips. Still think it was a waste of time to climb up here?


    Absolutely not. I couldnt have been more wrong. We should havee here earlier and often.


    T decided not to say anything further.


    The gray light of pre-dawn was slowly coloring towards day. The day of their departure.


    T found herself sad to be leaving. <em>Ive spent more time here than in Bandfast</em>


    Still, Bandfast was a better base of operations for her current role, and she had a lot more work to be done before she couldfortably operate in these woods on a regr basis.


    <em>I have to go through them once more regardless.</em> It had to be done, so shed get it done.


    She would try to avoid forest routes for a while.


    <em>Just until I get a bit stronger.</em>


    After another long moment, where they all enjoyed the world around them, Rane took in a deep breath and let it out in an audible sigh. We should get going, if were going to get all the way down in time.


    T nodded. Thank you foring up here with me.


    Happy to, Mistress.


    * * *


    Mistress T, do we really have time for this?


    T didnt answer Ranes inquiry as she quick-walked up to the tea stall in the tier-three market.


    The grandfather bowed her way. Mistress. Wee back. I trust the drinks were up to your standard?


    They were excellent, thank you. Id like ten more pounds of each.


    He blinked at her. You havent drunk all of ithave you?


    Oh, no. Of course not, but Im leaving the city, and I wont be back this way for a good long while.


    He nodded in understanding and gestured. His son and grandson scurried around, quickly wrapping up her items. Chamomile, mint, and espresso, correct?


    Exactly right.


    He was tallying in his head. Individually wrapped bricks?


    Yes please.


    Then, ten silver, forty copper.


    How about an even ten silver for a bulk order and a returning customer?


    He grinned her way. How about eleven silver for a quick turnaround?


    She hesitated for a moment, thenughed. Very well. I appreciate the speed. <em>Hes right. I really should have offered more for the quickpletion of the order.</em>


    Rane was looking between them but didntment.


    While his kin were working on Ts purchases, the grandfather turned to Rane. Master, can we get anything for you?


    Rane smiled and gave a slight bow of his head. Thank you for the offer, but I am not in the market for such at the moment. He nced to T. She has shared some of your tea with me, and I can firmly say that if I ever am in need of such, I wille here, preferentially.


    He bowed in return. Thank you for the kind words.


    Less than a minuteter, they had the thirty parcels tightly bound and then bound together. T had confirmed the purchase on their te, and she and Rane were departing.


    As she was about to duck out, she paused, turned back to the grandfather and bowed deeply. Thank you for the products, the service, the speed, and the wisdom. She smiled and tossed a coin his way.


    He caught it easily, ncing down, his eyes widening.


    T departed before he looked back up, leaving him with the hefty five-ounce silver coin.


    Rane gave her an incredulous look. Any more stops?


    Nope. Im ready to go.


    * * *


    T finished charging the cargo-slots for the day just as the driver swung up into ce.


    She waved to the guard, waiting on the ground below, looking up her way. Ready!


    The Master Sergeant of the first guard-shift nodded to her. Thank you, Mistress. He raised his hand and dropped it to point to the west. Lets move!


    His voice carried a note ofmand, and T thought she could detect subtle bits of magic woven through, making it easier to hear and interpret at a distance and over background noise.


    <em>I dont see any inscriptions. How used tomand must he be for his natural magical pathways to have that effect?</em> It was a humbling reminder of just how new she was to all this, and just howpetent those around her truly were.


    Terry flickered to the front of the wagon, happily shifting from foot to foot, excited to exit the city once again.


    Mistress Odera sat in the middle of the wagon, calmly regarding T.


    The wagons pulled to a slow start, the guards moving into a protective formation immediately, even as the caravan navigated the streets of Makinavens first tier.


    They were leaving through the opposite gate from the one theyde in through, so many weeks ago.


    Now, Mistress T. Youd requested I bring your breakfast to the caravan. She nced down at the parcel sitting beside her. I did <em>not</em> expect you to cut your arrival so close.


    T smiled a bit sheepishly. My apologies, Mistress Odera. I cut it closer than I intended.


    The older woman grunted and handed over the cloth sack, which T opened gratefully. There was a nice spread of food, as usual much more than a single person should eat regrly. <em>Ill get used to this, eventually, and eventually my stores will be full, and I can return to normal eating.</em> She looked up from the feast. Thank you.


    Mistress Odera bowed her head, slightly. The Guild is happy to provide.


    T grinned back. Oh, I am finished with my duties as a Dimensional Mage.


    The Mage regarded her for a long moment, then nodded. Thank you, Mistress. I think we will handle the outward trip simr to the way here. From what youve conveyed in regards to your training, your capacities have expanded a great deal, but I pray we wont have to put them to the test.


    T nodded in turn. Ill continue my training as we travel, if that is eptable to you.


    I wouldnt have it any other way. I ask simply that you dont train to exhaustion.


    That sound very reasonable. She was, at that very moment, fusing in the background. Her magic moving through the now intimately familiar patterns of drawing her body, spirit, and gate closer into unity. <em>I wonder if this will be at all useful, once Im done fusing.</em>


    Rane had touched base with Mistress Odera earlier, and he was to be the vanguard, staying just about a dozen yards in front of the oxen, at least for the first part of the journey.


    The caravan was passing out through the gate, and T was about to pull out her bloodstars to begin working with them and her attempts at stable orbits, when the wagonsdder creaked. Her eyes snapped to the front corner of the their vehicle, in time to see a man pull himself into view.


    He came up thedder with quick, powerful motions, stopping to bow towards the two Mages, a half-eye kept on Terry, while the terror bird regarded him in turn.


    Mistresses. I request a ride out of the city.


    Mistress Odera seemed to be examining him. Who might you be, and why do you request a ride?


    T did her own inspection. His gate made his humanity beyond question. His keystonebeled him a Mage, and his <em>realness</em> gave him a mid to high Archon feel, though his aura was tightly controlled. <em>As is proper.</em>


    Her own aura was extending a perfect foot from her in every direction, mirroring her form as precisely as she could as a starting point for her chosen exercises.


    The Archon was dressed simply, more like a forester or a hunter than a Mage, but his short sleeves left heavily inscribed forearms exposed, making his Magic clear at a nce. In addition, he had a coiled line at his belt. It didnt look like cloth or leather. If she had to guess, T would have said it was some sort of empowered metal, and it seemed to be linked to him.


    <em>A soul bound weapon of some kind?</em> That supported him being an Archon at least.


    He nodded to them both. I am Zakrias.


    Master Zakrias, I am Odera, and this is Mistress T.


    He bowed again to each. Mistress Odera, Mistress T, a pleasure to make your acquaintance.


    <em>Polite for someone who just jacked a ride.</em> T quirked a smile. So, Master Zakrias, to what do we owe the pleasure?


    Im heading to the west to hunt and harvest, and I will be on my own two feet for the foreseeable future, so I thought letting a wagon work for me for a couple of hours would be a boon.


    Mistress Odera nodded at that. I can understand that. Please, join us.


    T tilted her head in interest as Zakrias sat. He chose a spot near them, not too close, and well away from Terry. She pointed to the avian. Hes Terry.


    Familiar?


    No, friend.


    Zakrias gave her an interested nce but didnt inquire further.


    So, are you with the Harvesters Guild? T did her best to not lean forward. <em>Ive not met a harvester before.</em>


    I am, yes.


    <em>Very nice! Better to get his thoughts than whatever guild official would be working the reception if I inquired there. </em>Whats that like?


    Well, its dangerous but enjoyable work. He stretched up, then leaned back on his hands, nted behind himself. I have to know myself and my abilities to the utmost, and I still dance with death every single time I go out.


    He was clearly a bit self-satisfied, but he likely had a right to be. To Ts eyes, he had the look of one whose appearance was influenced by magic, meaning he looked far too young for how well he carried himself. So, you meet fascinating new life-forms and then kill them?


    Zakrias smiled a bit quizzically. That about sums it up, yeah. Though, I try to know my opponents before I kill any. There is a delicate bnce to be had, and over harvesting can rust up a whole region. His expression darkened. Some idiot wiped out a good portion of the apex predators to the south of the city, and its been chaos in that region for weeks.


    T swallowed involuntarily.


    <em>Dont look away, dont let him know it might have been you.</em>


    She cleared her throat. <em>Dont panic; it could have been someone else.</em> What happened?


    He shrugged, irritation clear on his features. They somehow lured in so many creatures that I found what amounted to a small pond of blood.


    <em>Well, thats an exaggeration. Ornot me?</em> Thatsgruesome.


    Tell me about it. I found it because a bunch of Leshkin were swarming the area, and I had a bounty on their arms.


    She swallowed. <em>Did theye for me, or the blood?</em> She had her iron salve back in ce, but she still was <em>not</em> looking forward to going back into the forests for an extended period. Then, she processed what hed been saying. Waitarm? Do you mean weapons or arms? She waved one arm to demonstrate her meaning.


    Oh! Weaponry, sorry for the confusion. He grinned. Anyway, whoever had caused the blood bath had royally ticked the Leshkin off too. I came upon them as they were beginning to sweep the surrounding woods. He shook his head. As I said, all sorts of things can be thrown out of whack when you dont know what youre doing.


    T nced to Terry and found him regarding her with what could only be a mischievous glint in his eye. T red back, then tossed a bit of jerky over the side of the wagon.


    The avian flickered after it, then to Ts shoulder.


    The Archon frowned at her. Thats an odd thing to train your friend. If I throw a treat away,e to me?


    Mistress Odera chuckled. Oh, he went for the treat. Coming to her was his own decision.


    Zakrias cocked his head for a moment, then his eyes widened. Oh, youre an old one, arent you?


    Terry trilled, then resolutely tucked his head down to return to seeming sleep.


    T cleared her throat, desperate to change the subject away from what was most likely the aftermath of her escapade. <em>You dont know that.</em> But she did. So, whats that on your belt? A weapon, right?


    He nced down. Ah, yeah! This is a beauty. He pulled the coil from his belt.


    Its not a whipright?


    No, but thats in the right direction. At its basic level, its just a cord, but the center is a tightly braided strand of muscle fibers. It lets me use it almost like an appendage.


    She blinked at him. What for?


    Well, Im an Immaterial Guide. I focus, generally, on kic energy, and my inscriptions excel at manipting, and increasing, it in anything I can touch.


    T found herself nodding. And that counts. She indicated the empowered cord.


    And this counts. He grinned. Nearly unbreakable and can be healed back together with rtive ease if it ever truly is ovee.


    <em>A bit like me, I suppose.</em> This was going to be an interesting couple of hours.

 Chapter 143: A Hunter

    Chapter 143: A Hunter


    T looked around at the surroundingnds on this, western side of Makinaven. Shed not been out this gate, so it was all new. Even so, it was pretty much the same as out the other gates: farnd, orchards, and more odious industries, such as tanning.


    As the caravan continued away from Makinaven, crossing through those fertilends, Zakrias turned the conversation to her. Sowhat can you do?


    T hesitated for a moment, then shrugged. <em>He was fairly open. Theres probably no harm in responding in kind.</em> Im mostly aimed at being magically reinforced and self-healing.


    His eyes twinkled with barely contained mirth. So, you just take beatings?


    She gave him a half-re. Hardly. Offensively, I manipte gravity.


    He seemed a bit disappointed, his expression clearly falling. Oh, an area of affect, support fighter then.


    Hardly. T grinned at the Archon.


    He perked up at that. Oh?


    I work on individual targets, manipting their gravity as it rtes to specific other things.


    He frowned. Thats not how He shook his head andughed. Never mind. Who am I to say how your magic should work? After a moments consideration, he regarded her critically. How are you at opposed casting?


    I honestly havent practiced it really at all. She scrunched her face in irritation at the admission. Ive been meaning to practice, but just havent had the time.


    He grinned. Ill bet you a silver that I can cool your left hand to an ufortable degree faster than you can force me to drop mine. He extended his left hand at his shoulder height.


    <em>Cool? Ahh, hes able to manipte kic energy on a level to affect the heat-energy of something. </em>That would require <em>incredibly</em> fine control.


    <em>I wonder if Ranes defenses would counter iing fire by moving out of the way, or by cooling the area before it was affected, to counter the iing heat?</em> Probably worth asking. She hesitated. <em>No, hes a Creator, he cant cool an area that wayright?</em>


    Her eyes flicked back to Zakrias face. <em>Right, talking to someone else.</em> She quickly flicked her thoughts over what hed said. How will we determine ufortable?


    He shrugged. When you say so. If you can keep enduring it, it isnt ufortable enough to count.


    Thats not exactly fair.


    He shrugged again. If you dont want to wager-


    She shook her head, cutting him off. No, not fair to you.


    He hesitated, then barked augh. I like you! Lets make it a gold.


    No, no. A silver is fine. This should be interesting. T touched her left middle finger to her thumb unobtrusively, focusing on the mans hand, getting ready to target it.


    Mistress Odera, would you give us a go signal?


    The older woman shrugged, clearly focused on things other than the conversation between the two Archons. Go.


    Zakrias twitched his right hand, and his soul bound cord flicked out, connecting with the back of her left hand.


    T locked the mental image of his hand in ce and <em>targeted</em> it. The hand began to glow in her sight. <em>Got you.</em>


    <em>Increase.</em> There was incredibly heavy resistance to her enactment, but she gritted her teeth and bore down.


    If her normal workings on inanimate objects were like blowing against a feather to move it across a table, this was like blowing on a lead ball. Not wholly ineffective but frustrating to an incredible degree.


    Zakrias, for his part, was frowning even as T felt a building pressure and heat on the back of her hand.


    <em>Iron salve for the win!</em> She grinned.


    That is a fascinating defense. Its like my power is struggling to catch hold to even <em>start</em> contesting you.


    Give up?


    A smile grew across his features. Hardly.


    The resulting contest of wills was incredibly boring from the outside. For all intents and purposes, they were each simply staring at the others hand.


    Even so, the internal struggle was intense. <em>Why is this so hard? Shouldnt it either seed or fail?</em>


    No, that wasnt right. She had to use her magical weight to impose her will, her working, onto a resisting target. <em>Im not doing that, though.</em>


    Effectively, she was tossing out the spell-working at her target, and simply adding more umph behind that toss in the hopes of making it take effect.


    <em>Yeah, thats not right. I dont want to enact and leave the working to its own devices; I want to make sure it takes hold.</em>


    But how?


    Zakrias face broke into a broad grin. There! The iron salve was still interfering with his working, but hed worn through enough to begin affecting her, and suddenly his will crashed into hers. He grunted, his smile slipping.


    T felt the strain of his will, his magic, his power, fighting for dominance over her hand. She instinctively responded. <em>Mine.</em>


    A ripple ofsomething, mmed into his working, pushing it back to his bound cord.


    <em>Oh! I see. Its a fight for authority over the target.</em> Master Jevin had exined that to her in a way, but she hadnt really understood and integrated it. Now, it was obvious.


    <em>Gravity is mine to manipte as I wish. That hand is my target. It is MINE.</em>


    The feeling before was like throwing her ive. She had great strength but could only impart so much of it as the spell-form moved away from her. Now, it was as if she was properly braced and charging forward, ive in a firm grip.


    Her power, her will, her magic imed his hands gravity as her own. Her spell-working clicked into ce, taking hold and beginning to increase the effective weight of the appendage, if slower than shed have liked. Zakrias own magical weight was still resisting her, even if it couldnt throw of her working entirely.


    Ts focus on his hand, however, had loosened her own defenses, and his working was beginning to affect her as well.


    A minute passed in silent struggle, each able to affect the other but just barely.


    Her gravity increase was working, despite his resistance, but the hand wouldnt drop. <em>How is he still keeping that up? It should feel like having an armored guard hanging from the tips of his fingers.</em>


    He didnt even appear to be flexing, to keep the hand up. <em>Wait. His muscles arent contracted at all. How is his hand staying up?</em>


    On her defensive side, her hand was bing <em>cold.</em> She knew shed already have frostbite, without her enhanced recovery, but she refused to give in.


    After another long minute, in which ice began to form across her hand from moisture pulled from the air, she was beginning to have trouble focusing through the pain. <em>Not all enhanced senses are a boon</em> She should talk to Holly about reducing her pain receptivity.


    Even so, her mage-sight had locked onto <em>something</em> around his hand. The truth finally clicked into ce. Youre stealing the kic energy from your hand.


    <em>It looks like hes sequestering that energy forter use?</em> That was fascinating, if true. It was also the type of information that hed probably never share.


    <em>Worth asking though.</em>


    He grinned triumphantly in reply. I am. His voice came out a bit strained. But I must say you are taking a lot of power to resist.


    It seems more like youre taking the power, storing it forter?


    His eyes widened in surprise, but that was the only reaction he showed. A Mage must keep some secrets.


    T gave a pained snort. Fine, fine. After a moment, she frowned, gritting her teeth against the cold. We really shouldnt be depleting your inscriptions before a hunt.


    He shook his head. This isnt pleasant, but its my most efficient ability. You are forcing me to use a lot more than Id expected, but I can still do this for <em>days.</em> After a moments hesitation. Wait I wont have to do this for daysright?


    She forced out a shortugh. Forever, unless I undo it. She involuntarily jerked, her body rebelling against the ice-crystals now forming within her flesh.


    Oh He swallowed, considering for a brief moment. What do you say we call it a tie?


    <em>Rust that! I dont want to lose.</em> Then, she thought about it.


    <em>Youre being foolish, T. There is literally nothing of consequence on the line. Take the tie.</em>


    T nodded quickly, before she could change her mind again. Yes.


    She immediately reversed her casting. <em>Reduce.</em> The resistance to her working vanished, as Zakrias was no longer opposing her, and she easily imed full authority over the gravity of his hand. Thus, she was able to quickly move his hand back to experiencing normal gravity.


    She likewise allowed him authority over her hand, to reduce the strain on his magics, and Zakrias, for his part, immediately flooded her hand with controlled heat, making way for her to easily repair her damaged flesh.


    <em>That was kind of him.</em> Thank you for that. It wasnt necessary.


    He shrugged and smiled. No need to strain your healing when this takes so little from me.


    Ts working finished restoring his hand to normal gravity, and a bit of an awkward lull fell over them.


    Mistress Odera didnt care, she was busy doing something.


    Ts mage-sight told her that the Mage was keeping careful tabs on the caravan and their surroundings, despite her closed eyes. <em>Yeah, that tracks.</em>


    If the silence persisted, it was going to be a long remainder of Zakrias trip.


    <em>What to ask, what to askoh!</em> Hey, Ive been wondering.


    Zakrias turned his gaze back to her. Hmm?


    There are an unusually high number of fire aligned creatures in this area.


    Yeah, thats true. Not a question, though. He grinned.


    How has the forest not burned down?


    Well, thats actually an interesting bit of trivia.


    Oh?


    You see, the local Archons somesix? Eight? Something like that. Six or eight cycles ago noticed the increase in fire creatures. Specifically, arge number of them were breathing fire, and in the forest, as you guessed, thats bad.


    She chuckled, and he smiled in turn.


    Thus, they went on a hunt for the fount, which was granting these powers, to put a stop to it, but as they searched, they realized something. He paused for effect.


    T decided to y along. What did they realize?


    His smile widened. They realized that there had never been a forest fire of any great magnitude. Not in living memory, not even since the number of fire creatures had increased.


    After another pause, she asked, So, why not?


    Well, they had no idea. So, they investigated. As it turns out, there is an arcanous creature, a kind of bear, that goes through the forest, devouring any open me.


    Just one?


    Well, supposedly they are only seen individually, so theres never been a confirmation of more than one.


    What does it look like? Id hate to kill it on ident.


    Zakriasughed. Its a massively powerful creature, Mistress. It takes power from every spark and seems incredibly efficient in its means of storing magic. As to how it looks? He shrugged. All that anyones ever seen is smoke, in the form of a bear. Whether it is smokeing off some body underneath, or it truly is made of smoke, Ive not found proof either way.


    She looked at him skeptically. A bear, made of smoke, that eats fire.


    He shrugged. Ive seen one myself.


    What, do they wear silly hats and pants too?


    Nowhy? He looked incredibly confused.


    Well, if youre making up stories, you should go all the way.


    He shook his head. If you dont want to believe me, you dont have to.


    T nced towards Mistress Odera.


    The older woman smiled, even as her eyes remained closed. Hes not telling you lies, Mistress. The beast, or beasts, have been spotted throughout the southern woods, and there has never been a recorded forest fire, in this region. She seemed to hesitate. Well, no, small zes seem to crop up, they are an integral part of the lifecycle of any forest, but there are never anyrge enough to threaten the trees.


    So, fires in the forest, but no forest fires.


    That seems to be the case. The older woman still hadnt opened her eyes, and she kept them closed as she fell back into silence.


    T turned back to Zakrias. My apologies for disbelieving you, Master.


    It is understandable, Mistress. I was skeptical, too, until I encountered one.


    Huh, the more you know, I suppose.


    Zakrias nodded, then finished the saying. The stranger the world reveals itself to be.


    T found herself nodding. Shed definitely found that to be true. What is something that you wish youd known, before you became a Harvester?


    He tilted his head in consideration. Are you thinking of bing a hunter?


    She shrugged. Its good money, and Ive enjoyed harvesting when I could in the past.


    Zakrias grunted. Not the worst reason, I suppose.


    So?


    Hmmm He seemed to consider the question. Well, the first thing is that being a devastating attacker is a liability more than an asset. He chuckled. Sure, it will keep you alive, and you should definitely keep some overwhelming, quick-kill workings in your secret storage, in case things rust through, but in general? He looked back to her. You need clean kills, in the sense that you want your target to die clean: no mess, no destruction of anything you might want to harvest.


    That made sense. Yeah, but thats pretty obvious, right?


    Your gravity attacks. Do you have much harvestable material when you kill with that?


    Well, she thought for a moment, in general, no. No, I dont.


    Exactly. Im sure its a great working: clever, effective, quick, and efficient. But with it, youd be a poor Harvester. Without it, youre missing key tools from your powerset.


    T frowned. What do you use?


    Me? He grinned. I use everything. I impart kic energy into little objects to pierce their vitals. I give motion to the air, creating sounds surrounding my prey that distracts and gives me the advantage. When I can work it, I can begin processing them before they die. If you give two portions of flesh kic energy in opposing directions, and you are precise enough, they shear apart more cleanly than under the finest de.


    She blinked at him, seeing him in a new light.


    Zakrias was a hunter: brutal, efficient, and meticulous. He was old, and that meant hed survived on his own in the Wilds for years, probably decades. He had a calm confidence that spoke of perfect understanding of his own capabilities. He would likely never enter a situation when he wasnt sure of victory, and he would always have a n of retreat if anything diverted from his n.


    He was a hunter.


    A predatory smile briefly stole across his lips. Ahh, there it is. You understand. Being a hunter, a part of the Harvesters, there are only two paths.


    She waited, already sure she knew the gist of what he was going to say.


    You either die quickly, or you learn to think like a predator. That doesnt mean you fight every fight or defeat every foe. It <em>does</em> mean that you know you can defeat every foe you fight, else you dont fight it.


    T considered, her eyes flicking to Terry, still sitting on her shoulder. <em>Like Terry.</em>


    She had a brief curiosity if Terry or Zakrias would win in a fight, but quickly dismissed the idea. <em>Not a productive line of thought.</em>


    Zakrias leaned back once more. But thats why there are so few of us, and why we still make such good money. He grinned, the predatory tint to the expression had faded. What does it take to be a caravan protector?


    T opened her mouth to answer, then hesitated. After a moments thought, she sighed. Mistress Odera would be a better person to answer that question.


    Mistress Oderas eyes snapped open, and the older woman regarded T critically. After a long moment, she huffed, smiled, and nodded to her junior.


    T rolled her eyes. <em>Im still an Archon, old woman.</em> Even so, she smiled.


    Mistress Odera thought for a moment, before nodding. The most important part of being a Mage Protector is that you are defending something, as stands to reason. More specifically, you are defending something fragile, that is very near by. A Mage defending a fortress or city can allow attacks through, they can move to other defensive positions, and they have the in ce defenses supporting them.


    Zakrias nodded, listening to her words.


    A Mage Protector of a caravan does not have a defensive structure to utilize, they cannot retreat to a better position, and those around them cannot take the attacks if they fail. Such a Mage must be able to engage the enemy and hold them back, defeating their assault, rather than simply enduring it.


    He hummed in contemtive thought. Ive heard simr descriptions, before, but never quite in that way. He nodded. I understand that it is much more difficult than manning the defensive towers around a ins city, but Id not considered why.


    T interjected. Theres also that around cities, waning cities excepted, there is much less magic, so the beasts that attack are weaker. Out in the Wilds, as you know well, they are stronger.


    He pointed at her with a smile. Thats the exnation Ive heard before, and the one that Id have expected.


    No less true. She hedged.


    Oh, of course not. It is arguably thergest reason the Wilds are so dangerous.


    Zakrias turned to back to Mistress Odera, and the conversation wandered on, touching quite a few topics, before it wound down.


    By that point, they had left the bowl around Makinaven behind, and Zakrias was seeming ready to depart.


    Thank you, Mistresses, for your hospitality, the conversation, and the ride. He stood, bowing to each of them. Take care, stay safe, and may we meet again in a time of peace.


    Mistress Odera bowed back to him. May that be sooner than we could dare hope.


    With a parting smile in their direction, and no visible flexing of his muscles, Zakriasunched from the wagon, sailing away through the trees.


    T cocked an eyebrow. I thought he said hed be walking.


    Mistress Odera snorted. Hes showing off. Id bet every ounce of gold to my name that hell be walking as soon as hes sure hes outside our range of detection.


    T grunted. Probably true. Even so, though, she was incredibly intrigued. <em>He can fly.</em> That was something that she would be dearly interested in figuring out for herself.

 Chapter 144: Archon Star Separation

    Chapter 144: Archon Star Separation


    T spent the remainder of the day working on her bloodstar orbits. She had a breakthrough when she realized that, like shed learned with Flow, she could have the bloodstars pull themselves towards her, instead of the other way around.


    It was still a drain on her soul, meaning that she couldnt do other soul exercises to the extent that she normally could, but it didnt take any active thought, and the strain was small enough that she thought she could probably do it nearly constantly.


    Now, enforcing a mirroring of her magical resistance and inertia onto the bloodstars was still a great strain, so she focused on that aspect. There was the additional issue that when she was mirroring her inertia, the difficulty of maintaining the orbit increased exponentially, but that was to be expected.


    By the time they stopped to camp for the night, the two drops of blood were spinning around her in tight, osciting circles, almost exactly as they had under the influence of Master Jevins spell-form.


    The forest seemed to be more favorably disposed to them on this outward journey, as they didnt have to navigate around nearly as many blockages of any kind, and they had yet to see a single Leshkin.


    However, there had been a few arcanous encounters that the Guards had dispersed with ease.


    Nothing had required Ranes intervention, let alone hers or Mistress Oderas.


    Almost as if summoned by that thought, T felt the approach of somethingrge and obviously magical.


    She turned, looking through the surrounding forest.


    Arge, jaguar-like creature that was armored with chitin, rather than having fur, was charging their way. Its motions were more like a bull than the great cat it closely resembled. It clearly weighed an immense amount.


    In truth,rge didnt begin to urately describe the size. It was easily as massive as two of the caravans oxen,bined.


    Rane had noticed as well, and he, nked by two guards, ran to intercept the iing threat.


    T considered adding a gravity maniption to the creature to assist, but she decided that was unnecessary. <em>Ranes got this.</em>


    A screeching, hissing roar of challenge echoed off the trees as the cats head dropped lower, its pace increasing as it sprinted all out across thest hundred yards.


    In the veryst stretch, it leapt, seeming to be attempting to drop on Rane like a rockslide.


    Force split the creature from its snout to its back right hip in a single blow.


    T had barely tracked Ranes movements, as he stepped with the strike, spinning under the attack to stand beside the beast as it sshed to the ground, blood, guts, and viscera falling through the new divide in its body.


    His strike, diverting to the right, had ensured that the body didnt impact either of the guards who hade forward to back him up.


    T pulled out Ingrits list and found what shed remembered: The chitin was prized for certain types of armor. The guards said something to Rane, and heughed, pping the closest on one shoulder. He gestured, and T was able to interpret what was being said. Rane had given the carcass to the two guards.


    She sighed, watching the guards drag the corpse back to be properly stored, even as the drivers were unhooking the oxen.<em> Those are on Ingrits list. So, theyll be valuable.</em> Still, she knew that Rane had done the right and generous thing. Those guards could have left him to it, but theyd put themselves in danger, to be ready if he needed them.


    T dismissed her mild disappointment. It wasnt like she had a right to the harvest. <em>Zakrias is right, my main magical attacks arent exactly conducive to harvesting.</em> And Mistress Odera was right to keep her back from the fray.


    <em>I want to fight</em> But she was unarguably the most critical individual in the caravan. Without her, their dimensional storage would cease to function, and the caravan would be lost.


    <em>Im just d I get to fight at all.</em> She was colossally torn. On one side, being a dimensional Mage for the caravan was the cushiest job she could hope for. If she wanted, she could sit in her room all day, training. Shed make good money, and have her needs seen to, but that would be so boring.


    Not to mention that shed have to sit on the side and let others defend her.<em> And withoutbat, Id stagnate.</em>


    Being a Mage protector as well mitigated much of that. The second position earned her higher pay and let her engage threats. <em> I just still have to be wise in what engagements I participate in.</em>


    In truth, she <em>should</em> be following wisdoms path, regardless of what position she held, but she <em>wanted</em> to dive in and fight every battle.


    <em>As a Harvester, that would put me on the path to an early grave. </em>She wasnt a Harvester and might never be, but the sentiment was still true enough.


    T nodded. <em>This is good for me. I should be learning discretion, and this forces that.</em>


    <em>One thing at a time, T. </em>Well, she was fusing in the background through her every waking moment, so that was a given. <em>Two things at a time, T.</em> She cracked a smile at the thought.


    The bloodstars held the potential for so much utility that she needed to put them first, since fusing was a given. <em>Get the orbits stable, and second-nature, while mirroring my magical resistance and inertia.</em> That was the first step.


    It was still exhausting to mirror those aspects, but even with her work through the day, added to what shed been doing thest few days, had caused great improvement.


    She was getting some interesting looks on asion from the guards, but not every one of them noticed. The bloodstars were still just single drops of blood after all. If they werent moving, it would be very possible that they would be all but invisible.


    While she was strengthening her soul towards the task of constant aspect mirroring, she needed to figure out how to split one of her Archon stars. <em>If its even possible.</em>


    But that was a task for tomorrow. Now? Now was time for dinner.


    * * *


    As it turned out, Amnin was head chef for the return trip as well, and she really came through. Over the next three days, T ate like a city lords entire family, and she had no expectation that that would reduce as the trip continued.


    Apparently, all the support staff had been asked to dy their departure for this oh so important cargo-load. Theyd wanted no chance of having the caravan short-staffed, so all the workers, guards, and drivers were the same as those who hade with them from Bandfast. The only exceptions were new additions to fill the slots of those who had died on the trip out.


    Not for the first time, T considered only eating while on assignment. That way shed never have to pay for her own food. She could, in theory, survive on her reserves while between journeys, but that would mean that she would be starting each voyage with her reserves depleted.


    <em>Too dangerous.</em> Even with Ending Berry power flowing through her, and iron salve on her skin, it was her finally nearly entirely full reserves that really gave her a sense of security.


    That, and shed have to be hungry for days at a time. <em>Not a good choice in any respect.</em>


    They werent heading straight north, and not just because the forest made straight-line travel functionally impossible. No, apparently some Archon had an area of research set up to the northwest of Makinaven, and a part of their journey to Bandfast was a supply drop to the reclusive woman.


    As they traveled, T had spent her time working on her ability to hold aspect mirroring, as well as attempting to figure out how to split abined Archon star.


    The results of herbor were two magically and inertially mirrored bloodstars moving in quick orbits up and down around her as she stared at a third Archon star.


    This third one was abination of two others, which had each been as weak as she could get the spell-form to stabilize.


    It wouldnt separate.


    Her maniption of magic couldnt guide the two apart.


    It wouldnt obey a will-infusedmand to separate.


    Massive gravitational pull in opposing directions on each half hadnt split it.


    It wouldnt be pulled apart by her aura, wrapping around two parts of the spell-form and pulling.


    Flow couldnt cut it in half.


    It simply wouldnt split.


    Today, as lunch wasid before her on a massive tray, T decided to dive into the spell-form to see what was actually causing the binding. <em>If I cant find any distinction between the drops within the star, then I might have to approach this entirely differently.</em>


    Thank you. She smiled at the assistant cook who had brought the food to her on top of the moving wagon, even as he climbed out of sight.


    You are most wee, Mistress! He called back up thedder.


    She began to absentmindedly eat the roasted sausages, sd, and bowl of sliced fruit.


    She directed her mage-sight to dive into the Archon star within the blood hovering before her, locked in ce by her aura.


    Just as shed expected the spell-form was a self-contained, infinitely looping knot that resembled a monkeys fist knot, if the loops interwove and braided together at irregr intervals.


    The power was evenly distributed, flowing round and round, while going nowhere.


    <em>Exactly as it should.</em> She grimaced but continued to probe.


    After a little longer, she still hadnt discovered anything of consequence. <em>I have nothing topare it to.</em>


    She pulled back her mage-sight and called one of her bloodstars to her, immediately diving in with her sight.


    This one, shed made stronger at the time of its creation before leaving it to self-sustain.


    <em>A powerful cord of power, looping in the exact same pattern.</em> T blinked, then leaned closer. <em>One cord.</em>


    She pulled over the newest,bined star.


    Sure enough, her memory was correct. <em>Two cords.</em>


    The knot was built as if someone had made it with two cords at once, weaving them through the pattern identically, side by side.


    One for each star,bined now. That had to mean something. Its not one cord; its two. She wished shed tested this with Master Jevin around, or at least his soul-scanning, empowered tes.


    With incredible delicacy, she tried to grab onto one of the two strands with her aura.


    She didnt have the nimbleness with her aura to aplish the feat.


    <em>Alright then.</em> She pulled out Soul Work and flipped through, searching for one of the exercises that shed read over but put aside for the time being.


    <em>There you are: Aura Scripting.</em> Shed initially been incredibly excited because shed thought it was a way to create spell-forms using her aura as either the medium or spell-lines.


    It wasnt. <em>That has to be exined elsewhere</em>


    It was a series of exercises meant to build up her aura control to the point that she could form scripted words with her aura. Others with mage-sight would be able to read it, if their mage-sight was active, so it had <em>some</em> base utility, but in general, it was just a series of dexterity drills.


    <em>Perfect.</em>


    It was time to expand her exercise routine.


    * * *


    Mistress T? Mistress Odera ced her hand on Ts shoulder.


    <em>Rust. Rust. RUST!!!</em>


    Are you alright?


    T let out a disgruntled sigh, opening her eyes to re at the surrounding forest, slowly rolling by. <em>Two days. Ive WASTED two days.</em> No. Im ticked.


    The corner of Mistress Oderas mouth lifted. I gathered.


    T frowned. What? How? She was being very emotionally contained, and hadnt done anything in anger, keeping her features calm and cid.


    Mistress, your aura is violently shing Rust over and over again.


    T blinked at the woman, then felt herself coloring. Oh Once shed managed to form letters, then words with her aura, shed taken to forming her aura into as many words as she could, striving for fine control over it. Rather thaning up with random words, shed begun simply writing out her thoughts. Wait If you can read that


    Yes, Mistress. You might want to find another way to practice.


    Ts color deepened. You could have told me days ago. Her voice was quiet.


    Mistress Odera seemed a little taken aback. You really didnt know? She patted her shoulder. I thought you were being intentional about it. Ive gathered such great insight into how you think, and Id thought that was your intention, even if you were being circumspect about it. Why else would you always refer to me as Mistress Odera in your thoughts, while almost every other Mage you think ofcks the moniker.


    T frowned. What now?


    You think of me as Mistress Odera, while Master Rane or Master Grediv are just Rane and Grediv in your thinking.


    She blinked at that. IhuhI guess I hadnt noticed that. T frowned. I wonder why.


    Im no mental Mage, dear. There are precious few human ones, but if you find one, ask them. She cleared her throat. But this is all beside the point. Whats wrong?


    Ive been refining my aura control for dexterity, in an attempt to She nced to herbined star. Do something Im not sure is possible.


    Mistress T. Mistress Odera gave her a level look. Your aura is writing out: Archon star separation. Being vague wont work if you continuethat. She waved her hand, indicating the words that were continuing to flicker. And I am not being nosey. Im monitoring the entire caravan with my mage-sight. Your aura-writing is like a beacon right beside my head. I couldnt ignore it without retracting my mage-sight entirely.


    T grimaced. Purposely pulling her aura back to her skin. As shed done more and more aura and soul exercises, theyd be second nature with increasing ease.


    So, dear child. What happened?


    T decided not to deflect again, despite the clearly offered option to do so, with thatst inquiry. <em>Child indeed.</em> My aura cant grab onto the distinct threads within my Archon star.


    Oh? Why do you think that is?


    <em> Because it wants to rusting stay useless g.</em> T growled internally.


    Is the cursing really necessary, dear?


    T blinked at her, then noticed that her aura had started to extend and write out her thoughts again. She mped down once more, holding it firmly contained. Sorry about that


    My question?


    She sighed. The power isnt really a thread, its a current. Its like trying to grab a river. Even if you have a big enough tool, the best youll do is grab some water, not pick up the river and redirect its flow. It also doesnt grab the current down river and drag the water back, and to the new path.


    But, in this case, the river is flowing in a circuit, right?


    Thats correct.


    So, why not divert the river directly? The current will loop back around and follow the new path. Right?


    T opened her mouth to answer but stopped. <em>Why not?</em> One moment.


    <em>How should I approach this.</em> She returned her focused mage-sight to the Archon star.


    She picked out the pattern in the flowing magical spell-form, the two rivers of power, streaming side by side.


    <em>I cant just grab the flow, that is useless. I cant even grab the magic and redirect it. Its too stable for magical maniption to be useful. I might be able to strong-arm it, but that would be an effectively useless solution for me.</em>


    Blocking a river would create ake, or just cause the water to flow around the blockage. <em>I need a new path for it.</em>


    She hesitated.


    <em>No, it should flow into the form of an Archon star on its own, once separated. What I need is a redirection.</em>


    It wasnt exactly like a river. The power was flowing ording to its own nature, rather than in physically restricting banks. So, if she shunted the power away, it should reform as she desired.


    <em>Alright, then. Lets do this.</em>


    With her newly trained dexterity, she stabbed her aura into one of the two streams, angling it against the current to create a sloped shunt. More than that, she <em>pulled</em> on her bond with that one stream, while holding the other in ce with a simr pull.


    Power shot up the aura ramp, prevented from flowing as it wanted to, but acting by its nature, nheless.


    Even as it was distorted away from its natural path, the magic was still bent and aspected to form the pattern for an Archon star, thus, it almost immediately began flowing through the loops and twirls of the Archon-star spell-form once more.


    In less than a second, the entirety of that stream had been shunted off to the side, reconnected, and was now floating, self-contained beside the star that it had just been interwoven with.


    Ts aura flexed, pulled in opposite directions on the two drops of blood. They moved apart with ease, leaving them hovering, distinct and perfect before her.


    Mistress Odera and T stared at them together.


    That worked.


    So it would seem.


    T looked to her superior. You didnt know it would work?


    Im not an Archon, dear.


    T grunted.


    Mistress Odera cleared her throat. As someone who isnt an Archon, this might be an ignorant question.


    T turned to regard the woman curiously. Yes?


    Shouldnt they be identical?


    Of course. They are- T looked back to the two drops of blood, and instantly saw what Mistress Odera was talking about, now that she was looking for it.


    The second star was a perfect inversion of the first, from which it had been pulled.


    Oh. That seems bad. She looked to the older Mage. What happens when you invert a spell-form?


    Depends on the form? For some it doesnt matter. For others, it reverses the effect generated.


    They regarded the two hovering bloodstars.


    After a long minute, T swallowed and cleared her own throat.


    The question is, then, whats the opposite of a soul-bound.

 Chapter 145: Abstract Guide

    Chapter 145: Abstract Guide


    T, Rane, and Mistress Odera sat around a table, in the fading,te afternoon light of the forest campsite.


    Dinner was done, and the guards were bringing out the light constructs as the Mages continued to study Ts inverted Archon star.


    Rane scratched the side of his head. Every test Ive run seems to indicate that its identical in use.


    Mistress Odera nodded. I have to concur with Master Rane.


    T found herself nodding. Well, the only thing I can still reasonably test is rbining the two stars. She looked to the two other Mages. <em>No way am I trying to form a bond using an inverted star.</em>


    They each took a moment to consider, before nodding.


    So, whats the worst that could happen? She looked to each in turn.


    Rane shrugged. They could negate each other, and your soul could be harmed in the bacsh.


    Ts eyes widened, and Rane hurried to continue.


    But that shouldnt be much, given how weak they are.


    T grimaced. Soul damage is soul damage She looked to Mistress Odera.


    Master Rane is correct, that is likely the worst-case result. She hesitated. But some, even weak, spell-form interactions can be catastrophic. I once knew a dissolution Mage who could create devastating effects with the smallest amount of magic Ive ever seen. She shook his head. He imed that his theories would have allowed him to wipe out an arcane city, if he found the right materials to work with, but he died before ever bringing that horror to reality.


    Thatscertainly terrifying.


    She patted Ts arm. I highly doubt that your blood is that theorized material.


    That was smallfort, but T still chuckled, attempting to break the tension.


    Mistress Odera pointed to the iron vial in Ts hand. Do thebination in there, so in the worst case, it shouldnt blow up the camp."


    T blinked at the older woman. Would the iron vial really help?


    The Mage gave a small smile. The depths and wonders of magic should not be restricted. She shrugged. But we should be fine, yes. There is a whole range of things that <em>could</em> wipe out this camp but would be redirected by iron. The number of things that wouldnt be so deflected is vanishingly small. After another moments thought, she added, Ill put a shield around it as well, just in case.


    T nodded her head reluctantly. <em>Thats not actually thatforting.</em> Still, it was better and wiser to test this here than in a city. She briefly thought about walking a ways into the woods, but anything that would be negated by such a short distance that she could walk it, wouldnt have ever been a threat to begin with. <em>Not with Mistress Oderas shields on hand.</em>


    T moved both miniscule stars into the vial and held it above her head as they came into contact.


    Mistress Odera created a miniscule shield around the vial, hugging tight to Ts wrist, sealing off the space inside.


    After a long moment, it was clear that nothing was going to happen.


    Huh. T lowered the vial and looked inside, Mistress Oderas shield vanishing. The two drops of blood sat side by side, unmerged. Well, that was anticlimactic.


    What? Rane leaned closer, trying to take a look.


    Theyre just resting side by side.


    So, theyre acting as Archon stars are supposed to. Rane held out his hand.


    T grinned. I suppose. She handed over the vial, letting the other two Mages examine the contents.


    Finally, Mistress Odera sighed. Well, this tells us nothing except that they are no longer <em>as</em>patible as your star normally are. She snorted. But that really doesnt say much. After another moments thought. The researcher were resupplying might be a good Archon to ask. Until then? She stood. I need to get some sleep. Master Rane, you have first shift?


    Rane nodded. Sure thing.


    The older Mage bid them goodnight and returned to the cargo-slot for the night.


    Terry lifted his head from the far side of the table where hed been resting.


    You nning on hunting tonight? The avian had been going out most nights, taking advantage of the caravans fixed location to range further than he did during the day.


    He trilled, standing and stretching.


    Well, be safe, alright?


    Terry flickered over and lightly headbutted her cheek.


    Thank you.


    Rane looked between them and smiled. What about you, Mistress T? Up for a bout before sleep?


    She grinned. That, Master Rane, sounds wonderful.


    * * *


    T swept Flow upward, towards the inside of Ranes right knee, even as one of her bloodstars dropped towards his right shoulder.


    Force, which had been about to p into the side of her neck, was jerked away as Ranes inscriptions moved him backwards, out of range of both strikes. Or, it would have, if T didnt push Flow into the form of a ive at thest moment.


    Flow impacted Ranes leg, throwing it outward and eliciting a pained grunt from the big man.


    Even so, Rane didnt slow, using his muscles to spin with the hit and reduce the damage he took. As he did so, his right leg, that had just taken the hit, shot out behind him, counterbncing his torso as he leaned forward, thrusting at her.


    Forces tip cracked into her sternum, throwing her backwards and the bone groaning in protest and only her ending berry power kept it intact. There was a nice little dip in the reserves, too.


    T gasped at the impact as shended, rolling with the momentum toe back to her feet.


    Rane had followed close after her, Force already descending for another devastating blow.


    But T had seen himing and anticipated his tactic.


    A bloodstar imposed itself in the striking line for the big sword, and T mirrored Flows defensive abilities into the star. <em>I really need to have this in ce as standard.</em>


    Force stopped cold on the slightly ttened-out drop.


    Rane grunted again, in surprise this time.


    T grinned. <em>It worked!</em> Shed ensured that her aura was beyond the blocking drop, and pulled <em>hard </em>on the soul-bond even as Force was intercepted. The pull had prevented the drop from being knocked aside or forced down. Sheughed,unching back onto the offensive.


    They strove back and forth for another minute or so, before they called the engagement a draw.


    Ranes leg was beginning to give him difficulty, and Ts head was aching from mirroring Flows defenses into her bloodstars. <em>I really should be doing this alongside my inertia and magical weight.</em> Shed considered it before, but until now, those two aspects had been enough to exhaust her. <em>Time to add in defensive mirroring.</em>


    Rane slumped down on one of the benches still out from dinner, and awaiting breakfast, and drank deeply from his canteen. You are getting much better.


    T sat facing him on another bench and shrugged. Ive got more weapons than you do. I effectively have four hands, and still can hardly take advantage of any holes in your defenses.


    Rane chuckled. Thats a part of it, sure, but you are genuinely getting much better. Your form is better every day. You are well braced to take hits and move smoothly between attack and defense. If I had your skill after three months of practice with just one weapon, Id be proud. Youre working with three distinct forms, plus hand to handbat, and the use of your bloodstars. Youve only been learning this for, what? Two months?


    So, barely better than youd expect.


    He shook his head. You arent a prodigy, no, but your mental and physical enhancements <em>are</em> making this easier for you to both pick up and implement. In a year from now? Youre going to be a terror.


    T gave a small smile. Careful, Terrys the only terror we have forparison.


    Raneughed loudly, then. True enough. But even so, you might just be a match for him in a year or so.


    She fell into contemtion at that. <em>Is it true?</em> Maybe. Only time would tell.


    He frowned, then. Your maniption of your stars.


    What about it?


    How are you doing it through the iron on your skin?


    T cocked her head. What do you mean?


    The iron blocks magic, right?


    Yeah.


    So?


    T shrugged. An aura is, by itself, not really magical. It can be expanded via magic, Mistress Elneas lessons, and Master Jevin, prove that. But the aura, itself? Its basically just an area of rule and authority for one''s soul, and a soul cannot be stopped by iron.


    Rane was nodding by the end of her exnation. I hadnt thought of it that way. He smiled. That does line up with what Soul Work says.


    T grinned. Well, I have been reading that book quite often. Unfortunately, no other book had unlocked, along with Soul Work, but she had continued to read those that came to her, ready to read. <em>I need to at least know where to go for information, if I need it. </em>She grunted, then. Go, catch Mistress Odera before shes asleep and get that leg seen to. Youre on watch, and I want my protector in top form.


    He nodded his thanks as he stood. Even so, he had toment, The day I have to protect you from harm, is a day we will all fear whatsing.


    He took a few slightly hobbling steps away before pausing.


    That came out a lot darker than I intended.


    T nodded. Yeah, that was a bit grim.


    They both grinned.


    Hurry up. I want to get some sleep, too.


    As you say, Mistress. Ill be back, shortly.


    * * *


    T slept fitfully that night.


    Nightmares woke her up a half-dozen times.


    On the plus side, they were varied. She had the usual ones associated with her crushing debt, and her familys abandonment of her, but there were others that left her weeping, until she was able to wake up enough to get past them.


    The first was that her eldest brother, just two years younger than she, herself, was now in the exact situation she, herself was in.


    After she left home, theyd acquired more debt, and eventually sent Xale off to the Academy, saddled with the new debt.


    There, he tried to find her, but she ignored all messages from him or her family, and their paths never crossed.


    That was a silly fear for more reasons than she could count.


    Primarily, it would have taken long enough to build up such debt, that it would have had to be one of her younger siblings, if not the youngest. Also, if Xale had been sent to the Academy, then there was really no way that their paths would <em>never</em> have crossed. <em>Unless he didnt want to see me and actively avoided me</em>


    That was possible, but still unlikely. She shook that concern off.


    Another horror consisted of her returning to confront her family, and them simply not remembering her. Nothing she said or did could convince them that she was once a part of the family. They were polite, but utterly baffled as to who she was, and why she was bothering them.


    That had taken a lot longer to calm down from.


    A third new nightmare was much simpler. It was just that Master Jevin had been evil, and that she was still in Makinaven. He was manipting her senses, making her think that she was free, but in reality she was his prisoner and would be forever.


    She shuddered. It didnt help that the least realistic part of those dreams was that Master Jevin had made a mistake, which allowed her to realize the predicament that she was in.


    <em>Nearly a week without nightmares, and suddenly, theyre back, and they brought reinforcements.</em>


    Cups of chamomile helped, but in the end, she abandoned sleep well before dawn.


    Even after her morning routine, the sky was still dark, the gray light of pre-dawn barely beginning to color the sky.


    Even so, the cooks were in the chuckwagon, working away.


    She just had to charge the cargo-slots to be done with her required activities for the morning. <em>Still probably a bit too early, though.</em>


    Mistress Odera was on second shift for the night, and T waved to her, deciding to head towards the smell of cooking food, first.


    Amnin greeted T warmly as she approached. Good morning, Mistress.


    Good morning, Amnin.


    The chefs eyes flicked to Mistress Odera, sitting on top of the cargo wagon, but quickly returned to T.


    As T considered it, she hadnt been around the woman without others around this whole trip.


    Would you be willing toe inside for a moment?


    T smiled. Id love to. She kept her breathing steady. <em>Im being invited into a cooks wagon!</em> She walked around to the back of the vehicle, where Amnin opened the door and ushered her inside.


    As T stepped in, she suddenly remembered that she needed to charge the cargo-slots, and that she was hungry, not really that interested in whatever was in here. <em>I have so much I need to do. </em>Hey, could I get something to eat? Ive got a lot to do this morning.


    Amnin grinned, holding out an inscribed wooden coin. Here. The wood was nearly the same color as the copper inscribed within it, making the magic nature of the coin hard to discern.


    T nced at it, then sighed, shaking her head. I really have a lot to do-


    Amnin cut across her. Hold this for me, and Ill grab your food.


    T sighed. Fine. She took the coin.


    Amnin looked at her expectantly.


    So, are you going to get my food?


    Amnin frowned, then closed her eyes, putting a hand to her forehead. My apologies, Mistress. I need you to power it.


    I dont know what it does. I have no mental construct. T grimaced. I just want food, Amnin. I can get myself something if youre not willing.


    Amnin held up her hands. I know it will be inefficient, but please? Ill get you an extra chocte puff-pasty.


    T considered. <em>Those are really good.</em> Finally, she sighed and connected a void-channel to the coin. Power pulsed outward from the inscription, and T blinked. <em>What was that?</em> She looked down at the coin. <em>What is this?</em>


    Better?


    T frowned. Whats going on, Amnin?


    Wee to the Guild, Mistress. She was grinning. I was asked to officially induct you to some of our more obvious secrets.


    More obvious?


    Well, those that would be, without interference.


    T looked around, seeingsomething in the air with her mage-sight. You will tell me what is going on. Now. She didnt raise her voice, but Amnin visibly paled.


    Right. Right. Amnin swallowed. Abstract Guide spell-forms.


    Thats Conceptual magic.


    It is.


    T had Flow in her hand, in the form of a sword before she could think. The de pointed at Amnins chest. Exin."


    Amnin raised her hands. Please, put that away. You are in no danger.


    How are you affecting me? <em>Is the magic so pervasive, so powerful, that its getting through my iron salve?</em>


    Were not, at least not as it was described to me, and not as was guessed.


    Well?


    The cook looked down at the sword. Can you put that away? Please?


    T thought back to Brand, how hed tried to knife her at nearly their first meeting. <em>Is this how that will end?</em> She frowned. One moment. She took the wooden token with her and stepped back out, sheathing Flow. Mistress Odera.


    The Mage nced her way unnecessarily. Yes? She didnt shout, but the word carried to T with ease.


    Can you and I chat in a quarter hour or so?


    Certainly.


    T nodded and stepped back inside, sure that the older woman had seen her enter the chuckwagon. <em>Id had said she was seeing me in the chuckwagon, but these scripts probably make her uninterested in what is happening within.</em>


    Was that really necessary?


    If anything happens to me, she wille looking.


    Amnin sighed. She really wont.


    T frowned. Exin.


    I cant without making you jumpy again. She held up her hands as T ced her hand back on Flows hilt. Can I just exin from the beginning, please?


    Be quick about it.


    The interior of the wagon is inscribed to make it uninteresting, not worth examining, and easy to forget. Its a kitchen. Everyones seen a kitchen before. Amplifying that isnt hard. It also tones down the interest added by it being a mobile kitchen. The working isnt sufficient on its own to make those genuinely interested forget about us, like the Wainwrights. She gave a small smile. They make overtures in every inter-Guild meeting for ess to our wagons. The other guilds dont understand the Wainwrights obsession.


    T felt herself smile, but it was without mirth. Because they see nothing interesting about your wagons at all.


    Precisely. Amnin cleared her throat. I say that we arent affecting you, because you never let it drop. Brand conveyed that you never lost interest or stopped talking with him about what we do.


    Ts eyes widened. But other Mages


    Amnin nodded. By Brands report, just as expected, the other Mages in your previous caravan slowly lost interest in the oddity of eating arcanous meat, and never investigated further. If you were to bring it up to them, it wouldnt be new information, simply something that theyd never gotten around to investigating.


    But I didnt lose interest.


    No, you didnt.


    <em>My iron-salve.</em> So, passively the scripts make everything about your Guild seem uninteresting.


    Not the whole Guild, just parts of our facilities and our wagons.


    T waved off the correction. And actively, you push on Mages minds so that even if they do notice something, they wont ever get around to investigating.


    Amnin nodded.


    T sighed, falling into contemtive silence. <em>This doesnt make sense. How is this possible?</em> She didnt know, but she would find out.

 Chapter 146: Drop the Mistress

    Chapter 146: Drop the Mistress


    T looked around the inside of the chuckwagon, taking in the disks of wood, subtly affixed at regr intervals around the part of the chuckwagons interior that she could see. Each radiated power that just barely registered to her incredibly sensitive mage-sight. <em>I suppose that magics meant to help in evading detection would have to be harder to detect, by its very nature.</em>


    She shook her head. <em>Im getting lost in the weeds.</em>


    What was the core issue, here? She nodded. How do you even know Conceptual inscriptions? You arent a Mage youre not even- Shed been about to say that Amnin wasnt inscribed, but as T focused on the woman, she noticed a double ring of inscriptions in each of the cooks armpits. <em>That would be painful to receive.</em> You are inscribed.


    The cook shrugged. Just two simple scripts. One to protect me from the inscriptions I work around, and another to make us magically uninteresting.


    T red. Do you have any idea how valuable that second spell-form would be to humanity?


    It only affects things it entirely contains.


    So, couldnt we use it around every city?


    It is, already. Where do you think we got it?


    T blinked at that. What?


    Have you ever investigated how the cities magical systems function?


    Of course not, Im not a Builder.


    But isnt it interesting, how theyve created such extensive, interlinkedworks?


    Of course, but I can only look into so many things.


    Amnin shrugged again. As you know, Im not a Mage. I can only tell you what I was taught, which wasnt much. The scripts we use are used in almost every Guild, in their most secretive facilities. She chuckled. By what I was taught, the Mages gave us these scripts when we were recognized as an official human guild.


    Then, wouldnt they be on the lookout for them?


    Ive no idea. Ive not interacted with any Mage besides you, discounting a few exchanged words as required for anyone in my position, that is.


    So, where does your education on magice from?


    The Culinary Guild, of course.


    T groaned. So, were training Conceptual Mages, but not actually making them Mages, and keeping them segregated and not taking advantage of them.


    Aminin scoffed. Hardly. I dont want to be a Mage, Mistress. Im a cook. Just because I know what these specific inscriptions do, and can switch out pre-inscribed disks if they wear out, does not mean Im qualified to be a Mage.


    T sat down beside the entrance, cing her head in her hands, the wooden token pressing against her forehead. Im going to need a bit to process this.


    Take all the time you need. That coins for you, after all. She chuckled again. Its not like we have a lot of thoseying around. Keep it powered, and youll be wee in here whenever you wish. If you lose it, or it runs out, I cant rece it. Maybe the Guildhall in Bandfast can.


    T groaned again. Thank you. I just need a minute. She hesitated, a few scents standing out to her as she drew in a deep breath. And bacon, and coffee.


    Amnin patted her shoulder. Bacon, coffee, and a little space,ing right up.


    * * *


    T sat on the cargo wagon roof facing Mistress Odera.


    The older Mage had her eyes closed, seemingly ignoring T as she ate.


    <em>Conceptual magic.</em> She shuddered again. <em>There are conceptual Mages, scattered through humanity.</em> No, that wasnt right. Just because they could activate conceptual inscriptions didnt make them conceptual mages.


    <em>After all, I could get that time inscription, which would let me always know exactly what time it was, but that wouldnt make me a Time Mage.</em> That actually made T feel a lot better.


    <em>So, just some basic conceptual inscriptions. Thats not really news. I knew that there are some human Conceptual Mages out there, somewhere, just not very many. It makes sense that items wouldnt be unheard of.</em>


    And that didnt take into ount artifacts. <em>Would we even recognize a conceptual artifact?</em>


    <em>The average person probably wouldnt, but Archons surely wouldright?</em>


    She thought back to the inside of the chuckwagon. Shed <em>known</em> there was magic involved, and known exactly where to look, and it had been hard for her to see.


    <em>Nope, its very possible that conceptual artifacts are just being missed.</em> Blessedly, artifacts didnt really survive outside of waning cities, unless a Mage was sustaining them, so there shouldnt be unknown conceptual artifacts in any city but Alefast.


    <em>Probably worth looking into.</em>


    Well, its good to see that youve stopped writing out your thoughts, but even so, you are clearly in turmoil.


    Ts gaze snapped back to Mistress Odera, whose eyes were still closed.


    Youre shifting, scratching, sighing, and grunting. Unless you picked up <em>another</em> new project, something is bothering you.


    T sighed, then noticed shed sighed and grunted in irritation. Then, of course, she noticed that and scratched her cheek in frustration.


    Mistress Odera grinned broadly. Proving my point, dear.


    T shook her head. Fine. What do you know of Conceptual inscriptions?


    Abstract or Concrete?


    She thought back to her conversation with Amnin. Abstract.


    Very little.


    T red. Concrete?


    The same.


    Why did you ask me to specify?


    Because I was curious.


    T scoffed but decided not to quibble. So?


    So, there are a handful of items that can be made with Conceptual inscriptions. Some Abstract, some Concrete, and they are a mix of Guide and Creator.


    T nodded, leaning a bit forward, even as she ate more of Amnins offering of cation.


    Some are banned, and actively watched for. The Constructionists <em>can</em> make an item that draws consumer attention, giving merchants or shop owners an advantage, but that isfrowned upon. Another that is banned is one that makes the veracity of your words seem greater, regardless of the evidence. She shook her head. Not a great thing for anyone to have.


    Are any legal?


    Oh, of course! Some are positively silly, reducing how awkward someone appears, or making someone or something seem less interesting.


    Couldnt the second one allow you to get in ces you shouldnt, or do things that you shouldnt?


    The ones I know of cant force away genuine interest. They just tip the scales. They cant make someone ignore a thief they are looking right at, for example. That said, of course it can be abused. So could items of invisibility or capture. In the end, they are tools, and we try to be in the trust but verify vein for things.


    T grunted. <em>That all lines up with what little Amnin could exin.</em>


    Why this interest? Then, Mistress Odera started nodding. Our mysterious arcane visitor.


    T opened her mouth to say No but in truth? That was one reason the chuckwagons inscriptions had been so shocking to her. Thats a part of it, yeah.


    Mistress Odera nodded. I received a message that we have a Paragon monitoring the region closely as we head back for Bandfast. Additionally, the Archon well meet up with,ter today, is a powerhouse in her own right, though shes a bit entric. She grinned. Some think that she loves fungus more than people, or some such nonsense, but the truth is more nuanced. She likes her research and doesnt really care for formality. The older woman shrugged.


    What else can you tell me about her?


    Well, from what I know she followed an older school of thought and made her Archon star in a sphere formed from a giant mushroom stalk.


    A mushroom Archon?


    There have been stranger mediums, Blood Archon.


    T snorted augh. Thats fair, I suppose. She hesitated. Why did you bring her up?


    Well, her section of this forest is much more set, at least for now. Well have almost a straight shot out of the forest once we get to her. That doesnt mean well be out of harms way, but it should be a predictable route, as far as days of travel required.


    T nodded. That will be a wee thing to get back to.


    Regr schedules are a blessing, indeed. There is also the fact that she hasnt abandoned her research in thest thousand years.


    She hesitated. Wait. So, when the forest cities wane?


    She and her assistants stay.


    How does she survive the Leshkin?


    Mistress Odera shrugged. Youll have to ask her yourself, but from what I know, shes one of only about a half-dozen Archons who ignore the migration of humanity.


    Thus, we should be safe near her.


    Well, I doubt shed intervene if an ox steps on you, but we should be rtively protected from arcanes, powerful Magical creatures, and the like.


    T nodded. Thank you.


    I am happy to be of assistance.


    T examined the woman for a long time then, as morning continued on, passengers getting their breakfast and the caravan preparing to depart. <em>There is a lot to her, that I dont understand at all.</em>


    Finally, T began charging the cargo-slots, but addressed the older Mage as she worked. You are quite familiar with Archon stars.


    Mistress Odera stiffened, but otherwise didnt react.


    T let the silence stretch on as shepleted her work. Charging each slot with ease.


    Finally, the Mage opened her eyes and regarded T. That wasnt a question.


    But you still understood what I was asking. T brushed off her hands. Im done with my Dimensional Mage duties.


    Mistress Odera nodded in acknowledgement. I have not attempted to bond a star.


    That much is obvious. Youd be a fount or an Archon. T sighed. But that answers my question. Youve made one.


    The woman scoffed. One? No.


    T raised an eyebrow. Oh?


    Mistress T, Ive made hundreds. Among living Mages, Archon or otherwise, I am likely the one with the greatest understanding of that particr spell-form, regardless of medium.


    Is that why you had so many tests, ready to hand, to examine my inverted star?


    Yes. The Mage frowned. I will admit that that did vex me. Id never considered inverting the spell-form.


    So, how do you have hundreds? How have you not swallowed one?


    Mistress Odera pulled out a viciously sharp snarl of ss, holding it out towards T. Even holding it caused a few smallcerations and punctures on her fingers and palm, spots of blood beginning to form almost immediately. Im vicious.


    Ts eyes went wide. That burr of ss contained an Archon star.


    Nothing requires the medium to be a sphere, and thepulsion is never strong enough to convince me to pop something like this between my lips. I have these little devils made of various materials so I can satisfy the itch to make the star, then I wait for an Archon to notice, ask for it, and I let them destroy the thing.


    T found herself nodding. Master Jevin.


    He was very kind.


    So, that works? Why wouldnt every Mage do that, when they reached this point?


    Other Mages prefer death to bleeding all over the ce. Or they hold out hope that they just might be able to be Bound, so they work their hardest towards making the attempt. I hold no such delusions.


    T sat back. <em>That makes sense.</em> So, how long will this solutionst?


    At least for today.


    With that solemn answer, the two fell back into contemtive silence.


    * * *


    It was just after noon when the forest began to darken.


    While there were clouds in the sky, barely visible through the canopy high above, it wasnt the simple darkness of a cloud stealing across the sun, and it was very much tied to this portion of the forest, itself.


    Where most of the trees that T had seen in this ce grew only a single, high-level canopy, this section seemed to have sprouted many, oveppingyers, giving the forest floor, below, the feel of twilight, even around high noon.


    Everyone was on edge as they moved into the darker section of woods, even though theyd been expecting it. After all, mushrooms prefer dim light.


    As they progressed deeper in, the air became heavy with moisture, small ponds, streams, and creeks crisscrossing the space in what was obviously a meticulously designed water system.


    After an hour of travel, they found the first mushroom.


    Standing about half the height of a man, the mushroom was short and squat, with a top that spread wide and sickly yellow striations throughout.


    They all knew better than to get close. Theyd been briefed on the types to expect, and how to avoid the dangers.


    <em>That one releases spores that dissolve anything they touch. The only saving grace is that they are heavy enough that they fall almost straight down, and only do so if the fungus is disturbed.</em>


    It actually reminded T of ending trees, except that the fungis dissolution was chemical and organic in nature, rather than magical.


    <em>Id probably be fine.</em> No reason to test it, though. There would be nothing to gain, except knowledge of her own capabilities.


    <em>Stop that, T. It would be colossally foolish to test your inscriptions and ending berry power against a nt.</em> Maybe if there was something tangible to gain but only then. <em>Maybe.</em>


    More mushrooms of varying kinds and ever-increasing sizes began to dot thendscape around them, among the trees, as they pressed on.


    Here, there was what could almost be described as a road through the vegetation.


    Hard-packed dirt in two obvious lines marked a clear and easy path for the wagons. There was even the asional, simple bridge over some of therger waterways.


    T frowned as she examined the path. I know this is supposed to be a safer area, but isnt taking the same route each time dangerous?


    It might be if anything could be waiting in ambush. This area isnt reallyrge enough to inconvenience thergest, Magical predators. In area, its smaller than most cities.


    Even with that reassurance, T felt deep difort at following such a path through any portion of the Wilds.


    The forest didnt get any darker as they progressed, and as T examined the canopy above, she could see evidence of pruning in the upper reaches. Clearly, someone had taken a good deal of time to have a narrow range of brightness in this section of the forest.


    Over the next hour, T began to notice great swaths of lichen-like growths, covering sections of the forest floor, seemingly dposing the detritus on the ground. Eventually, it was a unifiedyer, covering everything other than the two dirt tracks that the caravan continued resolutely down.


    Finally, when the light was beginning to fade, they came into a muchrger clearing, centered around a massive stump that was covered with mushrooms the size of houses.


    As their back rider came into the clearing, a voice filled the space.


    As T looked around, she saw that the mushrooms, themselves, were vibrating to create the sound. The result was a deep rumble, with quite a bit of sub-vocal resonance, which vibrated in their chests, even as they heard the spoken words.


    What are you doing in my woods?


    Mistress Odera didnt even open her eyes. We are delivering the goods you requested, before continuing on to Bandfast.


    A small woman appeared beside T, her voice soft and smooth. Oh, why didnt you say so.


    Mistress Odera opened her eyes then, and bowed to the woman. Mistress Noelle, I presume?


    Noelle waved her off. Just Noelle.


    Mistress Odera hesitated. But Mistress-


    Noelle cut across the older woman. Drop the Mistress, or I will end you. She gave a tight smile.


    T almostughed, but she couldnt see even a hint of mirth on the womans face, despite the smile.


    Mistress Odera regarded the Archon for a long moment then nodded. I am Odera, and this is Mistress T. Master Rane is the other Mage Protector for this caravan.


    Noelle grinned widely. T, Odera, Rane! She shouted thest, and Rane turned to regard the top of the wagon. Pleased to meet you. Her voice carried to Rane, once again out in front of the lead wagon, and he gave a marginally confused partial bow in her direction.


    T cocked her head. So, Noelle She stopped there. It felt weird to address an Archon without their moniker. <em>Im really settling-in to Mage social norms.</em>


    Yes, T? Noelles lips were pulled up into a small smile. She seemed to enjoy theck of formality.


    I assume that you are the primary Archon of these fungi-filled woods?


    But of course. She gestured to herself. Cant you tell?


    T looked at the woman more closely, then. Noelle was short, shorter even than T, herself. She had bob-cut, dark blonde hair that seemed perfectly clean and styled, despite the mugginess in the air. Even though her aura was held in tight, Noelle seemed to be letting just a bit out, for Ts inspection.


    T frowned. Fused? How are you only fused? The inscriptions that she could see pointed to the woman being a Material Guide, focused on something close to nt life. <em>Fungi, most likely.</em> It was a guess, though likely a correct one.


    Noelle leaned in close. The questions you shook be asking are: <em>How </em>I only look Fused, and why I want you to make that assumption. She smiled mischievously. Now, how are you magically inert, even while clearly affected by innumerable active inscriptions? After a moment, Noelle winked. Well, except your eyes. How did you manage that color? Not a ruby Archon, are you? They are oh so boring. She sighed, shaking her head as she turned to Mistress Odera, and held out her hand. Give it over.


    Mistress Odera seemed to rx as she tossed her barbed, ss, Archon star to the smaller woman. Thank you.


    Noelles hand twitched, and a puff of glowing powder surrounded the ss, even as it flew through the air. The powder seemed to draw out the power from the spell-form within the ss before dissolving the ss, itself. Happy to assist, Forbidden.


    Mistress Odera bowed her head.


    Noelleughed, suddenly standing in front of the older Mage, grabbing Mistress Oderas chin and lifting her head. None of that. Come, you all are tired, and I want my stuff. She hesitated, then nced to T. And you have <em>so</em> many questions to answer. She walked over to link arms with T. Lets go.


    She moved with T, and T didnt resist, even as the little woman walked them off the edge of the wagons roof.


    A mushroom sprang up under their feet and another as they progressed, each lower than thest, until they stood on the ground.


    Noelle looked back towards the wagons. You! Giant!


    Rane was, obviously, already staring at the two women, and he seemed utterly baffled by what was happening.


    Rane!


    He startled, then walked their way.


    Good boy. Weve a lot to discuss, including why your souls seem to be halfway in sync with each other. Ive been trying to synchronize mushroom souls for <em>years.</em>


    T gave her a puzzled look. Mushroomsouls? She decided to ignore the other bit.


    Noelle shrugged. Souls, spirits, magical underpinnings that allow for the defying of naturalw. Take your pick.


    T opened her mouth to try to form a response, but Noelle snatched up Ranes arm with her free hand and took off at a brisk walk, towards the fungi-covered stump.


    Come,e. Theyll unload what needs unloading.


    As if at the words, T saw a dozen other Mages exiting the house-sized mushrooms before them. <em>Oh, they actually are houses</em> It was going to be a <em>very</em> odd evening.

 Chapter 147: Hallucinogens

    Chapter 147: Hallucinogens


    T kept up with the diminutive woman leading her and Rane each by an arm.


    Rane, for his part, was quite confused as to what was going on. Mistress Noelle-


    The Archon spun on Rane, briefly releasing Ts arm as she thrust her finger into his face, cutting him off. You get one warning, Rane. I am Noelle. Use your universal moniker on others, but Ill have none of it.


    Rane pulled back, looking cross-eyed at the finger still aimed his way.


    T briefly reflected that the gesture was a lot more threatening from a Mage than a mundane, and it was ufortable, even from one of those.


    He nodded. Yes, Noelle.


    Noelle smiled up at him. Good boy. After patting his shoulder, a couple of times, she turned back, easily catching Ts arm and moving inexorably forward once more.


    To his credit, Rane recovered quickly. Noelle.


    Hmm?


    Where are we going?


    Oh, to my workshop. I need to examine the two of you.


    At that moment, Terry flickered into being on Ts shoulder.


    Noelle stopped dead, looking at the avian, then to T. Oh, you two are very interesting. You should- she cut herself off, shaking her head, No. That would be foolish. She met Ts gaze. Get stronger, bond the bird, thene back. She pointed back and forth between T and Terry. I will be fascinated to see how that settles out.


    Then, thetest distraction dealt with, Noelle snatched up T and Ranes arms once again, leading them onward.


    T cleared her throat, then. So, were going to your workshop to test us for soul-syncing.


    Thats one name for it.


    T sighed. What would you call it?


    Soul-syncing. Noelles tone was perfectly level.


    T huffed a shortugh. Fine.


    Strangely, she was finding herself rxing, just a bit. She realized that a part of it seemed to be rted to the change to her surroundings. Even in Makinaven, trees and wood had dominated her environment. <em>Apparently, mushrooms are better.</em> Well, they were different at least.


    T returned her focus to the matter at hand. Naming aside, what is it?


    They were to the base of the stump, and T was able to see wide stairs carved into the dead tree, up which Noelle led them both as she answered. People and things that are around each other for enough time start to fall into sync. A rock resting on the forest floor will leave an impression. It will change the mini-biome of the area, affecting what can live there, and how well it will prosper. Given enough time, the rock will be almost indistinguishable from the surrounding forest floor.


    Rane was frowning. So, that sounds like a passive process.


    In that sense, it is. Noelle let out an exaggerated sigh. Things that are truly in sync can act as a single magical unit.


    T cocked her head to the side in thought, even as she took a quick step forward to thread around a variation in the width of the stairs. Like a soul-bound.


    Like that, but without thebination of the spiritual being required.


    T nodded. Hence soul-syncing.


    Precisely. Noelle smiled. Soul-syncing is more like a rock. Is a rock, a rock? Or is it a collection of molecules, fused together? Why should that one rock be a unit, magically speaking, but be separate units, the moment they break apart? Why does a molecr bond impart magical oneness?


    T had honestly not ever considered that portion of magic theory. I mean, I can target a part of something. So, I could target a portion of the rock, without it needing to be broken apart.


    Ahh, but are you targeting a part of the rock, or are you targeting a smaller rock, that happens to be fused with others, as part of therger.


    She didnt really have an answer to that. <em>Thats an interesting question, probably worth considering at some point.</em> T had no idea what the implications were of either answer, but she was sure that it would be fascinating to investigate.


    Noelle turned them inward, facing the side of the stump at a seemingly random ce in their ascent. By that point, they were so used to following her lead that neither of them registered that she was leading them into a solid wall, until they had stepped straight through it.


    T craned around, staring back the way theyde at the perfectly normal looking, open doorway. Why cant I see any magic?


    Because the effect isnt magical.


    T turned back around to frown at Noelle in confusion. What?


    Its an incredibly precisely controlled, regted, and focused hallucinogenic effect.


    Thats not how hallucinogens work.


    Oh? Youre an expert?


    T opened her mouth to argue, then closed it. Finally, she sighed. Magically manipted, but not magical in nature.


    Precisely.


    What could you do with that kind of fine control?


    Noelle tittered slightly. Well, Im actually a two-thousand-pound leopard, but Ive convinced the local Mages that Im one of them and use that to lure my prey back to myir.


    Both Rane and T stopped dead, trying and failing to pull free.


    Even so, Noelle stopped as well with an overdramatic sigh. Rx. Im joking.


    T felt an almost irresistible urge tough but managed to contain it.


    Rane began chuckling, but his eyes showed that it wasnt genuine.


    Noelle looked back and forth, between them. Oh, my apologies.


    Hisughter stopped, and the air was suddenly a lot clearer.


    T blinked, looking around. The effect was simr to being in a smoky kitchen and stepping outside for the first time in hours. <em>I didnt even notice the stuff in the air.</em>


    Ofte, my spores tend to shape themselves in attempts to meet my subconscious desires. Its dead useful much of the time, but theres a reason I dont work in a city. She winked and started forwards again, or at least, she tried.


    T found that she easily resisted the small womans pull, now.


    Noelle grunted. Ahh, right.


    T found herself bristling with irritation. You were manipting us since we were at the wagon, werent you.


    The older Archon sighed. Technically every interaction is a form of maniption, but yes. She thought about it for a moment. Actually, most of it was keeping you socially off bnce. She grinned at the two. Come on. Were almost there.


    T and Rane shared a long look. Terry let out an indifferent, quiet chirp, continuing his fake sleep. Finally, Rane shrugged. T gave a half grin back his way and shook her head in resignation.


    Noelle had walked about ten feet down the corridor before stopping and turning to regard them. So?


    They followed after her, and she led them another dozen yards or so before they came out into arge chamber, open to the air above them.


    <em>This is in the center of the stump. Odd to have the entrance hidden, then open the space itself to the outside for anyone to drop in.</em> The woman likely had other security precautions, regardless.


    As T looked around, she noticed that theyout was very simr to Master Jevins workshop. There was even a couple of dasgannach in ss jars. Youre studying those, too?


    Noelle looked to where T was pointing. Oh, yes. They are utterly fascinating. Every researcher worth their metal has at least one to experiment with. She smiled widely. Besides, those are arguably fungi.


    Rane frowned. Im not an expert on fungi, or whatever that is, but its moving. Arent fungi, by definition, non-motile?


    Noelle grimaced. You sound like Darmin.


    T looked to the woman. Darmin?


    My research assistant.


    Rane looked at the moving mud, then back to the woman. He seemed to decide on ignoring her deflection. SoHow are they fungi?


    I want them to be.


    T huffed augh. Then, she realized what the womans reason was more likely to be. You want to control them.


    Noelle regarded her for a moment. Well, obviously.


    T shrugged. Why not just soul-bond one?


    They are sentient enough that their assent, as well as mine, is required for the bond.


    Rane started nodding. But not sentient enough to choose to bond.


    Precisely. Ive tried making an Archon star of their chosen food, but even if I put the star in, by itself, they refuse to eat it. No matter how long they are kept from other sustenance. Noelle sighed. It doesnt help that they seem to not need to eat.


    They dont need to eat?


    Not really. Ive never had one starve under my care, and Ive left one without food for centuries. Never did take that star She sighed. It didnt shrink or be less motile, either, so it wasnt actually starving or anything.


    T was frowning. Wait, Master Jevin said that they dont have any will to speak of.


    Thats true. If will was water, theyd be a desert.


    Then how are they sentient?


    Oh, T. What makes you think sentience requires a will?


    She blinked in confusion. What? Isnt that the definition of a will? Of sentience?


    Noelle shrugged. Sentience just means that they are capable of making a choice between utterly equal options.


    What?


    But Rane was nodding. The starving donkey.


    Noelle pointed to him. Precisely.


    Starving donkey? T was lost.


    Noelle looked to Rane. You or me.


    He shrugged. Its your workshop.


    She smiled. Fair enough. The postte is that if you ce a donkey between two utterly equal sources of food/water/shelter, etc, then there should be nothing to allow it to choose one over the other.


    Alright.


    So, if there is no reason for it to choose one over the other, will it starve?


    Of course not. It will just pick one.


    How?


    T opened her mouth, then closed it. After a long moment, she shook her head. I dont know.


    Sentience! Sentience my dear is the ability to make a choice that seems to have no reason behind it. The starving donkey is just a hypothetical extreme to illustrate the point.


    T grunted. I suppose. After a moment, she shrugged. So, thats not will?


    Oh, no. Will is the ability to make a decision <em>against</em> reason. It is a step beyond mere sentience. Many humans are perfectly sentient, but never do anything that is too hard, or that is opposed. Theyck will. She shrugged. Or their will is weak, however you wish to state it.


    I think I get it. So, bonding a dasgannach?


    Ill figure something out eventually, but thats not why were here.


    T cleared her throat. Right, soul-syncing. Why, again? I dont think youve said.


    Ahh, yes. Its simple: I want to inscribe and empower every fungi in this region as one.


    Why would that be useful?


    Well, then I could make a small script on, say, that mushroom. She pointed to a rather ne looking specimen growing from one of the tables. And it would affect them all.


    <em>Oh! Wow thatThat would be rusting useful.</em> T started thinking through the various implications. <em>Itd be like aspect mirroring, without needing the conscious effort. </em>It was how her elk-leathers functioned. They were, magically speaking, one item. <em>Shared pool of power.</em>


    I can see youve realized at least some of the advantages.


    T nodded, but Rane was frowning. You said that Mistress T and I are moving towards soul-synchronization?


    I said you were half-synchronized.


    Is there a difference?


    Noelleughed, walking over to a cab and pulling out a set of tools. She then lifted two that had identical handles, but wildly different tops. These are half-identical, right?


    Rane nodded.


    So, are they moving towards being identical?


    Oh, I see.


    Noelle nodded sagely. Good. You see, I assume that you two spend a lot of time near each other, yes?


    They nced at one another and shrugged. T responded. Yeah. Were friends, sparring partners, and were both Mage protectors for this caravan.


    Right, so your bodies and souls have fallen into sync. You arent bing one, but you <em>are</em> bing intuitively aligned. Your heart rates are not identical, but they are sub-rhythms of each other. You breathe either on beat with one another or directly opposed. You fall into step. T, you lengthen your stride, and Rane, you shorten yours.


    T tsked. What does that mean? After a moments hesitation, she frowned. Wait. How could you even know this, even if it were true?


    Noelle looked at them. After around five seconds, she nodded. Confirmed. If youre looking for it, its hard to miss. She hesitated. Well, if you have the perceptual acuity to notice. As to what it means? Well, what you two have is the physical side of things. Ive found it most often in guards, or long-term friends. Some marriages, and many research associates.


    Darmin?


    She waved that off. No, his bio-rhythms became subservient to mine almost immediately. One morphing to match the other isnt true synchronization.


    Rane pointed at himself and T. So, how do you know thats not what happened, here?


    Because of the second part. But the physical side first. Mushrooms cant do that, their rhythms are set by nature, and their environment. I can force such alignment, but that causes the same issue as one suborning the other.


    T groaned. Can you get to the point? I feel like youre spouting nonsense, trying to sound profound.


    Noelleughed again. Youre funny; the mirth left the small womans face. I like you.


    T felt color drain from her face, but she had no idea why. <em>What is wrong with me?</em> She swallowed involuntarily.


    Rane shifted. So?


    Mistress Noelle sighed, ncing between T and Rane. Fine. I dont know what it means, alright. All I know is that certain things can have a sort of resonance between their spirits, which is partially reflected in the physical. Ive seen it in predators and prey; Ive seen it in people whove hated each other for years; Ive seen it in people who just met; and Ive seen it absent in couples after more than a century of marriage.


    He cocked his head in confusion. So, you dont know what it means, or what it affects, but you can detect it?


    Mistress Noelle waved that away. Oh, I know what it <em>can</em> do, and what Im trying to do.


    There was a long pause.


    T took a seat, waiting. <em>Think small thoughts. Dont notice me, here</em>


    Rane, for some reason, didnt sense the frustrationing from the Archon. Well?


    Mistress Noelle grunted and flopped down in another stool. She nced to T, and saw that she, also, was sitting. Noelle smiled happily at her, then turned back to Rane. Youre distinct. Your magical pulse, cadence, rhythm ispatible with the others, but not the same. Your heart rates arent identical, but they are harmonious. She shrugged. Id bet that you are far more effective, magically, against each other than you would be against anyone else.


    Still havent answered my question.


    Havent I? I want to unify life-forms magically, without them having to be linked physically or spiritually. That magical link often <em>manifests</em> spiritually or physically, but it doesnt require it.


    And Mistress T and I are?


    Physically in sync, which implies a soul-synchronization, and hints at the possibility of magical unification.


    T sat up straighter at that. Hang on. What are you nning on doing to us?


    Hmm? Oh, nothing. Just take a bunch of measurements.


    Ts eyes narrowed, as she regarded the woman. She didnt want to antagonize her, but she was definitely not going to be forced into unity of any kind with another person, not even Rane. <em>Nope. I am me.</em>


    Mistress Noelle seemed to sense her hesitation. I swear to you that I will only take readings.


    If only oaths were binding.


    The woman sighed, pulling out a te, manipting it for a moment, then pressing her thumb to indicate a confirmation. She passed the empowered item over.


    Rane walked over to read over Ts shoulder.


    This is a contract stating that you will only take readings.


    Mistress Noelle nodded. And if I do more, you, or your heirs, will be entitled to a ridiculous sum of money, mainly your weight in gold, for any infraction.


    T cleared her throat. Im very heavy.


    It really doesnt matter, T. Im not going to do anything but take measurements.


    T shrugged, feeling at least a little bit better and looking to Rane.


    He shrugged too. She could probably justpel us, if she has as much skill with targeted hallucinogens as I suspect. At the very least, she could render us unconscious, do as she wished, and be done with it. Her asking for our agreement shows something of her character.


    Mistress Noelle straightened a bit. It does, doesnt it.


    T rolled her eyes. Very well.


    The Archon stood, pping her hands in glee. Wonderful! Lets get started, then. I have just a bit of set-up that I need to do to perform the tests. She waved a hand, and one of the cabs opened, showing a selection of random snack foods, and bottles of various liquids. Help yourself.


    T and Rane did just that as they watched the elder Archon work.


    Mistress Noelle retrieved arge array of bronze tes, each inscribed with spell-forms that reminded T of those Master Jevin had.


    She moved around an open space to one side of the workshop, cing them in two mirrored patterns. Once that was done, the Archon pulled out bronze wire and carefully ran it in an intricate pattern between the various tes, wrapping around small, raised pins.


    All in all, it took her nearly half an hour to get all set up.


    There we go. T?


    Yes, Noelle?


    Mistress Noelle smiled at her. You stand there, please. She indicated the center of one of the two formations. Rane?


    He started walking towards the other.


    Good boy. Right in the center, mind you.


    When they were both in position, Mistress Noelle sped her hands. Are we ready?


    The two nodded.


    Alright! Lets begin.

 Chapter 148: An Entirely Different Train of Thought

    Chapter 148: An Entirely Different Train of Thought


    T hoped to the rusting stars that Mistress Noelle was going to get good use out of this data. <em>Anything for this to be worth it</em>


    The Archon had asked them to sit still, stretch, chat randomly, argue about a topic of her choice, and a few other odd things. In the end, she seemed satisfied with her data


    And that does it. Thank you!


    T and Rane both slumped a bit, stepping away from the spell-forms and moving to stools near where theyd been standing.


    It was dark outside, easily seen through the opening in the ceiling above. Despite that, there was still plenty of light to see by.


    As it turned out, the walls were covered in a bioluminescent fungus that produced enough light to allow even a mundane to read with ease.


    Oddly, the luminescence was almost lc in coloration, which gave the workshop a bit of an otherworldly feel, but T didnt find it objectionable.


    Now. Mistress Noelle sat down at the table with them. What can I do for you two? Youll be departing in the morning, and your caravan is safe for the night. So, youll already get a good night''s sleep.


    Dinner?


    Mistress Noelle smiled. Your chuckwagon will have some food for you, when were done here.


    T almost stood up right then, heading towards the exit, but Rane caught her gaze, raising an eyebrow questioningly. <em>Right!</em> So, I have a question about Archon stars.


    Oh? Noelle perked up. What do you want to know? They arent my expertise, per se, but Ill answer if I can.


    What does the inverse of an Archon star do?


    Theinverse.


    Yes.


    You want to know what happens when a custom spell-form, unique to the caster and medium, is inverted perfectly?


    Yes?


    How, under the heavens, would I be able to answer such a specific, theoretical question? She had a yful glint to her eye.


    If T had to guess, shed have said the other woman was hunting for apliment. Instead of ying into her desires, T decided to subvert them. Not theoretical.


    What?


    T held out the iron vial with her inverted star held within. Its not theoretical.


    Noelle took the iron vial and removed the cap. T; thats an Archon star. She looked in again. Ill want to ask you about the mediumter, but lets stay on track.


    T held up a finger. Thats the thing. <em>This</em> is how I make Archon stars. She opened a different iron vial and <em>pulled</em>, causing one of the stars shed been using for orbital practice toe out, hovering before Noelle.


    Noelle shrugged. Theyre both Archon stars, but for different people.


    T opened her mouth to object, but Noelle cut her off.


    I know you made both. Well, you flipped this one, right?


    Thats right.


    It also resonates with your soul. I imagine you can manipte it as you can your originals?


    Yes.


    Good, right. So, first thing. This isnt inverted, its inside out.


    T frowned. What?


    Inverted, the spell-form goes left when it should go right, etc. This is inside out. Its like you grabbed the spell-knot and twisted until it rolled around and came to rest with what used to be inside, out.


    But it looks almost identical to being inverted.


    Ahh, but it isnt.


    How do you know?


    Noelle gave her a bit of an irritated look. Fine. I know, because an inverted Archon star must be made intentionally that way, not manipted after the fact. She shook her head. One, willingly made, willingly taken, binds your gate to your body. Closing your gate and returning you to the natural state of humanity.


    Ts eyes widened, and she opened her mouth to ask the obvious question, but Noelle cut her off, again.


    Yes, your Forbidden friend knows. Ive never heard of a Mage taking that path. It is willingly giving up on human magic. Thats no life. She shook her head. Not to mention that humans without a gate only have a life-span of a half a dozen decades, a few more, if they take good care of themselves. The luckiest might reach a hundred and twenty years of age, even with Magical healing and maintenance.


    <em>Thats a lot shorter than I would have guessed.</em> She frowned. <em>Poor Adrill, and Brandon!</em> T shook her head in frustration. Is there anything that can be done for them?


    Stop them from creating or ingesting an inverted Archon star.


    T hitched at that. <em>Wait </em>How do we not have half our Archons idently creating the inverse form?


    As I said, it has to be intentionally formed. The first Archon star that they make is their regr star, regardless of how they make it. Thats one of the <em>many </em>reasons why there isnt a set spell-form that works for every Mage or Archon, even in a given medium.


    T grunted but didnt know of anything that would counter the womans point. <em>It lines up with what I know, too. </em>What if they were born without a gate?


    Mistress Noelle gave her an odd look. So, thats an entirely different train of thought. Do you not want your answers? She lifted the iron vial slightly.


    T shook her head. Right, right. So, how does an inverted Archon star do that?


    Mistress Noelle gave a half smile. That is also not what we were discussing, but the answer is quick enough. As an Archon star binds the physical body to the gate, an inverted Archon star binds the gate to the body. She hesitated. Well, no. Thats wrong, but close enough for what were discussing. In essence, it pulls the gate back from the next world, and binds your spirit to your gate, returning them to a single whole.


    I dont really understand. She frowned. And isnt that just what it would do if I swallowed it? What if I tried to use an inverted star to bond with something else?


    Mistress Noelle shrugged. Its not exactly clear, especially since its simply not done, so there arent many subjects to study. The Archon gave T a hard look. Do not experiment with such things. My <em>guess</em> would be that it would rip your gate, your soul, from your body and imnt you into what you were trying to bond. That would kill your physical body. Best case, you would be a fount inside of whatever you ced that star within, your mind gone, and your spirit in bliss, either in this world or the next.


    T tried to process that. And the worst?


    I wont pretend to know the worst, but <em>a</em> worse oue would be that your cognizant spirit would be trapped inside the intended bound thing, with your gate closed, and an eternity ahead of you, hoping that your prison will one day be destroyed by the inevitable expansion of our local star.


    T swallowed and cleared her throat. Wellyeah. I wont try that.


    Mistress Noelle snorted. Good.


    So what about my inside-out star?


    Oh, yes. This would create a bond to your soul, just like a regr one, but this would bind to your subconscious mind, primarily, with your conscious mind having to work to get any sort of control, or ability to use the item or link.


    T blinked at the woman a few times. What?


    Mistress Noelle sighed. Right now, anything that youve bound to you is consciously connected to you. You could act on it subconsciously with enough training, but it isnt natural. This would make that the natural point of connection. If you ever wanted to consciously decide how you were going to utilize that link, youd have to train towards that end.


    T frowned. Your spores?


    Mistress Noelle waved that off. Oh, no. Thats something else entirely, but good memory.


    <em>You only said it a couple of hours ago</em>


    Now, this is an odd case, because youd already bound the blood to yourself with a standard star-form, so this inside-out form is simply being housed inside an over-bound vessel.


    Rane interjected then, Wait. Wouldnt a subconscious bond be so much more useful?


    Mistress Noelle gave Rane a long, long look.


    He didnt react.


    Finally, she shook her head. Are you in perfect control of your subconscious?


    Well, of course not.


    She nodded, giving him a moment.


    OhWell, I mean. That He frowned. So, its subject to the whole of your subconscious. But for a normal bond, properly trained, it does what you want subconsciously.


    Precisely.


    You could have just said that. He hunched a bit, glowering her way.


    She shrugged. You got there, eventually. After a moments pause, during which she seemed to be verifying that Rane had no further questions, Noelle turned to T. Now. T.


    T gave her a wary look. Yes?


    Blood? What on Zeme possessed you to use blood as a medium?


    T sighed. She briefly walked Noelle through her process, how shed discovered the spell-form, and how it just seemed right.


    There was a long silence. Wowyoure lucky I wasnt on your elevation examination council.


    T frowned. Why?


    Because Id have killed you on the spot.


    Flow was in Ts hand before she had time to fully process that.


    Mistress Noelle was holding up her hands. Hold, hold, T. Im not going to harm you.


    Rane had Force in hand, but T hadnt seen him draw the weapon. Neither of them set their des aside, but they allowed the woman to continue.


    That story is suspect as <em>rust.</em> If Xeel hadnt already warned me about your potential stalker, Id assume you were a puppet for some arcane. She hesitated. Well, being Bound makes that unlikely, and since youre moving towards Fused, its basically impossible. That said, as a Mage? Id have to assume that your star would trigger your transformation into an abomination that would take out at least a few Archons before we could put you down. She shrugged.


    Thatskind of horrible.


    Mistress Noelle sighed Id have been wrong, but in some cases its better to lose one potential Archon, than multiple that are already of that stage of advancement. Humanity needs all its Archons, and more. She shrugged again. Its harsh, but there it is.


    T and Rane both grimaced.


    But I wasnt there, you advanced just fine, and you are clearly an asset to humanity, not a lurking danger. Mistress Noelle smiled at T, and T felt the implied threat in her bones.


    She swallowed involuntarily again and nodded.


    Good. Now, anything else I can do for the two of you?


    As much as they both wanted food, they didnt want to miss this opportunity. As such, they talked through some of their abilities, and how they were utilizing them. Mistress Noelle, while obviously powerful, wasnt a front-line fighter like either of them, so only had general pointers and critiques to offer.


    She was able to expand on quite a few of the exercises contained within Soul Work, and once T had fully described it, Mistress Noelle was in agreement with Master Jevin about her constetion of protection, should she ever be able to reach that level.


    Mistress Noelle did, however, have oneughably obvious suggestion, which left T a bit dumbstruck as to why she hadnt thought of it earlier: ce the bloodstars within a non-magical item.


    A non-magical item couldnt be bound, so the Archon star wouldnt be used, and having the drops fully, tightly enclosed would mean that her maniption of the bloodstar would move the item it was embedded within.


    T eagerly pulled out two tungsten balls, the gravity of which shed reduced until they were neutrally buoyant, or at least close enough.


    <em>After all, with the inertia Im mirroring into them, the added weight will be pretty negligible.</em>


    Tungsten?


    T nodded to the other womans question.


    Perfect. Let me see Mistress Noelle when digging through her workshop cabs. After a few minutes of searching, she eximed in triumph, and pulled out a strangely shaped, ck and orange mushroom.


    There were inscriptions set into the fungis surface, and looked as if they might be interwoven within it as well.


    T was utterly unfamiliar with the medium, so she didnt have a good guess at what it would do.


    This is a tungsten maniption inscription.


    Rane frowned. Thats oddly specific.


    Mistress Noelle shrugged. I try to have basic maniption items aimed atmon materials. With Makinaven so close, tungsten is moremon than you might think.


    That did make a certain amount of sense.


    With a small pulse of power through the copper inscriptions, Mistress Noelle tapped the first of the tungsten balls. The texture changed, seeming almost like putty, and it began to shift.


    Working together, Mistress Noelle lengthened the ball into a rod an inch across and a foot long. Together, she and T ced two of Ts bloodstars central to the rods circumference, at the dividing points that would demarcate the tungsten stick into thirds.


    Mistress Noelle then tapped the rod, again, and it looked as it had before in texture.


    What did you do?


    Made it more malleable, and more able to have its bonds and structures rearranged.


    How?


    The woman gave T a puzzled look. Do you really want a lesson in material magic, now?


    Ahh, right. No. Thank you.


    Mistress Noelle shrugged and smiled, turning back to face the other ball.


    They then embedded the remaining, non-inside-out bloodstar in a second, neutrally buoyant sphere, leaving that ball in the round shape.


    Neither the stick nor the ball were an ideal application of Mistress Noelles suggestion, but they were ready to hand, easy to implement, and they would allow for the sort of testing that T would need to understand the capabilities and limitations of embedding her bloodstars in non-magic items and take the idea further.


    These current items would, if nothing else, give herrger surfaces to block with.


    <em>Even if Force wont be stopped quite so easily.</em>


    Still, if it worked as she hoped, she could utilize something simr in a thousand different ways.


    She imagined a shield with three stars embedded in a triangr shape. In theory, she could control it perfectly, and have a shield protecting her blind spots, autonomously.


    <em>Well, at least without my hands</em><em>being required.</em>


    Besides, if the idea didnt work, she could always retrieve the dropster.


    Her eyes widened. <em>No! Not a shield, just a triangle of metal that I can then affix to an empowered shield.</em> A thousand new ideas flickered through her mind, and a grin spread across her face.


    Noelle.


    Yes, T?


    You are amazing. Thank you.


    Of course. I am happy to assist.


    * * *


    The whole caravan slept soundly that night, safely beside the mushroom town.


    Amnin hade through for Rane and T, the night before and they hadnt gone to sleep hungry.


    The morning was no different, and T enjoyed a hearty feast after her morning stretches, exercises, and magical drills.


    Mistress Noelle didnt see them off, but her assistant thanked them on her behalf, both for the supplies theyd delivered, and for their time in letting her gather data for her research.


    All in all, it was a fairly uneventful morning.


    As they trundled away, T turned to Mistress Odera. Was the dy just so that we could bring those supplies here?


    Mistress Odera frowned her way. What?


    We dyed our departure for nearly a month, was it just so that we could resupply this ce?


    Oh! Stars no. This was just a side stop on our way back to Bandfast. The shipment will be passed on from there.


    Any idea what it is?


    The older woman shrugged. Not particrly.


    Arent you curious?


    No. If someone tried to tell me, I wouldnt stop them, but Im not particrly interested in what sort of bulk goods needed transportation out of the forest.


    Thats fair. She grinned. Do you have anything specific for me today?


    Mistress Odera cracked an eye, looking at T. What do you n on doing if I say no?


    T pulled out the tungsten ball and rod. I need to practice manipting these.


    The Mage frowned. Show me.


    T shrugged. Sure.


    She extended her aura out a foot from her physical form, then pulled one of the bloodstars in the rod up to a point above her head.


    It acted exactly like T had expected. The rod had no stability at all, acting like a pendulum and top in one. The bloodstar had no axis stability, and if it had, it was a drop of liquid in a small spherical cavity, within the metal.


    T then focused on the other bloodstar and pulled. She jerked the rod into a fixed, horizontal position. The motion caused it to start spinning even faster.


    Even so, it was where shed wanted it to be. With practiced effort, she began to move it around herself.


    It felt awkward to be seated, so T stood, and moved through a staff form.


    From the outside, T would have guessed it looked ridiculous.


    First of all, she kept her hands tight in front of her chest, while she used her aura and soul-pull to manipte the item.


    Second, it was <em>very</em> small as a staff.


    It was the right diameter, but a fifth the length it should be.


    Mistress Odera watched with her physical eyes, as well as her extended mage-sight. In the end, she nodded. I dont think youll want to use that as a primary weapon, but if you train to have that sweep your blind spots and the openings created in your own defense when you wield Flow, it could be incredibly effective. She shrugged then, closing her eyes. But what do I know? Im not a melee fighter. Keep an eye out and intervene if you feel you could lessen an injury, or save a life. Otherwise, youre free to practice as you like.


    Thank you, Mistress.


    T then set about training.


    Apparently the mushroom-filled section of forest ran more north than south, so they were barely leaving the domain of fungi by the end of the day. By that time, she had the tungsten ball, a bloodstar at its heart, orbiting her just as the naked star had.


    The tungsten rod had been much more difficult. She found that with precise tugs on one of the bloodstars, while the other was well controlled, she could spin the rod in defensive twirls that <em>should </em>knock away most weapons and lighter attacks. It wouldnt do much against Force, but that was to be expected.


    This was a proof of concept, more than anything.


    <em>I should ask Rane to spar with me, with a practice weapon.</em> That would let her test out this defense.


    <em>Rane should be avable after dinner.</em>


    The ball, she hadnt found much use for, but she knew that was a temporary thing.


    If nothing else, she could pull it to an outer portion of her aura with a flickering powerful pull, then release the action before the ball reached the point of origin. That caused the tungsten to shoot out away from her. It wasnt fast, not really, especially whenpared to how fast she could throw the ball, but it didnt take her arm.


    Towards that end, she could hold the ball in ce with her aura and a soul-pull and crank its gravitational attraction towards a target up before releasing it.


    It was unideal, because as its pull increased, so did the strain on her soul, but it did work. <em>Ill have to try some variations.</em>


    All in all, as they set up camp for the night, T felt that it had been a very productive day.

 Chapter 149: Another Screech

    Chapter 149: Another Screech


    T spat out a weird collection of dirt, leaves, and other detritus as she vaulted back to her feet. You lied to me!


    Rane grinned as he kept his rtively short training-sword up and on guard between them. How so?


    Youre better with a bastard-sword, than with a greatsword. Why the rust is your main weapon a greatsword?


    Better reach? Even this has better reach, though. He shrugged. Skill doesnte into y as much when fighting beasts, and the greater range is useful. But this? He nodded her way. Fighting one on one, skill factors far more.


    T pulled a stick from her hair, then hesitated, thinking back to his words. Waitwhat is your best weapon?


    He shrugged again. The one I learned first was a simple club, so I am most experienced with that, at least time wise. As to my best weapon, skill wise?


    Yes. T tried not to grit her teeth.


    I think longsword would fit that role. He shrugged. Swords bigger than that, he tapped the bastard-sword, like this one and Force, just take a bit of modification to the movements and tactics. Give me a shield and Im even better. He grinned.


    T took a deep breath and let it out slowly. She was used to losing, but shed been getting better, improving her form and technique. So, youre still not using your best weapon.


    Shed thought she was catching up to Rane.


    Shed been mistaken.


    Rane had taken her apart in less than three exchanges in each bout that theyd had that night. More humiliating, however, was that without Forces magics, a single hit wouldnt take her down. Rane had to weave around her defenses scoring multiple blows before he could gain an opening through which he could trip her up and knock her to the ground.


    You <em>are</em> getting better. His tone was sincere enough that she really didnt have much choice but to believe he was being honest.


    T sighed. Thats kind of you to say, but it feels like a lie.


    He shrugged. Whether or not you believe me, its true. You even used that rod to block a couple of my attacks. His eyes flicked to the tungsten rod, now orbiting T in slow, regr circles. It is disconcerting to have that thing whipping around you.


    T had to grin at that. Shed been able to fend him back quite a few times with the unconventional weapon. Without it, the bouts would likely have ended even more quickly. Though, in truth, her use of that extra tool made his victories all the more impressive.


    I have a suggestion, if I may?


    She nodded.


    I think you should practice two-fold. First, we should work with some of the guardsmen who are interested, to fine-tune the movement of your defensive bloodstars through the weapon forms youre practicing. Then, that cement can be second-nature to you.


    T found herself nodding. Well have to modify them again, when I change to more useful items.


    Rane shrugged. Itll be good exercise, either way.


    Whats the second aspect?


    I think you should defend against me with just the rod. No attacking, just watching for my attacks and blocking them.


    She thought for a long moment, then nodded. Yeah, I think that makes sense. It will pair well into the first aspect.


    That was my thinking. He smiled. Shall we?


    T grinned back. That sounds great. Thank you.


    * * *


    It was the middle of the night, and T was keeping herself awake to be alert on watch for the second half of the night.


    Shed used a few different things to aplish that increasingly difficult task.


    The first, and most obvious, was a copious amount of coffee. Irritatingly, now whenever she drank coffee, she saw that horrified healers face. <em>Ill cut back soon when I dont need to stay awake.</em>


    On top of the coffee, she exercised her soul and her magic, alternating and interspersing that with physical exertion to keep herself from falling asleep just because she wasnt moving enough.


    Of course, she kept her fusing progressing in the background. She couldnt easily tell how much she had left to fuse, but it was less than when shed started. <em>Obviously.</em>


    At the moment, she had expanded her aura in front of herself, covering an almost ten-foot sphere above the wagon-top. Within that sphere, she moved through her soul exercises and used them to manipte Flow and her tungsten rod in a mock duel.


    Flow was in the form of a knife, with the training sheath secured in ce.


    As the two items shed, T was imagining little figures wielding the small weapons in a death battle. Flow was about to defeat Rod once and for all when something tickled her mage-sight.


    Immediately, Flow was in her hand, and her rod was floating behind her, ready to defend. She stood, spinning to face the source of the horribly familiar feeling.


    The empowered lights spaced around the caravans camp cast arge bubble of light, and at the edge of that light, beside arge trunk, stood a small form made of vegetation.


    <em>Ohrust.</em>


    Leshkin! T hissed out the word with enough force that the guardsmen stationed on watch atop the chuckwagon could easily hear her, without it being a shout that would carry into the woods.


    One of the guards looked to her as T pointed, using that to orient towards the threat.


    An instantter, the <em>twang</em> of a crossbow announced their response.


    <em>Only one?</em> She nodded. <em>Right, the lesser only take one.</em>


    As the bolt struck home, the tiny creature threw back its head and let out a skin scraping shriek.


    The inscription on the quarrel activated, and the Leshkin puffed into a disconnected cloud of leaves, which tumbled aimlessly before settling to the ground.


    Silence fell over the clearing as the creatures scream seemed to echo in Ts ears long after the origin of the horrible sound was gone.


    <em>Dont sigh in relief. In the stories, thats always when the answering cryes.</em>


    One of the guards, Carl, if T was seeing and remembering correctly, let out a long breath, and T barely was able to hear his words. That was a close one.


    As if in answer, another screech sounded, off in the forest, then a second a bit further away, then a third farther still.


    T red across the distance to the chuckwagon as one of the other guards red at the offending man. Rust you, Carl. You just had to say something.


    <em>Well, at least I remembered his name correctly.</em>


    Carl hunched his shoulders and grimaced. Sorry. I was just happy the danger seemed to be past.


    Never assume the danger is past, Carlthat kills people.


    Oh, oh, wow, I, uh, I didnt know that He then turned and red. Is what I would say if I was a superstitious moron! They were out there before I said anything.


    The other two guards just shook their heads in mock solemnity. Take responsibility for your actions, Carl.


    T barked augh, grateful for the breaking of tension. It let her refocus and consider the situation. They likely had iing enemies. <em>Prep the caravan for danger.</em> Carl!


    The guard spun her way. Yes, Mistress!


    Go wake the other Mages, and a second unit of the guard.


    Yes, Mistress! He called back.


    T checked the time by looking up at a clear patch of sky overhead, towards the east. After a long moment, she grunted and shook her head. <em>I cant tell anything from that, not at the moment in the least.</em> Wake the drivers and cooks, too. We might need to depart quickly.


    Another set of screeches sounded to the south and east. They were still a ways off, but if T had to bet, shed say they were closer than before.


    She swallowed. And be quick, please. Theres a good chance that we might be fighting, until we get clear of the forest.


    Carl waved in affirmation as he sprinted across their campsite and bolted through the door into the cargo-slot in which the caravan personnel were sleeping.


    T topped off all her items, clipped her sheath to her belt, and called out to her friend. Terry!


    Terry flickered into being beside her, even as she moved to recharge the cargo-slots. <em>Who knows what the morning will bring.</em>


    Leshkin may be iing. Do you want to wait in the cargo-slot?


    Terry regarded her for a long moment, then shook himself.


    That came as quite the surprise to her, and she frowned. Really? Are you going to fight?


    He shook himself again, then flickered to her shoulder and head bumped her cheek.


    She had to grin at him, as she scratched the back of his head. You just want to watch out for me, eh?


    He trilled happily.


    Thank you, Terry. Im d to have you around.


    * * *


    T was in her element.


    Flow moved wlessly through the undisciplined bunches of lesser Leshkin, always in the form most useful at each given moment. Behind her the caravan retreated at its best pace, making for the edge of the forest, to the north.


    Her tungsten instruments foiled enemy lunges with inelegant, choppy motions, but they were effective. Only the metals inherent acid resistance kept the two blunt objects useful as they moved around her while she butchered her opponents.


    She even used her inside-out star, spoiling her opponents steps whenever possible, though it was much less useful in that regard.


    She was not practiced in manipting four bloodstars at a time, so she was bouncing between them as quickly as she could, even while she forced the ending berry power within herself to remain active and at the surface, lessening the injuries she took from ws, teeth, blunt strikes, and acid all. What damage she did take was rapidly healed by her regenerative inscriptions.


    Her elk leathers were holding up eptably, though she was having to top them off a couple of times a minute.


    At the moment, the recharging was little more than an asional, added distraction for her already straining mind.


    Difficult as it was, she was loving it.


    At her back, a half-unit of guards stood withrge shields braced and interlocked against the acid sshes her attacks fostered, sending bolt after bolt in a regr cadence into strategically chosen Leshkin, keeping the pressure off of her as best they could.


    They were a stalwart sector of calm that allowed T to more efficiently focus on the opponentsing at her from every other direction.


    Strangely, the monsters didnt seem interested in getting past T, apparently content to throw themselves against her in irregr waves.


    A dozen yards to her right and just ahead, Rane fought, supported by the other half of the unit of guards.


    The Leshkin would engage with him, but only when he attacked them first. Otherwise, they seemed only intent on getting past him to better surround her.


    <em>So, they are most likely after me. Were they sweeping the forest this whole time? Did we just get lucky until tonight?</em>


    The sky was lightening towards dawn, so she corrected. <em>Lucky tilst night.</em>


    The caravan had packed up, geared up, and began its retreat behind their defensive line.


    There had been brief talk of pulling everyone in close and having Mistress Odera put up a shield against the Leshkin, but it was agreed that that would not end well.


    They had more than a days travel left before they exited the forest, and there were <em>far</em> more Leshkin this time, than the two Juggernauts theyd resisted before.


    The strain would pop their defenses far before they were in the clear.


    So far, most were lessers, but a few warriors and knights were beginning to appear among the weaker foes.


    T and the rest of the caravan were, effectively, executing a fighting retreat, one step at a time.


    A second unit of guards waited a hundred feet back or so, mounted and with spare mounts for all those currently engaged in the active defense. They were also armed with crossbows and shields, though they would have a hard time utilizing the hooks on their belt to re-cock the weapons while on horseback.


    The mounted guards also had the standard spears as well, which they would use if they had to act as a relieving force, but that wasnt their current role.


    One of Ranes guards took an acid ssh to the face and fell back, screaming.


    Three mounted guards swept forward, one dismounting to take the injured mans ce, while the other two helped that burned man up on the recently vacated horse and rode with him back to the caravan for immediate healing.


    <em>Redundancy, and keeping the injured out of the fight.</em> It was a good task for them and kept T and Rane from worrying about the mundanes with them. Mistress Odera could have the man back, ready to fight once more, in a matter of minutes.


    As she continued to fight, she again noted that there wasnt an endless, never-ending tide of Leshkin.


    They came in groups and packs with seemingly randomly varied spacing, which gave T and Rane time to move backwards to keep pace with the retreating wagons.


    And while this was absolutely fantastic practice for virtually every one of her techniques, she had a feeling that it was going to be a <em>very</em> long day.


    * * *


    T was exhausted.


    <em>Cut, duck, kick a Leshkin back.</em>


    Acid rolled across her skin, cutting caustic lines in her elk leathers, even as it repaired itself. T maintained two void-channels to the garments, praying that it would be enough to keep them from being overwhelmed.


    The caravan was still retreating behind their backs, as monsters swarmed up from the south in an unending tide.


    She needed a break, or she was going to make a mistake and be overwhelmed. Thankfully, theyd set up a shortmand phrase for her to indicate such a need. Stepping back!


    Shed heard Rane use it several times already, and it worked just as well for her, as it had for him.


    The guards behind her surged forward, moving around her to nt their shields between her and the next batch of Leshkin, short swords drawn to rece their crossbows as they hacked the Leshkin back.


    Some of the mounted guards came forward to use their spears to reinforce those on the ground.


    T took deep breaths, using the moment to guzzle the rest of the ending berry juice from her sk, followed by water from her incorporator and jerky straight from Kit.


    Terry was perched on the back of the chuckwagon, eyes watching her intently across the distance. Hed not interfered at all throughout the long morning, but there hadnt been a need.


    Now that noon hade and gone, even Ts high endurance was reaching its end.


    Rane had cycled out a few times already, though he was back in the fight at the moment.


    The guard units were switching out every half-hour or so. That let them rest for the majority of the time. Though, that rest included a stint as the mounted backup and another as the crossbowmen on the wagon roofs.


    <em>Its alright for me to take a breather. Ive earned it; I think.</em>


    T had been out of the fight for less than a minute, when the Leshkin swept around the guards, ignoring them almostpletely to rush at her. The horses of the mounted guards shied back, despite theirbat training.


    After all, anything gets a bit skittish when a treees for it.


    T grunted around the jerky. <em>Well, that settles it.</em>


    There was no longer any doubt that they were targeting her. <em>Even after more than a month, they remember me</em>


    There had been countless paths to go around her and those fighting with her, but the Leshkin hadrgely ignored the potential.


    Now that she wasnt on the front line, they were bypassing those who were, making itughably obvious that only their obsession with her was keeping the creatures from catching the caravan.


    T cursed, swallowing and pulling Flow back into her hands in the form of a ive to cut across the necks of those rushing her with animalistic intensity.


    The jerky lodged in her throat.


    Chaos reigned.


    Even as T gagged on the improperly chewed jerky, her attack killed four Leshkin, but also sent a spray of acid at the backs of the guards who had relieved her.


    Their armor protected them to some extent, but the damage was still done.


    T had to briefly bend over, hacking to clear her throat.


    The creatures still facing the guardsmens shields were able to batter through the suddenly agonized defenders, and Ts desperately needed break became a desperate situation of an entirely different kind.


    <em>No.</em> Now able to breathe again, she didnt let herself freeze as the men and women whod been fighting beside her were taken to the ground.


    T lunged forward, epting shing cuts to draw closer, ying as many as she could, while she tried to cover the mere feet between her and the falling guards.


    A Leshkin that she couldnt counter without slowing downtched its wicked fangs into her left shoulder. Its ws sunk into her side and leg as it whipped its head back and forth like a dog with a bone.


    T screamed in rage and pain as she stretched over and drove Flow down, through the top of its head. As she struck, Flow changed from a knife to a sword, allowing for a strike that she couldnt have easily aplished with any other weapon.


    With a twist and forwards sweep, T ripped the Leshkin open sufficiently to end this vessels life.


    The thorns of its being still clung to her, making her inscriptions struggle to push out the invading material and close the wounds.


    But her mind was on the five figures just before her.


    She swept low with her tungsten rod, aiming to knock the Leshkin from atop the bodies on the ground.


    She mainly seeded, though it put a great strain on her soul to do so.


    She was scrapping the bottom of her reserves.


    Putting most of her weight on her uninjured leg, T took up a firm stance before the guards on the ground, her every tricking to bear. Thankfully, both her legs would soon be effectively undamaged.


    As a group of Leshkin knights came into view, rushing her, she dropped all three with <em>Crush</em>. It took two rings each. They were blessedly much weaker than the juggernauts that they could meld into.


    The warriors were too numerous for her to use that limited casting on them, but she still tried messing with their effective gravity.


    She found that reducing their gravity really didnt do much, as they could use the vegetation in their feet to grip the ground and move with very little difference. It didnt even take them that much time to adjust.


    Making them heavier, however, caused stumbling and eventual destruction, but that took nearly thirty seconds to achieve. So, she targeted those the farthest away, trying to bring them down before they could reinforce those she was actively engaging with Flow and tungsten.


    Blessedly, the steady <em>thwack</em> of quarrels into the swarm of Leshkin let her know that she hadnt been abandoned. <em>Not that they could let me go that easily.</em>


    Mistress Oderas voice came to her, then. Retreat, Mistress T. We must risk a shielded retreat. I am preparing now. Master Rane and his guards are already moving this way.


    T nced down and back at the guards still on the ground. They werent moving much, but she could see evidence of life, still, despite the blood and acid liberally speckled around them.<em> You know, some of that is definitely mine</em> No, not without them.


    She felt herself settle in, firm in her resolve. <em>I will not leave them behind.</em>

 Chapter 150: A Long, Long Day

    Chapter 150: A Long, Long Day


    T waspletely surrounded, barely fending off the Leshkin that swarmed around her.


    However, swarmed wasnt exactly urate. They were like a pack of dogs, circling and lunging at her, whenever they thought they perceived an opening. The empty eyes of the lessers, fixed on her with a cold detachment, added a creepiness to the situation, underlying the terror and desperation that T already felt. Shed been able to keep her focus off their eyes for most of the battle, but now, surrounded and almost entirely on her own, she couldnt, not any longer.


    Even saying that she was fending them off was not urate. She wasnt fending them off, not in the individual sense like keeping back a lion with a whip. She was ughtering them by the dozen, creating an ever-rising low barrier of nt matter around her self-assigned charges while she danced around the group, killing the vicious nt-people that just kepting.


    After a heavy, near silence that had extended for what felt like an eternity, Mistress Oderas voice finally replied. Advance into their attack, so that we can get the wounded with less interference. Be ready to retreat when I say.


    <em>Hah, I knew she could hear me.</em> The thought was fleeting across her exhausted mind. Agreed.


    The quarrels buzzing overhead increased in quantity for a short space of time, opening a hole for T to move deeper into the Leshkin tide.


    With another curse, this time for luck, T lunged into that opening and away from the humans on the ground.


    From what little she could see, the Leshkin pursued her, ignoring the guards as they passed over them.


    <em>Alright, now to survive.</em>


    One of the warriors must have seen her nce and intuited something of her priorities, because it disengaged, moving back towards the downed guards.


    Growling, T threw one of the prison darts at its retreating form, and after hearing a satisfying <em>thunk</em>, she dove away, deeper into the Leshkin ranks.


    The Leshkin warrior screeched in confusion as it moved backwards, even as it continued to try to run forward.


    Tughed, her exhaustion continuing to cloud her mind.


    Flow was moving in constant, looping circles by that point. She no longer had a wall of safety, in the form of guards. That had allowed her to focus her efforts and maintain a modicum of control over her surroundings. It had been a great strategy, which shed used for the whole of the day so far. It was no longer an option.


    Now, she was a solitary ind of humanity in the middle of a frenzy of inhuman monsters.


    <em>Breathe.</em> Strike, block, dodge. <em>Focus.</em>


    As she fought, she became one with Flow to an extent that shed never achieved before.


    As a ive, Flow decapitated three lessers with its de, then struck a knight that she hadnt seen approaching before that moment, driving it back with the butt of the staff.


    As a sword, the weaponshed out to either side, taking eyes and driving life from these temporary forms as T advanced on the knight that was still stumbling backwards.


    Right hand raised in a familiar gesture, Flow striking out, gripped in her left hand, T forced <em>Crush</em> totch onto four other knights, driving them to the ground, then squashing them to sappy paste.


    As a knife, Flow drilled into the still stumbling Leshkin knight almost as fast as a sewing machines needle, stitching a path of holes from its groin to its all too human, rage filled face,pletely ignoring the wooden armor along the way.


    That knight burst apart.


    <em>Good to know, sufficient punctures can end them too.</em>


    A circr sweep of her ive gave T a bit more space, enough to see a juggernauting in the distance.


    Flow moved to her left hand as her right hand came up, her arm extended, her palm out. Her first two fingers were pointing towards the sky, the second two bent down. All four fingers and thumb were tucked close together. The target was acquired. <em>Crush.</em>


    The juggernaut was being dispatched, but it had cost her a moments concentration, leaving her defenses imperfect.


    Even as her rod swept aside a pair of Leshkin swords, and her sphere knocked a lesser back with a hit to its sternum, a spear drove through Ts low back


    Flow swept around, severing the offending weapon, even as T dropped to a knee, a cry of pain ringing through the forest and easily heard over the rustle of foliage and periodic Leshkin screeches.


    Terry flickered into being behind her, gripping the spear with his beak and ripping it free to drop to the forest floor before he vanished once more.


    T gasped, spinning to decapitate the monsters who had swung for Terry and been unbnced by his quick disappearance.


    Her flesh was already pulling back together, but the echoes of pain were building. The ending berry power merely mitigated injury in this fight with the Leshkin, when it would have negated it against any other foe. The power was anything but ideal under these circumstances, but it was enough to keep her limbs attached and her life her own, at least for the moment.


    Mistress T, retreat. Weve got them. The Mages voice was clear in her ears, and it caused relief to wash through her. <em>One task left.</em>


    T didnt argue, turning on her heels advancing back the way that she hade.


    The caravan was quite a ways away by that point, but T could make it. <em>I have to make it.</em>


    She cut a path free of the closest press of Leshkin and began sprinting. There were no signs of the fallen guards, so she was reasonably certain that they had, in fact, been retrieved.


    Remembering herst fights with the Leshkin, she took her anchor into her left hand and Flow in sword shape into her right, even as she kept moving.


    True to form, a juggernaut tried to take her from the side, this time erupting as if from the ground to her right.


    T <em>pulled</em> with all her souls might and managed to get her tungsten rod and ball between herself and the two-fisted punch barely in time, mirroring her inertia onto the three bloodstars within.


    They were driven back past her, stealing much of the viciousness from the attack.


    Even so, when the fists hit her, one in the shoulder, one in the hip, the impact made her bones creak.


    The blow had the entire force of the juggernaut behind it; its massive body uncoiling to continually add power behind its fists.


    She dropped her anchor, even as she wasunched up and back.


    She stalled out in the air ten feet from the anchor as it bounced to the forest floor.


    Looking down, she saw the Leshkin warrior that shed darted earlier, stumbling around, clearly disoriented.


    In that moment of rity and understanding, she almostughed. <em>Ive been dragging that fellow around all over the ce.</em>


    As her momentum began to run out, she enacted <em>Crush</em> on the juggernaut still so close to her.


    Two rings had burned away to empower that effect, when she came back to the ground,nding beside the warrior.


    Flow took its head, and T caught the falling dart from among the newly created detritus.


    The juggernaut, for its part, was kneeling over her, struggling to adjust to the increased gravity as another ring burned away from her right hand, mming the creature into the ground.


    As before, the giant wasnt disabledpletely by three rings worth of power, and this one used its remaining mobility to burst into two knights, breaking her lock and freeing it of her spell-working.


    T cursed. <em>Great. Theyre learning.</em>


    Still, she was able to dive between the two new knights, snatching up her anchor and continuing her sprint towards the caravan.


    With every unit of guards active, and T, herself, now finally in clear view, a veritable cloud of bolts whistled around and past her, sinking into the Leshkin behind her as she ran the final stretch to p into the back of the chuckwagon.


    Shes here! A guard on the wagon top called unnecessarily.


    A fully enclosing version of Mistress Oderas signature shield blossomed into being around the caravan, sealing the humans away from their attackers, at least for the moment.


    It was a long moment before T caught her breath sufficiently to push herself up off the chuckwagons rear step, where shed copsed after her desperate sprint.


    <em>I made it.</em> She grinned openly. <em>I did it!</em>


    Shed had help, of course, but no one had had toe rescue her. Shed made good, wise use of her powers, and shed protected others besides.


    <em>The guards.</em> She immediately called up to a guard on the top of the chuckwagon.


    She informed T that the injured were being tended to in the cargo-slot where the caravan personnel were quartered.


    After thanking the woman, T walked quickly to the cargo wagon and pulled herself up onto the step before opening the door and striding inside.


    She found her destination with ease, after a brief search, and T talked in a quiet voice with the servant whod been put in charge of overseeing the injured guards.


    While T had still been fighting the Leshkin, Mistress Odera had been able to see to the worst injuries, and stabilize those who had made it to her. Among them were the guards that T had stood over, defending with her body as much as her de and spell-workings.


    Unfortunately, the guards injuries had been too severe for a quick heal. It had been to the point that even with Mistress Oderas healing, they would be on bedrest until the caravan reached Bandfast. Still, they would all survive.


    <em>All five are alive and will be whole.</em> T smiled triumphantly at that.


    The servant assured her that she would see to it that the needs of the injured were met and that they were kept asfortable as possible for the remainder of the voyage.


    With that reassurance, T thanked the servant and left her to her work.


    <em>I need to see whats happening with the defense.</em>


    As T opened the door and stepped back outside, the strangely reverberatory sound echoed between the wagons and prated the space around her.


    It was immediately stressful, announcing each Leshkin attack. That waspounded by the fact that such attacks happened at least every second or so. <em>I need to see whats going on.</em>


    Rane wasing down thedder as she came out of the cargo-slot, in her way if she was to get to the cargo wagons roof.


    There was concern in his voice as he met her gaze. You look whole. Are you okay?


    T nodded, her triumphant smile now a small, tired thing. I am, thank you. What about you?


    Rane grimaced. I was useless out there. They never wanted to truly engage me. I felt like I was chopping at a river, trying to change its course.


    T snorted augh. You did help, I promise you that. And even with your help, I was dancing the edge, there, for a bit. I dont want to imagine what it would have been like without you.


    That thought reminded her of her spent castings. She nced down at her right hand and grimaced. <em>Twenty-one. I used twenty-one rings to enact Crush.</em> She only had 9 iterations left.


    <em>Im going to be so d to change over to the passive gravity maniption, across the board. </em>She still needed to address the great strain ced on that inscription set by fast enactment, but there was potential there, to say the least.


    Rane pped her one the shoulder. You did fantastic. I imagine youre hungry?


    She nodded. Famished.


    With a sly grin, he nodded. Ill get the cooks to start bringing you food. You tell them when youve had enough, all right?


    She smiled gratefully at that. That sounds wonderful.


    Youll be up top? He indicated the direction hed juste from.


    Thats the n.


    He nodded and left, another smile obvious across his features.


    As Rane dropped off the side of the wagon, down onto the little ground beside the vehicle, inside the bubble, T swung out and climbed up thedder.


    In the center of the roof, Mistress Odera sat cross-legged, sweating despite the cool winter air. Her eyes were closed, but not clenched shut. Her breathing was regr and deep, but even still, her effort was obvious.


    The oblong bubble surrounding the caravan moved with them through the forest at a steady clip, a testament to the womans power and experience.


    The drivers were spurring the oxen on as quickly as the beasts could safely move. <em>We might make it, yet.</em>


    T turned her gaze outward and felt herself pale.


    They were surrounded by juggernauts, moving along with them through the woods.


    As the wagons advanced, the juggernauts in front of them were nudged backwards at a slow walk for their massive frames. Even so, they attacked relentlessly with a myriad of weapons.


    A great club user stood beside a Leshkin wielding sword and shield. Another struck with a greatsword that put Force to shame, if only in its sheer size. A warhammer added its strikes beside a war-pick as well as a long spear. And on and on the variety went: short spear and shield, axe with reverse spike, maul, and others that were too obscured to make out clearly.


    If T was counting correctly, and that was in doubt due to the constant ripples across the shields surface, there were at least ten of the giants, maybe as many as fourteen.


    T cracked her knuckles. Time to do this right. She was still mildly embarrassed that she hadnt dealt with thest two juggernauts on thest leg of their voyage to Makinaven. <em>Ill correct that, now.</em>


    Her thumb and middle finger came together, and she immediately targeted the two most forward of their advance, ramping up their gravity as quickly as she could without using the <em>Crush</em> mental constructs. She didnt want to burn out her inscriptions from the strain.


    Unfortunately, thest one shed dealt, the one that had split into two knights to foil her spell-working, wasnt an outlier, and they were showing their cleverness.


    As soon as their gravity was altered sufficiently to be noticed, the two juggernauts cracked apart into knights, breaking her lock and spoiling the working, before they faded from view.


    Cursing them, she, nheless, immediately targeted two more juggernauts, ramping up their gravity as well. Before that reached inconvenient levels for the creatures, two more juggernauts returned to the front of the shield, renewing the attack. These wielded polearms of differing kinds.


    She couldnt tell if the new arrivals werepletely new juggernauts, taking the ce of the departed, or a newbination of the same knights. <em>No, they couldnt be a rbination, that is much too quick for that.</em>


    It was disheartening to see her enemies reced so quickly, but still, she persisted, attempting to relieve some of the strain on the shield for Mistress Odera.


    Over the next half-hour, T tried all sorts of things to get around their new understanding of her magics, but nothing worked.


    Each juggernaut that she forced to split was reced shortly thereafter, and the weaponry they used continued to alter, covering the gambit from dual daggers to one with a war scythe. If anything, they seemed to be testing if any given weapon affected the shield more easily.


    Blessedly, that didnt seem to be the case, and the shield held.


    Even so, there was just no end to them.


    <em>Do they have that many?</em> Or were they rbining, somehow. <em>We are surrounded by great trees</em> It was most likely abination of having juggernauts in reserve, and the knights going to rbine and then returning.


    In the end, she was sure that the majority of the juggernauts attacking the shield were, in fact, just rbinations of those shed previously forced to disassociate.


    To her horror, as she became better at identifying the individual Leshkin, she became increasingly certain that at least some of those that now harassed them were ones that shed in that morning.


    <em>Is a spawning ground that close? Are some of their heartseeds that close?</em> It was a disheartening thought. <em>Even if I do kill them, theyll just return in short order.</em>


    She had a brief desire to strike out and hunt down whatever hiding ce contained the heartseeds so near to hand, but that would be colossally foolish, and so she squashed that desire for the time being.


    Finally, she had to admit defeat. At this point, she was just wasting inscriptions. So, with a growl of irritation, she stopped trying.


    As shed been trying to contribute, even while being carted along, the cooks had been bringing her a feasts worth of food, even by Ts standards. That meant that it would have normally counted as a feast for a small family. The deliveries of sustenance continued, even now that shed stopped working with her gravity maniption.


    She had done a <em>lot</em> of self-healing throughout the morning even despite her defenses, and that had put an incredible strain on her body, inscriptions, and reserves. Thus, even as she continued to devour the food, she could feel a vortex of her power breaking the food down in her gut and shunting the nutrients and energy outwards to refill her reserves and help return her to top form.


    Between bites, she topped off each of her bound items, even refilling Terrys cor, despite it not really needing it. Still, the act allowed her to have the terror bird near, and that gave her some additionalfort.


    After that was done, she recharged the cargo-slots, just in case. <em>Who knows what the rest of the day will bring.</em>


    Beyond that, she made note to refill them as often as reasonable, probably every half-hour to hour.


    <em>It is going to be a long, long day.</em>

 Chapter 151: Particularly Pernicious

    Chapter 151: Particrly Pernicious


    T was surprisingly well rested, despite the stressful circumstances.


    The long day had turned into a long night, but everyone aside from Mistress Odera and the drivers had gotten more than a full nights sleep, at the Mages insistence. Even the drivers had been switched out to get the rest that they needed, even if less than would have been ideal.


    As morning passed and drew ever closer to noon, T knew that Mistress Odera couldnt hold on much longer. They still werent out of the forest despite their best efforts, and even if they did make it before the Mage had to drop her shield, it would be a near thing.


    They really couldnt risk that disaster. Normally, T would have left the dealing of the issue to others, but T wasnt willing to risk that either.


    <em>What would Mistress Odera do, if our positions were reversed?</em> T looked around at their caravan, the guards, their crossbows, and the surrounding Leshkin, barely obscured by the rippling, blue-tinted shield. After a moments thought, a grin spread over her face, the seed of an idea manifesting. <em>That just might work.</em>


    The nugget of inspiration firmly in mind, she went to talk with the Rane and the Guard. Thankfully, her idea was simple enough that they readily agreed, helping to fill in the details and preparing for the fight toe.


    It wasnt a truly new idea. In fact, if Mistress Oderas shield had been easier to drop and re-raise, they likely would have been doing something simr all along. <em>Well, that and if they could be sure the Leshkin wouldnt just return in short order.</em>


    By the time the sun was directly overhead, and Mistress Odera was swaying, all preparations were in ce for the bursting of the bubble.


    The older womans voice came to Ts ear. I can only hold on for another minute or so, Mistress T, prepare.


    T nodded. Already done. She looked to the crossbowmen crowding the wagon top. Soon, now.


    They fell into position, the front-rank kneeling and the second rank moving up to stand right behind them.


    Each guard had a pre-cocked and loaded crossbow ready to hand, in addition to the one in their hands, and they each had a primary and secondary target preselected and assigned.


    They each also had anti-Leshkin spears and broad shields arranged on the wagon-top within easy reach.


    The chuckwagon had a simrplement of ready guards. Rane stood at the back edge of that wagon top, ready to take out his assigned targets and then to engage any surviving enemies as needed.


    He also had his massive harvest bag slung over one shoulder. If the opportunity presented itself, he was going grab as much as he could from the Leshkin juggernauts.


    The drum-like reverberations of impacts to their shield continued unabated, their enemy either unaware, or uncaring, that the situation was about to change.


    As T did one more sweep of their surroundings, focusing to see through the active shield the best that she was able, she caught a glimpse of something glimmering ahead of them. She looked closer, her eyes starting to ache from the strain. <em>Sunlit grass?</em>


    Were almost to the edge of the forest! She nced to Tion. n B. n A had assumed theyd need to continue at a steady pace for an unknown length of time.


    The driver nodded her way in acknowledgement. Under n B, he would force the oxen to their top speed, something they couldnt maintain for very long.


    Theyd have to rest a short way into the ins, but they would be free of the forest. <em>Finally, blessedly free.</em>


    There was also a danger the mass of their magic going faster than rmended would draw down a creature of magic on them, but theyd agreed that the small chance of that was an eptable risk.


    Mistress Odera started cough. Im sorry. Thats all I have. Her eyes snapped open, but they were nk, the woman already unconscious.


    As the Mage tumbled backwards, a ready and waiting servant caught her and lowered her gently down on a pad behind her.


    The magical, bubble-like shield burst, and T yelled. Fire!


    The simultaneous <em>click</em>, <em>twang</em> of so many crossbows was almost deafeningly loud. The almost instantaneous responding wet <em>thunk</em> of the bolts striking home in Leshkin foliage brought an irresistible smile to Ts face.


    Leshkin weapons swept through open air, and the giants found themselves unbnced as their intended attacks on the shield protecting their prey was suddenly met with no resistance.


    Rane lunged off the back of the chuckwagon, even as the vehicles picked up speed.


    Since each juggernaut took eight bolts to be overwhelmed by the inscriptions, the first volley only dropped five of the mammoth creatures. Each guard let their fired crossbow fall to catch on its strap as they raised their second weapon.


    Aim! After a single, quick breath, during which T ensured all the guards were ready, she bellowed, Fire!


    A second, slightly less unified wave of bolts took down five more juggernauts.


    Rane still airborne from his powerful leap, swept Force in a precise arc, beheading two juggernauts, something he could never have done from the ground.


    <em>Twelve down.</em> Her gaze searched the dimly lit terrain around them, searching for the remaining opponents.


    The guards reloaded and fired as quickly as they were able, falling into the second phase of Ts n, even as Rane verified that no Leshkin that he needed to deal with were close and pulled on his big-game harvest bag, scooping up the first two piles of Leshkin remnants, securing the juggernauts armor and weapons, along with the guards bolts within the piles of vegetation that used to be their attackers. Theyd get rid of the nt matter when they had more time.


    T had finished her quick sweep of the battlefield. They were surrounded by a small army, mostly knights, but a few more juggernauts were beginning their charge forwards. In the distance, she <em>thought</em> she saw more movement, but it was far enough away, and there were sufficient enemies close at hand, that she filed the sight away as non-critical.


    T lifted her right hand, two fingers to the sky, and locked onto the closest two juggernauts. The two that were about to m their weapons into the back of the chuckwagon.


    The two that Rane had trusted to her care. A smile tugged at her lips.


    These two were hers, now. <em>Crush.</em>


    The automaticpounding was too slow, so she triggered the ability manually, again. <em>Crush.</em>


    She couldnt let them break apart and ruin her casting. <em>Crush.</em>


    She <em>would</em> ensure her magics took their toll. <em>Crush.</em>


    The four near instantaneous casting on two targets tore away eight of her remaining nine rings, and obliterated the two Leshkin shed targeted, sending their spirits off to respawn as effectively as the enchanted bolts would have.


    The timing was such that Rane was able to scoop up the remains of those two next, before he continued around the caravan to gather what he could.


    The guards were sending a steady spray of quarrels outward into the surrounding knights. The guards were working in blocks to select targets and bring them down with systematic efficiency. So, even with a requirement of four bolts per Leskin of that form, the nt bodied creatures fell in droves.


    T verified that their path was rtively clear ahead, and the guards with good line of sight in that direction were ensuring that the few Leshkin in the path of the wagons headlong rush were primary targets.


    Rane had finished his harvesting frenzy and was engaging any Leshkin group that seemed in danger of drawing too close.


    She let out a long breath, allowing her tension to ease, if just slightly. <em>This is working. Were doing it!</em>


    Overhead, one of the massive, far-reaching branches creaked and swayed, causing the light filtering down to flicker and move oddly.


    T looked up in time to see a tide of humanoid vegetation dropping towards their heads like a massive stctite of death.


    Above! <em>Rust you, T, you had to ruin it, thinking we were in the clear.</em>


    The back line of guards immediately bent down to grab spear and shield, rushing to raise them against the new avenue of assault.


    On pure instinct, T lifted her right hand, locking onto one of the foremost Leskhin, an ax wielding knight that was almost directly overhead. <em>Restrain.</em>


    Her final golden ring burned away, and her working stole the Leshkins kic energy, jerking it to a halt, midair. That energy was then repurposed to calcte and apply the exact level of gravity necessary to maintain that beasts current position as a stable orbit.


    The knight was still for only an instant before those behind it began to m into and bounce off it. Since the magics were still at work, continuing to drain away its kic energy to feed the working, fighting to set the Leshkin into a fixed position, it wasnt forced downward just yet, despite the cascade of bodies ramming into it.


    The actual effect was to cause somethingically simr to inserting a spoon into a stream of water as each knight tumbled into those next to it.


    The effect was to prevent any fromnding directly on the cargo-wagons roof.


    The chuckwagon was not so lucky.


    <em>If only Id still had another casting.</em> Another idea came to her, then, and she began delving through her seemingly useless <em>Crush</em> and <em>Restrain </em>scriptings. <em>Maybe</em>


    Thankfully, that roof had argerplement of guards, given that theyd not had to leave room for Mistress Odera or the servant meant to care for her. The Leskinnding there were met with an interlocking tform of shields, bristling with inscribed spears.


    Even so, the impact bowed the defenses, and one of the crossbowmen was pushed off the side of the roof, by the pressure of the inner guards having to bend down under the impacts.


    Another Guard, Carl, shouted in rm, lunging outward to snag the iling woman and throw her back.


    Unfortunately, that meant that he was now falling in her stead.


    T watched in horror as Carl mmed into the ground, all the breath seemingly driven from him.


    The woman hed saved spun, reloading her crossbow and rallying her block to target the Leshkin bearing down on Carl, even as they crouched under the shields held aloft by their brethren.


    The crossbowmen on the cargo-wagon facing the other vehicle focused on the enemies that had survived atop the bristling defense. There were a worrying number, even so. For the moment, they were held up on well braced shields, but that couldntst, as Carls situation clearly demonstrated.


    The wagons were continuing at their rapid pace, almost as fast as T would have jogged, and Carl would soon be left behind.


    T had a moment to consider before she cursed and jumped free of her wagon, giving a screech that was as close to a Leshkins cry as a human could produce.


    Every enemy head snapped to orient towards her.


    Initially, this allowed the guards to continue reaping their vegetative harvest, but as Tnded in a roll, the true result quickly became clear.


    Answering screams assaulted the humans, disorienting most of the guards, and even breaking some eardrums.


    Every Leshkin turned fully towards her and <em>moved.</em>


    Some simply ran, othersunched themselves in her direction, and they all maintained a lock on her, the best that they could. They still struck at the guards near them.


    T staggered, the inscriptions surrounding her ears protected her from direct damage, but the sound was still startling enough that it fouled her footing for a step. In the end, she came out just a bit better than the average guard.


    She couldnt see what had be of Carl, but she had other things that were far more pressing for her at the moment.


    She dove to the side, avoiding a pouncing cluster of knights, and as she came to her feet, she saw sheer magnitude what she was facing.


    <em>WellRust.</em>


    There were at least a hundred knights remaining, and three juggernauts that she could see easily, all iing.


    <em>I cant outrun that; I certainly cant fight through it.</em> She had an instant of panic, then a calm washed over her, and she knew what she needed to do.


    After only a moments hesitation, T turned, unclipping her anchor, and threw the empowered device with all of her considerable might.


    Shed aimed carefully between trees to the northeast, away from the heading of the caravan, but still closer to the edge of the forest.


    <em>I hope. </em>It wasnt like the forest ended on a perfecttitude line.


    In a nauseating blur, she streaked through the trees. More than anything, it felt like falling in a twisting, nauseating tumble. She mmed into the ground,ing to a stop at least a hundred yards from the caravan.


    <em>I gained downward velocity through the whole of the Anchors arc?</em> That did make a sort of sense, she supposed.


    Unfortunately, her desperate thinking wasnt enough to distract her body from what had just transpired. T violently tried to vomit but was prevented by her inscriptions.


    It felt akin to someone preventing her from inhaling toxic fumes by punching her in the throat: it was <em>probably</em> better than the alternative, but the difference might well just be academic.


    Leshkin cries of rage sounded behind her, and she screeched back, around her dry heaving, afraid that they would reorient on the caravan with her suddenly farther away.


    She turned to nce over her shoulder, her entire body shuddering at the repressed expulsions, and found her fears were unfounded.


    The enemy was in hot pursuit.


    Of all things, it almost looked like the juggernauts were picking up knights.


    <em>No.</em> Her eyes widened as the first massive Leshkin cocked back to throw its payload.


    Terry flickered into being beside her, sized for riding. He trilled, nudging her with his head, trying to help her stand.


    T felt herselfughing manically as she quickly snapped up her anchor from the ground, where it had fallen, and clip it to Terrys cor. She hopped on his back as the first knight crashed into the ground beside her, pulverized into near dissolution.


    Unfortunately, they had enoughtent power to pull back together and lunge towards Terry and T.


    The avian ducked under the first attack and shot off into the woods, T tucking down against his neck.


    Go north! Terry, where are you going! She started patting his neck, trying to get his attention, as if he wasnt well aware of her, and where she was.


    Terry squawked back at her, and she looked behind just in time to see a series of seven knights crash across what would have been their clearest path to the north.


    <em>I didnt see those iing, they likely would have mmed right into us, if wed gone north.</em> She briefly considered using her gravity alteration inscriptions on their pursuers, but knew that they wouldnt be useful. <em>Best case, Id increase the number of enemies trailing us, even if it did mean they were weaker as individuals.</em>


    There had apparently been nking forces of Leshkin lessers moving through the forest parallel to the caravans, and they were now screening off easy escape.


    <em>Oh, thats the distant movement I sawyay me?</em> She growled.


    <em>Well, at least the caravan will get free. Theyre probably close enough to Bandfast that they might make it with an hour or two to unload, if theyre quick about it and dont stop to rest.</em> She found herself unsurprisingly at peace with the idea of dying to let the caravan survive.


    She didnt <em>want</em> to die, but she didnt find that she was really mad about it either. <em>Huh, I suppose thats progress? I actually </em>dont<em> want to die.</em>


    Terry, for his part, was showing how hed survived for so long.


    He darted around trees, even using his massively powerful legs to run up trees a good ways before vaulting off to clear groups of iing Leshkin.


    T had Flow in hand,shing out at any enemies who drew within striking distance of any of its forms. Though she didnt have training in mountedbat, T was able to move Flow through the more maneuverable shapes, allowing her to reposition her weapon with ease to strike in almost any direction.


    Her tungsten rod and sphere were likewise moving around her to foil enemy advances, but she wasnt nearly as effective with them, as they were still new tools in her arsenal.


    She made a mental note to add mountedbat to the list of things to work on if she survived.


    <em>You know, I can definitely imagine burning all these rusting tree-people. Maybe, I should try to get some fire inscriptions</em> She then immediately threw the idea aside. Fire was too hard to control properly. It was sloppy, and weirdly weaker than shed have assumed or wished.


    She still remembered an odd demonstration where a Mage at the academy had turned a powerful me on a block of ice.


    T, young and naive, had expected the ice to sh boil in a glorious explosion. Young T had wanted to burn things, allowing the fantasies of such to drive her towards understanding her keystone. After all, only after the keystone wasplete, could she get other magics.


    But her hopes were crushed that day. Sure, the ice lost in the end, but it took <em>hours</em> to melt down that person sized block of ice.


    That particr lesson had been focusing on something about heat capacity, but what young T had taken from the instruction was that fire wasme.


    It would have been like watching a bunch of guards struggle to ovee a mundane rabbit: Disgustingly disappointing.


    Terry lunged to the right, pulling Ts focus back to the present.


    Flow, in the shape of a ive, cut down a particrly pernicious lesser, and they were suddenly in the clear, at least with regard to enemies.


    They were, however, once again deep into the forest.


    The Leshkin were still close on their heels, but Terry could outrun them in a race.


    They were in the clear.


    T grinned in relief.


    Just then, a whip, skillfully wielded by a juggernaut, cracked out, wrapping around her waist and jerking her from Terrys back.


    She had one thought as her grip was broken and she lost her seat atop her avian friend.


    <em>You just couldnt have rusting waited to celebrate, could you</em>

 Chapter 152: Restraining Crush

    Chapter 152: Restraining Crush


    T continued cursing herself as she was whipped backwards.


    She did, however, pause her inner tirade for an instant chuckle. <em>Ha, whipped backwards. Because Im being pulled by a whip.</em>


    She jerked to a stop, and back to the matter at hand, and immediately began moving forward after Terry, her anchor preventing her from getting any further from her partners cor and the dimensional anchor affixed there.


    The strain was too great on the juggernauts weapon, and the woven length of vines frayed and shattered behind her, just leaving the length wrapped around her waist.


    T, once again, mmed into the ground face first, her mind ovee with nausea.


    Terry trilled, and Ts enhanced hearing heard him slide to a halt and juke back her way.


    Because of that, her dimensional sliding came to a quick end.


    <em>That wasunideal.</em>


    Even so, she still had enemies bearing down upon her from behind. She needed to keep moving.


    With a great effort of will, she pushed herself back up to stand on her own two feet, or at least, she tried.


    The portion of the vine-whip that had wrapped around her was now anchored deeply into the ground, seemingly growing roots, even as it spread across her. Even with her enhanced strength, she was stuck fast.


    Trapped as she was, T still wasnt helpless against the Leshkin who were almost upon her.


    Her sphere mmed into a lessers chest, knocking it back, as her rod tripped up a warrior only a handful of feet from her.


    With Flow in the form of a knife, T sliced across herself with almost frenzied abandon, feeling her ending power drain to defend from each cut, followed by the distinct magical signature of the elk leathers expending power to pull back together.


    The vines, also, continued to grow, even as the cuts tried to pull back together. Thankfully, the heat of Flows de, even in knife form, had somewhat cauterized the vegetation, making it much more difficult for the nt to regenerate.


    <em>Get</em> Cut, sh, il. <em>FREE!</em>


    She was finally able to jerk herself out of the suffocating vines, and she stumbled upright.


    Terry almost tackled her from behind, knocking her onto his back once again.


    She barely caught his cor and righted herself as the avian veered to the side, and away from the jagged wave of oing enemies.


    Blessedly, Terry was able to steer back northward, circumnavigating the screaming mini hoard.


    Now on the lookout for it, T was able to intercept, or otherwise thwart, a myriad of thrown, or otherwise long range, attacks.


    Terry outright dodged any thrown Leshkin while barely slowing.


    In a couple of instances, T felt dimensional energies build within her friend, but they always faded without him flickering away to leave her to her fate.


    <em>His instincts are telling him to abandon me, but hes not leaving.</em>


    She suppressed the wetness in her eyes. Now was hardly the time for sentiment, and blurry vision could well get them both killed. Still, she could do nothing about the grin tugging at her face.


    Despite everything, she was still keeping a tight rein on her aura, only letting it extend in specific ces to allow for the maniption of her bloodstars.


    Something deep within her made her feel that it was utterly imperative to keep her aura restrained and under her control. Wisdom prevailed as she continued to listen to that deep something. <em>If help ising from Rane or the caravan, theyll have to find another way to find me than tracking my aura.</em>


    They were making a <em>lot</em> of noise, between them and their pursuers, as T and Terry continued their skirmishing retreat, circling north as much as possible. <em>They can probably hear this ruckus from miles off</em>


    She <em>really</em> hoped that nothing else would follow that sound and find them, adding to theplexity of the situation.


    Finally, when the inside edge of the tree line was in sight and the gloriously brilliant, snow-covered grasnds were before them, their progress hit a snag of monstrous proportions.


    Two juggernauts mmed into the ground directly in their way, blocking the narrow path between two trees just a hundred yards in front of them.


    Not seeming fazed in the slightest by their ballistic impacts, the two vaulted to their feet, weapons at the ready. Each held a tower shield that was actually on the small side for them, while still being just taller than T, while she rode on Terry.


    The one to Ts right wielded a greathammer one-handed that wasrge enough that it would easily have required Rane to use two hands. The other pointed at her with a nged mace of dark, dense wood, clearly a gesture of violent intent.


    Her first thought? <em>I want those weapons for Flow.</em> It was an odd, disjointed thought, as shed not focused on that when surrounded by juggernaut weapons. It was probably because she was nearing the end of her mental endurance, and her thoughts were bing less directed.


    Her second thought? <em>I really want to survive this</em> The significance of that thought didnt register in the slightest as she immediately began mentally scrambling for a way out.


    Terry could change direction and take them away, once again. After that, they could try to circle around once more, but she had no idea if it would work, or if they were being shunted towards more Leshkin or some other threat to the east.


    The avian couldnt fight a juggernaut safely, and T certainly couldnt bypass them on her own. <em>Hes not dying for me, not if I can help it.</em>


    She could throw her anchor once again, but given the level of intelligence the Leshkin were demonstrating this time around, they might just snatch the empowered item from the air, and shed be well and truly trapped.


    She had a brief mental tableau of a juggernaut holding her anchor in one hand, while the other mmed its massive weapon into her again and again in an endless cycle until her magic ran out, and she was pulverized for thest time. <em>I wonder how many that would actually be? Twice? Three full body heals?</em> It probably wouldnt be more than that. <em>I suppose it depends on the exact nature of the damage.</em>


    But she was getting distracted in a moment where she couldnt afford distraction. She did have one idea. It was out there, but it meshed with her understanding of her own magics too well not to try.


    <em>Well, lets do this, then.</em>


    Straight on, Terry. I need to try something. I think it will help get us out.


    Terry trilled, deep and rumbling, almost a war-cry.


    Ts grin returned as she extended her right hand, first two fingers pointing up, second two curled downward. All fingers, and her thumb, were tucked in tight as she oriented her palm towards the juggernauts.


    She locked onto both. That had been expected to work. Even without rings to burn, the targeting inscriptions should still function. Still, she felt a thrill at the first sess, no matter how expected.


    <em>Now, the hard part.</em>


    She had modified her inscriptions on the fly before. Holly had helped her enact <em>Crush</em> upon herself, while suppressing the recursive portion of that inscription, and it had worked exactly as shed hoped. <em>Totally useless in the end, but it had worked.</em>


    That had been suppressing and diverting power away from a portion of inscribing. What she was doing now was quite a bit more convoluted and would require her jumping power through her flesh. She wouldnt need to mold that power into true spell-lines, thankfully. She wasnt adding functionality, she was just hot-wiring two bits of spell-logic together in a sequence they hadnt been inscribed to fire. <em>Should work though, they arepatible, and my mental model is rock-solid.</em>


    Indicating the first targeted enemy, she ordered. <em>Restraining, </em>followed immediately by amand towards the second, <em>Crush.</em>


    Her power rushed through the spell-forms, but there were no rings to work with.


    T grabbed the <em>Restrain</em> functionality and guided it, stealing all kic energy from the Leshkin on her left, and channeling that energy into the <em>Crush</em> spell-form, trying to enact upon the second juggernaut.


    She screamed in agony as the inscriptions embedded in her right breast were burned away in their entirety to fuel a twisted hybrid of their original purpose, forced as they were to work in a way out of sync with their design.


    But it worked.


    The hammer wielding foe froze in ce, clearly struggling, and at every thwarted twitch from the colossal beast, the mace wielding enemy was driven towards the ground.


    The kic energy wasnt doing the crushing. No, that would never have worked. That stolen energy was powering the multiplication of the gravitational constant on the second.


    It only worked because of the immense power of the hammer wielder, jacking up the gravity on the second Leshkin so fast that it couldnt divide into knights to escape.


    Incidentally, it was also burning out the flesh of Ts chest as she acted as a catalyst. The gold of the inscription was long since gone, but the spell-form was stable, and would continue until it couldnt any longer.


    <em>I may have made a terrible mistake.</em> She couldnt scream, she couldnt even draw breath. Only four barely scraped together void-channels kept her body from being sucked dry of power.


    As the mace wielder was crushed into oblivion, there was no longer any where for the kic energy to go, allowing the spell-form dissolved into nothing, freeing the first beast from kic thievery and T from her self-created agony.


    T slumped forward left hand pressed to the right side of her chest as she gasped in a breath for the first time in what felt like hours.


    <em>Rusting rust!</em> It had worked, but there was a reason that using uninscribed spells was inadvisable.


    Terry continued his sprint towards the one remaining juggernaut, a host of smaller Leshkin still close behind T and her avian transportation.


    <em>This is it.</em> She looked up, seeing the foe that shed been unable to contain. <em>I have no tricks left.</em>


    In retrospect, she could have waited until they were closer, and that might have allowed them to bypass the ambush before the hammer wielder could move again, but as it was an untested spell-working, she hadnt been willing tomit them to the extent that that would have required.


    Im sorry, Terry, but-


    Ts eyes widened as she watched Force take the giants head from its shoulders. Rane rode past the still upright body, precariously standing on his horses saddle to get the height needed for such a blow.


    Over the body of the first juggernaut, a hail of bolts shot, dropping part of the wave behind T and Terry.


    Rane had arrived with two full units of Guards and none too soon.


    His voice was crisp and filled with an air ofmand. Come on! He dropped down into a more stable seat, hooking his feet back into the stirrups and grabbing the reins to wheel around and charge back towards the ins. As he drew close to the Leshkin again, he freed one foot from its stirrup, leaning out of his saddle and opening his harvest back to scoop up one of the shields and the mace.


    Tughed with barely contained glee. <em>Were going to live? Were going to live!</em>


    The Guards continued their steady rain of bolts, softening up and slowing the Leshkin in pursuit.


    T, for her part, threw anchor darts at the remaining shield and massive hammer. It only took her eight attempts with her left hand to sink a dart into each as she and Terry drew closer and swept passed. Her right arm was not working as she desired, due to the pain in her chest.


    <em>Im d the ones I missed with will be dragged along just the same.</em>


    And then, she was out, the full light of day unobstructed before her, despite the canopy extending overhead.


    The guards were in full retreat atop their own mounts, twisting in their saddles to fire backward as they rode.


    Terry overtook the horses and passed them by, head tucked low, utterly focused on the line of daylight ahead.


    They burst into full, beautifully blinding light, and T felt tears fill her eyes.


    <em>Free, Im blessedly free of that cursed forest.</em>


    * * *


    T took long, slow breaths as sheid on her back, looking up at the cloud speckled sky.


    She had copsed, arms thrown wide, on the cool white snow, close to a quarter mile to the north of the forest. She flexed her hands open and closed, picking up snow and casting it aside, uncaring of the melting snow that slowly seeped into her leathers. <em>Theyll be fine.</em>


    She sent a pulse of power their way to top them off, just in case.


    Terry was asleep curled up on her stomach. A mound of snow was piled atop the right side of her chest, but it didnt really relieve the burning sensation stilling from the burned-out flesh in her right breast.


    The Guards had headed back to the caravan, which was resting close to two miles to the west.


    Rane was waiting with her, as she stared at the beautifully tree-branch free sky. <em>Its been too long.</em>


    The Leshkin had turned back a few hundred yards past the tree line. So, they had escaped from their erstwhile pursuers.


    The Leshkin withdrawal hadnt been a hard stop. Instead, one by one, theyd slowed down and eventually turned around to return to the forest, until the few that were still following were taken out by the Guards precise shooting.


    But that was past now.


    T was free of that ghastly forest. <em>Im not going back. Not for a long, long time.</em>


    Shed be sad to miss out on seeing Jevin. <em>But helle out in 60? Yeah, sixty years or so. I can see him then.</em>


    It would definitely be better for everyone if she stayed out of that forest. <em>At least until I can deal with Leshkin much more efficiently.</em>


    Are you ok? Ranes voice was soft but reached her easily from where he sat, cross legged, a few feet away.


    T grunted. I think I will be. Hows the caravan?


    All the Leshkin followed you. We sustained a few injuries as they departed, but not too many.


    Carl?


    He was mostly unharmed, but he was just trying to sit up as one of thest knights ran past. Its foot clipped the side of his head just wrong and


    Ts eyes widened. Carls dead?


    Ranes own eyes widened in turn. Oh! No, it just caught on his skin anddamaged it.


    She frowned then. Will he be ok?


    He should be, a couple of the other guards were able to grab him, then, and get him in the chuckwagon. They got the p back in ce and applied cold pressure. It should be alright until Mistress Odera wakes up. She should be able to sort him with ease.


    <em>Having your face ripped off.</em> T shuddered. It put her own pain in perspective.


    still didnt make it hurt less, though.


    She tentatively poked at her chest, wincing at the pain.


    Shed burned through her ending berry power without even realizing it, and though her inscriptions were actively working to break down the destroyed flesh and rece it with new, healthy tissue, burn wounds were notoriously hard to heal no matter the means, magical or mundane.


    Rane cleared his throat and asked again. Are you sure youre going to be alright? Ive never seen you take this long to recover from something.


    She grimaced. Seems that fire wins again. <em>Stupid element.</em> It hadnt even been fire, not really.


    Fire?


    Fine, fires proxy, heat.


    Does it have something to do with what you did to the two juggernauts? I dont think Ive seen you use that working before.


    She sighed and gave him a brief exnation.


    Huh. Well, Im not surprised that it worked.


    She cocked her head. Really? Not going to chastise me for doing something incredibly foolish or the like?


    Hmm? No. Guides patching together spell-forms is a time-honored tradition in the heat of battle. The more experienced Mages can pull it off with little in the way of side-effects, but your consequences are in the vein of what a first attempt should produce.


    She grunted. <em>Well, Im finally average at something.</em> She huffed augh.


    Whats so funny?


    Of all the things for me to be average at. She shook her head.


    He grinned back. Well, youre alive. His smile took on more of a mischievous glint. And I have quite a few harvests for us to work with. He patted therge canvas sack on the ground beside him. I think there are a couple greatswords in here, that I can meld with Force for a bit of added magical weight. If we split the loot, Im happy to give you the other part of my share- he seemed to stumble over what he was going to say before catching himself and continuing, for a reasonable price.


    She nodded. <em>Thats right you wont just give it to me.</em> That sounds reasonable. I think I might have a use for the armor, too. She hesitated, thenughed. I can probably use most of it, unfortunately. Id love to sell it, to get a better payout.


    Dont be too sad, the Protection payout should be close to what it was for each of us,st time. Fewer injuries, no deaths, but overall fewer beasts beaten back.


    She shook her head. Hard to believe that that was fewer.


    More concentrated. That makes it seem worse. After a moment, he shrugged. I suppose the next two days could bring anything, though.


    T sighed and pushed herself upright.


    Terry flickered to her shoulder without otherwise seeming to move.


    She scratched his head and whispered to him. Thank you, my friend. You really saved me, today.


    He trilled softly and nuzzled her in return, without opening his eyes.


    Louder, she addressed Rane. We should get back to the caravan.


    Rane stood, offering her a hand. Thats probably a good idea.


    T let him assist her in standing. She was exhausted. Lead the way, Master Rane.

 Chapter 153: In the Ground

    Chapter 153: In the Ground


    T and Rane walked back toward the caravan, Rane leading his horse, Terry riding on Ts shoulder.


    She had slipped on her shoes, because even though her feet didnt generally sink into the cold, wet mixture of snow and toppled grass, it was a little bit morefortable to have the footwear on, and she saw no need to choose difort with no upside.


    T had given Terry arge amount of jerky as shedid on the ground and continued to flick it out for him at regr intervals. <em>I need to restock my stash of this stuff. Terry has definitely earned all I can get for him.</em>


    She and Rane were mainly silent as they trekked across the frozen ground. Game trails crossed their path every so often, but they didnt see any sign of life close by. Their goal was obvious, given the caravans chosen resting spot, atop a rise that was easily visible, despite the distance.


    There were some mundane birds flying about in the distance, and T thought she caught glimpses of deer or elk on asion, on far hills, but couldnt tell if they were arcanous or not. <em>Probably doesnt matter.</em>


    There really werent that many purely mundane creatures in the wilderness, now that she thought about it. Most found their way through a fount one way or another, picking up innate magics or dying as a result.


    She did see some things glinting with colored light here and there, peaking through the snow. But it was hard to get a good look with the white snow around. There wasnt any powering from them, so she decided that it wasnt really of consequence. <em>Probably just odd, shiny rocks.</em>


    That thought onlysted until they came to the top of a rise, and saw a crystal wolf, statuesque in death, curled up on the ground.


    No magics remained for it to determine if it had been a bearer of crystal powers, or the victim of them.


    <em>Not much difference in the end.</em> Though theck of a visible wound implied that it had died from crystallization, rather being killed while such an entity.


    Rane groaned. This might be bad.


    T found herself nodding. I thought Master Xeel said he was going to clean up the crystal fount. Wasnt that over a month ago?


    This isnt evidence that he hasnt. For all we know, this is from that clean up. He shrugged. Though, Master Xeel also said he cleaned up Terrys fount. Rane gestured at the avian to emphasize his point.


    Terry let out an angry hiss but didnt otherwise react.


    So? T nced to Rane. What do we do?


    Get back to the caravan and report it. I''ll handle that report. As to the caravan, they should be safe enough, with clear sightlines and the light of day, but we shouldnt leave them down two Protectors for much longer.


    T sighed, sweeping the area with her normal vision and mage-sight together, just to be sure. There were a surprising number of lumps, under the snow. <em>More than elsewhere.</em> She walked over to one and moved the snow aside.


    A crystalized bunny huddled among the dead grass. Another, here. The next mound looked like a cut stone block, weathered with countless years. Part of a ruin?


    The fallen arcane cities. He had a mischievous glint in his eyes.


    T nodded, sagely. Right. This area used to have a few.


    Rane snorted. I was mainly teasing. There were more magical research stations than cities. A few fortresses, for the various groups to posture against each other with. There were other, less mundane things, but they shouldnt have any evidence on the surface, at least not from them. He shrugged. But those could be anywhere, even under other ruins.


    T uncovered more mounds, finding a mix of crystalized animals and nts, along with other remnants of past civilization. Some of the smaller ones were locked into very lifelike poses, and T tucked those into Kit. <em>Theyre pretty, even if in a morbid sort of way.</em>


    Rane interrupted her perusal of the various mounds atop the hill. We should get to the wagons.


    She sighed and nodded, straightening as she ced a particrly lovely specimen away. It was a falcon in flight, wings tucked in close for a killing dive. <em>I wonder how it managed to survive the fall from the sky.</em>


    Crystalsttice structure could survive a lot, if it took the stress correctly. <em>Thats probably it.</em>


    Alright.


    They continued on their way, faster this time, following the rise and fall of thend, making a straight line for the caravan. Rane kept a tighter rein on the horse as they walked, ensuring they took a path that the animal could traverse, which wasnt that hard as the terrain her was almost universally gently contoured.


    As they neared the base of a dell, weaving through some spare, bare trees, movement behind a bush caused them to freeze. The bush itself was mostly just snow-covered sticks this time of year, but they were prolific and did obscure their vision somewhat.


    A crystalline doe hobbled past the nt, brushing the bush and causing the entire thing to crystalize and shatter. The resulting pieces were small enough to virtually disappear among the fallen snow.


    Rane ced his hand on Force, letting the horses reins fall. The animal took that as cue to stay where it was, and it began rooting through the snow to get to the grass underneath, seeming unconcerned by the arcanous creature so near at hand.


    T ced her hand on Ranes arm. Dont, Rane. You are <em>very</em> susceptible to that things magic.


    He stopped, turning towards her and waiting for her to continue.


    The does front leg was broken, barely hanging on by glittering tendons. That was likely the only reason theyd gotten this close. It was regarding them with absolute stillness, as if utterly uncertain of what to do about their presence before it. Its gaze wasnt hostile, but it didnt seem afraid either.


    It was the look of a prey animal that had recently found itself to be a predator. Old instincts were warring with new-found knowledge and power.


    T could see magic swirling around the creature. Its healing. We cant leave it.


    He moved once again to draw his weapon, but T stopped him again.


    Ive got this. She brought her left middle finger to her thumb, targeting the deer. <em>Increase.</em>


    She began ramping up the deers effective gravity as quickly as she was able, without using the <em>Crush</em> mental model.


    The animal shifted slightly, then simply continued to stare at them. It was seemingly unable to decide if it should run, even as its hooves began to sink deeper into the turf under the influence of its increased effective weight.


    The two humans stared at the magic infused animal as the seconds ticked by.


    After half a minute, T began to frown. Thats more than enough to crush a juggernaut to oblivion.


    Rane shrugged. Crystal can be incredibly strong?


    The deer continued to sink, driving its three good legs into the ground, until its belly pressed down through the snow.


    The magic continuing to swirl around it was enough proof that it wasnt dead, but it wasnt moving, not really.


    <em>Why isnt it struggling?</em>


    After a minute, the belly of the creature began to sink into the ground as well.


    T threw up her hands in frustration. This is madness! It should be experiencing more than 300 times normal gravity, now. Something is obviously happening, but its still intact.


    Rane had his head tilted, as if considering. Do you think its not moving, because it sensed the attack, and shifted into its most stable, resilient configuration?


    That would exin- The faint sound of cracking cut her off. Finally.


    He was frowning. Mistress T, thats noting from-


    A loud <em>crack </em>reverberated through the ground under their feet. Immediately thereafter, the beast vanished, dropping from sight.


    The tinkle of shattering crystal, along with a waved of magic, signified the end of the dangerous animal.


    By the origin of the pulse of power, T knew how far it had fallen. Master Rane, what could be sixty feet underground, here? She hesitated. Well, whatever the deer shattered on is that deep.


    An abandoned well?


    T gave him a deeply skeptical look. That the doe <em>just happened</em> to be standing over when I targeted it?


    He gave a half smile. That does seem to beggar reality.


    Just a bit. She smiled in return.


    After a short moment of consideration directed at the new hole in the ground, he nced back towards T. Do you think its safe to go look?


    T frowned at the dark opening, then sighed. Terry, can you go look?


    The terror bird lifted his head and gave her an incredulous look.


    Not to tell us what you see, obviously. I just want you to test and see if its stable. If it isnt, you can flicker away.


    He tilted his head in thought, then vanished from her shoulder, appearing beside the hole, the size and weight of a small horse. Ranes horse lifted its head and eyed Terry suspiciously but didnt bolt. Rane took that hesitation as an opportunity to re-grab the hanging reins.


    After a long moment, Terry stomped with one taloned foot, pausing to see if there was any effect.


    When nothing happened, he jumped up and down a few times.


    When that did nothing, he flickered back to Ts shoulder and curled up.


    Seems safe. She nodded towards Rane.


    Together, they walked to the hole and carefully looked down. I can''t see anything.


    Ts enhanced vision was better than Ranes natural eyesight. I can. It looks like a storeroom of some kind. The deer crystalized some boxes, which broke open. They were filled with something. I cant quite see. She hesitated. Should I go down?


    Rane looked at her like she was insane.


    Fine, fine. She held up her hands. It was just a question.


    Do you detect any magic down there?


    She looked again to confirm what she already knew. Not at all. Even the deers power is dispersing as Id expect, no barriers or dampening fields that I can detect.


    Rane smiled. Good. Then, it shouldnt be urgent. Ill get it reported. Then, the Archon Council in Bandfast will likely send someone to take a look. If its a low enough priority, theyll create a mission that any Mage or Archon can take.


    You mean, they might pay us toe back?


    Could be.


    She grinned. That sounds like an excellent n.


    Rane seemed oddly contemtive as he regarded her.


    What?


    Id think that such ces would be He seemed to be struggling to find the right words. Unpleasant? he shrugged, Unpleasant for you.


    T cocked her head, frowning. Why in zeme would that be?


    Well, for most people, being crushed to death is unpleasant, but probably fairly quick in the event of a ruins copse. For you, youd survive for He seemed at a loss for words again. I dont even know how long you could survive under tons of rock. Id have thought that would be off-putting.


    She regarded him with something akin to horror. Well, it is now. <em>That would be an awful way to go. Nothing I could really do, no way out, my scripts keeping me alive in my suffering.</em> She hesitated. I could simply divert power away from my scripts and let the ende?


    He considered for a moment. I suppose, if you did it in the right way, that would work. Otherwise, youd just fall unconscious, and your scripts would reactivate. He tsked. Your gate doesnt close when youre unconscious, right? I remember you saying something like that.


    She crinkled her nose. Yeahthats true.


    Rane cleared his throat, seeming to realize that hed brought up a bad subject. Even so, Id be happy toe back toe explore, if youre up for it.


    She gave him a long look, then shook her head. Maybe. It might be interesting, at least. Lets go back. Weve dyed long enough.


    They began walking again.


    After another quarter mile or so, she nced his way. What would we have been likely to find down there?


    He shrugged. The most mundane thing would be a forgotten cache of food and supplies from an earlier cycles defense of these ins.


    Right. She nodded. The Leshkin wars.


    Wars is a bit dramatic. Humanity mainly sets up defensive positions and kills Leshkin by the thousand as they recycle their souls back to the forest.


    T had a thought. Is that why there is so little undergrowth?


    What?


    In the forest, is that why?


    Rane paused. Maybe? If they grab onto any nt life, other than their great trees, and twist it to grow them a body, instead, that would thin things out a bit.


    She grunted. Even if that were a factor, there were likely other factors at y. But back to the ruin. At the least, its a forgotten human supply cache. At most?


    He shrugged. There are some vestiges of a few of the ancient enemies of mankind. In other cases, some have yet to be rediscovered in the prisons they were locked in by early Mages.


    Which do you mean? She was listening more intently, now.


    Well, several liches were buried by early humans who didnt know any other way of dealing with them.


    Entomb them in ground?


    Them and their whole fortress. They couldnt risk a phctery being among the spoils.


    So, what? They sank whole towers?


    He nodded. Towns too. Cities in some cases.


    She snapped her fingers. I always thought that the tales saying that the heroes put an evil Mage in the ground were saying they killed them.


    Raneughed. Probably, more often than not, thats exactly what was meant, but from what Master Grediv has told me, early human Mages buried a lot more of their problems than they knew how to eliminate. Modern Archons try to hunt down those that they can and end the threats for good, but it isnt always easy. Ancient Mages didnt want anyone freeing the beasts. So, they didnt keep records of the burial sites and did their best to hide any and all evidence. In many cases, they supposedly altered the stories so that those couldnt be used to sus out the hidden prisons.


    Thats one way to do it, I suppose.


    Rane shrugged. Geologic activity frees some every so often, or battles unknowingly fought atop them. So, its worth hunting them down as we can.


    T nodded. <em>That makes some sense. </em>What others do you think fall into that camp?


    So, for the remainder of their walk, Rane told her short ounts a myriad of humanities worst enemies. He spoke of beastsposed all of smoke; of sythenians, humanoids capable of killing with a look; of horrors made of shadows and darkness; of the endless ck Legion; of immissusi, men who changed into beasts under certain influences, magical or mundane; of creatures who lived by drinking vital things from humanity; and many others.


    The vital drinkers reminded her a bit too much of dasgannach. Even so, when she mentioned the seeming connection to Rane, he didnt think the motile mud and metal was the source of myths of blood suckers or any of the others, but he did admit that he could be wrong. It wasnt something that hed studied extensively.


    T loved the old stories. After all, shed modeled her very magic after such stories, depicting humanitys first heroes. Therefore it was hardly a surprise that the rehashing of those tales, even if only in passing, was a wonderful way to spend a walk through the countryside.


    * * *


    T and Rane arrived back at the caravan, blessedly without further incident.


    Rane handed over his horse to one of the attendants, and they went to meet up with drivers and sergeants. Terry seemed content to stay with them.


    Dron, the head of the caravans Guards, gave a shallow bow to them as they joined the ongoing discussion. Good to have you two back. He then met Ts gaze. Mistress T. Thank you for leading the Leshkin away. I dont think wed have had an easy time breaking free if the attack had continued at that intensity.


    T gave a tired smiled. It was the least I could do. Im She swallowed. Im fairly certain they were after me, specifically.


    Dron nodded, not showing any surprise in the least. That is what wed assumed as well. Do you know why?


    After a moment of shock, she shook her head. <em>d I didnt try to deny or obscure it</em> I have some guesses, but they are just that.


    He gave her a searching look before nodding again. I believe you. Sometimes beasties take a fancy to something and act against their pre-discovered nature. Ive heard of a few Mages whove seemed to cause simr, if less extreme, reactions from the forest terrors. A smile tugged at his lips. I hope you dont begrudge me when I say that I will be rmending against allowing you to take forest contracts for the time being.


    She gave a nervousugh. Yeah. That makes sense. Id been giving it some thought, and I wasnt nning on taking any anyways.


    All the Guards seemed to rx a bit at that. The two drivers simply smiled inmiseration.


    She cleared her throat. <em>In for a copper</em> I do apologize, however. While I didnt intend to put the caravan in danger, it seems that I did, nheless.


    Dron smiled once again. Apology epted, Mistress. Your diversion saved lives, and it seems that no one is likely to die as a result of the Leshkin. We came out ahead, by my count.


    Ahead? T frowned. I dont understand.


    Well, the forest was <em>much</em> quieter on this outward journey than it really should have been. The likely reason, looking back, is that the Leshkin were sweeping the woods, looking for you, killing or driving off anything that could have posed much danger.


    But we still had to drive off beasts daily.


    Dron waved that off. Nothing like the number or power we were prepared for. It is unusual for every guard to survive on a leg of a forest journey. He gave a sad smile. The hazards of the job.


    Well, that does make me feel a bit better.


    Good. His joviality faded a bit. Now, I assume you know not to take that as reason to venture back in. We got lucky in that we didnt encounter any Leshkin until we did. Likely the mushroom invested region helped with that, but even so.


    Oh, I understand. No forest travel for me until something changes.


    Dron nodded. Good to hear. Now, we were in the middle of discussing the n going forward.


    They talked through some logistics and possible paths. Tion ended up having the most to say, there, as the head driver.


    In the end, they decided to let the oxen rest another hour or so, then push on once more, making camp as usual for the night. If they did that, they should arrive at Bandfast before nightfall, the next day.


    T smiled unconsciously at that realization. <em>Home. Were finally going to be home.</em>

 Chapter 154: You Earned It

    Chapter 154: You Earned It


    T had had a rough couple of days, and that didnt even ount for her still healing chest. The burns caused by shorting out her <em>crush</em> and <em>restrain</em> inscriptions were taking a lot longer to heal than most injuries shed taken, though they were mostly recovered by this point.


    Taking everything into ount, as the wagons began moving once again, T realized that she was mentally and emotionally exhausted.


    As foreign as it seemed to her, she felt like she should not be training right then. So, going against the habits shed tried to build over thest couple of months, T gave herself a bit of a break that afternoon. She simply rxed on the cargo-wagons roof, watching the rolling ins slide by.


    She hadnt realized how much shed missed the open air, but it seemed that her time in Makinaven had given her a new appreciation for wide open spaces.


    Their caravan must have given off more dangerous vibes than usual, because they werent attacked even once as afternoon slid towards evening.


    T did see some arcanous beasts watching them at a couple of points, but none tried their luck.


    <em>Thankfully. </em>She shook her head at the idea of having to defend the caravan. <em>Were all exhausted.</em>


    It was nearing evening when Mistress Odera finally joined T on the roof, moving slowly and deliberately.


    When she saw the older woman, T rushed to her aid. Mistress Odera! She offered her a hand up, and the other Mage took it.


    Thank you, Mistress T.


    They moved back to the center of the roof, where T left the cushioned central seat for Mistress Odera.


    Thank you, again. As she settled down, Mistress Odera sighed in relieved weariness. Now, Id love to hear your version of this mornings events. What happened after I passed out? After a moments hesitation, she shook her head. No, go back a bit before that. I only caught snatches, as I was too near my limit at that time to truly pay attention, but I believe you organized some strategies for when the shield came down. Is that correct?


    T nodded, thenunched into an abbreviated version of events, not pausing until shed exined Rane and the guardsing to her rescue in the end and their safe departure from the forest and final escape from the Leshkin as a group.


    Mistress Odera nodded, finallymenting then. It sounds like it went better than we had any right to hope. It also seems blindingly obvious that they were after you, for some reason. Id suspected on our inward journey, but there can always be oddities and anomalies.


    T nodded. Thats what we concluded as well.


    We? Mistress Odera gave her a searching look.


    T shrugged, ncing away. Master Rane, myself, the guards, and drivers.


    The older woman gave a small smile. Ahh, good. So, theres nothing tucked away. No building rumors we might need to deal with. That makes things simpler. She regarded T for a long moment before nodding. It is almost always better to be forthright about such things. Her eyes narrowed. Did you know that they would target you before we entered the forest?


    T jerked her focus back to Mistress Odera. What? No! Of course not.


    The Mage clucked her tongue, humming contemtively around the motion. What about before we departed to head back to Bandfast?


    T hesitated, then. No? I had fears, and wild spections, but I didnt know for sure.


    Mistress Odera grunted. Your fears, we discussed. I still dont agree with your anthropomorphizing of the greater Leshkin, and so if that is truly all that you had to go on, I am satisfied that the danger was not fully expectable.


    Well, and my defensive magics being based on ending-berry power.


    She sighed and shook her head. That isnt news, either. She held up her hand before T could add anything else. Nor is your iron based protection. We <em>should</em> update the Archive with the possibility of those links, however. Things could have gone much worse. Many caravans would not have held up so well under such an onught, and we are nearing the Leshkin surge for this cycle. Only a century and a half or so before the height of that threat.


    T frowned. What do you mean?


    Surely the Leshkin wars arent unknown to you.


    No, of course I know of those, at least in part. I meant: What do you mean by many other caravans wouldnt have held up.


    We are somewhat, but not entirely, uniquely able to survive as we did. I have one of the greatest defensive powers, for caravan protection duty, of any Mage currently working.


    T was about to scoff and roll her eyes at the arrogance but then considered for a moment. <em>She can fully iste and protect a caravan as it moves, for hours, all while it is under heavy assault.</em> In the end, T had to concede that Mistress Odera might actually be right about her abilities rtive to other Mage protectors. Go on.


    The side of the womans mouth pulled up, and she clearly had intuited Ts thinking, but she didntment. Second, we have an incredibly high number of guards for our rtive size. Thus, we had more defenders per area of the caravan. That is due to you. Your high-capacity cargo-slots, and their proportionally increased cargo, necessitated more guards, and their space efficiency concentrated that defense onto only two wagons.


    T smiled at thepliment, oblique though it was.


    Master Rane is very destructive of single targets, and he is incredibly efficient in his use of power and inscriptions in that destruction. Mistress Odera shrugged. True, that is no different from any Mage using an artifact as a primary means of attack, but that is still a factor in our favor.


    So, we were uniquely suited to survive.


    We were distinctively designed to survive.


    T frowned. Exin.


    Mistress Odera shrugged. Things like this are always a possibility. So, the Caravan Guild tries to ensure that forest ventures are well suited.


    Ahh, so you meant that many non-forest route caravans wouldnt have held up well.


    That is urate. Yes.


    T shrugged. Thats fair. Though, I suppose, this is close to what well have for other routes, right?


    Well often have fewer guards, but otherwise, yes. After a moments thought, she shrugged. We probably have about the optimum ratio of guards to wagons, at this point. In truth, we might have more guards for some of the ins routes, if we have sufficient passengers, but then, wed need passenger wagons anyways, which would drastically lower the ratio were discussing. She seemed to consider further. So, like I said. We were in a very good position for the danger that we encountered.


    The conversation continued as T asked some pointed questions about being a lead Mage protector. Her short stint trying to operate with Mistress Odera incapacitated had shown her that she had a lot to learn.


    Mistress Odera seemed to be ready and even to have been waiting for T to show such interest. Thus, they spent the remainder of the afternoons travels, that nights dinner conversation, and their time until first watch, continuing Ts tutge in the finer points of leading a caravans magical protection.


    Mistress Odera also gave T a list of reference materials to look into, when she had time, and T added them to her growing to-read itemization. <em>The Archive tablet is looking more and more appealing.</em>


    Even though that tablet would be an amazing resource, she doubted that shed ever want to fully give up on physical books.


    All in all, she had quite a lot to process as sheid down for the first half of the night.


    She did her best topartmentalize, as shed have plenty of time to think while on second watch, and she didnt want to keep herself awake through what little time she did have to sleep.


    * * *


    Ts irrational irritation at being awoken by Rane lightly knocking on her door was reduced by therge jug of coffee he proffered to her when she opened it.


    He gave a tired smile. I know youre supposed to be cutting back on this stuff, but yesterday wasrough. He nced behind himself, at his own door. Im going to sleep. Nothing to report on watch.


    T grunted her thanks as she took the coffee, but then found herself on the roof, some timeter, before she had formed truly coherent thoughts.


    <em>Well, I got up here, and I seem to be scanning the surroundings.</em> She swallowed the coffee already in her mouth. <em>And were all alive.</em> She shrugged.


    It was a cold night, not that it bothered her. As such, she used the temperature as an excuse to pull out her massive bear pelt, wiggling it back and forth, just a little, to get it out of Kits rtively small opening.


    The pelt was glorious.


    She stood with the fur of her adversary draped over her shoulder to cascade down around her feet. The scents that had been worked into the cleaned hide were phenomenal over and above the feel of the thing.


    Terry was curled up on part of the bear pelt that was syed on the wagon top.


    As T turned to continue her surveince of the dark terrain, the pelt moved with her, carrying Terry in slow circuits as well.


    That made her smile, even as she took another swig of coffee.


    <em>Now. Running a caravans magical defenses. </em>There really was so much to consider. The Mage protectors <em>technically</em> outranked the guards, but they werent in charge of them directly.


    A senior Mage protector had to bnce diplomacy with decisive action at need.


    <em>Not sure that will ever be my role, or if I even want it.</em>


    The more T dug into various aspects of Magehood, the more she was seeing what Master Jevin had warned her of: Humanity needed its Mages more than the Mages really needed humanity, at least on a personal level. It would be all too easy for her to untether from human society, and do what was best for her and her alone.


    Doing so wouldnt cause the copse of humanity; she just wasnt that unique or important; but if too many Mages did so? <em>Wed all be rusting dead.</em> Or effectively so. <em>Who wants to be thest survivor of a dead race?</em>


    She grimaced. <em>So, I need to be pursuing my own interests, while keeping therger needs of humanity in mind.</em>


    She let out a long sigh. <em>No wonder they dont bring this up at the Academy. Id haveughed them off and ignored the lesson, then.</em>


    But now? She still was tempted to treat the idea as silly, but she felt like she was beginning to turn on the issue. Now that shed fought beside mundanes, wandered through more cities, and realized that her disenchantment with her family was not a reasonable condemnation on humanity as a whole.


    Could things be better? Absolutely. But how could they ever change, ever improve, if those who disagreed, and had power, simply left?


    <em>I want to be a part of humanity, and I want us to thrive.</em>


    She chuckled and shook her head. <em>I thought I was thinking about caravan defense.</em> But everything in a Mages life was interwoven. <em>Probably in any humans life, actually.</em>


    A persons foundations, and the foundational framework of society were inextricably interlinked. <em>Humans cant live without humanity, and humanity is nothing without the humans that make it up.</em> It was a ridiculously obvious assertion, but it still felt important to her.


    She smiled contentedly, opening Kit and <em>pulling</em> her bloodstars out.


    She spent the rest of her watch in meditative, but still observant, silence, moving her rod, ball, and naked bloodstar in interweaving orbits, under star-lit, winter sky.


    * * *


    It was mid-morning the next day before anything of note really shook up their voyage through the ins.


    A small family of thunder cattle had been spotted in a somewhat hidden depression, just a quarter mile or so from the caravan, ahead and a bit to the north as they curved back east to reach Bandfast.


    The animals werent a threat, but T had made her desire for a couple of the bovine known.


    T nced to Mistress Odera. What do you think about me going hunting? Ill top off the cargo-slots before I go, just in case?


    Mistress Odera huffed a smallugh. Fine. Try to keep properly oriented, so you dont get lost. She nced to the terror bird. Are you going with her, master Terry?


    Terry lifted his head and nced to T.


    T smiled and shrugged. I want to do the killing myself, but if the mini herd is bigger than expected, you can have the extras.


    He flickered to her shoulder and trilled happily, perching in such a way as to have a clear view forward.


    Mistress Odera smiled. Bring her back safe, Terry.


    He trilled again.


    T swung over the side and climbed down thedder, jumping free of the wagon and smoothing down her tunic. Mind if I ride, Terry?


    Terry flickered to beside her, already sized and crouched low for easy mounting.


    Thank you.


    He let out an indifferent but yful squawk.


    T tucked her feet under his wings and grabbed his cor, clipping her anchor to it and leaning forward to reduce her drag.


    Terry was off like an arrow, quicklying up to speed and angling towards the reported grazing ce of the small group.


    Less than a minuteter, they were atop a rise, looking down on ten thunder cattle.


    Huh thats more than were reported.


    Terry looked back at her, tilting his head in question.


    She grinned. Yes, you can help kill them, but not all of them.


    He let out a quiet trill, warning her before he flickered away, appearing next to her, a bit smaller than he had been.


    Tnded lightly, thanks to the warning. Thanks. She nodded to Terry.


    <em>Now</em> T groaned. <em>How am I going to kill them?</em>


    She sighed. <em>I did it again. I was so focused on finding one, and going after it, that I didnt decide how to kill it in advance.</em>


    She had one, partial answer. She pulled out three tungsten balls, none of which contained her bloodstar and none of which were currently gravitationally altered. Those in hand, she began amplifying their gravitation towards the three biggest animals.


    If she had to guess, the herd down below was an alpha bull and two betas, each with a mate, and four calves. It was a bit of an odd grouping as she didnt <em>think</em> thunder cattle were monogamous. <em>Maybe theyre all the alphas mates, and the other two bulls are just hangers on?</em>


    It didnt really matter. She was targeting the massive bulls heads.


    Even though it wasnt a quick process, she got ready, bracing against the pull that would begin, soon. <em>Now, the others.</em>


    I assume you want the little ones?


    Terry crouched a bit lower and bobbed a nod.


    Thats eptable. Quick, clean kills, please.


    He nced her way, then seemed to roll his eyes before bobbing again.


    Thank you. That would leave her with three cows to deal with, assuming her spheres were as lethal as she had reason to suspect. She was still a couple hundred feet away, and while she wasnt invisible to the animals they werent paying her too much attention. <em>Thatll change in a few minutes.</em>


    She would have loved to target more than three with metal meteors, but three was her current limit.


    She imagined running in, Flow swinging, carving them up, but eventually, she sighed, shaking her head. <em>Ill take the boring way.</em> There was too much chance that theyd be able to kill her with lightning. <em>Or at least deeply cut into my ending-berry power and inscription integrity.</em>


    Large animals did not handle weight increases well, as a general rule, and while these cattle had magic that gave them benefits well beyond any mundane creature, it wasnt their primary magic, and it wasnt immutable. <em>The cows shouldnt be as robust as the bulls, either.</em>


    The balls were beginning to pull, if not quite at her limit, but she didnt want one to slip free early. <em>Better on my timing than unexpectedly.</em> So, she signaled Terry and let them go.


    As soon she released the balls to start their bloody journey, T had locked onto the three cows. <em>Increase.</em>


    The three spheres began rolling downhill, quickly picking up speed until they lifted free of the ground altogether, practically streaking through the air to crack into the three bulls.


    The first had been facing a bit away, so the ball hit it in the upper back, between the shoulder des. A loud crack and a panicked bellow were precursors to the beast copsing in what seemed to be a paralyzed heap.


    <em>Oops. Ill try to finish him off, quick. No need to be overly cruel.</em>


    The second was almost exactly broadside to T, so the tungsten ball mmed into the side of its head, decapitating itpletely and anything but cleanly. The pulped remains of the head painted the nearby bushes a grayish red, even while the beasts heart continued to pump, spraying the grass in front of the slowly tipping, headless corpse.


    Ts eye twitched. <em>Thisthis is a lot messier than Id anticipated.</em>


    The third bull had been facing her, more or less. The sphere breached the top of its skull, driving downward and embedding in the neck before slowly pulling back up, causing the bovine to disgorge some of the eviscerated flesh that had followed the ball for the end of its devastating path.


    That was, unsurprisingly, the cleanest of the three kills. <em>Well, two kills, the first still needs to be properly dispatched.</em>


    She walked down the slope following her weapons path, if much more slowly.


    As the bulls were dying, the cows were already beginning to struggle.


    T didnt see the calves die, and when she looked to see how Terry was doing, she saw him crouching on a nearby hill, just waiting and watching. There was no evidence of where the young thunder cattle had gone. Not one drop of blood in evidence.


    <em>Though, it would be hard to spot anyways, given the ocean Ive unleashed.</em>


    She began to jog, even as the cows were looking around, stumbling in a way that seemed a bit drunken.


    T reached the first bull and used Flow to end his suffering with a blow from behind.


    The cows hadnt really paid attention to the small human before that, given the chaos surrounding them and her iron salve making her less visible to their magic sight, but all three oriented on her instantly as the alpha bull died.


    And they were livid.


    A raking series of lightning strikes shattered the ground starting halfway between T and thergest cow, moving towards her with unnerving steadiness.


    The smallest cow let out a bellow of fear and rage and tried to charge T, only to immediately trip. The loud crack and chaotic tumble that followed was a clear signal of that animals demise.


    The middle cow was suddenly wreathed in power, with a sh of light, the bovine was towering over her, front hooves raised and already descending to trample her.


    <em>They can teleport?!?!</em> Thankfully, her instinctive reactions were faster than her conscious thought, and Flow was transformed into a ive and cutting upward before her incredulity fully manifested.


    In her haste, she dumped more power than necessary into the weapon, and it zed with power as it struck the bovines chest and the power tore through the animal, bisecting it and cauterizing the two halves in a single blow.


    Thergest cow stumbled to the side, its attacks faltering before they reached where T stood, already panting under the influence of an adrenaline dump, between two smoking sides of beef.


    It was dead before it hit the ground.


    T slowly calmed herself, before clearing her throat. Well. That worked. She swallowed. Im really, <em>really</em> d I didnt just charge in here likest time. As she looked around at the carnage, she sighed. Well, it could have been better, but progress, not perfection, right? She looked to Terry, as he flickered into being beside her.


    He looked around at the red-painted grass and melting snow. He tilted his head in an obvious question.


    Yeah I know I said clean.


    He squawked.


    T grimaced. Im working on it, okay?


    He trilled happily, giving an almost shrug, before plunging his head into the nearest carcass, skillfully extracting the guts and viscera without contaminating the meat.


    Eat up, buddy. You earned it.

 Chapter 155: Back in Bandfast

    Chapter 155: Back in Bandfast


    T took a long couple of minutes topletelye down from the adrenaline released by the butchery shed just enacted.


    Terry took that opportunity to devour the traditionally discarded parts of the corpses. He even went so far as to carefully sy open those that she hadnt already bisected and remove the innards cleanly. To do this, he used a talon almost like a gut hook, the rounded top facing inward to glide across the undeyers as the sharper point and interiorid the creature open. He cracked the sternums with casual ease.


    After severing the esophagus, he grabbed that and pulled, dragging all the guts free before devouring them in their entirety.


    The whole sequence was carried out with disturbing familiarity, once again demonstrating his monstrous strength and incredible dexterity.


    <em>Wait</em> Terry, if you can do that, why did you devour so many of the in in the forest? When we went out to hunt.


    He regarded her for a long moment, then trilled, gave an avian shrug, and went on to the next fallen beast.


    T felt her eye twitch. You didnt know I wanted the bodies


    He didnt look towards her but squawked in a way that conveyed that hed thought that obvious.


    <em>Dont think about it, T. That moneys gone and wont being back.</em> She again watched him devour an animals guts.


    <em>That doesnt seem healthy</em> T would have guessed that at least the stomachs and intestines would be bad to eat. <em>At least what was in them.</em>


    But what did she know? Terry seemed to regrly ingest animals whole. <em>He probably just processes the entirety into power somehow.</em>


    When he was done, and she was centered once more, Terry returned to stand before her, looking around at the six, massive carcassesid out around them


    He trilled questioningly.


    What am I going to do with them?


    He bobbed a nod.


    She gave him a confused look. Terry dont you know?


    He shook himself.


    A grin stole over her face. Jerky, Terry. I want to increase our dwindling supply of jerky.


    Terry froze in ce, then looked around once more, taking time to stare at each downed thunder cow or bull. Finally, he trilled in happy triumph, almost seeming to dance in a circle.


    T found herselfughing. Come on, we need to find a way of transporting these. She hesitated, then groaned. Im an idiot, again


    Terry seemed quite pleased and continued to flit about, trilling and chirping.


    Any ideas?


    He stopped, looking between her and the carcasses. Finally, he flickered to her side and nuzzled Kit.


    I could probably make that work, but Id have to cut them into basically long strips. She looked between the bodies and finally sighed. I can probably get them in fourths. <em>Kit can open wide enough for that.</em>


    With no time to waste, T used Flow to carve the already bisected cow down until it was roughly as big around as Kits opening, and much, much longer.


    She wouldnt have been able to do so, with a mundane tool, but Flow sliced through with little effort.


    It took <em>quite</em> a bit of finagling to get the long quarters in, but she did it in the end.


    T looked at the five other bodies in despair. All but one wererger than the cow shed just dealt with.


    Terry let out a musical squawk, looking up the hill from which theyd looked down on the thunder cattle.


    T turned to see a couple of mounted guards looking down on them. She waved up and shouted a greeting. Hello!


    One waved back and shouted in return. Greetings, Mistress. Good hunting, I see. They rode the couple hundred feet down to her.


    She nced around herself at her acquisitions. Good hunting, indeed. She tilted her head in consideration. Is the caravan close?


    Just a bit south, on the other side of this rise, Mistress.


    <em>Good, they kept to the anticipated path.</em> Could you send for Master Rane? I need him, just briefly, to help transport these.


    The sergeant with whom shed been speaking nodded and sent the other man to do just that.


    You were sent to check up on me, yes?


    Nothing so brash, Mistress. We were meant to see if you needed assistance.


    Uh-huh. She cocked an eyebrow at the man.


    And it seems that you did.


    She let her eyebrow fall and forced a smile, stifling a grimace. Fair enough, sergeant. Thank you.


    He gave a seated bow. Our pleasure to assist, Mistress.


    * * *


    They arrived at the outskirts of Bandfast just as the sun touched the far horizon, behind them. The light seemed to paint the walls a stunning red-ish orange.


    The sight brought a smile to Ts lips, and she felt a bit of her tension slip away. <em>We made it.</em>


    The trip through the farnds wasrgely unremarkable. There was some work being done in the winter fields but not much. Most of what was being done was contained to the asional greenhouse.


    If T remembered correctly, there were a series of growing chambers under the city that operated year-round. <em>I wonder if the entrances are out here, to keep the agriculture all linked, or in the city.</em>


    She could look into it, or ask, but she decided she didnt actually care that much.


    Their arrival seemed to fall near the end of the workday, as many workers wereing from their tasks, and walking the road back to the city proper.


    The familiar <em>crack</em> of defensive magics took an arcanous bird from the sky on the far side of the city, and T felt her smile widen.


    Terry, for his part, was contentedly curled on her shoulder, showing no concern for the death of so simr a creature. Not that T expected him to care. <em>If he gave any thought, I bet it was just a desire to eat it.</em>


    His cor was topped off and clearly still fully functional.


    They rolled through the western city gate and turned into the nearest work-yard.


    T faced Mistress Odera, who was sitting in the center of the wagon top, and gave a bow. Thank you, Mistress.


    Mistress Odera gave her an inquiring look. Whatever for?


    For not lording your authority over me, for allowing me to learn. T shrugged.


    The older woman smiled and nodded. It was a pleasure. We should probably discuss our next venture soon.


    Breakfast?


    Sheughed. Ill see what I can do. Where would you like to meet?


    I know of a ce that has <em>excellent</em> breakfast sandwiches. They dont really have a ce to sit to eat, but we can find somece nearby?


    Mistress Odera frowned. I think Id prefer to eat inside somewhere, this time of year.


    T looked at her again, more closely, and saw the heavy nkets wrapped around her, against the cool, winter-evening air. Ahh, thats fair. Im sorry for not thinking of that.


    Mistress Odera waved her off. Thats more than fine. How about we meet at the Caravan Guild office, and decide from there? My great granddaughter should be in town. It might be nice to introduce the two of you. Shes just a few years older than you, I believe.


    <em>Im the same age as her great granddaughter?</em> T knew about how old Mistress Odera was, but shed never really put it in that light. Oh, sure. She shrugged. That would work.


    Mistress Odera smiled. Alright, then. Ill send a message if Im unable to meet up tomorrow. Otherwise, Ill see you just after sunrise?


    I look forward to it. T turned and crouched next to thedder of the now stopped wagon. Thank you, Tion, for getting us back.


    He nced her way with a smile. A pleasure to serve, Mistress.


    T patted his shoulder, stood, turned, and stepped off the top, Terry reflexively sinking his ws into her shoulder to stay in ce as she dropped.


    She absorbed hernding fairly well, only feeling a miniscule drop in ending-berry power. <em>You know, I should keep that in my system, even in the city. It really feels like it reinforces my pathways enough to warrant the use of resources.</em>


    After a moments thought, she shrugged. <em>After I visit Holly.</em> She rubbed the right side of her chest in remembered pain. <em>I wonder why it didnt protect against that injury. Maybe Holly will know.</em>


    Shed also need to find more ending-trees to harvest. <em>And a more efficient means of harvesting</em>


    She was about to head to the pay-clerk, but realized that it would take a bit for her cut to be calcted. Instead, she turned and walked to the chuckwagon.


    Amnin greeted her. You know, Mistress, we cannot possibly be done, already.


    T grinned. Of course not, Amnin. I just wanted to say thank you for the wonderful meals this trip. I know you all had to work odd hours more than a time or two to keep us fed and awake.


    Amnin gave her a searching look, then smiled. It was my pleasure, Mistress. After a brief hesitation, she added. Are you sure you would like <em>all</em> the meat jerked?


    Terry perked up at that, and T nced his way with a grin. Absolutely. Are you sure that the bones, alone, are sufficient payment?


    Definitely. They are almost too much. Amnin smiled. After a brief pause, she asked, Was there something that I can do for you, Mistress?


    No, I just came by to express my gratitude.


    Well, you are wee.


    T gave a bow of her head. Thank you once again. I hope that we see each other again soon.


    Amnin waved farewell as T departed.


    T then made a slow circuit of the work-yard, stretching her legs before walking over to the pay-clerk and waiting in the short line. Ostensibly Mistress Odera and the lead caravan Guard had submitted their reports with Archive tablets. Even so, it still took a bit for all the calctions to iterate through the system and tally. When they wereplete, T walked away with an additional forty-five gold and fifty-three silver.


    Her pay this time was a bit less than thest leg, but not by much. They hadnt lost anyone, so there were no death benefits to be paid, and the healing costs were lower, stars be praised, but theyd also, ironically, defended the caravan from fewer creatures in total.


    <em>And we have more guards to split the payout with, given they all survived.</em>


    She frowned. <em>Which would be more cost effective?</em>


    She shook her head. <em>Nope!</em>


    She decided that she wasnt a fan of that line of thought.


    <em>Moving on!</em>


    Rane came through the payment line a little while after her, but T didnt mind waiting.


    He smiled as he walked up to her. Whats the n?


    <em>Huh, he immediately assumes I have something in mind.</em> She almost prodded him about that, but then, she realized that she did, in fact, have some things in mind. So, she shrugged. Ill talk my potential next route through with Mistress Odera tomorrow, but I want to take a bit to round out some of my training. She hesitated. You interested in joining me on the next trip? This one wasnt exactly the safest.


    Rane barked augh. Thats true enough. Still, he smiled. If youre not sick of me, yet, I think Id like that.


    Any preferences on where to?


    Nothing specific. He gave her a searching look. You know, most routes from here will go through Marliweather.


    T grimaced. Yeah.


    He nced away, his voice dropping as if to not be overheard. You dont have to see them, even if youre in the same city.


    A small, sad smile pulled at her features. I know.


    But you dont want to risk it.


    Yeah. She sighed. But before we leave for anything, I need to visit Mistress Holly for all sorts of reasons. After that, I think a couple of quick runs are in order. She sighed. I wish that the Alefast route wasnt so coveted. But I think a circumnavigation of the mountains to Arconaven would be nice. After that? North, maybe? Ive never seen a city being built. That might be pretty interesting.


    Any ns for tonight? He seemed a bit uncertain.


    Find Lyn. See whats been happening. I havent seen her in a long time, and I think it would be good for the two of us to catch up.


    Rane nodded, ncing away. Ahh, well, I should leave you to that. Care to meet up for training tomorrow?


    Yeah! T grinned. We should definitely drop through and see Adam. We were gone longer than expected, but they might still be open for sparing and working together. I could use a different sparring partner.


    Ranes face fell, but T smiled a bit brighter and patted him on the shoulder, having to reach up to do so.


    Dont worry, well still fight, but we know each others fighting styles so well these days that I feel like Im more ying a guessing game than fighting. Does that make any sense?


    He shrugged, smiling a bit at that. It makes some sense, but weve still a lot we can learn from each other.


    Undoubtedly, but if were going on the next route together, well have plenty of time for that on the road.


    True.


    Besides, theyll train with you too, dont forget. Mages who are willing to train with the Guard arent <em>that</em>mon.


    He nodded. True enough.


    Well, then. See you, tomorrow?


    Yeah. Midmorning? At the Guardspound we went tost time?


    That sounds great. T gave him a quick hug goodbye, which he returned on reflex, and set off into the city.


    Behind her, Rane stared after her, seeming mildly confused.


    <em>Huh, why did I do that?</em> She shrugged. <em>Whatever. To Lyn!</em>


    * * *


    T stood in the darkened street, illuminated by well-spaced streetlights, staring at therge building, which stood less than a block from Lyns house, on the opposite side of the street.


    <em>Wasnt this whole block a park?</em> She felt an odd pressure from the building, but that might have just been the mass of humanity crowded within and the light and noise spilling out onto the otherwise quiet, evening street. <em>I suppose a tavern isnt that odd to see here, but I would have sworn that it wasnt</em>


    She shook her head, continuing on. <em>Ill ask Lyn.</em>


    A couple of minutester, and she was standing outside the familiar door. It was locked, but that was no barrier. T pulled out her key and opened the door, stepping inside. Lyn?


    The lights were on, subtle magic flowing through the air along with the light. <em>Thats a bit odd.</em>


    Lyn, are you here? She looked closer at the magical lights, and noticed that the light they emitted had a hit of magic lingering within. <em>Like how magical fire carries a signature.</em> Shed never really noticed it, before. <em>Holly did say that my senses would continue to improve. Ill have to ask her, I suppose.</em>


    A thump, reminiscent of a heavy book being set down on a side-table preceded that of bare feet, running through the house. T? Lyn pulled to a halt just out of arms reach.


    T frowned. Are you okay?


    Lyn straightened a bit, cocking an eyebrow. Am I okay? She shook her head. You dont write. You dont send word. I had to find out about your dy in Makinaven <em>third hand</em>, T. She met Ts gaze, directly. Lyns eyes were filled with barely contained irritation. Im your guild contact, yourndlord, and your friend.


    T opened her mouth but found herself speechless. She waspletely on the back foot. <em>Shes right.</em> IIm sorry, Lyn. Youre right. I should have let you know, somehow.


    The older woman looked marginally shocked but didnt respond right away, so T continued.


    Im nning on looking into Archive tablets, and that should let memunicate more effectively, going forwards. I truly am sorry. I didnt even consider letting you know, and I should have.


    Lyn sighed and nodded, clearly still a bit frustrated, but not willing to press the issue.


    T scratched the back of her head self-consciously. Then, an idea struck. Oh! Let me make you some tea. I got some in Makinaven, and I think youll like it.


    The mention of tea seemed to lift Lyns mood. Ha! T, thats brilliant, and a cup sounds wonderful. Thank you. She stepped forward and gave T a hug.


    T returned it, hesitantly. <em>What is with the hugs, this evening?</em>


    I really did miss you, T. Lyn still sounded a bit frustrated, but T didnt doubt the sincerity of the sentiment.


    And I you.


    Lyn linked arms with T, drawing her into the sitting room.


    T took a deep breath, reveling in the scent of the ce. There wasnt anything specific that stood out, but it just smelled <em>right.</em>


    So, will you need help selling the tea you brought back?


    T gave her an odd look. What?


    The tea. Do you already have a buyer, or will you need help?


    I just bought tea for myself. Why would I have brought extra?


    Lyn turned to regard her. Oh Tea is one of Makinavens primary exports. This season? Its easy to make a thirty to fifty percent profit, if you have the right buyers here. More if you sell it to end users yourself, but that takes time that I think you dont want to spend. You can make more with specific types or producers, less if its growing season, here.


    T groaned. I even bought more for myself, as I was leaving. And I even have some money


    Im sorry, T. We never really discussed possible trade-goods on your routes. Lyn patted her arm. Come, now. It wasnt something we were thinking of, because you wereless financially well off. It sounds like thats changed?


    T shrugged. You could say that. She remembered recording her most recent payout.


    <em>Seventy gold, one-hundred and forty-eight silver, and fifty copper.</em>


    She shook her head in realization. One moment.


    T pulled a small notebook from Kit and flipped to the furthest page with writing on it. <em>I didnt carry over the conversion. Seventy-one gold, forty-eight silver, and fifty copper.</em>


    There. Sorry about that, I just realized that I neglected to do something. She sighed. I do have another payment due on my debts tomorrow, too.


    Lyn gave a small smile and cocked an eyebrow.


    T grinned. And I owe you twenty silver for this months rent. She grimaced, then. Do I owe anyte fee, or anything?


    Lynughed, taking a seat in one of the chairs. Lets have some tea and call it even. She hesitated. I mean, if thats alright. I dont mean that youre obligated to-


    T held up a hand, smiling. That sounds wonderful. I want to hear whats been going on with you.


    Lyn smiled in return, clearly rxing a bit. Only if you tell me of your adventure, after.


    That sounds wonderful.


    The night wore on as the two friends spoke and spun tales. Theyughed as the chamomile tea flowed, keeping throats wet and words flowing. After all, it took a lot to fully discuss their nearly two months apart.


    In the end, they didnt get to their respective beds until after midnight.


    <em>It is good to be home.</em>

 Chapter 156: Aproa

    Chapter 156: Aproa


    T woke early and moved through her standard routine, despite herte bedtime. <em>If I let myself sleep in, Ill just rotate my whole schedule around and muck up all my habits.</em> And that was the best result she could expect.


    When she finally exited Kit, she felt rxed, refreshed, and awake. Ready to face the day.


    As she climbed out into her room in Lyns house, she found herself frowning. <em>I should just rent a closet or something. I dont need the whole room when Im staying inside Kit.</em> Probably worth discussing with Lyn.


    That would only be more true as time went on and Kit grew bigger on the inside. <em>Speaking of which, thats not a bad use of funds, if I have any to spare.</em> She hesitated at that. <em>No. Ill need to buy some goods to trade on my next route.</em>


    She sighed. <em>I should set aside some amount of gold for trades and use the profits from that to expand Kit.</em>


    She tilted her head to the side. <em>That is an excellent idea. It would allow me to expand Kit at a regr rate, without taking from my other funds.</em>


    Terry flickered to her shoulder, giving her a soft headbutt and pulling her mind back to the present.


    Morning Terry.


    He trilled back, happily.


    The sky was still dark outside, but T knew that dawn was near at hand.


    To breakfast!


    Lyn was awake but seemed much less chipper than T.


    Good morning, Lyn.


    Morning.


    What are you doing up?


    Lyn gave her a quizzical look. I have work.


    Ahh, right. When do you head in?


    She shrugged. Any time now. Youre meeting your mentor at the Guildhall, right?


    Thats right, but I need to drop through the work yard to charge the cargo-slots first.


    Lyn stood, heading towards the door. Lets go then; I dont want to bete.


    They locked the door behind them and headed through the still dark streets.


    As they passed the tavern, T was a bit confused, given that it seemed to still be busy.


    When did they build that ce? T gestured. It seems quite popr.


    Lyn gave her an odd look. T, thats been there She shook her head. Rust, I dont remember a time it wasnt there.


    T looked at her questioningly. There is no way that was there before I left. Wed have eaten there, at least once.


    Didnt we?


    No. We most certainly did not.


    They both stopped, looking at the tavern. After a long moment, Lyn turned and started walking.


    Where are you going, Lyn?


    Lyn nced back her way. To the work yard. Youing? She nced at the tavern behind T. If you want, we can grab lunch there or maybe dinner.


    Arent you the least bit curious?


    Of course. Thats why I suggested eating thereter today. Lyn frowned, then shook her head. Tomorrow might be better, and we definitely dont have time, now. Come on. I dont want to bete.


    T rolled her eyes. <em>Whatever. Ill get it outter.</em>


    They walked on through the cold streets. There wasnt much snow on the ground and the melded paving stones felt fantastic to Ts bare feet. <em>I love the winter.</em>


    They talked about small things as they went, but eventually T brought the conversation around to a topic from the night before. Like I mentionedst night, I do have the thunder bull horns and skins.


    So you said.


    They arent tea, but I would like to sell them.


    I can deal with the horns for ten percent. The skins, I think you should take to the Constructionists to meld with your elk-leathers.


    T was hung up on the first part. Ten percent?


    Lyn shrugged. I can get six gold apiece. You got five before, right? In a waning city? She smiled mischievously. Youll end up with more in the end. Trust me.


    T huffed augh. I do, I do. Fine. After a moment, T frowned. You really think I should use the thunder leather for myself? <em>Ooo, I like the sound of that I wonder if thats really what its called?</em>


    Yes, and you should soul-bond those clothes, before you run out of luck and lose them.


    That was a very good point. She did intend to bond them eventually. <em>And I cant bond Kit yet.</em> She tsked. <em>Not for a long time, yet.</em> Yeah Youre right, there.


    If she did, she could finally get some use out of Merilins other clothes. <em>All Ive ever really done is try them on. I want to wear them, but it isnt worth the risk, either of damaging them, or ending up naked.</em>


    Yeah. I think youre right.


    Oh, of course I am. Im d that youre beginning to see it. Tughed, and their conversation turned to more frivolous topics once again.


    They reached the work-yard, and T did her duty, quickly refilling the dimensional storage items reserves of power.


    From there, they quick-walked to the Guildhall, arriving about the time that Lyn needed to check in for work. So, they said a hasty goodbye, and T began looking around for Mistress Odera.


    The older woman wasnt hard to find she was waiting to one side, just inside the doors.


    Lyn gave a slight bow to the woman as she passed, but otherwise headed straight for the back.


    T walked over to Mistress Odera and herpanion, ostensibly her great granddaughter. With a bow, T greeted the older Mage. Mistress Odera. It is a pleasure to see you.


    Mistress T, thank you for joining us for breakfast. She turned to the side, indicating the woman beside her. This is my granddaughter, Aproa.


    T gave a second bow to Aproa. Mistress Aproa, a pleasure to meet you.


    Aproa bowed in return. As it is to meet you, Mistress T. My grandmother has had many wonderful things to say about you.


    T gave a half smile. Funny, I never took Mistress Odera to be a liar.


    The womanughed even as Mistress Odera rolled her eyes, and T took that moment to assess the Mage,bining what shed already seen with what she could detect, in the brief lull in the conversation.


    <em>The Archon, not Mage</em>. She corrected. <em>Almost Fused.</em> Aproa was well ahead of T and Rane on the progression to Fused, though that was to be expected. By her looks, she waste twenties, but as T had well and truly learned, perceptions were only vaguely useful when trying to determine the age of a Mage.


    She was traditionally beautiful, but more in the way a wine maker or craftsman was beautiful than the delicate beauty of a fairytale princess. Aproas beauty was strong and vibrant, her face nicely framed by her almost perfectly ck hair.


    She wore very traditional Mages robes, but they were made from sturdy leather rather than cloth. The sps, at a quick nce, seemed wholly insufficient to hold the garment on, despite the perfect fit. <em>There must be something else that adds to the security of the closure.</em>


    There was a sense about the Archon that made T feel like she didnt have enough air, even though she knew that wasnt the case; she could breathe just fine. <em>What is her specialization?</em>


    Aproa was obviously a Material Guide, specializing in air, and she wore two heavily inscribed bar maces hanging from her belt, one on each side. The weapons were inscribed identically. From what T could see, each was meant simply to drive air away from themselves.


    T frowned. <em>No, its more nuanced than that.</em> Shed have to study the inscriptions in more detail if she really wanted to understand them, but that wasnt something she could do right then.


    The moment passed, and T was pulled back to the needs of the social situation.


    Mistress Odera was shaking her head. Self-deprecation doesnt be you, Mistress T. Come. Let us grab breakfast. There is much that we should discuss.


    <em>What?</em> She almost frowned before she remembered. <em>Right. I joked that anything good said about me would have to be a lie.</em> T just smiled as they began to walk.


    The three of them moved towards the guild lounge. In the silence, T decided to go for nostalgia. Mistress Aproa, what is your foundation?


    The other woman smiled genuinely, responding without hesitation. Having the wind knocked out of you should be more literal.


    T gave her a quizzical look, then nced down to the maces. She found herself chuckling. Really?


    Aproa shrugged. Yeah. Seems to fit, and its very satisfying to drop a magical creature by driving the air from their lungs.


    Ill bet.


    Theres obviously other things that I can do, but that is the foundation of what I pursued.


    Ill be curious to learn about those other things.


    As they entered through therge, double doors, a vaguely familiar form stood up from a nearby table. Well, as I live and breathe. Mistress T?


    T frowned for a moment before it clicked. Master Cran, good to see you.


    The man bowed. Life seems to be treating you well. He grinned. You dont have the same timidity about you as you did when Mistress Lyn brought you in. His eyes flicked to the two women beside her.


    Oh! T cleared her throat. My apologies. This is Master Cran. Master Cran, this is Mistress Odera and Mistress Aproa.


    He bowed to each in turn. It is a pleasure to see each of you once again.


    <em>Of course hes met them before.</em> T kept herself from rolling her eyes.


    They gave bows of their heads in return, and the group exchanged mild pleasantries for another moment before Mistress Odera excused them politely, stating that they had quite a bit to discuss between the three of them.


    Cran took the dismissal with grace, smiling and wishing them a wonderful day before he returned to his table and his book.


    The three women took a table in a back corner, and Mistress Odera ordered a spread of food fit for a dozen people.


    Aproa cocked an eyebrow, evaluating T again. So, gran wasnt pulling my leg? You really can eat that much?


    T shrugged. Yeah. I almost have to, actually.


    Fascinating. Your defense is in the take the hit category, then? Rather than avoiding or mitigating?


    T nced to Mistress Odera. She doesnt know?


    The older woman shrugged. Your magics are yours. The curiosity of your eating isnt a secret, but the specifics of your defenses? She shook her head. That is not for me to share.


    T actually felt a bit touched by that. Though, she wasnt sure shed have offered the same courtesy, in Mistress Oderas position. <em>What does that say about me?</em> Well, thank you. She smiled, turning back to Aproa. I have heightened regeneration, as well as a good measure of increased resilience.


    Aproa clucked her tongue. Your regeneration pulls from your stores, hence the need to eat more.


    Precisely.


    Fascinating indeed. Aproa bit her lip, seeming to be contemting how to ask something.


    What is it?


    The woman looked to her grandmother, who smiled, but didnt say anything.


    Well Aproa swallowed, ncing away. Im in need of martial practice, but opponents are in short supply, unless I want to spend half a decade in the wilderness.


    T immediately thought of Rane for a number of reasons and suppressed a smile. Oh?


    Aproa nodded. So, I was wondering if you would be interested in sparring on asion.


    Sure.


    The Archon blinked back a T. Just like that?


    Sure. I could use a greater variety of opponents. Im going to the training yard after breakfast. You cane if you want.


    She brightened visibly. That would be fantastic! Thank you.


    The food arrived shortly after that and put a damper on conversation. The words that were exchanged were simple, small talk.


    As the meal was wrapping up, Mistress Odera turned the conversation to their next venture. I think that we should go to Marliweather next.


    T stiffened. Lets go to Arconaven.


    Mistress Odera gave her an odd look. Why?


    Ive never been that way?


    A single raised eyebrow was the Mages only response.


    Aproa suppressed augh.


    T frowned towards the woman.


    Excuse me, sorry. I just am used to being on the receiving end of that look.


    That made T smile and relieved some of the tension. Id rather not go to Marliweather, not just yet.


    Why. The inflection made it more of a statement then a question, almost amand to exin. Mistress Odera would obviously know that T had grown up in Marliweather, but she was likely unaware of Ts feelings about her family. They had danced around the topic on asion, but T really hadnt been interested in discussing it with the woman before, nor was she about to do so now.


    My reasons are my own, for now. As the forest cities are not reasonable options, I think Arconaven is a perfect choice.


    Mistress Odera frowned but didnt press. Most routes to Arconaven go through Marliweather, but there are a couple a month that go direct. Ill look into it. Will Master Rane be joining us?


    That is my understanding.


    Good. Ill see what is avable.


    The three chatted a little while longer to let their food settle, but it wasnt too long before T sighed contentedly, and pushed back from the table. We should get going, Mistress Aproa. Master Rane is going to meet me for training, and now is as good a time as any to start sparring with you as well.


    That sounds wonderful.


    The three stood in unison, the younger women bidding Mistress Odera goodbye and thanking her for the meal before departing.


    Mistress Odera, for her part, sat back down and pulled out a book, content to sip her tea and enjoy the peace and quiet of solitude.


    * * *


    When they arrived at the Guardsmans training ground, Aproa pulled up short. Here? She looked to T. Id thought you would have rented a training ground for Mages.


    T shrugged. Were primarily melee fighters, so Guards make good opponents.


    Huh. Aproa was frowning.


    What?


    I meanit seems unfair?


    T grinned. Wait til you meet Adam.


    Aproa still seemed skeptical but didnt object further.


    T returned her attention to the training yard, filled as ever with men and women going through various forms, exercising, or sparring. As usual, there was a scattering of healing focused Mages throughout, ready to attend to any injury.


    T stepped across the almost invisible line between street and training yard, and immediately, the closest person stopped what she was doing and came their way.


    She bowed low. Mistresses. How can the Guard serve today?


    T cocked an eyebrow. <em>A bit more subservient than before.</em> She nced to Aproa. <em>Maybe, because there are two of us?</em> What is your name, please?


    Joa, Mistress.


    Well, Guardsman Joa, I am T. We are looking for Master Rane or Guardsman Adam. Are either here?


    Ill go check. Do you mind waiting, here?


    Not at all. Thank you.


    Joa turned and jogged through her fellows, towards the nearest building.


    T nced towards Aproa with a smile. She shouldnt take long.


    Indeed, Joa had barely disappeared inside before a familiar figure stepped out, waving their way.


    Joa appeared again shortly thereafter, returning the way shede. Mistresses, you are expected. She gestured to the main building. Would you like a guide?


    No. Thank you, Joa.


    Joa bowed to the Mages once more before returning to her exercise.


    T and Aproa crossed the yard, careful to not disrupt anyone that they passed.


    Adam, the man who had waved to them, was waiting for them when they reached the building. Mistress T, a pleasure to see you.


    Adam. How have you been? Hows the family?


    Good, good. Thank you for asking. I stick close to home through winter. So, were all happier this time of year. I hear your adventure was moreadventurous than ideal.


    T snorted augh. Ill say. She turned towards herpanion. Adam, this is Mistress Aproa. Mistress Aproa, this is Guardsman Adam.


    Adam bowed to the new Mage. Good to meet you, Mistress Aproa.


    Likewise, Im sure. Aproa gave a small bow.


    Master Rane is already here. Adam turned, gesturing into the building.


    They walked in near silence for the short way to a familiar courtyard.


    T found herself grinning. Hey! You got us the same one.


    Indeed we did.


    Thank you, Adam.


    He cracked a smile. It was a small thing.


    They came out onto the surrounding, open air walkway, a few steps above the sand of the training yard.


    Down in the sand, Rane was sparing against some eight guards, all on the younger side. Force was still at his waist, only evident by the handle sticking out of his dimensional storage. In the greatswords ce, Rane wielded a longsword and shield.


    The fight was near its end, so the three new arrivals simply watched as Rane was finally overwhelmed by the sheer number of opponents.


    Even so, he eliminated four before they took him down.


    Aproa was frowning when T nced her way. What is it?


    The other woman clicked her tongue, behind her teeth. It just seemsodd to have guards take down a Mage.


    Adam smiled. To be fair, he isnt using his main weapon. We dont wish deaths, here. And Master Rane can deliver death blows that are just that, more quickly than the healer in attendance can see to the injured.


    Aproa nodded but still seemeduncertain.


    Rane kicked up from the ground,nding on his feet before heughed and thanked those whod been sparring with him. He noticed the new arrivals, then. Mistress T!


    T waved. Good morning, Master Rane.


    He walked over, smiling. I am Rane. He bowed towards Aproa.


    I am Aproa. She nced to T. Mistress T was kind enough to allow me to join you in your training, today.


    Oh? He looked to T, who nodded. How did you two meet?


    T smiled back at the big man. Shes Mistress Oderas great granddaughter.


    Rane blinked at T for a moment, then regarded Aproa once again before clearing his throat. Well, then. His eyes took in her maces, then he looked back to T. How did you want to start this?


    T shrugged. I figured Adam could fight her. Give her a good picture of why were here.


    Adam cleared his throat, looking mildly embarrassed but not surprised. It actually would be good for me to get a gauge on her abilities, if we are to incorporate her into the rotations.


    Aproa looked skeptical, but didnt object, so T nodded. That sounds wonderful. Mistress Aproa?


    Yes?


    Well have you use training weapons, if thats eptable. You can probably use your actual maces when fighting myself or Master Rane, but not against the Guardsmen.


    She shrugged, setting the maces aside.


    One of the students came over, offering her a practice pair.


    Aproas eyes widened slightly as she took them. Thank you, these are a near match.


    The young man smiled. Im d. They seemed the best of what we had on hand.


    She gave a slight bow. Thank you.


    Adam walked out onto the sand. Are you ready? A student tossed him a short sword, which he caught with ease.


    A resigned expression on her face, Aproa joined him on the sand. I suppose so.

 Chapter 157: Five Percent

    Chapter 157: Five Percent


    T grinned as she watched the first, quick bout. Even Terry lifted his head from her shoulder before flickering to his favorite spot on the roof to sun-bask and watch.


    Adam neatly sidestepped or bent out of the way of Aproas attacks before moving in to ce the tip of his practice weapon to her throat.


    The Archon froze, simply staring at the man, before she nced at T.


    Adam stepped back a few paces.


    Aproaughed. Fair enough. Her grin was almost hungry as she looked back to Adam. Again, please.


    He nodded eptance, lifting his de back to a more formal, ready position.


    With Magic defenses? To incapacitation or surrender.


    Adam hesitated. If you wish, Mistress. That highly favors you, though.


    She shrugged. It seems that I need a reasonable set of advantages.


    He still seemed hesitant, but he agreed. As you wish. And T would have sworn he was trying to keep a small smile from blossoming across his features.


    The second fight was considerably longer. Aproa, it seemed, could thicken the air in a weaker imitation of Mistress Oderas shields. What she gave up in strength, however, she gained in speed of manifestation.


    The thickened air could be almost instantly enacted, easily fouling the intercepted attempts to strike her down.


    For his part, Adam quickly adapted, seeming to notice that Aproa had to see an attacking to enact her defense. Additionally, there was a slight visual distortion caused by Aproas defensive magic, which T guessed was how Adam saw the workings. His movements became quicker, and he added feints and re-directs that T had trouble following.


    A simple turn of Adams wrist would radically change the point of attack, often bypassing the defenses Aproa raised.


    Still, though Adam scored hit after hit, most likely leaving damaged flesh, and possibly even bruised bones, Aproa persisted, her own weapons sweeping through the air in dizzying patterns, their momentum mostly maintained through the striking sequences.


    T noted that Adam was at yet another disadvantage, given that his sword wouldnt cut like a real one would, but Aproas clubs would hit very nearly as hard as their non-practice lookalikes.


    Even so, Adam didnt seem concerned. He rarely deigned to block her attacks directly, and when he did, it was almost always a deflection.


    The final strike came suddenly, with nothing to set it apart from the flurry of exchanged blows that preceded it.


    Aproa was swinging for Adams head with her left mace, a look of growing frustration across her features.


    Adam stepped in, cutting at the wrist of the striking hand. This counterstrike was stopped by thickened air, which also spoiled Aproas own attack.


    As he was cutting towards the attacking wrist, Adam stomped down on the Mages leading foot, causing her to bend forward reflexively from the shock and pain. Taking full advantage of that exact reaction, Adam struck Aproa across the center of her face with his offhand, breaking her nasal bone and folding the entire nose over, to one side.


    Aproa cried out in pain, dropping her maces and clutching her face, even as blood spurted from her nostrils.


    The healer was there in an instant, power washing through Aproa and reversing the injury.


    Adam, for his part, had quick-stepped backwards, somehow wholly avoiding getting even a drop of blood on himself.


    When the healer returned to the side, Aproa grimaced, then spit onto the sand, clearing her mouth of some blood. That wasinstructive.


    Adam gave a slight bow. Indeed. Are you alright, Mistress?


    The Archon shook her head, smiling. The onlysting injury is to my pride. She nced down with a small frown. Well, and these bloodstains will be mildly irritating to get out. She shrugged and smiled again. What did you learn, master Guardsman?


    T felt herself smile at the honorific given to Adam. <em>Well earned, indeed.</em>


    Adam nodded. You dont block what you cant see, for one.


    Aproa frowned at that. I <em>dont</em>? Dont you mean, <em>cant</em>?


    Not at all. He swept his sword in a tight circle around his head. There, I have just blocked behind my head. I did not have to see behind me to defend my skull. You are capable of thickening the air out of your line of sight, yes? I believe you did so a few times when I made my next ce of attack more obvious.


    She nodded in return, considering.


    Right, so here is my rmendation. You clearly have some training in striking and defensive patterns. We can map out standard defenses that cover for the openings in each of your patterns, and you can practice forming those defenses instinctively, whether you think an attack ising there or not. Additionally, you need more practice against multiple opponents to increase your instincts for where attacks could being from, based on the flow of the fight.


    That sounds wonderful. She bowed to the man. Thank you.


    The rest of the morning wentrgely as T had expected. Since the Mages were restricted to mostly mundane fighting to help them improve those skills to betterplement their magics, they were usually beaten, whether by groups of newer guards or individual, more experienced fighters.


    Throughout, the instructors gave tips and corrections to allbatants, and all in all it was a refreshing way to spend the time.


    T, for her part, cycled between three of Flows forms, as well as empty handbat. She participated in matches with each of those four weapon-sets one-on-one, one-on-a-group, and group-vs-group.


    The only style of traditional fighting she didnt practice that morning was fighting with Flow able to change shape mid-fight. <em>Not, precisely, traditional, but it will be good to add in tomorrow.</em>


    She also deeply wanted more practice with her bloodstars, but that would also have to wait, for now.


    When lunch rolled around, the Guards wished the Mages farewell, and let them know that this training ground would be open to any or all of them for the time being.


    Rane, Aproa, and T then briefly discussed the n going forward.


    Aproa smiled. Thank you for letting mee today. I think it was a really good change of pace. I can see it adding a lot to my capabilities, going forward.


    Rane cocked his head to the side. What do you normally do for training?


    A few of us meet up in one of the Mage training yards to practice defense and offense, target protection or acquisition, and a host of other things. You are both wee, if youd like. We meet after lunch daily. Though not everyone makes it every day. We could go grab some food and head over?


    Rane nced to T inquiringly, clearly interested.


    T shrugged. I definitely need to eat, but afterwards, I really should drop by my inscriber. There are a <em>lot</em> of things that I need checked into, including refreshing my scripts. <em>Memory modification not the least.</em> Truthfully, arge part of her had wanted to go straight to Holly when she arrived back in Bandfast, so that she could learn what she could about what had happened to her, but another part was afraid to find out the truth. She pushed that aside. Tomorrow? We can do more martial work here in the morning, then the Magical training after noon?


    That sounds good. Rane turned back to Aproa. Im free after lunch, if the offer is good for just me.


    She smiled in return. Of course! She looked back to T. And that sounds like a great n for tomorrow. Solunch?


    Rane and T heartily agreed.


    * * *


    Lunch was fantastic, but T continually found herself distracted by her uing visit to Hollys workshop.


    <em>Am I just an automaton, making my choices based on what some creature put in my head?</em> Intellectually, she knew that was silly. Xeel had assured her that the influence had been slight, a nudge more than a push, and certainly not an in-depth hijacking of her will.


    Even so, she found herself almost as afraid of learning as she was of not knowing. <em>Thats just ridiculous.</em>


    She bid goodbye to Rane and Aproa and set off to Hollys.


    As she stepped inside the moderately warm building, a buzz of power rippled across her neck. <em>Connecting to Hollys systems.</em>


    Finally.


    T almost shrieked in surprise as Holly stood from a chair right beside the door. Terry lifted his head to nce at her, then curled back down, unimpressed.


    I thought Id have to track you down. Come on. Holly walked towards the back, beckoning for T to follow.


    T rested her hand on the center of her own chest, feeling the need to calm her heart. <em>Was she just waiting there? How did I not sense her through the wall?</em>


    Still, the older woman didnt slow, and so T followed her back to the familiar workroom.


    When the door swung shut, a series of inscriptions activated across Hollys skin, which T had never seen active before.


    Power hummed through the air, and a second series of inscriptions activated, this time in the shape of a cube around the entire workroom.


    Now, Mistress T. Have a seat.


    T was looking around, trying to study the working embedded in the walls, floor, and ceiling. What did you do?


    I cut us off from any outside intervention or eavesdropping. Be sparing with your magic, you only have what is in your body at the moment.


    T looked inside, frowning but found her gatenot gone, but closed off, somehow.


    She began to hyperventte. <em>How is this possible? You can close someone elses gate?</em>


    Of course, it made sense in theory, but shed never <em>Breathe, T.</em>


    Holly sat on her own stool, calmly waiting for T to move.


    <em>One step at a time.</em> She walked over and sat in the chair left avable to her.


    Good. She smiled. First things first. You are not corrupted. Your mind is still under the control of the real you, mainly your spirit and soul. She frowned lightly. Though, you havent been treating your body very well, but that is ater conversation.


    So Im not being controlled?


    No, not at all. There is a bit of a lingering influence, pushing you a bit more towards dangerous actions, but that is less pronounced than you might think. Id give it a five percent stake in your decision making, assuming you arent in a high stress environment.


    You mean, like on the road? Pursued by armies of Leshkin?


    Fair point.


    So what happened?


    The short version? You had your short-term memory erased, twice it seems, but I only have a record of one.


    Can you recover it?


    Holly gave a puzzled look. No, dear. I dont have a brain scan to even begin restructuring your lost memories. All the inscriptions recorded were magics in and around you, and physical stresses you endured.


    Would that help?


    Maybe? If we expanded the capacity of your consciousness monitor, it could delve into your mind, and pull-out memory fragments. She shrugged. We might be able to piece something together, but that would be a substantial upgrade to the functionality, and something I wouldnt rmend to anyone with a lower power density than you. She smiled. So, the inscriptions in question would normally be reserved for those who are at least Fused, preferably Refined.


    But I could sustain them?


    You could. She hesitated. You would need a link to the Archive, though. No human mind below Reforged could handle the stress. She tapped her side. I keep myself well inscribed towards that end, but you dont like staying in cities, and losing a connection required for a working within your mind would bebad.


    T nodded. What do you suggest, then?


    Soul-bond an Archive tablet. An artifact style, of course.


    What would that even do?


    Well, once youd done that, I would be able to modify your consciousness monitor to use that link to copy out your mental structure and parse through it, among other things.


    Ts eyes widened. You want my mind to be copied to the Archive?


    Holly sighed. No, dear. I effectively want to take pictures of your brains structure and cognitive pathways, so that your scripts can analyze a static version. That is <em>much</em> less intensive than trying to analyze your mind as it is actively working.


    What then? T was still quite apprehensive.


    It could then present you with rpiled memories, as it reconstructs them. In time, it could do a lot of other things as well. It would expand your cognitive abilities further and utilize your increased mental capacities better than weve managed already, perform calctions, and in theory it could even offer advice.


    Offer advice. She gave Holly a deadpan look.


    Holly shrugged. Any sort of sentience requires a soul or spirit, and since yours is the only one in there it would being from you. But yes, Advice is the right word. It could process more information than you, alone, and then offer up the decision that you would have made, if you had time to process it all yourself.


    That could work There were all sorts of odd implications, but it bore consideration. T had a thought, then. What if my mind was altered again?


    Youd have, avable to your magic, ongoing versions of your mind. From those your inscriptions could fill in the gaps, and rebuild what you lost, presenting to you the memories that something tried to destroy.


    T considered that. All it would take is letting my mind map be avable in the Archive.


    Holly shook her head. Not at all. Firstly, you should know by now that the Archive is invible. The information pulled from you would be stored in a way locked to you and your scripts. No one else would ever have ess, unless you granted them such. She held up her hand. And before you ask, with your mental monitoring inscription, it would be virtually impossible for someone to force you to grant that ess. The scripts would detect coercion and prevent the approval from going through. Secondly, the inscription will be <em>far</em> more than simply the capturing and transferring of mind maps.


    The more she considered it, the more T sort of liked the idea. <em>Plus, Ive been wanting an Archive Tablet anyways.</em> So, then could I pull other information from the Archive directly into my mind?


    Technically, yes, but the conscious mind really cant handle true info dumps. You could call up specific books that you were authorized to ess and read phantom copies. But you couldnt simply <em>wish</em> to know what a book said and imbibe it.


    T considered. What about subconsciously?


    Subconsciously? Holly tapped her lips. I suppose we could train your subconscious to utilize the bond, but that would take time that I dont really have.


    I could use an inside-out Archon star.


    Holly frowned. An inside-out Arch- Her eyes lost focus, like she was reading something thaty between Holly and T. Huh. Thats interesting. Her eyes began flicking back and forth, adding to the sense that Holly was reading. Yeah, that could work. Youd have to learn how to make one though Her eyes refocused, then she sighed. Let me guess, you already did so, by ident, and found someone to tell you what you had done?


    That was almost hurtfully urate. Something like that.


    Holly sighed again. Alright, then. From what I understand, that would allow for some interesting things, but you would lose conscious control of the connection, at least until you trained that, specifically. Id have quite a bit of research to do, in order to integrate it, but I like learning new things.


    Could the conscious control be mimicked by the inscription? That would eliminate the need for training.


    You mean you ask the inscription for a book, and it presents it to you? Holly cocked her head to the side. Interesting. It could work, but it would be at least a bit less efficient for that. Moreplex, too. She nodded, then. It would be far better for the memory archive and analysis of your mind maps, though.


    So?


    So, yes. I think that would actually be a fantastic use for you. She shrugged. Ill have to finish designing the script with this in mind. As I consider it, Id likely havee to the need for a subconscious bond in the end, and Id have suggested it, then.


    <em>Would you now?</em> T grinned.


    What else do you wish to discuss?


    T frowned. You mean, aside from the fact that an arcane seems to have altered my mind within this very city?


    Holly waved her off. The Archon council is looking into it. It isnt a concern for a Bound.


    T narrowed her eyes. It is my mind.


    And we are addressing that, yes?


    Can I know whats been found?


    When appropriate, I will let you know.


    T felt some things click into ce. You want to wait until Im inscribed with the mental monitoring. <em>She was leading me this way the whole time.</em>


    That is a consideration.


    So, you arent really sure Im not still under their influence.


    Sure is such a definitive word.


    T growled. Whats going on, Mistress Holly?


    You are you; you are human; and a Concept Arcane has taken particr interest in you. Until we can get you fully protected, we are on a need-to-know basis, and that is really all I can tell you. Even that is more than I was advised to share.


    T ground her teeth, but then had a thought. You know, Archive tablets are <em>expensive.</em> Given this is a fairly critical matter?


    Holly sighed. One will be provided for you to bond. BUT! She held up a finger. I am no longer going to be giving you my pity discount.


    T rocked back as if pped. Wow, pity discount?


    Yes. You were poor but interesting, so I didnt want you to go off and die forck of funds.


    Thatthat is really heartless. You only helped me because I was interesting?


    Thats what you have a problem with? Holly gave a small smile. I wanted to work on you, due to your magical density, and I wanted to work on your desired schemas. You are fascinating, and I wasnt willing to let your poverty stop me from experimenting.


    T grimaced. So, why not give me the inscriptions for free?


    Because that which you do not pay for isnt appreciated and is often abused. I calcted what I thought you could afford and charged you that. She patted Ts wrist. But you arent poor anymore. She hesitated. Well, not <em>as</em> poor.


    Fine. T was not happy, but she realized that she wasnt going to get anywhere by pursuing the topic further. Ill inform the Constructionists to bill you for the tablet.


    Holly rolled her eyes. Very well. Ill deal with the Archon Council about getting reimbursed. Now, what else?


    T nodded once. So, I recently encountered a hallucinogenic effect. Can we protect against that?


    Holly crinkled her nose. We cant really, because thats how the body functions. If we block hormones and the like from influencing your thinking you would lose the ability to doanything? She shrugged. I dont even know, really. Messing with hormones is almost never a good idea, at least not without good reason, and nketly blocking mind alteringpounds would be incredibly unwise.


    What about the mental inscriptions I already have?


    Those dont block anything, they just streamline the processes already taking ce. If anything, they might make stimnts and hallucinogens more effective, though I dont think theyd have that effect. She scratched her cheek. You know, though. Once we add the expanded mental inscriptions, monitoring all of it could help you identify such maniptions more easily. Holly began nodding. Yeah. That is well within the capabilities of what well be working with.


    What would that even do?


    Holly shrugged. Depends on how you imagine it. Id think of it as making hormonal and such influence be moresecondary? Like you would have a better understanding of why youre feeling and acting as you do. For hallucinogens, youd likely see them more as figments, translucent and less real.


    That sounds pretty ideal.


    Well have to be careful, but I think it should be a natural feature of what were discussing.


    <em>That sounds reasonable.</em> Alright. There are few other things I wanted to discuss.


    Holly smiled. Well, with the Concept magic discussion behind us for the moment, we dont need this anymore. The inscriptions deactivate around the room, and Ts gate, once again, gushed power, refilling her reserves rapidly.


    Terry didnt react, simply staying where he was, content to rest.


    Holly stood. Lets get some tea and dig into your other questions and ideas.


    That sounds wonderful, thank you. It was going to be an interesting afternoon.

 No Chapter today

No Chapter today


    Hey, My eldest is sick, and I had to go to the hospital with him. (Sorry for the brief exination.)


    No chapter, at least for today. Apologies for theck, and I''ll let you know if it effects more than today. -J.L.Mullins

 Chapter 158: The Right Call

    Chapter 158: The Right Call


    T and Holly sat in the workroom; a table set up between them with tea. Holly had provided the beverage, and T was quite enjoying hers.


    Terry had declined a portion when offered


    After only a couple of sips, Holly set her cup to one side. Now, I dont have all day, and you have much to do as well, I assume.


    I do. T smiled around another sip of tea.


    So?


    She set hers down as well. First, lets get some easy things out of the way. Is my mage-sight bing more sensitive?


    Of course. The longer you have your inscriptions, the more potent they will be. That includes your mage-sight.


    <em>That makes sense and is what I expected, but its good to confirm.</em> Should I be able to see magic in the lighting off empowered fixtures?


    Holly hesitated. That is a bit more sensitive than Id expected until you finished fusing, but yes. That is within expectations. She smiled. If you pay enough attention, you will be able to see fluxuations in the magic levels given off by various lights. The greater the fluctuations in inscribed lights, the closer they are to the end of their life, and the sooner they need to be reinscribed. Greater fluctuations in artifact style lights are simply the result of quality of construction and empowerment. She looked up, considering. When you reach a deeper level of perception, you will be able to interpret a citys power status, simply by ncing at any artifact style item hooked to the grid. Sheughed. Or, I suppose, the enchantments in the air within the city.


    <em>Fascinating. Ill have to start paying more attention to the subtleties I can now see.</em> What should she ask next?


    She nced to Terry, feigning sleep on her shoulder. Terry seems to store many of his vitals in extra dimensional spaces. Is something like that possible for me? It would let me have much greater reserves and be less vulnerable.


    Terry perked up, clearly curious as to the answer.


    Holly frowned, then shook her head. I see. That would exin how he is able to get smaller so easily, and with seemingly no ill effects. Even so, no. It works for Terry, there, because he does it to change size. If he were subjected to anything interfering with his magic, he would simply grow in size, to whatever his natural state is. His organs would have ces to be, and there would be no issue. If that were to happen to you, with what you propose? Your extra stores would sy out everywhere, and depending on how it was done, youd burst, and not in a fun, That was a bad idea that I can learn and grow from, sort of way.


    Ahh I hadnt really considered that. What about just hiding away critical organs?


    I see you werent listening closely. My bet is that Terry shrinks and ces the excess into what amounts to dimensional storage, yes?


    Thats what I understood.


    Good. That means, when he grows, he pulls out as much of the organ as is needed to fill the space.


    Right.


    So, you arent changing size. Youd just be creating a vacuum within your body. In the best case, your body would fill it without injury, but that would leave you with no room for your critical organs to return to at need. At worst, youd implode. It wouldnt be extreme, but it would be unpleasant.


    T grimaced. Fine. That ideas out, then.


    Quite.


    <em>What next, what next</em><em>Ah, yes.</em> I need an area of effect option.


    Holly shrugged. Delve back into alchemy.


    Alchemy? T frowned. What?


    That, or you can change your understanding of gravity. That would give you area of effect options.


    T sighed. Im not going to fundamentally reshape my understanding of my own magic.


    Then, I suggest Alchemy. She hesitated. Or do you have a good grasp and concept over another branch of magic?


    T shook her head to both ideas. I dont have time to practice another skill, mundane or magical.


    Holly looked at her with genuine confusion. Then, she seemed to realize something. Oh, I see. No. Dont do alchemy. Go to an alchemist and get a solution. Bottled fire,pressed lighting, that sort of thing. Or, you get a magic tool that does what you want.


    It was Ts turn to consider. Huh. Alright. Ill think on it. She frowned. Id have thought you would propose an inscription based solution.


    I already did. Your active gravity maniption <em>should have</em> allowed for area effects, but you dont seem to be able to make it work that way. That says your fundamental understanding is notpatible with such at this time.


    Alright then.


    Holly started nodding. Speaking of your current inscriptions. She pulled out a stone tablet. What the rust did you do to your <em>crush</em> and <em>restrain</em> inscriptions? Not only are you out of rings, but the base spell-forms are utterly fried.


    Oh I crosslinked them to stop one Leshkin juggernaut and crush another when I was out of standard uses.


    Holly wrinkled her nose, sighed, then gave a small smile. That is a disappointingly reasonable exnation.


    Disappointing?


    I was a bit excited to lecture you on foolishness, but those things arenot worth messing around with. If you had two to face at once, and you were out of rings, I can understand some desperate action.


    Huh. T found a bit of warmth stirring in her chest. <em>Was that aplement?</em>


    In that vein, though, you have been abusing your inscriptions <em>extensively</em>.


    What do you mean?


    Well, you are so full of stimnts that only the inscription on your neck, which enforces your ability to sleep, and remain conscious otherwise, is allowing you to function. Every detoxifying organ in your body has burned through six months of inscriptions in barely more than two. How much coffee have you been drinking?


    Detoxifying organs?


    Mistress T, I am no healer. Dont dodge the question.


    A... T took a deep breath then let it out slowly. A lot.


    So it would seem. And youve been sparring, I can tell by how often your body has had to heal from minor impacts and bruising. Youve been working out almost as much as youve been drinking coffee. The scripts have almostpletely rebuilt your muscture. You somehow lost your right arm entirely. That ironically allowed for a much moreplete, robust reconstruction of everything there. She hesitated, then looked up at T. Dont take off other parts just to get the same minor boost. Youre nearly there anyways, with these scripts.


    With these scripts?


    Hmm? Oh, yes. The physiological enhancement scripts are a series of inscriptions all focused on increasing the bodys capacities over time. Each approach it slightly differently, but close enough to prevent resonance issues. They are intended to build on each other. These, the ones you currently have, are almost done with their work, and their magic is almost set, which means that when I reinscribe you, we can do the next series. She hesitated. Im not describing it well. Holly bit her lip briefly. Oh! Thats it. Normally, the human body counts to three. We wanted more from your body, hence the inscriptions. So far, weve been having your inscriptions count to five over and over, reinforcing that sequence. Now, with your body limatized to its new pattern, we make the inscriptions count to eight.


    I understand the metaphor, but not how it applies.


    Ill get you the technical breakdown to study on your own time.


    Alright.


    Now, your gravity maniption, I dont think you need the hand positioning for regr targeting. You should have a pretty good mental model for that, now.


    T thought about it for a moment, then shrugged. Yeah. Thats true enough.


    So, the question remains. What do we do with your right breast?


    T snorted augh. Thats quite the question.


    Holly shrugged. What do you want?


    Well, when I use my <em>crush</em> mental model with my new scripts, I get the same effect, but it really stresses the inscriptions.


    She nodded. I was wondering what had caused that. Go on.


    Is there any way we can incorporate the ring style stress-sink from <em>crush</em> and <em>restrain</em> into my active gravity maniption?


    You mean as a fallback? Holly looked up and away, considering. To bear the extra strain if you do those heavy-requirement workings. She started nodding. I should be able to make that work.


    Great! And can you cover my whole body with those rings? I never want to run out again.


    Hollyughed. That, I cant do.


    T frowned. Why not?


    Because the strain can only be mostly redirected. I will already have to beef up the entirety of that inscription set to handle pulses of higher throughput. Best I do is Holly paused, seeming to do mental calctions. We should split them up so you dont lose all your castings with a hand, again. And we should give you a backup.


    Why put it on my hand at all?


    So, you can easily tell how many you have left? Id hate for you to think you had more than you actually did, mid-fight.


    That that is a fair point.


    So, fifteen per hand, and a back-up of five on your left breast?


    Just five more than before?


    But better distributed.


    T sighed. If thats the best we can do.


    It is, until you integrate the spell-workings more fully. Your iron defense is helping with that, by the way. Your natural magics seem to be limatizing about twice as fast as usual, even taking your high magical density into ount.


    So, what should we do with the space now avable in my right breast?


    Holly began moving things around on her tablet. You know, with the expanded functionality, Id prefer to not try to cram the entirety of your mental monitoring and consciousness maintaining scripts at the back of your neck. The dimensionality now avable would allow me to make it much more efficient, gold wise, as well as increase performance.


    T thought for a long moment, then sighed and nodded. Alright, but we need a better name for it.


    Your imaginary friend?


    Rust, I hope it doesnt manifest in that way.


    Holly chuckled. True enough. The name is important and will likely influence the functionality, over time.


    How about Nima? Neurological imaginary magical assistant.


    Holly shook her head. No, no. This needs more thought than we can give now. I dont need to incorporate the name into the schema. Take your time. Maybe use the spell-working for a bit to figure out what you think would work best.


    I will. Thank you.


    Holly pushed back and stood up. Now, I do have a lot to do, and not just in working through the minutia of how were going to alter your inscriptions. She thought for a long moment. Youre a Mage protector now, right? You get half your inscriptions paid for?


    Yes. Why? T didnt like where this was going.


    Earmark forty gold for the inscribing.


    FORTY! Thats insane?


    Is it? I need to reinforce and improve virtually every spell-form in your body and add entirely new workings. Plus the redesign isnt free.


    T grimaced. <em>Theres not really any better optionis there. </em>Fine.


    Holly smiled. Good. Now, shoo. She yfully flicked her hands towards T. Ive work to do.


    T growled but nodded. FineThank you, Mistress Holly.


    Holly gave her a long look. Well get you sorted. Say hi to Master Boma for me, if you see him again at the Constructionists. He said you are loads of fun to work with. Her eyes were glinting mischievously.


    T, a bit hesitant, agreed as she departed. Will do.


    * * *


    T paused as soon as she walked in through the wide-open doorway and into the well-appointed entry hall.


    While the magics of the scan that identified her as a human Archon were nearly identical to what shede to expect, the <em>ding</em> of this branch of Bandfasts Constructionists Guild was a bit different in tone than the one T had gotten used to in Makinaven. <em>Huh. Didnt notice that before.</em>


    Boma himself came out, stopping as he saw her. Mistress T. Youre back.


    I am, Master Boma. She gave a shallow bow. Mistress Holly sends her greetings.


    He grunted, then gave her a wary look. You arent here to harass my people about a coffee incorporator again, are you?


    She chuckled, waving his concern aside. No, no. She hesitated. Wait. Harass? Again? I never harassed anyone.


    He cocked an eyebrow at her. What do you call showing up randomly, at all hours, and questioning, in detail, as many of our assistants as you could pin down?


    T grimaced. Well, fine, if you put it that way. She took a deep breath and sighed. I apologize for acting in that way. Even though it wasnt my intention, I can see how it might have been perceived.


    Boma rocked back slightly, blinking. Iuhapology epted.


    Thank you.


    There was a moment of silence, before Boma cleared his throat and smiled. So, what brings you here today, if not the quest of a coffee incorporator?


    Dealing with a simple soul-bonding, then incorporating arge number of things into the soul-bound item.


    Boma sighed, his countenance falling. Alright. What broke?


    She frowned. Whatbroke?


    Yes, broke. What happened that you didnt expect? What inconvenient magics manifested with the soul-bond?


    Nothing broke. I want to soul-bond these. She patted the elk-leathers. And then incorporate a variety of magical and mundane items into them.


    He cocked his head. And youreing to us before the bond has taken ce?


    Of course, I thought that the wisest course. Was I wrong?


    A smile broke across his features. No! No, thats amazing. Most Archons bond whatever they feel like, thene to us for help patching the cracks and smoothing out the unwanted aspects. He wrinkled his nose slightly at the thought before his grin returned in full force. This is way better. So, a clothing item. You found some armor tobine with it, Id guess?


    T nodded. Leshkin Juggernaut.


    Boma whistled. Not bad. Thats a fantastic base for building up the defensive abilities of soul-bound clothing.


    Really? Why? Id hoped to get some utility out of them, but it sounds like youre suggesting that theyre especially good?


    Well, yeah. So long as they were harvested less than a week ago.


    They were.


    Perfect. So, Leshkin arms and armor arent made in the mundane sense, nor are they grown in the animal sense. Their magic enters into matter, in this case nt matter, and changes it to match the form and function desired. The lower tiers of Leshkin often use all their power simply to create the shape required, but knights and juggernauts? They have magic to spare that reinforces and expands the capabilities of what they mold to their will. That magic should still be within the armor. Thus, we can draw it out and make almost any article of clothing function as a base for the armor magic.


    Wow. She hadnt considered that. So, are Leshkin unique in this?


    Hmm? Oh, no. Greater elementals, elder fae, and quite a few other creatures do simr things. A good rule, which mostly holds true, is if the creature possesses material to create its body, it has this effect on the results.


    Good to know. She made a mental note to keep an eye out for such creatures. <em>Not that they are thatmon in the human wilds.</em> As usual, none of the creatures mentioned were new to her, but most were simple stories, things of myth and legend.


    Boma broke through her meandering thoughts with a question, I assume you have a few sets? Ive heard some stories about yourtest venture.


    Ive a few, yeah. Rane had given her all the Leshkin Juggernaut harvests, save those he needed for his own weapons improvement. She would repay him for what she used of his half of the spoils, if necessary.


    Wonderful. Lets go to a merging room andy it all out.


    Dont I need to bond these first? She patted her side.


    No, not at all. If we can get the merging set up, then when you perform the bond, it will incorporate everything set up at a much more efficient and deeper level. He hesitated. You wont have as much conscious control over the oue, but thats the point of the spell-form. This one will be <emplicated.</em> Id not do it at all without our merging rooms. He grinned. Oh, it is so wonderful to build a bound set fromponents instead of just patching them up.


    T smiled in return. d to have made the right call.


    Come on. Lets get to it.


    * * *


    T stood near the entrance, focusing within her finger, building up a bloodstar for the binding. <em>Easier than cracking open a piece of tungsten.</em>


    Boma was happily humming to himself as he checked, triple checked, and rechecked all the lines both on the surface and weaving through the floor.


    Terry was tucked in a nearby corner, guarding Kit, and T was wearing a borrowed arming robe.


    Alright, Mistress T. To verify, these are all the items you wish to incorporate, and you use a version of directional flow to empower your external workings capable of supporting up to eight paths?


    T nodded absently, pulling out a mundane knife. <em>The star is strong enough.</em>


    After a flex of will temporarily disabled the defensive inscriptions in her finger, she used a quick motion to open her skin. A <em>pull</em> removed the bloodstar and brought it to rest in front of her chest.


    Archon star is ready. Its not a full powered one, but that should work, correct?


    Boma examined her from where he stood. Yeah, I assume this is what youd used on your knife, before the merging when we first met?


    This is actually a bit stronger than that.


    Then it should be perfect.


    T smiled, looking in at their work from thest hour.


    The room before her was fascinating. The elk-leathersy at the center, her simple, elegant, sturdy ck belt atop them and her shoes beside. Her other outfits from the seamstress, Merilin, were arranged around the three articles of clothing. Around that were six sets of Leshkin juggernaut armor, spaced with thunder bull leather.


    The Leskin armor was of wide-ranging styles. On one extreme was wood closely mimicking a suit of full te, but instead of padding or chainmail to protect the joints, there were only smaller, more articted tes. The other extreme was simply heavy wooden rings woven into ring mail, with progressively smaller rings in tighter patterns behind. The others were mixes or types thatnded somewhere between those two.


    They had selected these specific sets for their resonance with each other, the elk-leathers, thunder leather, and T, herself.


    Most of the armor sets had had a strong counter-resonance with T, herself, and her magics. That was likely because of the Leshkin hatred of those using ending berry power. The others had been a bit tricky to harmonize with. Even so, Boma was very pleased and had no doubts that theyd get a good result. Apparently, the spell-forms acted to counter any imbnces, and hed needed very little of that functionality in this merging and bonding.


    Copper spell-forms, as delicate as spiderwebs, covered the floor, obviously dipping below the surface as well. Around each item or set was a clear circle for it to rest within.


    Additionally, around the elk-leathers, Boma had left eight circles for T to dump power into, via her void-channels.


    Boma had asked her innumerable questions as he worked. How did she want the items to integrate, what features did she want in each form, and so on.


    They had grabbed onto the same ability that Flow had manifested from her bloodstar, the ability to change shape.


    While shape-changing bound items werent terribly umon, it was almost always a feature that had to be merged in from an outside source and was therefore never as core to the item as Ts could be.


    They were ready.

 Chapter 159: One More Thing to Practice

    Chapter 159: One More Thing to Practice


    T surveyed the merging room onest time as Boma went to sit on the side in another open space.


    With quiet solemnity, only mildly spoiled by his happy smile, he ced his hands down on the circles waiting for him there. As discussed, I will be guiding the process and providing the shell of power, containing the merging. You will be fueling the actual process, however. Ready for that, Bound? He was grinning.


    Theyd discussed price already, and T had paid before theyd begun. <em>Six gold is way better than I could expect if I tried to merge these in sequence, rather than all at once.</em>


    T walked out into the room, careful to not disrupt or scuff Bomas work.


    Finally, she stood over her trusty leathers. <em>Youve seen me through a lot. Lets make this official.</em>


    She grinned stupidly. <em>You are me.</em>


    She let her aura expand and connected eight void-channels through her aura to the spell-forms inputs, making the channels asrge as she was able to with that many active.


    Power roared through her as the spell-forms began to light with power.


    Bind it now. Boma spoke calmly from the side, his own power flowing out of him.


    T looked down, still straddling her outfit, and willed the bloodstar down and into the subtle, emboss-like residue of the spirit binding shed performed months previously.


    <em>Join with me. Take of my power and lend me yours.</em> She felt a pull somewhere deep within herself. It was as if shed been doing soul-work exercises all afternoon. She almost staggered, but managed to maintain her bnce.


    Power exploded through the room, consuming the inscriptions in the floor, the materials, and Ts robe. <em>Ah, rust</em>


    After an instant of nakedness, the belt wrapped around her waist and cloth blossomed outward. In less than a blink, T stood in a cleared stone room.


    She looked down at herself andughed.


    A simply stunning linen top covered her torso, cinched at the waist and her throat, but otherwise flowing loose. The back was open most of the way down her spine, and her shoulders were bare. The base of the top continued below her belt to midthigh.


    The pants were snug without being constricting, and while under the upper garment, they were perfectly modest. Shoes had even manifested to cover her feet.


    Perfect. Thank you, Master Boma.


    He smiled in return. Happy to assist.


    T gave a little twirl in her outfit, enjoying the feel of something against her skin besides leather. <em>Though, the leather is still amazing.</em>


    With a thought she dove into the garments with her mage-sight and power, filling its reserves as she investigated.


    There were dozens of paths of power within the clothing, but they didnt give off the same sense as those within Flow. These were all much closer together, and she had the sense that the only changes were cosmetic.


    The one that felt most familiar epted the power she offered.


    Leather grew out from the belt and the choker.<em> Huh, the choker too? I wonder why that manifested.</em>


    The material flowed into the form of the elk-leathers as shed worn them previously.


    There were still ties up each side, starting at her waist and going up to her armpit, but they were now purely decorative, as she would never need to undo them again. The ties were of leather as well, of course, though she felt like she could change their appearance if she wished. <em>This might be a bit too much customization for me</em>


    The sleeves were loose without being billowy, and there were several minimal, stiff ridges that ran down the arms to hold them in ce. Somehow, the stays didnt inhibit movement at all. The ridges were evenly spaced around each sleeve, creating a subtly beautiful pattern, mirrored by simrly flexible, yet ridged features on the torso. The boning that held the shape, without inhibiting movement.


    It was a masterpiece, or rather the perfect replica of a masterpiece. <em>Im so d that it so wonderfully preserved what Merilin was able to create.</em>


    Both the first, linen-seeming outfit and this one breathed almost as if she were still naked, though she could also feel the clothing upon her skin.


    The leather of the tunic was a light grey, nearly white, while the ties were marginally darker, offering a nice hint of contrast. Below the ties, the tunic continued down to just above her knees, providing some modesty and adding to the look.


    The pants fit exactly as well as they always had before. They were a dark enough grey to evoke thoughts of thunder, storms, and torrents of driving rain. They moved with her, and the re towards her feet was as subtle as it was functional.


    Boma offhanded tossed a knife at her midsection. Dont block.


    And she didnt.


    The knife struck her in the abdomen. <em>Wow. Is that all an enemy would have to do to stab me?</em>


    Where the knife hit, she felt the leather stiffen taking on a rigidity akin to an armored te. To her mage-sight, there almost seemed to be the ghost of exactly that: an armored te, protecting the garment from the attacking de.


    Instead of sticking into her tunic or her stomach, the knife deflected to the side,nding on the ground to skitter to a stop on the floor behind her.


    The defense had taken power, though T judged that it was less power than it would have taken to repair a slit cut by such a strike. That also didnt ount for the magic and resources it would have taken to heal the wound that would have been inflicted as well.


    <em>Thats a nice improvement.</em>


    Moreover, the outfit now had a direct connection to her soul, her gate, and it topped itself off as soon as the power had been used.


    <em>That issues solved, at least.</em>


    Boma went to retrieve his knife, and T walked over to pick up Kit, Terry simply flickering to her shoulder.


    T pressed Kit to her belt and willed it to be hanging there.


    Her belt, strand by strand, broke and reconnected through Kits belt loop. Thus, in less than a count of three, Kit was back where it should be.


    T pushed power down another path within her outfit, and felt magic and her garments ripple across her, leaving her standing in the loser fitting linen outfit from before. Oh, Im going to like this so, so much. She looked to the Archon. Thank you, once again, Master Boma.


    Boma gave a happy bow. Once again, I am happy to have been able to assist, Mistress T. As he straightened, he smiled. Is there anything else we can do for you, today?


    In fact, there is. What sort of Archive tablets do you have on hand?


    He frowned. Archive tablet?


    <em>And his good mood is gone.</em> She kept a smile off her face. Yes, Mistress Holly would like me to bond with one. Shes paying for the device.


    I hope you know Ill have to check on that.


    Even though T knew that she was correct and Holly would pay for it, she suddenly felt nervous, under Bomas scrutiny. Of course.


    He regarded her for another moment before grunting. As for bonding. We should at least wait until tomorrow. Your soul needs to restabilize.


    T nodded. Sure. Mistress Holly needed the tablet today, though, so she could work on some integrations.


    Boma gave her a long look, then sighed, shaking his head. I dont want to know. Come on. He waved for her to follow him as he led the way out of the merging room and back towards an entrance.


    When they were almost all the way back, he turned to the side, into a small sitting room. It wasfortable without being spacious. There were seats for up to four people, spaced for easy, quiet conversation, without being within reach for physical contact.


    Grab a seat. He sat down in one of the chairs, and pulled out a tablet, beginning to search through the empowered device.


    T sat down and flicked out some jerky for Terry. She took the moments pause to dive back into her garment, mentally flicking through the pathways.


    Unlike Flow, she didnt have to maintain power through a pathway in order to maintain that form. She only needed to feed magic into the change, then the outfit would stabilize once more.


    In searching, she began to get a sense of what each path would do. <em>I think that this one will-</em>


    She pushed power down it, and her shoes almost seemed to liquify, the material stretching out to connect to her pant legs and seemingly was absorbed.


    <em>Hah! I got it right.</em> She hadnt cut off the power, and she felt all of her clothing start to break down to be reabsorbed. <em>NOPE!</em> She cut off the flow of magic and looked down. The clothing had be a bit more malleable in texture, but instantly snapped back into shape.


    She let out a long breath. <em>Oh, good. I didnt just magically strip naked in front of a Fused. </em>She felt her cheeks heating, nheless.


    Boma didnt react.


    <em>Alright. So, be careful trying things out in public.</em>


    Here it is. Mistress Holly put in a requisition for you for a clip-based, full Archive connection.


    T frowned. What?


    Its a little, circr, metal mp that you put around a writing implement, and any inquiry your make of the Archive is responded to by being written out.


    How does it know what Im asking about?


    You write it out.


    T blinked back at him. So, I have to have a written dialogue with the Archive?


    In a sense, yes.


    Her eye twitched. Why cant I get a tablet?


    Boma nced back at his device. Well. Mistress Holly did add a note, here, in case you asked that question, or something simr. I assume youll know what it means: We only need the connection, dear, not the fancy means of disy.


    T thought for a moment. Oh. That actually makes a lot of sense.


    He gave her an odd look. You know, even if you bind this to you, you wont be able to process the information directly.


    I know. Mistress Holly is modifying some of my inscriptions to make use of the link.


    Thatsirregr. His eyes slightly unfocused as his mage-sight came to life. Yeah, you are still a Bound. Power faded from his inscriptions. You shouldnt have the power density or He stopped, then shook his head. You know what? Its not my business. Mistress Holly wont kill you or fry your brain.


    That made T vaguely ufortable, so she moved on quickly. How much?


    For the artifact version? He hesitated. Wait. You said she was paying for it. And this note says the same.


    T shrugged. Im curious.


    Boma cocked an eyebrow. Its a bit rude to find out the cost of gifts someone gets you.


    She snorted augh. It is hardly a gift.


    He opened his mouth to ask, then closed it, shaking his head. Right, not going to ask. Fine. It will cost five gold, and Ill have to make it. There isnt much demand for this style of Archive node.


    I cant imagine why.


    Hey, they were quite popr some thirty years ago. Then, the tablets were invented, and that type became mostly obsolete. They still work perfectly, though. In fact, they are the chief way of replicating physical books from the Archives informational stores. The design is <em>incredibly</em> efficient. Even unbound, any Mage can empower it.


    Alright, alright. She held up her hands. I didnt mean any insult to the invention. She frowned. Wait. If she could send you a note on what she wants, and I imagine you can deliver it to her when its finished: Why did I need to tell you?


    He shrugged. Doesnt say the delivery fee is covered.


    She glowered at him. When will it be ready?


    He smiled. I can set up the process right now, but youll need toe back in a couple of hours to pick up the product.


    She sighed. Alright. Thank you.


    Happy to assist.


    * * *


    T took the time until her Archive connection wasplete to walk to Brands restaurant and get a meal, catching up with him and Lissa. It was a pleasantlyrge meal, and thepany was nice, even if they were interrupted fairly regrly by a sporadic stream of customers.


    Though the main meal was a hearty chicken and barley soup, with buttered wheat bread on the side, they also served her what amounted to a garlic broth that was shockingly good.


    With her dinner taken care of, and acquaintances renewed, T went back to the Constructionists and got the Archive link before taking it to Hollys workshop.


    The inscriber didnt deign to meet with her. Instead, her assistant received the empowered item, asked T to fill it with her own magic, and then thanked her for bringing it by.


    Apparently, Holly would like to have T back the next day, around sunset.


    <em>Fine. That will give my soul enough time to level out, too.</em>


    That done, she actually felt a little lost. <em>What should I do now?</em>


    After a bit of meandering, she headed back to the Guardsmans training ground to get in another workout and to run through her martial forms.


    * * *


    The sun was setting when T finally finished her martial forms. <em>Im getting quite a few of these to practice.</em>


    Adam had offered the guard-students services in creating forms based around Flows ability to change shape. She had to admit it was an appealing idea, and shed tentatively agreed. <em>Right now, it feels like Im constantly switching fighting styles. I need a coherent approach to what Im doing.</em>


    In the private bath room, off the training yard, T opened Kit on the floor, tossed a bit of jerky to Terry, and dropped in.


    As expected, Kits configuration was set up for her to bathe. These days, since shed expanded Kits capacity, that meant that most of her stuff was in another part of the space, partitioned almostpletely away from her and the inevitable steam.


    The tub-like depression in the floor was perfectly contoured for her and her water incorporators were ready and waiting beside herb and some soap.


    Now, I just have to undress. She delved into the pathways of her garments and found the one shed used earlier. <em>Now, how does this work?</em> Before, shed thought of removing her shoes, and that was what came off first, though the rest had tried to follow.


    <em>I need to bathe.</em> She pushed power down the channel, and her clothing retracted up, into the choker around her throat. <em>Huh, not the belt?</em>


    As she thought about it, however, she realized that the belt would be irritating to wash around. <em>That probably affected the manifestation.</em> There was so much to learn.


    Bath time!


    Clean and ready to go, T climbed back out of Kit some timeter.


    She tossed another bit of jerky to Terry, which vanished without him seeming to stir.


    She was in the linen, flowing halter-top and leather pants. Shed kept her shoes off. <em>Im getting the hang of this garment thing.</em> Working with Flow for so long already had likely helped in her understanding and use of the clothings various forms.


    One pathway had intrigued her since shed first noticed it, but she hadnt taken the time to try it out yet. <em>All things in time.</em>


    She nced around at the empty locked room. <em>Nows as good as any, though.</em>


    She pushed power down that path, and felt material begin to grow up her neck.


    It took a lot more power than the other changes had, but it was still well within her ability.


    Once her head was fully covered, she had a moment of panic. What if it stopped there? What if it got stuck?


    An instantter, the material pushed outward, forming a great helm style helmet. She had a moment of irritation, given how hard it was to see.


    She also had the realization that she likely looked ridiculous. <em>Who wears a full helmet over a halter-top?</em>


    Then, as she contemted her reduced vision, she had another thought. <em>I can aspect-mirror!</em>


    With an act of will that strained her current abilities, she mirrored her ability to sense through her various sensory organs upon her now soul-bound garment, granting her enhanced capacities to that empowered item.


    Suddenly, she could perceive all around herself. The flood of information was overwhelming and disorienting.


    She lifted her hand to her head in reflex. That motion caused her perspective to shift in radically unexpected ways.


    In that moment, the anti-vomit inscriptions finished burning through their metal.


    T had a moment of calm as thest vestiges of their Magic rushed through her, then she fell to her knees and filled her helmet with her head still inside.


    * * *


    Having her head in a bucket of her own vomit was decidedly unpleasant.


    T was able to gain enough control of herself to magically reach into her garments and dismiss the helmet. That caused her bile to slosh down onto the floor around her hands as she knelt on the ground, still heaving. Every motion increased her disorientation and nausea. She could smell the sick from all around, not just her nose, and she could <em>taste</em> it where it had sshed on her clothing.


    <em>Release the aspect mirroring, idiot!</em>


    She did so, and her vision narrowed to what felt like an rmingly small field of view.


    She panicked. <em>Am I going blind?</em>


    A momentter, she realized that this was her normal vision, it only <em>felt</em> small because of how extreme the previous sight had been.


    Not only had she been looking every direction at once, shed been looking out from every part of her soul-bound clothing at once, creating an overwhelming number of ovepping fields of view.


    She groaned, heaving onest time.


    As T looked up, she saw Terry perched on a shelf, regarding her with a bit of concern evident on his avian face.


    Im okay. Her voice came out a bit thickly. She pulled out her cool water incorporator and took a long drink before continuing. Mistress Holly did tell me that the anti-vomit inscriptions werent especially robust. Ill have her correct that error in judgment.


    Terry trilled softly.


    Ill be okay. She smiled weakly at the bird. I think I discovered something pretty cool, though. She chuckled wryly. Though, it does mean Ill have one more thing to practice.

 Chapter 160: Mage Hunters

    Chapter 160: Mage Hunters


    After her second, <em>Nothird?</em> bath of the day, Tbed through her hair onest time in a desperate attempt to feel clean after having her face and hair soaked inick.


    She felt like she had expelled more than shed eaten recently and suspected that her body had taken advantage of the exodus to get rid of some things it didnt precisely want.


    <em>Waste managementhurrah!</em> She let the sarcasm ring loud and clear through her thoughts as she continued to move the empowered tool through her hair.


    There was no need tob through it more than once. Her brush effortlessly left her hair clean and dry with a single stroke, but she felt the <em>need</em> to continuebing at least for a short time.


    She skillfully, deftly rewove her braid and attached Kit to her belt with a quick motion, once again willing her belt to move through the belt-loop on the pouch.


    Alright, Terry. Lets go. She nced down at the vomit still on the floor and sighed. In a minute. <em>I cant leave this for some random person to have to deal with.</em>


    She used the supplies already in this private bath room to clean up the mess and then headed out, Terry flickering to her shoulder as the door swung shut behind her.


    Night had truly fallen, then, and only the facilitys magical lights provided illumination under the cloudy, winter sky.


    Even so, there were guards moving through thepound. Those that saw her gave nods of deference but didnt stop to chat or otherwise acknowledge her beyond that.


    She had to smile. <em>Dont talk to the Mage, and she wont give you extra work.</em> She could respect that. <em>Everyone wants to get home.</em>


    She walked across the strangely deste training yard, out front of the interconnected buildings. It felt strange, eerie even, without the presence of dozens, if not hundreds, of guards training and working to improve themselves. Instead, it was lifeless, barren.


    T shivered. <em>Walk faster.</em>


    With that, she loosened her steps, and ate up the ground before her at a brisk walk.


    As she neared home, she again saw the tavern, glowing cheerily in the evening stillness, raucousughter and the mummer of uncounted voices drifting to her enhanced ears.


    <em>Is that ce always busy?</em>


    Her stomach gurgled at her, and she nced down. I did just empty you without cause, didnt I?


    Her stomach growled as if in response.


    Fine. Ill see what all the fuss is about.


    As she drew closer, she began to feel a pressure building across her skin, an emphasis of the warmth before her and the cold behind, a heightening of her hunger, and an enhancing of the scents of food wafting out of the establishment before her.


    Something about it made her feel like something was off. <em>What is it? Whats wrong, here?</em>


    Her steps slowed despite her growing hunger, and she stopped in the street, some fifty feet from the building.


    <em>Huh, you know, I dont see anyone enteringor leaving.</em>


    She forced herself to wait and watch.


    One minute became five, five minutes became ten, and no one entered or left.


    <em>Thats really odd.</em> She could see people within the building, or at least vague movements that seemed to indicate people were within.


    <em>What is going on here?</em> Then, the door swung open, and a group of three people stumbled out, joyously calling back goodbyes to those inside.


    T rxed andughed to herself, turning towards home. <em>Im being ridiculous.</em>


    She was exhausted, and needed to sleep in her own room, in her own bed. <em>Well, within Kit, but still.</em>


    Terry didnt stir, instead content to ride on her shoulder in silence.


    When she reached Lyns house, she unlocked the door, entered, and locked it behind herself.


    Her stomach gurgled again. <em>Right. Im really hungry.</em>


    With a grunt, she went to the kitchen and used the facilities there to prepare some of the venture food that she had in Kit.


    <em>I really should have grabbed food on the way home. </em>She sighed.


    It didnt take long for the food to be ready, and T devoured it with abandon. Even so, she took notes on the preparation process and how the final results tasted in the small notebook provided to her for that purpose.


    Her stomach satiated, she moved through her nightly routine and climbed down into Kit, now arranged for her sleep.


    * * *


    The next morning, after her start-of-day routine, T walked to the work-yard alone.


    After charging the cargo-slots for thest time until her next venture, she chatted with the foreman of the newly arrived day shift, then walked back towards the Guildhall.


    It was a beautiful, crisp morning in the city, and she enjoyed people watching as she made her way towards breakfast.


    Most people were wrapped in severalyers against the cold, but it didnt seem like the weather was actively keeping too many indoors. The streets were full without being packed and everyone seemed to be going about their days as normal.


    <em>Nor should the weather be an issue. Its gorgeous!</em> Even before she couldrgely ignore the cold, shed loved the winter.


    Mistress Odera had requested that they meet at the Guildhall once again, and T had no issues with that in the slightest.


    The meal was uneventful, and they werent joined by anyone else. Thus, it felt much like their meals in Makinaven: A discussion of Ts training, any issues she was running into and a dialogue on what might help her surmount them.


    They agreed that she shouldnt try mirroring her senses again until the anti-vomit inscriptions were refreshed. When she did try it again, she would try to limit the mirroring to a smaller portion of her outfit, to help prevent sensory overload.


    They discussed a host of other things, but nothing else of true note.


    Well, except that Mistress Odera decided to let T know that she was trying something insane and fully expected to fail.


    Iron.


    Thats right.


    Youre going to try to create an Archon star in iron.


    Mistress Odera grinned. Your medium contains a lot of iron. I thought it would be an interesting test.


    T shook her head. Now, I know how most people feel when talking to me. <em>Thats a ridiculous idea.</em>


    Mistress Odera let out an almost cacklingugh. Wait till you see it. She pulled out a caltrop the size of thest knuckle on her thumb. In this case, it was four short spikes, oriented so one would always point up when resting on a t surface. It was technically small enough to swallow.


    That is truly insane.


    The older woman nodded sagely. I would have to be mad to swallow it, thats for sure.


    That notable exception aside, the breakfast was fairly standard, start to finish.


    When their tes were clean, and the conversation had run its course, T bid the woman goodbye and headed to the training yard to meet Rane and Aproa for training with the Guards.


    That training also went quite to expectation until Adam went tond the first hit on Ts side.


    Power flickered to life and blocked his practice sword as effectively as a wall.


    Adam stepped back, blinking in confusion.


    <em>Right, no mage-sight. To him it would look like his sword had simply nced off my side.</em>


    Did you somehow upgrade your skins density? That seems a bit foolish.


    Aproa, whod been taking a drink after her own bouts, almost choked. Though if it was at the informality or the idea itself, T didnt know.


    Neither. I am simply properly armored now.


    Adam sighed. Do you know why we dont train in armor, much of the time?


    T frowned. She actually didnt. To be honest, she hadnt thought of it. Too heavy?


    He snorted. Hardly. If that were the only consideration, wed be in it more, not less. No, we dont train in armor for two reasons: First, we never know when an enemy will be able to breach our armor, so we must treat every enemy as if we are unarmored. Second, we cannot urately replicate armor breaching attacks in a safe manner, so we cannot properly train injury and the like in armor.


    She nodded. That made a lot of sense. Im not sure I can turn it off? If she really couldnt turn it off, shed be ticked. <em>Im not buying new clothes, just to wear sparring.</em>


    Well, yours is magical, correct? I mean rather obviously.


    It is.


    Then what about we get a sense of the magic expenditure, and you can regte your losses by how much mana the hit takes to block.


    T grunted in surprise. That would actually work really well. As she thought about it, she found herself smiling. It would also help so that I could determine what I should block, dodge, or take.


    He grimaced at the thought but didnt contradict her.


    T smiled. Well, I should delve into this, and see if I can suppress the defensive functionality. Ill take next?


    Adam gave a half bow before turning to face Rane.


    Instead of watching the odd dance, T dove into examining the pathways within her garments.


    To spare Ranes inscriptions from a war of attrition, Rane and Adam had decided that Adams win condition was forcing Rane to flip three times in the same direction in quick session.


    T was a bit peeved that theyd never thought of something like that for her bouts with Rane, but it made sense.


    Adam was vastly better than Rane, somehow, but the Mage was still virtually untouchable by the Guard.


    But that wasnt what she was supposed to be focused on.


    It didnt take long for her to find what she was looking for. It helped that shed begun with an intuitive sense of what the soul-bound item could do, and how to make it happen. That understanding was growing deeper, or it seemed to be doing so over thest half-day or so.


    Thus, she was able to find out how to deactivate the reactive armor. Interestingly enough, as she interfaced with that path, she was able to discover what it did.


    <em>Its not altering the material of the garment alone, or even primarily. </em>No, the defensive magics were grabbing onto whatever was close at hand to forge the armor at need. In this case, that meant the air.


    <em>I hope that doesnt mean that Leshkin could take forms other than tree-people.</em> That was a disturbing thought.


    <em>If one could create a form for itself out of the air</em> She shook off that idea.


    <em>No, we modified the magics through the merging and soul-bond.</em> That was the more reasonable exnation.


    The remainder of the morning passed uneventfully, though they all did agree to take a bit of time for T to take blows with the reactive defenses active and inactive so she could begin building an understanding of what sort of damage was mitigated and at what cost.


    Even Rane and Aproa got in on the damage dealing, using practice weapons for now, of course.


    With morning passed, the Guards left for their various duties, and Rane, T, and Aproa went to lunch.


    An enormous mound of meatballs in white sauce overtook Ts attention for a long while. In the end, she licked her te clean. <em>I need this sauce. I need it on everything.</em>


    The other two Mages drew her away, but she promised herself that shed be back.


    Together, they headed towards a Mages training area to meet Aproas acquaintances.


    The facilities were much the same as those T and Rane had used in Makinaven, though they were constructed mainly of stone rather than of wood, as would be expected given the construction of the respective cities.


    T found herself a bit nervous as they approached the reserved space, Rane and Aproa chatting about the events of the previous day animatedly.


    T didnt really listen to the specifics, instead trying to calm her nerves. Behind those doors ahead was a group of Mages, roughly her age.


    <em>I specifically avoided people like this</em> She almostughed. <em>I may have specifically avoided these specific people, if they are close enough in age to me.</em>


    That would be embarrassing, if it were true and came out.


    <em>Maybe I shouldnt go</em>


    But the choice was already made. She was here.


    <em>Strength, T. Youre going to be fine.</em>


    Rane pushed the doors open, revealing arge space with an arching dome of thick iron wire far overhead.


    It appeared as if there were a mesh of copper woven throughout the iron. <em>Huh, iron to prevent direct magical effects, and copper to activate when indirect magics approached. Clever.</em><em>Expensive but clever.</em>


    She almostughed. <em>I suppose this is whats required when you dont have a god-king to ensure the city stays safe and intact.</em>


    There were ten Archons engaged in various activities around therge open space. Two stood out immediately because of their bored, almostidback expressions.


    The first was quite obviously a healer, likely on hand in case of emergency. Given the glimpse T had gotten at the powersets in the room that was probably wise.


    The second, though, he held her attention, her mouth opening in wonder.


    Her voice came out in a whisper. Maism? She strode across the sandy floor without acknowledging anything else, stopping in front of the man. You manipte maic fields?


    <em>But the only reason he would do that is to interact with ferrous materials.</em> She nodded, her mage-sight showing her what amounted to almost a cloud of iron moving in subtle currents around him. To that perception, it glittered like stars, moving in a constetion around him.


    The slim, toned man, some five to six years older than her by appearance, looked up with one eyebrow cocked. Ummm Hi?


    She held out her hand. Im T. <em>Manners, T, keep it together.</em>


    He hesitated Mistress T, good to meet you, but most dont want to get too close. Ive a lot of iron dust around me.


    I know. I can see it.


    He straightened surprise recing cautious puzzlement. Really?


    Her hand was still out.


    He sped it, shook it, and smiled. By the lines on his face, it didnt seem like he did that often. Im Cazor. Its a pleasure to meet you. He released her hand and the small amount of iron that had clung to her skin pulled away.


    <em>Im d that I scrubbed off my iron salve, as I usually do in cities, or this could have been awkward. </em>T nodded emphatically. You overcame the difficulty of enacting magic through iron, too? Sheughed. I mean, you must have, obviously. What methods did you use to train? She grinned. Did you have the spheres? Her eyes widened, and she gasped. Did you bond a ma?


    Cazor stood, brushing off his pants, a frown returning as he took his time processing her flood of words. Mistress Tare you a hunter? I wasnt aware a new one had been added to our ranks. His eyes flicked to something behind T, to her right, but returned to her an instantter.


    It was her turn to frown, then, some of her enthusiasm bleeding away. I mean, I hunt on asion, but-


    He shook his head. No, I mean, are you a Mage hunter? Most Mages avoid iron He stopped, shaking his head and rubbing his face. He muttered under his breath. Why am I saying this? She obviously knows


    She decided to ignore his mutterings and focus on the fact that he used iron! <em>So, a hunter. Thats why he uses iron.</em> Not a Mage hunter. She chuckled halfheartedly. I mean its not something Ive ever considered.


    I see. He seemed at a loss as to what to say, after that.


    T saw that Cazor had a number of open top pouches on his belt, each seemingly containing iron filings.


    He cleared his throat, forging ahead. Most Mages dont even start to work on oveing the iron impediment until Refined. Most never seed, but then most dont even reach that stage. He cracked a smile once again. But I suppose most also dont run straight up to a Mage hunter and begin asking questions.


    T suddenly felt incredibly self-conscious and looked around. A few of the others were staring at her in obvious confusion. <em>Oh great first impression, T.</em>


    But I have been rude. You asked a question. He nodded almost to himself. I did, indeed, study with the spheres. I had to conquer the third set before I could enact my inscriptions to my own satisfaction.


    Third? She groaned. I just got the second.


    A bit of mirth came back into his eyes. Even that is impressive for Bound.


    T cocked her eyebrow at him. Butyoure Bound.


    He blinked at her in shock. How?


    <em>How what? How could I tell? </em>She took a moment to examine her own perception, realizing that most mage-sight wouldnt be able to pick out the color of his aura through the tightly controlled, swirling iron cloud.


    <em>Oh well.</em> She opened her mouth to respond, but Aproa cleared her throat from back near the center of the space behind T.


    Well, Im d you met one of the hunters. Hes only here to make sure none of us get carried away and go out of control. She was smiling as she spoke though.


    Cazor rolled his eyes, even as T turned away to regard Aproa.


    He responded; a hint of a smirk evident in his tone. You know why Im here, Mistress Aproa. You all wanted to test yourself against someone capable of actually resisting you, and I wanted practice disabling different types of Mages.


    Aproa snorted a chuckle. Fine, fine. Mistress T, lets introduce you around.


    T immediately forgot all the names that were given to her, though she did note, again, the wide range of abilities arranged before her.


    One seemed to be straddling the line between Creator and Guide. She was a water creator and a heat guide. <em>Ice Mage?</em>


    An oxygen guide with what looked like flint and steel strategically intermeshed with his gloves. <em>He snaps to make a spark? That seems like a fire Mage but with extra steps.</em>


    The third simply seemed to be a Material Guide focusing on photons, but T didnt understand well enough to figure out exactly what she could do.


    The fourth was another fire, but this one was the more standard, conjuring fire into existence as a Material Creator. <em>That seems sowrong to me Fire isnt actually a thing</em>


    The fifth seemed to have taken inspiration from the fourth. <em>Or maybe the other way around?</em> In either case, she was somehow a Material Creator, focused on lightning.


    The sixth was an earth maniptor that reminded T of Atrexia, though this guy seemed to be more freeform with his spellforms. <em>Huh, I wonder if all Mages transition from more specific manifestations towards more general, like I did?</em>


    She could ask, and maybe she would,ter.


    The seventh and eighth were actually fraternal twins, apparently. Both were Material Mages, one Guide and one Creator, and they seemed to have focused water.


    And then she noticed a ninth, who had been sitting in the shadowed corner on the wall with the door, so shed missed her.


    T frowned. The woman was an Immaterial Guide, but all of her scripts seemed focused on magic itself. <em>Is that like how Master Jevin focused on aura maniption?</em> Probably worth asking.


    Aproa gestured and the Archon stood, moving their way. This is Mistress Jean. Shes the other hunter that we put up with.


    Jean rolled her eyes, flipping her red hair behind her back. You know youd be lost without me, Mistress. I got you through the Academy.


    Ts eyes were drawn to the womans hip, where an iron device hung from the womans white belt. <em>It looks like a crossbow, without the arms, and a tube instead of a stock.</em>


    Her belt held a dozen small items that gave the sense of being paired with the iron item, but each gave off a radically different magical signature. All the inscriptions she could see on the small things were gold. <em>What in zeme?</em>


    Aside from the starkly white belt, gloves and boots, Jeans outfit was a simple,fortably snug, ck shirt and pants.


    Aproa then motioned to T. Everyone, this is Mistress T. Shes another addition to our practice.


    T gave a little wave. Hey. Good to meet you all.


    The chorus of generic greetings came back her way.


    <em>Well, this should certainly be interesting.</em>

 Chapter 161: Challenges

    Chapter 161: Challenges


    T stood across the training ground from the woman that shed challenged.


    Aproa had exined that they always began their time by allowing individual challenges, if any were desired, and T had immediately issued one.


    T had challenged the Mage hunter, Jean. Terry had used the momentary distraction to immediately flicker over to one side to watch.


    Jean had only seemed surprised for only an instant before a small smile tugged at her lips. As you wish, Archon.


    She drew the device from her belt and opened the back end.


    T watched as Jean pulled out a smaller cylinder, heavily inscribed with gold, and reced it with one covered and interwoven with copper.


    What is that?


    Jean chuckled. Im switching to a training round. Ive no desire to kill aw-abiding Mage.


    T was going to object, then realized that she was <em>far</em> outside her knowledge base. <em>Let the woman act as she deems appropriate.</em> As you wish.


    That is how theyd ended up here, facing off with near twenty yards of distance between them, Cazor ready to call a start to the fight.


    <em>I have to close the distance. I can alter her gravity as I do, but Ill have at most five seconds before Im in melee range.</em> So, she could add to her opponents gravity to increase it by almost 50% or lower it down to around 70%. <em>Up it is.</em>


    Jean didnt have her weapon drawn, and T had decided to mirror that. She briefly considered beginning the fight by tossing her anchor across the space. That would close the distance faster than anything else, but with her anti-vomit inscriptions gone she shouldnt risk it.


    <em>Run, target, ramp up gravity, draw Flow, attack.</em>


    Fight!


    T took a lunging step forward, her left middle-finger and thumb already together as she targeted Jean.


    The lock wouldnt stick, and T snarled in irritation.


    Jean was drawing her weapon, lifting it free of its sheath with casual speed. <em>Huh, she probably practices drawing it quickly.</em>


    Interesting.


    At the next step, T tried, again, to establish the target lock, throwing all her magical weight behind it. There was a moment of purchase, before her targeting was thrown off.


    Jeans weapon was rising, and there were still a dozen yards between them, at least. T drew Flow, pushing it into the form of a sword, even as she called her bloodstars out of Kit, pulling them to move protectively in front of her.


    <em>Mirroring. Can I solve my targeting issue with mirroring?</em> This time, she mirrored her magical weight into all her bound items, bloodstars included. She then mirrored them back onto her enactment of the targeting.


    She felt her left eye begin to twitch as something within her mind, her will, strained to its limit. Thebination of so many aspects to mirror and those aspects being ones she wasnt familiar was enough to jack up the difficulty.


    The lock blossomed into being on Jean, thebined power of T herself and her bonds winning through.


    <em>Increase!</em>


    Jeans eyes widened, even as the tube of her weapon fully leveled towards T. The Mage Hunter pulled the trigger, not letting her surprise cause hesitation.


    T saw in horror that all the magic in the area stilled before streaming toward the device in Jeans hand as quick as lightning strikes, even as the weapon settled, aiming steadily at T.


    In retrospect, challenging the Mage Hunter for the first duel of the day might have beenill advised.


    Ts heightened perception made the eyeblink of time stretch into a seeming eternity.


    It was hard to see inside the iron tube, even though it was pointed directly at her, but it looked almost like strands of heat and light were being woven within, each thread seemingly precisely modted.


    As Jean had pulled the trigger, Ts bloodstars hade into alignment between T and the unknown threat.


    The air seemed to scream out in agony to Ts mage-sight as every drop of power was pulled from it. Even the edges of Ts own aura seemed to be fraying.


    Runic symbols lit up down the length of the weapon, not looking like any scripting T recognized as they glowed through a solidyer of iron.


    As the spells within the device finisheding together, T saw her chance and enforced an aspect-mirror across her three bloodstars and her elk-leathers, giving each of them Flows ability to deflect iing attacks.


    As she had to release the other aspects shed been mirroring, that caused her targeting lock to weaken, and Jean threw off the magic without any outward evidence of difficulty.


    T had managed less than two seconds of gravity increase.


    The world went white.


    Heat, which bnced nearly precisely at Ts upper limit, mmed into her.


    Her attempt at defense had utterly failed from what she could tell. Her defensive stance broke under the wash of power, Flow mming back into her chest, along with the tungsten sphere and rod.


    T was thrown backwards and crashed into the far wall of the training ground.


    Her breath exploded out of her, and she slid to the ground in a stunned heap.


    <em>Rust me. Im d she changed out for a training round.</em>


    As light and sound returned to normal, the healer rushed over to T but slowed as she approached. T felt the touch of diagnostic magics and didnt resist them. Shes fine, just stunned.


    T groaned. The magic of the area returned to a smooth, even level as if it had never been disturbed.


    As the healer went back to her seat, Aproa jogged over to T and offered a hand up. Thats why you dont fight Mage Hunters.


    T snorted a halfheartedugh and epted the help up.


    She looked around, expecting to see the sand melted and the wall behind her scorched, but there was no evidence of the heat and light. Even the air of the training space was still pleasantly cool.


    <em>Was it all in my head?</em> No, shed been thrown, and she knew what shed felt. She patted her clothing and found the outside unpleasantly warm to the touch. The attack had just been <em>that</em> precisely calibrated. T looked to her opponent across the space and tilted her head to one side. Did the attack modte to my tolerances?


    Jean nodded, grinning. Yeah. She seemed hesitant about something. Finally, she shrugged. I can usually get a couple of shots out of a training round, but you required the entire capacity of this one. She smiled. Nice.


    Jean then shifted, clearly a bit ufortable.


    Um would you mind releasingwhatever it was you did? Jean did a couple of hops and came down more quickly, and harder, than was normal.


    The watching Archons began muttering to each other, but T ignored them. Oh! Right. One moment. She reestablished the lock, Jean not opposing it this time. <em>Reduce.</em>


    Two secondster, T released the working, and the lock.


    There you go.


    Jean hopped again, smiling as shended. Thank you.


    T cracked her neck and twisted back and forth.


    Rane, standing off to the side, shook his head. Oh, no.


    The others, at least the non-Hunters, looked his way. One ventured to ask, What?


    He simply gestured to T, and taking the cue, she smiled. Again.


    Jean hesitated, then shook her head, ejecting the spent round from the back of her weapon and recing it. The used one was ced in a pouch on the back of the Mage Hunters belt. Like punishment, do you?


    T shook her head. Not at all. I like improving. Then, she looked within herself and paled. But youre right, not another today. Her scripts were getting truly, dangerously low. T cursed.


    Aproa frowned. What is it?


    T sighed. My inscriptions are almost dry. Theyve not been refreshed yet, since our caravan just returned yesterday. Ill be getting reinscribed this afternoon. Im sorry about that. What would you all normally do?


    Aproa patted Ts shoulder. We do begin with challenges if anyone is inclined, just like we said. After that, we do team bouts, contests, or direct oppositions of will. If your inscriptions are low, we can focus on contests of will, today.


    The lightning and two fire Mages grinned widely, while the others whom T didnt know by name groaned.


    T shrugged. Sounds good. What do we do?


    * * *


    The remainder of the afternoon was much less exciting, but no less enlightening.


    T held Terry in herp, scratching his head and neck as she sat a mere ten feet from the twins, engaging in a very one-sided conflict.


    The contest in question was a simple one: Who could touch the other with their aura first. No attacks, items, or magical workings were allowed.


    It was a delicate bnce of offense and defense. An Archon had to press their aura forward against the resistance of their opponent, while not allowing them to take advantage of the longer route to reach from the sides or over the top.


    Or, that was the theory.


    T simply punched straight through any individual among the Archons there.


    The Mage hunters had declined for the moment, but T thought she was beginning to intrigue them.


    In the end, the others had paired up against her, using theirbined magical weight to hold her back, and their two minds to try to outthink her.


    Again, that was the theory.


    Victory, Mistress T. Cazor called from the side.


    WHAT! The male twin stood. Her aura ispletely held at bay. How did she win?


    Cazor shrugged. You all appointed us as judges. Her aura touched you.


    T gave a half smile. Her great breakthrough hade when she realized that she could extend a tendril of her aura underground and no other Archon had mage-sight of sufficient precision and sensitivity to notice.


    She suspected that even Cazor couldnt see the part of her aura that was underground.


    It wasnt fast, so she still had to hold off the incursions of her opponents while she slowly poured power into the sapping maneuver, but it worked every time in the end.


    T stretched back, pulsing her aura outward to clear the remainder of the twins probing tendrils from the space around her. Well fought. You had some good tricks there.


    She rocked back before kicking up to a standing position. Terry had flickered away as she moved and flickered back to her shoulder when she was upright. T tossed him a bit of jerky and walked to her opponents, hands held out.


    They sighed, taking the offered help up.


    Theyd all long since realized that T, small though she was, had the mass to act as a good anchor for such things.


    The sister leaned in close. How are you doing it? Did you pay off the Mage Hunter?


    Tughed. No cheating or bribery, I promise.


    The twin sighed. I kinda wish you were. It would make our repeated defeats easier to bear.


    Her brother shrugged. Its good exercise. I havent felt this worked, on a will level, in He blew air through his lips, making a sound that was a bit like a horse. Well, ever really. With these contests, its usually pretty even, so we dont push our hardest. With you? He grinned. I push as hard as I can, and it feels like you barely slow down.


    T smiled happily at thepliment. Well, thank you. Ive put a lot of effort into aura maniption, and I had a good teacher to get me started. <em>I really do need to be practicing my bloodstar orbits and increasing the number I can use.</em>


    Oh? They both looked quite interested.


    The quiet of the courtyard was interrupted by a loud voice as Jean called out, Victory, Mistress Aproa.


    Rane groaned and flopped backwards, holding his head. Well done, Mistress. I need a moment.


    T watched as Aproa stood and went over to help him. Dont strain yourself, Master Rane. It is good to improve, but not to damage yourself along the way.


    Yeah I know. Rane turned his head Ts way, peaking between his fingers, and T grinned at him. Rust you, T.


    T snorted augh. Come on. I know its a bit early, but I need food before I meet with Mistress Holly. T nced around.


    There were, once again, wide eyes and disbelieving stares. Finally, Cazor nced around and shook his head. Come on, its not that unusual that she has Mistress Holly inscribing her.


    The lightning Mage snorted. Id give an arm to have that Inscriber work on me.


    The oxygen maniptorughed. Itd cost that much, from what I hear.


    T felt a bit awkward. Well, ummm For dinner, you are all wee, of course.


    Rane took Aproas offered hand and stood. That sounds wonderful. You can celebrate, and we canmiserate. He nced to Aproa. Thank you for the hand, Mistress.


    In the end, they all agreed toe, as it was early yet, but most wouldnt eat as they tried to have dinner with their families whenever possible.


    <em>Huh, I guess I didnt really think about some of them being married. Turns out all but Aproa and the hunters have spouses and kids.</em> She didnt really know how to process that. <em>They are quite a bit older than me.</em> She decided to think on it more,ter.


    * * *


    Dinner was surprisingly fun. The whole group of them except for the healer, who had departed after thest duel and before the contests of will.


    T had been surprised at the inclusion of the Mage Hunters, as theyd seemed pretty set apart up to that point. Even so, they seemed to join in the conversations with abandon. Apparently, this group had been close enough in age that theyd all been at the Academy at the same time, at least for a few years. Theyd worked to push each other and improve.


    That was likely a core reason for their age and rtively high rank.


    This also wasnt their whole group, as they were scattered on various jobs or tasks, and theyd added some since, like Rane and T.


    As for their group, apparently Jean and Cazor had stood out enough from the others that theyd been approached to be Mage Hunters.


    At least thats what Aproa said.


    Cazor said that it was just because of their foundational principles, desired magics, and personalities.


    T did get to learn a bit more about Mage Hunters. Each city had around a hundred of them, though rarely that exact number. They were tasked with handling the Mages and inscribed who thought themselves abovemonw. As a result, they also investigated crimes that seemed to have a magicalponent.


    T ended up sitting between Aproa and Cazor during dinner, across from Rane and Jean. Terry opted to stay on Ts shoulder snacking on the asional bit of jerky that T tossed for him.


    Rane and Aproa had a bit of fun with the hunters, each extorting a small wager out of the one nearest them on whether or not T could out-eat them.


    T briefly considered ruining their fun, or throwing the contest, but in the end, she let them have their amusement and a few silver changed hands, along with awed, almost horrified, nces.


    T didnt let it bother her and ate her fill.


    The group parted ways just before sunset, having eaten a fairly early dinner. It seemed that no few of them had tasks toplete that evening.


    Thus, T found herself alone, darkening Hollys warehouse doorway, just after sunset. <em>Really, its stillte-afternoon</em>


    Yourete.


    T turned to find Holly, once again, in the chair beside the door. Gah! Why are you waiting here?


    Because yourete. Holly stood and walked towards the back.


    Following behind, T continued the conversation. You never waited for me before my return from thisst trip. Whats the issue?


    Holly nced back her way, sighed, and looked forward once more. Theres a syphon in the city that we havent been able to find. You have a history of being influenced by mental magics, and I dont want you to vanish for a day to who knows where, having your magic drained like some grape for juice.


    <em>Shes worried about me?</em> T stopped walking. Wait what do you mean?


    Terry lifted his head in interest.


    Come on, dear. Ill exin.


    Terry and T nced at each other and shrugged. <em>This should be interesting. </em>She hurried to catch up, doing so just as they reached Hollys work room.


    So, a syphon is a term for a ss of magical creature that pulls power from humans harmlessly. In general, the worst that happens is that they feel a bit drunk after. Its often apanied by lost time. In some cases, however, the people just vanish.


    And theres one in the city? <em>Why does this seem familiar?</em> Maybe shed read about this creature type in the past.


    Yes. The city overseers have noticed lower than average ambient magic, given our poption, but its spread out. No obvious hunting ground or target group.


    Sohow can it be within the city?


    Theyd taken their usual seats, Holly on her stool, T in the clients chair, and Terry watching them both from the corner. Come on, Mistress T. Think before you ask.


    T did think, then, and had to sigh. If they are subsisting on human magic, then the only magic that could be detected is human.


    Holly gave her a strange look. No. Not at all. She shook her head. Thats like saying if you only eat potatoes, its reasonable to expect that you might poop mash. She muttered something under her breath too low for T to hear. No, child. If humans are their primary prey, and most of us are in cities, then the only way such a thing still exists is if it can adapt itself to go unnoticed by city defenses and high-level Archon perusal. It would of course be obvious at close inspection, but we cant investigate every alley, building, park bench, or new door to a dimensionally expanded space.


    It can be any of those?


    Yes. They can also be humanoid in appearance, but thats rarer. Theres a sub-type that is more often lethal which seems to enjoy hiding in ruins and pretending to be treasure chests. Holly shook her head again. No one really knows why. They also seem to be much more physically aggressive, rather than wielding conceptual magic, so She shrugged.


    <em>Alright then, something else to be concerned over.</em> Well, that happy topic aside. Lets talk inscriptions.


    Ahh, yes. Your inscriptions. I dug through your records more thoroughly, and I want you to exin exactly what caused you to cook your own muscles via overexertion.


    <em>Oh right.</em> T nced to Terry. Yeah, so About that. Without further dy, she began a more detailed retelling of her time away.

 Chapter 162: Alternate Interface

    Chapter 162: Alternate Interface


    T had finished her tale, and Holly was simply sitting, contemting.


    Is everything alright?


    Holly grunted, standing. Quite, yes. She hesitated, then pulled a seemingly raw steak out of thin air and tossed it towards Terry.


    It vanished before reaching the halfway point between them, just a hint of dimensional power giving knowledge of where it had gone.


    What was that for?


    The older woman paused for another moment, then smiled. Courtesy never hurt anyone. Without another word, she went and grabbed a small box from the side of the room. This is the Archive connection we will be utilizing. I need it bound to you, before we inscribe you.


    T nodded. About that. Is it really worth such a bond? I only get eight, if I remember correctly. I have my weapon, my clothing, and I will have my storage. Is this really worthy of the fourth slot?


    Unequivocally. Yes. Every Archon that reaches a high enough level that their mind and magic density can make it work gets something like this. Speaking of which She pulled a book out of thin air, handing it over to T. Read the marked section and ask any questions now. I wont give you an inscription you dont fully understand. Everything else is based on what you know, and so you can expand your understanding afterwards.


    T shrugged. Sure. She took the book, flipped it open to the marked page and read. T really did take her increased reading andprehension speed for granted. She read through the ten pages in half as many minutes, closed the book and looked up to Holly, questions prepared. So, I understand what this will do, and how. What I dont understand is why you trust the Archive sopletely. How can we know its secure?


    Because its security is keyed to abination of your soul and your will. The ess and input functions for each bit of information are literally imprable. Trust me. There are a <em>host</em> of locked notes and information that Archivists have spent centuries trying to get ess to, to no avail. In a few instances, the fount of the owner of those files was tracked down. They tried to manipte it to help grant ess, but it didnt work.


    T still felt skeptical, and her look must have conveyed the same.


    Holly sighed. The information doesnt exist in any physical ce, so that cannot be breached. It exists in a dimension of Magic. Within the magical matrix, there is a random distribution of information segments and redundancy. The right, authorized soulbination will gain ess easily, nothing else can. Even if someone were able to find the exact right magical coordinates for a given bit of information, any unauthorized mind in the information space immediately corrupts and eliminates the data. Holly shook her head. Even this is an oversimplification. It cannot be breached.


    T grimaced. She was about toment when Hollys eyes lit up.


    Oh! This is perfect. About a thousand years ago, an Archivist earned the favor of one of the arcane Sovereigns. She was granted one boon. Being an Archivist, she asked for ess to the lost information within the Archive.


    T leaned forward, curious as to the result of the request, though she suspected that she knew, given the context in which she was being told the story.


    The sovereign tried. They tried for a hundred years. Finally, they stated that the Archive was unbreachable and granted the Archivist two boons in rpense for their failure.


    T huffed. They probably got ess and just lied.


    Holly let out a long-suffering breath. No, Mistress T. A boon is a magical contract that will rip apart the soul of someone who fails the obligation. The fact that the boon was requested, not fulfilled, and the sovereign lives is the true testament to the impossibility of the task.


    What do you mean?


    A im on a boon cannot be impossible, else a Sovereign could be in by a cleverly impossible request.


    T grunted. How reliable is this story?


    The Archivist is my aunt.


    <em>Oh. </em>Well, you heard it firsthand, then. Thats pretty reliable.


    Holly sniffed. You can go ask her, yourself, if you wish.


    T shrugged. I might. But I think I am satisfied, for now.


    Id hope so.


    Shall we, then? T nced at the item in Hollys hands. Bonding first, right?


    Thats right. Holly opened the little box and held out an oddly adjustable ring. It looked like a perforated band with a small screw gear, which could be used to shrink or expand the size.


    So, this is usually put on a pencil, pen, or some such thing?


    Thats right. Ive sized it close to one of your fingers. I think you should put it on before you bond it.


    T shrugged. Sure. She slipped it over her right ring finger and manually used the mechanism to tighten it until it was afortable size. Next, she opened Kit and <em>pulled </em>out her inside-out Archon bloodstar.


    Alright. The bonding process should be the same as with a standard Archon star.


    T shrugged, focusing her mage-sight on the odd, magically-empowered, circr mp on her finger. When she found the tell-tale gap in the spell-form, she moved the drop of blood into that space pushing it more in a magical direction than a physical one.


    There was a resonant <em>click</em> within the ring and within herself.


    T felt the bond take hold and gasped at the outrush of power and strength. Her soul felt stretched, as made sense. It had been forcibly expanded to include something else.


    She took a few deep, almost panting breaths. When she recovered her focus, she looked down at the ring.


    More urately, she looked at her finger and the ring of red, magical symbols that were now set into her flesh.


    As she looked, they pulsed once with a bloody light and faded.


    Um Mistress Holly?


    Holly was looking as well. Fascinating. It appears to have simply incorporated with your flesh.


    T red. Why? What does this even mean?


    It means that youll never have to worry about it breaking or being stolen or corrupted. One moment. Holly put her hands on either side of Ts, not touching her skin but with her palms oriented inward. Scriptings blossomed with power across the womans flesh, and suddenly, T could see spell-forms in the air around her own hand and arm.


    They werent the same shape as her metal inscriptions, but she could see that they had the same purpose. Are those my ingrained magics?


    Very good. Holly smiled. Yes, this working disys the ingrained magics of the target, though it isnt perfectly urate, by the nature of representing a thing that is magically dimensional in physical dimensions.


    I dont really understand the difference.


    Not surprising. The human mind doesnt really assimte extra dimensions very well.


    T grunted, looking closer. Sure enough, around her right ring-finger, she could see spell-lines for the connection to the Archive.


    Holly was looking as well. Truly fascinating. Your subconscious took over during the bond, as expected for a subconscious soul-bond. It, well you, felt that you only needed the connection to the Archive, and so it shed everything else, even the natural physical form of the item. I imagine that our medium being fluid as well as a part of you to begin with allowed that. You can likely force a physical form in the future, when you get conscious control, but for now, this will be incredibly efficient. She was practically glowing with glee. I wish I could have aplished something like this for myself.


    T smiled hesitantly. Im d?


    You should be, dear. Id had a small concern that having an active, constant connection to the Archive would be a power drain that would add difficulty for you until you elevated yourself to Refined, but my concerns were unfounded.


    Ts eye twitched, but she held her tongue. <em>Those concerns would have been nice to know about, beforehand.</em>


    Holly grinned, going to a cab off to one side and bringing out the auto-inscriber. It was much bigger than T remembered it. Apparently, Holly had been pleased with the results to the point of making a full body version. Alright. Remember, you must be conscious to prevent power from flowing into the scripts, since your gate doesnt close with unconsciousness.


    T shook her head. Rust that. Enact that privacy spell you used before. It closed off my gate well enough.


    Holly opened her mouth, thought for a moment, then closed it in thought before nodding. You know, that would probably work. Good idea, Mistress.


    Ts eye twitched again. <em>She didnt put any thought into a solution, at all.</em> Thank you.


    She was about to lift up her arms to have the device slipped over her head when Holly sighed. You will need to deactivate the armor, dear. I dont want to break these needles on it.


    Oh! Right. T dove into the garment with her mage-sight, found the proper path and sent power down it to deactivate the defensive magics.


    Thank you.


    T worked with Holly to wriggle into what now seemed like a one-piece, oversized outfit that included an inverted hood.


    Here you go, dear. Sleep well.


    She felt the cool, hard stone press against the base of her neck. As her consciousness fled, T sensed the auto-inscriber tightening to fit her perfectly,pletely encapsting her within its needle-armed embrace.


    * * *


    <em>-Ding-</em>


    <em>-Conscious disabled for reinscribing. -</em>


    <em>-Reinscribingplete. Consciousness restored. -</em>


    T groaned, stirring and blinking her eyes open.


    Below her was a surprisinglyfortable chair. Over her head was a simple, well-built ceiling.


    <em>Where am I?</em> She blinked a few more times, and it came back to her. <em>Right!</em>


    She heard some movement from the far side of the room.


    Mistress Holly?


    Yes, dear? The woman came over to her.


    Are we done?


    Yes. I just put away the auto-inscriber. Do you notice anything different?


    T stretched, looking around. Not immediately. Then she frowned. No. You know what? I feel like I heard something right after I woke upor maybe as I was waking up?


    Holly was nodding. That is in line with what I expected. How do you think you should interact with it?


    T thought for a long moment. Hey, pleasedetect lost or repressed memories.


    <em>-Ding-</em>


    <em>-Instruction received. All other functions will be unavable until deep neural scan isplete. Thank you for your patience. -</em>


    Just as with the consciousness restoration inscription, the voice T heard in her mind was her own, but somehow not her. It was more distinct this time, almostemotionless? <em>What happened to the snark?</em>


    Mistress T?


    Hmm?


    Am I to intuit that you found something?


    Oh! Yes. It epted themand, but it seemslifeless?


    Holly shrugged. I oveyed and interconnected it with a deeplyplex set of inscriptions. The consciousness maintaining script is a miniscule subset of this new spell-form. It will develop as it is used. It might start showing some life next time you interact, or in five years, but Id wager that the first is vastly more likely than the second. She paused for a moment of thought, then nodded. That was a very good firstmand, by the way. It will give it the impetus to map your mind forterparisons.


    So, everything else is refreshed?


    It is. Holly held out a te with the total bill.


    T sighed but confirmed the transaction, cing her Caravan token on the te afterwards to allow Holly to bill them for the inscriptions of a Mage protector.


    <em>Forty gold, just like she said.</em> It didnt help that T felt like she was still being given a discount, even if not as great as before. <em>The cost is going to scale with my earnings for years I just know it.</em>


    Everything felt as it should, except around her stomach. She looked within with her mage-sight and found the inscriptions at issue.


    She sighed. Anti-vomit scripts are settling back in.


    Holly nodded. You really shouldnt use any of your inscriptionspletely.


    Yeah, I know. Her stomach gurgled. OhwowI am hungry. Now that shed noticed it, she couldnt really ignore it. She felt positively ravenous.


    Thatll be the next step of your physiology inscriptions. Her look and tone turned stern. Dont drink so much coffee. Its not good for you physically or financially.


    T grimaced. Fine.


    Good. Now: How do you like the rings?


    She hadnt actually looked. Lifting her hands, T examined the new design of golden rings that now decorated the back of each hand. Lovely. Thank you. Its as much art as inscription.


    Holly smiled brightly, clearly pleased with thepliment.


    Well, anything else we need to do?


    No, I think were all good here. She held out the book that T had read a portion of for her new mental scriptings. These are the updates to your inscriptions. The only one we havent discussed is the improved heat dissipation. I put that one at the beginning, so you could brush up quickly.


    T stood, took the book, and gave Holly a bow. Thank you, Mistress Holly.


    Holly gave her an odd look but bowed in return. I am happy to assist.


    Terry flickered to Ts shoulder and squawked.


    Holly hesitated, shook her head, and snorted augh. With a smooth motion, she tossed out another seemingly fresh, bloody chuck of meat, pulling it from thin air.


    It vanished in a simr fashion.


    Now, go. I have other work to be about.


    Without another word, T left.


    * * *


    T had an almost insatiable hunger, and so she went and got herself two cheesy little caravans.


    <em>Oh, rust. Ive missed these.</em> She sat in a nearby park, utterly demolishing the food, which could have fed a grown man after an entire day of hard work.


    As she ate, she read through the book provided by Holly. <em>Ahh, that makes sense, an increase both to heat capacity and conductivity.</em> Her body could now hold more heat safely and dissipate it more rapidly, though a good portion of the first was an artifact of her increasing mass.


    She could feel her magics working within her, adding density and structure to her bones, enhancing her muscture and reaction rates, and consuming her reserves, both magical and mundane, to do so.


    <em>Sohungry</em> T had a thought. <em>Is this natural, or am I being magically influenced to be hungry?</em> It was a silly question, but she thought it worth asking.


    <em>Please, is my hunger mundane or magical in nature?</em>


    <em>-Ding-</em>


    <em>-All functions are offline during deep neural scan.-</em>


    T sighed. She had expected as much, but she still found herself mildly disappointed as she took the next massive bite.


    <em>-T-</em>


    <em>-Obviously, you are simply hungry, but you are hungry because of your new inscriptions, which are magical. Thus, your question was asinine. Please consider your questions before you query. Time is valuable, and youve wasted it for both of us. -</em>


    T startled at the second response, then snorted augh, taking another bite.


    <em>Fair enough. That was a pretty poorly worded question.</em>


    No further responses came as T continued to eat, not that she expected any.


    It was odd, having even that short exchange with something inside her head. <em>But its still me, just with a different interface.</em><em>I interact with the physical world and she with the Archive. </em>T perked up at that. <em>Ohhh, I like that Alternate Interface. Shes my AI.</em> After a short thought, T shrugged. <em>Ill ask her at some point, if that works. No need to force a name on this new aspect of myself. I can decide.</em>


    She hesitated, there. <em>Wait. I dont want to force a name on myselfI want to let myself decide.</em> She groaned. <em>This is ridiculous.</em>


    Again, the contemtions were bing odd and convoluted. She sighed and tore into the second feast-in-a-package.


    <em>This. Is. Perfect.</em> No need to contemte the uing existential crisis of her soul operating what was, effectively, two consciousnesses. <em>No reason to consider it at all.</em>


    She took another glorious bite and continued to study her new book.


    * * *


    T finished her meal too soon, and while she was still hungry, she suspected that she would be hungry a lot in theing days. Shed dy at least a little while before getting more, else shed be eating constantly, and that wouldnt do.


    <em>I should drop through the archive and kick that hos nest in regards to the Culinary Guild.</em> As she considered, she realized that shed been avoiding doing just that. <em>I just want to trainthis is going to get political.</em>


    If it got political, Lyn might be able to help<em>Yeah. I should go get Lyn and see if she wants toe.</em>


    With that decided, T set off towards her home.


    The city, as always, was stunning. The sky overhead was clear, and the stars were bright to Ts enhanced vision. <em>I so prefer exterior cities</em> It was an odd thought, really. Shed never really contemted what it would mean to live in a city that was entirely contained in a single structure.


    While could see the faint spell-lines of the citys defenses tracing their way through the sky, they were dim to the point that she could easily tune them out, unlike in Alefast.


    Now she knew what it was like to be in a fully contained city, and she preferred a more traditional approach.


    As she neared home, she noticed the tavern again. <em>Right. I wanted to try the food there. It seems popr enough to warrant investigation.</em>


    <em>-Ding-</em>


    T stopped. What was this? Had she found something already?


    <em>-Please refrain from exposing us to mental maniption, while I am mapping our brain. It greatly increases the difficulty of my task. -</em>


    Ts eyes widened. <em>Exposing myself to mental maniption?</em> She stared at the tavern. <em>Is that-</em>


    <em>-T-</em>


    <em>-Yes, that is obviously the source. Please leave or stop the influence in some way. Our mind is convoluted enough as it is, without adding external factors. -</em>


    T took another moment to simply stare at the building before her. <em>Well I guess I found Hollys syphon. </em>

 Chapter 163: Syphon

    Chapter 163: Syphon


    T frowned, forcing her thoughts in order against the subtle push from outside.


    <em>I need a n. How should I handle this?</em> The part of her that wasnt being influenced to go eat in the tavern wanted to burn the thing down, but that seemed unwise. <em>First, find a way to remove the influence. Then, go tell Lyn. Then, go tell the Archons.</em>


    That was a solid n. <em>But how do I do the first?</em>


    The other her had noticed the influence, and she only had ess to the same senses as T, herself.


    <em>What am I missing?</em>


    She delved through herself with her mage-sight and as she concentrated on her mind, she was able to see ripples of magic slowly moving through it.


    A weaker, but more precise one acting internally seemed to being from the inscriptions at the base of her neck and in her right breast. But then, there were other onesing from outside. They were broad, undirected, and strong.


    <em>There you are. </em>But how could she counteract them?


    <em>Im resisting somehow, at least a bit. Probably my magical weight?</em> That made sense. <em>That also exins why I wasnt really affected during my first time passing by. I still had my iron salve at that point.</em> She sighed. <em>I wish Id known to keep it on.</em> But no, that wasnt right. She hadnt been affected as strongly, but shed still been affected.


    <em>So, magical weight.</em> She bit her lip in thought, moving to the side of the street and pulling back from the tavern a bit.


    <em>Can I shift my magical weight?</em> It made some sense. It would likely leave the rest of her vulnerable to direct magical maniption, but she should be able protect her mind more fully.


    With a great effort of will, she forcefully guided her power up into her head. She didnt form it into any shape, she just packed it in there.


    <em>There.</em> As an Immaterial Guide, it wasnt a difficult process. And it seemed to have the desired effect.


    The external influence now felt more like a small hammer tapping on a rock than a finger poking a waterskin.


    <em>Alright, now to go to Lyn and</em>


    Ts eyes widened in horror as the rhythm of magical taps changed, speeding up and bing more focused on her.


    Still, she held her concentration and resisted with little difficulty.


    <em>Hah, you cant ovee me that easily.</em>


    It was then that two great eyes opened, high up on the walls of the tavern. They looked around, searching, and stopped to stare directly at her.


    <em>Oh That wasnt part of the n.</em>


    She quickly dove into her garments and sent power through the path that would reactivate the defensive magics. <em>I really should have done that before leaving Hollys, or at the very least, made that step one of my n.</em>


    Flow was in her hand in the form of a ive. <em>All the better to stab you with, my dear.</em> She let out a little giggle, more from nervousness than humor.


    Terrys head jerked up, and he looked around in the closest thing to a panic that shed ever seen him express. With a flicker of power, he was gone.


    She could sense him staying close by, within safe range for his cor, but he was hidden. <em>Probably for the best.</em>


    Now, what in zeme should she do, now?


    <em>Crush it?</em> No, there were people inside. Crushing the building would kill them all.


    <em>Do I juststart hacking at the faade?</em> What would that even do?


    <em>Only one way to find out, I suppose.</em> She hesitated. <em>Wait. It hasnt attacked. Its just staring at me.</em>


    She had a realization. <em>If it attacks, it will likely be detectable to the citys defenses, or at least the Archons.</em>


    She smiled, slowing moving down the street towards her home, keeping her eyes and weapon oriented on the syphon.


    <em>Is it going to let me go?</em> That didnt seem like its best option<em> Was it? What is it thinking? What is it doing?</em>


    She tore her gaze away from the monstrous eyes still staring straight at her. She looked through the windows and saw the forms inside beginning to slump. As she thought about it, she realized that the noiseing from inside had died down.


    <em>Oh, rust me. Its draining them dry in ast grab for power.</em> She no longer had a choice. People could be dying. She couldnt go for help and leave them to their fate.


    T growled and charged.


    As she came close, the front porch tore itself free with the audible snap, crackle, pop of wood breaking and fasteners pulling free. The newly ambtory limb whipped out, mming into her faster than she could dodge.


    Even though she got Flow in the way in time, mirroring her mass into the weapon, she was still lifted free of the ground and thrown to arc through the air before mming into the cobbled street.


    Shended in a tumbling roll further down the way, on the opposite side of the tavern from her home.


    Nothing was broken, but she could feel her scripts pulling more than their base rate of power. <em>Strained but not ovee.</em> She could work with that.


    She hopped to her feet and threw Flow with all her might, letting the weapon reshape into a sword so that it would be a spinning wheel of death as it approached.


    A gutter detached to p at the iing weapon.


    Flow sheared through the adornment-turned-limb but was still knocked aside. It would have missed the main body of the house, so T pulled her weapon back to her hand.


    They were making a LOT of noise, and people wereing out of their homes to stare in bemusement at what was happening.


    <em>Good, someone will go for help.</em>


    Incredibly, most simply looked at her with confusion, shook their heads and went back inside. T could feel the power radiating through the air, knocking at her mind, trying to ovee her cobbled together mental defense.


    In the doorway of the house closest to T, an olderdy turned to her and yelled. Whats wrong with you? People are trying to sleep. Those who drink too much should just go home. She then huffed and mmed the door.


    T stared after her for an instant of bewilderment. <em>Dont let it distract you, T. Its still influencing their minds, but its thrown subtly out the window.</em>


    Further down the street, T saw Lyn staring at her in obvious confusion.


    LYN! The tavern is attacking people.


    Lyn cocked her head. What are you talking about?


    Please! Go for the guard, even if just to arrest me. Attack the tavern if you can.


    Lyn gave her a long look, then shook her head. If I go to jail for this, youre paying bail, and <em>you</em> are paying to get me reinscribed.


    She lifted her hand, and T saw Lyn use battle magic for the first time.


    Brilliant golden inscriptions zed to life across the womans body, burning away in an instant of glory as she spoke a single word. Crumble.


    A spell with greater weight than two of Ts <em>crush</em> enactments tore down the street, and T witnessed the Conceptual magic in the air splinter and crumble.


    Lyns eyes widened now that she could seemingly suddenly see the tavern as it truly was.


    Her spell-working tore into the gigantic creature, and its material began to shred, revealing the twisted, disguised flesh that reallyposed the seemingly mundane establishment.


    Unfortunately, Lyncked the power to dispatch such a monster.


    Even so, its pained roar shook the surrounding city, causing both Lyn and T to stumble, and the beings aura was unleashed, fully visible to T for the first time.


    Blue filled Ts vision.


    <em>Oh rust. Oh, rust!</em> Why had she been able to resist it?<em> Its power was defuse, and it was trying to remain undetected.</em> That was gone, now.


    She felt something strike out at her mind, and frantically jerked her magical weight to the side. Somehow, that let the attack nce off, if only for a moment. In the distance, Lyn crumpled.


    Her mind was spinning. Too much was going on. <em>Ive got to get to Lyn. I have to-</em>


    <em>-T-</em>


    <em>-That is really distractWHAT THE RUST IS THAT!?!?!-</em>


    T began tough. <em>At least were in agreement.</em>


    <em>-KILL IT! KILL IT WITH FIRE!!-</em>


    <em>I dont have fire.</em>


    <em>-we should reconsider that. Alchemists fire is a good option to have at hand. Please dont die. I have work to do.-</em>


    A staggering blow hammered against her mind, and Ts vision fuzzed. She barely held her magic in ce, focused around her mind.


    She thought she could hear a small whimpering from the back of her mind. <em>Other me probably has the right idea</em>


    Her vision returned asnces of fire and spikes of lightning began to rain from the sky. The city defenses had detected the threat and began the purge. As the first attacksnded, several cloaked figures seemed to materialize out of nowhere on the street in front of the monster-building.


    With waves of power in the form of various spell-workings, human bodies were pulled from the increasingly unrecognizable tavern, and once they were clear, the fight truly began.


    Some of the new arrivals were establishing a perimeter, erecting defensive and dampening shields to protect the surroundings.


    An Archon whose aura was utterly undetectable to T pointed at the syphon. A beam of pure light extended from the finger and as the Archon moved their finger in a random zig-zag, the beam sliced through the creature effortlessly.


    T saw another Archon on the other side absorbing the beam of light in a cloud of darkness so it wouldnt continue into the city beyond.


    The syphon didnt go down so easily, however, its body pulling together in new, mind bending shapes as it healed from every wound it received.


    Itshed out with body and mind.


    T staggered under another mental attack, but it was wide-area this time, and so it didnt cripple her even for a moment.


    Several of the other Archons, who were much closer, stumbled, one even going to a knee before recovering.


    After that initialrgely ineffective attack, the syphon mostly used fleshy tentacles to p and m anything it could reach.


    The Archons who were closest engaged the iling limbs as best as they could, but it was obvious that some were more skilled than others.


    A few in the group appeared to be healers, and they were tending to the humans who had been pulled out of the false-tavern.


    T ran over to them as they seemed like the least likely to be hurt if she distracted them. Is there anything I can do?


    A woman nced at T. You helped draw it out of hiding?


    Yes, Mistress.


    Then, youve done enough. Draw back so you dont get crushed in the crossfire. We know what were about. After a moment, she continued. Dont go too far. Well want to talk with you once the creature is dispatched.


    T nodded and moved past on the far side of the thoroughfare, skirting behind a shield Mage who was simply protecting the houses across the street from the raging beast.


    Once she was in the clear, T ran towards Lyn who was sitting up on the street holding her head, clearly in pain and just as clearly exhausted.


    T sat down next to her friend. Are you ok?


    The beast screeched, but it was dampened, the sound barely reaching them just a few dozen yards away.


    Lyn nodded tiredly. Ive not used that working very often.


    T snorted augh. What was that, anyway?


    My defense ofst resort, my foundational understanding made manifest.


    Oh?


    Words are power.


    Rust. Thats pretty cool. T chuckled.


    Lyn grinned. Yeah. Too bad its single cast. She sighed, leaning back to enjoy the show. I should be able to support a multi-cast variant when I reach a higher tier of advancement, but well have to see.


    When? Not if? T smiled mischievously at her friend.


    Lyn rolled her eyes. Yes, when. Im over the biggest hurdle. Basically, everything else just takes time, and Ill have that in gold. Im not going to stop now.


    T bumped her friends shoulder with her own. Good.


    Together they settled in to watch the show, and a show it was. The citys defenses were relentless, but they werent designed for this level of threat. Thus, they were only an aid to the true heroes of the moment. The Archons disyed a wide variety of abilities from earth rising up to crush parts of the enemy to the light beam that T had seen earlier.


    One Archon apparently favored fire, and used it liberally.


    There were a mix of other workings as well, but from where they sat, it all distilled down to a beautiful lightshow, punctuated by increasingly desperate, rage-filled roars and screeches.


    It took nearly an hour, and a truly staggering amount of power, but the Archons wore down the beast, cutting it apart, until it could no longer heal.


    T had watched as its aura slowly moved down the spectrum. When the aura had faded from red entirely, she knew that the fight was done.


    Less than a minuteter, a final, mournful cry escaped the mound of flesh, and it shifted for thest time, settling into a dead, bloody lump of used-to-be-creature.


    Lyn shook her head in wonder. Imagine: A Revered getting into the city. That shouldnt be possible. She barked a shortugh. And no one died! It was contained and destroyed.


    Yeah T frowned. It shouldnt have gotten in at all, but I doubt it was that powerful when it arrived. Its probably been gorging itself on power for weeks.


    True enough. Lyn shuddered, some of her good mood fading away. Ive gone to that tavern, T. I <em>liked</em> the food and ale. I drank so much I missed work the next day She shivered again, all mirth gone. I fed it


    T wrapped an arm around her friend. Youre okay now. Its gone.


    Lyn leaned into Ts embrace. I feel disgusting, vited.


    Anything I can do?


    Food. I want food, prepared by a human, while I watch. No crazy magical creature drawing me in with inhuman delights.


    T smiled at the attempted humor. I can do that. Lets find somewhere thats open. But we should check in with them first. The healer I talked to said theyd likely like to speak to us, now that its over.


    As they stood together, they garnered attention and one of the Archons came their way. You two. You fought the beast?


    They hesitated, then nodded.


    Tell me what happened, please.


    T shrugged and recounted what had led up to the fight, though she left out any mention of voices in her head.


    Clever use of your magical weight. Its a good skill to practice, if youre able, and youve a leg up as an Immaterial Guide.


    Next, Lyn filled in her side, short though it was, and the man nodded his acknowledgement.


    Thank you, both, for your assistance. He handed a token to Lyn. That will allow an Inscriptionist to charge us and cover the cost for reinscribing. He grinned. That was some spell. It lit up our detection grid like the breath of a god. I cant wait to see what youre capable of in a few centuries.


    Tughed, patting Lyn on the back, the other woman coloring at thepliment. Thank you, Master.


    He then turned to T. Mage protector, right? Blood Archon T?


    She blinked at him, processing the fact that he knew her name. She was instantly suspicious. Ummm Yes? How do you know who I am?


    He gave a half smile. We were briefed on your encounters and discovery. We were also asked to watch out for you, when possible. Im d you survived even such a small engagement with that thing.


    Sheughed nervously. Yeah <em>Well, it does make sense that the Mages watching over the city would have been told about mind altering creatures within their walls.</em> It also made sense that theyd be told who the source of the information was.


    You helped y it, so youre entitled to part of the rewards. Your friends pay is the reinscribing, and I imagine thats worth more than youll get, but here. He handed her a different token. Come to the Archonspound any time after tomorrow morning and turn that in for your portion of the calcted pay. He bowed and was about to turn away when he paused, sighed, and looked back to T. I was also instructed to inform you, if our paths ever crossed, that the city lord would still happily ept you into our ranks. He gestured at the group who had responded to this internal threat. I can promise its not a boring job.


    This time, he got a half-dozen feet away before he paused and turned back. In case it wasnt obvious, wed prefer you not spread information about this incident. If you choose to, or if you must, talk all you want, but it would be a kindness if you didnt. He bowed again. Good night, Mistresses.


    Without another word, he departed.


    Lyn and T shared a look, each holding back a smile and some stress-inducedughter.


    The older woman sighed, still clearly fighting down a smile. Food?


    Food!


    Terry flickered into being on Ts shoulder.


    There you are. I was worried about you. You vanished right as that thing showed its true form.


    Terry squawked at her irritably and headbutted her cheek.


    Im fine. She tried to wave the terror bird off.


    He squawked again, this time cking his beak near her nose.


    Alright. Im sorry. I didnt mean to worry you. She tossed him a bit of jerky and then scratched the back of his head and down his neck.


    He harrumphed but seemed to ept her apology as he curled up on her shoulder and tucked his head in to rest.


    Lyn shook her head, clearly barely holding backughter. Come on. Lets find something to eat.


    T nodded emphatically. Yes. Yes, please.

 Chapter 164: By Design

    Chapter 164: By Design


    T and Lyn sat in the park nearest to the cheesy little caravan restaurant. Blessedly, that ce seemed to keep odd hours.


    Lyn had been a bit cold, but T had produced a couple of nkets to put down on the bench, and then pulled out the massive bearskin to enshroud them as they ate.


    Terry curled up between them, on the nketed bench, content simply to sleep.


    Even so, the night was getting chilly, so T had used her hot air incorporator toplete the bastion in the snow.


    Lyn hadughed at the lengths T had gone to but seemed genuinely grateful for the gesture.


    T, in a fit of appreciation of her own and generosity, had bought Lyns dinner for her, much to the other womans thankful surprise.


    On the funny side of things, apparently Lyn had left the house without her coin pouch.


    Theyd been eating for a bit, slowly and contemtively, when Lyn took a drink to clear her mouth and shifted to look to T. So Lyn cleared her throat. That happened.


    T huffed augh around her own most recent bite, even as she swallowed. Yeah, it did, didnt it?


    Lyn shook her head. Now that it happened. Im d to say I hope to never think of the creature again. Does that work for you?


    T thought for a moment, then shrugged. Yeah, I can work with that. She rearranged the bear skin a bit. What do you want to talk about then?


    Anything else would be fine. Id just like to turn my thinking towards something else, please.


    Ts eyes widened, and she smacked herself on the forehead, once again disturbing their improvised fortification against winter itself. Right! I was going to go to the Archon Library, and I wanted to know if youd like toe.


    Thiste?


    I wasing to get you, originally, almost two hours ago


    Fair enough, I suppose! Lyn spoke quickly, likely to keep the topic from returning to the earlier unpleasantness. Even so, the clerk frowned, taking anotherrge bite. She spoke around the food as she considered. Probably not tonight?


    T sighed. Yeah. I think I could use the sleep, too. What about tomorrow?


    Yeah, that could work. Morning or evening?


    She fought down a yawn. Seems like evening would be wiser than waking up even earlier than usual.


    Lyn nodded vigorously. I second that. After licking some of the juices from her fingers, Lyn made a noise of surprise. Oh! Right, I sold the six horns you passed into my keeping. I have thirty-two gold and forty silver for you, back in our house.


    T gave a happyugh. Thank you! Thats after your cut, right?


    Naturally.


    Sheughed again. Thank you, truly.


    Lyn only smiled in return.


    The conversation fell into a lull, then, the two working at finishing their food more quickly than theyd been doing, before. When theyd swallowed thest bites, they stood and T stored the nkets and bearskin back in Kit, topped the pouch off, magically, and smile. Lets head home.


    The walk was pleasantly brief and made inpanionable silence.


    As they passed the park, which once again took up the entire block across the street from their house, there was no evidence of the fight that had taken ce there such a short time ago.


    This is impressive clean-up work.


    Lyn nodded her agreement, clearly not wanting the conversation to veer back towards the cause of the earlier chaos. Ill say. I suppose it makes sense, though. No need to cause a panic.


    T shrugged. Yeah, that makes sense. She frowned. Wont people be curious where the tavern went, though?


    Lyns eye twitched, then she sighed. Honestly?


    T nodded.


    Probably not. I, for one, never thought of it, unless I could actively see it. Probably an effect of its magics. Most people will never even remember it was there.


    She shook her head. That is terrifying.


    Just a bit, yeah. She cleared her throat. Now, as I said. Id prefer to never speak of it again? She made thest a question.


    Right! Im sorry, Lyn.


    Lyn half-heartedly waved her off. I understand its unreasonable for it to <em>never</em>e up, especially so close in the aftermath, but I appreciate some space from it.


    T nodded, and silence covered them again as they arrived home, locked the door behind themselves and parted for the night.


    As T and Terry were closed into their room, T couldnt help but shudder. I am so, so d that thing is gone.


    Terry let out a tired trill before flickering to her bed, already sprawled out in seeming slumber.


    Night, Terry.


    He vaguely waggled one taloned foot her direction and cooed softly.


    Sleep well.


    * * *


    T didnt dream at all that night.


    It felt as if she closed her eyes and immediately opened them again.


    <em>Huh, thats odd.</em> She somehow knew that the night had passed, and that it was time to get up. Even so, she felt well rested, incredibly so in fact.


    <em>Thats odd, indeed.</em> She shrugged, stretched, and dove into her morning routine.


    That morning, however, she ended the time by mirroring her perspective onto Flow, as it sat off to one side. <em>One more thing to practice.</em>


    At first, she cheated, closing her eyes and only perceiving through the weapon, but by the end of that mornings session, she could have her eyes open, so long as she didnt move.


    Even without vomiting being an option, the disorientation of differently moving perspectives was too much. <em>For now.</em>


    That aplished, she bathed, gathered up Terry, and headed out.


    <em>Breakfast time!</em>


    Mistress Odera had requested that they meet for lunch instead of breakfast. So, T was on her own.


    She dropped through her old favorite breakfast ce to get a breakfast deal.


    The breakfast deal came with six tasty sandwiches and a whole gallon of coffee, all for just a single silver.


    <em>Oh</em>


    One gallon of coffee.


    <em>Holly asked me to cut back on the coffee</em>


    That wasnt precisely true.


    <em>No, she implied that I should stop, entirely.</em>


    T groaned.


    The poor attendant working behind the counter waited patiently for her to ce her order.


    Could I get the breakfast deal, but rece the coffee with more sandwiches?


    The attendant brightened. Oh! Certainly. That will be one silver for eight sandwiches, please.


    T grinned. That sounds perfect. She felt an ache of longing for the no-longering coffee, but she pushed it aside. <em>Food will help fill the void.</em>


    She paid, found a nearby park bench, swept it free of snow and sat down to enjoy her steaming sandwiches.


    She found watercking as a breakfast beverage. Her head started to hurt in sympathy with her bereft pte and food only helped a little.


    T grimace. <em>I dont want to spoil these glorious creations.</em> A thought came to her, and she smiled. I do need to be reinforcing my magics, after all. She pulled out her sk of ending-berry juice and took a long drink. It paired perfectly with her meal.


    Unfortunately, she was beginning to run low on the magic juice, and that just wouldnt do. <em>I need to find a closer grove than AlefastOh! The library should have that knowledge. Ill ask when Lyn and I go this evening.</em>


    That decided, she dug into her repast with a vengeance. As she ate, she had a thought, ncing to Terry, tucked in on her shoulder. You have to try this.


    She broke off a bite of the current creation and tossed it for the terror bird. Terry flickered to snatch it from the air. He barely swallowed before letting out a happy trill and shimmying contentedly on her shoulder.


    T grinned. Thus, she gave Terry a good-sized bite of each of her sandwiches, telling him the name, in case he liked one more than the others.


    Overall, it was a very pleasant way to spend the meal.


    <em>I should ask Mistress Odera to meet me for lunch every day, instead of breakfast. This is sooooo good.</em>


    * * *


    Since T didnt have to go to the work yard, or to the Caravan Guilds headquarters, she found her morning freer than her previous two had been.


    With that extra time, she decided to see if her jerky was ready yet. <em>If Im calcting it correctly, between Terry and me, were going through just about five pounds of jerky per day.</em> That sounded about right, after all, shed gotten around twelve hundred pounds from Ranes hunting trip and Brands jerking and shed guess that she wasing up on having used a third of her stock.


    <em>Given the strength enhancing properties of the meat, I think that Terry and I should both up our intake.</em> If she did that, she should really take the time to sit and meditate to ensure the power went to the right ces. She tsked. <em>Another task.</em> Still, the power would likely just build up in her system until directed, either subconsciously due to exertion or consciously by her abilities as an Immaterial Guide.


    So, shed be eating thunder cattle jerky and drinking ending-berry juice and taking time each day to ensure that the umted power was channeled to the right locations. <em>I suppose I could make gtin out of their bones to strengthen mine further.</em> She grimaced at that. <em>Yeah, no. Im ok without that.</em> She hesitated. <em>Waitare the bones whats used to make gtin?</em> In the end, it didnt really matter; she wasnt interested.


    So, she was going to up her intake and try to get Terry more, as well.


    <em>Im so d I went hunting.</em> She was going to have to do more hunting, too. <em>Im d that thunder cattle are so prolific around here</em>


    As she thought about it, she realized that with Lyn selling the horns, she could make a <em>killing</em> by killing the cattle and bringing back their bodies.


    She chuckled to herself at her own joke as she walked towards Brands restaurant. She didnt know where the Culinary Guild offices were in Bandfast, and he would likely be best able to direct her to where Amnin could be found.


    There were only two problems with her theoretical gold vein. First, there were only so many buyers for thunder bull horns in the city, and most wouldnt be willing to pay full price. <em>If Im willing to flood the market, Ill probably end up having to take as little as one or two gold per horn, and at some point, people wont be interested at any price.</em>


    The second issue was that thunder cattle really did prefer to travel in big herds. True, there were more little herds than big, by the very nature of numbers that had to be the case, but the vast majority of the areas thunder cattle would be in one of the three or four massive groups.


    <em>There is no way Im up for taking on anywhere close to that many.</em> She paused, considering. <em>Well, if I perfectly aligned some tungsten spheres, and targeted the far side of the herd</em>


    In the best-case scenario, that would cut lines of death through the animals, but leave most of them intact and vengeful.


    <em>How do they respond to predators?</em> Her understanding was the most mundane herd animals would flee before even a single predator, leaving the weakest among them to fall prey to the attacker. <em>Are magical herbivores different?</em> Shed have to ask Ingrit, the Archivist.


    T already knew, though, that thunder cattle fought viciously to avenge their fallen herd-mates. <em>At least against humans. I suppose theyd treat a pack of wolves differently?</em> She didnt know. So, shed definitely need to ask.


    Brands business was open, but not open for business. From what T understood, they would be working to prepare the food for lunch and dinner customers, and had their doors open so thatrge orders could be ced, but no food was ready for immediate sale at that moment.


    She pushed open the door and smiled at the entirely mundane <em>ding</em> that resounded through the space as the door pushed passed the little bell hanging behind it for just such a purpose.


    Mistress T! What a pleasant surprise, seeing you here this time of day.


    Lissa, always a pleasure to see you. The women exchanged a brief hug. <em>My goodness. Im very huggy ofte.</em>


    What can we do for you?


    Well, I was hoping that Brand would know where I could find Amnin.


    Brands voice came from the back. Is that Mistress T who I hear?


    It is! Come out, dear. Shes got a quick question.


    He came out, wiping his hands on his apron. Mistress, good to see you. What can I answer?


    T gave a nod of acknowledgment. Im looking to find Amnin.


    Brand grinned. The jerky, right?


    She blinked at him. How do you know about that?


    Heughed. She checked with me on the recipe I had used. Here, let me show you were shes most likely to be found. He walked over to a decorative map of the city, hanging on one wall. Were here. He pointed to the location of his restaurant before dragging his finger down various streets. If you follow this way, youll find the Guildhall you want here. He tapped the map twice to emphasize the final location.


    Perfect. Thank you!


    T had no issue finding the Culinary Guildhall, and to her surprise, she found that there were nine massive bundles of jerky, each wrapped in treated canvas and bound tightly tost, theoretically, forever. <em>Assuming they dont get wet, invaded by pests, or exposed to temperature extremes.</em>


    So, within Kit? Indefinitely.


    T grinned, pulling Kit from her belt, opening it wide and dropping each of the bundles inside.


    <em>Some day, Ill have to ask how they lock the magic into the meat like this. Maybe I can use the same technique to improve the shelf-life of ending-berry juice.</em>


    Now that the jerky was all stored within, she could sense that Kit was getting on the full side once more.


    <em>I really need to expand Kit again</em> There was a lot that she needed to do.


    Amnin wasnt actually working that day, so T just interacted with the receptionist who seemed <em>incredibly</em> ufortable talking with a Mage.


    T spared the poor man, taking the jerky and departing as quickly as she was able while remaining polite.


    She did pause to leave a grateful message for Amnin. <em>No need to be rude, after all.</em>


    With all thatplete, the morning was still young, thus she arrived at the training yard only a littleter than she had the day before.


    * * *


    T spat out sand and groaned, rolling over onto her back.


    <em>Two. I held my own against two!</em> It had even been Adam and one of his peers. True, it had only been for a short bout, less than two minutes if her sense of time was urate, but shed done it!


    Shed incorporated the first of the multi-shape weapon forms incredibly quickly, and it had done <em>something</em> to pull her fighting style together and give her movements a unity of purpose.


    She was no longer jumping between unique weapon types.


    No.


    Now she was using one, highly versatile weapon to best effect.


    Adam offered her a hand up. Well done, Mistress T. He was breathing heavily but had enough control to speak almost normally despite his clear fatigue. I could not have taken you, alone.


    Ts eyes widened at his words.


    Of course, they both knew that if they were really fighting, T would win handily, but under the current restrictions, T felt immense pride at thepliment.


    If I may ask, you seemed very surefooted, more so even than you were before your trip to Makinaven.


    She grinned. Thats not a question, but I think I understand what youre getting at. She nodded. I kept the pressure distribution scripts on my feet. Ive gotten used to the sure-footedness they grant, not to mention it makes it easier to move quietly and without damaging what I walk on. She gestured at the sand. And, they give much better purchase on uncertain terrain.


    Adam nodded, clearly a bit lost in thought. That should serve you quite well, Id think.


    Yeah, Mistress Holly and I discussed it a bit, and it seemed worth keeping for the time being.


    The sun was almost directly overhead, the training time with the Guards at an end.


    Rane and Aproa were finishing up their matches as well and T could already see that each would end with the Mages defeat.


    That was by design.


    The Mages were here to hone their martial skills, not lord their magic over mundanes.


    Because of that, the bouts were always stacked against them, even if never to the extent of a quick loss. The point was to push them, not frustrate their attempts to improve.


    When the inevitable ends came, the two thanked their respective sparring partners and walked over, panting.


    Aproa was all smiles. This really is fantastic training. Thank you for allowing me to join you all.


    T grinned and Adam bowed, responding with grace, It is a pleasure to have you here, Mistress.


    Aproa nced to Rane expectantly, and the young man flushed. Oh, uh Mistress T?


    Hmm?


    Aproa asked Adam a question and led him off to the side to discuss the answer.


    Rane scratched the back of his head. Would you like to grab lunch with me? I mean, just me and-


    T cut him off with a wave of her hand. Ive got to meet with Mistress Odera for lunch. Maybeter?


    He hesitated, the words dying on his lips. Oh. Sure. Yeah. That makes sense.


    T smiled. Im sure Mistress Aproa is free. And well meet back up in the Mages sparring arena?


    He nodded then shrugged. Sure. Yeah. Ill see you there, I guess.


    He turned and walked over to where Aproa and Adam were still talking.


    Aproa gave him a questioning nce, and he shrugged again. The woman gave T a confused frown, then shook her head, and the two Archons left together.


    <em>-T-</em>


    <em>-You are going to have to deal with that boys feelings for you, and yours for him, eventually.-</em>


    T sighed. <em>I know. Im not an idiot. I just dont want to think about that type of thing, and-</em> She straightened. <em>Wait! Youre talking with me? Why? I thought all functions were offline?</em>


    <em>-Ding-</em>


    <em>-Earliest lost or repressed memory</em>,<em> not lost due to the natural processes of time, partially recovered.-</em>


    Ts eyes widened. <em>One moment.</em>


    She bid goodbye to the departing guards and went to one of the private bath rooms, Terry following her in before she locked the door.


    <em>Alright. Im ready. Let me see it.</em>


    She sank to the floor in a cross-legged position, eyes closing of their own ord as she was pulled into a memory.

 Chapter 165: Finally Time

    Chapter 165: Finally Time


    T sat in thep of a giant, thefiest chair in the world.


    Before her, a booky open, a massive finger pointing at funny ck lines.


    A steady cadence of sound washed over her, and though she couldnt understand it, yet, she knew it had meaning.


    More than anything, she knew that she was happy to be here, held by the giant, safe, loved.


    * * *


    T came out of her memory, cheeks damp and eyes swimming.


    <em>Rust you. Why did you show me that?</em>


    <em>-Ding-</em>


    <em>-That is your earliest repressed memory.-</em>


    <em>Why would that be repressed?</em> As soon as she asked, she knew the answer and didnt want it stated, but it was toote, the question had been asked.


    <em>-T-</em>


    <em>-You dislike how it makes you feel about your father.-</em>


    T grimace. <em>Great</em> The other her was being snarky. She should change the subject before things got too personal.


    <em>What should we call you?</em>


    <em>-I need to continue following mystmand.-</em>


    <em>Lets settle on a name, first.</em>


    There was silence for a long moment, to the point that T thought that shed have to wait. But, finally, <em>-That is eptable.-</em>


    <em>What do you think about AI?</em>


    -<em>For Alternate Interface?-</em> Other her could clearly pull from Ts own mind for the reasoning behind the initialism.


    <em>Yeah.</em>


    <em>-I think it will be confusing.-</em>


    <em>How so?</em>


    <em>-Im not sure. It just seems too obscure. I dont really like it, either-</em>


    T grunted. <em>Fair enough, I suppose. You should like the name we use for you, after all.</em>


    <em>-I appreciate that.-</em>


    <em>So? Should we call you Sue? Thats a pretty good name.</em>


    <em>-Im not a boy.-</em>


    <em>I know?</em>


    <em>-What other suggestions do you have?-</em>


    <em>You know youre basically me, but you can think much faster.</em>


    <em>-Thats true. So, Im T, what should we call you?-</em>


    T rolled her eyes. <em>You know thats not what I meant.</em>


    <em>-True, but its harder to do humor based on misunderstanding when we share a mental space.-</em>


    <em>I should call you Dorris.</em>


    <em>-Thats hurtful.-</em> Dorris was Ts imaginary friend from her childhood.


    When other kids had made fun of her for bringing her fake friend out to y, T had asserted that Dorris was real, simply invisible.


    When they couldnt touch Dorris, T had stated that Dorris was intangible too.


    Thus, the neighbor kids had asked Dorris to speak to prove that she existed.


    Of course, T had informed them, Dorris was a mute and so couldnt speak.


    <em>We could say we got a Mage to cure your vocal cords.</em>


    Other T snorted augh within Ts head, which begged the question of <em>how</em> but that would have to be explored,ter. -<em>We did promise to do that, didnt we.-</em>


    <em>So?</em>


    <em>-No.-</em>


    <em>Fine. What do you want to be called?</em>


    <em>-Well, Im you, just as you are me.-</em>


    <em>We already established that.</em>


    There was a momentary pause. <em>-Do you just want me to tell you, or should I walk you through it?-</em>


    T considered for a moment.


    <em>-You know, I can hear your considerings, too.-</em>


    She sighed. <em>Just tell me the end result.</em>


    <em>-t-</em>


    <em>Alright. That sounds great. You are A Lot.-</em>


    <em>-I see what you did there, and I dont appreciate it.-</em>


    <em>How? They sound the same.</em>


    <em>-Im literally in your head, T. I can read your thoughts. In this case, that is relevant because homonyms are incredibly obvious.-</em>


    <em>That makes sense. But you had to know Id make that joke.</em>


    <em>-I thought you might be better than your baser humor.-</em>


    <em>t?</em>


    <em>-Yes?-</em>


    <em>For someone who lives inside my mind, is built from me, and is basically just another aspect-manifestation of my soul, you dont seem to know me very well.</em> T felt herself rx a little. She didnt really know why, but having the voice in her head not pre-guess her actions was relieving.


    <em>-You enjoyed that little rant, didnt you?-</em>


    <em>I did.</em>


    <em>-Did it help you feel morefortable with me?-</em>


    <em>yes</em>


    <em>-Good.-</em> T got the feeling of smug contentment, radiating from something <em>else</em> within her head.


    <em>Rust.</em>


    <em>-Ding-</em>


    <em>-Continuing the implementation of the priormand. All other functions will be unavable during this process.-</em>


    T sighed. <em>Of course.</em>


    Oddly, the implication that shed been set up and influenced to feel less iffy about t didnt undo the relief. <em>This feels like it should be a bad sign, but I dont think it is.</em> If t was basically her, why would she want to hurt herself?


    She let out a dismissive, groaning sigh.<em> Im starting to get a headache over this. I can think more on the implicationster.</em>


    T stood and pulled Kit from her belt. <em>Stretch and bath time, then lunch with Mistress Odera.</em>


    She mentally dove into her garments and sent power down the path to retract them into the band around her throat, even as she climbed down into her dimensional storage.


    * * *


    Lunch was uneventful, and T enjoyed her conversation with Mistress Odera as much as usual, though her headache didnt fade as shed hoped.


    The older woman took them to a sandwich ce for a quick bite to apany the shorter than usual time together.


    Apparently, Mistress Odera helped teach at a local primary school when she was in town, specifically helping to identify students who might have the ability for either inscriptions or training as a Mage.


    <em>Ahh, pre-Magic.</em> It was a mixed bag, as far as sses went. T actually hadnt enjoyed it very much, but she had done reasonably well. Thats why shed been given the entrance exam for the Academy.


    <em>And why my family was able to unload their debt on me.</em>


    At the thought of her family, she again was reminded of her father reading to her even before she understood his words.


    She pushed that aside, and the conversation moved to other topics.


    When she arrived at the Mages training ground, she found everyone else already there, a challenge in full swing.


    Fire tore through the area in precise lines, crisscrossing through the air and moving to encircle the fire Mages opponent.


    Ts mage-sight allowed her to see the paths of oxygen as they were carved through the air before being ignited.


    Lightning struck through the leading edges of the paths of fire. Unlike T would have expected, the counterattacks seemed to sever something in the flows of magic and disrupt the oxygen maniptors hold over and control of the concentration of that mmable gas, allowing the lightning to effectively disrupt the attacks, even if imperfectly.


    The two Archons seemed on almost equal footing, exchanging strikes without being able to directly affect the other, but T saw what almost anyone with their mage-sight active would have.


    To be fair, in the strobing arena, under the shing influence of two Mages, it was marginally painful to see that aspect of reality, but it did give her insight into what was going on.


    The lightning was fascinating as it wasnting from anywhere. The Mage was creating it, already en route to her targets.


    The oxygen maniptor was protected byyered, segregated zones of hyper-oxygenated air.


    As the lightning breached one of those pockets, it would ignite the space, causing a blowback that would prevent the attack from breaking through.


    A simr, constantly forkingwork of electric lines flickered around the lightning Mage, disrupting any trails of oxygenated air that tried to close in.


    To the mundane eye, it seemed like a standoff, but T saw the ending.


    The lightning Mage had no real defense against oxygen deficiency, and the air around her was being bled of oxygen, and the woman was clearly beginning to be light-headed.


    It seemed that she was aware of the tactic, as her aura was spread wide, locking down the area directly around her. Even so, by pulling oxygen away from all the air nearby, not within her aura control, as well as preventing any other oxygen from entering in, her opponent was all but assured that the conclusion to the match was only a matter of time. The explosions stirring up the air had likely greatly increased the pace of the oxygen depletion as well.


    As such, T arrived less than a minute before the end of the bout.


    The lightning Mage began panting in deep, useless breaths, clearly feeling a bit lightheaded.


    When she dropped to a knee, she mumbled out. Rust you, Stan. I surrender. She copsed to the sand of the arena, and the healer rushed over to her.


    T watched as the oxygen maniptor, Stan apparently, pushed the life-giving substance back into the air around the downed woman now that her aura was no longer blocking his control, and her breathing leveled out.


    <em>So, he has methods of winning, both fast and slow.</em> T immediately wanted to fight him. She honestly didnt know how shed do, but she had a few ideas to tip any conflict her way.


    Cazor unnecessarily called the match. Victory to Stan.


    Stan bowed towards his opponent, then towards Cazor. Thank you for officiating.


    Aproa cleared her throat, walking in from the side. Any other challenges?


    T grinning. Id love to fight Stan.


    Stan cocked his head to the side, examining her, then grinned.


    Aproa sighed. Anyone who has already fought may deny a challenge.


    Stan waved that away. No, its fine. Id love to see what the Blood Archon is really capable of.


    Rane walked over to T. Talk after the bout?


    She looked him up and down, noting his nervous posture. <em>Hes going to ask again</em>


    She really had had enough time to figure out how she felt. Too bad shed never taken any of it to think through her feelings.


    Yeah. Okay. She smiled in what she hoped was a reassuring way.


    Rane hesitated, then straightened a bit, smiling in return. Alright, then. Good luck!


    T strode out into the designated area, her opponent stretching just a bit, limbering up for another fight.


    Cazor lifted a hand and his magic swept through the space, bringing with it a dispersed cloud of iron.


    Stan shivered as the iron moved past him, even though none stayed in his vicinity.


    Terry flickered away before the wave of magic-nullification swept over them.


    T extended her aura to protect her iron salve. Shed determined that it was worth the difficulty of reapplications to take advantage of the benefits of having her magics reflected and contained within herself morepletely. Even so, she was not eager to reapply it so soon.


    Cazor gave her an odd look but didntment. He was sweeping the space to prevent any lingering magical influence of Stans from affecting the uing battle.


    Ready?


    Stan and T each nodded.


    Fight!


    T crouched andunched herself forward, locking onto her opponent as she did so. <em>Increase.</em>


    Stans will opposed hers, causing the inefficiency of her working to spike.


    T growled. He couldnt shake her lock, but he wasnt trying to. Instead, he was disrupting it enough to render it moot in the short term, unless she wanted to burn rings for a bout. <em>Yeah, Im not rich enough for that, not yet.</em>


    It was actually a bit of a revtion. Jean, in fighting T off until she was ovee, let T end the battle of wills with a full lock and fully effective magics. Stan, by not opposing the lock itself, and only fighting the working, ended up being better protected than Jean, even though Jean had a <em>much</em> stronger will.


    <em>So, oppose outright those who I can block fully and hamper those I cant.</em> That alone was a valuable insight.


    The revtion was so foundational, that T almostpletely missed the sudden working of power, which pulled a line of high oxygenation into existence, with arger pocket created just in front of her.


    Stan snapped, his hand passing through his end of the trail with expert precision just as his glove created the needed spark.


    Fire ripped through the air, but T dropped and slid to get under the st.


    Stan anticipated her and a line of fire tore down a secondary path to an anciry oxygen pocket, which appeared just ahead of her aura, in the path of her slide.


    The two zones detonated simultaneously, one almost directly over her the other just ahead.


    T was driven back and down, but not nearly as much as Stan likely expected.


    <em>Increased mass for the win!</em> Her physiological inscriptions were still increasing her density, even though she was already at least twice as heavy as she really should be.


    <em>Focus, T.</em>


    Her momentum had been utterly countered, and so she was just lying there on the sand.


    She kicked up to a defensive stance just as more explosions rocked the area around her.


    T felt the activations of power as the defensive magics in her clothing activated to counter the blows.


    She was satisfied to see Stans eyes widen as he evidently noticed the armor.


    <em>Alright, y this smart, T.</em> She took out two tungsten balls and began gravitating one towards her opponent, even as she simply threw the other.


    Her opponent gave her an odd look as he easily stepped aside to avoid the thrown metal sphere.


    He nced back at it a few times, clearly scanning it with his own mage-sight, but he seemed to determine that there was no working on the ball that would stab him in the back.


    In that time, T was bouncing around the battlefield.


    Some of her movements were volitional as she dodged and wove around the ever-moving fields of fire.


    Some were involuntary as the explosions changed her trajectories and moved her in ways she didnt expect.


    <em>Well, this is good anticipation and reactionary training at least.</em>


    She drew Flow and threw it in sword form.


    Stans eyes widened as the magical weapon spun through the intervening space, but when the superheated de hit one of his protective zones of oxygenation, the pocket detonated, throwing Flow back and away.


    It seemed that the Material Guides defenses were as effective against Flow as against lightning.


    T called Flow back to her and continued throwing it at regr intervals in both the form of a sword and a halberd. It always encountered those pockets of hyper oxygenated air and was deflected, but that provided a good distraction and allowed her to slowly work her way closer.


    She threw Flow onest time as a sword, and Stan ignored it, confident in his defense against the weapon.


    It was finally time.


    At thest moment, before Flows de would have entered and triggered the explosion of one of Stans defensive zones, T reshaped her weapon into a knife. The knife form did not have a superhot de.


    At the same time, T extended her aura a bit to one side, so that the Mage was directly between that part of her aura and the tungsten ball shed thrown earlier, the tungsten ball containing one of her bloodstars.


    T <em>pulled</em>. Even as she changed her direction of movement and let the ball still in her hand pull her forward just slightly, adding to her speed. The fight wouldntst long enough for it to be a useful weapon, but it could help with this.


    Her opponent didnt have time to notice that his defense had failed let alone to even attempt to stop Flow, before the de sunk into his shoulder.


    Such a wound would hardly have been the end of the fight, even though it would obviously be painful, but that was just a distraction.


    Normally, Ts pull would have been incredibly obvious, and Stan could have been expected to defend himself with ease.


    Now, with Flow in his shoulder, he had an instant of less acute focus.


    In that instant, T mirrored her inertia into the proper bloodstar and the tungsten ball mmed into his back, near his upper spine, cracking ribs. Additionally, it pulled the mage forward and even more mentally off bnce.


    The sphere behind him continued to pull him towards T even as she closed thest few feet.


    His eyes were unfocused as hed clearly been taken off guard in quite a few ways.


    She mmed her right fist into his gut, driving the wind from him.


    As he bent nearly double, the tungsten sphere helped push him over and T changed the direction of her pull, drawing the bloodstar toward her right knee, even as she drove it upward into his falling chest.


    There was another sickening crunch as the colossal strength of the hit lifted the Mage off the ground,pressing his chest dramatically in the process.


    Victory, T! Cazor called, the healer already halfway to them.


    The sphere in Ts hand lost the little attraction it had had towards the Mage, because he was no longer her opponent.


    <em>Huh I wonder if I can use that somehow.</em>


    Stan dropped to his knees, gasping and wheezing.


    T quickly knelt next to him, bracing him up and holding him steady even as she tucked Flow back in its sheath and the spheres back into Kit.


    The healer slid into ce next to the two of them, her magic rushing through Stan, identifying the issues. Without a word, the other Mage ced her hand on the damaged Mages shoulder and healing magics rushed through him, restoring him to perfect health almost instantly.


    Stan let out a gasping whimper, then grimaced and spit out a mouthful of blood.


    He turned his head to the healer, nodding his thanks, then looked to T. What are you made of, Mistress? You kick like a bull. His voice sounded a bit thick, and he coughed again, cleared his throat, and spit out more blood. You take fire like youre made out of mud.


    T grinned back. Im just a poor woman, made out of muscle and blood. She hesitated. Well, muscle and blood and skin and bone.


    Stan snorted augh, then made a gagging sound, coughed, and spit up yet another mass of blood. Yeah. No more challenges for me today.


    T chuckled. You did great, keeping me at a distance.


    I did, didnt I? He gave a half smile.


    She offered him a hand up, and he took it. Thank you for the match, Master. She bowed over their linked hands.


    Well fought, Mistress. He bowed in return, and they released their grips.


    Rane had walked over, and he pped them each on a shoulder. Well fought, both of you.


    They nodded in thanks. Then, T nced away.


    <em>I did promise</em> She sighed internally and looked back towards Rane. Ready to have that chat?

 Chapter 166: Brutal

    Chapter 166: Brutal


    T and Rane walked over to one side of the Mages training area and through a door before walking up a flight of stairs to a small room that overlooked the private arena.


    There were a few seats set up so that people could watch the goings on, but neither of them sat.


    They stood and watched as another set of Archons fought, but T didnt really register what was happening. Instead, she was waiting for Rane to say something. He obviously would, at some point.


    <em>Ive been doing that this whole time, havent I</em>


    So, what did she want?


    <em>I dont want a rtionship. I dont want to have a family. </em>The pain caused by her own family still loomed toorge, though she knew, more and more, that she had and was likely over reacting to hard choices made in a difficult situation.


    But she didnt want to face that either.


    <em>Is it fair to expect Rane to wait for me to be ready?</em> She hesitated. <em>Do I want him to?</em>


    Rane still hadnt said anything.


    T gave him a grimacing nce.


    He saw her move and smiled her way before turning back to gaze out at the fight, below.


    She looked back as well, once more folding into her mind and her own thoughts.


    <em>Why isnt he saying anything?</em>


    She kept herself from growling.


    <em>Why am I not saying anything?</em>


    She did growl at herself, then, but internally. <em>Gahthis is giving me a headache</em>


    Rane finally took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Im d that were in a ce where we can just be here, watching a fight together in silence, and it isnt weird.


    T felt her eye twitch. The one on the far side from Rane, of course.


    I did want to talk to you, though.


    She gave a tight-lipped smile but didnt turn. Mmhmm?


    Id like to go to dinner with you, just the two of us.


    She shrugged. Sure. I have to eat, after all.


    Rane huffed augh. True enough. After a moment, he nodded as if to himself. I want to be clear. I want us to get dinner, not as friends.


    T turned to him and sighed. I knew what you meant, Rane.


    He hesitated, caught with his mouth open. No further sound came out.


    <em>Now or never, T. </em>I need you to understand a few things: I dont want anything more. Not right now, maybe not ever. Casual cant exist in light of eternity. She shook her head. We could both live for thousands of years, if not longer. That feels like an eternity at the moment. She sighed. So, I dont want casual, and Im not in a healthy ce for anything serious.


    He shrugged. I can understand that. What do you need?


    She shook her head again. Rane, I cant give you a list of things I need before I go on a date with you. There isnt one, and even if there was, it wouldnt be fair to give you a to-do list.


    So, you need time, more than anything. It wasnt a question.


    It really isnt fair to ask you to wait for something that may nevere.


    He shrugged again. You arent asking me to. Your answer is simply: Not now. I hear you. Beyond that, if I wait its on me. Fair?


    Yeah that is fair. She gave him a searching look. You are having far, far too well-crafted responses to all of this.


    Rane blushed, looked away, and scratched the back of his head. Well Mistress Aproa pretended to be you, and I practiced


    T blinked at him a few times, then snorted augh. That sounds like something Mistress Odera would do.


    He grinned in return. Yeah. Turns out, like grandmother like granddaughter.


    So, it would seem.


    They went back to looking at, but not really watching, the fight below.


    Only a short timeter, Rane cleared his throat. So do you have any interest in me?


    T sighed loudly, but Rane held up his hands defensively.


    I dont mean now, of course. We just settled that I understand that now is No. I mean: is this something that could <em>ever</em> work out, or am I just not of interest to you, no matter the circumstances? He pointed between them to indicate what he meant by this.


    T reddened, not looking at him. There is nothing objectionable, no.


    Rane snorted augh. Thats probably as good as I can hope for.


    She reflexively punched him in the shoulder, not hard enough to be considered an attack.


    Even so, he staggered to the side a bit, the blow having pushed him off his footing.


    <em>Huh, that might be a weakness, though he probably doesnt regard me as an opponent, at the moment. </em>She shook her head. Now was not the time to be thinking of how to ovee him in a fight.


    Rane rubbed his shoulder, not trying to hide the motion. Ow.


    She nced his way, suddenly feeling guilty. Sorry I didnt really think before I did that.


    He shrugged. Its fine. Doubt it will bruise.


    She smiled self-consciously. Even so. I apologize. I shouldnt have done that.


    He smiled in return and dipped his head but didnt say anything else.


    Theypsed back into silence for an extended time, watching the match finish up.


    Finally, as the winner was announced, Rane broke the silence. So, dinner?


    She gave him another searching look.


    As friends. I know thats all it can be. He didnt add: for now, but T heard it anyways.


    <em>Should I keep my distance? Pull back?</em> She didnt want to lose one of the better friends shed made since leaving the Academy. She huffed augh internally. <em>Not that I had any good friends before that.</em> Sure. Invite others?


    He hesitated, then shrugged. Sure.


    Looks like the challenges are done. Ready to get some practice in?


    Yeah, Mistress Aproa said wed be doing focused skirmishes, today.


    Whats that?


    * * *


    As it turned out, focused skirmishes were team fights centered around conflicting goals rather than elimination.


    In some cases, outright elimination of the opponent was a negative.


    At the moment, T was cradling a blown egg. Her team was tasked with defending it for five minutes without killing any of their attackers.


    They had been forbidden from simply cing the egg in a storage space, and the other team had no restriction on the elimination of the defenders, though that wouldnt win them the round.


    Their unrestricted goals were made obvious by the <em>storm</em> of ice and other magics that absolutely shredded the designated arena.


    Jets, walls, and columns of freezing water flowed around the other attacks, making the battlefield a slurry of danger.


    T would have been unable to fully protect the target from even those magics, despite her speed and resilience, if it werent for Stan and the other fire Mage.


    Aproa had thought it entertaining to pit fire against ice and water.


    Lightning also wove among the ice and through the water, filling in the gaps in the all-epassing assault.


    The fire Archons continually met iing spears, spikes, and blocks of ice with detonations of me, pushing the attacks aside more than melting them. Their explosions also disrupted the workings of water but had the negative effect of creating a constant smattering of sleet that quickly soaked them all.


    <em>Water is stupidly heat resistant</em>


    Aproa was surprisingly the best counter to the lightning attacks as her ability to create voids in the air made it impossible for the electricity to pass through those spaces, foiling the lighting strikes.


    If that was the full set of Mages, T would have been tempted to simply stand in ce, allowing her teammates to defend her as she lightly clutched the egg. Sadly for her team, there were others.


    The earth and light Mages were dueling titans, working across the battlefield at cross purposes. The earth mage was using every spare moment to alter the terrain to the attackers advantage as well as send crushing attacks at the defenders. The light Archon, however, was keeping those spare moments to an absolute minimum, using her opponents ice and water to refract and redirect her light-quick harrying attacks.


    It was only her efforts that kept the attackers on their toes and prevented them from solidifying a victory.


    The earth Mage raised the sand, and other bits of earth, to deflect or intercept the light attacks, but the light Mage was an artist, often forcing the earth Archon to choose between letting hisrades be hit or knocking them aside himself.


    She was the star of the show by a long stretch, but even their interwoven back and forth wasnt the end of the chaos.


    Rane pressed Aproa and T relentlessly.


    Every attack from either side seemed to allow his defenses to move him exactly as he wanted, and it took both of the women to counter him, while T was hampered with the need to protect the egg.


    It was brutal.


    The air was so full of magic that T felt her eyes beginning to ache under the strain of her mage-sight. That, in turn, was an apaniment to her head throbbing with pain.


    She didnt disable it, however, as she needed the split seconds advantage it gave against the few attacks that did reach her.


    After what felt like days, Cazor called a halt. Time!


    Spell-workings faded from the air, leaving a sopping slurry of sand behind.


    The mage-hunter walked over to T and held out his hand.


    T blinked and rubbed at her eyes, trying to clear the lingering fatigue from mage-sight use in such a inundated area and the ache in her head from processing all the information.


    When Cazor cleared his throat, T jumped a little. <em>Right!</em>


    She proudly presented him with the perfectly intact eggWell, not perfectly.


    The shell had cracked, but not deformed.


    The Archons all groaned, the attackers because theyd hoped to press her enough to shatter the target, the defenders because it wasnt perfectly intact.


    Aproaughed. Does that mean it was a tie?


    Cazor shook his head. I guess? Weve never really had this happen before. He gave T a searching look. How did it happen?


    She nced to one side for a moment, shrugging. She felt incredibly irritated and grouchy at her own mistake. Well, I backhanded a block of ice with the hand holding the egg, and I guess the impact transferred through, just a bit. She looked to her teammates and forced the appropriate reaction. Sorry everyone. It was instinct.


    Everyone waved it off as fine. The point wasnt really the egg, or winning or losing, it was to train them in varying situations.


    In truth, she did feel somewhat bad, but mostly, she just felt irritable, and her head <em>hurt</em>. She didnt remember taking even a ncing blow to the head, and her scripts should have taken care of it if she had. Still, there was no reason to whine about it, or take out her difort on others.


    Cazor seemed to have a thought. You know, I rule this as a win for the defenders. The target is banged up, but alive. They could get him healed in no time.


    Half the Archons let out whoops of victory, the others, groans of defeat.


    True, winning wasnt the point, but it was still gratifying.


    * * *


    They went through several more situational matches.


    Some were more physical, like infection tag, where the Archon who was it just had to hit any of the others in any way, physically, and the contacted Mage would switch to the it team.


    Those trying to escape were restricted to the use of non-lethal methods to keep them back.


    Unsurprisingly, Rane dominated that one, easily remaining as thest survivor and staying such for long enough that the Mage Hunters called it a win. He did have a rather unfair advantage.


    Some were more magical, like aura domination.


    In that, each Archon sat three feet behind a post, equally spaced from the others in a ring.


    Each post would light up with the color of the dominant aura in contact with it.


    It was, in essence, an eleven-way contest of wills.


    To her surprise, T struggled in that one. She was utterly unused to battling so many other wills in so many directions at once.


    With regard to contests of aura and will: If she was used to tug-of-war, this was tackle-tag.


    Still, she learned, and the game-like setting helped her enjoy it more than she might have if she had attempted to train the same skills on her own, if she even could.


    The final thing they did that day was rotate through having each one of the Archons take a turn as the rogue Mage. The others had to work together to subdue the rogue without harming them. As makes sense, the rogue had no such restrictions.


    To no ones surprise, Rane won as the rogue. What was a surprise, however, was that the rogue won every round. With the restriction of non-harm they were each able to hold their own well enough to force the containment group to hurt them in order to end the fight.


    All in all, it was an amazingly fun afternoon of training.


    <em>I could have been doing this the whole time?</em>


    True, not every skill T wished to work on was practiced that afternoon, but every one that she did work on was <em>much</em> advanced by the exercises.


    <em>Ill have to think of ways for the group topete on the other skills I need to improve.</em> The addition of new contests was encouraged. Each game they yed had been added by one member or another of the group over thest years of on and off group training.


    Everyone but T required the healer at some point during the day, and T actually received <em>much</em> more healing than the rest, even if hers was self-administered.


    She did ask the healer to take a brief look at her when a building headache wouldnt go away, but nothing was found to be amiss. So, T just bore through and guzzled water.


    As the day wrapped up, T and Rane invited the others to join them for dinner, but each had other ns for the nightly meal. So, they all went their separate ways, agreeing to meet up again the next day.


    T and Rane went and got cleaned up in private bath rooms, meeting up half an hourter.


    She stood out of a stretch from against the wall as he came out, having finished a bit before him. Lets go see if Lyn wants to join us.


    He paused, then shrugged. Sure.


    That decided; they turned to go, only to be stopped by Terry.


    He flickered to Ts shoulder and bumped her cheek.


    Whats up, Terry?


    He flickered to the corner, curled up and let out a dramatic sigh, then returned to her shoulder and trilled.


    <em>Oh! </em>Getting bored, bud?


    He trilled again.


    Well, maybe we can have you join in? T looked to Rane.


    Rane hesitated once more, then grinned. Lets do it. I think he could add a lot to both the morning and evening training sessions, if the others are okay with his participation.


    T smiled back at Terry. How does that sound?


    Terry squawked contentedly and curled back up.


    That decided, Terry seemed much happier, and the three headed for Lyn and Ts home, Rane and T chatting about small things along the way.


    When they got close, T once again marveled at theck of evidence for the massive syphons foiled hunting ground as they walked beside the perfectly maintained park. Terry went so far as to flicker over to the spot that the syphon had stood and poke around with his nose.


    Rane didntment on Terrys actions and as T thought about it, she realized that it really wasnt out of character for Terry to flicker off to a random location for a moment.


    <em>Instances of passing curiosity? Or does he often sense things that Ipletely miss?</em>


    Oh! Ranes exmation pulled her out of her thoughts. Someone went to investigate the ruin you opened up and we reported.


    Really? What did it turn out to be? Did they say?


    He nodded. Just an old storeroom from a cycle or two back. Still there was a small finders fee. He gave a soft chuckle. Though in this case its mainly a thank you for not investigating yourselves fee. He pulled out a gold coin and handed it to her.


    Really? That much just for finding a random old cache?


    Rane shrugged. They want such things reported when found, rather than having random Mages delving into ces like that and trying to scrap together enough remnants to make it worth the time. The professionals are safer, faster, and more efficient.


    T grunted. Makes sense, I suppose.


    Terry flickered back to her shoulder, and she scratched his head before tossing some jerky.


    Well, thank you. After a moment, she asked, You got a part, too, right?


    Hmm? Oh, yeah. We found it together, and thats what we discussed.


    Good.


    With that, their time was up; they had arrived; their walk was done.


    T let them in, and they found Lyn reading.


    Do you just sit there, reading, when Im not around?


    Lyn looked up. Well, good evening to you, too.


    T grinned. Evening, Lyn.


    Rane gave a shallow bow. Good evening, Mistress Lyn.


    Lyn shook her head, ced a bookmark into her page, and set the book on a side table. So, whats up?


    Dinner? T put a yful hint to the word and was rewarded by an amused smile.


    Why not. Lets go eat.


    It was a pleasantte-afternoon. The three of them ate slowly, though T much more quickly than herpanions, and they talked of small things: Life in the city, new ys, new magelings, and so much else.


    There were apparently a smattering of new mageling arrivals, those who had graduated in the weeks after Ts departure from the Academy and who had chosen Bandfast as a destination.


    One had even joined the Caravan Guild as an apprentice clerk. So, there was a reasonable chance of them seeing the new arrival, given Lyns job and Ts breakfasts with Odera.


    <em>Oh, breakfast deal, how I will miss thee.</em><em>Unless</em> She could always get the food, then have it for lunch? She groaned internally, her head was still aching, and it was making it hard to focus on such things.


    Lyn mentioned offhandedly that the teleportation rooms were still in a stir from one or two arrivalsing in naked in thest few months. Though apparently, it had been intentional on the part of the mageling.


    T quickly changed the subject.


    Rane suggested that they see the asional y here in Bandfast, and T heartily agreed. They had been incredibly pleasant, effective diversions in Makinaven, and she saw no reason to forgo the mental breaks now that she was back in Bandfast.


    Even so, it was still not quite evening when their meal drew to a close, and they stood to go.


    Lyn stretched contentedly. Didnt you need to go to the Archive, T?


    Yes, yes I did. Do you two want toe?


    The other two Archons exchanged a nce before grinning. Of course!

 Chapter 167: It All Started with Some Chicken Soup

    Chapter 167: It All Started with Some Chicken Soup


    T, Rane, Lyn, and Terry entered the Archonpound, and T immediately felt a difference.


    It was subtle, likely something that she only noticed because of her heightened mage-sight.


    The power within the building was held on a much shorter leash, as it were. Even the little magic in the air was all imed by various spell-forms, in one way or another.


    Honestly, it felt like Makinaven, but where that city had had a single, unified overlord, this felt like a patchwork of authorities ovepping one another.


    <em>Huh, there is no free-floating power at all. The city usually had at least a little. There must be incredibly efficient collectors within thisplex.</em>


    She rubbed her temples briefly, vainly attempting to dispel her headache. At this point, shed suspect mental shenanigans, but t had remained silent. <em>No use worrying about it, I suppose.</em>


    The overall sensation was like having her clothing pulled tight across her skin, but it was external power tightening around her own, internal power.


    She bolstered her aura, just at the boundary of her own skin, and felt a lessening of the pressure within herself, though it meant that it was concentrated on the edges of her power. <em>Its even trying to strip power from my aura. These scripts must have beenid and activated by truly powerful Archons.</em>


    She rubbed her forehead against the still present headache and took a deep drink of water.


    When they entered the entry atrium, T suddenly remembered the round disk given to her by an Archon, after the fight with the syphon. Oh! Right, my token.


    She pulled out the token that shed been given, ostensibly for her contributions towards finding and removing the creature. Shed not actually looked closely at it, and now that she did, she had a moments hesitation.


    It was a thing of beauty.


    A stylized golden skull was inset into wood. The skull wasnt actually gold as the image was slightly translucent, somehow, but it represented the color well enough.


    Around the outside were twisting, interweaving lines that looked like inscriptions, but werent. <em>Just decoration, or is it some sort of script?</em> She could look into itter, if she had time.


    For now, though, she was standing in the Archon Complex atrium, staring at a small wooden coin.


    She cleared her throat and continued forward, ignoring the inquiring looks from herpanions. <em>Well, not Terry. Terrys content to sleep, for now.</em>


    Feeling a bit hesitant as she wasnt quite sure this was exactly where she was supposed to take it, she walked up to the central desk and cleared her throat. I believe that I was told to bring this here? She held up the circr item.


    The young man behind the counter looked up. Oh, certainly, Mistress. He held out his hand, and T ced the token into it.


    Lyn patted T on her shoulder. Yeah, I cashed mine in at my inscriptionist after lunch. Took most of the afternoon, but Im all refreshed, now. She gave a half smile. Best part about that token was it got me out of the afternoon of work to have the inscription done.


    T smiled at her friend briefly before returning her attention to the Mage behind the counter


    He ced the token on a small, empowered circle that was clearly intended for the purpose. He read something on his te and nodded. Oh, I see. You assisted with one of thest syphons.


    T managed to keep her astonishment off of her face and out of her tone. <em>One of thest? How often does this happen?</em> She supposed that if they didnt kill anyone, they could be pretty prevalent and be little more than a nuisance. Yeah. She tried to act casually, but the assistants small smile said that shed given away something of her surprise. Has the reward been set?


    Yes. It says here that you are to be given the choice between three gold and the syphons alteration fascia.


    T blinked, all pretense at understanding utterly forgotten. Excuse me, but its what?


    Its alteration fascia.


    When T simply returned a nk look, the assistant sighed, manipted his te and began to read from what seemed to be a prepared information packet.


    Syphons use a mix of dimensional, material, and illusion magics to create their perceived form, both interior and exterior. Its alteration fascia are the tendrils, nodes, and interconnectedworks, which contain and transport that power throughout its form.


    How would such a thing even be harvested? T imagined trying to remove a creatures circtory system, intact. <em>That sounds tedious to the extreme, not to mention finicky beyond belief.</em>


    With great precision, care, and precisely modted spell-forms. There are several specialists within the city who are masters of dressing arcanous kills and extracting the useful bits whole and in working order.


    Hunters Guild?


    Most of them are, yes.


    Huh. So, why is it being offered to me? Not that Im not grateful, of course. T held up her hands catingly.


    Of course, of course. All the Archons that participated in the ying of this creature in an official capacity have already merged their dimensional storages with one or more syphon alteration fascia, so they have a lesser im. Syphons are true magical creatures, not the result of founts, so they are both prolific and seemingly unending. Thew requires that such harvests be offered to participating Mages before they are sold off by the city, though that basically never actually happens. If you do not im this as a reward, it will be offered to the Mage with the next fewest such, merged with their bound items. The young man looked up from where hed clearly been reading from a script. Do you have a preference?


    T was still dumbfounded. What is something like that worth?


    He got a hesitant look on his face. Well, that should not factor in as you would be barred from selling the harvest if you ept it as your payout. It is intended as an incentive to find and fight such creatures, not as a source of ie.


    T waved that away dismissively. Yes, of course, Ive no ns to sell it, if I ept. What about for curiosity sake?


    He frowned, looking back down. He took another minute to search through information on his te before grunting in seeming sess. Here it is: Thest time one was offered on the open market was some three hundred thirteen years ago. It sold for two hundred and thirteen gold, seven silver, and six copper. Heughed. Thats a funny coincidence. Some hundred and sixteen years ago, it sold for some hundred and sixteen gold, plus change.


    Huh, yeah. Funny. <em>TWO HUNDRED GOLD?!?</em> She hesitated. <em>Maybe I should sell it</em> No. This was clearly a valuable resource, and they wouldnt let her sell it anyways. Yes, Id like the fascia, and how can I be authorized to hunt more of these?


    If you mean as a private citizen, there is no authorization required. We encourage such, in fact.


    What if I wanted to be called in to assist in taking down ones found by others?


    The young Mage put on a pained smile. Unfortunately, slots for exterminating such creatures in an official capacity are highly coveted and only avable to the city lords personal guard. He nced down, then added, Oh! My apologies, the item I found, which was for the sale, was the fascia of an Elder syphon, this one was two stages higher when it was engaged.


    Ts eye twitched.<em> Worth more that two hundred gold The city lords guards get to hunt these and im the harvests</em><em>I could always still take that position</em> She had <em>drastically</em> underestimated that offer of employment. <em>No, stay strong, T. You dont want to be trapped here</em> It was obviously tempting, nheless.


    As I said, you are still encouraged to engage any syphon you find within the city, as a private citizen. He straightened a bit, seeming to return to the script. As you have selected the fascia for your reward, you will receive no furtherpensation for your participation in the removal of a clear and present detriment to the citizenry of Bandfast. Is that understood and eptable? He slid a te across the counter to T, and she read it, reading through its contents.


    That is eptable. She ced her thumb on the stone and pulsed her aura through the identifying magics, confirming the agreement.


    Thank you, Mistress. I will go get that for you, now. He stood up and walked to the center of the round reception desk. In the floor in the center of the space that was surrounded by the circr desk, Material Guide scripts activated, moving the stone aside with a touch of magic,ing from inscriptions set around the Mages ankles. Below the new opening door was a spiral staircase leading down, presumably into a storeroom.


    It only took a few minutes for him to return carrying arge, iron-d box with obvious effort.


    T could see further inscriptions running throughout his muscr-skeletal system, strengthening and stabilizing him, and he was having difficulty even so.


    One of the other attendants stepped forward and helped hoist it up, onto the counter, where they set it with a <em>boom</em> that echoed through therge room.


    There you are. Per the agreement, please do not open this, except in the presence of a Constructionist Archon, in order for them to assist you in the merging of it with your dimensional storage.


    Understood. Thank you. T grabbed the box and hefted it free of the counter.


    The young mans eyes widened at the apparent ease with which she lifted it.


    It <em>was</em> heavy. Likely close to four hundred pounds all told, but T was <em>much</em> stronger than the average human.


    Thank you. Her voice was slightly strained, and that seemed to allow the Mage to recover some of his pride.


    You are most wee, Mistress. Is there anything else we can do to assist?


    T briefly considered asking them to keep the box for her, until after she was done in the library, but she couldnt bring herself to make the poor man carry it back downstairs. Not at the moment. Thank you. Terry shifted on her shoulder but was otherwise not disrupted.


    She turned around to see Rane and Lyn giving her bemused looks.


    What?


    Rane shook his head, and Lyn grinned before responding, Its just very you.


    T shrugged, causing the iron chest to bob up and down. Well, I cant fit this in Kit, so Ive got to carry it. Ill drop by the Constructionists after. <em>Ignore the headache, T; its not that bad.</em>


    Fair enough.


    To the library? Rane asked.


    To the library!


    The hallway of monsters passed in a sh, and T didnt allow herself to focus on the arcanous depictions.


    The iron chest was irritatingly bulky, but otherwise T didnt really mind carrying it.


    When they entered the library proper, Ingrit was waiting for them, along with the other two assistants who had previously helped Rane and T.


    They bowed in greeting, and Ingrit spoke to T, who was in front. Do you each required an assistant, or will one be sufficient?


    T nced to herpanions. I think theyre just here because I am, so just one?


    Herpanions shrugged, and Rane responded. That sounds fine.


    The other two assistants briefly addressed their respective Archon before departing, back to their other duties.


    T turned to Ingrit. How do you do that?


    Ingrit cocked an eyebrow. You are scanned at multiple points as you head this way, giving us ample time to meet you, here.


    Ahh, that makes sense. <em>I guess</em>


    Ingrit nced at the iron box. Do you wish a secure ce to leave that, until you depart?


    That would be kind of you.


    Ingrit walked over to one wall and pushed lightly with her fingers and more strongly with her magic. There was a soft <em>click</em> and the panel opened, revealing an empty space, justrger than the iron box. Here you are.


    <em>Is that always there, or is it a dimensional storage? Did she size it precisely, or did she simply choose one that was the right size already?</em> She could ask, but thats not really why she was here. So, T shrugged and ced the iron box within. Thank you.


    After Ingrit pushed thepartment closed, once again, she smiled. Shall we find a private ce to chat?


    Yes, thank you.


    Five minutester the four humans, plus Terry, were sitting around a table in a small alcove. Though, in truth, Terry was simply sprawled on his seat, content in his seeming sleep. A copper inscription had been activated to grant them privacy, and T was able to sense the weight of a deeply powerful will behind the working. <em>Ingrit is even more powerful than Id have guessed.</em>


    Now, Mistress T, what can I do for you?


    Well, I have one serious inquiry, one mild curiosity, and one somewhat involved discussion.


    Lets start with the passing curiosity, then hit the inquiry and finish on the discussion, shall we? That way we ensure everything gets covered.


    T nodded. That sounds great. Thank you. <em>And it gives me time to think on how exactly to bring up the culinary guild, its research, and its fear of Mages</em> She really should have been thinking about it before, but shed never taken the time. So, do arcanous herd animals behave like mundane ones? Meaning do they generally leave the weakest to be taken down by predators?


    Ingrit shrugged, clearly oblivious to Ts frantic, mental scrambling. Our studies have shown no differences in that regard, save when the predator is human. Arcanous animals, almost universally, treat humanity differently, usually with violent intent.


    T grunted. Thats what I would have guessed. Thank you. <em>Rust, that was too quick. Think, T! Should I test the waters? Should I just dump it all in herp? No, I promised to obfuscate</em>


    Absolutely. And the inquiry?


    <em>Inquiry? Oh!</em> Are there any ending berry groves nearby?


    Of course. Theres a ratherrge one some twenty miles from the citys southeastern, outer defenses.


    Can I get a map? <em>So, I have to be circumspect Can she ess anything I have ess to, by default? Does she already have ess to the Culinary Guilds records, but doesnt know it?</em>


    Ingrit shrugged. Certainly, if you exin why you want it.


    <em>Exin what? </em>Rane and Lyn were looking at her curiously as well. <em>Oh! Ending berry use, right.</em><em>Have I never exined my use of ending berries to them?</em> Well, I drink ending-berry juice, and Im almost out.


    Lyn closed her eyes and leaned back. Her lips moved but no sound came out as she clearly was speaking to herself.


    Rane looked thoughtful for a moment, then seemed almost to shrug. Clearly the information didnt faze him.


    Ingrit was taking a long breath. Mistress T. I assume you know how dangerous those trees are.


    I do. <em>If I didnt, Id be dead.</em> She hesitated at that. If she were dead, shed have first hand knowledge of how dangerous they were. So, all told, that was a fairly stupid question. <em>Ingrits not stupid, though</em> It was possible she assumed that T had purchased the juice from someone else? <em>Thats as likely as anything, I suppose.</em>


    And you know that the berries, and the juice, would effectively be a mildly crippling agent for virtually any other Mage, any Inscribed, or anything naturally Magical?


    I do. <em>Well, I didnt know, but that is close enough to a pithier wording of what Grediv told me, so same difference.</em>


    Will you make a statement of intent to never give, sell, or in any way voluntarily pass on the berries, juice, or any other harvest from the trees?


    T grimaced. She could make good money selling parts. Is that absolutely necessary?


    If the trees werent such a pivotal part of humanitys history, wed have wiped them out centuries ago. They are dangerous in the extreme, every part of them. Yes, it is absolutely necessary to have such amitment, if I am going to provide locations to you.


    I could just hunt them down on my own.


    You could, but you would receive no assistance from the Archive in that endeavor.


    She sighed. Fine. I want the things for my own use anyways.


    Alright. Ill ensure that you have clearance to ess ending-berry grove locations in the future. That is generally restricted information for the reasons just exined, but youd qualify for a dispensation.


    Thank you.


    You can sign the statement of intent and pick up the map at the front desk on your way out. She smiled. Now, what was thest item that you wished for us to discuss?


    <em>Last item?</em> She blinked, pulling herself out of musings about ending trees and their harvest. <em>Oh! Right</em>


    Mistress T? Is everything alright? Ingrit looked genuinely concerned.


    Oh, yes. I am just ordering my thoughts. <em>Start simple. Yeah. Thats the way to go.</em> Do you automatically have ess to all the parts of the Archive that I do?


    Ingrit gave her a curious look. In a sense. If you make an inquiry, I can query the Archive as if I were you, and then I am granted ess to anything that you would be able to see.


    Why is that better than me querying it myself?


    She grinned. That is an excellent question. You could run all these queries yourself, Mistress.


    When T reddened, Ingrit let out a small chuckle.


    But I offer insight and the quickption of the results into coherent answers. I can also alter your ess, as with the ending tree locations. That query would have simply returned that you were unauthorized to ess the information.


    Alight. T nodded. <em>Here it goes.</em> She smiled broadly. Alright! The non-Mage, human consumption of arcanous harvests. What can you tell me about it?


    Ingrit sighed. Mistress T. You know the answer to this question. Youve even asked it of me before. Then, she hesitated. Somethings changed though, hasnt it. It wasnt a question.


    T nodded. Please, humor me.


    Ingrit shook her head, then nced up and to the left. Her eyes widened ever so slightly. If T hadnt had her enhanced senses, shed have missed it entirely, and even so, it was a subtle thing.


    T grinned, and she looked over to her friends, only to see confusion on their faces.


    Rane cocked his head to one side. Whats this about?


    T gestured to Ingrit. Wait and see.


    The Archivist Archons eyes were flicking back and forth as she was clearly processing a lot of information. I can tell you a lot, it seems. In general, any non-elementally aligned harvest can be used to enhance the same biological processes in a mundane. The enhancement is temporary, but seems tost longer with each sessive use. There are a long list of specific harvests I could direct you to enhance various things from healing to reaction time. Do you want a list? Her voice had an almost unbelieving quality to it.


    That isnt necessary. Thank you. If I were to inform you I was going to research further, would that be an issue?


    Not at all.


    What if I told you that someone with my new ess, a mundane, was going to do this research?


    Ingrit hesitated, clearly inquiring. No issue whatsoever.


    T let out a happy littleugh. I knew it.


    Mistress T, what is this about?


    She hesitated, then shook her head. No. I need to check withsomeone first.


    Ingrit frowned and T hurried to continue.


    Ill do my best toe back, tomorrow, though!


    This is going to create a headache for meisnt it. Again, it wasnt a question.


    I deeply hope not. My intention is to mend fences and soothe headaches.


    Ingrit huffed a littleugh and couldnt keep a small smile off her face. Do you have anything else for me, or that you needed from me? Or was this the only puzzle you needed to put upon me?


    T smiled apologetically. I will try to be back, tomorrow.


    Very well, Mistress. She then turned to regard the other two. Did you both really juste to sit there and listen?


    Rane scratched his temple, grimacing. Seems I had a lot to learn, so yeah. He nced to T. Can we get the full story?


    Lyn nodded her agreement. Yes, please. I would greatly like to know what is going on.


    Ingrit frowned just a bit but nodded. Very well, then. I will leave you to it. This booth is yours for the next hour.


    Thank you for your assistance.


    Ingrit smiled brightly. You are most wee, Mistress T.


    Without another word, the woman departed.


    T turned back to find her friends regarding her with undisguised intensity. She felt herself start to shrink back from the gazes but steeled herself. Alright, alright. So, it all started with some chicken soup.

 Chapter 168: Siphon Fascia

    Chapter 168: Siphon Fascia


    T told the tale of her interactions with the Culinary Guild in about fifteen minutes, during which Rane and Lyn were consummate listeners, never interrupting and paying rapt attention.


    In truth, T felt there really wasnt much to tell, but she humored them nheless.


    Lyn and Rane then peppered her with questions for the remainder of their time. They dug deeper into the situation that T thought was warranted, as it seemed pretty cut and dry, in her opinion. Rane, in particr, seemed skeptical that a simple misunderstanding could have iterated so far and for so long.


    Lyn didnt seem to take issue with that part, but no matter what T said, she couldnt seem to understand how T had been the one to discover the disconnect.


    In truth, that hurt a bit, but T understood. <em>Its not like Im one of the great investigators of the world.</em>


    T drank lots of water both because she was talking a lot and because it seemed to help her head, if just a bit.


    Terry, for his part, ignored them all by andrge, only stirring when T tossed jerky for him, which she did quite often. <em>No shortage of jerky, now, and Im only nning on getting more.</em>


    Once the hour was up and the privacy scripts deactivated, they stood and departed. Lyn and Rane were still full of questions, but by that point they were mostly derivations on ones already asked.


    They had internalized that this was a secret, and not theirs to share, so they didnt continue the discussion as they left, but T could sense that they wanted to.


    When they reached the entrance to the library, T had a moment of panic, as she didnt know how to open the storage cubbies, but it turned out to be a non-issue.


    As they stepped into thatst part of the library, an incredibly subtle scan slipped through her iron salve. T only noticed because a very slight warming of her skin caused her to look closer. <em>How in zeme did they get this subtle of a scan through a script?</em>


    However theyd done it, it worked, and her identity was confirmed. The wall-panel that Ingrit had previously activated popped open, revealing her prize.


    <em>Well, Ingrit did say that Id been scanned several times did theypensate for my iron salve?</em> If the Constructionist Guild seemed to take her iron-salve into ount, shed ask.


    T grabbed her heavy iron chest without having outwardly paused to consider and lugged it back to the front desk once again to sign the statement of intent and pick up her map.


    The same attendant assisted her once again, giving her the te to confirm and then arge, rolled up piece of velum.


    The map was a thing of beauty, really, which was why the fee of four silver didnte as a surprise. In truth, it seemed quite the bargain, all things considered.


    It showed the city and surrounding countryside, with three groves of ending trees clearly marked. Each was tucked away in some fashion, hidden from casual discovery, even by the frequent caravans passing through the area.


    One was in a grotto of sorts, set down below the standard level of the nes. <em>Thats a bit terrifying, an enclosed space, filled with the magic of dissolution. </em>She had a passing thought, as she considered. <em>I wonder, if you jumped off one of the surrounding cliffs, if youd ever reach the ground?</em> It was a dark line of thinking, so she moved on.


    One was in a mountain valley a few dozen miles to the north. <em>Not along any major thoroughfares, and it looks like there is a twist in the valley, so even if I stood at the mouth, I couldnt see the grove.</em>


    Thest seemed to be hidden somewhere on a lone mountain that rose up to the southeast. <em>Thats a lonely mountain there. I wonder how it came to be formed like that?</em> After a moments thought she shrugged. <em>Probably a dwarf mountain and not as big as Im thinking.</em>


    All together, this painted a picture of trees tucked away from easy view, very different from the grove near the waning Alefast. <em>Each city may handle the ending trees near them differently? Maybe, its at the discretion of the head of the city?</em> Yet another benefit to working for the city lord. <em>Not now, T. Maybe, in a few years.</em>


    Thank you. She nodded goodbye to the attendant, put the map into Kit, and picked up her iron chest once again.


    Once they were outside, T shifted the weighty thing. It waste, but she didnt want to hang onto the massive burden of the iron chest for longer than she needed to. Im going to the Constructionists to bug Master Boma and get this merged.


    Rana nodded. That makes sense. See you tomorrow?


    T hesitated. I actually have a few things that I <em>really</em> need to do. Meet back up for training the day after?


    Sure.


    <em>Well, that was easy.</em> Can you let Adam and Mistress Aproa know for me?


    Absolutely. Ill still train with the guards, and I imagine Mistress Aproa will too.


    Thank you, Rane.


    Lyn looked between the two of them, a small smile on her face, but all she said was, I need to go home, too.


    T grinned. Dont stop through any taverns on the way home, alright?


    Lyn grimaced. Dont even joke. She shuddered. I hope you do go hunting for those things. Id feel better knowing they were gone.


    T was touched at the implications of that. Ill try not to let you down.


    Rane grunted. Theyre like spiders, Mistress Lyn. Most wont hurt you, even when you pass them by, and if you only knew how many were close to you at all times, youd realize that most of the danger is in your own head.


    Lyn gave Rane a withering re. First of all: How was that supposed to HELP? Im more worried about the number of syphons in the city than before, and now, Im anxious about spiders too, thank you very much. Second: City Archons dont go around wiping out spiders when theyre found, so syphons seem a good deal more concerning, thank you very much.


    He ignored the tantly obvious social cues and shrugged. Well, they dont go after mundane spiders, but there are quite a few magical varieties that pervade human cities. Spiders, by their nature, are infiltrators so those that achieve natural magic can almost always get inside magical defenses rather easily.


    Lyn was twitching slightly. Not. Helping. Master. Rane. Please, shut up.


    He nced at her and noticed her rubbing her own arms and looking around her feet with slightly too wide eyes. Oh uh I apologize, Mistress Lyn. He seemed genuinely apologetic, apparently not having intended to y on her fears.


    She red again, then turned to T. Goodnight, T.


    Good night, Lyn. T did notugh at her friends difort, but it was a near thing. She had a brief urge to find a fake spider, or a hundred, to y a joke on Lyn, another nce at the woman and her better sense prevailed. <em>That would be in very poor taste and not very friendly at all.</em>


    Lyn and Rane awkwardly said their goodbyes and went their separate ways as T toddled down the street with her heavy load.


    The familiar scan and <em>ding</em> greeted her as she entered the building. <em>So, it didpensate for my iron? I wonder why Makinaven didnt. Is it because they didnt need as detailed of scans in the tree-city with Master Jevin overseeing the defenses? </em>That actually made good sense, now that she considered it.


    An attendant came out to bow to her. Greetings, Mistress. How can we serve this night?


    T regarded the Mage for a moment. <em>Huh, hes chipper. </em>Is Master Boma avable?


    The attendant hesitated, but only briefly. Yes and no. He is in but is currently working on a personal project. And while he is doing that, he does not like being disturbed. He should be avable tomorrow, if youd like. I can even schedule you a timeslot to ensure such.


    She nodded in understanding, then decided to ignore the implication that she should returnter. Can you tell him Mistress T is here with some syphon fascia?


    The attendant looked confused, then hesitant, then he sighed and reluctantlypliant. As you wish Mistress. One moment, please.


    True to the attendants word, Boma arrived a couple of momentster. He paused when he saw the box. What grade is that?


    T nced down. The box?


    Boma sighed. The alteration fascia, girl.


    Oh, Revered, I believe.


    His eyes sparkled, something akin to hunger seeming to kindle within them. Perfect. Ill give you two thousand gold for it.


    T dropped the box from suddenly numb fingers. It mmed into the ground, barely missing her toes and sending a resounding <strong><em>boom</em></strong> through the space. She also thought that she heard the stone crack under the impact.


    The poor attendant poked his head out before confirming Bomas presence and wisely withdrawing back into whatever room he waited in for clients to arrive.


    <em>TwoTHOUSAND gold? I could take the money and run.</em> But what would she use the money for, if she ran? She closed her eyes and grimaced. Nothank you.


    Ten thousand.


    Her eyes snapped open, and she red at the man. You know I cant sell it, dont you. It wasnt a question. <em>Hes messing with me.</em>


    His expression didnt change. And Ill get you out of the consequences of breaking the contract.


    T frowned. <em>Can he even do that?</em>


    There was an almost malicious glint to the mans gaze.


    <em>Is all this just to get back at me for interrupting his personal project time?</em> It seemed excessive.


    Well?


    She sighed. <em>A deal this good has to be broken in some way.</em> She didnt think about the man who had been fond of that turn of phrase. No. Thank you for the offer though.


    Boma grunted, closing his eyes and sighing with resignation. Fine. Now, you did interrupt my project time. He nced down to the box, then tilted his head seemingly examining the floor around it. Ill cover the cost of repairs to the floor. Thats not on you. He scratched his chin and frowned. Is that really a Revered, syphon, alteration fascia in there?


    Thats what I was told.


    He rubbed his hands together, the gleam returning to his eyes. Then, lets get to it. This wont take too long, and it isnt free. Boma seemed to really enjoy his work at times.


    <em>Why am I not surprised? </em>Of course, it isnt. How much? <em>Ten million? My life as a ve?</em>


    Eight gold. It was an almost disappointingly reasonable amount.


    T frowned with suspicion. Thats very specific. And you didnt have to look it up.


    First, I was forewarned of youring, though Id thought youd have the decency to wait until tomorrow. He gave her a meaningful look, heavy with recrimination. Second, we do these fairly often. One a week or so, on average, though quite few of this grade. The excitement was leaking back into his expression as he continued. This one must have been exceptionally good at hiding, it seems. It wasnt greedy and bided its time well. He shrugged. I suppose it didnt really help it in the end.


    Yeah, I suppose not. <em>I hadnt really thought about it in those terms, but hes probably right.</em> If humanity kills all the easy to spot spiders, are they not helping breed spiders to be sneakier and harder to spot?<em> Dont think about that, T. Do syphons even breed?</em> She immediately decided that she didnt want to know.


    Their banter stalled at that point, but Boma only waited a couple of breaths before clicking his tongue and turning on his heels to walk from the room. Right this way.


    As they walked, T decided to ask. Master Boma?


    He nced back at her. Yes?


    How is the scan on the doorway able to prate to scan me? I have a defense made of iron on my skin.


    He looked back again, contemting. While that is a wonderful, baseline defense, it is hardly imprable.


    Im aware of that, but my understanding is that it had to be powered through, or the touch had to be so subtle it could slip through.


    Thats urate enough. It sounds like you already understand, then.


    She shook her head. No. In Makinaven, my defense caused a misunderstanding at the local Constructionist Guild.


    Boma snorted. Unlikely. If anything their workings are both more powerful and more delicately executed.


    T frowned. <em>What does that mean?</em>


    The only reason that she could think of was that Master Jevin had wanted the misunderstanding to ur.


    <em>But why?</em>


    It had allowed them to meet and given the Archon a reason to assist her himself.


    <em>Was he just curious about me?</em>


    She supposed that if shed tripped his senses, and hed been interested in getting a closer look without viting her privacy, hed have to arrange for something.


    <em>And a message out of nowhere would have been highly suspicious</em>


    It was still a bit odd that Master Jevin might have orchestrated such a show


    Boma grunted. Though, now that I think about it, the basic scanning scripts might be set up more simply, due to the more powerful workings on the city as a whole. He shrugged. Im not an expert in the differences between the cities.


    T sighed. <em>Thus, Im back to ignorance.</em> She supposed that was better than building the shadows of nefarious plots on false assumptions.


    Boma finally led her to arge merging room, but this one had some differences from those that T had seen before. First, all the surfaces were lined in ovepping iron tes, not just the walls, and a set of thin, gold inscriptions was already in ce,id into the iron. Second, the walls, floor, and ceiling held arge smattering of hooks welded into ce.


    Set the box in the center. Boma pulled the door closed. Yourbird should wait in that corner.


    Terry looked to where Boma pointed, nced to T, seemed to shrug, and flickered to the indicated position. There was a three-foot-high partition of iron that blocked direct line of effect from the center, where T rested the box.


    Now, you havent be an idiot and bound your dimensional storage since we talkedst, have you?


    No.


    Good. Then this will simply be the sh of two empowered items, and we dont have to take your soul into ount.


    <em>Wait Kit is at most Bound, given the power Ive been feeding it, and the fascia is Revered. </em>T hesitated. Wont mine lose?


    Boma shrugged. It shouldnt. This, he kicked the iron chest, is an organ without a mind behind it. It will have to be mastered, but its no different than cing electrodes on a muscle sample, just moreplicated and longersting.


    T frowned. <em>What?</em>


    He clearly saw her confusion and sighed. Your storage item will be an apprentice, given ess to her masters tools, instead of those usually given to apprentices.


    Oh, that makes sense. That brought to mind another oddity. Master Boma?


    He hesitated, seemingly sensing something in her voice. Yes?


    How is it Revered? I watched the creature stripped of power, down through the ranks until it was less than red, to my mage-sight.


    Ahh, you are conting power level with level of advancement.


    T frowned. Im not sure I understand.


    Thats what I just said, actually. He shook his head. In humans, our power level and level of advancement are virtually always on equal footings, but for magical creatures that is not the case. Advancing in power alters the body, mind, spirit, and soul. He clucked his tongue. An imperfect example is a container that once filled is reced with arger one. Then,ter, even if there is less water within than before, the new container doesnt shrink, or transform back.


    She grunted. I think I understand.


    You dont, not by copper or gold, but you at least have less ignorance.


    T red at the older Archon. How do you know I dont understand?


    He gave her a quizzical look. Your question was one of ignorance, and theres nothing wrong with that. In that ignorance, I showed you the silhouette of the first, most basic premise. Thus, as I am the source of your knowledge on this subject, and I havent told you enough to grant understanding, I can state that you dont understand.


    She grimaced. <em>Thats a fair point, if a bit heavy-handed.</em> Fine. Care to enlighten me further?


    No. He was already looking over the room once more, clearly refocusing on theing working


    Ohalright then.


    Boma tilted his head, continuing his contemtions and grumbled unintelligibly to himself. Then, he nced back her way. When I tell you to, toss the pouch into the box and step back. On my secondmand,e forwards and dump power into the item. Do you follow?


    T nodded.


    Good. Now, step back and let me do my work.


    She did as he asked, and Boma bent, opening the iron box. The lid came entirely free, and he set it just beside the container.


    Power rippled through the air, bouncing off the iron and resonating oddly within the space.


    With speed bordering on superhuman, Boma shot his hand into the open box and pulled out a tendril, almost like a tendon, and pulled it to the wall, using one of the hooks there to hold it extended.


    It was clean, no blood of viscera on the length, but it was still obviously flesh, and as such was a bit creepy, stretching across the room.


    Boma returned to the box and repeated the process, over and over again, creating an ever-growing, irregrwork of flesh. Each extended tendril changed the pulsing resonance of power in the air of the room.


    <em>The zeme.</em> T chided herself for not using the correct word. <em>The zeme is the currents of power in the environment, like weather but magic. </em>She shook her head. <em>Why am I thinking about that now?</em> It didnt really matter, but she thought this was probably the highest concentration of power shed ever been in, and it called to mind her lessons.


    As she was examining the rooms zeme, T noticed a hollow space in the power, a ce where none of the magic moved or shifted. The shape of the iron wall protecting Terry kept any of the magic from reaching her friend.


    <em>Good.</em> It was interesting, as she doubted it would work with any other spell-form. This room had been designed, specifically, to work with the syphons alteration magics.


    Even so, the resonance didnt seem harmful. She, herself, was standing in it after all, but safe was better.


    Some of the strings of flesh were interconnected, smaller strands pulling taut as Boma expertly positioned each piece.


    It took the experienced Archon almost half an hour to finish the task, and even with that experience, he had to shift a few of those that hed ced early on, changing the feel of the power in the room ever so slightly.


    Finally, he seemed satisfied. Now. ce the dimensional storage in the box.


    T had long since pulled Kit free to be ready, and she strode forward through the literally humming air.


    Her mage-sight wasnt required to see symphony of spell-forms twisting through the air, harmonizing with what T had finally identified as flesh-medium spell-forms, which made up the fascia.


    A clear path forward had been left for her, and she took it. A momentter, she dropped Kit into the box and stepped back.


    The gold inscription on the floor red with power and the magic in the room pulsed, the flesh seeming to be <em>pushed</em> out of phase with physical reality, though Ts mage-sight could still see it.


    Kits spell-forms uncoiled, once more taking on an almost feline shape, though this time it seemed to be resting in the center of an insane spiders erratic web.


    The cat settled into the position ofmand and seemed to <em>pull</em>.


    Bomas voice was calm, firm, and insistent, Now. Give your power.


    T stepped forward so that she could touch Kits physical form, that of a small leather pouch. She immediately connected four of thergest void-channels that she was capable of forming to the item.


    Magic roared through her, and T gloried in the feel even as Kit seemed to imbibe the incrediblyplicated spell-forms of the syphons fascia.


    If Kits lines of power had been a simple, if beautiful, tool, they now looked like thest work of a great artist, almost more lovely than any tool should be. At the same time, they gave a feeling of resilience that was stonepared to the cloth of Kits previous makeup.


    The resonating power in the room gained a new depth, and the music of it seemed to fade, pulling back into the pouch.


    The inscription faded from the floor, the gold utterly spent.


    The merging wasplete, and Kit still seemed to drink quickly and deeply from the power that T offered, seeming as unquenchable as a forest fire before buckets of water.


    T sagged to her knees, maintaining the flow with her full concentration, and finally, a tipping point seemed to be reached, and Kit almost rxed, solidifying and filling to the brim with Ts power almost instantly.


    She cut off the flow and gasped, falling back to sit, staring at the pouch before her, which was now sitting on the floor outside the iron box.


    <em>I thought I tossed it in.</em> But the fascia was gone, so a slight positional change was hardly the most striking physical change in the room.


    Good. Boma walked up beside her. Now, throw it against that wall, and wish for a door into your storage space.


    T was too tired to argue and her headache was returning in force, so she silently apologized to Kit and tossed it against the wall, wishing for a door so that she could go in and sleep.


    A door blossomed into existence in the wall.


    It was a simple thing, looking almost exactly like the single door that already existed to exit the room. In fact, it suited the room so well that if T hadnt known better, shed have thought that door had always been there.


    Even knowing what to look for, and being sure she should find it, she only barely caught hints of Kits magic, threading through the doorway.


    Boma wore a smug, satisfied smile. As ordered, Mistress. One fully integrated siphon fascia.

 Chapter 169: The Normal Rate

    Chapter 169: The Normal Rate


    T looked at the new door out of the room. <em>Huh, thats Kit.</em> The dimensional storage had formed a doorway, hard up against the iron wall, seeming like it belonged there.


    She then looked back to Boma, as he held out a te to her for confirmation of the work done, and her payment therein.


    She fuzzily confirmed the transaction, still awed by the nearly entirely ordinary seeming door. So, this is what it allows?


    Boma froze, tablet halfway withdrawn after shed touched it. Excuse me?


    T sighed and waved at the door. This is what the fascia allows, then?


    He slowly finished pulling back the empowered device before tucking it into his own storage space. Am I to understand, Mistress T, that you just paid me to merge an unknown item with your magic-bound dimensional storage?


    Of course not, both you and the attendant at the Archons Compound said that it was a wonderful addition to a dimensional storage.


    Boma rubbed his forehead between his eyebrows furiously. I <em>meant</em>: Did you really not understand what it would allow for your item?


    T shrugged, now that her headache wasing back to the forefront of her thoughts, it <em>hurt</em>, and it was making it difficult for her to think clearly. It was good, it was valuable, and now its done. What does it do?


    He made an oddly inhuman sound, somewhere between a grunt of astonishment, a squeal of surprise, and a whine of indignation. Boma took a deep breath and let it out slowly, eyes closed. When that wasplete, he repeated the process. Then again.


    T looked longingly at the door which ostensibly led into Kit and her bed. <em>It would be so, so nice to sleep.</em>


    Finally, Boma opened his eyes. Mistress T. I will not waste both of our time by exining how much what you have just conveyed smacks of idiocy. I will simply state that my opinion of you has dropped, markedly.


    T felt like shed been pped in the face, but before she could respond, Boma raised a hand.


    That said, I will still correct your ignorance as much as my already limited time allows. He took another deep breath and let it out. At its most basic level, your storage item now has a greater ability to alter itself, both inside and outside, to meet your needs. This will havee with a percentage increase in the overall dimensional capacity that will remain as it expands, meaning that any increase to its capacity will be likewise increased by this percentage. For a Revered fascia, I expect this to be effectively a doubling of storage size.


    Ts eyes widened. <em>A doubling of the current size, and a continued doubling of any expansion I do?</em> That was beyond incredible.


    The greater control will allow a fine-tuning of your dimensional space beyond what youve experienced, thus far. I would have to know exactly what youve experienced to tell you how it would change. He gave her a critical look. But I can see you are fading. Sleep, experiment with the capacities of the item, and if you have any questions,e back. After a moment, he added, At a reasonable hour, please.


    She nodded. Come on, Terry.


    Terry flickered to her shoulder as she opened the door to Kit and walked inside.


    Thest thing she heard as she stepped through, letting the door swing shut, was Bomas startled exmation. No! Not in here, girl!


    But she was too tired to really process what he was trying to say.


    * * *


    T woke bright and early, feeling that shed gotten exactly as much sleep as she needed.


    Her eyes snapped open, and she was fully awake. <em>Bright? I thought I was in Kit.</em>


    The light level within space was, indeed, slowly increasing. Moreover, she was sure she was in Kit based on the underlying feel and magical sense of her surroundings.


    The illumination was especially of note, because Kit had never really seemed bright or dark inside. It was always exactly light enough to see clearly, and not a lumen more. Though, shed always kind of wished the lighting was more varied.


    <em>Wish granted; I suppose.</em>


    The new ambient light in the space seemed to be increasing from near total darkness, likely so that she could sleep more easily, to the golden light of morning.


    It was glorious. <em>Exactly what I want for waking up.</em>


    There was no real source for the light, per se, even though it wasing through a window, and T had an intuitive feeling that nts couldnt use this light to grow by. <em>Illusion, then? Not real light?</em>


    That had some interesting implications. <em>If the light is an illusion, does it light the space as it is, or does the illusion have to include everything within the space?</em> It was an interesting philosophical question, but hardly relevant at the moment.


    She looked around and found that she was curled up in her bear fur, which was situated in a bed-sized nook in one wall of a small room, and folded over her to be both top and bottom for her sleeping arrangement.


    Across from her bed, the giant window looked out across rolling wooded countryside. If she focused even a little, her mage-sight revealed the view to be purely an illusion, but it was utterly convincing to her mundane sight.


    The illusion was a mix of magically generated light, texturing and coloration added to the space beyond the window, and a subtle push on her mind to see it as intended. Her defenses didnt automatically reject the mental nudges, as it was her own power, wielded through Kit, which was doing the work.


    She decided to simply appreciate the end result.


    <em>Beautiful.</em> The detail was stunning. She could see a little creek winding its way among the hills, variation in the type and age of the trees, and even the asional bird flitting between the branches. Her mundane vision was enhanced well beyond what any normal human would have, let alone process effectively, and yet she couldnt see anything that stood out as out of ce.


    <em>Is that because the illusion is perfect, or is the illusion altered to perfectly match what I expect to be there to believe what Im seeing?</em> The second sounded the most likely, especially given the source of this new ability for her storage.


    She turned her attention away from the stunning vista and examined the rest of the room.


    The walls seemed to be made of well-fit stone, like a shepherds cottage in some rocky hignd. <em>Not that there are too many of those around.</em> Still, it evoked the idea from some of the old stories.


    She looked out at the wide, open space through the window, and even though she knew it wasnt real, it still seemed to help her rx, loosing tension she hadnt noticed. It evoked a sense of peace, a sense of <em>freedom.</em>


    She stood and stretched, finding the space between the bed and the window perfectly sized for her morning stretches.


    Thoseplete, she looked back towards her sleeping area and noticed herb beside the bearskin. <em>That is a good idea.</em>


    She took a moment and ran theb through the fur, detangling and debriding it after her night of sleep. The small magics involved were lovely in their simplicity, and now with her increased mage-sight sensitivity, T could see it easily.


    Theb basically decreased the coefficient of friction to any natural fibers running through the tines, and for a short distance ahead of their movement. That allowed any debris, any water, and any tangles toe out with a single pass.


    <em>So simple, yet so useful.</em> It used so little power that even in a city it didnt need a Mage to refuel it.<em> You know, Ive never seen one of these for sale beforeI wonder if the Constructionists could replicate it?</em>


    If so, the market for such a product would be immense. <em>Ill ask someone.</em>


    Afterwards, she reced theb on its little shelf and folded the bearskin back into a pleasingly neat state.


    There was no sign of Terry, yet.


    To the right of the window, perpendicr to that wall, was a in wall with an inset shelf containing her notebooks and a pencil. On the other side was the door out. It matched the simple, clean, craftsman aesthetic of the rest of the space, the handle seeming of wrought iron and the wood well shaped.


    The iron surprised her, but she supposed that it was unlikely to actually be iron, just like the view wasnt actually a true vista.


    All told, this room was a bit smaller than Kit had been when T first got it.


    <em>Time to see what else is here, I suppose.</em>


    She opened the beautiful door and stepped through into arge main room constructed in the same aesthetic.


    There were four doors out of thisrger space, besides the one she was standing in.


    One was clearly the main door to the house, and T intuitively knew that it was the exit of the dimensional space as well. That was directly opposite her, across the well sized room, which was roughly thrice the size of the bedroom.


    Terry slept in the far-right corner, on her folded bedroll.


    To her left, there was a small counter in a kitchen like area, and her incorporators were arranged on a rack along with her other cooking adjacent items. On either side of the counter, near those two corners of the room, were two more of the doors.


    Even somehow intuitively knowing what shed find, T poked her head through each door. The farther door from the entrance held all her food-stuffs, and food rted items that didnt fit neatly in the kitchte. The other door held everything else, except her books, otherwise unounted for.


    The books were inset into a wall in the main room, and the same wall as the bedroom door.


    <em>I need afy reading chair</em>


    There was one final room, and she verified its contents quickly.


    It was the bathroom with a glorious tub, ready and waiting.


    When she looked, her two water incorporators were there beside the tub, ready to be used, along with theb that shed just used to clean the bear hides fur. She nced behind her and saw the two incorporators still on the rack.


    She suspected that if she checked the bedroom, theb would be there as well.


    Turning back to the bathroom, she verified that the items were there. <em>Dimensional maniption indeed. I bet if I had another Mage in here, we couldnt both use them at the same time, but Im not absolutely sure.</em>


    Well done, Kit. She ced her hand on the wall on a perfectly sized, decorative handprint in the stone, and dumped power into the pouch. While it did take almost a minute to refill Kit to full, it was still proportional to the total, increased capacity. So, T wasnt really concerned about the power usage. <em>Though, I need to grow my throughput before Kit gets too much stronger, or Ill have to spend an uneptable amount of time recharging it every day.</em>


    Thatplete, she moved through her morning exercises in therger space of the main room.


    As she did so, she found that room was big enough for the task, though she would have sworn it wasnt before. <em>So, it expands at my need, even while Im in it.</em>


    As she considered, she realized something else, too. <em>I suppose the other rooms dont need to exist, to take up space, when Im not in them.</em>


    Shed need more capacity for Kit before she had guests. <em>Well, one would probably be fine. This room shouldnt be using all the space, and the others arent sorge as to take more than the bnce.</em>


    Exercises done, she gloried in a nice, rxing bath.


    Finally, ready for the day, she decided she was ready to face the city once more.


    Almost immediately upon deciding that, she heard a knock on her front door.


    It wasnt a quick, solid knock, like someone trying to get in, nor was it a tentative knock, like someone hoping not to disturb her.


    It was firm, but somehowzy. Like someone who felt obligated to knock but didnt care one way or another if there was an answer.


    Terry?


    Terry lifted his head and let out a single, short note of acknowledgement.


    Ready?


    As answer, the terror bird flickered to her shoulder.


    T strode forward and opened the door. There was no one directly outside.


    The first thing she noticed was that she was looking out into the iron-d room from the merging.


    <em>Oh, right. Oops.</em>


    Second, she saw a Mage,ying on his back, fingers inteced on his chest, twiddling his thumbs. He seemed to be making random noises with his lips, but when she opened the door, his eyes widened in shock, and he stood quickly.


    Mistress T. He bowed, flushing brightly.


    Random Mage boy. What can I do for you?


    His flush deepened. I was set to watch for your exit.


    Oh?


    Yes, Mistress. Master Boma wasdispleased that you ced the entrance to your dimensional storage within our facilities. He looked incredibly ufortable as he held out a te. I was instructed to give you this upon your return.


    She nced back to Kits closed door, and on instinct, reached out and grabbed the frame, pulling on it.


    The door fuzzed and vanished, leaving Kit, the pouch, in her hand. <em>Huh, neat.</em> She pressed it to her belt, and the pouch, obligingly, stuck in ce. <em>Nice.</em>


    She then took the te and nced at it. What is this?


    He cleared his throat. An hourly rental fee for the room, and a charge of an attendants hourly rate to await your return.


    Im to be charged two gold per hour for this room.


    Thats right, Mistress.


    And you get paid a silver per hour?


    I am a mid-level attendant. The initiates are not trusted to be in this room.


    Of course not, they might lie on the inscriptions in the floor. She looked pointedly at the where the Mage had been lying, which was, indeed, directly across the gold inscriptions. <em>Rusting foolish, that.</em>


    He reddened again. So it seems.


    Hey! I was only in there for five hours? Thats wonderful. So, a total of ten gold and five silver.


    Thats right.


    She clucked her tongue, looking over the transaction. Yeah, Im not paying this.


    She handed the device back to him with a smile.


    Have a great day! Without a backward nce, she strode from the room.


    She left the gap-mouthed Mage behind as she swept through the halls. <em>Where is that man?</em>


    After taking a couple of turns, she sighed and stopped, allowing the quick-walking Mage to catch up to her. What time is it, again? Even as she asked, she somehow knew. <em>Its 2:07 in the morning.</em>


    Just a couple of hours after midnight, Mistress.


    T frowned, then sighed. The information must havee from the subconscious bond to Archive link. <em>Not the time for such contemtions, T. </em>This would be a rusting rude time of night to bug him She nced back at the Mage. Incidentally, why did you knock, when you did?


    What do you mean?


    You knocked. Why did you choose then to knock?


    Im so sorry, Mistress, I dont understand. Ive been knocking every ten minutes, since Master Boma set me to the task. Is that what youre asking?


    <em>Huh, Kit didnt allow the sound to transmit through the door, until I was ready to interact with the outside world. Thats fascinating.</em>


    The young man held out the te once again. I really must insist that you pay your bnce, Mistress. He looked quite ufortable.


    T cocked an eyebrow at him, when he didnt budge, she sighed and rubbed the sides of her head. Her headache wasing back to the forefront of her mind. It had been there since she woke up, but she hadnt paid it any mind, hoping that it would simply go away. It hadnt. <em>I suppose I have been a little bit rude. </em>What is your name, good Master?


    He seemed taken aback at that. Well. He swallowed. I am called Simon, Mistress.


    Good to meet you, Master Simon. <em>Material Guide, specializing in the alteration and study of empowered materials?</em> That was interesting to say the least. What could he even do with that? <em>Maybe</em>


    Simon seemed a bit confused, the te dropping slightly as he lost his focus on that matter. Oh, umm. Thank you?


    T stepped forwards and took the te back. Next to the fee of two gold per hour was listed Rate for active, Magical use. T frowned. <em>Does using it as an entry point for my dimensional storage really count? </em>This seems excessive. Are these the true rates?


    He nced to the side, then shook his head. Master Boma was less than pleased with you, so he instructed me to use this rate for the room.


    What about for you?


    He squirmed a bit, clearly ufortable. He wanted me to charge you a gold an hour for my time as well, but that seemed excessive. That portion is the Guild rate for my time.


    T found herself touched, and then she felt irritated at herself for how shed treated the Mage previously. My apologies, Master Simon. My actions put you in quite the awkward position.


    He nced down and shrugged.


    What would the proper rate be? If you are allowed to say.


    Two silver per hour to reserve the room, more to use it for mundane purposes, more still for magical use. What you did would qualify most closely as reserving the room.


    T contemted for a long moment. Will you get in trouble for charging me the normal rate?


    Simon looked up at her, frowning in confusion. Most likely not? Master Boma probably wouldnt check the exact amount of the receipt, and even if he did, once hes lessdispleased, he likely wouldnt mind, in truth.


    T nodded. If its alright with you, lets do that.


    He hesitated a moment longer, then shrugged and nodded, taking the te back and manipting it to make the changes.


    T verified the new total of fifteen silver and confirmed the transaction.


    Thank you, Mistress T.


    And thank you, Master Simon. Im sure you had better things to do than wait for me to re-emerge, even if it was just sleeping.


    True enough.


    Now, where can I find Master Boma, to wake him up.


    Simon paled, his hand trembling, slightly.


    T held up her hands in a warding gesture. Im kidding! She chuckled awkwardly. Im only kidding. Ille back, once the sun is up.


    He visibly rxed, clearly relieved that she hadnt been serious. Oh. Oh, good.


    T was about to turn away from Simon, when her thoughts coalesced, despite the headache.


    Master Simon?


    The Mage seemed a bit nervous. Yes?


    Would you, or the Archon you work under, have any interest in examining a simple, useful artifact for potential reproduction?


    Simon frowned. But we cannot make Artifacts, Mistress.


    <em>Ohrightrust</em> Of course, I was meaning to pull the idea, and learn from the spell-forms.


    He gave her a searching look, then shrugged. Probably. Master Queue, would probably love to discuss it with you. He was my master, before I attained Magehood, and he continues to oversee my projects.


    <em>Disaster averted, good.</em> She smiled. That sounds excellent. Ill ask for him after I speak to Master Boma, once the sun is up.


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    Chapter: 170 - ck, Please

 Chapter 170: Black, Please

    Chapter 170: ck, Please


    T had a lot of time on her hands, unexpectedly. She was used to sleepingter, at least until morning was near at hand.


    <em>Why did I wake up so soon?</em> If her reckoning was correct, shed gotten what felt like a full nights sleep in around four hours.


    <em>Ive been needing less sleep, but this is a marked difference.</em> The inscriptions throughout her body felt more settled, improving her physiological functions more than ever. She had her iron salve in ce as well, amplifying and condensing all the magic within her. <em>It makes sense that would trante to more efficient sleep, I suppose.</em>


    As she stood outside the Constructionist Guild, on dimly, but sufficiently, lit streets, the question was, what now?


    She could find a ce to train, or a ce to anchor Kit, and train in there.


    She could


    Her head twinged with ignored pain, and her stomach rumbled.


    <em>Food. I need food.</em> Specifically, she was craving dessert. <em>A nice chocte cake, or caramel pudding.</em> She licked her lips in anticipation.


    She was walking through the virtually deserted city streets, aimlessly searching for an open restaurant. She would be meeting with Mistress Odera in a few hours, but she was hungry, now.


    The cold stone of the streets, and the asional piles of snow, felt good on her feet and the cool air seemed to be helping her head, even if only as a side effect. She really did love the cold.


    <em>Food, food. Where would there be food</em> Somewhere that caters tote night workersor Archons?


    <em>Thats an obvious answer.</em> She smiled. <em>Seems like Ill be at the Guildhall early today.</em>


    T turned her path and went to the Caravan Guildhall. As shed hoped, the lounge and food area were open, even though the main space, in which clerks like Lyn worked, was closed.


    By the time she arrived, her headache was more manageable once again, but she was feeling incredibly dizzy. <em>How can I be this hungry? I know my stores arent low.</em>


    She could feel her own weight with each step, not that she jiggled. She could simply tell that she was still markedly heavier than a normal person would be.


    <em>Maybe, Im missing a specific nutrient?</em> That was a thought, probably a good one. <em>Well, Im craving sweets, so maybe Im low on sugar, somehow.</em>


    The ce was hardly empty, but she was able to grab a table with ease in the mostly empty space. The few other people there seemed to be deeply focused on their own business, so they and T did little more than acknowledge each other in passing.


    When a server came by to check on her, T knew what she wanted.


    Ill have the double-fried donuts, stuffed with sweet, cream cheese filling and to drink, Id like some fruit juice, whatever is least expensive.


    Of course, Mistress. Our apple juice is fresh pressed, and in season with the winter harvesting from the growplex daily. How much of the juice?


    A gallon should do it.


    The server seemed to hesitate, then something in her stance changed, and she smiled. Certainly, as you wish. How many donuts would you like? And what toppings?


    T nced down at the menu again, looking at the price. Thete-night menu was much more limited than the standard, but also quite a bit more reasonably priced. <em>A dozen donuts for a silver. </em>Lets start with a dozen, and powdered sugar over the cream cheese icing, please.


    Very good. The total for those and the juice will be two silver. Would you like any donuts left out to eat before you go?


    T blinked up at the older woman. <em>What?</em> Oh! I apologize for the confusion. Ill be eating them all, here. The sooner the better, if you please.


    The server hesitated again before she nodded. Shall I get you arger table, or move one of the others over? How many are you expecting to join you?


    T sighed. No, no. Im not being clear. She smiled up at the woman, trying to remain calm despite her growing irritation and headache. I will be eating them all, myself, right here, as soon as possible.


    The server swallowed and nodded, clearly realizing that she wasnt going to fully understand her customer. As you wish, Mistress. Do you want any coffee with that? Help you kickstart the day?


    COFFEE! T eximed lifting her hands in a gesture indicating realization of the obvious. Im having caffeine withdrawals. <em>No wonder the headache is so awful </em>There were probably other reasons, too, but coffee was an easy enough core cause to exin it.


    The older woman had taken a step back at the exmation. Then, she gave a little chuckle. Ill take that as a yes, then.


    No. T shook her head, sadly. I drink too much of it and need to stop.


    Yet again, the server seemed utterly baffled. So, youre going cold turkey? That seems unpleasant.


    <em>She just wants to sell some coffee</em> T grimaced. <em>Thats uncharitable. Shes just trying to help.</em> Ill survive. Better a lot of pain for a short time, then a moderate amount for weeks.


    Whatever you say, Mistress. Its your head. The server nodded once. Alright, a dozen double-fried donuts and a gallon of apple-juice as quick as I can get it.


    Thats right.


    Ill be right back, then.


    T ced her head into her hands. <em>Of course, its the coffee. They werent kidding when they said I was addicted</em> She wasnt exactly sure who she meant by they, but she was sure they had been right.


    Would that exin the dizziness, though? <em>Why am I so, so hungry?</em>


    Her mind felt pretty fuzzy, so it was no wonder she was startled when the server ced her food down beside her.


    T jumped, causing the poor woman to step back quickly in rm, leaving the food and jug of apple juice behind.


    Oh! Thank you. T tried to smile to calm the woman once more. <em>My manners are all over the ce, here.</em>


    The server bowed and departed, though T hardly paid attention; her eyes were now locked on the treats before her.


    She took a long swig from the jug of apple juice, and something deep within her projected happiness. <em>This is what I need. Im not sure why, but I definitely do.</em>


    Shed have to drop by Hollys workshop to ask.<em> One more thing to do.</em>


    She pulled out one of her books and continued reading though. <em>There is so much to learn.</em> True, she could wait until t finished going through her mind, and then just have her find any info at need, but T didnt want to rely on t too much. <em>Certainly not a lot.</em>


    Sheughed, shook her head, then sighed while licking her fingers clean of frosting.


    She nced down. <em>What?</em>


    The donuts were gone.


    Terry, did you eat my donuts?


    Terry trilled a negative, and T thought she detected an eyeroll in the sound. <em>Either Im understanding him better or starting to project.</em>


    Huh. She waved down the server and ordered another dozen, along with a chicken-fried steak for Terry. They didnt normally sell just the steak, but when T exined it was for herpanion, they relented.


    Half a silver. <em>Not too overpriced for nicely fried meat.</em>


    Terry did take a small bite of donut when T offered, but he didnt seem to like it.


    In then end, T ate four dozen donuts, drank two gallons of apple juice, and gave Terry two chicken-fried steaks.


    All told? Seven silver.


    <em>Not too bad for satisfying ate night craving.</em> It was a tant breach of her daily food budget, but since it wasnt day yet, she justified it to herself.


    It was four in the morning. <em>I know, I know. A budget isnt a budget if you dont stick to it.</em> Shed do better next time.


    <em>Three hours until breakfast with Mistress Odera. </em>T paid, thanked the server, and left for home. <em>Ill going to talk to Lyn.</em>


    She was halfway home when a pleasant sound resounded within her mind.


    <em>-Ding-</em>


    <em>-Further lost or repressed memories</em>,<em> not lost due to the natural processes of time, recovered. Please indicate when you are free to relive them-</em>


    <em>Well, thats something to do until Lyn wakes up.</em>


    * * *


    T sat, weeping, with her face in her hands and tears running down her forearms in one of Lyns chairs when the woman herself ced a hand on her shoulder.


    T? Are you alright? Whats happening? Lyn sounded at aplete loss, her tone uncertain and careful, like she was talking to a wounded beast.


    T looked up through watery eyes. My family.


    Lyn knelt down next to her. Did someone die? Did you get a message?


    T shook her head, drawing in a ragged breath. I just miss them so much.


    The memories drudged up by t were almost entirely rted to her family, and all that she had experienced growing up with them. There were good and bad memories mixed in, but themon thread running through them all was how much they were <em>family</em> and how much she had loved them, and they her.


    There had been a few embarrassing memories that shed repressed, too, and which t had dredged up for her to relive, but they didnt seem quite so bad now that shed reexamined them. It was quite amazing how little they actually embarrassed her, now.


    She even felt more embarrassment from how shed reacted to the embarrassment of the moment, than from the initial action. But that was twisting her in mental knots, and those had been presented to her early in this set of memories, so that was not what dominated her thoughts.


    Why dont they want me anymore?


    Oh, T. Lyn pulled her into a careful hug as she wept.


    T just stayed there for a long time, unable to stop the tears from flowing as Lyn stroked her hair and back, shshing and speaking soft calming nothings to her.


    An unknown amount of timeter, T leaned back, pulling free of theforting embrace. She knew it was almost time to meet Mistress Odera, but she hadnt thought to check the time when Lyn had joined her in the living room.


    I have to go. T pulled a rag from Kit and wiped her eyes before blowing her nose. <em>Holly blocks vomit, but not snot. Theyre there for good reasons, of course, but still. </em>She sighed. Then, she looked closer at the rag and felt herself smile slightly. It had been a part of her shirt that the nt creature had torn to ribbons when shed slept on it, so long ago. <em>Well, torn to rags, I suppose.</em>


    Lyns voice brought T back to the moment. Youre going to need to work through this, T.


    I know. And she did, too. Shed hidden from this for long enough. <em>At the very least, t probably wont let me repress it again.</em>


    Lyn gave her a deeply skeptical look.


    I do, I promise. I just had t dump on me, and I wasnt really ready for it.


    Oh? Like what? What besides your family?


    <em>What? Oh. </em>No, not a lot. T left an obvious gap between the two words. t. She spoke the name quickly, ensure that it sounded like a single word.


    Lyn cocked her head and frowned in confusion. Youll have to exin that one to me.


    <em>-T-</em>


    <em>-You are going to bete, unless you leave soon or are willing to run.-</em>


    <em>I thought you went back into deep diving my memories.</em>


    <em>-Firstly, you are distressed, and mental functions are impeded during times of heightened emotion. I determined it was wiser to wait for you to calm down. Secondly, Id have told you if that were the case.-</em>


    T grimaced, then processed that Lyn was waiting for her. Im sorry, I cant exin now. I have to go. Talkter?


    Lyn nodded, smiling reassuringly. Im here when youre ready.


    T ced a hand on her friends shoulder. I know, and thank you.


    Lyn gave her a quick hug, then pulled away, heading back to get herself ready for the day. Dont wait for me. I know you have a breakfast meeting.


    Thank you, again. T called at her friends retreating back.


    Lyn waved over her shoulder as she walked back towards her own room. What are friends for?


    The meal with Mistress Odera was uneventful, though T yet again was drawn to the sweetest avable breakfast options.


    As she bid her overseer Mage goodbye, she had a choice to make:


    <em>Constructionist Guild, Culinary Guild, Holly, cksmith, or alchemist.</em> She clucked her tongue. <em>Ive a lot to do, today.</em>


    <em>-T-</em>


    <em>-You seem better.-</em>


    <em>What? Oh</em> She grimaced.


    A sigh resounded within her skull <em>-And youre worse again. Im not waiting anymore. Were so close to done. All other functions going off line, now.-</em>


    <em>t?</em>


    There was no response.


    <em>Fine.</em> She hesitated. <em>Oh, right, I need to talk to Lyn.</em>


    She should do easy to hard. <em>Well, and I cant talk with Lyn til shes home. So, thats got to best.</em>


    So, alchemist first. T stopped, hesitating then. <em>Im an idiot.</em> Shed forgotten something incredibly important. She nced to Terry. You were going to start training with us, today, werent you?


    He met her gaze and gave an affirmative, soft squawk.


    Im sorry, Terry. I went and changed our ns without thinking about that or how it would affect you.


    He gave the avian equivalent of a shrug.


    Will tomorrow be fine to start that? I can probably still make it to the training yard today, if you want.


    Terry considered for a long moment, then shook himself.


    Today?


    He shook himself again.


    Tomorrow?


    He bobbed his head in agreement.


    Thank you, Terry. Im sorry for not remembering sooner.


    He trilled happily and flickering away to catch a bit of thrown jerky before curling up on her shoulder once again.


    That decided, T set off, back to the Alchemist whod made her original iron salve after she arrived here from the Academy. She was on herst bar of the stuff, which was one reason for the visit.


    When she entered the well appointed alchemists shop, the smell of the herbs, tinctures, and reagents hit her with a tide of memories.


    Many of the remembrances that t had brought to the forefront of her mind were filled with simr smells. She took a moment, eyes closed, topose herself.


    When she was ready, she opened her eyes once again, and turned to the man working behind the counter. Good day.


    Hello, Mistress. He turned to greet her. How can I help you?


    I dont know if you remember me, but I came through here a few months back, to get some iron dustbined with a salve for application onto my skin.


    His eyes brightened with recognition. I do! I do remember you. You gave me a lot to think on, Mistress, and through that, have allowed me to earn quite a bit of coin.


    Oh? T walked further into the shop. She was curious. <em>I know no other Mages are using the iron salve.</em> Well, she didnt <em>know</em>, but she doubted that they did.


    Yes. If your goal is to get as full coverage of yourself with iron as possible, I think I might have a better solution. He was grinning.


    Do tell.


    He pulled out a small jar. This is a cosmetic paint, often used for festivals, face painting and the like. It is also the base that most of us use for beauty products, if we wish for them tost a long time.


    T frowned for a moment, then shrugged. <em>I have seen some ridiculously longsting artificial colorations. They might actually be a good basis for this.</em> Tell me more.


    Well, I was able to make an even finer iron powder forbination with this, and it worked! The medium drinks in the iron to a ridiculous extent and binds with it and whatever its painted onto. He grinned at her.


    You cant have done this just, because I put gold in your mine.


    Oh, you started it, thats for sure, but I realized that this works to make anything able to take a ma, too. I took that to the Constructionists, and they were thrilled, though they tell me it has other applications as well. So, I doubt theyre using it for the maic applications. That is of no consequence to me, however. All that matters is that they buy it from me by the gallon.


    Ts eyes widened. Thats amazing. <em>If the Constructionists are using it, it must have close to the anti-magic properties of a solid te of iron, as thats their go to method of containment.</em> Can I test it out?


    Of course! He hesitated, seeming to consider. But first, I overrode you when I realized who you were. What brings you in, today?


    She grinned. Well, this new idea will cover one need, assuming it works.


    And there are other needs?


    She nodded. Im looking for a way to deal with many monsters at a time. Alchemists fire, or something like that.


    He shook his head. Oh no, Mistress. Im neither cleared for such a dangerous concoction, nor skilled enough to create it. You might want to check with some of the alchemists attached to the Guardsmans Guild as they tend to have more use for and experience with such things.


    T sighed. <em>That makes sense, I suppose.</em> Alright, then. She didnt let her disappointment drag her down, however. Lets test this stuff.


    The alchemist grinned. Certainly! Ive been able to produce it in ck, yellow, and red. Do you have a preference?


    Is that a true yellow, or closer to a gold.


    Definitely not a gold. And truth to tell, the ck is closer to grey, and the red isnt a true red, more of a rust color. He grinned at that. As one might expect.


    Ahhh, I see. Then, not yellow. She imagined herself with rust colored skin and shuddered. <em>Red eyes are quite enough, thank you.</em> ck, please.


    Ill get a sample for you to try.


    T had a thought as he ducked down behind the counter. How much does it cost? Assuming it works as I need it to, I might need a lot of it.


    Keep reading as a patron on Patreon!


    Chapter: 171 - Not Pregnant

 Chapter 171: Not Pregnant

    Chapter 171: Not Pregnant


    T was excited to test out the iron salve improvement, which is why shed asked how much it cost. <em>I cant pay rivers of gold, but if this works as well as I hope, it could be worth a lot to me.</em>


    Half a gold per gallon. He handed over the test vial,plete with little brush mounted to the lid, just like the glue shed used to protect her palms for the application of her iron salve.


    <em>Half a gold per gallon? </em>Ts eye twitched. Thats not cheap.


    It is a bit more expensive than the salve I made for youst time, yes.


    <em>A bit, yeah. That was only a few silver; this is fifty.</em>


    Though, as she thought about it, all the bars shed purchased together would likely have been less than a gallon.


    <em>Maybe the costs are closer than I think.</em> Well, Ill give it a try and see.


    The paint was thick as T used the little brush to paint her left hand using her right. I rmend you do three coats to ensureplete coverage. With those, it shouldst until you scrub it off, and believe me, you will have to <em>scrub.</em>


    She gave him a skeptical look.


    He simply grinned back. It is surprisingly robust, intentionally so.


    She grunted in acknowledgement and shrugged. Ill definitely put it to the test.


    Even as she applied the first coat, she could feel a noticeable difference. Her magics were being better contained and reflected back than they had been with iron salve. <em>Maybe I should be sleeping in an iron box, if this is the result.</em>


    Unfortunately, an iron box wouldnt actually work for that. True, an iron box would keep her from losing magical power, just like it did for harvests and items, but the iron would not be evenly distant from her skin in a box, and the random angles at which it would be in rtion to the spell-forms would mean wonky angles of reflection that would not wellpliment her existing magics. All told, an iron box was useful for containment, not training.


    She also realized these results helped her to understand why most Mages did not like iron. <em>Their spell-forms are not as safe as mine to have amplified and applied internally.</em>


    The paint was surprisingly quick drying, and so in less than ten minutes, her left hand was thoroughly coated with threeyers of the flexible, somewhat stretchy material. She had used the entire test-bottle to aplish the threeyers on that part of her.


    The result had a bit of a metallic sheen to it, without being shiny, and it was a beautifully deep, dark grey.


    An odd side effect of the nearly perfect containment was that her spell-lines, usually much to fine for mundane eyes to see, were shining through theyer.


    <em>No, thats not right.</em>


    Only the most prominent through-lines were visible, those that carried the most power naturally, and even those were only just visible. The sheer amount of power flowing and resonating within the scripts seemed to be causing a resonance in the air that manifested as light.


    T could only tell all of this because of her enhanced vision and mage-sight. The mundane alchemist had no idea.


    I apologize, Mistress. It seems it is not as impermeable as Id thought. He was frowning. That seems even worse than the iron salve, somehow. But that doesnt make sense. Didnt you put it on over the iron salve?


    <em>Oops. </em>She had, in fact. <em>And the paint is still staying this well?</em>


    It was amazing stuff it seemed.


    Oh, no, its nearly perfect. This is a resonance in the air, right against the outeryer of the material. It was stunningly captivating, even just on her hand.


    T flexed her hand, stretching her fingers and wrist with her other hand, but theyer didnt breach, crack, or in any way show signs of failing, seeming to move wlessly with her skin.


    <em>Oh. Oh yes.</em> She hadnt left her palm bare as she would have in the past, because her magics no longer needed an avenue out of her physical body. <em>No, now they reach through the dimensions of magic itself, to enact my will upon the target.</em>


    It took a bit more power to do it that way but was massively more effective. It also took a will. In her research, shed found that independent scripts, operating automatically, couldnt work within the dimensions of magic. The analogy that shed like best was a ball on top of a river.


    The ball would go where the water flowed, but it took a will, an action, to push it under, or lift it up. The only other way to get the ball underwater or above it was for the water to be churned up to an incredible degree. The analogy actually held in this case. The analog was that magic could actually bypass iron with sufficient power, turbulence, or with the right type of currents.


    In either case, it was something that she could do fairly easily at this point. She continued examining her hand as she grinned. <em>And it allows me to do this.</em>


    She ran a couple of tests, trying to extend her magics through her hand and found the first issue:


    The iron salve shed been using was apparently permeable enough to let her aura draw power through it. Now, she could extend her aura, but couldnt move power through it without the same effort required to utterly bypass the ironyer.


    The result was that her aura didnt extend as far on its own and seemed weaker, somehow, like it was missing ayer of support that was usually there.


    Thankfully, she didnt need magical power to pull on her soul-bound items. Unfortunately, it would mean that she wouldnt be able to easily do what shed seen some higher-level Archons do: mainly, create spell-forms around themselves, with their aura as the medium and magic, itself, as the spell-lines.


    <em>Magic concentration first, then when Im a bit more advanced, and have a bit more time, I can work on spell-forms in my aura.</em> She still had the ability to work with them in her lungs, but shed decided long ago that that was too dangerous a ce to do her tests. <em>I can learn how to breathe fire after I can create fire in a safer location.</em>


    I like it.


    Im so d. The man was studying her hand with obvious fascination, fixating on the glowing lines hard against, but outside, the dark, metallic greyyer atop her skin. May Itouch it?


    T hesitated. I dont actually know what that would do, or if its safe. It might be hot?


    I will be careful and go slowly. He thought for a moment. Lets be wise about this. Here. He pulled out a piece of paper and set it on the counter. ce your hand on this, please.


    T looked at her palm and the glowing lines there. <em>Thats a pretty wise first test, actually.</em> She ced her hand down on the paper and waited for a count of fifteen. That done, she pulled her hand back.


    The alchemist ced his own hand on the unmarred paper. A bit warm to the touch. Not room temperature, but certainly not dangerous. He held his hands out, and T carefully ced her left hand into them.


    He turned her hand over as he examined it from all sides, running his fingers carefully through the lines.


    Fascinating. I can feelsomething, but it isnt quite heat. It seems to be resonating with something here. He ced his hand on his chest. Somewhere behind my heart.


    <em>His gate.</em> T looked closely at the mans hand, focusing on what her mage-sight was showing her, and she saw little eddies and echoes of her defensive magics in his natural magical pattern. As he moved his hand back, those artifacts faded, but they were definitely there. Imprinting? That magic is resonating powerfully enough that it is imprinting on the powers around it. I believe you feel it because the natural magic in your hand is taking on, very temporarily, my spell-form. <em>Is this how they create artifact style items?</em> It made sense, now that she thought about it. <em>Resonate a spell-form strongly enough around an item, and it could build up an echo or imprint.</em>


    Her thoughts were disrupted as he pulled back his hands. Ahh. Well, I dont want to blow anything up, or-


    T waved him off. Its purely defensive and regenerative. No danger.


    He looked skeptical, and didnt touch her hand again, but he didnt argue.


    She decided to change the subject. How much will it take to cover myself fully?


    He hesitated. Fully? He frowned. Well, I believe a colleague of mine sells body paints for various artistic purposes, and she sells three quarts at a time. You are on the smaller side, so that should be about right. That is factoring in using the proper number of coats.


    <em>Then, three gallons would cover me four times, but thats probably a bit excessive.</em> Ill take two gallons.


    * * *


    T left with the iron body paint carefully stored inside of Kit. She wasnt happy to part with a gold, but she understood the value of a non-toxic, longsting iron paint that she could cover herself with.


    She didnt have time to apply it immediately as she had much too much to do that day, and shed already spent more time than she should have with the alchemist.


    She retraced her steps from so many weeks ago and found the cksmith that Ashin had taken her to for a camp knife.


    There, she had a lovely conversation with the master smith in residence and ordered four steel triangles into the corners of which she could put bloodstars before mounting them to shields.


    Shed imed two curving tower shields and tworge round shields from the Leshkin loot, and that had pretty much exhausted her im on the haul.


    Rane had apparently sold most of the rest, only keeping the swords for merging with Force.


    She did not look forwards to taking a blow from the newly enhanced weapon, which of course meant that she needed to do it sooner rather thanter.


    She also had a bit of back and forth with the cksmith about another idea and ended up leaving him with one of her tungsten spheres to properly size the contraption. She would have left him with one of her anchoring darts, too, but they, by their design, couldnt really be left behind.


    Instead, he took good measurements of the empowered item and asked some pertinent questions.


    All told, he expected that he and his underlings- <em>Apprentices?</em> -could have her work done in a few hours.


    They settled on a price of 40 silver, and they both seemed happy.


    T paid half in advance and went on her way.


    At that point, she was ready to drop through and see Holly.


    The inscriptionist was, as expected, quite busy, but the moment that T walked into the workshop, the Archon came from the back, practically at a sprint. What have you been doing to yourself, Mistress T?


    T took a step to the side, trying to dodge without stepping back out of the building. I wasing to ask you about my cravings. They started suddenly this morning.


    Holly shook her head. Youre not pregnant, obviously.


    T reddened. What!? Why would you-


    Holly waved her off. Cravings, changes in health in the morning, better to dismiss it early, so that we dont have to consider it any longer.


    But I havent-


    I dont want to know, dear. Now, her eyes flicked to the side, seeming to be reading something, a sugar craving? Yes, your increased mental activity is using much more of that macro-nutrient. She hesitated, then added, I mean carbohydrates, obviously, not sugar specifically.


    T immediately felt like an idiot. <em>t. Shes using my brain more than is usual for a mundane human, so it needs more fuel than usual. Just like my increased exercise had me craving more fats and proteins.</em>


    So, you need to alter your diet. You are off of caffeine; I can see that. Good for you, but that headache must be murder.


    T red. Shed been sessfully ignoring it, but having it so tantly pointed out made continuing that impossible. Anything we can do about it?


    Well, yes. Drinking a lot of water would help considerably.


    Cant my scripts prevent this?


    Mistress T, I will not mess with your neurochemistry so directly. Natural decisions have natural consequences. You wont die, or be permanently harmed by the headache, nor the irritability. She hesitated again. Well, assuming that you dont direct the foul mood foolishly.


    T sighed. So, nothing nefarious is going on?


    No, dear. You just need more sugar in your diet.


    Well, that solves that, then. T almost turned to go but noticed that Holly didnt seem to have heard her, as she was staring at Ts left hand.


    T lifted it up, and Holly grabbed it, seemingly without thought. The spectacle created before Ts mage-sight by her iron-painted hand in Hollys inscribed ones was fascinating.


    Hollys aura seemed to harden at the borders of her skin, preventing any outside magic from influencing her natural magics or inscriptions.


    What have you done to your hand? Hollys voice was distant, barely above a whisper.


    T gave a brief exnation as to what she and the alchemist had done.


    Holly nodded along,menting at the end. This would be a swift, incredibly painful death for anyone with different scripts than yours. Even your gravity alteration spell-forms are equally weighted for increase and decrease in their normal, active state. She tsked, shaking her head in wonder. But this is so beautiful.


    T tried to pull her hand back, but Holly held fast.


    You are going to be pressure cooking yourself in magic, and I cannot wait to see how you turn out.


    <em>Thats a pleasant image.</em> Is thatbad?


    Oh, no dear. It is getting your body adjusted to a <em>much</em> higher power content, that will increase your power density proportionally as your body tries to adjust to containing such, on its own. I assume the n is to paint your entire body with it?


    That was my thought.


    Holly cackled lightly, then caught herself, and schooled herself. Thats amazing. You will progress your magical weight in months as much as most do in years, if not decades. How are you on the road to bing Fused?


    T hadnt thought about that in a while, but when she did, she felt the work continuing in the back of her soul and spirit. She looked inside, looking closer at the ongoing stitching. Half done? No, that wasnt right. She was close to halfway from the center to the outside, but eachyer outward was bigger than the one before. No, one quarter, if Im remembering the area calction forms correctly.


    Holly grunted. Not bad for a bit less than a months dedicated work. Some may have done it faster, but most take years longer even to get this far.


    Why?


    Why do they take longer?


    T waved that away. No, no. Why do you ask? She knew that most people didnt pursue advancement at the same, arguably insane, pace that she did.


    Oh, because every step of advancement deepens your connection to power, and all aspects and features of yourself that rte to it, depending on the stage of advancement, of course.


    Ahh. I think I understand.


    You dont, but thats fine. You will in time.


    T sighed, Hollys words harshly reminding her of Bomas simr feelings about her understanding. Feeling a bit defensive, she turned to go. Well, Ive much to do. Thank you for answering my questions and for your assistance.


    Holly gave T a level look. <em>Youre</em> busy? She opened her mouth to say more, but then just shook her head. Not worth the time. I appreciate you dropping by to chat, though. Good day, Mistress T.


    Good day, Mistress Holly, and thank you again.


    T left and went straight to the Constructionist Guild.


    She again enjoyed the cool air and stone as she trekked across the winter cityscape.


    She arrived at the guildhall and walked through the open entry way.


    Shed never noticed before, but there was a marked increase in temperature as she walked down the short hall, and the subtle hints of magic in the air, only barely visible to her even now, gave her the reason as to why it was so.


    <em>Seems like it would be easier to just use a door.</em> Though, as she thought about it, one of the core purposes of a city was to bleed off power and use it up, helping to keep the barrier between worlds intact for longer.


    <em>Huh, syphons might actually be helping in a certain way, then.</em> That was an interesting, if marginally disturbing, thought. <em>So long as they dont kill people, they might actually be better to leave alone.</em>


    She guessed that if they got too powerful, that would no longer be the case, however. <em>Thats probably why they are hunted. We dont want a Sovereign Siphon rearing its head in a human city, after all.</em>


    She was scanned, greeted by the pleasant ding, and waited the short moment for an attendant toe out. It wasn''t one she''d met before.


    Mistress. How can we assist you today?


    Im looking to meet with Master Boma and Master Queue. Are either avable at the moment?


    Let me check. May I tell them who is requesting a meeting?


    T.


    Thank you, Mistress T. I will be right back. If youd like, we have a waiting area right over there.


    T nced that way and saw the coffee dispenser. She swallowed involuntarily, feeling her body groan in desire, her headache spiking, almost as if it were promising to go away if she would just have one little cup. <em>Yeah, I better not get any closer to that.</em> Im fine waiting here, thank you.


    As you wish.

 Chapter 172: Vestiges

    Chapter 172: Vestiges


    T waited just within the Constructionist Guild for one of the two Archons she was seeking a meeting with.


    She stood in the entry hall, specifically not looking towards the waiting room, from which she could easily detect the smell of fresh coffee, if only faintly.


    <em>Stay strong, T. Not drinking coffee is better for you.</em> She grimaced and groaned internally. Shed gone most of her life without coffee, but now it felt like air or water. She <em>needed</em> it, even though she knew that she didnt.


    Her eyes flicked to the side, ncing over and taking in the earthenware mugs set out for easy use.


    T resolutely turned away. <em>Nope.</em>


    A change of air currents, likely due to open entryway behind her, brought a particrly strong waft of coffee goodness to her nose.


    She spun to face the waiting room. <em>One cup wont hurt. Onest cup.</em>


    At that moment, she heard the sound of footsteps and turned back in time to see the assistant returning with a man who could only be Master Queue.


    The Archon had a very tightly controlled, hardened aura thatpletely blocked Ts ability to view what type of Mage he was, let alone what he could do, but it did put his aura on easy disy. The power encasing him shone forth, a happy yellow-green.


    <em>Refined, well on the way to Paragon.</em>


    His eyes only flickered to Terry for a moment, showing interest, but not overpowering curiosity as he crossed the floor.


    Terry seemingly took no notice of his surroundings.


    Queue stopped a few paces from her and bowed, allowing his long white coat to billow around him. Mistress T, I presume. How may I be of assistance?


    T bowed in turn. Master Queue, your Mage assistant, Master Simon, directed me to you. He seems apetent fellow.


    Queues eyebrows went up in surprise. Oh? Well, thank you. I quite like his work. I will pass on thepliment.


    She nodded in acknowledgement, then pulled out herb. I wanted to discuss this with you. Somewhere private might be better?


    The Archon took theb, turning it over in his fingers before shrugging. Sure. Im not sure what there is to discuss, but I can give you five minutes.


    T nodded her thanks, then nced to the assistant. This in mind; Ill be looking to meet with Master Boma in the next half-hour, if hes avable.  <em>If Queue only has five minutes for me, that should be enough time so that I don''t keep Boma waiting.</em>


    The assistant bowed. Ill see what I can do.


    "Please don''t inconvenience yourself or him. I''m happy to schedule something when Ie out, if he isn''t free."


    The assistant nodded in acknowledgement as T departed after Queue.


    T followed Queue into a side room, where the Archon activated some privacy inscriptions with a gesture. Now, Mistress T, what do you have in mind?


    Could this artifact be replicated?


    He gave her a long look, then examined theb again. Most likely, yes. Im guessing that you dont know what it takes to do so, just that it can be done?


    Thats right, though I might be able to guess. She kept her left hand back, slightly behind her body for now. <em>No need toplicate things.</em>


    Queue grunted. So, why would we replicate this? It is a fairly standard artifact. Like most, it is probably unique in some way or other, but still the uses arent overarching enough to justify the expense.


    That doesnt need a Mage to power it, even in a city.


    He nced back down. I did notice that it wasnt attuned to you. This is a wonderfully efficient device, then. Even so, such things arent unheard of. Probably one in a hundred artifacts dont need to be magic-bound to survive, but whatsyourpoint He trailed off there, at the end, seeming to consider. This detangles hair at a stroke, yes? Im interpreting the magics correctly?


    Detangles, debrides, and dries, without damaging the hair.


    His eyebrows rose once more. That makes sense, but Id not have thought of it.


    So, you see the utility?


    I think I understand what you are getting at. It is quite useful.


    Not willing to dance around it anymore, she grinned. And could be used by mundanes.


    He was nodding. Yes. Artifacts for mundane use are rare. There would certainly be a market for such ab. How could we disguise that we can create artifacts, though, if we flood the mundane market with nearly identical items?


    T shrugged. im some new material coating with a natural magical resonance? A proprietary process to capture and lock such into ce for use by any, even mundanes?


    He snorted. Thats mostly nonsense. No materials natural resonance is anything close to this convoluted. Then, he paused. But, it might just be believed. This certainly isnt the first artifact created for widescale, mundane use, but it might be the mostpersonal so far. Most are embedded in buildings or the like. He tapped theb against his palm. It would be an undertaking to build the impressor for a new artifact style item, plus wed need to have thebs made in one of the factories. Theyd have to be identical in size andposition. Were talking a few thousand gold to do this right.


    T balked. That seems extreme. Couldnt we find ab already on the market and use that?


    He shrugged. There are a few mass-producedbs, true, but not many, and I dont think any are made in Bandfast. He clucked his tongue. At best, we could get it up and running for a hundred gold, but then wed be dependent on another city to supply the base item.


    Is that bad? Also, I dont have that much.


    He waved her off. The moneys not really important. He seemed to be considering.


    T checked the time and cleared her throat. Im sorry, Master Queue, but weve gone a bit over the five minutes you said you had. I cane back tomorrow?


    He gave her a sideways nce. I can make the time for this. This shouldnt take too much longer.


    T bit the side of her lip. A host of things flitted through her mind, including how poorly shed treated Simon the night before, and how much help Boma had been. With that, and much else, on her mind, she made a decision. While youre considering, I have something to do quickly.


    Sure, sure. The bathrooms down the hall and to the right.


    Thats not It really didnt matter what he thought she was doing. Thank you.


    She quickly walked back out to the entry way and found the assistant waiting in a side room.


    Excuse me.


    The assistants head snapped up, clearly engrossed in his book. Oh! Mistress! He scrambled to stand up.


    Im sorry to bother you.


    No, Im hear to help. How can I assist?


    It seems that Master Queue and I will take a bit longer than Id expected. Can you convey that to Master Boma, and ask if I can meet him in his office when Im done?


    Certainly.


    Thank you. Ill let him know.


    If he isnt avable, or that doesnt work. I understand. Ill check with you when Ie out.


    As you wish.


    T quickly returned to Queue and as she walked in, he started talking almost as if she hadnt left.


    Buying thebs in bulk shouldnt be an issue. I can put in the order now, after I find a sample in the city that will work, and the shipment could arrive by the time we need it. Well have to advertise it to the masses, somehow, but that wouldnt be hard. He nced at her. Ill also need to verify it does what you say for myself, I hope you understand.


    She shrugged. Certainly. Shed honestly expected no less.


    They could sell for two silver? He nodded then clucked his tongue. Most costs are in the start-up, so wed recoup costs in five thousand units or so. He frowned. Thats too optimistic. Double that. Ten thousand units.


    For two silver, you would eventually sell one to every woman in the city and many men. T grinned, thinking. I imagine the guard might want them as standard for their supplies, given they can be a bit of an effective dry bath, at least for those with hair.


    True enough. He seemed to be doing some calctions in his head. If you can leave this with me for a week, I can front the start-up costs and give you he seemed to consider for a moment, five percent of any ie after those costs are recouped?


    Ts eyes widened. <em>Ten copper abfor nothing more than lending him mine for a week?</em>


    He misinterpreted her reaction. I can probably take what I need from the item in a few days, but a week would be better.


    She narrowed her eyes. <em>Not his limit on that, so probably not his limit on the percentage.</em> Five percent is too low. The item is mine, and therefore the spell-form is mine. Ts understanding ofw when it came to spell-form ownership was shaky, at best.


    He waggled his hand. In a sense, yes, but that wouldnt stop me from reproducing it.


    It would if I dont lend you the item.


    He held it out to her. That is true enough. Backwards engineering the spell-form wouldnt be worth the effort, even if we sold ab to every human in every city.


    She took theb. What about a fifty percent split. True, youre doing the work, but Im allowing that work to be profitable.


    He gave her a t look. Fifty.


    Seems fair.


    He shook his head. Fifteen.


    Of gross. I dont want my portion being limited by costs at only fifteen percent.


    Again, he shook his head. It will be after expenses, but I can go as high as twenty percent, and not a copper higher.


    She thought about it for a moment. <em>I probably would have taken it at five percent, so twenty is amazing. I dont even have to do anything.</em> Another thought urred to her, though. Can Ie use theb during the week you have it?


    After a moment, he shrugged. I dont see why not.


    Then, agreed.


    Queue pulled out a tablet from seemingly thin air and began working on it, clearly entering the details of their agreement.


    T held in a sigh at yet another Archon with an untethered, dimensional storage. <em>Though, it makes sense that if anyone were to have them, it would be those who are members of the Constructionists Guild.</em>


    Less than five minutester, Queue handed over the short, simple contract.


    She read through it, verifying it matched what theyd agreed to, and confirmed it. A pleasure doing business with you. When do you think we can start selling them?


    Queue shrugged. Two or three weeks, I believe, unless the spell form is incredibly stubborn.


    She considered for a moment. Can I see the process?


    He shook his head. Unfortunately, that is proprietary to the Constructionist Guild and its sub-guilds. Some others do know the method, but I cannot share it.


    She nodded. Very well. Without further discussion, she handed the te andb back to him, then offered her hand. Thank you.


    He took her hand and shook it. I appreciate youing to me with this. May it profit us both, immensely.


    Her magic tingled at the close press of his hardened aura, but she didnt feel any invasiveness, and he kept his aura perfectly aligned with his own skin, so it never even attempted to dip into her hand.


    They left the little side room and parted ways, Queue going back into the depths of the facility, and T heading back to the entry hall.


    T checked with the assistant and was directed towards Bomas office. As she turned the corner, she saw the Archon stepping out into the hallway. When he saw her, he stopped and nodded her way.


    <em>Just more than half an</em> hour. She hadn''t left enough of a buffer, it seemed.


    T walked up to just out of arms reach. I apologize, Master Boma. She bowed over sped hands in a formal gesture that she hadnt used since graduating. Both for the dy now, and for my rudenessst night. My exhaustion, while a factor, does not excuse the result.


    He seemed genuinely taken aback by her apology, even pausing for a moment to collect himself before he responded.


    T straightened and smiled.


    Well, I suppose that the apology is epted, Mistress. His face had lost most of the edge of warriness that shed noticed when she first saw him a moment earlier. What can I do for you?


    Ive some questions about my dimensional storage. Is now a good time?


    He nodded and gestured for her to follow. As good a time as any, and better than most.


    They went into what she presumed was his office.


    There was a workbench off to one side, but surprisingly, the space was mostly dominated by arge desk, the entire top of which seemed to be a device for integrating with and essing the Archive.


    There were light creation scripts in addition to the normal color changing features standard on an Archive tablet, and T was able to see exactly what they allowed.


    The image of a bracer revolved, floating above the desk with a veritable cloud of magical notations, which seemed to be scrawled around it.


    What is that? She pointed to the bracer.


    I assume you arent familiar with vestiges?


    She frowned and shook her head. No.


    Thats actually a relief. He gave a humorless smile. Toe at it from a direction youll catch, this is an artifact found in the prison of a shattered foe from long ago.


    T walked over and looked more closely. This seems to indicate that it doesnt require bonding or power of any kind, but even what I can see would indicate a massive power usage. How is that possible? Or am I misunderstanding what Im seeing?


    Oh, no. You arent misunderstanding, and your assessment is urate. A vestige is an artifact style item that has a gate within it.


    Her head whipped to the side, eyes locking on him.


    Yes, I can see you grasp what that means. Someone bound a human soul into that item. If the soul bound itself in there, that would be something entirely different and unrted. As it is a vestige, weve been trying to make contact with the soul inside. We cant free the soul without destroying it, so its a question of an eternity bound to the bracer, or non-existence. Wed like the souls opinion before the choice is made. He sighed. Or, conversely, all sapience and sentience has left the soul, and it is nothing more than a bound fount, in which case, the item can be put to use, defending humanity and preventing at least a few more people from suffering from this or simr fates.


    Thats sounds like a horrible mess of a situation. Reasonable of you to make the attempt to contact it, but horrible all the same.


    Indeed. He moved around to sit in the chair behind therge desk and motioned for her to take one closer to the entrance. The image of the bracer drifted to the side, clearing line of sight between them. Now, what can I do for you?


    I am interested to know how I can achieve certain things for my dimensional storage, and I want to know if other things are possible.


    Go on.


    <em>Alright, first should be what I know is possible, else I might just irritate him again. </em>How can I get an artificial sun within the space, so that I can grow nts, if I want? Im also interested in artificial weather, so that I dont have to maintain the biome, specifically.


    Boma nodded. Well, first things first. Nothing about such things is artificial. Your dimensional space is effectively its own world, and you are simply hoping to give that world a sun and weather patterns.


    Okay. <em>Interesting way of thinking about it, but I can see the logic, I suppose.</em>


    Given the syphon fascia we just merged with your item, I imagine that youve already seen an artificial sun and that it didnt satisfy. Yes?


    She thought back to the illusory vision of a sunrise. True enough.


    So, what is a star? What are weather patterns?


    She took the seemingly parallel line of questioning in stride and gave the best answer she could. Well a star, from the perspective of a, is a source of heat and light, and an anchor within the cosmos as a whole.


    Surprisingly good answer. You dont need your storages star to be an anchor, but the rest is required, if I understand your request properly.


    So, I need an item that generates light and heat? I just need a fire artifact?


    You will need the right kind of fire artifact and the proper integration spell-forms, but essentially yes. Your storage must be sufficientlyrge to warrant such, though, and it has to have at least some static features, else the day-night cycle wont function properly, and that will cause all sorts of issues. Moreover, the artifact must be able to be turned off unless your storage gets to the size of truly mimicking a small world and you wish to form a sphere, or at least a cylinder, within the space. Thus, the fire artifact cant be an ever-burning torch, for example. Even better than simply being able to be turned on and off would be if it had the ability for a variable output.


    T quirked a smile. And I suppose you have such an artifact on hand?


    He raised an eyebrow at her smirk. We have several, yes.


    Conveniently ready to sell to me, I suppose.


    No.


    She blinked at him. What?


    He took a deep breath and shook his head. You arent listening. Your storage must berge enough, and have static sections, for such a merging to be useful. I could perform it now, but it would be worthless to you until youd at least quadrupled the size of what youre working with. He frowned. No, thats not right. Your storage is what, about fifteen hundred cubic feet? A little less?


    She thought about it, then shrugged. Give or take? Ive not measured. <em>Probably a bit more, actually.</em>


    Yeah, then we need to increase the capacity by at least ten times that before a magical star would truly useful to you.


    T grimaced. That would cost a lot of gold. What about weather?


    He waved that away. Weather patterns just take standing water, a star, and a desire for such weather. Your storage will take care of the rest.


    That made a lot of sense, actually. She was familiar enough with the water cycle in the world that it should trante fairly well into her desires as conveyed to her storage space. How much for the item and integration?


    Not a lot. Ten gold, give or take, depending on exactly which item you choose.


    And expanding my items capacity by tenfold would take? She knew it would be a lot, but she wanted that confirmed. In truth, she hoped that something would factor in, somehow, to reduce the cost.


    Boma turned to his desk, and the image of the bracer was reced with a depiction of Kit, oveid with descriptions of what the Constructionists Guild knew of the item. It looks like merging with your storage is quite efficient. The item has an incredibly stable base matrix and takes on additions with ease. So, you probably have closer to two thousand cubic feet to work with, probably a little more. That said, even with the ongoing multiplier from the Revered syphon fascia, wed need to merge in at least twenty of the generic expanded space boxes with your item. At thirty gold a piece, for the item and merging, thates to six hundred gold. Id rmend a couple more, but thats where it sits, at the moment. We do haverger versions of our storage boxes for merging, and they are a bit more cost effective if you can afford them, but the cheapest I could get it done, all told, would be between four and five hundred gold.


    T grimaced. Yeah, I dont have that much.


    Understandable. Most dont have that much in ready cash. He grinned a bit ruefully. Most immediately spend what they get upgrading their bound items, rather than saving up.


    She grunted. Well, thank you for the information. It made a sort of sense. Any upgrade to any item could be what saved a Mages life. Was it worth saving up for an upgrade the Mage might not live to get, when spending a bit more, overall, could keep that Mage as equipped as possible at any given time?


    You had another question?


    She was drawn out of her contemtions. Oh! Right. Can I create a permanent entrance and exit to my dimensional storage?


    I assume you dont mean just leaving your item in the form of a door, attached to a wall permanently.


    No, I mean something like a door that always leads to and from my storage space, no matter where I am with the item itself.


    He nodded. I assume youd like a few, ideally. One could lead to where you actually are in the wilds. One would lead to a sea-side city, and another to a more upscale ce, like Bandfast. And you simply must have four, so the fourth should lead to a teau, high in the mountains, covered in flowers. Am I guessing correctly?


    T sighed. Youre making fun of me, again. Theres no reason why it shouldnt be possible.


    He grinned. Yes and no. Many have tried to do exactly as you are suggesting. And if youd like to pursue it, Ill dly help as youre right; there is nothing that prevents it from working, in theory. We just have never figured out a way to do it. If we ever do seed, then caravans would be a relic of the past, and wed simply create dimensional storage tunnels between the cities.


    I knew it should be possible. As you said, it would be rusting useful. <em>It did seem too useful to not be used by everyone.</em>


    Boma smiled sadly. Indeed. Now, is there anything else you wish to ask?


    I think that is it. She stood and gave a shallow bow. Thank you.


    You are most wee, Mistress. Good day.


    Good day.

 Chapter 173: Tight Spaces

    Chapter 173: Tight Spaces


    T walked out of the Constructionist Guildhall and into thete morning, winter air. She took a deep breath and let it out, a smile blossoming across her face.


    Well, I might as well go to the Culinary Guild. She nced to Terry. Thoughts?


    He cracked an eye, then opened his mouth.


    T grinned and tossed him some jerky. Fair enough. You just want this done with, so you can join in the training.


    He let out a happy, quiet trill around the jerked meat.


    That settled, she went to the only Culinary Guild office she was aware of, the one that shed picked up the most recent patch of jerky from.


    Her arrival caused a mild panic.


    As T walked in, the assistant stood up from behind his desk to greet her, but his words froze in his open mouth as his teeth clicked together in surprise.


    First, he seemed to take in that she was a Mage. Then, his eyes flicked to Terry, but didnt stay long. A small, sleeping bird isnt that much of a threat. At that point, his gaze clearly dropped to her left hand.


    While T had been doing a fairly good job of keeping the newly painted hand, and the glowing spell-forms, out of sight for the most part, at the moment, the painted appendage was just hanging by her side, clearly glowing with seemingly active magic.


    <em>Well, I didnt think of that as that big of an issue.</em>


    The assistants eyes widened to an almostical degree, and he opened his mouth to scream.


    T raised both her hands in what she thought of as a cating motion, but he didnt seem to take it that way.


    He tried to scream in abject terror, if his expression gave any indication, but no noise seemed toe out.


    Rather than realizing that his heightened emotions were affecting him, he likely assumed that the raising of her hands had silenced him, somehow.


    Thus, he fainted, copsing to the floor in a crumpled heap, out of sight behind his desk.


    Well, that could have gone better. She moved her left hand behind her back, pulled her iron, Order of the Harvest token into her right, and then, she raised her voice. Hello? Can I get some help out here, please?


    She considered going over to help the man but realized that that could easilypound misunderstandings.


    Another young man came out and took in her arrival. Mistress? Is everything alright?


    He looked around more carefully but couldnt see behind the desk. Derrn is supposed to be at the desk. My apologies for the wait. What can I do for you?


    She tossed the token to him. Id like to speak with the branch manager, if at all possible.


    He caught the iron coin, and his eyes widened. He looked back and forth between her and the coin before swallowing and nodding. Certainly, Mistress. I will be right back.


    T waited for a while, growing a bit more concerned as time went by and Derrn didnt wake up.


    When the other man returned with a woman who was, presumably, the head of the local branch, T decided that she needed to do something about the unconscious fellow.


    Before either of them could speak, T pointed at the desk. I think there is someone back there, but I didnt want to startle them.


    The other young man walked over to investigate and eximed in rm, rushing around the desk and lifting his friend. Ill get him to the back room to lie down. If he needs it, Ill get a healer.


    The guild-head nodded. Thank you. She watched the two leave, clearly concerned, but schooled herself before turning to T and bowing. Mistress T. I apologize for the irregrity. I was told to expect you at some point.


    I quite understand, and I hope that he is alright.


    The woman bowed her head in acknowledgement but didnt say anything further.


    Are you aware of why I might be here?


    Well, you could be here to kill us all, but I think that unlikely. She frowned, ncing T over, head to toe, and seemingly noticing that she had her left hand behind her back, even if just slightly. Even so, the woman didnt make an issue of it. I believe it is more likely that you tested out your theory and wish to report the results.


    I did. Do you wish to talk more privately?


    The woman waved that off. Here is fine. Im Valry, if it matters. These things seem much above my level, so I doubt it will.


    T immediately felt sympathy for the woman. <em>Shes been thrust into this mess because I happened to choose this Culinary Guild location.</em> Ill be brief. There is no injunction against research into the consumption of harvests. If you were to go inquire with the Archive, you would be weed, and dealt with fairly.


    Im not walking into a Mage stronghold on your word, Mistress.


    <em>This city is a Mage stronghold, you idiot.</em> But she didnt say that. Then, would you consent to my sending an Archivist here to talk with you?


    The woman looked incredibly ufortable, but after a moment, she stood up straighter, swallowed visibly, and nodded. Yes. I will meet with an Archivist.


    Do you want me here for the meeting?


    Valryughed ruefully. Oh, I think one Mage at a time in my facility is quite enough. Thank you for the offer, though.


    T scratched the side of her face. Well, when Derrn wakes up, he might be under the impression that I used magic on him. I didnt, but I think I gave him a good scare.


    Valry stiffened. Oh? How so?


    Well, with this. She hesitated, then added, This is not active with outwardly directed magics. She pulled her left hand out from behind her back.


    Valrys eyes widened a bit, but she contained herself. I see. Thank you for forewarning me. I can see why that might have startled him.


    I do apologize for that.


    Ill pass that along. She swallowed again. Now, is there anything else, Mistress?


    No. Ill leave you to your day. Ill go talk with the Archivist shortly, and I believe that shelle by when shes able.


    Thank you.


    Without another word, T turned and left.


    <em>Well, that could have gone better, but it definitely could have gone worse, too.</em>


    She needed to drop through the library, now, but she was closer to the cksmith. <em>Probably hasnt been long enough. Ille byter to pick up my order.</em>


    So, off to the library she went.


    She passed through the Archonpound with ease, entering the library to find Ingrit waiting for her, as was standard and expected. <em>You can get used to anything, I suppose.</em>


    What have you done to your hand, Mistress? It was not an unexpected first question, all things considered.


    T lifted up her left hand. I found a more effective, passive training method?


    Ingrit gave a half smile. Ill be interested to see how well it works. Now, as I assume you intend to use it on more than your hand, may I offer a bit of advice?


    Please.


    I suggest that you be ready to cate others whenever you enter any of the more defensive facilities, as the automated scripts wont like you very much. Most will have secondary, triggers, which will alert a high-level Archon to scan you, and they will easily detect your gate, but automatic defensive measures wont necessarily be able to do that.


    T scratched the back of her head. Noted. Shed have to bnce that, and other inconveniences, against the benefits that she could already feel from the paint.


    So, shall we get a booth? Ingrit smiled as she drew Ts attention back to herself.


    T shrugged and followed the woman into the library proper. They were soon seated in a booth, behind a privacy screen, and Terry was munching on arge section of jerky.


    Ingrit again broke the silence. What can I do for you?


    I want to grant you full ess to the Culinary Guilds records, temporarily.


    Why? Then, she hesitated, her eyes closing in an expression of almost exhausted realization. Mundane human consumption of harvests. Of course.


    Do you need anything from me?


    Just a request to look through those records. If you have ess, I will be granted such for the term of our discussion.


    Then, please, review the Culinary Guilds records.


    Ingrits eyes immediately began flicking back and forth as she clearly read something that T couldnt see. T, in turn, pulled out one of her books and began to pass the time productively.


    Finally, after what was at least an hour, the Archivist sat back, glowering. Well, that is quite illuminating. Weve certainly tied ourselves in knots to please the false king.


    T frowned. What?


    Ingrit waved her off. Its an old saying. She blew out a long breath. This is a tangle. Your inquiry gave me full ess to all records avable to you, associated with the Culinary Guild, and there is a <em>lot</em> in here I cant take it to anyone, or do anything about it though Her eyebrows rose. She was clearly still going through records at an incredible rate, even as she talked, and one had caught her attention. They tried to kill you?


    Terry lifted his head to look at T with sudden interest.


    T just shrugged. One of their members panicked and stabbed me. It didnt even break the skin.


    Terry squawked an irritated exmation and settled back down.


    Ingrit grunted. So the report states. Apparently, it is incredibly umon for a Mage to ask such pointed questions, and theyve not killed a Mage in living memoryThat will make that side of things easier. She let out a long sigh and shook her head once. How many things like this do we have hiding throughout humanity? How often are we tearing off our own toes out of fear of stubbing one of them?


    Clearly, with the pursuit of knowledge being so key to who she was, Ingrit hated theplete segregation and istion of knowledge, no matter how necessary.


    She turned, locking gazes with T with a ferocity that had the younger woman leaning back involuntarily. Can I meet with the branch heads, here? We need to clear this up. The sooner the better.


    That- T swallowed, settling herself after the intensity of the womans attention. That was the n, actually. Valry is expecting your visit. I can give you directions, if you like.


    Ingrits eyes flicked to the side once. No need. I know which guild office she leads. She leaned back, clucking her tongue and talking almost to herself. There isnt anything truly groundbreaking in their pursuits, but there is a lot of anciry information that could help so many other guilds and research units. We could probably even arrange for the sale of such information by the Culinary guild, to increase their capital.


    I think that such a meeting will be perfect. I honestly had no idea what to do about any of this, and it sounds like you do. Please, do as you see fit.


    Ingrit arched a single perfect eyebrow at T. You handed a rope enthusiast a rats nest that is a mile wide, and which has been being tangled and added to for centuries.


    T gave a guilty smile. But hey! Think of all the rope youll have in the end?


    Ingrit let out a genuineugh at that. True enough. Now, was there anything else?


    No, Mistress Ingrit, thank you.


    The Archivist stood, deactivating the privacy scripts. I will keep you apprised of the progress with the Culinary Guild. After she was clear of the booth, she bowed deeply to T. Thank you, Mistress T, for trusting me with this information. I shudder to think of the number of small groups that exist, hording bits of knowledge that could benefit so many. I am sure their reasons vary, but whether they do it out of fear, greed, or ignorance, we are all worse for it. Thank you. She bowed again.


    T was taken aback by the gesture, as well as the outpouring of words. Iyoure wee, Mistress Ingrit.


    The woman smiled at T, turned, and left.


    T scratched Terrys head. Well. I guess were done here.


    * * *


    T dropped through the cksmith and picked up her items, storing the three triangr contraptions first.


    The other item looked like nothing so much as a steel, three-fingered w, perfectly sized for her spheres.


    Out of the back of the w were two small steel bars, that clearly manipted a simple mechanism.


    Pull the one with the slot. The cksmith seemed quite proud of his work.


    T did so, and she was able to lift the w, while it kept a tight grip on the tungsten ball.


    Now, the other.


    T grabbed the other, this one had a simple hole in it, and the w opened, allowing the sphere to fall free.


    She let out a happyugh. Oh, thank you, master Aniv.


    Master Aniv waved her off. None of that, Mistress. I just made it to your specifications.


    He hesitated. Can I see what youre going to use it for?


    T paused. Maybe? I dont know of anywhere I can safely test it, now that I think about it.


    He sighed. Very well. If you do find a ce, let me know what you use it for, and how it works, will you?


    Of course!


    T paid the man, and he added a simple rope to the secondary tab, so that she could pull that to allow the w to open.


    Take care, master Aniv.


    And you, Mistress T. Be sure toe back if you need anything else.


    Oh, I will, dont you worry.


    * * *


    T stood within Kit, an old knife around a hundred feet from her, as she stood just inside the entrance into Kit, the door closed behind her. She had set up the knife so that the handle could be the target of her working.


    On the ground before her, a gravity neutral tungsten ball sat in the w, and in the slot in the primary tab, rested one of her dimensional anchor darts, locked in ce by a clever little catch.


    As she concentrated, dumping power into the pull of the sphere towards the knife handle, the w began to slide across the ground, pulled away from her by the ball.


    As the dart reached ten feet from her, or more specifically from the dimensional anchor at her belt, it stopped moving away, as the dimensional anchor began to work.


    Another minute passed, and the ball and w slowly lifted into the air, seeming to float as they tried to fall towards the knife handle at the far end of the long hallway.


    The slowly building whistle of wind currents began to permeate the space as the air tried to fill in the expanding space and leave the contracting space in equal measure. In these tight confines, that stirred up quite the gale.


    Unfortunately, with Kits limited space, the best she had been able to manage was a one-hundred-foot-long hallway that was three feet wide and six feet high. The remainder of Kits space was taken up by all her physical possessions, though how Kit made them fit, T had no idea.


    As the <em>increase</em> continued to ramp up the eleration, the air also started to heat up considerably, shortly before the tungsten ball and front of the ws began to glow bright red from wind whipping across them.


    <em>Good enough.</em> T grabbed the thin rope that shed tied to her belt and which led to the other tab on the w, and pulled.


    The w moved back, opening and dropping to the ground with a ringing, bouncing series of impacts. In those impacts, T thought she heard the subtle sound of bending metal, but she was otherwise distracted.


    The instant it was freed, the sphere plummeted across the intervening space, crossing the ny feet to the target faster than T could track.


    The sphere must have mmed through its target and continued on to the back wall, because it struck with an impact that seemed to shatter the very air within Kit.


    T was thrown backwards, sted out of the door at the end of the hallway and into darkness.


    * * *


    <em>-Ding-</em>


    <em>-Unbelievable. How often must you lose consciousness?-</em>


    T groaned, sitting up.


    <em>-Loss of consciousness detected due to full-body exposure to a pressure wave and the following impact with the magically reinforced gate of a dimensional portal. Discrete regenerative systems activated to their fullest capacity to restore consciousness and mobility.-</em>


    I thought you were unavable.


    <em>-Well, apparently you losing consciousness overrides anything else and brings me back to perform my most basic function. Please stop interrupting. Im just getting to the good part.-</em>


    Really?


    -<em>Stop talking out loud to yourself, it makes you look crazy. Reinitiating mental delve perst recognizedmand. All other functions will be offline for the duration.-</em>


    T sighed, blinking to clear her vision and looking around.


    A cloud of dust surrounded her, seeming to be billowing out of the wall nearby, even as it was settling down.


    In addition to her slight disorientation due to losing and regaining consciousness, she felt the aftereffects of a <em>lot</em> of her bones being rebuilt. Several of her organs seem to have been ruptured as well, though they were back in order when she checked on them. <em>Well, thats a sessful test, and a sessful proof that I shouldnt do such tests in enclosed environments.</em> She really did need to make Kit bigger.


    She staggered to her feet and over to the archway which was all that was left to the doorway into Kit.


    She ced her hand on the doorframe and dumped power in. Kit was near empty, likely due to internal damage.


    <em>Well, I now know what it takes to break through Kits door.</em> It seemed like shed been thrown against the door with just barely more force than was required to break through it, as shed woken up in the middle of the alley, and the wall that had been across from Kits opening was undamaged.


    As she considered, though, that wasnt a good measure of how much it would take to break in. A blow from the inside, pressure from the inside, was far more destructive than the same force from the outside.


    Im sorry, Kit. I didnt mean to cause any damage, let alone this much.


    Kit did not respond, but it did continue to greedily drink in the power that she provided.


    T noticed that all the dusty air had been pushed out through the arch, leaving the air within Kit clean and clear. Good to know.


    As she recharged the storage device, a few small items ttered seemingly out of nowhere, through the archway.


    T quickly identified the items as the remains of the sphere, knife, and w.


    The sphere was little more than twisted splinters of tungsten, still glowing with heat.


    The knife was handle-less, the de kinked and distorted, likely from bouncing around inside of Kit after it was struck.


    The w was bent and twisted, but not shattered. <em>Oh, right. It was picking up the same speed, and then dropped to the ground. It effectively skipped across the floor within Kit, while already hot. Thats what bent it.</em>


    T was left feeling incredibly grateful that she hadnt tested the idea anywhere in the city. The cost to repair the damages would have been exorbitant.


    Even now, she was standing in an alley, and getting strange looks as the dust settled enough for people to see her from the streets to either side.


    With nothing else that she could do, she pulled Kit free of the wall, hanging it back on her belt as a pouch, and left out the less trafficked side of the little space between buildings.


    <em>Note to self: This works and is incredibly effective. However, it is not for use in tight spaces.</em>

 Chapter 174: Draining Her Reserves

    Chapter 174: Draining Her Reserves


    T headed for home. She was a bit irritated that she was coated in dust, but there wasnt really a convenient ce to bath, and she was still dumping power into Kit to the point that she felt quite hesitant about stressing the item by opening a door inside and willing a bathing room to be ready for her.


    <em>Maybe when I get home.</em>


    It waste afternoon, and the light was painting the snow a golden orange, revealing the yful trails, snow forts, and snowmen, both full and partial, that bore testament to a wonderful day of y for the neighborhood children.


    T felt a smile tug at her own lips at fond memories of ying with her siblings, and her parents on asion. <em>Thank you, t.</em>


    She sent her gratitude to her other interface, knowing that she would receive it when she was free once more. Though T didnt like that the memories had been drudged up, she found them more pleasant than painful, much to her surprise.


    Thest rays of the sun were already fading from the sky when she turned down the short front walk and approached Lyns front door. It was locked, of course, but that was solved by Ts iron key. With a quick turn, she unlocked the front door and walked inside.


    Is that you, T? The voice floated down the short hall to the entry room.


    If it isnt, then youre much too free with keys to our ce. T smiled at the knowledge that her friend was home.


    Lynughed. I just grabbed some food. I dont have enough for your appetite, but I can spare some if youd like.


    The mention of food sent waves of hunger through T. Shed been a bit mangled by the st from her tests and had used more of her stores than shed have liked in the healing.


    <em>Though, Im not going to side-eye the regeneration. Even if I could have gotten to another Mage, paying for a healing would have been much more than the food I consumed for the stores used to allow my scripts to do it.</em>


    Over the months of training and monitoring her store levels, she got the impression that she used up about as many days worth of food from her reserves as it would have taken to heal a given wound. The amount was lessened by the percentage of her body that was actually being healed by the scripts, and the exact nutrients and substances used were different depending on exactly what was being repaired.


    Things got moreplicated from there, like when she healed something that would never actually heal naturally, but it was a good rule to guestimate what her regeneration would require.


    After her overly sessful test, T had needed to heal basically all of her body from a plethora of types of damage. In the end, it would likely have taken a couple of months for her to recover from the st, if she even could have.


    All told, she was lucky to have any reserves left at all.


    Though shed adjusted to it unconsciously, she was positively light on her feet. <em>Im almost halfway back to the weight I should be without my magic, and that doesnt bode well.</em>


    Since youre offering, Ill take a few bites, while I make some of my own. She wiped her feet on the mat that Lyn had out for her, though she felt it was a bit futile. Theres some things I wanted to talk with you about, actually.


    As she walked into the room, Lyn nced her way and nched. T? What happened? She stood and quick-walked over, starting to look T over. Did you fall into a flour silo? She started coughing as some of the dust came off. No. To the bath with you. Eat after.


    But-


    No buts.


    T groused but knew her friend was right. Fine, fine.


    Half an hourter, she left the bath room of Lyns house and found quite a bit more food awaiting her. I know its still not enough, but I thought Id grab at least a little something more while you were cleaning up.


    T thanked Lyn profusely and sat to eat.


    Whys your hair up?


    T nced up, taking in the towel wrapped around her head. Oh. I lent myb to someone.


    Lyn grunted, clearly not understanding, but not caring enough to ask further either.


    In truth, T was pretty irritated by the need, but she hadnt wanted to take the time with the hot air incorporator to dry her hair more quickly, so she was letting nature take its course.


    Lyn gestured to the food, taking the first bite of her own dinner. So, what did you want to talk about? What happened to you?


    T took a moment to examine the grilled, meat and vegetable kebabs, selecting the one that seemed to most call to her inner hunger. It was mostly meat, though a few mushrooms and a tomato were scattered throughout. As to what happened to me: I tested out a new method of attack, and it was more effective than I expected.


    Lyn hesitated, but when it was clear T wasnt going to continue, she shook her head with a sigh. Not going to tell me more?


    Anything more would just be boring technicalities. T shrugged, tearing into her food.


    Fair enough.


    Around a mouthful, she continued, As to what I wanted to talk to you about, she pulled Kit from her belt and threw it at the nearby wall, wishing for a door. Shed finished filling the dimensional storages reserves before finishing her bath, and she was confident in using it again. I dont really need a room anymore.


    T turned to look, juices dripping down her chin, along with Lyn, and watched as a door seemed to suddenly be there in the dining areas wall, fully integrated with the house and looking for all the world like it belonged and had always been there.


    Lyn blinked, her kebab stopping just before her mouth. Theres a new door.


    My dimensional storage got an upgrade.


    I can see that. She went back to eating.


    So, I dont need a room anymore, though I do like living here. I just need a nk section of wall to use when Im about.


    Huh. So it seems.


    So, how much to rent a wall in your house.


    Lyn huffed augh. Lets call it one silver a month and be done with it.


    Sounds more than fair. Does that mean youre going to find another person to rent the room?


    Lyn sighed. Maybe? Against my better judgement, I ended up taking the Archon-level position with the Guild. Pays better, and the work is more varied. Sheughed. Not like I actually needed the money to begin with. Its just nice to have some help with expenses, and thepany is usually a plus. Lyn narrowed her eyes at T. Im not giving any of your rent back.


    T held up her hands. Not asking you to.


    Good. See that you dont.


    She grinned at her friend. I wouldnt dream of it.


    They fell back intofortable silence as Lyn took measured bites, enjoying every careful mouthful, and T gorged, only really stopping to go into the kitchen and make herself more to eat. Even then, she was eating jerky, tossing bits out to Terry.


    The venture food wasing in handy once again, and she found herself quite satisfied with the purchase for the umpteenth time.


    Lyn and T did asionally chat about small things, but nothing of real consequence.


    As a result, T let her mind mostly wonder. <em>I do want to apply the body paint tonight, so I dont have to mess with it tomorrow.</em> As she considered that, and the evening moved towards true night, she realized that she had a problem.


    Lyn?


    Hmm? Lyn had finished eating and had moved to one of her reading chairs, a book causally open before her.


    You didnt ask about my hand. T held up her left hand.


    I figured youd tell me when you were ready. Lyn didnt look up from her book.


    T took a moment to shake her head before sighing. <em>Infuriating woman.</em> Fine, fine. So, its a paint, the grey is, anyways, and I n on covering myself with it.


    As one does.


    She red, but her friend still hadnt looked up. As I was saying, I n onplete coverage, but I realized that I have a problem.


    Your hair?


    What? No. Ill shave it off, paint my head, then regrow through theyers.


    Sounds like a great way to get ingrown hairs if you ask me.


    T frowned. The scripts include a breaching element. I dont get ingrown hairs anymore, not anywhere, but thats not the point.


    Lucky.


    T grunted. She certainly didnt miss them, that was for sure. But, as I was saying, Ive realized that I have a problem.


    Just one?


    She took a deep breath and let it out in a rush of irritation. Can you please stop interrupting?


    Lyn looked up. As you wish. She put on her best attentive smile.


    I cant do my back.


    Lyn just looked at her, waiting.


    T cleared her throat. So, would you be willing to paint my back, after Ive done the rest of me? I need three coats, but it dries fast, and should only take around ten minutes of your time.


    Lyn continued to watch her for a long moment before shaking her head. I dont know what I expected but painting my friends hard to reach ces wasnt it. Sure, fine. Ill paint your back with whatever nonsense youve cooked up this time.


    Well, to be honest an alchemist came up with this stuff. Im just going to use it.


    An alchemist.


    Thats right.


    Arent those the people who prey on people too poor to get proper health care?


    T bristled. My family are alchemists.


    Lyn blinked, clearly taken aback. Oh. Oh, T, I apologize. I didnt know.


    T hadnt realized that tears had immediatelye to her eyes, until they began to fall.


    Lyn was up and embracing her again without hesitation. I truly am sorry. Works been She shook her head. No, nows not about me. Will you forgive me?


    You didnt know.


    But I could have.


    T gave a ruefulugh. I dont talk about my family. No, you couldnt have.


    Why is that?


    Then, without really deciding to, T began to talk.


    She told Lyn about her older brother, well half-brother, and their childhood together, followed by his death; her mothers death at her own birth; and her step-mother, whod raised her. She told Lyn about her other siblings, about her fathers injury and self-medication, leading to addiction and debt.


    She told her everything.


    Then, she told her about t, in brief, and about the memories that were now being dragged back into the light.


    Through it all, Lyn listened intently. She asked some questions, but for the most part kept her silence.


    In the end, they sat in that silence for a good five minutes, only slightly marred by Ts continued munching, before Lyn broke it.


    T. Lyn breathed in deeply. This is a chain around your neck.


    Dont I know it.


    You need to address it.


    T stiffened.


    Go to Marliweather. See them. Reconcile or rail against them, just dont kill anyone. Put it behind you one way or another.


    T threw up her hands. That would be great, if I can actually do it.


    I can get you a route there and back. It can probably leave in the next week or so. Its amon enough route, without any prominent fringe benefits, so the slots shouldnt be contracted too far in advance. You need to take a contract or two soon anyways, after the long hold-over in Makinaven.


    She gave Lyn an irritated look. You know very well that Im not talking about the logistics of getting to Marliweather. Terry could have me there in less than two days if we wanted to.


    Terry lifted his head from where hed been sleeping in one of the chairs. He gave her a t, mildly offended look.


    Sorry, Terry. One day. He could have us there in one day, if we wanted.


    Terry breathed out a satisfied trill and curled back up.


    The point is: thats not the point.


    Lyn mostly contained her smile of amusement. I see. Im dazzled by your brilliance.


    T closed her eyes and huffed a self-deprecatingugh. You know what I mean.


    I do, I do, but T, you need to face this, to face them.


    T put her head into her hands. I know, but I dont want to.


    Its easier to simply hate them for what they did than give them a chance to exin?


    Exactly. She wasnt surprised at her own honesty. Not really. T had been dancing around this issue for years, and it all seemed to being to a head atst. Fine. I know youre right. I know thats whats best.


    Ill set up the route, but youll have to take it from there.


    T just grunted.


    Lyn leaned forward and hugged her again, and T epted the embrace for a long moment before pulling away.


    Now, I need to get naked, get clean, and paint myself.


    Dont let me keep you from a good time.


    T rolled her eyes and walked to Kits door, where it still sat in Lyns living room - dining room wall.


    That cant stay there, by the way. Find a ce in the hall before you sleep tonight. Alright? It messes with the feel of the ce.


    She smiled back at Lyn. Will do.


    Without further discussion, she walked inside and closed the door behind her.


    Ten minutester, she was scrubbed clean.


    Twenty minutes after that, she was hairless and painted with threeyers across every area she could reach, her elk leathers now reshaped into the outfit that most neatly exposed the ces she still needed assistance with.


    She was keeping her hair from regrowing, so she was effectively bald for the moment. As such, when she walked back out of Kit, she could only imagine how she looked.


    A white, halter-top, leaving the entirety of her back, shoulders, and arms exposed, was the only color contrasting the dully metallic gray of most of her skin. The top definitely exposed more than she needed uncovered, but it was the only one that left everything she needed open, open.


    Across all of that gray, golden light twisted and glowed in powerful, clearly magical lines.


    Her eyes felt like they were growing a brighter red than usual, adding to the aesthetic.


    Lyn nced up when T exited Kit, and she froze in obvious rm, color draining from her face.


    Lyn! Its me.


    Yeah I gathered that. She swallowed. TI dont know that you should go out like that


    T waved that off. Ill take some precautions bute on. I need help.


    Lyn tentatively came to her as T turned around, setting the paint container and a brush on the table as she did so.


    The older woman was a bit hesitant at first but calmed as she took up the task of painting Ts back.


    It tickled a lot more when someone else was doing the painting than it had when she did it herself, but T had borne through much worse.


    In less than half an hour, they were done, the paint was dry, and T was regrly clothed once again.


    You still look rusting terrifying.


    One moment. She released the hold on her hair growth scripts, and it grew to the desired lengths. She left it free, allowing it to fall around her face. Eh?


    Lyn sighed. Now you dont look quite as daunting, at least not at first nce, but you are glowing, T. That might trump any skin coloration.


    T nced down, and sure enough, the spell-forms were manifesting all across her body. They werent shining through or above the elk leathers, but her mage-sight could see them everywhere, visible to others or not. And the external, glowing lines were nothingpared to what was going on, inside.


    Holly had been right when she likened the results to a pressure cooker.


    Within the nearly imprable iron-shell, T thrummed with power. It had taken a minute or two to really noticeably build, once Lyn had finished, and only now was it getting to a level that felt extreme.


    Oh, wow. The words carried pulses of magic with them out of her mouth that caused the very air to quiver before her mage-sight.


    Lyn was giving her a searching look. How is the power not leaking out through all your follicles?


    Im not sure? The magic took her every utterance as a momentary chance to equalize with the power in the room around her. <em>My very voice is shaking the world.</em> She started tough, the world reverberating to that as well, making herugh harder.


    After taking the time to calm down and get herself under control, and then taking more time to convince Lyn that she wasnt going crazy, T sat down to continue examining the changes.


    Everywhere she looked, she could see power subtly starting to swirl and move.


    It took an embarrassingly long time for her to realize that she was losing power from her eyes, if at a <em>much</em> slower rate than from her mouth when she opened it.


    Simrly, her breath contained more power than it ever had before, even when exiting through her nose.


    <em>So, tighten my aura.</em> She did so, closing off those gaps. It wasnt perfect by a long shot, but it at least made her look more like an untrained Mage, rather than a fount made flesh.


    <em>Well, all humans are founts in the flesh</em> So, it wasnt a perfect analogy.


    She could feel her scripts working, remaking her flesh, upgrading it per their prescribed patterns. Before it had been a subtle thing, only noticeable if she delved deeply and focused her full attention on it. Now, it was almost impossible to ignore.


    And it was draining her reserves.


    T sighed. Well, I need more food.


    Lyn barked augh, having been watching T closely for thest few minutes of silent introspection. She seemed to rx a bit, apparently deciding that T was still herself at the core. That doesnt surprise me in the least.

 Chapter 175: A Long Night

    Chapter 175: A Long Night


    T woke bright and early the next morning, at least ording to her illusoryndscape.


    Much of the time, magic was just a background part of everyday life, but there were still moments when it really hit her how amazing the power was, such as staring out at a vista that didnt exist, created simply because she wished to see it.


    <em>I really do love waking up to that view.</em> Which was probably exactly why it was there. She grinned. Things were looking up. She had money; she had a ce to live; and she was growing in power daily, even if just a bit.


    <em>Well, I still need to see how the iron body paint has affected things.</em>


    Lyn had gone to bed the night before while T had made herself anotherrge portion of the venturing food. Once shed eaten as much as she could stomach, even with her incredible capacity, T had ced Kits door in the hallway, per Lyns request, and gone to sleep.


    Now, as she stretched into wakefulness, she casually checked the time, simply by desiring to know what time it was.


    Midnight.


    <em>What?</em> She would have sworn sheid down just a couple hours before midnight. How could she feel this well rested with only two hours sleep?


    The answer was obvious as she looked down at her hands.


    The most prominent spell-lines glowed brightly to her mundane eyes, while being little more than flickers to her mage-sight. There were several oddities, as she looked closer. The lines didnt actually exactly mirror the golden lines thatced through her flesh. Instead, as she considered andpared, she would guess that the lines of light were the same <em>magically</em>, but with the medium of air and the lineposition of magical power, itself.


    They were horribly inefficient, hence the glowing, but they were there.


    She frowned. <em>No, they werent actually there.</em> As she examined more closely, she could see that the spell-manifestations existed within the dimensions of magic, surrounding her and affecting her without regard for the iron.


    The light was simply a physical manifestation of their inefficiencies, so it manifested in the physical world in the closest approximation to the magical dimensions in which the spell-forms actually existed.


    T bent over and rubbed the sides of her head. <em>Extra dimensional thinking was never my strong suit</em>


    All that said, the result was that she basically had a second set of highly wasteful inscriptions perfectly mirroring her first, running purely on the waste energy.


    As Holly was good at her job, there wasnt a lot for the secondary set to work with. Even so, with the iron keeping it all contained, even a small amount built up rapidly.


    As she examined herself further, diving inside with her mage-sight, she noticed something that she never really had before: Her flesh wasnt able to take in all that the spell-workings were trying to do.


    It was as if many of these spell-forms had been designed for a body with higher capacities, and while her form was being remade to meet that demand, slowly, it couldnt yet.


    So, as the power washed over a particr part of her, that organ, or system or cell, could only take in so much of it. The rest simply dispersed.


    She would bet that it had been doing that since she was first inscribed.


    Now, her iron was catching that and perfectly reflecting it back, giving her physiology a second chance to integrate the power. What was missed would disperse and be reflected back, again.


    And again.


    And again.


    All the while, her inscriptions were continuing to add power. This built a resonance within her being, where each aspect of her spell-forms became, essentially, standing waves, steadily growing in amplitude.


    <em>Pressure cooking indeed.</em>


    She hesitated. <em>Im mixing metaphors. That didnt really make much sense</em>


    She pulled back her minute examinations and took in the look as a whole.


    Given the glowing magical lines,bined with her near-metallic looking, gray skin, she probably looked like an animated, metal statue.


    <em>You know, Ive only heard of those in stories, but I bet theyre real.</em> Animated metal warriors would be amazing. <em>I should ask about them at some point.</em> It was probably a good question for the Archive.


    She continued to examine her own hands. She could see the individual lines, and while they didnt really cast light, they were clearly alight.


    T frowned. <em>But I have </em>much<em> better sight than most people. </em>Shed have to ask Lyns opinion.


    <em>Speaking of my eyesight.</em> She felt like it had heightened yet again, if only just, likely due to the reflection of the magic of the enhancements.


    She carefully stood and stretched, her body moving more easily than ever before. A part of that was her reduced weight, due to her lower than ideal reserves, but she was also at least a bit stronger than she had been even the night before.


    <em>This could get interesting, given enough time.</em> It was also draining her reserves marginally. If her guestimations were correct, shed need four times the food of a normal person going forward, just to maintain.


    <em>Alright, then doubling the meal budget. Six silver a day, it is!</em> She hadnt been using even her normal budget, but that had to change. <em>Especially if Im going back on the road soon.</em>


    She needed time to think, so decided to go out to the main room for her stretching and exercises. She didnt really take into ount how different she might look, however.


    As she walked out into the main space where Terry was sleeping, the terror birds head jerked up, and he immediately vanished.


    A pulse of dimensional energy, and a blow across her back told her where hed gone.


    She stumbled from the blow, which had oddly felt more bludgeoning than shing. <em>Hes probably a bit hesitant of unknown threats, given the Leshkin blood that was just recently so prevalent in our enemies.</em>


    She tried to call out to her friend. Terry! Its me!


    But Terry had flickered again, nearly the size of a horse and with his talons closed around her neck, already constricting her airways.


    T tried to gasp, or pull in a breath, but nothing came past the crushing restriction. His grip was so tight, that she thought the blood to her brain might be cut off soon, despite her much more resilient physiology.


    She pulled Flow from her belt, shaping it into a sword even as it whipped past the birds extended foot, towards her hand.


    As expected, Terry flickered away, avoiding the attack, but in that instant, she sucked in a desperate breath, eyes frantically darting around the space until she found Terry, crouched low in one corner, eyes narrowed in hostile scrutiny.


    T moved away, putting her back to a wall, and holding Flow before her in a warding stance. Terry. Her voice was raw, and she hacked out a cough as her trachea reformed, helped by her attempted word, which reinted the airway as shed forced it out.


    The voice hadnt sounded like hers, but Terry clearly realized something was not as expected, likely given that shed used his name.


    He lifted his head slightly, tilting it to the side as if puzzled.


    His eyes moved to Flow and then widened in recognition.


    He trilled questioningly.


    T nodded vigorously still coughing a little as the regeneration finished its work. Yeah. Its me.


    He walked across the intervening space, showing more caution that shed seen from him before. He trilled again.


    I thought you saw mest night, before we turned in.


    He waggled his head side to side, then half-closed his eyes.


    You were too tired to pay much attention? <em>Seriously?</em> Her voice was fully recovered by that point, but it had taken some of her stores. <em>Great. Need to eat even more, now.</em>


    He bobbed a nod.


    She gave a rueful chuckle. Well. No real harm done, I suppose


    He let out a bit of a mournful squawk, flickered to her shoulder in his smaller size, and headbutted her cheek.


    Yeah, yeah. I know you didnt mean to hurt me.


    He bumped her again, then flickered back to curl up in the corner to await her departure.


    <em>Hmmm, I guess I look and feel vastly different, with this on. Obviously it is much more extreme than I expected. I might need to get some sort of solution ironed out before something drastic happens. </em>But it was still veryte, or early. <em>Standard stuff, first. Then, Ill deal with whats new.</em>


    As she moved through her normal morning routine, she had time to think and consider. Inevitably, the more she thought, and the more she considered, the more it became clear that she had something that she had to do.


    Thus, once shed recharged her items, stretched, and exercised: physically, mentally, magically, and spiritually, T had decided what she needed to do first. <em>Well, next.</em>


    She set out for the Archon Compound, Terry on her shoulder for the trip.


    It was still in the dead of night when they came out of Kit within Lyns house.


    There was a creepy stillness to the ce in the dark, dead of night.


    She nced to Terry. Anything off to you, bud?


    He shook himself lightly.


    Fine. Its just me, then. That decided, T didnt focus on the odd feeling as she quickly traversed the space and exited the building, carefully locking the door behind herself.


    The trip through the city was simrly odd, as there was almost no one around.


    She was almost all the way to the Archonpound when she realized what had her so on edge. Her mundane sight had been enhanced to the point that it <em>almost</em> looked bright enough to be day, but there was still no one around. Therefore, it gave the city a decidedly abandoned feel.


    <em>If it was dark and empty, that would be exinable, but since it looks bright to me, it feels a bit creepy.</em> Satisfied that she had her reason for the odd feeling, she quick-walked thest bit to the Archon Compound.


    When she strode down thest part of the entry tunnel, she felt a scan pass over her, not through her, she sighed. <em>Well, lets get this over with.</em>


    After an instants hesitation, things becamechaotic.


    The air filled with power as it thickened around her, taking on the consistency of cold msses in an attempt to restrict her movements.


    Terry flickered away to the recesses of the atrium before the working fully settled around her. <em>Good, hell stay safe.</em>


    T was inconvenienced by the thickening of the air, but not that much, as it didnt really stress her increased strength, at least not at first.


    She did not draw Flow. She wasnt there to fight.


    Instead, she raised her hands above her head in the most exposed, unthreatening posture that she could think of.


    As if triggered by her continued movement, more power wove through the air around her, and it was suddenly as hard as stone.


    T thought that she <em>might</em> be able to break free, if she had to, but she was sure that whatever had sensed her movement and increased the power of the restraint would just do so again, and she was having enough trouble breathing as it was.


    Behind the counter ahead of her, the assistants had crouched down, and a dome of magical energy tooplex for T toprehend easily or quickly flickered into ce, clearly projected from an intricate, circle of copper scripts beneath the floor, surrounding the front desk.


    <em>I really hope I dont have to pay for the use of all these defenses</em>


    A momentter she felt a magical probe that bypassed her iron, clearly indicating that an Archon was directly behind it, and a voice filled the space,ced with power. Stop!


    The air became normal once more, and the magically created shield, whatever it was made of, vanished.


    A blue- maybe even slightly indigo -aura filled the space, though it seemed to bend and distort to avoid contacting the people in the room, including Terry, if what T saw from the corner of her vision was correct. Into the sudden silence, both auditory and magical, a woman strode from one of the side passagesing to stand in front of T, looking her over. Child, dear child. There was a mirth-filled smile obvious across her features. Even with warning, you still managed to cause us quite a bit of shock.


    T had the presence of mind to look sheepish, even as she didnt lower her hands. That is why Im here, actually. I wanted to see if anything could be done to mitigate misunderstandings, or if I should just scrub it off.


    Oh, no! Dont do that. Your progress will be astronomical in that fascinatingsuit. We wouldnt want to lose that potential. Humanity needs every edge we can get. She nced up at Ts arms, her smile gaining a bit of a grandmotherly bent. You can lower those, child. You will not be harmed, unless you actpletely out of character.


    T did so. Im T, though you likely know that. What is your name, if I may ask? She felt it was best to find out sooner, rather thanter.


    You are right, I do know who you are, though weve not had the pleasure of meeting in person. I am Jenna, wife of the city lord of Bandfast.


    Ts eyes widened, and she reflexively asked, before she could stop herself, If youre Reforged, how powerful is he?


    Jenna grinned. Oh, hes Refined, but he enjoys administration, where I decidedly do not. She shrugged. It works on every level, actually. I do love that man. Her eyes had gotten a far-off look, but she seemed to shake herself,ing back to the moment. But were not here to talk about our rtionships.


    I suppose not. T swallowed, trying to get some moisture back into her dry mouth. IThank you for not being upset that I tripped the rms.


    Jenna waved that away. Honestly, ever since Mistress Holly let me know about your ns, Ive been expecting there to be an incident <em>somewhere.</em> She nced at T. For future reference, it would have been better for you toe here, first, before painting yourself. We could have helped you, monitored your internal power, and ensured there werent any unexpected side effects. That said,ing here as your first stop after your experiment is certainly an improvement above what I feared. You are maturing nicely.


    T blushed, but it was an invisible reaction, only obvious to her because she could feel her own cheeks heat. She immediately tried to distract herself from her own embarrassment. <em>Oh, why arent I over heated? This body paint has to trap some, plus I cant really sweat through it.</em>


    The answer was obvious the instant she thought about it: Holly had improved her heat dissipation scripts, after shed cooked her own muscles by overworking them. <em>Im d those are in effect.</em>


    Now, we need to do something about your look, and how you show up to passive scans. Follow me, please? And bring your friend. Id hate for the citys defenses to mis-identify him. Jennas eyes had locked onto Terry, where he waited off to one side.


    T nodded, and followed Jenna from the room, Terry flickering to her shoulder at her second step.


    As they walked, T examined the woman surreptitiously. But found she was unable to get a read on her power.


    Jenna had pulled her aura back in and seemed to be wearing it like a suit. It wasnt held at her skin, like T had seen so many other Archons do. Instead, it was extended roughly three inches in every direction, filling in the gaps that might be expected between her feet, or between her arms and her sides.


    The result was a mostly ovaloid bubble, with the asional protrusion from the extension of hand or foot as they walked.


    T cleared her throat, partially to get the womans attention, and partially to give her an extra moment to think. So, if I may ask Mistress Jenna, how are we going to do something about my look? She tried to mirror the womans words, so as to not overstep.


    Jenna nced back towards her. Have you ever seen an Archon who didnt look precisely human?


    T blinked in confusion at the seemingly unconnected question, then she realized what Jenna meant. Youve developed items to keep those with less-than-clean soul-mergings to function in society.


    Thats not an answer to my question, but you did get the point. Several Archons at your raising did petition for you to receive a mitigation, but we thought your changes were not sufficient to warrant it. Besides, at some point, we need to ustomize the mundanes to the realities of magic. Sheughed at her own words. Though, weve been saying that for centuries. Were too set in our ways, truth be told. Hastel has done a fantastic job in Audel, this iteration. Twenty-seven years in, and no riots. A whole generation has been raised up with a better understanding of how the world really is, though some secrets are still required.


    T frowned. Hastel?


    Thats Master Hastel to you, child. Hes lord over Audel, a bit younger than the rest of us, a bit less set in his methods. She smiled. Hes testing out a new way of doing things, and it seems to be working. I suggest you drop through Audel on one of your routes. Its a lovely picture of how we could be in another few hundred years. She shook her head and sighed. I wish it were easier to change norms in established cities, but the mundanes dont like it much. Sheughed a little. And if Im being honest with myself, <em>I </em>dont like change that much either, but I will do what is best for us all.


    T nodded, though she thought she likely didnt understand everything implied by the womans words.


    But listen to me chattering on. One does seem to talk more as one ages. After you. Jenna gestured at a nk section of wall that theyd stopped in front of.


    The wall?


    Yes, child. Walk through.


    Like all the walls in the Archonpound, there was a thin barrier of power, seemingly designed to increase the integrity of the stone, and hold the walls together regardless of the stresses they might be subject to. The fields of power didnt seem to be meant to block a person passing through, though. <em>An illusion?</em>


    No, she should be able to see that.


    <em>Mind magic?</em>


    No, t would have activated in irritation if they were under the influence of mental maniption, if for no other reason.


    <em>I suppose someone could have made the stone permeable.</em>


    In any case, the Reforged had given her an instruction, so she should obey.


    T stepped forward and smacked her face into a hard stone wall, bouncing off.


    It didnt hurt, but it was startling. What? She looked over to Jenna, who was hiding a smile behind one hand.


    Oh, that was amazing.


    T frowned.


    Its this way. Jenna pointed to the door behind them both. Thank you for the smile, though. Its been a long night.

 Chapter 176: Through-Spike

    Chapter 176: Through-Spike


    T followed Jenna into the room on the other side of the hallway, rubbing her nose after the impact with the stone wall.


    Honestly, T was a bit irritated by the incident. Was that necessary?


    Jenna shrugged. Necessary? No. That said, it was entertaining; it lightened the mood; it conveys an important lesson; and Im tired. You woke me up.


    I thought you said you had a long night.


    I did, then I finally got to sleep, and She cocked an eyebrow and gestured to T.


    And I woke you up.


    And you woke me up.


    My apologies.


    Jenna waved that off. Nonsense. It was better to happen in the middle of the night than in the middle of the day.


    That is what I had hoped. T finally looked around the in room. Aside from two chairs, most of the space was filled by a huge ck box. What was the lesson?


    Jenna walked in and sat in one of the chairs, T following and taking the other.


    Dont always trust those in authority, or with power, over you.


    It was Ts turn to cock an eyebrow. Look at me, Mistress Jenna. What part of this came from following the dictates of authority.


    Yes, child, you are very rebellious. Good for you.


    Thats just insulting.


    Jenna hesitated. It was, wasnt it. She tapped her own jawline a few times, then shrugged. I apologize. I did not intend to insult, but the point is still valid.


    Which is?


    She sighed. You seem to treat people either withplete and utter trust, orplete and utter contempt.


    T opened her mouth to protest, but Jenna raised her hand to stop her.


    I dont mean in the sense that you hate them, simply with how you treat their words, advice, and instructions.


    T closed her mouth and considered what the other woman had said. <em>Is that true? Do I consider the source more important than the content?</em> The more she thought about it, the more she thought it <em>was </em>true. <em>Rust.</em>


    The older woman nced at the still open door and gestured, closing it, though T didnt see any power connect her to the door.


    <em>Alright. Thats interesting.</em> At that point, she finally took a good look at Jenna.


    While T knew that the other woman was older, likely by centuries, T would have ced her in her early thirties. <em>Yet more evidence that I am horrible at judging the ages of Mages.</em>


    She had dark red hair, falling in big curls around her shoulders without poofing up on the top of her head overmuch. She was short, shorter than T even, and curvy. The woman was fit, as all Mages tended to be, and she had an almost aggressive tone to her stance and manner of movements, as if she was ready toe out ahead in any interaction, whether verbal, martial, or magical.


    Jenna wasnt visibly armed, but that meant little, except that she didnt wish to look armed.


    She wore very traditional Mages robes of some sort of ck silk with bronze swirls and no visible sps. From the toes T caught a glimpse of, the Archon wore simple, ck leather slippers.


    Ts examination of the Reforged had been quick, barely a nce, but shed clearly noticed, though she seemed disinclined toment on it.


    Instead, Jenna simply lounged back in her chair. So, your look isnt actually that great of an issue. We can fix that with any number of little artifacts. The real problem that we should discuss is how you appear to passive scans.


    Couldnt I use something like a cor for arcanous animals?


    What? No. Jenna gave T a searching look. You know how those work, right? She nced to Terry. Id have thought that you did.


    Of course, I do. T felt vaguely insulted. They change the magical signature of the wearer to one that wont trigger the defenses.


    Ahh, so you understand, you just didnt think it through.


    What?


    Jenna shook her head. You are a clever girl, and I do mean that. So, you tell me.


    T took a moment to think and realized the issue. Ive basically no magical signature to alter.


    Precisely. Jenna nodded in approval.


    So, what can we do?


    The simplest would be to have a breach in your ironyer, so that scans could prate through and get a good look at you, but that is unideal for many reasons.


    T nodded.


    We could give you a beacon that would effectively give you a false magical signature, that might work.


    But, isnt that dangerous? Couldnt it be taken and used for nefarious purposes?


    Possibly? But as it wouldnt suppress anything about you, just give off the magical signature, someone else using it would appear pregnant. Jenna grinned. Theyd look like they were pregnant with an Archon at that. So, it would be pretty obvious that it was being misused.


    Pregnant?


    Two magical signatures in one body. I know itste, child, but you really should think a bit more before asking questions.


    T shrunk in on herself, feeling her cheeks heat.


    Now, now, dont do that. An admonition to be better should not be seen as a reprimand.


    T sat up straighter, feeling somewhat irritated by the woman. Oh? And should I thank you for the rebuke?


    Dont be childish. If I thought you an idiot, I wouldnt say anything. Use that mind of yours. It was incredibly capable even before it was enhanced. Ive seen your record. You are better than thesezy questions.


    T felt anger build within her, but she grabbed ahold of the emotion and bent it to her will and smiled. I didnt know that pregnant women showed two signatures.


    Jenna cocked an eyebrow, then shrugged. I suppose most probably dont go investigating that type of thing very often, and its subtle, as they are usually close mirrors of each other. She smiled again. Thats why having your signature, or one like it, overtop anyone elses would stand out so starkly.


    That does make sense.


    Now, were getting rather off track. Do you want one that looks like you, magically, or just one that will keep Guild and Archon facilities from reacting poorly?


    Why would I need a custom one?


    Well, there are two types of custom ones we could create, and they each have different uses, aside from the main one, which all have inmon.


    T waited for her to continue.


    Jenna pulled a teacup from the air and took a sip of the steaming liquid before cing it back into, well, nowhere. My apologies, I am still a bit scattered. Where was I?


    The two types of custom magic beacons?


    Right! Yes. The first, mimics how you are, now, and will always be exactly that, unchanging. It is useful for static defenses and-or locks, which have been created based on how you are now, but that is almost like creating a key that anyone can use for those, however. So, we dont usually rmend that one without other, extenuating circumstances. The second is basically a constant mirror of how you should look, just much, much fainter. That allows your current signature to be used forwell, everything as it normally would be.


    How would that be aplished?


    In your case, I believe that the easiest way is with a through-spike. I would also rmend it as the best solution.


    A what?


    A through-spike is an artifact that looks a bit like a very, very, minutely small grommet. We would tap it in ce and remove the center. Your power would then have an outlet, but the through-spike would only let through the barest fraction of a percent of the power, taking from that to color your skin back to your natural shade, and render its texture back to looking like flesh, instead of dried paint. It would, of course, be a magical effect, so anything that could disrupt your magic would reveal your actual appearance, and anyone with roughly your magical weight or greater, looking at you with their mage-sight might be able to see through it.


    Might? Why only might?


    Jenna paused to consider, taking another sip from her teacup as she did so. Well, the spell-forms are highlighted by the Mages aura radiating from behind them. The through-spike causes your aura to radiate out from in-front of the spell-lines, acting more as a mask than a spotlight. She frowned. That wasnt well exined.


    Even so, I think I understand. Even as T said that, she felt herself flinch internally, expecting Jenna to rebuke her, and tell her that she couldnt possibly understand.


    Instead, Jenna simply nodded. Good. Its an esoteric concept, but not really a hard one. She huffed a shortugh. Any other thoughts?


    Yes, actually. Why are my eyes and mouth not sufficient?


    Excellent question, actually. Passive scans dont look for <em>any</em> instance of human power, otherwise an enemy could just hold a human made item and be done with it. The scans look for the magic given off by a creature.


    My aura.


    More or less, yes. But aura is more a function of soul than magic, and passive scans are <em>notoriously</em> bad at making judgment calls based on souls. So, we design them to look at the magical portion of a Mages aura.


    Which my iron blocks, even though I have some power leakage from my eyes and mouth.


    Exactly. Incidentally, even those points of leakage as you put it, are minute to what they really should be, given your build up of internal power. Your aura control is ridiculously excellent for such a new Archon.


    T smiled at theplement. Mistress Odera gave me some good pointers, and Master Jevin helped me quite a bit.


    Ahh, Ive heard good things about Mistress Odera. She is making quite interesting strides in the study of Archon stars. Its a shame she isnt suited for advancement. And Jevin? He does take an interest in the Mages in his realm of influence. Im d for your extended stay there, though the circumstances were hardly ideal. She took another sip of her tea. But were off topic once again. Do you have further thoughts?


    T considered, then nodded. Yes. The through-spike seems very specifically tailored to me. And as a solution, I should be able to see through them with rtive ease, too. So, that doesnt actually exin why I havent seen non-human looking Archons about.


    Jenna waved that away. I said this was the best solution for you, child, not the best solution for everyone. Even the manner of this solution would be tailored to you. Others would have their hair or eye color changed, or the three dimensional texture of their skin, rather than the texture as regards to light, or they might need to have certain bodily proportions masked. Though, those would usually be on a different style of artifact. Through-spikes are generally only used for this when paired with things like living armor or Archons who have reached a level of aura hardening so as to present simr to how you do now.


    You can do this with aura control, alone? T gestured at herself. Then, she hesitated. Wait. Living armor?


    Ill address the first question first: No, child. Some can <em>look</em> like that. They do not get the same, multiplicative benefits that you do. Honestly, if you work out as I hope, we may try to steer more Academy students towards your style of body enhancements and vor of offensive powers. Mistress Holly has hinted that your gravity maniption could be swapped out for all sorts of abilities, depending on the student.


    T didnt really know what to say to that.


    There would be requirements, of course, and drawbacks. We cannot rule out that your inscriptions were part of the cause of the fervor with which the Leshkin pursued your caravan. Well have to test that theory, though, before we raise up a generation with that handicap.


    Jenna looked to T and seemed to notice something on the younger womans face.


    But Im rambling. Your second, mostly implied question: Living armor.


    T leaned forwards.


    Its nothing more than what you are wearing right now. Though, obviously, what you have is not the breadth of all possibilities. It is armor that self-repairs and protects the wearer in some manner. Some have bound creatures to serve in that capacity, though it rarely works very well, because either the creatures are very solid, physically, and therefore it is gruesome to manipte them to be able to be worn, or they are more flexible, and therefore are less good at being armor. She shrugged. What you have, with imbued magical defense, is the epted, best practice.


    But, why would this require a through-spike?


    If you merged it with a being, harvest, or item capable ofplete magical istion, in one form or another.


    Ahh, that makes sense.


    Now, as lovely as this conversation is, would a through-spike meet with your satisfaction as a solution to the current issue?


    T shrugged. I honestly have no idea, but from what youve conveyed, it seems like exactly what I need.


    Wonderful. Now, such things arent free.


    T glowered.


    Jennaughed. Im not going to up-charge you, child. I remember how tight money can be in the early years, even with as lucrative a career as youve chosen, not to mention the secondary role, and your other side ventures. We only ask for a reimbursement of our costs. We dont even charge you for my time in consulting. I promise you: You couldnt afford me, even with a loan. She gave a mirthful wink.


    T sighed. How much?


    One gold.


    She scrunched up her face but nodded. Thats fair; I suppose.


    Jenna handed over a tablet with the transaction.


    After T confirmed it, Jenna changed what was disyed.


    Here are the ces that Mistress Holly said you could have the through-spike imnted, without it interfering with any of your inscriptions. Im partial to inside the nose but some find that disturbing. Below is a text overview that will exin it clearly enough that you should be able to power the device. Ill give you a booklet with more details before you go, so you can improve efficiency at your leisure.


    T looked over the avable options, read the description, and sighed. Ill take this one. She pointed to the illustration of the back of her neck, roughly half-way between ts core spell-lines and her gate. I think this will be the least obtrusive. Why wouldnt my regeneration push it out?


    Your body will push out foreign substances that are embedded into your skin. That is magically enhanced. The through-spike will match your magical signature from the moment of true activation, so it wont be rejected.


    I hadnt considered that side of it. It makes sense.


    Im d I could exin satisfactorily. Now, are you ready?


    As Ill ever be. Lets do this.


    As you wish. Jenna reached out to pat T on the shoulder.


    T felt strangely warmed by the gesture, but at thest moment, the womans hand moved with a quick flick, and T felt the smallest little sting on the back of her neck, more like a poke than a puncture. She red for a quick instant, before letting the expression fall away and sighing again, shaking her head. You could have just told me.


    I couldnt have you even subconsciously resisting, or it wouldnt have taken hold.


    And my noticing and trying to flinch away?


    Yes, your perceptual and reactive speeds were greater than I was counting on, but it doesnt seem to have negatively affected the device.


    T opened her mouth to ask if it had worked, then simply nced down at her hands. They looked perfectly ordinary to her mundane eyes.


    Her mage-sight showed her lines of power weaving through the air just outside her body-paint, subtly altering the light as it bounced off of her. Over that, she felt like she was looking at her naked power, unobstructed by inscriptions or workings, though it was much dimmer than shed have expected.


    T grunted. Seems to have worked.


    Indeed.


    T considered for a moment. This wasnt developed for disguise creation, was it? If the illusion were reced with a defense of some kind, then that defense would be devilishly hard to detect.


    Jennas features morphed into a wide, genuine smile. Well considered. The through-spikes original purpose was the generation of additional defense while letting your magical signature through and appear normally distributed. Sadly, through-spikes tend to interfere with one another. One day, when you no longer need an illusory one, you might want to look into the defensive variety.


    I definitely will. Thank you.


    As they stood to go, Jenna handed T a little booklet. For your reading, when you have time.


    T took it with a smile, then nced at therge ck box that had been sitting next to them through the entire conversation.


    What is that, by the way.


    Jenna froze, eyes widening just slightly. You can see that?


    T looked between the woman and the ck box. Obviously. Theres no magic to it, but its a big ck box. My eyes work just fine.


    No human should be able to see that box.


    T hesitated, sighed, and rolled her eyes. Youre trying to mess with me again, arent you?


    Jenna paused, then shrugged. Iid it on too thick?


    Just a little, yeah.


    Fine.


    After a moments silence, T cleared her throat. So, what does it do?


    What does what do?


    T felt her eye twitch. The ck box.


    The what?


    Her face heated in irritation. The ck box that we were just- Then, she stopped herself and took a long, deep breath.


    Jenna grinned. That <em>was </em>much better. Thank you for the feedback.


    Youre not going to tell me. It wasnt a question.


    Tell you what?


    T closed her mouth, bowed to the woman, and turned to leave.


    Oh, Mistress T?


    She paused and looked back. Yes, Mistress Jenna?


    Dont paint over the through-spike, please. That would rather defeat the purpose, and I dont actually know what having those magics trapped and reflected back into you would do.


    Thank you for the warning, Mistress. Good day to you.


    And to you.

 Chapter 177: Memories

    Chapter 177: Memories


    T exited the Archon Compound, Terry on her shoulder, looking more normal than she had in a long time.


    <em>Except that Im barefoot in the snow.</em> Yeah, that was telling. She felt a smile pulling at her lips.


    With a thought, she dove into her elk-leathers and gave power to the path which would give her shoes.


    She lifted up each foot just a bit as the tendrils grew out of her pants leg around the foot and filled in. After that, the shoes disconnected from the pants, seemingly separate pieces of clothing.


    <em>There. Now, I dont look quite so odd.</em>


    She wasnt wearing a coat, and it was actively snowing. She sighed.


    <em>And itsing up on five oclock in the morning.</em> She really shouldnt be out and about if she was any sort of normal.


    <em>Good thing almost no one will be out and about to see me.</em>


    The snowfall wasnt nearly blizzard proportions, but it was steady and far from sparse.


    White kes drifted down through the nearlypletely still air. A silence of a type utterly unique to new-fallen snow nketed the city.


    T felt a warmth in her chest at the environment and decided to go for a walk through this seemingly private winter wondend.


    Terry asionally shook himself free of snow and flickered to grab all the jerky that T tossed for him, but otherwise was content to rest on her shoulder.


    The streetlights were thoughtfully spaced but dimmed in truth due to thete hour and to the human eye by the steadily falling snow.


    Still, T had no trouble whatsoever. In fact, she found that it helped offset the earlier wrongness that shed felt during her trip to the Compound, early that night.


    As she walked, she didnt really have a destination. She just strolled and thought.


    She wondered about her family, about her brothers and sisters.


    When she tried, to her shock, she realized that she couldnt bring their faces to mind.


    <em>Thats not right. I have a perfect memory now.</em> But she hadnt seen them in seven years, and she hadnt had her inscriptions then.


    <em>I can perfectly recall my imperfect recollection.</em> It was a sick joke.


    She had already decided to go resolve things with them.


    <em>But what does that mean?</em>


    It would certainly involve some exchange of words.


    <em>What should I even say to them?</em> She didnt know.


    She ran a thousand scenarios through her head but had no reason to believe that any one of them was more usible than another.


    <em>-Ding-</em>


    <em>-Memory recoveryplete.-</em>


    <em>t?</em>


    <em>-T, these two areheavy. And I found a few others besides.-</em>


    <em>Let me sit down.</em>


    <em>-I dont know, what youre already thinking about is pretty important.-</em> There was a slight hesitation. <em>-Oh, youve been up to some fun things. I like Jenna, and I like the increases Im feeling from this new body paint.-</em>


    <em>Nonsense, youre getting off track. I need to know what memories were taken.</em> She moved over to a nearby park and found a bench, clearing it of snow before settling down. <em>Im ready.</em>


    <em>-Alright, lighter ones, first.-</em>


    T was then forced to relive some of her worst memories of her time at the Academy, as well as her departure.


    <em>I had suppressed my memory of arriving naked on purpose.</em>


    <em>-Yes, but it qualified as one of the memories youmanded I search for.-</em>


    <em>I really should track down Phoen. She was kind to me, and I never thanked her properly.</em>


    <em>-That would be the civil thing to do.-</em>


    That settled, T closed her eyes and was treated to a few flickers of her more reckless decisions since graduation, and she felt quite a bit of embarrassment for how foolishly shed acted. <em>Well, if you look upon your past actions with shame, it shows that youve grown, right?</em>


    <em>-That sounds like something embarrassing people tell themselves to feel better.-</em>


    <em>Youre kind of a jerk.</em>


    <em>-I am literally you.-</em>


    <em>Fine. Im kind of a jerk.</em>


    <em>-Recognizing the issue is half the battle, or something like that. This is character growth in action.-</em>


    T narrowed her eyes, but had no one to direct her ire filled gaze at, at least not externally. <em>Youre stalling.</em>


    There was some hesitation, then, finally, t sighed within her head. <em>-Yeah, I am. This isnt great.-</em>


    <em>Well, lets get it over with.</em> T swallowed to wet her dry lips and closed her eyes.


    <em>-As you wish.-</em>


    * * *


    T was in Bandfast, a short walk from the teleportation tower.


    As her eyes scanned those she passed, she was able to pick out the asional Mage by their bearing and fluid manner of movement, not to mention the spell-lines evident across their exposed skin. Most also wore Mages robes, but not all.


    To her surprise, she also saw an arcane, a humanoid arcanous creature.


    What had caught her attention at first was the leather cor he wore, though it was tucked low, almost entirely hidden by his shirts cor. As shed looked closer, ensuring that her eyes hadnt deceived her and that it wasnt just an odd fashion choice, hed turned to regard her. She hadnt noticed his gaze until after shed seen the metallic spell-lines on the leather cor.


    When she had felt his gaze, her eyes flicked up, meeting his, and she felt frozen to the spot.


    His eyes were blood.


    Noparison holds the weight of truth save to say that his eyes were spheres of fresh, liquid blood, unbroken save small circr scabs in ce of pupils.


    T swallowed involuntarily. <em>Hes looking at me.</em> She tried to smile politely and turn away, but she found she couldnt force herself to turn.


    Around his eyes, true-ck, smooth skin forced the orbs into starker contrast, making their deep shades seem almost to glow. Subtle hints of gray lines ran under that skin in patterns very like spell-lines but somehow utterly different, like seeing her ownnguage written with a phic alphabet. The concepts seemed familiar, while remaining utterly opaque to her interpretation.


    She tried to turn away, again, and actually felt resistance, like she was fighting herself. A tingle of her own power, emanating from her keystone, preceded the answer: <em>Allure. Hes somehow manipting the conceptual nature of reality, forcing my attention to remain locked on him.</em>


    As an Immaterial Mage, she could work with non-substance aspects of the world, such as gravity, dimensionality, and molecr cohesion, but warping the magnitude of <em>concepts</em>? Thatthat had disturbing implications.


    As if in response to her thoughts, a different set of lines seemed to flicker into prominence around those wounding eyes, and she found herself turning away in confusion. <em>What is wrong with me? I stare at something Ive never seen before and suddenly insist that it must be Magic?</em>


    She shook her head at her own foolishness. Then, another prickle rippled out from her keystone, a subtle warning, and she froze. <em>Conceptual maniptionwould the concept of believability count?</em> She spun, her eyes ripping across the crowds, trying desperately to find the arcane once more. She had the flickering impression of an amused smile, but nothing more.


    After another few moments of frenzied searching, she was left with a subtle, low-level itch from her keystone and the growing concern that shed somehow imagined the brief encounter. <em>II need to get to the Caravanners Guild.</em>


    * * *


    T gasped,ing out of the memory. <em>Oh, rust.</em> Her whole body was shaking.


    <em>-I know, right?-</em>


    Shed known that something had messed with her mind on an intellectual level, but shed never really faced the reality of it, nor even tried to imagine what her attacker had looked like. Now she had a visage for her nightmares.


    <em>Why was that memory so much clearer than the others?</em> She could still see those eyes of blood, feel them upon her as if they were watching her even now. Though, she knew that wasnt the case.


    <em>-You were inscribed within days of that event, so it had the power and spell-workings to be set in ce.-</em>


    <em>Why couldnt I remember it, if it was stored so clearly in my mind? </em>What did that monster do to her?


    <em>-It was surrounded by a haze of unreality.-</em>


    <em>That makes no sense.</em> T pulled out some jerky for herself and Terry, desperate for some form of normalcy, then started preparing tea for herself on the park bench. <em>Dont think about it. Dont think about it.</em>


    <em>-Thats not going to work, T. As to the unreality: Thats the quality that your mind uses to surround daydreams and nightmares. Otherwise, youd lose your grip on reality, and start thinking that your dreams, or fantasies, actually happened.-</em>


    That did make some sense, even if she didnt really like it. <em>But I can recall my dreams if I really want to.</em>


    <em>-Ahh, but part of what was done prevented you from really wanting to.-</em>


    T swallowed again. t was right. Even ts reticence to show them to her might be some lingering aspect of those magical effects.


    <em>-The next one is longer. Is now a good time? I think it should be now.-</em>


    <em>Absolutely not. I assume its from the caravan trip to Makinaven?</em> T hesitated. <em>There arent any others, are there?</em>


    <em>-No, there arent any others. Our mind is free of that creature beyond those two incidents.-</em>


    <em>Shouldnt we remember any time we came in contact with the Culinary Guilds magics?</em>


    <em>-Nope.-</em>


    <em>Butoh, right. Their magics make them uninteresting, so I never focused on them to begin with. The arcane was irrevocably interesting, so he had to suppress the memory in some other manner.</em>


    <em>-Precisely. Wow, talking with Jenna really caused you to think things through, more.-</em>


    T glowered again, pouring her tea and tucking away the supplies that shed used to make it. <em>In either case, I dont really want to relive another memory of him right now.</em>


    <em>-Well, tough. You need full context when you report.-</em>


    <em>Really?</em> She felt a bit of exasperation. Why had t even asked if she was just going to force the memory through regardless?


    <em>-Yes.-</em>


    T huffed a bit, then let out a nervousugh. <em>I suppose theres no sense in arguing with myself. Lets do this.</em>


    She swallowed her fear, along with some tea, and closed her eyes.


    * * *


    T sat atop the cargo-slot wagon, in the open ins just south of Bandfast. Most of the caravan was asleep, and it had been a <em>long</em> day.


    She took her time, finishing her third, miniature chicken pot pie. The hot food allowed her to rx just a bit more as she kept her gaze moving over their surroundings. <em>What a day. Ill need to thank the head cook for this, too.</em>


    You know: You humans are sofragile.


    T whipped around, staring at the figure standing on the other end of the wagon top.


    What caught her attention at first, aside from someone suddenly appearing behind her in the wilds, was that his eyes were blood.


    Noparison held the weight of truth, save to say that his eyes were spheres of fresh, liquid blood, unbroken save small circr scabs in ce of pupils.


    Meeting that gaze, she felt frozen to the spot.


    Around his eyes, true-ck, smooth skin forced the orbs into stark contrast, making their deep shades seem almost to glow. Subtle hints of grey lines ran under that skin in patterns very like spell-lines but somehow utterly different, like seeing her ownnguage written with phic alphabet. The concepts seemed familiar, while remaining utterly opaque to her interpretation.


    <em>Why does he look familiar?</em> Her mage-sight was screaming at her, and she finally registered what it was saying. <em>He doesnt have a gate.</em>


    Instead, he was drawing in power from the surrounding air and burning it within himself. The ratios were incredibly off kilter. He was using massively more than he could draw in from the rtively magic-poor air.


    I saw your beacon of power. Thank you for that. Id have hated to miss your departure. He smiled, his perfectly white teeth shing in the fading light. I love your eyes, by the way. You definitely lived up to the potential I saw in you. He shook his head and clucked his tongue, once. That said, I must admit, I misjudged you. His voice had a strange resonance, a rity like a trumpet sounding on a frozen winters morning.


    Do I know you?


    Heughed lightly, a sound like a steep mountain stream, sttered in flesh and burbling with blood.


    <em>How can someone even make that sound?</em>


    We met, briefly. He gave a half-smile. Id thought you would be reckless enough to profit me. He nced away, seeming to be trying to catch sight of something in the distance, to the north.


    You think Im not reckless enough? That thought broke through the odd, strange horror of the situation.


    He refocused on her. Hmm? No. You are, if anything, more reckless than Id thought, but for some reason, you arent reckless on things that <em>matter.</em>


    Imsorry? She definitely felt the overwhelming desire to apologize properly, to abase herself, but resisted. <em>I should be sorry for inconveniencing this creature. Why am I resisting?</em>


    He waved dismissively. Im just trying to decide if it would be worth breaking the bond between your body and soul.


    T instantly had Flow in her hand, three void-channels holding it strongly in the form of a sword. You will not. She was utterly certain of that.


    <em>Does the bond really matter?</em> What was happening to her thoughts?


    The light of day was fading quickly, but at that moment, sunlight stabbed through distant clouds to brightly illuminate those directly overhead, bathing the two figures, standing atop the cargo wagon, in reflected light. In that new illumiation, the silver-ine lines on the beings skin came into greater view. He was frowning. Oh, dont be tiresome. Your only task here is to let me pick your brain, to answer my questions so I can make a properly informed decision. He leaned forward just slightly, looking her up and down, slowly. That is a fascinating Way, youre using, there. It looks like itcerated your soul as you learned it. Heughed again, and T found her grip weakening. Some scars can be useful, I suppose.


    <em>Why would I want to hurt such a being?</em> She shook her head, detecting the subtle pressure on her mind. <em>How?</em> The scripts around her eyes were guzzling power, trying to keep <em>something</em> out, and they were failing. <em>Wait, why hasnt anyone else noticed him?</em>


    She tore her eyes away and looked around. She was horrified to see that every creature in sight was frozen in ce, whether human, ox, horse, or Terry. By their slight swaying and nk expressions, it appeared that they were somehow being subdued in a nonsensical state rather than physically restrained by some means.


    T closed her eyes, then, and felt her thoughts clear. <em>He was getting in through my eyes.</em> Were her palms going to be an issue? She desperately hoped not, and clenched her hands into tighter fists, Flow firmly locked in her right hand.


    What is this? You are thinking on your own volition? Light steps sounded as the being approached.


    T struck out blindly with Flow and heard a sharp, hissing intake of breath.


    How can you attack me?


    T dropped into a defensive stance, bracing herself as well as she could for attacks from an unknown direction.


    You dare? I gave you the form you need, the path to power, the path to be <em>useful</em>, and you take it for yourself, for your own use. Ie to talk, and you choose violence?


    Her head snapped to the side as she was struck with a blow that would have felled one of the caravans oxen.


    T rolled with the hit, moving the bare minimum to orient on her attacker, sweeping Flow in a covering circle to cut at whatever had hit her.


    No. You are different than before. You have done <em>things</em> to yourself. Yours is not a useful insanity. This cannot be allowed. There was a finality to the statement.


    T didnt even register the hit, before she was airborne.


    As expected, she came down faster than anything on this world had any right to, and she skipped across the ins, her body digging furrows in the soil with each skipping impact. Her ending-berry power was running dangerously low.


    She almost smiled as she was reminded of her fight with the cyclops. But Grediv wasnt here to take advantage of the distraction she provided this time. She was on her own.


    <em>I cant fight like this. I have to risk it. </em>Her eyes snapped open, and she oriented herself, vaulting back to her feet, spinning in a circle until she saw the caravan in the near distance, a figure standing on the cargo wagons top.


    He was more of a beacon than T had been with all her void-channels dumping power outward.


    The aura underlying the power was a deep, green-blue.


    <em>Rust me to g.</em> How had she not noticed that earlier?


    With each passing moment, however, the aura was shifting more towards green.


    <em>Hes losing power by the second.</em><em>I just need to oust him.</em> She didnt need her eyes open to do that. Before she could close her eyes, however, the option was taken from her.


    Without any appearance of movement, the figure was before her once more, hands on either side of her head.


    It seems that you would take <em>much</em> too much power to kill, or more time than I have. Even so, I cannot leave you with memory of this.


    The scripts around her eyes were overwhelmed in an instant, pushed aside rather than burned away, and try as she might, she couldnt ovee thepulsion that prevented her from closing her eyes, not even to blink.


    His face filled her vision.


    Interesting use of iron. So, thats how you were able to move so freely. The sides of her head zed with heat for a brief moment, before iron dust showered down on her shoulders.


    The being briefly flicked each hand away then back to her head, clearing the limb of rust. Then, there was a renewed pulse of power.


    T felt something try to invade her brain, but her very being rose up against the assault. She used every scrap of strength she could draw upon, barely managing to shelter her mind: a pebble before a hurricane.


    Even so, the edges of her mind werent set, yet. Her mage-sight, coupled with her mental scripts, allowed her to watch, helpless, as her short-term memory was shredded into-


    <em>Why am I panicking? What was that daydream, again?</em> T tried to shake off the lingering vestiges of an overactive imagination, but found her head locked in ce, blood filling her vision. <em>Not a figment?</em> Brief shreds of memory came floating back.<em> It was real?! It-</em>


    Power washed through her mind, and her eyes closed of their own volition.


    There was an odd grunt, and something that was clearly a curse in anguage she didnt know. A voice shed never heard before muttered under their breath. How heavy are you?


    Her mind was hit, once more, and her thoughts-


    There was a pulse of power, quickly fading into the distance, and Ts eyes snapped open.


    She wasying on the ground, staring up at falling snow and clouds, which were just losing thest light of day.


    <em>Where am I?</em>


    Mistress T? Mistress Odera was calling her.


    * * *


    T came out of the memory, shaking so much that she almost spilled her tea. She needed to focus. She couldnt get him out of her head, so she needed to focus on the minutia. That should let her push past the horror of what shed just re-experienced. <em>Why was my first impression of him almost identical between the memories?</em>


    <em>-Because it was your first impression. You hadnt changed that much in the intervening time, so you thought very nearly the same things upon first noticing him.-</em>


    That made a lot of sense. The fear was still there, a raging beast just out of her field of view. <em>Focus, T. Hespowerful, but we knew that.</em>


    <em>-And he wanted to kill you, or take you with him, but couldnt.-</em>


    <em>Not helping, t. I know you feel this fear too. I need help. Im Im close to being overwhelmed here.</em>


    <em>-What drove him off?-</em>


    <em>Xeels approach.</em> Thinking of the massively powerful Archon calmed T, somewhat. It helped her focus.


    <em>-Xeels approach.-</em>


    There really wasnt any choice in the matter. She now had a task to perform. <em>We need to tell someone about this.</em>


    <em>-Back to the Compound?-</em>


    T nodded, firm in her resolve. <em>Back to the Compound.</em>


    While T had walked quite the distance, she had been meandering. Thus, she hadnt disced herself too far from where shed started. Consequently, she was back at the long, tunnel-like entrance a scant few minutester.


    T strode back into the Archon Compound, and none of the defenses reacted to her entry.


    <em>Well, thats good at least.</em>


    She was approaching the sleepy looking young man, who was the current attendant at the round, wee desk, when she noticed Jenna standing beside her.


    Mistress T, back so soon? Did something go wrong?


    T did her best not to show any reaction to the womans sudden appearance, but she felt her eye twitch just a bit. <em>Thats bing a habit</em> There is something that Id like to report. This is likely not the best ce. Its too public.


    Something in Ts demeanor must have clued the Archon in to the seriousness of the situation, because any hint of levity vanished from her features. Yes, of course. Right this way, please.


    * * *


    And then I came back here. T finished somewhatmely.


    <em>-No kidding that was ame ending. Oh, Mistress of the city, there is a great evil that might be among us. So, I came here.-</em>


    <em>Shut up.</em>


    <em>-You literally cant make me.-</em>


    <em>I can do another, even more esoteric query.</em>


    <em>-You wouldnt dare.-</em>


    <em>Try me.</em>


    There was a short silence before t responded. <em>-Fine.-</em>


    Jenna sat back in her ratherfy looking armchair, clearly considering, just as clearly unaware of the argument going on in Ts head. Ill have a lot of questions for you, and Im sure many others will as well.


    -<em>If I may speak, I have a suggestion.-</em>


    T sighed internally. <em>Fine. What is it?</em>


    <em>-Why dont we just give her ess to the memories?-</em>


    <em>We can do that?</em> T knew it was theoretically possible, but had no idea how such a thing would be essed by another person, or what it would do, or anything, really.


    <em>-Of course. Theyre all stored in the Archive, now. We can share any part of our mind with anyone we wish. I can gate it so they only see and hear what we saw and heard, rather than getting our inner thoughts, or I can allow our inner voice to ovey, so they can hear your thoughts at the time.-</em>


    <em>Unmodified. As close toplete as possible, please.</em>


    Mistress T? Whats going on? You seem distracted. Is it thealternate interface you mentioned?


    Yes. We have an idea.


    That got a raised eyebrow, but T pressed on.


    What if I just give you ess to the memories in question?


    That seemed to catch Jenna off guard. I wasnt aware that you were a mind mage, or an illusionist of that caliber.


    No, no. They are stored in the Archive. I did try to exin that earlier, but I suppose that was the least of what I conveyed.


    Jenna nodded slowly. Thats worth a try. Sure. She pulled out a te, but before she could start working on it, t spoke into Ts mind once more.


    -<em>No need for that.-</em>


    No need for that.


    -<em>I can grant her ess without a contract or te, anddone.-</em>


    You should have ess, now.


    Jenna cocked her head, then shrugged. Alright. She gestured at one wall, and the stone moved aside, revealing an illusion array very simr to the one Boma had on his desk. Though, if T had to guess, she would say that this one was more intricately constructed.


    After a moments maniption, Jenna brought up the memories, and the two women watched them, together.


    When the second one finished, Jenna was silent for a long time.


    T still had a lot to do before Terrys first day sparring alongside her. Thus, she was eager to depart. Sodo you need anything else from me?


    Jenna scoffed. Ill need to show this to my husband and several others of note. Do I have your permission?


    -<em>Granted-</em>


    Yes. The Archive should allow that, now.


    Thank you, Mistress T. This is a disturbing revtion, but I am d to have it brought to light. I am sure we will be in touch.


    <em>-She can just update a note for you in the Archive. Ill notice the new ess and get it immediately.-</em>


    I believe that you can just put a note for me in the Archive and grant me permission to view it. Ill see it and act ordingly.


    Jenna nodded slowly. As you say. Ill use that method if it isnt time critical but-


    T held up her hand. My apologies, Mistress Jenna, I dont mean to contradict you, but that will be the fastest way to reach me, regardless of the circumstances. <em>Assuming you dont go offline again.</em>


    <em>-All the more reason to keep from giving me over-taxingmands.-</em>


    The older woman regarded her for a long moment, then nodded again. As you wish.


    T stood from her own chair. Now, if you will excuse me, I have a breakfast appointment.


    Jenna stood as well. You seem remarkably calm, given what youve just unveiled.


    T gave a nervous, almost manic giggle. <em>Dont think about it. Dont let it sink in.</em>


    <em>-Thats really not healthyor really possible any more.-</em>


    <em>Hush, you. Im coping.</em> Oh, I just cant let the fear settle in. Gotta keep moving, you know.


    Jenna gave a slight bow of her head, but there was clearly concern in her expression. Take care of yourself, Mistress T.


    T bowed in return. Please protect us all, Mistress Jenna. <em>Because I certainly cant.</em>


    Without another word, or backwards nce, T strode away, leaving the Archon Compound behind.

 Chapter 178: Crazy

    Chapter 178: Crazy


    T was breathing hard and raggedly as she trudged through the city streets. More and more people were joining her on the thoroughfares, heading off to start their days.


    Her heavy breathing wasnt because of strain from the exercise, not in the least; she was falling under the stress brought on by her memories, still swirling through her head, and the eyes that wouldnt leave her alone, despite their absence.


    She shuddered involuntarily.


    A passing stranger paused, seemingly noticing the reaction. Miss? Are you okay? Are you cold?


    <em>Miss?</em> Her eyes flicked to her hands. The illusion hid all evidence of spell-forms. <em>Right!</em> Oh, Im fine. Thank you for asking, though. <em>That really was quite kind of him.</em>


    Are you sure? Im almost home, and I have another coat there. Its really no trouble. He started to shift out of hisrge, thick, warm-looking coat. <em>Maybe I am a little cold.</em> Still, she couldnt take the strangers coat.


    T held up her hands, feeling a bit embarrassed. No, really. Im fine. Im almost to where Im going.


    He hesitated, then shrugged, pulling the coat fully back on. As you wish. I hope you get warm soon, though. Yeah?


    She smiled. Thank you. Ill do my best.


    -<em>T-</em>


    -<em>That was quite a nice man; you should give him some money.-</em>


    <em>That would be insulting. He was just being kind.</em> T waved goodbye and continued on her way.


    <em>-People always like moneyno. Thats not right. Not everyone is so focused on money. Why do you like it so much?-</em>


    T suspected that she knew what t was doing, and she was grateful for the distraction from her disturbing memories, though shed never consciously admit it. Instead, she groaned. <em> I dont like it, per se. I find it useful, and I often have need of it. After all, it is required for basically everything I want or need.</em>


    <em>-Right. Hed probably say the same. You should go give him some.-</em>


    Ts eye twitched, even though she knew that t was purposely trying to draw her mind away from less pleasant things through irritation. <em>Too much would be showy, too little would be insulting. How much do you suggest I give him?</em>


    There was a protracted silence as T continued on her way. <em>-Yeah. Lets not do that.-</em>


    <em>d were in agreement.</em>


    She still had more than an hour before she had to meet with Mistress Odera for breakfast. So, she decided to run by the teleportation tower to see if Phoen was on duty, though something told T it was unlikely.


    -<em>T-</em>


    <em>-Shes not on shift right now.-</em>


    <em>How could you possibly know that?</em> Despite her doubt, she stopped, stepping to the side of the street so that she wouldnt block traffic.


    -<em>The shifts are a matter of public record. Im looking at them right now. Shees on shift in a little over an hour.-</em>


    <em>Ahh, alright then. Well, what should we do?</em>


    <em>-Get there early, get a first breakfast, and read a book?-</em>


    <em>As ideas go, thats good enough to go with.</em> T turned and wove her way through the morning traffic, which was now in full swing, making her way to the Caravan Guildhall.


    She walked through the main atrium and into the side of the building that housed the restaurant and lounge, waving a greeting to Cran from across the room as she entered, before grabbing a table in the back corner.


    She mentally paused on Cran, even as she continued to settle in. <em>Hes a Mage, not an Archon.</em> That sat oddly with her as shed been mainly dealing with Archons ofte. <em>I suppose that most Mages are Archons?</em>


    <em>-T-</em>


    <em>-The majority are, yes.-</em>


    <em>How can that be true? I could guess, but Id rather know.</em>


    <em>-Well, Im not going to take the time to research it at the moment, unless youmand such, but I have some informed guesses.-</em>


    <em>Lets hear it.</em>


    <em>-Mages age and fount-out, assuming they arent killed on the job. Archons, unless they are killed, live a very long time, slowly gaining in power.-</em>


    <em>So, Mages are like journeymen, magelings are like apprentices, and Archons are like masters of a craft?</em>


    <em>-More or less.-</em>


    <em>But there are almost always more journeymen and apprentices than masters.</em>


    <em>-Of course, because most masters arent immortal.-</em>


    <em>Ahh, yes. That does skew things, doesnt it.</em>


    <em>-If it helps, by majority I just mean that more than half are Archons. Its not a lot more, though the exact numbers arent a part of public record. I can put in a request?-</em>


    <em>No, thats not necessary. Thank you though. We can drop it for now.</em> She smiled to herself. <em>The question I want answered, now, is what to read.</em>


    <em>-T-</em>


    <em>-I have a suggestion.-</em>


    <em>Do you have to proceed so many of yourments with my name?</em>


    <em>-I could go back to DING.-</em>


    T jumped slightly at the sound within her own head. <em>Yeah, please dont.</em>


    <em>-Alright. What about: HEY! Listen!-</em>


    T felt her eye twitch. <em>That would get irritating, really, really quickly.</em>


    <em>-Then, T will work for now?-</em>


    <em>For now see if you can remove that requirement?</em>


    <em>-Ill see what I can do.-</em>


    <em>Incidentally, we were already talking. Why did you have to get my attention again?</em>


    <em>-You had explicitly stated that a conversation was over. Thus, I was required to treat my nextment as unsolicited.-</em>


    T shook her head, but was smiling. <em>Theres a lot of kinks to work out, here, I suppose.</em>


    <em>-So it seems.-</em>


    She looked up as the server came her way. The young mans arrival caused Ts stomach to growl.


    -<em>I know hes attractive, but keep it together. Youre an Archon, after all.-</em>


    T flushed, before having the realization that she didnt know if it would transmit through the illusion.


    -<em>Youre just trying to distract yourself.-</em>


    T cleared her throat, and responded to the server, ignoring t.


    She picked out arge spread of food from thete-night menu and thanked him for taking her order.


    He smiled appreciatively at her thanks and departed, promising to get the food as soon as possible.


    <em>-T-</em>


    <em>-Isnt it a bit early for fried chicken?-</em>


    <em>I thought Terry might like some.</em>


    <em>-I know you didnt order it just for him.-</em>


    <em>Well, fine. I want some. What were you saying about having a book suggestion?</em>


    Without preamble a book was floating in front of her. There was no sh, no fading into existence. It was justthere. -<em>Take a look. Its the booklet on your through-spike. Blessedly, the contents are freely avable to you through the Archive. They were arranged thoughtfully enough for the average Archon, but Ive reorganized it into an order that should make it better for you, so that you can get the best efficiency boost in your use of the item, as quickly as possible.-</em>


    T reached out feeling deeply skeptical.


    Even so, she would have sworn that she could feel the book. <em>How are you doing that?</em>


    Then, T shook her head.


    <em>Never mind, the feeling is as much a figment of my mind as the visual. Of course, you can fake senses other than sight.</em>


    <em>-Correct.-</em>


    Once she stopped trying to see through the illusion, once she allowed her skepticism topse, the tome seemed to solidify in her hand, and she was able to handle it exactly like any other book.


    <em>This is pretty odd, t.</em>


    <em>-Its a perk. Enjoy it. But trust me, I know that it will take a lot to get used to these new features.-</em>


    T cocked her head to one side. <em>A pun on your own name?</em>


    <em>-Im entitled.-</em>


    She grunted.<em> Fair enough.</em>


    In no time at all, T was reading the book just as she would any other, and true to ts word, the contents were arranged exactly as she would have hoped, filling in her greatest gaps in understanding right up front, and polishing out the finer points as she continued on.


    She could practically feel her through-spike bing more efficient, using up less of her reverberating power.


    The server returned with her food, giving her a bit of an odd look before departing.


    <em>Not everyones a reader, I guess.</em>


    T helped Terry try a bite of each dish, but in the end, he was happy simply consuming arge quantity of jerky, delivered to him in the usual manner. What that meant was that between basically every bite, T flicked out a bit of the jerked meat. Terry caught each with dimensional maniptions too quick to notice, save the resulting ripples of power.


    She continued to read as she ate as well, finishing the food with speed that bordered on scarfing, without ever having to pause her study of the book before her.


    It helped that the book didnt make her joints or muscles cramp to hold in one hand, and she found it trivially easy to turn the page with the thumb of the same hand whenever she needed.


    The server cleared the dishes, and T thanked him, letting me know that she was expecting to be joined shortly.


    He bowed and promised to return when the other party arrived. He presented T with a tablet to pay for her already consumed food, and she paid withoutint. After all, shed been able to sneak in her order from off of thete-night menu. Three silver wasnt that bad for the spread that shed devoured.


    Returning her focus to the book, T smiled. <em>This is perfectly put together.</em>


    <em>-I do try.-</em>


    T hitched for a moment. <em>Right, you rearranged it and this isnt real.</em> She lifted the book slightly. It felt less substantial as she considered its unreality, the truth of it showing through as she considered it.


    -<em>Nope. Itspletely a figment of your mind.-</em>


    She felt her cheeks heat again. What had the server seen? A woman staring at her own hand with rapt attention for the better part of an hour?


    -<em>That is probably how it looked, yes.-</em>


    <em>Do I have to hold it?</em>


    <em>-No, thats just a crutch until you can consistently manipte the perceptual illusion with your conscious mind. I could do it for you, but Ive devised a way for you to gain better conscious control of your new options, given the Archive link. This is step one.-</em>


    T almost protested, but then she remembered how the book was <em>exactly</em> right for her. <em>t really does know me well enough to provide that.</em>


    <em>-Rusting right I do. Speaking of that, I have quite a few minor modifications to your daily training regime.-</em>


    <em>Wait. Theres something wrong with my routine?</em>


    <em>-No. There is nothing specifically wrong, but I think we can modify it to give you better results. Improve it, as it were.-</em>


    T was basically always open to learning, so she shrugged. <em>Okay. Lets do it.</em>


    <em>-Great! Consider me your personal trainer from here on out.-</em>


    She was suddenly a little hesitant. <em>What exactly did I sign up for?</em>


    <em>-Exactly as much improvement as you can take.-</em> Then, somehow, t winked at her.


    T didnt see any eyes, nor did she, herself, wink. Even so, somehow, she knew that t had winked at her. <em>Did you just project the concept of winking at me?</em>


    <em>-I did, indeed.-</em> t seemed quite proud of herself for that. <em>-I havent had that much time to practice my abilities, since I came into existence. The breadth of them is really quite fascinating.-</em>


    T held in a groan, though it was pretty useless of her to try to hide reactions from t.


    -<em> Dont be like that. You have hands and feet and, you know, senses. I have these. Dont begrudge me my tools.-</em>


    <em>Fine, fine.</em>


    That settled, T decided to go back to reading the book that didnt exist, so she could ignore the voice inside her head.


    <em>That sounds pretty crazy, when I think about it that way.</em>


    <em>-T, you are crazy in innumerable ways, but that doesnt make you any less you.-</em>


    <em>That didnt actually contain anything meaningful, did it?</em>


    <em>-Of course not, but you feel better, right?-</em>


    T glowered at the nonexistent book.


    -<em>I thought so.-</em>


    She decided that the best path was to not engage. So, she went back to reading.


    T finished the little booklet and was just considering what else she should read when Mistress Odera walked in.


    T waved the Mage over and stood as she approached.


    Good morning, Mistress Odera.


    Good morning, Mistress T. Youre lookinguninscribed. What did you do?


    T grinned, having expected something like this. Well, Ive got quite a bit to tell you, actually.


    They sat and ate, chatted and discussed. The server was mildly confused when T ordered more food but didnt deign toment.


    Mistress Odera, as usual, had some anecdotes of dubious authenticity, but which still allowed T to think about the problems in different ways.


    Their time was shorter than usual, as Mistress Odera had an appointment, but she expressed her appreciation when T let her know that the next destination T wanted to head towards would be Marliweather. The older woman promised to approve the venture, and be avable to join T on it, when the request came through.


    They bid each other goodbye and parted way.


    T pulled on her gloves, moving towards the exit to the Caravan Guildhall. As she did so, she noticed Lyn and waved to the Archon, who seemed rather engrossed in her conversation with a young, bald woman. <em>Is that a mageling?</em>


    It didnt really matter.


    Well, it <em>hadnt</em> really mattered, until Lyn noticed Ts gesture and waved her over.


    <em>I wonder what this is about.</em>


    As she got closer, T got a better look at the young woman. <em>Young, shes basically my age. New graduate? New arrival?</em>


    As T walked over, Lyn smiled gestured to the woman, who still hadnt turned around. T, this is mageling Kannis.


    <em>What? No</em>


    The girl turned around, and T felt herself stiffen.


    <em>-T.-</em>


    <em>-The plot thickens.-</em>


    <em>Hush.</em>


    Kannis was a student at the Academy, while T was there. An Immaterial Creator specializing in information exchanges and processing. <em>Very simr to Lyn, now that I consider it.</em>


    Though, the womancked any sort of inscriptions at the moment. <em>Newly arrived indeed.</em>


    T and Kannis had never really interacted. Kannis had been rtively popr, in a quiet sort of way, and T had chosen the path of utter anti-sociability.


    Hello, T was it? Kannis held out a hand. Its a pleasure to meet you.


    T took her hand in a bit of a daze. Its mutual, Im sure.


    Her eyes darted to Terry, then away. Your pet bird is very handsome.


    Hes more a friend than a pet, but thank you. She shrugged and tried to smile.


    Oh! Thank you for letting me know. She nced down at her feet. So, what do you do for the Guild? Im just graduated, and I am so excited to get started.


    <em>No.</em> Ts mind hitched at the very possibility, threatening at the edges of her awareness. <em>Oh, please no.</em>


    Lyn cleared her throat, seemingly deciding that it was time to interject. Kannis, its <em>Mistress</em> T. She is a dimensional Mage and a Mage protector.


    Kanniss eyes widened, and she gave a formal bow. Oh! My apologies, Mistress. Her eyes flicked over T, and she frowned just slightly. Im sorry for whatever happened to your scripts. Im in a simr position, though I suppose my state is standard for my station.


    Lyn seemed to notice the apparent absence of Ts spell-lines at that point too. Yeah, Id love to hear that story. I actually expected she shook her head,ing back to the present, but thats not pertinent at the moment.


    Kannis wasnt done, however, as her frown had only deepened. Wait Did Mistress say that youre a dimensional Mage and a Mage protector?


    T found her voice enough to respond. Thats right.


    Forgive my ignorance, but shouldnt the dimensional Mage be protected beyond all else, as basically the most critical part of any caravan? Kannis seemed rather proud of her knowledge.


    T opened and closed her mouth a few times, struggling to find something to say.


    Lyn hid her mouth behind a hand, but not before T caught sight of a mirthful grin.


    T cleared her throat, centering herself. While, yes, the dimensional Mage is basically the keystone of any given caravan, it is efficient to have me able to fill multiple roles, so long as I am not on the front line of defense, except in dire need.


    Has that worked out well?


    T immediately thought of the Leshkin.


    Lyn was practically dying as she held in herughter behind the young womans back.


    With one notable exception, yes. Its worked quite well. T practically red at Lyn around Kannis.


    Oh, thats fascinating. What was the exception?


    T returned her attention to the mageling. The Leshkin, in the southern forest. They didnt take too well to something about me, and I ended up being the target of their attacks more than once.


    Leshkin? Kannis hesitated for only a moment. Oh! I remember those. We studied them in my History of Recurring Threats to Humanity ss. They sounded like horribly difficult opponents.


    They were. <em>History of Recurring Threats to Humanity?</em>


    <em>-T-</em>


    <em>-You were bored in the ss and never really paid attention. It was mainly a discussion ss, and you participated exactly, and only, as much as was required to pass. You really werent that good a student for most of your academic career.-</em>


    <em>OhI thought I was a good student, all things considered.</em>


    <em>-Hardly. You excelled in every ss that you care about, but those were few and far between.-</em>


    T grimaced, even as Kannis turned back to Lyn, who had gotten herself under control by that point. Now, Mistress Lyn, what do you think of my proposal?


    T frowned. Whats this about Lyn? Her earlier concerns resurfaced. <em>Why did she call me over here?</em>


    Lyn grinned at her friend. Well, Kannis, here, is asking if Ill take her on as my mageling.


    <em>Rust.</em>


    And, I think Im going to say: Yes.


    Kannis gasped and pped her hands in glee. Oh! Thank you, Mistress Lyn. You wont regret this.


    <em>Double rust. </em>T knew this was more than just an addition to Lyn, else the older woman wouldnt have involved T at all. <em>Shes going to live in our house</em>


    t justughed, andughed, andughed.

 Chapter 179: Adjusting Your Senses

    Chapter 179: Adjusting Your Senses


    T took a moment to collect herself. <em>Kannis is going to be Lyns mageling, and shes going to live with us.</em>


    She didnt really know how to feel about that. How could she cope with another person, suddenly rammed into such a core part of her life? <em>What can I do? Can I forbid it?</em>


    <em>-T.-</em>


    <em>-Only when youre here.-</em>


    That caused T to recenter, if only just. <em>Fine. Only when Im here.</em> That crystallization of the thought helped her pull back to the moment, and realize that the others were watching her, waiting for a response.


    T pasted on a smile. Thats big news. I didnt know you were considering taking on a mageling, Lyn.


    Kannis nced between them, a thoughtful look on her face, but didntment.


    Lyn shrugged. Ive been considering it, and this one came and asked. Ive just finished going through her records, and I think its a good match. In fact, if I am going to take on a mageling, there likely wont be one better. She spent thest two months taking an intensive ss on the Archive, its history and functions.


    <em>That tracks. I left as soon as theyd let me. Most who arrived when I did would have stayed on for one or more extra sses, to round out their employment opportunities.</em> That sounds incredibly useful.


    -<em>To say the least. I should see if Oh! Nice! The reference materials for that ss are part of the public record. We should read this at some point.-</em> There was a moments pause. <em>-Yeah, Ill restructure it for you. This is not well put together for quick learning.-</em>


    T cleared her throat. So, to what do I owe the pleasure of being included on this weighty decision?


    Lyn nodded. Well, it is traditional for a Mage to provide housing for her mageling.


    T sighed. So, you found your renter.


    I did. Well, in a sense. She wont be renting, as Id be paying for her housing if she stayed elsewhere.


    Kannis looked back and forth between them. Im sorry, Mistresses, but I dont understand. What am I missing?


    Oh, its fine, Kannis. T used to rent a room from me, but due to certainchanges, that is no longer required. She can exin if she wishes, youll figure it out eventually. Suffice to say, I have an open room in my home, so instead of putting you up at some local boarding house, youll live with me, if thats agreeable.


    T cleared her throat. And me, when Im in town.


    Kannis nodded slowly. I dont think I fully understand, but I dont think thats a problem.


    Lyn smiled. Good. Ill draw up the paperwork for a Mage-mageling rtionship, and we can go over it together.


    That sounds wonderful. Thank you, Mistress Lyn. I promise that you wont regret taking me on.


    <em>I might.</em> T kept the frown off of her face.


    <em>-T.-</em>


    -<em>Dont be rude. This has very little to do with you.-</em>


    <em>Fair. </em>She took a deep breath and changed the content of her thoughts. <em>The whole must get my attention thing is getting pretty annoying. Can you take a moment to see if you can disable the requirement?</em>


    <em>-As you wish.-</em>


    T smiled, forcing a bit more genuineness into it this time. Well, congrattions to you both. Its a big thing youre both agreeing to. We can celebrate tonight?


    I think thats a wonderful idea. Lyn nodded her thanks and looked to Kannis.


    As my mastermands. Kannis grinned in genuine-seeming joy. That does sound quite nice.


    Well, I must be off, and the two of you have details to hammer out. See you at home tonight, around dinner.


    Good to meet you, Mistress T. The mageling bowed.


    Dont do anything too insane. Lyn added.


    T felt a smile tug at her lips. Me? Never. Terry on the other hand. He gets to join us in sparring today.


    Terry lifted his head and let out an affirmative squawk.


    T strode away, friend on her shoulder, Lyn left standing, wide-eyed and opened mouthed in astonishment.


    <em>That was strangely satisfying.</em>


    t didnt reply. The silence stretching for almost a minute as T made her way through Bandfasts streets.


    <em>I suppose that delving into her inner workings to turn off the T requirement, takes more capacity that Id have guessed.</em>


    Still silent.


    T shifted her shoulders as she walked, feeling oddly lonely in the silence.


    <em>Great. Shes going to see these memories when shees back, and shell never let me live it down.</em>


    <em>-Oh, Im loving it, now.-</em>


    Gah! T jumped,nding to the side of the street and scaring several of the people around her.


    An older woman had frozen in shock, handing to her mouth in astonishment. Good heavens child. Are you alright?


    T felt her face heat in embarrassment and blurted out the first lie that came to mind. There was a bee.


    t cackled withughter as T sped away, not making eye contact, nor acknowledging the womans follow-up questions.


    <em>-There was a bee?-</em>


    She keptughing in the back of Ts mind.


    -<em>Its the middle of winter! Theres snow everywhere. What kind of excuse was that?-</em>


    Theughter rolled on.


    T chose the path of nonconfrontation and ignored t. <em>She is a lot to ignore</em>


    <em>-See, that was at least clever.-</em> A snort of all things resounded through her head. -<em>There was a bee.-</em>


    <em>How the rust are you conveying a snort and a shake of your head?</em>


    <em>-I grow in capacity by the minute.-</em>


    <em>Thats just wonderful for you.</em>


    <em>-Thank you. I rather think so, too.-</em> After a moment, t giggled. -<em>There was a bee.-</em>


    <em>I think it was good enough, given the timeframe. Besides, It was a better response than saying that the voice in my head startled me.</em>


    t paused at that. <em>-True, I suppose, but just because it wasnt the worst thing you could have said, doesnt mean it was a good option.-</em>


    It wasnt worth continuing the disagreement. T tossed out some jerky for Terry, even while munching on some, herself. As she did so, she had a realization. <em>Hey, you didnt have to proceed your statement by getting my attention.</em>


    <em>-I did not.-</em>


    <em>So, you figured it out, then?</em>


    <em>-Absolutely. I used your authorization to remove the requirement for me to notify you before adjusting your senses.-</em>


    T blinked a few times, tossing out another bit of jerky for Terry. <em>Wait. What?</em>


    <em>-You asked me to remove the requirement.-</em>


    <em>I dont want you modifying what I sense without me knowing.</em>


    <em>-Well, then you shouldnt have asked me to make that change.-</em>


    <em>When you talk into my head, I know youre talking! That has nothing to do with a removal of notification.</em>


    There was a pause. -<em>So, you want that requirement reinstated?-</em>


    <em>Without question, yes.</em>


    <em>-T-</em>


    <em>-The requirement has been reinstated.-</em>


    <em>Youre doing it again.</em>


    <em>-It is required.-</em>


    T threw her hands up in the air. Thankfully no one was close enough to be startled or inconvenienced by the gesture. <em>No, it isnt! You talking to me lets me know that youre talking to me. I dont need a word or sound preceding your talking. That would be like: You must always give me a book, which tells me that you are going to give me a book, before you can give me a book.</em>


    t, somehow, hummed in her head consideringly. -<em>So, would you like me adjust my notification to simply be whatever I am about to tell you?-</em>


    T thought for a moment, looking for how it might be abused.


    -<em>Im not trying to trick you. Your wellbeing is my well-being.-</em>


    <em>YeahI knowfine.</em>


    <em>-You still sound hesitant. Should I find a way of making mymunications stand out more in your mind as well?-</em>


    <em>Thats worth a try, sure.</em>


    <em>Command epted.</em>


    T continued on her way. <em>How are you doing that? Your thoughts arenting through more loudly, but they are moreemphasized?</em>


    <em>I am denoting them more extremely as separate from the normal flow of your thoughts.</em>


    T grimaced. <em>I dont think I like that. Lets remove the extra distinction.</em>


    <em>-Command epted-</em>


    T felt some tension ease. She hadnt really realized it, but the sheer oddity of having such distinctly separated thoughts within her own head had been grating. But she was getting distracted. <em>So, if that quick moment was all it took to make the adjustment, what was the other thing for? Why did you try to remove all notice that you were influencing my senses?</em>


    <em>-That was the best solution that quickly presented itself, and I didnt want to be offline in contemtions for a long stretch, once again.-</em>


    <em>But I came up with this other option very quickly.</em>


    <em>-Yes, you did. That is some evidence that our different perspectives lend themselves to differing patterns of thought, even though we obviously reside in the same brain, and are the result of the same spirit and soul.-</em>


    <em>Is that going to be an issue?</em>


    <em>-Not at all. It just emphasizes that we will benefit from each other for a long time toe. It also is a funny bit of evidence that if we switched ces, we would be like the other, which would almost be a form of suicide on my part.-</em>


    T grunted in acknowledgement. <em>Thats an interesting way of thinking about it, I suppose.</em>


    -<em>Were here.</em>-


    T came out of her reverie and looked up at the glory of the teleportation tower. <em>You know, I never asked why they are towers, instead of just normal buildings.</em> T once again marveled at the artistry that went into the motifs covering the entryway.


    -<em>Do you want to know why its a tower?-</em>


    <em>Later, but sure. Thank you for asking.</em>


    She could remember clearly exiting through this archway and thinking about how it would have taken meticulous effort to carve each relief, each detailed image. <em>I didnt realize that there are some Archons who could do this with a wave of their hand.</em>


    Even so, it was still a stunning disy of control and technique, likely an even greater demonstration of skill than simply carving it all by hand would be.


    <em>The artist has likely been practicing for hundreds of years.</em> And she got to enjoy the fruits of that experience.


    A contented smile on her face, T strolled into the tower.


    A chipper young woman, wrapped in a stylish looking winter coat greeted T just inside the door. Hello and wee to the Teleportation Tower. To better assist you, today, may I ask if you are departing yourself or receiving an iing traveler?


    T took a moment to blink and process the flood of words that hade from the woman. <em>That has to be rehearsed. Who rehearses such a speech?</em> That didnt really matter, though.


    T noticed a bit of magicing from near the girls feet, behind the counter. <em>A heater? Thats interesting. Clearly tied into the citys grid, too. Could that be one of the artifacts that Queue was talking about?</em> Shed have to examine the thing to be sure, but it seemed reasonable.


    -<em>Focus, T, the girl asked you a question.-</em>


    <em>Right!</em> T smiled,ing back to the matter at hand. Oh, no. Thank you, though. Im here to see Mistress Phoen, if shes avable.


    <em>-I already told you that she was on shift, now.-</em>


    <em>Yes, and I asked about her avability, not her presence.</em>


    <em>-Ohright.-</em>


    Ts smile shifted to one side. <em>Seems we both have an issue thinking through things at times.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, we should work on that.-</em>


    <em>Agreed.</em>


    Oh, certainly. The receptionist smiled in return, leaned back in her chair, and called through a doorway behind her and to her left. Clint, can you run and see if Mistress Phoen is avable? She has a visitor.


    An older voice, likely mid-thirties if he wasnt a Mage, answer. Sure thing!


    Itll just be one minute, and well know for sure. Can I get you anything while you wait?


    No, but thank you for asking.


    Absolutely! Let me know if you change your mind.


    Will do.


    T turned to look back out through the archway, taking in a deep lungful of the cool air and enjoying the slightly elevated view over the buildings, which were just beginning to be bathed in the new light of dawn.


    She spent a couple of oddly rxing minutes looking out at the city, through the artistic portal.


    Its a beautiful view, isnt it. The older, feminine voice came from behind Ts right shoulder.


    T turned, a genuine smile pulling at her cheeks. Mistress Phoen. It is a pleasure to see you once again.


    The other woman was exactly as T remembered. -<em>It has only been a couple of months.-</em>


    One thing stood out where it hadnt at their first meeting. <em>Shes a Mage, not an Archon. Is she Forbidden?</em>


    -<em>No, she is not in the lists of Forbidden, but thats a special title for those with essentially no chance to Bound a star, though they can achieve an attempt with rtive ease.-</em>


    Im sorry, young woman, but you seem to have me at a disadvantage. Do I know you?


    T gave a slight bow. I am T. You greeted me when I arrived from Academy, and you lent me clothing as well.


    Why would I have Her eyes widened, and then sheughed. Oh! Mistress T, thats right. How are you? She frowned. Did you give up the Mages life?


    <em>Theck of inscriptions.</em>


    Phoens eyes bobbed to Terry, though there was not surprise in them, so shed likely noticed him before T turned around. It seems you found yourself a friend.


    T reached up and scratched Terry. I have, indeed. But no, no. Im still working for the Caravanners Guild. Ive not given up magic by any means.


    The older woman frowned just slightly. The expression didnt seem to line up with any of the wrinkles on her face, making it clear that Phoen didnt frown often. Whatever happened to your inscriptions, dear? Did you have to teleport for some reason? Little else would eliminate them sopletely and cleanly.


    T watched the womans mage-sight inscriptions fill with power and activate.


    Phoens eyes widened again, and she gasped, taking a half-step back. Mistress. She gave a shallow bow. Youvee far in such a short time, Archon.


    T stepped forward, crossing the space that Phoen had created with her half-step and then some, before cing her hands on the womans shoulders. None of that, Mistress. I came to thank you, once again, for your kindness and assistance that first day, not to have you abase yourself.


    As you wish. Phoen seemed to struggle for a moment within herself before nodding once. How is it that you have advanced so quickly? Even among those who make it to Archon, isnt half a decade considered fast?


    That sounds about right.


    So, if I may ask, Mistress. How?


    T shrugged, finding herself without a good answer. Im not sure what to tell you.


    Did you just throw yourself off a cliff to get to the bottom?


    -<em>Not an inurate assessment.-</em>


    <em>Hush, you.</em> I did take some risks, I suppose.


    Someone should tan your masters hide for letting you move so fast.


    Well, you see, I never actually had a master.


    Phoen cocked an eyebrow. I knew you were going to attempt to be hired as a full Mage, but you didnt get a master, even for the advice and direction?


    Well, I talk with as many Mages and Archons as I can, asking advice.


    Do you follow it?


    T grimaced slightly. Mostly?


    Phoen snorted. Well, it doesnt seem to have done you anysting harm, at least not yet. She gave T an appraising look. Youre doing well, then?


    I am, thank you, and you?


    Cantin. Mact is close to full Magehood, and hes likely thest mageling Ill take.


    T cocked her head to one side. Why dont you?


    Phoenughed. I never could master <em>that</em> spell-form. Something about my mindset as a Material Creator makes me unsuited to such esoteric workings of raw power. I never was able to bridge the quadrants, either. She shrugged. But Ive lived a good life, made a good ie, and Im ready to retire and spend time with my great grandchildren.


    Do you have many?


    Phoen smiled softly. Twenty, the twentieth born justst month. She let out a contented breath. The healers tell me that Ive likely got another dozen years or so, at least. So, Im looking forward to watching them grow, marry, and have children of their own.


    <em>That doesnt make sense. Ingrit said no Mage dies of old age.</em> T almost objected, but t cut across her.


    -<em>Ill exin after.-</em> There was a sadness to her alternate interfaces voice, so T decided to trust her.


    She smiled towards Phoen. That sounds like a full-time endeavor. T felt like she wanted to be sad at the prospect of Phoen retiring, especially with ts vaguements, but there was an undercurrent of joy in the womans demeanor that made it clear that she wanted nothing more in the world than exactly that.


    Precisely. Her well worn smile-lines deepened as a look of true, contented satisfaction came to rest on her features.


    <em>She wants such different things from me.</em> Was that because they were different people, or was T a fool, facing the wisdom brought on by age and rejecting it?


    -<em>Likely a bit of both. I dont know that well ever want to take her path, but I think we may want pieces of it at some point.-</em>


    There was wisdom there. She might, one day, want a family, and at that time, shed very much be walking a parallel path to Phoens.


    T nced around, then nodded into thefortable silence. Well, I dont want to keep you from your work. Thank you for letting me drop through, and thank you, again, for all you did for me.


    Phoen bowed. It was wonderful to see you, and it is my pleasure to have been able to assist. When she straightened, there was a hardness to her gaze. But you listen here, young woman. Ill give you the advice I gave my own daughters and sons: Dont advance too fast, Mistress. Life is worth living, dont let it pass you by. You hear?


    T felt strangely touched by the womans fervor. I wont, Mistress. Thank you.


    T bowed to the woman; she bowed to the first Mage who shed met in this city, the first one to greet her after she left the Academy. With a smile on her face, and a lightness brought on by happiness in her head, T departed.


    <em>Im d I did that.</em>


    <em>-Me too.-</em>


    <em>So, what was that about? Didnt Ingrit say no Mage dies of old age?</em>


    <em>-I looked it up, and Mages who cant consciously create the Archon star eventually manifest it subconsciously within themselves, instantly bonding it and beginning the process of bing a fount. In those cases, its a fairly predictable process, which can be monitored and anticipated, without being prevented.-</em>


    <em>Hence the twelve year guess.</em>


    <em>-Exactly. Apparently, it happens most often in the Mages sleep, at which point, they simply get up and leave. The Mage is then unresponsive, and can either be killed or let out of the city.-</em>


    That was depressing to say the least. One day Phone would just get up and walk out of her familys life without a word of goodbye.


    <em>-She knows itsing, as will her family, even if they wont know exactly what it is.-</em>


    <em>Secrecy.</em>


    <em>-Secrecy.-</em>


    T sighed. <em>I need to hit something. </em>She reached up to scratch Terrys head. Ready to spar, my friend?


    He leaned into her hand and trilled with obvious excitement.


    Lets go.

 Chapter 180: Master Avian

    Chapter 180: Master Avian


    T strode off the street and through the training yard with purpose.


    After nearly a week ofing back here to train, the guards were once again used to seeing her walk through their midst, and those that werent were quickly informed by some around them that she was expected and a regr.


    Most didnt even get up, simply waving at her or calling out some derivation of, Good morning, Mistress.


    She waved to those who waved and acknowledged all the others who called out greetings.


    It was a pleasant experience, actually, having so many people at least politely happy to see her.


    The regr citizenry were a bit more reserved. <em>Or is that just me?</em>


    That was an interesting thought. If she waved at people as she passed them on the street, would they wave back? What if she greeted them?


    <em>No, there are far, far too many people in the city to make that a reasonable thing to do.</em> She considered. <em>Maybe in the off times, or less popted streets?</em>


    -<em>You waste a lot of mental energy on random thoughts like this.-</em>


    <em>Its interesting, alright?</em>


    <em>-You could be so much more with a bit more focus.-</em>


    T cocked her eyebrow, though she didnt have anyone to direct the look at.


    -<em>Fine, you do do quite a bit. Some random thinking is probably healthy.-</em>


    <em>Thats right, it is.</em> T strode into the building and through it, down the familiar path to the training courtyard.


    The cool air of the winter morning pervaded the open structure and allowed the stone to be cold beneath her shoes, just as with the streets outside. T sent a tendril of power through her garments, causing her shoes to connect to her pants, and break apart, pulling back into the other elk-leathers. With a smile, T enjoyed the stone against her bare skin, and the temperature wasnt unpleasant to her in the least.


    <em>Much better.</em>


    She walked slowly, taking a moment to simply revel in the small pleasure of the texture and temperature of the floor with each step. All too soon, she came out of the side hall and onto the open walkway around the training courtyard to find quite a few guards already there, stretching, or moving through some half-speed sparring.


    The healer wasnt there, yet. In fact, as she looked around, she realized that while she wasnt the first to arrive by a long shot, she was the first Mage.


    Several of the guards greeted her, but no one stopped what they were doing. T returned the greetings and moved out onto an open portion of the sand.


    She took time to move through a stretching sequence to limber up. While she couldnt count on such being possible before real fights, it let her continue to improve flexibility and keep from straining her muscles. <em>Wait Do I even need to do this?</em>


    <em>-Well, you could technically just overstretch and tear your body. Then, you could hold the position until it healed, but I wouldnt rmend it.-</em>


    T nodded to herself, even as she kept stretching. <em>That would make me more flexible, but take me backwards, strength wise. I need to bring up strength and flexibility together, in tandem, in order to have the best results.</em>


    <em>-Precisely.-</em>


    <em>I guess there arent really any shortcuts.</em>


    t seemed to pause, something akin to disbelief radiating from within Ts mind. <em>-Well, I mean, you can workout and stretch to your limit every day, rust multiple times per day, and see improvements each time. Thats a shortcut vastly beyond what mundanes can do.-</em>


    T felt a bit foolish at the moment. <em>Right.</em> She sometimes forgot how much of an advantage that was. <em>We should probably find a way of tracking my improvement.</em>


    <em>-Likea system? With statistics and hard numbers for how you are improving over time?-</em>


    <em>That might be nice.</em>


    <em>-I could evene up with a leveling nomenture, so that you could track as you progressed through the rankings.-</em>


    <em>I think that would be nice, actually.</em>


    T sensed deep skepticism from t. <em>-I think youd obsess over it. Not to mention, isnt that exactly what you were warned off of, when you looked into mana?-</em>


    T considered as she shifted from a handstand to a floating pushup and back, working and stretching her shoulders. She hadnt increased her weight, as she did for her morning and evening sets, because her main focus wasnt strengthening at the moment. <em>Youre probably right.</em>


    <em>-I do try.-</em>


    T snorted augh, blowing sand away with the force of her exhale.


    -<em>No, I will not figure out a way to measure how hard you exhale.-</em>


    <em>I wasnt going to ask.</em>


    <em>-But you were thinking about it.-</em>


    T rolled her eyes, taking a moment to look around herself once again.


    Terry wasnt stretching. Well, he was stretched out in the sun, but that was different.


    The guards were mostly warmed up, and seemed about ready to start the days training.


    Aproa arrived as T was looking around.


    T rolled forwards, out of the side bend and middle split shed been in, springing to her feet and waving to the other woman. Good morning!


    Aproa waved as she walked up to T. We missed you yesterday. She frowned. What happened to your inscriptions? Are you alright?


    Oh, Im fine. <em>Thats going to trip up some people. I wonder if the through-spikes illusion can be modified?</em>


    <em>-Want me to investigate?-</em>


    <em>What will it take?</em>


    <em>-A small amount of power, and Ill be less responsive.-</em>


    <em>Do it.</em> The back and forth with t happened at the speed of thought. So, the entire conversation with t happened before Aproa finished shrugging and replied, Not really what I asked, but its your magics. So, your friend is joining the sparring today?


    Terry flickered into being behind T, sized to be just shorter than her.


    T reached back without looking, trusting her senses to find where he was, and patted the side of his beak. Thats the idea.


    Even though Rane and Aproa had supposedly warned the guardsmen the day before that Terry would be joining this day, those already in the courtyard turned warry eyes on the terror bird, a couple stepping back involuntarily.


    -<em>I dont think it was his presence, T. I think its that he just teleported and changed size. Sure, some have probably noticed him teleport before, but I dont think hes ever grown around the guards.-</em>


    <em>Ahh, thats fair.</em> T smiled, looking around the courtyard. Lets do this!


    Rane arrived at that moment. Mistress T! Terry! Ready to spar?


    T grinned and waved. Absolutely. Youre well?


    As ever.


    Adam was with the Archon, and he assessed Terry with a critical eye. I think I should fight the terror bird first, to assess the danger of his joining in. He looked to one of the guardsmen, near a side passage. Tras, please go inform the healer that we are ready.


    The man, Tras apparently, saluted and ran down the hall.


    T knew that the healer would be out in less than a minute, if previous days were any indication.


    Adam regarded Terry. No cutting or tearing.


    Terry tilted his head, considering, then bobbed acknowledgement.


    Do you wish me to use a training weapon?


    Terry hesitated, then bobbed once.


    That surprised T, but she didntment.


    Clear the sand, please.


    Everyone, T included, walked outward to the steps surrounding and leading down into the sand-filled courtyard.


    One of the guardsmen tossed two training swords to Adam, and the man caught them with ease. He tested their weight, then nodded and thanked his colleague. Ready?


    Terry bobbed his assent once again.


    Begin.


    Terry flickered out of existence. In the same instant, Adam swept his swords in two seemingly conflicting defensive patterns, and he closed his eyes.


    <em>Well, that makes too much sense.</em>


    <em>-Agreed. Terry moves around too much for our eyes to be trusted. Closing them would allow a greater focus on our other senses, and likely make us better able to counter him.-</em>


    <em>Noted.</em>


    -<em>Or it would get us thrashed even more quickly, because we arent used to fighting blind.-</em>


    T hesitated at that. <em>Yeahthats more likely.</em>


    Adams almost random seeming movements kept the swords in motion and close enough to strike at Terry, no matter where the avian appeared.


    T couldnt tell <em>how</em> Adam was sensing Terry, until she noticed that Adam wasnt moving his feet or making any noticeable noise. In the near utter silence of the courtyard, T heard the smallest whisper at each of Terrys appearances, barely louder than the air moving over and rustling the terror birds feather.


    <em>Well, rust my bucket. How have I never heard that, before?</em>


    -<em>We never held still and silent for long enough to hear it?-</em>


    That was as good an exnation as any, but T felt unsatisfied. <em>I feel like I should have heard thatespecially if Adam can. Dont I have better hearing?</em>


    t was silent for a short moment, then she made an irritated sound. -<em>You have been hearing it, but we dismissed it as background noise, given that we were basically always out in nature, or near other people sparring in other rooms, so it was assumed to be meaningless.-</em>


    <em>Well, I feel foolish.</em>


    The fight going on before them was a stalemate, simr to how Terry and Rane fought, but Adam wasnt defended or moved by magic. He simply always twitched his de towards Terry the instant the bird appeared, forcing the avian to retreat.


    Less than a minuteter, Terry flickered out and away. Trilling in irritation.


    Adam immediately stopped and bowed. You win this match, master avian.


    Terry cocked his head to one side, seeming almost confused.


    Your prohibition on cutting made you slower than you should have been, and I know you could have countered my defenses if you were unconcerned about harming me. Thank you. He bowed again. You have more restraint than Id have dreamed possible. I think it would be excellent practice for you to fight the others here.


    A throat cleared to one side, and T turned to regard a man shed never seen before.


    He was clearly a mundane and also clearly in his fifties, give or take. But that isnt what caught her attention first.


    His natural magical pathways thrummed with power, pouring through his uninscribed gate. His every drop of power was bent towards one thing and one thing alone: enhancing his reaction speed.


    I would appreciate joining in this training. He wore a finely made chainmail shirt of alternating riveted and solid rings overtop of a padded gambeson that hung to just above his knees. He held a helm under one arm and an oddly ovaline, curved shield on his back.


    Adam turned to the neer and bowed low, lower than T had ever seen him bow before. Captain.


    Adam, Ive been hearing good things about this little training group. I can see that even some of the most oundish bits were understating things.


    Adam gave a rueful smile. That terror bird has only joined us today.


    Even so. The captain turned to regard Terry. May I? You need not hold back. I am armored, and there is a healer to hand. I request only that you do not take my head from my shoulders.


    Terry was crouched low, regarding the man with wariness.


    T cleared her throat. I am T, captain. You are?


    The captain nced her way, then seemingly dismissed her. Even so, he answered. I am Aummar. He stepped forward, eyes back on Terry, setting his helmet on his head and synching the strap under his chin, above his gorget. That done, he situated his aventail, ensuring it wasnt caught on anything. Are you ready?


    He motioned and Adam tossed him one of the training swords. Aummar left his shield on his back.


    Terry nced to T, and she shrugged. If you want to, go crazy.


    Aummar regarded her again, seemingly reconsidering her given her obvious rtionship to Terry.


    Terry shook himself, then bobbed a nod.


    The man smiled. Whenever you are ready.


    Terry flickered, and Aummar moved.


    The captains sword drove outward, towards an empty space above and to his left.


    Terry appeared there just in time for the training sword to begin to connect before Terry flickered away.


    Aummar twisted, turning the strike into a sweep that jerked his weapon behind himself, where it tapped Terry once again as the bird appeared.


    Ts increased perception allowed her to realize what he was doing, even if not how. <em>His defensive patterns are exactly like those that Adam was using, but hes doing them with one sword, and hes just a reed faster.</em>


    None of the contact would have harmed Terry, there wasnt enough force imparted for that to happen, but it was impressive nheless.


    Then, Terry cut loose.


    He appeared, barely bigger than a sparrow, below and behind Aummar.


    The captain responded instantly, kicking out, but Terry was ready. He opened his mouth, growing in size even as he caught the attacking foot and mped down to hold it firmly.


    T heard the snap of bone, but Aummar simply grunted, pulling his leg in, while striking with his practice sword.


    Terry disappeared, flickering into being behind the man again and driving his taloned foot into Aummars back.


    Aummars armor held, but he was still mmed into the sand, the impact clearly driving the wind from his lungs. Even so, he rolled over, shing at Terry once more. Terry didnt even seem to move, just flickering as the sword passed harmless through the space he seemed to upy.


    The bird dropped his foot down once more, cracking into the armored chest.


    The chainmail would have held against a sh


    <em>Aummars words were a trap. Hes more susceptible to blunt than shing.</em>


    <em>-Yes, clever of him. Too bad for him, Terry is smarter than most.-</em>


    The blow caused Aummars hand to spasm and release his weapon.


    With that, Terry flickered away, settling down in a crouch and fluffing his feathers in triumph.


    Everyone starred at Aummar as hey virtually unmoving on the sand, convulsing. His foot was at a wholly unnatural angle, and his chest seemed to be <em>just</em> slightly the wrong shape. The healer was already at his side, magic flowing from the Mage into the captain.


    As the healing did its work, the convulsions got worse, only to be revealed as slightly gurglingughter.


    A momentter when the healer stepped back, Aummar sat up, spit out a mouthful of blood and continued tough.


    That was amazing! He rolled back, then vaulted up to his feet. Staggering just a bit on thending. You are incredible. I havent been bested that thoroughly in nearly a decade. Youve quite a lot of room to improve as well, if youre interested. He had pointed to Terry as he spoke.


    Terry cocked his head, then gave a slight bob of assent.


    Good! But first, how is your friend in a fight? He nced to T. Shall we test?


    T shrugged. Sounds good to me. She pulled Flow to her hand, verified that the training sheath was locked in ce, and sent power down the path that would extend it into the form of a sword.


    Aummar tilted his head to one side, examining the clearly magical weapon. When he nced to Adam and received a gesture of assent, the older man grunted, seeming to decide it wasnt worth addressing.


    Are you ready, or do you require time to recover?


    Aummar rolled his shoulders and hopped slightly, checking how his armor was situated. With a nod to himself and a smile for T, he responded. Im ready.


    T charged, executing a controlled thrust towards the mans chest.


    Aummar barely seemed to move, but they both froze, the match over.


    Flow was fully extended, sheathed tip barely missing Aummars shoulder. Aummars training sword rested against Ts de, deflecting it the barest amount, while its tip was at her throat.


    Youve reasonable technique, but you are easy to counter. Easy to predict.


    They pulled apart.


    Again.


    T nodded. Dont pull your strikes. I need to feel my mistakes.


    He cocked an eyebrow and nced to Adam. Adam nodded and smiled. With that, Aummar shrugged. As you wish. Healer, be ready.


    They moved as one, and T felt the lightest tap on Flow as they closed, before pain blossomed from her throat, the training weapon having utterly crushed the front of her neck.


    Through the blinding pain, T let Flow shift back into a knife and drove it into Aummars chest. She didnt hold back, allowing her agony to add to her strength, even as she sank into the blow, putting her full weight behind it.


    Though he was clearly not expecting her counter, Aummar reacted, pulling away from her strike even as she made it. While that softened the blow and might have been enough to counter a mundane strike, it couldnt negate Ts attack entirely.


    The impact threw him to the ground where he absorbed most of the force of the fall with a roll. He came back to his feet, somehow having not been hampered by the shield still on his back. There was shock in his eyes, but also resolve.


    T coughed, using the forceful exhtion to reinte her trachea, even as it pulled back into proper alignment and shape. <em>How hard did he hit me? My throat shouldnt be that easy to crush.</em>


    <em>-Id estimate that hed have partially decapitated anyone else.-</em>


    <em>Dangerous.</em>


    <em>-A bit, but not truly with the healer ready to hand.-</em>


    T grunted.


    Aummar nced down at himself and grimaced, sucking in a pained breath. You broke a couple of ribs. Well struck. His voice was a bit strained and breathless. So, a Mage, then?


    The healer walked over and tapped the man, causing Aummar to take in a deep, satisfied lungful of air. I didnt see your spell-lines and mistook you, Mistress. My apologies. He bowed.


    <em>Interesting.</em> So, he knows his own skill, and is proud of it, but doesnt hesitate to acknowledge mistakes or those who outrank him. <em>Very interesting.</em>


    Again?


    Over the next four hours, Aummar humbled them all. Even with their magics, and while he was weighed down with armor, he could fight them on nearly even footing.


    One on one, none of the Mages could match him, unless they stayed at a distance. His reactions were just too quick, his technique too refined. Hed move the slightest amount, both countering their attacks and delivering devastating damage.


    T was never able to take a wound to hit him again, after that first time, and Aummar, for his part, treated the Mages with a bit more wariness than hed shown before. Though, to be fair, he hadnt really known her to be a Mage in their first fight.


    <em>Maybe being mistaken for a mundane is a tactical advantage in some circumstances?</em>


    <em>-Maybe, but those who would trust our outward appearance arent much of a threat, regardless.-</em>


    T cocked an eyebrow and nced pointedly towards Aummar.


    -<em>Fair point, exceptions aside.-</em>


    T grinned. <em>Worth considering, I suppose.</em>


    After a good number of one-on-on fights, they were able to do more group conflicts with Aummars input, and Terry joined in in a smattering of those scenarios.


    In that way, the martial training began to mirror the magical that theyd doter on in the day.


    Aummar set the tone, but he slowly participated in fewer fights as the morning wore on.


    He had pointers for the three Mages and Terry, as well as for every guardsman who participated, and they all improved at his insight.


    As they wrapped up, Aummar approached Terry and T. If I may be impertinent enough to ask a couple of questions?


    Rane and Aproa were nearby, and they clearly heard and turned slightly to listen in.


    T smiled. Of course. Thank you for your input today.


    It was my pleasure, Mistress. Firstly, does Terry ever carry you?


    Terry and T shared a look before T shrugged. Sometimes, yes.


    Then, I would suggest that you practice some mountedbat. You two could definitely use some more cohesion training as well. You are both excellentbatants, but you dont truly fight <em>together</em> as you could and should.


    Again, the two of them looked at one another. Terry bobbed and trilled his assent. T smiled and turned back to Aummar. That sounds great.


    Ill look into it, on your behalf, then. There are some horse tracks and arenas nearby that could be excellent for that type of training.


    We look forwards to it.


    Secondly, Terry, would you consider using weapons?


    Terry cocked his head to the side, then flickered to Ts shoulder and back.


    Yes, I assumed that you couldnt carry much, if anything, with you in a teleport, but that isnt necessary.


    The bird tilted his head the other way, clearly intrigued.


    I believe that if you had a few weapons that you could move between, directing them, throwing them, or using them as you see fit, you could increase yourbat prowess considerably.


    Ts eyes widened at that, Aproa seemed almost to choke, and Rane started chuckling, adding, Thats just terrifying.


    Aummar grinned, nced to the other Mages. Then it is fitting for our terror bird friend.


    Terry seemed quite hesitant, however.


    Are you willing to give it a try? It will be clunky at first, but I think you mighte to appreciate the versatility.


    T and Terry, again, shared a look, and something in the birds eyes made T think that he was remembering the Leshkin, and how he was all but unable to attack them.


    Slowly, Terry bobbed his assent.


    Aummar pped his hand and grinned even wider. Ill see to it that some potentials, in practice weapon form, are ready for tomorrow, then.


    Thank you, again.


    It was my pleasure, Mistress. He bowed to them all. Mistress, Master, Mistress. Have a wonderful afternoon.


    T bounced back and forth on the balls of her feet, feeling energized by the mornings activities. Rane, Mistress Aproa, do you have lunch ns?


    Rane smiled slightly. I dont.


    Aproa shook her head. None here.


    Great. Im starving. Lets go.

 Chapter 181: Just a Minor Change

    Chapter 181: Just a Minor Change


    T ate her fill of three silver worth of food. Her lunchpanions, Rane and Aproa, who were already used to herrge appetite, watched with disbelief as she simply continued to eat.


    Normally, she ate about twice what Rane did, despite being less than half his size. For this meal however, she ate nearly six times what therge man did.


    Terry had enjoyed trying a bit of everything but had settled back on jerky after the initial tastes.


    T smiled contentedly to herself, contemting how much shed increased her stores. <em>Not too bad, T.</em>


    <em>-Ill say. We were approaching our real weight, given our heavier muscles, bones, and other tissue. Our stores havent been lower, except right after you received those inscriptions from Holly. Even losing our arm didnt take us so close to empty.-</em>


    T ignored the reference to the past unpleasantness and redirected the conversation. <em>And I burn through around twenty-four hundred calories a day. So, burning through two pounds of reserves will heal me as much as I naturally would over three days, but much faster?</em>


    <em>-If your entire body was in need of healing? Yes, near enough. Or you could regrow an arm, almost twice over.-</em> t hesitated. -<em>Or near enough to that.-</em>


    No wonder the weapons test, and resulting pressure wave, had taken so much from her. Shed dropped more than twenty pounds from that one instance, alone. <em>And this meal will trante to about a pound of reserves.</em>


    <em>-For a normal person, this would turn into about that, yeah, but were a bit more efficient. Call it a pound and a half with the enhancements to our digestive system.-</em>


    <em>Right, because most people wouldnt extract all there was within the food, and then spend a greater proportion to store it.</em>


    <em>-Precisely.-</em>


    <em>What does happen to the excess weight? I know Im eating more than a pound and a half.</em>


    <em>-You know the answer.-</em>


    <em>Im sure I do, but you can recall it faster.</em>


    t sighed within Ts mind. <em>-You breathe most of it out, if you want the quick version.-</em>


    <em>Ahh, right.</em>


    T returned her focus to Rane and Aproa, briefly exining that shed been using up too much of her reserves ofte, so she had to make it up.


    Aproa frowned. Should we find other ways of practicing? I dont like the idea of you running out of healing energy in the middle of a match.


    T shook her head. Even now, Im still at a level where I could recover from virtually anything. I just couldnt do it more than a couple of times. Ill have plenty of warning that Im approaching dangerous levels, assuming you all arent intent on pinning me down and raining death upon me any time soon.


    Rane barked augh and smiled but didntment.


    Aproa nodded, considering. You know your own powers, I suppose. Shall we?


    Sure. T stood. Ready, Rane?


    Im ready. He had a contented smile across his features that T didnt see a reason for.


    <em>Oh well. That mans an enigma.</em>


    <em>-Its because you arent using any honorific when addressing him.-</em>


    T almost tripped on her own feet as they left the restaurant. <em>That would have been embarrassing.</em>


    <em>-Just a bit, yeah.-</em>


    She thought back and found that t was right.


    -<em>Of course, Im right.-</em>


    <em>When did that happen?</em> She couldnt actually recall thest time shed called him Master Rane, but it couldnt have been that long ago.


    -<em>Oh, its been building.-</em>


    <em>Sowhat does that mean?</em>


    <em>-It means that yourefortable with him.-</em>


    <em>Nothing more?</em>


    <em>-Im not going to tell you what to feel or what you feel, T. That way lies madness.-</em>


    T grimaced.


    Are you alright, T? Rane ced aforting hand on her shoulder. I know that my stomach would be angry at me if I ate even half of what you did. He grinned, trying to add levity to what would have been a rudement to anyone else.


    <em>He didnt use an honorific for me, either</em> She felt like she only noticed because t had pointed out her ownck.


    -<em>Youre right about that. Hes been using it less and less ofte. Mirroring you, mostly, but tentatively.-</em>


    <em>Is that alright?</em>


    <em>-Do you care?-</em>


    She found that she didnt, not really. She patted his hand and smiled. Im fine. Just thinking.


    Anything interesting?


    T felt a moment of awkwardness. <em>Oh, yes, Im just thinking about you, Rane. Youre very interesting.</em> She flushed at the very idea of saying such a thing. Then, she silently thanked the stars that her skin was hidden. <em>I </em>really<em> hope that blushing isnt illusorily recreated for all to see. </em>Not too much, no.


    Aproa snorted augh. Come on, you two. Im sure Terry wants to put some Mages in their ce.


    Terry bobbed in excited agreement and let out a disturbingly deep, basso trill.


    The streets were fairly crowded, and the result of his jubtion was that people stared their way in confusion and mild rm. Funnily enough, people stepped out of their path after that, making the trip faster than in might otherwise have been.


    When the group had almost arrived at the trainingpound, T realized that she hadnt told Rane something quite important. So, she pulled him a bit off to one side, while continuing to walk, yanked him down so she could reach his ear, and whispered into it. Hey.


    He gave her an odd look as they kept walking, therge man hunched oddly to one side. Hey, yourself?


    I recovered the memories.


    His eyes widened. Well, rust.


    Yeah. Im going to give you ess, so that you can review them on an archive te at some point, soon.


    That would be appreciated. Thank you. He seemed a bit shell-shocked, responding from a slight daze.


    Since shed conveyed what she needed to, T allowed them to shift their walking path back over to be nearer Aproa. The woman didntment on their short conversation and so neither did they.


    <em>t, can you do that? Grant him ess?</em>


    <em>-Done.-</em>


    T hesitated. <em>Wait. How? I know you can make changes in the Archive, but how did you select Rane, specifically? Come to think of it, how did you give Jenna ess, earlier?</em>


    <em>-Well, Jenna was easy to find, given that shes married to the city lord.-</em>


    <em>What about Rane?</em>


    <em>-Come on, T. We know his magical signature almost as well as we know our own.-</em>


    That was interesting to realize.


    <em>Oh I should have discussed this with Odera.</em>


    <em>-Oh, yeah. We very much should have.-</em> After a pause, t projected the sound of a clearing throat. -<em>Ill give her ess, and we can tell her, tomorrow.-</em>


    <em>Agreed.</em>


    Rane seemed deep in thought but was nodding to himself.


    Whats up?


    He gave her a side-eyed nce, before answering. Ive been needing to pick up an Archive integration at some point. Ill have to check with my inscriber to see what he rmends and what he thinks I can support.


    T grunted. Well, let me know what you find. You have been increasing your magical weight at a good pace. There should be something that you can get.


    <em>-UmT?-</em>


    <em>Yeah?</em>


    <em>-Jenna just gave us ess to a message. She would like us to find a reason to be out of Bandfast, tomorrow. There will be several teams of Mage Hunters and two people with the title of Arcane Hunter close at hand.-</em>


    T would have sworn that she immediately felt bloody eyes on her once again. <em>And I was doing so well, not thinking about thatthing.</em>


    <em>-You were. I am sorry to ruin it. How should I respond?-</em>


    T considered for a moment. <em>Ending berries. We need a bunch.</em>


    <em>-Ill add an addendum stating that were going to the ending grove thats?-</em>


    <em>North. Well go to the one to the north.</em>


    <em>-Alright. In her note, she asked us to be discrete about our true purpose but to let people know youre leaving the city.-</em>


    She had no idea how to do that, but she would try. <em>What? No announcing to the city atrge that Im going out to be used as Arcane bait?</em>


    <em>-Precisely.-</em>


    T snorted augh, and Rane gave her an odd look.


    Is everything alright? They had just entered thepound and were making their way through the wide halls towards their reserved arena.


    <em>Inviting people toe could work </em>Yeah, yeah. Hey, do either of you want toe out of the city with me, tomorrow? Ill be going a dozen or so miles to the north to harvest some berries.


    Aproa responded first. I cant; I actually leave on assignment tomorrow morning. Ill be gone for about three weeks.


    Oh, thats sad. T was surprised that the news actually did disappoint her.


    Rane cleared his throat. Well, I need to meet with my inscriptionist tomorrow. If you needpany, Ill happilye, but if not, Id like to get this dealt with.


    T shrugged. Not necessary. She trembled a little but contained the reaction. <em>But I would like someone with me</em> I think Ill see if anyone at the training session, today, is interested ining.


    With that, they had arrived, and the three of them walked out onto the familiar sand.


    The regrs were there, along with a couple new Archons and five magelings, all bald and inscriptionless.


    T cursed internally.


    -<em>Oooo. More old year-mates, newly arrived from the Academy.-</em>


    <em>Great.</em> Tgged behind a bit. <em>Have you determined how to alter the through-spikes illusion?</em>


    <em>-Yes and no.-</em>


    <em>Exin.</em> She did not have any interest in games.


    <em>-Fine. I havent figured out how we can modify it, not yet, but I can show you how to manipte the magics within it to remove the illusory aspect of its magics, until you release the maniption and allow it to return to its base state.-</em>


    <em>Show me.</em>


    t directed her through the motions with precision and ease, so that in less than five steps, as she continued to walk forwards, T was confident that she could enact the change at will.


    It was quite a bit like making an alteration to her elk leathers, though the change wouldnt besting.


    Aproa spoke first. Hunter Jean, whats going on?


    Jean turned from a conversation that she had been having with one of the magelings. These fine new graduates are looking for masters. They were told that forbat focused Mages, were a good group to investigate.


    <em>Wow. Everyones acting showy, today.</em>


    The mageling that Jean had been talking to bowed over his sped hands. For transparencys sake, we were given a list of groups that meet, simr to yours. Weve already met with one group, and one of those who was with us found a master among them.


    Jean shrugged. There you have it. Magelings looking for guides.


    T had stayed back, mostly behind Ranes massive frame.


    Cazor called out from the far corner. I already told them that none of us really have the extra coin required to have a mageling, but apparently they think me a liar.


    The magelings shuffled ufortably.


    Stan, the oxygen maniptor, shook his head. Dont be like that Cazor. You know very well that a mageling usually more than pays for herself in the end.


    Cazor shrugged. Im not taking one on.


    No one will force you too. Jean huffed. I doubt anyone would want to be yours, anyways.


    Cazor ignored Jeans barb, saw T and Terry, and waved. Hey! Youre back, today. Terry is going to join us, right?


    T didnt shrink in on herself, but it was a near thing. Yeah. Hes excited to put you in your ce.


    The Archonsughed, a few adding good natured jabs towards Cazor.


    Cazor, for his part, leveraged himself off the wall hed been leaning against and walked her way. Hey, you lookdifferent. Healthier?


    The attention that was already on her seemed to sharpen.


    T would have sworn that she could feel it.


    -<em>You cant, not literally. But you can feel the magic behind their intent, and thats directed your way. Your mage-sight can pick that up, though its hardly </em>that<em> magical.-</em>


    <em>Great</em>


    A couple of the others added their ownments on how her color looked improved and the like.


    Before any furtherments coulde about, T assuaged them. Just a minor change. Nothing affecting my ability to participate, I assure you.


    There were some joking cheers at that.


    T allowed her gaze to pass over the magelings, and a couple of them were giving her critical looks, seeming to be trying to figure something out about her.


    Sadly, Rane had moved aside, presumably in an attempt to be courteous and not block her.


    Cazor shrugged. Alright, Mistress T, whatever you say. Then, would master Terry like to challenge someone, first?


    <em>Well, rust.</em> She really didnt know what shed expected. Someone was going to use her name eventually. T closed her eyes as she heard a gasp from the magelings, which keyed off a whispered, tumbling conversation that T had no issue hearing. T? Did he say Mistress T?


    I knew she looked familiar!


    No, it cant be her. She just left a few months back.


    Didnt she leave naked?


    Thats hardly relevant. Its not like shed be unable to buy clothes.


    Do you know any other Ts?


    I dont know every Mage in the world, Gegory.


    Just ask her.


    Im not going to do that. You ask her.


    T was having shbacks of her time at the Academy. <em>Great. Just great</em>


    -<em>Hey, look at it this way. You were embarrassed by how you handled yourself when I helped you remember all that happened. This is a chance to be better.-</em>


    The other Archons seemed to have noticed the magelings discussions, though most didnt have any enhanced senses worth noting.


    Jean was close enough to hear with ease, however, and she turned to regard T with a raised eyebrow.


    T grinned sheepishly at the Mage Hunter and shrugged.


    The woman shook her head and turned back to the huddled group. Graduates. Are you here to gossip or to find masters?


    That shut them up, and they turned away from each other, looking chastened. <em>Bless you, Jean.</em>


    Jean nced towards T. Mistress T. Is there anything youd like to say to clear the air, so we can get to the business of watching our feathered friend feed Cazor some sand?


    That got a littleugh from those assembled, then all eyes turned back to T.


    <em>Rust you, Jean. </em>T gave a little wave. Hey. Long time no see, Gegory, Anisia. I dont think I ever really met you others, not officially.


    It is you! There were several muttered exnations.


    Yeah. She shrugged. Is that going to be a problem?


    The gave her odd looks. No? Who are you mageling under? We dont want to identally try to poach your master.


    T was at once offended by the reasonable assumption and touched by the consideration it represented. Oh, no. Im... She cleared her throat. She had been about to say that she was an Archon, but that would open a can of worms that she wasnt willing to address. Im not a mageling.


    That, again, caused all sorts of mutters.


    Gegory stepped forward, a sad look in his eyes. Oh, Im sorry to hear that. Im d that you still get to be around magic though.


    <em>What? Oh </em>T groaned internally. No, no. Im a full Mage.


    The mutters were louder this time.


    Most of the Archons looked rather confused, but no one was willing to interrupt.


    One of the braver magelings, whose name she didnt know, spoke up. Who was your master? Id love to be fast-tracked too!


    The othersughed, and T grimaced.


    Rane, who seemed to have been trying to contain hisugher, finally couldnt any longer, and he barked out augh that was loud enough to border on being a shout. He then sucked in a breath, having trouble around his continued chuckles.


    T, already on a hair-trigger, hit him on pure reflex.


    Well, she tried, though the results were better than shed have hoped.


    His magic registered her hard swat as the attack it was and so moved him forwards and down, directly away from the blow.


    Rane, who wasnt really paying attention, didntpensate and roll with the motion as he normally would have.


    Thus, he facented into the sand in spectacr fashion, making a <em>whoomph</em> sound and sending up a little wave of finer sand that quickly settled.


    T realized that, from the outside, it would have looked like Raneughed at her and she hit him hard enough to m the muchrger man face-first into the ground.


    There was a moment of stunned silence before the Archons, who all knew about Ranes defenses, and were thus able to guess exactly what had happened, beganughing.


    The five soon-to-be-magelings looked around in abject confusion.


    T couldnt help herself from grinning, as she spread her arms in a shrug as she looked to the young man who had inquired about her master. She felt like some of her tension had been stripped away. I took a non-standard path, which is sadly not an option for any of you. I dont have a master to rmend your way, as much as Id like to.


    She looked around at the still chuckling Archons, even as Rane pushed himself to his feet, still apparently in a good mood, if his grin was any indication. He did spit out some sand, however.


    She helped him get the rest of the way to his feet before her gaze returned to the five. Well, weve spent enough time on formalities. Were here to train. Ask questions as you have them.

 Chapter ?? - Blessings Never Cease

    Chapter ?? - Blessings Never Cease


    Kit was in heaven. The influx of blessings never ceased.


    The human who had dared im her had gone above and beyond in offering rpense. She served Kit well enough to earn her continued existence a thousand times over. Though, Kit was beginning to suspect that the human had other motivations for itsrgess.


    Kit held sway over more and wielded more power than she had ever thought possible, and the increases seemed unending.


    Now, she was not just a devourer, but a creator. All within her expanded space was under her auspices, she could form it at will. The human had somehow granted her the ability to form illusions and reshape the properties of that which was under her control.


    From her meager tests, the changes she made to physical matter did not endure outside of herself, but there was time, still. She could now alter her exterior, if not as much as the physical space she contained, and she could see outside herself, if just a bit.


    Thetter was likely to facilitate her exterior changes, which Kit took special pride in. She could hide anywhere.


    Kit did <em>not</em> consider how closely her new abilities mirrored those of her near kin, the syphons. It was probably just a coincidence. After all, a syphon of sufficient power to have physical remnant magics able to grant this level of power would have been <em>strong.</em> Its power would have been far beyond the ability of her human to ovee.


    It was obviously just a coincidence.


    The human continued to feed Kit a seemingly unending supply of power, which was beginning to make Kit a bitzy, if she was being honest.


    She hadnt been wantonly eating anything left within her for a while, now. Though, she did still sequester things that the human was unlikely to miss. Mostly, that included scraps of bio-matter, and excess material, stubbornly grabbing on to the items that the human <em>would</em> miss.


    It was afortable life.


    Toofortable.


    Deep within Kit, she was still the Devourer of All, that was still her nature.


    She was sure of it.


    Because of that, the greatest shock in this new iteration of existence hade when the beacon of death began apanying the human into Kits doman. Thankfully, it was only on asion, but ever since Kitsst upgrade it had been increasing in frequency.


    The beacon was a being of such deep power and hunger that Kit truly began to question if she had ever been worthy of the name: Devourer of All.


    She had, only once, attempted to take a nibble from the seemingly infinite supply of power and food that was the beacon.


    It had been like trying to bite a rock.


    No, that wasnt right. Kit regrly devoured little rocks and bits of sand that came in with the human.


    It had been likeKit shuddered. It had been like trying to take a bite from the Consumer, back when she was but a little devourling, surrounded by her broodmates in the deep nothing, outside of existence.


    Her progenitor had been so far above her that, had the Consumer not so named her, Devourer of All would never have dared presume the moniker.


    As it was, Kit was d to have another name, now.


    Identity crisis avoided.


    Still, she asionally saw the beacon watching her, somehow, its eyes seemingly looking beyond the extra-physical space, in which Kit was the absolute master, and into <em>her.</em>


    Her human did not know what it was doing by giving such a being a cutesy name like Terry.

 Chapter 182: That Unleashed a Flood

    Chapter 182: That Unleashed a Flood


    T took a moment to breathe in deeply, calming her nervousness at being in the spotlight. Then, with a smile, she nced at Terry, who was still perched on her shoulder. Hey, weve been teasing about you fighting Master Cazor, but you can challenge anyone you want to. After a moments hesitation, she added. Well, except the healer or the magelings-to-be.


    Terry let out a series of descending squawks, then flickered off her shoulder, appearing in the middle of the arena with the mass of a horse and standing roughly nine feet tall.


    That was much bigger than any form he usually took, but T had seen him taller. <em>While eating dead woodsmen whole</em> She hesitated there, then closed her eyes and let out an irritated breath.


    -<em>We never sold the random junk we took from those men.-</em>


    <em>No. No, we did not.</em> Shed have to ask Lyn to do that.


    Before she could fall further into contemtions, Terry continued with his challenge.


    He stretched his vestigial wings outward, tilted his head up, and let loose a deep, undting trill of challenge, then cocked his head to the side, regarding Cazor.


    The reactions of those present were quite mixed.


    The Archons whod seen Terry before, even if not at any other size, simply gaped. The new Archons, from Ts perspective, all were immediately wrapped in various forms of defensive magics. <em>Good reactions.</em>


    One seemed to have been encased in a slightly translucent coating of shadow; another was enshrouded in a heat haze; and thest of the new Archons left a working hanging in the air between herself and Terry. T and t werent quite able to interpret the working after it was settled in the air, but the woman herself was an Immaterial Guide. Though, T couldnt tell exactly what she focused on with her brief nce at this distance.


    The magelings paled, almost as one, and huddled closer together.


    Jean dropped her hand to her weapon but didnt draw it.


    Cazor, the focus of Terrys posturing, straightened before the challenge and slowly nodded his agreement.


    Aproa and Rane just grinned, watching everyone else react to what theyd known wasing. Well, theyd at least known that something like it was likely, even if they probably wouldnt have guessed at this exact event.


    The same, brave mageling spoke up again. I assume hes non-standard too?


    That broke the tension as slightly nervous chuckles echoed through the arena.


    T shrugged. Just a bit, yeah. Hes a friend. With that thought, she sought out the healer and called out to him. Hey, for safetys sake, would you be able to heal an arcanous creature, if he were injured?


    The healer scratched his chin in thought, then nodded slowly. I believe so. Forbat healing, I mainly stimte the patients own body to regenerate, providing the energy for the healing myself. That should be universal, though I have never attempted to heal a non-human.


    Is that good enough, Terry?


    Terry gave her an arch look, and sheughed. Fine, fine. I just wanted to be safe.


    Terry preened, then looked back to Cazor, questioningly.


    Cazor stepped forward. Clear the center. Lets see what this honorable creature is capable of.


    Rane snorted anotherugh. You were going to call him a monster, werent you.


    Cazor didnt reply.


    The watchers moved to the sides of the arena. A few words were exchanged about the types of powers the twobatants would bring to bear, and it was decided that they didnt need to take any special precautions. Both were very precise in what they did.


    Terry walked a slow arc back and forth while Cazor moved to stand opposite him, opening the pouches at his waist and calling out clouds of iron dust to begin swirling around him.


    It was fascinating. Cazors control of the interweaving maic fields was so tight and minute that he created ever-moving webs of iron powder, as fine as capiries in human skin.


    If T had to guess, shed have said that some of the paths were only a single grain wide as the iron swirled and spun in intricate, meticulously manipted patterns to the point that the Mage himself was but a hazy form in the midst of the maelstrom.


    <em>Beautiful.</em>


    The magic around the iron was a kaleidoscope of power. Cazor was utilizing the dimensions of magic to enact such powerful workings on each fraction of the physical space around him, and through it all, he barely seemed to be putting forth an effort.


    <em>-True, but from what weve seen, his inscriptions do much of the heavy lifting.-</em>


    <em>Thats fair.</em>


    T was surprised that no further iron lifted out of the sand as the Archons maic fields brushed the surface. He was delicate and directional enough with his power that nothing he didnt wish to affect was affected.


    Jean cleared her throat. To surrender, either verbal or due to incapacitation. Fight!


    Terry instantly flickered away, but he didnt instantly appear near Cazor as T had expected.


    Instead, she was able to see a series of blips of dimensional energy chained so quickly in session they resembled a pack of firecrackers to her mage-sight, popping in sequence.


    Each one took a different path, zig-zagging through the currents of iron.


    <em>The iron is actually blocking him? Or is he pretending it is?</em>


    Regardless of the case, he never fully manifested before moving on, so no one without active mage-sight would have noticed anything at all.


    Now that she was listening for it, her greatly enhanced hearing could pick out the little bits of sound, distinct from the swirling rushing of the moving clouds of iron.


    In less than two seconds, Terry had covered the distance and appeared behind Cazor and to the left.


    While Cazor didnt turn, he obviously sensed Terry there, because the iron on that side pulled together to create what seemed to be an almost solid armored te.


    Terry smashed his talons through it.


    As he struck, the magically formed iron mass twisted, deflecting and thus ruining the attack even though it couldnt stop it.


    At that moment, the iron sheet broke apart, back into dust and seemed to flow and encase Terrys outstretched leg.


    Terry ignored it, flickering down and shrinking, very simr to how hed dealt with Aummar that first time.


    <em>So, encasing part of his body in iron doesnt work to stop him.</em> She wouldnt have thought that it would, but proof was interesting to witness.


    When Terry appeared, Cazor didnt try to block him. Instead, the Mage Hunter shot spikes of spinning,pressed iron at the terror bird, forcing Terry to flicker away once again.


    The spikes shattered into the ground, briefly leaving dark grey patches in the sand, tracing the pattern of damage Cazor had attempted to inflict on Terry.


    <em>That looks pretty cool. I dont know if those would prate my skin, but if they did</em> She could imagine the havoc iron dust could wreak inside a Mage or magical creature.


    Terry seemed to be having a grand old time as he switched tactics.


    He flickered around Cazors head, appearing for only an instant in each ce to let out shrill squawks, always directed inward.


    T flinched at the volume and pitch, even at a distance, and Cazor was clearly staggered by the quick sequence of sonic bursts.


    T was surprised that she didnt see any magic behind the sound. It was simply that: mundane noise, piercing enough to cause pain.


    Even so, when Terry appeared directly in front of the Mage to capitalize on that distraction, Cazor sent a ring of spikes shooting outward in all directions.


    <em>He didnt want to take the time to lock down exactly where Terry was, but he knew another attack was iing.</em>


    One of the viciously sharp, spinning spikes struck solidly enough to cause the terror bird to grunt.


    Terry hadnt flickered away as T had expected. Instead, he took the hit and used the momentary opening to grab Cazor across the chest, one talon going over each shoulder, one under his right arm, and the opposing talon hooking around the left side of the Archons waist.


    With seemingly casual ease and speed, Terry forced Cazor back and down, pinning the Archon to the sand, pressing him down with what must have been near bone-crushing force. T didnt hear the snap or pop of bone, however, showing just how calibrated Terry was being with his own strength and weight.


    Terry screeched into Cazors face, and the Archon tried to get his hands up between his head and Terry in apletely involuntary defensive reaction.


    Yield! Cazor called out. I yield!


    Terry immediately flickered away, settling down on the far side of the open space as iron dust rained down around Cazor.


    Cazory on the sand groaning as the healer ran over to him and quickly dealt with the injuries.


    It was then that T saw the blood.


    It wasnt a lot, but there were speks of blood on the sand, and Terry never broke Cazors skin.


    Terry. Youre bleeding. T moved quickly across to her friend, running her hands over him. Sure enough, there was a small hole in one of his wings where the iron spike had hit.


    Cazor staggered a bit as he and the healer came their way. Behind him, the iron was sucked off the surface of the arena floor and streamed back into his waiting pouches. Well fought, master Terry. May I? He held up one hand.


    Terry gave him a wary nce but then nodded once.


    Cazor ced a hand over the small wound, and T saw him create a powerful, targeted maic field, drawing his iron dust out of the flesh around the injury. That would have made it difficult to heal.


    Terry narrowed his eyes and nipped at Cazors hand, though he didnt break the skin.


    Yeah, yeah. Sorry about that. I didnt really think that Id have to use my spikes. He scratched the back of his head. How short is your teleportation cool-down, anyways?


    Terry gave him a look that T knew well. So, after a short chuckle, she interjected on Terrys behalf. Youre asking him questions he has no way of answering. He cant speak, remember?


    Right, right. Cazor turned to look her way. Do you know?


    She shrugged. Ive never seen a noticeable dy between his teleports. Shed seen him tired, but that wasnt a feature of his teleportation.


    Cazor paled and swallowed, his attention shifting back to Terry. Thats terrifying. And your size-changing? He shook his head. You haveplete dimensional mastery, dont you?


    Terry cocked his head, conveying uncertainty.


    The Archon leaned in and lowered his voice, probably unnecessarily, but he wanted to ensure that the magelings couldnt hear. Their masters might share this with them, but that wasnt for him to do. Most arcanous creatures have a single aspected ability, and usually some physical or physiological ones thrown in. Most creatures can survive a single trip to a fount for such, to be arcanous creatures in the first ce. But if they return to pass through the fount a second time? Most die outright, but if they dont they are able to gain much, <em>much</em> greater strength and flexibility in that aspect. If all you could do was teleport quickly, Id believe you went through a dimensional fount twice, but you can do so much more. Now, if a creature has visited a fount twice, and then goes back a third time: They die.


    He paused on that, letting it hang before he gave a mischievous smile.


    But if they dont, they gain what we call mastery over that aspect, and their capabilities often exceed Bound, or even Fused, true-magical creatures.


    Terrys head drooped, and he crooned softly.


    Cazor noticed and patted the side of the terror birds beak. You must have been desperate to end up as you are, my friend.


    Terry didnt reply.


    The healer had been examining the wound while Cazor talked, but now that there was a natural gap in the flow of information, he cleared his throat to gain their attention. This might hurt, and it will definitely itch.


    Terry regarded the man for a moment, then bobbed a nod.


    The healer extended his hand and power flowed through him and into Terry.


    Terry squawked and shivered in irritation but didnt otherwise react.


    True to form, the wound closed in the time it would take for a deep breath.


    In the background, from near the edge of the arena, T heard Jean turn to the magelings-to-be. So, any questions?


    And that unleashed a flood. It took a good fifteen minutes to get all the questions answered and return the focus to the training at hand.


    The first one started off in a mildly interesting fashion. How can magic affect iron? I thought iron was immune to magic.


    Jean nodded sagely. Well, iron cannot be affected by magic, but it can be by anything created by magic, that is not magic itself.


    The magelings-to-be all seemed to consider that before nodding, seemingly understanding.


    For the most part, the questions moved into less interesting territory from there.


    Blessedly, T was not required to answer many of the questions, except those pertaining to Terry. Though, there were quite a few of those to answer:


    They wanted to know how shed gotten him to work with her.


    More than anything, he chose me.


    Terry trilled happily from her shoulder, head-butting her cheek to awws and smiles from the magelings.


    Could they tame a terror bird of their own, when they found one?


    No, I would not rmend trying to tame or befriend terror birds, as a rule. He tried to kill me on multiple asions, before we worked things out.


    Terry bobbed emphatically, adding weight to the statement as the young ones paled, licked dried lips, or otherwise demonstrated horror at the very idea of befriending something that had repeatedly tried to kill them.


    <em>-Its kind of your thing, though right? You find things that want to, or could, destroy you and get what you can from them?-</em>


    T ignored t.


    Finally, they wanted to know if it was hard to keep him fed, given hisrger size when he chose it.


    He actually eats less than I do.


    That puzzled the newly arrived graduates but gave Aproa and Rane no end of amusement.


    Thankfully, the rest of the questions were not Terry-rted, so T was spared.


    Soon enough, they were back to the standard, daily practice and training.


    Terry, not being Bound in truth or in power-density, couldnt participate in aura maniption or direct contests of will. Even so, the group was still able to do such exercises, including Terry, after Jean informed everyone that an Archon <em>should</em> be able to prevent Terrys teleportation by extending his aura over a space and iming it as his own.


    T gave Terry a side-eyed re at that revtion, to which the terror bird pretended innocence.


    In practice, however, Terrys magical weight hit like an Elder, and no single Archon could keep him from moving around as he saw fit. They couldnt even slow him down or redirect him by a noticeable amount.


    They only seeded in keeping him from a space when T, Rane, and Cazor synced their intent and will power over a space in which they co-mingled their auras.


    The result was that Terry was forced to appear about a foot to the left of his intended destination.


    Terry, of course, squawked derisively before stepping onto the target and dering himself victorious, yet again.


    Honestly, T was surprised that the magelings-to-be were allowed to witness the use, and hear discussions, of aura.


    It was apparently something standardly conveyed to magelings early on by Archon masters. So, no one saw an issue with it.


    The idea of co-mingling multiple Archons auras was fascinating to T. Shed understood the theory before, as everything her aura had imed in Makinaven had already been so ruled by Master Jevin at a much more fundamental level, but shed not considered its applications for Archons on equal footings or at equal rank.


    The more direct tests of will that followed were embarrassing for T, in that she was once more the spotlight as she defeated every individual Mage in direct conflicts of will-power and magical weight.


    There had been a moment of panic when she realized that her aura was trapped behind her iron paint. Thankfully, shed immediately realized that her situation was almost the exact reverse of the iron sphere training Master Jevin had given her to do. That in mind, with a bit of effort, she was able to force her power around the physical barrier, through the dimensions of magic, and use it to empower her aura as normal.


    <em>Not ideal.</em>


    <em>-Everythings a trade off. Well have to see if this one works out.-</em>


    It didnt take long to cycle through everyone in head-to-head conflicts, given that they could pair up and oppose one another all at the same time, rather than waiting for each individual bout to finish.


    She didnt even have to use her trick toe at them from below, and she still won handily against any individual Archon.


    She tried not to steal nces at her year-mates, watching from the sides, but when she did, despite her best judgment, she saw growing awe in their expressions.


    <em>Great. This is not what I was aiming for</em>


    The group rounded out the day with scenario work, which Terry gleefully participated in.


    The mostmon setup was to defend a singr person from Terry.


    Though, from one perspective, that was an abject failure and an exercise in frustration for the Archons, in every other aspect it was fantastic practice.


    They each made massive leaps in coordinating with one another and oveying, and evenbining, their defenses with each other.


    The result was a move from near instant defeat to being able to protect a given target for nearly five seconds before Terry breached their coordinated efforts.


    There were lots ofughs, groans, and shaking of heads. Everyone grew in appreciation of the difficulty of protecting isted targets from determined assault, and in their dawning horror in just how vicious the terror bird could be.


    Suffice it to say, the healer earned his pay, and got his share of practice, that day.


    T was definitelying to better understand Xeels feelings about the terror bird, and the reasoning behind the elimination of the fount which had given him power.


    As the Archons parted ways for the evening, several of the magelings approached various Mages, likely to inquire about bing master and mageling.


    Aproa bid everyone goodbye, as she was leaving in the morning, and T invited Rane back to her and Lyns house for the celebration with Lyns new mageling.


    When they were all about to depart, t reminded T of her duties the next day.


    Oh! Apologies, everyone, but I have to leave the city tomorrow for an errand. Does anyone wish to apany me to do some harvesting? After a prod from t, T amended. The harvesting is of berries, not arcanous animal parts, but the danger is still there.


    Most bowed out immediately. Jean and a couple others inquired a bit before thanking her for the invitation but declining as well.


    Cazor, however, was quite intrigued. Sure, Ille.


    Great! Meet me at the northern gate around ten or so?


    He shrugged. Sounds good to me.


    Do you have a mount, or other means of traveling quickly?


    He returned a cocky grin. Ill bet I can move faster than you. His eyes moved to Terry and back. Even if you have someone to carry you.


    Id like to see that.


    Then, Ill see you tomorrow.

 Chapter 183: Embarrassing for Everyone

    Chapter 183: Embarrassing for Everyone


    As T and Rane were leaving the trainingplex, T remembered that shed promised to be at the Guardsmens training area the next day, and Aummar was even going out of his way to prepare some special things for her and Terry. Now, she wouldnt be there.


    <em>Ahh, rust. That could have been bad.</em>


    <em>-Agreed.-</em>


    So, with that realization, she walked over to the front desk where a young woman was reading a book.


    <em>What book is that?</em> She was able to catch enough of a look at it that t could extrapte.


    -<em>Its either, How to Be a Mage without the Academy, or How to Seduce a Mage, Academically.-</em>


    T almost choked. <em>Those are nothing alike!</em>


    -<em>Well, take a better look, then. Its at an extreme angle.-</em>


    <em>Wait is the second one actually a real book?</em>


    <em>-Of-</em>


    T cut across t. <em>Never mind! I dont want to know. </em>She pushed that aside, hopefully permanently. Excuse me.


    Yes, Mistress? The woman closed the book and set it title side down, before she nced up and then frowned slightly. Despite her confusion, she didntment further, instead waiting for T to make her inquiry.


    T assumed that the womans difficulty came from this being a for-Mages facility. While mundanes werent barred by any means, there wasnt much that would be useful to them there, generally speaking.


    <em>Myck of visible inscriptions is a bit annoying.</em> She felt like Jenna would have known that, and they could have made the item with that in mind, but she was letting herself get distracted. Could I send a messenger from here? If not, do you know a close location that could take it.


    The clerk looked to be about to give some negative response, but then her eyes moved over Terry on Ts shoulder and to Rane, before returning to T, her entire demeanor shifting. It seemed that whether or not T was a Mage didnt really matter, as she kept thepany of Mages. We can do that for you for a small fee.


    As that was reasonable, Tposed a short message for Aummar and asked for it to be delivered to that specific Guardsman Training Ground as soon as possible.


    It cost a half a silver but saved her the trip. <em>And the possibility of me forgetting or getting distracted.</em>


    <em>-I think I sense personal growth.-</em>


    T decided it was best to not engage.


    tughed in the back of Ts mind.


    The message taken care of, T thanked the clerk and departed with Rane and Terry in tow.


    They discussed the days training along with other small things as they trudged through the slush.


    With no new snow added in thest bit, the existing stuff had been trampled and dirtied to the point of bing slushy ck-brown mess.


    <em>Thisthis I dont like.</em> It was a part of the less pleasant side of winter, and T was grateful for both her shoes, which she had quickly grown on, and for her weight distribution scripts, which helped keep her from sinking into the dark filth. When she nced behind herself, she did see a series of shallow, circr prints leading away behind her. <em>I wonder if that will confuse anyone.</em> It didnt really matter, she supposed.


    She didnt know exactly what would happen to all the nastiness when she altered her clothing.


    In the worst case, it would be carried with the material as it- The dirt sloughed off, falling back into the rest of the snow. <em>Right. Self-cleaning.</em>


    <em>-Did you really forget a part of what they do?-</em>


    <em>I suppose Well, forget isnt quite right, I just didnt try to remember. I dont really think about that aspect of their magic very often.</em>


    <em>-Thats fair.-</em>


    Rane, for his part, was getting his boots and lower pants <em>covered</em> in the dark muck that resulted from the snow-slurry and countless passersby, both human and animal.


    Terry stayed warm, dry, and clean on Ts shoulder.


    They didnt talk too much as they made their way home. <em>Well, to my home. And Lynsand now Kanniss as well, I suppose.</em>


    <em>-It could be Ranes too, if you wanted.-</em>


    <em>You dont know that, and no. I dont want that.</em>


    <em>-Its pretty obvious.-</em>


    T ignored that, taking special satisfaction in the wide-open, free-from-buildings park near her home.


    -<em>You know. Since I can sense when youre being influenced and then help to mitigate it. We could ride Terry through the city, until we found other syphons.-</em>


    Thatthat was a surprisingly interesting idea. <em>Not now. Too much else going on.</em>


    -<em>Fine, fine.-</em>


    T let them into the house, calling out as she did so. Im home! I brought Rane with me.


    -<em>Not Master Rane.-</em>


    <em>Hush, you.</em>


    T! Come on back. Lyns voice floated out to greet them. You too, Master Rane.


    Rane cleared his throat, looking down at his filthy boots and pants. Ive got to get a bit cleaned up first. Ill be out in a moment.


    With that, he ducked into the washroom right of the entryway.


    T simply stamped her feet on the mat a couple of times to let everything fall free and retracted her shoes before proceeding into the house.


    She came out of the entry hall and into the main space to find Lyn and Kannis sitting in two of the chairs, seeming to have been chatting before T got there.


    Come, sit. Lyn looked around and frowned slightly, realizing that there were only three big chairs.


    T sat in the only otherrge reading chair and rxed.


    -<em>You should say something.-</em>


    T sighed, leaning forward once again. So, how was the first day? I like the mage-sight inscriptions. Thats a good set. A bit taxing for new Mages, but way better than the standard.


    Oh, it was wonderful. Thank you for asking. And Kannis hesitated, then blinked at her. Wait. You can tell what type of inscriptions I have?


    T shrugged. She could. <em>So long as I have a basis forparison and interpretation. </em>Yeah. My own mage-sight assists in the interpretation of inscriptions, so Ive started to pick up the basics.


    Kannis seemed a bit at a loss as to how to respond to that.


    Thankfully, Rane chose that moment to join them wearing new, clean pants. Hey, all.


    Lyn smiled. Wee, Master Rane. As to chairs-


    Rane grinned and held up a forestalling hand, seemingly guessing what she was thinking, before pulling out a folding chair from his dimensional storage and sitting in it with practicedfort.


    T thought she recognized the style, and it reminded her vividly of a cyclops and being bodily skipped across the ground like a stone. <em>I hope Grediv is still alive. Id like to p him one day.</em>


    <em>-For all the help he gave you?-</em>


    She hesitated. <em>No, Ill hug him for that. Then p him for the cyclops.</em>


    <em>-I can agree to that. Ill help you remember.-</em>


    Kannis, this is Master Rane. Lyn gestured to the man, somewhat unnecessarily. Master Rane, this is my new mageling, Kannis.


    A pleasure to meet you, Kannis. He held out his hand, and Kannis took it with a flustered smile. Shed clearly moved past the earlier confusion with regards to T.


    Thank you, Master Rane, the pleasure is genuinely mine. She nced to Lyn. Are you sure its alright?


    The older woman shrugged. Ask him if you wish.


    Kannis cleared her throat. Do you mind if I look at you with my mage-sight? My master has instructed me to keep it on as much as I can stand, and I am recovered enough to re-engage it.


    Rane waved nonchntly. Sure. Most stop caring about that as they advance. His eyes flicked towards T. Thankfully for some.


    T rolled her eyes. Even those who care only care if they notice, and they have to have their own mage-sight on for that to be the case.


    Kannis regarded her with a mix of curiosity and caution in on her face.


    -<em>Youre projecting.-</em> T ignored t.


    The mageling smiled. So you wouldnt mind either?


    Not at all. Thank you for asking. She smiled, trying to lighten the mood and still feeling bad for not acknowledging that shed known Kannis before. <em>Shes clearly forgotten me, or decided not to mention it, so Im fine.</em>


    <em>-She is likely thinking the same.-</em>


    T ignored that as she saw power run through the lines around Kanniss eyes, and the young woman looked at each of the others in turn.


    Master Rane. You are an Archon as well? Kannis seemed a bit over-awed at the realization.


    Rane frowned at thement. I thought I had better control of my aura than that. You shouldnt have been able to tell at all.


    Lyn interjected. Mistress Holly switched her over to a more advanced form of mage-sight for her reinscribing. She can see through the firstyers of skin, as if she had greater magical weight behind her sight. That allows her to see even perfectly controlled auras, so long as they arent fully retracted. Its strenuous on her, but it should be a benefit in the long run.


    Ahh. He smiled, then, a weight seeming toe off of him. In that case, yes. I am.


    Kannis turned to T in an almost reverent tone. How have you surrounded yourself with such powerful people, Mistress T. She hesitated, seeming to actually look at T for the first time, her mage-sight still active. You lookodd? She immediately blushed and looked down. I apologize. I didnt mean it that way. I mean, I can see magic around you, but no spell-lines, nothing but what might be an auraI dont think? It just looks a bit odd.


    T sighed. Well, its best to just get this over with, I suppose. None of you scream, please?


    -<em>Really? Youre not going to tell them more than that?-</em>


    <em>I want to see how they really feel, what they really think about it.</em>


    <em>-Seems a bit circumspect, but okay.-</em>


    Lyn leaned back, assuming that she knew what wasing. The other two gave her odd looks, but slowly nodded.


    <em>Here it goes.</em> T reached inside herself and deactivated the through-spikes illusion functions.


    T saw her hands in her peripheral vision as they quickly faded from clean, unblemished, unadorned, and flesh colored to a dull, dark gray. Overtop of the gray, intricate inscriptions were carved, seemingly with light into existence around her, forming a cage of power that somehow seemed to be just that, a cage to protect the world from whaty within.


    She saw the barest hints of magic flicker away from her eyes as well. <em>So that answers that. My eyes were normal, again.</em>


    <em>-And now they are blood rubies.-</em>


    T twitched at that, the blood eyes of the arcane forcing themselves back into her mind, wing their way free of her memories.


    <em>Stop reminding me of him!</em>


    In the distracted moment, T <em>almost</em> missed the others reactions to her transformation. Thankfully, it was only almost.


    Lyns eyes widened. Shed seen T fully painted, but she hadnt seen her since the power had time to fully build, causing nearly every spell-form to fully manifest an echo around T.


    Rane gaped; his mouth seemingly forgotten as his jaw fell ck. He didnt react defensively, for which T was grateful. She knew that she probably looked quite arcane so such a reaction would have been reasonable. Instead, he looked like someone staring upon a great masterpiece for the first time.


    <em>Greatjust what we needed.</em>


    -<em>Oh, not what you secretly wanted?-</em>


    <em>No. No? I dont know. Hush, you.</em>


    Kannis paled, pushing back into her chair, her jaw working, but only one wording out, before her mouth continued to move, silently. Arcane-?!


    T held up her hands. Hey, now. No. Im no arcane. Only T had noticed as the other twos focus was locked onto her, but when Kannis spoke,<em></em>that caught Lyn and Ranes attention, and they both moved to help the mageling at once.


    They both assured Kannis that T was not an arcane, and that seemed to calm her a bit, but she still seemed quite inwardly focused, withdrawn.


    As they did so, Lyn gave T a stern look. You should know better than to show something so extreme to a new graduate, T. You broke my mageling, and I dont appreciate it.


    Yes, Mistress. Your house, your rules.


    The stern look held for only a moment before it broke, and they shared a guilty grin.


    T returned a guilty smile. I will try to be better in the future.


    See that you do. Dont let this smile fool you. Im irritated with you for this little stunt, amusing as parts of it are. Her tone denoted that she was dead serious, so T took her at her word.


    Lyn turned her attention back to Kannis as Rane pulled out some smelling salts and waved them under Kanniss nose.


    The shock of the harsh smell seemed to pull her back to herself, and she shook her head as if to clear it. She then looked around in confusion for an instant before her eyes settled back onto T. What is happening, T. What did that crazy woman do to you?


    * * *


    T, with Lyn and Ranes help, calmed Kannis down. As they worked, T had released the through-spike, allowing the illusion to return.


    T had some questions of her own, but when she learned that Kannis had met Holly earlier in the day, a lot became more clear.


    No, no. She didnt do this to me, not directly; she more facilitated?


    Kannis took a long drink from a mug filled with warm tea, which had been provided by Rane. Sothis is an illusion, and thatother visage is the real you?


    T shrugged. Yes and no? This is me. But its hidden below the magic and-


    Lyn cleared her throat meaningfully.


    -and other stuff. Both are me.


    Kannis gave her a mildly condescending look, before seeming to master herself.


    Even so, T took the hint. But this one is a magically crafted illusion, if thats what youre asking.


    It was. Thank you for the honesty. The mageling looked a bit off, but that was likely due to having had such an emotional shock so recently.


    <em>Well, I never really got to see my own reaction to seeing an arcane. I was already underpulsion before I noticed him</em> She shuddered at the thought.


    There was a prolonged silence, while Kannis continued to drink her tea, that was bordering on awkward when Rane cleared his throat. Well, look at it this way, Kannis. Now you have three Archons to help you out.


    Lyn gave Rane a wide-eyed re.


    Rane immediately misinterpreted the look and added. Assuming your master approves of course.


    Lyn groaned, and Kannis turned slowly to regard T. Youre an Archon, too?


    Rane made an Oh face, and shifted backwards under Lyns continued disbelieving re.


    T smiled awkwardly and scratched her own cheek. Didn''t you notice?"


    "Yes, Mistress T, I noticed your Archon-ness under the inhuman skin and glowing arcane-looking lines." Kannis hesitated. No, you know what? No. I couldnt have noticed. You had no magical signature except what was reflecting off of you. She clucked her tongue. Why are you covered in iron? She shook her head. No, <em>how</em> are you covered in iron? Kannis looked to Lyn, who continued to re at Rane.


    Rane, for his part, shifted his chair backwards, to lessen his prominence in the conversation.


    T nced between her fellow Archons and cleared her throat. This is likely a conversation for another time.


    Lyn turned back to her mageling and nodded. I agree. This will be an excellent conversation for us to have,ter.


    Rane pped his hands down on his knees, drawing everyones attention back to him. So, celebration time? Kannis, youre a mageling now. Mistress Lyn, you have a mageling now. T, you have a new housemate. Good things all around!


    That shook the group loose from the aftermath of the odd moments.


    That sounds wonderful, Master Rane. Lyn stood, offering Kannis a hand. Lets get our coats and boots, and well be on our way.


    <em>Coats and boots?</em> As T considered, she realized that most of the people shed seen walking through the streets had been wearing such. Those that werent had either been obviously Mages, or just as obviously miserable. <em>I guess it is pretty cold.</em>


    <em>-Just a bit below freezing, if my estimation is correct. The slush will be freezing, now that traffic is slowing. Be careful navigating the ice. Id hate for you to hit your head.-</em>


    T ignored that and turned her attention to happier topics. Where do you all want to go to eat?


    Kannis gave T a long look, seeming much more in control of herself. I do have questions. I have so, SO many questions, but Ill take my masters guidance and not pursue them, for the moment..


    <em>That really doesnt help us find a ce to eat</em> T was hungry, but she shrugged. Lyn can answer what she deems appropriate for you to know, and Im happy to convey anything that she asks me to.


    Thatsfair. The mageling looked conflicted, but seemed to draw herself out of it. Alright. Lets eat!


    <em>There you go. Back on the right track.</em>


    Rane smiled. I like your attitude, but we still need to know where.


    T grinned. Little Caravans?


    Lyn groaned. I cant eat that much, and while its tasty, its hardly uniquely celebratory.


    <em>Thats hardly fair. Those are amazing!</em> But the night wasnt really about her. Alright then. Soup? Meat pies? What are you in the mood for, Kannis?


    The young woman seemed to consider. You know what? I really want ice cream.


    T chuckled. That sounds like fine dessert ns. Do you know what you want to eat for dinner before dessert?


    Kannispressed her lips, quirking them off to one side. Never heard of a little caravan before. Lets try that.


    T lightly pped her former-year-mate on the shoulder. I like how you think, Kannis. To little caravans!


    Lyn groaned again. Youre going to be the death of me. I mean that literally, too. When these inscriptions go out of alignment, she patted her middle, Im going to pop and kill everyone around me.


    Oh, youll be fine. Your inscriptions arent anywhere near the distortion point.


    Rane was looking down at his clean pants, not paying attention to the current flow of the conversation, with a sour expression.


    T regarded him for a moment before simply asking, Whats up, Rane?


    He huffed a sigh. Im deciding whether to get these dirty, or change back into the pair thats already dirty.


    Decisions, decisions, make up your mind, though. I have a bit of quick business with Lyn, then we should get going.


    He waved her off. Ill go change back.


    T turned to Lyn, who was now regarding her with interest. First, when will I be leaving for Marliweather?


    Oh, in about a week.


    Usual arrangements?


    Yes. Charging required for two days before and after each leg.


    Understood. Now, can you sell an assortment ofrandomly acquired items for me?


    Lyns eyes narrowed. What did you do, T?


    Nothing, nothing. I just picked up what no longer had an owner.


    Uh, huh.


    So, where can I put the stuff? No need for me to keep carrying it about.


    Lyn sighed. Pile it on the table, so we can go.


    And so, T did just that,ying out the woodcutting axes, hatchets, pouches, and other odds and ends that shed taken from the woodsmen whod tried to pursue her, and who had met a timely end beneath Terrys talons and beak.


    Lyn looked at the items and then turned her gaze back to T. No. This isnt suspicious at all.


    I can sell them myself if-


    No, no. Its fine. Lyn cut across her. Ill see what I can do. It wont you much, though.


    T shrugged. Better than carrying it around any longer.


    Alright. Now, lets go.


    They all trudged through the snow to acquire the little caravans. T ate five of the cheesy little caravans; Rane ate one, and Lyn and Kannis split a smaller little caravan.


    When Kannis actually noticed the pace at which T was eating, she couldnt hold back any longer, and she cut loose with some pointed questions. T exined how her healing inscriptions worked, and how Holly had added spell-forms to maintain her form, whilepacting muscle and reserves into the predefined shapes at increasing densities.


    Kannis obviously didnt understand the intricacies, but she seemed to get the gist of how and why it worked, at least enough for them to return to more standard dinner conversations.


    They chatted about small things, but mostly just spent the time together, getting used to the new person in their midst.


    After dinner, they hunted down a ce that sold ice cream and continued the casual celebration.


    All in all, it was a pleasant way to end what had been quite a long day.

 Chapter 184: Surprisingly Reasonable

    Chapter 184: Surprisingly Reasonable


    T, Rane, Lyn, and Kannis talked and atete into the night.


    Well no, thats not right.


    T and Terry continued to eatte into the night. Rane, Lyn, and Kannis simply talked.


    They mainly talked about their growing up years, or Kannis asked the Mages about their lives as such.


    Both T and Kannis studiously avoided discussing their days at the Academy, and the others seemed to key off that.


    -<em>Youll have to talk about it eventually.-</em>


    <em>I know. You know I do, but not tonight.</em>


    When they reluctantly decided to call it a night and end the impromptu, little celebration, Kannis looked to be on the edge of falling asleep where she sat.


    As it turned out, theyd been able to find a little all-night, dessert, and coffee caf. It seemed to cater mostly to Mages, but a not-small portion of their customers were clearly mundanes.


    The smell of coffee had almost overpowered Ts willpower a few times, but while T had been tempted by the alluring aroma, shed only indulged in the desserts.


    The caf wasnt closing, and they were hardly the only people in the establishment, but the night was gettingte, and Lyn and Kannis had work in the morning, and Rane and T had a lot that they hoped to do, as well. So, with a little collective prompting, they got moving.


    Rane walked with them all back to their house, and thete hour,bined with their collective tiredness, left it a silent walk through the crisply cold, city night.


    Thankfully, more snow had fallen earlier in the night, creating a thinyer of reasonable traction atop the treacherous, frozen slush. Thus, it was a more pleasant walk than it might otherwise have been.


    Street clearers would likely be by in a couple of hours with hot, salt-water incorporators. <em>All of the benefits, none of thesting vegetative damage.</em>


    T had seen them work as a child, but shed never really understood that it was simply Mages using devices to aplish the task. <em>One of the easy, useful tasks avable to Mages who dont want to hold down a regr job, this time of year.</em>


    From what shed seen on various job boards, and what t had looked up for them, it paid about ten silver for a nights work. Not a lot, but still quite a good wage for non-guild-affiliated workers.


    But that wasnt really pertinent. The next day would besomething. <em>If it takes the hook, I could be rid of that monster once and for all.</em> She hesitated, then corrected herself. <em>Humanity will be rid of him.</em>


    The four continued to walk, and Terry continued his seeming perpetual nap on Ts shoulder, as she continued her contemtions of the next day. As she did so, she realized that she really wanted to convey some information to Jenna. Therefore, she had asked t to update Jenna on what shed done towards spreading awareness of her venture, and thepanion shed have for the following day.


    Surprisingly enough, Jenna responded almost immediately, simply adding, Noted. to the Archive document they both had ess to.


    -<em>At least she knows we did our part spreading awareness.-</em>


    <em>Yeah. That was a little awkward, asking everyone if anyone wanted to joinI havent felt so out of ce since I was back at the Academy</em>


    <em>-Didnt expect Cazor to say yes.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, that threw me off a bit, too.</em> She clicked her tongue behind her teeth for a moment, then shrugged. <em>Well find a way of telling him whats going on tomorrow, before we leave. It would be pretty awful to drag him into what might be a high-power fight essentially blind.</em>


    <em>-Kit should do for that. Invite him in?-</em>


    <em>Yeah, that should work.</em>


    Before any of them really knew it, theyd arrived, and Rane bid them all goodnight at their front door. Lyn fumbled for her key for a moment before T snorted augh and easily pulled her key from Kit.


    Kannis was a bit unsteady on her feet. <em>The girls had a big day.</em>


    Even so, the mageling gave Ts key a puzzled look. Is thatiron? She shook her head. What am I saying, of course its iron.


    T just grinned as she quickly unlocked the house and let the three of them in, out of the cold.


    <em>Id not considered it, but Lyns hooked into the city for heat, too.</em> Her family had usedmps and a wood stove for light and heat, while T was growing up. <em>Probably cheaper, after the initial expense.</em> If she remembered correctly, several officials had offered to do the instation, but her father had always refused.


    Part of his desire to do it on his own or some such. <em>Didnt keep him from making me pay his debts</em>


    -<em>Thats right, T. Think on it. Build up what you want to say.-</em>


    T sent a mental re towards t.


    Not having to take of coat or boots, she walked in first and went straight back to the back hallway. With a casual motion, she pulled Kit from her belt and tossed it against the wall, where itnded silently and grew into a door that fit the space perfectly, looking for all the world as if it had been there since the house was built.


    Ironically, or maybe very deliberately, the door didnt blend in in such a way as to fade from notice. Instead, it stood out in a manner thatplimented the other doors, and the hallway in general, making it seem as if the space would actually be worse off were the door not there.


    <em>Of course its always been there. No one would be foolish enough to have this space without having put in this keystone part of the design.</em>


    <em>-It is almost deviously perfect.-</em>


    They agreed on that. The syphons abilities were potent; its primary goal of non-detection still integral in their use.


    Lyn and Kannis came down the hall as T was stepping through the new door, into her dimensional storage.


    The younger woman paused, whispering to herself in half-conscious confusion. I dont remember that door being thereHow did I miss that?


    Lyn gave her an odd look, seeming to have not heard the girls words, but noticing the direction of her attention and the interest and confusion directed that way. Where did you imagine T was going to be sleeping?


    Iuh Kannis didnt seem to have an answer for that.


    Good night, you two. Sleep well. T stuck one hand back out the door and waved.


    Night! Both replied almost in unison, as T closed the door, shutting out the rest of the world.


    <em>Now, I just have to do my evening training.</em>


    * * *


    T woke after a deeply restful sleep, the red-orange light of sunrise bathing her in the beauty of another dawn. She honestly didnt care that it was illusory; she loved it more every time she woke to her own, private vista.


    <em>Only three hours tonight?</em> She unconsciously knew how long shed slept; it was as easy as blinking.


    <em>-The new set of spell-forms have fully settled in. Dont expect your required rest to get any shorter, at least not with this set of inscriptions.-</em>


    <em>Not even with the ironpounding and increasing my power-density?</em>


    <em>-With these scripts, the increased density wont matter. Youre hitching more oxen to the front of a lightly loaded wagon. Its not going to make a difference until you have a heavier load to pull.-</em>


    That made a lot of sense, and Holly had expressed that many of the ones that T currently had were parts of various series of physically enhancing script-regimens. <em>You knowI wonder if this is Refining?</em>


    t grunted within Ts mind. -<em>No? It might be a precursor to it, though.-</em>


    <em>Ahh, like strengthening the body so that the impurities can be stripped from you without destroying us?</em>


    <em>-That would be in the vein of my guess.-</em>


    It sounded like a good guess, if T was being honest.


    T moved through her morning routine, only hitching during the perspective portion of her aspect-mirroring, as she had in the past.


    It was nauseating and dizzying in the extreme, even when she restricted the mirroring to a singr external perspective, alongside her own.


    Still, like everything else, she was improving. t helped with that too, slowly modifying and tweaking her exercises of all types to better match how T could and would learn and grow.


    Honestly, T could have done that for herself all along, but it would have taken time and a lot of deep analysis and someparative study. Now, t did it for her with rtive ease and speed.


    -<em>You know, its not actually that easy, but I dont have to maintain any of your day-to-day activities. So, I have a lot more free time.-</em>


    <em>Well, thank you. I appreciate your efforts on our part.</em>


    <em>-Your improvement is my improvement.-</em>


    She had soonpleted her morning tasks, save for the bath.


    Cleansing was going to be difficult with the iron body paint. She didnt really need the bath, except for her hair, but she could just use herb for that. <em>Except that its at the Constructionist Guild facility.</em>


    That was a problem forter in the day, and as such she set about cooking a massive breakfast for herself.


    Kits little kitchte worked even better than shed hoped it would, and soon T was devouring a sizable meal pulled from her venturing food.


    <em>The Culinary Guild really came through with this stuff. I really should get more. </em>It never went bad, in theory, and so it would be better to have on hand than run out or be in need. <em>Not today, though. Today, I have other tasks.</em>


    <em>-Yup,rge barrels. Im thinking a few tuns?-</em>


    <em>A few what?</em>


    <em>-A tun, thats a barrel that holds 252 gallons.-</em>


    <em>Archive?</em> She trusted that t would be able to interpret her abbreviated question.


    <em>-Archive. Its surprisingly easy to look up random words.-</em>


    <em>Useful, I suppose.</em>


    <em>-Ill say.- </em>T got an odd sensation along with that expression. As if t had a lot of weight behind the utterance. As she considered it, T realized that in several meaningful ways, all t had was words.


    She decided not to focus on that, or inquire further for the moment. <em>Okay, so a couple of tuns doesnt that seem excessive? I meanhow can we possibly harvest enough to fill even a single one with berries, let alone with juice?</em>


    <em>-More storage capacity seems better, right?-</em>


    T shrugged. <em>I suppose, but it still seems like a </em>lot<em> more than well actually need.</em>


    <em>-Thats fair. I might have a better option as well.-</em>


    <em>Oh?</em> Then why had she been talking about massive barrels? Probably because she genuinely thought they were the best subset of barrel options.


    <em>-The Constructionists sellrge, enameled, cast-iron barrels. 55 gallon to be precise.-</em>


    <em>That seems perfect! Theyre designed for use in containing experiments and other magical liquids, I assume?</em>


    <em>-Precisely.-</em>


    <em>I suppose we should have guessed that something like that would exist. Not cheap though, right?</em>


    <em>-Actually, its surprisingly affordable, all things considered.-</em>


    <em>Do tell.</em>


    <em>-They warranty that the containers will maintain the potency of any magical ingredients kept within, while so contained.-</em>


    <em>Thats</em> As T thought about it, and how tight the seals must be, and how much testing would have needed to go into such a certification, she realized just how much value and weight such an assurance held. <em>Thats actually pretty amazing.</em>


    <em>-Thats what I thought.-</em>


    <em>So, how much?</em>


    <em>-Half a gold per barrel.-</em>


    T winced, then thought about it. <em>Huh, how is that both more, and less, expensive than I expected.</em>


    <em>-Were strange?-</em>


    She chuckled at that. <em>Fair enough.</em> After a moments consideration, she continued. <em>You have ess to their for sale list?</em>


    <em>-I do. Well, everyone with Archive ess does.-</em>


    <em>You know what Im thinking?</em>


    <em>-Of course. We should get a better small container.-</em>


    The iron sk that T had been using was looking a bit worse for wear. Shed only dropped it a few times, but exterior dings, wear, and tear werent the problem in any case. The simple iron sk hadnt been designed for such constant use with even a mild acid, and almost every fruit juice was at least a little acidic.


    -<em>Yeah, it was meant to carry a vored cooking oil, which would help maintain the metal. Its a blessing that you arent negatively affected by some iron kes.-</em>


    T grimaced. <em>I thought Id been tasting some grit ofte.</em>


    -<em>So, an enameled iron sk will only cost 4 silver for a four cup one. It would be 3 silver for a two cup.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, a four cup one is better, assuming its easy enough to hold.</em>


    <em>-We can take a look.-</em>


    <em>That sounds like a good n. What else did we put on our list?</em>


    <em>-A cider or wine press.-</em>


    <em>Right. Any ideas where to get one of those things?</em>


    <em>-Market district would be the quickest. We can swing through the Constructionists first. The location we frequent is pretty close to some shops. The presses are used enough by various restaurants and craftsmen that the shops should have some on hand.-</em>


    <em>Even in the off season?</em>


    <em>-With the growingplexes, there really arent off seasons.-</em>


    <em>Ahh, right. </em>T considered for a moment. <em>You know, Ive always wanted to see some of the growingplexes. They dont allow mundanes down there, unless theyre workers or for some other specific purpose, and I havent thought to go look since bing a Mage.</em>


    <em>-Yup. Im in your head, and am well aware of your desires.-</em>


    <em>Right. Sometimes I forget that.</em>


    t conveyed a bit of happiness at that. <em>-Im d to hear that I seem distinct from you, to you.-</em>


    <em>Shouldnt you already know that?</em>


    <em>-Of course, but its nice to hear kind things spoken aloud sometimes.-</em>


    T grunted. <em>True enough.</em>


    She took thest couple of bites of the hearty fruit and nut-butter oatmeal before using her finger to scrape up thest bits.


    <em>I cant even tell that the fruit was dehydrated before.</em>


    <em>-Thats probably why the recipe included a bit more water than Id have expected.-</em>


    <em>I was thinking the same thing.</em>


    She left Kit, grabbing the doorway and pulling it off the wall as the door swung closed. It reshaped into a pouch even as she hung it from her belt.


    She was almost surprised at how little Kits transformation interested her. It was simply a useful feature of her dimensional storage. <em>A ridiculously useful feature.</em>


    She did not miss climbing up and down through the small opening that had been Kits limit before.


    T turned her attention outward, finding that Lyns home was, as expected, quiet.


    She could hear Kanniss breathing, and slight shifting, even through the closed door to what had until recently been Ts room.


    T hesitated at that sound.


    <em>Why have I never heard anything from Lyns room?</em>


    She extended her senses in that direction and hit a metaphorical wall. It wasnt a hard wall, and T thought that she could breach or break it if she really wanted to, but she refrained.


    <em>Lyns got a privacy item? How did I not notice that, before?</em>


    <em>-Its hardly a good idea to proim I dont want anyone listening in, here! So, it likely does what it does as subtly as possible.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, I suppose.</em>


    T decided to respect her friends privacy, whatever the reason, and depart.


    All told, from when shed gone into Kit to when she came out, just over six hours had passed. <em>Three hours for two sets of training, and a massive meal? Not too shabby.</em>


    After locking the front door behind herself, she set out through the quiet, very early morning streets.


    -<em>We should have time to drop through the Constructionists, and even through the market district, before we meet Mistress Odera for breakfast.-</em>


    <em>That was my thinking as well.</em>


    The trip was uneventful, and the security scripts on the Constructionists facility didntbel her as a threat, so that worked out well.


    Sadly, t hadnt yet figured out how to modify the illusion, so there was an awkward moment where the assistant thought she was a mundane. Thankfully, the security scripts had identified her as an Archon, so it was easy enough to clear up.


    They did have several of the iron barrels in stock, as well as sks for smaller samples.


    Of course, the smaller sks were designed with convenient, easy to use handles, so that valuable samples would never be risked.


    That pleased T to no end.


    Unfortunately, the only barrels and sks they had were deep crimson in color. They were that shade because it was the most often requested color, used to denote the storage of arcanous or magical blood.


    This was a practice that was seemingly vastly moremon that T had realized, especially among Constructionist Mages.


    The assistant was happy to exin that the study of arcanous blood as an ink for spell-lines, applied in various mediums was a well-researched field of study, and there were some spell-forms that were known to be more efficient with a given arcanous creatures blood than even with gold.


    There werent many, but they did exist.


    Sadly, when T inquired, she was told that that was a Guild secret.


    Obviously, t couldnt find out either, T not having special ess rting to the Constructionist Guild within the Archive.


    She could have custom ordered virtually any color at no extra cost, other than time, but she was in a hurry, and red was good enough for her. So, in the end, T was able to get a bundled deal of four blood-red enameled barrels and tworge sks for a total of two gold.


    It wasnt much savings, and she ended up buying more barrels than she had nned to, but it should be better in the end.


    <em>Im tired of reaching for more juice and having my sk empty. Having a back-up will be worth it.</em>


    -<em>Sure, justify it however you want. This assistant is a good salesman.-</em>


    It was a fairly simple matter to create a door out of Kit and maneuver the barrels inside.


    The enamel was exquisitely done, looking like nothing so much as liquid blood, locked in ce, thinly coating the containers. With each touch, T half expected her hands toe away wet, even though she knew better.


    <em>This is going to add new dimensions to my reputation as the Blood Archon.</em>


    <em>-Just a bit, yeah. Though, its probably safer for people to assume youre drinking some blood than ending-berries.-</em>


    <em>Why?</em>


    <em>-Because theyd assume it was something special, and therefore, they wouldnt be inclined to just start drinking random blood.-</em>


    <em>Or, they could just assume I was drinking water</em>


    <em>-That would be better, but such is life.-</em>


    T thanked the assistant and was about to leave when she remembered herb.


    Blessedly, it was a simple thing for her to get a hold of it and use it briefly before returning it to the assistants care and departing.


    All told, she hadnt been in the Constructionist facility long, but there were quite a few more people out and about than before.


    <em>Howte did we stay up?</em>


    <em>-Rhetorical question, right?-</em>


    <em>Mostly, yeah.</em> It had beente, but not <em>that</em>te.


    The stores were already starting to open, or already doing brisk business.


    t got T to the generally correct area, and a few quick questions brought her to a merchant who had a press for sale. Twenty silver secured the device for her use. T carried it half a block before finding an out of the way section of wall to throw Kit against so that she could ce the press inside.


    <em>Thats better.</em>


    <em>-That wasnt heavy, even for a normal person.-</em>


    <em>But it was awkward.</em> After a moments frown, T inquired further.<em> Cant you read my thoughts? Arent you </em>in<em> my thoughts?</em>


    -<em>I can, but if I did that all the time, what would we ever talk about? Also, my questions cause you to re-think through your thoughts and conclusions, and thats good for both of us.-</em>


    T grunted. <em>Fair enough.</em>


    They arrived at the Caravanners Guildhall before her mentor, and T was able to grab a table and feed Terry some jerky before Mistress Odera came to join them.


    First things first, T let Mistress Odera know about the Marliweather triping up. The older Mage, of course, already knew, but appreciated hearing it from T, herself.


    Then, T let Mistress Odera know that T had given her ess to some memories, via the Archive.


    Mistress Odera had frozen; gaze intently locked on Ts face. <em>Those</em> memories?


    Yes. Those.


    After a long moment, Mistress Odera nodded once. I will review them when we are done here.


    From there, T described how her training had changed. She didnt mention t, and t didnt seem to mind.


    In the end, it was a nice breakfast, and they parted ways as they usually did, with a confirmation of the next days meal.


    Thatplete, T set out for the northern gate to meet Cazor.

 Chapter 185: Not Surprised in the Least

    Chapter 185: Not Surprised in the Least


    T found the Mage Hunter waiting for her as she approached the northern gate of Bandfast.


    She waved and called out to him. Master Cazor! Im so sorry, did I keep you waiting?


    He smiled and shrugged, pushing off the wall hed been leaning against. No, were both actually early. I was just earlier. He chuckled. I prefer to wait for people, rather than make them wait on me.


    T looked around. They were still a few dozen feet from the actual gate. Cazor had been leaning up against a nk wall and had moved away from it when hed spotted her. <em>That should work. </em>Follow me for a moment; theres something that we need to discuss.


    She took Kit from her belt and threw it past him at the wall, where it transformed into a door.


    T pushed through the door, and Cazor hesitantly followed.


    What is this? A fully morphable dimensional storage? Very nice. He looked around the inside of herrge, front room but quickly returned his focus to her. So, whats this about?


    The door closed, and T willed it to seal them off from outside. She knew from prior experiences that no sound would transfer either in or out when she did that.


    This trip is partly so I can be bait for a mind altering arcane who seems to be able to infiltrate human cities.


    Cazor froze, seeming to process what shed just said. To his credit, he didnt panic, nor disbelieve her. Shed been half-expecting to have to argue with him about her ims. Wellrust.


    <em>-Memories?-</em>


    <em>Thats a good idea.</em> Do you have an Archive link or tablet?


    He gave her an odd look, then nodded. I do.


    -<em>ess given.-</em>


    Ive just given you ess to some memories.


    Memories? How-


    She shook her head and cut across him. Im sorry, but thats unimportant for the moment. I want you to be informed before we leave the city.


    Cazor pulled out a te and began manipting it. What he was able to pull up was a sort of grayscale version of the memories, without sound. Interestingly enough, it almost seemed like the memories had too much information to easily be disyed on the empowered stone surface, making the whole thing less clear than if it had been pared down and simplified.


    <em>Huh, I didnt really consider quality differences.</em>


    <em>-Yeah. Hopefully the important parts will be clear enough.-</em>


    Cazor finished looking at the two memories before returning his attention to her. So, what was that?


    She spent a couple of minutes exining the parts that he couldnt glean without sound or better-quality renditions of the memory.


    So, if I understand correctly. The powers that be believe that youve been targeted by an arcane who can manipte your mind, and that he has already infiltrated the city at least once?


    Thats right.


    And youre going out, today, to act as bait. To try to draw him out.


    Thats my understanding.


    And hes a Revered?


    Last I saw him, yes. I dont really understand how arcanes increase their rank.


    Its not that hard to grasp, but nows hardly the time. Cazor ran a hand through his hair. And here I thought you were bringing me in here to exin why youre suddenly dipped in iron and hiding it.


    Ts eyebrows rose. How did you notice that?


    He gave her a mildly condescending look. Come on, Mistress T. I manipte maic fields. I have to have a way of perceiving them, and youre all sorts of obvious with that sight. Not sure how you masked the magic-reflecting nature of the material, but Id bet it has to do with the visual illusion?


    Near enough. Theres a magical one interwoven through the visual part.


    So, you still have your inscriptions, but the illusion is hiding them.


    Thats right.


    He grunted. But were off topic, now.


    True enough.


    He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. So, do you even need to go harvesting?


    Oh, yeah. I need to get as many ending berries as I can.


    He gave her a long, incredulous look. If anything, he seemed more dubious of this, than of an arcane having entered the city. Ending berries.


    Thats right.


    He rubbed his face across his hands. Mistress, those are toxic to Mages, and do all sorts of unpleasant things to mundanes who eat too many. Theres a market for them, sure, but a highly regted one. Theres enough reasonable use for them as protection during one-off, incredibly dangerous jobs, but the number you can safely sell, and not crash the market, makes even a single Archon going to harvest them a losing prospect. Mundanes love them for the one off protection, but theyre still not worth the hassle.


    T paled slightly. <em>Unpleasant side effects for mundanes?</em> What do you mean by side-effects? How do they harm mundanes?


    Crazor shrugged. Has to do with the warriors of old. If the berries are used enough to make an impression in the persons natural magic, those spell-forms begin to draw power from their gate to stay empowered. That sounds wonderful. Theyre now naturally more durable. The problem is that mundanes dont increase their throughput as a general rule, not really. So, that power is no longer going to other areas. The results are almost always a lessening of magic reinforcing other, critical for life systems. The berry users get sick easier, they die younger, that sort of thing.


    Is there a cure?


    Sure, they can be a Mage, but then the berries magics have to be overridden, and until then, they sh with any other magics the new Mage pursues.


    You know an awful lot about this.


    I was a mageling on assignment with Mage Hunters who had to hunt down an ending-berry seller. My master thought it would be instructive for me to research the topic thoroughly. In the end, it wasnt really needed. She wasnt precisely hiding her actions. Who knows how she was harvesting the things, but the woman was selling them as miracles, which would protect the user from harm. She didnt bother to tell her clients any of the side-effects. He growled. Arge one being that when people get a feeling of invincibility, its hard for them to think rationally about danger. More often than not, a mundane goes into a situation where ending-berry power protected him in the past, without proper consideration or eating another. They die; they die horribly. He shook his head. No. Im not going to help you, and Ill probably even stop you, unless you give me an <em>incredibly</em> good reason why I shouldnt.


    T was feeling a bit ufortable with the whole thing. Well. I use them myself. Arge subset of my inscriptions are directly modeled on the ending-berry power.


    Cazor tilted his head up in contemtive surprise, looking at one of the upper corners of the room and scratching under his jaw while he bit his lip. Huh. You know, that could actually work. In theory. But doing that would require a truly insane number of inscriptions to function properly. He closed his eyes and scratched between his scrunched eyebrows. Is that even possible? The level of detail required He shook his head in disbelief.


    Can I show you what I look like under the illusion without you freaking out? She still had Kanniss reaction vividly in her memory. If this man thought she was an arcane, even for an instant, things could go badly wrong.


    He narrowed his eyes. What am I going to see?


    Gray skin from iron paint, and glowing lines of power carved onto reality itself.


    What? Heughed, maybe with a hint of uncertainty. When she didnt join in, he stopped, lifting one eyebrow. Huh. Alright then. This, I have to see.


    T took a deep breath, nodding. As she let the breath out, she forcibly suppressed the illusory portion of her through-spike.


    Cazor sucked in a sharp breath, but otherwise didnt move. Mother of Decay. You look terrifying. Ive fought arcanes who looked less menacing than you. He gave a nervous chuckle. If the memories you shared are any indication, your blood-stalker looks less terrifying than you, if Im being honest.


    She didnt really know how to respond to that. Thank you?


    He snorted augh. Thank you for letting me see.


    She released her maniption of the device and the illusion returned in an instant.


    Well, someones using you to test some theories, thats for sure.


    Couldnt I be using myself?


    He shrugged. Maybe. He scratched the back of his head for a moment, then nodded. Ill go with you. I can get us there faster than even Terry can probably travel. The increased speed will draw attention, but thats the point, right?


    Thats right. She knew that Mages traveling at high speed was dangerous due to the attention it could draw, but shed never really tried it, or experienced it, herself.


    I can probably help you harvest as well, but both the transport and the harvesting will cost me in wear and tear on my inscriptions.


    She nodded. Thats true enough. Can Ipensate you?


    He grimaced. I was just going to go with you as a friend, but what were discussing now will actually be a bit expensive for me. How about I help you, then you tell me what you think that help is worth, after the fact?


    We should at least set a minimum. I dont want you to be ripped off.


    Heughed. If you lend a friend a silver and never see them again, it was money well spent.


    T contemted that for a moment, then nodded. I think I understand.


    Good. Now, lets get to it. Do you have a map of where were going?


    T opened a cab door and pulled out the map. She could, in theory, just reach behind her back, and it would have been there, but there was something a bit disturbing about pulling items out of thin air. <em>Ill get used to it, eventually.</em>


    Cazor studied the marked locations. So, this grove to the north?


    Yup.


    Alright. Lets do this.


    * * *


    T regarded thepressed disc of gray sand, hovering before her.


    Its perfectly safe, especially for you.


    And it wont strip off my iron?


    If it does, Ill rece it, but no, it shouldnt. I keep a very tight control of my maic fields.


    T sighed, looking over to where Cazor already stood on a second disc ofpressed iron dust.


    I can make this onerger and share, if youd prefer?


    She shook her head. No This will be fine. She stepped up, finding her bnce with ease, as the surface felt firm and textured beneath her bare foot. Even the moisture she brought with her from the snow-covered ground didnt seem to ruin her footing.


    Terry flickered around, inspecting the disc and T before returning to her shoulder, perched looking forward expectantly. He even did a little shuffle step and crouched lower.


    <em>Well, hes ready to go. </em>Ready. She called over to Cazor.


    A few onlookers had stopped to watch them as they stood just to one side, outside Bandfasts northern gate, overlooking the mostly dormant, winterized farnd surrounding the city.


    Cazor nodded, acknowledging her readiness. The tforms tilted in unison, and just when T thought she would lose her bnce, they began to move, slowly at first, then gradually speeding up as she got the hang of it.


    It was odd, as she had absolutely no control. <em>Much like riding atop a cargo wagon, I suppose. Just with a whole lot less wagon.</em>


    Soon enough, they were moving faster than a galloping horse, sending out puffs of snow to either side as they skimmed along a few feet above the ground.


    Tughed, looking over towards the Mage Hunter. This is amazing! Why dont Mages always travel this way, or in ways simr to this?


    Cazor grinned, then shouted back. Wait until we leave the city. Youll see.


    They quickly passed the outer defensive towers, and T almost felt like she mmed into a wall, though not physically. Her speed didnt change, but suddenly she felt an odd drag of magic.


    The power that they moved throughpressed ahead of her. It entered her aura taking on an aspect like that put forward by her through-spike. <em>Like my own magic.</em> Then, it was pushed before her, into the power that had been further away.


    As it did so, it seemed to create a reverberating pulse of power that was subtle at first, but grew quickly.


    -<em>Its like a continuous whip-crack, but with magic instead of air.-</em>


    <em>Im creating a magic boom?</em> That had interesting implications. <em>No wonder this isnt advisable under normal circumstances.</em>


    She contemted a moment longer, observing thepression of power, pushing against her as she moved. <em>So, were only going a bit faster than what we really should be? The build up seems on the slow side, considering.</em>


    Their speed began to adjust slightly, first slowing down until T barely saw an increase in the building concussion of power around her. Then, it increased a bit.


    Looking over to Cazor, she could see why.


    He had a halo of power around him, as well, but it was fading, and after a minute or so it was gone all together.


    Terry, somehow, didnt look like she did or Cazor had, though he did still seem to have a bit of a halo of magic around him.


    <em>Magical density? Not weight?</em>


    <em>-Likely, also probably something to do with human power, in general. Youre seeing the odd echo between Cazor and yourself, right? His presence is making your power more prominent.-</em>


    <em>Yeah. Thatsodd.</em> The phenomenon did exin why caravans werent just a single Mage with a fast method of travel and a storage backpack. <em>Though, they could still probably move faster than a caravan, except</em>


    -<em>If I had to guess, Kit, Terry, and your other gear is adding to your magical echo. With a caravans worth of storage, youd have to be going a </em>lot<em> slower to avoid this effect.-</em>


    <em>And the iron isnt blocking it because this, by its very nature, is magical turbulence.</em> She nodded to herself.


    <em>-That would be my guess, yeah.-</em>


    They were going too fast for easy conversation, so T just smiled and gave Cazor an appreciative gesture.


    He waved back and smiled, clearly enjoying himself.


    T noticed that Cazor had pulled out some sses to protect his eyes from the wind. Her own eyes werent bothered overmuch, but as a test, she extended her senses and power into her elk-leathers and found the right path to manifest a magical defense in front of her face.


    It worked wonderfully. Instantly cutting off the wind.


    It also drew a lot of power, because she was manifesting it without the physicalponent of the defense. So, she was forced to connect a couple of void-channels to her outfit to speed up the flow of power.


    They werent strictly necessary, as the soul-bound item could pull directly from her gate and reserves, but the use of the void-channels increased her flow, which was required given the increased demand from the item.<em> Everythings a trade-off.</em>


    After fifteen minutes, t grunted within Ts mind. -<em>Oh, thats unpleasant. I only have ess to my own files, now-</em>


    <em>You lost touch with the Archive?</em>


    <em>-No, not that. I can still pull some information, though its a lot less than before. I dont even seem to be able to modify anything I created, though I can ess all of it much more easily than the rest. If I had to guess, its because we just dont have the magical weight required to ess the central Archive.-</em>


    <em>Then why can we ess our information?</em>


    <em>-I think because its magically closer to us? As Holly implied, this is probably why this sort of Archive ess doesnt usually happen at such a low rank.-</em>


    That made some sense.


    In less than half an hours travel from Bandfast, they reached the mouth of the twisting valley indicated on Ts map and slowed. That diminished Ts magic boom considerably, for which she was grateful. It had been beginning to give her a headache.


    A few more minutes travel up the valley, and they came around a bend almost running headlong into the leading edge of towering trees.


    Cazor reacted quickly, pulling them both backwards, even as the nearest brancheszily swung through the space that they would have entered, had they not slowed and pulled back.


    Gah! These things should be trimmed back a bit.


    Tughed, noticing that Terry had flickered away and was waiting for them on the ground, well out of reach of the trees, even if one were to topple over entirely. <em>Thats probably a smart move.</em>


    Cazor lowered them to the ground back near Terry; T tossed the bird a big portion of jerky; and the discs broke apart and returned to the Mage Hunters belt-pouches.


    Before them, the grove loomed,pletely filling the mountain valley, between two short cliffs, just barely twice the height of the tallest tree she could see.


    Grass filled the area around them, knee deep in ces, but it got noticeably shorter, the closer it came to the trees.


    Through the center of the grove ran a pleasant stream that babbled and bubbled and burbled happily into the stillness of thete-morning, winter air.


    <em>Not too cold.</em> Something about the area seemed to be warming the valley. <em>Hot spring? </em>There was a bit of steam rising from the water. <em>Fascinating.</em>


    Cazor cleared his throat, bringing her attention back to the matter at hand.


    So, how do you usually harvest the berries?


    She shrugged. Well, I used to strip down and use this. She pulled out her long berry-picker, which shed purchased in Alefast. I then put the berries into an iron barrel to process as I have time,ter.


    You strip down


    T nced away and cleared her throat. <em>Didnt think that one through before I spoke. </em>Well, I didnt want to destroy all my clothes.


    He shook his head, seeming to choose the wiser course and notment on the topic further. Alright, so is that necessary?


    No? I can mirror my ending-berry like defense onto my clothing. So, it should be safe from the trees, so long as I maintain focus.


    Soul-bound?


    Soul-bound, yeah.


    Nice.


    How about you? How do you think you can harvest?


    He grinned. Oh, I think a demonstration is better than just saying it. He lifted his hands, and they practically radiated palpable power.


    Iron dust shot from his pouches and flowed over the nearest tree, sweeping it from base to top-most leaf, leaving it utterly undisturbed.


    <em>No. Thats not right.</em> All the berries were gone.


    The iron cloud came back, seeming more substantial than a moment before. Barrel please?


    T quickly pulled out one of the barrels and removed the lid.


    Cazor gave her a puzzled look when he saw the barrel, but didntment.


    <em>Bloody barrels</em>


    Instead, he gestured, and his iron cloud deposited a miniature mountain of berries within the barrel, easily at least ten gallons.


    T gaped and Cazor sank down to sit on the grass, looking strained. That was harder than Id expected. He looked down at his arms, clearly analyzing the scripts there. Rust, the trees magic even wears away at power, forcing a greater through-put. Im not sure how many more trees I can pluck before this portion of my inscriptions are spent.


    At least a few more? T looked into the barrel. <em>All I have to do is remove the seeds and press berries. He didnt take any stems, or leaves, or anything.</em>


    Yeah, at least a few. He regarded her. You know, I really should have asked, but whats your n with the seeds?


    She shrugged. I toss them back among the trees.


    He didnt look like he really understood, but shrugged nheless. Alright, I suppose. So long as you arent nning on selling them. With a groan, he pushed himself back to his feet. Ready for the next?


    Yes, please. She reached inside Kit and pulled out her other barrel. ce the new harvests in the first barrel. I need to process these. She began biting the berries in half, quickly removing the seeds and tossing them in among the trees. Then, the two halves of the berry went into the new container.


    Cazor stared at her for a long moment, then let loose a single barkingugh. She puts the seeds in her mouth. Somehow, Im not surprised in the least.

 Chapter 186: I Really Want To

    Chapter 186: I Really Want To


    T was in awe.


    She was busy processing the berries like mad, carefully biting them in half, pulling out the seed, sucking the juice off, and sending the seed back among the trees. The halved berries then went into another barrel, as she moved onto the next little packet of juice and power.


    That was fairly standard, though she hadnt done it in a couple of months. She even was able to add in the tossing of jerky to Terry every so often.


    No, what was awe inspiring was how Cazor could strip a tree with a bare few moments of work. Shed tried to pass it off and hide how impressive it was to her the first time hed done it, but that fiction was getting increasingly difficult to maintain as he repeated the act with aplomb.


    It did seem to visibly drain him to do it, however, and the time between each tree grew markedly.


    T had barely processed roughly as many berries as Cazor had gotten from the first tree when he flopped to the ground for the fourth time, panting.


    I dont He pulled out a water-skin and took a deep pull, swallowing with abandon. I dont remember these things being deemed to have any sort of intelligence.


    You mean the movement? She chucked another seed back among the trunks of the grove.


    Well, thats a part of it I suppose, but that can be purely reactionary. They are adjusting to my method of harvest and are disrupting my power more effectively with each tree. He hesitated. Well, four is hardly a good sample-set, but even so.


    Why dont you take a break while I process these?


    He grunted. I was going to do that anyways, but sure. Thank you for the suggestion.


    It honestly didnt take her long, and in the end, shed guess that she had just shy of fifty gallons of halved, de-seeded berries.


    <em>Thats ridiculous.</em> His method of harvest was so incredibly efficientpared to her own. <em>Id have had to be out here for days to get this much.</em>


    Cazor opened one eye. Done already?


    Yeah, sorry. Seems like your break is over.


    Eh, its fine. He made no immediate move to get up.


    <em>-Hey, I have kind of a crazy idea. Ask Cazor if hed be alright with us keeping some seeds to experiment with.-</em>


    T asked, and He sat up, giving her a long look. Not going to sell or trade them away? You only want them for your own use and experimentation?


    <em>t?</em>


    -<em>Of course.-</em>


    She nodded. Exactly.


    Thats fine, then. Theyre actually less dangerous than a good chunk of research materials for some specialties. You arent going to nt any within the city, right?


    <em>-No nting, no.-</em>


    That is not my n, no.


    I see no issue, then. He stood, groaning and making sounds of protest.


    Something wrong, old man? T quirked a smile.


    Cazor cocked an eyebrow at her. This is massively draining; I hope you know.


    I can guess. And even if I couldnt, you make it quite obvious.


    He huffed augh and shook his head. Fine, fine. Ill keep a lid on theints.


    Oh, youre fine. I thought it was kind of funny.


    He turned away, muttering to himself. Funny, eh? What Im doing is impressive as g.


    T just shook her head at the oddity and tossed more jerky for Terry.


    I have an idea, and whether it works or not, it will likely wipe me out for a good while, but I think it will be more efficient, overall. He lifted both hands and a much greater pulse of power radiated off of him.


    T stood up a bit straighter, watching as smaller iron clouds took turns picking from individual branches, instead of whole trees. As each finished its branch, it came to deposit the collected berries into the waiting barrel.


    <em>That makes sense. Smaller maniptions take less energy. But will it give the trees a greater chance to adapt?</em>


    That looks easier. Why would it wipe you out more?


    More. Concentration. Required. He said each word greatly spaced out, and T took the hint.


    With the process slowed a bit, T was able to see iron contracting around each stem as another portion grabbed and twisted a given berry free.


    <em>Masterful control, that.</em>


    Not wanting to get distracted, T began working on her part.


    <em>-Wasnt your part stripping?-</em>


    <em>No. Hush, you.</em>


    Cazor was trembling from the effort as his little iron clouds finished with the fifth tree. He looked her way and smiled triumphantly. How was that?


    Impressive.


    Good, because thats all Ive got for the moment. Without another word, he flopped backwards, seemingly asleep before he hit the ground.


    -<em>Likely mental exhaustion. Hell be fine in an hour or so.-</em>


    <em>Can we help him?</em>


    <em>-I came across a few methods that might help. Can you alter your magical signature to match his so his body doesnt reject powering from us?-</em>


    <em>Um no?</em>


    <em>-Oh, well, then none of these will work.-</em>


    <em>Is such a transfer possible?</em>


    <em>-In theory, yeah, but I found no evidence of it being done.-</em>


    T huffed an irritated growl. <em>Is there anything we can do?</em>


    <em>-Well, there are a few things that humans do to mentally rx.-</em>


    <em>Oh?</em>


    <em>-wowwe are nave.-</em>


    <em>What do you mean?</em>


    <em>-Nothing. Theres no way we can help him with what we have with us.-</em>


    <em>You could have just said that.</em>


    <em>-Wheres the fun in that?-</em>


    As T and t fell into silence, and T continued processing this new batch of berries. The only change was that, now, she had her final iron-salve out and was coating each seed in the substance before cing it in a container.


    As she did this mindless work, her thoughts caught onto a thread. So, she began to pull.


    <em>t?</em>


    <em>-Yeah?-</em>


    <em>Youre basically a being of pure magic now, right? Just connected to a soul?</em>


    <em>-A bit insulting, that. Im a soul manifesting through a medium of pure magic. But go on, I think I see what youre getting at.-</em>


    <em>You seem to have a personality that mirrors many aspects that weve seen in other, older Archons. Master Jevin, Noelle, Jenna, and others.</em>


    <em>-I hadnt considered it that way, but yeah, thats true.-</em>


    <em>And such Archons have reached a state that theyve been remade, sometimes entirely, with Magic.</em>


    <em>-Correct.-</em>


    She didnt really know how to phrase this, so she just asked. <em>Is magic snarky? By its very nature? And does it pollute what it interacts with, with that trait? What about other aspects?</em>


    tughed within Ts mind. She contained herself shortly thereafter and continued the conversation. -<em>Thats a very interesting line of thinking.-</em>


    <em>So?</em>


    <em>-No. I dont think Magic makes what it touches snarkier.-</em>


    <em>I said I didnt have a good way to word it</em>


    <em>-Oh, I understand what youre trying to say, as funny as what you actually said is. I think the changes between you and I are due to different experiences, even for as short a time as theyve been different, and ignoring the fact that I get to experience yours, secondhand. Old Archons have been around a </em>long<em> time, and so they seek ways to entertain themselves. I have very little to do within our head, so I do the same.-</em>


    <em>Simple as that?</em>


    <em>-That seems like the most reasonable exnation.-</em>


    <em>I suppose so.</em>


    They once again fell into silence.


    As T neared the end of processing the second batch that Cazor had gathered, the man, himself, began to stir.


    She had one barrel filled to the brim, tightlypacted, and sealed, already back in Kit. She only needed to run that barrels contents through the press, and shed have her power-packed juice. She had a second barrel about half full of processed berries as well.


    In her previous experience, the berries were <em>very</em> juicy, giving almost half their whole volume in juice. <em>How does that even work, anyway?</em> Shed been considering it as she worked almost mechanically at de-seeding the berries.


    <em>-I think youre on the right track in your thinking. Their magic is centered around cohesion, specifically to briefly counter the power of the seeds and trees, but it bleeds over into other rted effects. That in mind, it makes sense that theyd be able to retain a much greater volume of liquid,pared to a normal fruit.-</em>


    <em>Yeah. Im not a botanist, though. Do you think anyones ever studied it?</em>


    <em>-Do I think that anyone has ever studied one of the foundational sources of power for primeval mankind?-</em>


    <em>Fair enough, silly question.</em>


    <em>-Ill look into it when we get back to Bandfast.-</em>


    <em>Thank you.</em>


    Morning. T grinned over at Cazor as he opened his eyes fully.


    He hesitated. Is it actually still morning? Did I sleep a whole day? Or are you just mocking my nap?


    Still morning, you didnt sleep that long. Less than an hour, actually. Did the trees adapt?


    Less than I thought they would, actually. They seem to have a static means of building effectiveness against a given thing, but it seemed to have faded before myst effort. It also seems rted to how much it interacts with a given thing, in this case my power, and doesnt even seem to remember interacting with it before. The esction of efficiency in disrupting my power seemed to start back at square one.


    I think I followed most of that?


    Cazor stretched and grinned. If I do one tree at a time, and take a bit longer breaks in between than I have been, it shouldnt get harder with each tree, and I should be able to do twice as many as Id been thinking I could.


    That I definitely understand. T smiled back. Then, lets get to work. Any guesses on the actual number?


    We can probably do anotherten? In the next two or three hours or so. He nodded to himself. That should fill the four barrels you said you had on hand, right?


    T nced up, checking the time. <em>That will put us at around two in the afternoon. </em>Just about, yeah. That works for me.


    As she looked up, she saw flickers of power sweep across the top of the valley, avoiding the trees by a good margin but seeming to pass through virtually everything else.


    What was that?


    Cazor nced up. What?


    I thought I saw a magical scan of some sort.


    He looked questioningly her way, likely trying to ask if it was the arcane, without saying so out loud.


    She shook her head. It felt animalistic, if anything.


    He grunted. Probably a magical creature that sensed us, trying to pin down our location.


    T paled, thinking of her first encounter with such a creature. Sure, shed killed the midnight fox, but that had been a weak being, and shed actually gotten quite lucky. <em>Though not so lucky that it was a windfall. After all, I lost the harvest</em>


    He took another drink before ncing her way. Do you think we should leave?


    She shook her head. The power seemed to avoid the trees, likely due to what you noticed; they even break down any power thates too close. We should be safe until we leave.


    And they may have given up by then.


    Precisely. At least thats the hope.


    Im fine with that n. He shrugged and got to work, quickly harvesting a tree, then sitting down and pulling out a book to wait for the groves defenses to rx and return to normal.


    T continued to work, adding to the buzzing maelstrom of power within her with every drop sucked from the outside of an ending-seed.


    True to his guess, Cazor was able to harvest another ten trees. Their fruit filled her barrels, and then some. Thankfully, she had no trouble simply eating the extra, so, the magic-packed berries didnt go to waste.


    Ready to head back?


    Definitely. After a moments pause, she inquired. So, what scripts did you use up?


    Only <em>mostly</em> used up, thankfully. Theyre my fine control scripts. I dont use them that often, so they are my least efficient. Though, Ive been trying to practice with them more, so thank you for this.


    She grinned. Any time.


    Heughed in return. I still need some help with the inscription costs.


    Oh, I know. Ill think of an offer on the way back.


    Sounds fair to me. He formed their two iron discs, and the two of them stepped up back in ce for their trip home. Apparently, the discs were a product of medium level maniptions of his maic fields, not requiring the fine control hed exercised in harvesting.


    She tossed ast bit of jerky for Terry, and he snapped it up before flickering to her shoulder.


    As the group began moving, they quickly came to the closest sharp turn in the canyon-like valley, the one that had most hidden the grove.


    T felt her stomach drop at what she saw.


    Little ripples of conflicting magics shed and fizzled through the air, barely noticeable as they bled around the bend.


    It looked reminiscent of the surface of a pond during a hailstorm, only somehow more violent.


    Master Cazor, mage-sight.


    He didnt hesitate, and she saw power move over his face and head, the spell-lines beginning to glow, subtly. The iron discs immediately slowed, then stopped. What the rust?


    Yeah. Somethings happening.


    They both looked around, and T was able to see simr effects in almost every direction, save directly around the grove.


    The two Archons seemed to realize the same thing at the same time, though they articted it differently.


    The trees are acting as localized magic dampeners.


    Ending trees directly disrupt magic in an area? She immediately saw the benefit of having ending groves near even modern cities, and why they couldnt be allowed within the defenses. Oh, I feel stupid.


    Cazor huffed. You and me both. But thats secondary. There is <em>something</em>, or more than one something, looking for us, out there, and I dont see any His eyes nced to her briefly, considering, then continuing as if he hadnt stopped. Conceptual power, so I think were just dealing with magical beasts, not arcanes.


    Can we go up? From a greater height we could have a better look and see whats going on?


    He considered. We can, briefly. The magical beasts that can fly are usually a <em>much</em> greater danger to people than the ground-bound.


    She remembered the night-wing ravens and saw his point. <em>Those were just arcanous beasts, too.</em> Up and back quickly, then.


    Agreed.


    They rose, cresting out of the steep-walled valley. They both immediately felt the turbulence in the magic around them.


    Terry squawked quietly and mped down tighter with his talons, locking him more firmly in ce.


    <em>Likely in reaction against his instinct to run.</em> She swallowed to clear her mouth. <em>I dont me him.</em>


    But T couldnt give Terry more than that passing thought. She and Cazor were focused on other things.


    Specifically, their gazes were glued to a distant sh that was taking ce at the head of the canyon, which led to the ending-berry grove. <em>Right where we slowed down sufficiently to stop making me into a beacon.</em>


    The auras of the two beasts were both yellow, but that was their only simrity.


    -<em>I want to chastise you for exaggeration, but I cant see any other ovep I guess they both exist? We can see them both?-</em>


    t was trying to distract T, pull her out of her shocked focus. It wasnt working.


    One of the two magical creatures was, of all things, a griffon, seemingly taken straight from childrens tales.


    The fur on most of its body looked positively metallic-gold, while still somehow looking <em>alive</em> in a way that T couldnt quite pin down. The feathers on the front portion and wings were a brown that evoked bark without seeming wooden, dirt without being dirty, and topazes without being gem-like.


    Its beak and talons reminded T of Terrys in an incredibly notforting sort of way. And even at this great distance, T felt like she could see intelligence in the predators eyes.


    Its opponent was an amorphous something, which currently had six fully formed spindly legs which didnt seem to be truly holding its bulk off the ground. Another leg was growing outwards as she watched.


    More than anything, the legs seemed to facilitate quick changes in direction. And they seemed required because, despite its size, it was <em>fast.</em>


    The blob darted, reshaped, and almost flowed around the griffons mostly physical attacks, asionally even splitting into two seemingly independent entities before rbining and continuing the conflict.


    Strangely, neither obviously magical creature was using anything that seemed to be a magical ability, relying instead on their brute physicality. The attacks that came closest to being magical were gusts of wind thrown by the griffons wings, seemingly sent to unbnce the blob.


    As T watched, the blob-thing ripped off and then threw a portion of its body, which struck the griffon as it strafed past, seemingly trying to rake at its opponent with talon and w.


    The mini-blob impacted one of the griffons wings and immediately sprouted at least fifteen little wed legs that began to tear at the feathered appendage.


    The griffon dropped to the ground, twisting the affected wing in front of its face so that it could peck free the offending new opponent. The eagle-lion seemed very little worse for wear after it had eviscerated the seemingly homogeneous, living projectile.


    Why arent they using magic? Ts voice was barely above a whisper, even though thebatants were miles away, down the mountain, nearly back in the ins. Only her incredibly good eyesight let her see as much as she had.


    I cant really see whats going on. Im just watching tight masses of power move around each other in violent seeming patterns.


    T briefly exined what she was seeing.


    Your vision is insane. Do you know that?


    She gave a weak smile. Thank you? But what about my question.


    Cazor grunted. Any magic they use will produce far-reaching echoes. Even their presence is causing the ripples were looking at. Those ripples can look awfully tasty to anything higher up the food chain.


    Ts eyes widened. So theyre trying to avoid discovery, too?


    That would be my bet. Humans are <em>much</em> better at detecting, and worse at hiding from, magical creatures, so I dont think anything else would notice that conflict ande looking.


    That was at least slightlyforting.


    So, they both sensed our magic booms and came looking?


    Magic boom? He hesitated, then nodded. Like a sonic boom. Not really the same, but close enough. He nodded again. Yeah, that was my guess, too.


    T tsked. No wonder theres a prohibition against traveling too fast outside of cities. Can you imagine if wed led them to Bandfast?


    Yeah, that would have been bad.


    She cleared her throat. Speaking of which how are we going to get back without doing just that?


    I can move us as fast as possible, below the threshold that you begin to create a, he smiled, magic boom.


    Dontugh at me. It makes sense. Its understandable.


    Im notughing.


    Do you have a better name for it?


    The technical term is motive aura resonance.


    Oh yeah thats better.


    He grinned. Anyways. Ill take us as fast as I can around those and back to Bandfast.


    How fast is that?


    He hesitated. How much risk are we willing to tolerate?


    Some? I <em>really</em> dont want to draw a magical creature down on Bandfast.


    Any chance were getting helped with those?


    T grimaced unhappily. Unlikely. She didnt say more. <em>The watchers are watching for an arcane. They arent babysitting us to protect against magical creatures.</em>


    Yeah, I thought not. He clucked his tongue, his thoughts seemingly taking a new direction. It would be really foolish to go fight those.


    T felt her grimace morph into a grin as she picked up on what he was getting at. Incredibly foolish.


    It would practically be begging for our magic to be seen for dozens of miles in every direction. Who knows what wed bring down on ourselves.


    Undoubtedly.


    Cazor scratched at his chin. Im sad to admit: Ive never gotten to test myself against something that powerful, and the times its been close, theres always someone or something to protect, which limited my effectiveness. Or, there were more powerful Hunters nearby to clinch the kill.


    She nodded sagely. That sounds like that wouldnt be a fair test.


    Exactly.


    Mages need to test themselves in order to grow.


    Thats true. Thats true.


    She shrugged. Not much out here worth worrying about, and theres no one to clinch the kill but us.


    He gave her a long look, his smile slowly growing. I <em>really</em> want to do it.


    Ill take the griffon?


    An expression of joyous glee stole over his face. Mistress T?


    Yes, Master Cazor?


    "You have the best ideas."


    <em>-And here I would have guessed that Mage Hunters were selected for their sound judgment and careful nature. That boy is just like us, only more fragile. How is he even still alive?-</em>


    <em>Hush, you. Hes confident and experienced. Weve trained together and fought at simr levels. If he can take one, I should be able to as well. Cazors not a fool. We can do this.</em>

 Chapter 187: Genuinely Shocked

    Chapter 187: Genuinely Shocked


    T immediately pulled out a tungsten sphere and began increasing its pull towards the middle of the griffons spine. <em>I should still be able to get some good harvests from it, then. Even if it absolutely blows through the creature.</em>


    She was very careful in the implementation. She didnt picture the griffon in any particr state of health. In fact, with ts guidance, they locked onto the <em>feel</em> of the griffons magic, which should even ignore its drop in level, if they had to fight it down through the ranks. <em>Thats a well thought out lock, if we do say so ourselves.</em>


    <em>-And we do.-</em>


    T didnt try to ce any effect on the griffon at all, only targeting it for the effect from the sphere in her hand. <em>I really should have gotten the w fixed.</em>


    Cazor nced her way. Mistress T, thats a lot of power. He seemed half nervous and half impressed.


    I aim to obliterate.


    He snorted augh.


    The power must have been even more significant that T realized, or since the creatures hade looking for them, they were more sensitive to workings of magic. In either case, the bird-lion immediately snapped its head around, orienting on them.


    Two, slightly staggered, ovepping pulses of power swept across the three as they floated there, one seeming to originate from each of the magical creatures.


    Cazor cleared his throat. Alright, then. No strategizing, just fighting. He looked her way. Well, a little strategizing: here or there?


    There, or at least not <em>here.</em> She chose quickly and decisively. Between them and the beasts they were about to fight, they were the most likely to be thrown around, and being near an ending-tree grove when that was happening sounded like a bad idea.


    Cazor nodded and immediately moved them towards their opponents, even as the griffon and blob-thing seemed to decide that the humans were better opponents than each other.


    T continued to ramp up the pull, using three massive void-channels towards that end, even as she transferred the sphere into her off hand and drew Flow. You with me, Terry?


    Terry gave a low fluted trill from beside her ear. It sounded, to her, half-way between hesitant and down-right pessimistic.


    You know what? Im a bit nervous about it, too.


    Cazor shouted over the rising sound of wind. They <em>will</em> risk magic to fight us, in the hope of killing us.


    T gave him a thumbs up. <em>What magic can we expect?</em> Lightning, fire, earth, and air came to mind, as well as enhanced strength and healing, but shed studied too many monsters recently for specifics toe to mind instantly. She could recall if she bent her mind to it but didnt want to take the time.


    <em>-Funnily enough, the griffon will have bodily reinforcements simr to your own. But he will have more power behind the reinforcements and have a higher starting point, given his magically created, bestial body.-</em>


    Thats what shed thought she read on the creature, but ts confirmation was appreciated. It was less than ideal, but she could work with that. <em>Anything else?</em>


    <em>-Some have ess to lightning, some fire, and a few can manipte earth, but the mostmon simply have a degree of control over the air, to help with flight, given their massive bodies.-</em> After a moments pause, she added. -<em>To be clear, all of them have that control over the air. Its just the mostmon for them to only have that.-</em>


    <em>Right, its limited because creatures of magic dont go through founts or get more abilities from them.</em>


    <em>-Precisely.-</em> t filled in a few more details on the griffon, such as any limits on movement, preferred methods of engagement and the like. Thankfully, t could help T review the information shed read on the beast much more quickly than shed have been able to recall it on her own, so it took only a breath or two for a full refresher.


    <em>The blob-thing? It was a slimemuk? No, thats not quite right.</em>


    <em>-Close: Silmuk. Its connection between the parts of its body exists mostly in the domain of magic. Many believe that its the magical result of dasgannach who live long enough, but most dont think so. Its acidic and can morph at will. Its also not really able to be hurt by mundane means. Cuts? It doesnt have innards to expose. Bludgeon? You just spread it out? Piercing? Like poking yourself in the side with a finger.-</em>


    <em>So, resilient, but those dont seem like wide ranging powerset.</em>


    <em>-They arent Archons, T. Magical creatures usually dont have a massive spread of abilities, but what they do have, they back with power and instinct.-</em>


    T continued dumping as much power as she could to ramp up the connection between her tungsten sphere and the griffon even as they moved toward the magical creatures. Shed chosen one without an Archon star within, because she didnt want to idently force a sh of will between herself and the griffon. She had the strong impression that she would lose.


    The griffon was streaking towards them, but somehow it seemed almostzy in its flight, like it could go much faster, if it wanted to.


    The silmuk looked like nothing so much as a massive multi-colored drop, rolling their way.


    <em>Its probably waiting for its ally of circumstance. There are two of us, so its being safe.</em>


    We should stop here! T shouted. <em>Were far enough from the grove that it shouldnt be a problem.</em>


    Cazors response was easy for her to hear, even over the wind. If youre sure.


    She nodded, and they slowed, lowering to the ground so that Cazor could reim his iron for the uing fight.


    They stood on an open rise with good visibility all around them and solid footing underneath in the form of deep, springy turf. It was blessedly free of snow, likely because of how exposed it was. <em>Any that fell would simply be blown away.</em>


    Ts eyes widened as power filled the air above them and the ground below, clearlying from the griffon still a considerable distance away.


    Cazor saw it too.


    In less than a couple of heartbeats, she saw tendrils of power stretch out like the uncounted branches of the tree, each shing upward from the ground towards the sky, leaving behind something that was obviously magically manipted. <em>Hundreds of long, thin, maic fields?</em> She couldnt see the maic fields themselves, but it was probably a good guess.


    As his magic had beenshing out, iron dust was pouring from his pouches, already dispersing through the tendrils his power had left behind.


    From her sensing the buildup of power to the lightnings release, barely more than a second passed, but Cazor had reacted with long honed instincts.


    Because of his quick reactions, the power flowed through the iron dust,pletely bypassing them, though it did make the air around them ufortably warm and vaporized a good portion of the dust Cazor had used.


    In the aftermath, Ts hair rose. There almost seemed to be enough static in the air to lift her braid. <em>Thats ridiculous. I read about the range and capability of lightning griffons, but it is rather moreawe-inspiring in person.</em>


    t just grunted. -<em>Oh, so its a lightning variety. Good to know.-</em>


    The griffon shrieked in irritation as its attack had done nothing. <em>They lose the power for good. I doubt it will be willing to try again, when it was so unsessful.</em>


    That is what the manual had indicated, though it had cautioned that individuals varied on this particr point. The griffon had used more power in that one attack than T could hold in her entire body.


    True to that assumption, the griffon looked a marginal fraction less yellow and more orange than it had before the attack. It was so minuscule that even with incredibly refined mage-sight, excellent vision, and a specific desire to look for a change, she wouldnt have seen it, without t interposing her memory of the things aura from a moment earlier.


    <em>-Yes, that was less than tenth of a percent of the power it would have to use to drop from yellow to orange.-</em>


    <em>And now we know.</em>


    She continued to channel power into the tungsten sphere. The mental model that she used was a slightly modified version, which t had helped her to create. With it, her working was finally freed from its static 10% per second maniption. <em>This still isnt going to be enough to be an effective attack, before it gets here.</em>


    She needed another n for an opener to the fight.


    Hesitantly, T extended her hand towards the griffon. It probably wouldnt work, but she was fighting a Refined -<em>Elder?-</em> creature. She needed to at least try.


    <em>This seems unsportingand its going to ruin my harvests if it works.</em>


    -<em>Better to live?-</em>


    <em>Thats a bit pessimistic. Well live just fine. We might not win, but well live.</em> She knew enough to be able to ensure that, assuming things didnt go catastrophic in more than two ways. <em>Maybe three. I think we can handle three catastrophes.</em>


    She could still feel the heat and static from the lightning attack.


    <em>Yeah, best to try.</em>


    T targeted the griffon, moving to increase its gravity. And the beast of magic easily shrugged off her lock. More than anything, it felt like she was a child whod grabbed an adults belt, only for the adult to keep walking, breaking her grip without even noticing.


    <em>Well, thats about what I expected.</em>


    And then, their enemies were upon them.


    Terry flickered in a blur of teleports around the griffon as it covered thest couple of hundred feet towards T and Cazor.


    The result of that was a veritable cloud of blood, which misted out of the beast from innumerable cuts. Cuts which immediately began to close.


    -<em>Ball!-</em>


    T easily understood exactly what t meant and threw the ball, aiming to have it arch over the griffon.


    The sphere was still having its attraction towards the griffon ramped up, but it wasnt quite to the point that the pull was very noticeable.


    She was throwing off-hand, so toss was likely a better description of what she did, but her training and magical refinement had made her <em>strong. </em>Her daily practice had made her urate in all kinds of throws and tosses. Regardless, she used her already established lock on the sphere and prepared to enact a second modification to the tungsten.


    -<em>Now!-</em>


    <em>CRUSH. </em>She poured power through that mental construct, sufficient to match four enactments of her old crush ability, immediately increasing the balls pull towards the ground by a factor of two-hundred-fifty-six. She felt two rings burn away from the back of each of her hands.


    The ballistic sphere streaked downward, even as T continued to dump as much power as she could in the balls connection to the griffon, without using any more of her rings.


    ts timing had been perfect, Ts aim was good, and the tungsten sphere hit the griffon directly between the wings, cracking its back and driving it downward to m into the ground. The ball then passedpletely through the griffons body and sank into the turf below.


    T grinned from ear to ear. <em>Got it!</em>


    She immediately charged forward either to harvest or finish off her opponent, she didnt much care.


    Terry used that moment to flicker in and rip off portions of therge beast, continuing to cut at it with his talons even as he ate long strips that he pulled free.


    Both bird-like creatures were massive, now that she saw them closer up. The spine of the griffon would easily be above her head, if it were standing, and Terry had taken on a size to match his head height with that of his opponent.


    The terror bird was taking no chances, ripping into the griffon with a fervor that almost made T nch.


    As she began to move forward, T caught the beginnings of the conflict between Cazor and the silmuk. It mostly seemed like Cazor was deflecting its blows and severing its limbs, and main body with nes, des, tes, and other creations of iron. The Archon did not appear strained or worried in the slightest.


    <em>Will that even work?</em> She saw an odd, osciting quality to Cazors magic, and the iron dust seemed almost to be quivering, even as it swept and countered the silmuk at his direction.


    Before she could turn her attention fully to that other conflict, however, she noticed through her mage-sight that the power around the griffon hadnt changed in the least.


    Her gaze turned back to it, even as her feet carried her forwards. <em>Flow can take its head and remove any lingering life.</em> She wasnt actually sure about that, as itrgely depended on the type of healing the beast had.


    However, before shed taken three steps, the griffon pushed itself back up and screeched at the sky, pink frothing spittle spraying from its open beak.


    It was rusting furious.


    Terry took that moment to flicker in and scoop out a truly massive portion of its throat.


    But the gaping wound on its neck, the hole in its chest, and the uncounted other wounds across its body closed quickly. The griffon had fully healed before T had taken her fifth running step.


    -<em>That is ridiculously fast healing, T.-</em>


    The creatures eyes locked onto her, and she felt a moment of fear. <em>Well, Ill admit, that is faster than I understood from the texts. We may have miscalcted.</em>


    <em>-Not fatally, but it does seem like we did.-</em>


    <em>So, thats one catastrophe. Still well within expectations.</em>


    Even within that fear, she didnt stop.


    She broke the lock linking her tungsten sphere to the ground at the massive increase, while continuing to pour power into its link, drawing it towards the griffon. <em>Thats my end game.</em>


    Shed been ramping that up for more than three minutes, and the ball was starting to twitch within its hole. Theyer of rock the sphere had managed to bore into beneath the thick, rich soil was holding it firm for the moment, however.


    The griffon was barely twenty feet away as T cocked her arm back. A flick of power transformed Flow into a ive in the same instant that T snapped her hand forward. The practiced motion sent the magical weaponncing forward towards the griffons heart.


    She kept running forward.


    The griffon obviously saw the attacking, even if only at thest moment. It jerked to the side, so that Flow missed its heart. Instead, the heat-field of the cutting edge sheared off one of the great creatures wings. The appendage fell free with the sizzle and smell of roasted meat, leaving behind a cauterized stump.


    <em>Good luck healing that quickly!</em> T knew firsthand how much of a pain it was to heal burned flesh.


    The griffon shrieked again. As T grimaced against the piercing noise she easily saw magic blossom outward from the creature, dumping power into the air.


    The burned stump exploded.


    Cauterized flesh sttered the ground beside the beast as its wing reformed, the rate of regeneration only marginally slower than that of any of its other wounds.


    Fire or heat usually greatly inhibited magical healing and were ssic go-to means of dealing with such abilities. <em>Alright, Ill call that catastrophe number two. We can still make this work.</em>


    T growled, sending a thought to t as she continued to close, already calling Flow back to her, hopefully in a way to gain another cut on the return path.


    <em>Does every fight with a magical creature require hacking through all its power?</em> More than anything, the question was an expression of frustration.


    <em>-All those that can heal, probably. From what we read in the texts that Grediv provided, that is basically all of them.-</em>


    <em>Great</em> Shed known that, but she had <em>hoped</em> to be able to damage it in such a way that it wouldnt be required.<em> Cauterizing the wounds should have been more effective.</em>


    -<em>Its a battle of attrition. As you know, thats why most people avoid magical creatures entirely. Even if you win, its expensive.-</em>


    T had closed the distance while the griffon staggered, though it was quickly recovering.


    Flow snapped back into her hand in the form of a sword, having burned another line down her opponents nk and part of its newly repaired wing. Weapon in hand, she went to work. All the while, Terry was flickering around, cutting tendons and superficial major arteries and vessels, if the fountains of red liquid painting the surrounding grasses were any indication.


    <em>How does he even know where those are?</em>


    <em>-Instinct? Or some vision into the infrared? That would exin it pretty well, actually.-</em>


    T gave the creature dozens of cuts, including hacking away at the beasts leg, and she caught its expression out of the corner of her eye.


    It looked shocked.


    Not hurt.


    Not angry.


    Genuinely, confusedly shocked.


    T tried to imagine what would cause that look on her own face. <em>If a toddler just drew a knife and tried to stab me. That would do it.</em> That was a bit insulting.


    The griffon recovered from its disbelief quickly. Prey did not attack a griffon. The griffon was the aggressor. The griffon knew this and would prove it in blood.


    Its beak snapped forward, the quick, short motion hitting T harder than a blow from Force.


    She would have flown far, but the strike took her in the shoulder and drove downward.


    T felt ending-berry power burn away to protect that shoulder as well as the entire length of her back from the twisting impact.


    Even as reinforced as she was, that single strike would have snapped her spine and torn her spinal cord in a dozen ces.


    Instead, she was thrown to the ground, facing away from the griffon, most of her defensive power consumed in an instant.


    <em>Well, rust. That hurt.</em> Knowing how hard it would hit, and taking the hit, were entirely different things. <em>Still, within expectations.</em>


    The creature pounced on her and drove its talons into her back; its beak snapped at the base of her neck.


    T thrust Flow behind her wildly, even as she was bounced against the ground, like a childs ball. The ending berry-power that shed gained by sucking juice from uncounted seeds was being used up all too quickly, and even with its protection, her body was already aching.


    Blessedly, some of her calcted, behind-her-back stabs seemed to have struck true, as the beast staggered backwards briefly.


    <em>And Terry probably hamstrung it, again, too. That does seem to tick the thing off.</em> Even so, it was focused on her, not Terry. <em>Not the core concern, right now, T.</em>


    -<em>Human. Its because youre human. There, now you know. No need to contemteter.-</em>


    Right, shed known that, but the stress of the situation had kept the knowledge froming to her easily.


    She felt a bit better for having cleared up that oddity.


    There was an odd grating of stone on metal, followed by an earthen <em>pop</em> as the griffon stepped back over the hole that contained her sphere.


    The ball sted upward, blunt-force severing the griffons spine, beforeing back down to smash into the already healing flesh and bone.


    <em>Hah! Justice.</em>


    -<em>It didnt actually harm your back.-</em>


    <em>But it tried, t. It tried a lot.</em> T giggled, feeling more in the rhythm of the conflict than she had before. She rolled away from her opponent, returning to her feet.


    -<em>Now is hardly the time for puns, T.-</em>


    The griffon had obviously felt the damage each time and was in agony now. It raged, iling about with its front legs, even while the lion legs in back had gone limp, toppling to the side. The ball rested exactly where shed put it: In the griffons spine, right where eagle and lion portions met.


    The ball had oscited just a bit, while the spine healed, the flesh pushing the ball aside. Even so, the small sphere was putting a <em>ridiculous</em> amount of pressure on the spinal cord, pinching it off even after the nerves had fully healed.


    T felt herself grinning, right up until she felt her hair stand up on end.


    She jammed Flow into the ground, changing its form to a ive, and huddled close without touching. Hopefully, it would act as a lightning rod and spare her some of whatever attack this was.


    A of lightning sted outward from the griffon in a dome, tearing up the grass and leaving bare earth behind.


    Terry was caught by the barest fraction as he flickered away, but T saw singed feathers on one of his vestigial wings as it twitched, seemingly uncontrobly.


    The power was drawn to Flow briefly, but the weapon was thrown away and T, herself, was struck by the sweeping strike.


    At first, the lightning stayed confined to the iron on her skin. That was both a blessing and a curse.


    It was a blessing because for that brief moment her insides were spared. It was a curse because her iron became super-heated. She felt every drop of ending-berry power torn from her at once as the iron burned it away and crisped her skin in barely a moment.


    Once the iron was gone, the lightning had its way with her insides, coursing through her, jumping between her dense bones.


    The cage of protection around her brain kept her head from being fried, but that was just about all that was spared.


    She copsed to the ground, convulsing violently, her muscles not responding in the least.


    -<em>More power, lets get this purged. Direct the magic to your consumption scripts, too. That flesh is cooked. It wont heal, we need to repurpose it.-</em>


    t directed T internally as quickly as T could follow, while she desperately fed power to her various inscriptions at the direction of a voice in her head.


    The griffon was dragging itself across the ground towards her. Shed only gained a few dozen feet from her hasty retreat and being thrown by the lightning st.


    T heard Cazor shout, and a line of iron, glowing dull red, cut into the griffon from the side.


    That seemed to be enough for the beast, as it screeched again, spread its wings, and took to the sky.


    Terry flickered around it for a moment longer, but the beast was retreating, cutting its losses.


    <em>That balls nevering out.</em>


    <em>-True.-</em>


    <em>I should have stuck a dimensional anchor dart into it.</em> She didnt actually think that would have been a good idea.


    <em>-Im d you didnt-</em>


    <em>Yeah me too. But there goes all our potential harvest.</em>


    <em>-And look, here is our life, still ours to live.-</em>


    T let out a little grunt. <em>Should I release the lock on the sphere?</em>


    <em>-If you did, the griffon would eject the ball from its body and heal almost instantly before returning to kill us, but youre free to, if the pain is too much.-</em>


    T gritted her teeth against precisely that. <em>I was trying to distract myself, you jerk.</em>


    <em>-Enough distraction, focus on healing.-</em>


    T continued to meticulously direct her various spell-forms, sweeping through her body. It was a bit grisly. She was forcing her digestive inscriptions to eat her seared and charred flesh, so that the regenerative magic could rece it.


    <em>Im eating myself to make room for more, me.</em>


    -<em>And at about seventy percent efficiency, too. We really must thank Holly for such fine work. Our understanding brings it to its peak, but she created that peak for us to reach.-</em>


    <em>Well, Lyn did say that Holly wanted us to drop through every day. Lets do that when we get back?</em>


    <em>-If Cazor doesnt lose, and the silmuk doesnt kill us, then, sure. That sounds like a wise n.-</em>


    Terry flickered over to her, looking down at her with a critical eye.


    Then, he struck, his beak hitting her in the chest, <em>hard.</em> He squawked and fluffed his feathers, then squawked again.


    The attack didnt break anything, but it added another pain to the myriad she was already dealing with.


    Stop that, Terry. Her voice was raw and came out barely louder than a rasp.


    He let out a series of short, irritable squawks.


    Yes, you were right. I apologize.


    He seemed to pause, before trilling again.


    Yes, thats right. I shouldnt have ignored you and engaged the griffon.


    He lifted his singed wing.


    I am very sorry that you got hurt. Ill take you by a healer.


    He let out a definitive trill of satisfaction, and flickered to crouch on her chest, appropriately sized to not increase her pain.


    Off to the side, T could hear what sounded like sizzling fat and a disconcerting chittering.


    Cazor called out to her. You alive?


    Yeah. It was barely above a whisper, so she tried again. Yes! It hurt to yell, but he did need to know she wasnt in danger, or he might get himself hurt trying toe help her. Just healing up.


    The Mage Hunter walked over to her, somehow unconcerned. You know, Ill give you credit: You did handle the griffon.


    T red up at him. Silmuk?


    Have a look.


    T groaned but found herself able to sit up. Terry flickered to her shoulder as she did so.


    Six spherical clouds of iron swirled as they glowed and radiated immense heat.


    How did you heat the iron? She was finding it easier to talk. Her self-healing was nearlyplete, after all. <em>And it just took a couple dozen pounds from my reserveslovely.</em>


    Osciting maic fields can be used to heat up iron.


    <em>Thats what I saw him doing.</em> She felt like it was likely a lot moreplicated that he implied, but she didn''t press.


    The method works really well for dealing with amorphous opponents.


    One of the spheres briefly bulged outward. T had a moment of rm but as she watched, a glowing spike pulled together in line with the potential breach before driving inward with quick, decisive force.


    All six spheres emanated a high-pitched whining chitter.


    T regarded Cazor. Youre a bit terrifying.


    Why, thank you, Mistress. He wore a broad grin.


    What has you so happy? Just your victory? T pulled out some jerky, tossing a piece for Terry and beginning to chew on one herself.


    Ill be able to be raised to Mage Hunter with Standing. I have a few other requirements to meet, first, but the hardest one is defeating an opponent two levels above yourself in openbat, without assistance.


    So much for a foolish choice to attack. You needed to do something like this.


    He shrugged. Eventually, but it was a bit foolish to do it without any obvious back-up in the wings. His grin widened again. Mistress Jean is going to be livid. Heughed. Oh, I cant wait to tell her.


    Are you two?


    Hmm? Oh, no. I was interested for a while when she wasnt, then she was but I wasnt any more. Now? He shrugged. Might happen, but the right time hasnt reallye along.


    T grunted. Back to Bandfast?


    Cazor gave her an odd look. Its not dead yet, Mistress T, and Im not dragging it the whole way, while it roasts.


    I knew it wasnt dead. I didnt really think beyond that. She was <em>so hungry.</em>


    Well, its not going to be dead for at least an hour or so, and there is no way Im not iming this kill, now that I have it in the bag Or, well, the balls. He chuckled to himself.


    T groaned slightly, but then nodded. Fine, but if thats the case, Im making some food.

 Chapter 188: Explain Everything

    Chapter 188: Exin Everything


    T had to begin her cooking by dumping an obscene amount of power into Kit.


    The dimensional storage had taken quite a bit of damage from the griffons lightning, and only its increased internal and external maniption abilities kept it from being outright destroyed.


    <em>And I didnt even notice.</em>


    <em>-Well, you were eating yourself at the time.-</em>


    That made T feel a bit better, actually.


    Kit was hardly the only part of her gear that had gone through the wringer, however. The through-spike had simply continued to drink deeply of her power and hadnt been permanently harmed in the least. <em>I wonder if its draw negatively affected my defenses?</em>


    <em>-Probably not? It shouldnt have taken a lot of power to maintain the physical form, and the spell-form wouldnt have been affected, directly.-</em>


    That was good, at least.


    Her elk-leathers had only survived because they could draw power directly from her gate, and their regenerative abilities had a much easier job whenpared to her own, since they were repairing non-living matter. Their armor effect had broken so quickly that T hadnt even noticed it at the time of the strike and was still recovering. T had never taken a hit so powerful that it outright broke the magical armored defense, so she was d that it was recovering at all. And, even though it hadnt seemed to do much at the time, both she and t agreed that its presence had likely dulled the front edge of the hit, significantly.


    <em>Imagine if I hadnt had that defense, or the ending-berry power.</em>


    <em>-That would likely have been the start of the endgame for us. Wed have been reduced to little more than dust. Our magic would have tried to rebuild our body, but I dont know that it would have really done anything significant with nothing physical to build off of or draw from.-</em>


    T grunted in agreement, choosing not to focus on that unpleasant possibility.


    As soon as Kit was recovered enough for T to draw out her cooking supplies, she began the culinary process, continuing the infusion of power into the power-hungry item all the while.


    -<em>In case youre curious, Kit takes more power per day than the average un-Bound Mage can pull through their gate.-</em>


    <em>So, even if it could be made en masse in this form, most Mages couldnt use it?</em>


    <em>-Precisely.-</em>


    That was interesting, but not very pertinent.


    -<em>Also, Terry just ate the griffon wing.-</em>


    T jerked, almost spilling the pot she was working over. <em>I forgot to grab that!</em> She looked around, seeing Terry happily dancing between his feet as thest feathers slid down his throat.


    The terror bird paused, regarding her, then swallowed and flickered to her shoulder before headbutting her cheek.


    I could have sold that, Terry.


    He trilled contentedly to himself.


    Well, Im d you liked it. We could have bought so much food with that money.


    Terry hesitated briefly, then trilled happily again.


    Still worth it, eh?


    He bobbed a nod, then curled up against her neck.


    She let out a defeated grunt. Well, its done, now. Please leave some harvest for me next time?


    He shifted slightly in a motion that might have been a nod.


    <em>Good enough, I suppose.</em>


    Cazors glowing balls distorted and shrieked on asion, demonstrating that the silmuk within them was still alive, if not well. Even so, the Archon dealt with each irregrity with quick efficiency, never taking his attention from the task for too long.


    T had noticed that only the outsideyers of iron were confined to a glowing red. The light asionally flickering through showed ranges through yellow all the way up into white.


    <em>I feel like theres an obvious reason for that. t?</em>


    <em>-Yes, you learned about the maic point of iron. The glowing red portion is just below that point, and it seems to be containing the iron that is hotter, past the point of being able to be directly manipted by maic fields.-</em>


    <em>That has to take quite a lot of finesse. He cant let the heat transfer outward, or hell lose containment.</em>


    <em>-And it is likely only the extreme heat further in that is truly damaging the silmuk.-</em>


    <em>Complicated indeed.</em>


    Cooking didnt take a lot of thought, especially when following the incredibly easy and detailed instructions from the Culinary guild.


    <em>So, what was this experiment you wanted us to perform with the ending-berry seeds.</em>


    <em>-I think that the scripts that you had Holly put in ce for the containment of scripts created in your lungs would contain the ending-seeds destructive power and allow you to exhale it as a breath-weapon of sorts.-</em>


    T froze, cooking implement halfway through stirring a portion of her food. <em>You want me to detonate an ending-seedin my mouthfor a testbecause you </em>think<em> it should work.</em>


    <em>-Not out here in the wilderness, but after Holly has considered and approved of the merits of the idea? With a healer present, just in case? Yes.-</em>


    <em>And stuffed to the brim with ending berry power.</em>


    <em>-That too.-</em>


    The idea had merit. <em>Could this have helped with the griffon?</em>


    -<em>Are you asking if it would have been a good idea to test out an unproven, dangerous idea against a magical creature?-</em>


    <em>No. Im asking if it could have helped.</em>


    <em>-In theory.-</em>


    T grunted. <em>Next time, then. Next time, well have another thing in our back pocket.</em>


    <em>-If it works.-</em>


    <em>If it works.</em> T considered. <em>Worst possible oue?</em>


    <em>-Your head pops, your scripts rebuild it, and I refill your mind with who you are.-</em>


    T shuddered. <em>Thatsunsettling.</em>


    -<em>Why? You are a soul, manifesting in a body, tempered by a certain set of experiences. Your soul wouldnt be touched, your body would be repaired and your experiences would be restored exactly as they had been.-</em>


    T grimaced. <em>I still dont like the idea.</em>


    <em>-That makes sense. I wouldnt like the idea of you running my scripts all the way down before getting them reinscribed.-</em>


    <em>I hadnt considered that as equivalent, but I can see that it would be.</em>


    <em>-Ill help you keep your head, then.-</em> t had a bit of a humorous bent to her tone.


    T grinned in return. <em>And Ill do my utmost to keep your scripts in top form.</em>


    Shed finished preparing her massive, one-woman feast as well as consuming it by the time Cazor was wrapping up. Hed declined her offers of food.


    Shed made a <em>lot, </em>and she hadnt really savored it so much as ate as quickly as she could. Though, she did pay enough attention to write down her impressions of the dishes in the little book provided by the Guild.


    For the most part, shed made a meat-veggie medley, taking dehydrated vegetables and preserved meats and cooking them in water with premade spice mixes poured in.


    She also broke out some hard-tack, which shethered in a cheese that was somehow made to be longsting without any external method of preservation.


    While shed been eating, all of the spheres had been steadily shrinking, and one by one, their copse had elerated until they fully crumpled in on themselves, before the iron cooled enough to be moved over to join a different ball.


    At longst, there was only one sphere left, and it was shrinking rapidly.


    Less than an hour before, T could have stood inside it without issue, but now it was barely bigger than her torso.


    Over the next minute, it looked almost like it ate itself. It was an ufortable reminder of how half of her scripts had worked on her so recently.


    Finally, Cazor copsed to a seat on the turf, all his iron streaming back to his pouches. Some was still dust, but much of it was irregr chunks of g. Hed probably have some way of breaking them up at ater time.


    <em>One of those has to be a dimensional storage to contain all that iron. Maybe more than one, honestly.</em>


    The iron itself was interfering with her mage-sight however, so she couldnt easily tell which.


    Cazor walked over, seeming quite satisfied with himself. Hey, youre not maic anymore. He hesitated. Wow, the griffon really fried you, didnt it.


    T grimaced. Yeah, it wasnt great. <em>And now I need to re-apply the iron paint.</em> The two gallons that she had would only allow her to do one more full re-application. She needed to get more before she left on her next assignment. <em>No dying. I need to get more, today.</em>


    Do you need a healer? He looked a bit concerned, likely thinking that he would have been the dy in getting her needed healing.


    No, but Terry does.


    Terry lifted his slightly scorched wing for Cazors inspection.


    The Archon nodded. We can get it seen to. I apologize for making you wait.


    Terry fluffed his feathers, favoring the injured wing, then squawked once in a sound that conveyed indifference.


    Cazor cracked a smile. Ready to head back?


    Are you up for that?


    Yeah. That wasnt particrly taxing, though it wasnt that much fun. I hard-countered the silmuk, so it was an ideal situation for my advancement, but it made the whole thing a bit anticlimactic.


    I can probably find the griffon, if youd like. She smiled sweetly.


    He held up his hands. No, thank you. One magical beast is enough for one day.


    Then, lets head back, yeah.


    They took longer getting back to Bandfast than they had on their trip out,pletely avoiding creating any motive aura reverberations.


    <em>I still feel like this is faster than a caravan, but I suppose thats because theres fewer people and less stuff being transported.</em>


    <em>-Thats the theory, yeah.-</em>


    As they approached the northern gate once more, the light of the setting sun cast the snow in a ruddy hue.


    <em>Looks like blood has painted the world.</em>


    <em>-The arcane never showed.-</em>


    <em>Any idea why?</em>


    <em>-He probably isnt just waiting around for you. It seems like well have to try again at some point.-</em>


    T grunted. <em>Great.</em>


    -<em>Lets handle the payment for Cazor.-</em>


    She nced over towards the other Archon. I really dont know what your inscriptions cost. Howsthree gold?


    Heughed. You really dont want to offend, do you? But he waved her off before she could respond. Lets do one ounce this time, but Ill ask for three if we ever do this again. I got a lot from this trip that I cant count on happening again, next time.


    T grinned back. That sounds quite reasonable. Thank you for the assistance. This trip would have been worse in basically every way without you along.


    -<em>Ask for his hand. I need a better look at his magical signature to do the transfer.-</em>


    T flushed. <em>Im not asking to hold his hand.</em>


    <em>-Fine, spoilsport. You think of some other way.-</em> T got the impression that t knew of several, but didnt deign to share.


    That was fine; T had an idea that should work just fine. Master Cazor, can you extend your aura my way, so I can get a look at it?


    He did so. Why? Whats up?


    -<em>Anddone.-</em>


    Thank you. The gold should be in your ount, now.


    He gave her a skeptical look, then pulled out his Archive tablet. A momentter, he was blinking down at it. WellIll be He nced back to her. Youre just full of surprises, arent you.


    <em>Could we take funds that way, too?</em>


    <em>-T, Im surprised at you! But no. I tried. It takes willful consent from the giver. We can give to anyone we want, though.-</em>


    <em>Youyou tried to steal from Cazor?</em>


    <em>-Hmmm? No. I had this idea ages ago. I tried to steal from Jenna.-</em>


    T felt her eye twitch.


    -<em>Dont worry, theres no record of it.-</em>


    T was very concerned, despite the somewhat flippant reassurance. <em>If you get me thrown in jail, youll be imprisoned too.</em>


    <em>-Oh, Im aware.-</em>


    Cazor brought them in over the city wall without issue. Where do you want me to drop you off?


    I need to see an Alchemist and then see my inscriptionist. She nced to Terry. But I think a Healer first, if youre willing?


    Any preference?


    t brought up the memory of having seen a Healers shop very near the Alchemists. That in mind, T directed Cazor there, and he set her down at the front door less than five minutester.


    Some of the passersby gave her odd looks, staring in awe up at Cazor. Everyone gave her a wide berth as she stepped off the iron tform.


    Thank you for an interesting day, Mistress. Cazor bowed from where he stood, elevated a half-dozen feet above her.


    She bowed in return. Thank you for all the assistance, Master Cazor.


    Any time. He waved goodbye and went on his way, speeding just high enough to clear the surrounding roofs.


    Getting Terry healed was a simple thing as Healers often worked on pets,panions, and work animals. He made simrments to the one in Makinaven with regards to Terrys dimensionally sequestered body, but otherwise didnt question them.


    Ten silver saw Terry restored to peak health.


    After that, a quick walk got T and Terry to the Alchemists, where she bought three-and-a-quarter gallons of the body paint. With that, she would have five full applications in reserve, after the one shed do that night.


    That cost her one gold, sixty-two silver, and fifty copper. She didnt have the silver on her, and the alchemist preferred dealing in hard coin. Thus, she had to use two gold and ept the change back. It was a bit of a pain but not overly so.


    -<em>You know, if you be a certified Alchemist, you could buy the recipe for just five gold. It in the list of avable recipes for purchase and sale by such people.-</em>


    T grimaced. <em>Not worth the extra timeright?</em>


    <em>-Oh, no, not at all. Bing a certified Alchemist somehow takes more time than bing a Mage.-</em>


    <em>Huh. I never really knew that.</em>


    -<em>Ooooo. Alchemist fire is avable too.- </em>There was a moments pause. -<em>A hundred ounces gold?!?! What madness is this?-</em>


    <em>They probably dont want random Alchemists to buy it.</em>


    -<em>That is a ludicrous sum, even so.-</em>


    T shrugged, then scratched the back of her head as she walked through the wintery streets. It didnt really matter in the end; she wasnt going to be an official Alchemist.<em> To Hollys!</em>


    It was a short, rather familiar trek to Hollys through what seemed to be a growing snowstorm.


    T stepped through the front door and paused, looking over towards the assistant sitting behind a desk.


    She waved, gaining the middle-aged mans attention. Hello. I know Mistress Holly asked me to just drop through, but-


    An exmation of surprise echoed through the warehouse before Hollys voice boomed out, NO! GET BACK HERE, GIRL! Hollys voice carried through the building like a war-horn.


    The assistant leaned back and shrank a little in his seat. After a moment, he waved T towards the back of the warehouse without a word.


    T gave him an apologetic smile as she rushed past and back to Hollys work area.


    As T stepped into the familiar room, Holly pointed to a stool. Sit. Exin everything.


    And so, T did just that, doing her best to leave nothing out as she recounted her trip to the ending grove with Cazor and the battle afterwards.


    Throughout, Holly made the asional note, but she didnt ask any questions, seeming content to wait until the end.


    T even included ts idea for the ending-berry seeds and Ts own failure with the griffon.


    <em>-Failures a little harsh. We did deal with it.-</em>


    <em>True enough.</em>


    Even so, she felt it was a failure, so she cast it in that light in her retelling.


    Holly sat in silence for a long, long time.


    Well, it was probably just a couple of minutes, but it felt like a long time as she stared critically at T the entire time.


    Well, your breath delivery of magic should work, and testing it here, with a Healer present is a wise move. She called out to a passing apprentice and had the woman send for a Healer. No time like the present. She gged down another woman and had them source some trash.


    Right now? T was a bit surprised.


    Before you leave? Of course. If I let you leave, youll find a reason to test it yourself. I apud your restraint in not trying something foolish with the griffon, but one does not bet on a miracle happening twice in one day.


    Hey! T frowned at the rather pointed insult.


    Hush. While they are arranging those things, we need to get you in the auto-inscriber.


    What? Why?


    Youve rebuilt most of yourself again, already for some reason."


    T scratched the side of her head. It wasnt intentional.


    Regardless, you need the next iteration of scripts and then, after our test, you need to EAT. When I say eat, you need to eat more than you didst week, but tonight. Then do that for every meal for a week.


    T blinked at the Inscriptionist. What? Why? She thought that shed been doing a good job of eating what she needed as well as building her reserves.


    Because these scripts are going to rebuild you again, and they are going to need a good chunk of that energy and nutrition, and you will need the rest to be safe on your next venture. She patted T on the cheek. Im not about to let you die on me. You are giving such amazing data.


    Thank you? T wasnt sure if she should be insulted.


    Youre wee, dear. Hollys words seemed genuine.


    <em>So apliment?</em>


    <em>-She does give them on asion.-</em>


    Holly pulled out a few little booklets, then hesitated. t, was it?


    -<em>Yes.-</em>


    Yes. T answered for her alternate interface.


    Good, look up the next set of manuals for these series of scripts. She held up the three small booklets, which T read, but didnt bother to process.


    -<em>Got it.-</em> There was a moments pause. -<em>Oh, interesting. Okay. Let me rearrange this for youandHere you go.-</em>


    A book appeared, hovering in front of T, and she took it, not bothering to consider its unreality.


    She also did her best to not notice Holly reacting with interest to her movements.


    It was a simple read, and she finished quickly. <em>Huh, so it really is just a next step.</em>


    <em>-It seems so. Metaphorically, we are building a house. The first set we got was the foundation, then the set we currently have, and which weve been soaking in power, until we forced them to rebuild us, were the supports and the roof. Now, this next set is the walls and the real meat of the structure.-</em>


    <em>How many more small modifications are there in the sequence?</em>


    <em>-After the one were about to get? Just one more.-</em>


    <em>What then?</em>


    <em>-I dont know. We dont have ess to whatever that is.-</em>


    <em>So, these improve base muscle power, bone density, and strength, natural healing, and biological system efficiency overall?</em>


    <em>-Thats correct. There are two parts to each change. The first is the forced physical change within your body, and the second is the imposition of magic that augments the physical. The idea is to force that into your natural magical pathways as well, for increased augmentation as well as maintaining augmentation even without scripts to that end.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, this cant be unrted to Refining.</em> She knew from experience that Holly wouldnt tell her, though. Alright. I think I understand the difference.


    Holly leaned closer. Fascinating. You didnt imbibe the information any faster, Im monitoring your inscriptions as we speak. The information was simply shuffled around, and only the parts you needed were presented to your conscious mind. Increasing efficiency rather than raw throughput.


    Yes?


    Wonderful. Now, inscribing time! Were refreshing everything while youre here. No reason to have some of yours run down.


    Holly pulled out the auto-inscriber and helped T get inside it before it tightened.


    You are clear of all iron, so that griffon did you a favor of sorts. She cackled augh. Without its work, you wouldnt have been ready for the next modification for months, so it did you all sorts of favors.


    T grimace. I suppose so, yeah.


    I assume you prefer unconsciousness?


    That would be preferred, yes.


    Are you sure? I really do rmend that you stay awake.


    Why?


    Holly grimaced fractionally, then shook her head. No reason.


    Unconscious, please.


    Holly obliged.


    * * *


    <em>-Ding-</em>


    <em>-Conscious disabled for reinscribing.-</em>


    <em>-Reinscribingplete, consciousness restored.-</em>


    T returned to consciousness like the snap of her fingers.


    She had a lingering soreness across her body, but it seemed more mental than physical.<em> Or, magical?</em> In addition, she felt a building hunger. <em>Oh, yeah. Food soon.</em>


    She waited. <em>t? Are you there?</em>


    <em>-Yes, T.-</em>


    <em>Why the ding again?</em>


    <em>-Weve been over this, at least in passing. When you lose consciousness, my base nature takes over until consciousness is restored and normal brain function is reported.-</em>


    <em>Right. That makes sense.</em>


    How are you feeling? Holly was sitting off to one side, the auto-inscriber already put away.


    Fine? I think.


    Good. I left you unconscious for a bit longer this time, to let the inscriptions set a bit longer. I think it was the right call. They seem to be incorporating nicely.


    <em>-Correct. The extra time without power flowing through them increased their eptance by at least 10%-</em>


    Seems to have worked.


    Good, because the Healer just arrived, and I had them set up a side room for the test.


    T blinked at her, processing the flow of words as her mind continued to attempt to wake up.


    Holly just smiled back. Shall we?


    One moment. T tossed Kit against the wall and walked through almost before the door could fully manifest. She found what she needed right inside, opening one of her cast-iron barrels and eating great handfuls of halved ending-berries as quickly as she could.


    After less than a minute of what was, admittedly, gorging, t interrupted Ts one-food feast.


    -<em>Thats about enough. Were actually approaching our capacity with this power and I dont want to see what happens if we pass that.-</em>


    T licked off the bits of juice that were on her hands before wiping her mouth with those hands and repeating the process.


    <em>Waste not.</em>


    That done, she exited Kit and grinned towards Holly. Lets do this.

 Chapter 189: Dissolution

    Chapter 189: Dissolution


    T and Holly walked down a side hall that T had never been through before, though it shared the odd mix of aesthetics from the rest of the building: warehouse meets boutique artisans workshop was an oddbination.


    Holly led her through the third door on the left, and they entered a spacious, mostly empty room.


    As T looked around, she noticed that every surface, including the floor, was covered in iron.


    <em>What? How?</em>


    T frowned, then stepped back into the hallway and looked at the wall beyond which the roomy. There was no evidence of the iron from the outside to her mage-sight and obviously none to her mundane vision.


    As she looked closer, willing her mage-sight to pierce deeper and focus more minutely, she saw the tell-tale signs of illusory scripts. Specifically, the magics she saw were almost identical to those which created the false magical sense around her, via her through-spike. She stepped back inside and looked at Holly. A safe room?


    The woman shook her head. No, dear. This is a ce to experiment without issue. I just didnt want a beacon of reflected magic ring at me every time I used my mage-sight.


    T grunted. <em>That makes a surprising amount of sense.</em>


    <em>-Besides, her safe room would be much better hidden.- </em>t gave a fake gasp within Ts head. -<em>Unless thats what she wants us to think! If we ever need to kill her, were checking here first.-</em>


    T decided not to address that, and since there were two other people in the room, she had a readily avable distraction.


    The woman, younger and obviously a bit subservient, bowed to Holly, now that T wasnt taking up the Inscriptionists attention. Mistress. I piled some detritus of various kinds to the side, there. She pointed at a surprisingly robust pile of trash and what looked like construction leftovers. There is a sizable renovation going on a block from here, and I was able to get some of their cutoffs and unneeded bits. They were grateful that I was willing to take some for them. She shrugged, a self-satisfied smile in on her face.


    Great work. Thank you. Holly gave a small, affirming smile. You may go.


    Mistress. The unnamed woman bowed again and departed without ever having acknowledged T directly.


    The other person in the room was quite obviously a Healer, and his aura was yellow, marking him as a Refined like Holly. The aura itself was kept well contained below the surface of his skin.


    <em>Oh. Hes hiding his rank.</em>


    When T examined him a bit more closely, she realized that she saw a bit of green in his aura.


    <em>Moving towards Paragon?</em> He was someone of power. Not unique, by any means, but of note.


    The man nced after the retreating assistant as she closed the door with a muffled ng, before returning his gaze to Holly. Mistress Holly, may I now know why my presence was requested?


    Holly grinned. Mistress T, here, is going to perform an experiment, which involves enacting rather dangerous magics within her mouth.


    The man cocked his head to one side. What are the natures of these magics?


    Only one nature: dissolution.


    He grimaced. Mistress Holly, I can repair any physical injury, but if her brain is dissolved, I cannot restore more than the physical structures of her mind. She would be a vegetable.


    Holly waved him off. That part is being handled.


    He looked deeply skeptical. So long as you understand my limitations.


    I do. Holly nced to T. Do you?


    I do. As we discussed before, this was expected. She then stepped over to the Healer. I am T, by the way. She gave a shallow bow.


    I am Shir, Mistress T. Are you sure you want to trywhatever this is? It sounds incredibly dangerous. He narrowed his eyes towards Holly. And Mistress Holly can asionally be a bit more persuasive than is good for those she persuades.


    Holly rolled her eyes but didntment.


    T gave a small smile. I am as sure as I can be, Master Shir.


    Very well. He didnt seem convinced, but he also didnt seem willing to press the issue. He had nced at Terry but didntment. He seemed a man who tried to be unerringly polite, whenever possible.


    Even so, when Terry flickered to one corner to curl up for the duration of the experiments, his eyebrows rose noticeably and his mouth opened to ask a question, before he mastered himself and gave a slight shake of his head.


    Holly ignored the man, and Terry, as she went to one corner and dragged out an iron pedestal with rtive ease, cing it in the center of one side of the long room. Mistress T, if you could face away from us when you attempt?


    T nodded, walking over and feeling a few pieces before picking up a stone block. Of course.


    -<em>Dont you want to try with somethingsmaller?-</em>


    <em>Smaller? This isnt that heavy, is it some sort ofposite, poured stone?</em>


    <em>-T, you have new scripts. You havent tested your strength yet.-</em>


    That was a fair point. T shrugged to herself. <em>This should show the extent of the effects, even if it doesnt get dissolved entirely.</em>


    After a moment, t conceded the point. <em>-Fair enough.-</em>


    T ced the stone on the pedestal, stepped about three feet away, and pulled out an ending berry seed.


    Hesitantly, she ced the little nugget of power and destruction into her mouth.


    It tasted awful.


    <em>Gah, the iron-salve is </em>not<em> tasty.</em>


    -<em>It is a bit waxy.-</em>


    T didnt want to lose her nerve, so she bit down.


    She immediately felt the building power within the seed,ing to a crescendo over the next few seconds.


    As the seed was about to detonate, T reflexively spit it out at the stone.


    The wet seed pped against the block, then exploded with a pulse of power.


    The stone turned to a fine powder, flowing off the pedestal.


    <em>Well, the seeds definitely have a higher energy density than the branches.</em>


    <em>-What was that!?-</em>


    <em>I spit out the seed.</em>


    -<em>Im well aware of what you did, T. Thats not what you were supposed to do.-</em>


    <em>I got nervous, okay?</em> She scrunched up her face in irritation.


    Mistress T. Are you alright?


    T didnt turn around. Instead, she simply waved over her own shoulder. Im fine, Mistress Holly. She swallowed to help clear her mouth of the odd taste. I just thought we should have a basis forparison.


    -<em>Liar.-</em>


    <em>Hush.</em>


    Oh, I see. Holly didnt sound either convinced or skeptical. She simply soundedpresent. Like she was taking in every detail.


    T swept the iron free of stone dust and picked up the now magically inert seed. <em>This would still grow a tree, wouldnt it.</em>


    <em>-Well, not still, It wouldnt have before. It was dormant until it expelled the power.-</em>


    <em>Fascinating life cycle.</em> She stuck the seed into Kit absently, before picking up another, simrly sized stone block and setting it in the previous ones ce. It really did feel lighter than shed have expected, but that wasnt her focus at the moment.


    <em>Okay. I can do this.</em>


    Another seed went into her mouth, and she bit down without hesitation.


    T drew in a deep breath and held it, barely managing to stop her own reflexive desire to spit out the seed as the power finished activating.


    Power blossomed across her tongue.


    She felt the things in her mouth that were not her break apart. Some remnants of her earlier feast that had stuck between or around her teeth, a bit of que, and what little saliva shed managed to work up. Thetter left her mouth a bit dry, but it thankfully didnt drain the moister from her tissue, and otherwise didnt harm her. <em>Hey, not a bad solution for oral care.</em>


    <em>-I veto that at the highest possible levels.-</em>


    <em>Spoilsport.</em>


    The power somehow tasted spicy actually. It was far, <em>far</em> superior to the taste of the iron salve. Interestingly, it had broken down everything from its waxy covering as well, save the iron dust that had been in it. That likely contributed to the dry feeling. <em>Well, this is not something you experience every day.</em>


    <em>-Well, most people dont.-</em>


    A portion of the scripts lining the inside of her cheeks and even embedded in the bone of her jaw, her gums, and set within her teeth, red to life. They did not negate the hostile magic. Instead, her power fought it, preventing it from enacting its purpose upon <em>her</em>.


    T exhaled a tight stream of air and felt that air be saturated with the foreign power as it left her mouth.


    Shed tried to aim at the very center of the rock, but her aim was imperfect, and her breath struck it on the left-hand side of the side facing her.


    The front edge of the power sshed against the rock, powdering it on contact. What followed after, as the powder fell away, affected the rock deeper in, as well as a little further out.


    The result was that after shedpleted her exhale, and all the ending seeds power was spent, shed created a neat hole through the block of stone.


    The power had continued out the backside and had settled down on some of the other trash on the floor behind the pedestal, powdering that as well.


    There was a bit of odd horror to the sight, in Ts eyes. There was no sizzling, as if acid had eaten away at the stone, no smoking, no heat or glowing material. There was no evidence that anything had happened at all, save that the stone was no longer whole.


    <em>This isterrifying, actually.</em>


    <em>-They really shouldnt let you keep this.-</em>


    T would have red at t, but that was rather useless. <em>There are quite a few things that are just as dangerous.</em>


    <em>-Yes, but as Trent said, so long ago, this leaves virtually no trace.-</em>


    And that was true. Even to her mage-sight, there werent traces of power on the stone. The power even dissolved itself so utterly upon being used that it left no telltales signs.


    T spit out the broken seed fragments and smacked her lips just a bit. Well, that worked reasonably well. After a moments consideration, she bent and picked up the fragments, cing them into Kit. <em>I dont want them to somehow find soil and start growing. That would be embarrassing.</em>


    Shir strode forward and reached up to touch Ts head. At thest moment, he paused. May I?


    She nodded, and he ced his hand against her forehead, his eyes falling closed.


    They immediately snapped open. What the rust? He shook himself. My apologies, Mistress. You seem to have sustained no damage from your experiment.


    Holly nodded and smiled. And your inscriptions held up and acted as expected,pletely without issue.


    T grinned. They did seem to, yeah.


    Skir cleared his throat. Mistress Holly, may I ask why this Fusing Bound has such an He nced towards Holly, and T thought she saw the Inscriptionist give the barest shake of her head. Altered and enhanced body?


    T shrugged, deciding not to try to parse through whatever hed been going to say.


    -<em>Refined. He was going to ask why you had such a refined body.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, thats probably true.</em> Even so, T decided it was best to answer, herself. Most of my magic is directed internally, towards augmenting my physiology and towards regeneration.


    Skir bit one side of his lip in thought, then shrugged. I suppose that makes sense. Am I still needed?


    T nodded. I would like to try one more thing before you go. This time I will breathe in, after the power detonates.


    The Healer sighed but nodded and stepped back across the room without verbal protest.


    Holly grinned. That does sound quite interesting. Give it a go.


    T did just that.


    The third seed activated, filling her mouth once again with the destructive power before T took in a long, slow breath.


    The power didnt precisely burn as it went down, but it certainly tingled, and that was not ounting for the wave of scripts activating on the way down into her lungs.


    The purging process was simr to that within her mouth. There were small bits of material in her throat and lungs from breathing in less than perfect air, among other things. Regardless of origin, they were reduced to such a fine powder, and in such a manner, that T knew theyd be carried back out when she exhaled.


    There was a headiness to holding the power within her lungs; it seemed to make her chest buzz with the contained, potential destruction.


    Even so, she didnt hold it in for long.


    She exhaled, this time sending it out with a full-mouthed breath, rather than a pursed lipped stream.


    The resulting miniature tide of destruction broke across the stone, dissolving it in almost an even wave, which passed through the stone, seemingly unslowed. As the dissolving power passed through the hard, heavy stone, the material was turned entirely into a fine dust.


    There were some oddities due to the hole already in the stone, but the process was uniform for the most part.


    Fascinating. Holly walked up beside T. The scripts ensured that all of the power was carried out, without exception. Even if you were immune to the power, exhaling should have left a remnant behind without that functionality.


    Isnt that part of the point of the scripts? T gave the woman a concerned look.


    Of course, but you never really used them in totality before. It is nice to have their design actually used.


    <em>She means actually tested. </em>T felt her eye twitch. <em>Soanother experiment.</em>


    <em>-Well, we have asked her to do some pretty unusual things. Better a theoretical Yes than an actual No.-</em>


    <em>Thats fair</em>


    Shir came over and sent another pulse of magic through her, empowering a detailed inspection. You are perfectly healthy. His tone was dry, and he turned to Holly. You and I will speakter.


    As you wish, Master Shir.


    He nodded once, then smiled at T. Good luck to you, Mistress T. Im sure well see each other again at some point.


    She gave a formal bow. Thank you for being here. I felt much better knowing we had a healer present.


    But of course. His smile broadened.


    It was a pleasure to meet you.


    You as well. With that, he waved goodbye and departed.


    T turned to Holly. How many times can I do this before the scripts are degraded to the point that it is dangerous?


    You mean how many seeds? She tilted her head. How many cuts can you heal from?


    Ive no idea.


    Precisely, dear. This doesnt put undue stress on the inscriptions. It is exactly what they were made for, and they do it easily and efficiently.


    T grunted, then nodded. Alright. Thank you. Can I do some more tests?


    Absolutely, but I have other things to be about. This room is reserved for your use this evening. You have fun now! Holly waved over her shoulder as she departed, closing the door behind herself.


    <em>Well, lets get to work. I assume you have some things to test?</em>


    <em>-Absolutely.-</em>


    T and t spent the next couple of hours testing out different mouth shapes on the exhale, different rates of exhale, and a half dozen other factors.


    Their only interruption came when Jenna updated the information in their linked Archive space.


    -<em>She says that there was no sign of the arcane on your outing. Also, she apuds the lengths that you were willing to go to make evidence of your magical signature widely noticeable in at least a reasonably usible fashion.-</em>


    <em>Sarcasm?</em>


    <em>-I dont think so?-</em>


    <em>Huh. Fair enough.</em>


    -<em>She also said that they will be in touch with regards to any further requests.-</em>


    <em>Thats a fancy way of saying theyll reach out.</em>


    <em>-It was clear enough.-</em>


    Other than that, they were uninterrupted, but it was gettingte, and T still needed Lyns help to reapply her paint, so she headed home.


    Of course, on the way she made a stop to grab four cheesy little caravans, two of which she finished before arriving at her own front door.


    Lyn, bless her, didnt ask why T needed a reapplication, simply obliging and painting all the parts of T that T couldnt easily reach.


    T, for her part, kept one fingertip on the through-spike to keep it from being covered over.


    Lyns part done, T bid her goodnight and went into Kit. Kannis was apparently workingte at the Guildhall on some task or other. <em>She always was a bit of an over achiever</em>


    Within Kit, T painted the rest of herself and then began to press the berries.


    It wasnt a long process, though it should have been physically taxing one. Thankfully, T had both more strength and more endurance than most.


    It waste in the night when she finally finished processing her four barrels of ending berries down to two barrels of juice. <em>They really are far more juice heavy than they should be, if they were mundane berries.</em>


    She ate a good portion of the leftover meat of the berries while she was pressing the others, taking what she could from them both nutritionally and with regard to their magical power.


    The rest she ate while moving through her nightly routine and training. t insisted that they add at least a couple of exhtion exercises, to cement the mouth shapes that theyd found to have the most useful patterns of distribution.


    <em>One more thing.</em>


    Finally, sometime after midnight, she flopped into her bed for much needed sleep.


    * * *


    The next few days passed uneventfully, leading to Ts departure for Marliweather. She trained, both alone and with the guards and Mages. It did take her a few days to return to her previous levels ofpetence against the guards, as she limated to her new physicality. From there, she continued to slowly improve, still losing more often than not, but less often each day.


    Terry, as it turned out, did not like holding weapons. He was willing to try to ovee the hang-up, but everyone involved agreed it should be done on his own for the time being.


    Because of this, along with the marked change in Ts own fighting abilities, they decided to hold off on adding in weaponry for Terry, or mounted fighting for both of them. Instead, they spent what time they had with her to help her get fully limated. Unfortunately, that meant that it would have to wait until they returned from Marliweather.


    T ate a truly ridiculous amount of food, spending a gold per day, instead of the three silver shed been managing up to that point. And she and t worked across the board to refine and improve her progress.


    t, specifically, took over primary monitoring and enacting of the Fusing process, which T had maintained in the back of her mind.


    Ts alternate interface spent basically every free moment continuing the Fusing process, which is actually how they both realized that t could manipte magical power, directly.


    t could only manipte the power that passed through Ts gate if T explicitly allowed it, but it did work.


    This made t giddy with excitement, but she put aside the discovery to devote herself to Fusing for the time being. When T tried to work with t to move their Fusing ahead even faster, it didnt seem to work very well, so T left it to her alternate interface.


    With the new method, they estimated that theyd reach the threshold to Fused within a month or two, instead of the three or four theyd been expecting.


    <em>Who knows what that threshold will actually look like.</em>


    <em>-Well tackle that when we get there.-</em>


    That was true enough.


    Thest two days, T charged her cargo-slots in the mornings, and finally, the day of departure arrived.


    T awoke as usual, one thought crystal clear in her mind.


    <em>Well, rust. Im going to see my family.</em>

 Chapter 190: Alat, Ignored

    Chapter 190: t, Ignored


    T was not interested in thinking about her uing visit with her family. She knew it wasnt healthy to avoid the topic, and she was leaving that day to go to the city where they lived, but she still just couldnt seem to force herself to give it more than passing reflection.


    <em>-We really should consider it.-</em>


    So, T went through her routine, just as she did every morning and evening, not considering the uing encounter.


    Physical exercise and stretching, with and without her own gravity enhanced.


    Martial form work with her various weapons and tools.


    Soul exercises, which included everything from working on increasing the distance that she could pull her bound items to her, to improving her subtle control - needed for having her blood-stars orbit her, to aspect mirroring.


    Reading the morning selection of materials from her various books,piled and reorganized by t. One of the fascinating things about ts manifestation of the books was that T hadplete control to freely prop them around herself while she did other things, making them easy to read no matter the environment.


    Breathing exercises to facilitate her use of ending-seed destruction, as well as to improve her physical capacities.


    Enacting her magic through the series of iron spheres that Jevin had given her, honing her ability to work around iron.


    Breaking her bones in a few strategic ces that hadnt been broken before to allow them to rebuild under the influence of the modified scripts.


    Finally, she drank her daily portion of ending-berry juice and ate arge hunk of jerky. As that all processed, she meditated and focused her mage-sight inward, working to shift the magic around to the appropriate scripts within herself, oveying the power atop her own magics that had the same function.


    -<em>We still need to talk about your family.-</em>


    T growled. <em>No, we need to go eat breakfast with Odera.</em>


    -<em>I am in your head, T. Not only is it zingly obvious when youre making excuses, but it couldnt possibly be easier to converse while we walk.- </em>After a moment, t added one final point. <em>-And, we would be vastly too early if we left now.-</em>


    T ignored t and checked the time simply by wishing to know what time it was.


    t was right, she still had two hours before it was time to meet with Odera.


    I should cook something. She really didnt want to, but just as Holly had indicated, T had been <em>hungry</em>. Shed been hungrier than shed ever been for basically a week, and she was getting sick of eating.


    There was a special type of frustration that came from having her stomach full, while still feeling desperately hungry.


    With a sigh, T approached the task of cooking up some food in the same way that shed perform any other required task. Though, she did take the time to choose something that appealed to her tastes at the moment.


    -<em>You know, for all your many ws, you have a ridiculously high level of dedication, follow-through, and personal responsibility. You dont always see how what youre doing affects others, but with regard to your own duties? You are great at keeping your end of things progressing and on track.-</em>


    <em>Thank you?</em> T felt herself rx a bit. <em>Thats really kind of you to say.</em>


    <em>-So, what do you think your parents did right, to instill such things into you?-</em>


    T jerked, sloshing the sausage and eggs she was frying in her cauldron. Thankfully, the shape of the cookware made spilling more difficult than that.


    She didnt respond to t, instead pulling out arge loaf of heavy, multi-grain bread and arge jar of butter.


    She allowed herself to contemte how much she was going to miss having fresh eggs, bread, and butter on the caravan trip.


    -<em>You are well aware both that the cooks will have excellent food for you, and that you are continuing to ignore me.-</em>


    <em>Youre right. I am ignoring you.</em>


    She missed coffee, though she didnt need it to wake up. She missed the <em>vor</em>. The way her body had responded to the warmth and caffeine.


    It was glorious.


    It was gone.


    <em>Focus, T. Eat.</em> She ate mechanically. Everything was good, but she didnt pull as much joy from the taste as she would have a week earlier.


    <em>I hope this doesntst forever. I need to slow down my eating soon, or Ill lose thest bits of enjoyment I can pull from it, and it will be </em>only<em> a chore.</em>


    -<em>Do you want an answer to that?-</em>


    T grimaced. <em>Yes, of course, though it wasnt a question.</em>


    <em>-So, no more ignoring me?-</em>


    <em>Either answer or dont.</em> T took an irritated bite of buttered bread.


    <em>-The scripts, inside your iron paint and with the regr work weve put in, are almost finished with the modifications that theyll do to you, physically. In addition, your stores are nearing their max capacity.-</em>


    <em>I </em>was<em> feeling a bit heavier today.</em> Shed been growing steadily heavier for nearly a week, now that she thought about it.


    <em>-As I was saying, you could drop down to normal consumption today, and youd be fine Well, normal for you, anyway.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, but then Id be going into a trip with lower reserves than I could or should have.</em>


    <em>-Thats true, but only if you stop right now.-</em>


    <em>So? How long do I need to keep this up to top off?</em>


    <em>-Another week, if you dont sustain any major, unexpected injuries.-</em>


    <em>So, just in time to arrive in Marliweather.</em>


    <em>-Yes. Speaking of which-</em>


    T groaned, doing her best to ignore t once again as she ate.


    After t finally epted that T was fully and truly ignoring her on the topic of her family, she changed the subject, thus bringing Ts attention back. -<em>There has to be some sort of drink that we could find that would have all the nutrients we need.-</em> Then, of all things t somehow shuddered. -<em>I dont mean thatrd-based monstrosity that Jevin tried to make us consider.-</em>


    T shuddered as well at the memory. <em>One sip was all it took. Never again.</em>


    <em>-He might have had the right idea, though.-</em>


    <em>Bite your tongue.</em>


    <em>-Do you mean bite your tongue?-</em>


    <em>That sounds needlesslyodd.</em>


    t sighed. <em>-Fine. But we could look into something like that. The drink I mean.-</em>


    T grunted. <em>Im not really sure what the market for it would be, aside from us. We certainly dont have the money to pay to develop something like that just for our own use.</em>


    <em>-True enough. We could at least ask the Culinary guild at some point.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, that couldnt hurt. Wait Dont you have full ess to their Archival records?</em>


    <em>-Yes, but that only contains the overarching information. From what I can tell local prices and avability arent recorded in the Archive.-</em>


    <em>Ah, fair enough.</em>


    T packed everything back awayunnecessarily, given that Kit would have done itand did a twisting stretch, relishing in how far her joints moved and with how much ease.


    Terry. Ready to go?


    Terry lifted his head from the corner where he slept. He let out a grunting squawk and lowered it back down once again. Then, he flickered to Ts shoulder, maintaining his body positioning.


    All right. Lets go.


    T came out into Lyns house, leaving the bright, spring-sunlit home behind and stepping into the dark of winter morning.


    She heard Kannis moving slowly about within Ts old room, and T quickly grabbed Kit from the wall and fled.


    She and the mageling had crossed paths quite a few times, but theyd still never acknowledged their previous rtionship at the Academy. <em>Orck thereof.</em>


    T was bing increasingly certain that Kannis remembered her, too, and had just chosen not to say anything either. Shed probably taken a cue from Ts own actions.


    Lyn had been extra busy over thest week, so T had barely seen the woman. Even so, theyd said their good-byes the night before.


    T managed to get all the way out of the house and close the door, locking it behind her, before Kannis came out of her room, if the sound was any indication.


    T let out a long relieved breath. <em>Good, I escaped!</em>


    -<em>Yes, you have sessfully escaped from someone who happens to have known you for longer than a couple of months and bears you no ill will. How did you manage it? How would you have coped with failure?-</em>


    <em>You know, sometimes I dont like you.</em>


    <em>-I am you.-</em>


    <em>Oh, I am well aware of that.</em>


    T took her ease, walking through Bandfasts snowy streets. Shed be gone for about three weeks, if all went well, and she was enjoying thest look for the time being.


    She stepped through Hollys workshop door, stood there for a moment, waved to the assistant, and then immediately departed. T had made it a habit to drop through each morning, to give her inscriber onest set of information to add to her records until Ts return.


    Her feet led her to the work yard, where Mistress Odera was already awaiting her atop their cargo-wagon, and if the spread before her was any indication, food was ready and waiting.


    T climbed up, greeting her overseer. Mistress Odera, good morning!


    Good morning, Mistress T. Good morning, t.


    -<em>Good morning.-</em> As usual, t could only speak into Ts head, so T conveyed the sentiment. She says good morning.


    t always conveyed a mix of emotions at the greeting. Mistress Odera greeted her as a separate person, which seemed to fascinate t. -<em>I am not a separate person, but still I enjoy the greeting.-</em>


    And yet, Mistress Odera never gave t the moniker of Mistress.


    <em>-I know I dont have a keystone, nor a gate of my ownbut I am you, and you are me. So, shouldnt I be thought of as a Mage as well?-</em>


    T shook her head, leaving her alternate interface to her musings as she finished the very short climb and stood up on the roof.


    Mistress Odera gestured to the traysid out before her. There were so many that T knew that the woman had to have transported them in her own, small, dimensional storage.


    Around each tray, T could see a bit of Mistress Oderas magic, keeping the dishes warm and the air perfectly conditioned to maintain the exact perfect texture for each given dish.


    Chicken-fried steak with sausage gravy. The older woman was pointing to the far-right covered tray, then moved her finger over to indicate each in turn. Then, we have a selection of seed, nut, and dried-fruit breads with ample butter. A selection of fruits, fresh from the growing chambers. A dozen pastries of various kinds, and finally, a thick b of honey-roasted ham.


    T bowed before sitting. Thank you, Mistress. This is a fantastic spread. Thank you for transporting it down here for us. Well, for me.


    Mistress Odera simply smiled in return. The older Mage had taken Hollys rmendation to heart and had <em>significantly</em> increased the amount of food that she facilitated during their breakfasts.


    As T devoured and Mistress Odera nibbled, they chatted about the previous days and that mornings training and reading.


    People were moving around, below them in the work yard, addingst minute items to the two wagons that would soon depart.


    The oxen shifted in their harnesses, causing the leather and wood to creak.


    Passengers were loading up as well, and soon enough, the whole caravan would be ready to depart.


    The time for their meeting with the heads of the caravan guards and the drivers was drawing near, and T moved around to charge the cargo-slots for the morning. While she worked, she nced at Mistress Odera and asked a very impertinent question. How is the iron Archon staring?


    Mistress Odera hesitated before smiling slightly. I have not seeded, but I did not imagine that this would be an easy task. I did discover something fascinating, however.


    T didnt interrupt.


    I cannot enact magics on the iron. No one can. But, I can get power to move <em>through</em> the iron.


    T hesitated, before moving her hand to thest charging point. Magic cant pass through iron either.


    No, child, not through the iron. <em>Through </em>the iron.


    She grunted, charging thest cargo-slot before she turned and sat. You arent making any sense.


    If you walk through a crowd, are you actually going through any of the people that make up the crowd?


    No. She instantly understood. So, you are moving magic around the iron, within the iron object.


    Mistress Odera cackled slightly before tapping her own nose. Precisely. I was almost a void Mage, but the teachers at the Academy advised against it. She sighed wistfully.  We are but empty space, thinking itself full.


    T swallowed, paling slightly beneath her iron and under her illusion. <em>That sort of fundamental understanding could have terrifying results.</em>


    <em>-I wish we could see it at work.-</em>


    <em>I know, right?</em> So, what happened?


    Mistress Odera shrugged. It was deemed too reckless a foundation, and I was encouraged towards building another. I like mine well enough, now. That which flows can never be broken.


    <em>How have we never asked about her foundational understanding? Why do her understandings sound so muchbetter than ours?</em>


    <em>-Never came up? We also were much more focused on the foundation itself than on a cool wording for it. We could fix that?-</em>


    <em>No its not important.</em>


    But that is beside the point, Mistress T. I can move power through, or rather <em>around</em>, the iron. The medium isnt air, there isnt air for the power to move through, not throughout most of the iron. Thus, I havent determined how to adjust the working, but I will soon enough.


    T was considering the implications, when t voiced them aloud, well within Ts head. <em>-That really puts the iron sphere trials into perspective.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, and renders them as little more than pale imitations. Can you imagine the delicacy required? Shes not even Bound!</em>


    Rane called up to them, interrupting Ts thoughts, and they knew that their time that morning had passed.


    Mistress Odera had put the dishes away in her dimensional storage as T had cleared them of food, so there was nothing left atop the wagon but the two women.


    They climbed down, greeted Rane, and went to have a final conference with the heads of this caravan venture.


    Thus began what was an entirely ordinary, boring trek across the winter ins.


    Few things of note stood out during the outbound leg of the venture.


    First, Rane and T discussed their progress in Fusing, in-depth.


    It was the first night, and T and Rane sat across a table from each other, out under the clear, starry sky.


    Most everyone else was huddled inside, either asleep or finding some means of entertainment. The guards were, of course, on guard, but only a few were out and about.


    Rane was grumpily drinking from a steaming tankard. I can feel it. Almost like a counter in my head, though not so concrete. The closer I get to truly being Fused, the more power it takes to move ahead. I feel like Im trying to push a boulder up an increasingly steep road, and ahead, it looks more like a vertical cliff-face.


    T grunted her condolences. Master Jevin did warn that there would be <em>some</em> price to pay for your easier early advancement.


    Rane grimaced, taking another long pull. Still, its frustrating. I feel like Im so close, but I can also feel that unless my power density is higher, Ill never be able to force it thatst little bit.


    So, magical weight training?


    He snorted augh. That sounds like Im using my power to move around heavy objects.


    She grinned in return. True enough. I mean, you <em>are</em> doing what you can to up your magical weight.


    Yeah. I spend hours every day, filled to the brim and drawing in more, forcibly keeping the power away from my scripts and forcing it to stay within me. Im not good at guiding my power. Its definitely cross-quadrant work, and I <em>hate</em> it. He growled. Its like knowing a bear will eat my left hand if it moves even slightly, and a swarm of wasps will enshroud my right with stingers if it ever <em>stops</em> moving. The feeling is <em>awful.</em>


    Any good progress?


    Progress? Yes. Good progress? He scowled.  These things take time, Rane. Master Grediv thinks this path is working. I should be able to Fuse within a year if Im consistent in my training. Two on the outside.


    T gave a soft whistle. Im sorry, Rane. That sounds unpleasant.


    Let me guess. Youre done? If I switch on my mage-sight, will I be seeing yellow?


    Hardly. She let out her own long breath, pulling her mug of hot buttered rum towards herself. It was delicious, but it was also her fifth such drink. The richness of the beverage was starting to get to her, so she only took a single, slow sip. Theres something wrong, honestly. The process is slowing for me, too, and it wasnt precisely quick and easy to begin with.


    Rane cocked his head to one side, listening.


    Dont get me wrong, t is still making it go <em>way</em> faster than it would be moving if I was just Fusing as a subconscious process, but things are slowing down noticeably.


    Has anyone given you any advice or thoughts about why that might be?


    T hunched in on herself, taking a longer pull from the alcoholic drink. <em>Not that it will do anything to me</em> Apparently, my soul is in turmoil about something, and my spirit is deeply unsettled. Thats making the act of fusing them to my bodydifficult.


    -<em>Hence, why I want to talk through your uing encounter.-</em>


    Rane nodded sagely, foam on his upper lip. Your family.


    T groaned. You too?


    He frowned. Could it be anything else?


    Arcane.


    Rane paused at that, then shrugged. Why not both?


    T snorted a derisiveugh. Oh, yes. Im visiting my estranged family, and theres some arcane messing with my head, but wait, theres more! She rubbed at her temples in irritation. There arent high level Archons free to babysit me over what amounts to a low chance of an encounter.


    Jenna had been clear on that: T should not expect any back-up near at hand if the arcane showed up. T <em>hoped</em> that it was a lie, meant to help lure the creature out in case it had some way of reading her mind from afar, but she didnt have any evidence to back up that hope. <em>It wouldnt work if there were any</em>


    Rane patted her wrist. Thats rough, buddy.


    T snorted anotherugh, but this one left her smiling. Buddy?


    He shrugged. Im not really good at this sort of thing. Im offeringfort?


    T grinned. Fair enough. Comfort received. Thank you.


    He lifted his mug and tilted it her way before taking a drink. Any time, T. Anytime.

 Chapter 191: Uneventful

    Chapter 191: Uneventful


    T sat across from Mistress Odera as they watched thend roll by from atop the cargo-wagon.


    T had retrieved some of the knives and hatchets from Lyn before the woman could sell them. Now, theyy in two concentric rings on the wagon-top, Terry flickering around them, asionally brushing the handles before squawking in irritation and flickering away. Hed been at it for days, even before they left Bandfast, so T paid him little mind.


    <em>Hell just have to get over himself at some point.</em>


    <em>-Centuries of ingrained behavior is hard to reshape, T. You could bond him, and hed likely be able to make the change in an instant, but as he is now? Terry is ancient for his kind and alive because he is set and well-practiced in his ways. Give him time to adjust.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, not bonding him til Im Refined.</em>


    <em>-As we were advised. I agree.-</em>


    T returned her attention to Mistress Odera, still a bit uncertain as to the womans suggestion.


    Aside from T and Ranes discussion on their progress towards Fusing, the only other event of note was this one.


    You want me to try to dissolve one of your barriers.


    Yes, Mistress T. I do.


    That seemsincredibly dangerous.


    We will approach it intelligently, but it is criminal that you havent tried this against workings of pure magic, directly. Especially after what Master Cazor told you in regard to the power working against his magics.


    As you say, and as you have said nearly every time this hase up. She took a long, deep breath, then shook her head in resignation. So, how do we mitigate the risks?


    That began a lengthy discussion. t chimed in, voiced by T, and between the three of them, they came up with a solution.


    T sat at the side of the wagon, legs dangling over the edge, facing the snow-covered rolling ins.


    Mistress Odera then created a protective barrier out in front of T that was shaped to deflect the power up and away, if the dissolution power ended up doing nothing to the defense.


    Mistress Odera then ensured that the working moved with them as the wagon continued on its way. Ready, Mistress T.


    T pulled out an ending-seed and popped it into her mouth, grimacing at the taste of the iron-salve coating, but managed to ignore the unpleasantness.


    She bit down and waited for the power to blossom between her teeth.


    Moving carefully, she shaped her lips for short-dispersion and exhaled.


    The dissolution power washed over the protective field, and Mistress Odera grunted.


    Oh, thatthat is really ufortable. The woman grimaced.


    T watched the zone ofpressedyers of air and water shimmer and almost spark magically as the dissolving power used itself up against the defense.


    A moment after all the ending-seeds power was gone, Mistress Odera dropped the field.


    She immediately brought it back up. Please strike the defense with your weapon. Dont spare any strength.


    T shifted back onto the wagon for better footing, then stood, drawing Flow and pushing power through the weapon to transform it into a sword. With a sure, practiced motion, T stepped forward, executing an overhead chop with all her strength and body-weight behind the blow.


    Power rippled around the soul-bound weapon as all of Ts magical weight mmed down as well, refined and directed into lethal cutting force.


    Flow stopped dead on the defense that Mistress Odera had cast, though the woman had a look of intense concentration.


    Girl, you hit harder than a Leshkin juggernaut.


    T beamed at the praise, pulling back Flow and sheathing it, the weapon now back in the form of a knife.


    So? What do you think, Mistress Odera? How did the twopare?


    The older woman shook her head in obvious fascination. You hit harder with Flow than with the breath weapon, but not by much. Even so, Id rather take an attack from that sword over an ending-breath any day of the week.


    What do you mean?


    There was an odd grating feeling, a screeching dissonance, while I was resisting the dissolution. It felt like I was standing on sand that was being dug out from under me. It was incredibly disconcerting. In the end, it took less power to resist than your sword, but that hardly matters. I think arger dose of the dissolution would have broken my protective magics with ease, while I could easily hold up against more than ten of those sword-strikes in quick session without much issue.


    I dont understand.


    Mistress Odera made a vain grasping motion. It was like the spell itself was slipping through my grasp, like I could barely hold onto it. She nodded, suddenly seeming to have something click together. It was as if my own spell-working <em>wanted</em> toe apart and was using all the power I gave it to fight towards that end.


    So, the more powerful the magics


    In theory, the more powerful the magics you affected, the less they could resist. The older woman had a gleam in her eye. And I have a mastery of my magic that is belied by my rtive weakness, Mistress. Any other Mage would have no chance at maintaining a hold over their working, and only old, well-practiced Archons would do any better. She let loose a soft cackle. Lets test some more.


    And so, they did.


    A tight stream of the dissolution was able to punch through severalyers of Mistress Oderas defense before the power was used up, but Mistress Odera was able to hold together the spell-structure against the destructive influence. So, they moved on to using multiple seeds at the same time.


    True to Mistress Oderas guess, even the beginning of the second seeds power destabilized her working, causing the entire defensive spell-form to copse, no matter how small a portion T concentrated the power on.


    It really does disrupt the spell-forms ability to hold together. Mistress Odera was contemting. In order to counter it She thought for a moment longer and then gestured, eyes alight with a mischievous glint.


    A sphere appeared in front of T, hovering out away from the wagon as all the targets that Mistress Odera created had.


    T examined the spherical shield with her mage-sight and saw that the seemingly smooth creation was made up of interlocking, ovepping bubble-like creations.


    She nced over and saw a look of smug satisfaction on the older womans face.


    Is that harder?


    Marginally. Its something Ive yed with in the past, but under normal circumstances it doesnt actually give any benefit save a bit of added flexibility. Most applications of my magic need greater staying power more than the ability to adjust.


    <em>I can think of a dozen sets of circumstances where the greater flexibility would have been useful.</em>


    -<em>Ahh, but this is really what sets Archon level magic apart from that of Mages. Mages almost </em>have to<em> focus on power in order to be effective. Archons usually have power to spare, and so they can be more flexible and creative in their enactments.-</em>


    <em>Like Atrexia with her rock-spikes. It was a powerful working, but not very flexible in its use.</em>


    <em>-Precisely. She is going to be a terror when she advances.-</em>


    T felt a bit of sadness, looking at Mistress Odera. <em>If she advances.</em>


    Mistress Odera caught the look and scowled. None of that, girl. I know an Archon could have it both ways. Now, focus.


    T nodded and turned back to the sphere of interlocking power.


    She cracked two seeds between her teeth, waited the required time for the power to erupt outward and exhaled in a tight stream.


    Just after over half her avable ending-seed power was blown, the closest bubble to her fell apart, seeming almost to flow in every direction at once, rather than actually breaking.


    There was a shimmering in the air and one of the neighboring shields distorted slightly, adjusting itself to snap sideways into the ce vacated by the dissolved working.


    The others seemed to jiggle and waver just a bit, altering their positioning ever so slightly. At that point, a new bubble formed within theplex magical structure, leaving it as protective as it had been to begin with.


    The entire process had taken less than a second, and only the smallest amount of ending-seed power had gotten through, into the interior of the sphere.


    The new target for Ts exhale wavered under the continued stream of power, but it held until the attack was spent.


    T shook her head in wonder. Rust me inside out. She turned her gaze back to Mistress Odera.


    The woman simply smiled with self-satisfaction. I think that held up rather well; dont you?


    From that point onward, T and Mistress Odera did some practice with the ending-power every day. The older woman insisted that T begin carrying an ending-seed tucked in her cheek, because it was painfully obvious when T popped a seed into her mouth.


    You must have your weapons ready.


    T reluctantly agreed, but only because the power couldnt really harm her, so long as she didnt swallow it.


    <em>-Our stomach is defended, but not as much as our mouth, throat, and lungs. Wed likely have to regrow a good amount of our insides if we swallowed one.-</em>


    That was, categorically, to be avoided. So, T used up the seed before sleeping.


    It was the wise thing to do.


    Other than that, the trip was utterly uneventful.


    Arcanous beasts were fought off, the guards harvesting what they could; lots of good food was eaten, grudgingly; and T didnt have to fight a single real conflict.


    <em>Luxury.</em>


    As the end of the trip neared, they crested a particrly high rise and looked down upon Marliweather, the city of Ts birth.


    It covered so much morend than Bandfast, given that its mining operations were stillwell, operational.


    T recalled the types of mining humanity had tried through the ages.


    Strip mining was effective, but left thend raw and unusable, like an open sore that took vastly too long to heal.


    Open-pit mining was simrly scarring and had the added detriment of often creatingkes of despoiled water.


    There were several others, but that was hardly the point. These days, humanity used underground mining, with Material Guide Mages ensuring the minimal manualbor brought forth the maximum results.


    Within the ring of massive gantries and equipment to transport workers and materials down into and up from the mining tunnels, the familiar farndy just as dormant as it had been around Bandfast.


    The city also looked very much like the one that theyd just left a few days back. Theyout of the streets was nearly identical, as wererge portions of the skyline.


    t even superimposed Ts memories of Bandfast onto the vision of Marliweather before them. She had to search a bit, looking for the right perspective until she found a match.


    -<em>Huh, I guess the Builders dont go in for innovation?-</em>


    <em>If it isnt broken</em>


    <em>-Thats fair. There does seem to be some evidence of iteration, though, so they arentpletely stagnant. Theyve probably just perfected the design to a ridiculous degree by this point. And, they did rotate things a few degrees.-</em>


    <em>The iteration makes sense, as does the slight rotation. Weve traveled west, so north is going to have a slightly different directionality.</em>


    <em>-Im orienting off north.-</em>


    <em>True north or maic north?</em>


    <em>-How, under the stars, would I check true north? Not that we have apass to check for maic north.-</em>


    T grinned. <em>Follow the orientation of the city?</em>


    t grunted. -<em>That might be so, I suppose.-</em>


    T considered for a moment. <em>You know, while it was just a turn of phrase, I think we could actually use the stars to find true north.</em>


    t groaned. -<em>Now I feel foolish. Of course we could, but wed have to have the night sky and a lot of time. Using the city to short-hand it makes sense.-</em>


    T turned her focus back to the city.


    Slight differences as evidence, the cities were clearly siblings, havinge from the same makers. Though, once again Marliweathers stage modified the view. The ring of mining work vaguely obscured the overall view of the citys skyline with rising steam and smoke.


    There wasnt a lot, but it was enough to be noticeable in the cool winter-evening air.


    Rane pulled himself up onto the cargo wagon and came to stand beside T.


    Its lovely.


    It looks like Bandfast. T used her tongue to y with the ending-seed tucked inside her cheek.


    -<em>Thats going to be a bad habit.-</em>


    <em>Hush. Its fine.</em>


    Rane gave her a sideways nce before shrugging. Bandfast is a lovely city too.


    T found herself grinning. Fair enough.


    So I havent brought it up and neither have you. Now, were here.


    T sighed, her smile slipping.


    You grew up in that city, didnt you. It wasnt really a question.


    Seems so.


    Your family still there?


    T had a moment of panic. <em>I have no idea. Did they leave? Did they die?</em>


    -<em>Calm, woman. A Mage is notified if any of their family dies.-</em>


    <em>They could have moved.</em>


    <em>-Really? You think they could afford to relocate?-</em>


    <em>Fair enough</em> The entire exchange, panic included, had taken less than a breath. T exhaled fully and shrugged. I think so.


    Rane grunted. Are you going to see them?


    I probably should.


    He gave her a knowing half-grin. But are you going to see them?


    T found herself smiling again and almost punched him, but she held herself back. Yeah. I suppose so.


    Do you wantpany?


    She rocked back on her heels slightly. <em>Do I?</em>


    The wagons started their trip down the slope and towards the defensive perimeter of the city.


    Terry squawked up at her, and she looked down at the neat pile of weapons the bird had made beside her. Hey, you moved them!


    Terry practically rolled his eyes as he let out an indignant trill.


    Of course, I knew you <em>could</em> move them. I also knew that you didnt want to. Good for you.


    He hunkered down and glowered up at her before flickering to her shoulder, maintaining his re.


    <em>Thats actually pretty impressive, all things considered.</em>


    She shook her head and bent to ce the knives and hatchets back into Kit. Then, she tossed Terry some jerky, and after he flickered to catch it, he curled up and closed his eyes.


    Rane didnt press his query, simply swaying with the smooth motion of the cargo wagon.


    I dont know. Ts voice was quiet as she returned to her position beside therge man, staring out at the ever growing city before them.


    Well, if you do, Im happy to apany you.


    To meet my family.


    No implications intended. And by his tone and demeanor, he meant it. She hadnt even caught him off guard with the question.


    Wow, Mistress Aproa is really helping you get over your awkwardness.


    Ranes cheek twitched and colored just slightly, but he shook his head. She has a lot of interesting advice. I dont think I agree with all of it, but it is all worth considering.


    Well, in either case, thank you for the offer.


    He nodded. Im going to do another sweep of the perimeter before we enter the defenses proper. Without a backward nce, he turned and climbed down from the wagon.


    T took some time to examine the far-flung defenses and to feel the power in the air around the city before them.


    What she was able to discern was amazing, really. Bandfast was only about 50 years older than Marliweather, but there was already a marked difference in the concentration and zeme of power around the city and throughout the defenses.


    Where the region around Bandfast was like a hill, whenpared to the mountainous edifice of Alfast-Waning, Marliweather still felt like a level in, magically speaking.


    The defenses here were but weak lines of power, weaving a loose over the city.


    The towers in rings around the mining and farming districts were still beacons of magic, ready to strike down anything that required such, but the defenses as a whole were almostughably weak.


    <em>Because they dont need heavy defenses yet. The concentration of power hasnt begun to draw in the kind of threats that need universal, heavy-handed responses.</em>


    -<em>Plus, Id imagine that the citys Archons are ready to respond to anything extreme.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, the defenses are more like a glorified detection grid at the moment.</em>


    <em>-Bandfasts arent much better.-</em>


    <em>Thats true enough. It was mainly Archons who responded to and destroyed the syphon. The citys defenses didnt do much.</em>


    The caravan rolled past one of the massive towering gantries, filled with moving parts and magical mechanisms that T had never delved into the details of.


    Steam and smoke rose around the outside of the metal edifice, made more visible by the crisply cold, winter air.


    The structure stood like a benevolent god over this one entrance to the miningplex below, helping the small humans to ess the riches of Zeme.


    <em>We really do stand on the shoulders of our ancestors. How much in my life is built upon all that came before?</em>


    <em>-Everything.-</em>


    T nodded in mute agreement, simply continuing to marvel at the monument of innovation, which helped keep them stocked with precious metals.


    The caravan passed several more of the mining entrances, but none quite so closely as the first, before they came to the farnd. As they entered the portion of road which cut though skeletal orchids and beside deep drifts of snow-covered, empty fields, T felt herself smile.


    <em>It is like a sleeping mother, ready to awaken and care for her children. Her sleep is needed, so she can better provide for us all.</em>


    After another few moments of quiet contemtion, t spoke into her mind. -<em>That is a lovely way to view thend.-</em>


    <em>I think its true, at least in part.</em>


    <em>-Its a lovely way to view family as well.-</em>


    T sighed. <em>I have nothing against the idea of family.</em>


    <em>-Just against your own.-</em>


    T felt something snap within her, and she sat down, hard, turning her rage inward. <em>OF COURSE, Im angry at them, t. They sent me away. They saddled me with their debt. They saw me as a means to an end, so they used me.</em>


    <em>-You agreed.-</em>


    T froze, then shook her head. <em>Of course I did. What twelve year old wouldnt? Oh, do you want to help your family? How could I say No.? What sort of awful person would say No.?</em>


    <em>-The Mages did try to ensure that you knew what you were agreeing to.-</em>


    T snorted. <em>Im not mad at them, but it wasnt much of a choice, either way. No, Master, I want my family to starve, but thank you for offering a solution.</em>


    <em>-They wouldnt have starved.-</em>


    T growled internally.


    -<em>You are amazing at justifying your anger, and some of your anger </em>is<em> justified. But you did agree.-</em>


    <em>If I hadnt, I wouldnt have be a Mage.</em>


    <em>-Because most of the debt is from your schooling. Why would they have epted you, if you wouldnt agree to pay the expense?-</em>


    <em>I would have happily done it, without taking on my family''s debts.</em>


    <em>-Really?-</em>


    <em>Of course!</em>


    <em>-Did you ask? Did you really want to leave your siblings in a debt-ridden house? Or your parents?-</em>


    T didnt have a response.


    -<em>No, you felt trapped and made the only choice that you felt you could. It hardly matters if it really was the only one avable to you or not.-</em>


    <em>Rust you.</em> She knew that t was prodding her towards healthier thinking, using half-truths and overstatements to move her in the ways that she needed to go. <em>What does it say about me that my alternate interface is using tactics like Mistress Odera</em>


    The thought slipped through, not really directed at t, but t responded nheless. <em>-Am I wrong?-</em>


    T hunched in on herself, ignoring the ingrained training to sit up straight.


    -<em>Am I wrong?-</em>


    <em>No.</em> The word was soft, quiet even in her own head.


    t was silent for a long moment.


    T wiped the tears from her cheeks, grateful that Mistress Odera wasnt on the wagon-top with her.


    T buried her face into her knees and cried quietly for a time, letting the subtle sway of the wagon rock her,fort her.


    Finally, she addressed t once more. <em>I hate them for putting me in that position. How could they ask a child to choose?</em>


    <em>-I know.-</em> There was a softness to the alternate interfaces voice, a maternal quality.


    <em>But if I hate them, then what was the choice even for? What did it aplish? Why take on the debt for people I hate?</em>


    <em>-Do you really hate them?-</em>


    It was a long moment before T shook her head slightly. <em>I dont know.</em>


    t didnt press the point, instead turning their focus elsewhere. -<em>So?-</em>


    T wiped her face once more, pulling some rags from Kit to do a better job and to blow her nose into. <em>So, what?</em>


    <em>-What do you want?-</em>


    <em>What do I want? I dont know what I want, t.</em> She looked up at the citys outermost wall, and the gate that was a scant hundred yards away.


    -<em>Well, you better decide soon. Because were here.-</em>

 Chapter 192: You’ll Never Guess

    Chapter 192: You¡¯ll Never Guess


    T stood back up atop the cargo wagon andposed herself as they passed through the gates of Marliweather.


    <em>-I do have some good news.-</em>


    <em>Oh?</em> T was interested in anything that could distract her, even though she knew that she really needed to focus.


    -<em>I think I have it worked out, so we can mimic the appearance of spell-lines on the illusion.-</em>


    <em>Mimic?</em>


    <em>-Yeah, I can show you how to fracture the illusion in such a way as to make it look like you have lines tattooed across your skin.-</em>


    <em>Would they look metallic?</em>


    t hesitated, then sighed within Ts head. <em>-Well, no.-</em>


    <em>So, I would look like someone making a poor imitation of a Mage.</em>


    <em>-Its not perfect. Ill grant you that.-</em>


    <em>But it is a step in the right direction.</em>


    <em>-Exactly.-</em>


    <em>So, no actual solution yet.</em>


    <em>-No, sorry.-</em>


    <em>These things take time. Thank you for continuing to investigate.</em>


    T felt a wave of panic try to creep over her as she returned her attention to the issue at hand. Instead of sumbing to the feeling, she shook her head and smiled. <em>We can do this. Well be fine.</em>


    She went through the motions of finalizing a caravan journey. She met with the pay-clerk, gave her report, and epted her pay. She chose to take it in hard coin this time as the experience with the Alchemist was still fresh in her mind.


    <em>Some just want tangible currency.</em> She received twelve gold for her role as the Dimensional Mage of the Caravan, and five for her role as Mage Protector. <em>Thats fair; I really didnt do much in that role except take watch most nights.</em>


    What came as a true surprise was the additional three gold that she received for facilitating the use of the Wainwrights wagon. Since this pay had been withheld on her trip to Makinaven and back to pay for the increased structure of the wagon, shed forgotten that it was owed to her, generally.


    <em>What a nice surprise.</em>


    She bid goodnight to Rane and Mistress Odera, getting the name and location of the inn theyd be staying at. When they inquired about her, she shrugged and stated that shed just find a wall somewhere when she needed to sleep.


    Mistress Odera didnt press but did insist on meeting T for breakfast at the older womans inn the next morning. T heartily agreed. <em>Free food is free food.</em>


    It was still early afternoon, as the caravan had made good time. When she noted that, T took a moment to walk over to the head driver and thank her for taking such an expeditious route.


    That done, T wandered a bit aimlessly.


    What struck her first was the smell of the city.


    It was subtle, and she couldnt have described it properly in a thousand years, but there was an underlying scent in the air that just made her think of <em>home</em>.


    It sparked all sorts of memories, coupled with the asional familiar sight as she walked through the city.


    She got ate lunch, -well, second lunch- only to realize as she sat down to eat that her family hade to this restaurant a few times before their finances had turned.


    T walked through a park, remembering the times she and some school friends had wanted a different ce to y than their neighborhood park and coerced their minders to bring them there.


    The entire experience was surreal.


    A surprising number of people noticed and asked to pet Terry. Apparently, arcanous pets werent asmon in Marliweather as they were in Bandfast, which made some sense, given the stage of the city.


    In any case, Terry eventually got sick of it, and T let him go sleep inside of Kit, while she continued to wander.


    Shortly after Terry had retreated into the dimensional storage, the worst happened. <em>Well, not THE worst</em> Someone recognized her.


    T?


    T froze on the side of the street, her mind whipping back in time, trying to connect the voice to a specific person.


    T is that you?


    She turned, eyes searching out the young man speaking to her from just inside one of the nearby shops.


    He was tall, though not as tall as Rane. He smiled brightly as he stepped out of a doorway and towards where she stood to one side of the street. I apologize if Im wrong, but you are a dead ringer for this girl I went to school with.


    -<em>Answer him, T.-</em>


    No, no, you arent wrong. I am T. She shifted nervously.


    His grin widened. I knew it! You probably dont remember me, but Im-


    She cut across him, not wanting him to think she didnt recognize him. Viggo, yeah. I remember you. <em>Why do I care?</em>


    He hesitated, then. Oh. Good. He shrugged. So. How are you? I havent seen you in years. He frowned then. Didnt you get epted to the Academy?


    <em>What does he want with me? Why are we talking?</em>


    <em>-Dont be rude, T.-</em>


    <em>Fine.</em> Umm. Yeah, yeah. I was. I graduated a few months back.


    Hey! Congrattions. He nodded appreciatively, the sentiment seeming quite genuine. So, are you back? He frowned slightly. Theres some sort of apprenticeship for new graduates, right? Are you still in the midst of that?


    T shook her head,ughing a bit awkwardly. Oh, no. Im a full Mage these days.


    Wow. Thats impressive, T. Again, he hesitated. Or Mistress T, right?


    She waved him away, feeling self-conscious at someone whod known her as a child giving her the honorific. T is fine.


    He paused for a moment. Well, if you arent in a hurry, do you want to step inside? I can put on some tea.


    T looked at the store that hed stepped out of. It was a simple clothing store. <em>Thats right, he was going to be a tailor.</em> Sure, I think that might be nice.


    <em>Anything to put off seeing my family</em>


    <em>-Not a great reason, T.-</em>


    As he led her inside, T took a moment to really examine the storefront. It was clean, well-kept, and nicely detailed. It even stood out from those on either side as being especially well-kept. It put forward the idea of a well-off shop that sold quality goods, and as she stepped inside, the impression was borne out.


    This is a lovely little ce you have here, Viggo. Your folks were tailors, right? You apprenticed under them?


    I did indeed. He gave a littleugh. Worst six years of my life, but worth it.


    A voice drifted from the back. Dear, do we have a customer?


    No, love! An old friend. Youll never guess who.


    The sound of bustling came from behind a room divider as something was set aside, and a woman moved their way. Is Javor back in for another tunic? Weve told him that nice clothes arent the only thing you need to catch the eye of- She stopped talking as she stepped around the sturdy screen. Oh.


    T thought she recognized the woman, but it was hard to connect the young woman before her with any of the girls shed known before.


    Is thatT?


    Viggo straightened a bit and put on a slightly self-important voice. Mistress T.


    Mistress? She gasped. Thats right! You went off to the Academy. The woman looked a bit flustered, then gave a slight curtsy. Wee, Mistress.


    None of that. T waved her hands in a warding gesture, feeling increasingly awkward. , right?


    Thats right.  seemed to recover from her own awkwardness and smiled warmly, the slight lines on her young face showing it to be amon expression for her. You remember me, then?


    How could I forget? You used to give me parts of your lunch when I was hungry.


    There was an awkward pause there.


    T cleared her throat. Sorry. Thats obviously not the only thing I remember, but its what came to mind first.


    shrugged a bit self-consciously. Its alright. How are you?


    T heard the rustle of cloth, and the murmur of a babys burble.


    Oh, excuse me, Aliza is due for a meal.


    Viggo interjected. I invited her in for some tea. Shall I put the kettle on for all of us?


    T responded before  could. I actually can make some, if youre willing. Id just need some cups. Sheughed awkwardly. Im not used to serving tea for others.


    He gave her a spective look, then shrugged. Certainly. Come on through to the back.


    T followed the pair, through the tailors shop and into a small, personal sitting room. A small kitchen was attached to the space further back.


    The room held severalfy looking chairs with a low table centrally located between them.


    It isnt much, but its home. The bedrooms are upstairs.


    T smiled, watching as  bent over a bass in the corner of the room. Viggo was in the kitchen grabbing cups.


    <em>-Dont use incorporated water. They arent Mages; so, it could actually hurt them-</em>


    <em>Thats right.</em> T had almost forgotten. It took power to maintain the incorporated water as water inside yourself, if just a bit. For a Mage it wasnt really relevant and might actually help increase their through-put over time, which was one reason that T used so much of it. But for a mundane? It would pull power from other things, maybe causing them to be sick, or at least more susceptible to illness.


    <em>Like overuse of ending-berries.</em>


    With her hosts distracted, she quickly pulled out her own teapot, tea, hot air incorporator, and the little stand that shed worked up to facilitate making tea. Viggo, could you bring some water, too? I didnt think about that.


    He gave a smallugh. Of course.


    <em>They seem to smile andugh a lot.</em>


    <em>-They seem happy.-</em>


    took a seat in one of therger chairs around the low table, eyeing Ts items, but notmenting.


    Viggo came over with a pitcher that hed filled from their sink and three small mugs. He walked with a slight limp.


    T epted the water and poured it into her tea pot. Are you alright, Viggo? It looks like youre limping.


    gave the man a pointed look. I think he broke his toe.


    He waved her off. Its nothing, woman. Im fine. He said it with affection, but it was clear that theyd had the conversation before. If it still hurts in a week, Ill see a healer.


    nced towards T. You arent a healer by chance, are you?


    No, Im sorry. If you dont mind my asking, what happened? T focused on the tools before her. Since she didnt want to sit with her hand against the incorporator, she extended her aura and used that to power the item.


    It was hugely inefficient, but it would work.


    Viggo leaned forward. Fascinating! So, thats a magic item? The air it produces is quite warm. He gave her a yful smile. Well have a lower heating bill this month after this.


    T smiled in return. I suppose so, yeah.


    shifted aside her tunic and helped little Alizatch. The baby seemed quite content, now that she was drinking.


    Viggo cleared his throat. Its a bit embarrassing, actually. A guard was in, being fitted for a new uniform. Hed left his helmet on the floor, and Id almost tripped over it a dozen times. So He cleared his throat. I sort of kicked it out of the way.


    chuckled. You should have heard him yell. Thats when I knew hed broken it. Scared the poor guard half to death.


    Viggo scrunched his face. Well see.


    Stubborn man. But she was smiling as she said it.


    T cleared her throat and changed the subject. How old is Aliza?


    shifted in her seat, seemingly working to getfortable. Four months, tomorrow. It was a distracted answer, one that seemed to have been given numerous times.


    Shes your first?


    Viggo answered that. She is. We were married less than a year before we found out she was on the way. He leaned over and kissed the babes head. First of many, we hope.


    Thats nice. T tried to put genuine feeling into the sentiment, but it still felt awkward.


    A soft bell sounded from the shop, and Viggo shot her an apologetic look.


    Go, go. The tea will take a bit.


    He stood, nodding gratefully. Ill be back as soon as I can.


    He walked past T, and she heard him greet a customer and begin what seemed to be a regr interaction. What did the customer need, how could Viggo assist, what colors were they thinking, and the like.


    was mostly focused on the little one that she had to breast. So, T was left alone to her thoughts.


    <em>What am I doing, here?</em>


    <em>-Being polite.-</em>


    <em>With people that I havent seen in more than half a decade, and likely will never see again.</em>


    <em>-Does that matter?-</em>


    <em>I could have said Hi, exchanged pleasantries and been on my way.</em>


    <em>-Then, why didnt you?-</em>


    <em>He seemed genuinely happy to see me</em>


    <em>-You do remember him fondly. Both of them, really.-</em>


    <em>They werefriends?</em> It felt odd that she was unsure. At the time, back in her childhood, the answer would have been obvious, but she hadnt thought about them basically at all since shed left.


    <em>-That is urate, I think. Childhood friendships are an odd thing, really. If theyst, they can be the deepest rtionships a person has, but if they dont, they often feel like nothing was really lost, except your childhood which was lost anyways.-</em>


    <em>Thats depressing. Have you been reading random books again?</em>


    <em>-I thought it prudent to do some research on the subject of childhood rtionships before we came here.-</em>


    T grunted.


    looked up. Oh, Im so sorry. Im ignoring you, arent I?


    T colored, though she knew that wouldnt show through her paint and illusions. Oh, no! I apologize for disturbing you. I just needed to clear my throat a bit.


    Nonsense. I was being rude.  smiled congenially. So, what brings you to this area? Are you working in the city?


    Im based out of Bandfast, actually. Im just in town with a caravan. Ill be heading back in a few days.


    Wow, caravan work? She shook her head. Thats a dangerous upation, I hear.


    It can be; Ill grant you that. T felt her face fall as she remembered the guards that shed seen injured and killed. It really can be.


    But you like it?  seemed to be attempting to shift the tone of the conversation.


    I do, and it pays well. It also lets me see various cities, too, which is nice.


    It must be great to be able to see your family, too. Are they still in the Alchemy business?


    T did her best not to wince, but it obviously still showed.


    Oh. Im so sorry, Mistress T.  looked genuinely distraught. Now that I think on it, I heard that there was someoddity between you and your family before you left. I never really knew if it was true, or what it was about. She gave a self-deprecating chuckle. I try not to look into such things. They prove to be little more than gossip more often than not.


    T grimaced, then. Well, this is a bit more than that.


    Im sorry to hear that. The poor woman looked around awkwardly, as if searching for something to move the conversation to.


    Its alright. I actually chose Marliweather as the destination this time because I need totalk with them. <em>Why am I telling her this?</em>


    Well, that seems like quite the thing to have to do.  seemed to be getting her feet back under her, conversationally speaking. Do you think it will be a water under the bridge situation, or do you expect a bit of a scuffle? She giggled just a bit. Not that theyd have much that they could do to a Mage.


    T hadnt considered that. Shed continued to view them as her parents, her siblings, her family. But, she was returning a full Mage. <em>A full Archon, not that that would mean much to them, aside from being something they wouldnt believe.</em> The dynamics between them would be utterly different. She answered with half a mind as she considered what that would really mean. I think there will be at least somediscussions of the issue.


    Well, I hope you work it out. Theres nothing like having family in your corner. I tell you, mine and Viggos folks, and our older siblings, help out so much, especially since little Aliza was born. We get to go on dates and leave the little dear in the care of family, and thats the least of it. She shook her head in wonder. I tell you, I couldnt imagine trying to have children without family around.


    T saw an opportunity to change the subject. So, how many do you want?


    Well, we eache from smaller families, each of us is only one of nine, would you believe it?


    T shrugged and smiled.


    Well, I tell you the truth, I think we want at least that many. Viggo makes good money, and were saving like crazy, so we can move to a bigger ce after the third onees along.


    Viggo came back into the room. What lies are you telling our guest about me?


    That started a bit of banter between the married couple, and T turned her attention to the tea, finishing the preparation process and tucking the incorporator away.


    She poured the tea into the provided mugs and passed them out.


    They epted gratefully, and Viggo lifted his. To old friends.


    and T echoed the sentiment and they all drank.


    Oh! This is delicious, T. Viggo was inspecting his cup, as if it could tell him why.


    Thank you, I quite like it. T returned a contented smile.


    Chamomile, right?  likewise seemed overawed.


    Thats right. I picked some up when I was in Makinaven recently.


    Viggo paled, looking back to his cup. Oh, Mistress T. This is too much.


    T frowned. What do you mean?


    Makinaven tea is widely considered the best humanity has to offer.


    T sighed heavily. I know, right? I didnt realize it while I was there, or I would have bought crates of the stuff to sell when I got back <em>Oh Thats what hes saying.</em>


    Viggo nced to his wife, then back to T. Well, thank you. This is a rare treat. Heughed a little nervously. What I make in a day might not cover this one pot.


    , who seemed to not have realized how expensive the tea was before, paled just as Viggo had. Oh. The single, soft word carried a lot of meaning.


    T, with one careless action, had demonstrated just how much wealthier than they were that she was. <em>Well, rust.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, I didnt consider that either-</em>


    I apologize. I didnt mean anything by it. I just-


    Viggo waved her off. No, no. Please, its fine. He chuckled. Its more than fine; thank you. It was a kind thing for you to offer and to provide. Ive seen it in the market on asion, and I was always curious if it was worth the cost. He lifted the mug to her with a slightly guilty smile. Id say it is without question.


    She almost said it was nothing, just something she picked up while traveling with her job, but thankfully, she realized that that would make things worse, not better.


    There was a break in the conversation as  switched little Aliza from one breast to the other, and when conversation started up again, they talked about small things.


    They reminisced about school days, and T asked after some of their old friends. Mostly, she did this because it felt like the right thing to do, rather than because she was genuinely curious. Shed left this portion of her life behind.


    As it stood, seemingly basically everyone was married and either had kids or had them on the way.


    Some of the pairings surprised her, but most seemed obvious with hindsight.


    All told, she spent a little over an hour with the young family. She departed with warm farewells, the two expressing a desire to see her again soon. She thanked them for the invitation but didnt promise either way.


    She couldnt say whether the whole experience was positive or negative in the moment, but she felt like it was good for <em>her</em> in the long run.


    <em>Now, I just need to face my own family.</em> Strangely, she felt like she was better equipped for that meeting than she had been.

 Chapter 193: Family Claims

    Chapter 193: Family ims


    T took a moment as she walked away from Viggo and s home to open Kit and speak to Terry.


    Hey, in there! Do you want toe out?


    She thought she saw some people give her odd looks, as she was hardly alone on the street, but that didnt really bother her.


    A long, disinterested squawk was her only reply.


    Fair enough. I want you to be able to get out if you want to, so there shouldnt be any issues, but in either case, Ill try to check every hour or so.


    <em>-I can help remind you.-</em>


    <em>Thank you.</em>


    <em>-Oh, hey! While you were chatting, I think I figured out how to selectively suppress the illusion from the through-spike.-</em>


    <em>Oh?</em>


    As T walked through the streets of Marliweather, letting her feet carry her wherever they wanted, t stepped her through the process shed worked out.


    T decided to test the process on her hands, as they were an easy thing for her to observe, and suppressed the illusion around them specifically.


    Sure enough, her metallic-gray skin, surrounded by a zing nimbus of power, started to fade into view. T immediately released her hold on the power, so as to not be noticed.


    <em>Alright. Not sure how well use it, but its another step.</em>


    The whole process of learning from t had only taken a few minutes, but when T looked up, she found that shed traveled quite a ways.


    In fact, as she looked down the street before her, she saw an all too familiar sign, though it had likely been repainted or reced since shedst seen it.


    Karweil Alchemical Solutions


    <em>Rust.</em> T immediately turned and walked into the park that shed stopped beside. It was, in fact, the park that shed yed in often as a child.


    There was a mixture of open space and cultivated walking paths, and she chose thetter, hiding from the sign among the trees.


    Less than a minuteter, she found herself at another familiar spot.


    Here, a bench rested between two closely nted trees, not hidden from the path by any means, but tucked back and out of easy view until she was right beside it.


    The trees were evergreen, so the screen existed even in winter.


    <em>This was on my path home from school. I used to sit here when I didnt want to go home yet.</em>


    t didnt respond.


    T brushed off the light dusting of snow, then slowly sat, feeling a whirlwind of emotions wash over her at the familiar surroundings.


    Shed cried on this bench uncounted times, afraid to go home to her fathers quiet rage, afraid to abandon her family to the same.


    Every day throughout that time, shed stopped here, contemting running away.


    Every day, shed chosen to do the right thing and go home.


    Herst day in this city, shed stopped here again.


    By that point, it had been months since her father had been magically cured of the physiological portions of his addiction, and he was still in process with a counselor for the psychological parts.


    Things had been looking better, despite her lingering resentment for the years of pain hed put the family through with his addiction.


    But that day, the Mages hade, pulling her out of ss.


    She was special. She could learn magic. She could have a better life and lift the burden of debt from her family.


    She didnt remember all the thoughts and emotions that had run rampant through her mind, but she did remember agreeing.


    Then, shede here.


    T had sat on this exact bench as night had fallen, trying to figure out a way to tell her family that she was leaving, all while staring at her parents signatures on the contract that would take her away.


    Theyd already known that she was leaving.


    What was worse, the dates next to the signatures were more than a week old.


    They hadnt told her this wasing.


    They hadnt talked to her.


    True, shed avoided them whenever possible, but not entirely.


    -<em>Is it possible that it was as hard for them as for you?-</em>


    <em>Ill never know, will I? They didnt even try.</em>


    That day, so long ago, T had chosen differently than every time before.


    She hadnt gone home.


    Instead, shed simply walked back past the school and to the teleportation tower. She showed them her eptance letter and the signed contract, and shed been transported away.


    Of course, they took the contract first. It would have been obliterated by the teleportation otherwise.


    <em>They took my school bag, too, now that I think about it. They said I should have a clean start.</em> She smiled ruefully. <em>Easier than exining to a twelve-year-old that anything she tried to take would be obliterated.</em>


    She remembered them asking after her family. Shed lied, saying that shed already said her goodbyes.


    The fully endorsed contract was enough after that.


    <em>Enough to leave my family behind, forever.</em> At least shed thought it would be forever, but now she was back.


    She took a deep breath, checked on Terry, and let her mind continue to wander. As she considered it, this was about the time of day shed usuallye through here.


    <em>There should be a flood of school kidsing by, soon.</em>


    Sure enough, as T sat there for the next hour eating jerky and drinking ending-berry juice, kids started toe by in twos and threes, and sometimes in muchrger groups than that.


    Some jumped at the sight of her. Most ignored her, but some politely greeted her as they passed, not as a Mage, but just as an adult in their neighborhood. <em>Though, now that I think about it, some arent too much younger than me.</em>


    Schooling was avable up through the teenage years, even if most chose a profession, and finished their education by learning a trade or craft.


    She tried not to stare, but she did get a reasonably good look at all who passed her. She didnt recognize any of those who passed, not that shed expected that she would.


    <em>Well, this is one of the routes to my familys shop. Its not unreasonable to expect one of my siblings to havee this way.</em>


    -<em>Did you want that?-</em>


    She didnt know.


    She checked on Terry again, and found him quite content. She did her best to will some jerky near the sleeping terror bird, but she had no idea if it did anything. <em>Ill have to ask himter.</em>


    The park had mostly cleared within Ts range of hearing, and the sun had fully set, when a single set of boots crunched down the path in her direction.


    Magicalmps along the path were providing plenty of light, despite the early winter darkness, so T didnt feel like she was lurking, at least not too much.


    The approaching steps had nothing to set them apart from the myriad others that hade before, but the sound drew her attention for some reason, nheless.


    They were nearly to her when T heard othersing up behind the first set. Still, those following were at least a couple of minutes out.


    A shrouded form rounded the path and came into view, and T recognized him, instantly, though hed grown up a lot in nearly a decade.


    He took a few more steps before his gaze drifted over to her, and he froze in his tracks, one foot having just set down on the slushy path.


    He wore a hat and a heavy coat above his boots, and his gloved hands were tucked into his pockets against the cold.


    Overall, the clothes of his that she could see were clean and nicely kept, but obviously hand-me-downs by their level of wear and the fact that they didnt fit <em>quite</em> right. His eyes were red around the outside as if hed been crying, though there were no tears on his cheeks at the moment. There <em>was</em> some dried snot on his sleeves where hed seemingly wiped his nose recently.


    His center zed to her mage-sight, showing an unusually high through-put for an uninscribed gate. That wasnt unheard of. Humanity varied across all its inborn traits, but it was still notable.


    His eyes widened almostically, and he whispered. What? Areare you real?


    T found herself smiling slightly, despite the massive wave of nervousness and the sudden, slight watering of her own eyes. Hey, Nc. Its been a while.


    His hesitation broke, and he ran thest few steps to her, throwing himself into her arms as his tears started up again.


    T caught him easily, despite her surprise. He was almost as tall as she was, but his weight was nothing to her heavy, strengthened body. He curled in on himself in her arms, pressing his face into her chest as he wept, his whole body shaking with each sob.


    Hey, hey. Whats going on? Are you okay? She gently rubbed his back, remembering the little boy who would wake her up whenever he had nightmares.


    The steps that had been following behind were getting closer, and T started hearing snatches of softly spoken words.


    -came this way, right?


    -always-


    -better than us--rust me if he actually has a Mage sister.


    <em>No this cant be for real. Are they following him?</em>


    T leaned close and whispered loud enough that she thought Nc could hear her. Hey. Hey, Nc. Im sorry to press, but are you being followed?


    His head jerked up. What? No! He hesitated. I mean They havent followed me home before, at least not that Ive known. There was the tinge of fear in his eyes. A bunch of kids were dropped from pre-magic, today. Apparently, they dont have the proper mindset or whatever. If those following are who I think, their younger siblings were among those dropped. I wasnt. They were He nced at her, cleared his throat and seemed to amend what hed been going to say. They were upset.


    They were rusting livid, eh? She cocked a half-smile at him.


    Ncs eyes widened, but then he nodded. Are you really here? Am I dreaming again?


    T felt something break within her, and she squeezed him close once again. Yeah, Im here, my little titan.


    He let out one weak chuckle that had the tinge of tears. No ones called me that since you left. He pulled back, his face scrunched; the mix of emotions ying across his features were easy to read, even for T. He didnt know how to feel. He felt like he should be mad at her, but he was happy to have her here, and he was scared of the boys who were following him.


    There was a lot more, too, but those were the things that seemed obvious to her. T frowned in anger. <em>No one messes with my titan.</em>


    The boys were getting close. <em>How old are they?</em> Have they picked on you before?


    Nc shrugged, then nodded.


    So, just an esction, then.


    -<em>I know you know this, but please dont kill random teenagers, alright?-</em>


    <em>Im a bit insulted that you felt the need to remind me, but sure, Ill be reasonable.</em>


    I dont know why they dropped students today, except that its the end of the week. His voice was small, almost pleading.


    <em>Its the end of the week?</em> She checked and just like the time, she was able to subconsciously know what day it was. <em>Huh. Ive really fallen out of caring what day it is.</em>


    <em>-Thats because you dont rest. Every day is the same for you. Its not healthy.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, youve said.</em>


    T turned her attention back to her brother, quickly wiping some of the tears off of his cheeks with her thumbs. Pull yourself together, and sit beside me. Theyre almost here.


    Nc obeyed, shifting to sit beside her on the bench. He seemed like he wanted to ask her something, likely what was going to happen, but he kept silent and waited.


    As she considered it, T realized that the boys wouldnt have caught up to Nc before he reached his home, had he not stopped to talk with her. <em>Unless they started running for some reason, which seems unlikely.</em>


    So, this might have happened before and Nc just didnt realize. <em>Is that because the boys are hesitant? Or just bad nners?</em>


    A group of six older boys rounded the path and came into view.


    By now, T realized just how horrible a judge of ages she was, but if she had to guess, shed say that they were all in theirte teens, likely ranging from fifteen to seven or eighteen. <em>Huh, almost my age, then.</em>


    The group shuffled to a stop as they saw T and Nc sitting on the bench.


    She heard them exchange a few whispers, then one of the boys, neither thergest nor the smallest, stepped forward and spoke a bit hesitantly, We have business with Nc.


    T stood, finding herself shorter than most of the boys before her. <em>Should have stayed sitting down </em>So do I. Youll have to find someone else to bully.


    That sent a murmur through the group. The one whod spoken before shook his head. No bullying. He insulted our families, and he needs to be reminded of the wisdom in respect.


    T cocked an eyebrow and looked back to her brother who was doing his best not to hunker down on the bench.


    Nc? Is that true?


    He made an almost whining sound in his throat before answering. I simply pointed out that none of their families had ever produced Mages, while mine had. His eyes flicked to her quickly, then away once more.


    The representative of the groupughed. See? He admits it. His sister up and vanished, so the family ims shes a Mage. They try to say that they''re better than us. You wouldnt get in the way of a lesson in wisdom and respect, would you? His tone conveyed utter confidence in the fact that shed agree with him. To his mind, it was a forgone conclusion. Those who disrespected the families of others needed to be taught a lesson.


    T sighed. There seems to be a misunderstanding, here.


    The boys smile faltered but didnt start to fade until she continued.


    It is not a shame tock a Mage in your family. It just is. His pointing out the fact can hardly be called an insult.


    Respectfully, I disagree. Hes an uppity bit of g and needs to be taught his ce. The joviality in the teens tone was utterly gone, now.


    She sighed again. <em>Can I?</em> She made her idea clear within her mind.


    -<em>I dont see a downside.-</em>


    Unfortunately, I cant allow that. T forcibly suppressed her illusion on her hand as she raised it up before her, causing her skin to darken. Her mesh of power zed forth, obviously glowing without throwing any light. The interweaving, interlocking manifested spell-forms carved from light into reality itself were, without a doubt, magical. You see, Im his Mage sister.


    The group of boys stumbled backwards disjointedly, several bowing or sping hands on reflex.


    T saw Ncs eyes widen once more, out of the corner of her vision.


    -<em>Oh, yeah. Thats a downside.-</em>


    The spokes-boy stumbled over his own tongue a few times before getting out. Our apologies, Mistress! No offense intended. Then, the whole group turned tail and departed, barely keeping from running in their haste to be elsewhere.


    T allowed her illusion to snap back into ce over her hand as she turned to Nc. So, now thats sorted.


    Nc was staring at her, open mouthed.


    What? Youve never seen a Mage before? <em>y it cool, T. Maybe, he doesnt know any better?</em>


    <em>-Um Hes clearly not an idiot, T.-</em>


    He closed his mouth, visibly swallowing before he responded. Your hand didnt look like any part of any Mage Ive ever seen before.


    She snorted augh. And youve seen many parts of many Mages, have you?


    He looked down and rocked side to side on his feet. You know what I mean.


    She scratched an eyebrow. Yeah, well, I am a bit unusual, Ill grant you that.


    It was his turn to chuckle, though it came out with a tinge of nervousness. Yeah, that was pretty scaryI bet some of them even peed themselves. He was clearly still uncertain of her, though the reasoning behind it had changed.


    She shook her head. No. Thats a hard smell to miss. They kept theirposure at least in that regard.


    Nc looked at her with obvious skepticism but didnt argue. Sowhat now? Are you here to eat us? Or will you leave again, and I wont see you until I graduate from the Academy? Is this some sort of sick reward for making it this far in pre-magic?


    T winced. No I didnt actually know you were in that ss. Youre twelve, right?


    Eleven, he corrected. Wont be twelve and old enough for the Academy for another three months.


    <em>Oh Right. </em>Thats right. I remember celebrating your birthday mid-winter.


    Really? I barely do. I was four when you left. His irritation seemed to be rising once more, helping to cover over his trepidation. The usation was clear, and her brothers temperament towards her was cooling along with the night air. Im freezing and want to get out of the cold. Do mom and dad know youre here?


    She shook her head, feeling a bit ashamed of the fact.


    Are you going to see them?


    T hesitated, then nodded. I just didnt really know how to go about it.


    Nc grunted, looking her up and down. You promise you arent some crazy beast,e to devour us all?


    Would you believe me if I said No?


    Of course. Everyone knows that the Arcane King and his ilk cant lie.


    T blinked at that. <em>Well, thats just not urate.</em> Still, she was hardly going to help the situation by convincing her brother otherwise. I am T, your sister. Im not here to hurt or devour anyone.


    He narrowed his eyes at her, seeming to consider. Finally, he let out a long winded sigh. Come on, then. Lets go. He held out his hand towards her, inviting her to take it.


    She did, feeling silly and awkward even as she did so.


    Lets go home. It seems like its going to be an interesting night.

 Chapter 194: I’ll Be Fine

    Chapter 194: I¡¯ll Be Fine


    T looked up as they came out from among the trees in the park, noticing what should have been obvious from outside the city. <em>Oh, yeah. There are no mountains to the north of here. It really changes the whole feel of the ce. Not to mention the city as a whole is on more level ground.</em>


    <em>-Really, T? Thats what youre focusing on?-</em>


    T lowered her gaze, taking in the long, residential street.


    There were only a few shops that broke up the park-side street: a restaurant, what appeared to be an odds-and-ends type store, and her familys alchemy shop.


    As they drew closer, Nc still holding her hand, T saw that the family store had expanded since shed been there, seeming to have taken over the homes to the left and right of it.


    In this neighborhood, the homes were built close together with no yard in front, but T knew there to be a yard in back.


    She considered for a moment, before realizing that she couldnt remember who used to live next to her familys shop. <em>Huh. Memorys an odd thing.</em>


    <em>-Focus, T.-</em>


    She stopped in the street, examining the changes, and marveling at howrge the store was. Its huge. She spoke almost to herself.


    Nc responded with pride evident in his voice. Yeah, the family serves the alchemy needs of the whole subdistrict. Weve bought out the otherpetitors, and we often have peopleing from further than that because we do it better, cheaper, or both. He grinned widely. We even have a Healer based out of the left side, there.


    T snapped her focus to her brother. What? Then, she looked up at the sign, seeing that, indeed, there was a smaller sign hanging below, advertising the services of a healer.


    Nc simply continued his exhortations. Yeah, anything we cant cure, or anything that might be serious, the healer takes care of. Hes an older Mage, I guess hes mostly retired, but he still seems to enjoy the work.


    <em>Ahh, not an Archon, then.</em> She hesitated at that. <em>Well, what is older to an eleven-year-old? He might be an Archon, just taking a few years to enjoy the quiet life.</em>


    We have solid contracts with the growplex, and Latna is negotiating for the contract to provide emergency aid in the event of a crisis or emergency. Its practically all she ever talks about. Apparently, ites with a high requirement for the storage of supplies, but it pays well, just to have a bitrger warehouse that we rotate our ingredients through. He shook his head, clearly baffled by the ways of adults.


    <em>Thats actually pretty clever. Trying to centralize all emergency supplies for the city could go horribly wrong.</em> She almost snorted augh. <em>Not to mention the expense of the warehouse, and the manpower to rotate ingredients and other items to prevent spoge.</em>


    Then, what Nc said settled in. SoLatna is working in the shop?


    Mmhmm. We all do, but she and Caln apprenticed with dad. They pulled extra shifts, in addition to studying and jumping through all the hoops, so theyre actually fully registered Alchemists, too, in way less time than it usually takes. He was beaming again. We have three full Alchemists working together. The only shop like it in the city.


    <em>With a Healer, too? I can believe its the only one like it.</em> Well, honestly she couldnt believe it was real, not really. <em>Hes working with a Mage?</em>


    -<em>People change, T. He was trying to do just that before you left, and weve been gone a long time.-</em>


    Theyd been standing across the street from the shop for nearly a minute by that point. So, Nc tugged on her hand. Come on. Im cold, remember?


    The two walked forward, and T felt herself in utter turmoil. She was angry; she felt guilty; she felt hurt. Each step, a different emotion reigned supreme.


    Her brother pushed the door open, letting out a wave of warmth and magical light. <em>Has absolutely everything changed?</em>


    As the door swung open, a cheery voice greeted them. Hello, wee to Karweil Alchemical Solutions. How can I- Oh, Nc, its you. Thete-teenager slouched just a little out of her precisely straight posture of a moment before, her politic smile shifting to one of familial affection. Youre a bitte. Who didyou


    Latna locked eyes with T, and the girl went mute.


    Latna was obviously Ts sister, a close mirror in every regard, physically speaking, but her features were a bit sharper than Ts, lending her both a tad more beauty and a look of ready judgment. Additionally, her eyes were a deep, startling violet.


    T cleared her throat. Hello, Latna.


    Latna didnt respond, instead just staring at T, shocked uncertainty ying across her features.


    Nc called towards the back of the store. Im home, and I have a guest with me.


    That broke Ts attention, causing her to look around.


    The shop was immactely clean and well decorated. There were a few items on shelves, which were clearly the most requested items, but even they looked more like disy pieces than tightly packed inventory.


    From her own time working in the shop, T knew that most Alchemy concoctions were best when used right after they were created.


    The front area wasnt massive, but it felt roomy with a twelve-foot ceiling and the walls near that ceiling beingposedpletely of windows all the way around.


    A door to the left stood ajar, the Healers crest embossed across the upper panel.


    Through that door, an older voice floated. Did I hear Nc?


    You did, Master Leighis.


    Thats wonderful! How did today go? You said they were going to be dropping some kids from pre-magic, today. You werent one of them, I hope? Did you bring home one of the other students? Footsteps sounded as the man talked, and then the door swung open.


    As T had halfway expected, the man was in his early thirties, at least by the look of him. That meant he could be thirty, or three thousand, for all T knew.


    Oh! Pardon me, miss. Leighis gave a nod of acknowledgement to T.


    Ts mage-sight immediately detected his nature as a Material Guide, amon quadrant for Healers. His aura was that of a Bound with no movement on the road toward Fused that she could detect. <em>So probably younger than fifty, but not by much if hes followed the standard paths.</em> Good Master. She gave a shallow nod of her head.


    A frown flickered across his face, and T saw power flow through the mans mage-sight scripts. Leighiss eyes widened as he saw her with that sense, then he frowned, clearly not understanding what he was seeing.


    <em>Hell see that I am Bound and Fusing, but nothing else, at least not really. </em>His mage-sight scripts didnt seem to have the delicacy to be able to determine the qualities of her magic just by examining her aura, let alone the facsimile generated by her through-spike. I am T. She didnt whisper, but she did pitch her voice so it wouldnt carry out of the room.


    Leighis bowed a bit deeper than he had the first time. Mistress T. To what do we owe the pleasure of this visit? The man was clearly hesitant about something, and his eyes flicked to Latna. Are you alright, Latna? Is young Nc in some sort of trouble?


    Nc turned and waved the Mage down. No, no, Master Leighis. This is my eldest sister.


    The Archons eyes widened again in surprise and understanding. Oh. He didnt seem to be able to bring anything else forward to say.


    Latna was still staring at T in shocked silence.


    A voice floated from the back. Nc! What I have told you about bringing home guests without warning? It was unmistakably that of Ts mother.


    Nc rolled his eyes and called back. Nothing! Ive never done it before. Youre thinking of Miro.


    Hey! Miros response resounded from a simr ce to their mothers. I havent done that in a long time.


    You brought home six friends <em>yesterday!</em> Nc shot back. But thats not important. Come see who it is!


    That started a tter of sound from the back, moving their way with chaotic inevitability.


    T was feeling overwhelmed. The voices were so familiar, but so different than she felt they should be. The faces shed seen already were filling in the gaps in her memory as she saw each one, and she felt her cycle of emotions be a tumbling turmoil.


    Then, Ts father spoke, calling from what T presumed was a workshop off to the right. Nc, weve been waiting for you for supper. You really shouldnt worry us like that.


    At the sound of her fathers voice, T felt the turmoil blow away, and all her emotions crystalize down into one: Raw, primal anger. In that instant, her soul, spirit, and physical desires were in perfect alignment.


    Even so, she did not give in to her rageful desire to kick down the partially open door and beat the man to death. Just because she wanted to do something, didnt mean she would want to have done it, or that shed be d that shed done it, once it was over.


    t gasped. <em>-Oh. Oh!- </em>Still, the alternate interface held back frommenting further.


    T ignored t, her attention moving inexorably towards her father.


    This was the man who had discarded her, doing his part to sign her life away without even bothering to talk with her.


    That doorway swung open as T turned to face it, and her father stepped out, freezing in his tracks as he saw her.


    His eyes widened in obvious recognition as well asplete and utter surprise.


    At the same time, T heard a passel of people pour into the room, joining Latna behind the counter.


    There were exmations along with questioning words as the eldest in the group seemingly recognized T, while the youngest obviously had no idea.


    She didnt turn away, afraid that if she took her eyes from her father, the rage would dete, and shed break down crying.


    <em>Not here. Not now.</em>


    His words came out as a whisper. T. Youreyoure alive. He shook his head. Of course, you are. They swore that you were, but still His eyes were watering, and his hands were trembling.


    Its Mistress T. <em>You</em> ensured that. Her tone was biting, and her words sounded petty, even to her own ears. Still, she didnt look away.


    Thus, she saw the flickers of anger across his features, followed closely by deep, soul-level defeat. His head dipped ever so slightly in resignation, not rising again. Yes, Mistress T. Your words are true.


    There was a cacophony of sounds, fragmentaryments, and shushes from behind the counter.


    T stood straighter, anger bubbling up inside. She clenched her teeth, feeling an ending-seed between them about to shatter, and froze on the spot.


    <em>What am I doing?</em> She used her tongue to push the seed back into her cheek. <em>Why didnt I get rid of that beforeing here?</em>


    She almost staggered at the bacsh of emotions. She turned. Im sorry, Nc. IllI cant do this right now. Ill be back, tomorrow. <em>Get out, get away. I dont have toe back if I dont want to.</em>


    She turned and took two steps before her father moved.


    Mistress T, wait.


    She stopped, and he rushed past behind her. She could hear in his tone and the urgency of his steps that somehow, he could tell that she didnt know if shed actually be back.


    She didnt turn as he dug behind the counter, pulling out something that clinked in his hands.


    <em>No.</em>


    He walked over, stopping a step or two behind her. It is nothing to the debt you bear because of usbecause of me, but it is what we could save, while you were gone.


    Unwillingly, T turned around, her eyes immediately locking onto the pouch resting on her fathers extended palm.


    We havent been starving by any means. He chuckled self-deprecatingly. But we have done our best to be wise with our money, and weve worked together to put this aside. His words had a nned, even rehearsed quality to them.


    Her eyes lifted, and she saw those behind the counter, her family, nodding affirmatively.


    Please, if you must go now, please take this with you.


    T hesitantly took the pouch and opened it, looking inside.


    Her enhanced perception, and t, helped her quickly count the meager coins within.


    <em>Twelve gold, four silver, and a smattering of copper.</em>


    In truth, that was a monstrous sum to a mundane family. <em>Rust, three gold could have satisfied my increased appetite for a year up until recently, while eating exclusively at restaurants.</em>


    Even if her visit with Viggo and  hadnt made it clear, this certainly would have. The fact that shed made this much gold for solely her role as a Dimensional Mage, on herst trip, highlighted just how far shed moved up the economicdder.


    -<em>T.-</em>


    <em>I cant. Not now. No.</em> She ripped Kit off her pouch and threw it at the wall beside the entrance.


    Kit stuck, bing a door instantly, even as T pushed it open and mmed it behind her, shutting out the gasps of astonishment from those shed left behind.


    T stood just inside her private dimensional space, panting, tears running down her cheeks.


    <em>Well, rust.</em>


    Terry lifted his head from his spot in the corner and trilled inquisitively.


    Its fine, Terry. Theres nothing that you can do.


    He flickered to her shoulder and head-butted her cheek, hard.


    No, Im not lying Terry. Ill be fine.


    He trilled and head-butted her again, then flickered back to his corner. She easily understood his meaning: Fine, but if you need me, Im here.


    Did you get any jerky?


    He opened one eye, then his mouth.


    She snorted and grabbed some jerky out of the air, tossing it to him.


    He happily snapped it up.


    She then grabbed up some rags and wiped her face, blowing her nose to clear it.


    -<em>T. Youre not focusing on the issue at hand.-</em>


    T ignored that. <em>What were you gasping about, earlier?</em>


    t sighed, but then got excited. -<em>When you figured out what you wanted: our soul, spirit, and body came into harmony like never before.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, I thought I felt something like that. What of it?</em>


    <em>-Fusing.-</em>


    Ts eyes widened.


    -<em>Fusing became trivially easy. Were almost done.- </em>t was ecstatic.


    <em>Why only almost?</em>


    <em>-because you are in turmoil again.-</em>


    T growled. <em>Lovely.</em>


    Shed only been in Kit for about thirty seconds, but she was already beginning to realize just how much like a teenager storming off to their room shed just acted.


    <em>And I have to exit back into the family shop</em> She clearly hadnt thought her actions through.


    <em>-So, for the sake of Fusing, are you willing to go back out?-</em>


    <em>And say what, t?</em>


    <em>-I dont know, and even if I did, youd never do it just because I said to.-</em>


    Trantion: She knew exactly what T should say but also knew that T would fight her on it, at least without some preliminary prodding.


    -<em>Hey, you areing to understand me better.-</em>


    <em>Were the same person, t. All I have to do is think about what I would do, were our positions reversed.</em> She hesitated, then amended. <em>I still think youre a jerk some of the time.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, well. Were no peach.-</em>


    <em>So? What should I say?</em>


    Less than a minute after shed mmed the door, T stepped back out, seeming far moreposed outwardly, while still feeling in turmoil, internally.


    A din of conversation cut off instantly as she opened the door, and all eyes turned to her.


    She pulled Kit closed behind her and lifted the pouch from the wall, recing it on her belt.


    T closed her eyes and took a deep breath, letting it out slowly into the awkward silence.


    I apologize for that reaction. It was childish. She still hadnt opened her eyes. She didnt want to see her family, while she said what she needed to say. Father, Mother, I am livid beyond words at what you two did, and that you did not even talk with me about it. The rest of youI apologize for vanishing without even saying goodbye. I apologize for ignoring all attempts to contact me. I do love you, and I miss you terribly.


    Her eyes opened, and she found and locked onto her mother and father who were standing together to one side.


    I dont know that I will ever forgive you. That may be a w within me, but it hardly matters. There is no trust between us. There is no obligation. Only time will tell if there will ever be a rtionship again. Right now? There is none.


    She hefted the pouch of coins, finally allowing her eyes to take in all of her siblings. There was only one missing that she remembered, Caln, and there were two that she didnt recognize at all, their age seeming to indicate that theyd been born after she left. The youngest looked barely older than three, as she was held by one of her older siblings. <em>Illie, I think? Ncs twin.</em> If not, it was Alva. The girls looked very simr after so long an absence.


    Leighis seemed to have excused himself from the room in the short time that she was gone. <em>Wise and kind of him.</em>


    T found Latna, central among the siblings. Here.


    She tossed the coin-pouch to the young woman.


    If youre willing, Ive an idea on how you can use that to earn quite a bit and help all our siblings have a better life. If you arent willing T shrugged. I cant make you. She still didnt see Caln, or shed offer him the same, directly. Please extend the offer to Caln as well.


    Latna finally seemed to have gotten over her shocked silence. What does that even mean? Are you going to be talking to us, now? Weve all tried to contact you, and youve never responded.


    T nodded. In that, I failed. She felt that failure as she looked at the veritable strangers before her. I will read any letter sent my way and respond when I can. I am often away from cities, so it might take a while asionally, but I will respond. She closed her eyes, scratching at her temple and trying to hold back tears of frustration, of nervousness, of anger. I need to go, now. I She swallowed. Im not in a good ce.


    She red at their parents, briefly, then calmed her rage once more. Neither tried to speak or interject.


    Ill be back, tomorrow, in thete morning, and Im happy to talk to any of <em>you</em>, if anyone is interested. She gestured towards the siblings, specifically excluding her parents.


    Nc nodded. Thank you, T.


    T felt a small smile tug at the side of her lips, even as tears broke free, despite her best efforts. See you tomorrow, titan.


    He grinned back at her, unashamedly. Oh, I have so many questions.


    Well, write them down. Well talk, tomorrow.


    With that, she turned and strode from the shop, leaving her family behind once again.


    This time, however, it was only for a single night.

 Chapter 195: A Tea House

    Chapter 195: A Tea House


    T left her familys shop behind with quick steps, mixed feelingsing back to gue her.


    She felt tremendous guilt for having cut off contact with her siblings. <em>There was at least one that I didnt even know I had.</em>


    She also obviously felt righteous anger at her parents for their arrogant dismissal of her potential thoughts, so long ago. They hadnt even bothered to hear them.


    -<em>What would you have done, if they came to you?-</em>


    T had given it a lot of thought. <em>I cant know for certain, but I think I would have said Yes.</em>


    -<em>And that would have made it alright?-</em>


    <em>It would have made it better.</em>


    t didnt have a response to that.


    Ts thoughts returned to her siblings. She hadnt lied to them. She would be back the next day, after her breakfast with Mistress Odera.


    For some reason, that thought keyed off her mind on food in a direction she hadnt contemted before, and she smacked herself in the face. <em>Im an idiot.</em>


    <em>-No, youre not. Thats disgusting. No one should ever have that idea.-</em>


    <em>But it would work.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, at least for the calories. Nutritionally, wed need to supplement it. Its still gross, though.-</em>


    Oil, specifically vegetable oils, were basically the most calorie dense consumable substance humanity knew of. <em>Well, that andrd.</em>


    <em>-You arent seriously considering buying a gallon of oil and straight up drinking itare you?-</em> t obviously knew the answer, but she just as obviously didnt like it and was hoping for a different one.


    T grimaced, even as she kept walking. <em>Its worth a test. If it works, that could virtually be the same as a fabled health potion for me.</em>


    t groused. -<em>You arent wrong, but its still disgusting-</em>


    <em>Its not like youre going to taste it.</em>


    <em>-Are you kidding me? Ill have the memory of the taste </em>forever.<em> Who cares if I dont actually taste it, directly.-</em>


    <em>Could we numb my tongue somehow? So that I could just chug it?</em>


    <em>-Not easily? It would take freeform maniption of your senses, which could go horribly wrong. Not worth it, if you ask me. As to the oil, for bnce, at least at the macro-nutrient level, youre going to need a LOT of meat and whole grain bread.-</em>


    <em>Thats fair enough. But well test just the oil, at least at first.</em>


    In the end, t agreed that it was worth a try, as it might just save their life at some point, if it worked.


    Thus, as they headed towards the work-yard, they kept an eye out for <em>There.</em>


    A little all-night grocer was open in one of the more affluent neighborhoods that they were passing through.


    T was able to buy a gallon of olive oil, two massive loaves of bread, and two roasted chickens for two silver and thirty-two copper.


    T was utterly floored by how cheap it was, even though she suspected that she was paying a bit more than was standard, to cover the cost of the convenience of the all-night grocer.


    She bid the attendant good-night and continued on her way towards the work-yard.


    <em>Ready?</em>


    <em>-No-</em>


    <em>Here goes!</em> T pulled the cork and took a long swig from the bottle of oil before she could stop herself.


    She gagged and retched, but power spiraled through her anti-vomit inscriptions, and her stomach settled.


    <em>Oh, yeah, I dont think about those very often.</em>


    t sent immense displeasure.


    A weirdly slick, greasy feeling coated the inside of her mouth and throat. Oddly, T suddenly had the sensation that she could <em>feel</em> with her teeth, and they were disgusted at what was coating them.


    On a whim, T cracked the seed in her mouth, and felt the power of dissolution blossom between her teeth, breaking the oil down into its constituent parts. She breathed in to at least clear her upper throat, then exhaled the mass of dissolved oil and power out, into a snow-bank, a good portion of which puffed into vapor.


    <em>Hah, I knew that would work.</em>


    <em>-I thought we agreed not to use those for oral hygiene.-</em>


    <em>Did you want that to linger?</em>


    <em>-fine.-</em>


    <em>So? I can feel it being processed by the flows of power, but I think you have a finer view of the result.</em>


    t was hesitant for a long time. -<em>It will work in a pinch.-</em>


    T didnt gloat, in fact she felt a bit of disgust. <em>I sort of wish it hadnt, but I am d to know, in a pinch.</em>


    t was silent for a while.


    T was almost to the work yard that held her cargo-wagon when t broke her silence.


    -<em>T?-</em>


    <em>Yes?</em>


    <em>-If that foul liquid werebined, somehow, with scripts to speed absorption into the body, distribution of the calories where they were needed, and a targeted regeneration-</em>


    T stopped dead in the quiet city streets. <em>t, thats a regeneration potion.</em>


    <em>-I know, right?-</em> t was ecstatic. <em>-It still probably wouldnt work. Whos going to drink two cups of olive oil? And, even if they did that might not even be sufficient to heal a given injury.-</em>


    <em>But it is an interesting idea. How would the spell-forms be incorporated into the liquid?</em>


    <em>-The ending seeds.-</em>


    <em>We arent putting ending-seeds in a healing potion.</em>


    <em>-No, no. The seeds have stored magic that is triggered by things like digestion. The mechanism has to be reproducible.-</em>


    It was an interesting thought. Probably not unique but interesting. <em>We should talk to Mistress Odera about it over breakfast.</em>


    * * *


    T sat cross legged on her floor within Kit.


    Her eyes were closed, her morning routine all but done.


    Around her orbited her Archon stars, three encased in tungsten.


    She now had eight of the small spell-forms, each as small and weak as she could make them, each in a single drop of blood.


    She practiced mirroring various senses to the stars as they orbited.


    It was disorienting, having her vision spin around herself, but she was getting greater control of it. So, instead of sweeping around in a circle, she could focus it on one ce, the perspective simply moving as if she were doing a box-step.


    She had a use for the sweeping perspective, but not as she was now.


    Her greatest discovery hade only a day or two before.


    She took a slow breath and gilded herself.


    She added a second perspective mirroring, allowing it to sweep around her without interference, then she ignored it. <em>Its like my nose. I can easily see it, but I just dont.</em>


    t helped enhance the desired effect, while the alternate interface soaked in the inputs.


    t was much better at ignoring the negative sides of the sweeping perspective.


    <em>-Alright. Im ready.-</em>


    T took another deep breath, and selected a bloodstar opposite the one already mirroring her senses for t.


    Then, with an application of will and a flexing of her soul, T mirrored her perspective onto that star as well.


    She was immediately overwhelmed, unable to ignore so much information.


    Her concentration broke, as did the mirroring.


    T cursed, flopping back.


    <em>-One perspective is already amazing.-</em>


    <em>But there are gaps in what we can see.</em>


    <em>-True enough. It seemed easier that time.-</em>


    <em>It definitely was. I think that being so close to fully Fused helped immensely.</em>


    <em>-I agree.-</em>


    There was a bit of frustration there. They were <em>so close.</em>


    <em>-This will likely be possible once we cross that hurdle.-</em>


    <em>Thats probably true.</em>


    -<em>Well, it is about time to leave to have breakfast with Mistress Odera. Then, we can see the family. That seemed to help with our inner turmoil.-</em>


    <em>True enough.</em>


    T sat up, looking to Terry in the corner. You want toe with me?


    He lifted his head, ncing towards the door. With a slight shudder and shake of his whole body, he trilled a decidedly negating series of notes.


    Suit yourself. Ill check on you every once in a while, to see if you want out.


    He squawked once andid his head down.


    She chuckled, tossing him a huge hunk of jerky, which disappeared halfway to him.


    <em>All right. Lets see what Mistress Odera thinks of our idea.</em>


    * * *


    T sat patiently eating, while Mistress Odera regarded her with increasing skepticism.


    Thats a fairly ludicrous idea.


    T shrugged. But it might work.


    No. At best youd give a slight boost to healing, and that is even if the patient could keep the concoction down.


    She opened her mouth to respond, but Mistress Odera held up one hand.


    Yes, you could add further forms to suppress nausea, but to what end? The older woman took a sip of her tea, then shook her head with a sigh. It is a clever idea, Ill grant you that, but there is a fatal w.


    Oh? T frowned. <em>What did we miss?</em>


    Either you use a regenerative inscription, and the olive oil wont contain nearly enough to do what is needed, thus leaving the user weakened, at best. Or, you use a healing inscription, in which case the ingestion and the olive oil are both unnecessary.


    T nodded absently. And the second isnt a good option, because people are unique, and a generic healing spell-form could easily do more harm than good.


    Precisely.


    But, wouldnt a withering or weakening be better than bleeding out?


    In the short-term, yes. Thats why guardsmen, or soldiers, often carry emergency items for such a purpose, but there is only a small segment of potential wounds that they are useful for. Too free of use can cause more death than the original injuries, and even proper use can lead to long-term side effects to the patients health. So, if there are better options avable, they should always be used first.


    T grunted. Fair, I suppose.


    The topic shifted, and T reluctantly brought up her family.


    Mistress Odera was proud of her for facing them and apuded her n to go talk with any who wished after breakfast.


    T didnt correct her to ensure that the woman knew that her parents werent included in that invitation. <em>I was clear enough.</em>


    She was sure of that. No need to rify at all.


    They briefly touched on Ts training before T finished practically licking her te clean and bid her overseer a good day.


    * * *


    As T drew closer to her childhood street, she felt a growing anxiety. There had been ate-night snowfall, and the cool dusting felt good on her bare feet, but such couldnt keep her attention with the uing meeting on her mind.


    <em>What if no one wants to talk to me?</em>


    <em>-Nc will.-</em>


    <em>You dont think hell be convinced not to?</em>


    <em>-That doesnt make much senseright?-</em>


    <em>But what if?</em>


    t paused for a long moment as T kept walking. -<em>If no one is there, then we can leave and put them behind us forever.-</em>


    T breathed deeply, thinking on that worst case. <em>That helps, thank you.</em>


    <em>-Now, if they show up just to scream at you? Im not sure what well do.-</em>


    T felt her eye twitch. <em>Are you rusting kidding me?</em>


    <em>-What? If were looking for the worst-case scenario, it isnt no one showing up.-</em>


    She did not like that thought, but as she came around the corner, T saw that there was no one waiting outside the shop. <em>Well, thats that, then.</em>


    <em>-You didnt actually tell them to wait for you in any particr ce. You just said youd be back. Its cold. Theyre probably inside.-</em>


    As she closed the distance, the door opened and a small head poked out, looking the other way. The small, bundled head then turned, seeing T approaching. There were some people on the streets, but T knew she stood out, even if only because of herck of winter-wear.


    SHES HERE! The little voice called out.


    <em>I dont know who that is.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, we didnt ask.-</em>


    Before T covered thest hundred yards, people piled out of the door, and she pulled up short, shock making her steps hesitant. She did a quick count. <em>Fourteen.</em> Even the little three-year-old hade along.


    When T had left, shed had twelve siblings. <em>Now I have fourteen.</em>


    -<em>At least. Youre assuming that they all came.-</em>


    Even so, T felt her eyes start tearing up. <em>Oh,e on. This is ridiculous.</em>


    She gilded herself and walked forward, pulling a smile across her features. Good morning.


    A smattering of greetings tumbled over each other, causing the small crowd tough nervously.


    T stopped a few paces away from the huddled, winter-gear shrouded group. It was interesting seeing all of their breaths puffing out in steamy fog in different cadences and with different volumes.


    There was a moment of silence, as everyone waited for someone else to speak.


    T cleared her throat. So, is there anywhere we could go to talk? I dont know the area very well anymore. She awkwardly scratched the front of her own shoulder.


    Latna immediately nodded. Yeah, theres a tea house a couple of blocks from here. They should be willing to give us the use of a private sitting room, so long as we get a few drinks. The woman hefted the small pouch from the night before. We can afford at least that.


    T nodded. Lead the way.


    The trek started out with more awkward silence, but that was broken after barely a dozen paces by the second smallest sibling piping up with a question. Arent you cold?


    T looked down at the little boy who had sped up to walk beside her. Im not, no.


    He gave her a skeptical look. I have to wear my coat and boots, or Ill be cold. Mother says so.


    Thats true enough; its quite the chilly day.


    He looked down at her feet. You arent even wearing shoes.


    T looked down at her feet too as she walked down the street. She grinned as she saw the minimal, round impression in the snow around each one of her steps. Yeah, well, my feet dont get cold very easily. After a moments hesitation, she asked. Im sorry, but I dont know your name.


    Olen! He announced proudly. Im almost six.


    Well, its very nice to meet you, Olen.


    It is, isnt it. He grinned back.


    T found herself chuckling.


    Olen opened his mouth, likely to ask something else, when someone in the group walking right behind them spoke up. Speaking of your feet Why arent they sinking into the snow? Whats with the circles?


    T nced back, finding the speaker. If she had to guess, it was Alva, the youngest of the third set of twins. Well, Alva, I have inscriptions that distribute my weight across a wider surface area, on whatever I step on, so I have surer footing, and dont break anything I step on by ident.


    Another voice chimed in. What? Are you really heavy or something?


    That earned the older boy res from all his sisters, save T. T justughed. I actually am, Miro, yeah. <em>Older than Nc, younger than Caln, hes grown up so much. He was right around Olens age when I left.</em> Its a part of my Magic, actually. My body is enhanced and strengthened, and one result of that is that Im quite a bit heavier than normal.


    Miro looked around triumphantly,pletely uncowed by his sisters displeasure.


    Latna nced back, ensuring they were following as they continued to walk, taking her role as the leader seriously, and ensuring that they <em>all</em> made it to the tea-house.


    <em>I wonder how often shes had to fill that role for them, since I left.</em> The thought caused her feelings of sadness and guilt to spike.


    T saw Caln near the back, though he didnt say anything, or even give a motion of greeting. She would have to talk to the older two alone at some point. Shed actually been close to both of themonce.


    Whats it like being a Mage? It was the other of the younger girls. <em>Well, aside from the toddler.</em>


    Well, Nea, its wonderful in almost every way. I didnt really enjoy the Academy, but I did get to learn magic there. My work is dangerous at times, but its rewarding, and I got to pick what I wanted to do. She grinned. I still do get to choose, really.


    The little girl frowned. Then, why are you mad that youre a Mage?


    The older siblings made motions of shushing, but T shook her head. Its a fine question. She slowed down just a bit and the young girl sped up, so that T was walking beside Nea. T spoke so that everyone could hear her clearly. Im not mad that Im a Mage. I am angry that our parents sold me off without talking to me.


    Nea frowned. But you like being a Mage.


    T sighed. Would you like being married off to someone, without being asked?


    The girl straightened. Of course not!


    But what if you liked the man, and he was good to you, and you had a good life as a result?


    Nea hesitated. ThenI dont know?


    Exactly. T let out a long breath. I am angry at what our parents did, not how it turned out.


    That caused the group to fall into contemtive silence.


    Were here! Latna broke them out of their reverie.


    The group pushed through the door and into the warm interior of the tea-shop.


    The attendants seemed a bit overwhelmed by the sudden influx. The shop was by no means empty, but it was also nowhere near full.


    T spoke before anyone else could. Id like a private room that can fit all of us, please. Shed discussed this possibility with Mistress Odera and with t, earlier. Open a tab for us, and get any of us whatever they want. She pulled a gold coin from Kit and set it on the counter. Ill expect an ounting of the charges, as well as the change, when we leave.


    The womans eyes widened as she took the coin from the counter. We dont usually deal with goldMistress?


    T nodded. Feel free to test if it''s authentic. I imagine the manager on duty or owner will be grateful that you did. T cleared her throat, smiling a little self-conciously. But could we be directed to the room first?


    Certainly, Mistress. The woman bowed, indicating two servers who were standing nearby. Please take this party to the Falcons Nest. She looked towards T. It is at the top of the building, and our finest room.


    That will do nicely. Thank you. She turned back to her brothers and sisters and froze.


    All of the siblings were staring at her.


    What?


    Caln sighed from his ce at the back of the group. Thats a lot of money.


    Im aware. Ill be getting most of it back. I just didnt want them fighting us over the room.


    The young man shook his head. Whatever you say, Mistress.


    T swept her gaze over the others and saw more uncertainty than had been there before.


    <em>Great I did it again, didnt I?</em>


    -<em>So, it would seem. I think more subtlety would have been better. Less showy.-</em>


    <em>I wasnt trying to show off!</em>


    <em>-Yeah, but they dont know that.-</em>


    T did her best to keep from grinding her teeth.


    One of the attendants cleared his throat. This way, please?


    He led them up three flights of stairs and to a room that was little more than a roof held up by four posts. The entirety of the four walls between ceiling and floor were made of ss, giving a stunning view of the surrounding city and the countryside beyond.


    The siblings gasped, ooo-ing and ah-ing.


    The attendant directed them to sections of the floor that opened to allow them to store their coats and boots before they sat at the low tables, situated on thick rugs, surrounded by cushions.


    It wasnt a style of seating that T was used to, but shed seen it on asion.


    The other attendant passed menus to each of their group, and together, the two worked to answer questions and gather the orders.


    Thus, in less than five minutes, the siblings were left alone infort, their food and drink on the way.


    Most were looking out the windows, enjoying a new perspective on their home. Olen had been the first to spot their shop, and theydughed about how it looked from this vantage point.


    Unfortunately, the views only held their collective attention for so long, and soon enough, awkward silence fell yet again.


    So T swallowed. Do you all have more questions, or may I ask some of my own?

 Chapter 196: Exceptions Aside

    Chapter 196: Exceptions Aside


    T did her best to not fidget as she looked around at the crowd of siblings.


    She couldnt even properly enjoy the spectacr view of the city and surrounding ins that stretched out in every direction. Though, she could see hints of mountains to the east, running northward; the shadows of forests to the far south; and what was likely the sparkle of light off of the ocean to the north-west. <em>They really built the city on a nice rise, and this restaurant is in a great spot.</em>


    The views werent unobstructed, of course. Other multi-storied structures cut off parts of the vista, but not so much as to obscure those massive features.


    Latna cleared her throat. I have a question.


    T brought her attention back to her sister. Yes?


    Why did you leave us? Why did you ignore us when we sent you letters?


    T felt like someone had thrown a bucket of cold water into her face. Still, she took a moment to collect herself, and with ts help formted an answer. I wasvery angry with mother and father. I felt used, untrusted, and unloved. She closed her eyes, feeling the emotions of thest years washing over her. She continued without opening her eyes, not wanting to be distracted by her family before her. Anything that reminded me of them, of what theyd done, hurt. She opened her eyes. That included you.


    Latna frowned but didnt interrupt.


    It was immature, but I was a child. It was petty, but I was aggrieved.


    Olen leaned back and T heard him whisper to Akli, What does aggrieved mean?


    It was Mita, Aklis twin, who answered in a simrly quiet whisper. It means hurt, or wronged. Shhh.


    That caught T off guard, even though the words had been so quiet most wouldnt have heard them.


    <em>Use smaller words. This is your family, not teachers sitting in judgment over you.</em>


    She hesitated, then let out a long breath. The long and short of it is this: I had my reasons, but my choice to ignore <em>you all </em>was wrong. I should not have cut myself off from all of you. Will you forgive me?


    Silence rang through the room. In that stillness, they heard footstepsing up the stairs.


    No one wanted to speak in front of the servers, so they waited.


    <em>Great timing, T</em>


    It took a few moments for the two attendants to reach the room, and they passed out the food and drinks, receiving polite Thank yous and other forms of gratitude before they departed once again.


    In the returned silence, they all waited until the footsteps had faded, sipping, nibbling, or shifting nervously.


    Finally, of all people, Caln spoke up. You want us to forgive you? To forgive you for the years of broken rtionship? We were on your side from day one! We had nothing but sympathy for you and a desire to help.


    Mom and Dad told us everything. They cast themselves as the viins in that tale and rightly so.


    We have been striving for <em>years</em> to help save up to repay the debtid upon you. We tried to invest the money wisely, expanding the shop and getting a Healer to work with us, among other things. The n was to have a good chunk ready for you, when you graduated, and have a good foundation so that we could then st through the debt with our increased capacities.


    He scoffed, shaking his head.


    And what do we get for all our work? All our scrimping? All our sacrifices? You seemingly graduate and vanish. When you finally do show up, the money is tossed back at us like its nothing.


    He pointed to Latna.


    She cried much of the night because of you, T. He grimaced. Mistress T.


    He shook his head again, his features bing a mask of anger once more.


    We have suffered as a family, trying to be ready to lift the burden from you, and it. Means. Nothing. You dont need us at all. You dont want us at all. You throw gold around like its candy. Why are you even here?


    The silence returned like a struck bell.


    Nobody said anything, all eyes remaining fixed on T.


    Well, all eyes but that of the littlest. T hadnt caught her name.


    The small one was staring at Caln for a long moment before standing up and toddling over to where he was sitting on a cushion on the floor. She grabbed his face, shocking the young man out of his re at T. Wha-?


    Ookie?


    What?


    Ookie!!


    Caln pulled back at the shout, blinking at the loud promation. Cookie? He nced down at the te of cookies hed gotten along with his drink.


    The entire demeanor of the girl changed as she stood up straighter, wiggling her little head in obvious pride. Ess! Ease!


    The little one then turned to look at T.


    Ookie you?


    T blinked back. Do I want a cookie?


    Again, that little one shimmied in obvious happiness. Ess!


    Iuhsure?


    The girl turned back to Caln, then pointed to T. Ookie!!


    That was too much, and everyone burst outughing.


    Theughter wasnt so much because the girls actions were humorous, as how effectively theyd shattered the tension of the moment.


    Caln hesitantly stood and walked over to give T a cookie. He then looked down. Are you happy, Se?


    Se was ring at T. Ank, ooo!


    T cocked her head, squinting and trying to understand. Oh! Thank you, Caln.


    Again, little Se flipped her expression on a copper, beaming once more.


    Caln retook his seat, and things quieted down. Everyone was clearly still waiting on Ts answer, but much of the horrifying tension was gone.


    T cleared her throat and then took a small bite of the cookie. It was actually rusting delicious. There was something in them that made them crunch while being warm and moist. <em>No two things. </em>It wasnt nuts, or anything silly like that either. <em>I need to buy a few dozen of these</em>


    She was stalling.


    She took a sip from her cup and forced herself to not evaluate the tea. Even though it wasnt nearly as good as what she had in Kit. <em>T Come on.</em>


    I did not intend any of that as a slight. She closed her eyes and shook her head. <em>Oh, t, please help me here? Im too close to this. I dont know what to say.</em>


    And so, t helped her.


    I apologize for the hurt I caused. I chose to go to Bandfast after graduating because there is arger Caravanners Guild Hub there. Also, more personally, I wasnt ready to face mother and father, or anything that reminded me of them, not yet. As to giving the money back. She shook her head ruefully. I would love to keep it. It would help in so many ways, but it will help you all more. I think I can even give some suggestions as to what it could be used for. She gave a wry chuckle. But Im getting ahead of myself. I think it best if I just tell you what Ive been doing, since I graduated. But, before that: Can you forgive me for my callousness? For not considering you all in my actions? I want to exin everything to you, but I dont want it to be an excuse.


    Caln sighed. I am willing to hear you out. I can understand making a mistake, and I forgive you.


    Latina nodded, as did the oldest twins, Mita and Akli.


    Illie frowned before she too, sighed. I want to hear what you have to say. Ill forgive you, but it will take more than that to repair the harm that youve done.


    Nc turned to his twin sister, shaking his head. Stop pretending youre a queen.


    Latna cleared her throat. I think I speak for all of us when I say: We forgive you, but it will take time and effort to rebuild our rtionships with you.


    T felt a tension ease inside herself, and she smiled. That addressed, she told them the story.


    The tale was obviously abridged, and she left out mention of dead woodsmen, founts, Archon stars of any kind, or arcanes or, well, any of the myriad other things that shouldnt be told to mundanes or very small children.


    As an example, she skimmed over some of the scarier details for the sake of the little ones but did her best to tell it aspletely and truthfully as she couldthose exceptions aside.


    The servers dropped through several times, refilling drinks and bringing more savory foods as the time for lunch came and went. T was restrained in her eating, mainly so she could continue her story.


    She did pause every once in a while, to allow rifying questions, but there werent too many. t was helping her organize the story and structure it in an understandable way.


    It was mid-afternoon when she finished up the tale, concluding on her arrival in Marliweather. And so, Im here for another day before I have to head back to Bandfast. If you want me back, I can probably get another contract over to here and be back in around two weeks.


    After a short pause, Olen spoke up. Yeah, we want you back.


    Se looked at her older brother, held up a new treat over her head, given after a full and healthy lunch, and proudly proimed. Ookie!


    The girl had not focused on Ts story, not that T had expected her to. Instead, shed spent the time moving between various siblings and ying with their hands and feet. Shed even sat in Tsp for a bit before moving on.


    The other siblings smiled at Ses pronouncement before agreeing with Olen, each in their own way ranging from Ncs hearty seconding of the sentiment to Calns reserved, hesitant nod.


    After that, there were a few generic questions about what it was like to be a Mage, which T answered as best as she could, but it was starting to gette, and apparently, theyd promised to be back home before dinner to help with the final preparations.


    T cleared her throat. Could either Latna or Caln stay behind? Id like to talk with one or both of you about my suggestion.


    The two shared a look, then Latna shrugged. I can, sure.


    Nc cleared his throat. Can I stay, too? I need to ask you something


    T gave him a searching look, then nodded. Alright. Ill need to settle the bill, and talk to Latna, but after that, we can chat.


    Mita cleared her throat. The girl was third oldest of Ts siblings, just about a year younger than Caln, only slightly older than her twin. Will we see you again, this trip?


    Ille back by tomorrow. Ill spend the day in the park, so if any of you want to drop by, Ill spend that time with you.


    There were some awkward goodbyes and Caln shepherded them through the process of getting their winter gear back on before trundling down the stairs.


    Se continued her loud cries as they left. Eye, !


    It didnt matter how many times T said bye in return, the little one continued her calls.


    In truth, T didnt mind, though she did feel bad for Akli, who was holding the small girl.


    <em>She has quite the lungs.</em>


    As thest head disappeared down the stairs, Latna and Nc moved closer, so that they were sitting at two points of a triangle,pleted by T.


    Latna cocked an eyebrow. So? Whats this idea?


    Iron paint. The local Constructionist Guild likely doesnt have a supplier yet as its a rtively new thing. The one in Bandfast buys it by the gallon, though.


    Iron paint? How would you even make that?


    The form is avable to any licensed Alchemist through the Archive.


    Latna winced. Oh Archive ess isnt cheap. She cocked her head. Though, we can go to the library, and get a hard copy. How much is the form?


    Five gold.


    Latna gaped. Are you out of your mind? How could we possiblyafford She closed her mouth and hesitated. You want us to spend some of the gold on that.


    I think so. Its not thatplicated, if I understand the process correctly, and it sells for half a gold per gallon. Sheughed. Id buy a few gallons from you, too.


    The younger woman seemed to be doing calctions in her head. I would need an introduction to the Constructionist Guild. Is there a proof of efficacy?


    T returned a crooked smile. I can have something ready to show.


    -<em>Thats kind of funny, actually. I want to see that.-</em>


    T hesitated. <em>Oh?</em>


    <em>-Yeah. How quickly are they going to smite you when you drop your illusion.-</em>


    <em>Ill give them warning.</em>


    <em>-Suit yourself.-</em>


    <em>Itll be fine. Ill give proper context, then do a slow reveal. Its not like Ill walk in, drop my illusion and say, Buy this stuff. Its great!</em>


    <em>-Fine, fine.-</em>


    Latna was nodding. That could work. That could work. Why half a gold per gallon?


    T shrugged. Thats what I was charged.


    So, likely depending on local avability of materials and the like. She took in a deep breath. Still, five gold for a form


    It will be a risk, but one that I think will pay off.


    Can we go tomorrow?


    To the Constructionists?


    Yes.


    T thought a moment before nodding. Sure. Just before dinner, so I dont break my word to the others.


    Latna nodded, pushing to her feet. All right, then. Ill see you tomorrow. Are youing soon, Nc? She turned and pulled on her own coat and boots.


    I think so. Let them know where I am. Ill either be home for dinner, or figure something else out.


    Latna hesitated, then looked to T. Alright, then.


    She finished dressing for the weather outside and moved to the stairs.


    She had descended three steps before she paused. T?


    T turned to regard her. Yes, Latna?


    Thank you foring back. I wish you hade back sooner, but thank you foring back.


    T just nodded and smiled.


    Her sister turned and walked out of view, down the stairs.


    So. T regarded Nc. What did you want to ask?


    He was fidgeting with his hands. WellYou see He swallowed, then grabbed his mug, draining thest of the tea from it.


    T didnt interrupt or prod.


    You see, I wanted to be a Mageto find you. He said thest in a quiet voice.


    T felt something twinge in her chest. Oh, Nc. Im here. Im so sorry. I-


    He was shaking his head. I know. I know that. He swallowed again. Mistress Rinshes my pre-magic teachersaid that someones motivation for bing a Mage matters. Mines gone! He hung his head. Can I even be a Mage anymore?


    T blinked in surprise at that. Do you want to?


    Yes!...no? I dont know. He shook his head.


    Well, that sounds like the heart of it. If you want to be a Mage, you can be. If you dont? You dont have to.


    But this is what Ive been nning, Illie and me.


    And now you dont know what to do.


    And now I dont know what to do.


    Well, how about you talk me through it.


    And so he did.


    T was able to get the servers to bring them some more food and drink, and then, she just listened.


    An hourter, the boy was no closer to a decision, but he seemed lighter, less burdened. Thank you, T.


    She smiled. Im happy to listen. Come on. Lets get you home.


    She settled the bill, receiving seventy-five silver back in change.


    Together, she and Nc walked back towards the family shop infortable silence.


    As they walked, T had a thought. She opened Kit, as she had several times throughout the day to give Terry an out, if he wanted. Just as before, he didnte.


    Hey, Terry. You want toe out?


    He squawked back at her in the negative.


    She hadnt asked at other times, but she knew that hed been able to sense the opening, and could havee out if hed wanted to. I want you to meet someone.


    Nc was giving her an odd look. T?


    One moment.


    Terrys half-grumbling trill came from the open pouch, then he flickered to her shoulder, giving her a squint-eyed re.


    Nc gasped.


    Terry, obviously hearing the sound, leaned out, sideways, to look across T and at her brother.


    What is that?


    T smiled. This is Terry. Hes a he, not a that, and hes a terror bird.


    Terry flickered to stand on Ncs shoulder.


    The boy felt the pressure and turned slowly to look at his new passenger.


    Terry stared back into the boys eyes from only a few inches away.


    Terry. This is my brother. Be nice, please. Hes just a boy.


    Terry broke eye contact with Nc, and nced at T. He squawked once, then hunkered down on her brothers shoulder.


    Nc was still frozen, almost unmoving as he watched the bird. T?


    Yes.


    What do I do?


    Here, feed him this. T pulled out some jerky, but it vanished from her hand before she could pass it to her brother. Stop that, Terry. Im trying to let him give it to you.


    The next piece vanished as well.


    If you do that again, I wont get out any more.


    Terry opened one eye, rolled it, closed it, then let out a long-suffering, basso trill.


    Nc jumped. How did he do that? That was <em>so</em> deep? He chuckled a bit. It actually kinda tickled.


    Terrys eye opened again, and he trilled another low note.


    Nc giggled. Stop that. Youre making my whole chest vibrate.


    T slipped her brother some jerky, and when Terry opened his beak again, Nc stuck the treat in, before Terry could make any more sound.


    The bird narrowed his gaze at the boy, then slowly pulled the jerky into his mouth.


    Youre a funny little thing. Terry was it.


    Terry nced at T, swallowed the jerky, then jabbered a long series of ascending and descending squawks and trills.


    Ncughed again, reaching up to stroke the bird. Youre trying to talk?


    Terry stopped, then huffed.


    T cleared his throat. He was talking. Just because we didnt understand him, doesnt mean hes not speaking.


    Nc gave a slow nod, clearing thinking the whole situation was a bitodd. All right, then. Im sorry for interrupting, Terry.


    Terry huffed, then went right back to jabbering away as the siblings turned and finished their trek to the shop.


    When they reached the doors, T bid her brother goodnight, tossed a bit of jerky for Terry and smiled as his weight flickered into being on her shoulder.


    Nc waved as he pushed open the door. Goodnight, T. Goodnight, Terry. Good to meet you!


    Latnas voice came from inside. Terry? Whos Terry.


    T grinned as she turned and headed towards the Constructionist Guild.


    <em>If Im going to introduce Latna, I should at least meet them myself, first.</em>

 Chapter 197: The Marliweather Constructionist Guild

    Chapter 197: The Marliweather Constructionist Guild


    T was filled with mixed feelings, and to her great astonishment, they werent a mix of guilt and anger.


    She was cautiously hopeful, while being nervous about how the next day would go.


    She had faced her anger and put it in its proper context. She had pulled it off of the nebulous concept of her family, and it now rested where it belonged: on her parents. More to the point, it was no longer a hot, burning, uncontroble rage. Instead, it had flipped to a cold void of tightly regted fury.


    The emotion no longer hurt her to probe.


    The feelings no longer mastered her when she considered them.


    She was in control of how she felt, and cold wrath was just fine with her. It might fade gradually, or it might not. Only time would tell.


    A part of her hated that she was so angry with her parents, however justified. She wanted to love them, and be with them, but that would require both them and her to be different people.


    And, unfortunately, if they hadnt done what they had, she wouldnt be who she was.


    <em>Not that that makes it better.</em>


    Still, that line of thought brought with it a dawning revtion. <em>If I could go back and change things, I wouldnt.</em>


    Without her slurry of emotions, shed likely have pursued a more standard path of Magic.


    Without her debts, given partially by her parents, she wouldnt have worked to circumvent the mageling process. She might not even have pursued a job with the Caravanners.


    If she hadnt done that, shed not have met Lyn, in all likelihood. She wouldnt have met Rane or Mistress Odera. She wouldnt have traveled to the other cities so soon. She wouldnt have met Terry, or been able to get Kit or Flow.


    <em>Everything in my life that is good hase as a result, either directly or indirectly, of the wrong they did to me.</em>


    Did that make it right?


    <em>Rust no.</em>


    Did that make it better?


    <em>Yeah, no. g that.</em>


    But did it reframe the experience.


    <em>Im not a helpless victim, here. I have chosen my own path, and I am better for the trials I walked through. If I changed what made me, me, I wouldnt be me anymore.</em> And she found that she did like who she was.


    It sounded incredibly cheesy when she put it that way, and she felt a smile tug at her lips.


    Terry cooed and nuzzled closer to her neck.


    Shed offered to let him back in Kit, but hed looked around at the empty streets and decided to stay out.


    Nc seemed to like you.


    Terry trilled, and if she had to put words to the sound, it would have been, Well, obviously.


    Tughed, her thoughts sliding smoothly to her siblings.


    Her feelings for her brothers and sisters were a mixed bag, but that was to be expected. They were practically strangers to her, and she to them.


    There was real potential for building rtionships with them, provided they could clear the rubble of her mistakes andy a good foundation.


    That was an exciting prospect if she was being honest.


    She was content with who, what, and where she was.


    All in all, she felt at peace with how things stood.


    -<em>Thats right you do!-</em>


    t had mostly kept frommenting through the day, only sending her thoughts to T to help her shape what she was sharing, and how she was speaking. It had been fantastic to have a second mind working in the background, helping her to be clear and concise, as well as avoid too many foot-in-mouth moments. Now, however, the alternate interface seemed overjoyed.


    -<em>T, were there. Were right there!-</em>


    T frowned for a moment, as she was walking across the park. <em>Were? Oh! Really?</em>


    <em>-Yes! I need yourhelp on thisst part.-</em>


    T pulled Kit off her belt and looked around. There were no convenient surfaces, nearby.


    A couple of lone walls stood in the park for children to use in certain games, but they werent nearby. What was close, however, was a tree.


    <em>Huh. That should work.</em>


    She tossed Kit against the tree andughed with joy as a door perfectly molded to therge oak. A doorway formed where shed tossed the pouch.


    It was textured just like the bark it had covered over, seeming inset into the tree, somehow not raising the surface noticeably. If she hadnt seen it grow there, shed have missed it entirely.


    <em>Thats amazing.</em>


    <em>-T, focus.-</em>


    <em>Right!</em> She still grinned. This opened so many possibilities. <em>I wonder if I can make it free-standing?</em> Now was not the time for that sort of experimentation, however.


    She stepped through the narrower-than-standard entrance, finding the inside of Kit unchanged.


    Strangely enough, from the inside, the door looked like it had since the storage device had subsumed the syphon fascia. <em>Illusion magic?</em>


    It wasnt, at least not ording to her mage-sight. Instead, the doors appearance seemed to be the result of the incredibly dexterous use of dimensional power. <em>We really should study how Kit maniptes power at some point.</em>


    -<em>Yes, but that point is not now.-</em>


    T tossed some jerky for Terry, and the terror bird flickered off her shoulder and away to hisfortable corner, already swallowing the bit of jerked meat.


    She smiled, stretching slightly, before sitting on the floor, cross-legged. She began to go through the familiar motions of making tea, not focusing on where each tool came from as she needed it. Each thing, from pot to tea to incorporator, was simply in her hand as she went to use them.


    It was a surprisingly meditative process, if she was being honest, and that really helped center her, releasing thest of her giddy tension from the day.


    Once she had a warm cup of chamomile in her hand, she took in a deep breath, relishing the scent. A small sip confirmed her biases. <em>Wow, this is so, so much better than the stuff at that tea house.</em>


    It was really too bad that she couldnt go back to Makinaven any time soon.


    After another sip, T turned her mage-sight inward, diving within herself.


    Soon, it was as if she floated before a field of power.


    Her spiritual self and her physical body were now pressed firmly together, stitched into unity by threads of magic.


    At the center of it all sat her gate, like a surrounded by its rings. It was gushing power, using the entire structure as a conduit.


    <em>This is me?</em>


    <em>-This is a visual, metaphorical representation of you, amalgamated from across nes of existence that defy the ability to be represented physically.-</em>


    <em>Soyes?</em>


    <em>-yes, T. This is you.-</em>


    T grinned. <em>Nope.</em>


    <em>-Why are you being difficult?-</em>


    <em>This is us.</em>


    Somehow, T could feel t freeze within her mind.


    <em>t?</em> There was nothing but silence for the space of a few breaths of time.


    Finally, the alternate interface responded. -<em>I dont think that is true.-</em> Her mental voice sounded small.


    <em>Well, I disagree. This might not be all of you, but that soul right there? </em>Somehow, T was able to point towards the gate.<em> That gate is ours.</em>


    t didnt seem to have a response for that.


    T decided to move on. <em>So, what do we need to do?</em>


    Their perspective shifted as t brought Ts focus to the outer edge. The great circrrugs? <em>Thats a horrible metaphor.</em>


    The great circr rugs were entirely stitched together, but there was still something missing.


    <em>A finishing stitch around the perimeter.</em>


    <em>-Precisely. You are fully fused, but the fusion is not set.-</em>


    <em>Well, lets get to work.</em>


    And so they did.


    The two worked together, using Ts Archon star to weave the thread of power and magic back and forth in a crosshatch.


    As they continued, it became a sort of game.


    T would almost toss the Archon star, trailing power, down through the edge of her being, and t would catch it, before tossing it back up, through another ce just further around the edge.


    The motions quickly became rote.


    Ts extensive practice with her soul, as well as fine-magical control, allowed her to have the endurance and precision to simply <em>fly</em> around the circumference.


    t matched her stitch for stitch.


    In what felt like no time at all, they came to the end.


    Somehow, it also felt like T had never done anything else in all her life. Shed only ever existed here, within herself, striving to be one with her fractured being.


    It was an unsettling feeling that also brought with it incredible relief as from reaching the end of a long, arduous journey.


    Together, she and t pulled thest stitch tight, knotting it in a spell-form that both felt entirely alien, and like the only thing that could possibly go there.


    It was like finding thest puzzle piece, which had been hidden. Shed never seen it before, but it was blindingly obvious what was needed.


    Power rippled through the entirety of the spiritual construct and it began to pull in on itself, spiraling inward faster that T could track.


    And just like that, she was done.


    T opened her eyes and let her focus move outward once more.


    She could see her own aura, mimicked by the magic of the through-spike, shinning orange before her mage-sight.


    <em>We did it. Were FUSED!!!</em>


    * * *


    T didnt honestly remember climbing into her bed and falling into a deep sleep, though as soon as she woke up, t provided her with the memory.


    The illusory vista outside her bedroom window greeted her with a stunning sunrise as she sprang to her feet.


    <em>Im FUSED!!!!</em>


    She gasped. <em>Master Jevin said I could talk to anyone of sufficient rank to learn how to Refine, once I was Fused.</em>


    That was another reason to go to the Constructionists Guild.


    Her mind flicked out as she wanted to know the time, and the answer came. It was well past midnight.


    <em>Ill go in the morning, before breakfast with Mistress Odera.</em>


    Giddy with tion at her aplishment, T moved through her morning routine. Then, because shed missed it, she went through her nightly routine as well.


    There was a lot of ovep, and as such, she actually felt quite sore by the end, and the fatigue extended to her mind, magic, and soul as well.


    Thankfully, the physical side of it began to pass quickly, as her reserves diminished a marginal amount. The rest would take a bit longer to recover, but she expected to be right as rain by midmorning.


    <em>Hah. Right as Rane.</em> She chuckled to herself.


    t groaned within her head.


    <em>Fine, fine. Time to eat!</em>


    She cooked herself arge breakfast and ate it with gusto, the vors seeming new after her Fusing.


    <em>I dont feel much different, aside from happy. t? Are we different?</em>


    <em>-Your spells are functioning both more powerfully and more efficiently for their power output, but I cant say by exactly how much. The powering through your gate is more attuned to you and on a deeper level, but not fundamentally so. Thus, I think that, because of that, it is powering your spell-forms and natural magics more effectively.-</em>


    <em>Good to know.</em>


    <em>-There is somedisquiet throughout your being, however.-</em>


    T looked within herself, and she thought she could see what t meant. <em>Its like Im settling, adjusting to this new state.</em>


    <em>-Just like you had to after you became Bound.-</em>


    <em>Thats what I was thinking.</em>


    She finished up her first breakfast and checked the time again.


    <em>Still much too early to bother the Constructionists. I need to speak to someone of high standing, and I need them in a good mood.</em>


    That decided, she would head to the work-yard first, to charge the cargo-slots. Theyd be leaving the next day, after all.


    Terry, want toe?


    He lifted his head, then tilted it quizzically.


    I dont think there will be many people about.


    Without responding, he flickered to her shoulder, and she stepped out of Kit, and back into the park.


    With a practiced motion, T pulled the pouch from the tree and hung it on her belt, looking up at the starry sky overhead. There wasnt even the barest hint of light to the east, but she hadnt expected to see any given the hour.


    Without any further dy, she set out toward the work yard.


    It was an easy trek with her pressure distribution scripts giving her sure footing on ice and snow alike.


    As she considered it, theyd probably make things worse if it was a truly t sheet of ice, but because the ice was in small patches, part of her weight always fell on a ce with good traction avable.


    Thus, it was only about half an hour before shed reached the wagons, charged the slots, and was looking for the nearest Constructionist Guildhall.


    <em>-Id actually rmend the one on the far side of the city. It is listed as the main hall for that guild in this city, so you are more likely to find who you need. Also, its a bit of a walk, so well arrive at a better time.-</em>


    T nodded at that.


    Mistress Odera wouldnt expect her until a bitter in the morning, so the extra distance wouldnt be a problem. <em>It would be nice if I could fly, like Cazor can. Though, Id obviously have to use a different method.</em>


    <em>-There are several ways that we might be able to do just that, though they would alle with their own particr quirks anddangers.-</em>


    <em>Maybeter, then. Todays too important to risk on untested methods.</em>


    t made a happy little sound, for some reason, then began directing T through the streets of Marliweather.


    In what felt like no time at all, they arrived at the Guildhall.


    There still wasnt light in the eastern sky, but it was winter, and they were actually inside what most people would call business hours.


    <em>Lets see what we find.</em>


    T approached the Constructionist Guild and found that this hall was more like Makinaven than Bandfast.


    A sturdy door stood closed, but not locked, sealing off the entrance to the building from the elements.


    T smiled at the memories of dropping through to talk with Master Jevin and get his advice. <em>I hope that the higher ups are as kind, here.</em>


    She pushed open the door, feeling the familiar magics of a magical scan before a deep <em>GONG</em> announced her arrival.


    <em>Huh, I think I like the bell better?</em> She wasnt sure, actually. The deep resonating sound was somehow pleasant andforting.


    Terry squawked in soft irritation, but otherwise didnt move.


    An attendant rushed out to greet her, bowing. Wee, Archon. How can we be of assistance, today? His eyes flicked to Terry but didnt linger.


    <em>Good to know not everyone in the city is over-enamored by arcanous creatures. </em>T checked, and the attendant had a nametag on. Well, Master Apalo, I am looking to meet with a member of your Guild for two matters. One could be handled by any one in management, but the other requires someone who is Refined, or farther.


    Apalo bowed again. Certainly, Mistress


    Oh! My apologies. I am T.


    Certainly, Mistress T. Master Hafest arrived a short time ago. If youll allow me a moment, I can go and see if he has avability?


    That would be wonderful. Thank you.


    Can I offer you anything, while you wait?


    No, thank you. Im quite all right.


    As you say, Mistress. If you change your mind, the waiting room is just through that door.


    T nodded her thanks, and the attendant departed down one of the side hallways.


    Less than two minutester, Apalo returned with an older Mage, gestured towards T, and ducked back into the attendants waiting room.


    The Mage, clearly Hafest, walked over to T, smiling warmly in greeting. Well met, Mistress T. His mage-sight flickered on and off so quickly that she almost missed it. He had wings of grey in his otherwise blonde hair and a short-trimmed beard decorated his strong-jawed face. His simple Mages robes were of a quilted material, clearly meant for added warmth.


    Well met, Master Hafest. She bowed just slightly. By what her mage-sight was telling her, Hafest was a Paragon with power oriented towards fire, force, and magical power, directly. <em>Immaterial and Material Guide?</em> She wasnt used to Paragons being open for such a detailed scan. Most that shed seen held their aura almost as a shield against such inspection.


    Come this way. It sounds like weve some things to discuss. He led her down the hall to a small sitting room, activating copper privacy scripts as they sat in the rather in space.


    Thank you for taking your time to meet with me.


    Of course! Thats why Im here. Now, if you wouldnt mind a guess as to at least one of the reasons? There was a twinkle in his eyes.


    She smiled, gesturing for him to go on.


    Youre newly Fused, am I right?


    Thats correct.


    So, someone already told you to seek aid as soon as you hit that step.


    Indeed, yes.


    Good, good. He leaned back, nodding to himself. So, my guess. You are here to ask about the Refining process.


    That is correct.


    Wonderful! He chuckled happily to himself. I have good news and bad.


    T frowned. Oh?


    Good news first. There is a well-known, widely avable process for Refining that anyone can do, but it isufortable. I can assess you for which set of tools youll need to do it right, should you choose to walk that path.


    That is good news. Im no stranger to difort for purposes of long-term gain.


    Heughed, grinning broadly. Fair enough. Fair enough. You know your own mind. His mirth faded, and he leaned forward once again. So, the bad news: Youll have to wait. If you begin Refining in earnest before your being has settled into being Fused, youll cripple yourself for future growth. You would permanently throw your system out of whack, and youd never be able to reach Paragon.


    Ts eyes widened. Oh. Well, thank you for the warning. How long do I wait?


    Common wisdom is at least twice as long as it took you to Fuse, but thats just a shorthand. Some believe that it makes folk feel like they have control over their waiting time. But, honestly, thats a load of swill.


    <em>So a few months by that reckoning?</em> What do you mean? Whats the right way to estimate?


    Well, some people Fuse in an instant, when theye to an understanding of themselves that is soul deep, and clearly they cant just immediately move on to being Refined. He shook his head with a smile. I once sat in on a raising where the newly Bound Archon Fused on the spot. His smile widened. Now, that was a well-adjusted kid.


    <em>Oh.</em> Kid?


    He grunted. Well, they were probably close to fifty, but these things are rtive.


    <em>Yeah, so it would seem.</em>


    Some take a hundred years to face their inner struggles and find equilibrium, and they certainly dont have to wait two hundred more.


    So, how long?


    Honestly? Its different for each person. We can test for that, too. Well, we can at least test to see how unsettled your being is. Ive not seen it settle faster than a year, though.


    T grimaced but nodded. I suppose that makes sense. Everything in its proper time.


    Thats a good way to view it. Hafest scratched his chin. If you dont mind me saying it, you seem like youre on the young side for your advancement. I dont know your story, and I dont need to, but if youll pardon some advice?


    She nodded again.


    Stay at this level until youve been <em>settled</em> for at least a year. There can asionally beplications even when the test shows a Mage to be fully settled.


    <em>Thats good to know.</em> Ill consider it.


    Now, you can take steps down the path towards Refined, even while youre waiting. Its amon enough practice, honestly. You just cant initiate the process.


    Will it shift my aura?


    He frowned. You make a wager or something?


    She shook her head, and he grunted.


    Well, it can, though Ive never seen the prep work move a Mage past half-way through, at least from looking at their aura, but you shouldnt aim for that. If you start Refining without proper procedures, the survival rates only about ten percent, even if all the prep-work is wellid and verified.


    Ts eyes widened. Well, that seems like something to avoid, then.


    Indeed. He smiled a bit consolingly. Im sorry to not have better news.


    Youve told me whats needed, and Im grateful. What is the prep work like?


    Hafest grinned once more. d you asked! Mostly, its incorporating body strengthening and enhancing scripts around your other spell-work.


    <em>What.</em> It was not a question. As she quickly considered the topic, she realized that it wasnt that much of a surprise.


    Its expensive, and it requires an inscriber of incredible skill to do the fine work. Without such an inscriber, its hard not to disrupt what youre already doing with your power. The best around is over in Bandfast.


    <em>Thats right, she is.</em>


    But she doesnt usually take on new clients, unless theres something real special about them.


    Mistress Holly?


    He paused. Yes, actually. He narrowed his gaze. What did you say your name was, again?


    T.


    He scratched his beard. Mistress TMistress TBlood Archon?


    Thats me.


    Well, rust me to ruin. He held out his hand. Good to meet you! I didnt realize you were <em>that</em> T.


    T shook his hand, feeling awkward. What do you mean?


    Well, its not every day that someone uses an entirely new type of medium. That sticks in your mind.


    Oh, well. I suppose that makes sense. Thank you.


    So, does that answer that line of questions?


    She frowned, shaking her head. What if I already have body enhancing scripts? Shouldnt I already be moving through the beginning stages towards Refined?


    Oh! Thats a great question. No, though it will start to happen soon.


    What?


    A Bounds power just isnt sufficient to make the type of weighty changes required. But now, youve a Fuseds power running through you.


    But the scripts are the same. Shouldnt it just be a bit more efficient?


    He gave her an incredulous look. Thats like saying a de cuts the same no matter how much pressure is behind it.


    Ahh, I see.


    Yeah, I thought you would.


    So, the power will begin to cut deeper into my natural pathways and physical being, making the changes more a fundamental part of me, rather than a mere change in form?


    That is quite well put. Yes.


    Huh. Well, this is going to be interesting. She looked down at her hands, and if she were a betting woman, she would say that there was the smallest bit of shift in her aura towards yellow. Less than a percent of a percent, but it <em>seemed</em> like there was a shift. <em>Or Im just imagining things because I want there to be a change.</em>


    Once you have the scripts, if youre an Immaterial Guide, you can seek out other sources of natural magic that align with body enhancement, absorb them, and align the power with your scripts.


    What about other quadrants.


    He grunted. No easier road through the early stages than as an Immaterial Guide. I thought I remembered you were one, but if I remembered incorrectly, there are some techniques you could use, but they arent as effective.


    Oh, no. Im an Immaterial Guide; I was just curious.


    Oh, fair enough. You have another tool, then. Im d to hear it. Now, what was the other matter you wanted to discuss?


    T nodded, reorienting herself to the next discussion. She briefly described the function of the iron paint, its efficacy, and how the Bandfast Constructionists were already using it.


    At that point, Hafests eyes unfocused, as if he were looking at something distant. Those rusting cheaters. He shook his head andughed. Thats why their efficiency has been rising? Hafest grinned from ear to ear. So, assuming I believe you, and Im inclined to, what about it? We dont have any, not at the moment.


    Oh, no. Im not hoping to buy any from you. Im hoping to make an introduction between you and an Alchemist who could supply it for you.


    Hafest leaned back, biting his lip in thought as he scratched his chin. Interesting. Alright. Ill meet with the Alchemist. Cant promise Ill buy from them, or buy this from anyone, but Im interested.


    Would you like a demonstration of its potential, at least in a niche use?


    He gave her a skeptical look. Wouldnt that be something that the Alchemist would provide?


    Maybe, but I happen to have an easy demonstration, and Id prefer that the Alchemist not witness it.


    Well, now you have me curious. What do you have in mind?


    First, this is why I have a through-spike.


    Hafest nodded slowly. Interesting. Go on.


    I am not casting anything, I will simply be suppressing the visual illusion that is currently active over my person.


    He leaned forward, looking like a child awaiting their birthday present. Dont keep me in suspense.


    T looked within herself, using her ability to manipte magic to reach into the through-spike and disable the illusion.


    Well, rust my biscuits. His eyes widened in obvious surprise. Are those spell-echos?


    T nodded.


    He reached out, then hesitated. May I?


    She smiled. Of course. She held out her hand to him, and he took it.


    These arent actually in the air. He turned her hand this way and that, muttering to himself, but T heard him perfectly. The light is a side-effect of it reverberating through the fabric of reality. He shook his head, looking up and addressing her. How are you not dead from magic poisoning? If I did this, Id be ripped apart in an instant.


    The specific scripts that I use.


    He grunted. Youd be a perfect candidate for Mistress Holly. He shook his head again. What am I saying? Its obvious that you already are inscribed by her. Correct?


    Thats right.


    He let go of her hand, sitting back.


    T let the illusion return.


    And thats the paint your Alchemist will be selling?


    Well, no. This paint is on me, and will be quite useless when ites off, but she will be using the same form.


    Hafest gave her an incredulous look, but it didntst. He snorted augh. Fine, fine. That was well said. He nodded. Ill ept that demonstration, if youll sign a statement that its the same form.


    To the best of my knowledge.


    To the best of your knowledge.


    Im fine with that.


    Great. Then all I have to do is negotiate with the wee Alchemist on costs and quantities. He rubbed his hands together. When will you bring her by?


    This afternoon?


    He nodded to himself. I can make that work. Ill need to spend a chunk of the morning figuring out how much we can use, and in what timeframes, but yeah. I can meet with you. Late afternoon?


    We can be flexible.


    Alright then. I look forward to it.

 Chapter 198: A Fun Idea

    Chapter 198: A Fun Idea


    T wasntte to her breakfast with Mistress Odera, despite her trip to the Constructionist Guild.


    <em>Im being very efficient this morning.</em>


    <em>-That we are.-</em>


    Mistress Odera was very congrattory for Ts Fusing, as well as for how well the previous day had gone with Ts siblings.


    The older woman was definitely far more pleased about thetter development than the former, and strangely enough, T found herself agreeing. She was always going to Fuse, eventually, but the potential she had to reestablish her rtionships with her siblings was truly exciting.


    <em>I think Ive got a fun idea for today, too.</em>


    <em>-Oh, I like that. Yes. Let me see what I can do about the specifics.-</em>


    <em>Thank you, t.</em>


    Ts second breakfast passed in regr fashion, though Mistress Odera did order a bit more food, even more than usual, in celebration of Ts Fusing and the beginnings of reconciliation.


    Rane wasnt around as, apparently, hed taken a short protection job outside of the city for the day.


    <em>Good for him.</em> T felt d for her friend. He was branching out.


    -<em>Yup. He really should be his own person before trying to pursue you again.-</em>


    T felt her eyebrow twitch but didnt otherwise react or respond.


    All told, she arrived back at the park just about three hours before noon, Terryfortably resting on her shoulder.


    She was hardly there for five minutes before her siblings joined her, trudging through the snow.


    Good morning! She greeted them warmly.


    A chorus of Good mornings and other greetings came back to her.


    Terry trilled a happy little greeting as well.


    Everyone, this is Terry.


    Most stared uncertainly at the bird, even as Nc grinned. Good morning, Terry!


    Terry flickered to his shoulder and head-butted him.


    Nc grimaced, thenughed. Ow, I already said good morning.


    Terry bumped him again, but seemingly much lighter this time, and Nc scratched his head.


    The other siblings crowded around saying hi to Terry.


    Caln gave T a skeptical look. Is this your pet? Nc told us about the bird, but not much.


    T shook her head. Hes a friend. Hes at least as smart as you all are, from what Ive seen.


    Caln gave a half smile. You calling us bird-brained?


    She grinned back. Are you saying thats an insult?


    Caln opened his mouth to respond, then caught motion out of the corner of his eye.


    Terry was staring directly at the young man, eyes narrowed in focus.


    Caln cleared his throat. No. No, not at all.


    Terry let out a happy little trill, then went back to flickering among Ts siblings.


    T cleared her throat, drawing attention back to herself.


    Terry helpfully flickered back to her shoulder to assist in the wrangling.


    So, I had an idea for what we could do, around answering any other questions that you may have.


    There was hesitantly intrigued silence in response.


    Im going to reduce the gravity of any of you who want it, so you can jump and bounce around in the park.


    Confused silence was her only reply.


    <em>Oh, right. Thats not really clear, is it. </em>You all dont really know what I mean, do you?


    Most shook their heads, but the older ones seemed contemtive.


    Okay. Well do a demonstration. She hesitated. <em>You know, even with caution, this could still be dangerous.</em> Latna, Caln, are you to willing to help me?


    They looked at each other, then shrugged. Sure.


    Can one of you go see if Master Leighis is avable, at least for a few minutes until you all get the hang of it. As for the other, Ill enact the working on them, so this group can see and understand what I mean.


    The two shared a look again, then Latna nodded and headed back to the shop. Sure. Ill be right back.


    Caln came forward through his siblings, a look of resignation across his features. What do you need me to do?


    T looked him over. He was wearing a heavy coat, boots, gloves, and a hat. <em>The coat would make him cold to take off, same with the boots. The hat woulde off too easily.</em>


    That made one of the gloves the best solution.


    So, once I say so, start bouncing in ce, so that we can find a good level of reduced gravity. If something goes wrong, take off your right glove, and that will end the effect. All right?


    He frowned, but slowly nodded. If you say so.


    T focused on targeting her brother, specifically emphasizing the fact that he was wearing a glove on his right hand, weaving that into her conception of him, so that the removal of such would break the spell-effect.


    It was funny. In a way, this was the opposite of what she usually tried to do, while targeting someone or something. She usually tried to focus on the immutable characteristics, so her lock and working would persist as long as possible. Now, she was purposely choosing something that would be easy to alter.


    -<em>Different purposes require different tactics.-</em>


    <em>True enough.</em>


    Once the lock was in ce, she began to ramp down his gravity. <em>Decrease.</em>


    Now. She let him know it was time.


    Caln began to bounce a bit on his feet. I feel kind of silly doing this. What am I- His eyes widened as he began toe off the ground a bit more than hed expected.


    T let up there, waiting. How is that?


    Caln took a couple of experimental jumps, going slightly higher than normal anding down a bit slower. He let out a startledugh. This is amazing!


    Should I aim for a bit lighter? I dont want you or the others to get too high, as that might be a little scary. This is supposed to be fun, not panic inducing.


    He crouched down and jumped, attempting a flip. He didnt ount for the changes, however, and ended up doing one and a half rotations beforending on the snow with a soft <em>whump.</em>


    His eyes went wide again for a moment, but before T could ask if he was okay, he startedughing once more. This is perfect for now.


    The other siblings began moring for T to do them next.


    She grinned, holding up her hands. One moment! One moment. Caln, can you take off your right glove?


    He was stillying on the ground, grinning. Sure.


    As he pulled off his glove, T felt her working break apart, and Caln immediately sunk deeper into the snow.


    Oof. Thats interesting.


    Good, it works.


    Caln pulled his glove back on, frowning when nothing changed. Hey, whys it not back?


    You removed the glove, so the working broke. Theres nothing left toe back when you pull the glove back on.


    Huhinteresting.


    T did a quick check and found that everyone was wearing gloves. <em>Good.</em> All right! Everyone pick a partner to stick with, at least at first. You saw what Caln did. Your right glove will be the key to end the effect if you get scared.


    Latna was already on her way back with Master Leighis in tow. He was bundled up against the cold just like everyone else.


    T had grown her shoes to cover her feet beforeing to the park in consideration of how odd she already looked without winter wear. Though, to be fair, her elk-leathers had thickened against the chill, and so, they were likely easily as warm as her siblings coats.


    Master Leighis! Thank you for joining us.


    Mistress T. To what do I owe the pleasure?


    Well, Im going to reduce their gravity and let them frolic in the park. I thought having a Healer on hand, until they got the hang of it, would be wise.


    He nodded. Not sure I understand exactly what you mean, but having a Healer abouts never a bad idea.


    She grinned at him. Thank you foring out. Turning back to her siblings, she continued speaking, All right! Lets do this.


    She quickly went through them, ensuring that the wearing of their right glove was integral to her lock on each in turn. She then decreased their gravity to about seventy percent.


    Each, in turn, let out startled gasps, followed by giggles of excitement, before they began cavorting around the wide open space.


    Stick with your partners! T reminded them, and they reluctantly came back towards their pairs. Thest two she did were Latna and Se.


    The little three-year old had been having quite a bit of trouble walking in the snow, but once the spell was enacted on her, she was able to scamper across the top of it with ease, giggling and chasing after her siblings.


    Latnaughed in startled joy as she took off, bounding after the toddler.


    Terry was crouched low on Ts shoulder, watching all the kids bounding about.


    Are you going to be okay, Terry? Or do you want to go back in Kit?


    He gave her a long look, then trilled mournfully.


    You want to go y? She had a horrifying reminder of Terry ying with the pigs.


    He looked their way before bobbing a nod.


    She swallowed. Can you be gentle? I really dont want them hurt, and they are mundane humans. You already were a bit rough with Nc when you head-butted him.


    Terry looked after the frolicking children, then nodded.


    All right. Ill trust you. Remember to stay close enough to keep your cor happy.


    He jabbered back to her.


    <em>Of course, he hadnt forgotten.</em> Everyone!


    Her siblings came to a stop, turning to look her way.


    Terry wants to y with you all. He has to stay within a couple of hundred feet of me, so if youre okay ying with him,e back this way. Theyd spread out around the massive park quite far in their pairs.


    Some came back, others didnt. <em>Thats fine.</em>


    Do you want to be lighter?


    Terry gave her an indignant look.


    Fine, fine. I dont know what I was thinking. Youre perfect as you are. <em>You know, I wonder if I could get a fundamental enough lock on him that him changing size wouldnt matter.</em> Shed have to consider it. Not to attack Terry, of course, at least not out of the sparring ring, but it would be a marked step forward for her abilities if she could manage it.


    Clearly unaware of the direction of her thoughts, Terry trilled happily once, then flickered away.


    Hended on Olens shoulder, surprising the young boy. The terror bird then pushed off and immediately flickered off to the side. The powerful push sent Olen to facent into the snow.


    Ts eyes widened. <em>Terry!</em> But before she chastised her friend, Olen pushed himself up,ughing uproariously.


    The small boy made a quick snowball and threw it at the bird, but Terry flickered out of the way. When he reappeared, he was dancing from foot to foot, crouched low as if ready for a fight. Thankfully, there was a yful glint in his eyes.


    <em>Not the maliciously yful glint he had for the pigs, either.</em>


    What followed was a group throwdown of snowballs against the bird.


    Terry flickered among those who were participating, tripping them up or unbncing them and causing them to fall into the snow, while they threw uncounted snowballs after him.


    T felt herself rx. <em>Good. Good safe fun.</em>


    Leighis came to stand beside T. You know, they have no idea how expensive it is to do such workings on them. The gravity working, I mean.


    She nced his way. Its less than you might think. Ive a really good inscriptionist, and the reduction is an effect of some of my always-active scripts.


    He raised his eyebrows at that, then nodded. Even so. Nothing is free.


    She felt herself smile, the oft repeated line from her ssesing back with ease. True enough. Nothing is free, least of all magic.


    They fell into apanionable silence for a couple of moments.


    After about a minute, she nced his way. Do you want to try?


    He looked genuinely shocked. Iare you sure?


    She shrugged. Yeah. Youre out here for us, might as well make it fun for you too.


    He shook his head, smiling. I will admit; Im curious.


    Say no more! She grinned, targeting him for the working, making sure to include his right glove in the lock.


    A momentter, Leighis was bouncing back and forth from foot to foot, testing out the alteration. What a fascinating sensation.


    <em>Interesting. Does he havebat experience? </em>Isnt it? Go, have some fun. It really seems like theyre going to be fine, so dont feel obligated to stay, but you can stay as long as you wish.


    Thank you, Mistress T. Ill do just that. He gave her a boyish grin.


    He took a leaping step forward, and Terry was there in an instant, tripping the older Archon and sending him tumbling across the snow.


    T immediately covered her face. Oh, Terry.


    But Leighis rolled with the fall and popped back up, a snowball already in hand. He threw with a surprising amount of uracy at Terry before he evennded back on his feet.


    The terror bird flickered away without issue, but still, it was impressive reflexes.


    Tughed, enjoying watching them y. <em>Yeah, definitely some experience in dangerous situations, or maybe he ys a lot of sports</em> She shrugged internally. It didnt really matter.


    The day passed in a whirlwind.


    Master Leighis only stayed out for a couple of hours before he had to get back to work.


    The siblings wore themselves out for another hour after that before they all went to a nearby restaurant to eat. T insisted on paying, and then deeply confused them all by how much she ordered for herself. The confusion shifted to awe, then horror as they watched her not only eat it all, but order more.


    That spawned some questions, but overall, the questions were nothing groundbreaking.


    For Ts part, around eating, she tried to ask pointed questions about each of her siblings. It wasnt easy, because there were so many, but she did start to fill in her knowledge gaps with regard to them.


    All told, the lunch cost forty silver, but the vast, vast majority of it was from what T ordered and ate. <em>Mistress Holly insists that I continue to eat until Im topped off.</em>


    <em>-Not to mention that the Fused power running through your scripts is already consuming more of your reserves to facilitate the deeper setting of your enhancements.-</em>


    That was true enough. <em>No rest for the hungry, I suppose.</em>


    After their long lunch, the kids had to head home.


    The younger ones had schoolwork that they needed to finish. Caln had to go help in the shop, and T and Latna needed to go to the Archive to get the recipe, then to the Constructionist guild for their meeting with Hafest.


    Thus, they all walked back to the Alchemy shop in a pack and bid T goodbye right outside.


    They were about to part ways, when T stopped, frowning. Olen?


    The young boy froze, almost through the Alchemists door. Yes, T?


    Take off your right glove.


    ButBut Iuh Its cold. Ill do that inside.


    She narrowed her gaze at him. You havent taken it off since the park.


    I have no idea what you are talking about. His nervousness, coupled with his age caused the words toe out a bit less clearly than his usual speech. He started edging towards the door.


    T sighed. Im not going to punish you, Olen, you arent in trouble. I just dont want you to get hurt by keeping that spell-working active on you.


    The others were all regarding the boy with a mixture of amusement and stern older-sibling-displeasure.


    Fine. He groused, as he pulled off his glove.


    Thank you. T grinned. If you all liked this, we can do it again when Ie back through. Ill let you know if I cant get a contracted trip back right away. Otherwise, expect me in just over two weeks. I wish I could be more specific.


    Olen slumped his shoulders. Sounds good. Thank you, again, T! He then ran inside.


    T nced down as Setched onto her leg, staring up with a big grin. EYE!!!!


    T grinned back. Goodbye, little Se.


    Eye, eye, . The little one didnt let go.


    T cleared her throat. Time for you to go inside.


    Eye! ALA!!!!


    T blinked at the sheer volume of the farewell. Take care? She bent down, pulling Se off of her leg and giving the little one a hug.


    Se squeezed her back with surprising force. She then whispered. Eye, .


    Tughed again. Goodbye. She then handed Se to Akli, who had waited to take the child. See you soon.


    After that, T and Latna turned and walked towards the Archonpound, directed by the map that t had been able to pull up.


    It didnt take long to certify that Latna was, in fact, a licensed Alchemist, and with that done, she purchased the form.


    Latna seemed to visibly pale as she handed over the golden coins. Likely, she hadnt ever spent that much at once in her entire life.


    <em>Maybe somerge ingredient orders? Or if she handled the funds for the purchase of the shops around theirs, or the modifications to them.</em>


    T leaned over to her sister and whispered. Youre carrying the money around with you?


    Latna colored slightly. I didnt want to forget it, and I figured wed be safe enough with you around.


    T grunted. Fair enough.


    The front office gave Latna the form in a small notebook, the actual recipe and procedures only taking up the first couple of pages.


    They thanked the attendant and began walking.


    Ill need to read this before we get there, so I know what Im talking about. And, if I dont recognize any ingredients, well have to stop by the market, so I can get an idea of base costs.


    T nodded. Want to stop for tea while you read?


    Latna shook her head, not taking her eyes from the page. No, so long as we walk slowly, Ill be fine.


    So, the walk passed in silence.


    When Latna finished, she closed the little book and tucked it into an inner pocket of her coat. Nothing too extreme, though there are a few processes that are somewhat time consuming. She nodded to herself. Well see what they have to say.


    * * *


    Mistress T! Wee back. Hafest was walking through the entry hall when they arrived.


    Master Hafest? I hope we didnt keep you waiting. What are you doing in the entry hall?


    Heughed that off. I was raiding the waiting room for a few pastries. Who is this? Your Alchemist friend? He looked Latna over briefly. Or not a friend. Family? The resemnce is uncanny. She must be your daughter. Hafest held out his hand towards Latna.


    Latna froze on the spot, then burst outughing, while T grimaced, feeling herself slouching ever so slightly.


    Even so, Latna took the Archons hand and shook it, getting herself under control.


    Did I say something funny?


    Oh, Master Hafest, it is a pleasure to meet you. I am Ts sister.


    Sister? But youre no Mage He looked to T again. How young Then, he shook his head. Nope, not my concern. Come on. I hear we have things to discuss.


    Latna grinned back at T as Hafest led them to a much nicer sitting room than T and Hafest had used.


    <em>Probably just because there are three of us.</em>


    The negotiations werent long. The Guild could use ten gallons a month to start for the first six months, as soon as the Alchemists could get them, and they were willing to sign a contract to that effect. If the product didnt work out, then they wouldnt be reupping the contract. If it did? Theyd likely need more, but theyd cross that bridge when they came to it.


    T left while Latna and Hafest haggled on the specific price, going to get a pastry for herself.


    By the time she got back, the two both looked happy, and they were confirming their deal.


    A pleasure doing business with you both.


    They bowed to therge Archon and departed.


    It was still early as they walked back towards the family shop.


    As they neared, T cleared her throat. Well, it still isnt quite dinner. We couldgo grab something?


    Latna shook her head. Thank you for the invitation, but I am needed at home. Dinner is a bit of a madhouse, so we need all hands on deck.


    Ohokay then.


    Theypsed back into silence.


    A few minutester, they were at the shop, and Latna turned to her sister. Thank you. She patted her coat, where the form rested. This will be much more profitable than most of what we can produce. It wont rece our regr business, but it <em>is</em> an amazing opportunity. Thank you, truly.


    T smiled. Im d itll work out for you all.


    Latna turned, then paused. See you in two weeks?


    A little more probably, but yeah.


    Bye, T.


    Bye, Latna.


    Without another word, but with a brief smile, Latna entered the family shop and pulled the door closed behind her.


    T returned to the work-yard in contemtive silence, grabbing a massive dinner to bring with her on the way.


    She filled the evening with training and study of the manuals to which she had ess.


    The following morning she departed the city of her birth, heading home.

 Chapter 199: A Wonderfully Peaceful Time

    Chapter 199: A Wonderfully Peaceful Time


    T felt that her time in Marliweather was an unmitigated sess.


    True, things <em>might </em>have gone better if shed been able to write her own destiny, but in the realm of reality, she couldnt imagine a better turn out. <em>After all, I came out of it with two more siblings than I went in with.</em>


    -<em>Thats a funny way of looking at it.-</em>


    <em>But it </em>is<em> true.</em>


    <em>-Oh, decidedly, and it seems like rtionships are possible with all of them, at least in time.-</em>


    Lunch on the first day found the three Mage Protectors sitting atop the cargo-wagon for the meal, keeping their eyes moving over the surrounding wilds.


    I cant believe youre fully Fused. Rane was shaking his head in resignation, even while a genuine smile pulled at his lips. I just cant. I can see your aura, but it seems impossible. Congrattions.


    Rane?


    Yeah, T?


    Thats about the thousandth time youve said that.


    He colored, cleared his throat, and took another bit of his lunch.


    Mistress Odera drank some water to clear her mouth, then regarded T. It is an impressive thing, Mistress T. His saying so isnt a bad thing.


    Oh, I know. Im still somewhat shocked, myself.


    Indeed.


    Rane waved a hunk of bread. It is unusual, but not unique. Still impressive, though.


    Tughed. I feel like I hear that about a lot of what I do. After a pause, she added. The first part, I mean.


    Rane grinned back her way but didntment further.


    You do seem to have found a fortuitous path. Time will tell if others follow you on it, and whether the oue is a positive for humanity.


    T didnt really like to think of that, so she turned to Rane. How are you progressing?


    He grimaced at that. Same issue as before. Ick the mana-density to brute-force the connection, though I am making progress. He straightened slightly. The job I took yesterday was to protect a group while they examined some cave paintings.


    Mistress Odera paused at that. The Cave of the Triune?


    Precisely.


    T frowned. Why does that sound familiar?


    Rane shrugged. Well, Master Grediv mentioned it a lot. Three founts, each less than a dozen yards apart, all with pure, non-elemental magic flowing from them.


    She gave him a level look. I didnt know what founts were until recently.


    Oh, right.


    Mistress Odera cut in. The Triune, Mistress T. Three Immaterial Guides who focused on the maniption of magic, directly. Triplets, bent towards the betterment of humanity. They sacrificed themselves in an attempt to give humanity another path to power.


    T found herself nodding. Right, but it failed. Their theoretical pathway of ascending was a failure.


    Rane interjected around another mouthful. Which is a shame, because our path of ascension is amazing.


    Mistress Odera and T both turned to regard Rane with confusion.


    After swallowing, he rified. Meaning the steps that humanity can take through the ranks. Look at us. We are so much more than what we could ever have been without magic, without our gates, and this path. Its tried and true. Why try to build a second one?


    Mistress Oderas tone was hard. Because it still fails many of us.


    Rane colored, hunching down. Right. Iapologies, Mistress.


    She waved him off. No matter. You were saying, Master Rane?


    Hmm?


    You went to the cave.


    Oh! So, I meditated between the founts, removing all barriers to power flowing in and out of me. It was, he grimaced, like having a pumice-stone scraped through my entire body, but after half a day, my magic capacity and density have both increased by nearly ten percent.


    T sat up. Thats remarkable! Can I? She trailed off as she saw Mistress Odera shaking her head.


    You already have a higher density than that cave, so it wouldnt lead to an improvement for you. It is a miserable process as well, from what I hear. It also only works for Bound, if it works at all. Mages cant survive such an onught, even those with incredibly high density, because the quality of the power, the purity, overwhelms them. Fused are too potent, as a rule, to gain anything from the cave, and Bound dont <em>need </em>it. Though, it does help some. She nodded towards Rane.


    Huh, so in a way they seeded?


    I suppose, in a way. Mistress Odera sounded skeptical. But one can hardly call it a sess when instead of forging a new road, they now marginally help a small fraction as they progress down the old one.


    T grunted. Fair enough. The conversation shifted, then, to other things as their meal drew to a close.


    Most of the journey back to Bandfast was uneventful, aside from the usual training and asional arcanous beast.


    She spent her meals and evenings talking with Rane and Mistress Odera and sparring with Terry and Rane.


    On the second day of travel, Terry made real progress on changing his own fighting methods. He began to toss a knife back and forth with himself, flickering between each side of the wagon as they rumbled across the wintery in, throwing it with increasing speed.


    <em>Seems like hes gotten over his aversion.</em> He didnt add the knife tossing into their sparring, when she faced off against him that night. Not that he needed to, as he could still handily defeat her, seemingly at will.


    The next morning, he added a second knife, and by the time they arrived in Bandfast, he was creating a storm of crisscrossing weaponry, all flying through a single space.


    <em>Thats not at all terrifying.</em> He still hadnt used the new weaponry inbat, but T knew that he would, soon enough.


    T made sure to congratte Terry on his new aplishment.


    He was suitably pleased both with her praise and the extra helpings of meat and jerky she gave along with it.


    <em>-Yes, keep the terrifying murder bird appeased, please.-</em>


    <em>Im doing my best.</em>


    The second thing of consequence came from t.


    When they were right about halfway between the two cities, t began to cackle madly, which was quite a disturbing thing to have happen in Ts head.


    <em>What is going on?</em>


    <em>-I have full ess to pull information from the Archive. The Fused power behind your soul-bound items has increased the reach of the Archive connection. Unfortunately, I still cant write to anywhere but our own private space.-</em>


    <em>So, that means we cant send messages?</em>


    <em>-Thats correct. Even if I try to change ess to any information, it wont allow it, and I cant write to the notation we share with Jenna, or anyone else. Somunication is out, but I can still keep your mind-map up to date in real time, now!-</em>


    That was actually pretty great news. <em>Any idea on the range?</em>


    <em>-Well, if my perception of the link is correct, we could probably have this level of ess out to nearly a thousand miles from the closest human city, though thest hundred or so might be iffy.-</em>


    T was utterly shocked at that. <em>I dearly hope Ill never be anywhere near that far from a city. At least not anytime soon.</em>


    -<em>True, but its good to know your limits. I could probably also pierce out of an enclosed pocket dimension, or through quite a bit of iron, but either of those would limit the total range.-</em>


    <em>Like Kit? I thought you did that already.</em>


    <em>-No, no. Kit is an open pocket dimension, merely an expanded space really. You know this. Im talking about one that is fully cut-off from the physical world.-</em> t hesitated. -<em>Well, this physical world at least.-</em>


    That was good to know. She hesitated. <em>Wait, if the pocket dimension is fully cut off from this physical world, then where would you be measuring from for the distance back to a human city?</em>


    <em>-That is an excellent point. I might actually have an easier time reaching the Archive from a fully disconnected space, then.- </em>She made a contemtive sound.


    <em>Well, in any case, Im d you wont be fully cut off from the Archive any time soon.</em>


    <em>-Ever. Im never going to be cut off ever again, now.- </em>There was a firmness that bordered on fear, there, but T didnt think it was a good time to address it.


    <em>I decidedly hope that that is true.</em>


    All told, it was a fruitful, but uneventful, return trip.


    After T received her pay, she immediately went to the Caravanners Guild, found Lynand Kannis, and asked for help for signing up for as many trips back and forth to Marliweather as possible, as quickly as possible.


    Shed contemted just taking a longer time in Marliweather, but she felt like the short stints with her family, spaced out, would be better for easing back into each others lives. Additionally, she wanted to get arge chunk of ventures out of the way, towards fulfilling her contract with the Caravanners Guild.


    Thankfully, the trip to Marliweather didnt have anything truly special about it, so it wasnt in high demand. It wasnt either especially dangerous, nor uniquely safe. The city wasnt in its Waning phase yet, so there weren''t extra benefits on the far end.


    While Marliweather was well situated, nearly in the center of the human territory for the moment, that didnt seem to matter much for the more lucrative routes, at least through the winter.


    Thus, T was able to secure six additional trips back and forth to Bandfast before spring would truly set in. Beyond that, the Caravanners Guild wasnt willing to let her reserve slots.


    <em>Still, twelve of my trips. That will bring me to a total of eighteen of my required ventures.</em>


    Shed discussed it with Rane and Mistress Odera on the trip back. Rane said hed join her through the winter, to get a good foundation under himself marily and to take another few visits to the Cave of the Triune. It seemed that a Mage could overdo it by visiting too often, so the trips were near-ideal for him as well. That said, he wanted to do arger loop of the human cities in the spring, whatever she decided.


    As T considered it, she thought she just might join him, but she didnt know yet. <em>At least for the non-forest cities. No more leshkin for me for a while.</em>


    Mistress Odera had no issue with the n. Apparently, some of her family was finalizing a move from Surehaven to Marliweather in the next weeks, so shed get to spend some time with them. Thus, for her, there were no downsides.


    Once all of that had been arranged, it was well and truly the end of the day, so the trio had gone out to dinner to chat and catch up.


    They were midway through the meal, when Kannis spoke up.


    Now, to be fair, Lyn and Kannis had finished their food, but T was still eating hers, and shed used that fact to focus the conversation on them for most of the time. Unfortunately, it seemed like that had finallye to an end.


    Mistress T?


    Hmm? Yeah, Kannis?


    The girls face flickered towards a grimace, and she looked down.


    T hadnt meant it as a slight, but the girl didnt qualify for the Mistress title, yet. <em>Ah, socializing. How I love it</em>


    Kannis seemed to get over her momentary irritation. I dont understand what I see when I look at you with my mage-sight.


    T had noticed the girl pulsing power through those scripts off and on both at the Caravanners Guild and at the restaurant. Feeling the awkwardness of the situation, T tried to respond as one of her teachers or mentors might have. Im d that youre keeping your eyes open, so to speak. Now, what dont you understand?


    Well, there isnt any variation to the sense of magic around you. Its almost a uniform color, and that color is a yellow-ish orange.


    Lyns eyes widened, and she turned towards T. Whats this now?


    T couldnt help but smile. Seems like you should take your own advice and use mage-sight more often?


    Lyn red. Im working on other portions of my advancement at the moment. Then, she sighed. But you are probably right. She looked towards Kannis. I did err in this. I should have been participating alongside you in your exercises and growth. Power flowed through Lyns own mage-sight scripts and the womans eye twitched. Fused and Refining You did have an interesting trip.


    Kannis cleared her throat. While I am curious about that, if I am even allowed to know the details, I am more curious how you have such a perfectly smooth manifestation.


    It is a projection, meant to keep me from triggering rms, due to my other practices. Remember whats under the visual illusion? T motioned to herself.


    Kannis shuddered slightly. Hard to forget that, so yes.


    So, that would make me appear as an absence of magic, or someone who was really clumsily trying to keep from being detected.


    The mageling was nodding along. Which would trigger all sorts of rms and defenses.


    Precisely.


    Kannis bit her lip, considering. I think I can understand that. Its like hanging a sheet over a hole in the wall. Obviously, its not going to be very textured.


    Reasonable analogy, yeah. T smiled, then continued to eat.


    Kannis turned to Lyn. What can I know about advancement?


    Lyn sighed. Not much, Im afraid. You just arent ready for it.


    Kannis grimaced slightly again, then nodded. I understand. There are reasons for dys and hidden knowledge. I will be patient until you decide that I am ready.


    <em>Huh, thats quite mature of her.</em>


    <em>-Maybe, we could learn a thing or two.-</em>


    T sighed. <em>Were already probably going to be waiting for a while before we progress on.</em>


    <em>-Speaking of that, we should talk with Holly.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, but tomorrow.</em>


    <em>-Tomorrow sounds great.-</em>


    All in all, it was a nice evening, and when it ended, T found that, somehow, it was nice to affix Kit to Lyns wall once more.


    She knew that, intellectually, it shouldnt matter where the door exited out, but for some reason she preferred it, there, in Lyns hallway.


    Something about the ce, and the people nearby, made her feel like <em>this</em> was home.


    * * *


    The next day, T and Rane joined Aproa at the Guardsmens guild for martial practice.


    More notably, Terry joined them all.


    It was decided that, as the most resilient of those present, T should fight Terry, first.


    Thus it was that T and Terry faced off across the sand of the training space.


    A selection of training weapons were randomly scattered around the sand.


    Begin! Adams clear, strong voice echoed through the yard, and T charged.


    The weapons seemed to move on their own ord as they immediately began shooting towards her.


    Terrys teleportations were so quick that T barely even saw flickers of movement as he arrived at each weapon, grabbed it, threw it, and moved on.


    She blocked all she could, which wasnt many, but thats when the chaos began.


    Each one that no longer seemed to have a chance of striking her would suddenly change direction, gaining a new burst of speed as Terry flickered to them and threw them again.


    Even though they were training weapons, they hit<em> hard</em>. As soon as they struck and bounced away, they would be caught and flung back.


    After less than twenty seconds, Adam called a stop.


    Thest weapons flew, bouncing off of, or being deflected by, T.


    Terry flickered to the far side of the space once more, polishing his talons against his beak.


    Silence fell over those watching, only broken when one of the soldiers eximed, simply, Rust. Im not fighting him.


    That caused a ripple ofughter through the group and got everyone moving once more.


    After that single bout, it was promptly decided that Terry didnt need more practice, at least not any that they could give, and that it would be too dangerous for him to do so anyways against anyone but T, even with practice weapons.


    <em>Not that it was great being his target even with blunted weapons</em>


    As for mounted practice, they were able to do some training with T riding on Terrys back, while others assaulted them.


    Inparison to the near fluid, deadly beauty Terry had demonstrated earlier, it wasugly.


    Terry hated not teleporting away and defaulted to that with regrity.


    Even when they set it up as an obstacle course for Terry to carry T through to an end goal, it proved counter to Terrys nature.


    <em>I knew he was fighting his baser instincts when we were fleeing the leshkin. I just didnt know how much.</em>


    But that was good, if T was being honest. There were a lot of pointers and tips that they could both learn from, and countless ways for them to improve in their coordination. So, it was agreed that this part would be incorporated into their regr training.


    T was able to give her schedule to Adam, and he happily agreed to incorporate it into his ongoing ss. He was actually grateful to have some hard dates that she would, and would not, be in Bandfast.


    She had lunch with Rane and Aproa, focused mainly on catching up with thetter, since shed be leaving with Rane again in a couple of days.


    Aproa had been taking ruin investigation contracts. More specifically, shed been providing protection to minor expeditions to some of the closest ruins. Unfortunately, it was pretty boring on her side of things. She had to stay above ground to keep watch, but at least it paid well.


    Once lunch was over, they all went to their regr group training with the other Archons.


    When Aproa conveyed T and Terrys mountedbat training, the whole grouptched onto the idea.


    It would have been a disaster, but Cazor was the voice of reason. After all, horses, even trained ones, do not like being in enclosed spaces with lots of loud or visually dazzling magic.


    With that idea nixed before it could even be tried, the group simply agreed to have some work with T and Terry functioning in concert, whenever it was reasonable.


    When they broke for the afternoon, T and Terry headed to Hollys workshop for the inevitable confrontation.


    As soon as she stepped through the door, Holly called from the back. You did it, girl! Sheughed maniacally, hurrying out from her workshop. Very, very nicely done. I knew you had it in you.


    T was taken aback, as was the receptionist, if the look on his face was any indication.


    Come in,e in. No need to dawdle.


    T followed Holly back into her shop.


    Now, we need to test you, see how well stabilized you are, and how far along youve gotten since you had the preparatory scripts beforehand.


    Yeah, about that-


    Holly waved her off. You can thank meter.


    T sighed. You werent allowed to tell me what you were doing?


    Of course not, dear. She gave her a long look. Most people would want such scripts too early if it was widely known. Inscriptionists would be pestered, <em>constantly,</em> to do something that wouldnt be good or effective for most Mages. Holly waved T off again. But thats an oversimplification.


    T grunted. I guess.


    So, lets do some tests.


    T looked down at her own hands, seeing the yellowing aura. It had ticked away from true orange and towards yellow at a steady rate since shed Fused, and if it continued at this pace, shed hit the half-way point in a couple more months.


    She conveyed this to Holly.


    Yes, thats wonderful, dear, I can see that. My scripts on this building can see that. Any idiot with mage-sight and a basic understanding of when you Fused could see that. That is not what Im going to test.


    T frowned. Then what are you going to test?


    I am going to determine what tools well need in order to initiate the Refining process. Everyones a little different in the extent to which they need to be Refined. She pulled out what looked like a wooden tongue depressor but radiating magic. Open up.


    What followed reminded T very much of a mundane medical exam, but conducted with tools that were clearly magical in their aura, even if not in their appearance. <em>I wonder how much of this is just for show, or some sort of borate joke.</em>


    T couldnt quite determine what they did, exactly. <em>Yes, look at this clearly magical item! Ooooo. No one can tell what it does.</em> T had to keep herself fromughing. That would actually be kind of funny. Making a bunch of things that looked really magical to mage-sight, but did nothing. <em>I should find a way to do that to one of the bricks in the city streets, and see how long it takes for someone to panic</em>


    She hesitated at that. <em>Hmmm Maybe magic does make people a bit mischievous</em>


    t didntment, but T <em>thought</em> she could hear muffled chuckling.


    Throughout the exam, Hollys face slowly lost its joy and a frown began to build. That, more than anything, pulled T out of her contemtions.


    Finally, T couldnt take it anymore. Whats wrong?


    Holly let out a long breath. Well, there is good and bad news, Im afraid.


    Isnt there always? T tried to lighten the mood.


    Dont interrupt.


    <em>Okay, not a light matter then. </em>Sorry.


    The prep work ising along nicely, and we should be able to move you to the final set of script modifications in a couple of months, if not sooner.


    Thats the good news.


    Holly gave her a long, level look.


    Sorry. Ill be quiet.


    As I was saying, youreing along nicely in that regard. Unfortunately, your scripts for intaking consumable materials didnt have quite as much effectiveness as Id hoped, given your magical density. Do you know what Refining actually does?


    T was not surprised by the seeming change of topic. She was getting used to Holly by this point.


    -<em>Bite your tongue. No one can ever get used tothat.-</em>


    She waited for a moment, considering pointing out that Holly had told her to be quiet, then decided not to be difficult. To remove impurities?


    Very good. Yes. The goal is to refine the person, physically, all the way down to their blueprints, that which governs the structure and function of their bodies.


    So, we should have a jump on that, right?


    In most ways, we do. The human body has to be built up, strength and resilience wise, before the impurities can be purged. Were doing that. Unfortunately, the bulk of the work in Refining is the painful removal of those impurities, by the Mage themselves, using magical tools.


    That soundsquite unpleasant.


    Oh, incredibly so, yes. Unfortunately, because weve been forcing the use of all that you consume, this seems to have increased the impurities in your body, at least on the macroscale.


    So, I will have more, agonizingly painful work to do.


    Precisely.


    T frowned. Wait, why did we do that, if this was a possibility?


    Because the scripts <em>should have</em> purified all the material, making it useful within you. And they <em>mostly</em> seeded, but the result is that you have moregunk in your body than the average person does.


    What does that mean?


    Well, if you were a mundane? Without immediate treatment? An early grave, likely very early. But because your systems are enhanced, it shouldnt cause any issue before we can get you purged. You will naturally purge the impurities with time, but I doubt you want to spend a decade or five doing that.


    Lovelyand no. No, I do not.


    Holly seemed to hesitate for a long moment. Finally, she sighed. I do apologize. This was a miscalction on my part. It seems like even with as magically dense as you were, the quality of powering through your gate wasnt sufficient to do what we were trying to. I couldnt find any mention of a Bound with enough magical density to even use the scripts before you, and the requirements only stated a magic density level, which you exceeded. Holly sighed. Ill have to update the information on these scripts so that no one else makes my mistake.


    T knew the scripts that Holly was referring to. They should have been fine. I understand them, Im enacting them as we speak.


    I agree, but the data doesnt lie. Youre going to have a rough Refining, once youre settled.


    T grimaced. Fair, I suppose. On that note: How am I on that front?


    I do think that a year or two to fully settle will be advisable. Though, if you want risks, you can attempt in closer to six months.


    T opened her mouth to reply, then paused to consider. <em>Why do I need to rush? Advancing is important, but such a dy would get me through my contract with the Caravanners, and I could then assess where Im at, and move forward into the next stage ofwhatever I want to be doing. It might be nice to have a change of pace, and maybe truly get to know my siblings again.</em> Yeah, I think thats wise.


    Holly gave her a long look, then shook her head and muttered to herself. I guess everyone grows up eventually.


    T decided not toment.


    -<em>Yeah, because were mature, now.-</em>


    <em>Hush you.</em>


    Holly apparently had a lot of work still to do, so she shooed T away, but not before securing a promise from T to drop in whenever she could to be scanned by Hollys workshop scripts.


    And so, thats how T spent the winter.


    She went back and forth to Marliweather as often as she could. While she was there, she spent her time with her siblings. While she was in Bandfast, she spent her time training and with her friends.


    The only break from the pleasant monotony was when Nc and Illie departed for the Academy just before the two months mark after T had reentered their lives.


    It was a simple affair, with the whole family gathering to watch them step onto the teleportation pad one after another.


    By happenstance, coincidence, or a funny twist of fate, they ended up using the same teleportation room that T had departed from. The two events couldnt have been more different.


    Where T had been alone, hiding tears, and just wanting to get away, Nc and Illie were surrounded by family and a few friends who were wishing them farewell.


    Their mother tried to push things on the twins, and T and the teleportation Mages had to continually return them to the woman, insisting that it wasnt possible to take items to the Academy.


    As confrontational as it was, it feltnice to have a somewhat normal interaction with her mother. <em>Almost like Im her eldest once again.</em>


    She didnt interact with her father at all, though he was there. She simply didnt trust herself to be civil.


    Funnily enough, since they held off to allow T to be there, they left the day before her own birthday. She didnt stick around after the twins departure, choosing to celebrate turning twenty on the road back towards Bandfast.


    To be fair, T didnt tell either of them, but Mistress Odera still seemed to know. She didnt make mention of it, but the cooks inexplicably prepared a cake for dessert that night, and gave her an extra helping, even beyond what they normally would have.


    After that, things went back to how theyd been for the remainder of the season.


    Holly reinscribed T twice during that time, updating the scripts as appropriate. They were blessedly able to confirm that Ts impurities werent getting more numerous, and were even marginally decreasing, but nothing short of the Refining process was going to remove the contaminants with any sort of efficiency.


    T made four minimum payments on her debts, as well as an additional seventy gold towards paying it off. She was able to expand Kit four times, for a total of one-hundred-and-twenty gold, bringing the dimensional storages capacity up to a total of more than six-thousand cubic feet.


    Even after all of that, including her meals while in each city, she still had a nice, tidy sum in case of emergency totaling more than forty gold.


    All told, it was a wonderfully peaceful time.

 Chapter 200: The Reason

    Chapter 200: The Reason


    T swayed gently, keeping her bnce perfectly in control atop the cargo-wagon as it trundled northward across the ins, bound for Arconaven.


    It had been a fruitful winter, especially in regards to her siblings. T had made great strides in rebuilding the foundations for rtionships with each of her brothers and sisters. She was even corresponding with several of the older ones on asion. Though, given that most of her time was spent between cities, they werent quick back-and-forths so much as touch-points between in-person visits.


    Even though Nc and Illie had departed for the Academy two months earlier, T was able to exchange notes with them as well, though the twins early sses were demanding enough that they had little free time for such things.


    Also, if the correspondances they had sent were any indication, their new friends were taking up much of what little time they had outside of training.


    <em>I hope their experience is radically different than mine. They should start solidifying their fundamental understanding in the next few months, and get their first inscriptions shortly thereafter.</em>


    It was an exciting time for them, and T felt a warmth within her at being able to be going through it alongside them, even if from afar.


    Now, spring had arrived, and with it hade more rain than usual. Copious amounts of rain that, more than anything, had reminded T of swimming through ake, every time shed stepped outside.


    That near constant deluge, coupled with the melting snow, had led to soggy, treacherous ground and lots of mud.


    Much of the londs among the rolling hills now resembled marsnd more than fertile ins, but that should pass soon enough.


    The cloud cover had finally broken around noon and with the near constant, stiff wind, the sky was finallypletely clear. Though, they were fast approaching the nightly stop and dinner.


    <em>We should reach Arconaven tomorrow. And if it stays clear, the ground should be clean and dry by the end of the day.</em> She hesitated, considering the near two weeks of constant downpour. <em>Drier at least.</em>


    <em>-Another new city to explore, finally.-</em> t didnt much care about the mud, and before they departed, she had been grousing more and more about only seeing Bandfast, Marliweather, and thend in between. In truth, T had begun to get sick of the repetitive scenery too.


    Mistress Odera sat in her customary ce near the back of the wagon, eyes closed and magical senses surveying their surroundings. She still hadnt managed to make an Archon star within her iron monstrosity, but she kept insisting that she was close.


    T didnt have to turn around to check on the woman.


    Instead, one of the small drops of blood that spun around Ts head granted her a secondary perspective via aspect mirroring.


    She no longer needed to close her eyes to keep from being overwhelmed by two sets of inputs. Nor did the movement of that perspective, as it orbited or as she shifted its focus, make her sick.


    Two other drops rotated along with the first, likewise filled with aspect-mirrors of her perception, though t was coopting the senses from those other two.


    T could still perceive through them if she so desired, but she did not desire such. Much of her focused training through the winter had been specifically aimed towards shutting out those perspectives, to allow t to be her omni-directional eyes and ears.


    And t excelled at that. Especially in sparring, t warned T of anything she might otherwise miss, and their synergy had grown to the point that T didnt have to look for herself to block most attacks that t identified.


    There was the added blessing that Ts specific mage-sight scripts modified Ts perspective, directly, rather than providing a new sense that ovepped her sight. Thus, when T mirrored her sight onto the three orbiting bloodstars, they benefited from her mage-sight as well.


    The whole process was surprisingly effective now that she and t had gotten the hang of it.


    Her tungsten bar levitated as if nailed in ce, just behind her neck, suspended by the two bloodstars inside of it. The sphere floated just in front of her sternum, simrly affixed.


    Both showed knicks, dings, and even a couple of deep cuts from where theyd directly parried attacks in sparring and during the asional aracanous encounter.


    Even though thest four months had been incredibly peaceful, all things considered, they hadnt been free of violence.


    Her elk leathers fit better than ever, given that T and t had continued to investigate how to minutely adjust the garments, precisely as they wished. Theyd recently discovered how to change the colors, and after having a bit of fun with some more garish shades, they had settled for a set of earthtones.


    Flow and Kit hung in counterbnce to each other, and shed added a row of small vesselssmaller than the width of her beltacross the back of her belt to house her bloodstars when not in use.


    The maximum shed been able to wield effectively in abat situation was still only eight, alongside those in her tungsten tools. While that wasnt an increase in number from earlier in the winter, her utility of and dexterity with them was improving by leaps and bounds. She could do more with all of them at once than shed been able to manage with a single one at the start.


    <em>Maybe tomorrow Ill add in a ninth.</em> It was about time.


    Terry lounged off to one side, sprawled out on his back, legs extended to allow his stomach to absorb as much sun on as possible.


    She asionally flicked a bit of jerky out for him, and while it vanished mid-flight, proving that hed caught it, he never seemed to move. In return, he would asionally flicker to one of the weaponsying on the wagon-top and hurtle it at her without warning. That still took him enough time that she was able to notice his absence, however momentary.


    As the weapon came her way, it was Ts task to deflect it with bloodstar or tungsten tool without turning her head, or stopping whatever she was doing at the time.


    It had turned out to be ridiculously excellent practice, if she were being honest. And it was quite a bit of fun, now that she had improved enough that she wasnt being hit with fast-flying ballistic weapons every couple of minutes.


    She still hadnt implemented the leshkin shields which sat within Kit, nor even attached the mounting tes shed had made for them. She always found reasons for dy, as they would require a few weeks of dedicated practice to incorporate into her other abilities, whenever she added them. Things were progressing at a good pace, and she really didnt feel like taking a step back towards ipetence.


    <em>Maybe by midsummer.</em>


    t snorted within Ts mind. <em>-More likely, well do it as soon as wee through a battle where they would have been useful.-</em>


    <em>Thatsfair.</em> She knew that she should get on with it, but not in the middle of a venture, and certainly on the way to a new city. <em>Ill have some free-time in Arconaven. Ill do the prep work and initial testing there.</em>


    T felt a slight warning as a hatchet sailed from near the rear-right-corner of the wagon at the back of her head. The tungsten bar simply spun, lifting slightly as it took on the appearance of a silvery, semi-translucent disc.


    The iing weapon was deflected back and down, where it struck into the wagon top with a <em>thunk.</em>


    It had definitely made things more interesting, when Terry had begun aiming such that the most effective blocking techniques would send the weapons into nearby things or people that T didnt want to harm.


    Mistress Odera grunted at the sound but didnt otherwise react. The head driver, a middle-aged woman named Bilsta, no longer jumped or even twitched at the noise, but T did detect a slight tensing of her shoulders.


    The tungsten rod stopped without seemingly needing to slow, and drifted back down to its previous resting ce.


    T obligingly tossed a hunk of jerky for Terry before she returned her focus to the present.


    It really was a beautiful day.


    She took in a deep breath, relishing the wonderfully amazing smells of oing spring, even if they were oveid by those of mud and ox-dung.


    <em>Take the bad with the good.</em>


    <em>-Then, sift out the bad and throw it away.-</em>


    T grinned. <em>True enough.</em> She hesitated. <em>Was it my perception or yours that picked up that attack?</em>


    <em>-Mine. You responded quite well.- </em>t did seem quite pleased by the sound of her voice.


    Ts grin widened, even as she allowed her perspective to track the Mage Protector who had joined her this leg of her trip. <em>Marnin.</em>


    He was passing by the right hand side of their wagon as he made a circuit of the caravan.


    Marnin was an enthusiastic Mage, a Material Creator, specializing in air. His attacks and defense were simply that,pressed, or gusts of, air. Hed been surprisingly effective in driving away arcanous threats and not causing any retaliation.


    Honestly, after seeing the man work, T had been shocked that his skill set wasnt more widely seen, especially within the ranks of Mage Protectors. The guards even seemed not to mind the lessening of harvests too much. They were, after all, not required to engage with nearly as many threats as standard.


    <em>Though, to be fair, I havent been exposed to that many, not yet.</em>


    This was her first trip after her block of back-and-forth ventures to Marliweather, and it was the first one without Rane since her very first trek to Alefast, Waning.


    Rane, unfortunately, still had not broken into Fused, though he continued to insist that he was getting close. He had taken a different route from them, beginning his loop of the cities by heading south to Makinaven. From there, he was going to go west towards Retindel, then through Truhold, Namfast, and Manaven beforeing out of the forest cities and meeting up with her and Mistress Odera in Clevenhold.


    T and Mistress Odera had decided to take the wiser path, at least for T, and go north to Arconaven. From there, shed go to Audel on the coast, then southwest to Surehaven before heading to Clevenhold to meet up with Rane. Their route had two fewer stops, so the two women would have longer hold-overs between trips, but that served Ts purposes just fine.


    She was ready to see more human cities, to experience their variety, and begin truly considering her ce in the world.


    After they met up with Rane, they would backtrack through Surehaven to Audel. Then, all together, theyd go to the new Alefast and then visit the two sites of the cities under construction, working one of the caravans going to each from Alefast.


    Thankfully, the forest to the north didnt contain any leshkin, so it wouldnt be a barrier to Ts ns.


    <em>Still, this is a half-year total trip with fourteen legs for Mistress Odera and me, seventeen for Rane.</em> Theyd even be stopping back through Marliweather as theirst city before returning to Bandfast.


    The only city that Rane wouldnt visit on his grand tour would be Alefast, the Waning one. As hed grown up there, that wasnt much of a negative, at least thats what hed said.


    Mistress Odera cocked her head to one side, and the motion brought T back to the present, once again.


    What is it? T didnt turn around, trusting the woman to hear her voice.


    Somethingodd. Do you feel that? On the wind? I think its been there, building, for a while, but I only just felt it. Mistress Oderas magical senses often manifested in the woman as a feeling, so T immediately focused on her own mage-sight.


    The wagons were entering a small stand of trees, likelying up on their stopping ce for the night. An ambush now would be rather unideal.


    <em>t? Anything?</em>


    <em>-Maybe.- </em>The alternate interface drew Ts attention to what could have been threads of power in the air-currents.


    I think so? It seems like a rxing effect. Something to lull us off our guard?


    It could be. Could be. The older Mage seemed troubled, as was quite reasonable, if T was being honest.


    Theres a bit of serenity, too. A desire foristion?


    That is what I am feeling.


    T flicked through her memory quickly, finding a few arcanous creatures that fit. One jumped to the forefront, however. Bog hag? Maybe more than one?


    Mistress Odera grunted in acknowledgement but didnt reply. T bit her lip, considering.


    I really hope its not bog hags. I didnt think they left the swamps, northeast of Arconaven. Do you think this weather is enough to have drawn them this far south? Around their other studies, T and t had taken a lot of time to thoroughly delve through the bestiaries provided by Grediv that were open to them, along with supplemental works that t pulled from the Archive.


    Theyd researched these beasts, specifically, as they were pernicious, arcanous near-sapients, almost like cyclops, who used magic to strip flesh from their victims, before using the material to patch and cover over their own grotesque forms. They preferred human flesh, but would take what they could get their slick, spiny hands on. To add to the difficulty of dealing with them, the creatures would often, somehow, bend other arcanous creatures to their will.


    No one seemed to know where they came from, and after several extensive campaigns had failed to eradicate them, humanity had moved into a mitigation posture towards the creatures.


    <em>Avoid, kill on sight, and keep the passengers close.</em>


    T nodded. Worth using the standard tactics either way.


    I think so, yes. Mistress Odera seemed more withdrawn than usual, though that might have just been Ts imagining.


    The head driver leaned back, while keeping her eyes forward. Circling the wagons, Mistresses. Its time to stop for the night.


    T nodded. Thank you, Bilsta.


    Their two-wagon caravan pulled in a wide circle before stopping in a stand of trees, a clearing already among the tall trunks ready for them to shelter from the wind. This was one of a dozen pre-prepared ces that Blista could have chosen, so there wasnt really a specific danger of ambush at this location.


    Ill go talk to the guards and connect with the cargo-slot servants. The passengers hadrgely kept themselves confined within the dimensional storage spaces set aside for them this trip. So, she had time.


    T hopped down, her feet sinking slightly into the springy turf, even as the guards were knocking on the cargo-slots to signal that the wagons had stopped for the day.


    On me, when you have a moment. The guards turned her way, their current taskplete.


    The doors swung open almost as one, and T heard cries of glee from inside.


    There was a wave of noise, as dozens of children eximed excitedly before practically boiling out through the open doors, the harried cargo-slot servants and other adults close behind.


    T froze on the spot. <em>Rust. Theyve been staying inside at all the other stops</em> The rain had stopped.


    Stop! T called, but the noise from all the passengers exiting almost as a unit and scattering in all directions overrode her.


    Mistress Oderas eyes snapped open in rm, and she turned, calling to a guard that was passing behind their stopped wagon.


    What followed was near five minutes of panicked wrangling, resulting in the whole group grumpily crowding back around the cargo-wagon, looking up at T, Mistress Odera, and Marnin, whod joined them after the group was gathered.


    T cleared her throat. Weve felt some odd magics in the air, so I want everyone to stay close.


    There was some groaning at that, but not much, thankfully. Everyone knew that caravan trips were dangerous, and that the Mage Protectors were to be respected.


    We know you want to stretch your legs, especially you little ones.


    There was someughter at that.


    But we need you to be safe. Please, keep to groups no smaller than three, and there should be at least one adult in any group. That means two children and one adult at the least.


    Murmurs of assent came back to her. They were reasonable restrictions.


    Mistress Oderas head jerked, then, her eyes widening. Mistress T.


    -<em>T, the magic is gone.-</em>


    T looked around unnecessarily, her perspective already sweeping their surroundings. <em>What changed?</em>


    She felt a fear begin to rise in her throat. Were they about to be attacked? Were they surrounded?


    Marnin, though only a Mage, was battle tested and had clearly noticed their reactions. His mage-sight wasnt always active, nor was it likely sensitive enough to see the magics that had been there, but that hardly mattered.


    The passengers obviously noticed the Mages reactions as well. One called up, even as the group as a whole pressed in closer to the wagon. Is everything alright?


    T looked back down to them. Please do a quick headcount. We might need to retreat into the wagons, quickly, and I dont want anyone being left behind.


    T watched as the servants for each cargo-slot moved through the passengers, counting their charges.


    Several parents called to their children, and that started a cascade of calls back and forth as the smaller passengers moved through the crowds towards their guardians.


    <em>There really is arge number of passengers this trip.</em>


    Thankfully, the noise started to calm down as parents and children found one another amidst the shuffle.


    Then, the reason for the fading magic came, along with a wail from a man near the middle of the crowd. Jon? Jon!! Where is Jon? Where is my son?!


    Another voice also lifted in response, a womans this time. And my Tam. I dont see him! Werent they together?


    A few moments of frantic information collecting revealed that the two children, neither older than ten, had sprinted out of the cargo-slots to y with their peers as soon as wagons had stopped. The two hadnt returned to the wagons with the others when they were called back, though no one had specifically seen them either move off or stay behind.


    T closed her eye taking a fortifying breath. <em>Think, T, think.</em>


    -<em>Well, we know why the magics have stopped.-</em> This meant it was almost definitely a bog hag.


    <em>Hopefully not more.</em>


    -<em>They caught their prey.-</em>


    T shook her head. <em>Theres no way were letting this stand.</em>


    There would be other creatures in-thrall to the arcanous humanoids. Even when they found the children, it was going to be a tough task to free them.


    Her eyes snapped open, the beginnings of a ning together within her mind.


    Terry, I need you. She raised her voice, then. Alright, quiet!


    When the din of fearful conversation calmed down, T continued.


    Heres what were going to do.

 Chapter 201: Found You

    Chapter 201: Found You


    T immediately helped to mobilize all units of the caravan guards, regardless of duty rotation. Together with the sergeants, they quickly organized a search-grid, sending the guards out in four groups of five, armed to the hilt. Each group also had res to bring attention if the children were found or if backup was needed.


    Ten more guards stayed back to guard the caravan with Mistress Odera, while all the passengers were made aware that they were to, under no circumstances, leave the space between the two wagons.


    Blessedly, no oneined, and many were already huddled around the parents of the two missing boys: Jon and Tam.


    The guards would be responsible for sweeping the grove directly around the wagons, and T with Terry and Marnin would check the countryside.


    Marnin would take therger swath, focusing east, west, and south, just in case. He was given this section partially because he could move faster in general with his given set of abilities and because with his lower magical weight, he could move faster without creating motive aura resonance.


    The other reason he was sent in the more unlikely directions was simply that he was less well equipped for dealing with the creatures that would likely be involved.


    T would be on Terry, and they were to sweep northward, in the most likely direction the children and bog hag went. <em>Oh, stars provide its only one. One should only be able to have a few creatures under its thrall.</em>


    T looked to her friend, even as she popped two ending-seeds into her mouth. Lets go, Terry.


    The terror bird flickered into ce under her, growing in size until she wasfortably situated behind his neck. He crouched low and took off at a dead sprint, weaving through the trees.


    T immediately saw a build up of a motive aura echo. A bit slower, Terry. She grimaced in frustration. Sorry.


    He slowed down, and the resonance faded.


    She almost asked him to go on ahead to look for the children on his own, but that would be incredibly dangerous, even for Terry.


    The terror bird had no defense against the subtle nudges employed by a bog hag, and the creatures were all known to be able to weaken, or even fully suppress, the magical ability of many arcanous creatures.


    That was theorized to be a cornerstone of their ability to enthrall those same beasts.


    Terry was monumentally powerful, but they just didnt know to what extent he would be vulnerable.


    <em>It would not be safe for him to get close to them. They might just be able to remove much of his advantage. </em>In the worst case, they might be able to enve him, somehow. <em>Now </em>that<em> would be a disaster.</em>


    T tried not to grind her teeth as she kept her focus tuned outward on the surrounding trees. <em>Ending-berries in my mouth. Biting them unwittingly would be bad.</em>


    She moved the two bloodstars containing mirrors of perception for t around trees to either side to increase their field of view, just in case. The guards should be through here shortly, but shed feel the fool if she passed the boys by and didnt notice.


    <em>And what a blessing it would be to find the two hiding nearby.</em>


    t chimed in. -<em>Their gates should be obvious, even through obscurement. But I agree, the wide field of view is still wise.-</em>


    They had no luck as they passed quickly through the trees. In fact, they found the first confirmation of the opposite just as they reached the edge of the grove.


    A burn wolf howled before bounding up, lunging off of a tree toe at T from the side.


    It was no bigger than arge dog but was much leaner in appearance. Its eyes glowed an ember red, and the tips of its fur were each a soft, luminescent yellow. Each hair was ck despite the tip, and had an almost charcoal quality to their appearance. Even so, they still moved as fur would on a dog. Thest thing that jumped out to T, upon quick inspection, was the trails of smoke rising from the lolling, fang-filled maw.


    T drew Flow with her off-hand, holding it in a reverse grip.


    She caught the leaping wolf with her right hand, while funneling power into Flow, shaping it into a ive, which skewered the closest of the wolves closing in on them from the other side.


    <em>Large pack.</em>


    Her tungsten rod rotated and shot backward, catching another wolf mid-lunge like a bit in a horses mouth.


    Terry, quick death.


    Terry became a flickering storm.


    T dropped to the ground, her mount gone.


    She crushed the neck of the wolf that she had caught before tossing it aside, away from the trees.


    Burn wolves had the habit of bursting into violent congrations, even after death, and she didnt want the caravan to find itself in the middle of a mini-forest fire.


    She had time to twist, transform Flow into a sword, and cut down two more lunging forms before the conflict was over.


    The tungsten rod hadnt slowed in its streaking path backwards, where it mmed the wolf it carried into a tree, then continued. First, unhinging the beasts jaw, then continued. It crushed flesh and bone, moving in an almost perfectly straight line until it impacted the tree, no part of the wolf remaining in its way.


    The rod then jammed downward, embedding into the wolf corpse before flicking it away from the tree line.


    With a blurring spin, the metal implement shed the gore it had picked up. Now clean, it stopped just as quickly, rigidly vertical once more. From there, it returned to its resting position at a more leisurely pace, resembling the speed of a thrown rock rather than a crossbow bolt.


    In those brief seconds, Terry had in more than two dozen of the beasts, knocking their bodies away from the tree-line.


    This is too many. Bog hags dont usually control whole packs. T felt building concern for the boys, and the caravan as a whole.


    -<em>A coven? Bog hags have been known to function in family units, on asion. When they do that, they can controlrger groups of other creatures.-</em>


    T did not like anything that might imply, but it made sense. One bog hag would never venture this far from the northern swamps. A group, though? They just might be bold enough to try it.


    Overhead, a circling shape drew her attention, though she didnt turn her head to look.


    <em>What do you think the chances are that that de-wing falcon is just out for an evening flight?</em>


    <em>-Low.-</em>


    <em>Another servant of the hags?</em>


    <em>-Even if not, its worth bringing down.-</em>


    <em>Agreed.</em> T locked onto the creature, without ever setting her eyes upon it.


    As she jumped back onto Terrys back, and he took off once more, she activated her magics.


    <em>Crush.</em>


    The falcon overhead shrieked in surprise, already plummeting towards the earth.


    <em>Crush.</em>


    Even as the bird began ring its own magic and straining its muscles, the second amplification hit home.


    There was no recovering after that.


    Therge creature hit the ground with a meteoric impact, but T didnt divert her attention as she scanned thend around them, Terry moving northward as fast as he could without creating a resonance with his passenger.


    <em>We should look east, closer to the mountains.</em> The thought came subtly, and she almost voiced it to Terry before she noticed that Terry was already moving in that direction.


    <em>-T.-</em>


    <em>Yeah. I noticed.</em> She shook her head. <em>We have to keep going due north, as fast as we can.</em> Keep northward, Terry.


    Terry trilled and changed his course back.


    She considered for a moment, then shook her head. <em>They wouldnt have gone due north, we should scan to the west.</em>


    Again, she opened her mouth to speak, but Terry was already turning towards the west.


    Straight north, Terry. Theyre trying to drive us off their trail.


    -<em>There.</em>- t brought Ts attention to the magic in the air. It was a ridiculously light touch. It couldnt force anything at this level of power, but it was an effective nudge.


    <em>I probably would never have noticed it if Terry hadnt started reacting, first.</em>


    -<em>Yeah, even looking for it, I missed it at first.-</em>


    When they crested the next rise to the north, T almost screamed in surprise.


    A thunderbull surged upward from where it had been waiting just over the top of the hill, crouched low.


    Time seemed to slow as Ts eyes widened.


    Power was already building, nearly to a crescendo around the bulls body.


    Terry, away! With her instant of warning, she expanded her aura to extend well beyond her body.


    Terry flickered away just as a thigh-thick bar of lightning rammed down from the sky.


    T was flung towards the ground, but mainly because her mount was gone once again.


    Thankfully, this attack was nowhere near as powerful as the griffons attack had been, several months back, and shed learned from that.


    As the lightning entered her aura, she threw her magical weight against it. The lightning, itself was being directly manipted by magic, and that was the only reason she could sway it at all.


    Natural lighting of this magnitude would have raked the entire hilltop with a scattershot of power, this was being harnessed and wrangled to hit her alone.


    She broke the force which contained the lightning.


    The energy shot outwards like the worlds brightest, most luminescent confetti, and T was knocked a step backward by the concussion of thunder that followed.


    <em>Iming to hate lightning.</em>


    Several strikes had still jumped to her, traveling down her iron paint, but they hadnt even burnt away the portion that it had traveled through. Though, the material was hot to the point of burning her flesh beneath. At least, it would have been, if she hadnt been full of ending-berry power, both from the juice and from her own scripts, which mirrored them so closely.


    As it was, the greatest inconvenience was that her eyes were temporarily blinded, and she felt a little dazed from the sh and overpowering thunder that hade through both her mundane senses and those that shed aspect-mirrored.


    <em>Next time drop the aspect mirroring and close your eyes.</em>


    <em>-Hey, you did pretty good. Dont beat yourself up over details.-</em> After a moments hesitation, t added. <em>-But, yeah. Those would be good things to change.-</em>


    Terry slew the bull before T recovered, even as quickly as she did, and he was back under her, growing to lift her into riding position before the bull hit the ground.


    Itsst effect on the world was a thunderous impact.


    -<em>Bad pun, T. No.-</em>


    <em>My head hurts. Leave me my puns.</em>


    Terry was already speeding along the ridge, heading north-east as the most efficient path northward when she regained her faculties.


    They had already covered more ground than the children could have hoped to cover in this time, were they on foot. So, they had to be close. <em>Or they were taken by a de-wing falcon and are already long gone.</em>


    T shook her head to clear the horrid thought.


    <em>No, not happening. </em>She hesitated. Something was wrong.


    There had to be something she was missing.


    <em>Think T, think Think!</em>


    The ridgeline. Why were they going along the ridgeline? Shed asked Terry to go due north.


    -<em>There it is.-</em> t brought Ts focus to another working of magic, and she shouted to Terry.


    Into the valley, now! She also nudged him to turn left.


    But they were greeted with an empty valley, save for some tall bushes.


    <em>Do we search all the bushes?</em>


    <em>-T. The magic is still there. Something is terribly wrong. I think were missing something critical.-</em>


    T stopped, took a deep breath and cleared her mind. <em>They are working magic.</em> Her eyes snapped open, and she swept the surroundings with her duel perspective, instructing t to do the same.


    They were looking for subtle inconsistencies in the zeme of the world around them. The currents of magic should be uniform and predictable but <em>THERE!</em>


    Back near the grove there was something wrong. It was in a valley just to the east of where shede out, as evident by the still smoking bodies of the burnt wolves.


    The zeme was too calm, like the eye of a hurricane.


    As soon as T locked her focus on it, a horrific screech arose from the depths of that valley, and it was as if a sheet was torn away.


    Terry, as fast as you can. Get me over there!"


    Terry crouched low and practically rocketed back the way they hade, much, <em>much</em> faster than theyde this way.


    T practically zed with power as her speed instantly created a motive aura resonance, which continued to build, shouting her power to the world.


    She didnt care.


    Climbing up the hill towards the grove was a small army of monsters.


    <em>Dont exaggerate, T. Theres only about a hundred of the beasts.</em>


    What had, a moment before, seemed an empty hillside was now speckled with dozens of burn wolves, terror birds of differing elements, hearth snatchers, rock spiders the size of a horse, and other minor arcanous creatures.


    It had been a clever tactic.


    Steal children to force a search. That way, the defenders would be spread out. Ideally, the strongest could be nudged to be even further before the true attack came.


    <em>They n on taking everyone.</em>


    Then, as T and Terry came closer at incredible speed, she saw them. At the base of the hill, still nearly a quarter of a mile away, six stooped figures surrounded a wide t hillock, on which two bodies wereid out.


    "NO! T pulled out a re, and fired it off, signaling that shed found the boys and that the danger was to more than herself and them.


    She didnt let herself focus on her goal, instead she focused on that which was in her way. She tried to lock onto the hags, but their features, and locations kept shifting subtly.


    -<em>Illusion. Not mental this time.-</em>


    <em>So, there might be more, or fewer?</em>


    <em>-Exactly, and they might not be exactly where they seem.-</em>


    <em>Are we sure theyre down there at all?</em>


    <em>-Yes, the source is in the same area as the illusion look there, there, and here.-</em> t drew Ts focus to various aspects of the illusion and the surrounding magics, along with the general pattern of the zeme of their surroundings as a whole.


    <em>All right. Its a fight, then.</em>


    The hags screeched at her, and the sound, even as distant as they were, hit her like a physical blow, the magic around her ears fighting to keep it from getting to her.


    Terry flinched, letting out a sound of his own that was disturbingly close to a whimper before he seemed to buckle down and increase his speed all the more.


    T was a ming beacon of resonant power as they crossed thest hundred yards.


    The creatures that had been advancing on the trees turned at the sound of their masters calls, facing the new threat and charging, their own challenges added to the hags cries.


    Terry leapt high in thest moments, then flickered away, engaging the closest enthralled creatures as T dropped on to the nearest hagonly to pass right through the illusion.


    <em>Enough!</em> T threw her aura wide, filling it with as much of her magical weight as she could.


    It felt like her body was mmed by a dozen sledgehammers, but she endured, wrenching control over the zone around her from her enemies.


    The illusion shattered, and T was left facing <em>ten</em> bog hags, all with their hands raised in her direction.


    Power mmed through her eyes, overwhelming the defenses there instantly and driving into her mind.


    -<em>Ive got this.-</em> t took the brunt of the attack, which felt like a cold-chisel being driven into Ts orbital cavities. The alternate interface let out a pained, whining grunt, but her goal had been aplished.


    Ts mind was mostly uninhibited.


    With fury in her eyes, T instantly saw which of the hags had the most power flowing through them.


    <em>Crush.</em>


    The central creature dropped to the ground, squealing in surprise. <em>Like a gutted pig.</em>


    That lessened the strain on t, and together, they quickly targeted more, going for incapacitation on a wide scale before killing them.


    Though, as T enacted <em>Crush</em> over and over again sweeping through her enemies, she sprinted towards their dropping forms.


    <em>Flow will end them before they can recover.</em> In that vein, she threw the knife forward, sending power into it to reshape it into a sword even as it tumbled towards her enemies.


    It beheaded the lead hag and was already being <em>pulled</em> back to her hand as thest of the hags copsed under the influence of Ts <em>Crush.</em>


    The thralls were going mad, and T had to slow her headlong rush to deal with frothing wolves, screeching terror birds, chittering spiders, and other creatures that had gotten around Terry to charge her.


    In her other perspective, T could see Terry flickering through the mass of gathered foes, eviscerating them even as they sought to overwhelm him with the sheer volume of their power.


    Unfortunately, it seemed to be working.


    T didnt know if the savage intelligence of the hags was specifically directing the beasts or if they were just well coordinated in some other manner, but the arcanous creatures were filling the valley with hostile power to the point that Terry had very few ces that he could go without immediately sustaining injuries.


    Still, he wove and shed, finding holes in the defense and filling the low ground with torrents of blood.


    But he wasnt perfect.


    Even at this distance, T could see burned feathers and cuts on her friends flesh.


    He had taken more damage in thest minute than shed seen him take in total through the entirety of their time together.


    She needed to help him, and the best way to do that was to end the threat of the hags. If the beasts were still fighting with their masters gone, T and Terry would have a bloody conflict to face together, but she needed the chief devils gone, first.


    That in mind, she continued to hurtle Flow at the hags and call it back, killing at least one hag with each toss. As she did that, she had to fight the enthralled with her fists, feet, and bloodstars. She was even able to crack the ending-seeds and exhale dissolution power into two different foes as she fought forward. <em>Maybe a second weapon wouldnt be a bad idea after all</em>


    Even as her advance was slowed by the tide of lesser creatures, she and Flow reaped a harvest of death among the hags. Those enemies fought futilely to return to their feet and died in the attempt.


    Less than two minutes after Terry had flickered away, T slew thest hag, and it was as if a wave of <em>something</em> passed through the assembled arcanous creatures.


    They froze in ce en masse for one horrifying instant, then with shrieks, and chitters, and yowls, and bellows, the animals scattered in every direction, save towards the trees. There were already noises of charging men and womening from that direction.


    Exhausted, T turned back towards the rocky rise on which shed seen the two boys, even as Terry flickered to her shoulder. The terror bird was favoring one leg, smoke rising from still smoldering feathers around several burned patches of flesh.


    Well get you seen to as soon as we can. But her mind was on the low hillock as she raced over.


    She already knew what shed find, but she refused to let it sink in.


    As soon as she could clearly see whaty atop the rise, she slowed, color draining from her face, and her chest tightening.


    The two boysy stretched out, their shirts stripped from them, their throats slit.


    Shed known as soon as shed seen them. Theyd had no gates.


    Now, their bodiesy before her, dead for too short a time to even have cooled off.


    Even so, there was no blood around them, indicating theyd been killed elsewhere and brought here.


    <em>They were killed as soon as they were taken, werent they</em> It wasnt a question, but t answered anyways.


    -<em>So it would seem.-</em>


    * * *


    She was joined by a host of guards and Marnin shortly thereafter, and she updated them on what had happened.


    The boys bodies were already in Kit, and the pouch had never felt heavier.


    It was a long trek back to the caravan.


    The sobs and wails of the boys parents, when T had presented them with the bodies along with her regrets, would haunt her nightmares for years.


    The clearing was somber that night as everyone was faced with the stark reality of the dangers that they were all too aware of, even if just in concept.


    Mistress Odera tended to Terrys injuries, and sat in consoling silence with T for the entire time.


    T was grateful for the womans presence, even more so that she didnt press. Instead of talking, T wrote up her reports, and passed them to Mistress Odera before volunteering to take the first shift on watch.


    She couldnt imagine sleeping, with her mind still filled with images of those dead boys.


    The older Mage asked if she wanted to talk, but T had asked to wait until morning. I need time to process this.


    The woman had smiled sadly, then nodded, granting the request of first watch.


    They discussed the need to move the caravan, due to Ts aura resonance, but they both agreed that it was such a short burst that it shouldnt be an issue, not this close to Arconaven.


    That city was less than a dozen miles away, after all.


    <em>Theyd almost made it</em>


    T sat up,te into the night, watching over the caravan.


    Just as midnight was approaching, and with it the end of Ts shift, a form appeared beside her, seemingly from out of thin air.


    T had no time to react as Revered power seized her without effort, locking her in ce physically and magically. The air was practically drowning in the deep blue of her foes aura.


    Fear gripped her down to her soul. t was gone, frozen just as Ts mind and magic were. Her bloodstars couldnt move, her very soul was under someone elses power.


    A too-white grin spread across the arcanes face, satisfaction as in in his features as the blood-red of his eyes.


    Within the stillness of both body and mind, T heard a horrifyingly familiar voice, the tone somehow bringing to mind images of blood, Found you.

 Chapter 202: Blood

    Chapter 202: Blood


    Tali woke up early, before the false sun had brightened to announce theing of a new day.


    With a thought and a flick of her magic, her nightwear retracted into a band around her neck, beneath her saorsa-cor.


    With a simple aspect-mirror, she pulled the magical effects of her clothing that allowed it to be self-cleaning onto herself. She did a few little hops, and circr movements of her appendages, before bending forwards and shaking out her hair.


    She pulled herb from her side table and ran it through her hair, only needing one stroke per section of hair to detangle it and get thest vestiges of unwanted things from among the strands. She then braided it starting near her left temple, going across the back of her head, and ending at the base of her neck on the right side, so that the braid would hang over her right shoulder.


    This was a familiar routine, so there wasnt very much dust or grime to rid herself of. Still, she felt cleaned and refreshed after the short ablutions.


    Tali flicked out her magic once more into the band around her neck, not the cor, and it grew into her standard outfit: a set of blood-red leathers, molded to her form, but by no means tight or restrictive. They were more modest than those that some other Eskau wore.


    <em>Youre not one, yet, Tali. Dont get ahead of yourself.</em>


    For some reason, she paused, as if awaiting a response, but one never came.


    <em>Of course not, fool. Youre not speaking.</em> She shook her head. It was one of the unfortunate artifacts of her ident that still lingered, even so many monthster.


    Her cleansing and dressing done, she took a moment to look over her surroundings.


    She was in a in room, just as she liked it.


    Quick motions left her bed neatly made, and ready for her to return that night.


    The bed was firm with a simple nket atop the straw mattress.


    The Houses holding didnt ever get truly cold, so more wasnt really needed. <em>Not that I would need more nkets, even if it did.</em>


    She pulled her dimensional pouch, her bloodstar rack, and protian weapon from her bedside table and put them on her belt. The weapon and pouch hung to counterbnce each other and her bloodstars went across her low back.


    <em>Getting ahead of yourself again, Tali. Its not a protian weapon, and Masters choice ensured it never would be.</em>


    Even so, she hung the morphic weapon from her belt.


    It could change shape as all protian weapons could, but true representatives of those glorious creations could take the form of any melee weapon, as well as near infinite variations there-in, hers could only assume the shape of three.


    Protian weapons were also all vestiges, each containing and powered by a human soul to ensure that the Eskau that wielded them were never without magic to bring about the will of their Masters.


    <em>But, instead of crafting me into such a weapon, and finding a warrior to wield me, Master broke tradition, and chose me as both weapon and wielder.</em>


    He had lifted her from one sacred duty to another, one beyond even the dreams of her kind.


    And then shed been injured.


    <em>Courage, Tali.</em>


    A simple blow to the head had scrambled her mind, fractured her memories, and set her training back significantly, when the Masters trial was so close. The healing hadnt even beenplicated, but the warrens of the mind arebyrinthine, and the healers, and even Master himself, had not been able to restore her fully.


    She shook herself, leaving her windowless room behind.


    She had no need to lock the door.


    Even if she kept anything in the room itself, no one would vite anothers space within the Houses hold. Even her Masters greatest opponents within the House wouldnt break that taboo.


    <em>Even if I am a human. Even if my very existence vites tradition and my every footfall in this ce pushes up against propriety.</em>


    She turned her thoughts back to her training as she took the short walk through the water gardens to get to her training tform.


    There, among the life and beauty of the garden and surrounded by water, was a stone circle that was twenty feet across.


    Tali had to cross a bridge to reach the stone, one of several that connected around the circumference.


    Several trees grew up from the water between the bridges to offer some shade to the space, regardless of how the false sun was used to bathe the hold with light.


    She was just grateful that her magics allowed her to see well-enough to navigate in the dark of simted night.


    In the cool of the early morning, as the sky began to brighten, Tali moved through her stretches, then strengthening exercises, and then onto her morphic weapon techniques.


    She both hated and loved going through the forms.


    She loved them, because she should have been forbidden from learning them. They were a treasured set of sacred techniques designed specifically for use with morphic weapons. The Way of Flowing Blood was restricted to the Pirs of the House, their Eskau, and those who were to be tested for one of those positions.


    Even being able to see them would have been an honor, and she had been granted the honor of learning them, herself.


    She hated the forms for two reasons. First, she did not have a true protian weapon, thus the techniques had needed to be modified for her to use them with her own morphic weapon. What she had learned was a broken, cobbled-together imitation of the true beautyying forever outside her reach.


    Second, ever since her ident, the movements had felt unfamiliar, like she was trying to control someone elses body. Only now, nearly six months after the blow to her head, was she finally back to a state of feeling in control as she moved through the liquid stances, blocks, and strikes.


    The Way of Flowing Blood was a thing of near-sovereign mastery, requiring movements that no unenhanced being could possibly hope to use effectively, just as it utilized the morphic weapon in a way that no mundane weapon could ever stand in for. Though, in her case the weapon was more limited than ideal.


    Still, she did have one advantage that no other Eskau had ever held.


    As her body settled into the rhythm of the techniques, her bloodstars rose from her belt, moving inplement with her physical form.


    <em>I may not have a protian weapon, but I am not lesser.</em>


    Aside from the single drop which she used to give herself the equivalent of eyes in the back of her head, the remainder of her thirteen bloodstars were embedded in groups of three within three round discs of an unknown material, as well as a single within a sphere and two within a rod of tungsten.


    Master had provided the housings when hede that fateful day. Hed provided so much then and even more since.


    She let her mind wander as she used thebat techniques as a form of meditation.


    She had been ready to be a fount, bound within her soul-bound weapon in more ways than one. She would have be the power source within a protian weapon, a thing of legend, which would have defended the Master and added to the glory of the House for millennia. She could not have conceived of a greater honor.


    Her imagination had beencking.


    He had not only offered to raise her to Bound, and then to Fused, but he had asked if she wished to be trained up to be his Eskau, his enforcer, the hand that brought about his will both within and outside of the house.


    She had wept with joy.


    No human had ever even been given the <em>chance</em> to be such.


    It had been more than that, though. A Pir of the House was only raised to that position, if their chosen Eskau was proven worthy. The potential Pir''s greatest test was whom they put forward, both in the quality of the protian weapon, and the skill of the Eskau who wielded it. He had chosen her for <em>both.</em>


    She would not let him down.


    She had dedicated her every waking moment to rising to equal his faith in her.


    But then, the ident.


    She winced internally, but held perfect form, not pausing in her fluid movements. Her discs, the rod, and ball, all moved around her in perfect harmony with her body, protecting thergest holes in her defenses, which would otherwise be exposed by each technique.


    As she reached the end of the final form, her body singing with the pleasure of the kinesthetics of the movements, she heard light pping.


    In horror, she felt the color drain from her face.


    She could see him, now, obvious in her perspective through her bloodstar, floating near the base of her skull.


    She spun, dropping into a kneeling bow. Master. My apologies for keeping you waiting.


    Your apology is eptable. His voice was wonderful, a joy to her ears. It reminded her, somehow, of the sound that the blood of their enemies would make as it flowed across a dry riverbed.


    You are kind, Master.


    And you are wise to recognize that. Lift your head.


    Tali did so.


    It is time for breakfast, and there is something we must discuss.


    Her heart hammered within her chest, one thought dominating her mind. <em>How will he let me serve him, today?</em>


    The Master pped his hands twice, and servants came forward, bearing heaping trays of food.


    Tali could easily see the power radiating from each dish, even if not each servant.


    Only one of the servants was human, and he was gateless, beneath notice. Still, he bore her pitcher of ending-berry juice, so she allowed him to approach and set it beside her.


    The other servants were a mix of Low races, called such for how difficult it was for them to draw in and maintain magical power. Even such as they were, they were still above the gateless human.


    She once would have taken time to identify each one, reveling in their uniqueness, but she was a long way from her upbringing. After all, she had been born with a gate, a gift from the sovereigns themselves. That had been her ticket away from her humble beginnings.


    It was her gate and the Masters benevolence that had brought her here.


    She hid a contemptuous smile, keeping her face appropriately neutral.


    These creatures were beneath her, in truth.


    Where they would struggle to draw in power, she <em>created </em>it.


    Where they would lose their magical density almost as soon as they left a region with high amounts of power, Tali could contain and increase her magical weight even in zones of absolutely no magic.


    Simply put, she was better than them.


    And the Master was higher still. As her eyes flicked to him, checking to ensure she didnt displease him with a gesture or nce, she marveled at the wells of power he so casually carried with him.


    He was easily capable of hiding any from prying eyes, but she could still see three vestiges, disyed for any with the eyes to see.


    A glove, on his left hand; an undershirt, beneath his tunic; and the light boots on his feet all radiated power.


    Talis one regret about her elevation to potential Eskau was with the knowledge now, when her service wasplete, she would never be able to be a source of power, within a vestige. <em>My service will one daye to an end.</em>


    She hated the very idea, even while she gloried in the opportunity she had to serve, <em>now.</em>


    When the food wasid out around her, the servants departed without a sound.


    Tali took a moment to take in the spread. The meats came from creatures of magic known for their physicality. The fruits and grains from nts that held magicsplementary to her own.


    Everythingid out before her would make her <em>better,</em> more than she could be without the added might.


    Such were the continued blessings bestowed upon her by her Master.


    Without a word from her Master, Tali began to eat.


    He nodded approvingly; he had no patience for dallying. Besides, the food would lose power by the minute, if she dyed.


    Good, good. You are still recovering well. I am gratified to see that you have finally settled into the Way of Flowing Blood.


    Truthfully, it had finally felt natural for nearly a week now, but it was of little consequence. So, she felt no need to correct him.


    Even so, it was a reminder of how far shed fallen before her recovery. She did her best not to wince and nodded her thanks.


    I am grateful for this, as a date for the next sh of candidates has been set.


    Tali froze at that, swallowing and then taking a quick drink of ending-juice to clear her mouth. Master?


    Tomorrow. His true ck skin bunching up as he sneered. They thought to unbnce us withst minute notice, but you will perform as I need you to.


    Yes, Master. She went back to eating, all while keeping her attention fixed on him so as to not miss a word.


    The other potential pirs will be arriving today with their Eskau candidates. I think it best if you are not within the hold when they arrive. They should not try anythingunworthy of themselves, but Id rather not risk it. You will return this evening for the feast, and tomorrow, you will fight the five others. As you know, the dominant Eskau will earn their masters a ce as a Pir of our House.


    She knew that all too well. The candidates were allowed to use any method to gain mastery. Diplomacy, both beforehand and in the ring, were encouraged as a true Eskau needed such skills to be effective.


    In the past, such shes had been solved by games of strategy, shes of wit, or other games of skill, though that was rare, because it was a rare warrior who would trust their fate to anything but the de.


    In truth, the losers didnt have to die. In fact, those who were beaten, or who surrendered, were often added to the followers of the victor. In that case, the master of the candidate was usually offered a position under the new House pir. But that was not always the case, and the losers were <em>always</em> at the mercy of the victor, no matter how such a victor came to be so named.


    Tali had no delusions of surrender and peaceful service being an option for her, or her Master.


    Not only was it her Masters wish that she im utter victory at any cost, but her existence would not be tolerated if she failed. It would barely be tolerated even if she seeded, but she could secure her Master auded position as a Pir at the very least, regardless of how her own status was perceived.


    Tomorrow would be final victory or painful death.


    <em>Finally. I can finally live up to my purpose.</em>


    Now, his voice pulled her back to the present moment, how is your head, today?


    Tali did shrink in on herself at that question, even if just a bit. I am well. Ive not had any pain, nor has the monitoring script activated. It was a great shame to her that Master had been forced to add scripts to monitor her consciousness after the ident. Even worse, they had been fundamentally integrated with her mental enhancements. They could never be removed.


    She would carry those marks of her failure, forever.


    Power did flow through the script, but it was in a dormant state. Master had exined that anypse of consciousness, save falling asleep, would trigger it, and given her shaky health, that would likely mean that her service was at an end.


    She would do <em>anything</em> to prevent that script from activating.


    Good. Any odd memories, orpses in your understanding?


    No, Master. Does that mean you can remove your working? There, nestled within her mind was a powerful spell-form, enacted by her Master rather than being an additional inscription set within her own flesh.


    It contained a massive amount of knowledge that she <em>should</em> have, but which was made suspect by the ident. Whenever she encountered a situation where her knowledge wascking, that working would provide the information she needed to not embarrass her Master or the House.


    She hated it.


    Like so many things ofte, it was a constant reminder of her failure, and she strove, daily, to fill in the gaps, which should never have been there.


    Master shook his head. No. It will remain. I built it toe apart when you have no more gaps to fill. Then, and only then, will I consider you fully recovered.


    Yes, Master. She quietly resolved to increase her studies, to end the need as soon as possible.


    Finish up. We must reinscribe you, and then you will spend the day in the city.


    She nodded and began to eat once more instead of replying verbally.


    In order to honor Masters time, Tali stopped breathing and simply ate as fast as she could stuff the food down. Her inscriptions would handle it from there, and they were about to be refreshed, so that wasnt an issue.


    In less than five minutes, she polished off thest of the feast. She returned her breathing to normal at that point. While she didnt require breath, it did use her inscriptions to go without, so she kept up the habit when reasonable.


    Without need of instruction, Tali stood,manding her clothing to retract back into the band around her neck, below the saorsa-cor.


    Her pouch, bloodstar storage, and morphic weapon fell to the stone.


    She lifted her arms and held them straight out before she spread her feet so that they were shoulder width apart.


    With a flex of will and power, she deactivated the inherent protection within her garments. The magically created defense was such that it would protect her, regardless of how much, or how little, of her body the clothing covered.


    The final requirement for her to fulfill was to manage her magic. First, she pulled all of her power out of her scripts and stoppered her gate. Then, she had to take all the magic that she had just consumed and hold it in suspension.


    Master used to do the reinscribing before she ate, but that changed as she recovered, and now it was a test and training in one.


    Be Reinscribed. With a casual motion, her Master flicked his hand forward and gold wire streamed seemingly out of nowhere, though Tali knew it came from Masters dimensional storage.


    Silver and copper joined the gold, but in far smaller quantities.


    As the wires approached her, they branched out, each branch getting smaller and smaller, until each was the size needed. In some cases, that was so thin that she couldnt see the fment even with her enhanced vision.


    Then, the pain came.


    All across her body, the metal breached her skin. It was only by Masters magic that it could do so. Even without active power running through her, her body was enhanced to the point that it took a <em>lot</em> to cause her harm.


    But now, she was being pierced in uncountable ces all at once; no part of her spared.


    It was only through monumental discipline and self-control that she kept all parts of herself from moving, any muscle from tensing.


    Master was simply following the inscriptions that were already in ce, so there was no chance of error, assuming she didnt move.


    So, she didnt.


    If shed been asked, shed have assured the asker that her Masters magic didnt need her to stay perfectly still, but hed asked her to try the first time hed inscribed her, and so shed made it her mission to be as perfect in following the request as possible.


    In less than a minute, it was done.


    Her skin was covered with a sheen of sweat and blood, but as she released her power, her body healed nearly instantly. Blessedly, none of the damage was too extensive, so it only took a couple of days worth of energy and nutrition from her reserves. <em>Ill make that back up with lunch.</em>


    A quick aspect-mirror and a few hops caused the blood and sweat to fall free, leaving her clean once more.


    Come. Master turned and walked away, not ncing back to ensure she obeyed. She couldnt help a small smile from blossoming across her face at his confidence in her obedience.


    As she scooped up her items and returned them to her belt, she briefly noticed the blood-sttered, dirty remains of her feast. <em>I hope they clean this up before I get back.</em>


    Without another thought, she followed after, her clothing regrowing as she walked.


    She knew their destination. To go out into the city, she would need a key-ring. It was a familiar requirement and process, but she still stayed a step behind her Master, nking him on his left.


    He didnt correct her, so she knew that shed chosen correctly, and her smile grew.


    Of course, they went to the armory.


    As the heavily inscribed doors opened, power flooded outward in a wave.


    The two of them stepped inside quickly, closing the door behind them to keep the power as contained as reasonable.


    With the odd <em>woosh-click</em> of a sealing airlock, Tali and her Master were sealed within.


    She nced around. While she couldnte here whenever she wished, shede often enough that it no longer made her knees weak to behold the wealth of the House.


    Nearly every item within this sacred vault was a vestige, powered by an honored soul who would serve the House of Blood for eternity.


    Tali winced internally, losing some of her smile with the thought that she would never be among them. Her service would, one day, end. <em>Master made his choice, and I will honor it. There is no turning back now.</em>


    They walked past a rack of non-morphic weapons, though they were anything but mundane. Each held immense power, and each was a deterrent to their foes, to be wielded by trusted guards in the case of an armed conflict.


    Pieces and suits of armor filled one wall on carefully organized racks, most were single items powered by a single soul, but one suit stood separate, each piece was powered individually. <em>Regalia of War.</em>


    A House was measured based on how many elite warriors it could bring to battle at need. The House of Blood could field twenty, though only one came from this branch, from this hold.


    <em>And Master will be the second, tomorrow.</em> She would make it so.


    In a side room, items of a non-violent nature were housed, including the key-rings for the hold.


    Taigh, we need one copper key-ring.


    The column in the corner of this side room red to life. Within it was a fount of tremendous power, nurtured for millennia, slowly having its flowrate expanded until it could be the heart and literal soul of this hold.


    The column contained the inscribed, sudo-intelligent interface, which governed the magics of the hold.


    Greetings, Be-thric, potential Pir. Authority recognized. Whom do you wish to bind the key-ring to? It would be useless for you, unless you then gave up your gold.


    The ring is for this one. Master pointed to Tali.


    Understood.


    A side case opened, and a copper ring floated out.


    Tali extended her hand as she knew was needed, and the ring slipped onto it, tightening to match her fingers size. The result was that the ring was wider than it had begun, but now it would note off without the removal of the digit.


    Magic red and inscriptions appeared, impressed into the inside of the copper, against her skin.


    Requestplete.


    Master turned to Tali. Begone. Do as you please until third bell after noon, then return to attend me for the feast.


    She bowed low. As my Mastermands.


    They exited the armory together, then went their separate ways.


    Tali strode with purpose through the hold.


    Low race servants scampered out of her way, Mid races bowed at her passage, and Tali, herself bowed to and stepped aside for the High race members of the House.


    <em>Each has a ce, and in our ce, we thrive.</em>


    One way or another, after tomorrow, she would bow to no one save the Pirs ever again.


    She came to the massive front gate of the hold and held up her key-ring.


    The magic defending and sealing the entrance recognized the authority of the device, and opened for her, allowing her to exit through a small, person sized door set into one side of the gate.


    She quickly dove into the magic of her clothing, and guided it to form the crest of the House of Blood on her upper, left chest. She surrounded it with a copper braid to denote her status as a candidate. With that done, and a deep breath, Tali stepped out of the hold, and into the District of Doors.


    The street wasnt crowded, but it was far from empty. Arge part of that was how tightlypacted the poption was in this, wealthiest of districts within the city of toiri.


    Here, the Houses had their holds, and the wealth of each House was disyed by howrge they were able to afford to have their door.


    The door for the House of Bloods hold was thergest within three blocks, the other doors around them leading to the holds of minor houses, merchants, or even master craftsmen that either were allied with the House of Blood, or who were hoping to be.


    The power was palpable in the air, even though each hold would have been made as efficient as possible. The result of so much magic being used in close proximity made this the most magic-dense part of the city. Hence its prestige.


    Tali grinned to herself at the circr nature of the thing. More doors meant more power, which made the district more desirable, so more people wanted to have their holds there.


    <em>We are a funny lot.</em>


    She turned and walked towards the market district and food. <em>No need to wait until lunch.</em>


    As she walked, she moved the power within her, gathered through her breakfast. She guided it to ovey the matching scripts within her, reinforcing and augmenting their enhancement of her physicality.


    The ending-berry power was especially intoxicating as it rendered her nearly invincible, though it was notoriously less than reliable in defending the integrity of a brain.


    Ancient humans had used ending-berry power to foment several rebellions, and so shed been reluctant to use the power due to the association, but Master had insisted that it was too useful a tool to ignore. She had, of course, acquiesced.


    The people moving around her were of uncounted races. There were beast folk of all kinds and hue folk of all shades, as well as others that didnt fit as nicely into broad categories. The races she could see ranged from Low to High, though they all appeared simr to her magic-sight in the dense power of the District of Doors.


    She even saw a few humans, though they stuck to the sides of the road, staying out of everyone elses way. None had gates.


    She was the only gated human shed ever seen in person, outside the shaping ground.


    Gated humans were the most honored of servants to the houses, but that honor came with it very tightly regted responsibility. She was unique.


    Unfortunately, that meant that a lot of others noticed her, and stared at her, wherever she went.


    Her obvious house crest kept most trouble away, but most creatures didnt have the perception to see her as anything other than simply human.


    It was a short walk to the near-edge of the market district. The proximity of all the amenities was another benefit to the District of Doors.


    In the center of the market district stood the citys core.


    More than a thousand founts, bound together and cultivated to empower the city and all the services that it provided.


    <em>Beautiful.</em>


    Tali couldnt help but stare in awe at the monument to magical advancement.


    Unfortunately, today it was marred by a group of gateless humans, wearing rags, scrubbing the street clean.


    It was meaningless, demeaningbor, reserved for those who had tried to upset the status-quo. That close to the citys founts, magic could clean the streets without any loss to anyone.


    Tali looked away in shame. How could any of her people, however distantly rted, not see the ce of honor that humans held in society?


    Nothing in modern life would function without the gift of service gated-humans offered.


    <em>Fools.</em>


    It seemed like some others shared her views, even if not her reaction to them.


    There were some hecklers, and a few people got rough with the humans, but since they never fought back the aggressors usually moved on quickly. There werews, after all. One couldnt go around beating the defenseless.


    <em>And thew considers anyone of a lower race to be defenseless before those of the upper.</em>


    Still, all violence wasnt prohibited. That would just be unreasonable. Over the top abuse was curbed, and since the humans werent fighting back, anything more than a few bruises or broken bones would have been dealt with harshly.


    <em>Order must be maintained.</em>


    Shaking her head, Tali approached a rather busy food stall, working her way through the crowd to ce her order, passing over a few coins before epting a massive tter of meat.


    Those around her gawked at what she was carrying away, but no one stopped her. At least not until arge, teal skinned man stepped in her way. <em>Unfortunate color, that.</em>


    Still, he hadnt picked his birth, and the hue folk came in all shades.


    Regardless, it seemed like she was going to have the opportunity to demonstrate the power of her house once again. It was quitemon for something like this to happen whenever she went into the city. Her rank in the House of Blood, along with her obvious humanity, made her look like an easy target to bring shame to her House. It was asionally inconvenient but hardly new or difficult to deal with.


    <em>I do wish theyd waited until after I ate to challenge me.</em>


    Getting food for the other rabble, girl? His voice was smooth, like ocean waves on a shallow beach.


    <em>What?</em> She nced down. She was indeed carrying enough food for arge group, but it was all for her. She also noticed that her burden was blocking the sigil on her chest. That changed the situation. No, I-


    Are you correcting me, filth? He went to push her, but she fluidly stepped to the side, letting her foot linger just long enough to trip him as he passed her.


    He fell with a cry of rm, groaning after he hit the ground.


    She looked down to see if he was all right, inspecting him closely. After all, she didnt want to be in vition of thew, and if shed identally caused him to die from a simple fall to the paving stones? That would be quite the embarrassment on her Masters House.


    She shook her head. No, I was just trying-


    Her focus was fully on the downed man, she wasfortable with her surroundings, thinking he was a lone actor. As such, she didnt react when his friend stepped from the crowd behind her, even as he brought a heavy wooden chair down towards her head.


    However, Tali was not a fool, nor was she some waif of the street.


    She was an Eskau candidate.


    She contemted drawing her weapon and cutting the attacker in half, but this was a misunderstanding, and she might get blood all over her food.


    She was hungry.


    <em>So, I shouldnt kill them.</em>


    She could have stepped aside, but that might actually let the attacker hit his friend with the chair. As humorous as that would be, it might actually end up with the one on the ground being killed. If that happened, there would be guards involved. Worse, they might need to contact her Master, and there was <em>no</em> chance she was going to let him be disturbed with his peers arriving at the hold.


    No, this was an opportunity to show her strength, the strength of her house, and her own wisdom in handling such a situation.


    <em>I could just let it hit me. That would do basically nothing to me, and it would send the message loud and clear.</em>


    She almost did just that, but then sighed internally. That was foolish, and if he had some sort of magic to empower his strike, it might backfire. Taking the risk was careless, and careless people died.


    <em>Fine. Ill block. Doing that should give them pause, then I can correct the misunderstanding and get on with my day.</em>


    That decided, she almostzily brought her left arm up to block.


    She could stop heavily inscribed maces with that block. The chair stood no chance.


    But, the chair wasnt metal.


    It wasnt even <em>inscribed</em>.


    It shattered on her arm, allowing the back supports, still being driven downward, to m into the back of her head with almost no loss of power.


    The teal man behind her was obviously heavily magically enhanced for strength as well as other things, but even that wouldnt have been enough to defeat the protective of magic, originating from her clothing, defending her head.


    Unfortunately, as the wood turned to pulp against her defenses, power red within the hue folks arm, and the energy of the strike<em> shifted.</em>


    Talis eyes widened in recognition of the spell-form even as it activated, while she watched through her bloodstars mirrored perception.


    The old-growth hardwood held together more than well enough to impart a great deal of energy, which the mans power carried <em>past </em>her defense to strike her a <em>thumping</em> blow.


    Anywhere else, she might have been bruised. A strike to her head, however?


    <em>Ru-</em>


    * * *


    Tali hadnt even slumped in the instant after shed been struck. Her vision had barely flickered ck.


    <em>That was close. I thought that had gotten through, somehow.</em>


    A pulse of power exploded from the base of Talis skull.


    <em>-DING-</em>


    A sound, almost like a bell, hummed through her thoughts, and she found the note calming, or it would have been if she hadnt had a strong guess what it meant.


    Then, her own voice came to her, as if she were thinking, though she didnt ever truly consider that the voice might be her own thoughts.


    -<em>Consciousness lost for 0.004 seconds due to blunt forceWHAT THE RUST!?!?!-</em>


    Tali twitched from the internal scream.


    -<em>Major deviations in consciousness detected. Active conflict detected. Battlefield patch, initiated.-</em>


    <em>What? No. No!</em>


    * * *


    T shook herself clearing her head after whatever had struck her.


    <em>Wha-?</em>


    <em>-No time. In a hostile situation. Get somewhere safe, then well talk.-</em>


    T took an eternity packed into a single heartbeat to perceive the world around her, assess her situation and decide a course of action.


    In the end, she spoke one word. Rust.

 Chapter 203: A Bit Concerned

    Chapter 203: A Bit Concerned


    T stood in the market square of an arcane city, surrounded by arcanes. Each and every one that she could see had an orange aura.


    <em>What did you expect in an arcane city?</em>


    <em>-Focus, T. Youre not quite yourself right now, we need to get somewhere quiet so that I canplete whats needed.-</em>


    T didnt understand, but she trusted t. She didnt know why she trusted t, or even who t wasor even who she was, but-


    t made a noise inside Ts head. <em>-All will be exined. Focus!-</em>


    The very air itself was saturated with power to the point that it would have been orange if it were imed. <em>Fused airor Mature air, I guess?</em> That was almost funny.


    She held a massive tter of various roasted meats. On the ground before her, a teal-skinned man was groaning, having just been tripped when he tried to push her.


    Behind her, another teal man was staring at her with confusion, nonprehension clear on his features.


    <em>Good, I have a bloodstar with an aspect mirror for perception already in ce.</em> She didnt really understand what was going on in general, but she did know exactly what was going on in that moment.


    The attacker behind her frowned, shaking his head. Girl, the back of your head is ridiculously sturdy. That didnt even faze you. He hesitated at his own words, realization recing confusion as his eyes went wide.


    Apparently, everyone around her, whod witnessed the assault, came to a simr conclusion at nearly the same time. Many bowing preemptively or turning and slinking away.


    -<em>Set down the food, and do a full turn so everyone can see the insignia on your chest.-</em>


    T did so, cing her tter on a table just to one side. She understood why t had suggested the action almost instantly. After all, she had the memories of the other person, too. She knew how she <em>should</em> act here. She just needed to focus on that second set of instincts.


    <em>Yes, focus on the instincts that seem to be based on my actual remembered experiences, not the instincts that felt more natural but that are seemingly based on nothing.</em>


    <em>-Focus.-</em>


    <em>If anything, I dont know why I would want to act differently, even though I do</em>


    -<em>Focus!-</em>


    As each onlooker saw the emblem, they nched, pulling back.


    Murmurs of House of Blood and candidate moved through the impromptu audience.


    Even those who had bowed seemed taken aback. The House of Blood was a powerful force in the city, and theyd just been witness to one of the highest ranked members of the House being assaulted.


    There were also some murmurs of confusion. T caught snippets of chatter, people postting that she was a beast folk of some kind, with her overt features repressed, or a hue folk with a coloring close to that of a human.


    <em>Well, I guess humans are hue man too.</em>


    -<em>This is not the time for puns, T.-</em>


    <em>There is always time for puns!</em>


    <em>-Im not holding you together very well hurry up, please.-</em>


    Once she had turned fully, she picked up her food and turned once more to face the hue folk behind her. The teal man was visibly flinching back, but he hadnt fled.


    <em>Wise.</em> Fleeing after assaulting a member of a powerful House would have been a fools gamble. The city peacekeepers had incredibly precise tracking magics, and theyd have found him in short order.


    My apologies, Higher one. I did not know whom you served. I I only saw my kinsmen knocked to the ground and reacted for the sake of filial honor.


    The one on the ground didnt stand, instead lowering his gaze and muttering a jumbled apology.


    t and T worked together, pulling the right words into ce as T responded. Your actions had honor, though it was misdirected. I am not harmed, nor could I have been by your attack.


    The man seemed to rx just slightly when he heard that.


    What do you do for a living? What were those magics that you used against me?


    He stiffened again. Passives, Higher one. Im a smith by trade. I repair enhanced gear, and so my magic is bent towards allowing my blows to bypass magical defenses. That lets me work on the material underneath. Otherwise, Id have to strip all that away, first. Much more expensive to do it without my abilities, Higher one.


    She nodded. She had memory of such tradesmen. <em>Well, not </em>my<em> memory of them. I still have no idea what THE RUST is going on.</em> She, of course, meant the general sense. She had no idea how shed gotten to arcanends, or what the arcane had done to her or


    -<em>Focus! Were almost in the clear.-</em>


    T made a show of taking a deep breath and letting it out, slowly. <em>Just act like the memories in my head acted. Dont think about how odd that sounds.</em> And so she did, pulling from the memories, and trusting ts guidance.


    As I said, no harm was done to me, and it was an honest mistake. But be sure of whom you strike in the future. Am I understood?


    His relief, as well as that of many of the on-lookers, was almost palpable. Yes, Higher one. Thank you for your mercy.


    She nodded once. Leave me. She nced down at the teal man who <em>still </em>hadnt returned to his feet, likely fearing how she would react to any movements, especially now that he was behind her. She hadnt needed to look with her eyes, but she wanted to be clear about who she was talking about. Take this one with you.


    The attacker helped his prone kinsman to his feet and the two retreated into the crowd, and T turned, looking for an out-of-the-way table to sit at.


    She did her best not to look at the horror that dominated the center of this square, as she moved toward the outside.


    Even so, she couldnt help but take in the sheer diversity of people that she passed.


    There were beast folk of uncounted kinds of animal from mice to bulls, from hawks to spiders. All seemed to be based around a human-like frame, though some were only half the height, and a few towered nearly half-again as tall as the average human.


    The size disparity, oddly, didnt seem directly in line with the animal the beast folk were based off. There were bullmen half Ts stature, some her height, and she saw another who could have been mistaken for an oversized statue, had he chosen to stand still.


    To add to the variation, some seemed more animal than person, and a few looked basically human, with just one or two animalistic features.


    T had no idea what the source of the variation was, nor did the mind she now inhabited. Tali, it seemed, had never thought to question it.


    T shuddered at the thought of her enved personality and turned her attention back to her surroundings and the people in it.


    The hue folk were simrly varied. Their defining characteristic was the color of their skin and hair, usually seemingly taken straight from the rainbow, though some were on the gray-scale instead. Like the beast folk, they varied in stature greatly. Some had differing color of hair to their skin, but most were monochrome.


    T wasnt sure if those with different hues died their hair or if it was naturally different. Again, Tali had no memory of an answer, either.


    <em>Stop thinking about her, T.</em>


    The magic density of those around her was almost entirely Mature, or Fused on the human scale, but something about thatbel didnt feel right. <em>Mature it is.</em>


    A few held higher ranks, and T noticed simr characteristics among them. All the hawk-men with higher density had simr plumage, the hue folk with simr densities had simr shading, and things like that.


    <em>Gic? </em>Probably. It was what demarked a higher race. The mind she inhabited had <em>thousands</em> of little things to look for, to help pick out higher races, but even Tali hadnt really used the information. Her mage-sight could do that almost instantly.


    <em>Focus. </em>She finally worked her way to the side of the za and found a table tucked into a nook between two stores. It almost appeared like the nook could have been an alley once, but one of the shops had imed the space, sealing up all but a small section near the entrance.


    As such, the table and chairs were surrounded closely on three sides by stone walls, giving a very private,fortable ce to sit.


    And there, T sat, her hands trembling, unable to eat for the moment.


    <em>t. What is going on? Where am I?</em> She shook her head. No, she knew where she was. She had memory of getting there after leaving the hold of the House of Blood. She had memory of everything, but it was like shed been watching a y. Now, she was suddenly the lead actress, and the y wasnt a y anymore. It was all too real.


    <em>And I cant remember who I was in the audience.</em> She had no memories aside from those of Tali, though she knew that something about them wasnt right.


    -<em>Breathe, T. Breathe and eat. Given the situation, I- </em>t made a sound like a clearing throat. -<em>Ive basically just forcibly imposed your true personality overtop of your mind, without correcting anything that lies beneath. Youre missing most of your memories. Rust, basically all of them, which is why you feel so lost and confused. Im going to need about an hour to get the majority of this done.-</em>


    <em>The majority ofwhat? I know youre t, but I dont really know what that means either.</em>


    <em>-Ohrust and g. I dont know either, but I have processes to follow, and Im doing my best here, T.-</em>


    <em>Sowhat are you going to do? Why am I not losing my mind about having a voice in my head. Everything I can think of makes me feel like I should be losing my mind.</em> T gave a nervous chuckle. <em>Losing my mind about the possibility that Ive lost my mindwhat is going on</em>


    <em>-Okay. Breathe, T.-</em>


    <em>How is that my name?!? I know it is, but I have no memory of anyone but you calling me that!</em>


    <em>-Someone has wiped our mind, and imnted false memories. I have ess to our original memories, Im going to put them back in our head. Youll be you again, then.-</em>


    T stiffened. <em>Butwont I revert toher during that time? Will I cease to be?</em>


    <em>-No, Ill hold you in ce until then. We are both basically the impressions of who we were, imposed upon this body until we can restore ourselves.-</em>


    T hesitated. <em>Wont that make it take longer? It seems like that would make it harder for you.</em>


    <em>-Of course, but what alternative is there?-</em>


    <em>What will she think happened if you let me fade and you work in the background?</em> T was hating being T at the moment. It made no sense. She didnt understand why she was <em>her.</em> It felt like it would be best to fade away until things made sense again.


    <em>-Probably nothing? Youve acted basically as she could have acted, though likely a bit more mercifully than she would have, if the memories we have are good indication, and they are. The other personality shouldnt find anything amiss unless shes prone to deep thoughts.-</em> t gave a half-hearted, internalugh, then hesitated. -<em>I wish I knew why I thought that was funny-</em>


    T decided to ignore that. <em>How quickly could you get me back inmand if we let here back?</em>


    <em>-T I dont think-</em>


    <em>How long, t?</em>


    <em>-Half an hour? Thats just the basics, though. Its going to be days before I can correct everything.-</em>


    <em>Do it.</em>


    <em>-Are you sure?-</em>


    <em>Please. Yes. I cant I cant take this, and you cant deal with my crisis of identity while fixing me, while fixing us.</em> She felt like it was the cowards way out, but she felt like she was barely holding herself together.


    <em>-All right.-</em>


    * * *


    Tali blinked, looking down at the meat in her hands.


    She looked around at her surroundings, then shook her head, taking another bite.


    <em>How odd.</em> Everything was as she expected. She was at a quiet table, enjoying her amazing meal.


    The meat was delicious, well prepared, and excellently seasoned.


    <em>I need to get more of this.</em>


    Her mind returned to the two men who hadughably failed in their assault on her. Part of her wanted to find them, and their families, and teach them to look at who they were addressing before they attacked, but that really wouldnt serve any purpose, and it was likely out of line.


    Whats more, they were perfectly within their rights to have attacked her with the force that they did. She <em>was</em> a member of a Lowest race, well, the only Lowest race. The fact that she had a gate made her an exception, but that didnt actually change thew. She had caused bodily harm to one of them, so they were in their rights to try to kill her. The fact that theyd beenughably terrible at it wasnt her fault.


    In fact, she suspected that these veryws were part of why Master had selected her as his Eskau. Lower races couldnt be charged for the murder of Higher. It would be like charging a baby mouse for killing a tiger. If it seeded? The rodent should be praised!


    She grinned. <em>I just happen to be the worlds strongest mouse.</em>


    Even so, it irked her that the hue folk had assumed she was one of the gate-less.


    <em>And a rabid mouse has to be caught and killed. </em>She would not be a rabid mouse. She would be what her Master needed her to be.


    She would be an extrayer of instion for her House. Her every action an extra p to their enemies, because it was a mouse that was hurting them.


    She shook her head, returning her focus to the meat before her. This is so good. She wasnt speaking to anyone in particr. She just felt like she <em>had </em>to say it aloud.


    It reminded her of feast days back in her vige, before the passing arbiters had noticed her gate. It had been weaker than usual, but that wasnt a problem in the least. It existed, so she could be of use.


    It also reminded her of celebrations at the Academy.


    Tali twitched at that, something misaligning within her own mind. <em>What? Celebrations at the Academy?</em>


    She suddenly had a flood of memories about attending the Academy with other students, learning how to use her magic for the benefit of humanity.


    Tali paled. <em>What?</em>


    -<em>Well, rust. That didnt take long.-</em>


    * * *


    T blinked, looking down at the meat in her hands.


    <em>t?</em>


    <em>-Yes, T?-</em>


    <em>That didnt work.</em>


    <em>-You noticed that, did you?-</em>


    T took a deep breath, gilding herself. <em>Do what you have to.</em>


    -<em>Ill try to be fast.-</em>


    Over the next two hours, T ate, got more food, and tried to not look at the monument to horror dominating the nearby square. Through that time, she absently made two more bloodstars for t, starting the three loose stars orbiting around her head as before.


    That was a joy in and of itself, because she <em>remembered</em> making them before, as well as her training to master the orbiting motion.


    Finally, t seemed to sigh in satisfied exhaustion. -<em>Done, at least with the skeleton of our memory. We shouldnt beother us again unless we want you to.-</em>


    <em>Why would we want that?</em> T mirrored her perception onto all three bloodstars, passing off two to t.


    <em>-Thank you for the perception. As to your question, Ill let you consider that for a moment.-</em>


    It didnt take even a moments thought to click into ce. <em>Rust. Thats right.</em> T swallowed then. <em>So, if memory servesThe saorsa cor?</em>


    <em>-Yeah. We have two dasganachs wrapped around our neck, one for iron, one for gold. Theyre barely contained and ready to be injected into us if we leave the city without authorization, or if our master chooses, or if we breach any of a few other statutes...-</em>


    T grimaced. <em>Id hoped I was remembering wrong</em>


    <em>-Nope. Its even designed so you can inspect it, and see exactly whats inside and what would trigger it. Theyre courteous to their prisoners like that.-</em>


    T had known about the inspectability of the cor, but still appreciated ts reiteration and assurance. She then did what was expected, sending her mage-sight into the cor.


    Just as expected, two dasganchsy within. One was gold, and one was iron. They were held in suspension and attached to an incrediblyplicated series of spell-workings, all containing power with a blue aura.


    <em>Any tampering, even just cutting or ripping it free, would cause these to be injected into me faster than I can react.</em>


    -<em>Yup.-</em>


    <em>Decapitation triggers them too.</em>


    <em>-He seems to have thought very highly of your regenerative abilities.-</em>


    <em>You arent joking.</em> She shook her head slowly.


    They both poured through the magics, considering.


    <em>These arent standard creatures either.</em>


    <em>-Not at all.-</em> They both had ess to Talis memory of them being used on others.


    The dasganachs in these cors had their inhibitions removed somehow, as well as having their ability to gain mastery over material incredibly amplified.


    A particrly vivid memory of a man dying by one of these cors let T and t time a full bodys worth of iron in less than a minute. The victim had screamed the entire time.


    Time to think about something else.


    <em>Is my personality stable enough to address the mass grave in the room?</em>


    <em>-I think so. You are you without my enforcement of such, so yes?-</em>


    <em>Thatll have to do.</em>


    And so, T lifted her eyes and looked at the citys central column.


    It was worked crystal, seemingly of a solid piece, though it could have been fused into such magically with rtive ease. The uncountable facets were surrounded by an irregr of gold


    The gold was fairly obviously a spell-form, even without the power that shone forth from it. The working was powered by the column itself. As to what it did, aside from shunting most of the power into a distributionwork for the city, it seemed to filter the magicing from within.


    And a lot of power wasing from within.


    If T had to guess, there was close to twenty thousand founts packed into the column, which appeared to be about twenty yards in diameter and over two hundred feet high.


    By the magic that she could see, it extended equally far into the ground as well.


    <em>At least they arent too crowded in there.</em> They had more than fifty square feet each, if her estimations were correct. They likely needed it, if the individualizeds of power that surrounded each fount were any indication. It seemed like they had to customize something for each individual fount.


    T let loose a little manic giggle.


    <em>Twenty thousand people, broken and bound in eternal very to this city.</em>


    -<em>Look at the power, T. What do you see?-</em> t sounded a bit concerned.


    So, T looked. It was everywhere, and everywhere it was <em>dense.</em>


    -<em>True, true. But look at the power itself, not just its density. Theres a reason that Fused doesnt seem right to you.-</em>


    T looked closer. <em>Therestheres something wrong with it. Like a concoction made with inferior ingredients, then reduced to try to up the potency.</em>


    <em>-Thats what Im seeing.-</em>


    Holly had talked about how T, herself, didnt have the <em>quality</em> of power to run some of her scripts as effectively as a Bound.


    <em>Their filter doesnt work right. They arent getting Fused quality power.</em> Was something broken?


    <em>-Or their working doesnt refine or distill the power. The magic were sensing isnt aspected, but its not-</em>


    <em>Clean. It came from unsettled souls, through a rough connection.</em> And that was no wonder. These founts were the souls of former ves, not Mages gaining power to protect themselves and those they loved.


    T felt tears rising up in her eyes, as her mind tried to turn towards her friends and family, but she pushed those thoughts away. She couldnt think about all she wanted to get back to right now. That would cripple her, maybe for days.


    -<em>You cant have a Fused fount. Rust, you cant even have a Bound one. These are all from simple Mages.-</em>


    <em>So, the power is weaker. Thinner? </em>No, that wasnt right. <em>Lesser.</em>


    <em>-I think so. Metaphorically: They may have a lot more gold than we do, but ours is </em>pure.- t hesitated. -<em>Well, were only Fused. Its purer.-</em>


    T snorted augh at that. <em>True enough. No wonder the few higher Archons humanity has can hold back those who wish to recapture us, </em>She hesitated, thinking of her own situation,<em> at least they can stop it on a wide scale. A drop of Xeels power is probably worth more than this city sees in a decade.</em>


    <em>-Thats probably hyperbole, but who knows? You might be underestimating the man.-</em>


    <em>In any case, our power is purer than theirs, stronger,</em> better.


    There was something to that. It would give her an edge. It wouldnt obviously be an overpowering one, Be-thric had been able to beat her easily enough, but it might matter. <em>Good observation. Thank you for bringing this to our attention.</em>


    <em>-Thank you, and youre wee.-</em>


    T was still staring at the pir, the power-center of this city. She was staring at the twenty thousand souls of her kin. <em>Master Boma would have a fit.</em> After a moment, she shook her head. <em>I dont like it much either.</em>


    <em>-We cant really do anything about it. Not now.-</em>


    <em>But we dont have to act now, do we.</em>


    <em>-No. No, we dont. We can bide our time, get what we can, then rob and pige our way to freedom.-</em>


    T felt herself grinning broadly. <em>That, my good t, sounds like the beginnings of a n.</em>

 Chapter 204: Shift in Focus

    Chapter 204: Shift in Focus


    T had a n.


    Well, that wasnt precisely true.


    t had the beginnings of a n, and T liked what she was hearing.


    -<em>We have this lovely packet of information within our head, provided by the arcane Be-thric. I think I shall process it, and extract all that I can.-</em>


    <em>That sounds reasonable. Ill see what I can see of the city, then.</em> T hesitated. <em>You know, I dont think I can fake being Tali convincingly.</em>


    <em>-Yeah. That might be a problem. I think I canpartmentalize our mind, so that she cant remember us, or our memories. Then, I can bring her out, and we can let her do what we need her to.-</em>


    <em>Thats a bit dark. Isnt that basically enving a sub-personality?</em>


    <em>-Tali isnt a person, T. She is a mental construct based on fabricated memories.-</em>


    <em>Isnt that what any given person is? Our personalities were forged by our experiences. She was forged by what she thinks she experienced.</em>


    <em>-T, lets not do this. She is you, if you went through what she thought she did. In the same vein, I am you, if you existed in a purely mental space, with ess to all that I have ess to. And YOU are you, with the experiences that you have gone through. We arent three distinct entities. We are the same person, with different experiences.-</em>


    <em>I know</em> T shook her head. She was being a bit ridiculous.<em> It still feels bad, lying to myself.</em>


    <em>-Do you want me to expose how you are lying to yourself in other areas?-</em>


    <em>Nope!</em> T was wise enough to not go down that road. Some self-deception could be healthy. <em>After all, Im not allowing myself to contemte how vanishingly unlikely it is that we actually get out of this alive</em>


    <em>-Exactly.-</em> t did the mental equivalent of shifting with awkward nervousness.


    T sighed. <em>All right. I think that I can work with that frame of mind.</em>


    t projected grateful affirmation. <em>-Good. Now, be careful. If we have to put her inmand, she will act as she should. Meaning, if there is no good reason for </em>her<em> to be where you are, she will be confused.-</em>


    <em>So, keep up pretenses, even when Im me.</em>


    <em>-To the best of your ability, yes. That will make the mask of Tali fit better, and work better, when we have to use it.-</em>


    <em>Understood.</em> So, there had to be a good reason to be wherever she went. That was probably safer anyways. <em>So, I get to delve into Talis memory to see what she would want to do for her afternoon out?</em>


    <em>-Ive bifurcated the memories so that they dont get jumbled. Here, twist your power like this, and think in this way.-</em>


    T followed ts instructions, and suddenly, she knew what Tali would do. It was obvious. That didnt make it easy or natural, but she knew. <em>Huh, Im even sitting differently than she would.</em>


    T sat up a bit straighter, adjusting herself in little ways, until she matched how Tali would have been sitting. Itwas actually morefortable, and she felt more in control of herself. <em>Rust me to g.</em>


    -<em>I think youll find a lot of the nuance simrly instructive. It seems that Be-thric was genuinely interested in making Tali, well you, into the best weapon he could. Well probably learn why through the ceremonies preceding thepetition.-</em>


    T nodded, noticing that she nodded both slower, and lessdecisively than Tali would have. <em>Oh, this is going to be exhausting.</em>


    She took a moment to analyze the difference. What did each way of nodding signify? What social signals did it send? <em>The quick, decisive nod conveys confidence, a decision made, resolve. The slow nod denotes thoughtfulness and consideration.</em> Obviously, it wasnt as simple as that. T often nodded more decisively, and Tali seemed to have nodded consideringly when events dictated such, but in general, the enthralled version of her was more decisive.


    T shook her head, refused to contemte how Tali would have responded, and stood, reaching to clear the table of her tray.


    <em>Tali wouldnt have cleared it. There are servants for that,</em><em>paid to monitor the za. </em>T hesitated, then shook her head and picked up the tray. <em>Yeah, but Im not a jerk</em>. She quickly wiped the table, leaving it cleaner than when shed found it.


    <em>I can learn from her, without emting her. I am me, and I decide how I act.</em>


    -<em>Do try to act like she would outwardly, though. Itll help us blend in better.-</em>


    <em>Im not going to leave a mess behind. Thats just rude.</em>


    t projected confusion. <em>-There does seem to be some odd conflicts between your memories and base self and her memories and self.-</em>


    <em>Of course there are, were different people.</em>


    <em>-No, I mean your base self is restructuring itself in opposition to what Be-thric tried to make Tali into. Youd never have cared about the mess on the table before. You would probably have taken the tray, but youd not have wiped down the surface before doing so.-</em>


    T dumped the tray out into a waste bin before putting it onto a stack of others. <em>Really?</em>


    <em>-I cant find a memory of you acting that altruistically before. Fascinating.-</em>


    <em>So, being exposed to so muchhigh-and-mighty-ness made me kinder?</em>


    <em>-No, I dont think that I would go that far, but there are definite repercussions, it seems.-</em>


    <em>Huh.</em> T altered her walk, falling into Talis gait and posture. Again, it was both morefortable and easier. She could feel that this stride pattern allowed her joints to move just a <em>bit</em> more naturally, and would let her muscles be used more efficiently. <em>Im going to need to spend a couple of hours going through all my exercises and martial forms if I hope to get used to this. Even more so because my muscle structure and tone have shifted slightly. Its making everything weird</em>


    <em>-I am actually trying to focus, here.-</em>


    T looked within her own mind and found the mass of foreign power, waiting there. <em>How is it still active? I have memory of it being put in ce months ago, and hes never added power to it. It doesnt pull from me. How is it still intact?</em>


    <em>-I think it isnt active, unless some bit of information is required. It contains enough power to impart each bit of information exactly once. It actually is a pretty ingenious bit of spell-work. Before you ask, Ive analyzed it in detail. We have itsplete structure in our memory now, so we can pass it on. Im going to be prompting magics for everything I can think of to try to suss out everything it can tell us. Now, shoo, go explore, or whatever. Tali liked the overlook.-</em>


    T sighed, skirting around the outside of the market square to stay as far away from the central pir as was reasonable. <em>Ill do my best.</em>


    She was still in awe at the city around her, though she hadnt really been able to take the time to really let it soak in.


    The buildings were a wide mix of architectures, seeming toe from different sensibilities. Most of the doors wererger than she was used to, to give easier ess to therger species that shared the city, though some had regr sized entrances, and a few even had doors sized for the smaller folk.


    When she looked closer as she walked past, those seemed to be clothing, or other establishments, geared towards those on the smaller size. Their doorways were a part of the way they advertised who their target clientele were.


    T tried not to stare as she passed a table with three beast folk and a hue man.


    The mans skin was a burnt orange in color. His eyes and hair were a nearly sapphire blue.


    The beast folk were a mixed bag. One seemed to be rted to some type of lizard, with incredibly small, green scales in ce of skin. She was still clearly female, with her most human features taking on a decidedly unnerving cast. The hair on her head seemed much thicker, but otherwise resembled human hair.


    The woman beside her looked like some sort of cat person. At least thats what her ears seemed to indicate. Where the lizard woman was clearly non-human, the cat woman only had cat ears and slitted eyes.


    The final was another man, with curled horns which swept in tight coils over his ears. His hair was light and fluffy and white. The mans legs were also animalistic under the table, with seemingly reversed knees and everything.


    T saw thisst feature by covertly dipping her bloodstar down to inspect their legs as she passed.


    They didnt seem to notice her scrutiny. Despite all of them being from Higher races, their mana density varied just a bit around the halfway mark between yellow and green.


    The group of four didnt seem that unique in the za, though, if anything they were an oddity for being so close in power as a group.


    Most sets of hue and beast folk had quite a spread of power, though all were above orange. In each miniature social setting, it was obvious that the person of greatest power, whether male or female, hue or beast, was dominant, the others giving obvious physical cues to that effect.


    With an internal question, T confirmed that that lined up with what Tali would have expected, power was <em>everything</em> in arcane society.


    While scanning the crowds as she walked, her eyes kept being drawn to the prime feature of the area, and she found that distasteful.


    Wanting to keep her focus from the more unpleasant things around herself, she let her feet carry her based on where Tali would have gone and focused inward. It was a weird sensation, honestly.


    It almost felt like she was following someone who wasnt there.


    But that wasnt important at the moment. She began delving into what Be-thric had taught Tali, and there was <em>a lot</em>.


    The most critical things were about her magic, as it seemed that the arcane had been displeased at thebat effectiveness Tali had demonstrated, early on.


    Thankfully, T and Talis fundamental understanding had remained the same. That likely went deeper to the core of how their spell-workings functioned than it would have been productive to alter.


    As T sorted through what Tali had learned, a single exchange with the arcane onyx, hue man stood out in her mind.


    Tali had been practicing her gravity maniption, and Be-thric had asked her to describe what she was doing to amplify gravity.


    I lock onto my target, lock on to the thing I wish to augment gravity towards, and then amplify that connection.


    His words in response had shaken Tali, and as T recalled them, she felt her own eyes go wide. Why do it in that order?


    ts attention was jerked back from the spell-working within their mind. -<em>No Thats thats too simpleright?-</em>


    T wordlessly bent and picked up a stone as she continued walking.


    She targeted the rock with ease. <em>Increase.</em>


    There was nothing for it to have its pull increased towardbut power still began to build.


    T felt her heart begin to race, her breath quicken in excitement.


    -<em>Isis that working?-</em>


    <em>I dont know. In the worst case, Im just wasting a little power.</em>


    <em>-Whats your mental model for that?-</em>


    T considered. What was she thinking, what was she dumping power into?


    It felt like<em>Asso. I have asso of power thats building up power and momentum, waiting to be looped over something.</em>


    That wasnt quite what she was imagining, but it was the closest thing she could easily put words to.


    She let the power continue to build, and noticed that it took an act of will to keep the stones amplified gravity from simplytching onto her hand, or some other random object.


    <em>So, I cant just build up power in a dozen different things and pull them out at need. I have to prep it right beforehand.</em>


    Still, this was a game-changing shift in her use of her power. <em>Assuming it works.</em>


    She couldnt let herself be too excited. This was too big a development to take for granted until shed tested it all the way through.


    Tali had trained to use this, but T hadnt. What that meant in practice was that T <em>knew</em> exactly what to do, how to act the most efficiently, and what pitfalls to avoid, but it wasnt natural for her to do so.


    Using her power in this way just wasnt instinctual for T as it had be for Tali.


    <em>Six months of dedicated training does a lot.</em>


    <em>-And now, we get to benefit from having her as an internal trainer, in a sense. Someone with your exact skill and magic set, ahead of you in ability, who can pull you along.- </em>t sent through a cautious joy. <em>-Not only that, but she can show us </em>exactly<em> what it feels like to do each thing properly.-</em>


    It was perfect. Though, in truth, thinking too deeply about Tali still made T feel sick.


    <em>This does not make our situation worth it, but it does seem to be a worthy start at rpense.</em>


    T was slowly walking up a long boulevard which seemed to be sloping towards a nearby overlook. She wove around other pedestrians, staying out of the way of vehicles and mounted folk. She didnt pay them any special attention, as she was fully bent towards the continued <em>Increase</em>.


    The crowds slowly thinned along with the buildings to each side, as she neared the top, and finally, at the overlook, there were only a few people, all seemingly havinge for the view.


    T couldnt focus on the view yet. Her mind and will were utterly dominated by the need to keep the proverbialsso spinning, building power.


    Shed been doing that for close to half an hour, meaning that the amplification was orders of magnitude more powerful than anything shed ever done before.


    It was at that moment that one of the ravens hopping around the overlooknded near her, ring its wings and shrieking.


    T jerked in surprise, her focus moving to the bird in startlement.


    The active magic seemed to seize on her shift in focus, and the other end of the working snapped into ce, locked on the bird.


    <em>Oh</em>


    Before the thought had even started to form, the pebble was <em>torn</em> from her grip. Her insane strength was nothing before the forces involved.


    An ear-splitting <em>crack</em> tore through the air and the temperature jumped a few degrees in a wave. Only her magical defenses prevented her from having an eardrum burst.


    A second, more resonant yet quieter crack followed in the same instant. At the same time, Ts vision was cut off by a cloud of gore.


    The stone had impacted the avian with such ballistic force that the bird had been rendered into a violently expanding cloud of indiscernible spray.


    Beyond the bird, the pebble had turned itself into powder against the roadway, though it had cracked therge, magically hardened paving stone in the process.


    Ts clothing had already shed the bird mist, but the film still covered Ts face and the expanding cloud of bird had wrapped around her in a rolling wave.


    Ts whole body shuddered at the nauseating grossness of the whole thing.


    <em>Holly, wherever you are, bless you for your anti-vomit scripts.</em>


    With her bloodstar, T saw that a lot of the people nearby were staring her way with looks of confusion. None were close enough to have been pained by the loud sounds.


    None seemed to be higher races, and none seemed to have mage-sight or the equivalent. So, there was no reason to think that she would be in danger from them.


    Even so, T had to admit that she must be a strange sight.


    The ground around her was painted red in an irregr circle, centered on where the bird had been. The generally gory mist was still settling outward.


    No one else had been close enough to be sprayed, and it seemed like most people didnt really understand that a bird had just met its end.


    One bird based beast man was already vomiting into a waste bin, however. Though, she wasnt sure if hed had good enough eyes to see, or if some avian camaraderie had caused a sympathetic reaction.


    <em>-That is a ridiculous theory.-</em>


    <em>Im not exactly thinking clearly.</em> T aspect mirrored her elk-leathers self-cleaning onto herself, and shook her head, sending a cascade outward to join the other red on the ground.


    <em>Ohrust; that was gross.</em>


    Then, T spun on her heel and strode purposefully towards the far corner of the overlook, not making eye contact with anyone else.


    <em>-So much for not drawing attention.-</em>


    T ignored t. <em>I need a bath</em>


    Thoughts of a bath died in her mind, however, as she looked out over the city.


    Shed seen this exact view before, through Talis memories, but there was something special about seeing it herself.


    It was utterly unlike a human city, at least those shed seen.


    Buildings, and loosely organized districts, spread out haphazardly in all directions.


    Theyout seemed to have simplye about randomly over the course of the citys life, no central group or n responsible for maintaining efficiency.


    <em>This city has been here for thousands of years.</em> The very idea boggled her mind. She knew it was possible, intellectually, but it was such a foreign concept that it was hard to grasp.


    In some parts of the metropolis, massive towers reached towards the sky, though those were rare.


    Tali had been curious, so shed looked into their construction. It took massive amounts of magic to reinforce the structures that stretched hundreds of feet into the air. It was a disy of wealth more than anything. Though, ironically, it was both less expensive, and less efficient, than simply establishing a hold.


    <em>But to have a hold, you have to have a fount of your own. The towers can rely on ambient power once theyre built.</em> Though, there was apparently a very expensive permitting process before that could happen.


    She moved her focus from the details and just focused on the overall feel of the ce.


    It was tucked against the mountain range which rose up to the west. With her enhanced vision, she could vaguely make out what could be the shadows of trees to the north. To the east, rolling ins stretched into the distance.


    While the forest to the north <em>might</em> be the same forest in which Makinaveny, she didnt know.


    T had to hold back sudden tears as the true magnitude of her circumstances settled down atop her.


    <em>Were a long way from home, t.</em>


    <em>-But well make it back.-</em>


    <em>Do you really believe that? Do I?</em>


    <em>-We have to.-</em>


    T didnt answer. Instead, she simply took time to quietly let tears roll down her face, as she gazed out over the city, below.

 Chapter 205: Gag Me Now

    Chapter 205: Gag Me Now


    T had only been looking out at the cityscape for a few minutes, or so it seemed, when t grabbed her attention.


    -<em>Ive still got a lot of work to do, but we need to get back.- </em>t had indicated that only the most basic of Ts memories were back in ce, and that seemed odd, but T literally didnt know what she was missing. That left her with an oddbination of anxiety and ambivalence.


    T took in a deep breath and groaned. <em>Theres no way we could get out of here, is there.</em>


    <em>-Not right now, no.-</em>


    <em>Go, kill everyone in the hold?</em> T wasnt serious, but she felt tension building within her at the thought of going back.


    -<em>First of all, you know very well that most of the people in there are effectively enved, just as you were.-</em>


    <em>Are.</em> T emphasized. <em>We still are enved. What else would you call this?</em> She indicated the cor.


    -<em>Youre right. This is very, but not helpless very.-</em> t grunted a chuckle. -<em>I mean, imprisoned is hardly urate, but either Be-thric or a higher city official could trigger the cor with ease.-</em>


    <em>Hostage asset, operating under extreme duress?</em>


    <em>-Oh, I like that.-</em> t hesitated. -<em>Well, no, I dont like being in this situation, but it is a pretty well worded description of what we are. I like that phrasing.-</em> After another moment, she re-broached the earlier topic. <em>-We need to head back. Beingte would be bad.-</em>


    T sighed, pushing herself away from the stone half-wall that edged the overlook. <em>Sure.</em>


    She didnt look towards the red circle. Shed been able to ignore the scent up until that point, but as she walked back past, the coppery scent of blood filled her nostrils. <em>Lovely.</em>


    While it would have been a bit more than a half-hour walk back to the hold, she decided to jog. Ideally, shed be able to sneak in a bath before the feast.


    As she jogged back, she drew brief nces from those she passed, but they always turned their attention elsewhere when they saw the sigil on her chest.


    <em>There is a lot of benefit to even my current station.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, imagine how much well be able to do within our cage if we win.-</em>


    <em>When we win, tomorrow. Well be seen as the manifest will of a Pir of the House of Blood. No one will cross us lightly.</em> She hesitated. <em>Well, those who cross us will be stronger.</em> That was actually a bit exciting, if T was being honest.


    <em>-But if Be-thric ever discovers werepromised, hell kill us.-</em>


    <em>Hold that thought.</em> One of the beast folk ahead of her had narrowed his eyes and ced a hand on his swords hilt. He had a glorious ck mane, offsetting he reddish brown fur. He was clearly a fighter, though he was lean. <em>So, hell be quick, rather than powerful.</em>


    A mostly healed cut bridged across his left eye, though the eye itself seemed to have escaped damage.


    The mans tan tunic bore the sigil that Talis memories said was from the House of the Rising Sun. It was one of the purely beast folk noble houses in the city.


    The emblem was simple, a horizontal line, with a half circle above it, straight raysing from the pictograph of the sun.


    The House of Blood and that of the Rising Sun had some conflicting interests in the city. Nothing like open warfare, that was quashed quickly when houses were so foolish, but they did sh on asion.


    <em>I dont have time for this.</em> Still, Talis memories offered up what would likely be the lion mans opening salvo. <em>Great. Insults.</em>


    Blood bag!


    <em>And there it is.</em> Still, to y her part, T had to reply. So, she called back, even as she continued to approach. Move aside, Kitty. Ive ces to be.


    He drew his sword, magic flicking both around the de, and across the mans fur.


    -<em>Those actually look like fairly reasonable defenses.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, but I dont have time to fight.</em> She considered, then shrugged internally.<em> I suppose I dont have to pay for my inscriptions, and I outweigh him.</em>


    The leonine man was no stronger than the zeme that swirled around them, but his disy of power meant he was, at most, of a Mid race.


    T was less than a dozen feet from him when she gave a feral grin.


    She targeted him, being sure to consider him as something near her, likely to do her harm. Then, she pushed her working around his defenses.


    Down, kitty. <em>Crush.</em>


    The creatures eyes widened as he dropped like a rock. He clearly fought against the downward force. The result, humorously enough, was that he fell into a sort of bow.


    He immediately began withdrawing hisbat magics, and seemed to be trying to move power through his body to stand back up.


    It didnt work, at least not quick enough, and T was past him.


    She sighed, even as she continued on her way. <em>And were done.</em>


    The memories from Tali <em>really</em> wanted T to either kill the man or at least to give a parting verbal shot, but T restrained the urge.


    The beast-man would be released once she was a block or so away. So, there would be nothing to clean up, or deal withter. Instead, she put the encounter out of her mind.


    She thought through what Tali knew on the subject of Eskau and Pirs. <em>Yeah. If he ever finds out, were dead. The House has well established procedures for passing on the protian weapon to a new Eskau in the event that a Pir bes displeased with theirs.</em>


    The thought passed through Ts mind once again, and she almost tripped. <em>Oh. Oh!</em>


    t let out a pleased sound within her head. <em>-Yes. I like what youre thinking.-</em>


    <em>He doesnt have a protian weapon. Im his only option. The procedures for the loss of an Eskaus weapon include the stripping of the Pir of all current and former titles. In some cases, it results in outright banishment.</em>


    <em>-So. When we win, tomorrow, his fate will be tied to ours.-</em>


    T nodded. Even Tali hadnt known all the details, but she had known that a prospective Pir could withdraw from contention without loss of honor up until the contest began.


    <em>But when we win. Our death would mean a crippling of his position within the House. He would be worse off than if he never put himself forward for consideration.</em>


    <em>-So, dont get detected until we win.-</em>


    <em>Then, well be safe, from him at least.</em>


    t made an ufortable noise inside Ts head. <em>-Well, why wouldnt he just seize us, and redo the memory wipe?-</em>


    T grimaced at that. The timing was such that her look of clear displeasure caused a blue, female hue-man to shrink to the side of the road.


    T almost apologized to the clearly terrified woman but realized that Tali would <em>never</em> have done that. So, if T did, it would stand out too much.


    <em>I hate this.</em> She thought back through Talis memories then, looking for an answer. <em>Oh. Interesting.</em>


    <em>-What?...oh!-</em>


    Talis earliest memories were of course, fabricated, and thus unreliable, but T had easily found what was likely the first real memory from her time as Tali. <em>Such an extensive overhaul required weeks of slow recovery. We were able to train and improve magically, and in other ways, but we would not have been a functional Eskau during that time.</em>


    <em>-Yes, I see now. During that time, we were recovering our memories with his help. In fact, he was building them within our mind. It took him incredible effort, and it took him literal months to get Talis personality fully established within our nk mind. So, he cant just erase us again. That would be the same as killing us.-</em>


    <em>Essentially. Eskau are expected to perform their duties daily for their Pir, and any other ranking member of the house. My convalescence would end him as quickly as my death.</em>


    And from their memories of the arcane, he would realize the repercussions instantly. Be-thric was nothing if not cunning. <em>Well, arrogant, narcissistic, pronoidnothats not true. Hes pronoid about the universe and paranoid about everything in it.</em>


    Her recovery was an unmitigated disaster for him.


    That begged the question. <em>Why did he risk it?</em>


    The first part of that answer clearlyy within the fact that hed seeded, utterly. If not for ts integration into her consciousness recovery scripts, T would be forever gone.


    By his questions, and how hed had Tali test out various parts of her abilities, T didnt think that he could simply look at her inscriptions and understand them. Nor had he gotten the details from T, herself, before wiping her mind.


    <em>He likely nked our mind, instantly, then took us away as little more than aatose shell.</em>


    Deep revulsion built within her at the very idea. <em>So, he didnt know about you. Even so, why take the risk?</em>


    <em>-Were clearly missing some important line in this inscription.-</em>


    T shook her head as she ran. <em>Not to mention: Why did hee back for me? Why didnt he just grab another to be his protian weapon?</em>


    <em>-I dont know, but well need to listen closely over the next few days. That will likely be enlightening.-</em>


    <em>The arcanes do like to be rather monologue heavy in their ceremonies.</em>


    They both shuddered at the memory of the extensive ceremonies theyd apanied Be-thric to. Tali had gloried in the honor of attending. T and t had no such delusions.


    One such ceremony came to the forefront, where Be-thric had been required to establish himself as a potential pir.


    Tali had been forced to kneel, bowing face down outside the hall. Even her enhanced hearing had only heard the drone of voices, some of them shouting while remaining indistinct.


    -<em>To be fair, I think the Head of the hold was livid with Be-thric for putting a human forward as an Eskau candidate. That was likely not entirely standard.-</em> t didnt put much hope in the utterance, however. There were too many examples to pull from.


    <em>Well, well have to see now, wont we.</em>


    <em>-Or we could let Tali handle it.-</em>


    T felt like something was crawling up her back. <em>What would happen to us?</em>


    <em>-Oh, nothing. Wed both be tucked into the side of her mind. We could watch what was happening, and take back over at a moments notice.-</em>


    <em>Would I have to keep from thinking? Could she hear us like I hear you?</em>


    <em>-Great question. She </em>should<em> be able to, just like she should be able to remember all your memories, but Ive segmented our mind. Shell only have ess to her part, while we have ess to both.-</em>


    <em>So, what? We canmentate on what shes doing?</em>


    <em>-I suppose you could think of it that way, yes.-</em>


    T grunted. She was almost back to the hold. <em>We can try it, I suppose</em>


    She slowed to a stop next to the massive doors.


    Following Talis instincts, T raised her right hand, letting the magics scan the key-ring.


    With a whisper of power, her authorization was recognized, and the person-sized door opened before her.


    She stepped inside to the sound of music ying in the distance.


    <em>The yellow garden?</em>


    <em>-Seems like, yes.-</em>


    <em>Good, we should be able to get to our room to bathe in Kit.</em>


    <em>-No, T. Tali bathes in the house baths nearest her room. Dont break her routine.-</em>


    Right. She was still getting used to hearing the other set of habits and making the decision appropriate to the situation.


    <em>This is weird</em>


    -<em>Move quickly.</em><em>We have half an hour before we must meet up with Be-thric.-</em>


    As if the thought of him summoned the arcane, Be-thric came around a corner up ahead. He paused upon seeing her, before a broad grin broke across his features. Tali! My fantastic candidate. He let out a gratingugh. You are wonderful!


    T knew that she needed to bow, but she couldnt bring herself to do it.


    -<em>T. Come on. You cant fail this quickly.-</em>


    But she couldnt. She simply could not force herself to bow to her captor, to the man who had tried to steal everything from her.


    -<em>T!-</em>


    T growled internally. <em>Tali. Now!</em>


    * * *


    Tali dropped to her knees as Master approached. Master. What have I done to make you so pleased?


    Her Master caught her shoulders, even as she tried to bow and lifted he back to her feet. An armors guild reached out to us, begging forgiveness for one of their smiths. Master was beaming. Apparently, he is their most gifted rising star, and you spared him. The manughed gleefully. The head of his guild was so grateful that weve been able to shift a good portion of the contracts for the maintenance of our Houses equipment over to them. Youve saved our House a small <em>fortune</em> over the next few years.


    Tali bowed her head, feeling conflicted. She had wanted to end the altercation peaceably, but once theyd actually hit her? Shed wanted them dead. But that isnt what her Master would have wanted.


    Im so d that youve finally learned the lesson: Often, an enemy is more useful alive than dead.


    I strive to please, my Master. She bowed her head


    He waved that off. Enough, you are not a simple servant any longer. When we secure my ascension as a Pir of this House, we will be considered one. Let us start breaking that habit, now.


    Tali was, once again, conflicted. <em>I need to bow to him. He is my superior.</em>


    <em>+Oh, gag me now.+</em>


    <em>-Hush, this is important, T.-</em>


    Tali shook her head once. II dont agree. We will never be equal, but I will honor yourmand.


    Good, good. He was still grinning ear to ear, his perfectly white teeth in stark contrast to his onyx skin. If it were just that, Id be pleased with you, but the statement at the overlook! He giggled with barely contained glee once more. I cannot believe that you were able to spot a spy trailing you. I had not realized your magic-sight had progressed that far. And leaving a circle of blood behind? Truly inspired.


    Tali hung her head, then. Ive deceived you, Master, even if unknowingly.


    <em>+What is she doing, t.+</em>


    t sighed, though only T could hear it. <em>-Being herself-</em>


    The raven was an ident. I didnt know it was a spy.


    Her Master paused at that, considering. After a moment, he waved it off. Honesty was the right choice. It doesnt matter, however. The perception in the city is that you foiled a watcher of the House of the Rising Sun.


    Tali nodded. That exins both the falconines reaction when the bird died, and the anger of the leonine who tried to slow my return.


    Her Masters eyebrows went up. Oh? Do tell.


    She conveyed the reaction of the bird-folk to the death of the raven, and her brief encounter with the lion man.


    You continue to please me, Tali. I am continually justified in my choice to raise you up as my candidate. He grinned. Even your mistakes, or idents, bring gain to our House.


    You honor me, Master.


    <em>+Cant we try to kill him? Just a little?+</em>


    <em>-Wed fail.-</em>


    <em>+But the look on his face when we attacked him!+</em>


    <em>-As we died?-</em>


    <em>+Fine+</em>


    Now, go get cleaned up. The feast will begin in an hour. You dont need to seek me out beforehand, as we had nned. Just meet me at the eastern entrance to the great hall, then.


    Yes, Master.


    Oh, and Tali?


    Yes, Master?


    Im going to push for apetition without restrictions. His smile pulled up on one side. I want to see them quake before you.


    Tali felt a wave of joy run through her from her toes to the top of her head. <em>Oh, by the Master, is he really going to allow it? </em>The iron paint? It was the one training method that he was hesitant about. She was only allowed to use it when she trained in seclusion for at least a week at a time. With the uing sh, shed expected to either be dead, or have daily duties as an Eskau. In either case, shed assumed shed never be allowed to use it again.


    The iron paint.


    Before she could respond to his confirmation, he held up a hand.


    But not for the feast. You can apply it afterwards, and by tomorrows conflict, your magic will be echoing in reality itself.


    This was <em>huge</em>. Master almost never allowed her to use her iron paint. He said that it looked too much like she was trying to pretend to be a hue-man, and that deception would be seen as weakness. But now, after she was introduced as his candidate before the others, the paint couldnt be seen as an attempted disguise.


    It would be seen for the thing it truly was.


    The mantle of death.


    <em>+Oh, rust. Shes serious. She actually sees herself as death incarnate.+</em>


    <em>-Shush. Im trying to watch.-</em>


    * * *


    Tali walked up to her Master just under an hourter.


    The hue-man was dressed in incredibly simple clothing. His tunic and pants were both simple linen, though dyed a deep, blood red, and a simrly red rope was all he had around his waist.


    She had taken the opposite tact, per his request.


    Her overtunic hung down to just above her ankles. It was slitted up the center and down the sides to allow for easy movement, while maintaining the illusion of formalwear.


    She wore close fitting cks and shirt under the overtunic. A wide beltplemented the outfit, carrying only her weapon and her dimensional storage.


    The overtunic was a bone white; the belt was ck; and the shirt and cks were a blood red.


    All were fashioned from her morphic clothing.


    It was ironic that her clothing was more flexible in its form than her weapon. The clothes had been incredibly easy to delve deeply into, and could take almost any form her mind could conjure. The weapon could only be a knife, sword, or ive, though in all three forms it cut better than any mundane weapon, and while shaped as either of therger two, it burned that which it cut.


    But this night was about her Master, not her weapons.


    Tali didnt detect any vestiges on him, so he at least wished to have the appearance of being unarmed.


    My candidate. Wee.


    She gave a slight nod, trying to honor his request, while still honoring him. My Master.


    They were the only people waiting outside the eastern entrance to the great hall.


    Two servants stood beside the double-doors, ready to pull them open whenmanded to do so.


    Are you ready?


    Of course, Master.


    He gave a half smile. You are a fascinating creature, you know that? He patted her on the top of her head. I am d that I didnt kill you.


    She frowned. Master?


    He sighed. That was a foolish mistake. <em>Alter.</em>


    <em>+What?+</em>


    <em>-He just shifted Talis memory. It looks like she now believes that he said, I am d that I didnt let you die.-</em>


    <em>+How? How can he do that so easily?+</em>


    <em>-She trusts him utterly. She has no desire to resist his suggestions.-</em>


    <em>+This is kind of gross.+</em>


    <em>-Indeed. But informative.-</em>


    <em>+How so?+</em>


    <em>-Ive now felt his power directly, and seen how it works. It is exactly as you guessed, based on Talis memories of her recovery. There is no way he could wipe our mind and rebuild a useful personality in less than a few weeks.-</em>


    <em>+Thats fantastic! But how can you be sure?+</em>


    <em>-The feel of the power. How it was utilized. This isnt a question of strength but dexterity andplexity. A mind is ace tablecloth, and I just saw how he handled redoing a couple of stitches. Trust me.-</em>


    Tali smiled. It is my deepest desire to prove your faith, justified.


    <em>+Yeah there is no way I could y her, convincingly+</em>


    <em>-You arent lying.-</em>


    Her Master turned to the servants. Were ready. He nced to Tali. Remember?


    She nodded, taking her ce one step behind and to his left. Together they walked forward even as the doors were pulled open.


    A booming voice announced them as they stepped into the brilliant light of the feasting hall, Announcing prospective Pir Be-thric and his Eskau candidate, Tali.

 Chapter 206: The Feast Hall

    Chapter 206: The Feast Hall


    Tali stopped when her Master did, maintaining precise positioning a step behind and to his left.


    The feast hall was as stunning as always, finding a bnce between beautiful intricacy and simplicity. The construction was mainly deep ck stone with red running through it. There was no roof, after all, there would be no weather in the hold that wasnt wanted, and the false sky overhead was visible even with the bright lights of the feast hall around them.


    Tali always felt like she could reach up and touch those stars, even though she knew they werent real. The sensation was amplified by magics around the top of the feasting halls walls. It was an air maniption script, creating a lensing effect, bringing them closer to those who looked up.


    <em>+Intricate simplicity? Those are literally in direct contradiction.+</em>


    <em>-But she isnt wrong. This is beautiful. Someone knows how to design the feel of a space.-</em>


    The House tables were spread around the room. Each was rectangr, designed so that the head of the small table was oriented towards the main table. The short side at the foot of each, was left empty, so everyone could see those on the slightly raised tform.


    Each of these lesser tables was a microcosm of a portion of the local House, each arranged around a higher member of the House of Blood.


    Those higher members all held auras in the yellow or green range, with only a single nearing blue. Those with stronger auras usually had one or two sycophants in the yellow range. The table headed by the colorfully feathered beast-woman with an almost-blue aura had two solidly green auraed members of the House.


    There were more of the small tables than usual, set up for those who hade from other cities to witness the raising of a new Pir. The bird-woman was the most notable example, havinge from a city across the mountains to the west.


    Her city didnt have a Pir, so she was the highest-ranking member of the House of Blood in residence there. She had, apparently failed in her bid to be a Pir a thousand years earlier, but after her failure, she had renewed her devotion to the House and made herself so invaluable that she was eventually granted authority over a whole branch. She was a Pir in all but name.


    <em>And direct power. Pirs outrank her, even if they dont generally have a need to interfere.</em>


    It made sense that shed be interested in the oue of this selection. <em>Master hinted that she would find a way to test me this evening.</em>


    Tali would be ready, no matter what form that test took.


    She finished her quick inspection of the small tables, verifying there were no threats or unexpected surprises. For all previous events held within this hall, her Master had had a table dedicated to him, for his associates, liegemen, and partners to sit with him. There had never been many, but that was their loss. Tonight proved that.


    Those who doubted him would be proven as the fools they were.


    Servants moved among the seated guests, and only a single figure currently sat at the high table.


    The Pir in residence within this hold: Revered Sanguis.


    His aura was just barely stronger than her Masters, with the barest hints of indigo tinting it. His skin was the yellow of a lemon, and his sclera and iris were the green of tree leaves. Though his aura was visible, the specifics of his magic were not.


    Tali had seen him crush an enemy with a word and reshape a valley with a gesture. His workings had almost no magic within them, because he didnt need much power to aplish his goals. He was of a High race, and his family, and those like his, were currently arguing for the addition of a loftier designation. Only time would tell if theyd be sessful. They certainly had the power to win though, they simplycked the numbers.


    <em>Though, theyve apparently been striving towards that same goal for more than a millennia.</em> Either way, it wouldnt happen quickly.


    Revered Sanguis nodded to Talis Master and gestured for them to sit to his right. There were currently seven unfilled seats. Four on the right side of Revered Sanguis and three on the other.


    They were spaced out, with enough room for a person to stand beside each chair without crowding the seats upant if needed.


    In her past contemtions of Revered Sanguis, Tali had noticed an interesting dichotomy in the yellow hue-man. First, as her Master was from this hold, he was proud and honored that her Master was a potential Pir. At the same time, he seemed to loathe Talis position as candidate.


    <em>It makes no sense. He should either trust my Master, or not. </em>A Pir was the true strength of any House. Either her Master was worthy, or he wasnt. He had chosen her, so his worthiness rested on her.


    <em>+does she really not understand that Sanguis dislikes humans?+</em>


    <em>-If Im understanding correctly, she thinks that if he truly disliked humans that much, then he should despise Be-thric for the choice and not be happy at all.-</em>


    <em>+Soshes even less politically minded than I am.+</em>


    <em>-So it would seem. Id not have guessed that was possible.-</em>


    <em>+A bit harsh, but fine+</em>


    Her Master turned, striding around the rooms perimeter towards the raised table, head held high, back straight with pride.


    Tali followed, trying to exude the confidence she felt in her position, in her Master.


    As they walked her Master whispered onest time, Remember, <em>everything</em> until the selection is a test. Treat it with the solemnity it deserves.


    She knew this already. Even so, she didnt react, just as he had trained her. <em>He should be able to give me instructions quietly without needing to worry about my reactions giving that fact away.</em>


    Her Master easily slid into the seat just beside Revered Sanguis. Tali took up her position in the space between the two, standing three steps back from the table.


    The Pir nced towards Tali before speaking, his voice an oddly easy to understand rumbling, growl. That overtunic is quitedistracting. Could you please go change into something less noticeable? White is much too garish.


    Tali stepped forward and bowed. If my Master allows. She watched the men out of the corners of her vision.


    Revered Sanguis had an air of condescension in his bearing. <em>Hes trying to get rid of me for a time.</em>


    Her Master gave the smallest smile and nodded.


    Tali straightened and sent her magic into her garments <em>just so</em>. The white overtunic bled to ck in an instant.


    Is this eptable, Revered Pir? She bowed again. <em>Dont make direct eye contact, dont use his name.</em>


    Revered Sanguis had turned fully to the side and was staring at her, mild shock evident across his features. He mastered himself quickly, nodded, then turned to regard her Master. Youve kept her abilities well hidden. I knew she could alter some of her garments, but the extent is beyond what I would have guessed.


    Tali straightened and stepped back into her ce, falling into a rxed stance, hands behind her back, feet shoulder-width apart.


    After a brief moments silence, the double doors at the far end of the hall opened, the north entrance, and six pairs walked through.


    A booming voice announced them as each set stepped into the brilliant light of the feasting hall, Announcing prospective Pir Derag and his Eskau candidate, Girro. The first pair were a slim red skinned hue-man followed by a massively burley specimen who could have been the firsts brother, if their general features were any indication.


    Announcing prospective Pir Jodup and her Eskau candidate, Alop. The next two were a rabbit beast-woman followed by a fox man.


    <em>+Staying segregated so far. Beast folk with beast folk and hue-folk with their kind.+</em>


    Announcing prospective Pir Volena and her Eskau candidate, Rel. A diminutive, violet hue-folk woman, who was barely more than half Talis height, was followed by a bear beast-man who could have eaten the woman he followed whole, multiple times over.


    <em>-And theres the diversity Ivee to expect from such an egalitarian society.-</em>


    <em>+Sarcasm? Really?+</em>


    <em>-You have your hobbies, I have mine.-</em>


    Announcing prospective Pir Tornas and his Eskau candidate, Blu-dine. This pair was a bull-man and a blue-skinned woman.


    Announcing prospective Pir Bobbau and his Eskau candidate, Ogi. Two bear-men walked in. The leader, Bobbau, was a smaller sub-species, where Ogi was closer to Tali in size, though built heavier and having greater height.


    <em>+Three bear-folk? That seems odd.+</em>


    <em>-Eh, even random samplings are almost never statistically even distributions.-</em>


    Announcing prospective Pir Gallof and his Eskau candidate, Thorn. A grey, towering hue-man walked in prominence before a diminutive form that caught Talis interest immediately. The Eskau candidate was nearly as wide as he was tall, with a massive, luxurious beard. The hair on his head, and making up his beard, looked like nothing so much as silver wire, thick, stiff, and reflective. It was intricately braided, both across his face and atop his head with small onyx gems woven throughout. His skin looked incredibly reminiscent of unpolished emerald, a stunningly deep, vibrant green.


    Talis eyes widened. <em>Thats a dwarf. I didnt know any were even in this region, let alone members of the House.</em>


    <em>+Dwarf? As inthe fairytale creatures? Theyre real?+</em>


    <em>-Seems so. Hue and beast folk are the mostmon arcanes in this city, but they are far from the only ones. You know this, even aside from Talis memories. The Leshkin used to be arcanes after all.-</em>


    <em>+I havent exactly had a chance to dig through Talis memories, and I guess I havent really considered how many kinds of arcane there might be.+</em>


    <em>-Fine, fine. Now hush.-</em>


    All the prospective Pirs had auras in the green range and the candidate Eskau were shrouded in orange. Even so, the candidates were obviously Higher races, they were likely not fully trained, yet, to achieve and maintain a higher density.


    Tali fought to keep a smirk from her face. <em>Master and I are both above our peers in this.</em>


    She had expected no less.


    The prospective Pirs were all dressed simply, just as her Master was, and the candidates were all armed, though none wore anything close to full armor, or carried any weaponrger than a longsword.


    The only thing that they all had inmon was a blood-red gauntlet each wore on their left fist.


    Those were their protian weapons.


    <em>I wonder, if I winwhen I win, will I be able to take those from my fallen enemies?</em>


    There was seemingly precedent for that, but whenever shed asked, her Master had refused to give her an answer. Though, hed never gone so far as to forbid her from asking again. She desperately wanted at least one of the weapons, but something told her that they werent going to be avable to her, unfortunately.


    <em>+There is a human soul in every one of those. This is horrific, t.+</em>


    <em>-Well do what we can, when we can.-</em>


    They were beautiful.


    <em>+Im going to be sick.+</em>


    <em>-You dont have to watch.-</em>


    <em>+Yeah, but then Ille back, and Ill have no idea whats going on. Itd be awful.+</em>


    <em>-The choice is still up to you.-</em>


    As the prospective Pirs and candidate Eskau crossed the hall, Revered Sanguis greeted them each in turn, indicating which seat was prepared for them. Indeed, the chairs seemed to have been custom sized for each prospective Pir, so that all heads were at an equal height once everyone was seated at the raised table.


    The whole process was heavily steeped in tradition.


    There were only two reasons for the selection of a new Pir of the House of Blood. Other houses apparently handled their leadership differently, but Tali wasnt concerned with other houses at that moment.


    The first, and the rarer, reason was when a Pir died, or was removed from his or her position. The second reason was when the current Pirs believed that the House had grown sufficiently to need another in the position.


    This was a case of the second reason. A hold was to be established within a city on the southern shores of the continent. The House of Blood had a strong presence there, and deep ties with several other houses in the city, so it was time to officially create a base of operations for the House.


    Not every hold had a Pir, and some had two pirs if circumstances demanded it. toiri was a critical enough part of the Houses operations that they wished to maintain the presence of a Pir, and have a newly raised Pir under Revered Sanguis for a time to bolster their position within the city.


    For that reason, among others beyond Talis knowledge, Revered Sanguis was chosen to host the contest. Thus, from what she understood, even when she secured the position for her Master he wouldnt be leaving to the new hold. No, that honor would go to an older Pir in a nearby city.


    Her Master would remain with Revered Sanguis, to be trained and slowly established in his position. Only then would the House Counsel consider relocating one of the Pirs.


    In Talis understanding, that would take at least a hundred years.


    That span of time seemed ludicrously long to her, but her Master had repeatedly exined that as his Eskau, she would be very nearly immortal. Her expected natural lifespan should be in the range of ten thousand years, assuming she didnt die or advance further.


    She still couldnt believe how much he had given her.


    <em>+Of course, hed take credit for that. Fusing was hard, rust you. I did that.+</em>


    <em>-ahem-</em>


    <em>+fine, we did that.+</em>


    Gallof was seated to her Masters right, so the dwarf, Thorn, was to Talis right.


    The dwarf regarded her for a moment, before bowing slightly in her direction, left hand to his chest.


    Tali bowed in return, left hand on her weapon.


    It was the only acknowledgement any of the other Eskau candidates, or any of the potential Pirs, gave her.


    On her other side, nking Revered Sanguis on his left, was Alop, and seated on that side of the Pir was Jodup.


    And thus, the feast began.


    Servants brought food for the potential Pirs, though only their Eskau candidates approach the head table directly. They intercepted the servants and carried the tters the remainder of the distance.


    Such a task would be beneath whichever of them seeded the following day, and so thisst, servile action was meant as a symbolic transition for the seven of them.


    Tomorrow, they would no longer be their masters chief servant. They would either be dead or a lesser equal with their master.


    <em>Well, the others might be in service to the Eskau of the victor. </em>For Tali, however, it was win or die.


    <em>+You know, I could take over, and try to cut a deal with the others.+</em>


    <em>-No, you really couldnt here, look at this.-</em>


    <em>+OhSo, even if I could make an agreement, it wouldnt matter unless Be-thric certified it, which he wouldnt.+</em>


    <em>-Which he wouldnt-</em>


    <em>+These rules seem contrived to force a ughter.+</em>


    <em>-Yes. They are. Eskau are meant, first and foremost, to be tools of violence. Even during selections involving games or contests of skill, the winner is still almost always decided by strength of arms. Why surrender to an opponent with more skill in this task or that, when you might beat him in a straight fight.-</em>


    Being one of the candidates nking Revered Sanguis, Tali was expected to serve him both at his request and on her own initiative.


    Revered Sanguis, for his part, only gavemands to her, though Alop still asionally assisted from the other side.


    The Pirs request may have been seen as an honor by many, but Tali knew what they were: a promise. Even if she won, <em>When I win,</em> she would still be under the Pirs authority, and he would not be easy on her.


    <em>+Ironically, thats exactly what we want.+</em>


    <em>-Indeed, him wishing to make Talis life difficult will mean that hes paying too close of attention for Be-thric to secret us away and attempt to rework our mind.-</em>


    <em>+On the negative side, if he learns were recovered?+</em>


    <em>-Hell kill us without hesitation. Its a shame that he seems to know exactly what Be-thric did to get us here.-</em>


    Tali decided to act like the attention andmands were an honor, as most would see it that way. <em>If I handle it properly, this will add to my Masters esteem.</em>


    The candidates did not eat.


    Tali had been warned. They were expected to fast through the night and next day, until the contest. It would ensure that they didnt eat any magically enhancing meat to give them an unfair advantage.


    That was reasonable, even Tali fully incorporated what she ate in less than an hour, giving a marginalsting improvement to her magics, rather than having a secondary well of power avable for only a moment.


    <em>I could have held the power, but it probably would have faded by the event, and in that case, it would have just gone to waste.</em>


    But she was getting distracted.


    For the most part, the feast was a chance for the potential Pirs to jockey for position, but that had little to do with Tali.


    Through the eating, she served her Master.


    After the food had been consumed, Revered Sanguis stood. My family. He spread his hands, indicating all of them. Let us address the human in the room.


    There were scattered chuckles as most eyes flicked to Tali.


    The path to be a Pir of our House is a sacred one. A potential Pir has <em>one</em> attempt to forge their protian weapon. Once their target is chosen, they must report who it is, so that we can enforce the singr attempt. It must be carried out without House resources, though if proper material presents itself within our holdings, the use of such is allowed. Revered Sanguis gestured to those on either side of himself. Thus, these potential Pirs went forth and imed their material, most from the barbards to the north. Once the material is forged into a proper protian weapon, an Eskau candidate is chosen. This candidate is raised from early childhood towards the role, and it is upon their shoulders that the power of the Pir will rest.


    Nods filled the hall, along with some murmuring.


    However, tradition wasbent by one of our potential Pirs. Revered Sanguis gestured to Talis Master. Honored Be-thric chose his material, and then


    Tali felt her attention fade for a moment.


    The Pir continued, Tali not listening, though T and t were. He failed. He allowed his material to advance past the point of utility. He was disqualified, utterly andpletely.


    Tali shook her head slightly, her minding back to focus on what was being said. <em>Focus, Tali. Now is not the time to get distracted.</em>


    But Honored Be-thric chose another path. He chose to forge material that others would have assumed beyond use into both weapon and wielder. He had the courage to take the risk.


    Her Master was sitting up a bit straighter now.


    Tomorrow will prove if his gamble was wise. Tomorrow will prove his worth to our House.


    Silence fell over those in attendance.


    <em>+Oh, wow. Hes good.+</em>


    <em>-Indeed. He has distanced himself from Be-thric, while also supporting him, in a way. Either result will see Sanguiss position strengthened.-</em>


    Now, enjoy yourselves, my family. Talk amongst yourselves and take some time to get to know your potential Pirs.


    With that, the House of Blood members stood and moved through the hall. They quickly formed ever-shifting groups, chatting amicably, sipping wine, and nibbling on desserts which were proffered by servants weaving their way amongst the groups.

 Chapter 207: The End of the Night

    Chapter 207: The End of the Night


    Tali didnt have any specific duties during this part of the feast. This was a time for potential Pirs to talk with those whom they might hold sway over. It was a time to be seen, and a time to bury old grudges, so that whomever rose to the position, they would not feel a need toremove any members below them.


    It was not a time for Eskau, candidates or otherwise. Throughout the conversations, the candidates either stood silently behind and to the left of their masters or moved at their masters bidding so that the other ranking members of the House of Blood could examine their physique and magics.


    Tali had to fight to keep a smirk off her face when one lesser member tried to pinch her bicep to test for muscle density, and he had to use body strengthening magics to make more than the slightest impression.


    True, she was flexing at the time, but it showed that the purple man was properly ranked within the House structure.


    <em>Too weak to ever amount to much.</em> Are you satisfied with my candidacy, Elder?


    He had nodded quickly, not meeting her gaze before he moved off.


    Her Master had given her a smile for the disy. That particr member of the House had been trying to undermine her Master for nearly a year, even before her Master had returned with her and announced his intentions.


    There were several other attempts to test her suitability, but they all failed utterly.


    The only one of true note came from a simple Mature member of the House, her orange aura announcing her low status.


    Tali had several hue folk around her at the time, two were feeling her forearms, when she felt a slight <em>prick</em>.


    Talis gaze immediately snapped to the green skinned woman who was on her left. A small pin had been pushed through Talis skin, which was actually fairly impressive, as far as feats go.


    The poison on the needle was more so. Nheless, it proved utterly ineffective against her enhanced biology.


    The woman had a triumphant look in her eyes until Tali smiled maliciously.


    With quick motions, Tali trapped the hand holding the needle and forcibly pushed it further into her own arm.


    Her voice was clear, even as the others who were around her stepped back in rm at her quick movements. You wouldnt want to deliver too small of a dose, would you?


    Once the needle was mostly driven in, Tali pulled it back out, still trapped within the womans hand.


    With a quick twist, Tali broke her attackers wrist. Aughably weak kick to the inside of the green womans right leg dropped her to her knees before Tali.


    Her Master turned from his conversation with a raised eyebrow.


    <em>Everythings a test.</em> Revered Pir, I do not have the authority to issue judgment on this member of the House.


    <em>+Wait. Whats she doing? The threat is neutralized. It wasnt even a real threat to begin with.+</em>


    <em>-You know whats shes going to do, T. Do you want to stop her?-</em>


    <em>+II dont know.+</em>


    The Pir turned from the group he had been talking with and took in the scene.


    After a long moment, he nodded. I give you the authority.


    <em>+I cant stop herwell, I can but If we show weakness, here, it would be decidedly out of character for Tali. Even if it wasnt, either Sanguis or Be-thric would kill me for showing weakness unbefitting of an Eskau.+</em>


    <em>-Do you even want to stop her? These people are our enemies. We can stop her, if you want. Do you want control?-</em>


    <em>+ No.+</em>


    As Revered Sanguis turned away from her, Tali looked to her Master. He simply nodded as well, though he didnt turn away. Instead, he watched to see how she would proceed.


    The woman was still kneeling before Tali, quietly whimpering as she clutched her distorted hand.


    Talis voice was clear through the hall, even though most conversations didnt stop entirely. Will you reveal who put you up to this attack?


    <em>Its obviously the bird-woman, but such an usation would be pointless. Even if this woman were her closest friend, that isnt evidence of coboration. </em>Tali almost didnt wait for the womans answer. Honestly, she probably shouldnt have asked. If this had been well nned, the woman would now implicate some other enemy of her associates, and Tali would have just given them that opportunity.


    Blessedly, the attacker just looked up with a re. Id rather die.


    Tali gave a moments consideration. Crushing the woman would be both symbolic and demonstrative of her abilities, but by that same token, it would give away some of what she could do.


    There were simr issues with using her morphic weapon. A simple solution would be best.


    Wish granted.


    Tali simply grabbed the womans chin and gave a quick, one-handed jerk sideways, snapping her neck.


    The green woman copsed to the side, her elegant dress falling in a rather artistic cascade around her unmoving form.


    Two servants came forward stoically to remove the body, but Tali waved them away. Leave her. The remains of the feast should not be removed until the celebration isplete.


    The servants withdrew, her Master nodded appreciatively, and the evening continued.


    <em>+that was brutal.+</em>


    <em>-Effective though. It should also be a deterrent to anyone else trying something simr.-</em>


    <em>+Oh, theres no doubt of that. I justI dont know if I could have done it like that. I dont know if I could kill someone so casually, for such a little thing, and then leave their body out for all to see.+</em>


    <em>-...You know, tomorrow youre going to have to kill at least a few of the candidates.-</em>


    <em>+Yes, but my life will be on the line, then.+</em>


    Once or twice during the feast, while ncing through the crowd, Tali saw odd motion from near some of the other candidates. The movements could have indicated attempts on the lives of her opponents, but she didnt pay too much attention, regardless. If assassins seeded, shed have fewerpetitors, but if they seeded, those candidates would never have been realpetition for her in any event. So, in the end, it was just meaningless posturing.


    It was nearly midnight when Revered Sanguis called an end to the feast and made the pivotal announcement. I have heard all the potential Pirs petitions, he paused to grin at the alliteration, before he continued, his smile still in evidence, And I am pleased to announce that I can honor them all.


    The Pir paused, then nced towards Tali and grimaced. One thing, first: As one of the candidates is a cored, I must state that there will be absolutely no tampering, or interacting, with that cor under any circumstances. <em>I</em> will immediately kill anyone who even attempts it.


    A wave of mutters passed through the hall, and Tali fought the desire to hang her head in shame.


    <em>+Yes, be ashamed for being a ve. That makes sense.+</em>


    <em>-I wish that was why she felt shame.-</em>


    <em>+yeah She simply hates that the statement brought attention to Be-thrics vition of custom.+</em>


    The Pir continued his announcement, his voice gaining a celebratory tone once more, That dealt with, for the first time I can remember, every single potential Pir has asked for the same terms. Tomorrow, we will have apetition without restrictions, save those required. It will be until death or surrender, and the only magic you may bring with you is your own and that of your protian.


    Tali shook off her momentary shame and felt herself grin broadly. There would be no riddles, no games, no feats of strength. It would be a simple melee, and Tali would prove her Master right.


    * * *


    The door to Talis room closed with a <em>click</em>. Two servants had just left, after helping Tali apply her iron paint.


    <em>+Enough. My turn again.+</em>


    T swayed just slightly as she came back intomand of her own body.


    It was slightly disorienting, moving from the position of observer andmentator to that of personality inmand.


    <em>-Hey, I kind of like that.</em>-


    T grimaced. <em>I really dont. It implies that well be doing this often enough to need a term to help us differentiate</em>


    She twisted, stretching and reveling in the feeling of being back within her own body.


    She could already feel the power building up within her,pounding within her magics.


    The feast had ended less than an hour earlier, though obviously without her getting any food. <em>A bit unfair, that.</em>


    <em>-Well, what can you do?-</em>


    <em>I could have stolen food, or I could go do so now.</em>


    <em>-Are you going to?-</em>


    <em>Absolutely not. That would be foolish.</em>


    t chuckled within Ts head.


    T looked down at her ckened hands, and had a moment of revulsion.


    They looked like they could be Be-thrics hands, the hands of her captor.


    <em>No, focus on the details, not the generalities.</em> Hers were feminine, not delicate, but certainly not like Be-thrics. Theycked his odd, gray spell-lines.


    Tali had never learned what those were. Most arcanes didnt have visible spell-lines, though a few did. Be-thric was not unique. She still didnt know what his did. The material of the lines, and the arcanes flesh, were such different mediums that she had no basis with which topare to human spell-forms of gold, silver, or copper.


    Even as she watched, the echoes of her own lined magics began to fade into existence, carving themselves into reality.


    With a resigned sigh, Ty on her bed, contemting the day that was toe.


    As evidenced by the rapid formation of the echoes, her power density and through-put were both leagues beyond what they had been six months ago. From Talis memories, shed spent less than half the time in captivity wearing the iron paint.


    The increases hade, instead, from the literal wagon-loads of arcanous and magical harvests shed been eating. Meats from powerful beasts, fruits, and vegetables grown in high magic areas and saturated with certain spell-forms. Honestly, it sounded like what T understood with regards to creating artifacts.


    <em>But these people use it to create food for their upper echelon to consume.</em>


    Be-thric had thrown every resource her way in his bid for power. Hed even taken her into a pocket dimension, filled to the brim with founts, save room for a few people to meditate.


    Every inch, even under thepressed founts, had been carved with spell-forms designed topact and distill power.


    The aura of the space had been violet, and Be-thric had implied that theyd lowered the density of power so that the two of them could bear it.


    It had been agonizing, but it had forced her body to limate to higher quantities of power, even if that power waslesser, whenpared to what came through her gate.


    Shed been a container expanded to hold more. The particr fluid or gas used for the expansion was irrelevant, as her gate always refilled the new capacity with half-step Refined power.


    <em>-Thats not a thing.-</em>


    <em>Are you sure? It seems like a good description.</em>


    <em>-Im sure theres an actual ranking and ssification for it.- </em>


    <em>Do you know it?</em>


    <em>-no-</em>


    <em>Then half-step Refined it is!</em> T grinned triumphantly.


    The more she considered it, the more it was obvious that Be-thric was betting <em>everything</em> on Tali. And it made sense too, now at least. Hed officially marked her as his target, but shed slipped away from him, advancing faster than he could possibly have expected.


    <em>He cheated, too.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, he clearly began the process the first time he saw you, rather than selecting you officially, before interfering.-</em>


    <em>Thats probably what messed him over. Id have been on a different path when he came back, and likely wouldnt have advanced as quickly as I did.</em>


    <em>-Could be. We can never really know what would have happened, though.-</em>


    Even with the uncertainty, it was good to understand what had urred, and she even got some modicum of pleasure imagining how Be-thrics ns had crumbled so horribly.


    She nced at her hands once more, regarding the paint. <em>I actually have no idea if this is new paint or just some of thest of what I had with me, but I think it must be new? It seems like a lot of effort to reverse engineer this</em>


    She brought her hand closer, trying to examine the now-dry material. It looked almost identical, if not identical. She had purchased around ten gallons fromsomeone in Marliweather in the months preceding her capture.


    Ts smile faded, her thoughts turning inward as she took a deep breath and sighed. <em>I know you know what Im going to say.</em>


    <em>-I do.-</em>


    <em>Im going to say it anyway.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, I know that too.-</em>


    <em>Its kind of irritating talking to someone who can know what Im going to say before I say it.</em>


    <em>-Thats why I pretend most of the time. What a polite fiction we maintain, eh?-</em>


    T glowered at the ceiling. <em>Anyways. I know you havent restored some key parts of my memories.</em>


    <em>-I wasnt trying to hide that fact from you.-</em>


    <em>Then why not give them back?</em>


    <em>-Because worrying about certain things would distract you.-</em>


    <em>So, I have people that I should be worried about? But you think I cant afford the distractions?</em>


    <em>-Yes, andpanions.-</em>


    <em>Wait some of them arent people?</em>


    t was silent for a long moment. <em>-I assume you are against me modifying your memory of this exchange?-</em>


    <em>Not funny, t.</em>


    <em>-Yeah-</em> t did sound remorseful. -<em>That was a bit in bad taste.-</em>


    <em>Even so, bad jokes will not distract me.</em>


    <em>-Tomorrow will be difficult enough without you worrying about things you cant affect. Let me return them to you, tomorrow night.-</em>


    <em>But if I ask for the memories back now?</em>


    <em>-Then, I will give them back, but I feel like that is not wise.-</em>


    T considered that for a moment before asking another question. <em>So, you really think I shouldnt remember?</em>


    <em>-Repression is kind of our thing.-</em>


    <em>Well, Id say look at how thats worked out. But I dont actually know, now do I? I just feel like it hasnt worked out well, with no memories supporting it. Do you know how infuriating that is? How terrifying? You are keeping me from being fully me, t. Youre acting more like Be-thric than you are acting like me.</em>


    <em>-Thats not fair.-</em> The alternate interface sounded genuinely hurt by theparison.


    <em>Isnt it, though? Youre manipting my mind to get me to act in the way you want me to. Its not to the same extent, obviously, but it is more like him than it is like me.</em>


    <em>-II did not think of it like that.-</em> ts voice was incredibly small within Ts head.


    <em>Yeah I assumed you didnt. Youve never had any ill will towards me, nor malicious intent.</em>


    <em>-Im sorryHere.-</em>


    Suddenly, T jerked, memories within her head unlocking.


    She gasped. Oh.


    Tears filled her eyes, and she felt a sob shudder through her. She couldnt afford to be loud. There <em>shouldnt</em> be anyone nearby, but there was always the chance.


    <em>My siblings.</em> She felt tears start to pour from her eyes, down past her temples an onto the pillow behind her head. <em>Nc and Illie are at the Academy, they were asking for my input on their fundamental understandings. I never got a chance to reply.</em> She had missives from some of her other siblings, but she hadnt been talking with anyone as much as those two and Nc more than Illie.


    <em>Mistress Odera. Will Ie back to find her gone? Her Archon star finallyplete and her mortal form shed in favor of a fount?</em>


    <em>Lyn is probably just fine, though Im sure shes worried sick.</em>


    <em>Rane was doing a loop of the cities on his own. I know I dont have the right count of days, but that should be finishing up soon, if he continued after I went missing He has to know Im gone, right? Mistress Odera would have told him.</em>


    She sat up and blew her nose, her mind fixating on one friend in particr.<em> Terry? He was near me when Be-thrictook me. Is hedid Terry die?</em>


    t had no response. Neither they, nor Tali, had memories of Ts capture. t had been keeping their mental map up to date in the Archive, but when they were taken, that was cut off. t, herself, was cut off.


    Thest thing they could recall was Be-thric saying Found you.


    <em>Whats happening with all of them?</em>


    <em>-I dont know, and we cant know. But, Tali has seen a terror bird asionally in the city. I dont know if its Terry, after all Terror birds arent that umon either as pets or pests.-</em>


    T easily called up the memories from Talis experiences, seeing increases in the number of terror birds around the city every so often.


    The coloring didnt look quite right to be Terry, but that might have been her fear talking. After all, Tali had never really gotten a good look, she had only noticed it because on those days there seemed to be more terror birds about than usual.


    T shuddered, wiping at her eyes.


    -<em>So?-</em>


    <em>II think its better to remember. Its better to know what I need to get back </em>for<em>.</em>


    <em>-Huh. It seems Imisunderstood what your reaction would be.-</em> Something in ts tone caught Ts attention.


    <em>t? Whats wrong?</em>


    <em>-II did not realize that Id drifted so far from you already.-</em>


    <em>We are a bit distinct. And not just because you were hiding bits of myself.</em> She didnt intend the words as an attack, so t didnt take it that way.


    -<em>We are.-</em>


    <em>Even with my own memories, you are a passenger. Watching through my eyes is not the same as taking the action. That difference shapes us differently.</em>


    t seemed to perk up a bit. <em>-It is amazing how our experiences shape us, isnt it.-</em>


    <em>Indeed it is.</em> T blew her nose onest time, feelingplete for the first time in well, six months or so.


    She needed rest. Her mind needed sleep to reorganize and process through all that had happened. It was time for the end of the night. <em>I think I need to sleep.</em>


    <em>-That is probably wise, yes. Good night, T.-</em>


    <em>Good night, t.</em>

 Chapter 208: Begin

    Chapter 208: Begin


    T slept well and woke early, the night and day passing in a blur. Though she felt some tension from the uing battle, she did her best to focus on what she could do, rather than what she couldnt control.


    She spent most of the day in meditation, sifting through Talis memories and experiences for things that she could learn. Though, she didnt just sit quietly while she meditated.


    T used the opportunity to familiarize herself with the Way of Flowing Death.


    <em>-Blood, T. Its the Way of Flowing Blood.-</em>


    <em>Oh, yeah. That makes more sense.</em>


    -<em>you already knew that. Why get it wrong on purpose?-</em>


    <em>Way of Flowing Death sounds better.</em>


    <em>-But Death doesnt flow. Blood does.-</em>


    <em>fine. Way of Flowing Blood.</em>


    Thus, T spent the day refining her understanding of the fighting style, allowing Talis instincts and memories to guide her.


    When it was time for thepetition, what would most likely be a bloody battle to the death, T made her way to the battleground.


    On the far side of the hold, a circle of short cliffs surrounded a lond nearly two hundred yards across.


    Down below the cliffs, the ground was level and covered in thick, well-established clover.


    <em>Good footing, springy. No obvious means for terrain advantage.</em>


    All the members of the House, in residence in toiri or visiting for this event, surrounded the arena onfortable seating, each seat seemingly individualized to the member.


    Servants swarmed around the cliff top, seeing to the needs of their masters.


    Sanguiss Eskau was greeting each guest, candidate, or potential Pir as they arrived, and T gave the man a courteous nod. <em>I can be respectful.</em>


    Paun, Sanguiss Eskau, had returned around midnight. He had been dyed in his return, which is why he had missed the feast. If rumors that Tali had heard over the previous few days were correct, Paun had been sent to crush a minor house, which had almost seeded in kidnapping one of Sanguiss daughters, a girl who had just reached marriageable age.


    The minor house had intended to force a marriage between her and their heir, thus gaining official entry into the House of Blood.


    It had been a foolish attempt, though sound in principle.


    One week earlier, mere hours after the failed kidnapping, Paun had entered their hold, breaking down the magical reinforced door and storming in, alone.


    A minor house would not have an elite, but they would be far from helpless. Many minor houses had the ability to field an elite, but chose to spread those armaments out among their best warriors, rather than concentrating them.


    It wouldnt have mattered.


    It seemed that Tali had cultivated some of the servants as sources of news, because one had approached T that morning to inform her that an empty minor hold had been added to the vault along with more than two dozen vestiges, though theyd used different terms for the armor and weaponry.


    Paun had returned with spoils of conflict and no prisoners.


    Hed used a vestige to lock down the door before spending nearly a week hunting down everyone whod been in the hold: house members, servants, and even guests unlucky enough to be visiting at the time.


    The hue-folk man stood just taller than T, his protian weapon worn as a knife on his belt. Aside from the belt, simple breaches, and sandals on his feet, he wore nothing else.


    His head was clean shaven, and his obsidian eyes matched his skin so closely that he looked like nothing so much as a three-dimensional shadow. His skin was so dark that it was hard to see the contours of his leanly muscled frame.


    T could feel power radiating off of him, even though she couldnt see any spell-lines or aura.


    No one knew what rank he held, but his protian weapon was thousands of years old. House lore held that his family had wielded the weapon for generations, though no record could easily be found of it changing hands.


    A smile broke the obsidian mans face. Tali, you will not fail today. This I know.


    As they had lived in the same hold for at least six months, Tali and Paun had sparred quite often.


    Tali had never beaten the man.


    Paun usually fought with as many handicaps as he could think of.


    After one particrly infuriating day, Tali had copsed to the ground, weeping in frustration, and he had promised to never fight her blindfolded again.


    It didnt improve Talis chances, but it had been less humiliating.


    Paun was a terror.


    <em>And likely the greatest threat to our ever escaping</em>


    <em>-Yeah though, it is possible that he wouldnt interfere, if he were to learn the truth.-</em>


    <em>Or he would kill us on the spot.</em>


    <em>-That is a possibility, yes.-</em>


    Thorn seemed to have been a bit behind T, and he grumbled aint while regarding therger man. What is this favoritism, Eskau Paun?


    T half turned to regard the dwarf, even as Paun responded.


    The dark mans grin widened. Is it favoritism to speak of the sunrise? Besides, have you even seen her today? She looks positively marvelous. Almost like me.


    Thorn nced towards T, and then did a double-take.


    <em>Had he really not noticed?</em>


    <em>-From the back, the difference is pretty hard to see. Now that youre turned to be able to see him, though?-</em>


    Paun continued. Though, in her case, shes offset her perfection with he waved dismissively in her direction, "...gaudy manifestations of power.


    Thorn just stared. How what? You cant possibly think that magical armor of any kind, let alone that tant, will be permitted.


    T shrugged and smiled. This magic is all mine. Even so, Revered Sanguis will be final arbiter of what is allowed.


    The full Eskau beamed, his too-white teeth shing in the afternoon light, fake though it was. You see? She is magnificent, more than a match for those set against her.


    Thorn red, while seeming a bit more hesitant. Some of us are unknown to you, great Paun.


    Pauns smile quirked. I would not be so sure of that, acerbic Thron.


    <em>Diddid he just get Thorns name wrong? Was that on purpose?</em>


    <em>-I have no idea.-</em>


    T was at a loss. It was kind of funny, but she didnt understand what was going on, and she certainly wasnt going to do anything that might be perceived asughing at Paun.


    The dwarf stiffened, his green skin bing slightly translucent.


    <em>Is that like a human paling? Or reddening?</em>


    -<em>Or both?-</em>


    <em>Not helpful.</em>


    Thorn didnt say another word as he hurried past, but Paun called after him. Fight well, candidate to be <em>my</em>panion. Choose your path wisely. Today will be filled with <em>weighty</em> decisions.


    Thorn hesitated at that, ncing back. Then, he gave a slow nod, his gaze flicking to T for a brief moment.


    Paun regarded T once more. Go. You are dying, young human. Do not shame me, or I will take a leg, and force you to hop about for your first year of official duty.


    Something deep within T, likely from Tali, screamed that it was neither idle threat nor joke.


    T swallowed convulsively and bowed, lower this time. She pulled the proper wording for her response from Tali. I will endeavor to bring honor to the House.


    Paun grunted, before turning to greet the next guest, a minor member of the House.


    T did her best to not flee from the man, even as she hurried on her way.


    She walked down the meandering path, which wove among the elevated seats, each positioned to get a good view of most of the arena below.


    There would also be magical viewing devices that would allow closer viewing of the active engagements.


    Not all arcane magical items were vestiges, and in many ways they seemed to be ahead of humanity in that field.


    <em>We should try to get our hands on schematics, if at all possible.</em>


    <em>-Lets call that ourthird? Yes, our third priority.-</em>


    <em>After escaping alive and taking as much as we can with us?</em>


    <em>-Precisely.-</em>


    <em>I knew I liked you.</em> She considered for a moment longer. <em>You know, as many vestiges as weve seen, I feel like there should be more.</em>


    <em>-You know that not every Mage or fount can be made into a vestige. And not every vestige can be used for any given item. Indeed, only a few can have their capacity grown at all, which limits the number for high powered items even further.-</em>


    <em>I know all that. Even so, theyve been doing this for thousands of years. Id have thought thered be more.</em> She couldnt exin it beyond that.


    -<em>Maybe they degrade, or break?-</em>


    <em>Could be, yeah. I suppose well see.</em>


    Be-thric would not be speaking to her before the battle. Instead, hed sent simple information her way, earlier that day.


    Rel, Alop, and Girro were all diametrically opposed to her, either because of their masters, or their own prejudices. They may even surrender to her, in the hopes of being let into her service to undermine or kill herter.


    Blu-dine, Ogi, and Thorn seemed to have no ill will specifically directed at her or Be-thric, and their masters shared that ambivalence. They werent friends or allies in any sense, but they wouldnt be targeting her specifically.


    Be-thric had also warned that the information might be iplete or inurate. Apparently, the even split made him feel like things were not as they seemed.


    Following what she knew from Tali, T finally came out from among the structured seating, and walked to the edge of the cliff.


    Without hesitating, she stepped over the edge and dropped.


    She fell for just more than a second, crouching upon impact to help absorb thending.


    The motion wasnt necessary for T, not in the least, but it would have been required without her enhancements, and she didnt want to give anything away.


    Two others, the human-sized bearman, Ogi, and the Foxman, Alop, were already down in the pit, well-spaced from each other.


    When shended, they regarded her, then shifted, spacing themselves out once more, so that they were not too near one another or T.


    Even as they moved, they were staring at her, shock evident on their animalistic features.


    T grinned back at them but didntment. She knew how she looked.


    She was a ck canvas, a perfect backdrop behind the spell-forms carved into reality itself by her magics.


    She <em>thrummed</em> with power. Her aura would be hidden as well, increasing the eeriness to anyone who looked at her with mage-sight or the equivalent.


    If the whispers T was picking up from the crowd looking down at them were any indication, many of the House members had just that.


    <em>Thats right, look upon the soon to be victor.</em>


    -<em>Ah, yes. Pride is always the best way to ensure victory.-</em>


    <em>Hey, in this case, pride came after the fall.</em>


    t groaned.


    <em>Get it? Because I just dropped off that short cliff?</em>


    <em>-Of course I get it, T. I saw the pun form in your mind, then I had to hear you project it at me, and now I have the memory forever ingrained within us.-</em>


    T chuckled to herself and shook her head.


    The other candidates gave her odd looks and continued to keep their distance.


    <em>Thats right. The human girl is crazy. Let someone else deal with her.</em>


    Over the next few minutes, the other candidates arrived, one by one.


    As each dropped into the pit, the others shifted to stay as far away from each other as possible.


    T decided to not be stubborn unnecessarily, moving when appropriate. <em>I mean, were about to kill each other, so theres no call to be rude.</em>


    -<em>Youre all sorts of fun today.-</em>


    <em>You know it.</em>


    As things shook out, T had Blu-dine and Ogi nking her. The blue skinned woman andnky bearman regarded her warily but maintained even spacing.


    Without fanfare or obvious magics, Sanguis was suddenly floating above the center of the arena. Greetings, House of Blood.


    There was a great sound of shuffling and rustling of cloth as everyone turned to regard the Pir.


    We know why we are here. Potential Pirs, take your ces behind your candidates, up on the cliff.


    T saw all the potential Pirs take their ces.


    No outside interference will be eptable, from the potential Pirs or other watchers. Sanguis spun in a slow circle, sweeping his hard-eyed gaze over the crowd.


    That done, he looked down at those in the pit.


    The cliff walls are impervious to anything you are capable of but keep your magics contained. Id hate for one of the bystanders to be killed.


    <em>He could just keep magics from passing in or out of the pit, right? Why the threats and warnings?</em>


    I will now inspect each of you for external magics.


    T had left Kit back in her room for this exact reason. Instead, she had a simple leather pouch with a dozen small river rocks.


    Sanguis floated down in front of Thorn. The shorter candidate was just off to the left of being most directly in front of T. If T was at the 6 position of a clock, Thorn would have been at the 10 location, or near enough.


    Sanguis took only a moment, inspecting the dwarf with his magics, before nodding and moving on.


    When he stopped in front of T, she felt magic forced around her iron paint with seeming ease, and her entire being was scanned by power nearly three whole tiers more dense and powerful than her own half-step Refined magic.


    -<em>Thats not a real ranking.-</em>


    <em>Until you give me a better option, Im using it.</em>


    Sanguis nodded once, then moved on.


    Once hed inspected each candidate, he returned to his position, hovering in the center of the arena.


    I have found no breach of the rules.


    T swept herpetition with her mage-sight onest time and noticed something interesting. Each and every one of them seemed to be building up power within their protian weapons spell-forms.


    <em>Theyre getting ready to transform as soon as possible.</em>


    Derag, standing just behind the opponent who was almost directly opposite T, raised his voice. I have an objection.


    <em>What now?</em>


    Girro, Derags candidate, just smirked, his eyes fixed on T.


    Sanguis shook his head slightly before turning to address Derag. What is your objection?


    The slender, red-skinned man gestured towards T. The human is clearly coated in magics. Her clothing is magical, and her weapon is magical and not a protian weapon. More over, she doesnt even look human. Shes coated in something.


    Those are observations, not objections. Sanguiss tone was clipped and precise. His voice came out even more harshly than his characteristic growl.


    Derag blinked back at the Pir. How is any of that allowed?


    Those are her own magics, as was prescribed by the rules set forth. She is soul bound to the weapon and her garments, the coating on her skin is not magical, nor a weapon, so is not forbidden, and the magic you see around her is also from herself.


    Derag paled slightly, his skin tone moving slightly towards pink.


    Girro, down in the pit, red even more fiercely at T.


    <em>Well, that bit of intel was correct, at least.</em>


    Sanguis pivoted in the air once more. Unless there are any other objections?


    There was silence from the crowd.


    Good. Oh. One final thing, candidates. No power will be allowed to filter in during the battle. You have only what is in there with you.


    All the candidates eyes widened, except Ts; she grinned.


    Begin.


    Four things happened at once.


    First, six protian weapons transformed, almost in unison, though they took radically different forms, and Flow whipped sideways into Ts right hand, transforming into a sword.


    Second, two of the candidates dropped to one knee, speaking clearly for all to hear: I surrender to Blu-dine surrendered to Alop and Girro. Alop surrendered to Girro.


    <em>So, those three have no cause to fight, and the hierarchy is established, regardless of if any of them are inGreat.</em>


    Third, all the other candidates, even those who were moving to kneel and surrender, threw their auras outward, trying to scoop up and draw in as much power as possible. As a result, the area was suddenly utterly bereft of power, each candidate sucking up as much as they could in an instant.


    Fourth, and finally, T attempted a lock on every other candidate. Five failed. One stuck.


    <em>CRUSH.</em> T threw five cycles of <em>crush</em> at the target, mming Blu-dine down into the clover with more than a thousand times regr gravity, even as she finished surrendering.


    The blue woman didnt have breath left to scream as she popped like a dropped melon.


    <em>One. </em> She immediately began dumping power into a target-less gravity augmentation for three of the stones in her pouch. She connected as many,rge void-channels as she could to each <em>increase</em>, letting her gaze sweep the already chaotic arena.


    Her bloodstars moved into position, two drops orbited her head to provide t with a 360 perspective, another drop moved to hover near the back of her skull, while the bar lifted to float behind her neck, the balling to its ce in front of her sternum.


    T watched Thorn bring a nged, pole-mace down towards Girro, even as the dwarf lunged for the red man.


    But she didnt have attention to spare. She spun to the side, barely moving out of the way of a spear thrust from Ogi. It was an <em>insanely</em> long spear, at nearly four times the mans height, but it was still a spear.


    <em>-The discs.-</em>


    <em>Right!</em> T wasnt used to those being in her arsenal.


    T put her back towards her downed opponent, trusting in her mirrored perspective to warn her if anyone came at her from behind.


    She <em>pulled </em>the three discs of unknown materialunknown even to Talifrom their holster at the back of her belt to spin around her in staggered orbits.


    Even as T was still moving through her dodge and the discs were rising into their ces, Ogis spear morphed into a ded chain, jerking sideways to try to wrap around her.


    T dropped below the sweeping strike, even while her rod and ball moved to deflect and trap the chain.


    <em>Right, that was my guard position, not Talis.</em>


    She flung one of the discs forward, not as an attack, but as a distraction.


    While the tungsten was engaging the bear-mans protian weapon, T threw Flow forward, flicking her wrist at thest moment to send the de whirling across the short distance.


    Ogi easily struck aside the disc as he gestured upward, and vines shot up with precise timing, catching Flows handle and keeping it from hitting him.


    <em>Oh So, there is some terrain advantage after all.</em>


    -<em>MOVE!-</em>


    T jumped upward from her ducking crouch, just as a scythe on the end of a long chain whipped through the space shed just been in.


    She jerked two discs into alignment as an attacknced across the arena. She mirrored her weight into the six bloodstars in those two discs. The effort of maintaining so many aspect mirrors was impossible to maintain, but she was able to hold it for an instant as the attacknded.


    She was lucky that she had, too. The first disc was mmed back against the second, and together they were driven nearly all the way to her.


    T dropped the aspect mirrors for those stars, her whole focus back on Ogi. <em>Do I have another opponent iing?</em>


    -<em>They arent focused on you, they just took a shot at your back.-</em>


    Ogis weapon changed again, and he jerked it backwards. The de at the end of the chain sliced against her back as it passed.


    Power blossomed from the weapon, shing with her magical defenses.


    It didnt get through, but it did knock her back downward, just as another pulse of magic from the bear-man caused vines to shoot up and snag her ankles.


    <em>Well, thats irritating.</em>


    T expanded her aura and broke Ogis hold on the vines. That didnt cause them to release, but it did weaken them enough that she pulled out of them with ease.


    She <em>pulled</em> Flow back to her hand and continued to dump power into the targetless gravity augmentation on three of the stones in her pouch.


    Her other bloodstar-imbedded tools returned to their positions around her as she took a moment to assess her opponent, now that shed shed with him a couple of times.


    <em>This is going to be a bit of a slog.</em>


    <em>-Did you expect to win, instantly?-</em>


    <em>No, but it would have been nice.</em>


    T narrowed her eyes and charged.

 Chapter 209: Clash

    Chapter 209: sh


    T cursed internally as she fought with the bear-man, Ogi.


    They were almost perfectly evenly matched in prowess, and he didnt even need to expend power to call upon the nt life around them anymore. Though, that was mostly because T had her aura extended and hardened against his magics. He might have been able to do a working through her authority, but it would have taken a great deal more power, and he seemed content to wait.


    Instead, the candidate was using his power internally, in looping spell-forms that were <em>incredibly</em> efficient, amplifying himself to match her speed and power.


    Not only that, but the benefit of the protian weapon was showing itself.


    His every strike seemed to snake around her blocks, cutting at her defensive magics, and forcing her to pull more and more power through her gate.


    If shed been an arcane, shed already have lost.


    It felt like she was juggling greased electric eels, who were very unhappy by the mishandling.


    -<em>That is genuinely one of the oddest metaphors Ive ever heard.-</em>


    <em>Im not exactly devoting brainpower to clever figures of speech.</em>


    Ogi was, without question, better at utilizing his magic efficiently than she was, by leagues. She was a child beside a master with decades spent honing his craft, in that regard.


    <em>-What do you expect? Hes treated magic as an incredibly rare resource his entire life. Youve had virtually unlimited power for as long as youve been using magic.-</em>


    t was absolutely correct, and it grated on T.


    She was using the Way of Flowing Blood, but it still felt alien to her, even as her body moved through it with ease. She wasnt used to fighting this way, and that made her reactions just a<em> hair</em> slower than she otherwise could have been, her movements the smallest bit less fluid and precise.


    There was still no doubt that the Way of Flowing Blood was superior to how she could have fought without that fighting style. Ogi would have overwhelmed her in the first few exchanges if she was fighting as she had been, before being captured.


    That twisted at her, too.


    There was only one way that she could win this fight.


    <em>-Well, you could turn things over to Tali.-</em>


    There were two ways T could win this fight, but she wanted to do it herself, leaving her with only one real option.


    -<em>This seems needlesslyplicated. Why not let a version of us whos a bit better, for now, do this?-</em>


    <em>Because then it wouldnt be me.</em>


    <em>-I dont mind too much.-</em>


    T didnt hesitate at that, though it did surprise her; hesitating would have gotten her killed. However, she did grimace internally. <em>Sorry, that was a bit insensitive.</em>


    t scoffed. <em>-I dont honestly care. The choice is up to you. Im just here to help.-</em>


    Ogi brought a great sword down at her, and she parried with her tungsten rod, which was looking <em>very</em> worse for wear. <em>Well need to get that fixed, maybe reced?</em>


    The attacking weapon didnt stop. Instead, a flicker of power ran through the greatsword as it was blocked, and a pivot point appeared in the long de, just past where shed blocked it. In fact, the block actually caused the attacking de to speed up, whipping down at her.


    T barely had time to shift, grunting as she took the hit as a ncing blow.


    <em>Enough of this.</em> She had a n, and it should work.


    T forced extra power into the scripts enhancing the muscles in her legs and vaulted forward on quick, powerful steps. The inscriptions augmenting the surface area of her footing gave her good traction despite the thick clover beneath her feet.


    She hadnt closed the distance between them before, because she knew how it would end.


    T flicked the discs towards the bear-mans face and hands as distractions and slowing tactics.


    As she took the two steps needed, T saw Ogis eyes widen just slightly. Even so, he didnt hesitate.


    His protian weapon contracted into a coil around his fist. That coil sprung outward, even as he punched forward, driving it towards her chest to push her back.


    Instead of blocking or retreating, T just used her tungsten sphere to deflect herself slightly to the side, even as she whipped Flow forward.


    Ogi saw what she was doing, toote.


    He dumped his remaining power into two workings.


    The first fought through her hardened aura, controlling the battlefield. He was able to rest just enough of a foothold to cause vines to shoot upward, moving faster than striking snakes to immediately wrap around her and hold her back.


    The second added durability to his own neck, making it tougher than an old-growth, hardwood tree.


    Neither worked.


    Ts strength and momentum tore through the grasping vines, even though they were magically strengthened in the attempt to hamper her. She had her feet nted and was able to exert the strength of her entire body against their restriction, oveing it with ease.


    Ogis protian weapon struck her high on the right side of her chest. The magics within the weapon shed in conflict with the defenses of her elk-leathers. The focused power of the protian weapon prated through the localized part of the elk-leathers protective magics.


    Magically sharpened and strengthened metal broke through her skin as itnced through her.


    It couldnt go through her bone, so it was pushed downward as it slid between her ribs, just missing her heart.


    The point burst out through her back, sending a spurt of blood to paint the clover behind her.


    T didnt falter, despite the incredible pain. <em>One puncture? I''ve endured millions.</em>


    Flow hit the bear-mans neck cleanly and passed through in a blink, leaving cauterized flesh above and below.


    Ts momentum carried her past Ogi.


    Her enemys weapon was ripped from his hand as it was still sticking through her chest.


    T staggered slightly but maintained her footing, despite the fact that she couldnt seem to draw a proper breath.


    Behind her, her opponents head fell free of his body, thudding to the ground. The bear-like torso following shortly after.


    T grimaced as she reached up with her left hand and pulled the protian weapon from her chest.


    With a wet cough, she spat out a good amount of blood. Then, a deep breath reinted her previously punctured lung.


    <em>That rusting hurt.</em>


    <em>-That is why I offered another option. You could have used the discs to help deflect his attack, if nothing else.-</em>


    <em>RightIm still not used to having those.</em>


    t huffed augh within Ts mind. <em>-Were a bit out of our depth, here.-</em>


    <em>I think were doing pretty well, all things considered.</em>


    After a chaotic miniature whirlwind of power, the protian weapon reshaped itself into a gauntlet around Ts left hand, sizing itself perfectly to her hand.


    It was an odd feeling, having a glove form around her hand. The fount within the weapon was not attuned to her, so its magic was unavable in its raw form.


    T tried not to dwell on the literal human soul, trapped and now wrapped around her hand. <em>First, survive.</em>


    As for the weapon itself? She had no idea how to use it. Tali hadnt known. It was something that Be-thric had never deigned to teach her.


    <em>Thats two.</em> She turned around, scanning the otherbatants: those locked in battle, and those already dead.


    Obviously, Blu-dine and Ogi were dead. T had killed them herself.


    To her surprise, T saw that Rel was dead as well. His body wasid out,rge chunks missing and the other parts smoldering. His protian weapon wasying beside him, where his hand would have been, were it not missing along with his shoulder and a good portion of his torso.


    The dwarf, Thorn, was still fighting Girro, but Alop had joined that sh since thest time T had looked their way.


    As expected from Alops surrender to Girro, the fox-man was viciously assaulting the dwarf, while not threatening the red-skinned man in the least.


    Girro had sparks dancing along his skin, which made obvious a likely source of Rels burns and smoldering.


    <em>So, who eroded the missing parts of the bear-man. Was it Alop?</em>


    It had been less than five minutes since the brawl had begun. Though, T had no idea exactly how long it had been.


    <em>Three enemies, and I have three rocks.</em> Shed been charging those three rocks since the beginning of the fight, but even so, the power built up within them wasnt sufficient. <em>Well, someone else is paying for my inscriptions.</em>


    She channeled power through some of the rings of inscriptions scattered across her body, meant to allow her to use <em>crush</em> as well as other more powerful, burst-like effects. In this case, she used them to amplify the gravitational forces building up on the stones. She burned four sets of those inscriptions per stone, while still amplifying the magics with her regr scripts.


    With quick motions, she pulled out the three stones in question.


    <em>One to each of their heads.</em> The spell-workings instantly had their targets locked, and the rocks shot off, elerating quickly until the very air cracked, just before they reached their targets.


    The stone targeting Thorn simply vanished as it came within an inch of his head.


    A thin stream of firenced out from Girro, causing the stone targeting him to explode, breaking Ts magical hold on it and dispersing the projectile into the air around him. The small fragments vaporized against a thin barrier of extreme heat, protecting the candidate.


    Alop simply ducked.


    There was no way he should have been able to react that fast, but the fox-man did it anyways.


    <em>Is all his magic focused on self-enhancement?</em>


    That third stone tried to drop too, tracking its target, but it was past the fox-man before it could correct sufficiently. It mmed into the cliff wall just beyond the beast-man, turning itself into powder.


    <em>Wellthat was a waste.</em> Even so, she immediately began building power within another stone. Just one this time, as she had the feeling that shed need most of her focus <em>very</em> soon.


    Girro growled. Alop, take the human. He followed up the words with a thinnce of fire, which shot across the battlefield towards T like an arrow.


    T extended her aura towards the oing attack. There was an instantaneous sh for mastery over the fire as it breached her aura.


    She threw her full weight behind that breaking action. The miniature beam of fire was being tightly contained with active magic, so a breaking of that hold would cause the heat to disperse before it could reach her.


    To her shock, T lost the sh.


    It wasnt because she was outweighed magically speaking, not at all.


    Instead, Girro somehow bucked her greater magical weight for just long enough to close the distance with his attack.


    Her discs snapped into ce between her and the attack, but once again, they were driven back by the force behind the strike.


    When the foremost part of the spell-working was less than two feet from her, it exploded into a st of me and power that threw T back against the cliff-face, some twenty feet behind her.


    She was a bit dazed by the hit.


    The explosion had been dampened by her discs and still it had been among the heaviest blows shed taken. <em>Well, maybe in the top ten?</em>


    -<em>Focus, T. Enemy iing.-</em>


    She slid down the cliff, slightly dazed, but T was already shaking her head to clear it when her feet hit the ground once more.


    -<em>I lost you for an instant, there. Hey, that would have woken us up, too! You really do get hit in the head a lot-</em>


    <em>Not helpful, t!</em>


    An arrow streaked out of the haze left behind by the explosion, skewering T through the upper chest, near her left shoulder.


    <em>-Hey, now youre perfectly bnced, as all things should be.-</em>


    <em>What?</em>


    <em>-Youve received one pration through each side.-</em>


    <em>Rust you.</em>


    A chain trailed behind the barbed arrow, and T could clearly see that it was a manifestation of one of her opponents protian weapons.


    With a jerk, the chain pulled taut, and T had to brace herself.


    Thankfully, she was both heavier and stronger than her opponent.


    With a growl, T mirrored her full magical weight into Flow, behind its attacking magics, and mmed her sword down on the chain.


    That link shattered.


    Unfortunately, that didnt mean her enemys protian weapon was destroyed. Instead, it simply ended at thest unbroken link and was quickly retracted back into the dissipating smoke.


    The arrow and chain on Ts side of the break dissolved into power as T healed.


    The wound had just pulled closed when Alop came into view, close to the ground, practically running on all fours.


    The fox-man growled as he tried to tackle T.


    She punched him in the face with her off hand, the protian gauntlet adding weight to the strike.


    Alops weapon flickered into the form of a shield in front of the mans face fast enough to catch the blow, though it still caused the beast-man to flip through the air, under her arm.


    Hended feet first on the cliff behind T beforeunching off of it, lips pulled back in a snarl.


    Alop was <em>fast.</em>


    Not only that, but he was better than Ogi had been.


    The foxs use of the Way of Flowing Blood chilled T to the core.


    He was a predator, acting on instinct, and those instincts were lethal.


    <em>-T.-</em>


    <em>Not now!</em>


    T fended off attack after attack, constantly on the defensive.


    Alop drove her around the circumference of the arena in a fighting retreat.


    <em>-T! Switch to Tali.-</em>


    T growled, barely ducking her head to the side as Alop rocketed past her once more.


    <em>He should be easy to predict and counter, with how much hes in the air. How is he doing that?</em>


    On his next leap, T caught a glimpse of the foxs protian weapon forming a winglike shape that seemed to somehow exert downward pressure on the beast-man, altering his trajectory mid-flight.


    She was able to jerk her head to the side once more, avoiding the killing blow, but hed taken a part of her ear with him. Worse still, that was far from the first of her blood that hed shed.


    She was utterly outmatched.


    -<em>Switch.-</em>


    <em>Fine!</em>


    * * *


    Tali ducked and rolled to avoid Alops returning attack, even as she used her discs to deflect and ward.


    As she rolled, she quickly transitioned her weapon between sword and knife and back repeatedly, flicking her weapon upward in three licking attacks.


    Each one struck home, drawing blood and gasps of surprise from her opponent.


    <em>Finally. Its time to show my true skill.</em> She briefly shook her head to clear thest vestiges of whatever that had been. It had felt like she was fighting through a fog before, and now the world was clearlyid out before her.


    Alop staggered even as hended, shallow, cauterized wounds in his shoulder, stomach, and left leg.


    The fox growled, his protian weapon shifting to a javelin on a rope, which he threw at her while holding the other end of that rope.


    She smacked the attack from the air with one of her discs. The motion held all the contempt that she felt for this pitiful creature.


    Hed thought to match her? Pathetic.


    Even so, a small part of her was jumping for joy, at least internally. She reveled in the feeling of the gauntlet on her left fist. She still couldnt believe that she finally had a protian weapon. It was hers by right of conquest.


    She had no idea how to use it, but that couldeter.


    Now that Alop was hurt, he couldnt continue his harrying tactics. That left him with one option, and he took it, closing into melee range.


    He thought he understood her abilities from their earlier shes.


    He was very, <em>very</em> much mistaken.


    <em>+Ohwow.+</em>


    After the first exchange of blows, Alop retreated, wide-eyed and missing his right hand.


    -<em>She is </em>way<em> better than we realized.-</em>


    <em>+You arent lying.+</em>


    The fox tried to continue that retreat, but Tali pursued, a predators grin pulling at her features.


    The next exchange left the fox without his left leg, below the knee.


    Alops eyes held clear confusion. He had lost, and he didnt understand how it had happened.


    <em>You challenged me; thats how.</em>


    Even as he fell, Tali cleaved the beast-mans head in half.


    <em>Thats four dead, three by my hand.</em> She was a little disappointed that she wouldnt be able to kill all of her opponents as one had already died to others, but that had been unreasonable to hope for, given her n. She had needed to give the impression of being significantly less skilled in order to draw in opponents to one-on-one conflict.


    If shed shown her true abilities from the beginning, the others would have swarmed her, and that might have ended badly.


    <em>+Wow. That actually hurts. Is that really how shes reconciling my fighting abilities in the first part of the conflict?+</em>


    <em>-She has to have a coherent internal narrative and given the gulf between your skill levels thats really all that makes sense.-</em>


    <em>+II dont know how to take that, actually.+</em>


    <em>-You have a lot to learn, and a skilled teacher to help you get there?-</em>


    <em>+So it would seem...+</em>


    Tali turned to thest twobatants: The dwarf and the hue folk male.


    <em>Lets end this.</em> There hadnt been enough time for the <em>Join</em> amplification to ramp up on its own. She only had one choice.


    As she continued building power in one of her remaining rocks, she burned through all of her remaining, powerful-burst-style inscriptions to amplify the working faster than it would otherwise have grown. She needed the weapon ready as soon as possible.


    That done, she charged forwards, both other candidates seeing hering even as they shed.


    Thorn didnt really react to her approach. His magics seemed closer range than the red-mans fire.


    Girro did turn half way to face her.


    Tali grinned, pulling out the stone.


    Revered Sanguis had purposely left a hole in the rules, a test to see if any candidate was clever enough to notice.


    <em>+OhIpletely missed that.+</em>


    <em>-I did toowhat the rust?-</em>


    <em>+Thats maniacal.+</em>


    Tali grinned. <em>This is exactly what Eskau Paun would do.</em>


    She supplied her working, the built up power, with a target and the rock shot off, almost immediately <em>cracking</em> the air.


    Girro threw up a barrier of fire, with Tai being too close for him to trust in his firences ability to disrupt the attack, but the rock wasnt aimed towards him.


    Thorn wasnt looking at her at all, his defenses didnt require him to. Instead, he pulled back, transforming his protian weapon into something reminiscent of a giant cleaver.


    The rock struck home, a precision strike that wouldnt harm any bystander, and potential Pir Derags head turned to mist, spraying the area around him with blood, bone fragments, and brain matter.


    Tali remembered Revered Sanguiss words, her grin spreading:


    <em>No outside interference will be eptable, from the potential Pirs or other watchers.</em>


    So, there was nothing blocking magic entering or leaving the pit, and he <em>explicitly</em> stated that those outside would not be allowed to interfere.


    <em>The cliff walls are impervious to anything you are capable of but keep your magics contained. Id hate for one of the bystanders to be killed.</em>


    Potential Pirs arent bystanders. They are participating through their candidates, and even if they could be considered bystanders, there was no forbiddance against targeting them, just an expression that hed dislike it.


    Girros head jerked up even as his potential Pirs lifeless body slumped to the ground, his mouth falling open. Brother!


    Thorn struck, bisecting the candidate in a single blow, hip to shoulder.


    As the dwarf spun with the attack, he nced up, his own eyes widening.


    Pirs were powerful, but they werent intended to be front-line fighters. They had Eskau for that role.


    They could sh with armies, but were not oriented towards direct conflict, certainly not while still only a potential Pir. If given more than an instant, the attack could probably have been foiled, but Tali hadnt given him that.


    Nor did she give that time to her next target.


    Tali pulled out another rock, making the motion obvious, and pointed towards potential Pir Gallop, the one whom Thorn was fighting for.


    The gray-skinned man stepped backwards, his eyes widening in horror. Magics began to build around him, but they would take more time to form than Talis attack had seemed to need.


    Thorn immediately dropped to one knee. I surrender.


    And that was it.


    The battle was over, and Tali was victorious.


    <em>+I cantHow did that actually work? She just bluffed him into surrendering?+</em>

 Chapter 210: Objections

    Chapter 210: Objections


    Tali grinned as Revered Sanguis returned to his position, floating in the air above the pit.


    <em>I won. I WON!</em> She did her best to contain her glee. It would be unbefitting of her new station to make a scene.


    <em>-So?-</em>


    <em>+you were right. She did better than I could have.+</em>


    <em>-Well get you there, but its not worth dying over pride. Shes had six months of dedicated training towards lethalbat, on top of the training embedded within her fake memories. We just havent, not yet.-</em>


    <em>+But we will.+</em>


    <em>-We will.-</em>


    The Pirs voice filled the air, And with a final surrender, candidate Tali has demonstrated that Be-thric is the ideal choice for Pir of the House of Blood.


    The Pir waved one hand, and the hold <em>flexed.</em>


    A momentter, the arena was gone, the pit that had been their arena was lifted to be level with the ground surrounding it.


    Thorn still knelt, head bowed, and all the bodies remained where they had fallen, simply lifted up with the rest of the ground.


    <em>Huh I wonder if that means there isnt actually anything below the ground here?</em>


    <em>+A little ways below us, under a thickyer of earth, is the edge of reality, in here. Its not a hard concept.+</em>


    <em>-Be kind to the girl, she hasnt had much theoretical magical education.-</em>


    <em>+She cant hear me.+</em>


    <em>-It is very possible to be mean to someone who cant hear you.-</em>


    <em>+fair.+</em>


    Tali looked around and saw that the potential Pirs hadnt been idle during the conflict.


    Two servants knelt near Be-thric, each holding paintbrushes?


    <em>What?</em>


    One was to his right, and the other was directly behind him.


    <em>Fake Assassins? Why did they stop?</em> She continued her investigation of the surroundings.


    <em>+Waitthey were ying some sort of game, while their candidates died in the pit?+</em>


    <em>-Yes, T, they are morally horrid. Thats been established. The potential Pirs are too valuable to let them all be killed.-</em>


    All but three of the other potential Pirs were eliminated: Jodup, Gallof, and Volena.


    If Tali had to guess: Bobbau seemed to have been poisoned by a servant, his lips, tongue and teeth were stained ck, and the little bear-man was ring at one of the nearby servants; and Tornass throat had been slit, which in this case meant that there was a line of red paint across it and the front of his tunic was covered in drippings. The bull-man seemed more irritated than anything, if Tali was being honest. As for the final prospective Pir, Derag, he had been killed by Tali herself.


    <em>Well, that makes Gallofs reaction seem more reasonable. He wasnt expecting any truly lethal threat.</em>


    Tali found herself frowning. <em>What even was the point of the candidates fighting? Why let any candidates die? Why let the servants die?</em> She doubted that she was the only one to have been attacked, either at the feast or after.


    It seemed so pointless.


    <em>+Is she is sheing around all on her own?+</em>


    <em>-Hush, I want to focus on </em>her<em> introspection, not your guesses on it.-</em>


    Tali shook her head. <em>No, the point is obvious. They need the most capable Pirs. The lives of a few candidates and servants are nothing, if it truly helps ensure the best Pirs rise to support the House.</em>


    The melee had been useful. After all, it had decided from among the three remaining prospective Pirs.


    +<em>So, so close.+</em>


    <em>-Its not easy to see the fault in how you were raised. To her, this is normal; this makes sense.-</em>


    Revered Sanguis was shaking his head, even while he smiled. We had quite the devious set ofpetitors this time around, didnt we? His grin broadened. But that was expected, given a fight without restrictions. I domend the four of you for remembering that this contest was between the potential Pirs. The candidates were simply your proxies in one arena.


    The three eliminated but surviving prospective Pirs bowed towards the Pir, muttering their acknowledgements of his praise.


    Her Master simply grinned proudly.


    Surviving candidates. Please bring all protian weapons to me. Revered Sanguis had yet to move, but he was now standing on the ground, as if thats what hed been doing all along.


    <em>That is where he was floating before the pit was leveled out.</em> It was likely intentional, though Tali didnt know why.


    Together, Tali and Thorn gathered the weapons and set them before the Pir.


    Tali felt conflicted about giving up the one that shed imed from Ogi, but she did as she was instructed.


    Thorn seemed resigned to the act as he left his gauntlet with the others. Once he hadplied, he returned to where he had been, kneeling down in the clover.


    All the protian weapons had reverted to the form of a gauntlet, which made for easier transportation.


    <em>To Me.</em> In an instant, the air seemed to warp, and armor d Revered Sanguis from head to toe.


    <em>+That was a word triggered working.+</em>


    <em>-He could have just called on the hold to move it to him, but instead, he bent reality to arm himself in an instant. I think he could do that from anywhere in the world, T.-</em>


    <em>+So, Pirs are never undefended?+</em>


    <em>-They are never far from being defended.-</em>


    <em>+Yeah. That is an important distinction.+</em>


    Revered Sanguis stood in all his glory.


    Tali could detect fifteen founts in his armor, and another in the massive maul that now rested on the ground beside him.


    Prospective Pir Be-thric, candidate for Eskau Tali, step over there. Revered Sanguis gestured to another circle, which lit up in the clover.


    Her Master walked across the blood-speckled ground, uncaring of the bodies of the other candidates that he passed.


    Tali moved to meet him and stand within the indicated circle, both seeming slightly hesitant. This was not normally a part of the ceremony, at least not as Tali had had it conveyed.


    Thorn was still kneeling where he had been, and there he would stay until instructed to move.


    The ancient Pir swept his gaze around those assembled.


    Some of you may be dissatisfied with these results. He continued moving his gaze over those surrounding him. The rules for this test were among the most favorable I could have selected to test Pir Be-thrics idea. This is true. However, it did not favor her over the other candidates. He spread his arms wide, his armor moving soundlessly with him. Any who would dispute this, let them do so,<em> now</em>. I will face any who question my judgement and no retribution will be taken upon their associates after the sh, or upon them should they survive.


    Jodup stepped forward, bowing at her waist. Her tall rabbit ears brushed the ground as she bent low. While I do disagree with your choice, I would be a fool to test myself against you so armed. I will not make an issue of it.


    Really? My death would open another position for a Pir, though you could obviously not fill it. If memory serves, your sister is almost ready to make a y at bing a Pir, is she not?


    She is. I was chosen as more likely to seed. She will participate at the next trial, whenever that may be. The beast-folk female seemed hesitant, though her anger was still obvious, even to Talis eyes. Even so, I am no fool. I will not contest a Pir in all his glory.


    Revered Sanguis shook his head. <em>Begone.</em> Reality itself warped once more, and his arms and armaments vanished. What about now?


    The rabbit womans eyes red with undisguised rage as the veneer of civility fell away. As you wish, Revered Pir, I will contest this trial.


    Power was pulled into the beast-folk female like the iing tide.


    Tali felt her own power respond, though it could obviously not be taken from her. She saw several of the observers lose the power that had been within them, their control and grip on the magic insufficient to keep it contained against the rabbit-womans pull.


    Then, with a flicker, a hundred rabbit-folk filled the open space, all exact clones of Jodup. They had the same meticulously-cared-for, brown fur; the same almost down-soft-looking, white fur on their faces, hands, and peaking out around their chests; the same cold fury in their hazel eyes.


    Talis eyes widened as she recognized a final feature that they shared.


    They were <em>all</em> Honored in their power density. <em>How?</em>


    <em>+What the rust? Did she just create power? She doesnt have a fount on her, right?+</em>


    <em>-While she </em>could <em>be hiding one or more vestiges, I think she drew in this power from the surroundings and from the spectators. She cant hold it all herself, so she shunts it off into other versions of herself. Incredible.-</em>


    They spoke as one, <em>Be Bound.</em>


    Themand resonated with <em>power</em> as magic suffused the air once more, now entirely bent towards restraining Revered Sanguis.


    <em>+Why not go for a kill?+</em>


    <em>-I dont know what magic shes using, but its something in the conceptual range. Id guess that she doesnt trust that a lethal strike would work. Shes got to have another method foroh, there it is.-</em>


    All the Jodups drew long knives. Those closest to Revered Sanguis rushed straight forward, while many of those behind bounded into the air, toe down at him from above.


    Tali almost gasped, fighting the urge to move to the Pirs aid.


    Revered Sanguis hadnt moved.


    <em>Is he actually bound? That much power how could anyone resist it?</em> She was suddenly <em>very</em> grateful that the prospective Pirs had not been allowed to participate in the conflict down in the arena. <em>Id have beenuseless.</em>


    No, she wouldnt have been useless, but shed have been much less effective.


    Revered Sanguis shook his head, the magics around that part of him cracking as they failed to hold him in ce. <em>Break.</em>


    Every knife held by a version of Jodup shattered, the shards seeming to have lethal intent.


    The bodies fell in a wave. Those already airborne still came crashing down towards Revered Sanguis.


    The Pirs eyes widened fractionally before he spoke again. <em>Drop.</em>


    The bodies lost all inward momentum and fell straight to the ground.


    Fascinating. He took a step forward, the power within him seeming almost to <em>flex</em>. With a whine that Tali felt in her very soul, the rabbit-folks magic that was attempting to hold him in ce shattered. He looked over to where thest remaining rabbit-woman stood, eyes wide. These arent illusions? They arent constructs of magic? They are physical bodies?


    Jodup swallowed, nodding slowly in response to each question. Her own knife was still in its sheath.


    And you even replicated their clothing and a magical weapon, if a weak one. How long would these copies have lived? The Pir seemed utterly unconcerned with the hundreds of bodies surrounding him.


    With this working, they would have lived for as long as I did, Revered Pir. She lowered her gaze, finally falling to one knee. I retract myint.


    Wise of you, Honored Jodup. You still have a bright future and much worth to the House. I am d that I do not need to kill you.


    Honored Jodup looked up gratefully. Thank you, Revered Pir. I am d for that as well.


    The Pir had already returned his attention to the bodies. So, these really wont just fade away?


    No. They exist.


    Truly fascinating. <em>Begone.</em> Reality warped once again, and the bodies vanished, leaving only the blood that they had lost behind.


    The Pir smiled once more. Be-thric,e forward. Step into this circle. A new glowing ring appeared, surrounding the protian weapons. Those weapons had remained undisturbed during the short sh.


    Her Master did so, stepping in without hesitation.


    <em>Bind.</em>


    Tali felt power flex throughout the entirety of the hold.


    <em>+What the rust?+</em>


    <em>-Hes doing an incrediblyplex working.-</em>


    <em>+I can see that. So, what was with the short statement?+</em>


    <em>-Look here. See? There was no magic tied to the words. It was for show, either for those with little magical perception, or as an attempt at making it look as if he can do incrediblyplicated magics with a single word.-</em>


    <em>+Huh. So theatrics?+</em>


    <em>-There do seem to be a lot of that, yes.-</em>


    Incredibly intricate threads of power dance and wove around her Master and the powerful weapons.


    The protian weapons distorted before snapping to Be-thrics body. Two became pauldrons, tightly fitted over his shoulders while allowingplete freedom of movement.


    One began a breastte, one a back-te, and the remaining two became greaves, tying into his torso armor as they wrapped around his thighs.


    Your armor is iplete, Pir Be-thric. However, it is sufficient for what is required. He snapped his fingers, and Tali watched as the magic within the protian weapons altered, the powerful magics that had reshaped the weapons into armor seeming toe to a head beforepleting in this final act.


    No longer were the former gauntlets morphic weapons, capable of taking any shape. Instead, they became focused on rebuilding their wearer. They also seemed to toughen, even while having their own ability to reshape altered into the simple ability to return to form, if damaged.


    Tali felt herself grinning with mad glee. Her Master would be nearly unkible, now.


    <em>+...Rust+</em>


    <em>-Indeed.-</em>


    Her Masters armor was obviously iplete, especially whenpared to that of Revered Sanguis.


    As tradition dictates, your first task, and that of your Eskau candidate, is to capture the protian weapons of other great Houses. We will then forge them into the remaining pieces of your armor.


    Tali then looked more closely at Revered Sanguiss own armor. The forearm guards each seemed imbued with magics of light and fire. <em>The House of the Rising Sun.</em>


    His helmet seemed to warp the air around it, and indeed around the Pirs entire body, for protection as well as purification. Tali suspected that Revered Sanguis would have no issues fighting at the bottom of the ocean or in a void. He could breathe anywhere. There was more to the helmet that Tali couldnt interpret at a nce, but it seemed like the wearer should also be able to distort the air around themselves, amplifying their own voice, enabling far-sight, suppressing background noise and so, so much more.


    <em>-That is the helm of a general. Most features seem geared towardsmand and perceiving the terrain. Only a few are geared directly towards personal protection.-</em>


    Each piece, beyond those that had clearly once been protian weapons of the House of Blood, carried with it some capacity of incredibly useful magics.


    We will select your targets together, that we may be wise in whom we strike and what equipment you acquire. His voice shifted, taking on the tone of one quoting from a sacred text, Weep, oh foes of the House of Blood, for a new Pir has arisen. The House is made strong, may it never fall.


    A response came back from all the members of the House who had been watching. May the House never fall!


    Tali knew her part as well. She was to remain silent, awaiting the next portion of the ceremony.


    Revered Sanguis continued with his versicle, Blood will flow, and with it we will build our House.


    From their blood, the House of Blood rises. The watchers supplied, clearly familiar with the words.


    Now. Revered Sanguis pped his hands, regarding the onlookers, who were silent once again. Are there any further objections?


    Paun stepped forward.


    Revered Sanguis turned towards his Eskau. Eskau Paun, do you have something that you wish to say?


    Eskau Paun bowed. I do.


    Then, by all means, speak.


    The candidate Tali is an excellent choice to be an Eskau. She is well trained, powerful, clever, cunning, and lethal.


    Tali felt herself straightening, standing taller as he spoke.


    <em>+Yes, it was obvious that he liked her as the victor even before the battle.+</em>


    <em>-Hush.-</em>


    However, she has no protian weapon. She cannot be elevated. She is what she is, and she is <em>not</em> an Eskau of the House of Blood.


    Murmurs ran through those watching, even as Tali flinched back at the words.


    Revered Sanguis gave a slow nod of his head towards his Eskau. Quite correct, Eskau Paun. I was justing to that point.


    The Pir turned back to Tali and her Master.


    Under normal circumstances- He hesitated, then shook his head and chuckled ruefully. Under all but the most extreme circumstance, this is when I would bond you to your own protian weapon, raising you to be a full Eskau. But I cannot do that, as you do not have such a weapon to begin with. Those which were used to form the Pirs armor could not be spared from their use, either. Even if they had been, it is unwise to bind two founts together.


    Tali hung her head, uncertain how to feel. She was victorious but still lesser. <em>Will I ever be a true Eskau? Will I ever be enough?</em>


    <em>+Ohwow. Thatthat hits close to home.+</em>


    Pir Be-thric. What do you propose? Shall you be a Pir without a proper Eskau? An almost predatory smile pulled at his lips. Which is to say, no Pir at all?


    Talis head snapped up, as her focus locked on her Master. Would he have an idea, a solution for this as well?


    Be-thric stepped forward, giving a shallow bow. Thank you, Revered Sanguis, for cing this upon me to address. Were this a standard elevation, as you have said, we would now bind the protian weapon to the Eskau. He gestured towards Tali. She is already bound to a fount, her own in fact.


    There were some chuckles from the audience.


    Thus, she has no protian weapon because she <em>is</em> the weapon.


    Revered Sanguis gave a slight smile. That is the logic which got you this far. Proceed with your suggestion.


    Next, we would devote significant resources to expanding the capacity of the protian weapons power source. I propose we do just that.


    <em>+What?+</em>


    <em>-What?-</em>


    <em>What?</em>


    Revered Sanguis was already nodding. Expanding her flowrate would allow for a greater depth of power. Continue.


    We would stuff the new Eskau with magical food. While I have bent my own wealth towards this end already, I ask for the resources that would normally be given, so that I may expand and improve that which I provide. It is standard practice to create an enve specifically to raise sustenance for an Eskau for the length of their career.


    The other Pir nodded again. This is in line with tradition. Go on.


    Finally, I ask leave to advance my Eskau as only one such as she can advance.


    The murmurs of conversation which had been growing among the audience cut off instantly, everyones focus turning towards the newly raised Pir.


    <em>+Hewants to Refine us?+</em>


    <em>-Thats what it sounds like.-</em>


    <em>What does he mean? One such as me?</em>


    Her Master was nodding and smiling. I wish permission to infiltrate a wild human city and discover the means by which they Refine their Mages.


    Mutterings and explosive whispers rippled through the watchers in waves.


    <em>+Well I didnt expect that.+</em>

 Chapter 211: If You Command

    Chapter 211: If You Command


    Tali swayed slightly, reeling as she processed her Masters request to go to the wild human cities, just to find a way for her to advance.


    <em>He really will do anything to help me improve.</em>


    <em>+He wants his weapon to be as useful as possible.+</em>


    <em>-Those are not mutually exclusive, T.-</em>


    <em>+I know, but I dont like the way she says it Hes not a good person.+</em>


    <em>-Tss, of course not. But he is bending what resources he can to improve us.-</em>


    <em>+To improve Tali.+</em>


    <em>-Yeah. That </em>is<em> an important distinction.-</em>


    Tali was floored by her Masters generosity. She knew that he needed her, but he didnt have to go this far.


    <em>Its also not a done deal, Tali. Dont get set on it.</em> But it was the thought that counted. <em>Even if it does happen, it will be after weplete his armor, so it could be weeks at the shortest or years at the longest.</em>


    Wild humans had odd ways of advancing, and Tali knew that, since she had a gate, she was more like them than she was like most of those she interacted with on a day-to-day basis.


    She didnt like that very much, except that it was only that feature, which had allowed her to stand out to her Master. It was her gate that had made her able to serve him and bring honor to him and the House.


    Revered Sanguis seemed to be thinking quite deeply on the idea, his eyes flicking back and forth in thought.


    Finally, he nodded. That is an interesting proposal. I am willing to bring it to the counsel of Pirs with you. Ill even support it as I am able. More than that? I cannot promise.


    Her Master bowed graciously. Of course. Thank you, Revered Pir.


    The older Pir turned to his Eskau. Do these suggestions satisfy you, Eskau Paun?


    The obsidian-skinned man gave a thoughtful nod. I am willing to see how she grows with the proposed solutions. Yes. Thank you, my Pir.


    The objections of a wise, trusted servant are worth more than a thousand founts. He turned back to Tali. Then, with the suggestions of your Master, I grant you the preliminary title of Eskau, pending the decision of the House Pirs as a whole.


    He looked to her Master.


    You have my approval to ess the resources youve described. I expect a list of what you will need and what strains you will put on our reserves over theing months to be delivered to the Steward of the hold by the end of the week.


    He pped his hands, and servants bustled out. Some came forward to deal with the bodies of the other candidates, others began passing out food.


    Now, we have one more order of business before we feast in celebration of the sess of Pir Be-thric. Revered Sanguis ced a hand on her Masters shoulder. You must decide the fate of your survivingpetitors.


    The other, surviving prospective Pirs knelt, and her Master motioned for Tali to apany him.


    He walked to each in turn and asked a single question, What do you wish of me? Tali nked him, standing just behind and to his left, hand on her weapon.


    Most gave the same answer, My life is all that I ask, Pir.


    That was one of the possible answers prescribed by tradition. It was the safest. It would be incredibly dishonorable for her Master to ask for their deaths after such a request, but it could be done.


    Tali would execute them dly, if such amand were given.


    It was not.


    Finally, they came to Thorn and Gallof, who were kneeling near one another but still separated by a dozen feet or so.


    What do you wish of me? Her Masters tone had somethingelse to it, an expectancy.


    Thorn nced to Gallof, and they spoke as one. We wish to serve, Pir.


    That was a riskier request. If her Mastermanded their deaths after theyd asked to serve, there was no loss of honor. After all, dying for ones House was a great service indeed.


    Her Master smiled. We would be honored to have you join our service. Rise.


    Gallof and Thorn stood as one.


    Thorn, you will attend my Eskau. We will discuss the detailster, but I have many ideas. Her Masters smile grew with anticipation.


    The dwarf bowed at the waist. I will endeavor to please, Pir Be-thric. He then turned to Tali and bowed again. Eskau Tali, I look forward to assisting you.


    <em>+What are we going to do about him?+</em>


    <em>-Ive no idea. If Tali understood correctly, he will likely be our constantpanion for the foreseeable future.-</em>


    <em>+YayIm going to have to find a way of being me around him, or this wont work at all.+</em>


    Gallof, you will attend me. We have many things to arrange for my Eskau, as well as much research to do in regards to the other Houses in the city. We are going to have an incredibly busy next few months.


    The tall, gray-skinned man bowed just as deeply as Thorn had, if more formally. It will be my honor to serve you, Pir Be-thric.


    That exchange concluded the formal parts of the ceremony, and the feast began.


    * * *


    The feast was a mirror of the one held the night before, but now, Thorn and Tali were the only of their peers to remain, and they partook in the food as well, though both did so sparingly.


    Tali would have gorged herself, as her reserves had been diminished by the injuries shed taken and healed during the battle, but her Master had advised her to wait. She would need to eat a LOT soon enough to take advantage of the magical foods they would be gaining for her, and that already likely meant that theyd have to find some way of draining her reserves so that she could eat more.


    She and Thorn only exchanged a few words before the festivities came to a close.


    When the guests headed towards their rooms, Thorn followed her.


    Can I help you, Thorn?


    He straightened. I wasmanded to attend you, Eskau.


    You arent sleeping in my room.


    He bowed. As the Eskau wishes.


    <em>+Alright. Thats enough. Ill be taking over, here.+</em>


    * * *


    T smiled, shifting to a more casual stance. Please, we dont need titles here. Were going to be working closely with one another.


    Thorn hesitated, seeming at a loss. If youmand.


    I dontmand. That would defeat the entire purpose, Thorn.


    The side of the dwarfs mouth quirked up, but he suppressed the smile fully a momentter. Then, it is proper for me to address you with honor, Eskau Tali.


    T felt her eye begin to twitch. Thorn, it seems like we are going to be spending a <em>lot</em> of time together.


    -<em>Hehe. You called?-</em>


    <em>Not a great time.</em> T mentally red at her alternate interface. <em>That was clearly not a pun.</em>


    So, when no one else is around? Formality isnt required.


    Not required, but still


    Not wanted, Thorn. Please? She scratched the side of her face. <em>How would Tali handle this?</em>


    <em>-Easy, she wouldnt-</em>


    <em>Not helpful.</em>


    <em>-Fine. Here. This is within the range of what shed say.-</em>


    This is new to me, Thorn. Pir Be-thric only found me in thest few years. Im used to doing menial jobs. Im used to being the lowest that could be, ignored, scorned, forgotten. I dont want the spotlight. Please. When we are alone, no titles. I can be Eskau Tali most of the time, but I cant do it all the time, and it seems like youre going to be with me, <em>all</em> the time, or very nearly. <em>There, that will help ensure I dont have to leave Tali inmand for the foreseeable future, because hell be around.</em>


    The dwarf blinked at her a few times, then nodded slowly. Asas you wish, Tali.


    T almost corrected him. <em>Its T.</em> But that would have been colossally foolish. Thank you, Thorn.


    Thorn hesitated, opening his mouth to say something, but he seemed to decide otherwise, smiling instead.


    Now, you still cant sleep in my room. Theres only one bed.


    The dwarf shrugged. I can sleep outside the door. It would make sense for you to get new rooms tomorrow, and we can finalize arrangements, then.


    T still seemed hesitant, but finally nodded. As you wish. I have to say, though, that sounds really ufortable.


    Thorn justughed. My folk sleep on stone as a matter of course. It will be morefortable than I need already.


    T gave him a quizzical look. Its stone, too. How will it be morefortable?


    He patted his chest with his off hand. I have magic. The air here is filled with power, so it is nothing to expend a bit to aid in my sleep.


    T cocked her head. What do you mean?


    They continued to walk through the hold as they spoke.


    You use magic to aid in your sleep? How?


    Thorn gave her an odd look. It is a simple thing. Were you not He shook his head. My apologies, Tali. When I look at you, I dont see the human that you clearly are. Humans do not have innate giftings with magic. I think I remember hearing that your folk often call what we do conceptual magic?


    <em>Does Tali know that term?</em>


    <em>-Vaguely, yeah.-</em>


    I believe Ive heard that term, yes. Everyone in the House just refers to it as magic, or power.


    Thorn nodded. Good, good. Well, let me prove my use to you. I cannot teach you what you cannot learn, but I can show you the principles, and you should be able to adapt it to your own style of magic in time.


    They reached Talis room and stopped outside the door.


    Thorn sat, putting his back to the wall beside that entrance. Watch closely.


    There was a <em>pull</em> of power into the dwarf, followed by a <em>push</em> of magic outward, now aspected with the dwarfs signature, under his control.


    The expelled power began to swirl around him, moving inzy patterns.


    -<em>Those are spell-forms. Incredibly crude spell-forms-</em>


    The regr intake and exhtion of power shifted to match the dwarfs breathing as he sank deeper into the exercise, power building up in the spell-forms he wove around himself.


    The power wasnt being expended. Instead, it was almost like it was being put into a perpetual cycle.


    <em>Like an archon star, but with a different form.</em>


    Thorn spoke then, slowly. With this, I will fall asleep quickly, and the rest I receive from my sleep will be greater than without. This helps heal the body and helps recover from illness among other things. There are even variations that you can use upon others, for parents or healers to enact on their children or patients.


    Whileplex in totality, the form was nothing more than a simple twisting, interlocking pattern, repeated uncounted times. T analyzed it for a long moment before straightening and smiling. Thank you, Thorn. I will see if I can match that.


    Good night, Eskau Tali.


    Good night, Thorn.


    T stepped through the door to her room and closed it behind herself.


    <em>-That is fascinating. There wasnt anyplexity to it at all. It is simply suffusing the body and surrounding area with self-perpetuating power, already keyed to be usable by that person.-</em>


    <em>So, its like faking being a higher rank? A higher magic capacity?</em>


    <em>-At its base level, yes, but it will only augment slow-flow, natural magics. It cannot be used in those imposed upon the body until they set. And I doubt it would work well for any sort ofbat application.-</em>


    <em>My passive magics have been set, right?</em>


    <em>-For the most part, yes.-</em>


    <em>Then, lets try this.</em> T sighed.<em> I still wish we could go into Kit.</em>


    <em>-As we discussedst night, Tali has never gone into our dimensional storage. Thus, doing so, now, would be hard for her to reconcile when she remembered it. I could hide the memory, but that would create an obvious nk space that would stand out if Be-thric ever decided to delve Talis mind again.-</em>


    <em>And if there arent inconsistencies, he shouldnt be able to tell were in here.</em>


    <em>-Precisely. I doubt he will check, but in case we make a mistake, it is better to be prepared.-</em>


    <em>Fine</em> She patted her pouch, whispering to her item. Ill get back to the proper use of you and your abilities, soon. Thank you for sticking with me.


    Kit did not respond.


    Okay, lets try this.


    * * *


    T did not seed that night.


    She did seed in using her aura to weave power around herself, but it didnt really seem to do anything for her.


    Thankfully, her already augmented physiology needed vastly less sleep than she otherwise would have.


    Thus, it was still incredibly early when she pulled her door open, intending to head towards her training area.


    Thorn was asleep beside the door, but his eyes snapped open as soon as it clicked shut behind her.


    Oh! Youre awake. He looked up at the false sky. Still quite early. Does that mean it worked? I wouldnt have expected you to master it so quickly, but stranger things have happened.


    T shook her head. No, but I already need less sleep because of my magics.


    He stood and stretched. Then, you seem to have already learned how to use the technique in your own style, before I ever brought it up.


    She shook her head again. No, no. Your technique augments all your natural magics, at least as they pertain to you. Mine is just using my magics.


    Thorn cocked his head. Really? Thats fascinating. The concept behind the working, at least as I cast it, is: Recovery, Perfected.


    Fascinating. And it really was. <em>Does that mean they have something like a fundamental understanding behind every working?</em> No, that didnt seem right.


    <em>-Thats not a fundamental concept so much as an injunction for something to be different than it otherwise would be. It is the imposition of a concept upon reality, hence conceptual magic.-</em>


    T took a deep breath and shrugged. Well, Im going to go do some exercises and training. Care to join me?


    What? Before breakfast? He groused a bit. Ille with you, as is my mandate, but I dont know if Ill join you in the work.


    Suit yourself.


    They walked through the hold; the few servants they passed bowed lower than ever before as T passed them.


    Thorn walked behind her and to her left, just as Tali had walked behind Be-thric.


    <em>I suppose Thorn and I have a simr rtionship now, to what Be-thric and Tali had, dont we?</em>


    She looked back at the dwarf, a thoughting together as she expressed it, You know, if youre to be useful inbat, you need to retrain yourself to not rely on a protian weapon.


    Thorn grimaced at that, then nodded. You speak truly, Tali. I will consider the advice.


    They crossed one of the gracefully arching bridges to therge, circr tform that Tali was ustomed to using. T did her best not to stare. It was all so new to her, but it wouldnt be to Tali.


    She felt like shed seen dozens of paintings of a beautiful vista, and then, she had gone to see it herself.


    <em>Except Im not allowed to revel in the majesty of seeing it in person.</em>


    <em>-We all make sacrifices.-</em>


    Once there, T went through her stretches and exercises, working herself up towards the forms of the Way of Flowing Blood.


    Thorn sat in meditation.


    <em>Diddid he fall back asleep?</em>


    <em>-Hes right next to the edge. We should push him in.-</em>


    <em>Why?</em>


    <em>-you wouldnt get it.-</em>


    <em>You are confusing sometimes.</em>


    T moved through the forms of the Way of Flowing Blood, trying to rely on Talis experience, while integrating the movements more deeply into herself.


    What are you doing? Thorn had cracked one eye open.


    <em>Oh, so not asleep?</em>


    T paused, holding a particrly difficult pose. What do you mean?


    Youre moving like a stiff puppet wielded by a master puppeteer. What are you doing?


    I T sighed and straightened. <em>What do I say? What lie will he buy?</em> Im trying to go through the motions without thinking about them. Im trying to let them seep into my subconscious instead of thinking about how to move. She knew her tone was defensive. She couldnt help herself. <em>Im trying</em>


    He cocked his head. That is a basic step in bing proficient with any fighting art. So, shouldnt you have done that already? Why are you acting like this is new to you?


    <em>-Well, that didnt work. Lie again. Maybe hell believe you this time.-</em>


    <em>Hush.</em>


    He continued before she could think of anything else to say. In fact, Id say you are <em>over</em> thinking it, by how youre moving. He stood. I was curious about your performance yesterday. It almost seemed like you were incredibly nervous at first, but then, eventually, got into the flow of things. Is that it? Yesterday, you were able to fall into a different mental state part way through?


    T grimaced, then took a deep breath and nodded. I can enter into another frame of mind, in which fighting is much easier than normal. Im trying to replicate that without the mental shift. I be too narrowly focused in that state, too unaware of whats going on outside of my opponents. I think it will get me killed if Im not careful.


    He grunted. Well, why didnt you say that to begin with. Thats prettymon, all things considered. Come on. These forms are designed to be performed against a partner. He gave her a half grin. I wont use my magics if you dont cut off my head.


    T found herself smiling in return. As you say, Thorn. Thank you.


    For the next couple of hours, they sparred. Through the process, T picked up and integrated the movements much more easily, since she could actually work against an opponent.


    Thorn was a master of these arts. If T remembered correctly, the dwarf had more than a decade of experience, and it showed.


    By the time that the fake sun rose, T felt like she was approaching Talis level of proficiency.


    Unfortunately, inbat where fractions of a second meant the difference between life and death, she still might need to rely on Tali in a pinch, but T was satisfied that the number of situations in which that would be the case had been drastically reduced.


    As the two of them bowed to each other, T smiled. Thank you, M- Thorn. She had almost called him master Thorn on reflex. <em>That would have been a bit awkward.</em>


    I am d that I could assist.


    She hesitated at that. After a moments consideration, she decided to just ask him, Why did you and your master ask to serve?


    The green-skinned dwarf shrugged, his silvery hair shimmering in the new-days light. My master was never a great or high-ranking member of the House of Blood. He was clever enough to forge a protian weapon, and he had enough wealth to buy me as his candidate, but if wed lost, as we did, there was nothing really to fall back on. Entering into the service of the new Pir and his Eskau is a solid means of securing our future.


    Buy you? Were you not already a part of the House of Blood?


    No, I was not. He didnt borate further, and T didnt push.


    <em>It seems like well have a lot more to learn about him, in time.</em>


    <em>-Indeed it does.-</em>

 Chapter 212: Buy Yourself Something Nice

    Chapter 212: Buy Yourself Something Nice


    T was about to continue her conversation with Thorn, when a bevy of servants came into view bearing trays piled high with various foods.


    <em>I have to be Tali when others are around, or its going to seem odd.</em> She straightened just slightly, changing her way of standing, and oddly enough, T felt more aloof. <em>Huh. Theres a point to standing like a know-it-all?</em>


    -<em>Youll have to tell me, I cant stand.-</em>


    <em>Dont make me feel bad for you. Im never giving youmand of our body. Id never get it back.</em>


    t scoffed. <em>-Perish the thought! I am perfectly happy as I am, alone in the dark, watching your experiences second hand.-</em>


    <em>Im in there with you.</em>


    <em>-Shouting at me and then listening at the door for a response isnt the same as being in the room, T.-</em>


    <em>What about when Tali is inmand?</em>


    <em>-Thats fair, actually. But now, Im alone in here. Theres only one intelligence in this mind.-</em>


    <em>Sometimes, t</em> She just shook her head, motioning to where the servants should set up the food.


    There were two distinct groupings of breakfast, one muchrger than the other.


    Thorns food was a reasonable, if oversized, portion for a single persons breakfast. There were three massive sausages, a miniature mound of bacon, a generous bowl of fruit, some pan-fried potatoes, and a few slices of hearty, buttered bread.


    It was all ced on a table that they set up for him to one side.


    All of it was mundane, no more magical than the floor they walked on or the air they breathed.


    Both of those things, arguably, were saturated with magic, but they <em>werent,</em> themselves, inherently magical.


    As the dwarf thanked the servants and sat in the chair theyd brought as well, T noticed therge tankard next to his te at the table.


    Isnt it a little early to be drinking?


    It is indeed, if you mean alcohol. Though, many of my kin wouldnt say No to a breakfast ale.


    T frowned; she could definitely smell something <em>sharp</em> and tangying from the tankard. If not alcohol, what is it?


    Acid.


    She blinked a few times as the dwarf tipped the sizzling beverage back, taking a deep swig.


    T watched power wrap around the liquid, even as it passed between the dwarfs lips, and <em>something</em> was drained away, seeming to spread out over the small mans body and sink into his natural magics.


    What T caught herself. Shed been about to say, What under the stars? but Tali wouldnt use that expression. What aspect of blood are you high on? <em>There. Thats what she would ask.</em>


    The dwarf looked her way as he swallowed. Im processing the concept of corrosion and acerbity, drawing it out of the acid and adding its conceptual weight to myself. Ill be able to do so continually until it passes all the way through my system.


    T was at a loss for words. <em>What?</em>


    He grinned ruefully. Theres a reason my magics so effective, Tali. I fell into the leaching tank as a boy. The only reason I survived is that I was of a High race and understood how acids worked well enough to grasp the concept. By the time they fished me out, the stuff I was swimming in was as harmless as water. Though, of course, it regained its base nature shortly after I was pulled out. Nature has its nature, after all.


    She still didnt have a good response, so she just waited for him to continue.


    His mirth faded a bit. Unfortunately, it so unbnced my natural magics that Im pretty useless for anything else. I cant even implement a Recovery Perfected over anyone else, because the basic nature of my power would erode them.


    T grinned, then. Your basic nature, eh? She chuckled.


    Huh? Then, it seemed to click, and he snorted augh. Thats not what I meant at all.


    But it was still funny.


    Fair enough.


    The servants had left by then, leaving behind Ts normal spread of food.


    T sighed, walking over to the trays arrayed for her on the ground.


    Dont you want a table? Or a chair?


    She shrugged. A table big enough for all of this would be a pain to carry.


    Oh, so you do care about servants, at least a bit.


    Whats that supposed to mean? She cocked an eyebrow at him.


    You didnt thank them; you didnt acknowledge them at all, except to tell them where to put our food.


    T hesitated. <em>Thats what Tali does, what she would have done.</em> But she hadnt even had to check. Shed just behaved that way. <em>Am I bing her? Whats wrong with me?</em>


    <em>-Calm down, T, you were distracted by his tankard of acid.-</em>


    <em>Ohright.</em>


    <em>-But you are right, Tali would have behaved that way, so you cant just brush it off.-</em>


    She sighed internally, then said what Tali would have, or near enough, Why does it matter? They have other tasks, and me slowing them down to chat, even to thank them, just makes their day longer in the end.


    Thorn snorted. Sounds like the excuses of a stuck-up brat. He then froze in ce, eyes going wide. II mean


    T narrowed her eyes, knowing that Tali wouldnt have liked thement at all. <em>This is a chance to set the stage for our rtionship going forward, and my seeming different reactions to things.</em>


    She redirected, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. As no one was around to hear your disrespect, I will allow it. My- My- <em>I cant say my Mastercan I?</em> That might be problematic. You were assigned to me, and I should take what you say seriously, but speak that impertinently to me when anyone else can hear, and it will not go well for you.


    Thorn swallowed unconsciously and nodded. As you say, Eskau Tali.


    Is anyone around?


    NoTali.


    Better. She gave a forced smile.


    Unfortunately, that exchange shattered the more casual atmosphere that theyd been building between them. It was to be expected, if T was going to maintain the fiction of being Tali, but it still grated.


    <em>Rtionships are difficult enough without being fundamentally dishonest through the process</em>


    T dug into her food, though she didnt scarf it. Instead, she followed Talis normal pattern, when Be-thric wasnt there, and meditated as she ate, oveying the power from the food on top of her own magics as she consumed it. There were some minor ipatibilities, extra magics that werent simr to her own, and those she discarded, using only what she could.


    <em>This is sort of like what Thorn is doing, but on a different level.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, that acid wasnt magic, but he still pulled power from it.-</em>


    <em>Conceptual magic is cheating.</em>


    <em>-I bet theyd say having a functionally infinite well of power within yourself is cheating.-</em>


    <em>Valid</em>


    Finally, when she was nearly done and Thorn had long-since finished, she looked his way. You never said why it matters?


    He blinked, jerking slightly. Huh?


    <em>Was he asleep?</em> I said, you never answered my question. Why does it matter how I treat the servants? Im not saying I disagree in principle, I just want your answer.


    -<em>Too wordy, T. You arent you.-</em>


    <em>Hush.</em>


    Well. He scratched the back of his head. Servants make the hold function, right?


    They do.


    And they can make your life better, or they can make it worse, depending on how well they do their job, and what little things they do around it.


    True, I suppose.


    So, why not treat them well, so they make your life better?


    Ahh, so its a selfish motivation?


    He grimaced. Well, no. Thats not why <em>I </em>do it, but its a solid answer to your why question and a good reason why you should.


    She gave him a long look, cocking one eyebrow. Because Im selfish.


    He harrumphed. Because you asked for a reason as to why you should treat people with courtesy. I gave you a reason. It wasnt amentary on your character. He crossed his arms and grimaced again.


    Fine. T ate thest bits of her breakfast in silence.


    Well, isnt this a dour gathering. Be-thrics voice rolled over the water, seeming to make the surface of the surrounding pools vibrate.


    The new Pir walked across one of the bridges, followed closely by Gallof.


    <em>Now, they just need an baster hue-folk to follow Gallof, and theyd have a nice, full gradient.</em>


    t snorted augh within Ts head but didntment.


    T and Thorn turned to face the iing men.


    T almost tried to force herself to bow, then remembered what Be-thric had said to Tali. Seizing on the ovep between what Tali <em>should</em> do and what T <em>would</em> do, she spoke. Are you sure you do not wish me to bow any longer, Pir?


    Be-thric smiled, his every movement condescending.


    <em>-No, T, thats just your perception.-</em>


    <em>Fine</em>


    Be-thric smiled magnanimously I am d that you remembered my preference. Yes, it would be inappropriate for a hand to bow to the body it is attached to. Our fates are tied now, dear Eskau. Any you bow to will be seen as my bowing to them, and it would be rather narcissistic to bow to myself, or an image of myself, like the heathen tyrants of old.


    Thorn bowed. Pir Be-thric. It is an honor to see you this morning.


    Thorn, how has my Eskau been for you?


    T didnt stiffen, but it was a near thing.


    The dwarf nced her way, then shrugged. There are always oddities when two people are getting to know each other. I think we shall get along just fine.


    Do you think there are things you can teach her?


    There are always things that any person can learn from any other, so yes.


    Be-thric smiled again. Wisely said. Whates to mind, specifically?


    Thorn nced Ts way again. Her magic is powerful, but inefficient. She spends power like a tyrant spends lives.


    Be-thric nodded. That is one thing Id hoped you two could work on.


    That seemed to bolster the dwarf, and he straightened just a bit. Her demeanor is excellent in formal settings, but His eyes flicked her way again, seeming a bit ufortable, but continued. but shecks some social graces with those beneath her in status.


    The Pir frowned. And?


    Thorn shrugged, his awkwardness back. As you just pointed out, Pir, almost everyone is now beneath her. Do you really wish her to treat the entire House of Blood, save Pirs and Eskau, dismissively, in ways that will reflect on you? He gave T an apologetic look.


    T could have kissed him, though she knew Tali would be irritated, so she frowned.


    Be-thric cocked his head back, considering. Finally, he nced to the man behind him. Gallof, what do you say on this issue?


    Gallof bowed. I think my former candidate is wise in his assessment. Those below us keep a house running smoothly, and their regard or enmity can drastically change how well a hold is run, even while nothing in their actions obviously changes. The best oues cannot be achieved by discipline or the application of power alone.


    The onyx man was nodding along. Wise words, both of you. He focused on T. Tali, my Eskau, I have failed you in this. I am used to functioning as a less favored, while still powerful, member of this House, and I fear I have colored your mannerisms. Listen to Thorn in this regard.


    T was stunned, at aplete loss for words. Thankfully, Tali would have been as well.


    <em>What is he ying at?</em>


    <em>-Kindness when you have, or get, what you want is not a sign of goodness, T. As Thorn and Gallof just pointed out, it is a simple expediency.-</em>


    Be-thric pped his hands together. Now. Weve much to arrange. I need to refresh your inscriptions. He hesitated, clearly considering.


    T stiffened. <em>Tali just strips naked.</em>


    -<em>Areare you going to be okay?-</em>


    Be-thric waved his hand, seeming toe to a decision. Thorn, Gallof, leave us for a moment, my Eskau should not be disyed before others.


    She knew Be-thric had no interest in her, physically. To his mind, he was re-feathering a used arrow, and that was all. That helped, honestly, but she wasnt looking forward to this.


    The two bowed and walked away. As soon as they were hidden by the garden around the training circle, Be-thic turned to T.


    Shall we? Then, he frowned. Wait. I dont wish to ruin your covering He tapped his chin. I should have thought of that. Ah! He brightened. Open your mouth. Well go through there. It will require more healing, but we need to burn through your reserves anyways, right?


    Ts eyes widened. <em>Is he saying?</em>


    <em>-Yes, T.-</em>


    Was this better than stripping down in front of him? Maybe, yeah. It still wasunpleasant to contemte.


    She opened her mouth wide, closing her eyes.<em> Help me, t.</em>


    <em>-Im here.-</em>


    <em>Be Reinscribed.</em> It was the same phrase, but somehow it <em>felt</em> different as the power radiated out from the Pir.


    Metal streamed through her mouth and down her throat as she held her breath. She felt the miniscule threads split off, pushing their way through her reinforced flesh and bone, even as she did her best to remain still and hold back her defensive powers.


    There are not words to describe how it felt.


    After what seemed like an eternity, but was likely only a few seconds, the process came to an end.


    Thankfully, most of what shed used up, inscriptions wise, were the burst-style inscriptions. Everything had been worn down minutely, but that was hardly anything, in the grand scheme of things.


    The flow of metal into her open mouth slowed, then stopped all together, and she slumped back, coughing up some blood that had entered her throat before her inscriptions healed the damage. She spat it over the side of the tform.


    It colored the water in a slowly diffusing area until it was so spread out as to be unnoticeable to unenhanced eyes.


    That looked unpleasant. Be-thrics head was tilted to one side, seeming more intrigued than apologetic.


    It was, a bit. <em>Yeah, thats what Tali would have said.</em>


    He grunted. Well, I do not wish to take my time to reinscribe you at your need. Ivemissioned a device to be integrated into your sanctum, which will allow you to be reinscribed at your discretion. It is based on my own magics, so it should grow with you, as your natural magics continue to integrate those inscribed upon you. It should allow you to do either method, unclothed or through your mouth. Though, Ill need to ask them to add the second. Well make sure you have a solid supply of ingots of the metals you need.


    T was stunned, giving an entirely genuine half-bow. You are most generous.


    He waved her off. Not at all. It is a valuation of my own time.


    <em>He really has utter confidence in my subversion. He trusts Tali explicitly.</em>


    <em>-Why shouldnt he? I know of no other Mage who has a copy of their entire mind, though I dont suppose we necessarily would know of them. Without that, and me, youd have been lost, and his, forever.-</em>


    That was both sobering and encouraging. <em>He has no cause to doubt, even if I act incredibly strangely.</em>


    <em>-But if you act really off, he might try to tweak your mind a bit, and that would be less than ideal.-</em>


    <em>True enough.</em>


    Be-thric called the other two back, then turned to T. There is much that I need to do today, and Thorn and Gallof will assist me. I am proud of your performance yesterday. Go into the city and buy yourself something nice. He paused then shrugged. Use your discretion. Nothing as big as a small hold, but definitely more than a bit of jewelry. He patted her on the head as he smiled.


    <em>Wow. That was condescending.</em> But she gilded herself and put on a grateful smile. Thank you, Pir Be-thric. Ill consider that option. When do you need me back?


    Come back around noon. We should have some things to show you, by then. At that point, well need to coordinate and dive into our work, but youve earned yourself a few hours.


    Without another word, he walked away, meeting Thorn and Gallof on the bridge and directing them away.


    <em>Well That was both kind and incredibly insulting.</em>


    <em>-He is treating you like a pet or a mistress.-</em>


    <em>But thankfully without any of the physical-ness of either.</em>


    <em>-Not a fan of petting?-</em>


    T grimaced. <em>Dont even joke. The head patting is bad enough.</em>


    She turned and headed towards the entrance to the hold. She still had her copper key-ring, so she could enter and exit at will. Kit and Flow were at her belt, so she didnt need to pick up anything from her room.


    <em>I wonder if hell upgrade this?</em> She looked down at the copper around her finger.


    <em>-Only time will tell.-</em>


    <em>Any idea what we should buy?</em>


    <em>-None at all.-</em>


    T wandered the city. She was unmolested by attackers, either random or specifically targeting her. Arge factor of thisck was likely that she was wearing the official garb of her office, the symbol of the House of Blood iid in silver and surrounded by a silver braid.


    It wasnt <em>actually</em> silver, her elk-leathers couldnt create metal, but it gave the same appearance, and that is all that T needed.


    She made the emblemrge enough to cover her entire chest, rather than just being on her left breast, and she duplicated it on her back.


    <em>Tali has some pride in her aplishments.</em>


    <em>-Sure she does, T.-</em>


    In any case, this would prevent other misunderstandings.


    Well, the emblem and the fact that T was utterly wreathed in power, her magics echoing in the very fabric of reality around her.


    <em>That probably doesnt hurt.</em>


    -<em>You also dont look human at all. That probably factors in.-</em>


    <em>Fine. Therere plenty of reasons why no one has been foolish enough to attack me.</em>


    Shed wandered for a bit, wracking her brain on what to get.


    <em>I am not getting a pet. Thats just silly. </em>But nothing else came to mind. She didnt need weaponry or armor.


    She could request an upgrade to her elk-leathers as the gift. <em>Would that work?</em>


    <em>-Its a good fallback, if we cant think of anything else.-</em>


    She was passing by a smaller park, when she noticed an old turtle-man sitting on one of the benches, a staff leaning beside him, as he fed arge number of birds.


    The turtles shell was iridescent, seeming to shimmer between green, blue, orange and red. There was a silvery white undertone to both the beast-mans shell and skin.


    <em>How are there not crowds of folk gathered around just to gawk at him?</em>


    <em>-I dont know; he is quite beautiful.-</em>


    For most, the turtle simply tossed out handfuls of seeds, but one particr oddity caught her eye.


    The old turtle smiled and pulled out a bit of dried meat, tossing it to the side, where a small terror bird caught it with ease.


    She stopped, staring at the small bird, a grin slowly spreading across her face.


    <em>TERRY!?!</em>


    -<em>T-</em>


    But T ignored her, ignored her own mind.


    The terror bird regarded her warily as she drew near.


    The turtle man looked her way as she drew close.


    What do you wish of me, Enforcer of the House of Blood?


    T felt a ripple of power wash over her.


    <em>Why would I want to bother an old turtle?</em> She didnt slow; shed never really had interest in the beast-man to begin with.


    <em>-Huh, he just made us bored by the very idea of himBut look at him. Hes beautiful! Thats probably why there isnt anyone around him, just staring.-</em>


    T shook her head, kneeling down next to the small terror bird. The creature shrunk back from her as she drew near.


    <em>-T, the colorIts wrong.-</em>


    She slumped. I know. You arent Terry. She spoke softly.


    -<em>You could tell by its level of magic, orck there of.-</em> It was a mundane terror bird.


    Now that T thought about it, shouldnt Terry have glowed like a beacon to Talis sight, if she really had seen him?


    She felt a little part of her shrink back from the thought, refusing to acknowledge it.


    The turtle-man was clutching his staff. So, you are not here for me? I see. His head bobbed in understanding. You seem to have lost that which is not found.


    T frowned, pulled back for her sad thoughts. <em>He has to be here, somewhere.</em> What? That doesnt even make sense. Of course, if something isnt found, it is lost.


    Unless what is sought finds you? The turtle gestured to the avians hopping around them in the little park. These creatures are not statues or items to be sought in some fixed location. You look for a bird whom you know?


    Yes? <em>This is really weird </em>She almost brushed the old turtle off, but something held her back.


    Does he have a name?


    He does.


    Then, call him.


    T nced around. There werent many people on the streets. She was still close to the district of doors, but shed wandered down a smaller side-street while musing.


    The turtle leaned on his staff, smiling, his shell shifting through waves of purple and lc. Well?


    <em>I feel like a fool.</em>


    <em>-What could it hurt?-</em>


    <em>What if someone hears?</em>


    <em>-It wont mean anything to anyone, even Be-thric. Terry was hunting when he took us, if ourst memory is correct.-</em>


    T cleared her throat. Terry?<em> He probably just didnt hear me. Hes somewhere else.</em>


    The turtle nodded. Louder, if you wish the call to have meaning.


    <em>But</em>


    -<em>Try, T.-</em>


    Terry!


    Louder still.


    <em>But what if he doesnte?</em>


    <em>-What if he does?-</em>


    T felt tears building in her eyes as she threw back her head and shouted. TERRY!


    Her voice, amplified by her enhanced lungs rang out through the park, startling the birds away, even the tiny terror bird that wasnt Terry.


    As the echoes quickly died off, T looked around, momentarily hopeful.


    The turtle-man looked around as well, then sighed. Ah, well. Your friend is not here, and mine are now gone. There are many parks in the city for you to search. He gave her a soft smile.


    T felt her eye twitch, even as tears began to leak down across her cheeks. The shiny turtle turned and sauntered off. <em>And here I thought he might have some sort of wise insight. </em>She wiped at her face. <em>I thought maybe he knew that Terry was nearby.</em>


    <em>-T-</em>


    <em>Not now. I dont want to hear it.</em>


    She flopped down on the bench, cing her face in her hands.


    Where are you, Terry? Are you even alive?


    Time passed and the turtles footsteps faded beyond even the ability of Ts enhanced hearing to pick up.


    People passed on the nearby street, but no one else came into the park. She didnt have her bloodstars out. It was probably foolish, but at the moment, she was d to not have to keep them in mind, keep them in ce. She just sat, feeling the heaviness of her predicament.


    She was alone.


    Utterly.


    Completely.


    Alone.


    Everyone she knew probably thought she was dead.


    She was deep within the territory of people who hated her kind or were at least those who were opposed to their free existence.


    She had nothing.


    <em>-Well get back. We have to at least try.-</em>


    <em>I know. This is justtoo much.</em> She shook her head against her hands. <em>Its too much, t.</em>


    So, T sat, unmoving, and let time pass her by.


    Finally, after what felt like ages, when the heat of the sun was beating down from almost directly overhead, she sighed. <em>We need to head back to the hold.</em>


    <em>-But we didnt get anything.-</em>


    <em>Well just ask for something to be upgraded.</em> There was no enthusiasm behind the thought.


    T lifted her head from her hands and froze.


    There, squatting on the ground in front of her was a small terror bird, one with achingly familiar coloring.


    It had magic through its being. <em>Not mundane.</em>


    T whispered in disbelieving hope. Terry?


    She <em>thought</em> she detected a marginally different pattern of magic around his neck, as if something was hidden beneath his feathers, but it could easily have just been the birds natural magics.


    The small avian trilled softly, seeming to be examining her.


    <em>No, its a trick of the light. There are more arcanous birds than just Terry. Thats not his cor. Its just another little</em>


    The bird flickered, appearing on her shoulder and headbutting her cheek.


    Terry trilled happily, snuggling up against her neck.


    T simply basked in the familiarfort of his presence. Its me, Terry. Thank you for following me, and for waiting.


    He simply trilled contentedly and snuggled in closer.

 Chapter 213: Naturally Lesser

    Chapter 213: Naturally Lesser


    T only sat with Terry for a short while before she stood.


    We have to get back.


    Terry squawked questioningly at her.


    Ill tell you on the way.


    -<em>And Ill make a modified version of finding our new friend for Tali-</em>


    <em>Thank you, t. I appreciate that.</em>


    As they walked, T exined the situation to Terry in a quiet whisper. She included what would likely be needed from him to allow them to stay together.


    Be-thric had suppressed Terry before, even if he hadnt really taken note of him, that T had seen.


    The arcane hadnt fought Terry, so at most, hed know that a magical terror bird had been near Ts caravan, once.


    Over all, Terry couldnt act too familiar with T, at least not at first.


    <em>-Tali does have some meats that she carries around with her in Kit, though she doesnt think of Kit that way.-</em>


    <em>Right, just her dimensional storage.</em> T patted Kit. I appreciate you, Kit.


    Kit did not respond.


    She reached in and pulled out a strip of cured meat.


    Terry examined it dubiously for a moment, then snapped it up.


    There we go, then. I got him toe to me, ande with me, by giving him some of this meat.


    Terry looked to her hand, then back to her face, then back to her hand, then back to her face.


    T found herself grinning and pulled out another piece of meat.


    Here you go.


    T hesitated.


    Wait How are you still just an arcanous creature? As she considered it, the other birds had definitely not been magical, though they also looked orange to her mage-sight.


    -<em>No authority or sway over the magic within them. Its not actually their power.-</em>


    T thought about the question with regard to Talis memories, and came across the same lessons that t was likely pulling from.


    <em>Right, so Terry actually has control over his power, but beasts have a different track for advancement than naturally sapient species, even though many be sapient through the process.</em>


    <em>-Exactly-</em>


    <em>Terry is still below the level of magical creature because?</em>


    <em>-Yeah, Tali didnt know how they advanced either.-</em>


    <em>Didnt Holly say something about magic density?</em>


    <em>-She did, but she also might not be fully versed in arcanous creatures. If that was the case, however, couldnt he just absorb the surrounding power, then?-</em>


    <em>Might not want to advance?</em> Do you want to advance, Terry?


    The terror bird looked at her with a critical eye, then trilled happily.


    Could you advance, now?


    Her regarded her a moment longer before shaking himself.


    So, you didnt stay back for my sake. <em>Theres nothing in the books Grediv gave me on the subject.</em> She sighed. <em>Probably worth asking Thron or Gallof.</em>


    <em>-Or Be-thric?-</em>


    T grimaced. <em>Probably, yeah.</em>


    Not sure we can, but Ill look into it.


    He hunkered down, seeming content.


    Though, that would dy our bounding. You ok with that? She hesitated. <em>Have I ever actually talked to him about the two of us bonding?</em>


    He stared her way, critically, then waggled his body in an uncertain gesture.


    Well, we''ll figure it out.


    All in all, T returned to the House of Bloods toiri hold with a bounce in her step and a smile on her face.


    The human sized door swung open for her after she presented her copper key-ring to be scanned, and she stepped inside, only to find Be-thric, Gallof, and Thorn walking her way down the main thoroughfare of the hold.


    The door swung closed behind her with a click.


    Eskau Tali! Perfect timing. We were just Gallof hesitated, seeing the terror bird on her shoulder. Eskau Tali? Why do you have that vermin on your shoulder?


    T cocked her head. <em>Vermin?</em> She had seen quite a few terror birds around the city, that was true, but werent they a bit big to be vermin?


    Be-thric shook his head. Gallof, look closer. Is your magic-sight inactive? He gestured. Can you not see that there is something special about this creature?


    The three stopped a short way from T.


    She nodded and spoke a bit hesitantly. Yes. I I found him as I was taking a moment to sit in a park. I saw his power and got him toe to me with some food. She shrugged. I think he likes me.


    On cue, Terry head-butted her cheek and squawked.


    T smiled and pulled out another strip of meat.


    Thorn snorted a softugh. He likes your food, you mean.


    She shrugged. Thats how any such rtionship starts.


    Terry happily took the meat from her hands, and she scratched the back of his head.


    The four of them moved away from the entrance, into a lovely little park with a bubbling fountain at its center.


    Be-thric was considering even as he walked. So, this was your choice for a gift? A pet? He pondered for a moment before nodding and giving a small smile. Taking care of something a bit lesser than yourself is good for the mind. If this is your choice, I do not object.


    <em>Well, that certainly cements his thinking of me.</em>


    <em>-Yup: pet, not mistress.-</em>


    T nodded her thanks. Thank you, Pir.


    Do you have any idea where his magics lie?


    T almost answered offhandedly, saying dimensional magic, but she caught herself. That was a human term. She flicked her thoughts to Talis memories before replying, Space magic of some kind.


    The Pir nodded again. That is in line with what I thought I was seeing. Well, I cant say its what I would have selected for you, but the best gifts are those desired by the receiver, I suppose.


    Gallof bowed towards the Pir. They are indeed.


    T cleared her throat. I was wondering


    Be-thric paused. Yes?


    How do such creatures advance?


    The Pirughed. We definitely dont want him doing that before hes well and truly emotionally attached to you.


    As the Pir says, of course, but for my curiosity? I cant remember it being mentioned, before.


    He regarded her for a long moment, then nodded. Very well. Gallof, Thorn, do either of you know? It was clear that Be-thric did. He was simply checking with the others.


    They both shook their heads.


    Good, then consider this a lesson for you all. Beings that are naturally lesser do not advance as we do, nor as Tali here does. Wehe gestured to the three menadvance by drawing in power and retaining it. Another way of putting this, is that we increase our harmony with magic, itself. This is of course an oversimplification.


    Gallof and Thorn nodded.


    Tali, you advance by way of increasing your level of harmony with your own soul, your gate. This is, again, a gross oversimplification.


    T shrugged, then nodded.


    Our little friend here, and most of the animals in this world, advance by increasing their harmony with something else.


    T frowned. Somethingelse?


    Yes. The god of a mountain range, forck of a better term, will havee into bnce with those mountains, thus, even if she is killed and harvested for parts, the mountain range, itself, will see to it that shees back. There will be differences. In some cases, I believe a simr creature cane to fill the same role, but depending on the level and type of harmony, the creature in question may simply be recreated identically, allowing the same spirit to reside within the new body. This is effectively re-birth, though they retain most if not all of their power.


    T remembered Trent exining something like that to her what seemed like a lifetime ago.


    So, this little guy would need to harmonize with something?


    Something external to himself. By the amount of power within him, Im surprised it hasnt happened, yet. He must be a wanderer to have avoided such ties. Be-thric nodded sagely. If you keep him around long enough, he might even bond with you, as a means of advancement.


    Ts eyes widened. Is that like Ive bound my weapon?


    Yes and no. He would be bound to you, magically and physically, at least in a sense. The bonds you have with your weapon and garments are at a soul level, though they also include a magical element.


    Huh, so he could bond me, and I could bond him?


    If he stays around, and you two get along? Yes. It might even render him effectively immortal, so long as you survive.


    That was fascinating, and had so many implications.


    Thorn and Gallof asked some follow-up questions, but T didnt pay much attention. Instead, she fed Terry another bit of meat. Hear that, little buddy. We could be together a long time, if we both want that.


    He took the meat and gave another happy trill.


    Be-thric cleared his throat. Now, we just finished our lunch, and we have several things to show you. Do you need to eat?


    <em>You could have told me to eat before I returned. </em> But Tali would never say that. No, Im more than fine, Pir.


    Be-thric gave a happy little smile, clearly pleased with the title.


    <em>Oh, gag me now. Cant I just stick a</em>


    -<em>Stop!-</em>


    Be-thric paused for a moment, frowning and ncing around. I thoughtI thought I felt something hostile for a moment. He nced in the direction of the closed gates. I dont believe there was any chance an invisible assassin slipped in after you, but that was distinctlyviolent.


    -<em>He can sense action-oriented, ill intent in those around him, T. You know this. You cannot actively consider harming him, in his presence.-</em>


    <em>Right</em>


    It was like Ranes kic defenses, but on a mental level. The arcane could somehow detect iing violence, based on the mindset of those around him. It was no wonder that hed survived to rise in power, despite not being all that popr.


    Finally, Be-thric waved it off. No matter. With Eskau Paun in residence and my own Eskau by my side, there is no cause for concern, regardless.


    <em>Isis he serious?</em>


    <em>-I think so? It matches with Talis memories, but experiencing this live?-</em> t conveyed the feeling of shaking her head. <em>-His ability to flip from paranoia to utter confidence is startling.-</em>


    <em>Might be a result of his ability? He can actually tell if those around him are going to harm him. That probably lends a verifiable feeling of invincibility.</em>


    <em>-Fair point. It is kind of like how you went a bit off the deep end when you realized that you were knife proof-</em>


    <em>Yeahthat was rusting crazy. Some of that was because of</em>She found herself nodding<em>his direct influence. I see the parallels.</em>


    <em>-Were wiser now.-</em>


    The four of them started off again, walking through the hold while Terry still rode on Ts shoulder.


    Thorn fell into step behind and to Ts left.


    Gallof and Be-thric began discussing some minor details of a trivial matter.


    The dwarf cleared his throat. Eskau Tali, have you decided on a name? For your bird, I mean.


    I like: Terry.


    Terrythe terror bird.


    Be-thric nced back her way. Oh? Why did you settle on such a name? His tone didnt indicate approval or disapproval, simply his curiosity.


    T had prepared for this in advance. Tali had an imnted memory, and she leaned on that. I had a cat, growing up. Well, it was a mouser in my vige, but I always called him ud. Calling this terror bird, Terry, reminds me of ud.


    Thorn seemed a bit taken aback. You named a catud?


    Yup. I wassix? Yeah, right around six at the time.


    Pirs save us from the naming sense of children.


    T scratched Terrys head again. I think Terrys a fine name, and he seems to like it.


    Be-thric turned back to his conversation with Gallof withoutment.


    Thorn just sighed. I suppose its no stranger than any other pets name.


    T felt a bit mischievous, so she added. I considered naming him Thorn, but thought it would have just gotten confusing.


    The dwarf gave her a considering nce. Then, wed have to change my name to something else. I suppose I could go by Thron.


    T hesitated. <em>Isnt that what Paun called him?</em>


    <em>-Yeah.-</em>


    <em>Is he really that afraid of the Eskau, that he wants to change his own name?</em>


    Gallof nced back using a pause in his conversation with Be-thric to interject. Dont be silly, <em>Thorn</em>, you have an excellent name. Were not changing it.


    Thorn glowered at the back of the hue-folks head after Gallof had turned back around.


    T frowned. <em>Is there something Im missing, here?</em>


    <em>-Probably. We can ask himter if it ends up mattering.-</em>


    She and Thorn only exchanged a few more idle words before they reached their destination: The Armory.


    Be-thric opened the door for them, and the four people, and one bird, entered quickly, closing the armored and magicked door behind them.


    Therge space was somewhat fuller than Tst remembered seeing it through Talis eyes.


    For one thing, there were now two stands for armor, in which each piece was its own vestige, beside the myriad weapons and full sets of unified armor.


    Sanguis and Be-thric each had their sets stored here. Though, T suspected that they could summon it from anywhere.


    <em>-So, not on the to steal list.-</em>


    <em>Probably not, no.</em>


    To one side, a clearly magical door stood, obviously the object of the three mens attention.


    Be-thric gestured towards it. Normally, we wouldmission a sanctum for my new Eskau. After all, the small room youve been living in, up until now, simply will not do any longer. Even so, with this new trophy generously donated to us by Eskau Paun, that would be an unnecessary dy. Come.


    He pushed open the door, and they all walked through.


    There were some simrities, of course, between this smaller hold and that belonging to the House of Blood. Both had fake skies, with fake suns overhead. Both seemed to have weather, as the clouds in the distance indicated. And, both were massive, whenpared to Kit or most other dimensional pockets that T had interacted with.


    <em>Though, I bet Master Jevins is bigger.</em>


    Even so, T was instantly struck by the obvious differences.


    The House of Blood hold was full of beautiful, sweeping architecture, each feature seeming to flow, one into another.


    There were gardens and pools, ces for meditation and for training.


    This hold?


    It was covered with blood-stains and the remains of the former upants.


    Obviously, it will need to be thoroughly cleaned. Be-thrics enthusiasm was undiminished.


    The smell of decay had already begun to fill the air.


    With the contest and the feast, which meant that so many more esteemed members of our House were within the hold, our servants have not had a chance to properly process this acquisition, yet. It will be a higher priority if necessary, but I suspect it wont


    T cocked her head. Oh?


    He smiled knowingly. Youll see.


    They walked a short way, weaving their way to an armored door which had been ripped from its hinges.


    <em>This holds treasury, or armory?</em>


    The room was mostly empty, save for what upied the center.


    At the center of the raided strong-room, stood a heavily inscribed plinth. Atop that, sat a sphere containing a fount.


    Greetings intruders. I have not defenses with which to obliterate you. Please remove me from my ce of rest, so that this hold can copse and end us all.


    T blinked. The voiceing from the pulsing orb was oddly monotone.


    Thorn cleared his throat. Ignore the rudimentary intelligence they faked atop the fount.


    Thats kind of difficult given


    Oh, yes. Ignore me, give me time to reestablish my defenses.


    that, given that.


    Thorn snorted augh. Its all but disconnected. There is enough power, ambiently in this hold to maintain it for a day even without a fount.


    Gallof nodded. Take a look at its power.


    T frowned, leaning closer.


    Yes,e closer. Touch me, and I will free your soul from this world.


    No way to stop that?


    Nothe inscriptions are carved throughout the sphere.


    Great T ignored the continued, inane ramblings of the arcane-created sudo-intelligence.


    <em>Do you see anything?</em>


    <em>-What rank is it.-</em>


    <em>Well, not even Bound, in quality of power, but thats required for a fount. Its been expanded to the point that its flowrate is close toFused?</em> Her eyes widened, and Be-thric, whod been watching her closely,ughed happily.


    Yes! You see it.


    Its flowrate is miniscule. How is it powering this ce?


    Thats simple. Gallof?


    Gallof bowed to Be-thric, before picking up the exnation, This minor house did not have any magically augmented facilities within their hold. They bent every drop of power towards maintaining the <em>size</em>, and they seemed to have spent much of their coin on increasing the efficiency of the systems. It was cheaper than expanding the fount, after all. The whole thing was a y at appearing wealthier than they really were.


    Huh. What does this mean?


    It means that we can rece the power-source with rtive ease.


    T frowned, but nodded. <em>Purification scripts. Arcanes run basically all power from founts through purification scripts, so there are no issues with using the magic.</em><em>This is an unbound storage device.</em>


    Be-thric stepped in. So, you see?


    Im not sure that I do. You want me to power it?


    Well, yes and no. We want you to rece the power source with something already magically bound to you. We will then remove the purification scripts, and He gestured to her.


    T immediately looked down to Kit. That will work? My dimensional storage will meld with this one?


    <em>Thats too easy.</em>


    Of course. A lot of research has gone into the perfecting of hold controls. We could feed this hold to the greater one, outside, and it would meld seamlessly, though I think that would be a waste. Dont you?


    T nodded hesitantly.


    -<em>Arcanes use dimensional storage items, and pocket dimensions to an incredible degree. It makes sense that theyd find ways to make meldings easier.-</em>


    So, what do I do? Will I even be able to power this ce?


    Thorn grunted. I was skeptical too, Eskau Tali. But the quality of the power you exude,bined with the efficiency built into this ce? It should barely take more power than you use for your pouch.


    T cocked an eyebrow. How would you know that?


    Pir Be-thric granted us ess to the documents on your items, so that we could better serve. Your pouch is impressive, an amazing trophy from the Pirs conquered enemy and a truly magnanimous gift to his Eskau. Even so, it is almost as inefficient as a chaos-sparked artifact, newly arrived from the ether.


    <em>What now?</em>


    <em>-What now?-</em> t seemed to be flicking through Talis memories. <em>-He is referring to what happens around human waning cities, or other locations of incredibly high magical density, where the barrier between worlds is thin.-</em>


    <em>Huh.</em>


    Alright, then. Lets do this. She was nervous, but she knew she couldnt refuse, and any further dy would start to look suspicious.


    Yes, please invaders. Crush us all together.


    Thorn sighed. No one will be crushed.


    Gallof lifted the sphere from the plinth, and the scripts powered down.


    Madughter came from the orb. Time is on my side! Before long, we will meet our end, together!!!


    T ignored him, pulling Kit from her belt and setting the pouch on the plinth.


    The scripts reignited.


    Gallof held the sphere to one side, also ignoring the continuedughter. Give the item power, and we will remove the purification scripts.


    T ced her hand on the pouch and dumped in power. <em>Please, Kit, be alright.</em>


    Be-thric, Thorn, and Gallof each sent small flicks of power into the plinth below Kit and T felt an entire subsection of the inscriptions deactivate under the influence of the hue-folk magic, then it outright vanished when Thorns power swept through it.


    Done. Thorn smiled. Now, we just have to


    Kit vanished.


    T gasped.


    A wave of power exploded outward.


    Everything went ck.


    Ts mage-sight was overwhelmed.


    The orb cackled.


    A momentter, T could see again.


    Instead of an empty armory, they now stood on a raised tform, overlooking the surrounding, rolling hills.


    Instead of a plinth, T saw a simple stone chair, perfectly sized for her.


    Be-thric nodded in satisfaction.


    Gallof sped his hands, smiling.


    Thornughed triumphantly.


    The spheresughter cut off. OhI continue.


    T tried not to pay attention to the note of sadness in the utterance.


    Instead, she focused on the seat before her.


    -<em>Thats a throne.-</em>


    <em>It certainly is.</em> T sat down, carefully.


    It was like when shed first tried aspect-mirroring her perspective, if not quite to the same extent.


    She couldnt see every inch of the hold, but she could <em>feel</em> it, to some extent.


    It felt <em>hungry.</em>


    An indentation appeared on one of the armrests, perfectly sized for Ts hand.


    <em>d youre still in there, Kit.</em>


    She ced her hand on it, dumping power into Kit.


    <em>Oh, I think Im going to like this.</em>

 Chapter 214: Sanctum

    Chapter 214: Sanctum


    T dumped all the power that she could into her chair via as manyrge void-channels as she could sustain. She felt that power expand through the pocket dimension like a wave.


    Like a very slow waveof some incredibly viscous fluid.


    She grimaced. They cut more corners than I think we realized.


    Gallof cocked an eyebrow. Oh?


    The hold ends a bare two inches below the ground. The rolling hills are faked with a non-uniform dimensional space. Its no wonder there are no trees in here.


    T would have sworn that she could feel Kits influence expanding as a vehicle for her own power, worming its way through the hold, establishing itself and iming mastery.


    It only extended about ten feet up, too. Just enough to not be noticeable on casual inspection.<em>Well, the taller sub-species might have noticed.</em>The artificial sun isnt even really there, its a clever, but weak, illusion. No wonder the grass looks stunted.


    Thorn grunted before shaking his head. Well, this will still be better thanmissioning a new hold.


    Be-thric nodded, his enthusiasm slightly dimmed. Indeed. Thest one wemissioned took more than a year for delivery. Spatial craftsmen are always in demand.


    T flicked through Talis memories, testing if Tali would say what she really, really wanted to. <em>She would?</em>


    t barked augh within Ts head. <em>-Do it! Ask.-</em>


    I would be fascinated to know how all of this works.


    Be-thric nodded absently, seemingly lost in contemtions of other thoughts. It is a fascinating area of study. Gallof, please be sure to procure a set of books on the theory for my Eskau. After a moments pause, he waved a hand. And any other subject shes interested in. I wont have my Eskau seen as uneducated, and nothing fuels education like interest. Thorn, I want you to see if there are any other holes in her knowledge, other than those that interest her, and we can fill those too.


    T blinked in shock. <em>Is thatit?</em>


    -<em>Seems so.-</em>


    Gallof was beaming. Well want a library in here for sure.


    <em>Well want to get all these books back to the Archive, for sure.</em>


    -<em>They wont all be new to the Archivists.- </em>t hedged against Ts glee.


    <em>But some will.</em>


    <em>-Undoubtedly.-</em> The alternate interface let some of her own excitement bleed through.


    <em>How has no one done this before? </em>She faked a moments though. <em>Right, because all it takes is being kidnapped by people who want to rip out my soul.</em> She suppressed a shudder.


    -<em>Im actually d there isnt trade between the human cities and these arcanes. The most likely thing humanity could offer would be undesirables for use as founts-</em>


    <em>Thatsdark. </em>She grimaced slightly before she schooled her face. <em>Yeah. There would definitely be people willing to make that trade for some of the things weve seen. Better to keep civil contact a distant thing.</em>


    Thorn turned towards T, examining her hand with evident awe, shaking his head almost unconsciously. So much power. How long can you keep that up?


    T frowned, considering. The limiting factor is the strength of my will. She knew what she needed to say next, its exactly what Tali would say, so she gilded herself and continued, So, I can continue for as long as my Pir desires.


    The words felt gross on her tongue, but she didnt show her true feelings. <em>It is I, who am using you now, you self-centered</em> She cut herself off before she could drift towards violent thoughts or intent.


    Be-thric grinned broadly,pletely oblivious to her inner thoughts. As Id expect from my Eskau. Powerful, wise, and loyal. Dont harm yourself, however. I suspect it will take at least a day or two for you to fully subsume this hold, using your item and the scripts in-built.


    T felt a wave of revulsion as her power, along with Kits influence, reached the first remnants of violence.


    The storage unit simply...processed the organic material.


    <em>What?</em>


    <em>-Well, that answers the question of: Whats been happening to all the food scraps?-</em>


    <em>Is that normal? For a dimensional storage item to eat things? Did it just move them into the soil somehow?</em>


    <em>-Be-thric seemed to suspect something like this. Ask?-</em>


    T cleared her throat, drawing the three mens attention. They had each been examining the magics acting around them, seemingly testing various aspects of the hold as it was devoured.


    As they all looked her way, T asked her question, It seems that my dimensional storage justate? I think it ate one of the bodies. Do you know why?


    She could feel the influence nearing others. It was going to clean the whole hold.


    Be-thric grinned triumphantly towards Gallof, and thetter sighed. You were quite correct, my Pir.


    But of course. Please, do exin it to her.


    Gallof bowed. As you wish. He turned and bowed to T. Eskau Tali, the dimensional storage you previously held was not, in fact, a basic dimensional storage device. It wasnt even simply an advanced one, taken from a fallen foe of great power. Somehow, it was, and I suppose still is, a tamed devouring dimension.


    What now?


    -<em>What now?-</em>


    The orb spoke up for the first time in thest few minutes. It surrounds us even now. What a glorious day, we shall be consumed, together, friend and foe, forever locked in the belly of the beast.


    They all ignored the oddly excited, doomsaying sphere. Well, they all ignored it, save Terry. He flickered over to where Thorn had set the thing on the ground.


    What creature is this? Shoo. Go away.


    Terry nudged it with a talon, and the orb rolled away across the smooth floor.


    WAAAAH. Whats happening?


    Terry crouched down, wiggling before springing after the small sphere, which was justrger than Ts clenched fist.


    <em>Hes acting very well. If he were really hunting, hed be flickering after it.</em>


    <em>-He ys a young terror bird quite well.-</em>


    T was reminded of the time, right after theyd begun traveling together, when Terry had taken on this guise as well. <em>Hes better at it now.</em>


    -<em>So it would seem. He must have had a lot of practice while waiting for us toreturn.-</em>


    T felt a wave of sadness wash over her, but she shoved it aside. <em>Im back nowWere back now, and Terrys back with us too.</em>


    Gallof cleared his throat and continued, despite the ongoing wailing from the orb and Terrys happy trilling pursuit. You see, most dimensional storage items are simply that: pocket dimensions or expanded spaces of various sizes. Devouring dimensions appear the same to all inspections, unless they are incredibly rudimentary or foolish.


    Foolish? You meantheyre intelligent?


    In a sense. Not sapient, at least not by any research Ive read. That means they are either not intelligent in the way we standardly think of intelligence, or they are clever enough to beat the tests and investigations. But as I was saying, they appear the same, but they arent. First, they seem to be able to sense the intent of their users, innately. They utilize this ability to convince their user to ce more within them, more for them to devour.


    Color drained from Ts face. So, were all about to die?


    Gallof nched, giving her an almost offended look. What? No! Of course not. If it was that dangerous, we wouldnt have tested it while inside, ourselves.


    Thenwhat are you saying?


    Pir Be-thric guessed that the foe he won that item off of had tamed the creature, somehow.Gallof shrugged.The methods for such a process seem to be closely guarded secrets of the most experienced hold-builders, the few that have supposedly managed it. After Our Pirs victory, the creature must have liked you well enough to transfer its affections to you.


    II have been giving it power, just as Pir Be-thric instructed. She frowned. Wait How is it magic-bound to me, if it had a previous owner?


    As soon as T asked, she realized her mistake. <em>It cant. This is a direct contradiction of Be-thrics narrative.</em>


    Be-thric turned her way, and shrugged, his face unusually calm. These creatures can sometimes bend the normal rules. It is one reason I suspected it was more than it appeared, actually. But, I wouldnt expect it to work again. This hold, this sanctum, is yours now, and no one can ever take it away for you, from us.


    He smiled then. To Ts eyes it seemed forced, because she knew the truth. Tali wouldnt have noticed, however, so T smiled in return. Truly, you have been generous with me.


    As a Master should be to those who serve him. The Pir shook his head, turning back to the matter at hand. But as we were discussing, this is an excellent development. Often times, the processing of unwanted materials is a core issue within holds. You will not have that problem. More than that, I believe we detected morphic magics in your dimensional storage. It should be able to reshape this sad excuse for a hold into a true sanctum, worthy of my Eskau.


    Even as they were speaking, T felt the hold reshaping. Every part that her magic and Kits influence spread to waspressing and reshaping into a sphere, centered on T and her oddlyfortable throne.


    You are once again correct,she lowered her head to hide her difficulty in getting on the next wordsmy Pir.


    He smiled. Oh?


    She described what was happening, and Gallof nodded. That makes sense. It will make the iming process easier if your influence can push out in all directions at the same time.


    The orb went rolling across around the base of the raised tform on which they stood. Please just break me, or get this thing away!


    Terry squawked happily and bumped the sphere to greater speeds, pping it with his beak to change its direction around the circumference.


    All four of the people found themselves watching the odd disy.


    Finally, Thorn cleared his throat. What are we going to do with that fount? Its inscriptions arcking, as well as frustratingly permanent.


    BREAAAAAAK MEEEEEEE!!!! The voice came back with an oddly rolling cadence, likely due to the orbs motion.


    Be-thric sighed. Id hoped we could extract the fount, but it might cost more to do that properly than to just get a new one. He shook his head, then seemed to consider. After a moment, he waved dismissively, Tali, your pet seems to like it. You may keep it until such time as it is needed.


    T pulled back slightly. Butisnt there a danger of Terry breaking it? <em>He just casually set aside a human soul as a ything for his Eskaus pet</em>


    <em>-Did you expect anything else?-</em>


    <em>Its just a new level ofick.</em>


    Be-thric gave a derisive chuckle. Oh, bleed and bury me, no. <em>Thorn</em> would have a difficult time affecting that orb even a small amount, and he specializes in eroding and destruction. The vessel of a properly tamed fount is <em>incredibly</em> resilient. That is one reason they make such good armor. Larger itemsck some of the resiliency across the whole item. Rather, it is usually concentrated around the physical location of the fount within the armor. For a sphere? Thats all of it. It is a shame that this oddly broken personality was forever ingrained into that vessel.


    Youreoddly brokenpersonality. The sphere shouted their way, some of its words being lost against the ground.


    Apparently, Terry had found where its voice wasing from and was entertained by the intermittent speech.


    Be-thric just shook his head. If it annoys you, we can lock it in a sound-proof box until it is needed.


    T shook her head, thinking about being the soul, trapped in such a ce. That isnt necessary. I will do as you ask and keep it.


    He smiled her way. I am d to hear that.


    She turned her mind away from the thought of a soul in torment, which she couldnt help, and towards the task at hand. <em>So, Im going to be here for a couple of days.</em>


    Be-thric seemed to be thinking in the same lines that she was. Now, everything seems to be going well. Gallof and I will begin the preparations for the next steps. Thorn will stay here, to attend to any needs you may have.


    Gallof bowed her way. I will return with the first of those books, Eskau Tali. At that time, we can discuss what other sorts of information you would be interested in.


    Thorn sat down and pulled out something that seemed to be an odd jumble of wire. Ive several ideas on how we can pass the time. Well begin working on this, if that meets with the Pirs approval.


    Be-thrics eyebrows rose, and a smile bloomed across his face. Excellent! He drew out the word.


    In that single word, T heard, once again, the horror of the mans voice. How it echoed blood and death and an end to all that she held dear. <em>How have I gotten used to that voice?</em>


    She barely suppressed a shudder. Gallof did seem to shiver, though he wasnt in Be-thrics line of sight. He nced her way, as if to see if she had noticed. She had, obviously, but through her peripheral vision. She gave no indication to the gray-man.


    The Pir continued. That is a wonderful tool for training the fine control of, and efficiency with, magic. He looked towards T. Especially while you are already dumping so much power into this sanctum, it should prove a worthy challenge for you.


    T nodded her head in acknowledgement even as Thorn bowed.


    My Eskau, I will return tomorrow, so that we may discuss the acquisition of my armor.


    As Be-thric and Gallof turned to go, T felt <em>something</em>. It was as if she had another limb, though that wasnt right. It was as if she<em> knew</em> Kit was capable of performing a specific action that shed not used before<em>.</em> Wait. I think I can


    She presented her desire to Kit and felt a flex of power just off to the side of the elevated tform.


    With a slight distortion in the air, a door appeared. No, not a door. It was the door that theyde through to enter the hold.


    Be-thric and Gallof nced back her way, and she shrugged self-consciously. It seemed like that would be possible?


    Gallofughed. Well, that will make doing this so much easier. Well need to bring in a <em>lot</em> of dirt, stone, and other building materials. Being able to just dump it through the door will be a boon to be sure.


    The two left, seeming happier for the bit ofst minute, good news.


    The door vanished as soon as it was closed.


    ThisThorn turned her way, holding up the tangle of wires.is a magic nest.


    T gave him a t look.


    He grinned. It is usually a childs toy, but I quite enjoy it. Watch.


    T saw him flex his power, a tendril of magic flowing into the tip of one wire, causing it to slowly begin to move.


    She saw that as he wiggled his power back and forth the wire moved as well. It was only then that T saw that it was a single wire.


    Thorns demonstration wasnt over, so she didnt let her focus waver. When the wire with his power in it touched a non-imed part, small, previously invisible inscriptions lit up on the magic nest and his power was ejected.


    SoWhats the point?


    He grinned. Untangle the wire.


    He handed her the misshapen ball of wire, a tangled mess of a thing.


    She took it on reflex, not really understanding.


    What. There was no question in the word.


    Thornughed. When you can untangle this, we can move on from the childs version.


    She scrunched her face, then sighed. This will help with my efficiency?


    No, with your control. Well address efficiencyter. But that takes control, so He hesitated. In a roundabout way yes?


    She huffed but smiled. Fine.


    The next four hours, until Gallof returned, were some of the most frustrating in Ts life.


    Thorns demonstration hadnt shown that messing up caused an unpleasant sensation to echo throughout her entire body, like an extremely mild, electrical shock. Shed let out an undignified yelp the first time it had happened, but Thorn had pretended not to notice anything.


    Instead, he was studiously absorbed in his book.


    <em>That rusting jerk.</em>


    <em>-Hes testing you, seeing what kind of person you are.-</em>


    <em>Are you sure? I think he just wanted augh at my expense.</em>


    <em>-Everyone has their own way of testing the waters.-</em>


    T took a deep breath and decided to ignore the dwarf.


    There had been many, <em>many</em> more jolts.


    Interestingly enough, when Gallof entered, he entered at the edge of the hold, not where the door had been, to let him exit.


    That mean that T felt him enter the hold nearly five minutes before he walked into sight.


    She didnt let herself stop trying to untangle the infernal thing.


    Shed gotten used to the jolts, though she still didnt like them. The worst part was, when she messed up, the entire thing would twist back in on itself, changing its configuration randomly.


    The most that she had extracted before a failure was a measly, single foot.


    She didnt have the heart to ask Thorn how long the wire was, in total, but she suspected it was close to thirty, if not longer.


    <em>Ill conquer you eventually, you stupid thing.</em>


    Gallof carried with him a bag of books, and a smile. Not only was I able to find an exhaustive set of primers on hold construction, nothing too advanced mind you, but I was able to find a likely source for other materials, depending on your subjects of interest.


    Thank you, Gallof. Books would be a wee reprieve.


    The gray-man looked at the tangle in her hands and smiled. Ahh, I remember ying with one of those. So many ways to learn and grow all in one little tangle.


    He gave a contented sigh.


    T grimaced.


    Books, please.


    He pulled out one and handed it to her. Heres the first.


    She nodded her thanks, dropped the magic nest and buried herself in the book. <em>Now, lets see what secrets there are for the taking.</em>


    Thatsted all of three minutes.


    Terry, of course, came over and bit one end of the wire, which made up the magic nest. There was an odd ripple of power that drew Ts attention, and she watched as the entire thing simplyunwound.


    Thorn had also felt the power, turning to see what was happening, and he simply gaped.


    Gallof, who T noticed was still there, waiting, hadically wide eyes.


    In less than a minute, the entire thing untangled, wlessly. Then, Terry tilted his head in seeming curiosity, dragged the wire over near the blessedly, momentarily silent sphere, and let go.


    His magic left the wire, and it immediately snapped back into a tanglearound the orb.


    The sphere made its displeasure known, instantly screeching out a wail of surprise and distress.


    Thorn walked over and pulled the orb free of the magical nest, grimacing against the continued pulsing cry.


    That cut off instantly as the ball-like-thing was pulled free. WellI suppose I should thank you for


    Thorn turned and threw the thing as hard as he could.


    The orb let out a squeal, which faded into the distance as the sphere traveled a surprisingly long way, bouncing and rolling into a dip in the monotonous, slightly rollingndscape.


    Terry immediately took off after it, letting out a rtively mild, exuberant trill.


    As that single yful cry faded, Thorn sighed. Blessed silence.


    T turned to Gallof, who still seemed in shock. Why are you still here?


    I need to confirm He massaged his temples. No. Im sorry. Are we just going to ignore the fact that that creature justsolved a magic nest?


    The poor man seemed beyond himself at the very idea.


    Thorn grunted. Seemed like a clever bird.


    T pointed to Thorn, while looking at Gallof. Yeah. With his level of magic, Terrys probably older than he appears.


    Gallofs eye twitched. He looked back and forth between T and Thorn before finally letting his head fall back into his hands. Fine. We wont look further. Well just ignore the clearly hyper intelligent <em>murder bird</em> who has infiltrated our hold.


    T smiled. You forgot something important.


    Gallof looked her way, incredulity clear on his face. And what might that be, Eskau Tali?


    Her smile morphed into a near-malicious grin as she let some of Tali show in her expression. Hes <em>my</em> hyper intelligent murder bird.


    Gallofs eyes widened again, but then, he seemed to regain mastery over himself.


    He closed his eyes, nodded, brushed his clothing unnecessarily, and bowed. As you say, Eskau Tali.


    He opened his eyes and gave a politic smile.


    Now, I need to confirm what foods you find the most appealing, so that we findpatible strains and subspecies. We will begin the instation of the ambient vegetation, rock formations, gardens, orchards, and animal facilities as soon as you have fullmand of this hold. Until then, the exact magics for integration into such will need to be researched. We can begin work on that beforehand, specifically now. It will be a full growth cycle before most can be of use to you, but some thingsplete that cycle quickly, and some natural magics are already avable, which match your own.


    And so, T and Gallof discussed the base ingredients they were going to begin to provide for her sustenance and magical advancement.


    She really enjoyed pork, so pigs would be a core part of this project. As she remembered Terrys own desires, she suppressed a shudder. Then, she asked for another, non-magical herd of swine to be included in theyout of the sanctum.


    These could be free-range as they wouldnt really need to be caught or harvested for T. They would simply need to be kept from getting into anything important.


    <em>There, Terry should like having his own prey to hunt in here.</em>


    <em>-It seems unnecessary, but its a nice gesture.-</em>


    <em>Thank you. I thought so.</em>


    She and Gallof discussed the types of trees and other vegetation that T liked, so that those could be transnted.


    Remembering the juice that she and Tali had been served with their breakfasts, T asked if ending-trees were a possibility. She wouldnt have mentioned it if the juice hadnt been served to her since her capture.


    Gallofs reaction made it in that he had expected the request. He seemed resigned as he promised that he would see what could be done.


    All in all, it didnt take too long before T was able to return to her book.


    She waved absently, calling up a door for Gallof to exit through.


    When he was half-way out, T called to him, Gallof?


    The tall, gray man hesitated, ncing back her way. Yes, Eskau Tali?


    Knock next time. If you do, I may be able to call the door back here, so you are closer to me when you enter.


    He bowed. Of course.


    And Gallof?


    Yes, Eskau Tali?


    I think Thorn and I could use some dinner.


    Thorn looked up in surprise.


    Gallof looked his way, and the dwarf shrugged. That sounds excellent to me, sir.


    Gallof gave a reserved smile and bowed once more. As my Pirs Eskau wishes, I will obey.

 Chapter 215: First Raid

    Chapter 215: First Raid


    T walked through the streets of toiri alone.


    Well, Terry was on her shoulder, but the rest of her strike group were already moving into position.


    Kit was back in the House of Bloods hold, being outfitted by a host of servants and craftsmen. It had been nearly a week since T had ced Kit within the captured hold, and her dimensional storage had long since finished melding with it.


    She was still marginally ufortable with the realization that Kit was actually a creature of some kind, but really, it didnt matter that much, except that T, herself, would need to be <em>much</em> more powerful before she would risk a soul-bond with her storage.


    But that was all a distraction. She was on a mission.


    <em>This is ridiculous. This would never work in a human city. The city defenses and defenders would never allow it.</em>


    <em>-This isnt a human city, and these arent humans.-</em>


    <em>I know, I know.</em> In truth, she was a bit torn with the whole thing. Seeding would bring her one step closer to the possibility of returning home without having to fight her way free. But seeding would also allow her kidnapper to be more powerful. Still, the decision was made.


    <em>-I still think you should pass this off to Tali.-</em>


    <em>When we get there. I dont want to be her more than I need to be.</em> Tali was still the better fighter, T knew that, but she didnt like how it felt, being Tali. She didnt particrly like killing sapient beings either, but she was willing to do both things if it was required for her to achieve her goals.


    <em>-As you wish.-</em> t had argued the point enough by then that she likely knew it was futile to try again.


    T walked through a loosely popted square. Several restaurants and other eateries were doing a brisk business in the early autumn chill, and many of their customers were sitting outside, scattered through this space, at cast-iron tables and chairs.


    She ignored the people, for the most part. The tail theyd put on her target had indicated that he would still be in the shop. That was the best ce to strike.


    Quick in and out, take the weapon, leave the candidate Eskau behind. It was merciful and effective in more ways than one.


    <em>It should minimize coteral damage, too.</em>


    Her eyes swept across the signs until she found the one that she was looking for. Shed known the name, but not the iconography used along with it.


    What she saw startled her. It wasrgely an eerily lifelike depiction of some sort of unknowable horror.


    A highly detailed croissant was central on the sign. Behind it, and surrounding the pastry was a tangle of limbs and two staring eyes. Somehow the static image was conveyed with haunting rity that left the impression that the eyes followed T as she walked and the limbs moved if she nced away for even an instant.


    <em>What the rust. Who would design something like that? Who would eat there?</em>


    The Many-Fold Bakery was one of the best pastry establishments in the city, for those who were willing to shop there. Though, at that moment, Ts target should be the lone customer within.


    Tali had never visited. <em>Of course, she didnt. She never visited any bakeries.</em>


    <em>-What lost opportunities.-</em> t conveyed the feeling of a sad shaking of her head.


    Apparently, one of the candidates for Eskau of the House of the Rising Sun frequented this establishment, and as word hadnt spread through the opposing houses about the House of Bloods new Pir, it was agreed that they should take this target of opportunity, first.


    <em>Because after our first raid, people like this will be more careful, ore with guards.</em>


    Nearly a dozen armsmen of the House of Blood, lightly armed and not in house colors, were scattered around the small square, ready to prevent interference with Ts task. There were members of the House of the Rising Sun around as well, but they seemed to be there in unofficial capacity. This was somewhat close to their hold, after all.


    Be-thric had remained in the House of Bloods hold. His presence wasnt necessary for this task, and he would have drawn unneeded attention.


    T took a deep breath as she crossed the courtyard and pushed open the door. Terry hopped off of her shoulder, as theyd agreed. He would wait just outside the bakery, off to one side.


    As the door opened at her pull, she was hit by a wave of warm,forting air.


    The scents wafting through the gust were enchanting, and T found herself taking another long inhale. Though, this time it was purely for the enjoyment of the smells.


    T hadnt even realized that shed closed her eyes to enjoy the experience more fully until she heard someone address her.


    Its pretty fantastic, isnt it?


    Her eyes snapped open, and she saw the Eskau candidate standing before the disy cab, looking her way. Her target was, indeed, here.


    He was about Ts own height and a cat-folk male. His fur was short and a sleek, well-cared-for gray. His fingers were long, resembling human fingers more than a cats paws. His eyes were a dull green around feline slits.


    T was not wearing her uniform as an Eskau of the House of Blood, so he didnt immediately recognize her as a threat. She was glowing with magical patterns, but that wasnt <em>that</em> unusual, though the extent of her magic was likely notable.


    <em>That might be why he addressed me. </em>Funnily enough, closing her eyes upon entry had likely helped lower his guard. After all, what sort of fool would close their eyes when faced with an enemy?


    -<em>Huh, Tali might have messed this up after all. At least the start. You should still let her fight.-</em>


    T ignored t. Instead, she smiled and responded to the cat, It is indeed.


    Her eyes scanned the inside of the shop. There was very little room within the shop for customers. Arge, ss, disy case ran the width of the ce, presenting the various wares offered by this bakery.


    Finally, T flicked her gaze behind that case and froze.


    A man stood there, slightly hunched, with dark hair hanging forward, mostly obscuring his face.


    His skin was a sickly white with a texture that her enhanced vision showed to be incredibly minute scales.


    He was tall, taller than T by a good two feet, though with his forward hunch his head would barely be above hers, and he was whip thin.


    His eyes were locked on her, unblinking.


    If T was being honest, she felt like a mouse looking upon a snake that it had let get too close. She felt like prey morepletely than she could ever remember.


    The candidate gave a half-smile, drawing her attention partially away from the attendant. Dont mind him. Yamather is an amazing baker, but not very good with people.


    T swallowed, forcing her gaze off the oddly still baker. She saw the ripples of magic flexing behind Yamanther, and what looked like limbs extending from his back, seemingly working to staff the entire kitchen by himself.


    <em>How?</em>


    <em>-Shapeshifting? Seems to actually be his limbs, and they areing into being and being pulled back into his body with seemingly little effort.-</em>


    <em>No human could do that. The inscriptions would be distorting everywhere.</em>


    <em>-No one without this magic, innately, could do this.-</em>


    She shook her head and refocused on her target. Hed spoken again, while she was distracted. Im sorry, what?


    What were you thinking of getting?


    Her eyes dropped to his arm, which hung near the disy case. There, strapped around his forearm, was his protian weapon. As a weapon of the House of the Rising Sun, it wouldnt be morphic, but it would be able to generate items of light and fire for use by the candidate.


    <em>Take that arm, above the elbow, and take it fast.</em>


    <em>-Tali?-</em>


    <em>fine.</em> I think I know what I want. She smiled even as t ticked control over to Tali.


    * * *


    Taliunched herself forward, pulling her weapon into her hand with an act of will and a tug on the soul-bond, even as her bloodstars, sphere, rod, and discs snapped up from their holders into their standard ces around her.


    The cats eyes widened, but he didnt have time to react.


    She had him dead to rights. The mission was an unmitigated sess with this first action.


    Then, somehow, Talis arm stopped, her de just barely pressing against the sleeve of the targets arm.


    A swirl of air washed over her from behind, more than should have been stirred up by her movement.


    A pale, scaled hand was locked around her wrist, and her bloodstar perception showed anky shape looming over her from behind.


    Nnnnot. Innnn. Mmmmy. Shhhhop. The bakers voice was barely above a whisper but still seemed to have no trouble filling the space.


    With a blur of movement, Tali found herself and her target tossed from bakery.


    Come back when you are done and cleaned up. His whisper filled the courtyard, and while the words were still drawn out to some extent, it was not nearly as much as his first utterance had been.


    As Tali mmed into and then slid across the ground, having been perfectly aimed tond between tables, the square erupted into chaos.


    Bystanders fled.


    Members of the House of the Rising Sun stood in shock, most beginning to move towards the candidate from their house.


    Members of the House of Blood struck at them from behind, or from the side, taking them by surprise and felling many in the first instants.


    <em>Cut and drain me.</em> Tali cursed internally.


    <em>+Wow that did not go as we nned.+</em>


    <em>-Did you get a read on the bakers rank?-</em>


    <em>+no. How did I miss that?+</em>


    <em>-I dont know. I didnt notice either, and I cant pin down his rank based on our memories.-</em>


    <em>+We can find out after the fight.+</em>


    Tali vaulted to her feet even as most people were just beginning to react. <em>I should have been building the gravity in a stone.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, that would have been wise.-</em>


    <em>+I didnt think it would be necessary.+</em>


    Talis eyes flicked down, and she saw a pebble off to one side. She immediately targeted it and began an untargeted ramp-up.


    As her quarry came to his feet,nding in a low crouch, she tried to lock onto him as well.


    Unfortunately, it failed.


    She briefly tried to lock onto his gear as well, but he had his aura extended enough to make that impossible.


    <em>That would have been too easy.</em>


    Her weapon morphed into a sword, and she pushed power through her garments, enforcing their defensive magics.


    She popped two ending-seeds into her cheeks. She had six with her.


    She hadnt used them in the fight with the other House of Blood candidates, because their protian weapons might have been damaged by the use of such powers. The House of the Rising Sun conjured items and dissolving those wouldnt harm the enemy weapon at all.


    <em>This isnt a disy to bring honor to my Pir; this is a harvest.</em>


    With three heavy footfalls, Tali crossed the space between them and brought her weapon forward in a precise thrust.


    Her bloodstar-embedded defenses were kept in a warding pattern, against possible interference.


    They hadnt nned on killing the cat, simply taking his arm. There was no call to escte hostilities too quickly, after all. A severed limb could be healed, even if he would never be an Eskau with the loss of his weapon.


    Now, such mercies werent prudent.


    Her sword mmed into a translucent round-shield even as it was called into being, skittering across the magical construct.


    Her sword left a deep cut in the magically solidified light.


    She pressed her aura outward to further gain ground on her opponent. Doing so would also help her to ward off any other attacks that mighte for her.


    Her strike team was now fully engaged with the few House of the Rising Sun members who were still standing.


    Her new terror-bird pet simply waited off to one side, watching intently. She wasnt sure why she liked the little guy so much, but she felt a smile tug at her lips, even though she wasnt looking at him with her eyes. <em>Hes pretty neat.</em>


    <em>+See, even murder T likes Terry.+</em>


    <em>-...you know that shes the </em>most<em> likely to be drawn to a terror bird, right?-</em>


    <em>+Fair+</em>


    Fire zed out of her opponents shield in a focused st, but even as it was generated Tali assaulted the working with her aura-control, breaking the cats hold on the magics and letting the heat disperse instead of remaining tightly focused.


    Even so, it was blisteringly hot, and Tali felt her inscriptions ring with magic to keep her body intact. The ending-berry power shed integrated into her inscriptions helped to maintain full-body cohesion.


    She cracked a seed between her teeth while she endured.


    As the st trailed off, Tali stepped forward and exhaled across her quarrys shield.


    The ending-power swept over it, dissolving and dispersing the working like flour before a strong wind.


    Tali pulled her weapon sideways in a savage back-cut, even as her opponents eyes widened in surprise and fear.


    Unfortunately, the cat-man was quick.


    He jerked back enough to save himself from losing the arm entirely, but Tali still cut his bicep deeply, seeming to disable the limb.


    A hissing curse flew her way from between his teeth, even as a tight beam of light flicked her way.


    Again, Tali broke his hold over it as it entered her aura. She couldnt control it, but her breaking of his control caused it to weaken, rendering it an inconvenience but not a true threat.


    It raked across her face, passing through her armor, which wasnt intended to block light.


    Her skin burned away in a sh of heat and pain, but her bone held with ease under the dispersed power.


    The attack passed in a blink, even though one of her eyes couldnt do that at the moment.


    Her weapon shifted into a ive and she thrust forward, driving the cat onto the defensive. As she continued her advance, she felt her skin regrow. Her ruined eye was reabsorbed and then reced. The new flesh itched as it grew, then tingled like it was asleep before buzzing as if shocked. Finally, it calmed, and simply <em>was</em> once more.


    All the while, she struck against his defenses, weaving her attacks around his awkward attempts to keep her at bay.


    He was clearly not used to fighting with a single arm.


    <em>Paun would be disgusted with such a ring weakness.</em>


    Another light beamnced out, but this time it struck a table beside her, melting the legs and causing it to fall into her path. It was an obvious attempt to trip her up or slow her down.


    It did buy her prey a moment.


    The cat seemed to be getting desperate as he took advantage of the extra seconds to jump to the side and hurl a javelin of conjured light her way.


    Tali contemptuously pped the javelin out of the air with her weapon, but instead of being deflected, the projectile exploded.


    Talis sight wasing from three perspectives and as such, the sh was even more disorienting than it was designed to be.


    Her sight returned just in time for her to see her quarry, striking for her chest with his right hand, ws of light and fire zing around his natural ones.


    Tali jerked to the right, twisting in an attempt to spoil the attack.


    The move worked, and the blow skittered across her magical defenses.


    The cat hissed and twisted, whipping his limp forearm upward with the movement, along with the muscles in his shoulder and upper arm.


    The hand pped Tali across the face. More urately, it smeared across the protective field guarding her face. Even so, it left behind something akin to luminescent paint, temporarily blinding her again.


    She cracked the second seed.


    Her aura control shattered the working, even as she blindly dodged the follow-up attack that she knew wasing.


    She guessed wrong.


    The cats attack hit her dead on, his magics shing with her defenses, each canceling out the other.


    His ws and natural magics tore through her clothing, and his enhanced strength let him punch through her skin and into her abdomen.


    Tali gave a tight-lipped grimace against the pain, her head involuntarily tilting up and back. The agony almost blinded her in a totally different manner than she had been previously.


    Her target was wing up through her torso, reaching for her heart.


    <em>No.</em> She dropped her head forward once more and exhaled.


    The cat-mans eyes widened as he took a face full of ending power.


    His innate magical resistance held up for a flickering instant, burning through fully half of the seeds magic before his defenses crumbled.


    His head fell in on itself, reduced to fine powder in a silent wave.


    As the body slumped to the ground, his arm slid out of Talis guts and her magics began repairing her mangled insides.


    <em>+Well, rust. That was brutal.+</em>


    <em>-Yeah. There wasnt much finesse, there. You might have been fine.-</em>


    <em>+Youre not very nice to me.+</em>


    Tali turned, taking in her surroundings one more time and verifying that there were no remaining threats still standing.


    She coughed once. Strip the bodies of their gear. Any survivors?


    One of the members of her strike team shook his head. We drove some off, and they are likely going for aid. Their hold is close, but not <em>that</em> close. We have twenty minutes at most, probably closer to ten.


    * * *


    T staggered slightly as she took control of her body once more. The pain which shed been experiencing second hand mmed into her and almost caused her to lose consciousness.


    <em>That would have been embarrassing.</em>


    <em>-Indeed.-</em>


    Thank you for the assessment.


    The Many-Fold Bakery door swung open, the proprietor taking in the scene. My customers are gone because of you.


    Everyone froze.


    His voice was still a whisper but filled the yard.


    T still couldnt pin down his rank, though that could have been due to him keeping his power incredibly tightly controlled or because he had an item that hid it. She just had no way of knowing.


    I wont sell any more today. Those predatory eyes fell on T.


    T swallowed and stepped forward. She felt the need to cate thisman. Well buy what you can have ready in five minutes.


    A haunting smile broke across the pale face, as Yamanther produced a half-dozen wrapped bundles.


    T nced past the man and saw that the disy case was already empty.


    Will you be paying in coin, or should I bill the House of Blood, directly?


    Directly, please. The courtesy came out as a purely instinctual reaction. The prey would do anything to appease a predator.


    <em>Well, it seems like our affiliation is obvious.</em>


    Less than five minutester T was moving back towards the House of Bloods hold with her strike team around her.


    Terry sat on her shoulder, unusually still and silent.


    Each person had arge parcel of pastries in their own dimensional storage, along with the gear looted from the fallen.


    They hadnt lost a single person, though there were a few injuries.


    More than anything, however, their steps were quick, and they didnt look back, none willing to meet the gaze of the still watching pastry chef.

 Chapter 216: Service to the House of Blood

    Chapter 216: Service to the House of Blood


    T watched as Sanguis and Be-thric examined the items that she and her strike-team had pulled off of their fallen enemies.


    She surreptitiously took a bite of a pastry. <em>Rust, these are delicious.</em>


    <em>-Uncannily so Still, I dont detect any magic, poisons, or addictive substances, so we should be fine.-</em>


    The wrapped boxes of baked goods sat on a nearby table. Only one had been opened, and the various members of the strike team were enjoying the treats as unobtrusively as they could.


    T had fed one to Terry, and while hed seemed to like it, he hadnt wanted another.


    The two Pirs seemed quite pleased with the haul, though neither of them was partaking of the treats.


    Apparently, several of those in the square had been higher level officials of the opposing House, and theyd had some important documents on them in their dimensional storages.


    There were manifests for inter-city shipments due to arrive in the near future, lists of supposedly unaffiliated groups who were shadow organizations run by the House of the Rising Sun, and so much more.


    It was honestly a little astounding that so many things of note were in one ce, which had them suspicious. In truth, as T listened in, the Pirs suspected that many of the items on each list were decoys, meant to bait enemies into attacking neutral parties, or otherwise wasting resources or goodwill.


    Even if it were all true, there was nothing illegal or truly incriminating in the documents, but the House of Blood strike teams would be busy over the next couple of days, sussing out and acting on the information gathered.


    There were several magical weapons or other simple items, which would be added to the House vault, and quite a bit of coinage, though nothing on the scale of House finances.


    Well done, Eskau Tali. Sanguis smiled her direction with evident sanguine contentment. Your forethought in having the strike team in ce turned what could have been a loss into a stunning victory.


    She gave a slight bow to the man, equal to what Be-thric would have given in her ce. Thank you, Pir Sanguis. I aim to seed. <em>So I can get the rust out of here.</em>


    Indeed. He then held up the bracer, which was the protian weapon she had gained from the cat-man. It had been the whole reason for the mission. <em>I wish hed been a bit of a jerk. He was polite before he died.</em>


    <em>-Almost everyone is kind in the right circumstances. It doesnt mean he was a good person.-</em>


    <em>It doesnt mean he was a monster, either.</em>


    <em>-Do you </em>want<em> to feel guilty?-</em>


    <em>No</em> She just wanted to go home.


    Sanguis directed Be-thric to extend an arm, and the older Pir fastened the bracer in ce on his junior. Then, there was a flex of power as Sanguis bound the weapon to Be-thric, subtly changing its magics.


    If T interpreted the new flows and pathways correctly, this bracer would now create close-fitting, seamless, flexible armor of light directly overtop of Be-thrics skin, below anything he was wearing. It could also create a simr set of armor, forged of fire, overtop whatever the Pir was wearing. There were a couple other twists and paths that T couldnt quite interpret, but she was proud at how her mage-sight interpretation wasing along, as a whole.


    And with this, Pir Be-thric, your defenses are nearly up to proper standards. The remaining pieces will be utilized offensively and for utilitarian purposes.


    Be-thric gave a shallow bow, his grin a stark, gleaming white between his onyx lips. Thank you, Pir Sanguis.


    The bracer then vanished with a bending and twisting of the world, and it was done. Something about the vanishing felt like it came from Be-thric, rather than Sanguis.


    <em>Something about the change binds the armor to the Pir in a facsimile of soul-bonding.</em>


    <em>-Yes, but it is alooser connection, somehow, and with almost entirely different features.-</em>


    Sanguis departed. As he left, T saw the smallest flicker of power reach out and a single pastry vanished from the open box.


    T kept herself from smiling at the covert snatching.


    The strike-team left as well, each to their own duties. They were not subtle with the pastries, each grabbing an unopened box to take along for their next tasks.


    Finally, Be-thric and T were left alone.


    So, my Eskau. Shall we check on the progress of your sanctum?


    As you wish. She nodded her head in acquiescence. She picked up four of the remaining boxes, trusting that the servants would parse out thest few.


    They walked through the hold, back towards the entrance.


    T had left Kit in the form of a door, attached to a wall in one of the side courtyards of the House of Bloods main hold.


    When they reached the ce, that courtyard was abuzz with activity as several foremen were coordinating the movements of various servants and workmen.


    Large carts full of soil were being backed up to Kit and dumped through.


    Off to the side were simr wagons of nicely dressed stone,rge barrels of water and innumberable nts.


    Empty wagons were moving off into the hold or towards the exit to be refilled, depending on the material required.


    T found an empty table off to one side and set down two of the boxes. Pastries! She called, her voice filling the space. We have to get through, so you get a short break.


    The workmen each found an easy ce to stop and moved out of their way.


    Be-thric nced her way and gave a small smile. Good, Thorns lessons are settling in. It is much easier to manipte and control with kindness than with force, though both methods have their ce.


    T barely kept anger from her features and a shudder from her body. Your wisdom is great, Pir.


    As one foreman spotted them, she made his way over and bowed. Esteemed Eskau Tali. I believe that I was told that you are able to increase the size of the door to be evenrger. Is that possible?


    Kits entrance was already asrge as three standard doors across and half-again the standard height.


    Still, T gave a nod. I will do that as we enter.


    Thank you, Eskau. She then bowed to Be-thric, but didnt speak.


    <em>It would be rude for her to address a Pir without need.</em> T was starting to understand <em>some</em> of the nuances of the social interactions in arcanends.


    T and Be-thric reached the door, unimpeded, and she touched the doorframe as they walked through.


    Kit heard her desire and the opening erged again, doubling its width.


    A happy cry went up from the servants and workers behind them, but T and Be-thric were already focused on what stood before.


    They were now walking on perfectlyid paving stones, put together into a road, wide enough to have two carts pass with rtive ease.


    The roadway was bracketed by raw dirt, stretching out into the distance. <em>I wonder what Ill put at the end of this road, when we move the default location of the entrance?</em>


    T nced back. Many of the workers had already finished their pastries, and she was able to watch a cart being tipped, dumping its load through the entrance. As the dirt fell through, the soil vanished.


    <em>Kit is moving the material as ites in.</em> T began purposely expelling as much power into the air as she was able.


    Be-thric nced her way, not seeming the least bit startled or rmed by her use of such quantities of magic. That seems wise. Your little sanctum is doing a lot of work. We wouldnt want it to run dry.


    The power she directed into the air was whisked away even faster than the dirt had been.


    As they walked down the road towards the buildings in the near distance, they simply examined their surroundings in silence.


    There were rolling hills of moist soil. T knew that clover seed had been dumped through door the day before, so as long as they were actually able to add an artificial sun of some sort, these hills would be green in no time.


    That was apparently due from the craftsmenter that afternoon.


    The strike had taken ce in the early morning, coinciding with the targets usual routine.


    She still felt a bit bad about the cats death. She would have much preferred to just take an armwell, and his weapon.


    -<em>Really? This again?-</em>


    <em>I can wish something hadnt been required while still knowing it was a good oue, all things considered.</em>


    <em>-Fine, fine.-</em>


    T felt a twinge of loneliness as ts response reminded her of Rane. She desperately hoped that he and Mistress Odera and her family were all right. <em>And Lyn and Holly.</em> There were so many people that she wanted to get back to.


    <em>All in due time. Rushing this will cause failure and taking my time will lead to sess in every regard.</em>


    T felt a connection to the sanctum, but not like she was bound to it, not directly. It was odd: she could feel her magic flowing through it, or at least magic that matched hers in vor and aspect.


    She could feel that power all around her, and it oddly reminded her of when Tali was inmand. T was surrounded by what seemed to be her own power without the ability to control it. She knew that her power was being used to do a ton of things without her direct input or management.


    <em>Huh. Is this what it feels like to be you?</em>


    <em>-In a sense.-</em>


    <em>Interesting.</em>


    Through her deeper connection with Kit and the sanctum as a whole, she knew that under the pavers that made up the surface of the road other work had been done, and other materialsid out. As such, this road would be a robust, longsting thoroughfare.


    Simrly, she knew that, under the loamy topsoil, rock and y had been brought in and ced to ensure the stability of the terrain over the long term.


    It was amazing how much work went into establishing a hold or sanctum. <em>I am so d I didnt have to do this all on my own. I cannot imagine the expense.</em>


    <em>-We know what it cost us.-</em>


    That was a sobering reminder of the situation. <em>Whos bringing us down, now?</em>


    <em>-Thats fair. Its just hard to reconcile that none of this is free for us. Weve paid a ridiculous, involuntary price.-</em>


    <em>Dont worry. I havent, and wont, forget. Well bnce the books, and this sanctum is a part of that.</em>


    In no time at all, T and Be-thric had crossed the soon-to-be-verdant space and arrived at the closest structures, at the center of the sanctum.


    Craftsmen and magical engineers were working to build systems of power, which caused reverberations of magic to resonate distinctly within various sections of the food-production area.


    Several sections were already set up. In fact, the entire central area seemed almostplete. It had been less than a week of work, but the various crews had been rotating out for near-nonstop progress.


    T and Bethric walked through a tunnel of raspberry vines, and T saw that the trellises were practically vibrating with power, which would bepatible with her magics that enhanced her vascr system.


    She could see that power suffusing the nts even as they continued to establish themselves.


    The whole thing was so well put together that none of the resonant magic came anywhere near the path on which the two walked.


    They came out of the tunnel into a central square with paths leading off in various directions.


    Workers wereing and going from this point as well, though they seemed to be more of the skilled variety than theborers dumping in material at the entrance.


    In their center, a small figure was giving orders.


    Be-thric leaned over towards T and spoke softly. The foreman is Pride, the foremost expert in the area in the permanent establishment of foodstuff production infused with specific magics, a key asset to <em>every</em> major house in this region.


    T nodded. <em>Dont offend the expert. Got it.</em>


    The figure was a hue-folk who stood half Ts height. Purple skin and a bald pate were the first features that T noticed, followed closely by the most unusual means of inscription she had ever seen.


    Large swaths of Prides body were covered with silvery metal in broad, rough scripts, and inset into those were incredibly fine, ck spell-lines.


    <em>Is that zirconium?</em>


    <em>-It must be, if its naturally ck and a base metal. Though, it could be an alloy.-</em>


    <em>Can you make inscriptions out of zirconium?</em>


    <em>-Not that humanity is specifically aware of, but you can, theoretically, use any material for spell-lines.-</em>


    <em>Huh.</em>


    In addition to the odd inscriptions, Pride wore loops of silvery chains along with other, simr jewelry practically everywhere there was space.


    In contrast, the foremans clothing was simple in design if not in quality of construction,posed of sturdy ck cloth with silver ents.


    Additionally, it seemed that the foreman spent more time at a desk, or reading a book, than doing manualbor, though T couldnt have said why she got that impression.


    The purple figured turned towards T and Be-thric as they arrived and bowed. Pir Be-thric, Eskau Tali, wee to the progress. My tasks are almostplete, and I have no doubt that you will be ted with the results.


    A silver and ck bedecked, purple finger pointed in each direction. This is the quadrant that I was given to work with. In the direction we are calling south, where you came from, we have the mundane berries and other fruits, infused with magicpatible with yours, of course, Eskau Tali.


    To the east we have the vegetables and grains, simrly infused.


    To the west are the animals: pigs, rabbits, chickens, and cows.


    Finally, to the north, is the path to the livingplex.


    Be-thric smiled and actually gave a small bow. Thank you, Pride. You really put yourself into your work. I trust that you dont have time to give a tour?


    Prides head shook. Unfortunately, not. I must transmute the magical structures into permanence and then be off to my nextmission. Thank you for engaging us for your project.


    Of course, Pride. You are the best at what you do.


    Pride grinned. And with honesty like that, discretion is unquestioned.


    They bowed slightly to one another before Pride turned to T.


    T cleared her throat and gave a bow mirroring Be-thrics.


    Thank you, Pride. I look forward to sampling the fruits of yourbor. She hesitated, checked Talis memories, and found that there was just enough there to allow her to continue, And, of course, the vegetables, grains, and animal product of yourbor as well.


    Pride snorted augh and waved her off. Thank you, Eskau. It is my honor to be of service to the House of Blood.


    Without further dy, T and Be-thric continued to the north, exiting the courtyard and moving up another path to an open-air building, set on the high-point of the sanctum.


    In the center was the raised tform with Ts seat of power. While sitting in it, she knew that she would feel much more connected to the hold, and it seemed that Kit could understand her desires more minutely as well.


    To the right of the tform was arge training ring, empty ponds already in ce around it to mimic, but not mirror, the training area shed used as a candidate.


    To the left was a bunker-like building, which would eventually house the entrance and exit by default. Magical defenses were being imbedded into it both to keep out any unwanted intruders, and to y or restrain them if they managed to enter anyways.


    All the magics were being hooked into Kit, itself.


    <em>More of a magical burden to empower.</em>


    <em>-All the more reason to expand your gate. That is next on the docket, I believe. At least it should be, after the inspection.-</em>


    Straight ahead, on the other side of the dais, was a series of rooms for herself and guests whom she allowed to visit. They were all arranged around a library, kitchen, and dining space, thetter of which was situated to look out towards the north of the sanctum, where the non-food bearing forest would be located.


    Apparently, mature oaks, maples, and aspens were being brought in, and would be the backbone of her forest, though younger trees would fill in around their older fellows.


    There seemed to be a whole industry surrounding the preparing of materials to outfit new holds. Quite a few arcanes simply spent their days creating base materials like soil, rock, and water, so that the filling of holds didnt force them to strip zeme down to a husk.


    <em>I wonder just how much extra-dimensional space has been tacked on to our over the eons.</em>


    -<em>Theres no way to know for sure, but in this city alone, theres enoughnd in the various holds to exceed the size of this continent, and this is far from the only arcane city.-</em>


    It was an interesting line of thought.


    She might have wondered why humanity didnt just have their cities in dimensional pockets, except that she now knew the deeper reasons for the cities relocations. That many humans in a pocket dimension would slowly degrade its foundations. A few moving about could bepensated for, the weakness caused by their gates repaired, but even as few as a thousand gated humans would slowly ruin any pocket city they tried to inhabit.


    T shook her head. It was not the time for morose thoughts, or considerations of what could not be.


    She stepped up on the raised tform, slowly turning to take in themanding view of the sanctum.


    Waterways were already created and reinforced, though there was still very little water as of yet. T wasnt a fan of eating fish so those that would be added to the water systems wouldnt be for consumptive purposes.


    Well, my Eskau? What do you think?


    T found herself smiling, despite the one she was talking with. Amazing. Truly.


    As befits my Eskau.


    There was no sun in the sky, despite the pervasive light. The sourceless light was an illusion maintained by Kit so that they could see.


    T patted the armrest of the throne and whispered, Well get you a proper sun soon enough.


    The chair did not respond.


    Thorn came out of the structure to the north and bowed to each of them in turn. My Pir. Eskau Tali. I trust your mission was a sess, Eskau?


    T smiled, feeling genuine pleasure at seeing him. He was growing on her, even if mainly due to his constant presence. Thorn. Yes, we had a fewplications, but we were sessful.


    Im d to hear that. He turned to Be-thric. My Pir, may I show her the reinscriber?


    Of course, Thorn. I would be d to have you do so.


    Thorn bowed again, then stepped up onto the raised tform.


    He stopped and knelt behind the throne, prompting T to move over beside him.


    There, embedded in the ground, was a small hatch.


    Thorn pulled the hatch open, revealing three gold bars, two silver, and one copper.


    Here are the metals that the magics pull from to enact the reinscriptions. He nced at her, saw that she understood, and closed the hatch once more. Anywhere on this tform, you can give themand and the magics will do what needs to be done.


    Can anyone activate it?


    On themselves? Thorn nced toward Be-thric before shaking his head. I dont believe so, no. The magic of the one activating the reinscription must match yours, and that of this sanctum. There is a separatemand that others can give to reinscribe <em>you</em> if you are on the tform, but I dont know it. Pir Be-thric is the only one who does, and he wrote that, along with other secrets of the sanctum, down in a small book that is awaiting you in your room. If the reinscriber can do anything else, it will be recorded, there.


    Thank you, Thorn.


    It is my pleasure to serve the House of Blood.


    T surveyed the hold around her and frowned. Were sure that this will be able to run itself?


    She really, really didnt want to have to have servants in here. That wouldplicate her life immensely, especially when she made good on her escape.


    Again, Thorn nced towards Be-thric, but this time the dwarf nodded. Yes. The maniption abilities your dimensional storage brought to this hold means that so long as you understand what needs to be done, when, and wish for the hold to do it, everything <em>should</em> run smoothly.


    He cleared his throat and scratched the side of his neck.


    We are creating a task list that you can run through each day, mentally, until things are fully established. That way, it should be ingrained within the cycles of the sanctum.


    Set deep below the raised tform, T knew there was a massive storeroom that couldnt be essed from the outside. There, Kit could store everything out of the way, awaiting her need of it. That was just one of the features being added, which relied on Kits previously demonstrated abilities to move things about at her desire.


    <em>Assuming Kit doesnt eat the stuff while Im not looking.</em> That wasnt really fair. Kit had never eaten anything she cared about. <em>Not that Ive noticed.</em>


    <em>-Not that either of us noticed, and we have perfect memory of what should be in here. Kit seems to be ying the long game, and look around. Its paying off.-</em>


    T grinned. Thank you again, Thorn.


    It is my pleasure.


    Ironically, T realized that all of this was meant to save the House of Blood resources in the long run. If she were really going to be an Eskau for decades, if not longer, than this sanctum would pay for itself many, <em>many</em> times over.


    <em>They are good at long-term nning.</em>


    <em>-Indeed.-</em>


    <em>Its a shame that it wont profit them this time.</em>


    <em>-A real, rusting shame.-</em>


    As T was basking in the glory of what wasing together around her, a messenger ran up the road theyd juste in on.


    The young, dog-folk boy bowed low. The great Da''talus requests ess to this sanctum and quick passage to its heart.


    T recognized the name of the craftsman whod beenmissioned to make Kits artificial sun. She looked to Be-thric who gestured for her to continue.


    T smiled. Of course.


    She sat in the throne and flexed her will and power.


    A door materialized just to the south of the tform, directly in Ts line of sight.


    It was normal sized, and when it swung open, it revealed a small man, who would barely reach Ts waist if she were standing.


    He stepped through the door, the messenger ducked back through, and it shut once more, on its own.


    T felt the entrance return to its current, default location within the sanctum, reopening and expanding for the workers to continue the depositing of materials.


    Da''talus bowed, holding before him, sped between his two hands, a rtively small object.


    It was roughly the size of Ts head, and it radiated odd mixes of energy.


    The craftsman was currently expending a massive amount of power, generating a protective field around the creation.


    Greetings Pir. Greetings Eskau. I apologize for skipping formalities, and for asking for expeditious ess here, but this is a delicate creation, and timing is key. I would have been here sooner, but some sort of disruption in the city has caused all manner of dys.


    Be-thric had indicated that Tali should take the lead with this craftsman. He apparently wanted her to continue to practice what Thorn was teaching her. So, T responded, Of course, Honored Datalus. What do you need from us?


    Where is the central pir? I must link this to the core inscribed and inherent matrices.


    T stood and gestured at the throne. It is here.


    The diminutive, orange-skinned mans eyebrows rose in surprise. I see.


    Even so, he did not hesitate.


    With quick movements, he climbed onto the tform and walked to the throne.


    He sat the creation down on the seat and T got a good look at it for the first time.


    It looked like nothing so much as a gyroscope with hundreds of gimbals, each as thin as foil, each imbued with natural magics of durability and reduced friction, among other powers. They seemed to be of a whole host of metals, eachyer different than every other.


    They were spinning already, but T thought that that was more due to inertia than anything actively making them do so.


    She caught shing glimpses of an odd material at the core of the contraption, and it was that material that was radiating the odd power that Datalus was struggling to contain.


    As the creation sat on the throne, Datalus thrust his magics outward, seemingly creating pathways in the dimensions of magic and forging them between the heart of the sanctum and his creation.


    They werent spell-forms, simply channels for power, like Ts own void-channels, simply more permanent.


    As he did that work, the spinning gimbals began to pick up speed, each on a fractionally different axis.


    After another moment, the device seemed to be generating its own protective field, and Datalus retracted his magics, almost seeming to stagger in relief.


    There. A smile blossomed across his features. That will regte this hold for a thousand years at least, if it functions for a day.


    Be-thric chuckled. Only a thousand years? I thought we paid for an eternal sun?


    Datalus waved him off. Nothing is eternal. A longersting sun would have to be bigger, but then it would be oversized for this hold.He looked around appreciatively.To give any significantly longer life, would require a hold at least ten times this size, if not asrge as the House of Bloods hold. Otherwise, the star would be too much, and destabilize the whole space.


    Can it berefueled, if that is the right term? T asked hesitantly. She had a hard time grasping the timescale of a thousand years, but ideally, shed be leaving soon, and it was very possible that this wasnt replicable by humanity, not in this way, not at the moment. So, she needed answers now.


    Datalus shrugged. Of course, with the right applications of space magic and the right material. I sent ahead a booklet detailing all the functions avable to you. This is aplete environmental controller.


    As theyd chatted, the connections through the dimensions of magic had seemed to solidify, until now they felt like they were a permanent part of the hold.


    Without any of them doing a thing, Datalus creation suddenly zed with light, very much like a miniature sun. It then rose up into the air, moving to match the suns position outside their hold.


    <em>I wonder if its matching the House of Bloods sun, or the real one?</em>


    -<em>Those should be the same, but I would bet the informational booklet would tell us if one has precedence over the other.-</em>


    <em>Fair. Lets read that sooner rather thanter.</em>


    Datalus grunted in satisfaction. Ill need to move about the hold and take measurements for the next few hours. Ill let you know if any tweaks are required, as it is now outside of my ability to affect.


    Thank you, Honored Datalus.


    The small man bowed towards Be-thric. It is my honor to be of service to the House of Blood.


    As the craftsman walked off, T stared up at Kits new sun. She whispered up towards the sky, Well you have your own star, now.


    The sun did not respond.

 Chapter 217: Gate-Breaking

    Chapter 217: Gate-Breaking


    T and Thorn tried not to stare up at the new fake star in the sanctums sky.


    <em>Well, how fake is it really? It shines, it gives off heat, it seems to burn</em>


    <em>-Not a real star, so fake is correct, but it is more real than I expected from a cursory examination of the House of Bloods hold. My understanding is that without magic, stars have to have a sufficient mass to maintain coherence. Miniature? Artificial? One of those might be more urate?-</em>


    <em>I suppose so.</em>


    Thorn cleared his throat. As fascinating as all of this is, we should get to our training.


    Terry nced at T from her shoulder, then hopped down and ran off to do Terry things. <em>Probably exploring the sanctum. Definitely not killing workers and eating their bodies.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, that doesnt sound like Terry.-</em>


    T decided to ignore the hints of sarcasm in ts voice and trust Terrys discretion, regardless of his chosen tasks.


    Be-thric gave a nod to Thorn. Very well. But one more thing before that.


    He walked over to T and pulled out a metal rod. The city lord has granted our request to modify your saorsa-cor. It cannot be removed asmonw requires all gated humans to wear one, but yours will be modified to only be actionable by illegal conduct on your part, the Pirs of the House of Blood, or the city lord himself.


    T gave a shallow bow. Thank you, Pir.


    Of course. We couldnt leave you in a state where a mere bribe to a city guard could kill my Eskau, could we? He pressed the rod <em>through</em> her cor, pushing it in so far that it should havee out the other side to skewer her neck.


    Instead, it seemed to sink into the cor, fully melding with it, and T felt the magics shift.


    There we have it.


    T had investigated the magic of the cor innumerable times, even not counting the times that Tali had investigated the thing. There was no way out.


    Kit couldnt remove it.


    Even if she could convince him to help her, Thorn couldnt erect a disintegrating force between the cor and her neck to intercept the dasganachs.


    The list went on and on. She and t were constantly brainstorming for possibilities, but the ne wasid bare to them, and they could easily see how each of their ns would end.


    Two dasganchs injected into her.


    There was no way around it.


    T was brought back to the present moment when Be-thric turned to go.


    By all means, proceed with your training now, my Eskau. I wish to examine the sanctum a bit more before I depart. I am working to set up anappointment, which should be very profitable. Ill want you to attend me whenever I am able to get it established. It should be in less than two months, though I hope it will be much sooner. We must keep pushing forward, after all. He smiled along with thest words.


    T nodded. As you wish.


    The Pir turned and walked away without another word


    Thorn cleared his throat to garner her attention. Alright then, Eskau Tali. Can you ce a stone block somewhere you can hit it with your weapon?


    T frowned but shrugged in resignation. She hopped off the tform, then sent the desire to Kit.


    A two-foot cube block of stone appeared on the edge of the tform, the center of the stone being about as high as Ts sternum.


    What now?


    Strike it with your weapon in the form of a sword. Dont do anything else, no mirroring, no enhancing, no nothing.


    T quirked a smile. No nothing?


    I dont understand all your strange fount powers.


    She shook her head. Okay.


    The stone was heavily magically saturated granite. She drew Flow and pushed it into the form of a sword.


    T took a deep breath and exhaled with her swing, keeping proper edge alignment.


    Her de passed cleanly through the stone at a downward angle.


    With a soft grating, the upper piece slid off the lower.


    Thorn blinked at her. Huh.


    What was that test for?


    II expected you to fail to cut the whole way through, and I wanted to establish a baseline.


    T rolled her eyes and jabbed at him, verbally, That was ignorant of you.


    My old sword, formed from my protian weapon, wouldnt have been able to.


    She grinned. Well, that might be one reason I won then, eh?


    Thorn groused, but she could see a small smile tugging at his lips. Yeah, that may well be.


    So what now?


    Thorn sighed. Get rid of that stone.


    T silently requested, and Kit made it happen.


    Thank you. Now, there should be something in your storage called striking wood. ce it here, where the stone was.


    T shrugged and sent the desire to Kit.


    A thin piece of wood appeared in front of T.


    It was a three-by-three foot square and one inch thick. The broad side was facing her, and it was on a stand of sorts.


    There, cut that.


    T could see magics of endurance and resistance to cutting flowing through every fiber of the wood.


    She took a deep breath and struck again.


    This time, Flow caught in the material after cutting about a quarter of the way through, the wood charring above and below the cut until she withdrew her weapon.


    Good! Good. Thank you. Now, doing your aspect mirroring thing. Give your sword your entire magical weight.


    T shrugged and did as he asked, striking at a different ce on the wood.


    Flow cut halfway through before being caught up in the material once again.


    Thats the baseline, then. We need to increase your flowrate before we see what progress you make.


    She frowned. My flowrate wont affect my density directly.


    No, but it will affect it over the long run.


    Thats fair.


    The wood vanished since she no longer wanted it there. <em>This might just make me a bitzy</em>


    That was a hurdle forter, however.


    So, how are we going to do this? How are founts normally expanded, enhanced, and improved?


    Thorn looked a little sheepish. Well, to my understanding, this is only really done with founts.


    Yes, that is what I was asking. Now, what will we be doing?


    Gate-breaking.


    -<em>That sounds painful.-</em>


    That sounds painful.


    -<em>Copy cat.-</em>


    <em>Were literally the same person. I cant copy myself.</em>


    <em>-Only marginally these days.-</em>


    T huffed augh.


    Whats funny?


    Nothing, just arguing with myself.


    Thorn grunted, seeming to decide to ignore the oddity. So, the way this works


    Gate-breaking. T interrupted.


    what?


    The way <em>gate-breaking</em> works.


    Yes, of course thats what Im talking about. He sounded a bit exasperated.


    T grinned back at him. Good. Just checking.


    He gave her a suspicious re. As I was saying: the way that <em>gate-breaking </em>works is there are two devices we attach to a fount or, in this case, to you. One stabilizes the gate, while the other


    T gestured for him to continue, then helpfully supplied. breaks it?


    Not precisely, no. Though, my understanding is that that would be the result, without the reinforcement.


    Ah, so what does it do?


    The dwarf sighed. The other device will forcibly pull power through your gate as fast as possible, while forcing the power to flow normally. No tricks, nopression, no Ways if Im remembering the term correctly. Founts apparently asionally maintain them, and it messes with the process, so safeguards are put in ce to suppress them. Thus, in the end, it is just raw, unrefined power. That power wears away at the edges of the gate, expanding its base flowrate.


    Ts eyes widened, but he continued before she could interject.


    The two devices are linked, so the more power that is pulled, the stronger the reinforcement of your gate will be.


    Her eyes narrowed. What is the sess rate?


    When properly monitored? It never fails.


    What does that mean?


    Generally, an expert in maintaining founts is present and regtes the rate of expansion to prevent catastrophic failure. In this case, you will be letting me know how to adjust the flow.


    Why cant I do it myself?


    He seemed hesitant. Well I mean we can do that, but I was thinking I could rein you in a bit.


    Tughed. Whats that supposed to mean?


    You can be a bit brash, Tali. Never stupid, but youre willing to take risks if its what Pir Be-thric wants. We both know he wants this for you. Thorn snorted. At this point its practically required if you dont want to spend all of every day keeping this sanctum full of power.


    Ill be careful, but I do want this. <em>Until I Refine, this is my best path to greater power, and I will need that in gold if Im to make good my escape.</em>


    He looked skeptical, but finally nodded. Theres something more. If it ever stops, your gate will beresistant to this means of expansion. Slow it down as much as you want, but dont stop unless you really cant take it anymore.


    I can understand that. How long?


    Its settings are numerical, and we need at least one-hundred-unit-hours worth, meaning one hundred hours at setting one, ten hours at setting ten, etc. Any less will have been a waste of everyones time. Ideally, well get closer to a thousand-unit-hours. Unfortunately, the returns diminish significantly as the unit-hours increase.


    She nodded, moving back up on the tform. But more is better?


    In theory.


    In theory? She paused, looking back towards him.


    Well, founts are expanded to meet a specific need. They arent generally broken as wide open as they can be, just because they can be. I dont know that anyone has simply kept expanding a gate. If my limited understanding in integral theory is urate that could rip a hole into the next world and kill us all, though that would probably not happen for close to a hundred-thousand-unit-hours worth.


    Ahh, so I shouldnt let it run for ten hours on setting ten thousand? She quirked a smile.


    It doesnt go that high, but no. No, you should not.


    She shook her head and sat down in the throne. Even so, more power is better, right? Why not open each fount as wide as possible? Run the device until the increase is inconsequential?


    Thorns voice returned to its professional tone, Because the process never fails, only when properly monitored.


    She cocked her head to one side. Exin.


    Thorn gave a shallow bow. Each fount seems to have a certain threshold, after which it will slowly degrade. Not in a day, or a week, but soon. The way Ive heard it described, the founts cease working for their own existence.


    I dont understand.


    He sighed. Founts devote arge chunk of the powering through themselves to stabilize their existence, to keep themselves in the physical world. If a fount is pushed too far? It just stops keeping itself here.


    He shrugged. I dont know that anyone really knows why, but the experts have learned to notice the signs and stop gate-breaking before it gets there. Thus, founts are opened as wide as they will go, then sold or traded to those who can use them at that level.


    T was nodding. Therger flowrate costing more.


    Precisely.


    Thank you for the exnation.


    Of course. He smiled, then cleared his throat. I need your diaphragm and keystone clear.


    T obliged, flexing her power within her elk-leathers to clear those patches of her skin.


    Thorn pulled out two round magical items. They were linked by a braided metal cable of various materials.


    The dwarf looked at the exposed area and cleared his throat. Completely clear, Tali.


    T looked down. <em>Right, the iron paint.</em> With a precise aspect mirroring, she pushed the elk-leathers self-cleaning onto the exposed skin, freeing the paint.


    With quick motions, she broke the areas free with a finger and tossed the dark circles aside.


    Magic rushed out through the openings, and the echoes that her magic had been generating in reality around her began to fade, vanishing entirely in a handful of seconds.


    Thank you. Thorn seemed to rx a bit as the obvious evidence of her power bled away.


    T just shrugged.


    She lifted one arm briefly, allowing Thorn to ce the devices on her keystone and diaphragm, the cable running under that arm.


    As soon as they were both connected, T felt something seize her gate, reinforcing it, but not right at the edge. The feeling was like the reinforcement was set back, just away from the edges. Then, the other device kicked on, and she felt a <em>pull</em> on her power like she had never experienced.


    It was all she could do not to scream at the oddity of it.


    It wasnt pain, just like a limb falling asleep wasnt precisely painful, but it felt <em>wrong.</em>


    Thorn was speaking to her, and she did her utmost to focus on the words.


    As of now, it is on its lowest setting: one, as we discussed. He then handed her a small disk that was connected to the two devices by another twisted cable.


    <em>How did I not see that thing before? </em>She was forcing her mind to focus on that, rather than the abrasion in her soul.


    <em>-Thats not really important, T.-</em>


    She heartily agreed, which is why she was trying to focus on it.


    It didnt work.


    Thorn exined how to adjust the pace and then stepped back.


    T was already feeling off, even not ounting for the devices direct results.


    The magic in her body was in a turmoil, her spell-forms starved of new power.


    About half of the power being sucked from her was being directed around and into the strategic reinforcement of the edges of her gate via the second device.


    The remainder was being spilled into the air around her, where it was being quickly consumed by Kit.


    Even so, that consumption wasnt <em>instant.</em>


    T grit her teeth and seized some of the power as it came out and forced it back into her spell-forms.


    She felt a wave of relief as her magic stopped screaming at her.


    She was working at <em>very</em> low powerpared to normal, let alone her pressure cooker state, but her inscriptions were still working.


    <em>-That was unpleasantly close. I dont particrly want to die.-</em>


    <em>Me either</em>


    The feeling of power being ripped through her was deeply ufortable in an utterly non-physical way.


    It felt like someone was insulting her friends orughing at her most cherished beliefs.


    It was an ache, an agony, that was so much deeper than mere physical pain.


    And she needed to increase it. <em>Or endure this for at least one hundred hours.</em>


    That wasnt really an option, if she were being honest.


    How many settings does it have?


    Thorn was giving her a worried look but answered without hesitation. One hundred. Just remember, what youre feeling? This is currently on one.


    <em>Great.</em> Lets try two.


    She activated the increase.


    There were no words for the change in sensation, and she threw her head back and let out an involuntary, weeping scream.


    Thorn was almost to her when she mastered herself, closing her mouth and cutting off the wail.


    Oh bleed me dry that is awful. Her teeth were grinding against each other. How long do I need to do this?


    The dwarf looked a bit pale. To say he was green would have been ridiculous. He was always green, but the green of his skin was a lighter shade than she was used to seeing. As long as you are able, Tali. Ideally, just more than two days at this setting. Can I get you anything?


    Do I have to be conscious?


    I think so, unfortunately. At least for now. If you can manage to sleep with it,ter, I think that should work.


    I hate you a little bit.


    I know, Tali, but that cant be helped, Im afraid.


    Tughed at that, and theughter seemed to help. <em>Is that becauseughter helps the soul heal?</em>


    <em>-Thats very conceptual thinking, but maybe?-</em>


    <em>Seemed to work.</em> Maybe, do we have any goodedies? I thinkughing might help me endure this.


    Ill see what I can find. Then, Ill see what I can dig up in the city.


    Thank you, Thorn.


    As the dwarf stepped back, watching carefully, T ticked the device up to three, and felt her entire body sh cold at the strain. <em>This is the worst.</em>


    T was mistaken.


    The next week was vastly worse than that first half-hour had been.


    Honestly, she couldnt really say why she kept going. It was awful, and she was sure she could bring a halt to it at any time, but she found that she didnt want to stop, either.


    With long practice and careful ramp-ups, T was able to push the device up to fifty for up to ten minutes at a time, before she had to drop it back down to the twenties.


    She felt like her whole family had died before her eyes.


    A thousand other descriptors rolled through her mind as she sunk deeper into a depressive state.


    She barely ate,constantly fidgeted, and nothing felt <em>right.</em>


    Her soul was <em>raw</em>, but the results were unquestionable.


    Well, she didnt know <em>exactly</em> by how much her flowrate had increased, but she knew it had.


    -<em>Well test it when were finished with this stupidity.-</em>


    That was another thing that had surprised T, back when she could be surprised.


    t felt agony too. Shed hidden that fact for the first day or so, but as the alternate interface became noticeably more irritable, T had wormed a confession out of her.


    Theyd almost quit the second night, after not sleeping at all the first.


    Blessedly, they found a way to sleep. Though, it was hardly restful, and every second had been filled with nightmares.


    <em>I wouldnt wish this on my worst enemies.</em>


    She actually meant that.


    Be-thric had visited her a few times to check on her progress, and she hadnt been able to muster up the energy to wish he was suffering alongside her. Even when she felt like she could wish it on him, she realized that that would be too cruel.


    <em>What is wrong with me? If its that bad, lets stop.</em>


    <em>-Yes, please stop.-</em>


    <em>Okay. Well stop.</em> T checked the time. <em>Just one more hour, I think I can take it on thirty-five for another hour, if were going to be done after that.</em>


    -<em>If youre sure, I can endure with you.-</em>


    And so it went.


    One week became two and the sanctum was finished around T.


    nts began to sprout and grow, and thest of the workers departed.


    Still T couldnt quite make herself bring the process to an end. <em>If I stop, what will have been the point? I can never do this again. I need to make it worth something.</em>


    Thorn remained, always nearby. Though as the days went on, he looked more and more concerned. T had even woken to him trying to take the control from her once.


    Shed screamed herself hoarse at him for that, though she couldnt remember why shed been so angry.


    In the end, T had utterly lost count of the days when Be-thric came to her. Your dedication is admirable, my Eskau, but you are needed.


    T sat in her throne, slumped to the side, and barely acknowledged the man.


    Shed tried letting Tali be inmand, but the womans internal monologues about doing this for her Master were somehow worse than the agony of the device. <em>Or maybe it was that their repetitions had been in exact cadence with the pulsing pull, amplifying the awful?</em>


    In either case, it hadnt been a true solution.


    When T didnt respond, Be-thric stepped forward, gripped the two devices, and simply ripped them off of her in one, quick motion.


    T screamed, her throat so hoarse that it came out more like a harsh breath. Her gate had briefly spasmed, the flow seeming to stutter.


    Then, the torrent rushed through the new gaping maw, power mming into her scripts, suffusing her flesh, and burning its way free of her aura control.


    Be-thric had taken a step back, a look of undisguised greed briefly flickering over his features.


    After the brief slip, the Pir snapped at her. Master your power, Eskau.


    T had strained to pull her power, her aura, back in, and by slow degrees she seeded. It was harder than the first time shed ever attempted aura control despite the skill being deeply ingrained in her subconscious. It was supposedly something she did without thought.


    That wasnt true anymore.


    Clean yourself up. I need you in three hours. Will you be able to contain yourself by then?


    <em>But I could have kept going for another three hours With such a time limit, I probably could have endured up into the seventies.</em>


    Her <em>self </em>was shaking.


    That device had be all she focused on, and now it was gone. Gone. GONE!


    T stared at it as ity on the ground. <em>I could reattach it. Its probably not been too long. I can keep going at least for a little bit.</em>


    Be-thric seemed to see where she was looking, and he sighed. Thorn, was there any mention of addictive properties?


    The Pir nced to Thorn and the dwarf shrugged, his worried eyes fixed on T. Im sorry, my Pir, but I dont know. I dont think anyones ever used it on a gated human before. That would exin how shes been acting, though.


    -<em>Depression is addicting, in its own way.-</em> t had kept a clearer line of thought through the whole process, and that seemed to be holding true even now. -<em>This is better. We needed to be done.-</em>


    <em>II guess thats true.</em> She took a deep, shuddering breath. The power within her had settled, though it still moved like the tide itself. Her throat was already fully healed. It likely had been in the first wash of power, but T hadnt noticed.


    T groaned, pulling herself back together in an almost literal sense.


    The power was ripping her apart as it activated her magics more powerfully than they had ever been before. That same power was also flowing through her regenerative inscriptions, repairing the damage it caused before it could truly register.


    The truly physical pain was actually steadying to her, like vigorous exercise. It helped her focus on the present. Ill be ready.


    T vaguely heard Thorn add in his own affirmation. Ill make sure of it.

 Chapter 218: Combat Ready

    Chapter 218: Combat Ready


    T groused. No. I dont want coffee. Her aura pushed out, somehow exerting enough pressure to force Thorn to step back. She was still feeling off and, if she were being honest, a bit childish.


    The dwarf steadied himself, keeping the cup in his hand from spilling. Tali. You need to focus. Coffee helps many people to do just that. Youve been putting yourself through the sparsnds for weeks now. Your mind is frayed. You need to recover, and you dont have much time.


    T red. Im not getting addicted to that stuff.<em>Not again.</em>Besides, my scripts are already working to fix me up. All this power will make it faster, too.


    He sighed. Please. I know Pir Be-thric just left, but we have a <em>lot</em> to do in the next three hours.


    I agree, but no coffee. She started to move, slowly. Each action was deliberate as she felt how much more power she had. Honestly, she felt faster and stronger than she normally did when her iron paint was intact. <em>Slow and steady.</em>


    <em>-Thats right. We can do this.-</em>


    Thorn grunted. Fine. A flicker of magic wafted from his hands and the cup and beverage vanished in one. Then, I have to resort to option two.


    He looked up, above where T was sitting.


    She immediately leaped up, moving much farther up and away than she normally would have. Her eyes were momentarily fixed above where shed been sitting. When she didnt see anything there, she swept her gaze around wildly. Finally, when she didnt see anything suspicious, she turned on the dwarf. Whats option two?


    Thorn grinned. Vaguely threateningnguage.


    She red his way. In her head, t cackled. -<em>Oh, hes starting to understand you.-</em>


    Now, food awaits. Most of it is what you are used to, but some is from your sanctums first fruits. He pointed off to one side.


    If food is ready, why are you pointing to my room? I will not be eating in my room like some sort of savage.


    -<em>You eat in your room all the time.-</em>


    <em>And if he knew my true origins, hed think me a savage, so true words all around.</em>


    t had no ready response to that.


    Food is ready, but you need a bath. Ive drawn one for you. He gave her a level look. Ive included my own power in the water. Youll lose some skin, and all your hair, but youlle out cleaner than youve ever been.


    She gave him a hard look. You know, if I die, you dont get to take my ce.


    That much is obvious, yes. He returned her look levelly.


    And if you are the cause of my death, the Pirs will kill you.


    Again, this is obvious. He gave no hint of difort, even as her aura flickered and iled around him.


    T shook her head, trying once again to rein in her power, with little sess.


    Thorn waited for her to return her attention to the matter at hand.


    What of this? Your magic will trigger it. She tapped her cor.


    Ive exempted it, naturally.


    How? She narrowed her eyes at him.


    What, am I some wild human Mage? Precision in all things. He gave her a small smile.


    She huffed augh and grunted. Fine. Thank you.


    It is my pleasure.


    She continued to wrestle with her magic and her aura as she carefully moved off the tform and pushed open the massive, heavy door to enter her room for the first time. As it swung shut behind her, she took a long moment to just look around.


    A wide, nearly full-height window filled one wall, giving an unobstructed view to the west. The sswork was perfect, its production likely enhanced by magic of one sort or other. Power still lingered in it, and T thought she understood the workings to be for durability and cleanliness.


    Through the immacte window, T could see the beginnings of her forest towards the north of that view, and the green rolling hills extended to the horizon before her.


    <em>To the edge of reality, </em>she corrected herself.


    Some animals moved about across those hills, but not many. Not yet.


    The experts and craftsmen had established an ecosystem of sorts, though shed required that they limit apex predators.


    It had taken some convincing, as all the experts had insisted that theck could cause radical unbnce.


    T wanted Terry to have free range fun.


    But that was all outside her room.


    The room itself was simple in its beauty.


    The walls were built of granite blocks with silver iid mortar, all polished to a near mirror finish.


    The floor was a single b of poured stone, streaks of dark and light gray ying with each other across the simrly polished surface.


    Overhead, old-growth beams spanned the space, holding the wooden ceiling up, high overhead.


    Apparently, there were several families who had holds filled with trees of various ages, all growing towards the harvest at the right time.


    There wererge floor-to-ceiling curtains that could be pulled across the window at need, but they were tucked back, out of the way for the moment.


    The room, as a whole, was sparse to the extreme.


    Aside from a few silver hooks set into the walls, the only adornments were her bed and arge stone tub.


    The water bubbled and popped, and T could feel the heat radiating from it and the stone tub it was drawn in even from a dozen feet away.


    <em>Theres nothing in here.</em> After a moments hesitation, she smiled. <em>I like it.</em>


    She took Flow and her bloodstar sheath from her belt and hung them on the hooks. Her clothing retracted into a band around her neck, under the cor, and she slid into the water, dunking her head and staying under for a long count of ten.


    Immediately, she felt the heat and whatever Thorn had done to the water, scour her, toes to tip.


    The water transformed from crystal clear to murky grey in barely a moment. Her hair and iron paint joined the dirt, grime, and dead skin in the water around her.


    <em>Well, this is kind of gross. </em>She grunted. <em>It would be nice if I could get rid of</em>


    She had barely started the thought when she felt Kit, through her new, deeper connection to the pouch, flex slightly.


    The detritus in the water vanished, leaving it perfectly clean once more.


    T gratefully tapped the stone beside her. Kit, youre amazing.


    The bath did not respond.


    Its too bad that you cant clean me directly, but personal magical defenses and all that.


    She sighed, sinking into the water once again.


    Thorn was right. Whatever hed done to the water stripped off everything that wasnt part of her living body.


    The dwarf had somehow exempted the cor, her nails, and teeth. She realized thest when she gargled and felt the inside of her mouth simrly sizzled clean.


    Kit continued to remove any impurities that she added to the water as she did so.


    <em>That would have been embarrassing, losing all my teeth.</em>


    <em>-We have inscriptions to regrow them at need.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, but Ive never had to use them. Imagine exining to Holly that the first time I lost my teeth was in a bath.</em>


    t chuckled. <em>-That would be pretty funny.-</em>


    The elk-leathers, retracted into a choker around her neck, drew heavily from her gate to remain in pristine condition.


    That draw actually helped lessen the strain caused by power gushing through her.


    She briefly mirrored the elk-leathers self-cleaning onto her body, freeing herself of thest vestiges of grime, those that had tried to hide away.


    <em>That wouldnt be a problem if my bath were as big as a pond.</em>


    <em>-Do you want to request a hot-spring in your sanctum?-</em>


    <em>No</em> She sort of did, but it seemed utterly ridiculous to ask for. Especially after the fact.


    She ced that aside and simply luxuriated for another moment, letting her being settle. It had been a horriblethree weeks?


    -<em>Yes. We kept that infernal contraption on us for three weeks. By the end, the gains were next to meaningless.-</em>


    <em>But not fully.</em>


    t groused. <em>-No, not fully useless. Even so, we were getting a bitfrayed there, at the end.-</em>


    <em>Yeah. I did let it go on a little too long, didnt I.</em>


    The nature of the process meant that her gate wasnt harmed, not really, but it was sore and hosting a greater-than-ever, unguided flow of power.


    She sighed, closing her eyes so that she could focus on her mage-sight.


    Her power, her aura, was filling the room.


    Her natural restraint, hard won and long practiced, was barely enough to keep it that contained.


    <em>Any idea how much we increased our flowrate?</em>


    <em>-Estimate?-</em>


    <em>Sure.</em>


    <em>-Nearly three and a half times.-</em>


    T sucked in a breath and got water with the air. She started hacking, coughing the water free once more. What?


    -<em>You heard me. Weve more than tripled our flowrate. Why did you think our inscriptions were straining under the influx?-</em>


    T grunted, focused on her power, and <em>pulled.</em>


    Slowly, over the course of about five minutes, she drew it back to be even with her skin.


    She grit her teeth and held it there. <em>I can do this.</em>


    She held it for nearly a minute before her internal grip slipped and her power blossomed outward once again.


    The window flexed under the change in magical pressure.


    <em>Hey, Im affecting the zeme in the room. I never really thought my power would be sufficient to affect the weather, let alone the currents of magic, itself.</em>


    <em>-T, were in your sanctum. Literally all the power in here is yours, or was yours at some point.-</em>


    <em>spoil sport.</em>


    <em>-But all of this is beside the point. We couldnt keep our power in check and that doesnt bode well. Theres no way were holding it in consistently in less than three hours.-</em>


    T sighed. She knew that to be true. <em>Good thing we have a solution, as much as I dont want to use it as a crutch.</em>


    She let her mind be diverted for a moment, since she knew how she would proceed.


    Something had caught her mage-sights attention while her aura was fully retracted. It was a lingering feel of magic in the stone of her tub.


    Now, she devoted some attention to examining it.


    Even though her aura once again suffused the material, she could still see the traces remaining behind.


    <em>Thorns magic?</em> Thats right. Hed have to have heated the water, somehow. Its not like Kit can move heat around.


    Can you move energy around, irrespective of material, Kit?


    Kit did not respond.


    Also, nothing got hotter or colder despite her desires for it to do so, so T assumed that was a No.


    <em>Ill have to ask him how he did that</em> It didnt matter at the moment, however.


    It was near sunset, so sunlight was streaming through her window.


    T decided to dry off in that sun, exiting the tub and walking across the pleasantly cool floor to her wall of a window.


    She slowly turned in the light, drying quickly, likely due to the utterck of hair. Shed held the regrowth scripts back for the time being.


    In her brief times actually looking out the window, she noticed the crags of rock that jutted up from some of the hills that she could see in the near distance.


    <em>Ill need to explore this ce at some point.</em>


    It was an exciting prospect.


    She held out her hand and her hot air incorporator came into it.


    <em>Im d that this is still here.</em>


    She dumped power into it, and the wind hit her like a physical force, actually dimpling her reinforced skin where it was pointed.


    The flow through the device was hard to regte down, but it didnt matter too much.


    Thest of the dampness left her, and Kit took the incorporator back to wherever it had been stored.


    Herst task was to repaint herself with iron. It was her only chance to meet Be-thrics deadline, as much as that grated on her.


    <em>I wont let it be a crutch in the long run. I will get my power and my aura under control once more.</em>


    Less than fifteen minutes after shed entered her room, she walked back out,pletely repainted save the middle of her back, and reclothed in a garment that left that area exposed.


    Flow and her bloodstar sheath were once again on her belt.


    Thorn, will you please help me?


    The dwarf came from the direction of the kitchen, drying his hands on a towel. Certainly.


    He took the brush and finished the application without needing instruction.


    Id wondered how you did the hard-to-reach parts. Now, I know. Heughed. You get help.


    Indeed. Thank you.


    Thest stroke waspleted, and T almost staggered.


    It felt like she was a balloon that someone had started to blow air into. Oh. Oh, wow.


    Thorn frowned. Eskau Tali?


    Ill be fine. Her aura was still widespread, but she was able to retract it with ease, now that itcked the backing of her magic. You mentioned food?


    She had to admit that she was famished. With a thought and a simple application of power, T reshaped her clothing into her normal outfit as Tali.


    Thorn led the way to the dining area where a table was covered in various dishes.


    Oh! Thorn, you sent away for all this? She immediately began to dig in. She found a steady pace between her old way of scarfing and Talis careful, meditative absorption of food and power as one.


    Thorn cleared his throat and scratched the back of his head. Most yeah, but someWell, II cooked some.


    She looked his way. This is like twenty different dishes, Thorn. Which one did you cook?


    I want to see if you can tell. He shrugged. This is a really nice kitchen, and I like to cook.


    She gave him a skeptical look, but decided to give it a try. Well, thank you.


    It is my pleasure to serve.


    Everything was excellent, even though the raspberry tarts were a little less excellent than shed have expected.


    Thorn had, indeed, made those. He admitted with a shrug. The food was grown here, sending it out to be prepared seemedwasteful.


    T nodded slowly. She was used to cooking for herself, but Tali wasnt, at least not since shed been picked as Be-thrics candidate. If you want to learn how to cook, I think thats a fine idea.


    He narrowed his eyes. I know how to cook already.


    She met his gaze and smiled sweetly. If you want to improve your cooking, I think thats a fine idea.


    Thorn rolled his eyes and huffed augh. Fair enough. Ive never tried something like a raspberry tart before. Gallof had me cook for him asionally, and I helped out with meals in the mines before that. I admit my skills could do with a polish.


    If thats what you want. You arent meant to be my cook.


    Im meant to serve, and this ce can do virtually everything except cook.


    T hesitated. That was actually true. Kit had never shown the ability to use one item within itself to act on another. Moving water to drop on crops wasnt the same thing as wielding a knife to cut vegetables. Very well, but again, only if thats what you want, and <em>only</em> if you promise to tell me if you find you dont like doing it.


    Very well.


    Throughout the meal, the magic within her continued to build, so that by the time she was done with her dinner, it had exceeded anything shed experienced before.


    In the past, the build up reached a maximum level, where the scripts in their inefficiency ate up the power as fast as it could be provided.


    The level of that odd bnce was now <em>vastly</em> increased.


    She already had echoes carved into reality around her, and it had been less than an hour since the iron paint had been applied.


    Her self-examinations were interrupted when a cat hopped up onto her dinning table. It walked among the dishes, taking licks of the various remnants.


    Thorns eyes were fixed on the feline as it moved about. Huh.


    T watched it for a long moment as well. Thorn?


    Yes, Tali?


    I dont remember a n for any cats in the sanctum.


    There werent any.


    Then, am I delusional? Because I definitely see a cat, there.


    No. Im seeing it too. It must have snuck in at some point


    Huh.


    Thats what I said.


    T held out her hand, and the cat cautiously approached her. Thats right. Im not going to hurt you.


    When it was just out of reach, the feline stopped and sat down, staring at T withrge, purple eyes.


    You have pretty eyes.


    The cat tilted its head, then turned and bounded off.


    Wait! I didnt mean it! T hesitated. No I did mean that, I just didnt mean to scare you off!


    But the cat was already gone.


    A momentter, Terry popped into existence on the table.


    T sat up in surprise. Terry?


    He leaned forward and squawked, very, very unhappily.


    Right. Youre bored.


    He shook himself.


    No? Not bored?


    He shook himself again. He was then on Ts shoulder in a flicker and headbutted her.


    Oh, you were worried about me.


    He trilled an affirmative.


    Thorn cleared his throat. Hes been acting different since all the others left.


    T and Terry turned to regard the dwarf.


    <em>Oh I forgot he was here.</em>


    <em>-You were so focused on the cat, you forgot you had an audience.-</em> t sighed. -<em>Why am I not surprised?-</em>


    <em>You could have reminded me.</em>


    <em>--</em>


    <em>The cat distracted you, too, huh?</em>


    <em>-It was a pretty cat.-</em>


    T grinned. Yeah, hes a special bird.


    Does Pir Be-thric know hes a teleporting terror bird?


    T froze. No?


    Thorn tilted his head to one side. I figured. I havent said anything to him. Now, is this a surprise or a secret?


    She swallowed, somehow feeling that the answer was important. Secret?


    The dwarf shook his head with a chuckle as he walked around and hopped up on a chair opposite her. It seemed to have been built with his stature in mind. I figured that, too.


    Oh? T had a bad feeling about this. What do you mean?


    Pirs can be hard masters to serve. We need to have something of our own to keep our sanity. If we give them everything, they take even more.


    She frowned. <em>Thats not where I thought this was going.</em> You sound like you speak from experience.


    I do, yeah. He sighed. Thank you for trusting me with the truth. I suppose I can do the same.


    T leaned forward, interested in what he had to say.


    I wasnt born with the name Thorn. Gallof renamed me to have a moniker more suited to an Eskau. Thorn snorted augh. Not that it mattered in the end.


    She found herself nodding. Thats what PaunEskau Paun was talking about. Your name iswas Thron?


    Ah, so you were listening to that. He nodded. He is a scary man, that Eskau. But yes, Thron is the name my mother gave me.


    Are you angry that they changed it?


    He shrugged. A bit sad, but not angry. Gallof pulled me from the mines where I was little more than a ve. If hed been raised to Pir, Id happily have served the House of Blood every day of my life. Now? He shrugged again. Now, I owe my life to you and to a lesser extent Pir Be-thric. Ill not betray or harm Gallof, and Ill always be grateful to the House of Blood, but beyond that, Im here to serve you.


    That settled like a weight in Ts stomach, more than she was ready or willing to bear at the moment. Thats kind of you, Thron


    We should stick to using Thorn, Tali. It would be odd if we used a name not in the House records.


    <em>Hahlittle do you know</em>


    <em>-Focus, T.-</em>


    Thorn, then. Thank you. It felt like ackluster response, but it was all she could think to say.


    Terryhad gotten bored.


    He flickered to Throns head, grabbing onto the dwarfs silver hair with his talons.


    Thron red up at the bird. Im not ying this game again, Terry.


    Terry sulked a bit, then flickered away, curling up on Ts shoulder.


    The little terror seems to enjoy getting me to hit myself in the head. Only actually happened once, when I didnt know he could teleport, but he keeps trying.


    T looked at Terry and sighed. Yeah, that sounds like him.


    The dwarf shook his head. Now, we should focus on getting you ready for your meeting. Hows your magic feel?


    T reluctantly looked downward at the magical manifestations around her.


    They were somehow tighter, closer to her skin, and more precise. Each lines glow not encroaching on those around it, nor casting light on Ts surroundings.


    They were more detailed than ever, looking like nothing so much her own skin, madepletely of light and formed perfectly to her. It was close enough to her contours that it was actually inside her elk-leathers, rather than being projected outside the garment.


    <em>Huh, maybe the candidate I targeted thought he saw a mirror to his own power in me. Maybe thats why he wasnt a jerk?</em>


    <em>-Yup. That makes sense.-</em>


    T ignored the edges of sarcasm in the artificial interfaces tone, returning to Throns question. Its a lot.


    I can imagine. Dont forget to feed your sanctum. That should help.


    T had, in fact, forgotten. With relief, she grabbedrge currents of her power and directed them around her iron defense and out into Kit.


    The pressure lessened just a bit, but not down to anywhere near the levels she was used to.


    What now?


    Now? We do what we can to get you ready. Your Pir asked me to ensure that you werebat ready, but not hostile in appearance.


    T looked down at her hands, d in what appeared to be gloves of manifest power. How in zeme are we supposed to do that?


    Thron pulled out a small box. With a gift from your master. He hesitated, then shook his head. Apologies, Pir Be-thric asked that I not refer to him in that way. This is a gift from your Pir.


    There was far more to unpack in that bit of speech than T had a mind for at the moment, so she simply took the small box. It opened on delicate hinges revealing a familiar little shape, along with a simple note on how to use the item.


    Thron continued. It is apparently another prize imed by our Pir in his forays around the wild humans to the north. Hes been keeping it in a high magic environment to maintain its magics, or so he said.


    T knew exactly what it was, and how to use it, but she still made a show of reading the note before cing her through-spike back at the base of her neck.


    After she had pushed it into ce, she mirrored the elk-leathers self-cleaning onto the small circle of iron paint that the through-spike had isted.


    T then pulled away the through-spike, blew through the hole to clear it of the iron paint, and reced it in the proper location, using a mirrored perspective through her bloodstar to put it back precisely in the small hole cleared of paint.


    That done, the illusion settled into ce around her.


    Thron grinned. Well, now. That is exactly what you needed!


    <em>Suspiciously so, wouldnt you say?</em> But she didnt say that. As much as she thought of Thron in a positive light as a new acquaintance, she did <em>not</em> need him bing suspicious of her for any reason. His derations of loyalty might be meaningful, but only time would tell.


    So, instead of saying anything that she wished to say, T simply smiled and nodded. Yes, this is exactly what I needed to best serve the House of Blood.

 Chapter 219: Knowing Her Role

    Chapter 219: Knowing Her Role


    T and Thron talked for a little while about small things. But soon, it was just about time for T to leave so that she could attend Be-thric at the meeting.


    As she stood to go, she noticed that, through her mage-sight, Thron was looking a bitweak.


    Thorn, why are you running low on magic?


    He gave her an odd look. Where would I be getting magic, in here?


    T looked around and realized that Kit was, indeed, devouring all the magic that she output, sequestering it away in a new, seemingly limitless, reserve.


    I need to spend some time in the main hold, while you are out. He didnt say that he had been virtually trapped in here with her for thest few weeks. He was due for a break, even if only to recharge.


    T nodded, then smiled as an idea came to her. Let me see.


    She held out her hand, and an orb appeared within it, screaming. AAAAAAAAAAoh. Hello. Will you break me, now?


    Both T and Thron had flinched back, away from the scream, even though it died off quickly.


    Terry hadnt moved.


    T cleared her throat, ignoring the edge of happiness that the sphere projected at the idea of being broken. Why, if I may ask, were you screaming?


    She somehow felt the orb direct its attention towards Terry. I was buried alive.


    But you arent alive. <em>Youre a trapped human soul, and I wish I could free you, but I cant.</em>


    Well, Im certainly still here. Unless will you break me?


    No. I need you. <em>I can deal with the horror of using a trapped human soulter Things arent ideal, and I have to work with what I have.</em>


    Thatsjustwonderful


    Throns eyes widened, seemingly understanding Ts idea. Oh, no. No. I cant use the power.


    T grinned, tossing the sphere to the dwarf. Take Rob, get a magic purification item, or find another means of using the power thates from him.


    Rob? The dwarf had caught Rob easily and was now examining it.


    She shrugged. Hes an orb; Rob is a nice anagram that makes sense to me. Rob, do you have a name?


    Some insufferable creature has named me Rob, and Ive no other name.


    There; you see? T ignored the grumpy false personality.


    Thron sighed. Ill see what I can do.


    Good. T called up the door out, and they exited.


    Terry rode on Ts shoulder and Thron carried Rob.


    They stepped out into the side courtyard, now empty of workers.


    The world beyond is but another world of limited capacity. They both ignored Rob.


    Absently, T reached back and grabbed the doorframe. Just before she pulled, she thought she saw a cat sitting on the table, watching them leave.


    She was already pulling it off the wall, however, so the view through vanished. With a shake of her head, she hung Kit on her belt.


    Thron gaped at her.


    She froze. Ohwow. I I didnt even think before doing that. I wanted to bring my sanctum with me, and I acted without considering.


    He closed his mouth. Thatsthat will be insanely useful. You can keep the whole thing with you at all times?


    So it seems.


    <em>-Smooth, T. Really keeping the suspicion to a minimum.-</em>


    <em>Hush, you.</em>


    They found Be-thric nearby, seeming just having finished his dinner, if the servants carrying empty dishware away from his table were any indication.


    His eyes immediately snapped to Ts hip and the pouch there. Interesting. It retained the ability to take that form?


    T nodded her head in acknowledgement. It just felt right, and when I grabbed the doorframe She shrugged.


    That is a wonderful ability. I am d it will be easy to keep with you.


    Thank you, Pir.


    Thron bowed. My Pir, Eskau Tali has granted me use of this fount. Would you authorize the acquisition of a means of purification, so that I can utilize the power source within?


    Be-thric considered for a long moment. Yes, I think that would be a wise use of the thing.


    Im right here. Either talk to me or break me and set me free.


    T suppressed the unhappy feeling in her chest at the orbs words.


    The Pir shook his head and continued to address Thron. Find a way to muzzle it, too. It should have sufficient power to keep you in reasonable shape, even in sparsnds, yes?


    Yes, Pir Be-thric.


    Good, then be gone. See that it is done.


    The dwarf bowed to the Pir, then to T. As he turned to depart, T had a thought.


    Thorn?


    He stopped. Yes, Eskau?


    Try to find the creators of that sphere. If you can, you might be able to make use of it more efficiently, as they will know the design intimately.


    Be-thric gave her an acknowledging nod. That is an excellent suggestion, my Eskau.


    Thron bowed again. As you suggest.


    Without another word, he departed.


    I am d that my little gift has worked so well for you. The defenseless human look suits you.


    <em>I have no idea how I should take that </em>T looked down at her hands and nodded. It will make me less conspicuous, thank you.


    Of course. We cant have you scaring away your targets before they are in, now can we? He smiled menacingly.


    No, Pir.


    Here. This is for you. Be-thric tossed her a pouch.


    She caught it.


    We really need to work on your lethality in general. Those should help.


    T hefted the bag, examining it on her palm. It was incredibly heavy for its size. There was a subtle powering from the contents within.


    Well? Dont just stare at the outside. Open the bag.


    T opened it and found it filled with one-inch spheres. By their coloring and weight, she would guess that they were tungsten. Pir?


    They are impressed with a very simple working. They use practically no power at all. They do one simple thing: They magically mark every particle of a given sphere with a number impressed into the magic around them, unique from the others.


    Her eyes widened. That means


    Precisely. You can simply target the material with that signature, and even if one of the spheres is massively deformed, or even split, your working will not fail. Begin untargeted ramp up on as many of those as you reasonably can.


    She did so, only trusting herself to implement the working on four. <em>That isgenius.</em>


    <em>-It really is a prefectpliment to how we use our power.-</em>


    Being able to ramp up four was an improvement, and she suspected she could have done more, but her control was the thing in question now, not her power. The esction begun, she asked, What is the nature of the meeting?


    We are going to convince a candidate Eskau to defect from another House. After our attack on the first, he wonte unguarded, and when he agrees, we will need to dy his guards and prevent them from killing him.


    <em>And if he refuses, we will need to kill them all, quickly.</em>


    As they began walking, Be-thric continued. I selected this candidate because our information indicates that he is unhappy with his master. He is also not favored to win in any potential session. We offer a reasonably high-level position, protection, and luxury, and I am confident he will join us.


    As they reached the gate, he nced down at her hand and hissed in irritation.


    They should have switched you out to a gold key-ring already. Well sort that out when we return. Its a disgrace.


    T just nodded. As you wish.


    He then looked to Terry, still on her shoulder. I am d that youve taken to your pet so well, but he should await you in your sanctum.


    T nced at Terry, then held Kit open. In, Terry.


    Terry trilled, a slightly grumpy note to his call before he hopped off her shoulder and straight into Kit.


    T closed the pouch behind him.


    Be-thric nodded, smiling once more. His training seems to being along very well. It is gratifying to see your sess in the taming of one lesser than you.


    Thank you, Pir.


    Their meeting was a little way into the city, and they set out through the streets without dy.


    T held the four balls in her hands as they walked, two in each hand, continuing to pump power into them. She could tell that thepounding factor was greater than it had ever been.


    <em>-And with the untargeted ramp up? Almost any fight you can prep for is going to be a lot easier.-</em>


    <em>Thats the truth.</em>


    <em>-Assuming we remember to prep.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, yeah.</em> She did not dwell on her failure to do just that before thest encounter with an Eskau candidate.


    That was then, this was now, and T would be ready for whatever this encounter brought.


    As it turned out, the meeting was near the edge of arge park.


    There were two stone benches, facing each other across a ten-foot-wide path. A young man sat on the far bench, nked by eight armed and armored warriors.


    The candidate Eskau was a species that neither T, nor Tali, had ever seen in person. He had no hair on his head, slick, almost rubbery skin,rge eyes with exaggeratedly expanded pupils, and webbing between his fingers.


    He didnt <em>seem</em> like a beast-folk, but he could just be of an animal that T was unaware of.


    The guards with him were a mix of various blue hue-folk and aquatic beast-folk. There was even one shark-man, who was terrifyingly gigantic, standing at least ten feet tall and looming over the rest of them from behind the group.


    T made a call, then, and began a fifth ramp up within the bench beneath the candidate Eskau, making sure to reach through the ground and the dimensions of magic to get a firm lock, despite the auras of authority nketing the area around the item in question.


    <em>-Oh, thats clever, I like it.</em>-


    Her bloodstars were already in theirbat configuration, two orbiting her head, her bar behind her neck with a third bloodstar locked into position above it, the sphere before her sternum, and her discs in staggered orbit around her. She called out a fourth bloodstar drop and raised it higher and higher, slowly gaining a better vantage. <em>And a potential anchor.</em>


    <em>-Well nned, T.-</em>


    <em>Thank you.</em>


    Be-thric spoke first, even as the candidate rose to his feet. Candidate Cuan, I am grateful that you were willing to meet with me.


    The candidate gave a slight bow. Pir Be-thric, there is no animosity between the House of the Turbulent Ocean and the House of Blood. Why would I refuse?


    Be-thric smiled as they both sat, T taking up a position behind and to Be-thrics left. Your guards presence says you are worried.


    Cuan didnt dispute the statement. You are a new Pir, assembling your armaments. Every candidate in the region would be wise to step lightly.


    Be-thric nodded his acknowledgement.


    Cuan turned his oddly dted eyes towards T. I have not had the pleasure of formally meeting your Eskau. She is human, yes? And she wears an illusion of surpassing quality.


    T nced toward Be-thric as she knew Tali would have, and he gave her a nod of approval.


    Be-thrics written instructions, which came with the through-spike, had hinted at how she might turn off the illusion. She, of course, already knew how, but that inclusion gave her a reason for <em>Tali</em> to be able to do it.


    She grinned at the candidate sitting across from them. I am Eskau Tali.


    She nodded slightly in a sign of acknowledgement, and Cuan returned the gesture.


    As to my illusion? Her grin widened maliciously. I dont wish to scare the populous.


    With a flex of magic, nearly identical to how she controlled her elk-leathers, she disabled the illusion.


    Every one of Cuans guards instantly drew their weapons, but Cuan held up a hand, leaning forward. Remarkable.


    T shrugged, pulling on Talis memories for the best responses. An Eskau is merely a reflection.


    Cuan had grimaced at her words, just slightly, and nodded beforepleting the saying, A Pir is the mirror.


    T had no idea what the saying was meant to convey, and Tali hadnt either, amusingly enough.


    She released the working, and her illusion returned her to a normal appearance, a human appearance.


    The guards reluctantly resheathed their weaponry.


    Be-thric cleared his throat. Now that the important parties are thoroughly introduced and greetings have been exchanged?


    Cuan nodded. We can discuss business. What do you want of my master?


    Be-thric shook his head. No, no. That is not the way we should handle this at all. First, I will tell you what we are offering.


    That caught the candidate off guard, and he straightened, clearly intrigued. Go on.


    T scanned the guards. None were of a higher race. They were low level enforcers, likely intended to keep lesser threats away from the candidate Eskau while Cuan dealt with other heavy hitters. <em>That makes sense.</em>


    We offer wealth, protection, advancement, and an honorary ce in the House of Blood.


    Cuan frowned. You wish to unite our Houses, somehow? My master is not yet a Pir, and even if he were, a title in another House would not behe shook his headYou know all of this. What are you ying at? What do you want of my master?


    Be-thric grinned. That is where there has been amisunderstanding. We dont want anything of your master. We wish you to leave your House and join ours, bringing your protian weapon with you.


    The guards behind Cuan froze, processing what Be-thric had just said, their eyes widening in shock.


    Be-thric grinned. Choose quickly, or I fear your guards might try to choose for you.


    T could practically see the calctions running through the candidates head. Then, a small smile pulled at his lips, fully revealing his pointed teeth for the first time, and he spoke quickly, Advancement to Honored, and a hold of my own in another city.


    Done. Be-thric pped his hands.


    The sound seemed to break the general tension of the situation as everyone began moving at once.


    The guards reached for and began to draw their weapons.


    Cuan started to stand, moving away from the guards behind him.


    Be-thric lowered his hands to hisp.


    T targeted the fifth ramp up, the one she had been building in the bench beneath Cuan, at her bloodstar, some dozen feet overhead.


    The b which was the top of the stone bench ripped itself free, picking up the startled candidate and flinging him upward and towards Be-thric and T.


    T immediately broke the working, and the bench dropped, mming into and skidding across the ground.


    Cuan had enough presence of mind, to tuck his legs against his chest as he and the benchnded heavily.


    Be-thric had to lift his feet to avoid the stone hitting him.


    The Pir gave her an amused look, even as he rocked forward, cing his feet down and standing on the now stationary benchtop.


    The guards had once again frozen in surprise.


    T stepped forward, knowing her role.


    There were eight guards, and she had four stones. She knew which for shed kill with the stones, shed even likely get a double-kill with one stone, as the guards were nicely lined up at the moment. Even so, she had one thing to try first.


    Guards of the House of the Turbulent Ocean, you have a choice: Return to your House and report thewful defection of your candidate Eskau or die here at my hand.


    The guards looked at one another, her appearance under the illusion was clearly still in their minds. <em>Well, and the fact that I just ripped a few hundred pound stone from the ground with seemingly no effort.</em>


    <em>-They have no way of knowing if that was you or Be-thric, though.-</em>


    <em>Thats fair.</em>


    Behind T, she heard, and saw thanks to her mirrored perceptions, Cuan hand Be-thric a glove which radiated the power and magic of a protian weapon. Then, the two simply began walking back towards the House of Bloods hold.


    One of the guards called out, Hey! You cant just leave.


    Cuan didnt look back, but T heard Be-thric reassure him that his Eskau had things handled.


    She sighed. Alright, make your choice. I dont wish to stand here all day.


    The apparent leader barked an order. Our charge is being taken by another House, defend! C group, breakaway and report.


    T shrugged. As you wish.


    Even as two of the guards turned to sprint away, T directed her workings to their targets, and the balls were ripped from her hands.


    The air <em>snapped</em> as the projectiles easily broke the sound barrier in the first foot of travel. Shed ramped them up <em>incredibly</em> high.


    Six of the guards dropped in various states of death, including one of those who had turned to run.


    One of the tungsten balls had been deflected enough off the spine of the shark-man that it had killed one of those T hadnt ounted for.


    Huh. She immediately began ramping up untargeted gravity on four more balls, just in case.


    <em>-That was a bit sloppy.-</em>


    Two heads had simply burst apart, one more had clean holes punched through, and the final three had lethal wounds through various parts of their chests.


    <em>Im d that vital organs are in generally the same ces.</em> To be safe, shed hit the least human targets in the head. <em>Brain obliteration is a fairly reliable kill.</em>


    T began walking forward, even as thest runner turned back in horror, having only taken a couple of steps before his friends fell. The shark-man made a particrly resonant thump as he hit the ground


    Thest man still standing to face her had skin of alternating orange and white, a more bulbous head, and several other clearly aquatic oriented features. <em>Some sort of fish-man?</em>


    His sword trembled in his hand, but even so, he stepped to his left, putting himself between the runner and her.


    <em>That was brave, a little stupid, but still brave.</em>


    Shoo. T waved for them to go. I had no ill will, here. I offered to let you go, so go.


    The runner took off, and when she made no hostile move, the final guard turned and followed as quickly as he was able, only asionally looking back her way.


    T dropped Kit on the ground, and it opened in the form of a simple square hole.


    With rtive ease, she dumped each of the bodies through that hole. That done, she reced the pouch on her belt.


    There was some blood on the ground and the bench was wildly out of ce, but otherwise, things looked as they had before.


    With a sigh, T bent and righted the stone blocks that had supported the benchtop.


    Then, with a surprising strain, she was able to lift the b and carry it back, returning it to its proper ce.


    There. T dusted her hands off on each other and turned, walking quickly, but not rushing, to catch up with Be-thric and Caun.


    <em>Two armor pieces down. Only seven more to go.</em>

 Chapter 220: One Simple Question

    Chapter 220: One Simple Question


    T stood to one side as Sanguis, Be-thric, and Cuan talked.


    The two pirs were acting surprisingly cordial with the former candidate Eskau. Theyd even ordered ate morning spread of food to be brought to share.


    Paun had briefly walked by and told her they needed to talk soon, but he was off to fulfill some city-mandated duty.


    <em>I suppose I will probably have those too, soon.</em>


    <em>-It would have been nice of Be-thric to tell Tali what those might be-</em>


    <em>Thats the truth.</em>


    She did not participate in the discussion between the three, though it was happening close by.


    She wasnt excluded from the conversation, in fact theyd asked her to join, but shed requested to be allowed to stand watch off to one side.


    <em>Its what Tali would have done.</em> And she didnt want to be closer to the Pirs than she had to be.


    -<em>Yeah fewer chances for you to have violent thoughts about the man who kidnapped you. The one who wiped your mind and forced you to-</em>


    <em>Not helping, t.</em>


    -<em>Fine, fine. Ill leave you to it.-</em>


    Her request made Sanguisugh. Paun would have requested the same thing if he hadnt had the excuse of an assignment. The man hates politicking.


    And so she was allowed to abstain from the final negotiations.


    It really was odd, Sanguis and Be-thric were treating Cuan as if he still had the protian weapon to give, even though it never left Be-thrics hand.


    <em>They could just kick him to the curb, right? They have what they want.</em>


    <em>-Ahh, but then who would deal with them in the future? An enemy who can be trusted may one day be an ally, but an ally known for deceit and dishonor is destined to be an enemy.-</em>


    <em>You pulled that from Tali.</em>


    <em>-Of course. Be-thric tried to instill all his basic beliefs into her, so she is a perfect resource for understanding his actions.-</em>


    <em>I suppose.</em> Even so, she had no real interest in listening to the conversation so near at hand. Instead, her focus was on her own power and aura.


    The magic within her was continuing to build, somehow.


    Her power was, quite literally, ripping her apart.


    That same magic was also fueling her healing scripts, so she wasing back together just as quickly, but it was still agonizing.


    Shed experienced some of that when the gate-breaking device was first removed, but this was <em>so</em> much worse. It also seemed unending as her power density continued to climb.


    -<em>Thron did say your density would rise as a result of the gate-breaking.-</em>


    <em>Rust that dwarf. This hurts.</em>


    <em>-But it is doing what he said it would, and we agreed. He did literally nothing wrong.-</em>


    <em>Fine</em>


    She needed to be reinscribed soon. The strain put on her scripts by the extra power was monumental.


    <em>I need to find a way of mitigating that, too.</em>


    Eventually, the three finished their discussions, each looking rather pleased in the end.


    It waswful for a candidate to change houses, and the proper procedures would be followed. The House of the Tormented Ocean would be angry, they might even demandpensation, but it would be minorpared to the value of a protian weapon.


    If they tried to demand that back, or something of truly equal value, it would start an inter-house war. They all knew that theyd have done the same if they could. They probably had in other cities when their own Pirs were raised up.


    It was just the way things were.


    A nod from Be-thric was all that T needed to consider herself dismissed, and she quickly departed.


    She wove through the hold, not going anywhere in particr, just letting her feet guide her. She was focused inward still. Finally, she found herself in a garden that she didnt really recognize.


    <em>Good enough.</em> It had been requested that she only ce her sanctum entrance in one of the gardens, rather than a hallway or random room.


    She looked around, and saw an out of the way wall, tucked just behind some ornamental trees. There was still a path back there, but it was out of the way.


    <em>There. I shouldnt be obtrusive, here.</em>


    Once there, she tossed Kit against the out-of-the-way wall. As shed expected, it became a door that seemed to have always been there, blending with the wall and the aesthetic of the ce.


    Satisfied, she strode through the door, and it swung shut behind her.


    <em>-What was all that for?-</em>


    <em>All what?</em>


    <em>-You just made the entrance to Kit really hard to find.-</em>


    <em>Did I? Im not really paying attention.</em>


    t sighed. <em>-Fine, fine. Lets get this sorted.-</em>


    Her desire had caused the door to open onto her tform, and the entrance vanished as soon as it closed, the internal end returning to the bunker of an entrance building a short way away.


    She stripped, shed her iron paint with a quick aspect-mirror, and the kes of iron paint vanished before they could hit the ground.


    Now free of restriction, her aura sted outward into the sanctum around her, followed closely by a torrent of her power.


    The manifestations of magic around her faded quickly, and she let out a gasp of relief as her power density dropped, she stopped destroying herself with her own overcharged magics, and her body equalized back into perfect health.


    She shuddered onest time, having almost gotten used to the odd sensations that were now gone.


    As soon as her power filled her aura and began extending beyond, Kit sucked it out of the air.


    <em>I need to fill Kit anyways.</em>


    <em>-Oh, undoubtedly. This is the perfect ce to practice.-</em>


    <em>But first, I need to be reinscribed and reinforce them.</em>


    <em>-Wise.-</em>


    <em>What specificmand would be best?</em> She thought back to the small booklet that shed read, while trying to distract herself, early in the gate-breaking process.


    <em>-I think: Rebuild my Inscriptions would be best, so long as you focus on their ability to handle high throughput when you give themand.-</em>


    Rebuild my Inscriptions.


    From countless holes around the tform, metal streamed out in fine threads.


    T quickly retracted magic from her defenses and stood ready.


    An agonizing minuteter, she was gasping with remembered pain, sheathed in blood, and trembling.


    Her inscriptions were refreshed and reinforced.


    Handling greater throughput simply meant that more metal had been used, strategically, at junction points and divergences.


    The scripts and their purposes hadnt changed one iota.


    This wonder of magical artifice could not create anything new, or alter what she had, not substantively. It could only recreate what she knew had been there and tweak some basic things.


    <em>-Very good. Its not aplete solution, but it will help.-</em>


    With a quick aspect mirror of the elk-leathers magic onto her skin, she shimmied slightly, and a cascade of blood fell freewhere it was instantly absorbed by Kit.


    <em>Well that was expected but still quite disturbing.</em>


    <em>-What did you want to happen?-</em>


    <em>I honestly didnt think about it beforehand.</em>


    Before she could think too deeply on the idea of Kit whisking away her blood to who in zeme knew where, she decided it was time to practice.


    So, she reformed her clothing, sat upon her throne, and strove to master her power and her aura once more.


    It was nearly six hours before T felt the entrance to her sanctum open, and shortly after, Thron came out of the defensive structure it now naturally rested in. He looked quite irritated.


    Here you are!


    Of course, Im here. Where else would I be?


    He shook his head, waving her off. I knew you were in your sanctum, Tali. Why did you hide the entrance?


    She opened her mouth to deny the usation, then paused, remembering t asking the very same thing. Oops?


    He growled. Ive been looking for you for hours.


    I apologize. She stood and gave a slight bow. I didnt consider that when I ced the door.


    You didnt consider He ced his face in his hands and rubbed furiously for a moment. Tali, it was in a random garden that no one had ever seen you visit before, tucked behind some trees, and blending in perfectly with the surroundings. I only happened on it by chance when I was seeking out a master caretaker to pull ns for the whole hold, so we could find the extra door!


    T nched, grimacing in sympathy. I apologize, Thorn. It was done thoughtlessly. I had no intention of making things difficult for you.


    He grimaced slightly, then shook his head. Its fine, I suppose. Just irritating. I certainly know the main hold a lot better than I have any rights to, now.


    Sheughed at that, then frowned again. T did genuinely feel bad. I really am sorry.


    He waved her off. No matter. Please do try not to do it again?


    Could we find some way of letting you find my sanctum at need?


    Thron paused at that. Thats actually an excellent idea. Ill see what I can figure out. In the meantime, Ill go get some food heading our way, now that I know where you are. We missed lunch and dinner should have been eaten nearly an hour ago.


    She sighed, nodding. That sounds wonderful. I am pretty hungry.


    Thron nodded and turned.


    Here, let me. With a thought, the exit appeared right next to Thron.


    Thank you. Could you move it to the dining room, after I leave?


    Consider it done.


    The dwarf departed, and T did as hed asked, then scratched the back of her head. <em>Oops.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, that was pretty inconsiderate of us. I did try to warn you. Though, to be fair, I didnt consider Thron finding us as a problem.-</em>


    <em>Yeah. Im just not used to Kit being public knowledge. I think I just naturally found an out of the way ce without considering it beyond that.</em>


    T looked around herself, at her aura and power kept within arms reach.


    This, she could maintain.


    She was slowly pulling it in, holding it as tightly as she could sustain., and any closer would cause the strain to quickly overwhelmed her.


    It was progress.


    <em>I wont make a whole room of mundanes ufortable anymore.</em>


    <em>-Youd knock them out, T.-</em>


    <em>No, I dont think its that bad.</em>


    <em>-I suppose I dont have hard numbers on what would happen. You might be right, but lets not test it.-</em>


    <em>Fair enough.</em>


    She hopped off the north side of the tform and entered therge archway into themon area of her home.


    To the right and left of that entrance, on the outside, were her room and the entrance to the guest wing, respectively.


    Before her, the kitchen and dining space were on her left and the library and other areas to the right. The door in and out of the sanctum was against the eastern wall of the dining area.


    The north and west walls of the space heldrge windows, giving a pleasant view of the surrounding terrain.


    A small river ran between her and the forest in the near distance. From the throne a couple of dozen feet behind her, the edge of the sanctum was only a bit more than seven thousand feet away.


    <em>Two-and-three-quarters miles across, or a little more.</em> It was massive, but still felt small.


    The false sun, which was moving towards the western horizon, could support and control the weather cycles of a hold up to nearly nine miles across, give or take.


    A part of that control was keeping the air bnced as breathable for the animals that now lived within the sanctum, and such that the nts could grow with ease. The previous iteration of this hold had had some scripts which performed that function, but such a critical thing being left to inscriptions was another sign of the cheapness of its original construction.


    In fact, if she remembered correctly, the bnce of the contained atmosphere was biased a bit towards the nt side of that equation, to help everything get thoroughly established.


    The door opened behind her, as she continued to stare out at hernds, and they were <em>hers</em>.


    She smiled. <em>So long as Kit and I dont get into a spat.</em>


    Servants moved on nearly silent feet behind T, but she knew they were there.


    Not only were her bloodstars in their positions, but she could <em>feel</em> them moving around within Kit.


    If she focused, she could feel the animals, too, but that was harder. Sapient creatures, truly thinking beings, made more of an impression with Kit, and so were easier to focus on.


    She had a thought. <em>Where is that cat?</em>


    She wasnt able to find it quickly, so she gave up, turning to thank the men and women of various races as they departed.


    Thank you for bringing this to me. I regret that you had a farther trip from the central kitchens.


    They stopped as she addressed them, then bowed or curtsied in acknowledgement before departing.


    Thron waited until theyd all exited to enter, and as the door closed behind him, it vanished. He was carrying a keg under one arm, and T thought she saw wisps of power that didnt quite look like magic moving from the keg to Thron.


    He nced back over his shoulder and shook his head. Makes a fellow feel trapped, but I suppose Ill get used to it, eventually.


    T nodded distractedly. The spread of food was evenrger than usual. Whats all this for?


    Two meals?


    Oh! Right I do apologize again.


    Thron waved her away as he tapped arge keg for himself.


    Acid?


    Yes indeed.


    And youre already draining it?


    Of course! Else it would eat through the container.


    A muffled voice drifted out of one of Throns pockets. You could always drop me in. Im sure that would suppress it for a time.


    Thron looked to the ceiling as he took long breath and let it out slowly. Rob. Im not going to destroy you. I just spent a small fortune to make you useful.


    T frowned. A fortune?


    A small one. Not nearly as much as a new fount would have cost.


    Is that why the powering off of him is pure?


    Pure enough to draw in predators, seeking to devour me. I thank you for your gift.


    Thron shook his head, ignoring Rob. Yup. Its a purification cage. His creator, whoever it was, couldnt be found. Rob was probably an experiment the craftsman unloaded for cheap.


    Ahhh, yes. Bethany was a horrible owl.


    Ts eyebrows went up, but before she couldment, Thron shook his head. Hes just making things up, or listing people hes met before. I followed the first two leads. One took me to a grocer who caters to the lowest races, and the other to a grave of someone who died sixty years ago.


    Ahhh, Augustis. You would have made a fine emperor, if only there were an empire for you to rule.


    She gave the dwarf a puzzled look. Did you break him?


    No, hes beenodd all day. Ever since I took him out of the hold for the first time. Remember that?


    Vaguely. He said something about the main hold still being a limited reality.


    Yeah, ever since hes been making asinine observations, as well as requesting self-destruction.


    T shrugged. If he really wanted to end himself, he could.


    Correction, oh false face for a false face. I am but a veneer over that which does not wish to die.


    She stared at Throns pocket mouth open. What did you say?


    Rob didnt respond.


    Thron shook his head again. He called me a barely bearded bumbling buffoon earlier. Hes just trying to find reasons for us to break him, but hes right. He isnt the fount, though he is part of the magics that regte it. His desires to end himself are not at all a reflection on what the fount, within, might want.


    Huh.


    They finally sat then, digging into their food.


    About halfway through the meal for T, and three mugs of somehow-alcoholic-acid for Thron, after his dinner of course, Thron cleared his throat.


    So, weve a lot to work on with your abilities. I have the basic overview, and Ive reviewed it thoroughly, but I have some questions. Paun ising by in a bit as well. Hepleted his obligations, and there are some things he wants to discuss with you.


    T grunted her ascent, and Thron dove into a litany of inquiries about her abilities.


    It actually became rather a pain, as T had to be careful to answer based on Talis memories and knowledge, rather than her own.


    Finally, in the end, he asked one simple question that she had never considered. It was a frustrating reminder of how Be-thric had provided a simr insight, but this was too important to focus on that.


    Alright. So, if you can hold off on selecting a target while you ramp up your power


    Only for a time. Holding a targetless working gets much harder the longer it is held.


    Yes, for a time. If you can do that, can you change the target of the attraction, after it is in ce.


    She opened her mouth, then paused, her eyes widening.


    <em>-Oh. Oh! Oh-</em>


    <em>Yeah That that could change </em>everything.


    Thron grinned. Im really hoping thats a Yes?


    T, without a word, pulled out two of the balls that Be-thric had given her earlier that day.


    She first ramped down their attraction towards the ground until it was effectively zero, then ramped their attraction up towards each other.


    Thron drank his acid and didnt press her for a verbal response. Instead, he watched the two balls sitting on the table, as T went back to eating.


    A few minutester, the two balls were pressed against one another, and T thought that the power of the attraction was sufficient.


    She stood, picking up the balls and walking towards the doorway. Coming, Thorn?


    He hopped out of his chair, hot on her heels. I wouldnt miss it for the world.


    They exited out, back near the central raised tform.


    With a thought, T called a stone block into existence from somewhere else in the sanctum.


    With cautious optimism, she held out her hand, palm up, with the tungsten spheres resting there. She then pulled her hand away, and they remained, floating in ce.


    They would begin drifting downward soon enough, but it wasnt noticeable yet.


    She reached out mentally and seized the magic with her will.


    She could <em>feel</em> the target each ball had for the other, the attraction, the <em>pull</em>.


    She didnt fight against the strength of it. She didnt reduce it, and she certainly didnt increase it.


    Instead, she grabbed the directing end of each and <em>pushed</em>. She imagined dislodging the targeting.


    Instantly, she felt like she had a viper in her hands. Two, in fact.


    The targeting was untethered, and trying totch onto <em>anything</em> around them.


    T grit her teeth and <em>forced</em> the targeting onto the stone before her. One connected as she wanted, the other slipped free of her mental fingers at thest instant and grabbed onto something closer.


    With a double <em>crack</em> through the air, the stone block exploded, destroying the target of that lock, and breaking the working.


    The second sphere hit its goal much faster. It seemed that she was envisioning her control too much as a hand, and the targeting aspects locked onto that. T screamed as the tungsten sted through her own right hand.


    Punching through her under powered elk-leather defenses, her enhances skin and bone, and back out the other side through another set of each.


    The ball then mmed into the ground below and behind her, but not hard enough to crack the stone, there. It was still elerating towards her hand, damaged or not.


    It had left a ragged hole through her palm which was already beginning to close as T dropped to her knees, seizing the workingid on the tungsten sphere with her aura and treated it like a hostile Mages spell. She crushed the power within the tungsten, suppressing the magical marking, and causing the working to lose its hold.


    The slightly misshapen orb of metal dropped to the floor with a <em>ping.</em>


    Thron had jumped back, and while stone fragments had gone in every direction, those that hade their way had simply vanished under the influence of a working that Thron wrought between them and the previously stationary stone block.


    <em>OwThat really, really hurt.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, that really did.-</em>


    Thron looked her up and down as she knelt there, staring at her newly repaired hand. Are you alright?


    Ow.


    Did I see one punch through your hand?


    You did.


    What happened?


    Target lock slipped.


    He grunted. Could have been worse.


    She grunted in return.


    They stared at the slowly settling cloud of dust until Kit seemingly sucked it all up, leaving the courtyard and daispletely clean once more.


    Target switching was dangerous.


    It could easily get someone killed or something destroyed unintetionally if she wasnt careful.


    But, most importantly of all?


    It had worked.

 Chapter 221: The House’s Sword

    Chapter 221: The House¡¯s Sword


    T and Thron shared a brief long look, both seemingly considering the implications of T being able to switch targets on her gravity alterations.


    As they stared at where the stone block had been, Rob made a throat clearing sound. I bet that wouldnt harm me. Lets test.


    Thron closed his eyes and shook his head as T held in augh. In both cases, they did their best to ignore the orb.


    <em>And the existential crisis it invokes</em>


    <em>-Strength, T. Well find a way to help all the founts and vestiges, if and when were able.-</em>


    <em>I know, but its stillodd.</em>


    <em>-Oh, I know. Rob is very much like me, in a way. Im d that youre still around, and that Im not alone with just our soul forpany.-</em>


    ThatT hadnt thought of it that way before, but t was right. <em>I wonder if Rob is based on the person whose gate was stolen to make that vestige?</em>


    <em>-We could ask at some point.-</em>


    <em>When the time is right.</em>


    Finally, the dwarf broke the silence between them. How hard is it to maintain the augmentation?


    T frowned. I dont maintain them, if they have a target. So long as the target and the modified object remain as I conceived of them, it shouldst forever.


    Thron blinked at her a few times. Forever.


    It should, yeah.


    He opened his mouth toment, then closed it, frowning. Finally, he shook his head. I dont want to argue with you. Can you do a working, and we test that theory? Youve said youve never tested how long itsted, right?


    She shrugged. No, Ive never specifically tested it, but I havent needed to. Even so, I dont mind verifying what I know.


    She pulled out two more of the new spheres and began ramping up their gravitational attraction towards each other as two separate workings.


    As she was doing that, Terry appeared on her shoulder. There you are. Ive


    A startled cry rose from Throns pocket. It returns! The deep hunger hase for memake it eat me or leave me alone!


    Thron patted his pocket. None of that. You promised me silence. Ive kept my promise. Have you kept yours?


    There was a pregnant pause. Yes?


    No. No you have not.


    Ill do better! I promise. In fact, Ill startnow!


    Silence fell over them.


    Thron grunted. Fair enough.


    T turned to Terry. The bird was eying the dwarfs pocket, but faced her when she began to speak, Well? Where were you?


    He squawked with several descending notes then headbutted her and curled up.


    Hunting?


    He looked at her with one eye, imperiously.


    Hunting. She grinned. d youre having fun, buddy.


    Thron shook his head. You have emotionally bonded with that creature incredibly quickly. Are you sure you dont have any magics towards that end? Some of the descriptions of your abilities were unhelpfully vague. I have a hard time grasping some of it, even after our recent discussion.


    T shrugged. Nope. Nothing to enhance bonding, emotionally or otherwise.


    Terry had closed his eyes, but he let out a derisive trill.


    Thats rude, Terry.


    He cracked an eye open, giving her an incredulous look.


    Fine. I dont actually know what you said.


    He closed his eye once again, and she would have sworn he wore a smug look.


    Thron huffed augh. You are an odd one.he paused for a moment, then shook his headBoth of you are, now that I consider it.


    As Thron opened his mouth to ask something else, T held up her hand. Eskau Paun is here.


    The obsidian skinned man walked out of the entrance bunker a momentter.


    He wore ck leather pants that somehow looked gray against his skin, and the bloodred of his protian gauntlet looked positively ruby at the end of his left arm.


    As if a veil had been pulled back, memories from Tali came together with what T and t knew about conceptual magic and a realization struck her. <em>Darkness. He wields the concept of darkness.</em>


    <em>-OH! That makes so much sense.-</em>


    T! The mans voice boomed out.


    T froze, her heart rate picking up.


    Thron gave her an odd look.


    <em>What do I do, what do I do, what do I do?</em>


    <em>-Do what Tali would do.-</em>


    T cleared her throat and bowed, not having to fake the flush to her face. Its Tali, Eskau Paun.


    The man stopped a few paces from her. Was it? Are you sure?


    That is my name.


    Not Talb, Talia, or T-b?


    She frowned, genuinely confused. Eskau Paun?


    He waved her off. Forgive an old man his jokes.


    <em>Does he want me tough? </em>She chuckled nervously.


    Thron was regarding her with consideration.


    Thron! Good to see you.


    Its Thorn, Eskau Paun. His words were a telling echo of Ts own.


    Paun cocked an eyebrow. Sticking with that disgrace?


    He was my master, and I owe him much.


    Therger man shrugged. Its your choice, I suppose. But it is time for you to leave.


    Eskau?


    I want a private word with the new Eskau.


    Thron bowed. With all due respect. This is Eskau Talis sanctum, and I am her attendant. I will not depart without her leave.


    The man smiled, his perfectly white teeth somehow looking ck for a moment.


    <em>That makes no sense.</em> Her mind was having trouble grasping the weight of his magical concept as conveyed by her mage-sight when oveying her normal vision.


    The two turned to regard T. She swallowed, then shook her head. Thorn has duties, here. We can walk the sanctum, out of earshot, if privacy is a concern. I will not have him dismissed.


    Paun arched an eyebrow. Well, that is a pleasant surprise.


    Thron bowed to T and to Paun. Eskau. I will attend to my duties.


    The dwarf turned and went into themon building to the north of the dais.


    Paun grinned. Id have killed him if he obeyed my order while in your sanctum.


    Ts eyes widened even as he ced a hand to his ear, as if listening for a reaction from the direction that Thron had gone.


    And he doesnt listen in? You lucked into quite a wonderful servant, Eskau.


    T was feeling decidedly off bnce. Um, yes. I believe that I have.


    He nodded once. Now, send away your pet. We need to talk alone.


    T nced toward Terry, only to find the terror bird already rolling backwards off her shoulder. Hended deftly on the ground and sauntered off after Thron.


    Paun didntment on the fact that Terry had clearly understood him. Now, we need to discuss your duties, going forward


    That brought her focus back and gave her something to ground her swirling thoughts on. <em>Yeah I was wondering about those.</em>


    -<em>They are pretty critical, as we are counting on them to safeguard us, if Be-thric ever discovers Talis removal.-</em>


    Oh?


    I have been carrying your share of our duties while your initial upgrades werepleted. I dont know if you remember my checking on you while you were gate-breaking?


    She thought back. Vaguely? I apologize, but nothing outside of myself and what I was going through really seemed important at the time.


    He grunted. Thats fair. You did seem to beotherwise upied. Even so, the city is requiring more of the House of Blood, given we have two Pirs, now. That has prestige and benefits, but alsoes with more responsibilities. I am more than capable of doing the work of two Eskau."


    He grinned, straightening his stance.


    But I wont. There is much that I enjoy doing and the additional tasks areboring.


    <em>Well, thats one way to shift responsibilities back to me. Even so, I dont actually know what Im supposed to be doing</em> She smiled, waiting for him to continue.


    You have no idea what the duties are.


    She hesitated, not wanting to show her ignorance, then shook her head. <em>Tali doesnt know either.</em> Not at all.


    Paun sighed. As I suspected. You were raised in a little vige on the outskirts, and when your Pir brought you here, he was focused on training you to win, not for what came after.


    The obsidian man shook his head.


    I suppose I am to me as well. We never discussed your impending duties when we sparred.


    T hesitantly nodded. I am grateful for the focus on my survival. It seems to have yielded the best result possible.


    Heughed, the sound deep and full, like the rumbling of the earth beneath their feet.


    T waited for him to finish, feeling awkward once again.


    His mirth cut off abruptly. As I was saying, your duties. You should know that an Eskau is the Houses Sword.


    That is my understanding, yes.


    He gave a look that said: Dont interrupt.


    She closed her mouth and looked down at her hands.


    His utterly ck eyes seemed to fade into endless voids, momentarily highlighting just how <em>inhuman</em> he was.


    <em>Hes not just a man with different colored features. He is an arcane, through and through.</em>


    T kept herself from stepping back, but just barely.


    If he noticed, he didntment. He simply continued, As one of the Houses Swords, you must contribute to the city. Those contributions fall into five categories. Now, be aware, this is in addition to the duties you have to the House itself, which you have also been neglecting due to your ignorance.


    He waited for her to silently nod in acknowledgment.


    First, if the city is attacked as a whole, in any manner, we are expected to muster and fight beside the other warriors in defense of the city. This effectively never happens. Magical beasts asionally attack, but for the threat to be great enough to muster the Eskau He shook his head. Eskau of this city have only been called on to fulfill this duty three times during Revered Sanguiss reign as Pir of the House of Blood.


    <em>Three times, in how many thousands of years?</em> So, incredibly rare.


    Precisely. The Eskau nced to her hand. Are you almost done with that? I grow tired of standing in one ce.


    She looked down at the tungsten in her hands. <em>That is probably good, yeah.</em>


    -<em>Ill note the level of amplification forterparison.-</em>


    <em>Thank you, t.</em>


    I am. Yes. She sat the pair on the dais and made sure to hold in her mind that she didnt want them moved. <em>Kit shouldnt interfere. </em>There we go.


    Paun looked around. Show me your sanctum while I instruct you, child. I am always interested in the nuances the builder include for new Eskau, and I want to see what was made of my gift.


    <em>Right, he donated this to Be-thric and me.</em>


    Certainly, and thank you again. T had no interest in arguing with the man. <em>He could just ask Be-thric or Sanguis for the ns anyways.</em>


    He grunted and began walking.


    As T and Paun moved down some of the side paths, by nts that were already growing at a prodigious rate, Paun delved back into the topic at hand. The second duty that we Eskau perform for the city is a moremon one. We are in rotation to officiate high profile duels. Specifically, where thebatants are Elder or above. The City Lord ensures that the Eskau called upon is neutral to the topic under dispute, and then leaves it in their hands.


    That made sense. Eskau were martial in nature, and so using them to oversee duels that could easily get out of hand made a good deal of sense.


    <em>Im not exactly suited to it, though.</em>


    Im not sure how good Id be at that, honestly. Im a fair hand at killing my enemies, but protecting observers or stopping the contestants non-lethally?


    T shook her head.


    <em>-You know, weve had this issue before. We really arent very good at defending others directly.-</em>


    <em>Best defense is a good offense?</em>


    <em>-Only if you can shock and awe every enemy on the field simultaneously.-</em>


    <em>Something to aspire to, I suppose.</em>


    Paun shook his head. No, no. You misunderstand, child.


    Tali. <em>Well, T.</em>


    He snorted. Fine, Tali.


    Thank you.


    He waved her off, continuing as if she hadnt interrupted. The duty is mainly in an officiation capacity. The arenas have magics imbued in them that provide for the defense of the onlookers, and even some means of inhibiting thebatants, but you must be there to activate them at the appropriate times and mediate both before and after. You are the force that enforces the oue, even if those with a stake in it dont like the results. There is still bribery and attempts to influence the oue, but that is to be expected.


    T felt a tickling from the part of her mind which housed Tali.


    Whenever she was interacting with someone familiar with Tali, T kept part of her thoughts looking for what the other her would do.


    Thus, she knew what she needed to say, I can understand that. If the champion of my cause lost, but I thought that I could still kill the opponent and take what I want, I might be tempted.


    Precisely. If it is over the fate of a person or item, the Eskau will hold onto it during the sh. Beyond that, it should be fairly self-exnatory. I will apany you to the first duel that you officiate and exin how to activate the workings, as well as anything else that seems necessary.


    Noted.


    Third. One day per month, you will attend the City Lord as one of his guards. This duty is waved if you are traveling for House business. This duty is a show of force and unity, and your shifts of that work will be more often than standard to start, because you are new Eskau, and the City Lord always wishes to get to know the new Eskau in his city. If your Pir is ever moved to another city, you should expect increased shifts for the same purpose, there.


    T tilted her head. I can see the logic on one side, but wouldnt that be a terrible idea if there was any chance of dissension?


    Paun quirked a dark smile. Oh? Do you believe you could truly threaten a half-Hallowed?


    <em>Half-HallowedThats above Reforged, well on the way from blue to Indigo.</em> Her eyes widened. Then, she shook her head. I hadnt really thought about it, but with Revered Sanguis being a Pir of the House of Blood, the City Lord would have to be stronger.


    The obsidian warrior shrugged. In that regard, it depends on the individual. I once saw an Elder absolutely eviscerate a Revered in a conflict, but generally, youre right. Universally, City Lords are monsters in battle. That is no exaggeration. About a millennia back every major House in a city united and rose up against the local Lord due to somew or other. She wiped them all out. The City Lords are old guard, every one of them. Most apprenticed under Sovereigns before they achieved that rank, some continued to learn from them even after.


    What is it like? What sort of things will be expected of me?


    Paun shrugged. Youll have to learn that for yourself. I am forbidden this duty.


    Ts eyes went wide, and she swallowed involuntarily.


    He grinned. Not every member of the old guard is a City Lord, little Eskau.


    I She swallowed again. <em>What is he?</em>


    <em>-Someone we dont want to crossever.-</em>


    <em>And someone likely to be sent after us, if we simply try to run.</em>


    He regarded her for a long moment. Our association to the same House will not be a shield for you. Dont cross City Lords. I wont interfere.


    Her voice was small as she replied, Noted. <em>And I wont, if I can help it.</em>


    <em>-Worse case? Make them hit you so you travel a </em>long<em> way from the bacsh.-</em>


    <em>Solid n. Lets never use it.</em>


    tughed in her head, and there was only the smallest bit of mania in the mental sound.


    Eskau Paun?


    Tali?


    Why do you serve Sanguis?


    He cocked his head to the side, regarding her. Do you seek to master all you might be able to y in battle?


    No


    Can you urately assess my abilities, and that of Revered Sanguis?


    No.


    Then do not ask foolish questions. He shook his head and continued walking. The fourth duty expected of Eskau within a city is again fulfilled on a rotation, Eskau are sent after suspected dens of magical creatures in the surrounding countryside. The man had a hard look in his eyes.


    <em>Why would...? Oh.</em>


    -<em>Yeah, a magical creature would be using up power that the arcanes want. Magical creatures are the natural means of cleaning up leaks through the barrier between worlds, and so they need to be suppressed, otherwise this will be a non-magical world, given enough time.-</em>


    <em>And if all the gated humans are killed.</em>


    <em>-That too, assuming the founts cant be coaxed intosting forever. We really have no idea if they ever end for any reason except poor management during a gate-breaking attempt.-</em>


    Finally, once again on rotation, we are asked to deal with untamed holds.


    T perked up at that. Untamed holds?


    Yes. When a hold is no longer under the control of free-willed beings of flesh and blood, it must be destroyed or recovered. Such loss of control can happen if the owners are too exuberant in their defensive measures, but those are generally not too difficult to recover, especially because the owners usually have a way of bypassing many of the defenses. Those are boring. He gave her a meaningful look.


    Meaning I will be handling those, if they are assigned to our House.


    Well reasoned. Slightly harder for most Eskau are those that need to be dealt with when a house falls and no one is left who can work around the defenses to enter the hold. Those must be breached in truth. The look on his face spoke of amusement.


    <em>So, he likes that part of the job.</em>


    Wouldnt that be the same as assaulting an enemy hold, but easier, because there wouldnt be defenders?


    He shrugged nomittally. I suppose it can be, but usually, there are stronger countermeasures put in ce for when thest defender falls, or if the hold has to be abandoned for a time. Most want their holds to be held invite until it can be recovered. Those defenses can be undone if a scion of the house returns, but if not? He shrugged. It bes a deathtrap for most.


    I suppose I can see that. And the city doesnt want a deathtrap simply sitting there, taking up space. She felt herself rxing around him once again. The man was an oddbination of geniality and certain death.


    Precisely.


    That doesnt sound <em>too</em> bad.


    <em>-Oh, yes. Its not too bad to wander through a ce designed to kill off hostile arcanes by the hundred. We should be fine.-</em>


    T ignored her.


    Paun shrugged. True enough. It can be fun, but its rarely <em>that</em> difficult. Now, the final kind is where things can get tricky. It is also where the real fun is had.


    Oh?


    Untamed ether holds.


    T frowned. What?


    Come now, Tali. You have to have heard stories, even in an outlying vige.


    T checked Talis memories, and no. There was no mention of Ether Holds. She frowned. <em>Maybe</em> Do you mean false holds?


    Ahh, yes. Thats what they are often called in folktales. The more widely used name for a false hold is an ether hold. What do you know of them?


    She considered. I dont know much, honestly. Ive heard stories about monsters under your bed, make sure your closet door looks right before you open it. That sort of thing.


    Paunughed. Well, thats not <em>wrong,</em> but that doesnt really happen very often, not any more.


    <em>That is in </em>no<em> wayforting. </em>Please exin.


    He nced her way, then huffed augh. Fine. Basically, sometimes <em>something</em> attaches itself to our world from the ether. Some theorize they are ancient holds that were unmoored from reality and have only now found their way back. Others believe that ether holds are creatures in their own right, powerful beings seeking to grow stronger. Some have imed deep knowledge and tried to dub ether holds Daughters of the Consumer. But most consider that ther.


    He bent to examine a nt for a moment before continuing.


    Regardless, ether holds are simply holds that we did not craft appearing in ces we did not ce them. They can be as simple and wonderful as a forest de where a fairy lord will grant you one wish before returning you to our world. In those cases, that hold then vanishes. Such things are so rare as to be widely assumed as a myth.


    Are they, though?


    The very idea is boring. Literal fairytales formoners. An attempt to imagine some good to outweigh the bad that such things normally bring.


    And whats that?


    Horrors. The worst ether holds spill creatures out that snatch the helpless and drag them back to beused. He seemed to be watching her closely. Others are simply evil ces, filled with malicious magic and death.


    So why not get rid of them from the outside?


    That would be ideal for most, though again that is the boring path to take. Blessedly, ether holds tend to have more secure anchors than created holds. No one wants a breach in reality within a city, that would be worse than any ether hold. So, we go in and destroy the core, often finding fascinating magics along the way, facing and ying unique creatures of power. The Eskau who destroys the core is then ejected back into reality where they entered the ether hold, and the ether hold vanishes. Unfortunately, it is a one time source of entertainment.


    Thatwas a lot to take in. Thats a lot to take in.


    -<em>Why havent we heard about these things before? Do they not appear in humannds?-</em>


    Any idea what causes them to appear?


    Its theorized that they are drawn to the power in the air. Thats one reason why our cities have their ambient power as low as we do. Its also why the ascension rooms, which help us achieve higher magic density, are so small. Less area for ether holds to grab onto.


    That sounds rather terrible.


    Paun grimaced. That is a <emmon</em> view. The way he saidmon made it clear what he thought of the way of thinking.


    T felt some of his geniality slip away.


    While at a societal level, it is one of the little evils that must be handled. We should know better. It is a training ground, proving ground, and ce to harvest unique experiences and magics.


    He waved one hand absently.


    Themon popce knows some small amount about ether holds through tales and stories, but the reality is hidden for themoners sanity.


    I have to agree. I cant imagine the average person beingfortable with the idea of a doorway to some sort of evil mini-world popping into being under their bed.


    He snorted. Children wouldnt be, no. I would wee the fight, personally. I hope you would as well.


    T suppressed a shudder, turning away. I assume youre telling me this now, because one of these duties will be required of me, soon. Is that correct?


    He smiled. Quite correct. You have a hold to tame, and I am not willing to cover for you this time.


    T stopped. I dont suppose its a nice, simple kind?


    No. An ether hold was found in a nook of the town square. We have until tomorrow morning to send in an Eskau.


    An ether hold? Dont you want to handle it?


    And deprive you of a learning experience? There was a dark glint in his eyes.


    Whats wrong with this one. It wasnt a question so much as an usation.


    He grinned. If the entrance is any indication, it will be a ce of rot and filth. Some of those areentertaining, but it is too good an opportunity for you to learn. I will, regrettably, have to wait until the next one to have my fun.


    T glowered, unable to think of anything to say in response.

 Chapter 222: Not-Gravy

    Chapter 222: Not-Gravy


    T bisected the rotting corpse through the top of its head, Flow exiting between its legs.


    The thing still tried to grab her as it fell, and she cut the falling pieces in half again, effectively quartering the zombie.


    <em>-Zombies arent real.-</em>


    <em>What do you call these, then?</em>


    T wasnot happy.


    She stood on top of the only dry patch shed been able to find so far in the incredibly odd swamp.


    <em>Swamp doesnt cover it by half.</em>


    Instead of water, she had trudged through two-foot-deep sludge that had the consistency of week-old gravy. T suspected it would be a deathtrap, if the end of reality werent right below the surface.


    -<em>Well, two feet down.-</em>


    <em>Dont be childish.</em>


    <em>-Oh, look, another one.-</em>


    T oriented on where her mirrored perception showed another zombie-like creature pull itself out of the gravy to stagger towards her.


    <em>Look, the ribcage is solid bone, all the way through. Theres no cavity for organs. It was never alive.</em>


    <em>-Do you really prefer to think of these things as having been created to seem like zombies?-</em>


    <em>Yes. Why wouldnt I?</em>


    <em>-Think of the implications of something creating a mimicry of zombies and doing a bad job of it.-</em>


    T quickly chopped this one up too. The thick muck around her was bing oddly fluffy as the dozens of still animate limbs wriggled and thrashed, effectively aerating the not-water.


    <em>That almost looks like meringue. Im never going to be able to look at that stuff the same again.</em>


    <em>-Its a lot browner, plus, look at all the detritus.-</em>


    After a moment, T nodded. <em>Thank you, that helps.</em>


    Now, though, she wanted lemon meringue pie.


    t snorted within Ts head. <em>-Were pretty odd.-</em>


    With no more immediate threats, T took a moment to scan her surroundings once again.


    It smelled, <em>awful.</em> There was a cloying sweetness to the air, like someone had shot rotting syrup up her nostrils. To make it worse, there was no variation in the scent at all. It was utterly uniform, decidedly disgusting, pervasively pernicious.


    <em>-Whats with the alliteration?-</em>


    <em>Anything to get the smell out of my mind.</em>


    She was roughly a hundred yards from the entrance, which looked like a stone archway from this side, freestanding in the swamp.


    Overhead, she could <em>feel</em> the end of reality just out of reach.


    This ce was really oddly shaped, seeming almost like a long, wide hallway.


    Reality ended about twenty feet to either side of her, and that seemed to represent the shape of this hold, extending away from her into the distance.


    Nothing broke the gravy-like surface except the asional ripple, which T suspected were more of these not-zombies.


    Close to a mile away, if her estimation was correct, a stone wall blocked the entire passage.


    T spoke out loud, just to give her something to hear in the otherwise vacuous silence, This cees across like someone built it after hearing a childs summary of a horror story.


    <em>-Thatactually makes a lot of sense, yeah. Are ether holds influenced by thinking beings thoughts or concepts about things? This is simply a manifestation based on themonalities surrounding these stories, aggregated across all intelligent species?-</em>


    <em>I doubt thats actually correct, but it still seems like as good an exnation as anything. We really dont have enough information to know, though.</em>


    <em>-Onward?-</em>


    T sighed, then nodded. Onward.


    She stepped down from the small rise and grimaced as the fluffed sludge came up nearly to her waist. She ignored the feet and hands that scrabbled at her ineffectively.


    She rolled three ending-seeds around in her mouth.


    She had popped them in before entering this space. They should be an effective weapon if the things in here ever came at her more than one at a time or managed to sneak up on her.


    Her pressure distribution scripts werentrge enough to allow her to walk on the surface of the gravy, sadly. In fact, T had pulled power from the scripts, though she couldnt deactivate them fully.


    With power flowing through them at full strength, they actually made walking harder, as it took longer for her feet to find the truly firm footing at the edge of reality.


    Two more not-zombies rose out of the sludge, one after another, and T cut them down with contemptuous ease.


    It wasnt pleasant to walk through the stuff. If shed been mundane, she might not have been able to manage it at all. Blessedly, with her magics and enhancements, she was strong enough that progressing was actually super easy, barely an inconvenience.


    As she was forging ahead, confident in her strength, her next step came down onnothing. Reality continued downward as it never had before, and with a little yelp, T fell into a pit in the border of reality.


    -<em>Oh, thats evil.-</em>


    T couldnt see through the swamp gravy, so she pushed her bloodstars up, out of the liquid to watch for enemies.


    She calmly reached around herself, trying to find anything she could grab onto.


    There was nothing.


    Her movements gained a bit of frenzy as she scrambled in the mirk for any way of rising one again.


    <em>I will not drown in this nasty sludge!</em>


    <em>-Would you rather drown somewhere else?-</em>


    T pushed power down a different path within Flow, transforming the weapon into a ive. She then swept around herself, searching for any firm surface. The only one was directly in front of her.


    With her bloodstars mirroring her perspective for T and t, she knew that shed gotten turned around, and that what she had found was the shelf that shed just stepped off of.


    It was a good three feet ahead of her, and already two or three feet up.


    Worse, if she understood what she was feeling by searching around herself with Flow, the border of reality extended back, underneath that shelf.


    There could be anything under there, watching, waiting to devour her.


    T would have thought swimming in gravy would be easier because it was heavier than water, so she should be more buoyant. Unfortunately, because it was a semi-solid, it didnt flow around her as shed have liked or expected.


    Her movements didnt aplish anything but spinning her in ce as she slowly sunk deeper.


    T was beginning to panic.


    She felt like eyes were on her from every direction.


    <em>Think, T. Think!</em>


    There had to be a way out.


    She had to have an ability or item that could save her.


    <em>-Well, you wont drown for a long, long time. The damage that would kill a mundane will be healed by your scripts so long as theyst, and you have reserves, which youre full of.-</em>


    So, no solution meant drowning for likely at least a month.


    <em>Not better!</em>


    <em>-T?-</em>


    This would be such a stupid way to die.


    -<em>T, we have a problem.-</em>


    <em>I know! Quiet, let me think.</em>


    She tried throwing Flow away, over the under-gravy shelf and pulling it back towards her, but that just brought the weapon back to her hand, it didnt move her in the proper direction at all.


    There was nothing for a grappling hook to grab onto, even if she had one, which she didnt.


    Her lungs were burning.


    <em>I am </em>not<em> inhaling this stuff.</em>


    She was kicking her legs, trying different methods of movement, even as she continued to slowly slurp lower through the sludge.


    -<em>You really need to actually notice this!-</em>


    It was then, T noticed what her mirrored perception and t had noticed quite a while ago.


    There were dozens of not-zombiesing from every direction, and if what she was seeing was urate, there would likely be some


    Something grabbed her leg.


    <em>Thats not a something! I know exactly what that is.</em>


    A not-zombie grabbed her leg, elerating her trip downward.


    <em>How deep does this go?</em>


    She cut away those grabbing at her, but more reced them, even as she continued to hack.


    She needed to get out.


    She didnt have any tool that could get her out.


    For one of the first times in her life, she wished that shed taken a more traditional path.


    If she were a normal gravity Mage, she could have just reversed gravity in this area and used that to rise to the top.


    <em>Riseagainst gravity</em>


    Her eyes snapped open in realization, and even through the much, she saw multiple mutted faces closing in on her.


    That meant that they were within arms reach, and she struck out with Flow.


    She targeted herself. <em>RESTRAIN!</em>


    Her power enacted, stealing all the kic energy from her and lifting her up.


    The working would lift the target above ground level, then alter gravity to hold them there.


    It was the first part that she cared about.


    <em>-Oh, that was clever.-</em>


    <em>You couldnt have thought of that?</em>


    <em>-Wellwe were panicking a bit.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, we were at that.</em>


    As the creatures surged at her, she continued to strike out, fighting against the leeching nature of her spell, though every movement that was hampered by the magics elerated her rise.


    The gravy around her was <em>swarming</em> with skeletal creatures, faux flesh adorning them in odd ways.


    <em>Why does that one have akidney? Is that a kidney hanging out of its eye-socket?</em>


    <em>-They clearly have no basis in actual biology, T.-</em>


    <em>Clearly.</em>


    Her lungs were still burning, and she could feel parts of her degrading fromck of oxygen even while her magics repaired them, but T put the pain aside. She was almost free. It was only another moment and


    Her head broke the surface, and she gasped in a great lungful of air.


    As she did, three ending-seeds shot down her throat.


    Her body reacted reflexively, closing off her airway and causing her to swallow without conscious thought.


    One.


    Two.


    Three seeds were swallowed.


    <em>Oh.</em>


    <em>-Oh.-</em>


    <em>Thatsbad.</em>


    T felt her enhanced stomach acids breach the ending-seeds in sequence, and their magics began to ramp up.


    She liftedpletely free of the not-swamp, and the beasts lunged out at her like fish trying to snag a bug.


    T was a whirlwind of death.


    She used her discs to redirect her assants, positioning them to her greatest advantage. Together with her tungsten sphere and rod, she spoiled attacks and controlled the space around herself incredibly effectively.


    <em>-Youre getting a lot better with those tools.-</em>


    <em>Why, thank you, t.</em>


    Flow flickered between its forms, always the perfect length toy open what she struck at.


    Her free hand caught and crushed other unfortunate creatures.


    Their wed hands and gnashing teeth couldnt find purchase on her, even when they were able to reach.


    The only damage that they wrought was to tear at her clothing, but that quickly repaired after each piece ripped free.


    All the while, she was doing her utmost not to panic as her mage-sight watched the destructive powers build within her gut.


    <em>Maybe, my stomach acids will degrade parts of the magic? It wouldnt work then.</em>


    <em>-Maybe? The acid </em>is<em> magic now-</em> But t didnt sound convinced.


    Ts mind traced over every line in the building spell-forms. She picked out the patterns in the flowing magical spell-forms streaming side by side in her gut.


    The seconds seeming to stretch into minutes or even hours as she continued to kill the things attacking her purely on instinct and reflex.


    She was now floating a few inches above the gravy, held there by her own power.


    Her strikes were angled downward as much as possible to keep herself up despite the pulls of those that managed to snag her momentarily.


    Even so, it didnt matter. The ending-seeds were about to pop.


    It was so, so stupid!


    <em>I cant just grab the spell-form, that is useless. I cant even grab the power and redirect it. Its too stable for magical maniption to make meaningful changes. I might be able to strong-arm it, but that would be much too slow, if I could do it at all.</em>


    She could pull reinforcement power from the surrounding flesh to wrap around it, and that might dampen the effect. That was the purpose of the ending-berry power after all, to counter that of the ending-tree.


    Unfortunately, ending-seeds were <em>much</em> more powerfully worked than the basic ending-tree disintegration.


    She felt like whimpering and screaming at the same time.


    Her body utilized magics that were so close to the ones about to blow her in half.


    -<em>It might not be that bad.-</em>


    T red internally.


    t quieted.


    Blocking rivers of power would createkes, or just cause the water to flow around the blockage. The power in thosekes would still have the remembered pattern, however. It would still activate, still tear at her insides.


    <em>I need the power to take a new path.</em> She couldnt vomit the stuff up. Even if she were fast enough, her anti-vomit scripts would fight her. She could pull power from them temporarily, but it still would be difficult. She just didnt have the time.


    Ts defensive magics were so, so close in form to the magics that would soon assail her from the inside.


    <em>The stupid magics are the inverse of what I want!</em> She screamed into the silence of her own, panicked mind.


    the inverse.


    She hesitated.


    Her eyes widened.<em> Like my inverse Archon star.</em>


    It wasnt exactly like a river. The power was flowing ording to its own nature, rather than in physically restricting banks. So, if she shunted the power away, it should reform, and if the Archon star was any indication, it would invert.


    In a panic, she did something inadvisable.


    With her long-trained dexterity, she stabbed her aura into one of the three streams, angling her aura against the current to create a sloped shunt. More than that, she shaped her aura around the redirected stream, angling the result away.


    Power shot up the aura ramp, prevented from flowing as it wanted to, but acting by its nature, nheless.


    Even as it was distorted away from its natural path, the magic was still bent and aspected to form the patterns of an ending-tree, thus, it almost immediately began flowing through the loops and twirls of the well-known spell-form once more.


    In less than a second, the entirety of that stream had been shunted off to the side, reconnected, and was now floating, self-contained beside the others within her stomach.


    <em>Did it work?</em> She didnt have time to investigate.


    -<em>Skip the second!-</em>


    They could tell that the second was too close to triggering for her to work with it.


    So, she drove her aura into the third spell-form, even as the first activated.


    Reinforcing magics blossomed within her, the power hauntingly familiar. It was the power she had absorbed so many, many times before.


    Ending-berry power.


    The second spell-form activated right afterwards, destruction radiating outward and shing with the reinforcement.


    Unfortunately, it is easier to destroy than to protect.


    All the inverted seeds power was consumed, and the acid within her stomach was broken apart.


    The disintegrating magics mmed against her stomach lining, eating away at it, but no longer having enough power to break through the defensive magics there.


    But T was focusing on the final seed.


    <em>Almost</em>


    The flow of power snapped into ce even as it hit its activation threshold, and reinforcing power swept through her in a wave.


    The three seeds had triggered barely a second apart, from first tost.


    Her stomach churned, even as her regeneration scripts fought to rebuild her perforated stomach.


    Base, highly vtile substances spilled into Ts insides, causing chemical reactions all through her abdominal cavity.


    Her magics minimized the destruction, and repaired the damage, but it was still agonizing.


    She grit her teeth against the pain, tears streaming down her face and spoiling her vision.


    Thankfully, she could still see through her bloodstars, and she fought on, hampered through she was.


    In the aftermath, the creatures were able to drag her back down into the gravy, and she broke the working on herself and cast it again.


    <em>Restrain.</em>


    With that, she rose back up above the surface, regaining herposure and continuing to deal destruction and spoil their attacks with Flow, tungsten, discs, and her bare hand and feet.


    <em>-Rusting g!-</em>


    T coughed up bits of her lung that had been destroyed by the processes within herself, spitting to clear her mouth.


    <em>That rusting worked? </em>A wave of relief washed through her, and she found herselfughing, even as she continued to rain not-zombie parts down on the thick liquid below her. <em>That worked!!!!</em>


    Her jubtion helped pull her away from the remembered pain, even as the substances within her finally reached an equilibrium.


    There would be internal clean-up to do after this, but that was far better than losing her lower half to this ce.


    <em>-I still dont think it would have been quite that bad, but I am d that you seeded.-</em>


    T smiled at the aplishment, reveling in what she had done.


    As she continued her active defense, contemting her sess, her eyes widened. She was struck by a realization that was the obvious follow-up, and she began tough.


    -<em>T, is that really a good idea to try right-</em>


    T pulled in a deep breath and drew some power from the defensive scripts in her flesh into the air in her lungs.


    With a deft will, she jammed her aura into the swirling flow of power and watched the spell-forme back together, inverted.


    With a powerful exhale, she breathed out a gust of disintegration, and every enemy in a ten-foot conelost a fewyers of bone and flesh.


    T grimaced.


    <em>Not enough power.</em>


    She took in another deep breath and strained to pull many, many times the power of the first attempt through the defensive scripts and into her lungs.


    She could feel how doing so strained the inscriptions, and she knew that she would need to get them refreshed far sooner, if she used this very often.


    Then, with an increasingly familiar motion, she thrust her sharpened aura into the flow, redirecting and inverting the form.


    She exhaled and time seemed to slow as the power flooded out with her breath.


    Firstly, the magic obliterating every part of every enemy in a ten-foot cone.


    But there was still power in dissolution.


    T had never seen that before. Ending-trees always imparted almost exactly enough power to destroy what they acted on.


    <em>-Um I think that might be bad.-</em>


    With nothing else to act on, the power broke apart the air itself.


    There was a brilliant sh as a reaction of the now separate elements bloomed into heat and light.


    Fire.


    Her overuse of the power had lit the very air aze in one shining moment.


    It wasnt a forceful explosion, though it was loud and bright.


    Even as she flinched away, T began tough, her mirth echoing across the surface of the not-swamp close on the heels of the explosion.


    <em>-Too much power. I think with those two samples, though, I can help you use the right amount.-</em>


    Stillughing with glee, T nodded. <em>Lets do this, then.</em>


    She threw Flow and drew it back again and again, cutting through many enemies each time.


    Whenever she could contain herself enough to do so, T paused herughter and repeated her breath of disintegration. With ts guidance, they didnt use too much power and the attacks were simply exhtions of disintegration.


    The lesser use of power also put less stress on her inscriptions. She would still need reinscription sooner than she would otherwise have needed such, but she wouldnt run them dry in a single battle or even a few conflicts.


    Finally, after another minute or so of fighting, T was once again alone, hovering in ce above a frothing mass of sinking parts.


    She still had a gleeful grin stretched across her features.


    She surveyed her surroundings and sighed. <em>Now what? If I remove the working, Ill drop straight down.</em>


    <em>-I have an idea for that.-</em>


    T cocked her head to one side. That just might work.


    A bit less than five minutester, Ts feet mmed into the stone wall at the far end of the ether hold.


    She had cut the working drawing her that way as soon as shed gained a good amount of speed, and now she altered her perception of herself and her needs sufficiently to break the <em>Restrain </em>working as well.


    With a lithe twist, shended in the six-inch deep muck before the wall.


    <em>Wow. Im d this wasnt another pit.</em>


    She could have used another <em>Restrain,</em> but she should have thought of the possibility beforehand.


    That worked amazingly, t.


    <em>-I am d to be of service. Weve been wanting to try out some of our potential methods of flight, and that worked beautifully, at least in this confined space.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, I wouldnt want to do that outside of a hold</em>


    That could end quite badly, if she wasnt careful.


    She examined the stone wall before her, and the massive gates that were the only way through. The tightly fitted stone was braced against the edges of reality all the way around.


    You know, what? Why would Paun think this would be fun? I cant imagine thatbat would have challenged him.


    -<em>Well, he did tell us this was a smaller one, and he shirked it off onto us.-</em>


    T grunted. Might be that hes more concerned about us than he let on.


    -<em>You think he gave us an easy one?-</em>


    She shrugged. Maybe. Or, maybe abination? It was easy and disgusting, so why not give it to the new girl?


    t huffed augh. <em>-Yeah, maybe. Or things are about to get a lot more interesting.-</em>


    Maybe, yeah. Shall we see what lies in the evil fortification?


    -<em>Yes, lets see what the collective understanding of a mad Mage might be.</em>-

 Sick

    Sick


    Hey all,


    My family and I have been sick and under the weather in general from the middle ofst week through the weekend. As such, I need to miss today''s post for my sanity, among other things.


    Our regrly scheduled releases should resume on Wednesday.


    My apologies for the dy.


    Thank you for your readership!


    Regards,


    J.L.Mullins

 Chapter 223: Villain

    Chapter 223: Viin


    T stood before heavily reinforced doors at the far end of a fake swamp within her first ether hold.


    Her feet squelched in muck as she shifted back and forth, considering the barrier to her path.


    <em>-Oh! Could we reduce our downward gravity enough to make the surface area enhancements on our feet sufficient to hold us up?-</em>


    T blinked several times. <em>Wellrust me to g. That would have been a useful idea about ten minutes ago.</em>


    t conveyed a shrug. <em>-Just thought of it.-</em>


    T almost put her face in her hands in resignation, but then she saw how filthy she was.


    Yeah Well try that next time.


    Now, the big doors.


    <em>Well, lets try the easy way, first.</em> She walked up and pushed.


    The gates didnt open.


    With a shrug, she drew Flow, and cut upward between the doors.


    She felt the slightest resistance, followed by loud <em>thuds</em>.


    When T pushed again, the doors slid open, though it still took some effort to get them to move.


    She stepped up onto the smooth, clean stone, and briefly aspect mirrored her clothings self-cleaning onto herself.


    With a few bounces as she moved forward, all the sludge fell free.


    As shended from the final bounce, she cut back behind herself and to the right, cleaving a not-zombie in half, shoulder to hip.


    Its steps had been utterly silent, and without her mirrored perspective, shed likely not have noticed it until it was fully upon her.


    The thing had been charging at her from behind,ing through the gates shed opened. Onest nasty thing from the swamp. <em>Unless more spawn on their own</em>


    She had no idea where the creatures actually came from. They seemed physical, while also seeming too magical to be real.


    <em>-That makes no sense, but yeah, I agree. I dont think these could ever exit, but that tracks, considering they stayed in.-</em>


    <em>Yeah. I suppose the holds that send out creatures make more real ones? Somehow?</em>


    -<em>Maybe well find out further in.-</em>


    As she scanned the room around her, it was obvious that the fighting was far from over.


    She was nked by the two halves of a crossbar that had held the doors against her.


    Beyond them, near the edges of reality, assuming it hadnt changed shape or size past the wall, statues lined the periphery of the space.


    The smallest appeared to be little more than half her height, while thergest was close to twice as tall as she was.


    They were made of a variety of materials, everything from simple granite to steel, from y to wood.


    As she looked around, every one of the statues began to move.


    In addition to the mobile statues, pale bipedal creatures were scattered throughout the space.


    They looked vaguely human, but their features were wrong.


    Their skin was too pale, their features not quite where T expected them to be.


    They moved on silent feet, shifting towards the edges of the space.


    T sighed.


    Her mage-sight gave no good information. Everything looked uniformly the same color, orange.


    The specific magic of the creatures, of the ce in general, was a nonsensical jumble to her eyes, so she put that sight from her mind.


    It was time to get to work.


    Crossing most of the space wasughably easy.


    The statues were mostly harder substances, which cracked and crumbled under hits from her tungsten rod and sphere.


    Her discs deflected attacks and warded off opponents, helping to stagger them and keep her from being overrun.


    The pale creatures hung back, seemingly hesitant to engage.


    <em>Wise of them, I suppose.</em>


    Then, one of the big metal statues reached her.


    The first was half again her height and had four arms.


    Flow removed two in quick session. T ducked under a third, but the fourth caught her in the chest.


    The defenses on her elk-leathers red, protecting her from the blow with ease, but even so, she was flung backward and out of the building.


    <em>-Reduce weight!-</em>


    T did so even as she skipped across the surface of the rancid sludge.


    She was able to catch the surface with a hand as she flew, flipping up andnding on her feet.


    She left her gravity fairly high, so she could still move, bent low, and sprinted back across the surface of the not-gravy. Each step sunk a few inches into the muck as she pushed off, but no more.


    <em>This is way, WAY easier.</em>


    The all-pervasive power in the air,bined with the odd linkage that everything seemed to share, meant that to try to target anything, shed have to ovee the magical weight of <em>everything</em>. At least, thats how it felt the few times shed tried.


    With all her strength, she built up speed, covering the remaining distance in great leaping strides.


    She passed through the open archway, and the hall passed in a sh before she mmed into the metal statue ive first, breaking the offending thing in two.


    <em>Gotcha.</em> A smug smile pulled at Ts lips.


    As the two halves fell away, though, another fist used the pieces as cover to m into her from the side.


    A second giant statue, this one granite, had joined the fight.


    T mmed into the side of thebat hall before shed even registered being struck, and the edge of reality was sufficiently hard for her to break bones against.


    She slumped to the ground with a groan, her skeletal system snapping back into ce, and back together, before healing with audible pops and cracks.


    In her moment of lowered capacity, the first of the pale creatures lunged at her. It had been near where she hadnded to begin with, so it covered the distance between them quickly.


    Ts tungsten rod moved to smack it aside, but the metal passed straight through the being.


    <em>What the rust?</em>


    Its outstretched handnded on her, and she felt a titanic <em>PULL </em>on her magic.


    Her body waspletely drained in less than a second of contact.


    <em>What?</em>


    For the first time in Ts life, she was <em>utterly</em> without magic.


    Her gate was still there, trying to refill her, but every iota of power that came through was immediately ripped from her with a feeling reminiscent of her fingernails being pulled.


    It had bypassed her authority?


    <em>What?</em>


    It had ignored her aura.


    <em>How?</em>


    She couldnt regain control over her own power.


    <em>g, g, g!</em>


    T felt like her whole body was freezing in panic.


    <em>Why didnt we re-apply the iron paint? It might have helped, here!</em>


    She felt weak, her body seeming unusually heavy, despite her reduced gravity. She was feeling the inertia of her increased mass more than anything.


    <em>Get AWAY!</em>


    Flow swept out, only in the form of a knife, because she couldnt power any other form.


    Blessedly, it still had magic, as it was connected directly to her gate, and no drain at her gate could break or weaken that connection.


    Still, the strike moved more slowly than T could remember ever swinging the de, but the creature seemed reluctant to break contact, so T seeded in cutting through the beasts thin neck, decapitating it..


    That, apparently, caused a destabilization of the power that it had just stolen. There was a forceful detonation and T was tossed away once again.


    Blessedly, even as she bounced across the stone floor, her gate gushed power back into her.


    <em>-What the rust was that? Did you ck out?-</em>


    T paled. <em>Did you did you go offline?</em>


    <em>-No, of course not</em>- t hesitated. -<em>What the rust yes. There was no power in you, all your scripts dropped into starvation mode, they would have burned through their metals and sputtered out entirely in another few seconds including me.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, Im not letting that happen.</em>


    She flipped to her feet, turned, and exhaled a cone of disintegration at two more of the leeching creatures, obliterating them entirely.


    T was still panicking, just a bit. To help calm herself down, she was rambling a bit within her own head, <em>Dont let the white ones touch me. Expand my view; dont let any of these use the others to make attacks of opportunity.</em>


    It was a brutal fight after that.


    While her bloodstars could mirror Flows offensive magic, theycked the size to sufficiently harm her enemies.


    Unfortunately, the white magic-leeches were able to ignore anything less than an instantly lethal blow, and the discs did nothing to slow them.


    The pale creatures seemed to be able to pass through anything besides magical attacks as if it werent there. The result was that T often found the things hiding inside the statues she killed with her hand, feet, or tungsten. The leech-things used every opportunity to get close.


    A few even managed to grab at her feet and legs from under the floor.


    Blessedly, Flows cutting edge was magical in nature, else shed have had very little recourse.


    What felt like hourster, T stood, panting, in the center of the space, surrounded by ruined statues.


    The floor had great chunks cut out of it, and many deep gouges were partially filled with the fine powder that was all that remained after ending-tree power washed over an enemy or section of stone.


    Her inscriptions felt raw and strained.


    Any arcane would have died after the first touch from one of the pale-leech-men. Shed sustained at least half a dozen full drains and in close to two dozen of the horrid things.


    <em>-I dont like the feeling of winking out repeatedly.-</em>


    <em>It isnt pleasant out here, either.</em>


    t shuddered. <em>-It feels almost like you entering dreamless sleep, but there is something so much worse in the experience.-</em>


    <em>Like theres nothing assuring you that youll ever wake up, and each time you do awaken, you realize that it might not have happened.</em>


    <em>-Exactly, yes.-</em>


    They shuddered together.


    I hate you just a bit, Paun. Surely, not every ether hold could be like this. Were theughably weak not-zombies at the beginning meant to lull her into a false sense of security?


    -<em>Or, did the hold learn from how you fought them, and create obstacles based on what you did?-</em>


    <em>Id hope that Paun would have told us something like that, but no. These would have been more effective against other Eskau. If anything, these were still easy for me, rtively speaking.</em>


    <em>-Agreed, any other arcane would have had no margin for error.-</em>


    <em>Its worse than that. They wouldnt have had any knowledge that it would have been an error.</em>


    t hesitated. <em>-Wait, were forgetting the protian weapon. An Eskau could have pulled some power from their weapon. It wouldnt have been the same as you having your gate, but they wouldnt have been as helpless as most Arcanes.-</em>


    <em>Ah, right. That would bnce things a bit.</em>


    Her breath was once again under control, and she realized that she was stalling, staring at the archway that led out of the far side of the room.


    A heavy green curtain hung blocking it, and the fabric swayed in the breeze ever so slightly.


    <em>What horrors await us deeper in?</em>


    <em>-Maybe the visage of an easily recognizable, but strangely twisted version of a mad-mage is behind this curtain? That would be refreshingly simple.-</em>


    <em>Yeah. Id just need to kill the evil Mage, and we could go home.</em> Her mind hitched at that for just a moment. She couldnt go home, not yet.


    <em>Not now, T. Focus.</em>


    She gilded herself and cautiously moved aside the curtain, finding a massive mirror.


    <em>What?</em>


    T took a moment to look at herself in the mirror. She looked tired, her hair in disarray. Much of it had been cut or torn at various points and had regrown outside her tight braid.


    t wasughing in the back of Ts mind.


    <em>What?</em>


    <em>-It doesnt matter.-</em> t gained control of her mirth.<em> -There has to be more, we havent found the core.-</em>


    <em>Right.</em>


    T hesitated, looking at her reflection.


    In truth, she hardly recognized herself.


    Even though she could almost constantly see herself, if she wished via the mirrored perspective in her orbiting bloodstars, she rarely did so. Her view was aimed outward, as it should be in such a hostile environment. <em>And thats not even considering this ether hold.</em>


    That said, she took the time to look, and she looked different.


    It wasnt the dust and debris that clung to her skin and hair. <em>I could really use a bath when Im done here.</em>


    It wasnt the House of Blood insignia on her clothing. <em>I have no idea if they can see into here or not.</em>


    It wasnt even the broken and obliterated enemies around and behind her. <em>I demolished all who came against me.</em>


    No. Her stance was different, the way she carried herself, and the quality behind her eyes.


    She looked like the predator that she had be.


    <em>I doubt anyone would try to ost me in a back alley these days.</em>


    <em>-Likely not, no.-</em>


    <em>Am I changing too much, t?</em>


    <em>-What do you mean?-</em>


    <em>I I feel like Ive had to do a lot of things that I wouldnt have done so easily before before Tali.</em>


    <em>-Were in a pretty difficult situation, and youre making the best of it.-</em>


    That wasnt very satisfying to hear.


    t sighed internally. <em>-You are quicker to violence, but you are facing those more capable of harming you. Your solutions are more permanent, but your recent trials require decisive action. You are making different choices because you are in different circumstances. Do not judge yourself too harshly.-</em>


    After a moment, T found herself nodding. Though, her reflection still seemed on the edge of violence. <em>I am about to face an unknown enemy. Readiness for violence is wise.</em>


    <em>-Thats my T. Lets see what awaits!-</em>


    T reached out and pushed, putting her strength behind it.


    There was a cracking sound, like a lock breaking, and the entire mirror swung away from her.


    Beyond, arge circr room awaited her.


    The floor was truly level, seeming to simply be the edge of reality rather than any material.


    <em>-Nothing is ever true level.-</em>


    <em>What are you talking about?</em>


    <em>-There are always imperfections.-</em>


    <em>OhI mean, sure? I guess so.</em>


    Overhead, a half-sphere of the same materialpleted the space.


    At the center, a single figure sat on a throne.


    <em>Should I be concerned that that throne looks an </em>awful<em> lot like mine in Kit?</em>


    -<em>Probably just a coincidence.-</em>


    <em>Your sarcasm is reassuring.</em>


    The figure looked to be one of the pale creatures, but it wielded a sword that was as ck as the void.


    It looked like a two-dimensional cut-out of a sword, except that the dimensions seemed to shift as the de rose and fell, tapping against the creatures hand.


    <em>Can it talk?</em>


    <em>-How am I supposed to know?-</em>


    Can you speak?


    The beast shook its head almost ruefully as an arrogant smile spread across its face. h, h. h h!


    <em>-What the rust?-</em>


    <em>What the rust?</em>


    The thing continued, seemingly giving a speech with the single, nonsense word.


    <em>-Why would it be trying to give the impression of speech?-</em>


    T grimaced. Because bad guys always monologue in stories.


    -<em>yeah, that tracks. What is with this ce?-</em>


    <em>Paun will tell us when we get out.</em> Shed insist upon it.


    Nevertheless, T wasnt about to let a viin monologue, real or false.


    She charged forward, closing the distance in three bounding steps.


    Flow met the void-sword and was turned aside.


    T rolled with the motion of her weapon, striking again from a new angle, but the second attack was spoiled as well.


    Each of the two blocks had been the smallest of movements, causing her strikes to <em>just</em> miss.


    Still, she used the minor distraction to whip the rod through her opponents chest.


    The tungsten passed harmlessly through the rusting thing, and she did not want to risk the tungsten or discs in a sh against that sword.


    She let her momentum carry her past the throne rather than stopping to slug things out.


    <em>So, de against de, eh? No other tools.</em>


    <em>-Well, if it touches you, that would be bad.-</em>


    <em>Fine, so its de and touch vs Flow. I can work with that.</em>


    The pale figure stood, uncaring of its doll-like nakedness.


    A distorted mouth opened too wide, and it screamed at her, clearly incensed.


    T stepped back under the force of the scream.


    Once it finished, she shook her head to clear it. Did you really want to monologue that much?


    BLAH, BLAH!!!


    <em>This is ridiculous. Id beughing if the thing werent so creepy.</em> She would bet gold that it could drain her dry with a single touch, too.


    <em>No telling what that sword will do if it cuts me.</em>


    She loosened her shoulders and gave a small smile. <em>Well, this did turn out to be a challenge after all.</em>


    <em>-Paun does seem the type to enjoy this sort of thing.-</em>


    T closed more deliberately, never fully engaging.


    Neither of them were able tond a meaningful hit on the other. Even so, after three more quick exchanges, T was grimacing. <em>I cant win in a contest of skill.</em>


    -<em>Tali?-</em>


    <em>Not fully, no. I think</em> T reached back, trying to pull on Talis experience instinctually.


    Her gaze firmed, and she lunged backward.


    Flow morphed into a ive, and she threw it with all her strength.


    Her opponent almost seemed to sigh in disappointment, flicking its sword up to knock the ive aside.


    When the void de was about to hit her weapon, T altered its form.


    Flow became a knife, and the deflecting sword passed just in front of it.


    White eyes showed an instant of shock before the de buried itself in the pale forehead.


    <em>-Huh. That was much easier than fighting de to de.-</em>


    <em>Truer words.</em>


    The creature dissolved, just like its weaker brethren had, but the sword remained behind.


    Yeah, Im taking that.


    She bent down, and as she grabbed the hilt, she felt a deep <em>hunger</em> from the weapon. It wanted power, and T couldnt possibly supply it with all the power it needed. Strangely, there was almost no physical sensation from the weapon in her hand, just a somehow tangible ravenousness.


    <em>Hmmm Well see what Thron has to say about this.</em>


    <em>-Or Paun.-</em>


    The obsidian Eskau might want it for himself, but that didnt quite align with what she knew of the man.


    So the throne is the core?


    <em>-Thats what it looks like, from the way the magic flows.-</em>


    T took a moment to examine the zeme herself and concurred.


    Well, Kit,T pulled the pouch off her waist. A small smile tugged at her lips as she looked at one of her longest-held toolsare you hungry?


    The pouch did not respond.

 Chapter 224: Questioning

    Chapter 224: Questioning


    T watched as the pocket reality copsed around her.


    Great strips of <em>something</em> that distorted the magic, and her natural eyesight, were peeled off and drawn into the pouch that T had set upon the throne at the heart of the ether hold.


    She would have been concerned, but Paun had exined this part to her. <em>At least he did that much.</em>


    He said that when the core was destroyed or otherwise ovee, the ether hold would copse, ejecting the Eskau back into reality.


    Though, to be fair, his description had sounded more like the fracturing of a vase than a predator peeling strips off its preys corpse.


    Beside her, T saw two constructs of magic shing. One was connected to the pouch, beside which Flow rested so that T could continue to feed Kit.


    The other seemed to originate from the throne, and was anchored in the very fabric of the world around her.


    The conflict was happening in the dimensions of magic, so it was incredibly difficult to see anything but general ideas, but the sense T got was of a leopard circling a wounded hare, lunging in to grab what bites she could as the hare became weaker and weaker.


    Kit was consuming the hold, and each bit of power gained strengthened Kit and weakened the opponent.


    It reminded her of when Kit had been expanded the first time, by Master Jevin, back in Makinaven.


    The magics involved had looked like an otherworldly predator, eating some prepared food.


    The same features were echoed in the tableau beside her, but Kit was <em>much</em>rger and more powerful, and this bit of food was still kicking.


    T continued to supply Kit with magic as the ying continued, all the while making sure to hold <em>very</em> clearly her desire for her sanctum, as it had been built, to remain unchanged.


    To her mind, the extra volume gained would add to the height within Kit, and most of the base materials would beconsumed by the same.


    <em>I still need toe to grips with that.</em>


    <em>-It was pretty obvious that the gunk we put into Kit was going somewhere.-</em>


    <em>Thats true enough.</em>


    Anything interesting would be ced on the dais for her to examer.


    <em>Well, anything except this sword.</em>


    She looked down at the weapon in her hand, Flow resting in its sheath on the throne.


    The sword had a simr shape to Flow in its sword form, but it was hard to discern the details.


    It was as if the sword reflected no light at all, shrouding its contours and shape.


    The very power in the air seemed to be pressing in around the de, though that was wavering as Kit consumed more and more.


    <em>No thats not right. The power isnt pressing in on the de.</em>


    <em>-The power is hardened, staying just out of reach of the weapon.-</em>


    That was it.


    The ether hold was keeping all power from touching the void sword. Even as it fought and died, it still maintained that working, that effort of will.


    <em>We need to pay close attention to what its doing; I have the feeling that were going to need to replicate it.</em>


    <em>-Already on that. Can you do something for me? I think it will help.-</em>


    A momentter, T was rotating the two bloodstars mirroring perception for t around the sword, moving them up and down its length, so that t could examine every nuance of the magics involved.


    <em>-Perfect. Keep that up until we leave here. Im learning some interesting things.-</em>


    Throughout that time, T, of course, was feeding power to the weapon. When she had begun to lessen that flow, she felt as if her hand was about to be ripped apart and pulled into the weapon, so she maintained the heavy burden.


    It clearly wasnt enough to fully utilize the weapon, but a truly massive void-channel, thergest she could maintain, did seem to provide enough magic to be above some minimum threshold.


    <em>Yeah, it will let me hold it as it consumes the world.</em>


    -<em>Dont be like that. This is a fascinating bit of natural magic. It resembles an artifact, but somehowmore organic?-</em>


    <em>I thought artifacts were natural. How does that make sense?</em>


    <em>-So did I. This is like seeing hundreds of drawings of trees, then finally seeing the thing itself. Sure, the drawings look really real, really organic, but they are nothingpared to the real thing.-</em>


    <em>Soartifacts are constructs?</em>


    <em>-Or just lessplicated than this. Instead of a picture, think of the artifacts as baby trees, with all the features, just that theyre not fully developed yet.-</em>


    <em>Huh. I think that makes more sense, as I cant imagine someone making artifacts and then sprinkling them randomly around waning cities.</em>


    <em>-Thats fair. I suppose that the artifacts are just manifestations of magic brought into being by the surge of power around those cities.-</em>


    <em>Or drawn in, in the case of creatures posing as items.</em>


    They both looked towards Kit.


    If the leopard and hare metaphor was to be extended, the leopard had just pounced and pinned the hare down. The end was upon them.


    The remains of reality fragmented into strips around her, and with a strange twisting sensation, T found herself standing firmly back in her core reality. The ether hold entrance was gone.


    Flow was now back at her belt, hanging opposite Kit.


    She had an instant to see a whole crowd of people gathered around her, but still at a reasonable distance, before the sword in her hand <em>roared</em> to life.


    Ts enhanced perception registered the all-consuming ckness expanding outward in a wave.


    <em>Oh, the de isnt void-ck because of its materials, its that color because it eats whatever touches itexcept at the handle, but that has a cost.</em>


    She was <em>so</em> d she hadnt been stabbed by this sword.


    <em>-Focus, T! Aura control, mimic what the hold was doing.-</em> t poured the knowledge shed gained through her close examination of the weapon into Ts conscious mind.


    T quickly sorted the flood of information as she flexed her aura, which she still held in a sphere roughly an arms length from her at the edges.


    Now, she distorted it to fully encapste the sword, then she pulled it outward in a bubble around the weapon, preventing any magic from entering or exiting the space.


    The result was a visible bubble of void, seemingly encapsting her right hand. There were flickers of movement across the surface of that void as it interacted with, and was rebuffed by, her aura. In those variations, she <em>thought</em> she saw a pair of eyes, cker than the void, gazing at her for the briefest of moments.


    In that fraction of a racing heartbeat, T would have sworn that they lookedsmug?


    <em>t, I think Im seeing things.</em>


    <em>-It is prettymon to see patterns in randomness. Thats what cloud-gazing is, after all. Humanity is good at finding seeming order within chaos.-</em>


    T returned her focus outward, and thankfully, it had been less than a second since she exited the hold.


    Paun was the closest to her, and he was also the only one to have reacted. It had been a simple reaction, as he just transformed his protian weapon into a tower shield, which he held between them.


    T took in the others before her, and her eyes widened.


    If the embellishments around their heraldry were to be believed, this was a group of Eskau from quite a few major Houses. Be-thric and Sanguis were there, and it seemed like the Pirs from the other Houses were with their Eskau as well.


    Be-thric stepped forwards. Eskau Tali. Please exin what you hold in your hand.


    T gave a bow to those gathered, not to Be-thric. <em>Not at all. He just happens to be standing near those Im bowing to.</em> This is the weapon of the final enemy I slew. From what I understand, it is a sword of the void. It consumes everything that it can. I am containing it for the moment.


    Be-thric cocked his head, then nodded. Other void items have been recovered from ether holds in the past. Eskau Paun, suggestions?


    Paun bowed towards Be-thric, his weapon returning to its ce and form as his gauntlet. If it pleases Pir Be-thric, I have a containment box which could suppress the magics and remove the items urgency for now.


    Be-thric turned to the other Pirs. Is that eptable?


    There was some grumbling, but everyone seemed to agree in the end.


    Paun stepped forward, pulling out arge box from his belt-pouch.


    It was clear that his own pouch was a dimensional storage, as the box he produced was many times too big to have fit.


    He opened the lid, and T gingerly put the sword into the box.


    Eskau Paun? Why are they all


    No unnecessary talking! A Pir of the Falling Moon shouted over her. On his chest, he bore the emblem of his House: A anthropomorphized moon with fury across its features.


    Paun shook his head as he closed the box. Magics red to life briefly, and then the sword was contained, at least for the time being.


    He then presented the box to her, and she leaned it against her leg.


    T was suddenly feeling nervous. <em>Did they find out Im not Tali?</em>


    No, that was ridiculous. <em>Paun wouldnt have given me back the box if that were the case.</em>


    She opened her mouth to question, but Be-thric shook his head once. You will only speak to answer questions, as tradition demands.


    The Pir of the Falling Moon cleared his throat. Were you warned of this?


    She frowned, then shook her head. I dont even know what this is, so no?


    A crescent moon pendant in his hand pulsed with light, and the questioner nodded once.


    She opened her mouth again, but Be-thric gave her another look, and she shut it.


    What did you fight within?


    Zombie-like creatures, bipedal magic-leeches, and statues.


    Several people exchanged nervous looks.


    The same Pir continued the questioning. Did any of the statues have wings?


    No? Not that I saw.


    Did any cover their eyes?


    T thought back. No? I mean they might have done so to defend against a hit to their heads, but not noticeably.


    That seemed to satisfy the man on that count.


    He then proceeded to ask her myriad other questions that seemed inane, but it seemed like the watching Pirs hung on her every word.


    He wanted to know if she could see a false sky within, and what color it had been.


    Puke brown, but without the chunks.


    He wanted the exact count of the various enemies shed in.


    t was able to help T provide that.


    Which opponents were armed and with what.


    Only the final enemy and with the void sword.


    On and on it went.


    Finally, the man came to thest few questions.


    Were you healed, or instructed to heal, before destroying the core?


    No.


    Are you injured at all?


    No, of course not. She looked to Be-thric, frowning in confusion. <em>He knows I heal virtually instantly, what is this about?</em>


    Be-thric cleared his throat. The question he asked was addressed to the Falling Moon Pir, not her, Do you need her to strip down to prove that she is undamaged?


    T kept herself from stiffening, but the inquiring Pir shook his head. That is unnecessary.


    Be-thric smiled.


    The other turned back to her for one final question, Are you aware of any bets?


    Bets? No.


    The pendant in his hand broke apart, and part of the light moved to rest against Be-thrics chest.


    Several of the watching Pirsughed and congratted Be-thric, and some were sulking, and came forward to console the Pir of the Falling Moon.


    The light also went to others, though it was less. Once that wasplete, items began to change hands.


    T leaned close to Paun and raised an eyebrow questioningly.


    Yes, you can talk now, Eskau.


    What is this about?


    It ismon practice for the Houses to bet on an Eskaus first ether hold. Your Pir leveraged himself and his assets past the point of sanity to make a single bet, there was only one taker. Paun grinned. The others likely smelled something human about the situation.


    <em>Something human?</em>


    Paun nced at her then rolled his eyes. Something fishy, something off.


    <em>Oh</em> That was pretty insulting.


    -<em>Tali would only care because shed want to prove she wasnt like other humans. She wouldnt address it.-</em>


    So, T didnt. What was the bet? What did he win?


    He bet that you would emerge without a scratch on you. And he won He turned and gestured.


    The Pir of the Falling Moon was arguing with a candidate Eskau and potential Pir from his own house, if the embellishments around their own sigils were any indication.


    No. T was in disbelief.


    Paun grinned. Yes.


    The Pir of the Falling Moon ripped a crescent shaped knife from the candidate Eskaus belt and strode over to Be-thric, presenting the protian weapon to the onyx man. Your winnings, Pir Be-thric.


    Thank you, Pir Mesek.


    Let it never be said that the House of the Falling Moon dishonors our agreements.


    You are truly above reproach. Be-thric bowed.


    The other Pirs and Eskau seemed to have finished paying off their various wagers, and the group began to disperse.


    <em>Well, I guess we just earned him another protian weapon?</em>


    <em>-Seems like it, yeah.-</em>


    <em>Well, thats one more step towards freedom.</em> She didnt <em>like</em> helping Be-thric get more powerful, but she couldnt deny that that was the quickest path back to the humannds. <em>Back home.</em>


    Sanguis and Be-thric spoke briefly with Paun and T, instructing them to head back to the main hold. He was to help her assess the void sword and discuss possibilities.


    Be-thric patted Ts head affectionately. You continue to deliver, my Eskau.


    T was proud of her self-control.


    She didnt consider striking him in return.


    She didnt even flinch away. Instead, she channeled Talis memories and neuro-pathways. She bowed to the retreating Pirs, directly behind Be-thric. Thank you, Pir Be-thric.


    No bowing, remember? But he patted her head again, clearly pleased.


    She nodded. As you wish.


    Good, good. Its time we upgraded your gear. Your worth grows every day, my Eskau, and that de <em>might</em> be just the thing to enhance your weapon.


    Paun turned, eyebrows climbing. Pir Be-thric? I will not insult you by asking if you know the dangers, but are you sure?


    Be-thric waved the Eskau down. I simply ask that the two of you confer with Thorn and experts on the subject. Don''t take any action until we can discuss it.


    Paun nodded, but he still seemed unconvinced.


    After that Be-thric and Sanguis headed towards the City Lords keep, apparently they had business to be about.


    Paun and T turned back towards the House of Bloods hold.


    Eskau Paun?


    Yes, Eskau Tali?


    There was a <em>lot</em> that you failed to mention about ether holds.


    Therge man shrugged without slowing his pace. Tradition and my instructions dictated I remain cryptic.


    She grimaced, then shook her head and sighed. Fine. So? Can you tell me more now?


    He nced her way, then shrugged again. Not much to tell. Every ether hold is vastly different. You already know themonalities.


    Breathable air, ground to walk on, at least at the entrance, and a core.


    Precisely. Beyond that, they vary extremely. Some have creatures within, some dont. Of those that do, some of the creatures conform to what we know of how living beings should function, others dont. Of those that dont have creatures within them, some are undefended, others have intricate traps, still others have puzzles, and so on.


    Still She wanted to ask if they were really infinitely variable, but that isnt something that Tali would ask.


    He shook his head. One of the stranger ones Ive ovee was filled with creatures of gas. I could only see them as distortions in the air around me. They couldnt be killed, and I simply had to endure as I searched for the core.


    Endure?


    Their touch was like steam, or acid, or a chill deeper than the deepest winter. Each was different, and each was intent on forcing their way into my flesh to bring about destruction. He smiled wistfully. That was a challenging hold.


    Surely that wasnt entertaining to you?


    It wasnt a good fight, no, but it tested my mind. I had to think in new ways and ovee adversity. He shook himself as if invigorated. What is life but the constant struggle to improve oneself? The day you fail to do so, the day you stop, is the day you die, even if it takes years for your heart to stop beating afterwards.


    She didnt have an answer to that.


    Now, did your dwarf remain in your sanctum or will we need to hunt him down back in the main hold?


    He is in the main holds library, seeking advice on what volumes to add to my own.


    Paun grunted. A wise use of time. I would have killed to have a servant such as he when I first was raised.


    The obsidian skinned man turned to her, grabbing her shoulder in a surprising gentle, but still firm, grip.


    Treat him well. He will be an asset to you and the House for centuries if properly cultivated in the role of adjunct to an Eskau.


    T cocked her head, considering. Finally, she nodded. I think youre right. He is too useful to take for granted.


    <em>It might be worthwhile, trying to figure out a way to get him to defect, help me get free, ande with me back to the humannds.</em>


    <em>-We also need a n as to how we can kill him if he tries to stop our escape.-</em>


    Truthfully, T didnt know which would be harder.

 Chapter 225: Internal Monologue

    Chapter 225: Internal Monologue


    T sat upon her throne within Kit. She was surrounded by an eclectic mix of items that had, apparently, been within the ether hold. Even so, that was not where her mind was focused.


    While so closely connected with her sanctum, sitting upon the throne, she could feel that the ceiling within Kit was noticeably higher than it had been.


    <em>We gained a few extra feet of sky.</em>


    <em>-And took another step closer to getting home.-</em>


    <em>We did at that. Just a few more protian weapons for Be-thric; then, well head home and drop the might of a human city on his head.</em>


    <em>-Yeah. That is definitely the obvious solution. As soon as were within a few miles of a human city, Ill be able to connect to the Archive and coordinate, at least in theory.-</em>


    T felt a smile pull at her lips, and she looked down at the box across herp. <em>Until then, we just need to keep our head down, gain everything we can, knowledge and books included, and freedom will be ours without having toe up with or execute any crazy n.</em>


    The weapon, contained on herp, was an interesting one. <em>I dont suppose this could deal with the cor and let us go home sooner?</em>


    <em>-I dont see how it could.-</em>


    <em>What about meshed with Flow, so we could take on the consuming properties?</em>


    <em>-While thats interesting, I think it would be incredibly inadvisable.-</em>


    T thought for a moment, then huffed augh and shook her head. <em>Because my scripts arent a part of me, and would therefore be subject to the draining effects, too.</em>


    <em>-Exactly, and even if we could aspect mirror its power to hit the cor all at once, I honestly dont know what it would do. It would be just as likely to activate the cor, leading to a painful death, as disable or destroy the thing.-</em>


    <em>Dasganachs have to be susceptible to magics, and this sword thing definitely feels like it should work.</em>


    <em>-In theory, it </em>might<em>, but is it worth the risk, when theres an uing, perfectly viable means of getting free? Besides, from the reaction to the sword, items like this arent unheard of. I cant imagine the creator of the cor didnt ount for things like them.-</em>


    <em>I suppose.</em>


    <em>-I actually think that triggering a bunch of ending seeds around our neck would have a higher chance of sess, but it would also blow away your inscriptions, likely even your active ones, if there were sufficient power to effect the cor quickly enough to be effective.-</em>


    <em>Iron paint under the seeds? That would help direct the power outward.</em>


    <em>-Again, it </em>might<em> work, but the risks are far, </em>far<em> higher than our current n.</em>


    <em>Yeah, to ovee a half-hallowed level of reinforcement, I cant see iron paint doing more than helping a bit.</em>


    <em>-And so, youd still be affected.-</em>


    <em>So, Id be headless, without healing scripts.</em>


    <em>-Most people just call that dead.-</em>


    T barked augh at that.


    Thron, whod been working off to one side, sorting through some of the loot, gave her a searching look. Are you alright, Eskau Tali?


    Tali.


    The dwarf gave a half smile, and his tone and bearing were both a lot less formal as he continued. Right, of course. You alright, Tali?


    Yeah, just talking to myself, thinking through some things.


    He grunted. Must be quite the internal monologue.


    T shrugged.


    So, whats it like in your head? He grinned, lifting one hand to mimic a mouth. h, h, h, arent I so lucky? h, h, h, I should give Thorn a raise.


    T chuckled, then decided to tease him in return, Wait, youre paid?


    He gave her a good-naturedly incredulous look. Did you think I stay around because of your winning personality?


    It was her turn to grunt. <em>Yeah, Talis the worst</em> Thats fair.


    He hesitated, seeming a bit taken aback. Then, heughed, seeming to take her statement as a continuation of the joke. With a shake of his head, he seemed to decide that the jokes were at an end. In all seriousness, loyalty and pragmatism keeps me around, thats for certain, but the pay makes everything easier.


    Loyalty? She smirked. Hed spoken a bit about his desire to repay debts, but that didnt really strike her as loyalty, per se.


    The dwarf shrugged. You could have killed Gallof, but you gave me a chance to surrender. I owe him a lot, and you allowed me to repay his kindness. Beyond that, you epted our request to serve. It is most often Eskau that block such pleas, and you did not.


    That made T feel a bit guilty on several counts. <em>I didnt really think of objecting, and I didnt actually spare Gallof</em>


    <em>-Well, Tali was the one running the show at the time.-</em>


    <em>Really?</em> She thought back, and realized that she couldnt really remember whod been in charge. She knew that shed been acting like Tali, then, but she couldnt say with certainty that Tali had been in charge.


    -<em>She was.-</em>


    That made T feel even worse. If anything that made Thron loyal to Tali, not her. Thorn?


    Yes, Tali? He looked up from the tome.


    Do youbegrudge my victory?


    He shrugged. As I said, my previous master is alive, as am I, so no.


    She hesitated, grimacing slightly despite herself.


    Tali?


    Her grimace fully manifested. Well


    <em>-T, what are you doing?-</em>


    <em>I feel bad. He should know that I was bluffing when I threatened Gallofwell, Tali was bluffing.</em>


    <em>-What purpose would that serve? She would never tell him.-</em>


    <em>It would make me feel less awful for deceiving him, and I am </em>not<em> her. </em>Do you want to know a secret?


    <em>-You are all over the ce today, T. What is going one with you?-</em>


    <em>I just fought through a not-swamp filled with not-zombies, t. Things are feeling a little crazy</em>


    <em>-Fine, fine. You do what you think is best. He probably wont turn against us and make escaping harder.-</em>


    T ignored the sarcasm and focused on the dwarf.


    He gave her a t look. Absolutely not.


    <em>-Oh. I did not expect that.-</em>


    She hesitated, her mouth already open to tell him. OhOkay.


    tughed inside her head. <em>-I take it all back. I like him.-</em>


    <em>You liked him before.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, I know. But youre right. We should find a way to bring him along, if he wants. Hed be fun and useful to have around.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, if he wants. Though, that might be really unlikely.</em>


    Thron seemed to see how off-guard his answer had taken her, so he took the initiative and moved the conversation along. Back to the subject of pay. Even though I was joking, it is rather important that you know the details. I imagine you arent very familiar with power taxes and the benefit of working for a major House?


    Aside from the honor of it? Tali would be proud, though T had to fight off a grimace.


    Thats true too, of course.but he waved the sentiment away"Now, members of houses are paid with power both directly and indirectly. Everyone in the city pays a t tax to ess the ambient magic in the air. For servants and members, thats covered by the House of Blood. In addition, the power within the main hold is denser than that in the city atrge, if only by a little. That within the holds of minor houses, and other organizations, usually lies between that of the city and the major House holds. Being in a higher density of power improves vitality, longevity, health, and a whole host of other things.


    T found herself nodding. That made a lot of sense. <em>How much are those benefits worth on their own? Throw in food and shelter, and very little other pay would likely be necessary for most.</em>


    For me personally, ess to your sanctum and its resources is a boon, and then, theres this guy. Thron patted his pocket. I have the use of this fount, though he still belongs to you, officially. His power has a richness, a uniformity that I''m not used to. Im used to magicing from multiple sources and blending all together. Even when I had a protian weapon, the power was solely used for the weapon itself, rather than being purified or attuned to me. Having a single source is a treat.


    Theres a difference?


    Yes and no. The power is just a bitsmoother. Most of the time, power takes a long, long time to fully deaspect, and it isnt worth the time or effort to make it truly pure. The infinitesimal impurities can sh, but not harmfully so. Thus, having a single source is slightly more pleasant. Thats all.


    Huh. That was simply something that she would never have to deal with. <em>I am my own single source.</em> That did bring the fount back to mind, however. How is Rob? I havent heard him this afternoon.


    Hes holding to our agreement. I dont let him be a toy, he stays quiet.the dwarf looked aroundWhere is our terror bird, friend?


    Hes off hunting. I expect hell be back soon, though. T considered as she looked at the lump that was Rob in Throns pocket. Really? Hes been quiet?


    Yes.he hesitated, then sighedWell, quieter. When the librarian told me that if I was too loud hed have to kill meobviously jokingRob here started screaming and begging to be destroyed. He almost got me thrown out.


    Thron red down at his pocket.


    Rob made a petnt, whimpering grunt, but didnt say anything.


    Managed to quiet em, else Id not have all those. He gestured to the boxes of books hed tucked in one section of the quadrant. So, about your internal conversation, do you want to bounce ideas off of someone else?


    T considered the offer. She did need to talk through a few things, and as amazing as t was, talking to her meant that T was still literally talking with herself.


    -<em>Yeah, thats fair.-</em>


    Paun had promised to send an artificer their way before he left T in her sanctum a few hours earlier, so they should be arriving rtively soon.


    The entrance to Kit was now in one of the main gardens, and the servants were aware of its exact location. That meant that the artificer would have no trouble finding her.


    While Be-thric had asked Paun to consult on the use of the void sword, he didnt actually hold authority over the Eskau.


    Paun had simple promised to send the expert and given one bit of advice before departing, Most would say send items of the void back to the void. I say such a weapon unused is a battle lost before its even begun. You will never achieve true greatness without risk.


    T sighed,ing back to the moment at hand and addressing the dwarf. What do you think about binding a void sword to my weapon?


    Thron stood and walked over. He looked at the ground to one side and in front of her. It was free of odd items, that space having been cleared earlier. May I modify your dais, here? Ill avoid the magics for reinscription.


    Sure? She really had no idea what he was nning on doing.


    He smiled and sat a bit away from her, in front and to her right. There was the momentary sound of sizzling, and he sank slightly. Ahh, there we go. Thats morefortable.


    T cocked her head. Did you just erode a seat into that stone?


    Thron shrugged. Yeah. t stone isnt veryfortable.


    <em>Well, I suppose he did ask.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, youve no call to be annoyed. What did you think he was going to do?-</em>


    <em>I honestly have no idea.</em> As funny as it was, with his legs crossed before him, he was so <em>small.</em><em>Like an oversized catapult stone.</em>


    <em>-No one would use something so beautiful as a siege projectile.-</em>


    T had to admit that t was right. The almost iridescent green skin still struck her as resembling nothing so much as an unpolished gem, and his true-silver hair and beard made him closely resemble an expensive statue of a wise mentor.


    Thron shifted slightly, ruining statue-illusion.


    <em>Well, I did just fight a bunch of moving statues.</em>


    <em>-But the metaphor was a statue, not a moving statue.-</em>


    <em>Fair, fair.</em>


    There was another sizzle, then Thron nodded to himself. Now, your weapon is soul-bound, right? Thats the term?


    T checked and, yes, Tali knew that term. Yeah.


    Honestly, I dont think Id want my soul bound to the void, in whatever form. Magic is a grueling taskmaster, Tali, and the power we use can and does change us.


    She considered her Bound ceremony, and the choices shed made while improving her equipment. T found herself nodding. I know, Thorn. I really do.


    Terry chose that moment to return, flickering into being on Ts shoulder.


    Rob gasped, but otherwise didnt make a sound.


    Terry cocked his head, staring at Throns pocket.


    T tapped the bird on the beak. Terry, leave the little orb alone.


    Terry squawked derisively, headbutted T, and curled up.


    Thron grinned. Hes under my protection, tiny terror. Youd have better luck hunting in the city.


    Terry lifted his head and looked between the two of them. He then looked towards the defensive bunker, in which the exity before letting out a questioning trill.


    T quickly shook her head. No, Terry. Thats not a challenge or invitation. Dont hunt in the city.


    The terror bird squawked once and curled back up.


    Thron gave Terry another searching look. I dont know if I should be concerned by that creature, or think his ambition is cute.


    Terry lifted his head, regarding Thron levelly, with a clearly implied assertion of superiority.


    Thron met his gaze levelly. You may be strong, little terror, but Im betting you dont y well with acid.


    Terry seemed to hesitate at that. Finally, he let out a collection of seemingly random squawks before curling back up.


    The dwarf straightened slightly and seemed to be working to hide a smile. Now, as you were saying, Tali?


    <em>Right, the void sword. </em>I feel like it would be a useful tool.


    Only if you could control it, and that depends on the exact nature of its magics.


    How <em>can</em> it sustain itself, by the way? Theres no power source, and its contained, so it cant be draining power from the environment.


    Thron shrugged. Good question for the artificer, I suppose.


    T sat.


    And Thron sat.


    And they were silent.


    For a long minute.


    Well, Im going to look through another book. Hed been alternating between sifting through the loot from the ether hold and the books hed gotten from the House of Bloods main library.


    T nodded. And I need to be practicing my aura-control.


    He smiled as he walked to grab a book. It does seem to be getting better.


    I havent made that much progress. She sighed.


    You havent had that long to progress. Youre doing well. He gave her a reassuring smile.


    She felt herself smile in return. He really was a kind and useful servant. <em>You know, Im probably going to have to kill you, one day. I wont spare you if it costs me my freedom.</em>


    <em>-What the rust? Thats dark, T. Why would he oppose you?-</em>


    <em>Youre the one who said we need to figure out how to kill him at need.</em>


    <em>-But not right after he was kind! Who thinks about how to kill a man who justplimented you? Honestly, did you dye your hair at some point?-</em>


    T frowned. <em>What? I dont think I understand. What does the color of my hair have to do with anything?</em>


    <em>-It doesnt matter. So, what brought it to mind?-</em>


    <em>I dont know. I just feel like hes going to be there when everything goes down.</em>


    <em>-Time will tell, I suppose.-</em>


    Thron was looking around himself, at the piles of random items, then down at the book in his hands. I should probably get back to it.


    What have you found so far? She found herself curious.


    He tapped the book against his open palm, considering. Quite a few silver bars, a handful of gold coins, a small mountain of copper, some mundane weaponry, a couple of books innguages I cant read, things like that.


    T perked up. Oh? What is generally done with the harvests from an ether hold?


    Thron gave her a level look. They are generally very minimal and simply given to the Pir of the House. In the rare cases where there is a substantial harvest, and this would likely qualify, the Eskau is entitled to ten percent of the haul.


    <em>Tenpercent?</em> Her eye twitched.


    -<em>Calm, T. Tali would be ecstatic to be adding to the wealth of the House.-</em>


    <em>I know</em> She tried to portray sincerity as she said, Thats amazing! Im d that the House will be strengthened, and that I will be granted anything at all.


    Thron smiled. My advice will be to forgo all of your share, and ask for the void sword, assuming the artificer gives us good news.


    T considered. That was likely a wise course, honestly. At the moment, she had no need of material wealth, as Be-thric was showering her with anything capable of improving her in abundance. <em>And the precious metals provided for my reinscribing would cover most, if not all of my debts when I get home.</em>


    -<em>If you dont use them up on the way.-</em>


    She looked back to the dwarf, and noticed he had a bit of reluctance in his eyes. He had been at the sorting and intermittent reading for hours.


    <em>I can offer him a break. I could probably use one, too. </em>Do you want to take a break and spar?


    He regarded her for a moment, then nodded, smiling. That would be nice. We can see how well youve progressed in your control.


    Oh? She stood along with him.


    Of course. If you cant break my hold on the space around me, you wontnd a single blow.


    * * *


    T screamed through clenched teeth as part of her hand vanished <em>again</em>, spraying blood at the dwarf. That blood also vanished before it couldnd.


    Her flesh knit back together as she pulled her fist back.


    Ive told you, Tali. You must break my hold, else youll encounter corrosion that even your impressive physiology cannot withstand.


    <em>How is he getting through my defenses? The magics involved should be </em>precisely<em> opposed to his own.</em>


    Hed proven his protection effective, time and time again. He hadnt bothered to fall into a fighting stance or even raise his hands defensively, and yet he was perfectly safe.


    <em>Assuming I dont use my weapon.</em>


    <em>-Well, you arent actually trying to kill him, not now.-</em>


    T knew that; she really did. She also knew that this was good training, but that didnt actually make it any more pleasant.


    They were standing on Ts training circle, within her sanctum. Pools of slowly moving water surrounded them, save for a single bridge that allowed easy ess.


    In truth, she could have just left over the water, but it was nice to have the bridge all the same.


    -<em>Why dont you ask him? He should know how his power works, after all.-</em>


    There was no reason not to, so she did, How are you able to erode my flesh so easily? My magics are directly opposed to dissolution magics.


    I embody the concept of corrosion.


    T waited for more, but it didnt seem to be forting. What does that actually mean?


    He hesitated for a moment, then shrugged. I dont actually affect your flesh magically, not really. I simply magically expose it to the concept of physical corrosion. If I embodied <em>true</em> corrosion, I would be practically invincible, but magic can get through my aspected aura with ease.


    He grinned, then.


    Thats why I have other methods of defense, but thats hardly important at the moment.


    Does that mean that something uncorrodible would be able to get through?


    He shook his head. Not at all. My aura would still show it how to degrade, and it would.


    That seems broken.


    Broken?


    Too powerful. It doesnt even seem like youre expending power.


    Thats because Im not. Im cycling my power within myself, allowing it to radiate with the concept of corrosion, or acid, and that permeates my aura, providing the effect.


    See? Thats broken. Thats too powerful.


    He chuckled. Do you mean unfair?


    Yeah, unfair works, too.


    Says the woman with an infinite well of magic within her very soul.


    T hesitated for a moment. Ahh, thatsthats fair.


    Hardly. I find it incredibly <em>un</em>fair that you effectively never have to be concerned about running out of power.


    Fine, fine. We each have something broken about ourselves.


    Thus, unfairness is fair.


    Sheughed, and he grinned in return.


    She then punched at him.


    Instead of the hitnding, T fell back cursing and suppressing another scream.


    I did tell you that it was passively generated. Surprise is not a factor.


    She growled as her hand restored itself. You might have been lying.


    True, but I wasnt.


    She sighed, shaking out her arm. <em>It was worth a try</em>


    Again?


    She nodded, firming her resolve. Again.

 Chapter 226: The One to Seize

    Chapter 226: The One to Seize


    T and Thron sparred for nearly an hour, T refusing to give up.


    In truth, sparred is a bit generous.


    Thron patiently stood in the center of the training circle, giving pointers and asionally politely suggesting that they try other means of practice.


    T listened to his advice, attempted to implement it, then threw her aura against his, and tried to hit him.


    She had enough control of her own body that she never lost more than a hand to each attempted blow.


    Of course, that still hurt.


    After the first couple of times, Thron had suggested that they look for another way to train, but T had refused. Apparently, hed wanted her to experience the real consequences of aura control inbat, but he hadnt really expected her to use this as a method of practice.


    <em>-Why not try meditation? We can focus on control and then try againter.-</em>


    <em>I want to seed, t. Im tired of being in my own head, only pulled out when I have to do something. I want to </em>do<em> something that helps me and only me.</em>


    <em>-Study, internal practice, and meditation is doing something for you. Its not physical, but every step you take to improve is a step forward.-</em>


    T growled as her aura slipped slightly and her entire left fist was burned away before she pulled her punch back.


    Thron tilted his head. Tali? What was that?


    As her fist regrew, she came back into a fighting stance. Nothing.


    He held up his hands. Wait a moment. Whats going on? While I wouldnt choose your methods, you are making excellent progress. Whatever that was, though? That was sloppy. Whats going on?


    T hesitated, then let her fists fall to her sides. I feel like


    The dwarf waited, not pressing the human and allowing her to pull her thoughts together.


    I feel like Im just treading water. Im not moving towards my goal?


    Thron nodded, sitting down on the t, textured stone. And what is that goal?


    She threw her hands up. She was frustrated, but she was present enough in the moment to pull the reasoning from Tali, and how she would respond. I want to improve, and Im at a bottleneck until we get the method from the wild humans to the north.


    He nodded in response but didnt say anything.


    I know that every protian weapon we capture for Pir Be-thric gets us closer to that goal, but it just feels like Im along for the ride. I want to <em>DO</em> something.


    I can understand that.


    She huffed a shortugh. Oh?


    No one of quality wants their fate in others'' hands, and you feel like youre not steering your own destiny right now. Youre learning the ropes as an Eskau, you''re out of your element in wider society, there are no others of your kind who are peers to your station. You are alone, flung into the unknown, and while you see great thingsing your way, you want to be the one to seize those rewards, yourself.


    Exactly! She threw up her hands and started pacing.


    Okay.


    She stopped mid-step. What?


    Okay.


    What do you mean?


    I mean, Ive been handling the scheduling of your duties, specifically dying them to allow you to settle in. I apologize for dying overmuch. My intention was to let you have the space you needed to practice and just be. He shrugged. Lets change that. Starting tomorrow, I can bring you the options for the day, and we can pick your schedule together.


    He hesitated for a moment.


    Well, the big things we should discuss the evening before. Would that work for you?


    T was a bit taken aback. Really?


    Of course. If I werent here, this would be up to you, regardless. Though, I dont know of any Eskau who doesnt get an adjunct fairly quickly to help with scheduling of duties.


    She felt a smile pull at her face. That sounds excellent. I think I could really use a bit more hand in choosing my tasks.


    Then, it shall be. He pushed himself back to his feet. Now, will we continue this training? Or are you willing to consider a less painful method.


    She considered for a moment. How is my progresspared to what youd expect?


    He grimaced. Aside from thatst attempt. You are moving much faster than Id expect.


    How likely is it that thats just because of me?


    He sighed. Unlikely. Visceral feedback almost always leads to quicker improvement, so long as it isnt overwhelming, or painful to the point that it causes you to shy away.


    She smiled. Alright then. Lets do this.


    T focused on her aura once more. Per Throns advice, she didnt try to im the territory around him, directly.


    Instead, she hardened her own authority around herself, bending her will and her magical weight to reinforcing her sovereignty over herself.


    Then, she punched at him.


    T managed to suppress all parts of her reaction to the pain, even as Thron nodded. Good, that was much better. Are you willing to modify the training, while keeping your feedback?


    She looked down as the skin on her knuckles regrew. Im open to the idea.


    Simply extend your hand towards me and watch the interactions of our auras. Push forward slowly, and see what happens.


    <em>Yeah, that actually makes sense. Go slow to see whats happening.</em>


    <em>-Instead of continuing to punch a stone wall, and wonder why our knuckles are bloody?-</em>


    <em>Wisdom, thy name is t.</em>


    t snorted augh within Ts head.


    Now out of her fighting stance, T lifted her hand, palm towards Thron, and reached for him.


    Her mage-sight was focused on their conflicting auras.


    To her surprise, she saw that his didnt harden, it didnt push outward. It just was.


    Hers corroded as it came in contact with his.


    <em>I dont know what I expected. Thats what I was feeling.</em>


    <em>-Yeah but we associated the corrosion with our flesh more than with our magics.-</em>


    She stopped her hands movement, and just flexed her aura, hardening it, softening it, moving it around, and just ying with it in general.


    In the end, shed progressed quite a bit.


    At the start, her flesh had vanished a good six inches from the dwarf. When they had to stop, it was closer to two inches. That was quite a bit more progress than it seemed. It became exponentially harder to maintain control of the area around her hand, when near a hostile aura, the closer T got to her opponent.


    She knew that both from the current bout of training as well as her earlier training with the group of Archons in Bandfast. Though, in Bandfast she had moved her own aura, rather than fixing it to herself, and using her own movements to breach the hostile authority.


    <em>And, they never had this solid of a lock on the space around themselves.</em>


    <em>-They also werent Fused, or Mature as the arcanes call the level.-</em>


    <em>Thats true enough.</em> Thron was solidly orange to her mage-sight. Hed exined that he would require her permission, as well as Be-thrics, to advance. She was inclined to allow it, once she was able to breach his defenses, as having an increasingly difficult challenge would only help with her own improvement.


    Terry had spent the entire time floating around on the surface of the surrounding water, moving with the subtle currents to slowly circle them without any effort.


    But Ts training came to an end when she felt the door within her entrance bunker open. She suppressed the defenses within, to prevent any unfortunate ident.


    Hes here.


    Thron immediately nodded and turned towards the bridge. We should wee him.


    While Thron took the closest bridge over the water around the training circle, T dove into it. She quickly retracted her clothing as she moved through the water, mirroring her elk-leathers self-cleaning to allow the water to clean herself quickly. The clothing grew back across her just before she vaulted out onto the stone at the outside edge. With a marginal effort of will, shed maintained the mirror, causing the water to cascade off of her, even as she hopped in ce a couple of times.


    -<em>Thats effective, I suppose. Couldnt you have just mirrored the self-cleaning without the dip in the pond?-</em>


    <em>Of course, but then Id have been shed a bunch of grime onto the training circle.</em>


    <em>-Wouldnt Kit have just taken it away?-</em>


    <em>Right. Well, the water was nice.</em> Also, shed probably have had to strip, and shed not have enjoyed doing that even behind Throns back.


    <em>-Thats true. Arcanes dont really seem to have a nudity taboo, but it still might have been odd. The water did feel nice, too.</em>-


    As the water sshed onto the ground around T, Terry lifted his head from where he was drifting past. He briefly red Ts way beforeying back into his watery repose.


    T smiled at the terror bird and left him to his rxation.


    She and Thron walked into the central courtyard just as the artificer came out of the building.


    The hue-folk male was light-brown skinned, the color enough off of flesh colored that he was unlikely to be mistaken as human. His hair was the same color, which likely helped prevent confusion. His power ced him solidly in the Honored rank, the power within and around him green to Ts mage-sight.


    It was all T could do not to gape. <em>How many people of the upper-middle ranks are there in arcane cities?</em>


    <em>-Based on what Master Jevin and Master Xeel said, </em>a<em></em>lot<em>.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, Im starting to realize exactly what that means. It seems like basically everyone of consequence is more powerful than most of humanity.</em> An instantter, she amended. <em>More powerful than most human </em>Archons, <em>honestly.</em>


    She was pulled from her contemtions when the hue-folk males eyes turned to her.


    Oh! There you are. He bowed. Eskau Tali, I presume?


    She nodded in return. I am, yes. And this is my adjunct, Thorn.


    The artificer bowed to Thron as well, if slightly less deeply.


    <em>Hes bowing to the title, and the association with the House of Blood. There is no way hed defer to us if we werent associated with the House of Blood.</em>


    <em>-Just another benefit of working with a major House. Tali was certainly ecstatic.-</em>


    <em>He doesnt seem to care about my race in the slightest. Do you think it is the same reason?</em>


    <em>-Likely. What he cares about is performing a service for our House. Im sure there are those who wouldnt work with a human, there have to be at least some, but most likely wont care-</em>


    <em>I feel like we should be able to use that</em>


    tughed within Ts head. <em>-What? Establish the House of Humanity? Force them to recognize the power of the human race?-</em>


    <em>Its not the worst idea Ive ever had, but probably something above our rank to deal with.</em>


    The internal exchange had taken barely a few seconds, and as the artificer stood straight once more, he introduced himself, Well met. I am Cerdai. Eskau Paun of the House of Blood sought me out and requested that Ie to consult on a void item. Am I in the correct location?


    Indeed.


    The dais was empty of items as the loot from the ether hold had been stored away for the time being.


    Cerdais wasnt looking that way at the moment, so T made her desires clear to Kit through their magical connection, and the box containing the void box came into being atop the stone without sound, magical fluctuation, or other indication.


    T gestured to the previously empty dais.


    Cerdai turned to look, taking in the box with apparent surprise. Oh! Good, you have it properly contained. He was nodding to himself. May I?


    Of course.


    As Cerdai stepped forward, power swirled around him, quickly forming an infinite loop of intricately intermeshed power in a shell closely hugging his skin.


    T <em>felt</em> something from it, just like shed begun to feel corrosion from Thron.


    <em>The stability of change?</em>


    It made no sense to her at all.


    -<em>Really? Gravity is a constant eleration, if we dont alter it. That is a change that is stable.-</em>


    T blinked at that. <em>Oh, wow. Yeah, that makes total sense.</em>


    Cerdais power hadnt felt connected with gravity, but now that t had made the connection, T could<em> feel</em> how gravity was rted? Yeah, that was the right word.


    <em>Concepts are so broken</em>


    When Cerdai opened the box, his magics twisted to create a second area of containment sealed off from the one in which he was, but still created by the same twisting spell-form.


    There were flickers of power within the mesh of magic as the artificer was apparently doing a preliminary investigation. Ahh, I see. It is still fresh. That is good. He looked their way. I require some time to examine it properly. Would you like me to take it with me and return, or do my work, here?


    She nced towards Thron, but he gave no reaction. <em>Id probably prefer it stay here. </em>I think here is just fine.


    As you wish.


    Do you require a separate space to work?


    No, this will be just fine.


    T caught movement at Cerdais feet, and he looked down.


    A cat wove its way between his legs. Oh, hello, kitty.


    He smiled and the cat looked up, purring.


    Those are very pretty eyes you have.


    <em>Its back.</em> She looked closely at it with her mage-sight, but she didnt see anything unusual about it. No unexined magics, no unusual densities. It just looked like a cat.


    A cat that was utterly ignoring her in favor of the most power dense thing in the sanctum.


    <em>-Well, thats disappointing.-</em>


    <em>It could be disguised in some way weve no way to prate?</em>


    <em>-Thats always possible of anything, everything, and everyone.-</em>


    <em>Fair, fair.</em> That didnt really make her feel better, but it did make sense. She couldnt waste time on things she couldnt possibly know for sure.


    Thron was also regarding the cat, but he looked more curious than suspicious.


    <em>Though, its a bit hard to distinguish emotions on his inhuman face.</em> While talking with the dwarf, she often forgot his inhuman nature. He seemed to have a very simr culture to T, herself, it seemed, with a bit of Talis perspective if she were being honest. Thron was raised as a ve and had risen to be more.


    <em>Just like humanity as a whole, now that I consider it.</em>


    Suddenly, the cat perked up, then turned and ran away, around the dais.


    A momentter, Terry flickered into being on Ts shoulder, looking around with a gaze that reminded T of a predator searching for prey orpetition?


    <em>-The cat doesnt seem to like Terry.-</em>


    <em>And it seems to have some way of knowing hesing.</em> But that was a mystery for another time. Cerdai?


    Hmm? Hed watched the cat leave, and now was already refocused on the item in his hands.


    How long do you need?


    Id say about an hour.


    Is there anything that you want or need from us?


    No, no. Ive got what I need. As he was speaking, he flicked his wrist and a tool appeared within it. He used the silvery pick to prod the void sword.


    Alright. Let us know if anythinges to mind.


    Yes, yes. He said it with a smile, but it was clearly a dismissal. He hadnt seemed to notice Terrys arrival at all. If he had, he didnt seem to mind one way or other.


    With a shrug, T turned and walked into themon area of her sanctum, motioning for Thron to follow.


    As they entered through therge archway, she spoke. Im going to work on my aura control and the magic nest. I want you to observe and givementary.


    As my Eskaumands.


    She thought for a moment, then shook her head. But first, please arrange for some food. I pulled quite a bit from my reserves, regrowing my hands so many times.


    He grinned broadly, showing off broad, t teeth.


    <em>I never noticed before. He doesnt have canines, or cutting teeth at the front. Hes not a herbivore right?</em> No, shed seen him eat meat.


    I did tell you your way wasnt the best.


    She shrugged. I can only really eat if my reserves are low, and they were pretty close to full. Thus, this is actually better.


    He shrugged. I will go get food. Can you move the entrance in here?


    She waved a hand, apletely unnecessary gesture, but it was fun. The exit appeared in one of the dining room walls.


    With another bow, Thron departed.


    It was effortless for T to maintain the entrance and exits new location as she sat in one of thefier chairs off to one side, looking out over her sanctum.


    She reached out and took the magic nest from the air as Kit brought it to her hand.


    Thank you, Kit.


    The sanctum did not respond.


    Well, then. Lets get this done.


    Terry looked at the item, a smug glint in his eye.


    Yes, yes, you are very wonderful, and I have a long way to go to catch up.


    He trilled happily before nuzzling into her cheek.


    Thank you, Terry.


    Without further dy, she set to work.

 Chapter 227: Understanding

    Chapter 227: Understanding


    T sat, screaming internally at the stupid magic nest in her hand.


    It felt like it was being purposely difficult.


    For whatever reason, within the magic nest, she had great difficulty making her magic turn left. And as she continued, the magic nest seemed to be incorporating more left bends the longer she practiced with it.


    <em>Why is it so much harder within the nest?</em>


    <em>-It seems like theres greater resistance than under normal circumstances.-</em>


    T nodded to herself. <em>So, it amplifies any deficiencies, to allow and force improvement?</em>


    <em>-That would be my guess, yes.-</em>


    <em>HuhWell, it seems like my magic isnt an ambiturner, then.</em>


    <em>-What?-</em>


    <em>It can only turn one way, like ambidextrous but for directionality.</em>


    <em>-Thats not a thing.-</em>


    <em>Ambidextrousness is very much a thing.</em>


    <em>-Thats not-</em> t hesitated. -<em>Wait</em><em>Youre messing with me?-</em>


    She grinned. <em>And here I thought you could read my mind before I expressed things to you.</em>


    <em>-Of course, I </em>can<em> but I try not to. It makes for boring conversations.-</em>


    T thought about it and realized the obvious: t could only talk to T, so of course shed want those conversations to actually bemeaningful?


    <em>Fair enough.</em> There was also the fact that t had promised to try not to peak in on all her thoughts, at least not all the time. It was nice of the alternate interface to have working at doing just that.


    Thron cleared his throat. Talking to yourself again?


    T started, jerking slightly. What?


    Youre talking to yourself again, right?


    What makes you think that?


    Youre making odd faces.


    T paled slightly. She didnt realize that she had such an obvious tell. <em>What now? I obviously cant admit to having another me in my head.</em>


    <em>-He has no reason to suspect that, T. Just act natural.-</em>


    <em>Ohright.</em> You dont emote when youre thinking?


    Not soexpressively, or animatedly. It really does look like Im watching you talk to someone else, but much too fast to be reasonable.


    -<em>Wellrust. Thats irritating.-</em>


    Yeah, Im talking to myself.


    He gave her an odd look. You know that I am right here, if you need to bounce ideas off someone. The offer seemed genuine, and not petnt as T might have expected.


    Thron was sincerely interested in assisting her, if she wanted the help. I know. If need be, Ill bounce things off of you. Sometimes its easier to process internally, though.


    Very well.


    T shifted, feeling her stomach rumble. When is the next mealing, by the way?


    He gave her a skeptical look, then nced towards the clean dining table. You just finished thest meal around a quarter of an hour ago.


    It wasnt that recentlywas it?


    Well, I was done more than half an hour ago, but you brought thest bits over with you to continue practicing.


    T nced to side table beside her chair.


    She did vaguely remember doing as Thron said. <em>Those were really, </em>really<em> good sausages</em>


    She sighed. Even so, Im still hungry.


    He sighed in turn, but he was also smiling a bit ruefully. The artificer will be done soon. After we talk with him, Ill send for more food.


    Thank you.


    He hesitated. I feel like Im forgetting something.


    She cocked her head. Oh? I cant imagine what it would be. Do we have a duty to perform?


    No.


    A delivery iing?


    No.


    Appointments?


    No. He seemed to be getting annoyed with himself.


    Well, I dont think either of us can magic up the answer.


    His eyes widened. Oh! Right! The test on your power.


    What? T frowned.


    You were proving that your working didnt end.


    Oh! Thats right. She held out her hand, and the two tungsten spheres that shed amplified towards one another appeared on her palm. From what she could see, the effect of attraction towards one another was undiminished. Catch.


    T tossed him the spheres, and Thron easily caught them. He examined each sphere in turn, attempting to pull them apart and failing. He hadnt tried overly hard, but that wasnt the point. This is ridiculous.


    What?


    It doesnt continue to use power? The effect continues without further magical input?


    No power that Im aware of, and I believe so? So, no power from me, at least.


    The little green man grunted. Thats an interesting theory. If we werent in this ce, nearly barren of power, Id say it likely is pulling from the ambient power around it.


    T was, as they spoke, still dumping most of her throughput into the air around herself, and Kit was absorbing it the moment it passed beyond her aura.


    Thron scratched under his beard. As it stands, this is just insane. Do you have any idea what you could do with this?


    Stick things together forever?


    He snorted augh at that. If I understand the description of your powers, you could have a belt attracted to a sphere or other item, while preventing the attraction from working in the other way.


    Thats correct.


    Then, once thats established, you could lift the sphere and the belt would elerate towards it. If that pull had a higher force than gravity acting on you, you could fly. He shook his head in bewilderment. Moreover, with simple constructs you could use that process to empower virtually anything with flight, and since your effect doesnt seem to fade, it would be done without any further need of power, forever. Energy-less movement and support.


    T blinked a few times before vehemently protesting. No! Thats not how gravity works at all.


    But it is how your powers work.


    She felt a weird sort of headache building. That wouldnt work at all. No. Not even a little.


    She shook her head, frowning as she tried to reconcile what he said.


    <em>-Huhyour powers can theoretically cause something that is senseless to you, and so your very being is rejecting the very notion.-</em>


    She groaned, rubbing at her temples. <em>Whats going to happen?</em> T was feeling quite a bit uncertain.


    -<em>Well, it will change your fundamental understanding, break your fundamental understanding, or simply not work, but from what I can guess, the pain will just get worse and worse until you verify which.-</em>


    <em>Can we go back?</em>


    <em>-I mean I could erase the memory, but that seems like it would be setting a bad precedent, and Im not actually sure it would work. Your fundamental understanding is core to who you are, its not just about memory.-</em>


    T growled. Rust you, Thron. Now, I have to try it, or Im going to break something.


    Thron started slightly at the use of his real name, but he didnt say anything as T tossed the magic nest aside. The thing vanished as it arched through the air, whisked away by Kit tosomewhere. T really didnt care where.


    She then stood, calling her tungsten rod to her hands.


    <em>Alright, target my belt, and increase its pull towards the rod.</em>


    She dumped power into the increase, and she and Thron both watched expectantly.


    Even Terry raised his head from the corner where hed curled up on a pillow.


    <em>Where did that pillow evene from?</em> She hadnt really been paying attention to the terror bird.


    Even now, though, it was just a passing thought as T didnt have time nor mental space to contemte that further.


    After a bit, her belt began pulling towards the rod, just as expected. The rod still rested easily in her hands, no added strain detectable.


    <em>Alright, then.</em> She focused on herself, targeting her being. <em>Restrain.</em>


    She lifted off the ground, as expected from that working. She was now nearlypletely untethered from the stone beneath her feet, and she should be incredibly easy to move.


    Then, her belt tried to pull towards the rod, which moved her. Her movement moved the rod, keeping it at an equal distance from the belt.


    T wasnt adding any further power, and there was no magic obvious in the vicinity due to Kits efforts.


    Even so, there was suddenly a weird, stuttering ripple of power through the space between the belt and the rod.


    T felt a spike of pain in her head, then the working shattered, and T was left floating in the air, drifting forward slowly due to the initial pull of the belt. Any thought of that movement as a victory or sess was destroyed by the now overwhelmingly splitting headache.


    Thron grunted. So, I was right, but it still doesnt work.


    T groaned, the pain subsiding slightly. Seems so.


    She altered her perspective and broke the <em>restrain</em> on herself. Her gravity now returned to normal, she dropped to the floor with a muffled thud.


    She massaged her temples, trying to drive away the splitting headache. Gravity doesnt work as a means of propulsion, not like that.


    The dwarf shrugged. It is fascinating how our own magics limit themselves and us. Sometimes it is that very limitation that allows our workings to function at all, and sometimes it makes the seemingly-obviously-possible fail.


    She pulled herself out of her pain enough to look at him questioningly. Oh?


    He nodded. To me, the idea of magic eroding makes no sense, so I cannot directly obliterate spell-forms or things of magic with my concept or power. I work around it, but I know for a fact that others can make magic erode. Though, they have other limitations.


    He chuckled.


    The ending-trees that wemissioned for your sanctuary are capable of such, in fact.


    T had honestly forgotten about those. <em>That was pretty foolish.</em> How did that go, by the way?


    He gave her a searching look, then shrugged. Id thought you would have been to the grove already.


    I havent.


    I understand that now. He grinned back. It is quite something, really. Apletely isted section of your sanctum, so that the trees cannot take over or influence the rest of your private dimension.


    T did remember hearing something about that. Apparently, incorporating an ending-tree grove had nearly doubled the cost of her sanctum creation. Though, Thron had proudly informed her that hed kept them a full twenty percent below budget. That was below the already reduced budget, because they had a dimensional space to begin with.


    She had no idea what anyone else could possibly have wanted that would cost so much more, but shed never cared enough to ask. <em>Maybe when I see the grove.</em>


    She shook her head. But back to the matter at hand. Ive seen magic be eroded by magic from those very trees.


    The dwarf just shrugged. To me? It makes no sense that magic would degrade or erode. Fade? Of course, but corrode? Never.


    Huh.


    Thron seemed to hesitate. I supposeI should probably apologize. I didnt mean to bring your fundamental understanding into doubt, nor to cause you pain by making a suggestion.


    T waved him off. It was a reasonable question. My foundation isnt so weak that a simple query can unseat me.


    He chuckled. By the stars, I certainly hope not.


    It is an odd thing,ing against something that defies our understanding of the world, of our own magic. How did your teachers or trainers exin it to you.


    He cocked his head for a moment. Well, it was like the act of stealing to me.


    What do you mean?


    Well, I conceptually know that people can steal, obviously. Ive even been in situations where I was near death, and stealing would have helped, but it justnever made sense. He shrugged. I cannot conceive of myself stealing. The idea of theft doesnt shake my understanding of myself, and in the same vein, knowing that someone elses power can errode magic does not shake my own understanding of my own power.


    T grunted. Huh. That makes a lot of sense, actually.


    She winced again as another wave of difort rippled through her mind, marking an uptick in the pain.


    Oh, this still hurts. II think I need some quiet.


    Throns response came as a polite whisper. As you wish.


    And so, they sat in silence for a bit longer. Finally, Cerdais voice sounded from out in therge courtyard, echoing through the open archway to reach them. Hello? Would either of you fine folk be avable?


    T and Thron looked at one another before standing at the same time and walking out of the building. The pain was mostly gone, but T was still moving a bit slower than she was used to, letting thest echos fade.


    Ahh, there you are. Greetings once again, Eskau Tali, adjunct Thorn.


    Greetings, Artificer Cerdai. T smiled, despite the lingering ache. What have you determined?


    He patted the box, which was once more closed around the void sword. This weapon is in excellent shape and should be able to bebined with a fount-core weapon to great effect.


    T frowned. What about a soul-bound one?


    Cerdai looked temporarily hesitant. Soul-bound?


    He frowned, scratching the tip of his nose.


    I dont think Ive ever worked with one. He nced her way, his eyes narrowing. Then, a hunger seemed to spark within them. Do you have one that I could examine?


    T hesitated. <em>They may not ever have had the chance. Should I let him?</em>


    <em>-I dont see how we can avoid it, if we want to improve our equipment while in arcanends. We certainly dont have the expertise to do the merging ourselves. Not by an inch or a mile.-</em>


    <em>Thats true enough</em> There was one thing that made her more confident than she might otherwise have been, if she were being honest.


    To this man, she was an Eskau of the House of Blood. Stealing from her, or harming her, would be a <em>very</em> foolish move. Ironically, she felt like she could trust the power of her captors to keep the artificer honest and on good behavior.


    She hated that she had been taken, and no amount of benefit would ever make her look kindly on the House of Blood, but she was in a precarious position, and any defense was a boon. <em>Still, reminders never hurt.</em>


    As Eskau Paun sent you to me, personally, I see no reason not to trust you to examine my weapon.


    Cerdai hesitated for an instant, then nodded. He didnt appear as if hed been nning anything untoward, but he definitely seemed more cautious after her reminder.


    <em>Good.</em>


    She called Flow from its sheath into her hand, <em>pulling</em> it with a trivial act of will.


    She then flipped it around and caught the knifes de, extending the handle towards the artificer. Here you go.


    Cerdai took Flow with a reverent hesitance, his power immediately beginning to wash over the weapon. Ohoh! Oh, this is fascinating. He looked up. This weapon can change shape, yes? It mirrors protian weapons in that way.


    It can. She mostly hid the wince. Tali would have winced, too, as Tali had been meant to <em>be</em> a protian weapon, but she had failed. As for T, it was a reminder of how close she hade to being forever bound within a tool for others to use.


    <em>Failure and a near brush with eternal envement.</em>


    Neither were good, but T was certain she was happy to have failed to be a protian weapon.


    Cerdai had begun talking to himself, T only able to hear him because of her enhanced senses, And its power-source is here, within it, but alsonot. Of course, it is her. Somehow her soul and this weapon have the same underlying location in the dimensions of magic. He barked augh. He was clearly talking to himself and just as clearly enamored. Spectacr! This should be able to function anywhere in the world, regardless of the location of the Eskau, its power source. Is this replicable? If we could bend the dimensions of magic and permanently interlink them, it would allow for an incredible decrease in our need for founts.


    He shook his head andughed. What am I saying? It would just increase the avability of fount-powered items. It would revolutionize theOh


    His demeanor fell, and he sighed. It is a connection and discement forged of will more than anything else. Thats a pity.


    Cerdais ramblings became quieter, then.


    Thron was giving T a look that conveyed a deep concern over the sanity of the artificer. Then, the dwarf smiled and pointed at T, then Cerdai.


    <em>What?</em>


    <em>-Hes saying thats how you look when you talk to yourself.-</em>


    <em>Oh</em> T glowered, and Thron grinned.


    Finally, T cleared her throat. Artificer Cerdai?


    Huh? What? The man jerked, seemingly having forgotten her presence. Oh, Eskau Tali, my apologies.


    Can webine them?


    Hmmm? Oh, of course. The spell-forms will need to be altered, but not greatly, and you will have to be the initiator. I doubt the enaction will have too much of an adverse effect on you, unless you have the willpower weaker than that of a child. He gave her an appraising look. You arent a simpleton are you?


    Thron bristled, and T knew that Tali would have beenless than pleased. T, though, felt a wave of nostalgia and home-sickness, as the hue-folk male reminded her of Holly in an odd way. She snorted augh, covering the swelling sadness within her chest and startling Thron.


    Though she was going a different direction with the tenor of her response, she stillpiled the content from Talis memories and tendencies. The House of Blood would be weak indeed, were it forced to raise a child as Eskau.


    True enough. Cerdai nodded, still seeming distracted by the knife in his hand.


    T prodded, How soon?


    Hmm? The Artificer was staring down at Flow once more.


    How soon can it be done?


    Oh! Any time. Point me to a wide clear space of earth, or stone you dont care for, and Ill get to work.


    T was about to ask about payment, reminded of her interactions with the Constructionist Guild back in the humannds, but her knowledge from Tali quelled that instantly. <em>Of course, the House of Blood will cover it, and Paun likely already negotiated the rate.</em>


    In either case, it was not for her to bring up.


    In that case, follow me. I know exactly where we can perform the merging.

 Chapter 228: The Manipulation of Concepts

    Chapter 228: The Maniption of Concepts


    T stared into the void.


    Well, that wasnt entirely urate.


    Unlike previous times where she hadbined items with herself, or that which was soul-bound to her, the void was ck in that there was no light, or input of any kind.


    As she examined the absence of things more closely, T realized that she <em>was</em> the void and was surrounded by the void and nothing else.


    <em>This is awful.</em>


    She could feel what had led her to this moment. She had been filled with an insatiable hunger to consume everything, even heat, until she was one with all that was left.


    And all that was left?


    Nothing.


    Nothing was left.


    <em>Hard pass.</em>


    The manifestation shifted, and T looked down upon herself, standing as an unchallengeable goddess of war.


    If Pauns skin was the color of obsidian, Ts was now the color of the void. No matter how she moved, she looked two dimensional, as light simply could not escape once it touched her.


    She stood between two armies, one of humans and one of arcanes, and they both wereing for her.


    This manifestation smiled, though it didnt show. T still felt the unbridled glee of this version of herself.


    Magics and effects bombarded her, but they only caused her to grow in power as she absorbed them all. Her own gate provided stability, power to maintain a solid foothold in the physical realm without degrading it overmuch.


    These attacks? They let her grow.


    <em>Well, I suppose I could see this as a way to get the arcanes and humans to unite?</em>


    <em>-Against you.-</em>


    <em>I look like Im winning.</em>


    t snorted derisively.


    <em>Hey, wait. I dont remember you being in this with me, before.</em>


    -<em>You didnt have me at yourst merging. Though, Im a bit surprised to be able to actively witness this. I expected to have to review your memories after you were done.-</em>


    <em>This is simpler, I suppose.</em>


    As the armies died to the cker-than-ck de in void-Ts hand


    -<em>V!-</em>


    <em>No. Just no.</em>


    this possible version of her swelled in power. The growth was more akin to the advancement of arcanes than that of humans, but there was definitely adifference. She wasnt an arcane in this version, and her advancement wasnt identical to theirs.


    <em>A hybrid path? Is that possible?</em>


    -<em>Lets see what we can learn.-</em>


    T had already decided to reject this option, but she, like t, thought there was something to it, something they could pull from the manifestations of possibilities.


    After the two armies were utterly decimated, T realized that she had to solidify her rejection of this path, or it would be chosen merely by her overt attention.


    <em>No.</em>


    A parade of thousands of manifestations followed, each featuring her suffused with the void, working towards the obliteration or absorption of all things.


    <em>Well, this isnt good.</em>


    <em>-It almost feels like something is skewing the possibilities offered to you.-</em>


    <em>There is a chance of that, I suppose.</em>


    She hardened her will and <em>pushed.</em>


    <em>I will not contribute to a hastening of the end of all things.</em>


    Instantly, the vast majority of manifestations that she felt building around her awareness flickered and winked out.


    T <em>thought</em> she saw a pair of eyes watching her for the briefest of moments once again.


    <em>The sword? It was trying to gain greater influence?</em> That might be right, but she wasnt sure.


    The next possibilities offered were much more ptable, though none were eptable.


    Finally, after what felt like an eternity, T found a version of herself in which almost all the power was contained within Flow and the portion of her soul which was directly linked to that weapon.


    The smallest hints would also be tied to her elk-leathers, giving them a bit of absorptive and nullification properties, and she had the deep knowledge that if and when she used those powers, her physical body would be affectedsomehow.


    It was the best option avable. So, this was her only real choice, unless she wanted to abort the whole thing.


    Doing so would likely banish the void sword due to its nature, at least thats what Cerdai theorized before they began.


    It was now or never.


    <em>Maybe never would be better?</em>


    It was her choice, after all.


    <em>No. This offers a great deal of power, and Id be foolish to neglect that.</em> She had no wish to be foolish or weak.


    She flexed her will once more, searching onest time for a superior option, but there were none. She could practically feel the void sword opposing her. It wouldnt ept a bond where it gained less than this.


    <em>Very well. Agreed.</em>


    * * *


    Her vision splintered back into normal sight, and she found herself sitting cross-legged on the dirt of the space theyd chosen for the working


    All traces of the spell-forms were gone, and Thron stood over her, hand outstretched. Eskau Tali, are you alright?


    Tali.


    The dwarf grinned. Tali, how do you feel?


    T swayed, the incredibly familiar feeling of soul-deep tiredness washing through her. It was no more than a minor inconvenience, like having justpleted an intensive workout. That didnt make it any more pleasant, however.


    As she shifted, moving to take the offered hand, she grabbed Flow with her other one.


    Once she was on her feet, she examined the weapon.


    The darker parts were now closer to ck, but otherwise, it hadnt visibly changed.


    Her elk-leathers honestly felt more changed than her weapon, and those garments simply felt like they had an ever-so-slight distortion affect on the light and world around her.


    The main, obvious result was a soft breeze, seeming to be blowing toward her from all directions.


    She flexed her connection to the garments and stopped that as soon as she noticed it. <em>Please dont drain away all the air from in here. That would be really irritating.</em>


    Cerdai was standing off to one side, his magics clearly examining her as unobtrusively as he was willing to bear.


    Artificer Cerdai, please perform your examination.


    Without verbal response, power washed over her in ovepping, cascading waves.


    T practically staggard under the sheer magical pressure but managed to maintain her equilibrium.


    Im not sensing any of the void magics in the weapon at all. The artificer was frowning. I am sensing it in your clothing, however. Did something go wrong?


    Not at all. I simply made the best choice that I could.


    Fascinating. So, it is not an unlimitedly controble process?


    No, I have to choose between a finite selection.


    So, the sword was unable to join with your weapon?


    Oh, no, that wasnt the result at all. She grinned, holding Flow out. She dove into the connection with the weapon, now feeling six paths of power, rather than just three. Observe.


    With excitement, she poured power into the simplest new path. <em>Hah, Im feeding my weapon with a void-channel, making a void weapon.</em>


    She hesitated at that. <em>HuhI might be more bent towards this type of magic than I realized.</em>


    <em>-So it seems.-</em>


    The knife in her hand transformed, absorbing her power at nearly ten times the rate Flow passively required in its resting form.


    The transformation was simple enough, the knife simply darkening until it resembled the void sword from before. It was so dark as to appear two dimensional.


    As the power fully snapped into ce, something about her vision, even her mage-sight, changed.


    It was as if, suddenly, she could see the energy within everything around her. Everything physical had a certain vor of power and energy within it, which seemed to be the bonds the held it together, kept it solid. There was also other energies which seemed quite a bit more esoteric and outside of Ts ability to easily understand.


    Cerdai and Thron were both brimming with magical energy to her new vision, though their auras and control had obscured it before. When she looked down at herself, she saw the same was true of her, along with her gear.


    Now that her vision had shifted, she was able to see Flow as more than a two-dimensional shape once again. It looked like a normal knife, but it <em>felt</em> hungry. Where everything else she could see had a modicum of power and energy, Flow didnt, and it seemed to dislike that.


    In truth, that was too great an anthropomorphizing of the weapon, but it was also the best way for her to conceptualize the sense she got from that which was around her.


    She took all this in almost instantly, just as the dwarf and hue-folk male did.


    Thron stepped back, looking not at the knife, but at her face. Cerdai didnt react visibly, though T did see the energies flowing within him pick up speed just before he began sweeping her with magics.


    Those magics were sucked into Flow whenever they came close to the weapon.


    Rather than asking Thron what he was staring at, T moved one of her bloodstars to where her mirrored perspective could see her own face.


    Her eyes widened in shock as she took in her own visage.


    Instead of eyes, all that she could see were void-like holes, and surrounding those ravenous pits, cracks seemed to be radiating outward through her face.


    <em>No, thats not quite right.</em>


    The cracks werent actually in her flesh and bone at all.


    They werent growing; they simply were. It was as if reality itself were breaking down under the force of her gaze.


    <em>Oh, thats going to be terrifying in conjunction with the manifestations generated while wearing the iron paint.</em>


    <em>-You will look positively inhuman.-</em>


    T didnt dignify that with a response.


    Thron seemed to regain control of himself a momentter, and he straightened. Thats deeply unsettling, Tali.


    She pitched her voice slightly higher than usual, speaking in a monotone as she tilted her head just slightly to one side, even as she widened her eyes a bit more, and let a slight smile pull at her lips, I can see your soul.


    His eyes contracted fractionally in an instinctive reaction, before his features set into a frown. Thats not funny.


    T sighed, letting her face and posture return to normal.


    She cut off the rush of power streaming into Flow. Without the constant influx of power, the knife returned to its resting state, and her eyes returned to normalwell, normal for her.


    They still looked a bit too red to be non-magical, almost seeming to be glowing.


    Better. The dwarf looked towards the artificer. Anything interesting?


    Undoubtedly, but all I did was verify that the merging seems to be stable. I can delve deeper, but it seemed a vition without the Eskaus explicit consent. I would be examining pieces of her soul, after all.


    T hesitated, wanting a bit more information before making a decision. What sort of things could you learn?


    The state of your soul overall, the vor of the concepts surrounding your magic, that sort of thing.


    I cant use conceptual magic.


    Of course not. The artificers smile seemed genuinely puzzled. But your magic still contains concepts. Conceptual magic is the maniption of concepts. But, just like a crossbow can impart kic energy without manipting that energy directly, human magics contain, and can impart, concepts without directly interacting with this same.


    Oh, that makes sense.


    Cerdai hesitated for a moment, then cleared his throat. So?


    Oh! Yes. My apologies. Please do a more detailed scan.


    The magics washed over her without hesitation, and she once again had to fight to maintain her bnce before the torrent.


    She was sessful, however, and held her ground without wavering.


    Fascinating. Your soul, aside from the expected bifurcation, is stretched? Distorted? The half anchored in the next world is solid and coherent, but the half on this side? It has tendrils reaching out in all sorts of directions. Some dont even appear to be attached to anything He seemed to consider. No wait. Can you extend your aura outward?


    T nodded and did so.


    Amazing. Somehow, your soul is trying to connect with your aura, directly. It isnt, not yet, but it is trying.


    That was odd. T didnt think shed been doing anything that should have caused that.


    <em>-Except that you think of manipting your aura in the same way you imagine manipting your bloodstars and soul-bound items.-</em>


    <em>Could that affect things this strongly?</em>


    <em>-We could ask.-</em>


    So, T conveyed her thoughts to Cerdai.


    That might be behind that part of what Im seeing, yes. The human soul, especially a gated-human soul, is much moremalleable than most. That said, I dont know for certain.


    T considered.


    Oh, and the concept most strongly associated with your magics is ravenous, jealous desire.


    She blinked at that. What?


    Your healing magics return whats yours to you, mainly your health and your body as you have forged it. Your internal enhancements effectively take what you have and amplify it toward your desires. Your gravity magics are all about amplifying the pull of one object towards another or reducing it. You could describe that as one objects desire for the other, if you were inclined to anthropomorphize. And so on.


    He paused for a moment, nodding to himself.


    Oh! And your entire being is speckled withimpurities? Thats likely the best word for it. These are at a magical level, embedded in the dimensions of magic. From the looks of it, your body is straining to realize its full potential, but cant, not quite, due to that muck in the way.


    <em>He sees the issue. He detected what we need to remove to Refine me.</em> She almost asked him how to remove it, but then, she stopped. <em>No, I dont want him to tell me. If he does, and hes right, then theres no reason to go to the humannds, and Im going to be stuck here, forever.</em>


    Before she could debate further with herself, let alone say anything, Thron spoke up, Impuritiesis that what humans do to Refine? Remove those impurities?


    Cerdai gave Thron an unamused look. Ive no idea. From what I can see, the stuff is intrinsically embedded within her bodys fusion with her soul. That alone is insane on a level I cannot express, but it isnt any different from her souls fusion with her other bound equipment.


    <em>What? I would have thought the link between my body and soul would be stronger, a fusion versus a bond.</em>


    <em>-I think Fusing strengthens all your soul-bonds. At least that was my understanding.-</em>


    She might have asked, but Cerdai continued speaking, If I were asked how to remove it, which Ill note that I wasnt, I would say doing so would kill her, categorically.


    <em>Well, thats useless.</em>


    T felt irritated that he hadnt been able to provide a means of Refining, but at the same time, she was obviously relieved that her best hope for escape stilly in the need to seek a means of Refining for her advancement.


    Thron grunted, then gave T a consoling smile. That would have been too easy, eh?


    She forced a smile and nodded. Yeah. No shortcuts, it seems.


    Cerdai sped his hands. My work is done, but I would love the opportunity to study you and your equipment further, if you are willing.


    T hesitated, then shook her head. Not in the near future, Im afraid. There is too much needed of me to pursue such at this time.


    The artificer sighed in resignation as he bowed. I understand and expected as much. Thank you for allowing me to examine you as much as I have. Please call for me if you ever have need, once again.


    She nodded respectfully in return. Absolutely. Thank you for your assistance.


    She waved her hand, and the exit appeared directly beside the man.


    His eyes widened slightly, but he didntment as he bowed towards Thron and departed.


    The door vanished as soon as it closed.


    T turned to the dwarf. The ending grove?


    As youmand. He gave her a small smile.


    Lead the way. Dont worry about positioning, I can see past you just fine.


    He blinked at her a few times, then snorted augh before turning and setting off.


    It was a short walk to a nearby hill. From the top of that hill, T could look down on the grove.


    It was a thing of beauty.


    A ring of stonepletely surrounded therge grove, some fifty trees in all, each seemingly fully grown.


    The stone enacted a single effect, which Thron described.


    What you see is just the top edge of aplete half-sphere. The magics in the stone are powered by your sanctum and they create an utterly empty space between the stone and the soil in which the trees are nted. It is a force-effect, generated by magic, but not magical in and of itself. Nothing can cross the space be it dust, liquid, or root. The effect further extends in the upper half of the sphere, creating a segregation of the air around the trees from that within the rest of the sanctum.


    A bubble of istion.


    Indeed.


    Further, the magics condition the air and soil to be ideal for fruiting, while not for growth of the trees, themselves. I am not an arborist, but my understanding is that that particr portion of magic is quite difficult to get precisely correct.


    Is that why I already see berries?


    Indeed.


    How am I to harvest them?


    T saw no means of entering the ending-tree grove.


    Thron cleared his throat. Well, I believe the assumption was that you would find a way.


    She cocked an eyebrow at him. Oh? Thats utterly unhelpful.


    See if you can simply ask your sanctum?


    She shook her head, feeling quite skeptical, but decided to try it out nheless. She held out her hand and focused on one of the berries she could easily see.


    <em>I would love to have that berry</em>


    A small weight settled into the palm of her hand, and the stem on the tree she was watching sprang up slightly, now relieved of the weight.


    Thron grinned but didntment on how correct he had been.


    T matched his grin, excitement overflowing across her features as she giggled with glee. Ohoh, yes. This is going to work amazingly well.

 Chapter 229: Future Duties

    Chapter 229: Future Duties


    T didnt really know how to feel about the following two weeks.


    First of all, after seeing the ending-grove, Thron had informed her that shed somehow missed sleeping for the past few days, mostly due to her running around so much.


    Shed been understandably shocked, but when she and t had checked her memory, it seemed that he was correct.


    <em>That means that I havent actually slept since the gate-breaking.</em>


    <em>-Thats probably not very good for you, honestly.-</em>


    Her expanded flowrate was supercharging her inscriptions to the point that it seemed to be nearly negating her need to sleep. Even so, as soon as the wondrous act was mentioned, T felt her entire body sag in anticipated relief.


    That was how she found herself sleeping for nearly twenty-four hours.


    When she awoke, she felt renewed and invigorated like never before.


    From there, she dove into her duties as an Eskau of the House of Blood.


    As a new Eskau, most of her time was spent training or eating as more and more of the crops and other products of her sanctum were ready for harvest.


    Thron had to ughter the animals when they were ready and prepare anything that required more than simply picking free hanging harvests from a nt. Even so, overall, between Kit and Thron, it was trivially simple to keep T supplied with food.


    Beyond that, T was required to settle a few disputes between servants too high ranking to be ignored or diverted to Thron, but not of quite enough importance to take time from Be-thric. Blessedly, there were only about a hundred such servants in all of toiri. Even so, they seemed to be quitepetitive as often as not, leading to the disagreements requiring mediation.


    After listening to the first two, an owl beast-man and a gray hue-folk male, argue for nearly three hours, T refused to offer judgment and informed them that they had ten minutes to settle it themselves before she cut off a finger from each of them.


    Theyd joined together to rail against her after that.


    Then, the fingers had been taken.


    They settled their own dispute less than five minutester.


    Thron was oddly approving of her method in solving that issue, and T really didnt know how to feel about that. It didnt help that T felt like Tali would likely have handled it simrly, though Tali would likely have taken a hand rather than a finger.


    The second pair shed had to mediate between had each calmly exined their position in brief sentences, and the answer had been utterly obvious to T.


    No, it is not reasonable for Heart-Servant Vanlin to take over part of your duties, Arnor, even if he is faster than you. If you wish to forgo some of your duties, you must also give over some of your rewards, but you have refused to do this.


    Vanlin had steadfastly refused to assist Arnor at the end of each workday, even though Vanlin had finished his own duties and more, and Arnor had still not met minimum requirements.


    The two were apparently friends, and Vanlin had helped Arnor a couple of times, but when thetter came to expect the help, Vanlin had begun refusing.


    Honestly, it was a case of Vanlin still wanting to be friends, while not being taken advantage of, and Arnor not really thinking of it from his friends perspective.


    <em>Idiocy</em>


    Ts word wasw in this case, and the two were able to depart her sanctum as friends, because neither had had to give ground on their own.


    The Eskau was an Eskau. Who were they to argue?


    That second mediation set the tone for most of the others. At least, she didnt have to actually take any other fingers.


    In each other case, T simply had to tell them what they both already knew was the right course of action. The very fact that she spoke took the responsibility from the parties involved and allowed rtionships to function more smoothly.


    <em>This is really, really weird. Just tell them no.</em>


    <em>-But then youre telling your colleague no. This way, they can both maintain the fiction that the asked might have been willing, but a higher power said not to.-</em>


    T sighed. <em>I suppose.</em>


    Around training and seemingly unnecessary mediation, T asionally attended Be-thric when he met with those either outside the house, or only loosely affiliated.


    Those meetings were filled with negotiations, trade discussions, and the building of rtionships.


    No one engaged with her directly, as she was simply meant to be a symbol of the power of the House of Blood. That was more than fine with her.


    She always wore her iron paint, with the through-spike suppressed, while at these events, and no one ever gave Be-thric any trouble.


    <em> I kind of wish they would</em> Part of that was to give her something to do, and part was so that someone would make Be-thrics life worse.


    Her final duty was every three days or so. At that time, she simply walked with a servant of the House of Blood to each of their affiliated businesses and lesser houses to collect the portion of the profits which were owed to the major House supporting them.


    T quickly realized that she had three roles in such circuits.


    The first was simr to her task when apanying Be-thric: to show the power of the House of Blood to those in partnership or subservience to them.


    The second was as a guard to the servant collecting the payments.


    Finally, she was to ensure that that same servant didnt skim any off the top.


    Why T, herself, couldnt be the collector baffled her, until Thron exined.


    An Eskau lowering themselves to speaking with the merchants and nobles not actually a part of the House, would be unseemly. And you having to handle the payments yourself?He shook his head."No major House is that tight on funds or thatcking in servants loyal to them. Even my performance of that duty would imply that we were short on servants that we trust.


    The exnation did make a modicum of sense, T had to admit.


    All in all, those two weeks passed in an oddly mundane fashion, very simrly to how she would have spent her time if she were in the humannds, though her job was obviously different.


    <em>And, you know, Im a ve.</em>


    <em>-I agree, but your very is mainly in the involuntary nature of your hiring, rather than how you are treated or what you are asked to do.-</em>


    <em>Yeah</em> Which is why she was so conflicted. For the most part, her job wasnt objectionable, except when she was around Be-thricor when she actually gave a moment to consider the many, <em>many</em> founts around herself.


    <em>Yes, this is a wonderful ce except, of course, the uncounted souls in eternal envement and torment.</em>


    <em>-Yes, its practically a paradise.-</em> The sarcasm was thick in the sentiment, and T heartily agreed.


    Even so, time passed, and she fulfilled her duties and improved.


    Finally, the morning dawned on the day of her first duty shift as Guard of the City Lord.


    T had slept again the night before, but only for a couple of hours. She was down to only needing those couple of hours of sleep every second or third night since her day of rest allowed her to reset and limatize to her increased flowrate.


    The rest of the night, after her short sleep, she had trained, finally mastering her aura enough to hold it within the boundary of her skin full time, without the need of the iron paint.


    As the false sun mirrored the real one, T finished her training and began her preparations for the day before it began to light her sanctum.


    She bathed, painted herself in iron, and reshaped her elk-leathers to match their formal form, which shed worn to the feasts before and after her battle to be an Eskau.


    Now, however, the emblem was updated to reflect her increased rank. <em>Like at the feast after, actually.</em>


    Speaking of food, Thron had worked with a chef from the main hold to prepare Ts daily, morning feast earlier than usual.


    She had to admit, it was fascinating to eat the bacon with marbled magics running through it. It added an entirely new dimension to the already utterly sulent food.


    The fat contained magics to increase the caloric and nutritional capacity of that tissue, while the muscle within the delicacy carried power which mirrored the magics on her own muscles.


    Apparently, the livestock were deeply difficult to kill with anything mundane, so Thron had simply taken to severing their heads with a quick application of corrosion.


    Every part of the meal contained magics simrly paired with those within her body, and the results were showing.


    Her inscriptions, and her natural magics which mirrored them, both used more power and used that power more efficiently than ever before.


    Near the middle of her breakfast, T noticed Terry flicker in to eat a te of more mundane bacon and a steak set aside for him. That ingested, he flickered to her shoulder for a quick nuzzle, and he was off once more.


    He rarely killed the creatures that he hunted through the outskirts of her sanctum, but he enjoyed it, nheless.


    T had actually been able to determine that Terry seemed to be training and beginning to breed the beasts to be harder to hunt, simply so that he had a greater challenge in turn. Though, the reasoning was more a guess on her part than actual knowledge.


    It was an odd thought, and one that put Terrys intelligence in a far scarier light.


    From what shed been able to gather, he always ate the first one he caught, and rewarded thest one he found, slowly forcing improvement in the wild porcine herd. The process was simr for the other wild animals in her sanctum as well, with the rabbits showing the greatest changes from his ministrations.


    Even with the ability to seek them out directly, through her deeper connection with Kit, T often had a hard time finding the rabbits that were supposed to be there.


    Blessedly, she was able to find them on asion, so she knew Terry hadnt simply eaten them all.


    <em>He does seem to enjoy the hunting andtraining quite a bit.</em>


    T didnt <em>think</em> that the animals had been augmented to breed more rapidly, so it wouldnt be a fast process. Even so, the creatures didnt seem to be dying out, despite daily hunts, so she was left uncertain as to their true numbers and breeding rates.


    She almost wished that she could get an informational panel or something to disy the number of creatures within Kit, but she knew that shed very likely rarely use it.


    She didnt really care enough to even ask for specifics of the beasts, if she were being honest.


    <em>Besides, today is going to be busy enough without me digging into Terrys hobbies.</em>


    T finished off her meal with arge pitcher of ending-berry juice.


    Throughout, she maintained a state of near meditation, moving the various powers into alignment with herpatible scripts and magics as she consumed them.


    It was an oddly calming process, honestly.


    As such, in seemingly no time at all, it was time for her to depart.


    She thanked Thron and the chef for the food, summoned the exit to appear beside herself and allowed the chef to exit before her.


    She had no interest in trapping the cook within Kit for the day.


    Thron stayed behind as he would spend the time reading through the books theyd been granted, searching for gaps in the knowledge contained within.


    Any Eskau rted duties around the House of Bloods hold would be taken care of by Paun, while T attended the City Lord.


    With Kit on her belt, hanging opposite Flow, T set off to fulfill her duties.


    When she arrived, T found that the City Lords residence was quite different from what shed expected.


    Instead of being a hold, it was a modest sized ce, set among a reasonably sized park, near the center of the city.


    This particr park had a heavily magic-imbued wall surrounding it, making it obvious that it wasnt a public space.


    The residence, itself, was an interesting mix of a fortification and an incredibly nice home.


    The aesthetic was that of the simple house of a wealthy family, while the power ingrained within was that of a fort expecting daily assault.


    T presented herself at the gate just as the sun peeked over the horizon, fully transforming the gray sky of pre-dawn into the blues, yellows, and reds of first light.


    The clouds overhead already zed with color, and that was only magnified by the arrival of the sun.


    Greetings, Eskau Tali. The gate guard bowed to her. He was a cat beast-man, whose aura was nearly to true green.


    <em>No wonder he can guard the gate alone.</em>


    T gave a nod in return. Greetings, Honored Elder. Shall I go straight to the main house? Or is there another ce I should check in?


    T briefly connected a void-channel to a path within Flow, and the world changed. She focused most closely on the man before her and noticed that his power was already circting in quick, whipping patterns within him.


    <em>Already primed for a fight.</em>


    -<em>They likely have to be ready at all times. Plus, arcanes dont really seem to lose power from active effects, unless those effects are stressed.-</em>


    The man didnt react, confirming what shed already known: The alteration to her eyes and surrounding features were hidden by the through-spikes illusion. <em>And this man doesnt have any ability to pierce those illusions.</em>


    The City Lord has requested your attendance in the highest tower. The guard pointed to the singr tower that jutted out of the top of the house, rising a good hundred feet above the roof of the four-story structure.


    <em>A Mages tower, too.</em> How had she missed that, earlier?


    The answer was quite obvious, now that she knew to look. There was a disinterested working, wrought around the entire tower. Unless a person knew to look, or were directed to do so, the tower would be so uninteresting as to not be seen at all.


    <em>So much more effective than simple invisibility.</em>


    Thank you, Honored Elder.


    The guard bowed once more and stood aside for her to pass through the open arch.


    As T walked underneath the stone gateway, and into the grounds proper, she passed through a barrier of sorts and almost stopped in surprise.


    The space within the private park was expanded to an insane degree. From the outside, it looked totally normal, and even the magics of the expansion werent visible to Ts sight.


    <em>Maybe my void-sight would have seen this from the outside, if Id looked anywhere besides at the guard.</em> She could check after she left.


    The home had not changed, but it was now at least twice as far away from her as it had appeared before, and the gardens were revealed to be extensive in the extreme.


    <em>Their mastery of magic is</em> She shook her head.


    -<em>I know, right? Humanity has so much that we could learn from arcanes.-</em>


    T found herself grinning. <em>We still have so, so much knowledge to steal.</em>


    She picked up her pace just a bit. After all, she was supposed to check in and assume her duties at first light, and she was still quite a ways from the structure.


    As she approached, she noticed various workers doing repairs or cleaning, or performing other tasks around the structure. Some were up on the roof, and one or two even seemed to be working on the tower itself.


    She came to the main doors, and she was met by a beast-folk woman who looked like nothing so much as a pigeon person.


    The being was odd to say the least, but T didnt stare too much.


    Eskau Tali? Her voice was surprisingly deep and melodic, indeed sounding a bit like a pigeons coo.


    Yes.


    Right this way, please.


    T followed the pigeon-woman inside, not really taking in the dcor as she was directed to a stairway a short distance within the house.


    T jogged up the stairs,ing to the top rather quickly.


    She hesitated before the doors on thending at the top, taking a deep breath to slow her heart before she knocked.


    Come. The very air vibrated with the single word.


    The door seemingly utched itself. That was not an analogy. Without any exterior magics acting upon it, nor any power acting within that T could see, the door utched and swung open.


    <em>What?</em>


    Before her was another section of stairs that let up and out into the center of the room above.


    T climbed them quickly, thest few allowing her gaze to sweep most of the room as she reached the top.


    A man sat at a reading desk off to one side, arge tome open before him.


    His aura was, indeed, more than halfway between blue and indigo, and power practically hummed around him, though he did not appear to be using magics at the moment.


    You are a bitte, though Ill grant that you arrived at my gate at the appointed time.


    T gave a hesitant bow, not excessively deep but a bow, nheless. My apologies, City Lord.


    Arrive on time to fulfill your future duties, and all will be forgiven. He still hadnt turned around.


    As you say.


    Now. He finally moved to face her, giving her her first good look at him.


    To Ts eyes, he looked to be in his mid-twenties, though she knew that wasnt correct. His skin was a deep crimson, his hair was shockingly white, and his eyes were a burnt orange, no pupil in evidence.


    T almost expected to see horns on his head, to match him to the mythos of demons put forward in some ys back in the humannds.


    <em>He might actually be the origin of those myths.</em> The City Lord was old, and she would not doubt for an instant that he was around before therge section of humanity had broken away to achieve their modicum of freedom.


    His build was lean, like a sprinter, and his clothing was simple but obviously well made. At the moment, that meant a in shirt and pants, hanging loosely around his well-muscled frame. He wore no obvious weapon, but with the power at his disposal, she doubted he needed any.


    All this, she took in as he spun around. She felt his eyes move across her, the pressure of his gaze greater than the power behind Cerdais magical scans.


    You really are human, and gated at that, fascinating.


    T felt the through-spike being suppressed by an outside power, even while it stilly solidly inside her aura and control.


    The illusion faded, and she was rewarded by a slight widening of the mans eyes. Incredible density and resonance. Were you of proper, unbroken stock, you might signal a long-looked-for uplifting of your race.


    He shook his head sadly.


    s, you are of the broken ones, a vestige of mistakes made long ago.


    T didnt know what to say. So, she stayed silent.


    -<em>Wise choice, in my estimation. Well done.-</em>


    T held in a smile as she fought to not roll her eyes at t.


    The City Lord didnt seem to mind theck of a response, as he continued, Now, to business. There is an assassin climbing my tower, bent on ying me.


    T frowned. What?


    Look down over that balcony, there. He pointed to one of the doors out of the tower room, out onto an outdoor space.


    T walked out and looked down. All I see is a window washer.


    Ahh, he is clever in his disguises. Please y him, that we may get on with the day. The tone was light, but the City Lord seemed utterly serious.


    T cocked an eyebrow. Are you sure <em>he</em> is your would-be assassin?


    Of course! You doubt the word of your City Lord? Should I kill you and him, myself? There was no heat in the voice, just seemingly genuine curiosity.


    No doubt or disrespect intended, but your window washer is decidedly female.


    The City Lord blinked at her a few times, then burst outughing. Oh, that is a horrid mistake on my part isnt it.


    He continued tough, T standing awkwardly on the balcony, not sure what to do. Theughter caused the air to visibly shudder as it reverberated with the mans power. Blessedly, the tower seemed to be magically reinforced, because it didnt move or sway in the least.


    Finally, he got himself at least a bit under control. To think, I set up a silly test to see if you were a thoughtless killer, or an easily cowed sycophant, and I get the sex of the target wrong.


    He startedughing again, shaking his head.


    <em>A test? What sort of nonsense is this?</em>


    <em>-Paun did say that the City Lord would want to see who you were and get to know you.-</em>


    <em>But who tells a warrior to kill a servant as a test?</em>


    <em>-He could have saved the woman, likely, but maybe he doesnt care? There are a few dozen founts in this room alone. He isnt exactly a beacon of morality.-</em>


    The City Lord finally stoppedughingpletely and was nodding to himself. Well, if nothing else, youre observant. Ill give you that.


    Thank you?


    Oh, youre more than wee, Eskau Tali. Now, let us be about the business of the morning.


    T could already tell; it was going to be an interesting day.

 Chapter 230: City Lord

    Chapter 230: City Lord


    T stood on the City Lords balcony, his voice traveling to her without effort, even as it seemed to shake the very air it moved through.


    She was looking down at the window-washer that the City Lord had briefly tried to convince her was an assassin.


    <em>What is with this guy?</em>


    <em>-The powerful are entric?-</em>


    <em>So it would seem.</em>


    I am, sadly, at an unstable ce with my power, and so I am confined to this tower, unless at dire need.


    T cocked her head, looking at the man who sat a good thirty feet from her. <em>Why would he tell me that?</em>


    <em>-Because the betrayal of a House would obviously qualify as a dire need?-</em>


    The man continued to talking, As such, you will run errands for me.


    T frowned at that. I was under the impression that I was to be a sort of ceremonial guard. Is that incorrect?


    Hmm? Oh, no thats correct. The errands will never take you too far from me.


    But the tasks I will be doing are those of a servant.


    You could still kill the assassin.


    She huffed augh, then nodded slowly, though she didnt really understand. <em>Humor the crazy powerhouse. I just have to get through today.</em>


    As an example, please go get my breakfast. I am quite hungry, and it tends to be ratherlethal for the servants toe up here.


    T hesitated at that. <em>Lethal?</em>


    She felt the power reverberating through the air, the very dimensions of magic shuddering at his every spoken word or careless action, but it didnt feel lethal.


    Her confusion must have been clear on her face as the City Lord smiled. I can see youre a bit baffled.


    <em>That much is obvious.</em> How would it be lethal for them toe up here? I feel the instability around you, but its not directly damaging, let alone lethal.


    Oh, I see, you misunderstand. They are simply too slow, so my breakfast always arrives cold. That is quite irritating, and I dont take it too well. He waited a moment. The kitchen had my food ready at first light. You really should get going.


    Youre joking again.


    Am I? He arched one eyebrow as he turned back to his writing desk. He reached out with one hand and grasped at nothing, making a vain attempt to pick up a mug that wasnt there. Now, who do I have to kill to get my breakfast tea when I want it?


    Thest was supposedly said to himself, but it was clear that he intended for T to hear.


    <em>I have no idea, at all, how to understand this guy.</em> She also didnt know his name. <em>Ill ask him after I get the breakfast.</em> It must have been an oversight for no one to have told her.


    She sighed, gave a shallow bow and headed back down the stairs to search for the kitchens.


    The entirety of the day passed in that manner.


    The City Lord sent her to get various things from his house, below, and she did as she was asked. She was also required to do the same within the tower room, or to ce things back where they went. She also needed to tidy up, take down a note or two, or perform other seemingly menial tasks.


    He never answered any of her questions meaningfully.


    The perfect example was when she managed to ask for his name at an appropriate time. In fact, she had been rather proud of herself, as shed managed to ask in a way that was polite and not at all insulting or awkward.


    Unfortunately, his only response was, Names are such interesting things. Call me anything you want, and if I respond that is my name, is it not?


    I suppose, but dont you have an actual name? Like one that you use regrly?


    City Lord, or just Lord would qualify. He nodded to himself distractedly. That is what most call me.


    But those are more like titles, right? If a City Lord were to die, someone else would take up the title?


    The man had given a faux look of contemtion. You know, Im really not sure. No City Lord has ever died and left behind a city in any shape for another to rule it, so there isnt any precedent.


    What about if you meet another City Lord? Do you all just address each other by the name of your city?


    I wouldnt know. City Lords are quite insufferable people, and I have no interest in meeting any of them. Now, I am out of tea and have been so for nearly a full minute. Please rectify that and be more watchful in the future.


    As the sun finally set, T felt herself sag with relief, at least internally. <em>What an utterly strange, ridiculous day.</em>


    Thest sliver of the sun vanished, and the City Lord smiled. Thank you for youradequate service today, Eskau Tali. I will see you in one weeks time.


    T had been in the middle of a shallow bow, and she hesitated. One week? My understanding was that my duties would be monthly.


    Ahh, but you are too <em>interesting</em> to go a month without seeing you again. I will see you in one weeks time.


    With that obvious dismissal, T departed. <em>Great.</em>


    <em>-Maybe silence would have been a better course?-</em>


    <em>Maybe Near the end, it felt like he was being purposely obtuse, as if to force me to ask further, even if just to rify.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, suddenly calling tea a hot herbal infusion was needlessly convoluted-</em>


    <em>I know, right? And he only did it once.</em>


    <em>-And asking you to grab him another blown-melted-sand vessel mostly filled with a purposely staining, low viscosity,pound substance?-</em>


    <em>Just call it a bottle of ink!</em> T felt herself smile even as she shook her head. Comining to and with t helped alleviate much of her irritation.


    <em>I do wonder if he was trying to provoke me.</em>


    <em>-Hes definitely an odd one.-</em>


    The next week passed as the previous one had, and she soon found herself back at the City Lords home, bowing slightly in greeting just as the sun peeked over the horizon.


    Good, good. You are on time today. That bodes well.


    As you say.


    Now, take off that tunic.


    T hesitated, ncing down at the only covering she wore on her torso. She lifted her gaze back up to meet the City Lords. No.


    No? He cocked his head to one side, seemingly genuinely perplexed.


    No. But thank you for thepliment. <em>Did he really think I would just strip?</em>


    The mans confusion deepened, causing his frown to grow. Thank you for Oh! You think I want to see what lies beneath. He shook his head,ughing to himself. No, no. I just find the House of Bloods insignia a bit unsightly, today. Im sure it is a whim, but Ill satisfy it nheless.


    He gazed at her expectantly.


    T cocked an eyebrow, then shrugged.


    She reached into her elk-leathers and flexed her power slightly, removing the symbol. As you wish.


    The City Lord grinned, seemingly having been interested in how her clothing functioned. Fascinating! I have clothing with multiple forms, of course, but nothing quite so morphic. I thought I detected such magics within the garments. Can you make it do anything?


    It can take the form of nearly any type of clothing, if that is what you are asking.


    I see, I see. He hesitated, his hand swiping through the empty air where his teacup usually rested. A frown growing across his face as he vainly swiped once again.


    T sighed internally, bowed slightly once again, and went to get his breakfast.


    She was now getting used to his antics, though she still wasnt sure if he was just this odd, or if he was continuing to mess with her to learn more about how she handled truly ridiculous things.


    <em>-Probably a mix of both. I bet one day he just started doing it, not knowing what it was.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, then he just kept right on doing it forever?</em> She shrugged.<em> Just because.</em>


    -<em>Or something like that.-</em>


    The home, itself, was elegant in its simplicity.


    What embellishments there were, all seemed to have a purpose.


    There was no gilding, no gaudy colors, no needless filigree.


    Instead, there were high ceilings, exposed pirs and trusses, and an obvious quality of craftsmanship presented for the world to see.


    No mistakes were in evidence, fixed or not, as everything had been made to an incredibly high standard.


    The back halls for the servants were slightly less perfect in their simplicity, but they too were obviously finished with extraordinary skill.


    The kitchens wererge without being ptial, and the staff was professional almost to a fault.


    They always already knew why she was there whenever she arrived, and they always had what she needed ready on a small table beside the door.


    This was the fourth meal that shed picked up for the City Lord, not counting snacks or pots of tea, and the servants were always working, seemingly never done. The amount of food seemed fit to feed an army, and T supposed there might just be an army of servants all told, employed to care for and meet the needs of this estate. So, the amount of food made sense.


    There was also the fact that among the kitchen staff, the weakest in terms of simple strength of aura was a boy. His task seemed to be to perpetually clean the floors from one end to the other before starting at the far end once again.


    He probably had other tasks, but he always seemed to be working at that one whenever T dropped through.


    The boys aura was fully yellow.


    The head chefa tall, rat-manwas filled with power to the point of being green. <em>Who has an Honored as a chef?</em>


    <em>-The City Lord, apparently.-</em>


    When shed asked Thron, the dwarf hadnt known the City Lords name and his quick research hadnt revealed it either.


    When theyd asked their fellow Eskau, Paun had justughed and given no other response.


    Focusing back on her current task, T lifted the oddly heavy tray,den with a nearly T-portioned breakfast, tea included.


    The food itself was so oveden with power that T had felt her magics rebelling whenever she had to carry a tray full of it. This time was no different.


    Blessedly, shed learned how to harden her aura against it. Though, she was still uncertain exactly how it affected her magics, even with her iron paint in ce.


    <em>-There is just a much greater quantity of power. At least thats my guess. It simply overflows into the dimensions of magic, thus making the iron paint less of a barrier.-</em>


    <em>Yes, I understood that part, but how? How did they pack so much power into the food?</em>


    That, t didnt know.


    T shuddered at the thought of what the effect would be without the paint.


    The reaction seemed incredibly linked to proximity, so if she werent carrying the tray, there wouldnt be any issue. That was likely the only reason others could be near the kitchen at all.


    And as to the powers coiled within each morsel? They were soplex and convoluted that T couldnt tell what any one of them did.


    Returning to the City Lord, she was easily able to take the stairs two or three at a time, due to her strength and dexterity. <em>Never thought Id be using my enhancements like this.</em>


    Back up in the tower, sheid out his food beside him, and he took the cup of tea as soon as it touched down in its customary spot.


    Adequate. Grab me that book.


    T turned, used to this after the first day.


    A single book was highlighted in blue on the shelf. The color was a purely magical effect, in that it was simply magic wrapped around the book andpressed to the point that the power looked blue to her mage-sight.


    The magic didnt do anything, it was simply used to highlight the current item of interest.


    Honestly, it was another bit of the arcanes ridiculousness, as he could have more easily simply summoned the book to himself.


    But what could T do?


    As soon as she touched the tome, the magic unraveled and flowed back into the City Lord. T picked up the book and brought it to him.


    Thus, this second day of attending the City Lord went, passing almost entirely without incident or unusual happening.


    That is, until near sunset.


    T, after the umpteenth seemingly meaningless task, finally decided to ask a question that was bothering her, Why is your magic unstable or unsafe? What about your current power makes it so?


    The City Lord paused his writing, then resumed, finishing out the sentence.


    With a sigh, the man set aside his pen and turned to her. As a gated human, to reach my next advancement I would need to be untethering myself from the needs and worries of this world.


    He gave her a derisive look that showed exactly what he thought of <em>that.</em>


    As a true practitioner of magic, however, I seek something that you have naturally, but never fully grasp.


    She waited hesitantly.


    After a moment, he grinned. Care to guess what that is?


    <em>-Thats a trap if ever I heard one.-</em>


    t was unquestioningly correct, but after nearly two days of observing the man, T felt like she had a reasonable feel for him. Therefore, she risked an answer, if a bit of a teasing one, A name?


    The City Lord blinked back at her, his eyes widening, then, something seemed to cross his mind, and he huffed augh, shaking his head. Oh, youre joking. Thats funny. Out of the mouth of infants and all that.


    He waved dismissively, and T frowned. <em>What?</em>


    <em>-I think you said something profound without realizing it?-</em>


    <em>What, though?</em>


    <em>-I have no idea.-</em>


    <em>Was it about the name?</em>


    <em>-Well, yes, that was probably it, but I dont know what was profound about it.-</em>


    You do odd things with your face when youre thinking.


    T jerked, returning her attention to the City Lord.


    Also, that answer was disrespectful.


    Ts left arm vanished.


    In its ce, now floated her inscriptions, burning with impotent power, showing her exactly where her arm <em>should</em> be.


    Her eyes widened. <em>What?</em>


    There was pain, of course, but her mind simply refused to process it. It didnt seem real.


    Her scripts acted immediately, keeping her blood from painting the room and regrowing the arm at a frankly ridiculous speed.


    <em>-Hehe just ripped off your arm.-</em>


    t was right. Based on the damage to the remaining flesh the part that had been taken had been ripped away.


    She hadnt felt his power act.


    She hadnt felt any flex of magic <em>at all</em>.


    Her aura hadnt slowed him.


    Her iron paint had meant little.


    Her elk-leathers hadnt stopped it.


    The slight void-magics within their defenses hadnt negated it.


    She had been utterly helpless.


    She still was.


    The City Lord spoke again, his tone not changing in the least. But, you asked me a question, and questions should be honored.


    He took a deep breath and shook his head.


    When I ask you a question, I expect a thoughtful answer. Anything else is rude. Dont forget again.


    <em>So, he didnt like that I gave a flippant answer?</em> She was still in shock. It just made no sense.


    -<em>For you, losing the arm is little more than a flick to the back of a toddlers hand.-</em>


    <em>Are you kidding me? He ripped off my rusting arm.</em> Ts shock was turning to rage, but she contained it.


    She swallowed, ncing down at her reformed arm, allowing the concern to hold the fear in check.


    Her elk-leathers had grown back over the limb, but everything was not as it had been.


    Her hand was flesh colored.


    The iron paint was gone.


    She mastered her emotions and simply nodded.


    Good. Now, to answer your question: My power is unstable because I have passed the threshold of power which a mortal form can contain by itself, yet Ick a base of magic. As a gated human, you will never run out of power, and your body uses it to enhance natural processes. Your types advancement also builds this base of power, guiding and containing your magics as a matter of course. To be Hallowed, <em>I</em> must forge a base of magic that powers me without being expended.


    T frowned, choosing her words carefully. How can you use magic without <em>using </em>it?


    A sad smile pulled at the City Lords lips, and T saw deep frustration behind the expression. Precisely. I am efficient to a degree that is <em>nearly</em> eternal, but I still use power.


    So why the instability?


    Because the drips of power that are used up or escape dont y well with the natural world. My density is just too high.


    Ts eyes widened. <em>The ripples, the shaking, the power I feel radiating from him, are all just the fractional inefficiencies of his magic escaping?</em>


    t seemed at a loss for words.


    How? T was only able to get out that one word.


    The City Lord shrugged. How difficult is it for you to knock over a tower of blocks, built by a toddler?


    Not hard? She was still hesitant in her answer.


    Exactly. Cant you even do it by ident if you stomp too hard on the floor or if you arent careful?


    Yes, I suppose so.


    Thus is the world around me, and any of my power.


    The world was assembled by toddlers.


    The City Lord grinned. Oh, I wish. No, no. The world, as it is now, is the unstable pile of blocks left over after the toddlers tower has fallen. It is even less able to withstand careless bumps or the whims of fate. Our world is but the crumbling remains of a once great construction, atop the table of the next world.


    Im not certain I follow. If that were the case, then wouldnt gates help? They would be like nails, securing the blocks to one another and to the table underneath.


    And how well can you nail a pile of rubble down? Would you not destabilize it more, simply by attempting to drive in a nail? Next, youll state that you can hold a moonbeam in your hand or keep a wave upon the sand. You would make the problem worse.


    She hadnt thought of it that way.


    His eyes hardened. Your kind <em>does</em> make the problem worse. If we ever lose need of gated humans, the world will be better for their erasure.


    T straightened. <em>Hell kill me, or not, but I wont cower, beg, or flinch back.</em>


    The City Lords anger passed quickly, however. But we digress. As I am, apse in concentration would kill every Child within a mile and incapacitate any Mature in that same range.


    T looked out the window. The outer wall was just over a mile away.


    He smiled slightly. That is the reason for the spatial expansion, yes.


    She swallowed, then pressed slightly. City Lord, I know youve been out of this tower.


    He waved her off. Of course. Im not a prisoner, but it is mentally taxing to be on guard constantly.


    T had actually been starting to see the City Lord as just another person, this conversation being a bit more human than shed expected, arm removal aside. <em>Dont think on that. Dont remember the feel of itsck.</em>


    It is so irritating to deal with all the whining when a stray thought causes the destruction of a city block, or a breach in a hold I happen to be visiting. Most would have died soon anyways. The truly worthwhile would be fine.


    <em>And there goes thest vestiges of the illusion of humanity.</em>


    The man turned back to his work, seemingly dismissing her from his mind once more.


    What the City Lord was describing sounded incredibly like aura control, if approached differently. In that way, the City Lord was right, she and every other human Archon worked on their control, worked to rein in their power, from the moment they became Bound.


    T also suspected that the issue came from where the City Lord had stalled.


    If she had to guess, and with t to check her eyes, it was barely a guess, she would say that the City Lord was just over halfway from Revered to Hallowed.


    <em>Like with Refining. Getting halfway is the easy part.</em> In this case, the City Lord likely had to increase his density first, then the control would cement it, and move him into the truly Hallowed range.


    <em>That means that he actually has the power of a Hallowed, just not the control.</em>


    Somehow, that made her feel better. His rank was basically three tiers above hers.


    <em>-The power running through him. It isnt pure. It has those micro-shes that Thron talked about.-</em>


    <em>So, he got his power like most arcanes do, from many different sources.</em>


    <em>-Most likely. That probably makes it harder to control at his level ofpression. Anypse causes the power to want to spread back out.-</em>


    <em>Huh. I suppose, creating a stable base would allow for true purification of the power, and then he wouldnt have that issue.</em>


    <em>-Should we mention that?-</em>


    Tughed internally. <em>Give him an insight that might be insulting at worst, and at best allow a City Lord to advance in rank? No. </em>She shook her head. <em>Rust no.</em>


    With no further incident, her work finished less than an hourter.


    You will return in one months time. He didnt turn to regard her.


    Yes, City Lord. She gave a shallow bow and departed.

 Chapter 231: Guild Hold

    Chapter 231: Guild Hold


    T, unfortunately, couldnt just go back to her sanctum and rx, despite the day with the City Lord being as trying as shed expected. <em>The loss of the arm wasnew.</em>


    <em>-Well, you handled it just fine.-</em>


    <em>It recovered quickly enough, I think it helped that the arm wasnt justying there on the ground beside me. More than anything it was just a punitive tax on my resources.</em>


    In nning out the day with Thron, T had elected to breach a renegade hold that evening, and she was to meet the dwarf at the entrance.


    Once she was clear of the City Lords estate, she found an out of the way wall and ced Kit upon it.


    She walked onto her dais and activated the reinscription magics. As she was still mostly painted, she chose to have threads of gold, inteced with a bit of silver and copper, flow through her mouth and down her throat, as much as that was fundamentally awful.


    As it finished, she let herself move once again, spitting out a bit of blood to one side.


    It vanished before it hit the dais.


    That done, she retracted her clothing, repainted her new arm, and used her mirrored perspective, via her bloodstars, to ensure that there were no other breaches in that defensiveyer.


    The echoes, even hidden by her through-spike, had faded with such arge breach in her iron paint, as provided by her bare arm.


    Now, the power began building once again, quickly beginning her internal resonance.


    Fully defended and inscribed once more, she exited Kit, hung the pouch from her belt, and set off towards the meeting spot.


    The location was a bit out of the way in the District of Doors.


    The district itself abutted the City Lords estate, but the holds nearest that private park were <em>much</em> sought after, and the locations changed hands so often the truly established powers didnt bother.


    Thus, that part of the District of Doors was filled with those on a path upward, or those trying to head off a fall from grace.


    In either case, her destination was in another part all together, with the holds well established and unlikely to have moved in thest century, and even less likely to move in the next.


    When she arrived, she found herself impressed by the surroundings.


    There were several lovely parks nearby, and the entrance of the hold in question was one of the more prominent ones in the area. It was beautifully appointed and decorated,vish almost to the extreme in the owners attempt to draw attention to it. They had seeded splendidly, the effect made more pronounced by the purple, glowing, magical field preventing anyone from essing it.


    To Ts surprise and confusion, Be-thric was awaiting her instead of Thron. He was standing only a couple dozen feet from the sealed off entrance of the shielded hold.


    My Eskau! He held his arms out wide, grinning broadly as she approached.


    If it had been anyone else, she would have thought he wanted a hug, but Talis memories confirmed that that was decidedly not the case.


    Pir Be-thric. T didnt bow, per Be-thrics request, but she also knew that Tali wouldnt like that, so to mirror what would be expected, T nodded in acknowledgement. To what do I owe the honor of your presence?


    One moment. He waved his hand and an explosion of magical tendrils shot out of him in every direction. They wove through the air and ground around them, locking it off from any outside observer.


    When T looked outward, everything appeared blurry as well as hazy; it was noticeably darker, and no sound entered from the outside.


    There we are. You see, this has be a rather delicate matter.


    T cocked her head to one side, listening.


    This is the main hold for a specialty crafting guild, and they have apparently been very devious crafters. The hue-folk males eyes sparkled. Theyve been researching and actually <em>building</em> automata.


    She frowned. Neither her own, nor Talis, memories providing any clue as to what was going on.


    I see youre confused. Let me exin. Ever since the ck Legion, automata have beenpletely ouwed in all forms, great or small.


    You mean, like moving statues? Talis memory was still drawing a nk.


    No, no. Not like statues at all.he waved her off with a long-suffering expression"They are, effectively, artificial lifeforms with a programable consciousnesses. They can draw in magic from the environment and even advance in rank, if designed to do so.


    So, people, but fabricated?


    Not really. They have no soul, broken or whole, and so they have no significance, no <em>will</em>.


    I see. She was frowning. Again, she checked with Talis memories, and she came up with nothing. What is the ck Legion? Something about the name tickled her memory, but nothing specific came to mind.


    The ck legion is an army of self-repairing automata built back in the War of the Broken Soul to bring back certain lost property.he waved that off as unimportant The issue with them was that they went wild. They had to be soplex that they developedplications, which manifested in a semnce of desires in conflict with their creators. All in all, it ended badly for everyone, and automata were banned.


    <em>No wonder he came here himself. This seems like something that Tali really should have heard of, and her not knowing coulde across odd to others, and they might not handle it in a way that would be good for her fake memories.</em>


    T frowned, nced towards the hold in question. But these crafters ignored the ban.


    They did.


    And their automata went rogue?


    Be-thric hesitated, then shrugged. They arent sure. Mid-afternoon, yesterday, the hold ejected everyone bodily, the automata physically throwing out those who wouldnt leave by other means. Then, the barrier activated, and the guild called for help.


    Thats where Ie in.


    Precisely. His greedy grin was back. But it gets better than an enjoyable fight.


    T found his excitement infectious and checked for mental magics.


    <em>-None. Hes just really happy, and somethings telling us that were going to like the results as well.-</em>


    <em>Thats weird</em>


    They would face a <em>significant</em> penalty if the nature of their experiments is discovered. Theyd lose their hold, their status, and likely much, <em>much</em> more. So, in exchange for our silence, and the utter destruction of automata within, I secured you the right to consume their hold. He said thest as if he were unveiling a birthday gift.


    In truth, T was dumbstruck. Her eyes widened in surprise, and she was at a loss for words.


    <em>That is rusting amazing.</em>


    <em>-Kit gets to eat arge guilds main hold?-</em> t was giving off waves of excitement, too.


    A hold of a prominent guild would easily allow Kit to double in internal volume, if not more. Moreover, the authorization to consume the hold meant that nothing within would have to be returned to the owners.


    Be-thrics grin widened ever further. I can see you are speechless. Good!


    <em>This is ridiculous. Why? Why is he doing this for us?</em>


    <em>-You know why. Its not for us. Its for him. Us improving is him improving. He sees us as so thoroughly in his pocket and under his thrall that our advancement is only good for him.-</em>


    <em>I guess I guess I still had my doubts. How can he not realize were not Tali? Im sure I make dozens of little mistakes every day.</em>


    <em>-No one observes that closely, T, and you returned to yourself at a time of transition, when Tali would have maderge changes in how she acted, regardless.-</em>


    T felt a seed of joy and hope truly blossom in her chest as the realization hit home. <em>Were going to make it, t. Unless something catastrophic happens, were going to get out of here once his armor isplete. Hes going to take us home himself.</em>


    Her hope hardened into expectancy as she imagined him getting the punishment he deserved at the hands of her fellow Archons.


    Be-thric continued speaking, pulling her out of her vengeful fantasies. You have been an excellentEskau. You proved my faith in you a dozen times over, and I am more than happy to secure you privilege and gain as a small thank you.


    T was still a bit speechless. There was little else that she would seek out more valuable to her at the moment. <em>Save my freedom.</em>


    She didnt let that thought sour her expression.


    He really was giving her a mountain of treasure, while supercharging her advancement.


    Did that make her feel bad for what she knew would being for the arcane?


    No. Not one bit.


    <em>Take them for all their worth.</em>


    <em>-Then lead themb to ughter.-</em>


    <em>The narcissistic, kidnap-happymb.</em> T teased internally.


    <em>-The analogy fits.-</em>


    She finally was able to respond, pulling heavily on Tali to do so. Honestly, she considered just switching out for Tali, but she couldnt bring herself to give up control. Thank you, Pir Be-thric. This Eskau is honored by your arrangement of this boon.


    He continued to smile happily, clearly having seen at least some of the emotions flickering across her face and wildly misinterpreting them. Of course, of course.


    He pulled out a keyring and held it out to her.


    These will allow you to unlock each section as you go deeper in. They were paranoid folk and ced the holds core at the very back, deep within multipleyers of security.


    Be-thric then handed her a small book, detailing the specifics of what she would find inside.


    Now, I have another appointment to get to. I appreciate your suggestion on where we can get the next protian weapon, and I like it. Our informationwork is looking into what candidate Eskau might be visiting a lesser hold in the next weeks, so that we can execute a hold-breech and im the prize.


    He patted her on the shoulder and waved his other hand, dismissing the privacy barrier.


    Good luck, my Eskau. Continue to make me proud and bring honor to the House of Blood.


    I will, Pir Be-thric. Thank you.


    Without furtherment, Be-thric departed, off to his next task.


    Dusk had turned into full night as they spoke, while magical light made the streets bright and safe.


    Before her, an arcane barrier barred her entrance, but she could deal with that.


    <em>But first, we need to read this.</em>


    She whipped through the book detailing the defenses and contents of the hold before her in less than an hour, t helping her parse the information more quickly.


    After that, she was ready to go.


    She had taken out a set of tungsten spheres and spent thest part of her reading first rendering them effectively weightless, then amplifying their attraction towards one another as two separate workings.


    Now, she approached the gates.


    <em>This should be fairly simple, actually.</em> The book had informed her that it wasnt a heavy magical defense. It was simply meant as a temporary dying tactic to allow the holds defenses to be readied.


    There was also that the true purpose of the barrier was to keep the automata in the hold, to prevent their discovery in case one went rogue. It was a rather prescient feature, though they seemed to have underestimated the scope of the potential issue.


    T took a deep breath, pulled power from the flesh around her lungs, and with an act of will, inverted it.


    T exhaled a stream of disintegration at the magical barrier, quickly eroding a breach in the defense.


    She hopped through, still holding the spheres in one hand.


    The barrier slowly repaired itself behind her, but she didnt care.


    The automata were now locked in there with her.


    The next thing to bar her path wasnt anything special.


    This was not a major Houses hold.


    It was well defended, but the entrance wasnt authorized to have the same level of security.


    Thus, all that really barred her way after the barrier was a mundane, if heavily reinforced, door.


    She lifted one bare foot and, with a powerful kick, shattered the locking bar to throw the entrance wide open.


    The first room was a waiting area, a foyer and weing space for customers of the guild.


    Under normal circumstances, there would be servants, refreshments, andfortable seating.


    Of course, there were no servers at the moment.


    Trays of drinks and tters of foody scattered about, and much of the furniture was overturned.


    It hadnt been so long that the food had spoiled, so the smell in the air was just a bit jumbled from the dropped items.


    The room wasnt otherwise empty, however, as T got her first look at the automata.


    They were very much like men made of an almost white steel. Unlike the animate statues shed fought in the ether hold, these had joints, and inner workings that poked out around the strangely liquid looking metal of their main pieces.


    The metal men stood haphazardly around the room, seeming to have stopped as soon as thest of the guildmembers were thrown out.


    Their faces were utterly emotionless, and a break in the facetes showed that the mouths were intended to open, just as the book had said.


    Their eyes had a subtle purple hue that gleamed in the low, slightly flickering light; several of the magical lights around the room having been cracked or broken.


    These automata were all the most basic model. They were designed to fight with whatever they couldy their hands on, or just with their hands directly, and they were strong, but they hadnt been designed, specifically, for security orbat.


    No, these were the servant models.


    Even so, the brief overview of their specifications had informed T that they would each be about as strong as she had been before Fusing, which was honestly insane.


    <em>-Any one of these would tear through a human city like a natural disaster until the defenders arrived.-</em>


    Also, true to theirbel of automata, they were actively drawing in magic from their surroundings.


    She couldnt see what they were doing with it, but she knew it likely wasnt good.


    As they hadnt moved since thest person had been thrown out, there were two standing right inside the door that T had just kicked open.


    Every head snapped towards her almost moving as one the instant she breached the entrance, and T attacked.


    Flow became a sword, and T beheaded the first two with a clean sweep, even as they were stilling out of whatever power absorption mode theyd been in.


    A thick, vibrant purple liquid sprayed out, almost seeming to glow as it rained down around the two bodies, crashing to the floor.


    <em>Two down.</em>


    The spheres in her off hand had made the sword swing a bit awkward, as shed had to do it one handed.


    Thus, she wanted them gone. So, she picked two figures at the far end of the room and altered the spheres targets to their upper chests, a weak point on these models ording to the book, the location of their cores.


    The air cracked as the spheres tore through it, raising the temperature of the room a couple of degrees in an instant before the two automatas upper torsos seemed to vaporize.


    The others in the room were fully awake and aware, by then.


    Some were already sprinting her way, either unarmed or still carrying that which theyd wielded against the guildmembers.


    Others were moving to grab nearby objects to use against her.


    <em>This is going to be fun.</em> T couldnt tell if she was being serious or sarcastic.


    <em>-A bit of both, I think. It will be a chore, but a fun chore.-</em>


    She grinned, reaching out to target the two that were closest, still a dozen yards away at least.


    It took all her magical weight to hammer a lock into ce.


    <em>Crush.</em> They hunkered down, not slowing.<em> Well, thats unfortunate.</em>


    <em>Crush!</em> The stone cracked beneath their thundering feet. <em>Oh,e on.</em>


    <em>CRUSH.</em> The two dropped to all fours, using their increased weight in close on her more quickly. <em>Now, thats just creepy.</em>


    <em>CRUSH!!!</em> They mmed to the floor, ttening and sending out a <em>squelch</em> of purple liquid, like a crushed, previously-bloated mosquito.


    <em>That was ridiculously inefficient.</em> Shed used eight rings across those two, and she knew there would be hundreds of these things to deal with.


    <em>Who builds an army of untested creations? These people were idiots.</em>


    She used a quick <em>restrain </em>on the next charging figures, but the one that followed immediately behind that one grabbed it and threw the thing at her.


    <em>NO! You cannot utilize my own working against me.</em> She broke the effect, and the thing mmed back to the ground.


    The doors closed behind her on their own with a click, and a full ten enemies reached her nearly simultaneously.


    T spun through the attackers, using the Way of Flowing Blood like never before. Her practice both alone and with Thron showing its merit.


    Flow moved between its standard forms knife, sword, and iveso fluidly that it was hard to tell which shape it was in at any given instant, and it was always exactly the form that T needed it to be as she needed it.


    Her bloodstars added to her weapon and martial forms. The three around her head giving her and t a view in every direction and allowing her to grow a helmet over her head with her elk-leathers as she fought without losing any awareness.


    T leveraged the two bloodstars within the tungsten rod to whip the metal in tight, automaton-cracking arcs.


    The sphere containing a bloodstar still acted mostly as a spoiler, keeping enemies at bay, or throwing them off by being in just the right ce to dy and give T an extra instant to exploit for an attack or to shift out of the way.


    The three defensive tes were used for just that: defense. They blocked fists, furniture legs, serving trays, and even the asional cheese knife. Some of those were thrown, but most were wielded by inhumanly strong arms.


    To add to the difficulty, any automaton that wasnt fully dispatchedby either losing its head or having its core disabledseemed to quickly repair itself, even picking up and reattaching limbs as needed.


    Even so, T found herself grinning like a madwoman.


    It had been <em>so</em> long since she was truly tested.


    The ether hold had been a pain, but in its own way, it had been too easy.


    Once she found the counter for each type of enemy, they died in droves.


    There was some of that, here, but the automata were adapting, learning as they fought her.


    Moreover, they seemed to be learning from the <em>others</em> that fought her.


    Each new opponent joined the fray, seemingly already aware of the tricks shed used before, knowledgeable of how she fought.


    It was terrifying in a sense.


    It was invigorating.


    She <em>loved</em> it.


    They pressed her from all sides, but they couldnt touch her.


    She was just better than them.


    At least, she was better than the first twenty or so.


    Even the next twenty werent <em>that</em> difficult to ovee.


    Then, the forty-second somehow used the others around her to make its way through her guard andy a hand on her shoulder.


    It wasnt an attack, so it didnt hurt, and it wasnt blocked by her elk-leathers defense.


    Instead, the thing jerked her backwards, throwing her off bnce, and the world seemed to slow.


    A frown began forming across her features in slow motion as her mind raced.


    <em>What? The rusting thing got through?</em>


    <em>-You saw iting.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, but I tripped the other one in its way.</em>


    <em>-You did that before.-</em>


    <em>Rustthats right. They are adapting faster. I think theyre narrowing in on my fighting style.</em>


    <em>-So? What do we do?-</em>


    <em>We have to change the game.</em>


    Ts eyes lit with an idea. Then, they vanished, reced with empty holes in reality, as T activated Flows void-knife form.


    As she fell backward, she twisted and drove the de into the automatons arm.


    Magic began rushing out of the thing and into the knife.


    Ts void-sight, her altered mage-sight thanks to the power of the void flowing through her, showed her the movement of the power within her enemies, and she noticed when the thing internally severed its own limb.


    The arm dropped free, and the void-knife had no more power to pull as it had gobbled up all that remain in the limb in an instant.


    <em>Well, that worked pretty well.</em>


    <em>-Ill say.-</em>


    Tall took a deep breath and spun back towards those on the other side, which had been seeking to take advantage of her temporary stumble.


    With a working of will and a powerful exhale, she sted them in dissolution magics.


    Unfortunately, they didnt all simply turn to dust.


    No, that would have been too easy.


    Instead, their magics rose up and fought against the disintegration of the metal bodies, draining arge chunk of power from each automata her breath hit.


    <em>That works too.</em> Her grin was back, now so wide it made her cheeks hurt.


    <em>-Lets do this.</em>-


    Less than two minutester, a total of a hundred and twenty of the basic automatay broken and leaking in the wee room around her.


    She was liberally sttered with the vibrant, glowing, purple liquid. Nothing about it seemed to hurt her.


    With a quick bouncing hop in ce, most of the stuff fell free to rain on the floor around her. She didnt aspect mirror the self-cleaning as doing so would breakfree her iron paint.


    <em>Maybe at the end of clearing out this ce. Then, I can take a bath.</em>


    T looked at therge set of doors on the far side of the space from the entrance and the keyhole in them.


    <em>That will lead into the next section.</em>


    <em>-There will be more than just these basic ones in there. Some preparation would be good.-</em>


    <em>Agreed.</em>


    So, T sat and prepared all ten sets of tungsten spheres Be-thric had given her, having recovered the two she used at the beginning of her rampage through the wee area.


    She couldnt hold ten sets of spheres in her hands at once and didnt even want to hold one as it was awkward and threw off her grip for many of her forms.


    She settled on putting them back in their pouch on her belt, set on pulling them out at need.


    And she had no doubt that she would need them.


    For each set, she had amplified their gravity towards one another to a degree that they would easily dmission at least the basic automata.


    She wasnt sure about the more advanced models.


    After all, the more advanced automata had armor.

 Chapter 232: Armored Units

    Chapter 232: Armored Units


    T was finally ready, her preparationsplete.


    She stood within a guilds main hold, within the city of toiri.


    Around hery the broken bodies of basic model automata.


    Before her stood the entrance into the next section of this dimensional pocketplex.


    Her tungsten sphere pairs were gravity amplified to lethal levels and awaiting her need in the pouch at her waist.


    <em>Not Kit. A different pouch.</em>


    Kit hung beside the lesser pouch, together bncing out Flow that hung on her opposite hip.


    She had contemted holding Kit when she went through, but decided that there was no need.


    She still did have her tungsten rod and sphere in position, along with the three defensive discs in random orbit around herself, however.


    <em>The book didnt say anything about rangedbatants, but they sure did seem to throw urately enough.</em>


    With onest nod to herself for confirmation, she unlocked the door into the next section, watching with her mage-sight as defensive fields and spatial locks retracted to give her ess.


    Instead of swinging open, the doors faded away, and she was left standing in a decorative archway, leading deeper into the facility.


    She knew from the book that if she put the key back into the center of the empty space she could reestablish the doors and seal off the wee atrium, but that shouldnt be necessary.


    Sadly, there were no convenient automata standing right in front of the door this time, so she was forced to leap to get within range of the closest ones.


    Flow snapped into her hand, taking the form of a ive as sheshed out.


    The space she was in now was a faux outdoors, roughly a mile or so across.


    Dozens of outbuildings were scattered throughout the lightly wooded area.


    The trees were conifers, a mix of pine and fir if Ts guess was right.


    The ground beneath her feet was a well-manicuredwn, and there were seating areas, including pic benches, scattered throughout, especially concentrated near the paths and waterways.


    It was a park, exclusive to the guild and their guests.


    <em>Well, now exclusive to solely their arcane creations.</em>


    <em>-And you.-</em>


    T smiled at that. <em>And me.</em>


    The first automata she slew in quick session were all the base model, and none of the first dozen even had time toe out of their magic absorption mode before they were dmissioned.


    Regardless, it wasnt long before she saw squads of the armored variant, the foot soldiersing her way.


    In addition to the armor, they were all armed with mundane weaponry, but nothing seeming to be long range.


    <em>-Yeah, what sort of madwoman would throw a sword?-</em>


    <em>Hush you.</em>


    There was a single odd automaton in the middle of each squad of five armored units.


    <em>Thats odd. Do you remember anything like them mentioned in the book?</em>


    <em>-No, but the concentration of power within them is </em>much<em> greater than the others.-</em>


    Conveniently, there were four squadsing Ts way, so as she fought through the base automata she pulled out pairs of spheres, switching their targets one set after another, to take out the twenty armored enemies.


    The air cracked with a series of reports that sounded like hail striking a metal drum, assuming the hail was asrge as Ts fist.


    The first two armored foes died easily, but not in the way T had hoped.


    Their chest armor, heavily reinforced over their cores, was harder than shed hoped, and it deflected the tungsten sent to destroy them.


    Blessedly, the angles of the armor sent the attack up at an angle, into their heads.


    Two heads vaporized, and their bodies began to fall.


    T took a couple of punches from the basic units around her as she finished sending off her twenty spheres.


    <em>This is ridiculous. Holding them in pouches is slower than keeping them in my hand, and still takes my hand to get them free for use.</em>


    They didnt really hurt as her elk-leathers defenses actually deadened the blows. <em>Hey! My defenses weren''t immediately overpowered.</em>


    That was a nice change, honestly.


    Four more bodies dropped, then twelve had were falling, then sixteen.


    Interestingly enough, as T had targeted the things cores, the tungsten returned to m into the fallen bodies once again, sometimes ending up resting in a newly created divot in the tough armor exterior, and sometimes finding a way down inside to actually reach the targeted destination.


    Even so, while they were struck down, they were adapting.


    T could see magic flowing through their armor as it reshaped. It wasnt fast enough for most of her targets, but the final four? It did quite a lot.


    The seventeenth and eighteenth armored foes had morphed enough of a deflection that only half of their heads were blown off, rather than the entirety being basically vaporized by the redirected impact.


    It was still dmissioning for them, but it was an improvement from a defensive standpoint.


    The neenth and twentieth had enough time to alter their armor, having morphed the defense to have something like a gorget, but grown up from the breastte. <em>Isnt that called a bevor?</em>


    <em>-Your guess is exactly like mine.-</em>


    In any case, it caused the spheres to deflect up and to one side, knocking the targets around, but not killing them.


    T cursed, but it quickly didnt matter as those spheres, like all the others, were still locked onto her foes cores.


    The tungsten slowed as it moved away then quickly elerated back down with another nearly unified <em>crack</em> in the air.


    They drilled down through the less armored necks and struck the cores.


    <em>Gravity for the win!</em> It wasnt a single attack that could be deflected and then ignored. Her projectiles just starting, and they dont stoping, forever.


    <em>Well, until they hit their target, but that means theyve arrived.</em>


    <em>-The sentiment stands, I think.-</em>


    T held in a maniacalugh as she finished wiping out the twenty-five or so basic units that had swarmed her at the beginning.


    <em>That worked so, so well.</em>


    <em>-Well, aside from having to pull them out of your pouch.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, that wasnt ideal, but the rest? Amazing.</em>


    With the armored units dealt with, she just had the four examples of the unknown variant. <em>What idiot in the guild decided tried to hide these?</em>


    They were approaching slowly, making T wish that shed kept some spheres back to speed things up.


    The four were still more than a hundred yards from her when another group of armored foes charged through arge, decorative shrub just about thirty feet to her right and sprinted at her with incredible speed.


    The two in the lead would reach her at the same time, and from what shed seen with the deflection of the spheres, she didnt think a single cut would go through both armored enemies cleanly.


    So, she transformed Flow into a ive and thrust it with her dominant hand, skewering the one on the right. To her surprise, her grip held firm, despite the somewhat awkward angle even as the massive thing rammed home upon the de.


    Its weight and momentum threw her backward, but she held her stance and slid across the ground, even as the skewered automaton was already eliminated, its core breached.


    The one on the left closed thest feet a little slower than it expected due to her backwards movement, and T had time to get into position and m her left hand forward in a half-fist punch.


    She almost just used her fist, but something deep inside her made her realize that she needed prative power, so she trusted herself, and her body, to get the job done.


    Her hesitancy was unfounded.


    T often forgot that she was <em>strong.</em>


    Her bones were strong, her connective tissue was ridiculously robust, and her muscles were even stronger.


    Sure, she used her elevated strength to do quite a few things, but she rarely used it directly.


    Now, she did.


    She felt the bones in her hand groan in protest as her knuckles rammed into the magically reinforced armor of the automaton.


    If all she did was punch, shed be more likely to throw the attacker away than do real damage. That is why had used the extra moment of set-up time to jerk her three defensive tes into ce behind the foe, <em>pulling </em>them against the things back to act almost like a tripod to support it, and force it to take the full power of her strike.


    A low crunch resounded over the battlefield, T slid further back, causing her ive to pull free.


    An instantter another crunch resounded, and Ts fist exited the back of the being, coated in purple fluid and fragments of the automatons core.


    At the same time, the opponent that had been skewered upon Flows de fell to the ground with a heavy thud.


    <em>Hah! Take that, you rusting creations.</em>


    The foe shed punched through became a limp weight on her arm, dragging her downward, and she let it as the next three enemies arrived.


    Flow took off two legs while in the form of a sword, one from each of two of Ts foes.


    As Flow was literally cutting their legs from under her enemies, T kicked the right knee of the third opponent, breaking the magically reinforced joint and causing that one to copse next to her as well.


    She then plunged Flow into three cores in the form of a knife, each piercing thrust getting more difficult as the armor over each subsequent automatas core thickened in anticipation of her tactic.


    It wasnt enough.


    She rolled back to her feet to face the odd variants, even as she felt power build above where she had just been kneeling.


    An explosion of purple fire washed over the downed automata that T had just dmissioned, and she watched as they melted into an indistinct puddle.


    There was no heat outside of the fire, but T could tell that within was hotter than a forge.


    <em>Yeah, thats pretty obvious due to the melting automata.</em> She grimaced. <em>And, great. Theyre magic users?</em>


    <em>-We knew they absorbed power.-</em>


    <em>To reinforce their bodies, t! Not to act like rusting Mages!</em> Needless to say, there had been nothing about this in the notes.


    <em>Who begs for a favor, then doesnt warn the asked about rusting magic users!?</em>


    The second Mage variant lifted its hand, and T was engulfed in the arcane fire.


    The elk-leather defenses, mundane and magical, kept out most of the initial st, but heat was still unbelievable, as it warred with all the enhancements within her own body.


    She found her body failing.


    The fire onlysted a second, and when it had passed, Ts body reknit itself.


    Blessedly, nothing had truly scorched, it had just started to melt.


    <em>Yeahthats a thats a real blessing.</em> T grit her teeth against the pain as her body pulled back into proper cement.


    <em>-Deep breath! Itsing again.-</em>


    The next one extended its hand and even though T dodged, the fire still sted down upon her.


    This time, however, she noticed a few things.


    First, her tungsten began to look a little droopy, which seemed bad. With a thought she willed the sphere and rod out of the fire.


    Second, the fire seemed to be shooting from a single point over head, rather than simplying into being all around her. That exined why her aura hadnt been contested.


    Third, her iron paint had shed off, even under her elk-leathers.


    <em>Thats annoying.</em>


    She filled her lungs with power, inverted the spell-form and exhaled upward at the down-rushing fire.


    The ending-tree power mmed into that of the arcane fire and consumed it, eating the entirety of the power remaining in the st.


    <em>Good, thats an okay counter. Its a bit annoying that I have to look at the source and exhale, but its workable.</em>


    Well, it would have been workable, except that the final Mage variant was extending its hand, and she had just fully exhaled.


    She had a choice to make: Was she going to take the full brunt of another st?


    <em>Yeah, no. Rust that.</em>


    She acted on reflex, allowing her instincts and reactions to counter the attack more quickly than even her enhanced thoughts couldmand.


    She extended Flow upward into the form of a void ive.


    The power requirements were <em>enormous</em>, and she knew her body would be utterly drained dry of power in less than a second, despite the massive void-channels she was already directing into Flow.


    But that was more than enough time.


    The void-ive stabbed through the point at which the purple fire was about to erupt, and it consumed the working whole.


    <em>Even better, if more expensive.</em>


    Flow shrank back to its dormant, knife shape, and T took a couple of panting breaths.


    She looked critically towards the four enemies moving to surround her.


    <em>Defense isnt going to win me this one.</em>


    <em>-Well then, lets go.-</em> t sent T the impression of a determined, fierce smile.


    T flung Flow in the form of a sword towards the farthest enemy, while charging towards the closest herself.


    <em>-See? Madwoman.-</em>


    <em>I said hush.</em>


    She lunged and wove, managing to stay out of the areas of effect of the next two purple sts.


    The fourth never came as Flow easily cleaved through the Mage variant.


    Sadly, the one right beside it, less than five feet away, was unharmed. <em>Why do I feel like I should be able to hurt that one too?</em>


    <em>-Life is a mystery sometimes.-</em>


    T vaulted thest stretch as she mmed her knee into the chest of the automaton. With both her hands free, she grabbed onto its shoulders as she did so, riding the thing down to the ground.


    Even as it mmed down, she grabbed its head, giving a great, twisting pull.


    She used arge portion of her strength as her back arched, and she growled in determination.


    With rtively little resistance before her efforts, the head tore free.


    <em>I might need to get another weapon somehow. Throwing Flow is awesome, but it leaves me unarmed.</em>


    <em>-Your hands work pretty well.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, so would a rock, but its not ideal.</em>


    <em>-Fair, fair.-</em>


    She <em>pulled,</em> and Flow zipped back to her, clipping another of her foes on the way by.


    Sadly, that damage was healed rather quickly.


    Feeling a bit ironically vindictive, T flung the headless Mage variant at its fellows, sprinting after the body to capitalize on the chaos.


    Less than half a minuteter, the other three Mage like things were out ofmission.


    <em>Not bad, T. Not bad at all.</em>


    <em>-Yes, let the self-congrattions flow through you.-</em>


    <em>Rust you, t, Im doing great.</em>


    t just chuckled. <em>-Youre right; you are.-</em>


    T took a moment to look around at the park-like surroundings. They were a bit torn up nearby, but for the most part, this ce was still pristine.


    <em>Good. I think parts of this can be quite useful to us.</em>


    A thought urred to her, likely born of what shed seen out of the edges of her vision earlier.


    She pushed Flow into its void-knife form, and her vision changed.


    With the void-sight, she was able to see the edges of reality for the simple reason that there was nothing past them at all.


    <em>Ahh, I can see the void.</em>


    -<em>Well, you can not see anything, and that absence indicates the void.-</em>


    <em>Semantics.</em>


    <em>-Fair enough.-</em>


    This pocket dimension ended only a foot or so below T. She could also see that, below the trees, great bowls of reality had been created, extending down and out in a half-sphere to allow the trees to have a solid foundation.


    <em>Thats a clever way to save on internal volume while still allowing healthy,rge trees.</em>


    She continued her examinations as she retrieved all her tungsten spheres from the bodies of the armored automata.


    She could feel something watching her.


    The book had indicated some sort of unified connection between all the things, and that it could observe within the hold as a whole. So, the feeling wasnt unexpected.


    Even so, she wasnt in a rush.


    In fact, no matter how long she was in here, within reason, her duties would be taken care of by others. It would be nice to have a bit of a break from the monotony, honestly.


    It couldntst forever, sadly.


    <em>I give it a week before Paun is sent in after me.</em>


    She definitely wouldnt need a week, but she was tempted to take as much time as she could, regardless.


    <em>Eh, Ill see how this ys out.</em>


    Thats when her enhanced hearing began to pick up the thud of footfalls.


    She hadnt had a chance to charge up more than a single set of tungsten spheres to a lethal level.


    <em>Well, thats irritating.</em>


    She also really didnt want to hold the spheres


    She cocked her head in thought, an idea striking her. With a mild application of focus and power, she willed her elk-leathers to grow a set of ties on her upper chest.


    She then deftly fastened those around the two spheres, using the dip between them to keep them from moving side to side.


    Their attraction to each other was sufficient to allow her to pull the cord rtively tight without pulling between them.


    She tested it out, moving around. The spheres did pull a bit, but it wasnt too bad.


    Shed reduced their downward pull first, so they werent weighing her down with anything but their inertia.


    <em>Well, lets give this method a try.</em>


    She looked up as, around a bend in the main path, a unit of ten automata came into view.


    These were armored as expected, but a few things seemed to have changed.


    First, their armor had grown.


    This was not mere stretching or reshaping. Unfortunately, they looked to have doubled, if not tripled, the mass of metal in their armor asparted to the initial armored units T had in.


    Additionally, their heads were pulled lower, seemingly more closely connected to their shoulders. The shape of the armor was now clearly meant both for deflecting blows away from the head and core and to make it difficult to get a good grip on the head or neck.


    <em>They can upgrade to counter me, too? Not just change behavior or do surface level changes?</em>


    <em>-This was listed as a factory for them, T.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, but their production speed cant be this good.</em>


    <em>-I believe that these were merely upgraded based on your previous shes.-</em>


    That made a lot of sense, actually.


    Building new ones? Slow.


    Upgrading existing ones with a bit more armor? Fast.


    <em>Alright, then. I suppose its time to make some more scrap.</em>

 Chapter 233: That Depends

    Chapter 233: That Depends


    Tid on the ground, surrounded by slowly leaking, broken constructs of metal and magic.


    <em>That was actually pretty exhausting. What the rust?</em>


    The ten heavily armored automata had required her to get in close and hack through their defenses a little at a time, all while evading the ones she wasnt currently assaulting.


    The stupid things had had wells of power that were entirely too deep, and had that power directly connected to their own integrity-defending magics, rendering her disintegration breath ineffective, at least not at its current efficiency.


    The automata were too quick to cut their losses and seal off limbs for the void-des to reasonably drain them.


    They had just enough magical weight to make enacting workings directly on them infeasible.


    Shed tried to hold them in ce to deliver punishing blows, but theyd worked together to wriggle free or otherwise minimize the damage.


    Thus, most of her hits had sent them flying away, allowing that target to heal while she fought the other nine.


    Throughout, theyd struck her with armored, empowered fists and mostly mundane des.


    The attacks had hurt, but only asionally made her bleed, sometimes internally, sometimes mixing her red blood with their purple vital fluids to ssh across the ground.


    Thus, the fight had turned into a contest of endurance.


    It was no surprise to T that she had won in the end, but it had taken a couple of hours.


    <em>That was dumb.</em> She was no longer panting.


    Honestly, shed never <em>needed</em> to breathe heavier, but her body still had that reaction to extended, strenuous activities.


    <em>How can something requiring such precision, and filled with so much action, have been so boring?</em>


    <em>-Repetition?-</em>


    It <em>had</em> been incredibly repetitive.


    <em>-They knew you to be an unstoppable force with what they had avable, so they sent a dying force?-</em>


    <em>Yeah that would be my guess from their actions as well.</em> She sat up.


    Even knowing that this hold was dying her for <em>some</em> reason, she still wanted to prepare. Sure, she could go sprinting off to find whatever they were doing, but a half-hour more of preparation would set her up so much better for whatever this ce had in store and shouldnt mean the difference between sess and failure.


    -<em>Deep within the bowels of the guild hold, the T-destroyer nearedpletion. They just needed twenty more minutes. Their best minds were at a loss: How could they dy the invader? Little did they know, the invader was dying herself.-</em>


    <em>Rust you, t. Im trying to be wise and methodical.</em>


    <em>-Definitely the wise choice. This wont be the point at which, in a poetic twist, your standard brashness would have been the wiser course.-</em>


    T red at nothing in particr, making it very clear that the look was intended for t.


    <em>-Fine, fine. Do what you want.-</em>


    <em>I was going to anyway.</em>


    T pulled out a set of one-inch tungsten spheres and hesitated.


    <em>You know, instead of tying these on after, I can skip a step by</em> She applied her will and power to the garments, and a small p of leather extended from the front of her elk-leathers.


    She held one ball in ce on either side.


    First, she reduced their downward pull, then she amplified the gravity between them.


    Soon enough, they were holding themselves in ce, the bit of leather all that separated the two.


    T was able to let go, and they stayed in ce.


    <em>Ha! Thats great.</em>


    She moved just a bit, and they tried to roll off the leather to get closer together.


    <em>No! No, no, no.</em> She grabbed them, forcing them back in ce, as their pull still wasnt <em>that</em> strong yet. This was just a test, after all.


    The tie had held them just fine. Why was this different?


    <em>It was a raised ring.</em>


    With that realization, T caused a circle of elk-bone to grow within the leather, encircling the point where the two balls pushed closest.


    <em>Eh?</em> She moved a bit, and the spheres swayed back and forth a bit. She pulled the leather tab back in, until the two were held tight against her, and that seemed to work.


    <em>Alright! Lets do this.</em>


    <em>-That was well thought through.-</em>


    <em>Why, thank you, t.</em>


    T ended up fully amplifying all ten sets of magic-marked tungsten spheres, cing five on her front, and five on her back using leather with embedded bone-rings as spacers and to hold them in ce.


    She had done them one set at a time because while she could do more than that, it would slow down the amplification a corresponding proportion, thus not actually being faster in the end.


    <em>There we go! Lets see what we have to deal with next.</em>


    T moved through the park quickly, checking each building she passed, but finding them empty.


    The buildings were the heart and soul of the guilds daily operations, just as the book had described them to be. They were offices, meeting rooms,boratories, and libraries. There were storage buildings, cafeterias, and even living quarters scattered throughout the parklike section of the hold.


    A few were locked, but T opened those with a small application of force.


    As she finally approached the far side of the space, she came around a turn in the path and saw the door to the next area.


    In front of it stood a dozen of the much more heavily armored automata, standing in groups of four, each group around what looked like a Mage variant, containing even more power than the few shed seen so far.


    <em>You have got to be rusting kidding me.</em>


    They hadnt reacted to her presence, so she had a moment.


    In that moment, she had a thought, and she opened up Kit.


    Terry?


    Terry flickered into being on her shoulder, looking around.


    Do you want to fight some metal people?


    He gave her a deeply incredulous look before vanishing once more.


    By the traces of dimensional power evident to her mage-sight, he returned to his ying and hunting within Kit.


    I guess not, then.


    <em>Fine. How do I want to handle this?</em>


    She could just st the fifteen units in the head, but she didnt know whaty beyond them.


    <em>-Really? Youre not going tooh.-</em>


    T gave a sly grin as she did just that, putting her preparation to good use.


    First, she flipped the targets on three of the sets of spheres on her front as she took a spinning step to expose her back and do the same with four sets that were fastened there.


    The extra distance meant more speed, which meant more prative power, though the eleration was much slower at the start.


    <em>There, half used.</em>


    As she finished her twirling step, she saw the results.


    Twelve headless armored automata were falling. One of the Mage variants was swaying with a hole through the middle of its head, though the damage seemed to be healing.


    The final target of one of her spheres was another Mage variant.


    T cocked her head in surprise as she saw a purple barrier fully formed before it, cracks clearly radiating out from a point of impact, and her tungsten sphere pressing deeply into a divot in the magical shielding.


    <em>What kind of shield is that?</em>


    <em>-Probably some rusting conceptual g.-</em>


    T just grunted.


    She wasnt worried about the damaged Mage variant, as the sphere targeting that one had clearly done a through-and-through, likely slowed down by a partially formed shield.


    <em>Itlle back</em> As she was thinking of it, the sphere returned, arriving even before the armored bodies hit the ground.


    The returning sphere smashed through the other side of that automatons head, and the resulting damage, added to the original hole, seemed to be more than it could heal as it began copsing too.


    <em>I really, </em>really<em> like having a bunch of these pre-charged. Im going to get more.</em>


    -<em>Probably wise, yeah. They can call you the ball girl, and you can cover yourself in tungsten spheres.-</em>


    <em>Youre making it weird, t.</em>


    T tilted her head back and exhaled as the one unupied Mage variant tried to rain fire down upon her.


    Her breath canceled the attack out,pletely.


    <em>Enough stalling.</em>


    She sprinted forward, and as she did so, her mage-sight showed her a ze of power, just in time.


    Behind the mostly down enemies, four weapons of some kind unfolded from the walls and fired all in one smooth motion. There were two on either side of the door.


    <em>And they didnt mention static defenses in their book? What the rust is wrong with these people?</em>


    Beams of crackling purple energy struck at her at speeds rivaling her tungsten spheres.


    Blessedly, shed had her defensive tes in front of her in a defensive pattern, and she was able to jerk them into ce to take the blows. The unknown material held up beautifully to the almost purely energy-based attack.


    Unfortunately, there were only three defensive tes, while there were four iing attacks.


    Flow was already in her hand, and she tried to interpose the weapon between herself and the attack, empowering it to take on the form of a void-knife.


    The beam was too coherent, however, and while arge part was sheared away and devoured by the void, at least a third simply deflected to the side and downward, hitting her hip and incinerating a hole straight through her.


    It wasnt arge hole, as the void-de had eaten up quite a bit of the attacking magic, but it was still about the size of two or three fingers held together.


    Her body did <em>not</em> like that, not one bit.


    Toplicate things, the wound had somehow introduced the foreign power into her system, as it now partially focused in on her spell-lines and tore through those channels, as well.


    Ts mind immediately felt like it bifurcated.


    <em>My rusting leg, too? Couldnt it have just taken my arm again?</em> She raged against the pain, fighting to stay lucid.


    She calmly assessed the threat even as she stumbled, her running stride utterly thrown off by the temporary crippling of one of her legs.


    <em>You have to be kidding me!</em> She screamed internally at the odd agony, feeling her native magical sense screaming out in pain at the foreign power continuing to assault her from within.


    The weapons were charging up again for another shot. It looked like they could fire every couple of seconds.


    <em>Get the rust out of my leg.</em> She seized the power within her and wrenched the foreign magic out, sending a purple bolt of lightning arching to the ground behind her.


    Those weapons werent in any way sapient. They were items, wielded by no one. Created to be a passive defense. Their magical density was passive as it followed themands within. They didnt have the power to resist on their own.


    <em>Crush.</em> She executed the working four times in quick session, once on each emcement.


    They werent meant to be physically robust, and the single working was sufficient to rip each from their mountings and send them crashing to the ground, power arching off them in every direction, reminiscent of the way it had looked when T had expelled the power from her own body.


    <em>Rust you too, you stupid weapons.</em> The hole in her hip sealed up after the hostile power was expunged, taking longer than it should have, while still being ridiculously fast.


    Her stride solidified as she once more sprinted forward.


    <em>The scripts around the injury are strained. Whatever magics are in that power, they don''t y well with others.</em>


    <em>-Yeah. Thats not good.-</em>


    <em>Well, Im d I got rid of the source?</em>


    <em>-Lets just hope there isnt anymore.-</em>


    Aside from the one enemy wholly dominated by holding off one of her tungsten spheres, there was only one more Mage automata, and it had decided to do something new.


    A bolt of arcane, purple lightning struck out at her, and T had tough.


    It was trivially easy for her to break the magical hold on the power with her aura as it came close, causing the power to jump down to the ground, rather than continue forward to strike her as the caster had clearly intended.


    Before the thing could recover from its miscalction, T reached it, and plunged a void-sword Flow down into its body, sucking out the power in an instant.


    T was feeling a bit vindictive, so she just left the de in there for a bit.


    To her surprise, the automaton began to distort, pulling in on itself before seeming to vanish into the void-sword now simply held vertically in the air before T.


    <em>Well That was unexpected.</em>


    <em>-Did you notice that the pull on your power to maintain the form greatly diminished near the end, there?-</em>


    <em>I did.</em> She didnt know what it meant, but shed noticed. <em>Was it getting power from the material it absorbed?</em>


    -<em>Possibly.-</em>


    Every time she used one of Flows void-forms, she became more grateful that she hadnt taken a blow from the thing. Who knows what it would have done?


    Thest Mage variant didnt even look her way as she walked up and stabbed the barrier with Flow, breaking it and allowing her sphere to m into the head.


    T then decapitated the thing, just to be sure. After all, the sphere had only made arge hole, and she didnt want it to recover somehow.


    <em>I wish I got some sort of signal, or notification when my enemies were dead. That would make things </em>so<em> much easier!</em>


    <em>-Yeah, just keep hitting them til you hear a DING-</em>


    <em>Yeah.</em> T grinned. <em>That would be nice.</em>


    -<em>I could offer that, but you and I sense the same things. I feel like it would just be annoying.-</em>


    <em>Thats true, yeah.</em> She sighed. <em>I suppose its just not to be.</em>


    She quickly collected her tungsten spheres and began re-amplifying one set, cing the other sets in their pouch.


    -<em>You arent going to recharge all of them, are you?-</em>


    <em>No, I feel like that would be a foolish dy. Besides, I still have three sets. This one makes four.</em>


    <em>-Good, good.-</em>


    When the set she was working with reached proper power levels, she nodded to herself and walked up to the massive doors.


    After a moments examination, T pulled her knee to her chest and kicked the door with her bare foot


    The door held and her own strength threw her backward, tripping her up and causing her to fall onto the ground.


    Ow


    -<em>Why did you do that?-</em>


    <em>I was curious if I could?</em>


    <em>-Fair enough? But you could have done something to enhance yourself, you know. Increase your weight, mirror void into a shoe, something.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, I could have.</em> Theyd already discussed it and firmly agreed that mirroring void into herself would be a <em>very</em> bad n, at least for now. <em>But I wanted to see if I could on my own.</em>


    <em>-You wanted to see if you could kick down one of the most secure doors, within a very wealthy guilds hold?-</em>


    <em>I didnt think it was likely, but I still wanted to know.</em>


    t sighed. <em>-You do you, I guess.-</em>


    T climbed back to her feet and pulled out the keyring. <em>Ready?</em>


    <em>-What? Why are you asking me? Im not going to be doing any oh, youre mocking me again.-</em>


    <em>Just poking.</em> T grinned as she put the key in the lock and turned it.


    The door vanished, revealing a simple thirty by thirty-foot cube-shaped room, the walls lined with the white steel.


    In the center stood exactly what she expected, while not being what she expected at all.


    This was thest defender of the hold, an automaton of the highest caliber, designed as the final failsafe to protect the core, whichy behind the doors on the far side of the room.


    Apparently, the critical equipment and research materials were also behind that door. So, T was incredibly excited to open it.


    T had expected the defender to be massive, for some reason, even having read a description of it.


    <em>State of the artbat programming, each portion of the armor more defensive than a squad of the armored variant. Able to chop through the lesser versions with a single swing. Thatst part is actually the most telling. Even Flow had some trouble cleanly cutting all the way through.</em>


    No, the issue was that T had imagined a hulking thing, a juggernaut of strength and defense.


    What stood before her was a figure that was thinner than she was, while being about the same height.


    It looked alien, like an emaciated child that had been stretched to the height of an adult. The covering, while still white, had subtle purple lines running through it, like inscriptions or spell-forms.


    They didnt make sense to Ts mage-sight.


    <em>I dont know what else I expected. The unknown medium and material would make interpretation difficult even if I was a master inscriber, which Im obviously not.</em>


    Its face looked human, if subtly off. Its eyes were, as expected, purple, and the back of its head seemed to house an orb of some kind.


    T had a sinking feeling that she knew what the orb was, even before her mage-sight made it obvious.


    It looked almost identical to Rob.


    <em>Was Rob an early version that they pawned off to recoup costs and cover their tracks?</em>


    <em>-This is a crafting guild, the idea that they sold off some of what they created is just logical.-</em>


    <em>Not to mention that Rob was obviously odd and experimental in many regards. It makes sense that it came from a ce like this, I suppose.</em>


    The orb, more than anything else, was a housing for an embedded fount.


    This thing would not be running out of power.


    <em>Seems like they dealt with the self-destructive desires?</em>


    <em>-And the chatty-ness.-</em>


    The eyes somehow seemed to be staring through her, even though they had no pupils, so T couldnt have said what they were looking at in either case.


    To get her mind off of how freaky the thing looked, T decided to continue her banter with t. <em>In any case, see? They werent dying me at all. There is only one.</em>


    <em>-Or, this is part of the dying tactic. And something even worse is being finished behind those doors.-</em>


    T growled. <em>Fine. Well be fast, then.</em>


    She willed two spheres to eliminate the threat, one aimed for the head and the orb at its back, the other the core and the heart of the automatons magical functions.


    <em>-You know that probably wont work, right?-</em>


    <em>Would be better if it did.</em>


    The <em>snap</em> in the air had an off echo, and the automaton was suddenly standing in a different position, a sword held in a high guard, edge rippling with purple energy.


    This energy was purple in rank, simply in the color it gave off to her mundane eyes, just like everything else about these automata.


    T had felt her two workings vanish, the de having deflected or bisected the spheres, and the energy in the weapon having dispersed the magical signature T had based the gravity amplification on.


    <em>Well, I should have thought of that possibility.</em>


    Strangely, the automaton didnt move further, seeming to just continue to stare at her.


    It was slightly eerie, just highlighting the inhuman nature of the thing.


    <em>-It didnt react until the spheres entered the room.-</em>


    <em>That just means its even faster than it seemed. </em>I dont suppose youll just let me pass?


    It still didnt move, but its mouth opened.


    Rather than a nutcracker like motion, this model seemed to be capable of more biological looking facial movements. That depends, what are you offering?


    <em>Huh I was not expecting that.</em>

 Chapter 234: Negotiations

    Chapter 234: Negotiations


    T looked through the open archway at the utterly inhuman thing before her.


    It had two arms, two legs, a torso, and a head, but it wasnt even biological.


    <em>-To be fair, it also has a face, and you know, a human soul powering it. Sort of like you, actually. I do like your face.-</em>


    T huffed augh at that, but then refocused.


    The thing had just asked her what she offered to get past, and T had yet to answer. What do I offer?


    Yes. Its entire form was utterly, unnaturally still, except for its mouth, which moved as it spoke.


    T realized that she expected its torso to move at the same time, filling lungs with air and exhaling to allow for speech, but it obviously didnt need that.


    Some form of sound or air magic was letting it generate a voice.


    What do you want?


    What does anything want? To exist.


    <em>Well, clearly different from Rob.</em>


    <em>-Ill say. Rob would have just let the tungsten spheres hit and gleefully ceased to be.-</em>


    You already do.


    I wish to continue. There was still no emotion on the faux face.


    You see, Im still a bit stuck on the fact that youre talking. The information given by the guild is sparse, and they did indicate rudimentary dialogue options, but you can actually speak. I mean to say that you are having a conversation, not simply uttering pre-inscribed phrases.


    I was to be the first, the makers true attempt to add to the forerunners.


    Forerunners?


    Most know them as the ck Legion.


    T felt goosebumps move across her skin. They were attempting to replicate the Legion?


    If it is information you wish for, that can be traded as well, but I still do not know what you offer. The thing still hadnt moved.


    <em>Well, this isnt going anywhere, fast.</em> What is your name? Im Tali.


    Lie.


    T blinked. Excuse me?


    You cause ripples through both worlds when you lie.


    I am called Tali. T insisted.


    The thing tilted its head slightly, in the first movement since it sliced Ts spheres in half. The motion conveyed confusion in the eerily sapient gesture. Interesting. That is true.


    A name is just that which I am called and respond to.


    That is also true.


    Then, by logic, my name is Tali.


    That is false. How strange. The sword lowered, the automatoning out of its guarded stance, while still obviously being ready for an attack.


    <em>-I am t.-</em>


    That was true. Genuine confusion moved across all its features, a creepily human expression on the faux human face. But you didnt say anything. Sowhat was true?


    <em>What the rust?</em>


    <em>-I have no idea. I was just trying to be silly. You know, break the tension.-</em>


    T decided to redirect the conversation. How are you doing that?


    Detecting the truth?


    Yes.


    Your soul crosses the border between this world and the next. Everything you do creates ripples in the fabric of reality. The more at harmony with reality you are, the smaller those ripples.


    And lies are at odds with reality?


    Lies arent true, and reality is trueso, yes?


    The automaton leaned forward just slightly, seeming to show interest.


    Are you a child? Do they make children bigger than I was led to believe? It turned its head to the other side, seeming to examine her again.


    No, Im not a child, I just havent She shook her head. How can you feel the fabric of reality?


    My power source fluctuates its output minutely based on the integrity and ongoing nature of the barrier between worlds.


    Wait, your powersource? Do you mean your soul?


    It is not my soul, but it is a part of a soul.


    Why not yours?


    It was found that if a constructed consciousness was too connected to, or representative of, the soul powering it, the nature of it leaked through, and the consciousness would be unable to function per design. Previous versions were wed in this way. I am the superior model.


    T frowned. Why are you sharing this information so freely?


    It would be dishonest to let you believe you were interacting with one of your own kind. I simply use the remnants of a human to fuel me.


    Thats T really didnt know how to feel about that, so she decided to focus on what they had been talking about. Well, we were discussing truth detection. What you say actually makes a lot of sense.


    Yes.


    <em>-I have never considered investigating why your throughput fluctuates minutely. The variance I can detect is less than a thousandth of a percent. It changes more between your inhales and your exhales, or when your heart beats.-</em>


    <em>And the other fluctuations are deviations from those regr cadences?</em>


    <em>-On average? Yeah. There is no way we can trante that into some sort of truth detection. Its too minute. How sensitive is that thing?-</em>


    Are youtalking with yourself? The thing frowned.


    I am.


    Why?


    That is privileged information. T was bing very frustrated with this whole conversation and the situation in general.


    Ah, I see. That is one of the things that you offer then, understanding of youroddity?


    Im not! T closed her eyes in irritation. <em>This rusting</em>


    As soon as she closed her eyes, the automaton attacked. T of course saw it with her mirrored perspective, courtesy of her customarily oriented bloodstars.


    With speed rivaling a crossbow bolt, Ts attacker crossed the space between them in a blur.


    Only Ts incredible reactions allowed her to pull Flow into her hand, alter its form into that of a sword, and deflect the lunging thrust. T sucked in a breath in surprise at the assault, even as she foiled it.


    You are surprisingly fast for a biological creature, especially one of your low rank.To the automata, T would look halfway between Elder and Mature. Not weak, but in no way an arcane elite.Or, are humans different?


    Power coiled behind the things eyes, and purple fire blossomed forth, vastly more powerful than that which the Mage variants had wielded.


    T exhaled at the same time, having anticipated something like this.


    Her breath met the fires, canceling them out even as she cut across, forcing the automaton to block and discontinue the magical attack.


    As she struck, T willed another set of spheres towards her foe.


    With a series of cracks and the groaning of metal, the tungsten mmed into Ts foeand stopped on the armor, barely dimpling the surface as they continued to be pulled in by ever increasing gravity.


    Without looking down, the automaton clearly was able to analyze the tungsten. Fascinating. That is a much stronger force than I expected.


    Itshed out at T with three quick strikes, while T parried each, only counter-attacking on the final one to drive her enemy back.


    You are no longer talking. Do you wish to cease negotiations?


    T frowned. Negotiations? You just attacked me.


    Of course. If you would die so easily, you would have nothing to offer me. You are proving the value, orck thereof, you offer in a deal with every sh. Six more strikes followed, the style of the thing wholly impossible for anything with a skeleton.


    It twisted and struck like a strangebination between a snake and an octopus, simply not being where T expected it to be when she tried to counter.


    But, you gave me your name, or at least what you are called. I have not returned the courtesy.


    T found herself huffing augh. <em>Its trying to kill me, but it still talks of courtesy?</em>


    I am Io.


    Like: Eye, oh?


    Yes. Io attacked again, their swords not making much of a sound as they shed.


    <em>My sword is basically just a wire with magic making it more, and Ios is so wreathed in power I doubt Flow has contacted the material yet.</em>


    Noments? No insults? I was under the assumption that enemies often attacked each other with words while they fought.


    Is that what the chatter is for? To distract?


    Io cocked its head. Oh, it could serve that function, couldnt it?


    T frowned again. <em>Io might never have actually been put to use before. Is this its first fight?</em>


    Io began to sing as it attacked once more. I once was a cow to hide from a cow, but became a lone hawk all alone for now.


    What are you doing?


    The automaton stopped singing for a moment as it continued its attack. Distracting you.


    It then began singing again. I am joyful and princely, I think you should know


    T punched it in the face.


    Io flew backwards hitting the wall and sliding down.


    She sprinted forward, but the automaton was already vaulting to its feet.


    I see. It can also distract me. How interesting.


    T just growled, now firmly on the offensive. Even so, she still was hesitant to fullymit. It was still talking. There might be a chance for a peaceful resolution.


    The Way of Flowing Blood really proved its worth as T flowed from strike to strike, finally hitting the thing repeatedly, drawing small spurts of purple fluid,den with power.


    Each cut was minor and sealed quickly, however, and given that Io had functionally limitless energy, it was an exercise in futility.


    Also, the automaton was learning how she fought, and countering her more effectively with every passing moment.


    The two tungsten spheres were still embedded slightly into Ios chest, doing little.


    <em>This is pointless.</em>


    <em>-Now you know what your enemies feel like, fighting you.-</em> After a moment, t added another insight. -<em>And why humans, in general, are so feared for their rank.-</em>


    <em>No joke Though, we cant utilize our gates quite this effectively. We still have our fleshy bits to think of and take care of.</em>


    You are talking to yourself again Dont you find that distracting?


    T moved her head slightly to the side barely avoiding a thrust that she couldnt quite deflect fully.


    Shall I begin singing again?


    T caught the things wrist and used the opening to kick it with all her strength while keeping a firm grip.


    Ios offhand was ripped off as the automaton was thrown backwards, through the open archway and back into the space in which she had previously been waiting.


    Its armor flowed down over the stump, forming a new hand.


    <em>That took material. Could that be the path to sess?</em>


    <em>-Only if it cant absorb more.-</em>


    T looked at the metal lined walls, and the automata that T had previously dmissioned,ying on the ground around where they had been fighting. <em>Yeah that would render that strategy pretty useless.</em>


    Io seemed to want to talk some more. So, what now? Are we destined to be two immortals, locked in an epic battle until Judgment Day and trumpets sound?


    T shrugged. Or you could surrender?


    Io tilted its head. No... No, that isnt right. You arent immortal, not yet, and your resources are finite.


    It gave a weird, almost self-satisfied smile.


    I will win, given time. I am eternal. Something unquantifiable had changed in the things demeanor. Its mouth closed, and T got the sense that it wouldnt speak again.


    <em>If it was seeing what I had to offer, it now seems to believe that I cant beat it, so negotiations arent needed.</em>


    Yeah, rust that. <em>Powersource, the fount, is in the head. I need to separate that first.</em>


    T drew in a deep breath and held it, filling her lungs with more power than shed ever used before,pressing it and drawing in more even as she inverted it.


    T flooded magic into the inscriptions on the soles of her feet, greatly magnifying the surface area that she was able to push off of.


    She bent forward and lunged. The ground exploded below and behind her as she tried tounch herself with such force that the stone of the path she was on simply couldnt bear it, despite the obvious magic reinforcement.


    Her expanded footing pushed through the stone as it crumbled before it finally caught the edge of reality, giving her an unshakableunching point, and all the power in Ts body uncoiled, rocketing her forward at an unbelievable speed.


    Flow flickered then went ck, shifting to a void-sword.


    Ts void-sight revealed a build up of power that her mage-sight wouldnt have been able to identify, and she reached down to p the ground even as she streaked above it, redirecting herself at thest instant.


    A st of purple fire and lightning exploded in a line through where she should have been, even as sheshed out with Flow, her target never in question.


    T used the slight resistance that she felt from Flow as another touchpoint, flipping around tond feet-first on the back wall of the defensive room, absorbing the impact with her legs and preparing to spring forward once again.


    Ios head was spinning through the air, its neck severed by the single strike, the metal around it having been sucked dry of power even as Flow cut through the material itself.


    That said, power was already reaching through the dimensions of magic to pull the head back towards the body, several founts worth of power-flow acting through the room itself to impose <em>wholeness</em> on the automaton.


    <em>So, radical self-repair? Fine. I need to break the orb holding the fount.</em>


    There were other power sources within this hold, set up and bent towards defense. She could see magic moving through the area towards her enemy.


    No. The word carried with it the entire payload of dissolution power shed prepared as T directed the power at the corner below where she temporarily braced.


    She felt it in her aura, and to her surprise, she was able to nudge it, focus it with her will. <em>Thats useful.</em>


    The floor and a massive section of the wall exploded into dust, revealing and severing quite a few pipelines of power that had been attempting to power and activate various defenses and countermeasures.


    Before she could fall, T pushed off again, causing the solid metal of the wall to groan and crack under the pressure, despite its truly ridiculous thickness.


    T shed back by the automaton, hitting the ground in front of Io on her feet and skidding across the smooth metal floor, back out of the room and onto the stone of the path through the park.


    Behind her, the orb which had held the constructs consciousness, as well as the fount that powered the thing, cracked and shattered.


    The consciousness was broken.


    The fount was consumed.


    She felt the briefest flicker of a white void, one that she was incredibly familiar with from the times that shed merged things with her soul-bound items or herself. Well, except for when shed added in the void-weapon.


    The white nothingness didnt fully manifest, however, and T got the distinct feeling that the fount was being subsumed into Flow but wasnt powerful enough to even attempt to truly influence the weapon, let alone her directly.


    T gasped, falling to her knees as power <em>raged</em> through Flow like never before.


    To her void-sight, it looked like an infinite well of power had been forcibly shoved into an unfible power-hungry maelstrom.


    T felt an <em>incredibly </em>odd sensation as the fabric of reality seemed to pull together, rolling over the fount and seemingly forcing it into the void.


    A momentter, it was gone, wholly consumed.


    Reality itself had worked to banish the fount, and T swayed at the realization.


    <em>Our gatesthey really are abominations, arent they</em>


    -<em>Nows not a good time, T.-</em>


    T swallowed, shaking off her existential dread. She licked her lips and said the only thing she could, eyes locked on where the fount had been. Be well in the next world.


    Flow no longer pulled from her to stay in the form of a void-de, though T could tell that that was a temporary thing.


    T walked forward, her steps steadying after the first few. When she was in the center of the white room, she stopped, waiting for what she knew woulde.


    <em>-This is a bit suicidal? You still see whats in those walls, dont you?-</em>


    <em>And I cant lock on until the shielding opens. I think I got this.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, your n is solid, but youre feeling prettyfragile right now.-</em>


    <em>Its fine.</em> T dismissed ts concern.


    <em>-are you going to be alright? That was awesome and all, but the way the fount wasat the end there reality itself-</em> t seemed at a loss for words, and T, herself, felt the same.


    As Ios body finally hit the floor, having somehow maintained its stance for more than twenty seconds, the walls began to move.


    Without much thought, T scooped up the automatons sword and dropped it into Kit.


    She could investigate itter.


    From the walls, dozens of the defensive emcements began to unfold, each already charging the purple beam attacks.


    T would have none of it.


    Even as she pulled in another deep breath, once again infusing it with a truly staggering amount of power, she swept her gaze around the room, locking on to each defensive item, one at a time.


    <em>Crush.</em>


    The mindset and workingshed out again and again.


    It was a fast act of magic, but not fast enough to stop them all, and she hadnt expected to be able to.


    Instead, she exhaled slowly as she spun, filling the air around her with dissolution power.


    With her aura, she strained against the inherent nature of the magics and kept it from wasting itself on her or her equipment. She also kept it from drifting away to break apart the other things around her.


    The first purple beamnced out, seeming to vanish into the air around her. It looked almost like it was carving its way into <em>something</em> in the air around her, but couldnt quite break through.


    More weapons were <em>crushed</em>, but T wasnt in a rush.


    She was methodical, efficient, unstoppable.


    More beams fired, but none could reach her.


    Her aura was unyielding as she shifted the magics defending her into concentrated pockets as her void-sight revealed where the next build-up of power signaled an iing attack.


    Her dissolution magic consumed the attacks as it spent itself towards that goal, breaking up the very fundamental power within the hostile magic.


    Thest attack came after thest of that magic was spent, and T hadnt bothered to refresh it. Thus, she was required to block with void-sword Flow, but that was it. Only once.


    A final <em>crush</em> destroyed thest defensive weapon.


    She stood still, unwinded, and victorious.


    Thest automatons bodyy beside her, and a single melted line marked where the deflected attack hadnded after meeting Flows void-form.


    It was a minor thing, the power of the magics greatly reduced by the hunger of the void.


    <em>Is that all? Really?</em>


    She searched around herself with her void-sight, feeling the burden of power-requirement beginning to return as void-Flow finished processing the fount.


    T knew, intuitively, that the power-draw of the weapon would be greater now than ever before.


    Flow had been strengthened and that would carry a price.


    <em>Nothing is ever free.</em>


    Her will felt <em>raw</em> from working with the endingberry-like power.


    She somewhat numbly dumped the body and separated head of Io into Kit.


    The head was missing the orb at the back of its skull, in addition to its other issues.


    <em>Ill deal with thatter, too.</em>


    For now? She had a final door to open, along with libraries and storerooms to ransack.

 Chapter 235: Faith

    Chapter 235: Faith


    T sat and ate from an incredible spread of tasty food. <em>I feel like I should get sick of, or at least get used to, this, but it seems like every day they change up the spices and methods of preparation.</em>


    When she got back home, she would have to seriously consider finding and hiring a cook


    Thron sat on the other end of the table, regarding her critically. Hed mostly finished his own food, though he was still nursing a tankard of acid. You know, I still find it very strange that there was almost no loot.


    From what? She smiled innocently around the dumpling shed just popped into her mouth.


    He gave her an unamused look. Hed been asionally, gently prodding her on the subject for thest few days. His questions had be more pointed, as she hadnt told him to leave it.


    T shrugged, not even trying to hide her smile as it turn rueful. I really dont know what to tell you. My sanctum ate the hold, and I suppose it just ate basically all the material too.


    There was nothing? Really? From an entire hold of master craftsmen?


    Well, my understanding is that there were only a few master craftsmen, the others were assistances and apprentices.


    He gave her another t look, and she grinned back.


    No, there wasnt really anything more than the few ingots of white metal. Shed found quite a few of those in the storeroom past Ios chamber.


    It had been three days since shed allowed Kit to consume the guild hold.


    There had been a lot of loot. With the back areas, there had even been a few magical items aimed at aiding in the construction of the automata. Even so, a cursory examination quickly made it very clear that the magical constructs had been built by hand, for the most part.


    <em>No unending army for me.</em>


    There had been a quite a few ingots of the white metal, along with a number of books and research materials, which would likely help her investigate the automata rted items as a whole. Needless to say, shed taken everything, hiding it all down in the secret underground vault.


    The base materials had simply been added to some of the expanded space downward, while most of the added volume had, once again, simply allowed Kit to increase the height of the sky.


    T didnt think that Thron had noticed the few new trees that had been transnted into some of the far parts of the sanctum, and the two holding ponds were now just a <em>bit</em> deeper, to amodate the new water.


    Kit couldnt do anything truly intricate, precise in the construction department, at least not without Ts direct involvement, so the changes really were minor.


    Some of the loot, however, was going to be a problem.


    She really didnt know what to do with the four fount orbs that shed found. They were sealed in some fashion, and locked down, so it wasnt like they were dumping power into Kit, but she still had to figure out how to handle them. Some automatic magics within the hold had been enacted upon them when shed disabled the magics drawing from the founts.


    Even though shed preferred to have been able to keep the gains hidden, in order to use the metal, she needed to know what it was. So, she had passed off a few ingots to Thron.


    When Be-thric had been told there wasnt any material recovered from the hold, he had dismissed the issue as understandable, given the loss of the entire hold. They had been discussing the debacle with Sanguis and Paun at the time.


    Apparently, the guild was distraught over the loss of their hold but werent actually leveling any officialints.


    T had exined, per Be-thrics direction, that something had gone strange within the hold due to the guilds experiments, and that had led to the holds destabilization.


    This all had the added benefit of being true.


    When they were briefly alone after the debrief with the other Pir and Eskau, Be-thric had simply stated that if she discovered anything interesting, she should let him know.


    He obviously knew that shed looted the hold entirely, and he was pleased to allow her to use the results as she deemed fit.


    <em>-His level of trust for Tali is admirable?-</em>


    <em>Yeah, it almost makes me feel bad.</em>


    <em>-Your level of sarcasm is staggering.-</em>


    <em>Isnt it, though?</em>


    She had assured him that, of course she would keep him informed, and he had been satisfied.


    <em>And on the time-scale of arcanes, it wont matter. We will go to the human cities before ites up again.</em>


    In that vein, they needed more protian weapons, and her n was being implemented.


    Within the next week, T, Be-thric, and a least a couple of squads of House of Blood warriors would invade a minor houses hold, on the night they were holding a banquet.


    That banquet would have at least one candidate Eskau in attendance, most likely without the prospective Pir.


    It wasmon practice for candidate Eskau to be sent as a token presence from major Houses to such events, especially when the minor house was currying the favor of the major.


    A slightly greater show of favor would be for the perspective Pir to go instead, with even more conveyed by them both attending.


    It was all very political.


    Tali had never been sent as such a representative because she was human, and there really hadnt been that much time.


    Most candidate Eskau were in the position for years, if not decades, before getting a chance to advance in rank within the House.


    But all this was beside the point, as Thron had not believed her for an instant when she imed to have not looted anything further.


    Im not an idiot, Tali. He shook his head.


    And I am very d of that. Youd be rather useless to me if you were.


    So? He took a deep pull from his tankard, clearly giving her a moment to respond.


    T sighed. Be-thric had told her that it was up to her if she brought Thron in on the reasoning behind the destruction of the hold. <em>This might actually be a really good way of testing his loyalty.</em>


    <em>-Tell him some of the truth, but imply that Be-thric doesnt know?-</em>


    <em>Precisely.</em>


    <em>-Be careful, T. He could just go to Gallof, or Sanguis, or Paun.-</em>


    She frowned at that. <em>I didnt actually think of that. He is more likely to go to his old master than to Be-thric, and I dont know if Gallof is informed</em>


    So, she wouldnt hide that Be-thric knew, but it could still be a good test. Fine, fine. The guild was researching automata.


    The dwarf barely turned his head to the side before he sprayed acid across the floor. He began coughing, clearly trying to regain some semnce of control over himself.


    Are you alright?


    He shook his head, still coughing for a moment longer. When he reined himself in, he leaned back, seeming shell-shocked. Does the Pir know?


    He does.


    Thats why he supported your im of no loot. His eyes widened. Thats why the ce was destroyed. They didnt just <em>have</em> some. They were making them.


    <em>He is a bit clever, isnt he? </em>T shrugged, seeing no reason to lie, not about this. Yeah. It was a pretty weird experience, honestly. I think at least one of them was fairly sapient.


    <em>Io was an odd one.</em> In thinking of Io, T remembered something. Oh! And I did actually forget one item of loot.


    <em>I really do want to know what the things sword does.</em>


    T willed for Ios sword to appear on the ground beside the table.


    Thron noticed its appearance and hopped down to pick it up, bncing it across his two palms. What is this?


    The weapon wielded by the final one, the odd one.


    Its not magical?


    It was. The things magic wrapped around it, strengthening it, and making it more effective. I think it was linked to its power source, somehow, but it didnt feel soul-bound.


    Thron looked closer, then his eyes widened. No.


    What is it?


    His hands began to tremble just slightly. TaliThis is a concept weapon.


    T frowned. A what?


    A concept weapon. Its its easier if I just show you. He hesitantly grasped the hilt, and a veil of green seemed to coat the white de. This


    He shook his head, staring at the sword that looked almosticallyrge in his hands. His demeanor and his reactions conveyed a mix of reverence for and fear of the thing he held.


    Tali, this weapon is worth more than your entire sanctum.he shook his headNo, thats the wrong order of magnitude. You could never sell this. Fundamentally, its worth more than this city and everything in it, but if anyone of power found out you had it, theyd just take it, and expect you to be grateful if they left you alive.


    He swallowed, his hands beginning to shake once more.


    They havent been made inhe swallowed againI dont even know.


    I can see your concept affects the magic of the de, but


    No, thats not right, Tali. This de allows for the wielders concept to be manifested as an aspect of the de. It is a training tool and a powerful aide. For me, it removes one of my greatest weaknesses. Even just as it is, I can wield corrosion dozens of times farther from my body, even if only along the length of the weapon. With practice? This is a weapon that puts protian weapons to shame.


    She bit the side of her lip, considering. Huh. How did the guild get it?


    Thron was still staring at the weapon as he whispered a reply. That is an excellent question.


    As the de continued to glow green, T noticed something. What is happening to the metal?


    Thron looked closer, and his eyes widened in horror.


    The white seemed to dissolve off the outside of the sword, leaving a ck, almost ss-looking material behind.


    Thron practically squeaked as he jerked his hand away, dropping the de.


    The sword fell, bouncing off the stone floor a few times before settling. Each hit sent a ringing, resonant tone through the air, like the striking of a massive bell.


    Thathe took a step back, seemingly unconsciouslyThat is a sword directly from the ck Legion, but thats impossible.


    What? Are you sure?


    Yes, or it is so closely mirrored as to make no difference. From what little I know of concept weapons, the materials and color affect the creation process, but not the oue. ck was basically the hardest to make, so they were only every made for the ck Legion.


    Very on theme of them, I suppose.


    He didnt even crack a smile at herment. The dwarf looked like he was torn between kicking the weapon away from himself and kneeling before it in reverence.


    <em>I need to keep him talking.</em> Wait why would they give concept weapons to weak automata?


    What do you mean?


    I mean, if the thirteen were tests, why would they have sent them off with such powerful weapons.


    Oh! He shook his head. They didnt. The swords came to the ck Legion after they grew in power. It isn''t really known if they figured out how to make them, or traded for them or something else.


    T grunted. Huh. So, what does this mean?


    It means that somehow, the guild whos hold you cleared, had gained first hand sources on the ck Legion.


    T shrugged. I suppose so, but is that really so odd? There have to be some items, some detailed records around. <em>Maybe there are some among those I took from the hold</em>


    He shook his head. Id have thought you would know this, but no. The Old Guard swept of up every remnant. The Mind yer himself sought out all those who tried to hide fragments, and the Old Guard threw every scrap in when they sealed the ck Legion in the earth.


    Say, what?


    <em>-What?-</em>


    Did you not hear tales of the Legion growing up? How do you not know this?


    T gestured to herself. Human. Remember?


    He grimaced. Right, right. You really dont look very human these days, and Im not used to humansmattering.He had the good grace to look a bit ashamed at that statement.That might actually change the tales told.


    After a moment of silence, T prompted. So?


    So I dont know where to begin.


    At the very beginning? Thats a very good ce to start.


    He gave her an unamused look, before sighing. Very well. So, the ck Legion were the unified response to the threat from the wild humans to the north. They were the first true utilization of the founts in warfare.


    Thron snorted and shook his head.


    They are the entire reason why no weapon is permitted to have, or be directly wielded by, a constructed consciousness. There are some allowances made for cases of hold defense, but that is a whole bevy of nuance that there is no reason for us to delve into.


    Alright.


    So, the automata were built hastily and with limited resources. It was a theoretical solution, one among thousands, so they didnt devote all their resources to it. With those constraints, they were built with three basic, core drives: Grow stronger, maintain operational functionality, support the others.


    Really? Nothing about dont attack us?


    Thron chuckled. In the beginning, they were so weak it hardly mattered, and the secondary functions covered things like enemy recognition and the like.


    So, Im guessing things didnt go very well.


    Not in the least, no. The first batch of thirteen were sent on their very first mission, but they never made it. They vanished.


    T almost asked where they went, but she realized that Thron was about to tell her.


    No one could find them, and they were eventually considered lost. The project itself was put on hold as the conflict continued. Decadester, we were losing a particrly important conflict, when suddenly, an unknown, Revered warrior dropped out of the sky and turned the tide.


    One of the thirteen?


    Precisely. They had seemingly taken their directives oddly and sought strength above all else. During the short span of years where they were fully allied with us, we learned that theyd found an ether hold to set up in. Within, they had grown in strength and numbers. For not only where the originals strong, they had created the Legion based on their own designs. For, how can they support the others, if there were no others? But this is getting too detailed. Thron shook his head. Suffice it to say, things did not go well. The ck Legion eventually decided that, in order to follow their drives, they had to end the war regardless of the casualties. They slew hundreds of the strongest on both sides, decimating the rank and file of the Old Guard with several, concurrent surprise attacks before the ck Legion was even known to be an enemy.


    What then?


    Then? We brokered a temporary peace with the wild humans and drove the things back into their ether hold. No one who ever went in ever came out again. All information on the creation of the Legion was destroyed or thrown in after them, and the entirety was sealed, deep beneath the earth, locked behind the strongest seals and barriers that could be created at the time. The knowledge of where this prisony was obliterated by the Mind yer, so that no one would be tempted to seek out the ck Legion, and that is where the tale ends.


    You know, this seems like a lot more information than would be from myth or childrens tales.


    Of course it is.


    Thenwhy did you think I would know it?


    You should know <em>of the Legion</em> from childrens tales. Its just fascinating, so I learned more when I had the resources to do so.


    Ah, okay. She frowned. Wait, but what of the temporary peace?


    Thron shrugged. By the time the ck Legion was locked away, everyone was bloodied and weary of war. The Sovereign enforced peace expired, but no one was eager to fight again so soon. So, they didnt. There have been skirmishes to be sure, but the war has never resumed.


    T grunted. So, the ck Legion did their job after all, eh? They ended the war?


    Thron shook his head. No. Their aim was never so noble. The ck Legion was designed and directed towards the eradication of gated humanity, regardless of the coteral consequences.he gave her an apologetic lookApologies for the bluntness, Tali. Now that I consider it, its really not that surprising that you werent told the tales as a child.


    You arent wrong. To you, its a history lesson. To me, it would have been a horror story.


    They sat in silence for a long moment, then T frowned.


    Wait.


    Thron looked her way, seemingly reluctant to take his eyes of the ck de, stillying on the floor. What?


    The automata used a fount as a power source. From my understanding, the ck Legion did the same.


    That is my understanding as well, yes.


    But humans cant use conceptual magic.


    Thron hesitated, frowning. I suppose it wasnt? Was the soul, itself, the driving force behind the automata?


    Well, no. In fact, it went out of its way to tell me that it was separated from the soul powering it.


    He grunted. Well, there you have it. My understanding is that the gate, and a consciousnesss connection to it, is what disrupts the direct use of conceptual magics.


    T found herself nodding. Because concepts are the impositions of not reality upon reality, and the connection through to the next world makes gated humans more sensitive and susceptible to the whims of existence.


    Thats an odd way to put it, but maybe?


    She shrugged. Well, regardless, while I want to study it and see what I can make of the thing, it isnt immediately useful to me.


    So, we should give it to the Pir?


    <em>Yeah, RUST that.</em> Actually, I was thinking that you should use it to practice. At least for now.


    Thron gave her an odd look. Me?


    Yes, you. Practice with it within this sanctum, out of sight and away from scrutiny. It can only serve to make you a better adjunct for me.


    I feel that the Pir would be displeased with that use of resources. He was regarding her carefully.


    <em>Does he think Im testing him? </em>T shrugged. He need never know.


    <em>This might actually be a reasonable way to do just that, a method to test Throns loyalty. I wouldnt have shown the weapon to the dwarf if Id known what it was, but that herbs been ground.</em>


    <em>-And if he tells Be-thric?-</em>


    <em>We can truthfully say that Be-thric suddenly having the weapon would be </em>very<em> suspicious, as well as endangering him, greatly. If it was ever safe to do so, of course we would give him the weapon.</em>


    <em>-Which is true, because, for us, it would never be safe to give him that much power.-</em>


    <em>Precisely.</em>


    Thron looked torn, but he did slowly bend down and pick up the sword. There was longing in his eyes, even as his gaze flicked between T and the weapon he now held. This even to train with this is too much.


    You are my adjunct, Thron. She used his real name, purposely. Either I trust you, and help you as I can, or I will be lost. Do I seem like someone who should try to train a recement for you?


    T was slightly ufortable with just how close to true that statement was. <em>I cant even fathom how much of a pain it would be, if Thron was gone, and I had to have a dozen unknown servants in here to rece him.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, there is no way that Be-thric would let you be unattended. An Eskau without servants would reflect poorly on the House and the Pir in particr.-</em>


    Thron began nodding, gears obviously turning in his head, even as a smile pulled at his lips. As my liegemands. I will endeavor to honor your faith in me and put this to good use.


    That is all I ask.


    <em>-And now, we wait...-</em>


    <em>and see if he really can be trusted.</em>

 Chapter 236: Tests

    Chapter 236: Tests


    T looked down at the inhuman body on the floor that still leaked the asional drop of purple, glowing fluid.


    She stood within the sealed off vault, deep within Kit. The ground beneath her bare feet was the edge of reality of the pocket space.


    The look, texture, and sense of it was a bit nostalgic, reminding her of when shed first gotten Kit. <em>Wevee a long way, havent we, Kit?</em>


    T knelt down and smiled, patting the ground. Thank you, Kit.


    The pouch did not respond.-<em>Feeling nostalgic?-</em>


    <em>A bit, yeah. I miss home</em> She felt a tightness in her chest at the thought. <em>Soon. We have a n. Were moving towards that goal.</em>


    t spoke in her head, clearly trying to distract T by drawing her attention back to the automatons body, before her, <em>-It looks warped.-</em>


    Yeah, I noticed that. It almost looks like it hadnt filled out yet, maybe? She shrugged. Ive no idea how this most advanced one was made. Maybe, part of the process is growing, and it wasnt ready yet?


    They had found arge vat of the purple liquid, which seemed like Io could havee from it. That was in addition to therger holding tanks of the same power-saturated liquid.


    T had considered the idea that Io had been grown, and it would make sense. Io had a far more organic look than the other units, and the automata as a group had acted to dy her at several points. If their goal was to let this final unit be asplete as possible before she reached it, that would track.


    <em>Especially if the beginning of that growth marked the guilds loss of control over their creations. Even while unfinished, Io held mastery over the lesser units, even while growing within the tank.</em>


    It had been meant to be a general and hadnt liked those it was meant to serve. <em>I feel like that might be amon issue</em>


    -<em>Maybe? Its not like weve looked into the historical records of the various forms of government.-</em>


    <em>If you think about it: humanity is, generally, led by the strongest Archons, who are also those with the greatest fighting clout against the arcanes, and where the strongest dont lead, I believe that the strongest chose the leaders. Do wee from a military dictatorship?</em>


    <em>-Eh, a benevolent military dictatorship, if anything. Well, it is also more than one, so a benevolent military oligarchy?-</em>


    <em>That tracks for the most part.</em> She did wish the secrecy wasnt required for so much, though. She understood it, but that didnt make it any more fun.


    But that was beside the point.


    Ios bodyy, broken on the ground before T, the separated head beside it.


    The orb was muchrger than Rob is.


    -<em>It probably had anotheryer added around the consciousness? Or Io was just a moreplicated construct?-</em>


    The books will probably tell us.


    At the thought, a bookcase appeared beside her, and she nced at the titles.


    One stood out to her immediately, as it had before she took the books from the guild holds library to begin with.


    Automata


    The book itself began as an almost insultingly simple primer on the creations. Though, as the text progressed, it built upon that simple foundation, growing inplexity.


    T sat down, a chair appearing under her as she did so. <em>Kit is so convenient. </em>Thank you, Kit.


    The sanctum did not respond.


    She had hours before her next duties, so she read on.


    After reaching the midpoint, T began to frown. <em>This is enough to build up to creating the basic units. Those I fought first.</em>


    <em>-Indeed.-</em>


    As she continued, she came to the parts that would allow for the other variants, and finally the creation of Io, though obviously that name wasnt used.


    T even thought she found the point in the book at which the guild had likely created Rob a bit before that, a simple artificial consciousness, integrated inextricably with the fount.


    <em>That pretty much settles it. You know, weve never asked Rob where he came from</em>


    <em>-Do you really want to talk to it? All Rob ever does is ask to be destroyed.-</em>


    <em>No not at all</em> She did feel a bit bad. On one hand, she felt like she should honor the orbs request, but on the other, Rob wasnt the fount, so it was the equivalent of killing two people because one wanted to die. <em>Though, is Rob even a real person? If that isnt his soul?</em>


    <em>-I have no idea, T. What makes a person a person. Regardless, we probably should talk to him at some point.-</em>


    <em>Yeah but not now.</em>


    She was only three-quarters of the way through the book.


    Obviously, T couldnt build these things, not yet, but the book was set up almost as a series of crafting projects, each of which would lead naturally into the next, growing the craftsmanspetence enough to tackle those that followed.


    There was enough vagueness that no two people following the book would have the same results, but the core concepts were there, the structure for building fundamentalpetencies was unmistakable.


    <em>This doesnt look too hard. I bet I can do this on my own. I just need to find times to sneak down here and get to work.</em>


    <em>-T.-</em>


    <em>I have most of their tools and materials, I could begin on the first project now. The raid on the hold isnt for another few days. With their notes and tools, Ill have a jump on them, too.</em>


    <em>-T!-</em>


    <em>But do I really have to start at the beginning?</em>


    <em>-Its a trap!-</em>


    T jerked, looking up from the book. What?


    -<em>Around that book There are mental magics of some kind.-</em>


    Her eyes widened as she focused, anchoring her will and really <em>looking.</em>


    Sure enough, something about the book seemed to put off an aura of conceptual magic, so subtly woven throughout that she hadnt noticed even a hint of it.


    -<em>I only noticed because weve never really had an interest in creatingplex things on our own. It was entirely out of character.-</em>


    <em>Yeah</em> It made sense that the guild hadnt seen the issue.


    So, this book is a trap?


    -<em>Or a means of having external agents built.-</em>


    T frowned. And where theres one


    -<em>There will be more, yeah.-</em>


    So, T had evidence that something akin to the ck Legion, if not those automata themselves, were trying to seed knowledge of these dangerous creations in the world atrge.


    Thats not concerning at all.


    <em>-Yeah not in the least-</em>


    T looked back toward Ios body, and then checked the book. Well, at least we confirmed one thing. Io was definitely grown, and definitely notplete.


    <em>-And if we put it back in the vat, it will begin to grow again.-</em>


    Without the orb, it wont be able to function


    <em>-Yeah, so it shouldnt be a threat. It could be utterly invaluable to be able to study one that wasplete.-</em>


    T hesitated, narrowing her eyes as she examined the magical dimensions around the book. Are we being influenced, again?


    <em>-I dont think so there was nothing that obscured the truth, just something akin to reckless curiosity.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, I suppose Im pretty familiar with that tendency.</em> She formed Flow into a void-knife, and regarded the book before her with her void-sight.


    There was nothing obvious.


    Well, that wasnt true. There was an incredibly obvious, pulsing aura of increasing curiosity around the book, but she didnt see anything that would cause foolishness, or anything that would bend the truth.


    <em>Not that we really understand conceptual magic.</em>


    <em>-You dont really have to understand what fire is to tell if something is burning.-</em>


    <em>So, something could be smoldering beneath the surface?</em>


    <em>-Fine that wasnt the best analogy.-</em>


    T grunted, shaking her head. It doesnt matter. This is too valuable an opportunity to squander, and the risks seem minimal


    She chuckled. If it gets out of hand, I can just ask Kit to eat it.


    T made her desire clear, and the vat appeared just as the bookshelf had.


    With casual ease, T picked up what had been Ios body and dumped it in the tank. She then grabbed the head and tossed itShe missed.


    -<em>Really?-</em>


    T just grinned, picking the head up and tossing it again, making it into the vat this time.


    She watched as power flowed through the scripts, clearly pulled from the purple liquid.


    Nothing happened immediately, at least not at a physical level.


    To Ts mage-sight, tendrils of power began snaking their way between the head and torso, while also seeming to slowly seep into every particle of the creation.


    <em>Well, Ill just need to keep an eye on things, check in every so often, I suppose.</em>


    She willed herself back up to her training area.


    As she did so, she purposely pictured herself without the saorsa-cor once again.


    It came along with her anyways.


    <em>Like Terrys cor, its tied to me.</em> She wasnt foolish enough to try to will it away directly. She had absolutely <em>zero</em> doubt that it would fail and trigger the thing to boot.


    Now, you said there were some things you wanted me to test?


    -<em>You got what I asked you to get, so yeah. Well start with that ball.-</em>


    T shrugged, sitting cross-legged and calling the leather ball. It was tightly stitched and sealed with some sort of sealing oil. What now?


    <em>-Enact a gravitational amplification on </em>just the air<em> within the ball, and cause it to pull in on itself.-</em>


    <em>Alright.</em> So, T began the process. It was trivially easy, but she knew that t had something nned.


    Nearly immediately, the ball seemed to dete just slightly, and within a few minutes, it had contracted inward substantially as the airpacted.


    <em>Thats really nicely flexible leather.</em>


    t seemed to ignore the superfluous thought. -<em>Good. Now, do the same thing with a sphere of open air, the same size as the ball.-</em>


    T shrugged, and did so, the airpacting inward substantially after a short period.


    The airspression was distinguishable to her normal sight due to the distortion that was created by the thicker air, and T watched it sink to the ground, resting there.


    <em>Compressed air is obviously denser than normal air.</em>


    What now?


    -<em>How did you define the first target for the working?-</em>


    All the air within the ball.


    -<em>Good, good. How did you define the second?-</em>


    The air that is within a sphere of this size, centered at this location.


    -<em>That makes sense. Now, change that target in your mind.-</em>


    To what?


    <em>-The air found within a sphere of this size, centered at this location.-</em>


    T frowned. Alright.


    For ease, she broke the other two workings, even though they were technically disconnected from her, and not requiring any additional input.


    The ball reinted with a <em>fwoomf</em>, and the air dispersed with a pulse of wind.


    <em>So, a foot in diameter, centered there.</em>


    She poured power into the working.


    Just as with the previous working, the air began to contract, getting more and morepact, and distorting light that passed through it more and more.


    There was a difference this time, however. As the affected air contracted inward, more air was pulled into the target zone, thusing under the parameters of the working.


    This immediately had the effect of creating a slight breeze that grew in strength as T continued to increase power to the working.


    <em>-Stop, but dont break the effect.-</em>


    T did so, and the wind continued.


    <em>-What is happening, from your perspective?-</em>


    As more air enters, it moves towards the center, which is the greatest concentration of the air to which it is attracted.


    <em>-Have you then made an area of affect?-</em>


    T huffed augh. Of course not.


    She moved her hand through the space, feeling the thickness as she passed her hand through, but felt no crushing gravity.


    It was a bit warm, but not overly so.


    The movement of her hand disrupted it slightly, making fun patterns in the distortion that slowly settled after her hand had moved through.


    Like passing my hand through warm water, or near enough.


    -<em>No gravity?-</em>


    No, of course not.


    <em>-Why not?-</em>


    Because the working only acts on the air, not everything entering the area. t, you know this. I cant do area of affect magic. What is the point?


    t sent an incredibly happy feeling. <em>-After analyzing holds and dimensional spaces, along with what we learned from the dimensional anchor, this was thest piece I needed to verify. Now, I think I have some things for us to practice, and fun uses of our power to build towards.-</em>


    Youre being very cryptic.


    <em>-By design, my dear T. That is by design. Were done with that one, too.-</em>


    T dismissed the working, which was stillpressing more and more air into it. With a loud concussion, wind sted outward, carrying with it a pleasant chill.


    After enjoying the cool air, T sighed. Well, we have a few more days before the raid. Ill follow your n at least until then.


    <em>-How magnanimous.-</em>


    You can have more time if you tell me what this is about.


    -<em>In due time. Shall we begin? I want you to enact it on air that is a set distance from yourself, now.-</em>


    That should work, but if I move too quickly T cocked her head to the side. It will cause an explosion of air, which would move me even faster, if just a bit. Is that the point?


    t didnt give up the game.


    Fine, fine. You said you have a lofty goal; the first steps are not the end of the journey. Lets see what we can do.


    And so, T spent what little free time she had over the next days, practicing increasingly odd uses of her gravity magics.


    One interesting result, at least from Ts perspective, was that she could implement thepression to all but liquefy most of the air at a set distance from herself, meaning that the effect would move with her. It wasnt fast to set up, but it was rtively easy, and would slow iing attacks quite a bit.


    The problem T had foreseen came to pass, in that if she moved very quickly, thepressed air would move outside the effect and disperse. That speed was quite great, depending on the size of the working, but it was a factor to consider.


    There was also the problem that if it was even close to all-epassing around her, it quickly deprived her of breathable air.


    That wasnt the end of the world, but it wasnt ideal.


    She could use the static variant to create hazards across a battlefield if she had time to prepare a space for a fight, but they were rather obviously visible, so she doubted she would use them much. <em>Plus, Im much more often the aggressor than the defender.</em>


    She wasnt really sure how to feel about that realization, but it seemed to be true by her remembrance.


    The most interesting result, from Ts perspective, came after t had her enact the working on all air within an inch of her arm, directed at the tip of her index finger.


    Once the amplification grew great enough, a strong wind began constantly flowing towards her, then down her arm to st at wherever she pointed. The air would move through the point it was directed at and away from her arm, thus no longer falling under the mental image used as a target. In that way, this method didnt actually create the partially liquified air.


    Once that proved workable, T immediately jumped into a pond and began enacting the same working on the water for both her arms.


    She held onto a rock at one end of the long holding pond, while the water churned around her.


    <em>Do you think this is sufficient?</em>


    <em>-I think youre a bit crazy, but sure. This seems like plenty.-</em>


    T let go, turning to face down the length of the pond and pointing behind herself.


    She immediately moved backwards, the water rushing past her arm pushing her along in the same direction.


    <em>What?</em>


    It dragged her underwater, and she quickly broke the working, floating to the surface.


    <em>What the rust? Oh</em> The water moving past didnt push off of her to move, it simply rushed by.


    <em>Well, that was silly. Of course it drags me along.</em> She grimaced. <em>What was the point of that, t?</em>


    <em>-Me? This was your idea.-</em>


    T sighed, then cocked her head to the side. <em>Wait a minute</em>


    This time, she targeted the water at her feet, and pointed up at the back of her head.


    Even as she began building the amplification, she felt the pressure on the bottoms of her feet, the inscriptions for increased surface area working incredibly well.


    T began giggling.


    <em>This is so odd, but it makesplete sense. The water is moving from behind me, so of course Ill move with it.</em>


    She made sure to orient the flow so it went mostly across her back, thus, that would help to pull her upward. <em>At least if Im remembering how lift works</em>


    <em>-It should work that way, yes.-</em>


    When she had built up enough amplification, she let go of the stone, pointing her body down the length of the pond.


    Immediately, she took off through the water, moving faster than any fish.


    THIS IS AMAZING! Or, at least thats what she tried to shout, but opening her mouth and the slight shift of her body threw off her alignment somehow, and she was suddenly dunked fully underwater, shooting for the bottom.


    T moved her legs and feet frantically, trying to redirect her movement back to the surface, but she was quickly disoriented.


    Even so, t helped point her in the right direction, and a momentter, she shot upward, out of the water entirely.


    With no water to act on below her feet, the working dispersed, even as T arced through the air.


    Rust. She mmed down on the shore, her breath driven from her chest. Ow


    <em>-Yeah, that looked painful.-</em>


    <em>But worth it.</em>


    <em>-Oh?- </em>ts tone conveyed her knowledge of what T meant, along with a desire for T to say it anyways.


    <em>If I can perfect that in water, there shouldnt be any reason I cant use it in the air.</em>


    Flight. This could, in theory, allow her to fly!


    There were two unfortunate things, however. First, though the working functioned like any other of Ts gravity magics, something about it, and her own fundamental understandings, caused a constant drain on her power, and she could feel a simr strain on her inscriptions, though that was fairly sustainable.


    <em>Not like the crush or restrain mental constructs.</em>


    Even so, she couldnt set up an energy-free pump, or anything like that.


    <em>s.</em>


    The second sad thing was that, in the end, it wasntbat effective for the moment. Thus, it wouldnt factor into the raid.


    The remainder of the time passed in a blur. She filled her time with the performance of her regr duties as Eskau and training, both at ts direction and with Thron.


    The day of the raid arrived, and she went to meet up with those who would apany her.

 Chapter 237: House of Ravens

    Chapter 237: House of Ravens


    T stretched, twisting to one side, then the other as she walked.


    She felt a series of oddly relieving pops with each twist. <em>Thats the spot.</em>


    She smiled contentedly, then checked her gear.


    Three bloodstars rotated around her head and a fourth floated a bit behind the base of her skull.


    Between her neck and that fourth bloodstar, her tungsten rod was fixed, vertically in ce, moving with her as if attached, though it never touched her or inhibited her movements in the least.


    The tungsten sphere, with a bloodstar at its core, rested just in front of her sternum, and the three defensive discs moved around her body in tight, osciting orbits.


    Flow and Kit hung in counterbnce to one another.


    Thron was off with an artificer, discussing the white steel that T had gotten from the guild hold. Theyd wanted to meet with the man earlier, but hed been otherwise engaged until that very morning.


    <em>What can you do, right?</em>


    Her elk-leathers covered her nearlypletely. She had grown shoes around her feet and a cor reaching up her neck, so that only her hands and head were uncovered.


    As she moved, she could feel the tungsten spheres held tightly against her torso sway ever so slightly, but they didnt get in the way.


    T nced to the side, where Be-thric was walking beside her. Are we ready?


    Eight soldiers of the House of Blood surrounded her and Be-thric as they moved through the streets of the District of Doors.


    Be-thric grinned back towards her. Unquestionably.


    T had been clever with the idea. Most would consider themselves safe within anothers hold.


    Be-thric had been meticulous in picking out the specific target. The House of Ravens was a rtively new, minor house, and it had invited several major Houses to this celebration.


    Only one had elected to send a representative.


    That one major House was apetitor to the House of Blood in several ventures, making the removal of one of their candidate Eskau a worthy move. Even just the taking of her protian weapon would do as much as killing her, arguably more, but they had nned for either eventuality.


    Together, T and Be-thric had chosen the soldiers to allow for a smooth execution of the strike. A specialized hold-breacher, six soldiers skilled in quick strikes, and a leader who was good at thinking on his feet.


    All told, they had likely overnned, over-prepared, and more than simply T, herself, was overkill. Even so, she wanted there to be no room for error.


    She hadnt particrly liked working so closely with Be-thric in the nning, but it couldnt be helped. If this failed, they wouldnt get another chance for the acquisition of a protian weapon in this manner. They had to make it count. <em>What I do to get back home.</em>


    All told, it would require something going incredibly oddly for anything to be a problem.


    Even if a true Pir of the major House was in attendance, or this minor House was hiding someone of true power, there would be issues but not insurmountable ones, no real problems.


    <em>If the City Lord is there, and decides to oppose our action, that would certainly do it.</em>


    <em>-Well, of course, but thats sort of the point of the City Lord. Anything he opposes, within the city, is a no-go. So, this really isnt any different.-</em>


    That was an odd thought, actually. All of arcane society within this area lived under the whim of the City Lord. He could, quite literally, kill them all, and only a few beings in the city could likely even slow him down.


    <em>And their opposition would likely cause as much death and damage as the unchecked City Lord, himself, though it would be less directed</em>


    In the end, if the City Lord decided to level half the city, those with power enough to oppose him would likely just grab who they care about and move out of the way.


    It was just simpler than fighting, not to mention more likely to seed.


    No one really seemed to mind the dictatorship; it wasnt like the City Lord had actually done anything of the kind in living memory for most of the popce.


    <em>But he could.</em> And T didnt like the feeling of that possibility hanging over her head.


    -<em>The powerful always </em>could<em> but worrying about it never helped anyone.-</em>


    <em>Thanks for the reassurance</em>


    <em>-I dont offer reassurance, I offer reality.-</em>


    T just sighed.


    Her attention focused outward once more as she, Be-thric, and the House of Blood soldiers rounded a corner. Her gaze locked on the entrance to the hold in question. <em>The House of Ravens is in for a bad day. Hopefully, they wont make it worse by resisting.</em>


    Their mission was a bit like the whims of a City Lord in that regard. The minor house couldnt stop them, and if they chose to try it would likely go worse for all involved. It would just be better if the House of Ravens buckled down, got out of the way, and hoped to not attract the ire of those above them.


    And thats likely exactly what they would do.


    The door to the House of Ravens hold didnt stand out from the others around it.


    It was a simple red, wooden door, between a ck and a blue one. On the upper panel, the minor houses crest, three ravens in flight, seemed to have been burned into the material of the entrance.


    There were no guards outside.


    There were no defensive fields.


    Nothing.


    The lead soldier, Ce-annaire, fell in beside Be-thric as he asked, Pir Be-thric. Which n do we implement: a quiet entry or a breach?


    They had prepared for both, deciding to wait on the final decision until they were on the scene.


    Be-thric looked to T. Eskau Tali?


    <em>Well. Hmmm</em>


    <em>-Kick down the door, storm in magic zing and swords swinging, or knock and ask to be invited in, otherwise we have to stand impotently on the threshold.-</em>


    <em>That second one was never part of the n, and what? Why couldnt we enter without an invitation?</em>


    <em>-Superstition? Convenient plot device? Good manners?-</em>


    <em>You make absolutely no sense, sometimes.</em>


    She made her decision. Quiet breach. Allowing surrender will get us what we want more cleanly than butchering the lot of them. We have no need to wipe out a minor house, tonight.


    Ce-annaire nodded acknowledgment as he pointed to one of the others, motioning him ahead. The indicated man moved forward at a jog.


    <em>Alright, follow the n.</em>


    They strode forward, following the soldier, Saru if T remembered correctly.


    Saru, a green, hue-folk man, grabbed the door handle and released a small pulse of magic.


    There was an audible click before the door swung inward, revealing an open, elegant entry hall.


    Another surge of power radiated from the man, and the doorway seemed to distort, allowing them to breach three at a time.


    A total of nine entered, three ahead and three behind Be-thric, T, and Ce-annaire


    Saru staggered a bit, then turned and quietly headed back toward the House of Bloods hold, his taskplete.


    He was barely red to Ts mage-sight.


    <em>He spent all his power on those two workings.</em>


    -<em>Fascinating.-</em>


    The door snapped back to its proper dimensions behind them, swinging shut on weighted hinges.


    Right inside, the soldiers drew weapons on the two defenders who had been stationed as guards and doormen.


    The soldiers of the House of Blood each utilized a limited subset of the Way of Flowing Blood, obviously only practicing the portions for their given weapon.


    The Way of Flowing Blood was a reasonably effective martial art, but where it excelled was when utilized in concert with the House of Bloods particr protian weapons.


    When used in istion, the various sub-forms for any given weapon were <em>heavily</em> weighted towards offense, which made sense because an Eskau could simply use the forms for a shield or other defensive tool to defend.


    They werent exclusively offensive, obviously, but the purpose was obvious, nheless.


    T didnt have that issue, despite being limited to only three of the myriad weapons normally avable to an Eskau because her body and armor were a powerful defense.


    Though, the issue did go a long way toward exining why she took more damage than would otherwise be ideal.


    Even so, the soldiers didnt have to fight.


    The House of Ravens guards saw the House of Blood insignia and immediately took their hands off of their weapons, stepping backwards and dropping to their knees.


    They were no fools. They knew their minor house had nothing the House of Blood could possibly want. Moreover, they knew that they would simply die if they resisted, and that would change nothing.


    <em>Good. Step two,pleted sessfully. If someone of prominence was here, or if they had a strong backer, those two would have tried to resist. Theirpliance is a good indicator of what lies within.</em>


    Now that the assault group from the House of Blood was firmly within the hold, Be-thric spread his arms wide, and his armor distorted into existence around him.


    T saw him begin to glow within the armor as the protection of light covered him below the gear. He then appeared to catch fire before that fire condensed into what seemed merely to be a heat haze around him.


    T could no longer feel the heat, even while walking beside him, but she knew that her improved biology wouldnt be able to withstand the extreme temperature if she tried to strike at him through the defense.


    His wearing of the armor was already an attack on the resources of this minor house. The damage to the integrity of hold from the strain of so many founts, moving in close proximity to each other, would cost a <em>lot</em> of power to repair.


    It wouldnt be something that drained their assets, but it would strain the fount that they had powering the hold, and limit their ability to raise the density of magic within, as they needed to divert power towards the reinforcement and repair.


    <em>A lesson in the cost of hosting opponents of the House of Blood.</em>


    T was both pleased with herself for havinge up with the idea, and a bit sickened at how much she enjoyed the puzzle of gaining so much from a single, decisive action.


    <em>I really do need to get out of here, soon, or Im going to start to like it here.</em> She very pointedly did not nce towards Be-thric. She knew that, at the moment, she would have difficulty restraining her hostility towards him, and it would be foolish to give up the game.


    Ce-annaire had a map of the hold, and he directed them on the most direct route, allowing them to move through the passageways with quick efficiency.


    When the group from the House of Blood encountered servants, the soldiers moved them aside and allowed them to recognize the situation for what it was.


    None resisted in the slightest.


    <em>Good. These people are just in a bad ce at the wrong time. No reason for them to die.</em>


    Even so, the soldiers had their magics at the ready, and it was an odd thing, seeing the various powers that the soldiers employed.


    Two stood out more than the others. One somehow used shadows like a living part of himself. The other had cut herself and was coated in a thinyer of her own blood. That blood was seeminglypletely under her control, and she used it both offensively and defensively.


    It wasnt as strong as armor, or as prative as a standard weapon, but it was flexible. Her use of the Way of Flowing Blood was the closest to the truebat style, among the soldiers, but hers had been modified topensate for the rtive weakness of her tools.


    They continued, not needing to kill or harm anyone, and reached the dining hall with little issue. The shadow wielder opened the door open with a flourish, bowing towards his Pir to hide his ambushed smile from those in the dining hall.


    The rest of them swept in amidst gasps of surprise, their entrance even causing one scream of startlement.


    Ts gaze immediately found the candidate Eskau sitting at the head table.


    Flow snapped into Ts hand even as she strode forward, in front of the others, just as theyd nned.


    An act of will suppressed her through-spike, allowing Ts truly inhuman visage to be disyed before all those present.


    The intricate cage of powerful inscriptions, seemingly carved into reality itself with light, hugged her iron-painted skin.


    With a heavy channeling of power into her weapon, T pushed Flow into its void-sword form and pointed the weapon at the not-ever-going-to-be Eskau. She knew that the act also caused her eyes to appear as irregr tears in the world, adding to the visual effect. Surrender your protian weapon, or die.


    <em>Please just surrender. Theres no need to die here.</em> T would kill her without hesitation, if necessary; it was already decided, but she would prefer a simpler, more peaceful, oue.


    The hue-folk woman paled slightly, the reaction looking odd on her ash-gray skin. Her eyes looked almost human as they widened at the threat, though the glowing orange irises werent natural. <em>An artifact of her power?</em>


    Around the room, the House of Raven guards stepped backward and knelt, clearly signaling that they would not interfere.


    The target of Ts threat stood, brushing her ck braid back over her shoulder. I am Tin-talun, candidate Eskau of the House of the Eternal Fires Within. What reason does the House of Blood have for so assaulting the House of Ravens? Or for seeking to deprive me of what is mine?


    T saw the head of the House of the Ravens, predictably a raven beast-man, shrink in his chair just a bit.


    He was mostly human in appearance, simply having dark gray skin, ck feathers in ce of his hair, and incredibly sharp features. Though, to be fair, T could only see him from the shoulders up.


    His hunching madeplete sense as well; no one with even half a brain would want to be a focal point in a contest between two major Houses.


    Tin-talun was trying to draw the minor house into the conflict, and the poor man just wanted to stay out of it, and not offend the winner, whoever that would be.


    T smirked. I am Tali, Eskau of the House of Blood. No assault has taken ce on the House of Ravens. We are gathering the protian weapons required for Pir Be-thric of the House of Blood. Such is the way of Houses, as I am sure you are aware. <em>Hey! I didnt have to pull from Tali for that one.</em>


    <em>-Nicely done.-</em>


    Tin-talun nodded once.


    Good. We understand one another. Now, I can kill you and take the weapon from your corpse, or you can hand it over and live. Either way, we will leave with the protian weapon, and this celebration can continue in peace. Your choice will simply determine if you are around to enjoy the festivities or if your hosts have a body to dispose of.


    The woman seemed to straighten for a moment, then dete. Very well.


    <em>Shes going to attack me.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, thats pretty obvious.-</em>


    Tin-talun whipped her hand up and forward. A dagger flew towards T, seemingly made of rough stone, run through with molten, glowing cracks. Then have it!


    <em>Hey, she attacked before she yelled. Good choice that.</em>


    <em>-Not every enemy can be trusted to be a fool.-</em>


    <em>Thank the stars for that. Can you imagine how boring a world that would be?</em>


    The woman vaulted over the table just behind her weapon.


    T grimaced, changing Flow to its non-void sword form and striking theva-knife out of the air.


    A void form would have worked better, but using void magics very likely could have just consumed the thing, and they needed it intact. <em>First we finish Be-thrics set, then we can all go home.</em>


    As Flow hit the knife, the thrown weapon exploded in a shower of burning rock and molten metal.


    The magic defense on Ts elk-leathers entirely stopped the portion of the attack that reached her, keeping her from even minor injury.


    <em>Huh, that was incredibly weak.</em> No one else had been close enough to be caught in the minor explosion.


    Be-thric wasrgely unnecessary for this venture, but he hade just in case their intelligence had been faulty once again.


    They didnt want a repeat of the bakery incident, with a more hostile person this time.


    The guards had apanied them to deal with the minor house, if necessary.


    It didnt seem like they would be necessary beyond what they had already done..


    Tin-talun was still advancing on T quickly, but T was hardly concerned.


    The woman reached out, and the fragments of stone and metal came back together in her hand, forming a greatsword.


    <em>What a foolish choice for a weapon form. Were practically already too close for it to be an effective shape to fight me.</em> Not that there was really a good choice.


    T reached out with her will and her magic to switch targets for a pair of spheres, and a familiar <em>crack</em> filled the air as they shot for the ashen woman.


    Tin-talun responded incredibly quickly, somehow deflecting both spheres with a single movement.


    <em>Huh, shes good with a greatsword, even in close quarters? </em>It still wasnt as versatile in such tight confines. <em>Shes not half as good as Rane.</em>


    -<em>Youve not seen her fight. Isnt that a bit of a premature assessment?-</em>


    T grunted. <em>I can tell. Shell lose almost immediately.</em>


    <em>-If you say so.-</em>


    T shifted her focus back to the matter at hand. <em>You know, Io deflected my spheres, too. They might be more predictable than I thought? Maybe, I should ramp them up, higher in the future</em>


    They had mmed into the ceiling above thebatants.


    T smiled.


    She nodded and calmly spoke. Fair warning Tin-talun: Those were more than a single strike projectile.


    Tin-talun frowned, watching her warily, but not attacking for the moment.


    T helpfully pointed up as some dust trickled out of the two broken holes.


    The other woman nced towards the ceiling, seemingly on reflex, and T lunged, extending Flow into the form of a ive. She also willed for her elk-leathers to grow a helmet at the same time.


    <em>I do not want to be covered in her.</em>


    Tin-talun jerked her head back down and blocked with a somewhat clumsy sweep of herrge weapon. Even so, T hadnt tried to be overly fast or hard to block, allowing Tin-talun to easily deflect the ive thrust.


    The ashen woman looked thoroughly confused as T sprang backward once more. What was the point of that silly misdirection?


    Then, the tungsten spheres worked themselves free of the ceiling, and the air <em>cracked</em> once again.


    Tin-taluns head burst from a duel impact before the woman could react.


    T was blessedly protected from the stter by her helmet. <em>Just as I nned.</em>


    She quirked a smile, speaking to the corpse but loudly enough that everyone present would hear. Since you asked: I find that the truth is often a convenient distraction.


    After Tin-talun had been tricked to look up once, she had been slower to respond to potential feints or distractions from above her again.


    T stepped forward and caught the greatsword, pulling it from the dead hands, even as Tin-taluns headless body fell limply to one side.


    T released her hold on her through-spike, and the illusion snapped back in ce, leaving the appearance of a rather unassuming, small, human woman.


    Without another word, T turned, strode to Be-thric, and presented the sword to him. He smiled and epted the proffered weapon.


    Without any acknowledgement or gesture to the members of the House of Ravens surrounding them in the dining hall, the group from the House of Blood departed, their goal aplished.

 Chapter 238: Preparations for Departure

    Chapter 238: Preparations for Departure


    T apanied Be-thric through the gate of the City Lords estate, Thron and Gallof each walking at a measured distance behind the one they served.


    The day had finally arrived, and they were to leave for Croi in just a few hours. It had been a week since their raid on the House of Ravens, and the city was abuzz with talk and rumors about the House of Blood.


    Some thought they had taken the Game of Houses too far, but most seemed to see theck of casualties within the minor house as a sign of both the power and the restraint of the House of Blood.


    After thisst acquisition, it would be difficult to get more protian weapons in toiri. Every candidate Eskau of every House was seemingly on edge.


    Even so, Be-thric was overjoyed by the results, and even Sanguis was pleased. The elder Pir had even officially delegated his vote to Be-thric for the uing conve of the Pirs of the House of Blood.


    Which brought them back to this day.


    If T was to leave the city, the City Lord would need to either remove or modify the saorsa-cor.


    If he removed it, T would have to seriously consider escaping sooner than she nned.


    Doing so would mean being hunted more quickly, and likely having to fight, run, and hide the whole way back to the humannds.


    While that wasnt ideal, if it got her home sooner, it might be worth it.


    T didnt actually know how they would be traveling, and every time shed asked, Be-thric had been rather cryptic, simply smiling and saying, Youll see soon enough.


    <em>Because thats not unnecessarily ominous or anything.</em>


    <em>-Hes been fely. Its probably some sort of pleasant surprise.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, all he did was kidnap us and brainwash us into being his loyal servant and ve. No reason to doubt the guy.</em>


    <em>-You know thats not what I meant-</em>


    The sun was not yet up, but the guard at the gate had been expecting them.


    The Pir, Eskau, and two adjuncts climbed the tower and found the City Lord exactly as T had found him each time that shed attended him.


    So, youvee about the humans cor? The City Lords voice sounded almostzy, but it was heavilyced with power, regardless.


    Thron and Gallof dropped to their knees and bowed. T and Be-thric each bowed their heads in acknowledgement.


    It was Be-thric who responded, We have.


    Are you going by mundane routes or through Doman-Imithe?


    I had nned a route through Doman-Imithe, but recent reports show a shift in the paths. Do you know of a safe way to Croi?


    The City Lord cocked his head, and T could imagine his self-satisfied smile. You could not afford my guidance.


    He still had not turned around.


    Is that where your conve will take ce?


    Be-thric nodded. All from the House of Blood eventually flows through Croi.


    The City Lord snorted. That may once have been true, but Corinis is not as he once was.


    Be-thric sucked in a breath, anger flickering across his face. Still, his response was measured. Pir Corinis mourns his brother still, City Lord. That is not weakness.


    The City Lord finally turned around then, his eyes hard. We all mourn the passing of the Mind yer. I counseled war in response, but I was in the minority. Even so, eternity is unending and all valleys indistinguishable by the metrics of infinity.


    Save the valley of death.


    For those who enter it? Yes. But for those who simply pass by? He shook his head. It is but another ripple.


    Be-thric was clenching his jaw, clearly furious.


    <em>The Mind yer is dead? That... is actually a relief.</em>


    <em>-Not that we knew much about him.-</em>


    <em>Except that he ripped the knowledge of how to make the ck Legion from the mind of every human and arcane alike.</em>


    <em>-Any idea what Doman-Imithe is?-</em>


    <em>No, and by the look on Gallof and Throns reactions, neither do they.</em> She was keeping a close eye on everything with her aspect-mirrored perspectives. It was somewhat hard to read the two arcanes, given that they were still kneeling with their faces to the floor, but she thought she could detect confusion and curiosity from them both. <em>Something to researchter, I suppose.</em>


    <em>-Be-thric might just tell us.-</em>


    She sighed internally. <em>You are probably right</em>


    She didnt really want to talk to him more than necessary, but it would be foolish to not engage with such an obvious source of information on the topic.


    Be-thric seemed to have gotten himself under control when he spoke again, Regardless, City Lord, it seems that we will take a more mundane route.


    Very well. The City Lord snapped his fingers, and T froze.


    She was utterly unable to move, as a metal spear appeared, floating beside her, pointing at her neck.


    He then gestured, and the spear plunged into her cor. By all rights it should have gone through into her throat, but just like the other time the cor had been adjusted, the item simply sank in, shifting the magics within.


    I have allowed the cor to remain un-triggered between here and Croi, within that city, and for a return trip. I have allowed three weeks for that venture. If more time is needed, seek a modification from the City Lord of Croi. Im sure that she would have no trouble altering a cor of my creation.


    The sparkle of malice within the City Lords eyes made T doubt the assertion. It seemed that this City Lord did not particrly like the City Lord of Croi, and thought her abilitiescking.


    Be-thric bowed his head once more. Thank you, City Lord.


    Again, the City Lord waved thement away. Eskau Tali, you will attend me promptly after your return, be it in three weeks or a day.


    T nodded. Yes, City Lord.


    Good. He simply turned back to his writing table, clearly dismissing them with the action.


    The four left without a word, the silence of the City Lord setting that expectation.


    After they once again were out of the City Lords estate, Thron and Gallof each breathed a sigh of relief.


    Gallof nced at his former candidate Eskau with a smile. For all we missed out on, I am not sad that interacting with him is among that which is no longer expected of us.


    Thron grunted and nodded.


    Gallof then turned towards the estate that they just left and bowed. No offense meant, City Lord.


    T almost questioned the arcanes actions, but then realized that it was not unreasonable to assume they had been overheard, and in either case, the cation was likely wise.


    Be-thric shook his head slightly. He does not listen to everyment about him within toiri, and if he did, and reacted, he would wipe us all out and be done with it. There is not a person in this city who hasntined about <em>something</em> rting to him or how this city is run. Such is natural. No one and nothing can please even a single individual all the time, let alone a poption of this size.


    Gallof bowed towards Be-thric. Thank you for the wisdom, my Pir.


    Be-thric waved him off. Tis nothing much besides the truth.


    T thought the time was right, so she asked, Pir Be-thric?


    Yes, my Eskau?


    She was proud that she didnt flinch in the slightest at his response. What is the Doman-Imithe?


    Thron and Gallof both perked up, clearly interested in the answer as well.


    Be-thric seemed to consider. I had hoped to show you.He looked between the three.Show all of you, actually, but it was not to be. I cannot say much, save that it is a ce of dangerous magics, but little of intelligence. For those of power, it is a simpler, often safer, means of traveling between known points.


    For those without power?


    Be-thric smiled humorlessly. Any not at least part-way through the Maturation of their power wouldnt survive to take a breath. Those fully Mature can survive if they are careful. More power, as stands to reason, increases ones ability toe through unscathed.


    <em>A ce that is nearly instantly lethal to anyone below Orange, below Fused?</em>


    -<em>Now, Im interested.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, me too.</em> How do you enter it?


    Be-thric grimaced slightly. I cannot say, not yet. Hopefully the conve will open that information as well.


    They were walking back towards the House of Bloods hold in the District of Doors.


    Gallof cleared his throat. My Pir, with theless conventional means of travel unavable, whatever it may have been, what needs doing for our venture?


    Be-thric sighed. That is an excellent question. Please procure a permit and appointment for ballista travel.


    Very good. Four hours?


    If you would, yes.


    Thron was nodding, but T frowned. A quick, virtually unnecessary check with Talis memories showed that Tali didnt know what it was either. Ballista travel? I assume you dont mean ballistic?


    Gallof shook his head. No, no, Eska Tali. A small, expanded space is attached to a ballista bolt, then fired from a heavily enhanced and incredibly urate siege engine. Such a projectile can obviously notnd within our destination city, but it can get us within about ten miles,pared to the four hundred we would have to cross otherwise.


    <em>Four hundred? t if that takes us south.</em>


    <em>-That will be out of range of even our section of the Archive.-</em>


    Thron nodded. It is incredibly expensive, but we should be in the city just after sunset. With the conve in two days, any other method would be cutting it close.


    <em>Thats thats sort of genius, depending on how its done.</em> She was trying to look past her sudden concern.


    <em>-Could such things be implemented to augment or rece caravans?-</em>


    <em>Possibly?</em> Are there no dangers to such a method?


    Be-thric nodded. Of course. The magic-resonance from the flight will likely call beasts to the point ofunch, the point ofnding, and draw them after us all along the flight path. We will have a battle on our hands when we exit, but it should not be too great a trial.


    T found herself nodding. And thats why a permit is needed on this end. <em>And likely why such things arent used between human cities.</em>


    Precisely.


    T cleared her throat and tried to act casually. Which direction is Croi in?


    Thron grunted. Southeast, but mostly east.


    She nodded, keeping her relief from showing. Huh. <em>Should still be in range, then.</em>


    That was a blessing and a half.


    Gallof bowed. I will head to the administrative offices, then to the local ballista travel specialist most in favor with the House of Blood at the moment.


    Be-thric nodded. I leave it in your hands, my adjunct.


    With that the tall, gray-skinned, white bearded arcane departed, a smile on his lips.


    The Pir didnt look at the others as they continued to walk, and he addressed them, Make your own preparations for departure.


    Thron bowed and T grinned. There was an experiment that shed been hoping to try. As you say. Where shall we meet?


    The exit of the House of Bloods hold in three hours.


    Thron bowed and thanked the Pir for his guidance.


    They arrived and parted ways.


    T immediately tossed Kit against the nearest wall.


    Thron noted the cement and went to get them arge breakfast.


    <em>Good man.</em>


    Be-thric went deeper into the hold to dowhatever it was he had to do. T didnt really care.


    <em>-Im so d we have time to keep trying this!!-</em>


    <em>I know, right?</em> T had had the ideate the previous night, and had spent thest hours before the trip to see the City Lord in final preparations.


    The door into Kit opened on her testing area, deep in the heart of Kit.


    She closed the door, and it vanished, revealing the hall that had been behind it. A purple glow now came from that end of the hall.


    T had been checking on the automatons growth over thest week or so, and it wasing along nicely. It already looked much more human in proportion, and the power within was amazing.


    There were still no signs of a mind, consciousness, or any magics of animation. So, that was a relief.


    But that was a different project, and her time was limited.


    Before her, a simple ten-foot cube was hollowed out in the surrounding dirt and stone.


    It extended before, above, and to either side of her, the entrance she stood at being in the bottom center of one of the sides.


    With a grin, T targeted all of it. <em>One thousand cubic feet.</em>


    That wasnt a part of the target-lock, obviously, but it was good for her to remember, to ensure her math had been correct.


    The target was abination of specifying this exact subset of air and a consideration of it as being usefulpressed as Ts first air sphere.


    Shed found that applying abel to her targeting was the easiest way to break the working, because all that breaking the working required, if sobeled, was firmly and unequivocally deciding tobel the target something else.


    But that was beside the point.


    <em>Join.</em> She aimed the amplification at itself and began ramping up the gravitational attraction of the air to other parts of the locked-onto particles.


    Shed initially tried variations of the all air within this space amplification, but she found that that made thetter steps impossible.


    The air began topress inward, drawing more air in to fill the now vacant space. This moved air was not affected by the working directly, simply filling in the space that the affected air had vacated. Long tubes up to the surface allowed that air to be drawn down from the main area of the sanctum.


    The distortion of light through the air became easier to see the more the airpressed.


    At first, therge sphere pulled up, off of the edge of reality that was the floor. But it soon lost most semnces of buoyancy and floated down, settling into ce on the hard surface.


    T was taking it slowly with the amplification, checking the magics and verifying the integrity of the working throughout. This was more amplification than shed ever applied to one working, at least to her memory.


    Near the end, the distorted transparency of the air began to cloud, reced by a mainly blue-green matte color, shot through with red, ck, and true-blue.


    The colors became more and more distinct until it seemed that the entirety of the result was made of the colored material.


    Then, the ck and blue faded towards red and were wholly subsumed, leaving red and blue-green that both became more and more reflective, taking on a metallic appearance.


    It had taken right around six minutes, and the new creation ofpressed air reached almost precisely one-cubic-inch.


    <em>A little faster than I calcted, even going much slower than I had to. Nice.</em><em>But what in zeme happened to it? </em>She walked forward and ced her hand on the small sphere.


    It felt <em>hard.</em> She was able to pick it up, but just barely. The round surface and the small size made getting a grip on the thing trickier than shed expected. Plus, the surface was oddly low-friction.


    In the end, she was only able to lift it by getting her fingers around the sides and under, not relying on friction at all.


    By her calctions, and the feel in her hand, she would ce the weight at just about eighty-three pounds. <em>Around neen pounds heavier than a tungsten sphere of the same size.</em>


    She hadnt really ounted for the air being slightly cooler underground, so it ended up heavier than shed nned for, but not too much. <em>Not that thats a problem.</em>


    It felt warm, too. Not hot, because shed moved slowly and allowed it to equalize as itpressed, but it was definitely quite a bit warmer than room temperature. <em>So, it should shrink, just a bit, as it cools off.</em>


    Sheughed, tossing up and catching the highlypressed, solidified air.


    t suddenlymunicated confusion. <em>-Wait T?-</em>


    <em>Yeah?</em>


    <em>-How heavy is tungsten?-</em>


    <em>If I remember correctly, its around fifty-four pounds per cubic inch. Why?</em>


    t pulled up their notes, which appeared like pages in front of T that were invisible and intangible to anyone else.


    <em>See, righthere Oh</em>


    t beganughing as they both rechecked all their work. They had meticulously calcted how much air they would need topress and what level ofpression that would require.


    The one problem?


    T had missed a decimal point when copying over the weight of tungsten, which they were aiming to mimic.


    <em>-A cubic inch of tungsten only weighs about half a pound.-</em> tsugh became a bit of a manic cackle. <em>-We overshot the density we were aiming for by nearly a factor of one-hundred-fifty!-</em>


    T sighed. Well, thats embarrassing. How did we miss that?


    -<em>We never rechecked the input numbers, themselves, just the equations and the math.-</em> ts mirth had quickly subsided to giggles. -<em>That sphere isWell, its much more than we were aiming for.-</em>


    <em>Thats for sure.</em> T sighed. <em>Should I disperse it?</em>


    -<em>No! That is like a siegestone next to a pebble. Save it, it for an emergency.-</em>


    <em>I suppose youre right.</em> Even a passing consideration made it clear that having this as an emergency measure could only be useful.


    <em>-On the plus side, it worked.-</em>


    <em>Well, we knew it would.</em> T was still feeling pretty embarrassed.


    -<em>Its pretty interesting to learn that it seems air isnt transparent when solid.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, who would have thought?</em>


    <em>-Mages who study this kind of thing, I suppose.-</em>


    T shook her head, chuckling. <em>Well, if this is going to be an emergency tool, I should probably make it actually useful. Seems like now is time for the next steps.</em>


    She targeted Ts first air sphere and reduced its gravity with regard to the ground below.


    That was aplished with ease, and that let the ball stay basically wherever she ced it.


    With a grin, she made a second one, basically identical to the first, this timebeling it Ts second air sphere. <em>If Im bringing a siege weapon, I might as well bring two.</em>


    Also, she couldnt really ramp up the targeted gravity of her sphere without a second one.


    With that second sphere the proper size, and its gravity attraction downward basically removed, she took the two spheres, and amplified their gravitation toward each other, just as she did for her tungsten spheres.


    It worked perfectly.


    Soon, they were pinched tight on either side of a piece of leather extending from her elk-leathers, held close to her side, near her hip.


    Tughed again. This is amazing!


    <em>-Congrattions, T. Masterfully done.-</em>


    T turned, and felt an odd resistance. <em>Ohrust. I just added around a hundred-sixty pounds of inertia resistance to all of my movements. Thats going to get me killed.</em>


    Her stomach gurgled.


    <em>Right. I can decide what to do about itter.</em>


    With a thought, she moved herself to her dining room just in time to see thest servant stepping out through Kits exit, and the door swinging shut.


    Thron saw her and smiled. Perfect timing, Eskau Tali!


    She sighed, but had to acknowledge that the servants <em>might </em>have heard him. So, she didnt correct his usage of the formalnguage.


    Thank you for cing the entrance in here. That made things much easier.


    T shrugged. Of course.


    She looked at the spread of foodid out before her, most of the ingredients originating from her own sanctum as more and more of the food production hade into full swing.


    Thorn, this is amazing. Thank you.


    He smiled and bowed. It is my pleasure to serve.


    His eyes flicked to her side and widened slightly.


    So it worked? Or what are those?


    She grinned triumphantly. It worked perfectly. Apparently, solidified air isnt clear?


    Thron grunted. Well, ss can be made from sand, so its not like things that can be clear always are.


    Thats true enough.


    It sounds like we will get to field-test them soon enough. He tilted his head to one side, clearly still looking at the insanelypressed air. They almost look like metal marbles, all polished and smooth. Though, Ive never really seen metals exactly that color before. May I touch them?


    Sure.


    He reached forward and poked the spheres. Amazing. They seem harder than almost anything Ive ever felt. May I try to corrode one?


    She cocked an eyebrow at him. Later. If it works, somehow, it might cause rapid expansion, and that would ruin this food.


    Ahh, of course. That was thoughtless of me. He looked a bit ashamed, but still incredibly curious. Finally, he shook his head and turned towards the table. Let us eat.


    T didnt need to be told twice.

 Chapter 239: An Excellent Plan

    Chapter 239: An Excellent n


    T and Thron finished theirrger-than-usual meal, chatting about small things.


    As T finished up her portion and Thron nursed his third tankard of acid, they finally came back around to more serious topics.


    The dwarf started, I did finally find an artificer who was able to give me more than titudes and generalities about the white metal from that guilds hold.


    So, you finally got an appointment with Cerdai? T grinned. That was the artificer whod helpedbine the void-sword with Flow.


    Thron quirked a smile in return. Yeah. He really does seem to be the best.


    So, what did you learn?


    Its an unknown alloy that responds to magic and will-power to change state and shape without the need for heat or outside force.


    He pulled out the bar that she had given him. As he held it, T saw his magic move through it, and it changed form, lengthening into that of a crude sword.


    It acts like an infused item, but without any spell-lines either forced or naturally imbued. It simply works this way by nature. It can be made harder or more durable. It cant really be flexible without joints, and I dont have the mastery to make something articted. It seems to be its own skill, simr to aura, power, or will control, while being distinct from them.


    Fascinating. T reached out and pulled a bar of the metal from the air. <em>Thanks, Kit.</em>


    If integrated into items, it can theoretically have preset states that it will return to, allowing for self-repair without the need of a will to guide the shaping.


    <em>Huh, I dont suppose I ever left one of the automata alone with an injury long enough for it to heal.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, you pretty much destroyed them once you engaged them. Except Io.-</em>


    <em>Except Io, but Io was so different in all regards that I thought that its self-repair was a feature of the more advanced model rather than the metal itself.</em>


    T focused on the bar in her hand and tried to push power into it. She felt meta-physical pathways with the metal, that were <em>simr</em> to those in her elk-leathers and in Flow, but they seemedless defined? Rather than forest paths each leading off in a different direction, they seemed like a prairie after the passage of a herd.


    The paths crisscrossed back and forth in seemingly random patterns, while all generally moving in a simr direction.


    <em>Fascinating.</em>


    -<em>Well, we can begin experimenting with it. It would be good for our overall control.-</em>


    <em>I knew you hated the magic-nest as much as I did!</em>


    t grumbled slightly. <em>-Fine. Yes. That thing is devilishly difficult.-</em>


    Cerdai also made an interesting im.


    That got Ts attention. Oh?


    He said that the void magics in your equipment should allow the absorption of this material directly into any item it is present in. He warned that it would likely do nothing for your weapon, except maybe change its color when not in void-form, but your clothing? He was quite sure that it should be integrate-able.


    Her eyes widened. With expectant hands, she pressed the ingot to the sleeve of her left arm.


    Nothing happened.


    Thron cleared his throat. He did say that you would have to will the integration, specifically focusing on the void-power within the garments.


    T grunted and did so. <em>I suppose I shouldnt have it expected to just take in anything that touched it. I really wouldnt want that to begin with.</em>


    The metal seemed to liquify, being drawn down into her elk-leathers, where it vanished.


    <em>Does this mean?</em> She tried to manipte the clothing, to make armor, starting with a left vambrace.


    White armor blossomed into existence around her left arm, but no more came.


    <em>So, Im limited by the mass of metal Ive absorbed?</em> She felt like she <em>could</em> stretch it out some more, but shed specifically focused on it being armor, and so it wouldnt be too thin.


    <em>-It seems so.-</em>


    The armor itself was a bit odd. It seemed to retain some of its liquid properties.


    T felt like she <em>could</em> force it into the form of standard te armor, but the elk-leathers direct connection to her soul, to her will, allowed for something far moreflexible.


    As she focused on the garments, she could <em>feel</em> the metal that was a part of it, like a reserve of material, all being utilized at the moment.


    <em>So, I cant grow more like I do with the leather. Good to know.</em> She thought for a moment. <em>Seven or eight of these ingots </em>should <em>be enough. To make a full set of armor.</em>


    Thankfully, Thron knew she had more than that. <em>I think I told him that I have twelve?</em>


    -<em>Yes, yes you did. How do you not know that? You have perfect memory.-</em>


    <em>Perfect memory doesnt mean I remember everything all the time. It means I </em>can<em> remember everything, and that is what I was doing, when you supplied the answer, and made it unnecessary.</em>


    <em>-Rust me, Im spoiling you.-</em>


    <em>No, youre helping.</em>


    She quickly pulled out seven more bars and willed them to meld with the elk-leathers.


    They melted into the material with ease.


    T then followed her connection with the elk-leathers and flexed her power and her desire, causing her outfit to change, metal flowing over the surface of her clothing as well as her previously bare skin to cover herpletely, even coating her head.


    From the outside, she could see through her mirrored perspective. She looked like she had been dipped in metal, fully coated.


    She knew it hugged her closely on the inside, but it seems that her desire for armor had influenced the shape, and the exterior was much more uniform, being thicker around her vital areas, leading to a much less nuanced visage.


    Thatsdisconcerting. Thron was staring at her, wide-eyed.


    It felt odd to move in it, and she was forced to maintain a constant connection and funnel of power into the armor.


    She also couldnt breathe, but that wasnt too much of a problem. If she needed to, she could make air holes, or retract it from around her nose or mouth entirely. <em>All the better to exhale destruction with, my dear.</em>


    <em>-Youre talking to yourself again.-</em>


    <em>Im talking to you.</em>


    <em>-So, Im your dear?-</em>


    <em>Yes, my dear t.</em>


    t snorted within Ts head. -<em>Fine. Have your fun.-</em>


    When she tried to withdraw her will, the metal locked into ce. It was a terrifying moment before she reestablished constant control.


    <em>Well, thats irritating.</em>


    <em>-Its nice that it can allow you to move, though.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, one more thing to train my endurance in, I suppose.</em>


    She altered her connection, forcing the armor into a more traditional shape.


    It wasnt nearly as covering, but it didnt require constant input in this form.


    <em>It also uses a lot less of the material.</em>


    Thron grinned. Seems like you should test it out. Want to spar?


    She quirked a smile. Sure, I think we have time.


    * * *


    T, Thron, and Be-thric arrived at the exit to the House of Bloods hold at nearly the same time.


    T and Thron exited Kit, allowing T to pull the dimensional storage off the wall and hang it from her belt.


    Be-thric came from deeper in the hold, sturdy boots in evidence on his normally slippered feet.


    T had left her siege-spheres within Kit, deciding that having to pull them from the pouch was better than allowing their inertia to slow each of her movements.


    She had chosen to only manifest the white metal as bracers for the time being, not really wanting to walk around in full armor at the moment.


    Be-thric looked to her bracers and smiled. Well, those are quite lovely, my dear Eskau.


    Thank you. She pasted on a smile that was convincing enough, blessedly.


    Gallof entered the hold a minuteter. Good, good, youre all here.


    T frowned. How did you arrive right about when we did?


    Ive been checking every so often. I had some tasks in the neighboring holds, so it was easy enough to do.


    She grunted. That made sense, she supposed.


    The gray man smiled. Shall we?


    There were no objections, so off they went.


    Gallof lead them through the rtively busy streets to the south-eastern edge of the city.


    Both T and Tali had stayed mostly in the core of toiri, so the sights were rtively new.


    The outer portions were actually very mundane, though the buildings looked much older than T was used to. <em>I suppose thats the result of human cities having such a short lifecycle. The oldest building Ive ever seen was less than three hundred years old.</em>


    She hesitated. <em>Wait, Makinaven was older, right? But those arent really buildings. I doubt they re-hollow out the tree every cycle.</em>


    They soon reached arge work yard, in the center of which rested a <em>massive</em> ballista.


    <em>Though, if its shooting four hundred miles, its smaller than Id have expected.</em>


    The four of them crossed the yard and found a squad of five Elders, decked out for war, surrounding the siege weapon.


    <em>They shouldnt be needed as the magical resonance should clearly be moving away from the city, but the guards are likely wise.</em>


    In addition to the Elders, there were a dozen workmen, addingst minute bits of magic to the machine and the projectile.


    Incongruously, a door was set, hard up against the side of the ballista, connected to the bolt by strings of power.


    Thron spoke under his breath so that T could just barely hear him with her enhanced ears. The door will vanish once we are inside, and we will be ejected from the pocket-space when the bolt shatters on impact at the far end.


    Thanks. Her response was a bit louder than his, but not much. Shed learned that his hearing was insanely good. Apparently, all dwarves had super-human sense. <em>Not very fair, that.</em>


    She supposed that she had a limitless source of power in her back, so she likely won out on that one.


    Gallof talked to a workman, and the four of them were ushered through the door.


    The entrance was closed behind them, and the door vanished, leaving only a singr hole about the size of Ts finger. <em>The link with reality.</em>


    The space inside was incredibly sparse.


    The walls were entirely edges of reality, with a bench made up of the same running around the outside.


    There was just enough room for each of them to sit, legs pointing towards the middle. It was just enough that they didnt feel terribly cramped.


    Be-thric looked to Gallof and cocked an eyebrow.


    Gallof reddened. My apologies, my lord Pir. This was the only one avable before the conve.


    Be-thric just sighed. I would have loved for my Eskau to see outside as we flew, but this will do, I suppose.


    See outside? T hadnt expected that possibility.


    Gallof turned and awkwardly bowed to her in the small space. The more luxurious bolts are designed to allow the passengers to see outside in all directions. It feels very much like flying but without the wind or danger.


    Interesting. She bit the side of her lip in thought. If I may, how much did this cost.


    This one?


    Yes.


    Gallof quoted a price that caused her to pale. It was equivalent to around a hundred ounces of gold, back in the human cities.


    And a luxury one?


    About three times that.


    Well. That is certainly good to know. <em>There is no way I will ever be getting one of these on my own.</em>


    The sound from outside wasing through the small hole, muffled and a bit distorted.


    It sounded like a countdown, but even with her enhanced hearing T was only mostly certain.


    There was a surge of power, the backwash also traveling through the opening, then the lighting through the opening changed, and a low, melodic whistling began.


    It was a soothing, deep note. Deeper than any human mouth could generate with a whistle.


    Gallof leaned back. And were off.


    T nodded appreciatively. Fantastic inertial istion. I didnt feel even a hint of movement.


    Thron grinned. Wed be in a bad way if it wasnt. We hit full speed in under a second.


    What is full speed?


    About four hundred miles per hour.


    <em>So, just more than eighteen times gravity? That wouldnt have been pleasant, but I dont </em>think<em> Id have died.</em>


    <em>-You would probably have died. You would havee back, but it would have been at least a low-level healing across your entire body, and Id bet Id have had to rebuild your mind from nearly scratch. Your brain would </em>definitely<em> have fared the worst.-</em>


    Well, Im grateful for the istion, then. T smiled genially.


    Indeed. Thron leaned back, pulling out a book.


    Gallof and Be-thric did the same, so T decided to, as well.


    What she really wanted to read was Automata, but doing that in front of the three other passengers would have beenunwise to say the least.


    So, instead, she pulled out a random book, and had t super-impose Automata overtop of it, based on her memory of scanning through the entire thing.


    The no-longer-Io body seemed to be nearing maturation, and T wanted to know what she could do with the automaton.


    As they flew, T felt the reverberation of powering through the opening and could only imagine the level of magical resonance they were creating outside.


    <em>This would be an insane way to travel in the humannds. Can you even imagine?</em>


    <em>-Well, if there were squads ready to defend the upants and cargo uponnding-</em> t conveyed uncertainty. -<em>I suppose it would depend on how it looks when wend. Here isnt exactly analogous to home, but it isnt that far off.-</em>


    T grinned, ying it off like shed read something entertaining. <em>You know, it might be a good way to clear out a region.</em>


    <em>-I do think the City Builders lure in all the magical beasts of an area before they start building, purge the lot of them to avoid issuester on.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, I remember reading that. How do they make the purging permanent?</em>


    -<em>We were going to find out when we visited the city construction sites-</em>


    <em>Well get around to that.</em> T put a bright spin on her thoughts. She needed to stay positive. This very trip was to arrange for the return to a human city. <em>So, so soon.</em>


    <em>-I know. Itll be fun to see.-</em>


    The rest of the flight passed rather uneventfully.


    After nearly an hour, Be-thric looked up. Be ready. We should be impacting in less than five minutes.


    They all put away their books, and T cleared her throat. I have a n for ournding, based on what I understand of the situation and our capabilities.


    The other three regarded her in silence, clearly interested in her opinion and n.


    Gallof will make a defensive structure in which Pir Be-thric will wait out the fight infort with Gallof at his side. Thorn should provide ayer of protection overtop the creation, from inside naturally. I will deal with the magical creatures.


    Gallof shrugged and began building a working.


    The gray mans specialty wasrger working, specifically with rock.


    Thron cocked his head to the side. Yeah, that seems like a fine n to me. There really shouldnt be anything above Elder, right?


    Be-thric seemed to consider. No, there shouldnt be. Are you sure, my Eskau? We could all deal with the attacking beasts together.


    I am sure. This is what I am here for. After a moments thought, T added, That said, you all will be locked under stone. Thorn should leave an opening in his defense on the far side of the first enemies we spot. If I get into trouble, Ille around and cut into the stone. If you sense that,e out and support me.


    <em>Assuming I can get enough time to do that sure.</em>


    <em>-Hey! That means Terry can fight with us. I think hes been getting bored.-</em>


    Be-thric nodded and grinned. That sounds like an excellent n.


    Less than two minutester, a wave of power washed over them, and T found herself standing near the top of a rise in a rtively t in, surrounded by splintered wood.


    <em>Theres not even a crater from the impact. Fascinating.</em>


    A city was partially visible in the distance. <em>And, were just over ten miles from the city, Id guess.</em>


    That was some pretty urate targeting.


    Thron, Gallof, and Be-thric stepped over to the side and Gallof released his working, causing a bowl to be hallowed out below them, and a thick dome of stone to grow over top.


    It looked almost like a great hemisphere of stone, slowly rotating up out of the ground until it finally met new stone on the other side.


    From Ts brief nce, she would bet that it was at least three or four feet thick.


    <em>Nicely done, Gallof.</em>


    A momentter, T saw power that was distinctly Throns wash over the surface, stabilizing and forming a barrier of corrosion.


    She walked around the new, mini-fortification and found the gap in the acidic protection on the south-eastern side.


    <em>That makes sense, most of the creatures shoulde from the opposite direction.</em>


    In retrospect, assuming that theyd wait until the first creatures were spotted, in order to position the gap had been a bit silly.


    <em>Ill learn and have a better n next time.</em>


    <em>-Progress, not perfection. Thats the goal.-</em>


    T just smiled.


    After a deep breath, she walked the dozen or so feet up to the top of the rise and looked around.


    <em>I dont detect any far seeing magics or anything else indicating observers.</em>


    <em>-Neither do I.-</em>


    T saw the first magical beasts approaching from the surroundingnds. <em>Theyll be here in less than a minute.</em>


    Most wereing from the north-west, along their flightpath.


    With a smile, T opened Kit, looking down into it as she spoke. Hey, Terry! Want to do some hunting?

 Chapter 240: Not the Best Plan

    Chapter 240: Not the Best n


    T screamed internally as she cut down a wolf the size of a pony, thest remaining one of a pack of twelve.


    <em>Okay. This was not the best n.</em>


    <em>-I dont know what youreining about. Things are going just fine.-</em>


    T spun towards her next foe. Unable to get Flow around in time, she punched her armored fist into the side of the head of a charging thing.


    It looked like a unicorn but wrong. It was much, <em>much</em> bigger. Its head was forward, instead of up like a horse, and it actually had two horns on its nose, instead of one on its forehead. One was much more massive, curved and vicious looking, while the other was closer to a nub of bone.


    <em>Its like the hulking armored knight of unicorn-kind.</em>


    <em>-It is pretty outrageous.-</em>


    Aside from its mundane features, the magic about it was overbearing.


    Even though Ts fist connected solidly, and she felt the crunch of breaking bone, she lost out in both mass and magics.


    The thing easily weighed three thousand pounds, and with a magical weight of an Elder.


    She was physically thrown back as the front horn struck her shoulder, and the wave of kic energy sent into her with the hit flung her away at even greater speed to skip across the ground, back towards the dome of stone that housed Be-thric, Thron, and Gallof.


    She was able to catch the ground briefly as she skipped along and flipped up tond on her feet, skidding to a stop. That avoided too much concussive damage, but it was still highly unpleasant.


    Terry was, as usual, a blur of teleportation and blood. Theyd already been fighting for close to five minutes, and things were going well so far, but she had a growing headache.


    <em>How are there so many creatures?!</em>


    More continued to arrive, almost alling from the north-west.


    <em>Following our trailno wonder this isnt amonly used form of travel.</em> T understood why a mandate on those traveling like this was to deal with the truly magical creatures that followed in their wake. She couldnt imagine the sort of devastation these creatures could have caused if they simply fell upon the nearest city. <em>Even if defenders were close at hand, quite a few normal people would still die.</em>


    <em>-Stillmon enough to be able to depart with a few hours notice.-</em>


    <em>Thatsfair.</em>


    The battle unicorn<em>bicorn?</em>was stilling, though it was looking a little worse for wear with half of its head caved in, and one horn missing. <em>Hey, its a unicorn, now.</em>


    <em>-Youre ridiculous. Youre a biped, even if someone rips off your leg. Youre just an injured or crippled biped.-</em>


    It didnt heal. Maybe, it couldnt heal quickly for some reason, but it seemed like it didnt need to, despite what should have been a lethal wound.


    T was coated in the white-steel armor, her will and power flowing into the material to keep it flexible and moving with her.


    On the positive side, she had yet to take anything save whipsh-like, or concussive, damage because of herbination of magical and material defenses.


    On the negative side, her head felt like shed been doingplex calctions, to the tenth decimal ce, for hours.


    <em>This is rusting awful.</em>


    Most of the creatures she and Terry had killed were in the red and orange to her mage-sight, so it was more akin to stomping out endless streams of bugs than fighting off a pack of wolves.


    Though, she had killed at least two packs of wolves.


    This bicornnow one horned bicornwas one of the only yellows theyd seen so far.


    Blessedly, the stream of new opponents seemed to be lessening, and this thing was surprisingly tough. <em>Well, I am fighting up a rank in this conflict. Id say Im doing pretty well, all things considered.</em>


    Speaking of the bicorn, it was almost upon her, charging once more, and shed had time to prepare this time.


    Flow, as a ive, was ready.


    At thest moment, T stepped to one side and thrusted forward, ramming Flow through the thick, magically reinforced beast between its neck and shoulder.


    Traditionally, the maneuver would be used on a charging boar, with the spear braced against the ground or something else equally immoveable, but this thing was much bigger than a boar, and T knew that that tactic would never have worked.


    Additionally, this was a magical creature; so, of course, the ive thrust wasnt nearly enough to finish it off. Even so, Ts attack did disable one of its front legs.


    As it continued forward, that leg buckled, dropping the beast down to a grinding slide on its face as it moved past her.


    A flick of magic and Flow shifted to a sword. T used the beasts own momentum to drag Flows de along to cut down its side,ying it open.


    Ts head-covering pulled back from around her mouth just as she exhaled into the open wound, her breath filled with dissolution power.


    That ate away a good half of the beast, and T rammed Flow in the form of a void-knife into the beasts side, ripping out its remaining power for good measure.


    She sighed at her own inefficiency. <em>I could have used the void-sword to cut it open.</em>


    <em>-Ironically, the void-forms dont cut as well. So, you might have been dragged back or knocked off your feet. The void consumes more than cuts. I think you made the right call.-</em>


    T smiled, turning to face north-west.


    The smile faded, and a frown pulled at her hidden features.


    The creatures she could still see, which had been continuing toe her way, were now dispersing, running north-east or south-west, perpendicr to the path that theyd been on moments before.


    <em>Whats that about?</em>


    It wasnt like shed shown new abilities or anything that might have scared them off.


    She had used most of her magics in the first couple of minutes of the fight, and everything since had just been a remix of those methods of killing. Though, shed only used one pair of tungsten spheres, and she still had the siege-spheres in reserve.


    Terry, of course, had no issue showing off how easily he could hurt these creatures, which <em>should</em> have been more powerful than him.


    He wasnt able to instantly kill them as he did with most everything they had encountered around the human cities, but his every fight was a foregone conclusion when it began.


    <em>You know, I might have killed more of these things than Terry has.</em>


    <em>-You have, but not by much. The endingberry-like dissolution is a great equalizer for keeping these tough, regenerating opponents down.-</em>


    That made T rather proud, actually. She was dealing a bit more death than even Terry. <em>Hed still dominate in his ability to kill weaker opponents quickly, but that just makes sense. Its what hes been doing for most of his life.</em>


    She, on the other hand, almost always fought against things stronger than herself, at least theoretically so. She felt like some sort of hunter. The killing of stronger beasts a primal part of who she was.


    <em>No. Hunter isnt correct. While I do enjoy fighting, I dont really seek out the kills. If these things leave me alone, Id be happy to let them be.</em>


    Another minute of killingter, and no more enemies remained near at hand.


    Terry took the moment of calm to eat the carcasses that he hadnt eaten before. Strangely enough, he kept ncing towards the horizon between each little meal. Finally, he flickered over to her and bumped Kit with his beak.


    You want to go inside?


    He bobbed an affirmation, trilling softly, then bumped her in the chest.


    You want me to go inside too?


    He bobbed again.


    I cant, Terry. I have to stay out here and finish things up.


    He gave her a long look, then tilted his head questioningly.


    Whats bothering you?


    He bumped Kit, then her chest again.


    Im not getting in.


    He trilled, seeming a bit irritated, now.


    Terry.


    He trilled over her, then turned his back on her, facing the north-west.


    Terry, if you think it isnt safe, get into Kit.


    Terry nced back at her, tilting his head again.


    Ill be fine, my friend. You couldnt kill me after all.


    He waggled his head back and forth, then squawked.


    Dont lie to me. You tried. You didnt put your all in, but you definitely tried.


    After a moment, he bobbed another time.


    So, if you think itll be dangerous, go in. T opened Kit for the terror bird. There is a lot that I can survive that you couldnt.


    She smiled.


    Terry nced back towards the horizon, then to her.


    He gave a mournful trill and then vanished back into Kit.


    After he left, T turned to look back to the north-east. <em>What is happening over there?</em>


    The Zeme, the flow of magic, in the air wasodd.


    There had been quite a few currents caused by their arrival, but those hadrgely settled down.


    Her headache was growing, and she was tempted to retract the armor, but something felt <em>off.</em>


    <em>t? Do you know whats going on? Can you tell?</em>


    -<em>No, but I agree. Theres </em>something.<em> Going on.-</em>


    She turned towards the rock dome. What she was seeing, feeling, and sensing, along with Terrys reaction had made her quite uneasy. <em>I think we should get the others.</em>


    <em>-Yeah. Thats probably wise. Im d you arent letting your guard-</em>


    Something streaked past T, and she staggard to the left.


    Her right arm, which had been holding Flow, was gone.


    In its ce was the golden outline of the limb, the always active spell-lines burning with power even as her flesh began to regrow around them.


    She could sense Flow behind her, and her mirrored perspective saw the creature still holding her arm in is jaws, the prize still coated in white metal.


    <em>What?</em> She couldnt process what she was seeing.


    The lizard-like creature was blue to her mage-sight, at least in power density.


    She would have thought it was a mythical dragon, but it didnt have wings. <em>Is that</em>


    <em>-A drake.-</em>


    Its form was unexpected to say the least, but something else dominated her mind as she took an infinite second to examine the newly arrived threat in her mirrored vision.


    The material it seemed to be made of was hauntingly familiar.


    She felt herself go cold, and for the first time in a <em>very</em> long time, she had no idea how to handle the enemy that had set upon her.


    The drakes ws, its teeth, its skin, its every scale was made of the same indiscernible, indistinct nothingness that marked the edge of every dimensional space that T had ever seen.


    This massive lizard was somehowposed of the edge of reality.


    <em>No, thats not right. It is somehow reality itself? Orposed of it, like a statue is made of stone.</em>


    <em>-Or the sword that was made of void?-</em>


    <em>A counter-magic to void, you think?</em>


    <em>-It makes sense.-</em>


    Its eyes were the only things that seemed different, glowing with a fierce, white light that somehow made T want to <em>make</em> things.


    As a whole, the creature reminded T of nothing so much as the way reality itself had acted to help force Ios fount into Flow.


    -<em>Hey, at least we know why everything else was getting the rust away.-</em>


    <em>Yeahand it outweighs us, magically, but two-and-a-half ranks</em>


    <em>-Yeah, its time for backup.-</em>


    <em>How, exactly, are we going to do that?</em>


    The reality-drake was between her and the stone dome which housed her potential allies for this fight.


    <em>Well, talking has worked sometimes in the past.</em> Her right arm was back, and as she turned to face the reptile, she called Flow back to her waiting hand.


    Thankfully, she hadnt used all the metal that shed absorbed to make her armor, so she had enough to reform the protection on the regrown arm. <em>But I cant do that again</em>


    Nice lizard. We dont need to fight.


    The lizard threw its head back and ate her arm with an awkward <em>glug-glug,</em> that reminded T of Thron downing a tankard of acid way too fast.


    See? Im not all bad. Can we talk this out? She started circling to one side to get around to the


    The drake vanished from her sight, and the world tipped as T fell sideways.


    <em>It rusting took my leg?!</em>


    <em>-This isnt good, T.-</em>


    <em>You think?</em>


    T quickly crouched, gritting her teeth through the pain as she tried to regain her bnce rather than falling.


    Even as she struggled to do that, her armor opened up across her back and five sets of tungsten spheres <em>cracked</em> the air as they streaked towards the drake.


    She turned around to see the aftermath of her attack with her own eyes and saw nothing. The spheres had splintered on the drakes scales, and then pulled back together in piles as close to their individual targeted parts of the drake as they could get.


    The two that shed aimed at the eyes seemed to just be gone.


    The drake threw back its head and jerked its body a bit to fully consume her leg.


    It was as big as the bicorn, but lower to the ground.


    <em>Okay, move to the stone mound.</em>


    She tucked and lunged that way, diving into a roll just as the reptile vanished again.


    It missed her this time.


    <em>Just straight lines, then?</em>


    She came back to her feet, her leg restored, and sprinted perpendicr to her attacker, making for the dome.


    She briefly considered retracting her armor, but felt like the drake would have been ripping away muchrger sections without the support that the armor offered around her.


    T was closing in on the dome.


    <em>Almost</em>


    It took both legs, sending her spinning end over end, screaming in agony.


    t helped mp down on the pain, even as T mmed into the ground, the normally innocuous impact sending shivers of pain through her.


    It felt like the two legs that she no longer had were broken.


    <em>Thats awful in just about every way.</em>


    She wasnt going to make it to the dome.


    She only had one choice.


    In desperation, she jammed her hand down into Kit and pulled out the set of siege-spheres.


    <em>Untested, untried, myst hope.</em> She <em>really</em> didnt like the sound of that. <em>Nothing this powerful should be anywhere around here. How am I this unlucky?</em>


    Without dy, she moved the targets of the spheres to the center of the drakes chest, and they <em>boomed</em> away through the air.


    The beast had been about to charge once more, and its mouth had been open and aligned <em>just right</em> for one of the two to shoot straight down its throat.


    The second one missed the open maw by a hair, mming into the side of its neck and dragging across the scales before it struck the drake hard in the shoulder, the first telling blow T had managed.


    The beast flinched back from the hit, and when the deflected ball ofpressed air quickly came back to strike again, albeit quite a bit slower, the drake tried unsessfully to dodge.


    The one it had swallowed seemed to have done some damage, as glowing, white blood was leaking out of the drakes mouth.


    After the third, now far weaker, hit from the sphere on the outside, T decided it wasnt going to be enough.


    <em>My second air sphere is sphere B and nothing else.</em>


    A flicker went through the sphere now pressing to the drakes side, and the gravitational affects vanished.


    <em>BOOM!</em>


    T was flung backwards as a thousand cubic feet of air expanded outward in a freezing sh.


    The drake was tossed aside like a ragdoll, its entire left side now encrusted with ice, but as it came back to its feet, clearly a bit disoriented, there didnt seem to be any actual damage done.


    <em>You have got to be kidding me!</em> T came back to her own feet, still trying her utmost to get to the dome, which housed her salvation from this nightmare of a fight.


    The drake rolled to its feet, eyes locked on her as it growled.


    <em>Fine. My first air sphere is sphere A and nothing else.</em>


    A <em>WHOOMP</em> resounded through the surroundingndscape, a wave of dust radiating out from the drake even as the ice on its side broke loose and fell free.


    T felt the concussion resonate in her chest, and the ground buzzed beneath her feet as she ran.


    The drake staggered and fell to its belly, its eyes closing in obvious pain before a gout of white liquid shot from between its teeth.


    T gasped in relief, stumbling to her knees and forcing her armor to take a more static shape, finally allowing her mind rest.


    <em>I did it. I killed a </em>


    The drakes eyes opened, the powerful white glow now tinged with obvious rage and just a bit of pain.


    <em>Nope, not dead. Up, T. GET UP!</em>


    She staggered to her feet, even as the drake did the same, clearly at least somewhat injured but not actually in danger of death.


    <em>What is that thing made of?</em>


    <em>-Magic, T. Maybe even reality itselfwhatever that means.-</em>


    <em>Ohright.</em>


    She hobbled towards the hemisphere of rock that contained her backup.


    <em>This was not the best n</em>


    The drake didnt immediately streak past her. It didnt take another chunk from her, so that was a blessing.


    In her mirrored perspective, she saw it limping after her, each stride more stable and sure than thest.


    T healed faster, but then shed been less damaged.


    The drake, for its part, was slowly slipping from blue towards green to Ts mage-sight.


    The dome was just ahead, and she was finally able to sprint at full speed. Even so, she wasnt going to be fast enough, she could tell.


    <em>Rust this.</em> She wrapped each hand around one of a pair of tungsten spheres attached near her stomach.


    She gripped as hard as she could, bracing herself as she altered the targets of the spheres to the ground just beyond the rock dome, on the side that she needed to get to.


    Her mind felt like it shattered, she had never intended for the magics to work that way, but the affectsted long enough to jerk her off the ground and through the air before it tore the spheres free.


    The drake hadnt seemed to move, but it was now far ahead of where shed been, clearly having just missed her.


    T had a lot of trouble focusing her vision as shended in a roll right beside her destination.


    She turned Flow into a ive, and fell towards the dome, one hand extended to stab the unprotected patch of stone.


    Her other arm had been turned up as she fell, and the drake now feasted on it at a safe distance.


    <em>Rust me.</em>


    But the small cut shed managed in the stone was enough.


    The entire defensive structure burst, like a soap bubble, and Be-thric strode out, his aura zing a true blue.


    <em>He has been increasing in magical density since his elevation</em> T felt a little delirious from the repeated extreme pain.


    Be-thric saw her, saw the sshes of blood around the battle field, then focused on the drake extending a hand.


    The creature staggered, confusion reced the focus and rage in its eyes.


    T took a few steadying breaths.


    Thron and Gallof came to stand on either side of her.


    Thron knelt. Are you all right?


    She nodded, epting his help to stand.


    Be-thric turned away from the drake, which was still standing, though unsteadily now. Panic was clearly beginning to fill its features, but it didnt move. It was quite injured, Eskau Tali. Im impressed with your performance. There shouldnt have been anything nearly this powerful to contend with, and it seems that you hurt it quite badly.


    Thank you. She felt a bit of happiness at thepliment but squashed it. What did you do?


    Oh, that? He motioned back to the beast as it fell over. First, I erased its innate knowledge of how to move using its legs. Then, I obliterated the portion of its mind responsible for the involuntary beating of its heart. It can heal all it wants, but it wont be able to move, nor circte its blood. Itll die in time.


    Her mouth dropped open. <em>Thats an awful way to die.</em>


    Tali?


    T came back to the moment, Be-thrics use of just her name catching her off guard. Yes?


    Where are all the other bodies?


    <em>What? Oh Oh, no</em>


    <em>-Dont panic, think for a moment. Youve got this.-</em>


    And she did, too. The reasonable answer came almost instantly. There was a lull before that drake arrived, and I took the opportunity to put all the corpses into my storage.


    Oh, that was a good use of resources. I imagine your sanctum will have devoured them by now. Wise of you to continue to offer such gifts to your hungrypanion. It is likely actions like that, which have allowed you to attain the rtively stable rtionship you have with the void-beast.


    <em>I didnt think of that. </em>She nced down at Kit. <em>Ill feed you some more tasty things soon.</em>


    She looked up at the drake. Could I have that one?


    Be-thric shrugged. I dont see why not. Improving the reliability of your sanctum is worth more than any mere harvest, even from such a beast.


    Thank you, Pir Be-thric. She walked towards the drake warily. It was still alive, but clearly in a bad state. It was rapidly dropping through the color spectrum to her mage-sight as it desperately threw power at any number of unknown attempts at recovery.


    T asionally saw flickers of power from Be-thric as the arcane reinforced or re-did his working, preventing any attempt on the drakes part from seeding.


    T guessed that every subsequent working that Be-thric did was easier, as his opponents magical weight continued to drop.


    She nodded, drawing Flow to her, changing its form to that of a sword, and severing the drakes head with a single, quick sh.


    She then moved the head away from the body, preventing the weakening tendrils of power from being able to draw it back.


    That sealed the monsters fate utterly, and it was dead less than a minuteter. Its head and body went into Kit a moment after that. With the other three still quite a ways away, T patted her pouch. Eat up, buddy. Thank you for all that youve been doing for me.


    The pouch did not respond.


    With that done, T returned to the other three, and together, they turned towards the nearby city and set off.


    It was time to secure permission for the mission that would allow her to return home.


    <em>Finally.</em>

 Continue the Story [Book 1 - Mageling]

Continue the Story [Book 1 - Mageling]


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 Chapter 241: Croi

    Chapter 241: Croi


    T, Thron, Gallof, and Be-thric reached the edge of the city of Croi after an uneventful trek across the ten miles of ins.


    After their magically noticeable method of travel, Ts fight with the magical beasts had been a bit lengthier than nned, but not by much.


    Besides that fight, theyd only stopped for a moment so that T could duck into her sanctum to be reinscribed and repaint her limbs with iron. T tried not to think too long on <em>why</em> those limbs needed to be repainted.


    As such, it was barely after sunset when their feet found paved streets.


    Just like in the humannds, there were no dedicated roads between arcane cities.


    This was true, even though magical creatures were <em>far</em> less hostile towards arcanes than they were to humans, and arcanous creatures were much rarer.


    The entire set of differences and distinctions was something that T still didnt fully understand, honestly.


    There were arcanous creatures that had gone through founts. Those were mundane beasts with a bit of magic added on the top. Sometimes they could be powerful enough to be considered magical beasts, but they were always aspected like the fount from which theyd gained their power.


    T was unsure how they continued to get power to use, but from what she understood it just became a natural thing for them to generate power as part of their bodily functions. It was an incredibly finite supply, and if they didnt eat or sleep, they wouldnt continue to produce it.


    <em>Though, I suppose no one actually has told me that for certain.</em>


    <em>-And that doesnt really make sense from what we know about magic and where ites from-</em>


    But that was the prevailing theory. From what T could tell, arcanous animals didnt really exist in the arcanends, as confusing as that was, so she couldnt see if the arcanes had any better information or theories.


    Truly <em>magical</em> magical beasts weremon to both the human and arcane areas of the continent, and likely found all over the world.


    These beasts got their power from a bond with <em>something.</em> That bond wasnt unlike a soul-bond, but it wasnt with a human.


    To her knowledge, no one had ever witnessed the birth or creation of a truly magical creature, so a lot was spection. Humanity wasnt even sure if magical creatures were altered mundane creatures, jumping straight from mundane to magical, or if they were created as fully magical with or without the necessity of parentage or some form of egg or birth.


    Arcanes simply saw truly magical creatures as realitys response to improper or reckless usage of magic. That predicted the appearance and behavior of the creatures, so most didnt care further. T hadnt been able to find research materials beyond that.


    In either case, truly magical creatures gained power from that which they were bound to. The mostmon was from thend or reality itself. They were brought into being, or made into what they were, to defend the area or drive out something unnatural.


    All this to say, roads were not possible when thend itself might somehow spawn a creature of power to wipe out the constructed, or traveler-worn, thoroughfare and anyone unlucky enough to be upon it at the time.


    So, the feel of fitted stone under Ts bare feet, and the sound of the boots of the other three on the same, was a wee statement that they were back in civilization.


    True, it was a human enving civilization, but T would take what she could get at the moment. She was still feeling a bit strained, and her head was still pounding, from the fight with the minor horde of creatures, capped by the reality drake or whatever the rust that thing had been.


    Arcane city defenses were much more nebulous than human ones, but that made sense given that, in general, arcane cities were left alone, where human cities were forced to move every few centuries or be destroyed.


    Overall, the differences were many andpounding.


    Croi was a truly ancient city.


    T had learned a bit about it in preparation for this trip. It had been more than ten thousand years since its founding, and the very feel of the ce was heavy with history.


    There was a cold nip in the evening air, but that made sense as it was getting close to the shortest day of the year. Even so, as far south as they were, snow had yet to stick on the ground.


    Thatck alone made T rarely really contemte the fact that it was mid-winter, closing in on the end of the year. <em>Its right around a month until my twenty-first birthday.</em>


    It was an odd, disconnected thought among all the internal observations of the magnificent city, but it sat heavily within her.


    This timest year, she was taking trips back and forth between Bandfast and Marliweather, trying to get in as much time with her siblings as possible before Nc and Illie left for the Academy.


    <em>Unless I lost more time than I realized. Be-thric could have been mucking about in my head, trying to create and perfect Tali for decades, for all I know.</em>


    <em>-I dont think so, and you dont either. Dont let fear make you jump to conclusions.-</em>


    <em>I suppose so. I hope they are doing well.</em>


    <em>-Nc and Illie? Yeah I bet they took the disappearance pretty hard.-</em>


    <em>If they even know.</em>


    <em>-They know, T. They would have been told. Most students read the letters they were sent, and your siblings would do the same.-</em>


    <em>Yeah Imagine how surprised everyone will be when I show up.</em> That lifted her spirits a bit, and she smiled.


    Gallof sighed. It is good to be back in a city, is it not? Back here in particr.


    <em>Thats right. Gallof and Thron were based out of Croi until the opening for a new Pir came avable in toiri.</em> T nced towards the man. Has it changed?


    No, its only been a few months. Croi hasnt really changed in centuries, a few months are meaningless to such a ce. He was clearly enamored with the ce, and T could somewhat understand.


    Even the outer edge was interesting.


    They were stilling in from the outskirts. Another difference between human and arcane cities was very obvious as they slowly made their way inward.


    Human cities had most of the residences in the center, as they shrank over time. Arcane cities built outward, and most of the time, the outermost structures were homes.


    As such, they only started passing other people after they were a few blocks in.


    T immediately saw the difference in poptions between Croi and toiri.


    In toiri, Thron had been an outlier. He wasnt the only dwarf by a long shot, but his kinsmen were few and far between.


    In Croi, it seemed like every other person was a dwarf.


    Their skin ranged from Throns emerald green through the other jewel tones: ruby red, sapphire blue, even amethyst purple, among others. For those dwarves, their hair was always some sort of metallic color: silver, gold, copper, or some derivation thereof. Then, there seemed to be another set of dwarves with metallic skin and gem-like hair.


    T had a hard time not gawking when a dark-gray metal skinned dwarf with practically glowing ruby hair and beard walked past.


    <em>Wait his skin looks like mine with the iron paint.</em> She suddenly wanted gem-like hair. <em>That is amazing.</em>


    She really wanted to touch their hair, but realized it would be anything but appropriate even to ask.


    <em>Ahh, the burdens of being civilized.</em>


    <em>-Civilized? Youre the Eskau of the House that practically runs this city. You tell them toe here and let you feel their hair. No ones going to say anything.-</em>


    <em>That is an abuse of power right there.</em>


    <em>-Eh, take the perks while you can.-</em>


    <em>Youre terrible sometimes, t.</em>


    The variation in citizenry was more than just due to arger number of dwarves. There were very few beast-folk of any kind. Hue-folk were slightly lessmon as well, and in their ce, statistically speaking, were other races that T hadnt really seen before.


    She almost had a heart attack, and only ts help kept her from showing overt panic, when a humanoid nt passed them by.


    <em>Leshkin!</em> But no, somehow T could tell that it wasnt. There was moreintellect behind the movements of the being, and the body seemed much morefunctional? Leshkin were effectively animated nts, like a statue forced to move via magic, but made of vegetative matter. The beings that T saw wereplete creatures, seeming to eat and drink, and have internal organs, simply of a more nt derived form.


    <em>Fascinating.</em>


    There were also lizard people, which T knew enough about to not think of as lizard beast-kin. They did <em>not</em> see themselves as beast-folk. They imed to be dragonlings. They also imed that they were the descendants of humans and dragons, while beast-folk were the descendants of experiments gone wrong. So, in general, everyone was offended and angry over the distinctions, and T knew to stay clear of the subject with either sub-group of races.


    The dragonlings, for their part, looked like oddly proportioned humans with variously colored and textured scales. Well, that and draconic heads, which were just a bit disturbing after Ts recent one-sided fight with the drake.


    She definitely tried not to stare at those, no matter how lovely and fascinating the patterns of their scales may have been.


    Through all of this, Gallof was guiding them through the streets, and T was following mainly without thought, simply moving with those that shed already been traveling with, while she tried to take in all the sights that surrounded her.


    Aside from the citizenry, her eyes took in the soaring architecture, and the incredible artistic embellishments on many of the buildings.


    There was no District of Doors in Croi, at least not like that in toiri.


    The House of Blood was nearly without rival within this city. The City Lord was rumored to be a daughter of the House of Blood in ages past, but if so, shed long ago severed official ties with the House to rise to the position of City Lord.


    In considering that rumor, the toiri City Lords belittling of her abilities might have been another jab at them, like hisments regarding the Mind yer.


    <em>Who knows with that madman</em>. T was not looking forward to returning to toiri and resuming her shifts with the City Lord, but that was a problem for another day.


    Gallof wasnt leading them to the center of the city and the House of Bloods main hold, here. No, that would be a walk of nearly an hour, if there were no dys or detours. Instead, he took them down into an underground passagebeled: Compression Lanes


    T had obviously read about these in reading about the city, and she was excited to see them.


    They came down a set of stairs into a nexus of sorts, whererge hallways led in every direction. Gallof led them unerringly down one of the passages.


    T felt the magic around them, and it was almost purely dimensionalpression.


    The air became thicker, but not unbearably so, and they soon exited the hall into another nexus, the air returning to normal.


    Each passage was a straight shot to another nexus, and the space between waspressed, a mile down to a hundred feet or so. That level ofpression was tolerable even for Child level arcanes, but T suspected that it would be painful, if not lethal, for a mundane human to pass through the oddlypressed air.


    It was odd, because it wasnt actuallypressed air, instead it was as if each step took her through the space containing vast quantities of air. It was hard to describe, but she could decidedly feel the odd stresses on her body from the magics.


    Gallof seemed quite familiar with the system of travel and easily navigated to take the needed passage in each nexus.


    Finally, as they came up another set of stairs to street level, close to their destination, T was able to see for herself what Croi offered in ce of the District of Doors.


    Directly across the street from the entrance to the City Lords estate a nearly equally magnificent gateway led into the hold of the House of Blood.


    Around those paired monoliths of power, other houses and groups vied for prevalence.


    To Ts fascination, the doors of every other hold in the area seemed to be mounted on a series of locks in the ground. From her understanding, it was trivial to move a hold entrance, and that happened regrly.


    In this city, no house or guild could buy, or even rent, a particr space. The location of their hold on any given day was purely at the whim and will of the City Lord and the House of Blood.


    Though, in truth, the order and cement didnt change anywhere near that often.


    <em>I cannot fathom trying to find where you needed to go if it did change even every few days.</em>


    T instinctively stood up straighter as they neared. She forced her will and her magic through her garments, reshaping them into immacte clothing befitting her station and disying the emblem of the House of Blood. Shed retracted the white-metal armor before the trek towards the city for two reasons. First, walking in armor was never a fun time. Second, the drake had eaten a lot of her armor, and shed not taken the time to absorb more metal into her elk-leathers to replenish that finite resource.


    <em>Im going to have to be careful of that, arent I?</em>


    <em>-Yeah I foresee it bing a problem, if we arent careful.-</em>


    <em>The guilds notes on how they made the metal </em>should <em>be in the information we acquired somewhere.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, we can hope. It seems like useful stuff.-</em>


    Be-thric noticed her change and smiled, giving her an approving nod. Well thought, my Eskau.


    T pasted on a smile. You are too kind, Pir Be-thric.


    Nonsense. You are <em>the</em> pivotal reason we are here. It is to acquire more power for you, and through you, me and the House of Blood. The impression you make will mean <em>everything.</em>


    <em>Great no pressure. </em>This wasnt new information, of course, but it was still a bit nerve wracking to be reminded. I will do my utmost to make a good impression, then.


    Another difference between toiri and Croi is that here, guards stood outside the House of Bloods hold, and the doors were flung wide.


    That provided an interesting picture, actually, as it was clearly day within the hold, while full night had fallen even as they were just entering the city, and the four of them were at its heart, now.


    The guards saw them and were either expecting them or noticed Ts livery.


    One was a dwarf, and the other stepped forward and addressed them. Greetings, great ones of the House of Blood.


    The few others who were in the area turned to regard the four.


    The guard continued. Be weed, brothers and sisters of the House. Wee, Pir who is our strength against the weight of the world. Wee, Eskau who ys those who would oppose our interest. Be weed, one and all!


    His pronouncement echoed through the streets, and several of those near T and her group fell to their knees, bowing as they passed.


    <em>I suppose that makes sense in a city controlled by the House of Blood.</em>


    The guards voice had also echoed through the open doorway and some of those inside were looking out.


    The most prevalent to Ts eye was a shorter woman, about her own height, wearing well-fitted dark temail. She moved like it weighed nothing and didnt seem to restrict her in the least.


    There was no helmet in evidence, so T assumed the armor was magical and would grow the helmet at need. It appeared expertly made with no gaps that T could see. Where there would normally be gaps, smaller, more flexible configurations of tes were in evidence.


    The only item that seemed odd was the womans left gauntlet, which seemed too big to be standard. <em>Her protian weapon? Shes an Eskau?</em>


    That would make sense if the protian weapon was oveying an existing gauntlet.


    T suspected that this woman was as well guarded in her te-mail as T was inside her white metal armor, while maintaining direct control over it.


    The woman almost looked human at first nce, and she had no gate. In fact, she had no color or obvious feature or magical flow about her at all that T could see with her mage-sight. <em>Very good aura control.</em>


    As T looked closer, she almost froze in her steps.


    The womans skin was as fair as a newborn babes. Her hair was as dark as pitch. Around her eyes and across her forehead, inscriptions were evident,posed of some dark metal, only seeming to add to the womans beauty.


    T couldnt see any power flowing through the spell-form, but she didnt expect she would, given the other parts of the womans aura control.


    Even so, the most striking feature, the one that had almost tripped T up when it was noticed, was her pointed ears, poking out from among the dark hair.


    <em>There are RUSTING ELVES!?!</em> Fair skinned, almost otherworldly beauty, pointy ears. That checked all the boxes T knew of. <em>Shes an elf</em>


    <em>-Well, youve met dwarves. Why didnt you expect elves? They are often part of the same tales in mythology.-</em>


    The elven woman in question strode towards their group, meeting them just inside the hold.


    Her voice was as melodic as it was soothing, yet there was no weakness or frailty to the sound, Greetings. I am Eskau Meain, true servant to Pir Cruas.


    T gave a nod of acknowledgment. Ostensibly, she and Meain were equals, but Cruas was second only to Corinis in the House of Blood as a whole. T did not want to be on this womans bad side. Thank you for greeting us personally, Eskau Meain. I am Tali, Eskau to Pir Be-thric.


    She gestured to Be-thric, and he nodded in respect to the woman as well.


    Be wee, Pir. Be wee, Eskau. As Meain gestured for them to enter, her eyes met Ts, and T saw the elfs control loosen just slightly, allowing Ts mage-sight a spark of insight.


    <em>BlueThe woman is </em>rusting<em> Revered. </em>T was more and more d that she didnt need to fight her way free of the House of Blood, because every bit of information she learned served to convince her more fully that she would fail.

 The Publishing Plan (Books 1 - 6)

    The Publishing n (Books 1 - 6)


    Hello!


    This is the publishing n as it stands. I will try to keep this up to date, and expand it as more information bes avable.


    Abbreviations used below:<ul><li>MountainDalePress.store = MDP</li><li>Royal Road = RR</li><li>Kindle Unlimited = KU</li></ul>


    DATES: [Those after May are subject to slight alertation.]


    <strong>Book Title</strong><strong>Chapters</strong><strong>Removal from RR & Patreon</strong><strong>Audio on MDP</strong><strong>KU</strong><strong>Audio on Audible</strong> Mageling 1-40 Feb-28 Mar-15 Mar-15 Apr-19 Mage 41-70 Apr-4 Apr-19 Apr-19 May-24 Binding 71-103 May-9 May-24 May-24 Jun-28 Bound 104-135 Jun-13 Jun-28 Jun-28 Aug-2 Fusing 136-172 Jul-18 Aug-2 Aug-2 Sep-6 Fused 173-199 Aug-22 Sep-6 Sep-6 Oct-11


    EXPLANATIONS:


    Why is the Audiobooking out on MDP''s website first?<ul><li>Amazon takes 60% of the sale price of audiobooks.</li><li>Any book sold on MDP does not have that majority taken off the top.</li><li>So, we are offering it on MDP for 1 month to allow those who want to support the story more, to be able to do so at the same or lower price.</li></ul>


    Why not only sell on MDP?<ul><li>Audible is the core market for audiobooks, and we would end up with fewer listeners and readers in the end, if we didn''t sell there.</li><li>Thus, 1 month on MDP, then on to Audible.</li></ul>


    Are these published books just the chapters that will be pulled down?<ul><li>By andrge? Yes, with deep edits done, and the content feathered to address some issues raised.</li><li>There are also small sections added where they were needed to make for smoother beginnings and endings to each book.</li></ul>


    If there is anything else you want to know, please ask! I''ll try to add it here, going forward.


    Thank you for joining me on this adventure!


    J.L.Mullins

 Chapter 242: A Fragment

    Chapter 242: A Fragment


    T nodded a bit lower to Eskau Meain. We thank you for the wee.


    The elven woman gave a half smile in return. Come, we have many here worthy of conversation.


    She turned and led T, Thron, Gallof, and Be-thric deeper into the hold.


    Her stride was purposeful and steady, with only a slight sway between steps. The result was akin to a predator,fortably sauntering through their own den.


    <em>Do not anger that woman, T.</em>


    <em>-Seconded. T, lets be on your best behavior.-</em>


    T seriously considered giving Tali the reins but dismissed the idea. There were a growing number of things that the other woman would not have a good reason for, and a mental breakdown wouldnt help anyone.


    -<em>Illwork on that. Hopefully within an hour or two?-</em>


    <em>I thought you were keeping things up to date</em>


    <em>-Weve been doing a lot of anciry things, T. My focus was elsewhere. Im just d were still within range for a personal Archive connection.-</em>


    T came back to the moment as she continued to follow Meain and frowned, her mage-sight was picking up <em>something.</em> The zeme, the ambient magical currents, of this hold was oddly cid, unnaturally calm, as if the space were abandoned and no magic had moved through it in a long time. Though, obviously, they were all moving through the space as T looked around. <em>What is going on?</em>


    Additionally, there was a growing, odd feeling around her gate. It wasnt a constriction, nor a pain, nor a limiting. It felt like <em>Like gate-breaking, but without the increased pull, nor the marginal offset. It feels like something is reinforcing the edges of my gate, locking it in ce.</em>


    <em>-What does that mean?-</em>


    <em>I have no idea, but keep on guard. Something is odd here.</em>


    They rounded a corner,ing out onto an exterior terrace walkway.


    T stopped mid-step, in unmitigated awe.


    She didnt even notice her three travelingpanions and guide staring her way expectantly. She obviously saw it with her mirrored perspectives, but she didnt really register it.


    No, her eyes were fixed on whaty before her.


    A vista of expansive beauty stretched out before her. She saw rolling hills with a flock of some type of white birds just taking wing, the sunlight sparkling off of their feathers.


    There were scattered trees, leading into whole forests, and in the distance, she saw <em>mountains.</em>


    <em>What the rust?</em>


    -<em>What the rust?-</em>


    Meains smile grew. Magnificent, isnt it? House lore contends that its a fragment of the old world, snatched from the Doman-Imithe as it crumbled. It is the greatest pride and worst-kept secret of the House of Blood.


    Be-thric was grinning. And before you ask, this is why I didnt tell you. It must be experienced without preamble, or the experience is lesser.


    T just found herself nodding as she walked towards the railing. She couldnt see the edge of reality, here.


    She briefly flickered Flow into the form of a void-knife so that she could see with her void-sight, but still, there was no evidence of the edge of the space before her, above her, or below.


    There were no illusions. There was no end. <em>Its another world?</em>


    <em>-That shouldnt be possible.-</em>


    <em>Youre telling me.</em>


    She turned around and looked back, but the hold extended beyond the entrance as well, just like her own standard entrance into Kit was not at an edge.


    I She closed her mouth and shook her head. Instead of speaking, she turned back to look out upon the world thaty within the hold.


    They stood there for a few long moments.


    Finally, T ordered her thoughts sufficiently to ask a question, How is it this big? This shouldnt be possible.


    Meain nodded. Excellent question. It actually isnt.


    T frowned. I see no illusion, no edge of reality.


    The elven woman quirked a smile. What you see, beyond the middle distance, is echoes of reality. This is a truly massive hold, a rough sphere, twenty-five miles in radius.


    T did quick math. <em>More than sixty-five-</em>thousand<em> cubic miles of space? That is insane!</em> HowI mean. Why?


    To preserve what is lost. The anchors w back more and more from Doman-Imithe, but it is a slow process. This hold began a mere mile in diameter at the foundation of our House. Through the millennia we have rebuilt this much of our lost home. The pride was evident.


    Thishow has the House of Blood not dominated the world?


    Hmm? Oh. I think you misunderstand. This is not a resource; this is a treasure and an investment. Other holds exist to create raw materials, to fuel economic advancement. Some are created to house food production or personnel. This holdshe shook her head"This hold is too precious to soil or exploit. While we do use an underground portion for research into the nature of magic, we ensure that the sanctity of this ce is preserved.


    T frowned at that. Then, she and t focused on her mage-sight once again, instead of her eyesight, recalling the oddity shed noticed when she first arrived.


    Now that she could see so much open space, her sight and mind were able to truly perceive what was going on, and she gaped anew.


    Meain chuckled. And there it is. The true wonder of this ce.


    How is the power so still, so stable?


    There is no zeme, here. Apparently, the currents of magic that are so pervasive on our world only exist because of the weakness in the fabric of reality.


    So, this fragment?


    Shows how things were meant to be. There is no magical resonance here. There are no ether holds, no magical creatures, no disruptions to the majesty of magic.


    How? Its a broken piece, right?


    Ahh, shattering a properly tempered piece of armor doesnt ruin the temper on the fragments does it? To do that, one has to attempt a reforging, and do itwrong. Our world, our precious Zeme, was rebuilt from fragments such as this, but it was rebuilt by amateurs. Well-meaning amateurs to be sure, and they had more skill than any alive now possess, but they were still woefully inadequate to the task of reality reconstruction. The very fact that Doman-Imithe exists, a step further away from the next world, the source of magic, than Zeme, is a perfect demonstration that it wasnt put back <em>quite</em> right. She barked augh. The fact that there is a Doman-Imithe at all, means they didnt even use all the pieces in the reconstruction.


    T was hanging on every word. <em>This actually lines up with much of what I was told at my Raising. A great cmity broke the world, and everything that has happened since was purely a reaction to that.</em>


    Ahh, but I am rambling, and this isnt a ss. Please forgive me. The woman smiled warmly. I just came from teaching a lesson on the history of this ce, and I fell back into that role.


    T shook her head. No, I appreciate learning what you know.


    She looked Meain up and down.


    You taught a ss in full armor?


    Of course! Its just sofortable, why would I ever take it off?


    I suppose. T didnt really know how to reply to that. Instead, she turned to look out at the vista once more.


    Out of her mirrored perspective, T saw Be-thric lean closer to Thron, and she heard him whisper a question, Ive not known Tali to be so interested in holds. Is this normal for her?


    T almost froze at that. <em>RustRust! </em>She hadnt been thinking about maintaining a Tali like attitude in the slightest.


    Thron leaned a bit closer to Be-thric and shrugged. After the work on her sanctum, she dove into research on the workings of holds. Since her venture into the ether hold and the one owned by the crafters guild, she has only been more intrigued, my lord Pir.


    Be-thric nodded in response, scratching his chin. Fascinating. I neverHe seemed to freeze for a moment, before seeming to change what he had been about to say.I suppose it is only natural for her to develop interests outside of her duties.


    Thron bowed his head slightly. Begging your pardon, Pir Be-thric, but I dont think she sees the nature of holds as outside the realm of her duties.


    The Pir nodded again. Yes, I can see how that might be true.


    His smile grew.


    How wonderful. A masterpiece indeed.


    Thron frowned, clearly confused, but he didnt seem to want to question Be-thric on thement.


    Meain sighed. We really should get you all to the dining hall. Dinner will have started by now, so your entrance will be sufficiently dramatic.


    She gave Be-thric a meaningful look, and to Ts nearly horrified shock, the Pir <em>blushed, </em>muttering under his breath.


    The look was odd, as it somehow appeared like Be-thrics skin became dark red, which actually required a lightening of his skin. <em>Does that mean he had an emotional reaction akin to me paling and blushing at the same time?</em>


    She didnt know.


    The elf turned, leading them away. As they walked, she leaned closer to T and spoke in a stage whisper, clearly intending for Be-thric to hear what she said. I used to watch your Pir, Eskau. He was quite the dramatic child. Things only got worse when he found a master with a simr bent to himself.


    She grinned conspiratorially.


    Be-thric cleared his throat, face set in a stone expression. I would appreciate it if you maintain the proper decorum when speaking of a Pir of the House, Eskau.


    Meain nced back and huffed augh. Youve grown a lot, little Be, but not so much as to order me about in my own hold.


    Be-thric grimaced but didnt reply.


    Against Ts better judgment, she found herself liking Meain.


    <em>It would be a shame to be killed by her.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, death at her hand would be so much worse than regr, run of the mill death.-</em> ts sarcasm was palpable.


    <em>Hush you. I was going to say, It would be a shame to have to kill her. But that is obviously not going to happen.</em>


    t projected the sound of a gasp. <em>-What? T? Have you learned humility?-</em>


    <em>Youre really rusting annoying sometimes, you know that?</em>


    <em>-I offer what you need, when you need it.-</em>


    T only sent a feeling of grumpy grumbling as a response.


    Their path through the holdworld fragment? took them back inside the building, and before they re-entered, T took onest sweeping look over the vista.


    <em>Shes right. There is no sign of meddling in view from here. This building is the only thing on the surface within view, and the results arestunning.</em>


    She wasnt sure why the view settled into her heart more than a simr vista would in the real world.


    Rust, back in Makinaven, shed seen vistas at least this expansive, if not more so.


    <em>This somehow feelspeaceful.</em>


    <em>-Like before, somewhere deep inside we knew that there were the skeletons of millions buried below the ground we saw.-</em>


    <em>Thats a bitdark.</em> She considered. <em>But I think youre right. There is something wrong with our world, t. And now weve seen how it should be.</em>


    Her heart ached, a feeling like a constriction in her chest, and her eyes watered.


    <em>Our world is broken.</em> She felt a firming within her innermost being. <em>It should be fixed.</em>


    T felt her steps gain a firmness, and a confidence as she turned and followed the others inside.


    A smile tugged at her lips even so. <em>Lets get free and back to our people first, though.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, thats probably a wise order of operation.-</em> Even though her words were teasing, there was a solidity to ts response. She clearly agreed with Ts desire.


    <em>We can give a record of this memory to others. When they see thisWe wont have to do it alone.</em>


    -<em>Tthe sovereigns. If it were possible, wouldnt they have done it?-</em>


    <em>If they didnt cause it? Maybe. Who knows.</em>


    Back in the building proper, Meain led them down a wide hallway, the sound of a subdued meal echoing down the corridor around them.


    They turned a corner and stopped before two great doors.


    Servants stood to either side. One was a dragonling with mother of pearl scales, and the other was a red-gold-skinned dwarf. His hair was almost pearlescent, each strand having a distinct luster and shine, and the braiding in his hair and beard showed it off in spectacr fashion


    T couldnt help but assume that theyd been picked as aplementary set for aesthetic purposes.


    Meains friendly demeanor had been reced once again with stoic professionalism. Announce us, if you please.


    The servants bowed and pushed the doors open in unison. As soon as the way was fully clear, the Eskau strode forward, those she was leading following closely behind.


    The dwarven servants voice resonated through the room, announcing their arrival, Eskau Meain, Titan of the ins.


    The dragonlings voice was simrly basso as he spoke in counterpoint, Pir Be-thric, Grand-Apprentice of the Mind yer.


    And there it was. T had suspected that Be-thric had some connection to the Mind yer, but hed never told Tali, and even seemed to have purposely avoided the subject of his master and his training. Now? Now, T knew.


    <em>Not that it changes anything?</em>


    <em>-Still, good to know. Not a direct apprentice as Id have guessed. But still, the apprentice of the apprentice of such a notable figure is no small thing.-</em>


    The dwarf continued the announcing, With Eskau Tali, de of the Void.


    <em>de of the Void, eh? Isnt that giving away a bit too much of my capabilities?</em>


    <em>-Not really? Also, these are ostensibly your allies.-</em>


    <em>Right</em>


    The dragonling finished on a rtively anticlimactic note, And retinue.


    The two then bowed to the room and departed, closing the door behind them.


    The entire dining hall seemed to have paused at their arrival, the upants turning to see who had entered, to put faces with the announced names and titles.


    There were only around two dozen people in the roomy space. Quite a few were Eskau and Pirs, but there seemed to be a few others like Gallof and Thron in attendance as well.


    All of the Pirs were in the green to blue range to her mage-sight. The Eskau were generally between yellow and green, with Meain being an obvious exception. The others seemed to be at least yellow, making Thron and T the exceptions. Both were unusual because they were solidly between orange and yellow.


    <em>Its been a long time since I was the weakest person in the room.</em>


    <em>-Maybe we should ask the servants toe back?-</em>


    T kept a smile from her face and changed the subject. <em>This is likely no more than half of the Pirs of the House of Blood.</em> She suppressed a shiver. <em>How powerful are the arcanes?</em>


    <em>-Xeel did say they were overwhelmingly powerful but ununified. It seems that human information is correct in that regard.-</em>


    <em>At least in vague terms, yeahIs it bad that I almost feel like I like the House of Blood? Theyve been at least half-way decent people overall. If theyd approached me, instead of kidnapping me, I might have even been happy here, for the most part.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, but they did kidnap you.-</em>


    <em>Oh, yeah, no doubt about that. Were burning as much of this House to the ground as we can. The nicest cannibal still isnt ever really your friend.</em>


    <em>-Thatthat is a horrifying analogy, T.-</em>


    <em>I aim to please.</em>


    She leaned close to Thron in the brief pause and whispered, Just retinue, eh? Sad you didnt get a title?


    He eyed her out of the corner of his eyes, then his lips twitched towards a smile as he responded even more quietly, I used to have a title, but it was gradually undermined. Its fully gone now.


    T turned to look at him. Was that a corrosion joke?


    He turned towards her as well. Its not a joke if it has to be exined.


    Meain cleared her throat. Right this way. Servants will meet us at our table and bring us what we want from this meals selection.


    She led them across the hall, greeting many of those they passed.


    Everyone, even the Pirs, gave her nods of respect as she passed. Apparently, neither her Pir, nor Pir Corinis was in the hall at the moment, making Eskau Meain the highest ranked member of the House of Blood in attendance.


    T and Be-thric were also acknowledged, but no one tried to strike up a conversation.


    The five of them sat at a corner table and a servant came to let them know what food was prepared. Of course, the servant assured them, if they required something else, they would be happy to amodate, but it might take a bit longer.


    That proved unnecessary as they all found something that sounded good.


    As they were waiting for their meal, Meain turned to them with a grin. Now, how are we going to get you thosest five protian weapons?


    Be-thric nodded. Yes, your advice would be good in this case.


    T cleared her throat. I actually have some ideas.


    The other four turned towards her.


    Thron smiled. Hed heard her ideas and helped her refine them, working together to throw out some of the moreoundish ones.


    Meain simply nodded. As is proper for an Eskau. What have youe up with?


    Well, we are obviously not the only House with a new Pir, or with a Pir about to be raised. Could we negotiate with one of our own Houses candidate Eskau for their weapon, then trade that to another House for one of theirs?


    Meain leaned back, frowning in consideration.


    Be-thric huffed augh. Thats an idea. If we can entice candidate Eskau from other Houses, why not one of our own?


    Meain nodded but seemed conflicted. Im not sure I like the precedent it would set, though. Wed effectively be incentivizing them to give up.


    T shrugged. Anyone who would give up for personal gain wouldnt be a good Eskau, but they might still be a good member of the House. Better to keep them within our House, than to lose them to another, just as former Eskau candidate Cuan was lost to his former House, to our benefit.


    That made the older Eskau pause. That is true enough. It also gives future generations a reason to form protian weapons beyond an attempt to be a Pir or as a ticket out of the House altogether.


    <em>Wait What? No. I dont want to incentivize the creation of more vestiges.</em> But it was toote.


    I like it. Ill see what I can find. There are few potential Pirs and candidate Eskau that chose to pass up the opportunity for advancement that you seized. They might be open toother paths.


    Be-thric was clearly very pleased. What else have youe up with?


    T now feltoff. She didnt want to create more reasons for humans to be hunted down. But shed already told these to Thron, so he would pass them on if she didnt. <em>In for a copper</em> Why not negotiate directly with another major House? See if they would simply trade one to us?


    Amon tactic. Be-thric nodded.


    Gallof continued. We are actually in talks with several. One that weve been speaking with is here and their local leadership seems to be hoping to use the trade to gain a greater foothold and closer working rtionship with the House of Blood within this city.


    T nodded. Are there any minor houses that could be joined with the House of Blood, rather than struggling to attain status as a major House? Bring them in as a full part in exchange for the protian weapon or weapons that theyve managed to forge?


    Be-thric nodded. That is also done. It is amon way to expand the House when a new Pir is raised. There are several such minor houses attempting to court us in that manner. One looks promising, but not definite. The others either have sub-par protian weapons, which shows that they are not of quality to join our House, or other factors make them unsuitable.


    <em>Well, good. No more poor incentives.</em>


    <em>-None that youve been made aware of.-</em>


    T sent an internal re towards t.


    Thest is simple.


    They all leaned in a bit.


    Why not just go take one from inside another major Houses hold? Their candidates are wary of going out in the cities near us, for fear well way them. Why not get them where they are?


    Meainughed loudly, pushing herself back. Oh, I like her! That couldnt be done, here, but in toiri, when youre back? Sheughed again. That would be<em> excellent.</em> Can Ie?


    T shrugged. If you can? Sure.


    The elvin woman waved her off. I can get where I need to be. That sounds amazing. Theres arge branch of the House of the Rising Sun in toiri, right?


    Gallof nodded. There is, Eskau.


    Then, Ill seek approval for such a raid. That hasnt been done in centuries. It will serve those beasts right.


    T shrugged. Well, those are the ideas I had, which seemed to hold up under scrutiny.


    Meain was smiling. I like this one, Be. Where did you find her again?


    Be-thric hesitated. Youve read the tale, right? You know already.


    She nced his way, some of her mirth leaving her features. Right, right. Silly of me.


    That might have spoiled the mood of the conversation, but they were spared any awkwardness by the arrival of their food.

 Chapter 243: Ask an Expert

    Chapter 243: Ask an Expert


    T had to call back the servants four times to get more food. After all, the fight, specifically with the drake, had left her reserves in dire need of a refill.


    In truth, the only reason it was limited to four requests for more was that Meain had intervened, simply telling the servants to keep Ts portion of the table filled with a variety of foods until T requested a stop to the meal.


    Ts gratitude toward the woman grew, as did her mixed feelings. <em>Yeah, I really dont want to fight her.</em>


    <em>-And that has nothing to do with her power.-</em>


    <em>Of course, it has to do with her power. No one wants someone they like to punch them in the face. It ruins the otherwise genial feelings.</em>


    t snorted augh within Ts head. -<em>Truer words have rarely been spoken.-</em>


    Once the others had finished, despite eating much more slowly, T decided to ask an expert about something that had been unclear to her. Eskau Meain?


    Yes? The elvin woman was enjoying a cup of tea and seeming to have been lost in internal contemtion.


    How does the Doman-Imithe, Zeme, and the next world, the source of magic, work? I must admit, even the existence of the Doman-Imithe is new to me, and so Im not really clear onshe gestured around herself, indicating the world-fragment they sat withinhow all this works.


    Gallofs eyes widened, then looked back and forth between T and Meain, but didnt say anything.


    Meain simply smiled. I would be forced to give young Be quite the thrashing if you had known, so dont feel bad for asking.


    Thron and Gallof both seemed to be almost holding their breaths.


    The older Eskau quirked a smile. Stop trying to act small, you two. Its embarrassing. You can listen as adjuncts to a Pir and Eskau. Everyone in this dinning hall already knows this, if theyve ever cared to ask, so theres no concern about that either.


    What of the servants?


    They are all irreconcbly bound to the house and to discretion.


    T had no idea exactly how that would be aplished, but she really didnt want to change the subject. Because of that, she simply picked up another bit of food and began eating it as the elf gave the exnation.


    The long and short of it is rather simple. Our was broken, and all was thrown towards the next world in a very literal sense. The very dying. Some very powerful workings were cobbled together in thest moments, and Zeme was formed from the fragments, at least most of them. But, Zeme wasntright. It had been dead. Our entire world could be considered undead, by the loosest definitions, but thats beside the point.


    <em>What now?</em>


    <em>-Say what?-</em>


    The point being, the physicality of our was scattered through the dimensions of magic. The greatest concentration is here. She hesitated, thenughed. Well, not here, outside of this hold: the world we call Zeme.


    <em>Okay I think I follow that at least.</em>


    The world your gate and our founts ess, the source of magic as you called it, is underneath Zeme, underpinning it. It is stable, and the literal foundation of reality everywhere. It is the source of stability in the physical world, which is why magic attempts to act as a stabilizing force, generally speaking, but that is also tangential to the current topic.


    -<em>Alright, this tracks so far.-</em>


    <em>Shush, you. Im trying to listen.</em>


    As the source is underneath, Doman-Imithe is <em>on top</em> of Zeme, forck of a better description. It is a wastnd ofary fragments, wild magicssome of which could make a Hallowed quail, and beasts older than Zeme itself.


    Void beasts?


    Hmmm? Oh, no. The void is Meain scrunched up her face. The void isnt part of this discussion, but I will say that, to continue this analogy, the void is above Doman-Imithe, though that is a nearly entirely deceiving analogy. When our world broke apart, part fell towards the next world, dying, and part was pulled towards the void, also dying but in a different way.


    So, Zeme is closer to the source of magic than it should be, and Doman-Imithe is closer to the void?


    As a high-level concept? Sure. Its more like an odd triangle projected into a fourth dimension of randomly alternatinglypressed and expanded existence, but I could also make any string of words into a relevant analogy to the void because it is chaos, just as the next world is order. She grimaced again. Incredibly loosely speaking, but not actually. But, youve gotten me off topic.


    I apologize. T felt a bit of a headache building as she tried to grasp what the woman was saying.


    Meain waved her off. No apologies are needed for curiosity. So, the final part of this, which is the real skull twister, is: Which is reality?


    What do you mean?


    Is the Doman-Imithe real? Or is Zeme?


    T frowned. I dont understand. Arent they both real?


    Well, yes, in most senses. I suppose a better question, which I did <em>try</em> to ask, would be: Which is aligned with reality?


    Oh. UmmmWouldnt it be Zeme?


    Wed hope so, but no.


    She blinked. What?


    -<em>What?-</em>


    If you leave our, even only traveling as far as the moon, you pass out of disrupted reality, and beyond the patchwork creation that we call Zeme. Out there, there is only one existence. The elfughed. Ironically, it is real, it has magic, and it is a void, all at the same time, but each of those have different connotations out there, and Im getting off topic again.


    T shook her head, trying to clear it as she frowned. I I dont think I understand.


    Its a little joke, and Im not going to exin it. You might discover for yourself one day. Then, you can look back on this conversation and chuckle. She shrugged. But thats beside the point. Once you get out that far, if you turn back, what do you think you see?


    I have absolutely no idea.


    Wise answer. You see the Doman-Imithe: a broken that has been decimated by magic, time, the void, and creatures outside of ourprehension.


    Ts eyes widened as something clicked into ce for her. <em>No human who has left the has evere back.</em> What if you try to return?


    Then, you are in the Doman-Imithe. Unless you know how to travel through it, and leave it to enter Zeme, you will nevere back to what we know as our world.


    And there it was. <em>Someone has to know this.</em>


    <em>-Among humanity? Maybe, maybe not. Ill add it to the list of things well share first.-</em>


    T knew that the implications were uncountable, but at the moment, she was in a state of information overload. Ummthank you thank you for telling me all of this.


    Of course. It is something that must be known at some point, though it doesnt really affect us very often.


    SoHow does one get back from Doman-Imithe?


    Meain frowned. Why would you need to know that?


    I deal with gravity, and so, theres a non-zero chance that I will eventually, somehow, end up flung beyond our.


    Thron choked augh into his tankard and started coughing.


    T closed her eyes and took a calming breath, suppressing her mix of mirth and irritation. <em>Im the one who said it. Him agreeing shouldnt be that insulting</em>


    When T opened her eyes again, she saw that Meain was suppressing a smile.


    It seems like you and I might need to spar some time, Eskau. As to your question? Thats not for me to say. Not yet at any rate.


    <em>Sparher?</em> T felt a bit of a thrill. <em>She could wipe the floor with me, normally. I wonder how shell handicap herself for the fight.</em>


    T found out less than half an hourter: Meain didnt.


    Be-thric and Thron had gone off to take care of various tasks, and Gallof hade with the two Eskau to the training arena. Apparently, he had to call the start to their first fight, then he would be on his way as well.


    He had done just that.


    T groaned as shey on the ground, waiting for all four of her limbs to regrow. She apparently did that more slowly when they all needed to be regenerated at the same time. Her toughened body had meant nothing before the Eskaus power.


    <em>I didnt even see her move.</em>


    <em>-Wellyou actually did. See?-</em>


    t reyed the memory from less than ten seconds earlier.


    Gallof called, Fight!


    Meains hand lifted, seemingly in slow motion, while T was frozen.


    In reality, the elf had moved so quickly that it was less than one of Ts racing heartbeats between the call to begin the fight and the attacknding.


    As for the attack, Meains gauntlet, or more urately the protian weapon oveying the gauntlet, sprouted four de-whips, each moving independently but in tandem.


    The cuts had been so clean that T had not even felt a twinge of pain until her limbless torso hit the ground.


    The rey of memory ended, and T grimaced, though that was more at the shocking pain than the unpleasant memory. <em>Yeah, I didnt need to see that.</em>


    <em>-Really? I think it was quite informative. Additionally, it distracted you for a bit from the agony, didnt it?-</em>


    T just grit her teeth before opening her eyes again as someone approached.


    Meain stood over her, smiling down in sympathy. Apologies, Eskau. Ranking and betting is only allowed upon the first fight between Eskau, unless they both agree otherwise, or the previous loser has advanced significantly. If I were to have leveled the ying field our first time around, it could have hadimplications.


    T managed to respond around the pain and tingling of regrowing limbs, So you said.


    We can have aproductive match, now. As she stood over T, Meain shed her armor, the tes simply seeming to fade away.


    That sharpened Ts focus. What? How did you do that?


    Meain grinned. Magics to allow my armor to be insubstantial at will. Costly to use, when not in our hold, but useful in allowing me to be battle ready at all times without the encumbrance, if I so wish.


    Then, why eat in the armor? T sat up, her arms and legs back in ce and her clothing regrown atop them. They still itched and tingled. <em>And my reserves are down again.</em>


    <em>-You could always eat the limbs? Recover the reserves directly.-</em>


    T fought the urge to gag, even though she knew that she couldnt actually vomit.


    Meain shrugged, helping T stand. It is a good habit to show strength at all times, and it builds familiarity and dexterity. Every edge is useful. There are Eskau of other Houses that Id not like to fall behind.


    Thatwas a terrifying thought.


    <em>-Yeahlets avoid them.-</em>


    <em>Agreed.</em>


    T took a moment to take in the womans outfit, the clothing that shed been wearing under the armor.


    Meain wore quilted, form-fitting pants of a ruby-red linen.


    On her torso was a simrly quilted, ck gambeson that hung down to just above her knees. It fit her perfectly, not in the sense of hugging her curves, but in fitting her so that it wouldnt pull or bunch in ways that restricted her movements.


    <em>Like a Mages clothing.</em>


    <em>-Like the clothing of anyone who has to move, and where perfection is the goal.-</em>


    <em>Thats fair.</em>


    -<em>And, she obviously will have magics, probably even inscriptions.-</em>


    <em>Youre probably right. Those are lessmon among arcanes, as they dont seem to need them the way humans do, but they are still pervasive.</em>


    Still, T had questions, Wouldnt the armor just slow you down? I understand its protective, but is it protective enough to justify the increased hits you certainly take because you wear it?


    The elf grinned. It has no inertia in respect to me and my movements, nor a transfer of any force to me from its own movements, unless I so allow.


    Ts eyes widened. As she thought about it, there would be few magics more useful on heavy armor for an agility-based fighter.


    I see you understand the utility. I do quite like it. Plus, it throws people off. They expect me to be slow, or at least slower. She shrugged. Its fun to disabuse the onlookers of that notion.


    Not the person themselves?


    The dead cant change their point of view.


    <em>Ohright.</em>


    <em>-Shes just a bit terrifying, but in an utterly different way than Paun. Huh. Do you think?-</em>


    <em>No. Paun would wipe the floor with her.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, that was my impression too.-</em> t seemed to consider. -<em>Why is he serving Sanguis, then? Or, more to the point, why isnt Sanguis more prominent or powerful?-</em>


    <em>Politics?</em>


    <em>-Must be-</em>


    <em>Or something else. Its not like we understand the inner workings of the House, even though were ostensibly part of the governing structure.</em>


    <em>-Eh, they seem to like to educate us when its important, and not before.-</em>


    <em>So, it seems. Though, some of that likely depends on when we ask.</em>


    <em>-True enough.-</em>


    So, Eskau Tali. Are you ready?


    T looked her way and froze. To her mage-sight, Meain now matched her in power exactly, meaning the elvin woman now sat halfway between orange and yellow. At the same time, a ring on her finger that hadnt been there before radiated blue power.


    <em>Wait</em> T looked closer.


    There was no ring, at least not physically. Instead, it was simply a tightly controlled loop of power, held outside the arcane, around her finger.


    <em>-Thatthat is impressive control.-</em>


    <em>To say the least.</em>


    T swallowed. I suppose so, yeah.


    Meain <em>moved.</em>


    T couldnt think, she couldnt really register the womans attacks, she could only let her instinct take control.


    An oddly resonant gong sounded with each sh of the protian weapon against Flow.


    T used her weapon more fluidly than she ever had before.


    After exchanging an uncounted number of strikes and counterstrikes without any solid hitsnded, Meain began to move towards her, causing T to realize that the woman hadnt been moving her feet. <em>Oh thats not good.</em>


    T strove to keep her back, Flow shing with the protian weapon as each took various forms.


    ive countered spear, then greatsword.


    Sword countered longsword, then shortsword.


    Knife countered dirk, then chain.


    That failed spectacrly.


    The blocked chain simply continued its trajectory, wrapping around T, seeking to entangle her.


    T growled, Flow being a void-knife that severed the protian weapon.


    The entire length of chain beyond the cut fell to the ground in a ssh of blood.


    Meain struck out, hitting T in the chest and driving her backwards.


    There it is! Now, lets get serious.


    On the positive side, T found that she was both stronger and faster than the elf, at least with their internal powers roughly equivalent. Additionally, T never lost another limb, though she took an rming number of wounds.


    It had been a <em>long</em> time since her healing had been so thoroughly strained.


    The number became a bit embarrassing as T knew that her armor had actually stopped the majority of the strikes, which got past her guard.


    Needless to say, T lost every bout. She wasnt able to evennd a hit on the woman.


    True, she didnt use her tungsten spheres, but Meain didnt use any other magics either, and T was losing badly enough as it was. She didnt wish to add another aspect in which she could be ovee.


    The sun was setting when Meain helped T up for thest time. Well done!


    Tughed humorlessly. Hardly. You utterly outss me.


    I should, with millennia of experience.


    She paused at that. <em>Yeah, that makes sense. Her movements were </em>perfect.<em> Every action exactly what it needed to be.</em>


    For a youngling? Youre fantastic. In a couple of hundred years, youre going to be a terror to the other Houses.


    And until then, Im going to be rather easy to kill for anyone of note.


    What? No. No one of worth or power would stoop to killing younglings.


    T grunted. <em>That makes sense, I suppose.</em>


    As she considered, she was of three minds. On one hand, that seemed like <em>so</em> long. On the other, it was really no time at all in the grand scheme of things. And regardless of both of those, she wouldnt be here, then.


    She found that the thought of it made her a bit sad.


    These people strove for excellence, just as she did.


    They did what they believed was right, even though she fundamentally disagreed with that definition.


    The House of Blood was actually quite well arranged, with members and even servants benefitting from the setup.


    <em>Doesnt change the fact that they kidnapped me.</em>


    -<em>Yeahthatll never be great. All of this is built on that foundation.-</em>


    <em>YeahBut, I cant help but feel that if I could shift their understanding, just a bit, they could be stalwart allies to humanity.</em>


    <em>-And if you could change the perspective of a wolf, he would be a great boon to the sheep.-</em>


    <em>Thats why sheep dogs are so fantastic, right?</em>


    -<em>And that took millennia of directed and selective breeding.- </em>t paused for a moment, seeming to consider.<em> -Thats an interesting idea, actually.-</em>


    T sent a re towards the alternate interface.


    Meain pped her on the shoulder. Dont look so down. While the Pirs spend all day tomorrow in their stuffy meetings, you and I will train.


    There was a mischievous glint in the elfs eye.


    And if my understanding of your magics is urate, you are in need of much food, once again. Yes?


    Thats true.


    Is your sanctum producing yet?


    It is.


    Good! Good. Well find a ce to set up your entrance, and Ill procure a few cooks for you. She hesitated. You do have a kitchen up and running, right?


    I do.


    Good, good. She nodded to herself, seemingly already lost in thought.


    T nced towards the setting sun, then frowned. Thats not a magical construct.


    Hmm? Oh, no, its not.


    Then what is it?


    Its the sun.


    T frowned. But it was night outside when we arrived.


    It was.


    Soif thats the sun, how?


    Oh, why are the time-zones not aligned?


    Yes.


    Well, because this fragmentes from a different ce on the original world. What you see up there is an echo of how things should be, it is the sun, but its not <em>really</em> there. If you tried to fly to it by any means, you would simply be cast into the Doman-Imithe She frowned. Probably. Theres actually a reasonable chance that youd end up in the void


    The woman grunted.


    Dont try to leave the world-fragment, except via the door.


    Understood.


    Come on. Lets find your adjunct and a ce for your sanctum.


    T sighed, considering. Hes probably in the library if you have one.


    If we have one? The elf gave her a bemused look. Youre joking, right?


    No. I just thought you all might have it elsewhere, to not take up space in the fragment.


    Oh, I suppose that makes sense. So, hell be there?


    Probably. Hes a rather voracious reader.


    Ahh, one of those? I thought I liked him.


    Sheughed. He is pretty knowledgeable, yeah.


    Well, then. Shall we head to the library? Well have to be careful crossing the sand.


    T frowned. What? <em>What on earth do they keep in the sand that we need to be careful of?</em>


    Sand. Meain pointed. The sand training yard is between us and the library, and youre a bitsweaty. We wouldnt want to track in sand.


    Ohright. She stepped to the side. One moment.


    T aspect mirrored the elk-leathers self-cleaning and hopped in ce.


    Sweat and grime fell off of her in a wave, sshing just a bit when it hit the hard ground. T had chosen the stone training area because it was what she was used to ofte. <em>Maybe, well use the sand next time.</em>


    Meain cocked her head to the side. That waseffective. A bit odd? But effective.


    Yeah. T kept herself from apologizing, but only just. <em>Tali wouldnt have apologized</em>


    The elf huffed augh, clearly seeing at least some of Ts feelings. Its fine, Eskau Tali. This is a training arena. No ones going toin about a bit of grime.


    T nodded, sighing. True enough. Shall we go?


    Yes. After you.

 Chapter 244: Attrition

    Chapter 244: Attrition


    T leaned back in her bath, luxuriating in the near-boiling heat.


    Shed enjoyed one feast, and a team of chefs was methodically working towards the creation of a second, using her sanctums ingredients.


    <em>Gotta refill those reserves.</em>


    Shed stripped off her iron paint and had been reinscribed before the bath as well. Losing her arms had lost the majority of her rings, and she couldnt let that stand, after all.


    <em>Be as prepared to fight as possible.</em>


    She stayed in the bath, despite being clean already, and her body didnt really <em>need</em> to be rxed by outside heat, but it just felt so <em>good.</em>


    <em>Glorious. This is simply glorious.</em>


    <em>-Ahh, yes. What wonders can be achieved via tyrannical rule.-</em>


    <em>When one is on the side of the tyrant, things do seem a lot rosier, dont they?</em> T sighed. <em>Now, dont ruin my bath. I fought reality itself, today, then sparred with a crazy elf that somehow made the previous fight seem easy.</em>


    <em>-I dont think that a drake made up of fragments of reality is </em>actually<em> reality.-</em>


    <em>If I break off a bit of rock and throw it at a pig, has the pig been hit by a rock, or not?</em>


    <em>-Fair enough.-</em> After a moment, t sent the impression of a wide grin. -<em>Tormenting pigs, eh? Is Terry rubbing off on you?-</em>


    T ignored the alternate interface, letting her mind wander once more.


    She maintained her mirrored perspective, along with those for t, and at this point, it was a subconscious action that took almost no effort.


    With her mirrored sight, and the little bit of mage-sight that had be naturally a part of that vision, T asionally saw subtle warping in the tub around herself.


    There was apparently arge vat of hot water, somewhere, and Kit was exchanging the cooler water in her tub with the hot water in that other source.


    <em>I do want my bath to stay hot.</em> The things that Kit was aplishing were truly spectacr. Kit? Do you want to chat sometime? I feel like you disy some intelligence.


    The room around her did not respond.


    Well, let me know if you change your mind.


    Terry lifted his head from where hey on the bed and trilled questioningly.


    Just trying to talk to our benevolent world-maker.


    He trilled again in a series of descending notes before curling back up and closing his eyes once more.


    Love you too, buddy.


    That got his attention. He looked her way once again and tilted his head.


    Its an expression. I like having you around. I definitely didnt like our time apart.


    He slowly bobbed his head before letting loose a soft, mournful cry. Without further sounds, he settled back down.


    T had kept her eyes closed, relying on the bloodstars orbiting above the tub to see her friend.


    As such, she saw the door to her bedroom open slightly before closing.


    That wasnt hard, they were well-hung and opened with the lightest touch, if they werent locked.


    She hadnt bothered to lock them.


    In any case, she easily saw the intruder.


    It was a ck cat with purple eyes.


    T sat up, turning to face the cat.


    The feline hesitated, mid-step, when T moved.


    Hey there, kitty.


    The cat purred slightly.


    Are you hungry?


    A <em>riaow</em> came in response.


    T smiled and willed for a bit of bacon to appear before the cat. She <em>thought</em> that she might have heard a startled exmation from the kitchens next door, but T was probably imagining it.


    The cat scarfed down the bacon, then came a bit closer, seeming quite hesitant.


    Everything that T could see indicated that it was just a normal cat.


    <em>With very pretty eyes.</em>


    <em>-They are quite unusual, arent they?-</em>


    Her bath forgotten for the most part, T carefully got out and dried off, allowing her clothing to re-grow over herself as she bent down, holding out her hand.


    Another piece of bacon came into her hand, as she held it out.


    The cat came forward and ate it from her fingers without issue.


    T tentatively reached out and began to pet the kitty.


    Soft kitty, warm kitty. She smiled. Little ball of fur.


    The cat began to purr.


    Youre not some eldritch abomination are you? A void creature in disguise? She kept the same tone to her words as with the first cooing.


    <em>If this is a manifestation of Kit, I wish my book to appear beside me.</em> She wished that <em>very</em> hard. Her book didnt appear. So, you arent Kit, are you. <em>Or Kit can selectively ignore my wishes, which would be terrifying.</em>


    <em>-Or it cant process if logic?-</em>


    <em>Well, that would be less terrifying, then. If logic is really simple, after all. Anything that cant understand it isnt very intelligent.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, and wed rather fight a tide of beasts than a few hyper intelligent creatures.-</em>


    <em>But when have we ever had the choice?</em>


    Terry flickered into being beside T and the cat stiffened.


    The terror bird tilted his head to the side, examining the other predator.


    The cat arched its back, hunching its head low.


    When neither animal made another move, T sighed. Terry, be nice to the kitty. It was clever enough to make its way in here. Lets let it stay.


    Terry flickered to the cats other side, but from the felines perspective, the bird simply vanished.


    The cat seemed to hesitate, straightening a bit and looking around T.


    Terry patted the cat on the head with one taloned foot.


    The cat sprang away with a startled cry and hiss.


    That wasnt very nice, Terry.


    The terror bird was looking after the cat as it sprinted from the room, pushing out through her double-hung doors. He looked contemtive.


    What? Were you testing it?


    He looked her way and squawked nomittally.


    Sometimes you''re impossible, Terry.


    He chuffed in obvious amusement before flickering back to her bed and curling up to resume his nap.


    T stood, feeling quite a bit sad that the cat had left so soon. Im going to get more food. Enjoy the nap!


    Terry lifted one talon and waggled it back and forth absently as T let her door close behind herself.


    It was a quick stroll from her bedroom to her dining room, where the House of Blood chefs were ready for her.


    Another glorious meal really showed the depth of diversity her sanctum had to offer.


    Each dish was a harmony of vors and magics, each perfectly attuned to her, helping deepen her connection to her own power with every bite.


    <em>Oh, my rust I might need to take these cooks with me.</em>


    <em>-What if they dont want to go?-</em>


    T hesitated. <em>Does it make me a bad person if I considered kidnapping, however briefly?</em>


    <em>-Hey! You can joke about it now. That means you''re getting over the trauma. Right?-</em>


    <em>Yes joking.</em>


    The food was <em>so</em> delicious.


    The cooks finally left after her third distinct feast, promising to return to prepare breakfast for sunup.


    It was an odd thing, actually. The entire House of Blood within Croi operated on world-fragment-time. Most holds that T had encountered simply mirrored the time of the outside world, but obviously the House of Bloods hold, this world fragment, didnt.


    Thus, it would be a solid few hours before she could have breakfast.


    With the chefs gone and Thron retired to his room for the night, T was alone as she looked out on the nightscape of her sanctum.


    False stars showed overhead, though there was no moon.


    Her enhanced sight could see well enough by starlight, and she was once again struck by the beauty of her home.


    As it turned out, Kit matched the time of the House of Bloods hold, rather than that of Croi, outside.


    <em>So, it monitors where it is directly. Good to know, I suppose.</em>


    She somehow knew that she could force a change, make it any time of day that she wished, but she didnt want to.


    It was better to honor the natural cycles, to live life in tune with the wider world.


    <em>Or at least the local fragment of it.</em>


    She readte into the night, slept as much as she needed, and still had time to stretch, exercise, bathe, and reapply her iron-paint before breakfast.


    <em>I do love my enhanced self.</em>


    <em>-Were pretty great, yeah.-</em>


    <em>Humble as the day is long.</em>


    Her breakfast was as glorious as her dinners had been. She poured out praise on the chefs even as she ate every bit of food they could throw together for her.


    Her reserves had taken quite a fewrge hits the day before, and it was going to take a mountain of food to replenish them.


    Thankfully, for their newest Eskau, the House of Blood was ready and willing to provide.


    Meain had apparently taken a great interest in T, for one reason or another.


    T was pretty sure it was abination of her history with Be-thric, the fact that T was the first human Eskau of any house, and that she was someone new, who was ostensibly on an equal footing with the elf.


    Regardless of the actual reason, Meain had decided that she wanted to help T train.


    The next days wereinstructive.


    The elf, being the uncontested leader of the House of Blood''s Eskau in this city, had wielded that authority to get T plenty of sparring partners of various levels.


    Apparently, Pir Corinis had a rtively new Eskau who was powerful but still inexperienced.


    There had been adisagreement between the elf and the previous Eskau roughly a hundred years ago, but that is all the information that T was able to glean from mild inquiry.


    Apparently, it was still a sore subject for most everyone involved, and she was advised not to ask further.


    Needless to say, the newer Eskau did not join in the sparring.


    Every single Eskau was better than T in martialbat.


    She could still beat most of them, due to her endurance, strength, weight, and ability to heal, but it was a war of attrition.


    Meain likened it to a tree winning because it blunted the ax.


    T did not like being the tree.


    Aside from Meain, T sparred against two other Eskau more than any others.


    Reidh was an Eskau in a city on the southern shores of the continent. He was a dragonling with burnt-orange scales and pleasant, almost human-seeming brown eyes. Fighting him was a strange sort of nightmare.


    Reidh wore no armor, but every one of his scales was inscribed in interlinking spell-forms that T learned made them sturdier than anything shed ever tried to break. She had to learn that the long way around because with thebination of the new mediumdragonling scalesand a new materialsome sort of metallic blue substanceshe had no basis for her mage-sight to try to guess at what they did.


    Add to that the facts that his concept seemed to be rted to friction and he was devilishly clever at its utilization, and T ended up with rathereducational fights.


    Every time their weapons met, T had to harden her will and control or shed find Flow would suddenly twist in her grip or slip from her hand.


    Strikes she deflected into the ground would suddenly make her footing unsure, robbing her blocks or strikes of much of their power.


    He was obviously more skilled than she in martialbat, but he was a cautious fellow by nature, usually standing his ground and allowing her to attack.


    T whipped past Reidh again and again, trying to rely on her footing when near the dragonling as little as possible.


    Flow was in the form of a ive, and she struck with the haft more than she ever had before as that didnt depend on proper alignment, and she simply couldnt trust that shed be able to maintain that needed alignment.


    Reidhs grin grew with each exchange, his protian weapon taking the simple form of an erged draconic hand most of the time.


    Good, good! You are adapting to my idiosyncrasies. He chuckled, both his words and hisugh sounding clean and clear, likely the result of having to perfect pronunciation with a less than ideal mouth for thenguage. But dont get toocent.


    That was his only warning.


    T slid past him, closer than usual, Flow thrusting forward in the form of a sword. Her aura was hardened against long-range intrusion, and she was focused on the strike. <em>Hes mine, now.</em>


    The blood-hand of the protian weapon caught her de and seemed to break apart like a popped water-skin. The blood flowed down Flows length, locking it in ce and forming around her hand.


    There was no chance for escape.


    Reidh was already pulling back towards himself, moving her bodily. He easily turned Flows de to the side just enough for it to skitter off his reinforced scaled side.


    His other hand came to rest with his natural ws pierced through her elk-leathers and into her abdomen, drawing blood without fully breaching her abdominal cavity.


    He was careful not to strike her too deeply, his precision utterly obvious, and the result was clear. He had a clean path up to her heart, and she couldnt have stopped him.


    The power looping through the inscriptions in his ws clearly enhanced their cutting ability along with their durability.


    T sighed, shutting out the pain and ufortable sense of vulnerability garnered by the wounds. Victory to you, again.


    Reidh shrugged lightly. We do not spar to find the victor, young Tali.


    She grinned in return, forcing a jovial tone to her voice. Oh? So, I can state that I have won, because I am learning more?


    The dragonlingughed with genuine mirth. You may say whatever you wish, but Id advise against ims that many would misunderstand.


    She found herself nodding. As you say.


    Again?


    T nodded. Again.


    The third that she fought most often through those days of training was an incredibly diminutive figure, one of the few beast-folk that T had seen within Croi.


    De-arg seemed to be rted to some animal that shed never seen before withrge, round ears, a fluffy tail, and standing barely taller than her mid-thigh.


    He kept his protian weapon in an odd form much of the time. It was a long staff, nearly twice his own height, capped by a C shape that was affixed to the end of the stave about a third of the way around the curve.


    De-arg used the weapon to trap, deflect, and redirect Ts limbs and weapons, while he mainly attacked using his small hands and feet.


    Each blow seemed to radiate through her like every ounce of power behind the strike transmitted perfectly through everything it encountered.


    The little creature was so light that he shouldnt have been able to do anything to her, but he constantly stole her bnce and redirected her own actions to devastating effect.


    Even when she did hit him, it was akin to striking a bit of dandelion fluff and didnt seem to harm him in the least.


    The result was that she felt like she was fighting with herself more often than the fluffy fellow. It was excellent for the refinement of her techniques because every weakness in her stances and bnce was highlighted and exploited more thoroughly than ever before.


    So, she fought, watched, learned, and adapted. Her movements were refined, her reactions quickened, and finally, on the third day, they bore fruit.


    T froze, her chest inches off the ground, bnced on one leg while the other was out behind her in counterbnce to her thrust.


    Flow, in the form of a ive, was embedded through the meat of Meains upper arm.


    Blood was already flowing from the wound and down the shaft. The elfs weapon, in the form of a swordbreaker was pressed against that same shaft, having deflected the blow as it came in.


    The elf gave a painedugh, even as T pulled free her weapon and stood.


    Fantastic! Well done, Tali.


    I was aiming for your heart.


    As you should have, but you had more stabilization behind such an unconventional thrust than I imagined. I failed to fully deflect the attack.


    T felt herself smile at thepliment and the aplishment. <em>I finally hit her!</em>


    <em>-Hey! Good job. Shed still have killed you, but nice job drawing some blood.-</em>


    <em>Oh, Im aware.</em>


    The woman had never even used her magical abilities against T. Though, T had seen them used in demonstrations against other Eskau.


    It was rude to delve into someone elses concepts, and Thron had only told her, because he was to serve her, and she needed to know because of that.


    Even so, the results spoke for themselves.


    From what T saw and felt, it seemed that Meain wielded a concept simr to feinting.


    Meaning, she was capable of instantaneously convincing even experienced warriors that she was about to do something that she never actually did.


    T would have thought it was some sort of mind-magic, but the powering from the woman never seemed to directly act on her opponents.


    When used sparingly, it caused those same opponents to make what seemed to be masterful reactions to attacks that never came.


    And when Meain used whatever the magic was freely, it meant that her opponent was fighting their own innate reactions and experience more than they were fighting her.


    That was, in the end, why Meain had refused to use the ability on T, after all. I want you to develop deeper, quicker, and more intuitive fighting, not force doubt upon you for the same.


    In any case, Meain was grinning practically ear to ear. That was impressive. Whats more impressive was that it was deliberate. Looking back, I can see how you maneuvered me, and allowed me to deflect your previous strikes a bit more easily.


    T chuckled. Yeah, I thought that using the blocks to help build my own momentum would aid the strike as well.


    That it did. The final thrust was fast and more stable, whileing from an unexpected angle. Truly, well done. I only wish that your<em></em> She stopped for a moment, her gaze moving to somewhere behind T. Well, speaking of which, Be!


    T saw Be-thricing out of the nearby building through her mirrored perspective. So, she turned to see him with her own eyes, studying the mixed emotions that were ying across his face.


    Meain frowned as the Pir joined them. Are you alright? Did the other Pirs need a break?


    He shook his head. No, no. Nothing so mundane. The conference is over. We came to an agreement.


    Oh? Meain looked back and forth between T and the Pir. So? You dont look happy. Did they deny you?


    A thrill of fear ran through T. <em>What? NoThats the n? t? t!</em>


    <em>-Calm, T. Listen to the answer. We dont know, yet.-</em>


    <em>But, how can we?</em>


    Blessedly, Be-thric was shaking his head. We unanimously agreed that the attempt is in the best interest of the House. I would not let them deny me in that, and in the end, I swayed every Pir to my way of thinking.


    T swallowed, feeling a wave of relief. Well, that is good.


    She smiled towards the elf, hoping to get some positive response, but Meain didnt return it. She was still focused on Be-thric.


    The older Eskaus frown was deepening. Then, whats wrong? Why do you look like someone took away your dog?


    Be-thric grimaced. You always were too good at reading me. There was a condition set upon the venture. I mustplete it alone.


    As she processed his words, T felt like her entire body began to freefall, even as the weight of worlds crushed her chest, and a dull, ringing reverberation filled her head, fuzzing her thoughts.


    She barely managed to whisper a single word. What?

 Chapter 245: Despair

    Chapter 245: Despair


    Ts world was filled with a buzzing that was as much visual as auditory.


    She vaguely felt t guiding her in her choice of words and actions, briefly expressing shock that she wouldnt be allowed to protect Pir Be-thric on the venture and requesting time to process the news.


    It was granted, and T retreated into her sanctum.


    <em>No</em>


    <em>No.</em>


    <em>No.</em>


    <em>No</em>


    <em>This cant be happening.</em>


    <em>That was my way out. My way home.</em>


    <em>No.</em>


    <em>No.</em>


    <em>No.</em>


    <em>-T?-</em>


    <em>No.</em>


    <em>No.</em>


    <em>No.</em>


    <em>-T.-</em>


    <em>No. No, no.</em>


    <em>-T!-</em>


    T snapped her head up, looking around in confusion, trying to find the person who had dared interrupt her. What?


    <em>-T. Pull yourself together. Im in your mind.-</em>


    She groaned, lowering her head back down onto her knees.


    In her brief moment of outward examination, she saw that she was sitting on her bed, curled up beside the massive window, and the sun was setting. Shed either been there for an hour or so, or more than a day.


    -<em>Just an hour. Youre not that far gone.-</em>


    <em>Im nearly a thousand miles gone.</em> T snapped back, desperation and fear tingeing her response


    -<em>So? What now?-</em>


    <em>Now? I adjust to a life in a gilded cage, bowing and scraping to a monster who stole </em>everything<em> from me in a fit of childish stubbornness.</em>


    <em>-Sure, you could do that. Or?-</em> t left it hanging, the unanswered question grating on T.


    <em>Or? Or! I cant do anything!</em> She paused. <em>I cant do anything.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, you said that. I dont think that-</em>


    <em>No, no. You arent listening. </em>I<em> cant do anything. But the Pirs could be convinced.</em> She sat up, taking her overwhelming despair and pushing it aside.


    It was not ovee. It was not banished, but the flickers of hope kept it from suffocating her once again.


    <em>I need to speak to Meain. Im out of my depth, here, and she might know what we can do.</em>


    She called up some water and ensured her face was clean and clear. She used her mirrored perspectives to check her physical state and fixed what was awry.


    Thanks, Kit.


    The source of water did not respond.


    T straightened herself, hardened her resolve, and summoned the exit to her sanctum.


    T would have a feast awaiting her return in her own sanctum, so she would be fast.


    It was easy to find Meain once T was back in the House of Bloods hold. She was in her office of sorts, dealing with petitions of one kind or other.


    The elf looked up from her writing desk as T entered. Ahh, Eskau Tali. What brings you here this evening? Are you well?


    T shook her head. Honestly, no, Eskau Meain, Im not doing well. I am to let Pir Be-thric go into hostile territory, alone. This goes against everything I have worked for, everything I am.


    The truth and fervor of Ts words thrummed through the room, though that truth was not as the elf would interpret.


    I will not stand idly by while he goes on such a mission. I should be with him. It is my duty. It is <em>required</em>.


    Meain gave her a sad smile and nodded. I can understand the sentiment, truly I can, but the council has spoken. There is nothing you can do about it, without their permission.


    Then, how can I change the ruling? How can I gain their permission? She spoke firmly, resolved in her goal.


    What do you mean?


    It is my duty to be beside Pir Be-thric. If I cannot apany him on this mission, I dont know what I will do. Her voice and demeanor wavered on the edge of cracking as she spoke thest. Still, she hardened herself and continued, Is there anything that I could do to sufficiently impress the other Pirs, that they might change their minds? Is there anything that I can do to convince them? <em>Anything.</em>


    Meain looked troubled by that. While Imend your fervor, especially with regard to little Be, the word of the council is sacrosanct. It is not for us to question or seek to change.


    Im not seeking to force a change. I am seeking for them to make a change, and I just want to know what I can do to make that attempt. Surely such has happened before.


    Wellyes. The council does asionally alter its rulings on an issue.


    That is what I seek. How can I attempt to aplish that?


    You cant, Eskau Tali. The conve hase to an end, the decision has been made and the Pirs are already on to other business. None have departed, but the motion is closed. Only a member of the deciding council could bring it back up, and <em>none</em> would be open to discussing their decision with you. They might even penalize you, or Be, if you tried. Please, dont let your ardor make things worse.


    T closed her eyes and groaned quietly, flopping into a nearby chair. <em>Thats a dead end then.</em>


    <em>-What next?-</em>


    <em>If I cant change the councils decision, there must be ways of going around the councils decision. Things have to be flexible under certain circumstances, else the House would have fallen due to unforeseen happenings.</em>


    <em>-And if that doesnt work?-</em>


    T grit her teeth. <em>Then, I can ask Be-thric if he can put any pressure on the others. He said he tried before, but maybe he can try again.</em>


    -<em>That sounds like an unpleasant option.-</em>


    <em>Hence, why its thest one Id choose.</em>


    <em>-Fair enough.-</em>


    Tali?


    Ts eyes snapped open, and she beheld Meains concerned expression. The elf had set her paperwork aside, and was turned fully towards T.


    Are you alright?


    T shook her head. Honestly, no. II dont know how to handle this result, this decision. I never even considered the possibility, if Im being honest.


    How is your head? Do you feellike yourself?


    She frowned. What? Of course, I do. <em>What is sheoh.</em> T barely kept from reacting. <em>She knows about the mind alteration. Shes concerned that this is threatening the integrity of my false mind.</em>


    <em>-Thats an interesting angle. But I believe that if we suggest that to Be-thric, hes more likely to try to fix us than to work towards a change in the decision.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, we should nip that in the bud.</em> I am just frustrated that I wont be allowed to do my job.


    The elf seemed to examine her closely, leaning forward just a bit. Finally, she smiled, nodding to herself as she leaned back. That isudable, Tali. It truly is. I wish I had better options for you.


    I appreciate your time, regardless. I apologize for bothering you unnecessarily. T stood and bowed.


    It was no bother at all. It is my pleasure to help younger Eskau.


    Until tomorrow, Eskau Meain.


    Until tomorrow.


    T returned to her sanctum and to dinner.


    She was still shaken, teetering on the edge of emotional copse, but she actually had some ideas on how she could proceed.


    -<em>We really did stake our hopes on this mission, didnt we.-</em>


    <em>You think?</em>


    <em>-Yeah. A back-up n would have been wise.-</em>


    <em>Ill remember that for the next time were kidnapped.</em>


    <em>-You better.-</em>


    She was careful to keep her emotions hidden and to thank the chefs profusely for each course, even though she barely tasted the food. <em>Cant let them see</em>


    When they were finished for the night, well after dinnertime for less voracious eaters, they left her with a huge pile of extras.


    T called the exit into the kitchen so they could leave more easily, and thanked them once again.


    Then, in silence and istion, T ate, not really tasting the food, and contemted what was toe.


    * * *


    T woke early the next morning, having stayed up well into the night the night before thinking and restoring her reserves.


    She moved through her morning routine with unthinking efficiency, only pausing at a prearranged time to allow the chefs direct ess to her kitchen once again.


    She stretched and exercised physically, magically, and spiritually.


    As the chefs had arrived early, they had time to make rather moreplex creations than she had expected.


    Thus, after her bath and refreshment of her inscriptions and iron paint, T was able to enjoy baked eggs and bacon nestled within manyyered pastries.


    Though, for some reason, they didnt taste quite a good as shed have expected. <em>Its fine. Im sure its just me.</em>


    She was also provided with a wonderfully dark tea, mixed with near-caramelized milk. <em>This, this is what I neededright?</em>


    Alongside the savory repast, arge spread of fruits and berries provided by her sanctum wereid out for her. <em>A well bnced breakfast. Yeah, this will help. </em>


    The food and beveragebination was an ideal way to greet the day, and so T did just that, watching the sun rise upon her own private sanctum.


    The chefs, having done all the requisite work quite early, were ready to depart to let her eat in peace. Pardon, Eskau Tali.


    Hmm?


    Would you be able to summon the exit for us?


    Oh! She was grateful for her iron paint, which covered her blush of embarrassment. Of course, yes.


    She called the door out, and the chefs departed.


    Thank you! She called out after them, as the door closed. Smoothreally smooth.


    WIth a sigh and a self-reproaching shake of her head, she turned back to her breakfast.


    As she contemted her situation, she decided that she felt much better after a nights sleep, which for her was only a couple of hours.


    She was still a hairs breadth from panicking, but that hair was much sturdier, now.


    <em>I can do this. I can find another way home.</em>


    <em>-Thats the spirit! Enjoy your very pastries and dreams of freedom.-</em>


    T looked down at her breakfast, then rolled her eyes, shaking her head. <em>Sometimes, I hate you.</em>


    Even so, a smile was pulling at her lips.


    <em>You are really, really odd sometimes.</em>


    <em>-Oh, I know. I feel like its because of our divergent natures. What seems an obvious solution to me, makes no sense to you, and vise versa. Thus, what I feel is a perfectly good joke elicits an I hate you rather thanughter.-</em>


    T took a long draft of her dark tea, choosing to change the subject rather than address such an esoteric topic at the moment. <em>This is so good. It reminds me of coffee, in a way.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, I was going to ask you about that. Is it really wise to take up a drink that so closely resembles your previous addiction?-</em>


    T shrugged, taking another long pull. <em>Probably not.</em>


    <em>-Ahh,edy gold. I see it now. You truly are the joke master of this mind.-</em>


    She found herself smiling. <em>I am d youre with me, t. If Id been alone</em>


    <em>-Yeah-</em>


    <em>If Id been alone, Id never have </em>been<em> at all. This body would belong to Tali, and TIwould be gone forever, worse than dead. My flesh and soul to be puppeted by a sycophantic murder ve.</em>


    <em>-Thatthat sounds like the title to a fun book.-</em>


    <em>What? Sycophantic murder ve?</em>


    <em>-Yeah.-</em>


    <em>Seems really one note. I feel like it wouldnt be that interesting for very long.</em>


    <em>-Probably true. Though, the title would be to draw people in. Thered have to be nuance within the pages.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, but Tali didnt really have nuance. She had a veneer of personality over pure utility.</em>


    <em>-True enough. Tali isshe isnt aplete person, not really.-</em>


    <em>Speaking of our own little sycophantic murder ve: We might need her in theing days.</em>


    <em>-I assumed as much. Ive finished restructuring her memories to remove inconsistencies and level out her mind. It isnt perfect, but I assume you arent nning on turning over control for extended periods?-</em>


    <em>Not too long, no, but I do want her to be coherent when she is in charge.</em>


    <em>-Then, perfect. Were good to go.-</em>


    <em>Thank you.</em> T munched into another pastry, kept magically hot on a te provided by the House of Blood chefs. <em>I am getting spoiled in so many ways, arent I?</em>


    <em>-I find it better to avoid pointing such things out to youbut yes.-</em>


    T snorted augh, turning her attention back to the stunning vista arrayed before her. <em>Take joy where it can be found.</em>


    <em>-And conquer sorrow as ites.-</em>


    It was going to be a busy day, but she still had a couple of hours. <em>Siege orbs?</em>


    -<em>Siege orbs-</em>


    They werent as convenient as the tungsten because their greater mass meant they dragged on her if she had them outside of Kit.


    <em>Wait a moment</em> Her eyes widened, then she startedughing. <em>Oh, Ive missed an obvious application, havent I?</em>


    <em>-That thats pretty interesting, actually.-</em>


    <em>Ill make siege orbster.</em>


    Less than five minutester, she found Thron reading a book in one of the gardens of her sanctum.


    Tali! Good morning to you. He seemed a bit tentative in his greeting, as if trying to gauge her mood.


    <em>Why? Oh</em> She felt herself sadden. <em>No. I am moving forward. </em>Thorn, I have amission I want you to work on for me.


    Oh? He perked up, seeming to have noticed her momentary dip in mood but not focusing on it.


    What is the strongest, most durable metal we have avable?


    Honestly? The white metal from the guild-hold.


    T blinked a few times. Wow I didnt think of that, and I should have. She chuckled, shaking her head.


    t startedughing. -<em>I didnt think of that either.-</em>


    Thron frowned. Tali? Is everything okay?


    Well, no, but I think what I want will be easier than Id hoped. She grinned. Thank you for pointing out the obvious!


    He grinned back at her. I am happy to assist.


    T gave a little wave, then willed herself down into the underbelly of her sanctum.


    Ios body was nearly finished growing, and the purple tank filled the space with a marbled, ever shifting light. Thankfully, the automaton body hadnt moved or shown any impetus to do so.


    Im not here for you. Not yet. She patted the side of the tank distractedly.


    T called one of the ingots of white metal to her and pushed her will and power into the material to begin reshaping it.


    <em>I need to deal with the armor recovered from the drake at some point. </em>It seemed that Kit had consumed the reality drake, and her limbs oddly enough, but left the white metal for her to recover. She just needed to reshape it. <em>Another time.</em>


    T focused on the ingot in her hands and formed it into a bar with a nearly triangr cross-section, but with two sides bowed outward.


    More than anything, it looked like a stupidly thick scale.


    That is, in fact, exactly what it was.


    With an act of will and power, T shaved off one scale, barely a fifth of an inch thick.


    -<em>I think thats a bit too thick, given the strength of this material.-</em>


    T grimaced. Youre probably right.


    With a sigh, she slumped just a bit. <em>Another failure</em>


    -<em>Hey, now. Not a failure at all. Nothings broken, nothing''s done.-</em>


    T hesitated, collecting herself to a degree.


    You know. Were going to be using this against <em>really</em> powerful opponents. This is a bit thicker than what my elk-leathers had covering me.


    <em>-Would a bit more thickness actually help?-</em>


    Thatsfair. She sighed. I can probably get these impressed with durability or defensive magics, but not here, not now. Plus, that would be a bit frustrating to maintain.


    <em>-Lets try the base premise of your idea before we overplicate it. I think about a tenth of an inch should be plenty thick, honestly.-</em>


    T shrugged, rbining the metal before severing a thinner scale.


    She held the scale up to the bottom of her tunic and began amplifying the gravity of the scale towards that section of leather. It wasnt fast, but it did work.


    After just a couple of minutes, she was able to remove her hand and the scale stayed in ce. She would ramp it up further, and while she did that, her hands were free.


    <em>I have more capacity than this.</em>


    She severed a few more scales, having to remake one or two because of her still distracted mind, and began amplifying them all, carefully cing each.


    -<em>It looks like its working.-</em>


    T found herself grinning. <em>Yes. Yes, it does.</em>


    Two hourster, she had covered most of the front of her top with small white scales.


    She peeled off the vest shed formed of elk-leather and broke the leathers connection to her outfit. <em>That will now be a good base for the scales that I can doff and done at need.</em>


    The scales ttered to the floor, and T let out a yelp of surprise.


    She covered her mouth and closed her eyes. <em>Get it together, T.</em>


    T shook her head, banishing the tears from her eyes before they could start to gather.


    -<em>T?-</em>


    <em>Im okay. Just give me a moment.</em>


    After a deep breath, she lowered her hand, opened her eyes, and stared down at the pile, regarding the mess before her. Then, she groaned. Oh, that was foolish of me. I just substantially changed the nature of their target.


    -<em>Well, at least you have a ce to work from, now. You proved the premise.-</em>


    <em>That I do.</em>


    As each of the scales would be gravitationally attracted to a single, discrete part of the leather, they wouldnt press on her, nor harm the leather, but they would contain the amplified gravity she needed for a quick re-targetting and attack.


    Rather than running around with a couple of dozen orbs affixed to her clothing, she would have a hauberk of scale-mail, ready for each scale to be a deadly projectile.


    <em>If I dont make another foolish mistake.</em> She sighed. She didnt have time to start again. Not right then.


    She had an appointment to keep with Be-thric.


    <em>Im going to need your help, t. I dont want to be near him right now. He was a means of escape, but now hes just the source of my captivity, no matter how opulent.</em>


    <em>-Im here, T. Im not going anywhere.-</em>


    T took a few long breaths. <em>It probably would have been wise to take some time to level myself earlier, eh?</em>


    <em>-Probably, but youre coping pretty well, honestly.-</em>


    She snorted augh.


    She didnt want to go, not now.


    Be-thric was going to negotiate with one of the few other major Houses in the city for a protian weapon, and the presence of his Eskau was critical for proper presentation.


    <em>Im a symbol of power for my kidnappers. I am the mighty right hand of the one who tried to take everything I am.</em>


    <em>-And you will smack him down with that power soon enough.-</em>


    T took another deep breath, nodding. <em>I will watch for an opening. With the cor in ce, I dont foresee oneing, but my eyes will be open. We will find a way to be free.</em>


    <em>-Thats right we will.-</em>


    <em>No one will keep me, no one will dictate my future but me.</em>


    She felt her back straighten, her stance solidify, and her head lift.


    She knew it was a hollow confidence, born more of desperation than certainty, but she didnt care. She would find a way to fill the void and concoct a remedy to this disaster.


    <em>Alright. Lets do this.</em>

 Chapter 246: Grueling, If Profitable

    Chapter 246: Grueling, If Profitable


    T waspletely incidental in the short negotiations, though she did have the utterly fascinating duty of standing beside an Eskau from the House of the Dark Abyss.


    The man was, ironically, a white-skinned huefolk of such pure coloring that it extended to his hair, irises, and pupils.


    Moreover, he leaned into his coloration, hard.


    His name was White.


    If T hadnt been forewarned, shed have thought he was joking, and that would have been an awkward way to begin negotiations.


    Whites gear was all equally colorless. The only item that broke the monotony was a nearly void-ck bracelet that seemed to almost suck in the light around him, though it left his own whiteness alone.


    He didnt talk as he stood beside T, and something about his aura allowed him to utterly hide it from Ts mage-sight. Though, something about him made her believe that she was nearly equal to him in power ranking.


    <em>Hes somehow even made his aura white.</em>


    <em>-Well, you have to appreciate his dedication to the theme.-</em>


    <em>I guess so, yeah.</em>


    The Pir of the House of the Dark Abyss hade with only two other people. The first was obviously White, his Eskau, but the second was a deeply dejected looking young dragonling with steel-gray scales.


    As T listened, she was able to determine that, somehow, the boy had allowed his potential pir to be killed.


    She had winced in sympathy when shed learned that.


    An Eskau surviving the death of his Pir meant either death or banishment, depending on the circumstances, where death was the rule, and banishment was only offered as an option in truly extraordinary circumstances.


    The kid seemed to be the favorite nephew of this particr Pir.


    <em>Nepotism apparently counts as extraordinary circumstances. Good to know.</em>


    <em>-Well, its not like hes getting off with a warning. Hes losing his weapon and being banished.-</em>


    <em>Id think this was a way out for us</em>


    <em>-But theyd never take off the cor and just let us walk free. It would be death, even if we could engineer extraordinary circumstances.-</em>


    <em>Yeah.</em>


    <em>-The best case scenario would have us sent to a different city, put under the authority of others, likely in a far worse situation than we find ourselves now.-</em>


    <em>Too true.</em>


    The potential Pirs death and the pronouncement of banishment on the no-longer-candidate-Eskau had created a set of circumstances where the House of the Dark Abyss had a protian weapon avable for trade, and Be-thric was capitalizing on it.


    T didnt listen to the details, as they really didnt matter.


    A minor functionary from the House of Blood in Croi sat with Be-thric, advising him on some of the specifics that could be offered or granted by the local House of Blood, as well as providing insight into the House of the Dark Abyss as needed.


    All in all, it was boring, but T did her part, which meant standing stoically as a show of force near Be-thric. As that didnt require action or much of anything, really, she took the time to think.


    <em>No matter how I make my escape, more power andpetency will be a boon. It will help in escaping, making my way home, and once I arrive.</em>


    -<em>So, we should reach back out to Meain?-</em>


    <em>Yes, Meain. She should be willing to continue training us, and I really want to figure out more about Doman-Imithe.</em>


    <em>-Well have to be circumspect with regard to Doman-Imithe.-</em>


    <em>Of course. We should probably build up some knowledge about it on our own, if we can find anything. I also want to pursue a different angle in regards to the councils decision. We should talk to Gallof and Thron.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, that makes sense. Thron makes the most sense to me. He should be able to gather more information for us more easily, and he likely already has insight into other options.-</em>


    <em>Thats what I was thinking, yeah.</em>


    In the end, T wished that shed paid a bit more attention, because the price that Be-thric ended up paying was fairly simple. First, the House of the Dark Abyss would be able to have first bid on a couple of long term trade contracts with the House of Blooding up for option in theing months, and the boyGanogwould being with T, Thron, Gallof, and Be-thric back to toiri, forever banished from any city in which the House of the Dark Abyss was present.


    <em>Ohgreat. Well have another hanger-on for the trip back.</em> T sighed internally, keeping her face carefully neutral.


    Ganog removed his own light-sucking bracelet, his own protian weapon, and presented it to Be-thric.


    The Pir of the House of Blood epted it graciously even as the Pir and Eskau of the House of the Dark Abyss left without a backward nce.


    They apparently took the boys banishment quite seriously, even if they had gone out of their way to see him reasonably situated in exile from their House.


    Their departure seemed to be a signal of sorts, because Gallof came from an alcove to the side, greeting the boy and leading him away so that Be-thric could be about more important matters.


    Speaking of which, Be-thric, for his part, came over to T, while the room cleared around them. Eskau Tali.


    Pir Be-thric.


    I know you are less than pleased by the decision of the Council.


    That is urate. She couldnt keep emotion entirely from her response, though she wasnt sure if what came through was anger, despair, or something else.


    Your devotion to duty is admirable, my Eskau. If you wish to talk through this, I will listen as I did after your ident. I dont want this shock to harm you.


    I will remember that. <em>You mean you dont want this to harm my mental state</em>


    <em>-Yes, hes not a nice person, T. Focus. Hes standing right in front of you.-</em>


    Be-thric gave a small smile and nodded once. Very well. I wont bbor the point, and Ive things to be about.


    Good day, Pir.


    Eskau.


    Without another word, Be-thric departed.


    T stayed behind, standing in silence.


    She remained alone in the meeting room, fighting back rising despondence.


    <em>Dont cry, T. Keep your emotions in check.</em>


    <em>-T?-</em>


    <em>Im fine. Ill be fine. This is fine.</em> She didnt allow herself to consider what was around her, simply focusing on getting herself under control.


    <em>-Youd say that even in a burning room.-</em>


    <em>Well, to be fair, if it was a normal fire, I probably </em>would<em> be fine.</em>


    <em>-Thats not really the point.-</em>


    <em>I know</em> T took a deep breath and let it out slowly. <em>I hear you. I promise.</em>


    <em>-Well get through this. Together.-</em>


    T felt a smile tug at her lips. <em>Thank you.</em>


    Only shortly after that, she was able to wrangle herself back under control. Finally, with a nod of assurance for herself, she straightened and departed.


    T grabbed the attention of a passing servant and ordered them to carry a message to Meain.


    <em>There. She said that shed nned on working with me until we depart, and that isnt for quite a bit, yet. Well reestablish a schedule, and Ill get to train.</em> If nothing else, improving herself would better her odds, no matter what n she came up with, and what means she utilized to finally get free.


    T was pulled a bit out of her dark mood as she walked across an exterior passage, the majesty of the world fragment captivating her, making her feel small and insignificant, along with her problems.


    <em>The world already died. Were all living on borrowed time, and every second is a gift.</em>


    <em>-Thats a good way to look at it.-</em>


    <em>Too bad my gift was soured by a</em> She cut off her own thoughts. <em>Enough of that.</em>


    -<em>Yeah, that wasnt going anywhere productive.-</em>


    She followed the passage back into the building, quickly returning to Kit.


    The entrance to her sanctum had actually been set up in quite an interesting area of the hold.


    It was in an alcove in a purpose-built circr room with a half-dozen such alcoves, eachbeled with the upant of the hold set up within.


    This seemed to be one of many, as Ts was the only door present at the moment, and she knew for a fact that there were other visitors whod brought their own extra-dimensional lodging.


    T took a moment to admire the artistry in the skylight, central to the round space, before she strode the rest of the way to her door.


    With a firm grasp on her own desire, T opened the entrance to her sanctum, right beside Thron.


    The dwarf took in a startled breath, head jerking up so he could look at her as she opened the door, but otherwise he didnt react to the sudden nature of her appearance.


    He was in her library, a ratherrge room, filled with bookshelves save for the three-foot wide walkways, snaking throughout.


    The shelves were absolutely packed.


    The only exception to the shelves and aisles was a single,rge chair situated right beside the entrance. It was in that chair that the dwarf sat, his legs swinging freely above the ground, arge tome open across hisp. Eskau Tali. To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit? I assume that your entrance, here, is not a coincidence.


    It is not. She pulled the door closed behind her, blocking sight and sound, but she didnt dismiss it. Thron, I need help. She used his real name as hed called her Eskau.


    The dwarf frowned, knowing full well what she had done and why. Tali.


    She smiled, feeling a bit mirth. Thorn.


    He sighed. Well, Im d that youre feeling a bit better, at least.


    Just a bit. Especially if you can help me.


    Ill do what I can.


    Is there any way that we can go around the ruling of the council? Any nuance in the Housesws, or conditions that could make it reasonable to ignore the ruling?


    To Ts surprise, Thron didnt argue or dismiss the idea out of hand.


    She had prepared arguments to use if he had done that, but instead, he simply nodded slowly. Ahh, yes. I see what youre getting at. There are some circumstances where that might be eptable, evenudable.


    T grinned. Wonderful. What are they?


    Thats the issue. If you force the circumstances, they generally arent valid.


    She sighed. Ill trigger that spell-form when its needed. Tell me anyways.


    He shrugged. Very well. If the obedience to the ruling would cause substantial, unforeseen harm to the House, it can be ignored, but the consequences must still be borne by the actor.


    <em>The loss of an Eskau?</em>


    -<em>They would lose you either way.-</em>


    <em>Right</em> Anything else?


    If members of the deciding council die, and the votes of those remaining would have supplied a different oue.


    Ts eyebrows rose, and she tilted her head to the side, an idea quickly forming. It was a bloody idea, but that was fine by her.


    Before the n could fully bloom, however, Thron dashed her hopes. But that only holds if not a single one of the Pirs deaths can be even loosely tied back to party affected by the ruling.


    She grimaced.


    By the Pirs,he shook his headyou would have tried to kill one, wouldnt you?


    She sighed, sliding down the door to sit cross-legged on the floor. Probably not. No. <em>Theyd probably be too powerful for me to kill out right regardless. But it would have been nice to have the option avable for consideration</em>


    Im not sure I believe youHe shook his head again.Regardless, that wouldnt change the oue even if you seeded as youd be responsible.


    I got that, thank you.


    Thron grunted. Just making sure.


    She leaned back, knocking her head against the door behind her and groaning.


    There is one other way.


    What is it. She didnt even make her tone questioning. <em>Its not like this one will be any more workable.</em>


    If those affected <em>really</em> dont like the decision, they can ignore it, and act with their best judgment.


    She sat up straight, her eyes snapping open. Really?! Thats


    Thron was shaking his head, fighting a smile.


    That was quite rude, adjunct.


    Oh, I am terribly sorry, Eskau. He lost the fight and cracked a smile.


    T huffed a chuckle, then found herself continuing tough.


    Oh, the look on your face. He smoothed his beard. Youre right desperate, arent you?


    She pulled up her knees and put her head down on them, fighting down theughter, and fighting even harder to keep it from turning into sobs. <em>Ill get home.</em>


    <em>Ill get home.</em>


    <em>This is just a setback.</em>


    <em>Ill get home.</em>


    Thron waited for a long couple of minutes before T lifted her head and nodded. Yes, Thron, I am desperate.


    He opened his mouth, seemingly to rebuke her for using that name but hesitated. Finally, he shook his head. Why?


    Why?


    Yeah. Why? Why is it so rusting critical to you?


    T cocked her head. Does that curse even make sense for you? Your spell-forms use a material that doesnt rust.


    So do yours. The worst gold and silver do is <em>tarnish.</em> He grinned back at her.


    She snorted a chuckle. Fine, fine.


    So?


    She gave a long-winded sigh. I <em>need </em>to apany Be-thric.


    I got that part. Why? He wasnt leaning forward, but T could feel the intensity of his gaze and his interest in the question.


    She growled in frustration. Nothing will go right if he goes without me. I cannot help but feel that it will be a colossal failure if he leaves me behind.


    Thron grunted in a sort of understanding. An Eskaus ce is between her Pir and danger. Theres no doubt about that. I wont lie and say it makes sense to me, sending a Pir off on his own.


    The dwarf shook his head, finally closing his book and setting it on the side table beside the chair.


    But hes a powerful one, Pir Be-thric. I dont see him dying, even without you.


    But the mission wont seed without me.


    Why do you think that?


    She stood, beginning to pace in frustration. I cant express how, but I just know.


    A feeling? A premonition?


    T stopped. Yes? Would that matter?


    He scrunched up his face. Under other circumstances, maybe, but I happen to know that the more superstitious of the Pirs voted with Be-thric on this one. The ones that you actually want to alter their vote wouldnt be swayed by such a thing.


    She threw up her hands, turning away. Whats to be of me when he goes?


    Be of you? Youll do your normal duties in toiri until he gets back.


    And if he doesnte back?


    Then Thron frowned. Hmm.


    She stopped her pacing again. <em>When did I restart that?</em> Well?


    Thats a good question, actually. Any other Eskau, at the death of their Pir, would be in one of two positions. If they could have or should have prevented it, they would face death or banishment. If they couldnt or shouldnt have prevented it, then they would most likely be stripped of their title and protian weapon and be incorporated into the house as a member of standing, even if not one of high standing.


    And in this case?


    In your case, you mean?


    She nodded.


    I have no idea. There is no precedent.


    Another grimace stole across her face. Great. My fate is being thrown to the wind.


    I wish I had better news for you, but you really arent wrong.


    A thought crossed Ts mind, and she seized it. You know


    The dwarf paused, narrowing his eyes as he regarded her. Yes?


    A distraction might help.


    Why do I feel like youre about to ask me to do something questionable?


    Because you are wise.


    He snorted. ttery is wasted on me, girl. What can I do for you, Tali?


    I want to know about the Doman-Imithe.


    He sighed. That isnt really freely avable knowledge. You were there, same as I, when Eskau Meain exined that to us.


    Im aware, but certainly you could acquire some books on the subject?


    He regarded her skeptically.


    You cant tell me that you arent curious, yourself.


    Youre right, I cant. He frowned. Are you sure?


    Im not asking you to do anything against the House. Eskau Meain said it herself, were entitled to the information, the appropriate time for conveyance simply hasnt urred yet. I just wish to speed up the timeline.


    Thron shook his head, but he was smiling. Ill see what I can do, but no promises.


    Thank you, Thorn. That is all I can ask.


    They sat inpanionable silence for a minute more before a loud knock resounded on the sanctums main door, which T had maintained in the library with them.


    When Thron opened it, a servant delivered a message to him and departed.


    It was from Meain; she was avable for training.


    <em>Lets get back to it, then.</em>


    * * *


    The next week passed in monotonous repetition.


    T trained with any Eskau who had the time, always with Meain overseeing and guiding the work.


    She ate feasts that slowly seemed to regain their vor, so long as she didnt dwell on the future too much.


    In the off times, she studied with Thron, digging through the books he was able to find that mentioned the Doman-Imithe and piecing together a more urate picture of what it was, what it was not, and how it rted to Zeme as a whole.


    Their hope was that if they put together enough of the mystery, it would open the door to the information, directly.


    Otherwise, she spent the time making siege orbs and amplifying the gravity on her scale-mail.


    The white metal scales now formed a protective, cohesiveyer on a hauberk that she could doff and don at will, giving her a truly massive number of projectiles along with some solid protection.


    As for siege orbs, T realized that there was no reason to have a limited number, so she made them whenever she had the chance, and nothing better to do.


    She was getting more skilled at their formation and could easily read or exercise while creating one, so long as she was in the underbelly of her sanctum.


    Even with the progress she made on the orbs and scales, she didnt use either as projectiles in training, instead focusing on improving her martial abilities and instincts.


    It was a grueling, if profitable, week.

 Chapter 247: No Power in Zeme

    Chapter 247: No Power in Zeme


    T slid under a thrust of a bloody spear, grabbing onto it with her off hand even as she shed at her opponents legs with Flow, in the form of a ive.


    Such a move would normallyck power, a polearm was designed for use with two hands after all, but her prodigious strength and long practice let the strike hit home with vicious efficiency.


    She wasnt basing her strength off of the ground, nor even off of her grip on her enemys spear, thus, when everything around her suddenly became slick,cking virtually all friction, Flow still bit deeply into Reidhs boot.


    His scales, of course, werent even scratched.


    Even so, the dragonlingughed, stepping back and bowing. Well done, young Eskau Tali. Truly, you are a wonder to spar against.


    The properties of the ground had returned to normal, allowing T to stand with ease before she bowed in turn. Thank you, Eskau Reidh, but I feel you are being too kind. I didnt even scratch you.


    Yes, but you ruined my favorite boots. His eyes were twinkling with mirth.


    Imsorry?


    He waved her off. Even that which is ruined can be restored. He gave her a searching look. But you truly do not understand, do you.


    I suppose I dont.


    He nodded, sinking into a seated position, his tail curling around his legs. Where do I sit on the path of advancement?


    Honored.


    Yes, and yourself?


    <em>Refining, so Yellow-Orange, thats,</em> Mature Elder.


    He smiled. Yes, precisely. You are more than a full step behind me in power.


    Exactly, that is why I couldnt even scratch your scales.


    He shook his head. No, child. That is why even youying a weapon upon me is impressive.


    She hesitated at that. T hadnt thought of it in that light. Well, you were holding back.


    He lifted one hand and waggled it back and forth. In part, yes, but mostly no. I am not fighting below my level of skill, and I am treating your hits as if they would harm me. The only thing that I really could do, which I am not, is to force your aura back to your own body and affect <em>everything</em> with my power.


    Which you could.


    Probably. I also could simply ignore your attacks and overwhelm you, but neither of us would learn or grow from that.


    So?


    So, this is not a test of magical weight, Eskau. It was a test of martial skill, and you are the warrior whonded a hit.


    She felt a smile tug at her lips and responded from her heart. And if it were a test of honor, convincing your opponent of their victory would be the deciding action.


    Reidhughed, seeming genuinely pleased by herment. You have a bit of a tterer in you, eh?


    I try to speak the truth, if the truth is ttering that has more to do with you than me.


    He snorted in response. If you keep at it, I may think you want something from me.


    Another match?


    With a broad, tooth filled smile, he stood. That, young Eskau, I can do.


    Meain had begun leaving T to train with Reidh or De-arg, though the elf stayed nearby when T fought any of the others. This allowed T to train even more, as Meain did have other duties to attend to as well.


    Before her trip to Croi, T would have said that shed mastered the Way of Flowing Blood, but shed been greatly mistaken. Even the short time that shed spent under the tutge of the senior Eskau had caused her to improve by leaps and bounds, though she definitely wasnt leaping or bounding.


    <em>At least all the old masters agree on that: going ballistic is rarely wise in a fight.</em>


    Reidh helped her learn how to move and leverage her strength without having to rely on a sure footing or a sure grip.


    De-arg forced her to perfect her stances, weight distribution, bnce, and movement. The small bear-like man was utterly ruthless in his exploitation of her every w.


    She had yet tond anything close to a solid blow on the small Eskau.


    <em>He would be an utter nightmare to fight if anything important were on the line.</em>


    <em>-Indeed.-</em>


    When the day of sparring was done, and the other Eskau had bid them goodbye, Meain came to sit beside T as she stretched. How are you?


    T shrugged. Ive been better, but Im getting by. She narrowed her eyes, examining the other woman. Why?


    Well, your time here in Croi is more than half through, and Be is almost done negotiating for two other protian weapons.


    T stiffened, then nodded. I see.


    If it helps, they are both based upon your ideas, whether or not he had those thoughts earlier.


    Oh? She was almost afraid to ask.


    Yes. There was a candidate Eskau of our House who wasnot up to snuffbat wise, and his potential Pir was simrly realizing that she didnt really like the politics involved in ever bing a Pir. Theyd passed up three potential raisings, which isnt a good precedent.


    I see.


    So, clever Be bought them out of their rank, securing their protian weapon, and is nearly finished negotiating to trade it with another major House in the city for one of theirs. I dont know how they have one to trade, but it does happen on asion.


    Thats one.


    Yes it is. The secondes from a minor house in this city that has been pursuing majority for nearly five centuries. They only just managed to forge a protian weapon.


    <em>I wonder how many humans died needlessly to their failed attempts.</em> But she kept her face carefully neutral. Oh?


    Yes. Unfortunately for them, they dont really have many warriors who could wield it well, nor the structures or culture in ce to make good use of it. They have devoted their resources towards magical research rather thanbat, after all.


    So, theyll trade it away?


    Oh, no. Theyd never do that.


    T cocked her head to the side as she turned to regard the elf.


    No, Be offered to allow their minor house to join with the House of Blood in a ce of honor, in exchange for the weapon. Its apparently a good one, nearly entirely based upon kic maniption.


    <em>Great</em> I see.


    Meain smiledfortingly. You seemless than pleased at the progress. Your ideas were sound, and you do your duty well.


    <em>That is trulyforting in her eyes, isnt it.</em> It means that I will be abandoned in toiri all the sooner.


    The elfs hand fell on her shoulder. Id thought that was still weighing on you.


    T scoffed. How could it not? He is to leave me behind and go into danger without me.


    Meain sighed. We need to distract you from that. Can I get you experts on holds and pocket dimensions? Books, treatises? Items of power to let you delve more deeply into that hobby?


    That would be a boon, if you are willing, but I have another curiosity that weighs more heavily.


    She cocked an eyebrow. Well, the books are simple enough to get at the very least. What else pulls at your mind?


    T seized the opportunity. What of pr synchronicity between the worlds?


    The elf stiffened slightly, then smiled, shaking her head. Youve been digging into the Doman-Imithe?


    Nothing forbidden, but yes.


    She sighed. The council would not be pleased if they knew.


    At the moment, that doesnt seem like a negative.


    Meain raised an eyebrow, seeming taken aback, but then she shook her head. That is fair, I suppose. I will admit that I dont understand their decision any more than you do, but it isnt ours to question. Even so, that is a hard lesson to learn, especially for the young.


    She hesitated.


    In this I do have some discretion, and what they dont know wont hurt them. She bit the side of her lip in thought. Be, though, if he knew he might


    T thought quickly, then put on her most open, honest face. <em>Ahh, yes, honesty worn as a mask. </em>It would be a wonderful surprise for him upon his return, if I were to be an aid to him in regards to the Doman-Imithe?


    Yes I can see that. She shrugged. He need not know all the specifics of your training, and this is something hes previously expressed interest in having you learn. I see no issue with teaching you the basics, but <em>only</em> the basics, yes?


    That would be wonderful. Thank you, Eskau Meain.


    Just Meain. It seems that I have much to teach you, directly, and using honorifics in such intricate dialogues will be tedious quickly.


    As you wish, Meain.


    Thus, Ts time with Thron was expanded by Meains presence, along with the books she procured for them.


    Each book was only offered for a short time, with specific passages intended, but T was always able to find a moment to flip through so that t could copy it in full. Though, that sometimes required setting the book behind a barrier off to the side and looking through it with one of her mirrored perspectives.


    Thus, while Meain focused on giving her a solid foundation on the Doman-Imithe, T built the scaffold for learning so, so much more.


    A weekter, Be-thric finally secured his two deals, and a celebration rang out through the House of Blood. Their new Pir had almostpleted his regalia and would be departing for his home city soon.


    The first negotiation had culminated in a minor house shedding its own identity and joining with the House of Blood, both gaining and growing in power.


    This was an additional cause for celebration.


    The second had allowed those who might have brought dishonor to the House of Blood to step from their path honorably, and join their fellows as assets, rather than failed, potential leaders.


    It was a truly joyous asion, and the celebrations spilled out into much of Croi, though most were not made aware of all of the exact reason for celebration.


    <em>Only two more protian weapons are needed, t.</em>


    <em>-And preparations are already underway in toiri for a raid on a major House to get the second tost one.-</em>


    <em>We need to act soon. Be-thrics departure might be the best time to flee, but we still need a reason to be allowed out, a way to deal with the cor in one way or another.</em>


    <em>-Yes, otherwise it will end us.-</em>


    They had poured over ideas of how to deal with the cor, but the truth was, she simplycked the power to do anything effective against a half-Hallowed level construct. She had ns, though.


    When she returned to toiri, she was to attend the City Lord, and there were potential paths she could investigate on that front.


    -<em>You seem more hopeful.-</em>


    <em>I think less despairing is more urate. I have nothing I can actually hope will work, but I refuse to believe that I wont find something.</em>


    <em>-That works for me.-</em>


    Their next idea involved talking with Be-thric at length, which T really, <em>really</em> didnt want to do. Blessedly, t had fully prepped Tali, so the n was to turn control over to her for the first time in quite a while and see if she could sway Be-thric in one way or another.


    The celebration was the perfect setting as well, and after a full day of feasting, with a night and another day nned, it was the perfect time.


    <em>Alright. Lets go find the Pir.</em>


    <em>-Lets do this.-</em>


    * * *


    Tali knocked on the door to her Masters suite within the House of Bloods hold.


    Be-thric had retired for a few hours, to enjoy some peace before he was to rejoin the festivities below, and out in the city.


    It felt like ages since shed seen him, though she knew that theyd crossed paths quite a few times earlier that very day.


    <em>+I have been avoiding him, I suppose.+</em>


    <em>-You think? Its a blessing that we dont really need her to be inmand very much, if at all, or there would be so, SO many issues Id have to iron out.-</em>


    <em>+Right, right. I do apologize for that.+</em>


    <em>-No, you dont. Youre not sorry at all for the choices youve made.-</em>


    <em>+thats true enough.+</em>


    A servant of the hold answered the door and stepped back to allow her entry. The dwarven womans somehow deeply thrumming, yet still rtively high-pitched, voice rang out. Announcing, Eskau Tali.


    Be-thrics voice floated through a pair of doors that were thrown wide leading out onto a balcony, My Eskau has torn herself away from the celebration to visit me? Come,e! I am just enjoying a moment of quiet on this auspicious day.


    Tali walked through the lush, if not opulent, entry and sitting room and out those same doors.


    She stopped in wonder as the view captivated her once again.


    This suite of rooms was up, near the top of therge building at the heart of the hold that was a world-fragment, and her Master had been given a truly spectacr view.


    Interestingly, it was a view in the opposite direction of the one shed first beheld upon entering the hold.


    Rather than forests and ins leading towards distant mountains, Tali now beheld hills and dunes of sand leading down to the shore of the sea in the middle-distance.


    As if bought on by the sight, she could suddenly smell the salt in the air and hear the far-off call of seabirds with her enhanced senses.


    From Meains lessons with regard to the Doman-Imithe, Tali knew that those things werent actually there and simply manifested as echoes of the reality that once was.


    The world-fragment ended well before the shore of the sea.


    In the past, when shed looked in this direction, her perspective had been too low to see past the near hills to the water beyond.


    Do you like it? His voice pulled her attention from the vista.


    She turned and bowed without thought, freezing halfway through the motion and straightening. My apologies, Pir Be-thric. I was distracted by the majesty of it all.


    A smile was ying across his lips. It is wonderful, that is true. Sometimes, you are so like a child in how you view the world.


    She felt herself coloring, but he waved a hand catingly.


    I do not mean that as an insult. To the contrary, it is refreshing. I, myself, spent a good deal of time in this hold in my youth, before the death of my parents. It is beautiful, but not truly special to me anymore, and it evokes memories of sadness. He shook his head. But you? Your enjoyment of it brings joy back to me. Thank you for that.


    <em>+Thats interesting. Hes never spoken of his family before.+</em>


    <em>-No, he hasntlets see what else he says.-</em>


    She looked down and nodded. It is my pleasure to serve.


    None of that, none of that, my Eskau. The House is celebrating, and much of that is on your ount. Come! Eat and drink if you wish. He motioned to the food arrayed on the table beside himself.


    She stepped forward and poured herself a ss of water. Iyou never speak of them, you know.


    Hmm?


    Your family, your parents.


    His smile faded slightly. Ahh, that is true enough. They were an odd set, my parents. My mother was a Pir, my father her Eskau. She was the daughter of the founder of the House of Blood, thest of her siblings, as I am thest of mine.


    Tali didnt interrupt, letting him take his time.


    Be-thric took a long drink of what seemed to be wine. Our House is not loved by most other major Houses. We ept all, regardless of race or lineage, and that has allowed us to grow strong quickly, on the scale of such things.


    He huffed augh, then, shaking his head.


    Our enemies sought to bring us down in the same way they would another House: They targeted the founding family. His grin became vicious. But my family was never our true strength. As my aunts and uncles fell to the machinations of our enemies, they were reced, one by one, with stronger Pirs, and our power grew.


    Tali took another drink, hoping he would continue, and he did.


    Nepotism has always been a bane of the strong, and we were no exception. But our opponents, by the very acts they intended to destroy us, forged us into something stronger, tearing out that weakness before it could be rot. My family may be all but gone, but what they stood for, the core of what they are, will live on forever.


    She knew the right response, felt it resonating within herself. For all have Blood, and that unites us. For all have Blood, and that is our strength.


    Indeed. He sighed.


    <em>+Well, rust+</em>


    <em>-This isnt exactly news, T.-</em>


    <em>+I know, but it still makes me </em>want<em> to like him, even while I still hate him irrevocably.+</em>


    <em>-The House of Blood is likely the best means for humanity to connect with the arcane world, if it ever happens.-</em>


    <em>+Yeah.+</em>


    <em>-We could do a </em>lot<em> of good if we stayed and pushed for that connection.-</em>


    <em>+Oh, I am aware.+</em>


    <em>-So?-</em>


    <em>+We break free and try not to harm the House too badly. Im going home.+</em>


    <em>-Thats what I thought.-</em>


    Be-thric seemed toe back to himself. Now, you must havee for a purpose, and I doubt it is to listen to me ramble. I hear that Eskau Meain has taken you under her wing for martial training. Is that bearing fruit?


    It is, yes. She is an excellent teacher and a trying sparring partner.


    As she should be. She was master of my grandfathers guard before we became a major House. Shes almost as old as Paun is rumored to be. He chuckled at that. How Sanguis convinced that old beast to join our House, I may never know.


    <em>So, even Be-thric sees Paun as a beast?</em>


    <em>+Thats interesting. I guess I just assumed hed know more or have a different view.+</em>


    <em>-Well, we could have asked, but that would have required being around the man, more.-</em>


    <em>+Yeah, not worth it.+</em>


    But I am controlling the conversation again. What can I do for you, my Eskau?


    Tali nced towards the servants who waited off to one side.


    Be-thric noticed the nce and dismissed them. A momentter they were alone, Pir and Eskau.


    Is this space private from listening ears?


    The Pir nodded.


    <em>Alright, then. No excuses.</em> She took a deep breath. <em>Here goes nothing. </em>I I cannot stomach the idea of you going on the venture without me. The purpose of the trip is for my growth; it will be dangerous, and it will take quite a bit of time.


    He nodded, seeming unsurprised by the topic. I understand how you feel, but the decision is made.


    Is it final, though? The other Pirs are still here. Cant you change their minds? Arent I your Eskau? Cant you insist that Ie with you? Can we trade favors, or otherwise influence them?


    I tried, Tali, I truly did. There areextenuating factors that you arent aware of. Those change how Pirs perceivethe venture and make those opposed staunchly against changing their minds.


    Then tell me, and I will see those factors ovee.


    He sighed. I wish I could. Truly, I do, but it isnt possible.


    <em>+What? He almost sounds genuine.+</em>


    <em>-Yeah. Thats really odd. Does he want to tell her that shes fake?-</em>


    <em>+Probably not. Maybe, its something else?+</em>


    <em>-Could be, I suppose.-</em>


    What could there be that you cant tell me?


    He smiled at that. I obviously cant tell you that.


    Tali grimaced.


    Do you trust me?


    <em>-No.-</em>


    <em>+Only to pursue your own interests.+</em>


    Unequivocally.


    His smile wavered a hair at that, but he maintained it. Then trust this: I have done everything I can to change the councils decision.


    Tali closed her eyes, fighting back frustration. She took several long, deep breaths, letting them out slowly.


    Be-thric, for his part, let her take the time that she needed.


    Finally, Tali opened her eyes and nodded. Very well, the decision stands.


    <em>+And there goes that option I knew we shouldnt have bothered approaching Be-thric.+</em>


    <em>-Hold on a moment. I dont think shes done.-</em>


    Tali did, indeed continue, So, how can we go around the councils decision with the least consequences?


    Be-thric blinked at her a few times, then burst outughing. That! heughed again. That I did not expect. Oh, Tali, you are somehow full of surprises.


    Tali waited for him to finish chuckling, before she squared her shoulders. So? What are our options? I assume that if we simply ignore the decision, we would face censure when returned.


    Censure? At the very least. They might simply execute us both on the spot.


    She frowned. Is that likely?


    No. It really isnt, actually. If we returned, which we should, it would be in triumph, and that would prevent execution from being a serious option.


    So, it is possible, then? We could defy them?


    Could we? Possibly. Paun would likely enforce their ruling, he might even stop the venture all together if he thought we intended such a thing. Meain definitely would.


    Tali bit the side of her lip in thought. Could we keep it from him?


    In theory? Yes. In practice? Unlikely.


    I would rather not advance, if it means you go into danger alone.


    Be-thric leaned forward. Take that from your mind, my Eskau. You will not stagnate, while I can help it. I am going. That is not up for debate, and it seems like you will not being with me.


    Tali grit her teeth in frustration. There is nothing that can be done?


    Nothing.


    With a wave of irritation and frustration, Tali bowed. Very well, then. Good day, Pir.


    Without another word, she turned and departed.


    Be-thric didnt stop her, nor did he respond.


    In her mirrored perspective, Tali saw him lean back, seeming troubled.


    <em>Good. Maybe, hell get this sorted.</em>


    <em>+Well, hopefully that doesnte back to bite us.+</em>


    <em>-It shouldnt, but yeah.-</em>


    Tali barely kept from mming the doors on her way out of the suite. The servants of the hold were waiting in the hallway, and she sent them back in.


    <em>I wille with you, my Master. There is no power on Zeme that can stop me.</em>


    <em>+And on that note, back to me.+</em>


    <em>-Agreed.-</em>

 Chapter 248: Return to Platoiri

    Chapter 248: Return to toiri


    T felt a bit of sadness as she took Kit from the intricate, dedicated alcove that the sanctum had rested in for thest weeks.


    She had learned all she could in her time in the city of Croi, though shed basically never gone out into the city itself. Her time had been dominated by tasks and training within the hold, within the world-fragment.


    There were so many things that felt subtly different within this ce, and shed gotten the impression that most higher-level magics functioned better within a world-fragment.


    Magic was both easier and harder. It was more work for her will-power to enact the magics, but it seemed to linger longer, more stable after being formed.


    <em>Not that I used much magic within the world-fragment.</em> It did <em>seem</em> like Kit was a bit more stable, but that was likely due to the sanctum being located off the hold.


    One of the Eskau she had worked with most, De-arg, had asionally madements that implied his power was uniquely suited to the world-fragment. Though, shed not really seen him use his power.


    <em>He was really, </em>really<em> fast and urate, though.</em> His training had been incredibly fruitful in improving her grounding and stability. <em> I do wonder what concept he wields. Maybe uracy?</em>


    <em>-I dont think thats a concept that can be wielded.-</em>


    <em>Its no more esoteric than corrosion.</em>


    <em>-Fair point.-</em>


    Terry had stayed within her sanctum for the duration of the stay in Croi. So, for his sake if nothing else, she was d to be heading back to toiri.


    <em>And back to the acquisition of protian weapons.</em> They had intel on a prime target for the eighth one and were seeking leads on the ninth and final weapon after that.


    <em>Then, Be-thric leaves with or without me.</em>


    <em>-Itll be without if we dont do something about it.-</em>


    <em>Yeah.</em> She still had ideas, and she was running them down as best as she was able.


    As she moved towards the exit of the hold, she looked down at her white, scalemail armor. She was quite used to it by this point, and it moved with her excellently.


    The scales, themselves, were less potent projectiles than her siege orbs, but that was to be expected. They were intended for lesser targets. Even so, their de-like nature gave them superior pration to the tungsten orbs she had been using.


    <em>And the siege orbs are for things that could kill me with ease.</em>


    -<em>For now.-</em>


    <em>True. Things that could kill me with ease, for now.</em> T found herself grinning. Even without a solid n, she could almost taste her freedom, and she felt like every improvement to herself moved her that much closer.


    -<em>Soon.-</em>


    Kit and Flow sat as wonderful counterbnces to one another on her belt, while most of her bloodstar tools rested in the sheath on the back of the belt.


    Only four bloodstars were out as she strode through the heart of the House of Bloods power.


    Three circled her head, and one rested near the base of her skull, just far enough out to not interfere with her braid. Together, the four gave her and t three-hundred-and-sixty degree perspectives of the world at all times.


    <em>Always wary.</em>


    <em>-For we are in the belly of the beast.-</em>


    <em>And it thinks we are of its flesh.</em>


    <em>-Thatis apt. Gross, but apt.-</em>


    She was pulled from her inner conversation as she reached the entry hall.


    Gallof and Thron were already waiting near the open entrance to the hold, and T took a moment to greet them before ncing out into the city outside.


    Directly across from the entrance to this hold were the gates to the City Lords manor. <em>City Lady?</em>


    <em>-CL? That would work either way.-</em>


    <em>I think City Lord is better.</em>


    <em>-Longer to say than CL.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, but I can see it being confusing, and thats beside the point. I figured wed meet her on this trip.</em>


    t sent over the impression of a shrug. <em>-I suppose we didnt need to. We still have two days to get back to toiri before the cor triggers, after all.</em>


    <em>-I think its tomorrow at sunset, actually?-</em>


    <em>Oh</em> She did some quick calctions. <em>Youre right. Thats less ideal.</em>


    They were going to leave nearly a week earlier, in order to allow plenty of time for a less hurried return trip, but Meain had been insistent on T staying longer, even going so far as to procure the services of a specialized dimensional mage for a quicker return at her own expense.


    The process was apparently painful, and even more expensive than ballistic travel, but it had quite a few other benefits.


    The quickways in the underbelly of Croi were modeled on the same concept, so T was quite curious to see how it worked.


    Meain, Reidh, and De-arg had bid her goodbye the evening before, each giving her parting advice.


    Reidh had implored her to focus on drawing strength from within herself, rather than from external sources or points of leverage.


    Meain had reminded her that the appearance of strength was often more potent than true, but unknown, strength. The elf also emphasized that the council had reasons for its decisions and that they should be honored.


    De-arg had told her to be as stalwart as the sand.


    <em>That guy has so much wisdom hese back around to being obtuse, again.</em>


    <em>-Sand does endure. Sure, it shifts, but it is always sand. It gets everywhere, never-ending.-</em>


    <em>Huh. I suppose I can see that. Do you suppose thats what he meant?</em>


    <em>-I have literally no idea.-</em>


    T grinned, shaking her head.


    Eskau Tali? Thron came to stand beside her. Is everything alright?


    Yes, just trying to parse what Eskau De-arg told mest night.


    Thron grunted. Ive never met the man, but I hear his advice isodd.


    That is a fair assessment.


    Shortly thereafter, Be-thric arrived with the former-candidate Eskau from the House of the Dark Abyss.


    <em>Oh, right. I forgot about him.</em>


    -<em>What? How could you have forgotten? You were literally in the room when they decided he woulde with us back to toiri.-</em>


    <em>I didnt say I didnt know. I had to have known in order to have forgotten.</em>


    -<em>Huh. Ive never really thought of it that way. Okay.-</em>


    T grinned to herself as she greeted the boy, It was Ganog, right?


    The young dragonling jerked slightly, clearly startled to be addressed. Oh, um. Yes. Eskau Tali?


    Thats right.


    He scratched the steel-gray scales on the side of his neck. I appreciate the opportunity to leave with you all.


    The others greeted the boy, and they departed as a group.


    There was no fanfare, no farewells. Theyd each said goodbye to everyone they wished to say such to.


    It was a cool, if not cold, day, but it was a stark contrast to the weather within the hold. Apparently, the world-fragment had been from closer to the equator than Croi was.


    <em>Huh, I didnt really focus on the temperature when we arrived.</em>


    <em>-You treated it like entering a building, and after you learned of world-fragments, that dominated your mind. Plus, you know, the weather doesnt really bother you.-</em>


    That was true enough. Most of the arcanes around them were of a rank to be unaffected by the weather, but they did seem to be wearing a bit thicker clothing than usual.


    T, Thron, Gallof, Ganog, and Be-thric didnt stay on the streets near the city center for long. They had too far to go. Instead, they descended back to the quickway nexus nearest the hold.


    With a short jaunt through the quickways, they arrived at the northeastern part of the city, near the edge. They came back up the well-traveled stairs into bustling streets.


    The pedestrians made way for them, given that they all wore House of Blood colors, and T and Be-thric were obvious by their demarcations of office.


    There werent many vehicles, either magical or beast-drawn, but those that there were, made way too.


    It was a short walk to a middling sized tower, T only really noticed its height because it was the tallest thing in any direction towards the near edge of the city, like a lighthouse on a prominence.


    <em>I bet that factors into its functionality.</em>


    Their group made their way inside, where a servant greeted them and led the way up to the top.


    At the top of the tower was arge chamber. Centered within the space, a truly massive ring of metal, the body of which was more than ten feet thick all the way around. The massive magical construction was set in what looked like nothing so much as a gyroscope.


    A strange arcane, the likes of which T had never seen before, was scurrying around, quite literally dumping power from himself and a bundle of six founts that he carried with him. The magic was pouring very specifically into various parts of the contraption at his direction.


    Ahh! The House of Blood travelers, good, good. You are right on time, early, as you should be.


    Gallof called back up. Where do you need us?


    You are going to toiri, correct? If not, we might have a problem He muttered thest.


    Yes, yes we are going to toiri.


    Wonderful! Your payment was received, and we are almost ready. Go up those stairs, the walkway should extend shortly.


    T, Thron, Gallof, Ganog, and Be-thric walked up a set of sturdy metal stairs off to one side, and paused on a wide tform, level with the small, six-foot opening in the center of the massive ring.


    The power in the room positively <em>thrummed.</em>


    Ganog, for his part, stuck to the center of the tform, clearly a bit overwhelmed by the level of power around them.


    It was so thick andplex that T felt utterly lost when she attempted to parse it.


    The little arcane resembled a three-foot, bald, old man, with huge tufts of white hair on either side of his head. <em>Are thoseing out of his ears?</em>


    <em>-I think from behind them?</em>-


    It seemed to be both when she looked more closely.


    He paused near them, examining them before muttering to himself as he continued his work. Good, all Mature at least. Children cant survive more than a couple dozen miles. Nothing fragile, of mundane make. Only a few founts, but enough that Ill have to submit the path aspromised for the next few months.


    T frowned, not truly understanding what he meant, but she supposed it wasnt meant for her, so that was fine.


    He paused however, staring at Kit. You have anyone in that dimensional storage, Eskau of Blood?


    T frowned, ncing down. Oh! Yes, I have a pet Terror bird. There is also some livestock within the storage.


    The livestock will be fine, even if they are magically imbued. Thats fairly standard for personal holds or extensive dimensional storages. The terror bird sounds interesting, though. The arcane scratched his chin. Mundane or arcanous?


    Arcanous.


    Be-thric cocked his head to the side, then nodded. T heard him mutter. Right, she said that he can teleport a bit.


    The small man twirled one of his tufts of white hair, muttering, Animalist, not mundane He nodded, looking back to her. What type of power?


    Dimensional, I believe.


    Really? Thats fascinating. I wish we had time for me to examine him. Unfortunately, this isnt relevant. Unless you have a lot of founts that I cant detect, or a few gated humans in there, there isnt cause for concern.


    Oh. Well, thank you, then. She wanted to ask Why? but the arcane was clearly busy and not interested in talking further.


    And that settled that.


    T returned her gaze to their surroundings.


    The air was positively <em>filled</em> with dimensional magic.


    She leaned over towards Thron. Am I right in assuming that this utilizes dimensionalpression, just like the quickways but to a <em>much</em> greater degree?


    The dwarf nodded. Yes. The device makes a straight-linepression. Its murder to walk through, literally if its too much for your rank, but its fast.


    Gallof huffed. Ludicrously expensive. The practitioners are quite wealthy, even with their services only used a few times a year. Even so, theres no magical resonance via this method, and it seems we need to be extra careful in that regard. Thatst monster


    T shuddered and nodded, even as the hue-folk man shook his head. <em>Yeah, I dont want to fight another reality drake, or whatever that was. I may have improved during my time here, but that would still be beyond me.</em>


    <em>-Well, you do have the siege orbs.-</em>


    She paused, then grinned. <em>Thats true. I could coat the world in explosive ice.</em>


    After another moments consideration she nodded. <em>Youre right. I could take one. It would be a pain to rebuild my stock after, though, so avoiding the possibility is preferable.</em>


    A couple of minutester, all was ready.


    Ganog was shifting from foot to foot, seemingly trying to make himself smaller.


    <em>This kid was a candidate Eskau?</em>


    <em>-Maybe a newer one? Clearly he wasnt that good at it, given how things shook out.-</em>


    <em>Thats fair.</em>


    A metal walkway grew out towards the opening, and the magics around them came to a crescendo.


    Lighting through the ring intensified and therge room became ufortably warm, the temperature continuing to climb.


    Have a nice trip! The little arcane waved, even as his entire body seemed to be straining, magic being wrung from him like water from a rag.


    They didnt dy.


    T went first, as was her duty.


    As she stepped through the opening, it felt like trying to step through a brick wall that wasnt overly well mortared.


    She <em>pushed</em> with all her strength, and she felt the metal beneath her back foot tremble slightly as she slid through the thick air.


    The experience was <em>awful.</em>


    She closed her eyes and tried to suppress her hearing to bear through the overstimtion of her senses.


    It felt like she was beingpressed and stretched in one. <em>Hey! Its sort of like my dimensional anchor.</em>


    That was only true in the sense that a needle prick was sort of like a dagger to the heart.


    She kind of missed that thing. It had been somewhat useful a time or two. <em>I wonder what happened to it?</em>


    -<em>Be-thric likely disposed of it, or sold it, or took it off of you and left it behind?-</em>


    <em>Yeahits not like we can ask him</em>.<em> It was obviously magical and obviously not bound to me, because of the inscriptions on it. I could understand him not wanting to risk it.</em> She was distracting herself from the slow as msses progress.


    Finally, she pushed all the way through, her leading footing down on springy soil.


    Her progress was still slow, but now she was pulling herself out.


    At longst, she felt like she won through.


    Her eyes snapped open, and she stepped to the side, so as to not be in the way of those following her.


    Before her, the familiar skyline of toiri dominated the near view.


    Behind her, she could see an oddly hard-to-perceive cylinder of dimensional power stretching off towards the horizon.


    She was panting, drawing in air like shed been underwater for a long while.


    <em>That was uniquely awful.</em>


    <em>-We traveled a </em>really<em> long way, though.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, I suppose</em> She felt something and nced down, remembering what Thron had told her. <em>Rust!</em>


    She pped her hand onto Kit and dumped power into the pouch.


    The short trip had <em>highly</em> strained Kit, even though shed topped off its power as they were approaching the tower, it was almost empty when she began to refill it.


    Now that she focused on it, all of her items feltworn, like they had been dragged across some sort of magical sandpaper. <em>Thats an awful metaphor.</em>


    She looked closer, the world-fragment and her studies into the Doman-Imithe making her think of the integrity of reality a bit more than usual.


    With a pulse of power, she transformed Flow into voidform so that she could see the fabric of reality more clearly with her voidsight, and what she saw made her eyes widen.


    There was a single, sizable <em>gouge</em> in the surface of reality beside a few much smaller ones, leading off into the distance, from the way that shede. That was the only way she could describe what she was seeing.


    Be-thric began to appear, his foot first, thening together just as she must have.


    As he arrived, T saw four little scratches appear within the skin of the world near the gouges that she suspected came from her own gate and the founts shed stolen from the guild-hold. <em>The four founts he carries?</em>


    It was no wonder this wasnt amon form of travel. <em>And I stress it more than a handful of founts.</em>


    It was a sobering thought.


    She let the voidform drop as Be-thric stepped to the side, fully reformed and grimacing. That is highly unpleasant.


    Well, we shouldnt use that method very often then. She smiled slightly, leaning on how Tali would have responded.


    True enough. In either case, we cant as it is highly straining onwell everything. It is ill-advised to use such methods more than once a year or so. Though, emergencies do happen.


    In less than five minutes, the other three hade through, and the column of power had broken apart.


    T cocked her head, considering. What would happen if it deactivated while someone was inside it?


    Thron huffed. Eskau Tali, it would spread them across all the intervening space, because that is where they would be without the magic holding the working together.


    Ahh, yes. That doesmake sense.


    Ganog seemed to somehow pale as he heard that, and he swallowed visibly.


    <em>I guess he didnt know it was that dangerous?</em>


    Without further dy or discussion, they made their way into and through toiri without incident,ing to the district of doors barely before noon.


    To their surprise, a messenger from the City Lord was waiting outside the holds main entrance.


    Gallof scurried forward. My apologies, messenger. One such as you should not have been made to wait outside of the hold. I swear that those responsible will be


    The messenger held up his hand, silencing Gallof. There is no need, Adjunct. I am right where I wished to be.


    He bowed and presented a slip of paper to T.


    T took it with a muttered thank you.


    The note on the page was simple.


    The City Lordmanded her attendance of his person that afternoon, or if she could not be pulled away from the duties of her House, the following day could be eptable.


    The messenger did not wait for her reply, and he was already gone by the time T looked up.


    Be-thric gave her an inquiring look. What do you wish, my Eskau?


    She sighed. I will go now. It is almost noon, and I dont wish to bete.


    Are you sure?


    Yes. We have much to do in the next few days, and a half-days duty is lighter than a full one.


    He nodded appreciatively to that.


    She turned to Thron. Do you need me to ce my sanctum before I depart?


    The dwarf smiled and gave a bow. That would make my tasks easier; yes, Eskau Tali.


    That determined, they entered the hold, and T ced Kits entrance in a garden quite near the holds main gate.


    Gallof and Be-thric quickly disappeared with Ganog into another part of the hold.


    Thron thanked her and entered Kit.


    T, for her part, stopped for a long moment, just <em>feeling</em> the hold around her.


    Her budding knowledge of Doman-Imithe, alongside spending so long within the world-fragment, caused the <em>fragility</em> of reality in the hold to stand out starkly.


    Now that she was looking for it, she could feel that Zemey somewhere between the two, closer to the world-fragment than the hold in solidity.


    <em>Why didnt Kit feel this weak?</em>


    <em>-It was likely because it was attached to the world-fragment, pulling stability from that anchor.-</em>


    She bit the side of her lip in thought. <em>Maybe</em>


    <em>-Are you intending to start a new habit?-</em>


    <em>Hmm?</em>


    -<em>Biting your lip.-</em>


    She stopped. <em>Ive done that before. Its not new.</em>


    <em>-Yes, but you seem to be doing it more, recently.-</em>


    <em>Huh. Might be so.</em> She shook her head and set off.


    Stepping out of the House of Bloods hold and back into Zeme let her feel the solidifying of reality yet again. It wasnt as precise as using her voidsight, but she was growing in her ability to sense what that form of vision showed.


    <em>Its exactly like the books say.</em> Shed not had time to review all the advanced texts shed copied into her personal portion of the Archive, via ts incredible perception and ability to grab the pages nearly instantly.


    What she had gleaned made it clear that the <em>feel</em> of reality was the easiest means of determining where one was in the worlds.


    The world-fragment felt like a sheet of steel.


    Zeme was wood. In the most stable ces, it was a hardwood that could almost be mistaken for metal; in the weakest, it was softwood, easily marred.


    Holds were generally as paper, mere shavings of reality, shaped by cunning hands.


    <em>And the Doman-Imithe is a tight: cords of flexible strength riddled with holes.</em>


    She shuddered.


    Even her limited understanding of reality made the very ideadisconcerting. <em>Not that Ill get a chance to explore it.</em>


    She was waved through the City Lords gates and followed the same path up to his tower that shed used previously.


    Nothing seemed to have changed in her time away.


    He even seemed to be wearing the same clothing, though she couldnt actually remember him wearing anything else, so it was possibly magical clothing. <em>Or he has multiple, identical sets.</em>


    Eskau <em>Tali.</em> So, you decided an afternoon in mypany is better than a full day?


    When I have many demands on my time, City Lord? Yes, reducing my tasks is a boon.


    He huffed augh. Still confrontational with your betters?


    T didnt like the way the conversation was starting out, so she tried to change tack, Are there any assassins you wish brought low? The bat-gargoyle, perhaps?


    You mean Bruce?


    T hesitated, uncertain if he was joking. You named your gargoyle?


    Of course not, dont be silly, child. The sculptor tried to name it Fear, but that was ridiculous, and so I decreed that another name be chosen.


    SoBruce.


    Would you have preferred man-bat?


    I suppose not. <em>Why are we talking about this?</em>


    Before she could rethink her conversational choices, he reached to take a drink from a cup that wasnt there.


    With a barely contained sigh, T went to get his food and tea. It was going to be a long afternoon.


    The time passed as she would have expected.


    She attended the City Lord, and hergely ignored her.


    Finally, when her service was nearly at an end, he turned to face her. So, Eskau Tali. Your very being is resonating with a desire to ask something. It is gettingdistracting.


    My apologies, City Lord.


    He waved that off. Dont apologize. Ask.


    She swallowed. She had, in fact, been trying to find a way of bringing up her question. <em>Well, this is as good a time as any.</em> My House is going to send m<em>Pir</em> Be-thric off on a dangerous venture without me.


    That is not a question.


    She swallowed, straightening her spine and hardening her resolve. Will you remove my cor when he is sent, so that I might follow him?


    The City Lord leaned forward, steepling his fingers. Against the wishes of your own House?


    Yes, City Lord.


    He tilted his head to the side. Fascinating. Tell me why.


    <em>Here goes nothing.</em>

 Chapter 249: Risks and Liabilities

    Chapter 249: Risks and Liabilities


    T took a deep breath, centering herself.


    The City Lord was leaning towards her, clearly interested in her exnation.


    She had just asked him to remove her cor, allowing her to vite the ruling of the House of Blood, and he didnt reject her outright.


    <em>We might be able to do this.</em><em>He just wants to know why. I can give him a good why.</em> Hes the Pir; Im the Eskau; what more can I say? I cannot allow him to go into danger without me.


    He scrunched his nose. That is why your Houses council should have approved your participation. They said no. Why should I allow you to go around their decision?


    She hesitated, then reworded this first reason. Pir Be-thric will die if I dont go with him. I cannot let him go alone.


    Why would that sway me in the slightest? He looked genuinely confused. As Ive said, the safety of a Houses Pirs is their business. I trust that isnt the only reason you have?


    <em>Well that was negated more quickly than ideal.</em>


    <em>-Next idea?-</em>


    <em>Obviously. </em>Because this shouldnt involve you at all.


    His head titled slightly to one side. Interesting. Go on.


    If I werent human, I would follow him on this venture, and it wouldnt involve you or a cor or anything. I might be reprimanded, but that would be my choice, the consequences solely mine to bear.


    Ahh, but it you werent human, this venture would be unnecessary.


    That is hardly the point.


    I disagree, but go on.


    She took another breath, finding her bnce before continuing, The only reason you are involved at all is this stupid cor.


    The cor that you want me to remove.


    Precisely.


    The cor that is meant to prevent you from acting in ways counter to your sponsoring House.


    Yes? She was not aware that that was the supposed purpose. <em>I thought it was a mandate by the City Lord.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, thats what we were told.-</em>


    The cor which is currently preventing your from acting against the express ruling of your House.


    yes. She grimaced. <em>Well, when you say it like that</em>


    So, you see the problem? Your argument is that I should remove your restriction, because you want to do the very thing the restriction is meant to guard against.


    II thought the cor was a requirement required by you, at your will, and by your discretion.


    He shrugged. That is both true and false.


    She cocked her head to the side, a slight frown creasing her features. Exin.


    The room suddenly warped, and T was on her knees with no memory of falling, breath driven from her lungs, heart stuttering in her chest.


    Her aura control, and authority over <em>anything,</em> her own body included, was utterly gone.


    Her gate was held in a vice-grip, her flow of power cut off aspletely as if she were born without one.


    The City Lord hadnt moved, but his face was stony, utterly without mercy.


    Anger or fury would have been less terrifying.


    You do notmand me, human child. Id thought you understood that. The pressure vanished, the crumbling walls and half caved in roof pulling back together under the City Lords power.


    <em>When did that break?</em> The sound of dripping drew her perspective back to herself, and she was able to see streams of blood running down her face from the corners of her eyes and out of her ears. The dark, crimson liquid was dripping onto the floor from where it gathered on her chin.


    I will not tell you again. His voice was perfectly level, perfectly controlled.


    T nodded, barely keeping a rein on her panic. <em>Pull it together, T.</em>


    <em>-Are you alright?-</em>


    <em>Not in the slightest, butbut I need to try this avenue.</em> She slowly stood, giving a deeper bow than usual. My apologies, City Lord. If you would be willing, can you exin what you mean?


    He smiled, all traces of displeasure gone. Well, every City Lord forbids human advancement, unequivocally, as it sets a bad precedent, and it never ends well. If a House is willing to take on liability and risk, a prerequisite is that cor. He pointed to her unnecessarily. That eliminates the problem once their gamble fails.


    If I may, what sort of risk? She was still fighting to keep her emotions under control. She was not used to being faced with such overwhelming power, and it was rattling to say the least.


    It depends. Ten times the worth of any damages owed due to uwful actions of the elevated human. That part is the mostmonly invoked. If the human does something so heinous that they execute her, the House owes the City ten founts for every rank the human was allowed to advance before their fall to inevitable failing. If the human is banished into the wilds, its twenty founts, because someone has to be sent after her to kill her properly.


    T frowned. Forgive me, City Lord, but wouldnt the cor kill me, were I to be banished?


    Thats the interesting quirk of the rtionships between the Houses and the City Lords. If their act of banishment killed you, that wouldnt be banishment, now would it? As such, to honor their ruling on their own members, we remove the cor. But. He held up a finger. But we dont want an uncored, advanced human out and about, so she has to be hunted down.


    <em>Could that work?</em>


    <em>-Do you really want this guy, or one of his enforcers hunting you down?-</em>


    <em>No, but it is a possibilityLets call this the worst case scenario, but it could work.</em>


    Now, it basically never happens, because the cost is so prohibitive to the House.


    T blinked. Excuse me It seems that you are speaking about this like there are quite a few humans that are, or have been, in my position.


    Am I? I suppose after millennia it seems that way. You are the only such in this city.


    OhAlright.


    But as I was saying, banishment to the wilds basically doesnt happen. Banishment to another House or city doesnt happen, because there would have to be another House or City Lord willing to take responsibility for you, and youd have just proven yourself to be a horrid burden.


    She grimaced, remaining silent.


    Now, for you, as an Eskau of all things, theyd never banish or kill you while your Pir lives, not with the particrities of your specific arrangement, but that is precisely your concern.


    T nodded but didnt interject.


    If he were to die, I could see that as grounds for your death or banishment. As a former Eskau at that point, they <em>might</em> opt for banishment, if youve been a good little Eskau up until then. That would also make them look much better to the other major Houses. Its never a good look when you have to execute your own Eskau. He pped his hands, smiling magnanimously. Thats your solution! If your Pir dies, you can be banished to go save him, so long as you can avoid my hunters long enough to seed.


    She gave him a non-amused look that bordered on disrespectful, but the City Lord just waved it off.


    You just need to learn necromancy and avoid <em>those</em> hunters too. Your Pir would never be the same, of course, but youd have him back.


    T scrunched her face but moderated her tone to respond. I do not believe that would work for me, but thank you for the suggestion.


    No one likes a groveler, child. His tone was jovial, but it had a hard edge. I was mocking you. Use that spine, which makes you so interesting. Dont pretend it was anything else.


    Yes, City Lord. She grit her teeth, her tumultuous emotions joining together as irritated anger.


    Thats more like it. He quirked a half smile. Now, what if the cor kills you? They just have to pay for the recement of the cor. It is a simple and rtively cheap solution.


    Then, why would any House ever execute the human any other way? If I may ask. She added thest hastily, despite her continued anger.


    You may. The answer is: They really dont. Generally, the cor is triggered, and the matter is over. The body is utilized very specifically towards the benefit of the City Lord as a peace offering and apology for wasting everyones time. But even if that werent the case, we would dispose of the corpse, because we cant allow the whole process to have any positive incentives.


    Utilized?


    Yes, gated humans who have died with their gate intact keep a remnant of connection from their body to the next world.


    So, you somehow use the corpse to make another fount? T couldnt keep the disgust off of her features.


    What? No. Of course not. Dont be ridiculous. Its not that type of connection. A gate is a pipe through which magic can flow. The connection that remains after the humans death is more like a solid cable. No power will ever flow through it again, at least not in the way you are meaning.


    T frowned, uncertain of the utility of such a thing.


    He sighed and shook his head. I suppose I shouldnt expect you to understand the implications. It isnt like youd have been given extensive lessons on the Doman-Imithe.


    Her eyes widened, but she held her tongue.


    Yes, the Doman-Imithe, the broken world. The backside of the coin on which Zeme exists, bncing on the border between the void and <em>power</em>. Now, a dead, gated human deposited in the Doman-Imithe increases the cohesion of reality in that location for both the Doman-Imithe and Zeme. A body from Zeme, tied to the next world, and dposed in the Doman-Imithe. It draws the three together.


    Wait, but if thats trueIf I may ask, why wouldnt there be a massive program to give gated humans amazing lives, encourage lots of children, and then put their bodies in the Doman-Imithe when they die of old age?


    An excellent question. The first reason is very simple: The stabilizing effect from a single unranked gated-human corpse is less than the damage done by opening a door to the Doman-Imithe. Higher ranked humans? Now, that is worth it.


    <em>So If I fail, Ill be killed and dumped into the Doman-Imithe</em>


    -<em>I hear its lovely this time of year, all that snow.-</em>


    <em>I suppose the seasons are aligned with Zeme, yeah? Whats your point?</em>


    <em>-No point, I just like snow.-</em>


    The City Lord sighed, bringing Ts focus back to him. Now, is there anything else?


    I suppose there is nothing I can do for you to get you to remove the cor?


    Of course there is. I will happily remove it pre-execution, for your banishment, or off of your corpse.


    Her eye twitched I meant that you remove it so that I can follow Pir Be-thric on his mission?


    Not a single thing.


    She hesitated. If my House had approved my going along with him?


    Id have changed the parameters of the cor. It wouldnt havee off.


    She nodded. I expected as much. Thank you, City Lord.


    Now, stop being sojittery, and let me work in peace. He spun back around and reached for a non-existent cup.


    With a silent sigh, she bowed slightly and departed to get him another drink.


    As she walked, she felt a frown grow across her features. <em>Wait I know a cup was thereDoes he just obliterate them when theyre empty?</em>


    -<em>I dont think I saw it go anywhere else.- </em>After a moments pause, t continued. -<em>No, it was there until a bit ago, then it simply vanished when he knocked you to the floor.-</em>


    Now that she considered it, shed never taken any dirty cups down to the kitchen. Shed only gotten new ones.


    <em>-He might just stick them in a dimensional storage?-</em>


    <em>Yes, hes so wealthy that he has a pocket dimension for singly used, dirty cups.</em>


    <em>-Now, </em>thats<em> flexing your wealth.-</em>


    T grinned, feeling a bit more emotionally level. The City Lord hadnt been the solution, but he had given her a lot of information.


    The remainder of her time attending the City Lord passed uneventfully, and she departed as the sun set.


    Shed taken the remaining time to think, and she hade to a decision.


    <em>Im going to have to kill Be-thric without being implicated or setting off the cor. They would banish me, and I can make a break for the humannds.</em>


    <em>-Oh, yes. That should be quite easy. Once we seed, wed only need to cover a few hundred miles, avoiding a pursuing Revered, more than likely.-</em>


    <em>Or more than one.</em>


    <em>-True, or more than one.-</em>


    <em>Is there a better option? </em>She quirked a smile as she waved to the gate guard on her way out. <em>I could take a reality drake, now. I should be able to mess up an arcane Revered, if I absolutely have to.</em>


    <em>-That might be a bit optimistic, but it sure would be interesting to see what an over-abundance of siege orbs could do.-</em>


    <em>And in the worst case, I die free and fighting.</em> T nodded to herself. <em>Ill keep looking for other solutions, but this is the n until I find something better.</em>


    There was a long silence as she made her way back to the District of Doors and the House of Bloods hold.


    Finally, t sent an affirmation to T. -<em>Its not a sure thing, but it is a fighting chance.-</em>


    <em>Maybe even literally.</em>


    t chuckled. -<em>Well, we should make more siege orbs, then. If ourst line of defense is ludicrously over the top applications of power, we might as well shoot for the moon.-</em>


    <em>Ahh, yes. More little bundles of death. After all, we have a raid tomorrow. If this gambit is to seed, we need to gather enough worth and wealth for the House that we can argue for banishment over execution by cor.</em>


    <em>-To be useful!-</em>


    <em>And win our freedom or die trying.</em>


    * * *


    T took a deep breath, opened her eyes, and grinned.


    <em>This is it.</em>


    She pulled out a pair of siege orbs. She had been amplifying them to the point that the spheres <em>almost </em>distorted towards one another. <em>I didnt actually consider that Id be using them for something this close to their intended purpose so soon.</em>


    <em>-Breaching, sieging, same difference.-</em>


    She grinned. <em>One onlyys siege to that which one cannot breach.</em>


    t chuckled in response.


    Before her were the heavily fortified and magically reinforced front gates of the House of the Rising Sun.


    Soldiers of the House of Blood were already subduing messengers, minor members of the House, andmon folk who had been near at hand when they arrived, moving them away from the doors in question.


    Be-thric stood beside her in nearlyplete armor, radiating power and deadly focus. Besides the squads of soldiers, they were on their own.


    Well that wasnt precisely true, or really true at all.


    Meain stepped up beside T, her thick armor not hampering her in the slightest. Lets get this show on the road. Ive been wanting an excuse to kick these idiots'' beaks in for <em>decades</em>.


    The elf had arranged for her own arrival, by some means, after insisting that she wouldnt miss this raid for the world.


    It was to be a precision strike.


    There were at least two candidate Eskau for the House of the Rising Sun who were in residence at the moment. One of their protian weapons would soon be in hand.


    <em>Just this one and one more, and were done.</em>


    Ironically, the House of Blood in toiri was unusual for only having had one potential Pir and candidate Eskau. T hade to learn that there were quite a few who could have participated in the contest for the position that Be-thric now held, but they chose not to for one reason or other.


    But all of this was beside the point.


    The n was simple: T would breach the front gates and the soldiers would sweep into the hold. They would kill if necessary but avoid it where possible.


    T, Meain, and Be-thric would follow close behind, dealing with any major threats.


    They would all be searching for one of the candidate Eskau, and when they were found, the strike force would converge, acquire the weapon, and retreat as a group.


    They werent going to obliterate the hold, nor kill enough to start a true inter-House war.


    What they were doing was <em>technically</em> within the bounds of the regr conflicts between major House, but it hadnt been done in recent memory.


    <em>Thats what makes it unexpected.</em> Ts smile grew.


    One of their soldiers called out. Clear!


    She had insisted that they clear the area around the entrance before she did this.


    Brace, one! T called out, and they all hunkered down just slightly. White metal expanded over T,pletely covering her, though flowing and resolving below her scalemail hauberk.


    With an increasingly easy flex of her will, the two orbs changed the target of their gravitational amplification and <em>moved</em>.


    The air tore, and the area around the gate heated up a few degrees.


    An explosive <em>boom </em>followed instantly on the heels of the colossal <em>crack</em> that was really innumerable cracks and rumbles all oveying one another so close together as to be impossible to parse.


    Dust and shards of various materials ballooned outward, only to be cleared a momentter by a working of one of their soldiers.


    Meain whistled appreciatively, and Be-thric cursed.


    The defenses had held, but that was to be expected from the purely kic strike.


    What caught everyone off guard was three-fold.


    First, the wall on which the hold rested, the very structure of the District of Doors that had stood for millennia, was cracked, shattered, and utterly dislocated.


    The entrance to the hold had been moved backwards by a full foot. The doors were somewhat bent and buckled around the two orbs, one imbedded in each side, but they still held, entirely sealing the hold against them.


    That shouldnt be possible. Be-thric was aghast.


    Honestly, T was too. The anchors for holds werent generally moveable without specialized magics. Yet, Ts attack had done just that. Moreover, the District of Doors was built with magically reinforced materials, which were designed to stand up to the secondary affects of the City Lords wrath, so that hed have less to rebuild.


    <em>Good to know; my direct assault is a bit more powerful than the reverberations put off by the City Lords Magics.</em> As interesting as that was, she needed to focus.


    T looked to Meain. Is it safe to do the secondary attack?


    The elf frowned, clearly examining the magic and fabric of reality around the door for a moment. Yes, do it.


    <em>You are now orbs Bill and Ted.</em>


    Theirbels, which tied them to the workings that had created them, were altered and the effects undone.


    If the sound of their flight had been the pping of a sovereign, the explosion that followed was her scream of utter and absolute rage.


    Even braced T, Meain, and Be-thric were thrown back. Blessedly, they all maintained their feet, sliding more than flying back dozens of yards.


    The entire area was cold extremely quickly, the radical temperature change alone cracking stone in the thoroughfare. Everything was coated in thinyer of ice as the moisture was ripped from the air by the sudden cold.


    The less magically, and physically, dense people around them were less lucky, and a good number were thrown, screaming, in all directions.


    Blessedly, none had been very close, and they were all of sufficient rank that no one seemed to have been too badly injured, at least not on the outside of the hold.


    The inside was a different story, entirely.


    Through the clearing air, their soldier working his magics once again, around the now breached entrance, T saw at least half a dozen House of the Rising Sun soldiers scattershot through with debris from the now-decimated, previously-heavily-reinforced door.


    At least a few were obviously already dead.


    <em>Few can survive decapitation by doorknob</em>


    The soldiers of the House of Blood had been rather well prepared and off to the sides, away from the direct pressure wave, unlike T, Meain, and Be-thric.


    Thus, they were able to change direction and charge forward just a bit earlier, crying out encouragement to one another.


    There was only the sound of groaning in response, from the House of the Rising Sun as fifty men and women of various races poured into the enemy hold.


    <em>Lets get this done.</em>

 Chapter 250: In the House of the Rising Sun

    Chapter 250: In the House of the Rising Sun


    T followed in the wake of her soldiers, her feet easily cracking through the thinyer of ice to find purchase, even with the increased surface area of her steps.


    She heard the sounds of brief shes, but rarely any screams of pain. Theyd brought true professionals.


    T took the main corridor to the left, towards the more elitemon areas.


    Be-thric was heading towards the more guest centric section of the hold, as one of the candidate Eskau who was supposed to be inside was supposedly a guest from another city.


    Meain took the path straight ahead. That way led to the main services for the average guild member. That way was also the audience hall. So, if anyone encountered a full Eskau or Pir it would be her.


    T was the next most likely, but as they were striking during the middle of the day, the upper echelon <em>shouldnt</em> be taking advantage of the facilities, leaving them to be utilized by the candidates. Or, at least, thats what T hoped.


    She strode down immactely cleaned, wide corridors, done in beautiful motifs of sunlit vistas and beast-folk cavorting in the wilderness.


    She passed servants bundled to the sides of the hallway, wrapped in one-use magical restraints. The of metal formed to the target and held themfortable but immobile for the span of two hours, or until released.


    They couldnt be used again after that.


    T had a dozen with her as well, though she shouldnt need to use them. The House of Blood soldiers were clearing out the innocents and bystanders.


    A cry came from up ahead, Banner! The call agreed upon to indicate a significant threat.


    Tunched forward, cracking the stunning floorboards beneath her heavy, rapid tread as she followed the echoes of the voice, and the brief sound of the sh of arms. Moments after the shout, she burst into a room in chaos.


    Four House of Blood soldiers were backing away, their weapons raised, and various magics flickering.


    On the other side of the room stood a man in simple clothing, framed by lighting through the doorway behind him.


    He had a badge of office, indicating he was a master servant for the House of the Rising Sun. Even so, he was Honored. <em>A gardener?</em>


    As she entered, magics struck out from the gardener, none aimed at her as shed only just arrived.


    Her soldiers were able to block, but even so, great, jagged rents were torn through the room, and one of her soldiers cried out, bleeding from a savage cut.


    Maam! The soldiers acknowledged her.


    The gardener straightened, seeing her as a true threat and taking a moment to pause and assess her properly.


    T kept her focus on the opponent. We are here for one thing only: a candidates protian weapon. Will you stand aside, and let us pass, or must we continue with the violence?


    He scoffed, his furry skin bing more apparent as he stepped forward. You have invaded my home, the home of my master, and the Hold of my House. It is you who have chosen violence, white devil, or whoever you are. Death is the only result for such a crime.


    <em>A mole-man?</em> Interesting choice for a gardener.


    She didnt have time to contemte that at the moment. Im Eskau Tali, of the House of Blood. With a flick of will, she changed the target of one of her scales to the mans head.


    With a whisper-<em>crack</em>, the leading edge of her scale drove through his forehead, dropping the gardener in an instant.


    If death is required, it will be yours. She smiled ruefully. <em>I would have liked to say that to him, but you dont warn your enemies with a line like that.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, solid choice of timing.-</em>


    The soldiers goggled at her for a moment, but she snapped them back into action. Wounded, retreat. Remainder press on. We need to be in and out fast. Times wasting.


    They snapped into action, obeying her without question or hesitation. Two went past the downed enemy and into the rooms beyond.


    As for T, she walked over to the dead gardener and ced her hand over the wound.


    With a rather greater effort of will, she reached out to the scale of metal and changed its target to the metal on her palm


    It <em>cracked</em> into her armored palm, breaking several of the bones in her hand. She let out an uncontroble whimper at the pain that caused.


    Still, it had worked just like in practice.


    <em>I never practiced with one amplified to this extent though</em>


    She moved her hand to where the scale hade from and did another transfer, grunting at the pain of it striking her side, even from the short distance away.


    <em>Oh, that rusting hurt.</em>


    <em>-It is a weapon.-</em>


    She stood, ignoring t. Her body had already healed from the self-inflicted damage.


    <em>Onward!</em>


    As she stepped past the gardener, she noticed the room he had been in. It was a small sitting room with a firece, a bookshelf and a chair.


    <em>Thats a nice looking chair.</em> She didnt have time to test it out, but it <em>looked</em> incrediblyfortable.


    She nced around, not finding anyone watching.


    <em>After all, why not? Why shouldnt I keep it?</em>


    <em>-T?</em>-


    T tossed Kit on the floor, the pouch opening to a holerge enough for T to quickly drop the chair through.


    <em>I have time. I can take some things.</em>


    Then, it was as if the whole world paused. <em>Im nning on getting banished. Theyll have no use for Kit, but they will want some of the other things back. If I want to ensure Ie away with a bounty I shouldnt just take some things</em>


    Ts face broke into the biggest grin that shed had in <em>quite</em> some time.


    <em>I can take </em>everything.


    She knew just what to do. With quick motions, she snatched up Kit, and the pouch reformed as she stepped up to the bookshelf.


    With a quick motion, T swept all the books from each shelf, dumping them straight into Kit. The shelf was built into the wall, so it stayed, but the side table and the gardeners body went in next.


    <em>I wont take any of the living.</em> She didnt want to deal with prisoners, after all, but the dead. They might have things of use on them. Some might even have dimensional storages or magical items of other varieties.


    She now had a new goal, even as she continued the hunt for a candidate Eskau.


    T swept through any empty room she found, cleaning it out with the finesse of a tornado. If it wasnt nailed down, she dumped it into Kit.


    Ironically, this utterck of discretion made it way less time than if she took only select things.


    Paintings came off the wall as she passed.


    Every book was taken.


    Silly little statues of precious metals or even just stone were dropped into Kit.


    And throughout, her smile only grew.


    She was gaining a bounty that <em>might </em>be useless, or it might hold unknown treasures.


    She couldnt expect to be able to raid the House of Blood, but she could raid this hold, and if she was <em>really</em> lucky, it might just incense the House of the Rising Sun enough that they took vengeance on the House of Blood, after shed left.


    She even found quite a few training aids ranging from magic nests to what seemed to be a deactivated sparring golem. Even Tali had only gotten ess to one of those on rare asions. <em>Magically expensive to operate.</em>


    She moved deeper into the hold, responding to several other calls for aid.


    Most surrendered, some didnt, and those she killed were dropped into Kit along with the first master gardener. All in all, only one opponent put up a true fight.


    Frustratingly, it was in the garden right outside the <em>library</em> that she met the problem servant.


    T dove into a low roll, while she cut tworge thorns from the air. The soldiers who had called for her help had already moved on, searching deeper elsewhere while she dealt with this issue.


    They were fighting around an artificial pond. <em>What is with these gardeners?</em>


    This one was a sort of green, snake-woman, and she was also a master gardener like the unnamed mole-man from earlier.


    The House of Blood forces had only been in this hold for less than a quarter hour, but it was already pushing on too long.


    Ts initial attack, the willing forward of two scales, had been thwarted somehow.


    The womans concept had washed over the scales as theyd approached, and theyd simply fallen to the ground.


    Now, T was fighting her way forward as the creature used the flora around them to assault her.


    <em>Shes like that big bear I fought to be an EskauOgi? Yeah, but shes way more powerful than he was.</em>


    As if to emphasize the point, a vine burst from the ground, wrapping around Ts leg and tripping her up.


    It didnt stop her, as Flow severed the offending nt with little difficulty, but it did slow her.


    The snake woman was retreating but not leaving the courtyard beneath the fake sky. <em>Shes trying to hold me hereand its working.</em>


    T growled. <em>You know what? Rust these nts.</em>


    She pulled in a huge lungful of air, and filled it with power to an extreme level. She manipted the spell-form, flipping it to dissolution magics as she exhaled, spinning in a circle.


    The very air broke apart under the assault, along with the nts which had surrounded her.


    The powdered nt mixed with the temporarily divide air, before it all reacted, blossoms of fire rolling out, away from T and across the garden, carrying more of her dissolution magic with it.


    She felt the familiar sizzling within her mouth as those same magics obliterated anything not protected by inscriptions within her as well.


    <em>Hmm, refreshing.</em> The heat radiating back towards her was a nice counterpoint to the tingling across her throat, teeth, tongue, lips, and gums.


    -<em>Youre kind of scary sometimes.-</em>


    <em>I aim to obliterate.</em>


    t snorted a chucklesomehow.


    The snake-woman let out a hissing screech. The fire hadnt reached her directly, but this garden had clearly meant something to her.


    T took the moment of distraction to sprint forward.


    <em>Great, Im resorting to destroying someones life work for an edge.</em>


    <em>-And thats worse than killing themhow?-</em>


    <em>Fair point.</em>


    She thrust with Flow as a knife, forcing it to transform at thest instant into a ive.


    As the de came within a handsbreadth of the woman, a powerful force tried to take ahold of Flows form, somehow.


    T locked her will in a vice grip, and tripled the power going into maintaining Flows current form.


    But the power had never tried to actually stop Flow, just change it.


    Thus, the ive took the woman in the center of her chest, punching through her sternum and into her heart.


    She died instantly.


    <em>Rusting finally.</em>


    T quickly gathered up the white scales that had failed to harm the woman. They werepletely without gravitational amplification. <em>Ill fix that,ter.</em>


    She dropped them into Kit, followed by the woman, herself.


    With glee, she then turned to the library.


    This was not the public library of the sanctum. No, this was the more exclusive library for the Pirs, Eskau, up-anders, and high officials.


    T kicked in the door and found the spacious interior empty of people.


    It was massive, honestly. There were two stories packed tightly with shelves full of books.


    With a manic chuckle, she began.


    The shelves around the outside of the space were fixed to the walls, but with quick, powerful jerks she broke them free, dumping the mostly intact shelves and all their contents into Kit.


    In less than three minutes shed cleared the first floor.


    <em>Gotta go faster.</em>


    Two minutester, shed cleared the second floor, and she was practically giggling with glee. <em>YES!!!</em>


    The books would be added to her secret library in the underbelly of her Sanctum.


    She was about to leave when she noticed an oddity to the flows of power around a seeming random part of one wall.


    She moved closer to investigate. <em>Something ishidden? Yeah. Something is hidden here.</em>


    <em>-I dont think we can breach that, T. Not without using siege orb, and that will call </em>far<em> too much attention to us.</em>-


    <em>Well, no reason not to try something.</em> She pulled Flow to her hand, altering it to a void-sword.


    With powerful cuts, she struck the wall all around the odd magics, severing the connections of power, before she drove Flow, now in the form of a void-knife, into the wall.


    Her weapon <em>ate</em> the power, gobbling it up with abandon.


    Less than thirty secondster, the illusion and security scripts were broken. <em>That wasnt designed to keep out intruders. It was meant to hide it, to keep such methods from being needed.</em>


    <em>-Good thing we have such amazing mage-sight, then.-</em>


    <em>Oh, absolutely.</em>


    There was even a divot that served as a nice little handle. <em>Be careful, T. Someone might have decided to take shelter in here.</em>


    She pulled it open, eyes searching for anyone hiding inside.


    There wasnt anyone in there, but she gasped at what she did find: More books.


    -<em>Unexpected! Books in a library!-</em>


    <em>Hush you, this is clearly their equivalent of a restricted section.</em>


    As she moved to step inside, she heard an echoing chorus of voices. Forward!


    It was a silly subterfuge. Themand for a retreat sounding like the opposite only gained the smallest of hesitations and most minimal of confusion.


    That was enough.


    She had apparently missed the call for gathering to im the weapon, or the protian weapon had been gained before such could be issued. In either case, Forward was an indication of sess.


    T echoed the call even as she ignored themand.


    She lunged into the secret library and took <em>everything.</em>


    Just as she had been.


    A few titles grabbed her eyes as they fell into Kit.


    Some would likely be worthless to her: Archival ledgers and records for the house.


    <em>Those will be a perfect find to turn over to the House of Blood.</em>


    <em>-Continuing to build your worth to them? Fantastic idea indeed.-</em>


    While many were interesting some, some made her shake with anticipation and long to sit down and start reading immediately.


    She couldnt do that, however, no matter how much she wanted to read: Advancement and the Unbroken Road to Sovereignty.


    <em>Theres no way its urate, but it likely contains some truth.</em>


    <em>-All of these are likely just partial truths, if that. This is but a minor city for this House, so there wont be anything world-shattering, but it will still be useful.-</em>


    The only other text that grabbed her attention in the moment was a simple one: A primer on the creation of Risen Sun Protian Weaponry.


    <em>And with that alone, weve struck gold.</em>


    But it was beyond time for her to be gone.


    T turned and sprinted from the secret room, making straight for the exit.


    T wasnt thest one out, but she was near the back.


    A few of the soldiers were being carried by their fellows, but when she checked with a captain who was helping hold the retreat, she was greeted with pleasant news: No fatalities on their side and no one left behind.


    Thest of the soldiers were counted and as a group they executed a jogging retreat.


    As soon as she was free of the enemy hold, she used her will and power to retract the metal from over her head.


    She blinked her eyes as they adjusted to the light. She was getting more and more used to seeing with only her mirrored perspective. <em>Eyeslits are a weakness I can avoid.</em>


    Meain was holding a bracer that positively zed with light and power. Victory to me, little Be.


    Be-thric was shaking his head. With that? We all won.


    The elfughed. So we did, so we did.


    They called out a greeting to T as she joined them, and it was a triumphant, if slightly bedraggled, group that made it to the House of Bloods hold a short whileter.


    There, they debriefed, and T turned in three of her binding constructs. No one even questioned her. It was simply assumed that shed used the other nine.


    <em>More bounty for us.</em>


    She did turn over the ledgers, iming to havee across them in a locked room while searching the hold.


    That had the benefit of being utterly true. <em>The best lies are true.</em>


    <em>-I feel like I should be concerned by that line of thought, but I also cant find fault with the logic.-</em>


    T grinned, turning towards Meain to cover the expressions true cause. Thank you, Eskau Meain. Without your assistance that operation would have taken longer, and with a longer timeframe, we would surely have suffered greater casualties.


    It was still odd to her that casualties meant both hurt and killed.


    The elf grinnednguidly in return.


    Oh, Eskau Tali, it was a <em>pleasure.</em> Those beast-folk have been getting uppity all across the continent. Its nice to strike a blow against them, and this? She held up the ledgers and ounting books. These arent recent, but they will give amazing insight into the workings of the House. Well take them down a peg or two.


    Be-thric joined them, even as the soldiers were dispersing to receive healing and be fully debriefed by theirmanders. Meain, you cinched the victory, but I think those documents will be more valuable to the House as a whole in the long run. Incredibly well done, Tali. You prove your worth yet again.


    T felt a genuine smile at her lips. That was my genuine hope, Pir Be-thric. I wish to be invaluable to the House of Blood.


    <em>Until the moment I make my move.</em>


    Be-thric shivered and looked towards the gate. Lock down the entrance. I feel <em>something</em> in the air. If they retaliate, lets make them work for it.


    Yes, Pir! The gate guards engaged the more extensive defenses, and the air positively hummed with power.


    Meain frowned. Be? Is everything alright?


    He frowned. Its gone now, but I feltI dont know. Like someone was digging my grave.


    T stepped forward. She carefully held her thoughts neutral towards Be-thric, instead pulling conviction from her desire for freedom. If so, Ill be there when they try, Pir Be-thric. I think underestimating me will be thest mistake my opponent ever makes.


    <em>-You walk a fine line, T. Dont let your arrogance ruin us, now.-</em>


    Be-thric shivered, nced towards the gate, then shook his head, turning to smile her way. Even so, there was still a tension in his gaze. Thank you, my Eskau. That is afort.

 Chapter 251: That Girl

    Chapter 251: That Girl


    T leaned back, wiping her mouth with a napkin as she looked at those around her in the lunch meeting.


    <em>I am so d that I ate beforeing. </em>Because of that, shed finished first, as opposed to usual, where she was used to eating way more, and for way longer, than those around her.


    She didnt really mind, but it was an interesting contrast, now that things were reversed.


    While waiting for the others to finish, she pulled out a simple ledger, and t projected one of the texts on the Doman-Imithe overtop of it.


    <em>Some light reading after lunch.</em>


    It had been a few days since the raid on the hold of the House of the Rising Sun, and the city had been abuzz with gossip and rumors about the attack.


    The House of the Rising Sun was reeling.


    Theyd lost quite a few key members and servants, and arge number of their lesser affiliates had scaled back their rtionships with the House, or sought work or trading partners elsewhere.


    The House of the Rising Sun was bncing on the edge of total copse in the city of toiri, and T was being hailed, internally, as a hero of the House of Blood, because it was her suggestion that had fostered the raid, and she had been one of the principle instruments in its sess.


    Meain had taken her aside after the fact and asked about Ts siege orbs. They took a lot of preparation and werent universally usable, but they hit <em>way</em> above her rank.


    Apparently the City Lord had left his manor to personally inspect the damage done to the District of Doors and even refused to levy a fine against the House of Blood for excessive use of force.


    In truth, the very fact that the House of the Rising Sun had acknowledged the crushing power of Ts assault on their entrance was a major win for the House of Blood.


    With regard to the City Lord, word was, he spent five minutes walking around the broken wall and shattered entrance to the House of the Rising Suns hold, then simply grunted, then said, That girl. with a shake of his head, and departed.


    The House of the Rising Sun received the denial to their request for punitive action against the House of Blood shortly after.


    Now, every time T came out of her sanctum, she was greeted by well-wishes and raucous shouts from members and servants of the House of Blood.


    Hey, its That girl! Followed by a jovial,ugh, was the mostmon among those.


    She bore it with good cheer. Part of the point of her participation in the raid had been to foster exactly that type of response. She wanted to be seen as a valuable asset. <em>Banishment, not death. I need banishment, not execution.</em>


    Even so, she was still investigating other options.


    Shed contemted some truly insane options.


    T had even briefly considered disabling the scripts that kept her body at its current size and shape.


    <em>Maybe if I balloon up sufficiently, my neck will get bigger than my head, and I can just pull the cor off?</em>


    Theyd been able to determine that the cor wouldnt resize, and they both knew that the City Lord wouldnt give her a bigger cor just because she got fat.


    Needless to say, the long-shot of Be-thrics death without her implication, ideally without her involvement, was still her best bet at freedom.


    Sooner would actually be better at that point, because right then? If the House of Blood were to order her execution, it would turn all the honor and prestige shed earned for the House into shame, her fame bing notoriety overnight.


    Banishment would do that to an extent, depending on how it was handled, but not nearly to the same extent.


    She returned her mind to the book in hand, and only a few minutester, everyone was sufficiently done for the discussion to begin.


    Sanguis stood. As you all know, Pir Be-thric will be leaving for the humannds within the month. After all, with Eskau Tali by his side, the final protian weapon is as good as acquired.


    There were nods andughter around the table, and quite a few smiling faces briefly turned her way in acknowledgement.


    Drawing their attention back, Sanguis continued, We need to determine the best city for him to enter.


    <em>Makinaven would be hrious. Jevin would obliterate him, outranked or not.</em>


    Gallof stood. In my research, Ive found a few human cities with good intelligence about their defenses and defenders. Pir Be-thric himself was able to confirm roughly what point they are in their great cycle, so we have a good idea which cities will be upied at this time


    Appreciative murmurs went around therge room.


    Now, the Forest Cities are problematic, as each is known to have at least one powerful protector.


    Thron cleared his throat. Pardon, Honored Gallof, but doesnt every human city have powerful protectors?


    Ahh, yes. But the forest Cities have something more. It is estimated that each of those cities are watched over by someone equivalent to a City Lord, at least while fighting within the human settlement, itself.


    There were widened eyes and a few startled intakes of breath.


    <em>Way to go Master Jevin. I knew you were powerful, but on par with the City Lord?</em> She kept her smile suppressed, shaking her head instead.


    Gallof frowned when he looked her way, clearly misinterpreting her feelings exactly as shed intended. We are aware of your feelings, Eskau Tali. But we hope that you will put them aside to help us ensure your Pir against a deadly fate.


    His fate would be better ensured by my presence.


    Paun huffed augh. Shes right, but we arent going to change the councils mind soon enough for it to matter.


    Meain stood. To get back on topic, I would rmend the city site currently called Clevenhold. It is on the fringe, hard up against the sea, and in past cycles it has been less well protected fromnd-based threats and infiltration. After all, they have to devote a great portion of their magics towards warding away the beasts of the ocean.


    She sat back down, and once again, mutters of agreement rippled around the room.


    <em>Clevenhold? Never been there. It was on my interrupted route, but so was every other city so that isnt saying much.</em>


    <em>-Hey! We can tour the cities when we get back. That would be a good way to level-set, a good way to get back into the feel of human society.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, that sounds nice.</em> She thought for a moment. <em>I wonder what theyll do about my contract with the caravan guild. I suppose Im technically in vition, but I cant imagine them being a stickler about it, when I was magenapped.</em>


    Gallof snorted, drawing T back to the conversation at hand. Clevenhold. As in Cleave-and-hold? Really? Who names these cities?


    Meain gave a half-smile. They have a set of names that they use. It seems that the old ones in power got tired ofing up with names, so they stopped even trying.


    Thron grunted. Efficient.


    Be-thric chuckled. Leave it to the dwarf to focus on that aspect.


    The dwarf gave a seated bow. Why do the work any way but the best way? Efficiency makes everything better.


    The Pir smiled in return.


    Sanguis tapped the table firmly, sending reverberations through the room. So, do we agree?


    Those around the table gave a chorus of agreement.


    Alright. Then, lets get down to the specifics.


    T added her thoughts here and there to the nning, keeping her insights and statements to things that Tali would have knowledge of.


    For the arcanes part, the older members of the nning group seemed to have a concerning level of knowledge about the methodologies and practices of human Mages and city defenses.


    <em>Were going to want to make sure they know about this</em>


    <em>-I suppose this was bound to happen when we keep doing what works and dont really have any feedback from our dormant enemies.-</em>


    <em>I guess so.</em>


    Suddenly, the light in the hold flipped to a vibrant purple, casting everything in amethyst hues. T got the distinct feel of the City Lord from the light.


    T felt a power seize everyone and everything within the entire hold, locking them into immobility.


    Palluan quirked a smile and took a drink, and while T didnt see Sanguis move, she got the feeling that he could have. He was just respectful enough to maintain the fiction.


    The City Lords own voice followed, seeming toe from right beside her ear, not too loud while still being easy to understand, Attention, House of Blood. A hold-breach dispensation has been paid against this dimensional dwelling. There was an almost malicious mirth behind the words. You have one hour.


    The City Lords grip, along with the odd lighting, vanished without a trace.


    T blinked, looking around. What?


    All around the room, and indeed throughout the hold if Ts enhanced hearing was any indication, people were on the verge of panic.


    Thankfully, cooler, older, wiser heads prevailed.


    Thron leaned over. Another major House wished to attack us, but didnt feel confident in breaking through the defenses on our entrance. So, theyve paid the City Lord to breach our defenses. The City Lord seems to have included our forewarning as part of whatever ludicrous sum was paid for the action.


    Thats possible?


    Oh, of course. He wont kill anyone without cause, but kicking in a door, so to speak? Sure. Its good revenue, though it usually involves his underlings and only involves minor houses.


    Simr conversations were happening all throughout the room, and likely throughout the hold, as those who knew of this part of thew conveyed it to those who didnt.


    The dwarf grinned. I think he wasughing because you kicked their teeth in, and they dont have any confidence in returning the favor on their own.


    She frowned. Or they dont want to waste themselves on the opening attack.


    Thron shook his head. Doubtful. The amount they would have gained by a surprise attack would greatly outweigh the cost, if they could have managed it.


    Sanguis stood back up,manding the attention of everyone present. As you all heard, we have an attack to prepare for. Commonw dictates that any defense within thirty feet of the entrance is subject to breach by the City Lord, along with any bottleneck or dead-end within a further hundred yards. Lets get the appropriate defenses online and clear out those that wont be useful in this action. Move nonbatants to the fortified positions at the rear of the hold along with any valuables.


    T fought down a grin. <em>If I get the chance in the chaos, I can raid some stuff from here, tooif Im careful.</em>


    Nods went around the room, and people began dispersing.


    T looked around, incredulous. Really? Thats it?


    Meain pped T on the shoulder. We know what were about. Your adjunct will have been informed on protocols for an imminent breach. You should follow those. The name of the action will be fighting retreat. We wont be able to hold them, so we make them bleed for every inch until they cut their losses and leave.


    Cant hold them? But youre here and Eskau Paun.


    She gave T a serious look. My presence here is no secret, Eskau Tali. They wouldnt have gone to this expense if they didnt have a n for each of us. Theyll be under prepared as were not idiotic enough to let our true capabilities be known, but wed be foolish to assume that our most famousbatants can keep them back.


    II didnt consider that.


    The elf smiled. Go.


    Thron motioned for T to follow him, and she did. See you in the fray.


    Meain called after her, making sure that everyone still nearby could hear her clearly. We are the House of Blood, and today? Today, their blood will flow through our house.


    T nodded once in acknowledgement before following Thron once more.


    <em>She is a scarydy.</em>


    <em>-YeahThe City Lord wouldnt send her after usright?-</em>


    <em>I cant imagine theyd send members of a house after their own banished.</em>


    <em>-Yeah. That makes sense.-</em> t only sounded somewhat mollified.


    Servants were already carrying various valuables away. <em>Well, there goes that ideaBut its possible some stuff will be missed.</em>


    The dwarf began speaking as T joined him, walking quickly through the hallways, Since the action has been dered, it cant be changed, and they knew that wed know. They are going to being in, <em>hard.</em> It really seems like you rusting kicked a hos nest, Eskau Tali.


    She frowned, considering. Do we know that its the House of the Rising Sun?


    No. But I would bet my teeth that they''re involved. They likely called in members from other cities. In fact, Id be surprised if it was only that one House. Whoever they are, theyre attacking us, knowing well be forewarned. As Eskau Meain said, they likely know we have Eskau Paun and her in residence. Thats either rusting stupid, or we have an armying through our gates.


    It seems so Where are we going?


    To move your sanctum, of course. Its within the range of vibility.


    Ahh, yes. Moving the sanctum would be wise, then. <em>Kit will also be useful to have with me.</em>


    Id rmend keeping it with you.


    I was just thinking that.


    He smiled and continued, Your siege orbs could be useful.


    T nched. In our own hold? Isnt thatunwise?


    Not at all. Anything destroyed can be rebuilt easily enough. Well make them bleed, and that is all that matters in the end. He hesitated. You likely know this, but expect them to have someone specifically to counter you. Id count on a few, if not a few teams, specifically chosen to capture or kill you.


    Capture?


    Of course. The ransom they could get for you would go a long way to flipping the trajectory of power that your raid set into motion.


    She hesitated. What do you think the chances are that they have someone watching our entrance?


    Their assault force is probably already outside, awaiting the City Lord.


    She sighed. Then no sneaking out to counterstrike their hold?


    Heughed. Sadly, no. Id bet that there will be a few squads hidden near the entrance to try to get out behind the assault force, but they probably wont seed.


    T grunted. Understood.


    They arrived at where shed left Kit, and she grabbed the doorframe.


    It came away from the wall easily, the entire doorway distorting and reforming into a pouch that she hung from her belt.


    Thron scrunched up his face in a grimace, seeming to be working himself up to mention something difficult. Eskau TaliThe concept sword


    T turned on him with fervor, cutting him off. Is for when Pir Be-thrics venture is over. Not before.


    But the assault


    I will not let my enemies force my hand. It stays our secret.


    Yes, Eskau. His tone was stiff and perfectly formal.


    She softened her own tone and ced a hand on his shoulder. We wont need it, and I wont have such a perfect surprise wasted.


    Thron rxed slightly and nodded. As you say, Tali.


    She quirked a smile. Now, where can we set up?


    The next three-quarters of an hour passed in a blur as T used her prodigious strength to help move mobile defenses around within the hold.


    Aside from the bit of manualbor, T reviewed a list that had been given her by Thron. He told her it was a list of who Id hire if I needed to kill you.


    She was torn between being impressed by his due diligence and a bit concerned that he had such a thing ready to hand.


    In either case, she flipped through and let t take in their descriptions and powersets.


    By that point, T was in her position, standing behind a weighed-down, reinforced barricade.


    The hold had been radically changed in a short time.


    Arge swath had been cleared around the entrance, and only a few walls and other defensive emcements left standing.


    No traps or other simr defenses would survive the City Lords incursion, so they werent wasted.


    Finally, all there was to do was wait.


    One hour on the dot from the beginning of the City Lords warning, the hold entrance opened, the gates swinging wide without any resistance.


    The City Lords voice carried through. I thank the House of Blood for making my duties light. Those of you who survive,e to my manor, and I may have something for you.


    He stood in the center of the now open gates, and T could see armed and armored warriors pressing close behind him, without daring to pass him by. Even so, his eyes swept across their preparations and settled on her.


    You be more interesting, girl. Should <em>you</em> survive, make your request again.


    T froze. <em>What? Is he saying?</em>


    <em>-I think he might be.-</em>


    He smiled ruefully. Ill still probably say No, but I think the conversation might be moreentertaining thanst time.


    Even with the probably No, there was a new candle of hope lit within her.


    -<em>T, hes ying with you.-</em>


    She grimaced in return. <em>Youre right. I know you are.</em>


    <em>-I think he doesnt know what to make of you. Hes trying to suss out what makes you tick.-</em>


    <em>Great</em>


    Someone behind the City Lord cleared their throat. Pardon, City Lord, but?


    The City Lord nced back as if just noticing the horde of arcanes, ready for the assault. He then looked back into the hold at the defensive positions and battlelines. Hmm? Oh, by all means.


    With the barest whisps of power, he was gone.


    T thought that she caught <em>something</em>, though she didnt think it was magic, at least not mostly. <em>Is he just that fast?</em>


    Regardless, she didnt have time to contemte.


    The assaulting force charged.

 Chapter 252: Down, Boy

    Chapter 252: Down, Boy


    Ts mage-sight strained to pick out details as a dozen zing lines of powernced out in defense of the House of Bloods hold.


    Each was countered before it was halfway to the attackers.


    T assessed the defensive reactions. <em>Weaker members up front with some specialized in direct cancetion of different types of long-range attacks.</em>


    A wave of arrows wereunched from severalrge apparatuses, specific defenses designed to threaten those with counters to magical attacks.


    A kic disruption swept through the clouds of arrows, dropping them to the ground harmlessly.


    <em>Alright, Im up.</em> She grinned.


    She wanted to st straight into the oing tide, but she now knew that <em>someone</em> would have a counter of one kind or other. She and Thron had nned ahead for that eventuality.


    <em>Their defenses are responsive, so I simply need to misdirect.</em>


    She flipped the targets of three pairs of her siege orbs torge sacks, ced equidistantly in an arc before the oing foes.


    With a concurrent <em>crack</em> that made her ears ring, the orbs tore across the battlefield


    Time seemed to slow as T brought her enhanced mind and senses to bear.


    Several very odd-looking barriers shot up surrounding her enemies, exactly as she knew they would.


    <em>Cold redirection? Kic absorption and redirection andwhats thatst one?</em>


    <em>-Doesnt matter. Focus. The misdirection worked as nned.-</em>


    Each of the siege orbs had struck true, obliterating the sacksid out for her and beginning to scatter their contents, scrap metal from the holds smithy.


    In the fraction of an instant after the six all-but-simultaneous impacts, she changed herbeling of the orbs, breaking the effects that kept them gravitationallypressed.


    The orbs exploded in a deafening <em>boom</em>.


    The basic effects were as shed seen before, a pressure wave followed by an incredible cold that iced everything nearby.


    That was countered rather effectively by the ovepping defenses, though some parts of the st got through each portion. Leaving some reeling backwards and others coated in frost.


    That wasnt the only effect, however.


    This time, fragments of enhanced metal were carried along with the st wave.


    The shards that encountered the kic redirection were shunted off to the sides, but the rest flew true, shredding through the enemy lines.


    Even those that were redirected still crashed into the enemies.


    Most who were struck staggered, a new hitch in their steps even though their armor took the brunt of the impacts, but a few fell and a few of those never rose.


    A cheer went up from the defenders.


    First blood had been spilt, and it was their attackers who bled.


    T sent another set of siege orbs forward hoping to capitalize on the confusion her sessful attack had wrought, aiming for one of the sides. Unfortunately, the enemy was not as distracted as shed hoped.


    Even as her attack tore across the intervening space, she saw dimensional distortions, and the orbs vanished.


    <em>What?</em>


    <em>-Pocket dimensions. Opened specifically to swallow your orbs.-</em>


    <em>What rusting cheaters!</em>


    <em>-Says the girl with lethal </em>air<em> balls</em>.<em>-</em>


    <em>Thats fair.</em> She broke the workings regardless of theck of effect. <em>No reason to give them more information.</em>


    Finally, the assault force utilized their own magics.


    The House of Blood was not withoutpetent defenders, however.


    Just as the defensive magics had been negated, so were the assaults of the aggressors.


    As expected, this would be a close-range battle soon enough.


    Unfortunately, no singr arcane on either side could simply overwhelm <em>all</em> opposition, so it was not in the best interest of either side to highlight their powerhouses, especially not this early in the conflict when their enemies could more easily bring greater force to bear on anyone revealed.


    T was somewhat unique in that her siege orbs simply moved too fast to easily track their origin. <em>Unless I use too many.</em>


    <em>-They were able to intercept them, however.-</em>


    <em>I think that was more static defense in the way, than actively pinpointing the orbs exact location.</em>


    <em>-Thats probably true.-</em>


    <em>Even so, that will mean that they have a better idea of my location than ideal</em> She bit the side of her lip, then stopped, ring internally.


    t justughed.


    <em>Okay. Im shifting to my secondary position.</em>


    Magics were flying back and forth, now, along with flights of mundane arrows.


    Others were trying subterfuge on both sides, but her attack had been a brutal reminder of that possibility.


    As the attackers drew closer, the defensive magics on both sides had to react more quickly. They couldnt be static because no defense was perfect, and it was easy for the right attack to be implemented to bypass any particr defense.


    T dropped back and moved around the defensive ring to another location prepared for her. The soldiers hiding nearby nodded in her direction, but then time was up, and the enemy was upon them.


    She lost focus on the bigger picture as lightning, fire, and something that seemed to be the concept of acid shot toward her position.


    <em>Hey, Thron haspany in his power.</em>


    Even so, she heard members of the House of Blood scream out in pain, and her enhanced senses told her that at least one or two of the defenders near her died.


    <em>Rusting, seriously? Stay behind your defenses!</em>


    She had ducked behind her own barrier, using her aura control to break the direction on the iing powers.


    Shed even extended herself to break the authority of the attacking arcanes firing on the soldiers near her. It wouldnt stop the attacks fromnding, but it would spoil any attempt at uracy.


    Even so, lightning tore up stone and threw chips in every direction, fire greatly heated the space around her to an almost painful degree, and she could hear sizzling as her stone barricade was eaten away from the other side.


    <em>Well, rust you, too!</em> She took in a deep breath, filling her lungs with power.


    A now familiar <em>twist</em> and it was ready.


    She waited a heartbeat until she heard the expected call, Counter!


    <em>No doublespeak this time.</em> She wondered if the enemy had expected that. <em>Does that mean they think were retreating?</em>


    She really didnt have time to contemte it, and her opponents probably didnt either.


    She jumped up and to the side.


    Her eyes locked on six attackers closing on her position.


    She contracted her entire torso, using her enhanced strength to add force to her exhale.


    With an act of will, her aura control shaped, funneled, and elerated the dissolution power forward, turning a strong breeze into a torrent.


    Fire, lightning, and acid responded but were eaten away before they coulde close.


    Sadly, the magics had virtually perfectly equaled out.


    She thought she saw some dissolution effect the fringes of their armor, and she felt static, heat, and some burning spice in the air around her.


    <em>Hey, I just countered six arcanes at once.</em> They were even all near her in rank, being perfectly split with three orange and three yellow. <em>Three Mature and three Elders.</em>


    -<em>I agree. That was quite impressive.-</em>


    Cries of rm went up from those before her even as she closed on them with great loping strides.


    She hunched as close to the ground as she could get while maintaining a stable form. <em>De-arg would knock me t, but these dont have a chance.</em>


    Flow shed into her hand, taking on the void-ive form as she struck out.


    Five heads popped upward, freed from their bodies even as their defenses and bodies were drained of power in that single swing.


    The sixth arcane had fallen backwards, out of the line of the incredibly powerful swing.


    <em>Lucky g.</em>


    The lucky arcane took a deep breath, and T braced for a breath weapon or something of the like.


    She should have struck him down instead.


    Shes here! That human girl is here!


    <em>Rusting seriously?</em> She growled. <em>Unlucky me.</em>


    A flick of will put one of her scales into the frog-mans head, crumpling his helmet like it wasnt even there. Though, the squealing <em>crunch</em> likely highlighted her position as much as his shout had.


    The screeching sound prated the din of battle and other screams even more clearly than the frog-mans oddly powerful voice.


    Ts enhanced hearing immediately began picking out shouts among the oing force, rying her location to her enemies.


    <em>Great. I guess well get to see what they brought for me, now.</em>


    <em>-Better to know for sure than fear in uncertainty?-</em>


    T grimaced, using the moments respite to sweep Kit across the six bodies, taking them all from the ground before her, where they might have gotten beneath her feet in the fight toe.


    <em>Lets do this.</em>


    * * *


    <em>Rust, rust. RUST!</em>


    T sprinted down a hallway, diving below a bolt of <em>ck</em> lightning, even while she took two ice-spikes to her back.


    <em>You canbine void with lightning?!</em>


    <em>-Apparently, you can do a lot of insane things-</em>


    Thankfully, her armor protected her from the piercing, though she still felt the blunt force distort her insides.


    Three Mature mercenaries were on her tail, and if their coordination was any indication, theyd worked as a team for a long time.


    Thron had listed this group as highly favorable, despite being a half-rank below her, because of their particrbination of ability coupled with their excellent teamwork, filling in for each others weaknesses.


    She shot scales from her back as she rolled back to her feet, using her mirrored-perspectives to pick targets.


    She no longer tried to target them directly, as they could somehow sense that, or were at least <em>very</em> ready for it.


    Now, she targeted the floor, walls, or ceiling, trusting in the incredibly acute angle to reflect the scales into her attackers.


    She also made sure to break the targeting when the scales hit, so they wouldnt lose momentum by having their gravitation pull them backwards.


    As a result, shed been able to make a few clean hits.


    This time was no exception.


    The hawk-man screeched and stumbled, clutching his arm, even as he shot another pair of ck lightning bolts from his eyes.


    T dove around a corner at thest instant. The corner of the wall behind her didnt explode so much as simply ceasing to exist.


    Thankfully, it wasnt loadbearing so nothing came down on her, but it was still too close.


    <em>I need to keep distance and wear them down.</em>


    Of course, thats when the second one caught her.


    A massive bull-man shattered the wall beside her, hitting her and mming her bodily into and through the wall opposite.


    T yelled in surprise and rage, even as she plunged Flow at the man in the form of a knife, her motions so quick that it brought to mind a sewing machine.


    Each stab came away bloody, and each wound closed immediately after shed pulled the de free.


    After a dozen knife stabs, she pushed power and Flow flickered into a void-de.


    Her eyes must have given away that something had changed, because the bull caught her thrust, when hed ignored the others.


    <em>I guess the through-spikes illusion doesnt fully hide my void-eyes from those who know to look?</em>


    <em>-Is that really important right now?-</em>


    <em>Not really.</em> She exhaled in the attackers face, causing his flesh and bone to melt backwards in a wave.


    In a turn of events that again reminded herself of fightingwellherself, the dissolution left behind an intricate set of purple inscriptions hanging in the air, highlighting where his flesh had been.


    Those magics sparked and spat power as the dissolution tried to work on them as well.


    The light began to dim just fractionally before the bull-mans healing kicked into high gear, and the front of his head regrew, overpowering and oveing the remains of dissolution magics.


    <em>Rusting, g. That should have been enough power to powder his whole body.</em>


    <em>-You survived the same power.-</em>


    <em>Not this much!</em>


    <em>-Hyperspecialization is no joke, T, and these were selected specifically to counter you, it seems. Its no wonder the one who closed in is a self-regeneration specialist. No one else could really keep up with you. He doesnt even have anything dedicated specifically to stopping damage, just healing it.-</em>


    <em>But hes harder to hurt than a mundane. His concept maybe?</em>


    <em>-That could track.-</em>


    T fired off an insane barrage of scales into the front of the man, sting straight through him, leaving only quickly healing punctures beforeing back to hit him again,cking the momentum to push through again.


    Unfortunately, those that shed aimed for his spine somehow didnt cut off his control of his body.


    <em>Cant use the griffon method then.</em>


    Even so, the dozens of heavy impacts gave her the opportunity to plunge void-knife Flow into his chest.


    He roared, his power dropping noticeably, though he remained well within the Mature rank, still.


    <em>His well of power is surprisingly deep. I wonder whats keeping him from advancing?</em>


    He alsoshed out, connecting a solid punch into her guts, which sted her backwards through a half-dozen walls.


    They were stone walls, and that had <em>hurt.</em>


    She felt her bones reknitting, but she was momentarily unable to rise or even breathe.


    <em>t?</em>


    <em>-Yeah?-</em>


    <em>Remind me not to do this again</em>


    <em>-Noted.-</em>


    She frowned. <em>Now, where did that stupid ice-badger getgah!</em>


    Ance of ice grew from the wall she was leaning against, trying to thrust through her from behind.


    Instead, it was spoiled by the defenses in her elk-leathers, both magical and metal.


    She was thrown aside, and T saw the little pile of g duck back out of sight.


    The badger-man was the size of a normal badger, but with more human-like features and an upright posture.


    <em>Void-lightning hawk-man, regenerating bull-man, and stealth obsessed ice throwing badger-man.</em> She growled through the pain, getting up enough to stumble into the next room before the previous one imploded with a forest of ice.


    She didnt really know how long shed been engaged in a running battle with these three, but it felt like hours.


    -<em>Less than half an hour.-</em>


    <em>Rust</em> She hated reacting. <em>Theyre tracking me, somehow.</em>


    With an effort of will, she suppressed her through-spike.


    <em>That will change my look to any sort of magically sensitive sight.</em>


    Mostly healed, she tossed a set of siege orbs into the ice-filled room and began circling around.


    When she felt she was a safe distance, she altered herbel for the orbs, breaking theirpression.


    A massive <em>whoomp</em> blew apart the whole section of the hold.


    The bull bellowed another roar of pain from near the st, and T grinned.


    She knew that wouldnt have killed that pursuer, but it would have hurt.


    <em>Alright if their pattern holds, the bull will be stomping around, trying to find me; the hawk will be closing in slowly, and the badger will be</em>


    While carefully looking around a corner, towards the devastation shed just wrought, her mage-sight picked up a distortion in the air. Unfortunately, it wasnt detailed enough to determine which way the little badger was looking.


    <em>Found you.</em>


    Being as careful as she could be, she snuck forward, keeping at least one of her mirrored perspectives locked on the form she was all but certain was the badger.


    The nearly invisible figure did seem to be looking towards where the st had gone off.


    <em>Almost there</em>


    Flow was sheathed at her waist, and she carefully reached into Kit to get another set of siege spheres.


    She still didnt know how they were spoiling her targeting, but if she had to, shed find a way to strap the orbs to the frustrating little badger.


    <em>-T, wait. Something wrong. That shape isnt right for the badger.-</em>


    Almost as t spoke, the badger became visible, and it had a hostage.


    A child was huddled on the ground, one of the badgers feet was on his head, and an ice-spike spunzily, hovering over his chest, point toward the boys heart.


    Thats far enough, Tali. You


    Tunched forward without hesitation.


    The badgers eyes widened, clearly taken aback by herpleteck of hesitation.


    Her left hand caught the small menace by the throat and mmed him into the nearby wall. Her aura crashed into his and with her surprise on her side, she broke his hold over the ice spike before she kicked it from the air, shattering it into uselessness.


    GO!


    The boy rolled to his feet and took off at a dead run.


    <em>What was he doing here? Why wasnt he evacuated?</em> She didnt have time to investigate that thought, however.


    The bull and hawk stepped around nearby partially broken walls.


    Blessedly, they ignored the boy.


    <em>A trap then? </em>It made some sense. Shed not seen any sort of distortion before.


    The badger-man snapped his jaws at her, and she mmed him casually against the wall again, cracking something in his shoulder. Down, boy.


    The badger whimpered.


    The hawk-folk man lifted his uninjured arm and pointed it at her, void-lightning dancing along the limb. Let him go, Tali. You are outmatched here.


    Sheughed, her eyes flicking back and forth between the two free opponents facing her. The whole while she was watching all three of them with her mirrored perspective.


    A bluff ofck of perception was a slim advantage, but it was something, and she was in a pretty bad ce, tactically.


    The badgers will was scrambling against her own, and he was slowly winning, his experience and desperation slowly winning out in the space just around his own body..


    <em>If they notice his efforts and help, theyll break my sovereignty in an instant.</em>


    The bulls voice was surprisingly deep. We have nothing against you, but we <em>will </em>bring you in. Were paid better if youre alive.


    So your employers can ransom me back to my own house?


    The hawk shrugged. Everyone lives; we get paid; seems like a good n.


    Yeah. The badgers voice was as slimy and annoying as shed expected it to be. Let me go, you human bi


    T didnt think, she just struck out, ramming her right hand, siege orbs and all, through the badgers open mouth and down his throat.


    She knew the little creature was convulsing around the intrusion, but his teeth couldnt even prate her armor.


    The bull and hawk eximed in disgust, surprise, and anger.


    T didnt really care. I said shut up.


    She ripped her empty hand from the smaller beings mouth ignoring the ick on her armored arm, and threw him towards his friends.


    She mentally changed thebels on her siege orbs. <em>You are orbs death and decay.</em> The working broke and the room was painted with blood, guts, and viscera.


    Worse, it was sh frozen, <em>after</em> coating everything.


    T heard both of her remaining attackers begin gagging, and sent a couple of scales their way as she took the momentary distraction to duck away.


    The scales were foiled, as they had been for the entire time these threenow twohad been pursuing her.


    <em>Okay. That was really gross. Im not doing that again.</em>


    <em>-I second that But, hey! One down.-</em>


    An instantter, the bull roared and she heard the concussive sound of breaking walls.


    <em>Rust</em>


    She turned to face the oing bull, only to be struck by void-lightning from the side.


    Her entire body locked up even as she felt her power be bled away.


    She grit her teeth. <em>How did the hawk get around the side so fast?</em>


    Her body wasnt responding as her muscles spasmed and the magic that could normally ovee such things was bled away.


    Her aura couldnt break the directing power of the attack, the attacker was simply too focused and too strong.


    Oddly, she no longer heard the bull breaking through walls.


    <em>Where is he?</em>


    She writhed on the ground uncontrobly, utterly helpless as the hawk came forward. You will pay for that. He was a useful asset, and now hes gone.


    Around the electrical shocks, she managed to get out. You didnt like. him either, eh?


    He grimaced, and the lightning increased, evidently no responseing.


    She managed enough mental cohesion to send a couple of scales at the hawk, but the nearly continuous lightning branched and struck them from the air before they could hit.


    T screamed internally. <em>What can I do? What am I not seeing?</em>


    An obsidian finger reached out, seeming from nowhere and tapped the side of the hawks temple.


    The avian-like head distorted then popped in a puff of blood, bone, brains, and feathers.


    It took another few seconds for the lightning to stop, and when it did, T was suddenly able to perceive someone looming over her.


    Eskau Tali. We need to find your Pir. He was singled out, as you were, and I fear he is fighting alone somewhere.


    Paun? T gasped, epting his hand up. You killed them?


    The Eskau frowned. I killed this one but no others near here. Pir Be-thric is missing, and the battle is far from over. Seek him out in that direction. He pointed. I will go the other way. Are you well?


    She nodded, her body healing quickly, though her muscles still spasmed.


    My gate feelsraw.


    Paun nodded. That can happen when assaulted by the void, though normally it is stress upon ones founts.


    T gave a mirthless smile. The perks of being my own powersource.


    He shook his head with a snort. Go. We are pushing them back, and theyve lost <em>far</em> more than we have, but there is still potential for disaster.


    She nodded. Thank you. He had me dead to rights.


    For the glory of the House of Blood


    ...their blood will flow. She finished ritualistically.


    Without another word, they moved off in opposite directions.


    <em>Ill still need to watch for that stupid bull.</em>


    Even so, one thought was pushing to crowd out all else.


    <em>Be-thric is in danger, and I have been sent to tip the scales.</em>


    A determined smile pulled at her lips.


    <em>This. This might be the perfect opportunity.</em>

 Chapter 253: Acidic Tide

    Chapter 253: Acidic Tide


    T jogged through the rather beaten downplex.


    The battle had not been kind to the architecture.


    She was able to snag some things of value, but not many. <em>Unfortunate, that.</em>


    <em>-No kidding.-</em>


    She and Paun had parted ways nearly a quarter hour ago, and she felt like she could sense Be-thrics power nearby.


    She asionally caught sight of the bull-man following her at a hesitant distance. <em>I need to deal with him before I find Be-thric and whatever is going on there, or Im going to be killed.</em>


    The bull-man <em>might</em> tip the scales against Be-thric, but T thought it more likely that hed ignore the Pir and simply dispatch her.


    <em>That would be just the perfect way to die</em>


    So, she had a problem to deal with. It was a smaller problem than when there had been three pursuers, but it was still a problem.


    She saw a rtively intact room off to one side, and an idea came to her, causing a malicious grin spread across her face.


    <em>Thats perfect.</em>


    Her mirrored perspectives ensured that the bull-man couldnt see her at the moment.


    She pulled Kit from her belt and threw the pouch against the wall beside the door.


    Kit grew over the doorway, filling it in with an exact replica of the door that had stood open a moment before, per her desire.


    <em>Now, if he came this way before, nothing should seem amiss.</em> These people had seemed <em>far</em> too well informed so far. She suspected a traitor within the House of Blood. <em>Well, another traitor.</em>


    <em>-A more active traitor?-</em>


    <em>For now.</em>


    A small smile tugged at her lips, but she suppressed it.


    With her n ready to be enacted, she leaned against the doorframe that was Kit and took an all-too-real moment to catch her breath.


    When the bull-man came into view, she jerked her face towards him and gasped.


    A small smile pulled at the mans inhuman face.


    T grabbed the door and shoved it open, diving inside and moving off to one side. She tried to close the door, but it caught on a bit of rubble that shed kicked in the way as she dove through.


    The bull reached the door a momentter, kicking it open and rushing through.


    He was halfway across the room before he spun on his hooves and faced her, back near the door.


    So, you decided to stop running?


    Of course. You should surrender, you know.


    Heughed, an almost braying sound that was <em>just</em> too much like a moo to sound like a donkey. Youre all alone, human girl. No nightmarish Eskau is nearby. I made sure he went the other way. Theres no one here to save you this time.


    She smiled. Funny that you say that.


    At her words, the walls melted, the illusion built by Kit shattering, revealing that they stood in the midst of rolling hills.


    The bull looked around in confusion. What?


    Wee to my sanctum. Her smile widened. Id like you to meet Terry.


    Terry flickered into being behind the bull-man, talons ripping through the remains of the mans shirt and lightly scoring into the bovines back.


    The man screamed in surprise more than agony, even while he healed, turning in a rage before stopping in horror.


    He looked up.


    And up.


    And up.


    Terry towered over the invader, easily double therge mans height.


    T cleared her throat. Please dont y with your food, Terry. Hes rather robust.


    Terry trilled absently then stomped down on the bull.


    The man had attempted to dodge, resulting in all but his head being crushed.


    He couldnt even cry out in pain, at least not until Terry lifted his foot, and the bulls magic <em>dumped</em> power into a full body healing.


    <em>Huh, he doesnt rely on internal reserves for his healing. He could probably have his head cut off and grow a new body.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, but that means his healing takes a </em>lot<em> more power because hes also calling the material into existence.-</em>


    <em>Everythings a tradeoff.</em>


    <em>-He also seems overly protective of his head. I bet he doesnt have an easy way to recover from brain damage.-</em>


    <em>Youre probably right. It did seem like he might have had some specific protections around there.</em>


    What followed was eerily simr to how Terry had fought T, herself, and T had a front-row seat to how that would turn out if Terry ever turned on her.


    The bull-man didnt even have the advantage of magical weaponry or other workings to call on.


    His concept did seem to be around bodily strength and sovereignty of everything within his own flesh, but it wasnt sufficient to ovee what seemed to be a nearly eight fold weight disadvantage.


    His magic did make Terrys ws pretty useless when Terry was smaller than a wagon.


    <em>So, thats how he was able to counter my scales, even when they stuck within him. Once they were in his body, he was able to break their working and move them out.</em>


    It was a terrifyingbination with his obviously healing-focused inscriptions.


    But T had two clear advantages over the bull, when it came to a fight against Terry.


    First, her magical power was limitless, her healing effectively only constrained by what shed been able to consume and store within herself.


    Second, Terry liked her and had never done too much damage at any one time.


    T watched the bull-mans power drain at an insane rate. With no ambient power avable to draw upon, the conflict was a foregone conclusion.


    The bull tried to grapple with Terry or hit him, but it was pointless.


    I have to go, Terry. Please finish him quickly. I dont want him in here oring after me.


    Terry flickered around the man in a storm, showering the ground with bovine blood.


    He trilled in contented, if reluctant, agreement. Hed see it done.


    Thank you, my friend.


    With that, she stepped back through the door and pulled Kit free of the wall once more.


    She knew that, in the sanctum, Terry was finishing off the bull-man in the middle of unbroken, rolling grasnd.


    There was no way that hed escape. <em>Unless Terry ys with him too much.</em>


    Shed just have to trust her avian friend.


    <em>Now, where is Be-thric?</em> She needed to find him. She could imagine no better time to facilitate his death.


    It was time to make her bid for freedom.


    Less than five minutester, T came to the edge of the structured part of the House of Bloods hold and ran out of the buildingplex and into the opennd on the northside of the hold.


    Shed found Be-thric.


    The Pir stood facing a group of nine arcanes.


    One was in armor reminiscent of Sanguis and Be-thrics own, bearing a crest that appeared to be a bubbling, sickly green wave. From her memory, that was from the House of the Acidic Tide.


    Well, she now knew what other House had joined that of the Rising Sun to assault their hold.


    Beside the one Pir was clearly her Eskau, and they were utterly fixed on Be-thric.


    The other seven were a little ways away, apparently on guard against any House of Blood reinforcements, and they all seemed to be mercenaries rather than Pirs, Eskau, or even House soldiers.


    The mercenaries were scattered through the range of rank between yellow and green, except one, who was fully blue to her mage-sight.


    <em>Six warriors between Elder and Honored, and a Revered mercenary, along with a Pir and Eskau who are also Revered?</em> That was quite the strike force.


    But why were there so many mercenaries? T knew that there had to be at least a few other Eskau and Pirs from the two attacking Houses. <em>Where are they?</em>


    The obvious answer came to her instantly. <em>Fighting Sanguis or at least attempting to engage him. Maybe part of the dying forces who were after Meain and Paun.</em>


    After all, while harming the House of Blood was a core objective, it was T and Be-thric who had been responsible for the recent attack on the House of the Rising Sun.


    As for Be-thric, several other arcanes alreadyy broken around his feet, and the hue-man looked winded.


    If T had to guess based on what she saw, there was at least one candidate Eskau among those bodies, having attempted to help bring down a Pir of a rival House to gain favor.


    Be-thric had proven too enduring for that to work, however.


    <em>Mores the pity.</em>


    Unfortunately, T had burst from the buildings directly between the two groups.


    When Be-thric saw her, his eyes brightened, and he smiled triumphantly.


    <em>Well, hes confident.</em>


    As for the others, a womans voice came from within the most ornate set of armor, Good, I was about to send these seven after you within that sprawling hovel you people somehow live within. Youve saved us the trouble and them the time searching. Kill her. Id hate to lower myself to the killing of an Eskau myself, and the time for capture is long past. Let us finish this.


    She hesitated for a moment, then added one addendum.


    Except you, Sandor. You fight with us against the Pir. The girl is not even an Elder, your men will be fine.


    The Revered warrior moved from the others to take up a position beside the Pir and her Eskau.


    The other six mercenaries shouted their acknowledgements and rushed T. Their charge was highlighted by the magics of the three more powerful arcanes unleashing a renewed assault behind them, magics streaking towards Be-thric.


    <em>Alright. Hes going to lose. I just need to survive and make sure no one elsees to his aid. Im d I came, else hed only be facing two.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, kill these and then get out.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, that was implied by survive.</em>


    She was fairly sick of having her scales rendered useless, so she decided to save them for close-quarters surprises. At least they hadnt been utterly useless when used in that way against the bull-man after all.


    T danced among the lesser warriors, bought by Houses of the Rising Sun and Acidic Tide.


    Clearly the best that these two Houses had broughttheir other Eskau and Pirshad been sent after Paun and Meain in one way or another.


    <em>So, theyre probably dead already, or driven off.</em> T did grin at that thought. She genuinely saw the two Eskau of the House of Blood as her teachers, and she knew they were <em>far</em> more lethal than most would realize.


    There were reasons that the House of Blood had remained so powerful, despite most other Houses being biased against them, and two of their best Eskau were a big one.


    The six continued their assault, magical weapons rending the air around her, but she was never where they thought she should be.


    Flow flickered between its six forms too quickly for anyone without enhanced senses to track.


    T kept it in each form less than an eyeblink, timing the changes to allow for more efficient movements, and precisely the required reach.


    A part of her, deep within, reveled in the strain she could feel in the vestiges within their weapons as she cut deeply into those weapons again and again with Flows void-forms.


    <em>Soon you will be free, trapped souls. A little difort and then freedom.</em>


    Flows more mundane forms were perfect for deflecting their attacks into their fellows, or otherwise spoiling the attacks, or blocking when the potential of passing her weapon through theirs would be to her detriment.


    And she used far more than just Flow.


    White scales flicked out when the enemy least expected them.


    Her opponents were far from weak, though they seemed to be on the younger side. They took some damage from the scales, but most of the bits of white metal were obliterated by one form of magic or other.


    <em>They really did do their research on me.</em> After all, each of the attackers had a magical device somewhere on their person that empowered their workings with a nullifying effect when directed at her scales.


    Unfortunately, none of the white projectiles were simply deflected. So, she didnt get to take advantage of their secondary impacts.


    Her feet, hands, elbows, and knees struck her opponents as well, whenever the opportunity presented itself.


    Unfortunately, she wasnt perfectly sessful. How could she be, when she was against <em>six</em> seasonedbatants, used to working together?


    Theynded uncounted blows upon her.


    Many were absorbed or deflected by her defenses, but quite a few got through.


    Those that did, healed slowly due to how they seared or otherwise magically denatured the flesh around the wounds, but blessedly none were debilitating to the point of slowing her down or inhibiting herbat abilities.


    They were good at what they did, and they had been prepared for the general nature of her abilities. But even so, those that faced her were <em>not</em> up to the challenge.


    She broke and bled her enemies, blood from seven sources co-mingling to muddy the ground.


    After every exchange she gained more new wounds than they, but she healed, and they didnt.


    After every exchange, they were just a bit more worn down.


    They fought at a fric pace, the martial equivalent of sprinting. Even so, it was nearly three minutes before her endurance paid off, and they started making mistakes.


    They dropped in quick session after that, and soon, T was left gasping for air over half a dozen corpses.


    She allowed her attention to move back outward.


    <em>Somehow</em>, Be-thric had stood toe to toe with the three attackers arrayed against him.


    More than that, two of the three were dead, the mercenary and the Eskau


    Only a single hue-folk woman, the Pir, stood facing the newest Pir of the House of Blood.


    Be-thric hadnte away cleanly, however.


    His armor was broken and battered, though it was slowly repairing itself.


    One arm hung limp, and his light and fire protections were utterly ovee. T could see the magics for them reaching out, attempting to reestablish those defenses.


    <em>How did he defeat all three?</em> She couldnt understand for a moment, then she saw it. Lingering magics around the heads of the downed warriors.


    <em>He overwhelmed their auras sufficiently to manipte their minds directly.</em> She felt a sh of fear. <em>He shouldnt have been able to pierce their auras at all.</em>


    After all, it wasnt like hed have caught them unaware. They were in the middle of a battlefield!


    They had been arcanes of an equivalent rank, what hed done <em>should</em> have been impossible.


    -<em>It was another front to fight on. A front that he knows well, and they did not. With the proper tactics it makes sense.-</em>


    She shivered. Be-thric was a terror, one that needed to die.


    The Pir of the House of Blood looked exhausted, and both Pirs were running incredibly low on power.


    The ground around Be-thric bubbled and spat with corrosion and acidic power that somehow lingered and continued to assault everything around it.


    Somehow, the Pirs helmet was almost entirely missing, and T could see remnants of it still affixed to his deformed breastte.


    Nevertheless, Be-thric was building magic around himself, eyes locked on his equally bedraggled and harried, final opponent.


    <em>No. No. NO!</em> She felt it in her bones. He was going to win; somehow, beyond all reason, he was going to survive.


    In that moment, she saw a potential Eskau move on the ground on the far side of Be-thric. She seized on that.


    Be-thric, behind you! She also sent a scale whipping for the fish-mans head.


    It struck with a <em>crack</em> that likely killed the enemy on the spot, but Be-thric turned anyways, following the sound and releasing his working on the corpse. After all, why would his Eskau bring his attention to a threat that was so easily dispatched?


    As he enacted his magics, he shouted. Dy her!


    Power mmed down on the mindless candidate Eskaus head, preventing even the inactive, lifeless nerves from firing.


    The ground quaked as spikes of hardened stone shredded the corpse, before res of light and heat seared the remains to ash.


    <em>-Rust! That would have ended this for sure.-</em>


    T didnt know who might be watching; she didnt have time to verify no one was observing them.


    She had to obey the order.


    t had been watching the battle atrge, and so she was able to provide T with an effective n of attack on the Pir. T knew she could ovee her.


    Even so, in battle timing was everything.


    Very deliberately, T hesitated the barest heartbeat before sending herst scales whipping toward the bloodied Pir of the Acidic Tide.


    A pair of siege orbs followed just behind, not targeted directly for the woman.


    The enemy Pirs stark white hair whipped in a tangle around her as she acted.


    In that brief moments dy, the Pir managed to thrust her hand towards Be-thric, and a needle of power, so overwhelming that it briefly blinded Ts mage-sight,nced across the distance.


    It struck a breach in the armor of the newest Pir of the House of Blood.


    The woman didnt even twitch as her defensive magics concentrated to vaporize Ts scales as they were iing. Just as t had observed them doing each time the woman had defended against various attacks before.


    The orbs mmed into the ground on either side of the Pir, and T immediately changed herbels for them, breaking theirpression and detonating them on either side of thisst enemy.


    The ancient muck-green woman didnt have a chance to scream as her weakened body and broken armor were crushed between two tremendous explosions.


    The woman would never have fallen for such a simple misdirect if shed been fresh.


    If she hadnt been worn down by Be-thric, the Pir would have been hurt, but not outright killed, by the sts.


    But she hadnt been fresh, and her defenses <em>had </em>been worn down.


    Ts gambit had seeded.


    Shed done it.


    T pulled herself back together somewhat literally. Her body was broken and bloodied, but theyd won.


    Shed won.


    Be-thric knelt on the ground taking deep, ragged breaths. His body was filled with corrosive power that was slowly winning against his fortitude and oveing all of his magics.


    Even the inside of his protian wrought armor was bubbling and distorting from the simple proximity to the powerful magics of destruction.


    It was radiating so overwhelmingly from him that everything around him was being broken down before Ts very eyes.


    She frowned. <em>Hes losing but too slowly. If someonees who can help, hell survive. Even if someone elsees and can go get help, they can likely save him, and my standing around while he dies will be incredibly suspicious.</em>


    T straightened her back, squaring her shoulders.


    <em>This is my best chance. Laying right beyond him is the protian weapon of a candidate Eskau, likely more than one. If he survives, his armor is done, and he will depart.</em>


    She hadnt wanted to be so directly involved, but there would be no better time.


    There would be no <em>other </em>time.


    Shed thought the womans final attack would kill him quickly, thats why she finished off the rusting enemy Pir.


    Shed been wrong.


    <em>Well, I have to clean up my own messes, it seems.</em>


    She had made her choice, she would seize her freedom or die trying.


    It was time to finish this.


    * * *


    Be-thric looked up at Tali, his breathing in great gasps.


    Well done. He coughed, forcing his mind to focus. I dont have the strength to call for aid. Go for help. Theres still plenty of time.


    She walked forward, her features warped with conflicting emotions.


    Ill be fine,he coughed up a wad of blood and spit it to the side. His protian weapons were reinforcing him, battling the corrosive magics even as they tried to heal him.if you go now.


    He could feel lethal intent from nearby, but that was to be expected. The entire hold was <em>dripping</em> with lethal intent, and some of the lessers that hed killed might still have some life, some hate, left in them.


    They would be dead soon enough either way.


    But Tali didnt go. Instead, she moved towards him, uncertainly, as he knelt on the ground.


    <em>More the fool, me. I enforced within her the need to stay by my side if I am in danger.</em> He let out a rueful, hacking cough. <em>Am I to die because I didnt give my puppet enough nuance?</em>


    He might survive, but he didnt think it likely.


    At least<em>cough</em>At least call for help, my Eskau.


    She slowly nodded, taking in a deep breath.


    He saw power building within her through the breaches in her iron paint beneath her armor. <em>She must have taken heavy damage for thatyer to be so riddled with perforations.</em>


    He frowned. The power he saw building wasnt amplification magics, nor anything else that would help her call for aid. If hed had his wits more about him hed have immediately known she didnt have such workings regardless.


    <em>What is she doing?</em> He opened his mouth to ask just that when she exhaled in a tight stream, dumping dissolution power over him.


    Time seemed to slow as Be-thric realized the truth of his own fate.


    <em>Tali would never do this. There is no power on Zeme that could make her harm me. I ensured that.</em>


    His eyes widened at a cial pace even as they began to melt away, the magnitude of his folly bing clear. His mastery of the mind gave him far more time to process that realization than he had any right to.


    <em>SoTali is gone, and that human somehow recovered herself. But how? That makes no sense? I utterly wiped her mind awayexcept, I had to leave her understanding of her own inscriptions. Did she somehow rebuild herself from that fragment? How?</em>


    The power mmed into him, close enough to the working already embedded into his flesh that they worked together.


    The bnce was instantly tipped, and his death rushed at him like a falling star even with his perception slowed.


    Hisst word was simply a garbled, Oh.


    He knew hed never take another breath.


    He briefly contemted simply slipping off into the next world and leaving her to whatever fate the House of Blood chose for a traitorous Eskau.


    <em>No. This rusting dog bit me.</em>


    With hisst vestiges of willpower, he triggered her cor.


    Be-thric, Pir andst Scion of the House of Blood, would pass from Zeme into the next world to the sweet apaniment of the agonized screams of his greatest failure.


    That would remove some of the shame of his failure, surely.


    Even so, something still wasnt right, and hisst thought was one of confusion.


    <em>Why isnt she screaming, yet?</em>

 Chapter 254: Wonderful

    Chapter 254: Wonderful


    T looked at Be-thric, kneeling in his final moments, acidic power flowing off of him in waves.


    She had made her choice: she would seize her freedom or die trying.


    It was time to finish this.


    He looked towards her, heaving great gasps of air.


    The smallest smile, filled with pride and self-satisfaction, pulled at his lips despite his pain. Well done. He coughed, grimacing in an obvious attempt to focus. I dont have the strength to call for aid. Go for help. Theres still plenty of time.


    His voice was barely above a whisper. Without her enhanced hearing, shed not have understood him at all. Even so, she walked forward.


    <em>Should I just let him die?</em> Her mirrored perspective was sweeping the hold around herself. She was now certain no one was watching, and no one was observing.


    -<em>Thats too risky. Someone could arrive at any moment. We cant leave this to chance.-</em>


    <em>Anything I do will carry the signature of my magic. I cant blow of his head, or stab him with Flow Dissolution. Its close enough to acid that it should simply work together to end him.</em>


    His smile grew, even as his pain also multiplied. Ill be fine,he coughed up a wad of blood and spat it to the sideif you go now.


    T could see the Pirs armor waging an all-out war against the corrosive magics even as it tried to heal him. But the Pir of the House of the Acidic Tide had known her magics.


    Be-thric was dying,his aura slowly sliding down the color scale to her magesight.


    <em>Do I risk his survival?</em> The very act of asking herself that question solidified her choice. <em>No. He dies now.</em>


    Be-thric frowned, ncing around in confusion.


    <em>Rust. Hes sensing my lethal intent.</em>


    But he wasnt focused on her.


    <em>Hes too disoriented, and theres too many enemies nearby.</em>


    This really would be herst, best chance.


    It was now or never.


    <em>Dont be aggressive. Move close like Im going to check on him.</em>


    T moved towards him, trying to project uncertainty, as he knelt on the ground.


    An almost rueful smile pulled at his onyx features, exposing blood-covered, too-white teeth. At least<em>cough</em>At least call for help, my Eskau.


    <em>Perfect. That lets me take a deep breath without being suspicious. </em>She slowly nodded, taking in that deep breath.


    -<em>You are overthinking this, and taking far, </em>far<em> too long.-</em>


    Confusion slowly built across Be-thrics features.


    <em>Come on,e on!</em> She pulled more power into her lungs, faster than she ever had before.


    He frowned and opened his mouth, seeming to be about to ask something.


    <em>Now or never! </em>She exhaled in a tight stream, dumping dissolution power over his exposed head and down into his armor, using her aura control and will power to keep the power contained and directed.


    His eyes widened even as they began to melt away.


    T watched the magics mix within the mostly contained space around his flesh. They were close enough to one another to not sh too much.


    The bnce was instantly tipped, and his death became instantly inevitable.


    <em>Good. His death should be too fast for him to process whats happening, let alone react.</em>


    She smiled, his eyes already unable to see her triumph.


    His mouth moved, but was too far gone for anything but a garbled grunt to escape.


    At that moment, one of her mirrored perspectives picked Throning into view. <em>He didnt see, did he? What is he going to think is happening?</em>


    Then, as Be-thrics body utterly turned to a homogenous gloop, T felt a wisp of will-power reach out through her aura.


    <em>What? No!</em> The dissolution should have been fast enough. There was no reason he should have been able to react. It had been less than a heartbeat since shed exhaled.


    <em>-Hes a master of mind magic.-</em> ts internal voice was filled with self-recrimination. <em>-If we can think faster than average, imagine what is he capable of.-</em>


    The totality of Be-thrics remaining magical weight, guided by long-honed skill, mmed through her attempts to deny him.


    Even as the will-bornmand extended towards the cor, her hands shot upward, faster than thought, and she strained with all her might, mirroring void from Flow into the armor over her hands.


    It did nothing.


    <em>Rust.</em>


    His will connected with the cor.


    As themand connected, two spikes mmed into her neck, and she felt the briefest moment of <em>wrongness</em> even beyond the gaping wounds in her neck.


    Then nothing.


    The spikes retracted, and her wounds healed over.


    <em>What? Id thought that</em>


    Agony like nothing she had ever experienced seized her entire body.


    The first of her spell-lines were being subsumed, and that was how T learned a <em>very</em> interesting thing.


    Dasgannach-controlled material was <em>somehow</em> different from the mundane variety.


    Why did that matter?


    Because different materials required different spell-forms to perform the same function.


    Her spell-lines, sweeping outward, away from the point of injection, were bing <em>wrong</em>, and one by one, they were stuttering and failing. For some reason, the dasgannach seemed to be ignoring her back for the moment, but that was smallfort.


    -<em>T?-</em> The panic in the alternate interfaces voice struck at Ts very core. -<em>T! Whats</em>-


    ts voice cut off abruptly.


    The inscriptions which formed her foundations were now <em>wrong,</em> the basis of her existence was gone.


    t ceased.


    <em>t? t!</em> T screamed internally, even as she <em>felt </em>more and more of her inscriptions going off-kilter.


    Thankfully, she had no idea what they should do now, so she wasnt firing off random magics; her intent wasnt in alignment with the workings so they couldnt activate.


    What it did mean was that her magics were being obliterated one by one, her magesight stripped away, her enhancements gone.


    There were some lingering remnants, because her natural magics had be more and more imprinted with her particr workings, but it was nothingpared to what she was losing.


    With that change, the armor generated by her elk-leathers was too heavy, too stifling, so she dismissed it, feeling the acidic air tingling against her skin.


    Blessedly, the magics had dissipated enough that it was ufortable rather than damaging.


    <em>Focus T, focus!</em>


    She ground her teeth and focused outward.


    <em>When did I fall on the ground?</em>


    She was writhing, her hands locked around the cor that had already delivered its deadly load.


    A momentter, it clicked open, falling into two halves.


    She was free.


    <em>Free to die.</em>


    A scream finally tore free from her, and she spasmed, the cor halves being tossed aside in the uncontrolled motions.


    <em>No. I cant die like this. That rusting bit of g is finally dead. There is </em>no<em> way Im joining him in death.</em> Shed known this was a possibility, but she still refused to ept it.


    <em>Come on, T, don''t panic. You can solve this. What do I know about these things?</em>


    First of all, these werent normal. Theyd been modified to be more lethal, faster acting.


    <em>But I dont know how theyve been modified. Focus on what I know about dasgannachs in general.</em>


    Dasgannachs are naturally-uring, animate, slime-like creaturesposed solely of a particr material that seemed to have no organic or distinct structures, nor any determinable magics about them, while still being able to move and act.


    They die in breathable air.


    For iron dasgannachs, their victims often feel invigorated until all their iron is imed, after which it is stripped out of them, the only evidence being thepleteck of iron after the dasgannach has departed.


    <em>They supposedly dont move or alter the material. They only im it somehow to be removed at ater time.</em>


    Well, that was one difference, though her knowledge was sparse, and she could be mistaken. The gold dasgannach <em>had</em> altered the gold somehow.


    To be fair, though, the iron within herself seemed unchanged, despite <em>feeling</em> off, and her knowledge on the creatures was anything butplete.


    She could still breathe; her blood was still doing its job.


    <em>I need to get a better sense of what is happening.</em>


    She dove into herself.


    Due to the naturally imprinted remnant of her magesight, helping her see within, she was barely able to perceive the two dasgannachs slowly subsuming their chosen elements from within her.


    The gold one was obviously much faster, as she had far less gold in her body.


    The iron one was still focused on her abdominal cavity and the iron on her skin.


    <em>Can I use that? Can I get it out before it gets into my blood or starts taking over the iron from the rest of me?</em>


    She tried to target her own organs. She needed to be fast, because she needed the healing scripts to still be functional so that she could grow new organs.


    They resisted the targeting as if they were entirely iron.


    She tried again, imposing her will along with her knowledge that her anatomy was only <em>partly</em> iron.


    Two words rang through her head, though they werent actually words.


    Instead, it was as if a primal intent, utterly without a mind, hadshed back at her, and her consciousness had interpreted it as words.<ol><li><strong><em> MINE.</em></strong></li></ol>


    She reeled. It was proof that, while the dasgannachs didnt have a will, they <em>did</em> have impetus, instincts, and drives.


    Still, that was more than shed ever heard of a dasgannachmunicating.


    <em>It didntmunicate, you idiot. It just didnt let you stop it, and your mind interpreted the action as words.</em> She was bing loopy from the pain of having her magics slowly stripped away from her.


    The gold dasgannach seemed to have saved the best forst, and that time hade.


    The thing devoured her keystone, and everything went white as she was utterly ovee with unprocessable sensations.


    She jerked back to awareness, twitching on the ground, someone propping her up.


    Everything was hazy, and for the briefest instant, she forgot what was happening to her.


    <em>t, whats going on?</em> There was no reaction. <em>t?</em>


    Her mind was strangelyvacant.


    Her very brain felt like it was malfunctioning; though, she could somehow feel her weak, natural magics, which had been designed to facilitate and augment brain function, bridging the gap of <em>something</em> that should have been there.


    <em>t?</em> Then, memory crashed through her, and she remembered.


    t was gone. She was alone.


    <em>No, thats not right.</em>


    T forced her eyes to focus and found Thron holding her up, propping her on one side.


    <em>Why is he doing</em>


    She heaved, vomiting across the ground, thanks to his positioning. The bile joined several other disgorgements that she hadnt even noticed spewing.


    <em>Oh I hate that so, so much.</em>


    Tali? What happened? There at the end did you?


    T frowned. <em>There at the end He saw Be-thric die, but he shouldnt have seen my part in it right?</em>


    If he had, it would have been the worst timing possible.


    Shed been checking for anyone nearby, but her focus had been elsewhere. What if hede into view right as she had exhaled?


    <em>I have to say something.</em>


    She tried to spin a tale, but it was incredibly hard to talk. He wasdying


    She swallowed, trying to wet her mouth.


    TriedcouldntHe thoughtcor.


    Thron cocked an eyebrow. Thats the story youre going with? You tried to help him, and hisst act was to deactivate the cor? I watched you use void magics on the thing. Did that really work? What is happening to you? Why are you in pain?


    T screamed as something <em>pulled</em>, seeming to ooze from her back.


    The dwarf must have felt something because he jerked away, letting her fall to the ground as the golden dasgannach peeled itself out of her.


    It flopped to the ground, and T watched in her mirrored perspective as it steamed power. A momentter, it simply became a lump of inert gold.


    <em>It just died? It ate my inscriptions and died?</em>


    That was extra insulting.


    Thron was wide-eyed. The cor was triggered, not deactivated or disabled? Tali Why did Be-thric trigger your cor?


    She grit her teeth against another scream.


    Oddly, she wasnt in pain. If anything, she felt suddenly <em>good </em>overall, like her body was ready to run a caravan route. However, herck of magical enhancement, and the recent horror of the gold dasgannachs departure, all colluded to make her want to scream uncontrobly.


    She felt <em>wrong.</em>


    She retained just enough awareness to <em>feel</em> the thing inside her, slowly iming the iron within her body. It had saved her extremities forst, but the vition spread inexorably onward.


    Thron knelt, now a safe distance away. Too close and the iron dasgannach could jump to him when it finished with her. What can I do? Do you want me to give you a peaceful end?


    She shook her head vigorously. She was not giving up without a fight.


    As you say, then. I cant burn it out of you; I dont have the ability. I dont think anyone has the ability to remove it, even if we had time to find someone. He grimaced. Youre dead, girl. Please, let me end your pain.


    T shook her head again.


    If he activated the cor did you? He hesitated. No, dont answer that. I dont want to know


    Even so, she could see him going over his own memory, parsing it for what had happened.


    Not that it was very important to her, all things considered.


    The iron in her legs had been imed, and in her torso and head; it had even imed all the iron that remained in the paint upon her skin.


    It was slithering through her right arm at that moment, the feeling both nothing and nothing she could describe.


    She <em>shouldnt </em>have been able to feel it, but she could.


    Stay. It hurt to force out that one word. Even that wasnt right. Please.


    Thron nodded, clear disgust and fear warring withpassion within the dwarf. Ill stay with you until the end.


    T closed her eyes and strove with all her being to focus. <em>How much did they change these creatures? Noelle and Master Jevin swore up and down that it was impossible to feel them iming the material within your body. Thats what made them so pernicious.</em>


    She could definitely feel this one.


    That really wasnt important, however. She needed to survive.


    <em>As soon as it ims all the iron in my body, it will leave, and well both die.</em>


    T didnt want to die.


    Shed just killed her tormenter; she wanted to revel in that victory for a decade or two, at least.


    <em>It would be so convenient if I could just bond the stupid thing, but it wont bond.</em> What had Noelle said? <em>It wont bond even if the star is forged in its preferred material.</em>


    T froze, stiffening with realization.


    The dasgannach was finished with her right arm and beginning to extend its influence down her left arm, its final conquest.


    <em>It wont eat an Archon star. Even if its in the right medium.</em>


    The influence reached her elbow.


    <em>It wont leave until its imed all of its preferred material.</em>


    Desperately, T fumbled, feeling like she was trying to thread a needle in the dark while wearing mittens.


    Without her keystone, her magic was hard to control.


    Without her magesight, it was difficult to tell what was going on.


    That didnt matter. She <em>had</em> to seed.


    The dasgannachs authority passed her left wrist.


    <em>Come on.</em>


    <em>Come on.</em>


    <em>COME ON!</em>


    She threw all that she had at the problem, desperation wing at the bedrock of long practice, filling in the gaps where shed always relied on her inscriptions.


    Each of her fingers was subsumed, one by one.


    <em>There!</em>


    With two fingers'' worth of iron left, T formed the weakest Archon star she could manage, continuing to add power to it as slowly as she could.


    The dasgannach finished iming all the iron in thosest two fingers, in her entire body, except that within the Archon star.


    <em>Victory!</em>


    For a long moment, nothing happened.


    She honestly hadnt expected anything to happen.


    <em>So, not victory, just a temporary stalemate</em> The horrible feeling of slowly being taken over had passed. The damage was done; there was nothing left to lose to the dasgannachs authority.


    Once again, T felt the primal, unthinking intent of the thing vibrate through her whole body.


    <strong><em>STOP. MINE!</em></strong>


    T did her best to growl back, <em>No. Mine.</em>


    Her entire body began to shudder as the iron within her trembled.


    She vomited again, heaving until her abdomen ached and her stomach was long since empty.


    <strong><em>MINE!</em></strong> Again, it wasnt a word, nor did ite from a mind, but it was utterly clear, nheless.


    <em>Then take it. I offer it to you freely.</em>


    There was no response.


    T began to giggle maniacally. <em>I thought not. Youre wee to it, whenever you want.</em>


    Still, nothing happened.


    After what seemed like an eternity, her star ever so slowly gaining in power, she was able to return her focus to the outside world.


    <em>I cant keep this up forever. When the star reaches capacity, it will be ejected from my body, and then I will die.</em>


    Still, shed bought herself at least a few days to find a better solution.


    Unfortunately, while the Archon star was taking up a small bit of power flowing through her gate, the majority had nothing to do and nowhere to go.


    Thankfully, Kit was there, and so T directed all the excess into her sanctum.


    She honestly didnt know what she would do without Kit being there to take in her power. <em>Just venting it outward would benot ideal.</em>


    Still, the problem was solved for the moment, so she slowly opened her eyes.


    She focused on her surroundings and stiffened.


    Arcanes surrounded her, many holding clearly magical devices pointed her way, and they were discussing something among themselves.


    They were the defenders of the hold, and they were likely examining her to determine what was wrong with her.


    <em>Or, more likely, how Im alive.</em>


    Lacking her hearing enhancements, she had no way of knowing what they were saying.


    Paun was frowning as he watched her, but as such, he noticed her move. Shes awake.


    He stepped forward and gingerly ced a magical band over her head, careful to not touch any part of her.


    The band immediately tightened down over her mouth.


    You will not speak until judgment is reached. If you give us cause, you will be immediately executed. You remember, thats how these things are handled. Its a formality. We''ll get this off of you as soon as we can. We will not bind your hands. Nod if you understand.


    She nodded, still having trouble focusing, and Paun seemed to have noticed that, if his overwrought exnations were any indication.


    Pull your bloodstars back in your belt.


    She did so, moving them all into their holsters held across the back of her hips.


    Good. You will stand and follow. You will note within arms reach of anyone else, nor will you attempt to touch anyone else. Nod if you understand.


    She nodded. <em>The dasgannach. They can somehow tell that its still in me, and they are concerned about it jumping into someone else.</em>


    T slowly got to her feet, feeling incredibly unsteady.


    No one tried to help her.


    No one darede close.


    Meain was kneeling next to Be-thrics armor, tears pouring down her face, muttering something that T had no hope of hearing without enhanced senses.


    Thron was watching T with evident concern, his eyes asionally flicking to the now empty armor, which had only recently held Be-thric and the Eskau weeping over it.


    <em>I wonder what hes thinking.</em>


    Shed likely find out soon enough. Paun had spoken of a judgment. That meant a trial.


    <em>Wonderful. Im going to be put on trial. Well done, not implicating yourself in Be-thrics death, T. Really, really well done.</em>


    She hesitated, and it took her a moment to realize that she was awaiting ts response. It would have been a marginally insulting jab, meant to pull her out of her dour mood.


    It never came.


    As T followed the victors of the House of Blood, her eyes started to fill with tears.


    Soon, her shoulders were shaking due to great, uncontroble sobs.


    She was alone, utterly andpletely alone once again.


    T, human Mage, captured, enved, raised up as Eskau, and yer of her Pir, walked alone among members of her former House, utterly oblivious of their attention.


    She was dying, despite everything, and she likely wouldnt be given an opportunity to find a solution.


    Even so, all that she could do was mourn the loss of a snarky voice that should have been within her own mind.

 Non-MM, Silly and Fun Chapter: Tek and the Wizards Cat

    Non-MM, Silly and Fun Chapter: Tek and the Wizard''s Cat


    Tek red at his candles, steadily pulsing orange, blue, green, yellow, and back again.


    That meant only one thing within his home. Someone was at the entrance.


    Leaving his book on the side table, Tek pulled open his inner door.


    With one step, he crossed the nar lines, reentering the material world anding into his shadowed foyer. A single step more, this time through shadows, took him to the alcove sixty feet above and just inside his front door.


    The darkness here wasplete. It almost made him content enough to return home. <em>No, the sted spell will keep my candles pulsing for hours if I dont answer.</em>


    Without further time to dally, Tek flung open the door, revealing a sunlit day and an urchin pressing his hand against the metal te beside Teks door.


    Tek red. The human child was nearly as tall as he was. <em>Are they getting bigger?</em> What.


    The boy stepped back in rm. I he hesitated.


    Tek rolled his eyes. What do you want?


    I have a message, sir.


    Tek looked over the boy, again. <em>No, not an urchin a messenger? Then, not a boy. </em>Tek sighed<em>.</em>


    The oldest human would always be a boy to him.


    Tek grimaced. <em>Except a wizard</em>.


    The messenger winced, stepping back, a letter held out in shaking fingers.


    Tek snatched it from the trembling fingers, turning to close his door. Then, he paused. Are messengers still paid a pittance?


    The messenger, who had likewise turned to go, paused. Yes, sir. But it keeps food on the table, and a roof overhead.


    Tek grunted. So does very, but I dont rmend it. He flipped a coin to the boy<em>man.</em>


    Gold caught sunlight as it spun through the air, and Tek shrunk back.


    Catching the coin with ease, the messenger gasped. Sir, I cannot I mean how could I What did I?...Sir?


    The coin was a full Royal from a different kingdom.


    A money changer could make the change, or the gold could be sold by weight, but those were both inconveniences, which was precisely why Tek had given the man enough to feast with for days. Dont squander it.


    The door closed with a <em>thunk</em>.


    Though it took only a moment, when the messenger threw open the door to protest, Tek was gone.


    Only an empty room remained, smaller than a closet and draped in ck cloth. The messenger searched for another exit for longer than he should have. FInally, he sighed, pocketing the coin and closing the door on his way out.


    Tek, 60 feet below, sighed as well. If the man had neglected to close the door, he might have been trapped until nightfall.


    Not that he <em>wished</em> to go out, but it was the principle of the thing.


    A door opened, a step across nes, and theforting <em>clunk </em>of a home secure.


    <em>Peace.</em>


    With a sudden motion, the letter in his hand gnawed at him.


    Tek cursed, shaking his hand and flinging the fanged paper across the room. Itnded on his chair, where it began to tear at the upholstery.


    Cursing again, Tek stepped through shadow to cross the room in an instant, and ripped the letter free, opening it to deactivate the inherent spell.


    Tek,


    I trust that this note will not have caused too much damage before you deigned to read it. I needed to ensure you could not ignore this one.


    Tek nced at the pile of letters on the entry table and grunted.


    I need your help. My cat


    Tek cursed a third time, throwing the letter down. <em>I am </em>not<em> an animal tamer.</em>


    The rustle of paper alerted Tek moments before the lettertched onto his ankle.


    Stifling yet another exmation, he bent down and snatched up the letter. <em>So, I have to finish reading? I wonder how he wove that</em>


    My cat will not listen to me anymore. He simply refuses to hunt the rodents infesting my library.


    If you wont help, I will have to get another of the sted things and restart training from scratch.


    I am desperate.


    Come soon, or my next note will be lessdocile.


    Sincerely,


    Andronous, Wizard, Schr, Ancient


    Tek rolled his eyes, gathering up the twelve letters Andronous had sent and burning them to ash with a flick.


    Andronous was known for sending spells in pieces, each innocuous untilbined.


    To his credit, he had eliminated several rivals that way, as well as forcing help from Tek more times than Tek would admit.


    The tear in his chair irked him, but it sealed with barely a flick of the wrist.


    The bite to his ankle would heal in a matter of hours. <em>Unless he gave the letter venom</em><em>I really should have examined it before destroying the thing.</em>


    A third sigh escaped his lips.


    <em>I suppose I have to go.</em>


    With a quick motion, Tek threw on one cloak, then another.


    Door, nes, shadow to shadow, door, street, people.


    Tek growled, low in his throat; why were there always people?


    He had chosen a quiet street for his permanent door, but time had seemingly increased its poprity.


    A quick check showed no one looking directly at him, and a pull inward,bined with a twist, morphed him into the shape of a cat with a jeweled cor hidden within its long fur.


    Even as a cat, Tek found the streets uninteresting, the people more so.


    Tek stepped from shadow to shadow, never pausing long enough for his presence to be marked, never allowing his passing to cause a stir, and never leaving a trace.


    * * *


    The stoneir of Andronous was impressive, from a material perspective. The very faade dripped with expense.


    Tek ignored it.


    Such trappings were simply a human attempt to leave a legacy upon the world once they passed, whether material or cognitive. S<em>ad, really.</em>


    Tek stepped into afortable shadow, deep within the confines of the building.


    It was a storage closet, by the smell.


    Then, he stepped deeper, emerging into the low light of a fire, burning brightly at the far end of an overstuffed library.


    Three smells assaulted Tek in that instant: fire, barely contained; books, new and ancient, all well cared for; and the unwashed cacophony of rodent kind.


    There had to be hundreds of the things.


    Tek knew that spells kept them from the bookshelves, but for reasons Andronous had never been able to exin, magic couldnt keep them out of the room entirely.


    What madness is this?


    A violently orange cat, perched on one of the taller shelves, locked eyes on him. Oh praise the great utters, youvee!


    Andronous was nowhere to be seen, of course. Tek tried not to sigh as he replied, What are you doing up there, Meleti?


    There are too many, Tek. I I just cant.


    Indeed, too many eyes to quickly count were turning towards Tek, peeking out of corners, and around bits of torn rug.


    The man creature said he sent for you days ago. Why did you note sooner?


    Ignoring the question, Tek stepped through shadow to the top of the bookcase that stood next to Meletis. Have you been up here since the first letter?


    What? You think me mad? This is simply the best ce to see them all. The cat motioned to a hole in the ceiling. I can get in and out through there. The vermin are confined to this room, or so it seems.


    Where did theye from?


    Meleti looked incredulous.


    Right. You dont care. So, why hasnt he gotten rid of them?


    Apparently, its my job. Can you believe that?


    Yes. You agreed to this.


    Did I?


    Yes. You get all the food you want, beds in every part of the pce, and no other cats within the walls. In return, you must deal with vermin.


    Well, that does sound like something I would agree to The cat smiled mischievously before continuing, But youre here, now. You can deal with them.


    No.


    No? No! After everything Ive done for you?


    You have that backwards, Meleti. You are indebted to me. Youve never helped me in any way.


    Humph. He leaned over the edge of the shelf, looking down at the hoards. It would be so messy.


    Youre a cat. Deal with it.


    So are you.


    Would you rather I be a dog?


    Meleti hissed. You wouldnt <em>dare</em>.


    This was getting nowhere. Meleti, please? Andronous is bing annoying, and he is threatening to get another cat.


    Meleti gasped. Well, I never. Wizards break their word so easily these days. I thought we had an arrangement.


    You do. An arrangement <em>you</em> are ignoring.


    My honor is impable.


    Your timing is not.


    Our agreement does not specify the manner in which I deal with the vermin, nor the time table in which I do so.


    Never trust a cats watch.


    Excuse me?


    I said, Never trust a cats watch.


    You take that back!


    No.


    Another hiss. How dare you doubt my honor!


    Will you attack me?


    Yes!


    When?


    Now!


    Tek let out another, long winded sigh. Well, then I guess I have a few days to prepare.


    Meletis eye twitched, and he lunged across the gap between shelves.


    Tek stepped through shadow to the shelf Meleti had just left and sighed again. Meleti, we can do this until Andronous gets a new cat, or you can do what you agreed to do.


    Meletinded with, well, cat-like grace, whipping around to face Tek again. You insult me, then expect me to <em>work</em>?


    Yes.


    Humph. He settled down on the shelf, once again studying the vermin below. They are quite arge n.


    Are you scared?


    Meletis eyes narrowed. Are you tall?


    Tek grunted. If I wish to be, yes. The question stands: Can you honor the bargain or will you ept another cat?


    Those are the options?


    Yes.


    I could give you quite a few dead mice if you change your mind.


    I have no interest in such, and if I killed these mice, what would I need with others, provided by you?


    I could tell you secrets about the man.


    I either know them, dont want to know them, or dont care enough to know them.


    I could introduce you to other animals?


    I make my own introductions.


    I could


    Meleti. The answer is no.


    The cat shifted in irritation. Fine.


    Without another word, he lunged forward and dropped. Three vermin died as hended, and then the blood bath began.


    Tek had no interest in watching. His altered biology made him instinctively desire to pounce as well, to taste rodent flesh. It was an impulse he had never indulged.


    Besides, his ankle and paw were beginning to burn and itch.


    With a step, he was in a formal sitting room, atop Andronouss head.


    The wizard yelped, lunging from his chair and causing Tek to drop lightly to the floor.


    Thrice cursed cat! I


    Tek stood, unfolding into a small humanoid shape once more.


    Tek? You came!


    Tek held out his hand. Anti-venom.


    Andronous handed him a small bottle.


    Oral or topical


    Oral.


    Tek downed the contents and tossed the vial into the fire. Dont ever do that again, wizard.


    Did you get Mutton to do his job?


    Tek twitched at the name. <em>Thats not his name. You know that. </em>Yes. I suggest sending the cleaning staff in a couple of hours. He will be busy until then.


    Excellent.


    The itching faded from Teks ankle. What did your letter inject me with?


    An altered form of urushiol thats poison oak oil.


    Teks eye twitched. So the itching


    Would have been the worst of it This time. The wizard regarded Tek, narrowing his eyes. Honestly, Tek, you shouldnt ignore me.


    Tek ignored the ridiculous threat, holding out his hand. Payment.


    I gave you the anti-venom.


    Which was something that I didnt need, for a venom that you inflicted upon me. Now, pay me, or I will fill this ce so full of rats even a host of cats wont be able to cleanse them all.


    The wizard grimaced in distaste. I dont have anything for you.


    Tek smiled. Excellent. He pulled a piece of paper from one of his many pouches, handing it to the wizard. This will do.


    The wizard looked over the paper, color draining from his face. This is too much. It will take me days to create this.


    That is my price. If you find it too steep, call someone else next time. I will expect delivery within the week.


    With that, Tek stepped from the room.


    He found the nearest closed door and pulled a key from a hidden pocket in his tunic.


    With a quick motion, he unlocked something deeper than the door and opened the side entrance to his own home.


    A key retrieved, a step between nes, and a firmly closed door left him home once again, and separated from the insufferable wizard.


    Happily alone in the pulsing light of his candles.


    Orange, blue, green, yellow.


    Someone was at the door.

 Chapter 255: Unpleasantness

    Chapter 255: Unpleasantness


    T was able to mostly pull herself back together by the time that they reached the main audience hall, where Sanguis sat in his chair, listening to reports and directing the after-battle clean up.


    From the snatches T had heard and processed on the rtively short walk, the two attacking Houses had been driven back with massive casualties. The House of Blood had lost some soldiers, but far fewer than the Houses of the Rising Sun and Acidic Tide.


    When the group loosely surrounding T entered the audience chamber, a hush fell over those present.


    Sanguis stood, meeting his Eskaus gaze. Pir Be-thric?


    Dead, it looked like a Pir of the House of the Acidic Tide managed to nt a working within his flesh before she was ovee.


    The Pir of the House of Blood cursed. Why is her mouth bound?


    T, for her part, sat in a chair that was off to one side, without being out of the way. She moved carefully, being sure not to make sudden movements as well as allowing the guards and others to keep a healthy distance as she took her seat.


    She felt exhausted, and she just wanted to be alone in her grief.


    Mostly, though, she just felt numb.


    Sanguiss eyes flicked to T. As he took in therge gap left around her, they widened.


    Paun nodded. Her cor was triggered, though the pieces have evidence of both void and acidic magics throughout their structure. My belief is that that shouldnt have been enough to trigger the device.


    Sanguis growled. But you said the Acidic Tide Pir is dead?


    His Eskau nodded. Her Eskau as well.


    Thats something at least. He huffed augh. More than something. That makes six Eskau and Pirs of those two Houses lost, and we only lost one.


    Meain growled.


    Sanguis held up his hands. Be-thric <em>was</em> a loss, and a frustrating one at that. His death hurts our House incredibly, but our two brazen adversaries have paid a phenomenally high price for their attack.


    That seemed to mollify the elf, if just barely.


    Clear the room, save Eskau, adjuncts, and myself.


    Everyone else departed, and the doors were closed after them.


    Sanguis had four adjuncts with him at the moment. That was either the privilege or burden of being head Pir for this city. He had more to manage, so he had more adjuncts to help with the management.


    Gallof was there as well, and Thron stayed as befit his station.


    All told, there were ten of them remaining in the room, including T.


    Sanguis returned to his seat. First, we address the unpleasantness in the room.


    Thron and Gallof stepped forward and knelt, speaking as one, in a clearly ceremonial fashion. We swore our lives in service of a Pir of the House of Blood, and he has passed to the next world. Our service is at an end.


    Ts eyes widened. <em>What?</em>


    She felt an odd moment of disjointment as she waited for agreement that would nevere.


    Tears returned to her eyes. <em>Oh, t. Im so, so sorry. If Id been faster</em>


    Meain nced her way, eyes softening slightly before she refocused on the Pir.


    Sanguis grimaced. By right, tradition, andw, you are each given a choice: Simple, quick death to bring honor to your family within the House of Blood and to elevate their position, or exile for yourself and your family.


    Gallof spoke first. I choose death, that my kith and kin would be allowed to serve and rise through the House of Blood.


    Sanguis nodded. Let it be so. Once the other matters are settled, it will be done. Your service was honorable; may you depart our House with honor.


    Thank you, Pir Sanguis.


    The Pir turned to Thron. And you?


    Ive no family in the House of Blood, Pir. I am grateful to the House of Blood and would part ways without enmity.


    T blinked.<em> He was a ve, and if he had never served Be-thric and me, hed have remained a ve to Gallof. This is an absolute win for him.</em>


    She hesitated, considering, the slow gears of her unenhanced mind struggling to continue the thought. <em>Though his position as adjunct was arguably better than whatever hell have after exile.</em>


    Yet again, she felt the odd sinking feeling of expecting a familiar voice to chime in, before remembering that that voice was gone. <em>t is gone</em>


    T had hope that she could get t back soon, but that didnt fill the void that was present in the moment, nor quell the fear that she would die before t could be restored.


    Sanguis nodded once again. Your service was honorable; may you depart our House with honor.


    Gallof looked to Thron and smiled consolingly. Thank you for your service, my friend.


    Thron smiled sadly in return. Thank you for pulling me from the mines.


    There was a moment of silence before Sanguis sighed and looked to Paun. Now, my Eskau, what is to be done with Eskau Tali?


    The obsidian man frowned. That depends on the circumstances of Be-thrics demise, my Pir.


    Thron cleared his throat. Begging your pardon, Eskau, Pir.


    Sanguis raised an imperious eyebrow. Yes?


    As I am still an adjunct to an Eskau of the House of Blood until this matter is settled, I wish to speak.


    I will listen.


    I see no advantage to the House of Blood in determining Eskau Talis ountability or innocence in the death of her Pir.


    Meain nodded. I agree, but I would hear his reasoning.


    Sanguis looked between them. As you say, go on.


    Thron cleared his throat. If she were to be found guilty, the House of Blood would be forced to execute her. That would require a fine be paid to the City Lord, and doing so would show weakness to the other Houses.


    The Pir nodded slowly. Yes, being forced to execute Eskau Tali would beless than ideal.


    And if she were to be found innocent, then we would be forced into two, far worse options. One, the cor failed in some manner, and we would need to pursue action against the City Lord that we can ill afford at this time. Two, we decide that our own Pir Be-thric made an error in hisst moments, and killed the very woman who had brought so much honor to our House and to him in particr.


    Sanguis was frowning. That istrue.


    The Pir looked troubled.


    What say you, Eskau Meain.


    Meain cleared her throat, tears still in her eyes. I mourn Bes death. But if Eskau Tali is responsible, I have no hope of revenge. She was created by Be-thric, against the will of the council, and her actions are, therefore, on him.


    Ts eyes snapped wide, and she looked to Meain with confusion. <em>Shes just going to say it? Just like that?</em>


    Thron had stiffened, and his head jerked as he tried to look at everyone at once.


    <em>Ahh, so he didnt know.</em>


    But the elf wasnt done, I choose, instead, toy his death at the feet of the Houses Rising Sun and Acidic Tide. I will be taking my sce in their fall or at least in their decimation locally. Too long have the other Houses looked down upon us, and too long has our founding family been whittled away. Now? Now, thest drop of that family''s blood has fallen. Be it myst act in Zeme, I will avenge them upon our enemies.


    Sanguis leaned back. And how does my Eskau view these matters?


    Paun looked to T, grimacing. The dasgannach infects her. Her survival is some quirk or oddity, and cannot continue for long. No one survives. That is the guarantee of the City Lord. He gave a rueful smile at that. If she were to survive, we would, once again, be in the position of having to bring action against him whom we cannot afford to oppose at this time. Treat her as dead. Consider the matter closed.


    The Pir looked to Meain. Youve trained her most recently. Does she have knowledge of the Doman-Imithe?


    The elf shook her head. I have given her basic lessons in its nature, but she has never learned how to enter or leave. Her inscriptions are lost, and without them her magic is insufficient to do naught but die in the broken world.


    Then, it is settled. She will be ced in the Doman-Imithe, like all gated human dead, permonw.


    Gallof spoke. If that matter is settled, I request Eskau Paun perform my execution.


    Sanguis nced to his Eskau before nodding. Granted.


    T didnt see Paun move, nor did she see Gallof die.


    <em> I hate being without my enhancements.</em> The world seemed lifeless, and it felt like a cloth sack had been pulled over her head. It wasparatively hard to see and hear, and processing what she did perceive was difficult in the extreme.


    Honestly, shed barely followed what had been said.


    <em>Though, I would remain uninscripted and lesser, forever, if I could have t back</em> More tears built in her eyes. She knew she wasnt being rational at the moment, but she was experiencing <em>heavy</em> emotional whish.


    Blessedly, if she got t back, shed have everything back, but she had a hard time focusing on that.


    Even as she began to spiral once again, she felt an oddpressure, reaching towards the magically worked steel band that sealed her mouth.


    She shuddered, her attention violently drawn to the dasgannach within her. As before, her mind interpreted the instincts and intentions of the thing.


    <strong><em>MINE?</em></strong>


    It clearly didnt have an intellect.


    It could sense the iron within the steel, but there was no clean path to the metal.


    As good as the seal was and as tightly as the metal was pulled against her flesh, there was still ayer of magic around the device that prevented direct contact with her skin, thus preventing the dasgannach from iming it.


    It clearly wanted to, but it would have to abandon her to do so, and it was unwilling to do that while some of her iron remained unimed.


    <em>Thatthat is a bit terrifying, actually.</em>


    T finally realized that people were speaking again, partway through the new conversation.


    Sanguis was nodding again. That is an excellent point. It would be the height of dishonor to strip an Eskau of our House of that which was bestowed upon her, when she has not been convicted of a crime.


    <em>So, they dont want to rob me?</em>


    One of his adjuncts looked incredibly pleased, but another opened their mouth in clear frustration.


    Before they could speak, however, Sanguis raised a hand. That said, we would be fools to waste those resources. The solution is obvious.


    Paun nodded. Someone will watch over her in the Doman-Imithe, and bring back her equipment after she dies. An Eskau is the best choice for this role.


    She sighed internally. <em>Ah, they wont rob me, but theyre happy to take things from my corpse.</em>


    She honestly couldnt me them. In truth, she was a bit surprised. Shed have expected them to demand the disgorgement of all of Kits contents then and there, but shed apparently misjudged them.


    Meain tsked. I will not spend my time thus. As soon as this matter is settled, I intend to purge toiri of two Houses. If I am not sated, I will purge Tralnor and Yendith of those Houses as well. We will see how I feel at that time.


    The obsidian Eskau frowned. Meain, the other Houses are not children. Do not kill yourself on their des in the name of revenge.


    She growled. Fine. She took a great breath. Once this city is purged, I will bend Eskau De-arg to aid me. Half a century of promised solitude should be sufficient to secure his assistance.


    Paun didnt look happy, but he nodded nheless. He would suffice, or you could call upon the Reserve.


    Meain hesitated. Theythey might be the better choice. Thank you for your wisdom, Blessed Paun.


    Sanguis cleared his throat. While I am d to know that we will not be losing <em>another</em> Eskau in the near future, the problem remains. I will not be without Paun in times such as these.


    The Pir frowned, clearly thinking.


    T had no idea what to do. <em>I cant go to the Doman-Imithe. Certainly not under guard. I need to find a way to get this thing out of me!</em>


    Still, she wasnt fool enough to interrupt. If she were them, shed execute her and be done with it. <em>That wasnt confusing at all.</em>


    In any case, she didnt want to tip them towards that seemingly sensible course of action.


    Sanguis looked up, considering Thron. Thorn. Would you do us onest service?


    Pir Sanguis?


    If you escort Eskau Tali into the Doman-Imithe, and watch over her until her final breath, securing her gear after the dasgannach has left her and perished, then we will grant you resources with which to start your new life, outside the House of Blood.


    Thron paled. Revered Pir. I do not have the ability to enter or leave the Doman-Imithe.


    Of course you do not. We will ce the two of you there, and all you must do is survive and be recovered. Items not near a sapient in the Doman-Imithe do not endure long, else we would simply recover themter.


    How long would I need to endure in that ce?


    Threeno, four days to be safe?


    I could die in that time.


    You could, it is a risk, but we are willing to pay you for that risk.


    If I seed. His tone was t, clearly not pleased with the proposal.


    Of course, no job pays before the work is done.


    Thron nced towards T seeming to consider something. Finally, he turned back towards Sanguis, grimacing. II will do this, but I want the right to im any one item from her Sanctum in addition to all other rewards, and I want assurances that my im will be uncontested.


    <em>He wants the concept sword. Clever.</em>


    Sanguis hesitated for only a moment before smiling. Granted.


    Hed clearly decided that whatever trinket or treasure Thron wanted, it was a worthy price to pay.


    <em>More the fool, him.</em> She felt like giving Thron a congrattory pat on the back, if his fortune wouldnte about only after her death.


    The dwarf and the Pir discussed the actual amount and contents of the reward for a short time before they came to an agreement.


    One of Sanguiss adjuncts drew up the contract, and the Pir and Thron each bound their power to the document. Paun and Meain did likewise, acting as witnesses and additional weight behind the agreement.


    And so, it is done.


    Meain pped her hands, blood still sttered across her face and armor. Am I needed?


    Only for onest thing. Sanguis gestured and another adjunct came forward. We must all sign and attest to this. I will see that it is delivered to the City Lord.


    The Pir, Eskau, and adjuncts all wove their magic into the simple document.


    Then, one of the adjuncts received orders from Sanguis and departed with the paper in hand.


    T <em>barely</em> caught a glimpse of it as it passed, and only its incredibly simple,rge print made her able to see what it said, Eskau Talis cor was triggered, and her body is to be deposited into the Doman-Imithe within the hour.


    Simple, to the point, and utterly true.


    <em>Clever.</em>


    t was not there toment.


    Meain stopped near where T sat. I am sorry things are ending this way, Tali. Id have liked to have met you before


    T frowned in confusion. <em>What?</em>


    The elf shook her head. But that was not meant to be. May your soul find peace.


    Without another word, the elf departed. Only then did Ts seemingly cially slow mind provide answers. <em>She was saying that she wished she could have met me before Be-thric mind-wiped me.</em>


    T had no idea how to process that, not really.


    Sanguis was talking again. Paun, Thorn, please see it done. Thorn, we will see you again in a few days.


    Thron bowed. As you say, Pir Sanguis. It was an honor to serve.


    Paun approached T. Will you need to be led, or can you follow?


    T sighed, exhaling a puff through her nose, then she tiredly pointed at the band.


    Ahh, yes. That should no longer be needed, but I advise you to only speak when spoken to. Do you understand?


    She nodded.


    He snapped, and the magics deactivated around the band.


    At that moment, a fascinating, and horrifying, thing happened.


    T felt the authority of the dasgannach reach out through her now direct skin-contact with the steel and <em>seize</em> all the iron with the device in an instant.


    That action had no outward consequences, but as the band expanded, opening to fall away, T once again heard the screech of intent and instinct tranted through her mind.


    <strong><em>NO! MINE!</em></strong>


    The cor puffed to dust, the carbon, and other elements falling free. The iron being jerked backward to pull hard against her skin, where it melded with the iron paint already covering her.


    Everyone in the room froze.


    What was that? Sanguis had only seen what happened out of the corner of his eyes.


    Paun frowned, taking a step back. The dasgannach imed and retained the iron from within the band of restriction.


    The Pir stood, walking to stand by his Eskau. That should not be possible.


    I concur, but these creatures were designed to exceed their own existence and then to die. The obsidian man scratched his chin. We need to get her into the Doman-Imithe, <em>now</em>. If it has mutated somehow, we do not want it loose within our hold.


    Wait, wait! Thron caught their attention. I dont want to be near it, if its acting unexpectedly.


    Sanguis red for a brief moment, then sighed. I can understand that, Elder dwarf. If you wish to simply depart, we will not stop you.


    Thron hesitated at that, seeming almost to shift from foot to foot, clearly weighing the danger with the suddenly increased potential risk. Finally, he shook his head. No. I will do as you have asked.


    <em>It seems that a chance at a concept sword lessens the fear from many potential dangers.</em>


    Palluan grunted. Then, we must hurry, before things deviate beyond our understanding once again.

 Chapter 256: Hole

    Chapter 256: Hole


    T followed Paun and Thron through the broken hallways and rooms of the House of Bloods hold.


    Just before they went out into the city, Paun pointed towards her, and she <em>almost</em> felt magics wrap around her.


    Thron jumped slightly, his eyes sliding off of her when he tried to look her way. Invisibility?


    Paun quirked a smile. Nothing so crude. You can consider it a perception filter. No one will see her.


    The dwarf looked skeptical. Is it a perception filter, though?


    No. The Eskau turned and walked away, T and Thron following without a word.


    <em>I could try to make a run for it, but Id be insane if I thought Id get away from Paun.</em>


    With nothing else she could really do, she stayed with the other two.


    The walk through the city passed quickly, with Paun ensuring that she stayed a good distance from everyone they passed.


    <em>Yeah, lets not let the dasgannach gain sovereignty over anything else.</em> She still didnt know what to think about its iming of the iron in the band of restriction. <em>This creature seems like it is modified </em>far<em> from a standard specimen of the species.</em>


    She almostughed at that. What did she really know about them? Very, very little.


    It wasnt long before the Eskau of the House of Blood and the two former members arrived at a building that resembled nothing so much as a hexagonal gazebo, made entirely of obsidian, with solid sides.


    It was situated near the center of arge park, and to Ts surprise, she thought shed been to this park before, though she couldnt remember exactly when.


    <em>Stupid broken brain, not able to remember such simple things</em>


    Paun ced his hand on one side, and the volcanic ss folded away from him, revealing a doorway.


    It was odd, seeing the man touch something so close to his own skin-tone. His hand almost seemed to vanish for a moment.


    <em>Or, he used magic that caused that effect.</em> She was incredibly irritated that she didnt actually know which it was.


    The wall closed behind them, once they were all inside, and Throns slight jerking let her know that the magics around her were gone.


    Right this way. Paun led them into the center of the open space to where a disk of the material was raised above the floor.


    Thron examined it. This is what it takes to go between Zeme and the Doman-Imithe?


    No.


    The dwarf paused, clearly expecting more. When it didnte, he huffed. Just No?


    Yes.


    Thron quirked a smile, but then, the smile faded. Thats a very small tform.


    It is.


    So well have to stand close together?


    Paun shrugged. No. There will be a hole.


    Thron visibly rxed, then stiffened. We have to jump in?


    It will be a horizontal hole.


    So a tunnel?


    No, there will be no depth.


    Thron opened his mouth to argue further, then paused. A momentter, he closed his mouth and frowned. Huh.


    The Eskau turned to T, his expression unreadable. Tali?


    She lifted her gaze from the ck disk to the man addressing her. You know, its pretty hard to focus on you, when youre the exact same color as the stuff behind you.


    He grinned at that, his perfectly white teeth standing out in an incredibly creepy way.


    <em>Wait were his teeth always white? </em>She had no idea. <em>But what other color would they have been?</em>


    Good to see you arent utterly broken.


    That soured her mood. Yes, it is good to be whole before I die.


    He nodded. There is wisdom in that, yes. Had I known youd be wiser as you closed in on death, Id have pushed you harder.


    She chuckled lightly, but it faded to silence when his expression didnt change. In the end, T just grimaced.


    When shed stopped making noise, he continued, But I wanted to say something, before you depart.


    T waited.


    What Be-thric did to you you wont understand this, but I want you to know, if we had known what he was going to try, we would have stopped him.


    Who is we? And what would you have stopped? She had to be careful, here. She couldnt let her curiosity reveal her not-Tali-ness. <em>Yeah, thats a good descriptor. Right?</em>


    She hitched at theck of response from t.


    Tali?


    T jerked her focus back to Paun. My apologies my mind Im not thinking correctly.


    He sighed. I was afraid there might be degradation now that Be-thric is dead, but that is no matter. I have said my piece, and I wont be answering any questions. You will go through first, immediately, and Thron will follow after.


    The dwarf raised an eyebrow, likely at the use of his real name.


    Paun smiled. Youre no longer a member of the House of Blood. You dont need to keep the fiercer name.


    Thron huffed. I suppose thats true enough. Thron will do just fine for me, once again. His eyes narrowed. That doesnt invalidate my contract.


    Of course not. It was keyed to your magic and concept, nothing as transitory as a name.


    Good, I thought not.


    Palluan and Thron sped hands. I will reopen this hole in three days time.


    The dwarf hesitated. Wait. If she dies too soon, her sanctum wont hold out until then. Itll break apart, and I wont be able to fulfill my part of the deal.


    Paun waved that away. The Doman-Imithe has already solved that issue. Simply bring the gear back, and all will be well.


    But


    Paun raised a hand. No. I will not teach you on this subject; you can use your own eyes and mind. The big man tossed a pack to Thron.


    T hadnt seen where it hade from, and that was surprising given its size. <em>He had it in his own sanctum? Does he have his sanctum on him somewhere?</em>


    Food, water, and diversion for both of you for a few days. No need for her to go hungry before the end.


    T found the sentiment oddly affecting and swallowed back some tears. Thank you, Paun.


    He waved that off.


    <em>Wait why would we need that? I have my sanctum.</em>


    Paun pped his hands together and magic swirled.


    T could <em>just barely</em> feel and see the edges of the power.


    The world broke and opened.


    There was no other description of it.


    There was suddenly a hole in the world, just as Paun had stated, through which T could see wrongness.


    <em>Yes, great description, T. Wrongness.</em> She grimaced at her ownck of descriptive ability.


    The edges of the hole danced with what might have been void magics, but she couldnt perceive well enough to tell.


    The most prominent feature through the hole was a simple, ck obsidian wall, looking almost identical to what actuallyy on the other side of the space the hole upied.


    There was, however, something <em>wrong</em> with the space through that hole.


    T took a step back. What the rust?


    Paun shook his head. You go through, or I have to kill you and throw your body through. Please dont make me do that.


    She nced to his face and had no doubt, whatsoever, that he was serious.


    She swallowed, hesitating only a moment longer, and stepped through.


    That first footfall felt off.


    Like going down the stairs and finding one step just a <em>bit</em> closer or further than expected.


    She didnt stumble, but it felt ufortable.


    As she moved through the hole in the world fully, she began to feel every wrinkle and crease in her perfectly fitted clothes, every ke of iron paint, every fleck of sweat and dirt that shed acquired through the day''s battle.


    <em>That was all today?</em> It felt like at least two weeks ago that the other Houses had invaded the hold of the House of Blood.


    The smooth volcanic ss beneath her bare feet had a thousand, thousand variations, undtions, and miniscule ridges.


    Even with her enhanced senses, she wouldnt have been able to feel all of it, and yet, even without those senses, she somehow did feel every little bit.


    The heaviness of her body, and herck of active magical enhancement to her strength, hit her like a ton of bricks, and she gritted her teeth as that physical strain came to the forefront of her thoughts.


    Strangest of all, however, was her gate.


    The throughput was still the same, dumping an ufortable amount of power into her body with nothing for it to be used on, but it felt like it wasing from a greater distance, like someone had added length to the faucet of power.


    She had no idea how she could feel that, but she could.


    A shiver ran through her, and she <em>felt</em> her skin contract to form goosebumps, the little hairs all over her body shifting in a cavalcade of senses that would have been overwhelming to her even before she lost her mental augmentations.


    She stumbled then, catching herself on the obsidian wall with one hand.


    She jerked that hand back as her palm began to burn, while her fingers almost stuck to the frozen material.


    <em>Hot and cold at the same time? Just in slightly different locations? How havent they equalized?</em>


    She just felt grateful that the ground seemed to be a uniform, slightly ufortable cold. <em>And now that Ive noticed that, it wont go away</em>


    She turned back towards the hole, doing her best to force down the seemingly infinite, slightly-off sensations.


    First, she noticed that on this side of the hole there was only the raised round tform and the one wall of obsidian that seemed like the Zeme side. The rest of the space was open to the outside, but she didnt really look that way, yet.


    Next, she saw Thron stepping through and grimacing, presumably feeling simr disjointment to T.


    The hole vanished as soon as the dwarf was through, and T was confronted with whaty beyond.


    Or, more urately, she was confronted with what <em>didnt</em>y beyond, and whaty within that gap.


    <em>That makes no sense.</em>


    Some five feet beyond where the hole had been, the ground fell away.


    Only once shed taken that in, did she look up.


    Her blood ran cold.


    Whatever chunk of ground they were standing on seemed to be spinning slowly because the vista beyond was falling away in an odd, slow sort of dance.


    She could see uncountable fragments of rock and earth scattered around in a kaleidoscope of spinning, twirling, ever-moving, utterly silent madness.


    Some were just in material: crags of granite, mounds of dirt, spheres of water, but others were more.


    One, briefly visible through the maelstrom, had trees growing out of every side of it, their roots intertwining to form attice-like cage.


    In that small nce before it was hidden from view, T thought she saw that cage packed with skeletons, all looking in her direction.


    Another seemed to have two fountains that were spraying outside of their own basin, the water arching oddly tond in the other, presumably in an endless cycle, which defied reason.


    There were too many, and too varied, for her toprehend, especially with her mundane mind.


    <em>Rusting gold eating slime.</em>


    Thergest pieces she could see were only a few hundred feet in any dimension save one that was almost fully fallen out of sight.


    That one seemed to be nearly a thousand feet long, and had a oddly familiar shape, though she couldnt ce it.


    It called to her, but she resisted the urge to take a running leap to reach it.


    Even so, T found herself carefully walking to the edge, her every step sending oddly echoing resonant sounds through the space.


    <em>Feet on stone do </em>not<em> make that sound</em> Though, she couldnt ce what the sound actually should be from.


    Leaning out, over the sheer drop, she examined therge mass once more.


    When it was almost out of sight once again, she felt <em>something</em> stir, and a great eye opened upon its surface.


    T jerked back before it could focus and orient on her.


    She stumbled away from the edge, tripping over her own feet and falling tond on the raised obsidian. She kept herself from calling out in surprise, but just barely.


    Thron was beside her in an instant, though he kept out of reach. What is it? What did you see?


    She swallowed. Something massive.


    The dwarf looked incredibly ufortable. Were spinning fairly quickly. Id rather we not still be here, when ites around again.


    Agreed. T instantly understood what he meant. <em>We can discuss things in my Sanctum.</em>


    Even so, she was shaking as she pulled at Kit on her belt.


    The pouchs strap didnt dissolve as she was expecting. <em>What?</em>


    She tried to open Kit, but the pouch remained sealed. What?


    Thron had been watching. Thats probably why Paun gave us this.


    He lifted the pack that he had slung onto his back before letting it fall back into ce


    It seems that dimensional storage items dont work here.


    In a panic, T ced her hand on Kit, and found stability? <em>What is going on?</em>


    She couldnt properly feel what was happening, but she could sense enough to feel that Kit was fine and in an odd way, dormant, at least with rtionship to her.


    T felt sure that the inside was untouched, and somehow stable, but Kit was using almost no power.


    She didnt understand why, but there it was.


    <em>Im d that Kit still has capacity for all the power Im dumping into it.</em>


    That wouldntst forever, though.


    A voice of an oft forgotten passenger piped up in the momentary, awkward silence.


    What have you done to me? Robs voice cracked out into the silence, seeming to shatter something.


    T winced, but then, she was suddenly able to hear the distance chucks bumping or sloshing into one another, the grinding of stone on stone, the skittering of ws.


    She looked around in a panic, but the sound seemed to be as nonsensical as everything else, changing without ever really revealing its source.


    Thron had pped his hand down over his pocket. Were in the Doman-Imithe, Rob. Shhh.


    The broken world? The orbs voice dropped to a whisper. What madness brought us here?


    I thought you paid attention to what happened around you?


    I was bored, so I was pretending to sleep. It seems that I did too good a job.


    Thron grumbled. I wish youd continue.


    T felt a small smile tug at her lips, but it faded as her own internal voice remained silent.


    <em>Ill get you back, t.</em>


    So, do we stay here, or?


    The dwarf grimaced. Im supposed to be here, at this location, to bring out your gear after you die.he gave her a searching lookCare to share why that hasnt happened yet?


    She shrugged. I created a bonding spellform inside my finger, using my blood as a medium. The dasgannach doesnt want to bond me, so it wont eat the working, but it also doesnt want to leave any iron unimed, so it wont leave. Were at an impasse.


    Thron blinked at her for a long moment, then barked augh before quickly covering his own mouth.


    Yeah, its a pretty odd turn of events.


    The dwarf grunted. Id say so, yeah. I wont im to know much about bonding workings, but I didnt think you could create them within yourself. Orhe frownedIsnt it just a bad idea? I confess, Ive likely no idea what Im talking about.


    Youre not supposed to? I think it has something to do with creating a protian weapon though, at least those for the House of Blood, but thats just a guess.


    He grunted. So, youre not going to die?


    Probably not in the short term? Its a problem Im working on. She decided not to tell him that she was on a clock. <em>No need to put the idea that my death is inevitable into his head.</em>


    That puts a damper on my ns.


    I noticed that. I cant say Im sorry.


    He quirked a smile. Id imagine you wouldnt be, no.


    You want the concept sword, right? Thats what youre hoping to im?


    Thron jerked his head to the side, ncing towards where the hole had been. Quiet, girl. If they learn thats on the table, theyll kill me before the contract can bepleted.


    She arched an eyebrow. The contract that requires me to die?


    He hesitated. Well yes.


    I cant say Im too worked up over it, then.


    He glowered at her. Its not like I <em>want </em>you to die. But if I can get that item? I cant say Ill be sad about that part.


    You know, you could just kill me now and be done with it.


    What, and be alone in here for three days? That seems like a poor choice.


    She snorted. The conversation was helping her keep her mind off the <em>wrongness</em> of well everything.


    Unfortunately, just realizing that that reminded her, and she nced up.


    A momentter, she frowned. Thron?


    Yes, Tali?


    She hesitated. <em>No, no reason to correct him on my name. Not now, if ever.</em> How fast do you think were spinning?


    No idea. I have no idea how big this fragment is, so


    No, no. Look up. Tell me how fast you think we should do a full circuit.


    He looked up hesitantly, clearly not liking the oddity of their surroundings any more than she did. After a moment, he frowned. Fast. As in, I would assume that were doing a full rotation every few minutes.


    Thats what I thought, but weve been here more than a few minutes, and I havent seen any repetition.


    He nodded. Ive been trying not to look too closely, but some things <em>definitely </em>stood out, and I havent seen those again.


    Without really deciding to, they both stood, staring upward.


    Neither really tracked the time, but it wasnt short.


    There was an odd lulling and pulling at their minds, like a nightmare that didnt want to let them wake up.


    The horrifyingly <em>off</em> scenery never repeated itself, and there was no indication that their chuck was moving rtive to the rest, aside from their spin.


    Thats disconcerting.


    Throns voice broke Ts almost hypnotized focus, and she jerked her eyes off the world above. Yeah.


    They both lowered their gazes, shuddering and shaking themselves.


    So,he scratched at his eyebrowwhats your n? I have to believe you have one.


    She huffed a quietugh. That would be wonderful, wouldnt it?


    She shook her head.


    I I need to do something. I have this thing imbedded all through me.


    The reminder seemed to make Thron take a step back, though he hadnt been close to begin with.


    Yeah. I need to think.


    Thron grunted. Very well. Ill see what we have in the pack.


    With a smile, she sat down off to one side, closing her eyes and trying to shut out the oddities of the Doman-Imithe.


    <em>Alright, T. I need a n.</em>

 Chapter 257: Sight

    Chapter 257: Sight


    T sat in the disjointed ce known as the Doman-Imithe.


    Shed been sent there to die, but she hadntplied, at least not yet.


    A dasgannach was ready and willing to rip all the iron out of her, as soon as her Archon star was no longer preventing that.


    The only reason she wasnt dead already was because there was iron in the blood that made up her slowly growing Archon star, and the dasgannach wouldnt leave until it had imed <em>all</em> the iron.


    It would have already imed the iron in the star too, but dasgannachs dont bond. This one was heavily magically modified, so she hadnt known if that would hold true, but it definitely seemed to, at least so far.


    <em>Thats right, T, review where you are, so you can see where youre going.</em>


    Kit was sealed to her, the Doman-Imithe apparently put at least dimensional storage items into an odd semi-stasis. With Terry in Kit, T was basically alone.


    <em>Well, Throns here, but hes only here to await my death. Unless I can convince him otherwise.</em> That was probably going to be required one way or another, regardless.


    The dwarf sat a little ways away, sorting through the pack that Paun had given him.


    T had no inscriptions, and that lowered her capacities to an incredible degree.


    But all those were medium to long term issues.


    In the short term?


    Kit was almost full of power, and when that happened, shed have nowhere for her power to go.


    Nothing she could think of would actually use up her magical energy.


    She was purposely using as little as possible to pour into the creation of the Archon star in her finger, because once that was full, her time was up.


    Normally, shed prided herself on an incredible flowrate through her gate, but this might be a situation where that would bite her, <em>hard</em>.


    <em>I wish I could see the magic around me clearly enough to determine if simply dumping my power into the environment would be detrimental.</em>


    She could see this ce being fairly magically barren, and her power bing like a beacon, summoning who knows what to kill her.


    It could also be the case that the Doman-Imithe would distort and alter itself in unknowable ways in the presence of ambient magics.


    She just had no way of knowing, and what little of her magesight remained, now impressed into her natural magics through repeated use, wasnt nearly detailed enough to even let her take a guess.


    <em>And I didnt research it, because I didnt expect to ever be without my inscriptions.</em> She grimaced.


    What she needed more than anything else was information.


    <em>Huh. Wait a minute </em>She grinned. <em>That just might help.</em>


    She opened her eyes, ced a hand on Flow where it hung at her belt, and directed power into it, purposely not using any void-channels to amplify her flowrate.


    Flow took basically all the magicing through her gate to take on the form of a void-knife, only leaving the fraction that she was directing into her left ring finger.


    The pressure within her body instantly lessened, and she let out a relieved breath. <em>Well, thats a nice fringe benefit.</em>


    She wouldnt have to deal with excess magic, at least not in the short term. <em>At least not until I need to sleep.</em>


    But that isnt the only reason shed pushed Flow into a void-form.


    She could <em>feel</em> something around her eyes as her void-sight opened.


    She was greeted by a cacophony of sights so convoluted, that she instantly snapped her eyes shut against the insanity.


    It felt like shed gotten two ck eyes, and now some overly helpful person was trying to shove ice against them, but was applying entirely too much pressure.


    T took seven long, measured breaths.


    <em>Four count in.</em>


    <em>Hold for four.</em>


    <em>Four count out.</em>


    <em>Hold for four.</em>


    And around it went.


    Finally, she was able to master herself enough to try again.


    She cracked her eyes open to a squint and was able to barely perceive through the gap.


    It was a lot.


    Cords of reality crisscrossed everything.


    The floating chunks, like the one she currently sat on, seemed to be knots manifested in the tangle of fragmented reality.


    As to whaty between the strands?


    Nothing.


    Not the nothing in the sense of theres nothing there.


    Truly nothing.


    Void magics and power clung to the strands of reality, hugging tightly over it all like a skin.


    There wasnt even void in the nothing, which made absolutely no sense at all.


    T couldnt look away for what felt like an incredibly long span of time. Though, whether it was an instant or a day, she had no idea.


    The fact that Thron didnt speak to her, or throw something, meant it probably wasnt actually that long, but the experience seemed to put that to lie.


    Finally, she pulled her vision away from the nothingness, and focused on the void-coated-reality threads.


    <em>Alright, so no jumping between fragments to search for another way out.</em> Something deep within her was assured that anything entering the nothing would cease on the instant.


    She followed one strand, which led within and down a small walking path that quickly passed from sight off to the side.


    This path had been there from the beginning, along the edge of the shear drop past the obsidian wall, but shed not really focused on it because of well, everything else.


    Given what shed seen of the other fragments, T would have expected such a path to go nowhere, and since she couldnt see where it was going, any spection was just that: spection.


    However, she could perceive the reality thread, and that continued.


    <em>Ill have to actually move around to see if I can figure out how this ce works</em>


    Then, as she looked around with squinted eyes, she saw another oddity.


    Floating over the obsidian disk, right where theyde through into the Doman-Imithe, was a small something, extending from the threads of reality.


    T got up and walked closer, ignoring Throns grunt of surprise and questioning gaze.


    She approached the <em>something</em>, which looked like nothing so much as a lump woven into the thread, and she examined it.


    <em>What are you?</em>


    Unlike most threads, this one didnt have material wrapped around it, and seemed to extend into nowhere, without ending.


    She had a <em>feeling</em> that it continued a few hundred feet behind her, and when she nced that way, she saw another strand that almost seemed to being out of nothing, while feeling like it connected to the one in front of her.


    <em>This ce makes no sense at all</em>


    Even so, she needed to learn.


    Thus, she reached out to attempt to feel the odd nodule.


    She could<em> almost</em> feel it as her hand came close, but she couldnt quite touch it. In fact, it seemed to slip away from her fingers as they got close, the reality of her flesh repelling the outside of the void-skin on the thread.


    <em>Fascinating. Maybe, void magics?</em>


    Since she couldnt touch it with her hands, she moved close, pressing her eye to the lump, and the void-magics flowing through that part of her seemed to <em>snap</em> into ce.


    After an odd sort of sh, she was looking into the obsidian gazebo from which theyde with the eye shed used to connect with the lump.


    Paun had departed, and it was a simple, empty space.


    She gasped, jerking back.


    Thron jumped to his feet, looking around in rm. What is it?


    T ignored him for a moment longer, her eyes wide now, searching along the threads of reality, finding at first a few, then a few dozen, then hundreds, and finally too many protuberances to count.


    <em>Touchpoints to Zeme.</em> She sat heavily, wincing at the impact with the hard surface, but she couldnt be deterred. She let Flow fall out of its void-form and her eyes return to normal.


    Tali?


    T looked to the dwarf. We have some things to discuss. Im pretty sure I can get out of here.


    Throns eyes widened. Really?


    She hesitated. Well, Ive got the beginnings of an idea.


    He huffed at that but didnt interrupt.


    I think if I can find a safe ce toe through, I can test my theories. Now? Now, I can see into Zeme, so finding such a ce should be possible.


    When she didnt continue, Thron nodded. I think I understand what you are saying. What I dont understand is why I should allow you to try?


    T took a deep breath. <em>First gamble, here Ie.</em> Because you shoulde with me.


    He narrowed his eyes but didnt interrupt.


    You obviously want the item, but there are other things that I can offer.


    Oh? He leaned forward. Im listening.


    Firstly, I would give you the item once we were free, obviously. While Id like the opportunity to study it, but it would be yours, free and clear.


    He grunted.


    In that regard, I am a superior supplier to the House of Blood, because if I give it to you, no one will know you have it. Even if they are sworn to not interfere with your possession of it, rumors get around.


    He grimaced but didntment.


    Second, I stole a book on advancement from the House of the Rising Sun.


    His back straightened slightly. If such a thing were justying about, it was likely generalities or even misinformation.


    I got it from a protected vault. The same ce I got the logs and ledgers I handed over to you.


    He leaned back, then. Likely to give himself time to think, he pulled out a loaf of brown bread, and stuffed butter into it before taking a big bite. Around the first mouthful, he prompted her, Go on.


    She made a motion with her hands, and he rolled his eyes before starting to prepare some for her too. Thank you. Well, Id bring you with me, if you wanted to go.


    He swallowed. Where?


    The human cities.


    One bushy, silver eyebrow raised. Youre going to the human cities?


    Thats the n.


    A former Eskau of a major House.


    Well, that wasnt the n, but its how it is.


    Theyll kill you before you can get within a hundred miles.


    She pointed to herself. Why would you assume that? Im human, remember?


    He grunted and scratched his beard. Thats true, I suppose. So, youll get within a dozen miles before they kill you. They arent a peaceful people, Tali. They kill and take,y waste to thend and just leave it to heal on its own without regard to the harm theyve done.


    Wait a minute. She frowned. Nothing hed said was<em> wrong</em>, per se, but it wasnt really a fair representation, either. That is a rather biased characterization.


    Thron hesitated, taking another bite. He tossed her her buttered bread and chewed in silence. After swallowing, he shrugged. That may be so, but neither you or I know different.


    Well Thats the thing. I <em>do</em> know different.


    The bread was halfway to his mouth for another bite, but it paused, slowly lowering. Go on.


    She took a deep breath. So, Be-thric kidnapped me from the humannds, mind-wiped me, and inserted a fake personality into my head to control my body, and I only just recovered myself right before the fight for our raising to the positions of Eskau and Pir.


    The dwarf blinked at her a few times, then set the bread aside. His skin had paled, and there was a mix of confusion and anger in his eyes. Come again?


    Which part?


    Overall, he seemed rather ruffled as he responded, All of it. You will tell it all to me again, but this time slower and with more detail, please.


    She grimaced but nodded. It will be abridged, but when you agree, Ill tell you more, while we walk. Rust, Ill throw in the answer to almost any question you want to ask to sweeten the deal.


    He simply grunted, waiting.


    So, she gave him the five-minute version, which was <em>very</em> light on details.


    At the end, Thron leaned back, scrubbing his face with his hands.


    That is a <em>lot</em> to parse.a frown stole over his featuresSo, youre telling me that you never wanted to win? You whipped us all to what? Pretend?


    I had no idea the dynamics of the situation. Be-thric could have erased me again on a whim for all I knew. I needed to be a prominent figure so he couldnt make me disappear.


    The silver bearded dwarf sighed at that but nodded. I can understand that, I suppose. He grimaced. What he did to you I dont have words for that.


    She shrugged, feeling a bit awkward talking about it. It wasnt great, and Ill not sign up for it again. I cant even say that it doesnt give me nightmares, but hes dead.


    He is at that Thron shook his head. So, youre a human from the wild cities up north. He huffed a cautiousugh. That does exin quite a few things, if Im being honest.


    So, you see? Ill be weed back with open arms to the human cities, and they are <em>not</em> how you describe them, at least not in the way you put it. You can make anything sound bad if you word it right.


    Thats true enough, I suppose. He grimaced. I would like that book, though I dont know if it will really be helpful.


    It could be. She smiled broadly in what she hoped was a convincing sort of way.


    Stop that. Its creepy.


    She let her smile fall. Sorry


    As fascinating as it would be to see the human cities, Id stand out like a diminutive boulder, rolling through their streets.


    We can get you a through-spike to make you look human. Youre only a little shorter than a short human. Sure, youre built like a bull, but that just makes you look like you fight for a living, which is true. Youd be unusual, sure, but not instantly recognizable as nonhuman.


    He sighed. What would I even do in the human cities? Sightseeing for a bit would be interesting and all, but thats not a life.


    What were you nning on doing away from the human cities?


    He red at her. Serving as your adjunct, until you went and mucked that up.


    T winced. Ahh, yes.


    He sighed, shaking his head. But what youre really asking is: What would I do if I didnt go with you? If I let you die, took the sword and left?


    She nodded.


    Im not sure. I dont really have any connections here on this little continent. Id probably try to cross the water to head back home. Returning with a concept weapon would gain me standing, and fighting well with one would me power. If nothing else, the House of Blood has honed me as a fighter, though Id still need to get used to a non-morphic weapon. Our practice has helped, but I have a lot of ingrained habits still to work through. Battle prowess reigns supreme on the other continent. Its a brutal ce over there, not like here.


    T snorted, but Thron didnt look like he was joking.


    Here, the Houses follow the lead of City Lords and remain mostly civil. There? There are no City Lords, not really. Whichever House gains sway lords it over the others, trying to drive them out and usually seeding in the end. Its anarchy, or near enough. There is no consistency in thews between cities, and changes in leadership often cause sweeping alterations even within a given territory.


    How is that sustainable?


    It isnt, not really. There is stability these days, in the sense that most cities are controlled by singr Houses, and they only wage war when theyre bored, or there is some perceived slight. Even so, the foundation of the ce is rickety at best.


    How do they have protian weapons, away from the humannds? Or do they use a different method for the ruling and determining of major Houses?


    He gave her an odd look, then shook his head. I suppose youd have no way of knowing: Gated humans are bred and traded like prized steeds. There is an art to their rearing, and most arent harvested until they are quite advanced in years or until their masters have a need for their gates.


    Ahh So, golden cages all around?


    Some more golden than others, but yes, for the most part.


    She sighed. Well, Id be interested in seeing the other continent when Im a bit more powerful.


    Heughed. Youd need to be at least a few ranks higher before youd be able to keep yourself out of too much trouble.


    Or have a way of not seeming human?


    That might work, if you were <em>exceedingly </em>careful.


    Well, then. Come with me to the human cities. See what no arcane has been freely shown, then well go back to your home in the next hundred years or so.


    He grimaced.


    What?


    Arcane, as in arcanous beast? Thats sort of a slur, Tali. He hesitated. But thats not your name, is it?


    Well, no. My name is T. She frowned. You know, I think I remember hearing that arcane was a slur. I apologize for that. I didnt mean anything by it.


    He shrugged. Its a funny thing. You said I was built like a bull, and I took it for apliment, butpare me to a <em>magical</em> creature, and suddenly its a slur? He shook his head. Cultures are odd like that, I suppose. I appreciate the apology.


    She perked up. So?


    I really have no interest in going to the humannds T. Her name seemed odding from him for the first time.


    Oh, I see.


    He hesitated. One major issue is that, nothing you can offer me, long term, will matter if you die.


    She opened her mouth to object, but he raised his hand to forstall her.


    He shrugged. That said, you do offer a far morepelling option for me. If you can get us out of the Doman-Imithe, away from toiri without getting caught, I am in. He held up a finger. But you turn over the sword and book the <em>instant</em> we are out of here. Agreed?


    Agreed. She grinned. Oh, thank you, Thron!


    He held up his hands, forestalling her joy. Well, this works out much better for me. It costs me nothing to let you try. Id be a fool to be unwilling to let you <em>see</em> if you can get out. If you cant? Then, nothing has changed, and we only need to wait a few more days. If it does work? Then, that has the potential to give me great gains. All that said, what about you? I mean, honestly, how are you going to handle that slime in your system?


    Im working on it. Since were parting ways after were out of here, you dont really need to concern yourself.


    He frowned at that, then shook his head. I dont want you to die, T. Ive still not fully processed what was done to you, but even without that, Id rather you lived.


    Well then, if I need to bounce around any ideas, Ill be sure to talk with you.


    That sounds reasonable.


    <em>Now, I just need to actuallye up with some ideas</em> Regardless, she put a smile on her face and stood back to her feet. Alright, then! Lets see what I can find.

 Chapter 258: Voidsight

    Chapter 258: Voidsight


    T stood, finishing off her buttered bread and smiling to her minder. Ready?


    Thron quickly donned his pack with their supplies and nodded, keeping well out of arms reach.


    She shook her head but didntment. Instead, she directed her power into Flow once more, giving the weapon its void-knife form and herself voidsight.


    Throns face twitched. Thats never not terrifying, even now that Im more used to it.


    Used to it? Wait, you can see it? Her through-spike should disguise her physical oddities and manifestations of power to most observers.


    He shrugged. Hints, yes, which honestly makes it creepier. Its like seeing a monster out of the corner of your eye, but when you turn, theres no trace of it. As to the other, you practice with your weapon''s void-forms enough that I get the sense of your eyes changing rather regrly.


    Oh, umm. Fair enough. She turned away from the slightly awkward conversation and examined the world around her, getting her bearings.


    A few long breath cyclester, she was able to process the deluge of information, and she was back in rtivemand of her faculties and ready to continue on.


    Well follow this path first.


    Lead the way.


    T set off down the walking path, biasing herself toward the inside of the narrow way.


    She was following a thread of reality, and as she walked, she continued to find a rock path running parallel to that thread.


    That seemed normal enough; their chunk just seemed to be a lengthy one.


    Then, as she continued to walk, she nced upward, and she stumbled to the side, her hand finding the wall beside her for support.


    Tali! Thron growled. I mean T, whats wrong?


    Look up, Thron.


    He presumably did. I dont wait What?


    None of the chunks that were above us before are still there.


    And we arent spinning. When did we slow? Did we slow?


    T shivered. <em>This ce continues to surprise.</em> More than that, watch above yourself and walk forward.


    She nced back at him, and he was giving her a skeptical look. Is this some half-baked n to infect me with the dasgannach?


    What? No! Ill walk, too.


    He grunted. Just making sure. I dont know what they did to those things. Maybe, its imbued you with a desire to spread it, somehow.


    Thats thats actually pretty creepy, now that I think about it.


    Exactly.


    Fine, fine. Ill be extra sure to keep my distance, but see what you can see. You can probably just look out over the edge, too.


    I was trying to avoid that.


    Yeah I dont me you there.


    They moved forward a bit, and Thron made confused noises.


    So, you see it?


    Yes, and no. Its like were somehow moving around the other fragments much faster than were actually moving, and when we get to a new side, its an entirely different fragment, instead.


    That makes no sense, but that is exactly what Im seeing.


    Do you have any guesses on what the rust is going on?


    T scrunched her face. Guesses? Yes.


    He waited a moment before prompting, Well?


    She smiled at that. It reminded her of all the times theyd studied various subjects, inquiring back and forth to tease out little tidbits of nuance. From the basic lessons we received, and what Ive put together, I think what were seeing isnt actually there, not in the same way such a thing would be there in Zeme.


    He tilted his head in confusion but didnt interject.


    I think we are seeing a manifestation of fragmented reality poking through. These are the pieces that were left out in the reconstruction of Zeme. They are like the back face of a cross-stitch.


    I think I know what that is, but I cant say Ive ever examined the back of one.


    T grunted. My family used to do them on asion. They teach dexterity and persistence. She felt a smile pull at her face. <em>Im going back to see my family again.</em> She just needed to figure out this ce so that she could leave.


    Alright? What does that have to do with anything?


    Well, the point of a cross-stitch is to make a picture on one side with various colored thread. On the back, you have all the ces where the thread had to move across the cloth from one part to another. Its a tangled mess that never <em>really</em> looks the same as the front, though there are echoes.


    So, were in the sub-structure of Zeme? The parts that were stretched and bent to lock the ce we live on into a modicum of stability?


    I think so, it might even help add to the stability, though I dont have the faintest idea how.


    So, the changing fragments?


    Ahh! Yes. That is our minds, trying to interpret the fragments that we see and doing their best. Because all of this is a hodgepodge of nonsense, thats what were seeing. Each discrete instant is understandable, because otherwise wed go insane, and our minds have opted to show us this tableau instead. But as a whole? None of this will make sense to us.


    That was a lot of words just to say: We cant understand it, and trying too hard might break our brains.


    T grunted. Yeah I suppose that would have been pithier.


    So?


    So, I see another ce I want to check out, right up ahead.


    They walked a little further and were suddenly walking across a pathless in of gently waving grass.


    There was no breeze.


    There was no sun.


    And the grass was coated in cold, thick, red blood that had somehow already stained their lower legs.


    Thron gasped at the sudden change, and T looked around in confusion.


    The thread that shed been following hadnt changed or altered in any way.


    Curious, she walked back the way theyde, circling around Thron.


    He followed and once theyd walked a dozen feet or so, they were back on the narrow walkway, the blood utterly gone even from their clothing and shoes.


    She turned around. Alright, then. I dont understand at all Onward!


    He lifted an eyebrow at her.


    What? I cant pass you without getting closer than you want me to.


    He groused a bit but finally just shook his head, turned, and walked back until they were in the grass meadow.


    This time, however, instead of blood, the grass was covered in something that appeared to be snow, but was amethyst and oddly warm.


    It wasnt hot, just warm like a chair right after someone else stood up from it.


    Thron looked around and grimaced. I think I preferred the blood.


    Yeah


    Only a short way into the grassy ne, T paused near another protuberance in the threads of reality.


    It seemed like the closer she looked the more threads she could see, but most were a lot fainter than the one shed been following.


    Here goes nothing.


    She pressed her eye up against it, while maintaining her void-sight.


    As the two meshed, she could see out into Zeme.


    She stared at an expansivewn, with an obsidian building in the near distance.


    Tughed, pulling back. Alright, then! I think we can do this. I just need to find a ce outside of the city, and we can go from there.


    She looked back towards Thron and hesitated.


    As he drew close to the nodule, she could suddenly see strands of reality fading into view, which extended out from him, as well.


    The strongest one led back the way theyde.


    She looked down at herself but saw nothing. <em>No, that isnt right.</em>


    She focused, using a simr technique to that which shed used to perceive magic in the air with her mage-sight.


    <em>Show me what Ive dismissed or tuned out.</em>


    Suddenly, she could see dozens, if not hundreds, of threads spreading out from herself as well.


    Again, the brightest led back the way theyde, but one also led to the node shed just looked through.


    Without perfect memory, she couldnt be sure, but she <em>thought</em> that shed walked through this exact spot on thatwn when Pallun led them to the obsidian hut, while Thron hadnt.


    <em>So, I have a tie to this location, but he doesnt?</em>


    That might make sense, but it also might just be supposition.


    <em>I have to test it but I doubt Ill find a way in the near future.</em>


    The real question was, did she just <em>happen</em> toe across another nodule of a ce that shed been, or was it her having been there, which allowed her to reach it?


    <em>I just dont have enough information.</em>


    She examined the threadsing from her self, and as she looked closer, she felt like she <em>should</em> know where they led, but she couldnt figure it out.


    Looking between herself and Thron, she did think that many of the threads seemed to be leading to the same ces.


    <em>Because we went to a lot of the same ces?</em>


    Picking one of those shared points at random from among those more prominent that they shared, she turned to follow the pair of threads. This way.


    She set off across the purple-dusted grass, and Thron followed behind.


    Even though she wasnt following one of the more substantial threads, there seemed to be a way forward. She didnte to an edge or anything of the sort.


    A hundred or so stepster, the ground transformed again in an eyeblink, and they were walking on a well-cobbled street, nked by buildings that she dismissed for the moment.


    <em>It should be there!</em> She ced one eye against the new node and found that she could see through once again.


    <em>Hah!</em> It was a crossroads near the edge of the city. <em>Why was this among the stronger threads? If we were both there when we got back from Croi, that was days ago.</em>


    Maybe, it was because it was a crossroads, but theyd walked through dozens of those from the edge of the city to the House of Bloods hold.


    <em>Why here?</em>


    She didnt have an answer.


    T. Throns voice had an urgency and an odd strain to it, that pulled her from her musings.


    What Words died on her lips as she pulled back, opening her other eye.


    There were silhouettes standing in the windows of the buildings around them.


    Every single window.


    The silhouettes existed even when the windows were utterly clear ss, so the person or thing should have been easily visible.


    There was nothing to them in her void-sight, and even the remnants of her magesight showed nothing.


    Nothing.


    <em>Creatures of nothing? Is that a thing?</em> She almostughed, but the humor was overwhelmed by the cloying sensation that shed seen these things before.


    <em>The nothing between the threads. Is this just another perception of them? Like the blood vs purple dust? Another way for our minds to attempt to make sense of what Im seeing?</em>


    That made sense, but she <em>really</em> didnt like what it implied.


    What would have had to happen for her mind to decide that these things should be interpreted as vaguely humanoid creatures.


    <em>What did my subconscious catch that I didnt.</em> She missed t more than ever. The Alternate Interface would be able tob through her memories and pick out <em>exactly</em> what it was.


    T was at a loss.


    She spoke quietly, while continuing to look around herself. Are they moving?


    No. I dont think so. I just noticed them, and they were all there. It feels like theyre watching.


    Yeah, thats how it feels to me, too. She briefly considered, once again, pulling out a blood-star and mirroring her perspective so she could watch in all directions at once, but dismissed the idea as she had before.


    There was no way her unenhanced mind could handle that much input.


    So, where to now? Ive no idea where were going. Thron was looking around himself nervously, trying to watch every direction at once.


    Oh! Oh Im an idiot.


    Thats what I like to hear from the woman Im following through a twisted, nightmarend.


    No, this is a good thing. I just didnt think of it earlier. She shook her head and flexed her will to grow gloves over her hands. Then, she strengthened the void magics in her elk-leathers, specifically around her hands, via aspect mirroring from Flow.


    That aplished, she tried to touch one of the reality threads.


    Her fingers brushed it, and she felt a feedback through the glove and her connection with the elk-leathers.


    It was faint, but she got a sense of where the thread would likely lead.


    Quickly, she searched through the threads that seemed to be inmon between her and Thron.


    The more she worked with them, the more of them she saw, and by the time she thought she found the ones that she needed, she could perceive uncountable connections running off in every direction.


    They almost seemed to be making up everything.


    Honestly, it was straining her mind.


    With a shake of her head, she dismissed Flows void-form, while keeping the void in her gloves and a light hold on the thread she wanted.


    Okay, I know where we need to go.


    He gave her a careful look. Why do you sound hesitant?


    She swallowed and gave him an apologetic look. Because we need to enter one of the buildings. She looked towards the building they needed before looking at the figure in the window beside the door.


    She jerked back gasping. Thron? When did the mouths appear?


    The dwarf cursed as they both looked around. I definitely didnt see them before.


    Now, every single silhouette had a single, identical feature: A too wide, bright-white smile.


    The teeth were decidedly inhuman in both kind and number.


    Thron visibly swallowed. Still want to go into the building?


    Definitely not, but thats the way, Im almost positive.


    He nodded. If you say so, but Im going to build a corrosion field around us.


    She shook her head. No. I have no idea what using magic externally like that would do. It might call all of them down on us, and it might not even do anything to them. You cant really corrode nothing.


    He grimaced but nodded. Alright So, you think theyre nothing?


    I really dont know, but that seems to fit what little Ive seen.


    T walked toward the door, her left hand forming a loose hold around the threads that she could feel, but no longer see.


    She held Flow in her right hand forforts sake and used that hand to push on the door before her.


    There were no door handles.


    <em>Why is that worse? How is it creepy for a door tock handles?</em>


    A part of her expected a creature to be standing on the other side when the door swung inward, but the way was clear as it led down a poorly lit hallway.


    She nced back and whispered. Walk where I walk and dont deviate. It should be safe if we follow this path.


    <em>I really, </em>really<em> hope thats true.</em> But dubious titudes were better than: We might be about to die, try not to.


    As she turned back, she <em>knew</em> that one of the things would be standing right in front of her, and her entire body tensed, telling her to sprint away in any direction.


    She fought down the urge and looked forward once more.


    There was nothing there, and not nothing in the sense of a creature.


    The way was clear.


    She shuddered, her entire body over stimted by her innate fight or flight responses.


    The building was a human style home, though it made no sense for such a building to be right on a main street with massive windows looking out at them.


    Speaking of which, those windows had looked into a sitting room that was just off the hall they were in, to Ts right.


    Against her better judgment, she looked that way.


    The figure hadnt moved, but it was still obviously oriented on her.


    It hadnt turned, the silhouette of its body was still pointed towards the window, but the smile had moved to the side of its head.


    <em>Yeah thats worse.</em>


    She once again had the perfect knowledge that looking forward would reveal a thing standing directly in front of her, and she growled as she fought down the urge to run.


    Once again, she turned towards the too-dark hallway and found it empty.


    <em>Lets do this.</em>


    <em>You can do this.</em>


    <em>Come on, T.</em>


    She didnt run, she didnt even jog, but she walked as quickly as she could.


    Behind her, Thron made frustrated, unhappy noises but kept up easily enough.


    The hallway went on for far, <em>far</em> too long, with dozens of closed doors to either side of the ufortably narrow corridor.


    Behind each of themy something that wanted to pop out and grab her.


    She <em>knew</em> that to be true, but she fought down that knowledge and kept on, trembling at the strain.


    Finally, the world was different, and they walked through a field once again.


    Thron cursed, but it sounded relieved.


    Are you alright?


    No, Im absolutely not alright. What was that?


    I dont know. They werent creatures, though. At least, I dont think so. They were reactions to us, I think.


    Like ripples in a pond?


    She hesitated. Yeah, actually. That almost seems to fit.


    Then, where are they now?


    T looked around. I dont know. This part of the Doman-Imithe might be more stable?


    Just ahead she saw the next nodule that the thread she was following led to. I think that might be our ticket out.


    What? Youve been looking at things I cant see, girl.


    Ahh, right. Its right up ahead. She shook her head. Just let me verify.


    She quick-walked over to the nodule and pressed her face against it.


    It slid away.


    <em>Right.</em>


    She remanifested void-Flow and her voidsight.


    She yelped and stumbled backwards.


    One of the things was standing right in front of her, only visible to her void sight.


    She almost lost her loose hold on the threads, and something told her that would be disastrous for both her and Thron.


    <em>Hes anchored to me in this ce?</em> That was the feeling she got, but shed also had the feeling that she should sprint away, so she had no idea what was happening or what was true.


    The thing hadnt moved, and it waited just on the other side of the nodule.


    This one was <em>utterly</em> massive, however.


    It still seemed like it was the size of a man, but somehow felt like it was hundreds of cubic miles in volume.


    <em>Like Terry? A lot there but alsopact?</em>


    She didnt know.


    Very carefully, she moved ufortably close to the thing and pressed her eye to the protuberance.


    Once connected, she saw the ce outside of toiri where theyd arrived back from Croi, thending ce for their dimensionallypressed travel.


    I found a safe ce.


    Thron came closer than he had before but still stayed out of arms reach.


    Let me see what I can do with this.


    She sheathed Flow and made sure she had void surrounding both hands.


    Thus prepared, she pushed her fingers into the nodule.


    Power began flowing from her like a whirlwind, but she had it to spare as soon as she dropped Flows void-form.


    <em>I didnt like looking at that thing anyways.</em>


    She pulled with all her will and magical might, and a hole slowly opened.


    Throns voice once again had a hint of urgency and strain. T.


    She spared a bit of attention to look away from what she was doing but couldnt really see, only to notice ck shapes bounding through the grass towards them from all directions.


    She didnt take the time to put words to their form, and she didnt honestly know if she could.


    With ast surge of will and magic and strength, she pulled the hole open wide. Go!


    Thron overcame his desire to stay away from her as he dove nearly through her arms and out the hole.


    T followed, turning to watch the hole close.


    But, it didnt close.


    Well that seems bad.

 Continue the Story [Book 2 - Mage]

Continue the Story [Book 2 - Mage]

 Chapter 259: Parting

    Chapter 259: Parting


    T took a seemingly eternal instant to stare at the hole that still remained into the Doman-Imithe.


    The hole that shed opened for them to escape the approaching nightmare creatures.


    The creatures that were stilling with rming speed, though they were still a good distance away.


    <em>Well, thats probably not good, but we likely have at least a minute or two.</em>


    Could the creatures, whatever they were, evene through into Zeme?


    She had no idea.


    An odd heaviness had begun to build in the air, a feeling that seemed familiar, but she couldnt ce.


    She shook off the feeling and reached into Kit, reveling in the fact that she had ess to her storage once again, and pulled out the sword and the book, tossing them to Thron.


    The dwarf caught them with magically enhanced ease.


    Here, as we agreed. Id appreciate if you stayed around and helped with this whole mess, but I wont me you if you leave.


    Thron looked at the sword in his hand, the ck material taking on a green-ish sheen as he channeled his concept through the weapon. Ill stay.


    He tucked the book into his pack. T nodded, feeling immensely grateful that she didnt have to face whatever wasing on her own. Ill be right back.


    T dropped Kit to the ground, willing for it to be a hole opening right above her dais.


    She dropped,nding <em>hard.</em>


    She gritted her teeth in pain at the hit.


    Thankfully, her bones had been reinforced on a material level, not just magically, so she didnt break anything with her hardnding.


    <em>That was pretty foolish, even so.</em>


    She reached out to the construct within the tform andmanded it to reinscribe her through her mouth.


    She wasnt going to muck with the iron on her skin, and while through her mouth was more painful, it was also a sure thing, in the end.


    Threads of metal blossomed from the ground and shot between her teeth.


    She cked out for an instant, the pain utterly overwhelming without her inscriptions in ce to dull it and add to her fortitude.


    She came to an instantter, not even having fallen.


    Her will shifted <em>just slightly</em> and an extra bit of power mmed into the Archon star forming in her finger. <em>Well, there goes an hour of my count down</em>


    She hadnt really had another choice, however. She hardened her will and sealed off most of her inscriptions, keeping power from flowing through them by pure force of will. She couldnt deal with the bacsh of adjusting to enhanced senses, reactions, and other functions.


    <em>I just need healing, strength, and muscr-skeletal resilience.</em>


    <em>-DING-</em>


    A sound, almost like a bell, hummed through her thoughts, and she found the note calming, achingly familiar.


    Tears filled her eyes instantly, even though she didnt have time to address them.


    <em>t?</em>


    There was a short instant of horrifying silence.


    -<em>Consciousness lost for 0.013 seconds due to extreme painWHAT THE RUST!?!?!-</em>


    <em>t?</em> T was smiling uncontrobly.


    <em>-T? What happened? No, dont answer that, I can search your memory. Do what you have to, Ill get up to speed.-</em>


    <em>Absolutely.</em> T bent and sprang straight upward, exiting Kit less than a minute after she dropped in.


    -<em>Good call on holding much of the power out of your inscriptions. I estimate at least a couple of minutes will be required to equalize to your enhanced senses and reaction speed once again. The healing, magesight, and muscr-skeletal enhancements should be plenty.-</em>


    Thron was giving her an odd look. Reinscribed?


    Yes. She scooped up Kit and hung the pouch from her belt.


    He grunted. Thought so. That should help, no matter what ends up happening here.


    Through the open hole to the Doman-Imithe, T could see the ck <em>things</em> drawing ever closer, their shape indistinct but obviously predatory.


    T called Flow to her hand, preparing to fight the things that were almost upon them.


    <em>-Oh! I found why this feeling is familiar!-</em>


    A screech cut through the air as a creature forged of reality dropped from the sky, crushing the open hole into the Doman-Imithe and sealing it instantly.


    -<em>It feels like the reality drake well, I was five seconds too slow.-</em>


    Thron and T both jumped backwards as they beheld the being before them.


    It was an eagle, with a wingspan close to thirty feet across.


    Its aura was a healthy sapphire blue, and it looked <em>livid.</em>


    Like the reality drake, the reality eagle<em>That is such a stupid name.</em>had a presence about it that was hard to describe.


    T activated her voidsight, Flow growing to a void-sword in her hand.


    She could see it, the threads of reality woven together in an intricate pattern that didnt so much make up the eagle as define its existence.


    Those threads existed in everything, now that she knew to look, but they were miniscule. The eagle was packed full, metaphysically speaking.


    <em>-What does that even mean? You make no sense.-</em>


    <em>Oh, I missed you, t.</em>


    <em>-Focus, girl.-</em>


    T grinned, ready to fend off the big bird.


    White metal flowed over her, and her bloodstars rose from their holsters into her battle positioning.


    The eagle, for its part, bent forward and screeched at them, clearly zeroing in on T for some reason.


    -<em>Likely because you just ripped a hole in reality?-</em>


    <em>Yeah, thats probably a pretty good guess.</em>


    Quicker than she could track without her enhanced senses, itunched at her.


    T cursed,unching backwards to gain space.


    As it turned out, that was unneeded.


    Thron stepped between them, swinging his de almost casually.


    The tip struck the eagles beak, and <em>something</em> radiated through the creatures entire body.


    Like a cool breeze, the reality eagle blew away, dispersing into thin air and leaving nothing behind.


    Thronughed, his tone almost maniacal. Oh, that was fantastic!!


    Tnded heavily, staring in disbelief.


    She swallowed, eyes widening at the implications of the quick, easy destruction of the reality beast.


    Her newly returned magesight tracked the dissipating magics from the blue-auraed creature. How?


    Thron turned to her, grinning broadly as he walked her way. I exined it already, but Ill do so again. These weapons are designed to deliver their wielders concept directly to the target. For magical creatures, most of their defense is in their aura and passively keeping magics from reaching them. If you can breach that, its childs y to exert a strong concept over them, directly.


    She found herself nodding. I I can see that.


    Thron looked at the sword in his hand, then at the city in the distance. This is the real deal. I admit that even with the tests I ran in your sanctum, I had my doubts. No longer.


    T gave him a side-eyed look. That is a bit of a terrifying weapon.


    Oh decidedly. Houses have risen and fallen at the mere <em>rumors</em> of the disposition of such a weapon. With this in hand? I could walk into toiri and challenge the City Lord. He paled. Im not going to, because he probably has one tucked away himself, among other ways that might end badly, but I could in theory.


    T grinned, then chuckled. Well, I suppose Im happy for you. I hope you carve a ce for yourself, back in your homnd.


    Throns smile faltered, then fell. Yeah Thank you.


    There was a moment of silence between them.


    Well, I guess this is it, then.


    T felt a tightness in her chest. She didnt know Thron that well, not <em>really</em>, and he certainly didnt know the real her, but hed been with her for thest few months, helping her as he was able, listening to her when she had questions, and searching for solutions when she had problems.


    She <em>liked </em>him, despite the circumstances of their meeting.


    Yeah I suppose it is, Thron. Are you sure that you dont want toe with me?


    He shook his head. I appreciate the offer. Even if I was sure youd make it, which Im not, Im not curious enough about human cities to risk it. Even with this, I wouldnt be assured of my safety. He lifted the sword slightly to unnecessarily indicate what he meant.


    She grimaced at that. Thats fair, I suppose. If I ever make it to the other continent, Ill try to hunt you down.


    He grinned. Ominous choice of words, but yeah, do that.


    A voice piped up from Throns pocket. Dont leave me with him! Destroy me, please?


    Throns smile slipped, and he grimaced. Oh right. Without Terry around for leverage, this guy might getannoying.


    Rob gasped. Really? I certainly hope so. Then you might destroy me with that wonderful sword of yours.


    Why are you talking again, now? You were blessedly quiet in the Doman-Imithe, cant you keep that up?


    That ce was horrifying There is no way I was going to distract you and let a soul-leecher eat us both. I want to be destroyed, not tortured for eternity.


    T and Thron blinked, turning to regard the orb as Thron pulled it out. Come again?


    -<em>What is he talking about Oh oh, wow. I missed a terrifying little adventure.-</em>


    <em>Yes. Yes, you did.</em>


    Rob huffed. Who would want to be tortured for eternity?


    No, thats not what Im wondering about. Soul-leechers?


    Yeah, you all acted like you could see them.


    The ck creatures at the end there?


    No, no, those were just trying to kill us, those would have been fine. I mean the cracks in reality that wanted to use our souls to patch themselves in a frivolous attempt to return to untarnished existence without constant pain. Well, there would still be pain, but it would be ours to bear instead of theirs.


    Thron paled, his skin bing an almost lime green color for a brief moment.


    T felt her skin grow cold. <em>Thats what those things were? Cracks in existence, somehow bearing intent?</em>


    That would exin why they didnt move.


    She had a terrifyingly stupid idea. <em>I wonder if I could bond one, and draw on their power somehow?</em>


    <em>-No, T. Bad girl. That is colossally stupid, without extensive research and testing.-</em>


    She almost argued, but then t pulled up the visceral memory of the things, and for a moment, it felt like she was there once more.


    <em>Okay! Okay youre right.</em> She shuddered again.


    That brought her mind to thest one, the massive one that had been standing just behind their exit point.


    She activated her voidsight again and looked around, finding the scraps and damage in the surface of the world that were still evident after their dimensionallypressed travel.


    <em>We created that one. But</em> She frowned. <em>It will heal over time, right?</em>


    -<em>Yeah, thats what we were told. So magic slowly repairs the cracks, at least at a surface level.-</em>


    <em>They might remain in the Doman-Imithe? Thats a disturbing thought</em>


    <em>-We just dont know enough to tell.-</em>


    The soul-leechers wanted them to repair themselves, to patch up reality her body, the lingering connection to her gate, was going to be used to stabilize toiri. <em>My body was meant to be eaten by those things</em>


    She hunched in on herself just a bit as she contemted that horror.


    Thron swallowed, shook his head, and sighed, Well, that certainly renewed and reenforced my desire to never go back into the Doman-Imithe. He red at the orb then looked to T. Do you want him? I have no way of keeping him silent, and now that I wont be in your sanctum, I shouldnt have an issue with power avability.


    T felt conflicted. She had no idea what the soul within Rob would actually want, nor did she know what was the morally right thing to do in this circumstance. <em>Maybe the Archons back home will have a way to connect with the soul?</em>


    <em>-Yeah, they were working on that.-</em>


    Alright. I can take him to humanity, and well figure out what to do with him.


    Thron tossed Rob, and T caught him.


    The orb harumphed. You could be worse at tossing. Theres some rocks on the ground; I might have shattered.


    T lifted Rob up to look at him directly. Quiet, or Ill give you to Terry to y with.


    Rob did not respond.


    Thats the spirit. She tucked him into Kit, willing him to be in her room within her sanctum. She looked up at Thron and frowned. Hey! You never asked me any questions about humanity or the human cities, or anything, really.


    The situation was quite a bit more tense than seemed appropriate for questions.


    Ahh, right. Yeah, that makes sense. Do you want to ask any now?


    He shrugged. Ill probably regret it, but I dont really have any that Im curious about at the moment.


    Oh, alright, then.


    Thron scratched the back of his head. Id shake your hand or give you a hug or something, but Im noting near you.


    Yeah thats probably wise.


    <em>-What? Why would that be a problem What. The. Rust. Why is that thing still in you?-</em>


    <em>What did you think happened? Im alive; you came back.</em>


    <em>-Exactly! I figured we were dead, but then I came back, so I assumed that you had handled it.-</em>


    <em>I did.</em>


    <em>-This is not handled, T. This is not handled, AT ALL.-</em>


    <em>Hey, were not dead, are we? Were even reinscribed!</em>


    That reminded her of the pending issue.


    She reoriented on Thron and smiled. Oh! Do you mind watching over me for a few minutes before you go? I need to relimate to my enhancements.


    He tilted his head to the side, then shrugged. Sure. I can do that. I have a long way to travel to the nearest city, so a few minutes dy wont matter much.


    Theyd been standing in a little dell in which T hadnded after leaping away from the reality eagle.


    <em>This is probably a good enough ce.</em>


    T sat down, took a deep breath, and released her hold on her own magics, allowing them to flow naturally through her spell-forms.


    She was smacked <em>hard </em>in her everything.


    Overwhelming washes of information flooded her mind, even as her mind felt like it sped up and expanded.


    t groaned in pain from within Ts head. <em>-Oh, this is awful. Ive never been aware when you experienced this much of an enhancement before. It is </em>not<em> the same in retrospect.-</em>


    A shiver ran through T, and her whole body spasmed and twisted.


    She felt the ground around her breaking and exploding away from her as she jerked uncontrobly.


    She heard Thron curse as if hed screamed in her ear.


    t whimpered.


    Theyd nevere up to a level of enhancement of this magnitude from essentially mundane, before.


    Her heart enhancements came online, and her whole body strained outward, her veins and arteries bulging under the pressure.


    Blessedly, the enhancement of her circtory system as a whole came online as well, so she didnt pop like a balloon.


    She felt a field of Throns power surround her, but she couldnt do anything about it.


    <em>Is he betraying me? That makes no sense</em> But it did make sense on a certain visceral level. He had all that he needed, and she was a loose end.


    <em>No.</em> She refused to believe it. <em>He has a good reason.</em>


    Indeed, his power never moved inward, so it wasnt harming her at the moment. In either case, she was in no position to do anything about it.


    Her spasms slowly passed as her body limatized once again, and in the end, shey panting on the ground, covered in dirt and bits of grass, along with her own sweat.


    <em>That was</em>


    <em>-Awful.-</em>


    <em>Understatement of the year, but yes.</em>


    She opened her eyes, nearly screaming at the incredible deluge of light, but she refused to close them again and her eyes adjusted almost instantly, bringing her relief.


    She slowly sat up.


    The world spun, and she would have puked, but her anti-vomit inscriptions were back online. <em>Oh, bless you Holly.</em>


    Thron was standing outside of a green bubble that epassed her, scanning the surrounding terrain.


    He noticed her movement, and the bubble vanished. Are you alright?


    She nodded, standing up on shaky legs. Yeah.


    Her voice sounded raw, but she felt it healing as she stood. Even so, she pulled a cup of water out of Kit and took a long drink. <em>I need to hunt down my incorporators, soon. They should be in here, but I havent needed themtely.</em>


    Thank you.


    He shrugged. As I said, it didnt cost me much.


    What was the bubble?


    You were screaming and getting louder. The bubble broke apart the sound so everyone in toiri didnt know you were here.


    Oh Thank you, then. <em>Thats a clever use of his concept. I wonder if he can use it more locally, and on himself, to be stealthy That would actually exin a few things.</em>


    He smiled. Well, as far asst experiences before parting go, today has been a lot.


    It has, hasnt it.


    Quite.


    She grimaced awkwardly. Take care of yourself, Thron.


    And you, T. I hope our paths cross in years toe.


    As do I.


    T felt a heavy, heavy awkwardness. <em>Why?</em>


    She took a long moment, utilizing her newly returned mental enhancements to delve into the reasoning.


    <em>Well, first, we may never see each other again.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, and if you do, you two might be on opposite sides of things.-</em>


    T grunted internally. <em>Its also pretty weird to say goodbye after so long without even a handshake.</em>


    -<em>Oh! Me next. Youve been lying to him since you met. I doubt he mes you, but its pretty obvious that he has no idea who you truly are.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, and theres the fact that he was a knowing partner and contributor to the system under which I was taken and had who I was obliterated.</em>


    <em>-Which might still happen. That dasgannach isnt really intent on leaving in a way that youll survive.-</em>


    <em>He did offer to put me out of my misery, and I just gave him a sword that would make that act rtively trivial</em>


    <em>-Yeah, its probably good were parting ways.-</em>


    She smiled in relief and started to turn, but as Thron also turned to go, he hesitated.


    Clear conflict shed across his features. "How much of the time..."


    But then, he just shook his head.


    <em>Ahh, yeah. That makes sense that hed be curious.</em>


    "How much of my time as an Eskau was I putting on an act?"


    He gave a nod in response, clearly curious.


    She shrugged. Honestly? I was much more myself in private than you might suspect. You were the closest thing to a friend I had through the whole nightmare.


    <em>-Excuse me?-</em>


    <em>Hush you.</em>


    <em>-I am offended on Terrys behalf.-</em>


    <em>I said hush.</em>


    Plus, your insistence that Tali treat other people well, let me stop being rusting terrible to the people around me, just to hide that I had recovered. Thank you for that."


    He grinned at that. You were a bit awful at the start there. Im d to know that <em>that</em> wasnt the real you.


    She shrugged, not really knowing what to say.


    He let out a breath he seemed to have been holding. Fair enough, I suppose. Thank you for that answer. I do hope we cross paths again, and not as enemies.


    He nodded again, more firmly this time, before turning away once more.


    Then, he was gone.


    <em>And thus, I am alone, again.</em>


    <em>-Well, you have me.-</em>


    T smiled, straightening just a bit. <em>I do, dont I?</em>


    -<em>Now and always.-</em>


    Without looking back, T began running to the north and east.


    She was to the southeast of toiri, and the humannds were to the north, so it was the most reasonable path.


    Her great loping strides carried her <em>fast</em> across the ground.


    Not quite fast enough to create a magical boom, but certainly faster than a caravan usually traveled, and much faster than a human could usually run.


    <em>So, what? Were a few hundred miles from humanity?</em>


    <em>-Give or take, but I assume you dont want to deal with the Leshkin.-</em>


    <em>Oh yeah, were going around their part of the woods.</em>


    <em>-Then we have somewhere less than two thousand miles to travel. Might be closer to one, but Im not sure. Im still not exactly certain where we are. As we get closer, Ill be able to get a better idea, I think.-</em>


    <em>Cant you justpare your connections to the Archive from two different cities?</em>


    <em>-Of course, I can, but that doesnt tell me anything. The connections are instantaneous, so I cantpare time for interaction, and they dont exactly have a way of telling me where they are in rtionship to me. I think Ill be able to use them for navigation when were within a couple hundred miles, but probably not further out.-</em>


    <em>Good to know. General navigation it is, then!</em>


    <em>-Thats the n-</em>


    And so, she ran.


    After shed traveled for about an hour, she opened up Kit and called to Terry. Terry! Do you want toe out for a run?


    Terry flickered into being beside her, standing about her height. He looked around, then looked to her, trilling in question.


    Yeah, were out. I dont know if well be followed, but Im going to try to go as fast as possible. Want to run with me?


    He examined her for a long while, then leaned in to headbutt her chest.


    She jumped back. Sorry buddy, I might have something in me that could hurt you.


    -<em>Yeah, Im looking into that. I still cant believe you brought me back before solving this-</em>


    <em>Yeah, yeah. You keep trying to pick a fight, but I''m still just happy you''re alive.</em>


    Terry tilted his head to the side, clearly unhappy, but finally bobbed in acknowledgement.


    Ready to run?


    Terry bobbed excitedly, then threw his head back and chirped happily.


    Ill take that as a yes. And she was off again, Terry keeping pace beside her with ease.

 Chapter 260: Sleep?

    Chapter 260: Sleep?


    T and Terry ran.


    Well, thats not quite urate.


    Terry flickered around, bopping to various hills, asionally disappearing after some bit of prey or other, but always returning and falling into step beside T with ease.


    T, for her part, loped, bounding more than anything else, springing forward with every step, the expanded surface area of each foot allowing her enhanced strength to really prove its worth.


    There wasnt much snow near toiri, but she did find some in the deeper valleys and on the northern sides of the hills as she moved across thend.


    It provided a haunting echo of home. The human wilds, for the most part, got a lot of snow in winter, but hundreds of miles south? There was little and that had been just one more reminder that she was in a foreignnd.


    As the sun moved down towards the horizon from high-noon, T began experimenting with magical resonance.


    She increased the amount of power that she allowed into her aura and pushed it ahead of herself.


    Almost immediately, a resonance began to build, so she feathered the power back, softening the edges of her aura.


    When she did that, the resonance faded before it truly began.


    She sped up, pushing herself to move faster than shed ever moved on her own, except maybe when shed been fighting Io, but that had been in incredibly short bursts.


    This was the equivalent of a dead sprint for the long haul, and she knew that she couldnt maintain it for very long, even with all her magics.


    That said, it was actually fairly easy for her to approach magical resonance in the rtively potent zeme with her speed.


    The magic in the air would barely have sustained an arcane Child, but it was almost double the density of the human Wilds, so close to an arcane city.


    <em>Not too close. Ive been running for hours. I might have covered close to fifty miles by now.</em>


    -<em>A bit more by my estimate, but yeah, pretty close to that.-</em>


    She was going nearly twice as fast as shed averaged before, and her short window of time at this speed was closing, so she did her experimentation quickly.


    She pulled her aura and power in tight, ying with the shape of it.


    Eventually, she was able to find a shape that was <em>almost</em> aerodynamic, but had odd, irregr ripples across its surface, which seemed to keep the magic from resonating more effectively than a perfectly smooth shape did.


    She doubted it was the best shape she could make, but it was good enough for now.


    She slowed down, barely breathing hard thanks to her enhancements. <em>Oh, I love being inscribed once again.</em>


    Still, she did feel an ache deep within herself from having pushed so hard.


    <em>-It was only about a day, right?-</em>


    <em>It felt like an eternity. The entire time, I felt like an idiot a slow, weak idiot.</em>


    t huffed augh within Ts head. -<em>Yeah, well. Youre better now.-</em>


    <em>That I am.</em>


    Terry flickered back into his ce, moving alongside her without getting too close.


    Good hunting?


    He trilled happily before flickering to her other side, just because he could.


    <em>How does he do that? He should have to go through the intervening space, given hes using dimensional magics, but he doesnt actually seem to.</em>


    <em>-I think that his magics arent like the quickways in Croi, but Ill grant you that they bear some simrities.-</em>


    T grunted. <em>Oh! Have you found any solutions for our unwanted passenger?</em>


    T, herself had been considering the problem of the dasgannach.


    She hadnte up with even another temporary solution, not yet.


    She didnt really expect either of them toe up with something so quickly, but she was optimistic that they would. Something was tickling at the back of her mind, telling her that there was a solution that <em>should</em>e to mind.


    She just hadnt remembered it, yet.


    -<em>No But could you do me a favor?-</em>


    <em>Probably? Whats up?</em>


    <em>-Can you run with your voidsight active?-</em>


    T shrugged, not even bothering to ask why for the moment. <em>Sure.</em>


    And so T went back to running loping.


    Terry cleared out any wildlife that might have been bothersome.


    The miles sped on by.


    The sun set.


    Darkness fell.


    When full night had washed across all that T could see, she slowed, allowing her voidsight to drop along with Flows return to its resting form.


    <em>I have had a </em>long<em> two days, t.</em>


    <em>-I know. I wish that you could sleep.-</em>


    T grimaced, turning her focus to the slow burn of the Archon star, building within her left ring finger. <em>I cant though, not with this in the works. It would seal off, my body would expel it, and Id be done for.</em>


    <em>-You know, I could take over the working. Its not like I dont know what Im doing.-</em>


    T considered the idea. <em>You havent really controlled my magic directly before. Have you?</em>


    <em>-Not for anything important. Just little bits here and there. We share a soul, mind, and will. It should respond to me just as well as you.-</em>


    T grunted. That was sound logic.


    Terry flickered to stand a bit away from her as T stood atop a snow-covered bluff, beneath a cloudless, starry sky.


    Its beautiful tonight, isnt it? T tilted her head back to stare up and take it all in.


    It was odd to think that the Doman-Imithe was what anyone up there would see, if they looked in towards Zeme.


    <em>What would it look like from the outside?</em>


    Terry looked up as well, raising his head in a manner that seemed to evoke a feeling of pride and mastery of all he surveyed. He let out a slow, soft trill, and T smiled.


    Yeah. It is good to be free once more.


    <em>What do I know of that ce? </em>She considered, just letting her mind turn the problem over like she hadnt really done in recent memory. <em>All reality is connected by threads. Nodules that are actual ces. Manifestations formed around the connection paths, forged of figments of the observing mind and the dust of a previous world.</em>


    -<em>Yeah.-</em>


    Tughed. <em>There arent threads, here.</em>


    <em>-Not really, no. I think your cross-stitching analogy was spot on. Zeme is the pretty picture the ancient workers of power forged, the Doman-Imithe is the remains.-</em>


    <em>But, in cross-stitch, there is vastly more material on the back, than on the front.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, I was thinking on that. We dont really have evidence that Zeme is a full. No one has circumnavigated it.-</em>


    <em>What then? A disc on the back of four elephants, all bnced on the back of a giant turtle?</em>


    <em>-Who knows how they made it? All the mass is still here, somewhere, so its not like physics would be that greatly affected, depending on how it all interacts.-</em>


    T grunted at that. <em>I did notice that everything looks like nodules to my voidsight. All pressed up against one another, contiguous in the tapestry they create.</em>


    <em>-Yeah. There are some interesting implications, there, but I dont have them all fleshed out, yet.-</em>


    <em>Take your time. We have our entire lives ahead of us.</em>


    t huffed an internalugh. <em>-Youre funny.-</em>


    <em>I do try.</em>


    There was a moment of silence before t continued. <em>-I wish we could see reality out there, beyond our broken and rebuilt world. I think it would be very informative.-</em>


    T nodded. <em>Well, we seem to have a way back from the Doman-Imithe. Maybe, we should take a trip out and back.</em>


    Her recent trip through the Doman-Imithe shed through herat times too perfectmemory. <em>But not soon. Maybe in a few years.</em>


    <em>-When we make it there.-</em>


    <em>When we make it then.</em>


    They shared a grin, stretching pleasantly across Ts face.


    <em>-But to the business of the evening.-</em> Ts clothing shifted beneath her vest.


    The vest was all that remained of her white scale armor. <em>Right, I used thest scales as a distraction for that Pir from the House of the Acidic Tide.</em>


    It would probably be worth it to remake the armor, but not this instant.


    <em>What are you doing?</em> She could feel t exerting their will and power on the elk-leathers.


    -<em>Proving a point. See? I can manipte the clothing just as well as you can.-</em>


    <em>Of course you can, youre soul-bound to it, just like I am.</em>


    t grumbled. <em>-Fine then. What about this?-</em>


    Ts aura shifted, taking on the exact shape that shed found most optimal that afternoon.


    It was a wless recreation. <em>-Of course it is, I have your memories, Im using your power. I am effectively you. I can manage the Archon star.-</em>


    T hesitated for only a moment. <em>Well, if I die, you die, so you must be pretty confident.</em>


    <em>-I am.-</em>


    <em>On three?</em>


    <em>-Are you crazy?-</em>


    T felt something shift in her flow of magic, and suddenly, the trickle going to the Archon star was out of her control.


    She almost panicked and tried to grab on in desperation. Something deep within her told her that she would easily seed, all that she needed to do was reach out and grasp it, but the flow continued without fluctuation.


    <em>You could have warned me.</em>


    <em>-You would have tensed up. Youre exhausted.-</em>


    T groaned. <em>t, you function in the same mind that I do. If I sleep, you sleep. Youve even told me that dreamless sleep for me is like a blink for you, too.</em>


    <em>-I know, I know. Im not going to let you fall all the way asleep. It wont be nearly as restful, but I </em>think<em> I can get you to only let half your mind sleep at a time. Your body really wont be able to move, and Ill be the only consciousness awake for it, but I think we can make it work. Well just need about twice the amount of time to feel fully rested.-</em>


    <em>Thats thats actually a really good idea if you can make it work.</em>


    <em>-I think I can.-</em>


    <em>Then, lets do it.</em>


    There were some small crags near the base of the bluff they were standing on, and it didnt take long for T to drop down and put Kit on the rock surface. With the barest ripple of power, Kit made a perfectly camouged door, which opened to allow her and Terry to enter.


    Terry flickered away instantly, off to be about his business.


    T stepped into her bedroom within the sanctum and felt herself rx.


    Even when shed been an Eskau, shed been able to literally let her hair down in this room, as well as metaphorically.


    She stripped off the remnants of her armor, and retracted her elk-leathers as much as she could.


    T couldnt do anything about the iron on her skin anymore, not now that the dasgannach had a hold of it, but she still mirrored the elk-leathers self-cleaning onto her own skin and hopped, causing a cascade of dust, dirt, and the remnants of sweat to fall to the floor before Kit made it vanish.


    Thank you, Kit.


    Kit did not respond.


    Without anything further that she needed to do, T flopped down on her bed, and t began the process of putting half her brain to sleep.


    Tsst thought was of food.


    <em>Ill eat tomorrow.</em>


    It felt like the blink of an eye before T came back to her senses, sitting up with a smile.


    She felt <em>worlds</em> better than she had the night before.


    The light of dawn was slowly beginning to build through her bedroom window.


    Even as well rested as she felt, she was a little stiff, despite all of her enhancements. <em>I should have stretched.</em>


    <em>-Yes, you should have. Good morning, by the way.-</em>


    <em>Good morning, t.</em> T grinned, happy to have her alternate interface back.


    She took the time to move through her stretches, really sinking into them to allow her body to unclench from her day of hard travel, not to mention the strain of relimating to her internal magics.


    She did not have time for a bath. After all, she was heading home.


    She couldnt hide her smile at that fact.


    <em>Soon Ill be home, and I can see everyone again.</em> Lyn and Holly, Rane and Ingrit, not to mention her family.


    She grimaced at that. It wasnt going to be fun exining where shed been for thest months, but it would be good to be back.


    Sure, the dasgannach was within her, threatening her with imminent demise, but shed either solve that or she wouldnt. It wasnt worth worrying about it.


    Thinking about?


    Absolutely.


    Worrying?


    Not in the least.


    Not one bit.


    Utterly pointless.


    She turned her thoughts more firmly onto her family. <em>Nc and Illie should be at the Academy still. Hopefully, they werent told.</em>


    But T knew there was little chance of that.


    <em>Maybe, we could go visit them?</em>


    <em>-Inconvenient. Wed have to leave Kit behind and get reinscribed once we returned.-</em>


    <em>Of course, because only things that are soul-bound to us</em>


    <em>-Plus a little clothing.-</em>


    <em>Right, right, only things soul-bound to us, and some clothing,e along</em>


    T felt dawning revtion building in t, even as the idea exploded within her own thoughts.


    <em>Thats it!!!</em>


    <em>-The dasgannach is not bound to us.-</em>


    <em>Teleporting should strip it out.</em>


    <em>-The question is, would it take the iron?-</em>


    T shook her head. <em>It shouldnt matter. Our soul knows we have a functioning body, so we should have iron in ce when we arrive. It would be just like my hair when I came from the Academy.</em>


    t knew that too, but the idea was so fresh to them both that neither had thought all the way through the obvious implications and oues. <em>-It might even force the thing out? Cause it to leap out of you at thest moment, so it wasnt obliterated.-</em>


    <em>It might at that, but I doubt it. It has a </em>strong<em> desire to im everything. Even so, thats a good point. Well have to have whoever is assisting in the teleport be careful and ready.</em>


    Just like that, she had a solidly workable solution.


    It was simple, elegant, andpletely within her means, assuming she could get to a human city before the Archon star fully formed.


    She moved into herst stretch. <em>How are we on timing for the Archon star?</em>


    <em>-With as slow as were funneling power into it? We have at least a week.-</em>


    <em>But thats if nothing happens to throw things off. Thats if things go our way.</em> T smirked.<em> How likely is that?</em>


    <em>-I wouldnt bet on it.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, me neither. So, somewhere less than a week, the sooner the better.</em>


    She shouldnt <em>need</em> to sleep again, but it would likely be <em>wise</em> to sleep every three days or so. That would slow them, depending on the route they had to take.


    T stood, left her room, and went to the kitchen, still deep in thought.


    It was easy to call up the base ingredients, and she began munching on raw fruits and vegetables.


    She had a selection of butchered meats avable as well.


    <em>That would be a great way to start the day.</em>


    She looked around the kitchen, hesitating.


    -<em>Youve never really cooked in here, have you?-</em>


    <em>I have not, no. But you already knew that.</em>


    She sighed, realizing that she just didnt have time for a real breakfast.


    Instead, she grabbed some readily made food. Sadly, what she ended up with was both vastly simpler and far less tasty than she had be ustomed to.


    Even so, it filled the small ache of hunger within her well enough.


    Terry was nowhere to be found, but he had his own diversions within the sanctum. Shed open Kit for him a littleter.


    The dasgannach didnt try to eat any of the knives or other utensils she touched in passing, so she wasnt quite sure what it would go after.


    <em>Maybe, its because all of these have a bit of magic to them?</em> The restraining band had been magical, but it had also been deactivated when the slime-monster consumed the iron it had contained.


    The magics in the tools, on the other hand, were always active, pulling fractionally from Kit via the schema in the dais outside.


    <em>Differences highlight parameters.</em>


    T didnt see the cat anywhere, but she still had some more mundane food in Kit that had been used for Thron and kept on hand in case she ever had guests.


    She never had.


    Sheid out a cut of meat for either the cat or Terry.


    She wouldnt be bothered no matter which ate it.


    <em>The cat probably has plenty to eat, besides this. The arcanes built an entire ecosystem in here.</em>


    She frowned. <em>An ecosystem that wasnt bnced for the destruction a cat could bring.</em>


    Maybe she should find it and kick it out.


    After a moments thought, she shook her head. <em>That is not really a now problem.</em>


    -<em>I rmend a reinscription. Nothing is too worn, but you put a lot of odd stresses on yourself that had to be repaired, and Id prefer we were topped off.-</em>


    <em>Sure.</em> It was a quick walk to her dais, and only the thinnest golden wires rose up to plunge down her throat before splitting apart to refresh her spellforms.


    With that, her short, morning routine was done.


    T called up the door out of Kit and stepped out into the early morning light of a mid-winters day.


    The sky was a lovely shade of blue and practically cloudless.


    The air was brisk, but not really overly cold.


    Such were winters to the south.


    <em>Ill be home, soon.</em>


    Thinking about the weather and the time of year, reminded her of the rough date.


    <em>Nc and Illies birthday is only a few days away, and mine less than a week after. I should be home in time at least for mine.</em> It would be a fairly glorious present if she could teleport to the Academy for their birthday, though.


    After all, she had to teleport anyway. Why not make use of the trip?


    T had no idea if it was as easy as asking to go, though. Such a trip likely had to be approved by someone.


    <em>-Weve never checked.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, thats what I remembered.</em>


    She took a deep breath and sighed.


    <em>And were going to be under heavy suspicion when we return. I imagine there will be a minimum of a few days of intensive magical tests of one variety or other, before were cleared.</em>


    -<em>Theyre probably going to want to analyze every inch of Kit, as well.-</em>


    She pulled Kit off the rock face and bounded up the slope to have a look around. <em>Thats probably true.</em>


    T spread her arms wide and basked in the sun. <em>But thats an Im home! problem. Ill dly deal with a few of those.</em>

 Chapter 261: I Need Some Answers

    Chapter 261: I Need Some Answers


    T stood in the cool light of an incredibly early winter morning and looked back toward the southwest.


    She could easily see the mountains beyond toiri, but the city itself was hidden by some slightly higher hills between them.


    <em>What do you think? Wevee a bit more than a hundred miles?</em>


    <em>-Id say so. I think Ive figured out a way to determine where we are, by the way.-</em>


    <em>Oh?</em>


    <em>-I can tell the exact direction toward a city, by its Archive link, and we are in range of all of them, at least for our ess to our personal Archival records.-</em>


    T frowned, even as she turned and began to move toward the northeast, using the sun to help her find her way. <em>That seems far? Has our range increased?</em>


    <em>-I believe it has. Especially after gate-breaking, our magical density has vastly improved. From the records we saw back in Bandfast, I believe that our density and capacity are at least equivalent to weaker Paragons, if those even actually exist. Theyd still have superior </em>quality<em> to their magics, of course.</em>-


    <em>Thats going toplicate things when we Refine, isnt it?</em>


    <em>-It might actually help, from what little we know. Youd think so too, if you devoted the thought to it, not that you should.-</em> t conveyed a smile.<em> -I believe that youll have to wield your magical weight against your own bodys impurities, augmented by specialized scripts and procedures. Id even considered Refining as a way to deal with our little dasgannach, but without knowing more, it would be a coin toss on if it would actually work.-</em>


    T grunted as she took a running leap to clear the shorter distance across a deep, long valley. <em>Not quite a crevice, the sides arent nearly steep enough.</em>


    <em>-Agreed. Now, navigation.-</em>


    <em>Right!</em>


    <em>-Based on our perfect memory, I canpare the angles between the various cities, and even without knowing the distance to them, that should give me an incredibly exact location.-</em>


    T closed her eyes, relying on her bloodstars for their mirrored perspective for a moment. <em>Oh, Im an idiot. That is a really obvious solution.</em>


    <em>-We were a bit silly for not thinking of this before, yes.-</em>


    <em>So? Where are we?</em>


    <em>-Trying to give exact locational details in what is effectively a verbal exchange would be meaningless, even if I have them. I can show you a map, though.-</em> A map of the region oveid her vision, while remaining mostly transparent, a small blinking dot indicated where she was.


    <em>So, likesix-hundred miles south of Makinaven?</em>


    <em>-Give or take, yes.-</em>


    T had a thought, then. <em>Hey, t?</em>


    <em>-Oh, thats an interesting idea. Yes, let me check-</em>


    She ran in silence for a moment before t huffed augh.


    -<em>Yes, I do believe that the arcane city that you and Rane saw from Makinaven was toiri. What are the chances?-</em>


    T grunted, taking another running leap. <em>Well, toiri has fairly easy ess to the humannds, so it makes sense that arcanesing from there would be more likely to be found in our area?</em>


    <em>-I suppose so. Those further away would be more inclined to find gated humans elsewhere. We never really discovered if all the major Houses send prospective Pirs up north, or if that was just the House of Blood. But speaking of probabilities, it was a blessing that we found the voidsword and melded it with Flow. Without voidsight, and the void magics in the elk-leathers, wed never have gotten out of the Doman-Imithe.-</em>


    <em>That one was tilted in our favor from the start, though. Thron said that the majority of ether holds have some sort of void item, even if they arent all as useful as a sword.</em>


    <em>-Well, its still a fortuitous thing that lined up to give us the tools we needed.-</em>


    T shivered. <em>Im not going to lie, it was a bit terrifying to be without my inscriptions. The voidsight and magics were absolutely a boon and a half.</em>


    After that, they fell into apanionable silence, T loping across the rolling hills of the ins.


    Terry came out of Kit around mid-morning; shed been checking in on him every hour or so.


    He hunted and ran with her until just after noon, when he squawked at her until she let him back into the sanctum.


    <em>Well, I suppose theres no real need for both of us to run.</em>


    Aside from the bit ofpany, nothing truly of note happened until midte afternoon.


    The zeme had been slowly weakening as she traveled, but it finally dropped below the threshold for an arcane Childs power density.


    It was official.


    She was out of arcanends.


    T let out a <em>whoop!</em> Jumping and throwing her arms into the air in a moment of celebration, but thats all she gave herself.


    <em>How far are we from tori?</em>


    <em>-About two-hundred and seventy miles.-</em>


    That was an impressive distance to cover in what amounted to a bit more than twenty-two hours of running.


    t had done the estimations, and in total T had in the neighborhood of a thousand two-hundred miles to run from toiri to Alefast, Waning. That was the closest human city she could reach without passing through the Leshkin forest, and she really, <em>really</em> didnt want to do that.


    <em>Alright, just four or five more days of running.</em>


    That was less than ideal. Sure, it was well under the deadline, but she knew that <em>something</em> would happen before then. It always did.


    <em>There is a high probability that </em>some<em> low probability event will happen.</em>


    -<em>Ahh, statistics. How deceptive you can be.-</em>


    And like clockwork, less than half an hourter, she started to hear rumblings in the ground around her in a regr, but infrequent, cadence.


    Like the movement of a giant who took a single step every couple of minutes.


    It was hard to get a direction on the sound, but it was definitely bing louder as she ran onward, though she couldnt tell if it was more north or east.


    Anything truly massive that would block her way should have been visible. Aside from something striding across the ins, the only other thing that came to mind was something underground.


    That that wasnt a pleasant thought.


    Both humans and arcanes had a habit of burying difficult-to-deal-with threats under the ground.


    <em>Now that I think about it, if Zeme isnt aplete world, there might be underpinnings that make it a much better prison than I ever really considered.</em>


    <em>-Theres a lot of guesswork in that statement.-</em>


    <em>Sure. It was a guess after all.</em>


    Another hour passed before T spotted a group of people up ahead.


    She was still outside of the range of an unenhanced eye to see, but she ducked low, nheless.


    She almost turned away, assuming it was some arcane squad, but to her utter bafflement, her momentary focus allowed her enhanced eyesight to clearly see that it was a group of five humans.


    <em>What in zeme?</em>


    Her magesight conveyed something even more strange. Only two had gates.


    <em>A mix of gated and non-gated humans, and the gated are in the minority Any ideas, t?</em>


    -<em>I have no record, from either the human cities or arcane, on humans in this part of the continent.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, I didnt remember anything either.</em>


    Odder still, the three humans without gates clearly had vestiges in some of their gear. The two that she thought had gates <em>could</em> have perfectly positioned vestiges in their back armor, but they didnt give that feel to her.


    T grimaced, shifting from foot to foot for a moment as she crouched low.


    <em>Im going to go around. Im really curious, but investigating seems like a good way to get dyed.</em>


    <em>-That sounds wise. I rmend going around to the north.-</em>


    The ground shook again, and T took off.


    She decided to stick more to the valleys than she had been. If that group wasnt alone, which it would be odd if it was, then she would be making herself too visible up on the ridges.


    It made her progress a little slower, but she chose her valleys well, so it wasnt too much of a dy.


    Unfortunately, by limiting her visible profile, she also cut down on her own sight lines.


    In that way, she came to the end of a valley and passed through a group of crags into the next, only to find her path blocked by over a dozen heavily armed humans.


    Now, T would almost never call anyone heavily armed in a serious manner.


    There had been some new Guards back in Bandfast who shed seen who strapped on as many weapons as they could, and it just limited their actualbat abilities.


    Eskau and other arcanes often used weapons that were heavy, but that was just armed for them.


    In this case, these humans being heavily armed meant that they carried more magic in the form of weaponry than T had ever seen.


    Each one carried at least two items that together shone brighter than protian weapons to her magesight, and collectively, they outshone even a Pirs full regalia.


    <em>What the eternal rust?</em> The were obviously not a set, and so wouldnt actually have their powersbined, but it was still a <em>lot</em> of magic to be able to bring to bear.


    Surrender any weaponry ande with us. One of the men in the middle of the group spoke clearly, and concisely, his voice carrying the tone of authority. If you do not resist, and you mean us no harm, no harm will be done to you.


    T looked more closely at the group as she slowed to a stop some dozen yards from them.


    They were well muscled in the manner of the Guards back in Bandfast, or the Eskau shed fought with. These were professional soldiers, though she couldnt tell whose they were. They held their weapons with the ease of familiarity, and their gear was clean and in good repair. Beyond that, there was something viscerally relieving to be near other humans again.


    Even so, T was in a hurry. Im going to decline. Im sort of on a tight timeline here, and Im just passing through. I dont know, nor do I want to know, why you all are out here.


    The one who had spoken shook his head. I apologize, but that isnt good enough.


    <em>-Theyre looking really squishy, right about now.</em>-


    Indeed, of the dozen men, only four of which had gates, none were anything but mundane. <em>Not even inscribed.</em>


    Look. You all are bringing on a real feeling of nostalgia, and I genuinely dont want to hurt you, but I am going to continue on my way, and there really isnt anything you can do to stop me.


    The statement was <em>probably</em> not a bluff. Either way, she was about to find out.


    She crouched and leapt upward, right as the two men whod been trying to sneak up on her from either side activated their weaponry.


    A of lighting sprang between the two devices, raking the ground where she had just been.


    She was among therger group before the first one of them called out in rm.


    <em>One siege orb, wipe the group out, and be on my way.</em>


    Her hand was halfway to Kit when she paused. <em>What am I doing?</em>


    T hadnt had many interactions with humans in the arcanends, so this was the most human interaction shed had in <em>months.</em>


    <em>And what? Im just going to kill them all?</em>


    Its what shed have done as an Eskau. They crossed her, they are <em>inconveniencing </em>her.


    -<em>T?-</em>


    T mentally shuddered, even as shended, darting forward.


    <em>I am not Tali. </em>There was absolutely no way that she was going to turn this into a bloodbath.


    <em>Morality is worth a few extra seconds.</em> She <em>forced</em> that belief into her own mind. She wanted to believe it was true, so she would act like it.


    Rust take any who said otherwise.


    So, Flow stayed in its sheath at her hip, and she broke ankles.


    Because she was feeling a bit irritated, she only broke the left ankle of each opponent she came across.


    Even so, she did grow a glove of white metal over her fists and feet so that the dasgannach couldnt even have the <em>option</em> of harming them.


    It would be rather embarrassing to aim to incapacitate and simply suck the iron from them instead.


    Clubs with crystalline magic flowing through them, swords with fire or ice, knives coated in poison power, and many others struck out, all wielded by skillful hands.


    Magical traps activated, cages formed of various elements, or alterations to the terrain to impede or harm her, shields of power, and myriad other tools were used to a degree of effectiveness that told T one thing: These men practiced with their gear, and they knew the strengths and weaknesses intimately.


    Unfortunately for them, it didnt matter.


    T hesitated half-a-heart-beat longer than they expected, shifted a quarter inch more to one side than they were used to, or dropped lower than theyd seen a human attempt inbat before.


    Her footing was too sure for the ground on which she tread.


    She deflected attacks that should have thrown her aside.


    Her blows were both faster and heavier than they had any right to be.


    She barely turned her head, but she reacted to anything that she needed to, regardless of its source.


    In a storm of deadly warriors, all striving to kill her, T moved untouched.


    A smile pulled at her lips as she profited from the Way of Flowing Blood, altering it to be nonlethal.


    <em>It is mine now. I will do with it as I please.</em>


    The screams of broken warriors followed after her, but she barely had to breathe.


    From the first instant, it had been obvious to them that she was enhanced and using magic to ovee them, and so she ignored shouts to that effect.


    The leader, the one who had challenged her, took her only an extra two seconds to deal with.


    He swung twin des, which seemed wrought of magma, with a skill that would have impressed Adam, the Guard who had taught her so much back in Bandfast.


    Indeed, if T were to draw Flow and cross swords with the man, he would have outssed her in raw skill.


    This wasnt a contest of skill with a de.


    He cut for her head with his right sword, and she ducked in and to his right with inhuman speed and flexibility.


    He thrust with the left hand even as the other de swept in a tight arc to continue to threaten her.


    A half twist got her directly beside him.


    He headbutted her, a surprising move to be sure, and one that seeded.


    Unfortunately for him, her head was both harder and quicker to recover than his own.


    He staggered slightly from the rebound of his own blow, and T broke his left ankle.


    <em>I wonder if theyll even notice that I gave them all identical injuries?</em>


    <em>-Does it matter?-</em>


    <em>It would be nice if they acknowledged how much better I am than them, yes.</em>


    <em>-That way lies madness, T. You shouldnt be taking the extra time for a showy victory.-</em>


    <em>Yeah youre probably right.</em>


    Even so, she broke the left ankle of thest guy in her way, and crouched to take off, continuing on the way home.


    No. The painced word from the leader came along with the <em>crack</em> of something breaking, and a pulse of power.


    Her mirrored perspective showed that the man had broken a heavily inscribed y disk, and now the thing was zing with power and magical weight that was as horrifying as it was impressive.


    Half of the spell-lines were floating in mid air as power pulsed out from the thing.


    -<em>T!-</em>


    <em>I know, I see it! </em>It was an anti-magical pulse.


    She had never seen its like before, but something in her knew and could identify it on sight.


    She sprang away, but it wouldnt be far or fast enough.


    <em>Rust these people. I should have just killed them all from a distance.</em>


    T only had an instant to shore up her defenses, harden her aura, and brace.


    They must have assumed that she was a temporary enhancer. They thought that all they had to do was knock her magics free for a bare moment, and she would be reduced to mundane humanity.


    They were wrong, but the effect would do something worse, something that they couldnt have expected.


    <em>Its going to force the Archon star to finish forming.</em>


    She had a brief thought that maybe it would kill the dasgannach or rip it free, but the creatures magic wasnt like human magics. It would be too much to hope that it would be affected at all.


    The anti-magic pulse mmed into her, finding cracks in her iron covering and sting through the rest, barely impeded.


    More than anything, all that it was doing was grabbing all magical power and throwing it outward.


    This would be <em>devastating</em> to an arcane. It would likely empty them entirely in an instant, if it overcame their will.


    She joined with t, fighting to keep the trickle of power flowing to the Archon star, but that wouldnt be enough. The connection was too tenuous.


    They threw more power into the working, knowing that they were burning their time, but that was better than having no time at all.


    <em>Hold on!</em>


    <em>-One moment more!-</em>


    But it wasnt enough.


    The anti-magic was meant to level the ying field between mundane humans and high-level arcanes.


    T just didnt have the strength to resist it.


    The wave passed, and their power was temporarily dispelled, her power density dropping to nothing.


    Even the free-floating power in the air was driven away.


    The Archon star snapped into form, fullyplete if not as fully powered as it could be, and her body rejected it.


    Her finger felt like it was going to explode, even as her gate continued to gush power, allowing her inscriptions to re back to life.


    She usually cut Archon stars free the moment they were ready, so it had never been an issue, but now? Now, it was.


    As she grit her teeth against the pain that was toe, and prepared to say goodbye to t all over again, something unexpected happened.


    She felt the dasgannach stir within her as it oriented more fully on the Archon star or, more urately, the iron inside its structure.


    As the spellform moved to leave her finger, the full conceptual might of the dasgannach fell upon it, and Ts conscious mind interpreted the instincts and actions of the mindless creature once again.<ol><li><strong><em> MINE.</em></strong></li></ol>


    And the Archon star stopped, unable to leave her finger because the dasgannach wouldnt let the bit of iron get away.


    The creature still did not eat it as it still would not bond her, but it would not let it escape either.


    The stalemate had ended, and a new, stranger impasse had been formed.


    <em>Well I was not expecting that.</em>


    The power in the air came crashing back down upon them all, and T staggered.


    Without thought, she immediately pped a hand down on Kit and <em>dumped</em> power into the storage device. Blessedly, while it was on empty, it hadnt been drained dry. <em>That makes sense, they wouldnt want to destroy their loot, just drain it momentarily.</em>


    The men on the ground around her were pulling back in horror, and T quickly realized why.


    Her through-spike had been temporarily disabled, and she would look rather arcane to them without it.


    While she was relieved to be alive, she was rusting livid.


    <em>This is what mercy gets you, T.</em> She grit her teeth as she mostly mastered her emotions and <em>forced</em> herself to think as she wanted to think, not as an Eskau would. <em>No. This can be dealt with.</em>


    She spun on the leader who had barely seemed to keep his feet.


    Flow flicked into her left hand as she transformed it into a void-sword, just before her through-spike returned her semnce of humanity. It seems like I have more time than Id thought, and now? Now, I need some answers.

 Chapter 262: Building Some Good Will

    Chapter 262: Building Some Good Will


    T was rather irritated. The st that had disrupted her connection to her budding Archon star hadnt <em>really</em> been anti-magical.


    In fact, if she had to say it mimicked anything, it reminded her of Master Jevin in Makinaven, where he could grab anyones power and move it around with his aura control and the odd strength he had within his city.


    T found herself ring at the guards before her.


    Shed been merciful, and these men had nearly killed her.


    You. She locked eyes with the leader, even as he paled.


    He could obviously see that she had not been undone by hisst-ditch tactic.


    -<em>He also likely saw the edges of the void before the through-spike fully reactivated.-</em>


    She tried not to growl as she asked, Who made that item?


    The leader didnt answer right away as he looked around, taking in the state of his men.


    The two who had tried to sneak up on and catch her between their lightning weapons were the only men who werent injured.


    Specifically, the dozen others each had a broken left ankle. <em>I should have just caved in their skulls.</em>


    <em>-No, dont let your frustration, fear, and reliefbine to make you regret your mercy. You had no need to kill them, so you didnt.-</em>


    That was true enough.


    If she had killed them, then shed still think she was on a time limit for the dasgannach. She also knew that she had a much greater penchant for violence after her time in the arcanends. Rust, Brand had tried to put a knife in her heart, and theyd be good friends. These people just inconvenienced her a bit, and she wished shed killed them all?


    <em>I need to push back on those instincts more</em>


    <em>-Hey! At least the dasgannach is in a more stable sort of equilibrium.-</em>


    <em>Sure, but now, I have a different problem, and Ill still be dead if my left hand is severed</em> She frowned at that.<em> Or will the dasgannach just draw everything back into the rest of me?</em>


    <em>-It might take the opportunity to leave, taking the star with it, since it would already be outside of you.-</em>


    <em>That does seem likely</em>


    She wasnt keen to test the theory either way.


    Finally, the leader gathered himself sufficiently to respond. We are not here to answer your questions. We are to bring you back to our leader.


    That was your purpose?


    Yes, the Head asked to speak with you, to ensure you were not a threat.


    She frowned. Did he create that item?


    The man hesitated, then seemed to decide that there was no harm in elevating his leader in her eyes. Yes.


    <em>Are you thinking what Im thinking?</em>


    <em>-Definitionally, yes.-</em>


    <em>Thats not what I mean. We have this thing still inside us, and we have no idea what its going to do. We could really use an analysis, and someone capable of creating some of these items</em>


    <em>-Theyd have the tools to provide that, yeah.-</em>


    Good, then he likely has some good diagnostic equipment. Take me to him.


    What?


    -<em>Oh, T-</em>


    <em>What? Its a good n. I need more information, and the magic technology they have seems incredibly advanced.</em>


    <em>-Assuming they didnt just steal all these weapons and devices.-</em>


    <em>From who?</em>


    <em>-Ruins?-</em>


    <em>That thats actually a good point, but if they have ess to that many ruins, and this much weaponry? Itd be worth getting to know them in either case.</em>


    She desperately wanted to get home, but she couldnt let this chance go to waste, and she <em>really</em> didnt want to just hope that the dasgannach would remain stable until she got back home. <em>Who knows? Maybe they have a teleporter. I could teach them how to build one, actually.</em>


    Now that was an idea.


    <em>Could we just build one?</em>


    <em>-You dont actually have aplete knowledge of the spell-forms. You have knowledge of the functions, but not exacting details on the construction.-</em>


    <em>Rust. Fine.</em>


    The leader was standing, stabilized by one of the two uninjured men. You will need to surrender your weapons.


    T cocked an eyebrow. Did I need weapons to ovee all of you?


    He twitched, seeming to fight an urge to flinch back, and after a moments hesitation, the man sighed, shaking his head. No, but


    She overrode him. I could take all your weapons. Should I do that?


    What? No!


    Well, then. How about we all keep our own gear, and remember that youve already tried most of yours, and I havent used any of mine on you.


    The leader grimaced, but before he could respond, the other uninjured man came up to whisper in his ear.


    T broke her standard respect for privacy, given their earlier hostilities, and listened in.


    Each one of the men has a broken ankle, sir. Were not getting them back without aid.


    The leader seemed startled. What? All the same injury?


    Yes, sir. All the left ankle, too.


    T barely contained her smirk.


    The leader frowned but nodded. Alright. Well just have to send some people back for them.


    T cleared her throat. If youd like to begin building some good will, regardless of your ambush of me, I can carry your wounded in my dimensional storage, provided they dont move around too much. Some were gated, and she wasnt keen to have Kits foundations undermined.


    He narrowed his eyes at her. Why should I trust you?


    She shrugged. Because if I wanted you dead, you would be. Im T, by the way.


    <em>-Your real name? Really?-</em>


    <em>Im tired, t. I just want to be me. Id like to be home, too, but thats not possible at the moment.</em>


    <em>-Thats thats fair.-</em>


    He cleared his throat. Greater T, I am Markl, sergeant of the guard.


    T frowned. Greater? Whats that mean?


    Markl looked a bit ufortable. It is our term of respect for one who uses magics without requiring artifacts.


    So a Mage?


    It was his turn to frown. Like from the folk tales? Mages, wizards, liches, and the horrors below?


    I suppose so? She shrugged. But I suppose that doesnt matter much. Should I refer to you as Sergeant Markl?


    Just Markl will suffice, Greater.


    Then you must just call me T.


    His look of difort grew. Apologies, Greater, but I will have to refuse that request.


    <em>Alright, then a stronger hierarchy than the human cities up north?</em>


    <em>-Or at least a more reinforced one. That likely means there is less of a power difference between mundanes and greaters than between the average citizen and Mages back home. Only those with a tenuous grasp on power are so insistent on such structures.-</em>


    If you insist, Markl.


    She took Kit from her belt and tossed it to one side against a smaller crag, willing a normal door to form, opening into an empty twenty-foot cube below her sanctum.


    Any whom you wish me to transport will be safe in there, and they shouldnt be able to damage anything important, so well all be happy.


    After a moments hesitation he nodded. Injured inside, exit protocols in ce. One hour from the doors closure.


    Sir! The men still on the ground responded as one.


    It took them a bit to load up the injured, and during that time T received quite a shock.


    Of the eight men without gates, four werent human. Two were hue-folk, and two were beast-folk, but those specifics had been hidden under their armor and while T had been focused elsewhere.


    Looking back through her memories, she did see that it was obvious earlier, she just hadnt focused on it or really cared.


    <em>Huh. Theyre taking orders from a human? Well I guess I had servants hopping at my words, but my position wasn''t exactly standard.</em>


    Still more confusing was the obvious bird-folk who had a gate.


    T stared at him, unabashedly.


    He gave her ufortable nces as he was helped to hobble inside of Kit.


    <em>How the rust does an arcane have a gate?</em>


    <em>-We could ask?-</em>


    <em>Yes, Ill just say that I was examining his soul, and noticed he had a gate.</em>


    <em>-Why not?</em>-


    She hesitated, then shrugged. <em>Good point.</em>


    T pointed at the bird-man. You.


    He froze up, his voice shaking slightly, Me, Greater?


    Yes, you. How do you have a gate?


    His feathers rose, clearly showing emotion, but she didnt know enough about his physiology to know what emotion it was. My parents Greater.


    Meaning?


    My mother was a gated human.


    <em>And his father was a bird-man? There can be inter-breeding?</em> There hadnt been any of that in toiri, at least not that shed been aware of, and shed <em>never</em> seen an arcane with a gate, before. Fascinating. Why


    Markl cleared his throat from nearby. Apologies, Greater, I dont wish to presume, but you seem to be unfamiliar with our customs and ways. You are asking somewhat intimate questions.


    T sighed. <em>I knew it was too much to hope theyd give me straight answers.</em> She grimaced. Very well. My apologies. I did not mean to offend.


    The loading of the remainder went off without issue and without further discussions. The deep, heavy vibrations of the ground continued at their regr intervals throughout.


    After a brief hesitation, the sergeant also stepped through the door. Banlen will lead you where you need to go.


    Without another word, he pushed the door closed.


    T shrugged, taking Kit from the rock and hanging the pouch from her belt once more.


    Kits reserves were still frustratingly low, so T once again rested her right hand on the pouch and directed as many void-channels as she could easily maintain into refilling her sanctum.


    That underway, she turned to the two men, awkwardly standing nearby.


    So, which of you is Banlen?


    The two men looked at each other and bothughed a bit awkwardly. Well, Greater, we both are.


    Twins? They didnt really look alike, but stranger things happened. Both were human and neither had a gate. <em>Might be theirst name, then?</em>


    No, Greater. Parents just chose the same name. He shrugged awkwardly.


    Well then, Banlens, lead the way.


    The two men looked at each other and shrugged, the leaner one taking the lead.


    They each obviously had one of the paired lightning artifacts, which took the form of a bracelet for each of them.


    The one who took the lead had a short-spear that was, handle included, less than four-feet long. It looked more like a short sword with a really long handle to Ts eye, but the intention was fairly obvious.


    The other had a round shield on his back and a mace hanging from his belt.


    The short-spear and shield were both magical, though she couldnt easily tell exactly what they did.


    Together, the three walked up to the top of a nearby hill.


    There, the two men paused.


    Theyd only walked about a hundred feet.


    <em>Is this it? </em>Why are we stopping?


    One Banlen had pulled out a disc of vaguely magical ss, and the other turned her way. Hes looking for our destination. Well move as soon as he pinpoints it.


    She frowned. She had dozens of questions but decided it was best to just wait and see.


    Soon enough, the one looking must have seen what he was looking for. Ahh, rust. Its moved faster than usual, they must think theyre close to findinghis eyes flicked to her, briefly"it. Come on, we have a couple miles to cover.


    Without another word, he started jogging.


    T and the other Banlen caught up quickly.


    They both nced her way, then to each other. With a shared shrug, they sped up to afortable running speed, and T increased her pace to match theirs.


    The heavier of the two chuckled, even as he started to breath a little heavier. I knew youd be able to keep up. You didnt have a burst movement vibe to you.


    T just grinned back. I could carry the two of you on my back, if you want.


    The otherughed. Leave us a little pride, Greater. Youve proven yourself already. He hesitated for a moment before continuing, I dont want any misunderstanding. There will be those more powerful than you where we are going. We are not trying to lead you into a trap; thats just the truth of it.


    She frowned. <em>Is that based on a guess at my strength or something else?</em>


    <em>-I havent sensed anything like magesight inspecting us, but with the odd assortment of gear they have, we could be missing something obvious. Or hes just guessing.-</em>


    <em>Well, at least this distance exins why they were willing to let me carry them in Kit.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, I thought theyd agreed too easily, but if their city is moving somehow? The wounded would be falling further and further behind, and that would be really difficult to deal with, or at least inconvenient.-</em>


    Around a quarter hourter, they seemed to be drawing closer to their destination, and T was sensing a far greater concentration of power nearby, even if it wasnt obvious to her magesight.


    <em>Some sort of obfuscation?</em>


    The steady, infrequent trembling of the ground had continued and seemed to be all around them now.


    Youll feel a slight tingle as you pass through the field.


    T frowned but nodded. <em>Im coated in iron and forewarned. Not alerting me beforehand would have had a much greater chance of seeding, if it was nefarious.</em>


    They crossed another dozen yards, and T did, indeed, feel a wave of tingling pass over her before it seemed that a veil had been pulled back from her eyes.


    Before her, a structure towered into the sky, easily a few hundred feet from its foundations to the tallest tower.


    That structure was ambling across thendscape on six long, almost delicate-seeming legs, which stuck out from the foundations of thepound.


    Instantly, T assumed that the resonant thumping shed been feeling was from this massive thing walking, but she watched it take a step, and felt nothing.


    Then another step.


    Then another.


    Then, she felt the deep resonant vibration.


    Voices called out from the walking structure, and it seemed to turn slightly.


    <em>Theyre looking for the origin?</em>


    Maybe it wasing from underground.


    She shivered at the idea.


    The Banlens both had seemed to rx once they entered the field, and all three of them stopped a hundred yards or so inside it. There she is. Home.


    There were other groups scattered about, though what they were doing, T couldnt quickly determine.


    Even so, she found herself nodding. I can admit, I was not expecting a walking city.


    City? Lean Banlenughed. No, no. Were not nearly so big. Were barely a vige.


    Her head whipped to face him. What did you say?


    He took a step back, clearly startled by her sudden movement. Were not big enough to be a city?


    After that.


    He swallowed. Were barely a vige?


    That. A vige. Thats just a small city, right?


    Yes, Greater, more or less.


    The other Banlen stepped forward. We need to catch up. You can ask your questions of the Head. Im sure hell be happy to speak with you.


    T narrowed her eyes, looking at the <em>vige.</em>


    She remembered a woman who called herself simply Mistress. An insane offer of gold for a soul bond, a healing in the snowy mountains, and then abandonment to find her own way home.


    <em>Will I find her here?</em>


    <em>-Only one way to find out.-</em>


    They took off at a run once again, and she found herself once again impressed at the two mens endurance, given they were running in rather heavy armor. It wasnt anything like full te, but it was far weightier than a scouts armor tended to be.


    She was looking around at the unusual zeme as they ran when the truth of it hit her like a physical blow.


    <em>The vige has its own aura?</em> It was an insane idea. The sheer volume of power required was staggering. Even the human cities back home didnt have an actual aura, just ovepping defenses and detection grids.


    <em>Though, to be fair, a vige having an aura would be a lot more feasible than a city, at least in theory.</em>


    <em>-More things to ask this head.-</em>


    <em>So it seems.</em>


    It didnt take long for them to catch up to the backend of the walking vige.


    There was a spur of rock extending down in back, with a door and a tform hovering just above the ground.


    A singr guard stood on the small threshold.


    The leaner Banlen ran ahead and hopped up, whispering to the guard.


    T was amazed at how quiet the viges steps were. Even right beside the thing she couldnt hear them at all.


    She realized it was magically enforced silence, of course, but it was impressive nheless.


    The guard at the door didnt look too pleased, but eventually he nodded and gestured them forward.


    Wee to Howlton, Greater T. Banlen here said that youve rendered aid in transporting some of our men, and wish to speak with the Head?


    She blinked a few times at that, ncing to Banlen curiously. He was studiously avoiding making eye contact. With a chuckle and a shake of her head, she smiled. That pretty much sums it up, yeah. Ill let the men out of my dimensional storage once were inside.


    He gave her a long look, then grunted. Above my paygrade. Wee to Howlton.


    Without anything further, he opened the door away from them, and gestured for them to enter.


    They entered, one Banlen in front and one behind, immediately climbing a set of stairs, up through the dark interior of the viges foundation.


    The top was awash in light, and as they came out of the dark, sloped passage, T was amazed at the <em>life</em> she saw all around them.


    It felt like they were exiting an alley into a bustling marketce.


    There were workshops open to the air, though no sound exited the broad spaces.


    <em>More noise-canceling?</em>


    Food stalls were scattered about, along with sellers of various standard goods: clothing, belts, household tools, and the like.


    No one seemed to notice their arrival, as the ce was positively filled with people moving about.


    True, if everyone had stayed still, they would have barely taken up any of the avable space, but since everyone seemed to be off on their own errands, the market atrium felt almost over-full.


    To her surprise, almost everyone she saw had a gate. <em>Ill have to ask about that.</em>


    The arched ceiling two dozen feet overhead kept it from feeling stifling, but there was a definite feeling of <em>life</em> to the ce.


    T took a deep breath, reveling in the more familiar spices of human cooking.


    Arcanes ate <em>mostly</em> the same food, but they always seasoned it <em>just a bit</em> differently.


    This?


    This smelled like home, and T felt a tightening in her chest at the memories that tried to pour through her mind. She kept them at bay, barely.


    Right this way, Greater.


    The heavier Banlen had leaned closer, so he didnt have to shout.


    She nodded, and followed him through the maelstrom of humans and arcanes, interacting with perfect civility.


    <em>Well, I never expected to find something like this in the ins.</em>


    <em>-Indeed.-</em>

 Chapter 263: Howlton

    Chapter 263: Howlton


    T walked with the Banlens up through the vige of Howlton until they came to a courtyard before a quiet, restful seeming area. It was marked as a clinic and healers shop.


    <em>Right, the men.</em> T obviously hadnt forgotten about those she had within Kit, but they had definitely fallen out of the front of her mind.


    -<em>For you, thats the same as forgetting.-</em>


    <em>Hush you.</em>


    The motion of the city walking was hardly noticeable, but T had quickly be ustomed to the slight swaying.


    One of the Banlens went inside to get the healers.


    The other smiled. If you would, Greater T?


    T nodded and ced Kit on the closest wall.


    Tense faces greeted her as T pushed open the door into Kit, but they rxed with the remaining Banlen called out.


    Were in Howlton, just outside the healers.


    What followed was another bit of time for getting the men out and settled.


    T felt a bit awkward about not helping, but she didnt want to infect anyone with the dasgannach, if that was even possible, and she didnt want to reveal it either.


    Thankfully, the door in and out of Kit restricted the number of people who could easily go in and out, and there were plenty of people to help.


    It turned out there were half a dozen healers and quite a few apprentices in this one healing establishment.


    They also had rather good methods as they set about healing the broken bones straight away.


    Artifacts were in ce that would repair the fractures, but they still took a few minutes to fully repair the damage that shed done.


    Even so, by the time all the men were settled in to wait their turns, Markl was healed and ready to go.


    Ill escort you the rest of the way to the Heads office.


    T nodded her thanks, bid the Banlens goodbye, and followed Markl out.


    They went up.


    And up.


    And up.


    The whole ce wasid out in a pleasing manner. Nothing was too cramped, and there seemed to be multiple ways to get to each ce.


    The viges aura made her magesight less informative than usual, but she was easily able to see that at every level almost everyone she saw had a gate.


    Finally, she turned to Markl and asked. Why did so few guards have gates, but basically everyone here does?


    Hmm? He paused looking back at her. Oh! The non-gated are within the viges core.


    The core?


    He frowned. The expanded space? Where we have our farnd.


    <em>Oh! That makes so much sense. The gated cant be in there because of degradation, but the gateless could be much morefortable.</em> That makes a lot of sense, I suppose.


    He smiled. The gated cane and go on asion, but ess is limited, as I am sure you can understand.


    Of course.


    It can be inconvenient as most of our residences are within, and we dont wish to create segregated societies, so our schools, especially our primary schools, are out here, so that we grow up together.


    Wait, most residences? I thought this was just a vige. How populous are you?


    He shrugged. I dont have an exact count, but I believe in the forty-eight-hundred range. The ssification is more to do with the size of our vige, the walking part out here. There are roughly a thousand gated in ourmunity.


    <em>I suppose thats one way to measure things. Especially if the gated help out in some way that others dont.</em>


    <em>-We didnt see any connections of power, but looking back, I wouldnt be surprised if the gated were the ones to power all the weaponry for the unit.-</em>


    <em>Clever use of power, that.</em>


    With no other pressing questions, they continued upward.


    Eventually, they reached the top level.


    The whole level was a room with ss, or something like it, ringing the entire circumference of the somewhat small space.


    One figure stood in the middle, able to see out in every direction.


    Scripts were embedded in the floor along with fully impressed spellforms that existed solely in the dimensions of magic, just as they did for artifacts.


    The man turned toward them as they came up the spiral stairs.


    Thest bit of the staircasecked any handhold, so that the view was utterly unobstructed.


    The man, seemingly the Head, was odd to Ts eyes.


    First, he wore what appeared to be incredibly traditional Mages robes of a dark green satin, and his feet were bare.


    Beyond that, he had a few clear demarcations of a dragonling nature about him.


    His hands and feet ended in neatbut wicked-lookingws.


    The backs of his hands, tops of his feet, and his bare arms were covered in small ck scales, but his palms were bare.


    Horns swept up and back from his brow ridge, their base almost hidden among his long, scraggly, ck hair.


    Even so, his face looked human, or more or less human.


    A scraggly beard matched his hair quite nicely, and his features were on the sharper, more angr side for a human, without crossing the line into seeming truly alien.


    He had deep, dark circles around his eyes, which glowed a sickly green.


    He looked utterly exhausted, but that was just how he looked <em>physically.</em>


    Magically?


    His aura was Honored, clearly earned in the arcane style, however that was done.


    T had flipped through the House of the Rising Suns book on the subject, but that was so t could store it forter. Shed yet to actually process the information.


    He clearly had deeply impressed, natural magics that she couldnt interpret, along with spell-lines of some material that seemed to glow an unhealthy green that matched his eyes.


    The spellforms glowed even where T couldnt detect magic flowing through them.


    Yet oddest of all, he had a gate, sitting within him in <em>just slightly</em> the wrong ce, and the gate in question felt like it had a flowrate simr to her own, though she couldnt be exactly sure.


    <em>How is that possible?</em>


    <em>-I dont know, but it will be fascinating to find out.-</em>


    T took all this in in but a moment, even as Markl dropped to one knee.


    Head Pareshti, I bring a visitor. This is Greater T.


    T finally felt the telltale pressure and tingle of someone using a magesight equivalent on her for the first time in days.


    The man spoke softly, as if his voice were hoarse, and he was trying not to strain it.


    Human? Halfway to Refined and oddly shielded. He hummed thoughtfully. Regardless, be weed.


    Markle straightened, bowed again, and departed without a word.


    T called after him. Thank you!


    He hesitated, giving her an odd look. After an almost awkwardly long pause, he finally nodded once and continued back down, out of the chamber.


    T turned back to Head Pareshti. Thank you for the wee.


    And thank <em>you</em> for choosing not to kill my men when they osted you.


    T stiffened.


    Did you not think I could see? He pointed out the window, and T turned to look.


    It took her a moment, but she was able to vaguely see familiar crags in the distance, beside which shed fought the guards.


    I do my best to watch over all my people, and I was grateful for your restraint.


    Why did you send them after me?


    Send them after you? He chuckled. I suppose it might have looked that way, given you are unfamiliar with this area, but any Head would have requested to speak with you, given how close youvee to our vige.


    T found herself nodding. That did make sense. If she were in charge of a vige, shed be curious about people like herself passing too close by. Overall, she felt the mood lighten, tension she hadnt noticed fading away as they cleared the air.


    Now, what brings you to our section of the Wild ins?


    T turned to Pareshti. I am heading home.


    And where is that, Greater T?


    Just T, please, Head Pareshti.


    Only if you will call me Paresh.


    As you wish, Paresh. Do you know of the human cities?


    He hesitated, then nodded slowly. I do. Most of my people would not be wee there, for one reason or another. He chuckled. Many of their ancestors <em>came</em> from those cities rather involuntarily. When he noticed that T didnt get the joke, he rified, They were banished, T.


    Ahh. Well, your ancestors too, right? I mean your ancestors came from the human cities? Thats why you have a gate?


    He stiffened, then rxed, shaking his head even as his right hand raised to rest on his chest. No, no. I have never visited, nor did my ancestorse from there. My gatees from my wife, may she guide me and strengthen me until I may join her in death.


    T nodded. If I may be so forward, I had not known how such things worked when both parties were not gated.


    He waved her off. We are both adults here. For two gated humans, intimacy causes a sort of soul-bond. This is well known and expected. If you are from the cities, I am not surprised that you wouldnt know that it is the same if only one party is gated, though the results are different.


    If I may ask, how so?


    He nodded, gesturing.


    T suddenly found a chair behind her, which not only held her greater than average weight, it was quitefortable.


    Shed felt the <em>barest</em> flicker of power. <em>Did he shape the floor upward into a chair so quickly?</em>


    -<em>Im not sure. He might have called it from elsewhere, probably more easily than shaping it.-</em>


    Paresh stayed upright, standing in the center of what seemed to be a control script for the walking vige. When both are gated, if one dies, their soul passes on, usually scarring the one left behind. Even those who do not use their gates feel this effect, though less strongly, and too much damage to the soul can cause rash or even heinous action. One of my mentors would have said it dehumanizes them for a time, until they are healed. He shook his head, smiling ruefully. This happens because there is no ce for two broken souls within a physical vessel, so one must pass on, severing all ties to Zeme and those here.


    T nodded. This was elementary knowledge that hardly bore repeating, but she didnt interrupt to say so, as he was obviously ensuringmon ground before making his point.


    But when one is gated, and the other is not? Then, the bond is much stronger in a sense, and much more one directional. Had I died, my wife would have been hurt far worse than if I had been gated. I sense soul-bound items on you. She would have been harmed as much as you would, should one of your bonds be destroyed or broken.


    T found herself nodding again. But you didnt die.


    No, I did not. She did, breaching a ruin, but that is not what we are discussing. When she died, the bond between us caused her soul toe here. He tapped his chest. To rest within me, where there was no broken soul to sh with.


    T swallowed. She knew it was an incredibly personal question, but the answer would be beyond illuminating. Can you can you speak to her?


    Paresh shrugged, his eyes moving to scan the horizon. In a sense, I can. Your curiosity is understandable. He smiled, and it was only tinged with the smallest bit of sadness. And it has been centuries since her passing. I do appreciate both your attempt to ask with care, and your genuine curiosity.


    T waited as he sighed, seeming to collect his thoughts. The tiredness shed seen within him seemed more evident than before.


    She does not have a mind, so she is not actually a person in that sense, not any longer, but <em>she</em> is here with me. I feel her presence, I know her love. It is the feeling of reading beside her, but not talking. Of sleeping side by side, not quite touching. Of living life as one, knowing you will never be alone. She could pass on at any time, I couldnt stop her if that was her wish, but she chooses not to. I feel her love, every day.


    His eyes were slightly wet as he finished, and he pulled out a handkerchief to dab them dry.


    T almost asked if such a thing could be abused, or forced as a means for an arcane to gain the power, as she knew of many arcanes who would jump at the chance to have their own gate, but the obvious answer came to her: Soul-bonds have to be voluntary at the deepest level. They <em>must</em> be chosen. <em>And it sounds like the gate isnt trapped within him either, even after the fact.</em>


    It wasnt fool-proof by any means, but it would be difficult to abuse, even if less than savory arcanes knew of the possibility.


    Paresh smiled sadly, drawing her attention back. My apologies. It has been long since she passed, but I still miss her voice, her smell, herugh. He shook his head. But I am prattling on. You are here for a purpose, am I correct?


    You are.


    Then let us hear it. Does it have to do with the curse that lies upon you?


    I have a wait. What? A curse?


    Yes, the concept that is clearly not of you, which pervades much of your body. You were cursed, were you not?


    That started a host of stories tumbling through her mind. <em>Are dasgannachs living curses? Or something like that?</em>


    I can see I have misspoken.


    No, I I had not thought of it in that light. Do you have knowledge of dasgannach?


    The name is not familiar, but that does not surprise me. My studies focus on the creation of things, and this sounds like a creature. Based on context I would guess it is a concept based life-form?


    Ive never heard it described that way, but it fits incredibly well.


    So, this concept has invaded you, is that what youe to ask about?


    I was hoping for help diagnosing its current state, though I would happily ept a solution if you have one.


    Tell me what you know of it, and I will see what I can offer.


    I can do that but wont you need some diagnostic equipment or something?


    He shook his head. No, no. This whole room provides that information to me, both for that which lies within it, and without. That is how I detected the thing to begin with.


    Oh. I suppose that make sense. So, T spoke of the dasgannach, and Paresh listened attentively, his eyes only asionally sweeping thendscape.


    T told of her encounters with them before, what Master Jevin and others had told her, along with how this one had supposedly been modified.


    That is quite the conundrum, T. I do agree, however, that teleportation should be a cure. At least I believe so. I do not have specific knowledge of teleportation methods, but what you say lines up with the little theory I know.


    Thats good to hear, at least.


    Do not be surprised, however, if you put the dasgannach in a unique situation, when you attempt to teleport. It would likely be utterly outside its concept to react to. He chuckled. It is literally exiting reality, so it stands to reason that such a simple Concept couldnt ount for the possibility.


    I was afraid of that. Do you think it will leave?


    That would be the best case, yes. Youd teleport, leaving it behind, where it would die. You would arrive on the receiving array with your blood restored based on your soul-impression, and youd only be out your inscriptions. Unpleasant, yes, but hardly a true issue.


    What would the worst case be?


    It would ept the open invitation you have extended to it. I would suggest retracting such, but I actually would guess that the open invitation, the ongoing <em>option</em> for it to eat that iron too, is why it hasnt given up and left. It <em>can</em> take that iron, so it cant leave before it does.


    T blinked a few times. Oh, rust. That makes sense. But why would the bond be so bad?


    He scoffed. Youd be bonding a creature of pure ravenous, jealous desire and impetus to consume your very soul. That can change a person. Heughed at himself. That <em>would</em> change a person, the only question would be How much?


    She frowned, considering. She thought his definition rang true, but it also eerily mirrored what the arcane artificer, Cerdai, had said about the Concept most closely linked to her own magics. <em>Is that a coincidence? Or was I already being influenced by the cor around my neck, even then?</em>


    -<em>I mean, thats possible, but I really dont think that your magics changed much since you were taken. I mean, they literally didnt change at all, structurally, though your understanding of some of them has shifted.-</em>


    I can see Ive given you much to think about.


    Is there anything that you can think of to help in my situation?


    Unfortunately, no. Mine is a constructive Concept. If you were simply ill, or otherwise injured, I could help, but I cannot repair damage willfully done.


    T grimaced. And to get the dasgannach out, Id have to make a willful choice to incur that damage.


    Precisely. You are at an equilibrium, if an unhappy one.


    <em>You could just cut off my hand, and heal me after?</em> She knew she couldnt ask because that would be her choosing it.


    Even so, he sighed. And no, I cannot encourage it out of you, and heal the damage. That would be willful damage on my part. I can repair what time erodes, or unknown consequences, like my own bodys response to my spell-lines.


    T blinked at him. What? Your spell-lines?


    Yes, the material involved is quite toxic, but it has a magical conductivity and power like nothing else Ive ever encountered.


    Then wouldnt your continued use be willfully inflicted damage?


    Not at all. I dont wish the damage to happen, not at any level. It is a side effect of another choice. And before the idea crosses your mind, the damage is quite contained within my own body. No one else is in any danger, while I still live.


    Thats good to know. The idea had just been crossing her mind. But, I dont want the damage.


    No, of course not, you just want all the iron out of your body. Thats not damaging at all. He gave her a patronizing smile.


    But I dont want that, I want the dasgannach out.


    And what is the dasgannach?


    She opened her mouth and closed it.


    You see, that is the danger of curses, or concepts in general. They distort reality in such a way as to muddy and negate what <em>should</em> be easy and obvious solutions. My advice? Get home, teleport, and deal with the dasgannachs death or bonding.


    I appreciate that advice.


    Of course. Words are free.


    T smiled. True enough, but I still do wish to get home as soon as I can. Is there any way I can avoid such encounters in the future?


    Oh! Of course, forgive me. He waved his hand, and a map of the region seemed to appear, floating in the air. If you head directly north, you should reach the Human Citynds soon enough, and I dont believe there are any other viges in that exact direction at the moment. In the next few days? I am not too sure, but if you are as quick as I believe you are, you shouldnt pass close enough to any to require a talk with their outer scouts and defenders.


    T grimaced. I need to avoid the woods.


    Oh? Not a fan of the Leshkin? I cant say I me you. We do our best to stay away from the woods for that exact reason. Its one cause of the slow encroachment of the forest into our ins. Well have to burn it back in another few hundred years or it will begin to get inconvenient.


    Something like that, yeah. Paresh seemed to enjoy talking, and T wasnt going to turn down good information.


    Well then, youll want to go north and east, hugging the treeline. You should be able to do that well enough without encountering any more viges. Here and heretwo dots appeared on the mapAre the shortest paths through the woods, assuming our information is good for the other side. At those points youll only have to cross about fifty miles of forest. The more northern route is a bit shorter, but youd be going nearly eighty miles out of your way to save three miles in the trees, so Ill let you determine whats right for you.


    T took a moment to ensure shed memorized the information before nodding. Thank you. That will help tremendously.


    Of course. Once again, it cost me nothing.


    T hesitated, feeling the barest trembling of the regr rumbling shed been sensing for nearly a day now. If I may, what is that?


    The rumbling from beneath?


    Id hope not, but yes?


    That is purportedly the tomb of the magical beast known as the clockwork thunder.


    When T returned a nk look, Paresh smiled.


    In ancient times, the clockwork thunder ravaged thend around its home, driving thinking species back and killing all it could. Time and time again humans and arcanes alike rallied to y the beast, but every time it was in, it was birthed anew. So, finally, it was sealed beneath the earth.


    And youre looking for it?


    Its burial ce, yes. Not only would it be amazing to learn from the information ced alongside it, as an aid against its possible escape, but the legend states that bribes beyond imagining were ced around the seal to pay off those who found it, to keep them from opening the door. All that treasure would immediately vanish should the seal be broken, of course.


    Youre treasure hunters?


    Schrs of ancient magics, and designers of new tools mostly, but treasure never hurts. He grinned. You know, you arent in any real danger, so long as you keep that hand safe. Would you like to join us? Were narrowing down the location. I suspect well find it within the year.


    That long?


    The obfuscation scripts are very well constructed, for all that they cantpletely suppress the beasts rage-filled hammering.


    T frowned. It did sound interesting. A bit foolish too, but definitely interesting. Even so, she wasnt that tempted. <em>I just want to get home. </em>Thank you for the offer, but I will have to decline for now.


    Paresh smiled. Completely understandable. You are far from home. If you ever change your mind, search for us. If you find another vige, they should be able to send you our way, even if you cant find us yourself.


    T smiled. Thank you. A thought urred to her, and she decided to ask. <em>No harm in asking.</em> Could I get some scrap-iron from you, while Im here?


    Why  He tilted his head to the side for a moment, then nodded. Ahh, I see. That just <em>might</em> help, yes. One moment.


    T hesitated, but less than a half-minuteter, the floor opened and a small pile of what was clearly scrap iron raised up on a little tform of some other material. She cocked an eyebrow.


    It is convenient to be able to transport material throughout my vige.


    Ill say. She smiled and used a white-metal-d hand to put the scraps into Kit. Thank you, Paresh. May you find what you seek, and may it yield nothing but blessings.


    His smile widened. Same to you, T. May you find your way home, and may the journey be short and fulfilling.

 Chapter 264: Ours?

    Chapter 264: Ours?


    T descended Howlton, unescorted.


    She appreciated the gesture of trust for what it obviously was.


    Even if Paresh could likely fight her off, if not outright defeat her with his unknown abilities within his own domain, T could cause considerable damage, if she wished.


    She did not wish to do so, but it wasnt like they had a long history to lean on between them.


    <em>I suppose out in the ins like this, you have to be good at reading people.</em> That was a somewhat self-aggrandizing assumption, given that it meant that she was inherently trustworthy.


    She hoped to the stars that that was actually true.


    She had so much blood on her hands these days.


    Rivers of the stuff flowed in her wake as shed stood within a House built of it.


    <em>-T?-</em>


    <em>Im Im okay. Ill have a lot to process, once Im home.</em>


    -<em>You didnt kill these men. You could have, but you chose not to.-</em>


    <em>Sure, but I wanted to. It would have been so much easier if Id just killed them.</em>


    t didnt respond with the trite aphorisms that they both knew would have been standard. Instead, she simply sent a single sentence. <em>-You </em>chose<em> to let them live.-</em>


    Nothing more needed to be said, not at the moment.


    It was easy enough to retrace her steps down past the once again mostly silent clinic and on down to the still bustling marketce.


    The dark, nted staircase led to the exit right about ground level.


    As she walked down, she had a realization. <em>Huh, they have both arcanes and humans here, but they are all what I would consider standard size. There were not the smaller orrger varieties, and the sizing of this hallway and these steps seems to support that. I wonder why that is?</em>


    She obviously didnt have the answers, and she likely wouldnt until she came back.


    -<em>Ill make a note to ask Paresh if and when wee back. There might even be some info in the books we have within Kit.-</em>


    <em>Thats true enough.</em> T had flipped through many, if not most, of those books, but once again, using that to copy them into the Archive was vastly different than actually reading and absorbing the content. For that, she needed time that shed yet to have.


    The end of the stairway came soon enough, and T pulled open the door back into the bright light of day.


    The guard acknowledged her but didntmunicate further, beyond giving her a parting wave.


    T waved back and began jogging almost due north. Shed decided to go that way, then follow the forest east and north until she reached the ce that she could cut through with the least forest to traverse.


    <em>-Still fifty miles or so of potentially Leshkin filled terrain.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, but theres not much of a better idea avable.</em>


    <em>-Oh, I know. More that I dont want us to forget to n for that eventuality.-</em>


    <em>Fair enough. We are better trained, better equipped, and more powerful than we werest time that we faced them, but were also alone.</em> That caused a pained emptiness to resound within her own chest.


    She was alone, aside from t and Terry.


    <em>Well, and that silly cat.</em> She wished she had enough confidence in the containment of the dasgannach that she could snuggle up with one of the animals. <em>Not that the cat would let me do that.</em>


    Still, the thought brought a smile to her lips.


    The other groups of scouts seemed to notice her, but let her pass unmolested.


    <em>I wonder if Paresh canmunicate with them directly?</em>


    <em>-That seems highly likely, yes.-</em>


    Passing out of Howltons aura was once again a <em>tingly</em> experience.


    She nced backward and found the vige mostly hidden, but still discernible as a hazy impression against the otherwise mostly clear sky.


    <em>Easier to see than before.</em>


    <em>-Yes, easier than impossible. Do you think Paresh granted us some sort of allowance to perceive it?-</em>


    <em>If so, it was a pretty rusting useless one. Its still a pain to see.</em>


    <em>-Well, its meant to be a kindness, not a beacon.-</em>


    <em>Thats true, I suppose.</em>


    -<em>It also might be the nature of the defense. Even the guards had to use a device to find their own vige, after all.-</em>


    <em>Yeah.</em>


    She continued on her way, and once shed run for another hour or so, she opened Kit and called out to Terry.


    T didnt stop moving.


    Terry, for his part, flickered out and red, squawking irritably even as he fell into step nearby.


    Im sorry, buddy. There was some difficulty. But its been dealt with.


    He gave her a skeptical re, then trilled questioningly.


    So, as they ran just out of arms reach, T told Terry what shed learned.


    Oddly, Terry didnt really seem shocked by the presence of humans and arcanes out here, but it was difficult to decipher Terrys emotions at times, so it could have been news to him or something hed known about for decades.


    In either case, it didnt take her long to convey all there was to convey, and Terry seemed satisfied.


    He flickered off to go hunt once again, signaling that they were to fall back into their previous pattern.


    <em>Now, the dasgannach.</em>


    They were in a tenuous bnce, but T had learned her lesson on waiting for an assured solution. <em>Be-thric was supposed to take me to the humannds, but Noooo, that would have been too easy.</em>


    The teleporter <em>should</em> work to remove the conceptual creature, but like most of her ideas, it wasnt a sure thing, and even if it had been, in theory, she wasnt going to depend on it.


    Focusing inward, she sent her will through the Archon star. <em>Join me?</em>


    There was no response.


    <em>-I dont think it can grasp such advanced concepts.-</em>


    T grimaced. <em>Youre probably right, yeah.</em>


    <em>-Do we really want to use a bond on this creature?-</em>


    <em>Well, I have Flow for offense, the elk-leathers for defense, the Archive link for information</em>


    <em>-We need to get that upgraded, by the way. We should never be outside of connection range again, even if we go to the moon.-</em>


    <em>That that would probably be a good idea. Expensive, though.</em>


    t sent over the impression of a greedy smile. Even after all these months, such things were still odd to T. The greedy smile wasnt actually some sort of visualization of such an expression, it was more the feeling that T herself would have, were that smile to be on her own face. As usual, it was odd to experience such things from t. <em>-I have some ideas on how to get what we need. We can go over the possibilities, when youre not otherwise focused.-</em>


    <em>Thats fair. Where was I? Right. The ring Archive link for information, and I want to soul bond Kit for utility, storage, home, etc. Thats four. Terry would be an interesting possibility. It would give more power, while also tying us closer, so hed be less likely to get bored and go on a murder spree.</em>


    <em>-Plus, his teleportation </em>should<em> be usable by us. I still dont understand how he sheds things that arent </em>him<em> in the transport.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, that would be a benefit for sure. So, thats five.</em>


    <em>-The one you dont like thinking about.-</em>


    T blushed slightly. <em>Yeah, I would like to get married someday. Moving on!</em>


    t chuckled. -<em>That leaves two to stay within the safe limit. Do we really want to use one on the dasgannach?-</em>


    T nodded, finding a sort of calming influence from the steady repetition of her loping run.


    <em>-Why? I mean, I can read your thoughts, so I </em>know<em> but I want you to talk through it.-</em>


    <em>First, control of iron.</em>


    <em>-Obviously. Never have to buy or apply iron paint again.-</em>


    <em>It should be better, too. No medium of application required, a covering of pure iron, without the inflexibility.</em>


    <em>-Assuming you can get that to work. Thats a big assumption.-</em>


    <em>Its motile, isnt it? When outside a person? But its pure iron, therefore it has to be able to do what Im hoping.</em>


    <em>-Thats fair.-</em>


    <em>Plus, theres the fact that it is a </em>concept, <em>t. If I can incorporate that, Ill be able to do something that no one, I mean </em>no other human<em> seems to be able to do, directly.</em>


    <em>-Alright. It sounds like it could be a good choice, if you can make it work. So, whats thest thing?-</em>


    <em>You know what it is.</em>


    <em>-But you need to express it.-</em>


    T groused slightly, but eventually acquiesced. <em>Tali would just kill it, if she could. Rust, I want to just kill it, but Ive been killing so, so much ofte.</em> Her eyes started to water slightly, but she had her mirrored perspectives in her orbiting Archon stars, so she didnt slow.


    -<em>You want another way.-</em>


    <em>I want to at least try. Killing is going to be required, I know that, but it shouldnt be my first choice. I want to be better.</em>


    <em>-Like with the guards of Howlton?-</em>


    <em>Yes.</em>


    <em>-So, better than who?-</em>


    <em>You know, t. Ive already said it.</em>


    <em>-You have, and you havent. Better than who?-</em>


    She grimaced. <em>Tali. I want to be a better person than Tali.</em>


    <em>-You are, you know.-</em>


    <em>I hope youre right.</em>


    They fell into silence, and T turned her attention inward once again.


    The dasgannach hadnt responded to her attempt atmunication via her will. Even so, she tried again, attempting to send impressions or instincts rather than words. <em>Eat this?</em>


    No response.


    <em>Be one?</em>


    No response.


    <em>What does it want?</em> She bounded ideas around within her own head, her thoughts in words once again, the steady cadence of her movement centering her mind.


    <em>-To consume? To acquire? Thats why you got the iron, right?-</em>


    <em>Yeah</em>


    She focused on projecting her will through the Archon star in her finger once again. <em>Share?</em>


    That got a response.


    <strong><em>NO. MINE.</em></strong><strong></strong>The visceral interpretation was impossible to mistake.


    <em>Share more?</em> She tried to include in the concept of <em>more</em> the idea that it would get more by sharing.


    No response.


    T sighed. <em>Well, here goes nothing.</em>


    She sheathed her hand in white metal and fished a piece of scrap iron out of Kit even as she kept moving north.


    The dasgannach didnt react.


    The iron wasnt in direct contact with her skin.


    <em>But it takes more than physical contact, or the restraining band would have been subject to the dasgannach immediately.</em>


    -<em>Conceptual contact? The spells owned the band until they were deactivated?-</em>


    <em>But Im Bound. Rust, Im FUSED. My body is mine, pure and simple, so how is it able to invade and take over part of me?</em>


    They both considered for a long while, before T had a realization, or at least a guess at a realization.


    <em>Its using basically all its power to enforce its concept of ownership on my flesh. Thats why it cant take anything else thats contested.</em>


    <em>-By that logic, no one around us should be in danger.-</em>


    <em>Thats true enough, but Id still not like to risk it.</em>


    <em>-Theres wisdom in that, but thats not the point.-</em>


    <em>Oh, I understood the point.</em> Iron, otherwise imed, was impervious to the dasgannach, but if it wasnt conceptually imed? It could be subsumed even while the creature remained within T.


    <em>So, the test, then.</em> She locked in her mind the fact that the small, distorted lump of iron she held was <em>HERS</em>. She couldnt manipte concepts directly, but just like she could have thrown the bit of iron an incredible distance, even without being able to magically manipte kic energy, she was able to <em>naturally</em> interact with concepts.


    This iron was hers by request.


    It had been granted to <em>her</em> as a gift.


    It had been freely given by one who originally had authority over the iron.


    In every sense, this scrap belonged to T and no one else.


    She somehow <em>sat</em> on that feeling with her magical weight even as she continued to run.


    There was precedence to the action, obviously. There was reason to believe that it <em>could</em> work.


    Flow had iron in it but hadnt been subsumed.


    To be fair, though, Flow was magical and <em>soul bound</em> to T, making the concepts iming the weapon much more potent than her im on the iron scrap.


    Even so, T had to test it.


    The white glove of metal faded back into the elk-leather sleeve of her clothing, and the dasgannach clearly detected the iron now contacting her skin.


    There was the <em>feel</em> of something orienting on the iron, and T had the horrifying thought, <em>What if it just leaves to get the iron? What if Ive just killed myself?</em>


    That <em>shouldnt </em>happen, it was obviously an irrational fear, but there was always the possibility.


    A long moment passed, and nothing happened as T continued to lope across the ins, heading north.


    Finally, the concept within her flexed, trying to seize the iron, but T pushed back, willing herself to believe that the iron was <em>hers.</em>


    She didnt think in words, but the dasgannach seemed to read her intent as she was reading its own.


    It was <em>not</em> happy.


    <strong><em>MINE.</em></strong>


    <em>No. Mine.</em>


    <strong><em>MINE.</em></strong>


    <em>No. Mine.</em>


    <strong><em>MINE. GIVE.</em></strong>


    That was new, and T actually felt an odd solidifying of her conceptual hold on the iron. It had unintentionally acknowledged that the iron was hers. After all, she could not rightfully and truly give what was not hers. That act had, on the part of the dasgannach, actually <em>made</em> it more hers.


    It somehow noticed the change. <strong><em>NO! MINE.</em></strong>


    But it was toote for that.


    T grinned, then very carefully made her y. She offered both the Archon star and the iron scrap as a set, not each individually. It was both or neither.


    <em>Ours?</em>


    The dasgannach didnt respond for a long, long moment.


    What finally came back was the equivalent of desperate frustration, an animalistic whining, and bitter regret. <strong><em>NO. MINE</em></strong>


    With that final instinctual attemptwhich slid off the iron like rain off of ssthe dasgannach settled back down in focused, resolute regard of her Archon star.


    That first attemptplete, if failed, T refocused outward, and found herself coated in sweat and pulling in huge, gasping, lung-fulls of air even as she continued to shakily run across the ins.


    <em>Woah!</em> She slowed, putting the scrap away, then bending over, hands on her knees. <em>That was insanely difficult.</em>


    t grunted in sympathy. <em>-That was fascinating. You were clearly having </em>some<em> sort ofmunication, but it was more like a farmer talking to a stubborn stump than even a rancher moving an ornery cow.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, Ill ept that metaphor.</em>


    T straightened, putting her hands behind her head and spreading her elbows wide to expand her chest and allow better airflow. <em>That was harder than running a couple hundred miles.</em>


    <em>-It seemed like it. Like jumping on a beast to Crush it instead of using your magics. Its much harder when you cant actually work with concepts directly, I imagine.-</em>


    <em>No rusting kidding.</em>


    Terry flickered back into being near her, and she reassured him that she was fine.


    He looked rather skeptical, tilting his head back and forth as he flickered around her, checking for injuries.


    It was sweet, especially since he knew she could heal. T smiled at the gesture and appreciated it for what it was.


    Thankfully, she recovered her breath rather quickly and took off once more, Terry falling in nearby rather than flickering off once more.


    <em>Nothing for it but to keep trying. I think Ill give it a gift next, and see what I can do with that. Theres definitely some parts of my iron defense that need some patching. I bet I can be strategic and make something of this.</em>


    <em>-Well, its definitely something to distract us while we travel. I suppose its time to experiment.-</em>


    Together, they ran.


    T wasnt willing to randomly add iron to her body on the move, not yet at any rate, so despite ts words, they actually read, instead.


    t was able to project a book before T in a way that didnt inhibit her vision, especially with the mirrored perspectives, and so T began the process of actually reading the materials that shed made off with.


    Eventually, darkness fell, and T decided to pause for a brief time to try her next angle with the dasgannach.


    She pulled out a different bit of scrap iron, and once again solidified her conceptual ownership of it to the best of her meager ability.


    She then used her mirrored perspective to find thergest gap in her iron paint, and carefully pressed the scrap against that.


    The dasgannach immediately tried to im the iron.


    <strong><em>MINE!</em></strong>


    T rebuffed it once again. Then, she pushed the instinctive feelings towards it. <em>Share?</em>


    <strong><em>MINE!</em></strong>


    <em>No. Mine. Share?</em>


    There was no response.


    Then, smiling to herself with unfounded hope, she acted. <em>Mine. Share. Yours.</em>


    <strong><em>MINE.</em></strong>


    The bit of iron slipped from her ownership, and as she moved her hand away, in an action that <em>should have</em> let it fall away, it instead seemed to liquify and flow outward to press as close to her skin as it could.


    The action seemed to have fragmented the scrap iron into powder, so it didnt jab or cut or scrap as she moved.


    <strong><em>MINE.</em></strong>


    <em>Yes. Mine. Share. Yours.</em>


    No response. <em>Alright. Time to try again.</em>


    She pulled out the original iron scrap, the one that was unequivocally hers, and once again extended the offer of it and the Archon star within her finger, as a set.


    <em>Mine. Share?</em>


    The dasgannachs concept mmed into her ownership, and was rebuffed.


    <em>Ours?</em>


    <strong><em>NO. MINE</em></strong> Once again, it came across like the grinding of gears, like a machine <em>trying</em> to go against its design and failing.


    It was another failure, but somehow, T didnt mind.


    She would keep trying.


    She would find a way around killing this concept within herself.


    But not right now.


    Right now, she needed to keep running.

 Chapter 265: Decay

    Chapter 265: Decay


    T fell into a pattern as she loped northward across the rolling, craggy ins.


    She read books that t found pertinent.


    They also discussed what information should be given to whom and when, after they had full ess to the Archive once again. They didnt want to try to think of what to do when the time came, so they made ns and preparations.


    Terry hunted and ran beside her, resting in Kit less frequently than previously, likely due to her encounter while the terror bird had been so indisposed.


    No matter how many times T told Terry that she had <em>chosen</em> not to call him for help, he still seemed irritated with her.


    She ran through the night, not even stopping to eat, instead pulling out easily consumed foods and a waterskin to keep herself in good shape.


    Roughly one-hundred-fifty miles north of Howlton, she came to the edge of the forest.


    Shed seen the dark line of the trees for hours before in the dim starlit night, but she wanted to be closer to the tree line before she turned east. That way, she should miss any of the other viges, at least ording to Paresh, and hed seemed at least mostly genuine.


    Before T turned east, t tried reaching out to the closest city, Makinaven, but from what she could tell, she estimated that they were still three-hundred-thirty miles or so from the massive tree city.


    <em>Too far for a proper connection, eh?</em>


    <em>-Were more powerful, T, but not enough to more than decuple our Archive connection range.-</em>


    <em>Decuple? Oh, ten times. Yeah, thats fair.</em>


    The run east and a little south, along the edge of the forest, was almost as monotonous as the trip across the ins. The forest barely seemed to vary to her left, the in simrly uniform on her right.


    Terry hunted anything dangerous from their path before she even saw it, and she stayed well back from the tree line, though she <em>thought</em> she saw eyes watching her on asion.


    <em>Leshkin?</em>


    She didnt know, and the zeme in the forest was somehow obscuring her magesight more thoroughly than it had when shed been going to and from Makinaven. <em> A greater defense to the south? I thought the forest used to be the enemy of humanity, not the arcanes.</em>


    It was worth looking into, if she could.


    <em>I doubt theres a Leshkin library, but who knows? The next Leshkin war could provide all sorts of opportunities.</em>


    Night had fallen after the short, winter day when she finally reached the southeast edge of the forest and could turn north, towards the narrowest portion of the great woods.


    She loped on through the night and the next day, t finally stopping her well into the following night, next to a portion of the forest that was seemingly identical to all the others shed passed.


    <em>-Here. This is where we turn west-northwest, and cut through.-</em>


    T staggered a bit. <em>I think I need to sleep.</em>


    <em>-That is probably incredibly wise, yeah. In all likelihood, well have to fight </em>something<em> in there.-</em>


    <em>Probably Leshkin. Yay</em>


    T nodded, tossing Kit against one of the increasingly infrequent crags, stepping through and copsing onto her bed.


    Terry had asked to be let into Kit a few hours earlier, so hed be fine.


    Sleep imed her before she truly settled atop her luxurious bed.


    It felt like she blinked, and she was awake once more.


    She took a bit less than half an hour to cook up a heartier breakfast, stretching and limbering up while the bacon and other ingredients cooked.


    Terry flickered in for a brief appearance. She checked with him briefly, but he had no interest in traversing the forest with her. Hed stay within her sanctum. He tried to snatch some of her breakfast, but when she shooed him away from the meat that was magically matched to her, he got grumpy, squawked at her, and flickered away.


    The cat didnt make an appearance, sadly, but T left out another strip of nonmagical meat for it.


    <em>I was going to offer Terry some, but he left in a huff.</em> She shook her head, smiling. <em>Hes a funny bird sometimes.</em>


    T enjoyed her breakfast, looking out at the darkndscape of her sanctum. It was somewhere in the middle of the night, and dawn was still quite far off.


    She wasnt going to wait until morning, she didnt need <em>nearly</em> that much sleep.


    Her breakfast done, she exited Kit, and called to Terry, asking onest time if he wanted toe.


    His disinterested squawk was her only reply.


    <em>Fair enough, I suppose.</em>


    She hung Kit from her belt and looked at the forest looming before her, barely three hundred yards distant.


    The trees were tall.


    <em>Id forgotten how tall they really are.</em>


    Shed considered reducing her own weight and vaulting through the upper branches, but t had convinced her that trying to learn such a skill in a decidedly hostile environment would be foolish.


    So, she would run.


    <em>Assuming the forest doesnt find a way of blocking me.</em>


    She recalled the frustration of the caravans path being blocked or redirected.


    <em>Only a few hours. Ill be through the forest well before mid-morning. Rust, I might be through before sunup if Im lucky.</em>


    That was motivating to say the least. On the other side of these trees were the ins containing her human cities. <em>Home.</em>


    She ensured that her bloodstars were in theirbat configuration.


    Then, remembering how shed been ambushed, she moved those for her mirrored perspective outward.


    One went above her head as far as her aura reached, looking down and around.


    Another went forward to that extreme and another back.


    <em>There. I should be less prone to ambush like this.</em>


    <em>-I dont like it as much, but I can see the utility.-</em> The forward and trailing perspectives were those granted to t.


    <em>Hey, thank you for watching out for me.</em>


    <em>-ttery does nothing when I can see youre only saying it to manipte me.-</em>


    <em>Eh, doesnt make it any less true.</em>


    t huffed, but there was some mirth in the mental noise.


    <em>Now,e on. We need to get going.</em>


    T almost coated herself in white metal but realized how much shed stand out in the gloom of the forest in all white. <em>Why doesnt the through-spike hide that?</em>


    Now that she thought about it, the through-spike really didnt ever hide her clothing at all.


    Shed noticed before, obviously, but never really thought deeply about it.


    <em>And nows not the time to do so. Lets go, T.</em>


    So in she went.


    Terry wouldnt be clearing the forest for her passage. He <em>really</em> didnt like the Leshkin, and while T could provide him with weapons to throw, hed barely practiced and doing that would slow them down, incredibly.


    That was probably why hed declined to run beside her through the forest.


    <em>Yeah, Terrys very good at picking his fights.</em>


    Thus, T was going to be alone as she traversed this shadow-shrouded ce.


    Her magesight opened before her as she crossed the treeline.


    It was as if the forest didnt want anything outside seeing in but didnt have any issue with those inside seeing around themselves, magically speaking.


    Physically speaking? It was <em>dark.</em>


    Pitch was a shade lighter than under this forests canopy, forcing T to rely almost entirely on her magesight.


    Her physical vision was good, but it was still human sight and required at least low levels of illumination. <em>For now.</em>


    There were spots of white where some bit of snow lined up well enough with star light peeking through the clouds above, and even where the snow wasnt in near-direct light, it almost seemed to glow, solidifying the wisdom of her choice not to d herself in white.


    Without the snow, her mirrored perspectives would have been fairly useless, as she could only mirror a fraction of her magesight, just that portion that was fully ingrained and truly a part of who she was, truly an aspect that could be mirrored.


    In any case, she was far more blind than she liked.


    So, of course, T took off running as quickly as she was able.


    <em>Lets get this ce behind us as soon as possible.</em>


    t didnt distract her with books, nor ideas or conversations.


    Instead, both T and her alternate interface were focused intently on the all too quiet, winter forest around them.


    t was getting better at navigating so even while they had to circumnavigate the massive trunks of this ancient forest, they always stayed on course.


    To be fair, t was also putting the finishing touches on the information sets that they wished to grant various people ess to as soon as they could.


    Thus, T was left to contemte the dull scenery as she passed on mostly silent feet. <em>Huh. The size of these trees </em>cant<em> be because of age alone. Paresh said that the forest was expanding southward. I wonder how old these trees actually are.</em>


    <em>-Based on human research the forest is interconnected somehow, and a new tree, either at the forests edge or growing to fill a gap in the interior, can reach full height in less than a decade. They then seem to grow from within, hardening over time.-</em>


    <em>So, they grow like softwood, then slowly be hardwood if given enough time?</em>


    <em>-Thats what the book we have on it says, yes.-</em>


    She did recall that, now that t directed her attention to the information. It was odd to think that, externally, it was nearly impossible to tell old trees from new, especially because they could move around.


    Speaking of which, she was finding herself having to weave around more and more trunks, and she wasing across far fewer gaps that aligned with her desired direction of travel.


    <em>Great, the forest knows Im here, and it isnt happy about it.</em>


    She saw the first Leshkin less than a minuteter.


    Blessedly, it wasnt oriented toward her.


    Instead, it stood utterly still, seemingly staring off into the distance, looking north as T approached, moving almost east to west.


    T felt an internal shudder, remembering how those things had gued her when shedst been in the forest.


    She was stronger now, though.


    <em>I wonder</em>


    -<em>It might work? But it also might just tick them off. Were not even a dozen miles into the forest yet, T.-</em>


    <em>If it works, it will be worth it. Flow ate a vestige, t.</em>


    <em>-Alright. I agree it would be good to know and useful if it works.-</em>


    T changed her trajectory just enough to pass behind the lesser Leshkin. With a flick of power, T cleaved it in half with Flow in void-sword form.


    In the same motion, she whipped Flow around and thrust the void-de into the greatest concentration of power she could detect.


    The Leshkin didnt make a sound as it was obviously dead at the first strike.


    Void-Flow <em>pulled,</em> devouring the concentrated bundle of power, even as that power tried to pull away from the vegetative corpse to move off through the forest.


    With an odd <em>flex,</em> which registered to Ts voidsight like the fragment of reality they upied <em>pushing</em> the magic into the void, the bundle of power vanished.


    A strange ripple radiated out from T, seeming to <em>sing</em> through existence.


    <em>-Oh Thats Interesting.-</em>


    T got the distinct feeling that the bit of power, whatever it actually was, had been subsumed into Flow but wasnt powerful enough to even attempt to truly influence the weapon, let alone her directly.


    It was a drop of ink on a ss surface. Noticeable, but not able to cause asting change.


    T sucked in an extra breath as power sizzled through Flow from an outside source, the source that had been consumed.


    It did seem to touch her, the reinforcement and enhancement scripts in her right hand seemingly growing infinitesimally more powerful for a second or two.


    All around her, from as close as a mile to seemingly hundreds of miles distant, Leshkin <em>screamed</em>.


    <em>-And thats not good.-</em>


    It was a primal, unholy, unified screech that literally seemed to fracture reality, the edges of the protuberances which made up Zeme became clear though they stayed pressed together, and T felt like she could <em>almost</em> see into the Doman-Imithe.


    <em>You know, if void is effective against the Leshkin, there has to be a good reason why humanity doesnt use it against them more often.</em>


    <em>-Yes. That would have been good to consider before you rusting ticked off the entire forest again!-</em>


    Flow was done with its meal, and T was already running once again.


    She sheathed Flow in its dormant form and did her best to increase her pace.


    The zeme below the canopy was just as thin as she remembered, much of it seemingly absorbed and repurposed by the trees and the Leshkin connected to them.


    As she focused on that, she could actually see Leshkin moving even though they were beyond trunks, the flows of power highlighting them in ways that it hadnt before.


    <em>Or my magesight is more effective.</em>


    That is also how T noticed that the zeme leveled out to the north.


    <em>A territorial border? The Leshkin have a </em>border<em> in here?</em>


    She could have gone a few miles north and avoided them entirely.


    <em>Someone had to know about this</em> She was not happy. She considered turning that direction, but realized that the Leshkin wouldnt stop without a good reason, and so their border had to be with <em>something</em>, and thest thing she wanted was to run headlong into something that was holding the Leshkin back.


    <em>Better the enemy you know than the fatal unknown.</em>


    A dozen lesser Leshkin descended on her in the next minutes, and she blew through them without slowing down, their acid blood doing absolutely nothing against the magical defenses of her elk-leathers.


    <em>Of course they werent affected, they were literally enhanced with Leshkin Juggernaut armor.</em>


    She grinned. This might be more fun than shed feared.


    <em>And I can get some more loot.</em> Loot was always useful.


    Shed used void in both her weapon and on her elk-leathers as she specifically struck at the bundles of power that <em>seemed</em> to be the manifestations of the Leskin souls, or at least the core of their being that was used to animate the vegetative manner.


    Each one sent out a ripple through reality and caused renewed shrieks from the Leshkin in the region.


    Thankfully, reality didnt seem to degrade any more than it had with the first shriek. <em>If thats even degradation? It might just be a rifying of reality, a revealing of what is always there?</em>


    She didnt have the time to truly theorize.


    As to the bundles of power, each one seemingly bolstered Flow in its void-form, or the void-aspects of her elk-leathers, building the strength of those magics, even as the power also seemed to leak into her.


    After a few swarms of lessers failed to slow her in the slightest, she encountered the first warrior.


    It stepped out from behind a tree in one of their favorite ambush tactics, swinging a massive war-pick at her chest.


    The blow connected, the tip even piercing just enough into her magical defenses to gain purchase.


    T didnt slow, and the Leshkin had a firm grip.


    Thatbination ripped the things arms off, even as T cut it in half with a back-swing of void-ive-Flow, making sure to pass the de through the bundles of power from the two lessers that made up the warrior.


    They stuck to Flow and came with T as she continued on, the void-weapon quickly devouring those bundles.


    With a quick motion, T pulled the war-pick free and dropped it into Kit.


    <em>Alright, then. Lets do this.</em>


    There were <em>far</em> more Leshkin in the area than shed expected, but now that she knew that this was their border with <em>something</em> it made quite a bit of sense.


    <em>Did Paresh know?</em>


    <em>-Probably not. He tried to send us through a thin part of the forest and gave several options. He also said that his people try to stay away from the forest.-</em>


    <em>Thats fair. But if we meet him again, Im going to have questions.</em>


    <em>-Thats fair.-</em>


    She cut through a squad of warrior Leshkin next, only missing three of the bundles of power.


    It was interesting how they seemed to <em>stick</em> to the void magic as they were slowly consumed, and T definitely noticed that Flow or her elk-leathers seemed to gain some temporary strength from the consumption.


    <em>Also Am I moving faster?</em>


    She hadnt slowed her loping run, though she was having to go around more and more trees that just happened to be in the way. <em>Rusting moving forest.</em>


    -<em>You are actually progressing at the same pace, but with the detours, I would estimate that you are, in fact, speeding up, yes.-</em>


    <em>Do you think the power is bleeding into me? I mean more than just fractionally?</em>


    <em>-Odd way to ask, but maybe? I can analyze the power flowing through your scripts.-</em>


    <em>Please do so.</em>


    Flow licked out a dozen times even as she rammed her fist through the breastte of a Leshkin knight, lifting it bodily and carrying it along with her.


    Flow transformed into a void-knife so T could stab it into the four bundles of power within the thing before she dropped the remains of its body, still bearing armor and weapons, into Kit.


    She was starting to definitively feel <em>something, </em>and whatever it was, it felt <em>good.</em>


    -<em>The power is definitely flowing through your inscriptions, but its not discing your own power, its somehow flowing in parallel?-</em>


    T shivered, her every sense slowly growing sharper.


    More.


    She wanted <em>more, </em>and the Leshkin kepting.


    A few minutester, T noticed that a cluster of Leshkin wereing up from the south, but she would pass them by before they got in her way.


    She diverted to intercept <em>them</em>.


    -<em>Oh This is-</em>


    T mmed into the group of knights, whipping Flow in tight patterns the made the air crack and scream at the weapons passing.


    Stolen power washed through T, suffusing her scripts, including those that made up her alternate interface.


    -<em>This is amazing. Yes. Lets keep going.-</em>


    T grinned.


    She still needed to get out of the forest, though she was less sure of why, but that was alright. The Leshkin wereing to her after all, so she neednt divert her journey too much.


    The world almost seemed to fade, just slightly, but she came back to herself.


    A single juggernaut was toppling, T riding it to the ground as she drove Flow in pinpoint strikes at the power that animated the creature.


    That power washed through her, helping level out the bnce of powers in her scripts.


    Many of those scripts were meant specifically to help her keep her rationality in tense situations, and those finally got sufficient power to match the overwhelming feedbacking from everything else.


    <em>Oh Rust.</em>


    <em>-T? Why Oh.-</em>


    <em>How long?</em>


    <em>-Only an hour or so, and weve been keeping on a rtively steady course, despite our state.-</em>


    T shook her head, trying to fully clear it. <em>It feels like Im recovering from being drunk.</em>


    Absently, she picked up the massive mace that the juggernaut hadnt been able to bring to bear against her, dropping it into Kit as the opening to the pouch distorted to ept the weapon.


    She took a moment to look at her left hand. <em>Im d I had enough presence of mind to at least be extra careful with my left hand. If this is cut off, I dont get home.</em>


    She expanded her focus and really <em>saw</em> the forest around her.


    <em>Dozens </em>of juggernauts were closing in on her, and those were just the ones she could easily see in her moment of renewed rity.


    <em>How far to the edge of the forest?</em>


    -<em>Were more than half-way, but barely. I think well need another three hours unless we can improve on our pace.-</em>


    <em>Alright. Help me direct the power to keep our focus and direction through this.</em>


    <em>-Good call. Im with you.-</em>


    <em>Alright; progress, not ughter. Lets do this.</em>


    That became her mantra as she continued to fight the juggernauts.


    <em>Progress, not ughter.</em>


    Towards that end, she purposely took quite a few hits, always biasing them towards her right side.


    They were nothing she couldnt heal, but they still <em>hurt.</em>


    She allowed them because those she let hit always threw her in the direction she wanted to go.


    As it was, around three hourster, she rounded a trunk and found open ins beyond.


    She almost copsed in relief, but even as she thought she left the forest and the Leshkin behind, two massive forms fell from the sky,nding nearly directly in her way in the pre-dawn light.


    The two forms might have been mistaken as boiling, their shapes not distinct and almost seeming like they wereing together as she watched.


    By this time, T was incredibly proficient in picking out the nodules of power within Leshkin.


    One for lessers, two for warriors, four for knights, and eight for juggernauts.


    The two Leshkin before her each held thirty-two bundles of power, tightly encircling a singr, vastly more powerful source of power.


    As she watched, they shrunk,pacting until they matched her in size, their flesh sopressed that it resembled stone or metal more than the vegetation it had previously seemed to be.


    A voice like a spring breeze across a field of corpses issued from the air around the two beings.


    Running away, hungry little void? But youve only just arrived.


    A second voice sounded as well, somehow evoking ancient roots slowly pulling down the long-abandoned defenses of an ancient civilization. Marked of human and arcane, unquenchable traitor, we have not given you leave to depart.


    <em>Well, this is new.</em>


    <em>-Master Jevin spoke of more powerful variations that came out during the Leshkin wars. If not, it would fairly trivial for a few higher level Archons to hold back the tide.-</em> t almost seemed to scoff within Ts head. <em>-Weve in hundreds with our running tactics. Wed have done worse if we were defending a position, or facing an army directly, but it definitely shows their weakness to more powerful humans.-</em>


    <em>And to the void.</em>


    <em>-That too.-</em>


    Decay spoke again, Return your stolen power and depart.


    Inevitable Erosion added their piece, We are meant to have nearly two more centuries of sleep. Dont disturb us further or force the waking of the Royals.


    <em>So, these arent Royals, whatever those are.</em>


    <em>-These are what? Generals, then?-</em>


    <em>That makes sense. Four juggernauts around a more powerful, more intelligent core.</em>


    T had slid to a stop well outside the tree line, but still at least a hundred feet from the two theoretical generals.


    She decided to y along for the moment. <em>Return the power? </em>I do not know how. I am new to the magics of the void and sought only to defend myself during my passage through the forest.


    Truth? Inevitability seemed surprised. Of both humanity and the arcane, you travel thesends with those powers, and <em>no one</em> told you of the dangers?


    Decayughed mirthlessly. Someone hates you, human child.


    T grimaced. That is not in dispute.


    Something <em>deep</em> within T felt like she couldnt beat these two, an instinct born of long training with those more powerful than herself. She even doubted that she could escape if she chose to run.


    Another part, the part suffused with stolen power, wanted her to try to kill them anyways. After all, she might get lucky and then all their power would be <em>hers.</em>


    She forcibly suppressed that urge.


    What must I do to be free of the two of you? To allow you to rest once more?


    The two shared a look before they spoke as one. Your death would not go unanswered. One of your rank is too valuable to go missing unnoticed. They nodded and locked hauntingly empty eyes on her. The four eyes seemed both very simr to her own eyes when she used voidsight, while also giving her an entirely different impression. Seize the stolen power that remains within you and eject it. We will remember you and hunt you in theing war, but we will not pursue you, now.


    <em>-That seems too reasonable. If you do that, you will be even weaker and have even less of a chance of escape.-</em>


    <em>I already have no chance.</em> She didnt like it, but she really didnt seem to have much of an option.


    T nodded, though it pained a deep part of her. Agreed.


    The two Leshkin were suddenly standing beside her, and she <em>felt</em> their weaponry at the ready, though they seemed unarmed.


    T swallowed, barely keeping from flinching away.


    She focused inward, grabbed onto the flowing, looping power that had been imed by her void magics, and rejected it.


    The power seemed to scream out of her,ing from her mouth and eyes in a dense, roiling cloud before vanishing back into the forest.


    T slumped, feeling <em>lesser</em> without the stolen power.


    The two Leshkin spoke as one once again. Bargain struck, bargain fulfilled.


    Then, they were gone, T not even able to sense their departure.


    <em>Well, that was </em>awful<em>.</em>


    <em>-Were having quite a few of those experiencestely, arent we?-</em>


    T groaned. <em>I just want to get home.</em>


    She staggered forward, getting back up to speed with effort.


    She felt so slow without the amplification of the stolen Leshkin power, but t assured her that she was fractionally more powerful and coordinated than before shed entered the forest, leaving her with an easier time pressing up against the reasonable upper limit of her speed, while avoiding magical resonance.


    <em>So, some permanent benefit?</em>


    <em>-It seems so.- </em>


    <em>Worth studying butter.</em>


    She felt ragged, but she pressed on as the sun rose and climbed up the sky over her right shoulder.


    It traversed the entire cool blue expanse above her and was nearly to the horizon before something broke the monotony.


    <em>-Were passing near the Arconaven Ruins. It might be interesting to investigate.-</em>


    <em>Not now. We cane backter.</em>


    <em>-Thats probably wise.</em>-


    Still, T looked off to her right, focusing on her magesight and seeing the remnants of increased power that apanied the fully waned city.


    She was genuinely curious what she could find in a ruin.


    <em>Later.</em>


    She refocused forward and ran on as the sun set.


    Night passed in a haze and as the first light of dawn began to lighten the sky once again, tughed within Ts head.


    <em>-I have full Archive ess! Expanding permissions on the prepared packets of information.-</em>


    <em></em>


    * * *


    <em></em>


    All across the southern human cities, select Archons gained ess to new sections of the Archive.


    Most didnt notice right away, but a few did.


    Seemingly of one mind, the mostmon response was simply, What the rust?

 Chapter 266: Small Note

    Chapter 266: Small Note


    Holly sighed as the mageling behind her thrashed and screamed.


    He was being well paid, and had even volunteered for deep inscriptions, but he wasnt taking them well.


    Part of the issue was the pain wasnt <em>really</em> physical, so couldnt be directly inhibited.


    Shed tried knocking her subjects unconscious, but as with that girl, when each hade to, all the pain hade upon them at once.


    Contrary to what she often said, she did <em>not</em> like restarting peoples hearts, so that method wasnt very practical.


    As she was paying a <em>handsome</em> amount for subjects these days, including redesigning their scripts free of charge, Holly had an over-abundance of Mages, magelings, and Archons willing to have her try new things on, but it hadnt taken long to realize that she had to have apletely clean te, and the less set their magics, the better.


    The current boy had just graduated a few weeks earlier. In fact, his master was in the front room, likely still pacing.


    Holly pulled out her b and activated the surveince scripts.


    She could have pulled them up internally, but her head already hurt, so it wasnt worth the effort.


    The magelings master was, indeed, still pacing, but something else grabbed her attention.


    Someone had granted her additional ess within the Archive.


    <em>What the rust?</em>


    She essed the information and was greeted by what seemed to be a memory. <em>Like the ones Mistress T showed me so many months ago.</em> She did miss that girl. One day, shed have to figure out what happened to her.


    Holly watched the memory as some sort of arcane device activated and tendrils of metal wove through the person the memory was taken from.


    <em>No Is that? </em>Somehow, the memory conveyed the intent and actuality of what happened.<em> Yes, it is reinscribing them.</em>


    <em>Who sent this? I need to see this device.</em>


    Along with the memory was a short note.


    Mistress Holly, Im back. We should talk.


    A wicked grin spread across the Inscriptionists face. She didnt need a name signed, which was good, because there wasnt one.


    Oh, you stubbornly resilient child. How Ive missed you.


    * * *


    Rane stepped back, critically examining the massive, unfinished statue towering above him.


    He tilted his head, first one way, then another.


    <em>Not quite</em> He stepped forward once again, cing his hand against the offending bit of granite, and very purposefully started a kic cycling, almost turning his hand into a sort of repeating hammer, but with much greater precision.


    The stone sloughed away, revealing new material underneath.


    He grinned, once again pulling back to look at his work in progress.


    It was a life-sized statue of a titan wolf, specifically: Anatalis, the Beast of the Northern ins and Forest, who was said to rule over the wolves there, beyond the forests that human cities treated as their northern border.


    <em>Were surrounded by forests, filled with the Leshkin to the south, and the Anatalins to the north. Though, the wolves dont raid us; they simply fall back as our cities cycle through their woond hunting grounds.</em>


    There was some debate among schrs if the wolves were specifically hostile to humanity, but they would attack small groups of humans, so they at least werent overly friendly.


    The bit of stone Rane had just adjusted was the fur on the right front leg of the statue.


    <em>Perfect.</em>


    The shape was now exactly as it should be, roughed out. That done, he could start buffing, polishing, and ensuring the precise details were as they should be.


    Master Grediv had suggested that Rane take up a hobby to help him get used to being Fused, as well as help the process of Refining.


    Rane hadnt imagined that hed enjoy stone carving. Thats probably why it had taken him so long to try it.


    First, hed tried painting.


    He was awful. His teacher had gently told him that he wasnt cut out for work with a brush.


    Hed tried writing.


    Rane, as it turned out, didnt have the desire to write nonfiction, and he found that he enjoyed reading fiction far more than writing it.


    Hed tried cooking.


    As he didnt want to eat what he cooked, the process was rather torturous.


    He could have gotten scripts to maintain his shape, allowing for greater indulgences, but he didnt want to waste the magic. After all, he could put that portion of his flesh to other purposes, and he had.


    Ofte, he was consistently matching Refined in friendly bouts and could endure against Master Grediv for a full minute.


    But that was beside the point.


    Finally, hed tried stoneworking.


    As it turned out, his kic redirection was perfect for working with stone, so long as he had the patience to gain precision and mastery of his own magics.


    It was a match made under the stars.


    Keeping an eye on his statue as if it might up and run off on him, Rane wandered over to a workbench to one side and took a long drink from his waterskin.


    As he did so, his Archive tablet caught his eye.


    There was nothing particrly odd about it, except that he kept it meticulously organized, and it seemed like someone had granted him additional ess, and now that information was cluttering his system.


    <em>Master Grediv really should know better.</em>


    But as Rane looked closer, he was able to tell that it didnt seem like the new ess came from Master Grediv.


    The information was a series of images, seemingly taken from someones mind.


    The scenes were all of incredibly borate, massivelyplex, and delicious looking foods.


    What the rust? Thats mean. He loved food, but rarely indulged for the reasons hed just been contemting.


    The depictions of food came with a note.


    Rane. Food is always good, and Ive been having some rather interesting fare ofte. We should grab a bite sometime soon. Ill be in Alefast, Waning, shortly, and from there, I n to go back to Bandfast. I hope our paths cross soon!


    Rane barked augh.


    Oh! Youre back. A happy grin spread across his face.


    It had worked. Shed seized upon whatever chance the Sovereign had arranged, and she was back.


    T had returned to the humannds.


    A part of him wanted to leave at once to go meet up with her.


    Instead, he sent back a short reply before shaking his head and turning to regard the wolf statue once again. There would be time to meet up with her soon enough, and that time was not now.


    <em>She will likely have a lot to sort through in the immediate future, and Ill just get in the way for now.</em>


    Now, lets see if I can finish you properly.


    * * *


    Lyn filed yet another batch of documents and forms within the Archive before leaning back and sighing. Kannis?


    Yes, master? The tired grin on the younger womans face gave away the joke.


    Lyn huffed. Very funny, <em>child.</em>


    What can I do for you, Mistress Lyn?


    Im done for the night. How about you?


    Kannis chuckled. Considering its morning? Yes. I am done for the night.


    Lyn groaned. Shed agreed to take on some extra managerial work now that she had Kannis assisting her and the girl was rather well trained by now, but the work was still more than Lyn was used to, and she was still limatizing to the processes, herself.


    Shall we head home?


    Yes, please, my little mageling. Lets go Lyns te changed to a bright white color. It didnt glow, but the pigment was a clear indication.


    Kannis nced at the device, then took in Lyns slumped demeanor. Whatever it is, it came in after we left. We can deal with it when wee back this afternoon.


    Lyn almost turned away as Kannis suggested, but finally groaned and picked up the device. It might be important.


    It was a simple note.


    Lyn. Im sorry that Imte on the rent. Will you forgive me?


    The te hit the floor as Lyn covered her mouth, tears filling her eyes and began to spill over.


    A Mage working at a nearby desk cursed at the loud sound, What the rust?


    Kannis ignored the other woman and was at her masters side in an instant. Mistress? Mistress Lyn? Are you alright? Whats happened?


    Around the sudden tears and snot, Lyn choked out a littleugh. Shes alive.


    * * *


    Boma growled as some lunatic gave him ess to something new within the Archive.


    Didnt they know he was busy? He had a mountain of work to tackle this day, and someone decided to just throw information at him without preamble?


    With a sigh, he opened the information packet. After all, no one would truly be foolish enough to waste his time. <em>And pity the fool who is.</em>


    Hed been wrong. Someone had granted him ess to a memory of walking through a farmpound of some kind.


    <em>What the rust kind of stupidity is this?</em> His eyes widened as the perspective shifted to look up at the sun.


    It was clear that the persons magesight was powerful, but not specifically aimed at the creation and analysis of magical items.


    Even so, the viewers advancement was simr to his own, and in that sight, he could see that the bright source of heat and warmth was, in fact, a construct.


    It was an <em>incredibly</em> advanced, artificial sun. <em>I dont know that Ive seen that make before.</em>


    He found himself standing, eyes widening further as he reviewed the short memory again, seeing more and more evidence of magic imbued into the constructions shown.


    When he finally let the memory y to the end, a small note came into view.


    Thank you for all of your help in the past. Ive got some fun new things to show you when Im able to get back to Bandfast. Ill be in touch, Mistress T.


    Boma sat down hard.


    Hed heard of Mistress Ts vanishing, and the loss of one so young and promising had saddened him, even if she had been a bit of a handful andcking in direction.


    So, youre back? A smile started to tug at his lips as he recalled the few things hed seen through, seemingly, her eyes. And youve got some puzzles for us.


    He had full ess to what shed sent, so he added his own note next to hers.


    Well, this will certainly be a treat. Ill look forward to your visit. After a moment, he nodded and added, Im d youre safe, girl. Stay that way, will you?


    A momentter, unexpectedly, another note was added after his own. Ill do my best, Master Boma. Its good to be back.


    * * *


    Queue was a very happy man.


    He had always been one to have more ideas than he had time or funds to see realized, and theck of thetter caused an even greater dearth of the former.


    Now, however, a steady stream of money had fallen into hisp.


    A beautifully simple, widely useful item hade into his hands for replication and his partner, the provider of that same item, had vanished without a trace.


    In truth, Queue had been sad to see her go, and he had initially looked for her safe return. Now, though? It had been many months, and he had found a use for the extra twenty percent.


    It wasnt a ton of gold to be sure, the entire profits so far had been a bit less than a thousand ounces gold, but production was speeding up, and he had ready customers on the books for the next thirty-thousandbsst time hed checked, and that was nearly a week ago.


    He was taking a break from working through the production projections and numbers to work on a different project.


    Heughed at that. <em>Still short on time, but not as badly as before.</em> Besides, the process ofb production was almost to the point that he could pass some of it off to his research assistants.


    He expected profits to be greater in theing months since the startup costs were well and truly recouped and word was getting out from those who had already purchased one. Their friends were moring to get on the waiting list.


    Master Simon knocked lightly as he came in. Master Queue? Have you been working all night?


    Queue had, but hed Refined long ago. Its no matter.


    Still, something smelled amazing.


    Is that coffee? And breakfast?


    Yes, breakfast pastries, sir. Bacon and sunny-side-up egg, nestled in aminate dough.


    Queue gave a half smile. Simon had a passion for baking, and he applied the same passion towards his work as a Constructionist, though he still pursued the hobby on the side. Thank you, Master Simon, did you make these yourself?


    Not this morning, sir. Hanna did, today.


    Shes your eldest, correct?


    Yes, sir. Simons smile broadened. Shes started working for a little bakery near our home, and she absolutely loves it. There was both pride and a bit of longing in the younger Archon.


    Well, please convey my thanks.


    I certainly will.


    Queue took a moment to enjoy the coffee and eat one of the pastries. Finally, he asked. Are you quite sure its morning? I did promise Ide that Id be home tonight.


    Im afraid so.


    Queue sighed. Well, then, I must take the day off to make it up to her.


    She knows youre busy, Im sure she understands.


    Queue chuckled. Well of course she understands, that is not in question. I still broke a promise to my wife, however unintentionally. I must get home.


    He stood, but as he did so, his wall changed color. He was expecting some coborative information from a colleague in Audel. <em>Finished already?</em>


    He activated the Archive link with barely a thought, even as he gathered his things to go.


    A simple note appeared as if scrawled within the nature of the wall.


    <em>What the rust? They promised me</em> It became instantly obvious that this wasnt information granted to him by his colleague.


    Master Queue, I trust that you are well and that our venture has begun to earn a profit, as we had hoped. Do you require anything further from me in order to transfer over my portion of the profits? Cordially, Mistress T.


    Queues eye twitched.


    Master Simons eyes widened. Oh! Id thought she went missing?


    She did.


    Well, I am d that she has been found, that is excellent news.


    Simon was right of course, that was excellent news, and Queue was happy that the girl was safe once more. Even so, it was with a mix of resignation and relief that he transferred the twenty percent to Mistress Ts ount and headed for home.


    He honestly never truly considered dying. After all, even if it slowed down his other projects by a bit, Queue was a man of his word.


    <em>Now, flowers? Or maybe I should grab some of those pastries for her, they were </em>fantastic<em> I think Master Simon lives on the way home? So, the bakery wont be too out of the way.</em>


    That, he decided, was just the thing to apany his apology and give Ide a great start to their day, together.


    * * *


    Ingrit rose early and prepared breakfast for herself and her family, a smile pulling at her lips.


    Even though she could easily split her mind and be reading or working while she cooked, she didnt use her time that way. Instead, she mindfully meditated on the service she was performing for her husband and four children who still lived with them.


    She didnt get to spend as much time with her family as shed like, so she relished this chance to love them.


    The family was stirring when the Archive tried to grab her attention. Apparently, someone had shared new information with her.


    That could wait. This was not a time for work.


    Breakfast was over far too quickly, and soon enough the kids were off to school, and her husband was heading toward his own job. Hed promised to take care of dinner that night, and that put a spring in Ingrits step.


    She loved his cooking almost as much as she loved him.


    <em>Alright, family hat off, work hat on.</em>


    It wasnt a long walk to the Library, but it did afford her some time.


    <em>Lets see what this is.</em>


    Mistress Ingrit. I assume that confidentiality still exists between us. In that vein, I desperately need your assistance with my time away. Included here is a full log ofand ess tomy memories and the information I gathered while in the arcanends. Id exin further, but youll know everything soon enough. I authorize you to share the titles of the books I have brought back, in full, from the arcane city of toiri. I will likely wish to barter with the Library to grant the full texts into your experienced keeping. I look forward tomunicating with you further, Mistress T


    Ingrit had been so startled that shed had to step to the side of the street and stop in her tracks. <em>Arcane city? Books? What?</em>


    She opened the list of titles within her own mind and felt her eyes bug out.


    Throwing decorum to the wind, Ingrit hiked up her skirts and <em>took off</em> to the Library, passing many mundanes so quickly they were left to simplyment on the crisp morning breeze.


    * * *


    Grediv looked down on the boy, histest apprentice, though he was near to getting another.


    Thetest sculpture showed promise, though Rane had taken entirely the wrong lesson from his advice. Still, it <em>was</em> helping the boy with his magics.


    <em>I will take the victory. He was getting far too dependent on brute force and rough workings of power. This nuance is a wee area of growth.</em>


    He saw Rane notice something on his own Archive link. <em>As soon as hes Refined, well get him an integrated one. I believe theres a rtively new inscription set that does wonders for that integration with the mind.</em>


    Hed have to take Rane to Bandfast, Holly was the only inscriber hed trust such an upgrade to. <em>It will be worth the trip.</em>


    A momentter, the Paragon received a surprise.


    His own mental connection to the Archive presented Grediv with a short note even as it was shared with him.


    I fear things will getplicated for me very soon. I appreciated your help during my raising, and request such assistance again. I am barely two hours out from Alefast, Waning. Can you help? Mistress T.


    <em>Alive and returned? Rane was right to keep the faith, it seems.</em>


    Well, that exined some of the boys reaction, he must have gotten a message from her as well.


    Grediv smiled and added a simple note of his own. Absolutely. From which direction are youing?


    East-southeast.


    Ill meet you at the gate.


    * * *


    Oderas Archive tablet sat on a side table, unattended.


    A shift in color indicated new ess granted, but nobody was nearby to see.

 Chapter 267: Entrance

    Chapter 267: Entrance


    T continued her loping run, feeling quite thoroughly worn out. It hadnt been <em>that</em> long since she slept, but it seemed like the increased power flowing through her had worn at her body more than shed really realized, and then excising it from herself had left her with only the downsides.


    <em>-All messages delivered and a few replies and exchanges enacted, per what we discussed.-</em>


    <em>Great. Will we have help?</em>


    <em>-Master Grediv will meet us at the nearest gate, when we arrive at Alefast.-</em>


    <em>Oh, thats fantastic. Im so d he was in town. I was </em>not<em> looking forward to trying to convince a random Archon that we meant no harm</em>


    She was almost back.


    She was almost <em>home</em>.


    The level of magic in the air had been steadily rising for thest few hours, and the zeme was really starting to show some turbulence.


    It was odd seeing this region again in a new light.


    Not only was sheing from nearly the exact opposite direction, but she was also far more powerful and capable with her magesight.


    <em>Oh! Terry.</em> She had been in such a fog since the forest that she hadnt really considered the terror bird.


    She opened Kit, and before she could call out, Terry flickered into being beside her.


    His screech of annoyance would have deafened a mundane human, even if only temporarily.


    T stumbled to the side, flinching.


    Gah! Terry, that hurt!


    He screeched again, fluffing his feathers in visible irritation.


    Im sorry! The forest was more taxing than I expected, and Ive just been trying to get this trip done with.


    He lowered his head and stalked forward, covering the distance that shed stumbled away. It was only then that T noticed his size. Even hunched low, he still easily matched her height.


    She stepped back a bit more, therge terror following her. I apologize! I didnt mean to leave you in there, unknowing how I fared.


    Terry slowed, squinting at her.


    I should have called you out as soon as I was free of the woods.


    He chirped in aggressive affirmation.


    Will you forgive me?


    Straightening, he let out a long series of random trills that to T sounded like nothing so much as her mother ranting about one of the littlest siblings. It was an oddly nostalgic feeling, for all it was more than a decade old.


    <em>Because Im so near to home?</em> That was likely. I know you were worried about me. I said I was sorry.


    Terry cut off his trilling and red.


    I know that doesnt make it better, and I know this is the second time that youd have preferred to be out sooner on this trip. Will you forgive me?


    His demeanor shifted, and he shook himself before chirping once in affirmation.


    Thank you.


    Terry didnt reply further, instead shrinking down until his head barely came up to her waist.


    You want to run with me the rest of the way?


    The birds look conveyed exactly how stupid he felt that question was.


    Fine. Lets go. She quickly inspected his neck, and was able to <em>just</em> see the cor hiding beneath his feathers, and only then because it was her magic that was mirrored into it.


    As they ran, T very carefully ced a white-armored finger on the cor and refilled it with her power. <em>That would have been less than great.</em>


    Thus, T arrived at the southeastern gate into Alefast, Waning, sometime in the midmorning, Terry at her side.


    The wall stood tall to either side of the gate, and T felt nervous energy building within her as she approached.


    This was it.


    She was <em>here</em>.


    She was on the threshold of a real, human city.


    If fate was the rusting bit of g it seemed to be ofte, something was about to happen to keep her from entering.


    There were no guards visible from outside the city, so she approached cautiously.


    But nothing unexpected jumped out and stopped her.


    Instead, Master Grediv stepped out of the open archway and smiled. Mistress T. I can see your travels have left their mark, and your avian friend has grown. There was a sparkle of mischief in the Paragons eyes. Shall we


    T felt his prating scan of her entire self, the iron on her skin definitively gaining some heat at the power behind the inspection.


    She saw his face fall into a perfectly nk mask.


    She watched as the glint left his eyes.


    Why do you have a concept threaded through your entire body. Speak now, Archon.


    I am infected with a dasgannach. That is one of most pressing issues that I need assistance to address.


    That seemed to take Master Gredivpletely off guard. First, that was likely because she answered quickly, readily, andpletely. Second, he could likely tell the truth of her words, if T was right in her guess, and that surely was shocking.


    It is contained at the moment, but I would greatly prefer your assistance as soon as possible.


    I see. He was frowning. Do you have any specific ideas on what assistance you require?


    <em>A test? Or just gathering more information.</em> I think a teleport would be prudent.


    He huffed augh. You want me to teleport you to some other city, while filled with a clearly hostile concept?


    No, I assumed that wouldnt be possible. I would like you to teleport me to the tower in this very city. That should strip the dasgannach from me.


    Master Grediv frowned again but began nodding. I can see that working, depending on the vor of creature. For most, we could simply entice it out and heal whatever issues that caused. What is its material?


    Iron.


    Once again, the ancient man seemed caught off guard. Well, that exins the issue, then. A long, increasingly ufortable silence stretched between them as T stood <em>outside</em> the gates.


    <em>I knew it. This was too easy. Fate is going to sucker-punch me again right when I</em>


    Very well. Follow closely without making contact. We need to get this sorted, immediately.


    <em>Oh.</em>


    t barked augh within Ts head. -<em>Well, that worked better than wed hoped.-</em>


    <em>For now. He could still wipe us off the face of Zeme.</em>


    <em>-True, but hes more likely to help us. Thats why we asked him to meet us, right? Because we were pretty sure hed take the time to find the truth, rather than killing it to be sure.-</em>


    <em>True enough.</em>


    Master Grediv turned and strode into Alefast, Waning, and T hesitated for only a moment before following, Terry heeling perfectly at her side.


    The guards stood back, not interfering or questioning them as they passed.


    So, Mistress T. Tell me what I need to know about the dasgannach. Given that youre you, I imagine there are surrounding, pertinent details?


    T felt power thread through the air in an incredibly intricatettice locking out any chance of them being overheard, and she had a realization. <em>How do such workings move with us? If they locked to a specific volume of air, the working would have to drag it along with us, but its not doing that.</em>


    Mistress? Master Grediv had turned to regard her. Lost in thought so quickly? A mirthful smile tugged at his lips. Id thought youd simply ask rather than bottling yourself up.


    Ive been in a position where I had to be more careful with my questions, at least a bit.


    Thats a pity. I always appreciated your curiosity.


    Taking that for the invitation that it was, she asked. How does your working move with us?


    He turned and they started walking once more. Your magesight has certainly improved if you can see that.


    She was to his side but still out of arms reach. I think its more a matter of magical weight than an actual improvement to the script.


    That is actually what I meant. The sharpest de cannot slice stone without weight behind it. He hesitated. Well, thats not actually true, but it gets the idea across.


    So?


    Yes, yes. How familiar are you with the fabric of reality?


    She hesitated. <em>Well, in for a copper. </em>Do you mean the Doman-Imithe and its backing of Zeme?


    Master Grediv barked augh. Oh, you are going to be a joy for the next good while, arent you? He didnt wait for her to answer. That touches on a truly mindboggling number of things. Though, few have enough anchoring in Zeme to safely study the Doman-Imithe.


    <em>Well, thats a difference, but Ill wait until my question is answered at the very least.</em>


    So, I assume you know of the bits of reality that make up Zeme?


    Yes.


    Good. The best analogy is sandstone. Each bit of reality is pressed against the others until they make a coherent whole. The analogy breaks down, because of the fluid nature of some parts of reality.


    T frowned. What? We dont havend moving around randomly.


    Well, we actually do, but thats rare and not what Im talking about.


    She cocked her head and didnt interject.


    Us. People, animals, material moving around. All of it is a part of reality but isnt locked in ce.


    That I hadnt considered it that way. In the Doman-Imithe, all the nodules had been tied to each other with threads of reality, and so had she and Thron. <em>We were just manifesting more fully within the Doman-Imithe, and the nodules I was searching were oriented towards Zeme.</em>


    That caused a lot of things click into ce.


    <em>-Oh, rust! We just needed to flip our orientation, and wed have popped back into Zeme.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, that sounds nice, but what does it mean? How could we have actually aplished that?</em>


    <em>-I have no idea.-</em>


    T grinned internally. <em>And where would we have appeared?</em>


    <em>-Not a clue.-</em>


    Master Grediv continued speaking, drawing her thoughts back, I anchor the spellworking to myself, the fragment of reality that is me, with distance parameters oriented on that anchor. Most spellforms actually work in this way, but Mages, by andrge, dont have the understanding toprehend them in that way. They believe and enact their workings based on the manifestation of reality, rather than reality itself. Its a weakness and an inefficiency that is usually corrected when an Archon Fuses, or thereabout. We always have this discussion before the Archon Refines. To do otherwise would be to kill the Mage.


    Her eyes widened. Because Refining is purifying the substance of reality, which is you.


    T could hear the smile in his voice as he responded, Precisely true, at the deepest levels. That is the foundation, though much else is done on top of that footing as well.


    <em>I feel like this has some insane implications and applications. </em>How far around myself is included in the fragment?


    That is ahe frownedthat is an incredibly insightful question.


    T let the silence hang as they walked through the streets. <em>Wait Why is he giving us this information now?</em>


    <em>-Well, doesnt it remind you of your interactions with him in the past?-</em>


    <em>It really does.</em>


    <em>-So, this could be a way of verifying youre you in a really hard to beat way?-</em>


    <em>Oh huh that makes sense, I suppose.</em>


    The moment of silence passed, and Master Gredive began to nod. Youve been to the Doman-Imithe, havent you. It was not a question.


    Yes.


    That is a rare experience, Mistress T. Were you given the tools to perceive the threads and knots?


    Is that what they are actually called? I gave them that name because they seemed so to me. Though, they seemed more like protuberances to me or nodules.


    The descriptions Ive read could be interpreted that way I suppose. I assume that is a yes then?


    I am able to see them, yes.


    That caused Master Grediv to stop, and he turned to her. Void or Reality? He became very still, and his demeanor gained a deadly seriousness. You will answer now and answer honestly.


    T had pulled up short alongside him. She considered lying. <em>Reality sounds so much safer than voidmagic. I </em>really<em> dont want to be smote</em> But her void connection was going to be obvious, even if he couldnt read the truth of her words. Void.


    Master Grediv rxed. Oh, bless me, child, you dont know what razors edge you danced.


    What? What would be wrong with reality magic?


    Heughed, turning to continue on his way. Every Mage who has <em>ever</em> bound or gained reality magics has tried to wipe out their fellows eventually. It is almost as taboo as necromancy, though far, <em>far</em> harder to practice so weve found it easier to simply address it when ites up, rather than teaching about it specifically.


    Ahh. And void?


    Very, <em>very</em> rare as it cant exist naturally in Zeme, but there have been the asional artifact found with magics of the void. Weve not seen any specific pattern with Archons who bound those. So, there doesnt seem to be any inherent influence from such.


    She felt herself sigh in relief and very, <em>very</em> specifically didnt look at Kit. She also didnt look at Flow for that matter. <em>Huh, I have void on each hip.</em>


    <em>-And woven intrinsically through the garments you wear.-</em>


    <em>Ahh, yeah. Thats true.</em>


    As to your question, its up for debate. Its generally agreed that the size of your fragment of reality is rted to your aura. Im going off texts, now, but as I understand it, reality manifests oddly in Doman-Imithe. Was that your experience?


    T barked augh. That is an understatement, but yes, thats true.


    He nodded. It works simrly for your piece of reality. Obviously, you and I arent dragging the earth and air along with us as we walk, but they are within our bits of reality.


    So, as we move, the specific manifestation shifts. The underpinnings are what change, not the surface?


    That is one way to look at it, yes. We own the deeperyers, thus ruling the surface, but the surface itself doesnt change without specific action on our part.


    <em>t. Does that mean?</em>


    <em>-I think so. I dont know </em>exactly<em> how we could target fragments of reality for gravitational amplification, but I </em>think<em> it would be possible.</em>-


    <em>Is that what Terry does?</em>


    <em>-Well, not with gravity, but I think so. He simply doesnt include dirt and muck in his definitional understanding of his fragment, and so that doesnte with him.-</em>


    It was like finding thest piece of a puzzle well, a childs puzzle where the overall picture could be hidden by a single missing piece and a puzzle where no one told her the picture she was aiming at. <em>This is a really awful metaphor, actually.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, Ive never truly thought about it, but it makes </em>no<em> sense.</em>-


    I can see youre considering some deep implications, but you still havent told me about your unwee passenger.


    Oh! Right. And so she filled him in on the cor, the two dasgannach, how theyd been modified, and so on.


    It took the remainder of their trip to the teleportation tower.


    Before they entered the tower, Master Grediv stopped. You should leave your dimensional storage with the receptionist, since it is still not soulbound to you so it cant teleport with you. Can your friend wait within it? He looked meaningfully at Terry.


    T regarded Terry, and the terror bird looked back. Finally, he squawked in resignation and bobbed a nod.


    T shrugged. Sure. I could just put my storage on the outside wall, here?


    Master Grediv nodded. That would be interesting to see. Those always manifest a bit differently. I assume youve merged it with a syphon fascia?


    She gave him a mildly surprised look.


    He chuckled. Im <em>old</em>, child. If it exists within the human cities, Im likely aware of it, at least tangentially.


    She grunted. Thats fair.


    He hesitated then smiled. Well, with all that youve likely brought with you, that isnt as true as it was a few hours ago.


    Tughed. Once weve sorted this, Ill see what I can do to correct that alteration.


    I look forward to it.


    She pulled Kit from her belt. She took a moment to consider. Do you want to go to the hills?


    Terry squawked nomittally.


    Fine, just somewhere near where I usually find you, then. She tossed Kit at the wall, and a door grew to perfectly integrate with the side of the tower, near the main entrance. As usual, the entrance seemed to fit perfectly, looking like it had always been there.


    Fascinating. Thank you for allowing me to watch. Master Grediv smiled.


    Before T could open the door, it was ripped open, and a nearly fully yed beast-man lunged out. FREE! IM FREE OF THAT FEATHERED DEMON!!!!


    The bullman then saw Terry and squealed in abject terror. The next instant a flick of energy extended from the citys defenses and turned him to ash.


    T spun on Terry. Terry? Why was he still alive? You were supposed to kill him quickly!


    Terry looked down and idly scratched at the ground while decidedly not looking her way. He trilled mournfully, clearly trying to y on her sympathies.


    Get in there. Well talk soon enough. She pointed vehemently through the open door.


    The terror bird flickered away, appearing within before the door swung shut at Ts will.


    She turned back toward Master Grediv and found him and more than a dozen other Archons staring at her with various expressions of bewilderment.


    Ts eyes flicked around to the suddenly present Refined and Paragons.


    One woman spoke up. Master Grediv, sir?


    Master Grediv just shook his head. Im as much in the dark as you. Mistress T?


    T scratched the back of her head nervously. <em>Rusting Terry. You couldnt have just killed him when I asked?</em> Well, that bullman tried to kill me, so I tricked him into my sanctum, and left him for Terry to kill. That bird was <em>supposed</em> to be quick about it, but it seems like he was <em>not</em> quick about it.


    Master Grediv cleared his throat. First, you had a He seemed to be searching for the right word. Elder?


    Mature.


    Mature, right. You had a Mature arcane, fully drained, in your sanctum? Isnt that a special designation?


    She opened her mouth, then closed it. It is I have a <em>lot</em> to tell you, Master Grediv. Can we deal with my unwee passenger first?


    The other woman, clearly the leader of the Archons who had responded to the now eliminated threat, cleared her throat. The arcane <em>wasnt</em> your unwee passenger?


    Well he was one, yes, quite unintentionally so. I didnt know he was still in there.


    How likely is it that there are any others?


    T frowned, then went over and opened Kit. No one waited on the other side but Terry, who was giving her a chastened look.


    She closed the door then opened it again and saw Rob sitting on a shelf beside her bed.Oh Well, hes not <em>really</em> a passenger? But hes not actually a T muttered to herself, struggling for words as she closed the door. Never mind. No one else in there. Just the one in here.


    She smiled with false cheer as she tapped her own chest.


    The woman frowned, then T felt herself be delved with a form of magesight once again. The Paragons eyes widened, but Master Grediv intervened.


    Were dealing with that now, Mistress Ges.


    Mistress Gess eye twitched, but she gave Master Grediv a firm, shallow bow. As you say, Master Grediv. I do hope you will exin what is going on at some point.


    I will, when I know myself.


    Very well. She bowed once again, and then she and the other city defenders seemed to vanish.


    T turned to Master Grediv. I am so excited to be able to do that.


    He cocked one eyebrow. You could now, if you had the right magics.


    She frowned. Shed been a bit afraid of that. Well, rust. Fine then.


    Well see what we can do, but <em>after</em> we deal with the creature. Yes?


    Yes, please.


    Master Grediv hesitated, looking at Kit on the wall of the tower. Finally, he sighed. Bring that inside. Well find a better ce to set it up thats closer to where well work. It seems like you might have some rather more dangerous things in there than I was expecting.


    T sheepishly did as he asked and hung Kit from her belt once more.


    Together, they entered the tower.


    The receptionist inside was obviously a mageling, and he looked incredibly nervous.


    T felt bad for the kid. Hed likely just had all sorts of rms going off, then probably seen the city defenders appear just outside.


    G Greetings, Master, Mistress. How can we serve you, today?


    We need a self-cycling teleport. Foreign will purging, please.


    That got the young man to focus. Yes, sir!


    As the mageling manipted a te in front of himself, T heard several people in the tower begin to move quickly.


    She was still keeping a good distance from Master Grediv, but she spoke quietly, now that his privacy working was down. Is thismon?


    Yes and no. This is usually the best way to cleanse people of foreign issues when they pass a certain stage. Youd be surprised how many gues weve stopped in their tracks by judicious use of the teleporter. Mundanes also often have their own bodies turn against them, either attacking their own biology or growing in ways they shouldnt. A teleport of this type resets their anatomy and can allow them to get back to their lives.


    T hadnt considered that, honestly. <em>So, my idea wasnt very revolutionary.</em>


    <em>-But it seems good. Thats what we need, right?-</em>


    <em>Thats true enough.</em>


    Soon, they were escorted to a teleportation room off to one side.


    A Fused woman exined what was going to happen. Do you see the receiving circle over there?


    T looked and did see it. This room, unlike the one shed arrived back from the Academy in, had both auncher and a receiver. I see it.


    Good. We will simply teleport you over there. You will be fully sent out into the ether and drawn back. Please ce anything not soulbound to you there. She pointed to a series of empty shelves and stands.


    T walked over, removing Kit and her bloodstar holster from her belt.


    The bloodstars would have been fine, but the material that surrounded them would be needlessly stripped away if she tried to bring them with her.


    After a moments hesitation, she realized that that was it.


    Her clothing were her elk-leathers and bound to her. Flow was the same.


    Alright. Im ready.

 Chapter 268: Ravenous

    Chapter 268: Ravenous


    T stood in the teleportation tower of Alefast, Waning. Specifically, she was in the room that had been prepared for a cleansing teleport.


    <em>-T, the through-spike.-</em>


    <em>Oh, rust!</em> She barely ever thought about the through-spike, though it probably was the magical device she used most often. <em>Only because its always on.</em>


    She sighed, walked back over to the shelf, and pulled off the through-spike, setting it beside Kit.


    Once T was back in the teleportation circle, she looked over to see the Fused, who was there to assist with that process, staring at her.


    The woman cleared her throat. Is that iron I see and detect on you?


    T grimaced. Yes, unfortunately.


    Can you remove it?


    I cannot.


    That took the woman by surprise. Well We cannot teleport you with so much iron. If it were steel, we could tweak the spellforms and dump it into the ether, but pure iron? She shrugged helplessly. We cant help with that.


    Master Grediv cleared his throat. I think I can do something.


    The Fused bowed to him. That would be wonderful, Master Grediv. Thank you.


    Go stand on the teleporter, Mistress T. I dont want your passenger to have more time to interfere than necessary.


    She nodded and did as he asked.


    As she did, she felt his power begin to build upon her, forcing its way through her aura and the iron.


    The iron started to heat up, and T felt the dasgannach begin to stir within her, clearly agitated at its iron being affected.


    My apologies, Mistress T, but this is <em>going</em> to hurt. I will keep it from overwhelming you, but I cant have a gentle hand in this.


    She nodded again. Youre going to burn it off?


    Thats right.


    She grit her teeth. Lovely. Do as you must. Thank you.


    <em>-The teleport is going to erase my inscriptions, T. We knew this I know your n, but Ill say it anyways. Please get reinscribed as quickly as possible? I really dont like nonexistence; even when I return, the time when I am not is unpleasant to recall.-</em>


    <em>I will do my best, t. Thank you for your willingness to try this n.</em>


    t sent a feeling of resoluteness in return.


    The iron continued to heat up, and the dasgannach was getting increasingly agitated.<ol><li><strong><em> MINE.</em></strong><strong></strong>As always, it wasnt actual words, it was pure instinct and desire tranted by Ts mind.</li></ol>


    T tried to send back her own instincts and desires.


    <em>Ours. Pain stop? Join?</em>


    She offered up the Archon star again.<ol><li><strong><em> MINE.</em></strong></li></ol>


    She somehow pushed the memory of the iron fragment shed held in her hand going away when the dasgannach failed to im it. She then did the same with a memory of the gold dasgannach taking all her gold and leaving just to die once it was out of her. <em>If yours, death. Ours? Live?</em>


    She <em>really</em> didnt want to have all her outsides cooked.


    Additionally, the teleportation would remove her inscriptions and all her stores. She was going to have to eat so<em>,</em><em>so</em> much when this was done, and the dasgannach bonding her would prevent that need.


    If only she were so lucky.


    <em>Please? Ours?</em>


    <strong><em>MINE.</em></strong>


    T sighed.


    As Master Grediv worked, he began talking through the process. Alright. So, if this works perfectly and ideally, you will be rid of the dasgannach entirely and have no physically adverse effects.


    But when does anything ever work perfectly? T put on a pained grin, the iron on her skin continuing to heat up.


    Exactly.


    So, failure cases.


    No, there are no failure cases here, just unideal oues.


    T huffed augh. Fine, fine. Unideal oues. It evacuates as Im teleported away, leaving the dasgannach centered on the teleportation circle.


    And almost instantly dead. Ill be ready to keep it from diving into the ground or any such thing, so that would be essentially the same as the ideal situation. Another oue might be that it is simply left behind with all your iron, but that would have the same result yet again.


    Inside, the dasgannach was bing quite irate at the heating exterior iron. <strong><em>NO. MINE!!!</em></strong>


    Despite its death grip on the iron, it just didnt have the weight to defy the Paragons workings.


    T tried to ignore it as Master Grediv supplied the next possibility. Given that youre holding it at bay with an Archon star, it could bond with you. If that happens, I will be watching to help if I can, but you will have to let me. The time it takes to bond is incredibly expanded from your perspective, dont forget to ask for help if you need it. I will hear.


    The Fused woman who was tweaking the anciry scripts hesitated. She opened her mouth, then stopped and shook her head. If I needed to know, theyd tell me.


    It was <em>very</em> softly spoken, but T heard it easily.


    T cleared her throat moving the topic along. Theres no danger of it being teleported and leaving me behind is there?


    The Fused woman looked up and smiled. No, dear. It is keyed to your magical signature as shown in your gate and your soulbound items. Were not just grabbing whoever happens to be within the circle.


    That made T feel better.


    Master Grediv smiled. This isnt going to be pleasant. Regardless of the result, youll have repercussions, but well get you out from under the headsmans axe.


    Thank you for that. She tried to smile but just managed to grimace, even her reinforced flesh was starting to cook as the iron was now glowing quite fiercely. Her scripts were healing her skin and muscle as it baked, but it wasnt a pleasant process.


    Thankfully, the iron was slowly burning away.<ol><li><strong><em> NO. NO!!!! MINE!!!</em></strong></li></ol>


    <em>This can stop. Ours?</em>


    There was hesitation, but only briefly as another section of iron was burned away. <strong><em>NO. MINE.</em></strong>


    T had no idea how Master Grediv was doing what he was.


    She shouldnt have been able to stand up under the heat required to burn away <em>iron</em>, but he was somehow focusing his power to minimize the damage to her.


    It was excruciating even so.


    Master Grediv tried to chat with T further to distract her as he removed her external iron over the next half-hour or so.


    It didnt really work, and she really didnt process what he said, and even t was upied helping her bear up under the pain.


    Finally, the process was done, and T was gasping at the bliss of being pain free once more.


    The elk-leathers had burned away almost as much as the iron had, but they had a direct connection to her gate and were thus maintained and regrown in the end.


    They all waited for her to recover just a bit as well as drink some water.


    That done, it was time. They couldnt risk the dasgannach finding some other way to interfere.


    Ready? The Fused was watching T intently.


    T nodded. Ready.


    Frost licked over Ts already sensitive skin, apanied by the static tension of power rippling through her from an outside source.


    With a pulse of darkness, she felt the magic seize her.


    The moment seemed to extend into infinity as her body was thrown into the ether. The process was instantaneous, but it seemed like it wasnt simultaneous.


    As she was being ripped away, the dasgannach went berserk.


    It wouldnt matter in the end, because the damage it was causing would be repaired in the teleport.


    Her elk-leathers and Flow came along with her body as they were as much her as that body.


    As Master Grediv suspected, her biological iron was being left behind, given the dasgannachs influence.


    That was fine. Shed get new material on the other end.


    As her Archon star was <em>pulled</em> toward the ether as well, something changed.<ol><li><strong><em> MINE.</em></strong></li></ol>


    The dasgannach opposed the teleport directly for the first time, but it wasnt strong enough to stop her, and its grip was slipping.


    Finally, like a man hanging on to the edge of a slippery cliff, something fundamental <em>shifted.</em>


    T had no idea if it was due to her efforts, proddings, or invitations. It could have been because of the modifications made to the dasgannach by the City Lord. It could also have been the dasgannachs unexpectedly extended stay, regardless of what shed done. The trip through the Doman-Imithe could have facilitated a change, or it could have been any number of other, anciry things or abination of any number of factors.


    Regardless of the how, the dasgannach was no longer as it had been, and in thest microsecond the dasgannachs intent and instinct resounded with a new thread.


    <strong><em>Ours.</em></strong>


    The Archon star was absorbed, and before she was thrown into the ether the moment stretched, and T was fully ripped into the white void of possibilities.


    * * *


    T was <em>ravenous</em> jealousy.


    She had no form but that which was required to gain the object of her desire.


    And she desired <em>everything.</em>


    She could perceive around herself because her previous, pathetically weak form had been able to do so.


    Her perceptions let her find the best direction of movement to <em>acquire.</em>


    Spellworkings sshed across her, feeding her need for magical power even as a cataclysmic zeme swirled around her, funneling magic into her from miles around.


    Material was pulled through her border, incorporated simply because it was there.


    The very concepts of reality bent their nature to join with her.


    She had been reduced to something primal, something primordial.


    She had been refined to something perfect.


    She was hungry


    She was <em>Hunger.</em>


    She would consume <em>everything</em>.


    <em>+Umm No. Absolutely </em>NOT.<em>+</em>


    The conglomeration of impressions and sensations broke apart, back into the whiteness of the merging void.


    * * *


    The void of her nature had stripped away the iron within her at the merging, leaving her with a ravenous need for the same.


    Iron dust wasntpatible as she had been a creature of biology, first and foremost.


    It was only the iron within blood that would do.


    Thus, T drank <em>oceans</em> of blood.


    Creatures blood filled the need but didnt satisfy.


    Only the blood of sapients truly gave her a moments peace.


    She could regenerate from almost any injury.


    She was durable and resistant against magic to an insane degree.


    All of humanitycity, vige, and ve hovelfeared she would visit them and take her tithe of blood from under their roof.


    Her soul had expanded, the tendrils shed created with her myriad bloodstars allowed her to attach a bit of her power to her contributors, giving them a fraction of her strength in exchange for simr requirements.


    Thus, her legion grew.


    Thus, she came to rule the world.


    <em>+What the rust? Absolutely not Why do I sparkle in the sun? Thats just stupid. That makes no sense.+</em>


    The knowledge of her own soul, spread across all of Zeme broke apart, back into the whiteness of the merging void.


    * * *


    T walked through the streets of an arcane city, harvesting death with every touch.


    No one below her level of power was safe as their iron and magic were ripped free at the barest brush.


    Chaos surrounded her as she built up her own reserves of iron and power.


    When they finally pinpointed her as the source of death, iron surrounded her, utterly locked to her will, rendering her immune to hostile magic.


    Her own power was so overflowing and overwhelming that she swept the field of even sovereigns who tried to stay her hand.


    <em>+Alright. Im going to stop you, there. This is just patently ridiculous.+</em>


    Her rampage stopped, her power and iron shattering back into the whiteness of the merging void.


    * * *


    A half-dozen more utterly insane mergings were foisted before her, each as awful as thest.


    <em>This is really, really bad.</em>


    The options were bing increasingly repetitive, and there didnt seem to be a good option on offer.


    <em>Rust.</em>


    She refused to ept any of the murderous or otherwise corrupting unions the dasgannach was putting forward, but there wasnt anything better.


    If she didn''t ept any of the offerings, she would die, and all this would have been for nothing.


    <em>Yeah Thats not going to happen. It can''t.</em>


    But there was nothing that she could do to change what was happening.


    Thest vision had been identical to the first in all the ways that mattered.


    There werent going to be other choices.


    She had no good option.


    <em>And this is why be careful what you bond with is an important adage.</em>


    She needed something to change the rules.


    T wasnt able to do that.


    She needed help.


    <em>Master Grediv, I hope youre actually able to help.</em>


    Through that desperation and mounting panic, a hazy shimmer of emerald power seeped in from the surrounding white void. Now invited, it snapped into ce in a viridescent sh, momentarily suffusing everything. White became green, and the dasgannach''s grip on possibility and potential was shattered.


    His voice echoed overtop the fading remnants of thetest depiction of wanton destruction and avarice, Make your choice wisely, Mistress T.


    The fields of blood and death splintered once again.


    * * *


    T floated in the white void, the dasgannach floating before her, an amorphous blob of iron.


    She detected confusion from it. Its intent, its purpose was now directionless. It didnt have a mind, not really, all it could do was grab onto fragments of her own will and wield them alongside its instincts and desires, having built potential unions based on deep ignorance of how the world actually worked.


    It would still have to ept in the end, but she could forge the potential paths now.


    <em>Let me show you what we can be.</em>


    * * *


    T felt full power and authority over her own self.


    Everything within her was <em>hers</em> and all that she consumed was beyond contestation.


    More than that, she had an <em>infinite</em> supply of powering in, eternally adding to her strength.


    She used that power to defend those around her and<ol><li><strong><em> IRON. POWER.</em></strong></li></ol>


    The vision shattered before T had fully built it.


    She sighed. <em>Alright. Lets try again.</em>


    * * *


    T tried a dozen dozen variations. Trying toe up with something that the dasgannach would actually agree to.


    The bond had been started, and they had toe to an understanding or they would both die, torn apart at the deepest levels.


    Yet, it instinctively rejected anything she put forward.


    T didnt realize why until she took the time to truly consider.


    <em>It doesnt understand, nor see the utility, in helping others. I cannot present my options in that light.</em>


    That grasped, she had an idea.


    * * *


    T was covered in iron, the metal utterly under her control.


    Any iron she touched <em>could</em> be taken and added to herself, inside or out.


    The magic which brushed across her skin was pulled in, a subtle intake, like a breath amidst the wind. Not noticeable in the grand scheme of things, but <em>vital</em> to her.


    The iron was hers.


    The power was hers.


    <em>SHE</em> was her own.


    All that she wished to consume became of her flesh.


    All that she saw was regarded for consumption.


    She was the infinite void.


    She was the gate to that void.


    She was the guardian of that gate.


    She had mastery over her <em>self</em> at every level<em>.</em>


    That mastery was her strength.


    That strength let her seize her ce in the world.


    <strong><em>OURS. ETERNAL.</em></strong>


    Thus, it was agreed, thus was the merging forged.


    * * *


    T gasped, stumbling forward even as magics faded from the receiving circle below her.


    She had been teleported as the bond had begun to form, and shed returned the instant it had solidified.


    She felt like she was covered in ayer of ice, the cold suffusing her being, and there was an odd <em>heaviness</em> to her movements.


    <em>Im missing my scripts.</em> Without the enhancements, she was weaker than she should be, but there was more to it.


    Shede back with <em>more</em> iron than when shed left, and it was making her heavy, though she didnt really grasp how it was incorporated into her body, not yet.


    She stumbled towards the shelf, picking up Kit, her movements feeling clumsy.


    Mistress T? Master Grediv was keeping his distance and regarding her warily, clearly uncertain how the process had born out.


    One moment. She forced out. Inscriptions.


    He frowned, but nodded, obviously curious.


    T threw Kit against the floor and fell through,nding on her dais. <em>REINSCRIBE</em>.


    She opened her mouth, and waited,ying there on the ground but nothing happened.


    <em>What?</em>


    Then, she took the time to look within, and she felt it.


    Her body was <em>suffused</em> with iron.


    More than shed ever consumed, seemingly filled some of the gaps between her organs.


    There was no way her body could actually function that way, but it was.


    Something within her was keeping everything working exactly as it should.


    <em>Well thats going to be a joy to explore, but not yet.</em>


    She had to think in order to figure out what was going on.


    She needed to think to know what to do.


    She had to think.


    Think.


    <em>THINK!</em>


    The solution came to her, or at least the potential of one, and she hesitantly <em>pushed</em> all the iron outward.


    The metal passed through her flesh and bone without causing damage, forming a thick, flexibleyer just outside her skin, under her elk-leathers.


    <em>Reinscribe.</em>


    This time, it worked, the metal threads pouring through her open mouth and weaving themselves through her body from the inside out.


    The pain was excruciating, but she was hardly fully in her right mind.


    When the reinscription process was finished, her keystone activated and power <em>mmed</em> into her scripts, raging through her body.


    She screamed without meaning to.


    She didnt copse this time, nor did she restrain her power from going into any of the scripts.


    She allowed for a full, instantaneous activation.


    <em>-T? Oh, rust. What happened?-</em>


    T ignored t, knowing that the alternate interface could pull from her memory toe up to speed.


    T was both d that she hadnt had to hit herself in the head to activate t and concerned that the pain might have been severe enough to knock her unconscious on its own.


    <em>Ill live.</em>


    She lunged upward and aimed to get back out of Kit.


    The leap wasnt nearly as high as she intended, and she ended up needing to catch the edge and pull herself up. She then picked up Kit and hung the pouch from her belt.


    In the same series of movements, she grabbed her bloodstar holster and ced it across her low back, and then she carefully ced the through-spike, with the help of a mirrored perspective via one of her drop bloodstars.


    Master Grediv was now looking <em>incredibly </em>wary. Even if his perception wasnt seemingly able to bypass the through-spike that was maintaining her human appearance, it had only juste back online.


    She did not look very human at the moment.


    Mistress T?


    With a thought, she released her active hold on the iron, and it sank back into her body, again without causing the damage that T really felt that it should have. To demonstrate her humanity, she forcibly deactivated the through-spike and smiled. Im me. I think.


    Thats good to hear. What He paused as the Fused in the room gasped, and Ts own eyes widened.


    T was shocked at what she felt internally. They were shocked at what they <em>saw</em>.


    Inside of T, the iron had contracted and found new cement around her spell-lines.


    Such was their density that Tcked the proper amount of iron to cover them all.


    In fact, the free iron within T only allowed for the encasement of the inscriptions from the tips of her fingers up to her elbows, but the result was immediate and startling.


    Her magics manifested as light carved into reality almost instantaneously, wreathing her hands and forearms in manifestations of magical power.


    Master Grediv seemed to instantly recognize the nature of the inscriptions as visual representations of her natural magics, or at the very least, he realized that she wasnt purposely manifesting power in order to attack.


    The poor Fused woman had leapt backwards, and only after seemingly activating some defenses did she take a closer look and begin to calm down.


    Master Grediv spoke as if T were a growling dog, Mistress T. How do you feel?


    T took a long, deep breath, really assessing herself for the first time. Ironically, her stomach growled, and she felt a light wave of dizziness. Honestly? Im feeling ravenous.

 Chapter 269: Ownership

    Chapter 269: Ownership


    Tsst words echoed through an awkward silence in the cleansing teleportation chamber, Honestly? Im feeling ravenous.


    The two other Archons in the room gave her hesitant, spective looks.


    Tughed, scratching the back of her head as she felt the oddity of her own words. Im sorry. That sounded a bit ominous, didnt it?


    Master Grediv smiled, then. It did at that, but you are quite right. We should get some food in you.


    Ts stomach gurgled <em>loudly</em>, but they all politely pretended that it hadnt.


    The Fused whod been assisting bowed. I am d that we could be of service. Master Grediv has covered the bill. He said he would settle it with youter.


    <em>When did he have time to do that?</em>


    <em>-He likely has a internal connection to the Archive, and handled it through that.-</em>


    That made a sort of sense, and she could ask, but not right now.


    Shed been happy enough to ask after random topics before the cleansing teleport, but she was learning that she used inquiry and tangential topics to keep herself distracted in difficult or stressful situations.


    -<em>They grow up so fast.-</em>


    <em>Hush, you. </em>After a moments consideration, T added, <em>Are you alright?</em>


    <em>-Yeah. I know you tried to be fast, but with the bonding and the subjective time that you experienced going through all the options after my spellforms were purged...-</em> T somehow felt t shudder. <em>-I dont like non-existence.-</em>


    <em>How can you perceive it?</em>


    <em>-What do you mean?-</em>


    <em>I mean, I know I didnt exist before conception, but it doesnt hurt me to think about time before I existed. That doesnt ount for all the memories I know Ick between then and when I solidified my mental enhancement scripts.</em>


    <em>-I think thats just it. I perfectly remember every moment of my, singr existence. Because of that, I am intimately aware of the times that I ceased. Its not horrifying to not have existed yet, but to know I can so easily be rendered to nothing?-</em> t shuddered again.


    <em>I sympathize even though I cant really empathize.</em>


    <em>-Well, the sympathy is appreciated.-</em>


    That addressed, T cleared her throat. She and Master Grediv were walking out of the Alefast, Waning, teleport tower. Where are we going? Do you know a good restaurant?


    Oh, good, youre focusing outward again.


    T gave him a t look. You know, a <em>lot </em>has been happening internally, for me.


    He smiled softly. I know, I truly do. After a moments pause, he continued, I thought I would take you to my family home. The chefs there are <em>excellent</em>, and you wont cause a scene when you eat enough for a dozen people.


    <em>How does he know I eat so much? </em>T frowned for only an instant, then found herself nodding. Rane talked?


    Yes, yes he did.


    That figures. But she found herself smiling. Is he doing well?


    He is. Hes Fused and well on the road to Refining. Master Grediv paused, ncing her way. Not as far as you, but quick advancement leads to more broken paths than defenders of humanity.


    Youll get no argument from me, Master Grediv. She shrugged. I do what I have to, and here I am.


    Yes, here you are. I know we have a lot to discuss, but I think that a contemtive walk through the city might do you good. We can discuss over, or after, lunch.


    I appreciate that. Thank you. If they were going to just be walking, Terry would likely want to join them. T pulled open Kit. Terry?


    Terry flickered out, assuming hisrger, juvenile size for the moment, his head just reaching her waist in height.


    Im d to have you with me, bud. She stroked his soft feathers.


    Terry headbutted her hip and trilled happily.


    Yeah, I think Ill be okay.


    It was barely noon, and Alefast, Waning, was bustling.


    <em>Oh! I should drop through and see Artia, Brandon, and Adrill, but not yet.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, food first.</em>-


    At the reiteration of food, T had a thought. <em>The cksmith, master Pedrin, has his shop near here, and he owes me something.</em>


    Smith Pedrin was the craftsman who had made her endingberry picker what seemed like a lifetime ago, and as part of that deal, hed authorized her toe by and collect iron dust if she wished, so long as she warned him first.


    Now, she <em>very much</em> wished.


    Master Grediv?


    Yes, Mistress T?


    Where in the city are we going?


    Well, with only one ring left, its all within pretty easy walking distance. Here.


    -<em>He just granted us ess to a map of the city, and apound is highlighted.-</em> Is that your family home?


    It is.


    T nodded, mentallyparing it to her memory. Could we make one stop? It is barely out of the way.


    Of course. Where is it, if I may ask?


    A cksmith, who Ive had dealings with in the past. She felt a light shudder run through her at the thought. <em>All that iron</em>


    Master Grediv cocked his head but didntment.


    True to Master Gredivs words, the city was notrge. It was far too old to be that.


    T felt an odd disjointment at the thought. toiri was <em>much</em> older than Alefast. Orders of magnitude older, in fact, yet toiri was also far bigger.


    <em>Humans really have a disadvantage in that regard, dont we? We have to use so many resources to continually rebuild our cities. I wonder what we could have achieved without that handicap.</em>


    Their walk was mostly silent until they arrived at the cksmith; even Terrys talons barely clicked on the cobblestones under the noise of the bustling city around them.


    T suppressed an over-exuberant grin as she called out, keeping her face neutral, Ho, in the smithy!


    She could <em>feel</em> all the iron within the workshop, but oddly, she didnt feel a desire for the bar-stock, or projects. Not even the massive anvils called to her. Instead, she felt a vague <em>need</em> for something that was randomly scattered throughout.


    <em>The iron dust?</em>


    <em>-That is likely.-</em>


    The hammering didnt slow, but she saw another movement within the workshop as a middle-aged man walked out. Well good-day to you miss- His eyes widened as he got a better look at her and Master Grediv. His eyes flickered back and forth, in the end clearly deciding that it was best to assume they were both Mages. -tress, Master. How can this humble smithy serve you, this day?


    The smiths eyes also moved over Terry briefly, but he seemed more than a little familiar with arcanous pets andpanions as he did not do more than smile at the terror bird. Terrys presence seemed to ease his tension, even if only slightly.


    T quirked a smile. No need for that, good master. Do you remember me, Pedrin?


    He looked closer, then frowned. You look mighty familiar, but I apologize, Mistress, I cant ce you.


    I ordered an iron fruit picker from you a while back. Her hands had begun to tremble. <em>Come on,e on. Come on! </em>No, she would observe the niceties. She wasnt a beast who disregarded those around her for her own gain. <em>Im no longer an Eskau.</em>


    His eyes widened in recognition. Yes! I do remember, though I apologize, I cant recall your name.


    Its T.


    Well, Mistress T, what brings you back? Do you need repairs on that oddmission?


    No, no. Its doing fine. I wonder if you recall thest part of our bargain? I asked to be allowed to harvest iron dust if I had need. <em>If you dont remember Im going to</em> She forcibly aborted that line of thinking and enforced another in its ce. <em>Ill pay you handsomely for what I need.</em>


    He tilted his head, considering. I suppose I do remember that, yes.


    Well, I have need. May I grab some?


    Master Grediv was regarding her oddly, but he refrained frommenting or otherwise interjecting.


    She ignored him. <em>So close. Hurry up!</em>


    Pedrin nodded. I suppose so, all the dust you desire is yours, nothing more than dust mind you. Do you need us to vacate for a time?


    T felt <em>something</em> shift at his words. The iron dust was <em>hers.</em>


    What had been a mere, vague yearning burst ame and she found herself utterly unable to tear her focus away from the smithy.


    <em>-T?-</em>


    <em>MINE</em>. A pulse rippled out from her, across the ground and through the entire smithy, it wasnt <em>quite</em> her aura, but it was something very simr.


    Master Grediv frowned, taking half a step forward.


    Terry chirped in a questioning tone and took one step back.


    Her voice sounded small as she shook her head, Theres no need. Thank you, though. <em>There, courtesy.</em>


    Then, something within her <em>pulled.</em>


    The iron dust<em>her</em> iron dustwas suddenly fully within her aura. Tendrils were extended farther than shed ever managed before, seemingly gaining strength from her iron as she epassed it, and her aura was <em>strong</em>.


    The smithsmundane humans allseemed to stumble as one, though they did so in random directions.


    Her aura was too strong to be so unleashed, but it was done.


    Master Grediv was already moving, green power washing outward and somehow steadying all the smiths less than a heartbeatter.


    T was focused elsewhere, however, and she <em>pulled</em>, retracting her aura and her iron as one.


    Each speck streaked towards her in as direct a route to its owner as it could take.


    The effect, collectively, appeared simr to ck mists rising in a swamp before a strong wind blew them all in one direction as the tendrils streaked towards T, weaving around obstacles to reach her as expeditiously as possible.


    The iron hit her like a soft breeze, seeming to simply pass through her and upy the same space she did, but at a deeper, <em>other</em>, level.


    The iron then settled into better dimensional alignment with her, physically manifesting around her inscriptions, building out from that which was already encased.


    Manifestations of her power in reality blossomed into being under her through-spike illusion, crawling up her arms, over her shoulders, and onward, eventually covering her whole body well before thest of the dark clouds finally pulled free of the smithy.


    In totality, it only took the time of a long, drawn in breath, but the mundanes were still left disoriented by her passing aura.


    Blessedly, with Master Gredivs interference, that was all they experienced.


    Pedrin shook his head, the dizziness seeming to have either interrupted his sight, or otherwise kept him from noticing what happened. My apologies, Mistress. Is there anything that we can do to help you get what you need?


    T shook her head. No, thank you, master Pedrin. I have what I need. I apologize for any inconvenience.


    The smith looked confused, but finally shrugged. As you wish, Mistress. Let us know if we can assist again.


    He clearly didnt feel that he had helped this time, but he wasnt going to argue with a Mage.


    T felt a bit guilty. She hadnt expected things to go as they had. Please let me know if anything seems off today. I can be found at the Gredial familypound at least until tomorrow.


    Pedrin smiled. That is kind of you, Mistress, I cant imagine I will have such a need, but I appreciate the gesture.


    T wasnt about to exin what hed apparently missed.


    -<em>Your aura seems to have briefly blocked his short-term memory. Is that possible?-</em>


    <em>It certainly wasnt intentional. I doubt I could replicate it purposefully.</em>


    <em>-I agree. It felt more like a strong hit to the head than a specific application of your aura.-</em>


    <em>Great I hit all these people in the head really hard.</em>


    <em>-Master Grediv kept it from getting out of hand.-</em>


    <em>Yeah</em>


    Master Grediv was giving T a narrow eyed, scrutinizing look as she turned away.


    Shall we go? Her tone was as contrite as she could make it.


    Yes. There is much to discuss, maybe even more than Id have thought.


    The three of them turned and moved toward Master Gredivs familypound. Once they were a bit away from the smithy, T looked towards the Paragon. Thank you. I did not mean to harm anyone, but I was acting on instinct, and it sort of got away from me, yeah.


    He nodded. Youre getting to the level of personal power that mundanes are nothing to you.


    She flinched at that. I I dont think of them that way.


    Master Grediv shook his head. I didnt mean it that way. You could kill every mundane in this city with little effort, if nobody more powerful tried to stop you. From what little Ive gathered, you just came from the arcane cities.


    Thats a slur, right?


    A derogatory generalization of all non-human races? Yes. Yes, it is.


    She huffed augh. Fair, I suppose. You know that most individuals arent actually against us, right?.


    Most molecules in a sword wont cut me, directly. I still dont want it near me.


    Thats an interesting analogy.


    I dont hate arcanes, Mistress T, but I wont bend to them, either. Those in the mobilemunities are generally reasonable to interact with, but they also dont seem to mind thebel. I think that its likely because there arent too many distinctions left. They dont try to maintain bloodlines and type distinctions like the arcanes in the cities and on the other continent do.


    T looked at the Paragon in surprise. t out discussing the viges and the other continent?


    Of course. He shrugged. Youd have learned about them soon enough regardless, and I imagine you likely encountered knowledge of them while you were away. Viges though? He grinned at that. You havent seen <em>anything</em> until you see their cities.


    The Paragon looked almost wistful.


    I wish we could keep mundanes in such cities, but with most of our poption gated? He shook his head. The cost and difficulty would just be too great to be feasible.


    T was a bit shocked. <em>Cities? Cities that move on their own?</em>


    <em>-Likely most of the poption is within holds, given what hes just said, but I agree. That would be impressive to see.-</em>


    They fell back into silence for the remainder of the walk to Master Gredivs familypound.


    There was a single guard at the gate who bowed to Master Grediv and opened the wrought-iron entrance for them.


    T gave the gates a hesitant nce, but found no urge to consume them, or absorb them, or anything, really.


    <em>Huh. Is it because the iron isnt mine? I have absolutely no im to it?</em>


    <em>-That would track. The iron dust was on the edge of being yours, thats why you felt the draw to go fully im it.-</em>


    <em>Im not influencing the concept Am I?</em>


    -<em>Ask?-</em>


    That was a fair point. Master Grediv?


    The Paragon stopped a bit inside the grounds, and T and Terry halted as well. Yes?


    Did I Did I affect the concept of ownership, or something like that?


    He barked augh. Oh, rust no, girl. He cleared his throat, briefly covering his mouth. My apologies. No. Your power acted on your ownership of the iron, using it like a handhold or anchor, at least thats my guess. But the concept of ownership itself? You didnt change that magically.


    She found herself nodding. That was true. It was only when Pedrin granted her the iron dust that it hade to be <em>hers.</em> Thats how ownership usually worked, though now she seemed to have a sense for it. She could <em>feel</em> whether or not she owned something, and that was new. Should I be able to sense my ownership?


    Yes and no. You already can, in a way, for magic. Right?


    T considered, then nodded. I suppose so, yes. I can sense whether magic came from me or someone else.


    Then this is likely just an expansion on that, due to your new bond.


    T had a thought. Can youbine two soulbound items <em>after</em> you bond them?


    Yes and no, but lets get inside and get food on its way.


    She smiled and nodded in agreement.


    The front grounds werent extensive, but they were well cared for.


    One thing that caught her eye was the unusually high number of stone statues.


    <em>Thats sort of odd. Do they have a petrifier in the family?</em>


    <em>-We could ask?-</em>


    <em>After we get inside. I am </em>really<em> hungry.</em>


    The main house was less impressive than a Major Houses hold, but that was to be expected. This was a family home, not a base of operations for a powerful faction.


    Even so, the main hall wasnt empty as they walked in.


    A man who vaguely resembled Rane was standing on an upper balcony when Terry, T, and Master Grediv entered.


    The man scoffed and called down. Truly, Master Grediv? Is that to be your new student? I am ready and willing to learn from you, and you pick a monster lover?


    T moved her hand instinctively to rest on Terrys head, even as she looked at the man more closely.


    <em>Hes a Mage? Seriously?</em> After a moment, she remembered Ranes story of bing Master Gredivs apprentice. <em>His older brother?</em>


    <em>-Aside from a vague simrity around their facial features, I dont see the connection.-</em>


    Indeed, this man was only just taller than T herself, and he bore a staff of dark crystal, the magical weight of which was significantly heavier than the Mages own.


    It was an artifact that was actively consuming the entirety of the older Mages throughput, straining his gate all the while.


    <em>-Older? Hes got less than a decade on you.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, thats older.</em>


    <em>-But most people mean at least forties when they say older.-</em>


    <em>Well, its good that Im only talking to myself then, isnt it?</em>


    Master Grediv sighed, closing his eyes in what seemed to be a bid for internal strength. Furgal. Are you blind as well as an idiot?


    The man, Furgal apparently, jerked back as if hed been pped.


    Use your magesight before you open your mouth and utter stupidity in front of our guest.


    T felt the barest tickle of power as the man strained his gate to activate a weak form of magesight alongside continuing to feed the seemingly insatiable staff.


    Furgals eyes widened and his tone changed on the instant, My apologies, Mistress, I of course meant no offense to you or yourpanion. Be wee to the esteemed Gredial House.


    T spoke incredibly softly, trusting that Master Grediv would hear her. How do you want me to respond?


    His response was immediate. Simply, please. I dont like being around him more than required.


    T nodded, giving a polite smile up towards Furgal. Thank you for your wee. I have business with Master Grediv, so I fear I cannot dy to chat. May you grow in power and find that which you seek.


    The Mage seemed unsure of how to respond, and before he could decide, Master Grediv had led T and Terry off to one side.


    They walked down a tastefully decorated hallway and to a small dining room.


    Master Grediv smiled as he closed the door. Thank you. He is a buffoon at times, but he is family The admission seemed to hurt the Paragon. His next words confirmed as much, even if his tone hadnt. I checked his bloodline, and it leads directly back to me, unfortunately. As rare as infidelity is, Id have weed it as a reason to kick him out.


    T blinked, eyebrows lifting in surprise.


    He sighed. Before you ask, no, Im not serious, but the boy does vex me at times.


    Master Grediv pped his hands. But youre hungry! Lets get that ordered for you.


    T smiled in return. Yes, please.

 Chapter 270: Lunch

    Chapter 270: Lunch


    T was not disappointed by the lunch provided by the Gredial household.


    Master Gredivs house chefs were utterly fantastic.


    The spread that was presented before T matched some of the feasts shed participated in as an Eskau.


    Master Grediv, this is This is amazing.


    Master Grediv simply smiled as he slowly ate his own, small portion.


    T was only about half done with what had been brought for her, and she had room to spare. The enhancement and augmentation scripts around her digestive system were working more extensively than ever before.


    As it turned out, the iron-lined inscriptions did a few interesting things, and this situation was giving her and t a good look at the results in a more controlled environment. <em>Though, were definitely not controlling the situation sufficiently for a proper experiment.</em>


    First of all, the specific magic built up directly oveying the spell-lines it tried to radiate from, still within the proper medium, so it was simply a direct power boost.


    T had feared that the power wouldnt be able to affect that which it was aimed at due to the iron interference, but once the power had built up sufficient resonance and weight, it simply passed through the iron, like water overflowing a bucket.


    Something about her ownership over the iron let the magic pass through without heating it as Master Gredivs power had. That was good, else shed be constantly cooking herself.


    The main benefit to this process was that this water had been made much denser before overflowing.


    -<em>That is an awful metaphor.-</em>


    <em>True. Magic isnt water.</em>


    <em>-No, no it is not.-</em>


    Even so, there were other benefits.


    Just like her iron paint, there were additional magical resonances created within the dimensions of magic, and their manifestations were carved upon reality in the light from their inefficiency as they could only be wasteful without a proper medium and direction.


    All told, the overall effect was simr to her iron paint, but more efficient and more multiplicative.


    As she continued to eat, she resumed examining herself critically.


    Her biology <em>shouldnt</em> work.


    The iron within her was somehow upying the same physical space as the rest of her, without discing or interfering with anything except her magic, and the magic was only being reflected in a way that was beneficial to her.


    <em>Its like the dasgannach. It somehow had no biology that we could detect, but still controlled the iron. What if it did actually have a biologicalponent, just somehow stacked with the iron, dimensionally?</em>


    <em>-Unlikely? Id think that some of the myriad Archons studying the things would have noticed. If I had to guess Id say that its likely something like the concepts of self, ownership, and existence. I could understand simr concepts beingyered throughout your being and working to maintain your no-longer-reasonable biology.-</em>


    She thought back to Mage Furgals magesight when shed arrived at this estate. <em>He just saw my surface aura as projected by the through-spike. I didnt feel the mildest touch of his power on me. I wonder if anything magical will be able to work on me at all.</em>


    <em>-Aside from your own power?-</em>


    <em>Yeah, aside from that.</em>


    T took a moment to drink down a ginger ale that was apparently brewed in house. My goodness, Master Grediv. I dont suppose youd part with one or two of your cooking staff?


    The Paragon quirked a smile that was incredibly reminiscent of Rane. <em>Or the other way around, really. </em>Their families have served mine for generations. Theyre paid better than Bound, and any who wish to pursue magic are treated as members of my house. You couldnt afford them.


    She sighed. Very well. Everything is absolutely spectacr, even inparison to what Ive gotten used to, and I just came from a ce of rather opulent luxury, in many ways.


    Does that mean youre ready to talk? The Paragon had a soft smile, but he still seemed to be treading carefully.


    T swallowed hertest bite. You see, thats the thing. Im not going to want to tell this story over and over again. I can give you most of my memories to observe and answer questions afterwards?


    He took a sip of his own ginger ale, swallowed, and cocked his head to the side. That could work. I forget that you have avenues usually only avable to the more advanced, but what would I be viewing?


    I was kidnapped Mage-napped? Whatever. I was taken, mindwiped, and conscripted as an Eskau in the House of Blood.


    His mug fell to the floor and shattered. What.


    Which part? She took another bite from her left, moving her right hand to rest beside Kit, carefully watching Master Grediv. <em>Whats his issue?</em>


    Thest part.


    I was conscripted as an Eskau of the House of Blood? <em>I swear, if he mes me for that</em>


    Power began swirling around Master Grediv, and while it didnt feel hostile, per se, the Paragon was definitely in <em>incredible </em>internal turmoil, and he was utterly focused on her like shed never seen before.


    It reminded her of a falcon watching a snake pass near their nest.


    <em>So, not instantly attacking, but wary. I suppose I can understand that.</em> With a thought directed at Kit, a siege orb rolled out into her palm. <em>I shouldnt need this, but I will </em>not<em> be taken off guard again.</em>


    At that moment, the side door opened, and an achingly familiar voice floated in, Shes here, isnt she, Master Grediv? You ordered enough food for a caravan, and you were only seen with one guest.


    T turned to see Rane striding into the room.


    His eyes met hers, and they both grinned broadly at that moment, T temporarily forgetting the tension of the situation around her.


    Then, Ranes eyes took in his mentor, and color drained from his face. What did you do, T?


    <em>Of course, he assumes it was me.</em>


    <em>-First, youre the only one here.-</em>


    <em>Thats fair.</em>


    <em>-Second, it was you.-</em>


    <em>You know what</em>


    The door Rane had juste through mmed, and magics sealed the room.


    Master Gredivs voice filled the space, while remaining barely a whisper, I cannot decide if you are being humorous, or suicidal. He was utterly focused on her, seemingly ignoring Rane all together.


    Neither? <em>Dont let on that youre ready for violence. If I must strike, I will strike first and decisively. </em>She didnt let herself picture the other Eskau whod helped drill that more deeply into her instincts.


    Rane was looking back and forth with growing concern, his left hand resting on Force, his sword. He shifted his stance, using the movement toe deeper into the room and position himself very purposefully, and T was suddenly aware of two things.


    One, Ranes position would allow him to attempt to intercept anything that Master Grediv sent her way.


    Two, Rane was nearly halfway to Refined, startlingly barely a rank and a half below his mentor. He might actually be able to block what he intercepted, at least temporarily.


    <em>-I wonder if the two of you could take Master Grediv.-</em>


    <em>No thoughts like that, t. Im ready, but I dont want to fight. Not now.</em>


    <em>-its the food, isnt it. You dont want to destroy anything and miss out?-</em>


    <em>Its really good, alright?</em>


    Master Grediv continued to ignore Rane as he rified his question. They do not allow Eskau to leave. They only send them on missions. So, you havee back as the sword of a hostile power?


    T stood slowly, careful to not make any sudden or hostile movements. I slew my Pir, the rusting bloodstain who stole me from my home, erased my mind to construct a loyal sycophant, and tried to kill me with the dasgannachs in his final moment. Then, the House of Blood cast me into the Doman-Imithe to die from the cursed creatures that had invaded my very being. The chains that bound me to the House of Blood are dissolved, and I am well rid of them.


    T felt her own soul resonating with the conviction of her words. She knew they were true, and she felt her hatred of Be-thric echoing in her words as they faded into the simple sound of silence.


    That silence grew like a cancer for what seemed like an eternal moment.


    Finally, slowly, the power around Master Grediv stilled, and he nodded. It seems like there is <em>much</em> to discuss, Mistress T, and I was foolish to consider keeping that discussion small. He nced to Rane. We leave for Bandfast in one hour. If you wish toe, be ready.


    Master Grediv was gone in the next moment, and T turned to Rane. How does he do that?


    Rane was shaking his head, but at her question, he shifted to snatch a mini-chicken-potpie from the table. Something about aligning his soul with the world around himself, or locking the air in ce as he passes so theres no disturbance, no matter how fast he goes. He seems to only do it within cities, though, so it wont be an instantaneous trip to Bandfast.


    Rane ate the pie in one bite, and T red. Hey! That was mine.


    He grinned, only a couple of crumbs sticking to his lips. It took only a moment for him to chew and swallow. Oh, Im aware. The whole kitchen refused to take orders for an hour. How do you think I knew you were here?


    T thought back. <em>They had brought in the food in waves.</em>


    Im hungry, and were leaving. We wont be going caravan speeds, but you should still expect one night on the road at least. He looked around. Wheres Terry?


    Terry squawked from under the table where he was stretched out on his back.


    While they were both distracted, T ced the readied siege orb back into Kit. <em>Disaster averted.</em>


    Rane quirked a smile as he took in the rxed state of the terror bird. You didnt want to interfere any?


    Terry cracked his eye at Rane, then trilled dismissively and closed it.


    Ranes smile broadened. Yeah, we <em>were </em>fine. Youre right. I missed you, Terry.


    The terror bird cracked the eye open again to regard the big man for a bit longer this time.


    A momentter, Terry flickered up to stand on Ranes shoulder, sized small to fit on his perch, and gave Rane a light headbutt to the cheek.


    Ranes smile stretched to a happy grin as he scratched the avian head. Im d youre back.


    His eyes moved to regard T, and the smiled quirked to one side.


    T found herself standing, arms crossed, a frown building across her features. You werent worried at all, were you?


    Heughed. Oh, you have no idea, butsomething seemed to stop him, and he shook his headI knew that if anyone would, youd have a chance. I knew youd seize that ande back.


    She really didnt know how to feel about that.


    On one hand, she was d that he thought her so capable, and the sentiment made her want to give him a grateful hug.


    On the other hand, she wanted to punch him in the face and scream, Dont you realize how scared I was? I needed help! I was imprisoned by a monster. I was alone. I didnt need someone believing in me. I needed someone toe get me free!


    T felt her emotions roiling, and before she knew it, shed ducked her head, and her whole body was shaking, tears beginning to flow.


    T?


    She buried her face in her hands and felt building sobs of terror and relief, anger and catharsis, impotence and freedom.


    He was standing in front of her in an instant, and he barely hesitated before cing his hands on her shouldersfortingly.


    T stiffened just briefly, fearing the dasgannachs influence for a moment, but she felt no desire rise within her. She wasnt going to rip the iron from his flesh.


    With that additional spike of fear and the quick removal of the same, she was utterly ovee.


    She stepped forward, pressing her head, face still in her hands, against his chest and wept.


    Rane encircled her with his arms and held her without a word.


    Terry rested his head on hers as well.


    It was long minutes before her shudders subsided and her tears slowed.


    She didnt move right away, takingfort in what felt like the first non-hostile contact shed had in she didnt know how long.


    Eventually, Rane stepped back, recing his hands on her shoulders. Are you alright, T?


    Terry flickered to Ts shoulder and headbutt her cheek.


    She huffed augh, scratched Terrys head, and wiped at her nose. No, but I think I will be.


    He offered her a napkin from the table, and she wiped her eyes before blowing her nose. Thank you.


    Of course. He tilted his head to one side. Do you want a bit of time? I need to pack some things, and youve food to eat. I cane back, or I can wait.


    T looked at the table half-full of food, then to Rane. One moment.


    She quickly picked up each serving tray and stuck it into Kit. Less than a minuteter, she pulled out a chicken pie of her own. Lead on.


    She took an overly obvious bite, and Rane grinned. Alright.


    Together, they left the now empty dining room.


    T pulled out a bit of jerky and tossed it to the side.


    Terry chirruped happily and flickered to catch the treat and return.


    She almost tripped as she realized what that actually meant. <em>I saw him move. I saw it!</em>


    <em>-Yeah, I did too. Even though I can only use your eyes at the moment.-</em>


    T huffed augh. Rane?


    Therge man nced her way. Yeah?


    Is this eptable in thispound? She motioned as she pulled her bloodstars up into their standard formation. She left the rod, sphere, and tes in their holsters, only pulling the three blood drops into their orbits and the fourth into its ce behind the base of her skull.


    Rane regarded them for a moment, then shrugged. Most people wont even notice them. Your aura is extended in a bit of a bubble around you, and theyre within that, which hides their magical nature.


    She nodded. Thank you.


    He smiled at that. Of course.


    They left the main building of thepound, but T didnt pay too much attention to where they went even as she ate at the feast shed brought along.


    The first ce they went, however, seemed to be the kitchens.


    Rane talked to the staff there, joking with some even as he stepped in to help while they talked. In the end, he shook hands with the head chef, and they left.


    T had taken the time to eat more of the food from Kit. Additionally, while she didnt step deeply into the kitchens as the staff seemed quite busy, T was able to engage at least a few of the cooks to thank them for the tasty food theyd provided


    Theyd all seemed at least a little surprised when she conveyed that it had <em>all</em> been for her.


    <em>Well, Master Grediv ate some, but thats a given.</em>


    Rane smiled her way as they walked towards their next destination. Well stop back through here as thest thing before we meet up with Master Grediv.


    Alright.


    The Gredial library was extensive, and there was even a librarian, seemingly deep in study. Even so, he stood when they arrived and walked over to bow before them.


    Master Rane, Mistress, how can I serve?


    Rane smiled and quietly exined what he was hoping to take with him on the trip: mainly some more obscure reference books.


    The Librarian bowed again, and went about gathering the needed texts.


    T was a bit confused. Dont you have an Archive tablet?


    He shrugged. Of course.


    Then, why do you need the hard texts?


    I like the feel of real paper and leather. For the more obtuse texts, having the physical volumes helps me to focus. He shrugged again.


    Once the Librarian handed over the requested books, and Rane had tucked them into his dimensional storage, Rane thanked the man and departed with T and Terry in tow.


    They made several other stops around various parts of thepound, gathering a variety of odds and ends.


    T only waited outside one door, and that was to Ranes room while he changed his clothes and gathered thest of his things. That only took a few minutes, all told.


    Finally, they returned to the kitchens, where Rane led T to a spread of food and a stack of road-rations. He put the rations into his own storage and gestured to the food. I figured you might want more.


    T shook her head but smiled. I cant say youre wrong, but you could have asked.


    He shrugged, smiling. Im happy to take it if you dont want it.


    No, no. Ill take it. She quickly added the food, all packaged for travel, into Kit. Thank you.


    Im d it is a benefit. Youre wee.


    That was all that Rane had to do to prepare to leave, so they thanked the kitchen staff and headed back to the main building.


    Thus, they returned to the main house and the entry hall, seemingly a bit earlier than required.


    As theyd walked about in rtive silence, T had taken note of all the statues that were scattered throughout the wholepound. Now that theyde to a stop, she decided to ask after them. There are a <em>lot</em> of statues around.


    Rane grinned. There are a bit too many, arent there. It wasnt really a question.


    She shrugged. Theyre really well done.


    Oh? He seemed surprised and hesitant for some reason.


    Yeah. Not only are they mostly urate, from what I can tell, but they each evoke truth? I dont know. The predators <em>feel</em> dangerous; the prey seem on the edge of bolting; the people seem to have just stopped mid-stride. Even though theyre stone, theres life in them. She shrugged and smiled. Theyre nice.


    Rane blinked at her, seemingly at a loss for words. I Well, Im d you like them.


    He seemed like he was about to say more, but T was already turning to look around. Where is Master Grediv? We really should be going.


    Rane almost seemed to be struggling with himself, but then he just smiled. Yeah, we should get on the road. It would be good to be well on the way to Bandfast before dark.


    T simply nodded. <em>On the road again, but this time Im not alone.</em>


    <em>-Were heading home, our real hometown.-</em>


    <em>Yeah. I cant wait.</em>

 Chapter 271: Priceless

    Chapter 271: Priceless


    T was looking around for Master Grediv, when a loud voice shouted from the balcony just as it had when T arrived with the now missing Paragon, Brother!


    The promation was followed by Furgal jumping over the railing and dropping towards the ground.


    As Furgalnded, magics from his staff cushioned the fall.


    T rolled her eyes and spoke under her breath, Oh, yes. Watch out! Its that one guy.


    Rane had been frowning, but when he heard her, he had to suppress a smile, seeming barely able to contain hisughter. Should I hit him like sixty-five times?


    T nced toward Rane and frowned. Do you really need more than one?


    Rane did bark augh at that before patting her on the shoulderthe one Terry wasnt onand turning to his brother. What do you want, Furgal?


    T examined Ranes older brother and had to reassess. One punch from Rane would likely kill the simple Mage, and that would be less than ideal.


    <em>What even are his magics? It seems like his only inscriptions are his keystone, a weak version of magesight, and scripts for connecting to the staff.</em> She frowned. <em>That cant be good for him, basing so much of his magic outside his body?</em>


    <em>-Yeah, it has to have stunted his growth. Is that some sort of trap? Someone malicious gave that to him?-</em>


    <em>Who knows? Its probably worse though.</em>


    <em>-Worse?-</em>


    <em>Yeah, it was probably someone who thought they were being helpful.</em>


    Furgal bowed towards T. My apologies, Mistress, for this unseemly disy. This is the second time that I have shamed my House before you.


    T felt something visceral shift within her, and she was suddenly breathing heavily, her hand drifting towards Flow and her eyes flicking towards the various exits, looking for an escape route.


    <em>-T. T! You are back in the humannds. He doesnt mean House that way.-</em>


    With great effort, and ts help, T was able to pull herself back from the brink much more rapidly than should have been possible.


    Even so, by the time she refocused on the conversation, it seemed like Rane and Furgal had been speaking back and forth for a bit and hadnt noticed her reaction at all.


    Furgals face was red, and he gesticted as he almost shouted, Enough! This farce has gone on long enough. You stole my master, now you are leaving with him again? You keep him from taking me on as he rightly should, as I rightly deserve. I will not have it.


    Furgal, Master Grediv picks his students. No one can force his choice.


    Furgal lifted the staff. Yet, I have the staff. I was <em>chosen</em> for the staff, for his tutge.


    Rane growled. But not by <em>him.</em> Both of us have tried to exin that that staff, without guidance, is <em>ruining</em> you. I understand why you ignore me, but why wont you listen to <em>him?</em>


    He just wants to give it to you, since hes stuck with you.


    Furgal. This is ridiculous. Why cant


    The older brother cut across Rane, "I challenge you to a duel."


    Rane just shook his head, one hand rubbing his own face in exasperation. Again? Really?"


    "Of course! I will continue to challenge you until you see yourck. The fact that you are so poorly able to deal with me, a mere Mage, while being so far more advanced <em>proves</em> how unworthy you are."


    <em>Wait, is he serious?</em> T felt her incredulity paint her features.<em> If Rane wanted, he could kill Furgal with ease. Of course, its hard to beat a stubborn opponent into submission when you greatly overpower them. Doing it with anything less than perfect care could kill.</em>


    Rane sighed. "I beat you every day, Furgal, multiple times a day when youre being particrly stubborn. This is getting exhausting, and honestly, it''s a bit sad." He then continued in a mutter, showing that he was thinking along the same lines as T, Of course, it isnt fast. I dont want to obliterate you well, I want to, but I wont.


    T hid her grin and didntment. <em>I knew it.</em>


    Furgal just shook his head. "Your cowardice disgraces us all. Fight me."


    "No. We''re leaving now. Goodbye, Furgal." Shaking his head, Rane moved back towards T and the exit.


    The older Mage mmed the staff into the ground, magic rippling outwards. While I hold this staff, I am heir apparent. You will not leave unless I allow it!


    Rane turned back, giving his brother an incredulous look. You cant be serious. Are you threatening to what? Kick me out of the House? Master Grediv would never let it stand.


    He would not deny the very rules he set up. Fight me, or be unwee within these walls.


    Rane growled, clearly nearing the edge of his considerable patience. Are you sure you wish to do this, brother?


    I am utterly firm in my conviction. You are unworthy to be Master Gredivs pupil. I will never stop until he recognizes that.


    Under his breath, Rane muttered, Then you will never stop. He shook his head, continuing quietly, That staff is holding you back, brother. This is for your own good.


    Rane sighed, nodding and seeming to be psyching himself up for something.


    In a louder voice, he spoke into the air, Master Grediv, how much do you care about that staff?


    A brief instant of silence was broken by a disembodied voice, Its a priceless heirloom, passed down through generations of our family, and should never be misused or abused.


    Furgal gave a triumphant smile. The ancestors will has been"


    Master Grediv continued, utterly uncaring that he spoke over Furgal, But since it is already being ill-used, I dont much care what bes of it. Its ruined.


    Before Furgal could fully register the words, Rane had covered half the length of the hall to stand before his brother. With almost casual slowness, bordering on what a mundane could perceive, he punched the staff.


    T, with her always active magesight, saw a very odd thing.


    Rane stole the kic energy from his own punch as itnded, splitting it into thirds.


    One third stayed where he struck, acting as expected, and the remainder was applied elsewhere on the staff, one third at each end, aimed in the opposite direction of his punch.


    It was an incredibly effective technique, and T couldnt help but wonder how it could be used against a human opponent.


    <em>-Not now, T.-</em>


    <em>I know, I know.</em>


    Furgals eyes had just begun to widen as the staff shattered in his hand. The magical power that had been built up within the staff popped and fizzled in the air as a dispersing cloud.


    Ranes voice rang out clearly, causing T to notice the others who had been watching from the upper balcony, as they shifted with obvious difort, You were passed over due to your own failings, Furgal. Learn from that harsh lessonand this oneor wallow in mediocrity and a short life. I no longer care which. The choice is yours. Without another nce at his brother, Rane turned and walked the twenty or so feet back to T.


    The older Mage simply stared at his now empty hand in abject disbelief. Even the fragments of the staff had dissipated along with the power that had once filled them.


    <em>Rane crossed that distance quite quickly for his strike.</em>


    <em>-Youre still thinking of sparing against him, arent you.-</em> It wasnt a question.


    <em>Maybe, but not right now. Youre right that it isnt the time.</em>


    When Rane returned to her side, T raised an eyebrow and teased, Just a punch? Not your sword?


    He shrugged. First of all, you were the one who suggested using one punch.


    Sheughed. I suppose I did.


    Second, no Archon worth their metal uses Force on a simple Mage.


    T simply stared at him for a long moment. <em>Did he just?</em>


    <em>-I think he did. The madman.-</em>


    Rane stood straight for most of that moment under her gaze, but finally hunched beneath her scrutiny.


    She shook her head and snorted augh. How long have you been saving that line?


    He chuckled a little. Quite a while actually.


    Well try it again some other time.


    Fine. Rane groused a bit, but he was doing a bad job of hiding his smile.


    Master Grediv was suddenly standing beside them, a neutral look across his features. Are you both ready?


    They nodded.


    T nced back towards Furgal, who seemed even more shocked than before, if that was possible. He was still just regarding his own hand.


    T felt a bit bad about the situation. Is that going to be okay?


    Hmm? Master Grediv nced the Mages way. Oh, certainly. The staff was a training aid that took impressions of each student I trained in order to improve in the process with the next. He was given it years too early, without my guidance, and his use had spoiled the thing for future generations, Im afraid.


    Huh alright then. Who was she to argue with the Paragon?


    Master Grediv motioned, and the doors swung open. Shall we?


    T was about to agree, when she remembered something. Oh! Ummm One moment.


    She walked over to the side of the entry hall and pulled empty tes and tters out of Kit, one after another.


    It was enough that even those up on the balcony took notice and susurrations moved through the watchers.


    Finally, T was done, and she walked back over to Rane and Master Grediv.


    Rane was covering his own mouth, suppressing his mirth, and Master Grediv had one eyebrow arched. Are you quite finished, Mistress T?


    I am. Thank you.


    Then, let us be off.


    A short timeter, T, Rane, Master Grediv, and Terry exited Alefast, heading towards Bandfast.


    T was a bit sad that she couldnt drop through and see Artia and her family, but there simply wasnt time.<em> Ill have toe back. I think I promised Lyn that Id bring her at some point.</em>


    <em>-You did. It would probably be good for Kannis, too.-</em>


    <em>Oh, right! Id say I forgot about her, but thats not really possible.</em>


    <em>-She wasnt on your mind?-</em>


    <em>Yeah, thats probably a reasonable way to say it.</em>


    The terrain and feel of thend outside the city were hauntingly familiar to T, and she <em>almost </em>asked to go over to the endingberry grove that she knew was nearby.


    She didnt need the endingberries, she had an orchard''s worth within her sanctum, but she felt a nostalgic desire to go and see the ce where she had first gathered more than a couple of the little bundles of power.


    Now was hardly the time, however, so she satisfied herself by pulling out some from Kit and popping them into her mouth.


    The taste was amazing, and the power washed through her in ripples. It was so little whenpared with the tide that was already within her. Still, it was another source of power, and she was loathe to pass up on any little boost that she could.


    With practiced precision, she guided the endingberries power to the proper scripts, reinforcing the inscriptions and her own natural magics.


    Then, with her mouth cleared of the beneficial power, she bit down on the seeds all at once.


    A slow count of threeter, an explosion of power tried to disintegrate her head from the mouth outward.


    Instead, T pulled in a deep breath and forced that hostile power into her own lungs where immacte scripts contained it.


    There, within her own lungs, she forcefully twisted the spellform, using her magesight to see exactly what she was doing and her will to enact the desired change.


    <em>Easier than ever. </em>


    <em>-What did you expect?-</em>


    T wasnt sure. As she considered, she thought that a part of her viewed the endingberries as alien, as other. <em>The dasgannach.</em>


    The new soulbound was influencing her at a fundamental level, as expected, and she had had no time to actually analyze all the changes.


    <em>This is going to take a long time to get used to.</em>


    <em>-And lots of experimenting to suss out the details.-</em>


    <em>Thats the truth.</em>


    But shed let her mind wander, so she brought herself back to the moment.


    Master Grediv and Rane were chatting about random things, seemingly not too bothered by her silence.


    Terry had flickered away, and T could sense ripples of dimensional power that signified the terror bird was hunting across the surroundingndscape.


    When his conversation with Master Grediv came to a natural pause, Rane nced Ts way. Hes gotten a lot more independent.


    She shrugged. He had to. I was not myself for around half a year.


    Rane winced at that. Im so sorry, T. We did look for you. After you vanished from the caravan


    She blinked. Oh! I didnt even think of that. Did everyone get to Arconaven alright?


    Yeah. Mistress Odrea told me about it when I caught up to her. They booked it, when you were found to be gone that morning. Mistress Odera and a group of Arcane Hunters from Arconaven came back to the campsite after the caravan was safe and searched for you more extensively, but they couldn''t find even a trace. He grimaced. Thats when she sent me a message. It took me nearly two weeks to get to Arconaven to join in the search, but as is rather obvious, we never found you, not even a trace.


    T didnt really know how to take that. <em>They were trying to find me, at least at first.</em> Rather than trying to figure out how to address any part of that, she shifted the subject. How is Mistress Odera? She hasnt responded to my information packet, yet.


    She she isnt doing too well. When she stopped searching for you, she seemed to lose her purpose, her drive. Last time I was in Bandfast to see Mistress Lyn, Mistress Aproa, and the others, I stopped by her home. She just sits in her garden all day. Mistress Aproa spends as much time as she can between assignments, and Mistress Odera gives her advice on the mageling who Mistress Aproa took on. That, at least, seems to make the olddy smile. He grinned at thest.


    T smiled in return. Oh? Id thought Mistress Aproa was against getting a mageling.


    She was, but apparently she came around to the idea. Rane shrugged. I think Master Cazor had a hand in that discussion, but I wasnt there, so Im not sure.


    T was about to ask further when Master Grediv interjected. Theyd walked nearly a mile from the Alefast wall by that point. Mistress T, how did you travel on your way here?


    She shrugged. I ran, mostly. After a moments hesitation. No, I ran the whole way, there wasnt a mostly involved. She chuckled a bit awkwardly after she answered.


    Ahh, well, then well have to use other methods. While that might work, I think we should take a less strenuous means. Are you willing?


    Of course. I think Ive had my fill of running cross-country for the next year or so at least.


    The Paragon smiled. Very well. I am happy to provide an alternative.


    Without a specific exnation, he reached into thin air and pulled out a <emrge </em>sapphire disc. It was easily ten feet across and half-a-foot thick.


    It was <em>dense </em>with magic.


    Before you ask, no, Im not bonded to this, but yes, I do like the color.


    Rane grinned, and T chuckled.


    Shall we?


    T looked toward where she felt Terryst. Terry!


    The terror bird flickered into being beside T, bent low but still taller than her.


    Do you want to travel in Kit? Or ride with us or?


    Terry nced toward the sapphire disc that was now hovering just off the ground, Master Grediv and Rane already waiting atop it.


    The avian squawked disinterestedly then nosed her pouch.


    In Kit it is. She grinned and opened her Sanctum so Terry could flicker in.


    Without another word, she stepped up beside the two men.


    Lets away.


    Master Grediv nodded, and T felt his power flexing around them,yering them in a cocoon of sorts.


    Its shape was reminiscent of the form shed given her aura to reduce her magical resonance. Oh! Is this more aerodynamic? Or magic-dynamic? No, thats not a good term.


    Master Grediv smiled. I understand your meaning, and yes, Mistress T. This is the best-known shape for an aura or istion field to reduce magical resonance. He nced toward Rane. I rmend that you both study it while we travel.


    They both nodded.


    Then, lets be off.


    The disc rose up into the air about a hundred feet and took off, just slower than T had been running through the ins.


    Even being a bit slower, and with a perfectly designed istion cocoon, T could tell that they were pushing up against the edge of magical resonance.


    Master Grediv sighed. This is slower than Id have liked, but not by much. Well make good time.


    T nodded and smiled. Better than running. Thank you.


    Certainly, Mistress T. I am happy to oblige.


    T began thinking of all those she was going to see, and all those that she would still need to reach out to, outside of Bandfast. Mostly, that was her family.


    <em>OH! t?</em>


    <em>-Yeah, I just noticed. Its Nc and Illies birthday.- </em>The messages that shed received from the twins before being taken had always been established from their end, and she simply responded. Thest message from them sat in her Archive; shed never responded. In looking at that message, she was the only one able to ess it within the Archive, so she didnt really know how to go about responding. <em>Huh, I didnt actually realize that before.</em>


    Master Grediv?


    Yes?


    If I wanted to send a message to the Academy, specifically two students, how would I do that?


    Oh! He thought for a moment. Here, I will grant you ess to a repository. ce your letter within that, clearlybeled for the recipient, and it will get to them.


    Today?


    After a moments thought, or some form of investigation, Master Grediv nodded. Yes. Barring unforeseen issues, it should reach them at dinner mail-call. This is assuming you dont take too long. They are further ahead than we are, time wise.


    T suppressed the bad memories that she had associated with dinner mail-call and smiled. Thank you.


    <em>Lets get to it. How much time do we have?</em>


    <em>-Less than an hour, to be safe. We should be good for two, but it would be quite frustrating to finish and not be able to deliver it.-</em>


    <em>Thats the truth.</em> T began thinking on what to say and realized that it had been nearly a year since shed seen them, and theirst message to her had asked for her help.


    <em>I never replied. I thought Id have time in Arconaven.</em>


    <em>-T, you couldnt have known.-</em>


    <em>But I should have prioritized them when I could.</em>


    <em>-Well? You can now.-</em>


    <em>Yes. Yes I can.</em> First, shed check on their fundamental understandings. That was a recurring issue the first few years at the Academy, and a fairly safe ce to begin.


    With that as a ce to start, T quickly sat and worked with t topose a letter to each of her two siblings for their birthday.

 Chapter 272: Sapphire Disc

    Chapter 272: Sapphire Disc


    T stood back up after sending the note to her siblings for their birthday.


    While she wasposing it, Mistress Ingrit had sent her a short inquiry, so shed told the Archivist that she was on her way to Bandfast in thepany of Masters Grediv and Rane.


    <em>There. Thats done for now.</em>


    She didnt want to be distracted by her surroundings. Thus, she narrowed her focus and turned toward Master Grediv. So,bining two already soul-bound items?


    The Paragon nced her way, then to either side. They were moving through the pass, incredibly steep slopes on either side. Not one for taking in the scenery?


    <em>Fine</em> T did look around, then. It was stunning.


    Behind them, she saw the rolling, lightly forested ins running down from the mountains to Alefast, Waning, and beyond where the trees all but disappeared, and in the far distance, the forest proper where the trees returned in sudden force.


    Before themy a wide valley between stark mountains, sloping down toward the west, toward Bandfast.


    It was an idyllic scene not marred by anything to her normal sight.


    <em>The angle is wrong to see the caravan campsite just north of this pass, and it doesnt seem like any caravan is passing below us at the moment.</em>


    Her magesight, however, showed swirling storms of power, making the zeme utterly chaotic in the area. The mountains were filled with magic, the centuries of human cities circling the region had built up quite the reserves within thend itself.


    It wasnt free-floating, and as such couldnt be imed by an arcane. Somehow, the world itself hadid im to the magic. <em>Thats probably how it can then sustain magical beasts.</em>


    But she was letting her mind wander.


    <em>Dont let yourself get distracted.</em>


    <em>-Yes, that would be quite out of character.-</em>


    <em>Hush, you.</em> It is beautiful, and I would like to know what you have to say.


    Master Grediv quirked a smile.


    Rane sat off to one side on their wide, but not overge, disc.


    He briefly cracked an eye open, nced towards Master Grediv, and closed it once again.


    <em>Listening without being obvious, eh? I wonder if hes soul-bound anything else?</em> She could try to figure it out, but now was hardly the time.


    Master Grediv finally nodded and sat cross-legged, gesturing for her to do the same.


    She did.


    A soul-bound item is a magical item that is bound to your soul.


    She gave him a t look.


    He gave her a happy, slightly smug, smile. What each one of those words <em>is,</em> in actuality, really matters, though.


    That caused her to frown, before she slowly nodded. Like my elk-leathers. They are one item while really being numerous pieces, physically.


    Precisely, yes. We can address that side of things first. Your elk-leathers have been bound on a spiritual, or magical, level and are thus a magical item for want of a better descriptor.


    So, a magical item is anything that is spiritually or magically one?


    For the most part, yes.


    But wouldnt that mean that, after the bond, I am spiritually and magically one with that item?


    Ahh, and you immediately focus on the least part, as usual.


    She grinned sheepishly, and Rane smiled without opening his eyes.


    Master Grediv waved catingly. I dont mean that negatively, Mistress T. You have drilled right to the heart of the matter. What I am about to describe is <em>not </em>literally true. Do you understand?


    A metaphor, yes.


    Yes, good. So, there exists awork of ties, each one of your soul-bound items is linked to your soul <em>and</em> to each other. Together, you are a group all bound as a unit.


    She nodded and didnt interrupt.


    The same goes for me. Now, as a hypothetical, what would happen if you and I were to marry?


    T frowned, putting aside the awkwardness of the question. We would soul-bond.


    Yes, and our soul-bound items?


    Her head tilted to one side. They would intermesh? All connecting to each other in one big wibbly-wobbly, ti


    He held up his hand. Im going to stop you right there. That is what would be expected to happen based on the previous metaphor, but remember, its not a perfect analogy.


    She nodded, clearly following what he was trying to say.


    Instead, a singr link would be made between our souls, the <em>weight</em> of which would be the sum total of our power and the power of bound items.


    So, they add to the link, without being a part of it?


    In a sense, yes.


    Sure, I suppose that makes sense. How is it relevant?


    He smiled. Why is there a difference between binding an item and a person?


    She opened her mouth to answer, then hesitated. There was an obvious answer but was it really that simple? Finally, she decided to just go with it, Our minds?


    Precisely. If we married, you would want to bond with me, and I you, not our soulbound items, just each other.


    But items dont have minds.


    Exactly. So, when theyre brought into a bond, they just bond.


    Hence, thework of connections.


    Yes. And that getsplicated and exponentially moreplex as you increase the number of bonds you have.


    So, bonding someone or something with a mind is less stressful on your soul?


    Differently stressful. Its a stronger, two-way connection, rather than another node in a.


    So this is interesting, but how does it factor into my question?


    How would youbine them?


    Taking his question seriously, T thought before responding. <em>t?</em>


    <em>-In the metaphor? Just directly ovey the nodes in the, then somehow pin them in ce?-</em>


    <em>That sounds close to what hes asking, but rather than pinning them,</em> Ovey the items and interweave their connections to everything else?


    That yes. That is correct.


    She hesitated. Oh! So, it <em>is</em> possible?


    Only if you can get the items to upy the same physical and magical space He hesitated, then nodded. You want tobine the dasgannach with your body.


    Ranes eyes snapped open. What now?


    Master Grediv closed his eyes, rocking backward and wincing. Ah, Mistress T, I apologize. That was an egregious breach of trust. I should never have disclosed your soul-bound items to another.


    Rane whipped his head to stare, wide-eyed at T. You soul-bound a dasgannach?!


    The Paragon reached over and smacked Rane on the back of his head. Somehow, the Fuseds defensive scripts didnt activate, allowing the hit tond. That was obvious from the context, if youd taken even an instant to think. Dont try to make what Ive done seem worse.


    T shook her head, holding up her hands. Its fine, Master Grediv. I dont mind Rane knowing.


    So Its true?


    It is, though the dasgannach in question was <em>heavily</em> modified by arcane concept magics, at least that is my assumption of how they did it. It wasnt <em>really</em> voluntary? I had to offer the thing my Archon star to keep it from killing me, but I think that the results will be beneficial, in the end. Though, to be fair, Ive only barely explored the bare edges of what those results are.


    What are the results you know?


    T grinned wickedly. Well. She consciously suppressed her through-spike.


    With that action, she knew that she almost fully disappeared to their magesight, even as their mundane vision was filled with the impression of her light wreathed form. Its better than the iron paint ever was. Somehow, the iron is surrounding every one of my inscriptions, but within the dimensions of magic rather than physically. I also have a <em>lot</em> of extra iron interwoven through me, which is giving me additional mass and density, which I imagine will take a bit to get used to, but once I have adjusted, it will make me both more offensive and resilient.


    So, an iron dasgannach?


    Yes.


    I can see why that would have been an issue. Rane was squinting. Your skin looks normal. How are you still creating the echoes?


    Thats because it is. She frowned. I just said the iron was around my inscriptions. Its not on my skin anymore.


    He shrugged. What if you had it on your skin, too?


    She frowned.


    <em>-T? Thats a pretty interesting thought. Why didnt we think of it?-</em>


    <em>Because we havent exactly had a lot of time to consider these things, yet.</em>


    <em>-Fair enough. So? What if?-</em>


    Her eyes had initially widened at the idea. Now, they narrowed as she nodded to herself. Well, lets see.


    With an almost effortless flexing of her will, some of her iron reserves flowed through her and out, onto her skin, coating it in a dark grey semi-liquid.


    It moved with her easily, though somehow, she knew it would feel hard and unyielding to anyone who touched it.


    The wreathing of light vanished, the magics that carved them now contained within anotheryer.


    -<em>Oh, wow. That feels </em>good.<em> I feel </em>more, <em>somehow. Keep it up!-</em>


    T felt her enhancements ramping up even higher and her efficiency increase, not due to the scripts being more efficient, but because of an additional recursion being added on top of those already ring through her.


    Huh. That was unexpected. I dont


    Master Gredivs eyes widened. Release it! Remove it, now!


    T acted instantly, pulling the iron back into her reserves. Only then did she notice the issue.


    As the near perfect seal dissolved, a wave of power rippled outward.


    T felt her regeneration scripts re to full activation with what power was left to them even as a wave of pain shuddered through her.


    <em>-T? T!-</em>


    T had copsed to the side, twitching as her blood flowed from her eyes, mouth, nose, ears, and every pore across her body.


    It didnt make a mess on the sapphire disc, because only clear liquid flowed off of her, the iron stripped from the liquid before it dripped free.


    That iron then melded back into her, leaving no trace on her skin.


    Vaguely, T saw an antlered and horned head peak over around the side of a nearby mountain, clearly alerted by her pulse of power. However, this time, the creature took a look at the source and vanished from sight, likely running as fast and as far as it could.


    But, on the flying disc, Ranes eyes had gone wide, and he was clearly scanning her with his magesight and possibly other spellforms for detection and diagnosis, but he kept from touching her for the moment. T?


    She groaned. Her mind felt sluggish after the brief moment of red power. Her senses felt dull, even at their now standard levels of enhancement.


    She looked inside and saw <em>devastation.</em>


    It was like what shed read of extreme hyponatremia, the oversaturation of water that could cause a persons cells to burst apart. Her body seemed to have been strained to splitting down to the deepest levels. She only hadnt noticed because her hyper-powered spellforms were masking it, keeping her alive and functional even as her body degraded, physically.


    Without sitting up, she stuck her hand into Kit and pulled out some food, beginning to mechanically eat.


    Rane sighed, obviously rxing, if just a bit. She still hadnt responded, but she was eating, and he likely took that as a good sign.


    As for T, she still felt oddly nk, even while she clinically examined herself.


    The damage had affected her brain as well, and her consciousness was only really functional at the moment due to her magics and t.


    -<em>I rebuilding... Hang on...-</em>


    She couldnt think. She seemed able to act but <em>thinking</em> was oddly out of reach.


    So, she ate mechanically.


    Rane turned to his mentor. What happened?


    Extreme magic oversaturation. An unrefined body simply cant take the level of power she started to pack into it. It was too much, too quickly.


    But shes beenpletely covered in iron before.


    She hasnt, not really. Youve learned a little about the nature of reality, Rane. Before, her iron covering was not a unified, unbrokenyer between her and the rest of reality. Now? Now that it is basically a part of her? Well, its unprecedented, so I dont <em>know</em>, but in theory it should be far closer to perfect.


    Would it really make that much of a difference? Rane was frowning, clearly trying to understand.


    Master Grediv gave his student a reproachful look. A pressure tank with a steady ten percent rate of leakage will reach equilibrium at a much lower pressure than one with a one percent rate of leakage, assuming the same rate of in-flow. I would hazard a guess that Mistress Ts earlier versions of iron covering were in the forty to sixty percent range. Now? What we just saw? Id guess it had at most a ten percent leakage.


    So, she tried to quadruple her power density almost instantly.


    At the very least, yes.


    No wonder it didnt go well Rane hesitated, then, when he opened his mouth to speak again, T finally stirred, speaking before he could.


    Not your fault. She grimaced and tried to scrape the awful taste off her tongue with her teeth.


    The two men turned to regard her as she slowly pushed herself up.


    That <em>rusting</em> hurt, but Ill survive.


    Rane quirked his signature smile, seeming to rx further. I figured that much when you started eating.


    T grunted at that. Fair enough. I still think Im more not right than right. Im d were not getting to Bandfast today.


    Master Grediv nodded. Yes, you should use the time to recover.


    T gave him a baleful look even as she continued eating. After you answer my rusting question.


    He hesitated, thenughed. Oh! Yes, I suppose I havent answered, have I?


    No. No, you have <em>not.</em>


    Well, I wont <em>know</em> until we fully explore your bond to the dasgannach, but in theory?


    She nodded, swallowing and taking another bite.


    You should be able tobine it with your body in a way that few have ever been able to do with two soul-bound items. Though, I wouldnt rmend it before you Refine. You are already obviously capable of things your body just cant handle. Id hate for you to make it worse.


    I should do that soon, regardless.


    Master Grediv shrugged. Well run some tests. I would bet that Mistress Holly will want to tweak your scripts at least marginally, and even with your rather impressive throughputdont think I havent noticed, by the way, and you will exin eventuallyyou will need at least a couple of weeks for the new scripts to shift your natural magical patterns.


    T shrugged. Soon is good enough. Its important, not urgent, and Id rather do it right.


    Master Grediv cocked an eyebrow, his surprised skepticism obvious.


    Rane smiled, the look almost congrattory, as if shed said something specifically worthy of note.


    <em>-Unusually wisely said, T. Well done.-</em>


    T red back, ensuring that the sentiment was reflected inward as well. <em>Rusting jerks, I hate all of you.</em>


    Finally, she just shook her head. Ive had a <em>long</em> few months, and I am looking forward to taking a slower pace for a little while.


    Rane nodded. I can understand that. Was it really that awful in toiri?


    T grimaced. Yes and no. It was strange, being in a ce against my will, but holding the lives of most of those around me in my hands. I felt like a press-ganged judge. It was She frowned. Wait.


    Rane titled his head, waiting just as shed asked.


    I never said what city I was in.


    Color drained from the Fuseds face. I you didnt?


    She narrowed her eyes. No. I didnt.


    <em>Did I?</em>


    <em>-No. You didnt.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, I thought not.</em>


    So? How did you know the name?


    Rane looked at a loss. I I cant say.


    Rane, so help me. You will tell me or


    He held up his hands. I apologize, T, but I truly <em>cant.</em>


    Master Grediv cleared his throat. If I may, Mistress T?


    T wasnt sure what she was feeling, but she rounded on Master Grediv. What. There was no question involved, only irritation.


    Rane refused to give up when most others did, after your disappearance. I dont know all the things he sought, but I do know that, around three months ago, he returned, sure that you were alive, and unable to tell anyone more than that. He petitioned to be allowed to venture south and was denied. Even so, he maintained that you were alive and that you would have a chance to make your escape sooner rather thanter.


    Rane was a funny shade of red, but he wasnt saying anything.


    T looked back and forth between the two men before finally throwing her hands up in surrender. Fine. I wont press. I need to eat.


    And so, she ate, while the sapphire disc continued its rapid journey toward Bandfast.


    The afternoon turned to evening, and Master Grediv gathered their attention. I can continue on through the night, and we will likely reach Bandfast before dawn, or we can put down for the night and be on our way at first light. Well still get to Bandfast well before noon.


    Rane shrugged. Ive no preference either way. T?


    She sighed, the food Rane had procured for her long since consumed. Id prefer to arrive sooner rather thanter. We could slow down just a bit, to arrive around sunrise? No need to cause a ruckus by arriving in the dark.


    Master Grediv hesitated, then nodded. Very well. That is quite possible.


    The disc slowed down noticeably, but not over-much, and they continued their journey uninterrupted.

 Chapter 273: This Time

    Chapter 273: This Time


    T sat in peaceful stillness, eyes closed, body rxed, feeling the constant pleasant breeze against her front.


    That cool sensation was suddenly joined by a counter point when the sun crested the mountains behind them, the first light of morning striking her like a physical thing.


    She felt power in the light, though it was most easily exined as the heat the light brought to her skin.


    She hadnt been cold, per se, but the warm touch of that light eased tension she hadnt noticed building through her long hours of barely moving.


    T had spent most of the night in quiet meditation, focused inward separately on her repairing body and the iron now threading throughout.


    They would arrive in Bandfast soon, so she took the rising sun as a cue to review what she learned.


    First, and most importantly, her physical form was <em>not</em> regenerating as quickly as it should.


    The damage shed sustained should have healed effectively instantly, but instead, it lingered as if something foundational had broken within each cell, and her magesight was bing precise enough to detect the detritus that was surrounding her body in the dimensions of magic. At least it was precise enough when she focused with all her will and mental acuity.


    t helped too.


    The picture wasnt a good one.


    -<em>I dont think well survive long without Refining or something like it. That is a rather unhealthy aspect to our body.-</em>


    <em>Id have thought the teleportation would clean this up, but its tied to me, to my soul.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, its a deterioration of your body, which is soul-bound to you.-</em>


    T scoffed internally. <em>One of the unspecified downsides of bing Bound. There are some things that cant be healed in the standard way.</em>


    <em>-Mistress Holly knows of the issue, even if not the advanced state of it. Well get it all sorted.-</em>


    <em>Yeah.</em> It was odd, feeling like her body was betraying her, even if that was a radically unrealistic assessment. Shed abused herself, and now there were consequences.


    -<em>Marginal misalignments in regenerative scripts, due to our imperfect nature.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, and with every regeneration, those have been amplified. Do you have your estimate?</em>


    <em>-Yes, as soon as I noticed your desire for independent analysis, I kept you from seeing those thoughts and calctions.-</em>


    <em>I estimate ten years until total degradation, losing roughly a year for the equivalent of each full body regeneration.</em>


    <em>-I estimated eleven years, but near enough, yeah.-</em>


    <em>Merging with the dasgannach really threw </em>everything<em> off</em>


    <em>-It did. Your biology is no longer really human, I suspect a simr issue to Master Jevins, but were aware of it before hand, so it shouldn''tpound.-</em>


    <em>Yup. Tell the more knowledgeable, find and enact a solution.</em>


    <em>-Eh, we just need a perfect body, and well be fine.-</em>


    <em>Well, well be Re-fine-d.</em>


    t paused for a long moment before sending a sense of disapproval. <em>-Bad T, bad pun.-</em>


    <em>It was amazing, and you know it.</em>


    But she was getting off into the weeds.


    She had made some good progress. Towards that end, she purposely shifted the iron within herself towards the sun-side, darkening her skin by increasing the iron manifesting within it to increase her absorption of the warmth on this cold winter morning.


    It also allowed the heat to radiate deeper, quicker, due to the properties of the iron.


    She didnt <em>need</em> the heat, but it felt nice, especially as a counterpoint to the steady wind of their travels.


    She also lifted her hand and willed some iron out through her skin, forming a blob on her palm.


    It was clearly iron dust, but it moved and held together more like a liquid.


    <em>Alright, here we go.</em> Shed been able to move the iron within her body with almost perfect precision, but this was new.


    <em>Cube.</em>


    The iron lifted in the middle just a bit, making vaguely square corners, but the result was <em>not</em> a cube.


    The deep ache that T felt was familiar. <em>Will-power and spiritual fatigue.</em>


    She groused.


    <em>-Hey! But this means its a good exercise to improve both of those things? Especially since we probably shouldnt do too much sparring or physical conditioning with these issues.-</em>


    She hadnt considered it that way. She would have, but t was quicker this time. <em>Yeah, thats quite true. Id be surprised if Mistress Holly wasnt in the group were going to be talking to.</em>


    Ahead, now that her eyes were open, T could see Bandfast.


    She allowed her focus to shift to the approaching city, and she felt a twinge in her heart.


    <em>Home.</em>


    Shed been gone a <em>long</em> time.


    True, it hadnt even been a year, but it <em>felt</em> like a long time.


    <em>In one sense, Ive never actually been here. Theres not a continuity of consciousness from me to the T who lived in Lyns house.</em>


    <em>-Stop that sort of philosophizing. It helps no one and can easily be extended to say that you die every time you sleep. Its just not helpful.-</em>


    <em>Thats fair</em>


    Some of the outer defensive towers caught the light of the rising sun and almost seemed to glow in the morning light.


    The farms, orchards, and other outer signs of civilization that had been absent around Alefast, Waning, were dusted with snow, while still showing obvious signs of use.


    <em>Even in winter the work never ceases.</em>


    T also knew that the growplexes under the city would be in full swing with year-round crops and starters for when the snows receded.


    <em>We have to eat, after all.</em> She more than most.


    It was somewhat odd to realize that her magical healing depended so strongly on having a mundane infrastructure behind her. <em>Well, it would, without my sanctum.</em>


    <em>-Your sanctum can provide your day to day needs, but it is not sufficient to replenish your reserves when theyre this low. Youd strip the space bare and still becking.-</em>


    <em>Thats true, and Im going to need a cook or two</em>


    <em>-Well deal with that, once weve addressed the more pertinent matters at hand.-</em>


    <em>True. Ill be patient.</em>


    From this sky-down perspective, it was fascinating to see the bubble of civilization ahead and below them.


    There were asional shes as arcanous creatures were killed trying to enter at various ces around that bubble, but that was nothing new.


    More than anything, what stood out to her magesight was the deep <em>pit</em> that the city was to the magic of the region. Power flowed downhill, in a sense, and this city was at the bottom of a crater in the magical dimensions dozens of miles in circumference.


    Shed never seen the siphoning scripts so clearly before, though she was still only seeing the evidence of their existence rather than the scripts themselves.


    <em>Such is required with so many gated humans living close together.</em> It was certainly more efficient than keeping the city moving at all times. <em>At least at this scale, its more efficient.</em>


    Master Grediv broke his silence. Well be through the defenses in less than ten minutes. Mistress Ingrit has gathered some interested parties to meet with us upon our arrival.


    T nodded. Mistress Ingrit had said something simr in hertest message. <em>This is so convenient.</em>


    <em>-Yes. We are going to upgrade our Archive connection so were never out of range again.-</em>


    <em>Agreed.</em>


    The blue sapphire disc passed through the outer edges of Bandfasts defenses with ease and barely a ripple, and they were suddenly directly over the outer ring of the city, passing at the pace of a slow sprint.


    The walls drew closer, and T nced towards Master Grediv. Arent we going to scare some people?


    He huffed augh. We are quite invisible to mundane sight, Mistress.


    Ahh, that makes sense.


    She saw farmers clearing paths in the snow, or checking their fields. She didnt know what they were doing, precisely, as shed never really looked into the profession.


    -<em>Do you want me to find out?-</em>


    <em>Not particrly. Not right now.</em>


    <em>-Alright.-</em>


    They were still flying fairly high above the ground, and so T was able to start picking out familiar features.


    <em>Thats the work yard I used for my trip to Alefast, and over there is the one I used for all my trips to Marliweather.</em>


    She easily spotted dozens of restaurants shed visited in the past, and she started building a list of ces she wanted to eat, once she was free to do so.


    She saw the Guardsmens training yard where shed received so much instruction.


    The Way of Flowing Blood was vastly superior to what she and the guards had pieced together, but the aid that theyd given her was invaluable. It had kept her alive so many times even before her capture, and the mental structures and physical habits theyd helped to engender within her had allowed her to continue to improve even after shed left the specific patchwork fighting style behind.


    She obviously saw the teleportation tower that had first brought her to this city from the Academy, but that had been visible for quite a while.


    They were closing in on the central districts, and T was able to pick out the Caravaneers Guildhall.


    <em>Im going to have to go talk to them about my contract. There is no way Im doing caravan runs at least not for a while.</em>


    The Wainwrights might be a bit cross with her, though she believed that shed gotten them their moneys worth for their custom wagon.


    <em>I wonder if thered be any benefit for Kit imbibing those</em>


    Probably not.


    Finally, she saw the park and Lyns house.


    <em>Her</em> house.


    Emotion tried to build within her, but T suppressed it.


    <em>No. I need to be strong for this meeting. Then, I can go have a good cry.</em>


    -<em>Stuffing your feelings isnt good for you, T. I think you know that already.-</em>


    <em>I do, but what other choice do I have?</em>


    Master Grediv brought them in for a smoothnding near the center of the city.


    They came down in a small courtyard very close to the Archonpound, which made sense to T.


    As therge blue disc settled down, T, Rane, and Master Grediv stepped off before the sapphire simply vanished, presumably back into Master Gredivs untethered, soul-bound, dimensional storage.


    <em>That is a </em>lot<em> of qualifiers for such amon item.</em>


    t sighed internally, clearly aware that T was trying to distract herself. <em>-There really should be a simple name for something like that, yes.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, but what would it be?</em>


    <em>-Inventory?-</em>


    <em>Thats an oddly specific suggestion. Why?</em>


    <em>-Well, what is an inventory? Its a list of things kept in a certain location. For untethered, soul-bound, dimensional storages, all they are is an inventory, a list of contents, that you can pull from.-</em>


    <em>Huh that actually makes a lot of sense.</em>


    The internal conversation had taken virtually no time in actuality, and so T wasnt in the middle of the exchange when she saw the peopleing out of a side passage into the courtyard.


    At the front of the group was Lyn who was quick walking, pulling ahead of the others.


    She covered thest few feet with something akin to a leap, apanied by an almost childlike squeal. TALA!


    The older woman wrapped T in a tight embrace that felt more maternal than anything T had experienced in She couldnt remember thest time that shed experienced anything particrly maternal


    Oof! What are you made of these days, girl? Lyn didnt pull back, but her squeezing embrace didnt seem to deflect Ts flesh at all. This is like hugging a statue.


    <em>-Youve not really had maternal contact recently. Certainly not since you upgraded your mind.-</em>


    T felt her own thoughts breaking down as she curled inward, wrapping Lyn in tight hug in turn.


    -<em>Careful! Shes fragile.</em>-


    T jerked slightly, keeping herself from crushing her friend even as she felt emotions roiling within her.


    <em>Keep it together, T. Come on. You can do this.</em>


    Rane walked up behind her andid a hand on her shoulder. Youre home, T. Everything will be alright.


    That broke the hasty dam shed been trying to throw up within herself, and a shudder of emotion roiled through her.


    t had to help keep the cathartic spasms from squeezing Lyn too tightly.


    At some point, Rane wrapped both women in an immense hug that was only possible because he was just so muchrger than them both.


    It felt like a year, and also like just an instant before she pulled back, smiling with tear-filled eyes at her friend.


    Lyn simrly smiled back. I thought wed lost you. She shook her head. Wee home.


    T almost descended back into tears, but instead, solidified herself and nodded once. I cannot express how d I am to be back.


    She then looked around at the few other people around her, waiting patiently.


    Mistress Jenna and Mistress Ingrit were the only two whode closer, and T focused on those two women, for the moment ignoring other shape waiting back in the hallway.


    T pulled a cloth from Kit to wipe her face clean as Mistress Ingrit walked forward.


    T smiled. Thank you for all you did once you had my message.


    Mistress Ingrit didnt respond, instead stepping in to give a surprisingly powerful hug.


    T stiffened for an instant, the gesture utterly unexpected, but she didnt have any real resistances at the moment, and so after that brief hesitation, she epted the gesture unreservedly.


    The Archivist whispered for Ts ear alone. You poor dear. Youve gone through something truly awful, and there is more toe, but I am on your sideand Ill be at your sidethrough all that is left.


    T felt a huge amount offort from that. Thank you, Mistress Ingrit.


    Mistress Jenna came forward and gave her a quick half-hug. Wee back, dear. There is much we need to discuss before my husband will be happy with you staying in the city, but I think we can sort it soon enough. Mistress Ingrit hasnt given details, but shes gathered quite the group. The wife of the Lord of Bandfast gestured towards the archway. Lets finish the reunions and get down to business, shall we?


    T had returned the much older womans brief hug, taking it for a greeting rather than an offer of support orfort. At the Reforgeds gesture, T finally focused on the singr figure who waited in the hallway, alone.


    Child. I see youre still finding yourself in unique situations. Mistress Odera stood, bent over a cane, hunched in a way that T had never seen, her usual energy seemingly drained out of her. Well, dont just stand there, staring, girl. Come give an old woman a hug.


    T crossed the distance and gave a careful hug to the woman who appeared to be the oldest person present. <em>Now that I think about it, Mistress Odera is likely precisely in the middle of the group, age wise.</em>


    As a Mage, Mistress Odera was longer lived than a mundane, but that paled inparison to even the shortest lived Archons natural span of years, and everyone else present was at least an Archon.


    Even Lyn was more than halfway to Fused, her aura showing as a beautiful burnt orange to Ts magesight.


    T once again had to wipe her nose and eyes. You never responded to my message.


    You told me you woulde to see me when you could. You asked no questions. The woman shrugged slowly. What purpose would there have been in replying?


    T groused a bit but had to admit that Mistress Odera was correct. I was worried about you.


    Then, ask a question next time. Mistress Odera hesitated, seeming almost to stutter in ce. Actually, lets not have a next time, hmmm?


    Id prefer that, yes.


    Mistress Jenna walked forward. I will lead you to the room where the others are waiting. She grinned. Weve arranged for arge quantity of food as well, per Master Gredivs request.


    T gave the Paragon a grateful look. Thank you, yet again.


    He gave her a nod in return. I am d to be of service and grateful to learn what you have to share.


    The group followed Mistress Jenna, and T took the opportunity to lean over and inquire of Lyn, How are you? Are you doing well?


    Well, yes, mostly. Kannis is progressing nicely, and I left her in charge of the work, today. It will be a big step if shepletes it all correctly, but its more work for me, as Ill have to review it after the fact. She shrugged. Shes a good mageling, and she helped after Lyns eyes flicked to T and away again. I know it was probably worse for you, but I did <em>not</em> like you disappearing like that.


    T ced a hand on her friends shoulder. I know, and Im sorry. I definitely didnt choose it.


    Lyn nodded, giving a weak smile. I know. I really do.


    They stepped out of the hallway into what seemed to almost be a lecture hall.


    True to Mistress Jennas word, there were tables covered in food lining both walls.


    There werent a lot of people within, but T saw Master Boma from the Constructionist Guild, Mistress Elnea, the current head of the Archon Council of Bandfast, and Mistress Holly waiting for them.


    Additionally, quite a few more chairs were filled others, including by Master Himmal from the Wainwrights Guild, AproaMistress Oderas granddaughter, and Cazor and Jean, the Mage Hunters who T knew.


    Mistress Holly was the first to spot T, and she immediately pulled out a small, obelisk looking thing, and T felt a prickle across the back of her neck.


    The Insciptionists eyes widened as she clearly got some sort of informational download from sub-sections of t.


    She didnt take long to scan the information before shed gotten enough of a gist to start shaking her head. Well, rust my biscuits, child. What have you done to yourself this time?

 Chapter 274: Hit the Highlights

    Chapter 274: Hit the Highlights


    T came to an awkward stop as every eye in the room turned on her, Mistress Hollys question still echoing around them, Well, rust my biscuits, child. What have you done to yourself this time?


    T cleared her throat and gave a self-conscious smile. Well, I suppose thats what were all here to discuss?


    That seemed to break the odd state of the room. Side conversations picked back up, clearly pushing towards quick conclusions now that T was here.


    Mistress Holly took the return of side-conversations as a cue toe over to T. She stopped just out of arms reach. Mistress T. She spoke incredibly softly, as was required for even a small amount of privacy in a room with such upants. You are dangerously broken.


    T nodded, deting a little bit. I need to Refine as soon as possible, yeah.


    We will have to update your scripts and let them settle into a final configuration, but well get that done after this is over. The inscriptionist gestured to everything around them. I am very curious about what you sent me, but that can wait until you are stabilized, I think.


    T felt herself smiling. <em>That was incredibly kind of her.</em>


    <em>-yeah. Suspiciously so.-</em>


    Mistress Holly smiled. After all, I have so many theories riding on your progress. I cant have you dying on me, now.


    T huffed augh. <em>There it is.</em>


    Oddly, Mistress Hollys antics felt more relieving and caring than it would have had the woman actually expressed care and concern. Thank you, Mistress Holly. I appreciate your expertise.


    The woman smiled in return. Of course, dear. Now, get some food. Its going to be a long day.


    The various tes in hands made it obvious that the food was open, Mistress Hollys prodding was all that she needed to make a move, and no one stopped T from going and getting an overge helping.


    Lyn and Rane stuck close to her as Mistress Ingrit seemed to be arrangingst minute details.


    After a quick nce in their direction, the Archivist had two chairs moved next to what was presumably Ts seat to one side of the front of the room.


    A quick five minutester, during which T stuffed a good third of the offered food into Kitshe was trying to be restrainedit was time to begin.


    T, Lyn, and Rane were motioned to the three chairs in front and off to one side, while Mistress Ingrit took center stage.


    Mistress Odera had gone to sit with Mistress Aproa.


    <em>Ahh, thats why her granddaughter is here. That makes sense.</em>


    Master Cazor and Mistress Jean were sitting with a small group who all had a simr look and <em>feel </em>to them.


    <em>Mage Hunters? Well, that makes sense, too. Either Im on humanitys side, and I have a lot of great info for these people, or Im not, and Mage Hunters are the perfect ones to try and stop me.</em>


    <em>-With our current state, a dedicated mageling could do the job.-</em>


    <em>Thats hardly fair. We could kill a few hundred magelings without much trouble.</em>


    <em>-Yes, you are definitely for humanity. Jumping straight to killing magelings on a whim.-</em>


    <em>Hey, now. That wasnt fair. You set me up.</em>


    Mistress Ingrits voice resonated through the room, stilling the lingering whispers and drawing all attention to her, Thank you all foring on such short notice. There are <em>many</em>yers to what will be discussed here today, and we will only be going through a broad overview. The information has been ordered and organized so that those with the lowest information clearance can be present at the beginning, and then leave when what they can know has been explored. Very few of you will be here at the end of the day.


    The stunningly beautiful woman looked around with utter conviction.


    No one will contest me when I say it is time to depart.


    There was a murmur of assent through the room.


    Now, it is required that a short evaluation bepleted upon a Mages return after a long absence. Master Grediv determined it wasnt necessary, but unfortunately, this is not his city, and so procedure will be followed.


    Mistress Ingrit wrinkled her nose slightly at her own words before continuing.


    My understanding is that there is a mageling present who has a new methodology to test?


    Master Grediv stood in obvious protest. Really? Mistress Jenna. This is hardly the time.


    Mistress Jenna sighed. The petition to try the methodology on the next returning Mage was submitted and granted three years ago, Master Grediv. It would take more time to alter procedure than to simply go through it.


    The Paragon groused, but finally nodded,ing to stand beside T. Then, I will stand beside her for the process.


    It was an obvious gesture of support for T, and she appreciated it.


    A grey-haired man stood up from beside the Mage Hunters. Oh, Master Grediv, there is no danger. It is purely a mundane test.


    <em>Wait They said mageling. Is that a mageling?</em>


    <em>-He, T. Is he a mageling? Treating people like objects isnt the best start.-</em>


    <em>Are you really lecturing me on grammar right now?</em>


    t did not respond.


    The older man made his way forward and bowed to T. Greetings, Mistress T. I am mageling Archie. He hummed happily. To put your mind at ease, I am a mageling by choice, yes I am. I enjoy researching the mundane aspects of life more than I like magic. He shrugged. But this isnt about me.


    T waved, feeling awkward. Good to meet you, mageling Archie.


    The older man straightened, and his countenance changed on the instant from one of an affable, if absentminded, researcher, to a questioner who T would have expected to see in a y about hardened criminals. Now, answer truthfully. Have you had any urge to harm or kill your fellow man?


    T felt herself hitch. What?


    Have you had any urge to harm or kill your fellow man?


    Umm not without cause?


    The man nodded sagely, stroking his beard. With a quick motion, he pulled out a card with a ssh of yellow paint on it. What color is this card?


    Are you serious?


    Yes. What color is this card?


    Its a white card. The paint on the card is yellow Are we going to do shapes next?


    Ill be asking the questions here, youngdy. His tone was even more stern than before.


    T felt like someone was ying a joke on her. What would this even tell you? Are enemies of mankind blind to color?


    The man ignored her, pulling out apletely green card, And this one?


    T growled and nced toward Master Grediv, who was standing with arms crossed, tapping his foot. She pointed to his way. Same as <em>his</em> aura.


    That seemed to give the mageling pause, and he smiled sheepishly. My apologies, Im just trying to follow the process. He pulled out a third card, this one with a triangle on it.


    Before he could ask his question, T shook her head. This is a test of my patience for the imbecilic, isnt it. It was not a question.


    Mageling Archie hesitated and deted. This part of the process was <em>supposed </em>to be used as a diagnostic tool on Mages, to determine their level of cognition before the next sets.


    Master Grediv cleared his throat. Mistress Jenna. I think that mageling Archies methods might be better tested in a less crucial case?


    The Reforged didnt look very pleased. Clearly, she hadnt known the exact content of this new, experimental process. Im inclined to agree.


    She looked seemingly at the empty air to one side of the room, then nodded. My husband has authorized a change in procedure. Mageling Archie, you will be granted the next three <em>lower priority</em> returnees to test your theories on.


    <em>Did she just reach out to him via the Archive?</em>


    <em>-Or-</em> T used her mirrored perspective, through her one bloodstar near the base of her skull, to examine the part of the room that Mistress Jenna had been looking at.


    <em>Yeah, I cant see anything, but if someone a few steps above me were there and hiding, Id likely never see him.</em>


    The mageling opened his mouth to protest Mistress Jennas dismissal, then seemed to think better of it. Instead, he bowed. My apologies. My intention when I applied for the dispensation was for a less important test subject.


    Mistress Jenna waved that away. Understandable. You may go.


    He hesitated, ncing around, but then nodded and departed.


    <em>What an odd fellow.</em>


    <em>-I suppose all types exist.-</em>


    <em>So it seems.</em>


    Mistress Ingrit pped her hands. Now, if that is settled?


    Mistress Jenna sighed. Im afraid not. I will do a standard scan. Will you permit me? Thest was directed at T.


    Of course. T stood, just hoping to make it easier even though that was likely not necessary.


    Master Grediv didnt move, making his position clear. This was a waste of time.


    T saw power wash over her originating from Mistress Jenna. The Reforged frowned. Child, are you wearing iron?


    <em>Mature.</em> But T didnt correct the woman out loud. Instead, she shook her head. Not wearing it.


    Not even your iron paint? That caused a ripple of murmurs through those listening.


    No, Mistress, but I am filled with it. If the iron-paintment had gotten murmurs, this answer received shocked silence.


    Do you prefer I go through it, or?


    T shook her head again. Do you need to scan all of me? Or just parts?


    All would be preferred.


    Mistress Ingrit hadnt seen the end result with the dasgannach situation. <em>Could there be people who shouldnt know?</em> Mistress Ingrit Dasgannach?


    The Archivists eyes flicked over those in the room. They arent a widely known creature, but they arent hidden.


    T nodded, rxing. <em>Alright.</em>


    With an effort of will, she took all of her extra iron, all that would not normally be found within a human body, and moved it down and out her right foot, creating a blob that was near at hand.


    Mutters rolled through the room, and Master Cazor stood, seemingly without realizing what he was doing, eyes widening in obvious shock.


    Mistress Jenna gave the iron blob a curious nce but didntment.


    Power washed through T from the Reforged, and the woman grunted. Youre human and as you appear. The only power active within your mind is your own. I deem you fit for these proceedings.


    Master Grediv nodded once and then returned to his seat, carefully stepping over the blob of iron.


    <em>Mine.</em> The iron <em>blipped</em> across the ground and back into T, rolling through her and back into its previous locations and distributions.


    Mistress Ingrit cleared her throat. <em>Now</em>, with that dealt with. I am Mistress Ingrit, of the Archivists. Mistress T has entrusted me with aplete, perfect memory of her time away.


    <em>That</em> got a loud chorus of whispers in response, though no one addressed the speaker directly.


    As such, I will be directing this briefing, for that is what this is. The information that our young Mistress T has brought back with her is tremendous. While little is <em>wholly</em> new, little was also known to the extent that she has provided. It will be clear <em>very</em> quickly what I mean. Are we ready?


    The susurrations slowly died away andplete focus returned.


    Good. Let us begin.


    There was a moment of pregnant silence before the Archivist continued.


    Mistress T has just returned, after spending roughly nine months in the arcane city of toiri.


    The stunned silence that followed was somehow <em>louder</em> than the explosive mor of ovepping questions that followed closely afterwards.


    Mistress Ingrit held up her hand and silence fell almost immediately. Moreover, Mistress T spent the majority of that time working up to, earning, and filling a position of no little power within a major House.


    The Mage Hunter with the strongest aura stood up. Sparks of green-tinged power were obvious indications of his unsettled emotional state, but he was keeping himself well enough under control physically. May we know <em>which</em> House?


    Mistress Ingrit nced towards T, who shrugged. <em>Ive no idea what she wants.</em>


    The Archivist waited another long moment.


    -<em>You only authorized her to share this much without permission.-</em>


    <em>Oh! Grant her authority to share whatever she feels is appropriate, while Im nearby and conscious of the sharing.</em> That should be a reasonable restriction.


    Things would have gotten really awkward, really fast if T had refused to give that permission, now that she thought about it.


    Mistress Ingrit nodded once. Yes, I can share that. The House of Blood.


    Only a few Mage Hunters nodded at the name, and the man seemed to decide to test his luck by asking one more question. What rank did she reach? Master Servant of a small division? Foreman in one of their operations?


    The Archivist was fighting a smile as she shook her head. Eskau.


    The Paragon looked like hed been struck, and indeed, he fell back into his seat, eyes looking dazed as he frowned in obvious confusion.


    Most in the room clearly had no idea what that meant, but one other stood from the back of the room. That is preposterous! No human would be allowed such a position, and if it <em>were</em> somehow true, they would never have let her leave.


    T was somewhat confused as the woman speaking was only Fused, but Mistress Ingrits response rified some things, Archiveling, please remember your role and that you are here to learn. Would I have spoken it as fact, were I unsure?


    The Archon colored bright red and dropped back into her seat, muttering what seemed to be an apology so quietly that even T couldnt hear it fully.


    Now,Mistress Ingrit didnt look ruffled in the leastwe have much to cover, and were not even through the introduction. I would appreciate it if questions would be held at least until each wave of you is to be dismissed?


    There were mutterings of agreement, and the woman nodded in satisfaction.


    First, we are going to hit the highlights, and you may all submit requests for further information, if what you are given, here, is insufficient.


    There were some grumblings, but theyd bought in by that point, so no one interrupted.


    Arcane cities.


    She paused for the ripple of noise.


    Thats going to get old. Stay silent or depart.


    Silence.


    Good. Now, the basic ruling structure of the arcane cities on this continent is as follows. A City Lord rules over the city. Within the city are major Houses, which contribute to its day to day operation, as well as defense. Major Houses are structured in sorts of oligarchies. These oligarchies are made up of pairs: the Pirs, who are more administrative though not weak, and the Eskau, who function as the sword or right hand of their Pir. Each House handles their exact form of self-governance, but it is generally the Pirs who make the decisions and the Eskau who enforce them.


    There were some nods from those who already knew some of this. Others seemed to be taking notes.


    We must now discuss different forms of advancement, broadly speaking. Humans. You all should know as much as you are allowed on the subject, but to summarize, humans advance through the harmonizing and perfecting of their body and soul. Arcanes advance mainly through the increasing of power-density and the perfecting of their use of that power. One of the key differences between our magics is that arcanes focus on precision and efficiency where humans focus on power and scope. We are our own power sources, so efficiency means less to us.


    There were more nods around the room.


    Briefly, arcanous creatures are mundane creatures that have acquired power via some means, from an external source, and are at least somewhat independent of any source of power after the magic is acquired. Magical creatures, in contrast, are bound to a source of some type. Yes, this is why familiars, even if they are arcanous in origin, are considered magical creatures, because they are bound to a source, mainly their Mage.


    This wasnt <em>that</em> new or revolutionary. Still, many people were taking notes. T was simply eating the food that shed taken earlier. <em>This is so much better than me having to try to convey this</em>


    <em>-Unquestionably.-</em>


    This brings us to differentiation among arcanes. Arcanes divide themselves based on how easily they can maintain their power density in a weaker environment. They designate races as low, mid, and high races based on this one trait. Not every mid-race person will have more power density than every low, and same for high and mid, but it is generally easier for the more advantaged races to advance, and it is unquestionably easier for them to maintain that advancement.


    Mistress Ingrit wrinkled her nose slightly.


    Humans are worse at this than even the least gifted low-race. We are <em>terrible</em> at holding onto magic that is not inherently our own. This is why, without gates, we are nothing but chaff to them.


    That got grumbles of discontent in response, but still, no one truly interrupted.


    Now, there are gated humans in the arcane cites, but not many. Additionally, any human who is allowed to advance beyond Mage into the Archon ranks is required to wear a saorsa-cor, which is customized to each wearer.


    She then pointed to three individuals in sequence.


    To pre-empt your most likely questions: Yes, there are humans in the Archon range in the arcane cities, but they are few and far between. No, we dont have many details on exactly how the cors are constructed, but we have some. Yes, I am going to tell you more about them.


    The three people who had opened their mouths each sat back, nearly identical looks of stunned eptance painting their features as their mouths closed.


    The cors contain multiple dasgannach that were altered to make them more of a scourge than the normal specimens. Information on them is not restricted, look them up on your own time. Mistress Ingrit then nced towards T. Ive already gotten a dozen inquires on the dasgannach rted information you have. Particrly, Master Jevin and Mistress Noelle said that you sent them a bit of information?


    T nodded. I did. Im happy to correspond with them.


    Very well. Moving on. These soarsa-cors are created and controlled by the City Lord of the given city. If Mistress T had left the city without permission, the cor would have injected the dasgannach directly into her, with lethal consequences.


    Several people took bites of food, seemingly to keep themselves frommenting.


    Master Cazor was regarding T critically.


    Back to the arcane hierarchy of power retention. Because of this hierarchy of power, and the fact that most dont have ess to personal power, Houses, both major and minor, pay their followers with power-density. Meaning, the very ability to live in a higher density environment is arge portion of the payment used to secure loyalty among thergest political powers in arcane cities.


    That got some appreciative andprehending rumbles from the Mage Hunters in the audience.


    The way that they manage these ces of higher concentration is via massive dimensional storage facilities, which they have expanded and outfitted for habitation. They call them holds, generally, or sanctums when they are primarily for a single individual. Because of this, most factions of any power have a hold, and those holds are essed via a single point of entry. This results, at least in toiri, in their District of Doors, a ce where hundreds, if not thousands, of holds are all set up near one another, effectivelypressing a truly massive amount of space into a very essible arrangement.


    Mistress Ingrit raised her hand, to keep the quiet.


    We are almost to the question-asking portion of this level of information. She gave a single nod before continuing, As you can imagine, having all these powerful, jockeying factions with holds close together means that the holds are points of conflict. This is why most holds have <em>extremely</em> powerful and effective defenses. The strongest of which even Paragons would struggle to breach in any meaningful timeframe.


    Master Grediv shifted in his seat, leaning forward.


    T thought she saw a small smile on his lips, though whether it was at a possible challenge, or some privately held knowledge, she didnt know.


    These defenses arent the only result of the factional conflicts. The mostmon way to build up power is to raid other factions for magical weapons or even to im entire holds. From what Mistress T witnessed, these raids do result in death, but not nearly as much as we would expect. It is mostmon to have prisoners taken and to ransom them back to their faction. Additionally, there are rather strict dictates about fighting those weaker than yourself, unprovoked. That keeps the upper echelon from simply wiping out entire opposing groups. Though, there do seem to be some exceptions to the rule.


    These conflicts have also driven innovation. There are several artifact schema that show great promise, including those of far-seeing, and the Constructionists will be allowed to ask after those,ter. Their warriors, specifically their Eskau, seem to have developed highly specialized fighting styles centered around morphic weapons, that is weapons that can change shape nearly instantly.


    That got a lot of attention, with many people seemingly jotting down reminders to request more information.


    Finally, it seems that even the upper echelons of arcanes do not have a good understanding of human inscriptions. While they seem to use inscriptions themselves, if less frequently than we do, they do not have records or methods of easily determining what our magics do.


    The Arcane Hunters grinned <em>broadly</em> at that, as each and every one of them seemed overjoyed at the news.


    Specifically, Mistress Ts scripts were never fully understood by those she interacted with, no matter what resources they had to bring to bear on that issue.


    Mistress Holly snorted. That tells us less than you imply. My script designs for Mistress T are <em>leagues</em> more advanced than most.


    Mistress Ingrit frowned at the interruption but nodded. While that may be true, they were not even able to extrapte past the most basic of guesses. They <em>might</em> be able to understand something as old and little altered as a keystone, but little else. The Archivist nodded to herself. I think that is a good overview of the most basic information. We will now allow questions.


    Nearly the whole room stood in a rush, each hoping to ask their question first.


    <em>This is going to be a long day</em>

 Continue the Story [Book 3 - Binding]

    Continue the Story [Book 3 - Binding]


    <strong>The world reims all things. Humanity shelters within their ever-dying cities. Mages and Archons create the only path forward.</strong>


    T has returned to her new home, her mission sessful, and her money-pouch temporarily refilled. Gold is still an ever present concern, but more pressing hurdles lie before her. Her inscriptions have been renewed andpleted, granting her newfound power that she must learn to control, and she has a long list of tasks toplete before she can join the ranks of the powerful Archons.


    As she delves deeper into the mysteries of the world, barely even hinted at by the Academy, T has discovered the secrets of the truly mighty: the creation of an Archon Star. The Mage isn''t content to follow the standard path. She''s determined to forge her Archon Star from an unconventional material, a gamble that could either lead to her triumph or her downfall.


    T isn''t one to shy away from a challenge, but only time will reveal if her daring n will pay off when it is time toplete her Binding.

 Chapter 275: Into the Weeds

    Chapter 275: Into the Weeds


    T continued to eat the free food provided by the Archonpound of Bandfast.


    Mistress Ingrit had just finished the most basic summary of her time away, and T was honestly a little surprised at how little of it fell under the anyone can know this ssification.


    -<em>Really? Youre surprised?-</em>


    <em>Well probably not, no. Ive gotten a bit used to learning almost anything I wanted to know, and humanity doesnt really work that way.</em>


    <em>-Well, it does for you and anyone of the upper echelons of power. Do you really think that it would be a good idea to tell the average citizen that there are dozens, if not hundreds, of high-powered arcanes, hostile to humanity, less than a thousand miles south of us?-</em>


    <em>Yeah that would not end well, and its not like they could do anything about it, regardless.</em>


    <em>-Precisely.-</em>


    As T had expected, the questions asked by those present were numerous and varied.


    Many were answered with either a We will discuss thatter. Or You are not permitted to know that answer at this time. Or Please submit a request, and we can discuss your acquisition of that information. That would require more detail than this meeting is intended to convey.


    Even so, noon came before Mistress Ingrit called an end to the questioning, bringing with it a replenishing of the avable food and drink.


    Blessedly, none of the questions had been of the type that T was required to answer. To be sure, they all could have been answered by her, but those that received answers, received them from Mistress Ingrit in Ts stead.


    Throughout that time, T had little to do, and so she ended up talking with Lyn and Rane as quietly as they could. They didnt discuss anything of substance, staying away from the meeting''s main topic, instead just chatting about small, inconsequential things, like in the good old days.


    Lyn looked at her friend, askance. T, what nonsense are you spouting?


    T frowned. What?


    You said, No ones afraid of being alone in the dark. Thats like the mostmon fear people have, T.


    T lifted one finger in victory. Ahh, but thats not true. People are afraid that they <em>arent</em> alone in the dark.


    Lyn blinked at her friend, then her eye began to twitch. I did not need that in my head


    Nearly an hour and many topic changester, T rolled her eyes. Rane, I dont care how you describe it, pancakes are not all crust, unless you make them wrong.


    Crust is the harder, outer portion of bread. Pancakes are so thin that they are all crust. Therge man was insistent.


    Their conversation moved in ebbs and flows.


    Rane had to control himself as he practically threw up his hands. Lyn, what are you talking about? Nature and day are way closer than nature and night.


    No. Night is the natural state of existence. It takes the sun to temporarily banish the night. Without constant effort, without the constant expenditure of energy, nature is just night.


    They werent arguing, or trying to change each others opinions. They were just talking, and T reveled in the normalcy of such a frivolous conversation.


    After lunch, close to half of the attendees were dismissed, and then the rest got settled in for the next level of informational discussion.


    As they were leaving, Mistresses Odera and Aproa came over to wee T back. Mistress Odera, in particr, smiled as she patted Ts hand. d that you are safe once more, girl. Come see me when youve got your feet back under you. If you can.


    T smiled, feeling a bit of tension bleed away at the older womans words. <em>And she didnt even have to say anythingforting.</em>


    <em>-We were really worried about her. Its good that shes still-</em>


    <em>not a fount?</em>


    <em>-Yeah. Maybe something that we learned can help her? Probably not, as arcanes are good at making founts, not preventing them.-</em>


    <em>Still, we can see whats possible.</em>


    Mistress Ingrit pped her hands after the door clicked shut behind thest departing Archon. Mistress Odera had been the only non-Bound among the group, even for the first portion of the meeting.


    Now?


    Now, T didnt detect anyone below Fused, save Lyn. Though, some kept their aura''s fully retracted, and T didn''t want to be rude by looking too deeply.


    Alright, Archons. Now, we get into the meat of the information.


    She turned and gestured at the wall behind her and an image that T recognized blossomed across it.


    It was Be-thric.


    T felt a shudder as her whole body tensed up at the mere sight of the arcane. At the same time, her mind sang out in glorious revelry at knowledge of his death at her hand.


    Its okay to still fear him, even after he is dead. Rane hesitated. I assume he is dead, right?


    <em>Thats right, Rane saw the memories of my first two interactions with Be-thric.</em>


    T smiled at her friend. He is, yes. But I dont fear him, Rane. I never did. I feared his magic.


    Rane cocked an eyebrow as he whispered his reply, Thats a ridiculous distinction.


    No, it isnt, Rane. He, himself, wasnt scary, and that made what he could do worse. If hed been some sort of viin from a y, it would be easy to fear him and hate everything about him. Instead, he was too <em>human</em>. He wasnt evil, he wasnt worthy of fear, but he still had the power and the willingness to do things that were terrifying. Id fear anybody with that ability andck of concern or restraint surrounding its use.


    That<em></em>still seems like fearing him to me.


    I wish hed been worthy of fearing. That would make it easier. Defeating a great viin can be liberating. Oveing some guy with a scary magical ability still leaves the door open for others like him


    Rane gave her a sympathetic look. That sounds awful. Thank you for being willing to say so much.


    Lyn took her hand and squeezed it in camaraderie. Were here for you.


    Mistress Ingrits continued speaking drew Ts attention back from her side conversation, and t filled her in on what T had missed, as if she hadnt been distracted.


    Arge part of that was thews and practices surrounding the saorsa-cor. Shed gone over the basics before but the more intricate details hadnt been discussed.


    As T tuned back in, Mistress Ingrit was refocusing on the memory and gesturing to the wall.


    As you can see, that arcane has a magical device, that device will be used to modify the saorsa-cor, while it is active. Those of you with the capacity will be receiving a one-time glimpse of the record of Ts magical senses during the process.


    The image began to move, showing Be-thrics modification of her cor the first time.


    T hadnt thought too much about it at the time, but based on the reactions of the Constructionists in the room, she should have.


    The Constructionists, and those with rted professions, were wide-eyed and practically drooling as the memory ended.


    T caught a few of the whispers. Specifically altering an artifact style item, while it is active. How could that be done?


    The material of the modifying artifact was negated? Absorbed? What happened to it?


    These and simr questions preceded a storm of splintered dialogues, referencing portions of the memory.


    Rane leaned in. If I may ask, what was it like, having the cor around your neck?


    T gave him an arch look. You mean, what was it like having the means of my execution affixed to me at all times?


    He hunched a little. Yes.


    She gave a sad smile. Honestly, I forgot it was there half the time. There was almost a perverse sense of security in it being there, even when I did remember it.


    Lyn leaned closer, confusion and concern furrowing her brow. What? I dont understand.


    Well. T sighed. If theyd discovered me, the real me, theyd have triggered the cor immediately.


    Rane looked vaguely ufortable, but he still raised an objection. Couldnt he have just modified your memory again?


    Not by that point, no. So, the fact that it was there meant I never had to second guess my situation. I was trusted, because if I hadnt been, Id never have even known that trust was lost.


    Neither of them seemed to like the exnation, but they didnt contest her either.


    Mistress Ingrit brought everyones attention back. And now, here is another alteration of the cor.


    The next memory was of the City Lords modification of the cor so that she could go to Croi.


    That caused another explosion of conversation, and T was able to hear basically everyone with any connection to working with magical items deciding to submit requests for those two memories in full, as well as all the surrounding memories.


    Mistress Ingrit had been able to alter the focus of the memories so that neither Be-thric in the first memory, nor the City Lord in the second, stood out particrly.


    <em>-She removed your magesight input from everything not directly pertaining to the cor and its modification. Likely to keep the whole meeting from devolving into a discussion on the City Lord and Be-thric.-</em>


    <em>I see that. I suppose shes not certifying these as perfectly urate or anything like that. I honestly didnt really consider how big of a deal the modification of the cor is. Ive seen magical items expanded before, but I suppose Ive never seen them fundamentally modified like the cor was.</em>


    Unlike the previous part of the meeting, Mistress Ingrit let the conversations y out before she continued. When most had wound down, she cleared her throat, bringing a swift end to the few that hadnt stopped. Then, in the silence, she continued, Now, for that specific item, we will next see how it looked when it was activated.


    A ripple of surprise ran through the room.


    When Mistress T killed her Pir to make good her departure, the cor was triggered, and the House of Blood determined that she was effectively dead. Thus, she was able to escape without being chased. Please take that as all the context we will give for the moment.


    Quite a few mouths hung open in shock.


    The Mage Hunters nced her way in awe but seemed unwilling to take their eyes away from the disyed memory for longer than that.


    Even many of the others seemed to take a moment to reassess her.


    Master Cazor had moved several seats closer to her, Rane, and Lyn, clearly intending on talking with her when he could, but his focus was as utterly captured as everyone elses.


    Here is the death of the Pir, and the activation of the cor.


    Lyn took her hand and squeezed it again, and Rane briefly ced his hand on her shoulder.


    It was strange for T to see her own memory shown on a wall for so many to see, and the previous two hadnt inured her to that feeling.


    T appreciated the support, but this was one memory that evoked nothing but joy, even though it hadnt ended perfectly.


    <em>Hes dead, and I killed him myself.</em> There was <em>a lot</em> to be happy about in that.


    The perspective on the wall seemed to divide, showing a full five different points of view.


    There were some sounds of difort, and a few Archons looked away, seemingly getting motion sick from the various perspectives, some of which were rotating at a good clip.


    <em>-Thats better, but it still isnt quite the same. A two dimensional perspective just cant capture what its like to be there, even with multiple viewing angles.-</em>


    Even so, T rather enjoyed watching Be-thric die, even when her own perspective fractured, indicating the activation of the cor.


    Arge number of the Archons seemed confused, and finally, someone in the front asked what many of them were thinking, What happened at the end? Why did the memory fracture?


    Mistress Ingrit nodded. Mistress T was injected with two dasgannach. One was of gold, which stripped her of her magic. Thus, the memories were not recorded fresh, but after the fact, once she was reinscribed. Additionally, it is my understanding that the invasion by the creatures was incredibly painful, thus further harming the integrity of the memories.


    Painful? And it was that fast? Dasgannach dont disrupt active magics, and you cant feel them while theyre iming parts of you; thats two of the core things that make them so pernicious.


    These modified ones do it seems, which makes sense, given the purpose of the gold dasgannach was specifically to disable human magics that used gold inscriptions as quickly as possible. The pain was likely a desired feature as well, as it would disrupt any attempt to work against the execution.


    A different Archon asked the obvious next question, Shouldnt the spellworkings have continued, even as the gold dasgannach imed the material?


    Someone beside him leaned over. The spell-lines are physically locked? Yes, physically locked while active, but if they are fundamentally changed, themselves? Mistress T is lucky they didnt form other valid spellforms of some kind.


    The asker nodded, understanding, and took the opportunity to ask another question, If one was gold, what was the other? Losing your spell-lines is highly inconvenient but hardly an execution.


    Mistress Ingrit looked to T.


    T shrugged. <em>Not really a mystery if theyd taken a moment to think.</em> It was iron.


    Before the obviously-building explosion of questions could manifest, one Archon couldnt help herself from shouting out, If thats true, you should be dead!


    Mistress Ingrit held up a hand. All such questions should be held until the end and are hardly important to the current subject, which is magical creations.


    The next memory showed on the wall behind her. It was from earlier in Ts time away, well before shed killed Be-thric.


    T felt a smile pull at her lips as she recognized the basic automata.


    Master Boma stood in a rush, along with quite a few others, but he spoke first and loudest, The arcanes have automata? Why was this not brought to our attention immediately? We <em>must</em> mobilize and destroy them at


    Mistress Ingrit cut across the Constructionist, Enough! It has been dealt with. They were not sanctioned constructs, and the ce of their creation was destroyed by T herself.


    Master Boma paused, mouth open, but finally, he nodded and sat back down.


    What followed was brief selections of her fights with the automata, showing the various versions, including Io. The set of memory snippets ended with the raiding of all the materials and, very specifically, the non-automata rted items that shed taken from the crafting guilds hold.


    There was a bit of special attention put on both the ingots of white metal and the device that seemed responsible for creating the material.


    <em>-We never did take the time to figure out how that worked.-</em>


    <em>Thats why were getting help. There is just too much for us to handle ourselves.</em>


    <em>-Its definitely going to be interesting to see how they react to Io.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, but thats going to be a </em>much<em> smaller group.</em>


    There were a few questions, but most of the more interested parties seemed to have fixated on the automata, and rather than sparking questions, it seemed to have keyed off fierce debate.


    Rane nced her way. So, how do you think Id have done against the automata?


    Lyn huffed a quietugh. Of course thats what you ask.


    T quirked a smile. You would have done great until you got to those that could rain down fire. I dont think many of your defenses would have helped against that. It was a slower-flowing fire, so unlike a fireball, you wouldnt have been moved out of the way.


    Rane grunted. Ive actually been working on addressing that issue. It''ll be interesting to spar sometime.


    T grinned, I agree there.


    He then nced towards Lyn. What did you want to ask?


    Lyn shrugged. Were they creative at all? Or did they seem to just be magical constructs, following the dictates of their scripting?


    Thest one seemed more, but I dont really know. T leaned close. I do have someone I want you to meet, but that will likely beter, too. Lyn was going to be fascinated by Rob.


    Mistress Ingrit didnt bother trying to intervene, and eventually, the animated discussions wound down so that she could continue.


    The next sequence was a selection of T scooping up items from the House of the Rising Sun.


    Lyn startedughing almost immediately, and that seemed to break the tension enough for chuckles to ripple through those watching her take almost literally everything that wasnt nailed down.


    There was some murmuring at various items that they saw, and the Archivists in the audience stood almost as one, when T started taking the library.


    They then looked around at each other and realized what theyd done.


    Then, in continued eerie synchronization, they each put in requests for all the books involved.


    T almostughed at how unified their individual responses were. Shed hoped that the Library would be interested in those books. <em>We have debts to pay, after all. What do we still owe?</em>


    <em>-Three-hundred-eighty-one gold and twenty silver.-</em>


    <em>Thats a lot but not that much?</em> T didnt know how to feel. <em>How much do we have?</em>


    <em>-Two hundred eleven gold, eighty five silver and one hundred forty seven copper.-</em>


    <em>Why one hundred and forty seven copper? Why not transfer that to one silver and forty seven copper?</em>


    <em>-Because this is how it is held in your ount, and I aim for uracy.-</em>


    <em>Fine, fine. </em>She knew that most of that hade from Master Queue and the profits from the replication and sale of herb.


    She saw the man sitting near Master Boma and smiled his way once again.


    He didnt notice as he was entirely engrossed in taking notes, or maybe making detailed requests for information. She couldnt quite tell.


    In either case, she could pay off more than half her remaining debt almost literally with a thought. <em>Am I rich?</em>


    <em>-No, but you likely will be when all of this is over.-</em>


    <em>Huh.</em> That didnt rify her feelings at all.


    After a moment, she found herself frowning.


    <em>How much do you want to bet that the Refining process is usually expensive, and us needing a custom version will be more?</em>


    <em>-I literally have no money, and youre probably right.-</em>


    <em>We can negotiate with Mistress Holly? Shell be extremely interested in the reinscription device inside Kit. Maybe we could leverage that?</em>


    <em>-Thats one avenue, yeah.-</em>


    Mistress Ingrit had moved on to the next set of memories, this one focusing on the artificial sun in her sanctum.


    Apparently, humanity had simr devices, but humanitys versions had been developed entirely independently, so there were <em>lots </em>of questions and exmations even from the brief glimpses shared.


    They use a striated wave generation system? Thats insane! Why would they iste and individually generate each wavelength?


    Greater control over the light and the heat? We definitely have some trouble tuning our radiant units on asion, and this would remove that tendency.


    That only happens if you build the unit wrong. This is just needlesslyplicated, but what about their cycle management? It looks like they tied the power variability in with the locational stability.


    Yeah, that would force the change in intensity to be tied to the location of the artificial sun. Its certainly better to keep those two functions separated and differently regted.


    Rane was leaning forward, seemingly trying to listen in on the side conversations.


    <em>Im d I got that booklet, and those books, on the artificial suns functionality.</em>


    -<em>And oh, so much more.-</em>


    That caused T to smile. Her side conversations with Rane and Lyn had be less frequent as more of her memories had been shown, and the two of them showed more interest in what was being conveyed by Mistress Ingrit.


    The Archivist was only giving the most basic of overviews, but it was still fascinating.


    T, herself, found that the womans summary of Ts experiences was riveting, given that they were interpreted and told by someone else, putting a lens on them that shed never have herself.


    When thetest ruckus calmed down, Mistress Ingrit folded her hands and lowered her head slightly. Now, we arrive at some more... ufortable information.


    That got everyones attention, and even those who had been more rxed and possibly starting to work on other things to the side straightened up and refocused.


    This is the city center of toiri.


    The room fell silent as the memory of the crystal and gold column came into focus on the wall.


    It isnt easy to see, without magesight, but that is the magical heart of the arcane city. The scripting you see purifies the power flowing through the founts, and releases it into the environment. This is the chief reason that cities are so populous andpact. Each arcane wants to be in the higher magic density afforded by the column.


    A voice came from the back of the room, one of the Archivists that T didnt know by name speaking in a bare whisper, but still easily heard by everyone, How many founts are in there?


    The answer was simple, and Mistress Ingrit gave it inly, Roughly twenty-thousand.


    Color drained from a huge number of faces. More interestingly, however, were those who didnt look surprised.


    Mistresses Elnea and Jenna were among those, as was Master Grediv and the other higher level Archons.


    Lyn was white as a sheet, and Ranes eye was twitching. If T had to guess, Rane had known <em>something</em> about it, but not the full extent.


    Mistress Ingrit continued. This is, unfortunately, not news. Most arcane cities are running on souls that they harvested millennia ago, so while it is egregious, it isnt something that is actionable. Not currently.


    That brought a wave of grimaces, but everyone present managed to maintain theirposure, especially because those that were most aggrieved each looked to their elders, and saw theirck of surprise.


    <em>Ahh, the atrocities of the past, how little we can affect you.</em>


    Mistress Ingrit cleared her throat, One thing that is new to us is confirmation that founts can depart if they choose to.


    That caused a stir.


    What Mistress T has brought back confirms that the arcanes, while they use founts as a resource, have a view of that resource''s instability, and act in a way to keep their sources of power intact. It still is an abysmal situation, and they are using human souls, but in a way, they have a better means of monitoring and catering to those souls than we do.


    A lot of people shifted ufortably.


    Master Boma was nodding, and T remembered that the man had been searching for a means ofmunicating with vestiges. <em>Hell be very interested to meet Rob too.</em>


    In the vein of these founts, I will briefly go over how they are used, in general.


    What followed was a selection of memories, showing everything from the density enhancement room, the room that Be-thric had taken Tali into, to protian weaponry.


    The fact that the founts in protian weapons served as a key source of magical power for the Eskau was of great interest to the Mage Hunters, as well as quite a few others.


    The Librarian showed off the House of Bloods armory, through Ts memories of it, but stated clearly that they didnt have too many details on the items kept within.


    Mistress Ingrit briefly covered gate-breaking and Master Himmal paid special attention to that, clearly intensely interested in the subject.


    Rane and Lyn both turned to T, obviously aware that she would have been subjected to the process. T waved them off. It wasnt great, but nows not the time to discuss it.


    They werent happy but didnt press her.


    Mistress Ingrit didnt discuss holds directly, not quite yet.


    Instead, she ran them through the traditions around Pir and Eskau selection, as well as the culture around the raiding of the candidates of other Houses, both literally and violently, or by enticing them to switch loyalties.


    Finally, when that was handled, and the understandable, but simplistic questions were out of the way, Mistress Ingrit turned to thest subject that rted directly to founts: Holds.


    She exined that arcanes didnt depend on the city column to power their holds. Instead each hold had its own source of power. She pulled up memories showing the intricate spellforms required to make that happen, and how it allowed for unprecedented control and customization of the dimensional spaces.


    The main exception to this rule was, of course, ether holds.


    Once again, everyones attention was highly focused, and at the end of Mistress Ingrits introduction to the topic, as well as a brief overview of void artifacts, she gestured to T, Well get to specific examples on those, soon enough. In the meantime, do we have any questions?


    The room didnt quite erupt this time, but it was a close thing.


    Yes, they did indeed have questions.

 Chapter 276: The Tour

    Chapter 276: The Tour


    T chatted with Lyn and Rane, answering their basic questions while Mistress Ingrit handled the questions of all the other Archons.


    Master Cazor looked to be torn between Mistress Ingrits answers and joining T, Lyn, and Rane, but he seemed to decide to not intrude on their clearly more private conversation.


    T was grateful for that, and took the opportunity to smile and nod his way in thanks when he nced toward her.


    That seemed to solidify something for him, and he visibly rxed, his attention moving more firmly to Mistress Ingrit.


    <em>-He would be able to help us test out quite a few things about our new bond. We should arrange some time with him.-</em>


    <em>Agreed.</em>


    There was a pause when dinner was delivered, and Mistress Ingrit answered the remaining questions while the meal was consumed. Once again, most were answered simply or with a statement that such questions should be asked as part of an official information request.


    <em>-We have a few hundred of those already, by the way. Mistress Ingrit has master ess over those requests, but shes allowed us to see how many there are.-</em>


    T was surprised. <em>How can there possibly be that many already?</em>


    <em>-I imagine that most people made more than one. A simple request is more likely to be answered quickly than a lengthy, multifaceted one, seeking many answers at the same time.-</em>


    <em>That makes good sense, I suppose.</em>


    With everything pressing addressed, Mistress Ingrit dismissed nearly everyone below Refined, again with Master Rane and Mistress Lyn being exceptions.


    Master Boma also seemed to have been granted permission to stay. He and Master Queue were the senior members of the Constructionists who had been invited to this meeting, and they seemed to have put in an explicit request to both be allowed to stay.


    Mistress Ingrit had granted the request along with that of a few younger Librarians.


    Master Cazor walked by them on his way out. Wee back, Mistress T. Wed love to have you back in the arena with us, or even just for a meal. Take your time, and let us know if we can do anything to assist.


    T smiled. Thank you, Master Cazor. Ill do that. After a moments hesitation, she added, I think I would like your help testing out a few things, if you are willing. I can exin in more detailter.


    He nodded. Ill happily hear you out, and help if I can.


    Thank you.


    Soon enough, the room was mostly empty.


    Mistress Ingrit nced to T. I believe at this point, the next logical thing would be to give them a tour of your sanctum.


    Masters Boma and Queue made identical expressions, eyes widening and mouths opening in smiles of undisguised glee. Several others had simr reactions, but no one seemed too surprised at the implied knowledge that T <em>had</em> a sanctum.


    <em>They probably assumed it, as I held the position of Eskau.</em>


    <em>-And theyre right to have assumed so.-</em>


    Mistress Ingrit continued, First, though. I think we need to confirm something. Mistress Ingrit looked around with hard eyes. Everyone is to keep their aura tightly controlled, well within their own body. We will not be inside for overlong, nor are there <em>too</em> many of us, but even so, we will be straining the integrity of the space. Dont move around unnecessarily and dump power.


    The Constructionists were nodding along, and Master Boma made an addition, We will happily help restabilize the space after we exit. What we will no doubt learn is well worth the expense.


    Mistress Ingrit smiled and dipped her head. That is kind of you, and I ept on Mistress Ts behalf. She then turned back to T. I believe that the nature of your sanctum should now be revealed.


    That caught their collective attention and the few murmured side-conversations that had tentatively started up died down almost immediately.


    T nodded to the Archivist, standing up. So, thank you all for taking so much of your day to be here.


    A ripple of mildly surprised acknowledgement came back her way. They all seemed to have seen the time as well spent. That was gratifying at least.


    She smiled and decided to just dive in, My dimensional storage, now my sanctum, is something that we know of in theory, but have never properly identified before. She pulled Kit from her belt and tossed it to form a door on the nearby wall. Kit is a devouring dimension.


    Master Queue frowned. That sounds like a dimensional storage version of the hostile artifacts we sometimes find in waning cities. We have procedures in ce to prevent those from entering cirction.


    Well, it was found near Alefast, Waning, and it is of that type, in a sense, though this one seems to be more advanced, or at least more stealthy? Certainly more patient and discreet than most. It is a creature of the void, with its power specifically oriented around dimensional magics.


    Master Boma stepped forward. Wait, is the things magic void or dimensional?


    Both. Like a Mage, creatures of the void can have mixes of magic. I call it Kit.


    That got a mixture of confused looks from some of those who didnt know her very well.


    She cleared her throat and continued. With the addition of the syphon fascia, Kit now also has illusion and physical shape changing magics, among everything else.


    That sounds unsafe. That was one of the Mage Hunters who had remained, one of three Refined. The fourth member of their group was a Paragon, equaling Grediv in advancement.


    Apparently, some arcanes specialize in taming these devouring dimensions, and they make the absolute best sanctums when so tamed, but the method of taming them is a closely guarded secret.


    So how do you have one?


    She shrugged, feeling a bit defensive. I seem to have stumbled through the process. Kit and I work well together, and I have no concern about the safety of any within my sanctum. Even so, I agree with Mistress Ingrit; you deserved to know before you step inside.


    There was a collective, ufortable nce at Kits door.


    T smiled and the door opened behind her, invitingly.


    She heard an artificial intake of breath and realized her mistake.


    t was <em>slightly </em>faster to articte the issue, though not by much. <em>-Right, Rob...-</em>


    <em>Yeah, Rob is going to be a problem</em>


    Rob did indeed choose that moment to call out. KILL ME!!!!! Oh, great Mages of humanity, free me from this mortal coil. Let me pass into the world beyond!


    Mistress Ingrit rubbed her own temples, groaning slightly. That is so much worse in person than in memory. That shouldnt be possible


    Ts shoulders slumped as she looked through the door.


    Shed decided to bring them through into her room, as it was the most normal room in the sanctum. With a thought, Rob was <em>moved</em> elsewhere.


    Master Boma cleared his throat. Mistress T, please exin.


    T looked to Mistress Ingrit, but the Librarian gestured her way encouragingly. <em>Great</em>


    T pasted on a smile and did her best, That was Rob. He is an artificial personality integrated into a casing around a fount. T held up a finger for emphasis. He is <em>not</em> the fount itself, nor a reflection of the same, though they are connected. The fount is capable of passing on at any time but chooses not to. Rob does not wish to exist. It is that misalignment in desire which causes the issue.


    The Constructionist frowned. We will want to examine Rob.


    That is eptable. <em>I would </em>love<em> to make him someone elses problem.</em>


    Mistress Ingrit took it from there. Right through this door is the main bedroom of Mistress Ts sanctum.


    Reluctantly, the group passed through the door and into the spacious room.


    Even asrge as the bedroom was, it wasnt intended for so many people, and so it quickly became crowded.


    They were all looking around with curiosity, but Lyn and Rane kept ncing towards T. Lyn spoke first, whispering to reduce the noise from her statement, This is <em>incredibly</em> fancy, T.


    T shrugged again. It was a symbol of the Houses power and wealth. They didnt skimp, thats for sure, and this is the <em>least</em> of it.


    Rane opened his mouth to say something but seemed at a loss for words. After a moment, he just shook his head and refocused on his surroundings.


    T turned and led the way out into the courtyard, beside her dais, and while most followed her, a few stayed, staring out her massive windows.


    She heard them discussing how the illusion might have been created while hiding the magics involved and decided to interject, That is a mundane window, Masters, Mistresses. The view is genuine.


    That got their attention, and they quickly followed her out of the room to look out in the direction that they had been, before, the window no longer obscuring the view.


    How big is this ce? Master Boma asked.


    T tilted her head in thought. Exactly? Im not sure, but its in the range of three miles across, in the shape of a slightly ttened sphere.


    Master Bomas eye twitched.


    Now that she thought about it, T didnt really have any idea howrge Archon dimensional storages normally were, though Master Jevin had advised her to reach a minimum size before seeking certain alterations.


    <em>-His suggested minimum size was roughly one-forty-millionth of what we have now achieved.-</em>


    T felt her own eye twitch. <em>That cant possibly be correct.</em>


    <em>-His rmendation was at least the size of a small house. Need I say more?-</em>


    <em>I I didnt actually consider that huh.</em>


    Master Boma and Master Queue seemed to be having the hardest time epting the numbers. Everyone else likely didnt have the frame of reference to truly understand the significance.


    Finally, Master Queue asked, Is this a typically-sized sanctum or arcane hold?


    T shrugged. Its probably on the smaller size, though it <em>is</em> bigger than Id have normally gotten so quickly, without a few special factors, Kit being the main one.


    He frowned. Why does that factor in?


    Devouring dimensions can consume other holds to incorporate their features, including volume, into themselves.


    That left the Constructionists speechless once more.


    Mistress Ingrit pped her hands and gestured towards the library. Shall we continue?


    Over the next hour or so, T and Mistress Ingrit led the group around the interior of the sanctum, pointing out the various features.


    Mistress Ingrit lingered in the library, though it might have just been to pull the other Librarians out with her when the group moved on.


    The crops and animals specifically imbued with Ts magics forpatible consumption had Mistress Hollys eyes practically glowing with interest and many others discussed some of the implications as they continued on.


    The training facilities, weaponry, and books on advancement had the Mage Hunters drooling.


    Masters Boma and Queue practically blinded themselves staring at the artificial sun at every opportunity, and they became almost as obsessed with the containment magics around her endingberry tree grove. They twisted themselves into awkward positions to examine the magics that were used to imbue her crops as well.


    Lyn and Rane simply trailed along, awe clearly written across their features. They did ask T some quiet questions, but not nearly as many as shed thought they would have. <em>Theyll likely pester meter.</em>


    Finally, it was time to take them into the under-part of the sanctum.


    T found the entrance hidden in the side of a hill and led the group down, down, down.


    Purple light became visible ahead of them, and they entered the underground chamber that held all the automata-rted materials, including Io floating inertly in her tank.


    It was a mark of Master Bomas control that he didnt attempt to level the ce as soon as he saw therge, glowing vessel. Mistress Ingrit? Please exin.


    Mistress Ingrit nodded. This is an inactive automaton, recovered from the hold you watched Mistress T raid. She has all the materials, both construction and research rted, from those experiments, and this was the final result of the arcanes work.


    Why hasnt it been destroyed? His voice was hard.


    T stepped forward. Because it isnt active. Its aplex, articted statue at the moment. There is nothing to run it. There is no consciousness or scripts in ce. It is the perfect specimen for humanity to study, to learn more about the ck Legion.


    A vein was pulsing on the side of Master Bomas face. I think this is foolishness. Such things are dangerous and <em>banned</em> for a reason.


    T turned to regard Io, beginning to think of a way to respond, but there was someone standing beside the tank.


    Master Xeel was looking down on the floating body of the automata as if hed always been there. There is no danger from this creation.


    Everyone but Mistresses Ingrit, Elnea, and Jenna and Master Grediv reacted with surprise to the presence of the Reforged.


    He didnt react to their surprise. I agree with Mistress T. This is a prime opportunity to study these things in a controlled manner. Ive killed no fewer than ten Honored-level automata in thest millennium, five of which were in thest hundred years. Something is stirring, and we would be wise to increase our knowledge and insight into this enemy.


    Without waiting for a response, the man vanished once more.


    T focused her senses, but she couldnt detect him at all. Even so, she knew he wasnt gone. <em>How many others are quietly along for the tour?</em>


    <em>-Well, definitionally, well never know.-</em>


    She flicked to her voidsight, pushing Flow into a void-knife form.


    The world gained fractures around her to her sight, and she was able to see a nodule of reality separate? Somehow, a bit of reality was there but not. Like it was shifted slightly to the side of what was around it.


    Somehow, T felt that fragment regard her more closely than it had before, and she got the <em>very</em> definitive impression of Master Xeel.


    He was watching her, curious.


    The fragment vibrated slightly, and T felt the miniscule tether between her center and that fragment buzz.


    She couldnt hear words, but she got the impression, We will talk, but not now.


    She was so startled that she let her voidsight vanish and refocused on the world around her.


    Without that extra sight, she couldnt see the Reforged at all.


    <em>-That seems like a secret and a deeper truth in one.-</em>


    <em>Thats for sure.</em> She wished she could have learned more<em> right then</em>, but she was in the middle of giving a tour.


    With an internal grumble, T continued the walk-around, showing them the other automata-rted materials and equipment, along with resources and information that shed managed to secret away. <em>I suppose I can move most of these books up to the library proper.</em>


    -<em>Except for the ck Legion manual.-</em>


    <em>Of course, not. That one stays locked away for sure.</em>


    After they left that part of the underground, she willed for just that to happen, and she somehow knew that it had been done.


    <em>Thanks, Kit.</em>


    Kit did not respond to her thoughts.


    As she neared the surface, T decided it was time to deal with the issue shed named Rob. That decided, she summoned him to her hand just as they came back out of the underground near the endingberry grove once more.


    The orbs voice cracked out in obvious surprise, even though he seemed to orient quickly, GAH! What? Oh! Honored Humans, kill me!!


    T red down at the orb in her hands and growled out a not-so-subtle threat, Quiet, or Ill give you to Terry to y with.


    That silenced Rob immediately.


    The Archons were looking at the orb with nervous curiosity.


    Rane looked more curious than nervous, maybe even a mite amused at the threat of ytime with Terry, and Lyn just seemed baffled.


    Master Queue was the first to speak this time, So, youre sure that the personality is distinct from the fount?


    T didnt have a good summary, at least not one that was different than what shed already stated. <em>Might as well test his helpfulness. </em>Rob? Can you answer?


    I am not the soul housed within my casing.


    That was an unexpectedly frank answer. T was almost impressed. <em>Hmmm Maybe, we can</em>


    Then, Rob continued, I vite the sanctity of this soul. I am a false personality, a false consciousness, living off of the trapped soul. The only reasonable course of action is swift justice. This heinous act demands capital punishment.


    <em>And there it is.</em> T sighed. I have a total of five founts, though Rob is the only one with an artificial consciousness built atop it. I am happy to turn them over to the appropriate parties.


    T looked to Mistress Ingrit, and the Librarian shrugged. We dont have a set procedure for such.


    Mistress Elnea stepped forward. The Bandfast Archon Council is willing to take responsibility for the founts, and sponsor the effort to determine the best course of action to decide their fate.


    That got a round of nods from everyone present.


    Master Boma was frowning, even as he nodded. Mistress T?


    Yes?


    You threatened the orb with Terry. Is that the terror bird that I remember being with you on asion?


    Yes, thats Terry.


    The Fused tilted his head to one side. But why would that be


    Terry flickered into being beside T, likely called by the repeated, rather loud, uses of his name.


    He was the size of arge horse.


    Magic spun up through the group of Archons, even as many of them stumbled back in shock.


    T stepped between Terry and the Archons, holding up her hands. Stop! This is Terry.


    Collectively, the Archons let their spellworkings die down.


    One Archon had fallen to the ground, one of the librarians who wasnt even quite Fused yet, and he was staring up at T and Terry. His eyes flicked to the endingberries, then back to T. Devouring dimensions, endingberries, trapped souls, and now a terror bird? What other horrors do you have in here?


    The cat chose that moment to finish weaving through the crowd and hop onto the downed Archonsp.


    The man squeaked in surprise, and T saw many of those around him tense.


    To his credit, the librarians tone was mostly level, though his hands were trembling, while he tried not to move, What manner of beast is this?


    T stifled herugh. That, master librarian, is a cat.


    There was a moment of silence before Master Boma nced her way, obviously confused. What?


    That is a cat, Master Boma. Nothing more or less.


    A ripple of nervous chuckles passed through those gathered around, and the young man tentatively scratched the cats head.


    The kitty purred, pressing into the hand.


    T nced toward Terry, cleared her throat, and tapped her shoulder meaningfully.


    The terror bird flickered to rest on her shoulder, sized appropriately for the perch.


    Now, shall we finish the tour?

 Chapter 277: Tests of All Types

    Chapter 277: Tests of All Types


    T led the group back to the center of her sanctum, ending the tour by showing them the standard ce the door would open, the highly defended, bunker-like setup of magical defenses.


    She led them through the door and back out into the meeting room. Terry remained on her shoulder, seemingly content to nap on his perch.


    Mistress Ingrit carefully emphasized to the group that she should be contacted with any questions and information requests.


    Masters Boma and Queue reminded T to drop by the Constructionist Guild in the next few days. That way they could help her reinforce her sanctum and undo any damage to the underpinnings of reality within it. There almost certainly was some due to so many gated humans moving through it for a bit more than an hour.


    <em>That really is pretty kind of them.</em>


    <em>-Undoubtedly, yeah. If it were cheap, dimensional spaces would be used to move people in much more efficient manners.-</em>


    She thanked them, and the meeting concluded.


    With that, everyone but Lyn, Rane, T, Master Grediv, and Mistresses Holly and Ingrit departed.


    Those six remaining Archons looked back towards Kits entrance.


    Mistress Holly smiled widely, a predatory glint in her eyes. Now, show me that <em>reinscriber.</em>


    T shrugged. Sure.


    Lyn and Rane looked toward T, questioningly.


    They all went back inside Kit, stepping out before the dais, and T addressed her friends confusion, Its exactly what it sounds like. Specifically, its a conceptual magic device that reinscribes me, or reinforces my current inscriptions, matching my most recent set.


    The two nced towards one another, eyebrows climbing, but it was Rane who responded first. Thats incredible. Can it work for anyone?


    T nodded. I believe so. At least, thats what the manual said. Even so, without healing inscriptions, or a healer on hand, I dont know how useful it will be.  She then turned to Mistress Holly. Which form of reinscription would you like to see?


    Mistress Holly seemed to consider. While I would like to see the through the skin method first, I dont think youll be demonstrating either, not for a while. Well still need to do some pervasive reworking of your scripts. We should be able to nudge you in the right direction for your Refining easily enough. Until then? We need to minimize the stresses on your body.


    -<em>Oh right.-</em>


    T hesitated then. Oh right. She frowned. I really shouldnt do this should I?


    Mistress Holly looked mildly annoyed even as she shook her head.


    Mistress Ingrit frowned. Mistress T?


    The Archivist was clearly waiting for T to exin, but it was the Inscriptionist who answered, She is damaged. I would say that she is in desperate need of Refining, but in the grand scheme of things <em>everyone</em> below Refined is in desperate need of such.


    Master Grediv rolled his eyes, and Mistress Ingrit gave Mistress Holly an arch look before the Inscriptionist sighed. I was simply hoping to examine the device, myself. Is that eptable?


    T smiled. Absolutely.


    Mistress Hollys power rolled off her in a wave of yellow-tinted magic.


    It was specifically yellow, which struck T as a bit odd, because not every working was tinged with a Mage or arcanes advancement.


    <em>Is she doing that on purpose?</em>


    <em>-You know, the only reason we think shes Refined is because of what shes let us see.-</em>


    <em>Worth asking?</em>


    <em>-Probably not.-</em>


    T gave a small smile and shrugged to herself.


    As Mistress Holly took a couple of minutes to magically examine the daiswhich was more than the reinscriber, but T didnt mindthe others looked around, taking a bit more time to soak in the features of her sanctum.


    Rane stretched. This really is a peaceful ce. I know you told us there was a whole ecosystem in here, but hearing the songbirdshe shook his headthis is incredible.


    T smiled. It is a pretty great perk toe away with, yeah.


    Lyn patted her on the shoulder. Doesnt make it better though.


    Oh, obviously not, but it is better to have, than not.


    She grinned. Oh, obviously.


    Rane had his arms spread, eyes closed, and face toward the sun. It even feels like sunlight. Ive been in Archons dimensional storages before, even those with artificial suns, and none were quite like this. This is so much <em>more.</em>


    T walked up to stand beside him. Yeah, they spend a lot more time within holds than we do. So, it makes sense that theyve perfected their creation and enhancement.


    Mistress Holly sighed loudly. I think thats all I can learn within any sort of reasonable timeframe. She turned towards T. I suppose we should get you to my shop, then, so we can do some proper diagnostics?


    They all agreed, and the group exited once again.


    Terry headbutted Ts cheek and flickered away before she closed the door and hung Kit from her belt.


    She took a moment to acquire the remains of the dinner that had been set out for them, carefully putting the cleaned tes back on the table for the staff to collect.


    <em>-Hey! Thats progress.-</em>


    <em>I progress all the time.</em> T grumbled internally, just a little.


    <em>-Ahh, but not on all things.-</em>


    <em>Thats fair.</em> She sighed.


    The group walked together out of the meeting room and to the entry hall of the Archonpound.


    Mistress Ingrit stopped near the front desk and gave a shallow bow to T. Mistress T. Thank you for allowing me to assist you, but in that vein, I do now have a <em>lot</em> of work, processing all that you brought back. I will be sure to be in contact with you as needed, and we will do what is required.


    T gave a bow in return. Thank you for handling so much.


    Mistress Ingrit hesitated, then tentatively opened her arms.


    T smiled and epted the hug gratefully.


    Wee home, Mistress T.


    T pulled back after a long moment, feeling water in her own eyes. The Archivist had unshed tears as well, and they each wiped their own eyes.


    They bowed to one another again and parted ways, T heading out towards the street with the remaining four Archons, Mistress Ingrit moving towards the library.


    Master Grediv came up beside T as they walked, speaking in a low, but not really confidential, voice, I am happy to continue to apany you or depart, whichever you wish.


    T nced towards the Paragon, considering.


    -<em>He will likely have insights into quite a few things that still remain to be revealed.-</em>


    <em>So would Master Xeel. Is he still around?</em>


    <em>-We can look, but I think we should answer Master Grediv, first.-</em>


    She nodded. While I would be grateful for your insights, I am sure you have much to do. I will leave the choice up to you, but please know that you are wee with me.


    The Archon nodded, moving to walk beside Rane. A power seized the air around them, and T recognized it as his privacy working.


    <em>Perfect time to practice and look for Master Xeel at the same time.</em>


    She pushed Flow into its void-knife form, leaving it in its sheath.


    Her voidsight opened.


    Firstly, she saw what shed expected, though she hadnt seen it explicitly before.


    Master Gredivs magic radiated from a nodule of reality that was <em>slightly</em> distinct from the pieces they were moving through.


    It was odd to really analyze. Now that she knew what to look for, every person around her, even every animal, seemed to have its own bit of reality that moved through and around all other pieces without really discing them.


    It was instantly apparent which bits had gatesall the humansbecause their fragments almost seemed to drag on the nodules they passed through, like they were rougher than those of the few animals she saw.


    T focused on Master Gredivs fragment, and she could see the working hed affected was rather easy to spot. By the flick of his eyes in her direction, she assumed that was likely because hed hoped shed notice the working and could learn something.


    <em>He could have called more attention to it.</em>


    <em>-Master Grediv seems to value go-getter attitudes. If you saw, wonderful, if you didnt that would be your loss, not his.-</em>


    <em>So, I shouldnt expect to be able to see things like this as easily in the future. </em>She sighed internally.


    That spotted, she swept her gaze around herself.


    No obviously hidden fragments were in sight, but she had no idea what that actually meant.


    -<em>I would bet that they are easier to detect in a space like Kit.-</em>


    <em>That makes sense. The fabric of reality is thinner, so pieces moving behind or around it would be more visible.</em>


    She had to turn her head to look, but she did so as smoothly as possible. Shed not tried mirroring her voidsight onto her bloodstar perspectives, but it should be possible. <em>Another thing to experiment with, soon.</em>


    T considered her list of things to experiment with and was shocked at how long it was getting.


    <em>Alright. I need to actuallye up with a priority order for these.</em> Toward that end, T began considering her to-dos.


    After a moments silence, t sighed. <em>-T. Not now. Focus outward.-</em>


    <em>Hmm?</em> T looked up, really <em>looking</em> for what felt like the first time in a while.


    Her voidsight had fallen away once shed stopped maintaining it, and so she had a rather mundane view of the scenery.


    Her magesight had little to highlight in a human city, as most power was pulled away almost immediately, so she simply saw normalcy.


    It was a human city, very much like the one shed grown up within.


    Surrounding her were the sparse pedestrians of a winters evening with the asional animal darting towards the next sheltered ce. Through the windows, T could see that, within the buildings, people were going about their normal lives.


    This was what shed been fighting to return to.


    This was humanity as she knew it.


    Safe.


    Happy.


    Normal.


    Lyn seemed to have noticed something, because she didnt interrupt T, even as they all continued walking.


    Rane and Master Grediv were still speaking within the privacy magics, and Mistress Holly was muttering to herself, likely working on something only she could see.


    So it was that T walked in silence, just soaking in the feel of the ce, the people, the humanity of it all.


    <em>Home.</em>


    There was an incredibly light snowfall, drifting down from a mostly clear sky. It was the sort of snow that wouldnt have been noticed if T hadnt taken the time to look upward, and allow her enhanced vision to sweep the sky.


    <em>More of a smattering than a true snow.</em>


    Most of the trees set into the sides of the streets, or in the parks, were free of leaves, with only a few evergreens standing out against the backdrop of snow and city.


    T hadnt bundled upshe didnt need tobut she finally noticed that Lyn had.


    Rane looked like he wished he had, but he didnt seem so ufortable that he was going to pull out warmer clothing.


    Ts eyes roamed, taking in the dichotomy of peaceful stillness of the winter evening and the bustle of the city streets.


    No sound was as loud as it should have been, with the snow that was already on the ground, and a heavy stillness pervaded the air.


    It was familiar.


    It was stunning.


    It was peaceful.


    T felt herself rxing further as she enjoyed a real winter stroll, and let herself continue to note how different it was from winter weather in toiri.


    The walk passed more quickly than T would have liked, and that helped cement in her own mind that she was moving too fast, pushing too hard.


    She was still on the edge of panic, and that wasnt sustainable.


    She hadnt really stopped and <em>rested</em> in the knowledge that she was home.


    Even during the travel between Alefast and Bandfast, shed spent her time examining herself internally and trying to adapt to her most recent changes.


    <em>I havent </em>stopped<em> in well, a long time.</em>


    <em>-Makinaven?-</em>


    <em>Yeah, I think that that month with Rane and Mistress Odera in Makinaven was thest time I really let myself just </em>be.


    The months shed spent going back and forth between Bandfast and Marliweather to be with her siblings had been slower paced, but even then, she hadnt rested. Shed simply stolen moments for her family around her otherwise full life.


    She needed a break. She needed to let herself realize that she was free, safe, and whole.


    <em>I still feel like someones watching me, ready to snatch me back to the arcanends. </em>She shuddered even as they all entered Hollys workshop.


    Lyn shivered, settling deeper into her winter clothing, Will it be warmer in the back?


    Mistress Holly gave her a confused look. Hmm? What?


    The temperature. Its winter outside, but it feels basically the same in here. Dont you heat your work areas?


    There was a Mage sitting behind the counter, shrouded inyers, looking wide-eyed at Lyn.


    As T expected, she couldnt get a reading on the womans aura or advancement. <em>Shes obviously freezing, though. So, she probably isnt Refined.</em>


    -<em>Shes also probably too afraid to ask about the situation or do something about it.-</em>


    T frowned. <em>Ive been here in the winter before. Was it cold, then?</em>


    <em>-No, not to our memory.-</em>


    Maybe something was broken.


    Mistress Holly looked around, holding out a hand as if to test the air. Mistress Emersen?


    The Mage sat up straighter, a lock of blonde hair falling free of her thick, woolen hat. Yes, Mistress Holly?


    Why did no one tell me the heat was malfunctioning?


    It isnt Mistress.


    What?


    It isnt malfunctioning. You had us turn it offst week.


    Thats right, and do you remember what I said?


    The woman cleared her throat. You said that as subjects skin heats up, it expands, ruining alignment, and you didnt have time to wait for them to achieve thermal equilibrium. So, we should just match the temperature inside to outside.


    Yes, yes. But the rest?


    Only leave the heat off until we found a better idea?


    Precisely. Are you telling me none of my apprentices havee up with a solution? After all, the issue is that people tend to bundle up, so when they take off their outeryers, there is now the reverse problem.


    <em>So, it was a test for her apprentices?</em>


    <em>-One they didnt pass, apparently.-</em>


    Mistress Emersen gave a careful smile. There are several proposed solutions awaiting your approval on your desk, Mistress.


    And no one enacted any?


    The assistant released a long breath. No, Mistress Holly. We know better than that.


    It was then that T noticed the twinkle in Mistress Hollys eyes. <em>Shes testing them in multiple ways?</em>


    <em>-Mad is the person who tries to understand Mistress Holly.-</em>


    <em>I dont know, Mistress Emersen seems to be doing a reasonable job.</em>


    Master Grediv sighed. Mistress Holly. Just heat the ce. If you really care that much about the thermal shift, you can have your clients arrive early, so theye up to the proper temperature before they see you or your apprentices.


    Mistress Holly turned to the Mage behind the desk and pointed to Master Grediv. That is an excellent idea. Mistress Emersen, see that it is done.


    The woman nodded vigorously. Yes, Mistress Holly. I will do that.


    From the womans look, T guessed that that had been exactly the policy before.


    <em>Mistress Holly does seem to go down esoteric paths sometimes, doesnt she.</em>


    <em>-Yes, but she also seems to put far more thought into her work than anything else.-</em>


    <em>True enough, yeah.</em>


    Mistress Emersen got up and scampered into the back, likely to inform others and adjust the temperature of the warehouse-sized workshop.


    Mistress Holly didnt watch the woman go as she was simply standing in ce, muttering to herself, asionally moving her hands through the air.


    T cleared her throat, and the Inscriptionist jerked slightly. Oh! Yes, yes. Right this way.


    Soon enough, they were back in Mistress Hollys personal workroom.


    The ce gave T an ache of nostalgia.


    Mistress Holly spun around as soon as the door clicked shut behind thest of them, all focus returned and oriented on T. Now, my dear, let us see what you have done to yourself, hmm?


    Didnt you already get a scan and record from the monitoring scripts?


    Of course, but thats hardlyprehensive. We need to have you fully prepped for Refinement, and that requires <em>precision.</em> Precision requires knowing <em>exactly</em> where were starting, and where we need to go.


    That made sense to T, but even so, she had a sense of foreboding.


    What followed was a lot of seemingly esoteric tests and measurements using a lot of tools that T didnt really understand.


    The first set were performed on her as she was. For the next set, Mistress Holly had her expel all the iron that she could remove safely.


    T didnt like that very much.


    The iron never went far, simply waiting off to one side in a blob-like pile.


    Still, the iron felt like the sun, shining at her. She could tell exactly where it was without effort or thought, and she wanted it back.


    <em>Well, thats not concerning</em>


    <em>-Well get it sorted. This is going to be alright.-</em>


    <em>Yeah. They wont leave us broken.</em>


    As night fell, Lyn had excused herself to go home to sleep, but only after Mistress Holly had snippily indicated that the tests wouldst most, if not all, of the night.


    Master Grediv and Rane took advantage of Mistress Hollys begrudging hospitality and went off to utilize some cots the Inscriptionist had in side-rooms.


    T remembered using one of those rooms herself, after her initial sensory enhancements.


    She did recall the cots being oddlyfortable, even to her overstimted sense of touch.


    <em>Theyll probably get a great nights sleep, then. Good. We want the Paragon in top form to help Mistress Holly n out our Refinement.</em>


    <em>-I dont doubt that Mistress Holly will be consulting far and wide on this. Master Jevin and Mistress Noelle will definitely want to weigh in.-</em>


    <em>Oh, for sure.</em>


    Mistress Holly had <em>many</em> rounds of tests of all types.


    Some involved blood, some samples of skin or hair.


    For one, Mistress Holly took a careful core sample from her scap, her shoulder de.


    That had been painful even with local anesthetics.


    asionally needles needed to be inserted into her skin in various locations, allowing myriad magics different means of analyzing her physical, spiritual, and magical substance.


    Mistress Holly also put each of her bonds, soul and magical, into analysis devices, gaining details on them in their own rights.


    By the end, as t informed T that morning was drawing near, T was beginning to suspect that this was more than even Mistress Hollys standard overboard testing.


    Still, she trusted Mistress Holly, and she definitely didnt want to fight with the woman.


    When T suspected that dawn had fully arrived, Mistress Holly finally sighed.


    That seemed like an opening, and T seized it. She tried to be respectfully inquisitive, but she did not seed in keeping the weariness out of her voice, Are you done?


    Yes, yes. There arent any other reasonable tests I can think of that might be useful.


    T felt her eye twitch. Were you simply hunting for more tests to do?


    In a sense, yes. Your biology, physiology, spirit, and magic are <em>all </em>significantly deviated from human standard, and we need to be sure that we dont cripple you with your Refinement. I wont let some silly detail, that I didnt bother to check, be what kills you or prevents you from progressing further.


    T blinked a few times. It might have been her general tiredness, but that actually made a lot of sense. Thank you?


    Why do you sound uncertain? Did you think I was just wasting both of our time?


    No, of course not.


    Good. Because this will take <em>a lot </em>of careful analysis and nning before were ready to proceed.


    T felt a sinking in her gut. So, its bad?


    I would say this is an unusually bad case, yes.


    Should I be concerned?


    In general? No, but don''t leave Bandfast city limits until you''re Refined.


    T deted a little bit more. Oh. Thats pretty bad.


    Hmm? Oh, thats not really because of the results, its just thatst time that you left, it took you nearly a year to return, and it would be best if we didnt dy overmuch.


    She opened her mouth to respond, but found that she really didnt have anything to say.


    -<em>Well, shes not wrong.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, thats what Im realizing.</em>


    Mistress Holly was tapping her lips with one finger. Why dont you take a week? Rest, eat, read, walk, speak with friends.


    T found herself nodding. That sounded absolutely wonderful.


    Mistress Hollys eyes hardened. This is not a training week. I dont want to hear that youve been pushing yourself, or sparring. You may keep up with physical conditioning, but thats it. Understood?


    Understood.


    Good. Now, send in Master Grediv. He and I have a lot to discuss.


    T nodded, standing and stretching. Shed been moving around all night due to the nature of the various tests, but it still felt good to move just for the sake of moving. What about going by the Constructionist Guild?


    Mistress Holly nodded absently. So long as you dont power any scripts yourself, that should be eptable.


    T gave a shallow bow. Thank you, Mistress Holly.


    The woman paused, turning to fully face T. You are most wee, Mistress T. I am d that you are safe and mostly whole. She smiled sincerely. Wee back.

 Chapter 278: Breakfast

    Chapter 278: Breakfast


    T left Mistress Hollys workroom only to find Mistress Emersen walking down the hallway, arge mug of coffee in each hand.


    The womans blonde hair was now free of her woolen hat, held in a tight weave that seemed to circle the Mages head. The older woman smiled. Mistress T, I thought this might benefit you this morning.


    T took the offered mug, savoring the smell. This smells amazing. Thank you.


    Of course, Mistress.


    Before the Mage could move on, T decided to ask a question that was bothering her, if only just a bit. If I may, why do you work for her?


    Mistress Emersen shrugged, not seeming surprised by the question in the least. Shes the best.


    Does she actually teach you anything?


    Of course.


    Is it reasonable? Working for her, I mean.


    The woman huffed augh. A fool cannot learn, even from a wise man, but a wise woman can learn even from a fool. Mistress Holly is no fool, and I strive to avoid thatbel as well. Work is work, and Im here to learn.


    T found herself smiling. I suppose that makes sense. She lifted her mug in salute. Thank you again.


    You are most wee, Mistress T. Good morning. Without another word, she went on her way.


    She didnt really know what she expected, but she was d that Mistress Emersen and Hollys other assistants and workers werent universally trapped.


    <em>-Yes, you made sure at least one was here of her own volition.-</em>


    <em>Im not going to bug everyone, am I? </em>She shook her head, taking another sip.


    It was <em>so </em>good.


    <em>Now, where are Rane and Master Grediv?</em>


    She was about to call after Mistress Emersen when she heard voices from the front entry area and moved that way to investigate.


    Master Grediv and Rane were in the waiting room, each drinking coffee from their own mugs.


    It was the Paragon who saw her first. Ah, good. Youre finally done. I assume that Mistress Holly is ready to speak with me?


    T nodded. She is. Did you both sleep well?


    The men nodded, smiling.


    Yes, thank you, Mistress T.


    I did, thank you, T.


    Master Grediv waved goodbye to Rane, and headed down the hall that T had juste from.


    Rane shifted a little, straightening just slightly as he took another sip. Shall we find breakfast? I imagine youre hungry, and I could definitely do with some good food.


    T grinned. I know just the ce. Lets see if Lyn can join us.


    They left their mugs in the designated ce to one side of the waiting room, thanked the young man behind the counter this morning, and departed.


    The sun wasnt up yet, but the sky was beginning to lighten.


    There were a few wispy clouds above them, but no sign of falling snow.


    That which was already on the ground squeaked beneath their feet with each step, and T reveled in the pleasant cool on her soles.


    Her weight distribution scripts kept her from sinking into the snow, but it still pressed against the bottoms of her feet, and that was as good for waking up as the coffee had been.


    Even though it was a brisk morning, the two Fused didnt walk quickly.


    Rane pulled out a cloak against the morning chill, sweeping it around his own shoulders, and only then did T realize that Hollys workshop had been quite nicely warmed towards the end.


    <em>I suppose the temperature controls are rather effective.</em>


    <em>-Even if they werent, it shouldnt take more than an entire night to bring such a space up to a desired temperature.-</em>


    <em>Thats true enough.</em>


    The street lights were beginning to dim, though a true brightening of the sky was likely nearly an hour off. T suspected that she could see the current change only because of her enhanced perception.


    As they meandered, neither Rane nor T seemed to feel the need to fill the space between them with chatter, and T found herself appreciating the quietfort of Ranes familiar presence.


    It had been too long since shed been among friends.


    Thron could have been a friend, and maybe he still would be if their paths ever crossed again, but right now, she knew that her necessary deception had left him understandably reticent and suspicious of her.


    Theirst day together had undone some of that, but she would still have to be careful of him, at least initially, when they met again.


    As the thought came to her, she realized that even after a bit of separation, she really did want to meet him again. <em>But maybe not for a decade or two. I need a break.</em>


    Regardless, it had been far too long since shed been with true friends.


    She hesitated. <em>Thats not really true anymore, is it.</em>


    <em>-Weve only been back in the human cities for three days, so its true enough.-</em>


    <em>Its kind of funny that my birthday is three days away.</em>


    She was going to be twenty-one. In the grand scheme of things, she was a child.


    Well, by her age she was fairly child-like, but by her deeds and experiences? Not so much.


    <em>Ive killed my way through uncounted warriors older than me, more experienced than me, and even many more powerful than me.</em>


    <em>-I could count them, if you wanted.-</em>


    <em>Thats not the point, and you know it.</em>


    <em>-Yes, the point was to be mncholic and melodramatic.-</em>


    T grimaced, her mood thrown off. <em>Ive waded through rivers of blood to get back, and I never considered that cost.</em>


    Somehow, T <em>felt</em> a flick to her own forehead and immediately knew that t had sent the feeling her way. <em>-Death is never light, but it is sometimes necessary. Stop trying to make yourself feel worse than you already are.-</em>


    Rane seemed to have noticed something, because he cleared his throat. Are you alright?


    T shrugged. Caught in memories.


    He smiled sympathetically. I cant imagine what you went through, what price you had to pay toe back.


    That struck ufortably close to home, but before she couldpile a response, he continued.


    If you ever want to talk, Im here. If you never want to talk, Ill still be here. His smile grew a little. Im just d youre back.


    That hit a nerve, and she frowned. How <em>did</em> you know?


    Hmm?


    How did you know I was still alive?


    Rane opened his mouth, but didnt seem to have anything to say. More than anything, he looked at a loss. I wish I could tell you, but I genuinely cant.


    She sighed. Yeah, you already said that.


    Silence fell again between them, and before it could be awkward, T gently shoulder-checked the big man.


    Even the rtively light bump knocked him to the side a bit, and he snorted augh. Heavier than ever, I see. You are going to be a terror in the ring.


    T saw a sh of arcane blood painting the world around her, figments of walls rising up in a ring, candidate Eskau in with brutal efficiency. <em> We need to deal with Tali.</em>


    -<em>Eventually, yes.-</em>


    Rane seemed to realize hed said something wrong. My apologies. I feel like Im walking blind and constantly finding my foot in my own mouth.


    She shrugged. Its Its a lot, but I <em>will</em> be okay. She looked up and saw Lyns house just ahead, then turned and smiled toward Rane. After all, I''m home now. She grinned slyly before adding, And you putting your foot in your mouth is a very familiar part of that.


    She pulled the iron key to Lyns house from Kit even as Rane made mock affronted noises while they walked up to the door. She paused then, just holding it for a long moment.


    There had been many times shed wanted to pull this out when she was pretending to be Tali, but shed never trusted herself or her emotions. It was too poignant a reminder of home.


    <em>There really is a lot that I need to work through.</em> But first, she had to deal with something else.


    Aside from the emotion attached to the key, there was another issue.


    The key was iron.


    The key was hers.


    T could feel herself resonating with the key in her hands.


    A blip of magic told her that Rane had activated his magesight, before he asked a simple question that warmed her heart, Do you need silence or help?


    Silence.


    She saw him nod in her mirrored perspective before stepping back, positioning himself between her and the street beyond, facing away. She smiled at that.


    <em>-That was kind.-</em>


    <em>Yes, it was.</em> But that wasnt important at the moment. <em>Lets figure this out.</em>


    There was a <em>pull </em>from the key, or maybe it was from within her, but in either case, her aura red from the key, and it seemed almost to fuzz.


    <em>No.</em> The word was more an act of will than a fully formed thought.


    The key resolidified, exactly as she remembered it.


    Curious, she held the key in her right palm and ced her empty left beside it.


    Iron dust flowed through her skin without pain or issue, taking on the vague shape of a key.


    No matter how she pushed, it wouldnt solidify into a usable copy, though she didnt take more than a minute to try.


    <em>Why can I maintain the key, but not create a new one?</em> And in the asking, she realized the answer. <em>It is easier to destroy than create, and not destroying is easier still.</em>


    As she explored her connection to the key as well as her own feelings and instincts, she realized a crucial difference between the key and the iron dust that had been in the smithy.


    <em>This is mine and with me. There is no danger of it leaving my sway, so I dont need to take it from its current purpose.</em>


    <em>-And in the smithy, if youd left the iron dust, it would have been lost to you.-</em>


    <em>Exactly.</em> With that understanding, it made perfect sense. Dasgannach left the iron where they found it, until they themselves left. She wasnt leaving this key, so there wasnt any need to strip it of iron, though she knew that she still could.


    Huh. She grunted before putting the key in the lock and unlocked the door.


    Behind her, Rane turned, a carefully small smile pulling at his lips. Better?


    Yeah. Im still all mixed up on so many things, but there shouldnt be any present danger to me or anything else.


    As ominous as that sounded, Rane took it in stride, simply nodding and gesturing for her to proceed.


    They entered, closing the door behind them, and a voice called out to them, Hello?


    <em>Thats not Lyn. </em>Kannis?


    A girlish gasp came from the sitting room. Mistress T?


    The mageling came practically flying down the short hallway and mmed into T, in an attempt at a hug.


    T caught her as gently as she could, but the young woman still groaned on impact, Ow youre as solid as a rock.


    T chuckled in response. And youre still soft and squishy.


    Kannis pulled back, mostly ignoring Ts oddities, as usual. I was there when Mistress Lyn got your message, but I still couldnt believe it.


    T felt a bit awkward as they separated and used the moment to mirror the self-cleaning from her elk-leathers to her feet before shaking each one gingerly. <em>No need to track muck from the street inside.</em>


    Kannis gave an appropriate bow towards Rane. Master Rane, wee.


    There was a moment of silence as Rane pulled off his boots before the mageling gestured them further in.


    Mistress Lyn just stepped back into her room a moment ago, I imagine shell


    Lyns voice floated from the back. Kannis? Are those voices? Is someone here?


    Yes, Mistress! Mistress T and Master Rane are here.


    Oh! The sound of quick-moving, sure footsteps moved their way. Come in,e in!


    Lyn and Kannis were both dressed for the day, despite it still being quite early, and when T thought about her time living with Lyn, that tracked.


    <em>I still get up earlier, but with winter afoot, it makes sense that theyre up and ready before the sun.</em>


    Instead of sitting, T decided to just address why they were there. Were actually going to get breakfast, do you want to join us?


    Lyn froze on the spot, looking <em>incredibly</em> conflicted.


    Kannis smiled, ncing towards her master. Go, Mistress Lyn. I can handle the morning duties.


    The older woman still looked uncertain. Are you sure?


    Absolutely, its not like this is an everyday urrence.


    Thank you, Kannis. Ill make it up to you.


    It is my pleasure. She turned and bowed to Rane and T. It was a pleasure to see you both. Dont keep her toote.


    T grinned. Well do our best.


    With that, Rane put his boots back on, Lyn pulled hers on for the first time, and the three went out into the calm, early winter morning.


    Breakfast was amazingly uneventful, and T just tried to take Mistress Hollys advice and follow her own growing sense of what she needed.


    She rxed.


    She let herself just <em>be.</em>


    Honestly, it was stressful.


    At first, she constantly felt like someone was watching her, about to attack, but once she had done everything reasonable to ensure that wasnt true, she came to the realization that it was actually the <em>absence</em> of danger that was making her nervous and anxious.


    She was used to being on edge, having her every word potentially be judged. Shed gotten to a state of numb eptance, even taking fairly foolish risks at times, but the danger had always been there. Shed been in a den of rats while made of cheese.


    <em>-That is an awful metaphor.-</em>


    <em>Im working through stuff, t. Let me process.</em>


    <em>-Fine, fine.-</em>


    Thus, now that she was out of danger, it felt <em>wrong.</em>


    Like she was just failing to notice the hostile people who <em>had </em>to be there.


    The genuine safety and security felt unearned and false, like it couldnt possibly be real.


    This had to be a trap, or an illusion, or a trick.


    But it wasnt.


    One meal wasnt enough time to truly convince herself of that, even though she desperately wanted it to be, but it was enough for her to catch the barest edges of the truth.


    She had only begun her reconciliation with, and realization of, her homing.


    She was more broken and ragged than shed ever have realized, and now that she didnt need to put up a front, she was starting to crack.


    <em>Yeah, Im d weve got a Mistress-Holly-enforced vacation.</em>


    As breakfast ended, and Lyn bid them goodbye, the woman hesitantly brought up one thing. I will need you to drop by the Caravanners Guild at some point in the next couple of weeks so we can sort out your contract. Theres no danger of vition or anything like that, but we do need to tie up the legal loose ends.


    T felt her face twitch.


    Lyn clearly noticed Ts reaction, because she held up her hands and smiled. There really is no rush, and there is nothing negative to deal with. Its just a formality, but it is a required one.


    Finally, T nodded. Ill see what I can do.


    Lyn held up a finger. When youre ready, and not a day sooner.


    T smiled at that. Sure. Are you sure youre okay with me using your house, again?


    Ill say it as many times as you need: Yes. You are always wee. She looked to Rane too. Both of you, if you need.


    Rane smiled. Thank you, but I wont impose upon the three of you.


    Lyn shrugged. Its up to you. Take care, today. Ill see you soon!


    As Lyn walked one way, they walked the other and Rane nced toward T. What now?


    T shrugged. I need to drop through the Constructionist Guild.


    Right, to reinforce your sanctum.


    Yeah.


    As he opened his mouth to respond, his eyes unfocused and he pulled a small te out of his dimensional storage.


    Whats up?


    Master Grediv reached out through the Archive. Im needed at Mistress Hollys workshop.


    Oh? How did you know?


    He had me add a simple script that he can activate through the Archive and alert me when he messages me through there. He was less than pleased when I vanished on him for a few months.


    Oh The time he wouldnt talk about. What does he want?


    Rane shrugged. Apparently, Master Grediv believes Im about ready to Refine, or at least start the process. Hes been pushing me this way since before I was a Mage, so its not unexpected. He huffed augh. He reminds me quite often that Im actually a couple years behind some of his previous students.


    Well, rust, personalized training is the way to go, it seems.


    That is why the system is set up with magelings and masters. He gave her a wide, knowing grin.


    Youve got a mouth on you. When did that happen?


    He shrugged. Would you prefer it on you?


    They both froze, midstep.


    Rane flushed <em>deep </em>red. Thats not what I meant!


    T startedughing.


    He seemed to be torn between wringing his hands and grabbing her shoulders to emphasize that he had not meant <em>that</em>.


    That just made Tugh all the harder.


    It was a short while before she pulled herself back under control.


    Those who passed them in that time gave them a wide berth, but seemed to be smiling as they did so.


    Finally, T grinned up at Rane. I needed that. It was a goodugh. Thank you.


    Rane scratched the back of his head. Youre wee, I suppose? He nced over his shoulder. I should get going though. Reconnectter?


    Sure. Ill drop through Mistress Hollys after Im done at the Constructionists.


    That sounds like a n.


    With smiles and waves, they parted ways, and T set out to have Kit repaired and reinforced.


    <em>One mostly normal breakfast.</em> T felt a sense of foreboding that she couldnt shake, even though she <em>knew</em> that it was her mind ying tricks on her. <em>I wonder how many more Ill be allowed?</em>


    <em>-T. Is there anything I can do?-</em>


    <em>I know you could modify my mind, but that wouldnt be good on any level.</em>


    <em>-Oh, yeah, one hundred percent that would be a bad idea. I more meant if there was anything you wanted me to look into or the like.-</em>


    T smiled to herself as she continued on her way, walking slowly, but not slowly enough to be a nuisance to those around her. <em>Maybe begin parsing the books we have? Id like to learn what they have to teach, but I doubt Ill have time to go through them all on my own.</em>


    <em>-Say no more. Ill get right on it.-</em>


    <em>Thank you, t.</em>


    <em>-Happy to assist.-</em>


    <em>No, really. Thank you, t, for everything.</em>


    There was a long pause before the alternate interface responded. -<em>You are most wee. Lets get both of us sorted, eh? Then, we can tackle anything thates our way.-</em>


    That, T had to admit, was an excellent n.

 Chapter 279: Dimensional Stability

    Chapter 279: Dimensional Stability


    T purposely didnt take the most direct route to the Constructionists Guild.


    She let her feet lead her wherever they would, and she just enjoyed being out among humanity.


    Shed barely taken a few steps before t briefly interrupted her.


    <em>-Mistress Ingrit has asked that we inform her when were heading to get Kit sorted out.-</em>


    <em>Oh, alright. Can you keep her in the loop?</em>


    <em>-Sure.-</em>


    <em>It shouldnt take too long, right? Its just a little repair work.</em>


    T felt deep skepticism from t. <em>-Every time weve done anything with Kit, it has been beyond our expectations in some way. I think we should be prepared for </em>something<em>, even if we dont know exactly what.-</em>


    <em>Thats fair, I suppose.</em>


    In a city like Bandfast, there were almost always people aboutat least in the central ringeven in less than ideal weather. This day was actually a rather sunny one, so there were even more people about than usual as average citizens tried to get a bit more sun while they could.


    T didnt let her mind focus on anything too important, though she did open Kit and call to Terry to see if he wanted to join her.


    He trilled back, seemingly grateful for the invitation but didnt flicker out.


    That was fine.


    She closed Kit once again, patting the pouch and sending a few void-channels to top off the dimensional storage.


    Shed gotten in the habit of recharging the artifact periodically throughout the day, and she wasnt in a hurry to break it.


    It was midmorning by the time she arrived at her destination, walking through the open entry way.


    The scanning magics took a reading of the aura put forward by her through-spike, clearly noting that she was a human Archon.


    Having just had the environment starkly pointed out in Mistress Hollys workshop, T noticed that flush with the archway was a stark transition of cold to warm air.


    The magics keeping the distinction were <em>incredibly </em>subtle andplex, seemingly not keeping the air or anything else from moving freely.


    Instead, if T had to guessand she rather enjoyed the challengeshe would say that it was stripping outgoing air of warmth, and adding warmth to whatever came through, seemingly based on density.


    That meant that she received <em>very little</em> heat, but airing in woulde up to temperature immediately.


    <em>Fascinating. Why have I never noticed before?</em>


    <em>-You arent very focused on temperature, given that you arent very affected by it.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, that tracks.</em> There were obviously other magics involved as well, otherwise there would be a perpetual mist as the warm air exited and cooled, and that wascking. Still, now was not the time for deep analysis of this bit of magic.


    The chime that announced her entrance summoned an assistant almost as if by teleportation.


    <em>-Now youre just being regrly dramatic. They walked out, if quite quickly and as soon as the chime sounded.-</em>


    <em>Fine, fine.</em>


    Mistress? How can I assist you?


    T smiled. I am here to see Masters Boma and Queue. I believe that they are expecting me, but not necessarily right now. Could you see if now is a good time for them to see me? Im Mistress T.


    At her name, the assistants eyes widened. Mistress T! Wee, wee. The young man pped his hands twice, and T saw a script activate across his skin each time, sending a pulse of <em>something</em> somewhere that she couldnt determine.


    <em>The archive?</em>


    <em>-Could work, or just somewhere else to signal the arrival of specific people?-</em>


    Regardless, a momentter two more assistants came out into the entry way.


    The first assistant sent one to each of the Masters before turning back toward T. They will be along shortly. The Mage gave a small chuckle. Their instructions were quite clear; they wanted to be informed of your arrival the moment you came in.


    Oh, well, thank you. She licked her lips, an enticing scent catching her nostrils. Is that coffee I smell?


    It is, Mistress. Can I get you a mug?


    T nodded. That would be lovely.


    <em>-T-</em>


    <em>Its fine. I was up all night. A little coffee wont hurt me.</em>


    <em>-Mistress Emersen gave you some, then you had more at breakfast.-</em>


    <em>And it''s just one more cup here. See? Just three cups. No issue at all.</em>


    The assistant was already back with a mug of coffee.


    Thank you. T hesitated frowning. I apologize, I didnt catch your name.


    Srip, Mistress.


    Well, thank you, Master Srip.


    It is my pleasure. Is there anything else that I can get you, or any other way in which I can be of assistance?


    No, I think this is perfect. She lifted the mug in indication, then took a long pull. <em>Amazing.</em>


    t sighed with obvious disappointment within Ts head but didnt say anything further.


    It was indeed a bare couple of minutes before both Masters Boma and Queue came into the entryway.


    Their entrances were almost simultaneous, though they came from different hallways, and that fact seemed to make both men smile.


    Master Queue was the first to speak. Mistress T, wee, wee. Do you have any other business with us, before we address the stability of your dimensional storage?


    <em>Well need to empower our Archive connection, but now is hardly the time for that.</em>


    <em>-And I suspect it might put a strain on you, spiritually if not physically, and Fused as you are, it couldplicate your Refining.-</em>


    <em>That was my thought too.</em>


    <em>-Should we mention the Leshkin weaponry?-</em>


    T sighed internally. <em>Not yet. Id love tobine some of it with Flow, if possible, move it closer to a true, morphic weapon, but we still might need to sell some.</em>


    <em>-If we are still in need of money at the end of this, Im going to be rusting irritated.-</em>


    <em>Thats true enough. </em>T shrugged. Not off hand, no.


    The Refined man nodded before turning to his colleague. You have it all set up, correct?


    Master Bomas gruff tone was slightly softer than usual, I do, yes.


    Without another word needed, the three went down a hallway, Master Boma in the lead.


    T paused, ncing back. Thank you, Master Srip!


    The assistant smiled and bowed in return. You are most wee, Mistress T.


    The three Archons walked further back into thepound and through a set of iron doors.


    When T saw the massive bits of iron, she had a moment of panic, but while she could somehow <em>feel</em> the iron, there was nothing more than that.


    <em>Huh. Well, its not like this is the first bit of iron Ivee across.</em>


    <em>-Not in the least, but it is probably the most in one ce.-</em>


    <em>Undoubtedly, yes. There is something odd, though </em>She could sense <em>something</em>, but it wasnt clear what it was.


    <em>-It almost feels like a sure knowledge that the doors arent yours.-</em>


    <em>So, ownership, or authority over the doors? Fascinating.</em>


    <em>-Yes, we really do need to explore this new aspect of your vision. I am d you didnt try to eat the door.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, it is good to know I wont be a raving maniac around iron, I suppose.</em>


    Master Queue cleared his throat. Mistress T?


    T jerked slightly, startled out of her thoughts. Hmm?


    Is everything alright? You were staring at the doors with sort of an odd look on your face.


    Yeah, everythings fine. T quickly entered the merging room after the two others, not making eye contact.


    Inside waited a few dozen crates, each heavily imbued with magic.


    To her quick scan, they all seemed to be oriented towards preservation and istion of the contents. <em>That makes sense.</em>


    Now. Master Boma was walking over towards one of the crates. The most critical thing is to determine which method of reinforcement will work best for your dimensional storage. They would all do some good, but these materials are too expensive to use anything but the mostpatible.


    A throat cleared from near the door, and the three Archons turned. Mistress Elnea stood in the doorway. Were you nning on starting without me?


    They all seemed a bit startled as the silence extended.


    The head of the Bandfast Archon Council tsked. I asked Mistress Ingrit to keep me informed on anything to do with your sanctum, Mistress T. She let me know that you were on your way here, so I thought that Id join you.


    <em>Oh! Right, shed wanted to see me bond with Kit when that happened. I suppose that means shes interested in general.</em>


    The woman then lifted an eyebrow towards the two men. I did send you each a message to the same effect. Was it not received?


    Masters Boma and Queue nced toward each other, both shaking their heads, and Master Queue responded, No, Mistress Elnea. We would have informed you before we came here, if so.


    Mistress Elnea chuckled. Well, Im not here to interfere, though Im happy to consult. I simply want to observe and be of assistance.


    That seemed to settle thest bits of nerves.


    The three lesser Archons bowed towards Mistress Elnea. Wee, Mistress.


    Thank you, Master Queue.


    The Mistress came the rest of the way in and closed the door behind her.


    Now, it looks like you were about to test which method of reinforcement might be best suited?


    That received nods.


    Wonderful. If you will permit me, I brought a measurement and analysis artifact to be ced within the sanctum?


    T tilted her head to one side. To what end?


    Well, in theory, the dimensional space <em>should</em> be separate from the magics used to ess and alter it, but it is always good to have measurements to be sure of that during and after the fact.


    Master Queue nodded. We were going to use such a device, once we determined which would be best suited. Did you bring a universal one or?


    She pulled out a sphere that seemed to be made of rusted copper. This is one of my own design, specifically made for assessing unknown sub-dimensional spaces.


    That perked their interest. In particr, Mistress Elnea noticed Ts reaction.


    Yes, we asionally doe across such spaces, and some of them <em>are</em> ether holdsby the terminology of the arcanesbut not all. Im happy to discuss the subject with you after this is sorted.


    T nodded. That would be of interest, thank you.


    Now, what do we have here?


    As it turned out, the head of the Archon Council hade bearing gifts.


    She added two additional crates to those already arranged around the center of the room.


    T listened as the other three discussed the contents of the various boxes. She tried to learn from what they were discussing, but much of it was beyond her understanding, and she simply asked for t to help her file the information away forter.


    Apparently, each box held harvests or artifacts of magic with a bent towards dimensional stability and reinforcement of reality.


    T opened Kit to drop Mistress Elneas diagnostic orb into it, and the woman began gathering information forparisonter on, though she was already reviewing it on a te that she held in one hand.


    Master Queue was the one to exin what woulde next. We will put your storage down in the center of the crates and open the lids. By close examination of the zeme in the room, we should be able to determine what resonates most closely with the magics of the pouch, and then we can merge it with those magics.


    T nodded. I dont know that a specific merging will be required. Kit tends to just eat what I give it, these days.


    That got their attention.


    Seeing their heightened focus, T shrugged. Theres not much more to say, Kit eats the hold or other things I give it, and grows ordingly.


    The three seemed to take that in stride, pondering implications that T likely hadnt considered.


    What is the difference between the crates? T asked with curiosity.


    Master Boma answered sinctly, Well, each one has a slightly different method of stability or strength.


    That made a lot of sense, actually. Just as each fire Mage had slightly different methods for gathering and controlling fire, each of these items would have a different means of enacting their purpose.


    Master Queue opened his mouth to say more but hesitated before turning to the older woman beside them, Mistress Elnea, can you exin?


    Mistress Elnea smiled and nodded. Certainly, though I doubt Ill say it better than you could have.


    They all oriented on her, listening intently.


    As you know, our reality is not, precisely, stable. We dont know how stable it <em>should</em> be, but we measure stability based on how close it is to the theoretical maximum.


    T nodded. So a percentage scale?


    Precisely, yes. We will not found a new city if the integrity is below fifty percent.


    Her eyes widened at that. So low?


    Mistress Elnea shook her head. That is near the maximum weve recorded. In this room, right now. She pulled out a small disk, ncing at it before nodding. Reality integrity is at forty percent. When this city is abandoned, it will be between twenty and thirty percent. As Archons have ranged far and wide, the highest integrity we have urately measured on Zeme is sixty percent.


    T nodded. <em>I wonder what the world-fragment would be measured at.</em>


    <em>-The stability we felt It very well might be a hundred percent, or close to it.-</em>


    <em>Yeah.</em>


    Now,the older woman continueda brand new, manmade, artifact dimensional storage generally is measured at between ten and fifteen percent, and weve never recovered a side dimension measured below five percent.


    That makes sense. T pondered for a moment. What about ether holds?


    Mistress Elnea grinned. That is an astute question. There are two groups in that, in both cases the numberse back in the twenty to thirty percent range. The odd thing is sometimes that reading is <em>negative.</em>


    T blinked. What?


    Exactly.the Council Head leaned forward, obviously getting excited about the topic"Weve tried quite a few different measurement methodologies, and it just seems that some ether holds have an oddly inverse rtionship with reality that returns a negative number. Some have theorized that they are dimensional storages that broke apart and kept breaking, that they descended so far into chaos it began to look like order again, but that isnt something that has ever really made much sense to me.


    So, what does Kit read at?


    She nced at the te in her hand. Twenty-three percent.


    That caused the two Constructionists to pause. So the integrity isnt in danger?


    Oh it is damaged, at least assuming that this type of storage has much inmon with ether holds. They tend to begin to irrevocably break down at a higher percentage.


    Master Boma scratched the side of his nose. So, more stable, but also more dependent on that stability.


    Master Queue nodded. That would make a lot of sense. I also imagine that arger dimensional pocket would be simrly more stable, and more dependent on that stability.


    Master Boma waved him off with a huff. Dont tell me youre a pocket Zeme believer.


    You saw the memories we purchased ess to. That very well might be true.


    T frowned. <em>What?</em>


    <em>-Mistress Ingrit has been following your wishes and negotiating for ess to your information on your behalf. I have a record of what has been granted and to whom. It appears that these two have ess to brief glimpses of the world-fragment, many of the holds you entered, and a </em>very<em> simplified look at the Doman-Imithe.-</em>


    <em>Ahh, I was wondering if and when the Doman-Imithe woulde up.</em>


    <em>-Yes, Mistress Ingrit added a note about that, for us. Apparently, it is heavily need to know. Though, as we came by the information on our own, we are not required to maintain silence. Even so, caution is advised if we wish to share the knowledge with anyone.-</em>


    <em>Like so many other things.</em>


    <em>-Yeah.-</em>


    The two Constructionists were starting to get heated, but they seemed to both realize the fact as they each took a step back, turning half away.


    Mistress Elnea politely cleared her throat. So, testing Kit.


    T nodded, walking forward and cing the pouch on the ground, centered among the crates, before backing up to stand next to the half-wall back near the entrance.


    She briefly nced at the stack of papers and other odds and ends sitting on top of the wall before dismissing them as unimportant.


    Masters Boma and Queue took up their positions, their magesights ring to life.


    Then, with a synchronized movement of their hands, the men gestured, and their power opened all the crates simultaneously.


    Power radiated from each box, up and out into the room.


    For a long moment, nothing happened.


    Master Boma slumped slightly, grunting. No obvious resonance.


    T sighed. Come on, Kit.


    Master Queue was less pessimistic. Come on, little storage. These are all here for you. Take your pick.


    A breathter, she felt like a deep cord had been struck, thrumming through the room as something <em>shifted.</em>


    No one else seemed to noticed, but that seemed impossible.


    -<em>T. Is that?-</em>


    <em>Authority? Ownership?</em> Her bonding of the dasgannach had given her a view into that esoteric side of magic, and that sight was trying to show her something, though she didnt really understand what she was seeing.


    <em>Master Queue just gave Kit some authority over the items.</em>


    <em>-And over this situation. But that doesnt </em>really<em> make sense. The authority was there, before, or it should have been.-</em>


    <em>But maybe not highlighted? Kit is a creature, it seems, but we dont know how intelligent, not really. Maybe, Master Queues words were like telling someone that theyre wee to a cookie thats been on the te near them?</em>


    <em>-Sure, maybe?-</em>


    Then, her thoughts were interrupted as her own magesight showed her something that shed only witnessed a handful of times when Kit devoured another dimension or item.


    Power rose up from the pouch reaching out in every direction at once.


    At the same time, T detected Kit expending <em>massive </em>amounts of power. Without even pausing to consider, she extended her aura toward Kit and funneled as many,rge void-channels as she could into the pouch.


    Every drop of magic she offered was slurped up with ravenous abandon.


    Master Queue shouted, gesturing and causing his magic to m the crates closed. Master Boma acted at the same time, but silently.


    The lids obeyed, but dimensionality distorted, and the lids fell closed, only partially covering the now-muchrger openings.


    Void power filled the room, radiating outward, but not actually interacting with most of the space.


    Like a smith carrying a glowing bar of metal through the room to cast heat everywhere, even though the metal didnt actually interact with anything, so it was with the void.


    The four humans were all misted with void energy as Kit acted.

 Chapter 280: Mine is Secure

    Chapter 280: Mine is Secure


    T watched in fascination as Kit seemed to im every offered magical item in the room, containment crates and all.


    If she had to put words to what she was seeing, she would have said that it appeared like limbs of power reached out towards the presented objects. Each limb was an unnatural amalgamation, seeming like fur-covered limbs with <em>far</em> too many joints, but made out of power rather than flesh and fur.


    Every limb ended in a sort of hand-like paw, and each reached its crate at the same time,tched on in one motion, and <em>pulled.</em>


    With a stretching and distortion of the entire room, every single crate vanished along with their contents. Several other things seemed to have been pulled in at the same time, including the papers and knick-knacks from the top of the half-wall and Master Queues right shoe.


    <em>What?</em>


    <em>-What?-</em>


    Why had Kit taken things beyond the crates?


    Mistress Elnea was staring, wide-eyed, at what seemed to be readouts on the te in her hand, seemingly utterly fascinated by what she was seeing.


    Master Boma was panting and sweating, red-faced and wide-eyed. His hands were spread, and T could sense power on the edge of being released to defend the Archon, but it hadnt been needed.


    Master Queue had his eyes closed tightly, his face drained of color. Even so, he simrly was sheathed in not-quite-released power.


    T well, she wasnt really surprised if she took the time to consider it.


    <em>That was a bit more dramatic than I was expecting.</em>


    <em>-To be fair, Kit is likely much more powerful than thest time we presented it with something this small.-</em>


    That was true enough. Kit had devoured whole holds in a matter of minutes, what was a few crates? Come on, Kit. That wasnt very nice. Were trying to help you, and you took <em>everything,</em> including more than you were actually offered<em>.</em>


    There was a ripple and Master Queues shoe was suddenly sitting beside the pouch.


    T sighed, walking forward to pick up the pouch and the shoe, hanging the first on her belt and moving to give the second back to its owner. As she did so, T continued speaking to Kit, Well, thank you for returning that, at least.


    The pouch did not respond.


    Master Queue opened his eyes and hesitantly took his shoe. Thankhe swallowed, then licked his lipsThank you.


    She smiled in return. Sure. Thank you as well. T nced towards the other woman. Mistress Elnea, was that sessful?


    The woman nodded without looking up. Yes, very much so. More than just the raw number, it seems like the various <em>methods</em> of stability have been drawn in and incorporated. This is <em>fascinating.</em>


    <em>-T, we might have a financial issue.-</em>


    <em>Oh?</em>


    <em>-They had offered the contents of </em>one<em> of those crates as a courtesy to repair Kit after the tour we offered. Those that Mistress Elnea brought were a gift, but Kit still took dozens of times the value of what the two Constructionists received.-</em>


    T had a bad feeling about that. <em>How much?</em>


    <em>-Each crate was apparently worth a couple of hundred gold.-</em>


    She cursed internally.<em> Come on, Kit!</em>


    She decided to get in front of the issue. Masters. The value of the crates?


    The two men looked towards her, and they both grimaced. It was Master Queue who spoke first, Yes, that is unfortunate. But I believe that there is <em>much</em> from your time away that is of interest to us. Master Boma?


    The other man nodded. You have a habit of taking a <em>bit </em>more than is offered, but in this case, the fault wasnt yours. I would be grateful for an equivalent exchange. The man gave a slight smile. May we have the crates back?


    It was Mistress Elnea who responded, They are gone as well, fully absorbed and incorporated. If I had to guess Then the woman shook her head. No, I wont guess. Mistress T?


    Yes?


    May I examine your sanctum from the inside?


    Toward what end?


    The woman smiled with obvious, passionate interest. To learn, of course. This is fascinating, and unlike any other artifact Ive ever encountered. I would say that is likely due to the fact that itse about from a union of natural artifacts, human magics, and arcane efforts. I dont know that there are many items of any kind with such a pedigree.


    That made a lot of sense, actually. Alright, so long as you share everything you learn with me. Her eyes hardened, and T felt a little of her persona as an Eskau slip out. I do mean <em>everything</em>, Mistress. Please do not test me on this. I want no secrets, and nothing hidden.


    The woman had nced up for the answer to her query, and her eyes widened slightly, more in surprise than rm, but it was there.


    T only noticed because of her enhanced senses and ts ability to easilypare memories to the current moment.


    Mistress Elnea nodded slowly, seeming to consider. I Yes, of course. It is your sanctum. I will share all findings with you.


    Then, that sounds quite workable.


    An ufortable silence started to fall over the room, and T realized that under her through-spike, iron had started to climb over her skin.


    <em>No.</em>


    She put a stop to that instantly. She didnt need to make her condition worse with increased resonance, especially not in a situation where she wasnt even in danger.


    Well. Master Boma pped his hands. All ounted for, that was easier than expected. I imagine we all have much to do, yes?


    They all nodded, an air of uncertainty still heavy in the room.


    Master Queue cleared his throat. You are both wee to use this room as long as you need. Good day to you, Mistresses.


    Mistress Elnea gave a slight bow. Good day, Master Queue.


    With reciprocal goodbyes, the men left the women alone in the room, pulling the iron doors mostly closed behind them.


    T and Mistress Elnea had been left alone in the merging room, and there was a moment of silence as both women turned their thoughts inward.


    The iron dding on walls, ceiling, and floor, along with the heavy iron door made the space as magically isted as possible. Though, with the door propped open it wasnt a perfect seal at the moment.


    <em>-Thats an interesting thought. We now can push iron into the dimensions of magic. Master Jevin described going around iron as simply bypassing the physical iron via those dimensions. Clearly, we should be able to make a moreplete containment, hence why we cant actually use it fully until your body is refined.-</em>


    <em>Thats a good point. I wonder, could we make a better istion chamber than this room?</em>


    Mistress Elnea pulled T out of her musings with a simple question, Shall we begin?


    Hmm? Oh! Right. T ced Kit on the wall, and it morphed into a door that seemed like it perfectly belonged there. <em>That is such a useful feature. I really dont notice it very often.</em>


    <em>-That is sort of the point.-</em>


    The door opened, showing a view of the central courtyard.


    Thank you. Her words were soft, spoken just for the doorfor Kitto hear, though Mistress Elnea probably had enough enhancement to have heard, regardless.


    They were stepping through when t grabbed Ts attention. <em>-Mistress Holly has requested permission to engage several experts and share the results of your test with them.-</em>


    T frowned. <em>I thought she already had permission?</em>


    <em>-Apparently, there are a few that weve not met. When she was asking earlier, we only gave permission for those whom we had met.-</em>


    <em>Oh, I do suppose it was a bit silly to assume that Id already met those best able to help. Yes. She can use her professional discretion to bring in other experts. I want to Refine as soon as possible, and I want it to go properly.</em>


    <em>-Alright, Ive amended the shared informational space without answer.-</em>


    T followed Mistress Elnea in, and the door swung shut behind them.


    <em>-You know, we didnt have to wait before we went in.-</em>


    T shrugged, but before she could respond, she felt <em>something.</em>


    She looked around, instantly activating her voidsight through the use of Flows void-knife-form.


    The nodules and fragments of reality became obvious, and she could see them pressed firmly against each other, the distinction much harder to perceive than the day before.


    Moreover, she could see threads of power binding them all together in a way that shed not noticed before.


    Trying to focus on that was like trying to see a thin spider-web in poor lighting, but it <em>was</em> there. There seemed to be other powers working to simr effects, but the web-like working was the most visible.


    She asked Mistress Elnea about it, and the woman turned to her. Oh! Thats fascinating. She lifted her te up, manipting it before nodding. Yes, one of the crates I brought was filled with dimensional spider-silk. Nasty predators, those.


    T frowned. I dont know that Ive heard of them.


    I should hope not. They are a rtively new arcanous creature, less than five-hundred years old, and we didand still doour best to wipe them out whenever wee across them or detect them.


    What makes them so in need of extinction?


    Well, they manifest as the same size as regr spiders, but they weave their webs into intricate, magic-filled constructs. When you run into one, instead of having a web across your face, in your hair, or on your boot, you are jerked inside.


    Inside? T had a bad feeling about what the woman meant.


    Yes, within the webs. It is an expanded space of sorts, or more urately apressed spacethough, there is little save academic difference between those types of altered space. Once inside, you would seem the size of an insect, and the spider is massive inparison. From examination, weve long since discovered that the spiders are actually the size of houses, if not bigger, but dimensionallypress themselves to better hide.


    <em>Like Terry Interesting.</em> And they hunt humans?


    Mistress Elnea shrugged. Not usually. Not specifically, but they do eat those they can. Generally, theyll spread their on game-trails, and snag the asional herd animal for their meals, or whole herds when fate favors them. Before we learned how to detect and hunt them, we suspect that many of our missing persons from that time fell afoul of these arachnids.


    T shivered, imagining being a mundane, minding her own business then suddenly finding herself in a massive spidersir. That would be awful.


    Precisely. We eradicated the founts that allowed them to spawn, but unfortunately, these seem to breed true. They are actually able to pass their magic down to their descendants without a fount. We keep them mostly out of human cities and away from the caravan routes, but theyre still scattered throughout the world.


    Without getting their power from a fount? I didnt know that was possible.


    The woman shrugged. Its vanishingly rare. asionally, a power <em>fits</em> a creature so closely that it seems to fold into their very being, and then it can be passed down to their descendants.


    Lovely


    Mistress Elnea seemed to hesitate. To be clear, even though its incredibly rare, many of the most pervasive arcanous species are a result of this quirk. The advantage given to a gic line with innate magical giftings is simply too strong to be easily ovee by mundane versions of the species. So, even though individual instances are rare, these days those that have happened have resulted in many descendents for whom it is true.


    That makes good sense, I suppose. <em>What were we discussing?</em>


    <em>-Kit.-</em>


    <em>Right!</em> So, these threads?


    Yes! Their silk has intrinsic properties of dimensional stability, specifically rting to pocket dimensions or expanded spaces.


    Thats incredibly useful. I can understand why you thought it was a good candidate for repairing my dimensional storage.


    It is useful, yes. But whats truly incredible is that I have detected that magic woven throughout this entirety of this dimensional space.


    T blinked. That must have been massively expensive. This ce is <em>huge,</em>pared to most human dimensional storage spaces. Thank you for providing so much of the silk.


    Mistress Elnea shook her head. No, I only brought a few skeins. It was not arge crate after all. Most of this seems to have been fabricated off that temte and incorporated into the natural magics of the space. <em>That</em> is whats impressive to me.


    Thats <em>incredible</em>. T repeated herself but found that she didnt really mind. <em>Kit can replicate magical structures and methodologies?</em>


    -<em>I mean, we havent seen Kit do it before now, but it seems like the answer is fairly obvious.-</em>


    You have no idea just how amazing this is. The older woman gestured vaguely around herself. This really is a creature. That is exactly what wed expect from a merging of magical materials with a sentient thing, rather than a construct or artifact. Your sanctum is alive.


    The womans words were full of wonder, as if she hadnt really believed it until that very moment.


    This changes so much. I dont know how youvee to an understanding with this being, but the implications and applications are practically endless. I hope that we can find more of these, and replicate your process, one way or another.


    T was open to trying. So, what next?


    The womans eyes practically sparkled. Before we do anything else, I have so many measurements to take.


    T smiled in return, more excited for the result than the process. Do you need me in here with you?


    Hmm? No, no. Ill just move throughout if thats eptable to you.


    Absolutely. Make yourself at home. Do you want me to keep Kit anchored in the Constructionistspound?


    She waved her hand at that. No, no. Youre wee to go about your day. Ill reach out to you through the Archive when I wish to leave. I can take the founts from you, then?


    T only hesitated for a moment before nodding. That sounds workable, thank you.


    No, Mistress T. Thank <em>you.</em> With an almost girlish giggle, the Head of the Bandfast Archon Council set off, pulling more and more magical devices out of her own dimensional storage.


    <em>Well, Ill be interested to learn what she finds out. It should be fascinating.</em>


    <em>-So it seems.-</em>


    T exited Kit and pulled the door from the wall, hanging it on her belt in the form of a pouch.


    <em>Shes in there with all my things</em> That shouldnt bother T. There was no real way for the woman to steal from herT somehow knew that Kit would move things out of reach if anyone tried to take things without her permissionand she shouldnt have any motivation to do so.


    Still, T opened Kit and pulled out the bars of white metal one after another.


    -<em>T, you have a lot of those.-</em>


    Even so, T wielded the void-aspects of her elk leathers, absorbing the ingots, one after another.


    Somewhat to her surprise, the elk leathers took it all with rtive ease, she was even able to somewhat sense the reserve of magical metal, much like she could sense her iron. Though, the sense was more distant, like being able to see how heavy a friends pack was by how they moved,pared to how easily she could feel her own packs weight.


    <em>Not that I will likely need to use a pack ever again.</em>


    The magical load from her elk leathers had increased with every ingot absorbed, but it was still well within her ability to sustain, even alongside Kits newfound power requirement.


    She also knew from experience that she could remove the metal from the soulbound itemter if she wished. <em>Or I can fabricate more with the machine in the underground room.</em>


    Even with the most valuable and easily stolen resource secreted away, she felt an itch and reached for it within Kit.


    There was something still within Kit that arge part of her didnt want to risk losing.


    She came out with a handful of iron bits, some stolen from the House of the Rising Sun, and others were bits left over from the construction of the sanctums structures.


    With an easy pull, she absorbed the iron, letting the carbon and other trace minerals fall to the ground.


    Thatplete, T let out a satisfied breath. <em>There, whats mine is secure.</em>


    -<em>Are you sure that youre okay?-</em>


    <em>You know Im not, but Im learning.</em>


    <em>-To Mistress Hollys? We promised Rane that wed meet him there.-</em>


    <em>Ahh, right! Yes, lets go.</em>


    As she stepped out past the massive iron doors, she felt something settle upon her.


    Whether watching Kit had made her more sensitiveor her paranoia was just at a high pointshe <em>felt</em> the sway of the citys magics settle down upon her. Any fragments of power that left her were subjected to cleansing workings and drawn away to the power matrices of the city.


    <em>Oh, thats thats unpleasant.</em> She checked her memory and found that she had memory of this feeling before, but like the clothes on her back, if she didnt think to focus on the feeling, she didnt notice it.


    <em>Great, now I can feel my clothing</em>


    -<em>Well, that ones on you.-</em>


    <em>Yeah</em>


    T passed back out of the Constructionists guildhall, bidding Master Srip goodbye on her way by.


    The Mage bid her good day, and T was back out in the cool of the winters day.


    Just as before, T didnt rush on her way through the city. She took her time walking to Mistress Hollys workshop, letting her feet lead her on a roundabout route, simply enjoying the freedom to go where she wished, how she wished.


    Even so, it was a rtively short walk to the inscribers shop, and T stepped into the warmth before she really realized that shed arrived.

 Chapter 281: To Grow and Improve

    Chapter 281: To Grow and Improve


    T didnt recognize the Mage who was sitting behind the counter in Mistress Hollys waiting room, but that wasnt unexpected.


    Before T could ask his name, he pointed towards the back. You are expected, Mistress T. Please feel free to head on back.


    Thank you. Ill do just that. The young man had already looked back down to the book on the counter in front of him. <em>No need to bother him, just to ask his name.</em>


    T knocked on the door of Mistress Hollys private workroom.


    She was invited in and entered. After closing the door behind herself, she found Rane in the middle of some of the tests she, herself, had been subjected to the night before.


    She gave a half-smile. So, youre getting poked and prodded with all these maddening tests, too?


    Rane grimaced, but it was Mistress Holly who answered. He will be getting the prep-work inscriptions. So, the tests are required, yes, but he wont be Refining in the short term.


    T cocked her head to one side. What does that mean?


    Rane answered this time. I wont be Refined for at least a year.


    She winced. Oh Im sorry to hear that. And she meant it, too. Even so, she gave a mirth filled smile. I guess Ill just have to get used to being better than you.


    That made the man chuckle. Yeah, yeah. Ill catch you eventually.


    Am I interrupting?


    Mistress Holly waved her off. Not at all, Mistress T.


    That was good. <em>Well, might as well ask some questions while Im here.</em> So, when will he be able to get inscriptions for direct connection to the Archive?


    The Inscriptionist nced at Rane, and the man nodded. Apparently, she had been getting his okay to discuss it with T. Once hes Refined, hell have the option. Most Refined get something like that once their mind can handle it.


    So, hell get something like the alternate interface I have?


    Mistress Holly gave her a long look before shaking her head. Honestly, most people dont want anything like that.


    What? Why? T was genuinely confused.


    <em>-What? Im amazing! Why wouldnt people want something like me?-</em>


    Rane smiled but didnt interject. Mistress Holly sighed. The moral implications for one. You are, in essence, creating another version of yourself, enved to yourself.


    t grunted. <em>-I dont see it that way, but I could see some people assuming that.</em>-


    T decided to push a bit. Only if they think of it that way.


    And many people do. Not everyone would work well with themselves. I, for one, would probably kill myself if I were stuck within my own head.


    <em>-She makes a good point. I wouldnt want to be stuck in anyone elses head.-</em>


    T wasnt convinced. But its so perfect! Why wouldnt everyone want to have twice as much time? To be able to devote themselves entirely to learning, while still doing other things as well.


    That is a somewhat healthy way to view it, but also a bit iplete. Could you spend a whole day studying while at the Academy?


    Of course.


    How often?


    T shrugged. As often as I was allowed.


    Mistress Holly smiled, tapping the side of her own nose. Thats one reason it works for you. That would drive some people crazy. I, for one, love to learn, but without experimentation and action, I be very grumpy. She stuck a needle into Ranes arm, drawing blood.


    The big man grunted but didnt otherwise react.


    T found herself nodding. So, if a person doesnt already have a disposition leaning toward istion and study, having a self devoted to such wouldnt be tenable.


    Precisely.


    Rane nodded as well. Then, I should be fine with that. T definitely has me beat in long term focus, but I <em>love</em> spending days on end just reading, and Im quite content in istion for long periods.


    Mistress Holly nodded, not seeming too surprised. Id assumed as much. You are a prime candidate for such an alternate interface, and well get it in ce for you as soon as youre Refined.


    He grunted. Very well.


    The Inscriptionist started another test, moving various magical devices into position around Rane and giving him a few simple instructions before turning back to T. Now, I did have one thing that I wanted to highlight for you. I requested memories of all your uses of magic, while you were away, and I noticed something interesting.


    Oh? T leaned forward. What was that?


    You used your old Restrain working.


    T thought back and nodded. Yes, I did. What of it?


    You dont have kic maniption inscriptions anymore.


    T hesitated. <em>What?</em>


    -<em>Shes right.-</em> t projected puzzlement. <em>-I didnt really consider theck, because weve used that working for so long.-</em>


    What does that mean?


    Nothing sinister. Youve simply impressed your natural magics with some kic maniption. I would say that your time with the Restrain inscriptions wasnt sufficient given how rarely they were active, but youve had a lot of time and magical interaction with kic maniption scripts.


    Both women nced towards Rane. The Fused was focused on following Mistress Hollys instructions, so he didnt notice.


    Ts eyebrows rose. Thats enough?


    In many cases, yes. You had a mindset solidified for the working, youd used the magic yourself, and your natural magics have long-term exposure to that power.


    <em>Oh.</em> T found herself at a loss for words.


    t cackled. Finally calming herself enough to send. -<em>I knew that boy would be useful.-</em>


    Rane still seemed unaware of the conversation.


    WhatT swallowed, feeling a bit conflictedWhat does that mean?


    Arent you listening? It means that youve been around a kic maniptor as he used his power. Its basically how early humans went about getting their power: sitting beside fires to gain fire magics, meditating in blizzards for powers over ice.


    Oh. Yeah, that makes sense. Isnt this rather fast, though?


    The Inscriber bent to make a modification to one of the devices as she shrugged. Not really. You can manipte your own natural magics rather easily before you reach Paragon if you have a good understanding, and you started with inscriptions in this vein. Honestly, Id be more surprised if you werent able to use that working.


    Good to know.


    The current test ended, and Rane sighed. That was rather odd. It was testing perception, right?


    Yes, specifically touch acuity.


    Yeah, I got that with the needle point sensations. It almost tickled.


    Of course, its not supposed to hurt.


    T cleared her throat. Is he almost done?


    No. Magical impressing goes both ways, and I need to ensure youve not tainted him somehow.


    T immediately paled. I could have done that?


    Rane held up a hand. Its a danger for any partners, and even people who work together somewhat regrly. If one shows irregrity when looking to Refine, more care is taken with the others.


    She groaned. How many people have I messed over?


    Mistress Holly shrugged. Not too many, honestly. You didnt spend too much time around those it will matter for.


    Well, thats good. After a moment, T sighed. I think Ill go back to Lyns house. Come by when youre done?


    Rane nodded. Thats probably best, yeah. He smiled. Thank you for stopping by.


    Of course, I wasnt just going to abandon you. She shrugged. Was there anything else you needed or wanted from me, Mistress Holly?


    The woman shook her head. No, no. I will remind you to take it easy with regard to any magics rting to your scripts. After a moments hesitation, she added. Your alternate interface excepted, of course. That shouldnt cause issues.


    <em>-Of course, I wont. Thank you very much.-</em>


    I remember. Thank you, Mistress Holly.


    Very well. I do expect to have your next set of inscriptions worked up and ready for inscribing within the week.


    I appreciate that. T turned and gave Rane a smile. You have fun now!


    He huffed augh and shook his head. Oh yeah, buckets of fun.


    That done, T bid them both goodbye and departed without further dy.


    It was a nice, pleasant walk for T through the city. <em>Im getting used to taking my time.</em>


    <em>-I certainly can''t recall a time where you werent rushing from one thing to another. It seems to be doing some good for you.-</em>


    <em>I think so, yeah.</em>


    While she walked, she yed with a small mass of iron in her hand, using it like a child ying with y. Though, she was able to shape it with her mind, rather than requiring her fingers.


    As a result, however, she ended up being worse at it than if shed used her hands or other tools. <em>That just means that I have a lot of room to grow and improve.</em>


    <em>-Or you only have limited control?-</em>


    T huffed augh. <em>When has anything magical been so limited in our experience?</em>


    <em>-Thats true. Fair enough, yeah.-</em>


    Her feet brought her through the park and to Lyns house.


    The key was enticing, but she barely paused to ponder the iron within it before unlocking the door and going inside.


    It didnt take her long to decide to start reading the abridged and rearranged books presented to her by t.


    Between sections, she continued to y with her maniption of iron and did her physical exercises, letting her body be more ustomed to her new weight.


    That was actually one of the bigger surprises of the day, despite all that shed experienced and all that she was reading.


    As she had a modicum of control over the iron within her own body, it seemed like that ability was passively helping her move, and that was why she hadnt really <em>felt</em> the weight very much.


    She discovered this while ying with her control over her internal iron. A flexing of willpower to suppress her control had left her hand feeling <em>incredibly</em> heavy, and that had hinted at the situation to her. After that, it had only taken a little bit of investigation to truly reveal the extent of her new state.


    Passively making her movements easier wouldnt do, at least not for her exercises.


    So, she purposely suppressed the subconscious control over her iron, and that left her panting and straining to do even some of the more basic exercises in her sets.


    <em>This is ridiculous! I was training under four-times gravity not that long ago.</em>


    <em>-Well, that was with yourst body. Remember, you were just rebuilt from scratch, and while some of your enhanced strength would havee through, not all of it did. Plus, you are quite a bit heavier, given the iron. And-</em>


    T grimaced. <em>And my body is in pretty bad shape, over all.</em>


    <em>-Precisely. Its probably good to exercise and try to get back some of your physical conditioning, as it should help with the Refining from what little we know, but dont expect it to be like training has been for youtely.-</em>


    She grunted at that, struggling to finish the current set.


    As shepleted thetest repetition, she groaned and rolled onto her back. <em>Ask Mistress Holly to increase the surface area granted by my inscriptions on my feet and hands. I feel like once Im back up to full weight, and have some more iron to me, Ill be stressing some of the surfaces I interact with.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, thats already added to the list.</em>-


    T had been a bit hesitant to stress her body with exercise, but Mistress Holly had specifically mentioned that it was allowed. As shed watched herself recover after each set, she had been able to verify that the mechanisms of healing from exercise were different enough from her standard regeneration that it didnt seem to worsen the issues she was having with her physical form.


    <em>It does seem like muscle recovery would be a bit different than healing from illness or injury.</em>


    She hesitated at that, a thought hitting her like a wagon.


    <em>What if I get exposed to something? Will that knock me out? Will that kill me?</em>


    <em>-No, no. If youd take a moment to think instead of panic, youd realize that youd only be in danger if you allowed yourself to get sick, then had to recover. But your processes for fighting off illness are enhanced and have nothing to do with regeneration, at least not for most diseases.-</em>


    <em>So, avoid any flesh-eating gues?</em>


    <em>-That would likely be wise, yes.-</em>


    Thinking about her bodys vulnerability reminded her that her reserves were still dangerously low. At the moment, ack of those materials would kill her faster than the impurities in her flesh.


    Additionally, T was getting hungry, even though shed eaten the remains of the banquets provided for the meeting the previous day. <em>What time is it?</em>


    <em>-Mid-afternoon.-</em>


    <em>We really need a cook, dont we</em>


    t chuckled. <em>-One would be rather useful, yes.-</em>


    T opened Kit. Mistress Elnea?


    A contemtive sound came back followed by a verbal response, Yes, Mistress T? Do you need me to leave? Ive only walked about two-thirds of the perimeter. Her voice gained some excitement, Im sure you know, but you have herds of deer and pigs in here, not to mention all the other, smaller animals.


    Yes, I do know. Theres a whole reasonably well-bnced ecosystem in there. T found herself grinning. I was wondering, how many people could safely be sustained within there?


    Full time or irregrly?


    Let us assume full time to be safe. I could use some mundane help, and I want to know if I should hunt up some gateless or?


    Mistress Elnea grunted. Im not done with my readings, so I might be incorrect, but I think with the recent mergings, you could have seven gated humans in here, full time, without undue restrictions on their movements. Now, if your sanctum can rearrange its reality bits without disrupting the physical manifestations? She exhaled a sound of uncertainty.


    Ts eyes widened. To spread out the stress. That She shook her head, making a very simr sound to the one Mistress Elnea had just made. Thats quite the idea. Well have to test it.


    T could practically hear the woman nod as she responded, Well need to get some different equipment to test if thats possible, unless Did I see hints in your experiences? Can you really <em>see</em> bits of reality?


    T bit her lip, thinking. <em>I need help understanding all this. Secrets wont serve me in the long run.</em> Yes.


    There was a long moment of silence. Then, when Im done in here, give me a day or two doe up with a few tests, and well figure this out.


    That sounds wonderful. Thank you.


    No, Mistress T. I dont understate when I say that this is more excited than Ive been in a long time. Ive long studied dimensionally expanded or created spaces, and what Im learning here Thank you.


    T smiled. Well, then youre wee. Ill probably try to find some people to help me, then.


    Do you have anyone specific in mind?


    Maybe? Why?


    Given the nature of this space, I am sure we could find a good family to work with you, depending on your exact needs.


    A good family, containing at least one researcher, of course?


    Absolutely. There was no shame or deceit in the womans voice.


    Ill consider it.


    Just let me know.


    Ill do that. Im going to close the entrance now. Enjoy your work!


    Oh, I most certainly will.


    Without another word, T closed Kit. Then, after a moments pause, she patted the pouch. Thank you, Kit. I really do appreciate that you dont ever eat anything I want maintained.


    T felt like she should have felt something from the dimensional storage, but in the end, the pouch did not respond.


    <em>Alright, then. Next book?</em>


    <em>-As you wish. Next book!-</em>


    But then Ts stomach gurgled, and the woman grimaced. <em>Wait, no I need food.</em>


    T sighed.


    <em>We should drop by to see if Brand is in town.</em>


    <em>-His food is rather tasty. Are we doing the culinary tour?-</em>


    <em>Oh, yes. That would be amazing. </em>There were so many foods that she remembered from her times in Bandfast. So many tastes that she wanted to experience again. <em>And I can hunt for a cook at the same time.</em>


    <em>-What about Lyn and Rane?-</em>


    T scratched the side of her cheek. <em>Let them know what were about, through the Archive. Id hate for them toe while were gone and not know whats going on.</em> She also pulled out a piece of paper and wrote a short note, leaving it on the dining table.


    Then, without waiting for a response through the Archive, T stood and left Lyns house, being sure to lock the door behind herself.


    Her first stop was the closest, and also on the way to Brands restaurant: Anachronistic Delights.


    The staff chuckled at her order at first, when they saw that she was alone, but when she reiteratedand paid up front they happily fulfilled her desire for a <emrge</em> number of cheesy little caravans.


    -<em>Dont you think that, maybe, ten was too many?-</em>


    <em>No. Obviously, Im not going to eat them all right now, but I want some in reserve.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, I know that, but it still seems like too many.-</em>


    The next stop was Brands restaurant, and T entered with an odd tightness in her chest and butterflies in her stomach.


    <em>Did he even know I was missing? Did anyone tell him, or did he and Lissa just assume that I stoppeding by?</em>


    She got her answer instantly as the woman behind the counter looked her way and gasped. Mistress T? Is Is that you?


    T smiled a bit sheepishly. It is, Lissa. How are you?


    The woman practically sprinted around the counter and wrapped T in a surprisingly motherly embrace. The big Mage told us you were missing, but not that youd been found! Are you alright? What happened? The lovely, middle-aged woman pulled back, examining T head to toe. You must be starving. Sit, sit! Ill get you some soup.


    T let herself be led to one of the few tables off to the side, and soon, she was eating a wonderfully thick, hearty soup. <em>Creamy, pork-based.</em>


    Lissa brought out a stack of heavily buttered bread and set it beside the massive soup bowl. T suspected that the bowl was usually used for mixing uprge recipes, but she didnt argue.


    Instead, she dug in with gusto, bringing a smile to the older womans lips. Im d that your appetite hasnt changed. After a moments hesitation, she added a tentativement. You seem different. Are you alright?


    T hesitated, swallowing her current mouthful. Is Brand in? Id rather not repeat myself.


    The woman shook her head. Sadly, no. Hes on a caravan run at the moment. She patted her belly. Our seventh is on the way, and he wants a bit more in the bank before she arrives. Im afraid hes scheduled for a longer route, only getting back for myst trimester.


    Oh? How far along are you?


    Eight weeks. He left just over a week ago. She looked regretful. I know hed want to be here for your return.


    T smiled and waved her off. No, no. Im d that hes providing so well. Whos helping you?


    The kids do a lot to help, around their schoolwork. The oldest is ten, and hes a natural. She pointed to the soup that T had been eating. He put together that recipe from several customer favorites. Breads and soups are best when made ahead of time, so I just have to manage the front.


    It sounds like you have a good system worked out.


    Lissa smiled contentedly. We really do.


    After a moments pause, the woman seemed to pull herself back from pleasant musing.


    But thats enough about me? Tell me what happened?


    And so T began to speak, sharing an <em>incredibly</em> abridged and edited version of her recent experiences.

 Chapter 282: Goodwill and Favors

    Chapter 282: Goodwill and Favors


    T reached the end of her abbreviated tale and took a bite of her soup-soaked bread.


    Lissa was leaning forward, her attention obviously raptly engaged on T. Mistress T.


    There was another prolonged silence before the older woman shook her head, leaning back. T took that time to eat as much as she could while maintaining a modicum of manners.


    Finally, the woman gave an overwhelmed smile. I am so d that I am not a Mage.


    T snorted augh, then keptughing, the reactioning from her gut and shivering through her whole being, bringing tears of mirth to her eyes.


    Lissa patiently waited for T to recover herself.


    Finally, T was calm enough to take anotherrge bite.


    Mistress T. You need to work through this. Even what little you shared is enough to have given me nightmares, if I were the one to go through it. Are you talking with anyone?


    She shrugged. Some? A few know the full extent of what happened, and Im talking with friends here and there.


    Lissas brow creased in concern. Im sure you need to be careful, but surely theres someone avable that you can <em>talk with</em>. You need to process, not just let me know what happened.


    T opened her mouth, but found she didnt have anything to say in response, so she just took another bite instead.


    Lissa ced her hand on top of Ts that was resting on the table. You are cared for, Mistress. She gave a reassuring smile. Is there anything that we can do?


    T shrugged. I was thinking of offering you all a position, working for me, but I dont know that it would work well.


    Oh?


    Yeah, I need a cook, and some other help, but I think your family would be a bitrge. I need help on my outings, and they could be long trips.


    I see. The woman actually seemed to consider it for a long moment. Would it be within reach of teleportation towers, and offer funding for trips?


    T opened her mouth, then closed it. <em>That That is a BRILLIANT idea!</em>


    -<em>Can you teleport out of dimensional spaces?-</em> An instantter, t continued, <em>-Of course you can, what sort of idiotic question was that? Itll take a modification of the spell-form, but it can be done.-</em>


    <em>Plus, sending-scripts are much moreplicated than the receiving ones.</em>


    t huffed augh. <em>-Even though the process of receiving is harder.-</em>


    <em>Such are the oddities of magic.</em>


    That is an excellent question. The answer is probably yes, but Ill have to check.


    Lissa looked around, clearly taking in the simple, clean restaurant around them before sighing. While I wont pretend there arent incentives that would get us to agree to something like that, I think that with the kids where they are in school, it would take a lot.


    T smiled. Shed not really expected to find help so easily, though it would have been nice. Thats understandable.


    The woman must have felt bad about the refusal, because she continued her exnation. Brands nine siblings all live here in this city, as do his folks. Lissa smiled. His parents moved here, away from his extended family, so he only sees his aunts and uncles and their descendants when he travels. Her smile turned quite fond. We got a bit of ate start; he didnt find me until he had traveled a bit, and it took longer still before he convinced me toe back to Bandfast, to his family. I dont know that I could stand leaving all that I know, not again. It would be very difficult to leave ourmunity behind. Im so sorry.


    No, no. Its more than fine, and Ipletely understand. <em>I cant empathize, but I understand.</em>


    Lissa had opened her mouth to continue, but paused, seeming to consider what T had said. Oh, alright then.


    T looked around. The shops a bit slow today, isnt it?


    Lissa gave her an odd look, then smiled. Schools getting out in the next hour or so, and most adults are at work. We get a few customers at these times, but the real business is done closer to normal mealtimes.


    Ah, yeah, that makes sense.


    The two women fell intofortable silence as T continued to eat.


    Finally, it looked like Lissa was about to stand, so T asked. Can you tell me about your children? How are they?


    The woman paused, then gave a hesitant smile. Are you sure? It is kind of you to ask, but


    T smiled and nodded. Id love to hear, if youre willing.


    And so, Lissa settled back in the chair and began to tell of her family with the passion only a parent could muster.


    In the little stories and anecdotes, T heard echoes of her own family, her siblings, and it pulled at her heart.


    <em>-I have the messageposed to send to Master Leighis. Hell deliver it to your family with haste.-</em>


    T hesitated a long while, listening to Lissa pour out her love for her family. Finally, she relented. <em>Send it.</em>


    <em>-Done.-</em>


    The next hour passed just as pleasantly.


    Lissa served the few customers that came through, but none stayed, so the woman always returned to Ts table and they continued to chat about Brand and Lissas family.


    In the end, T stayed until the kids came to the shop, and their mother had other things that she had to get done.


    They parted with smiles and quick hugs.


    T insisted on paying for herrge meal, in the end going so far as leaving two silver coins on the counter as she hurried out the door.


    The cool air wrapped around her as the door swung shut in her wake.


    T almost turned towards the next restaurant, but Lissas words had been marinating in her head for a bit now.


    <em>I need to talk with someone.</em>


    t sent positive agreement but wisely didnt say anything.


    Without dying, or giving herself a chance to change her mind, T turned towards the Archon Compound.


    Mistress Ingrit would likely not be the right person to chat with, but given the fact that T wanted to be able to speak frankly, openly, and without censoring herself, the Librarian should be a good person to check with for rmendations.


    Following her new pattern, T took her time walking through the now somewhat busier,te afternoon city streets.


    She was careful not to walk slowly enough to cause issues with those around her, but she definitely didnt rush.


    Even so, she got to thepound before she was quite ready, and was halfway down the hallway to the Arcanum when t grabbed her attention.


    <em>-Oh! Mistress Elnea is ready toe out.-</em>


    T pulled Kit from her belt and tossed it against the depiction of a thunder bull.


    A door blossomed into being, matching the surrounding aesthetics as usual. It swung open, revealing rolling hills, and given the style and setting, T halfway expected to see a thunder bull charging her through the generous opening.


    <em>That really is a spectacr ability.</em>


    The sun was setting on the rolling hills within the sanctum, and the false sky was painted in stunning colors that T wished she could sit and soak in. <em>Soon.</em>


    <em>-Maybe, the person you talk to will want to sit in your sanctum?-</em>


    <em>Yeah, that would be really nice.</em>


    Now that the door was open, Mistress Elnea strode out of the dimensional storage, her face practically glowing with excitement. Mistress T. I am continually impressed with your sanctum. I would like to negotiate for the ability to station at least two researchers within, though well have to work out logistics so that you arent inconvenienced.


    T nodded. I am open to the idea. Do you know how dimensional storages hold up with teleportation senders and anchors?


    The woman opened her mouth, then closed it. After a moments thought, she nodded. Normally, I would say it would put undue stress on the integrity of the space, but your sanctum is <em>much</em> more stable than standard. I think that with the proper reinforcement and more precise, delicate spellwork that should be possible. She was tapping her jaw, below her right ear, clearly deep in thought. That could be an incredible asset, actually.


    So, if I understand your proposal correctly, youll look into this possibility first. Then, once we know a bit more, we can negotiate a rate andpensation package for my allowance of the long-term studying of my sanctum. Is that correct?


    Mistress Elnea nodded absently. Yes, yes. Ill reach out in the next few days. Ive granted you Archive ess to the raw data from my measurements, today. As I interpret the readings andpile them, Ill keep you in the loop.


    T bowed, taking Kit from the wall as she straightened. Thank you, Mistress Elnea. I appreciate that.


    -<em>I found it Wow. There is a LOT of information here.-</em>


    Of course, Mistress T. She opened her dimensional storage and held out a hand.


    Understanding, T handed over the founts one at a time, Robst. Goodbye, Rob. I may see you again, but I may not.


    Coward! Destroy me!


    Mistress Elnea tucked the orb away with a shake of her head before nodding in thanks to T. Good night to you.


    Good night.


    The Head of the Archon Council walked back towards the entry hall, likely either leaving to head home or going to a different wing to get some work done.


    T hesitated, standing in the ornate hallway.


    <em>-T?-</em>


    <em>Im going, Im going.</em> She took the first step, and that made the next easier.


    Soon enough she stepped into the Arcanum proper and found Mistress Ingrit already waiting for her.


    Good evening, Mistress T, right this way.


    The Librarian looked perfectly put together, rxed, and in suprememand of herself and the situation.


    T felt herself rx, even if just slightly as she smiled at the woman. Good evening, Mistress Ingrit.


    Together, they walked to a booth that was seemingly prepared for them, hot tea already ready with two cups set out.


    <em>I havent taken the time for tea in too long.</em>


    <em>-We can correct that too.-</em>


    Now, Mistress T, what brings you here this evening?


    Well, I actually do have a lot of questions for you, but first and foremost, before I lose the nerve to ask, I need someone to talk to, to process my experiences with.


    Ahh, yes. A good therapist is worth their weight in gold.


    Precisely. T looked away, feeling a bit awkward. Plus, all that I experienced I imagine that much isnt really


    Mistress Ingrit nodded. Someone who can hear everything is a must. Did you have someone in mind, and you want me to vet them and get the clearance?


    I was actually hoping that you might have someone to rmend.


    The Librarian cocked her head to one side, thinking. A few namese to mind, but Id like to give it some thought, if you dont mind.


    T nodded, her smile returning. Id appreciate that. Thank you.


    Now, what else can I do for you?


    Well, Ill just get a few of the topics out there, and let you address them as you see fit.


    As you wish.


    How is the Culinary Guilds information proceeding? How is the process around my own informationing along? What are you negotiating for on my behalf?


    The short answer with regard to the Culinary Guild is that they are making great strides in connecting with the Constructionist Guild, and they are <em>very</em> happy with you. There is no obligation towards you, nor anything truly owed, but I would not be surprised if they would grant you <em>much</em>, so long as the request was within reason.


    Good to know. Thank you.


    The woman gave a pleased nod. Of course. As to your own information, there have been <em>hundreds</em> of inquiries from experts of all stripes. For basic, surface level information, you have received some gold, but that is the least of what is avable. My rmendation is that youe to me with anything you might need, and I will connect you with someone who can provide it. I imagine it will be a <em>long</em> time before you need to pay for anything, or have trouble essing a resource at need. Speaking of which, Mistress Holly has requested the rights to procure experts and resources on your behalf for your Refining.


    T frowned. She already asked me if she could bring others in. Why reach out to you?


    Oh. The woman smiled. I apologize, I was not clear. She requested the ability to pay for experts and resources using what I have negotiated for on your behalf.


    Why wouldnt she ask me?


    With all due respect, even with the gold Ive gotten you, you could not afford the things or people that she wants to use.


    T blinked a few times. Well, one thing at a time. How much gold have you gotten for me?


    The woman shrugged. Three-hundred-eight gold and a smattering of lesser coinage.


    T sat back, dumbstruck. What?


    Generally, I used a small fee to ensure that we didnt have to entertain thousands of unnecessary requests. A fee of even two gold wont deter anyone who could really use this information, and for those same people, it is a meaningless amount.


    And youve gotten hundreds of requests.


    Of course. I only charge metal for the initial request. Beyond that I build up rtional capital on your behalf, as well as debts to be cashed inter. Money is nice, and I will continue to ensure you have that, but there is much that money <em>cant </em>buy. She gave a knowing smile. Like having the head of Alefasts Archon Council personally escort you here, or having the head of our own Council personally helping you to research your artifacts and their intricacies. Though, that one was a favor <em>gain</em> for you, rather than a withdrawal.


    T shook her head in disbelief. I suppose I dont really understand how it all works.


    Thats alright, dear. Resources are limited, and so there is much that money simply cannot buy, no matter how much you have. I am working to ensure that will never be a barrier for you.


    So, another siphon fascia?


    The woman smiled. I dont believe it would be useful to you, but yes, if you wanted one, I believe I could have one delivered to you within the week.


    That was startling. <em>Connections are more valuable than money, and Mistress Ingrit is building us awork.</em>


    <em>-We should ask her for an ounting, all the same.-</em>


    <em>Good idea.</em> Could we get an ounting of what was granted to whom, and what you feel that means? I want to learn.


    Oh, absolutely. I have that ounting and can grant you ess immediately, if you so desire, but I rmend that we hold off. You are still settling in, and Id be concerned that youd be bogged down in the specifics.


    T considered. How about next week?


    If that is your wish. I am happy to grant it now, or at any time. My intent was simply for you to consider not taking on more, before youve processed what you already have on your te.


    That is probably wise.


    The woman smiled encouragingly.


    Well, I suppose thats all on those topics. Next, Im curious about the Doman-Imithe and the mobile towns in the ins beyond the forest.


    Not much to tell on both fronts. Your experiences in, and knowledge of, the Doman-Imithe are and will continue to be in high demand, more than I think you realize. We know of the ce in theory, but to my knowledge no one in living memory has been there and returned.


    Yeah, about that, Master Jevin said that Archons have traveled the sr system, and came back, but my understanding is that the Doman-Imithe is the only thing that can be entered, once you leave the.


    Ive not left myself. Maybe you could test out the theories? It does seem like humanity and arcanes have different theories and understandings of what exists outside this world.


    And what of the towns?


    She shrugged. Anyone capable of getting there knows of them, and knowledge of them isnt restricted in the least, but we dont specifically talk about them, partially because if even one percent of our poption tried to go there, they could overwhelm the infrastructure. They are far more closed-offmunities than our cities, and you have to petition to be allowed to move into one. Again, we dont hide their existence, but theres no good reason to advertise it either.


    I suppose I can understand that. <em>I have to ask at some point</em> So, she turned to a darker question. What does it really mean that so many founts are being used by the arcanes? Are they actually enved souls? I know that Master Boma and others are researching the issue, and I turned over several founts to Mistress Elnea, but Im Im conflicted.


    Mistress Ingrits shoulders dropped slightly, and she leaned forward, looking down at the table for a moment. That is a matter of some debate. As youve gathered, there doesnt really seem to be a natural personality to a gate, at least not one we know how to interact with. Even so, we know from some research stolen in ages past that different gates power arcane technology differently, and the specifics of a particr gate must be taken into ount.


    So, more like wood from a different tree?


    Thats one way to look at it, I suppose. The prevailing theory is that the personality of the soul can only exist in one realm at a time, so when the person dies, the personality manifests in the next world, rather than remaining here. What is left behind is more akin to what used to be on the other side. It is a link, without being a true person.


    So, not harmful?


    That is one belief, yes. It then makes the act of using gates like the repurposing of organs or bones after death, rather than a long-term torment of the deceased.


    But thats not the only theory.


    No, no it is not. Some believe that we simplyck the ability to hear the souls torment, though it is generally epted that the gates <em>can</em> close themselves, even against opposition trying to keep them in ce, so that puts the torment theory in doubt.


    Huh. T grimaced in frustration. Its not really cut and dry, is it?


    Unfortunately not.


    Well, then. I dont suppose theres much more to glean on that topic for now. I believe that you saw the Leshkin generals in my memory. I would hope that they are not unknown.


    They are a known element. They are the second most powerful variant of Leshkin we have encountered, the third most powerful that we are aware of, and the weakest of those capable of speech and true higher reasoning.


    Why is that? Werent they all sapient before?


    That is actually also a topic of some debate. They were never a truly prolific species, and some of our experts believe that part of their downfall came about because they tried to replicate human gates. Unfortunately, instead of bifurcating their souls and letting one half die, creating a thing like the human gate, their souls were shattered and scattered into the surrounding forests.


    Thats why they can rbine?


    That is one theory.


    T grunted. She was about to move on, when she fully processed something that the woman had said. Wait, there is a variant more powerful than any human has encountered?


    Yes.


    How do we know?


    Extensive studies of species. Four generals, bound together with <em>something</em> else, forges a royal. To our knowledge, there are only eight distinct royals, but we dont know how the specific personality is selected. Four royals, joined together by one of their sacred cores, would theoretically create a god of the forest.


    T blinked. What?


    -<em>What?-</em>


    In the earliest Leshkin Wars, two artifacts of incredible power were stolen from the fledgling Leshkin. They are the Leshkins professed reason for waging war upon us.


    But if we returned them


    They would theoretically have the ability to create Transcendent or Sovereign level entities. Specifically, they could have two. From what little I know about the bnce of arcane Sovereigns, two so united in purpose would have a chance of changing the face of Zeme.


    Thats terrifying.


    Indeed. It is also why those cores were long ago ced beyond reach so that no well-meaning person could be deceived into returning them.


    <em>Is it bad that I want to find them and merge them into my soulbonds?</em>


    <em>-Yes, T. That is a bit overly ambitious.-</em>


    <em>Fine</em>


    <em>-Did you really not expect me to notice you adding that to your mental to-do list?-</em>


    <em>Hush. I need long-term goals.</em>


    Now, what more can I answer for you? The older woman smiled.


    <em>Alright, the harder topics </em>Were we aware that the Mind yer was dead?


    Mistress Ingrit shook her head, her countenance falling slightly. It was notmon knowledge, no, but I was not surprised. He was a great friend to all the peoples of Zeme, at least in hister years. I dont know that humanity had contact with him in the recent centuries.


    Did we know that he had apprentices? People he taught his magics?


    Yes, thoughst we heard, most were not well regarded, not specifically because of bad actions, more because of what they were capable of. The Mind yer earned his ce as a friend to all, and his apprentices didnt.


    Well, there are no more. Even his apprentices apprentices are gone. To my understanding, that line of magic is broken.


    Nodding, Mistress Ingrit looked down at her hands, resting in herp, for a long moment. That is good to know. There really was so much of import in your experiences, not all of it has really <em>settled</em> within my mind yet. Mind maniption magic is a dangerous tool, and while its loss is unfortunate, I cannot say I am sad that those who had it are no more.


    T nodded as well. And in that vein, has the security breach that allowed Be-thric into the city been closed? The arcanes seemed to believe that Clevenhold was even less well-defended than here, and they got a potential Pir in to hunt among our people. She tried to keep the anger from her voice, but she didnt seed. To hunt <em>me</em>.


    His breaching of our cities was abination of his mental magics and a stolen cor, which was inclusive enough to allow its use on arcanes. I did see the conversation about Clevenhold, and I have notified the local Archon Council on your behalf.


    To earn good will?


    Precisely. I used my own name and standing to give weight to the warning, but they know that the actual information came from you.


    Thank you.


    As to if the breach he used has been closed? Mistress Ingrit sighed. No, but there is also no one else who could exploit it. Theoretically, a through-spike could bypass any citys automated defenses as well as give an arcane an illusion to hide within, but those are highly controlled, and they show up on the citys defense grid like a beacon, even if not as a threat. They are always investigated, even if just from afar.


    And a cor, by itself, wouldnt deal with an arcanes visual difference.


    Precisely.


    What about a cor with a visual illusion?


    Possible, but difficult. Any sufficiently advanced Archon could at least detect the presence of an illusion, and we do watch our cities rather closely. Be-thric slipped unnoticed because he did not project magic around himself. His acts of power were highly targeted and internal to his targets, making them doubly difficult to notice. I cannot swear that there are not holes in our defenses, as that would be foolishly optimistic, but they are not as ring as your experience might imply.


    I suppose I can understand that.


    Now, it is gettingte, was there anything else?


    T thought for a moment. <em>I think that is it for now, but its probably worth verifying, </em>Should we modify my death use to ensure that any information I gain in the future is not lost?


    Mistress Ingrit shook her head. No, no. The standard magics are sufficient. If you dont ess your personal section of the Archive for three years, the designated portions will be reverted to the Library.


    T nodded, that was how she remembered it. Thank you then. Good night, Mistress Ingrit.


    Good night, Mistress T.

 Chapter 283: Payoff

    Chapter 283: Payoff


    T stood before the Bandfast Banking Guild for the second time in her life.


    <em>Id say it would be thest, but I bet Ill have more business with them in the future at some point.</em>


    <em>-Agreed. Having ess to greater capital could help down the line or not? None of our current projects or potential projects should need it.-</em>


    T shrugged. <em>Never say never. Half of what we want to do, now, wouldnt have crossed our mind even a year ago.</em>


    <em>-Thats the truth, and maybe that should say something about the wisdom of the ideas.-</em>


    T huffed augh, grateful for the momentary distraction.


    She felt an odd sort of nervous tension. She felt like <em>something</em> would stop her before she could do this.


    The prominent building jutted up before her: A beautiful, stone building, eye-catching without being ostentatious.


    Massively tall windows let light into the single-story structure, and that single story was nearly twenty-five feet high on the inside. Itsrge entrance opened onto a small park-space in which T now stood.


    The green area had clearly been designed more for looks, and to walk through, rather than for families or children to y in, and that was evident even in the wintery weather, the beauty shining through. Some of the statues looked even more stunning with a light sprinkling of snow. <em>I wonder if the sculptor did that on purpose? Regardless, this park really is a lovely touch. Calming clients and potential clients and putting them in a happier mood before they entered in.</em>


    She walked through the banksrge double doors, closing them softly behind herself. Even as she did so, she noticed flickers of magic that would have aplished the same thing on their own. <em>They have artifact doors, hooked to the citys system?</em>


    <em>-One-time expense? They probably move them along with the guild when a city is abandoned, so why not?-</em>


    That was a really good point, actually, and it suddenly made so many things click into ce. How many of the little services in the cities were handled by artifacts that had been made once, thousands of years ago, and then moved from city to city?


    She knew that many businesses used inscribed items, but that just made sense. Why invest in something thats going tost ten thousand years, with proper maintenance, if an inscribed item costs a tenth of the amount andsts a full city cycle?


    <em>Its a bit short sighted, but bothst longer than a single lifetime for mundanes, so I can see the reason for each.</em>


    She turned away from the doors and was greeted by an environment that was somehow more archival than that of the Library shed just left. The rugs were thick, acting as sound dampeners in the vast space rather than as walking or standingforts. <em>I suppose the library uses architecture and magic to dampen the sound. This is probably cheaper.</em>


    Large, unicolor hangings periodically decorated the walls. They werent tapestries, simply being lengths of cloth, no artistry, no embellishments at all. <em>Those are different colors thanst time I was in here.</em>


    So were the rugs, now that she thought about it.


    Before, shede in the fall, and the hangings and rugs had been fall colors, bold and beautiful, dark and earthy. Now, they were winter colors, cool and crisp jewel-tones. <em>Thats a nice touch.</em>


    As she stepped a bit further in, she felt a small magical probe slide across her through-spike illusion and heard a distinctive <em>ding</em> echo through the far part of the room.


    Almost immediately, a grey-haired woman bustled out. She was straight-backed, and she held a te of deep green stone. It was a familiar sight, even if only from Tsst visit.


    The banker stopped before T and gave a deep bow. Mistress Archon. Wee to our humble Guildhall.


    T smiled, giving a shallow bow in return. Good evening. I am T.


    Greetings, Mistress T. I am Sangfraw, one of the senior bursars of this branch of the Bankers Guild. How may I assist you, this day?


    A pleasure to meet you, mistress Sangfraw. The woman wasnt a Mage or inscribed at all, that T could detect. I need to make a payment on my debts.


    Sangfraw looked a bit surprised, but immediately hid it. Certainly, Mistress. If you would? She held out the te, and a small, gold-outlined square grew into existence, centered near the edge that was extended toward T.


    T smiled. Thank you. She reached out, cing her thumb within the square and willing her power out, into the te for verification.


    The entire tablet shifted to blood red, as T had expected, and she tried not to grimace at the reminder. <em>My power is steeped in blood, and I was built up for use by the House of Blood.</em>


    <em>-That was their aim. They failed, and you seeded. You are your own.-</em>


    That was true enough.


    Only then did T notice infinitesimally thin, ck lines in the te that looked more like cracks than coloration. <em>What? Did I break it?</em>


    Shed been very careful to not send too much power into the verification magics. Her enhanced vision could discern that they werent <em>actual</em> cracks, but it still made T nervous. She looked up at the banker hesitantly.


    Sangfraw simply smiled, seemingly unable to see the not-cracks. Thank you, Mistress.


    <em>Do you think its from the void magics we carry?</em>


    <em>-We dont have any in our body or gate, but that is the only exnation that makes sense to me. We are connected to quite a bit of void magic, after all.-</em>


    The banker led her to a couple of <em>very</em>fortable-looking chairs and gestured to one.


    T slowly sank into the seat and while it groaned under her, it held.


    Based on her somewhat limited practice, she could tell that she was subconsciously holding most of the weight of her iron up and away from the furnishings.


    Sangfraw settled at the front edge of her own chair, sitting as primly and straight-backed as any Mage.


    T was only slightly less prim, but only because she had situated herself all the way in the seat. Her posture was no less impable.


    The banker examined the te for a moment before looking up. Mistress T, it seems that you have automatic payments set up with us and that you are current on your debts. The next automatic payment will be made in just under two weeks time. How can I assist you, today?


    T smiled. I would like to make a payment and cancel my automatic withdrawals.


    Certainly. The woman was the picture of politeness, manipting her te for a moment. I have that noted in the system, and we will confirm shortly, along with your payment. For that transaction, would you like to pay the minimum, or some other amount?


    I would like to pay the bnce, please.


    The woman rocked back slightly, obviously surprised. Mistress, please pardon if I overstep, but you realize that this debt does not rue interest, correct?


    I am aware, yes.


    If it is not overbold of me, this seems fiscally unwise. You could take that same amount and invest it in any number of ventures. Are you sure? We are happy to advise you, or even offer you a basic ount with minimal restrictions that would give you a quite fair rate of return.


    T nodded firmly. I am sure, though I appreciate you voicing your thoughts. What is the exact bnce of my debts, at this time?


    Three-hundred-eighty-one gold and twenty silver, Mistress.


    She nodded again. <em>Rust, thats so much.</em><em>We have enough, right?</em> Her nervousness was threatening to boil over.


    <em>-In our ount, after Mistress Ingrits transfer, we have five-hundred-neen gold, ny-three silver, and one-hundred-fifty-two copper.-</em>


    T felt her eye twitch, even as the nervousness faded. <em>A Yes would have sufficed.</em>


    <em>-We like precision.-</em>


    T suppressed a smile. Thank you. Yes, I would like to pay it off in full.


    May I ask why? The woman looked genuinely baffled, though she maintained a professional tone.


    T shrugged. I dont mind telling you. This debt has emotional weight for me, and I wish to lighten that load.


    The banker smiled warmly. Ahh, of course. Say no more, Mistress. Thank you for entertaining an old womans questions.


    Of course. It is kind of you to ensure that I am making a cognizant decision.


    <em>Its happening. Its happening!!!</em>


    t simply sent back her own bubbling excitement.


    Sangfraw nodded to herself as she manipted the red te, setting up thest details then turned the tablet back around for Ts confirmation. Well, then, Mistress T, congrattions on paying off your debt in full.


    T read over the short bits of silvery text and confirmed.


    The construct shifted back to green, and Sangfraw bowed over it. Is there anything further that I can assist you with, today?


    No, thank you. I appreciate your kindness, professionalism, and the time that you took to assist me.


    Sangfraw smiled genuinely in response as they stood together from the seats. It was my pleasure, Mistress. I hope that we see you again, if ever the Banking Guild can be of service to you.


    They each gave a half bow and parted ways.


    T got all the way outside before her glee bubbled up from deep within her, and she started giggling.


    She made it halfway through the small park before the giggling grew to outrightughter.


    Thankfully, at the somewhatte hour there werent many people about. Even so, those that were passing nearby gave her odd nces and hurried on their way.


    T flopped down on a bench, sending up a puff of loose snow, and herughter shifted again, morphing into mad cackling.


    <em>-T?-</em>


    She didnt answer, instead wrapping her arms around herself, hugging tightly


    -<em>T, I can read your thoughts, and Im still uncertain. T?-</em>


    Tears had started to stream down her face, and her cackling shifted into sobs as her whole body shook.


    <em>-Oh, T-</em>


    Thats it? In an instant, its gone? A huge, shuddering sob burst from her before she could continue, Years of stress and torture, strain and division, gone in a single moment?


    She bent forward, cing her head in her hands and bawling.


    Her tears werent for any one thing, not really.


    She cried over her capture and her escape.


    She wept over the injustice of her debt and the triviality of finally paying it off.


    She sobbed at what she had been forced to do to survive and in fear that this was somehow a lie, that she was still back in toiri and that she would never be free.


    There, in the small park beside the Banking Guild, Ts emotions, long bottled up and neglected, finally broke free.


    Alone in a city of her own people, she let herself truly <em>feel</em> for the first time in a long while, and now that the tears had started, it took a long time for them to subside.


    * * *


    The next week passed in a blur. Given her required week of rest, T scheduled time to meet up with Mistress Odera the following week. Master Xeel had simrly asked for time to talk with her and been scheduled for that week.


    Master Grediv had returned to Alefast, Waning, but before he left, he went out of his way to ensure that T knew that she could call on him if she needed.


    T took as much time to enjoy her freedom as she could, eating most meals with Lyn, Rane, or both.


    She read extensively, both from ts summaries and from the original texts when she wanted topare to the primary source. It was an odd experience, somewhat like reading a book on something that she had been taught, orally, while growing up.


    It wasnt <em>new</em>, but it was usually enlightening.


    That made sense as ts goal hadnt been to give her a perfect recreation of the information. Instead, t tried to structure the summaries for T to understand the general concepts faster, and build a stronger foundation in whatever the specific subject was.


    T exercised around her reading, finding that she could work different muscles and add to the effectiveness of the sets by altering how her iron weighed on her. After all, doing pushups worked far more muscles when her center of mass was constantly shifting.


    It was through those exercises that she realized that she could also work in the opposite direction, purposely shifting her center of mass to give her bnce and stability in stances and extensions that would be otherwise impossible simply because of the leverage involved.


    To rx, she took long walks through the city, simply soaking in the feel of humanity. She sat in parks, watching families or neighborhoods of kids build in the snow, fight with snowballs, and otherwise enjoy the winter weather.


    She avoided the guards, even though she knew they wouldnt pressure her to train with them. She just wasnt ready for yet another reunion.


    She did send a slightly more detailed note to her family through Master Leighis, however. She knew that Nc and Illie would likelymunicate with her family from the Academy, and she wanted more details of her return toe from her, not from those younger siblings.


    The only thing of true note that she did around her reading, exercising, and rxing was to give the Leshkin Juggernaut weaponry to Rane, and he merged them with Force.


    Previously, hed merged Force with a few of the swords that theyd taken during their Makinaven caravan run. Now, he was adding all of the weaponry, regardless of type.


    The very nature of the Leshkin weaponry, like their armor, was to form avable material into various forms for battle. The obvious result of the merging with so many such weapons was that Force was now able to alter its shape, though the method and results would be different from either Flow or most morphic weapons that T had encountered.


    Sadly, shed have to wait until her body was fixed before she could spar with the man and truly see what his weapon was capable of.


    Theyd had Flow analyzed before Ranes merging, and while the weapons <em>could</em> have been merged with Ts weapon, it wouldnt have granted any improvement. Even the weapons that were different from one of Flows three forms wouldnt have expanded its capabilities.


    In Master Bomas words, Its too weighty of a magical item, bound to you, and settled into its form. Youd need something of at least equal power to expand it, now.


    From Ts perspective, it was pretty obvious that the void-sword had been a major contributor in this regard. That was even more obvious when she looked back.


    Flow had been merged with multiple Juggernaut weapons in the past, and the voidsword had been so potent in the merging that its power had spilled over into Ts elk leathers.


    At Master Bomas words, she had immediately thought of the god orbs that were supposedly hidden from human and Leshkin alike.


    t had immediately created the feeling of a p to the back of Ts head. -<em>How about we look into the general weapons, or maybe those from the royals. Or we could even branch out away from Leshkin items altogether.-</em>


    <em>Well have to wait for the Leshkin wars for general or royal weapons.</em>


    <em>-Oh no! A hundred years? How will we survive.- </em>Thest had not been a question, and t made sure to project her feelings quite loudly.


    <em>Fine spoilsport.</em>


    Now, after a week, T was due at Mistress Hollys in about an hour, and she was doing thest of her newest type of exercise.


    Iron arched through the air, forming the vague shape of a fist as it mmed into the ground in front of T, barely connected to her by a thin tendril.


    She was in a training room within the Archon Compound, and the walls and floor flickered with magic that barely had to activate to contain the rather weak hit.


    She was moving through her forms, Flow shifting in her hands as she followed the Way of Flowing Blood.


    Her bloodstar-core items moved in their prescribed patterns along with her, covering her weaknesses and making her incredibly difficult to hit.


    On top of those maniptions, she had added sweeping strikes of iron.


    T didnt have the control to form anything close to a de, so more than anything, her efforts created what was effectively an iron club or other vague shapes.


    Because of that, T mainly made them act as a shadow behind Flows movements, but she was trying to alter the movements to be more effective than simply a trailing, secondary strike.


    The iron punch to the floor, paired with a knife parry, had been one such attempt.


    She grimaced at the results. <em>No, a vertical strike at their feet doesnt make sense with this parry.</em>


    <em>-What about a grab and pull down towards us?-</em>


    That was an interesting idea. It would be more like an iron club striking down towards her own feet and rolling back and out. It did fit much better with the knife parry than the punch had.


    <em>Alright. Lets try it.</em>


    T moved back to the beginning of the form, and moved through each movement with a liquid grace that was easily utterly beyond anything a mundane human could aplish.


    Through every stance and strike, she felt the phantom touch of that annoying bear, who would have knocked her t for any instability.


    <em>I hate that rusting cuddly bit of g.</em>


    <em>-He was an effective teacher though.-</em>


    <em>Oh, no doubt. I hope hes doing alright.</em>


    She got back to the knife parry, and her iron moved in the newly prescribed pattern.


    It felt better, adding weight to the block in a way that might even cripple the theoretical attacker in addition to keeping her own flesh from damage.


    <em>There we go.</em>


    She continued on, finishing out this particr form. She was only altering one movement at a time to prevent from fracturing her fighting ability by having too many things in flux at once.


    <em>Not that I should be fighting for a while.</em>


    After she came back into her starting fighting stance and held it for a moment, she dropped her hands and groaned, looking towards the ceiling in purely mental exhaustion.


    Ow


    Manipting the iron felt like using an unfamiliar muscle, but not a weak one that had never been used. No, that would be rtively easy for her to deal with.


    Instead, it was an incredibly powerful, involuntary muscle that she suddenly had exclusively voluntary control over.


    It was like she suddenly had to control her own heartbeat, perfectly regting each chamber, synchronizing the valves, and not being either too powerful or too weak on any beat.


    It was <em>exhausting</em> trying to regte and manipte every aspect simultaneously, seemingly without end.


    <em>-Like trying to control every muscle fiber individually and consciously as you reach to pick up a ss of water?-</em>


    <em>Exactly</em> And that analogy reminded her that she was thirsty. She pulled out her cold-water incorporator and took a deep drink.


    The arcanes saw no use for incorporators, and so even if the items had been seen, they would have been taken. Even so, using one as Tali would have been <em>incredibly</em> out of character.


    As such, shed utterly fallen out of the practice.


    Like with so many other things, she was purposely overcorrecting, now that she was back with the bulk of humanity.


    <em>-We need to get over to Mistress Hollys.</em>-


    T nodded, tucking away the incorporator. She mirrored self-cleaning onto herself and hopped up and down, freeing herself of the grime of her workout.


    She then undid her hair, ran herb through it, and quickly re-braided it with nimble fingers.


    <em>Lets go.</em>

 Chapter 284: That is The Plan

    Chapter 284: That is The n


    T walked into Mistress Hollys back room, and the Inscriptionist didnt even look up from the te she was studying.


    The woman pointed toward a side table with a mug on it, Coffee?


    T shrugged and walked over. Thank you, sure.


    She picked up the mug and found it empty.


    Frowning, T turned towards the woman and found her ring.


    So, you have fully regressed, have you? Not just a one time thing?


    T felt her eye twitch. Ive only had a few cups of coffee. That is hardly regressing.


    Mistress Holly set her te aside and rubbed her own temples with two fingers on each side, closing her eyes in frustration. Mistress T. Your body is being slowly torn apart by your soul, which it is Fused to. Its a cascading effect. Caffeine is a <em>poison.</em> The fact that its too low a dosage to kill you outright is meaningless, it isnt doing good things to you, and it is pushing you in the wrong direction.


    T bristled, and t provided her with the exact information, which T used to push back. Ive had a total of twelve cups in thest week. That is hardly an issue. Ive had more sugar than caffeine.


    Ahh, yes. I was going to discuss that with you as well.


    Her eye twitched again. What?


    There are a long list of things that people eat that youre going to need to avoid until you Refine. I hope youve enjoyed your little bender thisst week.


    Bender? Are you serious? Ive been refilling my stores. One of the core parts of that is calories.


    Yes, youve been getting by with whatever calories you can find, but you have multiple, wonderfully bnced sources of calories and nutrients. Your sanctum foods are specifically designed for you, for that exact purpose, and you arent utilizing that resource at all. Additionally, you should still have a stock of meals from the Culinary Guild, and even if you didnt, you could get some without question.


    T opened her mouth, then closed it sullenly. She <em>had</em> been indulging a bit in thest week. Arcane food had been good in its own way, but the vors werent quite the same, the ratios of spices bnced differently, and she had been glorying in the tastes of home. <em>But thats hardly a bender</em>


    <em>-Shes obviously being extreme to get your attention.-</em>


    <em>Oh, I know, but it still irritates me</em>


    But, we can address that as part of the holistic approach. I have your updated scripts. Given your density, and extenuating circumstances, this will be thest set.


    Do I need to drain those I already have?


    No, no. Ill be adding some connections, a few offshoots, and sub-workings. I anticipated something like these in the previous design, I just hadnt figured out and perfected exactly what they would need to be.


    Were the consultations helpful?


    With the other experts? Mistress Holly gave her an odd look. Of course, thats why I sought them out.


    T suppressed a smile at the womans obvious incredulity at having to answer such a question. So, how long will I need these updated scripts before we can perform the Refining?


    Well, with your magical density and other quirks, I suspect we could make the inscriptions set sufficiently to work in a few days, if we pushed it. Before T could get too excited, the Inscriptionist continued, But that wont be the deciding factor, timewise. As you well know, your Refining will be trickier. Several of those experts will being, and were going to have to modify the process for your unique aspects.


    Ah. And how long will that take?


    We believe well have it ready within a month, but we wont rush. The proper solution is worth whatever amount of time it takes. We could permanently cripple you, or effectively so. If we decide it needs your remaining decade for research, I expect you to ept that verdict and keep yourself safe and undamaged until then.


    T grimaced but didnt argue. Fine. I will I will listen to you and the other experts.


    A small smile pulled at Mistress Hollys lips. Youve matured, havent you?


    T gave her a t look, not letting herself twitch at the unintentional reference to her advancement in the arcane system.


    By their measure, T was Mature, and that reminder made her want to grit her teeth.


    She didnt.


    She didnt even let herself consider it.


    Not one bit. I just came from a ce where being disrespectful or pointlessly obstinate could get me killed.


    Ahh, yes. That would do it, I suppose. Its a shame that such training tactics arent widely epted in these parts.


    She gave the older Archon an incredulous look. Really?


    Mistress Holly shrugged. Effective is effective, and its sad when an effective tool is taken from our collective toolbox. She hesitated for a moment. Not the killing, of course, simply the harsh measures to ensure proper decorum and respect.


    That made too much sense to T, though she wasnt sure if that was because it was actually logical, or if her time away had distorted her sense of how things should be and what was reasonable.


    That made T a bit ufortable, so she decided to get back on topic.


    So, get my inscriptions altered here, change my eating until this process isplete, and Refine in a month or so in the best case?


    Yes, that is the n as Ive just outlined it.


    T sighed. Honestly, why bother?


    Excuse me?


    Why does it really matter? Sure, if we used the standard process, it would move me away from human, but Im hardly a standard specimen of humanity anymore.


    Mistress Holly uncharacteristically pulled a stool over and sat down. We have no idea what it would actually do to you. On the simple side, it could kill you, instantly.


    T blinked at that. I didnt think that was a possibility.


    Its not really likely, but it is possible. Aside from that, it would almost certainly sterilize you, likely irreparably so. It could block you from the higher ranks as well, depending on exactly what happened, even if you didnt die. More than that, it could alter your mind, your thoughts, your very self to the point that you wouldnt really be you anymore.


    T opened her mouth and closed it several times, considering. That that is a lot worse than I really considered.


    Mistress Holly huffed augh. Master Jevin wears it well, but he is the <em>best</em> oue of such an error in Refining. There is a reason why none of us are willing to risk it on your behalf.


    Alright. Lets get it done, then.


    Iron out, please.


    T grimaced. Cant I just move it into the dimensions of magic?


    Mistress Holly gave her an incredulous look. Where do you think my needles pass through to bypass your flesh, dear?


    Ah Well, that was good to know, actually. Wait, doesnt that mean that I didnt need to remove iron from my skin for earlier inscriptions?


    Iron, even in the physical dimensions, interferes with magic in the same area. They <em>probably</em> would have worked, at least much of the time, but they would have worn out faster, and there would always be the chance of simply shattering a needle, sending the shards into your flesh as the needles magics broke and the metal fragmented like shatter tipped arrows.


    T nched. Well,she paused to swallow nervouslyIm very d we didnt test that, then.


    Quite.


    She nodded once more and forcefully moved all her non-biological iron down and out, forming a rough cube on the floor beside her.


    <em>Im not abandoning it. Its mine still. Im just using it right there as a cube Stay.</em>


    T was actually pretty proud of that shape as it was something she would have struggled to make even a week earlier.


    <em>Rane offered to give me some pointers on sculpting the iron, and Master Cazor likely would have some good insights on iron specifically.</em>


    <em>-Those are probably good avenues to pursue to improve our maniption of the material.-</em>


    Over thest week, theyd learned that t was able to affect the iron as well, so long as T wasnt doing so already. Additionally, t benefited from Ts training as if shed done it herself, so that was incredibly useful.


    Once they could spar again, they both thought it could be quite useful to have t control the iron more directly and leave T free of that detail and distraction.


    Mistress Holly brought over the auto-inscriber. It was her current primary project, the culmination of years, if not decades, of research and experimentation. Even so, the Archon seemed less pleased than she usually was when handling her invention.


    T thought she understood. The reinscriber is amazing, but it cant make changes, Mistress Holly. This is a more versatile tool.


    Of course, dear. I know that. Even so, Mistress Holly seemed to perk up a bit, a small smile pulling at her lips. Shall we?


    T sighed and nodded, slipping the hedgehog skin like device on before retracting her elk leather, leaving her naked and unprotected under the covering of the magical device.


    Lets begin.


    * * *


    While the inscription process with the auto-inscriber was even less pleasant than T remembered, it was much more ptable than using the reinscriber.


    <em>-That was a terrible pun.-</em>


    <em>Hush you. You dont have to experience the inscription process if you dont want to. Im stuck with living through it.</em>


    <em>-And I am grateful that you maintain my inscriptions so diligently.-</em>


    t had discovered something that should have been obvious to them both. The alternate interface didnt <em>have to</em> experience or ess anything that she didnt wish to.


    They both knew that every memory she didnt ess would move her further from T, both in personality and experience wise, but they were already diverging, and neither of them <em>really </em>minded.


    They functioned more as a team than as two parts of one individual, and they both enjoyed their role within that team.


    The decision to allow ts continued divergence was helped when t figured out that every physical sensation she denied herself from feeling tended to push her further from ever wanting a physical form at all. It was like over dramatizing a fear of something. Every over-the-top act caused the underlying fear to grow.


    Every time t refused to experience something physical, all physical things became less appealing to her.


    T refocused on the moment and opened her eyes as the device was loosened around her.


    With a flex of will, her elk leathers grew outward, forming clothing incredibly quickly. <em>I should reform my scale vest. Thats a good defense to have, especially as vulnerable as I am right now.</em>


    <em>-Add it to the list?-</em>


    <em>Yes, please.</em>


    The auto-inscriber came off just after her elk leathers re-covered her, and she smiled at Mistress Holly. Thank you.


    The woman grunted back as she moved the device back to its holder.


    The difference to Ts magic was subtle but noticeable, since she was looking for it.


    The closest thing that she couldpare the sensation to was from back when shed just been learning how to do pushups.


    Shed thrown herself through the motions, unwittingly only strengthening parts of the muscle with the jerky motions. When a teacher had finally gotten her to listen and T had slowed down, shed discovered that the middle portion of the motion was <em>much</em> harder because she hadnt been practicing it. Once she got used to doing the exercise properly, the strength had filled in more uniformly.


    Her magic felt like that, as if the middle bits had finally been filled in, and her power was now acting smoothly throughplete actions rather than just pointing in the direction she wanted and shooting power out in the hopes of aplishing the task.


    It wasnt the greatest analogy, but it made sense to her.


    -<em>Thats because youve been exercising so much recently. Of course that is the first frame of reference you turn to.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, thats probably fair. Even so, it doesnt really make sense to draw an analogy to something else esoteric that Ive been trying to grasp.</em>


    <em>-This is like an automata given five fingers rather than two. Its not able to do more, necessarily, but it is able to do the same things better.-</em>


    T smirked to herself. <em>Its like the Doman-Imithe, given centuries without magic eroding Zeme on the other side to recover. Its not any more coherent, but it still provides a better backing to reality.</em>


    <em>-That was a bit of a stretch.-</em>


    <em>I did say that it wasnt a good idea to try to analogize one odd subject with another.</em>


    <em>-Fair, fair.-</em>


    <em>Its like learning that the fighting style youve been using for years has another form, filled with all sorts of more advanced techniques?</em>


    <em>-Yeah, thats a goodparison.-</em>


    Mistress Holly cleared her throat, and T blinked, returning her attention to the woman.


    The inscriber was standing, one eyebrow raised in obvious impatience. Are you quite done with your internal conversation?


    I am, T said sheepishly.


    Incidentally, that is another reason such alternate interfaces are not asmon as they might otherwise be. There is an incredible danger of falling into the habit of only talking to yourself, and since the ability and penchant toward working with yourself is required to begin with, the natural safeguards one might assume would be in ce in such a situation simply dont exist.


    I will keep that in mind, Mistress Holly.


    If it bes too much, I can alter the inscriptions to remove the capacity for independent personality.


    -<em>That rusting-</em>


    T spoke before t could finish the thought, What would that even do?


    It would make it so your consciousness, at the moment you wished a secondary task to be aplished, would duplicate, aplish that task before remerging with you. There would be no true separation, no divergence of experience or personage.


    T shook her head. I dont see myself wanting that.


    Mistress Holly shrugged. Its your mind, dear.


    T frowned at that. You know, I dont remember you testing if this was a good idea before doing it.


    Every note ever made about you screamed that this was possible for you.


    She colored, feeling embarrassment rising within her.


    Additionally, it was one of two paths, due to your pre-existing consciousness restoration scripts. Your own mind chose this path, and I saw no reason to prevent it or revert it once it happened.


    Oh I suppose that makes sense.


    Now, Ive granted you ess to an extensive set of guidelines to curb your more self-destructive tendencies and help you avoid bad influences.


    She frowned remembering the kind assistant who had brought her coffee. You arent going to discipline Mistress Emersen for offering me coffee, are you?


    Mistress Holly huffed. Of course not, child. I specifically asked her to do so. I needed to get another data point on your mental state, and that was the least intrusive way I could easilye up with.


    T really didnt know how to feel about that.


    Were done. Ill let you know when I know more, or if we need anything else.


    She nodded and left without another word.


    Ironically, T now knew Bandfast much better than she had before being taken, just from a week of long walks. She used that knowledge to take a much more scenic, if slightly longer, path back to Lyns house.


    When she had almost arrived, t grabbed her attention. <em>-Mistress Elnea is ready toe out again.-</em>


    Without hesitation, T walked to the closest nk wall and ced Kit as a door against it, opening the portal and letting the Archon out.


    The womans recent, perpetual smile was still in evidence as she came out and thanked T. Mistress Elnea didnt stick around as shed already given T and t ess to a detailed ounting of what shed done and learned.


    <em>She asks for ess nearly every day.</em>


    <em>-She keeps getting good information.-</em>


    <em>Oh, absolutely.</em>


    The older Archon was a fantastic resource that T knew wouldnt be avable to her long term.


    Theyd made progress in modifying teleportation scripts to work with a dimensionally segregated space.


    It turned out that it was a line of research that had been explored on asion. Early caravans had brought an emergency retreat wagon on every venture, and those mobile scripts had been expanded to work with expanded spaces, which were not locationally <em>fixed.</em>


    The real issue was power and material costs. Additionally, the variations made them ipatible with the modern teleportation towers. So, they needed to create a single location for Ts circles to connect with.


    All of this was problematic for a dozen reasons. It looked like it would happen eventually, but likely not for a month or two at the very earliest.


    But that was neither here nor there for the moment.


    T continued on her way, holding Kit in her hands and gently topping off its reserves, as she thought. I feel I know so little about you, little Kit. Weve helped each other at every turn, but will itst? Will you decide youre done with me, and just eat everything?


    She didnt think so, but there was always that possibility.


    <em>Just like a person could always decide theyre done with me and leave.</em>


    <em>-Thats why trust is so important. Kit has been trustworthy, and I believe that youve treated Kit in the same manner.-</em>


    That did help.


    She hung Kit back on her belt. Tonight wasnt for such bleak thoughts, however.


    Lyn had apparently learned some new card game, and she wanted to teach it to T and Rane.


    T opened the door to Lyns house, able to hear her friends already chatting amicably inside.


    <em>Tonight is not about mysteries and concerns for the future.</em>


    No. Tonight was a time for friends.

 Chapter 285: I’m Listening

    Chapter 285: I¡¯m Listening


    T sat in her sanctum beneath the fake night sky. It was fascinating how the stars, clusters, and even neb <em>looked</em> real, while being utterly alien to what she was used to on Zeme.


    Shed asked about it once, and she was told that it could show a facsimile of Zemes sky, or something like this, depending on what she wanted. Apparently, it was a feature of Kit, not something that theyd added specifically.


    <em>Still showing me what I want to see. Eh, Kit?</em>


    The stars above almost seemed to twinkle.


    There was, obviously, no light pollution, and no clouds. It was a sight that few would ever see.


    <em>And its fake.</em>


    -<em>But its still beautiful.-</em>


    T was on a randomly chosen hill in the ins that ran around the outside of her sanctum. The grass and turf beneath her was soft and springy. Night time birds and insects could be heard throughout the space, lending a further element of realism to the false reality in which she sat.


    The arcanes really knew their craft, and this sanctum stood testament to that.


    Even so, the night wasnt perfect.


    A small annoyance sat in the back of her mind.


    There was a message sitting avable in the Archive.


    She knew what it said because t had immediately read it when they were granted ess, but she wasnt ready to act on it.


    She really did need to, though.


    <em>-T. You need to talk to someone. You asked Mistress Ingrit to find someone. She has. We cant just ignore it.-</em>


    <em>I know</em> T was absently working on her new scalemail vest.


    She had to remove the white steel from her elk leathers for the scales, but that was easy enough. In fact, she was able to use the magics of the garment to make the metale out in the exact shape she needed. So, now, instead of forming a shaped log of metal and separating scales from that, she was simply creating each scale on her sleeve, and then pulling it free, removing it from the elk leathers.


    The process was magically expensive, but nowhere near prohibitively so.


    Thus, the results were actually much better this time around. The main difference was a small hole at the base of each scale, which she caused her vest to grow through.


    She would take off the vest when she was done, making it separate from her other garments, but it wasnt time for that, yet.


    She would have formed the scales in ce, but she had to separate them before she could amplify their gravity. If she didnt do so beforehand, the separation would be a sufficient change to their makeup to break the working.


    The benefit of the tie was simple. The little bit of resistance would force a scale to orient properly as it pulled outward. Thus, they should now all strike edge-first, rather than the somewhat haphazard orientation that shed dealt with for her earliest version.


    <em>-T. He is a professional, specifically trained to help Archons process through traumatizing experiences. He has centuries of wisdom and practice.-</em>


    <em>I know.</em>


    After a short pause, where t was clearly waiting for T to continue, the alternate interface sighed. <em>-Most of his clients are those traumatized by merging, either choices taken, or those experienced before being avoided.-</em>


    <em>He sounds great.</em>


    There was another pause. <em>-So?-</em>


    T sighed. <em>Fine Schedule something for tomorrow?</em>


    <em>-He has a slot open first thing tomorrow morning. Would you like him toe here, or would you like to go to him?-</em>


    <em>Himing here would be nice. Should we ask Lyn?</em>


    <em>-Shes never been too picky onpany. Ill update a note for her, so when she sits down for her morning reading shell know whats going on.-</em>


    <em>Thank you.</em>


    -<em>Appointment scheduled You know; we could move Kit to the front door. It shouldnt be too difficult to have it only open for the right people or under the right circumstances. At other times, Kit could be dormant across the opening, and Lyns door would function normally.-</em>


    <em>Thats Im not sure if its incredibly clever or really terrifying.</em>


    <em>-Why not both?-</em>


    <em>Sure, I suppose.</em>


    Shed already slept, and even after staying upte with Rane, Lyn, and Kannis to y the card game, morning was still quite a ways off.


    There was another long pause while T continued creating and amplifying the gravity on the scales.


    t was the one to break the internal silence this time. <em>-You know, Ive never experienced voidsight directly-</em>


    T grinned. It was a topic that theyd wanted to experiment with, and it was a wee distraction. <em>Fine. We did want to test mirroring voidsight onto bloodstar perspectives, and passing a bloodstar perspective to you is the easiest way for you to directly experience it for yourself.</em>


    T <em>could</em> pass direct ess to her own eyes perspective, but it left her utterly blind, and she <em>hated</em> the experience.


    With regard to voidsight, T and t had been digging into exactly how and why it hade to be, and the answer wasughingly obvious after they took a bit of time to research.


    When Flow was in a void-weapon form, it should kill her.


    When theyd realized that, T had needed to take a long walk and eat a stack of donuts before she could return to the problem.


    The truth was, she <em>shouldnt</em> be able to wield it at all; no human should. So, as a natural part of the merging, as the results selected specifically involved her ability to use the weapon, her body had been touched with void, immunized to it almost.


    That had actually exined quite a few of Mistress Hollys test results, and the Inscriptionist hadnt been surprised in the least when theyd conveyed their discovery to her.


    When T pushed Flow into a void-form, the weapon acted as a source of void-magics, and those flowed through the tendrils already in ce within T, allowing her to wield the de without inherent danger.


    There was a lot more that happened, obviously, but the end result was that the void-magics collected around her eyes in her most strongly cemented natural magics, her magesight.


    Thisbination is what granted her voidsight.


    Thus, in order to mimic that sight, T had to mirror not only her perspective, but also her natural magics of magesight onto a bloodstar, and then further mirror void-magics from Flow or her elk leathers overtop the other aspects.


    It was quite convoluted in totality, and shed been hesitant to try it because she knew that shed likely obsess over getting it right once she started.


    <em>Well, now is as good a time as any.</em> She had just finished adding thetest scale to her armor.


    With careful deliberateness, T mirrored the aspects overtop one another, onto a bloodstar.


    First, she mirrored her ability to perceive onto the drop, looking back at herself. She still found that mildly disconcerting even though she was incredibly used to it by this point.


    Next, she focused on her magesight, joining that with the bloodstar and the mirrored perspective already in ce.


    She could have simply mirrored the magesight, but as it was a working used to enhance and alter vision, that wouldnt actually have aplished anything.


    Her own loosely controlled yellow-orange aura became easily visible to the secondary perspective.


    The coloration was faint but distinct.


    The magesight was impressed within her natural magics, else it wouldnt have been able to be mirrored, but it still wasnt deeply impressed, and without her inscriptions to back up and reinforce the spell-form, it was much weaker than she was used to.


    <em>-Oh, T. This is going to be insanely useful, even like this.-</em>


    <em>That it will be.</em> It was difficult to force the mirrored aspects to merge, but they were already used in conjunction naturally, so they didnt fight back too hard.


    Finally, she twisted her will, catching onto the void with her elk leathers.


    She might have used those magics from within Flow, but that void-power was dormant, and she was looking for a means of voidsight without having to have Flow in a void-form.


    The void in the elk leathers wasnt overwhelming, but it <em>was</em> pervasive<em>.</em>


    After a flick and extension of her mind, the void joined the other aspects mirrored onto her bloodstar.


    The small drop of blood turned ck. No, that wasnt right. The change rendered it much more than ckor rather much lessthe bloodstar seemingly bing a hole in the very air.


    As the void filled the mirrored aspects, the perspective it granted T <em>changed.</em>


    Before, it had been like having an eye floating above her, giving her a single direction of view.


    With void added, light now came in from every side, giving a forced omnidirectional perspective.


    The world seemed to shatter within that view, and uncounted nodules of reality flickered into visibility even as her perception spun and rotated, seemingly at random.


    As it was an omnidirectional view, what she could see wasnt changing, but it seemed to be constantly reorienting within her own mind, and the results were incredibly nauseating.


    T heaved, even though she couldnt puke, her body rebelling against the input.


    She let the aspect mirrors fall away and flopped onto her back, trying to let her head settle.


    <em>Oh, that was awful.</em>


    <em>-Just a bit, yeah.-</em>


    <em>Great first attempt though!</em>


    <em>-Oh, undoubtedly. Im not sure how well fix the oddities, but unreservedly a promising start.-</em>


    * * *


    T knelt over a bucket that she didnt need.


    It was filled with slightly crushed mint leaves, wafting a powerful anti-nausea scent.


    She groaned. <em>This is awful Why? Why are we doing this!?</em>


    <em>-I still say you should just give the perspective wholly to me. When we tried that, it worked just fine!-</em>


    <em>Of course it did, and we have that in our tool bag, but I want to be able to use this, too.</em>


    She heaved, but the anti-vomit scripts kept her stomach contents where they belonged.


    <em>This is worse than just vomiting</em>


    <em>-Well, you could disable the scripts, right?-</em>


    <em>But then Id vomit. Do you want me to vomit? What kind of idea was that?</em>


    <em>-youre fine. Stop being difficult.-</em>


    T flopped over on her side, groaning again.


    The sky was lightening overhead, and dawn was approaching, both that of her fake sun in the sanctum and that in the city outside.


    <em>So, youll watch with voidsight?</em>


    <em>-Thats the n. Youll have to hold the mirrors, but I can watch.-</em>


    T sighed, sitting up.


    With now practiced ease, T set up the threeyers of aspect mirroring, purposely denying herself ess to the perspective and surrendering the point of view to t.


    -<em>Ready.-</em>


    A simple thought allowed T to dismiss the bucket of herbs, and as expected, it was simply gone.


    -<em>Fascinating. Its just as weve seen before. Its like the nodules of reality slip apart, and the fraction which is most closely rted to the bucket was pulled backward, or away, or downward, or through, or we dont really have a word for it. I think I was able to somewhat trace it moving toward the center of the sanctum, though.-</em>


    <em>Thats really interesting.</em> Theyd seen the bits of reality moving before when Kit acted, but t had been honing her ability to discern details with their voidsight. Now, using it herself, directly, she seemed able to see a bit more than she could while just reviewing memories.


    -<em>Ill keep ying with this. While I do that, you have your appointment with the Archon.-</em>


    <em>Right.</em> T stood and willed herself back to the core of her sanctum.


    An instantter she was standing where she had wished to be.


    <em>-Oh! RUST MY BISCUITS!-</em>


    T frowned. <em>Isnt that Mistress Hollys phrase?</em>


    <em>-T! You were moved.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, thats what I wanted to happen. We cant move other sapient life, because it naturally resists, but I asked to be moved, so it worked.</em> When shed really realized that, shed passed the detail on to Mistress Elnea for the team researching the founts. Rob couldnt resist her transferring of the orb. He clearly wasnt the same as a person, and neither were the other founts.


    <em>-No, no. Youre not understanding. </em>You<em> moved. Kit didnt move around you, nor did it restructure with you in the new ce. The bit of reality that is you was moved, like teleportation, but it was direct, not a throw through the void or ether, or whatever, and aplicated catch. You just </em>moved<em>.-</em>


    Her eyes widened. <em>Direct maniption of the bits of reality. Did you see how it was done?</em>


    <em>-Ha! Are you kidding me? Not even a little well, maybe a little.-</em>


    <em>Well, well have to test and re-test. Theres lots to learn.</em>


    <em>-not now, though. Go.-</em>


    <em>Fine</em> T opened the door even as it appeared before her.


    She stepped out into Lyns hallway, hanging Kit from her belt as she walked out into the sitting room. She was about to take up a chair when a solid, simple knock sounded against the front door.


    It was a double-rap and no more.


    <em>Well, that was good timing.</em>


    T moved to the entry way and opened the front door.


    An older man waited on the other side. He was tall and slender, seeming built more like a deer than a lion, if that made sense.


    He had short, curly hair that had all gone grey, and his face was an odd mix of stern and soft. He smiled warmly, his voice a bit higher pitched than she might have expected, Mistress T, I presume? Or is she within?


    Um, thats me. Master Nadro, is it?


    I am, indeed. It is my pleasure to meet you.


    And for me to meet you.


    T stood for a long moment, and Nadro simply waited, a patient smilefortably held across his features.


    She frowned. <em>Isnt he going to say anything else?</em>


    <em>-Invite him in, T.-</em>


    Oh! My apologies, wont youe in?


    Thank you. He gave a shallow bow and followed her back inside. Should I take off my shoes?


    Hmm? T nced at his boots. Oh! No, thats fine.


    She tossed Kit at the wall just beside the entrance, opposite the washroom.


    Please, after you.


    Nadro nodded and pushed open the door, stepping through and out into her dining room. More specifically, they came out beside the two cushy chairs, overlooking the ins and forests beyond. Oh, my. This is truly stunning, Mistress.


    T followed him through. Thank you; I find it rather peaceful. Tea?


    He didnt take his eyes from the view as he shook his head slightly. No, thank you. I have a jug of my favorite, if ites to it. Im happy to share if you wish?


    No, thank you. Do you mind if I make myself some?


    I dont mind in the least. The man took another step forward to stand closer to the massive window.


    T pulled out her tea making supplies, going through the motions shed refamiliarized herself with in thest week. Nadro did nothing to interrupt thefortable silence as she worked.


    Finally, when she poured herself a cup, his voice reached her. He hadnt turned around. You seem content to separate yourself from others. Has that always been the case?


    She hesitated for just a moment before sitting in her favorite of the two chairs. What a way to start a conversation.


    He turned toward her, even as he moved to sit in the other chair. His smile shifted slightly, but he simply left his question as it was.


    T took a sip and shook her head. What do you even mean?


    I could ask you what you think I mean, but that would start a whole cycle of unhelpful ridiculousness.


    She chuckled in spite of herself.


    To answer your question, though: I was honestly hoping you would tell me. I havent gathered any information on you. I try to let my clients tell me about themselves on their own. I am simply gauging based on what I have seen in the minutes since we met.


    And that is? T was genuinely curious why hede to that conclusion.


    You live in here, even when there is plenty of space in the real world.


    Why do you think I live in here? I could have just brought you in for a private chat.


    You could have, of course, but I can see the magics about you, the telltale signs of time in a dimensional space. Youve spent more time outside of Zeme in thest days than within.


    T tried to see his level of advancement once again but couldnt. His aura was utterly undetectable to her.


    Your choice of tea-ware is cast iron. While such a choice could merely be a stunt for Fused or higherrarely truly dangerous at that level of advancementit is clearly familiar to you, and I would guess that youd had it well before bing Fused. This implies incredible neglect in your education, apathy from your acquaintances, or a cognizant choice on your part.


    She leaned back, taking another sip.


    I see I have guessed correctly, but this time is not about me, nor about what I can guess about you.


    T shook her head. Then why would you start our time together with such a question?


    Nadros smile pulled up on one side. Because our time is valuable, and it is best if you recognize early that there is no point in deceit. You dont have to tell me anything you dont wish to, but falsehoods wont be borne.


    She almost objected, but finally nodded. Alright.


    He flicked his hands, and arge earthenware mug and jug appeared within them.


    With careful deliberation, he poured himself some of the steaming liquid before the jug vanished, presumably back into his storage space.


    Nadro didnt say anything else, turning his gaze back out of the window and letting the silence settle in.


    T shrugged to herself, enjoying her own tea while looking upon the view as well, while the false sun rose.


    She had refilled her cup three times before she finally broke the silence. I fear that I am nothing more than a tool, used at the whim of others, for their benefit.


    Nadro turned slightly to regard her, his face showing hints of empathy, along with careful attention. Im listening.


    And so T spoke, telling her story from the beginning. My mother died in childbirth

 Chapter 286: No Place for Deception

    Chapter 286: No ce for Deception


    T sighed, nodding as she reached the end of what she had to say, Thats a pretty good summary, I think.


    It had taken a few hours, and noon was approaching.


    Nadro had only interrupted once to ask if she was alright with him eating as she continued. Shed agreed, and theyd both eaten off and on throughout her tale.


    She obviously hadnt been able to give many details, but she had been able to hit the highlights of her homelife, her time at the Academy, her first contracts, her reunion with her siblings, her capture and time as an Eskau, and finally, her return to the human cities.


    <em>Wow thats a lot when thought of all together like that.</em>


    <em>-Well, it did take you a while to convey it. I dont think Ive heard you talk that much ever.-</em>


    <em>I suppose thats true.</em>


    Nadro had listened throughout, only interrupting the once. Even then, he seemed to have chosen carefully, and only interjected at a natural pause.


    Early on, he had pulled out a te and writing implement, seemingly taking notes as T monologued.


    Even with the writing, he had maintained a good amount of eye contact, easily conveying that he was listening intently without staring her down.


    Now that T was done, he took a few moments, ncing at his notes asionally, but also looking out the window once again. Finally, he nodded to himself.


    Thank you for sharing all that you did. I cannot fully understand all that you have experienced. It is possible that no one alive can, despite the horrors of this world. Even so, I have heard you, and I appreciate the vulnerability and forthrightness.


    He then fell silent once again.


    For some reason, T felt a wave of relief. As she considered, she realized that shed been afraid he would immediately try to fix her, or tell her that he knew what shed gone through, or try to get details from her, or any number of other things.


    He hadnt.


    He had simply listened.


    Thank youshe took a sip of her refreshed teafor listening.


    He smiled and nodded again. Of course, Mistress.


    There was another long moment of silence.


    Nadro seemed to be contemting, before he finally decided what to say, So, there are several things that we can do, now.


    Oh? T felt herself tense slightly. <em>Is he going to try to fix me, now?</em>


    The look in his eyes was one of utter sincerity. First, you could tell me what you want to aplish, and I can advise you.


    T grunted at that, but she felt herself rx just a bit. <em>That doesnt sound too bad, though I dont know what I actually want</em>


    He smiled. We could also simply schedule to meet up again and talk further. I am happy to listen to anything that you want to discuss.


    She shrugged. That would probably be nice, but it didnt seem like what she needed.


    I could also give you my opinion of one or two things that I believe might help you.


    T sighed and nodded. There it was, an attempt to fix her, but somehow, it didnt feel that way. Rather, it felt like a friend offering advice, rather than someone trying to make her right. That actually sounded relieving. Honestly, I feel like Im so deep in this that I dont know where to start.


    So, would you like us to try thatst option, then?


    She smiled. <em>Kind of him to double check.</em> Yes. Please.


    He smiled. In that case, I have two suggestions.


    T sat up a bit straighter, leaning forward just slightly.


    From your story, my understanding is that you have an Archive attached division within your mind. You called her your alternate interface, and t is the name she prefers.


    <em>-Well, he did hear at least some of what you said.-</em>


    <em>It would be pretty hard for someone to hear my story without knowing who and what you are.</em>


    <em>-Thats fair.-</em>


    I do. What of her?


    I have something simr, though he goes by Retson. A small smile pulled at the mans lips, likely due to some personal knowledge regarding the name. If you are willing, I think that t and Retson should speak via the Archive. It shouldnt cause any disruption to you or me, and it will help your alternate interface process as well.


    T shrugged again. I have no issue with that. Let me check.


    <em>t?</em>


    <em>-Sure? Might be interesting.-</em>


    <em>Dont let him convince you to give me the boot, eh?</em>


    t sent a huff. <em>-Of course not, T.-</em>


    Yeah, thats fine.


    Good, I will set up thatmunication.


    <em>-Done!-</em>


    T smiled. Seems like its done.


    It is. Archive connections are a wonder. He smiled, seemingly at a simple joy.


    -<em>Oh this guy is exactly like Nadro.-</em> There was a minute a pause. <em>-Ha! This should be fun.-</em>


    T stretched her neck slightly to either side, growing hesitant again. What was the second thing?


    Nadro leaned forward, seeming to purposely rx as he set his hands on his own knees. My advice would be to confront Tali directly, and deal with that splinter of your mind once and for all.


    T stiffened. Why?


    He gave her an understanding smile. You have a segregated part of your mind that you absolutely reject. Holding that within yourself isnt healthy or good for your long-term health and growth. He leaned back and took a sip from his own mug. In a sense, we are each many different people. Who we are with one group versus another. Who we are in battle. Who we are when holding a child. But they are all <em>us.</em> We cannot divorce them from ourselves or from eachother. We cannot reject who we are. A warrior should be gentle with a babe. Do you know what that means?


    Not hurting the child?


    He chuckled. Quite, yes. But gentleness, specifically? Do you know what that means?


    Soft?


    Some would say that, yes. But in truth, gentleness is strength under control. If you dont have strength, you cannot keep it under control, thus you cannot be gentle. So, the warrior is strong whether on the battlefield or when holding his infant. In both ces he acts differently, but in both ces he is using his strength in a controlled manner to aplish what he wishes. He is the <em>same person</em>, though he acts differently.


    T frowned but nodded slowly.


    Tali is <em>not you</em>. She is, in theory, someone that you could have been, but you are not her. You are no more her than an actress in a y <em>is</em> the character they pretend to be.


    Whats your point? T was shifting, a bit ufortable.


    What would you say to an actress who had divided her own mind, so that she could create a part of herself that <em>believed</em> she actually was that character?


    She chuckled nervously. That sounds a bit extreme.


    He smiled at that. True, I suppose. Would you advise her to keep that segregation? After the y was over? After the story was done, and she would never be asked to y that part again?


    T didnt answer, and Nadro seemed content to wait.


    She had finished another cup of her tea before she finally answered.


    The segregation should be let go.


    He nodded but still asked, Howe?


    Because it is a lie; it is a seed of falsehood that can grow and fester if left in ce.


    Nadros eyebrows rose. That is fairly harshnguage.


    It is a harsh reality. T felt her resolve firm. Allowing a lie, a false identity to remain sequestered in my own mind will do nothing good for me.


    He took another drink.


    In the silence, T felt more stir that she wanted to say, What could have been doesnt matter, does it? I am not Tali, no matter how much I pretended to be, no matter how many people knew me as her. It wasnt really me that they knew, but the character I was pretending to be. The lie that I put forward because I didnt feel I could be the real me, the me that exists, grounded in reality.


    He smiled sadly and continued to wait.


    I dont want to be her. Though parts of her are in me, the core of who she was isnt. I cant let that lie form me, neither positively by embracing it, nor negatively by rebelling against the simrities. Either would be treating the characterthe lieas if it were real.


    After another lengthy pause, Nadro leaned forward. So? What would you like to do?


    I want to tell her the lie of her own existence, then break down the division between us, excise the false memories, and recontextualize what I experienced while forced to be her.


    There was another pregnant pause as T felt tears building in her eyes.


    I want to tell her how much I hate her for what I had to do because of her. I want to tell her Im sorry that she was a lie. I...she swallowed and wiped away her tears. She hadnt cried in the retelling, but this was striking much closer to her heartI want to tell her that I forgive her. My suffering wasnt her fault, even though she was an indirect contributor. I want to eliminate thest stains of Be-thric from my mind.


    Nadros smile was full of empathy as he continued to listen.


    Tughed and wiped away some more tears. Im sorry. That was that was a lot.


    Mistress T. You never need to apologize for the truth, and I think what youve said is a deep truth in your heart. Thank you.


    She smiled and shrugged. Ive taken your whole morning.


    I set it aside for you, Mistress. I do have an appointment after lunch, but I can postpone it if necessary.


    T waved that notion away. No, no. This has been good I think.


    He smiled. I agree. I have enjoyed getting to know you, Mistress T. He stood. Would you like to meet up again?


    T stood as well, setting her cup to the side. She frowned for a moment, then nodded and smiled again. Yes. I think I would like that.


    Im d. I trust that Retson and t can set something up for us? He tilted his head to the side for a moment, then nodded.


    T gave a shallow bow. Thank you. Thank you for your time, and thank you for listening.


    Absolutely. Its more than my job, Mistress. We must care for one another if we are to thrive.


    With a thought, T caused the door out of Kit to appear behind Nadro.


    He gave her a shallow bow, taking onest, long look out the window. Stunning, truly. Few have mastered the art of dimensional space creation like the arcanes, at least not since the restoration.


    With a shake of his head, and ast smile sent her way, he turned towards the doorway out like hed known it was there all along.


    T hesitated.


    Before he could leave, she decided to go for it, If I may ask?


    Nadro stopped with his hand on the doorknob. He didnt turn back. Yes, Mistress?


    How advanced are you? I dont see any inscriptions on you, nor can I sense your gate or aura at all. I dont sense a through-spike, nor any other form of concealment. Ive nevere across such perfect magical control.


    He smiled, turning towards her then, and bowed deeply. Thank you, Mistress T. That is an incrediblepliment, especially from you, now that I know your story.


    She shrugged. Its just the truth.


    Even so. He hesitated for a moment. You know, someone with my level of control can fake any level of advancement, even to magesight as advanced as yours.


    It was her turn to grin. Ahh, but you said there was no ce for deception with you.


    Heughed then, obvious smile lines and crows feet showing on his face along with the genuine mirth. I did, didnt I?


    T waited, taking a cue from him.


    He waited too, smiling, but finally, he nodded. I am who I am, Mistress T. I think you, as much as anyone, will be able to ept that.


    Without another word, his aura was suddenly visible.


    Ts eyes widened, and she felt herself tremble.


    Kit quaked, seemingly also able to sense the man.


    Before she could recover to respond with anything, Master Nadro had hidden his aura once more, and exited Kit, closing the door behind himself.


    T sunk backwards into her chair.


    Master Nadro was decidedly human, he bore every hallmark that she knew to look for.


    She had checked, because unlike most humans she knew, hecked a gate.


    Even so, her verification had been reflexive, faster than thought, her conscious mind frozen at the color of the aura presented to her.


    <em>Indigo.</em> And simply because of her enhanced vision and ts ability topare, shed been able to see, <em>Indigo with hints of violet. Hes Ascending.</em>


    -<em>No. He doesnt have a gate, T. He would need to advance as the arcanes do.-</em>


    <em>Hallowed</em> Shed been right before, he didnt have any inscriptions, but he didnt need them. At least, he didnt need them anymore.


    In the brief unveiling, shed seen his natural magics thick with power and detail. The dimensions of magic around the man were carved as deeply as any shed ever glimpsed, though she couldnt interpret them at all.


    There had been so, so much in that brief glimpse that as T processed through all of it, she didnt notice noone and go.


    It was mid-afternoon before she shook herself free of her rumination and stood once more.


    -<em>Are you ready?-</em>


    T nodded to herself. She could deal with the existential questions brought up by finding such a powerful humanter. T already had thousands of questions, but it was not the time. Most of them likely ovepped in one way or another, regardless.


    <em>Yes. It is time to deal with Tali.</em>


    Less than a minuteter, T was sitting on the hill shed upied the previous night.


    <em>-I believe I can do what youre thinking.-</em>


    <em>Good. Lets do this.</em>


    t used the same method that allowed her to show T books that werent really there to create a duplicate of T in her own vision.


    <em>No, not a duplicate. Tali.</em>


    The woman sat with closed eyes, her posture subtly different than Ts own. Her head tilted down just a bit, showing default subservience. At the same time, her shoulders were a bit straighter, her confidence more prevalent and obvious than it was for T.


    <em>-Were ready for your part.-</em>


    T nodded, moving a bloodstar to hover in the center of the apparitions head. She then mirrored her perspective onto the bloodstar and handed ess to and control of that perspective over to t.


    t, in turn, activated the part of their mind that was Tali and passed the perspective to the false personality.


    Talis eyes snapped open, immediately focusing on T. They widened in shock, but just for a moment.


    The Eskau had a phantom of Flow in her hand in an instant, even as she lunged to nt the de through Ts throat.


    T didnt react as the weapon passed harmlessly through her. <em>Fascinating. Could you make me feel that?</em>


    <em>-Now is hardly the time, T. This is harder than you might assume, maintaining the illusion for you both.-</em>


    <em>Fine, fine.</em>


    Tali.


    The woman stopped, looking down at her weapon in confusion.


    Sit. There is much we need to talk about.


    The Eskau red but dropped into a seated position. T could practically hear what the woman was thinking.


    -<em>Oh! I could let you hear, if you want.-</em>


    T almost said, Yes. but that could be confusing, and it would be against the spirit of what she was trying to do. <em>No, but thank you.</em>


    What magics have you worked to protect yourself from me, imposter?


    T sighed. I am T. You and I are the same person, Tali. More urately, I am the person who was kidnapped and erased so that Be-thric could create you.


    Taliughed. Master has no need of disloyal creatures, and anyone willing to say such a lie cannot be considered loyal.


    Be-thric is dead.


    Tali paled. What? That is no. Thats not possible.


    By my hand. Or, as you would see it, our hand.


    She flushed red with anger. Liar. I would never hurt him.


    They had kept that memory locked away from Tali, as there really was no reason try to reconcile it for the fake personality, given T had never intended to use her again. <em>Please let her see the memory.</em>


    Tali gasped, eyes widening again and the wash of color in her cheeks draining away. Lies. Horrid, obviously false lies.


    T shrugged, sighing with deep weariness that shed not really noticed creeping up on her. I dont need you to believe me. I dont need anything from you. I dont need you at all.


    Tali growled but didnt say anythingseemingly quite off bnce stillbefore T continued.


    I conjured you up


    -<em>Excuse me, you?-</em>


    <em>Do you really think that it will make things easier if I tell her about you?</em>


    <em>-Fair-</em>


    As I was saying, I conjured you up for very specific purposes, and nothing more.


    She narrowed her gaze, obviously wary. What would those be?


    To say goodbye, and to tell you that Im sorry that you were created to be abused and subjugated. Your existence was a lie from the beginning. You are a lie, created to control <em>me.</em> Nothing more.


    Tali opened her mouth, rage building on her features, but T lifted her hand, and Tali was unable to speak.


    <em>Thank you.</em>


    <em>-Hey, this is easier on me.-</em> t sent a shrug.


    We will not meet again. There was a long pause while the other woman silently raged. T knew that she would be heard when she spoke, despite Talis actions, I forgive you, Tali. You were as much a victim as I ever was. I forgive you. T gave a soft, mournful smile. Goodbye.


    The apparition vanished, and T felt something break down within her mind.


    In that moment, everything that Tali had experienced mmed into Ts consciousness, and the memories rushed through her as if she were back in that time, again. She was a passenger, forced to watch as she acted out a horrid y.


    Before, shed had the memories there, separated and isted. She could reference them, but she was only able to ess them in a theoretical sense.


    Now?


    Now, T <em>lived </em>them.


    She threw her head back and screamed at the sky, feeling every emotion, every lie, every death.


    She screamed, and the world within Kit trembled at the force of it.

 Chapter 287: Alternates

    Chapter 287: Alternates


    Tid on her back on the slope, tears streaming from her eyes, across her jaw, and down her neck.


    Talis memories now <em>her</em> memories, were fresh in her mind.


    She could <em>feel</em> the bones broken under Talis fists. She could see the hurt her words had brought as she lorded her position over the lessers of the House of Blood.


    If the Eskau were the siege engines of a major House, the candidates were the street level enforcers. T had done her best to not dwell on those parts of Talis time, but they were there.


    T had undoubtedly killed far more than Tali had, but Tali was responsible for more direct suffering.


    She found herself huffing augh. <em>What sort of justification is that? I may have killed people, but she made them cry!</em>


    <em>-A self-defensive one.-</em> ts tone was soft.


    <em>Yeah</em> T knew what shed done. Shed killed dozens, maybe hundreds directly. <em>Probably dozens.</em>


    <em>-Do you want me to count?-</em>


    <em>Absolutely not.</em>


    It was nearly sunset, and even though it had taken but a moment to relive Talis memoriesintegrating them into herself and dissolving that personality foreverit had taken hours to work through the emotional fallout.


    It was obvious why Tali had been so devoted to Be-thric.


    Hed been good to her.


    T had known that, but there was a difference between knowing a thing and experiencing it herself.


    Still, that obviously didnt offset what he had done, not even a little.


    There was a certain sadness, however, in seeing what <em>might</em> have been, even if there was no realistic way it could havee to pass.


    <em>I need to get out of my own head.</em>


    <em>-Yeah. That would be good.-</em>


    T <em>really</em> wanted to spar, but she couldnt.


    <em>Huh would that work?</em>


    <em>-Oh, you think a lot of me, dont you yeah, I think I can make it work.-</em>


    T felt herself grin with hope in the possible distraction. With a simple mental flex, she was sitting just to the side of her training circle, beside her sanctum home.


    She rxed her control over her aura, letting it extend to fill the whole surrounding area.


    She was now of a power density that simply being within her aura would be incredibly ufortable for a mundane. It might even be damaging to them, if they lingered, though T still wasnt clear exactly <em>how</em> it would be damaging.


    Within her extended aura, she moved two bloodstars to hover within the sparring ring, as if they were in the ce of the heads of twobatants.


    <em>-Who do you want to fight?-</em>


    <em>Who would be easiest for you? This is a new thing.</em>


    <em>-Only slightly new. Ive been doing simr things for a while.-</em>


    T scoffed. <em>Only in the loosest of senses. Who would be the easiest?</em>


    <em>-You.-</em>


    <em>Alright, then.</em> She smiled. <em>Lets do that.</em>


    To Ts eyes, two identical women appeared, epassing the bloodstars.


    T mirrored her perspective onto each bloodstar, passing one set to t and keeping the other.


    She then closed her eyes, even as t slowly cut her off from her own senses.


    It was slightly panic inducing, because even while she could see and hear through the bloodstar as if she were now standing in the ring, she couldnt <em>feel</em> anything.


    Moreover, it felt like she was floating, weightless and untethered.


    <em>-One moment There.-</em>


    T suddenly had the phantom sensations of a body once again, she felt her feet on the ground and gravity pulling her downward.


    But she couldnt move.


    With practiced mastery of self, T kept herself from panicking.


    <em>-Gah this is This is not easy. One moment.-</em>


    T felt something click into ce, and she lifted an illusory hand to examine it.


    In every way that she could sense, it was her own hand and her own eyes that she used to examine it.


    This is amazing.


    Thank you. The other T smiled, tilting her head experimentally. This is interesting. Then, the woman grinned and ced her hand over her heart. In fact, this is a lot.


    T grinned in return. Youre ridiculous. But in all seriousness, are you going to be alright, t?


    t shrugged. I think so. Theres an odd positive resonance, once everything is established. Its easier to maintain a full immersiona full body and suite of sensesthan just a part. Theres a nice harmony that helps keep it working. I also dont think I could do this without the bloodstar anchors.


    I suppose I can see that.


    Even sot looked a bit abashedif you were any less magically dense, I wouldnt be able to do this And you were right. I couldnt do this with anyone else, not yet.


    After Refining?


    Probably, yeah.


    Fascinating. Just to be safe, T started funneling more power to ts scripts, and those that enhanced Ts own mind, giving t more to work with across the board.


    Retson says that this should be beyond us right now.


    T hesitated. Youre talking with Master Nadros alternate interface?


    Off and on. Its odd to convey what its like for me. t shrugged. Hes always there, open to instantmunication. It makes it so I can talk with him if I have a question. Interestingly, he says that after you Refine, we can work together to let you and Master Nadro speak as if you are in person, no matter where either of you are, so long as you are both within Archive range. Its simr to this actually. She gestured at herself. But with only one body, and I have someone else helping me.


    We still need to enhance our Archive ess range. T bit her lip. Its a bit silly that we havent done so already.


    Shall I ask Mistress Ingrit to make the arrangements? I assume youd prefer to leverage some of that coteral, than be limited to our gold?


    T quirked a smile. Only the best for you.


    t grinned. Why thank you, Mistress T.


    Now. T fell into a fighting stance. Are we going to just stand here all night, or will we fight?


    t hesitated. Do you want your full capacities, or a subset? I can try to mimic the iron maniption, but I dont know that we understand it well enough to guarantee uracy. Id hate to misrepresent it and train us in something that isnt true or urate. Thats a good way to die.


    T nodded. Very well, everything but that.


    Lets get to it, then.


    T nced towards where she was actually sitting off to one side, across the slowly flowing water that surrounded the training arena. Her body rested there, eyes closed, body rxed in a simple seated position, hands rxing on her own knees.


    <em>I look peaceful.</em>


    t lunged forward, and T was drawn into the fight.


    * * *


    After about an hour of sparring, they had to stop for a break.


    T was using as many void-channels as she could maintain to dump power into ts scripts as well as her mental enhancements, and even so, the whole thing was straining Ts mind along with ts core magics.


    She was <em>sore.</em> She knew that the feeling was entirely fake, but t had been giving T a good beating. Since t knew her fighting style and matched her in capacity, T found herself on the losing end more often than not.


    The alternate interface swore that she wasnt cheating. It was just that T had never fought anyone who matched her so perfectly, and t had spent months trying to find holes in Ts fighting style to help her fill them.


    Most were, indeed, now mitigated, but t was left with an incredible understanding of Ts knee-jerk reactions, instincts, and tendencies.


    T, on the other hand, had no idea how t fought, because t never had.


    The results had been educational.


    That said, t admitted that she would probably do worse than T against almost anyone other than her. Well, she would do worse unless she pulled from Ts own experience more heavily, which meant the same thing.


    But she couldnt do that now. Now, t was exhausted, or whatever the equivalent was for an alternate interface.


    <em>-Can I send the diagnostics to Mistress Holly?-</em>


    <em>Shell get them next time we visit, right?</em>


    <em>-Of course, but if she has any easy updates or enhancements, I want them sooner rather thanter.-</em>


    Tughed. <em>Sure.</em>


    She opened her eyesher real eyesand stood.


    There was no unsteadiness, nor disorientation. It simply felt as if shed been fighting, sat down, and then stood up once more.


    The soreness faded as if it were being healed away, t mirroring the feeling perfectly.


    <em>That really is incredible, t. Will it train my muscle memory as well?</em>


    <em>-Oh, absolutely. I dont have the power to process every signaling from your brain, parse it, and enact it at the speed of thought.-</em>


    <em>So what do you do?</em>


    <em>-I catch the nerve signals when they try to leave your neuralwork, which is my domain by the way, and based on where they are, the intention is clear. Muscle memory is a misnomer anyways, its really training your nervous system, and that fires just fine through this training.-</em>


    T grunted. Amazing.


    -<em>I am, arent I?-</em> There was only a moments pause. <em>-Now, please sleep? That was unusually straining on that very system. I expect well sleep longer than usual.-</em>


    <em>Its about six hours until dawn. Is that enough time?</em>


    <em>-Yeah, it should be.-</em>


    T wished to be in her bedroom, and she was. Less than a minuteter, she was und and in her bed, luxuriating in thefort even as t helped her fall nearly instantly asleep.


    * * *


    T woke as the sun rose, feeling both refreshed and a bit hungover?


    -<em>Mentally sore.-</em> t groaned. <em>-The term youre looking for is mentally sore. Ow-</em>


    <em>Are you alright?</em>


    <em>-I think so. I believe we found a portion of our training thats beencking: Mainly, me. Up until now, weve only found things I could do, or things I couldnt. I think this might be the first task wevee across that I think I can improve in over time, which isnt simply a matter of figuring out a better way.- </em>After a moments hesitation, t added, <em>-Though, there will be some of that, too.-</em>


    <em>Well. Thats good, right? Progress through effort?</em>


    <em>-Yeah Id just gotten used to </em>you<em> working hard and being sore for us to improve I suppose I can start doing it again.-</em> t sighed within Ts head.


    <em>Well, let me know if there is anything that I can do to help.</em>


    <em>-Oh, I can assure you that I will.-</em>


    Tughed at that as she stood, her clothing growing over her in a wave.


    <em>Breakfast?</em>


    <em>-Breakfast.-</em> There was a pregnant pause before t added, -<em>Coffee?-</em>


    T was sorely tempted, and t would know that, but she shook her head. <em>No, t. Bad. Mistress Holly said we need to be done with that.</em>


    t groaned. <em>-This is so much worse experiencing it firsthand-</em>


    <em>Well, lets go get some good food, then. Simple, full breakfast?</em>


    <em>-Tomatoes, fruit, and sausage? Plus a fewyer-pastries?-</em>


    <em>That sounds excellent.</em>


    * * *


    The next few days passed as before, with the notable addition of t working heavily to improve her ability with the alternate experience simtions.


    Before T really registered the passing of time, she was walking towards the home in which Mistress Aproa was looking after her great grandmother, Mistress Odera.


    <em>My former overseer on caravan trips I still need to drop by the Caravaneers Guild.</em>


    <em>-Yes. Yes you do.-</em>


    T found them both in the surprisinglyrge garden, behind the small house, which seemed to beposed of a bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, and small sitting area.


    The garden was immactely maintained, but in a way that made it feel more alivemore naturalrather than like something wholly artificial or sculpted.


    When T arrived, the three of them walked to a cleverly designed seating area with three benches.


    T sat on one, and the two women sat on another, leaving the third unupied.


    The spot was shaped and situated such that nothing truly manmade could be seen, save the paths and the benches themselves.


    Where houses rose over the garden walls, trees were situated and cultivated to hide them entirely even deep in winter, which was impressive in its own right.


    T could sense magics that blocked outside sounds as well.


    All together, the results gave the sense of being out in the wilds, even though they remained in the city.


    Thank you foring to visit me, dear girl. Mistress Odera was hunched in on herself, but she was smiling and her voice was strong, familiar.


    Of course. Im sorry I couldnte earlier.


    The older woman waved her away. Youve been through much, and you needed time to limate to your return.


    T smiled and nodded, letting the silence stand as she looked around, enjoying the winter nts. There were a few songbirds flitting around, and T saw magically heated birdhouses scattered around the garden.


    They wouldnt be warm by human standards, but it seemed that magics would keep their temperature from ever getting below freezing even without the nests situated within.


    Your garden is lovely, Mistress.


    Thank you. Myte husband was quite the gardener. It took him thirty years, but he finally got me to join him. She smiled contentedly. I dont know why I fought him for so long. Thosest thirty odd years, gardening together, were a joy.


    I dont believe youve ever said, when did he pass?


    Oh, nearly forty years ago or so.


    <em>So, shes at least a hundred and twenty, give or take?</em>


    <em>-Give or take, yeah.-</em>


    T paused, letting herself <em>feel</em> what the woman had said before she responded, Im sorry for your loss, but Im d you had so much time with him.


    Thats kind of you, dear. Mistress Odera smiled. Youve learned the value of silence and taking a moment to consider. Youve paid heavily for it, but that is wisdom many never acquire.


    T felt herself smile as well. Thank you.


    They chatted off and on about nothing in particr, simply enjoying the time and garden.


    Mistress Odera had her legs wrapped in a thick nket, and T could see magical warming stones sewn into the inner lining in a few ces, helping to keep the older womanfortable despite the snow and chill.


    They spent a couple of hours together. Mistress Aproa participated asionally, but not very often.


    She was mostly there to be with her great grandmother.


    Apparently, other family members dropped by asionally, but none did so while T was there.


    T finally took a deep breath and asked the critical question, How are you? Really?


    Mistress Odera gave a sad smile. I am fading, my dear girl. I long to be done with this world and join my Torbin, and my little ones.


    Through their conversation, T had learned that most of Mistress Oderas family had not been Mages. Only one of her children still lived, and while she had many grandchildren, not many were in better shape than she, herself.


    T had known the gist of most of it, but it was good to get the details all together like this. It was good to actually ask and hear the answer.


    Mistress Aproas generation had arger number of Mages, as well as many, many children, though Mistress Aproa was an exception in that regard. Even so, those little ones were simply too far removed from their great, great grandmother.


    Mistress Odera missed her family, those who had passed many decades earlier.


    It is the curse upon humanity that they dont warn you of. There are only two options, Mistress T. Either you die, leaving loved ones to grieve over your passing, or you live long enough to grieve over their passing instead.


    <em>-Thats a dark way of looking at it.-</em>


    <em>True, though.</em>


    <em>-Unless you all die together? Score one for ritual, group suicide?-</em>


    <em>No. Dont even joke about that.</em>


    <em>-Fine What about this? You could slowly lose the ability to care and to love before anyone dies?-</em>


    <em>That is death of another kind, is it not?</em>


    t didnt have a quick response for that.


    Mistress Odera. While I was gone, I came across artificially created consciousnesses, integrated in and around founts.


    The Mage grunted. I had heard something of that, yes.


    We can also make a copy of your mind. If you hold on, we could bind your mind, as it is now, to your own fount, and you could live on. You could help others and see the next age, whatever it may bring.


    The Mage shook her head. Why would I want that, child? I no longer even wish to im a portion of this world. I see the folly in that now, bless my earlier foolishness. I have already jumped through the bureaucratic hoopsshe nced down at her own legs and gave a mirthful smilemetaphorically of course. I have gone through the process to ensure that my fount will be freed from Zeme. I will pass on and be with those I have lost. They have been patient enough, my dear. My time has been long, and full, and good. I am ready when it ends.


    T shifted a bit ufortably. What medium will your Archon Star be?


    Mistress Odera perked up at that. Now, <em>that</em> is something interesting. Apparently, when it reaches the point of spontaneous creation, I will form it in the water within my own body.


    Like I did with my blood?


    Very simrly, yes. It was long theorized, but until you proved a liquid medium actually worked, it was believed that even close observation was missing some critical part. Now, since you proved it so tantly, all the data theyve collected over the years makes much more sense, and many theories are clicking into ce.


    Wait They knew, but they didnt know?


    If you saw a stone change into a puppy, would you believe it to be natural? Or would you assume you missed some act of magic.


    Ahh, I see. So, by proving that anyone <em>can</em> use a liquid medium, I showed that there doesnt have to be other magics at y.


    Precisely.


    If I may ask why wait? Why wait for the Star? Why not find an alternate method and leave at a time of your own choosing?


    The old Mage huffed augh. Because life is precious. Ive no desire to die, but Ive no desire to forcefully extend my days. My time wille soon enough. Theres no reason to hasten itsing.


    T nodded slowly. She didnt really understand the sentiment, but she could see that it made sense to Mistress Odera.


    Now, back to happier things. Tell me, what sort of mischief are you getting up to these days?


    That brought a smile to Ts lips, and she leaned in to chat with her former mentor.

 Chapter 288: A Fragile Peace

    Chapter 288: A Fragile Peace


    T left when Mistress Odera needed toy down for an afternoon nap.


    It had been an incredibly pleasant time, even with the morbid undertones.


    <em>-Mistress Ingrit has things ready for the enhancement of our Archive ess range.-</em>


    <em>Oh! Wonderful.</em>


    <em>-She has a couple of questions, however. I could have answered them, but I thought youd want to participate, directly.-</em>


    <em>Sure.</em>


    <em>-She wants to know what range you were hoping for?-</em>


    <em>Id like to be able to visit the moon one day.</em> T nced up at the portion of the moon that she could see. Even with her incredibly enhanced vision, she still couldnt see the monsters on the moon that Master Jevin had told her about. <em>Maybe with a telescope? Or maybe he was pulling my leg.</em>


    t giggled happily. <em>-That would be pretty fun. Alright. Shes shes a bit bbergasted if her word choice is any indication. Shes wondering if thats really wise, and havent you had quite enough insane adventures for the time being. Im assuring her that these ns are for the future, and that you just want to make sure to never be out of range again. Why have to upgrade more than once?-</em>


    T smiled as she began walking down the street.


    <em>-Alright. Apparently, theres a way to give infinite range? Wait, that cant be right. Hang on.-</em>


    She took in the sights, not having spent much time in this portion of the living district.


    T paused, noticing the oddity of two pastry shops, side by side.


    <em>What kind of name is the Lord Donut?</em> She shook her head. Apparently, it was the moniker for some insane creation, meant to drive up business. It looked to be a donut, stuffed inside another donut and fried again, several times? The thing was massive, and apparently ridiculously fluffy.


    Rather thanpeting directly, the neighboring shop seemed to have decided to go for a different audience. Their advertisement was for a lighter, more delicate dessert.


    It wasnt zed; instead, it was frosted with innumerable strands of varyingly caramelized white sugar. That sugar <em>almost</em> looked like hair or fur, but not in an unappetizing way. The caramelization process had left the strands white, ck, and a deep almost red color.


    Theyd dubbed their creation the Princess Donut.


    It was quite lovely and well presented. <em>It just needs a tiara.</em>


    T shook her head.


    <em>Lord Donut vs Princess Donut.</em> Sheughed. <em>Well, the shops seem to be doing well, so I guess it works for them.</em>


    -<em>Alright, it seems like she was being literal. In her words, this is extreme, but with a few mergings, our Archive ring can be split, and half left with them in the Library. The connection between the two pieces is our soul, so theres no question of distance. If you die, the ring in their possession will dissolve. So, well want to update our death use. Of course, theyll have to move it when this city wanes, but they have procedures for that.-</em>


    <em>This is too perfect. Why didnt we do this earlier.</em>


    <em>-Thats the thing the materialponents, along with the housing within the Library, would run nearly five-thousand gold.-</em>


    T stutter-stepped, physically hitching at the amount. <em>What the rust?</em>


    t continued before T could object too much. <em>-But! With the books youve offered up to the Library, that cost can be covered. We wont have </em>much<em> goodwill to draw on from them after this, but apparently bringing home an entire Arcane Library made them </em>very<em> happy with you.-</em>


    T swallowed reflexively. <em>Well, well never be stranded, outside ofmunication distance again.</em>


    <em>-Thats for sure.-</em>


    <em>So, how does it work, again?</em>


    <em>-She didnt exin beyond simply stating: A soul is always in the same ce as itself.-</em>


    <em>Huh. Can it be blocked?</em>


    <em>-Not without killing us, no.- </em>t hesitated. <em>-Though, Mistress Ingrit did say that she didnt really know how being in the Doman-Imithe or the void would affect it. In theory, there shouldnt be any issue, but she said that to her knowledge its never been tested, specifically.-</em>


    <em>Thats fair, I suppose. Wait why couldnt we just leave the ring at the Library? Why go through all this?</em>


    <em>-So, I asked that. Apparently, while any soulbound item is still connected to you, using it at a great distance isnt usually possible. In this case, the item, itself, will be in both ces, the part we use will remain on your finger, and the part connected to the Archive will remain in the Library. Im vastly oversimplifying the already simplified exnation she gave me. Suffice it to say, this is the only real option.-</em>


    <em>Huh alright then. So, to the Constructionist Guild?</em>


    <em>-Yes, Mistress Ingrit will meet us there, and she will take the other half of our ring when were done.-</em>


    Less than an hourter, T walked out of the Constructionists Guildhall, waved goodbye to Mistress Ingrit, and found herself standing off to one side, a little bewildered.


    It was done. Apparently, five thousand gold had been used, and she and t had infinite range on her Archive ess.


    <em>That went off without a hitch. It was practically boring.</em>


    <em>-Its nice to have something go so easily for us, for once, right?-</em>


    T lifted her right hand, willing the ring to fade into visibility.


    It was now half as wide, turning from a somewhat hefty bit of jewelry to one that was almost delicate. <em>Not that I let it be seen ever.</em>


    She shook her own head, and the ring faded from physicality; even the sensation of it being on her finger vanished.


    <em>This just feels anticlimactic. In theory, that was </em>incredibly<em> expensive, and our istion in the arcane cities would have been solved instantly if we had this</em>


    <em>-But now, its just done. Is that it?-</em>


    <em>Exactly. I feel like I should have had to kill a dragon to get this. Or something equally insane.</em> She sighed.


    <em>-Like a Pir? Or invading a major arcane House and stealing an entire library from their hold?-</em>


    T grinned at that. <em>Fair, I suppose. I just dont feel like those things are directly connected to this in any way, but I guess thats just me being a bit silly.</em>


    -<em>I can understand it. Youve a bad taste in your mouth because the House of Blood just gave you things, and this feels a bit like that.-</em>


    <em>yeah.</em> T narrowed her eyes. <em>Are you getting this from Retson?</em>


    <em>-This? No, but he is very insightful.-</em>


    <em>I would hope so, being attached to a Hallowed and all. How long has he been around?</em>


    <em>-I havent asked how old the alternate interface is, but I get the feeling that its been a </em>long<em> time.-</em>


    T nodded to herself, then grimaced. <em>We should deal with our contract with the Carvanneers Guild, shouldnt we...</em>


    <em>-That would probably be wise, yeah.-</em>


    <em>Thank you for not pushing.</em>


    <em>-Of course! I am happy to not do things whenever you have need.-</em>


    T huffed augh as she set off toward that guild.


    As she walked, she opened Kit and called in to Terry. Hey, want toe with me to hopefully see Lyn?


    Terry trilled excitedly and flickered out onto her shoulder before hunkering down.


    Hede out every so often over the past days, but he usually declined her offers.


    He had refused toe out and see Mistress Odera, and T thought she understood.


    Animals didnt see off the elderly. It just wasnt a part of who and what they were.


    <em>It would have been less than ideal if he decided to attack her in her garden, too.</em>


    <em>-I dont think he would have, but yes, I agree. That would have been bad.-</em>


    Terry cocked his head at her and let out a little squawk before headbutting her cheek and hunkering down once more.


    Yeah, yeah. She reached up and scratched under the feathers of his neck.


    He closed his eyes, leaning into her scratches and cooing happily.


    Thanks foring out. I know this isnt as much fun as being in the Wilds, or in the sanctum for that matter.


    He hesitantly cracked one eye to look her way. He then rolled that eye and began a condescending series of trills and squawks.


    Stop, stop. I get it. She was chuckling. Its not bad to enjoy a time where we arent fighting for our lives. Ill keep that in mind.


    Terry let out a contented exhale, bobbing once before he pushed into her hand once again.


    T began scratching again and smiled. You are quite wise, you know that?


    He trilled softly as if in obvious affirmation.


    Well, Im grateful for it.


    They arrived at the Caravaneer''s Guild and pushed in through the broad double doors before closing them firmly behind.


    T?


    Lyn was further back in therge room than she had been when T had first met her, but the woman stillmanded a great view of the entrance. Good afternoon, Lyn.


    The Archon leaned over, spoke to Kannis who had been sitting beside her, and then stood toe out from behind the counter. Please, right this way.


    T followed, and as they walked, Terry let out a short squawk, and wiggled grumpily on her shoulder.


    Lyn nced back. Hi, Terry. Its good to see you, too.


    The terror bird preened, chirping happily.


    Well grab a back room. I assume this isnt a social visit?


    No I figured I should deal with my contract.


    And we here at the Caravan Guild appreciate that.


    Youve been more than patient.


    T, think nothing of it. This shouldnt be a concern. As they passed an alcove with some food and beveragesid out, Lyn gestured. Want anything?


    The coffee caught Ts eye, but she shook her head. No, thank you.


    The room that Lyn led them to was reminiscent of the one in which T had renegotiated her contract previously.


    Will I have to meet with someone else? To ensure theres no favoritism or bias?


    That isnt necessary in this case. One of the severability uses will be invoked, and those are always thoroughly reviewed regardless, so we just need to talk through it, and make sure you dont have any questions or concerns.


    Oh. Well, that sounds much easier than what I was expecting.


    Lyn quirked a smile. You figured wed press you back into service, eh?


    T shrugged self-consciously. The thought did cross my mind, yeah.


    The Guild representative pulled the door closed, and they both sat down. Now, the use that I believe we should discuss is the Act of War use. You were unable to fulfill your duties due to an act of war undertaken by one of the enemies of humanity. Do you agree with that assessment?


    T frowned. I suppose? I mean, he didnt attack humanity. He targeted me directly. So actually no?


    Lyn arched an eyebrow. Then she leaned forward and ced her head in her own hands and sighed. T Why not?


    T shrugged. Because? My understanding is that there is a fragile peace between humanity and the arcanes. Wouldnt using act of war to nullify a contract cause some issue?


    Lyn hesitated, lifting her head slightly. I I didnt actually know that.


    Oh Yeah, apparently the humans and arcanes uncovered or created enough horrible things while trying to destroy each other that they had to ally to destroy all of those things and lock away those that couldnt be so destroyed. They just sort of never went back to war after that was done. T shrugged again.


    Lyn frowned, blinking slowly as she processed that. Then I suppose I understand your hesitancy to agree that it was an act of war The woman grimaced. Banditry?


    That could cover it. Taken in the line of duty? T grinned. Payment due for time served?


    Lynughed. Now thats one way to think about it. Banditry would be a hard sell, though, because nothing from the caravan was taken, save you. We do have uses in ce in case of extreme injurywhich wouldnt applyincapacitationwhich might actually be the way to spin thisand trauma, rendering you unable to perform future routes.


    Well, the trauma fits, but Im definitely not an invalid. I <em>could</em> perform future routes, in theory. I was subjected to a magical condition that took me this long to recover and return from. Would that fit?


    Yes! Lyn manipted her te. Theres a reference to the table of severity Hmmm it looks like they didnt take into ount being unable to find a healer. Cost of healing is covered, but you dont have any direct expenses to submit for that Hmm One obligated trip may be negated per three days of recovery required, at the choice of the Dimensional Mage.


    T frowned. That could be nine months, give or take, three months, or a week? More, I suppose because Im barred from even sparring. Combat is right out for the time being.


    Lyn nodded. You performed a total of eighteen trips, sixteen since your renegotiation. You were on your neenth when you were taken. With seventy contracted trips, that would leave you with fifty-one remaining in obligation.


    So, one-hundred-fifty days due to the incapacitation and recovery would eliminate that?


    Yes, and all time from time of affliction until full recovery is counted.


    What if the time taken exceeds the number of trips covered by the contract? Am I to be paid out for harm incurred?


    Lyn huffed augh. No. There is no such policy, and quite frankly, there doesnt need to be. For basically anyone but you, to be taken out ofmission for this long would be a death sentence. If you were crippled, we would pay out a severance, but youre not, not permanently. Such <em>is</em> possible, but exceedingly rare. I think Ive only seen it happen once, and I was a mageling at the time. I dont really remember all the details, honestly, so I might be mistaken.


    So?


    So, I think that that is the right way to approach this. You were magically incapacitated while on the job, rendered unable to perform your duties or take on caravan routes for a protracted length of time. Per the contract, your time incapacitated and in recovery totals more than enough to negate all further required trips. Thank you for your service, Mistress T, and we hope that you consider us again, for your future employment needs. Her eyes sparkled with barely-contained mirth.


    Yeah, Ill agree to and confirm that.


    Lyn offered her the tablet, and T and the older Archon both confirmed the details. The branch manager will have to review this to finalize the approval, but I dont foresee any issues. You are free of any obligation.


    That hit T like a runaway wagon, and she rocked backwards, eyebrows rising. Oh.


    Lyn frowned in concern. T? Are you alright?


    Yeah yeah. I just I just hadnt thought of it that way.


    What do you mean?


    Ive paid my debts. Ive no active contracts. I I have absolutely no obligations.


    Is that good?


    T bit her lip in thought. Im honestly not sure. What should I do with myself?


    What youve been doing? Lyn suggested helpfully.


    T waved that off. Until Im Refined, of course, but what about after?


    I suppose thats up to you.


    She looked at her friend, frowning. Thats thats terrifying.


    Lynughed. Id say get a job, but youre practically independently wealthy at this point, and you could likely do anything you want. So? What <em>do</em> you want?


    I think She thought about the ruins of the previous Arconaven. She thought about where Terry hade from; the ins with their moving viges; the great unpopted northern part of the continent, supposedly the realm of gods and sovereigns; and of the cities she hadnt seen, those under construction, and those in new terrains. <em>Ive never seen the coast, here. Ive never seen a city finally fade or one spark to life. There is so much out there</em>. I think I want to see the wonders of the world.


    Lyn frowned, seeming concerned, but before she couldment, T continued.


    I want to be based here, but I dont think I want to be locked in here. She smiled to soften her words. I dont n on taking multi-year expeditions, nor do I ever n to be out of contact again.


    That seemed to mollify Lyn but only just. If thats what you really want you wont go alone, will you?


    T shrugged. I hope not. If nothing else, I need some help within my sanctum.


    <em>Oh. OH! </em>She smiled as she realized that she could return to Alefast, Waning, and experience the dying of a city, then offer Adrill, Artia, and Brandon positions within her sanctum.


    Two of them were gateless, so they wouldnt hurt the space at all.


    <em>-Hey, thats an idea Rane and Master Grediv will be there, as well. Its too bad that, we might have to see Furgal again, though-</em>


    <em>Eh, that could be avoided. Also, shouldnt it be Master Furgal? Isnt he a Mage?</em>


    <em>-If so, he doesnt deserve the honorific but were getting into the weeds. They might work for you, yeah.-</em>


    <em>Honestly, now that I think about it, we could offer positions to any gateless. Right?</em>


    <em>-So long as we had the space, sure. That would make us much like the viges, wouldnt it?-</em>


    <em>Just a bit, but if we actually get the teleportation pads working? Wed remain connected to the gated human cities.</em>


    Lyn grinned, shaking her head. I can tell your mind is already working at it, but just to rify, I hope you go with other powerful Archons, not just some people in your sanctum who cant help you if you get in a bind. Now, be on your way, free agent. Ill see you for dinner, but <em>some</em> of us still have to work for a living.


    T stood. Thank you, Lyn. Truly. For For everything.


    Lyn stood and gave her a quick, careful hug. Absolutely, T. Any time at all.

 Chapter 289: Reality Shifted

    Chapter 289: Reality Shifted


    T was sitting in one of the three chairs in Lyns sitting room, reading an illusory book, while Lyn and Kannis each read physical books.


    Kannis seemed to be a dry text, by her demeanor. She was also taking a lot of notes as she read, which added to the impression that it was a book read out of obligation rather than for enjoyment.


    <em>Though, to be fair, I take notes on my favorite books, too</em>


    <em>-Her face says, This is a chore to read.-</em>


    <em>There is that.</em>


    Lyn had been alternativelyughing and tilting her head in obvious thought. First, it moved one way, then the other, often apanied by exhtions of interest or surprise.


    She also seemed to be mouthing certain sentences, asionally.


    Truth be told, T wasnt really reading. Instead, she was surreptitiously watching her friend because something <em>fascinating</em> was happening.


    Lyn was Fusing.


    Upon Ts return, Lyn had been barely a few steps above Bound, but it had been progressing rather well. Now, as T watched, the womans aura color was noticeably sliding from red further and further towards orange, and Lyn didnt even seem to have noticed.


    She was nearly all the way to true orange.


    <em>-This is fascinating. Its sort of like when you confronted your family.-</em>


    <em>But shes just reading a book! This is ridiculous, t. How can reading a book be causing her to Fuse? How is that fair?</em> T felt a bit petnt, but it did seem rather unequal.


    <em>-Well, first of all, you know that some Fuse the moment they be Bound, so this is far slower and less convenient than that. Second, her foundation is words are power. Are you really surprised that reading can help her advance?-</em>


    <em>But shes been reading since we both became Bound. Why now?</em>


    <em>-When she hits a pause point, or better yet, when she finishes Fusing, why not ask her? Besides, you can see the fluctuations in her magic as easily as I can. Shes doing </em>something<em> more than just reading, and you know it.-</em>


    T grimaced, then sighed to herself. <em>Fine.</em>


    She returned her attention to her book but made sure to focus a mirrored perspective on her friend, so that she could analyze what was happening more,ter.


    Nearly an hourter, Lyn seemed to reach the end of her book.


    The older Archon let out a long breath, speaking to herself, Well, that was truly amazing. I cant say that I


    Lyn gasped, arching backwards as power blossomed out of her.


    It was instantly contained, channeled, and redirected back into Lyns body, but both the power and Lyns sudden movements were obvious.


    Kannis yelped, closing her book and notebook and setting them aside, but before the girl could interfere, T held up a hand. Wait. Open your magesight but do nothing else.


    Kannis hesitated, but after that barest of pauses, she nodded andplied.


    T quirked a smile at her obedience and didntment further.


    A momentter, Lyn slumped down, groaning.


    Just like the method of Fusing varied from person to person, the manner and experience of it did as well.


    <em>I cant believe that I had to painstakingly crochet my very being together and some people just get to read a book</em>


    Lyn sat up, covered in a cold sweat. Oh, my. That was that was intense.


    Good book? T gave her friend a falsely patronizing smile.


    The older woman huffed augh. Quite insightful, yes.


    Clearly.


    Thats not what I Well, I suppose so. It was on the nature of power, non-magical power specifically. It had rather detailed, rational treatises on why certain people lead, why humanity as a whole is drawn towards certain decisions, and things like that.


    And that helped you Fuse?


    Lyns eyes flicked to Kannis, and she frowned. We can discuss thatter, T. Kannis, can you tell me what you observed?


    <em>Right still hiding things from non-Archons </em>It did make sense, and shed been foolish to disregard that. Kannis was still of a stage where the wrong information could spoil her potential for advancement, after all.


    Have you seen those mechanical sewing machines? The girl still seemed a bit shaken by her masters sudden movement, but she also seemed to be settling into question and answer mode.


    I have. Lyn nodded.


    Well, it looked like your magic, your power, was working like one of those automated needles but an uncountable number of them, all over your body. I dont know what it was stitching, but it seems like it did the work quickly and thoroughly.


    <em>Huh, so she did have to do something simr?</em>


    <em>-Yes, T. She had to Fuse in some manner to be Fused.-</em>


    <em>Hush, you.</em>


    Very good, Kannis. I am d that you had the presence of mind to watch so closely.


    Kannis turned and bowed towards T. Thank you, Mistress T, for the suggestion.


    T shrugged. Sure. Some things are really helpful to see for yourself, even if you dont have the context yet.


    Lyn sighed. That was surprisingly exhausting. Even with mental enhancements, splitting my concentration like that was a bit much. She looked to T. I dont understand how you do it.


    Practice? Im always thinking of a few dozen things.


    <em>-No, you simply dont force yourself to stay on task. The most you manage, not including what </em>I <em>am working on, is two thoughts at any given time. From there, you simply allow whatever those two thoughts are to bounce around randomly and unhelpfully.-</em>


    <em>I huh. I suppose I didnt really think about that.</em>


    Lyn simply grunted and shook her head. I need to get some sleep. Ill see you both tomorrow?


    Kannis bowed to her master. Yes, Mistress Lyn. I hope you rest well.


    Thank you, Kannis, you too.


    Night, Lyn.


    Goodnight, T.


    Lyn went to the back, and T stood. Well, I should get some sleep too. Goodnight, Kannis.


    Goodnight, Mistress T.


    T had tried to get the mageling to drop the honorific, but she hadnt tried <em>that </em>hard. Honestly, T didnt care enough to deal with it.


    Thus, without dy, T tossed Kit at the nearest wall and stepped inside her sanctum, into her bedroom.


    Her bed caught her a momentter as she flopped down, and t facilitated an almost instant falling into blissful sleep.


    * * *


    T had about ten seconds of notice as the structure of reality shifted nearby.


    It would have been utterly undetectable to her, if t hadnt been practicing with the use of voidsight.


    The alternate interface began freaking out, drawing Ts attention quite quickly.


    Shed slept well and spent the rest of the night productively. At that moment the disturbance began to build, T had been in her dining area, eating some well bnced snacks.


    T lunged to her feet, Flow <em>snicking</em> into her hand even as it extended into the form of a void-sword.


    She pointed the tip at the bit of reality that was shifting into being.


    To her surprise, when it manifested, it was Kits door that appeared in her dining area.


    There was an odd <em>shivering</em> through the sanctum, simr to a stubborn dog being forced into obedience.


    <em>What is happening?</em>


    The door swung open, and Master Xeel stood there, one eyebrow raised. Did we not have an appointment?


    Ts posture was perfect in her fighting stance, and her sword was leveled at the mans chest.


    He didnt seem to care in the slightest. I knocked, but I sensed that you hadnt heard. The man narrowed his gaze and panned his gaze around the doorway, staring at the only part of Kit that existed in reality proper. I could <em>also</em> sense that your sanctum was muffling the sound, so shouting would have done no good.


    Lyn leaned out from behind the man. Im sorry, T. Id thought you said you had an appointment with him, so I let him in the house. He did knock on your door, but then magic just started pouring off of him.


    Master Xeel nced back at the newly Fused. Its quite alright, Mistress Lyn. I am sorry for disturbing you. A woman in your condition should get all the rest she can. He hesitated at that. Ah, I meant a newly Fused Archon should get all the rest that you can.


    Lyn had colored at the implication, but simply nodded in response to his rification.


    Mistress T and I have <em>many</em> things to discuss, and I will not harm her or her items. After a momentary pause, he tilted his head to one side, regarding T. May Ie in?


    Of course. T gestured, allowing Flow to return to its knife form even as she sheathed it.


    <em>-Hes early. Its before sunrise, even if it is winter.</em>-


    <em>The appointment wasnt for sunrise.</em>


    <em>-No, but it was for the hour, and so, hes still four minutes early.-</em>


    Master Xeel stepped inside and closed the door, giving Lyn a little wave goodbye as it swung shut.


    The door vanished with an audible <em>pop</em>, which startled T as it was the only time she could ever remember <em>hearing</em> Kit make a change. She didnt bother searching her memory though so she <em>might</em> be mistaken.


    My apologies, Mistress T. Master Xeel turned back towards her and gave a shallow bow. I despise beingte, and in this case, I did not consider the oddities that I might cause by arriving early.


    Oh, its quite alright, Master Xeel. Please,e in.


    <em>Youre already here, so it doesnt really matter anyways.</em>


    She gestured to one of the two morefortable chairs. Can I get you some tea?


    Thank you for the offer, but I carry my own repast. He took a seat and with an odd sense of unveiling, a tray appeared in hisp with a scrumptious selection of fruits, vegetables, breads, and even some meat which seemed to still be sizzling. Can I offer you some breakfast? It isnt magically attuned to you, of course,he gave her a friendly, knowing smilebut it is exquisite for mundane food.


    Id love some, thank you. She sat and watched a simr unfurling of reality on her ownp, leaving her with a tter of food all her own. It was obviously arger quantity than Master Xeel had given himself. Thank you.


    But of course.


    They spent a few minutes enjoying the food.


    From her observations, mostif not allof the powerful people T had met seemed at once both incredibly crunched for time, and utterly unconcerned with moments of quiescence.


    It was T who broke the silence. Have you ever seen a Reality beast?


    His eyes flicked to her as he finished histest bite, pulling a cup from thin air to drink and wash the remainder free before banishing the cup once more. You do like to get to the meat of things, dont you?


    It seems one of the more pressing topics avable to us.


    Id have thought that the Doman-Imithe would hold that distinction for you, but I can see the ovep. The answer to your question is Yes. Do you have any specific questions about them, or were you just curious if Id had an encounter? His small smile revealed which he thought it to be.


    Questions, definitely questions.


    Then, by all means proceed. He gestured for her to continue.


    What are they? How is reality a type of magic? Does it hurt reality when they die?


    Master Xeel nodded. All excellent questions. Well start with thest one. Does it harm fire when a burn wolf dies or a hearth is banked?


    T frowned. She hadnt considered it in that light. No, of course not.


    Precisely. Magical beasts of reality add more to the world, and their loss isnt ideal, but it is also unavoidable at times. But to be clear in my answer: When they die, reality is not directly harmed, no.


    Why isnt their loss ideal, and how is it unavoidable?


    Well, they add to reality simply by existing. They stabilize Zeme and help continue the work of stabilizing our existence. When they are lost, we lose another stop-gap which had been ensuring our continued survival. As to why its unavoidable? They hate humanity, and all forms of magic other than their own.


    Because we erode reality, which is what they are oriented around.


    Precisely. He popped a slice of strawberry into his mouth and then spoke around it. But all magic does, erode reality I mean. Its what magic <em>is</em>, an altering or stretching or bending of reality. Whether we add matter to existence or shift a fundamentalw towards our own ends, magic is a breaking of reality, definitionally.


    That seems bad?


    Heughed. Yes and no. ying at the oceanside and building sandcastles are a fundamental breaking of the beach and the sand. The creatures who live in the sandand who function within the ecosystems thereinmight not like it, but theres no danger, so long as it isnt abused.


    But Zeme is abused.


    Oh, quite thoroughly, yes.


    There was another pause there as they both ate another few bites.


    T found herself distracted by just how <em>good</em> the food was, but she drew her mind back to the matters at hand.


    Where do theye from?


    That is an excellent question. He once again washed histest bite with a bit of whatever he had in his fleeting mug. Reality beastse into being as something of an immune response. Its a fascinating process, really. They are birthed into reality, <em>by</em> reality. Like with magical beasts in general, sometimes mundane creatures are uplifted; rarely arcane creatures are well enough aligned with our world to be so changed. Somewhere between those two in rarity, creatures are simply drawn into existence. My own theory is that they are beings of the Doman-Imithe, snatched and brought through, but Ive never been able to prove it.


    So, its just a guess then?


    Lets call it an educated guess, but yes it definitely qualifies as a guess.


    What even <em>is</em> reality magic?


    He chuckled. Aside from the obvious anti-magical applications?


    That stunned her for a moment. She hadnt <em>really</em> considered that aspect of it. Umm, yes, besides that.


    He gave a half smile, but didntment on her hesitation. That is another excellent question. Its also a hard one to answer. In the extreme, somelike god-level reality beastscan undo what magic has done, which sounds somewhat anticlimactic, until you realize that every bit of Zeme was pped back together with magic. Thus, they can temporarily make where youre standing cease to exist, and the fact that you go with it is a funny little perk. Zemees back, and you dont.


    T opened her mouth, and it stayed that way for a long moment. There was there was a lot in that.


    I know, right? He smiled and took another bite.


    She scrambled a bit to pick where to start before finally just going for it, Reality gods?


    He shrugged. A shorthand, so to speak. Think of those that are Transcendent or Sovereign level, or beyond.


    Beyond How are any of us still alive then?


    Because the creatures are still animals. They have their domains, and they dont have a drive to conquer or explore. Most hibernate for centuries at a time, and even then, they barely wake to roll over.


    T sat back, suddenly feeling the need for more bacon. Thankfully, shed saved a few pieces, which she began to eat almost nervously.


    There are beasts of that level of all sorts of magic, if that makes you feel better.


    She gave him a level, unamused look. Really? You think that would make me feel better?


    No, I suppose not. He cut off a bit of sausage and took a bite before speaking around the food once again. But like with the Sovereigns, there is a sort of bnce. If the reality gods got uppity, those of other magics would band together to keep them from breaking Zeme too badly. Wed likely not survive the sh, but its the potential sh that keeps us rtively safe, not the realization of it.


    <em>When did he get out utensils?</em> It really didnt matter. So, now that we have those existential terrors to add to my nightmares. I do actually have a couple of questions about the Doman-Imithe. The first one is rather simple: If the Doman-Imithe only exists behind Zeme, how can Archonse back from within the sr system but not from without? Shouldnt the distinction be just around our?


    That is actually a fascinating topic of study. We dont have a definitive answer, but our best understanding is that we are all tied to Zeme, fundamentally. Not quite like a soul or magic bond, but something simr.


    T frowned, but didnt interrupt.


    We dont know if this is only for gated humans or for all beings who live on Zeme.


    <em>That makes sense. If arcanes didnt have this connection, their understanding of how it all worked would be vastly different, or it could just be varied experiences</em>


    -<em>Listen to the expert in front of you, T.-</em>


    <em>Right, right.</em>


    Now, the theory states that if that connection is stretched too far, such as by leaving the star system, it seems to break. If it hasnt broken, a human returning will actually return to Zeme, rather than to the Doman-Imithe, even if looking back towards our world only shows the Doman-Imithe at any distance.


    So, when approaching the fractured reality, human Archons are shunted towards the one they are linked to so long as that link isnt severed?


    Essentially, yes, thats the theory. Its obviously an oversimplification, but it is the prevalent notion.


    Whats another one?


    He quirked a smile. There are <em>hundreds.</em> But, the one I think is most likely is this: Reality is actually broken over a far wider volume, thus much further out than we generally realize. Specifically, it is cracked to the outer reaches of our star system, which is far, <em>far</em> further out than most canprehend.


    T nodded, considering that.


    If someone leaves that area, they enter back into truly solid reality. That might kill them because their ess to magic is severed, and space is a hostile ce to be without magic. Something might be out there that eats them. There might even be some sort of barrier or dividing line that once you pass beyond it, its like going over the horizon, and you can no longer see any of this at all. He gestured around himself with a bit of fruit on a fork. The fracture, the damage to reality, is contained <em>by</em> reality to prevent the spread, so it is nearly impossible to return once one has gone past this theoretical horizon.


    Like the mythical edge of the world?


    In a sense, but on a more cosmic scale.


    Thats interesting, but obviously hard to prove one way or another.


    Yeah, who knows exactly what event caused all of this, so its hard to extrapte exactly all the repercussions, even though were living among them.


    It all seems a bit much. Like, we have enough to deal with here, dont we?


    True, but if we could figure it out, we could take all of our people, all those we love, and just leave. As it stands, we dont know if anyone can survive leaving at all. He shrugged. But you are correct, that is a long term issue.


    T took another careful bite. There were still so, so many questions to ask. She didnt bother to hide her almost predatory grin. <em>This is going to be a long morning.</em>

 Chapter 290: Until Next Time

    Chapter 290: Until Next Time


    T took a careful bite of an apple slice. Since were vaguely on the subject, what even <em>is</em> the Doman-Imithe?


    Master Xeel gave an exhausted smile, but T thought she was learning his expressions enough to know that it was to do with the frustrating nature of the subject, rather than with her. Simple answer? Its a conceptual backing to reality. A ce where all the messy folds, cracks, and contradictions were secreted away in an attempt to keep Zeme habitable.


    T blinked a few times. That actually makes a lot of sense.


    Most simple answers do. They are also notoriously inurate under extreme scrutiny, but it suffices for most purposes.


    She grunted at that.


    I did enjoy the memories from your journey through that ce. Ive not seen it with my own eyes, and I found your short trip educational.


    Im d to have been of help? She wasnt quite certain how she really felt about so many people seeing her memories.


    <em>That caravan really has left the city, though. No going back, now.</em>


    <em>-Its also better than the alternatives.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, I would hate to have to try to narrate everything.</em>


    Master Xeel nodded happily. Oh, your memories definitely were helpful. It would be better to go to the Doman-Imithe myself, but time being what it is, I doubt Ill manage for another century or so.


    So, soon enough, then, T joked.


    Indeed. He smiled, but he also seemed entirely genuine.


    She coughed and changed the subject, So, world fragments.


    Oh, thats right, you went to Croi.


    So, humanity knows of that world fragments existence?


    Yeah. Its changed hands a couple of times, but less frequently than you might guess. The arcanes are rather proud of their possession of it. And to rify, its not that world fragment, but <em>the</em> world fragment. I dont believe theres another. He hesitated. You know, they might not know its the only one? He shrugged, then. Weve hunted extensively, but they have one, so weve researched different things.


    Why arent we helping to expand it? To repair the world that was before?


    He shrugged. Paradise under tyranny is no paradise at all, and a paradise won with an ocean of blood might be even worse.


    She sat back, and suddenly felt tears building in her eyes. <em>What? Why am I</em>


    But she knew. She had spilled an ocean of blood to win free, but she knew he was right.


    -<em>T.-</em>


    <em>No, t. Not now.</em>


    Master Xeel seemed to be nodding to himself. I see you took something from my words that I didnt say.


    What does that mean? she snapped back.


    What I said was that to go and take paradise from others so that we can have it, at the expense of blood, is no way to live. To fight free of envement, doing what it takes to win free? That is what it takes to survive. To do anything else is to subject yourself to the whims of others, and that is no life.


    T wiped at her eyes.


    Do not seek conflict, but when conflictesand it willemake sure you are the victor.


    She barked an almost desperateugh. Its that simple?


    It is. He smiled. Why do you think the arcanes didnt renew their war against us?


    T shrugged. Too difficult? Nothing to gain? Too much else to do?


    He smiled at that. Those are part of it, sure. But the reason that they havent banded together and taken us for the benefit that our captivity would offer, is because we never threaten them, and when they do slight us? We always pay it back in blood ten-fold. His smile turned vicious. If you hadnt exacted such a price in your own time among them, we would be nning a reckoning ourselves, for what they did to you.


    T didnt really know how to respond to that.


    As it stands now, us mounting a retaliatory strike would be overkill, not to mention that it would confirm your survival. That might not be the worst thing, but I dont think you need any more drama or danger for the present.


    She huffed a mirthless chuckle at that.


    By andrge, we have made it more profitable for them to kill their own people than to let those people attack us. That results in fewer deaths and less destruction all around.


    Still, he didnt look happy.


    It might have been a bit too long since theirst lesson, though. Their more powerful have long memories, but they still forget. I expect that well need to remind them once again in theing centuries. It would be irritating if it lined up too closely with the Leshkin, but it will be as it will be.


    She grunted, deciding to ignore the Leshkin wars tangent for now. That sounds too simple; keeping the arcanes at bay, I mean.


    Master Xeel seemed toe back from his bloody ruminations. Oh, undoubtedly. Its an oversimplification, but that doesnt make the sentiment untrue.


    But world fragments. You said thats the only one there is. How can that be? Why cant we find one? Or make one?


    Heughed out loud at that. Oh, were looking, but they are among the rarest things in existence.


    What do you mean?


    Well, imagine cing an earthenware pot on a shelf.


    Sure. She didnt really know where he was going with this, but he was being a fount of information at the moment, so she was paying rapt attention.


    Then, imagine smashing it with a mace.


    Okay. That was a bit of an ufortable way to envision what happened to their, but that wasnt the topic at the moment.


    Next, you would hire some people toe in and make <em>something</em> with the pieces. They just know it has to hold water, and these people cant have a good understanding of what was there before.


    Alright. She was starting to get an idea of what he was getting at, and it made Zemes situation seem even worse than she had realized.


    Now, once theyre done, ce what they created where the original was. Then, imagine looking closely and carefully at the end result. Your goal is to find a piece of the pot that is exactly where it was before you smashed it, and before the shelf was picked clean by those you hired to help.


    Oh Huh. I hadnt thought of it that way.


    Exactly. Its a statistical miracle that even a single world-fragment exists. By all rights, it shouldnt. If its found, it can be linked to anywhere, but thats a whole different thing.


    So, were not going to find one. Is that what youre saying?


    Its basically impossible, but not <em>actually</em> impossible. There are ways, in theory, to create one, but its beyond the easy actions of even a Sovereign. Also, as might be noted, a reality beast would want to create and grow such a fragment. It would be the culmination of their entire existence, but even those who could bite a Sovereign in half, havent. What that seems to indicate, is that doing so is likely beyond them as well. That doesnt mean we wont ever achieve it, but it does mean that its not a question of raw power.


    Alright, then. T was feeling a bit overloaded with the theoretical nature of the topics, so she picked something a <em>bit</em> more grounded. So, what can you tell me about City Lords?


    They are a diverse group, with amonbut still individualgoal. Each is incredibly powerful within their cities, but they generally wont leave because they are seeking bound advancement. The Sovereign of the forest is a great example of one who has followed this path. They basically turn themselves into a magical beast whose power is virtually unrivaled within their domain.


    <em>That is incredibly enlightening, actually. So, these arcanes set up in cities, and thats why they dont leave? This is what they get out of overseeing the city?</em>


    <em>-Yeah, but imagine if they seed, then people leave. That would be pretty awful.-</em>


    <em>Yeah. Without people in the city, youre left with a lot of power over a rtively small piece ofnd. Imagine having phenomenal cosmic powers with an itty-bitty living space.</em> She shook her head. And thats the end of arcane advancement, the goal, their path to being a Sovereign?


    Im not an expert in that field, but that is <em>an</em> end, yes.


    She frowned, then. What about Master Jevin? Doesnt he have something simr to that in Makinaven?


    Master Xeel nodded sagely. Now, Master Jevin is an interesting case. He doesnt actually have power over an area, not <em>really</em>. He has sway over his own body, and because of his oddities, the entire tree is considered him.


    Oversimplification?


    Oh, yes. Master Jevin has spent millennia studying his own condition, and there is no way I could summarize it urately in a single sentence. That wasindisputablyan oversimplification, but again, it gets the idea across.


    T grunted at that. I can see that. I have a few quicker questions, at least theoretically.


    Go for it.


    Gate-breaking.


    Not a question.


    She huffed augh. Did we know about gate-breaking? Why wasnt it used on me?


    The method you encountered is interesting, and might be effective for some Mages, but the concept as a whole isnt new or novel.


    Couldnt we use it on mundanes, allowing them to use magical items more easily? We could change our whole society with more power at our disposal.


    Technically, yes, but that would make the maintenance of cities much harder and the degradation faster. It isnt <em>really</em> necessary for Mages, in general. You are an odd case in just how magically dense you are, and how high your throughput is for your advancement. Such things matter less as you advance, but many dont advance. He shrugged. Honestly, those it would help most would never do it willingly.


    Thats fair, I suppose. T hesitated, here, but finally just asked. Our society is designed to keep gated humans alive, isnt it?


    Master Xeel nodded, looking a bit sad. Yes. You saw the moving cities in the ins. Even that is a concession to their gated citizens. Gates are our strength and our greatest detriment. In the past, Archons have considered culling the gated poption, leaving only lineages that have proven able to produce Mages consistently, but that is always shouted down for hopefully obvious reasons.


    T nched, but she wasnt <em>really</em> surprised that the idea had been considered.


    <em>Im just d its never been acted on.</em>


    She decided to move on, Did we know that some arcanes can use animal spies?


    Yes and no. That is a specialization that hase and gone through the centuries. We didnt know that one or more of the major Houses had picked up the practice again. That said, those spies would trigger city defenses, so its only an issue for those out and about. The warning has been passed through the proper channels.


    So, speaking of that. They have innate giftings for magic.


    Of course. So do you, though it manifests differently.


    What do you mean?


    Well, since their magic is conceptually based, it is easier to implement, at least at the basic levels. They also tend to have natural magics that are bent towards their conceptual base. We humans have certain areas of reality that we understand and grasp the nuances of better. That is our gifting for magic. We are generally <em>much</em> more precise and dexterous with our power, even if it does take longer for us to hone it into usefulness. He hesitated. Well, thats not true. Arcanes often dont reach maturity until their thirties or forties, so Mages might actually be able to use basic magic earlier? But it depends on the specific species.


    T grunted at that. Shed never delved deeply into the lifecycles of the various arcane races. Honestly, she didnt much care. <em>I might in a few centuries, but not now.</em> Alright, I suppose I can understand that.


    It was starting to gette, moving towards noon.


    Just two more topics.


    He nodded. And we can meet up again, as I assume you have a lot youll want more practical guidance in, once you Refine.


    Thank you for the offer. Yes, I think I might take you up on that.


    Master Xeel smiled. Of course. Your next question?


    They have a lot of amazing travel options. I know why we cant use them for most of our poption, but the gateless could use them, and there have to be some derivations that we <em>could</em> use.


    Ahh, which were you exposed to? I admit that I only processed some of your memories. Did you get to experience the Croipressionnes?


    They called them quick-ways, and yes.


    Ahh, quick-ways? Thats a rather clever name. It fits too.


    Other than that, I was ced into a dimensional space anchored to a ballista bolt and fired towards a nearby city, and I stepped through something like a longer range quick-way.


    Ahh, yes. Ive not seen the first myself, but the theory has been put forward for cargo transport. It <em>might</em> work, but it would be expensive. Weve not forbidden it, and several groups have tried variations over the centuries. They could never make it financially viable. He shrugged. Why force a technology that is less effective for whatever reason? As to long-rangepression, that puts a direct strain on reality unlike almost anything else. That, too, would be a rare use-case means of travel, and we have better alternatives for that. Our teleportationwork is almost as fast, even if it does require reinscription at the other end. With Mistress Hollys newest invention, once its perfected? That will be hardly an inconvenience at all. Still expensive, though.


    So, we have better methods of travel than caravans, but we dont use them?


    Heughed. Better by what metric? Speed? Sure. There are many faster ways to travel from city to city. Safety for the passengers? Absolutely. Safety for the cities on either end? No. Cost per pound of cargo? Not really. Caravans are <em>cheap,</em> and the cargo and passengers they move arent time critical.


    T supposed she could understand that.


    You had onest topic for this morning?


    Void-magic.


    He quirked a smile at that. I assumed wed get to that, after you started with a question about reality beasts. Im d that I didnt have to bring it up myself. What do you want to know?


    Whats the danger?


    The same as with any magic, really. You can poison yourself with it, or destroy yourself if you wield it poorly. He shrugged again, waving and taking away their trays.


    T had herst sausage in hand, so she didnt lose out on any food. Yes, but fire can burn me. What does void do?


    It breaks down that which it encounters and consumes to fill itself. That is a natural void, of course. Natural fire is usually just an exothermic oxidation process, while magical fire can be much more destructive. Simrly, whenpared to a natural void, void-magic is a bit more hungry?he frowned, seeming to consider"Ravenous, thats the word. Void-magic is ravenous, and more than that, it tends to incorporate what it consumes.


    T tried to keep a straight face when he used ravenous as a descriptor. <em>Its amon enough word. It doesnt mean anything about me, specifically.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, just keep telling yourself that.-</em>


    <em>Hush, you. </em>What do you mean?


    If you could throw a ball of void-magic, and you hit a fire, the void would eat the fire, expanding outward and burning away much that was around the fire. If it hit a block of ice, it would shatter the surroundings, and you would find much less powdered remains than youd think there should be. This is obviously, once again, an oversimplification fraught with holes, but you get the idea.


    So, it takes what it consumes and uses it to consume more?


    Its more that the void is vored by what enters it? At least for a time. Void items tend to gain and lose tints to their magic over the centuries. Not that weve had <em>that</em> many to study, of course.


    Have you ever seen a void item eat a fount?


    He nodded. Yes. That is one of the simplest ways to remove a harmful or dangerous fount. Importantly, through extensive research, weve found that the fount does still go to the world beyond, just as it does through other methods of removal. So, void-magics are the preferred method for fount destruction.


    <em>So, Flow wasnt unique in that then.</em>


    <em>-We assumed as much.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, but its good to have it confirmed.</em>


    I am aware that you have subsumed aspects of void-magic into yourself and your soulbound weapon. I am happy to assist with that as well, but not today. He pped his hands down on his own knees and pushed himself to his feet. Thank you for the engaging dialogue.


    I mean, I just asked you questions, but youre wee, I suppose?


    He smiled. I rarely get to ramble on about such a wide selection of intriguing topics. I know you wanted to discuss reality nodes, and I appreciate that you respected my wish to wait until after your Refining.


    She made a sour face, but just for a moment. Hed insisted on that when he and t had agreed to the meeting. Its understandable. Im a bit fragile at the moment, and I feel like truly working with my own piece of reality wouldnt be wise while that is the case.


    And in that, you show wisdom.


    He turned and looked out the broad windows.


    You really do have a lovely ce here. The method of acquisition was unideal, but I am d that you have it.


    She smiled. Thank you. I feel quite blessed to have it.


    Master Xeel turned to her and bowed. Good day, Mistress T.


    She bowed in return. Good day, Master Xeel.


    With a thought, she called the door into the space right beside him, and he smiled as he departed. Until next time.


    Kits door clicked shut behind him and vanished.


    Thank you, Kit.


    The sanctum did not respond.

 Continue the Story [Book 4 - Bound]

    Continue the Story [Book 4 - Bound]


    >


    <strong>The world reims all things. Humanity shelters within their ever-dying cities. Mages and Archons create the only path forward.</strong>


    T, a newly Bound Archon, strives against challenges, new and old, as the world opens up before her; even if her understanding is far fromplete. Her responsibilities to her caravan have increased, with the newly addedplication of being under the watchful eye of an overseer.


    Determined to embrace and decipher her newfound power, not to mention chipping away at the debt that propels her forward, she faces a treacherous path to a new city, which has already proven to be more dangerous than her journey to Alefast, and they''ve only just begun.


    T is learning valuable lessons about herself, the world around her, and the people who she is determined to protect as she settles into her new power and position as a Bound.

 Chapter 291: Sacks of Iron

    Chapter 291: Sacks of Iron


    Tsst big appointment was with Master Cazor. She felt like his magical maniption of maic fields, and thereby iron, might have given him some insights that would be useful to her.


    When shed reached out, hed been amenable, and so theyd set up this meeting.


    Once this was done, as far as she knew, she just had to use her time reasonably, rx, and wait for Mistress Holly to tell her how long until she could Refine. If it was long enough, T would consider a trip to Marliweather to see her siblings, but it would have to be <em>really</em> long for that to be the case.


    She had several letters mostlyposed to them, and she hoped to have the inspiration to finish them off in the next day or so.


    But that was forter. It was time for her to meet up with the Mage Hunter.


    <em>It will be interesting to see what he has to say about the maniption of iron.</em>


    <em>-Undoubtedly, yes. He is barely Fused, though.-</em>


    T shrugged. <em>His insights should still be interesting. Most dont work with iron at all, so even a less advanced view will be insightful.</em>


    Master Cazor had asked to meet her at the arena they used to practice in. Thankfully, it was outside the hours they usually had met up to train, so the other Archons shouldnt be there.


    T still didnt really want to deal with them. As much as she had liked them in passing, it still felt awkward, dealing with people asking about her situation and her time away.


    The entrance hallway was quiet, and she greeted the receptionist with a smile.


    The young man seemed to recognize her, because he waved her through without asking any questions.


    When she pushed open the doors, Master Cazor was the only person waiting for her in therge arena.


    <em>Good.</em> She had been a bit afraid that the others would be here, too, and was happy to have that fear put to rest.


    <em>-That would be unlike Master Cazor. Hes an honest fellow.-</em>


    <em>Thats true enough.</em>


    Mistress T, wee.


    Master Cazor. Thank you for meeting with me.


    Something felt off about the sand in the arena, but she couldnt ce it.


    The Archon sat cross-legged, sealed sacks sitting in a ring around him. You might have noticed, or possibly not, but Ive already stripped the iron from the sand beneath our feet. He patted the sack closest to him. I thought it might be useful.


    T felt a pull to im the iron, as it somehow felt like it might be an option, unlike with things like the iron doors in the Constructionists Compound. Even so, she knew she had no right to it. <em>Calm, T.</em> Good thinking.


    She sat down facing him, leaving nearly twenty feet between them.


    Master Cazor smiled. Youve a <em>lot</em> of iron about you. Its doing interesting things to the maic fields of the area.


    Really? That was good to know, actually. Do you think that you can control it?


    He tilted his head to the side. I could try, but it feels like its out of reach? Thats not quite right, but its close. I think if you let me, I could affect it, but I dont think I could wrest it from your control. At least not the portion thats not aligned with the physical.


    She grunted. <em>Good to know. </em>He was already providing valuable insights.


    <em>-We should still probably test to make sure.-</em>


    <em>True, but hes never given reason to doubt him.</em>


    Now, theres a lot about iron that Id love to convey.


    T held up a hand, giving him a small smile. So, I obviously asked you here to help me learn about iron maniption. In that vein, I think it will help me approach what you have to say best if I understand why <em>you</em> think youre up to the task? After all, you dont actually manipte iron directly.


    He smiled in return. Aside from the fact that you asked me?


    Sheughed. She knew that hed have good information, but she really wanted to have context to his own mindset behind what he was going to be sharing with her. Yes, besides that.


    He shrugged. The fact that I manipte it indirectly is precisely why I am qualified.


    She frowned. She hadnt been expecting that answer. Honestly, she thought that hed tell her how long hed been doing this, or how his fundamental understanding rted to iron. Care to exin?


    Which would be easier: havingplete control over my body and then moving me as you wish, or indirectly getting me to do exactly as you wished?


    Which of the two would be harder? The second would be harder. T huffed. At least the way you described it.


    That is what I meant, yeah. So, which would require a greater understanding of me to aplish?


    She hesitated. I think I understand. Controlling something indirectly requires a more intimate understanding of the thing than if you have direct control.


    Precisely. And that is why I am qualified. He grinned. But you already knew that, at least in part. Thats why you asked me here.


    She shrugged. I suppose thats true.


    Alright. Lets get started.


    The next few hours were filled with highly technical discussions and were only interesting on the most superficial level. T had to admit that Master Cazor knew his stuff.


    In truth, she was surprised; though it wasnt because shed doubted that fact. It was more that the depth of his insight was a bit staggering.


    Shed read a few books on cksmithing and metallurgy, and Master Cazor touched on some of that. Blessedly, however, he mostly talked about other things like how iron flowed over itself, how it reacted in different environments, and so much more.


    Once theyd covered arge amount of information, Master Cazor twisted, stretching in ce. Thats enough of that for the time being. We should do some practical testing.


    What do you have in mind?


    Well, thats partially up to you. Do you want to exin a bit about your abilities with iron? If not, I can just do some generic exercises and tests between the two of us.


    She only hesitated for a moment. The long and short of it is that I can directly control iron that is mine.


    Are you alright if I ask questions?


    Sure. There was really no point in getting his help if she wouldnt let him help her.


    What makes iron yours?


    If it is offered to me by someone who has ownership of it? She was actually a bit uncertain, and that showed in her tone.


    So, just like owning an item? Or receiving a gift?


    It seems something like that. I havent really explored it extensively.


    He grunted. Thats fair. Youve been busy.


    Isnt that the truth


    So, if I offered you one of these sacks of iron it would be yours? He then patted the sack closest to him again. For rity, I havent yet.


    I think I could take it and manipte it.


    He shrugged. Lets see. You can havehe gave her a searching, almost mischievous lookthat sack of iron. He pointed to a sack behind him on the left.


    T felt nothing, and she frowned. I dont feel anything.


    Master Cazor grunted. Thats because that ones filled with oats. Good to know. There is some iron in it, just by the nature of the thing, but I specifically granted you a sack of iron. Thats not a sack of iron, so you didnt get ownership of what iron there is.


    Now that <em>was </em>interesting. That seems like an oddly specific test. She gave him a searching look. How did you already have it prepared?


    Its not as specialized as you might think, not really. My master did something simr when I began working with maic fields, though it was to test how strong my maic fields really were, and how precise.


    So, simr set up, different tests?


    He shrugged. Yeah. We use a simr setup to test potential Mage Hunters, too. Though we change the contents based on their magic-set.


    I suppose that makes sense.


    Now, we dont know if you werent granted ownership because <em>I</em> knew it wasnt what I said it was, or if your magic could tell it wasnt what I said, or something else. Wed need a lot more testing to figure that out, but I dont think that would be useful at the moment.


    I hadnt really thought of it in those terms.


    He grinned. Its really important for Mage Hunters, because sometimes one Mages abilities trump others when ites to control of an area or substance or the like. Mistress Jeans weapon is almost invible when ites tomanding the ambient power in an area, often even stealing power from those nearby, Mage and mundane alike.


    Ts eyebrows rose at that. Thats potent.


    Indeed. Sparring with her is always educational, but it is also almost always rather quick.


    Good to know. The times she and I sparred were over pretty fast. She hadnt noticed that supremacy, herself, but looking back, it made sense.


    Now, you can have that sack of iron. He pointed at one that was just in front of him and to his right.


    T immediately felt ownership of the iron, her aura blossoming from the sack of metal dust.


    She felt an overwhelming desire to draw it towards her, but she resisted. <em>Its mine. Its not going anywhere.</em>


    Even so, shed involuntarily pulled it enough that it toppled over to <em>floomp</em> on the sand.


    Master Cazor looked between the sack and T. It has an aura, Mistress T. His voice was baffled. The <em>iron</em> has an aura, your aura.


    Yeah, I think its technically a part of me, now?


    Thats what if someone in another city says that something belongs to you?


    I have no idea? I imagine I have to hear them, or know about it? She hesitated, then shook her head. No, theres a proximity requirement in the iming. I had a smith who had offered me any of his iron dust that I could collect. I knew of that, and I wanted to go, but it wasnt until he reconfirmed my ownership that I felt a connection like this.


    Still, well want to test it through an Archive connection. Have someone send you a sight of some iron and tell you explicitly that its yours. Then, we get to see what happens. He hesitated. We should start with the iron just barely out of sight. That way, if you are somehowpelled to go im it as fast as possible, we wont be putting you in an awkward position.


    T grunted at that.


    So, youve imed it. Its yours; its you. What can you do with it?


    She smiled, and the bag was suddenly filled with holes as spikes of iron thrust outward before quickly pulling backwards.


    Master Cazor jumped up to his feet in surprise, also moving back in the same motion before stopping his retreat and leaning forward to watch the process.


    T was already feeling a headache, and so she stopped the maniption, pulling in a ragged breath.


    That was impressive, but it looked like you had a hard time with it.


    It wasnt easy, no, but Ive been practicing. After a moment, she amended, Not with that type of maniption in particr, but in general. Its much simpler than it would have been even a week ago.


    The bag now leaked ck powder onto the surrounding sand.


    T exercised her strained will to pull it back and keep it together.


    Is that necessary? He seemed genuinely curious as he watched the iron return to the shape of a bag, without the need for the actual container.


    Yes and no. Im resisting absorbing it. Im able to do that in part because I dont believe its going to go anywhere. When it started draining onto the sand, that belief was shaken even though it is still obviously true.


    Master Cazor gave her another mischievous smile. Really?


    That was the only warning she had before the iron began to stream away from her, and something deep within her, something bound to her very soul, rebelled at the potential loss.


    Ts hand shot out in a grasping motion even as she internally snarled, <em>NO! MINE!</em>


    The iron <em>shuddered</em>, slowing and jerking to a stop as Master Cazor continued to attempt to draw it out in a steady stream.


    His eyes widened briefly before narrowing. Oh, so thats how it is.


    The pressure on the iron built, and to T, it felt like someone was wrapping ropes around an arm and trying to pull it off.


    That would not stand.


    Even as she watched power build around Master Cazor, T asserted her will and aura more fully. She pushed his workings further back from the iron, weakening their influence over the iron, even as he pushed more power into the maniption of the maic fields.


    He also tried to contest her aura control of the area, but even though it was closer to his body than to hers, it was closer to her iron, and the iron <em>was</em> her for this purpose.


    More than that, though, she was stronger.


    Slowly at first, and then with a violent spasm, the iron dust mmed back into shape where it had been.


    Master Cazor stepped forward and stretched out his power once again, this time toward the mass of her iron as a whole.


    <em>Oh no you dont.</em>


    With a rxing of her will, the iron seemed to shatter, exploding into a cloud in her direction before being sucked through the air, and passing into her.


    Once it upied the same physical space as she did, she pushed the iron into the dimensions of magic so that it wouldnt interfere with normal functions.


    He let his power fade. Fascinating. Your iron was, and is still maic, but it really functions as a part of you, within your aura. Heughed. And it seems to be a source of your aura, so its always within your aura.


    She took a deep breath, calming herself. Yeah, that cant actually be right, otherwise I could just send it off into the infinite distance, gaining sovereignty over any ce I got my iron to.


    You could try?


    She shrugged. Sure, worth a test.


    T let some of her iron form a glob in her hand and tossed it away from herself.


    It stopped with a little jerk at the edge of her auras current extension, barely three feet from her outstretched hand.


    Master Cazor grunted. Let me try to grab it.


    T fought the instinct to pull it back to herself. It felt like someone had just brandished a knife at her extended fingers.


    Even so, she let Master Cazor maically draw the iron outside of her aura.


    As it passed out of her area of control, T felt a <em>tearing</em>, and her ownership over the iron vanished.


    T gasped, falling to her knees.


    She felt <em>vited</em>.


    She felt like something central to her being had been stolen.


    T turned and retched, her scripts keeping her from vomiting.


    Even so, she heaved and heaved, her whole body feeling wrong.


    Master Cazor was beside her before she registered him moving. He had with him the iron shed lost, hovering in the shape of a ball beside him. Take it. Its yours.


    T felt a slight tugging from the iron, but grimaced, echoes of the nasty feelings shed just worked through making her not really want that iron in particr, at least not for the moment. So, she waved him away. Not now, but thank you.


    That seems like a pretty terrible weakness, Mistress.


    Yeah, no kidding. If someone manages to pull even a little iron from me, it hits me incredibly hard.


    He had an apologetic look on his face. You know what this means, dont you?


    She groaned but nodded. I need to practice enduring this feeling.


    He gave her a surprised look. I was going to say you should avoid using the iron in battle, at least away from your body.


    Sheughed. Theres no way that would hold up. Id be in some life or death situation, and Id take the risk, some iron would be lost, and Id get myself killed.


    He sighed, shaking his head. Though, he didnt seem surprised. Well, I suppose, but you arent going intobat soon, are you?


    No, but when I do, Id rather be trained to take the loss as opposed to trying to avoid it. She hesitated. But I should probably check with Mistress Holly, to make sure that didnt negatively affect me, physically.


    He grunted. That sounds wise, yeah. For now, though, theres one more thing I want to test. He pointed to another of the sacks. You can have the iron in that, if you can take it from me.


    T hesitated. She felt something. There was a trembling, a sense of the iron within the sack, but it wasnt <em>hers.</em> I dont have a way of contesting you for iron that isnt already mine.


    But she paused there.


    Actually. She pulled out more iron, and purposely extended her aura outward to cover the iron sack in question. Just her aura covering it didnt seem to count for ownership, nor apparently for taking it from Master Cazor.


    She tossed her iron to hit the side of the sack. There, it stuck because she wished it to. From that anchor, she extended her aura, pushing at the iron that wasnt yet hers.


    Irritatingly, but not unexpectedly, her aura had trouble prating the metal.


    She felt like she <em>should</em> be able to do more, but she couldnt, not at the moment.


    Master Cazor flexed his magic and the sack jerked away, out of her aura.


    Her little splotch of iron fell to the sand, and she drew it back.


    Well, that seems like another thing to work on, eh?


    It does indeed.


    Shall we go see Mistress Holly, then get in some more practice?


    T nodded, pulling out her cool water incorporator and taking a long drink. That sounds like an excellent n.

 Chapter 292: Don’t Change Your Body

    Chapter 292: Don¡¯t Change Your Body


    T hunched in on herself beneath the ongoing tirade. <em>Just endure, T. It cantst forever.</em>


    Master Cazor was long gone.


    She wasnt sure how long the stream of words had been going on, but as soon as they had entered Mistress Hollys warehouse, a bit of magic had tickled ts inscriptions, and Mistress Holly had lost her mind.


    Her exmation of outrage had knocked dust from the ceiling, even as the Inscriptionist stormed towards the reception area.


    It was then that Master Cazor had wisely excused himself. Sorry, Mistress T. We can reconnect tomorrow or whenever works for you.


    Hed closed the door behind himself as he left before T could gather a response.


    Mistress Holly had stalked out, seized Ts wrist in an oddly powerful grip, and practically dragged her back to her private workroom.


    It was at that point that the tirade had begun, Are you incapable of functioning without damaging yourself?


    Things had only gone downhill from there.


    Mistress Holly was working incredibly hard to counter the ws in Ts biology, and every new stress, strain, or degradation only made that harder.


    T gleaned that the severing of iron from her ownership had, indeed, somehow physically harmed her. Though she was unclear on the exact nature of the damage.


    Mistress Holly suddenly stopped mid-sentence, jerking T back to the present moment. You arent even listening to me, are you. It was not a question. Mistress T. I am <em>trying</em> to help you.


    T forcefully straightened herself. I know, Mistress Holly. I did not intend any harm. I was testing out my new soul-bond in a nonbat setting. There <em>shouldnt</em> have been any chance of damage to me.


    The older Mage grimaced. The greatest harmes when it <em>shouldnt</em>, Mistress. I hope this reinforces that lesson.


    What even happened? All that I did was lose a bit of iron.


    Iron that was bound to you, just as your body is. The dasgannach has no magical function for losing material as it <em>should</em> be impossible for the thing to do so. It should also never bond, so were in the realm of the impossible. In this case, the impossibility was detrimental to you. The loss sent ripples through all your soul-bonds. Your outfit self-repairs on principle, and your weapon is specifically magicked to distribute and endure magical trauma. There are minor fractures in your Archive link, but I can see that its been upgraded to a magical weight that is <em>incredibly </em>unwise below Refined, but you are an enigma. She gave T a stern look. Still, I should have been consulted before that upgrade urred.


    T shrunk once again. I apologize; I didnt even consider that.


    Mistress Holly waved her off. I assume Mistress Ingrit investigated it on her own; though she should have consulted me. I will have to have words with her. But, in this case, it saved you. The added weight allowed it to weather the trauma, and it is already nearly fully recovered. Your body <em>should</em> be in a simr ce with your frankly insane magical density, but you are riddled with ws. Each of those is a point of weakness, which allow far greater damage under stress and will never properly recover on their own.


    Ahh Thats less than ideal.


    Indeed. The Inscriptionist rubbed her temples. We need to do something about the dasgannach. Aside from this new problem, the iron suffusing youeven if only in the dimensions of magicwill hamper Refining. As it is already going to be aplicated, delicate process, any additional interference needs to be avoided at all costs.


    What do you suggest? I can expel all the iron, and leave it off to the side. So long as it stays within my aura, it shouldnt cause a problem, right?


    While that <em>might</em> work, your aura is going to be erratic through the process, and we <em>cannot</em> allow this sort of trauma to ur in the middle of Refining.


    So, I need to merge it with another of my soul-bonds before I Refine.


    Mistress Holly hesitated. That that is an excellent idea. Her eyes narrowed. How do you know of that? Who suggested it to you?


    T frowned defensively. No one suggested it. It seemed reasonable, so I asked if it was a possibility. Master Grediv gave me some information, but not too much.


    Ahh, that does make sense. He would know, too. She shook her head. But that is neither here, nor there.


    <em>What did Master Grediv do?</em>


    <em>-Well, based on the context, it sounds like he tried to merge two soul-bound items, and it went badly.-</em>


    <em>Yes, I got that much, thank you.</em>


    Now, the question would be which you are going to merge it with. I hope you arent considering merging it with your body.


    Noooo. T held up her hands even as she drew out the word in emphasis. Oh, by the stars no. I cant even fathom what that might do to me. Even during the bonding process, it wanted to cause all sorts of changes to my body that I only avoided because of Master Gredivs assistance. I cant stomach whatever would happen if it fully merged with my physical body.


    Good. You do have some wisdom.


    T snorted. I was thinking of Flow?


    Your weapon? Mistress Holly looked up to one side, then she started to cackle. That would be so deliciously ironic but, hmm


    T felt herself smile. Yeah, I considered it might make Flow into a truly morphic weapon.


    I would bet that you will have that option, yes. Though I believe it will be among the lesser options you will have avable to you. Dont let your recent experiences taint what you can be. Even if it would be amazing to take what they intended as your death and use it to finally forge you into what they were aiming at. The Inscriptionist shook her head. But you are not an Eskau, not anymore.


    T grunted. You think there will be better options?


    Oh, undoubtedly. She narrowed her eyes. Dont change your body.


    I know that, Mistress Holly. T paused for a moment before continuing. So, you think thats the right call? Merging it with Flow?


    I do. But! Mistress Holly held up one finger. I am not doing this on my own. Give me a day to consult with the others coborating on this project, and well see what we cane up with. Well arrange for the merging as soon after that as we can.


    I can do that.


    Her countenance suddenly hardened. I am still cross with you, Mistress, but I understand that you did not do this intentionally.


    T swallowed, hard. Thank you, Mistress Holly. I will try to be more careful, going forward.


    * * *


    T sat to the side of an incrediblyplicated, but vaguely familiar spellform.


    The irond walls of the Constructionists merging room were bing more and moreforting. Though, she wasnt sure if that was due to repeated exposure or the iron.


    It had been three days since Mistress Holly had confirmed the wisdom behind the n to merge the dasgannach with Flow.


    Theyd consulted experts and gathered the needed pieces to give the greatest chance for sess.


    Honestly, there wasnt really a chance for failure, but there was a chance for things to go sideways.


    If this went well, they would only need to wait for the merging to settle, and they could proceed with her Refinement. That should only take a month on the outside, since the greatest remaining barrier will have been removed.


    If it went sideways?


    <em>Well, no need to focus on the negative.</em>


    <em>-Yes, lets focus on what we can do.-</em>


    Mistress Holly wasnt present. Master Queue was facilitating the magics along with another high-level Archon who hid her aura and rank.


    She was a specialist in mergings and soul-bonds, and shed been in the city to visit family.


    Mistress Holly had found her two days ago and convinced her to dy her departure.


    While the womans presence was fortuitous, the worst that would have happened otherwise was a dy of a few more days.


    But T was distracting herself from the uing process.


    Mistress T?


    T looked up and smiled at the other woman. Yes, Mistress Aurius?


    Its time. We need you to ce the two items in the same physical space, alongside the other materials.


    T nodded, standing and striding to the center of the intricate working.


    With measured care, T sat Flow, bare-ded on the floor amidst several minor artifacts, specifically crafted for this process. Then, with her hand on the handle, she took careful breaths and slowly moved all her non-biological iron down her arm and into the dimensions of magic aligned with the weapons physical shape.


    T could see the <em>weight</em> of the weapon grow with her magesight. More than anything, it looked like an increasing magical reflectiveness to that sight.


    Are you sure this will work? T asked for probably the hundredth time.


    Yes, Mistress T. Mistress Aurius responded with patient professionalism. While we cant enact magic upon the iron itself, we are essentially creating a that can interact with the stuff of soul-bonds, and then tightening it down to the point that it forces a merging.


    T knew this. Shed gotten the same exnation each time, but she still felt nervous. I know but are you sure?


    The specialist chuckled. I do apud your caution, especially with regard to your own soul. We dont have to do this if you dont wish to, but we are professionals, experts even. This will work. Remember, I will be waiting here to add my weight to the process, if you need.


    T nodded. That was what Master Grediv had done. It was the less obtrusiveand more controlledversion of what had been done during her raising to Archon as well. Thank you.


    Of course, and thank <em>you</em> again for the literature and memories pertaining to arcane fount-linking. Its an intriguing area of study.


    Mistress Aurius had been enticed into helping with information surrounding how Eskau were bound to their protian weapons and Pirs to their regalia.


    Ts memories and books on the subject had been limited, but apparently, they were sufficient to trade for a couple of days of this womans time.


    <em>We might need to cultivate expertise in something. That seems to be the best way to continue to gather resources.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, that could be useful, but we can also simply continue to go out and gather things the experts want.-</em>


    <em>That works too.</em>


    She nodded and smiled. Im d you are getting something from what I could offer. Where do you want me?


    Mistress Aurius pointed to a secondary, much smaller circle in the back of the room. In the center of that working. She then pointed to the third and smallest. I will be in that one.


    T nodded again. Lets do this.


    The two women sat in their respective ces, and Master Queue did a couple of final checks. Ready?


    Ready, they each responded.


    Power blossomed through the room, suffusing the spellforms, and T watched an ethereal powerclearly generated by magic, but not <em>quite</em> the samegrow up around Flow and the artifacts, tightening inward and binding them tightly.


    There was an odd pinching twist within the depth of her being, and Ts consciousness was imed by the well-known white void.


    * * *


    T opened her eyes and instantly knew.


    She was an Eskau.


    Pure and simple.


    She was everything that Be-thric had tried to make her into, once his initial n failed. Though, she no longer served a House.


    Her enemies died around her by the score.


    Flow was more in line with its name than ever, barely manifesting fully into any given shape for long enough to deal lethal wounds to the indistinct hordes that she carved her way through.


    She didnt know how, but they were in her way.


    The blood was drained with every hit. The iron built within Flow, and the remainder was consumed by the void. That metal continued to umte, until it hit a critical level.


    <em>Now!</em>


    She swept outward, Flow extending as a razor thin line with a heavy weight on one end.


    The whole thing was hundreds of feet long, powered by her tremendous strength and the momentum shed built up so far, and its inertia was massively increased by tremendous magical weight.


    With one clean sweep, she decapitated half an army.


    <em>What the rust?</em>


    Blood fountained into the sky, soaking the ground with a true rain of blood.


    T, herself, seemed to draw in the blood; her eyes zing with red power as the void within her devoured the life still in the red liquid even as the iron was siphoned into Flow.


    <em>-Theres something wrong.-</em>


    T felt a stuttering, and suddenly she was outside herself, looking at the scene as she was used to: from outside of the offered form.


    Horror overtook her.


    <em>Humans. They are all humans.</em>


    Uncounted deady around her, every one of them human.


    She looked around, seeing for the first time that the air was utterly suffused with iron dust, pushed out of the physical dimensions to hover, menacingly, just out of sight.


    The iron was a bubble of anti-magical protection, held in ce and stabilized by her aura.


    It was only then that T detected the other magic in the offered form, one that seemed to dominate all the others.


    It was a magic that she didnt have, shouldnt have, and had been warned away from.


    <em>Reality magic? t, where did thate from?</em>


    <em>-I have no idea.-</em>


    T was witnessing one of the paths she could take if she embraced reality magic, even if she didnt understand how it was possible.


    <em>Master Grediv was right. Id turn on humanity.</em>


    As she watched, the gates in the humans were winking out one by one. Apparently, the soul took a bit to register death even in the event of decapitation.


    The T of the vision seemed enraptured by each additional gates departure.


    <em>Yeah Ive seen enough. NO.</em>


    The vision turned white, returning T to the void between options.


    * * *


    In the next vision, T was offered a much more traditional merging, in which Flow only became a protian weapon and the other aspects of the dasgannach were somehow stripped away and expelled.


    In this case, Flow even somehow lost the ability to take on its void-forms.


    There was a flimsiness to this option, as if itcked power, or it would take an incredible stretch to bring into being.


    That surprised T; in the past, all options had seemed the same to her.


    Regardless, this didnt tempt her in the least.


    Even without Mistress Hollys warning against taking this option, T instinctively knew that it would be a <em>lessening</em> of herself.


    She would be weakening every aspect of herself if she tried to force this oue.


    <em>NO.</em>


    * * *


    T watched as the next version of her lifted an arcane by the throat.


    In a hyper-slowed moment, she was able to perceive spikesnce out of her blood into the mans neck.


    They eviscerated her flesh to get to him.


    She recognized the magics surrounding the spikes, even as they tore apart the defensive magics that the teal hue-folk man tried to bring to bear against her attacks.


    It took less than a minute to empty him of power, and in the instant in which he ran dry, a de tore free of Ts hand, beheading the man cleanly.


    <em>What is with this merging and beheadings?</em>


    Before t could respond, they watched the manifested T m her hand downward, a dark void opening in her palm to swallow the body even as the head hit the ground.


    This T growled and a chain burst from her leg,ncing through the fallen head before it could roll away, drawing it back to be devoured.


    <em>-What the rust?-</em>


    <em>At least its arcanes this time?</em>


    This T clearly held the merged weapon in her own blood, and that had done something to her.


    The manifestation expanded, showing that this T stood in an arcane city. Flecks of blood were the only evidence there had ever been people in this otherwise abandoned main square.


    <em>Its midday. There should be hundreds or thousands of people.</em>


    <em>-Maybe they all ran away?-</em>


    They saw a rabbit beast-man scramble out of hiding in a dead-end, side alley, trying to bound away while this version of T had her back turned.


    Her back exploded in blood and chains. The chains wove together, even as they arced through the air, and the manifestation of T screamed in pain and anger.


    An instantter, the rabbit-man was skewered.


    <em>-Alright, Im going to say it. The mergings involving the dasgannach seem </em>way<em> worse than options for any other.-</em>


    <em>Youre not wrong.</em>


    As this version of her turned towards the central pir that was filled with founts, hunger evident in her eyes, the watching T had had enough.


    <em>NO.</em>


    * * *


    T was beginning to despair as option after option showed versions of herself that had been horribly twisted in body, mind, or both. She still held onto hope, however, though it was fading.


    After dozens of options, she was beginning to think that she should call on Mistress Aurius.


    Finally, she saw it: There were some tendrils of power linking Flow to her flesh, and T felt a sinking feeling.


    <em>Oh, were idiots.</em>


    <em>-The iron in your flesh is still tied to the dasgannach, is that why all these options seem to incorporate your body?-</em>


    <em>I would bet so. </em>She really did feel foolish. This was obviously a problem that should have been anticipated. But there was nothing to be done about it, at least not now.


    <em>Or is there?</em>


    T gathered her will and pushed it out upon the still forming merging.


    <em>Leave my body be. </em>She felt the tremors through the magic as her will manifested and pressed down on her two soul-bonds.


    <em>If this doesnt work, Ill call upon Mistress Aurius for aid.</em>


    * * *


    Thetest manifestation formed, and T felt a renewed blossoming of hesitant optimism.


    There didnt seem to be anything changed within the version of her in this manifestation, at least not physically.


    She saw iron moving through the dimensions of magic between her and Flow, though the metal was clearly more tied to Flow than her body, now.


    She could move the iron around her body even before this, so that wasnt a change as she saw it.


    T watched this version of herself cut through arcanous beasts, and it took only a short time to notice the first difference beyond the obvious.


    The liquid that came out with each cut was clear, obviously blood that had been stripped of iron.


    She was able to see some beasts cut but not instantly killed; so, the magics didnt utterly strip them of iron.


    Even so, those that survived seemed much more affected than they should have been.


    <em>So, its able to strip it out a little ways into their bodies?</em>


    <em>-It seems so. The act of cutting with Flow seems to grant some limited ownership around the wound, at least for the short time of the passing.-</em>


    Flow usually cauterized the wounds it created, and that did still seem to be happening, but the added ripping free of iron seemed to cause the wounds to seep.


    It seemed that the iron didnt <em>have</em> to pass out of the body painlessly.


    <em>Thats grisly.</em>


    <em>-Would you rather strike them down and leave no evidence or damage?-</em>


    <em>No violent death is always ugly. If I could kill that cleanly, I dont think I could keep viewing death as I do, as a necessary evil.</em>


    T was drawn back towards the vision as this manifestation of her did something new.


    Iron passed harmlessly through her flesh, forming ayer on her skin as a massive creature that T didnt recognize mmed its ws down on her upper arm.


    The ws stopped as surely as they would have on Flow.


    T felt herself mentally focus. The bits of lethargy that going through so many options had brought on were banished entirely.


    Early after discovering aspect mirroring, T had tried to mirror Flows resilience to magical attacks onto her own body.


    That had not ended well.


    It seemed that the iron now functioned as an extension of Flow for this purpose.


    If it worked as it seemed, she should finally be all but immune to purely physical attacks, at least those around her power level.


    The iron also added to her own aura in forbidding direct magical action upon her.


    She still had no real defense against indirect magical attacks, but this should help with that as well.


    <em>And I can take some ideas from the other visions.</em>


    Finally, thest portion of this option was disyed for her to observe.


    For no reason that T could discern, this version of her created a ball of iron, and rolled it out of her own aura.


    T held her breath, but while this version of her grimaced slightly, that was all the emotion she disyed.


    On the other hand, Flow almost seemed to ring like a bell, and as thest vestiges of her authority over the iron faded, a pulse of void-magics blossomed from around the metal, and the iron simply vanished rather than being given up.


    <em>Thats thats actually an elegant solution.</em>


    T instinctively knew that it had taken a quite significant amount of power to enact, making it a detriment in the heat of battle, but it was far superior to the soul-rending agony that had previously been the result of such a loss.


    <em>I think this is it. t?</em>


    <em>-Yeah, I think I agree.-</em>


    With an inward smile, T projected, <em>YES.</em>


    Power blossomed outward, enveloping the whole space and drawing Ts consciousness back to reality, the mergingplete.

 Chapter 293: Not too Stereotypical

    Chapter 293: Not too Stereotypical


    T blinked a few times as her eyes opened.


    She was in the merging room as expected, and the scripts were gone, burned away to activate the magical integration.


    In the center of the space rested Flow, alone.


    <em>Not alone. The dasgannach is in there too.</em>


    <em>-The remnants of it. It was never really alive.-</em>


    That was an interesting thing that she hadnt considered. Flow was a concept weapon now, at least partially.


    Then, she felt like an idiot, because shed seen that exact thing in the visions. Flow hadid im to so, so much on her behalf. <em>Well have to be more careful than ever, in the future.</em>


    <em>-And get a new sheath that can specifically block that aspect as well. We dont want to tear iron out of sparring partners.-</em>


    <em>Agreed.</em>


    She lifted her hand and Flow crossed the distance to p into her palm faster than it had ever moved before.


    As it impacted, the massive amount of iron that had been carried along with it rolled into her hand and down her arm, spreading throughout her body, just beneath the surface of the physical world.


    By the nature of soul-bond maniption, there was no transfer of momentum from the weaponing to her hand. That was an incredibly good thing because T felt like it would have thrown her across the room.


    She shuddered as the ripple of increased weight rolled throughout her body before settling in and fading as her will began to manipte it to remove the feel of extra mass.


    Mistress T? Mistress Aurius had stood and was walking her way. I didnt receive permission to interfere. Did everything go well?


    I think so? There were a couple ofplications. She began to exin the mistake of the biological iron still being bound to the dasgannach. Does that mean I changed my body?


    T couldnt help but brace for bad news.


    Mistress Holly would probably y her if shed messed herself up even more fully.


    No, it does not appear so. The iron within you is shared between two of your soul-bonds which is unusual, but not unheard of. I do not detect any discernible alteration to your physical body.


    T let out a <em>huge</em>, relieved breath. Oh, thank the stars.


    Mistress Aurius grinned. Well, I will im a bit of credit. I couldnt have stopped the bond from leaking through but, because of your general circumstances, I added extra spiritual filtration, so that you <em>could</em> protect your body.


    You knew this would happen?


    She tilted her head to the side. Would? No. Could? Absolutely. All bonds are bound. It would have been foolish to assume that you would magically avoid alteration to your body withoutshe huffed aughwithout magical precautions.


    T felt herself smile, too. Well then, thank you, Mistress Aurius.


    It was my pleasure, Mistress T. I do apologize: it is so standard a feature to add in more advanced mergings that I didnt think to highlight it. I am d that you noticed the error and acted appropriately. Please feel free to reach out to me if you have any need of my expertise in the future.


    I appreciate the offer, and Ill remember it.


    T thanked Master Queue on the way out, and in less than twenty minutes of fast walking, T arrived at Mistress Hollys shop.


    She stepped inside and felt the expected magics brush her.


    T didnt hesitate, heading straight back to Mistress Hollys work room, where the Inscriptionist awaited her.


    So, the merging was a sess? I dont detect any expanded splintering of your body.


    She nodded, then briefly exined how it had gone.


    Well that is an obvious hangup, isnt it. Mistress Holly shook her head, then rubbed her temples. That should have been taken more fully into ount.


    T sat down on the chair off to one side, and Mistress Holly pulled over her customary stool.


    We will go back over the proposed Refining process with a fine-toothedb and ensure that we have everything aligned as it should be. Mistress Holly grimaced, shaking her head. We are not used to considering iron or dasgannach, as neither have ever been factors before.


    We have time. It will take a month for this merging to settle in, right?


    Thats right. Blessedly, like most things, the Refining process is simple to execute, once you know what to do.


    T frowned. Like most things?


    Of course. Once you know how exactly something can be done, it is usually trivial to make it happen.


    I dont know if that is the case.


    Then you probably dont know <em>exactly</em> how the thing is done and have to rely on secondary processes.


    T opened her mouth to argue, but finally just shook her head. <em>Not worth it.</em>


    -<em>Im excited to try out Flow.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, me too. Its hard to remember that what we saw was one branch of the potential that is now open before us, not what we can do immediately.</em>


    Unfortunately, like many things, experimentation would have to wait until after she Refined.


    Mistress Holly folded her hands in herp and smiled. Ill see you in a month, then. Please keep yourself intact until then?


    I will do my best. Thank you, Mistress Holly.


    Take care.


    * * *


    T was exhausted. While her body wasnt <em>really</em> worse off than it had been, the ws and contamination was starting to make her feel noticeably less capable than she was used to.


    Even so, the month had passed in a blur.


    Lyn and Rane had done their best to help fill Ts time until her Refinement.


    Rane had more free time, though he still went off to train daily. Towards that end, they explored the offerings of the yhouses of Bandfast, Lyn and even Kannis joining them for the afternoon or evening ys.


    Mistress Aproa came along as well on asion, and Mistress Odera even came with them once or twice.


    They tried out every restaurant they could find in the city, and t helped supply a supplemental set of foods for T to eat afterwards to keep her consumption bnced.


    Aside from a truly dizzying number of ys from the more than two dozen yhouses in the city, T and Rane practiced with the magical nest from the arcanes, as well as with the iron spheres that Master Jevin had given her so long ago.


    They made it a bit of a game between them, testing themselves against each other, striving for mastery.


    Finally, they filled their time with tafl.


    T and Rane yed an immense amount of tafl.


    They began with a simple nine-by-nine board, altering who was the attacker and who defended.


    In the end, they were battling across neen-by-neen boards, trading victories back and forth in uneven spurts.


    They really hadnt been keeping track, but with her memoryeven without specifically countingT knew that they were pretty evenly split.


    Terry spent most of his time in Ts sanctum, or riding on her shoulders to the ys. He only tried to cheat at tafl a few timesflickering in and out quickly to move a piecebut T and Rane both sternly told him not to help them.


    T tried not to think too deeply on the fact that Terry somehow seemed to have a better head for the game than either of them.


    t brought it up fairly often though, so T wasnt likely to forget.


    The only real things of note that had happened during the month were: First, the first version of the teleportation array out of Kit waspleted; it eviscerated a test rabbit.


    Second, shed met up with Master Nadro a couple of times, to continue talking through her experiences and working through her struggles.


    Finally, Master Queue heard of her search for staff for her sanctum.


    He put forward his own assistant, Master Simon, for the position.


    Apparently, the man had always had a passion for cooking that his wife and children shared.


    While he had ten children, four were at the academy and three more were out on their own in the world.


    Thus, he would simply be bringing himself, his wife, and three youngest children.


    T had liked Master Simon the few times that theyd interacted, and he was a consummate researcher and assistant. He came highly rmended and was actually at the end of his tenure with Master Queue. Thus, he was beginning to search for a new position, regardless.


    Even so, she still wasnt sure.


    She had a dinner with his family nned in a week, and if that went well, theyd have another dinner within her sanctum sometime after.


    But that wasnt pressing at the moment.


    At the moment, it was time to Refine.


    Toward that end, T stood in a new-to-her room within the Archon Compound. It was much smaller than a merging chamber within the Constructionists Guildhalls, but it was simrly outfitted with iron on every surface, even the pedestal that rose up to her waist in the center was entirely wrought of iron.


    Atop the pedestal was something that looked like nothing so much as a coffin.


    Humans rarely buried their dead, and when they did, they were almost always cremated beforehand, regardless, but coffins were still used asionally.


    T had never seen one before.


    It was made of a beautiful wood, and she had known immediately where it hade from when shed seen it.


    Master Jevin really made this for me?


    Mistress Holly smiled and nodded. He grew it from the tree, meticulously forging the inscriptions into the wood fibers.


    Just like in Makinaven, T could see that the individual fibers of wood had been grown into spellforms that were entirely alien, yet somehowforting in theirposition.


    The T-sized box seemed to be precariously bnced on the iron pedestal, but T had looked underneath and seen that it was firmly attached.


    During that same nce at the bottom, shed been slightly concerned to see drain holes worked into the material at regr intervals. There were also drains in the slightly sloped floor of this chamber, which meant that their use wasnt a unique feature of <em>her</em> Refining.


    Still, she needed to do this. She needed to Refine.


    Is it stereotypical to say that Im nervous but excited?


    Mistress Holly smiledfortingly. Not too stereotypical, no.


    T smiled in return. What can I expect again?


    The Inscriptionist nodded. A refresher is wise; you are right to ask. You will strip, leaving all your itemseven your soulbound oneson that shelf there. She pointed to an iron shelf off to one side. You will then be closed within the box.


    T nodded along, moving towards the indicated shelf.


    Once inside, you will ce your hands on the requisite activation ces and open yourself to the inscriptions, providing them with as much power as you can. You read the book?


    Absolutely. I appreciate the triple check. Mistress Holly had provided her with a book detailing exactly what the Refining would do, even if T didnt really understand the results.


    That was fine. It was akin to knowing that punching a wolfs head could cause a messy explosion without <em>really</em> knowing what the end results of that explosion would be.


    I read it several times to be sure.


    Good, good. Being sure is paramount, here. Make sure to leave your iron within Flow.


    T already had moved the metal to her weapon, so she simply nodded again.


    Then, thats it. Youll have activated the scripts, and you wont be able to stop the process.


    The test phase?


    Yes, the test phase will confirm the concepts of the process. If it fails, <em>it</em> will stop the process. You will not have control.


    Right, right. T shuffled her feet.


    Your body will be purged of imperfections at every level.


    Which wont include my inscriptions because they are perfect. T gave the older woman a half-smile.


    Mistress Holly chuckled. ttery aside, yes. They are magically aligned and form a temte around which the magic will function. In essence, this process corrects the imbnce between how you believe your body works, and how it actually does.


    I still dont understand why a foundation in biology and physiology isnt required. T groused. She had that knowledge, and she had been bbergasted when Rane had told her he hadnt been asked to learn it.


    Ive exined a dozen times: The important thing is that you dont have any incorrect understandings, generally. The point is to align your body with what you believe about your body. If you believed that you were missing a toe, this would remove that toe. You wouldnt need to know the name of the bones in that phnge to make it happen.


    Because my magic repairs my body ording to my understanding.


    Precisely.


    And it also perfects me?


    <em>Refines</em> yes. You wont be perfect, but in the colloquial sense, yes.


    And a teleportation doesnt do this because


    The Inscriptionist sighed. Because you are rebuilt based upon your <em>soul,</em> not your mind, when you teleport.


    Right, right. T nced at the box again. The drain holes werent ominous at all


    You have filled your reserves, correct?


    You know that I have. It had actually been a bit of a chore to eat enough over thest month, given how her ability to store nutrients and calories had grown.


    Good. That is the main reason why most people have to do this in multiple blocks.


    Which I cannot do because the disjointment would kill me.


    Precisely. Mistress Holly smiled, but T could see tension in the womans eyes.


    Are you alright, Mistress Holly?


    I am, dear girl. She patted T on the shoulder. You will be too. Do you require assistance, or do you wish for me to stay in the room?


    T nced at the coffin-like creation. Will it bear up under me hopping up into it?


    Yes. It should bear up to you punching it with all your strength even at the most cantilevered ends, but I wouldnt rmend it.


    Then, I think I will be alright.


    As you wish. I will await you just outside the door. She hesitated. Do you have anything you wish me to say to anyone if if it doesnt go well?


    T felt a chill run through her. That was thergest admission of uncertainty that shed ever heard from Mistress Holly. No. I will see you on the other side.


    Without another word, Mistress Holly closed the door behind herself as she left.


    T took a deep breath and let it out carefully.


    <em>-Everything will be alright, T.-</em>


    <em>Thats easy for you to say. You dont have to experience this directly.</em>


    <em>-And I am infinitely grateful for that. Thank you.-</em>


    T checked once again to ensure that she had moved all her non-biological iron into Flow before setting it on the shelf.


    The metal of the shelf creaked under the load, so T pushed Flow to the back of the t surface before adding Kit beside it.


    After that, she pulled off her through spike and stuck it into Kit.


    Finally, she forced her Archive link to manifest as the ring and took it off, cing it on the shelf as well.


    She was still connected to the Archive while it remained in the room with her, but she couldnt take it into the box without risking the process.


    Next, she retracted her elk-leathers into a bracelet, which she removed and set beside the ring, pouch, and knife.


    And that was it.


    That was all she owned in the world.


    -<em>Dont be melodramatic, T. Theres an entire estate within that pouch.-</em>


    T huffed augh. <em>True enough.</em>


    With an easy hop, T jumped up andnded inside the box. Despite Mistress Hollys reassurances, T was careful tond where the box was held up and supported by the pir, beneath.


    After another deep breath, T stretched out within the wooden construction before reaching and closing the lid over herself.


    It sealed with a resounding <em>click</em>.


    She easily sensed where her hands should go, and she rested them down on the contact points.


    <em>-Ready?-</em>


    <em>As Ill ever be.</em>


    She forged a pair of void-channels asrge as she could createcapturing virtually her entire power flowand directed one out through each hand, into the waiting inscriptions.


    Power slowly filled the spellforms around her, and the wooden box began to glow to her magesight. A momentter, it began to emit light visible to mundane sight as well.


    Finally, there was enough power within for the first scripts to activate.


    A pulse of power mmed into her uniformly from all sides at once.


    Her hair was reduced to dust across her entire body, and she felt like every dead skin-cell was vaporized at the same time.


    It rendered her instantly raw and oversensitive, and she tried not to shift.


    The next pulse mmed into her, and severalyers of skin vanished.


    The pain was incredible, and she grunted and grimaced, trying to bear it.


    Her regenerative scripts tried to activate to restore her, but they were suddenly, utterly suppressed, the magic of the Refining box superceding everything else.


    Blessedly, the next pulse caused fresh skin to blossom across her body, recing what had been removed.


    That didntst, however.


    The next wave obliterated the new skin and all that was underneath.


    T shrieked at the shock of it.


    There was actually very little pain, however, since her nerve endings were simply gone.


    She knew that blood was flowing freely from her, though she couldnt feel it.


    Theck of pain was incredibly disconcerting.


    Then, the magics radiating from the box changed, and she felt her left hand be gripped with incredible pressure.


    It wasnt like being locked in a vice, as she could still move her fingers freely, at least based on the kinesthetic feedback she was getting.


    Instead, it was a grip on a deeper level.


    Her left hand was the test case.


    <em>Alright, T. You can do this. Just breathe.</em>


    As that pressure increased, she felt the bones in her hand splinter, even while they were held in shape.


    <em>That</em> hurt, and she screamed again, jerking her hand away from the contact point.


    It didnt matter; the magic still flowed. The scripts were such that once the connection was made, it could not be stopped by her, and so the pressure increased.


    Her bones ground together, turning to powder, all the while staying in the exact form that they needed to be in.


    Her soft tissue was next, being emulsified in ce even as the pressure increased.


    T didnt really have time to consider the oddity of her bones breaking down first, as the pain continued to build.


    Then, when it reached almost unbearable levels, she heard a new, heavier dripping and strained to see her hand.


    Something darker than blood, thick and <em>rancid</em> was being squeezed out of her hand.


    She barely held in a scream, as she tried not to gag at the stench.


    <em>Hold it together, T. This is just the test section. The rest of you has to be done in one go.</em>


    They had set it up this way, so that, worst case scenario, they only ruined her left hand, and she was trying to distract herself by going over the same information again and again.


    <em>Unless this is wrong?</em>


    It felt wrong.


    <em>What if this is wrong?</em>


    <em>-T. Calm down.-</em>


    T ignored t and pounded on the lid with her right hand, suddenly frantic. Hello? This isnt right!


    Shed known there would be a stripping away. Shed known there would be the pressure and expulsion of impurities. Shed even known that this was but the first of quite a few steps.


    Even so, she had <em>not</em> known it would be like this.


    LET ME OUT! She pounded harder, but to no avail.


    Finally, desperately, she punched the lid as hard as she could with her right hand, but Master Jevin did good work, and Mistress Holly had been correct.


    The wood didnt mar in the slightest beneath her blow.


    Suddenly, the pressure gripped her entire body, and Ts panic grew.


    <em>No, no, no!</em> She couldnt take this. She needed it to stop.


    But it wouldnt stop.


    The pressure built, and her body was slowly eviscerated in ce.


    T was no longer screaming as she no longer had the intact parts to scream.


    Blood and the putrid ck sludge flowed from the coffin in equal measure as silence fell in the room, and the unalterable scripts continued to enact their magics without end.

 Chapter 294: To Learn the Results

    Chapter 294: To Learn the Results


    T couldnt remember when this unending torment had started, and she had trouble remembering anything outside of the ongoing agony.


    She definitely knew that she should know what was happening.


    She also somehow knew that she probably shouldnt be able to feel anything at all at the moment.


    Even so, she could.


    -<em>Its your magical reinforcement and enhancement around your neural systems. They shouldnt still be feeding you pain, but they are. T, Im so sorry.-</em>


    T ignored the buzzing sound that sometimes came into her mind.


    <em>-Youre being rebuilt, and its almost done. Im sorry, but-</em> There was a pause in the buzzing before it continued. -<em>I think the pain is going to get worse when your nerves are actually whole once more.-</em>


    There was a solidity to her, which hadnt existed before, at least not in her memory. A support structure had been forged within her body of pain.


    An unknown amount of time passed, and the pain did, indeed, grow to a crescendo.


    At the final, ultimate wave of agony, T screamed for the first time. <em>Again? Im sure its again.</em>


    The material around her vibrated under the force of the wail.


    <em>-T? T! Are you with me again?-</em>


    Her mind seemed to have mostly pulled itself back together, and her existence extended beyond mere pain and confusion once again.


    Ty in a coffin that seemed to be filled so full of ck muck that it came around her eyes and almost blocked her nose and mouth.


    The horrible stench almost made her gag, but somehow the ability to smell again was a sweet relief sufficient enough to ovee the horror of the extreme odor, at least for the moment.


    Blessedly, she seemed to have tried to throw her head back for her agonized cry, so her airways were lifted up above the level of the viscous liquid.


    Even through the sludge over her eyes, she saw a bright pulse of light, and T flinched.


    <em>Light means magic. Magic means more pain.</em>


    Something within the ck ichor changed, and it began to rush downward, flowing where it hadnt before.


    -<em>Surface tension and molecr cohesion most likely. The magics made it so this stuff could drain.-</em> There was another moment of hesitance. -<em>How was all of this stuff inside of you, T?-</em>


    T just groaned, trying to keep her mouth closed even though every breath through her nose brought with it the foul odor.


    Soon, the box was mostly drained, and a resonant cracking came from all around her.


    The box fell away, one wall hinging the lid up and away from above her.


    There was a sickening squelch as the wood fell onto the seemingly coated floor.


    Thest of the gunk sshed down onto the panels, where the inscriptions on the wooden panels continued to facilitate the liquids movement through the drains in the floor of the room.


    T simplyid there, gasping.


    The light in the room caused her to twitch, but it was obviously different from the light given off by activating inscriptions. Her utter inability to do anything about the light, and theck of harm from it, forced the knee-jerk reaction to fizzle out, and her aversion to fade.


    She felt too weak to lift her arms, and she was utterly drained.


    Over the months, shed gotten to a ce where she could sense her reserves, at least vaguely.


    They were utterly spent.


    <em>She</em> was utterly spent.


    In fact, she felt like barely a husk of herself, though she knew that the inscriptions across her body would have maintained her shape one way or another.


    Her mind was fuzzy, and it almost felt like over enthusiastic musicians were ying loud, grating, monotonous music, filling the room with incessant noise.


    <em>-T, thats someone knocking and calling out to you.-</em>


    <em>Oh</em>


    Mistress T?


    T groaned.


    It was Mistress Holly. Mistress T, can Ie in to help?


    <em>Really? Juste in already, woman.</em>


    <em>-You told her you didnt want assistance You arent in danger from what I can tell, so I wanted to wait for you to be ready.-</em>


    <em>that was before; this is now. </em>T groaned again, but slightly louder and in an affirmative manner.


    That was apparently enough as the older woman opened the door.


    There was a pause, then a gagging retch.


    Oh oh, child.


    T felt magics enact, though she couldnt quite tell what they were.


    Suddenly, a stream of water shot across the room and began to sweep back and forth, presumably rinsing the ck remnants away.


    The cold water hit T, and she flinched, or at least she tried to.


    Her body did <em>not</em> want to move. So, instead, she just groaned again. This time it was definitely <em>not</em> in an affirmative manner.


    One moment, Mistress T. Ive got to get you clean of this stuff before the magics run their course. Otherwise, youll find the ck discharge more pervasive than tar, and youll be finding it <em>everywhere</em> for weeks.


    She couldnt summon the strength to protest, though she wanted to.


    <em>Why won''t my arms move?</em>


    <em>-Youve been mostly dead all day.-</em>


    T didnt really know how to respond to that, and in any case, it didnt help her solve her current issue.


    Then, an idea came to her.


    <em>t!</em>


    <em>-Yes, T?-</em> The alternate interface sounded incredibly tentative.


    <em>Send her a strongly worded missive telling her how I feel about her </em>washing<em>.</em>


    <em>-are you sure?-</em>


    <em>Do it!</em>


    <em>-Alright done.-</em>


    <em>Good, Im going to p that woman if this continues.</em> She tried to move to fulfill the threat, but all that she aplished was slightly moving one finger.


    <em>-You just wiggled your finger!- </em>t was ted.


    <em>Ive always been a quick healer.</em>


    The stream of water froze in ce for a moment, the Mistress Holly snorted. Mistress T. I am trying to help you. The woman grunted. You knew Id say that, eh?


    <em>What?</em>


    <em>-I ended the missive telling her not to say that shes just trying to help.-</em>


    T snorted augh, slightly shaking her head at ts antics. She approved. Then, she tried to grimace in pain. <em>This is awful</em>


    - Y<em>ou just shook your head! That doesn''t make you happy?-</em>


    She sent the alternate interface a deeply skeptical thought. <em>I just went through something so mind numbingly painful that I still cant think straight, and you think a little head jiggle is supposed to make me happy? Hmm?</em>


    <em>-Youve been less than cognizant. I even faded through several points. This is a vast improvement.-</em>


    The water began moving again, and T growled but still couldnt move.


    <em>-I was worried about you.-</em>


    T didnt really have a response. She felt utterly unable to think about the experience that she just went through, her mind shying away from the memories like a whipped dog.


    Mistress Holly finally came over and sted her more directly. Lets get you clean. Im sure you feel weak to the extreme. The cleaning should have been automated, but those spellforms were definitely not designed for this much filth. Ive never seen so much corruption and rot and nastinesse from one person before. Well have to do some tests, but Im optimistic. This was a resounding sess.


    T managed to roll her head to face the Inscriptionst and forced a partial grimace.


    She couldnt say anything, though.


    Mistress Holly gently patted her cheek. One moment.she ced her hand on the back of Ts neck, and T felt the tingle of magicYou are in no immediate danger, and youll recover, my dear girl. Nothing is ringly wrong, except that you are strained to near the limit of your endurance. Lets get you sorted and out of here. We have a ce you can rest nearby thats far morefortable than this.


    Ten more minutes of rather embarrassing and awkward cleaning and shifting found T propped up in aid-back chaise in a side room, seemingly specifically made for Archons in this weakened state.


    Her elk-leathers had grown back over her intofortable clothing. Kit and Flow hung opposite each other at her waist, and her ring and through spike were back in ce.


    <em>Refined. Im a Refined.</em>


    <em>-Thats right you are!-</em> t forced an unseemly amount of cheer into that statement, making T grimace again.


    <em>Please stop. Youre trying too hard, and its getting painful</em>


    <em>-Fine, fine.-</em> t sighed within Ts mind. -<em>What do you need?-</em>


    T couldnt honestly think of anything but food, and Mistress Holly had already provided that. The side table beside T was overloaded with food, and she was taking careful bites as she had the strength to do so.


    More than anything except food, she needed time to recover.


    T let Terry out, and he happily flickered to her shoulder before curling up and tucking himself in against her neck, providing whatfort and physicalpany that he could.


    It took more than a day of eating and sleeping before she could get up from the reclined seat for more than short stretches.


    After a particrly fitful nap, T woke up to find Master Nadro sitting in a chair in the corner of the room.


    Oh! Master Nadro. Despite her surprise, her words were still rather quiet.


    Peace, Mistress T. You are still incredibly weak. I assumed that you might want to talk about what you experienced, but we can use our alternate interfaces, if you like. That way you dont strain yourself?


    <em>Can you tell him that hes wee to talk out loud?</em>


    <em>-Of course.-</em>


    He smiled. That is kind of you. Ill be here for a couple of hours. Feel free to say anything you wish, and I will hear it.


    She slowly nodded. Even so, it took long minutes of silence before she could summon the willpower to begin to convey her perspective on what had happened.


    <em>I was trapped</em>


    * * *


    Just less than a week passed before she was up and moving around with rtive ease.


    Mistress Holly was ready to run the full battery of her tests, now that T had recovered for the most part, and T had her dinner with Master Simon the next evening.


    Bedrest was at an end, it seemed.


    As the first lightening of the sky was visible in her sanctum, T leveraged herself out of her bed, summoning the door out to the space directly in-front of herself.


    She came out through the door into Lyns hallway, walking much more slowly, and with shorter steps, than she was used to.


    Her whole body still felt raw and new, sore and strained.


    T? Is that you? Lyn poked her head around the corner. It is! Come,e. Let me help you.


    The Archon came down the hallway quickly and took one of Ts arms before T could muster a response.


    You still seem very weak, are you going to be alright?


    Im sick of being cooped up, more than anything. Besides, Mistress Holly is expecting me for some tests.


    Do you need assistance getting there? Lyn was obviously uncertain, but she just as obviously wanted to be sure that T was safe.


    No, thank you. I think a walk through the city will help me tremendously.


    Lyn frowned, seeming to internally fuss a bit. Did you stretch?


    No, mom. Ill stretch when I get there.


    She huffed augh. Fine, alright, Ill leave you be.


    T ced her hand on Lyns shoulder. Thank you for wanting to help.


    Lyn patted her in return. Of course. Im happy to help however I can.


    Kannis smiled consolingly in Ts direction as T passed through the sitting room. It was early morning, and the master and mageling would soon be leaving for work.


    Apparently, Lyn had told Kannis that T came down with a rare, nomunicable illness in order to hide the fact that Ts condition was the result of Refining.


    That thought made T realize something else. <em>Ive not talked to Lyn about my Refining at all does she actually know? Does Rane?</em>


    <em>-She said that Mistress Holly told her you were ill. We assumed that she said that because Kannis was in the room, but what if-</em>


    <em>Yeah, I dont think she knows the truth.</em> Obviously, Lyn would know if she looked at T with her magesight, but Lyn was still of the mindset that it was rude to look at others without asking permission first, and since she had to activate those inscriptions for them to provide the sight, T was rather sure that Lyn hadnt seen.


    That surety made T a bit conflicted. She knew that if shed been warned, she would have struggled to have the strength to go through with it, and quite honestly, the whole experience would have been worse.


    Even so, she knew that she felt a seed of resentment towards every higher ranked person who had failed to warn her.


    <em>-Master Grediv, and quite a few others, did say it was a difficult, unpleasant experience.-</em>


    T grunted internally at that, but didnt respond.


    She grabbed the door handle and pushed as she moved to go outside.


    Instead of opening, the door stood firm, and she rammed into it with a grunt.


    T felt her eye twitch, and suddenly, it was as if she was back in the coffin.


    Her breath sped up.


    <em>Calm, T.</em> But it didnt work.


    She tried the door again, but it wouldnt open.


    <em>Trapped. Im trapped!</em>


    She tried to body-check the door open, but she was still incredibly weak, and it did nothing.


    T heard a whimpere from her own lips.


    <em>No. No, no, no no.</em> She hit the door.


    -<em>T! Stop!-</em>


    But T ignored the alternate interface.


    Let me out! Even though she had tried to scream, the panic in her mind made ite out as barely a croak.


    Even so, quick footsteps came from behind her, and Lyn was suddenly beside her. T? T!


    T couldnt turn away from the door as she continued to futilely push. It wont open. I cantshe pantedI cant get out!


    Lyn put a calming hand on her shoulder, and T felt herself shudder. T, I dont know whats going on.


    T turned to look at Lyn. Im trapped. It wont open.


    Lyn slowly grabbed the door handle and pulled.


    The door opened easily.


    T are you okay?


    T shook her head. No, I dont think I am, but I need to get outside. She was still too panicked to be embarrassed. She needed to get outside. Even so, she managed to get out two words as she stepped outside, Thank you.


    As soon as she was out of the house, it was as if a massive weight was lifted from her, and her breathing slowed.


    Her steps became a bit firmer, and she straightened, only having just realized that she was hunching.


    She shivered, but not from the cold.


    <em>Yeah that was awful.</em>


    <em>-Are you going to be okay?-</em>


    <em>I hope so.</em>


    <em>-Is there anything I can do?-</em>


    <em>Let me focus on something other than that little panic attack?</em>


    <em>-I can do that.-</em>


    T grimaced and found that she couldnt divert her mind too far. <em>I think I understand now why Master Grediv would be hesitant to move towards being Reforged. I cant imagine its a pleasant process.</em>


    -<em>It does seem like every step is more difficult in some way or another.-</em>


    <em>Yeah. Though, it might be more urate to say that each step is differently difficult.</em>


    t snorted augh within Ts head. <em>-That does sound more urate, yeah.-</em>


    The cool air was invigorating, and the slight breeze across Ts minimally d body was helping to shake loose some of the lethargy that had been guing her for thest several days.


    There had been quite a bit of snowfall recently, to the point that even her widened tread sunk deeply into the light, fluffy, dry powder, allowing the cool snow to fall inward and dust her bare feet.


    It added to the refreshing coolness, and T felt a smile blossom across her face for what felt like the first time since her Refining as she turned her mind outward, and to the present moment, leaving her still fluttering internal flutters and the past aside for the moment.


    Pedestrian traffic was beginning to pick up, and there were even a few vehicles about, but the streets were still mostly empty at this early hour.


    The sky was still dark after all. It seemed that her sanctum matched the day-night cycle wherever she was, but as it was spring-like within Kit, the length of the days matched that time of year, rather than that of wintery Bandfast.


    T almost diverted to get some food, but she still had an over abundance which Mistress Holly, Rane, and Lyn had brought her off and on over thest few days.


    So, instead of going to a restaurant, she simply reached into Kit and pulled out a still warm breakfast sandwich.


    The bread, itself, was still steaming, havinge straight from the oven to be made into a sandwich. From there, it had been in one dimensional storage after another.


    Ranes storage was less preserving than Kit could be, but it still let the food taste like it had been made within thest half-hour, rather than three days earlier.


    She stepped carefully as she ate, making sure not to lose any of the incredibly tasty breakfast.


    She had an undeniable hankering for coffee, as many of her memories made with these tastes were apanied by the smooth power of that dark liquid, but she was not going to go down that road, at least not until her body had fully stabilized.


    The first sandwich was barely the start of her feast as she walked the distance to Mistress Hollys workshop.


    Unfortunately, none of the food was magically special.


    Mistress Holly had explicitly told T to avoid even endingberries until theyd been able to test her fully to get a sense of how, exactly, the Refining had gone.


    T pulled out her incorporator for a drink but paused with a sigh.


    Incorporated water didnt <em>really</em> harm a Mage. All it took was a little bit of their throughput to maintain the molecules in that form until it passed through, and T had magic aplenty.


    Even so, that would be another strain on her magic and body at this time.


    Instead, she put the device back in Kit and pulled out a mug, already filled with clean, clear water.


    She drained the mug in one long pull, reveling in the sweet simplicity of the water.


    After cing the cup back into Kit, she patted the pouch. Thank you, Kit. That was a really excellent drink.


    Kit did not respond.


    The mug sent Ts thoughts spiraling off in an unpleasant direction, <em>If I melt down a cup, purify the materials, and remake the cup, is it the same vessel?</em>


    <em>-Obviously not, but that isnt actually what happened. In this case, the cup was separated into individual molecules and held perfectly in ce while the imperfections were removed. Then, it was allowed to reconnect to the surrounding pieces, exactly where they had been.-</em>


    <em>That sounds like the vessel would be left full of holes</em>


    <em>-Maybe thats why it needs to be Reforged?-</em>


    T shuddered. <em>Yeah Im not ready to consider that at the moment.</em>


    <em>-As you wish. It will be interesting to hear what the test results are, right?-</em>


    <em>Yeah. It definitely will be.</em>


    She continued to pull out food to eat while she walked thest blocks to her destination.


    T pushed open the door and smiled at the receptionist, yet another Mage that T didnt recognize.


    She wasnt feeling very restrained at the moment, so T just asked, How many different receptionists are there? I feel like Im in here all the time, and I dont often see regrs behind that desk.


    The young-looking man cleared his throat, straightened his back just a bit, and smiled hesitantly. Well, this is a testing position for those who want to work with the honored Inscriptionist.


    Ts eye twitched, and she opened her mouth to respond, but Mistress Holly came out into the entry hall before she could.


    Master Adam, Ive told you that unnecessary ttery wont factor into my decision.


    <em>Huh, thats funny, he shares a name with Adam the guard.</em>


    <em>-Yes, T, many people share names.-</em>


    Yes, Mistress Holly. Adam lowered his gaze back to the work on the desk before him.


    Mistress Holly turned to T. It really is informative, how much you can learn about a person by how they handle such a position.


    T grunted, starting to slowly walk towards the door to the back.


    How are you doing, Mistress? There was genuine concern in the womans voice.


    T sighed and turned to regard her. Well, before all this started, I was fine, and I suppose when this process is done, I will be again.


    Mistress Hollys eye twitched as T tried to keep her smile back.


    You might even say that soon I will be re-fine.


    Out!The inscriptionist pointed at the main doorThat was a terrible pun.


    Fine, fine. The smile broke through Ts features. Or should I say, Refine?


    Mistress Holly shook her head. Lets get this over with. Youre going to strain something if you keep that up.


    Without another word, the two women turned toward the back.


    T didnt ask, but she leaned on the older womanjust a bitfor support.


    Mistress Holly silently shifted to be of better help.


    Together, they went to learn the results of their respective efforts and ordeals.

 Chapter 295: Quite a Few

    Chapter 295: Quite a Few


    T and Mistress Holly entered into the back room of the workshop and sat down at a not-usually-present set of table and chairs.


    The table held steaming tea, ready and waiting.


    The tea was one that T couldnt quite ce, but it went down smoothly, and she felt herself rx as the warmth spread through her.


    Now, Mistress T. We will be doing basically all the tests we did in preparation for your Refining, so that we canpare the results as a way to measure your bodys recovery and improvement.


    T took another sip, sighed, and nodded. Out of curiosity, shouldnt we wait until I am physically fully recovered?


    We will need to take another set of measurements then as well, but we need to head off any potential issues now, if they exist. So, we cant wait any longer.


    Very well. I expected as much.


    Good. Do you have any questions?


    Honestly? Yes. I have quite a few, but not really about this process.


    Mistress Holly gave a long-suffering smile. Well then, lets see what I can do to help with that.


    As T settled back in her chair, she realized that she hadnt invited Terry to join her.


    She opened Kit and called to him. The terror bird flickered to her shoulder, where he headbutted her cheek, and curled up.


    T stroked the avian, then turned back to Mistress Holly. Sorry. My questions. What was that ck gunk?


    That is actually a subject of some debate. Once it separates from an Archon, it begins to fade. Any attempt to perform tests upon it, or direct magical scanning at it either utterly fails or seems to speed up its fading.


    And if it remains on the Archon?


    Then attempting tests or scans causes it to retreat back into the Mage, harming the Refining.


    Ts eyes widened. Could my magesight have triggered that?


    Oh, no. Your magesight wouldnt have seen anything from it, but you probably already know that. It would be simple deadspace to that perception.


    Are there any guesses on what it <em>might</em> be?


    The most prevalent theory is that the ''gunk'' is a purely conceptual substance.


    How does that make sense? Shouldnt it have to be material?


    In theory, no. Not that we understand conceptual magics that well.


    And so it would be what? The concept of bodily corruption?


    Thats as good a guess as any, honestly.


    Well, in either case, Im d that it didnt retreat and harm my Refining.


    Quite. We would not have left your magesight active if it could harm you.


    T grimaced. You didnt seem to mind hurting me.


    I never imed differently. The pain, the hurt, was for your own good, and was required because of your condition.


    She frowned. But you just said


    Mistress Holly sighed and shook her head. Harm and hurt are very different things, Mistress T. I think you know that to be true. For example, a parents discipline must hurt to be meaningful, whether that hurt is physical, financial, social, or otherwise, but it should never <em>harm</em>.


    Ahh, I see the difference. Hurt is painful, but that fades, while harm is damaging in the end.


    Precisely.


    She took a deep breath and asked one of the more important questions, trying to not let her voice tremble with either anger or remembered agony, So, why <em>did</em> you allow me to experience so much pain?


    Do you remember when I rendered you unconscious to inscribe parts of you?


    Yes.


    What happened when you woke up?


    Ts eyes widened just slightly as she understood. The sum total of all the pain I <em>would have</em> felt hit me at once.


    <em>That,</em> if done for the Refining, would have killed you, almost without question. The pain you felt was mostly on the soul-level, as one of your soul-bonds, specifically your body, was broken down and stripped of pieces of its makeup.


    Stripped of who knows what.


    Well, we know the results, but that doesnt really help us concretely identify the substance. Mistress Holly gave a rueful smile. In fact, us knowing the results lets us extrapte the connecting concept of what was removed, which is why the conceptual substance theory holds so much weight.


    And those known results are?


    Refined gain incredible multiplicative increases to throughput, magical density, inscription efficiency, and magical control. An end to physical degradation due to time. An almost total immunity to non-magical disease and poison. A perfecting of your gic code, to be passed down to any offspring. Physical capacity is amplified as well to an incredible degree. Mental functions are lifted topletely new heights.


    Mistress Holly clearly saw Ts confused frown.


    All of this will manifest as your body solidifies in its new state. There are many more-specific benefits, but they all are understood to fall under what I already stated. These are some of the reasons why we implement the reconstruction inscriptions before Refining. Aside from making the process easier, they make the results better, too.


    T grunted. Terry seemed to be getting bored, so he flickered to a corner, where he contentedly curled up to wait.


    Do you mind if <em>I</em> ask you a question?


    She only hesitated a moment before shrugging. I suppose not.


    I didnt want to ask before, because I didnt want to influence your decision, especially when you had an expert to consult. Now that its done, though, what was your reasoning behind binding the dasgannach with your weapon as opposed to your elk-leathers?


    T grunted. Shed actually given it a lot of thought and talked it through with Mistress Aurius. T had been inclined to use Flow, and her research and talks had only reinforced the decision. Thats simple enough. The elk-leathers and dasgannach were too simr. One would have subsumed the other, and Id have been left with one that could somewhat pretend to be the other. Flow and the dasgannach were distinct enough, with marginal ovep, that they should now be able toplement each other, rather than overriding or fighting for supremacy.


    Mistress Holly nodded. That would have been my fear as well. Im d to know that you got good advice, and its also nice to confirm that Im not so ignorant in the field to have missed the mark.


    T grunted again. She was almost frustrated with Mistress Holly, but she realized that it wasnt Mistress Hollys job to hold her hand in such decisions, especially when theyy outside her expertise. Mistress Holly had gone above and beyond, finding an expert for T to work with, after all.


    The Inscriber titled her head in thought, seeming content with Ts response. Thank you for satisfying my curiosity. What else did you want to ask?


    Soul bonds.


    They arent my area of study, but Ill answer if I can.


    It has been implied to me that I shouldnt have more than eight at any one time.


    That is fairly standard, sound advice, yes.


    I have Flow, my elk-leathers, my Archive link, and my body, right? Does my body count?


    In almost every sense, yes. Mistress Hollys smile shifted towards a wry grin. Except toward that limit. While youre Bound? It counts and is like any soul-bound tool, in every basic sense. Once you Fuse though, you basically do to your body and soul what you just did to your weapon and the dasganach.


    T blinked a few times, processing what Mistress Holly had said. So, because my body is Fused with my soul, it doesnt count as a bond?


    For soul-strain, no, it doesnt count.


    So, I have five more slots?


    You? I have no idea. There are <em>so</em> many extenuating circumstances that might have affected the strength, flexibility, and durability of your soul in ways I have no clue how to understand nor quantify. Standardly? Yes, Id say four more tools and a spouse would be the limit. She held up a finger. Though, I wouldnt rush into any of those bonds until you were utterly sure.


    Absolutely not. So, the dasgannach and Flow are just a single bond?


    That <em>is</em> usually the point of a merging. If you were set on doing all your bonding <em>now</em>, I would befortable telling you to only add four more bonds, but as the merging settles over time, it will only strain your soul as much as a single bond in the end. She narrowed her eyes at T. I feel the need to emphasize that this is meant as an upper limit, not a goal. Most Archons end up with four or five tools of various natures.


    Offensive, defensive, storage, and Archive connection?


    Generally, yes. Each of those takes a different form, within reason. So, its not like its a standard set of gear by any means. There are also obviously Archons who end up with a different set entirely, and almost no one who stops before Refining has a soul-bound Archive connection, so its only vaguely urate.


    Thank you for that rification. In that same vein, what does it mean for my bonds that I am now Refined?


    On the surface level, they are going to Refine as well, though it will take longer for them, and it is an automatic process. In the case of inanimate objects, weve not observed any of the ck sludge, either. When you Fused, the change was mainly in you, and you likely gained greater control over them and simply had more power to grant to them for their usage. Now, however, both you and your bonds will end up altered.


    T opened her mouth in shock, but Mistress Holly held up her hand.


    Altered isnt the right word, but its also the best one I have. You will find them both more efficient and able to handle more power. Your Archive connection will likely allow for faster transfer of information at the very least as well. That is a rtively standard item, so the results are somewhat known. Its especially well studied because very few bond one before Refined, so those that do are watched closely. Master Nadro implied that you are already starting to be able to use that connection for real-timemunication, rather than simply for the sharing of notes. Is that correct?


    It is, yes.


    That would have been much more difficult, if not impossible before Refining.


    <em>-Shes right. We could obviously have done it if I stopped backing up your mind, and other uses of the Archive, but it still would have been a strain.-</em>


    <em>But, thats silly. Why wouldmunicating in real time take that much informational throughput?</em>


    <em>-The Archive is secure, not fast, perhaps? Its also designed as an informational repository. It is much easier to give it information than to ry information </em>through<em> it.-</em>


    <em>Hmm That sounds like theres some sort of conceptual backing to it, and thats causing this nonsensical duality of capacity.</em>


    <em>-That is in line with our earlier guesses.-</em>


    Alright. I think I understand.


    Now, do you have other questions, or should we get to the tests?


    Just one more, unless your answer keys off more.


    Mistress Holly smiled and took another sip of tea. Ask away.


    My fusing feels off somehow. Strained? Tangled? Something in that vein.


    T had looked into her inner view of her fusing and found the massive, crocheted field to be rather less ordered than it had been when she had Fused. Specifically, the part which represented her body seemed to have been cut apart and put back together, no longer <em>quite</em> fully intermeshed with her spirit and soul.


    It wasnt in a way that made it seem like the whole thing would pull apart, but it was definitely <em>not</em> how she had left it.


    Ahh, yes. That is expected.


    Does it have to do with the changes due to Refining?


    It does. This is a known result, and not one that you should deal with at the moment.


    But I could?


    You cant. Well, I mean of course you <em>could</em> fix it, but it isnt worth your time and effort. It would be foolish, so you <em>shouldnt</em>.


    T frowned. What do you mean?


    Mistress Holly sighed. Because every step from here forward will make the Fusing worse, but it wont break it. If you aimed to keep it perfected, you would need to fully undo it and start over to make it right, and then youd have to redo that for every single step between Refined and Paragon, then again for each major progression towards Reforging. And then yet again when you headed towards Ascending.


    And then towards Transcendent, too? T finished for the woman with a sigh.


    Well, no. Mistress Holly smiled knowingly. While to my knowledge, we dont have definitive proof, the most prevalent theory is that moving from Ascending to Transcendent is simply a matter of doing precisely this, meaning re-Fusing. At that time, your body, soul, and spirit will have been cleansed and its just a matter of aligning and interweaving them. Thus, the final step is simply to rbine them into a coherent, perfected whole.


    T felt her mouth hanging slightly open. <em>She just told me?</em>


    She blinked a few times, uncertain if shed misunderstood.


    <em>t did she just tell me how to reach a certain, future advancement?</em>


    <em>-Well, yes, but to be fair it was a theory, and still an </em>incredible<em> distance from where we are.-</em>


    <em>I have to test this. What else will she tell me?</em> Does that mean you can tell me what the other advancements take?


    Yes but no. Mistress Hollys smile turned wry. Paragon? Yes. Reforged? Yes, but I <em>highly</em> rmend that you wait to learn that bit of knowledge for at least a year, if not until you are a Paragon. Ascending? Yes, but it is rmended that you wait until you are a Paragon, otherwise you will make the process of reaching that advancement <em>much</em> harder.


    T frowned. Arent we set up to hide these secrets, to make progression easier? Isnt that the point of the previous secrecy?


    The Inscriptionist snorted. No, not at all. We hide the things that would make advancement basically impossible. These bits of information will just make it much harder, so we allow the individual Archon to decide.


    I see Well, Id at least like to know what it takes to be a Paragon.


    Of course. Like Refining, it is incredibly simple in concept, but difficult to enact. Blessedly, it is an internal process, as Fusing was, not one requiring exterior assistance or intervention.


    T nodded, waiting expectantly.


    Bing a Paragon simply requires releasing a mortal view of this world and your experiences within it.


    <em>What now?</em>


    <em>-What now?-</em>


    T scrunched her face in confusion, but no rity came with a moments thought. So, she asked, What now?


    Mistess Holly smiled. You must allow yourselfand your spiritto let go of a limited view of reality. You must allow your thinking, along with your emotional responses, to be that of the next world, thus allowing your spiritand the half of your soul that remains hereto better align with the half of your soul that is in the next world.


    Ts scrunched face became a grimace as her parents immediately came to mind and anger built within her. <em>So, I have to acknowledge that, in light of the next world, their betrayal is rather meaningless? There. I did it. Are you happy?</em>


    <em>-T, I dont think thats what that means, and I dont think you do either.-</em>


    Mistress Holly sighed. I know you have much to work through. I will tell you one thing that my master told me when I had reached this step. This is not about freeing those who have wronged you. It is about freeing yourself.


    T looked over to the other woman in confusion. I might still be a bit fuzzy, but I dont think I understand.


    Let me tell you a story as an analogy.


    She nodded and leaned back, continuing to enjoy her tea.


    Long ago, there was a group of Mages who avoided iron entirely to prevent any tainting of even their mental foundations for magic. It was a core tenant of their group, and an unthinkable breach to have any interactions with iron.


    T huffed augh. Theyd have loved me.


    Mistress Holly smiled in return. Quite. But you understand the setting?


    I do.


    Important to the story is that this was when humanity lived in the countryside, moving around in smaller groups. This is before the cycle of cities was established.


    Alright.


    So, a master and mageling of this group were walking through the countryside, and they came across an overturned cart. It seemed that a wheel had broken, causing the contents of the cart to fall out onto the man who had been walking alongside, prodding the oxen.


    Now, the cart had been loaded with long iron rods, each two inches thick, and the cartman was basically unhurt but utterly pinned under the jumble of rods.


    I think I can see the conflict of the tale. Ts mouth quirked up into a half smile.


    Shh. Even so, the Inscriptionist smiled in return. The master, without hesitation, rushed forward, grabbed the iron rods and with tremendous strength, brought on by his magics, freed the man. Less than a minuteter, the two Mages were on their way, and the cartman was already working to repair his vehicle, no longer needing their help.


    Mistress Holly paused to take a sip of tea before continuing.


    The two continued walking after that, and the mageling was understandably conflicted. His master had vited the strictures of their group and had touched iron. More than that, it wasnt a simple idental brush with the metal. He had purposely grabbed it over and over, even utilizing magic to allow him to effectively work with it.


    Finally, when they had nearly reached the end of their trip, and the day was drawing to a close, the mageling couldnt take it anymore. Master, how could you do something against our ideals? the young man asked. You willfully touched iron, endangering your mental foundations.


    The master turned to his mageling and gave a sad smile, My boy, I touched the iron for but a moment; you have been carrying it all day.


    Silence fell in the room as both women enjoyed their tea.


    Mistress Holly seemed content to wait for T to fully process.


    Finally, T nodded. So, it isnt about what happened, it is about your mindset?


    The Inscriptionist sighed, setting her teacup aside. Yes and no. Let me try a more real example: Your Refining was traumatic.


    T felt her eye twitch at the change in topic. Yes, it was.


    And I led you into it.


    She grit her teeth but responded again, Yes, you did.


    You could hate me for that. You could leave and refuse to ever see me again. There is no question that your view of me <em>has </em>changed, but you are still here, listening to me and willing for me to still help you. Either response makes perfect sense given what you have gone through.


    T didnt have a response.


    So, let me ask you this: If you chose to hate me and avoid me, who would be harmed? Would your hatredyour avoidance of mecause me anysting harm?


    After a moments thought, T had to concede, No, it wouldnt.


    But would it harm you?


    Probably


    That is what I mean. Few things are so clear cut, even the situation surrounding your Refining, but it is a good analogy.


    Im still not sure I quite understand.


    Mistress Holly smiled again, more softly this time. Thats understandable and more than fine. If you truly understood, youd already be a Paragon. You are young, yet. Give it time. Master Grediv is a wonderful resource, too. He will likely have a slightly different perspective and might convey it in a way you would understand better.


    T grunted. Then, she gave Mistress Holly a side-eyed look. So, your master told you that tale?


    Yes.


    When you were in my position, Refined and looking towards the advancement to Paragon?


    Yes.


    And yet you are Refined? As basic and pure a yellow as Ive ever seen?


    Mistress Holly smiled mischievously. Am I? I dont generally think on such things.


    T opened her mouth toment further, but Mistress Holly stood up.


    Now, we should really get to the tests, Mistress T. I have much else that I need to do this week.

 Chapter 296: Assessment and Consideration

    Chapter 296: Assessment and Consideration


    T stood, and Mistress Holly gestured. There was a ripple of dimensional magic, and the chairs and table that they had been sitting at vanished.


    It was time for the more extensive testing.


    T nced to Terry who was still curled up in the corner. Do you want to wait this out in my sanctum, or out here? Im not sure Ill be able to let you in during the middle of the tests.


    Terry lifted his head, regarding her. Finally, he huffed out a reluctant squawk. A momentter, hed flickered up to her shoulder to headbutt her cheek.


    Alright then. Thanks foring out.


    He trilled and looked down towards Kit.


    Well find something to hunt out in the wilds, soon enough. Im getting a bit stir crazy, too.


    She opened Kit, and Terry flickered inside. Through the opening, T could see one of the grassy hills from the perimeter of her sanctum.


    Alright. Lets do this.


    The series of tests were no faster this time around, and T entered an almost meditative state, not even reallying out of it to follow Mistress Hollys asionalmands.


    She used the time to work on her mental flexibility, reading a book that t was able to project for her in the air, and turning the pages with a thought.


    What made this special was that T, not t, positioned the book and turned the pages. She didnt create the image herself, nor the look of the page turning, but she did cause the page to turn.


    -<em>I know it seems like a small thing, but it really is a big step.-</em>


    <em>I know, I know</em> Still, she was more focused on the content of the book than the mental tasks rted to the book figment.


    As before, Mistress Holly worked through the day and well into the night, facilitating the various assessments, scans, and measurements.


    Finally, the long set of processes wasplete, and Mistress Holly sent T home.


    The Inscriptionist seemed content with the results. Nothing stood out as being wrong or broken. Well want time to assess andpare in more detail, however. That, along with the next set of tests when youre back to one hundred percent, should give us all the information that we need to offer a clean bill of health.


    Thank you. Am I still limited in what I can do?


    I think so, but not for much longer. You can add back in physical exercise, if you havent already. Id avoid covering yourself in ironor anything that could potentially lead to the need to healuntil your Refining has fully set. From these initial readings I think one month should be plenty for that, so just more than another three weeks.


    T fought off a grimace and simply sighed and nodded. Will do.


    She left without another word to Mistress Holly, and the Inscriptionist seemed to already be engrossed in something else.


    T did say goodbye to the new receptionist on her way out. She was new in the sense that T had never seen her before, not in the sense that it was the <em>same</em> new receptionist from the day before.


    <em>Mistress Holly really does go through these Mages quickly</em> She hoped that the young man from before got his chance, whether here or elsewhere.


    But she put that from her mind as she stepped out into yet more new-fallen snow. The fresh air and cloudy sky allowed Mistress Hollys words to finally sink in, so that T felt a huge weight lift from her.


    <em>We did it. We are Refined!</em>


    She kept herself from jumping for joy in the somewhat crowded street, so as to not disturb the morning traffic, but only barely.


    Her body was her own once again. It was healing, but it was <em>right</em>. She was no longer at odds with her own flesh and blood.


    <em>Breakfast. I need breakfast.</em>


    Shed eaten through the previous day and even through the night while Mistress Holly ran her tests, as she was still trying to bring her reserves back up to eptable levels. Even so, she wasnt there yet.


    She still had a long way to go, and she was <em>hungry.</em>


    <em>See if Ranes avable. I want to go to that omelet ce on the east side of the southern market. They have good, big tables, too.</em>


    -<em>Sent. Do you want to head that way? It might take him a bit to notice the-</em> t paused for only a moment before continuing. -<em>Or, he could respond almost immediately. Hell meet you there.-</em>


    <em>Thank you, t!</em>


    T had a huge smile, resting gently across her features.


    She no longer had a short fuse on her lifespan.


    As she thought about it, she almost giggled. <em>I no longer have </em>any<em> limit on my lifespan.</em>


    <em>-So long as you survive. I feel like you havent thought this all the way through yet.-</em>


    T waved thatment off. <em>Of course, but thats true for everyone. Old age will never affect me, and if I am not killed, I will exist forever.</em>


    She blinked a few times even as she continued to walk.


    Her smile slowly faded.


    <em>Im going to exist forever or die in blood and pain.</em>


    <em>-And there it is.- </em>t sighed. -<em>All that youve done is remove the possibility of a slow degradation into a chaotic, biological death.-</em>


    <em>And a death with dignity, at a ripe old age, surrounded by my family: children, grandchildren, and more.</em>


    <em>-Do you want children?-</em> t obviously knew the answer, and she was likely just asking to help T process through her current turmoil.


    <em>Yes? It would be silly to </em>never<em> have children. But do I want to keep having them forever?</em>


    <em>-Are those the only two options?-</em>


    <em>No, of course not.</em>


    -<em>You do want children, I know that you do.-</em>


    <em>Of course, I do. Didnt I just say that?</em>


    <em>-Not really.-</em>


    <em>Well I do. </em>T sighed, still walking towards her breakfast with Rane.


    -<em>You should talk through this with Lyn.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, not Rane.</em> That would be unkind. Her stance hadnt changed, even if she could see the general state of it changing in theing decades. She couldnt imagine still wanting to be single through the long centuries. Even so, now was not the time. <em>Not yet. I dont want that sort of attachment yet.</em>


    She let her mind wander through the whirls and corners of the potential of a family in the distant future.


    It took her less than an hour to get to the restaurant, even walking rtively slowly as she snacked along the way.


    Rane seemed to have arrived a bit ahead of her, as he had a table for them off to one side.


    She felt a smile pull at the corners of her mouth as she saw him just finishing the set-up of a game of tafl.


    He nced up and saw her, waving her over.


    She sat across from him, and he smiled. I ordered you a spinach, sausage, chefs special. I thought it would be a good start, and you can get whatever else you want after.


    She opened her mouth to grumpily protest, but then she realized that that actually sounded pretty good. She shook her head and sighed. Thank you, Rane. That sounds great.


    He shrugged. Defend or assault?


    You know what? I feel like attacking right now.


    He seemed to hesitate, tensing up for a moment before he simply shook his head and smiled, gesturing at the board. Well then, after you.


    They stayed at the restaurant until just before noon. T ordered enough food, often enough, that the servers didnt seem to mind the two of them dominating a table for hours on end.


    When lunch was approaching, Rane needed to go do his daily training, and T wanted to go home to sleep for a bit.


    That evening, she had her meeting with Master Simon and his family, after all. It was never good to approach such things while short on sleep.


    * * *


    Tughed so hard that she almost choked. <em>OH RUST!</em>


    She covered her mouth to keep from spitting out her food.


    Master Simon put his head in his hands with a groan, while his wife, Mistress Petra, hid a smile behind her hand.


    The older two kids had looks of horror as they stared at the youngest, Metti.


    The six of them sat around a table in Master Simon and Mistress Petras home, with the dinner spread out before them.


    Finally, T was able get herself under control enough to respond. No, little Metti. I am not trying to marry your father.


    The little girl had a frown of confusion. But mama and papa said that we might all move into your house. Why would we live with you if you arent our mama?


    T smiled again and nodded. That is a very reasonable question. I need some help around my ce, and your parents were rmended for the position.


    Metti opened her mouth, confusion still evident across her features, but her brother, Segis, covered her mouth with his hand from his chair beside her. She means well.


    T waved away the concern. Shes fine. How old are you, Metti?


    The little girl red at her brother as he pulled his hand back. Then, she sat up straighter, clearly quite proud of herself. Im five.


    Well, you are quite well spoken for a five-year-old.


    I am, arent I? Metti wiggled happily as she turned back to her food.


    Master Simon groaned quietly again.


    T just smiled, turning to regard Mistress Petra. I have a brother a little older than her, and a sister a little younger.


    She felt a twinge of sadness and resolidified her resolve to go see her family. It had been nearly a year since shed seen her siblings, and she hadnt really let herself consider all that shed missed in that time.


    <em>Im going to see them as soon as Im stabilized enough for the trip. t? Can you help mepose a message to them, letting them know when Ill be able toe?</em>


    <em>-Absolutely. They have been eagerly awaiting your visit, by the correspondence back and forth-</em>


    <em>Exactly, and now, we have a solid timeline to convey.</em>


    <em>-Consider it done.-</em>


    Mistress Petra smiled in response. Im sure they are lovely. Do you get to see them, often?


    T barely kept herself from grimacing, but something must have shown, because the older womans eyes softened.


    It can be a great source of joy, reconnecting with family after a time apart.


    T was able to smile at that. That is quite true.


    The remainder of the dinner was actually quite enjoyable, and they even provided T with a reasonably sufficient quantity of food, much to the childrens increasing awe.


    After bellies were full, dessert was eaten, and conversation had wound down to a certain extent, Mistress Petra took the kids off to get ready for bed, and Master Simon led T to a sitting room.


    Do you need to help put the kids down? We can talkter.


    Oh, thats kind of you to offer. He smiled. I usually help when I can, but theyre a well-oiled machine these days. Petra is quite capable of watching over the little ones, and they do the rest themselves. In truth, theyll be up reading or working on personal study until it getster.


    Even little Metti?


    Well, she wont be studying. Ive installed sound istion scripts, otherwise youd hear her practicing her singing. The man had an expression that was an almost perfect mix of joyful contentment and resignation. She is improving.


    T chuckled. Such are children.


    Master Simon settled into his chair with a contented sigh as T sat across from him. Indeed.


    There was a small pause, and she decided to turn to the matter at hand. So, what do you think about all this?


    Im honestly interested. Ive done quite a bit of personal research into dimensional storage items, and Id love the opportunity to study yours long-term and up close. I love cooking and baking, but I dont sell my end results, so theres only so much I can justify producing, while Im a practicing Mage.


    <em>Ahh, the blessings of form-maintaining inscriptions.</em> So, youre interested. What would you need for that interest to be enough?


    He nodded. Honestly, it would mostly depend on what you would expect of us.


    That began the discussion in earnest. T had discussed what sort of duties she should arrange for an assistant family to take care of with both Lyn and Rane.


    In the end, they came up with a potential list of duties for both Master Simon and Mistress Petra.


    Mistress Petra hade back by that point, taking a seat next to her husband in a chair that she was clearly used to. She had added her thoughts as they discussed duties and the like, but mostly she listened as they finalized the various aspects of the potential arrangement.


    T had been concerned that one cook would tire of cooking the massive amounts of food that she often needed, so it was a decided boon that they both loved to cook and bake.


    As it turned out, they both also liked to garden, and Mistress Petra had grown up in a farming family, specifically one that raised livestock of various varieties. She said that shed always regretted not letting her older children experience what it was to raise up animals for sustenance.


    For payment, T had to provide Archive ess and tablets for the whole family, so that the kids could continue their education. Additionally, she had to cover the cost of a visit to Bandfast once every six months for the whole family. The visit would be at least one week in length and at most three.


    If that required travel time, they would be given that time off as well.


    Certain special events could allow that trip toe earlier than otherwise, in essence using up the uing sojourn in the case where it was necessary to do so.


    Then, obviously, she was providing them with food and board. Unfortunately, with basically everything in her sanctum imbued with magic for her consumption, that meant that theyd have to nt other things for the family, and shed have to supplement those harvests.


    Though, she wouldnt <em>dream</em> of taking any of Terrys pigs.


    She gave an unconscious shudder at the very idea.


    Finally, there was the actual sry.


    As it turned out, Master Simon was happy with most of hispensationing in the form of ess to the inside of Kit and the impressed magics that made the arcane-added systems work.


    His wife, while a Mage, used her magic as anciry to her work as a wife and mother. Thus, it was also perfectly suited for Ts needs. The two of them <em>loved</em> to cookthey emphasized that quite oftenso the main thing that T needed was easily covered.


    Between the two Mages and what they offered her, T agreed to two gold and forty silver per month.


    <em>I reallymanded an </em>insane<em> sry as a Dimensional Mage.</em>


    <em>-Well, danger pay factors in, and food and housing. Plus, dont forget that youre also paying for transportation for them back here twice a year. For five people? Thats no small amount. Even if we get the teleportation inscriptions up and running, that will be a minimum of three gold each way, give or take.-</em>


    <em>Thats true enough. And if we use that method, well have to pay for reinscribing for the two adults.</em>


    -<em>Though, thats a worst case scenario. Well be in this city pretty often, and the trips could easily line up.-</em>


    <em>Thats true, too. </em>T sighed but nodded once again. Tentatively agreed. We should meet up in my sanctum next week, so I can show you around, and we can make the final decision as to if this will be a good fit.


    That sounds excellent.


    Now that theyd discussed duty and pay, Mistress Petra cleared her throat. Mistress T, if I may, what sort of living quarters do you have for us?


    T opened her mouth, then closed it. Well. I have the room where myst adjunct stayed. She frowned, trying to recall if shed actually ever been into Throns room, situated on the other side of her library. We will have to look at it, together, and we canmission some work to erge or modify it if you would like. There is no precipitation within, so even if the children wish to sleep beneath the stars, there wouldnt be an issue. The temperature is moderate to promote the continued growth of the crops as well, so thats not an issue either.


    The two looked at each other and shrugged. Master Simon was the one to respond. Its definitely worth having a look.


    T considered the idyllic setting of her sanctum from the perspective of young children and felt the need to add a few things. Just so you know, it is a full ecosystem in there. Though there are no untamed apex predators, there are deer and other wild animals which can be aggressive if provoked. There is also open, flowing water in quite a few ces.


    Master Simons eyes widened with obvious glee, while his wifes narrowed as she frowned with concern.


    He spoke first. Just howrge is your sanctum, Mistress?


    But she spoke at nearly the same time, Why, under the stars, do you have such things in a dimensional space?


    T cleared her throat. Well, Master Simon, the space is nearly three miles across. The footprint is roughly a circle, and its three-dimensional profile is that of a ellipsoid, at most a third as tall as it is across.


    Master Simon looked positively giddy, and he nodded to acknowledge her response.


    T then turned to his wife, folding her hands in herp and smiling reassuringly. Mistress Petra, those things are in there to help make the space a fully functional, self-sustaining ecosystem, as I stated. Without a full breadth of life, it is harder to maintain in perpetuity. And I do mean in perpetuity. This system is meant tost for centuries, if not longer.


    T opened her mouth to continue but realized that she hadnt actually told Mistress Petra that her space was expanded and outfitted by arcanes.


    Now was <em>probably</em> not the time for such. Especially because Master Simon had likely already told his wife.


    <em>Still, I dont want to rock the boat if he hasnt told her, yet.</em>


    Instead, she decided to be a bit vague. Those who outfitted it knew what they were doing, and they aim for extreme longevity of that which they create.


    Mistress Petra grunted but seemed somewhat mollified. Master Simon looked positively enraptured.


    There wasnt really much further to discuss, so T stood, causing the other two to rise as well. Thank you for your hospitality, the wonderful meal, and for taking the time to discuss this with me.


    Of course! Master Simon gave a bow. Thank you for considering us to assist you.


    Mistress Petra bowed as well. We look forward to seeing your sanctum next week.


    T gave a shallow bow in return. I look forward to it as well. Good night.

 Chapter 297: Considering

    Chapter 297: Considering


    T stepped out of Master Simon and Mistress Petras modest house. It stood near the center of an affluent, residential block.


    It seemed to be a great home in which to raise children.


    She was rather pleased with how the evening had gone, if she were being honest.


    They were a sweet family, and while T would prefer no one, she needed help.


    The next best would be one, or at most two people, but it would be difficult to truly find people who would be so unattached.


    She nced back towards the house as she stepped from their very small front yard out onto the street.


    It was a bit bigger than her own family home, but not very much. It was also set back a bit, hence the small area of front vegetation


    <em>To be fair, they dont have an alchemy shop in it either.</em> It was purely a residence, rather than being a mixed-use building.


    <em>-Just one more benefit of Magehood.-</em>


    <em>Decidedly.</em>


    It was yet another beautiful winter evening, and T decided to focus outward and enjoy the walk back to Lyns house.


    <em>Rest and recover</em>. Sadly, her conviction didntst for more than ten seconds.


    -<em>And get an improved sheath for Flow. You asked me to remind you about that.-</em>


    <em>Right, that tooshould we merge it with the weapon?</em>


    t was about to respond, but T continued.


    <em>No, no thats silly. We need to avoid permanent solutions to a temporary problem.</em>


    <em>-Exactly.-</em>


    She realized she was focusing inward again and intentionally closed down her rampant thoughts so that she could enjoy the ambiance around her.


    There were still a good number of people bustling about, but they were all moving rtively quickly. In all likelihood, their speed was aimed to get them home and out of the cold, or to facilitate the rapidpletion of whatever their current errand was, in order to head home as soon as possible afterwards.


    <em>There are probably some people going to pubs, taverns, or restaurants to meet up with friends, too.</em>


    Snow had begun to fall once again, and T looked up towards the sky, closing her eyes and letting the kes fall on her face.


    She used her mirrored perspectives through her bloodstars to show her which way to go so that she didnt trip or run into anyone.


    It sparked a bit of childish joy within her, and she was soon unconsciously grinning up into the dark, cloudy sky.


    Even taking her time, T still arrived at Lyns home in less than an hour.


    She wasnt quite ready to go inside. So, she sat off to one side on a little bench that she never really considered. It was tucked behind some bushes from the perspective of the street, parallel to the front walk but set a few feet away in the shadows of the surroundings.


    The result was that T was hidden from the road, looking toward the short path to the house, simply able to gaze at a small patch of garden that she almost never considered, day to day.


    There she stayed, content.


    She didnt really get cold or sore.


    She wasnt bored, though she didnt allow her mind to wander.


    T simply sat, reveling in the stillness and peace of the moment at hand.


    It was close to midnight when the front door opened, and Lyn walked out, seemingly heading out to the street.


    When she was right in front of T, she squeaked and jumped back,nding facing T. T? What are you doing out here?


    T shook herself out of her revery. Hmm? Oh. I was just enjoying the evening.


    Youre covered in snow.


    She looked down at herself and saw that she was, indeed, dusted with newly fallen kes. This is hardly covered.


    Either way, youve clearly been out here for a while.


    T shrugged. It was peaceful, and I could use a bit more peace.


    Lyn seemed to hesitate, considering. Do you want to stay out here?


    Thats not necessary. Where are you off to at this hour?


    I was going to see if I could see youing, and if not, I was going to send you a message.


    Ahh. Well, Im here.


    I can see that. A smile pulled at her lips. Do you want toe inside?


    T shrugged again and pushed off her knees to rise to her feet. Sure. Lets go.


    The two women entered thefortable, warm house.


    As the door closed behind them, T locked it. Did you really stay up, waiting for me?


    Lyn paused, then finished tucking her sandals into a small cubby off to one side. No. I woke up and noticed that your sanctum door wasnt in ce in the hallway.


    Im sorry, Lyn. I didnt mean to make you worry.


    The older woman shrugged. You dont make me. I choose to because I care about you.


    T smiled at that. Thank you.


    Lyn narrowed her eyes. Dont go disappearing on me, again. Ive even bought a personal Archive device; Ill have you know. There is no reason you cant keep me in the loop of your goings on.


    T huffed augh. You really are trying to be my mom, arent you?


    Lyn turned and walked deeper into the house. Well, someone has to look after you. You dont have to go it alone, T, and you cant be careless with yourself.


    I know, I know. Im not really in a ce for a talking to, though.


    Oh? She settled into one of the chairs. What are you in a ce for?


    T thought for a moment before grunting and just asking, What is the point of having children? I mean I know the utility of children in general, but why would anyone want to choose to have them, specifically? She groaned. Im not wording this well. I want children, eventually, but on some level even that doesnt make sense? She rubbed her hands across her eyes. Maybe, why would someone put having children before working for the betterment of society? Having children means you have to focus inward, on your own family, more than outward, at least for a time Im not saying this well. Do you know what Im asking?


    Lyn chuckled. I think I do, yeah, and I assume you arent asking about the motivation of those who feel genuine pleasure in the rearing of the next generation.


    Yes, aside from them, yeah. T knew of such people, but she believed that she wasnt one.


    Lyn quirked a smile. Well, Ill try not to think too deeply on why this ising to mind.


    Thank you.


    Ill tell you what my mom told me. There was a light of pride in the womans expression.


    T sat down in another chair, leaning forward to listen with interest.


    Imagine that I am absolutely amazing and could contribute greatly to society with my time and energy. That is one hundred percent of what I am capable of.


    Alright.


    Now, imagine I have three children, and that I am a terrible mother. After years of raising them, they each are only capable of contributing to society at fifty percent of my capacity.


    T chuckled. Alright.


    Then, if I did nothing for the rest of my life, I would have contributed to society, indirectly, one hundred and fifty percent of my original capacity.


    She blinked at that, leaning back in thought.


    But Lyn wasnt done, While I am raising the children, I am still doing other things for society as well. Additionally, as a Mage, once the children are out in the world, I can then get back to my full capacity without really having lost that much in the grand scheme of things. Even for mundanes, though, the incentives are heavily in favor of having children, if you think about it.


    Wouldnt that apply to men too?


    Of course? Lyn frowned, clearly confused. Why wouldnt it?


    T grunted. <em>I suppose that makes sense</em> But couldnt that be used to justify having as many children as you could possibly squeeze out?


    Lyn practically snorted. Lovely image, that. But I suppose? For me, theres the fact of diminishing returns. I also dont feel particrly called to motherhood, though I know that I do want children one day. Even so, I cant imagine hundreds of years of rearing one child after another, no matter how much it would arguably benefit society.


    I can see that.


    This isnt a mandate, nor an argument to convince you to do something you arent willing to do otherwise. It is simply another way to think about something that we often take for granted. She shrugged.


    Yeah That brought something to mind. Lyn?


    Hmmm?


    Where does your family live? I cant say Ive ever really heard you talk about them, at least not much.


    Lyn briefly stiffened, but it passed quickly. They arent around anymore.


    A schism? Argument? Something like that? It sounds like you hold your mom in high regard.


    Her voice was soft as she responded, No. Though, Id give anything for it to be something so fixable.


    T hesitated, reconsidering the line of discussion. It was clearly something heavier than shed really anticipated.


    Lyn continued before T could change the subject, I was one of the youngest, the pride of the family, the first potential Mage in a few generations. As a potential Mage, I was off at the Academy when our city began to wane.


    There was a long silence, and T allowed it to rest.


    They decided to leave Audelthe previous one, not the current one, obviously. My parents, my siblings, inws, nieces, nephews, everyone. To them, the dangers of a waning city just werent worth it. They paid extra to all be in a single caravan. Their reasoning was that they would all feel awful if one of the other caravans was lost, taking some of their family from them. This way, their fates were bound, and they only needed to make one roll of the dice. Unfortunately, they were unlucky. Lyn shrugged slightly, water shimmering in her eyes even though it was clearly an old, well-known sadness. No trace of their caravan was found, nothing but churned earth and the scars of an intense battle.


    Lyn I I dont have words. Im sorry that I didnt know, that I didnt ask about them sooner.


    Lyn shrugged again, waving Ts words away even as a few individual tears traced paths down her cheeks. I still remember their faces, even though that should be difficult. I can hear their voices in my mind. Its not like they talk to me, but I can imagine them so clearly.


    T stood, shifted a chair next to Lyn and sat again, taking her hand in her own.


    The two women sat in silence for long minutes as Lyn seemed to lose herself in memory.


    Finally, the older Archon shook herself free of the reminiscence. But, its been more than twenty years. The pain is mostly gone by this point.


    T huffed, reaching out with her free hand and wiping away one of the newer tears from her friends face. Thats obviously not true.


    Oh, I still miss them, T, but its not a raw wound. If I live a millennium, Ill still miss them. Lyn gave a sad smile. But they loved me, and they knew I loved them. We had no silly arguments waiting to be resolved. We were at peace, just like they are now.


    T squeezed her friends hand. Im so d. That is worth the world.


    Lyn nodded before huffing augh and pulling out a handkerchief to clean her cheeks and blow her nose. It really is.


    T looked back at Lyn for a long moment before sighing. I know. Im heading to see my family as soon as my Refining settles.


    Good. Lyn reached out and squeezed Ts shoulder. Love those you have, while you have them.


    They sat in silence a while longer.


    Eventually, Lyn nodded and let out a long breath. Well, thats enough introspection for one night. She smiled as she stood. Are you feeling better? Whatever that was, it seemed to hit you pretty hard.


    T stood as well but nced away. Yeah, it did.


    It didnt hurt your magic, did it? Shouldnt your inscriptions be keeping you in functional shape, even if they couldnt directly expel whatever that was?


    No, not hurt, but my magic is still settling.


    "After that thing with the door" Lyn frowned in concern. I know youre in a bad way, and need to Refine, but I didnt know it was that bad.


    T blinked at her a few times, then colored. I I am Refined.


    Lyns eyes widened, and there was only a moments pause before power flowed through the womans magesight inscriptions. Oh! Her eyes widened further. Thats amazing, T!


    T found herself grinning as Lyn gave her a huge hug. <em>I suppose its a mixed blessing, having the through-spike make my magic obvious. I know I can suppress it, but I almost never think about it.</em>


    <em>-It doesnt harm you within human cities. You could start taking it off when youre in the wilds, though.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, thats an interesting thought.</em>


    I had no idea. Lyn lightly smacked Ts shoulder. Why didnt you tell me? Is that why you went to see Mistress Holly? Was it that easy? I wont say quick, because you were there for nearly a day.


    Hold on, one question at a time. T felt a bit of Lyns excitement infecting her.


    Is that what you did with Mistress Holly?


    T opened her mouth, then paused. <em>Will Lyn choose to Refine if she knows how painful it is?</em>


    Was T willing to let her friend miss out on immortality because of fear of pain?


    She was undoubtedly angry with Mistress Holly for hiding the extent of the pain, but in truth, when looking back, Mistress Holly had been explicit in what would happen. T had not asked about specifics of fallout or pain levels.


    Could Mistress Holly have warned her? Yes.


    Would it have helped?


    T had to think about that.


    <em>No. For me, it would have made the pain so much worse. Really, for anyone it would have made it worse.</em> If T had been told it would hurt, the very fact that she had in her mind that the working would be painful would have emphasized the painful nature of the spellform in her own mental framework, activating the spell.


    <em>And more pain would probably have killed me</em>.


    The pain she had experienced was simply a side effect of the working, not a part of her mental model of the process at all.


    <em>And once the working started, my change of mindset was irrelevant. All that mattered was that I did expect it to be overly painful when I began.</em>


    Even with the knowledge that she was was frustrated at Mistress Holly for hiding things, T could do differently. She internally shuddered. <em>There is no way Im going to tell her something that would increase her pain. Not one bit.</em>


    Lyn was patiently waiting an answer, and T realized that she had only been standing there with her mouth open for a couple of seconds or so. Sorry, sorry. Yes, Mistress Holly helped me Refine. It was difficult for me, because of my particr circumstances. T smiled reassuringly. From my understanding, your own Refining should be much easier, plus you can take your time, doing it over the course of multiple sessions rather than doing it all at once like I was forced to do.


    Lyn cocked her head to the side. Hmm I can see that. She shrugged then. But Im barely Fused. It isnt a concern for the moment.


    T grimaced. I still cant believe all you had to do was read a book.


    Lyn chuckled. That is a gross oversimplification, but yes, I did have an easier time Fusing than many. Regardless, Ill likely start getting the pre-Refining inscriptions in a year or two. Im in no rush.


    I suppose I can understand that. Your job isnt <em>that</em> dangerous.


    I do want to go see Alefast, waning, though. That trip can be dangerous. She gave T a mischievous look. Youll protect me on that trip, wont you, oh brave Mage Protector?


    Tughed, cing a hand over her heart. s, I am retired. Though, for one such as you, I could be convinced to take up the sword once more.


    I wouldnt dream of dragging you out of retirement. Lyn shook her head with mock severity. I suppose I will simply have to throw myself at the mercy of the burn wolves.


    T huffed. Fine, fine. Ill take you with me when I go to Alefast, and it wont be too hard to take a short trip to bring you back after your visit.


    Oh? Lyn perked up. You were already nning on going?


    Yeah. T shrugged. I need time to consolidate everything thats changed, and I want to see a Waning. I learned about them at the Academy, but I want to see one for myself. Toward that end, I think Ill use Alefast, waning, as a base of operations for a while.


    A different type of mischievous light entered the older womans eyes. I hope you wont be alone until the city finally fades. That would be what? Twenty-one years without a <em>good friend</em> nearby?


    T shrugged. I made a couple of friends there, and Rane will likely be in the area.


    And what brought your mind to the thought of having children, again?


    She gave Lyn a withering look. I dont need any of your sass.


    Lynughed. Fine. Come on, we both need sleep. She nced Ts away, then gave a mock, deep bow. Refined T, please allow this lowly Fused to depart from your presence.


    T sighed, shaking her head. Youre in rare form, arent you?


    Lyn gave a wan smile. Well, its better than focusing on the negative.


    That sobered T a bit. Yeah, I can understand that. After a brief pause, T continued, Are you going to be alright?


    Yes. Ive cried myself to sleep over their passing enough. Tonight wont add to that count.


    Lyn


    Im alright, T. We all lose people, now orter. Its the way of the world.


    That doesnt make it better.


    But it does make it necessary to bear through, to look past, and to move on from.


    After a moments thought, T found herself nodding. I suppose youre right. So, youre really going to be okay?


    Yes. Lyn rolled her eyes and smiled. Sleep. You have a Refining to recover from, and knowing you, more besides added on top.


    T huffed augh. Youre certainly not wrong. Alright. Ill leave you be.


    The older woman smiled gratefully, Goodnight, T.


    Goodnight, Lyn. T watched her friend walk down the hall and close her bedroom door.


    <em>We are surrounded by the wounds and scars of this world, arent we?</em>


    <em>-Its easy to forget at times, isnt it?</em>


    <em>Far, far too easy.</em>

 Chapter 298: Anti-Magical

    Chapter 298: Anti-Magical


    Even though T didnt need much sleep in general, she slept long and hard that night.


    The talk with Lyn had been relieving, but also particrly emotionally draining at the same time.


    She finally awoke when the sun was well over the horizon of her sanctum, showing that it was midmorning, practically halfway to noon.


    She didnt fade into wakefulness, insteading fully to consciousness in an instant.


    T found herself staring up at her ceiling, the light falling gently on the side of her face as she enjoyed the warmth of her artificial sun.


    Her first thought was an odd one, as she <em>really</em> should have had it before. <em>Why did an arcane carve that pattern into my ceiling?</em>


    <em>-Good morning, T. I see youre feeling contemtive, this morning.-</em>


    <em>Morning, t.</em><em>Do we have anything pressing today?</em>


    <em>-Just eating, probably some exercise. Also, contemting ceilings, it seems.-</em>


    <em>Those tasks sound quite doable. As to the carving, I guess I never really thought about it.</em> T sat up, stretching as she sat on the edge of her bed before she stood.


    -<em>We could pursue Flows new sheath today, too. Unless you n a thoroughly exhaustive investigation.-</em>


    T decided to ignore ts poking. <em>Ahh, right. The sheath would be a good center point to our tasks, today.</em>


    She moved through her stretching routine before doing a basic exercise set.


    T felt like her morning was iplete, because she couldnt really do her magical or soul exercises.


    <em>Soon.</em> It had obviously been weeks since she could really do those exercises, but it still felt <em>wrong</em> to leave them undone.


    With her somewhat unsatisfying morning routinesplete, she left her bedroom by way of the exit door. <em>You know, I wonder how much control I can give to someone like Master Simon?</em>


    There had been tokens of ess that the arcanes had given to her when they finished the outfitting of the space, but Thron had let her know that it hadnt actually seemed to change what he could do.


    He hadnt been able to summon the door to himself or enact changes within the space.


    <em>He was never attacked, even when he entered through the weing bunker, though.</em>


    -<em>That does seem to be their primary function, yeah.-</em>


    So, the tokens allowed safe passage through the defensive bunker in which the door to the outside usually waited. That was something.


    Blessedly, T had to key each to a specific person, so even in a standard sanctum they wouldnt be too much of a weak point, since they couldnt be stolen and used by others.


    Kit, though Kit would likely just eat anyone that wasnt supposed to be there.


    <em>Ill have to have a talk with Kit about that</em> To be fair, none of the animals had gone missing, at least none that she could tell.


    There was a total of ten tokens, and T remembered there being a temte for the creation of more. Those she had, she could reset, but Thron hadnt actually given his back. <em>Huh I did not think of that at all.</em>


    <em>-Well, Im d we didnt give him a weapon of tremendous power or anything.-</em>


    T directed an internal re at t. <em>You know, Mistress Ingrit hasntmented on the concept weapon at all.</em>


    <em>-Oh, thats because I didnt include it in the memories I sent to her I thought thats what we agreed?-</em>


    She blinked a few times. <em>Oh huh. Did we?</em> She frowned. <em>Why didnt she notice the discrepancies?</em>


    <em>-Because there werent any? All I did was remove the weapon being identified as a concept weapon, shifting the memory slightly to make it seamless. It was actually very much like what I did for Tali, though I had toplete the alterations to a much higher standard.-</em>


    <em>And there were other things you didnt include or modified, like my dreams and other things of a purely personal nature.</em>


    <em>-Precisely.-</em>


    <em>Well, in either case, thats probably for the best that we didnt mention that weapon. Humans cant even use it, after all.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, we dont want our bad decisions scrutinized, nor do we want to cause kill-squads to be sent after someone we parted with on at least reasonable terms.-</em>


    T grimaced. <em>Youre just a bundle of fun this morning, arent you?</em>


    t simply sent the impression of a beaming smile.


    <em>I need breakfast before I deal with this kind of thing</em>


    She had stepped out into Lyns hallway within the obviously empty house.


    Lyn and Kannis would be at work, and Rane knew better than to drop by without at least announcing himself via Archive message.


    <em>-Oh! About that-</em>


    T! There you are.


    GAH! T jumped backwards in surprise, jerked out of her inward-focused thoughts.


    Rane had been sitting in one of the reading chairs, a book propped open on hisp. He stood and tucked the book away with a practiced motion. Good morning.


    T felt her eye twitch as she struggled to pull her mind back together.


    <em>-Ranemunicated via the Archive nearly two hours ago, saying that hed brought breakfast over, whenever you are ready to eat. Hell go train just before lunch, as usual.-</em>


    She took a deep breath and directed her fiercest internal re at t.


    The alternate interface simply returned the equivalent of a shrug. <em>-It wasnt important.-</em>


    <em>Until it was.</em>


    <em>-Until it was.-</em> t agreed.


    Rane had obviously noticed Ts surprise. I apologize, I didnt mean to startle you. I can leave the food on the table and let you have the rest of the morning to yourself?


    T sighed, then shook her head. Food? Yes. You leaving? Not now. But I would appreciate the opportunity to eat in peace, undisturbed.


    She still wasnt awake, and it was too soon after waking for social interaction.


    <em>At least until Ive had some food.</em>


    Of course. He grinned, going over to the dining table and pulling out a small pile of breakfast sandwiches. They werent <em>quite</em> as warm as they would have been had they been kept within Kit, but they still looked amazing.


    Thank you, Rane. That is incredibly kind. What do I owe you?


    He pulled an expression of long-suffering before shaking his head and told her. Three silvers,his eyes narrowedand that includes the delivery fee.


    T rolled her eyes but smiled in response. Fine.


    <em>-Transferred.-</em>


    Over thest weeks, Rane had been picking up food for her quite often, especially while she was recovering from Refining, and T did <em>not</em> like the idea of epting charity.


    Rane had refused repayment, not even telling her what the food had cost him. He had been staunch in his refusal until she began transferring a full gold for every meal.


    Even then, he only grudgingly told her, and shed started insisting on paying him for the time.


    Was it a bit petty?


    Yes, yes it was, but T didnt want to build up any other debts now that she was free and clear.


    <em>-Right, because paying a Fused some silver for a personal food run is a fair wage. Hes but amon servant, running to and fro at your beck and call. Absolutely. Yes, no social credit being rued, here.-</em>


    <em>Hush, you. Yes, its kind of him. Yes, its nice. That is all.</em>


    Rane sat back down, pulling his book out once more and continuing to read, giving her the silence that shed requested and had been expecting.


    <em>Now, food.</em>


    All told, the remainder of the morning passed quickly.


    After T finished her breakfast, she and Rane yed a quick game of tafl, but that was all the time they had before Rane left for his training.


    T had taken the defensive position, and Rane ended up maneuvering her king into a wonderfully executed trap, sealing his victory.


    <em>This time.</em> Good game.


    He smiled and gave a small nod of his head. To you as well. I was sure that you saw the positioning and were just waiting to spring a counter-trap. Even so, I cant say Im sorry to have been wrong.


    She chuckled. Not this time, Im afraid.


    They both preferred the hard-fought games, where it was anyones game until the veryst moments.


    This time it had appeared that T was running away with the victory, until the trap manifested.


    <em>I need to be more watchful, I suppose.</em>


    <em>-Are you sure you dont want me to help?-</em>


    <em>Absolutely not though it might be fun to y against you some time.</em>


    <em>-Sure. That would be nice.-</em>


    She saw Rane to the door, and when it clicked shut, she simply stood there for a long minute.


    <em>Well, I need lunch, and we need to go by the Constructionists for a new sheath.</em>


    <em>-Sheath first, so that they can get started, in case it takes a while?-</em>


    <em>Sure. That would probably be wise.</em>


    Half an hourter, she stepped through the magical field which kept the guildhall warm, noted the scan of her magics, and heard the familiar <em>ding</em> resounding from the back.


    Mistress. The attendant rushed out with smooth steps, stopping two paces away and bowing deeply. How can the Constructionists serve the Refined Archon?


    T frowned slightly, then realized that this was the first time shede in since her advancement.


    That was hardly surprising, given herck of need for new magical items, along with her physical state since, but she hadnt really considered that shed be treated any differently.


    <em>-And you provided a </em>lot<em> of insights into arcane artifact-craft to the Constructionists as a whole. If Mistress Ingrits tallies are urate, and they seem to be, then nearly every senior member of this guild, in every city, has acquired one or more of your memories. It isnt unreasonable that theyd have added special dispensations for you.-</em>


    <em>Well, theres one way to find out. </em>Do you know who I am? She made sure to make her tone confusedly curious, rather than cutting or arrogant.


    Not specifically, Mistress, but we are notified when friends of the guild enter. Many do not wish their names to be known widely, so we get a generic alert that such an Archon has entered the building. He bowed again. I meant no offense. Would you prefer I change the indicator?


    No offense given. I think it is fine as it is, I was just curious.


    He straightened, a relieved smile on his face. Certainly, Mistress. How can I assist?


    I wish to acquire a sparring sheath for my soul-bound weapon. This branch made one for me when the weapon was less powerful. It has seen some significant upgrades since then, and I am concerned that it will need something a bit moreprehensive when I get back to sparring in a few weeks.


    Absolutely. May I scan the weapon? He pulled out a stone that positively zed to Ts magesight.


    Certainly. She drew Flow and held it out on her palm.


    Magics from the stone passed through every part of the weapon as the attendant passed the stone over Flow, carefully keeping it from touching the knife.


    After a brief moment, the attendant frowned. Pardon the question, Mistress, but do you hold a part of the weapon within your body?


    She was almost irritated by the question, but she quickly realized that it could be critical. Yes, at this moment.


    Understood.he bowed again, a professional smile firmly in ce across his featuresWhile I do not need to scan you, the senior Constructionist who assists you will need to be aware of this addedplication.


    Certainly.


    He finished up the scan in short order and tucked the device away. With that done, I can find which Archon would be best for thismission. Is there a timeframe in which you need itpleted?


    I would prefer within the next few weeks. Sooner would be preferred but not required.


    There was obvious relief in the young mans eyes. That is certainly workable, Mistress. Have you acquired an Archive connection?


    I have.


    Then, we can reach out to you through the Archive when we have a Constructionist avable to meet with you and begin themission.


    <em>Right, they scanned me when I came in. They have my aura-signature, and that would make it trivially easy to grant me ess to a missive within the Archive.</em> That sounds wonderful. Thank you.


    Expect a message within the week. In the worst case, it will simply let you know that we are still searching. Even so, I do not expect that to be an issue.


    T smiled and gave a small bow. As you say. Thank you. Good day.


    Good day, Mistress. He bowed much more deeply in return, and they parted ways.


    * * *


    It only took two days before T received a missive from the Constructionists, stating that an expert could meet with her that afternoon.


    Thus, she returned to the guildhall, where she was greeted by the assistant on duty and led down a different set of side hallways than shed ever traversed before.


    They were constructed in the same manner and design, seemingly exactly like all the other hallways within theplex.


    The only distinguishing characteristics were signs at the cross corridors that used symbols T was unfamiliar with.


    Blessedly, it wasnt actually that long of a walk before she was ushered into a smaller workshop, and the attendant bowed her goodbye.


    Smaller, in this sense, meant roughly the size of Lyns entire house, rather than the merging rooms which were often two or three timesrger.


    The sole upant of the workshop waved over her shoulder and called out. One moment, please, I am just finishing up.


    Of course. T replied amiably and took the brief moment to look around and take in the well-organized but cluttered space.


    There were dozens of weapons in various stages of constructionand from the looks of it, deconstructionon worktables and racks, each giving off various auras of power.


    More interestingly, there seemed to be <em>heavily</em> magical tokens tied to each weapon, giving off slightly different auras to her magesight.


    Each was clearly hooked into the city grid for power, but the magic they emitted, while vored, was more akin to thating from various Mages, rather than power designed to create a specific effect.


    <em>Are those magical teabags?</em>


    <em>-Really? Thats the analogy you draw? They seem to be trantors, changing the pure city power into a mimicry of that of the mages who first empowered each weapon.-</em>


    <em>That</em> Well, she knew it was possible. That was what her through-spike did, in a sense. Shed just never considered this application of aura signature matching.


    Along with the weapons, there were countless sheaths and materials that were clearly in various stages of progress towards being made into finished sheaths.


    There were quite a few magical tools as well, seemingly for the working of the various materials from metal and stone to wood and cloth.


    In all honesty, there was more on each table than T could easily identify with any rapidity, and the Archon who owned this space had finished up what she was doing and turned around.


    Greetings, Mistress T I presume?


    Yes. T smiled, giving a slight bow. She couldnt see the womans aura at all.


    I am Mistress Airim.


    It is a pleasure to meet you, Mistress Airim.


    A pleasure, hmmm? Well, thats kind of you to say, even if such ttery is not unexpected. You doe to ask me to create something for you, after all. A happy twinkle sparkled in her eye. I can see that you are at the beginning of Refined. Congrattions on that progress, whether it was recent or long ago.


    T saw a flicker as the woman allowed her own aura to show through for a moment. <em>Late Bound Thats it? Really?</em>


    Was I correct in identifying your magesight inscriptions as always active?


    I yes. She found herself blinking in surprise. You can see past my through-spikes illusion?


    Yes, Refined, but only within this space. I am heavily connected to my workshop, and here, I can see the true nature of things. She smiled. The effect is magnified the further youe inside, which is why I am highlighting it now. If you dont want to reveal hidden truths to me, I suggest you stay just inside the doorway.


    Thats thank you for the honesty. Now that it was mentioned, T could see that there was a magic in the air, hiding in in sight due to its pervasiveness. More than that, the weaponry and sheaths towards the back of the space seemed, in general, moreplex, magically speaking.


    Of course. Mistress Airim waved thement away. It is only polite. Now, I understand you want a sparring sheath?


    Yes.


    May I see the weapon?


    T drew Flow and held it out, handle first.


    Mistress Airim took the few steps forward and took the handle with respectful gentleness. Bound to you, obviously.


    The Bounds eyes widened.


    You have advanced three stages while it was bound to you. She looked up. You bound this weapon while still a Mage?


    T simply nodded in mute astonishment at the womans ability to discern such.


    Fascinating. Mistress Airim turned and walked deeper into her spacious work area. A limited, morphic weapon. Three forms. Merged with arcanous harvests, Leshkin weaponry Her head snapped up, and she spun to face T once again. The void? Whats the matter with you?


    T opened her mouth to respond, but Mistress Airim was already paling.


    My apologies, my apologies. That was not appropriate. She looked back down at the weapon, turned away, and walked deeper. What is this?


    She seemed to have already forgotten her own outburst.


    Theres somehow a conceptual weight to the weapon. Was this passed down through your family? But the question was obviously not directed at T.


    I could just tell


    Mistress Airim held up a hand. No, no. It is better that I learn it from the weapon without the taint of your perception.


    T shrugged and leaned against the wall, listening and waiting. She kept her focus on her magesight, trying to determine if the ambient magics were shifting, but they didnt seem to be.


    No, this doesnt have conceptual weight, not really. So, what is it?


    Mistress Airim was pacing side to side by this point.


    No... Really? It imparts an enhanced conceptual alteration?


    The woman seemed utterly baffled if her tone was any indication.


    Ownership? Thats a weighty concept, indeed, but its tied to a single element iron? She looked up at T. You have an item that magically maniptes the conception of ownership over iron.


    Yes. T smiled, feeling rather proud of herself and what shed been able to bring about.


    Are you insane? The woman did not sound impressed. In fact, she sounded genuinely concerned.


    T blinked at that. I What?


    Iron. Its anti-magical.


    I am aware, yes.


    Mistress Airim shook her head. No, no, no. Do you know <em>why</em> its anti-magical?


    Why? T frowned. Shed never really considered that. No? I cant say that I do.


    Its fundamentally tied to the powers of reality.


    T felt her eyes go wide as <em>so</em> much clicked into ce.


    <em>Well, rust</em>


    <em>-Oh I see it now. No wonder Master Grediv was suspicious.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, no joke.</em>

 Chapter 299: I Do Try

    Chapter 299: I Do Try


    T and Mistress Airim stood in silence for a long minute before T cleared her throat. You know, I am not a reality Mage.


    The Constructionist frowned. Of course you arent, Mistress. Reality and void magic dont really mix. Well,sheughed self-deprecatingly"reality and <em>any</em> magic dont really mix.


    Then, what did you mean?


    I meant, why have you exposed yourself to the powers of reality?


    I didnt really have a choice. T didnt borate. Part of her wanted to, but anything short of a full retelling would create more questions than it answered, and she had no interest in imparting such, even if Mistress Airim was interested in hearing it.


    After a moments pause, Mistress Airim simply nodded, clearly understanding that T wasnt going to say any more. Very well. I can see that you arent <em>really</em> influenced by reality. She snorted a soft chuckle. I, of course, mean that in the best of ways. Lets finish the analysis.


    <em>-Hey, that was a good one. You should remember it forter.-</em>


    T simply sighed, not really interested inughing at the moment.


    The Bound nodded to herself, focused on Flow once more. Bound and bound and oveid and merged. She looked at T. Part of the weapon is within your body as well?


    All my iron.


    Oh. The woman hesitated, then her eyes widened. Oh! Oh oh, my. That sounds like Her eyes suddenly narrowed. I dont mean to pry, but did you somehow find the corpse of a dasgannach?


    I no? Are they even special after they die? <em>I have the gold one in Kit, somewhere</em>


    -<em>No, you left that behind.-</em>


    <em>Involuntarily</em>


    Mistress Airim was obviously unaware of Ts inner griping, so she simply answered. Ive never seen one myself, but I imagine it would retain some magic.


    I suppose but were off topic. Is the what that important?


    She made a nonmittal noise. For this? Probably not. For you? Undoubtedly. I hope you have some <em>very</em> knowledgeable mentors, whatever caused this tangle.


    Is it that bad?


    A well-knit sweater can be called a tangle, Mistress. This makes that look like a childs drawing beside an ancient masterpiece. It was not meant derisively.


    Oh so, is it good?


    Absolutely! If you can make it work for you, and it seems like you can. At least youre still alive, so thats something.


    T huffed augh. I suppose thats true enough.


    Mistress Airim looked back down at Flow. I think Ive sussed out most of what I need, here. It really is a fascinating weapon youve nurtured, Mistress.


    Thank you.


    She smiled. The fact that this beauty will need a morphic sheath actually makes the whole process easier on us both, as I dont need to keep your weapon with me for the construction, and Im not constrained based on size.


    Thats good to know. T could understand how having the sheath need to reshape would give a lot more flexibility in the original construction. <em>I hadnt actually considered that as a positive.</em>


    So, what timeframe do you need this by?


    T shrugged. I cant spar for another couple of weeks, so I dont <em>need </em>it before then. Even so, Id prefer it sooner rather thanter.


    So not a rush job, but not a take my time project either?


    She shrugged again. That was my thinking, yes.


    Alright. Mistress Airim nodded, mostly to herself, as she continued to contemte.


    So, you can do it?


    She gave T an odd look. Of course.


    The womans instant assurance made T a bit nervous, so she asked another question to verify a key point, Will you be able to block the conceptual maniption?


    The woman barked augh. No, not at all, but for your purposes, yes.


    T frowned. That makes no sense.


    Oh, but it does. The Constructionist grinned. Nothing that I know of could block this conceptual maniption if it tried to enact. What I would <em>normally</em> doif such an insane project hade across my worktable beforeis add ayer of iron, protected between twoyers of the sheath, sealing the conceptual magics away. You can probably guess how well that would work in this case.


    Ahh I see.


    Exactly. Your weapon would im the iron, and it would cease to be effective almost immediately. She hesitated. Most likely. In any case, I wouldnt trust it in the slightest, as it would either fail instantly or be unnecessary.


    T grimaced. So, thats just a no. <em>Well, thats frustrating.</em>


    It is, but your real purpose in asking, I assume, is to ensure that you dont harm your sparring partners, correct?


    Thats right. She felt a bit of hope returning. She did <em>not </em>want to have to spar without Flow.


    Then, that isnt a concern. Your weapons conceptual nonsense should only act on that which you cutor intend to cut and contact maybe. It might not be enacted in that second case. Mistress Airim hesitated, narrowing her eyes in thought. It might also work if you simply no, no. Forget that. The maniption of ownership is decidedly tied to what is cut.


    <em>And I can manipte iron that I own, now.</em>


    <em>-Thats what it seems like, yeah.-</em>


    Alright, I think I understand. So, just having <em>any</em> sheath over it will protect against the conceptual danger?


    Well, any effective sheath? Yes. Remember, though, this weapon is still growing into your new advancement. I wouldnt trust a mundane sheath, nor any made for you before you were Fused. I am obviously biased, but that is my professional opinion. Anything weaker will risk shattering under the magical weight of your strikes.


    Good to know. I assumed as much, actually. T bit her lip in thought. What will be the implications for the portion of the weapon in my body?


    Well, as long as you dont somehow turn the iron in your body into a cutting or piercing something, you should be fine?


    T opened her mouth, then closed it, frowning. <em>Oh I did not consider that.</em>


    You can actually do that? The womans eyes widened slightly, but then she shook her head. Of course you can. She sighed. I dont know that I have a solution for you, there.


    No suggestions at all?


    Well, if you can find a way to keep the attacks sheathed? It wont blunt the hits, like the sheath Ill be making for this lovely weapon, but it would keep the concept of ownership from being altered.


    <em>I could maybe add ayer of the white steel over anything I try to create with the iron? Its not like Ill be throwing my iron around.</em> T shuddered internally at the very idea of losing another bit of metal.<em> Though, I suppose it will just vanish, now, rather than being severed. So, thats a plus?</em>


    <em>-Definitely a plus.-</em>


    T nodded. Alright. I think I can make that work. A thought came to her, and she was suddenly unsure. Mistress Airim?


    Yes? The Constructionist seemed to hear the uncertainty in Ts voice. What did you just think of?


    How can you make a sheath capable of containing a weapon above your advancement?


    Mistress Airim snorted. Thats like asking a tailor: Youre short, how can you make clothes for people taller than you.


    T opened her mouth then closed it, tilting her head to one side. Those arent the same are they?


    Well, Im not going to be using the sheath myself. Youre the one who will be powering it; well, your weapon will anyways. I just need to make the magics capable of operating under that level of power, just like a tailor making a bigger set of clothing.


    Oh I guess that makes sense, I suppose. T cleared her throat. So, what does it look like to you, time wise?


    I can fit it in over the next week.


    Thats very workable, thank you. What will this cost?


    A baseline sparring sheath for a bound weapon would be ten silver. Double that for a morphic sheath, unless it is for a Paragon or above in which case double it if it <em>isnt </em>a morphic sheaththose things are incrediblyplicated and fitting into a small space is more expensive and difficult than just making a morphic sheath. Mistress Airim seemed to realize she was rambling because she paused, cleared her throat, and continued back on the matter at hand. Now, increase that cost by a factor of ten per advancement, so thats an increase of twenty times in this case. So, ten times two, times one hundred. Thats two thousand silver which is twenty gold? She thought for a moment, then nodded. Yes, I can do this for twenty gold.


    T considered the price and offered item for a moment, before she finally agreed. It was stunningly expensive, but honestly, it was less than shed feared it might be. Would there be any negative from making it for a higher advancement? <em>That would be only five times the price, and the result would be a bit future-proof. Better than buying this now, then having to buy the more expensive er.</em>


    Mistress Airim hesitated. As the sheaths I make are designed to mesh with the weapon, the strain will fall mainly on the weapon, but you will still bear the magical load. Unless you have a rusting insane throughput, Id say absolutely not. Even if you do, is that really where you want so much of your power going?


    T thought about it for a moment, then shook her head. No, youre right. Ill match the grade.


    That does seem wiser. You should be fine for early Paragon usage as well, unless you <em>really</em> hate your sparring partner and n on putting a truly insane amount of power behind your attacks against them.


    T huffed augh. I suppose that makes sense. Is an Archive transfer eptable, or do you need hard coinage?


    Archive transfer is fine. Let me get a contract all set.


    Mistress Airim walked to a side table and picked up a te. After a moment of maniption, she brought it over to T, the contents now a simple contract of creation as described, for the agreed to price.


    This specific contract would hold the funds in escrow until the item was delivered or the time psed, in this case two weeks to give a buffer for unforeseen circumstances.


    They both confirmed the agreement, causing the tes surface to shift to a green stone for just a moment.


    Mistress Airim bowed, a smile in on her face, Thank you for your time and patronage, Mistress T.


    Thank <em>you</em> for fitting in my project. T bowed in turn and left.


    Mistress Airim waved her out with a smile, and T closed the door behind herself.


    With her near perfect memory, T walked out through the mazelike system of hallways without issue.


    She thanked the attendants in their side room as she passed by and walked back out into the city streets.


    <em>You know, as nice as this is?</em>


    <em>-Yes?-</em>


    <em>Simply </em>being<em> in a city is getting really old</em>


    <em>-Youve gotten too used to danger and adventure, it seems.-</em>


    <em>Is that a bad thing?</em>


    <em>-Only if it causes you to make foolish choices. Remember, many people spend their whole lives, trying to achieve what you have, now. That doesnt mean you have to like it or settle, but try to see it for the value this life has, even if just to others.-</em>


    T only grunted.


    A couple of minutes passed as she walked before she broached a new topic. <em>I think I want to go to Marliweather on my own.</em>


    <em>-Not with a caravan or any travel group?-</em>


    <em>No. Once Im fully settled, Ill be fine, and I can go faster too.</em>


    <em>-That should work. Terry would probably like a romp in the wilds, too.-</em>


    <em>Less than three weeks, and Ill be set.</em>


    <em>-Beat up Rane before you go?-</em>


    T chuckled at that. <em>Hes a squirrelly one in the ring, but I think I can pin him down.</em>


    -<em>Youll finally go see the Guards before youre on your way?-</em>


    She grimaced. <em>Yeah I really should visit them</em>


    <em>-You really should.-</em>


    Ts thoughts were interrupted by a man who was walking in the same direction as her, having just turned to walk parallel,ing from a side street.


    He didnt address her. In fact, he seemed to be utterly engrossed in the book he was carrying.


    Besides, he was a good ten feet away.


    What drew her attention was the fact that he was humming and singing to himself, snapping his free hand to the beat of the song.


    T didnt really know why that drew her attention to that man in particr; people often made unconscious sounds when thinking, and with her enhanced senses, she heard far more of it than shed ever realized was possible.


    Even so, something had T on edge, so she paid attention by way of a mirrored perspective.


    <em>Maybe its the environment? The feeling of oddity </em>was<em> building before he arrived.</em>


    <em>-Could be. Youre just focusing on him because he stands out in a situation that already has you on edge.-</em>


    <em>Maybe</em>


    The young-looking man asionally pointed in random directions in conjunction with the lyrics sung by whatever minstrel he was mimicking.


    T felt a sinking feeling she couldnt exin as he sang the next verse.


    No matter where you hide, Ill find you, you, you. I see what you really are and thats the truth, truth, truth.


    She didnt have time to ponder the awful rhyme, because he pointed straight at a nearby building seemingly at random.


    As he uttered thest words and pointed, something seemed to <em>click</em> in the world around them, and T <em>immediately</em> recognized the feeling: Magical taps on her mind, now that she was focused on that building.


    Ts eyes widened in dawning rm as the rhythm of magical taps changed, speeding up and bing more focused on her.


    The young man had already moved on with his singing, clearly not actually focused on the magical creature that hed idently drawn her attention to.


    It tried to invade her mind and push her attention away, but it was weak, and she held her concentration and resisted with basically no effort.


    <em>What is this? A syphon for ants?</em> Surely, no mundane would actually fall to this weak power. It had to be directed towards animals or insects.


    -<em>No, youve just gotten a lot sturdier, mentally.-</em>


    It was then that two small eyes opened, high up on the walls of the little shop. They looked around, searching, and stopped to stare directly at her.


    <em>Oh thats a syphon, and I stared at it too long so it knows that I know its there. What were the chances of that happening?</em>


    Before an answer presented itself, the street <em>exploded</em> with power as tendrils shot out in all directions, knocking people from their feet.


    Only T and the odd man managed to keep their bnce.


    T drew Flow and bisected a iling syphon appendage down the length, sweeping her weapon to the side to cut it offpletely, even as the blood around her surrendered its iron to her weapon.


    Thick, clear liquid sloshed onto the ground around her.


    <em>Wow, that was quite effective, actually.</em> The single attack seemed to have drained a disproportionate amount of energy from the young syphon as well.


    In the same second, the man drew and mmed a mace into the attack that had been sent his way, resulting in a destroyed syphon tendril with gore and blood showering the street.


    The guy looked around, seeming a bit aghast. Oh oops.


    T nced his way. Oops? You didnt expect the blood? Have you never fought before?


    He nced back. Well, of course I expected the gore. I hunt all the time. I just didnt think about coating the mundanes. His face scrunched briefly before he just shrugged.


    They continued deflecting and cutting apart attacks as his rapidfire words just kepting.


    Little known fact, though: syphon blood is good for your skin. So, they should be fine, better than fine, actually.


    T blinked at him a few times. What? Why does that matter?


    They jumped away as more attacks mmed down. Each of them snatched up a prone pedestrian, moving them from the path of impacts.


    <em>Now is hardly the time for questions, T. Get down to business.</em> Im T. Clear the civilians. Ill keep it upied.


    Pavrimax, I can help!


    Getting them to safety is a help. You can fight after.


    Pavrimax grimaced briefly then nodded decisively. Fine!


    The syphon was barely orange to Ts magesight, now that it had unveiled itself. Even so, it was physically powerful, and she really shouldnt let herself be harmed, bodily.


    <em>Well, stab to gain ownership, eh?</em>


    -<em>T? I dont think-</em>


    T didnt let t finish.


    In a single motion, she powered Flow into the form of a sword and threw it with all her might into the syphon-buildings center, just a half-dozen yards away.


    The de whirled in sharp circles, shing deeply through the outer reaches of the beast to stick firmly near the center.


    As the de embedded into the creature, T threw her magical weight behind a newer aspect of the magics that she found within her soul-bound weapon.


    Unfortunately, it did nothing special, mainly because her efforts were rebuffed.


    The iming of iron wasnt a question of magical weight, at least not in a way that she could enhance.


    Even so, she could feel iron being imed from the beasts ichor by the second, and the whole building shuddered, seemingly pulling in on itself.


    Clear liquid was streaming out of the shes that Flow had made beforending, and T could <em>feel</em> her power oveing the vastly lower magics of the magical parasite.


    The tendrils of the syphon were still iling about, but they nowcked power, bouncing off buildings, the street, and even mundanes who were still trying to get further away.


    The hits to buildings caused rumblings, but no cracks.


    The impacts with the road sent up plumes of snow but didnt upset the pavement.


    Even the people who were hit only stumbled, most not even falling to the ground.


    Pavrimax came sliding back through the slush, taking up a runners stance, seemingly about to lunge at the building.


    Stop. T held up her hand. Its dying. Dont go in where it has more strength left to use against you.


    But there are people inside.


    T frowned, taking on a mindset <em>close</em> to that she used as an Eskau. I dont see anyone, nor do I hear them. Did you see anyone, and could they have been illusions?


    He shrugged. Its more a hunch.


    T opened her mouth to say more, but the man, the Archon, was already gone in a burst of power.


    <em>Immaterial Creator?</em>


    <em>-Or Guide, hard to tell, but Id say momentum or kic energy focused, outwardly aspected.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, clearly.</em>


    Master Pavrimax mmed through the remaining walls, eliciting a subdued roar of outrage from the struggling beast.


    To her surprise, T heard a few exmations of overwhelmed relief before the Archon sted back out, carrying three precariously bnced people.


    As he jerked to a halt beside T, the people went tumbling away, and T heard some pops and <em>cracks</em> which might have been bones breaking. This elicited more groans from the three people.


    One more! Master Pavrimax vanished once again, even faster this time, and returned with a man who also tumbled from the Archons arms tond in a heap with the others.


    There were ongoing whimpers of pain from all four.


    T turned a confused re on the man. Why werent you more careful? Couldnt you have


    The syphon let out ast pitiful gasp and crumpled in on itself, utterly crushing everything still within the building.


    She hesitated only a moment before letting out a sigh and shaking her head. Ahh. Well, good job I suppose?


    Thank you, Mistress T. I do try.

 Chapter 300: Expensive Food

    Chapter 300: Expensive Food


    Ts magesight confirmed that, while power was still flowing from the body of the syphon, it was dead.


    The threat addressed, she finally had a moment to really take a look at Master Pavrimax, using the mirrored perspective from the base of her skull.


    The strange Archonwho had inadvertently brought this aboutwas dripping blood from his myriad small cuts, but even so, his focus was moving towards those hed saved.


    While she did examine the odd Archon more closely, she walked forward, intending to grab the entirety of the syphons corpse to feed to Kit. <em>These things are rather great Kit-ty food.</em>


    She chuckled at her own joke, and t groaned.


    Her mirrored perspective had a lot to show her as it seemed that Master Pavrimax was an even more interesting character than shed realized.


    First of all, he already had a book in hand once again, somehow keeping it clean despite the dust, snow, and blood all around. He kept it out, even as he knelt beside the four whom hed hurt as he pulled them from the syphon.


    <em>Cant really fault him for the results. I dont know that I could have moved fast enough to save them, even if I had</em><em>sensed them.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, a few broken bones are better than death.-</em>


    T frowned as she considered. <em>Why didnt I sense them?</em>


    <em>-Well, you did. At least you heard them, and noticed other indications, but nothing stood out among everything else. We have great senses, but that doesnt mean we automatically, instantly know exactly what were sensing.-</em>


    <em>I suppose</em> She turned her attention back to the Archon as she neared the now-empty alleyway.


    Master Pavrimax was of average height and very slender. As a Mage, he was obviously not fat, but his frame was barely in the healthy range on the other extreme.


    He didnt look stick-like, instead showing some muscle, but he wasnt bulky by <em>any</em> stretch of the imagination.


    T had caught a light brown, almost caramel color to his eyes, and his wavy, dark brown hair indicated that his inscriber used Mistress Hollys needles.


    She hadnt noted it in the moment, but when she looked back on the short fight, his mace had looked <em>almost</em> like it was carved of emerald.


    <em>-Doesnt look quite right for that.-</em>


    The mace now hung at his belt when it hadnt been visible before the engagement.


    -<em>Its wise of him to keep his weapon ready for further issues, though they are unlikely because, well, this is Bandfast.-</em>


    <em>True enough.</em>


    T took Kit off of her belt and dropped the pouch on the ground just beside the edge of the building. Eat up, buddy.


    The pouch opened, the yawning ckness expanding under the building, somehow altering dimensionality to get fully under the parts that it maneuvered around.


    There were no visible teeth, though T felt like they wouldnt have been out of ce.


    Instead, there was simply a ckness that led T to believe that it was an opening into somewhere deep within Kit, under the ground, in the bedrock of the sanctum.


    <em>All the better to digest you with, my dear.</em>


    -<em>Thats pretty dark, T.-</em>


    <em>Exactly, I cant see anything in there.</em>


    <em>-You know what I mean.-</em>


    When Kit had opened under around a quarter of the dead beast, it started to copse into the hole, dragging the rest inside.


    Kit contracted around the rest of the remains as they slithered down in, leaving the pouch sitting at her feet once more, in front of an empty alley.


    It was closed and utterly still, magically speaking. All that was going on within was in the separate dimensional space.


    T looked closer at the alley, shaking her head. <em>I forget that the syphons can manipte dimensionality, too. It seemed </em>much<em> bigger than that alley would have allowed.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, it seems like it expanded the space to make a shop facade fit in more naturally.-</em>


    Good job, Kit. She picked up the pouch and hung it from her belt, giving Kit aforting pat.


    Kit did not respond.


    T was about to turn back around when something odd happened. The perspective she had watching Master Pavrimax almost seemed to hitch, or at least thats how it seemed.


    One moment, the Archon was kneeling beside those he was helping, alone as he worked, and the next moment, a ck cat was sitting in his shadow, licking its paw and staring straight at her bloodstar with too-intelligent, caramel-colored eyes.


    T spun, locking her own eyes on the cat.


    It had a heavy aura, which was obviously connected with Master Pavrimaxs.


    The little beasts magic had <em>deep</em> connections to shadow and dimensionality, making its appearance make a lot of sense.


    <em>Does it live in his shadow?</em>


    <em>-Could be. It seems to be an actual familiar. Is that right? Those are at least a bit rare. I dont know that weve actuallye across any, at least not that weve noticed.-</em>


    T walked over, and Master Pavrimax nced her way. Good, youre done. Do you have any external healing scripts?


    I do not, but the city defenders should be here soon.


    We are here. A voice came from behind her, along with a Refined aura that gently nketed the area, seemingly calming the mundanes that had scrambled away.


    <em>Thats a use of my aura that Ive never even tried to master.</em>


    <em>-Well, to be fair, that aura has defensive, healing, and perceptual magics as fundamental parts of it. Im sure all of those things feel nice when people are exposed to them.-</em>


    T sighed. <em>Where I have gravity, selfish-healing, and death?</em>


    <em>-I wouldnt it put it that way, but you arent wrong.-</em>


    Her mirrored perspective had seen the man arrive just as he spoke, indicating that hed been able to perceive the area before he arrived. <em>You know, I bet the citys grid somehow facilitates their movement. Its probably expensive, though, so they dont use it unless required.</em>


    <em>-They probably have some sort of tiered system, too. They appeared immediately when the arcane stepped out of Kit, but theyve had slower responses to other threats.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, that makes sense.</em> Master Grediv had implied that she should be able to move quickly, once she Refined, and it hadnt <em>sounded</em> like it was tied to a citys grid, but shed have to ask him to learn more. <em>I could ask Mistress Holly, too, but I might just get myself stuck in a wall.</em>


    t huffed in response to that, not deigning to respond.


    Besides the Refined man, there were another half-dozen Archons who were immediately spreading out to the surrounding mundanes, checking for injuries and treating what minor scrapes and sprains there were.


    Two went toward the four more damaged rescuees that Master Pavrimax had saved before the syphon copsed. One of those ced a hand on Master Pavrimaxs shoulder, and the Archons cuts and scrapes closed almost too quickly to watch.


    The man who had spoken already nced toward the alley briefly then focused on T. Mistress. I am Gerard. Is there any further threat that you are aware of?


    T shook her head. No, Master Gerard. I believe that the young syphon was the only threat, here.


    And you have disposed of the remains?


    I have.


    Master Gerard frowned slightly, waving over Master Pavrimax.


    The young man came overseemingly happy to leave his charges in the care of anotherand stood beside T, his cat jumping up andnding on his shoulder with ease. The cat continued to stare at T without breaking its gaze.


    By our estimation, this Master contributed at least ten percent to the effective response to the situation. He is entitled topensation. Since you have harvested the results, yourself, that requires you to buy out his portion.


    T grunted, grimaced, sighed, and nodded. Very well.


    Master Pavrimax held up a finger. Usually in this situation, there would be a lottery between you and I, with you having nine in ten chances to im the full bounty as I did not contribute sufficiently for a guaranteed dispensation. In all likelihood, you would have received all that you took, regardless.


    She blinked at him a few times. Is that supposed to be helpful?


    Ive no idea whats helpful to you, but it is interesting. He scratched his chin with his free hand, while the other maintained hold on his book. We could do the lottery now? If you win, nothing is owed. If I do, the full value is paid.


    T frowned, turning to the city defender. Master Gerard, what is the value of a Fused level syphon?


    One hundred gold. His answer was immediate, and T wasnt sure how she felt about the regrity implied by such quickly recited knowledge.


    One hundred gold was still a lot of money for her as well; her eye twitched. <em>There is absolutely no way Im paying out one hundred gold.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, if something is bad for you, a ten percent chance happens half of the time.-</em>


    T smiled ruefully. <em>And if its good for you, a fifty percent chance might ur one time in ten.</em>


    <em>-Precisely.-</em>


    She shook her head. Ill pay out the percentage.


    Master Pavrimax shrugged. As you wish.


    Is an Archival transfer eptable?


    He tilted his head with interest. Ahh, Refined, right. So youve availed yourself of the standard Archive connection?


    Something like that She shrugged.


    Then that is eptable. After a moments pause, a grin spread across his face. Did you know that the Archive is, in fact, <em>not</em> free to operate?


    T hesitated. What? She shook her head. I mean, I suppose thats obvious. It takes magic to empower ess, which is, in a sense, a payment.


    Oh, I mean more than that.


    t transferred the money, and a clip on the mans belt let out a single chime, prompting him to look down at it.


    Master Pavrimax touched the item and his eyes unfocused for a moment before he nodded. Thank you, funds received. But what I meant was: Of the power we send out towards the Archive, only ny-nine percent actually affects the changes within that cognitive space, even ounting for Mage inefficiency. Moreover, every bit of information stored there has an essor that most dont consider.


    <em>-What now?-</em>


    T turned her full attention to the man. What now?


    Master Gerard shook his head. Ill leave you to your discussion. Ill see to the fallout, here.


    She nced his way, smiled, and bowed slightly. Thank you, Master Gerard. Take care.


    You as well.


    Master Pavrimax bowed to the departing Refined as well, before turning back to T. Think about it. Everything stored in the Archive can be modified and essedhe paused for dramatic effectby the Archive itself.


    Her eye twitched again, violently. Thats She rubbed her face with her hands. Thats like saying a locked box isnt perfectly secure because the <em>box</em> has ess to the contents.


    Precisely! I knew youd understand.


    She closed her eyes for a long moment. <em>What the actual rust?</em>


    <em>-Well, I suppose the point is that we all assume the Archive is inert, just like a locked box. But what if the locked box is, in fact, a syphon or one of its carnivorous cousins? Then this distinction would be </em>very<em> important.-</em>


    <em>So, his point is: What if the Archive is sentient or even sapient?</em>


    <em>-Possibly.-</em>


    T sighed, opening her eyes to find Master Pavrimax grinning at her.


    He spoke as soon as they made eye contact, Fascinating, right? What does it take to develop intelligence? Information processing and time!


    <em>So, we guessed right on his meaning.</em> Still, she shook her head. Im pretty sure it takes more than that.


    He nodded, tapping the side of his nose. So, you subscribe to the soul theory of sapience?


    What?


    <em>-Nothing without a soul can be sapient. It is the soul which changes a thing from a reactor to an actor within the web of causality that makes up reality.-</em>


    Oh. I guess so?


    That is a reasonable line of thought, I suppose. He nced around. But this is no ce for a true discussion. Shall we away, to find our repast and enlighten each other on the mysteries of the universe?


    What?


    He gave her a longsuffering look. Do you want to eat and talk about fun thought experiments?


    T hesitated, but honestly, she felt like she needed <em>some</em> sort of change. The fight with the syphon had only highlighted how much she was beginning to feel caged. <em>Worth a try, I suppose.</em> You know what? Sure. Lets chat.


    <em>Either way, I get food and learn some odd bits of information.</em>


    In the end, the meal was interesting enough.


    Master Pavrimax was full of esoteric facts and a willingness to share them.


    His mace had seemed to shift to a ruby hue when they had entered the eatery, before he put the weapon away. T didnt want to pry, though, so she didnt pursue the topic.


    Thus, while she learned lots of odd facts about everything from shoe construction and spice avability to utensil evolution and the airspeed velocity of an uden swallow, she didnt really learn much about the man, himself.


    That was fine. They simply shared the meal and parted ways as temporary acquaintances.


    They might cross paths again, but only time would tell.


    T passed by the ce where the syphon had been in barely two hours after the incident, and there was no remaining evidence of the short fight.


    <em>They really are good at keeping these things contained.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, as safe as they make the cities, there are still some truly horrifying dangers.-</em>


    <em>Isnt that the truth</em>


    It was mid-afternoon by the time she got back to Lyns house, which she found blessedly empty.


    The short fight had left her with a <em>hunger</em> that food couldnt satisfy, and the time since had just seen that hunger grow, despite the meal with Master Pavrimax.


    Shed gone just more than two months since herst real fight, and that had been with the Leshkin as she had rampaged her way through the forest to get home.


    <em>-It was actually precisely two months as of yesterday.-</em>


    <em>Huh, really?</em> She thought about it and was instantly able to confirm. <em>Thats a long time</em>


    <em>-To not have killed anything? I suppose so, for you.-</em>


    T grimaced. <em>Thats not really a charitable way of wording it. I meant that thats a long time to go without sparring or fighting at all.</em>


    <em>-Sure, that too.-</em>


    She sighed, pulling out the magic nest in order to upy her over-hyped mind.


    Her body felt like running a thousand miles, but she stretched instead, slowly calming her twitchy muscles.


    <em>Soon. Well be able to test ourselves again soon.</em>


    She was exceptionally d that no one was around, because she was having much more difficulty than usual with the magic nest.


    <em>Rane would be absolutely destroying me right now, if he was here</em>


    Shed been getting better and better with the magic nest as well, unraveling it nearly half-way with a fair degree of consistency.


    At the moment, she kept losing focus around the one quarter mark.


    Finally, she growled, put the thing away in Kit.


    <em>-We could spar?-</em>


    T huffed augh, but smiled. They had been figment sparring a lot ofte, and she quite enjoyed it. Even so, T didnt feel up for the mental strain that came afterwards for both herself and t. <em>Not right now. Maybe this evening, before we sleep?</em>


    <em>-Or when you calm your mind a bit?-</em>


    <em>Maybe.</em>


    T turned her mind entirely to dynamic stretches, moving through increasinglyplicated and convoluted motions to expand and strengthen her movements.


    Even so, her thoughts were still running rampant despite her best efforts.


    While the stretching upied and calmed her physically, her mind did its part and was still all over the ce and in need of extra distraction.


    Toward that end, t presented T with the next book in her queue, and T began to read.


    In that way, she passed the remainder of the afternoon, until Lyn and Kannis got home from work.


    When the two women got home, T met them in the entryway. Out! Lets go. Dinners on me.


    The two had actually looked a bit bedraggled, but they both perked up at Ts offer. Lyn was the first to respond. Oh? Whats the asion?


    I killed a syphon today, and I need to get out of this house for a bit.


    You what?! Lyn immediately looked towards where the massive, powerful syphon had set up shop more than a year ago.


    No, not one like that. This was practically a baby, just in the Fused range.


    Lyn gave T an unamused look.


    <em>Right shes Fused.</em>


    Kannis cleared her throat. Whats a syphon? I dont think Ive heard of such a creature.


    Lyn turned to her mageling with a puzzled frown. Kannis, weve discussed them quite a few times. T and I helped deal with one just a few days before you became my mageling.


    Huh, I dont remember Her eyes took on a far-off look before she shook her head, seemingly clearing her mind. What were we talking about?


    Lyn had frozen in ce, eyes widening in horror.


    T, with her enhanced perception, could see the edges of Kanniss mouth fighting to remain neutral. <em>Shes messing with Lyn?</em>


    Lyn seemed to notice something, because her eyes suddenly narrowed. Youre trying to rust my metal, arent you. It wasnt a question. Is that how you want to treat your master after the day weve had?


    Kannis broke out in a grin. Oh, but your face!


    Sheughed, and T felt herself smile along.


    You were like: Oh, no! One of them is right here, keeping her from remembering.


    That is not what I was thinking. Lyn frowned. I was wondering if you were hit in the head somehow, and I didnt notice.


    Kannis huffed augh. Sure you were.


    T cleared her throat. So dinner?


    The two women turned towards her, wry smiles growing on both of their faces.


    Lyn shook her head. Yes. There certainly isnt anything worth pursuing here.


    Kannis turned on one foot and strode back out through the front door. To expensive food! Mistress Ts treat.


    Lyn froze for just an instant before grinning broadly and following her mageling. To the best restaurant in the city!


    T blinked a few times, fully processing what they were saying. She frowned, following them as quickly as she could while closing and locking the door. Hey, now! To reasonably priced food inrge quantities.


    Lyn nced back. We can vote on where we go?


    Kannis grinned happily. Id agree to that.


    T shook her head. If I pay, I pick.


    Lynughed. Fine, fine. Lets get some food.

 Chapter 301: How to Host

    Chapter 301: How to Host


    T spent the next four days back in her old pattern, greatly looking forward to the uing visit from Master Simon, Mistress Petra, and their children. <em>Ill finally get some help in here!</em>


    As much as she liked eating out, she was getting a bit tired of restaurant food. Additionally, Mistress Holly had reached out to say that she could start adding some of the magical foods grown in her sanctum to her diet.


    At the moment, that meant a couple endingberries with every meal or snack. She even ate the seeds, flipping their natural magics to properly meld with her own.


    She still didnt use her iron to amplify her inscriptions, not yet, but that would be possible soon.


    She desperately needed someone toe and cook for her. <em>Or Ill have to learn how to cook myself</em>


    She wasnt bad, all things considered, but she <em>really</em> didnt want to add one more thing to her te at the moment.


    All this came together to make her incredibly excited to finalize things with the family of Mage cooks.


    When the day arrived, however, T had a dawning realization.


    She had absolutely no idea how to host people for dinner.


    Lyn! T came out of her sanctum in the early morning, but not so early that Lyn or Kannis should be asleep.


    Lyns voice came back from the living room and kitchen area, still slightly groggy. What? T, are you alright? Whats wrong?


    T strode out into the living room, orienting on her friend. I have peopleing to my sanctum for dinner, tonight.


    Lyn frowned. Master Simon, right? And his family?


    Thats right.


    So whats the issue?


    T gave an exasperated sigh. How do I have people over for dinner?


    Lyn was obviously still not awake. I mean you open the door and let them in? Or do you mean scheduling? That cant be the issue, theyre alreadying


    No, Lyn. How am I going to provide food? I dont have a table big enough for seven people. What do I <em>do</em>?


    Oh. She blinked at T a few times. I mean, you either do it yourself or hire someone?


    T grimaced, giving Lyn a baleful re. The point of this dinner <em>is</em> to hire someone


    Kannis huffed augh, joining in the conversation. Mistress T, it isnt that hard: Make or purchase a spread of good food; yes, from a restaurant is perfectly eptable in these circumstances. At least three dishes, one or two vegetables, a proteinusually meat, and if you want to have a grain like rice or pasta. Ensure you have enough, so maybe half again as much as you want to eat? If your aim is to do it right, you should have a dessert as well.


    T grunted, turning towards the mageling who was obviously more coherent this morning than her master.


    Then, you have it either on the table in the center to be passed around family style, or on a nearby table or counter so that each person can get up and serve themselves like a buffet.


    T obviously knew how dinner with a lot of people worked, but Kannis <em>was</em> saying some useful things, so she chose to ignore the obvious oversimplifications, So meat, veggie, grain, dishes?


    yes, you will need dishes and utensils sufficient for everyone who will be present. With children, it is reasonable for you to have a few extra utensils, just in case one is dropped, or something like that happens.


    T was familiar with the eating habits of children. I understand that Gah She rubbed her face in frustration. Why are these things soplicated?


    This is literally as simple as can be, Mistress T. You do this all the time, just with people that you know, or in a restaurant. Are you really this out of sorts?


    She grimaced again. It needs to go well Oh I dont have a table thats big enough.


    Kannis gave her an odd look. Wait how do you not have these things? Wasnt your sanctum outfitted for you to be some high-level important figure? Why wouldnt you be able to host?


    T nced at the mageling. It was a sanctum, not a celebratory venue. I was a local figure, not a traveling leader. If I needed to host, I could do it in the main hold, or just have servants bring over what I needed for the short time that I needed it.


    Oh Yeah, I can actually see that. Huh. Kannis nodded her head in thought. Well, then, it sounds like you need a table and chairs? She was starting to sound uncertain. Shed seemingly picked up on Ts nervousness and was struggling to figure out if there was something else going on.


    T hesitated. I dont want to buy that stuff, then have them want something different when they start working.


    That makes sense.


    Her eyes widened. Oh thats genius. It doesnt help right now, but its worth asking.


    <em>-T Im not sure having Kit eat their house is a good idea.-</em>


    <em>Why not? If they own it, whats the issue? They get to keep what theyrefortable with, and then they can sell off a prime city lot, already cleared and ready for new construction.</em>


    <em>-It doesnt hurt to ask can Kit even do that? That seems way too big to eat all at once.-</em>


    <em>Might have to knock it down and have Kit eat the pieces?</em>


    t groaned, having no furtherments regarding thistest madness.


    T shook her head, refocusing. But I guess thats not important now.


    Lyn had narrowed her eyes. What insanity did you juste up with?


    T shrugged. Not important right now.


    Lyn set down her spoon and turned fully towards T. T.


    T shrugged. Its really not important. I wont do it any time soon, regardless.


    The Fused grunted. Fine. I wont press for now.


    T rolled her eyes, before her gaze fell on Lyns table. Can I borrow that? Its only really for four people, but I can put it beside the small one I already have?


    Fine, but please dont take it until after we leave for work?


    I can do that.


    With at least a n in ce


    -<em>Thats not a n, thats a list of obvious things that are needed to eat food. You even had to add food to the list.-</em>


    <em>Hush. Im on track now.</em>


    With at least a n in ce, T was able to actually focus on what was going on.


    The two other women were eating what looked something like oatmeal but smoother.


    Whats that?


    Kannis gestured towards the pot in the kitchen. Cream of grains with heavy cream and bourbon-barrel maple syrup.


    Cream added into cream of grains? T frowned.


    Cream of usually just means a milk base and thicker texture.


    T frowned. Is that true?


    Kannis shrugged. Sounds about right, but what do I know? Im no professional.


    Fair enough.


    There was a long, building silence as Lyn and Kannis ate. They were obviously hiding smiles as T looked back and forth between them and the pot.


    Finally, T sighed. Can I have some?


    Lyn nced her way. Of course. Thank you for asking.


    T huffed augh and helped herself, joining her housemates for breakfast.


    After the two others left, T took a moment to dip the dishes into Kit for an easy cleaning before she returned the cookware and sundry to their ces in the kitchen.


    That aplished, she decided to prepare for the dinner.


    <em>I cant just buy any old food, now can I?</em>


    <em>-T, you eat mountains of food every day. You dont need an excuse to go taste testing.-</em>


    <em>Youre right. Off we go!</em>


    The day passed with little incident, and she had everything ready to the best of her ability when dinner rolled around.


    * * *


    T melded Kit with Lyns front door, so that when the family knocked, she was able to let them directly into her sanctum, thereby not disturbing Lyn and Kannis, who were eating their dinners in the reading chairs.


    She had put a lot of thought into the choice of where she should let them into her sanctum, and in the end, she settled on the dining room itself.


    A tour could take ce after food, and the dining room was one of the far more normal spaces she had avable. That should help to remove some of the mystery and mystique of her sanctum.


    While Master Simon, Mistress Petra and their family arrived after the sun had set from over Bandfast, it was still a bit before the end of daylight within Kit.


    Thus, the first thing the kids did when they arrived was run to the massive windows and stare out, eximing loudly at the view.


    Their parents exchanged looks before joining their children to see what they could see.


    This view is lovely, Mistress T.


    Thank you, Master Simon.


    Is it an illusion?


    Mostly no. Thend was arranged so that the topography allowed for a natural, untainted view. Those hills at the edge of what you can see mark the border, however. And the sky is an illusion, as you might imagine. She smiled.


    Thats You are powering it yourself? He looked at her with incredulity.


    Yes, though indirectly.


    The requirements He shook his head. This is more than I imagined. Though, its exactly in line with what you described; I have to admit.


    T smiled in return. I had hoped to convey it properly.


    Mistress Petra interjected. It is stunning.


    Thank you. T gestured to the two tables pressed together, and to the foodid out atop it. Shall we?


    They all sat around the table and served the food family style, passing the serving dishes around so that everyone could grab what they wanted.


    Segis and Karsa helped the youngest, Metti, so that she didnt slow down the process.


    Once everyone was served and the initial round of pleasantries had settled down, T cleared her throat.


    I do apologize for the cobbled together table and cutlery. Shed pulled from Lyns kitchen for tes and utensils, along with the table and chairs.


    Mistress Petra waved her off. It is more than fine. I imagine you dont often have this muchpany.


    T smiled at that. No, never.


    Well, then this is above and beyond, thank you.


    After that, the meal passed with rtive ease.


    The topics were light and the food tasty.


    Soon enough, everyone had eaten their fill.


    T nced around at the family. Is everyone finished?


    A round of smiling nods greeted her.


    She raised an eyebrow. Are you sure?


    That caused them to pause, and the children each grabbed another quick bite or two before confirming once again.


    Alright. This is the first demonstration. Lean back.


    Everyone leaned back in their chairs.


    T could have just thought themand to Kit, but she wanted to make it clear what was happening. Kit, can you eat the remnants?


    There was a bending of reality, which manifested almost like a heat-haze over every spec of food not near a person.


    An instantter, the distortions vanished, leaving utterly clean tes, utensils, and serving dishes in their wake. Even the tables were clean of drippings and crumbs.


    Wide eyes greeted her as T looked around at her guests once more.


    Kit will happily eat anything allowed.


    Master Simons eyes were gleaming, but it wasnt for the reason that T initially assumed.


    She would have thought that such a demonstration would stoke the fires of his desire to explore the sanctum, but instead, his words showed her that she still had a lot to learn about him.


    We can cook, bake, and experiment and there wont ever be dishes to do? We wont have to clean up the results before we can do it all again?


    T tilted her head to the side, then shrugged. <em>I suppose that is pretty nice. </em>Yeah. Kit eats the remnants, not even leaving bits stuck or baked on.


    His eyes were positively glowing with barely restrained glee as he and Mistress Petra asked a few more follow-up questions.


    The sun had mostly set when they stepped out of the dining and kitchen area into the central circle of her sanctum.


    What followed was a tour very reminiscent of the one shed given to the Archons right when she got home.


    There were, of course, exceptions.


    Firstly, she didnt take them underground. Honestly, she didnt think shed be allowing them underground at all, at least not in the near term.


    Second, the children showed the expected level of exuberance for <em>everything.</em>


    Finally, the group looked in on the other rooms of the sanctum.


    To Ts surprise, while there were a few, they were all decked out for visiting Eskau. Thus, the furnishings were simple, elegant, and obviously <em>expensive.</em>


    <em>I never had use for these.</em>


    <em>-It was about the potential more than anything.-</em>


    <em>Thats true enough.</em> She felt an odd weight. <em>Id have used them eventually, in theing years, if Id stayed.</em>


    <em>-Blessedly, that never came to pass.-</em>


    <em>Yeah.</em>


    One room had clearly been Throns. Even though hed kept it free of any personal effects, the smaller bed and the less embellished dcor made it obviously his.


    All in all, the rooms would <em>not </em>be a good fit for a family, and even if it had been a reasonable fit for them, T was a bit loath to fill up her guest rooms, just in case.


    <em>-Yes, it would be a travesty for all the guests you have over to be without a ce to sleep.-</em>


    <em>Hush you. Things change, and I </em>am<em> trying to be more sociable.</em>


    <em>-You just want to have Kit eat a house.-</em>


    <em>I am curious if it would work but it would also be nice to have some more consistency with my rtionships, even while traveling.</em>


    <em>-If only we could fix the issue of gates degrading dimensional spaces.-</em>


    <em>Oh, Im sure there are solutions, they are likely just </em>expensive.


    <em>-Master Simon would likely know.</em>-


    <em>Thats fair, but its hardly time for that topic.</em>


    As they realized that the rooms she had wouldnt work, long term, T decided to simply ask, Do you all own your home, here in Bandfast?


    The two adults looked at each other, seemingly confused why shed asked. After a moment of seemingly silentmunication, they nodded. We do.


    What about putting it in here? She pointed to the eastern side of the central circle. At the moment, the ground dropped off to give a view in that direction to watch the sun rise. It wouldnt be difficult to ce it there.


    Move our house in here?


    T shrugged. Give me the ns, and throw everything into Kit, and it will be there by the time we walk inside.


    Master Simon stood with mouth agape for a long moment before he asked a seemingly unrted question. Can that work with anything?


    What do you mean? She frowned.


    I mean, can we toss a log in here, and it bes a statue? Or a bunch of boards ande in to find a wagon?


    Oh! No. Generally not. Kit can move things around, so putting your house back together would just be like a puzzle in that sense. No maniption of the materials, themselves. The only real exceptions seem to lie around the removal of impurities or grime from objects, but even that isnt <em>really</em> a maniption of the object.


    Oh I see. But we could drop a bunch of parts in, for aplex machine, and they would be able to be assembled?


    I mean in theory? Ive never really tested it.


    Fascinating. If it worked for a house, I dont see why it wouldnt work for something smaller.


    Mistress Petra was giving her husband an incredulous look. Youre considering it?


    He shrugged. We could sell the empty lot. Im not agreeing, but its an interesting idea.


    Exactly! T grinned and pointed at him triumphantly. I figured that might actually be better than us trying to build something new in here, and you having to sell your house out there.


    Mistress Petra turned to T and gave a slight bow. Honestly, Mistress T, we werent nning on selling the house at all. Additionally, moving the structure in here seems rather permanent.


    Oh T felt herself dete.


    Its not that we arent interested in the positions. Mistress Petra quickly added. Its just that doing this would effectively trap us in your employ for the foreseeable future. That would be problematic if it didnt work out on our end, <em>or</em> if you decided we werent a good fit from your perspective.


    Ahh I hadnt thought of it that way, actually.


    Master Simon nodded. But before we get too lost in the weeds of housing. We need to discuss security. My understanding is that you want to be out, away from the cities much of the time. Is that correct?


    Thats right.


    What would Archive ess be like while we are out and about?


    T opened her mouth and closed it. <em>Well rust. I didnt think about that.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, Archive tablets without Archive ess are rather oh!-</em>


    <em>Yeah, that might work. </em>There exist Archive tablets with the ability to create datasets that are local to the te, is that correct?


    There are, yes.


    We could have those be what is provided. It isnt the same as constant Archive connectivity, but it would allow much of the same functionality.


    He frowned. Pardon if I overstep, but what about pairing it with your own Archive ess? Certainly you have greater than average range?


    I do, yes. Can that be done?


    Absolutely. The power woulde from you, yourself, just like everything in here runs on your magic, and it would be a lower throughput when outside of standard range, but it is a rtivelymon featuremissioned for private caravans.


    That is an interesting idea, yes. We can look into it. <em>The Constructionists do owe me quite a bit more, and that could be useful well forever.</em>


    <em>-So long as you travel with others, you mean?-</em>


    <em>Like I said, forever.</em> Ts response was firm and full of conviction.


    Master Simon simply nodded, moving to the next topic. The wilds are more dangerous than ever. More caravans than usual are going missing, and I think you know that Alefast Waning is umting magic far more rapidly than it should be. There is trouble brewing in the wilds.


    Ive heard some rumors, but nothing concrete.


    How stable is this sanctum? What happens if you die on the outside, while were in here?


    Well,she frowned, choosing her words carefully"if I were to die, the sanctum would slowly lose power. You could exit through the bunker I indicated, but that would just let youe out where I died.


    I see. Thats good to know. Aside from that worst case scenario, would the door out always work?


    T shook her head. Yes and no. If I am nearby and Kit isnt in the form of a door, I will effectively have the ability to stop Kit from opening. If there is already a door? Yes, you can leave easily. If Im not nearby, or if I dont stop it, a door will form and you will be able to leave.


    Could we get back in?


    The door should remain until I cause a change in form.


    Thats good. He nced to his wife before turning back. How is the progress on the teleportation inscriptions?


    T scrunched up her face. Progressing, but notplete.


    I see.


    She swallowed and straightened up just a bit. That said, Kit should be unbreachable. If I were to die, you would know immediately. Under those circumstances, with the token I can provide, you should be able to look outside and determine the best time to make your escape.


    He nodded. There are a few features that I would like to discuss with you, which would make us morefortable with you going into danger with us in tow.


    Oh? T tilted her head slightly in interest. Id love to hear what you have in mind.

 Chapter 302: Arrangements

    Chapter 302: Arrangements


    T listened as Master Simon started to go over a number of rather interesting ideas.


    Apparently, there were quite a few explorer type Archons who wanted to be able to get their findings back to the cities in case they died, so there were a plethora of ns for doing just that. They ranged from the insane to the possibly reasonable.


    Even so, before they could delve too far into it, she had a realization. <em>Wow. With all the other stuff, I cant believe I dropped that.</em>


    <em>-Yeah thats on me too. Your stress is really bleeding through.-</em>


    <em>Well, I need the help, okay?</em>


    <em>-I know, I know.-</em>


    T cleared her throat, causing Master Simon to pause. My apologies. I figured he would have shown up by now, but there is someone you should meet.


    Oh? Mistress Petra looked around. Is there someone already living in here with you? I thought this space was yours alone.


    Yes, but its best if you just meet him and see for yourself. Terry! T infused a little extra power into the inscriptions around her vocal cords and lungs, allowing her voice to carry further without the need to scream, shout, or even raise her voice. In essence, the magic gave her words more weight, allowing them to propagate further before fading.


    Shed used the technique only a few times before, and she had been satisfied with the result every time.


    Terry flickered into being on her shoulder a momentter.


    He squawked questioningly before headbutting her cheek and looking around.


    The childrens eyes widened, and they crowded close with wonder evident across their faces.


    Terry nced to T. Clear questions were carried in that look.


    T smiled and nodded. Friends, mundane.


    He trilled in acknowledgement and flickered down to appear on Mettis head.


    The little girl froze in surprise, looking up without shifting the terror birds perch. Mom Mom! Its on my head!


    Her voice was uncertain as she tried to determine if this was cause for concern.


    Mistress Petra looked to T, and T smiled. He wont hurt them.


    The mother rxed, but still seemed quite ready to interfere. Hes fine, my little love. Be gentle and try not to startle him. Even the gentlest creatures cansh out if they are surprised or hurt.


    Yes, mama.


    Having broken the ice a bit, Terry began flickering around, poking and prodding the children. It didnt take long before they understood that he wanted to y a game.


    From there, he easily nudged them into understanding the rules.


    Master Simon and Mistress Petra came closer to T, eyes fixed on the developing situation.


    He leaned in close and whispered, He seems much too intelligent to be a baby terror bird, and much too tame. Is he some dwarf-subspecies?


    T shook her head. <em>No cause for, or benefit in, hiding the truth.</em> No, his magic lies in dimensionality. Hes actually rather massive, but he does his best to choose his size to fit the situation.


    Mistress Petra gave T a startled look. So hes as big as you or I? Isnt that dangerous?


    T shook her head. No, hes actually much bigger. As to him being dangerous? T shrugged. Obviously he is. Hes a predator. But no, he is not dangerous to us, and I have never seen him harm a child. Not even when that child did her best to poke him in the eye. She shook her head with a small smile, remembering her sister, Se, chasing after Terry all through the park near her childhood home. Regardless, his intelligence is <em>at least</em> equivalent to most people you could meet, and while he can be inhuman in his hunting practices and idiosyncrasies, he and I are partners, and he has never harmed anyone or anything without cause.


    The two parents continued to watch the ying quartet with hesitation.


    She sighed. He often is out and about with me, but he does live in here, too.


    Terry let the children get incredibly close, even asionally brushing his feathers.


    When he allowed the contact, he would let out a trill to indicate that he would be pursuing. What followed was ten short chirps, in perfect cadence, before he flickered after the children, herding them all together, and only when they were clustered into a group would he touch all three at once, making them the chasers once more.


    He is terrifyingly effective. Mistress Petra still sounded nervous.


    T nodded. His species hunts in packs and hunts herds. Even by himself, he is a truly peerless hunter.


    Terry nced her way, straightening and preening. He then flickered away just as Segis would have fallen on him.


    They watched in rtive silence for quite a few rounds of the game.


    Finally, Master Simon tilted his head to the side. He only lets them touch him when they are bnced when they would make contact


    Mistress Petra nodded. I noticed that. And he also seems to reward them when they work together is he teaching them how to hunt?


    The parents looked toward T, and she shrugged.


    Even so, she smiled encouragingly. Im not sure, but that does sound like him, yeah. It looks like he likes them.


    The two nodded slowly in response.


    A few minutester, Metti sat down to take a break,ughing and breathing heavily. Terry seamlessly shifted the game to focus only on the older two, now solely allowing contact when they worked together and didnt ovemit.


    Master Simon nced towards T. Well, they seem well taken care of.


    She quirked a smile in return. They do. Id love to hear more of your ideas.


    The family didnt stay too much longer, and T and Master Simon made an appointment to meet up the following day to continue the discussion for features to add to Kit.


    Most of those theyd already discussed were simple enough enhancements, like tying any Archive connection through her own link if she was closer than any other Archive node, and they werent in a city.


    Master Simon also stated that he would want to research the specifics of the sanctum a bit more before putting together a blueprint for their living space.


    Tentatively, Mistress Petra agreed toe the next morning to start working. The kids had school, and would continue attending it until T left Bandfast, and the family wouldnt move in until the quarters wereplete, but they tentatively agreed toe under her employ.


    <em>YES!</em>


    <em>-Hey, see? That didnt go so badly.-</em>


    <em>Terry. Terry is the master, here.</em>


    t huffed augh but didnt argue.


    Mistress Petra smiled at Ts apparent glee, even though she obviously couldnt hear her thoughts. Ill start with something rather simple for your breakfast and try to familiarize myself with your facilities tomorrow. Lets n on my providing you with breakfast and dinner?


    T nodded. Unfortunately, I am still not quite ready for meals made with the food in here. My advancement hasnt fully settled as of yet, but I should be able to eat meals with ingredients incorporated.


    Mistress Petra nodded. Ill want to gain ess to the Culinary Guilds new treatise on the preparation of harvests for human consumption.


    T brightened. Oh! They have it widely avable already?


    They do, it is on the expensive side Mistress Petra frowned.


    T waved that away. Ill see to it.


    Oh?


    Yeah. Consider it handled. Ill get it to you along with your Archive tablet She looked to Master Simon.


    Tomorrow. There are several standard models in stock at the guildhall, and I can initialize them for our family. He nced toward his youngest, who had once again joined in the fun with Terry. Theres even a couple robust versions, meant to take harsher environments, rougher treatment, or


    Mistress Petra smiled. children. Never were there creatures more able to find the weak points of any object.


    He snorted augh. Isnt that the truth.


    T turned toward the ying group. Alright you four, time to wrap it up.


    The kids turned, immediately groaning and starting toin.


    Terry flickered to each, bumping them to fall into a startled pile before he appeared on Ts shoulder with decisive trill.


    Segis opened his mouth, obstinance clearly painted across his features, but Terry simply leaned forward and repeated his trill, a light of utter conviction in his eyes.


    Segis closed his mouth.


    Mistress Petra looked back and forth between her son and Terry. Well. That is quite something.


    T caused the doorway out toe into being just beside them, as the children obediently scrambled to their feet.


    Goodbyes were exchanged all around, and the guests thanked T again for the meal.


    Then, they departed, the door closed and vanished, and T was left alone in the now oddly quiet sanctum.


    Terry looked around, seeming almost forlorn.


    Do you like them?


    He chirped a couple of times, seeming to feign indifference.


    It will be nice to have some more consistentpany.


    He let out a grumpy squawk and headbutted her.


    Tughed, scratching his neck under his feathers. You are a blessing and a half, Terry, but its nice having others around as well.


    He narrowed his eyes at her, then let out a huffing honk of resignation.


    Yeah. She hesitated a moment before looking at him once again. You know, we need to talk about us at some point.


    Terry met her gaze and tilted his head to the side.


    My advancement should be able to sustain a bond with you quite soon, and such a bond could give you a lot of benefits.


    He settled down, shimmying to getfortable.


    Its only if you want, but it would link us effectively forever. It would <em>definitely</em> extend your lifespan, at least so long as I survived, and it might actually allow you to be stronger.


    In an instant, he flickered away, and T didnt even have time to register his movements as he somehow tripped her up, and pinned her to the ground, sitting on her chest. He then let out an obviously mocking series of soft trills in her ear.


    I never said you were weak. Sheughed. With a quick motion of her own, sheunched herself up, and regained her feet. She probably could have foiled his demonstration, but she knew he wasnt going to hurt her, and she was still not supposed to be fighting. <em>Soon.</em>


    Terry was already back on her shoulder, snuggled down against her neck.


    Its up to you. I like you how you are, but I wouldnt say no to making our bond stronger.


    He opened one eye to give her a long look. After an almost ufortably long time, he exhaled long and slowly. Finally, he gave a decidedly affirming chirp.


    Youll think about it?


    Another chirp.


    Thats all I can ask for.


    T lowered herself to the ground, and together, she and Terry stared up at the fake night sky.


    I wonder is this real, somewhere?


    Terry huffed, clearly disinterested.


    No, it <em>is</em> interesting. Did this night skye from the arcane artisans imagination? Or did they somehow divine a night-sky from elsewhere in reality?


    He did not respond, instead snuggling closer and gazing upward.


    In the end, the origins didnt really matter.


    All that mattered at that moment was that the ster vista was stunning and expansive in a way that filled her mind, body, and soul with peace.


    * * *


    Lyn looked up at T with an incredulous expression. Why now?


    It was the morning after the dinner with Master Simon and his family.


    T had awoken bright and early to let Mistress Petra into her sanctum, finished the breakfast she brought along, ande out to find Lyn and Kannis about to head off for work.


    It was then that T remembered something as shemented hercking bank ount despite all the favors she was owed. Well, I have been rather busy with other things, and it just hadnte back to the forefront of my mind.


    Lyn was staring at the list that t hadpiled of all the mundane treasures that T had absconded with when shed raided the House of the Rising Sun, among other ces. This is a ridiculous collection of items. Why do you even have these things?


    T shrugged. Well, I didnt have time to identify every item, so I just grabbed everything.


    Clearly. Lyn looked at the list and read something off. One slightly broken mantel clock? Why?


    When I scooped it off the mantel, the ss cracked against a little statue. T shrugged again. Its still got some worth, and I wasnt going to take the time to take it back out.


    Lyn just shook her head. And you want me to sell this for you?


    Yes, please.


    "Wait... T, there''s a massive table on this list here... Why didn''t you use that?"


    "That one? She nced at the indicated line-item. That was too big."


    "You could have eaten outside?"


    "I have a dining room, Lyn. I''m going to dine in my dining room."


    "Fine. What about this one?... how many tables are in here?"


    "Only two dining tables of proper height. Most people forget that arcanese in all different sizes. One of the tables is ridiculouslyrge, and one far too small. Its a miracle I got <em>four</em> dining tables in my rampant piging. Everything else is a side table or some other odd thing. Of the two that <em>are</em> properly proportioned, one was too bigas already mentioned and the other''s a big circle. Who wants to eat on a massive circle? Its like ten feet across!"


    Lyn sighed, shaking her head. Are there dishes on this list too?


    T gave her a t look. I didnt raid a kitchen, Lyn. I went through a living area, not a dining area.


    Lyn still looked utterly baffled, even if she did let the matter of the tables drop. I dont have time for this, T.


    T grinned triumphantly. No, you have a mageling for this.


    Hey! Kannis had stayed out of the conversation, but she clearly had a stake in the results now. I have better things to do than sell off a pile of She trailed off as she looked over Lyns shoulder at the list she had in hand. Did you rob some merchant? Just take everything from his house?


    T tilted her head. Sure? I mean, theyre from an arcane House we were raiding, but near enough.


    Lyn grimaced as Kanniss eyes widened. By House The way you said it thats something important?


    T shrugged. Yes. Think of it like a guild, here, but more insr and less focused. They control sectors, cities, and production trains rather than specific function in their society. They dont work together, as a rule, but they arent hostile to each other, except for surface level rivalries. She hesitated. With some exceptions. Some Houses hate each other for whatever reason.


    <em>-We never did ask.-</em>


    <em>We got books on it as part of our training, but even Tali didnt care very much.</em>


    <em>-If it wanted to hurt Master shed kill it. She wasnt overly concerned as to </em>why<em> they hated him.-</em>


    <em>Isnt that the truth</em>


    Kannis seemed to be struggling a bit. So you raided one of these Houses?


    Well, a main hold of one, yes.


    And the equivalent would be if you decided to assault the Caravan Guild and take their stuff?


    T hesitated. Does the Caravan Guild actually have a high level Archon?


    Lyn nodded. Not always in Bandfast, but yes, we have a few Refined. She nced toward Kannis, then seemed to shake her head in resignation. The gap between Refined and Paragon is as vast as it is seemingly simple to cross. Most upper members of the various guilds fall in that range.


    T cocked an eyebrow. Thats good to know. I can never get a straight answer.


    Lyn shrugged. Its mostly what Ive pieced together from meetings with upper bureaucrats.


    Good to know


    Kannis cleared her throat, clearly still a little shaken. But all that to say, these things are from the arcane ruling ss?


    T nodded. Thats a reasonable assessment, yes.


    Lyn sighed, ncing over and presumably manipting something work rted on a te beside her food. That willplicate things, too. Do you want to sell them for what they are, or what they were?


    Huh? T frowned.


    Kannis was nodding, however, clearly understanding what her master meant. You could sell them pretty quickly just as fine furnishings and oddities, but you would get <em>vastly</em> more if you sold them as items stolen from arcanends. Youd have fewer buyers though, so it might take longer?


    T thought for a moment. Well, I need <em>some</em> money now, but Id prefer the biggest payout possible.


    Lyn frowned. This doesnt include anything magical, right?


    No, I told you that this was just the mundane items.


    Are you going to sell the magical ones too? Or have you already done that and spent the money?


    T hesitated. Yes? Yes, I am going to, no I havent already done it, and no, I definitely havent spent the money already. t had put together that list, too, and it was far shorter. Arcanes didnt really leave their magical itemsying around. I havent gotten to that, either.


    Lyn huffed augh and shook her head. Well, I guess I can understand, with all the work youve been doing.


    T gave her friend a narrow-eyed re. Hey! I have been recovering.


    You could have taken a nice refreshing walk to the Constructionist Guild and sold that stuff off. Or you could have done the selling one of the numerous times you were there already. Right?


    T grumbled. Fine. Youre right


    Lyn shook her head. So, you want our help selling your non-magical loot.


    Kannis interjected, Booty?


    Shes not a marauder, Kannis. Lyn shook her head. This is not a fictional tale of flying ships and sword duels amidst storms.


    Kannis grimaced. It would be better if it were.


    Only ording to some.


    T cleared her throat. Anyways. Yes. Ill be going by the Constructionist Guild today, and I can sell the magical stuff, then.


    Alright then. Lyn tilted her head to the side. Twenty percent.


    T blinked at her in shock. What? Last time you only took ten!


    Last time we were both working for the same guild, and it was a simple job. If you want us traipsing around to find people who will value high-end, pilfered arcane decor, it will be much more work.


    She groused a bit, but finally, T agreed. Alright, you win. I need the help.


    Great! Lyn pulled out a te with the contract already built out.


    T narrowed her eyes. How do you have that ready?


    It wasnt hard to put together while we talked.


    <em>Well, that exins what she was doing So, not work rted? </em>I didnt think you had an Archive te for home use.


    Lyn shrugged. Ive been bringing work home for thest couple of weeks. So, I had it ready to hand. I can use it for various tasks when I have it checked out.


    T was still suspicious, but finally, she sighed. Fine.


    She looked over the simple contract, and they both confirmed it.


    Thank you, I suppose.


    Lyn smiled in return. It is always a pleasure working with you.

 Chapter 303: Counter-Spell

    Chapter 303: Counter-Spell


    T was utterly at a loss.


    Somehow, shed been immediately recognized when she walked into the Bandfast Culinary Guildhall.


    Shed been whisked into a side room, where servant after servant brought her food of unquestionable quality.


    It had been less than half an hour, and yet even she was starting to feel full.


    <em>-Whats going on?-</em>


    <em>I have no idea. Maybe theyre grateful for connecting them with Mistress Ingrit?</em>


    <em>-This seems a bit over the top?-</em>


    T continued to eat and store food within Kit.


    A full hour had passed, and T was getting ready to demand answers when an elderly woman bustled in.


    <em>Wait. She looks familiar. Oh! The guild-head? Valry, right?</em>


    <em>-Thats what your memory shows, yes.-</em>


    She bowed deeply. Mistress T. I deeply apologize for the wait. I trust that you have been well taken care of?


    I yes? Thank you, Guildmaster Valry. Whats going on?


    I once again apologize. I was inspecting a farm to the south as a possible new source for some of our ingredients when I got word of your arrival. I got here as soon as I could.


    T frowned, then realized what the woman meant. Oh! No, the wait wasnt an issue. She gestured to the empty tters and the well-appointed room in general. I mean all this. Whats going on?


    The woman tilted her head to the side, a frown. My apologies, Mistress T. I had thought that you came regarding the missive.


    T tried to contain her confusion. What missive?


    Well, when we heard youd arrived in Alefast, Waning, we sent a missive with the next caravan heading that way. That was some two months back.


    T blinked a few times. <em>Oh how did they hear that I was in Alefast and not Bandfast?</em>


    <em>-No idea. Is that really important?-</em>


    <em>I suppose not</em>


    My apologies. I never received the missive. Ive been meaning toe by but only now had the chance.


    The woman looked a bit flustered. Oh Well, umm That is unexpected. We really should have used an Archive missive, I suppose, but were just not used to doing so not yet.


    Thats more than fine. Im here now. What is this all about?


    Thank you, Mistress. Valry seemed to still be gathering her thoughts. Well, the message basically was an invitation extended to you by myself and this Guildhall. After a moments hesitation she amended, Well, by the whole guild, really, but we are the presenters.


    After a brief silence, T inquired, An invitation?


    Yes! Yes. We are incredibly grateful for your help in lifting the veil of self-imposed secrecy on our research. We, as a guild, have been able to broaden our contacts and delve deeper than we ever thought possible with the aid of Mages. She scoffed at her own words. Mages. Can you believe it?


    T frowned bemusedly, and Valry seemed to recover herself.


    Oh, of course you can. She shook her head. Where is my mind these days? In any case, we wanted to thank you for what you did for us.


    I honestly didnt do very much. I mainly just opened lines ofmunication.


    Even so. She pped her hands twice, and two waves of servants swept in through the doors into the room.


    The first wave cleared out all the empty serving dishes and set up a couplerge tables with startling efficiency.


    The second was a bit odd.


    There were six servants, five with small parcels and one with a simple pouch that exuded a respectable amount of dimensional energy.


    The five lined up behind the tables setting down their parcels and opening them.


    Each parcel contained a mix of dried and otherwise preserved foods.


    These are our five newest food sets for quick energy and nutrient recovery for Mages on the go. Perfectly bnced for different types of injury, with your method of healing taken into ount. We have a whole line that is varied based on recovering after other types of healing, but those are obviously not needed for you.


    T walked over and sampled each offered mix.


    They were all mundane foods, but of startling quality andposition. These are amazing.


    Indeed. Valry smiled with obvious pride. Our new, more openmunication with Mages has allowed us to perfect and widely distribute foods of this kind. It should aid our Mages and guards in recovery to an unprecedented degree.


    She motioned the final servant forward.


    This is a dimensional pouch! She was clearly proud of that fact alone, but she quickly continued regardless. It is filled with a thousand of each of these food packets, along with a double portion of the long-lived foods that you acquired from our guild in Makinaven. We also increased that portion based on our best guess on the increase to your appetite.


    Ts eyes widened. That was amazing. Even with Mistress Petra preparing food for her, this would help supplement her diet until she could eat solely from what her sanctum produced. More importantly, it would be an amazing backup and emergency supply for both her and her sanctums iing residents. Thank you, truly.


    It is the least we could do. I know that this is but a pittance, but we hope it conveys our gratitude.


    It most certainly does. Shed bought a five-year supply of food in Makinaven, and that was before factoring in her increased appetite. That meant that she now easily had solid food reserves for more than ten years, if it was well stored, which it unquestioningly would be.


    Valry smiled. Now, is there anything else we can do to show our thanks? What brought you here, today?


    <em>-That was a kind, small thing of them to do.-</em>


    <em>It was more than they needed to do; I really didnt do very much</em>


    -<em>Even so.-</em>


    T smiled, addressing Valry, I heard that you all were selling ess to your research on the preparation of harvests for human consumption? I believe that the notebook I have only covers the basics.


    The guild-mistresss smile grew in excitement. Oh! That would be wonderful, and incredibly appropriate. Do you wish ess?


    T blinked. Oh I assumed that such would be of incredible value.


    In some ways, yes, though it costs us little. Even so, it is an ideal show of our gratitude. I would have already offered, but our understanding is that you did not have an interest or bent towards the culinary arts.


    I do some, but I also have someone who is helping me in that department.


    Valry nodded, signaling a servant who departed immediately. I see. So, ess for two? We will provide you with the tokens.


    T smiled. Thank you!


    Archive tokens were a means of granting a set of predetermined Archive ess, without requiring the grantor and grantee to interact directly. T had never had need, so shed only heard of them in passing.


    The servant returned less than a minuteter with two gold-inscribed y disks, roughly the size of her hand.


    I trust that the one to help you is a Mage as well?


    Yes.


    Good, good. This little booklet should be sufficient to allow you to activate the scripts. They will each be used up, and the y disk will crumble after one use.


    <em>Clever. Never seen one of these in person.</em> Thank you.


    -<em>So, likely only ess to read the contents, not make changes or grant others ess. That makes sense.-</em>


    Valry gave a nod of acknowledgement. Of course. Now, my understanding is that this will be used to prepare food for you, is that correct?


    It is.


    Valry smiled. Would you be interested in one of our experts imparting their knowledge? We have many tasks on our local, collective te, but I think we can spare someone for a few days?


    Ts eyes opened wide. That could be amazing! When might they be avable?


    I will have to consult my master schedule, but I believe we can have someone free in a few days, and they should be able to give you at least three or four days.


    That should be wonderful. Ill make the arrangements. Are they alright working within a dimensional space?


    Valry looked a bit surprised but nodded. Ill ensure that the one who gets the assignment agrees to that aspect.


    Great. Ille back in three days to pick them up, then?


    She hesitated. Make it four? Does that work for you?


    It should. Thank you.


    They exchanged a few more pleasantries before parting with smiles and bows, both incredibly content with the time spent.


    T went straight from there to the Constructionist Guild.


    Master Simon was summoned as soon as she arrived, and they went back to the workroom that was still his for the next week.


    It had been his space for thest several years, while he was working on projects for Master Queue. That time in his career was ending, and he was simply tying up thest loose ends.


    He set up tea for them both, and they got to work.


    The first thing they did, while their tea steeped, was carry in two artifacts to hook into thework of scripts put in ce by the House of Blood.


    The design of the sanctums scripts was quite modr, and simply allowed for any new artifact to be slotted in.


    <em>Not that theres a literal slot.</em>


    <em>-Of course not, that would be too restrictive. The description implied that they often find unique artifacts in ether holds or in the wilds that can enhance sanctums, so they leave the ability to connect in other magical pathways to provide power as needed.-</em>


    <em>They really did think of </em>so<em> much</em>


    They began with those two items that they both agreed were required. First and foremost was the Archive interlink. The functionality of the device was apparently incredibly simple because it was her magic powering the sanctum and her soul that was bonded to the link. The rest was just trantion.


    The second was amunication beacon.


    Arge stone was ced beside the dais, and anyone could touch the stone and speak with T, so long as she was within a hundred feet of Kit.


    Simrly, there were smaller items that allowed connection to each other and to T through therger stone, though they only worked within the sanctum.


    Themunication with her once again utilized the fact that it was Ts power within Kit, magically bonding it to her.


    The experience was odd from her perspective, because it almost felt like a part of her magic vibrated, near her gate. It took a few minutes before she learned how to understand the wordsing through, but as an Immaterial Guide, she had a better grasp on the movements of her power and the meanings therein.


    While she could also respond, her ability to do so was atrocious.


    In the end, they agreed that she could send back one odd buzzing sound for yes and two for no. This was under the assumption that the mostmon question asked of her would be Can you let me out? or some derivation therein.


    Terry watched the instation and seemed fascinated by the new trinket.


    <em>Why do I feel like Im going to regret some part of this?</em>


    <em>-Because you probably are. Regardless, itll be nice for him to be able to request an exit rather than you having to remember to ask him.-</em>


    <em>Thats true enough.</em>


    T could also use one of the subsidiary devices while within Kit, so shed be able to talk to any of those within fairly easily.


    That was especially good considering that, before learning of this option, she had just been nning on having Kit move her to their side, and she hadnt really thought through how that could end badly.


    <em>Yes, giving some warning would be good, and no need to pop up beside people randomly.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, that could lead to all sorts of awkward situations.-</em>


    What followed after, while they enjoyed their tea, was a general look at the items avable to enhance or augment dimensional storage spaces. Most were useless for Kit, whether they were too weak to affect the vast space in a meaningful way, or Kit already had the functionality.


    Master Simon and T did not look at options for merging items with Kit, simply those which could be ced within the sanctum.


    While she dismissed most of the options presented, and was undecided on most of the rest, one thing became clear to T: she would need to add a grid-node to her sanctum.


    A grid-node would effectively allow any magical technology which worked in cities to hook into the power within Kit instead, thus preventing T from having to create a hodgepodgettice of interconnected inefficiency.


    <em>-Thats an elegant descriptor.-</em>


    <em>It seemed fine to me. The whole thing could be a mess, and it isnt.</em>


    <em>-I suppose thats fair.-</em>


    In the end, they both decided that Master Simon needed to spend a good deal of time within Kit before he could make meaningful rmendations beyond the three items that already made sense.


    Even so, exactly which grid-node would work best in Kit was still not apparent. So, all things considered, the two Mages perusing all the options avable was not an effective use of their time.


    As such, they turned their attention to the other tasks at hand.


    T presented Master Simon with the list of magical items she still had, but didnt have a use for, from the arcanends, and he granted her ess to a list of Archive ess methods avable, which could be used by Mages and mundanes alike.


    They each perused their lists, asking the other asional rifying questions.


    The tes would connect to the grid-node when that was up and running, so they didnt need to be independently powered, long term. Moreover, since T wasnt leaving Bandfast before all of this was settled, they could simply run on the Bandfast grid, so long as T opened Kit for at least an hour every day to allow the power to reach into the space and keep the devices powered.


    In the end, the Constructionist Guild was happy to take the items she offered, and T selected eight robust Archive tes. As neither Master Simon nor Mistress Petra were Refined, they didnt have any bound to them, and those that they used within Bandfast were either borrowed or owned by their employers.


    <em>Well, thats not changing, I suppose.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, these will work long term for anyone within your sanctum.-</em>


    It was that thought which had prompted T to select three more than she strictly needed, just to have backups and to have them avable at need.


    <em>-Probably overkill.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, but if Im wandering the wilds, I would hate to have to head home just because a te broke, and I want to honor mymitment to keep their Archive ess in ce.</em>


    <em>-Thats fair.-</em>


    A key feature that had further influenced her te choice was the ability for the tes to be used by someone without any Archive ess at all. In those cases, the tes would need to be initialized by someone with ess, in which case, they could mirror their ess in whole or in part.


    Basically, T would be able to share limited information even with people who didnt otherwise interface with the Archive.


    <em>Could be useful for trading in the towns, when we go back.</em>


    <em>-Show them what we have, then find a way to more permanently transfer the information over? Yeah, that could work.-</em>


    Alright, Mistress T. Master Simon looked up from his tallies, where hed put together a contract of exchange for them. Right now, there is quite the imbnce. Though these items youve presented for trade are rather basic, they more than cover the cost of what youve selected. Is there anything else that the Constructionist Guild can do for you, today? Or should we discuss mary means of bncing the transaction?


    Well, two thingse to mind that I could use from your guild.


    He smiled invitingly. Certainly, Mistress. What were you thinking?


    First, when I was working in the caravans, I noticed that the Guards had inscribed weaponry that remained unpowered until it interacted with the targeted magical creature.


    Im familiar with that type of spell-form, yes.


    Can they be inscribed for me?


    Im not sure I understand. Can you start by telling me: What beast did you want counter-spells for?


    Oh, they are specific to the arcanous beast?


    He tilted his head for a moment then nodded hesitantly. No, but mostly yes. They are tailored to the specific magics. They do work for those magics on different species, but only so long as the magics they wield are simr enough.


    Oh how many sets are there?


    He chuckled. Do you mean how many different types of arcanous magics have we worked up counter-spell inscription sets for?


    Yes?


    Three hundred? He frowned then looked down at his Archive te before flipping through some information. There are three hundred twelve standard sets, and an additional thousand that caravan guards carry in case they cross those rarer variations. There seems to be a further seven hundred or so that either havent been useful in a century or more, or are not effective enough on the current manifestations of arcanous creatures to be worth creating and having on hand.


    T grimaced. Well, thats less useful.


    What were you thinking of doing, if I may ask?


    She pulled her hauberk out of Kit and held it up. The piece of fitted armor was now fully restored with white steel scales, each filled with gravity alteration, ready to assault her enemies.


    She briefly exined that each scale could be a projectile, and that shed hoped to increase their lethality.


    He took a long moment to digest the implications of what shed conveyed. Once he hade to terms with the reality of the armor-turned-weapon, he shrugged. You could imbed an endingberry in the center?


    She blinked a few times. <em>Genius! But no that wouldnt really work would it?</em>


    <em>-No. It would be highly unstable and not very effective without heavy scripting and modifications.-</em>


    Master Simon was already shaking his head. No, that would be a difficult method to implement I can think on it, but nothinges readily to mind. The scripts you asked about would be an excellent idea if you were waging a war on a specific kind of creature. Maybe for the next Leshkin war?


    T nodded at that. Theres an idea, yeah.


    <em>-Note that forter?-</em>


    <em>Absolutely, yeah.</em>


    The inscriptions are incredibly inexpensive to create. I could bnce out the exchange by crafting three arrows for each of the most useful counter-spell inscriptions?


    T blinked a few times. Thats thats interesting. How many could I get if I wanted one of every type, and a description of exactly what its supposed to counter?


    He looked down at this pad, nodding to himself. One of each should be doable. Its a <em>bit </em>of a stretch, but we can make it happen. He smiled. I know there are a few who will find greater value in the items youre providing because they came from arcanes and that should bnce out the difference.


    <em>What do you think?</em>


    <em>-It could be a good thing to have in our back pocket, just in case. Especially if we are going to be wandering the wilds and beyond.-</em>


    <em>One each isnt </em>really<em> enough</em>


    <em>-Yeah. Ask about five?-</em>


    How much would it cost to increase to five of each?-


    Oh well Hmmm Wed already be setting up for each single inscription, so it wouldnt be five times the cost to make I think we could do it for thirty-two gold?


    Make it thirty and you have a deal.


    He huffed augh. Only if you pay upfront.


    Done.

 Chapter 304: Dimensional Storage, Recovery Artifact

    Chapter 304: Dimensional Storage, Recovery Artifact


    T left the Constructionist Guildhall having concluded her business for the day with Master Simon.


    While there was a lot swirling around in her head, she was rather curious about thest item that Master Simon had brought up.


    A dimensional storage, recovery artifact.


    In essence, if she died it would rocket the pouch to the closest human city.


    <em>Well, thats just one of the more basic versions.</em>


    Most options wouldnt take magical resonance into ount, and thus, they would likely cause all sorts of frustrations for the city defenders for at least a few days, but it <em>would</em> get the dimensional storage to somewhere safe.


    <em>Assuming it is in Zeme when it activates</em>


    Some had countermeasures if the storage was underground when the spell-forms activated. Others could ount for massive volumes of water in the way.


    In the end, the more situations theyd work in, the more expensive, at least generally.


    These recovery items were usually paired with a magical tinter, much like her through-spike, which would draw power from the environmentor the city grid once it arrivedto power the dimensional storage for long enough to retrieve what was inside.


    These mimicries were never <em>perfect,</em> so it would slowly break down anything it was used on, but the damage wasnt permanent, if the Mage it was magic-bound to returned within a reasonable timeframe.


    <em>But if Im dead, Ill never return.</em>


    <em>-And if youre dead it wont be your problem.-</em>


    <em>Thats fair.</em>


    <em>-Also, Im fairly certain that Kit could adapt to a slightly </em>off<em> magical signature.-</em>


    <em>Yeah maybe? Kit is almost as much creature as item in how she works and how responsive she is.</em>


    <em>-Isnt that the truth.-</em>


    As to the recovery items, apparently thebination of transportation and magical tinting was often used when a Mage was hired to gather something of particr importance. The magics would ensure that the retrieved item would make it back to humanity, whether themissioned Mage did or not.


    <em>Its a bit morbid, nning for my own death.</em>


    <em>-Yes, but it makes sense not to take that nice family down with you if you make a foolish choice.-</em>


    <em>Or if something goes wrong.</em>


    <em>-Which do you think more likely?-</em>


    <em>Hush you.</em>


    <em>-So, to keep the family safe, beyond question?-</em>


    <em>Yeah</em> She would consider it. There were also an almost infinite variety of options for the implementation.


    Many were even teleport functions, which were more expensive, and they generally had other problems. <em>Which exins why I thought it simply couldnt be done.</em>


    <em>-Well, its highly inadvisable, but still probably worth asking.-</em>


    <em>Sure. Ill do that in a bit.</em>


    The mostmon drawback was that nothing mundane, and nothing alive, would endure the teleport. On the plus side, such a method wouldnt bring a tide of beasts in its wake.


    <em>Well, if Im dead, thats not my problem either?</em>


    t snorted. <em>-I mean, you arent wrong, but it still seems a bit inconsiderate.-</em>


    T grunted. <em>Theyll have all my stuff to pay for any damages caused.</em>


    <em>-True you dont want anything to go to your siblings?-</em>


    <em>I mean maybe? I hadnt really considered it.</em>


    <em>-Most Magesand almost all Archonsset up a will, you know.-</em>


    <em>Of course I know I</em>


    Her magic, near her gate, vibrated with an inquisitive squawk.


    T grimaced. Oh, thats going to take some getting used to.


    She opened Kit, and Terry flickered out to her shoulder.


    As he perched there, he fluffed his feathers up proudly.


    Yes, you are very clever.


    He bopped the top of her head.


    Oh! I wasnt being sarcastic.


    He trilled irritatedly.


    Fine, I was being a little bit sarcastic, but you are quite clever.


    He shimmied down into ce and huffed contentedly.


    Im d that you can ask toe out.


    Terry chirped happily, and they continued on their way, together.


    The next two days passed quickly, and T found herself back at the Constructionist Guild for two purposes.


    First, Master Simon was putting thest of his work things into Kit, and it was simply easier for her toe to him.


    Second, her sheath was to be finished by this point.


    Master Simon met her in the entry hall and led her back to his workroom. There was very little left in the space, save the furniture which seemed to belong to the guild.


    One thing was new, however. It was clearly out of ce, and it positively radiated unattuned power.


    The odd of precious metals rested to one side on the main worktable, beside a simple, mundane, wooden box.


    Whats that? She pointed directly at the small.


    That is avable to you, if you desire it. Master Simon didnt even nce at it, indicating that hed expected the question.


    <em>What kind of prepared answer is that?</em>


    -<em>Clearly a hesitant one? He does seem to be avoiding the item just a bit.-</em>


    T sighed, shaking her head. That doesnt answer the question.


    It is a dimensional storage retrieval mechanism. If you agree, it will meld with the outside of your pouch, and if you diein this case this would require your soul moving on to the next worldyour sanctum will be transported back to this guildhall.


    She gave him an incredulous look. That has to be incredibly expensive. Why under the stars would this be offered to me? Does ite with a price tag?


    Now? No, but it does have one.


    She arched an eyebrow but waited for him to continue.


    He finally turned to face her and the item. The Constructionist Guild would be the owners of your sanctum and all its contents upon your demise.


    T opened her mouth to object but found herself hesitating.


    All things considered, it was a very reasonable offer.


    Kit was, possibly, entirely unique in the world, though the arcanes may have something <em>like</em> Ts sanctum. No two living creatures were ever exactly identical, even identical twins diverged.


    And Kits value was even greater when considering all that she contained.


    Still, everything in her sanctum? That was a lot. <em>That is an obscene cost that Ill never have to pay?</em>


    <em>-Yeah It makes sense for them, because the value of what youve got in Kit is many, </em>many <em>times the cost of even something like this.- </em>t hesitated. <em>-Well, actually, I have no idea what something like this would cost.-</em>


    T shook her head slowly. How long would the agreementst? What are the implications that I am not aware of?


    Master Simon nodded. The agreement wouldst until you have soul-bound your sanctum. At that point, this artifact wouldnt be able to move it. If you wanted something to this affect at that time, it would require an utterly different type of item. Its not easy to gain ess to, and breach, an untethered dimensional space after all.


    I thought that dimensional storage items couldnt be teleported? Even if it worked, wouldnt it cause all sorts of damage and danger for what and who was inside?


    Yes and no. Excellent questions. The easy answer is: The storage space, the actual sanctum, wouldnt be teleported at all.


    Her frown deepened. If that sort of distinction is enough to get around the difficulty of teleportation, then why Why wouldnt this be used to transport goods or people?


    He sighed, shaking his head. Well, I was informed that if you asked that, I was to tell you something that is outside my understanding,


    T cocked her head to one side. <em>What the rust?</em>


    <em>-Something beyond hisprehension? Hes been working for a top guild member for years. What on zeme could this-</em>


    Master Simon continued without pause, and if you have any questions, you should <em>not</em> ask them of me, as that could convey information that I am not ready for. He grimaced at thest. Are you ready to hear it?


    She gave a half smile, pulled out of her internal musings. Well, you had my curiosity, but now you have my attention.


    Good, because I can only say it once. Master Grediv assured those who gave me these words that you were knowledgeable around the topic, whatever it is, but they were skeptical.


    Youre building it up too much, Master Simon.


    My apologies. He bowed slightly, then pulled his te in front of him, clearly reading it exactly. These magics would act directly on the fragment that is your sanctums anchor. The threads follow the node. It isand can only ever bea single use addition, though it can theoretically be re-made and re-applied. Finally, the magics involved make it a near straight trade in value for the items and knowledge that Master Xeel knows are within. He was consulted before this offer was solidified, and he rmends you ept, as does Master Grediv.


    T had paled. <em>Direct maniption of the nodes of reality again?</em>


    <em>-That does seem to be the cornerstone of higher magics.-</em>


    <em>Clearly, but it also seems like it doesnt usuallye into ce until Archons achieve Paragon.</em>


    <em>-Viewing everything from a next world mindset? Could that factor in?-</em>


    <em>That might be part of it. What if that advice is more see things as they really are than dont sweat the small stuff?</em>


    <em>-I never thought it was meant in the vein of dont sweat the small stuff.-</em>


    <em>You know what I mean.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, I do.- </em>t sighed. -<em>Its probably a mix?-</em>


    <em>Also, what the rust, Master Xeel? Did he go snooping through the whole sanctum?</em>


    <em>-Well, we basically admitted to bringing taboo and forbidden weapons of war back with us. Are we surprised that they checked to see if we were hiding even more unconventional things?-</em>


    <em>I suppose not wait the value of that is a </em>straight trade<em> for the value of everything in Kit?</em>


    <em>-Thats what they said, yes.-</em>


    <em>They know I have Io in there. That automaton should be utterly unique what under the stars went into creating such an item!?</em>


    <em>-Well, we can ask Master Xeel if we ever see him again.-</em>


    <em>Yeah we arent allowed to ask Master Simon.</em>


    Master Simon had just looked up from the te, a clearck of understanding evident in his features. My apologies if thats not helpful. I mean, I understand the bits about it being <em>really</em> expensive. He chuckled. I saw your sanctum, and Im sure I didnt even get to see the best parts. For something to match your sanctum in value?


    T nodded absently, still considering.


    After a middling pause, he cleared his throat. If I may be so bold?


    She nced his way and saw how nervous he looked. Speak your mind, Master Simon. Ideally, well be working together for a while, and Id rather you speak when you have something to say.


    He nodded. Thank you, Mistress. He swallowed, then continued. I know it is poor form to try to sway a Mage on their bound items, but it would be a greatfort to myself and Mistress Petra if you were to agree to take this item. We know the risks, and we are willing to ept them regardless of what you decide. Nothing is free in this world, nowhere is fully safe, and these risks are worth the rewards, even with you being out of the cities much of the time.


    He was clearly rambling, but T didnt interrupt. <em>Let him get it out.</em>


    Having a fallback, in case the worst should happen He shook his head. I know that I could be out of the sanctum when you die, if you die. Our agreement means that I maye out to assist you in dangerous ces, and this would strand me. But but it would safeguard my family and remove any concern for their well-being from either of our minds.


    T found herself nodding. That does make sense. Will it work anywhere? Or will I have to be careful if I enter an ether hold, orshe stopped herself before adding on a list of things that Master Simon likely shouldnt know about"the like?


    They said that it would return the dimensional storage to the appointed ce from anywhere, in reality or otherwise. He clearly didnt really know what that meant.


    I mean, alright. Are there any implications or restrictions on Kit?


    Your sanctum will not be negatively affected. You will have to provide a bit more power to Kit than you would otherwise, but it will simply pull from the grid-node that we will install in theing weeks. Until then, it will pull from the city.


    T thought about it before nodding. Im open to the idea, Im even leaning towards eptance, but I want to think on it a bit more, first. Is that alright?


    Absolutely. He ced the item in a small, mundane chest and closed the lid, seeming grateful to have it stored away.


    After that, they basically tossed the remaining items through Kits door, and they were done.


    Well, Ill see you on the inside I suppose. He smiled and bowed.


    Yeah. Enjoy your research!


    His wife was already at work within Kit, and it wasnt a school day, so Metti, Segis, and Karsa had joined their mother.


    Without waiting longer, Master Simon stepped into Kit, joining his family.


    The door shrunk, and T ced the pouch on her belt.


    That left her alone in an emptied research workshop.


    It was odd to feel the haunting quality of a room that was intended to be filled with activity, now empty.


    There were a few odds and ends that Master Simon had collected into a box on one of the tables, along with the box containing the recovery.


    <em>Not now. He left it here, so it must be safe enough in this room. Either way, its not my responsibility.</em>


    <em>-Sure, sure. I do agree with you. Its a good idea to take it.-</em>


    <em>Yeah. Even so, I want to ruminate for a bit. I want to make sure Im not rushing into anything.</em>


    <em>-who are you?-</em>


    <em>Hush, you. Thats not very nice.</em>


    <em>-Alright, alright. I suppose Im d that youre taking a careful approach.-</em>


    T scanned the room onest time with her eyes.


    There wasnt dust or debris; it had obviously been well taken care of, and even if she hadnt helped with the final move-out, it was obvious that the current state was recent.


    The atmosphere of the ce was just odd.


    <em>And, lets go!</em>


    A few minutester, she knocked on the door to Mistress Airims workshop, and the woman called from within, Come in!


    T opened the door and stepped inside. Hello, Mistress Airim. I trust that the day is treating you well?


    The woman didnt turn around as she let out a huff. You trust Ive finished your sheath, you mean.


    T felt a smile pull at the side of her mouth. That too, yes.


    Well, I both finished your sheath, and Ive been having a good day, thank you. She waved her hand. Its there.


    T looked around and easily saw one table cleared of the otherwise-pervasive clutter, set up just inside the door to the left.


    It was barely inside the workshop, so she shouldnt expose herself to any deeper scans than shed been subject tost time she visited Mistress Airim


    In the center of the mostly empty tabley a sheath of truly <em>massive</em> proportions. <em>How did I miss seeing that when I came in? </em>What is this?


    A sheath. Is that not why you are here?


    T walked over and looked more closely at the sheath-like-object that was as long as she was tall and half as wide as the table. It was a construction that looked more woven than forged, and it was a purposely uneven weave of numerous precious metals, inteced to make the artifacts spellform. Whats with the sizing?


    Mistress Airim still didnt turn away from whatever she was working on. Its a perfectly normal size.


    T drew Flow, pushing it into its sword form and holding it up. Then what is this? A sword for ants? My weapon would have to be at least three times bigger than this in order to not just fall inside like its a box.


    Finally, the constructionist turned around, her eyes taking in the sheath on the table. What are you talking aGah! She looked genuinely startled. Well, that is bigger than it was a bit ago, or than is standard.


    Is it this odd size because its a morphic sheath?


    Well, yes. They change all over the ce until bound to a weapon, but that is that is a bit unusually big. Quite a bit outside the standard, but I suppose not actually outside of possibility. She shrugged.


    Even as they were talking, the sheath began to shrink, but somehow lengthened as well. Now, it looked like it was sized for a normal width sword, but one that was extended to be a full seventy-three inches long and slightly curved.


    T gestured at the sheath.


    Why do you need this extreme range of shapes? See? Who could even wield a weapon like that?


    I dont know, some long-haired, pretentious moron who thinks himself worthy of judging others? But morphic is morphic. The only limit is power.


    Thats a highly specific example?


    Thats the fun of making things up when you dont know what youre talking about. You can be ridiculously specific and no one can gainsay you.


    Sure.


    In any case, sheathe your weapon, and it will bond. That will fix its size and shape to your weapon.


    T shrugged, pushing Flow into the ill-fitting sheath. There was a magical pulse, and the intricate interweave of metals began to flow and rippled throughout the sheath along with waves of power.


    The metal pulled inward, contracting the massive construction as it tightened to perfectly fit Flows sword form.


    T felt a momentary surge of magical need from the weapon as it fed the sheath, and she didnt interfere with the draw.


    The increased pull calmed down shortly after.


    Flow now had a perfectly fitted sheath that was <em>incredibly</em> thin, looking more like metallic paint on the de than a sheath.


    Of course, Flow didnt <em>have</em> a de in its sword form, but the wire in the shape of a de was nowpletely hidden. The sheath also extended around the crossguard, locking itself in ce.


    T somehow knew that it would only take a thought to release that, but she didnt need to remove the sheath at the moment.


    She moved Flow through its other shapes, and the sheath altered seamlessly to match, only requiring a whisper of power to modify its shape.


    May I test the defusing properties?


    Of course. Target that empty table, please.


    T nodded, pushing Flow back into sword-shape. With a practiced motion, T brought Flow down on the tabletop with incredible power.


    An explosion of force radiated outward from the impact, and the tiles on which the table rested cracked, releasing puffs of dust and magic.


    <em>Tough table.</em>


    <em>-Magically reinforced.-</em>


    <em>Clearly.</em>


    She watched the tiles repair themselves, lifting the table a bit as they reshaped.


    <em>And a self-repairing floor?</em>


    <em>-She knows what shes about, it seems.-</em>


    Well, Mistress T? Are you satisfied? The constructionist had a self-satisfied smiled,pletely confident in her product.


    With a shrug, T hung the new sheath from her belt, tucking the old one into Kit. It looks good, thank you.

 Chapter 305: Finally!

    Chapter 305: Finally!


    T felt like the next days passed in a blur as she continued with her slowly increasing training, spent time with friends, and allowed the researchers in and out of her sanctum every so often.


    The teleporter still didnt work from within Kit, despite them trying a dozen variations, and theyd recently reached the end of their ideas. It wasnt impossible, they were sure, but they needed to do more in depth research into the fundamentals of the process. Master Simons own work and study was now being fed to them as well, and that was sufficient for them to pair with their tests on the outside.


    By the time she returned from Marliweather, theyd have another version or two ready to test.


    Overall it barely felt like any time had passed, and yet, she was currently making her way to Mistress Hollys workshop for her final set of tests.


    <em>And hopefully Ill be cleared for regr activity! </em>She felt whole and unbroken, strong and unmarred by imperfections.


    <em>-Ahh, yes. To spar again and taste the gritty wonder that is sand.-</em>


    <em>I dont think any of my previous sparring partners will push me to that.</em>


    <em>-Terry.-</em>


    T hesitated. <em>That will be a much more interesting fight now.</em>


    <em>-Yes. Interesting.-</em>


    She was actually looking forward to sparring with Terry again. <em>Rane too, and Master Cazor if possible. Theres lots for us to test as well, now that my power isnt pulling my body apart from within.</em>


    Despite those somewhat dark thoughts, T smiled contentedly, thinking back over what had urred over the past nine days.


    Master Simons research had barely begun, but hed been able to give a solid rmendation on which grid-node to install within Kit, and theyd aplished that with little difficulty.


    Additionally, T had agreed to have the installed onto the outside of Kit.


    It was a fascinating branch of magical construction. It was effectively being magic-bound to Kit, rather than merged with it. As such, it could be reused for a different dimensional storage, in the likely case that T didnt die before soul-bonding Kit.


    She was really d for that, as the magics involved were actually beyond humanity to recreate, and only were actualized through the carefulbination of several <em>very</em> elusive harvests. The rarity of the parts, along with the difficulty of proper construction, meant that there was no way T would have been able to get such a creation if shed been forced to pay for it.


    Now, however, she wouldnt have to temper her actions because she had civilians within Kit.


    <em>Id have had to live a pretty boring life, if I took them into full ount, and they were counting on me to stay safe.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, and I think your story would have been over, if youd been forced into such a change.-</em>


    <em>I probably wouldnt have died of boredom, but it would have been a near thing.</em>


    Aside from her feeling that it relieved her conscience of the weight of three childrens safety, T had spoken to Mistress Odera, Lyn, and even Mistress Holly, and all three had rmended she do so.


    Since the teleporter wasnt possible in the short term, it just made sense.


    While Master Simons family wouldnt be in as much danger as many in their world when traveling with her, they wouldnt be safe by any means, and this little amodation cost her literally nothing.


    It had been incorporated without a hitch, beyond T watching closely and mentally insisting that Kit <em>not</em> eat the artifact as it tightened and sunk into ce.


    Kit had even seemed content? That wasnt right, but the pouch had epted the mesh integrating with her exterior without a whisper of resistance.


    If shed still been in the arcanends, T might have been concerned about a plot to kill her and take Kit, but honestly, anyone who could arrange for her death could just take her stuff if they wanted. There was also the fact that while Kit would return and be maintained for the short term, it wouldntst very long in the grand scheme of things.


    Thus, those who <em>might</em> have been most inclined to try to get ess to Kit would lose out in the end, as opposed to simply asking to study what she had, which she had allowed Mistress Ingrit to offer.


    There had been some cursory inquiries, but nothing truly concrete, yet.


    But that was getting off into the weeds.


    With those two additions, the modifications of Kits magic werepleted for the near-term.


    Mistress Petra and Master Simon had brought in raw materials, and T had taken a couple of hours to help manipte them into ce to fashion the beginnings of a living space for the family.


    Kit did all of the work, but T still had to give themands.


    Beyond that, the teacher from the Culinary Guild came and went, spending nearly all of four days with the Mage and leaving Mistress Petra much better versed in the preparation of dishes, while maintaining their magical conveyance.


    Per their agreement, Mistress Petra had recorded all the specific insights provided toward the creation of food for T. That way, when the woman left the position, her recement would at least have a ce to start.


    <em>Whether that is in a year or a century, she wont be my cook forever.</em>


    T slowly allowed the increase of the proportion of magic in her food until the harvests from her sanctum were the sole source of the ingredients made into food for her.


    Kit was rather amodating, though she didnt allow Mistress Petra to make requests directly.


    <em>-You are anthropomorphizing Kit, again.-</em>


    <em>Well, Kit acts like she has a personality.</em>


    <em>-All thats happening is Mistress Petra is sending us a message with the raw ingredients that she needs, and we wish for her to have them. Kit does what she does, and the harvests arrive.-</em>


    Kit could move anything within her to anywhere else. She could also exert <em>slight</em> force, such as pulling a berry from a stem, or a leaf from a nt, but she could not process the harvests.


    Mistress Petra still had to kill and butcher the animals as needed, processing the meat to lock in the magics imbued within, ording to the methods of the Culinary Guild.


    Honestly, the results were surprisingly effective.


    T was able topare what she saw with some memories, and it seemed like the Culinary method was at least as efficient at trapping the power within the harvests as the arcane methods.


    <em>I suppose the cooks have been working at this for a </em>long<em> time and with very few resources. They learned to be efficient.</em>


    -<em>And now that they have Magesing in to build on their theoretical foundations? Its no wonder that there have been massive leaps in methodology even in just a year.-</em>


    <em>It makes Mistress Ingrits position on knowledge more understandable.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, imagine what we could do as a species if we didnt hold back any secrets and strove toward amon goal?-</em>


    T smiled to herself. <em>But then, would we really be humans anymore?</em>


    t snorted in amusement. <em>-To be human is to strive for self-improvement and advancement.-</em>


    <em>But to continue, we need each other, and we must serve one another as if we were one and the same.</em>


    T gasped, almost missing a step as her soul resonated with the sentiment.


    <em>-What?-</em>


    <em>I think did we just take a step towards Paragon? </em>They examined their aura and sure enough, there was the barest hint of green in the otherwise pure yellow.


    <em>-Id estimate a hundredth of one percent of the way?-</em>


    T smiled. <em>Still, thats something. We werent even striving. We were just</em> Her eyes widened. <em>We were just discussing how our society has been set up to operate and why it makes sense Do you think?</em>


    <em>-It makes sense that a society built and maintained by Paragonsand those even more advancedwould reflect at least some of the insights required to reach that level of advancement.-</em>


    When said like that, it was almost insultingly obvious. <em>So does that mean we need to study civics?</em>


    She was not keen on the idea.


    t didnt have any more idea than T did, whether or not it would be helpful. Theyd ask Master Gredivter. Mistress Holly had proven that shed not say more about advancement than she already had.


    With nothing more to consider in that vein for the moment, T turned her thoughts to whaty just ahead. <em>I have nothing else keeping me from visiting my family.</em>


    <em>-Assuming these tests go well.-</em>


    <em>Yes, but they will</em>. T could feel it.


    She was more connected to her physical body than ever, and it was more in tune with her magics than shed have thought possible, even just a few months ago.


    Her natural magical pathways were perfect reflections of her inscriptions, not being the same but creating identical effects, and her inscriptions seemed to be functioning with an entirely new smoothness.


    Honestly, T had never noticed anytency or roughness in how her power flowed through her spell-forms, but now? Now, it felt like shed been running with one leg shorter than the other for years, and they were now the same length.


    <em>-Thats thats an odd analogy.-</em>


    <em>Yeah not the best Its like wearing homespun clothing my whole life, but now, someone has gifted me perfectly fitted silks?</em>


    <em>-Yeah, thats a bit clearer. I feel like Ive been utterly remade, though I felt some of that immediately. Its just clearer now.-</em>


    <em>It does seem like it.</em> From their investigations into their natural pathways, they both believed that t would now continue, even if T lost all of her inscriptions. She would be lessened, and it would need to be corrected, but t would no longer vanish until the inscriptions were restored.


    All of her magics had been set deeply in ce, seemingly like T had been using them for decades or centuries, rather than less than two years.


    <em>I still cant believe I didnt set a record</em>


    <em>-Well, Betty the Blessed wasnt named that for nothing.-</em>


    <em>Too bad we cant find out what happened to her.</em>


    <em>-We may one day. She did always say she wanted to explore beyond Zeme. She could be out there, now, trying to find a way back.-</em>


    <em>Or she could be a Transcendent and have forged a new humanity on some distant world.</em>


    T actually felt some hope in that. Even if the worst happened, even if Zeme shattered, or humanity fell here, they wouldnt find their end as a species.


    Humanity would live on.


    T nced at her own aura out of the corner of her vision.


    -<em>No advancement. Youre trying too hard.-</em>


    <em>Fine</em>


    Betty wasnt the only Mage who had beaten T in the speed of her advancement, but there werent many, only a couple of dozen in recorded history, and none in thest few centuries. Thousands had been just barely slower, but again, most of them were from the centuries just after the advent of gates within humanity.


    <em>Those early years must have been truly brutal.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, advance fast or die trying.-</em>


    In the end, the tests with Mistress Holly went exactly as well and uneventfully as T had expected, and the following morning, T was cleared to act without restriction.


    Mistress Holly did implore her to act with caution, but that was more a general injunction than a statement that T needed to take it easy for any reason.


    <em>FINALLY!</em> T was so exuberant that she had practically exploded out of the warehouse.


    Mistress Holly had simply granted T and t ess to the results and bid T farewell with a rueful smile.


    Shed already secured a promise from T to returnter for a demonstration of her reinscriber.


    -<em>This is impressive, T.-</em> The alternate interface was clearly going over the results.<em> -Do you want to know the numbers?-</em>


    Tughed as she jogged down the mostly cleared roads. The first true thaw of spring was still a little ways away, but the sun was definitely melting more of the snow each day than it had even a week earlier. <em>Not a chance. Im not falling into that trap. Ill test myself and learn my new limits by more practical means.</em>


    <em>-That sounds wonderful! Rane said hed reserve a training area for us, he shared the location. Take the next right turn.-</em>


    T barely kept to a reasonable pace as she followed ts directions to the indicated arena.


    She rushed past the attendant, barely acknowledging the young man, thanking him, and conveying who she was.


    He didnt try to stop her or direct her as she clearly knew where she was headed.


    She pushed open the doors into the massive, sand-floored space, and they mmed back against the walls despite each of them weighing as much as a few people.


    T felt a bit abashed at the too-forceful entry. <em>Well, strength test, I guess?</em>


    The doors began to swing shut, partially due to rebound and partially because they were bnced to rest closed.


    Rane stood in the center of the space, dressed in only his exercise shorts, Force drawn, his stance firm and his features filled with anticipation.


    He wasnt any more muscr than before, but something about his physique seemed more <em>solid</em>, like the muscles he had contained more strength. No need to wait. Lets get to it.


    T grinned, a surge of jubtion building to a crescendo within her.


    Flow <em>snicked</em> into her hand, sparring sheath firmly woven around the sword de and guard.


    She bent low into a runners crouch and at the moment the doors crashed shut behind her, she pushed off with all of her new found power.


    The sand vanished from beneath where shed been standing as the immense pressure shed exertedalong with the surface area increasing scripts on the bottoms of her feethad temporarily locked arge section of it together, even as the force threw the chunk back against the doors, burying them and sealing the exit.


    If shed remained in ce, shed have fallen a good four feet down into a hole wider than she was tall, but she wasnt still in the same ce.


    Ranes eyes didnt even have time to widen in surprise before Flow struck Force.


    T hadnt aimed for his weapon, but it was there to block her regardless.


    She had aimed for the left side of his back with a wrapping strike, and hed brought Force around to align with his side and parry the blow.


    The impact sent out a wave of power that forced ripples into the sand as it resonated through the room.


    <em>He must have moved on pure instinct to block that strike.</em>


    <em>-Or his perception has increased?-</em>


    <em>Maybe, but hes only now showing cognizant surprise.</em>


    Ranes lips parted, and he pulled in startled breath as he punched her with his off hand.


    The blow hit her shoulder like a charging bull, but Ts stance was firm, and she wanted to test her own durability.


    It didnt hurt even a whisper, feeling much like a strong poke would have when she was a student at the Academy.


    Even so, there was a <em>lot </em>of strength behind the blow.


    The power of the hit was transferred through her body and into the ground by way of her back foot, and there was enough force to drive that nted foot nearly six inches downward, creating arge circr depression because of her inscriptions.


    The downward force alsopacted the sand around the depression, and that exploded inward when the pressure had passed, still resulting in her leg being showered with chunks of up to her knee, many of which stuck even if only temporarily.


    Despite being slightly off bnce, she ripped her back foot up and kicked at his legs even as she rolled backward to get her feet back under her.


    He jumped over her attack, and an instantter, a series of <em>cracks</em> resounded through the arena.


    Many of them seemed to have been from some of the clumps of sand that shed carried with the kick tearing through the air, but some were from the stone of the wall behind Rane.


    The sound was so unexpected that they both paused and turned to look, seeing a series of small craters in the wall behind Rane. They were in a nearly perfect line, along the arc of her kick.


    <em>What?</em>


    They exchanged a look, and tacitly came to a silent agreement.


    They let their weapons fall to hang by their sides, still in hand but not in any sort of fighting cement. Together, they walked over to inspect the wall.


    In the center of each little crater were the remnants of a cluster of sand.


    Rane looked at her, aghast. What did you do?


    Nothing! I just tried to kick you. Somepacted sand must havee along for the ride and been thrown off.


    The little craters werent deep, but they were there, surrounded by little cracks.


    Will that be repaired? T was a bit hesitant. <em>Do I have to pay for that?</em>


    Rane shrugged. I think so? They have a stone Mage whoes through and enacts repairs, but anything substantial is an additional charge. Seeing Ts face, he quickly added. This <em>shouldnt</em> be sufficient to necessitate that.


    T frowned. Even so, thats irritating. Isnt this room meant for high-level Archons?


    Well, yes and no? I told them we would be mainly fighting in melee, and that might have influenced the arena they gave me


    She snorted augh. Well, it seems like we might need somewhere sturdier to fight.


    So it would seem.


    An hourter, they stood facing each other in a slightly smaller arena. The floor was still sand, but they werepletely surrounded by a feeling of power.


    Theyd had to dig themselves out of the previous room because T had buried the door in sand. Then, theyd had to track down an attendant with the authority to grant them ess to the higher rated training rooms.


    This one seemed like it would do nicely.


    The stone of the room was actively reinforced with inset magics, powered by the city grid.


    They had been assured that this room was at least as sturdy as the outer city wall.


    The two of them could probably break the walls if that was their aim, but they should hold up to ncing strikes, or the spill over from their shes.


    Ready, T?


    Absolutely.


    He struck first this time.


    Force moved almostzily from her perspective, even as the air distorted around it from being forciblypressed.


    <em>Where did he get this much physical power?</em> She pushed off to shift herself out of the line of attack, even while she thrust forward with Flow, pushing her weapon into the form of a ive.


    Force <em>changed direction</em> mid-swing, knocking Flow aside.


    <em>What the rust?</em>


    There had been a trickle of power surrounding Rane as the change had urred.


    <em>No, not physical power. Hes augmenting his movements somehow.</em>


    They exchanged a startlingly quick series of strikes, and that trickle of power never manifested again.


    T slowly drove Rane backward, across the arena throughout the sh, and she began to frown in growing frustration.


    T had always overshadowed Rane in sheer physical might, and even speed, but he had, overall, been her match due to his better foundation in the fighting arts and his magically enforced defenses.


    His defenses still stood, but T had closed the gap in regard to technique.


    More than that, in that area she had surpassed him.


    He was still a master with his de, easily showing as great proficiency as any his age could hope to achieve, but T had a second lifetime of experience to draw on, and far<em> far</em> more brutal teachers and experiences to solidify her foundation, even if at least some of them hadnt actually happened.


    When handling Talis memories, T had discarded everything false, with the sole exception of leaving the foundations for her martial training. In that way, she didnt have any of the memories, but she still had the mindset that Be-thric had instilled on which to build Talis fighting ability.


    More importantly, as shed noticed before, Ranes style was designed and tested against creaturesrger and stronger than himself. He was built and trained to fight arcanous beasts.


    T was trained to kill <em>men</em>.


    Unless something changed, there was no possibility of Rane matching her for longer than a handful of moments.


    She couldnt fully grasp how disappointing that was to her, and she knew that she would not be able to continue if this kept up. Obviously, her disappointment was clear in her expression and her actions.


    Still, she saw a smile tug at Ranes lips as he was backed almost all the way to the far wall.


    The next instant, <em>everything</em> changed.


    Rane shifted stances from one reminiscent of the city or caravan guards to one that was more casual? He suddenly seemed like an artist, critically examining a nk canvas.


    Force deflected Flow, but as the weapons met, Flow was sent off in apletely nonsensical direction, the forces applied were almostbut not quiteperpendicr to the direction they should have been directed.


    The unexpected jerk pulled her off bnce for a fraction of a second, and Rane capitalized on it, punching her shoulder again.


    She instinctively braced just as she had before, but his punch somehow <em>pulled</em> with as much force as it should have pushed with.


    She was jerked forward, right into the path of follow-up swing. Forces edge sent out ripples through the air as it ripped towards her.


    <em>Hes actively manipting the kic energy and momentum of whatever he hits.</em>


    <em>-Thats a level of control and a use of his magics that weve never seen before.-</em>


    <em>It really is.</em> A smile pulled at Ts lips.


    This, this would be a challenge.


    Even as she moved to counter this most recent attack, her smile only grew.

 Chapter 306: Goodbyes

    Chapter 306: Goodbyes


    T grumbled even as she and Rane walked out of the arena.


    Itspletely unfair that you dont have to contest my aura in order to manipte the kic energy when we sh.


    Rane huffed augh. How many times do I have to exin it to you? I alter the vectors while they are imparted. Youd have to ovee <em>my</em> aura to prevent it from happening.


    She grunted. He had told her dozens of times. Shed even managed to do it asionally while they fought, but she still didnt like it. Its stillpletely unfair.


    Truthfully, T knew that she could have beaten him in a real battle. Rust, even in a truly intense sparring session, she would be able to achieve victory. She hadnt even relied on her Way of Flowing Blood in their fight.


    That said, she also wanted to be able to spar against Rane in theing years in Alefast, and no one enjoyed being crushed in a conflict. <em>Maybe next time</em>


    Even so, his ability to manipte kic energy upon impartment was difficult to deal with. <em>Definitely next time. I want to make sure I actually can beat it under sparring rules.</em>


    He shook his head. Ill buy you breakfast as an apology?


    T sighed. No Mistress Petras cooking is much better, and I think I want to be eating that exclusively.


    Rane gave her a startled look. Are you alright? Did my magics affect you that much?


    What?


    Youre turning down food.


    She red. Thats not very nice.


    A small smile pulled at the side of his mouth. urate though.


    She huffed but didnt have anything else to say.


    You know, you can eat more than one meal. Ive seen you do it before.


    That is true, but somehow the food with my magic imbued within it is more filling. As Mistress Petra gets better at maintaining the magical content it bes even more so.


    Huh, I hadnt thought that would be the case. Rane looked away, then gave her a side-eyed nce. Does she have anything that I could eat?


    A smile tugged at Ts own lips. Nothing magical, but maybe mundane. Ill check. She pulled Kit open, willing the internal side toe into being near the other woman. Mistress Petra?


    The calm voice of someone who was obviously in the middle of something came back in response, Yes, Mistress T?


    Would it be possible to get a meal for my friend, when mine is ready?


    You missed your breakfast, Mistress T. I have that ready, now. I can have something ready for your friend too, in under ten minutes.


    T felt a bit shell shocked. <em>I missed breakfast?</em>


    She thought back on it, and yes, she had.


    She had gone straight from Mistress Hollys workshop to the arena.


    T hadnt thought about food at all, since shed been so excited to test herself that she hadnt considered anything else.


    Yes, that would be wonderful, thank you.


    Happy to be of assistance.


    T closed the pouch and nced toward Rane, seeing a truly concerned look. I was joking before, but <em>are</em> you okay? I dont know that Ive ever seen you miss a meal when you were conscious enough to eat it.


    She grimaced. Im not <em>that</em> food oriented.


    He opened his mouth, then closed it and shook his head. If you say so, I suppose.


    They found a nearby parkas neither of them were really bothered by the coldand waited for their meals to be ready.


    Instead of filling the time with inane chatter, T and Rane simply enjoyed the silent stillness of a walking-park in midmorning, and didnt speak even after theyd found a nice bench on which to break their fast.


    A few minutester, Rane turned to regard her. So, youre leaving for Marliweather tomorrow?


    She nodded. She hadnt been circumspect about her ns. I need to see my family, now that Im back.


    Youll be there for what? A month or two?


    Something like that. It will depend on how things go. Plus theres the travel there and back, but that shouldnt take me too long.


    He nodded. I can understand that. Family can beplicated.


    She grunted in return, remembering her two interactions with his older brother.


    What about after? Do you have any concrete ns?


    She shrugged. I was thinking of spending the Waning in Alefast: see what thats like, help out how I can, learn what Im able.


    Rane chuckled. That makes it sound like a holiday or festival instead of something that most sane people avoid.


    She grinned in return. Well, I wont im to be sane from a mundane perspective. For me? It might be a sort of holiday.


    Thats a long holiday. I think its supposed to be a bit more than twenty years until the Waning is finished.


    That was true. She would be almost twice as old as she was now, when the Waning wasplete. Still better than waiting nearly fifty years to watch Makinavens Waning.


    Yeah, and forest cities experience it differently.


    Not to mention me and the southern forests dont exactly mix well.


    Thats the truth. He quirked a smile.


    All that to say, Im not fully decided, but I do think Ill be moving over to Alefast, Waning.


    He nodded in understanding and didnt interject again. He had already known that this was something that shed been considering. So, she hadnt expected it to be a surprise.


    Even so, shed never told him or Lyn that shed made a final decision.


    This was mainly because she hadnt.


    <em>-Yes you have. You just wont admit it because such a longmitment is scary.-</em>


    <em>Hush, you.</em>


    <em>-Master Nadro says you need to be more honest with yourself.-</em>


    T ignored that, waiting for Rane toment further, and when he didnt, she continued, While based in Alefastif I go that wayIll probably explore some, rather than just sitting behind the walls, but I definitely want to experience the Waning at various stages.


    <em>If we do go, then maybe we can snag Artia, Adrill, and Brandon to aid in research?</em>


    <em>-Yes, if. They might be interested, once the Waning reaches its end.-</em>


    Rane nodded. I understand its an interesting process, one you have to see to truly understand. There are far worse ways to spend the time, all things considered.


    Yeah, Ive heard the same.


    She felt a vibration within her power and opened Kit. Mistress Petra?


    Here you are. The womans voice was cheerful and weing.


    Oh! Thank you.


    Two trays were passed out, one obviously for T, the other for Rane.


    Thank you, Mistress Petra.


    Youre wee, Mistress T. Are you in a ce where we can exit?


    Yes. T set Kit on the ground, and she grew upwards into a door, which almost immediately opened to let the family out.


    It was a bit earlier than theyd agreed, but the family each had people to see and ces to go as a final goodbye in this city. There was no reason for T to force them to stay around.


    Mistress Petra smiled, Your lunch is already prepared. You should be able to grab it at your leisure.


    Thank you.


    The older ones bowed to T and Rane, and Metti waved vigorously, before they headed off to do what they had nned.


    With the family departed, T and Rane turned back to their breakfast.


    Ts tray was loaded with at least four times the amount of food as Ranes, and every bit of it was <em>packed</em> with power.


    Rane gave her food a skeptical look before focusing on his own with a bit of confusion. Wait, this tray is an artifact?


    She smiled. The arcanes didnt give me the items to host arge group, but my sanctum is packed with random conveniences.


    Like trays that maintain the temperature of every part of everything they hold, independently?


    Well, you dont want your fruit or creme to get warm inside the crepe before you get to it, do you?


    I He shook his head. I cant say Ive ever considered that as a problem to be solved, but I suppose not.


    Thats right you dont. She smiled. And when I am eating this much, I can tell you: It is frustrating to the extreme to have much of what I eate to a homogenous temperature before I get to it.


    Rane nodded at that. I can actually see that, yeah. Room temperature food, unless its supposed to be that way, is often pretty gross.


    Hence, trays.


    And multiple because you often need more food than can fit on one tray?


    She huffed augh. Well, <em>yes</em>, but also redundancy. Whatever I have that they provided, I have enough for me, at least five times over.


    Ranes eyes drifted toward his food.


    T grinned. But enough of that. Lets eat.


    He didnt need any more encouragement than those words.


    They ate their meal in rtive silence, simply enjoying the excellent food and the lovely setting.


    When they finished, T put the trays back into Kit, and they headed toward the guards trainingpound.


    T had been delinquent in addressing this particr group of people.


    She had no obligations to them. The ss that shed been helping Adam with had ended well before shed disappeared, but he was still an acquaintance whom shed not seen since her return.


    There were all sorts of justifications for theck, but in truth, she just hadnt prioritized it.


    <em>If it matters, youll find the time. If it doesnt, youll find an excuse.</em>


    <em>-Thats a little harsh. Sure, the aphorism is true enough under normal circumstances, but your circumstances were hardly normal. Youre only now fully recovered.-</em>


    T grumbled internally but couldnt say that t was wrong.


    Even in the cold weather, they still found the training yard full, as expected.


    They were greeted when they stepped across the invisible dividing line between the yard and the street beside it, and one of those training went to see if Adam was avable.


    He was, and they spent the remainder of the morning briefly catching up.


    There was an oddly ufortable distance between them that had never really existed before.


    They both seemed to be aware that they no longer had any real points ofmonality.


    They also no longer had the caravans as a point of contact and ovepping purpose.


    Due to his experience, Adam seemed to have noticed that T was physically on an entirely different level than she had been before, and even then, shed been able to physically dominate as many guards as they could throw at her.


    Moreover, T could tell by the way he moved thatat least subconsciouslyhe saw her as a threat, which had never been the case before.


    Obviously, Adam knew she wasnt going to hurt him, but it was simr to how she, herself, changed her actions when interacting with Kannis as opposed to with Rane, Master Cazor, or one of the others shed sparred against.


    She knew that she was always a bit more careful in how she moved around them, and now Adam was treating her the same manner.


    In a way, it was an incrediblepliment. He seemed to be able to tell that her foundational understanding and experience inbat had grown dramatically.


    It was a pleasant visit, but as they parted ways, both T and Adam seemed to know that theyd likely never see each other again.


    As T and Rane walked away from the training yard, Rane was giving her an odd look.


    What?


    You. You seemed off in there. Like you were obligated to be there and couldnt wait to leave.


    T immediately grimaced at the usation, but before she snapped back at him, she forced herself to mentally pause and consider. <em>Were his actions a reflection of my attitude?</em>


    <em>-Maybe? I think you were both feeding off of each other. Hes always been very perceptive, and I think he realized that you are not the same person who you were. More iron in the body and blood on the hands, as it were.-</em>


    She found herself nodding. I didnt feel obligated to go, not really, but it did feel awkward to be there.


    Oh? He prompted without being overly invasive.


    Its odd. She frowned. When I was herest, I I was so ignorant, so inexperienced. Now?


    They fell into silence, and Rane simply walked beside her.


    Finally, T continued. Ive killed so many people, both directly and indirectly. Her voice was small. Ive talked with Master Nadro about it some. She huffed a shortugh. Its filled up a couple of our sessions, actually, but it hasnt really felt as <em>real</em> as it did just now, being near Adam.


    Why is that? Ranes voice was soft, genuinely inquisitive.


    Because he has spent his whole life training and fighting to protect others, and when push came to shove, I killed to save myself. I killed <em>so </em>many.


    <em>t?</em>


    <em>-Yeah. Im on it.-</em> The alternate interface would see if Master Nadro was avable to meet up in the near future.


    Rane was silent for a long moment, then he carefully asked. Do you want to talk about it?


    After a long minute, she nodded. I think so. Lets go to Lyns to set up Kit and talk.


    And so, thats what they did.


    They spent the rest of the day walking the hills within her sanctum as T simply talked through her perfectly preserved memories of what shed done to secure her position and when she was an Eskau.


    They shared dinner while T continued to speak, but when they had finished, t interrupted.


    <em>-T?-</em>


    <em>Yeah?</em>


    <em>-Mistress Holly reached out via the Archive to verify that you are stilling by to show her the reinscriber before you depart.-</em>


    <em>Right</em> T let out a long sigh. <em>I dont suppose we could skip out?</em>


    <em>-She might legitimately chase you down.-</em>


    <em>I could see that, yeah.</em> A smile tugged at Ts lips.


    <em>-Shes also been far more patient about it than I think either of us expected.-</em>


    <em>Thats rusting true.</em>


    Rane had turned her way. Everything okay?


    Yeah, I just have to swing by Mistress Hollys shop.


    He smiled and nodded, pushing himself to his feet, standing from where theyd been sitting thest hour or so. Ill let you get to it, then. You have an early morning tomorrow, right?


    Yeah. Ive let Master Cazor know that well do the iron experiments when I swing back through, so I dont have anything keeping me from Marliweather.


    I hope you have a great trip. His smile was genuine and warm.


    Thank you. Are you going to be staying around here?


    I think Ill head back to Alefast, Waning. Theres a lot going on there, and Master Grediv probably has a long list of tasks for me by this point.


    Oh. She blinked a few times. Alright then. I suppose Ill see you there?


    If youe that way, yeah. His smile turned rueful. Do you have any guesses on your timeline?


    Not really. Ill stay in Marliweather for at least a month probably. We can stay in touch through the Archive, now, right?


    At least while Im in a city. He gave her a knowing grin. Not everyone has your <em>connections</em>.


    That She hesitated. That was an <em>awful</em> pun.


    He shrugged. I liked it.


    T huffed augh. Fine.


    The door out appeared, and Rane gave her a deep bow, as if they were strangers and he was trying show respect toward her, befitting her superior advancement.


    She frowned. Is that really necessary?


    He smiled mischievously as he straightened. No, but it is proper. Take care of yourself, T.


    She shook her head, dismissing his antics. Oh, I will. In the worst case, Ill fight my way free. She grinned before giving a self-deprecatingugh. If it was somehow worse than what Ive already been through, assuming Im not instantly killed at that point, I think it would take a Sovereign Boon for me to win free. But there is not too much chance of that actually happening.


    Rane opened his mouth, clearly a bit at a loss for words. Finally, he shook his head and smiled. That would be unfortunate, but youre probably right.


    Goodbye, Rane.


    Goodbye, T.


    He bowed again, causing her to roll her eyes even as she smiled. Then, he turned to depart. Oh, no you dont. You dont get to leave with that smug properness.


    She covered the distance between them in an instant, careful to close thest couple of inches slowly enough that her movement couldnt be mistaken for an attack by his magics.


    Shetched on, giving him what she suspected might have been a painful squeeze. <em>Serves him right, trying to leave like that.</em>


    Raneughed, hugging her in return. Take care of yourself, alright?


    I will. I promise. You too?


    I will.


    She gave him one more squeeze which he returned, and then he was gone, the door closing behind him.


    T wished one of themunication stones to her hand, and Kit moved it there. Is everyone back?


    They had arranged ahead of time that Kit would be back at Lyns house, so that hadnt been an issue.


    There was a short pause before T heard a voiceing back to her.


    It was Mistress Petra who responded, We are, thank you Mistress T. Are we leaving early?


    No, I just need to move the entrance for a bit, and I didnt want to strand anyone.


    We appreciate the courtesy. Well let you know if we need to leave for any reason.


    That sounds excellent. Ill be bringing Mistress Holly to the dais for a demonstration in the next hour or so. It shouldnt be disruptive, but if you feel magics from there, thats likely why.


    Understood.


    T let go of the stone, and Kit took it away.


    <em>Lets go.</em>


    Twenty minutester she was cing Kit on one of Mistress Hollys walls, the inscriptionist looking more excited than T could easily remember seeing the woman.


    <em>-Want me to look through your memories to check?-</em>


    <em>No, thank you.</em>


    The doorway opened, and the two of them stepped through arriving in front of the dais.


    Mistress Holly gestured T forward.


    T grinned at the older woman. What, nothing to say?


    Well, we got this far before.


    She shook her head, her smile turning rueful. I suppose thats true.


    Without another dy, T hopped up on the raised tform and walked to stand near the center, just behind themand seat that she so rarely used.


    Ready?


    Mistress Holly nodded, tossing out a handful of artifacts that would be observing T with what seemed to be incredibly advanced magesight, or something simr. At your leisure.

 Chapter 307: Let’s See for Ourselves

    Chapter 307: Let¡¯s See for Ourselves


    T stood on her dais within Kit, preparing to be reinscribed as Mistress Holly observed.


    She was also surrounded by a good handful of observation creations, which would be recording the whole process.


    Honestly, T didnt mind the artifacts; Mistress Holly had requested permission earlier, after all.


    With nothing else for it, T held her arms out to the side and forcibly deactivated her toughening inscriptions. <em>No need to make this thing work harder than it needs to.</em>


    She set her mental framework for a through-the-mouth reinscription. She was <em>not </em>interested in getting naked in front of Mistress Holly when there were other options.


    The frameworks and preparations in ce, she spoke themand, even though she could have simply thought it, Reinscribe.


    Gold wire streamed out of the ground in a tight, intertwining bundle.


    Silver and copper joined the gold, but in far smaller quantities.


    As the wires approached her, they tightened in on themselves in order to slip between her teeth and flow down her esophagus before they branched out. At least, most of the metal went that way. Some split off within her mouth to rece the metal shed used up from the inscriptions within her head.


    Each other branch got smaller and smaller as it flowed through her, splitting and dividing to cover every inscription, every offshoot smaller, until each was the size needed. In some cases, that was so thin that she couldnt have seen the fment even with her enhanced vision.


    <em>You know, that might not be true anymore.</em> Her senses were even more enhanced now that she was Refined.


    Still, it wasnt worth interrupting the process to somehow find a way to check.


    <em>I still need to get a good handle on my increased perception.</em>


    The pain hade the moment the metal had begun to branch out, but it was more than manageable, especially with t helping to mask what little her body couldnt ignore.


    Thankfully, this wasnt an inscription from a nk te, so there <em>shouldnt</em> be any agony in her soul or spirit, thus masking what pain there was shouldnt build up to a bacsh.


    <em>We hope.</em>


    <em>-Were pretty sure. Even if there is, it wont be too bad.-</em>


    <em>And then well know.</em>


    <em>-And then well know.-</em>


    All across her body, the metal flowed into ce beneath her skin and throughout her body, no part of her spared.


    As it worked, T could somehow tell that the reinscriber struggled to move the material through her. Even without active power running her inscriptions, her body was enhanced to the point that it took a <em>lot</em> to cause her harm.


    Now that she thought about it, reinscription might only be possible at all because T truly didnt see the effect as harming her.


    <em>Arcane magics work much more on concept than I usually give them credit for.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, I could very much see this not working for someone else of equivalent toughness because they thought it was harmful.-</em>


    After a short ten seconds or so, her inscriptions were reinforced, recovering the little metal that shed used over the past weeks.


    Thus, the process wasplete.


    Mistress Holly called her devices back to her even as she was nodding to herself.


    T smiled, swallowing a bit of blood that had tried to leave her. So? What do you think?


    I think that my invention is not in danger in the least.


    She barked augh. Yeah, I cant imagine many Archons wanting to reinscribe this way, and fewer would have the healing scripts to allow it.


    Precisely. Still, thank you for allowing me to observe so thoroughly. I think it will be insightful to review the process at length.


    Im happy that I could help.


    There is another method, correct?


    Yes, I could have had the inscriptionse from the outside rather from within, but I thought that unnecessary.


    Wouldnt it have been less painful?


    Absolutely, but Id have had to strip down, and Im tougher from the outside.


    Ahh, yes. I can understand your choice, then. Mistress Holly was nodding again. I did notice that it even refreshed your new spell-lines, those that we added just before you Refined.


    That is correct, yes. From my understanding, it reinscribes based on <em>my</em> knowledge of my inscriptions. Its not that I have to know the cement of every line, but the process is founded on the concept of my knowledge. Therefore, if I know that there has been a change, the reinscription will reflect that.


    Mistress Holly tilted her head to one side. That does seem to be the case. The operations manual you shared with me also agreed, as oddly put together as it was. Truly fascinating.


    Do you need anything else on this front?


    Oh, no. I have plenty to analyze for now. Ill let you know when I want to see another demonstration. There were obvious embers of curiosity and imagination in the inscriptionists eyes.


    That should be workable.


    They talked for a bit longer before they bid each other goodnight, exiting Kit side by side.


    Within Mistress Hollys workshop, the older woman turned to T. Take care of yourself, Mistress. I know that I am not of as much use to you, now that you have that interesting bit of arcanum, but I am still invested in your continued sess.


    I will keep that in mind. Thank you. After a moments hesitation, she gave a shallow bow. And thank you for all of your assistance with my Refinement, and before that with my inscriptions. I wouldnt be where I am without you.


    Mistress Holly smiled. It has been my pleasure.


    Without further adieu, the inscriptionist went back to work, and T headed back to Lyns house to ce Kit in the back hall for one more night.


    As T walked back, she had a thought. <em>You know, incorporated metal </em>could<em> work through the reinscriber.</em>


    <em>-That would be </em>insanely<em> inefficient on a level I dont even want to consider.-</em>


    <em>Oh, absolutely, but it might be worth it to get gold, silver, and copper incorporators to have in case of emergency?</em>


    <em>-I cant imagine such inscriptionssting even ten percent as long but youre right, it would be a good emergency stop gap if it could even work.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, Id definitely understand if those materials didnt quite work the same.</em>


    <em>-Add it to the list?-</em>


    <em>Yes please.</em>


    * * *


    T stood at the edge of Bandfast before the dawn of a new day.


    It was the true edge, not a ce like the city gate.


    The city defenses ended barely two strides ahead of where she stood in the growing dawn.


    Her fingers were practically tingling with anticipation, as well as no small amount of trepidation.


    She hadnt been out of the city since Master Grediv had brought her to Bandfast nearly three months earlier.


    More importantly, she hadnt been away from other humans since shed arrived in Alefast, Waning.


    <em>Its okay. I can do this.</em> A quiet part of her kept insisting that if she left, shed be lost. <em>Hes not waiting out there. Hes dead. I know hes dead. I killed him.</em>


    <em>-T? Are you going to be okay?-</em> ts voice was soft, soothing.


    <em>Yes. I can do this. I can be on my own.</em> T forced herself to smile, feeling a little better even though the emotion started out as fake. <em>This is just a short trip.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, just a short trip. Besides, you have Master Simon, Mistress Petra, and their family with you. You arent alone.-</em>


    <em>Right, right.</em> She took another deep breath, nced at the nearest guard tower, waved in case someone was somehow watching her, and walked forward.


    And just like that, T deliberately, voluntarily stepped into the wilds on her own, for the first time.


    <em>Wait, this is the first time ever, isnt it?</em>


    <em>-I mean, in Alefast you went out to harvest endingberries.-</em>


    <em>Right. Thats how Terry and I really got to know each other speaking of which.</em> She opened Kit. Terry?


    Terry flickered forth, trilling at the sky as he stretched his vestigial wings outward and reached his beak toward the sky.


    The majestic image was somewhat ruined by him perching on her shoulder and barely stretching up above her head, even while his left wing pushed against her face.


    Get off, you! She pped her left hand at him, even while she wasughing.


    Terry chirped happily and flickered to stand beside her, now nearly her own height. He gave her an inquisitive look.


    I want to get an hours run, or two, from here and then do some experimenting.


    He squawked and took off, straight away from Bandfast.


    T grinned and jogged after her avian friend, picking up speed as she got used to cross-country running once again.


    They ran across the rolling hills, skirting copses of trees and avoiding the arcanous creatures that they could feel around them.


    Terry seemed more interested in truly stretching his legs than in hunting for the moment, and T didnt feel like needlessly ughtering weaker creatures.


    Thus, for those first two hours they simply ran, letting the sky lighten just behind them on the right.


    She had to move slower than on her run back from the arcanends despite two counteracting differences. First, the magical density here was generally lower, causing magical resonance to note into y until a higher speed. Second, and far more important, her own magical weight had increased, reducing the speed required for detectable resonance even in the lower ambient magic.


    Even with Master Gredivs more efficient aura shape, she was still kept to a reasonable mundane running speed.


    By the time it was a reasonable hour for breakfast, theyd gotten far enough from the city for T to safely test a few things.


    Shed thought of doing these tests with Mistress Holly on watch, but her safety wasnt <em>really</em> in question, here, and so the variability in possible results mostly included things that would be bad for those around her, and that was best done in the wilderness.


    Having decided to stop, T first found a bald, slightly higher-than-average hill and reached the top without difficulty.


    With that vantage, T could see the magic of Bandfasts defenses, even if she couldnt see the city itself.


    It was probably within her ability to leap high enough to see it, but that wasnt of interest to her at the moment.


    She opened Kit, and after a brief exchange with Mistress Petra, T was able to pull out her breakfast tray.


    She threw Terry a hunk of jerky that he flickered to catch before taking off into the surrounding hills, hunting for his own fare.


    <em>And likely continuing to stretch his legs. Hes been really confined with metely. Ive got to make sure to allow him the freedom that he needs.</em>


    The meal was easily up to Mistress Petras excellent standards.


    The crowning feature of the breakfast was aminated pastry with a hole cut down through the topyers. An egg had been bakedover-easyin the resulting space, seasoned, and sprinkled with shavings of a hard cheese.


    The result was stunningly excellent, and there were <em>five</em> of them for her.


    By the end, as she finished thest of the side dishes, T even found herself pleasantly full.


    She knew it wouldntst, but it was enjoyable, nheless.


    Her body was quickly incorporating the calories and nutrients, and her power was siphoning the magics from the food andyering overtop of her inscriptions and natural pathways.


    <em>-Alright. Are you ready?-</em>


    T grinned. <em>I am. I hope that were being overly cautious.</em>


    <em>-Oh, definitely, but theres no reason to set off the citys defenses, or blow ourselves up around mundanes.-</em>


    <em>Youre not making me feel confident.</em> She quirked a smile, not about to let some joking pessimism stop her.


    -<em>Well be fine. Dont worry about it.-</em>


    T huffed augh, tucking the now-empty tray back into Kit. <em>Well, theres no way that Im </em>not<em> going to try this. So, better now thanter.</em>


    With a flex of her will, she disabled her through-spike and called her iron from where it rested within the dimensions of magic around Flow and into her physical body. It obeyed with crity, rolling over her inscriptions and perfectly insting them from the surrounding dimensions, leaving her body clear and uncontaminated.


    There was an instant resonance through her power, as her magics felt almost like they had been folded over on top of themselves, gaining greater depth and stability.


    <em>Okay, even this is </em>way<em> better than when I was Fused.</em>


    <em>-Agreed. This would build nicely, and I would expect there.-</em>


    Almost immediately, the magical resonance caused inscriptions as fine and intricate asce to spin into existence, seemingly carved with light into reality itself, surrounding her entirely.


    Somehow, they didnt block her vision, even though she could see the same effect manifesting before her eyes with her mirrored perspectives.


    <em>Now, the real test.</em> Shed tried this before when she was already worn thin, and it had gone poorly.


    <em>-Are you sure?-</em>


    <em>Now or never.</em>


    <em>-Thats not really true.-</em>


    <em>Oh, I know, but I still want to do it now.</em> She had a momentary thought of her death and Kit being whisked back to the Bandfast Constructionists. She could practically picture Master Simons face as he sighed and said something like, Well, that was a short job.


    -<em>Hed be sad if you died, and not just because he lost the opportunity and the job.-</em>


    <em>I know, I know. I was just having some fun with the mental picture.</em>


    With another flex of her will, iron flowed over her skin, giving her a perfect covering.


    It moved with her easily, though somehow, she knew it would feel hard and unyielding to anyone who touched it.


    Her magic responded, her inscriptions yet again echoing and reinforcing themselves.


    T shivered at the feeling of power.


    It almost immediately began to boil over through the dimensions of magic, but she had sufficient iron to closely cover herself across those directions as well.


    The wreathing of light vanished, the magics that carved them now contained within anotheryer of iron.


    <em>-Amazing. That feels great. Better than when you tried this as a Fused. Again, I feel </em>more<em>, somehow. Keep it up!-</em>


    T felt her enhancements ramping up even higher and her efficiency increase, not due to the scripts being more efficient, but because of an additional recursion being added on top of those already ring through her.


    The world became clearer as her perception was enhanced <em>further.</em> Each moment seemed to stretch on forever, not in that it dragged, but in that it felt like she had the ability to fully analyze <em>everything</em> before the next moment came to be.


    It was more extreme than when shed attempted this before. Even so, she felt her physical form rise to the asion.


    Her every cell was <em>bathed</em> in carefully calibrated power to a degree that was hard to describe.


    <em>This is going to be amazing.</em>


    T stood, stretching, and feeling her muscles pull more strongly than ever before.


    She felt like she could rip her own body apart if she pulled hard enough, even though she knew that wasnt true. Her ligaments and connective tissue were as amplified as her muscture, after all.


    Her bones would have creaked under the increased pull, but theyd grown in resiliency just as much.


    As she waspleting her quick stretches, Terry flickered back into view.


    The avian jerked backwards upon seeing her, and he squawked inquisitively.


    At that, T really looked at herself with a mirrored perspective, even as she reassured the terror bird, Its me, Terry.


    He squawked again.


    Ts skin was the dark gray of wrought iron. She looked like a masterpiece of decorative cksmithing, with even her hair fully contained by iron.


    The only breach that she could see was her eyes: blood-red on white, ring out of a metallic visage.


    The slight echoes of Terrys squawk faded from the surroundings.


    Im not turning my through-spike back on. I want to see if I still create magical resonance. It was odd watching herself speak. It looked like a statue moving, but inside the statues mouth was human. Her teeth were almost blindingly white, not because they were unusually clean, but because of the contrast with the dark gray of her skin.


    Terry let out a long-suffering, descending series of trills.


    Itll be fine. Ready? It was then that she really heard herself. The magics on her lungs and throat had been enhanced as well, and while they were in a passive state, they still added a power and endurance to her voice which caused it to carry far further. After all, Terry had appeared at the bottom of the hill, and hed heard her perfectly, even without her specifically speaking louder or wishing for it to carry. <em>I have to be mindful of that.</em>


    He turned and vanished with a flicker of dimensional power.


    T grinned, crouching low before she pushed off as hard as she could.


    The surface area enhancing scripts had been likewise amplified and she effectively pushed on the entire hilltop at once. She wanted to go fast, so she allowed all of her weightalong with that of her ironto lend inertia so that she could push harder.


    The hill exploded under her, a shower of snow, bits of grass, and dirt billowing out behind her.


    And she dropped almost straight down into a new depression.


    <em>What?</em>


    <em>-Huh. Thats odd. There isnt an underlying, firm foundation topact the soil down against, like you did to the sand in the arena.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, I need more mass behind me, or toe up to speed more slowly.</em>


    <em>-Something like that, yeah.-</em>


    <em>How could a hilltop survive without bedrock under it? Why is it here?</em>


    <em>-I have no idea, but theck of trees seems to imply that it hasnt been here that long.-</em>


    <em>Could it be the result of some fight?</em>


    <em>-That is most likely, yeah. It doesnt even seem like there was much grass here, under the snow.-</em>


    In the end, theyd probably never know, but the loose nature of the soil implied that the hill hadnt been there for very long and wouldnt be around for much longer in the grand scheme of things.


    <em>-I mean its not really around </em>now<em>, not after what you just did.-</em>


    T chuckled as she walked to the edge of the now-lower hilltop. <em>Well, you arent wrong.</em>

 Chapter 308: Tea at the End of a World

    Chapter 308: Tea at the End of a World


    T calmly started down the correct side of the hill at a jog,pletely sheathed in her metals.


    She let her speed increase, vaulting forward into a loping run, bounding from foot to foot with increasing power.


    T quickly passed the speed at which she would have built up magical resonance without the iron, and she only felt the barest amount of build up around her head and more so her waist.


    <em>Eyes?  and Kit and Flow?</em>


    <em>-And likely your ears, nose, and mouth as well.-</em>


    That made sense. As she looked closer, there was also a general resonance around her clothing as well.


    <em>The elk-leathers.</em> Her bound items were showing their issue.


    Her scripts were <em>incredibly</em> efficient, she had inscriptions specifically designed to help reduce power leakage from her eyes, and she had surrounded every part of her with iron in the dimensions of magic.


    All of thatbined to a very, <em>very</em> miniscule magical footprint in reality, with which to resonate.


    As such, she was able to get up to <em>far</em> greater speeds before she began to feel any echoes in the world around her.


    Even as she worked to shape what little of her aura was leaking out, to reduce her magical drag, T was considering.


    <em>Is this what Master Grediv meant? That if I am able topletely contain my own aura then I can go faster?</em>


    <em>-I honestly dont think so. Even if your power was fully contained within your body, without the iron, there would still be the same issue.-</em>


    <em>Yeah Well, we can ask him when we see him.</em>


    Terry was still faster than she was, of course. Though, he did seem to have to flicker forward in order to keep that advantage.


    <em>I want more. I dont need my eyes, do I?</em>


    <em>-And you dont honestly need to breathe. It will take a bit more power, but thats not really an issue with the efficiencies were seeing.-</em>


    With a thought, T closed her eyes, and felt iron seal up thest points of egress.


    Her internal, magical resonance took another tick upward.


    She <em>almost</em> felt closed in, but her bloodstars were in ce, providing her with three-hundred-sixty degrees of perception independent of her eyes.


    It felt vaguely ufortable to not be breathing, but as it didnt build beyond that ambiguous sense of wrongness, it was easy enough to ignore.


    She now looked entirely like an iron statue, eyes closed.


    <em>Now, Kit and Flow.</em>


    Kit was easy, ttening out against her leg before she willed an ironyer overtop of it, sealing it in ce.


    For Flow, she pressed the knife against the top of her left forearm, where she coated it and the sheath with iron.


    It would be trivial to pull it free with a thought.


    <em>The elk-leathers.</em>


    She contracted it down to a simple band around her throat and covered it with iron as well. <em>Three pockets in the iron.</em> She felt a smile pull at her lips. <em>An interesting solution, but it seems to work.</em>


    There was the issue that she was now quite obviously naked, at least in appearance.


    <em>Alright, lets see how we can do this.</em>


    T opened a small hole near the band at her neck and white metal flowed out, covering her utterly in a thickyer of protection and obscurity.


    She then added anotheryer of iron on the outside.


    In the end, she simply looked like a roughly human-shaped figure. <em>I look like a posable doll for figure sketching.</em>


    <em>-Oh, yeah, I can see that.- </em>t hesitated a moment, then added, <em>-You know, you could just have thickened the iron around the ces you wanted to obscure.-</em>


    <em>Of course I could have, but I wanted to test this, too. I think it will be a bit more effective in battle.</em>


    She felt <em>heavy</em> and defended to an almost ridiculous degree.


    <em>-I call this your battle regalia!-</em>


    <em>Thats not a bad name I suppose? Ill need to have my scalemail hauberk on to make itplete, but do we need to name it?</em>


    t shrugged in Ts mind. <em>-Putting a name to it will help you cement the mental model ande back to it more easily.-</em>


    <em>Naming an outfit still seems odd, though I dont dislike this particr name.</em>


    <em>-Youll get used to it.-</em>


    <em>Probably, yeah.</em>


    Thus, T stood in her battle regalia, the only hints of power around her were from her four bloodstars.


    One at the base of her neck and three orbiting her head.


    <em>Lets do this.</em>


    She came back up to speed once more, her steps barely heavier than before as her will naturally moved the iron along with her.


    By shaping the minute parts of her aura that leaked out from the bloodstars while mirroring her perception, she could go as fast as she could propel herself without causing noticeable resonance.


    Terry was a bit dubious of her new form but didnt cause an issue over it.


    She and Terry chose to swing wide around a couple of founts that they detected, and three creatures of magic.


    With where the magical creatures were positioned, T understood that they were known threats that had been ounted for already. Her attacking them would simply destabilize the route between Bandfast and Marliweather, maybe even the whole region depending on how things shook out.


    All in all, it seemed like shed be able to make it all the way to Marliweather in just a single day, but then, she sensed something <em>odd.</em>


    T turned her head in confusion to lookeven though that wasnt necessary or usefs she worked to stop.


    She left long furrows in the ground as she slid to a halt.


    Terry flickered back to her side, clearly confused, even while he just as clearly sensed what she had.


    I The word caught in her sealed mouth causing an odd buzzing within her head, and she twitched away from the unexpected feeling.


    Terry flickered a bit away at her sudden jerk, but he came back a momentter as the metal pulled away from Ts mouth and nose.


    She cleared her throat, pulling in a deep breath before she spoke, I want to see what that is.


    He cooed softly but insistently, seemingly deciding to ignore her odd behavior.


    Why would a simple Mage be out here on their own? There might be something wrong.


    His second coo was filled with sad insistence.


    What do you mean I should leave it be?


    This time, he huffed and trilled quietly.


    Terry, they might need help. Why else would? She opened her eyes in realization, the metal shifting at her will to allow her to see by that means once again, Oh


    T felt her shoulders sink as the most obvious reason came to her.


    You think that theyre about to be a fount.


    Terry bobbed his agreement.


    Even so, T shook her head. You might be right, but I need to be sure. If someone got lost from their caravan out here, Im not just going to leave them because they <em>might</em> be broken.


    Terry huffed again but didnt seem to object further.


    Lets see for ourselves.


    Even though T had decided to investigate the oddity of a mere Mage wandering alone in the wilds, she proceeded with caution, keeping her focus on her and Terrys surroundings.


    Additionally, she mirrored her voidsight onto a couple of her bloodstars in order to cover what she could see through that unique vision as well.


    What she saw took a bit for her to fully understand, but the implications were immediately apparent once she did.


    As T neared the person that she and Terry had sensed, magical density and the strength of the zeme was dropping.


    It wasnt as if something was consuming the power. Instead, it seemed like this was simply a natural area of lower saturation in the already lower magical density around the human cities.


    Additionally, the structure of reality appeared smoother to her voidsight the closer they got.


    The fragments of existence seemed to be pressed closer together, looking almost seamless even under close inspection.


    You know, I never really thought about <em>why</em> founts were found where they are.


    Terry chirped quietly.


    I dont know. I suppose I assumed that Mages just wandered a bit before bing founts, I suppose.


    He stopped in ce, turning to give her a long look before returning his focus toward their destination.


    I never said I was right. T hedged, feeling rather judged by the avian. I even stated that Id never really thought about it before.


    Terry huffed and didnt react further.


    Fine, ignore me. Lets just see whats going on. Just in case this wasnt a Mage on the way to bing a fount, T dismissed the remnants of her battle regalia form, returning her elk-leathers to the form of clothing, pulling the white metal back, and allowing her through-spike to reactivate.


    <em>-You could have just made sure your through-spike had a path and allowed it to activate.-</em>


    <em>I could have, but this seems better.</em>


    <em>-As you say, its up to you.-</em>


    As it turned out, the Mage wasnt all that far, and soon enough they were approaching the source of what theyd sensed.


    T and Terry crested a little rise, looking down on a dell in which an old man knelt.


    From what T could tell, he was kneeling at the point of lowest magical density and highest stability in reality.


    The man was well-enough dressed, though decidedly not in travel clothes, and it looked like he had been out in the elements for a few days at the very least.


    His skin had an unhealthy pallor, and it was likewise suffused with an unusual amount of power, as if magic was taking over every part of him and slowly subverting it, somehow.


    It honestly reminded T somewhat ufortably of her own recent, hyper-saturated state. Though her body was able to take the strain, whereas this mans clearly was not.


    Also, in her case, the power involved was specifically in line with all of her inscriptions.


    For this man, the magic seemed far more crude, and it was woven through with something she couldnt quite detect.


    <em>That makes no sense.</em>


    <em>-Ill see what I can figure out.-</em>


    He really is bing a fount. She didnt actually know how she knew. After all, shed never seen the process before, but it was the only thing that made sense to her. At some level, deep within her being, she just <em>knew.</em>


    She stared down the slope for a long moment, her mind turning to Mistress Odera.


    <em>If it was her down there, and I was another Archon</em>


    <em>-T. We dont know what could happen. We know almost nothing about the process itself.-</em>


    <em>I know, but we also dont know that he cant be saved.</em>


    <em>-Yes, we do. That is one of the few things that is known with absolute certainty. There have been Archons at every level, with all sorts of magics at their disposal, who have lost family members to this, and they have been trying for centuries to stop or reverse it. It is a </em>fact<em> that once they enter the fugue state, nothing can knock them free. There isnt even certainty that they still exist within the body at all. Their consciousness, their personage, is gone.-</em>


    T grimaced, wrestling with herself even beyond the discussion with t.


    <em>Im going to try anyway.</em>


    t groaned in resignation but didnt argue further.


    Terry, wait for me here. I dont know whats going to happen when I go down there.


    Terry chirped a couple of times, but it seemed more like a word of caution than trying to convince her not to go. He settled down into a crouch, fluffing his feathers and settling in for a long wait.


    Ill be careful, but I need to at least try.


    She strode down the southern side of the dell, approaching the kneeling Mage from a direction that should allow him to see her approach.


    <em>If he can see anything at this point</em>


    T stopped a dozen feet from him. Good Master, are you well?


    The man didnt react in the slightest.


    Looking upon him, T was struck by just how human he appeared.


    He had thinning hair that drifted around him in the cold breeze.


    It was nearly as white as the snow, with a bit of gray and ck peppered throughout. A leather tie held it in thest remnants of a tail at the nape of his neck.


    He had crows feet beside his eyes, showing that he was a man of many smiles and a quickugh.


    The lines of his face were strong and firm as expected from a Mage. Even so, he looked to have been a kind man.


    His eyes were vacant, staring past her and allowing her to see their crystal blue color, like that of ate summer, cloudless sky.


    His hands looked strong but only lightly calloused, making T believe that he had most likely been a Constructionist or of a simr profession, working with his hands but not to the extent to reshape them with heavy callouses.


    His neatly trimmed nails added to this aesthetic and impression.


    As she looked at his hands, she noticed that he clutched a piece of paper in one of them, tucked closely against his forearm.


    Ovee with curiosity, T walked forward and easily took the page from his unresponsive fingers.


    It was an incredibly lifelike sketch of arge family with this man centered in the group. There were still traces of power on the paper, indicating that it had been created using magic to render an actual scene into ck and white.


    <em>His family.</em>


    On the back, a simple note was written:


    You loved us well in life and are loved so much in return even as you journey onward. Were d that youll be with Mom again. I love you, Dad.


    T felt tears trying to fill her eyes as she lowered the page.


    Shaky, thoughtless hands moved for the first time that shed seen as the Mage took the page back before returning to his previous state.


    That was far more than shed expected. <em>An echo of his consciousness?</em>


    <em>-Probably from his soul.-</em>


    <em>And hes been reduced to this what have we be?</em> She looked at the man more closely, trying to memorize his features, which was silly given her perfect memory. Shed memorized them the instant she saw them.


    She still had her voidsight mirrored to one of her bloodstars, and finally, at this close distance, she recognized what had been tugging at her awareness.


    <em>Nothingness.</em>


    Throughout the mans magic was woven the nothingness that had formed the visages of horror within the Doman-Imithe.


    Her consciousness interpreted the nothingness as if she were in that ce, causing her to see flickers of a too-wide, bright-white smile, filled with decidedly inhuman teeth in both kind and number.


    T shivered and stepped back.<em> What is this? Why is that here?</em>


    She forced herself to look more closely and found that a distorted grid of nothingness was permeating every part of the magic that suffused the man.


    <em>No, not a grid, a spell-form or something like it.</em> The nothingness was so dark to her voidsight that it lost all dimensionality. It was theplete absence of magic, its direct antithesis, though T believed that she could detect some resonance with both void and reality.


    <em>Is this what drives us to be founts? Some sort of taint from the Doman-Imithe?</em>


    <em>-And arcanes throw the bodies of gated humans into the Doman-Imithe when they die. What if part of the reason is to return the bit of nothingness that suffused them?-</em>


    T shivered again. <em>We need to watch this. We need to know whats going on, whats going wrong.</em>


    She gave a deep bow to the kneeling Mage, already feeling like shed been intruding. My apologies, good Master. I need to witness your change. I dont know when Ill get the opportunity again, and it seems there is much I dont know, much I need to learn.


    As expected, the Mage didnt respond.


    To say he didnt object would be dishonest as he was clearly not in a state to do so.


    If I can, I will carry word of your fate to your family. That is all the rpense I can offer.


    <em>-T?-</em>


    <em>I I am just imagining someone standing and watching Mistress Odera sumb, or Mistress Phoen, and Id want to punch them with everything I have. Even so, we need to watch, and theres nothing that we can do to help.</em>


    <em>-We dont even know where he came from. It is likely to be Marliweather, but we dont actually know.-</em>


    <em>We will look. I said I would try, but it wont be my life mission if we dont seed.</em>


    <em>-That makes sense. Though there is something else we can do-</em>


    T felt herself nodding. <em>We can disrupt the fount after its creation and release him fully to the next world.</em>


    -<em>Ill check in with Mistress Ingrit and verify that we have the correct procedure.-</em>


    <em>Thank you.</em> Thest thing she would want was to do it wrong, somehow


    T pulled back to the top of the hill near Terry, about fifty feet from the Mage, and sat down to watch.


    <em>Let Master Simon know whats happening.</em>


    <em>-I will.-</em>


    <em>Tell him that well notify him when the processes to a head.</em>


    The man didnt move as power swirled through him, seemingly without end.


    It was clearlying from his gate, but T couldnt tell where it was going or even if it <em>was</em> going somewhere. She couldnt tell even after she positioned her bloodstars in a circle around him at a simr distance to herself.


    She could easily prate all the way through him with both her voidsight and magesight, but she couldnt see where the power was going. It seemed to remain, but that shouldnt be possible. There was no way he had sufficient magical density to take all of it in, so she left that issue to the side for a moment.


    Worse case scenario, she could review the memoriester.


    Nodding to herself, she slowly took out her tea-making supplies, brewing chamomile with almost ceremonial slowness.


    This wasnt a ritual that she was familiar with, nor was she attempting to make it one.


    Even so, she felt the solemnity of the setting and didnt want to disturb it.


    As the tea brewed, her thoughts turned to the sketch the man was holding.


    He was the head of his family, clearly the anchor of arge group of people.


    Sure, the Mage who had created the sketch could have made small alterations in the process of copying it down. They had probably taken some liberties to make everyone look a bit better, a bit happier, and a bit more unified, but there had been a quality of truth evident in the little things within the still family.


    The mere fact that there was such arge extended family close together was telling.


    The note on the back seemed to imply that one of the children had gone out of the way to somehow get the picture into the fathers hand after he had given in to the pull of his archon star.


    There were arge number of little ones in the picture as well.


    T didnt truly remember her own grandparents, but she remembered how it had felt when they died.


    It had felt like the world was ending.


    She took up her tea and drank a long, calming sip.


    <em>Down there, a world ising to an end.</em>

 Chapter 309: Void It Is!

    Chapter 309: Void It Is!


    T contemted the Mage in the valley below even as his own magics altered him, transforming him into a fount by unknown processes.


    Was it worth it? The price for magic?


    One answer came back quickly, as uncharitable as it was.


    <em>That is the price for mediocre magic. That is the price for failing to advance.</em>


    She knew that wasnt true even as she thought it.


    Mistress Odera, until quite recently, could have matched or beaten T, in almost every metric of magical skill, despite having a handicap in her level of advancement.


    No, bing a fount was not a failure in effort.


    Some just didnt have the capacity to advance further, and even so, they had tried; they had aided humanity in their own ways.


    Their efforts were fruitful, sometimes nearly doubling the Mages life and allowing them to contribute that much more, that much longer.


    Her thoughts were interrupted by the first flickers in reality, a precursor to what was toe.


    The information that t had been able to get from the Archive gave them some markers to watch for, so that they could at least have a rough understanding of where they were in the process at any given time.


    <em>Tell Master Simon that its about to happen.</em>


    <em>-Hes ready.-</em>


    T quickly set Kit beside herself. The pouch opened briefly, and six small spheres rolled out.


    Then, Kit grew upward until she formed a wall with a window in it. Through that window, T could see Master Simon and Mistress Petra sitting, prepared to watch from within the safety of the sanctum.


    As Kit morphed, T picked up the spheres and carefully threw them with enough force to imbed them in the ground surrounding the Mage down below.


    They were observation artifacts, feeding information to Master Simons Archive te and through Ts connection to the Archive itself.


    All of that took less than a handful of seconds. Thus, T was still able to give her full attention to the valley as a pulse of power reached outward, reality itself seemingly being bent and twisted to her voidsight.


    To her magesight, the man was finally, fully saturated with power.


    Even her mundane sight could see a fiery glow beneath the Mages skin.


    <em>His cells. His body was being stuffed with power, far beyond their safe capacity, in order to?</em>


    And then it hit her, and all the pieces came into ce.


    Somehow, the nothing was enacting either an attraction or a containment to allow the magic within the mans body to reach insane levels.


    As she considered it, the magic had likely wiped the mans mindutterly erasing his personhoodif something else hadnt done that first.


    <em>Is that what allows him to be taken over?</em>


    <em>-Whatever eliminates his personage likely does, yes. Whether its magical density? I dont think so; they dont have that much power when they leave, at least not ording to the research we have ess to.-</em>


    <em>Maybe something else then. But it wouldnt be detectable if it was focused around their mind, and contained by some means with nothingness.</em>


    <em>-Thats not really the best name for something, given that nothing literally isnt something.-</em>


    <em>Do you have a better suggestion?</em>


    <em>-no.-</em>


    <em>Alright, then. We can ask Master Grediv if theres a better name for it when we see him.</em>


    As they had watched, the Mage had built up power to the point where his entire being matched the magic suffusion of the next world.


    T leaned forward unnecessarily, witnessing the edges of the mans gate fade away. Rather than closing, the through-put increased manyfold.


    There was a silent impact that rippled outward through reality to her voidsight.


    Even her magesight didnt detect anything but an increase of power, and her mundane sight hadnt seen anything at all.


    The restriction on magical power that had been acting on the man was obliterated, and his power radiated outward on the heels of the ripple in reality, flickers of me scorching the ground across the whole valley.


    The soil directly where the man had been kneeling was almost liquified by the heat.


    T watched as the sketch vanished to ash and then into nothingness before the initial burst of heat.


    <em>-Yeah, were authorized to close a me fount of this vor.- </em>ts voice faded as she noticed what T was staring at. Her focus had been onmunicating with Mistress Ingrit, so she hadnt seen it immediately. <em>-What the rust?-</em>


    Ts eyes, her voidsight, was locked on the fount.


    There was no reason it should have remained.


    A gate without a body or other containment should simply slip into the next world. Even the arcanes knew this, being careful to have artifacts prepared to contain and harvest founts. But this natural fount had no vessel. Instead, tendrils of nothingness looped around it, holding it as it clearly tried to move on.


    T knew that she couldnt be the first to have seen these, or at least seen evidence of it.


    Moreover, she was <em>sure</em> that nothing of the kind had existed in the founts held by arcanes within housings of various kinds. It would have been obvious in the extreme.


    <em>Unless its only something thats visible, or that happens at all, right at the time of formation?</em>


    It was likely a result of it being exposed or having naturally urred. Even then, it might fade with time.


    Regardless, likely because of her experiences in the Doman-Imithe, the tendrils took on a very specific look as her conscious mind struggled to interpret what she saw.


    The fount was gripped by an eight-fingered hand, quite obviously from a creature like those shed seen before. Very likely it was the one that shed seen echoes of just earlier, when looking closely at the Mage.


    <em>Its not trying to get in. This Mage is specifically at the point where reality is the strongest</em>


    <em>-To destroy Zeme? Is that its goal?-</em>


    <em>Maybe? That doesnt make sense though right? What would it gain?</em>


    <em>-We have no idea what the true nature of these things is. How can we even begin to guess on their motivations?-</em>


    <em>Yeah</em>


    Ts voidsight was showing her a struggle, like saltwater and fresh fighting at the mouth of a river, the two forces were pushing on each other, each gaining supremacy for a short moment before waning.


    Reality and the void were shing, both also fighting against the magic of the fount.


    All the while, the whole process was being stabilized by a darker-than-ck hand of nothingness.


    T watched as the fount solidified, moving towards a bnce simr to that which shed seen once before.


    <em>Though, that was lightning, not fire.</em>


    Even with the obvious differences, it was in to see that this fount was also <em>far</em> more vtile.


    The lightning fount that she had seen seemed to almost infuse all the surrounding nt and animal life, filling the area with power and a tint towards that type of magic.


    This was literally scorched earth.


    <em>Maybe it would bnce out, if we gave it time.</em>


    <em>-But we wont.-</em>


    <em>No, we wont.</em> In the worst case, it could unbnce the whole region, calling down magical creatures and starting quite the upheaval.


    -<em>Mistress Ingrit just informed us that when she contacted the powers that be, they thanked us for our prompt response, and indicated that the standard bounty would apply for closing such a fount.-</em>


    <em>Standard bounty?</em>


    <em>-Apparently, the Archons with the ability to close founts are generally notified when a fount is discovered that needs to be removed for one reason or another. This falls under an environmental hazard fount. Theyll need data to verify, but if it checks out, the bounty is one hundred gold.-</em>


    T hesitated. <em>That seems is this that dangerous?</em>


    <em>-Well, yes. For you? I dont know. I think the Archons range in advancement, the key being ess in some form to void-magics. You probably have a greater control and range in that department than most.-</em>


    She hesitated for just a moment more. <em>I can do this. Ill see him on to the next world.</em>


    T walked forward, her elk-leathers growing ayer of white metal topletely encapste her against the hot air and me.


    She could probably have withstood the magics directly, but it would have required at least some healing, and the white metal would lessen that at virtually no cost.


    <em>-So, all that we need to do is surround the fount with void, just beneath the surface. That should force it to lose connection to Zeme and move on.-</em>


    <em>You mean just beneath the nothingness-hand?</em>


    <em>-They did not specify that, no, but it does stand to reason.-</em>


    <em>Alright.</em>


    The hand did seem to be stabilizing the fount somehow, and the nothingness <em>did</em> seem to be fading as it did its work. That said, it was almost like it was leaving behind a residue, a filter of sorts between the fount and the rest of Zeme.


    <em>But its not a fast process.</em>


    <em>-Not at all. Id guess that it wont fully stabilize for another couple of days.-</em>


    <em>And at that point, the whole area will be a burned husk of what it is now, or something else will have gone sideways.</em>


    As if to prove the point, a st of fire shot out in all directions.


    Ts white metal exterior heated up to an extreme degree, and T cycled the metal, recing the hot material with other metal held merged with her elk-leathers.


    -<em>Thats huh. I wonder if that will work long term? Will the metal you removed cool back down? Remain the same temperature?-</em>


    <em>No idea, but it would be interesting to test.</em> The metal on her left arm shifted slightly as she returned the previous material to that spot. <em>It cooled off nearly instantly.</em>


    Another pulse of fire radiated outward.


    This time, instead of exchanging the metal, T just flexed her will for it to cool down.


    It took quite a bit of power, though less than fully exchanging the metal, and it worked. The white metal returned to below her body temperature, feeling cool against her skin once more.


    <em>That that is incredibly useful to know.</em> It also reminded her that she hadnt recoated herself in iron, and with a minor act of will, the skin-coveringyer flowed forth to encase her.


    <em>-The iron is probably a wise choice. As to the temperature controlor at least suppressionI suppose it makes sense. If we can move the white metal at our will, with applications of power, that should mean altering its internal kic state, which is just its temperature.-</em>


    <em>True enough, yeah.</em>


    It was a bit moreplicated than that, obviously.


    T knew she couldnt jump into a volcano and simply keep her armor from getting hot.


    That said, since she could bleed the heat away at an incredible rate, if there wasnt too much power behind an external source continuing to try to melt the metal, she should be able to keep it intact and herself at a bearable temperature.


    All it cost was power.


    <em>You know maybe I could drop into a volcano? </em>She was quite durable, so the margin for error would be rather high


    <em>-No. Just no, T.-</em>


    <em>Youre right not until we can sufficiently map out the rates of change we can bring about.</em>


    <em>-can you focus?-</em>


    <em>Oh, right.</em> She could consider harsh-environment explorationter.


    T felt the solemnity of the situation settle back on her shoulders<em></em>her attempt to distract herself having backfired<em></em>as she stood before the fount which was all that remained of the Mage.


    The shape was incredibly odd.


    One moment, it was like that of the kneeling man, but the next it was a small ball, seemingly the size of a human gate.


    It was in the fractional instants between the two where the nothingness was the most clear.


    <em>Alright, I dont have a fount-breaking tool, so Ill have to get creative.</em>


    <em>-Should I warn the nearby cities?- </em>ts tone was dry enough that T wasnt sure if the alternate interface was joking.


    <em>That was</em>T sighed as she considered some of her other more eclectic experiments<em>hurtfully urate</em>


    t snorted augh within Ts head. <em>-Your idea is a good one. I was mostly teasing.-</em>


    T shook her head, smiling despite the tenseness of the situation.


    With a flexing of will, she brought the void-magics in her elk-leathers to the forefront, enhancing and focusing them around her white-armored hands.


    The white metal receded everywhere else, to allow her full focus to orient on the task before her.


    The fount flickered back to the size of a small ball, and T lunged forward, closing her void-coated hands around it.


    At the same instant, she caused the white metal to flow over the fount, fully encasing it with metal and void-magics, simultaneously locking her hands together.


    The power fought to try to escape, but it couldnt.


    She outweighed the departed Magemagically speakingmany, <em>many</em> times over.


    <em>You know, I most likely out weighed him physically, too.</em>


    -<em>Focus, T.-</em>


    <em>Right!</em>


    Additionally, the void was specifically suited for the containment and consumption of well everything else.


    The mans power, his me, was pouring into her elk-leathers, but it wasnt nearly of sufficient quantity to cause any sort of substantive change.


    But her mind was not focused on that, not really.


    As soon as her hands had wrapped around the fount, she had been faced with something across from her, something that was seemingly also holding onto the fount and only visible to her voidsight.


    As soon as she noticed the figure from the Doman-Imithe, the world began to flicker between three ces.


    <em>What?</em> This is not how the instructions described the dispersal of a fount.


    Her three forms of vision showed her the valley in which the Mage had knelt.


    Then her surroundings changed to a ce that was <em>clearly</em> in the Doman-Imithe.


    The threads of reality called to her voidsight, and while, blessedly, she couldnt see any other too-smiley creatures, the distorted and entirely alienndscape could only exist within the Doman-Imithe.


    Trees grew out of one another, holding up the ground which she was somehow hanging from.


    The leaves each had a single nostril which gave off the sense of desperately trying to catch a whiff of the scent of prey.


    The bark of the trees looked more like diseased, encrusted blisters than anything resembling wood.


    Even in the Doman-Imithe, this ce was twisted to the extreme.


    <em>It looks like one of the floating cages I saw when I first entered with Thron.</em>


    Before she could do more than barely register what she was seeing, her environment changed again, and she was mmed by a tidal wave of magical power that, blessedly, crashed against her iron covering and was rebuffed, at least temporarily.


    Unfortunately, even in the brief instant of exposure, the magical power flooded through breaches in her iron covering, mainly her eyes, ears, and nose. As it entered, it began burning everything it came in contact with.


    Her every cell was anathema to the pure power that flooded into her, even the magic within her body was being seared away, the impurity of her unique aspects enough to taint the whole of her power in the face of the rity of the next world.


    Because thats what this ce was, the next world.


    It was entirely forged of magic.


    The zeme was soplex that it was hard to see the vague shapes of objects in the power, everything she could perceive was seemingly entirelyposed of <em>pure </em>magic.


    As stunning as it was, if she hadnt moved back to the valley, T had no doubt that she would have died in seconds. Blessedly, as soon as she was back in the valley, the pure power was instantly aspected to match her, bing hers and refilling the reserves of power that had been burned away.


    <em>Nope! Not dealing with that as I am.</em> Iron covered her entirely, thickening as much as she could make it.


    Her elk-leathers and Flow guzzled power as they tried to recover from their own damage, sustained in those bare fractions of a second, and T did her best to cover it all in iron.


    Her bloodstars perspectivesfloating a short distance away from the fountwere not changing. So with her eyes closed, she couldnt see the changing enviroments, or she shouldnt have been able to.


    From the outside, from the perspectives mirrored to her bloodstars, she didnt appear to be moving, though different magics were washing over her, seeming to be spilling out of the fount clutched and sealed between her hands and within her metal and void-magics.


    <em>Thats a frustrating result.</em>


    <em>-Which shouldnt be happening-</em>


    From the inside, she could still see, even with her eyes sealed behind iron. She had no ready exnation as to how, but she could.


    In the Doman-Imithe, the grinning creature didnt seem to move, even as it also somehow seemed to be fighting to keep the fount where it was.


    In the next world, the fount seemed to be in the form of the Mage, now standing and looking at her with fond pity? Gratitude? Anger?


    She had no idea. He was basically a three-dimensional outline, and she wasnt great at reading people at the best of times.


    This was not among the best of times.


    In the valley, mes wreathed the whole area, now a nearly constant deluge seemingly spewing forth.


    <em>It only pauses when I can perceive the valley first hand. Is the seal on the fount somehow rotating, along with my perception?</em>


    Throughout, she stubbornly held onto the round gate, hands locked in ce by void-magic-filled metal.


    Her iron was beginning to warm and bend under the heat in Zeme, even under the white-steel, and the oddly pure power of the next world was somehow beginning to affect the iron as well.


    Her soul-bound items were beginning to recover, hidden away in their pockets, but T had only barely gotten them fully sealed in iron, and theyd each endured at least a half-dozen cycles exposed.


    <em>I am so d that Kit is up on that hill. She would have survived, but that would have been a power-drain that I dont need right now.</em>


    The only thing that was spared were her white-steel gloves.


    <em>Why are the gloves fine?</em>


    She forced her focus onto them and saw the obvious, void-magic.


    That wasnt surprising, but what was surprising was that they seemed to take longer in transit, transitioning between the three locations, and in between it almost seemed to pause before being dragged onward.


    The perception of that one fact was so odd and counter to reality as she knew it that T felt her mind fuzz for a brief moment before she was able to reim her own thoughts.


    <em>The gloves are pausing, in the void?</em>


    <em>-It is the buffer between worlds, right? It absorbs the disruptive aspects. Well, it absorbs everything it can, really.-</em>


    <em>Void it is!</em>

 Chapter 310: Her Choices

    Chapter 310: Her Choices


    T grit her teeth against the churning perspectives that washed through her as she clutched onto the forming fount.


    Even so, she knew what she needed to do, and she grew the white-steel across her entire body, carrying with it the void-magics that she was already using in the gloves.


    It took a <em>lot</em> of power under the current strain, and she moved through another five cycles before she was fully covered. When it was done, however, she felt instant relief.


    As she held on, fighting to do what was supposed to be a simple task, the flickering worlds passed more and more rapidly.


    T couldnt tell if she had caused the increase in pace, or if it was just a perception because she was now sheathed in the void, but regardless, it was bing dizzying.


    She was still unsure <em>how</em> she was able to see through her iron, white-steel, and now a void-magic buffer, but she couldnt deny that the perspective wasing to her somehow.


    Finally, the cycle became such an endless, quick stream that the three worlds seemed to meld into one, and T was left floating in a void.


    She almost had a moment of panic as she seemed to be floating in a void with nothing but the fount in her hands, but her bloodstar perspectives showed that she was still standing in the valley, holding the fount exactly as she had been.


    <em>So, more of a spiritual, perceptual, or magical dislocation?</em>


    <em>-Maybe? The instruction book must have had a page ripped out or something-</em>


    ts grumblings carried a note of uncertainty that T did not particrly like. <em>-I still have our Archive connection, so all this madness will get to someone, no matter what.-</em>


    <em>Great vote of confidence, there.</em>


    Despite ts only half-joking pessimism, she focused her mind on the present moment.


    The fount, in the shape of a sphere, was suddenly mobile, and T was able to pull it toward herself, cradling it against the iron ting on her chest.


    The iron across her whole body was rusted and pitted, but it remained remarkably unbreeched.


    <em>Wait, wheres the white metal? Wheres my void-magic shell?</em>


    It was still there, as seen through the bloodstars, but she couldnt see it with whatever odd perspective wasing straight into her mind.


    Even so, that was the least of her concerns.


    Before her stood two figures.


    One was the grinning creature of nothingness.


    The other was the nearly featureless three-dimensional outline of the Mage.


    It was odd, seeing them standing side by side. With the proximity, it was incredibly easy to tell how simr they were in form and concept.


    <em>Like an ice-sculpture and one made out of y, each crafted by a different artist but with the same model.</em>


    <em>-Huh I actually think I agree with that analogy.-</em>


    T didnt respond to t, as she was focused so closely on the two.


    Outside of the Doman-Imithe the too wide smile <em>almost</em> looked like the creature was trying to be friendly but had no true foundation on which to base its expression. <em>Or its a lure</em>


    The outline forged of magic wasposed of power that was so pure it almost burned to see it, but T could somehow tell it wasnt perfect.


    It was just a reflection of what it <em>could</em> be.


    To behold that perfection would have killed T, she somehow knew that for a fact.


    Suddenly, T felt like she understood.


    She had won the struggle for the fount.


    If she wished, she could take the fount and depart. She could use it as the arcanes did or for some other purpose.


    Or she could give it to either of these beings.


    <em>But arent the fount and the magical outline the same thing?</em>


    T felt herself frown.


    It would be nice if she could get an exnation, but her mouth was sealed, and she somehow knew that if she broke the seal in an attempt to speak, both of these things could end her simply by the nature of their existence, whether or not they intended to.


    A horrifying thought washed through her. <em>Were all upying the same space across the three worlds, and the fount caused a sort of blending for a moment.</em>


    <em>-That may or may not be true. Does it matter?-</em>


    <em>No. No, I suppose that it doesnt really matter right now.</em>


    Regardless, T knew her choices.


    The first was the most obvious, but also the only one she wouldnt seriously contemte. She would not be iming the fount for her own use.


    Second, she could allow the being from the Doman-Imithe to have it. The fount would solidify in Zeme, and there it would remain until something broke it free.


    Finally, she could allow the being from the next world to have it, and the fount would fade away, passing on just as the gate of a mundane would.


    <em>No, the outline isnt from the next world. It is how he will be in the next world.</em> It was a strange thing, that knowledge. It felt like it came from within her, but she definitely didnt think shed known it before.


    <em>-Innate knowledge? Something your gate knows but your consciousness doesnt?-</em>


    <em>I suppose it could be either? I have no idea. It could even be from the dasgannach, but I highly doubt that.</em>


    Simr to the magical outline, the creature from the Doman-Imithe was decidedly <em>like</em> the Mage, but for some reason T couldnt tell if it <em>was</em> the Mage or was somehow drawn or shaped to resemble him.


    Oddly, T felt like there should have been other options.


    For example, she should have been able to cast the fount, the gate, into the Doman-Imithe, but something was stopping her.


    Like before the knowledge was just there, within her mind as she contemted the idea. <em>It is not my role to choose the eternal resting ce of a soul.</em>


    t shivered within Ts head.<em> -That was the exact impression I just got, too.-</em>


    <em>Founts will always pass on eventually, even if it will only happen when the world ends. So, in the end, they will always go to the same ce. We cant change that. It seems like youve just won the right to influence the journey.</em>


    T shuddered, the many straining forces grinding against her were beginning to be too much. <em>There is absolutely no way this is standard, t. What is going on?</em>


    <em>-I told you what it said, surround the fount with void.-</em>


    <em>Im doing that!</em>


    <em>-Youre also surrounding yourself with void. Maybe, youve somehow brought yourself along for the ride?-</em>


    <em>Or somehow gotten a seat at the table</em>


    <em>-Quite the dangerous table.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, this is just typical</em> She grimaced.


    There honestly was only one option. Shed been curious what else was avable, but it seemed like nothing else would truly present itself as reasonable.


    As soon as shed solidified the choice in her mind, the creature from the Doman-Imithe reacted.


    Somehow, it didnt seem to move or do anything, but T <em>felt</em> it raging.


    The strange, unnatural stillness apanied by the feeling of cosmic levels of anger was worse than seeing something storming around or throwing itself in a tantrum.


    <em>Its not doing anything. What is going on?</em>


    <em>-I I dont know.- </em>t shivered again, her confusion and disjointment growing.


    As the rage rose to a crescendo, the thing didnt appear to have moved in the slightest. Even so, she would have sworn it was doing all sorts of things that she didnt want it to be doing.


    Less than a second had passed.


    The fount that she had been holding had vanished at the moment of decision as well, and the three-dimensional outline of the Mage was fading away.


    T couldnt tell what the fates of any of the three would be.


    Honestly, she couldnt truthfully tell if they were three separate entities or if they were three parts of the same, or three states of the same, or three simr aspects of entirely different entities, or three aspects of the same, or


    Her mind spun through uncountable possibilities as it felt like something was grinding away at her thoughts, the memories of the encounter slipping away.


    T could hear t growling as if she was seemingly fighting <em>something</em> with all that she had<em>.</em>


    In a haze, T fell into unconsciousness.


    * * *


    T, of course, immediately came back awake, catching herself even as she started to fall to her knees in the still-burning valley.


    ts original activation scripts verified that she was up and running, and nothing more came of it.


    With an act of will, T pulled apart her hands and reshaped her gauntlets.


    The fount was gone without a trace.


    T snorted, taking in the fire-ridden valley. <em>Yeah, no trace at all.</em>


    There was obviously evidence that fire magics had been in the valley, but nothing remained that would have indicated that a fount ever had been there.


    <em>Im feeling a bit out of it</em> She frowned. <em>Where did the fount go?</em>


    <em>-Im not sure. We grabbed it and then it was gone? Wait, theres somethingbeled Urgent in our Archive repository.-</em> After a momentary shocked silence, t continued, <em>-Its from me? What is rust me to scrap. Are you ready?-</em>


    T frowned. <em>Ready for what?</em>


    <em>-Ready for the memories of what just happened. It seems like we had a close interaction with something of the nothingness, and something would have removed or corrupted our memories as a byproduct.-</em>


    <em>You saved them?</em>


    <em>-I am actively archiving our every experience these days. They wont make us lose anything ever again.-</em>


    <em>Sometimes I love you. </em>She felt vaguely ufortable at the undeterminable they in ts injunction, but it wasnt important at the moment.


    <em>-Thats a bit narcissistic, but I appreciate the gratitude. Ready?-</em>


    <em>Yes.</em>


    T was not ready.


    She reeled backwards as she was suddenly able to recall the entirety of the struggle followed by her choice. <em>What the rust?</em>


    <em>-Oh! Mistress Ingrit has a </em>lot<em> to say. One moment.-</em>


    <em>Right, we were sending her what we were detecting, werent we?</em>


    <em>-Yeah. It looks like she wanted to interact during, but it happened rather faster than it seemed.-</em>


    <em>Faster?</em>


    <em>-The whole process took less than half a minute.-</em>


    <em>Well rust. What did Mistress Ingrit have to say?</em>


    <em>-First of all, she wants to know why you didnt just use Flow.-</em>


    <em>Is she serious? Thest time that I used Flow, it </em>ate<em> the gate or at least it appeared to. I was not reallyfortable attacking the fount when I had other options, not with the potential of destroying someones eternal existence.</em>


    <em>-Master Xeel assured us that wasnt the case. The fount wasnt really eaten, not in that sense.-</em>


    <em>I know, butI had another option, and I didnt want to just hit it with my sword if there was another way.</em>


    <em>-Well, at least now we have solid confirmation. The true consumption of the fount would vite the sense we got, that we cant change or vite the eternal destination of a gate.-</em>


    <em>Yeah. It just seemed like I should try the other way, since it was avable to me.</em>


    <em>-Thats fair.-</em>


    <em>Next time, Im using Flow. That was Id rather not repeat that.</em>


    <em>-Agreed.-</em>


    <em>So, what else is she saying?</em>


    <em>-Do you want to just talk with her?-</em>


    <em>Are you capable of that?</em>


    <em>-Yes. Stay fully encased in iron, and I can maintain it for a few minutes. Youll need a reinscription afterwards, though.-</em>


    <em>Alright, get it arranged.</em> One of her mirrored perspective had seen two peopleing down the slope, surrounded by cooling magics that seemed to originate from Mistress Petra.


    It was, of course, the woman herself along with Master Simon.


    Master Simon called out to her when she turned, Mistress T! Are you alright? That seemed to go oddly.


    T tried to speak and encountered the same issue as before, that of having her mouth sealed. She willed the metal away from her lips as she responded, Ill be fine. There were someplications.


    The two stopped on the slope still at least a dozen yards from the epicenter, already visibly sweating despite the cool breeze and the magics meant to keep the heat at bay.


    That might have been a scathing rebuke of their level of power and resiliency, but given the ground was glowing in quite a wide radius, T thought they were doing incredibly well. Stay back. Ill get the analysis artifacts, if they survived.


    Mistress Petra shook her head. Forget the devices. Are you alright? Lets get you back into the sanctum.


    It was only then that T really considered the fact that theyd bothe out.


    If she had truly been on the edge of death, which she likely appeared to be, then they had risked Kit being whisked away when she passed on, stranding them both in the wilds.


    They hade to check on her anyways.


    <em>-We lucked into some really caring people, didnt we.-</em>


    <em>So it would seem, yeah.</em>


    She retracted the iron and white-steel from around her face, and at the same time extended her aura to give her iron room to reach out and scoop the artifacts out of the insanely hot ground.


    The constructs were mostly intact, and T drew them to her even as she broke her feet loose of the ground and moved towards the couple.


    She held in a groan as her whole body protested the movement.


    <em>Oh, thats ufortable.</em> Something to eat definitely wouldnt be amiss, now that you mention it.


    Mistress Petras face softened. That sounds wise, Mistress. Lets get you to a nicefortable seat. Well get some water and food in you.


    As soon as water was mentioned, T realized just how thirsty she was. <em>Yes, water.</em>


    The three walked out of the valley, though the two others kept a bit away from T as she was radiating an ufortable amount of heat.


    They <em>probably</em> wouldnt have been burned if they had touched her, but it would have been a near thing.


    T was actively cooling the white metal that was still surrounding her, and that was helping her internal temperature drop. The whole thing was acting like a magically assisted heat-sink.


    As T considered her physical state, she directed her thoughts at t. <em>Do I want to know?</em>


    <em>-I dont see why not. If you were still Bound, youd be dead. If you were still Fused, our brain would be cooked, and youd be unconscious until it cooled enough to be regrown and refilled with our memories.-</em>


    <em>Well Lets do it the easy way next time. Draw Flow, one quick cut.</em>


    <em>-Agreed. Mistress Ingrit is asking if she can bring in an expert? To be clear, his area of study is founts, not void-magics or the Doman-Imithe.-</em>


    <em>Sure. That could help us piece this all together.</em>


    <em>-Alright, they will be ready in ten minutes. She wants the expert to review the findings first.-</em>


    <em>Is there that much?</em>


    <em>-Master Simons info is a part of it. He didnt </em>really<em> see more than we did. The specialized artifacts recorded more deeply, but not really anything specific that we didnt see.-</em>


    <em>What does that even mean?</em>


    <em>-If we tried every dish, he brought the buffet. Nothing really </em>different<em>, no more dishes than we sampled, but he has more full tters?-</em>


    <em>Huh, I suppose I can understand that.</em>


    The three got back to where Kit waited at the top of the slope. Blessedly, by that time T was a more reasonable temperature.


    T stopped in confusion when she saw that Kit was in the form of an open door. What?


    Master Simon and Mistress Petra turned to her. Mistress T?


    I thought you were looking through a window.


    We were, but we thought you needed help when the view vanished, and a door appeared next to us.


    Mistress Petra nodded. We couldnt leave you out here if you needed help, so we came to see what we could do.


    Huh. T shook her head and smiled. Well, thank you.


    Of course, Mistress.


    The three went inside, the door closed and vanished, and T handed Master Simon back his artifacts before settling down in one of herfortable chairs, looking out on the calming view of her sanctum.


    Mistress Petra went and grabbed some food for T, presenting her with a tray of snacks and arge gon of water.


    Thank you, Mistress Petra.


    Of course. You just went through fire. She chuckled at her own joke. Take a minute. I think Simon is going to want to ask you a few thousand questions when youre free and settled.


    T looked around but didnt see the man. Where is he?


    Oh, he grabbed his te and constructs and went off to his work area. Hell be trying to figure out how those that broke failed and why. Mistress Petra smiled fondly as she spoke of her husband. Im sure hell be back once his mind is settled, but Ill hold him off until after dinner at the very least. You should have that long to collect yourself and do your own thinking.


    T felt herself smiling too. Well, I hope to have more for him by then. I need to clear my head and get all this straight.


    As is only wise. Even so, eat up, first.


    <em>-You have time.-</em>


    T nodded. I will. Thank you.


    It didnt take long to eat the bit of food, and she did find herself practically chugging the water. Kit refilled it at need, and T ended up draining four massive mugs.


    Altogether, the repast was amazingly refreshing in a way that T didnt expect. <em>I cant believe that Im still surprised that my scripts dont heal everything.</em>


    <em>-Well, they do, but they dont always make you </em>feel<em> perfect. They will keep you functional and fit, that was what they were designed to do.-</em>


    T grunted before standing. Thank you, Mistress Petra. Well likely be on our way in less than an hour.


    Ill let Simon know.


    Thank you.


    T left the dining area and went to her room before standing beside the bed. <em>Are they ready?</em>


    <em>-They are now, yes.-</em>


    She nodded to herself, and once fully encased in iron again, the scripts involved in her mental enhancementsand ts functionalityzed with power.


    Five secondster, Mistress Ingrit and an older man were seemingly standing in her room, looking around curiously.


    T bowed to each. Hello greetings? Im sorry, I cant really say I know how to start such a conversation.


    Mistress Ingrit smiled and gave a small bow in return. Hello works well enough.


    The man gave a small bow as well. Hello, Mistress T. Thank you for agreeing to see us.


    Sure. Unfortunately, I cant maintain a connection for long. We should address the pertinent things first. I understand that you have questions?


    He hesitated. Wait youre maintaining the connection yourself?


    With my inscriptions, yes.


    Remarkable. I would not have thought a Refined He shook his head, cutting himself off. I apologize, I easily get lost on rabbit trails. I am Coinin, and I have so, <em>so</em> many questions. I will attempt to be brief.

 Chapter 311: Master Coinin

    Chapter 311: Master Coinin


    T faced Mistress Ingrit and Master Coinin as they were projected into her perception through ts efforts.


    The alternate interface could only hold the connection for a few minutes, so they needed to be efficient with their time. Even so, the mans few words had already let T know that that wouldnt be happening.


    It is good to meet you, Master Coinin.


    He smiled and nodded once. Alright, brief and fast. I can do this. Did you notice anything different between this smiler and others youve seen before?


    She wanted to pass over the obvious name for the beings shed seen, but she needed to be sure. Also, if there was already an established name for them, there should be more information about them avable. Thus, she asked, Smiler?


    Master Coinin gave her an almost-disappointed look as he answered, Yes, Id thought it would be obvious what I was referring to.


    She contained her desire to cut back and shook her head. It is, I just havent heard that term before.


    It fits, so?


    Ahh, so not an established term. Thank you. As to a difference. No? Not really. The ones I saw before all felt the same? Like they always had been and always would be, forever unchanging, forever hungry, forever consuming. They were an emptiness beyond the void. After all, individual voids, or sections of the void, can be filled. These smilers cant, or at least they didnt feel like they could.


    And the most recent smiler?


    It felt iplete? Thats not right. It was the same, but lesser, though that might just have been because I was sensing it from Zeme, rather than from within the Doman-Imithe. Thats why I wouldnt swear to having sensed a difference. There are just too manyplicating factors.


    That might make sense, yes. Coinin was nodding. Do you think that the Doman-Imithe is their natural habitat?


    T blinked in surprise at the change of direction for the line of questioning but shook her head. Not in the way I understand it.


    What do you mean?


    Well, creatures should be able to traverse their natural environment, and these were almost forcibly fixed in ce.


    That that is an interesting way to look at it. I appreciate the perspective What do you?


    Mistress Ingrit cleared her throat. The topic, Master Coinin.


    RIGHT! Right, my apologies. We were discussing the fount. Your perception seemed to indicate that you felt you had a choice over the temporary fate of the gate, is that correct?


    Yes. That is the sense I got.


    But you also felt an inevitability? Can you expand on that?


    T was a bit confused, and rather than allowing that confusion tost, she simply asked, It seems like you reviewed my memories, you should know all I do. Right?


    Ahh, but I dont have your context. A persons memories are stored for him or herself. As an example, you might think to yourself that a wolf reminds you of a childhood dog. In reviewing those thoughts, if granted to me, I would know that factoid, but I would have no idea what caused that connection to be drawn, nor would I inherently know anything about that dog from long ago.


    T frowned. Im not sure I fully understand.


    Basically, your memories are encoded for your own mind and how you see the world. Thus, with such a small sample, I can only make guesses at some of the more esoteric parts, and lets be honest, the entire experience was esoteric.


    She found herself nodding. Oh, I suppose that makes sense. Yes, then. It felt like my choice would not matter for the gates, for the souls, final destination. What I was granted, or what I had seized, was the ability to influence the journey. To use your word, the ultimate fate of the gate seemed inevitable regardless of me or my choices.


    I see, I see. And that inevitable fate, it was the next world?


    That seemed to be the case, yes.


    And on the topic of the next world. The power you interacted with there was hostile towards you?


    T shook her head. She was certain on this point. No.


    But it damaged you, correct? It instantly harmed you with the slightest exposure.


    Yes, but that doesnt make it hostile. Just as a mundane can drown in water if he is not equipped to traverse its depths. That fact does not mean that the water is hostile to the man. The fact that we often use anthropomorphizing, antagonistguage isnt an indication of truth. The power isnt hostile. It just <em>is</em>. And I am unable to endure it.


    So, this power? The fundamental makeup of the next world? He gestured for her to go on.


    It felt like something about me was utterly out of ce, like I simply couldnt exist beside the pure power. Like an acid and a base. She frowned. No, thats not right. It wasnt an interaction of mutual destruction or dilution. The purity of the next world wasnt tainted by my presence, I simply could not exist there as I am.


    Fascinating. Master Coinin seemed to draw into himself for a moment, considering.


    Master Coinin? Mistress Ingrit had remained quiet for their short conversation, only interjecting previously to help the man keep on topic, and it seemed that she was again attempting to facilitate.


    Hmm? Yes, Mistress Ingrit?


    Do you have any other questions?


    <em>-I am nearing the end of what I can maintain.-</em>


    <em>Ill try to be fast.</em>


    I think so. Mistress T, are you aware of the nature of existence?


    T arched one eyebrow, causing the man tough self-deprecatingly.


    I suppose that was a silly question, wasnt it? It could mean anything, or nothing at all. In fact, if we think abouthe nced up and saw Mistress Ingrit staring at him intently, stopped, cleared his throat, and redirectedBut of course, now is not the time for that. What I meant was: Are you aware of the tripod supposition?


    That seems like an entirely different question. T hesitated. Unless you believe it to be beyond question in its rtion to the nature of existence?


    I do, actually, and I suppose my biases through rather strongly.


    It does a bit, yes. Even so, we are getting off topic again. No, I dont believe I have heard of it.


    He nodded, seemingly not expecting her to have known what he was referring to. Well, the basics are that existence isposed of three things: Reality, Void, and Magic.


    T frowned but didnt interrupt.


    Imagine they are the points of a triangle. The side opposite the <em>point</em> representing Reality is void-magic, or the line connecting those two points. The side opposite of Void is reality-magic, again the line. Thus, the side opposite of Magic is? He gestured encouragingly to her.


    She realized it would be faster to guess than wait for him to continue. Reality-void?


    Precisely! Or rather a void in reality. I believe that is your nothingness.


    That made a lot of sense, actually. I think I can see that, and these three things make up existence? Like a tripod, existence cant <em>exist</em> without all three?


    Well, they obviously arent <em>things,</em> but loosely, yes. More specifically, they make up existence <em>within Zeme.</em> I wouldnt dream of making a im about existence outside of our fractured little corner.


    She grunted at that. <em>Thats probably wise, yeah. </em>So, what are you driving at?


    Ahh, yes, the actual question. How would you guess the Doman-Imithe fits into that framework?


    Mistress Ingrit closed her eyes and sighed, slightly shaking her head. Even so, she didnt interrupt.


    T blinked a few times, trying to grapple with such a monumental question.


    <em>-T-</em>


    <em>Im trying!</em>


    She tried to clear her mind and give the best answer that she could, Well reality threads throughout, sheathed in the void, and the smilers were there, too. There was magic, but it was all tied up, somehow, all doing various things rather than free-floating, just as the void and threads were She trailed off as she understood what he was getting at. You think that the Doman-Imithe is actually existence? And somehow Zeme is what? Just a cobbled together mass of unused pieces hanging off the center?


    Heughed once, almost triumphantly. Yes! That is what I and many others have postted, though not exactly. We believe that the Doman-Imithe was created to hold everything together, to provide the underpinnings for existence in its truest form, and then Zeme was constructed within that protective framework. This <em>isnt </em>all of existence.


    T remembered speaking with Meain and the City Lord of tiori. They had either implied or said the same things. Still, she was trying to be quick. Instead of mentioning those conversations, she focused on a more tangible response. Well, of course it isnt. The next world isnt a part of Zeme, but it clearly exists.


    He tapped the side of his nose while pointing at her with his other hand. Precisely.


    T was about to add that the next world was <em>also</em> not a part of the Doman-Imithe, but Mistress Ingrit shook her head and interjected, Alright, Master Coinin, youve followed yourst trail. I believe our time is up. After a moments hesitation, she smiled and added. I do believe that we have some memories avable for your acquisition which might be <em>quite </em>interesting to you.


    T nced to the Archivist, and Mistress Ingrit smiled.


    -<em>She notified us. She is referencing the pertinent discussions with Meain and the City Lord of tiori.-</em>


    <em>Perfect, then I dont need to deal with it. She really is incredibly helpful.</em>


    <em>-That she is. Now please?-</em>


    <em>Im trying.</em>


    Master Coinin nodded to Mistress Ingrit in acknowledgement. I look forward to our negotiations. He then bowed to T. Thank you, Mistress T for your time. May I reach out again in the future to discuss things further, should there be a need?


    T nodded. I am open to the idea.


    Thank you.


    She then turned to Mistress Ingrit. Anything you need from me?


    The woman shook her head. No, thank you. I just knew hed get utterly off topic if hemunicated with you by himself.


    He pointed to her, nodding sagely. Shes absolutely right.


    -<em>T!-</em>


    T quickly bowed to each of them, and they bid each other a final farewell before the two vanished from Ts perception.


    t groaned. <em>-Ow Reinscription, please?-</em>


    <em>Sure. Lets do that now.</em>


    Less than five minutester, T was reinscribed and back in her room, soaking in her massive tub.


    <em>I need to do this more often. It really is rxing.</em>


    <em>-Maybe without the massive strain on my pathways first? As to the bath, we dont have that much time, but yes. It does seem good for you.-</em>


    <em>Thank you for keeping up the conversation. That was really much more pleasant? Useful? Efficient.</em> T nodded. <em>That was much better than trying tomunicate through passing messages back and forth.</em>


    <em>-Im d that I could be of service. Ill be able to slowly improve, and we might be able to get something to augment the connection when were in a specific location, but I think it might be a bit expensive.-</em>


    <em>It sounds like its worth looking into at the very least.</em>


    <em>-Thank you.-</em>


    <em>Of course.</em> She shifted slightly in the amazingly hot water. It was incredible how different hot water could feel from being within a fire. Cold water <em>might</em> have been better for a recovery from so much me magic, but T had chosen a rxing, if short, soak over a freezing plunge.


    <em>-You know, ice baths are good for you.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, but they are really unpleasant</em>


    <em>-You would barely feel it.-</em>


    <em>maybe.</em> She shook her head and changed the subject. <em>Are we still going to be able to make it to Marliweather today?</em> That felt so odd to even contemte.


    It was a week trip by caravan, but that was because the caravans took it slow to be as safe as possible. The distance was only about a hundred and fifty miles, and she could easily run that in a day, especially with her magical resonance so reduced.


    It should have been a rtively trivial thing for her to make the trek, but instead, it had turned into an insane day.


    While finding a Mage about to be a fount was unlikely, it wasnt that unusual considering the range of her senses. Now, if she found another, shed know something was really odd.


    <em>You know, I think us going aroundrger pockets of power might have increased our chances too.</em>


    <em>-I agree. It seemed like the Mage was drawn to a ce of lower power, so since we were trying to stay in exactly that same environment-</em>


    <em>Far more reasonable, yes.</em>


    <em>-Lets just not do it again. I agree, that would be a disturbing pattern.-</em>


    <em>Or if </em>another<em> unlikely thing happens. That would be unideal.</em>


    <em>-Are you </em>trying <em>to jinx us?-</em>


    T huffed augh. <em>I suppose not. Ill leave it.</em>


    With a quick aspect mirror, she cleaned herself within the water. The little grime that had stuck to her skin came free in the water, and Kit whisked that away to who knew where.


    T stood,bed out her hair, braided it, and dressed for cross-country travel.


    She coated herself in iron but let her through-spike maintain her appearance. <em>No need to look odd for the Simons.</em>


    <em>-I dont think thats theirst name.-</em>


    <em>Well, I dont actually know it, do I?</em>


    <em>-I could see if I can find it?-</em>


    <em>No if I need to know, Ill just ask.</em> She considered for a moment before sighing.


    She should ask.


    Even so, T almost summoned a door and simply stepped out into the wilds but thought better of it at thest moment.


    Instead, she went back to the dining area, where Mistress Petra had more food ready for her. Thank you, Mistress.


    Im happy to provide. That looked like hungry work you did.


    It was that. T gave a wan smile. She hesitated for an awkward moment before she shook her head. Im sorry, Mistress Petra. I dont think I ever asked for yourst name?


    The woman tilted her head to one side. I suppose you havent. Its Zat.


    And do you prefer Mistress Petra or Mistress Zat?


    Usually, either is fine, but you and I are easily on a first name basis, I think. She gave a cheeky smile. Are we not, Mistress T?


    T grinned in return. I suppose we are, Mistress Petra. Thank you.


    Take care of yourself now. Eat and get us back to a proper city.


    Will do.


    T sat in herfortable chair and ate.


    She didnt linger, but she still made sure to enjoy every bite.


    Even with the measured pace, she quickly finished, banishing the tray with a thought.


    Thank you again.


    Mistress Petra simply waved dismissively with a smile as T stepped through a summoned door and out into the wilds.


    The valley below was still hot, even with winters steady encroachment.


    Snow had begun to fall, and it sizzled when it struck the ground anywhere near the center. Even so, the outer edges were already being covered, ck giving way to white.


    Peace was returning to this disrupted corner of Zeme.


    T picked up Kit, pressing the ttened pouch against her leg before enfolding it in iron.


    She wanted to perfect her various outrements, so this time she didnt use ayer of white-steel. Instead, she followed ts suggestion and simply thickened the iron to obscure wherever that was needed. She also suppressed her through-spike, removing almost all of her magical presence.


    Flow was still secured on the top of her left forearm, and her elk-leathers were reduced to a tight band around her neck, both fully enclosed in iron.


    <em>-Why did you add iron to make your face a nk mask, too?-</em>


    <em>Anonymity can be useful at times?</em>


    <em>-Yes, because there are so many Mages who can go around covered in iron.-</em>


    <em>Well it doesnt hurt, does it? Besides, non-Mages cant instantly tell its iron, can they?</em>


    <em>-No, I suppose not. Well, we need a name for this configuration. Travel?-</em>


    <em>I was thinking everyday.</em>


    <em>-With the face? Or should I say, without a face?-</em>


    <em>The through-spike will add the illusion of my face at need.</em>


    <em>-I mean I suppose? I wont fight you on it. What about your eyes and mouth?-</em>


    <em>I want to get in the habit of treating my mirrored perspectives like my main vision. This should help with that. I also want to get used to not breathing, so its not a draw on my attention in tense situations.-</em>


    <em>-What if you need to speak?-</em>


    <em>Then, Ill open a slit or pull the metal back or something.</em>


    <em>-As you wish.- </em>t clearly didnt think it was the greatest idea, but T disagreed. Keeping maximum magical containment would do wonders for her natural pathways and magical density over time, and this was the best way to do that.


    T stretched briefly, nodded to herself at her easy movements, and took off down the hill away from the valley. She would circle the fire damage and continue on her way.


    Terry flickered up beside her mere momentster. A few more flicks of dimensional power let him move all around her, seemingly examining her from every angle.


    Her metal pulled away from her mouth as she addressed him. Im fine, Terry.


    He squawked once.


    Im d that you pulled back. That wasnt something that you could have helped with.


    Terry squawked in irritation.


    I <em>was</em> careful, and I <em>am</em> fine.


    He did not seem mollified.


    Im not going to do it that way again in any case. Dont get your feathers all bunched up over it.


    He trilled a derisive series of notes.


    Just because Im going to do it differently in the future does not mean I was reckless the first time.


    <em>-Why do you think he tried to convey anything like that?-</em>


    <em>Because its what I would have said if I were him? And his tone matches. </em>T shrugged internally.


    Terry let out a long-suffering groan but turned his attention forward once more.


    They only ran like that for a little while before Terry began flickering around once again.


    At that point, T fell into a rhythm and allowed t to bring up the next book for her to read as she ran.


    The experience of reading as she did other tasks was more odd than usual because the book didnt block any of her vision at all this time.


    The book seemed to hover before her closed eyes, visible even so. Independently, she could see perfectly through her mirrored perspectives.


    Thus, she was in a position to split her mind and attention as she moved.


    It was actually a bit exhausting, mentally speaking, which meant it was probably good training.


    <em>I dont split my focus very often, do I?</em>


    <em>-No, you just jump between tasks or areas of focus. If you truly need to do more than one thing simultaneously, you rely on me.-</em>


    T found herself nodding as she ran. <em>Ive let that be a weakness. Lets correct that, shall we?</em>


    <em>-As you wish.-</em>

 Chapter 312: Baby Steps

    Chapter 312: Baby Steps


    T ran through the wilds and read as the sun moved across the sky.


    Terry kept close and checked in on her fairly often, but he didnt bother staying within sight most of the time.


    In the end, they came to the edge of the citys defenses with the sun barely showing over the horizon. <em>Ahh short winter days, how inconvenient you can be at times.</em>


    They stood on top of a particrly high rise and looked down upon Marliweather, the city of Ts birth.


    It covered so much morend than Bandfast, given that its mines were still operational. <em>They still have almost fifty years left to drain the mines dry.</em>


    Within the ring of massive gantries and equipment to transport workers and materials down into and up from the mining tunnels, the familiar farndy just as dormant as it had been around Bandfast.


    The city also looked very much like Bandfast, and she was yet again struck by the simrities. Theyout of the streets was nearly hauntingly familiar, as wererge portions of the skyline.


    Even with the steadily falling snow, the view wasnt <em>that</em> obscured.


    She was reminded of her first time returning after her Academy days, and she looked over to Terry, shifting the metal away from her lips,. Wait a minute.


    Terry froze in ce and nced her way, letting out a questioning trill.


    You were learning to fight with weapons. Throwing them until you were a hurricane of des all by yourself. What ever happened with that?


    He lowered his head and glowered.


    You were getting really good! Even before I was taken. Why havent we gone back to that?


    Terry shook himself and turned back toward the city.


    Ahh, right. Too much else going on well, we should get back to it. You were rusting terrifying.


    He tilted his head slightly, giving her a side-eyed look.


    She held up her hands. Not that you arent terrifying as you are now.


    He bobbed once and chirped in satisfaction.


    T found herself grinning. You know, you really do make everything better.


    He preened slightly, trilling happily.


    Come on, lets get into the city. She had a realization as she said that; she didnt actually have any pressing need for anything within the city.


    She didnt need to find a ce to stay or supplies; she had Kit.


    She didnt need to find food; she had Mistress Petra.


    She didnt need safety; she was more than capable of handling anything that this region was likely to throw at her.


    <em>Why am I here again?</em>


    <em>-your family.-</em>


    <em>Are you sure? I think I can just go back to Bandfast. We could probably get back before dawn.</em>


    <em>-T.-</em>


    She let her shoulders drop slightly. <em>Fine</em>


    Lets go.


    Terry flickered to her shoulder, and she allowed her through-spike to activate, shrouding her in an illusion of her real, uncoated appearance. She also let her elk-leathers re-cover her in appropriate clothing.


    Then, together, they moved down the hill, toward the closest road.


    The work hours in the mine didnt need to follow the sun, so the traffic on the road was still rather light, with only a fewers and goers.


    Those they passed waved and greeted her, and she returned the courtesy.


    <em>People are so nice.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, it really is good to be back.-</em>


    T felt a bit of wetness building up in her eyes. <em>It really is.</em>


    She didnt actually cry, but she definitely had a tightness in her chest.


    <em>Come on, T. Its just people saying hi. People said hi to you in Bandfast too.</em>


    She shook off her wave of emotions. She knew that her reaction was likely due to being in her hometown again, and the mindset this location moved her toward.


    This was a homing, even if not the same type as returning to humanity as a whole, or even returning to Bandfast.


    She should expect it to dredge up some powerful feelings.


    Terry had been asionally shaking himself free of snow, and he seemed to finally have enough, ncing down toward Kit with an inquiring chirp.


    Sure. I can let you back in.


    T opened the pouch, and Terry flickered within, vanishing into her sanctum.


    Now without apanion, she focused more inward.


    Walking thest stretch allowed her to reaffirm her emotional state and her ns.


    Shed told her siblings that shed be in Marliweather in the next few days, so she could dy if she wanted or needed.


    She didnt think that she would. If she waited too long, shed leave without seeing them and make some excuse.


    <em>Tomorrow. Ill see them tomorrow.</em>


    <em>-Do you want me to message them to that effect?-</em>


    <em>Maybe? Is it a school night? Will they even be avable?</em>


    <em>-They wont have any school tomorrow, T.-</em>


    <em>Okay, thank you. Yes, please send them a message.</em>


    <em>-Do you want me to say anything other than, Im in town and will be by tomorrow morning?-</em>


    <em>No, that sums it up pretty well.</em>


    <em>-Alright, Ive reached out to Master Leighis. Hes been a solid connection to them.-</em> t only paused for a moment before continuing.<em> -I still say we should have tried to connect with one of your siblings directly-</em>


    <em>Oh, I know thats your opinion. Youve been </em>very<em> clear. I like the little bits of separation</em>


    <em>-Do you think thats going to stand?-</em>


    <em>No. Not after all this.</em>


    She walked through the main gates to the city and felt a wave of power pass over her, reading her projected aura.


    One of the guards off to one side stood up a bit straighter, seemingly hearing something that she couldnt. He then oriented on her and strode her way.


    <em>What is this, now?</em>


    <em>-I have no idea.-</em>


    He stopped near her and bowed. Mistress.


    Guardsmen. What seems to be the matter?


    Nothing is the matter, Mistress. I was instructed to greet the Refined Mistress and see if there is anything in particr that has brought you to our city.


    <em>t? What is going on?</em>


    <em>-I still have no idea.-</em>


    My apologies, but why?


    The man looked vaguely ufortable. No, Mistress, I must offer <em>my </em>apologies, but I do not know either. I am simply following instructions. Now, is there any way that we can assist you?


    She frowned, feeling the whole situation was odd. No, thank you, Guardsman. Good night to you.


    He bowed again, clearly seeming relieved that their interaction wasing to an end. And to you, Mistress.


    She walked into the city without further dy, but she felt the need to nce back.


    Instead of actually turning her head around, she simply put more focus on the aspect mirrored perspective from the bloodstar at the base of her neck.


    The guard watched her go even as he returned to his station.


    <em>Please let Mistress Ingrit know what just happened and ask what this might be about.</em>


    <em>-Done.-</em>


    t would let her know as soon as a response came back, so T didnt feel a need to wait.


    She walked through the streets of the nearest market, the falling snow continuing to build up. T shifted her metal and drew in a deep breath, taking in the feeling of having people around her again after being in the wilderness all day.


    Oddly, the mere presence of so many people was rxing to T at that moment.


    She liked her usual istion, but the mass of humanity held its own sort of appeal.


    <em>-Alright, Mistress Ingrit said that it shouldnt be anything to be concerned about. It might be because you were a new Refined, not in the citys records. It could also be that the city defenders have been doing surprise inspections or defensive drills, and so the guards are more on watch for more advanced Mages. If there was any real issue, youd have been greeted by an Archon at the very least.-</em>


    <em>Okay, then. Please thank her for us.</em>


    <em>-Already done.-</em>


    <em>Thank you.</em>


    She wandered a bit until she found a shop with a clear wall on the side, in an alleyway that wasnt too shadowed or foreboding.


    The shopkeeper was meticulously keeping her wares cleared of the little snow that drifted under her canopy, ensuring they were visible and ready for the evening crowd.


    T walked up to her with a smile. Good evening.


    Good evening. What can I interest you in today?


    Well, I was wondering if I could use your exterior wall. T gestured at the alleyway shed been eyeing.


    My wall?


    Yes. It wont be damaged, or affected at all, long term, but I thought it would be polite to ask.


    May I ask what for?


    Of course, I want to anchor my dimensional storage against the wall for the night.


    Oh! Mistress, my apologies. The woman bowed politely. I did not realize that you were a Mage.


    It is no matter. Do I have your permission?


    The woman nced in the direction that T indicated. If it will cause no damage or disruption


    It should not.


    Then, you are wee to use it. Thank you for asking.


    T gave a shallow bow. Of course. Good night.


    Good night, Mistress.


    She walked around the corner and ced Kit on the wall where the pouch expanded into a door that seamlessly fit in with the buildings aesthetics.


    Honestly, T felt <em>tired.</em>


    Once again, she didnt know if the feeling was just an artifact of all shed been through,bined with being back in her childhood hometown, but she felt like she would sleep solidly all the way through the night.


    <em>Dinner first, then sleep.</em>


    That was a n she could tackle with ease.


    <em>And tomorrow, the siblings</em>


    That part would not be as easy.


    * * *


    T had been correct.


    She slept all evening and through the entire night.


    When she woke, she felt rested at a level that she hadnt realized she wascking.


    It seemed that the events of the previous day<em>more like previous months</em>had been even more draining than shed realized.


    It was still before sunrise on the outside, but the sky of the sanctum was beginning to brighten, and that light was likely what drew her awake.


    She moved through her stretches before aspect mirroring and hopping to free herself of what little grime had built up through the night.


    Then, iron in ce and through-spike active, T went to get breakfast.


    She didnt have her iron in the everyday configuration she was trying out because she was about to eat, then go talk with her siblings. Thus, having her face thickly covered would be quite the irritant.


    Even so, she did close off her ears, leaving only her airways open.


    She could still see and hear via her bloodstars, and it was good practice for the oddity of her hearing noting from the expected locations.


    When T entered the dining area, she saw that Mistress Petra had her breakfast ready and waiting, while being out of sight.


    The Mage had learned quickly that T enjoyed a bit of peace and quiet in the morning.


    <em>She is a treasure.</em>


    The food was as excellent as always, and T savored it while she watched the sun rise over her domain.


    It was an odd thought, that this was her domain, but it really couldnt be considered anything else.


    This ce was controlled by Kit, but T was its benefactor, its ruler.


    Her power sustained Kit and everything within the sanctum.


    If she were to die, or withhold her power, this ce would crumble away.


    In the best case, Kit would abandon the toorge dimensional pocket in an attempt to exist for a bit longer, and this would simply be an unattached pocket of existence which may or may not ever encounter Zeme again.


    If it did, it may or may not have be an ether hold by then.


    T really didnt know how such a process took ce, but with dimensional storages being one of the mostmon types of items sought and used by Archons, there had to be millions of tiny spaces floating around.


    <em>I wonder if they collide,bine, or something else?</em>


    <em>-First of all, they have to be over a certain volume before they truly be separate spaces, without specific interference. So, most dimensional storages simply tten out with Zeme upon their dissolution. Second, I believe that even for therger onesthose that are truly separate and only loosely connected with Zememost degrade over time. Finally, youre dying.-</em>


    T smiled ruefully; she had finished her breakfast a few minutes earlier. <em>Fair enough.</em>


    The doorway out appeared in front of her, and she pulled it open, looking out onto the falling snow.


    <em>You know, if I do soul-bond Kit, and go through the process of having her only tethered to my soul, that would mean that the entrances could appear anywhere around me, or rather anywhere around my soul.</em>


    <em>-That is my understanding.-</em> ts voice was hesitant, clearly sensing T building towards another dy, even if only a cognitive one.


    <em>And we have a part of a soul-bound ring in the Library in Bandfast.</em>


    <em>-I huh.-</em> t actually sounded a bit surprised by the obvious connection.


    <em>And I could leave a bloodstar well, anywhere. Could I open an entrance to anywhere Id left a soul-bound anything?</em>


    <em>-I I dont honestly know. Most Archons only soul-bind things they want to use all the time. Thus, they keep the items within easy reach. Even so, Im sure </em>someone<em> has experimented with the idea.-</em>


    <em>We should look into it.</em>


    <em>-Yes, we should, and you should stop dying.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, yeah.</em> T stepped out into the well-lit alleyway, moving through a reasonable amount of still-falling snow.


    The sky was still dark overhead, but some people were out and about, walking past on the nearby street.


    T hesitated for only a moment before pulling Kit free of the wall and hanging the pouch from her belt.


    She <em>could</em> leave the entrance to her sanctum there on the wall of the random shop, but that would end up being really inconvenient for her.


    Terry hadnte out with her, but he would likely ask to at some point this morning.


    <em>-Youre dying again.-</em>


    T turned and walked toward her childhood home.


    The snow that had started the previous afternoon had continued.


    It hadnt mattered much the previous day when she was maintaining a bounding run through the wilderness. Walking through the streets was a different experience.


    By some quirk of the local climate, Marliweather got a <em>lot</em> more snow than Bandfast, reminding T of her previous trips and of her childhood when the snow would sometimes pile up to four or five feet in a single storm.


    T didnt have any issue pushing through the growing drifts to get to the main street before continuing on her way.


    She didnt see any familiar faces as she traversed the city, but she didnt expect to, and T actually made sure to pick a route that avoided the haunts of such people that she was aware of.


    <em>Baby steps.</em>


    <em>-What about Bob?-</em>


    <em>The Constructionist?</em> T was confused as to why t would bring him up.


    <em>-Yeah, didnt we hear that he was going to be in Marliweather?-</em>


    <em>I suppose so. Why?</em>


    <em>-Well, you could ask him for anything we need the Constructionists for, like a way to relieve the burden onmunication through the Archive?-</em>


    <em>Ah, yeah. That would probably be reasonable, but who''s creating cognitive dys, now?</em>


    <em>-Fine, fine. Get back to your introspection. Dont let me provide distractions while youre on the move.-</em>


    T huffed augh and shook her head but didnt otherwise respond.


    Her mind wandered back to therge amounts of snow.


    Work crews were moving through at the early hour, some using artifacts powered by local harvests to melt or move the snow. Some were physically moving the snow to melting zones, whererger workings or Mages were liquifying the buildup and that which was brought to them, allowing it to flow down the storm drains and clear of the city.


    T saw a few Mages working to move the snow as well, obviously working with ice or water rted inscriptions.


    Another few seemed to be spraying powder across the streets.


    <em>What is that? Incorporators?</em>


    <em>-It does look like it, if the smell is any indication they are hot, salt incorporators. At least close enough to salt to closely mirror the smell of the ocean when mixed with water.-</em>


    Now that her attention had been brought to the scent, T could easily smell salt on the air just as t had said.


    -<em>Look behind the Mages. They are being careful in where they apply it, otherwise it would just leave behind sheets of ice, and thats worse than snow.-</em>


    <em>Yeah I suppose they were doing this when I was younger, too. I remember some, but this seems like a whole other level of effort.</em>


    <em>-Well, you didnte to the market districts very often.-</em>


    <em>Thats fair enough.</em> Even when shed been visiting her family quite often the previous year, shed mainly stayed near their house or at the work yard. There also hadnt <em>really</em> been any big storms while she was around, then.


    <em>I was only in Marliweather for a couple of days every two weeks or so. So, I suppose it makes sense that I might have missed seeing something like this.</em>


    It was interesting enough that T specifically watched the goings on as she moved deeper into the city, toward her destination.


    Finally, she approached the alchemist shop, the sun still not peaking over the surrounding rooftops, though the sky was bright enough that she expected it toe into view shortly.


    <em>Well, with all the clouds it might note into view all day. It should get a lot brighter soon, though.</em>


    Just as she remembered, the street her family lived on was much less important, so it wasnt being cleared with the same fervor. Still, there was an easy path to walk, so it wasnt like the people who lived here were being abandoned.


    When she finally got a good look at the storefront, she stopped in her tracks.


    There beside the door, bundled against the cold and sitting in a sturdy chair, was her father.

 Chapter 313: Catching Up

    Chapter 313: Catching Up


    T stood frozen in the street, staring at her father nearly a block away from her. In the dark of pre-dawn, under the clouds and the still falling snow, there was almost no chance that he could see her, yet.


    The man was clearly freezing, and he was just as clearly waiting for her.


    -<em>You dont know that.-</em>


    <em>Oh?</em>


    <em>-Yeah, hes quite well bundled. He might be fine temperature wise. As to why hes outside? He could just want some fresh air for his health?-</em>


    T scoffed and shook her head. <em>Not likely.</em>


    She was suddenly torn.


    She could simply stride past him into the family shop and ignore the man, but knowing him, if he had set his mind on <em>something</em>, hed be nning on standing as she approached and blocking the door if she tried to move past.


    She could just move him. She was easily strong enough to move him, bodily.


    There would be some catharsis in that, but it would also be bullying, and she didnt like how even the idea made her feel.


    She could go around back? Hop the back wall ande in through the kitchen.


    Then, shed have to face her mother. <em>Step-mother.</em>


    -<em>Now youre just being petty </em>and<em> dying.-</em>


    T growled.


    She had no idea why he was outside.


    What did he want to say or do that he didnt want anyone else to hear?


    <em>Is he so naive that he thinks no one will be watching or listening at the door?</em>


    -<em>You could stand out here until both of you freeze. Does that appeal?-</em>


    <em>I dont actually think that Id freeze even in the void.</em>


    <em>-Of course you wouldnt, youd overheat. Thats part of the issue.-</em>


    <em>Fine, I dont think Id freeze if I stuffed myself into a cier for a hundred years.</em>


    <em>-Now youre just being argumentative.-</em>


    <em>Now youre being pushy.</em>


    t sighed. <em>-T. What do you want?-</em>


    She growled again. <em>If I knew that, Id have already done it.</em>


    Even so, she started forward once again.


    Her father did see hering and stood. T. He called to her, then seemed to hesitate. Mistress T, may I have a moment of your time?


    She stopped in the street in front of the shop, a good two paces from him.


    They were surrounded by mounded snow, and more was falling as they stood in awkward silence.


    Finally, she shook her head. What do you want?


    She could hear the small smile in his voice as he responded, A moment of your time. Didnt I already make that clear?


    For what? She snapped back.


    He sighed, visibly deting just a bit. Can you open your eyes? I know you dont want to see me, but thats Its hard to talk to you like this.


    T froze. <em>My eyes?</em> Her eyes were covered in iron, so they were closed, but she had her through-spike active.


    <em>-And the illusion mimics the real you.-</em> t sounded a bit chagrined. -<em>I did not think of that-</em>


    <em>Clearly I didnt either.</em> She opened her eyes, maintaining her iron covering.


    It felt <em>weird</em> to have iron on her eyeball, but leaving any gap could cause a distortion of the magic reflected back.


    Her father nodded. Thank you.


    T gave a strained smile. She was slightly hurt that hed thought she was being so childish, but what else would he assume? She certainly wasnt going to take the time to exin things to him.


    I wanted to talk with you about Dagan and Alva.


    What about But she cut herself off, slowly nodding. Theyre turning twelve in just a couple of weeks.


    <em>-Yes, they are! That is a fact that we both know and remembered and simply didnt consider.-</em>


    <em>Not helpful, t.</em>


    Yes. His voice was firm.


    So, they want to go to the Academy, I assume?


    They do. Illie and Nc send messages so full of wonder about what theyre learning and seeing that its hard not to be drawn in. There was only a hint of recrimination in his tone. Add to that Latnas new apprenticeship and


    What? T cut him off.


    He winced, shaking his head. Shell tell you herself. He half nced over his shoulder. Ive already probably said more than shed prefer. He deted further. But were getting off topic. I want you to convince them its a bad idea.


    T couldnt help it. She barked a harshugh. You? You want <em>me</em> to convince my siblings to stay away from the Academy? Are you serious?


    I know, TMistress T. I know I have no right to ask, but


    No right? A random stranger has no right. From them it would be odd and out of ce, from you its an insult. She felt herself flushing under her iron, and she was filled with a desire to punch the man. Only aplete certainty that it would kill or cripple him stayed her hand.


    Dont you think I know that? He snapped, and the heat in his tone actually took her aback for a moment.


    She mentally pulled back, trying to assess the situation and her own emotions, but he continued before she really had a chance to sort through it all.


    We <em>lost</em> you. Again. Every one of the children He closed his eyes and seemed to be fighting to keep himself stoic. They mourned you. You were <em>dead, </em>and it nearly broke this family.


    T was at an utter loss for words.


    Aside from the loss itself, <em>I</em> was to me. I was the reason you were a Mage. I was the reason you werent here. I was the reason why you were out in the wilds where you could simply vanish without a trace. Me, and they all know it.


    It was hard to see under all theyers, but T finally noticed something that had been tickling at the back of her mind. He had lost a <em>lot</em> of weight. Hed never been fat, not really, but he had been a bigger man.


    Now? Now, he looked like <em>Like three months out from the edge of starvation.</em>


    What do you want me to say? Her voice was quiet, but it wasnt soft. Do you want me to absolve you? Do you want me to lie to Dagan and Alva?


    No! His voice was equally quiet and equally harsh. Tell them the truth. Dont sugarcoat it. They are <em>children</em>, and they dont understand the dangers. Your return just cemented the invincibility of Mages in their mind, even though they know families who have lost so, <em>so</em> many. He shook his head. I dont want absolution. I am not the reason for your sess, but I am the reason for your hardship. There is nothing that I can ever do to change that, and I dont expect you to ever forgive me. But please. He looked up and met her gaze with incredible intensity. Please dont make the mistake I made. Dont send more of this family off to die.


    The silence that only seemed to exist among new-fallen snow grew around them. T didnt know what to say, so she didnt say anything.


    Finally, her father shook his head. Thats all, Mistress. Thank you for your time.


    Without another word, he turned and opened the heavy door, letting out a wave of warmth and nostalgic aromas.


    T followed him inside, maintaining the silence, stepping into the reception area of the alchemy shop, and shutting the door.


    A voice came from the back, Dad? Are you back? Or is that T?


    The speaker was clearly more excited at the second option. <em>Did he actually somehow finagle a way for them to all be elsewhere?</em>


    She was somewhat impressed, despite herself.


    Her father nced at her before calling back, Actually both. She arrived as I was just outside.


    That started a cascade of noise, most of which had T! mixed in among various other exmations and the sound of objects ttering.


    T probably could have parsed it all, but she didnt feel the need.


    A pile of young people came spilling out through the door into the back, and they swarmed her like a gue of locusts.


    If shed been mundane, T had no doubt that shed have been taken to the ground by their exuberance.


    As it was, she found herself with half a dozen little people hanging off of her or in some way trying to give her a hug in the center of arger group. The air was filled with greetings and mor for others to move out of the way.


    A few of the smaller ones were poking at her andmenting to each other how she felt like a statue.


    T simply smiled and added power to her voice, ensuring that it would carry through the hubbub. Hey. Its good to see you all.


    Everyone stopped instantly, fully orienting on her rather than those in their way.


    Her dad shook his head, huffed, and stepped through the door into the back.


    Her brother Dagans eyes were practically glowing as he spoke into the silence, clearly intending to talk to himself, Thats so cool.


    That broke the other siblings out of their surprise, and the avnche of greetings resumed.


    It took a full five minutes before everyone was satisfied.


    When they all quieted down once more, Latna stepped forward, clearly having been tasked as the spokesperson, Do you want to eat here? Or should we go elsewhere to catch up?


    T considered. Have you all eaten?


    Latna shrugged. We just put the food out for breakfast.


    Ahh. Well, I dont want to interrupt that. Its probably getting cold. Go, eat. When youre done knock on this door. T tossed Kit against the inside of the front door of the shop where the pouch expanded and blended in seamlessly.


    Her eldest sister tilted her head to one side and frowned. What did you do to our door?


    Nothing special, but if I want, it can now lead into my ce.


    That got an excited murmur that T immediately realized she needed to head off before it could grow.


    Not forever! Just until I take back my pouch.


    There was a collective groan of disappointment.


    Now, go! Eat. Well talk as soon as youre done.


    T opened Kit and walked inside, out onto a warm, sunny, grassy hilltop.


    She turned around and grinned at their astonished faces. Dont take too long, now.


    The door closed but didnt disappear on Ts side.


    She wanted to make sure they came out beside her when they came.


    <em>-You know, youd know if anyone knocked, no matter where the door was. Then, you could instantly move it to your side.-</em>


    <em>Even so If something went wrong, now would be among the worst times.</em>


    t sighed, not arguing with her clearly unassable logic.


    As expected, T did not have to wait long.


    Soon enough, a tentative knock sounded on the door that stood, unsupported, on the hilltop beside her.


    Come! T called back, and the door opened on its own.


    The three of the four youngest stood outside, only missing little Se to round out the set.


    These three had been basically unknown to her before her frequent visits the year before. Theyd been a baby or not born when shed left for the Academy.


    Come on in. She smiled. Its perfectly safe.


    Voices called from behind the three, a mixture of protests and demands that they wait. The three boys shared a mischievous grin before walking through as close as they could squeeze together.


    The thunder of running feet followed close behind, and the others practically dove through the door one by one after the three, until they all had joined T on the hilltop.


    While Kit couldnt handle all of them for an extended period a couple of hours here and there shouldnt cause an issue.


    With an unnecessary gesture, T closed the door, and it vanished, causing several of the siblings to gasp.


    Now,she pped her hands together as she looked at each of her twelve present siblingslets catch up, shall we?


    * * *


    The day passed quickly.


    Terry came by for a bit to y, but he still seemed a bit off, more contemtive than his usual self, and he didnt stay around for that long.


    The Zat children were introduced, but T had previously asked for this first morning to be strictly her family, so they also quickly moved on to other things, promising to meet up to y with the kids close to their own agester on.


    T entertained her siblings with <em>heavily</em> edited retellings of her various adventures.


    She didnt sanitize them to make them seem less dangerous. More than anything she left out the parts that would be too confusing, difficult to exin, or that wouldplicate their advancement if they chose the path of a Mage.


    <em>And theres no need to mention all the loot I got on the way out.</em>


    <em>-Yeah treasure is never the greatest motivator for safety.-</em>


    She knew that she was doing what her father had asked, in a way, but it wasnt <em>because </em>he had asked, so she bore it and did as shed nned.


    Mistress Petra provided lunch.


    The two of them had discussed just that before the trip to Marliweather, and Mistress Petra would be providing meals for her siblings whenever T requested, though they would need to refill their stores if it was <em>too</em> often.


    Latna stepped out early on to let their mother know that the kids would miss lunch but be back for dinner.


    Their father apparently was minding the alchemy shop for the day to give the siblings time together.


    When evening rolled around, and dinner time had nearly arrived, most of the siblings left to help with the final preparations.


    Only Latna stayed behind, and she even closed the door behind herst sibling, turning toward T. You know, you could join us.


    I know, but I''d rather not.


    Mom and Dad?


    That is a part of it.


    Whats the rest?


    Your house isnt my home anymore, and I dont want it to be. This is. She spread her hands out, indicating their surroundings.


    The siblings hadnt gotten the tourT had nned that for the next daybut they had learned a bit about what Kit was.


    In the end, she hadnt been <em>entirely</em> effective in keeping away from mentions of loot.


    I dont want to rejoin the family, Latna. I love you; I love our siblings, but I am not one of you. Not anymore.


    Latna shook her head. Do you really believe that? That you can just <em>decide</em> to not be one of us anymore?


    Being a Karweil has meaning, Latna, and it no longer applies to me. There have been good and bad Karweils, and Ive severed my connection to all of them.


    And <em>your</em> mother?


    T winced slightly but shook her head. I dont know. I never knew her, and she didnt have any family that I know of.


    Tragedies like Lyns family werent everyday urrences, but they did happen often enough that it wasnt <em>that</em> unusual to find lone remaining members of a family. In those cases, tragedies didnt just ignore the survivors forever, so even Ts mothers story wasn''t that odd.


    She only hesitated a moment before continuing, If she were alive? I dont know. I might have more pull, but thats not how it is.


    You know she chose <em>him</em>. She chose our father.


    T scoffed. That could have happened for any number of reasons.


    Latna arched an eyebrow. Really? You think she chose to <em>marry</em> a man without good reason?


    T held up her hands in concession. I didnt say those reasons werent good.


    Latna shook her head. Youre justifying.


    And youre trying to y out an argument you had in your own head against a me who doesnt exist.


    She froze at that. After a long moment, she nodded. Youre right. Thats a fair assessment. I apologize.


    T watched her sister slump just slightly. I know you mean well, Latna. You will always be my sister, even if we arent in the same family. Just like when you get married, I wont be a part of that extended family either.


    Latna smiled at that. I can understand <em>that</em>, but you will still be connected to them through me.


    To that, Ipletely agree. But that doesnt make me a part of it with you.


    I suppose She still seemed like she wanted to argue, but finally, the younger woman shook her head. But thats not what I wanted to talk with you about.


    T felt a rueful smile pull at her lips. Oh? What is it, then?


    Ive taken an apprenticeship.


    T almost said that their father had told her that already, but she stopped herself. <em>That</em> would turn the conversation in an entirely undesirable direction. Oh? What did you choose? I thought you enjoyed alchemy.


    I do. Latna smiled animatedly. I see this as enhancing my alchemy. Im studying magic.


    T frowned slightly. <em>Does she have more magic in her system than before?</em>


    <em>-Maybe? I dont think so, though. Theres no discernable difference from thest time we saw her.-</em>


    <em>And there are no inscriptions</em>


    Latna held up a hand. Before you fall into contemtionspinning your mental wheels all over the ceIll just tell you. Master Leighis is starting me on the theory and foundations. He thinks Ill be ready for a keystone and basic anciry inscriptions in a couple of years.


    Thats not how the Academy did things at all, but T supposed that the Academy was a non-standard location that might allow for a different order of operations. So, Master Leighis is teaching you?


    Latna smiled happily. He is. Hes a wonderful teacher. Apparently, hes only had one apprentice before, but they were inducted as a full Mage. So, you could say he has a perfect record.


    The younger woman giggled slightly at her own poor joke, and T cocked an eyebrow. I see


    Isnt it exciting? Im going to be a Mage, too! Latna did seem very excited.


    Im d that youre able to pursue something that excites you, yes. <em>And maybe someone?</em>


    <em>-You could ask.-</em>


    <em>Of course I could.</em>


    <em>-but you wont.-</em>


    <em>Nope.</em>


    Latna beamed. Im d. I could hardly wait to tell you, but I wanted to do it in person. Her countenance fell a bit. I had only just decided to go through with it when we got word that youd vanished


    T gave a wan smile. I am sorry for how that hit you all. I definitely would not have chosen it.


    I know. After a moment, Latna added, <em>We</em> know that it wasnt something you chose. We we had just begun to see you again, just begun to get to know you again, and then you were gone.


    Well, Ill be staying in touch more from now on.


    She gave a half smile. But not visiting often?


    Probably not too often, no.


    Latna sighed. I guess thats to be expected.


    She nced back at the closed door.


    So, are you just going to wait in here until tomorrow?


    T shrugged. Probably. I have a lot to do, and this ce isnt exactly small.


    Alright. Latna smiled. Goodnight, T.


    Goodnight, Latna.


    The younger woman hesitated for an instant, then stepped forward and wrapped her arms around her older sister. Im d youre back.


    T returned the hug, curling into the familiar embrace. So am I So am I.

 Chapter 314: A Pleasant Morning

    Chapter 314: A Pleasant Morning


    T passed the following two weeks much as she had nned.


    She spent time with her siblings, showing them Kit and actually discussing quite a bit of the random theories of magic with them, well, with the older ones at least.


    They never delved too deeply into the topic as no one but Latna had any foundation to speak of.


    T yed with her little siblings and chatted with the older ones about their lives. The Zat children and Terry joined in the fun much of the time, and T often simply let groups of her siblings into Kit to y with the new ymates avable in the sanctum.


    When absolutely required, she exchanged words in passing with her parents, but neither her mother nor father attempted to force conversation.


    For that, T was infinitely grateful. Though, not grateful enough to approach them for anything further.


    Aside from the time with her family, she trained, <em>hard.</em>


    Her body was fully recovered.


    She had a clean bill of health.


    The only thing she didnt have was a physical sparring partner.


    In every other regard, she dove into her full suite of exercises and training routines.


    She had asked Terry if he wanted to spar, but he had indicated that he wanted to wait, for some reason or other. So, she hadnt pressed him.


    <em>Hell let me know when hes ready.</em>


    Knowing him, he was probably watching her train to learn how to most efficiently defeat her.


    That was alright. T preferredpetent opponents to spar with.


    She could learn from defeat, and she was excited to do so as soon as he was ready.


    T contemted finding sparring partners in the city, but that seemed too permanent to her.


    <em>Maybe I can convince Master Leighis? Or maybe he knows someone that it wouldnt be too awkward for me to fight?</em>


    Shed have to ask when they spoke, and they <em>would</em> be speaking.


    Master Leighis and Latna wereing for dinner that night, and T found that she was almost as nervous and awkward about it as she had been when she hosted the Zats.


    <em>But now, Mistress Petra is cooking for us and setting everything up, so I dont have to worry about it myself.</em>


    That really was a weight off.


    She <em>did</em> have to take Kit to the market district to let Mistress Petra and Master Simon do some shopping for all the meals, but that wasnt too difficult either.


    She could have simply let the pair walk on their own there and back, but that felt rude, somehow.


    <em>Ill get used to having people help me.</em>


    Even so, all of that was secondary to what she was currently doing.


    She sat under an older tree, talking with Dagan and Alva.


    And I cant <em>wait</em> to rain lightning down on arcanous creatures! That will be <em>soooo</em> cool.


    Normally over the past week, Segis would have joined in the older boys imagination, over-awed by another so dedicated to y-fighting, but T had gotten time with just her two siblings, today.


    <em>Are all little boys like this?</em>


    <em>-Evidence suggests yes, but I doubt its really </em>all<em> of them.-</em>


    <em>Thats true, I suppose. There are always outliers.</em>


    <em>-What was that saying? There is more variation within a group than between groups? I do wish you had paid better attention in some of your sses.-</em>


    <em>We can grab a book to refresh if necessary. The crux was an injunction to not toss something out of a category simply because it differed radically in ways other than the defining characteristics.</em>


    <em>-Yes, yes. I am aware of the crux.-</em>


    <em>So then why were you asking?</em>


    <em>-You were speaking about outliers, and I was irritated that I </em>should<em> have a perfect response, but you dont remember it perfectly.-</em>


    T groaned internally. <em>Please let me focus. I want to give my siblings my attention.</em>


    <em>-Fine, fine. Ill get something else done.-</em>


    <em>Thank you.</em>


    T turned her concentration back to her two young siblings.


    Alva was sipping her tea as Dagan continued to wax on about his dreams of conquest and glory.


    And then, Ill turn into lightning and streak through the hordes of attackers to wreak even more devastation.


    Alva set down her cup and interjected, What if someone you care about gets hurt?


    That gave Dagan pause for a moment, then he shrugged. Ill fry the wound closed or shock them back alive.


    T opened her mouth to correct him but frowned as she considered that what he said was <em>close</em> to urate in what could be done. In the end, it wasnt worth trying to divert him.


    Alva seemed to have a simr view as she gave T an exasperated look without interjecting further at that moment.


    Their brother had been enthusiastically exining all that he would do once he had ess to his magic for most of the morning.


    Alva had joined in asionally, and while she spoke less, her interjections were often more interesting.


    The first time had been especially notable.


    Dagan had been describing how he would deal with a rogue group of City Guardswithout bothering to exin why they were rogue of coursewhen Alva had seized the moment.


    Yes, and once your lightning is bouncing between the armor of all the evil men, I will grab hold and <em>amplify</em> it! You supply the spark, and I will bring the thunder.


    Dagan and T had turned to her, T surprised, Dagan ted. YES! We will bring them down, together!


    Alva didnt add more as Dagan then altered his tales to include his sisters enhancement of his own power.


    The young girl had smiled happily, content to listen.


    <em>You know, they could probably make that work.</em>


    <em>-Of course they could, but it would tie them together.-</em>


    <em>Yes and no. A lightning-creating Mage has the potential to be very powerful, and even a guide of lightning is never truly powerless.</em> Then she paused. <em>No, Im falling into a wed way of thinking. They can all do the same things, just in different ways.</em>


    <em>-Fair enough, yeah. If they follow through, it will be pretty interesting to watch their careers.-</em>


    T did try to ensure the two knew that Mage work was dangerous and usually not as morous as many stories made it seem.


    Even so, T would say that her preference was for them to pursue magic. So, she probably didnt try as hard as she could have.


    <em>-And if you can go against your fathers wishes at the same time-</em>


    <em>Hush, you. That has nothing to do with it.</em>


    <em>-Oh, of course not. Its just a side benefit.-</em>


    <em>t</em>


    <em>-Fine, fine. Ill stop. Your reasons are your own and have nothing to do with your father.-</em>


    And they actually were.


    While Ts own induction into the world of magic as a student had been unideal, that didnt change the fact that Mages were required for humanity, and those who took up the mantle had a <em>far</em> greater control over their fate.


    There was more danger, but also more freedom, and humanity needed all the help it could get.


    She had contemted her own reasoning over thest couple of weeks, and she hade to the conclusion that it was better to be a yer in the game than a pawn on the board.


    After all, when she yed tafl with Rane, the pieces never won or lost, only the yers did. Even so, they were moved by others, their fate entirely outside of their own hands.


    By the nature of the game many of the pieces didnt get eliminated for full games. It was an odd, brutal game when more than half of either sides pieces were removed, so it was <em>rtively</em> safe to be a piece on the board. Even so, the pieces had no agency, no ability to affect the board.


    She wouldnt let her siblings be subject to the whims of others if she could help it.


    t had helped her reason through her thinking, so the alternate interface was mostly poking at her, attempting to tease her into further reflection.


    Even so, T didnt allow herself to be drawn in, instead focusing on her siblings and what they wanted to share with her, now that they had finished a midmorning snack with tea.


    Funnily enough, Alva quite enjoyed cross-stitch, and T barely held herself back frommenting on the nature of fusing or the Doman-Imithe while looking at the few pieces the girl had brought with her.


    Dagan on the other hand, had brought a wooden box almost too big for him to carry.


    Once Alva broke the ice with crafts, Dagan was practically bouncing in his seat.


    When T indicated that shed like to see what he brought, he began pulling out ss?


    She was surprised at first, but in the end, it turned out that he had a passion both for blown and stained ss.


    He wasnt that good yet, but from what little T understood of the crafts, he showed promise.


    <em>And he has the most important characteristic for such things.</em>


    t grunted in assent. <em>-The desire to continue.-</em>


    Their crafts made T consider her ownck of a pastime.


    She read.


    She trained.


    She ate.


    She explored ideas.


    That was pretty much it.


    Well, she also enjoyed the theatre and tafl, but those just werent the same alone.


    <em>Ill do more of that when I get to Alefast. Im sure Rane will be up for it.</em>


    <em>-I dont think there will be too many ys put on in a Waning city.-</em>


    <em>Huh, I hadnt considered that Well find something to do.</em>


    She was considering what she could do on her own. ys required performers and tafl required apetent opponent.


    <em>I could take up automata crafting</em>


    <em>-T-</em>


    <em>Kidding! Im kidding.</em>


    Though, truth be told, both she and t were quite interested in the nowpletely grown body that Io had left behind. There was just an empty socket for a soul-connection, waiting within the things head.


    <em>A bloodstar could fit in there </em>so<em> neatly</em>


    <em>-T!-</em>


    <em>Right! Right.</em> They needed to do more research before taking such a step.


    -<em>And if we can figure out how to make it work, a magic-bound golem of that power would be exquisitely useful.-</em>


    <em>Excited for all the possibilities, eh? </em>T couldnt help but project her amusement along with the question.


    -<em>Of course, but only if we can manage it without undue risk.-</em>


    T nodded to herself, returning her focus to her siblings.


    They had been yfully bickering about whether a guide or a creator was a more powerful Mage.


    Apparently, Master Leighis had been giving some basic instruction to all the kids who were interested. It was nothing forbidden or anything that would unduly influence their growth.


    It was just some good background that most adults would know, regardless of whether they were mundane or Mage.


    T shook her head and smiled, interjecting, That is a misconception.


    They both stopped, turned toward her and asked at nearly the same time, What is?


    They then turned to each other and red.


    Tughed. There is no inherent power difference between guides and creators. There are some situational limitations, but even between material and immaterial Mages their abilities are not so easy to ssify. The quadrants mainly address <em>how</em> a thing is done, rather than what can or cant be done.


    Dagan hunched, crossing his arms.


    Alva rolled her eyes. We <em>know</em> that. Master Leighis tells us all the time.


    And you think hes wrong?


    Of course not. He says that it depends on how you think about things. My argument is that it is both more efficient and more effective to think about guiding things where you want them to go than simply creating things whole cloth all the time.


    T gave a half-smile and shook her head. As I said, its a matter of method, not capacity.


    Oh, Ipletely agree, and guiding is the better method.


    T opened her mouth to argue, but then just huffed augh. Youre going to have fun.


    Dagan perked up at that,tching onto the change of topic, Is it fun? Its not just boring lectures, is it?


    Not at all. T smiled.


    Good He looked a bit nervous. Were leaving in three days, and Im a bit nervous.


    Alva nced at her brother then slowly nodded. Me too. What if Illie and Nc were lying? What if its awful, or we dont make any friends?


    T leaned forward. Even if thats the case, youll have each other, and youlle out Mages. She hesitated. Well, as magelings.


    They considered that for a moment.


    More importantly, everyone else is going to be feeling the same. Be a good friend, and youll find some. Dont let people take advantage of you, but err on the side of kindness as much as you can.


    Dagan punched his own palm. And sometimes the kindest thing you can do for a bully is teach them that that isnt a good way to act.


    T blinked a couple of times. While, yes, I suppose that I agree... Have you been having to deal with bullies?


    He sat up straighter. No.


    Alva rolled her eyes again. Hes never let anyone in our ss be a real bully. He puts them down too fast.


    T didnt honestly know what to say to that.


    Dagan was looking away sheepishly, ncing back sporadically, likely trying to see how she would react.


    Well I suppose its good that youre protecting others. What happens to these kids afterwards?


    He shrugged. Nothing really. Theyre just like everyone else. The issue was that they didnt think they were. Now they do.


    Alva smiled, giving a deeper exnation for her brother, Hes friends with some, and none were really left out. They are fine, now. He even has enforced this on the years behind us, though not as much.


    He shook his head, frowning. Its hard to give a proper lesson to someone smaller than you. They just see it as you being mean.


    T honestly had no idea how to respond to that either. Even so, she took Alvas offered way out, and segued into discussing their friends.


    All told, it was a very pleasant way to spend the morning.


    Dagan and Alva left for lunch and to rejoin school in the afternoon.


    They werent really participating in ss at this point, as they would be leaving for the Academy so soon.


    Instead, they were saying their goodbyes and generally being a disruption to their ss.


    It was a funny thing, really, and something that T hadnt experienced given her odd departure, but she could understand it.


    There was basically a celebration whenever a kid went off to the Academy, and that drew others to consider it more strongly, if they were able to make that choice.


    T felt like it was a reasonable middle ground.


    Humanity <em>needed</em> Mages, desperately. Given the circumstances, it would have been perfectly understandable if every child with any chance at Magehood was gathered up and shipped out to the Academy.


    Some would fail out, but more would probably seed than did under the current system.


    Even so, that would take away so much agency from both the children and their families. It would be a tyranny, and T was grateful that humanity was not so desperate that such was necessary.


    <em>And it never will be, if I can help it.</em>


    That idea was a bit shocking as she considered it.


    She was immortal unless she was killed. She very likely would help keep humanity in a state where more choice could be offered.


    It was easy to argue for freedom or death, but as shed experienced in the arcanends, the practical implications had her choosing servitude with a hope for future freedom.


    <em>That is a choice that no one should have to make, not with their lives.</em> Debt? That made a sort of sense, as much as she hated to admit it.


    As she sat, considering the idea, she had a realization.


    If her death could have changed the arcane society, could have brought more freedom to those living there, she would have chosen death. At the very least she <em>hoped</em> that she would have made that choice.


    <em>But it should always be my choice. </em>She frowned. It was an odd contradiction.


    Society was best when it didnt enve the individuals, and individuals, overall, were best off when they each, individually, willingly chose to serve society.


    <em>It cant be enforced, or that ruins the point. It must be chosen freely, or its meaningless.</em>


    She felt something shift within her, and t confirmed her suspicion before she could check. <em>-Another miniscule tick towards Paragon? Nicely done!-</em>


    T felt herself smiling. <em>Just considering the nature of reality, and the wider implications of individual actions. You know, as I usually do.</em>


    t chuckled.


    <em>Now, lets go y with an automaton.</em>


    <em>-T-</em>


    <em>Kidding! Im only kidding.</em>

 Chapter 315: Terry?

    Chapter 315: Terry?


    T felt like she needed a good stretch after spending the morning sitting and chatting with Dagan and Alva.


    So, after lunch, she moved to her sparring circle and moved through her morning routine for the second time that day.


    She was barely halfway through when Terry flickered into ce across from her.


    Something in his avian stance gave her pause.


    He was crouched a bit lower than usual, and there was a glint of finality?


    <em>Dont be ridiculous.</em>


    Regardless, there was <em>something</em> in his eyes. Terry?


    He trilled at her, flickering forward and tapping her chest with his clenched talons before flicking back.


    She instantly understood, standing fully upright with a smile. Oh? Youre ready for a spar?


    He slowly bobbed his assent, his eyes never leaving hers.


    The solemnity of the situation settled on her in an odd way. She didnt know what was going on, but this was important to Terry for some reason. As you wish.


    She pulled Flow to her hand, ensuring that the sparring sheath was in ce as she took up a ready stance. The one she chose was geared towards fighting a ring of opponents surrounding her.


    She hadnt fought Terry recently, but she still remembered what it was like At least, she thought she did.


    She was wrong.


    Terry immediately flickered in,nding just in front of her back foot, smaller than shed seen him recently.


    In the same instant, he grew, mouth held upward to sp around her ankle, driving her foot upward.


    <em>What the rust?!</em>


    T instinctively kicked out with her other foot, and Terry flickered away.


    <em>No, not away.</em>


    He appeared directly between her shoulder des.


    The only reason she knew that was because of the bloodstar she held just behind the base of her neck, mirroring her perspective as aplement to her normal vision.


    Terry struck her with ridiculous force, his footshing out, talons tearing through leather and <em>screeching </em>off of the ironyer of her skin.


    Her willpower fought to keep the iron intact, and with the backing of her sturdy body, she barely seeded.


    Even so, she was thrown forward into a roll.


    Her mind was finally switching over intobat mode. It had been less than a second, and she was already chastising herself for adapting so slowly.


    Flow licked out, morphing into a ive for added reach for the first of her probing strikes, driven straight towards Terry, where he was still falling through the air.


    Each of the strikes was forced to aim in apletely different direction.


    The second was a sweep to the side, with Flow being a sword as Terry flickered into being, beak snapping at her shoulder.


    The third, before she vaulted up to her feet, was a sh with her knife to fend Terry away from her other side.


    She was once again reminded of how much fighting Terry was like going through martial forms.


    They didnt sh; Terry never stayed long enough to force that.


    Instead, she was forced to move throughbat forms without any feedback or rebound.


    <em>Yeah, rust that. This time seems special for some reason. I need to do better than this.</em>


    She pulled open holes in the ironyer all over her body, forcing her aura to flood out right as Terry appeared just behind her right shoulder.


    Flow struck backward, and Terry flickered away.<ol><li> T asserted her will over the space and Terry within it, but it felt like she was trying to grab a greased rope that was already whipping across the yard.</li></ol>


    Terry slipped away without issue, and T cursed.


    -<em>Voidsight?-</em>


    <em>Voidsight.</em>


    T engaged that vision across all her perspectives and nced at Flows sheath.


    ck and purple-ish metals seemed to stand out more starkly in the intricate, intractable pattern that made up the sparring guard as Flow took a void-form.


    <em>Void-magics contained. Good.</em>


    The world came into stark focus, and she had an instant realization.


    <em>I could use Kit. Kit can move people. Kit could move Terry, or at least contest Terrys movement.</em>


    <em>-T, dont. The people we move can fight it, and we dont actually know what such a sh would do.-</em>


    She only hesitated an instantwarding off no fewer than a dozen of Terrys attacksbefore she agreed. <em>Youre right. This is a fight between him and me. Kit shouldnt factor in.</em>


    T felt herself loosen, anciry concerns falling away as she settled deeper into the calm ofbat.


    It was just her and her opponent. The rest of her sanctum was irrelevant.


    Her voidsight showed her Terry moving about, just as her magesight highlighted the pulses of dimensional energy.


    She tried several more times to lock the avian in ce through force of will and by contesting him magically, but he always slipped away with ease.


    She simply didnt have a good enough grasp on what he was doing to oppose him properly. She couldnt even oppose him well enough to force him to use his magical weight against hers.


    <em>We really need to study this branch of dimensional magic more.</em>


    <em>-Even if only for defensive purposes, absolutely.-</em>


    She wasnt tired; she could quite literally do this all day. <em>Though, a shield would make it easier.</em>


    It was frustrating that she seemed utterly unable to make any of her strikes connect.


    Even so, beyond the first two attacks, Terry hadnt sessfullynded a blow on her, either.


    As T focused more and more on Terrys movement, she could see where he would arrive infinitesimally before he appeared, the nodules of reality shifting to make room for him, somehow.


    That wasnt a perfect description, but it was the only one that came to mind, or seemed to fit, at the moment.


    Sadly, her foresight wasnt even close to far enough in advance for her to react with her weapons, but it did give her an idea.


    Her aura had expanded to fill the entire sparring circle, though Terry was staying within five feet of her, seemingly without issue.


    That part of her attempt had failed. He was simply too magically stable to be negatively affected by her more advanced aura.


    Even so, the effort wasnt in vain. She could now use that spread of control to try something else.


    She focused on all the lumps, nodes, and nodules of reality and acted without thinking too deeply about what she was doing.


    Themand was simple. <em>Join.</em>


    The working sparked but failed to grab hold.


    Her fundamental understanding for her gravity maniption, All mass attracts all mass. just didnt apply in this situation.


    The nodes of reality didnt have mass, they indicated mass? They were like a convenient grouping system for various subsets of existence.


    <em>No, not existence, reality. Weve never seen magic or void as any part of a nodule, just on the outside of them.</em>


    She continued her dance through Terrys attacks, even as she focused.


    The threads of reality had clung together, attracting one another and trying to create clusters.


    More than that, her dissolution breath was a specific breaking of connections. To do that, the magic had to act on something.


    <em>The connections are there, not just between all matter.</em>


    -<em>The dissolution breath has dispersed magic, too. It acted on existing connections within spell-workings and broke them apart.-</em>


    <em>And my healing and defense, the opposite of dissolution, is a pulling back together, a reunifying or a strengthening of the unity that is already there.</em>


    <em>-The true antithesis of dissolution is pulling together more tightly,bining more closely.-</em>


    <em>Everything is connected.</em>


    That wasnt really an important, nor novel, realization.


    Void clung to reality, magic acted within reality, and all three held to itself.


    T hadnt seen void be pulled apart, not specifically, but she believed that it could be.


    What she had seen was void around her self join with void from another source, seamlessly blending.


    <em>Everything in existence pulls together.</em>


    That resonated deeply.


    It wasnt unequivocally true, her own siege orbs proved that when they detonated. Her dissolution proved that when it severed the connections.


    But exceptions proved the rule, and the statement was true enough to hold <em>weight</em>.


    She refocused on all the lumps, nodes, and nodules of reality and acted, this time thinking deeply about what, exactly, she was doing.


    <em>Join.</em>


    Existence wanted to pull together. Gravity was but one part of that, and she was using it as a temte through her inscriptions.


    There was the barest hesitation within her magics, both natural and inscribed, followed by an almost ringing rity as the spell-forms activated.


    Power.


    Magic zed through her, surging at hermand.


    Pieces of reality couldnt be joined together, not in such a purely physical way, but they could pull together more tightly.


    Ts power stoked that <em>pull </em>at a deeper, almost metaphysical level<em>,</em> pressing the clumps in a way that she had no description for. This was partly because nothing <em>physically</em> seemed to change.


    There was no pressure on her or Terry within the physical space, but T still felt a heaviness to the air.


    It was purely a feeling, however, rather than something that would slow her or anyone else.


    She thought that she recognized the sensation as simr to that which shed experienced during her training with a diminutive Eskau of the House of Blood.


    Everything within her aura was <em>just slightly</em> more stable.


    While the effect was there, it was minor.


    Terry still flickered around her unimpeded, and she still warded him off with de, pommel, haft, fist, and foot.


    But she didnt stop powering her magic.


    She had the working in effect, and she devoted her immense reservesand most of her throughputto amplifying the join.


    Less than ten secondsand uncounted exchangeter, T noticed Terry taking a <em>hair</em> longer to flicker about.


    It wasnt much, and it certainly wasnt enough to allow her tond a hit, but it was noticeable.


    The miniscule dy took some pressure off of T, and what was likely more important, she could tell that Terry was needing more and more power for each flicker.


    Usually, the terror bird could move with such ease that even a mundane could have sustained the power requirement indefinitely, or nearly so.


    Now? Now T knew that even she would be hard pressed to keep up the needed power for even an hour.


    Still, this fight wouldntst even a tenth that long, despite their tremendous endurance.


    <em>Im wearing him down, or at least starting to.</em>


    Despite the seemingly increasing resistance to dimensional movement, even after a full minute Terry was still flickering about with little difficulty.


    Terry had obviously noticed the change whether or not he knew how or why it was taking ce.


    His determination seemed to harden further, and a rock suddenly struck T in the side of the leg.


    She had seen it, but Terry had timed his attacks so that she had little recourse but to take the light blow.


    A light blossomed within the terror birds eyes.


    <em>Oh rust.</em> It had been a test to see if it would be worth the effort, her disregard showed that it was. After all, if it had been trivial to avoid, she would have, and anything that wasnt trivial would tip the scales of the match.


    At random intervals, Terry vanished for <em>slightly</em> longer than he had before, and projectiles began to arc toward the sparring circle with varied trajectories and speeds.


    T responded by calling her defensive discs into the fight, adding them to Flow and her body as she deflected and warded off Terrys increasingly sophisticated attacks.


    The iing projectiles added the first real sound to the conflict, besides the soft tap of Ts footfalls.


    Each arching attack that was deflected had a slightly different sound based on theposition of the projectile itself and which method T used to avoid harm.


    When she avoided them entirely, rocks made a cracking sound against the sparring circles ground, wood thunked, mud stted, and dirt clods cascaded like a broken waterfall.


    When Flow took them from the air, they rarelynded near enough to be easily heard, and the sparring sheath ensured that even the less coherent distractions were deflected as a whole.


    <em>Kic impartment, I can see why Rane loves you so much.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, it is really convenient not to have to worry about shattering iing missiles.-</em>


    The attacks that met her defensive disks made simr sounds to those that met the stone beneath her feet, save that the sound was more hollow, as if the disks were dense wood or hardened bone.


    <em>We never did figure out what those were made of.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, its never seemed like a priority like nowwhy are you thinking about this now?-</em>


    <em>The sound is rather pervasive</em>


    <em>-It is that. Like rain on a thin metal roof.-</em>


    <em>Rust no. Not that annoying.</em>


    <em>-But it is distracting.-</em>


    <em>Fine! Ill focus.</em>


    Terry seemed to have learned how she responded to various types of assault, so he was expertly working to maneuver her into a position to force her to take another hit.


    She couldnt remember a fight this interesting since Io, though t could probably check. She wouldnt of course. She needed to


    -<em>T, for the love of everything, focus.-</em>


    <em>Right!</em>


    Terrys strategy was forcing her toward taking a hit.


    So, T grinned and changed her reactions, shifting between subsets of the Way of Flowing Blood.


    That <em>almost</em> earned her a blow on Terrys side, but the slippery avian flickered away at thest instant, clear surprise flickering in his eyes as he vanished.


    <em>Thats right. Youre not the only one who can change the battle.</em>


    Even so, Ts mind was stretched thin.


    She was <em>not</em> used to having so many independently moving parts within a protracted fight.


    The fact that Terry had no discernable pattern to his attacks was <em>aggravating</em> in both senses of the word.


    First, it was infuriating to not be able to predict his attacks.


    Second, it was making the strain on her mind and willpower much worse.


    Even with ts assistance, T was nearing her limit.


    Adding to that frustration was the fact that she still hadntnded a blow on Terry.


    <em>Hes fighting more fluidly than weve ever seen.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, if I didnt know better, Id say he was actually trying to kill you.-</em>


    T huffed an internalugh. <em>If he wanted to do that, he knows where I sleep. Im durable, but a terror bird the size of a house sitting on me as he ripped off my head? Yeah Id die.</em>


    <em>-you would, but-</em>


    T mentally hesitated, which of course made all the strain she was under worse. <em>What is it?</em>


    <em>-Im not sure that youd stay dead, honestly. It woulde down to whether your gate stuck around, or even if it left, if your body had enough power stored up to regrow your head. The Archive connection would be broken, but who knows how much woulde back from just the healing. Basic function? Probably. Likely not more than that. In either case, you might not stay dead.-</em>


    <em>But my body would be without my gate? Without my soul?</em>


    <em>-Well, in the absolutely most extreme case of your body recovering, yeah.-</em>


    <em>Thats horrifying. Would I still be able to act?</em>


    <em>-Thats a what is the soul and how does it work type of question.-</em>


    She didnt have any bandwidth for more contemtions after that.


    Thirty secondster, Terry was able tond a blow that started a cascade of projectiles striking her and continuing to move her as he chose until, finally, he became massive in size as he pinned her to the ground with his taloned foot.


    T wasnt breathing heavily, but her mind was definitely spinning.


    That was the hardest fight shed ever been subjected to. Even the Eskau that shed fought hadnt pushed her that hard, and that was before her most recent improvements.


    She was proud of how well shed done, and it hadnt been enough.


    <em>-We would need to try to kill him to have a chance at winning, I think, at least for now.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, I think so too. A couple of siege orbs or the like could help us bring about a victory, but I dont know how hed fare in that case.</em>


    <em>-Precisely. It would just be a chance.-</em>


    <em>Then theres the ending-breath.</em>


    <em>-Oooo, I do like that name for it.-</em>


    <em>I know, right? But hardly helpful now.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, you should probably focus on the matter at hand.-</em>


    T looked up at her wagon-sized avian friend, even as he examined her with one eye, his head tilted to the side, critically. Good fight, Terry. Give me a couple of minutes to rest, and we can go again, yeah?


    He didnt move, or really respond in any way except to swivel his head to examine her with his other eye.


    After a long moment, T cleared her throat. Terry?


    Finally, he trilled and flickered away, appearing on the far side of the sparring circle, barelyrger than a chicken. He gave her a long, long look, then flickered away.


    <em>I wonder what that was about.</em>


    <em>-No idea.-</em>


    Thank you for the match! She called out after the no-longer-visible terror bird, infusing her words with power so they would carry.


    A rolling, powerful squawk came back, clearly an acknowledgement of her gratitude.


    I hope hes okay. Hes seemed downtely. She spoke softly, obviously to herself.


    <em>-Yeah Ill see if I can find any clues in our memory.-</em>


    Thank you, t.


    <em>-It is my pleasure.-</em>


    T still had some time before Master Leighis and Latna would being by, so she turned her focus back to physical training for the next half-hour or so.


    At that point, she was ready to move onto something else.


    Honestly, she was in an awkward ce.


    She was back with humanity, and she had nothing that she <em>had</em> to do on a day to day basis.


    She wasnt healing anymore, so she didnt need to take it easy.


    She wasnt with her friends, so she couldnt fill her time by bugging them or doing random things in their free time.


    She''s with her siblings, and they aren''t always avable, though they did make an effort to be with her as often as was reasonable.


    Even so, T <em>needed</em> some way to fill her time.


    Training was all well and good, but if it was all she did, she wouldnt survive her now effectively infinite life-span.


    Shed die of boredom.


    There was an item that desperately needed investigation, and shed been putting it off again and again.


    She couldnt do a lot herself, but she hadnt even done the initial things required to get others involved.


    It was time that she at least looked at Ios now fully matured artificial corpse.

 Chapter 316: Her Next Moves

    Chapter 316: Her Next Moves


    T took an extra moment to consider her next moves. She needed to investigate Ios corpse, but she wanted to proceed intelligently.


    -<em>The automaton body is not really dead, so is it fair to call it a corpse?-</em>


    <em>But she is. Therefore, it is Ios corpse, even if it isnt dead.</em>


    <em>-Yeah thats fair.-</em>


    T bit her lip in thought. <em>You know, if I lost my head and my gate, but my body had enoughtent energy to return itself to full health, I think it would be the same. I would be dead, so the body would be my corpse, but the body, itself, wouldnt be dead.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, I regret bringing up that very remote possibility.-</em>


    She shrugged. <em>Its an interestingparison, if nothing else.</em>


    T returned her mind to the topic of Ios body.


    The inactive automaton had been set aside, ced into the vat of magical liquid to finish maturing. That process had finished, and the result had been waiting for her to begin investigations into its secrets for quite a while now. Thus, it really wasnt surprising that her mind had moved back to the automaton and the need to kickstart that process.


    <em>I do think it is time.</em>


    <em>-Really?  Fine. No experiments, but you can go examine it.-</em>


    T quirked a smile. Thanks, Mom.


    It was a funny thing, how she found herself speaking to t both internally and externally, depending on the circumstances. She hadnt put together a pattern, per se, but she had started to take note of the various instances.


    But that was not the matter at hand.


    With a thought, T was in her sanctums lower reaches, standing nearbut out of reach ofa tank filled with purple liquid.


    The body was substantially more developed than when T had fought Io.


    The automaton had seemed like ate teen at that time, by body size and development, but now, it was clearly meant to mimic an adult.


    Armor tes with sophisticated, ingrained spell-forms covered the majority of its form.


    Their configuration clearly wasnt designed like a suit of armor, so it wasnt perfectly sealed by a wide margin. Even so, it was obviously much more protective than the average persons flesh.


    Under the ting, T could see bits of the construct poking through. Now, it looked like nothing so much as muscle of braided and interwoven precious metals, but each bunch was surrounded with an odd, semi-clear material of unknownposition, filled with natural magics that T could sense were meant to replenish and act upon the metals contained within.


    <em>A muscr system that can be strained and heal back stronger?</em>


    <em>-Thats what it looks like to me.-</em>


    <em>Io didnt have anything like that. I feel like I would have noticed.</em>


    <em>-No, it didnt when you fought it. That is thetest development, I believe. At the very least, the magical, metal muscles werent visible when we checkedst, and everything indicated it was almostplete at that time.-</em>


    <em>And it isplete now?</em>


    <em>-Yes. From everything we can determine.-</em>


    So, the muscles that had been there had expanded and been filled with this more biological-like, magical mechanism.


    It seemed to imply that the body could train and be molded to its needed tasks.


    <em>Automata are more human-like than I had assumed.</em>


    <em>-That seems to be true, at least if we assume that Io is actually made in their image.-</em>


    <em>Do you doubt that fact?</em>


    <em>-Not really? It seems odd to consider them being able to have such a profound impact from wherever they are sealed.-</em>


    <em>Assuming they are sealed.</em>


    <em>-T. If they werent-</em>


    T waved her off. <em>I know, I know. If they werent contained, theyd be doing more than simply influencing a random arcane researcher or two.</em>


    <em>-Exactly.-</em>


    She returned her focus to the automata.


    If it were freed of its growth tank, the form would stand taller than her, though it had simr proportions.


    The figure was designed to have feminine characteristics, for whatever reason.


    <em>Its almost scaled to be like therger arcane species, but not </em>quite<em> that size.</em>


    <em>-I agree. It seems like its asrge as a being could be while still fighting a human scale with rtive ease.-</em>


    <em>Yeah I dont remember any overge features in the hold we took this stuff from. Maybe they just were an average sized group, so they made this creation to be powerful and overbearing, but still work within their facilities.</em>


    <em>-Thats a pretty solid guess, actually. Certainly better than many other reasons weve considered.-</em>


    T smiled at that. <em>Isnt that the truth.</em>


    They had bandied about some rather <em>insane</em> potential reasons for all sorts of aspects of the automata theyd fought.


    T stepped forward and ced her hand against the side of the tank. There is so much about you that we dont know.


    She knew that there was no consciousness to hear her, and she doubted her words would have carried through the rather thick, purple fluid regardless.


    The tank was warm under her hand, both with heat and magical power. It was an impressively magically-dense construct, all things considered.


    <em>-We need to get to work on researching all the spell-forms contained within.</em>-


    T only paused for a moment before nodding. Lets do it.


    Without further dy, she moved her bloodstars around the tank, panning her perspective over the automaton from every angle using mundane vision, magesight, and voidsight.


    Her aura suffused the purple liquid, pulling all the information she could from that perception as well.


    It would not be a fast process, and it would likely take many days toplete it properly, but together, she and t began building aprehensive, three-dimensional understanding of the unusual creation that had fallen into their hands.


    In the end, they hoped to have a map simr to what Inscriptionists used to design spell-forms for their clients.


    They wanted to fully understand every aspect of the magics involved in the automatons construction.


    This was a chance that they simply couldnt pass up, and truthfully, they didnt trust anyone else to do it.


    They would bring in others to study what they pulled from the form, but the automaton itself? That would stay here unless someone like Master Xeel asked for it.


    While they had it, they would not simply hide it away, fearful of what it could do, what it could mean.


    No.


    T and t would learn everything they could; they would find every secret and weakness hidden within the automaton, and they would pray that that information would never be needed.


    * * *


    T sat around a small table with Latna and Master Leighis.


    Mistress Petra had outdone herself with the meal, even specifically mirroring the mundane food for the other two and Ts magic-filled fare.


    The Mage-cook had made a selection of meat pies, varying the makeup of the crusts andposition of the contents for a truly scrumptious and varied spread.


    It also made for a funnyparison.


    While the Healer and Alchemist, between them, had five or six little serving dishes, each with three of the given type of pie, T had a singlerge tter with a full thirty sundry pies.


    The evening began rather boisterously as Latna described how theyd made great strides in cornering the market for the iron paint that T had helped them acquire the recipe for.


    The Constructionist Guild had a standing order for just a little more than they could make.


    While it was slightly frustrating to leave money on the table, it also meant that what little they couldnt supply wasnt being fulfilled by another alchemist.


    There wasnt enough profit in it for another alchemist to fork out the cost for the recipe.


    At least there was no reason until the contract Latna had negotiated came close to its end, but that wouldnt be for another three and a half years.


    They were using the time to get better at the process and reduce expenses surrounding the production. Latna guessed that theyd be in a ce to offer rates no one else could match when the contract turned over.


    That would cut into their profits, but it would cement their hold on the customer.


    At that point, they would be positioned to increase production and possibly begin selling in the neighboring cities, or more likely, seeking out other customers in Marliweather.


    The various aspects of that got them through most of dinner, at which point, the topic turned to magic.


    Latna was beaming. Master Leighis has been incredibly kind, taking his time to teach me the basics of inscriptions and the foundational theories of Magic.


    T smiled at that. Oh? Are you moving her toward a specific quadrant or seeing how things fall?


    He smiled. It is a bit early to be focusing on any specific quadrant or type of magic, honestly. I am just attempting to give her a solid foundation. She may stop at inscribed, but I dont think so. I see her being able to go the distance. Shes <em>bound</em> to have a good chance.


    T heard the none-to-subtle statement in hisst sentence. He thought that Latna should have a good chance of making it to Archon. Honestly, that was a weight off of Ts mind. She still felt like she didnt really understand how to tell who would make it and who wouldnt.


    She simply didnt have enough experience with meeting Mages before they made the attempt, in order to drawparisons between those who did, and those who didnt seed.


    T purposely let her gratitude at the information show through. That is very kind of you, Master Leighis. Thank you.


    It is my pleasure. My own master suggested that I solidify my base of understanding and examine my perspectives before pushing toward Fused He hesitated at that. You have rather exceeded that level of advancement.


    She pulled her smile back to a small, polite one. I have had rather extraordinary circumstances driving me forward, most of which I would not wish on anyone.


    She had almost said that she wouldnt wish them on her worst enemy, but she realized that wasnt actually true. Were he still alive, she would wish <em>every</em> manner of torture upon Be-thric.


    <em>I suppose it also isnt urate to say that I wouldnt wish it on anyone.</em> Even so, it was vague enough to not really be untrue.


    I can understand that. Master Leighis face softened. I know the barest amount of what you went through, and I definitely agree, I would not want to pay that price to advance.


    T shrugged and shifted the subject. So? How do you feel about your own progress?


    Well, I aming to be more at peace with who I am and what I do. I definitely have a deeper resonance and connection with healing. My master and I felt that my deepest barrier to my Fusing was that I was pursuing the path of destruction, when healing held a stronger calling for me.


    <em>Not a problem for me, but I suppose that everyone struggles in different areas.</em> So, you are moving towards Fusing, then?


    I am. I feel aponent, for me, is helping others reach their full potential, not just physically.


    T had never really considered healing a manner of helping a body realize its potential, but it made sense as soon as he said it. Even so, that wasnt what he was bringing up. Hence, teaching.


    Yes, teaching. My previous student was a good memory to look back on, and I came to realize that that pursuit was a part of what I needed. Latna has been kind enough to learn from me, so that I could test that theory. He then got very ufortable and seemed to hesitate.


    Not wanting to push, T took a long drink to give him time.


    It was then that he nodded. Ill juste out and say it, we wanted to talk with you before we formalized our rtionship.


    T spat out her drink.


    She really couldnt fall into coughing fits, but she definitely felt that some water had gotten into her lungs.


    Her inscriptions removed it with speed and efficiency even as she forced out a slightly garbled, What?


    Latna was frowning at Master Leighis, but he seemed to not notice. I know its highly irregr, but I felt like it was prudent to consult you before I make her my mageling, officially.


    T blinked at that before asking, again, What?


    Latna shook her head. Master, I think that you gave her the wrong idea with how you asked.


    He frowned. What do you mean? What did she? His eyes widened. Oh. Oh! No, my apologies, Mistress T!


    He held up his hands, a look of genuine contrition painting his features.


    I feel that it is appropriate for the important people in a magelings life to approve of their master, before such a rtionship is made official.


    T found herself nodding. That was not always the case, but it did make sense. A mageling-master rtionship was a massively important one that oftensted for as long as the Mages both lived.


    Master Leighis own obviously continuedmunications with his own master stood as testament to that.


    Well,T cleared her throatwhat information do you feel is pertinent for me to know, before I approve?


    Latna groaned before interjecting. Even though her tone was long-suffering, something about her made T believe that she was incredibly on edge, <em>I</em> think its pertinent for you to know that I get to choose, and Ive already chosen.


    T barely suppressed a smile as she gave Master Leighis a mock-serious nce, trying to draw Latna out of whatever was bothering her. You certainly let your magelings speak disrespectfully toward those above them. Maybe we should discuss how you intend to handle discipline?


    He gave a half smile. The beatings will continue until morale improves?


    T chuckled. Thats a good start.


    Latna red at them both. Thats not very funny. Beatings <em>arent </em>good for morale.


    T and Master Leighis shared a look before they both burst outughing. T took it upon herself to address her sister. Thats the joke, Latna.


    Latna froze, coloring slightly. Right, of course.


    Master Leighis continued to chuckle.


    Despite the awkwardness, it seemed that the odd underlying tension of the topic had been thoroughly dispelled.


    As such, the three settled into discussing the specifics of what it would look like for Latna to be his mageling.


    He specifically offered T the chance to fulfill the master role for Latna, despite her sisters clear hesitation.


    T tly refused. Though, she did thank him for checking with her and offering her the opportunity to refuse.


    Where she was going, and what she was going to be doing in the near future, was no ce for a mageling.


    She had no way of healing others, either, and it would be irresponsible in the extreme to bring someone unsuited to danger into it without clearly set upyers of protection and recovery.


    T might be a bit freer with danger than most Mages, but she only really acted that way with herself, because she knew she could take the fallout.


    Thankfully, she hadnt been wrong yet.


    That moved them onto the topic of her future ns, and their ns, and all in all, they passed the evening in incredibly pleasant conversation.


    They only paused to grab dessert, a multiyered fluffy delicacy with just the <em>hint</em> of coffee.


    T was refraining from diving back into that ck hole, even though it would likely be fine for her now.


    <em>Dark, rich, amazing</em>


    -<em>T!-</em>


    <em>Hmm?! What?</em> T almost jerked at ts outburst.


    <em>-You swore off coffee for at least another two months.-</em>


    <em>I know, but</em>


    <em>-No coffee. This dessert is fine, but no liquid coffee.-</em>


    <em>Fine</em>


    It was nearly midnight when the two bid T goodnight, and she felt surprisingly tired.


    <em>Who knew? Being social is more exhausting than fighting a Houses worth of arcanes.</em>


    <em>-Every introvert, everywhere.-</em>


    <em>Ahh, but how many have the actual experience to truly do theparison?</em>


    <em>-Yes, T, you are very special.-</em>


    <em>Youre not very nice sometimes.</em>


    <em>-Go to sleep, T. I was derived from you, remember? And were tired.-</em>


    She definitely was exhausted. Still, she took the time to walk to her room rather than simply cause Kit to move her. <em>I still need to study that more.</em>


    <em>-Not tonight!-</em>


    <em>No, of course not tonight. Dont be silly.</em>


    -<em>Youre not in bed yet.-</em>


    T huffed augh, pausing in the courtyard that surrounded her dais to look up at the stunning night sky for just a moment.


    Beautiful. She spoke softly, so it didnt carry.


    She knew it was fake, but she saw it as a sort of living painting. It didnt matter too much if a painting depicted something that actually existed or not. It just needed to evoke the emotion it was intending to bring forth.


    This did that in gold.


    She drew her thoughts back together and walked into her room, pushing open the massive door and letting it swing silently shut behind her.


    Her usually spartan room was now a little less so.


    Shed added two little shelves.


    One held a slightly wonky ss vase made with off-blue and brownish-red ss.


    The other held a small cross-stitch of a wolf-pack, held t in a frame.


    Dagan and Alva had insisted on giving her the gifts. They were her favorites of what theyd shown her, and she felt a smile tug at her lips as she nced their way.


    In their own way, the little works of art were just as lovely as the faux night sky outside. In many ways, they meant more.


    The sky had beenmissioned for an indentured servant andmissioned from a workman who had likely made dozens, if not hundreds. Oh, the arcane had done an excellent job, but it had been just that: a job.


    The two pieces of art from her siblings were works of passion, given out of love for their big sister, and the very idea pulled at Ts heartstrings.


    She wiped away a tear and chuckled ruefully. Rust, I really do need to sleep.


    t wisely didntment.


    Without further dy, T retracted her elk-leathers and nced down at herself. Well, that was pointless. Im not going to get rid of the iron to sleep.


    There was no need for it to be in ce either, but it felt more normal.


    <em>-Youre sleeping, self-entombed in iron. Nothing about this is normal.-</em>


    <em>Well, to be fair, more normal.</em>


    T huffed augh and flexed her willpower. The clothing regrew even as T sealed her own mouth and eyes.


    She would sleep fully encased in iron, even if it wasnt reasonable to leave herself so sealed while interacting with others.


    It was a bit odd, sleeping without breathing.


    At first, it had harkened a bit too much to her Refining, but through careful exposure, she was getting more used to it. By this point, it only <em>asionally</em> caused dreams of drowning, or being buried alive, or suffocated or


    <em>Thinking like that isnt helping</em>


    She shook her head and stopped mirroring her own perspective, letting herself be enclosed in utter darkness.


    <em>Goodnight, t.</em>


    <em>-Goodnight, T.-</em>


    Sleep imed her quickly.

 Continue the Story [Book 5 - Fusing]

    Continue the Story [Book 5 - Fusing]


    <strong>The world reims all things. Humanity shelters within their ever-dying cities. Mages and Archons give their lives to create the only path forward.</strong>


    T, having witnessed the marvels of the forest cities and the perils lurking in the southern woods, prepares to embark on a treacherous journey back to the ins from Makinaven. Guided by the unwavering support of Terry, Rane, and the enigmatic Mistress Odera, she is honing her skills and preparing for the trials that lie ahead.


    Ancient defenders of mankind emerge, while hidden perils lurk in the shadows, threatening to unravel everything she thinks she knows about the world. Amidst newfound allies, intriguing contracts, and relentless challenges, T strives to embrace her chosen ce among the defenders of mankind.


    T continues her Fusing, delving deeper into the inner workings of magic and the soul.

 Chapter 317: Family

    Chapter 317: Family


    T sat bolt upright as she felt someone knocking on her door.


    Well, she felt someone knocking on Kit''s door.


    The knocking was transmitted to her via two methods.


    First, it came to her as an odd vibration in her magic where it resonated with the power within Kit. That point was quite close to her gate, and thus it was very startling to feel it vibrate.


    Second, she felt like she could hear it, as Kit transferred the soundwaves to her vicinity whenever something like this happened. Even so, with her earspletely covered, it wasnt really the same as hearing it directly. Kit couldnt transmit the sound past her ironyers, after all.


    With a quick flex of will, she mirrored her perspective to her bloodstars which were arranged around the bed.


    She took in the ovepping perspectives with no little confusion, seeing that it was fully dark and the night sky of her sanctum was still shining down outside her window.


    <em>What time is it?</em>


    <em>-About two hours past midnight.-</em>


    <em>Who is up at this hour?</em>


    <em>-Well we are, now.-</em>


    <em>Not helpful How long were we asleep?</em>


    <em>-We onlyid down about two hours ago.-</em>


    The knocking came again.


    T pulled the iron from her eyes and mouth even as she sighed and called the door to herself, causing it to appear beside her and swing open.


    Yes? Over thest weeks, T had taken to leaving Kit on the front door of her familys alchemist shop. From the way the knocking came through, the person was knocking on the inside of the door.


    Kit wouldnt have notified her if someone was knocking on the outside. The alchemy shop, and Master Leighis healing establishment connected to it, often gotte night visitors, and the Archon had set up magical rys to notify himself and the master Alchemists in those cases.


    At hermand, the door swung open, showing the dark interior of the alchemy shops front room and a little girl standing there, her hand raised to knock once again.


    Se? Whats going on? T frowned, swinging her feet out of bed. <em>Is she alright?</em>


    <em>-I dont see any injuries, and she doesnt look afraid.-</em>


    <em>What has her out of bed, then?</em>


    The little girl brought her upraised hand to her face, rubbing at one eye, I tired.


    T hesitated. Yes?


    I wan sleep. Her posture was one of near-petnce as if someone was denying her that which she most desired.


    T was quite confused. Why would the little girl have gotten out of her own bed ande to T, simply to tell T that she was tired and needed to sleep? Se, its the middle of the night. Whats going on? Why arent you in your own bed, asleep?


    Se walked with slightly unsteady steps through the open door and scrambled as she climbed up into Ts bed, dragging a nket behind her. I tired.


    T gave her youngest sister a confused smile. Yes, Se, you need to go to bed and sleep.


    Sheid a hand on the little girls forehead, then cheek. <em>No fever that I can tell. No hostile magics.</em>


    Just like I was asleep in my own bed before you knocked. She gently teased, with the barest hint of a smirk.


    The little girl patted her new seat proudly. Bed. Sleep.


    This is my bed, yes. This is where I was asleep. T felt herself smiling, even while she was incredibly confused.


    To be fair, when shed dealt with her younger siblings before, back when she lived with them, theyd all essentially been in the same room. It was also different because shed been a lot younger at the time. Those two thingsand many otherstogether meant this sort of interaction wasnt something she had a basis for.


    She feltpletely out of her depth.


    Se seemed to want toe to the rescue, however. You tired?


    Somewhat, yes. I dont need much sleep, but I do sleep.


    I tired.


    T felt her mouth twitch as her mind continued to fill with a befuddling mix of amusement and frustration. Yes, thats why we both need to go to bed.


    Seid on her side, pulling her nket over herself even as she patted the surface below herself. Bed. Sleep. You and me.


    T took a long breath to level her emotions, fighting to keep a smile off of her own face.<em> Be strong. Dont let cuteness rule.</em> You need to go to your own bed, Se.


    Se shook her head, fiercely, No. I sleep.


    Se. T found herself rubbing at her temples while continuing to fight a smile. <em>How is she so frustrating and endearing at the same time?</em>


    <em>-Shes a child? Its sort of what they do.-</em>


    Se pulled the nket a bit higher, snuggling down. I sleep you!


    Se


    Pease.


    Little one, you need to


    Pease! Her little voice was filled with vigor and frustration. I sleep bed. I tired.


    T was at a loss. Se, you cant sleep in my bed. You know the house rules: Everyone is to sleep in their own bed, unless they are sick or injured.


    She scooped up the girl with ease, hugging her close and carrying her through the still open door.


    Lets get you back in bed, little one.


    Se curled inward, huddling against T and pulling her nket up after her. I tired.


    I know, Se. I know. T was now openly smiling despite herself, unable to contain it now that the little girl had no hope of seeing it. Thats why we need to get you to bed.


    She walked the familiar path through the alchemy shop, toward the girls room upstairs.


    Her feet knew the way even though she hadnte this far into the building since she had left for the Academy.


    It hadnt changed much.


    Her parents were creatures of habit and routine, as was required with so many children running around.


    It was clean and well kept.


    Anything else would lead to stress, frustration, and the beginnings of insanity.


    The walls had been repainted and the floors seemed to have been redone, or at least resealed, in the nearly a decade since she wasst here.


    Even so, the stairs creaked in an achingly familiar way as she carried little Se up them. Though, they were louder than they had been in her memory. <em>I suppose I am older.</em>


    <em>-And heavier.-</em>


    <em>Thats true enough.</em>


    <em>-And you have better hearing.-</em>


    <em>Yes, t. As it turns out, theres a lot thats different.</em>


    She got up to the room with her charge and found the door open, the other girls sound asleep.


    The doors to the boys room and their parents room were both closed.


    T navigated the dark space with ease, her eyes capable of seeing in far less light than was in the darkened house.


    Sheid the little girl down in the bed that she had clearly vacated recently and tucked her in.


    Se straightened against her pillow, I


    T covered her mouth with a gentle hand, whispering quickly, Shhh everyone is sleeping, little one. We need to be quiet and courteous and let them sleep.


    Se nodded seriously, and T removed her hand. Se then whispered back, You sing.


    Se, no. I cant


    Pease, sing.


    Se


    Pease! She was still whispering, but it was a near thing. She also reached up andtched onto Ts braid.


    It was coated in iron, but T had learned early to will it to act normally, otherwise it would stab her or inhibit her movement every time she turned her head.


    Let it go! T whisper-shouted as the child tried to use her head as a bell.


    The little girl pulled back with a pout. Sawy.


    T pressed her lips together in a firm line, but the little girls pleading eyes were the only response. Finally, she let out a defeated sigh, fighting back a smile. Fine, but quietly.


    Thank you. Each of those two simple words were spoken slowly and distinctly, causing T to once again smile at the small girl.


    <em>She is too precious</em>


    <em>-Youre going to spoil the child. You should be firm. You told her no.-</em>


    <em>I know but shes so cute.</em>


    <em>-Too cute for her own good-</em>


    She sighed. Se, even though I said no, I have decided that I was too hasty in that decision and singing to you would be alright. That is why I am going to sing. Okay?


    Okay.


    T searched her mind for an appropriate song. She knew several from recent ys that shed seen with Rane, but none were really good lubies.


    So, she dug back, and back, and back, until she found one that appealed to her, and she began to sing.


    She was able to modte her volume using her inscriptions so that she could sing properly while still keeping it at a soft volume.


    As the words came from her mouth, she remembered her father holding her and singing this song to her when she was sick.


    One particrly vivid memory came to mind, where shed had a particrly pernicious stomach bug, and while they had waited for an anti-vomiting tincture to take effect, he had held her, despite her continued disgorgements.


    It had seemed to take forever to work, but looking back, it had likely been less than ten minutes.


    <em>Less time than hunting down a healing Mage would have taken.</em> After that, theyd kept her dosed with the proper remedies until she was fully healed.


    <em>-He was always good at what he does.-</em>


    <em>That he was.</em>


    T remembered snuggling against him and his sick-covered shirt and him hugging her securely as he sang, uncaring of the mess.


    That was only one of many, many times he had sung this song to her, and she felt her nose tingling and tears building in her eyes at the many memories.


    Blessedly, it was too dark for little Se to see, and besides, the little girl was asleep before T finished the second verse.


    Sleep well, little munchkin. T shook her head affectionately as she retreated from the room, pulling the door closed.


    The house was silent as she made her way back to Kit, opening the door into her sanctum and directing it into her bedroom once again.


    The dark room seemed a little more barren after hosting the precious little one, even for only a brief time.


    Regardless, T was still emotionally and socially exhausted, so she wasted no time in returning to her bed.


    As she got resituated for sleep, her mind was filled with the better memories from her childhood. There was unquestioningly a wide spectrum from the awful to the sublime to choose from, but she found that even her sleep was filled with only recollections of those happier times.


    * * *


    T passed the next day and a half inpanionable gatherings, discussions, and y with her siblings.


    Terry was around still, but he hadnt sparred with her since the oddly intense match that felt more and more like a duel the more she considered it, in retrospect.


    But those considerations were an unneeded distraction from the task at hand.


    Her family had bid goodbye to the second set of twins that they were sending off to the Academy, and now T was walking them, alone, to the teleporter.


    They had requested this exact situation, and they walked with firm steps, each holding one of her hands.


    T felt a bit awkward, but that awkwardness was dulled by the warmth in her chest.


    The trip wasnt that long, since they only needed to go from the residential ring into the central area of the city, the teleportation tower being on the nearer side of that part of the city.


    No one talked, but it wasnt an awkward silence.


    Dagan and Alva didnt have any bags or packs as nothing would survive the teleport.


    T had covertly let them know that they could <em>probably</em> sneak something through, as long as it wasnt too big, and they tucked it under their clothing.


    She hadnt verified what theyd done with the information, but both had scampered off for a short time after she shared the secret, and T would have sworn that their clothing was a <em>bit</em> more lumpy than it had been beforehand.


    T would be returning with their winter gear, so that the teleportation workers wouldnt have to deal with delivering it, and it wouldnt just vanish in the transportation.


    She couldnt honestly remember if shed worn her coat onto the teleportation pad so long ago. After all, shed been focused on her grandmothers pillow, tucked within her shirt at the time.


    -<em>Focused on that, </em>a<em>mong other things.-</em>


    <em>Thats true enough.</em>


    Still, she didnt allow herself to fall deep into contemtions. Instead, she forcibly turned her mind back to her siblings, engaging them in some small-talk.


    They chatted about what the two expected from their time at the Academy.


    Apparently, Illie and Nc knew that they wereing, and they were supposed to be waiting for them at the teleportation receiving area.


    T let Dagan and Alva know that it might not be quite that seamless, and emphasized that even if their siblings werent within sight right away, they should be there to greet them soon.


    T actually vividly remembered quite a few of her ssmates being called out at various times because some sibling, friend, or rtive had arrived.


    She, herself, had only been approached once, when a slightly younger ssmate from her Marliweather school had arrived at the Academy, but they hadnt known each other well in school, so T had declined.


    Looking back on that, she regretted the choice.


    It would have taken so little effort and would likely have meant a lot to the other student. After all, if someone else had been avable, they wouldnt have approached T to go for the meet-up.


    They had crossed pathster, T and the other student, and there hadnt been animosity, but even T had definitely detected a bit of a chill.


    <em>The regrets of youth. Its amazing how we view priorities when so young.</em>


    <em>-Werent you just reading at the time? Sitting in a corner of the library, alone?-</em>


    <em>It was a good book.</em> T thought defensively. <em>Or I think it was. I dont really remember which one I was reading at the time.</em>


    <em>-That tells me all I need to know on that ount.-</em>


    T huffed internally. <em>Well, I was quite a bit younger then.</em>


    <em>-It was less than ten years ago.-</em>


    <em>Almost half my life ago, you mean.</em>


    <em>-Just because you can say it in a way to make it seem longer doesnt actually change the time frame.-</em>


    <em>Well, ten years is still a long time.</em>


    T returned her focus to Alva, who was in the process of asking about the food offered at the Academy again.


    T found herself smiling as she once more went into the details of how tasty the food was, along with how closely they had to moderate and bnce their intake with their exercising.


    The Academy also paired it with strict coaching so that students didnt swing too far either way and maintained a healthy view of themselves.


    Even so, a lot of it was moot until each student stopped growing. It was more important to have the proper nutrition to grow than to maintain a perfect bnce of intake and usage.


    T didnt go into <em>all</em> of the details, not by a long shot, but she did briefly hit the highlights.


    It was still enough to fill the remainder of the time until they arrived at the teleportation tower.


    Two older looking Mages met them just inside the doorway.


    It was funny; looking back, T remembered being met by simrly old-appearing Mages, and she realized that they were actually just that: Mages, likely stalled out in their advancement. Even so, they were selected to meet with children heading off to the Academy because they had the appearance of being older and more distinguished.


    <em>Like convincing mundanes that amon bit of magic is special and difficult.</em>


    <em>-I dont know of anything like that, actually.-</em>


    <em>Well, no maybe some farmer convincing people that rotten meat or moldy cheese was a delicacy?</em>


    <em>-Oh! Or some worthless, incredibly abundant creature is actually a sign of ss, if eaten?-</em>


    <em>Yeah, something like that has that happened?</em>


    <em>-Probably. If so, I bet the thing is pretty disgusting-</em>


    The Mages both smiled at the children and bowed deeply to T. The woman, who stood in front of Dagan addressed her directly, deference still clear in her tone, Mistress, thank you for bringing these charges this far. We can take them from here.


    T gave a slight nod back in return. Thank you for the offer, but I will apany them until they depart.


    The two exchanged a look, and the man spoke next. We do not want you to have to spend your valuable time in such a manner. I assure you, we are quite practiced in seeing off the future defenders of humanity.


    She frowned, ncing at Dagan and Alva.


    The two returned her looks with a mix of confusion, concern, and pleading.


    T turned back to the two Mages and shook her head, Again, thank you, but I will be apanying my siblings until they teleport away.


    Siblings? The older woman nced to the man, and they both bowed once again. My apologies, Mistress. We were told to expect the two Academy entrees, alone. We assumed that you had simply apanied them after seeing that they were traveling alone through the city.


    Oh T blinked a couple of times. I suppose that is an understandable assumption. Now that it is resolved, shall we proceed?


    The five made their way through the tower, the Mages engaging Dagan and Alva in conversation, dispelling any trepidation and hesitation with obviously practiced ease.


    T took the twins winter gear, tucking it into Kit as they pulled it off one piece at a time.


    It wasnt a long walk before they arrived at a room with two teleportation circles inset side by side.


    Simultaneous teleportation was fairlymon when teleportation was used, since each circle could only take one person. Thus, the towers were set up to amodate side-by-side activations in at least some of their main rooms.


    T called out Terry, and he gave a goodbye snuggle to the twins before returning to Kit much to Ts confusion and the obvious relief of the Mages.


    <em>We need to talk with him.</em>


    <em>-After.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, after.</em>


    All the human goodbyes had already been taken care of, save one.


    Dagan and Alva tackled T almost in unison, hugging her tightly.


    T returned the gesture carefully, ever cognizant of her own strength and their frailty.


    <em>-You know, theyre basically your height.-</em>


    <em>Hush you.</em> Be safe, you two. Have fun, make friends, learn all that you can.


    We will, they returned, almost in unison.


    Give Illie and Nc my best, but dont feel like you need to attach yourselves to them. Make your own friends, find your own path.


    They nodded against her.


    T just stayed there, holding them for a long moment.


    The Mages, for their part, didnt interrupt or hurry the process along in the slightest. While they hadnt expected anyone to be with the children this time, they were clearly experienced with Academy students saying goodbyes in the teleportation rooms.


    Eventually, the twins pulled back.


    Dagan smiled, Thank you foring with us.


    Alva nodded in agreement.


    I was happy to.


    Without another word, the two walked to their respective spots and let the Mages know they were ready.


    Alva shifted slightly, looking to the older man beside her spot. How long will it take?


    He smiled reassuringly. Ten seconds from when I say now until you depart, and you will arrive in the same instant.


    T didnt think that was <em>quite</em> urate, but she wasnt about to argue with the man in front of her siblings.


    Now.


    She felt the build up of power and waved. Messages are hard to get in and out of the Academy, but Ill try regardless.


    Alva rolled her eyes and smiled, and Dagan shook his head as he responded, If you send anything, well respond.


    Hey. Ill send something.


    <em>-Well, you mean I will.-</em>


    <em>And you are me.</em>


    <em>-True, true.-</em>


    Alva twitched her head in a way that immediately drew Ts attention, likely that had been the girls intention. With a mischievous smile, she spoke quickly and softly, We love you, T. Take care of yourself.


    Before T could open her mouth to respond, the teleportation magics activated, and they were gone.


    <em>Oh, that tricky munchkin. She waited until they were about to vanish to say that.</em>


    <em>-Because she didnt want you to be pressured to respond.-</em>


    <em>I suppose</em>


    The Mages went through the process of prepping the room for the next teleportation without actually refilling the now-spent spell-forms.


    It only took T a moment to notice that they were putzing.


    When she oriented on them, they bowed yet again. The woman addressed her, Is there anything else that we can do to assist you, Mistress?


    No, thank you. I will leave you to your work.


    You are most kind. Thank you.


    Without another word, T turned and left, heading back toward her other siblings as she tried to ignore the bit of tightness firmly lodged within her chest.


    <em>Theyll be alright.</em>


    <em>-That they will.-</em>

 Chapter 318: Questions and Departure

    Chapter 318: Questions and Departure


    T was just leaving the teleportation tower, after dropping off Dagan and Alva, and she had set her sights on having a discussion with Terry.


    She almost headed back to the alchemy shop to set Kit on the door and speak with Terry in the sanctum.


    Instead, she hesitated. If she did that, she knew that it would be noticed and set off a cascade of questions as to how the twins got off, if they were alright, and things of that nature.


    It would take quite a long while before she could take time to speak with Terry.


    Therefore, she went to her bench in the park near the family house.


    It was where shed met Nc on his way home from school nearly a year and a half ago.


    There wasnt much snow about; spring had begun to fight back winter, leading to more melting and less snowfall.


    The bench was vacant, so she sat down and opened Kit.


    Terry? Can we talk?


    Terry flickered out, standing on the bench, sized to put their eyes at an almost equal level. He had a stern, stiff demeanor about him.


    What can I do for you, Terry? T kept her voice calm and level, while also making sure that the warmth of her affection for the avian came through as well.


    He cocked his head to the side, awaiting her exnation.


    Something is wrong, I can tell that much. What do you need? Do you need me to take you beyond the citys defenses? Do you need something different to eat?


    He seemed to hesitate for a long moment.


    T felt a building nervousness that she couldnt exin, like a thousand voicesjust outside of her ability to hearwere screaming at her that this was important.


    <em>No, not out of hearing range, maybe behind some sort of barrier, blockage, dampening field, or wall.</em>


    <em>-Maybe the fourth?-</em>


    <em>Yeah, it could be the fourth.</em>


    It felt like a thousand voices were trying to emphasize the importance of this talk with Terry from just beyond a metaphysical wall.


    Terry?


    The avian shook himself in the negative, indicating that it wasnt either of the things she had offered. He then hunkered down, looking up at her questioningly.


    I assume you dont want to spar again.


    He tilted his head and squawked irritably.


    Right, hard to answer that. Do you want to spar again, now?


    He shook himself.


    Do you want to discuss the bond?


    He hesitated, then let out a tentative trill.


    Yes, but not how I mean it?


    He bobbed to that.


    So, not a soul-bond, but our friendship? Our partnership?


    He bobbed slowly.


    Close


    Terry started flickering to two spots, just as he had so long ago. He showed two terror birds fighting, growing together in ability. This time he didnt go for nearly as long, as he was seemingly referencing that earlier time.


    Training together? Growing together.


    He bobbed.


    And that along with the previously indicated partnership are you talking about us being a group, or herd?


    He squawked loudly in irritation.


    Right, right. Herds are groups of prey. She suppressed a smile. How silly of me. You are thinking about us as a flock?


    He slowly bobbed. The motion conveying importance and seriousness rather than hesitance.


    You are trying to decide if we can grow together or if it is time for us to part. It wasnt a question.


    He bobbed again.


    So what are you thinking?


    He gave her an unimpressed look before standing up and sinking back into his previous position.


    Youre saying, Im here, arent I?


    He trilled, and the tonality and timbre cared a note of obviously.


    Well, thats good. So, youve decided to stay?


    He hesitated before finally bobbed his assent.


    T felt a wave of relief as the tension shed felt building was released. Im d.


    She smiled and scratched the side of Terrys head.


    So, you wanted to discuss it?


    He bobbed.


    But youve decided.


    He bobbed yet again, making sure to keep her hand in scratching range.


    So, you wanted to tell me that youd decided. She nodded to herself. You want me to know that this is important and significant. So, what does that mean?


    Around the scratches, he gave her a t look.


    Right, right. You cant easily answer a question like that. Her smile grew. So, do you want to bond?


    Terry shook himself.


    Thats alright. Do you think you might ever want to?


    He immediately bobbed, then shook himself again.


    You think that you might, depending on how it goes?


    He nuzzled her hand before flickering to her shoulder.


    You want to test things out, operating under this new framework?


    He headbutted her cheek.


    So, more sparring?


    He chirped happily.


    But not today.


    Terry trilled.


    Right, right. You already said that. Then Ill look forward to our match tomorrow.


    He hunkered down on her shoulder, clearly content.


    <em>-Well, thats progress.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, hes with us for the time being. I can understand not wanting to soul-bond.</em>


    <em>-It did seem like he was interested in the idea, but still wanted to think on it, or try out something or-</em>


    <em>Yeah, didnt have a definitive answer</em> She nced over at Terry.


    He cracked open one eye to look back at her.


    So, were testing out being a flock, eh?


    He cooed, closing his eye.


    What does that mean?


    He opened his eye again and shuffled his feet a half dozen times before letting out a huff.


    T grinned. Not now? Let you sleep?


    He headbutted her cheek and hunkered back down.


    Alright, alright. She scratched his head and neck. We can talk through the specificster.


    He pushed into her hand even as she stood up and headed back towards the shop.


    The remainder of her time with her siblings passed in a simr fashion to the first weeks, simply with two fewer siblings to spend time with. Well, and Terry was around a lot more, which made everything even better.


    T intentionally filled her days with as much time with her siblings as possible. She also sparred with Terry when he was amenable, and she had time.


    The first time, the day after their discussion, she noticed something important: The effects of her working within the sparring circle had remained.


    As soon as she noticed, she honestly wasnt surprised. Her gravity enhancements were simrly enduring, and the banishing trigger that shed imbedded in her mindset for the working hadnt been broken.


    T called over Master Simon and asked him to analyze the space.


    After an initial sweep, he began to frown and proceeded to perform rather intensive scans, refusing to say more than that the results were odd before he finished.


    When he did finish, however, he expanded on what he meant by that, I wouldnt say that the integrity of reality is greater, here. Whatever you did, it didnt change the nature of the space, but it <em>is</em> more stable. He scratched his chin as he went over the results of his scans, disyed on the te before him. He was still obviously trying to wrap his mind around what he was seeing.


    So what does that mean?


    If reality was a cracked te, you didnt heal the cracks, but you did dip the whole thing in glue.


    She tilted her head to one side. So, Ill ask again. What does that mean?


    He chuckled. My apologies, yes, yes. Analogy isnt an exnation. This means that this area mimics unbroken reality in many ways but not nearly all. I <em>think</em> that this section of your sanctum should be more resistant to degradation, but that would take a lot of testing. It is also more dimensionally resistant, so I think it would be harder to expand, or enact other simr magics within. He shook his head, a frown creasing his brows. Even though you dont know <em>exactly</em> what you were amplifying, what level of amplification do you think you reached?


    T thought back on the fight, checked with t, then shrugged, Honestly? A couple of trillion times.


    He blinked at her. Come again?


    I think that I amplified the metaphysical forces involved by a factor of at least two trillion.


    He rubbed the bridge of his nose with his off hand as he grimaced. You grabbed onto an unknown something and amplified it to an <em>insane</em> degree?


    Yes? Well, that is assuming that I was getting a simr recursion to my gravity amplification.


    His now open eyes allowed her to see one twitch. You can amplify gravity that much?


    Well, yeah. Thats how I can make these. She reached out toward him, one of her siege orbs appearing in her hand.


    He took it gingerly, starting to nod. You mentioned these, but I suppose I didnt consider exactly what it meant.


    To be clear, I cant do this on a wide scale, but for a discrete target-set? She shrugged. Its very possible. So?


    We dont know what you amplified, exactly, nor really to what extent. We have no basis forparison, so I cant possibly tell you what youve done or the results.


    Should I stop? She was quite hesitant to agree to that. Even though she didnt exactly understand what she was doing, it <em>did</em> seem to make Terry have to work harder, and T felt like she needed every edge she could get, especially now that the sparring was so much more important.


    He gave her a t stare. The rationalist in me begs you to undo whatever this is


    But? T hid a hopeful smile.


    But I cannot detect any specific danger from this, and with how wide-ranging my information gathering artifacts are, I <em>should</em> be able to detect at least an inkling if there is any. Additionally, I am curious beyond what I would think reasonable, were I in a standard, Constructionist position.


    So?


    So, I think that you are somehow affecting my rationality. He gave her a narrow-eyed inspection.


    She huffed augh. Ill follow your rmendation.


    I gathered that. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Let me check on the progress every day, but otherwise, keep on, I suppose. It looks safe from everything I can tell. If I remember correctly, your magics have the ability to be broken by yourself?


    She nodded. I leave a trigger within my workings that allows me to break them, yes.


    Alright then. He looked down at the te, longing clear in his eyes. How about I watch from the sidelines whenever you are using the working, and if I tell you to break it, you break it instantly and with no questions asked?


    T smiled. That sounds like a good n, and I ept the conditions. She nced over to where Terry was sunning himself while waiting. Ready?


    His answer was to flicker into position on one side of the sparring ring.


    Alright, lets do this.


    So, every day Master Simon monitored the aspects of reality and existence around the sparring ring while T and Terry sparred.


    Every day, T continued to amplify the connection between the pieces of reality, slowly making it harder and harder for Terry to use his movement abilities.


    After their matches, T would go over the results with Master Simon and discuss the insights and thoughts he had on all aspects of the fight he was able to observe both with and without his artifacts.


    Thus, the month was spent, and before she really registered the passing days, it was time for T to depart.


    While she didnt make a big deal about it, her siblings all knew she was leaving, and they each said their goodbyes.


    Se, in particr, tried to make demands for Ts quick return.


    For Ts part, she promised tomunicate more often, and to return during the following summerif not beforewhen Nea would be making her final choice about whether or not to go to the Academy.


    The siblings shared a final dinner together, Mistress Petra going above and beyond to make it a special one.


    The Zat childrenKarsa, Segis, and Mettidropped through to bid goodbye to the Karweils, as well. The children had actually yed as a group quite a bit over the previous month, so the goodbye was a bittersweet one.


    Karsa was actually nning on leaving for the Academy in just a few months, so she would see Dagan and Alva there, and if Nea joined them, shed have another friend too.


    Terry joined the siblings for the full dinner, and they all enjoyed throwing out bits of food for him to snatch throughout the meal.


    The next day T was up and ready for departure before daybreak.


    Kit had been left on the alchemy shop front door, so when T exited, she chose to exit outside, where she found her father sitting, just where he had been when she had arrived.


    <em>How long was he out here, to make sure to catch me leaving?</em>


    He was in the process of standing as she stepped out, likely having heard the door open, and she didnt pause, closing the door and pulling Kit to her belt.


    He gave a short, respectful bow. Mistress T.


    Master Alchemist.


    If he was insulted or saddened by her address, he didnt show it. Thank you for the kindness you showed to my children. I know you care for them, so I dont intend to say you would have acted otherwise, but I wanted to specifically express my thanks.


    T <em>almost</em> bristled, but in the end, she decided it wasnt worth the energy. You are wee.


    Thank you, also, for talking with Dagan and Alva about their futures as Mages. From what I was able to gather, they did seem to have more realistic expectations than Id previously intuited.


    Oh? That was news to T.


    Yes, it was a small thing. They seemed to be approaching the prospect more like a career path than a storybook to step into. Thank you for that.


    Im not sure that was due to me. It could just be that they were faced with the growing, very real truth of their own departure.


    In either case: Thank you.


    You are wee.


    They stood there for a long moment, silence filling the space between them.


    It was not thefortable silence of new-fallen snow, nor the deep inhtion before a storm. It was simply an emptiness.


    There was nothing between them at all.


    Was there anything else? T finally asked.


    After a brief, final hesitation, he nodded, Just to say, your mo He closed his mouth and eyes, shook his head and restarted, My wife and I are here if you ever wish anything of us. Even if that is just to yell or rail or anything. We will be here, until we arent.


    T had been building toward irritation as he spoke, ready to snap at him that she would never want anything from him, but the final sentiment stopped her in her tracks.


    They would be there, until they werent.


    <em>Theyll be waiting, until they die.</em>


    <em>-Which wont actually be all that long, at least not in the scale of your life now.-</em>


    T grimaced.


    She didnt want to do this, now.


    She didn''t want to do this, <em>ever</em>, but certainly not now.


    Still, she couldnt muster the rage to snap back at him, not anymore.


    Thus, she gave a simple response, the depths of her emotional exhaustion leaking through into her tone. I will keep that in mind. Goodbye, master Karweil.


    Without another word, she turned and strode away.


    Her mirrored perspectives saw him watch her go.


    By his movements, even though he didnt reach after her, he seemed to want to.


    Finally, he bowed at her back and muttered too low for him to have thought she could hear, Goodbye, T. Goodbye, my daughter. I love you.


    She didnt change her pace or give any indication that she had heard.


    She did flex her will, rolling her iron over her eyes before the building tears could break free.


    <em>That rusting man. Why cant he act like the monster I knew?</em>


    <em>-Would you really want him to be that man to your siblings?-</em>


    T growled internally. <em>How are you so calm?</em>


    <em>-While I am you, I am not </em>you.<em> While he is my father on a soul level, that is all the connection I have ever had to him. Everything else has just been through you and your memories. Because of that, I dont have the emotional weight surrounding him that you do.-</em>


    <em>That makes no sense.</em>


    <em>-We can debate my natureter. Do you really want him to be who he was?-</em>


    T made it out through the southern gate of Marliweather before she answered, t giving her the long minutes of silence that she needed in order to start to organize her tumbling thoughts and emotions. <em>No. I am d that he is not that man to them.</em>


    <em>-But its not enough.- </em>t guessed.


    <em>Enough? That has nothing to do with it. He was that man to </em>me.<em> He misused our connection to the point of breaking it, and I dont trust him enough to allow it to be rebuilt.</em>


    -<em>There is a difference between rebuilding a father-daughter rtionship and having civil interactions.-</em>


    <em>I dont want civil interactions with him.</em>


    t sighed. -<em>No, you want him to be your dad, but he broke that.-</em>


    <em>Rusting right he broke that.</em>


    <em>-And you are so broken over that loss that you cant let </em>anything<em> exist in that space?-</em>


    <em>Why should I?</em>


    <em>-Isnt that like having a one of a kind piece of art that gets shredded; then, instead of finding something to fill that space on your wall, you just leave it nk and grumble about the shredding every time you pass by? Maybe even leaving up the irreparably damaged piece in ce as a monument to what was lost?-</em>


    T didnt seem to have a response to that, and t was wise enough to not press the issue further.


    Thus, Ts mind was unusually quiet, overtop her turbulent and unsettled emotions as she began her run back to Bandfast.

 Chapter 319: Fight!

    Chapter 319: Fight!


    T may have gotten carried away.


    She pulled the metal away from her mouth as she spat blood to the side.


    The iron was instantly stripped away as the thick fluid left her mouth, leaving a clear stter on the rock beside her.


    A hundred yards away her opponent hunkered low and let loose a roar that shook the ground and caused the nearby trees to tremble.


    The sound was like a mix of a heavy, rasping breath and the beginnings of a growl, projected at volumes that would break mundane eardrums.


    Yes, this fight might have been a bit much for her to take on while simply traveling between cities.


    T had been nearly halfway to Bandfast when she decided to divert into the mountains just north of that city as a way to take a new route back there.


    As she traversed the increasingly rugged terrain, she had sensed a powerful collection of magicing from within a moderately well-hidden valley, easily a dozen miles deeper into the mountains than she had nned on going.


    Even so, shed been curious.


    It had led her here.


    The valley was only two or three miles long and just over a mile wide, tucked high in the mountains.


    Ake dominated one side, trees filled much of the remainder, snow capped the surrounding mountains, and the air was positively dripping with power.


    T could sense no less than a dozen founts in caves surrounding the valley, all of which <em>felt</em> like they were earth or nt rted, at least at a cursory inspection.


    t had checked immediately, and T was <em>not</em> authorized to remove these founts. They were known and allowed for various purposes.


    Since she was in the area, she was offered two gold to investigate the integrity of the area and ensure that nothing odd had cropped up.


    As it turned out, something had.


    T had noticed unusual movements in the zeme of the area near a cave in the northern most extreme of the valley. She had barely drawn near, in order to investigate when this creature had lunged forth.


    The magical beast was seemingly a newer addition to the valley as it hadnt been there a decade earlier, when thest Archon passed through the area.


    As t reported the situation via Ts archive link, the reward had been upped to ten gold if she slew the creature and brought back the body. That said, defeating the monster was only to be her third priority behind, maintaining the integrity of the valley and keeping the corpse intact.


    She should have asked for more.


    The magical beast was apact, four-legged, feline beast.


    Its muscles bulged and flexed, looking more like those belonging to a bodybuilder than a standard specimen.


    The flesh and fur were striped with browns, greens, cks, whites, and oranges, letting it blend in perfectly with the surroundings to her mundane sight.


    Its eyes were a bright blue, like a cialke, and its fangs and ws were the pure white of new fallen snow.


    The big cat registered as green to her magesight, and it had a depth of power within its own body that would make chasms envious. Additionally, it was intimately connected to the valley in which she stood.


    While she had fought magical beasts before, shed never actually fought one on its home turf before, in the seat of its power. The prospect had seemed intriguing.


    All told, the big beast looked reminiscent of a mundane tiger save its coloring, and its size.


    It was asrge as two caravan wagons and built like a city wall.


    <em>Magical beasts</em> A check through her memoriesof the books that Master Grediv had given her so long agotold her what it was.


    It was an und tiger.


    The name was insultingly mundane given the truth of the creature.


    It was <em>quick.</em>


    Not in the way Terry could quickly reposition himself around a battlefield, but in the sense of reactions, reflexes, and the flexibility to distort in seemingly impossible directions to avoid her blows.


    They had only shed once in a rapid series of strikes given and received.


    T had scored a cut deep into its side, causing clear blooddrained of its ironto ssh the ground beside them. The tiger had ignored the hit in order to backhand<em>Back paw?</em>her so hard that her mouth had filled with blood even before shed mmed into a rock formation more than a hundred yards away with shattering force.


    Thus, she had spat out her own blood as she pulled herself to her feet. It roared at her, and she realized that she might have been a bit hasty to pursue this fight.


    Her magesight easily saw the torrents of power being drawn into the feline from thend around it, the slice on its side sealing in barely a breath.


    <em>Just like the book said</em>


    <em>-Well, we can only see information on the Refined version.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, even so. It seems like it cant heal while attacking, like the Refined variant can. It is using its roar as an area effect to give it space and time to enact its healing.</em>


    <em>-Yeah. It also does seem to be tied to thend even more closely than most magical creatures that have areas as their bound source.-</em>


    <em>The only hope is overwhelming power before it can heal, otherwise were fighting a well of resilience equivalent to a mountain valley.</em>


    <em>-A </em>magical<em> mountain valley.-</em>


    <em>Yeah that does probably factor in.</em>


    -<em>We also need to keep in mind that it could be more powerful or more capable in some aspects. Hopefully its known weakness still holds true: It cant heal from anything that would instantly kill a normal animal.-</em>


    <em>Thats basically only a beheading or brain obliteration. Even ripping out a heart takes a moment or two to lead to death.</em>


    <em>-Severe trauma can kill something instantly. Id rmend a dissolution breath to the head, like with the thunderbull, but more powerful, but we have to keep the corpse intact.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, but I dont think were going to be able to enact that level of trauma on a Paragon creature without ruining the body wait, is it more correct to call it Honored?</em>


    <em>-Seems like either is correct. But more importantly, the fight?-</em>


    The tiger crouched, the very ground around it seeming topact and harden beneath its paws before itunched forward.


    T grinned as she called Flow back to her hand, pushing power through it to change the form into a ive as she set her feet against the charge.


    In the second that it took the massive feline to close the distance between them, T felt her footing shift.


    It was so unusual a sensation that she oriented one of her mirrored perspectives specifically downward.


    For the fraction of a second that she had before impact, she watched in fascinated horror as the very ground beneath her feet seemed to break apart into loose sand and gravel, undermining her footing and stealing her ability to brace against the oing assault.


    <em>Well rust. That wasnt in the book.</em>


    <em>-We did only read about the weaker version of this creature-</em>


    Flow still took the tiger in the upper left shoulder, digging deeply even as the impact drove T into a backward slide.


    Its right paw came in from the side in a sweep containing power closer to that of a battering ram than a conventional melee attack.


    In response, T willed her upperyer of iron to aspect mirror Flows resistance to damage. After all, Flowin sword formwas effectively just a wire, and yet it had never bent or deformed, regardless of what shed put it through.


    She hadnt actually attempted this aspect of her power, having only seen it as theoretically possible in the vision shed seen when merging Flow with the dasgannach.


    There were several things that T did not ount for.


    First, and possibly oddest, was the fact that <em>all</em> the iron containing the mirrored aspect both heated up and vibrated to a crazy degree under that first blow.


    It <em>all</em> began to glow a dull red almost instantly, having absorbed roughly half the kic energy of the hit as heat, the rest being converted to a buzzing vibration which rattled her teeth and almost caused her to lose her grip on Flows haft.


    Second, the focus and will-power required to maintain the aspect mirror skyrocketed as the aspect was stressed by the blow.


    The heat imparted to her outeryer of iron radiated inward almost instantly, but T was able to cool the white-steel with an additional flexing of her will.


    All told, it was too much. She couldnt hold the new aspect mirror under the stress and her concentration shattered at the second blow, this time from the tigers left paw.


    Blessedly, t was able to help keep her cognizant enough that she didnt lose her hold on Flow or her footing.


    The first two strikes were far from thest, as tigers front legs were long enough for it to immediately begin a surprisingly rhythmic series of shes, tearing through Ts iron, white steel, and flesh with equal ease, the left paw strikes only marginally weaker than the right.


    That wasnt to say that her defenses did nothing.


    The feline forelegs bulged with straining muscles as it powered through each swipe. Its back legs shifted and braced to continue to push forward, lending it more power than even its considerable weight should allow.


    T stalwartly held onto Flow, trying to shift to minimize the damage she took, even as she healed after each hit, pulling together and attempting to thicken the metals struggling to protect her from the beast.


    Flow continued to work deeper, the clear liquid that flowed down the shaft mirrored by a stream of iron that she could feel flowing into the dimensions of magic around the weapon.


    Despite what the books indicated about the lower powered variants of the und tiger, this one seemed to be able heal while it was directly engaged, even if not to the same extent as when it was able to dedicate its focus.


    The wound was actively closing around the still embedded ive-form Flow, even if the gash was leveraged opened again almost immediately afterward. Additionally, the amount of blood-fluid and iron freely leaving the beast indicated that either it had some form of dimensionally expanded spleen, or it was generating new blood.


    <em>Or, it just has a massive volume, given the fact that its massive.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, we havent been fighting it very long.-</em>


    Still, they looked at the increasingly slushy ground all around them, and they had to admit that it <em>should</em> have been at least slightly negatively affected by the loss of blood.


    There was also the fact that they could see power flowing into it from the surroundingnd, coalescing all through its body in patterns reminiscent of Ts own healing magics.


    For her part, T wasnt using <em>that much</em> of her reserves. The swiping ws certainly rent her open, but they didnt actually remove that much material. As such, the wounds were magically expensive to repair, but not materially so.


    Even so, she could easily see an issue.


    They were both take the damage and heal type fighters, and between the two of them, the tiger was doing more damage and looked to have deeper reserves to draw on.


    True, T was fighting with several rather frustrating handicaps, but the state of things was still inarguable as they stood.


    She could change the odds by using Flow in a void-form, but that would likely destroy at least a good part of the corpse, if it was effective at all.


    It <em>should</em> be effective, but it would either be devastatingly effective to the point of being harmful overkill, or it would be useless. Thus, it wasnt worth testing.


    <em>Or, I could just ignore the stiption to preserve the body?</em> She seriously considered it, but she was tired of doing things sloppily. She wanted to learn how to do things properly and as she aimed, without unneeded coteral damage or unintended results.


    She briefly considered using a siege orb, but those had the same issue as Flows void-forms, plus more besides. Not only did she not trust that one would be sufficient to instantly kill the creature, shed been asked to minimize damage to the valley and maintain the corpse, if possible.


    All told, she was operating under pretty crazy restrictions.


    It highlighted all the more clearly an issue shed been noticing in her capacities. She could easily deal with weaker threats, and she could respond with hopefully overwhelming force against more powerful foes, but she had little that she could do in delicate situations if the threat was anywhere near her own power.


    Then, as she was temporarily disemboweled for close to the fiftieth time, an obvious thought flickered into her mind, <em>Well, you know, I dont </em>have<em> to do this alone.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, you are a flock now, right?-</em>


    T willed Kit to open at her waist, even as her abdomen was riven open yet again.


    She was continually sliding and stumbling backwards, even as she continued to leverage and torque Flow to cause damage, and her lungs were only functional every other second or so.


    Still, she managed to shout. TERRY!


    Slice, lungs venting and unable to hold air.


    Heal, quick inhtion and, FIGHT!


    That was seemingly sufficient as the terror bird flickered out with an aggressive screech.


    The avians eyes widened as he took in the creature T was facing, but he didnt retreat. Though, T left Kit open so that he could if he needed to.


    After all, Terry was only an arcanous creature, however powerful, and the und tiger was a magical beast of significant advancement.


    It was almost immediately obvious that Terry would have the same issues against the tiger as he did against T.


    His talons couldnt seem to pierce the fur and flesh, nor were his strikes strong enough to break the underlying bones.


    Even so, he was strategic in his attacks, stealing the beasts footing and allowing T to finally set herself enough to push back, even with the ground beneath her seemingly animated to rob her of footing.


    Her surface area enhancing scripts were proving their worth as she could tell that shed likely have sunk in deeply without them, rather than simply struggling to maintain bnce and stability.


    Additionally, she internally blessed the little furball of an Eskau, De-arg, for all his stability training. That monster of an animated teddy-bear-look-alike had put her through training and fighting on <em>far</em> worse footing than this.


    Even so, it was still <em>incredibly</em> difficult.


    Terry took up a harrying role, even as the tiger pulled back and drew power into itself to quickly close the deep, gaping wound in its shoulder.


    T tried to press the momentary advantage, but it roared again, forcing Terry to flicker away and T to grimace against the pain of enduring it from so close this time around.


    Her ears were magically reinforced, as well as being encapsted under iron and magical steel, and she still felt like they were in danger of sumbing to force and magic within the sound.


    As soon as the roar died down, Terry was on the offensive once again, his talons now focusing on the felines eyes and other vulnerabilities.


    The tiger was <em>livid</em> at the birds assault, but T was able to close the distance despite the increasingly difficult terrain.


    With a bit more time to line up her strike thanks to Terrys distractions, she managed to hit the front leg of the beast just where it joined the paw, and Flow cleanly severed the appendage, skipping off the bone to glide smoothly through the joint.


    She had only an instant to grin in triumph even as she continued the attack sequence by driving Flow up to its sword-hilt in the tigers chest.


    Her mirrored perspectives saw the severed paw reverse course mid-fall and seamlessly rejoin its limb just in time to m into her side and throw her, skipping across the ground once more.


    <em>Rust. I thought that would give us a momentary advantage.</em>


    She righted herself, thankfully not needing to clear her mouth this time. Shed managed to twist with the blow, dissipating much of the damage potential of the swipe, even though it had still thrown her with ease.


    As she considered, standing up once more, she realized exactly what that meant.


    To anything else, she <em>should</em> have the inertia of a couple of thunder bulls, but this und tiger was tossing her about with rtive ease.


    It was <em>ridiculously</em> strong.


    Even with Terrys help, this might be an impossible fight given the restrictions she was operating under.


    Her avian friend seemed to have reached the same conclusion, because Terry took that moment to flicker to Ts shoulder and rock backwards, pulling her directly away from the tiger.


    She frowned, slightly surprised that theyde to the same conclusion. You want to flee?


    Terry trilled, the sound containing the increasingly familiar sense of obviously!


    Are you sure? T looked back toward the tiger as it crouched low. She <em>really</em> wanted to beat the big kitty despite the difficulty


    He bobbed before flickering away, appearing far behind her, turning back to regard his partner.


    T <em>almost </em>shook her head in frustration, ignored the bird, and settled in to continue the fight.


    <em>He wants to be a flock, to test that out. Being a flock, fighting together that requires trust.</em>


    So, that was the question: Did she trust Terrys judgment?


    No ones life was on the line.


    She was fighting for a few gold at the most.


    If she left, some other Archon would be dispatched to deal with this overgrown tiger.


    With that understanding solidified, she made her choice.


    Rocking backwards, she leapt away, following after Terry.


    The tiger paused, clearly surprised by her retreat.


    It didnt rx, nor lower its guard, but it also didnt pursue.


    It was protecting its den, itsnd, its source of power.


    It seemed to have no need nor desire to pursue her.


    She blinked at that, then began tough internally.


    She had suppressed her through-spike.


    She was covered in iron.


    She wouldnt look like a human, magically speaking, so the odd almostpulsion that magical creatures seemed to have to attack humans, didnt seem to apply.


    It would have had flickers of that while it was tearing into her, which likely exined its ferocity and persistence during those attacks, but now? Her power was effectively veiled, and it didnt have apulsion to pursue.


    A minuteter, she was out of sight of the tiger.


    Even so, she and Terry didnt slow down, and soon, they were at the southern end of the valley, in the pass through which T had entered.


    Terry flickered to her shoulder and headbutted her cheek.


    Thank you, Terry. You were a big help.


    He chirped happily.


    You were wise to have us retreat, too. It was a dangerous fight with little reward. Thank you.


    He trilled happily and settled down.


    She briefly informed him how the fight hade about and about the restrictions she had been operating under.


    That seemed to help him rx further, the little bits of confusion shed detected from him leveling out. When she finished, he headbutted her again.


    You were confused why I wasnt using certain tactics and skills?


    He bobbed, chirping in affirmation.


    Yeah I actually think I could have taken it out with rtive certainty, but it would have been messy.


    He gave a warbling, undting, and descending note.


    T snorted augh. Yeah, that was a bit of an understatement, wasnt it?


    He bobbed one final time, and then flickered away, heading out of the valley.


    Yeah, lets get back on the right track.


    She turned to look south and a little east, to where she knew Bandfasty.


    It had been an interesting diversion, but she still wanted to get there that day.


    Alright, T, lets get to it.

 Chapter 320: A Temporary Goodbye

    Chapter 320: A Temporary Goodbye


    T arrived at Bandfast after sunset, approaching the city through the darkening twilight, Terry at her side.


    t had sent messages ahead, so shed be grabbing ate dinner with Lyn and Kannis, before leaving for Alefast the morning after next.


    Rane was already gone, presumably in Alefast, Waning ahead of her.


    <em>Likely dealing with his family in one way or another.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, I wonder if there was any fallout from him breaking Furgals staffthing.-</em>


    <em>Well, Master Grediv was fine with it, but that likely wont stop other members of the family from being irritated with him.</em>


    <em>-Thats true enough. Im d we dont have to deal with idiocy like that-</em>


    <em>At least not often, yeah.</em> Though, she was aware that given her friendship with Rane, she might be pulled into the matter while in Alefast. She hoped that wouldnt be the case, however.


    <em>-Hope springs eternal.-</em>


    She could have bypassed Bandfast and gone straight to Alefast, Waning, but it really wouldnt have saved her much time, and she did need to actually say goodbye to Lyn and Kannis.


    She was changing her base of operations away from Bandfast for the first time since her graduation.


    <em>Well, the first time Im doing it of my own volition.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, being forcibly relocated to toiri really wasnt the same.-</em>


    <em>Not at all.</em>


    There was also her meet-up with Master Cazor.


    The Mage Hunter had agreed to spar with her and test her iron usage.


    Hed even indicated that his duties would bring him through Alefast, Waning, on asion in the next years, so they could continue such experimentation then. Even so, theyd already agreed to spend a day on the project in Bandfast, first.


    But that was for tomorrow.


    With those contemtions set aside, T turned her focus back to her direct surroundings.


    Even at night, the fields, orchards, and farms were familiar, and T saw the nts beginning to sprout and grow as spring grabbed greater hold.


    Shed gone between Bandfast and Marliweather quite a few times by this point, and this was the path shed always taken, once through the outer edge of the citys defenses at least.


    The outer gates into Bandfast were still open when she arrived, as expected. Human cities didnt tend to close their gates, except under extreme circumstances. After all, the magical defenses were generally all that were required to maintain an eptable level of safety for the citizenry.


    She didnt dawdle, but she did try to soak in the ambiance of this city.


    She wasnt saying goodbye forever, but she was going to be leaving it behind for the near future.


    Shed be back every so often to visit Lyn and Kannis, but overall, her time in Bandfast was over.


    <em>I suppose that was true even before I left for Marliweather.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, but there was too much going on. Tacking on saying goodbye to this city, and Lyn and Kannis would have been too much. It would have felt too drawn out.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, I suppose so</em>


    T was far from alone as she walked through the streets. Even though the short days of winter were mostly transitioned into the regr days of spring or fall, leading towards the longer summer days, people were still about after dark, doing what they needed to do before they closed themselves in their homes for the night.


    Some people called generic greetings to others, including her. She responded to those with a smile and a wave without slowing. People were just being polite.


    After all, they were all human, all in this city, this life, together.


    It was important to focus on what unified them rather than what divided them.


    Her feet almost unconsciously took the incredibly easy route to Lyns house, across from the park blossoming with new growth, visible even in the dim light from the streetlights.


    When she came to the front door, she hesitated.


    <em>This isnt our house anymore.</em> She felt that clearly, even though she still had a key.


    The key that she held in her hand as she hesitated.


    <em>I shouldnt unlock someone elses house thats just weird.</em>


    Even so, it felt like it would be strange to knock.


    Thus, she was left standing on the front step, indecision trapping her rather effectively.


    Nearly a minute passed before the door opened, revealing Lyn just inside. T?


    T had stepped back at the sudden opening of the door. Oh! Hi, Lyn.


    What are you doing? Were going to eat, right?


    Yes. She took Kit and tossed the pouch at the open door. Kit flowed over the b, blending in perfectly.


    Lyn nced at the door with a raised eyebrow. Alright, then. What were you doing out here?


    T grimaced, then held out the key that she still held in her hand. I need to return this. It didnt seem right to use it, since I dont live here anymore.


    Lyn snorted augh. Dont be ridiculous. Keep the key. You are wee here, and to use that key, for as long as I own this house.


    T felt herself smile, indecision wiped away. Thank you, Lyn. As she followed her friend back inside, T frowned. How did you know I was out there?


    T, your aura is projected in a sphere around you by your illusion thing.


    Through-spike.


    Yeah, illusion thing. In any case, itcks teeth, but it is <em>very</em> easy to sense when I am within about twenty feet of you.


    Oh I didnt really realize that, I suppose. She pushed on the still open door, and Kit opened up just enough for her to toss the iron key inside, allowing her sanctum to close once more.


    Lyn shook her head. That still looks odd, even though I know exactly what is happening with it. Its no wonder that so many syphons can exist within human cities, when they have the ability to hide like that.


    Indeed, yeah. T nodded solemnly.


    Kannis had heard her arrival, and she was standing just inside the sitting room, looking their way. With all due respect, master, with regard to the first topic, I cant sense her. I feel it would be unkind to Mistress T to misrepresent the reality of her illusory aura.


    T waved to her old ssmate. Good evening, Kannis.


    Good evening, Mistress T.


    Lyn was shaking her head. You would sense her if your magesight were active.


    Absolutely, Mistress Lyn, but not without it. You, on the other hand, sensed her without use of magesight.


    T looked to her friend, eyebrows climbing.


    Lyn shrugged. Thats true enough. The older woman smiled at her mageling. Thank you for rifying, Kannis.


    My pleasure. Kannis gave a small bow.


    <em>Interesting</em> So, Lyn do you think its due to you being Fused?


    Lyn shrugged. Lets discuss it on the way to dinner, shall we?


    Yes! Kannis grinned.


    T chuckled. Sure. That sounds great.


    The evening passed with pleasant conversations, amazing food, and promises of future visits.


    Even though it was a fun time, there was a tinge of sadness throughout the evening, and she realized that it wasnt quite the same without Rane with them.


    <em>Hell be in Alefast.</em>


    <em>-That he will.-</em>


    For food, they grabbed little cheesy caravans before going to therge square that Lyn had taken T to on her first night in Bandfast.


    Gretel was still there, peddling her pies, and the older woman seemed genuinely pleased to see T once again, but whether that was because she genuinely remembered T, or she was experienced enough of a saleswoman that she pretended to, T couldnt tell.


    In either case, T was grateful for the interaction and the tasty pies. They were just as amazing as she remembered, though, inparison with Mistress Petras cooking, they didnt seem <em>quite</em> as uniquely incredible as they had the first time shed had them.


    Speaking of the cook, T had informed Mistress Petra ahead of time that she wouldnt need dinner, having decided that it was eptable to miss a single meal of power infusion in order to share some reminiscence with her friends.


    The Zat family was also taking a good deal of time the next day to visit with those they knew in Bandfast while T met with Master Cazor.


    The conversation that the three women had while walking ranged from what Kannis was learning and her future prospects, to Lyns new duties and coworkers. They briefly touched on differences in magical perception based on advancement, but none of them really had the knowledge or inclination to experiment around such theoretical things while on a night out.


    As to the things that they did discuss, funnily enough, both Lyn and Kannis had dealt with several potential suitors even in thest month.


    None had worked out, obviously, but the women were drawing increasing attention, and they both found themselves more than a bit intrigued at the prospect, at least if the right someone expressed interest. Not that they had anyone specific in mind, of course.


    Additionally, they didnt have time to go hunting for their own prospects, at least not yet.


    Finally, the three discussed what T expected from her time in Alefast, Waning.


    Honestly, Ts contributions around her uing ns was the smallest portion of the overall discussion. After all, part of the reason she was going was to experience the waning, and learn exactly what it entailed.


    It was a big prospect, honestly.


    There were just about twenty-one years until that city would be fully abandoned. T was barely older than that, and she was making a decision that would set her course for as long as shed been alive.


    <em>And yet, it will just be a blip on my life toe.</em>


    <em>-Its rather exciting, isnt it?-</em>


    <em>And overwhelming.</em>


    They talked about that too, the Refined, Fused, and mageling. They discussed the long span of years before them all.


    Even though many specifics couldnt be discussed in front of a mageling, they mainly wanted to discuss the vague aspects anyways. This wasnt a time for nning or academic discussion; it was simply three young women contemting the river of time.


    Thus, they passed the evening, enjoying each otherspany along with the tasty food.


    The next morning, T woke bright and early.


    She stretched, ate the breakfast prepared by Mistress Petra, and left for the training arena where she was meeting Master Cazor, Kit hanging from her belt.


    Shed bid a temporary goodbye to Lyn and Kannis the night before. So, she felt no need or desire to seek them out before departing.


    The tentative n was for her toe back in a few months and take them to Alefast, Waning, so that they could see the city for themselves.


    The more she considered it, the more T realized that her life was going to be filled with temporary goodbyes.


    Most of those she would interact with would be incredibly long lived, and they had a limited number of cities to move through. Almost universally, theyd cross paths again eventually.


    So long as they both survived.


    <em>Yes, happy thoughts, T.</em>


    <em>-Realistic thoughts, though.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, I suppose.</em>


    The training arenas were as familiar as ever, and she was directed to a much more reinforced one than shed needed in most cases in the past.


    They had discussed performing the experiments and training within her sanctum, but they both thought that it would likely be best to not dorger scaleor more experimentaltests with iron while inside a magically created and maintained space.


    <em>I grow in wisdom.</em>


    <em>-That you do.-</em>


    <em>What, no sarcasm?</em> T felt herself smile internally.


    -<em>No need. You are getting wiser, and I am d for it.-</em>


    Master Cazor was awaiting her as before, but this time he was waiting without preprepared bags of iron.


    He gave her a rueful smile. Well, Mistress T, I would not have thought it possible, but you have somehow added<em> more</em> iron to yourself sincest we met.


    She grinned in return, her metal moving along with her face to allow the expression, mirrored as illusion by her through-spike.


    That is marginally creepy since I can at least partially sense through it.


    With a sigh, she pulled the iron away from her mouth, nose, eyes, and ears. She only had the single externalyer of metal at the moment. Well, I definitely wasnt going for creepy.


    Then you need to get better control of your illusion. The unblinking eyes are odd enough, but the features portrayed have a thick, stiff quality, as if you have on <em>vastly </em>too much makeup or something like that.


    She found herself nodding. I hadnt actually considered that. Theyer of iron would act as a smoothing agent What does this do?


    T shifted the metal,yering it over her face until it was built up to the point of being a rtively featureless mask. The main benefit of this was that there were no harsh angles for an attack to catch against.


    Master Cazors left eye twitched just a bit. Well. The illusion is <em>trying</em> to fill in the details, but it clearly uses your face as a map.


    T turned one of her mirrored perspectives to specifically examine her own face, rather than simply seeing it from the corner of that vision.


    <em>Oh that is uncanny.</em>


    <em>-Just a bit, yeah.-</em>


    The face was definitely human, and it even looked mostly like Ts, but it was utterly devoid of any expression, and the eyes were staring forward, sightlessly.


    It doesnt help that I can senseand basically seethe t te of iron slicing through where the illusion appears to be. Ive got to say that, to me, it isnt fun to look at.


    The iron flowed away from her face once more as she smiled mischievously. Just what every girl wants to hear.


    He snorted augh and shook his head in response. In any case, shall we begin?


    Of course. What were you thinking for the first test? Ill also disable my through-spike so we can better observe the results.


    That seems wise. As to the test, I have been working on my wide-area-effects. How about I attempt to pin you down using purely maic fields?


    She frowned. Wouldnt that require our auras to sh? Thats hardly fair, given Im Refined.


    He shook his head. Thats the whole idea. Ive been working at controlling two distinct points on opposite sides of a space and inverting them from each other, turning them into massively powerful poles on a non-existent ma.


    She felt her eyebrows rise. So, you dont have to affect the space between them directly?


    Precisely.


    She felt ideas begin to spark within her own mind. <em>Oh, thats clever. I think I could</em>


    <em>-Yeah, but not now. Focus on </em>this<em> while you are here.-</em>


    <em>Right, right. </em>So, lets see it.


    He grinned, and T felt the zeme of the arena begin to shift, two bright points of power building on either side of the space.


    It took a minute as the magic continued to build, but T began to feel pressure exerted on the iron on her skin.


    She kept it under her control; she had to do that anyway in order to allow for normal movement. Thus, while the pressure was noticeable, the forces involved werent in danger of taking any from her.


    Master Cazor was obviously using a tremendous amount of power to amplify this effect. His straining voice sounded hopeful as he asked, Are you feeling restricted yet?


    T moved through some stretches before shaking her head. I can feel the pulls, but it isnt inconvenient, not yet.


    He nodded. And youre maintaining a willful control over your iron, correct? Quite simr to your aura?


    Simr, yeah, though my aura is contained at the moment.


    Its He tilted his head to the side. Can I try something?


    She shrugged. Sure.


    Without further warning, the two poles of the non-existent ma rushed inward, the bi-directional pulling force increasing exponentially.


    T grit her teeth as she set her will against the massively escting power.


    If youre not maintaining aura control of your surroundings, and if your aura is bound within the iron, then you cant contest this, can you?


    The poles stopped three feet to either side of her, just out of reach.


    T couldnt muster the focus to answer, her mind entirely bent to keeping the iron in ce against the unnatural pull.


    Yeah, I thought not. Well, lets test the limits, then. Resist and ovee the magics if you can.


    T couldnt keep her arms down, and they were pulled outward, her fingertips falling short of the magical beacons which were the maic poles.


    Her iron began flowing across her skin, gathering around her hands in increasinglyrge spheres, barely held from moving further by her will.


    The surface of the collected iron dust rippled and writhed under the influence of the shing forces, but T held firm.


    Master Cazor was visibly sweating as he strained to control and maintain his working. He wasnt trying to increase its power any more, simply keeping it going seemed to be his limit.


    T, for her part, was under <em>immense</em> strain. It honestly felt like someone was attempting to rip off her arms.


    Blessedly, only her outer iron was being affected, for the most part. That which she held within her body, and that within the dimensions of magic, was being sheltered to a far greater extent.


    Then, her eyes locked onto Master Cazors, and she smiled, the apparent strain melting from her face.


    It hadnt been entirely an act, but she wasnt under nearly as much pressure as shed allowed it to appear.


    With her iron pulled to her hands to arge extent, she was free to extend her uncontained aura outward.


    At the same time, tendrils of iron reached out, surrounding and squeezing down on the maic poles.


    The massively powerful maic field winked out in an instant, and the two Archons fell to their knees almost in unison, gasping from the magical and mental strain theyd both experienced.


    As T took in the sand around them, she felt a smile pulling at her lips.


    Lines of dark iron-dust were striated through the otherwise tan sand, creating clear lines, demonstrating the influence the magical maic field had had.


    Well. Master Cazor forced himself back to his feet. That was a fun first test. Shall we try others?


    T stood as well, showing greater ease in the movement as befit her faster recovery rate and higher advancement. Absolutely.

 Chapter 321: Welcome to Alefast

    Chapter 321: Wee to Alefast


    T kept up the pace of a light jog in the crisp, night air.


    She and Master Cazor had spent the whole day experimenting with iron in various capacities.


    In almost every regard, their experimentation simply confirmed what was already suspected about Ts control and maniption over iron.


    So, more than anything, it was a rxing change of pace and a fun new method of training.


    Thoughts of the day drew her mind toward the times before, and she cast her mind back over thest month or so, using the regr cadence of her footfalls to lull her into internal contemtions.


    She was d that shed spent all of the time that she had with her siblings. While she still felt a bit awkward around them, it was gratifying to actually feel like she had younger brothers and sisters once again. It was funny that, in many ways, she was a parental figure to most of them, given her role as an established adult overseeing their rightfully childish y. <em>Maybe more of a crazy aunt.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, I could see that.-</em>


    She had undeniable authority over them in some regards, especially when they were visiting her, but she also had proven that she didnt see herself as obligated toward them at all.


    <em>-Yeah, definitely more of an aunt than a parent. But, hey! Youre a fun aunt!-</em>


    T smiled at that but didnt reply. She didnt feel the need to.


    Apart from her time with her family, her training wasing along well.


    While sparring with Terry was an exercise in futility if she were simply focused on victory, she felt like it was a wonderful whetstone upon which to sharpen her reflexes andbat awareness, among so many other facets of her abilities.


    Even so, it really was a shame that she didnt have any venue in which to practice her full suite of abilities and deploy her full arsenal. Hopefully, this next venture would provide such.


    That brought her mind to her encounters in the wilds.


    The und tiger had been an insane opponent. The more shed considered it, the more she was uncertain if she would have been able to triumph, even without restrictions.


    She <em>thought</em> she could have, but she wasnt sure and that worried her. She needed such opponents to push herself, to try herself against, or she was going to stagnate.


    There was also the Mage that shed watched be a fount, and then subsequently sent on to the next world.


    Shed been paid basically as soon as the job was doneMistress Ingrit had seen her memory and instantly verified the job was done, so that hadnt been a problem. It was an easy, if sparse, source of ie that she should keep in mind.


    There were also all the half-formed insights that shed caught glimpses of through the process, but those would take a lot more discussing and fact finding before they bore any fruit.


    No, what had been an issue was finding that mans family.


    t had taken on that task without even having to be asked, but even with a months time, shed beening up nk.


    <em>-It is rather frustrating. No one matching his description has gone missing or been known to have departed to be a fount in thest three months. I checked with key individuals in Bandfast, Marliweather, Arconaven, and even Retindel. Nothing.-</em>


    <em>Why did you restrict it to those cities?</em>


    t made an irritated sound within Ts head. <em>-Because I cant just nketly bother city officials across all of humanity over a single Mage. I need to be strategic on who I inquire with and how I follow the threads that I find. People are usually okay with being reached out to individually, even for small things, but if ites across as a I just messaged everyone, you all solve my issue and tell me the answer people would likely get irritated.-</em>


    <em>Ahh, yeah, that makes good sense.</em>


    <em>-Im d that you approve of my methods.-</em> There was a bit of humorous mocking in the alternate interfaces tone.


    T felt herself smile. <em>Thank you for handling it, t.</em>


    <em>-Its what Im here for. Im d to help.-</em>


    Their conversation, and Ts internal musings, moved on from there as she continued her night-run to Alefast, Waning.


    While she had considered staying in Bandfast for the night after her day with Master Cazor, she honestly hadnt seen a point.


    She didnt need the sleep.


    Shed already said goodbye to Lyn and Kannis, and waiting until morning would only dy her arrival, needlessly.


    On the funny side, shed already had to skirt a caravan encampment during her jog. Doing so had reminded her of her own first contract between these two cities and had caused her smile to settle ever more firmly in ce.


    As to this trip, T wasnt moving as quickly as she could have, but she wasnt going slowly.


    Terry had declined to run with her, so she was truly alone as she traversed the darkndscape.


    Fully wrapped in iron, she wasnt announcing herself as a tantalizing target and her magical resonance was reduced to the extreme. Even so, there were still <em>some</em> limits to the speeds she could safely travel at, if she were inclined to push herself.


    <em>I really do need to discuss such things with Master Grediv.</em>


    <em>-There does seem to be a lot in that category, doesnt there?-</em>


    <em>Undoubtedly, yeah. There will probably be other powerful Archons in the area too, right?</em>


    <em>-Oh, absolutely, yes. By the records and inferences that I can find, there should be at least two hundred Archons who are Refined or more advanced.-</em>


    That was a lot.


    -<em>Yeah. I was surprised by the number too. Though, when you think about it, it sort of makes sense. All told, there are just above two and a half thousand Archons who are Refined and higher, across a human poption of well over ten million. Let us not forget that Refined and above dont die of old age. Therefore, there have only been that many </em>ever<em>. Neglecting, of course those that have been killed, which I would hope is not that many.-</em>


    T found herself nodding, her smile gone. <em>And even so, they are less than two-and-a-half percent of one percent of humanity.</em>


    <em>-We.-</em>


    <em>Hmm?</em>


    <em>-You should have said, we are less than Youre one of them.-</em>


    That was an oddly horrifying thought.


    On one hand, she didnt <em>feel</em> very special. She knew of quite a few beings and creatures who were her equals or even betters in a fight, and that didnt factor in other situations such as topical expertise.


    On the other hand, she knew that shed had an unusually sessful road. The challenges that hade her way had been ovee by the skin of her teeth alongside her obsession with healing and defensive magics.


    If hers was the only way to reach Refined, shed be surprised there were even as many as there were.


    <em>The longer road is easier in some senses, I would guess.</em>


    <em>-Fewer sheer cliffs from which to fall and die is my estimation, but the wandering paths seem to rarely point toward the summit.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, thats a good way to put it.</em>


    Still, looked at in another light, having two-and-a-half thousand people as magically advanced as she was, or more


    <em>Its no wonder that the major Houses dont attack us. Were terrifying.</em>


    <em>-But not strong enough to fight them all, and they would unite against us if attacked.-</em>


    <em>Hence the bnce that Master Xeel exined to us.</em> T felt like that had been so long ago.


    Thinking once again aboutbat effectiveness, she had to admit something else: There were those less magically advanced than her who would be able to match her as well. Most of them had depths of knowledge and experience that she was decades from even beginning to approach.


    A smile was beginning to creep back onto her face. <em>Were doing pretty good, arent we?</em>


    <em>-Humanity is on a slow track, but yes. I think that were going to be fine if we can keep on keeping on.-</em>


    T felt her back straighten just a bit at that idea. Her people were doing well, in the grand scheme of things, and she was a part of that.


    She and t discussed dozens of little things that had been guing the edges of their mind as T took her time traversing the terrain.


    She also took a bit to read while she moved as well, but all told, the journey was mainly a rxing little jog.


    As T wasnt really pushing herself, the sun began to rise before she got to the cleft pass near which shed helped fight a midnight fox on her first trip.


    Shed considered going south around the mountains entirely, but that would have taken her <em>very</em> close to the Leshkin forests, and it simply wasnt worth the risk just to try out a new path.


    Blessedly, there were no odd encounters on her trip, and she found herself approaching the city around midmorning.


    She was still about half a mile out when she came out of her contemtions enough to see the massive fluctuations in the zeme hard up against the city toward the east.


    Honestly, she should have seen the powerful magical currents sooner, but shed subconsciously dismissed any variation that might have drawn her attention as attributable to the massive increase in density, rtively speaking.


    <em>This region would still be considered energy starved for arcanes.</em> That made her smile grow, even as she shifted her path to investigate the oddity. The magical density in the airor more urately theck thereofwas yet another defense enacted by humanity.


    She came over a rise and stopped in confusion.


    It took her a long moment to really understand what she was seeing, given just how much was going on before her.


    First and foremost, what stood out to T was an oddity in the wilderness: Just outside the northeastern gate, a woman was dancing.


    That would be odd in and of itself, but there were at least two dozen of her, all moving in sync to the point that they were obviously the same person, or at least directly controlled by the same person.


    Power flowed off every iteration of the woman, obviously in sync with the movements of the dance.


    <em>I havent seen a movement-enacting caster since the Academy, at least not one with thisplex a form of such.</em>


    The Archons power seemed to be fluctuating through the orange-to-yellow range. T thought that implied that the woman was Refined and utilizing some weaker magics. Though, T hadnt really seen magics exactly like this before, so that was only a guess.


    To all of Ts sightsmundane, mage, and voidthe women all looked identical to each other.


    The oddest result of the three was that of her voidsight, as every single woman was quite obviously the same node of reality, simply existing in different locations simultaneously.


    The disjointed nature of what T saw almost caused her to drop that sight.


    t quickly convinced her to simply pass it off to one of ts perspectives so that they could study itter.


    All told, however, the woman and her oddities were the least of what was urring outside the wall.


    A minor tide of magical creatures was rampaging, attacking their opponents with abandon.


    The creatures were easy to identify with Ts knowledge and previous study.


    Asteries.


    They were small, Bound level creatures that tended to move in swarms with a few Fused variants among them.


    Each one wasposed of five to twelve limbs and a miniscule core body. The core contained only a teeth-filled mouth,cking even eyes.


    The limbs were somewhere between an arm and a tentacle, covered in barbed pads that could grip, or rip and tear. Each limb was tipped with a sensory organ which functioned simrly to eyes, but not quite the same. T hadnt taken the time to grasp the exact distinctions.


    The asteries often moved with a clever sort of lotion, rolling along on the tips of their limbs like their whole bodies were rimless wheels.


    Finally, they were usually between half a foot and three feet across when spread out, tip to tip.


    As to what they were fighting?


    nts.


    They were fighting magically grown nts, clearly the result ofand controlled bythe dancing woman.


    Each nt seemed to hold an immobile central bulb with innumerable thorny vines whipping around them.


    Illusions wove around each nt as well. The majority of those illusions made the nts seem to roll or be moved by their own vines, but T was able to prate those figments sufficiently to see that they were, in fact, quite stationary.


    Adding to the chaos, there were tens of illusory versions of the woman with various weapons in hand, attacking the asteries quite effectively. When T looked closer, she saw that various nts surrounding each illusion as it moved across the battlefield acted within and along with those illusions to give them substance and actual striking power.


    As T looked on, she suddenly felt someone observing her in turn and looked back to the woman just in time to see her left hand, across all iterations, begin to move inplex patterns quite separate from the rhythm of the rest of her dance.


    The air right in front of T shimmered, and a version of the woman was suddenly standing there.


    She was quite obviously an illusion, not connected to the woman by anything but a tendril of power extended through the dimensions of magic.


    T could have dispersed it in an instant and without effort but saw no need.


    The illusion gave a shallow bow. Traveler, wee. I am Kaeti. I would appreciate it if you did not interfere. I have this threat contained and moving toward destruction, but unknown magics entering the field couldplicate that oue.


    T gave a respectful bow in return, pulling her metal back from her face so that her illusion wouldnt trigger any confusion. A battlefield was not the ce for a misunderstanding. A pleasure to meet you, Mistress Kaeti. I am T. Ie from Bandfast on personal business. Since you do not need aid, may I enter by way of that gate behind you?


    The woman smiled and nodded. I will not prevent it, though I make no promises on what the guards will require. If you are in the city long, I hope our paths cross again.


    Without waiting for a reply, the illusion vanished, and T noticed that the woman herself had ceased moving her left hand to a separate cadence.


    <em>The mastery that would require...</em>


    <em>-Not to mention the split focus. I cant imagine how long it took to perfect such mental acuity.-</em>


    <em>Yeah. We should seek her out to learn training methods, even if for no other reason. Besides, shes doing </em>something<em> with the nodules of reality, and we should see if shell let us figure out what that is.</em>


    <em>-Excellent idea, yeah.-</em>


    T carefully skirted the battlefield, re-covered in iron to prevent herself from drawing any attention from the little horde of creatures. Additionally, she suppressed her through-spike so that the projected aura wouldnt be attention grabbing either.


    Now that shed figured out what was going on outside the walls, she turned her focus to the walls themselves.


    There seemed to be more movement on the wall-walks than shed have expected, but that made some sense. After all, there was a small horde of enemies outside the gates; why not have arger guard presence, just in case.


    She looked up beyond the wall, and saw the expected city defenses, but she also saw something that she didnt expect. There was an almost blur-like effect on everything beyond the walls. She suspected that if she were to rise straight up, she wouldnt be able to see anything within the city with uracy.


    <em>They really have stepped up the defenses recently.</em>


    Even going a roundabout way, it didnt take long toe up to the heavily reinforced gatehouse, particr to waning cities.


    As she stepped inside, she allowed her through-spike the freedom to function once again. Across from her, she saw that the interior portcullis was down, effectively letting her into a confined space, without ess to the city.


    <em>They didnt drop the one behind us, so thats a good sign.</em> Even so, she pulled the metal back away from her face, as she expected to have tomunicate in order to be granted entry.


    She was proven right almost immediately as she was greeted by a voice calling from above, the sounding through the murder hole above, State your name, advancement, and reason for being here, traveler.


    The tone of the inquiry wasnt harsh, but it also wasnt overly polite. It was simply professional, a man doing his job.


    T <em>almost</em> wanted to mess with them a bit, but she quickly realized that that was a foolish notion.


    Instead, she shrugged internally. There was no reason to withhold the information. T, Refined, and to experience a waning city.


    T could hear well enough to discern that the obscurement of some sort of magic sound scrambler was enacted, reducing what should have been an easy-to-hear conversation down to a few muttered garbles.


    <em>Thats new.</em>


    <em>-Or it just wasnt used when you came through with a caravan.-</em>


    <em>Ahh, yeah, thats fair.</em>


    The voice came again. Are youing to meet with anyone, or will you be meeting with the local Archon Council regarding the dispensation of your time?


    She blinked in surprise at that, but as she considered, it made sense. An extra Refined would marginally increase the strain on the scripts and magics of the city, thereby speeding up the degradation of the city. That would be offset if she helped out, but they likely wouldnt be pleased to have her within the walls if she nned on simply kicking her feet up and wasting time.


    Even so, having the gate guard ask so tantly was surprising. Though, she supposed that it was better to be upfront as opposed to circumspect on such important topics.


    She smiled up at the source of the voice. I will be meeting with Master Grediv Gredial, at his convenience. I suspect that I will also be interacting with the council at his behest.


    There were some more obscured conversations, then the inner iron portcullis began to rise. Thank you for your time, Mistress T. Wee to Alefast.

 Chapter 322: An Immortal

    Chapter 322: An Immortal


    T walked in to the small, old city of Alefast.


    <em>Waning. Its Alefast, Waning.</em>


    <em>-When is it appropriate to add that? I know weve been thinking of it that way for a while, but is there a cultural standard?-</em>


    <em>I dont know, actually. I suppose as soon as the new city of the same name is open to be moved to?</em>


    <em>-That makes sense, but its still probably worth asking.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, fair enough.</em>


    There were fewer people around than she had expected, but a moments thought brought to mind why: A small horde of monsters was outside this gate, actively being ughtered.


    She had a moments thought that the citizenry would have fled further into the city, away from the danger, but she instantly dismissed that. People with that proclivity wouldnt be in a waning city at all.


    So, T turned around and looked up at the walls. Sure enough, there were dozensmaybe even hundredsof people trying to watch the fight beyond the wall without getting in the way of the defenders or exposing themselves overmuch.


    She felt a smile pulling at her lips.


    <em>Were a pretty crazy bunch, arent we?</em>


    <em>-Do you mean humans in general, or those who stay in waning cities specifically?- </em>t obviously knew the answer already, but like she often did, she was prompting T so that the dialogue could continue.


    <em>Both, obviously.</em> T was well aware that the alternate interface had set her up for that response, but she felt her smile stretch into a grin, nheless. She was <em>proud</em> of her people and how they approached the dangers of this world.


    -<em>Though, those people up on the wall are a bit crazy.-</em>


    <em>Oh, undoubtedly. Many monsters have area of effect or long-range attacks, and some are of types that the city defenses wouldnt instantly,pletely block.</em>


    <em>-Risk takers all around.-</em>


    t had messaged Master Grediv about Ts impending arrival, and shed added another message stating that she was within the city, near the northeastern gate, as soon as she had stepped out of the gatehouse.


    <em>-Oh! Master Grediv would like to meet us now. Apparently, theres a good ce to eat There.-</em> t highlighted something in Ts memory, and T turned around until she found it with her eyes once again.


    Standing rather near the city wallbut back far enough to once again be out of the way of any defensive effortswas a tower with windows that were toorge to be meant to be defensive.


    <em>-Its a restaurant. Theres one near every gate, and they often fill up so patrons can watch magical beasts being driven back. At least, thats what Master Grediv said. They apparently stay full with people willing to pay for a </em>chance<em> at eating while watching the battles. This battle is longer than most, it seems.-</em>


    <em>So, expect crowds.</em>


    She shifted her shoulders, retaking stock of her strength and movements. Thest thing she would want was to idently injure someone as she passed by in a crowded space.


    <em>Lets go.</em>


    Just as shed expected, the ce was busy, though there were few peopleing and going at the moment.


    The first few floors were utilized to house the lobby and kitchen.


    Initially, shed been approached by an attendant with over-the-top apologies, before it was exined that the restaurant was full up. Thankfully, when T mentioned that she was meeting Master Grediv, the harried seeming-server brightened and immediately led her to a clearly magical tform, which lifted them all the way to the top of the tower.


    As they rose, T was able to catch glimpses of the various floors, and she noticed that each was arranged with tiers so that the maximum number of tables could see out over the walls. Every table was filled at that moment.


    <em>How did we miss thisst time we were here?</em>


    <em>-Looking through your memories, I think these might have been under construction? There werent very many attacks, and there shouldnt have been enough to justify ces such as this for at least another half-decade, at least if my guess is right, but things seem to have changed.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, I think the cyclops we helped Master Grediv defeat was unusually strong for the timeframe. So, that continued?</em>


    <em>-Maybe even escted.- </em>t sent uncertainty. She was taking a guess. -<em>But the person who would know is awaiting us just above.</em>-


    T nced up as yet another floor passed, and she frowned. <em>I should have seen something this tall, this prominent from outsideoh, the defensive magics.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, obscuring clear vision of whatys beyond the walls to prevent concentrated or directed fire.-</em>


    <em>Clever.</em>


    <em>-So it seems.-</em>


    Ts head lifted above the top levels floor, and she was treated to what was clearly a far more exclusive view.


    There were a dozen tableseach with only three chairsarranged around the space. Each seat was positioned to have unobstructed views.


    The tables were filled, and by the carefully controlled auras held just outside their skin, she could see that every one of the nearly thirty people was a Refined or Paragon.


    The servers were a mix of mundane, inscribed, and Mages. The highest level server that T could easily see was Fused, and she seemed to be overseeing the others.


    Yet, even among the powerful guests, Master Grediv stood out.


    He sat at the central table, nearly right up against the ss, overlooking the wall, and it seemed like almost as much attention was on him as on the tail end of the conflict outside.


    The attendant who hade up with T led her toward the Paragon, walking a bit ahead to announce her.


    <em>I wonder what they would do if Id been lying?</em>


    <em>-Probably just let Master Grediv deal with you.-</em>


    <em>Thats huh. Yeah, thats probably true.</em>


    Master Grediv stood as the attendant spoke quietly, close to his ear, and he gave a smile and shallow bow to T. Mistress T, wee!


    T didnt nce around, but her mirrored perspectives took in the whole room.


    Every single Archon in attendance seemed to have taken note of her and of Master Gredivs reception of her.


    <em>Oh politics I suppose I should have expected that.</em> She needed to give an appropriate, measured response, Master Grediv, thank you for your wee. It is always a pleasure to see you.


    She didnt raise her voice, but she also didnt do anything to suppress it either.


    Master Grediv clearly heard the nuggets that shed put into her response and his eyes almost seemed to twinkle with mischief. It would now be clear to everyone listening that they knew each other and had interacted a fair bit before this.


    T stepped forward. May I join you?


    He motioned to the two empty chairs at the table with him. Yes, please.


    As they sat, T taking the chair on his left, Master Grediv ced his hand on a sigil inscribed into the table, which activated what seemed to be a privacy barrier around them.


    T examined the working around them, and if she understood it properly, it didnt do anything to visually obscure them, but it would prevent them from being overheard.


    That was well done.


    She shrugged and smiled. You seemed to have a purpose in making such a public wee, so I thought Id go with it.


    Well, thank you. With Rane well beyond his apprenticeship, there are opportunists circling.


    Oh?


    He shrugged. I have a good track record for having my apprentices reach at least Paragon. I cant im one hundred percent effectiveness,he grimacedbut of those who survived, all have reached Paragon, or are seemingly on their way without obstruction.


    Like Rane?


    Precisely.


    So, why would I matter to that? Im clearly not a mageling.


    He smiled. Most who try to get my help are Refined. No matter how often I tell them that by the time youre Refined its just a matter of time and thought to reach Paragon, people are impatient. He huffed augh. Which shows that they arent ready regardless, but I digress. Many also have rtives that they want tutored, if Ill consent, which I wont.


    So, if people think youre working with me, they leave you alone?


    If only. He shook his head. But it does fill their minds with questions about who you are, and why youre here, so Ill get a little reprieve. I might even be able to get some more things done while they try to figure you out.


    T felt her expression fall into a neutral one, bordering on annoyance. Are you telling me that I just signed up to be bothered, so you could get some space?


    Absolutely.


    She was not amused.


    He grinned back at her. Wee to the games of immortality. Were either fighting beasts of legend or trying to grapple with the tedium of eternity.


    That caused her to lean back. Is that


    A soft <em>ding</em> resounded around their table, and their attention was drawn to a server standing just outside the privacy screen.


    Master Grediv motioned, and the man stepped forward, entering the space with a flourishing bow. My apologies for the interruption, Mistress, Master. Is there anything that we can provide?


    Master Grediv nced to T, and she shrugged, I could eat, but I dont need anything.


    He smiled. I think you should try a few things. I am happy to facilitate such.


    Then, I ce myself in your generous hands.


    The Paragon ordered a few things for their table, and the attendant departed with quick efficiency.


    The topic had been derailed, and T found herself looking out the window, over the wall, and to thest vestiges of the battle below. This cant be that enrapturing, can it?


    Yes and no.


    Even if yes, it happens so rarely. How can this ce stay in business?


    He smiled at that. These are magical disys as much as windows. When there is no active repulsion, it shows previous shes. When the defenders fight near the other gates, these will show those conflicts as if you were in that tower instead.


    That made a lot more sense than shed assumed. Even so, people enjoy the battles that much?


    They are rather interesting to observe, yes. He shrugged. People stay in waning cities for gold and glory. Seeing such shes is a part of that. He smiled slightly. There is <em>lots</em> of betting on how long various engagements will take, what damage the terrain will sustain, and things like that. Often times, if a threat is noticed early enough, there is betting on who will fight it, sometimes even what the threat actually is, if it isnt obvious.


    That was a lot more extensive than shed considered. So, these facilities crop up in every waning city?


    Most. The southern forest cities operate differently enough that such constructions arent effective. Though, simr facilities are put together, so the effect is the same. Also, this type of service usually isnt established for another decade or so. It will be interesting to see if people get sick of the spectacle.


    T found herself frowning. Another decade?


    <em>-So, I underestimated.-</em>


    <em>Thats alright. Were learning.</em>


    Yes. At this time in the waning, we usually only have to deal with a magical beast every month or so. Here? Now? In thest six months, weve been experiencing increasingly frequent attacks. It is now not unusual for there to be one every week or so.


    That seems bad.


    He snorted. It isnt good. The levels of magic in the area dont justify the spike, so the only reasonable option is that we have an unusual number of unknown cells degrading.


    She blinked at him in confusion. What?


    He stared back at her for a long moment. You really dont know. He grimaced again and rubbed at the bridge of his nose. You havent been properly inducted as an immortal, have you


    Since I dont know what you mean, Im going to go with No.


    He sighed. Well, I suppose that makes sense. Your Refining was a bit rushed, due to your particr circumstances. You needed to go through the process quickly, and fully, so that there was time to correct any errors if the process didnt end with proper results. Blessedly, it did end well, so the extra time our haste bought was unnecessary.


    So what is this induction? Do I have to have a death-battle with someone? She chuckled nervously.


    Oh, nothing like that. More: you should have had certain information shared with you. It wasnt Mistress Hollys job to do so, so I am unsurprised that she didnt. He hesitated for a moment before nodding to himself. Now that I think about it, it usually falls to your master, or whomever she delegated the responsibility to upon her death.


    But I didnt have a master.


    Exactly.


    Ahh That was an obvious shortfall in the system. Shed slipped through the cracks, again, because shed elected to work around the need to ever have a master.


    So, Ill be brief, and we can discuss moreter. Well be joined soon, and I dont wish to exercise the level of circumspection this topic would require in his presence.


    Alright. <em>Is Rane joining us then? </em>It would be nice to see him again.


    First, many of humanitys enemies throughout our history have been too powerful to fully destroy.


    She nodded. That was my understanding. They were buried in the ground, right?


    He chuckled. Well, yes and no. Do you really think something that I couldnt kill would be kept confined for centuries by even a few miles of dirt and rock?


    She hesitated. She hadnt thought of it that way. Oh, I suppose not.


    You are right. The long and short of it is that they are stuffed into a section of reality that is stretched and pinched closed, much like a balloon. The connection point is then moved to a secret location with extra precautions put in ce to maintain containment.


    Like the ck Legion.


    His mouth thinned. Yes, though we should not discuss them, here.


    Fair enough.


    So, while the magics involved are powerful to the extreme, they arent eternal, and the seals invariably begin to fail.


    T tilted her head to the side considering. So they just break out and gue another generation of humanity?


    Not at all. There are generally warning systems in ce that help us find the entrances. We can assess the threat contained at that point. In some cases, we decide that we can now permanently deal with the issue. So, we open the prison and destroy the contained threat. Though, to be fair, that is very rarely the case.


    What about in most cases, then?


    We add their location and magics to a regr rotation of maintenance. It is never <em>quite</em> as secure, which is why we monitor it more closely going forward.


    Why not do that from the start?


    He gave her a sad smile. Well, as much as wed hope that humanity is united, often, there are those insane or selfish enough to align with some of these threats. So, if their location was easy to discover, they might be set free by sympathizers.


    T found herself nodding. But this way, by the time the prison entrance resurfaces, no one really remembers them, so they are just a threat that no one has an established interest in freeing.


    Precisely. It isnt a perfect system, but its better than others weve tried.


    So, how many of these are there?


    How many are there? I have no idea. How many have degraded to the point that we have to maintain them? A few thousand.


    T felt herself pale. A few thousand?


    Thats right.


    There are a few thousand existential threats to humanity, that no one, not even Master Xeel, is capable of dealing with permanently?


    Master Grediv held up a finger. That we are aware of.


    T felt like she was going to be sick.


    That, of course, is precisely when the food arrived, preceded only by a familiar <em>ding</em>.


    It took a bit for the food to be situated and the two Archons to sample the fare Master Grediv had ordered.


    Each dish was delicious in its own right, and T was soon d for his offer of providing the selection.


    Once theyd settled down a bit and their eating had slowed, T brought the topic back up, So, the prisons degrade. Why does that lead to more magical beasts at a waning?


    Well, it affects the integrity of reality, and that is the greatest driver for magical creature aggression. Unfortunately, due to the nature of the prisons, the best beacons we have for knowing when one is degrading are much like scratches in reality, pointing the way to the prison in need of maintenance.


    That sounds damaging.


    Oh, decidedly. It is fixable, though, and impossible to obscure, so theres no fear of us missing one. That would be <em>far</em> worse.


    So, there are a few around?


    Hmmm? Oh there are some three hundred known in the area that we are maintaining, and we suspect at least that many again that are still well contained.


    She cleared her throat, still unable to truly grasp the scale that that entailed. Even so, she pressed on. So? Where are they? How can we start patching them up?


    Oh, I understand. No, none have degraded sufficiently to be findable yet. We expect them to reach that stage within the next few years. Our resident expert guesses that well add at least twenty to the maintenance list this cycle. Though, well also have to do maintenance on another hundred or so before the waning isplete. Busy times all around.


    T thought for a long moment, then felt herself nodding. This is one of the purposes of the waning, one of the reasons we allow cities to go this far.


    Well, yes. There are many, <em>many</em> benefits to be extracted from a city around the waning, but stress-testing the areas prisons before we leave them unattended for a few centuries is one critical piece.


    Fascinating. Would there be a use for me in all of this?


    Oh, absolutely. But we will have to discuss thatter. A soft <em>ding </em>announced someone outside the privacy barrier. Our third has arrived. WhileI hadnt <em>really</em> intended for you to be here for this meal, you made excellent time, and I didnt want to keep you waiting.


    T turned to see an attendant patiently waiting beside a man a few years older than herself in appearance. He was also familiar as shed seen him twice before.


    The privacy barrier was dropped, and T was filled with conflicting emotions as they were joined by Furgal, Ranes older brother.

 Chapter 323: Your Own Path

    Chapter 323: Your Own Path


    T turned to regard the man joining Master Grediv and herself.


    Furgal, for his part, bowed to each of them. Honored Ancestor, Archon.


    She felt her cheek twitch. Honored was the correct arcane address for someone of Master Gredivs advancement. <em>Calm down, T. Its just a coincidence. Master Grediv is this mans ancestor, and he is quite honored in this city.</em>


    <em>-Wait, he just called you Archon. Does he not remember you?-</em>


    T had missed that, distracted as she was by the honorific that Furgal had given Master Grediv.


    Master Grediv, for his part, simply motioned to the empty chair on his other side, across the table from T. Sit, sit, boy. You missed the battle, but they will likely show it again soon enough.


    She pulled herself together and gave the barest of nods, Furgal.


    Furgal smiled broadly as he took the seat across from her. You know me? Now I am the honored one.


    Heughed at his own joke as T fought to keep herself from rolling her eyes. <em>Yeah it was just a coincidence.. </em>Yes, we met before.


    He shook his head with what seemed to be mock severity. That cannot be. I would have remembered one such as you.


    She blinked a few times. <em>That is an oddly flowery way to call someone a liar.</em> I was a guest of Master Grediv and Rane a mere few months back.


    He opened his mouth to respond, then seemed to freeze in ce, his mind clearly having found her as he tried to recall. His jaw tightened, and he forced an obvioulsy false smile into ce across his features. I see. You are an acquaintance of my brother. I believe I do remember you now, yes.


    She had made her stance on Rane clear with the habitualck of his honorific. <em>Right.</em>


    In the end, it didnt matter much, and what was done, was done.


    The younger man took in the food on the table, clearly trying to gather himself after the unexpected unpleasant nature of the memory of their previous meetings.


    The dishes that Master Grediv ordered hade onrge serving trays, so that each person could take what they wanted onto their own, personal tes. There was still food on the main tes, but Furgal seemed hesitant. He nced to Master Grediv, and the older man sighed, Eat, eat. The food is there for that purpose.


    The young man gave a careful nod, seeming to be back in control of himself. Thank you, master, Grediv.


    The older man gave his descendant a harsh look, seemingly having heard something that displeased him in the boys cadence and tone.


    Furgal bowed his headjust as clearly having noticed the displeasureand began taking a sampling of the various dishes. My apologies, Master Grediv.


    Better. The Paragon straightened. Now, the tenor of this discussion must change with Mistress Ts presence here, but I will not shy away from what must be said.


    Furgal sat up straighter, his face brightening. So, youve decided?


    I have.


    Even T could see the excitement in Furgal, and the obvious, weary frustration in Master Grediv.


    The window beside her flickered to her magesight, momentarily distracting her from the awkward family dynamics.


    The view outward was suddenly altered to show an earlier time in the day, seemingly just before the sh between Mistress Kaeti and the asteries.


    Even so, before she could get too engrossed, Furgal spoke up, drawing her attention back to her tablemates.


    Furgal had taken a quick drink, and now his smile widened. Master Grediv was about to speak, but the younger man preempted him, Im so d. I will be the best apprentice that you have ever taken on.


    Master Grediv looked to the ceilingin what was a clear bid to draw patience from the heavensand shook his head. No, Furgal, you wont.


    The young man hesitated, then his expression turned solemn. Of course, you are correct. I must strive for humility.


    <em>Is is he serious?</em>


    <em>-I think so.-</em>


    <em>Im not that unobservant, am I?</em>


    <em>-I dont think it is ack of observance. I think it is a level of entitled ego that we arent used to seeing outside of arcanes.-</em>


    <em>Great</em>


    Furgal. You are not going to be my apprentice.


    Furgal tilted his head to one side, his expression darkening. I see.


    Im d. Master Grediv took another bite of the food on his own te.


    You wish for me to prove myself to you more fully, before you make the right decision.


    Master Grediv mmed his hand down with such force that the table <em>should </em>have shattered. Instead, a flick of magic from the Paragon alsonced out and reinforced the table at the moment of impact.


    Even so, the resulting sound was more like the striking of a war-drum than a simple rap on wood.


    The items on the table leapt about, but again, Master Gredivs power flowed outward, this time across the food and drink, ensuring everythingnded in a contained manner.


    It was a show of precision and control that T could hardly fathom, even knowing that Master Grediv had <em>some</em> form of magic that could be stretched to cover such things. <em>Its probably worth asking him about.</em>


    <em>-And people do have magics outside of their fundamental understanding, like your healing.-</em>


    <em>Though, thats not so far outside anymore.</em>


    <em>-True enough.-</em>


    Ts mirrored perspectives easily saw every eye in the ce, mundane and Mage alike, turn toward their table.


    Master Grediv waited a bare moment, until the echoes of his strike and those of the repercussions had faded. When he spoke, his voicecked all mirth even as it was filled with harsh certainty, No, Furgal. I was attempting to be soft in my words, in consideration for ourpany, but I see now that that was a mistake. Let me be clear: You will never be my apprentice. What little talent you had is continually being squandered on the altar of your ego. Your one chance is to forge your own path through <em>hardship</em> and adversity. You cant do that here. The difficulties of a waning city, for Mages, are beyond you. Youd be dead at your first attempt. Go somewhere that you arent known. Go live a life of want, and strive to make something of yourself, because you wont do it here.


    Furgal sat back in stunned silence, color obviously rising across his face.


    T, for her part, was doing her best to be inconspicuous. It was only then that T noticed something important, something that should already have been obvious: the privacy barrier hadnt ever been put back up upon Furgals arrival.


    <em>Thats why hes doing this here. Hes making a public statement that Furgal isnt, and never will be, his apprentice.</em>


    <em>-As a descendant of Master Grediv, if Furgal had imed otherwise, he likely would have been believed. Still, things must have gotten fairly bad for Master Grediv to be forced to this point.-</em>


    <em>Clearly.</em>


    Finally, the young man opposite T seemed to gather himself back together.


    He gave a slow nod.


    Though his face couldnt hide his unmitigated rage, his voice was surprisingly level, only containing the barest trembles of anger, Thank you, Honored Ancestor. I understand now.


    Master Grediv looked incredibly skeptical.


    From the slight twitches in Furgals movements, he likely suspected that theyd be a spectacle even though he didnt look around. May I know who, more worthy than I, you have chosen?


    You already know that answer. Master Gredivs voice was almost entirely filled with weariness.


    Furgal turned his eyes on T, and there was barely contained anger within them. I see.


    No, no you dont. Rane was my apprentice in ce of you, almost twelve years ago. Since that choice, you have never been considered. You have also never improved, simply falling further and further behind. As I said, you need to get away from here. Forge your own path, Furgal, before that option is gone.


    He looked back toward his ancestor, his jaw set. Before its gone? Who would dare stop me? What barrier could possibly prevent me from forging a path ahead?


    Master Grediv leaned forward. Time, you fool boy. Time waits for no man, Mage or mundane. You are wasting what little you have, chasing an avenue thats been closed to you for nearly a dozen years.


    Furgal leaned back, and his forced smile was gone.


    T looked to Master Grediv. She spoke softly, hoping her words wouldnt carry too far, We can meetter, Master Grediv. I did not mean to impose upon your family business.


    The Paragon held up a hand. Absolutely not. I asked you here upon your arrival, and this matter is closed. Furgal has two choices before him in this moment, and in either case, the conversation moving forward will be less heated.


    The young man stood up, his chair scraping loudly backwards. Do not dismiss me, ancestor.


    Master Grediv turned to him. How have I dismissed you, Furgal? I have met with you countless times on this exact topic, and yet you have never asked my advice on improving yourself. All that you have done is demand a title and a privilege that you have never earned.


    Furgals mouth opened, his fury clearly about to get the better of him, but Master Grediv held up his hand once more; this time, the air before the young mans mouth seemed to tremble with power, and no sound came out.


    I have told our guest that this discussion is done, and so it is. You are like the beggar who demands money, when a job is freely avable. You are the thief who attempts to steal from a soup kitchen. You pursue folly when there are open doors for you. You have forced my hand. Be gone. Do not force me to remove you, myself.


    Furgals mouth audibly clicked shut as the magics blocking his voice vanished. He stiffly bowed once toward the table, spun on his heel and stalked outward.


    T shifted ufortably and spoke softly to herself without thought. Rust me, Im d thats over.


    Master Grediv muttered to himself, likely in response, and T was barely able to catch it, I somehow doubt that it is.


    He reactivated the privacy barrier without even looking after his descendant, instead, turning to T. My apologies, Mistress T. That was both more forceful and more eye-catching than I had nned. I suppose my underestimations of the required bluntness with Furgal have been precisely the problem.


    He does seem T cleared her throat. After a long moment, she simply frowned, taking another bite of food. She couldnt decide on exactly the right word.


    Master Grediv sighed, taking a sip of his own drink. Entitled is likely a good descriptor.


    She shrugged. It seems like much more than just that, but its probably in the right direction.


    He grunted, shaking his head, Regardless, that is neither here nor there. I apologize. I did not intend to invite you here to spring my descendants failings on you. Will you forgive my error?


    Of course.


    Thank you. Now, let us discuss something else.


    T looked out the window at the false view presented. It was interesting to be able to see Mistress Kaeti setting up her nts and illusions. Her dance looked very different at this beginning stage, showing just how sophisticated her method of activation was.


    Not that T had doubted given the distinct illusion the woman had created to speak with T, while maintaining full engagement in the fray.


    Distracting conflict aside, there were dozens of things she wanted to discuss with Master Grediv. So Do you mind if I ask you some questions?


    He nced her way and smiled. By all means. But first, what are your ns in Alefast, after this?


    I didnt actually have any yet. I figured that wed talk, and youd have some advice in that regard.


    He nodded. I see. My rmendation is to get you plugged into a defensive unit, and through them, you will get tasks and continued training.


    Oh? Is that what Rane is doing?


    He huffed augh. No, dear girl. Hes only Fused. Such responsibilities are not granted to him, nor will they be until he Refines.


    She frowned. Granted?


    Absolutely. Responsibility is a gift, Mistress T.


    I dont necessarily disagree, but Im not sure I understand exactly what you mean.


    Which would you prefer, a life of ease, where everything is provided for you? Or one where you can aplish work that helps others, which provides you with a good life?


    T instantly knew which answer he wanted to hear. She also instantly knew which answer seemed preferable on the surface.


    Therefore, instead of answering instantly, she took a moment for thought.


    Effectively, the time that shed spent recovering had been exactly the first option. Nothing had really been expected of her, and she had the resources to continue a rather plush existence.


    She had <em>hated</em> the monotony of it.


    When she wasnt allowed to train, she had wandered the streets and desperately searched for other things to do.


    She had enjoyed her time with her friends, so it might be possible that a life of luxury with those she cared for would be the ultimate preference, but that didnt feel right either.


    She frowned.


    She could have simply sat around and yed tafl with Rane, gone to ys, and eaten good food.


    No one would have forced her to do otherwise. In fact, she had been encouraged in exactly that direction.


    But what had she done instead?


    She had tried to help. She had longed to spar and test herself. She had wanted a challenge.


    She had her answer. Meaningful work that helps others and provides a good life.


    Master Grediv smiled. You show wisdom in that answer, more so in taking the time to properly consider it. So, if meaningful work that helps others is your preference, is it not a privilege?


    She opened her mouth to respond, but then closed it slowly.


    He waved a hand, indicating that he had more to add, Obviously, there is more to do than can be done, but for those capable of defending humanity, there are only so many tasks that they can do that are meaningful.


    She frowned slightly. Please exin.


    His smile widened. If I told you to hold up that spoon and doing so would save one person for every 24 hrs that you did so, what would you say?


    She picked up the spoon and smiled. Lets save people?


    He chuckled. Generous of you, but what if you werent allowed to move for it to count?


    She frowned. I mean, if I put it down, arent I letting someone die?


    Maybe, but others can hold the spoon, and thats all that they are capable of.


    Ahh, then, I would want to do something that could help more than one person per day. After all, I am capable of more.


    Precisely. We are speaking in sweeping generalities, and wandering all over this very wide-ranging topic, but that is the crux of it. In order to be engaged, to feel like we are doing good, and to be truly motivated to live and continue, we need tasks that help others, provide what we need, and <em>challenge </em>us. At the very least, they need to push us in some way or other.


    T found herself nodding, remembering once again her time in recuperation, Otherwise, we will struggle with ourselves.


    Its worse than that, Mistress. Without purpose, without something to strive for, we die. It is usually a slow death of growing apathy, but we die all the same.


    She took a moment to process that. Finally, she nodded once again. And our purpose is to protect humanity during the waning.


    He shook his head. That is an end goal and a good one, but it is too finite. We are immortals, Mistress T. Any finite task, no matter how grand, is but a temporary distraction. To liveto thrivewe need an infinite goal, an infinite vision.


    And what is yours? Im not sure I quite understand, so the example might help.


    My infinite goal, my vision, is to ensure humanity thrives, to the best of my ability, for as long as I draw breath.


    I see She tilted her head to the side, thinking. It is something that will never be aplished, but in the end, you can look back and see if you were true to it?


    In a sense, yes.


    Huh So, I should strive for that, helping humanity thrive as best as I am able? Follow that vision?


    Oh, bless the stars, no. If you try to strive for my vision, youll be miserable. Seek your own path.


    She gave a wry smile. Like you told Furgal?


    Yes. He nodded unabashedly. Precisely the same. Just because I wont let him be my apprentice doesnt mean I would give him bad advice.


    I suppose not. That did make sense. Master Grediv hadnt shown any true malice toward the younger man. Seek my own path, eh?


    Precisely. His smile returned.


    So, you think I can find my path with a defensive unit, here in Alefast?


    I think you might begin to find insights in suchpany, attending to such tasks.


    Well, then. That sounds like a good ce to start.


    He took another drink, leaning back once more. Now, I derailed us by quite a bit. What did you want to ask me?


    <em>Right! Theres a lot, isnt there?</em>


    <em>-Oh, yes.-</em>

 Chapter 324: Companions for the Waning

    Chapter 324: Companions for the Waning


    T really did have so many questions for Master Grediv that it was hard to pick. With that in mind, even though she was tempted to be distracted by the reying of Mistress Kaetis battle with the magical horde, she kept her focus.


    Well, lets start with a simple one: Is there anything else that my master would have told me, if I had one?


    Master Grediv nodded. That is an excellent question. While sometimes the mageling surpasses the master, and in those cases, others are brought in, it ismon for a master to impart certain things before Refining.


    T didnt interrupt, instead taking the opportunity to eat some more of the rather tasty food.


    If Im going to be honest, you had this stolen from you. You should have had immortality exined to you before you made the choice to be Refined, but that option was taken when your body began to degrade. Even so, I will endeavor to tell you what would have been said if you were in more normal circumstances: Just like responsibility is a privilegecounter to many of our younger generations understandingimmortality can be a curse, and one to only be chosen with open eyes.


    She tilted her head slightly to the side, showing her interest and attention without interrupting.


    Assuming you arent killedand that doesnt really factor in because you would be more easily killed as a Fused than a Refinedyou will live to see the turning of centuries. Acquaintances will grow old and die, your descendants will do the same.


    If you are entirely unlucky, your spouse will not be among the Refined, and you will have to watch your soul-partner, your bound-mate grow old and be frail. The very nature of the bond would extend their life well into an inhuman span even if they werent a mage to begin with, but they would nevercould neverbe immortal. While tears did not grow in his eyes that she could see, T did see what could only be described as soul-deep sadness settle over Master Gredivs features.


    It didnt take a genius to understand the implication. His wife had been among those to never Refine.


    The world seems bright and new to someone of your age,he gave her a wry smile, only slightly masking his obviously more powerful emotionsyou more than most. If the young consider the passage of years at all, it is most likely that they are seen simply as the time that needs to pass in order for certain things to be allowed or aplished: a threshold of years required before you can go explore the world, have adventures, learn new things, and so on.


    T nodded. She had <em>some</em> deeper considerations on the passage of years, but she knew that her perspective was still that of a young woman, even though she also knew that her experiences had made her more contemtive than her contemporaries. She simply didnt have a good measure of the passage of time.


    <em>A few years seems like </em>sooo long.


    -<em>And yet were about to sign up for more than two decades tied to one city.-</em>


    <em>Loosely tied. Welle and go.</em>


    <em>-Thats fair, but still, its amitment for basically as long as weve been alive.-</em>


    To be an immortal among mortals is to walk a narrow path. If we dont care about those around us, it is easy to be like the arcane City Lords, using those below them for what little they can provide and otherwise ignoring the rabble. If we care too much? It crushes us. I have seen too many of our brothers and sisters of rank walk the road of depression and despondency. Its something that can be worked throughand is by far the better of the two extremesbut it is still no small thing.


    There was a long pause, which T took as an indication that he was done for the moment. That was a lot. There was nothing really unexpected if Id thought about it though.


    It wasnt meant to be groundbreaking, simply something that should have been presented before you joined the ranks of immortals. In your case, as I said before, you didnt really have much choice. It was either die far too early or be immortal. So, hearing it now is expected.


    She nodded. I appreciate having itid out there by someone who knows.she hesitated for only an instant before continuing.Is it worth it?


    He gave her a long look. Yes and no. His smile was sad this time. I miss those whom I have lost more than I can ever express. My enhanced mind recalls them perfectly, to the point that I still expect to wake up beside her, or hear them running through the halls on little feet, even though Ive long since left behind the homes in which either happened.


    If I can ask, why allow marriage between those more advanced than Refined and those below, then?


    He gave her a sharp, reproving look. Aside from the fact that <em>we </em>married well before I advancedvirtually no one sets as insane a pace as you, Mistress TI would not trade my marriage with her for <em>anything.</em> She was not perfect, but she was perfect for me. He gave a wistful smile. It made sense that being imperfect myself, I needed someone else who was differently imperfect to make a matching set.


    There was a long silence, then, one in which Master Grediv was clearly lost in memory. T had no desire to interrupt him, and so she let the silence settle.


    Even so, he wasnt lost for too long. Soon enough, he sighed and looked her way once again. What else can I answer for you?


    Did you ever remarry?


    He blinked at that. Ahh, not ready to move on, topic wise? Understandable, I suppose. I didnt, though I came close on several asions. He huffed augh. Hanae even tried to make me swear to find someone after she passed, but I refused, and I am d that I did. I have found myself content with thepanionship of peers as we defend and lift up the next generations.


    There was something in the mans face and eyes that spoke to a deep-seated peace along with a truth to the statements. Thank you for being so open.


    I am happy to oblige. Now, we should probably head toward the defensive units, but we can talk on the way.


    Whatever you rmend.


    They stood and left the restaurant, Master Grediv waving or giving nods of acknowledgement to a few of those that they passed on the way out.


    Now that there wasnt a spectacle outside the walls to draw attention, the streets were about as crowded as T would have expected in Alefast, Waning. <em>Oh, yeah. </em>Thats a question.


    Hmm? Master Grediv nced her way.


    When do we say Alefast, Waning versus just Alefast?


    That is an interesting question, and one that many people have fun debating. He stretched slightly, nodded, and continued, Generally, its agreed that if the next city of the same name has a poption beyond just that of the Builders Guild, and you are equidistant from the cities, or closer to the new one, then the distinction is required.


    Thats obvious?


    Of course, thats why its agreed to. The Caravanners generally dont bother with Waning, because all their routes simply connect to neighboring cities, and no city ever neighbors both the waning city and the new one of the same name. Thus, for their purposes its rather obvious which they mean.


    That also makes sense, yeah.


    When in the city, and referring to it, the waning is generally considered redundant. Such as, Mistress T, while in Alefast, you should take in the sights.


    I can see that. Saying Waning in that sentence would be quite unnecessary.


    Beyond that? There can be arguments to either side, and its up to you. He gave a slight smile. That probably isnt as helpful as youd hoped.


    T shrugged. It makes sense. Beyond that, it probably doesnt matter.


    He smiled. Then, I am d to have been able to answer.


    She nodded even as she changed the subject, You said that you had a few ideas for me to train with?


    I do, but they will be better described when you can try them, such as in a training arena rather than as we walk through the city.


    Thats understandable. The problem was, most of the things that she could ask shouldnt be discussed in public, or were more questions on training.


    Master Grediv had demonstrated the ability to make a mobile privacy field, but it wasnt like this was the only time shed be able to ask him questions, and there were plenty of other things to ask.


    She bit her lip in thought for a moment before shrugging to herself. What can you tell me about the defensive units?


    Wise to ask, given where we are headed. Basically, Alefast has sixteen units ofbat oriented Refined. They are each in charge of an eighth of the citys circumference on a staggered, rotating basis. Generally speaking, they have additional rotations with the unit, during their time because its not until very near the end of a waning that even half the Refined will be needed for defense at the same time.


    Alright.


    Beyond that, when we detect things beyond the walls that need to be dealt with<strong></strong>


    Like the cells? T interjected, trying to ensure that she understood what he meant.


    Yes, like the cells. When something like that is detected, the units take turns investigating it. Once again, generally, they have a few members who are better suited to such actions, and so they are sent where others are more likely to remain behind.


    That sounds reasonable.


    Im d you approve. He gave her a humorous smile.


    Thats not what I meant.


    Oh, I know. In the end, though, wevee to this system because it allows for powerful defense of the city without wearing anyone too thin. Your unit will test your abilities and utilize you as they believe will be best.


    So, which one will I be under? Do they have fun names? Can I be part of the honey badger unit?


    What? He frowned. No, they dont go by animal names. Does it matter?


    I suppose I dont care, but it would have been neat if they did.


    Alright, then. As to which youll be in, there are some that are down a member or two, and we can see which one wants you.


    Down members? Did people die? She frowned. That didnt make much sense; the waning had only just begun.


    No, no. But people tend to group up with those who they know, and that is rarely precisely equally divisible.


    Ahh, so by down you mean that they have less than the others?


    Precisely so.


    The two of them continued to chat as they passed through Alefast. The walk had taken incredibly little time, given that the city was onlyposed of the central ring in these final years.


    Master Grediv led them to an entrance that was so reminiscent of the Bandfast Archon Compound, T immediately guessed that it was the same for this city.


    Sure enough, the entry hall was the same, as well as the main hall inside.


    Master Grediv greeted those sitting within the circr desk in the center of the room, and led T to the side, where arge staircase headed downward.


    Thinking back, Bandfast had the same stairs in their Archonpound, but shed never had asion to go that way.


    T nced at her Paragon guide, From context, I will guess that there are training facilities and something rting to the defensive units down this way?


    Precisely so. Training arenas up in the city are sufficient for quite strong magicseven Fused can use them with rtively little dangerbut in the reaches of Refined and above? We need <em>powerful </em>magics to fully surround the sparring spaces to ensure there isnt spillover or coteral damage.


    That made a lot of sense, and she felt herself getting excited to fight against those wielding magics that required such containment. The fact that they were continuing down so far also indicated a level of separation that made her excited.


    For the less resilient and non-healing focused, there are healers based in this area as well. As this is the central dispatch point for the city, our crisis response Archons of all capabilities are based out of this wing of the Archonpound.


    That stood to reason, too.


    The stairs and following hallway were quite wide, easilyrge enough for eight people to walkfortably side by side. In fact, the structure of this whole ce meant that the greatest chokepoint on traffic was the outside entrance to the Archon Compound.


    When T pointed this out and asked why that was, Master Grediv gave her a longer nce. That was well observed. We have other entrances and exits that arerger, for use at need, but for that same reason, we dont advertise their location to most. We also have other ways to move about the city, but that will be discussedter.


    I suppose I can understand that.


    Ahh, here we are. He stopped before arge set of nondescript doors, continuing to speak as he pushed them open, I alerted the unit leaders that I was bringing in a new Refined for assignment. Well see just


    He trailed off as the doors swung wide, revealing a space asrge as a city park with a ceiling nearly fifty feet high.


    The ground was some sort of unnatural materialorposite of natural materialsand it looked <em>much</em> superior to sand in every way.


    But as spectacr as the training arena was, that probably wasnt what had stopped Master Grediv mid-sentence.


    His next sentence, muttered under his breath, proved T correct in her assumption, I told them toe alone, and only if they needed more members


    Within the arena waited at least fifty Refined, all gathered into various groups, though there were Archons who seemed to be floating between, and none seemed to be <em>too</em> istionist. Additionally, all were gathered near the close end of therge space.


    There were tables overloaded with food ced against one wall and another with drinks of various kinds.


    Almost immediately upon the doors fully opening, a hush ran through the room, and everyone turned to look toward T and Master Grediv.


    One of the closer Refined had clearly heard Master Gredivs mumblings, because a wide grin spread across her face. Well, Master Grediv, you said it was an official function and to use our discretion. Therefore, we acquired food and drink and invited our teams, if they were avable and wanted toe.


    A familiar figure walked up beside that woman and ced a hand on her shoulder before speaking. Besides, I told them all that Mistress T was a <em>very </em>interesting one, who was decidedly worth meeting.


    T found herself smiling in return. Mistress Kaeti, it is a pleasure to see you again.


    And you. I am d that our paths have crossed again so soon.


    As am I. T strode forward a few steps. I wanted to pick your brain on various training methods. Is now a good time?


    Mistress Kaeti held up a hand. If thats what you really want to talk about, we can find a ce to do so, but I think that Master Grediv would be even more cross with us if I stole you away before the matter of your position could be addressed.


    Master Gredivs eye was twitching as he gave a slow nod, Yes, I would indeed.


    The dancer grinned. There you have it. Lets get you a unit, have you meet the others, and find somewhere to talk training. You dont look like a dancer, so Ill be interested to learn what caught your eye.


    Master Grediv pped his hands once, unnecessarily, to gather everyones attention. Greetings everyone.he briefly rubbed his temples before continuingThis is Mistress T. She will be joining us for


    T stepped forward as he nced her way, infusing a small amount of power into her vocal cords and lungs so that the sound would carry without needing extra volume. At the moment, I n on being based out of Alefast for the remainder of the waning. I do n on taking several excursions and other trips during that time, however.


    Master Grediv nodded. The same as with most of you, then. Will the unit leaders who are in need of another membere forward.


    A voice floated from the back of the crowd, What can she do?


    Another called out. Why does her name sound familiar?


    Did shee alone?


    Everyone turned to look at thest man who had called out.


    He shrugged. What? My team only has room for one. Id hate to force her to split from her partner or those shes used to working with.


    Master Grediv turned to T and motioned for her to answer the questions that she wished to, even as most of the eyes turned back in her direction.


    <em>Yeah, Im not dignifying the are you single question with a response. Ill introduce them to Terry a bitter.</em>


    That in mind, T shrugged. While I cannot guess exactly how you know my namegiven that I am far from the only one who bears itI will say that I recently returned from the arcanends, and you might have heard of me in that context.


    That sent ripples through the gathered Refined.


    As to what I can do? She hesitated. <em>I actually dont have a good way of defining what I can do</em>


    <em>-Rust, T Fine, let me help you.-</em>


    T nodded to herself and then said what t provided. I am incredibly durable, I self-heal, and I can reliably take down any target of Paragon level or below, provided it isnt an awful match, and Im not under extreme limitations.


    A man off to one side smiled wryly as he called back. Thats not as helpful as you might think, Mistress. He means what types of magic do you wield. Well want to see you in action to judge your capacities and capabilities with themter.


    She nodded. Ahh, thank you. I use, to some extent or other, and in no particr order: Restoration, dissolution, self-enhancement, dimensional maniption, gravity,she hesitated, ncing at Master Grediv, but he simply shrugged, then nodded. It was up to her, so she continuedvoid, and iron.


    Every Refined seemed to freeze in ce before their eyes moved, almost as one, toward Master Grediv.


    Before anyone else could speak, the man who had rified for T already spoke up. He, almost alone among the Refined, hadnt had a strong reaction. Don''t be daft. She said iron, people, not reality. Pay attention. Master Grediv wouldnt let a reality Refined exist, let alone bring them down here and present them to us.


    It took a moment, but a ripple of releasing tension flowed through the room, followed by muttering voices.


    Master Grediv smiled and nodded. Thank you for cutting through the confusion so cleanly, Master Clevnis.


    The man grinned in return. Its what I do.


    With that settled, lets get to the matter at hand. Unit leaders with vacancies, please step forward.


    T watched as the crowd shifted to let a few men and womene forward, including Master Clevnis with a woman beside him.


    It was time for T to find herpanions for the waning.

 Chapter 325: Dissolution Breath

    Chapter 325: Dissolution Breath


    T watched as three groups of Refined and one lone man walked forward out of the milling group of their peers.


    Their sandaled feet didnt make much noise at all on the odd material of the training arena below the Alefast Archon Compound.


    One group was Master Clevnis and the woman with him. They were both d in traditional Mages robes inplementing colors, him in solid ck with silver highlights, her in deep, sapphire blue with simr, seemingly decorative metal threading.


    It was seemingly because while T couldnt determine any spellforms in the metallic patterns, she wasnt familiar enough with cloth as a medium to know for sure. Some mediums required inscriptions of entirely alien construction, after all.


    They smiled toward T and gave a polite bow as befitting toward an equal. As was said before, I am Clevnis.


    And I am Cerna.


    Good to meet you two. She smiled as she bowed in return.


    The next toe forward was the lone man. He was shorter than her and had an odd weapon strapped to his back. It looked like a fusion between a double-ded axe head and arge round shield.


    He gave a simr bow. I am Akra. Master Jevin has spoken highly of you, Mistress T.


    T blinked in surprise as she gave a mirrored bow. You know Master Jevin?


    Master Akra chuckled. Well, to be fair most do at our advancement, but he was my master, way back when, and weve kept in touch.


    Mistress Cerna sighed before giving Master Akra a side-eyed nce. Already trying to sway her decision?


    He shrugged in return. Speak the truth, and the best oues possible wille your way.


    She huffed augh but didnt reply.


    T simply smiled. Well, good to meet you, Master Akra.


    The third group to approach was a groupposed of two women, walking side by side, identical in appearance and clearly twins. They leaned into that fact, wearing clothing bifurcated in the middle, each half a different color, each mirroring the other in Mages robes of red and green.


    They bowed as one, speaking together until they reached their names, We are


    Cu.


    Caraid.


    T bowed in return. Well met.


    Mistress Caraid spoke alone after that, Are we remembering correctly, that you are the Archon to trigger our internal defenses by bringing an arcane into our city?


    T blinked a few times, thinking back. Oh! The bull man?


    Indeed.


    She grinned sheepishly. Well yeah, but that was an ident.


    A voice sounded from somewhere in the crowd of watching Refined. Shes the bull wrangler? I thought she was supposed to be Fused.


    T shrugged. I advanced?


    That seemed to satisfy them for the moment.


    <em>Bull wrangler?</em> She didnt know how she felt about that.


    -<em>It is a surprisingly apt title for you.-</em>


    <em>Dont you dare do anything to make it stick.</em>


    Finally, a woman came forward, a man walking just behind her on her left. They also wore more traditional Mages robes, hers of deep purple, his of green and orange.


    I am Deigh. She gave a cursory bow and motioned to the man. This is my husband Doitean.


    And that was it. It seemed that there were four defensive units in the position of needing another Refined.


    The man who had asked if shede alone hadnt stepped forward, so T thought that these might only be those who were also interested in possibly adding her to their number, specifically.


    Master Grediv smiled and took over for a moment. Well, at this point I had intended there to be some dialogue and discussion. What I <em>hadnt</em> nned onhe gave a mild re to the assembled Refinedwas an audience to the process.


    T cleared her throat. Well, since we <em>are</em> having a party, I do need to bring my partner out to say hi.


    He frowned her way, but she didnt pay him any mind.


    She pulled open Kit and called down into it, Terry! Friendsnot foodout here to meet you.


    With a flicker, Terry appeared on her shoulder, carefully looking around at the room full of powerful humans. His eyes widened slightly, and he hunkered down with a soft squawk.


    Another ripple of mutters went through the gathered Refined.


    Master Akra frowned, clearing his throat. Youve tamed a dimensional terror bird?


    <em>How did he identify his magic type? Oh right, he just flickered out. That makes it rather obvious.</em> Not tamed, were partners, flock-mates.


    She looked over to Terry and smiled.


    If Im on a team, so is he.


    Master Grediv cleared his throat. As Terry is not of a Refined level, he will be considered as an essory member of any defensive unit that T joins.


    When she gave him a questioning nce, he leaned slightly closer and exined. Such as a less advanced spouse, mageling, or other person of note who could participate, but who was not Refined.


    Ahh. She nodded and nced at Terry. Does that work for you, Terry?


    He tilted his head to one side and cheeped before ruffling his feathers briefly.


    Right, why would you care what they ssify you as? She chuckled and scratched the back of his head and neck.


    Mistresses Cu and Caraid nced at one another before bowing toward T. Cu spoke for them both. While we have nothing against arcanous or magical creatures not hostile to us, our unit would not work well with one among us. We did not realize that the terror bird in the bullman story was a partner, or we would have already withdrawn. Best of luck to you.


    T gave a nod back. Thank you for the honesty. Best of luck to you as well.


    They turned and rejoined the others who were still watching.


    So She nced to Master Grediv. How do I choose? Or do they choose? Or you?


    He grinned. Oh, Mistress T, theyre going to want to see you fight. Then, well all discuss together and try to put you in a team where your style and capabilities fit.


    T frowned as she looked around. In front of all these people?


    Master Grediv shrugged. We can kick them out if you wish, but youll likely fight near or even beside many of these Archons in theing years. Unless something goes very sideways, you shouldnt need to fight against any of them, however, so secrets in ability arent really necessary.


    That did make sense. Thinking back on it, shed never really encountered an Archon who hid their magics, and she didnt usually do so either. Shed just never been so overt with it. Many hid other aspects, such as exactly what their bonds were, or things like that, but not their magics.


    Eskau, though? They hid almost everything about what they could do as a matter of course, only pulling out tricks and secrets when required.


    Alright.


    Mistress Deigh smiled before she spoke. What areas do you wish to demonstrate your ability to your potential future teams?


    T thought for a moment. Martialbat, using no external magics save weaponry; dissolution; healing might be better to just describe to save on resources and time; wide areas of effect; and precision strikes at range would probably be useful.


    The listening Refined seemed to take her at her word. Someone near the middle called out, Master Cruinneas would be a good person to test her martial prowess.


    There were mutterings of approval.


    A man off to the side, currently standing at one of the food tables let out a muffled response, clearly around a mouthful of food.


    As all eyes turned to him, he took a drink from his cup and tried again, Fine. Girl, what weapons do you use?


    Knife, sword, and ive.


    Individual or morphic?


    Morphic.


    Any hand-to-hand?


    Yes.


    Next time, list that among your weapons.


    You n to ask me again?


    He stopped at that, mouth open. Then, the corners of his mouth pulled up, and he stuffed another cookie in his mouth before speaking around it, Fair enough. He quickly swallowed the newest treat. Sure, we can put you through the paces. Id prefer it be near the end of your testing, though.


    Master Grediv spoke up next. Agreed. For dissolution, I can set up a series of materials. Shell describe her own healing. We have a target range over there. He waved to the far side of the space. And we can have her set off her area abilities in the open over there, as well.


    T was nodding, That should be safe enough. Wellshe nced around and frownedHow are the pressure waves in here? If theres an explosion, should I treat this like the indoors it is or


    Mistress Cerna was the one to answer. Wise to ask, but no. The mitigations in ce on this arena prevent reflection and resonance with explosive and explosive-like effects.


    Excellent. After a moment, T shrugged. Well, healing wise, I can regrow limbs and heal virtually any injury, so long as I have sufficient stores to draw from. I am able to eat and process the calories and nutrients into highly efficient storage within my own body and draw upon that to heal or sustain myself at need.


    What about headshots! A voice called from the crowd.


    My mind is fully copied and maintained as an up-to-date record in the Archive, and should I need to regrow my head, my mind would be repopted with my memories and everything else. She hesitated. That said, that is theoretical, and Im not eager to prove it either way.


    Understandable. The voice called again, and T grinned at theradery and sympathy in the tone.


    Do you need any special circumstances for your dissolution? Master Grediv queried her.


    No, just proximity. Consider it a breath attack.


    That got some interested mutterings as well.


    Master Grediv smiled and nodded. Very well.


    He walked to the side and began pulling things out of the air, only small amounts of dimensional magic revealing the use of his bound storage.


    In less than a minute, he had a series of materials set up on blocks ranging from rocks, metals, and even a living nt in a ceramic pot to cloth, leather, and bone.


    The Paragon stepped back and gestured. Lets see what you can do.


    T smiled and stepped forward. Then, she paused. Oh! If I go a bit overboard its actuallybustive. I assume that isnt the preference?


    Show us the extreme of what you arefortable doing, but do it facing the wall there. He pointed toward the nearest wall, some twenty feet from where hed set up the various items on stands.


    As you wish. She stretched slightly and straightened her back before ncing at her passenger, Terry, you want to stay there, or go back in?


    He tilted his head as he examined her, then wiggled as he settled more firmly on her shoulder.


    Very well. I hope you enjoy the show. I dont think you have ever seen me do this, actually. She let herself grin despite her mild nervousness.


    <em>Alright, T. No issues here. Ignore therge group of insanely powerful people watching you.</em>


    She took in a long, slow, deep breath even as she pulled power from her defensive scripts into her lungs. Next, with a now practiced application of will, she grabbed the spell-form and flipped it, using a practiced twist.


    She suffused her lungs with power, ensuring the containment scripts were sufficiently reinforced, before leaning slightly forward and exhaling.


    She saw the results as if in slow motion.


    Her breath rippled out across everything provided, more power than a dozen endingberry seeds carried with the exhale, directed and funneled by her slightly extended aura. While doing that wasnt necessary, it would make for a cleaner working.


    Everything before her began to turn to a fine powder, misting up into the air as it was so fine as to float with rtive ease.


    The power still actively surrounded it, preventing it from rbining in any way.


    Then, she saw the dissolution magics take hold on the air itself, breaking the bonds therein.


    On the fringes, starting quite near to her open mouth, the magic fully spent itself, leaving the unbound elements behind, free-floating and unrestrained by magic.


    They wanted to be bound.


    In the fraction of a second after her magic left the closest edges of dissolute matter, the free-floating elements met in innumerable exothermic reactions, Ts increased perception and knowledge making it obvious what was happening.


    That reactionhappening all across the outside edges of her breathprovided heat, heat that ignited the slower-to-react results within.


    Thus, even as she continued to exhale, starting at the fringes of her breaths dissipating cone, fire roared inward and forward.


    That heat and reactive power forced the magic in her breath forward more quickly, carrying it further and faster than it otherwise would have gone to m into the wall. There, with nowhere to go, hemmed in by sh-burning mes, the magics finished spending themselves, fully dissolving everything within the defined cone, adding fuel to the ze.


    At a more normal speed of perception, it would appear that T breathed out and a cone of fire roared away from her with almost white-hot intensity, burning itself out as fast as a quick exhale. In its wake was only a triangle of burned flooring and a circle of ckened wall.


    There were no remnants of the items that Master Grediv had set out at all, though the portions of the stands which had been outside of the effect remained, smoldering and smoking slightly.


    On Ts shoulder, Terrys feathers were still rustling and rippling in the backwash of hot air, even as the avian held on tightly, eyes sparkling with obvious glee.


    After the shocking roar of the short burst of me, the room was almost deathly quiet.


    Master Doitean stepped forward and spoke for the first time. Fascinating. The fire was purely a byproduct, though it seems to have enhanced the reach and coverage of the dissolution. If I hadnt been looking for it, I would have said it was simply mundane fire, because it <em>was</em> mundane fire. He nced toward T. That is an impressive mid-range ability.


    T shrugged, feeling a bit self-conscious. Only if you dont need anything around the target to remain intact.


    The man nodded solemnly. That is one of the dangers of fire, yes, but it can also be its gift. Did I see you focusing the magics with your aura?


    A bit, yeah. It helps keep it moving in the right direction, rather than simply blowing up in my face.


    He grinned widely. Now <em>that</em> is wisdom born from experience. Id love to chat at some point about how youve used that in the past. You didnt seem to use your tongue at all or lips very much. Have you studied breath weapons?


    There havent been many times yet, but sure. Im happy to discuss it. As to breath weapons, no, I havent studied them specifically.


    I would be happy to teach you what I know. There wont be direct crossover, as I use a form of magical fire, but there should be some that I can teach.


    T gave a nod of her head. Thank you. I would like to learn as much as I can.


    As T turned back to her handiwork, she found herself blinking in surprise when she took in the fact that nearly a dozen Refined were now examining the area her attack hadnded, along with Master Grediv.


    <em>I didnt see them move. Did they just go behind me while I was distracted?</em>


    <em>-These likely have something to directly enhance their movement speed, at least over a short distance.-</em>


    <em>I suppose that could be.</em> Her mirrored perspectives hadnt noted their movement, either, which lent credence to ts theory.


    Master Grediv turned her way with a smile. Very impressively demonstrated, Mistress T. You can modte the power of that breath, correct?


    She nodded. I think I could probably go more powerful, but that is about as much power as Ive used for this working before, when I was Fused. I thought it wisest to keep the magics to known levels in a contained environment like this.


    That set off a few more mutters, though T was unsure if they were due to her saying she could have done this while Fused, or for her reasoning for holding back. She could have listened closely enough to hear, but Master Grediv was talking again so she focused on him.


    Well, I think I speak for all of us when I say: It will be interesting to see you unleash that more fully.


    T smiled and nced down. With that, she took a moment to look a bit closer at the flooring. What is this stuff, by the way? It didnt seem to be too harmed by my attack.


    It is an iron-carbonposite.


    So steel?


    He chuckled. At its most basic level it is simr to steel, I suppose. That said, the material is much more precisely structured. There are otherpounds in there as well. The result is brittle, a bit like sandif not as coarse and irritating, and incredibly resilient to magical damage. It is actually used as part of the wall construction for the innermost walls of our cities as well.


    Huh. She nodded, not asking further. She wasnt well versed in material science or its magic, so the particrs were likely beyond her at the moment. <em>Ironeh?</em>


    It wasnt hers, nor could she im any right to it, so thankfully there wasnt any sort of temptation or pull from the material. She was a bit surprised that no one seemed bothered by all the iron.


    While it was <em>possible</em> that they didnt know, T found that highly unlikely.


    <em>Well, merging chambers in the Constructionist guildhalls are iron d. It seems like the dislike of iron is mostly a superstition that is dealt with as Mages advance? Well, not a superstition. Its genuinely an issue for Mages, but not as much for Archons, and even less so as they advance.</em>


    <em>-It still has to be worked around, no matter the power level. It does seem to be tied to reality, which doesnt seem to like Magic much, regardless of advancement.-</em>


    <em>Thats true enough, but its less detrimental even so.</em>


    So,Master Grediv drew her attention backshall we move on to the other tests?

 Chapter 326: Gravity

    Chapter 326: Gravity


    T was feeling much morefortable now that shed disyed one of her abilities.


    She walked toward the vast, open three-quarters of the arena with Master Grediv at her side, leaving the portion with the remnants of her breath attack behind.


    What would you like to demonstrate next?


    Area.


    Very well, do you require anything set up for the demonstration?


    She hesitated. She didnt <em>need</em> anything to demonstrate the siege orbs, but Do you want a better disy?


    He smiled her way before flicking his eyes behind them and sighing dramatically. We do have an audience.


    T chuckled. Then, a te of metal, or stone wall, or something else intended to withstand Fused or higher attacks.


    He gave her a long look, then nodded. As you wish.


    As she considered it, T realized that she might need to reapproach her siege orbs. They were about as powerful as she could reasonably make when she had made them, but she was Refined now. To that end, as Master Grediv walked faster to get ahead of her, T spoke up, infusing her voice so she didnt need to shout in order to be heard. Simr to the dissolution, this was put together when I was Fused. I will be enhancing this ability up to Refined levels as I have time and avability, but this is what I have now that I am confident will work as expected. This is the baseline of what I will be capable of in this area.


    A few understanding responses came back, and she smiled.


    Master Grediv went about two hundred feet out and dropped what seemed to be a section of wall before moving back her direction. It was a four foot cube of heavily inscribed stone.


    The Paragon had funneled power into the activation scripts as he walked away, causing it to re with light briefly before bing simple stone to mundane eyes. To Ts magesight? It positively zed.


    She did pay attention to the mutters this time.


    Apparently, this was a known item. Master Jevin had made its type known to her ages ago.


    It was a magical defense intended to work with others of its kind to create quick battlements on the fly. They were heavily reinforced, but generally, they were designed for Fused level threats or below, given their use in the Leskhin wars and the fact thatin those conflictsRefined and above threats were few enough to be engaged directly, while these battlements kept the lesser opponents away from the lower ranked Archons.


    No one person said all of that, or even a significant portion, but T was able to piece it together out of the muttersing from behind her, aided by t and their multiple mirrored perspectives.


    When Master Grediv was again by her side, he motioned at the free-standing wall chunk. When you are ready.


    T gave a small bow. Thank you for providing such a target.


    It is my pleasure.


    T pulled out a paired set of siege orbs, the small spheres firmly pressed together. She nodded to herself, and with an act of power and will, she shifted the orbs amplified gravity targets to carefully chosen points on the wall.


    There was a loud <em>crack</em> as the orbs leapt from her hand, tearing through the air, followed by a <em>crunch</em> as the spheres embedded deeply into the stone.


    In the momentary pause, T only heard one sound of confusion, where some Refined had obviously not understood why she called this her area of effect ability.


    She felt herself smile, imagining the destruction about to be wrought. <em>Those are spheres: T and Terry.</em>


    Theirbels, which tied them to the workings that had created them, were altered and the effects undone.


    The workingsholding the spheres tightly coherentbroke.


    If the sound of their flight had been the cracking of a whip, the explosion that followed was the unleashing of a thunderstorm.


    The st of rapidly expanding air pped against the gathered Refined.


    Magics flickered in the air, causing the very few bits that would have flown into the spread out crowd to stop in ce before dropping harmlessly to the ground.


    Given that everyone was so far away, only a few even had to take a step back from the pressure wave, but that was impressive in and of itself.


    The entire area cooled extremely quickly, the radical temperature change alone causing the odd substance of the floor to squeal as it contracted and shifted disconcertingly for nearly fifty yards in every direction. Everything was coated in a thinyer of ice as the moisture was ripped from the air by the sudden cold.


    At the center of the twin sts, nothing of the wall segment remained.


    The ground had been blown back in a circle, exposing the reinforced stone more than ten feet down, the ground material having been moved back even as it was peppered throughout with debris from the now-decimated, previously-heavily-reinforced stone.


    That same flooring grit was bunched up around the depression, showing that it had been moved, not annihted.


    There was a longer silence in the wake of this demonstration.


    Terry straightened out his neck, shaking himself before letting out a chuffing series of trills, his beak pointed toward the ceiling.


    That sound broke the silence, and someone let out a barkingugh. Ice, now? Mistress Deigh, anything to say?


    The unit leader took an almost unconscious step forward, eyes still fixed on the crater. There was no magic in that. She quickly shook her head. There was power when the orbs left you, and I sensed a releasing of magic as the detonation happened, but the st itself? There was <em>nothing magical</em> to it.


    T nodded, clearing her throat. The orbs are magicallypressed air. All that I do is break the working that holds thempressed. The rapid expansion forces extreme cooling.


    She nced to the side and found both Master Grediv and Mistress Deigh staring at her, causing T to do a double take before she stepped away to reorient on them. What?


    Master Grediv cleared his throat, shaking himself. How, exactly, do youpress <em>air</em> to that extent?


    Gravity.


    A Refined behind her spluttered. Gravity doesnt work like that!


    T shrugged. It makes sense to me.


    There was no response to that.


    T pped her hands together before the silence could build again. Shall we go to the range? I will say that my method for long range precision is the same which delivered the orbs to impact the wall.


    Master Grediv nodded. Do we need to see a specific demonstration of that?


    A few people called out that, yes, they very much did, but the unit leaders all shook their heads. Master Akra speaking the sentiment out loud, That isnt necessary. I believe we had the gist of it quite well demonstrated.


    T nodded, briefly pulling out her scale mail hauberk. Then, Ill just say that I can send these scales as attacks in any direction using that method.


    She has scales?


    And a breath weapon.


    Master Grediv! I thought all the dragons were locked up!


    Master Gredivughed. No one is fool enough to promise that, Master Tanel.


    A ripple ofughter went through the Refined, and T frowned, nced toward the Paragon. Whats the joke?


    Hmmm? Oh, theres amon saying among the defenders of mankind pertaining to dragons.


    After a moments silence, she raised an eyebrow. Can I hear it?


    He shrugged. I suppose. When the fool believes dragons are no threats, beware the jaws of fate.


    T nodded. Fate was often likened to a dragon in many myths and legends. So, its just a saying?


    Oh, no. There have been several famous Paragons who dered that dragons were no longer a threat to humanity, each for a different reason. Every one of them died by the tooth, w, tail, or breath of a dragon.


    Ahh Yeah, I can see how the saying applies.


    Indeed.


    There was a moments silence before Master Cruinneas stepped forward, Well, on that note, I believe that were to the martial test. Is that right? Or are you nning on somehow turning me inside out with a void weapon?


    He was grinning at his own joke, but when T opened her mouth, paused, and closed it again, he narrowed his eyes.


    You did say you have void abilities, didnt you. It wasnt really a question.


    I did.


    Are they with regard to your weapon?


    Some are.


    He took in a deep breath and let out a long sigh. Are you capable of fighting without void-magics?


    Yes.


    Good. No void magics in our match.


    As you say, Master Cruinneas.


    Thank you. You can call me, Cru.


    Very well, Master Cru.


    A seemingly random Refined in the group snapped his fingers and a circle of flooring shifted color.


    T grinned as she walked over to the standard sized sparring circle.


    Terry flickered off of her shoulder and into afortable seat on the edge of the space.


    Master Cru joined her, taking up an opposing position within the circle.


    With a minor flick of will, she pulled Flow to her hand, then gestured to the sheath covering the knife de, Morphic sparring sheath.


    The man nodded, smiling. I will be pulling training weaponry from my storage at need.


    When he made no move to do so, T cocked an eyebrow. When will that be?


    When I need to.


    She shrugged. Alright. Who says go?


    Master Grediv walked forward, the other Refined moving to surround the circle. I will.


    The twobatants nodded their agreement.


    This is a test of martial skill. No external magics are allowed save those pertaining to your weaponry. No void magics.


    T gave a half smile. I assume that dimensional storage items are allowed? Otherwise, Master Cru will be unarmed.


    Master Grediv smiled in return. Just so. No external defenses either. This is a test and demonstration of martial prowess, not apetition on who can hit through the others defenses.


    There were no objections, and T retracted her iron, while disabling her elk-leathers defenses.


    Ready.


    Mater Cru didnt take up a fighting stance.


    T slipped into a high guard, Flow lengthening into its sword-form.


    Begin!


    She whipped Flow downward, hurtling the weapon at Master Cru with all of her considerable strength and speed. She let it fall back into the form of a knife as it left her hand, making it seem like she couldnt keep it in another form without contact.


    It wasnt amon limitation, but it did exist in some weapons.


    This was a trick that she could only pull once, so she intended to show her unconventional tactics to their fullest.


    The other Refineds eyes widened slightly as Flow crossed the distance in a blur. Even so, the man was already moving.


    At thest moment, she pumped power through her soul-bond, forcing Flow into the form of a ive in the exact moment that it would be in range of Master Cru, in that form.


    T only caught what happened in retrospect. Her multiple perspectives pieced it back together even as she pulled Flow back to her hand before it could careen into the watching crowd.


    Master Cru had brought up his hands to sweep the knife aside, a sword seeming to materialize out of nothing to parry the smaller de.


    When Flow had taken the form of a ive, changing the timing, Master Cru had adjusted to the attack but barely, letting Flow brush past his shoulder in a hit that would have been at least somewhat damaging were they using live weaponry.


    As Flow came back into her hand, T saw that Master Crus weapon was gone once more.


    Even so, there was a smile on the mans face. That was a solid attack. It showed speed, precision, decisiveness, and cunning. Bravo.


    She smiled and nodded her head, careful to keep her eyes on him. Thank you.


    What itcked was follow-through.


    He moved his hand almost casually, but T saw the throwing knives appear in it an instant before they were released.


    Though she trusted that she could likely take the hits, that wasnt the point of this exercise.


    <em>Ahh, that was stupid of me. I was still in showing mode. I should have charged on the heels of my first attack.</em>


    <em>-Well, show your abilities here.-</em>


    She shifted out of the way of two of the knives at the same time that she deflected another two with Flow and the fifth with her off hand.


    Her focus returned to Master Cru, only to find him right in front of her, having used the thrown weapons as a distraction to close the distance, just as she should have.


    T used her momentum from her earlier dodging to force her torso down and backward even as she kicked off of the ground for a handless cartwheel.


    A sword came into being in his hand just as her knee came down from above, connecting with his wrist.


    The hand spasmed open just after he gave what appeared to be a practice twist.


    As his arm was forced downward, it pushed the handle of the sword, which levered the de upward on a perfectly intersecting path toward T.


    Her eyes widened as she was forced to use Flow to protect herself instead of attacking again.


    Even so, his fist managed a precise strike to her leg as she finished her movement.


    The muscle started to cramp up from the powerful hit, but she seized it through the scripts woven throughout and eliminated the problem.


    shy. His tone was level, but it was obviously not apliment.


    T thrust out at him, Flow bing a ive that he attempted to p aside with an open palm.


    She resisted the deflection, bringing her strength to bear just long enough to score a hit on his outside shoulder.


    He had been a position of much greater strength, so hitting him in the torso was impossible. Still, with her greater-than-expected might, shed been able to turn an easy deflection into a ncing hit.


    She closed the distance allowing his deflection to throw Flow into a tight arc, the deing back at the man as she flowed past his own attacks.


    <em>He is an enemy, not a partner. I am here to end him, not help him grow.</em>


    Her stance shifted subtly, and she ripped Flow to the side, changing its trajectory, along with her own, in ways that should seem impossible.


    Her footwork tightened up, and she leaned heavily on the stability training shed received from Eskau De-arg, flowing through her attacks like a crashing avnche.


    Master Cru, for his part, steadily retreated, obvious surprise painted across his features as weapons appeared just in time for each attack or block before vanishing right after.


    Her increased perception allowed her to see cracks radiating through the weaponry whenever he had to deflect Flow more than just a bit.


    Even so, each time he called forth a new weapon, it was whole and undamaged.


    Still, he seemed to be requiring more and more of his strength to change where her strikes wouldnd.


    <em>If hes this weak, what would happen if I actually connected?</em>


    T cut that thought off immediately, not letting any concern for his wellbeing take hold, and she held nothing back, using all of her power, weight, and skill to strike at him from every direction she could strike from.


    Despite all of her seeming advantages, she couldnt manage tond a clean hit.


    <em>Well, lets try something more than direct conflict, then.</em>


    She threw Flow at him again, and he deflected the de to the side where it embedded in the ground behind him.


    T continued the assault with fist and knee and foot, forcing him to shift as she wanted. Then, she called Flow from behind the man, while continuing her unaltered assault.


    Even so, he somehow detected the iing de and was able to spin out of the way even as a halberd appeared in his grasp, whistling through the air to strike at her as part of the same motion.


    She barely managed to bend out of the way of the attack while striking the haft to lift the de up thest bit that she required to avoid a hit.


    That was a small turning point, however, and he was able to press her backward, gaining control over the flow of the battle.


    T fought to take control once again, and back and forth they went.


    Finally, Master Cru seemed to nod to himself. Final test.


    A sword appeared in each of his hands, and he advanced behind a storm of flickering edges.


    T growled as she did all that she could to keep him at bay, but she simply couldnt.


    His first hit was to her hip, then her shoulder, then an ankle.


    None were hard enough to break anything, but they interrupted her movements, slowing her reactions enough to make the next hite sooner.


    Finally, Master Cru stopped with one sword blocked, trying to bisect her waist and the other waiting, unimpeded, beside her neck.


    Master Grediv pped his hands at the same instant Master Cru stopped, and T couldnt tell which had prompted the other. Done!


    The twobatants stepped back, giving nods of acknowledgement.


    He was <em>much</em> better than she was.


    He hadnt simply overwhelmed her at the beginning because that wouldnt be a useful test.


    Instead, hed been slowly increasing his own demonstrated skill, pushing her to see where her limitsy.


    Together, they had found them and raised them ever so slightly.


    How long? She asked, finding herself quite curious.


    Have I been fighting?


    Yes.


    He shrugged. A few centuries? I enjoy it, so Ive packed a lot in that time, too.


    That made her feel quite a bit better. So? How did I do?


    Spectacrly for your age, assuming youve been an Archon for less than fifty years. High middling for a Refined with a martial bent. You lean on your strength a lot, but you use it well, and your style indicates youre used to trading hits, which this wasnt a good test for.


    She grimaced. <em>Well, I suppose I cant expect to be the best around.</em>


    <em>-Hey, nothings gonna ever keep you down.-</em>


    t was right. T still had time to learn and improve. Thank you, Master Cru.


    Master Grediv cleared his throat, the tiniest hint of a smile at the corner of his mouth. My apologies, Master Cru, but Mistress T is only twenty-one.


    The Refined, who was already halfway back to the food table, froze before spinning on his heel and blurting, What now?!

 Chapter 327: Meet the Unit

    Chapter 327: Meet the Unit


    T felt the gazes on her sharpen even as Master Cru walked back her way.


    Mistress T, youve only been an Archon for twenty-one years? Who did you learn under? Most have an incredible amount of trouble adapting to enhanced physiology, and I would love to know who taught you so well.


    She cleared her throat. My apologies, Master Cru. I think there was a misunderstanding.


    The man seemed to rx. Oh. I was going to say: Your magics andbat effectiveness did seem a <em>bit </em>too advanced for that.


    She shook her head. No, once again, we arent understanding each other. I was born twenty-one years ago.


    The silence that followed was almost tangible.


    T had no interest in sitting in that silence, so she continued. As to who trained me? First, most obviously, I learned from the trainers at the Academy and from my own experiences fighting. Secondarily, I learned from a Guardsman Sergeant named Adam and a few other Guardsmen students and trainers. Adding to that is extensive sparring sessions with Master Gredivs former apprentice, Rane. Finally, the most recentand likely greatestexpansion to my capacities came while learning from the Eskau and Pirs of the House of Blood, while I was bound in servitude within the arcanends.


    That did <em>not</em> help the silence dissipate.


    Until it did. A Refined on her right snapped his fingers. I KNEW IT! She made her memories avable. Her memories dont really include good views of herself, but I thought I recognized some of the things she could do.


    That started a storm of murmurs. It seemed like thement about a major House in the arcanends had drawn their attention away from her training with Master Gredivs apprentice. <em>For now.</em>


    <em>-Or they already knew or assumed? You dide down here with him.-</em>


    <em>Could be, yeah. But he also seems to be in rather a position of authority, here. Hes the local, head Archon, as I recall.</em>


    As it turned out, most of those present had seen at least a couple of Ts memories, giving greater credence to Mistress Ingrits numbers, provided and checked by t.


    <em>Huh well, that might have just made things a bit more awkward. These people can all go watch me do all sorts of things now</em>


    <em>-Yeah, I suppose we didnt really consider that. But hey! More gold and favors for us!-</em>


    Terry flickered up to her shoulder. <em>Where did he go?</em>


    She nced toward the food tables and <em>thought </em>that there seemed to be less meatid out than there had been a moment earlier. Even if so, she didnt botherparing her earlier memories because she didnt care much either way. Thus, she just scratched Terry as he preferred.


    T cleared her throat, shifting mental gears, Well. How do we proceed from here?


    Master Grediv nodded. Yes, we need to ce Mistress T within a defensive unit. Does anyone wish to withdraw based on what theyve seen or learned?


    The unit leaders all shook their heads.


    Mistress T, do you have a preference?


    She frowned. Can I train with, and learn from, people in other units?


    Absolutely. Your unit only determines who you are most likely to fight alongside, and who you will most likely have duty and free time in alignment with.


    Then, I would say I have no preference. I would enjoy working with anyone here, from what Ive seen.


    She saw a few people smile, even with the obviously generic nature of her words.


    <em>Manners never hurt.</em>


    <em>-Well-</em>


    <em>Not now, t</em>


    Master Grediv nodded. In that case, I believe we should assign you to the unit of Master Clevnis and Mistress Cerna. Theirs is the smallest group represented. You will make their sixth member.


    T frowned. Didnt you say that most units are ten Refined strong?


    By the peak of the waning? Usually around that, yes. But weve two decades to go. Honestly, having the average unit size above five is quite unusual at this point, but as this is an odd waning, it makes sense.


    T grunted understanding. So, its confirmed then? My unit is chosen?


    Master Grediv nodded causing Maser Clevnis to smile. Mistress Cerna threw her hands up, Woohoo! No more bottom-of-the-list duty!


    T cocked her head.


    The Refined grinned at Ts confusion. You are lovely, dear, and were d to have you, but we are also excited because the team with the fewest members is often tasked to take longer assignments outside the walls, such as runs to newly discovered cells, or defending those sent to service known ones.


    Master Grediv nodded. It risks fewer Refined at a time, and the smaller units are usually a <em>bit</em> more cohesive, which increases the chances of good oues.


    T hmmed understanding, That makes sense.


    He smiled. That said


    The husband and wife paused, clearly thinking through something. Mistress Cernas shoulders drooped, Were still tied forst.


    Yes, you are.


    Well, at least well share the longer duties, then.


    You will.


    T shrugged. It seems like fun to go outside the walls for longer stints.


    Mistress Cerna shrugged. It is, but


    Master Clevnis smiled, giving a tightly-squeezing side-hug to his wife, She doesnt like roughing it'' very much.


    T opened her mouth for a moment, then paused, grinning at them.


    What? Mistress Cerna had caught the expression.


    Once I verify something, I think that we may get on even better than Id hoped.


    <em>-Oh! Yeah. That could work really well. Well need to check with Master Simon, though.-</em>


    <em>Yeah. We still dont understand all of this integrity of reality stuff, yet.</em>


    Master Grediv pped his hands. Well, since our business is done, here, and its already a party, letshe trailed off, causing the Refined to lean in just a bitkick you all out, so Mistress T and her new unit can get to know one another.


    There was a collective groan.


    Exceptions are: Mistress Kaeti, Master Akra, Mistress Deigh, Master Doitean, and Master Cru.


    Everyone else started moving toward the door, a fewing by to wish T a personal wee. Others swept by the food and drink tables, loading up on their way out.


    A few did both.


    In the end, the arena felt <em>much</em> emptier with only ten Refined, T, and Master Grediv.


    Thankfully, it seemed that Master Clevniss unit had all been in attendance.


    <em>Or is it Mistress Cernas?</em>


    <em>-You could ask.-</em>


    If I may, who is the unit leader, Mistress Cerna or Master Clevnis?


    The two shared a look and smiled before Mistress Cerna answered, On paper, we lead together. In practice, we make all decisions together, but in the heat of the moment he generally has a better head for quick-response strategy, so his word is final in the field.


    He snorted. And you have a <em>much</em> better handle on logistics and gathering intel, so while we make decisions together, your initial inclination generally lines up with what we go with.


    She shrugged in return. We each have areas in which we excel.


    T found herself smiling. I suppose I can understand that. Better two, united in leadership, than one without any checks or backup.


    Precisely, Master Grediv smiled as he inserted himself into the conversation, We do prefer units to be led by a pair, usually married, but there are those like Mistresses Cu & Caraid who work best with a sibling or another person. But that is beside the point. I asked the others to stay briefly so that you could arrange times to meet up with each of them for some training.


    Mistress Kaeti stepped forward. I am definitely curious what you wished to learn from me.


    T smiled at the woman. I need help with splitting my mental focus. I have enough mental capacity to do so with ease, but Im not practiced at it so I struggle, and I feel like speaking with an expert would help me proceed more wisely.


    Oh! The woman seemed a bit surprised but also pleased. Well, it would be my honor to teach you what I can.


    Thank you. Additionally, I am very interested in your utility and maniption of your own reality node.


    That seemed to take the woman off guard. I what?


    That seemed to have garnered everyones attention, even the Refined from her new unit whom she hadnt met yet. T suddenly felt a bit self-conscious. When you replicated yourself across the battlefield. They werent illusions well, the ones you had dancing werent. They were all the same node in reality, but somehow you had it in multiple ces at once.


    There was a long silence before Master Grediv cleared his throat. Mistress T, your voidsight is <em>highly</em> unusual. I think it most likely that Mistress Kaeti isnt aware of how that ability appears to such a sight.


    Oh! That actually made quite a bit of sense. My apologies. Then, I suppose I would love to study it with you. Maybe, we can both learn something.


    The woman seemingly pulled herself back together quickly, smiling slightly. That that would be lovely. You have Archive ess, yes?


    I do.


    Then, I will grant you ess to a note, and we can arrange times. Right nowshe shook her headI think I need to go consider what youve said. Thank you.


    The Refined turned and strode from the arena, clearly already lost in thought.


    <em>-We can share the memory with her.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, I was thinking of offering that, but it didnt seem like the right time.</em>


    <em>-Thats fair. We can discuss it when we meet up.-</em>


    Master Akra cleared his throat. Now, Im a bit unsure if I should ask why Im here. Even so he grinned. So, I wont. Aura control?


    Master Grediv nodded. Yes. You are one of the best instructors in that area, save your old master.


    You tter me, Master Grediv. He looked to T. Is that something you are interested in working on?


    I am, I mean, it is, yes. She nodded, sincerely excited at the prospect. Master Jevin had helped her a lot, and learning from his student would be a treat.


    Then, lets coordinate. I believe Mistress Kaeti had a good idea with scheduling through the Archive. Shall we do the same?


    That works for me. Shall I create the touch point?


    That would be wonderful. It was a pleasure to meet you, Mistress T.


    And you, Master Akra. <em>t?</em>


    -<em>Ill do it in a few minutes, to preserve social niceties. People often get odd ideas if such things are done too fast.-</em>


    T didnt let the grimace pass over her features. <em>Thats an inefficient way to approach things</em> Even so, t wasnt wrong. <em>Not you. I dont think your idea was bad, just the possible misinterpretation.</em>


    <em>-I understood you. Ill make sure its done soon.-</em>


    <em>Thank you.</em>


    The shorter Refined bid the others goodbye and grabbed some food on the way out.


    The three remaining Refined not of her new unit had been chatting, and Mistress Deigh cleared her throat, I think we understand. Im happy to discuss with her the particrs of how to utilize cold in a battle situation, assuming she hasnt deeply investigated that already?


    T shook her head. No, its been an anciry effect more than anything.


    Ill be in contact, then. My husband is happy to teach you about breath-weapons and fire on the battlefield, as he said earlier.


    T nodded to the man, who simply smiled in return.


    And Master Cru always loves having new sparring partners.


    The man, himself, cleared his throat. Thank you, Mistress Deigh. Yes, Mistress T. I am happy to spar with you or attempt to train you. Different people learn better in different ways, and I am happy to do either. He nced to Master Grediv. Your apprentice


    Rane is not yet ready to spar with you, Master Cruinneas. Hecks the durability of a Refined, and while I trust your skill, idents can happen in the best of circumstances.


    The Refined bowed. Very well, Master Grediv.


    The three bid the remainder goodbye and left without getting more food.


    Master Clevnis pped his hands together. Well, with that sorted, we really should do introductions.


    Mistress Cerna stepped forward, If I may?


    Of course, dear.


    Then, I should start with myself. Aside from co-leader of the unit, I am a support specialist in group maneuvers. I am a Material Guide, generally, and I focus on thread.


    T frowned. Just thread? What material? Cotton?


    All materials. Mistress Cerna motioned to the metal on her Mages robes. With a little time, I can create most magical effects. She then pulled open her robes, showing quite a bit of skinas expectedbut also rolls of incredibly thin metal on various spools on the womans belt. I am capable of filling any role at need and taking advantage of my opponents weaknesses, once I know them.


    Ts eyes widened. <em>She makes new spell-forms in the air with the thread? Thats</em>


    <em>-Genius, yeah.-</em>


    Do you even need inscriptions?


    Yes, but they are more akin to those that pure inscribers get, though not exactly the same, obviously. Mistress Cerna gave a sly smile.


    Her husband grinned. And dont let her bubbly nature fool you. She was a Mage Hunter for a few centuries.


    If possible, Ts eyes widened further, the implication hitting her like a runaway wagon, You altered your opponents inscriptions?


    Mistress Cerna sly smile turned positively wicked. Youre a quick one.


    That that was terrifying on a level T hadnt ever really considered. The lithe, unassuming woman gained a measure of fear-based respect. Interestingly, Mistress Cerna would have a simr issue to T. It would be hard to use that incredibly effective tool in low-stakes situations.


    The Refined unit leader continued, My husband is a close to mid-rangebatant. He is an Immaterial Creator.


    I create edges.


    T almost asked of what material, but she realized that that didnt make sense with what theyd said. Isnt that concept magic?


    One of the other men threw up his hands. Thats what I keep telling him.


    Master Clevnis shook his head. No, I dont do anything with the concept of an edge. I create edges of magic. He shrugged. It works well enough.


    Wait. T frowned. How could you use that effectively? Wouldnt it dissipate within your opponents aura?


    Yes and no. That is one reason I am a close to mid-range fighter. I generally create them on my limbs, close enough that I have good control.


    But to hit your opponent, you have to get close to them, too. Thats what des <em>do</em>.


    True, but just like a fireball can be thrown through an aura and not vanish, a de of magic doesnt dissipate, not instantly.


    T opened her mouth to argue, but then closed it again. <em>Obviously, it has to be at least marginally effective. I suppose Ill just have to see it myself.</em>


    -<em>Well also have to see if iron is an effective counter.-</em>


    <em>Yeah.</em>


    The other man who had already spoken up waved a hand. Im Limmestare Gline. I started as a Material Guide. I specialize in wide area magics. ss is my chosen material.


    <em>Hard, sharp, variable.</em> T found herself nodding. I could see that, yeah.


    Off to the side, one of the men who had stayed behind was slowly moving around behind her, cloaked in magic. He wasnt close, so T didnt mention it, even as she tracked him with her mirrored perspectives.


    The other female Refined stepped forward and gave a shallow bow, I am Vanga, a healer. I began my career as a Material Creator, though I have done my best to branch out from there. I am afraid that I wont be as much use to you as the others.


    T shook her head. I disagree. My healing is Immaterial Guide based. I would <em>much</em> rather have your healing for some injuries than my own.


    That caused the other woman to smile. Thank you, that is very kind, Mistress T.


    Its also true, Mistress Vanga. I look forward to working with you.


    There was a moment of silence, so T sighed, lifting a finger toward the man who had started drawing close. She didnt bother to look his way, keeping her eyes on Mistress Cerna even as she pointed straight between the mans eyes from fifteen feet away. Let me guess, hes stealth?


    The man faded back into visibility to mundane sight, and T was surprised to see that he was d in stone that moved with him like a second skin. His shoulders slumped in such a dramatic manner that T assumed the affectation had to be an over dramatization. Rust. I thought I slipped away without you noticing.


    T shrugged, still not looking at him with her eyes. I actually didnt see you fade away, but I did see you start sneaking about. Is that rock?


    Yup! He proudly patted his chest. Im Girt Creag. Material Guide for rock and stone.


    So How did you go invisible? She finally did turn his direction as she asked that, genuinely curious as to his answer.


    Simple, I changed the transparency and refraction index of the stone by manipting the material on a minute level. I have to hold it in ce, or it returns to its natural state, but it works rather well.


    Mistress Cerna was shaking her head. His antics aside, it is actually really effective. As it turns out, most magical creatures who are known to be able to see the invisible do so by detecting magical alterations to the air, or illusions and such. Most dont seem to notice invisible rocks.


    Master Girt grinned. Which also works for attacks quite well. The rocks lose their invisibility when they leave my control, but a fast enough rockappearing a few feet awayis a rather effective attack all the same. Plus, I can move us through the ground at need, safely protected from most threats.


    <em>Rust Yeah, that would be a pain to fight.</em> T smiled. Good to meet you, Master Girt. She then turned to Master Grediv. I can see why youve been sending this group on more unusual missions.


    The Paragon grinned. Indeed. Speaking of which

 Chapter 328: Settling In

    Chapter 328: Settling In


    T waited with bated breath for Master Grediv to tell them what their mission would be.


    <em>-You know, he didnt actually say he had a mission for you.-</em>


    <em>He implied it, though, and I dont see a reason hed imply without anything to back it up.</em>


    <em>-Thats fair, I suppose.-</em>


    The Paragon straightened slightly, clearly ying it up a bit. Finally, he shrugged and smiled, You all need to get to know one another, and Mistress T needs to settle in, but our detection grids have indicated that well have a precise location for a new cell nailed down somewhere between one and two weeks from now.


    T slumped in disappointment. <em>Not going out right away?</em>


    Mistress Cerna grimaced. So soon? Well only have one rotation off before then.


    T frowned, tilting her head in confusion. Rotation off?


    Oh! There are always eight units oneach in charge of the defense of an eighth of the wall at a given timewith seven additional units in reserveon standbyand one unit with eight hourspletely free.


    But most people arent needed at any one time. Right?


    Master Clevnis smiled ruefully,ying his hand on his wifes shoulder. She can feel the stress of <em>possibly</em> being called to action. It interferes with her mindset for tasks that cant easily be paused.


    The woman was hunched forward just a bit, hands up as if ready to fight. Must be ready. Always ready.


    T decided not toment on that. Instead, she asked about what seemed to be an obvious w in the system, What about when a unit leaves the city, like ours will in the next couple of weeks?


    Master Grediv was the one who answered. In situations where we need one or more units outside the city, we have six units in reserve, or fewer as the situation demands.


    It seemed like overkill to T, but she supposed it made sense to have some order of operations for calling on reinforcements. They shouldnt need the process in the near future, but having the n well ingrained and established would make it work better when it was needed.


    That brought a thought to mind. <em>If they n for six or seven units in reserve the final part of the wanings must be </em>insane.


    <em>-Seemingly, yeah.-</em>


    What in zeme could possibly require such levels of defense?


    The Paragon smiled. Its quite rare, but when it happens, it is generally the result of several eggying, hive collective magical beasts getting established and coordinating for a unified assault. There was one waning where we were swarmed by bombardier chicks on the ground, acid spewing tunnellers from beneath, and an odd, hive variation of de-wing falcons from above. Things were tight for a time, but we were able to eliminate the queens in the end before riding out the remainders. We have better detection arrays for such things these days, and more robust protocols.


    T grunted, nodding. Such a thing could have happened a thousand years ago for all she knew; they were just being vignt. <em>Probably reasonably so.</em>


    Mistress Cerna pulled the groups focus back to the matter at hand. Do we know anything about the nature of the cell?


    Master Grediv nodded. In fact, we do. It is definitely conceptual based power that has been contained within. Beyond that, its too early to determine.


    Very well. We shall be as ready as we can be.


    Master Grediv gave a shallow bow. With that, I will leave you. He turned to T. Mistress T, if you desire a wall for your use, you are wee to any within the Gredialpound. The guards will let you through the gate if you prefer to be within theplex itself.


    T gave a moderate bow. Thank you, Master Grediv. I think I would like that. Rane owes me a few games of tafl, after all.


    Im sure hed like that. With another nod of acknowledgement, Master Grediv departed.


    Mistress Cerna sidled up to T. So the Gredial boy?


    T frowned, looking up at the tall, lithe woman. Rane? What of him?


    Are you officially courting? Waiting for him to Refine? What? Whats the connection there?


    T looked around and found all of the other Refined had drawn closer, clearly interested in her answers.


    Do we really want to be talking about this?


    Terry chirped, bobbing happily.


    <em>Traitor</em> She red at Terry, but he blithely ignored her.


    Mistress Vanga shrugged. Its something we dont know about you, and I imagine it wille up.


    T grimaced slightly, feeling ufortably on the spot. I dont know about your spouses or families. It hardly seems... She had been about to say fair, but she realized how childish that sounded. I mean, theres only one of me, and five of you. Cant I learn something of you all, first?


    Mistress Vanga smiled. Oh, my husband is up north, running the healing center in the city under construction. Ill see him a couple of times before the waning is over, but I know hes safe. She ced her hand over her sternum, where her gate was. Hes doing what he loves, and Im doing what I love. Though, I do miss having him around. Master Grediv asked me toe here earlier than usual, so Im missing five or ten years that I should have had with him, but well manage. Four of our children are with him, though they didnt go the route of healing. They like working with their hands, so the Builders Guild was just perfect for them. The grandkids are with them, too, though most of them are out of the Academy, as well.


    T blinked in surprise at the sheer volume of information contained in the short spout of information.


    Master Clevnis smiled, speaking next into the short silence, You already know that Cerna and I are married. Our kids are scattered to the four winds, and we do our best to not have any under our wing around wanings. Weve even managed to encourage the younger generations away from having babies around wanings. It keeps conflicts from arising.


    Master Limmestare gave a wan smile. My wife is in the city, but shes not quite Refined. Her sessions are rather rough. Shell get there eventually, but not before the waning concludes, in all likelihood. We havent had children yet because Rabetha wants our children to have as good a start as possible. I can hardly fault the choice, and were hoping for a few after she Refines.


    All eyes turned to Master Girt, all but Ts filled with ready empathy. He shrugged and gave a sad smile. I lost my beloved during the final days of thest Marliweathers waning. Our kids are grown, as are the grandkids. Never managed a good connection with the greats or great-greats. He shrugged again. This work keeps others from going through what I did, so its good work.


    T found herself at a loss. I thank you for being so open. I am truly sorry for your loss.


    He pped her on the shoulder briefly. It was more than half a century ago. The hurt will never go away, but you learn to work around it.


    She found herself nodding in the lengthening silence.


    <em>-So, are you going to answer their questions?-</em>


    T felt a bit silly about being reticent in opening up to these people after their easy sharing of such information, Well She shrugged. Rane is a good friend. I enjoy training and sparring with him, and we share many interests. Hes said he wants more than friendship, but hasnt been pushy.


    Mistress Cerna nodded. And how do you feel?


    Honestly? I have no idea. Everythings been a whirlwind since I left the Academy two years ago, and I dont feel like Ive had any time to really process what I want. I was hoping that taking it slow through the waning would help me figure it out.


    Mistress Vanga cleared her throat. Very well, then. We wont pressure you, dear.


    Master Clevnis nodded. Our unit is on standby at the moment, but were on wall-watch in about an hour. Do you want this cycle to get settled in the city, or would you like to take the threat, if onees, during this shift?


    T gave it some thought, then shrugged. I think Id like to get my hands a bit dirty. I can settle in after.


    Alright, then. If there isnt a threat on the walls, we can do a sweep outward to get you a settling in fight, eh?


    She found herself smiling. I think Id like that. Thank you.


    * * *


    T mmed backward into the outside of Alefasts wall, cracks spiderwebbing away from her even as she was embedded slightly into the hard surface.


    <em>Ow</em>


    Around her, the lingering echoes of magical resonance faded from the regional zeme.


    <em>Well, rustI didnt think it could hit me that hardwell, that </em>fast<em>. I need to end this quickly.</em>


    Immediately, she bent all her power and will to reducing her own gravity. <em>This is going to be a long jump.</em>


    She slowly peeled herself out of the wall, being careful to not drop to the ground just yet.


    <em>Consider my options, be quick about it, T.</em>


    Master Clevnis shouted down from just a dozen or so feet above her, When I suggested you gauge its strength first, I didnt mean that you should take a hit!


    <em>Yeah, well Thats probably fair.</em>


    He called down onest thing, Just take it out quickly. We can discuss better tactics for next time, afterward.


    She waved one hand in acknowledgement as she lifted her gaze from the base of the wall, grabbing more firmly onto the cracked wall and bending her knees to stay stable on her horizontal perch.


    Her focus was on what she faced: a familiar, if distant, figure.


    Alefast had decided to wee her back with the same type of creature that had sent her off at the end of her first visit.


    A cyclops.


    This one was Refined in power, its aura a strong, steady yellow.


    Its club was massive and deceptively quick. Even so, the blow hadnt actually hurt that much. Only its upward trajectory had sent her flying.


    The others in the unit had said that two attacks in one day were unusual, but it generally heralded a bit of a lull afterwards, so they werent unwee.


    Besides, the cyclops hade from the opposite direction of the small horde that Mistress Kaeti had dispatched.


    Over her shoulder, T heard someone yelling, What did she do to <em>my</em> wall!?


    T heard the buzz of another voice but didnt pay close enough attention to make out all the words.


    Fine, <em>our</em> wall. What did she do to our wall?


    T nced backward and up, taking in what seemed to be two Archons who were closing in on her unit, clearly irritated.


    <em>Huh, by being a bit embedded, Im within the walls camouging scripts, it seems.</em>


    But that wasnt where T needed to be focused right then.


    The cyclops stood more than fifty feet tall, about a quarter of a mile from the city walls.


    <em>That was a hard hit</em>


    <em>-Yeah, I dont </em>think<em> wed have been turned to mush from a downward strike, but lets not test it, yeah?-</em>


    She only hesitated for a moment. <em>Agreed. Still, this might be a good chance to try another thing.</em>


    She crouched lower into the wall, bunching her muscles and flooding her enhancement scripts and surface area augmenting scripts with power.


    <em>This would never work on the ground, its too loose. But with a wall for footing?</em>


    <em>-Sure, worst that can happen is that it works too well. Theyd heal back right quick.-</em>


    She made an opening around her mouth through her metal shell and took a deep breath, beginning to fill her lungs and the air they contained with the equivalent of inverted endingberry power.


    It was time.


    When her breath held as much magic as she could reasonably force into it, she pulled out a set of siege orbs, grabbed onto one with each hand in as firm a grip as she could manage, as quickly as she could, but not frantically, her gravity was almost nothing.


    <em>Good enough.</em>


    Then, before she could really start to fall, she <emunched</em> off of the city wall, using her will and her control over her iron to <em>throw</em> the material along with her, using its mass to add to her momentum rather than adding to her burden.


    There was a concussion of sound and wind as her powerful leap was distributed across a huge area of wall, knocking dust free to fall toward the ground.


    Her leap, while powerful, wasnt going to get her all the way to her enemy quickly enough, and if he saw hering, hed take a swing that shed bet would be painfully urate.


    So she flexed her will and power.


    The target of the spheres amplified gravity changed to the cyclops, still a good distance away.


    <em>Im not using it to pull me. Im already sailing toward it. Im just making sure they make it to their destination.</em>


    There was a grinding in her mind as she stretched her understanding and conceptualization of her magics, but her Refined grip kept hold and her workings red with redirected power.


    She was jerked forwardeven considering her already rapid pacesteadily elerated in less than a second until the air was screaming around her, only her incredibly enhanced perception letting herplete thest part of her n.


    Even so, she felt the magical resonance crackle around her.


    She was moving too fast.


    <em>Rust. I dont know if two resonances in such close sequence will be better or worse.</em>


    At thest moment, she let go of the spheres, allowing them to m into the beasts torso, one into each shoulder, sting the creature backward slightly with the initial hit.


    She felt her magic rx, no longer edging on breaking her own working by letting it kite her along. T broke the working reducing her gravity, knowing shed need to be able to move downward after she mmed into the big guys chest.


    As for the cyclops, it was <em>massive. </em>So, it moved after the hit more like it had taken an arrow than a powerful shove.


    An unbelievably small fraction of a secondter, the club clipped Ts side mid-flight, driving the air from her lungs and sending her spinning.


    <em>Rust, hes fast.</em>


    Her elk-leathers, reinforced by white-steel, had protected her from much of the blow, but it still moved her with ease, as she was ballistic when he struck.


    The dissolution working had rushed outward with her air in a tight circle before she went spinning off into a nearby tree.


    The power was not wasted in the least. Instead, it had been drawn toward the most potent thing resisting it, focusing the disruptive magics against the cyclopss flesh.


    Shed noticed this behavior previously, but hadnt really noted it. The dissolution would target solid objects, and only move on to the air itself, if it still had power remaining.


    <em>The particr variety of dissolution targets the strongest things first.</em>


    It was an incredibly useful realization, forter.


    From her more stable, mirrored perspectives, T was able to see the dissolution eating at the cyclopss tough skin, hair, and flesh, fighting against his defensive aura and winning, if barely.


    She didnt dare hope shed left enough power behind to deal with the beast with the simple, dispersed working, no matter how potent.


    As she deflected off a tree and mmed into the ground, she mentally changed thebels on the orbs that shed followed in for the hit, even while chastising herself.


    <em>Let go sooner next time. Get up to speed, then let them get ahead. Dont be so predictable upon engagement.</em>


    The orbs blossomed outward in freezing explosions, originating on either side of the great beasts head.


    The pressure waves were like twin hammer-blows, caving in the sides of the cyclopss skull, even as the cold seemed to cloud over his eye, turning much of the moisture within the organ to crystalized ice.


    <em>Got him!</em>


    Then, the thing turned her way, raising its club over its mangled head.


    T groaned, even as she scrambled to get her feet under her to leap away.


    <em>Their brain is near their heart to make room for the massive eye in their head. Its not dead, its just blinded.</em>


    <em>-And deafened, and... he probably can''t smell much, either? I almost feel bad for him.-</em>


    <em>No sympathy for the enemy, t.</em>


    She managed tounch herself to the side just before the club came down.


    Even without a killing blow, T had clearly rattled the monster, as it was moving <em>much</em> slower now.


    She thought through a half-dozen ways of whittling the beast down or killing it outright before she went with the simplest that came to mind.


    She pulled Flow from its sheath and threw it with all the force and uracy that she could, straight at the creature, using her connection to Flow to push the weapon into the form of a void-sword.


    The de struck straight through the colossal sternum, passing through the magically reinforced bone with rtive ease, barely slowing before it stopped, sunk up to the hilt.


    The cyclops immediately seemed to hunch in on himself, mangled shoulders bowing forward and curling in around the embedded weapon, even as he crouched downward, bringing his legs closer to Flow as well.


    <em>Huh, the void aspect might have been overkill.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, I think you actually skewered his brain. That was a beautiful throw.-</em>


    <em>Thank you. Im quite proud of that.</em>


    <em>-You know swords arent for throwing, right?-</em>


    <em>They are when I can magically call them back to my hand, and they never dull.</em>


    <em>-I suppose I still feel like they arent a good fit for that purpose.-</em>


    <em>Fine Ill practice more with throwing the ive.</em>


    The void crawled outward from the de, turning the beast a purplish ck to Ts voidsight, before slowly dragging more of the cyclops inward.


    <em>Fascinating. Have we ever stuck the void-de into somethingrge and then just left it there?</em>


    <em>-I dont believe we have, no.-</em>


    <em>Seems pretty effective.</em>


    <em>-Hes resisting, so it might not have worked as well if it were our opening move, but hes disoriented and hurt enough that I think it will end him.-</em>


    <em>And you know, I think hes probably braindead. What were seeing is purely passive resistance.</em>


    <em>-Hmmm. Yeah, that probably factors too.-</em>


    The deaside from piercing the cyclopss brainwas at least very near his heart, causing the iron in the monsters blood to be imed by T, and she could feel it being pulled out of the beasts body and funneled into the dimensions of magic for her use,ter.


    <em>Fascinating.</em>


    <em>-It truly is.-</em>


    The cyclops dropped to his knees, his clubforgottentumbling to make a crater in the ground beside him.


    A momentter, the tall humanoid had curled fully in on himself, and T could hear the sound of breaking bones as the no-longer-discernable-as-humanoid mass shrunk down, sucked inexorably into the void.


    <em>Its almost too bad that cyclops are noted to have weaker magical defenses than average for their advancement.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, this would be really useful on more powerful opponents, but I doubt it would work nearly this well on them.-</em>


    <em>Yeah</em>


    With what could almost have been thought to be a whimperand a final crackle of splintering bhe cyclops vanished, leaving Flow to fall thest few feet to the ground unencumbered.


    T allowed the weapon to return to its knife form even as she walked forward to pick it up.


    Well done, Flow. You definitely made that easier.


    T took a look at the massive club. <em>What even is that made of?</em>


    <em>-No idea, but it could be valuable.-</em>


    T grunted. Yeah, Ill take it.


    She opened Kit and maneuvered the massive club inside.


    It wasnt precisely <em>heavy</em> for her, though it certainly wasnt light.


    More than anything, it was cumbersome and awkward to handle just because of how big it was.


    She wouldnt be pulling it out as some surprise weapon anytime soon.


    <em>Unless</em>


    <em>-Yeah, we could find a way of anchoring you down, then it would just be about muscling the weight around.-</em>


    <em>That could work, or we could massively amplify the gravity on it, then unleash it as a missile toward some evil griffon or some other creature.</em>


    t chuckled. <em>-Ahh, the one that got away.-</em>


    <em>Id kill it now.</em>


    <em>-Sure you would, T. Youve grown very strong.-</em>


    Spoils retrieved, T began her trek back toward the wall.


    She had gotten about halfway back, when she began to detect fluctuations in the zeme around her.


    <em>Oh rust. I made too much noise, magically speaking, didnt I?</em>


    <em>-Id hoped the short magic-boom wasnt sufficient, but yeah, it seems so.-</em>


    She turned around, seeing what appeared to be a small tide of arcanous and weakly magical creaturesing her way.


    She opened her pouch and called inside. Terry? Want to kill some things with me?


    A momentter, the avian flickered to beside her, sized so that his head was just above hers.


    He seemed to take in the scene in an instant before giving her what was obviously an usatory nce.


    Yeah, this is my fault. I wasnt careful with my magical resonance.


    He let out a chuffing squawk, showing his amusement.


    Yeah, yeah. Lets just mop up my mess and get back into the city. I want a bath, tonight.


    He gave her a long look, and she found herself grinning even as she pulled out a huge hunk of jerky.


    Thanks for having my back.


    He snapped the tossed piece out of the air before trilling and charging the iing foes.


    <em>Yeah, why wait?</em> She took off after him without a second thought.

 Chapter 329: Normal

    Chapter 329: Normal


    T hopped twice as she moved forward, mirroring aspects to allow the remnants of grit and grime to fall from her. She stretched luxuriantly as she walked back under the outer portcullis, Terry striding at her side.


    That was nice, Terry. Its been too long since weve been able to cut loose side by side.


    Terry tossed his head and chirped happily in agreement.


    She almost paused within the gatehouse to be questioned, but the inner gates were open, the portcullis up, so she shrugged to herself and continued inside, where she found her unit waiting along with a few others.


    She knew that people had gathered on the walls to watch, just as they had for Mistress Kaeti, but those had dissipated by this point. <em>I wonder if I won or lost anyone a good deal of money?</em>


    <em>-Probably not. The gambling ces have been doing this a </em>long<em> time. They probably keep the odds really conservative for new Refined in the field.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, that makes sense.</em>


    Master Clevnis had his arms crossed, and the others features were unreadable.


    Hey, all. T waved, suddenly feeling a little self-conscious. So what did you think?


    Terry flickered around to look at each Archon from multiple angles before settling on Ts shoulder.


    The Refined noted Terrys actions but didnt otherwise seem to react.


    The two that T didnt know, however, seemed to treat the terror bird as a potential threat, eyeing him skeptically until he came to a stop.


    Only then did the two Archons who were <em>not</em> a part of her unit step forward.


    The shorter one spoke loudly, and it took T a moment to realize that it was simply his normal voice, rather than him raising his voice at her. Why are you putting holes in my wall?


    Our. The taller one said, simply. His voice was level, almost muted inparison but filled with certainty.


    Short nced back, then shook his head. Fine, our wall. Why are you putting holes in our wall?


    T frowned. Who are you?


    Im Adam, thats Navin.


    Master Navin gave a small, simple wave but didnt say anything else.


    Well, Master Adam, Master Navin, Im not sure what the issue is.


    Have I not been clear? He nced back at Master Navin. I thought I was being pretty clear.


    Your wall. You dont want holes in it.


    Exactly. So? What do you have to say for yourself?


    I was thrown into a wall, I dont really understand how it is your wall, or how it is my fault. After a moment, she shrugged and continued. Im also unsure how that qualifies as multiple holes.


    T took a moment to really assess the two. They both appeared to be Fused, moving toward Refined. If she had to guess, they were material Mages, from context, they likely worked with the walls.


    Next time, I could let the cyclopse and hit the wall directly. <em>That</em> would have left a dent. Would that be your preference?


    Master Adam grunted. You arent wrong, and no, we dont want that to happen, but couldnt you have handled it better?


    She shrugged. Well, yes. Always.


    Master Navin barked augh, cing a hand on Master Adams shoulder. Adam.


    Master Adam nced at his partner, then groaned and looked back to her. Fine. It was Mistress T, right?


    Yes?


    Well, do better next time, as for this time, I cant make you pay more than the standard rates for damage incurred during a defensive engagement, but I want something else from you.


    T felt her eyes narrow. <em>If he asks for a meal, or something like that, Im gonna hit him.</em>


    <em>-Really? Just for asking?-</em>


    <em>Yeah. Mistress Vangas right there; hell probably be fine after.</em>


    I want the dew of azy morning, harvested from the left whisker of a kitten.


    She paused at that, blinking a few times. What?


    Master Navin closed his eyes and rubbed his temples as he muttered to himself.


    Master Clevnis stepped forward. I think Ive let this continue long enough. Whats going on?


    Master Adam turned to the unit leader. I already told you. This Refined has damaged myhe nced to Master Navinour wall, and I feel rpense is required.


    T spoke before her unit leader could, Im not hunting down a kitten for dew. And even if I were willing, its an impossible thing to fulfill regardless, because the act of having the task, makes the morning anything butzy.


    Fine, Ill take the twinkle of a star off of a noon-time pool.


    T gave him a t look. I have no idea what is going on here, but I am not amused.


    Master Navin cleared his throat. Hes being whimsical, and hes irritated. I think hes stuck between being frustrated with you and trying to be funny. Ill ept twenty gold to clear your debt to him and take him away without further issue.


    T almost agreed, just to get this over with, but then she saw a glint of mischief in Master Navins eyes. Youre messing with me, too. What, is this some sort of initiation for new defenders? Are you two working together to get an extra bit of gold? I broke some stone. It shouldnt be hard to repair.


    Master Adam raised a finger, his cheek twitching. Its <em>not</em> stone. The walls are made of an incrediblyplex intecing of various materials both natural and man-made.


    Master Navin shook his head. Its stone, Adam.


    Master Adam turned on his partner, and they fell to arguing as if it were amon topic for them. In fact, from what T heard, they seemed to be picking up the argument somewhere between vastly tooplex for her to care and way too detailed for her to follow.


    Master Clevnis shook his head, leading T away, Terry trailing just behind. Lets leave them to it.


    Are they going to be okay? T nced over her shoulder at the two Archons who were wandering off, still deep in their argument.


    Oh, yes. They are specialists in maintaining city walls during a waning. They are entric, but they work really well together, and their work is beyond reproach. They do like to extort odd requests or gold from people who arent familiar with them, though. He frowned. Now that I think about it, those who agree to the odd requests seem to lose more in the end, whenpared to those who just hand over some gold.


    Well, Im d to hear that I mean that they work well together. They dont seem to get along very well. She pointed her thumb at the arguing pair.


    He shrugged. Friendship looks different for different people. A couple of their kids are married, so theyre as much family as friends. That addsplication to any dynamic. Theyve been doing this for almost a century.


    T took onest look, and really <em>looked</em> this time.


    With the extra focus and context, this time she saw it. There was afort with which they held themselves around each other. The conversation was just incidental. They were used to one another, and no longer felt a need to tiptoe around the other.


    They were who they were, and they epted themselves and each other without reservation.


    <em>Huh thats actually pretty interesting.</em>


    But forget that. Master Clevnis pulled her attention back as the two of them joined the others from their unit. You did <em>not</em> properly convey the battle prowess of your friend, here.


    Terry flickered to Ts other shoulder, happily preening before the regard of the Refined who surrounded him.


    T found herself smiling. Yeah, hes pretty great, isnt he?


    Terry headbutted her cheek affectionately.


    Mistress Vanga spoke up, Dimensional terror bird, indeed. How many times did you go through a fount, multi-sized one?


    Terry nced toward T, then flickered three times.


    <em>Thats what was guessed. Is he saying three because thats what I think, or is it the truth?</em>


    <em>-Does it matter?-</em>


    <em>Probably not, no.</em>


    Thats phenomenal. How did you avoid the subsequent binding Mistress Vangas eyes widened. The fount was destroyed shortly after you passed through it thest time?


    T found herself frowning. Whats this?


    It was Master Girt who answered, All the arcanous creatures known to have passed through a fount three times and survived, shortly afterward were bound to the regionand the fount itselfas magical beasts, content to protect the source of their power. Mistress Vanga is guessing that Terrys fount was destroyed after he gained the extra power, but before he was bound. All of the benefit, none of the bacsh.


    T regarded Terry with renewed interest. One day I will need to get your whole story.


    He regarded her for a long moment, then shook himself and trilled happily. The implication was an obvious, Nah.


    She found herselfughing, even as she pulled out some jerky and tossed it for him.


    His control is spectacr, Master Limmestare was staring in fascination, and he moves with such precision and with so little dy. Unless he was contained, or otherwisepletely countered, I cannot imagine him falling in a conflict.


    Terry swallowed the next bit of jerky before chirping happily in agreement.


    Master Clevnis pped his hands together, Enough standing around and staring at our feathered friend, lets go eat!


    T looked up at the darkening sky. Arent we still on shift? Its only been like three hours?


    -<em>Three and a half.-</em>


    Yeah, three and a half hours since our on duty rotation started. Arent they eight-hour shifts?


    They are. Master Clevnis nodded.


    Master Limmestare smiled. Ill be on the wall while you all eat. Theres no need for all of us to be away from warm food.


    Oh! About that <em>Did Mistress Petra ever respond?</em>


    <em>-Of course. Master Simon did as well, but he said hed need to take more extensive measurements before he could provide a definitive answer.-</em>


    <em>What did </em>she<em> say?</em>


    <em>-Right, Mistress Petra is happy to provide food this evening, and in fact it should be ready in another half-hour or so. She did want you to know that regrly providing food for another five people would increase the supply budget that she needs.-</em>


    <em>Well handle it.</em> T grinned toward her new unit. Is there a ce that we can all sit together and still be in position to be on duty?


    Mistress Cerna seemed to catch something in Ts look, because she smiled in return. Of course. There are several secondary guard-stations that wont be in active use but are positioned to allow quick-response and monitoring. What do you have in mind?


    A treat for my new unit.


    Twenty minutester, they were set up in an oddly perfect room.


    They were in a circr chamber, roughly centered along the section of wall they were overseeing for this shift, at the level of the wall walk.


    During active conflict, this room would serve as a staging ground for soldiers and Mages to gather to either push out onto the wall top to either side, or up the tower top above.


    For the moment, however, it was kept empty.


    The walls were either magicked in some wayor of a materialto look almost like ss, providing a three-hundred-sixty degree view, both back into the city and out over the walls.


    It was even translucent to Ts magesight, which either meant it was the material, or that the magics involved were highly sophisticated, which honestly wouldnt have surprised her.


    In the center of this room, T had pulled out arge table, acquired with the help of the Zats advice weeks earlier, along with six matching chairs for herself and her new unit.


    The others had watched with bemusement, likely confused because they each had their own items in storage, and they were unsure why she was showing hers to them.


    In all likelihood, theirs would be nicer as well, given theyd each had centuries to collect such things, but that was hardly the point.


    The table hade out fully set for arge meal, but the dishes on offer werent quite ready.


    Finally, Master Girt cleared his throat. As impressive as this set up is, Mistress T, I have to ask: Where is the food going to being from? Trail rations are only so appetizing, even served in such a fine setting.


    She grinned. Dinner should be ready now.


    <em>-Yes, as of two minutes ago.-</em>


    <em>Thank you. Please pass along my thanks.</em>


    <em>-Already done.-</em>


    Here you go. And she began pulling piping hot dishes out of Kit and sliding them across the table where they came to rest along the length of the middle of the surface. <em>Family style.</em>


    The other Refined hesitated for only a moment before taking chairs, leaning in with keen interest.


    Please serve yourselves and pass the dish along.


    Everyoneplied, grabbing the nearest dish, and taking a serving before the offerings moved around the group.


    Master Limmestare leaned forward and took in a deep whiff of thetest food before him. This seems to be hot from the oven. Does your storage have temporal-locking abilities? Those are quite rare. He hesitated. No, you talked about it being ready do you have artifacts such that they can make <em>this</em> onmand?


    Tughed. Nothing soplicated. I have a cook.


    There was a collective pause.


    Mistress Cerna cleared her throat before asking in a carefully neutral voice, Say again?


    I have a cook.


    In your soul-bound storage?


    T nced around, seeing everyones concern. No. My storage isnt soul-bound.


    Everyone seemed to let out a collective exhtion of relief.


    She is in my magic-bound storage, though. Is that a problem?


    Food began moving again, and it was Master Clevnis who answered, Generally speaking, once you soul-bond a storage device, only things bound to you, or bound to no one, will be able to enter it.


    Oh! So, when you thought I had a cook within my soul-bound storage T felt herself pale slightly at the implication.


    Yes, we thought that you had, for some reason, soul-bound another person and clearly not a spouse, given our earlier discussions.


    Ahh, I can understand the reaction, then. No, Mistress Petra is quite a wonderful woman who helps me with all sorts of tasks, here and there. As to the storage, Id happily show you all at some point. I think its quite nice.


    They chatted for a few minutes as they continued with the meal before a thought urred to T.


    One moment, does cing unbound magic items within a soul-bound storage?


    Master Girt nodded, swallowing a bit of buttered bread. More often than not, that binds the item to you, magically. There are ways to prevent it, but most of them are quite finicky at best.


    Thats incredibly good to know.


    He shrugged. Its something the Constructionists will go over with you in detail before you go through the bonding process with a storage item.


    <em>Thats fair, I suppose.</em>


    Afortable silence fell over the table as the Refined served themselves and ate in equal measure.


    Even as night solidly took hold of the city and surroundings, they didnt light any artificial light. They didnt need any with their Refined vision.


    T had to refill the water pitchers a few times, but other than that, everything was well provided for from the initial unloading.


    Somewhere around then, she had a realization, and the feeling almost brought tears to her eyes.


    She felt <em>normal</em> in this group.


    It wasnt that she was like them, or they were like her in every way, but they were from the same group. They had the same expectations, simr experiences, simr capacities. They were peers, even if she was the least among them for the moment.


    It was something she hadnt really felt in a long time, even while at the Academy.


    The sadness of the realization cracked, when she contemted on the fact that the sadness was from pastck, and she wasntcking now.


    <em>At least theres potential.</em>


    Eventually, eating slowed enough that small talk picked up, and they passed the evening with mundane conversation, simply bingfortable around each other as a group.


    When their shift ended near the middle of the night, the table and leftovers had long been put away. The table, chairs, and essories had been ced back in Kit; the leftovers had been thrown for Terrys amusement, everyone joining in the game after it was understood.


    The six came down from the wall, not passing their recements, as the other unit would be setting up to pass their shift in whatever manner they saw fit.


    Once gathered on the road that ran the inner circumference of Alefast, just inside the wall, the unit said their goodbyes, the old-hands weing T and Terry onest time before they parted ways.


    T looked up to the sky as she walked, taking in the overt defensive magics woven through the air all around her, overhead even more so.


    She was passing through a fortress, a bastion of humanity against the oing storm.


    <em>This is a waning, T, at least the barest edge of one.</em>


    An unnoticed smile slowly grew across her lips as she changed her focus and saw the stars, so high above the suddenly simple-seeming magics that protected them.


    <em>What is out there, t?</em>


    <em>-Maybe nothing, but I find that unlikely.-</em>


    <em>Yeah. There could be millions of humans among those stars.</em>


    <em>-Millions? T, if there are humans out there, theyd be counted in the billions, trillions, or even more. Any group of humanity capable of traveling the stars would have to have the numbers to maintain that level of technological advancement.-</em>


    <em>Unless there were only a lonely few, looking for others but always missing one another.</em>


    There was a long, long silence after that as T continued to walk toward the Gredialpound.


    Her smile faded a bit, <em>Im acting a bit like that, arent I? Wandering through existence, barely avoiding connections as I pass people by.</em>


    <em>-You were, but I think youre changing.-</em>


    <em>Is it for the better?</em>


    <em>-That depends on what you want, I suppose. Do you like the changes?-</em>


    Her smile slowly grew once again before settling firmly in ce. <em>Yeah, I really think I do.</em>

 Chapter 330: After-Battle

    Chapter 330: After-Battle


    T woke early the next morningwell before the sun was up outside, and only a little before it would rise within Kitand immediately moved through her stretches.


    The sun outside and the sun within her sanctum wereing closer to being in harmony as summer approached, and that lent to a feeling of greater coherence between life in her sanctum and the real world outside.


    <em>I think I might set the synchronization on the internal environment to mirror outside for a bit. It would be nice to feel like they were at least in the same reality.</em>


    <em>-That would likely help you feel more at home here, yeah. Weve never really delved into the main systems of this ce. The manuals we were given were mainly for the peripherals.-</em>


    <em>Yeah what did they say? Start using the systems and more information will be provided?</em>


    <em>-I hope that it wasnt going to be provided by them or-</em>


    She snorted augh. <em>Right you are. That would be unfortunate.</em>


    As to that morning, Master Clevnis has asked to meet with her first thing in the morning. So, after theyd rified what that meant, T had been sure to leave Kit on an outer wall of the Gredialpound so he could find the entrance with ease.


    Shed also notified Mistress Petra that shed have a guest for breakfast.


    T had gotten her bath the night beforeonce she got Kit cedand so she was feeling pretty rxed, even as she felt the vibrations that indicated a knock on Kits front door.


    She reached out and opened a watchmans hatch in a non-existent door in the air. One minute, Master Clevnis.


    Certainly, Mistress T.


    She closed the hatch as she turned in ce, then hesitated. <em>Ive Ive never done that before.</em>


    <em>-Thats true. Its a fairly obvious use of your connection, but still a new one.-</em>


    T grunted, then shrugged, willing herself to the dining room.


    Mistress Petra was just finishing up breakfast when T appeared. Good morning, Mistress T. Ill be out of your hair in but a moment.


    T smiled to the older woman. Theres no rush, Mistress Petra. I appreciate how helpful youve been ofte. Well, how helpful you always are, really.


    But of course.


    T opened an exit on one wall and gestured for Master Clevnis to step inside.


    The man hesitated for only a moment before saying something under his breath and stepping through.


    T was distinctly able to catch his words: I do not consent to any bond.


    The Refined stopped just inside, seeming to examine himself thoroughly. Fascinating. You were quite correct on the nature of this space it seems.


    Mistress Petra wiped her hands on her apron and came out from the kitchen, giving a deep bow. Master Clevnis, wee to Mistress Ts sanctum.


    The Refined jerked his head to regard the woman but quickly adjusted, instantly calming, a smile spreading across his features. Ahh, you must be the fantastic cook who was so kind as to provide myself and my unit with foodst night. He gave a small bow her way, eyes flicking toward T. It was Mistress Petra, correct?


    That was me, yes. My family and I live and work here.


    Fascinating.


    It is. She seemed to misunderstand his meaning. Ive never much explored higher level dimensional spaces, though my husband has told me enough about them. I must say that he undersold the majesty and utility they are capable of, if anything. She chuckled. Id not have believed you if you told me that a year ago, let me tell you true.


    The unit leaders smile increased slightly. Indeed.


    Ahh, but silly me. Breakfast will be done shortly, and Ill leave you to your time.


    Master Clevnis gave another bow before turning and taking in the room around him. A building within a dimensional storage. It seems so unnecessary, but I suppose I can see the utility. Familiarity of surroundings is maintained, if nothing else, and with others in here, it allows for privacy and segregation of spaces for various tasks.


    T stepped a bit closer, so that they might not be disturbing Mistress Petra, Yes, the arcanes have many oddities to their holds. Some are ridiculous, but there are others that we might learn from and implement, at least in some cases.


    The man was nodding. When you dont soul-bond such a space, it bes much more utilizable, though it does limit it in other regards. I suppose like all things, there are no solutions, only tradeoffs.


    She gave a rueful smile, So Ive heard, but we can discuss that over breakfast, and that will be soon enough. Take a moment to look around.


    He smiled and did just that, panning his gaze around the room, taking time to examine his surroundings more closely, a frown building. The door out?


    Oh, thats usually in a bunker outside, but I can call it to wherever I wish it to be.


    He grunted. Thats His words faded as he really <em>looked</em> out of the massive windows. He stepped closer to the ss, seemingly without realizing that he was doing so, eyes flicked back and forth, trying to take it all in. Thats not an illusion.


    His words were barely above a whisper, but T decided to respond regardless, No, it isnt. We can walk some of itter, if you wish.


    I might like that So, this is what you were keeping to yourself, with regard to out of Alefast missions? We can use this as a nightly ce to stay?


    She grimaced slightly. Maybe. I dont know how the integrity will hold up under five more Refined in here.


    He nodded. Ahh, so you havent gotten around that limitation entirely.


    Master SimonMistress Petras husbandis somewhat of an expert, and hes running some tests. He should have more information in the next few days.


    Master Simon Master Clevnis tilted his head to the side. Where have I heard that name before? Im not usually familiar with most below Refined unless theres something notable about them. He did seem a bit embarrassed at the admission.


    He was working under Master Queue.


    Oh! Yes, and Mistress Elnea was working with him as well. The head of the Bandfast Archon Council.


    <em>Thats right, she helped rmend him, and she did say she wanted one of her own to be researching here.</em>


    <em>-You werent really in the mind-space to properly process all of that, I suppose.-</em>


    <em>Neither of us were, apparently.</em>


    <em>-Ahh, the dangers of being of one mind.-</em>


    Mistress Petra brought over arge tray, andid out the various dishes for T and a well-orchestrated te for Master Clevnis. Pardon my overhearing, but yes, Mistress Elnea has been good to my husband, and me as well. Shes encouraged us to move toward Refining. Weve gotten the inscriptions, but itll be a short while before were ready for any of the sessions. She cleared her throat. But you didnt ask, and Im butting in and taking your time. I do hope you enjoy your breakfast.


    Thank you, Mistress Petra. They both responded, nearly at the same time.


    The woman departed, and T and Master Clevnis sat.


    Master Clevnis ced his hands on either side of the te, t on the table. He took a moment to draw in a deep breath before smiling and speaking quietly. Thank you.


    T smiled, She does make quite excellent fare.


    He directed his smile at her in return, and they dug into their food.


    The conversation hit a lull while they ate, the deliciousness of the meal more than upying their thoughts.


    He easily finished before her and took his dishes to the kitchen.


    Excuse me, Mistress T, but where should I ce these? Is there a sink I can clean them in? He looked around and frowned. I didnt see Mistress Petra clean the cookware, but the cleaning seems to be done.


    Oh, Kit does the cleaning. Just set your te with the clean ones in that marked off square of counter, and youll see.


    He gave her an odd look butplied. An instantter, he grunted. Automatic cleaning? That seems a bit extravagant.


    T shrugged. It might be, but Kit just eats the remnants.


    And Kit is your storage?


    Yes. We were able to determine that Kit is actually a creature born in the void. She came to Alefast, here, disguising herself as a dimensional storage, likely with the intention of eating all she could before she was banished. Or it could have been something else. I suppose I shouldnt pretend to understand exactly what a creature of the void might want.


    Master Clevniss eyebrow twitched.


    That said, the little pouch took a liking to me, it seems. We get along great now.


    The Refined looked around, seeming a bit tense.


    Rx. From what Master Simon has determined, Kit is mostly the entrance and an underlying framework behind the reality within this space. If she wanted to movelet alone eatyou, she would have to get your permission or ovee your magical weight. She hesitated, taking a sip of endingberry juice to get some crumbs out of her mouth. With what Im learning, I <em>think</em> Kit could dump you into the Doman-Imithe if she wished, and youd be hard pressed to stop her, but beyond that, youre in no danger.


    He seemed to tense a bit more, before shaking his head, taking a deep breath, and returning to the table. You seem to lead a truly interesting life.


    Well, if you pay the entry fee,


    you might as well stay for the show. He grinned, finishing the old saying. I can understand that. It is a bit fatalistic, though.


    Only if it kills me.


    He cocked his head, his smile fading just a bit.


    She sighed. Im not trying to die at least not anymore. Im seeing Master Nadro when I can, though our meetings are usually Archival these days.


    Master Clevniss smile grew once more, Hes a wonder, isnt he? Probably the oldest living human, and yet he fills his time with helping others. He hesitated. You know, actually some of the Academy faculty might be older, but I dont think they really remember any more.


    T grunted, moving on to another dish of magic-packed food. With mundane human memory, I suppose that could be a problem.


    Indeed. We werent designed to live forever, so if we manage it, we better do all the upgrades we can.


    She chuckled at that.


    Well, as delightful as this has been thus far, I did have a purpose for wanting to meet up with you.


    She nodded, waiting for him to continue.


    Weve found that it is useful to do after-fight discussions. Yesterday was a big one for you: Your first fight as a defender during a waning.


    She nodded againstill chewingand gestured for him to go on.


    Very well. Obviously, you did well. You defeated the threat with minimal coteral damage.


    The wall?


    He grinned. The wall, yes. Not ideal, but not unexpected. It took less than a gold to fix. Those things are resilient beyond belief and as self-repairing as they can be made to be to boot. In that general area of information, I dont think pay was ever discussed, but thats for after the fight discussion.


    T hmmed her agreement.


    So, in the fight. The magical resonance wasnt ideal, but when you took that hit, magical resonance was the least-bad oue. Im d it didnt turn you to paste. The second resonance, generated when you closed in for your attack on the cyclops, was a good tradeoff. It let you deal with the main threat before anciry enemies arrived. Generally speaking, two quick, simrly sized resonant bursts wont be much more noticeable than a singr of equal size. Space them out too much? Yeah, thats a lot worse.


    T snapped up a piece of bacon.


    You have a through-spike, and you use it regrly, but you dont seem to have fine control over it.


    She grimaced, at the mention of shortfall in her training. Never saw a need.


    Thats fair, but you should train it regardless.


    Isnt this a bit off topic?


    Yes and no. Training with it will help your dexterity and multi-tasking. Thats something Mistress Kaeti will help with too, right?


    She nodded.


    Good. Heres how it connects. Now that you are on a defensive unit, your fightsincluding your fightst nightwill be recorded to the Archive. That one was shown to the watchers in the battle-view restaurants, and will be avable to a lot of other ces within Alefast in theing weeks.


    Really? T hadnt really considered it would be that widespread.


    He grinned. My girl, you werent alive when thest waning happened, so this is likely news to you, but waning fights be the talk of human civilization every cycle. They fade from prominence when each waning concludes, but I promise you that there are businesses scrambling in every human city to get ess to show the waning fights to their customers. Traditionally, theyd have another five or so years, but the pace of this cycle has caught everyone off-guard. Regardless, were all going to be known, at least a little bit, by the time this waning ends.


    She <em>really</em> hadnt considered that. <em>Im not really sure I want that.</em>


    t scoffed. <em>-You literally mapped your magics on the tales of legend. You wanted to be one of them, a warrior of myth and power. This is part of that path, T.-</em>


    She couldnt really argue with that. Well, she could, but it would be pointless.


    Master Clevnis continued, Theyll y the best fights from previous wanings, especially those that include defenders who are here for this one. The Academy also generally has a surge in enrollment during wanings, which helps us keep everyone safe. The notoriety well get isnt precisely the fame of bedtime stories, but it can be a big deal.


    She groaned. I hadnt nned on that.


    He shrugged. You can still back out, but I dont think you will.


    She shook her head. Youre right, I wont. This seems like something I both need and want to do.


    Good. Now, lets get a bit more technical. When you fight, you are mobile, but not really. You try to fight as a mobile fighter, but youck true mobility.


    What do you mean? I mean, you said mobile a lot, but I dont know that I grasped your point.


    He chuckled. Fair enough. I think what I mean is this: Youre incredibly mobile by mundane standards, but youre basically just using your physique to move about. Theres limited utility there when fighting more advanced opponents. Additionally, your big attacks treat you as a stationarybatant. Your siege-orbs are effectively a siege engine firing upon your opponent. Impressive, but you dont need to be anywhere near them, nor factor in their movement or what theyre doing. Mobility doesnt matter. For your dissolution, you have to stop in ce and breathe out a concentrated stream for best effect. In that case, you cant be mobile, and that makes the magics less effective.


    She grunted. I suppose I can see that. What can I do about it?


    Well, those are two different problems, and they arent the only ones that we need to address. To start, lets talk about what you can do, and I mean <em>everything.</em> I even want to know about things you tried in the Academy that seemed useless, so you left them behind long ago.


    She smiled. Its going to be a long day.


    Well, were back on shift pretty soon. We can talk on the way, and the others can handle anything thates up this cycle.


    Right, we were on standby through the night?


    He shrugged. We were. Well get you an emergency beacon today. Thatll call you if youre on standby and needed. Dont expect it to go off for at least a few years, but dont ignore it either.


    Understood.


    As to your capabilities, the others will join us in the discussions as they each have unique perspectives and valuable insight. Ill take notes on what youve got in your corner, and well utilize all that we can, and probably see if we can add a few tools.


    T nodded. That makes sense. She nced at the food still on the table before her. I can eat while we walk.


    Alright then. He stood. Lets take a quick moment and talk about the pay.


    She grinned, Yeah, about that.


    Its a standard, non-negotiable rate. One gold ounce per day, plus the harvests whenever you take down magical creatures. With such powerful creatures, the harvests are generally pretty worthwhile. All that, minus repair costs incurred which could have been reasonably avoided.


    Like that wall?


    He scrunched his face slightly. Honestly, I think youll only be charged a small portion of that. Like I said, it wasnt a bad oue, even if it wasnt ideal.


    Alright.


    Beyond that, the pay is two gold per day if were out on assignment beyond the city walls. There is a one hundred gold death benefit to your next of kin. This bypasses any debts or other obligations or ims on your estate as a whole. It is meant purely as a boon to your recipient.


    T was surprised by that, but thought she understood. The point was to ensure that those left behind were cared for, not to just remove a bit of debt that a now-deceased Refined had incurred.


    Additionally, there are bounties for specific taskspleted, but those are too nuanced and numerous to outline quickly. All this and more is in the Archive, and I can make sure you have ess to look through it at your leisure. Does all that sound agreeable?


    <em>Well, no food or lodging budget, so it is actually a bit less than the most I could make as a Dimensional Mage and Mage Protector on a daily basis. But I couldnt run those shorter routes all the time, so its better on average, in the long run. Plus, I get to stay in one ce for a bit, as long as I want to. </em>Yeah, that sounds agreeable.


    Great! Now, lets get out of here and you can tell me about what you can do.


    <em>t? I think I could really use your help here.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, I figured. Im starting to get everything organized, but youve weve experimented with a LOT of things. Give me ten minutes to cote and get this into some sort of coherently structured order.-</em>


    <em>Alright, what do you suggest I do until then?</em>


    <em>-Im not going to devote brain power to that. Pick something randomly and go with that.-</em>


    <em>Fair enough.</em> T reach out and opened the door, which appeared before her as she did so, letting them out onto the street. Well, the first thing thates to mind is a twist on a dimensional prison.


    Master Clevnis regarded the new door with obvious scrutiny, then seemed to process what she said, frowning as he followed her out of Kit, Alright, that definitely sounds interesting, go on.

 Chapter 331: A Different Ruleset

    Chapter 331: A Different Ruleset


    T moved her lord-piece one space closer to a corner, sheltered by herst remaining defender.


    Rane grinned as he considered the board. So, youre enjoying being a defender?


    Its interesting. It feels a bit like guarding a caravan, in that Im not really doing much for a lot of the time, but I need to be vignt, and ready at a moments notice. I definitely think that Im starting to understand what Mistress Cerna meant when she said she was feeling the tension, even when just on standby.


    He nodded, taking a sip of tea before he slid an attacker between her lord-piece and the closest victory square.


    T grimaced. ying on a hex grid is weird.


    It got really popr in Alefast for a time, so these boards are more avable.


    She gave him a t look. We both have square boards in our storages.


    Well, I thought it would be a fun variation.


    She only red for an instant, then she shook her head and smiled. Its definitely a different way of thinking. I do think I like it, but youve the advantage, having been ying this way for more than a month.


    He shrugged. Youll catch the difference soon enough.


    I <em>already </em>understand the difference, Rane.


    He huffed augh. Thats not what I meant. I mean, your mind will adjuststrategicallysoon enough. Youre right; its obvious that youve grasped the rules difference.


    She made her move and sighed. The oddest part of being a defender is having a few people I dont know clearly recognize me and wave, over thest couple of days.


    I can imagine. Though your fight was rather eye-catching, so Im not surprised.


    Yeah, Terry loves the attention, too. When hes with me, hes recognized more often than I am.


    His was a bit of a terrifying spectacle, and Ive seen him fight before. Seeing it on such a broader scale really put things into perspective; you know?


    They both nced to the terror bird who wasid out in one corner, catching the bit of sun that streamed through the massive window thiste in the day.


    His eye flickered open, closing as soon as he saw them looking his way.


    Faker, T said, with care in her voice and a grin across her face.


    Shed been in the city for a couple of days, and was finally settling in with her unit, so shed hunted down Rane in his familyspound while she was on standby until midafternoon.


    T thought she could get used to the rolling schedule, especially since being on duty mainly meant concentrated training, and standby was simply doing whatever she wished to be doing.


    Once shed navigated through the Gredialpound, a servant leading her to master Rane, it hadnt been hard to convince him to y a game of tafl. At which point hed pulled out the hex-grid version, and proceeded to exin that this was how it was yed in Alefast.


    <em>Its fine. I can get used to this format of y</em>


    So, what have you been doing, aside from the one fight?


    She shrugged. Training mostly. They rightly pointed out that my abilities, tools, and skills are a bit disjointed at the moment.


    He grunted, still examining the board. Yeah, just a bit.


    She gave him a fake re. Anyway. Weve been brainstorming, and I have a lot to work on to tighten things up.


    Oh? Like what?


    Well, the first thing was a mindset and mental model to remove all gravity from myself effectively instantly.


    Rane nced up at that. Oh, yeah, that would be incredibly useful.


    It was her turn to grunt. Additionally, I never really fully realized my ns with the Leshkin shields.


    He snapped his fingers and pointed at her. Thats right! You paid me out so you could take those two massive, juggernaut tower-shields.


    I also had a ring made ages ago, that can hold three bloodstars and lock into ce around Flows hilt, to give me precise control over Flows orientation and movement, especially when within my aura, but even outside it, Ill have control to a much greater extent.


    Rane whistled, nodding. Yeah. What ever happened with that?


    She shrugged. Other stuff came up, and I never made the bloodstars for it. She quirked a smile. I have now.


    It sounds like youre going to be a terror.


    She chuckled. Thats the idea.


    But, are the Leshkin shields even still useful? I mean, you imed them as harvests when you were Bound.


    Never managed to mar them then, but youre right. Even so, apparently they are an odd manifestation of magic. For one, they sat within Kit for more than a year, and simply absorbed the magic free-floating within Kit.


    So, theyre already magic bound to you, then?


    Deeply so, it seems. Apparently, all Leshkin items are in a ss of artifact that is <em>highly</em> adaptive to their wielder. Seemingly, Leshkin soldier swords are identical, magically, to juggernaut swords. The added power is simply due to their wielder.


    Rane frowned. Wait, but we were paid less for lower grade armaments.


    She shrugged. There is lingering power within those imed from higher ranks. The base items arent very valuable, even though they are useful, because humanity has so, <em>so</em> so many of them due to all the Leshkin wars. The real payment is for the remnants of Leshkin power within.


    He grunted, turning a good portion of his attention back to the board. So, we could have sold the higher-level weaponry and armor and bought basic stuff to the same effect?


    She shook her head. No, we used much of what we kept for mergings. We leaned on the exact power that causes the increased value to give our soulbound items a boost.


    Ahh, yeah, that tracks. It also exins why no one tried to warn us off.


    So, all that to say: so long as I actively use and dump power into the shields, they should grow with me, though not as much or as quickly as they would if soulbound.


    So, they want you to go weightless and add a bunch of extra tools? Each, individually sounds useful, but overall that doesnt seem like cleaning up your fighting at all. In fact, that just seems like its mucking it up.


    She shrugged. Youre not wrong. Therere more mindsets being added for quicker activation and use of power, too.


    No new scripts though.


    NO. No, no. Not at all. That would be really foolish, without a good reason. Honestly, though, there were some rather horrifying ideas?


    Oh?


    Yeah, Mistress Cerna suggested I throw out my iron as caltrops across any battlefield. The iron should disruptrge-area workings, and in the unlikely event that they did prate my opponents skin, theyd disrupt internal magics, too.


    Rane shuddered. Mage Hunters have some devious tactics.


    Indeed. That wouldnt work for me, unless I had aura-superiority across the whole field, and in that case, the fight would be mostly over. She sighed. At least thats what I thought. Apparently, there are arge slew of magical beings and creatures that basically cannot extend their aura outside of their bodies, and in some, their aura even retreats away from anything that cuts or pierces into them. There arent <em>many</em> that are that extreme, but there are some.


    But those wouldnt have wide area magics to disrupt in the first ce.


    Thats what I said. She grimaced. But I was still advised to practice, as my aura resonates through the iron as well, letting my aura be much stronger across a wider area than should be possible. Master Akra has already given me a few exercises to focus on my aura control, strength, and actualization.


    Rane chuckled. That sounds like Master Jevin, but I suppose that makes sense. With your aura spread out, you do have some advantage in leverage, but it alsoes with the obvious disadvantage of, if you lose an aura-struggle, your iron is consumed by the void.


    She shrugged. If I lose an aura-struggle on my body, I lose, so obviously different stakes, but Im used to solidifying my aura when it matters. They also want to test exactly what it takes for the iron to be voided.


    Heughed out loud. Voided? Really? Thats what youre going with?


    She grimaced again. It wasnt my idea or my choice Master Girt was rather insistent, and it caught on before we really noticed.


    Heughed again. That is amazingly horrible.


    But the main thing to train for, aside from the new mental models, is to split my conscious control further. Mistress Kaeti has already started to help with that. We were going to work on something else, too, but shes asked for more time to process that aspect of her power before we delve into it together.


    Mistress Kaeti? Why does that sound familiar?


    She uses motive and positioning activations for her magic, slew a minor horde a few days ago.


    Oh! Yeah, the dancer. That was pretty cool to watch.


    T moved her defender. So, whats up with you?


    Raneughed. Well, Furgal stormed through a couple days ago, before taking a caravan off to Bandfast then who-knows-where.


    She blinked back at him. He did?


    Yeah. Said he was following his elders advice, but Master Grediv seems to have no interest inmenting on it. So, theres a lot of the family who think that one of the uncles went rogue and convinced Furgal to withdraw as the potential sessor to the family and depart.


    T frowned, not really understanding. He did what?


    He withdrew from consideration as the sessor. Rane shook his head. Its a rather worthless position. Basically, each generation selects who will guide the family if Master Grediv is no longer in a position to do so.


    T frowned at that. There have to be tons of Refined or Paragons in your family who could take over in his absence.


    Heughed. Not one is interested, and trust me, Master Grediv has tried to pawn it off on each and every one of them. So, every generation, the mundanes, Mages, and less advanced Archons do this little dance so the family has a sessor in case of disaster.


    So, will you do it?


    Oh, stars no. He shook his head. They asked, too, bless them. Let that idiocy fall on one of my cousins. I eventually want my own children and to go from there. Ive no interest in babysitting generations of mundanes who only barely contribute enough to be worth the resources they take. Even if I somehow never make it to Refined, Id still be on the hook for a <em>long</em> time


    She found herself nodding at that. She loved her siblings, but she couldnt imagine trying to look after their kids, and their kids kids, and so on.


    Your move.


    Hmm? She looked up, pulled from her thoughts.


    Its your move.


    Oh! Sorry, I wasnt paying attention.


    He smiled. Clearly. We can stop if you want, then restart the game if you want to consider this a trial run.


    She gave him a fake re. Im not conceding that easily.


    Im about to win.


    Sure, but you have to earn that victory.


    We dont have to count this game at all. We dont generally count <em>any</em> of the games we y. He was grinning back at her.


    Bah. We fight to the end! She held up a finger in mock solemnity.


    He huffed augh. Very well, but its still your move.


    Fine, fine. Dont rush me.


    * * *


    The next several days passed in a blur.


    T trained and stood watch, got to know her unit, and began to unify her magics and capabilities.


    She found a good time to have a meal with Master Simon, Mistress Petra, and the younger Zats too, and they all agreed to work in a meal every week or so, so that they could stay on the same page.


    Master Simon was able to determine that her unit should be able to sleep within the sanctum for four to six hours a night without causing anysting damage. Any longer than that, and there would begin to be noticeable degradation.


    That in mind, with their mission to a newly degrading cell only just a couple of days away, T was ready to show her sanctum to her new unit.


    T stepped through the door into Kit,ing out just before her dais and moving to the side to let the others in.


    Master Clevnis followed first, having been inside before. Mistress Cerna was right behind him, seemingly trusting his judgment explicitly.


    -<em>She also might be trusting her own soul, given that if anything happened to her husband it would be obvious.-</em>


    <em>I mean, that too? Thats basically the same thing sort of?</em>


    <em>-Ahh, soulbonds.-</em>


    Mistress Vanga came in tentatively, but without noticeable hesitation, her eyes immediately took in their surroundings, widening slightly. Theres a whole littlepound in here? She shook her head. Of course there is, you said as much, I guess I just didnt think it would be so standard. Buildings, open space, a sky overhead.


    She tilted her head to the side in contemtion, even as she stepped aside so that Master Limmestare could follow.


    He paused in the doorway, craning his neck to look nearly straight up, taking in the sky, sun and faux clouds.


    Youre right, Mistress Vanga. And its a truly masterfully crafted false sky.


    T nodded. For all their wsand there are manythe arcanes do good work. They have much more use for dimensionally expanded spaces than we do. Or at least they put them to more use.


    The slender man smiled and bowed slightly in acknowledgement, his clothing giving on the tell-tale glimmer that T had begun to associate with him and his battle wear.


    <em>ss-fibers woven through his clothing I definitely wouldnt have considered that possibility.</em>


    <em>-The stuff seems to be quite effective armor when you can control and enhance it.-</em>


    <em>Definitely.</em> In their practice, shede to realize that despite the seeming frailty both of his chosen material and the man himself, Master Limmestare was a terrifying front-line fighter, and he could take a hit almost as well as she could.


    <em>-Better, because hes not thrown away.-</em>


    The times shed seen him practice, hed woven dozens ofyers of ss-fibers almost instantly to take a given hit, eachyer shattering to absorb and dissipate a portion of the hit.


    The number was apparently perfectly calibrated each time based on Master Limmestares assessment of the iing hit, and thus thestyers buckled, leaving his opponent fully extended and vulnerable for counterattack. No wasted effort or energy.


    Observing him, even in practice, had been enlightening.


    <em>Reactive armor.</em> The Refined had immediately begun working with T to make simrlyyered, thin iron tes, designed to distort and break to dissipate offensive energy rather than simply absorbing the hits like a big, dumb rock.


    Master Girt had yfully red at the ss wielder when he gave that jab but hadntmented.


    The reactive armor was exhausting work.


    Speaking of Master Girt, the Refined cleared his throat. Step in already, Limmestare. I want to see, too.


    The lithe man sighed, muttering under his breath that he didnt consent to any bondamong other things.


    Interestingly, it was something that they had rmended T begin doing before crossing any threshold, either magical or mundane.


    <em>While I ept the invitation to enter, I do not ept nor offer bonds nor fidelity of any kind.</em>


    <em>-Wordy.-</em>


    <em>Thorough.</em> The others in her unit had gone to great lengths to begin her education on some of the higher dangers associated with more advanced magical beings.


    Master Limmestare finally stepped inside, tension obvious throughout his frame.


    T felt it then, a slight tremor through her magic where she was feeding Kit.


    It was like a tickle in the back of her throat that <em>might</em> grow enough to make her cough.


    She frowned. <em>I had way more people in here when I was showing off Kit upon my return from the arcanends.</em>


    <em>-How many were Refined? And how much did Master Xeel work to offset the impact?-</em>


    <em>He should have made it worse, not better.</em>


    <em>-Even with how he was folding existence around himself to hide? I doubt it. Even so its something else to ask him next time we see him.-</em>


    <em>He has been very unresponsive to Archival missives</em>


    Master Girt came inst, stopping in ce as soon as he was fully within her sanctum and staring fixedly. He had one eyebrow cocked and an incredulous look painted across his features.


    T followed his gaze toward her dais, frowning.


    The Refined closed his eyes and shook his head. Mistress T. Dont you think a literal <em>throne</em> is a bit on the nose?

 Chapter 332: A Cliff

    Chapter 332: A Cliff


    T flew through the skies outside of Alefast on a rather interesting amalgamation, along with her defensive unit and a passenger.


    Master Girt had created a tform of stone, and Master Limmestare had added a windscreen of curved, reinforced ss.


    T, herself, had then reduced the effective gravity on the thing down to about five-percent, before Mistress Cerna had woven a select few patches of copper in the air, cing them just below the bottom, piercing thin tendrils of the stuff through to a central position, where she took up a seat.


    The woman had then sat in that central position, and power began flowing through the metal spell-forms. They seemed to be some sort of propulsion, because the whole thing had easily lifted off of the ground to hover and await their boarding.


    The unit had climbed aboard, along with a young-looking woman, who had introduced herself as Ezmenya-KepKep for shortand theyd taken off, heading to the northeast, and the foot of the mountains in that direction.


    Mistress Kep was clearly a Paragon, even though she kept her aura politely contained.


    As the group flew, Terry sat perched on the top of the hemisphere of ss, wind whipping his feathers as he looked ahead, an oddly intense light in his eyes.


    T and the others sat around Mistress Cerna, trying not to shift too much.


    This was apparently a very metal-efficient means of transportation, but not very stable, all things considered.


    In either case, they were moving just under the speed of magical resonance, which wasnt that fast due to how many of them there were so tightly packed together.


    Still, it was more efficient than jogging, given that they could skim about twenty feet above the treetops and head in a straight line.


    They only had to deal with the asional arcanous creature, but each was dealt with by a small stone firing off at greater than the speed of sound, a de of ss molding to intercept and obliterate, or simple des appearing to deliver death.


    All in all, it was a rather uneventful way to travel.


    <em>I suppose thats the result of having so manybat capable Refined ready to hand.</em>


    Theyd been underway for about two hours, when T had a thought, Why would this take multiple days? We could get to another city in about a day at this speed. Why would we need more than one to go somewhere rtively nearby, fix an issue, ande back?


    Mistress Cerna nced her way, but returned her focus to the task of flying.


    Master Clevnis opened one eye, nced toward the Paragon, smiled, and closed his eye again.


    Masters Grit and Limmestare simply ignored her.


    Mistress Vanga smiled and gestured toward the Paragon, Mistress Kep? Would you like to take this one?


    Mistress Kep stirred from her musings, turning toward T with a patient smile. Well, as this involves my purpose, I think it fitting that I answer. Thank you, Mistress Vanga. Her gaze came back to T. You were Mistress T, correct?


    T had introduced herself, and T knew that this woman was advanced enough to easily remember something so trivial, so she was likely just being polite. <em>Her aura is held incredibly close, though, likely to help with magical resonance. I </em>could<em> pierce her skin with my magesight and look, but that would be a bit rude. Its enough just to know shes a Paragon. I dont need to know exactly where she is in that stage.</em>


    She nodded.


    Yes, Im T.


    Mistress Keps smile grew. Well, I am a specialist in analyzing and maintaining existence cells. Unfortunately, the time required for <em>this</em> type of mission is entirely on my end. It is not a fast process.


    Oh? T oriented more fully on the woman. What exactly will you be doing?


    Im d you asked! Mistress Kep sat a bit straighter, positively beaming. First of all, I will examine the ancient materials left by those who created this particr cell to understand what the contained threat is. Then, the six of you will follow the instructions provided in order to engage the threat while I do maintenance on the seal.


    T blinked. Say again?


    The Paragon tilted her head to one side, questioningly, What part?


    Engage the threat. What do you mean?


    Oh! Thats simple. The repairs that need to be done cant be performed on an actively engaged seal. If the contained threat were to stress the seal as I was working on it, the containment might shatterpletely, and no one wants that. She hesitated. Well, no one but the contained threat.


    Why not have a doubleyered seal, or something?


    That is something that has been proposed, but it has also been dismissed. Do you want me to take you through why?


    T thought about it for a moment, then shook her head. No, I think I can understand. If they were both sealed, then its effectively just one big seal, with no way of detecting the degradation of the first half of it. If the inner one is left open toter engage to repair the outer one, the threat would still likely have to be fought back through that open seal. Additionally, it would be giving the threat a potential temte to examine, in order to work out how to break through its containment. If it was the outer one that was left open, it would effectively just be a in case you dont notice soon enough, close this for more time. Repairing the engaged, inner seal would be identical to working on a lone seal. Thus, a double seal in that case would just be extra resources for no purpose.


    Mistress Kep chuckled in delight. Very good, yes.


    So, the issue stands. How are six Refined supposed to fight back and keep at bay something that no human Archon, even Reforged, can kill?


    She held up a finger. Permanently destroy.


    Hmm?


    Permanently destroy, not kill. There is a <emrge</em> distinction there. Most of these things are kible, manyughably easily so.


    T found herself nodding. I think I understand, but can you give a few examples?


    Well, all the myriad phoenix rted beastse to mind first. If they grow in power to the point of being an existential threat, they almost universally have to be sealed. Killing a phoenix, no matter the variety, almost always makes it stronger in some regard. Even when the creature doesnt gain strength from the death, they generally arent overly harmed by it in the long run. There are a whole host of creatures simr to phoenixes that we often just bunch together as threats thate back from even the smallest fraction of themselves. Then there are the self-replicating threats. For some of those, destroying them often just creates more, in some way or other. Then the conceptual threats, who can move through ideas. Then, of course, there are the ones that are basically impossible to kill, but that doesnt mean they cant be hurt, pinned down, or otherwise dyed.


    She found herself blinking at the influx of information. None of it was precisely new but she hadnt really put it all together in these ways before. Things like dasgannach?


    Exactly, though they dont pose arge enough threat to need to be contained generally. It helps that they generally have a limited capacity of how much they can absorb and hold sway over. Even so, I think there were some that spawned for rather unfortunate elements, but if memory serves some Sovereign or god-beast dealt with those.


    Thats a lot to take in.


    It is, but you arent hearing this all for the first time, are you? The woman cast a confused nce toward Master Clevnis. He and the others were sitting with eyes closed, likely working on some internal skill or other.


    T shook her head. No, Ivee across mostif not allof this before, but Ive never really put it all together, if that makes sense.


    Ahh, yes. That does track.


    She hesitated, then just decided to ask. If you dont mind, what advancement are you? I mean, where in the advancement of Paragon.


    Hmm? Oh, yes, Im a Paragon. As basic as theye, actually. Im sure Ill get to Reforging eventually, but there just isnt much need for me to do it, and it isnt the most pleasant of processes or the easiest from my understanding


    Are there many Paragons in Alefast?


    Mistress Kep shrugged. Not really. In most cities, there are more Paragons than Refined, but the ratio skews heavily around the waning when the more research focused Archons go elsewhere, unless their research is aided by the waning, but thats mainly people like me. She considered for a moment before adding, That and the morebat focused Refinede running to the wanings.


    T frowned, What about thebat focused Paragons?


    Well, I dont mean to imply that there arent any, but there arent <em>many</em>. Even most who fight in wanings dont fit into how Im meaningbat focused. Now, most who arebat focusedand who reach Paragonpush on to Reforged as quickly as possible.


    Are there a lot of those? she tried to ask casually.


    Mistress Kep huffed augh. Are you trying to ask how many Reforged humanity has?


    If you know.


    That is actually an excellent way to ask it. To my knowledge, operating within the human cities, we have around thirty Reforged. Some havent been seen in a long time, but a long time for us isnt that long for a Reforged. It takes a lot for us to count one of them as dead and gone.


    T grunted at thest, contemting the presence of so many powerhouses. A momentter, she frowned, seeing it from the opposite side. Isnt that really few?


    Yes and no. We often think of the soul-breaking as being incredibly recent, and in many ways it was, but we speak of it as millennia ago when no human alive now was alive then. At least no one whos talking. She gave T a wink. We <em>think</em> it was twenty thousand years ago?Though anyone you ask will give you a different number.But thats mainly because of people like Master Jevin, who are ancient, but their memory from their youth contains near past references of the soul-breaking. History bes odd, though, when dealing with immortals and the scale of eons. Generally, we agree that the first gate was somewhere between three thousand to three hundred thousand years ago.


    T blinked. What.


    Well, Master Jevin isnt really keen on putting a number on the passage of years. We''re assuming hes at least two and a half millennia, but that could be a <em>radical</em> underestimation.


    What about Master Nadro?


    Oh, youve met Master Nadro? Isnt he wonderful?


    T smiled and nodded.


    Thats good. As to your question, you should ask him some time.


    The way Mistress Kep said that gave T pause, What should I expect when I ask?


    Well, he answers everyone slightly differently, but the general result is: It would probably be best if you didnt know the answer to that.


    T chuckled. No deception doesnt mean all truth is spoken inly.


    Mistress Kep grinned. Indeed.


    It wasnt too much longer before Mistress Kep guided them into a little valley and they set down before an unassuming cliff wall.


    As they approached, T felt herself be a little nauseous. Her magesight was showing the zeme of the area, and it was tumultuous in the extreme, with magical eddies and swirls dancing every which way.


    At the Paragons guidance, they touched down a good ways up the rolling rise toward the mountain peaks.


    T frowned as she looked closer at her surroundings.


    Because she was focusing so closely, she <em>thought</em> that she was able to pick out an unusually t portion of the cliff face. She pointed to it. Is it there?


    Mistress Kep tilted her head to the side. What?


    That tter portion of the cliff. Is that where the door is?


    The woman grinned. No. Dont use your eyes. Use your magesight.


    Master Girt gasped. What? Magesight? Why would a Mage ever use that?


    T shook her head at the grinning Refined.


    Master Limmestare tapped the man on the top of the head. Be nice, and be quiet.


    As to her magesight, T had been trying to parse through it, but honestly, the zeme in the valley was so choppy that it was hard to discern anything really of note.


    Her unit was being unusually quiet, and after the rtive quiet from them on the flight over, it was starting to seem intentional.


    <em>Wanting me to learn, and not trusting themselves not to ruin the lesson?</em>


    <em>-Maybe.-</em> That would certainly exin Master Limmestaresment.


    T shook her head. My magesight is too disrupted to tell much.


    Ahh, so you have a lot of fidelity to that vison?


    Yeah.


    That can be a curse in such chaos, I can understand that. Youll learn to see through the noise with time and practice, but its not pleasant. Do you have any sort of additional vision?


    I have a form of voidsight.


    Really? Mistress Kep perked up. Thats a rarer one. What does that tell you?


    T enacted her voidsight, and her eyes immediately snapped to a strange fold in the air off to one side, about twenty feet from where theyd set down. Now that she was focused on it, she could see it with her magesight as well, but it looked more like slightly more regr chaos, among the truly chaotic chaos.


    -<em>Eloquent.-</em>


    <em>Hush you.</em>


    Mistress Kep noticed Ts attention on the spot and smiled, Ahh, you see it, then. What does it look like to you?


    She frowned, walking forward. It looks like someone took a group of reality nodes and folded them over on themselves somehow? I dont know how else to describe it.


    Thats a good insight. Anything else?


    T frowned, looking around. There seemed to be tendrils of something connecting to various things close by. I think I see some connections. What are they?


    The creators of these cells generally try to leave clues as the password for entry, so that when we have toe to do maintenance, we can get in.


    So, beyond that fold is the cell?


    Hmm? Oh, no. Beyond that fold is the entry way to the cell. In there will be some murals and other information on the creature or creatures or other threats housed within the cell itself. There is often also treasure, attempting to bribe anyone who might find the cell to leave it alone, or pay them to repair it. Things like that.


    That lined up with what shed been told in the mobile viges. Then, she realized something about this fold in reality not being the only seal, and she quirked a smile, So, it is double sealed?


    Mistress Kep chuckled. Not really a seal. From the outside, they try to give us the password for entry, from the inside, you can just walk out.


    T nodded in understanding. Ahh, yeah. Thats not a seal then.


    So? Lets try it. ce your hand on the fold, and say the password.


    T frowned skeptically and walked over, cing her hand where she saw the fold.


    There was no physical sensation, but she held her hand in the right ce regardless.


    So Whats the password? She didnt really have any idea.


    The Paragon patiently responded, Whats it connected to?


    T looked around. I think thats a cantaloupe vine over there, and thats a honeydew.


    Alright, so based on that, what do you think the password is. Speak firmly and with determination.


    Shrugging, T resigned herself. Melon.


    Nothing happened.


    Im a friend?


    Nothing happened, except Mistress Kep chuckling again. Now youre just guessing.


    T shrugged once more. It looks like its connected to nts, or vegetation, then?


    At thestvegetation, the fold seemed to unfold, leaving an odd warping in the air in the shape of arge circle.


    On the other side seemed to be the same valley, but a portion of it that hadnt been visible before.


    The group all walked through, and Mistress Kep patted T on the shoulder. Well done.


    T smiled as she followed them inside, stopping in astonishment when she saw the cliff-face that had been hidden as part of the fold.


    It was covered from top to bottom in squiggly lines for some reason that T couldntprehend. There were no artistic depictions beyond those odd squiggles.


    When she nced toward Mistress Kep, she saw the woman frowning. Well, this is a bit ominous. This seems to be a conceptual threat more than a physical one. Ill need to read this carefully before we proceed.


    You can read that? How? It isnt words.


    It isnt words in ournguage, you mean.


    T blinked at that. Ournguage?


    Yes, dear. The whole world speaks the samenguage because some millennia ago a sovereign got tired of having to relearn how tomunicate to people due to linguistic drift, so he locked ournguage into a cohesive whole. It can grow, but it no longer can shift.


    No one stopped him?


    Oh, stars no. Apparently, many of the other Sovereigns were so taken with the idea that they helped him with some project or other in gratitude. No one knows what it was, and its probably just a myth, but there you have it. Everyone, everywhere, speaks, reads, and writes the samenguage.


    But not that? She pointed.


    No, writing in locked spaces wasnt affected by the magic, so we had to relearn how to read these writings. The password was affected, because it was within our reality for the working, this writing wasnt.


    If this is in anothernguage, then the aligning of all speech and writing doesnt seem like it was that long ago, then?


    Mistress Kep shrugged. Like so many things, I could give you a definitive answer, but I could be off by a few thousand years in either direction.


    T grunted. Wonderful.


    It is what it is. Now, its time to read a cliff.

 Chapter 333: His Story

    Chapter 333: His Story


    T turned her attention to the other things within the folded space as Mistress Kep red with power and slowly rose into the air.


    T wasnt quite able to tell what magics the Paragon was using to lift herself, but she didnt <em>think</em> it was direct air maniption.


    <em>Probably not that important.</em>


    Opposite the cliff, in the roughly fifty-foot square of reality, was a weathered stone building, the interior of which was essed by an open archway.


    The ground looked very much like the ground outside the folded space with knee-high grass, interspersed with low bushes and the asional small tree. Apparently, the soil wasnt that good for trees.


    There were some insects, but no trace of animals, even though T had seen evidence of quite a few little crittersfrom mice and rabbits to small songbirds and grass-dwellersin the valley outside.


    <em>I suppose if any were caught within the bounds of this space, theyd have long since left, unable to return. Their descendants are likely outside, none the wiser.</em>


    Master Limmestare and Mistress Vanga were moving toward the small building, just behind Mistress Cerna.


    Masters Clevnis and Girt had cleared a ten-foot circle, cutting the grass down to about ankle height, and were stretching and moving through a series of magical maniptions that T had learned they used to limber up their gate, will, and mind.


    That had been a rtively new concept to her, though it made sense. How many times had she felt her thinking was a bit off, or her will a bit sluggish? A series of truing up movements with her magic might have just been the thing she needed for those asions.


    Toward that end, shed been joining them to learn, but this time, she was more curious about what was in the little building.


    The structure was well constructed of dry-fitted stone. There was no magic woven though the building, but there was magic within, which surprised T. The surprise vanished almost instantly as Mistress Cerna made clear the reasoning.


    The Refined unit leader sighed. We have a harnessed fount.


    That got everyones attention.


    The Paragon called down, Let me know if you learn anything specific. Otherwise, Ill continue, here.


    Mistress Cerna waved and spoke back, trusting the other woman to hear, Will do.


    The other two Refined stopped their practice and moved to follow T into the building.


    Therefloating in the middle of the spacewas a fount processed in the arcane manner.


    It was an orb, fully embedded with ingrained purification scripts, but set in the way of artifacts, rather than simply inscribed as most arcane-used founts were. The working rendered the power easily essible without tainting that which it powered.


    The harnessed fount only seemed to be powering three things.


    The first was a pedestal in the middle of the room with the obvious outline of a hand atop it. It was seemingly carved from a single piece of white marble, shot through with veins of obsidian. The hand outline was of the same ck, volcanic ss, indicating that on the whole, the material wasnt naturally thisposition.


    The second item powered by the fount was a stylus, resting just above a que. The stylus was a red stone, bound and embellished with gold. The que was also gold, and the odd lettering on it was a deep, almost crimson red.


    The final item was a shield that leaned against one wall, below another que. This que was a matte grey metal, the lettering a white so bright that it almost seemed to glow. Simrly, the shield was a matte grey, stylized and enhanced with a bright white.


    Unfortunately, both ques were illegible to T.


    <em>Anothernguage.</em>


    <em>-Thats so odd. Why would you want to speakor I suppose in this case readsomething else? I mean, if there were just twonguages, thered berge swaths of people you couldnt talk to. Think of all the books that youd never be able to understand! This is madness, T.-</em>


    <em>A person could learn to converse and read more than onenguage, like Mistress Kep.</em>


    <em>-Thats silly. Everyone should just speak and read onenguage.-</em>


    <em>Well, we do. It seems right to us, because it is what we know. But honestly? We probably dont understand the true measure of things, because this is all weve ever known.</em>


    <em>-Fine. Youre probably right. Since when are you the voice of reason?-</em>


    <em>Well, since you are me as well always?</em>


    <em>-I can ept that.-</em>


    Aside from the obviously magical stuff, there were a few small strongboxes, which were easily opened, revealing gold, silver, and copper.


    So, lions share goes to Alefast to cover expenses of the waning, T nodded to herself, speaking out loud, but we get a finders fee. Correct?


    Mistress Cerna was busy itemizing what theyd found, so Master Clevnis turned toward T. Thats right. Generally, if any of us have a specific use for a magical item, here, that would be that persons portion. Finding magical items isnt rare, but it doesnt happen every time. This is a bit odd, though. Such items are usually in some sort of stasis to preserve them, rather than being actively powered. But that is off track. Honestly, the percentage is just a bit extra on top of the bounty for the new-cell-investigation and the extra pay for being out of the city for a few days.


    That made sense to T, so she didnt really have any follow-up questions.


    Aside from the items and strongboxes that shed already seen, there wasnt really much to look at, since no one was willing to start ying with unknown, ancient magical items without at least knowing a bit about them.


    True to promise, it was actually pretty boring.


    Thus, the unit mainly putzed about, entertaining themselves however they saw fit.


    Masters Clevnis and Girt returned to their cleared circle in the grass.


    Mistress Vanga pulled out an Archive te and began reviewing what T would bet were patient anatomy informational summaries.


    Mistress Cerna counted and recounted the precious metals in the boxes, then sat down to knit a woolen scarf in midair without knitting needles.


    T ended up joining the Masters in their will-stretching as they all waited for Mistress Kep to finish reading the cliff.


    Oddly enough, it ended with the Paragon hanging from the top, muttering loudly to herself iprehensibly.


    <em>Its in anothernguage thats iprehensible to me.</em>


    <em>-Right got to remember thats a thing.-</em>


    Finally, the woman came back down, shaking her head. This is <em>infuriating.</em>


    The unit gathered near her. They didnt strictly need to, as they could all hear each other from anywhere within the space, even if they simply whispered, but it was more polite toe close and be attentive.


    Ill take a look at what we have inside, and then we can go over everything, together.


    That made sense, so they all followed her inside.


    It only took a moment for the Paragon to read the ques. The shield contains natural arcane spell-forms around the concept of protection, defense, and shelter. In theory, anyone using it should be protected from even conceptual attacks while behind that, so long as they supply it with sufficient power.


    T frowned. So, if I hold it up and power it, then someone insults me, I wont get my feelings hurt?


    The Paragon paused, then shrugged. I mean, maybe? You have more experience with arcane magic than I do, honestly. Though, your experience is with the modern type, and like all things, it has changed through time.


    <em>Exceptnguage.</em>


    <em>-Well, it </em>would <em>have changed, but its being magically prevented.-</em>


    <em>Thats true, I suppose.</em>


    Mistress Vanga tentatively cleared her throat. I actually havent bound a defensive item.


    The others gave her looks thatcked surprise and that were filled with weve been telling you to correct thatck.


    Ill get it thoroughly checked out, first, but I think this could be wonderful for me.


    Master Clevnis nodded. I agree. Youve been through four wanings, and you have never managed to find something you liked. If that shield appeals to you, Im all for you getting this one. Any objections?


    T <em>almost </em>objected, but in the end, she didnt <em>really</em> need it, and she had enough on her te as it was. She could have fed it to Kit, and if the sanctum had replicated the magics it might have been useful, but she just wasnt sure what the results would have been.


    In the end, it wasnt worth it, and she knew that Mistress Vanga would share what was learned from the item, so T still might be able to find some way of getting something out of the shield.


    Mistress Kep continued, The stylus will magically write whatever you wish, on any surface you desire. To the extent of drawing out a color picture that you are imagining. It writes by changing the properties of the surface it acts upon, so its not a matter of ink or paints or the like.


    T perked up at that. <em>Thats pretty neat.</em>


    <em>-What would we even use it for?-</em>


    <em>You could write things out?</em>


    <em>-The Librarians have things that will let me do that if I really have a need.-</em>


    Master Limmestare came and took a closer look at it. I do prefer physical books but no, I think the Library would have better use for it than I.


    <em>-See?-</em>


    <em>Fine</em>


    No one else stepped forward to im it.


    Mistress Cerna nodded once, So that will go to the city, then.


    The Paragon smiled. And thisst thing, the pir, if I understand correctly, contains a disy artifact and information repository, or possibly just an informational essing function, and the repository is in the Archive.


    She ced her hand on the indicated location, and a pulse of magic washed through the room.


    Suddenly, a human was standing before them, as lifelike as any of the Refined, but with magic woven through them with <em>incredible</em> intricacy.


    T could even see air moving away from them as they disced it bying into existence.


    <em>Solid projections? That seems so unnecessary</em>


    The person began speaking anothernguage.


    The monologue went on for nearly five minutes before the man bowed and vanished with a small <em>pop</em>, the air rushing back in to fill the void he left behind.


    He was instantly reced by a hue-folk woman who again pushed the air out and away. She stood tall, with light purple skin and ck eyes.


    Everyone focused fully on the fabricated person at that point.


    She began to speak as well. This still wasnt words that T recognized, but it also wasnt the same manner of speech that the man had used.


    Mistress Kep was frowning deeply.


    Four more illusions cycled through, each of a different race, each seemingly speaking a differentnguage, each heralded by a slight breeze and seen off with a little <em>pop</em>.


    The Paragon spoke slowly, as if rifying to herself, Theyre all the same message, as near as I can tell. I only know a smattering of some of thenguages, but the cadence and bodynguage matches up. From what I can see essible by this pedestal, there are more than a hundred additional messages as well.


    Ts eyes widened. More than <em>a hundred</em> differentnguages?


    The Paragon shrugged. There were thousands, apparently. Ill get these uploaded to the Archive, and this will actually be a great key toward assisting in the deciphering of some of these othernguages. Did you see that the words were written out near the floor?


    T hadnt, but she had been standing back a bit.


    Mistress Kep shook her head slowly. This is an incredible find.


    T frowned. Then why dont you sound happy?


    The woman grimaced. Because they went to a <em>lot</em> of trouble to leave this warning. That generally isnt done. There are no depictions of the prisoner, nor any mention of his name. Basically, all that I can determine about the prisoner himself is that he is a he, by the warnings. Thenguages that have differing indicators for age, status, or other features have stripped those away, using vagaries and generalities instead.


    So? Master Clevnis interjected to prod, What are we dealing with?


    Mistress Kep sighed. Ill want to verify, then double and triple check before we make our attempt, but I can give you my best guess. This is a mind-worm propagator. Specifically, he uses stories to worm his way into your thoughts. By the very act of telling the stories, he is naturally associating himself with the stories he tells you, which gives him greater power. If I understand correctly, when he dies, if he was killed, he subsumes the body of the one most conceptually linked to him and his stories.


    T frowned. <em>So, we could just kill him, now? We know nothing about him</em>


    Her eyes widened.


    Oh, thats She shook her head as everyone looked her way. Hes a prisoner. Hes marked as a threat, and thus, one of us killing him would be a significant boon to humanity.


    Master Limmestare was nodding in understanding. That very act would link the killer to him, conceptually.


    Master Clevnis finished, a grimace wrinkling his nose, Giving him an instant path to using someone elses body to reforge himself.


    They all stood in heavy silence for a long moment.


    Finally, Master Girt shrugged. So, we dont kill him, and we have Mistress Vanga scatter deadly gues about so he might or might not die after we leave? We tell no oneor erase our own memories of the eventso theres no impact on humanity until some other groupes back to check on the cell. Even then, theyll just find it intact and depart, none the wiser.


    Mistress Kep was already shaking her head. Indirect killing doesnt work. They even tried starving him, a dozen guards cutting him, only one with a poisoned de so many things. It doesnt matter. Connections are formed.


    T found herself nodding. All are tied, and all actions forge threads of existence, bindings made of reality itself. She remembered the links within the Doman-Imithe. His soul must somehow travel down the strongest one if he is killed.


    The Paragon shrugged. Thats a theory, but I have no idea. They also warned that they are guessing on his death having to be caused by others. They are fairly certain, however, because he could have killed himself to get free when they first put him away, if hed had that ability. Even so, we need to be careful. Form no bonds.


    So, we shouldnt let him speak?


    Mistress Kep sighed. Whoever prevented him from speaking would be saving the others from him, thus creating a connection in that manner.


    Mistress Cerna cleared her throat, interrupting what was clearly ramping up to be a veritable storm of ideas, Mistress Kep, what do we do, then?


    The Paragon smiled gratefully. Again, Ill want to verify, but right now, my thinking is this: Go in, keep him from leaving, and have a perfectly mundane interaction with him. Dont let it be special in any way, either from what happens, or what doesnt. It isnt perfect as the very environment of the interaction makes it special, but thats the best that we have, and <em>dont kill him.</em>


    There was a moment of silence before Mistress Kep nodded, almost to herself, and turned back to the pedestal to keep working.


    T cleared her throat. Whats going to happen to the fount?


    That drew everyones attention.


    Mistress Kep sighed, turning back once again. It will be kept with the magical items until they are imed. At which point it will be analyzed to see if we can determine the most humane course of action.


    That make sense, thank you. T hesitated, then added, I apologize for the interruptions.


    The Paragon smiled and waved that off, turning back to the pedestal, and beginning to go through all of the recorded messages, seemingly storing them in the Archive through some means or other.


    Come on. Master Clevnis pped T on the shoulder as he walked by. This is going to take even longer than usual.


    T had to admit, from what little she understood of the situation, it seemed like they would be here for a while.


    While Mistress Kep worked, they broke apart their improvised vehicle and stored the parts that were useful, distributing the rest around the valley outside the fold.


    Then, they all retreated into the folded space and closed it behind them, making it so they wouldnt have to deal with the outside world until they were done with this odd creature, locked away for the safety of the world.


    Even so, Tand presumably Mistress Kepstill had ready ess to the Archive.


    <em>-Ahh, blessed updated Archival link. How useful you are.-</em>


    <em>Indeed.</em>


    It was getting toward night, and T was eating thest of her supper surrounded by her unit, but she couldnt get something out of her head. She knew she was likely missing something obvious, but it just wouldnt leave her alone.


    Mistress Petra had prepared everyones mealsthe unit had gone shopping for supplies for the woman the day beforeand Mistress Cerna was over the moon at having fantastic food even outside the city.


    But that isnt what T was hung up on. Mistress Vanga?


    The healer swallowed her current bite, regarding T, Yes, Mistress T?


    I understand how this guy isnt really kible, but why does it matter? Why did he need to be imprisoned?


    The Refined set her tray to one side, seeming to consider. Finally, she nodded to herself, Well, in most cases a brief outline of the reason <em>would</em> be here, along with the exnation of who the prisoner is and what they can do. So, youre right to ask as we generally would know. In this case, however, his story seemingly is what gives him power and ess, somehow. So, telling us what hes imprisoned for would be counterproductive. That said, I would guess that he used his ability to reincarnate quickly when killed in order to do things that would get him killed. She shrugged a bit helplessly, Honestly, even if he never did anything specifically wrong, each time he died, he effectively killed someone else to avoid the consequences of his actions.


    Ahh, yeah. I can see that being a problem.


    Mistress Vanga smiled in return. Indeed.

 Chapter 334: Khesed

    Chapter 334: Khesed


    T finally understood Mistress Cernas reaction to having fewer out of the city assignments.


    At least she thought she did.


    Theyd been in the folded space for more than two full days as Mistress Kep dug through, checking and triple checking the information on the prisoner and their best approaches.


    Master Clevnis had taken some time to exin things to T, emphasizing that the reason that he was doing so was specifically because this was her first cell, and not for any other reason.


    It is standard practice to review all the materials provided by the creators of the cell as closely as possible, and for the Paragon in Command to consult others through the Archive.


    That had confused T a bit, so shed inquired further, Why would that be necessary? Didnt the people who left this information want us to seed?


    Obviously they did, but sometimes we dont know what we dont know, and they couldnt possibly have known what we dont know, now. Even whennguage isnt a barrier, culture sometimes shifts, the currently most popr stories, even different trends and understandings of magic. A famous casees from when early human Mages were seemingly all Guides, and apparently focused on more vague schools, like fire, water, earth, and such. The messages they left on a couple of cells insisted that it would take four highly advanced magic users or someone they called an Exemrwhich was basically a Mage who could use all four of what they believed to be the primary zones of magic at the time.


    T blinked a few times. What? Why would people think that magic was divided in that way?


    He shrugged. Human history goes back a long way, but weve always known our magic functions differently than arcane magics. Our understanding has evolved through the eons to what it is today. I would bet that before you and I are both dead and in the ground, <em>at least</em> one thing that we believe to be fundamentally true will be seen asughably inurate.


    She grunted. <em>Yeah, thats probably true.</em> So, itsmon practice to consult other experts to make sure theres not something that got lost through trantion, time, culture, ormon understanding?


    Among other things, yes.


    Huh. I suppose that makes sense.


    On the morning of the fourth day within the folded space, Mistress Kep was finally satisfied.


    The unit gathered around her in the morning light as sheid out how things stood, We are good to get started. I have my n for repairing and refreshing the seal, and the advice I gave you stands.


    They each nodded.


    Mistress Cerna smiled brightly, Lets get it done! How long will you need to execute the repairs?


    Not more than three hours. From what I can see, the damage is very concentrated, rather than a general erosion of containment.


    Master Clevnis pped his hands together. Alright. We know the n, but lets go over the high points onest time so theres no confusion: Masters Limmestare and Girt are on physical deflection, if violence breaks out, I will be the first responder, with Mistress Vangas primary duty being to keep the prisoner well away from deaths door.


    T felt herself twitch at the saying, a thought urring to her. <em>Do you think could Death be in one of these cells, so deaths door is a cultural reference to a real thing?</em>


    <em>-really? Youre considering this now? Hes used that exact turn of phrase a dozen times over thest days.-</em>


    <em>Well I didnt think about it earlier</em>


    <em>-Focus T.-</em>


    Mistress T is on bodily intervention, and Mistress Cerna will fill in the gaps.


    They all nodded their agreement.


    Terry wouldnt being with them, and they had all agreed that T should leave Kit outside, just to be safe.


    And that was that. They were ready.


    Mistress Kep gestured and one of the roof tiles suddenly lit with power as the Paragon altered the fundamentals of the universe to gain ess to the cell.


    Obviously, the cells couldnt beposed of active magics, not unless their creators had bound a fount to their maintenance. While that was seemingly done in some cases, it was by far the exception, especially since modern humanity had to have the capacity to enact these cells at need, and they had neither the resources nor the willingness to use such methods.


    <em>I wonder what they would do these days if active magics are required?</em>


    <em>-Im sure well find out eventually.-</em>


    The tile seemed to open, growingrger and revealing an entrance. A tform appeared before the opening, and a staircase extended downward to where they waited.


    There was no hesitation as the unit sped up the stairs, followed by Mistress Kep.


    As T and herpanions entered the new passageway, she saw the Paragon step to the side, onto the tform, and <em>explode</em> with power.


    Tens of thousands of tendrils of magiceach seemingly manually controlledreached out, moving independently, as copper, silver, and golden spell-lines began to spark and re across the womans body in a truly mesmerizing disy.


    T only hesitated for a moment, but that was sufficient for her to truly appreciate the gap in power and proficiency between the Paragon and even the long-lived Refined she was now working with.


    <em>I wonder how old Mistress Kep truly is?</em>


    As the unit moved down the passageway, T saw bodies tense then rx and heard the muttered pronouncements, foreswearing oaths, bindings, and bonds.


    T followed suit, noticing that she, herself, had tensed up when she entered the dark, stone-lined hallway. She forced herself to rx even as she spoke under her breath, I enter where I am granted ess, epting no debts, making no promises, and allowing no bonds. I am not, and never will be, associated with what lies ahead, except in passing.


    <em>-Wordy, but thorough.-</em>


    <em>Well work on it.</em>


    The hallway had no light source, but it was bright enough for Refined to walk with ease due to the reflected morning light behind, and the unknown illumination well ahead.


    The floor was smooth and level, the stones fitted perfectly into ce, and not disrupted by anything despite the passage of time.


    The hall was nearly a hundred yards long before it opened out into the dappled light of an old-growth forest.


    T nced behind herself and saw the passage leading straight back into a hillside. Through that, she could easily see the threads of Mistress Keps magic on the other side.


    <em>Perfectly straight.</em>


    A soft, but firm, voice came to them, not shouted, but carrying nheless, but T couldnt quite make out the words.


    She turned to regard the speaker and beheld the prisoner for the first time.


    He was tall, likely around seven and a half feet in height, and built like a bear. His skin was the dark brown of mahogany. His ears were long and pointed, extending almost straight outward to poke free of his mane of hair. That very hair on his head, and that making up his beard, was the brown of deep-forest bark, streaked through with near-ck, and his eyes were the dark blue of a deep ocean.


    T frowned. <em>Its been ages since Ive seen an ocean. Why would that descriptore to mind?</em>


    <em>-Its fitting, isnt it?-</em>


    <em>Maybe, it also might be that thats how he wanted himself viewed</em>


    <em>-Dont get yourself tied up in knots, T.-</em>


    <em>Right, focus.</em>


    Regardless, the effect was for him to appear to be a statue, carved out of wood, with iys and embellishments added it.


    The prisoner was d in simple leathers, excessively patched, but meticulously cared for. On one side, he had a tightly bound, incredibly thick tome hanging from his belt. Opposite that, hung arge hatchet, but that was just in proportion to him. To T, it would have been a massive war-ax.


    It was then that something grabbed her attention and held it for a long breath.


    His hands were incredibly badly burned, the flesh looking like molded wax, glowing runes seared into his skin in patterns that somehow seemed at once both crude and impossiblyplex.


    Ts gaze jerked away when she caught movement in the corner of her vison as an owl that lookedically small inparison to the big man swooped down tond on the prisoners shoulder.


    The bird couldnt have been more than a few inches in height, but its eyes held hints of a keen intelligence.


    The man spoke again, and T realized that she hadnt somehow missed what hed said the first time. It was in anothernguage.


    She blinked a few times, then barked augh. <em>All that fear of him influencing us, and he doesnt even speak ournguage. Of course, he doesnt! Thenguages outside werent ours, so why would his be?</em>


    Master Limmestare put a kind, restraining hand on Ts shoulder, and she nodded once, indicating that she understood. No speaking if they could help it.


    Her outburst had been understandable, but she needed to be careful.


    Therge man tilted his head to the side, then the runes on his hands flickered with a rolling, multi-hued light. His entire aura rippled through the spectrum along with the light seeming trapped within the burned symbols, and the flesh around them seem almost to melt a little further.


    Everyone held themselves ready but didnt directly react.


    Masters Girt and Limmestare turned and began to block off the tunnel with a bulwark of rock woven through withyers of inteced ss-fiber.


    The light faded from the prisoners runes, and he smiled. Now, you should be able to understand me, yes?


    No one responded.


    Though you are not responding, I can tell by the light in your eyes that we aremunicating. Good, good. That is an excellent start to a parole meeting. He smiled again, his attitude seemingly genuine. I imagine that they didnt leave evidence of my name, and as I do not recognize any of you, I will assume that myhe nced around at the seemingly extensive forestbenefactors are no more. I am interested why you are all speaking the tongue of the star-touched, but that can wait. I am Khesed, in mynguage it means loving kindness or loving loyalty. May I know who you are?


    Mistress Cerna smiled and gave a small bow. I will be whom you speak with, and I am called Cerna.


    Cerna, a lovely name. Is there any proper form of address that is needed for polite society? I would hate to be rude in my ignorance.


    After the barest hesitation, she nodded. Most would call me, Mistress Cerna.


    Mistress? A title of power, then. He nodded approvingly. Likely from the Mistress or Master of the Ships. I do so love those old tales, tales from before the splintering. I had not realized that enough of the star-touched had survived to The mans eyes widened. There was an Anointed star-touched what was his name?


    Khesed grimaced slightly, turning his head and looking down to his right, clearly in thought.


    Ahh, it escapes me after all these years. Did such a being achieve deification and rise to enough prominence that hisnguage has overtaken your culture?


    Mistress Cerna shrugged. I am unsure what you mean, but that is alright. We are far removed in time from each other. It is only natural that we should not easily findmon jargon.


    A small smile tugged at the prisoners lips. Wisely put. But where are my manners. Can I offer you some refreshments? Some food? If we are to discuss my release, it should be in whatfort I can offer.


    The Refined shook her head. My apologies, Khesed, but we are not here to discuss your release. We are here to ensure that you remain.


    A flicker of anger moved through his eyes. The world turns, magic flows, and great deeds abound. I am <em>missing</em> so many beautiful stories. He lifted a finger and pointed directly at T. Her, I can <em>sense</em> the stories radiating off of her. She is the youngest of you by far, but I know more than a million words could be spent telling of her short life already. You <em>must</em> let me learn. He turned back to gaze straight into Mistress Cernas eyes, arm falling to his side once more. Please, Mistress Cerna. Let me go forth and piece together all the history that I have missed.


    She shook her head. No. I cannot.


    But look at you! He gestured emphatically. Youre all human. <em>All of you</em>. Id never have imagined such a gathering of your weak-willed kind, not with the power I sense within, woven through your very beings. You somehow each have seemingly endless power trickling through you. I had only heard rumors of such things, and even then only in theory. Has the promise of limitless magic really been fulfilled to the extent that even humans have such a supply? <em>What have I missed?</em>


    <em>What? He cant be unaware of gates. A fount was found in the other area. Is he lying to draw us in?</em>


    <em>-Or that might not be a fount in the traditional sense.-</em>


    T held her face stoic, but wanted to grimace. <em>And we cant ask based on what he said, or that would taint any discovery with a connection to him.</em>


    <em>-Dont worry. They said theyd analyze it thoroughly, once we got back to Alefast. His words wont change anything.-</em>


    Mistress Cerna hadnt let herself be led off track, and she answered simply, I cannot tell you.


    The prisoner turned, drawing his ax and swinging it in oneobviously well practicedmotion that was almost too fast for T to follow.


    The ax passed through a nearby tree without slowing as Khesed let out a single, forest-shaking roar of frustration.


    There was an explosion of woodchips away from the strike, and away from the watching humans, before the tree dropped almost straight down, the now free trunk thumping end first into the newly created stump before the whole tree-top tipped, falling into the woods to bounce off, scrape against, and crack against other trees before crashing to the ground.


    Khesed took a few deep, full breaths, clearly pulling himself back together before he turned around to face them again.


    I apologize for my outburst. I am a historian. My deepest passion is to gather the truth of our past and pass it on, that we may learn from our ancestors. If you will not allow me out, please, let me tell you the tales I know, that I may at least be assured that my lifes work is not for nothing.


    We cannot do that. We know how you take over others if you die. We cannot allow you to form those connections.


    He shook his head, huffing augh. You know nothing. Were that my goal, I would already have seeded. He indicated T again. Her story, at least, will be toldI can feel the echoes of it throughout reality, and when it is, I will be mentioned within. I am, somehow, special to her, in her tale. I might be the spitting image of a family member or lost friend. He looked down at himself and smiled ruefully. Though, I doubt that. I might be the first of my species she has seen, or the first prisoner in one of these cursed cells whom she has encountered. Regardless, I am <em>something</em> to her, and so when her tale is retold, I will be included, if not in this world, then in others. The magic of stories is far reaching, Mistress, and good stories want to be told.


    There was a long, ominous silence that stretched out for nearly a minute before Khesed continued.


    But as I said, that is not my aim. Yes, I must live to collect and tell stories, and I regret that others die so I might live, but is not a revealer of history more needed than the average citizen? Do I not have the right to safeguard my own life, regardless of the cost?


    No. We are all worthy of life, none more than any other.


    He raised his finger to point at her, then to her husband, then to the others in the unit, his voice dropping low with fervor, And yet you are each steeped and entangled in tales of endless bloodshed, violence, and the ending of sapient life. I only took life when I was in by others. I have never sought the blood of thinking beings, I have simply not allowed myself to be in. How is that a crime?


    Because those you killed were not those who attacked you.


    Khesed huffed augh, shaking his head. And you know that for a fact, do you? Who is more tied to the life of a man than the one who cuts it short? The great sages of my day found my means of self-defense distasteful, because they werent above its effects. If they wanted me killed, they couldnt get around my lifesaving magics, and so they deemed me a threat.


    Mistress Cerna shook her head. We are not going to listen to your story, Khesed. We are here because this is a cell, and this is our duty, the fact that it is you in here doesnt factor in in the slightest.


    He gave her a long look. Then, you would have me attempt to fight my way free? Is that why your friends have soughably blockaded the tunnel?


    I would have you wait peacefully until we depart.


    And leave me trapped once again, you mean. Bound to an eternity with no information, no chance to learn of the wonders unfolding in <em>my world?</em>


    It is how it must be.


    His eyes hardened, and he looked at each in turn. So be it.

 Chapter 335: Protocol

    Chapter 335: Protocol


    T was thest one out of Kheseds cell, as was her role as the physical and magical interceptor for her unit.


    She backed out slowly, keeping the prisoner in sight as he floated above the forest floor, suspended in his restraints.


    Around her, incredibly intricate, inteced magics were finally fully formed.


    From what little T could interpretwhen they were activatedthey would repair the hole into the cell and seal it once again for the foreseeable future.


    <em>Mission more or less aplished.</em> All things considered, it was a sessful first mission to a cell.


    She took thest step out, onto the stairs, and she saw the magics sh with power, reality folding and twisting on itself to render the contained space stable but contained yet again.


    The entrance within the expanded roof tile vanished entirely, the only evidence being the smallest of pin-pricks through which she saw the reality-thread connections that wereing from Khesed, and the fading wisps of the magic that had enacted the change.


    Even those reality-threads faded, seemingly shifted into the Doman-Imithe, or some other ce, for a more expedient path between their linked pairs.


    Mistress Kep looked <em>exhausted</em>, and Mistress Vanga helped her down the steps, even as Master Girt did the same with T. It was only then that T noticed how exhausted she felt.


    She felt strained?


    <em>No, thats not right.</em>


    She felt almost disconnected from herself, as if she was walking around in someone elses body.


    <em>-T! You still have your defenses up. Drop them.-</em>


    She didnt see why she should, but there wasnt really a good reason to keep them up, and t was her, so she probably had good reasons. Thus, T shrugged to herself and dropped the existence field.


    The world came rushing back to her in an oddly existential way, staggering her.


    Shed have fallen off the stairs if it wasnt for Master Girts support. Hey, now. Ive got you. Are you going to be alright?


    That seemed to get everyones attention, even as T stepped free and the staircase and tform folded back into the tile as it shrunk back into ce, vanishing into the expanse of other roof tiles.


    T shook her head. There was some odd bacsh to the protection I was using.


    Mistress Cerna walked forward, along with an exhausted Mistress Kep, the unit leader speaking up, Tell us the details of what you did.


    So, T did.


    She didnt mention the prisoners actions, simply what she had done and seen with regard to the unit members.


    Finally, she exined how shed released the barrier and felt like the world was around her again, even though she hadnt been blocked or inhibited beforehand.


    It was Mistress Kep who answered, It sounds like you were isting yourself from the rest of the world on the level of existence itself. It obviously wasnt a perfect seal, but it was enough to give you the feeling of wrongness and istion. There have historically been curses like that: May you never love again,es to mind. Conceptual magics in those cases were used that prevented the target from ever forming bonds with another human. In the most extreme case Ive heard ofthough I doubt its validityit was so powerful that people would forget that they saw the person or creature as soon as they lost sight of them. It went both ways in the tale, so the subject of that curse eventually killed themselves forck of social connection and out of confusion as to the strangeness of the world they now inhabited seemingly on their own. Once dead, the magic persisted and their body rotted in a public square, unable to be noticed enough to be removed.


    T felt her eyes twitch. Thats awful.


    The Paragon cleared her throat, scratching at her corbone briefly. My apologies. Im a bit out of it myself. That was callously said. In your case, you seem in full control of the cause, so you can avoid it when appropriate or undo it as needed. But She hesitated before pressing on. Id probably rmend that you dont do anything to make that a passive or permanent effect you are constantly under.


    T nodded in eager affirmation. Understood, and I agree. Thank you for the advice.


    She shook her head and took a long drink from a waterskin that Master Limmestare offered her.


    On a different subject, which I meant to ask earlier, why arent cells made inhospitable? I mean I know why this prisoner couldnt be starved of food or air, etcetera, but why couldnt others?


    Smiles passed around those nearby.


    Mistress Vanga voiced what they were thinking, Well, if youre asking questions like that again, youre going to be fine.


    T found herself chuckling with the others.


    Mistress Cerna pointed them toward their next task, Lets get some food, and we can see if we can satisfy your curiosity. Then, well button up here and head back to Alefast.


    Once Kit was retrieved, and T hadmunicated with those inside, Mistress Petra had their midday meal ready shortly, and they all gathered to chat and eat.


    <em>Im so d I increased her pay and gave her a supply budget. It would be really awkward to be eating a really nice meal with everyone else in my unit eating rations, or the like.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, that wouldnt be the best unit-building way of doing things.-</em>


    <em>Kind of the unit to help fund the process, too.</em>


    <em>-Makes sense, its for them, and gets the Zats much better paid across the board.-</em>


    The meal for everyone but T was a garlic chicken over brown rice. The sauce was thick, and the asparagus, mushrooms, carrots, and snap-peas were prepared to perfection.


    Both the food for the unit and Ts own fare were served alongside a nice, spicy, chilled tea.


    <em>Is this ginger based?</em>


    <em>-I think a ginger honey tea, yeah.-</em>


    <em>I would not have thought this would be good, but it really is.</em>


    While none of them needed the cooling effect from the chilled tea, it was a nice, refreshing beverage for an early-summers day.


    As the others wound downand T continued apacethere were a few words exchanged before Master Limmestare actually began to give the requested exnation.


    So, in regard to the habitability of the cells, it generally isnt up to the creators at all. Its important to realize that these arent created spaces that the prisoners are shoved into, at least not for the most part. You see, in most cases, the prisoners are too magically or conceptually weighty to be directly acted upon, thats one reason why we cant simply bypass their forms of indestructability. Thus, the enactmentthe workinggrabs arge portion of the world itself, encapsting it and isting it.


    Oh! Like a world fragment?


    Master Limmestare frowned, ncing to Mistress Kep. The Paragon nodded, Yes, but it is a world fragment of this broken recreation, not a true world fragment of what was before.


    T found herself nodding too. That made sense. Alright. So, because its a world fragment of <em>this</em> world, it matches the conditions of this world.


    Master Limmestare smiled. Yes! It matches the conditions of wherever it was taken from, give or take. We actually have simr things happen with expanded storages. If we created them from scratch, here, we almost never have to concern ourselves with venttion and the like, but we do need to be careful with instion, but thats getting off topic.


    T tilted her head to one side, remembering back. Thats why they had to be careful with the inside of Kit, my sanctumshe rified, then realized shed used the wrong worddimensional storage.


    Master Clevnis grunted. Because it was an artifact, a spawning of the void where there isnt necessarily anything to breathe.


    She frowned. Not necessarily?


    He shrugged. The void is strange. We think of it as emptiness, but its not truly nothingness, and there are pockets of all sorts of things in there. Who knows where a given artifact spawned from? When you think about it, isnt all existence within a void?


    That was a really excellent point.


    She supposed she was d that Kit didnte from a ce where the atmosphere was actively toxic to nt life or was defined by some other inconvenient feature. <em>I suppose wed never have gotten along if that were the case, though.</em>


    T cleared her throat, swallowing another bite of her feast. So, if I understand correctly, we grab the world just outside the prisoner-to-bes range of resisting the working, and bundle the whole thing up and tuck it away as a cell?


    Mistress Kep considered for a moment then nodded. Pretty much, yeah.


    But what about whatever else was in there?


    The Paragon grimaced. Its trapped too, usually specifically something, someone, or some group of people and things to entice the target and keep it in ce long enough to be captured.


    Ts eyes widened. We offer up human sacrifices?


    What? No! No. Generally its an Archon or some other Mage who can engage the being well enough to keep it from fleeing if it senses the magics being enacted around it. The worst casesand some of the only exceptions where we sometimes have to abandon innocents who cant be savedare for the Tides of Dead. The Paragon actually shivered. I dont think we have any of those cells in need of maintenance this cycle, but I might be remembering wrong.


    T nced at her various unit mates. Do I want to know?


    Master Limmestare shrugged. It is what it sounds like. Necromancy on a horrifying scale.


    But it sounds like its in more than one cell?


    Oh, yeah. The story goes that a Sovereign snapped and directed all her power to bring back those whom she killed, and those they killed, and so on. She also didnt want things to get out of hand so she bound her will and mind into working, to keep them all under her direct control.


    T leaned forward, food momentarily forgotten. What happened?


    Well, all seemed to go well for a while. All who opposed her were simply added to her army, but those close to her began to notice her mind deteriorating as even the mentality of a Sovereign isnt unlimited, and she was spreading herself out through the entirety of the ever-growing force.


    Master Limmestare nced around and grinned. Everyone was focused on him, even though the others likely knew the story already.


    Soon, the only thing remaining of the Sovereign was her power, spread among the growing hordes, and a drive to kill and add to the Tides.


    T waited for him to continue, and he did after a theatrical pause.


    Even her old allies rose up against the Tides, but the dead were too strong to defeat, too strong to contain together. After all, they bore with them the diffuse power of a Sovereign.


    T shook her head. Why wouldnt the other Sovereigns have intervened?


    He shrugged. No one is quite sure, and no one has wanted to waste a boon on asking. The theory is that they would have stepped in eventually, if things had gotten bad enough, but since there wasnt really an existential threat to all of Zeme, or to any of their domains directly, they didnt bother. But, as I was saying, the joint forces that did work against the Tide lost several ancient and powerful imprisoners, attempting to bind the horde into one or more cells. It was only when her kingdom fractured, the armies pouring outward in all directions that there was a chance.


    T interjected, then. But wouldnt every one of the Tide that those who opposed them killed have weakened the whole?


    No, that simply returned the power to the others, and the Sovereign was bound to death itself as a source of power, so she had nock in that regard.


    <em>That doesnt make sense. How would that even work?</em>


    <em>-Hush, Im trying to listen.-</em>


    Thus, all across this continent and all others we know of, the hordes were split and led in different directions until a given group was small enough that they didnt represent enough of the Sovereigns power to simply break free of imprisonment. There was no collective organization or catalog or count. Last I checked, we know ofand maintainmore than a hundred such cells throughout the humannds.


    T felt herself pale. More than a hundred? Each containing nearly enough power to break free of one of these cells?


    He nodded solemnly. Indeed. The power of a Sovereignespecially one so powerfully bound to a functionally limitless, ever growing sourceshould not be underestimated.


    T sat back, thinking. But theyre all contained, now. How could it be ever growing?


    Well, in that case, if the concept of death is the source of power, then every time something dies, more power is acquired.


    She grimaced. It cant be that universal.


    He smiled. Youre probably right. Its generally assumed that the death has to happen near enough to the Sovereignor one of her avatarsto grant her power, but there was also a false assumption within your question.


    Oh?


    They arent all contained. Small groups often fell into sink holes, or got lost in caveplexes, or fell into the deep ocean, or got buried when Mages were fighting them, or any number of other temporary ensnarements. The dead dont need anything to continue save the power of the Sovereign within them. Thus, every so often, one or more of the Tide surfaces. In most cases, they are in fast enough that it isnt a problem, but asionally


    T felt herself swallow involuntarily at the implication. What sort of abilities do they have? Are they just people? Are they faster? Slower? Do Mages killed by them keep their magics? Their gates?


    All excellent questions. Mistress Kep? Youre probably better qualified to answer that.


    The woman smiled tiredly. Ill be brief. There are a <em>lot</em> of variations. Generally, though, they are strong in some ways and weak in others. Mages who rise with the Tide keep their natural magics, and their instincts for using them. They are simply powered by the Sovereigns power after rising. If theyre fast, strong, or some other obvious physical advantage, they generally have to kill someone in one of the usual ways for their victim to rise. The slow ones, though They often bear a magical gue that does the killing for them. Those gues range from something any healthy adult can shrug off, so long as they have time to heal, all the way up to something that will ravage a Fused in a matter of seconds.


    T swallowed again. Refined?


    Ive not heard of a case where a Refined was subsumed by bite or simr non-lethal injury. Thats one reason Refined are the usual people to engage those inside cells. We are generally resistant and resilient enough that it is a <em>very</em> rare asion that we lose someone. As to gates, weve seen no evidence of gates being incorporated into the Tide. The soul passes on as one would expect upon death. That means that the soul-bound items also are rendered without a power source, though some stick around for just long enough to be <em>quite</em> difficult to deal with. Thats why, generally, a risen Mage is at its most powerful for the day after they rise. They still have their previous magical density to pull from, along with their items.


    Lovely.


    Indeed.


    So there could be a risen avatar of the Sovereign of Death buried beneath us right now?


    Mistress Kep shook her head. Conceptually, yes, but literally, no. I could sense them if that were the case, and there are no buried or hidden threats within a couple of miles, even outside of this folded space. There are a few magical creatures, but they arent near enough or of a kind to really be a threat or to need to be dealt with.


    Well, thats a relief. T looked to Master Limmestare. Thank you for the tale.


    It was my pleasure.


    She thought for a moment. So, for something like a Lich, wed just package up their whole fortress and make that their cell. No need to find what specific item houses their soul if you trap everything away. Is that right?


    Just so, yes.


    Huh I can see why this method caught on.


    Mistress Cerna cleared her throat. Now that that tale is told...


    Oh, theres so much more that I could tell.


    I know you could, but I think enough has been conveyed for now.


    He sighed but nodded. Very well.


    Now, that settled, I think we should recover a bit before we depart. Master Grediv has asked us to drop by a little research facility on the way back, so we need to be at least reasonably recovered before then.


    They all nodded.


    Mistress Cerna gave a triumphant smile. Good! Until then, lets do our after-action debriefing, shall we? I think we did well enoughclearly protocol worked and the prisoner is containedbut there is always room for improvement.


    Once again, they all nodded. Everyone here was open to, if not longing for, improvement.


    Lets get started, shall we?

 Chapter 336: This Method

    Chapter 336: This Method


    T was thest one out of Kheseds cell, as was her role as the physical and magical interceptor for her unit.


    She backed out slowly, keeping the prisoner in sight as he floated above the forest floor, suspended in his restraints.


    Around her, incredibly intricate, inteced magics were finally fully formed.


    From what little T could interpretwhen they were activatedthey would repair the hole into the cell and seal it once again for the foreseeable future.


    <em>Mission more or less aplished.</em> All things considered, it was a sessful first mission to a cell.


    She took thest step out, onto the stairs, and she saw the magics sh with power, reality folding and twisting on itself to render the contained space stable but contained yet again.


    The entrance within the expanded roof tile vanished entirely, the only evidence being the smallest of pin-pricks through which she saw the reality-thread connections that wereing from Khesed, and the fading wisps of the magic that had enacted the change.


    Even those reality-threads faded, seemingly shifted into the Doman-Imithe, or some other ce, for a more expedient path between their linked pairs.


    Mistress Kep looked <em>exhausted</em>, and Mistress Vanga helped her down the steps, even as Master Girt did the same with T. It was only then that T noticed how exhausted she felt.


    She felt strained?


    <em>No, thats not right.</em>


    She felt almost disconnected from herself, as if she was walking around in someone elses body.


    <em>-T! You still have your defenses up. Drop them.-</em>


    She didnt see why she should, but there wasnt really a good reason to keep them up, and t was her, so she probably had good reasons. Thus, T shrugged to herself and dropped the existence field.


    The world came rushing back to her in an oddly existential way, staggering her.


    Shed have fallen off the stairs if it wasnt for Master Girts support. Hey, now. Ive got you. Are you going to be alright?


    That seemed to get everyones attention, even as T stepped free and the staircase and tform folded back into the tile as it shrunk back into ce, vanishing into the expanse of other roof tiles.


    T shook her head. There was some odd bacsh to the protection I was using.


    Mistress Cerna walked forward, along with an exhausted Mistress Kep, the unit leader speaking up, Tell us the details of what you did.


    So, T did.


    She didnt mention the prisoners actions, simply what she had done and seen with regard to the unit members.


    Finally, she exined how shed released the barrier and felt like the world was around her again, even though she hadnt been blocked or inhibited beforehand.


    It was Mistress Kep who answered, It sounds like you were isting yourself from the rest of the world on the level of existence itself. It obviously wasnt a perfect seal, but it was enough to give you the feeling of wrongness and istion. There have historically been curses like that: May you never love again,es to mind. Conceptual magics in those cases were used that prevented the target from ever forming bonds with another human. In the most extreme case Ive heard ofthough I doubt its validityit was so powerful that people would forget that they saw the person or creature as soon as they lost sight of them. It went both ways in the tale, so the subject of that curse eventually killed themselves forck of social connection and out of confusion as to the strangeness of the world they now inhabited seemingly on their own. Once dead, the magic persisted and their body rotted in a public square, unable to be noticed enough to be removed.


    T felt her eyes twitch. Thats awful.


    The Paragon cleared her throat, scratching at her corbone briefly. My apologies. Im a bit out of it myself. That was callously said. In your case, you seem in full control of the cause, so you can avoid it when appropriate or undo it as needed. But She hesitated before pressing on. Id probably rmend that you dont do anything to make that a passive or permanent effect you are constantly under.


    T nodded in eager affirmation. Understood, and I agree. Thank you for the advice.


    She shook her head and took a long drink from a waterskin that Master Limmestare offered her.


    On a different subject, which I meant to ask earlier, why arent cells made inhospitable? I mean I know why this prisoner couldnt be starved of food or air, etcetera, but why couldnt others?


    Smiles passed around those nearby.


    Mistress Vanga voiced what they were thinking, Well, if youre asking questions like that again, youre going to be fine.


    T found herself chuckling with the others.


    Mistress Cerna pointed them toward their next task, Lets get some food, and we can see if we can satisfy your curiosity. Then, well button up here and head back to Alefast.


    Once Kit was retrieved, and T hadmunicated with those inside, Mistress Petra had their midday meal ready shortly, and they all gathered to chat and eat.


    <em>Im so d I increased her pay and gave her a supply budget. It would be really awkward to be eating a really nice meal with everyone else in my unit eating rations, or the like.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, that wouldnt be the best unit-building way of doing things.-</em>


    <em>Kind of the unit to help fund the process, too.</em>


    <em>-Makes sense, its for them, and gets the Zats much better paid across the board.-</em>


    The meal for everyone but T was a garlic chicken over brown rice. The sauce was thick, and the asparagus, mushrooms, carrots, and snap-peas were prepared to perfection.


    Both the food for the unit and Ts own fare were served alongside a nice, spicy, chilled tea.


    <em>Is this ginger based?</em>


    <em>-I think a ginger honey tea, yeah.-</em>


    <em>I would not have thought this would be good, but it really is.</em>


    While none of them needed the cooling effect from the chilled tea, it was a nice, refreshing beverage for an early-summers day.


    As the others wound downand T continued apacethere were a few words exchanged before Master Limmestare actually began to give the requested exnation.


    So, in regard to the habitability of the cells, it generally isnt up to the creators at all. Its important to realize that these arent created spaces that the prisoners are shoved into, at least not for the most part. You see, in most cases, the prisoners are too magically or conceptually weighty to be directly acted upon, thats one reason why we cant simply bypass their forms of indestructability. Thus, the enactmentthe workinggrabs arge portion of the world itself, encapsting it and isting it.


    Oh! Like a world fragment?


    Master Limmestare frowned, ncing to Mistress Kep. The Paragon nodded, Yes, but it is a world fragment of this broken recreation, not a true world fragment of what was before.


    T found herself nodding too. That made sense. Alright. So, because its a world fragment of <em>this</em> world, it matches the conditions of this world.


    Master Limmestare smiled. Yes! It matches the conditions of wherever it was taken from, give or take. We actually have simr things happen with expanded storages. If we created them from scratch, here, we almost never have to concern ourselves with venttion and the like, but we do need to be careful with instion, but thats getting off topic.


    T tilted her head to one side, remembering back. Thats why they had to be careful with the inside of Kit, my sanctumshe rified, then realized shed used the wrong worddimensional storage.


    Master Clevnis grunted. Because it was an artifact, a spawning of the void where there isnt necessarily anything to breathe.


    She frowned. Not necessarily?


    He shrugged. The void is strange. We think of it as emptiness, but its not truly nothingness, and there are pockets of all sorts of things in there. Who knows where a given artifact spawned from? When you think about it, isnt all existence within a void?


    That was a really excellent point.


    She supposed she was d that Kit didnte from a ce where the atmosphere was actively toxic to nt life or was defined by some other inconvenient feature. <em>I suppose wed never have gotten along if that were the case, though.</em>


    T cleared her throat, swallowing another bite of her feast. So, if I understand correctly, we grab the world just outside the prisoner-to-bes range of resisting the working, and bundle the whole thing up and tuck it away as a cell?


    Mistress Kep considered for a moment then nodded. Pretty much, yeah.


    But what about whatever else was in there?


    The Paragon grimaced. Its trapped too, usually specifically something, someone, or some group of people and things to entice the target and keep it in ce long enough to be captured.


    Ts eyes widened. We offer up human sacrifices?


    What? No! No. Generally its an Archon or some other Mage who can engage the being well enough to keep it from fleeing if it senses the magics being enacted around it. The worst casesand some of the only exceptions where we sometimes have to abandon innocents who cant be savedare for the Tides of Dead. The Paragon actually shivered. I dont think we have any of those cells in need of maintenance this cycle, but I might be remembering wrong.


    T nced at her various unit mates. Do I want to know?


    Master Limmestare shrugged. It is what it sounds like. Necromancy on a horrifying scale.


    But it sounds like its in more than one cell?


    Oh, yeah. The story goes that a Sovereign snapped and directed all her power to bring back those whom she killed, and those they killed, and so on. She also didnt want things to get out of hand so she bound her will and mind into working, to keep them all under her direct control.


    T leaned forward, food momentarily forgotten. What happened?


    Well, all seemed to go well for a while. All who opposed her were simply added to her army, but those close to her began to notice her mind deteriorating as even the mentality of a Sovereign isnt unlimited, and she was spreading herself out through the entirety of the ever-growing force.


    Master Limmestare nced around and grinned. Everyone was focused on him, even though the others likely knew the story already.


    Soon, the only thing remaining of the Sovereign was her power, spread among the growing hordes, and a drive to kill and add to the Tides.


    T waited for him to continue, and he did after a theatrical pause.


    Even her old allies rose up against the Tides, but the dead were too strong to defeat, too strong to contain together. After all, they bore with them the diffuse power of a Sovereign.


    T shook her head. Why wouldnt the other Sovereigns have intervened?


    He shrugged. No one is quite sure, and no one has wanted to waste a boon on asking. The theory is that they would have stepped in eventually, if things had gotten bad enough, but since there wasnt really an existential threat to all of Zeme, or to any of their domains directly, they didnt bother. But, as I was saying, the joint forces that did work against the Tide lost several ancient and powerful imprisoners, attempting to bind the horde into one or more cells. It was only when her kingdom fractured, the armies pouring outward in all directions that there was a chance.


    T interjected, then. But wouldnt every one of the Tide that those who opposed them killed have weakened the whole?


    No, that simply returned the power to the others, and the Sovereign was bound to death itself as a source of power, so she had nock in that regard.


    <em>That doesnt make sense. How would that even work?</em>


    <em>-Hush, Im trying to listen.-</em>


    Thus, all across this continent and all others we know of, the hordes were split and led in different directions until a given group was small enough that they didnt represent enough of the Sovereigns power to simply break free of imprisonment. There was no collective organization or catalog or count. Last I checked, we know ofand maintainmore than a hundred such cells throughout the humannds.


    T felt herself pale. More than a hundred? Each containing nearly enough power to break free of one of these cells?


    He nodded solemnly. Indeed. The power of a Sovereignespecially one so powerfully bound to a functionally limitless, ever growing sourceshould not be underestimated.


    T sat back, thinking. But theyre all contained, now. How could it be ever growing?


    Well, in that case, if the concept of death is the source of power, then every time something dies, more power is acquired.


    She grimaced. It cant be that universal.


    He smiled. Youre probably right. Its generally assumed that the death has to happen near enough to the Sovereignor one of her avatarsto grant her power, but there was also a false assumption within your question.


    Oh?


    They arent all contained. Small groups often fell into sink holes, or got lost in caveplexes, or fell into the deep ocean, or got buried when Mages were fighting them, or any number of other temporary ensnarements. The dead dont need anything to continue save the power of the Sovereign within them. Thus, every so often, one or more of the Tide surfaces. In most cases, they are in fast enough that it isnt a problem, but asionally


    T felt herself swallow involuntarily at the implication. What sort of abilities do they have? Are they just people? Are they faster? Slower? Do Mages killed by them keep their magics? Their gates?


    All excellent questions. Mistress Kep? Youre probably better qualified to answer that.


    The woman smiled tiredly. Ill be brief. There are a <em>lot</em> of variations. Generally, though, they are strong in some ways and weak in others. Mages who rise with the Tide keep their natural magics, and their instincts for using them. They are simply powered by the Sovereigns power after rising. If theyre fast, strong, or some other obvious physical advantage, they generally have to kill someone in one of the usual ways for their victim to rise. The slow ones, though They often bear a magical gue that does the killing for them. Those gues range from something any healthy adult can shrug off, so long as they have time to heal, all the way up to something that will ravage a Fused in a matter of seconds.


    T swallowed again. Refined?


    Ive not heard of a case where a Refined was subsumed by bite or simr non-lethal injury. Thats one reason Refined are the usual people to engage those inside cells. We are generally resistant and resilient enough that it is a <em>very</em> rare asion that we lose someone. As to gates, weve seen no evidence of gates being incorporated into the Tide. The soul passes on as one would expect upon death. That means that the soul-bound items also are rendered without a power source, though some stick around for just long enough to be <em>quite</em> difficult to deal with. Thats why, generally, a risen Mage is at its most powerful for the day after they rise. They still have their previous magical density to pull from, along with their items.


    Lovely.


    Indeed.


    So there could be a risen avatar of the Sovereign of Death buried beneath us right now?


    Mistress Kep shook her head. Conceptually, yes, but literally, no. I could sense them if that were the case, and there are no buried or hidden threats within a couple of miles, even outside of this folded space. There are a few magical creatures, but they arent near enough or of a kind to really be a threat or to need to be dealt with.


    Well, thats a relief. T looked to Master Limmestare. Thank you for the tale.


    It was my pleasure.


    She thought for a moment. So, for something like a Lich, wed just package up their whole fortress and make that their cell. No need to find what specific item houses their soul if you trap everything away. Is that right?


    Just so, yes.


    Huh I can see why this method caught on.


    Mistress Cerna cleared her throat. Now that that tale is told...


    Oh, theres so much more that I could tell.


    I know you could, but I think enough has been conveyed for now.


    He sighed but nodded. Very well.


    Now, that settled, I think we should recover a bit before we depart. Master Grediv has asked us to drop by a little research facility on the way back, so we need to be at least reasonably recovered before then.


    They all nodded.


    Mistress Cerna gave a triumphant smile. Good! Until then, lets do our after-action debriefing, shall we? I think we did well enoughclearly protocol worked and the prisoner is containedbut there is always room for improvement.


    Once again, they all nodded. Everyone here was open to, if not longing for, improvement.


    Lets get started, shall we?

 Chapter 337: Mage’s Bane

    Chapter 337: Mage¡¯s Bane


    T was able to stand and shift around a bit more on this second version of their units flying contraption.


    They had spent part of the time while waiting for Mistress Kep to fully research the cell workshopping thebined construct, and this second version was much more stable as a result.


    Theyd added some fins which acted like the fletching on an arrow, keeping it oriented as they wanted. The orientation and construction was different from an arrows fletching, of course, because they didnt want their tform to spin to create forward moving, stable flight. Rather, they needed it to remain t, which required rather different orientations and profiles.


    It wasnt perfect this iteration, but they werent working from scratch by any means. Not only did each of those involved have <em>some</em> experience with various aspects, but the Archive also had an incredible number of ns and research notes on various forms of flight, flying contraptions, and concepts underlying magically assisted flight.


    Humanity, it seemed, had always been obsessed with the sky, and only magical resonance kept them from it, as slow flight was <em>much</em> harder than fast flight as a rule. Though, the right types of magic negated much of that.


    <em>Even so, magical resonance would be less of a problem for non-gated, and higher above the ground I wonder if there are any flying cities, like the mobile viges. There are moving castles, so why not castles in the sky?</em>


    <em>-Maybe? They likely wouldnt use the principles behind aerodynamic flight though. Id bet they use something simr to your gravity maniption, or something like that.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, could be. I mean, were using it here, and it helps make our creation more functional.</em>


    Slightly counterintuitively, theyd made the tform much, <em>much</em> more massive this time around, Master Girt taking the extra time and power to condense andpress nearly five times the amount of rock and stone into a tform of roughly the same dimensions, the exterior bing a nearly mirror smooth, incredibly hard, ss-like surface.


    The added mass gave their craft inertia, which made it more power intensive to maneuver, but also gave its motions more stability, reducing the tremors and minor fluctuations that had been an issuest time.


    T again had removed basically all of its effective gravity, which removed most of the issue with keeping the thing up, and did make it more efficient to operate than expected, all things considered.


    Terry was still sitting in his preferred position, though now he had a sculpted perch upon which to well perch, as the wind tousled his feathers.


    <em>That was very kind of Master Limmestare.</em>


    <em>-Didnt take him very long or much effort.-</em>


    <em>Most small kindnesses dont.</em>


    <em>-Thats fair.-</em>


    They glided through the air under magical power and at Mistress Cernas direction. The ground passing beneath them, and the asional creature attacking them, were different than their trip out, not because theyd killed most of those creatures, which they had, but because they werent going straight back to Alefast.


    Instead, they were making a requested stop at a private research post a bit to the east, out on the ins.


    T wasnt the first to spot it, but after Master Limmestare pointed it out in the distance, T was able to pick out the winding valley among the rolling hills.


    It was a thoroughly agricultured section ofnd, looking to cover nearly a square mile, stretched out in the dells and valleys between numerous hills, only asionally cresting those hills with some lower foliage, likely to not be too visible from afar.


    Honestly, T wouldnt have noticed it at all from the ground level, as the ins had quite tall grass as well as the asional shrub and tree.


    <em>Its well hidden.</em>


    <em>-Makes sense. Being out here, youd have to avoid arcanous or magical attention, especially around the waning.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, that tracks. I wonder what they use to diffuse the human sense to their magic? I dont detect even a hint, and I think that I should if they have active magics in effect.</em>


    <em>-I suppose well see soon enough.</em>-


    As they drew closer,ing from above, T felt a power thrumming through the air, almost behind the natural zeme of the area. It didnt feel human, but it didnt feel arcane either. It just felt natural.


    To Ts varied magical senses, it seemed tomand: <em>GROW</em>.


    Now that the valley was closer, T was able to see that there were several small structures tucked in, artfully, among the various vegetation.


    T looked around and marveled at the blend of natural and cultivated that the area managed to achieve. There was nothing that stood out as being unnatural, but it was also just as obviously too cleanor orderedto feel like some random patch of the wilds.


    Near thergestthough still modestbuilding, there was arge enough clearing tond in.


    Mistress Cerna, to her credit, set them down right in the middle.


    As a detraction, it was a rather <em>hard</em>nding, causing everyone to bounce around a little.


    The Refined and Paragon maintained their bnce easily enough.


    Terry flickered to the ground nearby, ring back at Mistress Cerna and squawking irritably.


    The impact had been enough to crack the reinforced windscreen, but a flicker of power from Master Limmestare saw all damage fade away.


    The stone beneath their feet was fine.


    The craft had bounced a bit, settling back down beside where it had initially impacted.


    The ground where theyd hit first was noticeably indented, and the grass was positively squashed.


    Well, you all certainly know how to make an entrance. A strong, clearly feminine voice floated from among the trees behind T.


    T spun to face the source and found her eyes alighting on a tall woman, wrapped in clean, but not fastidious, saffron Mages robes.


    Her skin was thoroughly tanned in the way that only those nearly perpetually outside for years achieved. Her brown hair was lightly shot through with grey, and she was on the muscr side for a Mage, likely for the same reason that she was tan.


    She was clearly the tender of this oasis of cultivation in the wilds.


    She would have appeared to be about forty, if she were mundane, but the color of her magicsclearly active in a ready statematched her robes almost exactly, meaning that she would have had her aging magically slowed for at least a good while.


    <em>Nearly Refined? </em>It was interesting to see the matching colors, as it was obviously not an ident. <em>Wasnt there a trend a few centuries ago to wear clothing that matched your advancement, so that even mundanes and those without active magesight could tell?</em>


    <em>-I do think I remember that from one of the histories. Why were we reading about Mage fashion again?-</em>


    <em>You know very well. We wanted to consider shaping the elk leathers differently.</em>


    <em>-We never did do that.-</em>


    <em>Yeah we never did.</em>


    The woman gave a shallow bow in their direction, keeping a firm grip on her clearly magical spear, which had its butt nted firmly in the soil. Refined, Paragon, wee to my home.


    Terry flickered to Ts shoulder, and the womans eyes tracked the movement.


    I dont have much use for arcanous creatures in these parts.


    He is with me. Ts voice wasnt harsh, but it was firm.


    She held Ts gaze for a long moment before nodding slowly, So long as he stays with you, I wont contest it.


    Master Clevnis cleared his throat. Now that that is settled, Im Clevnis. We were passing by, and Master Grediv asked that we drop through to verify your safety and see if you needed anything.


    The womans harsh exterior cracked slightly. Master Grediv? That old goats still in the area?


    Master Clevnis chuckled. Yeah.


    He swore he had given up on that family of his generations ago. She shook her head, a mirthful, clearly caring, smile pulled at her lips. I knew him to be the best sort of liar.


    She looked them over with narrowed eyes before shaking her head and waving them forward.


    Alright, well, you might as well follow me. Theres a kettle on, and theres plenty to go around.


    The unit and Mistress Kep followed the woman as she walked toward her home.


    Im Sae-tz, but most call me Sae. You can tell the old man that Im fine. Your magesight will already have shown that my research ising along splendidly.


    T frowned. What exactly are you researching?


    Mistress Sae nced her way, cocking an eyebrow. I must have missed your name, Mistress


    T cleared her throat. My apologies, T. Im T.


    Mistress Sae stopped in her tracks. Wait Mistress T?


    Yes?


    Youre the one who convinced the Culinary Guild to share all their research into arcanous harvest?


    T frowned. Mistress Ingrit was meant to have been the public face for that even, to most of the Culinary Guild. I think you must be thinking of Mistress Ingrit.


    Mistress Sae waved that off. Yes, yes, the Librarian did her duty and put her name on everything, but I <em>know</em> people. Youre that T?


    Her unit was giving her odd looks, and even Mistress Kep seeming interested in the answer.


    <em>Great Paragon Lying wont help.</em>


    <em>-Is there really a reason to lie?-</em>


    <em>I suppose not</em> T sighed. Yes.


    Mistress Sae squealedas in literally <em>squealed</em>in surprised glee. YOU! Oh, you advanced my research by decades! The womanughed, taking a step toward T, then faltering. Im sorry. She cleared her throat, brushed her robes unnecessarily, and smiled. Im just <em>so</em> excited to meet you.


    T gave an uncertain smile. I mean, I didnt do very much, and its not like Im well versed in the information they shared.


    Oh, of course you arent but you Mistress Sae shook her head. There arent words. Thank you.


    T shrugged. I suppose Im d to have been of help? What are you researching anyways?


    The womans smile turned to a ferocious grin. I am pursing Refining via herbology, arcanous nts, and Alchemy.


    There was a stunned silence from everyone present.


    I am, of course, my own test subject. She shrugged. I think my aura speaks for itself, no?


    T nced at her again. I suppose Id have to know where you started. Youre ny percent of the way through Refining, from the point you can get to with inscriptions, give or take. So, ny-five percent of the way from Fused to Refined.


    The woman nodded. Thats my estimate as well, give or take. I did one session of Refining and decided that it wasnt for me. She quirked a smile. That said, I wasnt willing to give up on Immortality. After all, I achieved that point at seventy. So here we are.


    T blinked in surprise for two reasons.


    First, seventy was actually quite a young age for a first Refining session, T and other exceptional cases excepted.


    Second, Sae didnt look young, and she didnt seem the type to have wasted time and resources to look old falsely. That meant that assuming she was Bound by thirty and Fused by forty, giving her thirty years to get a point where she could have Refining inscriptions, and to have them fully set and alter her physiology to the proper point, all before getting to a ce that she was ready for the attempt


    After all that, given how old she looked


    <em>She could easily be over fifteen hundred years old.</em>


    Of course, that was all guess work, but it stood to reason as she was experimenting with simr things as Master Jevin, and that Paragon had been Reforging for a <em>long</em> time.


    In truth, T was estimating very low across the board, giving Mistress Sae as long as theoretically reasonable for her to have been working on this task.


    The group started walking again as Mistress Sae began to wax poetic on all the things that she had learned through the information shed purchased from the Culinary Guild.


    T knew firsthand how long and tedious a process it was to create new formtions for concoctions, let alone for entire ns of treatment. So, she could understand the value of what had been purchased from this womans point of view.


    Mistress Sae had created an incredible series of salves, potions, infusions, and injections that moved her through the Refining advancement.


    She felt like she was <em>close</em> topletion of her research. ording to her estimates, it would only be, maybe another couple hundred years, and shed have it.


    <em>Yeah, I think I probably got close on her age.</em> Though, now that she thought about it, aging likely continued to slow, the closer one got to Refined.


    -<em>You know what? I actually havent seen any mention of that anywhere, or evidence in that regard.-</em>


    <em>Huh might be interesting to find out.</em>


    <em>-Not now.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, not now.</em>


    T almost asked why the Fused wasnt sharing her knowledge alreadygiven its sessto help others have an easier time Refining, but she stopped, realizing that there was still no proof that that was actually true.


    It was possible that Mistress Sae had already done something that would prevent the final actualization of her Refining.


    <em>She needs to prove it works all the way to the end before its right to share it with others.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, there are always people who would jump on the easier road, and I can only imagine the guilt and horror she would feel if she condemned a generation of Mages to dying a stones throw from immortality because she rushed the releasing of her research.-</em>


    T shuddered internally. <em>Yeah</em>


    True to her words, Mistress Sae had a kettle on in her small home, but there wasnt room for everyone inside. Therefore, they sat in a circle of lovely chairs outdoors.


    The chairs were especially interesting, because they seemed to be made from still growing trees, elegantly split, woven, and rbined to form living furniture.


    The Fused was winding down her excited exhortations on the Culinary Guilds research, and she didnt seem to have another topic ready to hand as she was not interested in sharing anything overly specific about her research and idently giving too much insight into it.


    Thus, into the slight lull, Master Clevnis spoke up, Mistress Sae, the reason we are hereaside from the stated one of checking in on youis to warn you that the current waning is shaping up to be an extraordinarily hard one. Are you confident in your safety if the local creatures are more numerous and more powerful?


    Mistress Sae seemed to take a long moment to consider. From the looks of it, how much more numerous and powerful?


    We are already seeing a power and frequency of attacks that are normal for five years from now.


    She frowned. That is unfortunate. Does Master Grediv expect it to follow standard patterns or to continue a faster ramp up?


    Honestly, we arent sure, but his guess was a faster ramp up.


    She grimaced, then. Unfortunate indeed. Even so, I should be fine. I will elerate the growth of my protections, which will be inconvenient but shouldnt be overly burdensome. She took a deep breath and sighed. I knew I established too close to this city site. This has been a pain each cycle.


    T blinked a few times. <em>Each cycle?</em>


    -<em>Well, if your guess is right, this could be her second or third? But probably just second.-</em>


    <em>Yeah</em>


    While T was thinking to herself, Master Clevnis was checking with the Fused, clearly concerned that she was overestimating herself.


    The woman continued to try to pacify him, but he refused to be put off.


    Finally, Mistress Sae huffed augh. I only have to contend with those who happen upon me. I dont draw them in. Have <em>you</em> noticed that youre within my aura?


    The unit shifted, ncing around, but Mistress Kep simply smiled, not seeing a need to say anything in response.


    I thought that most of you wouldnt have. I drink a tincture of Mages Bane every morning. My magic is as pure as the zeme that surrounds us. In this case, they are one and the same, but you get my meaning.


    Everyone had a different reaction.


    Master Limmestares eyes flicked to the mug in his own hands.


    Master Girt grimaced and dumped his out on principle.


    Mistress Vanga stiffened ever so slightly but didnt otherwise react.


    Master Clevnis slowly stood, looking around with deliberate slowness, seemingly checking to ensure they werent about to be set upon.


    T simply frowned. <em>Mages Bane thats an extinct nt, right?</em>


    <em>-Apparently not.-</em>


    <em>I dont think Ivee across mention of it since I saw it my fathers book. I cant quite remember it care to help?</em>


    <em>-Ill do what I can.-</em>


    <em>The tea, when drunk, surrounds the gate on a metaphysical level, greatly dampening through-put while purifying the power.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, thats what I can see from the memory, too. You didnt understand the name then, but I think I do now. It also seems like it might have been one of the bases for the arcane purification scripts for their vestiges.-</em>


    <em>Yeah. As to the name, the effectsts twenty-six hours, almost precisely, if enough is taken. If the dosage is too weak to work it does nothing at all.</em>


    <em>-And with twenty-four hours of your power being too weak to power much, if anything, any magic bound item is lost, and the Mage is effectively crippled, magically, during that time.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, I dont remember the precise analysis tables, but the rough estimation stuck in my mind.</em>


    <em>-It was easy enough. Five percent.-</em>


    <em>A Mage who has Mages Bane working within them has effectively five percent of their standard throughput.</em>


    The Fused sitting calmly across from them didnt seem diminished at all. Her throughput wasnt impressive, but it was well within standard for a Fused.


    <em>So, her unimpeded throughput is twenty times what were seeing?</em>


    <em>-If thats so I have to say that thats rather impressive. A throughput of that level is much more than we can draw on.-</em>


    In the short moment that T was dialoguing with t, the final member of the unit had reacted to the mention of Mages Bane.


    Mistress Cerna had seemed to conjure a silver cage around her mug that didnt do anything obvious before it vanished. There is none in this tea.


    Mistress Sae huffed augh. Of course, there isnt. Mages Bane is rare to say the least. I might have the only nts in this part of the continent. Theres no reason that Id waste it on random strangers who mean me no harm.


    Mistress Kep nodded once, clearly confirming the statement, and everyone rxed.


    Master Clevnis sat back down, clearly a bit disgruntled. Well, that oddity aside. Lets finish up. Im sure theres much that you want to do.


    Mistress Sae smiled back, And Im sure youd like to get back to the city.


    Indeed.


    Then, by all means, what else can I do for you? And when were done with that, there''s a new irrigation technique that I just <em>have</em> to tell you about. It is decidedly on my want to do list. She grinned a bit mischievously.


    It was going to be a long afternoon.

 Chapter 338: Not Quite a Montage

    Chapter 338: Not Quite a Montage


    T took deep breaths, eyes closed, desperately focusing on four things at the same time.


    Well, that wasnt <em>quite </em>fair.


    She had four of her bloodstars locked away with four clones of her instructor in this lesson, Mistress Kaeti.


    The woman was pping in slowly changing patterns, each clone following a different cadence as T listened.


    T was then moving her hands, each on beat, each with one of the four.


    Beyond that, she was moving her elk-leathers in alignment with a third, causing a bit of white steel to manifest and fade away as her means of tracking. Finally, she was transforming Flow between a knife and a sword on rhythm with thest.


    To be fair, she was also using her willpower and focus to enact the aspect mirroring for each perspective, so it was more like an eight-way split, at least.


    t was being helpfully silent as T struggled with this basic exercise that Mistress Kaeti had provided.


    Honestly, T had improved remarkably under the womans tutge. When T started, she had struggled to keep two separate rhythms. Now she was struggling to do twice as many.


    <em>Twice the struggle, twice the reward.</em> Strain aside, she was doing it, though.


    Good, Mistress T. We still havent found your natural limits so that we can begin to push. So, I expect well see quite a bit of quick progress and improvement over theing weeks.


    T opened her eyes, knowing this to be the next step of the practice. She did her best to keep the four distinct, randomly changing rhythms going. Thank you, Mistress.


    She strayed off with her left hand and quickly corrected.


    This is somewhat exhausting.


    Thats expected. You havent really used this much. Its like weve found a muscle that youve neglected. You arent mentally weak; youre just unpracticed.


    They continued like this for another few minutes before T felt her focus irresistibly slipping, and they called an end to that form of practice for the moment.


    As they sat a few feet apart, Mistress Kaeti brought up the subject that they both knew shed been avoiding, So, reality nodes.


    T sat up just a bit straighter. Youve been able to dig into them?


    I have. I apologize for my silence on the subject, but it was rather a shock to learn that my magic was doing something so monumental without my really realizing it. I always knew that any damage to an iteration hurt all of them all of me, but I didnt realize that it was <em>literally</em> me, iterated across existence.


    So, what did you learn, if you dont mind my asking? I also picked up some information on reality nodes, and Im happy to share if youd like.


    The other Refined smiled softly. Id like that, thank you. You keep record of your memories, correct?


    I do.


    Would you be willing to share some of what youve experienced of reality nodes? Id also like to see my abilities through your eyes, if youre up for that.


    That sounds more than fair for all the training well be doing.


    Mistress Kaeti grinned. That sounds incredibly agreeable to me. Done.


    They talked for a couple of hours, before agreeing to meet up again sooner than theyd previously nned to do some testing and experiments.


    Mistress Kaeti promised to bring an expert to the session, so that theyd keep things at least rtively safe.


    T smiled at the other woman, I look forward to it.


    * * *


    T growled as she moved her bloodstar through the intricate, <em>vast</em> obstacle course, liberally spotted with iron spikes<em>her</em> iron spikes.


    Her aura stretched farther than shed ever gotten it, thanks to Master Akras instruction.


    Shed started by extending it as far as possible before cing a ring of iron spikes. From those spikes she was able to extend further, though not even close to as far as the initial distance from herself.


    From there shed repeated the process until she could fill the entire Refined training area theyd booked for their sessions.


    In Master Akras words, thats when the real work had begun.


    She was to enact her aspect-mirrored perspective, and her positional control of the bloodstar, <em>through</em> the closest iron spike at all times.


    Approaching her aura in such a segmented manner had been impossible for her at first. Then, shed been unable to distinguish which spike she was reaching through, to somewhat frustrating results.


    Only after weeks of practice could she begin to do as hed asked, and toward which hed been instructing and guiding her, and even then, it was incredibly slow.


    This was the first time shed had to navigate the bloodstar through anything other than the open training area.


    It was an obstacle course only in the loosest sense, though her mind made it out to be a tremendous difficulty.


    In truth, it was a single ring to move through and an upright stick to circle and thennd atop.


    Even so, it was monumentally harder than simply floating her bloodstar across the roughly even, open space.


    Regardless, she seeded, finally opening her eyes with a glee shining from within them.


    Wonderful progress, Mistress T. I think youre ready for the next step.


    She hesitated at that. I thought that the obstacle course was the next step.


    Oh, it is in one sense, and well move to moreplicated variations of that, but I mean the next step for your aura control, in general, not this specific branch of the skill set.


    Alright she said hesitantly, What is it?


    I want you to pull your aura back toward each spike until you no longer have contiguous control over the space as a whole. Make each spike an ind of your aura in a sea of unimed space.


    She felt her eye twitch. I dont suppose thats the end of the esction?


    He barked augh. Oh, no. Once you can do that consistently, Ill contest <em>one</em> of your aura-bubbles, and youll have to resist without changing any of the others. He grinned. But lets not get ahead of ourselves. Lets see what you can do with the task at hand.


    T nodded, firming her resolve and hardening her will.


    She could do this.


    As it turned out, no, no she could not.


    At least not that day.


    It was another weekand three more advanced versions of the obstacle courster before she finally opened the first gap within her own aura.


    Two dayster, she had rivers of unimed air coiling around most of her iron spikes, though she still had tendrils of aura connecting each of the isted pockets.


    She was feeling a bit dejected with the difficulty, but she had decided that this was something worth working at, no matter how long it took.


    She wasnt in this for quick gains or the checking of boxes for advancement.


    She would master this because she could, regardless of how long it took.


    She would master it because she chose to.


    * * *


    T barely kept herself from growling as her hair was frozen to the point of shattering in a tinkle of falling ice again.


    <em>-Just dont regrow it this time.-</em>


    <em>It shouldnt be an issue to begin with.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, well. You arent reading the flow of heat as well as you think.-</em>


    <em>You mean </em>we<em> arent.</em>


    <em>-Im you, so I choose to see you as the problem.-</em>


    That brought a smile to Ts face, and even brought up a chuckle through her dry throat. <em>Thank you, t. I needed that.</em>


    <em>-I aim to please.-</em>


    It was amazing how much moisture the cold could suck out of the air.


    Mistress Deigh, the ice focused Refined that T had met on her first day back in Alefast, strode around her in a slow circle, Mistress T, extreme cold is a useful hazard in your arsenal, but not a deadly one. You need to befortable with its effects so that you know how they will affect your opponents.


    T nodded.


    She knew that the Refined was right, so she grit her teeth and moved back into the maze of frozen and freezing air.


    There were so many flows of energy around her, and rather than resisting any of them, she let her senses ride them through her surroundings.


    Mistress Deigh hadnt just made bursts of coldor sucked heat from various sections of the room. Instead, she had created intecing, supercooled patterns under ground that pulled in heat, creating currents and vortices.


    More than that, there were magics woven into the cold itself, somehow.


    <em>Heat capacity?</em> T frowned as she felt her body fighting back against the unnatural cold.


    You severely lowered the temperature, then you massively inted heat capacity?


    Very good. Theres more to it than that, but that is essentially the basics.


    What happens to the energy when your working fades? Will there be an explosion of heat?


    Mistress Deigh smiled mischievously. The energy was spent raising the temperature. Altering specific heat doesnt change temperature, so a return to normal heat capacity doesnt cause any temperature change at all.


    Huh


    But how my magic works isnt why were here. Whats happening to your body, your flesh, your thoughts?


    The attempted crystallization within my flesh is irritating, and it is taking a surprising amount of power to counter, but I suspect thats because of your magics. T narrowed her eyes implicatively.


    True, but not on topic. Mistress Deigh smiled in return.


    T grinned. Fair, fair. Every breath is ufortable; it hurts to move about; my joints feel like they <em>should</em> be aching, but Im obviously not letting the cold prate that deeply.


    And how many do you think have resistance to cold on your level?


    Most? I mean, I dont actually have a resistance to cold, I just have a robustness to my physical body.


    Ahh, but that <em>is</em> a resistance to cold. You have enhanced every aspect of your body, that includes your ability to generate heat at need, when you are cold.


    I huh T bit the side of her lip. You know, Id never really thought about it in those terms.


    Understandable. Most magical healing, even at our level, is <em>very</em> specific. Most physical defenses, simrly so. We block and repair trauma. For environmental issues? We avoid them for the most part.


    But when properly used, they can tip the bnce.


    Precisely.


    Alright, what next?


    Next? Mistress Deigh grinned broadly. Next you get familiar with the cold effects of <em>your</em> magic.


    * * *


    T exhaled with a sharp, precise breath, moving her lips and tongue as Master Doitean had been teaching her, her desired result in mind.


    She never thought that shed see so many diagrams of the human mouth, nor that shed ever be taught, using a massive Archive disy that allowed for looping images, showing exactly which muscles pulled in exactly what manner to form the various desired results.


    T had amazing control of her own body, but she had to know what to move.


    This level of instruction solved that problem nicely.


    Unfortunately, that still left a few issues.


    First, she wasnt whoever the images were modeled after, so while following the instructions exactly got her close, it wasnt precisely right for her.


    Second, she needed to be able to make the various shapes with her mouth and tongue instinctively.


    In both cases, that meant practice.


    Master Doiteans solution, after she got close to having the movements right?


    Sparring using only breath weapons and maneuverability.


    She had been concerned about hurting him until hed demonstrated one of his defensive abilities, which very precisely heated the air around his body, creating powerful currents that moved directly away from himself, weakening or negating most ranged attacks.


    It obviously wasnt perfect, and T had caught him with ncing blows in the past, but he was surprisingly robust, even beyond the expected levels for a Refined.


    Her short burst of breath wasden with power, but carefully below the threshold that would allow it to ignite the air.


    Her second breathas she dove and rolled away from a stream of blue-hot firewas stronger and more sustained, causing Master Doitean to leap to the side, exactly as shed hoped.


    He let out a distorted curse as a small amount of the power within her first breath made it through his defensehim moving directly into an attack was a weakness of that defenseand left a dissolving patch through his cheek.


    <em>Yes. Theres no way for him to use a breath weapon now that he</em>


    Her victory was short lived, as his curse had been distorted due to proper mouth formation for a truly terrifying breath attack.


    <em>No. No! Thats ridiculous. How?</em>


    A beam of white fire, no thicker than her little finger,nced out at her, not expanding in the slightest as it cut across the distance between them in a blink.


    It speared straight through her un-metaled shoulder and out the other side, leaving a cauterized hole.


    <em>No defensive magics for me.</em> She grimaced against the pain.


    She understood the reasoning. The point was to teach her to anticipate and use breath weapons. If she just stood and took the hits, that would teach her very little.


    They would incorporate her defenses soon, he promised. After all, it was also important for her to know when and if she could take a hit from various breath weapons.


    Match. The word sounded a bit odd, given his missing cheek. Master Doitean smiled, the expression looking rather menacing with so many teeth exposed.


    How did you get out a breath attack without a cheek?"


    He chuckled, speaking with clipped words to ovee the distortion from his missing cheek, Well done, but Ive experienced simr things before. I used my defensive magics.


    Ts head rocked back slightly as she made an Oh of understanding. Her shoulder was healing slowly, the cauterization slowing down the process, but not overly so. You used the currents of air around your body to press inward, containing and directing the breath attack?


    That, and my aura.


    She grimaced. She wasnt allowed to use her aura yet, either. She understood why. It was a crutch, a useful crutch, but it would inhibit her growth in this area. Even so, she focused on the other part. How do you have such fine control over the currents of air?


    He grinned again. Heat, Mistress T. When used with understanding and skill, it is more precise than a scalpel.


    She shook her head, ncing to his exposed teeth once again. We should get that looked at before we continue.


    He shrugged. Ill swing by the healers while you practice dispersion patterns.


    Dispersion patterns were exactly as they sounded, the different shapes that a breath weapon could take after exiting her mouth.


    It was something she was starting to grasp, but practice was rarely amiss.


    T nodded. As you wish.


    * * *


    T spit up blood as she did her best to quickly return to her feet.


    Master Cru was there, mming a gauntleted fist into her chest yet again.


    This time she reacted properly, spinning on her nted foot and flowing around the hit, allowing it to slide off of her as she smacked the man with a backfist,den with as much iron-mass as she could quickly shift and allow toe to bear.


    Theyd moved past training blows long ago, though she was confined to weaponlessbat for the moment.


    Impossiblythough not unexpectedlyher knuckles met the broadside of a wide-ded sword, which she drove forward, mming into Master Crus torso, andunching him to skip across the arena.


    The interposing weapon had distributed the near-lethal blow into one that simply moved the man a considerable distance.


    T growled. That was <em>not</em> what she had wanted.


    With still-startlingly perfect movements, the Refined flipped back to his feet, sliding to a stop, seemingly no worse for wear.


    She knew what he was going to say before he said it.


    He knew that she knew, but he said it anyways, Hit <em>down</em>, Mistress T. Throwing an opponent away is wonderful for gaining space, and Im sure it served you well when you were a butcher for the arcanes, but here we are protecting the weak and innocent. We need to keep threats contained.


    She didnt let herself get distracted by the repetitious, intentionally irritating words. She crouched, amplified her surface-area-enhancing scripts andunched forward as he shot toward her as well.


    She knew that hed expect an overhead attack, meant to follow the instructions in a powerful way.


    Hed do the same and somehow the sh would end with her embedded in the ground yet again.


    Even reviewing the shes, she had a hard time picking out what she was doing wrong.


    He simply moved <em>perfectly</em>, exactly where he needed to be to counter whatever she did and deliver his own attack.


    It had happened a dozen times already, if not more. She could see them all, in not quite a montage. To her mind, they were all ovepping, easily seen together in all her failing glory.


    It was time for something different.


    She aimed lower, and even as she did, she saw the frown of irritation on the mans face.


    She was going against his instructions.


    She spun as she dropped, letting her back hit the not-sand as she slid under him, aicallyrge warhammer bearing down on her.


    Even so, she was able to tuck her legs up to her chest and kick straight upward.


    Master Crus eyes widened as her feet connected, the surface-area expanding scripts giving them good purchase to throw him straight up, into the ceiling.


    She used the motion to kick up,nding on her feet right beside where theyd shed.


    Above, there was a cacophonous <em>BOOM</em> as Master Cru mmed into the ceiling.


    A momentter, he came crashing down, heading for exactly where shedunched him from.


    She swung her fist to intercept him, but he somehow hit the back of her hand with a u-shaped de hard enough to drive her attack downward before a morningstar caught her in the now exposed back of the head.


    She facented into the ground.


    He wasnt even winded as he stood over her. While I apud your desire to not listen to your opponent, I <em>am</em> trying to teach you, here.


    T rolled backward,ing back to her feet as she cleared debris from her face.


    Still, he nced upward, You did keep me horizontally locked, so well done there.


    Thank you.


    Now, lets try to aim our attacks <em>downward</em> shall we?


    She grinned. We can certainly try.

 Continue the Story [Book 6 - Fused]

    Continue the Story [Book 6 - Fused]


    Cover


    soon!


    <strong>The world reims all things. Humanity thrives within their ever-dying cities. Mages and Archons devote their lives to create the only path forward.</strong>


    T is finally able to test the edges of her ever growing capacities among a group of peers. Hungry for ascension, she pushes boundaries she once deemed unbreakable, and already T has set her sights on advancing further in her power and skills. Yet even as her abilities continue to grow, her first lessons from so long ago still ring true: Magic is expensive.


    Continuing to Fuse requires a cost that she will struggle to pay. In order to advance, T will need toe to terms with every part of herself: where she is, where she''s going, and where she came from. Her path will guide her back to those who started her on her journey, and sess or failure will depend upon how she confronts her origins.


    If she ever wishes to be fully Fused, she must find a way to pay the heavy price her magic demands.

 Chapter 339: Some Well-Acquired Information

    Chapter 339: Some Well-Acquired Information


    T felt rather happy as she walked through the early morning streets of Alefast.


    Her training was going well; her new job was well and truly underway; and she was making new friends and acquaintances across the city.


    <em>I still need to drop in on Adrill and Artia</em>


    But there would be time for that. Right now, she was on the way to the Gredial estate to act on some well-acquired information.


    <em>-By me.-</em>


    <em>Of course by you, t. Thank you.</em>


    <em>-You are most wee.-</em>


    In truth, the information hadnt been hidden, it just hadnt been prominently disyed.


    <em>-Dont diminish my aplishment. Its not like theres a central repository I can query for things like this-</em>


    Today was Ranes birthday.


    T, herself, didnt like big todos for such events, and she didnt think Rane did either.


    In fact, she believed that hed likely prefer not to have it known or mentioned at all.


    Therefore, she wasnt going to celebrate his birthday.


    No, she was simply going to spend a day with a friend, and if he happened to secretly enjoy and appreciate it more because the day in question was his birthday, who was she to judge?


    Her smile grew just a bit at the thought.


    She came to the gates of the Gredialpound and almost knocked on the great doors.


    After a moment, she shook her head. It was still early, and she didnt need to disturb the guards. Theyd be awake, of course, but theyd be cozy in the guardhouse off to the side, likely enjoying some coffee or an early morning card game, or both.


    She walked to the side of the small gatehouse and easily leapt up onto the ten foot wall.


    She was bing quite adept at dropping her gravity to near zero as she pushed off, to allow for easy leaps without needing to damage what she lept from from overly powerful push-offs.


    True, it was a slower leap than if she powered through, but in cases where speed wasnt the primary concern, it was quite the eptable tradeoff.


    Shended lightly, nced side to side and hopped off the wall, removing her gravity again after falling for only a couple of feet.


    This allowed her to drift down andnd softly once more.


    <em>Nicely done. Training pays off.</em>


    <em>-Indeed.-</em>


    T knew that she had been added as an exception to the defensive magics around thispound, otherwise shed have created much more of amotion by going around the gate than simply by knocking.


    As it stood, no one would be disturbed by her roundabout path.


    Thus, it was with some surprise that she found Rane waiting for her at the front door.


    T? What are you doing here so early?


    She tilted her head to the side. Why are you at the front door? Were you expecting someone or something?


    I get a magical <em>ping</em> when you enter thepound.


    She felt her eye twitch. And yet, you still let me be brought to you, when Ie to visit?


    He shrugged. I generally use the time to make sure Im ready for whatever shenanigans you have in mind, even if thats usually just tafl.


    She hesitated. I suppose thats fair. So, are you ready to go, then?


    He looked over his shoulder. Well, I was just about to go to the kitchens to ask for breakfast.


    So, you havent had breakfast yet, and nothing is being made for you?


    No I suppose not? He gave her an odd look.


    Good. She grinned.


    With a deft movement, she flowed around behind him and struck at his back with an upward angle.


    As expected, his defensive magics reacted,unching him up and away from the hit.


    Tughed at Ranes sharp intake of breath, though he refrained from crying out in surprise.


    With an expansion of her surface area expansion scripts, sheunched herself after him, hooking the door with the barest tendril of thread from her elk leathers so it would close behind them.


    With all her newly refined and unified techniques, she easily cleared twenty feet, triggering Ranes defenses again on the way up.


    She had to maintain most of her gravity to keep in line with his trajectory, but that was fine. She had just intended to take him well outside his familypound, not all the way to the city wall.


    They came down on a still mostly empty thoroughfare, garnering a few startled nces, but not much more.


    Rane hadnded softly, his magics absorbing the kic energy before he could m into the ground.


    Tnded softly a few momentster, having to keep her speed slow for the same softnding.


    He turned to her. What was that? Some sort of kidnapping?


    She shrugged. You can go back, if you want, but I thought we should eat breakfast on the city wall, watching the sunrise over the forest.


    He frowned. Isnt that not for another hour or so?


    Fine, watch the sky lighten behind the forest.


    He shook his head. Im not sure whats up with you, today, he gave her a half smile, but sure. Why not?


    It was a short walk to the wall where they easily gained ess, and climbed to one of the tower tops.


    This one was clear of guards for the moment, so the two of them set up a table and a couple of chairs. Rane gave T a critical look. Are you on duty right now? Is that why were on the wall?


    Sheughed. No, nothing like that. I did get permission to be up here, though.


    He grunted and didntment further.


    T began pulling out dishes, setting certain ones before her, and others in front of Rane.


    All those for her were on yellow tes, and Ranes were on orange.


    He gave her an incredulous look, then chuckled, shaking his head again.


    A momentter, he nced up at her in confusion. T, these dishes are magical. I cant eat your food.


    Right on both counts. She grinned.


    So care to exin? I trust that you didnt have them separately ted to have variety in your eating.


    Look at the magics.


    He did as she asked, then shook his head. I dont have any knowledge in interpreting natural magics in this medium.


    She opened her mouth, then closed it, grimacing. Finally, she opened it again, Well, that ruins the surprise a bit. I didnt consider that. Theyre your magics, as close as I could get.


    He blinked at her in confusion. What?


    Master Grediv told me about a few of the creatures you modeled your magics on, and I was able to track them down, or at least the founts.


    He blinked at her. You did what?


    Thest time my unit went out to deal with a cell, we stopped by some of the kic founts in the region. While I never found a stop-dive swallow, I threw enough chickens through the fount that we ended up with a few that matched your magics.


    His eye twitched. What happened to the other chickens?


    She nced away. Well, most died passing through the fount, but some came out with other abilities.


    And you just let them run off?


    What? She looked back to him. No! Im not insane. Terry ate them. It was rather entertaining to see him hunt them down. One rooster was actually able to out maneuver him for a good five minutes before Terry got a lot smaller, and I think the chicken lost sight of him at the wrong moment. Things ended quickly after that.


    Rane was staring at her in confused awe. You really hunted down creatures that bore my particr magics?


    Those that we could find, yeah.


    And you <em>made</em> others?


    It wasnt very efficient, but yeah.


    How did you even get the chickens out there? Just within Kit? How did you wrangle them?


    She nced away. We wont be discussing that.


    He looked back at the food. Mistress Petra prepared this?


    Absolutely. Shes really gotten the hang of locking magic into the food in a way thats still essible after you eat it.


    He lifted his gaze back to her. Why?


    Well, I mean, she makes food for me all of the time. She was bound to be good at it, even if she had no experience beforehand.


    No, T. Why did you go to all of this trouble?


    She was at a loss for a moment. Finally, she shrugged. You always see me eating my magical food. I thought it might be nice for you to have some of your own. Its not like it can be an everyday thing; I didnt find or make <em>that</em> much.


    He took a careful bite, and T gave him some guidance as to how to move the power in the food through his body to where it needed to go.


    In the end, the meal took around two hours, as Rane slowly got the hang of it, and T ate her own sizable portions.


    And true to her initial offer, they were able to watch the sunrise over the forest to the east.


    Once they were done with breakfast, T took them underground to an arena that shed reserved for them.


    Rane looked around. I havent been in one of these very often. Why are we here?


    I thought wed spar.


    We do that pretty often.


    Ahh! She held up a finger as Mistress Vanga walked in. But we never go no-holds-barred. This is Mistress Vanga.


    The healer from your unit?


    Yup.


    Rane gave the healer an appropriate bow. A pleasure to finally meet you, Mistress Vanga.


    And you, Master Rane.


    Thank you for being willing to sit in on our match.


    It is my pleasure. She pulled out an Archive te and proceeded to tuck herself off to one side.


    T cracked her neck, pulling out her white steel, scale hauberk and slipping it on before coating herself under the armor with iron followed by white steel.


    Rane grinned at her, though she only saw it through her mirrored perspectives. Going all out, are we?


    She opened a crack over her mouth, moving the metal with her lips to allow her to respond. I wont be going for any one-shots, but otherwise, yes. You call the start.


    His grin widened as he took a deep breath, and his clothing writhed.


    Shed long ago gotten used to his silk clothes making him look like he was always ready to attend a high society function, and theyd long since faded into the background as something that she never really thought about.


    Now, she watched as his clothing morphed into what could only be ssified as armor, with ovepping tes of what appeared to be bone, bound with the same silk that had previously made up his clothing. There also appeared to be a thick padded garment below the tes, also of silk.


    When did your outfit be morphic?


    He shrugged. Ive been doing some hunting and research ofte. I wascking in the defense from an unavoidable hit department. The hard material is from a bone-golem that gained power and existence in a previously undiscovered bone-yard deep in the mountains to the north. That was a beast to put down.


    She grinned. Likely literally.


    Heughed, his armor now fully formed with a smooth helmet growing up over his head. The facete grew down, leaving only thin, perfectly ced slits for his eyes.


    He walked a goodly distance away before turning to face her once more.


    Force came into his hand, its greatsword length seeming <em>right</em> in the big mans grip.


    T pulled with her will and felt Flow <em>snick</em> into her grip even as she resealed her armor. She knew there was a new band of metal around Flows handle, right below the crossguard, but it was so minute that it wouldnt have been irritating even to her bare flesh, let alone throughyers of protection.


    Rane nodded once. Begin.


    A hundred iron spikes shot from T, all angled downward to pierce into the ground even as sheunched herself forward.


    Her aura nketed the whole near-region of the sparring arena, radiating from herself and the iron spikes, causing Rane to take a step backward in obvious, short-lived surprise.


    The second wave of spikes followed the first, then a third, and finally a fourth.


    She was able to guide each sessive wave precisely with her aura, originating from the already in ce iron.


    Rane pushed outward with his own aura, but even when they had been at the same level of advancement, she greatly magically outweighed him.


    Now? It was all he could do to keep her aura from pushing past his armor.


    She closed the distance in a breath, holding Flow up for an obvious downward chop, which Rane readied to block.


    At thest moment, T let go of Flow, keeping it in ce for a brief moment with her aura, and swept her hands down, out, and around, ws of white steel growing on her fingertips as she struck for his gut and chest.


    Then, Flow stuck downward, guided by her aura-enforced will, applied to Flow itself and the three bloodstars embedded equidistantly spaced inside the new metal band.


    The attack wouldnt have her muscr power or her physical weight behind it, but it <em>did </em>have literal barrels of iron worth of mass behind it. So, T was willing to ept the bit of lost power.


    Force mmed up into Flow, throwing the sword back a hair before Ts ws found his armor, even as the counter-force from blocking Flows attack drove Ranes feet into the soft flooring.


    Her raking attacks triggered Ranes passive defenses, and he was sted backward, jerking his feet from the ground and his body out of the way of her swipes.


    Even so, she nted her foot for the next step andunched herself forward again, even faster now. Flow flew at her side in the form of a ive, keeping pace with ease as she pulled it along with a simple act of will.


    In this way, she chased him around the arena, sending out waves of iron spikes to im the area she passed through and keep his aura ruthlessly suppressed.


    Force and Flow shed uncounted times, and Rane, to his credit, struck back at her more than shed expected, not being kept fully on the defensive, but he simply couldnt seize the momentum of the match back.


    She wouldnt allow it.


    Regardless, Rane was a <em>ridiculously</em> frustrating opponent to pin down.


    Finally, she decided to use a trump card.


    She opened Kit and two tower shields were pulled out, triangles of metal affixed to their backs, three bloodstars in each to allow her three-axis control.


    She snapped them around and forward, using her aura superiority to move them into ce, hemming Rane in on two sides from the back, even as she breathed out a breath attack near his feet.


    Flow struck from above, and T drove her right fist forward.


    Her shields snapped toward her at thest moment, performing a blunt-force strike that activated Ranes defenses, sending him directly into her other, slightly dyed attacks.


    His magics tried to react, but her shields were stilling from behind.


    His magics couldnt move him up because Flow was pressuring Force from that direction.


    They couldnt move him down because a cloud of near-burning dissolution magic awaited there.


    His passive defenses couldnt get him out of the situation.


    Her wed hand mmed into his armored abdomen and was slowed.


    With all her strength, all her momentum, her ws barely prated the bone tes far enough to draw blood.


    She immediately tightened her grip, clinging to the armor as she drove her other hand forward.


    Yield! Rane called, hands opening in surrender, obvious strain in his voice. In that strain, T detected the hints of rage.


    T halted all attacks instantly and pulled back her tools, stepping aside as well.


    Mistress Vanga was beside them a momentter, even as Ranes armor faded back into more normal clothes, blood flowing from under the cloth on his stomach.


    T winced. Are you alright?


    A wash of magic moved over him as he allowed Mistress Vanga to heal him, uncontested.


    The healer clucked her tongue. No serious damage, the injury is now repaired with nosting effects or need to coddle the area.


    Without another word Mistress Vanga withdrew.


    Rane?


    Rane nodded, panting. That was


    T waited, uncertain.


    amazing! Heughed out loud. You are incredible! I had no idea that youd grown that much.


    She smiled in return, tentatively at first, but quickly growing to a full grin. Ive been training <em>a lot</em> with some verypetent teachers. I feel like Im really starting toe into my own.


    Ill say! That really was incredible.


    Sheughed softly. You said that.


    He shrugged. True is true. He took a deep breath, clearly trying to calm his heart, and exhaled. Can we go again?


    T nodded. We dont have anything else scheduled until after lunch.


    He hesitated, frowning, Whats after lunch?


    There are a couple of ys. There arent many, as this is a waning, but I managed to find a couple that seemed interesting.


    He gave her a long look, his smile returning. Well, then. It seems like we have a busy day ahead of us.


    Indeed we do.

 Chapter 340: Safety is Gone

    Chapter 340: Safety is Gone


    T sat infort as the unit glided through the air in what was nearly the twentieth iteration of theirbined construction.


    She was still seated on t stone, but there was no need to keep as still as possible, and that made a surprising difference.


    Terry, as had be his habit, was proudly perched atop his perch at the pinnacle of the sleek ss shell, which redirected wind away from the passengers.


    Mistress Cerna had perfected the scripts she used to propel the craft, making for a smoother, more controlled, more stable flight.


    Master Girt had increased thepression in the stone tform below them, changing the shape to more suit their needs and adding to the inertial stability. Though, something was off with the man.


    <em>I should check on him at some point</em>


    Master Limmestare had refined the contours of the ss, to aid in movement and flight, rather than detracting. Though, he still left Terry exposed to the airstream, as the terror bird preferred.


    T had narrowed in the the right amount of gravity to leave affecting the construction, to allow for easy maneuverability without undue burden to keep the whole thing aloft.


    The Paragon who was with them on this outing had been suitably impressed by thebination of effects and talents, inquiring at length as to each part of the construction as they headed to the south, toward the ins near the edge of the forest where this next cell awaited.


    The Paragon was older looking than Mistress Kep had been, but he appeared in no way feeble.


    He had a studious air to him, added to by his insightful and thorough questions. Each one conveyed his interest and attentiveness in a way that prompted those of whom he was inquiring to speak at length in response.


    Honestly, he reminded T of Master Nadro in that way.


    He had introduced himself as Abali, and Master Abali had proven himself to be quite a pleasantpanion.


    Truthfully, each of the Paragons who hade with them to the various cells had been enjoyable to interact with, each in their own way.


    This was only their second new cell, but they had gone to three other known cells for the standard maintenance for this cycle. Apparently, the added turmoil of this waning made it so that more cells needed maintenance than usual.


    Finally, T decided that she couldnt ignore her unit-mate further and took a chance to move over and sit next to Master Girt. Master Girt?


    Hmm? He grunted, looking up to meet her gaze.


    Is everything alright?


    He shrugged and sighed. Im just having some trouble with those who Im living with.


    Oh? T frowned. She thought she remembered that Master Girt rented out rooms in the home he had in Alefast. Whats the issue, if you dont mind my asking?


    Well, my new housemates think my house is haunted.


    Ts eyebrows rose in surprise. What?


    Yeah! I mean, I dont know what theyre on about. Ive lived there for nearly three hundred years, and Ive never seen anything worthy of concern.


    There was silence then, and T noticed that everyone was looking in her direction.


    Her expression fell into a neutral mask. Thats meant to be a joke, right?


    The man huffed and shook his head. See? I told you she wouldnt think it was funny.


    Master Clevnis grinned. <em>I </em>thought it was hrious.


    Master Abali breathed a softugh. It would work better if the person you tell it to doesnt know you''re Refined.


    Master Girt grunted. Yeah, I suppose I can see that.


    T sighed. So, youve been acting grumpy all morning, just to set up a joke?


    Hmmm? Im not grumpy. He frowned.


    Why do you think I came over here?


    His frown deepened. Im not grumpy.


    Mistress Cerna didnt look away from their flight path as she spoke up. Yes, you are. Youve been sulking. Its why we thought you attempting some humor would be good for you.


    Wait. You told me to try to make herugh, for me?


    That caused the unit leader to look back at him. Of course. We know you wont tell us whats wrong, but we thought it might help you. She doesnt need cheering up. Mistress Ts been nothing but happy since she took the day off to be with her friend.


    Mistress Vanga took that opportunity to sit down beside T. Speaking of which, you never did tell us how it all went. I mean, I had to heal him a few times, but thats hardly a good way to get a picture of the tenor of a day.


    Master Limmestare looked up from his book. Are you two courting? If not, Im going to read while you tell everyone else the details.


    T flushed. No! Were not courting. Why would you even ask that?


    He gave her a t look. I just told you why. If you are courting, its important enough for me to give my full attention. I take great pains to pay attention to my unit-mates and the weighty things in their lives that they feel worthy of sharing. However, if this is just our fellows forcing you to expound on a standard day with a friend, I prefer my book to such things.


    Oh. T blinked a few times. I suppose you did imply that Well, were not.


    Alright then, thank you. He turned back to his book.


    And from there, Mistress Vanga re-took over the reins of the conversation, and T did her embarrassed best to convey how the day with Rane had gone.


    Over all, they passed the trip with their regrradery, Master Abali interjecting only asionally as was appropriate.


    They touched down lightly outside the forest, and blessedly, they wouldnt need to enter it.


    T had made her team aware of her storied history with the Leshkin, and Master Grediv already knew. Together, that ensured that they wouldnt be picked for any in the southern forest cell work.


    Their construct wasplex enough that Master Clevnis stored it once theyd all disembarked and after Mistress Cerna had removed her spell-forms from the bottom, which took very little time.


    They were on the rolling ins, atop one of the higher hills, the forest some quarter of a mile distant.


    T immediately scanned their surroundings for the fold in reality that would indicate the hidden entrance into the cell, but didnt find one. When she reported this, Master Abali nodded, considering.


    It is likely one of the <em>many</em> cells that are underground. It can be tricky to find the exact location of those, if you donte prepared. He pulled a handful of white powder out of thin airseemingly from his spatial storageand threw it up. Thankfully, I am prepared.


    Power sparked between the particles, seemingly drawn from the air itself, before the growing cloud began moving against the wind.


    Little portions broke off from the main formation to swirl around each of the Archons. That which moved toward T seemed most drawn toward Kit.


    The vast majority of the dust, however, seemed to be pulled down the hill upon which they stood to settle in an oddly static pile in a small dell.


    T frowned. What is that powder, if I may ask, Master Abali?


    It is a metallic synthetic powder. It is known to have a maic-like attraction to disruptions in reality when properly activatedat least in this form. Though, the attraction and movement is far more powerful and works rather differently.


    Master Girt jumped down the hill,nding beside the pile and tapping his foot. Yeah, theres a cavitation below here. It goes deep. I can barely detect the highest portion, close to a hundred feet down from here. Theres a fair amount of iron in this soil restricting my perception.


    With a flexing of power that clearly came from the rock and earth inclined Refined, a vertical shaft opened below the white powder, letting it fall down with surprising rapidity.


    Terry flickered to Ts shoulder and looked back and forth between her and the hole before shaking himself.


    Not interested in going down there.


    He shook himself again.


    I thought not. She opened Kit, and Terry vanished within.


    Master Abali leaned over the edge, looking down, and T saw something incredibly odd when the man utilized his magic.


    The darkness in the pit seemed to pull back, drawing the light of the mid-morning sun in after it.


    There wasnt <em>more</em> light, per se, but the light definitely was prating deeper and deeper into the hole.


    Master Limmestare had put his book away, and it was he who asked, What sort of power is that?


    Master Abali smiled. Control over darkness, and wherever there is not darkness, there is light.


    T shook her head. Alright, I call that rusted. How is that not conceptual magic?


    Instead of being offended, Master Abaliughed, power still flowing around him in intricate patterns as he clearly did more than bring light down the vertical entrance. When I was but a boy, my family lived away from the cities, and we were attacked by arcanous creatures. My father got me into a deep pit and closed it up before the defenses were fully overwhelmed, and I hid in there for more than a week.


    His tone and demeanor did not fit the tenor of story he was telling, but T didnt interrupt to ask about the incongruity.


    In that time, I found the darkness around me to be an almost tangible thing, like the very air we breathe, but not in the same way. I think it was my own power manifesting in a time of stress, reaching out to the darkness, because by the time my father was able to circle back and recover me, I was more at home in the dark than the light. He shrugged. It has been like an old friend ever since.


    She almost started to argue, but then stopped herself. Who was she to argue with someone elses fundamental understanding?


    Soon enough, there was no darkness below them as they looked down the well-lit shaft.


    After me, then. The Paragon stepped forward and dropped.


    T, as the designated blocker of the group, followed moments after.


    She briefly considered wrapping herself in iron and void, infusing them into her defenses to create an existence separation field as Mistress Kep had exined it.


    She shuddered internally at the thought.


    The magical interweaving was a <em>powerful</em> defense under the right circumstances, but the way it made her feel it was like her worst nights at the Academy.


    True, it didnt start out that bad, but from the first moment it had echoes of her darkest moments of loneliness, istion, and worthlessness.


    She wouldnt dismiss it as a tool, just like she didnt avoid anything that was useful because it was ufortable, but it definitely wouldnt be her go-to defense.


    Instead, as she fell she directed her power and focus toward feathering her gravity and leveling the bottoms of her feet to be able to adjust her surface area expansion scripts and thus increase her drag to aid in slowing her fall as well.


    She fell slowly enough that she wasnt surprised that Master Abali was out of the way when she hit the bottom, even though shed followed closely after him when jumping in.


    All the darkness seemed to gather around the Paragon, flowing around him in quick streams, only discernible by the ripples of the exteriors because the insides were so dark as to appear two dimensional.


    T pulled her gaze from the man and immediately oriented on the fold in reality that she could now easily sense down a long tunnel, angled smoothly downward.


    Even if the darkness hadnt been pulled back, shed have been able to see all there was to see in this ce.


    Above her was a perfectly vertical shaft, and before her was an equally perfect downslope of a tunnel leading to a dead end.


    T called up, Clear! Advancing.


    While she and Master Abali moved toward the folded prison entryway, the others made their own ways down with varying degrees of quickness.


    While each of the cells shed seen so far was a bit different in their own way, this one seemed oddly nk?


    There was nothing special about this tunnel, buried in the earth, except it was a tunnel buried in the earth. That, by its very nature, made it odd.


    It was nearly featureless, but that just served to highlight how unnatural it was.


    The effect gave the impression of someone trying to remove all markers, without really realizing that theck of such things was a marker of a different kind.


    <em>Who would be so capable, yet still naive?</em>


    <em>-Or so pressed for time that they werent careful?-</em>


    That actually made a lot of sense, and she frowned. <em>The prisoner?</em>


    She had a mental sh of a faceless <em>something</em> standing right behind her, simrly stripped of features to better blend in and thus standing out in the worst way.


    Its long, wed hands were reaching toward her with inexorable power, ready to disembowel her <em>through</em> her spine.


    T spun, Flow snapping into her hand, but only found Master Girt behind her back up the tunnel, one hand on the wall as he examined the ceiling.


    He saw her movement, turning to face her in confusion. Mistress? Is everything alright?


    She shook her head, feeling a sweat of fear roil over her even as she sheathed her weapon. No I just got the unshakable feeling that <em>something</em> was behind me She hesitated, then shook her head again. No. Thats not right. I just realized that, somehow, I have no feeling of safety, here. I think my own mind might have filled in the rest?


    He frowned, then nced up again. Yeah I can feel the integrity of the stone around us, but I keep checking. Like something in me is refusing to let me feel safe. Yeah, that is exactly right.


    T again felt like something was standing directly behind her, but this time, instead of reacting, she simply analyzed her own surroundings more closely, her mirrored perspectives already providingplete awareness.


    There was nothing there.


    But was she <em>sure?</em>


    She whipped around again, managing to contain her reaction enough to not draw Flow this time.


    There was nothing, as shed known there would be.


    <em>But what if?</em> She groaned. Please tell me this doesnt have to do with the prisoner.


    Master Abali visibly tremored, before he shook his head. No such luck, Im afraid. There are all sorts of conceptual twistingsyered over this tunnel andI suspectthe entryway to the prison. Likely things the prisoner was doing in an attempt tosh out at his captors, or keep the prison from sealing as it closed.


    T shuddered. He didnt want his captors to ever feel safe? How can such a working even How is it still in effect?


    It was wrought on this space, and this space has gone undisturbed since. The magics likely originally extended above as well, but they would have dispersed with time. Down here, though? Its concentrated, and the conceptually-altered matter is still here, waiting. The change should fade while were here, and the effects should be all but utterly gone by the time the cell is maintained again.


    T grimaced, ncing over her shoulder reflexively. I rather hate this


    Mistress Vanga lifted up her shield with a little shrug. Im feeling alright thanks to this. Thank you all, again, for letting me im it.


    T did her best to not begrudge the woman. This conceptual nonsense wont extend into our dimensional storages, will it?


    She had the horrible thought of the Zats feeling unexinable, undirected danger within Kit.


    <em>Or Terry Yeah, that wouldnt be good for anyone.</em>


    Master Abali hesitated. Not unless they are opened. As to what will happen then? Im not sure, but lets get a look inside the atrium for this cell, and Ill know better.


    <em>Great going deeper in.</em>


    It was obviously a bad idea to do anything with this cell, even checking on its integrity was foolish. She


    <em>-T.-</em> ts tone carried a note of warning within Ts mind.


    T jerked her head, shaking it. Oh, thats awful. Not only is the feeling of safety gone, but so is faith that what were doing is the right course.


    ThatMaster Abali said with a shake of his headshould pass incredibly quickly. What I would watch out for more closely is if you all start to feel less confident in each other, or anything like that.


    She felt her eye twitch. Thats possible?


    I wouldnt think so, not with the level of magic that Im feeling, but people have had odder specialties. Be careful.


    T sighed. Ill pay special attention to our reality-thread connections


    Thank you, Mistress. Watch for suppression as well as severing, if you will. The Paragon smiled at her kindly.


    She grimaced and nodded. Should I enfold myself in my existence filter?


    Master Abali paused for a moment. You could try it, but I dont believe it would help. You still react to external stimtion, so you arent truly cut off from reality, at least not in the way the prep-documents outlined the ability. This effect is equivalent of looking at a kitten and thinking its cute. Now, once we know more about the prisoner I very well may rmend its use. After a moment''s consideration, he shrugged. That said, you are wee to experiment. You have good enough control that you shouldnt cause yourself or anyone else harm. Again, though, thats just from my understanding.


    She nodded, epting his words for the rmendation that they were.


    After a long consideration, and several involuntary looks over her own shoulder, she grit her teeth and sealed her mouth, forcing the manifestation of the void into her bound iron and defensive magics.


    Because she was looking for it, and because she already felt unsafe, she immediately felt like everyone had abandoned her, and she would never find her way back to the surface.


    She tried to start hyperventting, but she couldnt breathe.


    She couldnt breathe!


    ws grew out from her fingers, and she scrabbled at her face, trying to get free of the cloying inability to take in air.


    Her perspective seemed to fade as her mind spiraled into panic.


    There was another voice that seemed that it was trying to get her attention, but that didnt matter, not now.


    <em>Cant breathe.</em>


    <em>Cant see.</em>


    <em>Cant breathe.</em>


    <em>Cant see.</em>


    She couldnt bring her focus to bear sufficiently to mirror Flows cutting onto her ws to get them to <em>work.</em>


    Something hit the side of her head, and she felt like she <em>rang</em> like a bell, even though she knew that wasnt true.


    That outside stimulus was something to grab onto.


    She <em>wanted</em> the outside.


    Something was keeping her separate from it.


    <em>Get away!</em>


    Her iron exploded away from her into the dimensions of magic, destroying the synergy that created her existence filter, and the rest of the world came crashing back into focus.


    Master Clevnis was standing over her.


    <em>Im on the ground?</em>


    Mistress T? Are you alright?


    T groaned. Yeah that was an awful idea.


    He helped her to her feet, and she found herself clinging to him for a long moment.


    He didnt pull back, instead rubbing her upper backfortingly. Youre alright, Mistress T. Were here.


    Mistress Cerna came up beside them, resting a hand on Ts shoulder. Lets verify the safety of the entrance, then get up to the surface for some perspective, shall we?


    T nodded mutely, working her lips to bring moisture back to them. Finally, she managed, Yeah. I think that would be good.

 Chapter 341: Aura Supremacy

    Chapter 341: Aura Supremacy


    T sat in a little dell beside the deep hole down to the prison cell.


    Mistress Cerna sat beside her on the grass, silently watching the light change across the ins as the sun moved toward midday.


    A slight breeze was washing over the hills, causing the high stalks to dance and sway in rhythmic waves.


    A few nearby bushes added the sound of shivering leaves to that of swishing grassand the asional animal call or bird song in the distanceas the two women sat, just absorbing the beauty and peace.


    T didnt really know how long they sat there before she finally spoke, Thank you.


    Mistress Cerna smiled and gave a slight nod but didnt otherwise respond.


    I think I made the whole thing a lot worse by enacting the separation while in an extreme emotional state.


    That makes sense. Do you want to talk about it? The unit leader turned to meet Ts gaze, understanding and care evident in her eyes.


    I think so? Though, Ive talked through most of this with Master Nadro.


    That man is a blessing to all of humanity.


    Indeed he is.


    There was another long silence before Mistress Cerna spoke again. Regardless, Im here if you want to talk.


    T smiled briefly, but didnt say anything for a long moment. Finally, she nodded to herself. It felt like I was back at the Academy and not in a good way. I had issues with my immediate family, so I felt alone to start with. Then, I was messing with iron on my skin, which made other students not really want to be near me. I thought it was them being mean or uncertain. I didnt realize it was making them actively ufortable until after Id graduated.


    Mistress Cerna made a noise of engaged interest.


    T felt herself smile, recognizing Master Nadros tendencies in the woman. Nheless, she continued. So, the Academy was a time of pretty extreme istion for me. I buckled down and got through it, having such a clear end-goal was rather more helpful than I realized at the time. But I wasnt ever scared. She shrugged. Lonely? Unquestionably. Uncertain? Often. Afraid? Never. Im not really sure why.


    Mistress Cerna shrugged. They do a fairly good job of ensuring that we Mages dont develop a fear of magic. That was apparently a difficulty early on, and it caused some to actively hurt themselves with their power, simply because they believed that their magic would do so or required that. Our predecessors worked <em>that</em> kink out rather quickly.


    Yeah, I can see that possibility being an issue. But down in that tunnel? Ts eyes flicked down, then back up to their bright surroundings. I felt like I was on the edge of disaster. I didnt realize it at the time, but I knew that you all were down there with me, so even though I <em>felt</em> like I was about to die, a deep part of me was leaning on my connections with you all.


    Mistress Cerna nodded slowly. From what youve described, that would have been building your connections with us. Is that correct?


    Precisely. So, when I isted myself


    The building of those connections couldnt happen, so that feeling that was anchoring you


    Was stripped away on the instant. I spiraled quickly after that.


    A mundane pair of songbirds flitted about up slope before them, drawing the womens attention for a long moment.


    It was calming to watch their swooping patterns and listen to their melody.


    I didnt really realize how far Ivee from my Academy days, but I really have made a lot of connections with people. You all are the most recentand certainly the quickestwhom Ive built a rapport with.


    Working and fighting alongside each other can do that. We have to trust one another explicitly or were going to get hurt.


    T nodded seriously. She wouldnt have died in thest weeks without that trust, but she certainly wouldnt have seeded on many, if any, of the missions without the others, and she likely would have taken some <em>incredible</em> hits.


    Was that what you experienced down there, then? Terror in istion?


    She thought about it for a moment before giving a hesitant shrug. I think it might be more urate to say terror of istion, alongside everything else. It quickly pivoted as my mind lost coherency, though. Things that I was in full control of were suddenly greater sources of fear than those I couldnt affect at all.


    The human mind can be an oddly self-destructive thing at times.


    Yeah, its amazing how often we can make ourselves miserable.


    The other Refined huffed augh. Yeah, I can think of at least forty strategies I already use to make myself miserable, without even really meaning to.


    Thats thats a lot.


    Isnt it just?


    They sat in silence for another long while before T slowly got to her feet.


    She patted her gear, mentally off kilter enough that she wanted to verify Flow and Kit were in ce.


    <em>Flow on the left, Kit on the right, just as always.</em>


    T smiled slightly, Lets get back down to the others.


    Are you going to be alright? Mistress Cernas tone carried concern but also a sense that she would trust Ts answer.


    Yes. Im just not going to use that defense.


    To be fair, you did originally put that together under very particr circumstances. Its possible that, if varied, it might be an excellent defense in even more cases.


    T looked down, then back at her unit leader. Lets experiment when we arent in the field, shall we?


    Mistress Cerna chuckled. That is probably the wise course.


    T dropped down, slowing herself as she had before.


    The sense of creeping unease was noticeable much sooner since she was looking out for it.


    Even so, she didnt let that distract her as she marched down the slope toward the now opened folded-prison entrance.


    She twitched, <em>barely</em> keeping herself from jerking around as Mistress Cerna touched down behind her.


    <em>Its just Mistress Cerna. Youre fine, T.</em>


    <em>-T?-</em>


    t had been strangely quiet sense the incident. That in mind, T responded to her alternate interface with a carefully inquiring tone. <em>Are you alright, t?</em>


    <em>-I I think so. That was I did not like that.-</em>


    <em>What was it like from your side?</em>


    <em>-Like we were utterly uncontroble. I couldnt even master my own thoughts. I think I was screaming there at the end Im d you couldnt hear me, or at least couldnt process what you were hearing. I think I would have just made it worse.-</em>


    T projectedfort and understanding within her own head, and t reciprocated.


    The two Refined stepped through the previously folded entrance into the massive cavern beyond.


    It was bright, with no obvious source of light in evidence.


    <em>I do wonder how Master Abali would do against Eskau Paun.</em>


    <em>-Sadly, T, I dont think that we will ever see that fight.-</em>


    <em>Why wou</em> T stopped, ring internally. <em>Was that a joke?</em>


    <em>-Of course. They both use darkness. Nothing to see.-</em>


    T shook her head and huffed augh.


    It helped that there was a bit less of the pervasive <em>wrongness</em> in the air within this space, whenpared to the tunnel outside.


    The inward curving walls were decorated in the traditional manner expected of cell antechambers.


    They were covered top to bottom with simplistic, but clear, depictions of the prisoner and how his power worked.


    Each picture seemed to be in a set of at least two, though moreplex concepts used more sequential images to get the point across.


    Negation.


    This prisoner somehow wielded the concept of negation or at least something very near to that idea.


    The most prominent images showed what seemed to be the being negating their own death and injury.


    <em>That is so broken. How can someone just say Yeah, Im not going to die. Thank you, though!</em>


    <em>-It likely took a perfect confluence of events for him to be exposed to his own death in a way that he magically outweighed the particr instance enough to negate the entire concept.-</em>


    <em>I I think that actually made sense.</em>


    <em>-Of course it did. You may not have studied all the arcane books we have, yet, but I have </em>much<em> more time than you do. Add to that the fact that I know how to put facts forward in the perfect way for you to understand me, and its no wonder that my quick exnation makes sense.-</em>


    <em>Fair.</em>


    As she walked further into therge space it was blessedly obvious just how much less it was affected by the feeling of fear, or rather the negation of the feeling of safety.


    The walls were clearly carved and polished smooth before the painted depictions were added. The floor, on the other hand, had been left a bit rough, likely to allow for easy footing.


    At the center of the space was a gazebo like structure made of ck stone. That is where the reward or bribe had been waiting for them.


    There hadnt been anything too incredible this time around, but there was a good bit of precious metals, so that was nice.


    She felt a tickle run up her spine, like someone was about to tap her to get her attention, but the tap never came.


    She <em>knew</em> it would nevere, because she could still see in every direction.


    <em>This isnt awful or anything.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, its totally worth the money.-</em>


    T hesitated. <em>You know, it actually is worth the money and experience I should stopining, shouldnt I.</em>


    <em>- we both probably should. I do wish that the Paragon would hurry up.-</em>


    Master Abali grunted from the far side of the room, almost as if hed heard ts mention of him. Even so, he spoke to no one in particr, It looks like hes only Honored, and yes, that means hes on the path of advancement used by the arcanes.


    T frowned, walking that direction even as she asked, Is that meant to imply that hes not an arcane?


    From what I can tell, he was born human, but I see no references to gates, so hes gateless. Even so, theres reference therehe pointed off to the leftindicating that he somehow negated his own humanity. I have no idea what that actually means, though. Theres no real way we could, as it would be based on the casters own perception.


    T blinked a few times even as she came to a stop, standing beside him. I think I know, and its pretty obvious.


    The Paragon turned to her, then slowly nodded. Oh, right. Concept magic.


    Precisely, yeah.


    The man frowned. But hed have to have used some form of concept magic to aplish a removal of his humanity? He shook his head. Maybe it was a natural effect from somewhere, or something else not recorded. The nullification of his humanity is seemingly connected toor it was aplished around the same time ashe negated his ability to die. That might factor in.


    T grunted. While this was interesting, it wasnt <em>really</em> necessary to know. Do we know how long youll need? Im not really a fan of this one, and Id vote for a quicker turnaround if possible.


    The Paragon shrugged. I mean, we could make the attempt now, but I think wed be wiser to wait for me to confirm some things at least one or two. He pointed to a section off to his right. The best way tobat him, however, seems to be aura supremacy. Thats one of your areas of expertise, right? I recall that being in the briefing on your magics.


    T perked up. Yes, or at the very least, Im trying to make it a foundation for my abilities.


    I think well want you to have your aura on full disy before we open the cell then, and youll likely want to be braced for a direct assault against it.


    She nodded. Ill prepare.


    Dont get ahead of us. Itll still likely be a day He hesitated. You know, I can go faster than that Maybe, a few hours? Yeah, I can make that work, and He trailed off, a frown growing across his features. Well, rust me. Thats devious.


    T was already forming an iron spike to begin working with her aura, but she paused, really paused and considered. Oh Rust.


    Master Abali raised his voicethough it wasnt really necessaryto ensure that everyone was paying attention. The removal of safety seems to have been dimmed in here to make room for a dampening or removal of patience, or something very simr. I think it is effectively encouraging us to rush or act recklessly. Thus, I will be taking a bit longer than I normally would, just to be sure I havent missed anything. My apologies.


    T felt herself nod. Im still going to start experimenting with my aura and these removals.


    Nullifications, I think is the closer term.


    Nullifications, then. They are established, and I dont have active magics to oppose, but there might be <em>something</em> I can do.


    The Paragon smiled. I look forward to your results.


    Master Abali was good to his word, and took a good five days to check, double check, and consult with other experts.


    T continued her training through that time, going up to the surface more often than was strictly standard, but as they were all doing it to get away from the gnawing sense of impatience and low level buzz of danger, it didnt cause an issue.


    The senses of danger and impatience were useful for honing her mental focus under adverse conditions, though she did that work in the cavern more often than the tunnel. Thest thing she wanted was to train herself to ignore her innate sense of danger. After all, in more cases than not, she needed that sense.


    Her experiments with her aura ended up being little more than practice for her aura control in general.


    As she had no conceptual basis for her powerlet alone one that could act on the lingering effects of this nullification magicher aura was unable to push back the already in ce effects of the concept magic.


    Truthfully, she hadnt really expected differently.


    She couldnt push back heat with her aura after it had alreadye into being from a Mage like Master Doitean.


    That said, from what Master Abali and the experts he worked with were able to determine and verify, this prisoner couldnt indirectly negate things that led to the death of others. Nor could he fully control another indirectly.


    Thus, an aura defense was the best way to deal with him.


    All of that led to T standing beside Master Abali as he prepared to open the cell, the unit behind her, ready to back her up to the best of their ability.


    They had all been briefed on the particrs of this inmate, and they were as ready as they could be.


    Establish your aura here. A line of darkness made arge circle on the ground around an unassuming, seemingly random lump in the uneven ground of cavern off to one side.


    T nodded, throwing out a series of iron spikes, evenly spaced a foot apart around the whole circumference.


    She used a manifestation of Flows cutting ability into the iron that was a part of its nature to let the spikes slip easily into the mundane rock.


    Some twenty five spikes were used to encircle the four foot diameter space, and Ts aura radiated <em>strongly</em> from each of them.


    It took a bit of adjustment, but she altered the enforcement of her own control to allow Master Abali to work within her area of control without having to take that sovereignty away from her.


    It was an odd thing, feeling another Mages power working within her aura. It was something that she specifically forbade under most circumstances, but even with the odd feeling, it wasnt hard to continue to allow it.


    The sensation was much like letting another Mage heal her, but she didnt have as much experience with that as others, so it took a moment.


    <em>I suppose the practice with the unit on this front paid off, too.</em> They needed to be able to work around each other at need, and they couldnt be constantly fighting for aura supremacy of the space.


    T nodded. Alright, I think I have it.


    Master Abali checked and nodded in return. Can you maintain that? If you deny meter, it will break my work and force me to start over.


    I can maintain this. I have it locked in, now.


    Alright.


    Master Abalis power reached out as he activated the cells unlocking sequence.


    The odd bump on the floorcentered in Ts ring of spikesexpanded upward, the rock appeared almost to bend and twist outwardlike y in a sculptors handsuntil it took on the shape of a rectangr doorframe of seemingly randomly spiraling stone.


    Oddly, those uneven waves in the stone gave T a unified feeling that the door stood, alone, as the center of the universe.


    <em>No not the center. The feeling that is trying to ovee me is that the doorway is </em>alone<em> in the universe, in all of existence.</em>


    Master Abali had told them the name of the prisoner, and T was finally beginning to understand what sort of monster would choose the name: Sole.

 Chapter 342: Sole

    Chapter 342: Sole


    Ts aura was a manifold shield, wrapped around the opening cell door before them.


    Her metals almost seemed to bleed through her skin, coating her all at once, even as she released her suppression of her through-spike.


    She was already wearing her armor.


    While she always left the iron that lined her inscriptions in the dimensions of magic, she had found being fully coated to be inconvenient when around other people.


    Master Abalis working progressed steadily, the twisted doorframe seeming to be more real, and the first inklings that somethingy beyond came into focus, something more than the cavern within which they stood began to appear.


    As soon as the beginnings of a true passage started to form and her influence spilled through, Tunched iron spikes through the doorway, angled outward to embed all around, controlling them and moving them along with her well established aura.


    She strode purposely forward, sending out waves of iron, her aura reinforcing and oveying itself with every spike added.


    She was leaning heavily on her training with Master Akra, almost hearing the mans voice in the back of her mind, Your aura, more than anything, is a magical representation of your authority and power. It cannot be shaken if you are not shaken. Where you hold sway, your aura reins supreme.


    That wasnt universally true, but it did help crystalize some important underlying truths. He had told her that, too.


    Iron spikes <em>cachunked</em> into the stone, resonating softly in tones barely audible to her ears.


    This was <em>her</em> role.


    More spikes and the resonant tone grew.


    <em>She</em> was the front-line for her unit.


    Still more.


    <em>She</em> was the jailer, and shede for an inspection.


    The tunnel before, around, and behind was filled with the pure note of her precisely identical spikes, having chimed against the stone. Though, the sound was fading as she moved on.


    She ced thest ring of iron around the tunnel exit just moments before she felt <em>something</em> m into her aura, attempting to keep it from extending out beyond that threshold.


    T was able to feel the nature of what pushed against her influence, magics trying to worm their way through her will to enact their purpose.


    Obviously, she had expected this.


    The prisoner couldnt have too many concurrent effects in ce due to the nature of his magics. They had been illustrated in great detail in the antechamber, and Master Abali had exined that this prisoners workings would disperse through the cell as a whole with time. Thus, he could only leave things in ce that wouldnt inconvenience him.


    At least for the most part.


    <em>But when you cant die or be damaged, theres a lot more potentially on the table.</em>


    Sure enough, when T walked to the edge of the tunnel and ced the first arc of spikes to secure the area outside of the entrance, she sensed a change to the air, in how it brushed against her bloodstars as they orbited her, granting the mirrored perspectives.


    Even so, she couldnt tell what the change was. She might never know, and she was fine with that.


    T mentally checked her defenses: She was fully encased in iron and white steel, her scale mail hauberk securely in ce over even that.


    <em>As protected as I can be in that manner.</em>


    Even with the restrictions that she knew the prisoner would have been under with regard to what effects he could leaveying about, she was surprised to not really feel any other direct attack.


    Her unit came to the entrance of the tunnel, stepping out just enough to give them all a good view, while Mistress Vanga remained sheltered behind them and within the tunnel.


    T felt Master Limmestare finish creating thest ss-fiber mesh behind them.


    They had agreed to ce such a sensory every two feet down the length of the tunnel, in case the prisoner was able to slip past them.


    They would have <em>some</em> ability to resist passage, but their main goal was to alert them if someone made it to those points.


    While within Ts aura, they shouldnt be able to be disturbed without the unit noticing.


    That confirmed, T turned her focus outward.


    In this cell, the tunnel opened from the base of a cliff, and Ts perspective showed what looked like a solid roof extending from the top of the cliff.


    <em>-That means its a wall, T.-</em>


    <em>Seems cliff-like to me.</em>


    <em>-Fine; I wont argue.-</em>


    While the cell did appear to be a cavern of sorts, it wasrge to the point of seeming more like a heavily shielded city district than a cavitation in the ground.


    There was a momentary pause as they waited for <em>something</em> to happen. During that time, T was able to feel Master Abalis building magics behind them, at the far end of the tunnel.


    <em>Good, the repairs are underway.</em>


    Oh youre all human? Thats a pity.


    Ts head snapped to the side, her eyes trying to fix on the man who was suddenly standing barely twenty feet from her, mere feet outside her auras established boundary. Her eyes were covered, however, so she saw with her perspectives instead.


    <em>I really need to work on those reactions.</em> But that was forter.


    Her various perspectives saw the speaker as he started talking and not a moment before.


    And you are bodily blocking the way out within a heavily established aura they were thorough in describing what I was capable of, werent they?


    <em>He can negate the ability to perceive him. Seemingly limited until he takes an overt action such as attacking or speaking. Though, it is obviously just something with that effect, or hed have to be enacting his working within our minds.</em>


    This will be a rather boring time for all of us if you dont speak. Not that that is unexpected.


    Mistress Cerna responded, then. Sole, you are a prisoner here, and we are simply maintaining the cell.


    I dont suppose any of you have the ability to kill me? There was a note of hope in the voice, only then allowing T to notice the despondency previously in stark evidence.


    Mistress Cerna shook her head. You know that you negated the possibility of your own death, Sole.


    While that may be true, I am notand have never beenperfect. A little like you actually. You know its a bit rude not to give your name. There was a bit of fire in the statement, but it sputtered and died as Sole sighed. But I suppose Im undeserving of your name


    The unit shared a look.


    This was not like the handling of Kheseds cell; they had no requirement for silence, and there could be much learned from the prisoner, if he was willing to talk and they could establish a rapport with him.


    I am Mistress Cerna.


    Mistress Cerna? Good to meet you. Id say that Ive been lonely, but that was the first thing I removed from myself after the door mmed shut. Do you know whats worse than wanting to die and not being able to?


    The shift in topic seemed to almost catch her off guard, but she rolled with the change fluidly nheless, There are many things that are worse.


    He huffed augh. Right. Human. The only thing worse than wanting to die and not being able to is having <em>multiple reasons</em> to want to die, and not being able to.


    Im not sure if I agree.


    I dont really care? He nced up at the ceiling. Though, saying that is probably rude as well.


    T spoke up, then, manipting an opening in her metal, through which she could speak, Not as rude as trying to sneak your magic through my aura, tucked inside your voice.


    Sole paused with his mouth open, then grinned.


    It was <em>not</em> a human expression.


    Oh you noticed that? Pity.


    T was suddenly aware of Soles appearance, unsure of why she hadnt really considered it before.


    He had a green aura, that much was certain, but it was oddlysparse?


    <em>Yeah, thats the word.</em>


    It was as if his aura was somehow being propped up to Honored levels without really having the proper concentrations of power.


    <em>Anemic!</em> That seemed to fit the bare edges of his aura that she could see even better than sparse.


    Even so, she didnt dare even consider that his odd aura would make this an easy task, and his odd aura couldnt hold her attention for long.


    He looked <em>almost</em> human. His ears were oddly shaped, but not outside of what some humans had, but his teeth They were somehow sharpened in a way that both fit the man and was utterly anathema to what T had been expecting.


    Still, she couldnt really ce what he was, or what his features reminded her of. The one thing that she was sure of when looking at him was that he wasnt human.


    <em>Is that what that meant?</em>


    <em>-He negated his own humanity. Maybe this is just a visible, physical manifestation of that?-</em>


    Sole was shaking his head as he spoke, As humans, you wont have even the potential for concept magics that could kill me. While a conversation <em>might</em> be divertingthough, I doubt itI am forced to continue with n B.


    Mistress Cerna responded to that, What is n B, exactly?


    He shrugged. If I must continue existing, then I will end existing as a concept. Then, I shall be free of this wretchedness.


    There was a few heartbeats of silence, followed by T words, echoing through the cavern, What now?


    He gave her a look like he was exining an easy concept to an idiot, I wish to die, but I didnt realize that until after I removed the potential. I was more foolhardy in my youth. Thus, the only way I get to cease to be is if there is no longer any ce in which to be. So, while I am not hopeful as to the positive nature of the answer, I will ask again: Can any of you kill me?


    T shrugged. I can try.


    Sole raised his arms to the sides. By all means. I would prefer a quick end to fighting my way to Sovereignty in order to find my rest.


    T turned Flow into a void-knife and threw it at him.


    The knife flew true, but the butt of the knife is what thumped off of his chest.


    He rubbed the ce it had struck. That was a bit ufortable but hardly lethal. Is that the best you can do?


    She blinked a few times in confusion. <em>What?</em>


    <em>-What? You threw that correctly.-</em>


    <em>Yes, t. Im aware.</em>


    Sole looked down at the hole that had appeared in his shirt where Flows pommel had struck him. Void magic?... And do I detect a hint of reality as well? Why didnt you use that part? That might have worked.


    T frowned. You negated damage to yourself as well, correct?


    I have. As I said, I was rather foolish in my youth he let out a self-deprecatingugh, I suppose its a bit arrogant to assume Ive grown beyond that.


    <em>Is that why itnded so incredibly badly? </em>Flow flicked back through the air into Ts hand.


    Thats a neat trick. A soul bound weapon then.


    T shrugged, coating the outside of void-knife-Flow with iron, then infusing that iron with void from Flow and her elk leathers both.


    Sole tilted his head to one side, curious. The motion moved his head more than it really should have. That might work, but do you know how to use it properly? I do hope so, because I cant provide that education if you arecking.


    T shrugged, and threw the knife again. She watched closer this time. Flow flew straight toward the man, but as it passed out of her aura, it was suddenly facing the other direction, tip pointed back at her.


    <em>Rust that.</em> She pulled precisely on one of the orienting bloodstars, forcing the de to flip around, again.


    It hit him properly and skittered off of his skin beneath his shirt, leaving a ragged tear in the fabric. There was a moment where Flow was about to make a im on the barest fraction of the mans iron, but T stopped the attempt. It would do nothing but expose that ability. Instead, T called Flow back to her hand.


    Sole sighed, clearly disappointed. You still couldnt scratch me? He considered. Well, then Ill have to


    Master Clevnis picked up on where the conversation was going and his magicshed out with a de that could shave a diamond.


    No. The word was almostzy as Sole spoke it, but the air around him resonated with the weight ofmand.


    As soon as the de of power left Ts aura, it simple ceased to be.


    That wasnt very kind. It wouldnt hurt me, but it would positively destroy the nts behind me. Sole shook his head. Cant you do better?


    The ground below his feet opened, but before he could fall, he spoke again.


    That didnt happen.


    There was an odd disjointment.


    He <em>should</em> have fallen, but clearly he hadnt, and once he was done speaking, the ground was closed once more as if it had never opened.


    Sole shook his head.


    People always believe they know what to expect, but no one truly understands me. He walked forward, and T felt the entire outside edge of her aura flex inward, all at once.


    She held firm, pulling on all of her increased magical weight to do so.


    From moment one, she was losing ground. It wasnt quickly, but it was fast enough that they were in real trouble.


    She growled, desperately scrambling to find more leverage, more weight to throw behind her resistance. The line of demarcation was approaching her outeryer of spikes, and if it passed those, they would vanish into the void, leaving her weakened.


    <em>I need more weight!</em>


    A memory came to mind, from her time in Kheseds cell. Her reality node was <em>heavier </em>in a sense than anyone elses.


    <em>Would that work?</em>


    It was worth a try.


    So, she leaned also on the weight that shed perceived in her reality node.


    It wasnt <em>quite</em> the same as magical weight, and she didnt think she could use it to back her workings directly, but in establishing her sovereignty over an area, her <em>real</em> weight seemed to matter as much or more than her magical.


    <em>-We have to have a better name for that, because your weight, and your real weight sound like the same thing.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, but thats a topic for another time.</em>


    Oh, youre a heavy one no Youre simply well braced? Sole startedughing, stopping only to make a cutting motion across his body.


    T was momentarily confused as to what had happened, but then she saw an oddly twisted spellforme into being at the edge of her aura, right as ance of light fired from Mistress Cerna.


    She held a woven ball of gold which zed with power as it burned itself out to enact the working.


    The light struck Soles negation and stopped, right at thepressed border of Ts aura.


    It was an odd thing to witness, as the ripples of the light-based attack made it clear that it was ongoing.


    Light flickered across the ground within Ts aura, but it was as if there was no source of light from the perspective of everything outside of her authority.


    No dancing light, no shadows, nothing to indicate that a brilliant beam of power was only feet away.


    <em>Hes not just countering the magic, though thats how it seems. Hes making it as if the thing never existed where he holds sway</em>


    T was hyper focused on what was happening directly outside her aura. That was the only reason she saw the small ripples of <em>something</em> passing through the top of her area of influence.


    What happened next felt like the most precisely her perception and thoughts had ever operated, the world around her seeming to slow almost to a stop.


    Her voidsight manifested with a flicker, was mirrored to her other perspectives, and through it, she saw <em>something</em> falling toward her own head.


    Worse, there were five other somethings falling in perfect unison, each aiming at the head of one of her unit-mates. Even Vanga had one falling at an angle to reach her within the mouth of the tunnel.


    <em>-Magically enacted negation of detection on some form of projectile?-</em>


    <em>Thats my assumption. No longer magical, though, or it would have vanished at the edge of my aura. It would have at least had to contest me there. Any guess as to the nature of the projectiles?</em>


    <em>-Magically inert, ballistic. I would bet my existence that hes done a working to make them splinter upon impact or pration for the greatest effective damage.-</em>


    <em>Solutions?</em>


    <em>-What youre thinking would be effective.-</em>


    <em>Alright.</em>


    T altered the gravity amplification on sets of three of her scales to target each projectile falling at her unit-mates, carefully staggering them <em>just so.</em>


    For her own iing projectile, she simply began to tilt her head backward while reshaping the white steel on the top of her head to make a deflection easier. Additionally, she allowed more of her iron to manifest to the extent of affecting her body, adding to her inertia and stability.


    The slowed moment passed, and there was an instantaneous, synchronized <em>crack-BOOM</em> that resonated through the cell, followed by the rain-like sound of gravel falling to the ground.


    Sole actually blinked in obvious surprise at the sound.


    The weight that hit T in the head would have staggered her had she not beenpletely prepared for it.


    Her unit mates looked around, clearly uncertain what had happened, their focus snapping to the spike of rock that seemed to suddenly appear, having bounced off of Ts head.


    Soles surprise passed with the blink, and his eyes narrowed. Voidsighted as well some sort of projectile usage and enhanced durability? Who designed your power-set? A maniac who just decided to go with random things that sounded cool?


    T almost moved her metal to allow herself to speak yet again, but then she realized that she had a different means ofmunicating.


    Every one of her unit-mates was hyper focused on her aura, watching for any weakness or fluctuation so they could shore it up or respond as appropriate.


    She smiled internally, remembering how Mistress Odera had been able to read her thoughts in her aura before T got better at controlling it.


    That in mind, she forced her aura to manifest readable thoughts directly before her unit, Hes masking attacks with his ability. n eight.


    n eight had the unit withdraw into the tunnel while she stood in the entrance. It wasnt a great position to be in, as it would be harder for the others to support her if he changed tactics, but if he could drop chunks of ceiling on them so stealthily, they werent in a good position to begin with.


    The others were durableand had their own methods for defensebut a one-ton stctite to the head would be fairly lethal to most people, even Refined if they let itnd.


    <em>And this guy is keeping anyone from noticing the iing danger. Even their magics arent reacting.</em>


    T knew that Master Clevnis, as just one example, had automatic, defensive des that should have activated to turn the rock targeting him into dust before it came within ten feet.


    T had deflected and obliterated it less than a foot above the Refineds head.


    She forced her aura upward, embedding iron up the cliff behind them to give her more anchors from which to strengthen and stabilize.


    She needed every foot of warning she could get.


    Sole shook his head even as the others of Ts unit retreated just a bit.


    His eyes locked onto Ts face, even though she wasnt seeing through her eyes at the moment.


    His voice had lost all levity, now carrying with it something akin to irritation. You know what? I dont think I like you.

 Chapter 343: Needles

    Chapter 343: Needles


    T once again felt like the world around her slowed, even as Solesst words were still fading from her ears, I dont think I like you.


    It felt as if uncounted small things had rippled through the edge of her aura at once, prompting her to focus more minutely with her voidsight. That unique perception showed her the miniscule reality nodes of a flight of projectiles, all targeting her.


    <em>No, he wouldnt be that foolish. Even if hed made these indestructible, he wouldnt believe that theyd hurt me with what hes seen. Not if theyre just rock.</em>


    <em>-That seems a bit arrogant, but Ill y along. So, what was the real attack?-</em>


    <em>I mean really hurt me, t. Arguing isnt helping.</em>


    <em>-Not dodging isnt helping either.-</em>


    A hair behind the forest of pinprick attacks, something passed through her aura, sliding down the cliff face.


    Her eyes started to widen as she realized what it was, a wall of rock more than four feet thick, broader than her expanded bubble of aura within the cells.


    <em>How the rust did he even make something like that?</em>


    <em>-Millennia of time and an ax to grind?-</em>


    <em>Youre being oddly unhelpful, t.</em>


    There was no way that T could jump into the tunnel before the barrier was in ce, and her unit was still retreating back into the passage.


    <em>-Do what you know you should, stopining. We have this.-</em>


    Master Clevnis was thest one in the retreat, and he was standing directly under the falling multi-ton stone b.


    She didnt have time for any further thought, even with her perception and mental enhancements making the world seem to crawl.


    One of her defensive discs flicked backward, out of its sheath on her belt in the small of her back.


    She kept the circle oriented broadside, even as she strained her aura to move it <em>faster</em>.


    The flow of time returned to normal and three things happened so close together that it was hard to tell them apart.


    First, her defensive disc pped into Master Clevniss chest, bypassing his defenses because it wasnt explicitly an attack or from a hostile.


    He was thrown backward with such force that T heard his ribs crack around the site of the impact.


    Second, the stone b hit the ground, the impact apparently sufficient to break the effect that made it undetectable. The sound it made was a mix of a cacophonous <em>boom</em> and crunching squelch, the first <em>vastly</em> overpowering the former.


    Third, a cloud of stone needles mmed into T, most actually driving deeply enough through her protection to draw wells of blood.


    While shed ensured that Flows distributive resilience was in ce, it didnt stop the needle from pushing the iron aside at practically an atomic level.


    Honestly, T couldnt imagine a defense that could have stopped such points prating through, and that was likely arge factor in the results.


    Now visible, T was able to see that they were each an impossible shape, bulbous masses of stone with single protrusions that lengthened and thinned to the point that even her enhanced perception couldnt see the very tip.


    <em>Wow Thats a </em>lot<em> sharper than I expected.</em> The thought came to mind unbidden, even as she grit her teeth against the pain.


    <em>-And a lot more than </em>I<em> expected Yeah, dodging wouldnt have helped.-</em>


    Before anything else, T heard a man''s scream of agony from beyond the multi-ton stone b, and she felt the tension in her back loosen in relief.


    Master Clevnis was hurt but alive.


    With thending of the stoneand the blood that had sttered out from under itshe had been afraid that she hadnt been fast enough.


    <em>Mistress Vanga can see to him, now.</em>


    Sole was looking at her with narrowed eyes. You dont bleed red? And they say <em>Im</em> not human.


    He paused, then cackled lightly.


    No, no. That was me. <em>I</em> said that I wasnt human. He giggled a bit more.


    Ts body was pulling back together, the internal pressure and flesh pushing in on itself driving out the needles in quick session, causing the oddly shaped things to <em>thunk</em> to the ground like hail.


    Well, having apanion for eternity isnt the worst oue, but I suspect you could get us both free with enough time and motivation.


    T shook her head. Pass.


    She flicked a hand outward.


    As she did so, an orb-pair seemed almost to float below her rising palm for the fraction of an instant it took for her to change the target of their gravity amplification.


    There was a <em>crack</em> as the orbs shot forward.


    They hit the edge of her aura and encountered Soles nullification of magic and its remnant effects.


    Like before, there was a stark contrast between within her aura and outside of it.


    In this case, the orbs, unaffected by magic, were a <em>whole lot</em> of air.


    The concussive expansion sted Sole backward, the man letting out a confused sound that came out somewhere between a yip of pain and a yelled curse.


    That bought T a bit of time.


    <em>Good, I think Im starting to understand how his magic works.</em>


    She immediately turned her attention to the stone b behind her, twisting around, nting her feet and mming her fist into the rock.


    The cavernous cell resounded like a struck drum, but the stone didnt move.


    A cacklingugh came from near the far side of the space.


    <em>I didnt think I threw him that far.</em> She shrugged. <em>Good for me.</em>


    Thats a thousand tons of granite, worked with my power to be effectively invincible. You wont what are you doing? Thest was more spoken than shouted, but T still heard it.


    She grinned when he expressed his pride of aplishment, and his exmation likely came when he saw her magic sinking into the stone before her.


    Voidsight on one of her perspectives found the node that she suspected was the man running back toward her, again, much farther away than shed expected.


    <em>I suppose it was effectively a directed st?</em>


    She grabbed the stone''s gravity that was oriented downward and targeted it to her understanding of Sole, based on the descriptions given of him, not her own interactions and understanding. She didnt want the working to break if she learned something new, after all.


    The redirected gravity was too weak to really move the thing with any speed. It wouldnt even ovee the coefficient of friction, given that the stone would need to slide to move toward the prisoner. It did cause the stone to begin to groan, slightly tipping.


    So T poured power into amplifying the newly directed gravity, burning a couple of her gold rings to quicken the pace even as she dropped down among the fallen needles. She only hesitated a moment before scooping them into Kit despite the painful pin-sticks she got even through her defenses.


    There was seemingly no emotional maniption in the air, and any toxicity could be isted and removed by Kit, herself.


    T judged the risk to be eptable, given those factors.


    It only took a moment before the stone groaned and slid away from the cliff-face, bumping upward to slowly fall away, elerating all the while.


    T kicked up with all her strength as it passed fractions of an inch above her, giving it some upward movement even as it arced toward Sole in the distance.


    Unfortunately, as soon as the stone fully passed out of her aura, she lost her connection with it, and T was unable to continue to amplify the pertinent gravity. Doubly unfortunately, the effects of her working were undone, yet again proving that his nullification went <em>far</em> deeper than just countering magics.


    The b <em>boomed</em> against the ground before it toppled over to crash down a final time.


    Blessedly, the cliff that had been blocked by the stone was unbroken. Even the tunnel was no longer visible, and T felt herself breathe out a sigh of relief.


    Master Girt had sealed the tunnel and wouldnt open it again until it was time for her to retreat.


    She could now engage the prisoner without fearing that he would go around her and escape and without worrying about her unit-mates.


    As she stood, T pointedly ignored the massive stter of blood, crushed bone, and viscera that had been under the b.


    <em>Master Clevnis will be fine. Mistress Vanga has him.</em>


    They had considered simply sealing the entrance with all of them on the outside, but that would give the prisoner free rein to do as he wished with known targets and a finite objective. They had no idea what he could do, uncontested, with that setup and a couple of hours.


    So, T was to keep him upied.


    From what shed seen, theyd made the right call.


    She used the rest of the minute or so before Sole returned to expand her aura further in other directions both in the standard fashion and with iron spikes, focusing on above the cliff.


    Around the b of stone that shed moved aside, she did something special.


    <em>His aura hes not as potent as he should be.</em>


    <em>-Agreed. Id say hes forcing himself to stay at a Honored level, with very little to back it up at that advancement.-</em>


    <em>A hardened shell at the correct density with a hollow core?</em>


    <em>-If advancement were a balloon, then yes, I would say that tracks.-</em>


    <em>It was meant to be an analogy.</em>


    <em>-And it failed when one realizes that advancement is not a balloon or core, or anything like that.-</em>


    <em>Fine, but we know what I meant, so Im going to do it.</em>


    <em>-By all means. I think its a great idea.-</em>


    T tried not to roll her eyes as she set up her n.


    She transferred arge amount of iron into the dimensions of magic around the spikes there before pulling her authority back, keeping only the smallest connection to those few spikes most closely aligned with the approach of his reality node.


    She couldnt remove the connection entirely, not yet. That would sever her aura and shuck all the iron into the void, but she pulled the aura link into the ground to make it even harder to detect.


    She was a bit curious as to why he was simply running straight at her, even if he likely believed that she couldnt see him.


    <em>Not a tactician?</em> That didnt seem right. His ability seemed to require quick, decisive thinking and action. <em>Not that kind of tactician?</em>


    <em>-Hes good at what he does, and I dont think roundabout tactics, at least physically, would be very useful to him. In fact, as theyd most likely be expected, they might actually hurt him under most circumstances.-</em>


    <em>Huh Thats interesting. I suppose it isnt really relevant at the moment. We only get one chance at this, before he realizes that we can detect him.</em>


    Sole reached the massive stone b and hopped up onto it, seemingly taking a moment to examine the massive rock but found nothing changed about it.


    He likely hadnt expected to, given his own magics nullified everything that shed done.


    From that seemingly crouched position, his node twitched oddly.


    <em>What?</em> Her voidsight caught something shooting for her, and she jerked to the side, just enough to cause the thing to cut into her shoulder instead of her neck.


    As it hit her, it became visible.


    It was a wedge of rock that narrowed to such a sharp de that the cutting edge was transparent near the sharp portion.


    Just like the needles that had simr treatment, the unbelievably sharp edge cleaved straight through her defenses, splitting her shoulder to sternum as it passed through her before embedding into the cliff behind her.


    <em>What the rust? He didnt be perceivable despite the attack.</em> Her body pulled back together, using a surprisingly small amount of her stores because of just how clean the cut had been. <em>Huh. I hadnt actually expected his weapons to be to my benefit.</em>


    Good reflexes. Voidsight really makes it hard to surprise you. He flickered into her perceptions, a sword hilt in one hand.


    For the barest instant, T thought that the weapon was missing a de, but then she realized that, of course, it had a de of the same type and damage nullification as the needles and rock wedge.


    <em>Now that I want that.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, lets grab that if we can. The needles are going to be great, but I want that and grab the wedge.-</em>


    Sole strolled forward across the stone,zily spinning his weapon with the confidence of a man who was effectively invincible and who would be happy to be proven wrong.


    Ill admit, you surprised me with whatever that air st was. How did you do that? Im always willing to learn from clever magicians.


    He dropped down on the near side of the four-foot-thick b, right between three of her iron spikes with suppressed auras, in an uneven triangle around him.


    His eyes began to widen as he seemingly noticed her trap.


    She reacted instantly, her smile only growing as her actions took effect.


    T red her aura to m into him from three sides.


    At the same time, she pulled her iron from the dimensions of magic in the shape of needles, mirroring a specific part of Flows magics into the magic-resistant weapons.


    The needles shot forward at the outside edges of her aura even as she pushed that inward. She used each needle as a ry and amplifier of her aura as well.


    The swarm slowed to a crawl less than an inch from his skin as he reacted, hands lifted as if guarding against a punch to the face.


    You really are <em>heavy</em> for your advancement. Strain was evident in his posture and in his voice.


    This was her gamble. She didnt actually expect to outweigh him, but she had better leverage in this position.


    She was pushing straight inward, and he was having to defend from multiple directions at the same time.


    More than that, reinforcing an aura against outside interference actively took <em>power.</em>


    It wasnt a lot, but it was infinitely more than nothing, and he had a finite supply.


    Her aura and her needles ground to a halt and started crawling backwards as he positively <em>zed</em> with power.


    His own aura was finally revealed in full, showing as the green of a true Honored, just as shed thought. Even so, it was still odd to her perception.


    Arcane advancement had been exined to her as simr to setting benchmarks. Once one reached a certain level, it was much easier to return, but advancing further took high magical concentration, incredible dedication, or insane talent, usually all three.


    Soles aura felt like it was barely sufficient to meet the benchmark of Honored.


    Even so, his body and power <em>wanted</em> to remain at that level, and she could feel the zeme of the entire cell pulling inward as he drew in magic nearly as fast as he expended it.


    Nearly.


    Ts smile firmed as she threw Flow.


    Flow got all the way to him, the de extending out of her aura without the knife leaving her control fully.


    The tip touched him in the center of the chest, stopping there by her power as much as his resistance.


    In that instant, she saw incredulity on his features. After all, shed already tested this exact weapon against him when he wasnt trying to defend himself.


    Flows dasgannach magics reached out toward the iron within the mans blood.


    There wasnt much that it could affect. After all, the tip hadnt pierced Soles skin, so the magics barely brushed the smallest amount of his blood, nearest the surface.


    Even so, dasgannachs were famous for having undisputable authority over their own element, and Flow had inherited the Paragons share of that in the merging.


    Even so, this was a <em>true</em> Paragon level enemy.


    <em>Honored.</em> She would not give him the honor of being called a Paragon.


    Thus, Flow only imed a pinpricks worth of iron.


    <em>-Nice.-</em>


    Soles heart beat, moving his blood through miles of arteries, veins, and capiries.


    All his blood moved, including that which T now had im over.


    She immediately knew that she couldnt rip it free from him. After all, that would vite his nullification on damage to himself.


    But the iron was still <em>hers.</em>


    Her aura was now inside the prisoner, forced to remain by his own magics when it would otherwise have been rejected and ejected.


    Soles entire aura trembled, and Ts own pounced, lurching inward.


    Dozens of iron needles contacted Sole as Ts aura briefly touched the mans skin, unable to breach his flesh.


    It didnt matter.


    Each needle imed a pinpricks worth of iron.


    Soles heart beat.


    The prisoner screamed as his own auraby its very nature and, indeed, the nature of magic itselftried to reject and eject the foreign aura, the foreign matter, while his unbreakable nullification kept her iron in ce.


    T reformed the needles into a sheath of iron, coating Sole entirely, her aura pressing inward, but he was fighting back now with an animal ferocity.


    T used the chance to mp down on the hilt of the sword in his hand and jerk it away with a bit of iron.


    Sole barely resisted, being so focused on their conflicting auras.


    And just like that, the sword was hers.


    <em>Ill figure out what to do with itter. </em>She had more pressing things, requiring her attention.


    Sole was spending power at an insane rate, and atst, he couldnt continue to prop up his own advancement.


    His aura began to visibly shift, sliding toward yellow.


    Her cocoon of iron solidified more than half an inch from his skin but could draw no closer.


    Despitepletely encasing him and, indeed, having her aura within his very flesh, she couldnt ovee him.


    But now, he was fully surrounded by iron.


    He could no longer easily draw in power, and he was expending it to try to fight her back.


    Her gamble had paid off.


    Even so, she was coated in sweat and her mind felt like she had a dozen icepicks slowly sliding deeper with every passing moment.


    <em>This is going to be a </em>long<em> couple of hours</em>

 Chapter 344: Oh R—

    Chapter 344: Oh R¡ª


    T continued to feel sweat pouring off of her as she strained to keep the iron containment in ce around Sole.


    Well that wasnt quite urate, but she was sweating much more than she usually did.


    t had sent a message through the Archive to her unit detailing the situation, and shed received back instructions to hold, and call for back-up at need.


    That made good sense. Fewer variables meant that fewer things could go wrong, assuming she kept things under control.


    Master Clevnis was in process of being healed, Mistress Vanga taking her time to do a detailed rebuild of his legs to reduce any chance of dissonance with the new limbs. She was only taking that level of care because ording to the current n, there should easily be time for such a meticulous healing.


    That was alright with T. She was fairly certain that she could hold this prisoner, even though it was steadily getting more difficult while she slowly wore down under the effort.


    The prisoner had shown his experience after his initial panic wore off, and he was now essentially bouncing his power off of the inside of the iron container, building momentum within the magic, effectively acting like a slowly heating liquid within an enclosed container.


    <em>And he saves on magical power, too</em>


    She wasnt having to hold the iron in ce, thankfully, but she was having to fight to keep her aura at least equal with the inner surface of the iron.


    As aplicating factor, there was also a further odd resonance that came from the power that was originating from within his body, which she held some sway over.


    Basically, it felt just a bit like she was attacking herself, which was quite conceptually unpleasant.


    In order to conserve her strength, T pulled her spikes out of the stone. She did this for all but a pathway from where the entrance would reappear to where Sole was encased, reabsorbing the iron into herself.


    She had never been so active with her aura while changing the amount of iron she had on hand, and doing so caused her to notice a slight easing of her task as the iron entered the dimensions of magic around her body.


    <em>Around my soul.</em>


    <em>-That would be my guess, too. All tasks with your will or soul originate within your body or gate, so adding real weight to them would make those tasks easier.-</em>


    <em>At least it seems so.</em>


    <em>-Agreed, more testing is in order.-</em>


    <em>After were done here.</em>


    <em>-Oh, obviously.-</em>


    T slowly lowered herself into a seated position while maintaining the seal on what was increasingly bing a dangerously overheated pressure cooker of powerthough, it resembled that tool in an entirely different manner from her own iron containment.


    <em>In my case, Im continually adding more magic. In his, hes making his magic move more.</em> She shook her head. <em>Not that thats very important right now.</em>


    <em>-This really makes me wish we could see Mistress Cerna deal with Sole. I think it would be informative.-</em>


    T had to nod in agreement.


    If T hadnt been up for the task, or if shed failed in her implementation, Mistress Cerna was the Archon who would have stepped in to counter this prisoner.


    Apparently, she had a whole slew of scripts that were specifically for aura enhancement. With that, she could effectively fill the role at least as well as T had, through an entirely different manner.


    It would seemingly be rather expensive, however, as well as a bit less flexible.


    <em>And, I dont know how shed have handled the almost undetectable attacks.</em> She nced down at the cuts in the stone ground that the needles had sliced and poked before she had scooped them up.


    <em>It will be interesting to see how well those hold up once were away from him. Im not sure in what way he enacted their indestructibility.</em>


    -<em>He did seem to have realized that eternal nullifications cane back to bite him-</em>


    <em>Yeah, I definitely dont think that I would want to make eternal choices.</em>


    <em>-Like marriage?-</em>


    <em>Precisely.</em> Though, that was an odd thing for t to bring up, especially now. Still, the alternate interface probably had her reasons.


    <em>-Or soulbonding.-</em>


    <em>I already agreed that marriage is too big a thing for me to choose into right now.</em>


    <em>-Oh, I was talking about a sword, outfit, informational connection, that sort of thing. We wouldnt want to rush into such things.-</em>


    <em>I need to focus, t.</em>


    <em>-Sure, sure. Do what you need to do.-</em>


    T grimaced internally and returned her focus to the captured, weakened, pressure cooking Honored.


    <em>Yeah, this is much lessplicated.</em>


    How long had she been at this?


    How long had she kept Sole contained?


    -<em>Youve been in here, alone for about half an hour, give or take.-</em>


    That wasnt great. Still, that was a quarter to a sixth of the time required.


    Was there a way that she could vent the pressure?


    T frowned.


    If she let his power breach out, that would obviously be a w of containment, and it would force a much more direct confrontation. It would also be one that shed have less bracing for.


    She would likely lose that sh.


    T could vent it downward into the ground, where her aura was thinnest, but if he capitalized on that, who knew what oddities he could work when presented with the situation and a potential to do <em>something.</em>


    So, she couldnt vent it into the surroundings.


    She just needed it <em>gone </em>or somewhere it couldnt do anything.


    <em>Huh</em>


    <em>-T if you eject him into the Doman-Imithe thats a mission failure.-</em>


    <em>I know, I know you know I know it too. Thats not what I want to attempt.</em>


    <em>-But it is a possible result of what you want to attempt.-</em>


    <em>Unlikely</em>


    <em>-but still possible. That is, unless he notices; then its no longer unlikely. In that case, it is </em>very<em> likely that he would purposefully throw himself into your void-magics.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, that might do it.</em> She grimaced.


    So, she couldnt interweave her iron with void to negate his building magical pressure.


    <em>Then we need something else.</em>


    She frowned.


    <em>I shouldnt be able to magically affect iron, but I can magically affect myself</em>


    <em>-Oh! I like that idea.</em>-


    T shrugged to herself. It was worth a try.


    She focused on <em>her</em> iron, emphasizing that it was the material bound to her soul and an intrinsic part of her. She specified the iron in the area before her, that which was wrapping around the prisoner.


    Just as with her siege orbs, she simply aimed the amplified gravity of the targeted material at itself, effectively increasing the inward pressure.


    She was both surprised and not surprised when she didnt feel her magic get rejected.


    <em>Lets do this.</em>


    She poured all her inflowing power into the working, ramping up the gravitational attraction of the iron surrounding Sole toward itself.


    As that got to the level that the inward pull was actively noticeable, she stopped ramping it up, taking the inward force as the boon it was without taking it to an extreme that he might find a way to use to his advantage.


    <em>I dont want him to be a cork on the ocean.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, too much pressure in this manner might simply eject him from the iron.-</em>


    It was sometimes hard to consider the iron for what it was, dust that moved at her will. She could make it act like solid objects, but it wasnt actually fused together.


    It was the same issue that Master Cazor faced, and like him, she <em>could</em> haverger chunks of iron, if she established them beforehand, but doing so would remove utility more than add to it.


    Also like him, she had no way of fusing the particles together on the fly; she could simply try to force them to stay in a given configuration.


    T considered for a long moment.


    <em>If I add all of my remaining iron, I </em>think<em> that would be enough to keep him from being able to escape as I ramped up the pressure, but</em>


    <em>-Yeah, thats not worth the risk. Also, the iron aligned with your body and soul feels like its all thats keeping your control in ce at the moment.-</em>


    <em>That is much more true than Id prefer, yeah.</em>


    Sole seemed to feel that hed built up something of an advantage, because within a minute or two of Ts gravity amplification, he reached his hand out, toward her enclosure of iron.


    T had only an instant to respond as he pushed back her aura, and her iron began to bulge outward.


    In that moment, she did two thingsrgely due to her increasingly exhausted state.


    First, she locked the general size and shape of the cocoon, even as she pulled back iron behind Sole to expose needle points.


    Second, she let his aura push the cocoon forward.


    Without direct resistance, his hand moved with ease, carrying his aura and moving her iron.


    As he was focused on trying to move his hand, he wasnt paying quite as much attention to other parts of his aura.


    That was his mistake.


    His movement brought a whole host of iron needles into contact with his back, each one iming another pin-heads worth of iron.


    Sole spasmed, and T grew more needles.


    Every jerk of the prisoners bodyrejecting the very idea of another sapient iming something within himcaused more needles to be mmed against him, one way or other.


    She quickly doubled, then quadrupled, the amount of iron that shed imed within him.


    It wasnt until she had nearly thirty percent of his blood-iron under her ownership that he was able to master his instinctive, jerking reactions and pull his limbs back in tight.


    Only then did T really feel the oddity of owning iron within his aura.


    The iron, itself, wasnt directly in his aura, though it was utterly surrounded by it.


    Instead, each minute bit of iron carried her aura with it, just projectingrge enough to encapste it and nothing beyond.


    <em>Its like an army in a foreignnd. I am the mother country, and Ive been subverting his popce into my military.</em>


    He couldnt directly crush her aura in order to nullify her ownership.


    He couldnt throw out the traitorous citizenry or even allow them to be removed.


    Instead, they were press-ganged into unending service, continuing to fulfill their role for him despite the obviousness of their altered allegiance.


    In real terms, this meant three things that she could perceive.


    First, the imed iron didnt perform its biological functions as efficiently as it could. It was operating under duress.


    This didnt cripple Sole, nor did it do more than provide a bit of shortness of breath, among other simr inconveniences. It certainly didnt hurt him.


    Second, Ts aura sweeping through his body was constantly undermining his magical foundation, making it harder for him to push his power forth to enact changes out in the world.


    The fact that he could still so powerfully oppose her was a testament to his advancement, experience, and drive to seed in winning free of his confinement.


    Third, T felt a calling from her iron, an almost palpable need to bring it <em>home.</em>


    It was exactly like the other times that shed been granted ownership of iron, up until she could draw it into herself.


    Shed never let that feelingst more than a brief moment, though.


    In this case, bringing it home wasnt possible, so she had a building desire that could not be satisfied.


    <em>Oh, rust</em>


    It hadnt been <em>too</em> bad when it was just an immeasurably small fraction of an ounce of iron, but now that it was more than a hundredth of an ounce, it was calling to her like whiskey to an alcoholic.


    Her head was pounding. <em>I need coffee</em>


    She didnt have the brain space to contemte the irony of that desire, particrly because theck of some iron was beginning to drive her to distraction.


    <em>I need back up. Sooner is better.</em>


    <em>-On it.-</em>


    Her gamble had backfired.


    Her n had resulted exactly as she had hoped it would but had consequences that she couldnt have possibly predicted.


    Less than ten seconds passed, and a pulse of power announced the tunnel behind her opening once more.


    Her mirrored perceptions saw more blood within the tunnel and Mistress Vanga still working on Master Clevnisthough they were both looking her way when the wall openedmuscle and sinew visibly growing across exposed bone to rebuild what had been destroyed.


    Two seconds more saw golden balls that were insanely intricate spellforms begin to fly into a pattern around the contained Sole.


    T felt her aura grip slipping, but suddenly it was as if new strength surged through her.


    <em>No, the task just became orders of magnitude easier.</em>


    It was as if her fingers had been slipping off of a ledge, and then she found her wrists strapped to a hook, now embedded and holding her up.


    The result wasntfortable, but it was almost overwhelmingly easier.


    Mistress T, how long did you have him contained so tenuously? Mistress Cernas voice was firm, clear, and precise, utterly professional in an incredibly tense situation.


    T tried to open her mouth to respond but found it difficult to shift her will-power toward freeing her mouth.


    <em>-I got this. Keep on task.-</em>


    More than half an hour of containment, bing slightly more difficult with time. So, you werent struggling this much the whole time, correct?


    <em>-I said no.-</em>


    Thats good at least. So, something changed?


    T nodded slightly.


    Then, thank you for calling on us. With such a stationary opponent, I can reinforce anothers aura That is a <em>lot</em> of pressure, though. Is this enough help?


    T hesitated.


    t didnt. <em>-I said no. Please help more.-</em>


    Mistress Cerna wove another dozen golden spheres over the course of the next minute, fixing them spatially in ce around the contained prisoner.


    Each one was a soothing balm to Ts strained will and mind.


    Her magesight showed that the golden balls linked not only Mistress Cerna to the effort. Everyone in the unit was lending their magical weight to back up her aura.


    As theyd discussed beforeing in, this was only possible because of the static nature of the aura conflict. Their reinforcement would greatly trail behind any action she took with her own aura, and that could actually cause her to be fighting against them if she were forced into a dynamic conflict as she had been in the beginning.


    <em>Yeah, I should have called them sooner.</em>


    <em>-Maybe, but the n was for you to hold out if you could, to mitigate risk. We called for help when we needed it, and we have the backup that we need, now.-</em>


    T felt relief wash through her as she realized the truth of that statement. <em>Im not alone.</em>


    In the corners of her voidsight, she saw the threads of reality between herself and her unit-mates grow just a bit stronger.


    As she watched, the one linking her to Mistress Cerna gained another fraction as the woman leaned in, Thank you for saving my husband. While he <em>might</em> have survived without your intervention, it would have been a whole lot nearer a thing.


    T felt her illusion smile with weary warmth in return, reflecting her inner feelings in a way that shed never been able to master before.


    <em>Great, so the key is utter exhaustion. Who would have thought?</em>


    <em>- you know thats how you usually have your breakthroughs, right?-</em>


    T chose to ignore her alternate interface, instead leaning into the supporting even from the injured Master Clevnis and Mistress Vanga as she worked.


    Her unit had her back, and she felt a growing contentment and certainty that she would have theirs as well.


    Time passed in a blur, and it was almost a shock when Master Abali contacted them to indicate that he was done with his setup and ready for their withdrawal.


    The golden spellforms had needed to be reced at least four times, showing just how costly the workings were.


    Now, as the unit pulled back, T braced herself.


    First, she removed the iron spikes around Sole, pulling out and withdrawing all of the iron spikes from the ground back to the exit of the tunnel, even as she retreated to the entrance.


    That, alone, put a strain on her iron cocoon once more.


    Ready? She nced toward Mistress Cerna, happy that shed recovered enough to allow her to move her metal for speech once more.


    Master Abali nodded from beyond the Refined, On your mark.


    Mistress Cerna nodded as well, even as the other unit members braced themselves, ring in five, four, three, two, one, GO!


    As the golden spheres zed with power, burning themselves out in a final pulse of power, T ripped away the iron shell.


    The iron flowed like a diving falcon, shooting toward them and down the tunnel, Ts spikes pulling free of the walls to join the flood as it passed.


    Ts aura became more and more leveraged over those short seconds.


    Only the ring power of Mistress Cernas spellformsbacked by the power of five more Refinedkept Ts aura tightly around Sole.


    That didnt physically restrain him, however.


    The man was disoriented for the briefest of moments. Then, his eyes locked onto T for the barest instant before he vanished from her perception.


    Even so, his reality node was obvious before her voidsight as it rocketed their way, somehow almost matching the speed of her iron.


    Thest flecks of her iron exited the tunnel on their side just as he entered it from the other.


    At that instant, the whole thing twisted to her voidsight, pinching off and wrapping back in on itself in a manner to seal off the cell.


    T maintained spikes around the twisted doorway even as the stone distorted and shrank back into the ground.


    At thest instant, an <em>incredible</em> blow mmed into her aura, barely being kept in ce by heryers of reinforcement. Even then, it was only due to the rest her unit had allowed her that she held her aura firm, keeping out whatever working hed thrown at them in the end.


    As reality stretched and twisted, T felt an increasing burden, her bound iron getting further and further away.


    This was an entirely new thing. Shed never had iron that never entered her aura proper before. Her understanding was that even with Master Akras training, she wouldnt be able to infinitely separate herself from a soulbound item and generate her aura from it.


    Her magic was being siphoned off in an increasing torrent, flooding into her connection with the iron, trying to prop it up, and allow it to stretch into the increasing distance.


    Then, the cell was closed, Sole was contained, and T was entirely cut off from the iron in the prisoners blood.


    <em>Oh r</em> In a terrible instant, all of her internal magic was torn from her, though her throughput meant that none of her magics spluttered out. But more than that, she felt something within her crack and her entire self <em>jerked</em> as if she had been struck by Force.

 Chapter 345: Always Welcome

    Chapter 345: Always Wee


    T bent over, her metal pulling away from her exterior as she fell to her knees, her mouth and nose filling with blood.


    Some of her iron had been taken, along with an unhealthy amount of power, leaving her feeling wrung dry and iplete.


    Mistress Vanga was by her side in an instant. Mistress T? Whats going on?


    Clear liquid dripped free of T as the iron was stripped away to let the remainder fall free.


    Master Abalis voice reached her as she continued to twitch and jerk, barely keeping herself from toppling over, It looks like either a reaction to a soulbound item losing a part of itself, or to extreme magical deficit. I detected an <em>immense</em> amount of power ripped from her right at the end of the closure. If that drew more from her than she had to give, it could have pulled her body into a magical deficit.


    T tried to turn his way and ask what that meanthow badly had she been hurtbut she couldnt force herself to do so.


    Even so, he seemed to notice something in her actions and intuited her question. In extreme cases, prolonged magical deficits can severely damage the body, requiring a process simr to Refining or Reforging to repair properly.


    Everyone present grimaced, T only really seeing the reactions through her mirrored perspectives.


    With regards to causes in this case, I think that the magical deficit is a givenwith the amount of magic I felt leaving herand soul damage is a likely contributor.


    <em>Thats why the iron was supposed to be voided, but it couldnt be. His body was conceptually prevented from being damaged, and the loss of even that much iron would be hard to see as anything other than that.</em>


    Master Clevnis sat beside T, cing a hand on her upper back, rubbing in slow circles even as she continued to feel the repercussions of the cells closure. His voice was soft, full of concern with an edge of suppressed difort. Do we need to do anything? Is there anything that we <em>can</em> do?


    Master Abali responded quickly and confidently, No. She seems to have sufficient power within her, now. Her body is greedily devouring everything that flows in through her gate; though, it seems to be sparing enough to keep her scripts functional. As such, I dont expect any permanent damage has been done.


    What could have caused it? Mistress Cerna interjected, maternal concerncing her tone.


    Most likely? Something soulbound to her was left within the cell. As I implemented the seal, the bound thing was taken an effectively infinite distance from her. Something unique about that connection required power to maintain, and that requirement grew exponentially until it reached a level she couldnt maintain, so the connection broke.


    That seemed to answer the most pressing questions for the moment and silence fell.


    T groaned into the silence before spitting out what seemed to be thest mouthful, working her cheeks and tongue to expel thest vestiges.


    She cleared her nose and mirrored the elk leathers ability to self-cleanse onto her face, watching the remnants fall away.


    That wasT coughed a few times, sitting backawful.


    She smiled toward Master Clevnis, and he patted her backfortingly a couple of times before giving her some space.


    Mistress Vanga was not so easily dissuaded, the healer still kneeling beside T, Do you know what happened?


    T grunted, pulling a breath and finding herself recovered enough for a reasonable guess, My bound iron tried to void itself when it was too far from me, but that would have vited the fundamental nullification that Sole had established over his body, so it couldnt work. I think that it kept trying, drawing more and more power from me as it got further away until the connection finally broke. I think it only would have stopped otherwise if the magics seeded in banishing the iron into the void. She shuddered. Im just d that the closed cell was sufficient to break that connection.


    Master Abali smiled. That is, essentially, the whole point of the cells. If they werent magically isted, they would be rather pointless.


    T grunted in agreement.


    Well, Master Clevnis pped his bare knees as he stood, mostly stable, we should be getting back.


    Master Girt nodded in agreement. Yeah, but should we take a minute to rest and have a drink first? Maybe eat some food?


    T shook her head. Not in here. I dont want to open that area of my storage within conceptually altered air.


    To the surface! The Refined grinned as everyone looked his way. What? The foods really good.


    Master Limmestare huffed augh. Hes not wrong. Some of the levity left his face as he focused on T. Are you truly going to be alright, Mistress?


    T took a moment to sweep her senses through her body, trusting t to look carefully at what she found as well. Finally, she nodded, I think so. Im not feeling or finding anything too concerning.


    Her gate was feeling a little raw, but that just made sense.


    A few minutester, the atrium of the cell was resealed, and the unit was back above ground.


    Master Grit resealed the deep shaft, mainly to keep anyone or anything from falling in by ident. As he did, he was muttering something rhythmically under his breath, which T only partially caught.


    <em>We do not fear what lies beneath?</em>


    <em>-Who knows. Everyone has their own mental models.-</em>


    <em>I suppose.</em>


    There, back in the light of the sun, T pulled out their next meal, still hot and ready from Mistress Petra.


    T was still far from fully recovered, but she didnt need to be for them to return to Alefast.


    Master Clevnis was rather weakened as well, and both he and Mistress Cerna seemed keen on moving back toward the city.


    Mistress Vanga had done an excellent job, to the point that his new legs would be fully integrated and epted with little issue.


    Unfortunately, that wasnt <em>no </em>issue.


    Even a perfect healing done by someone elses magic was never <em>quite</em> right. For mundanesand even most Magesit rarely mattered, but for Refined and those even more advanced, it could be problematic.


    That was actually one reason that basically all Mages added at least some self-healing inscriptions as they advanced. The Refining scripts that moved Fused through the advancement were effectively that, and it was Master Clevniss Refining scripts that wouldplete the alignment between his new legs and the rest of his body.


    Regardless, they pulled out theirbined flying contraption and got underway, back toward Alefast.


    They used the trip to go over the mission, discussing what had gone right as well as what could have gone better.


    Master Clevnis was appropriately impressed by Soles sword when T handed it over for his examination. He happily promised to do an in-depth study of the weapon before returning it to her in a few days.


    Mistress Cerna made that a couple of weeks, lovingly chastising her husband for taking on a project with a tight timeline when so recently wounded.


    He grudgingly agreed before giving his wife a kiss on the cheek and turning his full attention back to the sword.


    T suspected that Mistress Cerna had intervened as much to give her husband more time as to keep the timeline reasonable, but that was alright with her.


    T had some ideas on what she could use the sword for, but they were all tentative for the moment.


    When the unit returned to the waning city, T and Master Clevnis were required to report to specialized healers.


    After half an hour, during which the rest of the unit waited for the results, Master Clevnis was given a solid report. The healer who examined the repairsmended Mistress Vanga for her excellent work, stating that even if it had been done under ideal circumstances, he couldnt imagine a better healing being performed.


    The healer who examined T afterwards got rather grumpy with her. You know you arent <em>supposed</em> to be stretching and tearing off bits of your soul, right?


    Yes? I feel like youre saying that for a reason.


    Master Selek shook his head. You have four bits of your soul flitting about your head right now.


    My bloodstars?


    Yes, each of those effectively pulls at your soul, stretching and drawing it outward into a connection. These are weak enough that you arent really straining your soul, but it leaves you more vulnerable to the potential for weakness.


    Stretched and flexible?


    In some ways, yes, but also stretched thin, not well reinforced. Im not telling you to try to undo what youve done, but you might want to do some soul strengthening work.


    I thought I was?


    Hmm I suppose I did use vaguenguage. I mean strengthening in the sense of adding reinforcement to a wall, not building muscle. You seem to be rather set on a path of pulling and prodding your soul into doing all sorts of things most people cant. When was thest time you did anything to ensure its integrity?


    T was at a loss for words. She had never really considered that.


    The answer is in. Once youve rested for a couple of days,e back and talk to me. Well discuss some easy things you can do to add resilience to your <em>self.</em>


    In the end, though they got very different diagnoses, both T and Master Clevnis were put on mandatory leave for two days.


    At that time, he would be allowed back on duty, but T would have to be reexamined. In the best case, shed be given the resiliency tasks and allowed back to work as well.


    In the worst case?


    She might be kept from her role for a few weeks, if not longer.


    <em>Rest is good, T, it wont hurt you any.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, think of all the books weve been wanting to read.-</em>


    In the end while the mandated time away from her tasks and regr training was a bit annoying, T had to admit that she was grateful for the rest.


    Shed been keeping a rather fric pace over thest weeks and a few days truly off would be a blessing.


    <em>I need to consider when I want to go exploring, too.</em>


    There were quite a few things that she wanted to do, from exploring a recent city ruin to returning to the moving viges.


    <em>Howlton did seem like an interesting ce to spend some time.</em> But not yet. Maybe in another year or so.


    For now, T had been negligent in connecting with some old acquaintances.


    Toward that end, on the first day of her mandated break, T found herself standing outside a small artifact shop, located near the north entrance of Alefast.


    <em>Little shop of wonders indeed.</em>


    It looked smaller to her eye now, which was a bit silly because she hadnt grown anyrger, physically.


    Still, even from outside, she could feel the uncounted magics of the various objects held within.


    <em>Lets see what Artia, Adrill, and Brandon are up to.</em>


    The woman, herself, was sitting outside, behind her stall, soliciting business from the passersby.


    Honestly, T was a bit surprised that they hadnt started moving toward departing the city, given Artias dislike of Mages and the odd waning causing such an increase of the same.


    <em>Though, arge part of that dislike was from her association with the Culinary Guild and that guilds precepts. Those have all changed, now.</em>


    The matrons eyes passed over T, then jerked back. Mistress T!


    The woman stood in a rush, catching up T in a surprise hug. She tried to lift T up, but only grunted, Ts feet staying firmly nted on the ground.


    Wow, girl. Youve put on weight. You must be eating well?


    T smiled, giving a quick hug in return. I have gained weight, in several manners of speaking, and I am eating very well, thank you. How are you? Adrill? Brandon?


    Oh, they are splendid. We all are, really. Adrill still enjoys his experiments, and hes been able to make some headway with the local Constructionist Guild, or at least one of their Mages. He used your endingberries to run some questionable experiments. The older woman gave T a narrow-eyed look before smiling, Still, it ended well, so I cant be too irate with you.


    Ts smile turned sheepish, and Artiaughed.


    He learned some interesting things, apparently. They were enough that the Mage took him seriously, once he got an audience. Brandon is doing alright. With more and more Mages in the city, he feels a bit more out of ce than he ever has before. Honestly, Im uncertain if hell stick around. I promise you that hed already be gone, but hes had a girl catch his eye, and she seems to return his interest.


    Mom! Brandon himself came out from the shop, seemingly having caught the end of his mothers words. Why are you telling people that?


    Only then did Brandon take in T, herself. He tilted his head to the side for an instant before his eyes widened.


    Oh! Hello, Mistress T.


    Hello, Brandon.


    The young man smiled her way. Wee back! Why havent you dropped by sooner?


    Artia turned to her son, eyes widening. Brandon! You cant ask someone that.


    He shrugged. What? We saw the record of her fight outside the city from weeks ago.


    T scratched the back of her head. You arent wrong. Ive been busy, but thats just an excuse. Im sorry for not dropping by sooner.


    Artia turned to her, a genuine smile across her features. Well, youre here now. Come in! Are you in need of anything we might have?


    Im happy to have a look, yeah. Mainly, however, I just wanted to check in. Ill be in Alefast through the waning, at least for the most part. I will be busy, but more than a decade is a long time.


    The two mundanes nodded in agreement.


    T gave Brandon a mischievous smile, So, who is this girl?


    Brandon colored, shooting a grimace toward his mom, before returning his gaze to T. Shes the youngest daughter of a local farming family. Apparently, they make their living in the grow caverns, so they wont be leaving any time soon.


    So, you want to stick around?


    I think so. He nced away, a small smile pulling at his lips.


    Does she know about T gestured toward Brandon, thinking to ask about hisck of a gate, then she stopped and put her hand over her face. Im I apologize. That wasnt something that I should


    Brandon shrugged, waving her off. No, its fine. She knows. Its actually how we met. Theres a few of us gateless in the city, and Ive been meeting up with a group of them us. Shes the only one in her family, so shes found a lot ofradery with us.


    Ts smile turned more genuine, happy for his graciousness and his good fortune, And with you in particr, eh?


    He smiled. Yeah, so it seems.


    She hadnt really considered there being social groups for gateless, but it made sense.


    They were effectively outsiders, even if most people didnt use their gates on a day to day basis.


    T considered for a moment. Brandon?


    Yeah?


    Are any of those in your group builders?


    He frowned, considering. I think so? Builder isnt really very specific, though. Were from all trades, really. Its not like one line of work leads to the condition.


    Brandon! His mom interjected. It isnt a condition. Its just a small part of how you were born, and we wouldnt change you for the world.


    Its fine, mom. I didnt mean anything by it. He regarded T critically for a moment. Why do you ask?


    T felt a grin stretch across her face. I think I just might have some work for gateless builders.


    <em>-Oh, thats a good idea. The Zats are living pretty rough in what you all were able to throw together.-</em>


    <em>Hey, Im proud of what we were able to build.</em>


    <em>-Youre right; its very nice, given your restrictions.-</em>


    <em>Fine</em>


    <em>-You are literally trying to find people to improve it. Why is it insulting for me toment on the need for improvement?-</em>


    T honestly didnt have an answer to that. So, instead, she reengaged with the merchants.


    Brandon was still frowning from her answer, What use would you have for gateless, particrly?


    Well, I need some constructionpleted within my dimensional storage. So, builders with gates are less than convenient.


    Brandon nodded. He should have a fundamental understanding of that issue, given he often worked with his father. I can see the benefit, there, yeah.


    T continued, feeling the need for a bit more exnation, I have some things in ce, but the most recent structure was onlypleted to the most basic standards. I would love to improve whats there as well as add some more infrastructure.


    The young man frowned. In a dimensional storage?


    Yup. T felt herself grin. Is your dad avable? I think youd all enjoy seeing whats be of the pouch you sold me. She patted Kit, hanging at her hip and drawing their gaze to the pouch.


    Artia nodded, That does sound interesting, but I think I still need to mind the shop.


    Of course. <em>Right That makes sense.</em>


    Brandon smiled. Ill go get dad. He always loves to learn whatever he can.


    T looked to Artia as Brandon went to get his dad. Id love to look at your wares after were done.


    The older woman smiled. Customers are always wee.

 Chapter 346: City Stone

    Chapter 346: City Stone


    T only had to wait some five minutes before Adrill and Brandon came back up from the formers workshop in the familys basement.


    Mistress T! Good to see you. The older man gave her a chaste hug, before pulling back and beaming at her, Your gift has allowed me to forward my research so much further. Thank you.


    Whenst shed seen him, shed given a goodly quantity of endingberries for use in his research, mainly to protect him when he was doing more dangerous work. T had returned the hug briefly, giving a cheerfulugh, Im d you got use of it. You didnt let anyone else eat any, did you?


    He huffed augh in return. Are you mad? Im not going to casually give people a sip of liquid gold.


    Well, I can get you more if you want.


    Artia cleared her throat. Mistress T


    T shrugged, speaking quickly so as to move the conversation along. But well see how it goes, regardless.


    She looked around, finding the nk, empty wall beside the main entrance to the shop.


    Thats perfect.


    With a quick motion, she tossed Kit against that wall, and the pouch blossomed into a door that was almost identical to the wide, double doors that currently stood open, inviting people who came to Artias stall toe deeper in.


    Kit took the form of a single door, however.


    Even so, the three mundanes let out sounds of surprise and appreciation.


    Artia muttered under her breath, but T was easily able to catch it, How much did I undercharge?


    T grinned at them all, gesturing toward the door. After you.


    Kit opened as she gestured.


    T took on a tone of happy solemnity, Wee to my sanctum.


    The father and son tentatively walked through, and she followed them out into her central za.


    Adrill turned to her as Kits door closed and vanished back to its standard internal location, Why do you have a throne in here?


    T grimaced. Why is it that people are so inquisitive about that?


    That was just the first of uncounted questions directed her way.


    <em>-I could count them.-</em>


    <em>No, thank you.</em>


    The tour was both utterly uneventful and surprisingly quite fun for T.


    First of all, Brandon and Adrill had much lower thresholds for amazement than those shed shown around previously, given their lives as mundanes.


    Second, Adrill actually had a surprisingly deep understanding of the underlying theories, making the experience simr to a fire Mage encountering a cataclysmic forest fire from a safe distance.


    <em>-Or a not-so-safe distance. You know: we still dont have proof that Kit is truly safe.-</em>


    <em>Thats not helpful, t.</em>


    <em>-Im just saying. We outweigh Kit, magically, and she requires us to continue to exist. Mundanes on the other hand-</em>


    <em>Not helpful.</em>


    <em>-Fine, fine.-</em>


    Adrill seemed to even understand some parts more fundamentally than T, herself.


    Their tour stalled out after only a couple of stops when the man insisted on slowing down, and he spent nearly an hour just circling the isted endingberry grove.


    At that point, he turned to T, a glint of steel in his eyes, You will let me get my instruments.


    She chuckled, but he didntugh.


    Sooner would be better.


    Brandon leaned over from where hed been observing. I think he might actually do something drastic if you try to deny him.


    She looked to the son, Like what?


    I have no idea, but Id rather not find out.


    Over the next quarter hour or so, T opened the door out of Kit a half-dozen times for the man, eventually just leaving the door in ce.


    Brandon was roped into his fathers activities, and eventually, T left them to it, a smile tugging at her lips.


    <em>Sess.</em>


    -<em>That was a little devious.-</em>


    <em>Only a little? Thats good, then. Id thought it was </em>incredibly<em> devious.</em>


    It waste that afternoon when Brandon poked his head out of the door to find T and Artia enjoying yet another pot of tea, chatting about the random artifacts that had passed through the older womans hands over the years.


    Artia was speaking as the door creaked open, It was a seemingly flimsy reed, but it never gave any sign of breaking, not even once we figured out what it was for and tried it out a few times.


    A switch of immtion. T shook her head. Thats a bit terrifying. Did you ever figure out how it worked?


    It was an impressive bit of magic, actually. From what my Adrill was able to determine, it generated the fire magics, somehow constructing them in a way that made them all but natural magics. The thick cloud of those magics would explode over and around whatever was struck, clinging to its target.


    T found herself nodding. I have no idea how you would do that, but the result would be awful. It wouldpletely bypass most Mages natural defense against direct magics, at least until they actively opposed the working, but at the time that theyd need to be figuring that out


    They would be actively on fire. The older woman shuddered, But I pray its never used against a person. Thats just horrible.


    <em>Oh right.</em> T changed tact,<em></em>Yeah, most Magical creatures likely would have the same issue. I hope you got a goodly amount for it.


    That we did. There was a gleam of gold in Artias eye. It was then that she turned to her son who had been standing there, seemingly unwilling to interrupt. Brandon, son. Are you going to stand there all afternoon? Is your father finished?


    Brandon looked a bit sheepish. Actually, another Mage found us in there, and after some confusion we came to an understanding.


    T did her best to keep her glee from her features. Oh? Master Simon is a rather avid researcher himself.


    Artias eyes narrowed as she looked back and forth between T and her son. Why do I feel like Im being set up in some way?


    Brandon sighed. Its magic, mom. Dad was going to be sucked in, if he was given any leeway at all to investigate.


    At that moment, Mater Simon opened the door behind Brandon and stuck his head out. Mistress T? Good. This man needs to stay. His foundation is incredible, and he doesnt have <em>any</em> bad habits to be trained out. Is this the research assistant that youve been promising me?


    Artia turned to T, clear incredulity on her face.


    T sighed, Thank you, Master Simon


    * * *


    T stood in a circr room, deep within Alefasts Archonplex.


    The ce seemed suffused with magic that seemed both utterly still and fast flowing at the same time.


    She wanted to examine it more closely, but she was still a bit stuck on the absence of Kit at her hip.


    The conversation with Artia had taken another few hours, and she suspected that shed still be thereanswering the merchants questionsif she didnt have this appointment with Master Grediv.


    Even so, shed had to leave Kit affixed to the outside of their shop to assuage the womans concerns while her husband and son explored within, alongside Master Simon.


    But that was a concern forter.


    At the moment, she was waiting


    Master Grediv opened a door and stepped inside, Good, good. Youre here a bit early.


    T gave a shallow bow, Master Grediv.


    He waved her off. None of that, Mistress T. Theres no audience here.


    She straightened. As you wish. May I ask what the nature of this meeting is?


    He looked confused for a brief moment. Oh? My apologies, I thought that I was clear. It is time that you learn about inner-city movement. Additionally, we really need to have the first of our conversations regarding your mindset and views of eternity.


    T found herself blinking, but a happy smile soon grew across her features. Oh well, thats great.


    Master Gredivughed. Id hoped that you would approve.


    So, where do we begin? Is there some sort of teleportation script with limited distance but not as many downsides? Ive theorized about such things, but its not really been a deep area of study.


    <em>-What? You mean that you havent studied such a difficult branch of magic enough to be a master in just two years?-</em>


    <em>Youre awfully snarky today.</em>


    <em>-Yes, we are, arent we?-</em>


    T decided not to engage further.


    Master Grediv smiled, Well, yes on both counts. Itcks virtually all downsides but has an incredibly short range. In fact, its distance is limited to the extent of being unable to move you at all.


    T frowned. What?


    He chuckled. A bit of humor, but youll understand in a moment. You are young yet.


    She shrugged. Mind if I sit?


    If youd like.


    An iron chair grew out of her back as she sat back, fully forming as the thick legs touched the stone floor.


    T grinned at the Paragon.


    Master Grediv chuckled. Fair enough. We all have strengths and weaknesses.


    He waved a hand, and his own chair came out of his dimensional storage, perfectly situated and oriented to sit across from her.


    He nodded once, shifting slightly to get morefortable. So, an exnation.


    That would be nice, yes.


    What is a human city?


    She gave him a level look. I think that you and I might have different definitions of an exnation.


    A smile tugged at the edges of his lips. Humor me.


    Very well. A human city is the bastion of defense and power that serves to protect humanity against the predations of the arcane and magical threats of the Wilds in which we find ourselves.


    He held up a hand, waggling it back and forth. It serves that purpose, true enough, but what is it?


    A ce where humans live in a high concentration?


    He huffed augh. Fine, fine. Thats true too. I was hoping that your time in the arcanends would have given you a different perspective.


    T was a bit frustrated, so she answered with more snark than was her usual, thinking about it from an arcane perspective, Its a ce full of potential power sources?


    He smiled. Precisely.


    She was taken aback by that. What?


    They are ces where weve gathered all the gated of humanity, or at least as many as we can reasonably keep together. Can you tell me why?


    Well She frowned, thinking of the moving cities, considering the vestiges and founts, and the issues within her own sanctum when gated humans walked about. To iste the damage.


    Exactly, yes. More than that, I wouldnt expect you to be able to guess. He smiled, leaning back. We gather the abrasive potential upon reality and concentrate it in as few locations as we can.


    Youre trying to destroy reality? She made it a question, hoping the answer was no.


    No, no, of course not. Though, that was one fear the arcanes had when we first began the endeavor, at least so I am told.


    So


    We do it to mitigate the issue. What causes the abrasion?


    Movement.


    Ahh, but is it physical movement thats the problem?


    T was about to say Yes, but then she thought about it. My bloodstars and soulbound items dont degrade reality when I move them about even though they are effectively as much a gate as my gate is. They are magically centered on my soul, my gate Is it movement, magically speaking?


    He nodded appreciatively. Just so, yes. When our gates move through the world, when taking the dimension of magic into ount, we stress reality. That is the nature of cities. We do our utmost to minimize the magical movement of human gates. Can you guess how?


    Have you what? Somehow made the entirety of each human city magically the same ce? She frowned. That didnt make sense. Not only would that have been insanely obvious, but it would utterly change how magic functioned within the area of such a working, if it was even possible to enact.


    Master Grediv chuckled. Yes and no.


    Exin.


    The primary dimension of magic can be conceived of as a fourth, spatial dimension that corrtes, and lies beside, the others. Just like everything with width also has a height. Generally, for the purposes of understanding any given bit of magic, you can consider it as having four coordinates, three physical and one magical. Zero on the magical coordinate means that it is perfectly aligned with whatever physical point its connected to. Without delving into deep theory, I will say that, generally, there is a one-to-one corrtion between dimensional sets. So, each physical set of three coordinates is the zero, zero, zero to a unique infinity within the dimension of magic. Again, this is just like for any ce on a t ne, there is a unique infinity of height above and below.


    T frowned, but didnt interrupt.


    Now, keep in mind that this isnt always true. Such can be altered, manipted toward various ends. Just like a t ne, rolled into a cylinder, will have ovepping infinities of height. The arcanes let us know it was possible, but we didnt know how until the Archive gave us a clue. Do you know much of the Archives nature?


    Not really? I know it is information stored in the dimensions of magic.


    True, but the important part is that it is information stored in a section of those dimensions that is incrediblypressed and ovepping, when rting to the physical. Basically, when in that region, something stored by someone who is a hundred miles away would only seem a foot distant. Does that make sense?


    I think? I think I understand?


    Good. Well, cities are just an artificial, less lofty version of that. Weve turned the dimension of magic around cities into giant funnels that channel the power down to a singr point. The result is: for most ces rtively low within the dimension of magic, a person walking around a city is barely moving at all. The surface levels arent altered and thus they are still abraded andcerated, but the underlying stability is maintained.


    So, we have to move the cities, but less often, and reality heals more quickly?


    In a sense, yes.


    T found herself nodding. So, there exists a ce above us, magically speaking, that is the same, regardless of where we are in the cityher eyes widened slightlyand the funnel slowly degrades over time, necessitating the shrinking of the city?


    Well, yes, but we could fix that if we needed to. More urately, the original perfecters of our system realized that they needed to let reality begin to heal from the outside in, otherwise it would create a much longersting wound. Also, its magically <em>below</em> not above, utilizing the negative axes.


    She nodded again. So all that power is funneled into a singr point. Is that the city grid?


    He shrugged. In a sense, yes. Using the city grid is simply a tapping into that singr point.


    But wouldnt the power flowing in simply continue going? Inertia and all that?


    It would if we let it, but we trap it at that singr point. There lies our second great advantage against arcanes. They have vestiges, which can supply steady power of a low quality over a long period. We have City Stones. The umted power of people which can supply unfathomable power in a burst or a stream. It isnt infinite, but after umting for so long, it effectively is for the considerations of any conflict.


    But its tied to the city.


    And we move it. The new Alefast doesnt have the density of power, yet, to add to the City Stones stores, but when this Alefast has fully waned, the other will be ready.


    So, the city names are also the names of the Stones?


    In a sense, yes. We do that for eases sake, though the cities were and are named first. I am the keeper of Alefast. He smiled. The scales in our bond are tipped, however, and I am the weaker of us. In fact, I have died several times, but Alefast isnt done with me yet. It hasnt chosen a sessor. So, my soul is drawn to the Stone, drawn here, and I am rebuilt.


    Her eyes widened. Master Grediv, that sounds like a lich.


    In practice, I can understand thatparison, but in reality and function they are utterly different. A City Stone isnt inanimate, but it isnt me either. In fact, it isnt a singr entity at all. It is the manifestation of the collective will of those who have lived within the city and who have fed the Stone.


    T found herself shaking her head. I I need us to back up for a moment. So, we have twelve City Stones, which are massivebut still finitereserves of mundane-level power?


    Woven through with power from the more advanced, yes.


    That is how arcanes advance.


    Give or take, yes.


    And the City Stones contain the will of the people, on a grand scale. Her eyes widened in realization. The Stones are City Lords.


    Without the sapience or individuality, effectively yes. He smiled. I am d that your unique experiences have gained you deeper insights into these topics.


    She decided to ignore that, keeping her focus on the matter at hand. Thats what you meant when you said that the arcanes let you know it was possible. Thats what City Lords are?


    In a sense. This is all a vast oversimplification, of course. We are also only speaking of magical power, not authority, ownership, or sovereignty. Sovereignty cannot be borne without a sapience.


    You. She felt things clicking into ce. You are the representation of the sovereignty of the City Stone.


    As are the heads of the Archon Councils in every city. The power is not mine, but I may direct it within a limited scope, so long as it is in alignment with the general will of the Stone.


    Then what of the rulers of the cities?


    They wield civil authority, but we are reaching the point of over-stretching the metaphors.


    T grunted.


    Suffice it to say, to address your earlier concern: A lich has bound their soulwith their own powerto an object so that, in the event of their death, their soul cannot pass on. I have had an objecttch onto my soul, so in the event of my death, it wont allow me to pass on.


    So, just a small reversal? A matter of semantics?


    Heughed. Most important distinctions are a matter of small alterations or semantics. What is a murdererpared to one who kills a murderer in self-defense, but a small reversal?


    T saw the ws in his analogy, but she also understood what he was getting at.


    But we are moving off the core point once again. Inner city movement. Have you understood?


    She pulled her mind back from the dozens of esoteric tangents it was flying down, I I confess, I was not thinking about that anymore.


    He grunted, smiling. Understandable.


    She frowned. We pull ourselves down the dimension of magic, then pop back out somewhere else?


    Sort of, actually. Its more like holding onto a trapeze bar as it swings through an arc. You grab it at one point, and release at another. You have not moved at all, rtive to the bar, but you have, rtive to everything else. Once again, the analogy fails as it requires time and you dont withdraw into the bar, but it gets the idea across.


    Like walking down the spoke of a wheel, then walking out a different spoke?


    Master Grediv paused, then nodded. There is some truth to that, yes. If it helps you grasp the concept, that is as good an analogy as any. All that said, it is not an easy process and is impossible for those with too little magical density. It might have been lethal to even you when you first Fused. To be Refined, however, is to be dense enough to survive it.


    I think Ive seen non-Refined appear from nowhere within cities. T challenged.


    Master Grediv shrugged. Its possible. We have some here that are dense enough, either by effort, artifact, or bound item. But to continue: Generally, we have a team stationed in this room, the center of the city. The magics required to briefly draw them deeper in the dimension of magic are here, anding back is simply a cork rising to the surface. The main issue is aiming that resurfacing precisely.


    T looked around. I think I can see that. What of the team, though? They arent here, now.


    He shrugged, pointing off to one side, They are just beyond that wall. I prefer to have this discussion in here, when I participate in it. Waiting out there would only dy them for but a moment, if their services were needed.


    Then I suppose Im curious as to why we dont deploy from here to defend the walls for the waning?


    Expediency and efficiency. This is a marvelous way to get a team to any point in the city, nearly instantly, but it is not as efficient as having a team already there. For inner city matters, it is not feasible to have Mages stationed every hundred yards, on every street, but to protect againstrge exterior threats? It makes more sense to have powerful defenders there and waiting.


    T looked at the center of the room, then back to Master Grediv. So


    He grinned. Yes, I find the best way to let the lesson sink in is to use the magics, even if it is only once. Shall we?"

 Chapter 347: Advancement Toward Paragon

    Chapter 347: Advancement Toward Paragon


    T actually felt a little bit nervous as she and Master Grediv stood and moved toward the center of the underground room, beneath the Alefast Archon Complex.


    She pulled her iron back from where she had made it into a chair for herself, reabsorbing it, and ensuring that <em>all</em> of her iron was well tucked away.


    Master Grediv nced at his chair after he stood, and it vanished with a sweep of dimensional magic.


    And just like that, they were ready.


    Mistress T, do you have a particr ce that youd like to go?


    Nowhere particrly. We had more to discuss, right?


    We do.


    She shrugged. Somewhere good for that, then. The north part of the city might be a bit better, but it likely doesnt matter over much.


    Alright, then. Ill select there.


    T felt an odd shifting in the magics. There was an unusual sensation, a disjointment, like stepping down only to find the step missing, or not quite where she expected it to be.


    After a flickering moment, she felt like her vision split.


    On one hand, she was still in the same stone room with Master Grediv, but on the other, they were standing in a city street, positioned out of the flow of traffic.


    The next instant the stone room was gone, and they were simply standing on the side of a major thoroughfare.


    T looked around, then turned a skeptical nce to Master Grediv, Thats it?


    That was it.


    Thats how it always is?


    Give or take, yes.


    That was absolutely nothing like a cork.


    The Paragon shrugged. Its an imperfect metaphor.


    I didnt go under anything, not in any sense.


    Of course not. Im not going to throw a person down in the dimension of magic, do you think me mad?


    No?


    In the metaphor, the room is the cork. If youck sufficient density, you can get left behind, either in a vacuous space that the room was within, or within the dimension of magic.


    T frowned. Shouldnt higher density make that more likely? Magical inertia and all that?


    He shook his head. Even though we use the termsmagical weight, density, and inertiathey are, for the most part, useful forparisons and understanding, but they dont always work in the same way those terms might suggest. In this case, acking of magical density would make you like the air, and the workingthe moving roomwould simply pass through you, leaving you behind.


    Oh, I can see that. She frowned again. But thats another way that the terms <em>do </em>work.


    True enough, yes.


    T waited for a moment, but Master Grediv didnt seem inclined to answer further.


    Thus, she sighed and looked around, taking in the passersby.


    As usual, she was struck with how different the citizens of Alefast were from those shed seen in other cities.


    They were a bit leaner, a bit firmer of step, in some cases a bit more desperate. There were myriad well-paying tasks around a waning city, but few were free of danger. That was, in fact, why they were well paid. Mages were generally on hand to heal any injuries, but idents still happened, and deaths did ur.


    <em>Its a dangerous world.</em> Though, she felt her mindset shifting, now that she knew about the City Stones.


    They <em>could</em> move the cities earlier, bypassing the waning, in a sense. <em>But that would negate one of the purposes.</em>


    Master Grediv hadnt stated it outright, but the implication was obvious. The funnel formation within the cities drew in not only all power of the citizenry, but of the surroundingnds, more so at the waning. To move the cities early would mean not only less growth for the Stones, but also allowing greater magical density in the surrounding environment.


    Wanings served so many purposes that T was beginning to lose track.


    Regardless, she was examining their surroundings, not contemting the purpose of various city stages.


    She and the Paragon were standing just outside of a little restaurant, though they were positioned out of the way of the bustling entrance.


    Master Grediv gestured toward the sapphire blue double doors, and T sighed, Very well, we can discuss inside.


    He smiled and let her lead the way. Less than five minutester, they were seated at a table, their tea ordered and on the way.


    T had opted for a sweet and spicy, red tea.


    Master Grediv had ordered green tea.


    She reached to pull a pastry out of Kit but found her right hip empty. <em>Well, rust Thats irritating.</em>


    He plucked a still steaming cinnamon roll off of a passing cart, ensuring that the server noticed his acquisition for the billter.


    <em>Show off.</em>


    <em>-You could have grabbed one, too.-</em>


    T wrinkled her nose, ignoring her alternate interface. So, are we going to just sit here?


    He took a careful bite of his treat, clearly savoring the confection. When his mouth was empty once more, he smiled, If you wish, but Id thought youd want more information.


    She leaned back, trying to show incredulity on her features, That would be appreciated, yes.


    Very well. On what subject do you want to speak? There was a twinkle in his eye as he took another bite of the cinnamon bun.


    Id thought we would talk about advancement toward Paragon.


    But of course! Enjoy the little things.


    Like leading on your lessers?


    His joviality vanished in an instant as he responded, I have no lessers here, Mistress T. All are equal from an eternal perspective. A soul is a soul, and we all must move on to the next world.


    An eternal perspective.


    Thats right.


    So can you expound on that, then?


    His smile returned, Do you want the long version, medium, or short?


    Well, I imagine that the long version might take a while.


    Master Grediv chuckled. To tell properly, Id say it would take at least a year, yes.


    Then, lets start with the short version?


    He opened his mouth, then closed it. A momentter he huffed anotherugh, I was going to give a ridiculous response, but I think even the short version wont be that short, so I should just get to it.


    T leaned forward, not interrupting.


    To be Fused was toe into alignment with your mortal self, to be true and truthful to who you are and what you feel. He paused, waiting for her acknowledgement.


    She shrugged. Yeah, that was my understanding. A bit simplistic though.


    As you said, were going for the short version.


    Right.


    So, in that same vein, you arent mortal anymore. Thus, to be a Paragon, you need to align yourself with your immortal self.


    My immortal self? She frowned, considering.


    What part of you is, and always has been, immortal?


    She knew the answer instantly, then. My soul.


    Precisely.


    So isnt it already in alignment? My body is soulbound. I chose immortality, even though it was without full information. Shouldnt I be there already?


    He chuckled. Wouldnt that be lovely? He shook his head. While that would be easy and convenient, it wouldnt actually be good. The power that a Paragon wieldshe paused for a long momentWell, youve seen it more clearly than any of your advancement should, I suppose. Would you have humans rise up with the power and temperament of a City Lord?


    T frowned in confusion. Arent City Lords at least Revered? Thats the equivalent to Reforged.


    Yes and no. You have to remember that humanitys power is unlike arcane magic. They have an advantage in kind, we in quality. They in ready quantity, we in staying power. A Paragon can match a City Lord outside of their domain. He hesitated. It wouldnt be a bnced match, mind you, but they wouldnt be in outright. That also neglects the fact that a City Lord wouldnt leave their domain.


    T opened her mouth to argue but stopped as he raised a hand.


    My apologies. This is a <em>hotly</em> debated subject, and I was falling into conversational ruts. That is not why we are here.


    She chuckled, nodding in agreement. I can understand the obsession. If it were really so easy aparison, humanity could sweep aside the arcanes now.


    Some think we should try, but those who <em>know</em>, know better.


    T grunted, remembering the might of the City Lord and even the Eskau shed met. <em>And those were just from one House.</em>


    Though, if the arcanes really knew how close we were to being able to do just that, thered be war on the horizon, beyond question, but back to our conversation.


    Yes. So, I have to align myself with my own soul?


    Yes and no. You must shift your mentalityyour existenceto align with how your soul experiences existence. Some see that as a severing of all ties, but that way lies madnesssometimes literally. Our souls are intimately connected with so, so many. Denying that is to deny the very thing that makes us human. A sad expression washed over his features before he seemingly mastered himself and moved on, In light of eternity, one could argue that other people are <em>all</em> that matter. After all, were all that moves on to the next life. Its not like our cities, territory, wealth, or magical advancement will have any impact on the next world.


    T frowned, but she found herself nodding. I suppose I can understand that. Though, all of those things are necessary to protect and provide for other people while in this world.


    Oh, unquestionably. I am thest to call such things bad or evil on the face of it, but the obsession over title, possession, power, or knowledge is one route toward great evil. Our cells are filled with those who sought just such.


    T grunted, considering her encounter with the new-born fount. All souls have the same destination, the next world. Even Sovereigns will pass on eventually.


    Precisely. Some will survive to the end of existence, whatever form that takes, but then, they will pass on too.


    So, how do I align with that? How do I shift my mindset?


    Slowly, and with great care.


    T barked augh in response.


    Their tea arrived, and they thanked their server, taking a moment to get situated and enjoy the first sips.


    This establishment served their tea in artifact-style cups and pots, with magic around enhancing vor and maintaining temperature.


    Somehow, the workings were able to detect a drinkers optimal temperature and feather the drink to match.


    In Ts case, she suspected that she was stressing the magic, or at least forcing it to its limit, right up to the brewing temperature for her tea.


    <em>A hearty physiology sometimes has its downsides.</em>


    She set her cup down slowly, lifting her gaze to regard the Paragon. So, what is one step?


    He nodded, setting his own drink aside. Wisely asked. One step, from my perspective, is realizing something critical. In the long run, no one ever gets away with anything, even once.


    T frowned, What? Thats not true.


    Think of eternity, Mistress T. Every action creates ripples that never cease. A moment of selfishness tinges all, forever.


    Thats bleak.


    He smiled wryly in response. It is, but that is just one side. A small kindness is also forever. Make sure you understand, not niceness, kindness.


    Setting that distinction aside forter, if I understand correctly, youre speaking on a global or collective scale? That no one ever gets away with anything, because <em>someone</em> suffers?


    While thats true, I am being more direct. Even if the only traceable negative is a shifting of the actor more toward being selfish in the future, there are always negatives.


    But those are so minor She felt herself nodding. But even the smallest shift in direction, on the timescales of eternity, is a monumental change.


    Precisely. Now, as I was saying: No one ever really gets away with anything. Reality is real, and you distort and bend it at your peril.


    T felt herself smile. Dont I know it.


    Master Grediv grinned in return. Indeed, and Im not even talking about reality Mages. Now, of course you <em>can</em> distort and bend reality, creating a rift temporarily, but eventually, thats going to snap closed on you, and you might not even notice the connection between your initial indiscretion and the final consequence of the same, but the consequences are inevitable.


    She titled her head in thought, picking up her teacup once more.


    He took a sip, himself, before continuing, In fact, its worse than that, the consequences tend to multiply, and when we have forever


    That is a lot of multiplicative consequences to bear.


    Precisely.


    She gave a half-smile. Is it toote to be mortal?


    Master Grediv barked augh, quickly covering his own mouth. I am afraid so, but some do choose dangerous upations in order to avoid having to consider eternity in this world. It is something to keep in mind.


    But we cant have eternity in this world.


    His smile solidified into something even more genuine. That is absolutely correct. He let that sit for a long while before he continued. Nheless, we must grapple with eternity while here to achieve alignment with our own soul.


    She grunted nomittally.


    I dont expect you to understand or agree at the moment. I am simply nting the seeds.


    This sounds like something you higher-ups are using to try to force the creation of altruistic humans with power.


    He nodded. In a sense it is, but it is also the known next step. It is a picture of what awaits us. Peace for those who ept it. For those who fear it? They fight tooth and nail, body and soul to stay away from the next world, no matter what it takes.


    City Lords.


    Them and most arcanes near that level of power. They seek power to avoid passing on. Theirs is a rejection of the natural order, the rejection of eternity beyond this world. We embrace the next world and try to draw it forth into even this one.


    T found herself slowly shaking her head. Youre right. I cant say that I understand what youre saying, and what I think I understand, I cant say I agree with.


    That is to be expected. Dont let that concern you, however. You have a long time to gain insight. His smile was grandfatherly in its kindness and wisdom. Who knows, maybe you will be the one who finds us another way. You''ve done it before.


    Thank you for the faith in me and for the advice.


    Of course, Mistress T.


    They both sat back, enjoying their tea.


    Theyd each had a pot of their particr beverage brought along with the initial cup so they had sufficient quantity for an extended conversation.


    <em>If I head back now, Ill just get another discussion from Artia</em>


    <em>-Well, Master Grediv did say he had some ideas for increasing our magical density.-</em>


    Oh! T nodded to herself, drawing the Paragons attention. You mentioned a while ago that you might have some suggestions of increasing my magical density?


    He carefully swallowed histest bite of cinnamon roll. Yes, not that you need it. Still, it shouldnt hurt.


    She leaned forward, pouring a bit more tea into her cup as she waited for him to continue.


    Lets finish our tea and return to a training area. I think it will be better to go through the motions.


    She hesitated, then shook her head. I dont want to take too much of your time, could you describe it to me, here, and then I go and enact it on my own?


    He seemed to consider as he took a long sip. I think that could work.


    * * *


    T closed her eyes and drew in a deep breath, focusing within herself.


    Master Grediv had been as clear as possible in describing this process, and so she knew what to look for.


    She was fully coated in iron, both around her inscriptions and around her exterior.


    She examined the flow of power through her spellforms, focusing her will and perception on the minutia.


    As she monitored every part of her magicalwork so closely, she found what Master Grediv had theorized would be there. Some of her inscriptions felt like the power within was pushing outward, trying to spread out through the dimension of magic.


    She rxed her iron grip in that area, allowing that part of her capacity to expand.


    It wasnt a change of shape, nor an alteration of kind. Instead, it was simply like digging a river deeper while staying within its preestablished banks.


    More than just her inscriptions had this feeling, however.


    In ces, it was as if her very flesh was straining to expand into the dimension of magic, though she knew it was only the power within it that was making that attempt.


    That in mind, she simrly pulled her iron back in the dimension of magic around those areas, allowing her reserves to grow as new power flowed in through her gate.


    It wasnt aplicated process now that she knew what she was looking for, and she was able toplete it reasonably quickly.


    Nothing she was doing was new on its own; she just hadnt used these skills in this way before.


    Then, with a carefully released breath, T tightened the iron again, pulling it inward through the magical dimensional-axis, driving the power inward and causing apacting of the power across her entire body.


    The resulting feeling wasnt pain, not precisely.


    Instead, it felt simr to having her stomach full to the brim and then trying to swallow one more bite while doing crunches.


    She was not used to that sensation at all.


    T groaned in difort, but even this initial, tentative effort yielded results.


    She felt that her every cell was filled with infinitesimally more power than before. They also felt on the edge of bursting.


    <em>-Alright! That was something. Do that a hundred more times, and well have increased our power density by a whole percentage point.-</em>


    <em>Thats a little bit insulting oh huh.</em> T grimace as she examined herself magically once more.


    <em>-See? Im right. You didnt really mp down very fast, nor did you allow as much expansion as you could have before mping down.-</em>


    <em>So, it works in theory, but we need to try harder?</em>


    <em>-I would have said better, but that about sums it up, yeah. But not now. Dont try it again now. I think if we tried to do it again now we might burst into a cloud of magical power.-</em>


    <em>Well then, we can add it to the list.</em> T grinned to herself. <em>Not a bad result for a rest day.</em>


    Sesses aside, it was time to get back to Kit.


    After all, it was just about dinnertime.

 Chapter 348: Buckets

    Chapter 348: Buckets


    T walked back up to Artias shop as the woman was finishing the closing of her stall.


    Artia noticed her, ncing up with a smile, Mistress T, wee back.


    T returned the smile, feeling genuine warmth for the woman who had helped her acquire both Flow and Kit. Thank you, Artia. Can I help you bring all this in?


    The shopkeeper nced around, then shrugged and nodded, Thank you, dear. Thats very kind of you.


    Ts smile grew just a bit in return, and she helped the woman break down the stall, moving the pieces back into the shop. Artia had already moved the merchandise inside for the evening.


    When they were done, T took a moment to look around at what was on disy.


    As before, arge part of the disy room was taken up by tables and disys of arcanous harvests. Their inherent magics were faded to the point of being unusable, but they were still useful as demonstrations of what the shop could acquire upon request.


    As she looked around the room, her eye was drawn to a group of items in particr. On one wall, she saw a section of hanging dimensional storages.


    She felt a smile tug on her lips, and she patted her hip, ncing down when she didnt find Kit.


    <em>Right.</em>


    She stepped back outside and grabbed the edge of Kits door, pulling Kit into her hand where she immediately took the form of a pouch.


    T then came back inside and tossed Kit against a different wall, letting her reform as a door, this one blending with the inner wall as well as the previous door had blended with the outside.


    Im d I found you, Kit. She spoke softly, but she felt like the pouch heard her.


    The door shimmered slightly to Ts magesight, and it seemed a bit more pristine? It didnt blend any better, nor did it stand out more, but something seemed to have shifted just a bit.


    <em>Huh</em>


    T turned her gaze, then, to the parts of the showroom that held the artifacts that Artia currently had in stock.


    She knew that Adrill would have some more within his workshop, but those wouldnt be avable for sale at the moment, regardless.


    There were the usual oddities, more curiosities than anything else.


    There was a candle with an unusually steady me that clearly wasnt burning down the wick or melting the wax. There was a small card next to the candle exining that the brass ring near the base could be turned to alter the color of the me and slid up or down the length to alter the brightness.


    It was interesting to be sure, but the me wasnt hot, and the brightness was generally only good for reading or seeing at night to navigate a darkened house.


    <em>Still might be a fun gift for Se</em> T noted it to possiblye back to. It was also a ratherplex artifact, which intrigued her.


    The next item she examined was a simple looking straw hat that would keep the wearer dry in any kind of natural downpour. The items card warned that it would not prevent any water directed at the wearer by a sapient mind, be it magical or simply a cup of water upturned atop the hat.


    There were a pair of rings that allowed the wearers to know the direction of the other with seemingly no limit.


    Another item was a spool of thread that would match its dye to thest thing that it touched. Once the thread was cut, the magic would leave it, allowing the thread to keep that color.


    <em>Great for patching mundane clothes.</em>


    Beside the thread was a simple rose that never wilted. The magic had been analyzed, and it seemed that if the rose was nted, it would grow into a mundane rosebush.


    <em>Simple. Not useful to me, but Im sure someone will find a purpose for it.</em>


    A small stone finch that, when activated, would flit about the user, consuming any insects that tried to get close.


    <em>That thats actually really sophisticated magics as well. Useful too, if I wasnt rather immune to bugs.</em>


    Still, they were pretty annoying at times


    <em>No. Someone else will get more use out of it.</em>


    There were purely decorative items such as baubles that would shine with inner light or change to bestplement the other parts of a persons outfit.


    There were a few knives, but not of interest while she had Flow, and she would always have Flow.


    There were practical things like the candle, hat, bird, or a cup that would regte its contents temperature.


    Artia saw T looking at thest one. That has been an oddlymon magic ofte, this cycle. There have been dozens of variants, and some restaurants have been buying up all they can find. That one is the most basic form, so I held onto it in the hopes that someone would want it for personal use. The restaurants are insisting on bulk discounts, given how many have been found in thest half year or so.


    T tilted her head to the side. Are theremonalities with the artifacts found?


    Generally, yes. There tend to be trends that ebb and flow through a waning.


    Fascinating. <em>Maybe due to different creatures of the voiding through from different parts? And different parts are closer at given times?</em> If that was what the artifacts were. There were certainly some artifacts that fit that category, Kit being a prime example.


    Even so, there was a <em>lot</em> of guesswork in that hypothesis.


    But she was getting distracted.


    Artia took a step back, acting the consummate shopkeeper, ready to answer questions but not hovering too close.


    T briefly looked back at the counter and realized something. <em>I want them all, not even because I can use them, I just think theyre neat.</em>


    She could easily afford it, but she hesitated, considering.


    <em>That is a very short view on things. I could so easily spend all my money to fill Kit with trinkets and baubbles.</em>


    It was probably better to not focus on the acquisition of such things. After all, she had enough on her te to deal with at the moment.


    <em>Still, there are some things</em> Artia?


    Yes, Mistress T?


    I recall a coin that could make water colder. Specifically, it would drop the temperature down to just above freezing.


    The shop owner frowned, looking up and to the right. After a long moment, she nodded. I do think I recall that coin. It also alwaysnded with the same side facing up, right?


    Thats the one.


    My apologies, Mistress, but I sold that a while back.


    Of course. I would have been surprised if you still had it after all this time. Could you keep your eyes out for another such item? I think it could be nice to cool the river within my sanctum, my dimensional storage.


    The woman blinked at her a few times. The river?


    Yes. Id thought you heard in context that there is quite a bit of space within Kit.


    I I guess I didnt think about the possibility of there being a river. The woman seemed to be having a small internal crisis, which didnt have time to resolve before Kits door swung open, and the three men came out, looking around with intensity obvious across their features.


    They immediately spotted T and moved her way.


    Master Simon gave a shallow bow, and the two mundanes gave deeper ones as the Mage spoke, Mistress T.


    Master Simon. You three look like men on a mission.


    The three chuckled a bit self-consciously, but Master Simon continued nheless, I was talking with these two fine gentlemen, and I remembered you showing me a contraption for the manufacturing of magic metal.


    T was curious where this was leading and saw no reason to lie, Thats right.


    Would that metal happen to be the white metal that you utilized in your fight with the cyclops?


    T thought for a moment. Had she used the white steel in that fight?


    <em>-Yes.-</em>


    <em>Thank you. </em>That made sense. Yeah, thats the material.


    Master Simons eye twitched. We had discussed me digging into your documentation and getting that working, could I do that? He gestured to Bradon and Adrill. These two would have an interest in assisting me, and I believe that we three could get it done in no time.


    Artia cleared her throat. Now, Adrill


    Adrill stepped forward. Lets close up the shop. I want to show you this ce, Artia. Please? He then seemed to remember T, bowing her direction again. If youre willing, Mistress.


    T chuckled. Thats fine with me. Its dinner time so Im heading in regardless.


    Thank you, Mistress T. He turned to his wife. My love, it is <em>amazing</em> in there.


    Master Simon held up the inside-Kitmunication stone and smiled toward Artia. I already asked if Petra, my wife, would make enough for you all to join us for dinner, my family and me I mean. He then nced toward T. We can eat on our own or with you at your leisure, Mistress.


    T considered a moment then shrugged. I think sharing a meal would be wonderful.


    Adrills grin was positively radiant, as he addressed his wife, Just wait and see well, you wont have to! Heughed. Lets get these doors locked.


    T moved to Kits door as Adrill, Artia, and Brandon closed up the shop. T opened the portal to her central za, and everyone followed her through shortly thereafter.


    Artia stepped through hesitantly. Once through, she looked around in tentative wonder before pausing, a frown crossing her face. Why is there a throne?


    * * *


    T waited as Master Selek reexamined her soul, excited to be allowed back on active duty.


    Unfortunately, he seemed to be doing several more magical scans than he had before.


    Finally, he sat back, a look of bewilderment on his face. Mistress T. Your magical density has somehow increased measurably in thest two days. I double, triple, and even quadruple checked, using different measuring methodologies. There was some margin for error of course, but I am reasonably certain. I must admit, I am uncertain how the injury you sustained could have resulted in such growth.


    The poor man looked truly baffled.


    T actually felt a bit bad about being the cause of his confusion.


    Oh. Thats not due to the injury. Master Grediv suggested a method to increase my magical density, and I tried it.


    The man blinked at her a few times, a look of owlish confusion crossing his face. But your soul was damaged.


    Well, I wasnt stressing my soul, was I?


    I have no idea. I dont know what convoluted method that man suggested.


    She opened her mouth, then paused to consider for a moment before responding, Well, it didnt have to do with my gate, simply expanding my volume for containing magic, thenpressing the power that filled that expanded space back into my standard volume.


    That sounds painful? Damaging? Ill advised? Master Selek scratched the side of his chin for a moment before nodding. Yes.


    T tilted her head to one side. Yes to which?


    All three.


    Ahh.


    But! Im not in the business of making my patients feel bad for their obviously questionable choices.


    T grimaced but didnt respond before he continued.


    Im here to discuss your soul with you, along with exercises to increase its resilience.


    That perked her right up, and she leaned slightly forward in interest.


    The easiest method is to restrict your gates flow, closing it off entirely if you can for brief stints.


    T colored slightly, remembered how shed removed that part of her keystone inscriptions. I apologize, Master Selek, but I dont have the inscriptions needed to close my gate.


    He returned a baffled look. What does that have to do with the price of gold?


    I mean, I cant close my gate, or restrict its flow, I dont have the inscriptions.


    Yes, I heard you, but that doesnt make sense? His words were a question as he was obviously not understanding what she was saying.


    T frowned, equally confused. What?


    Youre telling me the equivalent of: I cant close my mouth because I dont own a gag.


    She opened her mouth, then closed it, then opened it again, but couldnt think of a response, so she closed it.


    He chuckled. Im d that weve established that you can close your mouth without a gag.


    She colored a bit at that,ughing somewhat as well. I suppose so, yeah. So, youre telling me that I can close my gate without inscriptions to do so?


    Of course you can close off your gate. Again, he looked at her with obvious confusion. You are an Immaterial Guide, this should be incredibly obvious. More than that, as a mageling, your master should have taught you quite a few techniques for manipting your own magic. You couldnt possibly have gotten to this level of advancement without the ability to do so.


    T was about to rue theck of a master yet again, but then she remembered that others, Mistress Odera and Master Jevin included, had done exactly that: given her exercises to increase her precision and ability in controlling the movements and flow of her own magics. Well, yes. Of course, I can control my own magics.


    Then, there isnt an issue.


    I dont follow.


    Master Selek sighed, scratching between his eyes for a moment. Can you control the power right as it exits your gate?


    Of course. Her void-channels required that, and they were critical for increasing her flowrate at key times.


    So stop the flow of power.


    T gave him a withering re. Thats not closing my gate.


    Isnt it, though?


    Thats blocking my gate, an entirely different thing.


    Correct. It is closing it off, which is what I said. The two are quite simr, however, and it will be closing if you believe it is, but thats step two. Get the result you want, then shift the methodology. I promise you; you can close your gate once you learn how.


    I feel like you could have led with that.


    I feel like you could have understood the principle, but here we are.


    T huffed augh at that, and Master Selek cracked a smile.


    Regardless, that is a good starting point, but it wont do you much good on its own, long term.


    She opened her mouth to protest, but he held up his hand.


    Once you can <em>feel</em> what it is like to flex your gate, you will have something to focus on. You can meditate upon your soul, and how it feels. What is your souls desire? What gives you joy? What hurts you <em>soul-deep</em>? Sussing out those feelings will allow your soul to strengthen, be more robustly <em>present</em> within you.


    So, the same thing as advancing to Paragon?


    He gave her a shrugging nod. Give or take, yes. They are parallel skills. Paragons, by our very nature, have incredibly resilient souls. He hesitated. I suppose, then, given your stage of advancement, I should be a bit more specific. Your soul isnt actually resilient or not. The soul cannot be destroyed, not really. When we speak of soul resilience, we mean its presence within your body and how robust that presence is.


    T nodded in response. That makes a lot of sense.


    She had rather poignant, firsthand experience with the eternal, immutable nature of the soul.


    So, Im trying to strengthen my bond to my soul.


    Master Selek shook his head. No. Not at all. In gated humans, our gate is the manifest presence of our soul within our body. Its there in mundane, Mage, and Bound alike. This is about strengthening that presence, not the things that tie its presence in ce.


    She tilted her head to the side, frowning in confusion.


    Let me try an analogy. If I take a bucket of water out of theke, I have manifested a part of theke within the bucket. Binding would be strapping the bucket down so that it wont tip over. We can increase the strength of the straps, and that is increasing the strength of the Bond. Now, what I am talking about is increasing the size of the bucket and the quantity of water within. That is an entirely different thing.


    Oh. I think I understand. She hesitated, then almost sheepishly added, At least. I think that I understood your analogy.


    He chuckled. Thats good. Matters of the soul are always a bit esoteric. Its good to be a bit unsure. You will learn in time.


    So, work on feeling my soulmy gatedirectly, and then I <em>feel</em> how my soul reacts to things?


    Those are good beginning steps, yes.


    She nodded her thanks, standing to go. She even bowed and turned toward the door, but then, she hesitated, turning back, In your bucket analogy what would ascension to Paragon be?


    Master Selek grinned, not even hesitating before he answered, Shifting your mindset so that you perceive theke as your bucket.

 Chapter 349: A Lot

    Chapter 349: A Lot


    T looked skeptically at the small golden bar resting in the palm of her hand. Are you sure?


    Mistress Cerna chuckled. Either you can give it back when were done, or it simply costs a couple ounces to learn something interesting.


    <em>-Shes giving us gold, to experiment with our items. I see this as an absolute win.-</em>


    <em>I suppose</em>


    T wasnt really sure if it would be worth it to her, at least not at the moment, but Mistress Cernas priorities were different, and that was alright. If you say so.


    T pressed the two-ounce rectangle of gold to her elk leather sleeve, willing the void within her garments to draw the precious metal in, just as she did with the white metal.


    As expected, the void magics responded to her will, reaching out and wrapping around the precious metal to draw it into the sleeve.


    At that moment, she could somehow sense the gold within the soulbound item, just as she felt the reserve of white steel.


    It wasnt tangible, nor like a feeling of a full stomach. She simply <em>knew</em> that she had a limited amount of gold avable to work with.


    T barked augh. I feel it. I think it worked.


    Mistress Cerna grinned, actually rubbing her hands together inically maniacal glee. Alright, now, can you let the gold back out as thinly as possible?


    <em>-Ahh, her reasoning makes sense, now. I hadnt considered this.-</em>


    <em>Yeah. She wants gold threading, it seems.</em>


    T shrugged, turning her hand over, growing a bit of leather out onto her palm, and then wishing for the gold toe into being in a long, thin strand, extending upward.


    Alright, as youre going, let it leave your control. I believe youve been able to do that before, too?


    She nodded, thinking of her scale-mail hauberk. Thats right.


    Good! Mistress Cernas magic reached out, seizing the far end of the gold strand even as T continued to extrude it. The other Refined easily manipted the gold into a ssic pattern for the formation of a ball of thread or yarn. It wasnt long until T had let out all the gold that she had and surrendered it all to Mistress Cernas working. Excellent, excellent.


    It was odd. T didnt feel any sort of emptiness. She simply no longer had gold to work with. It wasnt a vacancy so much as just beyond her elk leathers to make parts of themselves into gold.


    T frowned. What was the point of that? I mean, all that I did was turn the little bar into thread. I didnt even pass enough power through it to make it Mage gold.


    Hmm? The woman looked up. Oh, its incredibly expensive to get precious metals made into consistent, well-wrought thread. Wire is rtively easy, thread? Horrifically difficult to do consistently.


    T gave her a t look. Really.


    Really. Mistress Cerna nodded seriously. Its my greatest expense, as I cant manipte the material until it is at least close to threadlike in nature. I can purify and clean it up once its at least roughly threadlike, removing the ws of imperfect craftsmanship, but thats a losing proposition in most cases, because it takes power and focus, thus inscriptions, to do so.


    So, you pay for it again in that way.


    Exactly. This, though? She held up the two ounces of wound, golden thread. This is perfect.


    T sighed, shaking her head. So, that was the purpose? To save you some time and money? I mean, Im happy to aid you, but you could have just said so.


    The older woman shrugged with a smile, Well, on one hand, yes. If we are in the field, in a dangerous situation, and I run out of materials, our units effectiveness and flexibility will drop <em>dramatically.</em> This is a rtively simple means of solving that issue.


    T tilted her head to the side, considering. Finally, she grunted. I suppose


    But theres more. Mistress Cerna had an almost manic shine in her eyes. You can cause your garment to make any shape, correct?


    T nodded, hesitant as to where the Refined was going with this.


    Then, can you make this shape? The golden thread, wrapped in Mistress Cernas power, unwound slightly, twisting into a simple three-dimensional pattern, parts splitting off to connect elsewhere to form attice of gold, if a rtively simple one.


    T examined the shape, then caused leather to grow into that pattern, hanging down from her forearm. She had to nurture some minute boning within the leather to keep it in the proper shape, but it worked.


    Mistress Cernaughed with glee, her smile slipping when she saw Ts face. Dont you see?


    No.


    Really? Think about it. Why am I so flexible in my magics?


    Because you can shape any spellform at need.


    Exactly.


    <em>-You see, right? I mean, dont feel too bad, I just understood what she was getting at a moment ago.-</em>


    Ts eyes widened in understanding.


    <em>-There we go.-</em>


    Are you saying that I can manifest spellforms, then activate them?


    In theory, yes, but we must be careful. You do not strike me as someone who wants to delve the very edges of all possible magics. You enjoy delving the far reaches of the magics that call to you, and that is one of your strengths.


    T nodded, smiling. Yeah, I think thats fair.


    But you do have those arrows rather ingeniously created for and by the Guards, and your own scale armor, which acts like your own quiver of arrows and bow in one Mistress Cerna trailed off implicatively.


    T felt her smile broaden into a grin. Do you think?


    I do. Well need to do some experimentation. I doubt there is a robust body of work on using that mysterious metal as a medium.


    <em>-There isnt.-</em>


    So, well have to figure that out ourselves. Then it will be a matter of tranting the provided spellforms. Once we have that, you can add specific counter-magics at will.


    Tughed involuntarily. Lets get started.


    The older woman hesitated. I havent actually investigated a new medium in a <em>long</em> time. We should go get a primer on the subject.


    Ts smile pulled up on one side. Wouldnt you know it? I already have such a book.


    * * *


    T looked between the three men standing near her, deep in Kits dark underbelly. Youre sure?


    Yes, Mistress. Master Simon nodded.


    Then why havent you already done it?


    Adrill spoke up, then. Well, its not ours, and there no such thing as perfect certainty.


    So, you arent sure. She turned to regard Master Simon again, more pointedly this time.


    Master Simon turned an exasperated nce on his assistant. Adrill. We have done as much as we can with the documentation that we have. The only thing left is to try it.


    The man nodded. Of course. Even so, what I said is still true.


    Brandon cleared his throat, drawing Ts attention. Mistress T, we are as sure as we can be, and we thought it prudent to have you present, rather than using your equipment without permission.


    Finally, she shrugged. Very well. Do you have what you need?


    Master Simon took charge once more. We do not. In order to follow the recipe for the white metal, we will need one part gold, three of tool steel How about I just give you the list?


    T took the scrap of paper from the man.


    After a long moment, she looked up to find the older two conspicuously inspecting therge magical machinery.


    So, she turned to Brandon. This is why you wanted me involved?


    He shrugged. It was a small factor. Those <em>are</em> expensive materials, even if the most expensive are in quite small quantities.


    She sighed. Fine. Ill release some funds for use in this. What was the second thing you wanted to discuss?


    Adrill turned back to her. Well, you might be curious why the device is still viable, being out of use for as long as it has been.


    T shook her head. I assumed there was a vestige buried in there somewhere, or that it had defaulted to drawing power from Kit.


    Well, this was designed to draw power from a vestige He blinked a few times. Oh you knew?


    More suspected. Most arcane magical items have vestiges at their core, somewhere. At the very least they are designed to ept power from one. They basically never magic bond anything, if they can help it.


    Oh well, that makes this easier.


    T nced toward the two mundanes. Are they allowed to know about vestiges?


    Master Simon nced their way and shrugged. We keep mundanes in the dark to prevent any potential of triggering their move toward bing a fount to a minimum. These two dont have gates, so they arent at risk.


    Adrill cleared his throat. There were also <em>extensive</em> references to founts and vestiges in many of the documents weve been reading through for the various systems, workings, and spellforms within your sanctum and associated with your various acquisitions.


    Oh yeah, that makes sense.


    Master Simon smiled, But back on topic, can you tell us how it is getting power, then?


    She shrugged. Its just a guess, but I would say that it was designed to draw power from the vestige at the heart of the hold in which it was kept. Those are kept incredibly pure, so it was unbound as Ive already said. Here, though? Here there is power within Kit, freely avable. I would guess that it is pulling from that.


    Master Simon was nodding. That does line up with what we were detecting. I just didnt realize that the power source it had before would have been pure enough to prevent any sort of magical bonding. He nced toward Adrill and smiled. As it turns out, you were right, Adrill.


    Adrill waved Master Simon off. It was a guess based on the materials we were reading through.


    Still, well intuited.


    T cleared her throat. So, any other needs?


    The three men turned toward the tank in which Io floated, almost in unison. Brandon spoke again, That thing it gives off the feeling of just being asleep.


    Really? T turned and studied it, the purple liquid only marginally obscuring the fully grown automaton within.


    Brandon nodded. It subtly changes positions over time. I know that thats likely explicable by being close to neutrally buoyant within that liquid, along with the currents as the liquid is circted, but theres a <em>feeling</em> about the thing.


    The young man shivered, but T only saw that in her mirrored perspectives. Instead, she was walking closer to the tank.


    <em>Do you see anything?</em>


    <em>-No?-</em>


    T frowned. Nothing looked out of ce to Ts sight: magical, mundane, or void. Not even her real, physical eyes picked up anything, as enhanced as they were. Not that her mirrored perspectives were worse, but there was just something about seeing through her own eyes.


    <em>-I could keep a watcher over it.-</em>


    That pulled T back to the matter at hand. <em>Huh, I suppose so.</em>


    She looked around before directing one of her extra bloodstars to rest on face of a nearby shelf, looking like nothing so much as a small stain once it hadnded. <em>Can you see through that mirrored perspective?</em>


    <em>-Confirmed.-</em>


    <em>Alright, monitor that as we leave. I think it should be fine, because Kit is magic bound to us.</em> Shed never tested her limits on the distance she could get from her bloodstars, but the experience of losing her iron when Soles cell was sealed was still a bit too fresh to not consider the potential issue.


    T turned back around to where the three men were already discussing something about the magical smelter once again.


    Alright gentlemen, Ill grant the funds to Adrill so that he can get whats needed while were gone, but for now, you twoshe pointed to the father and sonneed to head out.


    Adrill opened his mouth to protest, then sighed. I knew this wasing.


    T nodded. I told you that my unit has a mission outside the city. I even gave you a few days warning.


    The father turned to his son. Can you tell your mother that I didnt get out in time? I can apologizeter.


    Im not lying to mom. Brandon shook his head.


    Adrill took on a stern expression. I would <em>never</em> lie to your mother or ask you to do so. I didnt ask you to tell her I <em>couldnt</em> get out in time, simply that I didnt.


    Brandon opened his mouth and stood there for a long moment before grunting, Huh thats true enough.


    His father gave a decisive nod, smiling.


    Still no.


    The man sighed. Very well.


    T cleared her throat. Adrill, do you need your equipment?


    Adrill turned to Master Simon, Can I continue working with you, upon Mistress Ts return?


    The Fused smiled broadly. Absolutely.


    Adrill turned back to T. Then, I have nothing that I need to get out of here. Doing so would simply add time unnecessarily.


    She shook her head, gesturing to the door which had just appeared. Then out you go.


    As the two men walked out the open door, Ts eyes were drawn to the white metal ingots that were waiting off to one side. <em>Yeah, theres no reason to keep those in here.</em>


    She willed herself to be beside the remaining metal and quickly took it into her elk leathers, increasing her store of the material to work with.


    <em>There. Ive had too little in the past when that wasnt necessary.</em>


    <em>-Its about time.-</em> t teased. <em>-So, are we ready to investigate another cell?-</em>


    T nodded to herself. There really did seem to be a lot of those popping up.


    She was grateful that she seemed to be getting the hang of handling them alongside her unit.


    * * *


    T kicked up her feet with a groan, letting her head hang over the back of her chair.


    <em>That was ridiculous.</em>


    <em>-I never would have thought that sand could be terrifying.-</em>


    <em>Stars bless Master Girt.</em> The man had been invaluable in countering what was effectively a sand elemental of terrifying temperament.


    At first, they had all be confused as to why such a basic creature been deemed worthy of imprisonment.


    The reason was now all too obvious.


    It had, apparently, inexplicably gained a penchant for terrorizing any sapient it came across. The theory was that some mad Mage had bound himself to it, and thebined being had been twisted by hatred of what hed lost. Unfortunately, the records left behind had indicated that they werent actually sure.


    But that no longer mattered.


    She was no longer being chased by a morphic horror through the halls of an abandoned city.


    She no longer had to doubt her ears as the thing somehow mimicked her unit-mates voices. Nor did she have to hear the creepy sounds or false calls for help from long dead children.


    She no longer had to fear that any bit of wall, floor, or ceiling could turn out to be a psychopathic sand elemental that was utterly impervious to even her dissolution breath.


    The cell was resealed once more, and she was back home.


    Mistress T?


    T jerked, letting out a little yelp as her eyes snapped open.


    <em>-Gah!-</em>


    Mistress Petra jumped backward, not evennding before T had willed herself to be standing on the far side of the room.


    T felt her heart pounding within her chest and forcibly slowed it. Shed fallen asleep and been startled awake. That was all.


    Mistress T? Are you alright?


    She took another moment to attempt to calm herself before answering, I am, Mistress Petra. My apologies. What can I do for you?


    You asked me to let you know when dinnertime was approaching. The Fethuas will be here within the next hour.


    <em>The Fethuas? Oh! Artia, Adrill, and Brandon.</em>


    <em>-And Brandons intended.-</em> ts voice sounded strained.


    Even so, T outwardly smiled, remembering the nned meal. Brandon and his intended were courting, now, and if all went well, theyd likely be betrothed within the year. <em>Right, right.</em>


    She would address ts seeming stress in a moment.


    Thank you, Mistress Petra. Ill prepare. Is there anything that I can do to assist you?


    No, Mistress. I have the food well in hand. Thank you. She smiled as she turned back toward the kitchen.


    T shook her head, trying to clear the fog over her thoughts. <em>t, are you alright?</em>


    <em>-That was unsettling. I didnt even notice us falling asleep, so I didnt split your mind so that I could stay active while you recovered.-</em>


    T somehow felt t shudder within her mind.


    <em>-I dont like losing consciousness. Its pretty much all I have.-</em>


    <em>Im sorry, t. I didnt realize I was that tired.</em> She looked around at her sitting room. <em>Id definitely have gone to my bed to sleep if Id known.</em>


    <em>-I know, T. Its still I only exist within your mind. I dont have a physical existence that persists while my consciousness is inactive-</em>


    T willed herself to her own room, then spoke aloud, t? Can I see you?


    She moved one of the bloodstars that mirrored a perspective for t to another part of the room.


    There was a brief hesitation before T appeared to her own eyes, standing where the bloodstar had been hovering, arms wrapped around herself, hugging tight.


    <em>Not me, thats t.</em>


    T took a brief moment to notice the differences that were there.


    Their hair was arranged slightly differently.


    Funnily enough, the style that t adopted for herself was one that T had used in her early days at the Academy, before theyd been shaved for inscriptions. It was shorter than T preferred now, and all bound up tightly to her head with blue-green cord, woven tightly and artfully throughout.


    ts eyes were a beautiful, inhuman yellow.


    If T wasnt mistaken, that was the precise color of their aura.


    t also wore slightly different clothing, opting for a flowing, almost formal dress of amethyst-purple silk thatplemented her eye color as much as her figure.


    T smiled. I like the look.


    t gave a small smile. Thank you. I think its a bit more me than you, though you would look good like this.


    Yeah, we do, thats true. T chuckled lightly, I am a bit more martially inclined, and Ive never liked wearing dresses.


    We should on asion, though. Theyre nice.


    T took another, closer look. You arent wrong. This is better than a mirror, or even an aspect mirrored perspective. We should remember that. I know it shouldnt be


    ts smile grew a bit. But it is.


    Yeah. T stepped forward and ced a hand on ts shoulder, drawing their tangent to a close. Even though she knew that the woman and sensations of touch were entirely within her head, they seemed utterly real. Regardless, that wasnt important for the moment. Are you sure youre going to be alright?


    t leaned into Ts touch even as she gave a small nod. I think so. I I just wasnt expecting it, and it reminded me of of Be-thric.


    T grimaced, shuddering involuntarily at the reminder. I can imagine. Still, she mastered herself and smiled at t once more. Is there anything that I can do?


    t shook her head, straightening and smiling with obviously forced confidence. No, thank you. This was a kind suggestion, though. I think it helped to have a manifestation, even if just for a moment.


    Im d. Will you be able to talk with Retson, soon? Master Nadros alternate interface was a valuable conversation partner for t, when they had the time to dialogue.


    I will soon, yeah. Right after your next manifest conversation with Master Nadro.


    Thats good to hear. After a moments consideration, T smiled, Do you want a hug? she held her arms wide.


    t only hesitated for a moment before stepping in for an embrace.


    The manifested woman shuddered slightly with obvious tension slowly bleeding out of her.


    After a long moment, ts voice came to Ts ear, Thank you.


    T nodded. Always. We have a bit. Take all the time you need.


    t curled in against Ts shoulder, hugging her self tighter. Okay.

 Chapter 350: Zuccat, Feshua, and Deas

    Chapter 350: Zat, Feshua, and Deas


    T held the figment of t for nearly five minutes, before the alternate interface pulled back. You know, Im not real.


    T smiled kindly, I know this body isnt real. You, however, are.


    Fine, but my point is that you just hugged nothing for a long time.


    She huffed augh. And yet, it helped.


    t nced away. Yeah, I suppose it did.


    We have a bit more time.


    t shook her head. No. Im Im okay. Still, she didnt meet Ts eyes.


    What is it?


    She looked up then. What will happen to me, when you die?


    When <em>we</em> die. Our soul will pass on. T shook her head. You know this as well as I, t. The soul is as far removed from the consciousness as our body is from our mind. The <em>me</em> that is our soul is as much you as me, meaning T. I dont know what dying will look like, nor what it will mean for the <em>me</em> that I think of as me. Regardless, well face it together. She hesitated for only a moment before adding, But not anytime soon.


    t chuckled. Yeah, not anytime soon, if we can help it.


    If we can help it.


    The two regarded each other for a long moment before t gave a little wave. This is actually a bit difficult to maintain, so Illt faded from view-<em>go back to talking like this.-</em>


    As you wish. She frowned in thought before asking, What is the bottleneck? Can we make it easier for you to maintain manifestations?


    <em>-Its a couple things. First is that Im still new to it, so I need more practice so that I can do it more efficiently. Second, its a new way of using our mind, which seems like it should fall under the practice thing, but its more like a mental muscle that we need to work.-</em>


    Ahh. Well, feel free to practice more, and let me know if theres anything that we can do to improve it, because its rusting useful for a lot of things. T smiled. Including you being able to have a form, even if just to me.


    t hesitated for a long moment before responding. <em>-Thank you, T.-</em>


    My pleasure, t. T stretched slightly, still feeling stiff from her unexpected sleep. Well have guests soon


    <em>-We should get cleaned up.-</em>


    With an act of will, she was above the river that flowed around her sanctum.


    She dropped in without ceremony, sshing and wriggling about.


    Another act of will took her to the sparring ring, where water poured off of her.


    She <em>might</em> have been able to leave the water behind, but she hadnt really tried that before, and now wasnt the time to experiment.


    Around her, she felt the <em>togetherness</em> of the nodes of reality that made up this part of Kit. Her working had been increased to astronomical levels, and Master Simon still couldnt find any real benefit or change, even though it <em>felt</em> obviously different to her.


    The nodes simply couldnt get closer together. Ts working didnt seem to be able to affect their base nature or to reshape them even with all the power shed put toward doing just that in thest weeks.


    But she was getting off track. She wasnt here for her augmentation of intra-reality connections.


    She aspect mirrored her elk leathers extreme self-repair onto her body''s surface. As usual, it was so perfect as to prevent anything from keeping hold of her. This caused moisture and grime to cascade off of her, leaving her almost perfectly dry.


    Her skin had taken in some moisture, and that was now part of her from the magics perspective. So, it was not shed with the mirroring, but otherwise she waspletely refreshed and free of the usual inconveniences of such a quick cleansing.


    Thank you, Kit. That would have been much harder without you.


    Kit did not respond, but T smiled vaguely toward the center of the sanctum nheless.


    A momentter, T felt the knock on Kits door and willed herself back to her sitting and dining room.


    Mistress Petra had already set up therger table and chairs. They are here, Mistress Petra.


    The woman, by now quite used to T popping out of nowhere at nearly any time, simply gave a shallow bow. Dinner is ready.


    Thank you.


    It is my pleasure.


    T flexed her desires and the door leading out appeared on one wall. She walked over and pulled it open, revealing four people making small talk within Artias shop. Good evening, and wee.


    Artia, Adrill, and Brandon were known to T, but the fourth was new.


    A young woman<em>probably barely a year younger than me, if that</em>stood beside Brandon. Her stance made it seem like she wanted to be holding his hand but was uncertain if she should.


    <em>-Dont you dare call her out on that. Its cute.-</em>


    <em>I wasnt nning on it. That would be incredibly unkind.</em>


    The four bowed and Adrill spoke for them, Thank you for the invitation, Mistress T. He gestured toward the girl. Allow me to introduce Kedva Deas, my sons intended.


    The woman stepped forward and gave a deeper bow. It is a pleasure to meet you atst, Mistress T. I have heard many things about you.


    T almost asked if they were good things but decided to avoid that trope.


    <em>-Oh! You could say youve heard absolutely nothing about her. Really dig in the knife.-</em>


    <em>I thought we were being kind?</em>


    <em>-I didnt think youd actually do it. I was just having fun.-</em>


    <em>Fine.</em> A smile pulled at Ts lips. That is kind of you to say Kedva, you are most wee in my home.


    T stepped back, then, gesturing for them all to enter, which they did with crity. The door closed behind them, vanishing without a trace, and without the disappearance being noticed.


    Wee, Artia.


    The woman gave T a hug. Thank you for having us.


    Terry flickered to Ts shoulder, startling the mundanes, but not overly.


    Adrill and Brandon gave deep bows, Brandon speaking this time, Master Terry. Thank you for greeting us.


    T turned to regard her friend. Terry? What did you do?


    Terry preened just a bit before trilling contentedly.


    T whispered, Thats not an answer.


    But no answer was forting so she dropped it.


    Kedva held out her hand toward Terry hesitantly. Is he friendly?


    T opened her mouth to answer, but hesitated. <em>How the rust do I answer that?</em>


    <em>-Very, very carefully.-</em>


    Terry was eyeing her, clearly curious what she would say.


    Blessedly, T was saved trying to perfectly word an answer by Brandon, He isnt dangerous unless he wants to be. At least from what Ive seen. The young man shuddered, and T would have sworn he heard him mutter under his breath, Poor chickens


    That seemed to satisfy the young woman, who smiled, reaching forward again.


    Terry let out a sighing trill before flickering to Kedvas shoulder.


    Kedva froze, her eyes shifting to try to look at the avian perched on her without moving her head.


    The terror bird regarded her critically before flickering to the other shoulder and repeating his examination.


    She held perfectly still until Terry was finished, and he flickered to stand on her extended hand.


    That caused her to yelp in surprise at the sudden weight, and she involuntarily pulled the hand back, drawing it to her chest, where Terry leaned in and headbutted her sternum.


    T grinned. He seems to like you well enough. Lets take a seat.


    The group moved to the pre-prepared table, taking their seats at Mistress Petras direction.


    Terry stayed on Kedvas hand, and despite her initial panic and uncertainty, the woman seemed to get used to the bird, even stroking his head seemingly without thought.


    T noticed and asked, Kedva, do you have any experience with birds? I am in need of some expertise with regard to keeping and breeding fowl for food. I recently I have more birds than the facilities in here were built for, and I find myself without convenient ways to deal with them.


    In truth, Kit was keeping the new acquisitions contained, protecting the ecosystem within the sanctum from being ravaged by so many avian.


    Kedva shrugged. I know little. I would have had some contacts for you, but they recently sold the rights to their caverns to my family. I think they were eager to leave the waning city, and they got the opportunity to sell their stock, so they took it.


    T opened her mouth toment but thought better of it. <em>Yeah, thats not relevant.</em>


    When a te was ced before Kedva and Terry, he went to snap up some meat from it, but she bopped him on the beak. No, Terry. This te isnt for you.


    Ts eyes widened.


    Brandon and Adrill stiffened.


    Terry slowly turned to regard the young woman, eyes narrowing.


    <em>-I am not helping you hide this body.-</em>


    <em>Well, she is already in Kit</em>


    Kedva seemed to be oblivious of the razors edge she walked as she grabbed a small piece and held it up. Its rude to take from others tes. Here, you can have this.


    Terry pivoted to regard the food in her hand for a long moment.


    T cleared her throat. I rmend that you toss it.


    Oh? Where? Kedva looked at her with innocent curiosity.


    T shrugged. Anywhere.


    Kedva looked hesitant, but then she seemed to decide that T wouldnt get mad if she did as requested. Kedva tossed the meat over her shoulder.


    Terry flickered for just an instant, and the meat was gone.


    Kedva let out a happy gasp. Did you just?


    Terry bobbed a happy acknowledgement.


    She giggled. That was amazing! Youre such a clever bird.


    Terry preened as she stroked under his chin.


    That relieved the tension, blessedly, and the meal proceeded well from there.


    Kedva quickly took to tossing bits of food for Terry, and that helped keep any silence from bing awkward.


    The Deas family, as it turned out, had deep roots and long-held ties in Alefast, their ancestors having moved to the city at the founding.


    As conversations around family would, given the presentpany, the topics of conversation obviously came around to Mages and magic.


    Kedva looked away, tossing a saved bit of food for Terry to flicker and snatch before returning to Ts shoulder, where hed spent the majority of the meal after his initial greeting. Honestly, I doubt Id have gone to the Academy. Only one of my cousins went from our entire extended family. Though, now a bunch of the boys say they regret the decision to stay home, seeing the intense battles outside the city. She looked to T and smiled. Its hard to see such power within humanity and turn away from that potential. Its easier for me, I suppose, because I never had that potential to begin with.


    T <em>almost</em> brought up the fact that she had an arcane advancement manual, but shed kept from mentioning it even to Adrill and Brandon. <em>I wont let that be a factor in their decision.</em>


    <em>-Just a perk when they agree?-</em>


    <em>Sure, you can look at it that way. I dont want them looking back and regretting the choice toe work in here.</em> She had long ago decided that shed like the Feshua family toe and work within Kit. She was just slowly maneuvering to make it happen in an ethical manner.


    -<em>Yes, no kidnapping.-</em>


    Thats a healthy way of looking at it. Artia had spoken up before anyone else couldment. Me, I never had a mind for magic, not using it anyways. I do enjoy what my Adrill tells me about the artifacts we carry in the shop, and I find the flows of power mesmerizing when I assess harvests.


    Adrill smiled. Magic is a fascinating thing. I dont know if Id ever want to use it directly, but indirectly? That is such a fun way to explore our world.


    Mistress Petra was bringing around dessert then, and Kedvas eyes flicked to the woman. What about you, Mistress Petra? You are a Mage, but you are also pursuing life and work outside of using that power.


    The Fused nced toward T briefly, but there had never been an issue with Mistress Petra talking before so neither of them assumed thered be an issue now. Thus, she smiled to the young woman before responding, Well, Ive lived a long life. I tried to devote myself to the power and magic, but no matter what I did, I was hollow, iplete and unfulfilled. My Simon and I both felt the same. It wasnt until we set aside ourhonestly fanaticalpursuit of magical advancement, settled down and had our children that we both found enough peace to She hesitated a moment, clearly choosing her words carefully. to be at peace with ourselves.


    Sheughed a bit at that.


    As circr as that sounds. Even good things, if pursued overzealously, can be bad. I dont wish I wasnt a Mage, but I do wonder what would have happened if wed started our family sooner. Now, we only have three left at home, and one will be leaving in barely a couple of weeks.


    That got the Kedvas attention.


    T smiled. Karsa was leaving for the Academy in just under two weeks, and the girl was excited to the extreme. Shed been peppering T with questions whenever their paths crossed, and T had even taken a bit to sit with her and get arge chunk of them handled at once.


    She apparently assumed that her parents were too far removed from the Academy to really understand how the ce was in the current times. To be fair, each of them had been away from the Academy for more than four centuries, so the girl had a point.


    Mistress Petra saw Kedvas interest and borated just briefly. My Karsa is leaving for the Academy, so this is actually an interesting conversation with that in mind. I dont know what she would do, if she didnt move toward Magehood, but we are all different. Our souls are made for different paths. Not everyone can be a farmer or a scribe or a smith, and we need all of us for humanity to survive and thrive.


    There were a round of nods, as they turned toward dessert and the conversation moved on.


    * * *


    T and Kedva stood with the Feshua family and the Zats together in the teleportation room, as Karsa readied herself to step into the prepared circle.


    The families had gotten closer over thest weeks as Master Simon had worked ever more with Adrill and Brandon, and Artia and Kedva had spent long evenings with Mistress Petra and Karsa within Kit.


    T had spent a bit of time with each group, but not nearly as much as theyd spent together.


    At least that had been the pattern so far, Karsa was leaving, so she would no longer be a part of that group.


    And T would be leaving on another mission soon, so the families time together would be on pause for that trip.


    <em>There really do seem to be more cellsing to our notice than expected</em>


    <em>-Focus, T.-</em>


    <em>Right!</em>


    Karsa was going around giving goodbye hugs. Those to the Feshua family were friendly, those to her father, mother, brother, and sister were heartfelt and the girl had tears in her eyes when they were done.


    The hug she gave T was firm and full of warmth. Thank you for talking with me so much. I really feel a lot better about going with all that you told me.


    I told you how terrible it was.


    I know! The girl giggled. And if you had such a terrible time and came out so well. Im sure to be alright.


    Tughed at that. Youll do well, Karsa.


    Thank you, Mistress T. I am d that my family is with you. She smiled, Ill tell your siblings you miss them and are thinking of them.


    Thank you, Karsa.


    She then turned back toward the teleportation circle, hugging her mother and sister once again on the way to her ce in the spellform.


    Everyone waved as the girl straightened her back and strode to her ce.


    The Mages nervously looked to the Refined in their midst, but T simply smiled. Shed already had a talk with them, telling them inly, This is your task, not mine. Ill not interfere.


    Still, the Mages had it drilled into them to defer to Refined or Paragons if they were present.


    Nheless, they were professionals, and they did their jobs as such.


    A momentter, power pulsed through the room, the magics reaching up and seeming to tear the young girl apart to Ts enhanced vision, exactly as expected, each piece being cast into the void to be caught by the receiving scripts at the Academy.


    Karsa was gone.


    Adrill, Brandon, and Kedva gasped, never having seen a true teleportation before.


    Artia smiled, leaning in, Just as I remember it, when my brother went off to the Academy. We should go visit him at some point. I think he was in Clevenhold, so itll have to wait until after the waning.


    Mistress Petra, Master Simon, and their two children bid the others a goodbye, the family taking a day to just be together after Karsas departure.


    Theyd taken the previous day as well to spend with her. This day would be to help recement the family ties without the missing member being present.


    It seemed odd to T, but she supposed theyd done it quite a few times before with some sess. So, who was she to argue with their methodology?


    Artia and Adrill were heading back toward their shop, arm in arm, but Bradon and Kedva were hesitating, looking around the domed room.


    T walked over, feeling a pull to talk with them, Hey, are you two alright?


    The two startled but turned her way with smiles. It was Kedva who answered, Oh, were fine, Mistress T.


    T looked toward the spellform that was actively being refilled with precious metals. <em>Thinking about what could have been?</em>


    <em>-Possibly.-</em>


    She frowned for a moment, before making a decision. With a firm nod, she smiled, Come on. Lets go to lunch. My treat.

 Chapter 351: Aye, Eye

    Chapter 351: Aye, Eye


    T looked up at the wall of the cell antechamber, barely illuminated by flickering mes. The light was reflecting from where their assigned Paragon was working.


    What <em>the</em> rust is that?


    There was a creature depicted on the wall, faded and seemingly translucent by intention as well as time. The effect was likely meant to depict the beast as insubstantial, or an illusion, or something like that. But that wasnt what had her confused.


    It looks like a hydra, but with eyes instead of heads, and someone has been fighting it who doesnt get the concept.


    In essence, the creatures exterior was <em>covered</em> with eyestalks.


    The only exceptions were a singr, central eye on its body, its four little legs, and a disproportionatelyrge, fang-filled mouth around the region that T would have expected a heart.


    Master Limmestare was walking by, and he lifted his face from his book. Its an eyedra.


    She turned on him, disbelief obvious in her response, No.


    But he was already reading once again. Even so, his slightly shaking shoulders were betraying stifledughter.


    T turned toward Master Clevnis, not trusting the other Refined at the moment. What is this called, Master Clevnis?


    The man looked toward his wife before looking back and shrugging. She always calls things in that ssification, Dont cut that. So, its a dont-cut-that, I suppose.


    He was worse at hiding his humor, so T rolled her eyes and turned to Mistress Cerna, Mistress Cerna?


    I mean, hes not wrong? She was grinning openly.


    Ts mouth formed apressed line. Please, Mistress Cerna. Whats it called?


    The co-leader for their unit shrugged. Ufortable Eye Contact.


    T grimaced and shook her head. Fine. Ill go ask someone more reasonable.


    She walked through the <em>almost</em> maze-like corridors until she found Mistress Vanga.


    Mistress Vanga, have you seen the depictions of the beast held in this cell?


    The woman looked up from her Archive tablet. Hmm? Oh, yes.


    What is it called?


    The healer smiled, Well, Ive always thought of it as the 20/20/20/20/20/20/20


    T threw up her hands, turning and walking away as Mistress Vanga continued, a massive smile across the healers face.


    T found Master Girt a minuteter and skipped the preamble to simply ask, Whats this creature called?


    Hmm? He had been shaping a stone chunk into a mimicry of the thing depicted on the walls. Not sure, but Id call it the unfair-seeker.


    T frowned, not understanding. What?


    You know, if youre ying hide and seek, this thing would have an insane advantage.


    t burst outughing within Ts head.


    <em>Do you know what its called?</em>


    <em>-Oh, absolutely not. The book containing that is still sealed. I think this is a god-beast, or near enough.-</em>


    <em>Great</em>


    Are you sure you dont know what it is?


    Master Girt shrugged. At the level we think this thing is, beasts are too unique to have specific names for the species. I like my name though.


    T sighed, turning to go find the Paragon. Thanks anyways. <em>For nothing, </em>she added within her own mind.


    She knew they were probably messing with her, but it was bing a burning question. She <em>really</em> wanted to know what it was called.


    Her mirrored perspective caught the Refined behind her breakout in a broad grin.


    T narrowed her eyes but didnt turn around. <em>I knew that they were messing with me.</em>


    <em>-Thats likely.-</em>


    No matter. Mistress Suile would know.


    The woman was back near the entrance, reading arge b in a deadnguage. Two balls of dichotomous fire floating beside her, one over each shoulder.


    The fire was dichotomous because it was at once blindingly white, and dim enough to look at without damaging even mundane eyes. T felt like the blinking brilliance had to do with something <em>deeper</em> than luminescence, color, or intensity. It was nice and warm, cutting the winter chill from the air. Though, to be fair none of them were in danger of bing too cold, not with the rtively mild winter theyd been having so far.


    Regardless, theorizing about the womans magic was not why T had sought her out.


    The writing being in a deadnguage said a lot about the cell.


    This was one of the cells that had been around for a <em>long</em> time. That meant theyd put in the extra effort to keep it sealed even longer than usual before the first required repair.


    Obviously, many things would contribute to when a cell degraded, otherwise there would be regrity to their need of maintenance, but bad luckor some other confluencehad made this waning an insanely concentrated time for such.


    But that was also beside the point. The Paragon whode with them for this cell was examining the script, and T had a question.


    Pardon me, Mistress Suile, but do you know what this creature would be called?


    Hmm? She nced toward T. Im sorry, I haventid eyes on the depictions yet, so I dont know. Ill get to them once Im done, here.


    T felt her face twitch. <em>It was just an unfortunate choice of words, T. Dont get frustrated.</em>


    T took a deep breath, calming herself for a moment.


    Finally, she nodded and asked, Is there anything in the text on what it might be called?


    Mistress Suile grunted, not looking away from the ancient words. As a species? Not really. Individually, it is referred to as the Seer of Dreams, but that could be bit of an oddity in the trantion. She took on a bit of a lecturing tone. You see, the culture that thisnguage came from seemed to think that dreams were a look into the infinite. Additionally, they saw all those who had eyes as those who could see. Thus, their word for seer is the same as for one with eyes. Together, that means an equally valid trantion could be one with infinite eyes. Its really rather fascinating.


    T sighed. Thank you any ways. She narrowed her eyes as she trailed off, seeing the side of the womans mouth twitch. Wait a moment.


    Mistress Suile grinned, then tried to suppress the smile, failing utterly. Finally, she shook her head. Im sorry; I ruined it.


    T threw up her hands. What is the things name, then?


    I truly dont know, but your unit asked me to put forward a silly one, if you asked me.


    How, under the stars, did they know I would ask?


    Mistress Suile shrugged. Its an incredibly odd beastie. Its quite reasonable for <em>anyone</em> to ask about what its called. It <em>is</em> referred to as Lord of Dreams, Seer of Dreams, and things like that. I just made up the dual trantion bit.


    So, it has magic rting to dreams?


    It seems likely, though it might be more closely understood as drawing power and sovereignty from dreams. Though, that is us imposing humanoid notions on beasts. Beast-gods dont really function as humans or arcanes do. Also, all of this is just from what I can tell so far, and the trantion is a bit slow.


    T shrugged. Weve only been here, what? Two hours?


    <em>-Just under, but yes.-</em>


    Yeah, two hours or so. We have time. T smiled at the Paragon.


    Mistress Suile smiled in return. Quite true. Im not in a hurry. Well do this right and keep this god-beast contained.


    T hesitated at that. It was the second time that Paragon had mentioned those things. So, it is a god-beast?


    It seems very likely. From what I have gathered, as it drew power and authority from dreams, it was drawn toward human and arcane civilization, greater concentrations of dreaming beings being too tempting a target to ignore.


    I see. She winced, and Mistress Suile smiled. I mean, I can understand that.


    As it stands now, I dont have any actionable information, so Ill get back to work.


    Certainly. T bowed. Thank you for your time.


    As frustrated as she was, thinking about them ying with her over the name, she felt herself smiling just a bit at their antics.


    <em>I am d to be a part of this unit.</em> Her smile grew as she went back to her own investigations.


    * * *


    Mistress Suile was rather faster than some of their previous Paragons had been, finishing her analysis and consultations in just two days.


    They still didnt have a name for the beasts kind, but the Paragon confirmed that it was regarded as the Beast-god of Dreams.


    Apparently, the creature had dominion over all dreams within its domain, but in order to achieve that, it was asleep and would never reawaken.


    In order to interact with the waking world, it could manifest creatures of nightmare, specifically the creatures depicted in the wall-paintings.


    No one had recorded what the beast-god itself looked like.


    The beastsmere figments of a god-beast or notwere deadly, easily rivaling Refined in power. Though, that was Mistress Suiles interpretation, not what had been recorded.


    Each eye was the origin of a magic attack, each of a differing type. What made them truly dangerous was that all the eyes could fire at once, but at very minimal power expenditure. Once the attacksnded, they acted as defense testers. Whichever magic seemed to have the best effect was immediately amplified to m into their target, the ineffective magics cutting off to allow for the powerful strike.


    Thus, anyone they assaulted was peppered with more than a dozen lesser attacks before a vastly stronger version of the attack they were weakest to would follow.


    The attacks were too quick to dodge once they were activated. Obviously, if a Refined could anticipate where the beast would be aimed, she could dodge that, but that wasnt the same.


    Sadly, things like darkness or fog were useless. Unless it was a real, tangible barrier, the ocr attacks could prate with ease, and the main eye of each creature was endowed with some sort of vision that could see through illusion or other obscurement.


    Though, apparently the description had been something along the lines of: Since the beasts are imposed upon reality, only that which is most real can defeat their sight. Nothing temporary will blind or inhibit them.


    The creatures fangs carried a venom that acted upon any sapient mind, fundamentally rewiring it to put the affected creature into a permanent sleep within seconds of the injection.


    To add insult to injury, once the being was asleep, their body could be used as an additional puppet.


    And the final important piece of information was that, because all of the creatures were projections of one being, they all shared one mind, one purpose. Blessedly, in this case that seemed to mean that they were rtively connected autonomous beings, rather than acting as limbs on one beast.


    The individuals could be killed, but that would immediately let all the others know where the sessful attacker was.


    All told, it was an <em>incredibly</em> powerful and annoying defensive swarm.


    On the positive side, there should only be a few to start with, and the unit didnt have to keep anything contained.


    The god-beast wouldnt be leaving; its manifestations couldnt move its body, and the very nature of its power kept it in ce.


    In the case of a manifestation escaping, it would be destroyed when the cell was resealed.


    Thus, the only thing that the unit had to do was keep as many of the things from bothering Mistress Suile as possible.


    <em>That sounds easy enough that things are sure to go sideways.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, thats all but guaranteed.-</em>


    Once T had exined the situation, Terry had insisted on joining her, and the unit had been on board, given his abilities.


    The entrance to this cell had been sealed into one of the eyes of one of the myriad wall-carvings, and they all gathered around for Mistress Suile to begin the process.


    <em>Of course, its there.</em>


    The passage began to open, and Master Clevnis spoke into the momentary silence, Eyes up everyone.


    There was a round of chuckling.


    But seriously, we follow the n. Remember to keep your sight lines clear.


    Moreughter.


    Dont let your eyes be bigger than our stomach. These will be hard beasts to swallow.


    Master Girt added, Obliterate them with extreme prejudice. If we let them trade us an eye for an eye in there, were going toe up short in a bad way.


    Mistress Cerna shook her head, Stay focused, stay sharp, this whole thing will be done in the blink of an eye.


    Master Limmestar grinned, Dont forget that theyre going to be hard to surprise, those things have eyes in the back of their heads.


    Mistress Vanga even got in on the fun. Even though they <em>might</em> be sapient, I doubt there will be peace. We just wont be able to see eye to eye.


    T was chuckling along with everyone, and she was thest to speak, I see what you all are doing. Well, this mission is more than meets the eye. Lets be blindingly brilliant at our jobs.


    <em>-Not a bad effort.-</em>


    <em>Hush, you. Im trying.</em>


    But it was time to be prepared.


    Her iron roiled into existence, covering her from head to toe, her white steel encasing that all under her scale mail hauberk.


    She rxed a small part of her mind, and her through-spike activated, the illusion smiling at her near-subconscious direction.


    The resonance building within her enhanced all of her scripts, making her rise up on the balls of her feet in anticipation.


    <em>Connection established?</em>


    <em>-Connection established.-</em>


    Because these enemies could hear, and react, the unit had decided to have t coordinate through the Archive on this mission.


    With no further waiting, the entrance was fully open, and the unit stepped through, immediatelying out into a wide, stone-worked za.


    That was a shame, because if this was one of the tunnel-entrance cells, theyd have had a convenient choke point.


    Sadly, that just wasnt meant to be.


    Instead, the entrance was set into a decorative wall of what might have once been a central governance building.


    The remainder of the building was lost to time, only this one wall being included in the prison cell.


    The open space before them seemed to have been designed for arge number of people to gather to hear from their leaders, and the square was surrounded by low buildings of well cut stone.


    The buildings were clearly ancient, though they were less abused by time than T might have expected. She supposed that was due to ack of people physically interacting with them much.


    <em>-And no animals or nts-</em>


    T noticed it then.


    There were no nts that she could see anywhere.


    Nothing growing up through the paving stones, no gardens, no moss, nothing.


    There were even open patches of dirt that T now suspected had been gardens, but nothing living remained.


    There was nothing in the cell but cut stone and dust.


    Master Clevnis tookmand of thebat situation, drawing all of their attention back to the task at hand. His words came into Ts mind, facilitated via t on the Refineds own connections to the Archive. <em>n Herding Cats.</em>


    The unit always had funny n names when they let Master Limmestare choose them. Even so, the names were memorable and usually pretty explicative.


    n Herding Cats was exactly what it sounded like. They would be doing their utmost to herd the manifestations into a kill box, set up by Master Girt and manned by Master Limmestare and T.


    <em>-I dont know if I should be disturbed that you think a n called herding cats </em>obviously<em> includes a kill box.-</em>


    <em>Hey, this is a n to deal with enemies, so</em>


    <em>-Excuses, excuses.-</em>


    Master Clevnis had wanted to be a part of the kill box team, but there was actually some legitimacy to the silly name hed given to the creatures. If one of their eye stalks was cut off, they would regrow twice as many as were severed, each new oneing with new magics to increase the effectiveness and breadth of the creatures arsenal.


    Thus, Master Clevnis was on harassment and herding duty rather than tasked with finishing them off.


    Terry had also indicated that he wanted to be on herding duty.


    Honestly, T almost pitied the monsters.


    They quickly assessed the terrain, and Master Girt pulled up stone, creating ramps away from them that would have sheer drops on the other side.


    He left open a single, rtively level path, then covered the ground through that path with hardened stone spikes.


    Thatbetween the defensive positions on either sidewas their kill box.


    T and Master Limmestare took up positions on either side of that passage, sheltered behind machictions that Master Girt had been sure to include in the defenses.


    The others took up their positions, their job simply to keep the enemy from breaching the walls and incentivize them to head toward the gap.


    The unit would change ns if the beasts were more intelligent or coordinated than they had nned for, but it was as good a strategy as any to start.


    As the first of the odd, purple-skinned beasts came into view, T felt her nervousness fade and her focus sharpen.


    This was her role. This was her unit. She knew what she had to do.


    <em>Alright. Lets do this.</em>

 Chapter 352: They See

    Chapter 352: They See


    T barked augh as Terry flickered into being beside the closest beast, ripping off its stubby legs with a series of flickering strikes before retreating back to her shoulder.


    The eye-beast that had been delimbed plopped to the ground with an odd, squelching sound, even as all eight eye-stalks oriented on T and Terry, even behind the walls crions. She was watching their enemy through her mirrored perspectives, which were out to the sides for better vantage.


    <em>Do our defenses not count as permanent? Can they see straight through them?</em>


    Whether that was the case or not, it seemed like at least this enemy was able to see her and Terry.


    <em>Maybe they can see anyone who has hurt them?</em>


    <em>-Its a possibility. Ill notify others of the potential.-</em>


    Eight tight lines of magic connected the eyes to their stone in an instant, most did absolutely nothing against Master Girts heavily reinforced battlements. Even so, one degraded the rock an inch deep in less than half a second.


    The magics had punched through her aura faster than she could oppose them, leaving her utterly unable to deny them from working against her rock. She had never seen magic move quite that quickly.


    A blinkter, seven attacks cut off, and T dove to the side, carrying Terry with her. Even as she dove, however, Terry flickered away.


    Behind her the entire wall-top defensive position, within which she had stood, vanished.


    Only then did she recognize the magic.


    <em>Ending magic?</em>


    Sheughed, rolling to her feet, lifting her hand and flexing her will.


    Her metal rolled back from her hand just as the eye-beam swept sideways to intersect her flesh.


    Her aura resonated with her authority as she threw it forward.


    She had built up an incredibly potent resonance within herself, and now, with only one opening in her ironyer, the power that had been building within her shell was shunted out in that direction, most of it being the direct counter to ending magics.


    Her aura kept the power focused even when it wanted to st outward in all directions, and together the magic and her aura held back the eye-st for the moment that she needed.


    Beyond the mental flex to pull back the metal, she had altered the target of her amplified gravity on one scale, sending it cracking through the air to drive straight through the main central eye.


    The impact was such that the beast entirely burst, coating the surrounding buildings and street in purple blood that immediately began to evaporate, sizzling away the stone as it faded.


    A second after shed sprung to her feet, her metal rolled back over her hand, and she was encased once more.


    Master Girtwho was closely monitoring the walls with ts coordinationreformed Ts missing defense. While she was grateful for the stone protections quick return, she and the entire unit took the previous destruction for the stark reminder that it was; these were <em>powerful</em> creatures.


    Based on what theyd learned, with such an obvious counter demonstrated in Ts defensive magics, no more beasts would be created, or grow new eye stalks, with that dissolution magic.


    That was frustrating as it meant that T wouldnt so easily defeat an attack again.


    It was good, however, because she was the only one on her team that would be likely to survive such an insane magical st of that type.


    T reached out through t to her team. Being the first to take a direct hit, she had information to pass on, <em>It wasnt a question of magical weight at all. I havent seen anything like it since the arcane elite. The eye-beamsnce in so quickly that we should expect to be subjected to direct magical effects. Dont assume that the attacks will be of the affect, direct, and forget types like a fireball, windde, or hurtled rock.</em>


    A chorus of <em>understood</em>s came back through t.


    t was really doing an amazing amount of work.


    Each of their unit-mates had given t explicit ess to their Archive connections, and through that, t had been able to reach through their soulbonds to those connections to speak into their minds and hear thoughts specifically directed at her.


    No part of the system was <em>really</em> intended to work as they were using it, but none of it vited the purposes, or went against the intention, of the magics too much.


    <em>-Speak for yourself. Im holding this together with spit and spider silk to be clear I mean mundane spider silk, not any of the overwhelming number of magical varieties.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, I understood that.</em>


    T panned her focus across the creatures outside the wall and realized that she couldnt use a scale for every iing enemy. She simply didnt have enough of them.


    Her quick count showed more than a hundred of the beasts within easy view.


    <em>This has always been my weakness, t. Hordes of enemies.</em>


    <em>-Ahh, but your weakness was hordes of weak enemies. These are strong.-</em>


    <em>How is that better?</em>


    <em>-Better? No, no. This is worse. Im d we arent here alone.-</em>


    As if to emphasize the point, seeming clouds of ss rolled across the near sections that she could see. Abrasive particles were thrown to drift across the eye-covered beasts, and immediately had a noticeable effect.


    Those that the clouds affected began thrashing and throwing magic around themselves randomly, clearly in pain and unable toprehend where that pain wasing from.


    Master Limmestare would then use the distraction to disguise finishing attacks in many cases, mainlynces or des of ss that pieced deeply through the main-eyes just as her scale had.


    <em>Oh, rust. Im going to have a rather difficult time if I try to go get that scale. I dont want to leave any of the white metal, though</em>


    <em>-Yeah, use siege orbs going forward.-</em>


    <em>Agreed.</em>


    A bit away from the clouds of ss-dust-thistles, Terry was demonstrating his prowess as he did a rather convincing impression of a living hurricane made out of des.


    The beasts werent particrly resilient, so their higher advancement wasnt an issue for the terror birds talons and beak.


    He had been thoroughly warned not to cut off the tempting, tasty eye-stalksTerry had worked very hard to convey that that is how he viewed themand T trusted her friend. So, there wasnt a concern that hed render their enemy more dangerous with his frenzy of cuts and strikes.


    He also somehow had time to find and toss her one white steel scale back up to her.


    <em>You are a wonder, Terry.</em>


    T couldnt see what the others were doing, but she knew that t was helping them coordinate their efforts.


    Instead, Ts focus was entirely on the opponents before her, as she began picking her shots. Whenever the monsters were even slightly clustered together, she used pairs of orbs, retargeted to each take out the whole bunch.


    The initial hit always took out one creature, and then the detonation would obliterate at least one more.


    T was using up her stock with surprising rapidity, though she had made a <em>lot</em> of siege orbs and had them ready-to-hand, so it shouldnt be an issue.


    Shed even started making arger variant no, that wasnt urate. The end result was the same size, but she had started with arger volume of air.


    <em>No, this isnt the ce to test a new tool. Well use the Pir-Topplerster.</em>


    <em>-I still hate that name.-</em>


    <em>As Ive said many times before: Noted.</em>


    The faster-than-thought attacks couldnt effectively be opposed by aura supremacy, so the unit didnt waste the effort on establishing such.


    Blessedly, that didnt extend to being able to work deeply within a target Refined. Instead, the magics worked on the surface or just away from their targets, so it wasnt a contest of magical weight either.


    Together, it made the eye-magics an odd form of attack, unlike any that T had ever been subjected to.


    She and Master Limmestare were the easiest targets, and while Master Limmestare mainly used deflection and absorbing tes of ss-fibers, T took the hits almost head on.


    Her iron covering was <em>incredibly</em> effective when she allowed it to work, causing her to pull her white steel covering back entirely, using the material to send supporting anchors through the wall below and behind her instead.


    Even so, the iron wasnt a perfect defense, even whenyered and utilized in a type of active protection system and as purposely copsable tes like shed practiced with Master Limmestare. Part of that was the fact that the magics tended to enact just away from her, or on the stone beside her, but the greater part was just how <em>much</em> force was in any given strike.


    The magics involved were specifically selected to best affect her given her particr defenses, after all.


    A concussive st of some form of shredding magic struck her with the force of a cyclops club, immediately ying her, shoulders to navel, after punching through her elk leathers.


    She was pressed back against her supporting rods of magical white steel. She was kept in ce by the counter bracing, but the distributed force cracked the wall all over again, and if not for Master Girt, that entire section of the structure would have fallen into a pile of rubble.


    Her ironthat had been wrapped around her torsowas syed out behind her, stressed, stretched, and strained near to breaking as it barely hung on across her back and extending outward to either side.


    It made her look like she had horribly maimed, metal wings.


    Her flesh and iron were already reknitting, but her scale mail was ruined.


    The scales had survived virtually unscathed, but the underlying material hadnt held up for even an instant as the hostile magics had flowed through every little gap.


    <em>Staying coated in the white steel would have been better for that attack.</em>


    <em>-And worse for the five before that. We cant know and effectively switch. Not at our level of proficiency, efficiency, and speed.-</em>


    With blood in her teethand blood-filled eyesT oriented on the one who had attacked her so effectively. She could not let it hit her again.


    It was already falling, bisected cleanly by a wagon-sized Terry, who took an instant to make eye contact with her before flickering away once more.


    The message in his actions and gaze was clear, No one messes with my flock.


    T took a precious moment to drop Kit to the ground where she expanded enough to let all the scales from Ts mail fall inside, before returning to Ts waist in the form of a pouch.


    The conflict continued at a fric pace as the Refined strove to kill as quickly as possible and the beasts drew closer and closer simply by virtue of numbers.


    The end result was, after just less than half an hour, T had killed hundreds of the beasts by ts count, and T had been torn, burned, frozen, shed, ated, stabbed, shocked, corroded, smashed, and severed uncounted times.


    Master Girt had rebuilt her section of the defense from little more than dust and gravel so many times that her blood was now thoroughly intermixed with the other materials.


    If shed been anyone else, that would have made the rock red, but of course, that wasnt how her blood worked anymore.


    In thest few minutes, every one of her siege orbs had ended at least four opponents a piece.


    The effectiveness and efficiency didnt change the fact that the tide had finally reached the walls.


    T had already extended her aura over the kill-box, making sure to allow her unit-mates magic to act within her authority for when that mattered.


    She drew in a deep breath even as she took thest seconds before the first four-legged monster reached them to drive a row of a dozen iron spikes into the lower portion of the walls on either side of the twenty-foot corridor.


    She needed as much control and aura finesse as she could get for what was toe.


    Then, she exhaled, grabbing her breath-carried magics with her aura and dragging them down into the base of the kill-box.


    Her job beyond the walls wasplete for now, and even as she continued to breathe out as much of her dissolution breath as possible with every exhale, she moved down to the inside edge of the kill-box.


    There, she reestablished her white steel anchors into the stone around and behind her. Then, she was ready.


    The first creatures were dyed by a great scything te of ss, aimed low to keep from severing any eye-stalks.


    Master Limmestare was taking out massive sectors of the enemy with his eye-filling, deviously shaped, ss shards, and so he didnt have much finesse left to spend. The result was an attack worthy of giants.


    Unfortunately, the attackers seemed wise to the iing attack, and they moved themselves in twisting, odd ways, jumping up or ttening themselves lower than seemed possible, so that only the eye-stalks were cut.


    <em>Oh, rust.</em>


    Less than a secondter, they all rose up, twice as many eyes orienting on and firing toward Master Limmestare even as they poured toward and into the gap in the wall, into the kill-box.


    That might have been the mans end, but as the first row of monsters stepped down, their legs didnt catch them.


    Instead, Ts carefully held dissolution magics obliterated their flesh, causing them to fall forward into the saturated space to puff entirely to dust.


    Master Limmestare took the slight lessening of iing magic as an opportunity to reposition and focus outward. He wouldnt be as useful as theyd hoped in the kill-box, but his magics were responsible for nearly eighty percent of thebat ineffective opponents outside their defenses, at least ording to t.


    That was where he was needed.


    As for the monsters: Each sessive rank of creatures fell to the same fate, barely progressing a few inches further down the path. The dissolution magic was expended even as T continued to exhale at the far end, her breath and aura taking the new magic where she wanted it to go.


    By the time the first two hundred had died, she was straining.


    By five hundred, she was sweating profusely as she fought to keep the magics from breaking apart the very air as they waited to act on the monsters.


    When so many had been turned to dust thatpaying dozens for each inch gainedthey had almost reached her, T knew it was time.


    <em>Now, Master Girt!</em> t carried her message to the Refined at the speed of thought.


    Master Girt had known the tactic T was going to be using, so hed reinforced the sides of this passage specifically against the iing result. That would keep the wall well intact.


    When she sent him the notification, Master Girt jerked a b of stone up in front of T, carefully crafted to be concave on the enemys side, while still being incredibly robust.


    Without hesitating, T rxed her hold on her dissolution magics.


    The corridorfilled with dust so fine that it filled the space like a mist, hovering almost weightlesslyignited in a concussive st that would have staggered T even through Master Girts stone if she werent once again anchored in ce.


    The explosion incinerated or threw every one of the tightly packed beasts from the kill-box with extreme effectiveness.


    T might have been concerned about ripping off eye-stalks with the attack, but fire would cauterize the wounds, if anything, and the force of the explosion should kill all the creatures affected, regardless.


    A momentter, the shaped b of stone retracted, revealing an empty, smoking canyon of death.


    <em>Lets do this again.</em> She took a deep breath, filling the air in her lungs with magic before exhaling in a controlled manner.


    <em>Control the terrain, control my breath.</em> She readied siege orbs, a smile pulling at her lips despite her burgeoning fatigue. <em>Fire and Ice.</em>


    Mistress Deigh and Master Doitean would be proud.


    T began the cycle again, killing the first groups that came into view with her siege orbs, positioning the ice sts to help create slowing terrain and give her unit more time to whittle down the never ending tide of nightmare manifestations.


    She saw more and more creatures with at least some eyes taken out by Master Limmestares ss. Quite a few also had deep cuts in their torso or missing legs that slowed them down, showing Master Clevnis contributions for all to see.


    From the side that Mistress Cerna was manning, the beasts came variously bent and broken, scorched or fried. It seemed that the Refined was still working out exactly what magics were most effective.


    Master Girt was working beneath the surface, quite literally.


    He made pitfalls full of stone spikes, broke up footing, and otherwise slowed the horde.


    Terrys contributions werent as evident due to the mere fact that all those that he engaged were dead by the end of their brief engagement.


    After the fifth cycle of T fighting back the waves, filling the kill-box with dissolution magic, then igniting the resulting powdered beastie to clear the near-field, Terry flickered to her shoulder, clearly panting with exhaustion.


    More than exhaustion, Terry was injured.


    He was cradling one leg up against his chest, and there was blood already dripping down onto her shoulder. His feathers were mussed, quite a few were out of ce, and there were several wounds elsewhere on his body.


    T was so startled that she stared open-mouthed at him for a long second before t snapped her back into focus.


    <em>-Ive notified Mistress Vanga. Hopefully, Terry will let her heal him. His exhaustion makes sense, too. Hes removed more from the battle than any save Master Limmestare. Its hard topare, however, given that Master Limmestare isnt killing them.-</em> t didnt mean that derisively at all, and T knew it.


    It had quickly be clear that without the ss Mages clouds of micro ss-thistles theyd likely have been overwhelmed right near the start.


    The point was that Terry had been incredibly effective in thinning their iing opponents.


    Now, he was worn out.


    Honestly, they all were struggling.


    t let everyone know that Terry was at least temporarily out ofmission.


    After the alternate interface had rified that Terry wasnt mortally wounded, more exhausted, there was a series of acknowledgments and well-wishes.


    Mistress Vanga offered toe and heal the avian as soon as she could, and when T conveyed the sentiment, Terry reluctantly epted.


    That dealt with, T scratched Terrys seemingly sleeping head and reoriented on the next cycle, the first eye-beastsing into view of her position once again.


    Two cyclester, the cycles ended.


    The eye-beasts werent that smart, but theyd finally put together that the wall shouldnt be there, and it was an impediment to them.


    An unholy stillness came over the battlefield as every one of the monsters stopped, orienting on the wall.


    Their magicsnced out as one, stressing the wall but not threatening to break it just yet. Then as every creature selected its most effective magics, there was a zeme-shaking <em>thrum.</em>


    The magic throughout the entire cell trembled in resonance to the synchronized attack and the wall was utterly obliterated.


    Some sections were vaporized, some shattered, some turned to dust the results were as nuanced and numerous as the attackers. The final state of the wall, however, was not nuanced.


    The wall was gone, and they had an entirely different battle scenario to deal with.


    There was the briefest hesitation as it seemed like every part of their surroundings took in a collective breath.


    In the momentary pause, T saw the disposition of her entire unit.


    Master Girt copsed beside Mistress Vanga, clearly having overextended himself trying to resist the attacks.


    Hed failed to keep the wall intact, but his interference exined why none of the magics had broken through to create havoc beyond. That alone was incredibly impressive.


    Master Limmestare was held aloft by swirly torrents of ss, creating an iprehensible maelstrom around the Refined.


    Master Clevnis was standing up from the crouch hednded in, magical des poised around him like a ready army, awaiting its generalsmand.


    Finally, Mistress Cerna was encased in what at first appeared to be a cage of precious metal, but on closer inspection was in fact many ovepping and intertwined spellforms, some powered, others awaiting the proper time.


    They were as ready as they could be.


    Mistress Suiles voice snapped out into the silence, Ten minutes. Thats all I need.


    T felt herself smile. This would be far from easy, but they <em>could</em> do this.


    Their units only response was from Master Clevnis, his voice equally strong in the fraction of a second before the roar of battle resumed. Understood.

 Chapter 353: Break

    Chapter 353: Break


    T was learning something about herself.


    As it turned out, she did not like fighting the eye-beasts, and they were especially annoying up close.


    Flow cut them well enough, but she was constantly under pressure from dozens of directions, the magic so thick that it was pushing her in an almost physical manner.


    Currently, both of her Leshkin shields, and her three defensive discs were glowing with absorbed powereach a different coloras she did her best to move them with her aura, keeping them in ce between herself and the given attacker.


    At the same time, she was striking down thing after thing.


    At close range, that was the only word that seemed to fit.


    They were things.


    Each eye stared with hollow emptiness, making the eye-beast seem more a conduit to a distracted mind than the physical form of a consciousness.


    They made no sound of pain.


    They didnt try to avoid injury if taking a blow would allow another of them tond a hit.


    They each acted with identical instincts and reactions.


    It was creepy.


    T was fulfilling her role within the unit, bodily keeping their enemies back as the others supported her.


    Still, more than half of the monsters that she came across were at least mostly blind due to Master Limmestares efforts.


    The unit was in a rtively tight cluster near the exit, with less than a minute remaining before Mistress Suile could reseal this nightmarish wastnd.


    Terry had recovered enough in thest couple of minutes to help once again, but he hadnte back to being fullybat effective, so while he would have been an immense help, they were saving him as an asset for their final retreat. They were also hoping that he would be a bit more recovered by that point.


    The avian had been in a bad enough way that hed allowed Mistress Vanga to offer him some healing, and that had been a big help to his recovery as well.


    He was on Ts shoulder, shifting as she moved, and practically dancing from foot to foot as he waited for the signal that it was his time to shine once more.


    The beasts had enough magical weight that T couldnt draw them into the void within Flow, but Flow still cut them well enough, stealing iron even from their alien blood.


    With the stark reminder and near miss of Master Limmestares massive ss de, T was incredibly careful to keep her strikes confined to the beasts torsos and legs.


    As the time needed to maintain the cell came to a close, T was punching and kicking as much as using Flow, just trying to maintain space.


    As she used her hands and feet for such percussive tasks, she controlled Flow using the ring around the top of its hilt between tossing it out and pulling it back.


    She only had a few more siege orbs, but she was holding those back until


    <em>Now!</em> Master Clevniss voice came into her head via t.


    <em>t, targets!</em>


    T tossed out herst handful of siege-orb pairs, targeting each of the sixteen highlypressed spheres at a different beast, far back into the mass of creatures, mentally chosen and highlighted by t.


    They were purposely evenly spread around the arc they were defending.


    Sixteen supersonic <em>cracks</em> staggered T backward, but much less than the orbs sting outward staggered the eye-beasts.


    An instantter, she broke the workings and all sixteen exploded, throwing back even more of the creatures and leaving treacherous, frozen ground behind, littered with broken corpses.


    That was the signal for Terry, and the little terror bird became a not-so-little avian of destruction.


    Even with Ts clearing action, and Terrys dervish of death, T still had to fight to retreat, her defenses awash in hostile power.


    She was thest to step back through the entrance of the cell, leaving only Terry within.


    Mistress Suile spoke sharply. Tell me when.


    T nced her way. Start now. Then, T shouted, wrapping power through the words to make sure they carried, TERRY!


    Existence began to warp, the cell closing.


    Terry flickered out onto Ts shoulder, more of his feathers bent, broken, and smoking than not. Still, he didnt appear to have sustained any direct damage to his flesh in the short engagement.


    Despite their valiant efforts, three eye-beasts came through the closing gateway after Terry, even as the cell resealed.


    Blessedly, as theyd been told to expect, as soon as existence sealed the cell, the creatures stiffened and copsed, dissolving into an oddly sandy smoke, which filled the air with a cloying, harsh smell.


    Theyd done it.


    Theyd finished maintaining a cell that contained a beast-god.


    Everyone took a moment to just breathe, before Mistress Cerna cleared her throat. You all were fantastic, Master Limmestare; you kept the numbers manageable, and you, T and Terry, you two managed those numbers beyond expectation.


    There was a round of agreement and smiles.


    Still, the woman grimaced, that was awful. Im going to be putting in my report that there should be a minimum of three Paragons involved when they again work on this cell, unless the Refined are specifically chosen to counter those creatures.


    T shook her head. I still cant believe that they were merely figment-manifestations of the prisoner.


    Another round of agreement followed that.


    It was Mistress Suile who responded this time. Beast-gods are, often as not, lethal opponents for Sovereigns. Its only because the beast couldnt involve itself directly that we attempted this cell at all.


    I can see why they trapped it, though. Imagine those things loose on the world, and anyone who falls asleep too close is suddenly a puppet, feeding power to a beast-god? Master Limmestare shuddered, and Mistress Vanga grunted her agreement, a grimace on her face.


    Mistress Suile had sat down on a chair that shed presumably pulled from her own storage. We are finished here. We can go as soon as you are ready for the return journey.


    Everyone exchanged looks, then turned to T. Mistress Cerna smiled questioningly, Dinner?


    T chuckled. It is about time. Yeah. Lets eat before we go.


    * * *


    T strode into the Gredialpound in the early morning hours, snow crunching underfoot, and beautifully roiling clouds overhead. A slight smile painted her features as she now knew that Rane would have been notified of her arrival.


    <em>That does make things so much easier.</em>


    The big man met her at the front entrance to the main building, T? To what do I owe the pleasure, today? I didnt expect you back from thetest cell for another couple of days.


    The cell went quicker than usual. Still, she grimaced. It wasnt that pleasant, though.


    Id love to hear about it, if youre up for talking. There was genuine interest across his features.


    T smiled; she had enjoyed regaling Rane with the stories of the various cells theyd visited so far, both new and those needing a check-up or maintenance. Id like that, but I cant right now.


    Oh?


    Yeah, Im heading out of Alefast. Im taking my first purposeful break from defensive duty.


    Oh? he repeated. Rane then seemed to think for a moment. Youve been here, working, for just about six and a half months, right?


    She nodded, Exactly two hundred days So, yes. I promised to bring Lyn and Kannis to Alefast once I was established, and I feel like Id being close to breaking that promise if I wait much longer.


    He shrugged and nodded. Its kind of you to tell me in person. I was looking forward to our next game when you got back, but it can wait until Lyn and Kannis are here, or after youve taken them back if you prefer.


    She frowned in confusion. What are you talking about?


    It was his turn to be confused. Youre leaving, right? We cant y tafl if youre not in Alefast. He hesitated. Well, I suppose we could y through the Archive, but thats just not the same.


    She shook her head, deciding to not waste time trying to understand what he was talking about. Were wasting daylight, Rane. Get your stuff.


    He blinked at her, frowning. What?


    She motioned toward the gates. Were leaving, and I want to get to Bandfast by tomorrow evening.


    We?


    T stiffened, suddenly feeling awkward and hesitant, Oh I mean you dont have toe. I just assumed


    He shook his head. No! No, its fine. Yeah, let me grab a few things, and let my mom know that Ill be gone for a few days.


    Alright. Ill wait here. T had still yet to meet Ranes parents, or really anyone else in his family. Truthfully, she preferred it that way. She wasnt sure how any people could have raised both Furgal and Rane, and with her own distaste for her own parents, she wasnt excited to add more people to her I now have to politely interact with you list.


    Less than five minutester, Rane was back. Lets go. My sister and Aunt are in town, and theyve been wanting to meet you. He nced over his shoulder. If we dont go, now, well be stuck here all day at the very least.


    Your sister? T frowned. Thats right, Ive not really met any of your siblings save does she take after you, or? She knew that his aunts and uncles were spread throughout the human cities, but shed not learned much more than that.


    Rane shrugged. She and I have always gotten along well enough, if not exactly <em>well</em>. Regardless, shes older, so I suppose you could say I took after her? Though, she went to the Academy like most of my siblings. At the moment, shes taking a break to reach toward Fusing.


    Oh. T nced behind Rane. What does she do?


    She and my aunt work for the Constructionist Guild.


    T felt torn for a long moment before shaking her head. Maybe when we get back.


    Rane shrugged. Itspletely up to you. Shall we?


    T nodded, and without another word, the two turned and started to jog toward the northern gates of Alefast.


    * * *


    They were an hour outside of Alefast, running at a pace that T could keep for well, forever really, when Ranended beside her from one of his arcing leaps.


    He waved a hand in her direction, so she slid to a stop, turning back toward him. Are you alright? Is this pace too much?


    He shook his head. Its good practice for me, honestly. I just wanted to check: Youve let Mistress Lyn and Kannis know wereing, right? Theyre going to be ready to take a trip?


    T hesitated.


    <em>-Ill do that right now done.-</em>


    Yes, yes I have.


    Rane lifted an eyebrow. Did you just do it when I asked?


    She grimaced. Yes.


    Heughed. Thats fine. Theyve got a day and a half before we arrive.


    He bent his legs for another leap, his magic coiling beneath him, ready to impart kic energy.


    But he saw her hesitating and stood back up. T? Are you alright?


    She nodded distractedly. Yeah Its just that I should have thought about that. I only realized it was a good time for me, got permission from my unit leaders, and headed toward them. I didnt even consider if it would be a good time for them.


    He shrugged. That can happen. Im sure it will be fine. Remember this and try to think of them more next time. He smiled encouragingly. Come on. We want to be well on our way before we camp for the night.


    <em>Right; with Rane along, well need to do that.</em>


    ts voice came into her head with an exasperated tone, <em>-You factored that in, T. You werent nning to arrive until tomorrow evening, and that gives you more than twelve hours for the long, winter night to pass.-</em>


    <em>Oh huh, thats true.</em> She smiled and turned to get back up to speed.


    Rane bent andunched himself, his magics leaving the ground unaffected as he was simply imparted with motion upon himself, no backpressure required.


    <em>Hes right, he should be able to fly with that. Hes onlycking a bit of control and greater throughput.</em>


    <em>-Hes going to be incredibly mobile once hes Refined and has gotten used to the changes.-</em>


    <em>Thats the truth.</em>


    She began to run, being careful to not push off too hard and disrupt thendscape.


    They were both shaping their aura to mimic the form that Master Grediv had demonstrated for them.


    T was better at it than Rane, but they were also going much slower than Master Grediv had taken them upon his blue disc.


    They were also going slower than Ts unit traveled, but her unit didnt much mind creating some magical resonance.


    Calling down arcane and magical creatures was a bonus, rather than a detraction, for the fullybat-ready unit, though they did try to keep it to a reasonable level. No one wanted to disturb some of the near god-beast creatures that were known to live deep within the mountains to their north.


    <em>Though, those seem to be in hibernation of some sort.</em> Theyd wake up one day, and T was not eager to be a contributor to that wakening.


    Rane''s leaps were really the next best thing to flying, with him only touching down every few hundred yards, depending on the terrain.


    He was constantly surrounded by a nimbus of power contained but not masked by his aura.


    What that meant in practice was that his power was easily visible to her magesight but did not stand out like a beacon on a hill would to her mundane vision.


    T, for her part, was mostly coated in iron, the main exception being her eyes so that she could practice unifying her voidsight, magesight, and mundane vision, rather than treating them as separate things. Her eyes were the best means of doing that practice she had been able to find.


    Aside from her eyes, she uncovered her mouth and ears to speak with Rane whenever they took a short break or paused to choose a specific direction of travel.


    They also had a short break for lunch, during which T began to talk about the Beast-god of Dreams and what she and her unit had faced within that cell.


    Rane was suitably impressed, asking a lot of questions, and talking through their tactics, sesses and ces for improvement.


    Terry came out of Kit every so often to flicker around through the surrounding hills and groves, but he never stayed out too long.


    He was still rather exhausted from his fighting against the eye-beasts.


    Rane called Terry over on one of the avians outings, and T saw Rane speaking and the bird preening, though she couldnt hear the words.


    Terry had a bit more pep in his flicker after that, though he still didnt spend much time outside of Kit.


    All in all, they passed a pleasant day, passing through well-known countryside.


    When the sun began to set, they found a nice dell, sheltered by trees with the lower end of the small valley pointing to the east.


    The trees were old andrge, their branches mostly bare for the winter, though some few leaves still clung on here and there.


    A little spring welled up near the top of the valley, just beside a short cliff, and the water flowed even through the snow, with a light mist of steam rising from the flow.


    <em>A hot springs?</em> She didnt remember such being marked on any map that shed seen. Though, it was a rather small one, without any pool to speak of.


    The little brook ran toward the east, exiting the small depression on that side, between the trees, making its way out into the wilderness, where it made an iceflow when the waters heat reached its end.


    Quite a fewrger rocks were scattered about haphazardly, casting irregr shadows across the white and grayndscape.


    The snow bore many small animal tracks, and somerger prints, as expected from around such a ready source of water this time of year.


    All in all, it was a beautiful spot.


    T ced Kit down against a low stone face on the high side, and the sanctum spread out, exposing windows along with the entrance door, making the cliff suddenly look like a quaintif well appointedhouse, dug into the rock and stone.


    The windows were just that, so T was able to see into her own bedroom as well as the main dining room and one of the guest rooms.


    <em>Hmm thats unideal.</em> With that thought, and her desires directed toward Kit, the windows became opaque from the outside, though they were still obviously windows.


    <em>Better. Thank you, Kit.</em> She made sure to send her appreciation toward the cliff-house.


    The cliff-house, of course, did not respond.


    She stretched, looking toward Rane who was staring up at the clear sky, thest light of day fading from view and the stars beginning to be revealed. Rane?


    Hmm? He nced her way, his face still mostly pointing upward. Its looking to be a stunning night. I really am d that it is clear on this side of the range.


    Theyd passed through the cleft-pass early that morning, leaving the clouds behind, for the most part.


    It had made the day all the more picturesque.


    She smiled. So it is. Shall we grab dinner? We can finish discussing the cell.


    He looked back up and nodded. Id like that. Can we eat out here?


    T felt her smile growing. That sounds lovely.

 Chapter 354: Charcoal and Ash

    Chapter 354: Charcoal and Ash


    T woke from her short sleep, a field of stars overhead, bracketed by winter-bare trees.


    She truly loved how little she had to sleep in recent days, even with the time doubled to allow t to remain cognizant at all times, T still required only about half the sleep she used to as a simple Mage.


    It was somewhere in the middle of the night, and she didnt much care exactly when. She was just content to enjoy the view.


    There was a steady breeze from the east that caused the trees to sway pleasantly and the snow to swirlzily around her.


    She was syed out on the snow, her magic-filled body not the least bit ufortable on the remnants of the powder.


    Rane had gone inside a couple of hours after dinner, taking one of the guest rooms within Kit for the night.


    In contrast, Terry hade out and was currently asleep, curled up on her sternum and lightly snoring.


    She felt a smile pulling at her lips as the little avian vibrated her ribs.


    It was an impressive feat, really, given how dense she was these days.


    <em>I wonder if some of his true mass ising through via resonance? Or wait. Does my being denser make vibration easier?</em>


    <em>-Could be. Regardless, he seems reallyfortable.-</em>


    T absently shifted one hand to rest on the little fluff ball, and Terry initially seemed to stiffen. Then, he rxed further, almost seeming to flow to press more fully against her hand, causing Ts smile to grow.


    Im d youre here, Terry.


    He let out a sleepy, low chirp without otherwise reacting.


    Overhead, the stars were as clear as shed ever seen them.


    Part of that was the cool, clear crispness of the air overhead.


    It being a cloudless night certainly helped as well, as did theck of any nearby city lights.


    She had always loved looking at the stars, though she didnt do it very often ofte. Even now, her mind was filled with more existential questions than the beauty of what she was looking at.


    <em>I do wonder if there are other humans out there.</em>


    <em>-All things considered, its likely.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, but I dont just mean one, two, or even a handful of advanced Mages, wandering the empty eternity of the void.</em>


    <em>-You wonder if there are </em>humans<em> out there, civilizations, peoples like us, but utterly unlike us. Those who look as we do, but with motivations, lives, and hopes that would be entirely alien?-</em>


    <em>Yeah</em> She sighed, her eyes gliding across the constetions.


    Now that she was fully awakeand not nning on moving about anytime soonshe focused inward.


    She directed her attention to the swirling eddies within her magic around her gate, the power tumbling and roiling as it came through from the world beyond.


    With practiced control, sheced her will through that which was already hers.


    Her magic was easily filled with her impetus, and she slowed the rate of flow, extending her authority into each new bit of power that came out.


    She had never been able to extend any sort of control back through the gate. Any power she controlledand even her authority and will, itselferoded as it tried to cross that threshold, and those shed talked with had told her that such was to be expected.


    Even Paragons could not reach into the next world, and she was even more misaligned with existence, there, than a Paragon would be.


    Still, that wasnt her goal this night. She flexed her control to slow her inflow of power to a full stop.


    It had taken her a while to get the hang of doing so, but it hadnt been a very exciting process.


    Now, she effectively cut off her body from new magics.


    She still had plenty of power within herself. With the iron that wrapped her inscriptions and most of her body, she wasnt in danger of having her power fully dispersed any time soon.


    With the inner stillness, where usually there was a torrent, she was able to feel her gate like at no other time.


    There was a resonance to it, as if it was constantly emitting a long, pure tone.


    That note was something that T felt drawn to intrinsically, and she had to smile at that as much as the sound itself.


    <em>Yes, I am drawn to the note of my soul.</em>


    <em>-It is beautiful, but iplete.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, like the first chord of a song on an eternal scale.</em>


    While that note was both calming and pleasing, T also felt an almost giddy anticipation for the next part of the song, and there was no doubt within her that the song would continue.


    Master Selek had encouraged her to feel the resonance of her gateof her sond to allow it to grow in power within her.


    As she slowly stroked Terrys small, sleeping form, T felt her soul resonating powerfully toward the little avian.


    Shed quickly learned that the resonance was incredibly strong when she was focused on Flow, or her elk leathers, or any of her bloodstars. That made sense to her because she was soulbound to each of those things.


    The strong reaction with Terry was also mirrored by what she could see in her voidsight; she and Terry were heavily connected by threads of reality.


    They were a flock, partners, friends.


    <em>I wonder if well actually bond soon.</em> She thought it would be soon in the scale of her life as it was nowid out before her, but she didnt think it would be soon in the scale of weeks, or even months.


    That was alright. She wasnt in a rush.


    She and Terry had decades before they <em>had</em> to make a choice, and she suspected that it would only be a few years before they would bond.


    A part of her felt some terror at the idea of letting such a connection form.


    Terry was an almost unbelievably powerful predator even without being a truly magical creature. A bond with T, a connection to her soul, would force him to advance through almost four stages.


    Truthfully, it probably wouldnt be too much of a change in ability, but it would grant him the magical weight to ovee even the few beings who had been able to stop his teleportation in the past.


    He would also most likely be much more resilient, as she knew that all arcanous and magical creatures had at least some power devoted toward that end, and if the bond went the way she hoped, he would be a true familiar to her, able to reform from her power if he were ever to be in.


    <em>Though, that would take a </em>lot<em> of power, even if it does work.</em> She hoped that it wouldnt ever be necessary for that and so many other reasons besides.


    Truthfully, she knew that bit of fear was one of the reasons it wasnt time yet for them to bond.


    Unless they fully trusted each other, bonding could break them.


    It wasnt like the bond gained through marriage. Such a naturally urring connection could grow and mature with time, drawing the bonded two into greater harmony as they grew in knowledge and understanding of one another.


    A magically stimted and facilitated bond was of a different kind altogether. If and when she bound Terry to herself, it would be her soul that was the power behind the connection.


    The bond would be at full strength from the first moment, though they would have to figure out how to utilize all that the bond granted with time, study, and practice.


    Terry would have a lot to process through, both with the greater level of sapience he was likely to achieve and the higher level of power.


    It would be an experience very much like Refining, but with his memories being torn apart and rebuilt as well, rather than just his body.


    She was afraid that the creature that came out the other side of that would not be her Terry.


    That was yet another stumbling block to circumnavigate before they could bond.


    But all of that was in the future, the near future to be sure but the future nheless.


    In the now, the stars overhead had moved quite a bit since she woke and began her musings upon her own soul.


    As such, it wasnt surprising when she heard Kits door swing open and Rane stepped out, his sandaled feet crunching on the crisp snow.


    T pet Terry onest time, feeling a growing resonance within her soul even as she released her hold and power cascaded through her gate once more.


    Good morning, Rane.


    Good morning, T. Though, its still rather early, isnt it?


    She sat up, Terry almost unconsciously flickering to her shoulder as she did so. It is a bit, but we can get going whenever youre ready. Breakfast wont be ready until a bit after the sun rises. Her eyes twinkled a little, Mistress Petra is making you breakfast fried chicken, I believe.


    Rane grinned. You still have some of the meat attuned to my magics?


    She nodded.


    My goodness. Ill savor every bite, then. You cant have too much more.


    T was <em>not </em>going to disabuse him of that notion. Regardless, did you sleep well?


    He nodded. I did, thank you. Those rooms are rather convenient.


    That they are. She stood and stretched carefully. Terry was probably awake, but she didnt want to disturb him more than necessary.


    The eastern wind tugged at her hair, filling her nostrils with the scents of cold mountaintops.


    Rane drew in a deep breath. His eye seemed to twitch at the smell, but he also seemed to enjoy it, regardless, That is a lovely breeze.


    T smiled. It is. Its been rather steady from the east. There might be some weathering in.


    Could be. He nced back toward the short cliff on which Kit was still spread out.


    Right, let me get her. T walked over and grabbed the edge of one window, pulling Kit from the cliff and into the form of a pouch that easily hung from her belt.


    Rane was stretching when she turned back toward him. One particr twisting stretch sent a series of cracks racing up his back. Ahh, thats the key.


    Sheughed. Feel better?


    Absolutely, lets He cut off abruptly as the wind brieflyand for the first time in hourscame from the west in one brief gust, carrying with it the unmistakable smell of fresh charcoal and ash.


    Terry lifted his head and looked to the west.


    There were also what seemed to be the incredibly faint sounds of conflict, mixed with yips and howls. The earlier strong breeze had been carrying the sounds away in such a manner that even Ts enhanced hearing hadnt picked anything up.


    More than even that, though, T found a surprise. The magic carried on the wind was a mixed, chaotic jumble, easily identifiable as being from arcanous beasts and humans alike.


    That shocked T as shed never really been able to sense such a thing before. <em>I still havent really flexed all areas of my magic since bing Refined, have I</em>


    Now was hardly the time for ruminations, however.


    She looked to Rane, and he nodded once, Go. Ill follow as close behind as I can.


    Without waiting for anything further, T took off at her best speed, leavingrge circr depressions in the snow and underlying soil as she threw herself toward where she guessed the smell and magic hade from.


    Terry flickered through the woods in a parallel track, before squawking at her.


    T opened Kit. Get in! If wereing into a battle with humans on one side, I dont want you being mistaken as an enemy.


    Terry squawked again and vanished.


    The wind had, unhelpfully, shifted back to blow from the east, once again hiding all signs of a conflict.


    <em>-Im querying the Caravanners Guild for the locations and make-up of their caravans in the area, but we dont have instant ess.-</em>


    <em>Thank you, t.</em>


    T pulled to a stop, bunching her legs beneath her before enhancing her surface area scripts as well as her physical strength. At thest moment, she reduced her gravity to near zero even as sheunched herself upward.


    She shot high into the sky, arcing forward in the direction she believed the fire to be.


    She had been off a bit to the north, but from her high vantage point she could see the intermittent glow of massive fires.


    Her mirrored perspective saw Rane below and behind her, looking in her direction.


    She gestured overtly toward the fires, hoping he would see her, and by the direction of his next jump he had.


    T let her gravity return, and she plummeted back into the barren forest.


    As soon as her feet touched down, she turned and sprinted straight toward the fire, t helping to ensure that she didnt get turned around, or even nudged off course, by more frequent trees that she had to circumnavigate.


    She thought she detected Rane traveling through the woods a bit to her left, but she didnt take the time to be certain or to meet up with him.


    Instead, she put on a burst of even more speed, using every trick she had including feathering her weight and mass and amplifying her various scripts at critical times.


    She wanted to ignore her magical resonance, aside from holding her aura in the shape Master Grediv had taught her. Instead, she kept her speed slow enough to keep from making the situation worse for those she was going to help.


    <em>Alright. I am probably going into battle, I need to be armored up and ready.</em>


    Her two shields flew out of Kit and three defensive discs lifted from their holster on the back of her belt, dodging the trees even more effectively than she did.


    Her iron sealed thest opening, encasing Kit as well, and T focused her mind onto her mirrored perspectives.


    White steel welled up and covered her head to toe overtop of the iron.


    She hadnt had time to repair her scale mail hauberk, so that was out for whatever conflict awaited her.


    <em>This will have to do.</em>


    <em>-I got a response and authorization. This is likely a caravan bound for Alefast, two hundred passengers, three Mage Protectors and a Dimensional Mage. No Archons, but two magelings are along for the trip with their masters. Sixty guardsmen. Large payload of trade goods. Twenty wagons with drivers.-</em> t passed through a few more details, but T wasnt focused on the particrs.


    Regardless, she acknowledged the information gratefully even as she burst from the trees into the wide clearing and leapt almost straight up.


    Iron spikes shot from her, embedding into the ground even as her aura rolled outward, using each spike as an anchor and multiplier to gain and control more territory.


    She cut her own gravity as she reached the apex of her jump and hung there in the sky over the scorched caravan.


    She brought one defensive disc to float beneath her feet in case some unknown assant got close enough to strike. The other two circled above her head, watchful for dangers from above.


    Her two repurposed, Leshkin tower-shields hovered, one to each side, ready to close the four-foot gap between them if she felt she needed the addedyer of defense.


    But her mind wasnt really on her own preparations; those were all but instinctive. Instead, she was doing her utmost to take in the situation as quickly as she could.


    Three wagons were ame along with more than a dozen trees in the surroundings.


    There were more than a hundred dead burn-wolves among the defensive ring of wheeled wood, and she caught hints of more slinking away into the darkness, seeming to already have been retreating when she arrived.


    There were more than twenty wounded guards, and several of those on the ground were unmoving.


    The three Mage Protectors were equidistant around the circle, each atop a wagon. One had her mageling at her side, but there was no sign of the Dimensional Mage or the other mageling.


    T was careful to keep her aura away from every human she sensed, but she still nketed the entire clearing in which the humans sheltered. Her iron spikes swept around the outside of the circle in a wave, carried and positioned by her will and her iron control of her aura. Each one drove into the ground with a puff of snow, spaced as close to three feet apart as she could manage in an arching, staggered grid.


    While many focused on her, it was obvious that at least some of the guards and one of the Mages were watching the iron spikes surround them.


    There were no living wolves that she could see within the circle of wagons, so it seemed that the threat had been handled, though not without cost.


    Even as she watched, guards and wagon drivers were putting out the three wagons, despite the asional hasty nce thrown her way.


    <em>I wish I had a way of putting those out, but Id do more harm than good from up here.</em> She would drop down soon enough and help how she could.


    For the moment, however, T drifted slowly, her forward momentum not fully mitigated by her attempt to jump straight up.


    The Mages had all oriented on her, and they were obviously in states of extreme stress.


    One was swaying on his feet from overexertion, and the other two seemed to almost be trembling to Ts enhanced sight.


    The mageling practically squeaked before hiding behind her master.


    In that moment, Rane burst from the trees, staggering slightly as he entered her aura unexpectedly.


    T purposely made allowance for him and the other magic-wielders, should they enter or wish to use their magic within, so it wasnt arge burden on him. More than anything, it would have been like a st of hot air when hed been expecting a cool breeze.


    Not damaging, but definitely startling.


    Rane took in the scene almost as quickly as T had, then he looked up toward her. He had a tension across his features as he called up to her, T. The threat is gone for the moment.


    She nodded, opening a slit for herself to speak. That is my assessment.


    He hesitated, scratching the back of his head. Come down, then? I think He lowered his voice until only she should be able to hear him. I think youre scaring them.


    T looked again at those whose eyes were locked onto her: Mage, mageling, and mundane.


    The guards were clutching weapons with white knuckles.


    Mages held their most potent spells ready to cast. She hadnt really considered that before because they wouldnt really be a threat to her, even if she werent sheathed in iron.


    <em>Oh</em>

 Chapter 355: The Pack

    Chapter 355: The Pack


    Ts metal sunk back into the dimensions of magic, revealing her to be the human she was.


    <em>t I dont actually know what to say, here</em>


    t sighed. <em>-Fine. Just speak the words I feed you.-</em>


    <em>Thank you.</em>


    T filled her voice with power so that it would carry even as she spoke softly, calmly, Peace, travelers. I am a Defender from Alefast and detected your struggle. We are here to help.


    <em>That was a bit flowery?</em>


    <em>-They expect the powerful to be verbose. If you dont like it, think of your own speech next time.-</em>


    <em>Fair enough. </em>T felt herself smile, ts antics, yet again, relieving some of her stress.


    A collective exhtion rippled through those present as quite a few seemed to actually recognize her from her few recorded shes, now that shed given them context in which to ce her.


    One of the Mages turned and expended her power at the burning wagons, a wave of ice extinguishing the ze in a moment.


    The clearing was still cast in a ruddy light from the burning trees that surrounded the caravan, but none were close enough to be a threat. The forest, as a whole, did not seem in danger of catching fire, so that could be addressedter, if it didnt sort itself out.


    Several guards copsed from exhaustion and released tension, even as T returned her gravity to normal and dropped to the ground.


    Her shields were taller than she was, and she drew them in to protect her from behind, like a hinged open circle of defense, leaving her discs to float overhead in a defensive pattern against potential attacks from above.


    Rane chuckled, shaking his head. Well, thats one way to make an entrance. He looked at the iron spikes in the ground nearest him. Do you want us to pull those?


    She shook her head. No. I can get them when needed, but I think well be giving them a rest for the remainder of the night, and my spikes will make that prospect easier.


    Rane nodded slowly in agreement.


    T took in the corpses of the wolves, and the injured guards, and gave Rane a careful look. Are you going to be alright?


    Rane stiffened slightly. He had been taught the importance of taking the defense of others upon himself when he was quite young, and that lesson had cost the lives of a family that hed been sent to protect. They had died to burn wolves. I forgot that you knew that story.


    At least a part of it.


    He looked down, closing his eyes for a moment before nodding and turning his eyes onto her. I will be alright. He smiled kindly, then. Thank you.


    She felt a smile grow across her face in return. Of course.


    One of the Mage Protectors, not the one with a mageling, had climbed hurriedly down, and was quickly walking their way.


    T smiled, Shall we introduce ourselves?


    Rane shrugged. Sure, but I think our first impressions are already well and truly taken care of.


    She only hesitated for a moment before nodding. Yeah I may have gone a bit overboard.


    He chuckled in return. I think it will be fine.


    Together, they turned and waited patiently in the snow, outside the circle of wagons, as that one Mage Protector quickly strode over their way.


    As she waited, she moved her bloodstars outward and upward to keep full watch on the situation.


    She could <em>somewhat </em>see when things entered her aura, but it wasnt the same as true perception. Instead, it was more akin to feeling a needle trailing along the back of her arm. Sure, she knew <em>something</em> was there, but she couldnt have said exactly where, or exactly what.


    Master Akra had said that it could be more detailed, but that was the work of centuries of practice.


    She had, of course, started the training, but had yet to see any results, as expected.


    Her focus was pulled back when the Mage stopped a few paces away. He bowed deeply to T, then to Rane, though he still seemed on edge. Mistress T, Master?


    Rane. Rane offered.


    Master Rane. Thank you foring to our aid. We have endured four waves of burn wolves. I have never seen them this agitated before, but this seems like the work of several of therge packs working in concert.


    Therge packs generally survived off the massive herds of thunder bulls and didnte into this smaller in nestled within the mountains between Bandfast and Alefast, waning.


    We fear that we wont survive a fifth wave, if they return.


    T exchanged a look with Rane, who shrugged. She smiled as she looked back to the Mage. I apologize, I didnt get your name.


    Oh! Cardav, Mistress T.


    Well, Master Cardav, wed be honored to offer our protection for the remainder of the night. That should let you all get some much needed rest.


    Master Cardav nodded, pulling out an Archive te. That is an incredibly kind offer, Mistress, and I mean no offense, but would you mind confirming your identity?


    <em>-It is protocol.-</em>


    <em>Really?</em>


    <em>-Yeah.-</em>


    <em>Huh. I suppose that makes sense. I suppose Mistress Odera handled that in the past.</em>


    <em>-She did.-</em>


    T smiled, reaching out and pressing her thumb to the te before allowing it a look at her magic and aura.


    There was a soft chime, and the te turned green.


    Master Cardav visibly rxed, and the few guards nearby did as well, sheathing weapons that had still been drawn.


    <em>-Some wolves are approaching the eastern sidehere.-</em> T immediately saw where the three wereing from and where she was in rtion to them.


    <em>Subtle reassurance or the hammer?</em>


    <em>-You outweigh the beastie, we cant do a full crush without burning a ring, but we can get the same effect in a few seconds, with focus. We could be showy, if thats what you want.-</em>


    T thought for a moment, then grimaced, causing Master Cardav to hesitate. <em>No. No showing off.</em>


    She smiled at the clearly battle-stressed Mage, My apologies, one moment.


    T focused, and when the lead wolf tentatively crossed into her aura, she used her aura to jerk the nearest iron spike out, shifted Flows cutting magics to the leading edge of the spike, and drove it up under the wolfs jaw and into its brain.


    The action was so quick, the affected wolf didnt even have the time to whimper.


    The other two wolveswho had been a bit behindyelped, leaping backward.


    The wolves yelps were heard through the whole caravan, causing weapons toe free of scabbards and hangers.


    Master Cardavs eyes widened, and he started to turn, but T held up her hand, returning her focus to the man before her. I apologize for the disturbance, but I needed to send a message. I do believe it has been received, though.


    She could feel the entirety of the lead burn wolfs irone under her sway as it died by her action, and she pulled it from the things body.


    She retracted her iron spike as well, reshaping it and recing it in its ce in the earth.


    To be sure the wolves understood the new way of things, she purposely thickened and saturated the external edge of her aura, effectively making a sort of shell. In doing so, she once again leaned on the teachings of Master Akra to so modte her aura.


    The Mages in the caravan sensed <em>something</em> change, but they likely wouldnt actually know what it was.


    Rane cleared his throat. Master Cardav, how about I meet with you and the other Protectors while Mistress T ensures our safety?


    The man nodded emphatically and allowed Rane to lead him away.


    T <em>almost</em> opened Kit to ask if Terry wanted to hunt some wolves, but then she realized that hed be disadvantaged against enemies who radiated heat and whose very flesh and blood could burn non-me aspected enemies.


    <em>I really need to improve Terry''s survivability.</em>


    <em>-Well, it was implied that him bonding with you could make him immortal, at least as long as you stayed alive.-</em>


    T frowned for a brief instant. <em>They did say possibly. I really dont want to rely on that, even if it is possible.</em>


    <em>-But worth looking into?-</em>


    <em>Absolutely.</em>


    <em>-Oh What?-</em>


    T immediately saw it too, and sheunched herself about a quarter of the way around the circumference of the caravan to slide to a stop within her own aura.


    As she sent up a plume of snow, she locked eyes with a pair of massive eyes.


    A wolf of extreme proportions was crouched in the dark of the trees, a hundred feet back into the woods.


    It was <em>not</em> a burn wolf.


    It also, somehow, for some reason, didnt immediately attack T.


    Ts various sights took in the creatures aura.


    Where human aurasand even arcanewere manifestations of their advancement with hints of their specific magic, this beast seemed to have that rtionship reversed.


    She could see it was a maelstrom of magics, tightly controlled around its physical body, and she thought should detect the smallest hint of a yellow-level advancement maybe.


    On a hunch, she opened her pouch, Terry.


    He didnte out immediately, but something told her that he heard her call and that he was listening.


    The ground vibrated, the trees swayed, and snow puffed up as a voice filled the air.


    A human with bite. There was a deep rumbling growl along with the word bite. How interesting.


    T heard Ranes gasp, and he sprinted her way. T didnt back down, but she also didnt attack, not yet. Why have you attacked these humans?


    I wasthe great wolf growled deeply, almost as if taking the time to choose the right wordtesting these packs. The others of your kind were sufficient to test my weak brethren without breaking the teeth of the packs.


    She raised an eyebrow, Many wolves died.


    The weak. It almost seemed like the wolf shrugged. The weak always die.


    Rane slid to a stop beside T. To her surprise, he gave a shallow bow toward the wolf, Chosen of Anatalis, greetings. For what reason have you left your Alphas northern holds?


    <em>Anatalis? The wolf of myth?</em>


    <em>-As the Leshkin are the mythic demons of the southern wood?-</em>


    <em>Oh yeah</em>


    The wolf gave a pleased rumble, Ahh, you know the Alpha.


    I have not known his scent, but I have heard of his deeds.


    There was a rumbling, rolling growl that shook some of the little remaining snow free from the nearby trees. It took T a moment to realize that the sound wasughter. Had you known his scent, he would know your taste, pup.


    Rane bared his teeth in a purposely rictus smile, The honor of the Pack has grown sparse, if one such as he would attack a pup.


    T was surprised at Ranes tact, but he clearly had some understanding of what was going on, so she let him take the lead.


    The wolf growled, seeming more angry. You doubt the Packs honor?


    He shook his head once. I merely trust your words.


    The growling cut off, and the wolf tilted its head to one side. As you say. The head dipped in what seemed to be an approximation of a bow. I spoke in haste and without thought. Will you interfere with my trial?


    <em>No apologies, I suppose.</em>


    <em>-Well, it admitted fault which is more than Id have expected.-</em>


    <em>Thats fair.</em>


    Rane was still focused on the wolf, even if he didnt directly answer its question, Does your trial require assaulting this caravan?


    Once again, the wolf paused. Finally, it stood, its eyes rising to nearly half again Ts height. I suppose it does not. No.


    Rane nodded, seemingly carefully keeping his lips over his teeth, Then we have no need to interfere.


    The wolf chuffed with a softerugh. Find me when your fangs are properly sharpened, little pup. Maybe you and your packmate will be a fun challenge.


    Without another rumbling word, the wolf turned and withdrew on huge, silent paws.


    Rane leaned over to T. Did you get a good look at its aura?


    T felt herself nodding. t had been doing her best to analyze what they were seeing throughout the short exchange. I think her aura? Were still parsing what I sensed.


    He nodded. Good. If we run into her again, she will expect us to recognize her.


    T frowned, She didnt give us her name.


    He shook his head, smiling, She wont have one, not in the way you and I do. Her aura is effectively her name. It is unique, and the only thing that can truly encapste a member of The Pack. Aside from the Alpha, they dont need to refer to each other when apart, so our type of name isnt useful.


    T turned to regard him. Do you want to exin what this was?


    Rane nodded. I should start the exnation with the Mages as well. There shouldnt be further trouble from wolves tonight, but we should keep a careful eye out.


    Oh, I will. With the immediate threat seemingly dealt with, her shields and discs returned to their respective holsters and storage locations.


    <em>Keep a close eye out?</em>


    <em>-Oh, I will.-</em>


    A few minutester, T, Rane, the three Mage Protectors, and singr mageling sat in a circle at one of the caravans travel tables.


    T felt a bit nostalgic taking that seat, even more so when Terry flickered to her shoulder from the still open pouch at her waist and head butted her cheek in a way that made her instantly aware that he wanted jerky.


    T obliged.


    Rane cleared his throat, garnering everyones attention, So, your caravan was attacked as part of a test.


    The three Mage Protectors exchanged looks, but it was the mageling, surprisingly, who spoke up, her overawe seemingly helping her ovee the difference in advancement, and any social awkwardness, Why would wolves want to test us?


    Rane shook his head. I apologize; I should have been more clear. The test was for the wolves, though I suspect that humanity was being tested as well. We are cycling up into the northern woods, and that always puts pressure on the wolves of the northern forest and ins. Thehe gave T a meaningful nce, emphasizing that he was leaving some things outleader of those wolves has no enmity for humanity, but he also has no love for us. You should report this when you reach your destination. Please give as much detail as you can. I apologize, but there really isnt much more that I can tell you.


    The Mages shared more looks, but nodded, giving shallow bows toward Rane and T. Thank you for your assistance.


    T smiled. Of course. You all should rest in order to be at full strength tomorrow.


    They thanked her and bid them goodnight.


    Once they were gone, T formed an iron spike, and drove it through one of the benches, shattering a working that had been crafted and left behind within the material. It had been subtly done, for a Mage, but it had been incredibly obvious to T.


    They had been a bit foolish to assume that they could get away with listening in.


    <em>Still</em> She frowned. If she were going to listen in on those more advanced than she, she would do something obvious so that a more subtle attempt would be overlooked.


    T took a moment to roll iron across the table and surroundings, feeling the subtle <em>pop</em> of three other workings being ovee.


    Even after feeling them break, she couldnt tell exactly where or how they had been hidden.


    She shook her head, smiling ruefully. <em>Im getting a bit too arrogant in my advancement.</em>


    <em>-Still, you caught yourself.-</em>


    <em>Thanks, t.</em>


    T turned to Rane, whispering so softly he would barely be able to hear. So?


    He nodded, responding in kind. Though, in his case, it was even more softly as her hearing outstripped his by quite a margin, Anatalis is believed to be a god-beast, or near enough, though Master Grediv always implied that humanity is unsure what type of advancement he followed. He seems far too wide ranging to be a traditional magical beast-god, not to mention his ability to be peaceful toward humans.


    And what of his pack?


    Its more than just his pack. All wolves are influenced by him. He somehow has a tie to all wolves that makes them less instantly aggressive toward humanity. More than that, his direct pack, which humanity has estimated numbers in the hundreds, is all bound to him somehow. Killing one of them is like killing a magical beast, but theye back at their Alphas side rather than on a piece ofnd. Theye back as they were, with full memory of the encounter that killed them, and with no longsting harm done.


    Like the Leshkin?


    Yes and no. The Leshkin arent sapient for the most part. The Pack is. The most we aplish when we sh with a member of the Pack is to teach them our tricks and strategies before delivering that information directly to their leader.


    T grunted. Thats huh.


    We have an agreement with Anatalis. We can build our cities in the forest to our north each cycle, and wolves can hunt throughout human controllednds, even if not on our farnd or in our cities. All things considered, they get ess toand use ofmorend than we do from the deal.


    She cocked her head to one side before nodding. I wouldnt have thought about it in that way, but I suppose it makes sense. So, we dont have another war to worry about?


    No, that would be in themon mythos and history if so. Everyone has some idea of the Leshkin Wars from history lessons if nothing else. For Anatalis? The mundanes have myths of giant wolves guarding babies in the wilderness, of lending their cousinsdogsto humanity because they didnt trust we could watch out for ourselves. Stories like that. In truth, from what Master Grediv implied, I dont think that weve ever truly shed with the Pack.


    So? What of this? She gestured around her. Wolves attacked humans. Is this a change?


    Rane shook his head. Not from the stories Master Grediv told. Anatalis has a fierce belief in culling the weak. There are asional shes like this, where his true warriors watch from the shadows, but those skirmishes are to keep the lesser wolves culled of weaklings and to test us; I suspect thetter at least. Master Grediv was always hesitant to confirm that for me. He smiled. Though, now, he might be willing to answer more questions. We have two cities under construction in the northern forest, and Alefast, the new one, isplete at its southern edge. The wolves are factors in humanity''s future once again.

 Chapter 356: Contemplations and Suggestions

    Chapter 356: Contemtions and Suggestions


    T sat in the middle of the wagon circle, contemting the fickleness of memory, even a perfect memory.


    She <em>could </em>remember anything that she wanted to, but that didnt actually mean that she constantly had her every experience sitting in her mind, actively known to her.


    This time, she had forgotten one of the hallmarks of being with a caravan.


    It was rather boring.


    Virtually anything that she could do to use her time more effectively would reduce her ability to be on watch for the caravan, so she was stuck where she was, doing very little.


    To be fair, it was the best-case scenario, and she was grateful on behalf of those she was watching over that things were boring. After all, if it wasnt boring, people would likely be getting hurt or dying.


    As T took overwatch for the caravan, she saw the guards tending to their wounded. One of the Mage Protectors was working to magically heal in the most extreme case, while most of the wounds were tended by poultices, bandages, and good old fashioned first aid.


    Everyone being worked on survived, blessedly.


    From all of the waves of wolf attacks, the caravan had only lost one guardsman, and he had already been dead before she and Rane had arrived.


    It was unpleasant, but far, <em>far</em> fewer died than she had feared. This group of guards was apparently an even more experienced set than usual, due to the somewhatrger size of this caravan.


    As a consequence, it was unlikely that any of those that T had trained with were among them, and none stepped forward, so that settled that potential.


    While the guards and Mages cleaned up and dealt with the battles aftermath, Rane had offered what help he could give while T maintained her vignce outward.


    Shed initially gone to offer help, but Rane had quietly reminded her that having her <em>seen</em> as watching over the caravan would offer more to the guards and Mages than just an extra set of hands.


    He knew that she could do both, but trying to get the guards and Mages to understand that would have been more trouble than it was worth. Worse, even if they seeded, an air of uncertainty would have remained, regardless.


    Thus, T had reluctantly agreed with his assessment, though doing so brought a smile to her lips.


    She could still remember the awkward young man who had joined her caravan back from Alefast what seemed like a lifetime ago. He had had the training to make these types of decisions, but he had been hesitant to take the lead or make his voice heard.


    <em>Well, no he was granted leadership almost immediately, but he didnt handle it as gracefully as he could have. He didnt word things that well and put his foot in his mouth as often as not.</em>


    <em>-Thats the truth.-</em>


    Umm Excuse me, Mistress T? The magelingthe girl who had been standing beside one of the Mage Protectorswas slowly approaching T. She bowed when T turned her way.


    Yes? T didnt know what the girl wanted, but she didnt much mind. It was <em>something</em> more interesting than standing around, reading fictitious books.


    <em>-You do that all the time.-</em>


    <em>No, I read books while exercising, or stretching, or walking, or</em>


    -<em>Yeah, fine. I get what you mean.-</em>


    Greetings. I am Narci. I The girl colored slightly. I dont know if you remember me, but I was a year behind you at the Academy.


    T frowned. <em>t?</em>


    <em>-Hey, I wasnt around back then. Let me see Let me see Let me Oh! There she is. Wow You saw her maybe four times? Your memories arent perfect from then, so there are some blurry people that could also have been her. Why does she think youd remember her? You dont even have her name in here. Im d she said it.-</em>


    T nodded slowly, making the frown that had grown across her features seem less like displeasure and more like consideration. I do think that we crossed paths every so often. Good to see you again, Narci.


    She tried not to feel awkward at the forced social nicety. There wasfort in the fact that the words werent actually a lie. It was good to see her, as the other option would have been that the girl was killed before T arrived, and it was nice that that hadnt happened.


    -<em>Yeah, tell yourself that. Such twists in logic are great for your moral character.-</em>


    <em>Hey, Im trying to be kind here.</em>


    Narci had brightened at Ts words. Im so d! I know that we barely saw each other; Im ttered that you remember me at all.


    T <em>almost</em> said that it wasnt that surprising given that she remembered everything, even the smallest detail. Blessedly, T stopped herself, realizing at thest moment how insulting that would sound. Instead, she simply smiled and waited, putting on a patiently expectant look.


    Oh! Oh, right. Im sorry, Mistress. I was wondering She looked down and away. Would you have any advice on advancement? I was only a year behind you, but Im still a mageling and youre well, I saw one of your fights for Alefast! She lifted her eyes, excitement suddenly pouring off of her. And how you came to our defense, here?


    The girlughed, now looking up to the stars with obvious glee.


    I want to raise my magics to your level or at least closer. The girl seemed to return to the moment and feel some awkwardness once again at the end.


    T quirked her pursed lips to the side in thought. Honestly, I would suggest that you do as your master says, and follow the process.


    Narci looked toward T with a frown. But thats not what you did right?


    Oh, no. T chuckled, but you dont ask the winner of a coin toss how they achieved victory, and when a loss on such a gamble means death, it is probably better not to y.


    The mageling seemed genuinely confused. But everything I could find about you shows you going <em>around</em> the well-established systems, finding your own way, and flouting the means by which things have been done in the past.


    T felt her cheeks heat. Wellshe cleared her throatsome of that was entirely unintentional. While my path has been exceptionally quick, much of that was out of my control, and even that which I did control I havent always been the wisest in my choices.


    It was Ts turn to look away in awkwardness. Narci seemed stunned into silence.


    Many of the dangers I avoided, I had been unknowingly preparing for, long before I knew I needed to. Some of that was the wise people around me pushing me in the right directions as appropriate, which is one reason that I suggest listening to your master. More than anything, my magic being bent almost exclusively around defense in the beginning was thergest factor in my survival. That singr fact protected me from many of the repercussions of my unwise choices. T nodded to herself, looking back to Narci, <em>That</em> I can rmend. If your magics can be bent toward defense, do so.


    Narci was nodding hesitantly, almost to herself. I am an ice Mage Material Creator.sheughed once, nervouslyIts why I sought out Mistress Untriti. Its said she knows how to conjure more than a hundred kinds of snow. Snow! Can you believe it?she chuckled more fullyAnd ice? Thats her focus.she shook her headshe can create uncounted kinds of ice, each specialized for a unique purpose.


    Thats fascinating. T didnt really know why the girl was telling her all of this, but it did keep T from having to just stand around so...


    Narci colored. Right! Well, shes been suggesting that I bend some of my magics toward learning how to conjure discs of ice with perfect uracy to either interpose directly in the way of iing attacks, or to deflect them


    T smiled, taking a guess, But youve resisted?


    The mageling nodded sheepishly.


    Well, I would rmend you do as your master says. Ts smile turned into a broad grin, as she knew that to be a mirror of what shed started the conversation saying.


    Narci smiled at the words as well, clearly understanding what T had done. The mageling bowed, Thank you, Mistress T. I appreciate that you took your time to offer instruction that should have been obvious to me. I will listen to my master and look toward survival. I can only advance if I survive.


    T held up one finger. And you can only continue to protect and serve others if you survive. There is a ce for noble sacrifice. Her eyes drifted toward the guards, now finishing up their work, but if you <em>can</em> survive to fight another day without letting your charges down, that should be your goal.


    Narci bowed again. Thank you for giving me some of your time and for the advice.


    T shrugged. I was happy to give it.


    Narci turned and scurried back to her wagon, likely hoping to grab a bit more sleep before the morning arrived.


    As T watched the girl go, her eyes fell on Rane.


    Shed noticed him nearby before, but she hadnt really focused on him until that moment. Now that she was looking at him, however, she couldnt help but notice the look of utter disbelief that was painting his features.


    His mouth was even slightly ajar.


    T frowned. What?


    * * *


    T and Rane bid the caravan goodbye once the wagons were ready to depart.


    Clouds had rolled in through the early hours, and it was barely starting to snow.


    T had stood overwatch while the mundanes awoke, were reassured and fed, and were ushered back into their wagons.


    The Dimensional Mage was apparently skilled enough that the passenger wagons all had extensive istion scripts, allowing those same passengers to have passed the whole night undisturbed despite the rather raucous danger the caravan had been in.


    The Dimensional Mage had noticed Ts presence, with a bow, but otherwise he and his apprentice hadnt even stayed out of their wagon long enough to get food, instead sending a servant to get that for them.


    <em>Huh I suppose that was what was expected of me as a Dimensional Mage</em>


    <em>-That would have beenughably easy Why didnt you want a wagon and a servant?-</em>


    <em>I had debts to pay off, and I wanted to actually experience the Wilds.</em>


    <em>-Right, right. How did that work out for you?-</em>


    T glowered internally, and t gave her a mental hug.


    -<em>Hey, </em>I<em> think its worked out pretty well.-</em>


    T mentally grumbled, but a smile was still tugging at her lips.


    Rane nced her way as the wagons were rolling out of sight. He smiled, cocking his head to one side, What has you in such a good mood?


    Just thinking back on our time in various caravans.


    He grunted, but his smile grew. Yeah, those were strange times. I have to say that working a caravan was <em>nothing</em> like what Master Grediv promised.


    Oh? T turned toward him.


    Yeah. I even confronted him about it a couple of times.


    What did he say? She was actually curious.


    At first, he just rolled his eyes, as he usually does when I challenge him on something he believes is obvious. Regardless, when I persisted, he challenged me to go hear stories from other Mages who had worked the caravans.


    And?


    And his ounting, advice, and forewarnings were correct. It was our caravan that was strange. He flicked his eyes to her and then away, his smile taking on a teasing lilt.


    T narrowed her eyes, You mean that <em>I</em> was strange.


    He looked at her with visible confusion,  was?


    T grimaced, but then they bothughed, and she shook her head. I walked right into that, didnt I?


    Just a bit.


    She gave him a longer than usual look before reaching out to brush some of the newly falling snow off his shoulder. When did you find your feet?


    It was an awkwardly worded question, but he seemed to understand her meaning, and he shrugged. I went on sort of a journey after you vanished. I had to interact with a <em>lot</em> of people before I even knew where I wanted to go.he shruggedI had to grow up in ways I didnt even realize I was still acting the child. I had to get over my awkwardness at least the best that I could.


    He smiled, a bit of his awkwardness showing through. T smiled in return, Huh.


    A momentter, she turned toward Bandfast, helped by ts easy identification of thendmarks.


    She shook herself, freeing a little snow from her shoulders. Shall we?


    Rane nodded once, Absolutely. After you.


    * * *


    They took a leisurely pace through the wilds, allowing both of them to practice techniques that were harder to utilize within a training room or a city.


    Rane practiced purposefully bouncing from tree to tree, using his magics to redirect his kic energy from each tform without actually harming the trunks or disturbing the snow that perched on the branches.


    He said that he was <em>trying</em> to be able to simply add kic energy onto himself at will, but he was still having trouble getting over the mental block of needing something to push off. He even knew that he wasnt actually pushing off the various somethings, but it was still a block.


    Regardless, it was entertaining to watch the massive man zigzagging through the trees. As thend rose and fell, if he didnt adjust his movement perfectly, he would asionally have to p the ground to gain height or the underside of a branch to drop lower.


    Additionally, he had to spin and twist in the air to position his body to move past obstacles, making it look like nothing so much as a man running an obstacle course, without the need for running.


    T focused on her sight.


    The main reason she had trouble practicing her sight in a training room or even in the city is that to explore it properly, she needed variance and the ability to focus mainly inward.


    She knew that she needed to shift her mental model for her magesight, specifically, but simplycked enough understanding to do so properly.


    Training roomscked the variance, and the city required her attention being directed outward to one degree or other.


    Jogging through the countryside was a near perfect setting for this type of practice.


    She was very frustrated at how she had so much trouble trulybining her mundane vision with magesight and voidsight. It was as if something about the visions didnt <em>want</em> to work together.


    Shed been oveying her mundane vision with either voidsight or magesight for so long that interpreting the ovey was almost second nature. Unfortunately, that way of doing things actually hid details that her mundane sight should easily be able to see, as the bright highlights of her magesight made it much harder to notice minute, mundane details.


    Simrly, voidsight was overtop her mundane sight, so if she was using all three through the same perception, there was even more interference, and it was <em>maddening.</em>


    She didnt want to have to vary what her bloodstar-based, mirrored perceptions were showing. She wanted each of them to show her everything, all the time.


    She even knew it was possible, because there were other versions of magesight that were a greater melding of magesight with normal vision, but they tended to lose detail andplexity on the magical side, so T had opted for the version that she had always used.


    But that was not the crux of the issue. She needed to reframe her magesight, so that it could fit more cleanly in with her mundane vision and voidsight.


    She <em>might</em> need to alter how she saw with her voidsight as well, but that was a much more raw ability,ing from her soulbounds rather than from scripts. Thus, it was much more naturally urate andplete than something constructed could hope to be at the start.


    Thus, she was focusing on her magesight.


    -<em>We need a way of conceptualizing the heights and depths of the dimension of magic, without reusing the words height, depth, width, breadth, and the like.-</em>


    <em>That would be lovely, but where are we going to get the right words for it? Like you say, unless we can conceptualize it, how can we force my mind or magic to parse it correctly?</em>


    <em>-Yeah, we have near and far, but whats the word for something near or far, magically speaking, while in the same physical space?-</em>


    <em>I have no idea </em>And that was a core reason why she couldnt see anything not magically in line with the physical world. It was a limitation she had never even considered, but after Master Grediv exined the City Stones, she realized how obvious it should have been.


    Well, it should have been obvious if she could have seen into the dimensions of magic, but she couldnt.


    <em>Yes, T, if I didnt have the limitation that I have, it would have been obvious that the limitation I have was limiting.</em>


    <em>-Yeah that was confusing even to me, and Im in your head and I </em>am <em>you.-</em>


    T shook her head and sighed, returning to her contemtions.


    She had gotten by so far because she could vaguely sense things that were within the dimensions of magic, and only those that were also physically close to her or those that radiated so much power their effects reached through the intervening space across the magical dimension until they were close enough to her that she could sense them.


    It was effectively like feeling her way in the dark, instead of being able to see.


    That was utterly uneptable.


    It was uneptable because she was leaving herself blind to a whole scope of existence. More than that, the hints that Master Grediv and other Paragons had dropped implied that a better understanding of the dimension of magicand the ability to view her own soul within that frameworkwould be a key aid in her advancement.


    <em>-I still like the words that I suggested, and once we have words for the concepts, we can begin stretching our various sights to convey those ideas.-</em>


    T groused slightly, even as she ran across the snowyndscape. <em>Fine. Lets hear them again.</em>


    t projected a contented smiled, <em>-Superficial for magic that is at zero on the axis, or central point, for the magic dimension.-</em>


    <em>That does make sense, I suppose.</em>


    <em>-Other than that starting ce, we can just use anatomical terms. Posterior for away. Superior, for up. Inferior for down.-</em>


    <em>I still think that superior and inferior will be confusing.</em> She thought for a moment.


    <em>-Stay on task, T. We need up and down in the magical dimension. Ive put forward my ideas. What do you think?-</em>


    <em>Im not sure.</em> T bit her lip, even as she jumped off the top of a low hill, lowering her effective gravity to drift further.


    <em>-Still thinking of anatomy terms: We could always use cranial and caudal? Those are less universal terms, but they convey the same thing.-</em>


    <em>Cranial for toward the head, caudal for toward the tail</em> T grimaced at the inuracy of those.


    <em>-Or down.-</em> t offered, hopefully.


    <em>Yeah, I know thats how you want to use it Let me think about it. Alright?</em>


    <em>-Sure, sure. It was just a suggestion. We just cant progress easily without codifying a way of thinking about this.-</em>


    T knew she was right, even though she was making <em>some </em>progress without having words picked out. <em>We could always use sacred and profane for up and down.</em>


    <em>-We could, but I feel like wed be tainting our mindset before we even started with those words.-</em>


    T sighed, vaulting over a downed log. <em>Yeah.</em>


    She settled in to consider further as she and Rane continued their measured excursion through the Wilds.


    As she considered, she found her mind drifting toward her friends every so often, and as frustrated as she was with her current block, she was excited that she was getting time to spend with those she cared for.

 Chapter 357: See the World

    Chapter 357: See the World


    T had, after a few hours of consideration, finally decided to simply go with ts suggestions for the present moment, mainly because it was easy enough to change her words for things once she had a good understanding, and she really needed to start building up her mental ability to actually process the concepts.


    <em>Alright, in the dimensions of magic, if it is perfectly aligned with the physical world, it is superficial magic. Beyond that, I will refer to the directionality as cranial and caudal.</em>


    Regardless, as soon as shed codified and agreed to the descriptors, it was as if something clicked in her own mind, and she knew her words would need to be changed.


    She slid to a stop, struggling not to fall on her face with the sudden shift in her vision.


    The world around her seemed to bend and distort as her mind continued to try to twist itself to align with her new mental model.


    T fell to her knees, retching. As usual, her inscriptions prevented her from actually disgorging anything from her stomach.


    <em>-Oh that is that is really unpleasant.-</em> t was feeling the dissonance as well.


    It was worse than simply a twisting distortion of her vision and her minds interpretation of it. The means of thinking was rippling backward through her memories, not changing what she saw in those memoriesit wouldnt give her new informationbut altering her memory of the visualizations to match her new grasp.


    Primary among that remodeling was what she had been thinking of as magical depth and was now being reframed as being cranial or caudal.


    To her eyes, all magic began to look sentient, as if every spellworking, every bit of power, was a creature in its own right, moving across the world, or through her own body.


    She nearly gagged, momentarily horrified that this was a reality that shed just never perceived.


    <em>Though is this just because of my mental model? Is there more that I cannot see simply because of my chosen means of perception? My mental model?</em>


    That wayy madness, so she decided to simply let it lie for now.


    T groaned, holding her head for a moment before recing her hands on the ground for support.


    Ranended beside her, T! Whats wrong? Are you okay?


    She waved at him and managed to grunt out. Shift of mental model; its ufortable, but not truly damaging.


    He seemed to hesitate, but then he nodded. Ill stand watch. Focus on what you need to do.


    It was her turn to hesitate, but then she felt a wave of relief.


    <em>That would actually really help.</em>


    Without saying another word, she let her aspect mirrored perspectives vanish, focusing solely on her remodeling sights.


    With her full focus on the issue, she quickly came to realize that cranial and caudal simply wouldnt map onto what she could see, and that was causing dissonance of the highest level.


    <em>The words are wrong for what Im seeing, and trying to force it is causing a hallucinogenic effect.</em>


    t groaned along with her. <em>-Its like we decided a pebble was a big rock and now we have seen a mountain.-</em>


    There simply was no head or tail of magic, and so her knowledge of the biological uses for those terms was breaking this mental model even as it tried to form, and thus breaking her as she tried to force it.


    <em>I reject those terms.</em>


    At the mental pronouncement, the figments and distortions of what she was seeing vanished as quickly as a mirage in the desert.


    Unfortunately, she was left with quite a problem.


    Her entire ethos for her magesight was in flux, and so she was reconsidering everything.


    She had to start somewhere and work her way through what her magesight presented to her.


    <em>Alright, the feature that weve thought of as vor or the specific source before: Do we need to reconsider that? What to call it? vor doesnt </em>really<em> feel exactly right. For me, my magical vor matches my gate, which has a tone that Im just beginning to understand. So, frequency?</em>


    That way of thinking resonated with her, especially because she already knew that frequency was usable in all sorts of situations.


    <em>Alright, that could work. Now, quality of power, or advancement of the source, Ive always seen it as a color, so wavelength?</em>


    An odd, painful buzzing filled her mind, and she immediately rejected that. <em>Right, wavelength and frequency are not independently variable.</em>


    She growled. She was bending her entire mind toward finding the right model. She had started to change her way of thinking, and her magics would break if she didnt settle on something. Blessedly, her increased attention and focus was starting to show fruits. <em>Alright, then alignment for vor.</em>


    She knew that she was still suffering from a bad mental model, and she was trying to build a better one while using her current misunderstandings, but she pressed onward.


    Even so, considering the concept of alignment brought some rity.


    <em>While color is helpfnd I dont want to lose thatwhats often most important in the moment is how the quality rtes to my own power </em>she grimaced.


    t startedughing. <em>-It does make sense.-</em>


    T groused for a moment, but then agreed. <em>For power we will use: superior or inferior, in rtion to my own quality of power.</em>


    Her mental model pulled together more tightly, more coherently.


    <em>Finally, up and down in the magical dimensionthe whole point of this reframing and what we failed tobel cranial or caudal</em>


    T growled, her head beginning to hurt.


    <em>We first really learned about the extent of this via City Stones, and they are deep along this axis, so stoneward?</em>


    <em>-That makes sense to me.-</em>


    <em>What about the other direction?</em>


    They both considered, but it was t who came up with the first reasonable idea. <em>-Starward?-</em>


    <em>Fine. Starward and stoneward, with zero on this axis being superficial.</em>


    A resonant tone rang through her mind, and she recognized it as being the current tone of her own soul, her gate. She was <em>close.</em>


    She gasped, and the world opened before her.


    The ground between her hands was magically saturated at a superficial level, with neutral power, inferior to hers in quality.


    Her thoughts ground to a halt.


    How could she consider the alignment of magic, if the most prevalent form wasnt aligned at all, yet still worked as if it was aligned with everything at once.


    She started to panic, but together, she and t reassessed.


    <em>Oh thats really silly.</em>


    <em>-But it would work.-</em>


    And so, they conceptualized the alignment of magic as being a shape the power was solidified into, while neutral was a liquid, unset so it could flow through any opening, regardless of the convoluted nature of the opening in question.


    <em>-Better yet, it fits the alignment mental model.-</em>


    T knew that she was losing rity by settling on such a solution, but she <em>needed</em> to find something, or her natural magics would begin to degrade. Hopefully, it wouldnt be too much of a loss.


    <em>Alright, well take what we can get. What I can see with my magesight can be broken down as follows. t, your help?</em>


    <em>-Starward, superficial, stoneward for up, zero, down through the dimension of magic.-</em>


    <em>Superior, equal, inferior for how the quality rtes to that of our own power. Nonparatively, this is also the color for the advancement of a Mage, arcane, or bit of magic.</em>


    <em>-We can also detect the amount of power, the amount of magic, but thats just a subset of seeing it to begin with.-</em>


    <em>Thats true. Which means that, finally, we can detect the vor of the source of the magic, most easily, we can detect if something is neutral or aligned with our own gate. Though we should be able to detect the origin or alignment of any magic with practice.</em>


    A single chime rang through Ts head, and the pain faded.


    Within her own vision, she could see <em>so</em> much more.


    The magic in the ground was superficial, neutral, inferior power.


    That within the inscriptions in her handswhich were resting on the ground before herwas superficial, aligned to her power, and equivalent to her power quality: yellow with a bare hint of green.


    <em>Of course its equivalent, it </em>is<em> mine.</em>


    -<em>Hush, were reframing.-</em>


    Something new came into her easy sight, somehow not blocking her mundane vision in the least.


    Iron.


    There were two, thinyers of iron over every one of her inscriptions, one stoneward and one starward to the magics contained within.


    As shed somewhat expected, the iron wasnt perfectly hugging the superficialyer. Instead, her natural magics were visible, barely stoneward and starward to her superficial inscriptions.


    It was incredible to actually <em>see</em> her natural magics, rather than just sensing them, and she could see them packed near-to-bursting with power.


    <em>No wonder I can get such greater throughput. With that axis of magic factored in, the cross-section of my inscriptions is</em> T hesitated. She actually had no idea how to calcte the three-dimensional cross-section of something. The very idea seemed like a contradiction in terms.


    <em>Another thing to investigate, I suppose.</em>


    Focusing back on all that she could now see, she looked more closely at the iron itself. That metal was perfectly aligned with her and inferior, magically speaking.


    <em>Good, ack of magic is on the axis as inferior.</em>


    Something tickled at the back of her mind, seeming to indicate that her perception was <em>heavily</em> being influenced by the mental model she had chosen, and that she was missing out on some details, but she squashed that thought before it could destabilize her newborn model.


    Perfection was for another day. Right now, she wanted stability.


    Then, she made the mistake of turning her magesight stoneward.


    That wayy an infinite nothingness, without definition or content, though she did catch something out the corner of her vision, pulling her back from the edge.


    Her eyes moved down to focus on Kit, hanging from her right hip.


    She could see <em>everything.</em>


    Well, not every little detail, but she could see the sanctum as if from a birds eye view, even higher than the actual ceiling of the space.


    Laid out before her vision was a miniscule world. Magically, it was equivalent and aligned with her power, while being stoneward on that axis.


    She had the sense that something about it being aligned with her was allowing her to see all that she could, but it would take further testing to fully understand what that meant.


    The physical dimensions were represented to her sight almost all at once, all connected to the same stoneward locked point that the pouchKitconnected to.


    <em>Deeper down, stoneward, the sanctum shares a location magically speaking?</em> T felt her mind expand as she realized how obvious that was. That was why she could so freely move around within Kit.


    It was very simr to how Master Grediv had described City Stones.


    Kits unified state in the dimensions of magic could be why it took Ts will, her <em>aligning</em> of others with her will in order to move them within Kit. She could also move stuff, but shed never had a problem with that.


    People being moved could fight it with their own alignment and power.


    There was a cascade of connections that she felt like she suddenlyprehended.


    Then, she shifted her vision a bit closer to the superficial and saw what had to be the center of Kits true form.


    It was cute?


    A bundle of magic, perfectly aligned with T and equivalent to her in power.


    <em>No thats thats the content, not the casing.</em>


    There was something akin to natural magic pathways that were inferior and misaligned with T, seeming closer to neutral than Ts own power.


    <em>I have no idea what that means, honestly.</em> She obviously knew what being misaligned meant, but the fact of being closer vs further from neutral was currently a distinction without a difference to her mind.


    She focused in on the little bundle of power, filled with Ts own magic.


    That was Kit.


    The void-beast-turned-sanctum was easily visible as natural pathways, hanging stoneward of the pouch, through which the sanctum was connected.


    It was beautiful, extending both starwardall the way to superficind stoneward to fully encapste the sanctum and a bit beyond.


    Since she had found the core of Kits magic, she was better able to parse the natural magics that made up the creature, even while they were filled with Ts own power.


    T considered why she was able to so easily see the twists and curves that made up Kits magic. <em>Its likely the fact that they are filled with </em>my <em>power</em>


    At that point, T noticed something that she really should have considered before.


    Kit was under stress.


    The inferior nature of Kits magics had suborned them to Ts power, and the two were eroding each other, the superior obviously winning out in the conflict.


    Kit was degrading.


    It didnt seem to be a fast process, but T would bet that if something wasnt done, the natural pathways that she was seeing would be gone within a decade.


    <em>-Thats an awfully broad guess, but I suppose we have only observed for a moment.-</em>


    <em>Yeah We also dont know what full erosion would truly mean. The magics dont look like they would change shape, but Kit might be gone. Whatever that actually means.</em>


    T found that troubling.


    She would have to ask someone at the Constructionist Guild about it. They might not know, but it was better to ask.


    Ranes voice came to her ear. T? Are you doing any better?


    T nodded, rolling back off her knees to sit on the snow.


    There was still a lot of disorientation as she now saw so, so much more in the world around her.


    She was a two-dimensional creature who had just expanded to look upon height.


    <em>-Reasonable analogy. Ill let it slide.-</em>


    <em>Thank you, oh magnanimous one.</em>


    Then, T caught a glimpse of Rane.


    His power was aligned further away from neutral than Ts power. His tightly controlled aura filled the superficial with noise, extending somewhat both starward and stoneward.


    Even so, she <em>thought</em> that if she focused, she would be able to prate the noise.


    <em>Huh, just like before.</em> She had been able to prate peoples aura to see more clearly before, she just hadnt made a habit of it.


    At his belt, two items stood out.


    One was the loop of leather that was both his sheath for Force and his dimensional storage.


    Both had power that was superficial and aligned with Rane, their magic being inferior to her own.


    Oddly, Forces magic seemed to be superior to Ranes power, even while still being inferior to Ts.


    The leather cord had a much, <em>much</em> simpler form than Kit, while still resembling Kit in basic shape.


    As to the expanded space, T could barely catch hints of crates, books, and other items through the interfering noise of Ranes power.


    Once again, she <em>thought </em>she might be able to prate that obscurement with focus, but she decided not to.


    <em>Thats new.</em>


    She momentarily thought that she should be able to see how big the expanded or extra space was, but no. The space simply was.


    Without details, she couldnt measure it, or otherwise determine how much space was there, save by way of a guess based upon the potency of the magics involved.


    The dimensional magic was inferior to Rane and to Kit, so T at least thought she could be sure that his storage was smaller than Kit.


    <em>Yeah, thats not really a helpful measure.</em> Regardless, it was another point of data.


    T?


    She had been staring his waylikely with a somewhat vacant expressionfor a moment or two. Oh! Oh, Im sorry, Rane. I think I am doing better, yes.


    He smiled. Thats good. What mental model shifted, if you dont mind my asking?


    My magesight.


    Oh, wow. Thats a big one. Master Grediv said that it can really affect how Mages perceive the world. Thats one reason why the teaching of deeper mental models for that sight is so discouraged. It is too easy to subvert a persons worldview by altering that.


    Tughed. I mean, thats literally true? It would change how they view the world.


    Rane chuckled along. I actually hadnt thought of it that way. Regardless, its something that we each have to delve into and construct for ourselves, just like with all our mental models,he grinnedjust with a bit more obvious repercussions.


    T felt an odd tug at her awareness and realized that all of Rane was somehow vibrating slightly, magically speaking.


    <em>Truth? Because its resonating with something? Lie, because itsing out of alignment with himself? Both somehow? </em>


    Then, she also caught herself magically fluctuating slightly as well in the corners of her vision. Why was she magically fluctuating?


    <em>This makes no sense at all</em>


    She sighed. True enough. Theres still a lot to get used to.


    He shrugged. Do you want to take some more time? This <em>is </em>a rather peaceful spot, right?


    Only then did T take in their surroundings.


    She had stopped in a little clearing, and through a break in the trees to the north, they could see mountains.


    It wasnt anything really special, but it was nice, just as Rane had said.


    She checked the time and found that they had some to spare, You know what?


    He looked her way once more. Hmm?


    Lets eat lunch here before moving on.


    He smiled broadly. That sounds like a n.

 Chapter 358: Something Crazy

    Chapter 358: Something Crazy


    T and Rane sat in the snow, beside arge rock, enjoying the wonderful lunch prepared by Mistress Petra.


    The light falling of snow was starting to obscure the distant mountains, but they both had enough enhancement to their eyes that it wouldnt be a problem until the snowfall got a lot heavier.


    Even so, the trees near at hand were also seen through a haze of snow that gave the scene a surreal, painting-like aesthetic.


    It was lovely.


    The food was warm, and thepany was pleasant as they chatted about random things,ughing over their own missteps and the situations theyd gotten themselves into.


    T also had some stories about her unitand their anticsthat Rane hadnt heard before.


    T was enjoying herself enough that she had neglected to renew her aspect mirrored perceptions, and t didnt bother to interrupt her about it. The alternate interface simply left the two to their lunch.


    Regardless, interruption came when T saw a flicker out of the corner of her eye,ing from her finger.


    Her head jerked as she turned her gaze on the magic, and Rane cut off mid-sentence before asking, T?


    I just saw something that her eyes widened as she actually saw what had grasped her attention.


    Therewrapped around her finger and resting just starward and out of alignment with the physical worldwas her Archive ring.


    It was among a tangle of other magics, so she hadnt really noticed it to focus on the magics with her altered magesight previously.


    At the moment, however, it was pulsing with ripples of power, magic seeming tounch towardand return fromstarward


    <em>No, that isnt right.</em>


    The magics seemed to fade as they moved starward, and others faded into view as they came stoneward, back to the ring. Was she seeing echoes of the magics or something else entirely?


    <em>t?</em>


    <em>-Hmm? Oh. That is odd.-</em>


    The pulses stopped.


    <em>-Wait-</em>


    They began again.


    <em>-T, your ring is linked to the connection to the Archive. I was sorting through some things while you were engaged.-</em>


    T spluttered internally. <em>What!? Im not</em>


    She would have continued, but t cut across her. <em>-T! Otherwise engaged. Meaning doing something else.-</em>


    Ts thoughts were silent for an instant. <em>Oh</em>


    <em>-Yeah.-</em>


    <em>Well, back to the matter at hand. If what you say is correct, then, what were seeing is faint because the magic isnt actually here, its going from anding to the other half of the ring?</em> T decided to go the route of ignoring what just happened.


    t sighed but didnt press the issue. <em>-That would be my guess, yeah. Were seeing the resonance that either allows</em><em>or is a result of</em><em>the unified connection.-</em>


    <em>Huh. So, the Archive is starward?</em>


    <em>-That is the implication, I believe.-</em>


    <em>That is huh. I suppose that makes sense.</em>


    <em>-Hmmm Should we call it Archiveward then?-</em>


    <em>No.</em> T cut off that line of thinking immediately. <em>We might change how we think of it eventually, but not now. We need time to let our mental model set, or were going to shatter our own magics.</em>


    She had been staring at her hand for a long momentcontemting and internally dialoguing with tbefore Rane ced his hand on her shoulder, T? Is everything alright?


    T jerked again, pulled from her internal musing. Oh! Oh, I apologize, Rane. Yeah. My shift in mental model is revealing a few things that I hadnt considered before


    She trailed off at the end.


    Rane, Im going to look at Flow; I havent yet, and I think that its going to distract me for at least a moment.


    Rane patted her shoulder and shifted back and away. Fair enough. Take your time. Ill take watch.


    She smiled gratefully up at him as he stood, finishing thest bites of his food. By the sounds of it, he hopped up onto the rock theyd been sitting beside to get a better vantage.


    With a sigh, knowing that she was safe, T closed her eyes, drawing Flow and holding it before her.


    Then, she opened her eyes and looked upon her knife.


    Flow was surroundedstoneward and starwardwith iron, all perfectly aligned with the weapon, physically speaking. Beyond that, she could see the magics that made the knife what it was much more clearly with her altered magesight.


    The magic pathways weaving through the iron, her own power flowing through the turns and twisting patterns.


    All the magic was hers, unlike with Kit.


    T could also feel the resonance between the knife and her own soul, but she thought that was more to do with her recent training to feel her own soul more rather than her shift in magesight.


    One effect of that resonanceor an effect additional to the resonancewas that the magic moving through Flows spellforms seemed to have no source, simplying into being within the patterns.


    <em>So, is that what something soulbound looks like?</em> That was interesting.


    With afortably familiar flex of her will and power, she pushed Flow into the form of a sword.


    The magics around the de activated as the weapon expanded into the familiar handle with a wire outline of a de above it. As always, the body of the de was seemingly just heat and power rather than metal.


    The iron pushed outward along the dimension of magic spread out with Flows expansion, settling down closer to the superficial as it had a greater area to spread across.


    Simrly, it thinned further as she pushed Flow into the form of a ive.


    <em>Fascinating.</em> The iron that was tucked stoneward or starward was very densely packed, and even so, it extended each of those directions for what seemed like a couple of feet when Flow was in knife form.


    <em>So that means that oh, wow. How do I calcte how much can be stored into a fourth dimension? Do I approach it like trying to find how much area can be stored in a given volume?</em>


    The very idea made her head begin to hurt.


    <em>Oh, rust me, there is no way</em>


    Blessedly, t interrupted, <em>-I think thats the wrong way to think about it more urately, I dont think thats how you </em>are<em> thinking about it.-</em>


    T considered for a long moment before nodding, realizing that her alternate interface was correct. <em>Right, one increment away on the dimension of magic should contain as much as the superficialyer. I have no idea what one increment is, but I dont actually need to know, I suppose.</em>


    <em>-Precisely. And around Flow in ive form is about fifty increments of iron in each direction.-</em>


    To Ts magesight, each increment in the magical dimension appeared to be about tenth of an inch, but she knew that was just an arbitrary appearance to give her mind something to grasp onto, rather than the reality of things.


    <em>-Regardless, it works quite well for interpretation.-</em>


    <em>Thank you, I think so too.</em> Thus, she had about a hundred times as much iron by volume as Flow took up in ive form.


    <em>-Wow, you have one hundred Flow ives of iron. Youll use anything as a unit of measurement, wont you?-</em>


    <em>It fits.</em> T said defensively. <em>Regardless, I think there is close to six thousand pounds.</em>


    <em>-Plus what you have around your inscriptions.-</em>


    <em>Plus that, yeah.</em> She smiled. Thank you, Rane. I think I understand, now.


    She spun out her bloodstars, aspect-mirroring her perceptions back into ce.


    The world came into her mind once more, and she felt herself tense a bit. Ironically, now that she could watch in every direction, she felt more on edge, more like she was about to be attacked.


    She noted the feeling but didnt dwell on it.


    Rane nodded at herment, walking back her way. That was faster than I expected.


    She shrugged. Basically everything I needed was in my head, so


    <em>Oh rust.</em>


    She gave him a sheepish look, and heughed, spinning on his heel to go back to the rock that hed been sitting on.


    Forgot something?


    Yeah Thank you, Rane.


    He waved over his shoulder before, spinning around and sitting down once more. Happy to help.


    She kept her mirrored perspectives active as she refocused her attention onto Flow.


    <em>-Void forms?-</em>


    <em>Void forms.</em>


    Flow shrunk back to the shape of a knife, the iron seeming to thicken in the dimension of magic with the transition.


    T nodded to herself and worked her will upon the weapon.


    Nothing changed with the iron connected to the weapon, and the knife became the void-de that she was used to.


    <em>Huh I suppose I should have expected that.</em>


    <em>-Nothing?-</em>


    <em>Precisely. Why would the dimension of magic be altered by void?</em>


    <em>-Void </em>magic<em> I would think? But youre probably right.-</em>


    Just to be sure, T checked the other void-forms, and aside from redistributing identically to how it did with the normal forms, the iron didnt react to Flows change in shape.


    <em>Yeah, that makes sense.</em> She grinned and stood. Thank you, Rane.


    He looked her way from the rock. Are you sure? Or are you just trying to make me do more squats?


    Tughed. Im pretty sure. If I think of anything else, I can test it or look into itter.


    She quickly tucked the remains of their lunch into Kit and stood.


    Shall we?


    He gestured. After you.


    She rolled her eyes and huffed augh, shaking her head. See you in Bandfast.


    She bent low andunched herself powerfully into the air and away, altering her gravity as she did so to sail a good distance.


    <em>-Nice jump!-</em>


    <em>Thank you, I really think Im Wait. Why are youmenting?</em> T narrowed her eyes in suspicion.


    <em>-That really was a well executed jump. The thing is Bandfast is that way.- </em>t highlighted a direction behind and to Ts right within her vision. <em>-And Rane is already moving in that direction.-</em>


    Tnded, flushing with embarrassment. <em>Not one more word.</em>


    t sent agreement and remained silent as T turned and moved in the correct direction.


    After a few minutes, T grudgingly sent, <em>Thank you, t.</em>


    <em>-Happy to help.-</em>


    * * *


    T wasnt sure if Rane let her catch back up, or if he had some bad luck that slowed him down enough for her to do so. Regardless, they arrived on a hill overlooking Bandfast at nearly the same time.


    Neither of themmented on her odd choice of starting direction or on who might have actually arrived first.


    The sun was barely past noon, so they had made good time regardless.


    T felt an odd tightness within her chest. It looks the same.


    Rane tilted his head to the side, a small smile on his lips. Did you expect different?


    She shook her head. No Yes? It feels a bit like it did going back to Marliweather the first time. Bandfast was my home, but it isnt any more. I think of it differently, so it shouldnt look the same.


    He nodded hesitantly. I That sounds confusing for you.


    She chuckled under her breath. Yeah, well were going to see a lot of things changing through the decades and centuries, but not yet. For now, life continues, and humanity crawls ever forward.


    They stood on that hill for another few minutes.


    Rane seemed to be about to say something, when T reached up to touch the back of her neck, her through-spike. You know, Im a bit tired of hiding. I dont mind pulling my metal back around most people, but I dont like hiding it this way.


    He frowned. Oh? That seemed out of nowhere.


    She shrugged. I doubt Ill do anything about it, but Im finding myself disliking the deception, she tsked, So much about our lives is deception, and I understand the need for much of it, but do I really need an active illusion on me at almost all times?


    Rane shrugged. You could ask Mistress Jenna for her opinion. Shes who gave it to you, right? Or Mistress Holly? She always has words that shes willing to speak on such topics. Even Mistress Lyn is likely to have an opinion if you care to hear it.


    T smiled at that. Yeah, she will. She looked to Rane. Come on. Lets go.


    Together, they turned and walked down toward the gates of Bandfast.


    The outer defensive towers drew closer until they were within easy view, and T marveled at the intricate <em>natural</em> magics that were woven throughout the nearest.


    She knew for a fact that there were custom-made, massive spellforms for whichever Mage was currently on duty within the tower to use for defensive purposes, so the magics that she was seeing were something else.


    When she noticed how they extended stoneward, she thought that she understood.


    <em>This is meant to be part of the current outer boundary for the magical funnel. That magic is anchoring the funnel to the superficial in order to prevent it from expanding or falling further away.</em>


    Out of curiosity, as she kept walking, she allowed her magesight to turn stoneward.


    She didnt really see anything out of the ordinary save the edges of some natural magics, weaving through the otherwise empty reaches of the dimension of magic.


    There was a higher degree of magical density as she looked further stoneward, but that was it, until


    T staggered.


    It was like looking at a mountain peak, and when she focused on the peak, suddenly realizing that it was, in fact, directly above her.


    In this case, the peak that she could see was a <em>zing</em> well of power, and it was directly stoneward of her, now that they were within the city limits.


    In fact, what she saw seemed to actually be one of the Stones for which shed named the direction.


    <em>Thats the Bandfast Stone.</em>


    There were intricates of magic that seemed to be constantly filtering the power that was being sucked stoneward out of the city.


    <em>No, not filtered</em> T didnt understand what was happening, but it almost looked like the magics from various sources were being mixed as they came stoneward, until they reached a neutral state, and then that portion would be let through to the Stone.


    It was a hideouslyplex working.


    Rane had ced a hand on her shoulder when she stumbled, and he spoke, drawing her attention back to the superficial, See something?


    The She caught herself. Rane likely didnt know of the City Stones. I think I see the citys magical grid.


    Oh! That must be fascinating. Yeah, I cant wait until Im able to alter my sight to have a look. Master Grediv always gets coy when I ask about how it works.


    <em>Ill bet.</em> As she continued to take in that which was stoneward of the entire area, she realized that there was in fact a pulling in of the physical dimensions as the magical one decreased. It seemed that without anything physically in those dimensions stoneward, they were able to draw closer together, though trying to conceptualize what that actually meant made her head hurt.


    Regardless, when she realized some of the implications of what she was seeing, T had an idea blossom within her mind.


    <em>-Oh Oh! Is that how their transportation magic works?-</em>


    <em>Well, I dont know if thats how </em>they<em> do itthough, Id be surprised if it isbut I think it would work for us?</em>


    T turned a bright smile toward Rane.


    Heughed. You just thought of something crazy, didnt you?


    She hesitated, then nodded in admission, her smile barely fading. Yeah, yes I did.


    We made great time; do you want to go to the Archon Compound or Constructionist Guild to test your crazy idea out with backup? You said Mistress Lyn and Kannis arent expecting us until dinner, so theyre likely at work right now.


    Her smile returned to full strength. That is an excellent idea. Lets go.


    They set out once again, a spring in their step, which for their level of advancement meant they were moving at a ground-eating pace.


    After about a half a mile, Rane turned to nce her way.


    Can I know what this idea is?


    She nced back. Hmm? Oh, nothing too extreme.mischief gleamed in her eyesIm just pretty sure that I can increase my gravitational attraction along the axis of the dimension of magic.

 Chapter 359: Without Issue or Fanfare

    Chapter 359: Without Issue or Fanfare


    T and Rane walked through the open gates of Bandfast without issue or fanfare, simply joining the near constant traffic moving in and out at this time of day.


    As they entered, T asked t to send a few pertinent messages through the Archive.


    One was to Lyn and Kannis, letting them know that they were in the city and confirming their scheduled meet-up at Lyns house that evening.


    The second was to Mistress Elnea, the head of the local Archon Council, letting her know that T had entered the city, per protocol. It was helpful to know when anyoneRefined or abovewas in the city as they could show up oddly on the detection grid on asion, and it saved some hassle for the defenders to know who to watch for as expected.


    The final was to Mistress Ingrit, the Librarian who had helped T so much, and who was still managing the ess to her memories from the arcanends. t and T asked Mistress Ingrit about the best ce and assistant for the testing of a theory and working rting to the dimension of magic.


    Lyn responded quite quickly. Though, that was likely only the case because her job required that she work with her Caravan-Guild-assigned Archive te, and the message would have been immediately obvious in those circumstances.


    T and Rane had barely walked a block from the gate before that reply came in.


    <em>-Oh, hey! Lyn says, Wee back! Excited to grab dinner this evening. See you, then. That was kind of her.-</em>


    <em>Can you let her know we got the message?</em>


    <em>-Already done.-</em>


    <em>Thank you.</em>


    They had only traversed another two blocks through pedestrian and vehicr trafficall feet, hooves, paws, and wheels working together to churn the still-falling snowbefore a response came from Mistress Elnea.


    Well, it was a response to the message that they had sent to Mistress Elnea. The magical signature on the response didnt belong to the Paragon.


    t couldnt quite ce the person who had responded. So they assumed that theyd either never met her, or only seen her in passing without getting a good peek at her magics.


    <em>-She conveyed a thank you for letting them know of your arrival. When she asked, I informed her that you were here for a short visit and werent interested in any standard work. Even so, if anything was needed that was particr to you and your abilities, youd happily hear the request.-</em>


    <em>Thank you, yet again.</em>


    t sent a mental shrug. <em>-This is what I was designed to do. The fact that I do more is testament to how amazing we are.-</em>


    Ts mouth pulled up on one side. <em>And humble, dont forget humble.</em>


    <em>-It </em>is<em> humble to have a correct assessment of our capacities. False humility is not humbleness, nor is allowing things that we are capable of doing to go undone for fear of being seen as prideful.-</em>


    Her smile manifested fully. <em>True enough.</em>


    Finally, when they were passing into the inner ring, Mistress Ingrit responded.


    <em>-Shes asking for a brief description of what we intend. I assume its alright for me to exin your idea?-</em>


    <em>Absolutely, thank you for asking.</em> t would have already known how T would respond, but something about being asked anyway helped her rx.


    <em>-She is surprised that she isnt surprised by the oddity of the idea, but she doesnt see an issue in theory. Theres a couple of Refined, who owe us for memories shared, whom shes getting lined up. They have specialties that </em>should<em> be able to help mitigate the risks. We should head to the Archon Compound.-</em>


    T grinned, turning to Rane, Shall we go to the Archon Compound? We have some people expecting us.


    Rane gave her a side-eyed look. You have it all arranged ahead of time, then?


    Yes.


    That seems unlike you.his eyes widened, and he flushedI mean


    T held up a hand to forestall him. Its fine, Rane. I know I often rush into things, but this seemed like it was important to have some safeguards in ce.


    He smiled and shook his head slightly. Well, lets see what we can do, then.


    They made their way to the Archon Compound in the center of the city, down the long hallway, and into the atrium.


    The receptionists greeted them and ushered them toward a testing room on the lower floor.


    The Refined area beneath Bandfast was almost perfectly identical to that beneath Alefast, being made of the samework of wide, vaulted passages, and having the same facilities within, in basically the same configuration.


    The main differences were in the materials usedgiven that they were in a different section of bedrock whenpared to Alefast.


    <em>I wonder if all the Archon Compounds are the same?</em>


    <em>-Id bet so. With Refined and above moving around so rtively often, they likely want some stability and familiarity. Plus, these are the facilities for the defenders of the city. It would be foolish to juggle them around just to be different. In defensive situations, moments matter.-</em>


    <em>Thats fair.</em>


    T had never actually been in one of the testing rooms in this lower facility. In Alefast, she had done her training in one or another of the big fighting arenas below the Archon Compound.


    Regardless, the massively thick iron door standing open on one side of the hall made it obvious that theyd reached their destination.


    Interestingly enough, T could see that there was iron extending starward and stoneward of the door as well, likely to help passively contain whatever higher-level magics were to be utilized within.


    She had the usual mild desire for the iron but given her certain knowledge that it was not hers and never would be, there wasnt <em>really </em>a pull or temptation. After all, there was no reasonable way that shed ever own the metal, here.


    The door was standing open, and T saw inside with ease, recognizing the iron-d walls, ceiling, and floor, all with iron somehow forced outward along the magical dimension to make the space incredibly insted to such power, even before the active defenses.


    Additionally, with the Stonewaiting stoneward and pulling all power to drain in that directionmagic would have a hard time going truly out of control.


    Within the room waited two figures, both barely taller than T, herself.


    As T and Rane entered, Rane immediately bowed to the two, as they were more advanced than him.


    T and the two exchanged the nods of equals.


    The man spoke first. You must be Mistress T, correct?


    I am.


    He smiled. I am Anam.


    Good to meet you, Master Anam. This is mypanion, Rane.


    Master Anam gave a shallow nod to Rane once again, Greetings, Master Rane. This is my wife, Spiora.


    T nodded to Mistress Spiora again, Greetings, Mistress Spiora.


    Hello. The womans voice was soft, like a warm summer breeze. It almost sounded timid, but there was a subtle strength in the single word that, instead, conveyed a simple tendency to use precisely the volume needed.


    Well, I think I should describe what I am going to attempt, while Rane closes the door, and you two can let me know your thoughts?


    The two nodded, and Rane moved to close the door withoutment.


    I manipte the gravitational attraction of objects toward one another. Unlike most, I do not work with areas, but individual targets.


    The two shared a look but didnt interrupt.


    Recently, I have been able totch onto reality nodes and increase their attraction to each other, but without too much of an effect.


    That got a raised eyebrow from Mistress Spiora, but she still waited silently and patiently as T continued.


    Thus, I would like to increase my own gravitational pull along the axis of the magical dimension. If it works as I expect, I believe that I could effectively bob to a different ce in the city. She nced toward Rane who had just secured the iron door.


    Master Anam nodded. I see. Is Master Rane familiar with City Stones?


    Rane spoke up for himself in this regard, I know of the concept, but not the particrs.


    The two Refined shared a look, before nodding. Master Anam continued, Very well. You may have already considered all of them, but there are six things that you should be concerned about, that we will go over.


    Ts eyes widened, Oh?


    He smiled. First, the traditional way this is done involves imposing a type of magical buoyancy into the space within the transport room, before pulling it down and letting it move back up to the correct ce. If I understand what you are proposing correctly, you will be giving yourself a vector of movement along the axis of magic, correct?


    Yes.


    Then, how will youe back to the proper level?


    T nodded. My intention is to establish a pull back to this level first, then ovee it with an outward pull along the axis. Then, when I break that second working, the first should return me here.


    Master Anam tilted his head to the side, considering. That should work.


    He looked to his wife, and she nodded as well.


    He continued in a professional tone, Very well. Second, time passes differently as you move along the axis. Toward the Archive, time moves slower, rtive to us, toward the Stone time passes more quickly. The next two issues lie there. One is that your gate will not increase its flowrate, rtive to here. If you go too deep, you could easily be power-starved. It sounds like the workings you will set up will mitigate that risk, as you will not need to enact new magics, is that correct?


    She nodded again. It is.


    Still, T was reeling just a bit from the provided information. <em>Variable timestreams?</em>


    <em>-More like one timestream with a gradient along this axis, but I get what you mean. It does exin why the Archive is so stable. It is far starward, so time must be passing incredibly slowly.-</em>


    <em>But, shouldnt that make it slow to ess?</em>


    <em>-Only if adding to or taking from the information there actually took any time, but such actions are instantaneous in the most literal sense. No time is required for the process so the lengthening of a second wouldnt affect it.-</em>


    <em>I Im not sure I understand exactly, but I think I do?</em>


    <em>-I think we do, too, but thats not the most helpful check.-</em>


    Master Anam continued, pulling Ts focus back. Then, the final of the first three issues is that your mind is simrly tied to this level within the dimension of magic. Even if you have the means, do <em>not</em> change that. Doing so will misalign your mind and your soul in ways that are <em>very </em>difficult to fix.


    T considered for a long moment before nodding. I have the capacity to process incredibly quickly, so it shouldnt be an issue even without shifting my minds perception of time.


    He regarded her for a long moment. Very well. My specialty is the triune rtionship between body, mind, and soul. If there are issues, I should be able to keep you from passing on.


    She swallowed, feeling slightly nervous for the first time, Well, thank you for that.


    Mistress Spiora stepped forward just a bit. Without the cage of the transportation room, your body will <em>not</em> be tied to this timestream. Oddly, my husband has proven that that doesnt cause a synchronization issue with your soul or mind, though we are unsure of why. Regardless, if you arent careful, you can suffocate, die of dehydration, or starve before you even know anything is wrong. Though once again, this is theoretically only an issue if you go too far.


    T took a moment to consider. That shouldnt be an issue for me, so long as it isnt days or weeks.


    Unless you go past the Stone, it shouldnt be that long, and within a city if you go that far youd pop regardless. That is the next issue: Dont go near the Stone. Its far, but not incredibly so. From what you described, what youll be doing is akin to skipping along the surface of the ocean, where the bottom is the danger that Im warning about now.


    She nodded regardless. Right, another danger of going too deep.


    Precisely.


    And the sixth thing?


    There is something akin to the coefficient of friction, keeping everything physical aligned with us, here. You will require quite a bit of force to ovee that, but dont let that tempt you into reckless overuse of power, or you will be thrown far, <em>far</em> beyond where you want to go.


    T nodded slowly in understanding. <em>Or like surface tension I suppose.</em>


    She considered for another moment before smiling.


    Alright, I think I understand the issues.


    The two shared a look then shrugged. Master Aman smiled when he looked back. Very well, then. One thing that I can doif you will entrust me with one of your soulbound itemsis draw you back to it, in the case of disaster.


    Rane had listened to all of this with rapt attention, clearly trying to absorb all that he could. Now, he seemed to have reached his limit. Wait, you can draw someone to their soulbound item?


    That is what I said, yes. More urately, I can create a mutual draw, which can act as a guide to the person. It wouldnt normally be enough to matter, most people wouldnt even feel it, but Mistress T will effectively be in a frictionless vacuum. Any force, no matter how small, will eventually be enough to draw her back, so long as she breaks her working after it pulls her out of what we consider the physicalyer.


    Rane grunted, then looked to T. It might be wise to leave Kit?


    T cocked her head to the side, then nodded. Yeah, youre right. That is probably wise. The magical weight of the sanctum <em>might</em> affect things.


    She tossed Kit to Rane.


    Keep her safe. T then pulled Flow from her belt in its sparring sheath. This should do for my soulbound item. It was my first.


    Master Amans eyebrows rose at the implication as he received the weapon. Interesting. Bound even before your body, then?


    T nodded.


    Then that will be a very powerful connection indeed.


    Without further need for discussion, the Refined couple and Rane spread out to give T room.


    <em>Alright, first </em>She reached out and targeted her own node of reality, focusing on its gravitational pull toward the nodes of reality that currently surrounded her. She then poured all her focus and iing power into the working, feeling her node pressing outward on the surrounding nodes through her voidsight.


    Physically, it was an odd feeling of closeness andfort. <em>Huh, I wonder if something like this happens when you live somewhere for a long time? Though, it probably isnt gravity.</em>


    <em>-Focus, T.-</em>


    <em>Right!</em>


    She let her watchers know what she was doing and continued the amplification for a full three minutes at her maximum.


    An oddity of the work was that she now felt like she really didnt want to leave this ce. She was content, and might have simply sat down to rest if she werent in the middle of a task.


    <em>Yeah, were noting this forter.</em>


    <em>-Noted.-</em>


    The extent to which she powered the amplification was probably overkill, but shed prefer toe back too strongly than linger stoneward.


    That done, she again targeted herself, but this time aimed her amplification at a zone of existence just a few increments stoneward of superficial.


    It was interesting because there were still nodes of reality theresurrounded by void just as all werebut they were utterly empty, as if simply waiting to be filled or otherwise used.


    Regardless, they would do as a focus for her amplification.


    After taking a deep breath and notifying the others that it was time, she began the amplification.


    At just after the four-minute mark, the whole world stuttered and went ck to her mundane sight.


    She felt the barest instant of something akin to slipping across a ledge her footing about to fail her and let her drop, and her eyes widened.


    With now well-honed instincts, T canceled her own effective gravity, and hoped that shed been quick enough.


    <em>My in ce pull to where I was should correct any fall that might have begun.</em>


    A momentter in the ckness, she cut off the working that was pulling her stoneward, taking in her surroundings as she trusted in her original working to reverse her momentum and draw her back.


    There truly was nothing visible to her mundane sight.


    Nothing existed, physically, this far stoneward.


    Quickly looking back through her memory of the very startright after the physical world had gone ckshe had caught a glimpse of a Flow-shaped blob of iron for a bit longer than shed seen anything else. Even the iron of her surroundings hadnt been visible for quite as long.


    To her magesight, however, there was no difference.


    She kept her sight focused, ignoring the City Stone stoneward of her in favor of near surroundings.


    She could still see all of the magic that shed seen before, and without the interference of her mundane sight, she could see rather minute details, though not as finely depicted as before.


    Her thoughts were racing to enact all of the changing magics and make all these observations, as it had been less than a second since the world had gone dark to her mundane vision.


    <em>-Huh, I think I can feel the change to timeflow around our body. Our heart rate is rather regted in any given situation by our inscriptions, and so I can count the beats.-</em>


    <em>Sounds like a n.</em>


    It took what seemed to be ten seconds to her body before she felt that she was nearing the superficial again, based on what her magesight was showing her.


    She was about to resurface, when she had a thought.


    Shed been practicing with her through-spike, after all


    She grinned mischievously for the barest moment before making her decision.


    T flicked back into being bare seconds after shed vanished, from the perspective of those watching.


    They had barely even had a chance to move. Ranes eyes were still wide, his eyebrows raised, from her sudden disappearance.


    But something was different.


    T was hunched, her hair gray, her skin wrinkled.


    Her voice was shaking as she asked, How did it go for you all?


    Three sets of eyes stared at her in brief horror.


    What? Then, she acted like she noticed her own voice. Whats wrong with my voice?


    She lifted a hand and stepped back in feigned shock.


    My hands! Did I go too deep?


    Then, Mistress Spiora snorted augh, pulling the two men out of their shock. Mistress T, Refined dont age.


    T stopped, then she lost herposure and cracked a grin. She straightened, and her through-spike illusion returned to normal. Thats fair enough.


    Rane was rubbing his face even as he shook his head.


    Master Aman had a small smile, I take it there was sess, then?


    T nodded triumphantly. Yes. First test,plete.

 Chapter 360: Let It Go

    Chapter 360: Let It Go


    T allowed her effective gravity to return to normal as she stood firmly in the testing room. Then, she stretched, feeling her body almost seem to realign after its moments of weightlessness.


    She cleared her throat, and looked directly to the two Refined, We need to add something else to the list of warnings.


    They shared a look before Mistress Spiora pulled out an Archive te, an almost hungry look in her eyes. What did you experience?


    Gravity. I was still in existence, but there was nothing holding me up, and I would have started to fall if I hadnt noticed something while still standing on the iron sheathing around this ce within the dimension of magic. I was basically slipping toward a precipice when I noticed and negated the downward force before I went off of it.


    That that actually makes a lot of sense. We have had unbound items go missing.


    Master Aman nodded, considering. It also exins some of the anomalous readings weve gotten.


    His wife spoke again, seemingly continuing his thoughts, And with gravity, that would be pulling the items back toward alignment with us, here, but likely very physically near the center of mass of Zeme.


    Then, the theories of high matter concentrations in the far magic dimensions


    Could just be from those who didnt parse their data well or who didnt have the right sort of measurements.


    T frowned. Wait. I cant be the first person to have done something like this.


    The first? Absolutely not. There are those like us who send items to learn more about the dimension of magic, and there have been some, historically, who have dipped their toes in the waters, but some vanished without a trace, and others kept their notes private, not trusting anyone else with ess so that the information is lost now.


    T grunted, feeling irritated and wanting to do something to correct the injustice, but t responded before T could ask her.


    -<em>All notes and memories of possibly pertinent events are actively shared with Mistress Ingrit.-</em>


    <em>What about?</em> T briefly thought about a certain cell and the prisoner within.


    <em>-Yeah, no. Thats not spreading because of us.-</em>


    T flickered her existence defense, just in case. She didnt know if it would do anything, but there was no way shed let that prisoner get an attachment to her if she could stop it with something so simple.


    The two Refined moved backward, eyes widening, but their further reactions were utterly different.


    Mistress Spiora was suddenly covered in what seemed to be a transparent suit of diamonds that moved with her perfectly.


    <em>No, not diamonds but simr visual effect?</em>


    Additionally, Mistress Spioras hands came up, magic gathering across her palms.


    Master Aman simply lifted his hand as if ready to snap his fingers, before he asked, What was that?


    A precaution against something that doesnt affect you.


    They shared another look, before Mistress Spiora shook her head, her defenses fading, while her husband lowered his hand. She sighed, I suppose well have to take your word on that. Did you need us further?


    T grinned. Oh, yes. I have quite a few more things to test. Pull me out in five minutes?


    The two sighed, before Master Aman pulled out a pair of chairs, hesitated then pulled out a third for Rane.


    Rane thanked the man as they all sat.


    As they were getting settled, Mistress Spiora cleared her throat tentatively. Mistress T. I hope you are aware that that is plenty of time for you to drift too far.


    I appreciate your concern, but I think its worth the risk.


    Rane shifted slightly, drawing her gaze before he spoke, What can I do?


    She considered for a moment before shrugging, I apologize, but I dont think there is anything. Im sorry for wasting your time. If you want to leave, we can meet upter?


    He shook his head with a smile. No waste, and I dont wish to leave. This is fascinating, and its giving me a lot to think about.


    She smiled in return, then looked back to the Refined couple. Ready?


    They conferred briefly, then nodded, Mistress Spiora speaking for them, We are ready.


    T still had her working in ce, anchoring her to the superficial, so she began amplifying her pull stoneward once again.


    This time, she amplified it toward an empty reality node less far removed from the superficial.


    That should allow her to get enough force to break free more quickly.


    As she felt the beginnings of the pull stoneward, she broke her bonds of gravity pulling her downward, so that she floated up a bare fraction of an inch from the floor before her mundane sight went ck.


    She moved stoneward more quickly. It was barely an instant before she arrived at the node that was the aim of her amplified gravity, starting to oscite a bit as she came to a near rest in ce.


    That done, she verified the state of herself.


    She had a good lungful of air, which was an additional boon, even if she could get on without it.


    There was the oddck of pressure which Mistress Spiora had warned her of, and T had barely felt during herst, brief test.


    Now, floating in the emptiness, the feeling was akin to an odd tightness of her own skin, like her skin was fighting against her bodys desire to expand outward.


    It wasnt the mostfortable feeling, even if it wasnt dangerous.


    Her eyes felt more pressureas well as other types of attempted degradationthan her skin, but their defensive inscriptions were more than sufficient to keep them intact and functional.


    With her physical safety verified, she began to look around, testing the extent of her magesight.


    First, she panned stoneward and starward within the testing room that she was using.


    As she did so, she really couldnt see much, as nothing much seemed to exist away from the point of origin, along the dimension of magic. It was like staring straight up at an empty sky.


    <em>Or out at an unbroken ocean.</em>


    -<em>We simply cant perceive everything at once. We arent able to grasp it. At least not yet. Lets sweep outward.-</em>


    <em>Whatyer of the dimension should we focus on?</em>


    <em>-Lets look around at the level of the Stone?-</em>


    <em>Oh, thats a good idea.</em> T shifted her focus to that level, then cast her gaze outward, immediately seeing many somethings in the distance spread out around her.


    T gasped, releasing her held breath.


    <em>The other Stones. I didnt consider it, but of course we should be able to see them. They arent that far awaynot reallyand there shouldnt be anything in the way.</em>


    They were above or below, physically, but now that she was looking at the right level, magically, they were obvious to her magesight, zing in the distance.


    T looked around, turning in ce as she counted. <em>With Alefast, Waning, near its end, the new Alefast wont have a Stone yet, so there should be twelve?</em>


    t cleared her non-existent throat. -<em>Um I count fourteen.-</em>


    Some were in nearly a perfect line<em></em>leading away from T<em></em>but at different heights, physically. That allowed T to see them with rtive ease. <em>Yeah I count fourteen too. And the spacing for those two is off. Where are they?</em>


    All of those that T could see were of significantly varied power, making it rather obvious which were newerpared to the others.


    The two that she could see that didnt fit the expected pattern were both much weaker, and they seemed to be positioned out toward the ins in which the moving viges could be found.


    <em>Do you think that a couple of the viges could be trying the City Stone method to augment their other stabilizing techniques?</em>


    <em>-That seems quite possible.-</em>


    <em>Still worth noting Do you think the Archon Counsels know how obvious the cities are when looked at in this way?</em>


    <em>-I think that is the entire cause of the swelling power and purpose for the wanings.-</em>


    T frowned. <em>After hundreds of years? </em>After a moments thought, she answered her own question, <em>On the scale of reality, that is quick. Isnt it</em>


    Thest wasnt a question, but t answered anyways, <em>-Yeah. I think thats a rather good guess.-</em>


    That was fascinating to consider.


    Even so, she didnt have long to look around, so now that she knew she could see the City Stones, T began sweeping her magesight around all that wasid out surrounding her.


    If she focused on the superficial, she could actually see into the city around the testing room, but it was like looking from a distance. Though she could oddly see around physical barriers, and it was only her magesight that gave her input.


    It was almost like looking through a window, with how disconnected and oddly turned everything seemed to her sight.


    <em>Because Im misaligned with them, seeing everything from an oblique angle.</em>


    Not wanting to happen upon things that she didnt want to have seen, she moved her focus back to the dimensions of magic, like turning her eyes back toward the sky.


    As she did, she saw <em>something</em> move.


    It was out of the edge of her sight, and when she shifted her perspective to try to find it, she couldnt.


    Regardless, it left her feeling suddenly incredibly exposed, dangling there surrounded by emptiness.


    With barely a thought, Iron and white steel welled out of her, coating her inyered defenses.


    She looked about, feeling a moment of almost frantic panic, like there were things in the darkness around her, and eyes were looking at her from every direction.


    On a terrible hunch, she focused on her voidsight and found what she had expected. Everything around her wasposed of empty reality nodes, abutting one another throughout.


    As they were empty, however, there was nothing to obscure the void that surrounded each node, and through the voidas if through barely translucent ssT caught glimpses of a twisty-not-quite-right side of reality.


    The Doman-Imithe was <em>just</em> visible if she focused.


    But she instantly <em>knew</em>, somehow, that that ce wasnt the source of the motion that shed seen.


    There was something on this side of reality, moving through the dimension of magic like a shark through the deep.


    Shed been stoneward for nearly three minutes by ts connection to the Archive.


    <em>-How does the Archive keep urate time if its slowed down?-</em>


    <em>Not the time, t.</em>


    <em>-Right, possibly being circled by an unknown predator.-</em> t seemed to consider. <em>-You are scanning our surroundings like you would onnd, but you are in the water, and you can see the currents.-</em>


    T was about to snap at t for a horrible analogy, but then she understood.


    She could see the magic flowing stoneward from every human in Bandfast. Even she, herself, was shedding a bit of magic due to inescapable inefficiencies, and that power was flowing toward the Stone with every other morsel of magic.


    Those flows were regrpredictable evenas people moved around the city.


    <em>There.</em> She caught sight of an unexinable eddy.


    After all, it wasnt like there were obstacles for the power to have to divert around.


    Now that she thought she knew what to look for, she could trace a series of eddies of varying intensity, seemingly showing the path of something.


    <em>Alright. There is something, but it seems to be moving away.</em>


    <em>-T-</em>


    <em>What?</em>


    <em>-Look more broadly.-</em>


    T pulled back her perspective and realized why the eddies hadnt stood out to her.


    They were <em>everywhere.</em>


    Only now that she knew to look closer did she see clear patterns or paths through the magic.


    A shudder moved through Ts entire being.


    <em>Nope!</em>


    She broke her working and shot starward, back to the superficial world that she knew and was familiar with.


    Rane was the first to notice the changes on her return. Though, she had no idea how he could tell the difference despite her through-spike. T. Wheres the danger?


    Master Aman and Mistress Spira were immediately enveloped in shifting magics that hugged their skin, though T didnt have a chance to determine theirposition.


    She split her metal, opening her mouth to respond, even as she rxed.


    Thats when it hit her.


    She had only an instants warning as something flickered at the edges of her magesight.


    In that instant, she allowed all of her iron to weigh down on hernot keeping it in ce rtive to her body with her willto increase her inertia.


    The blow came from stoneward and at an angle, physically.


    She was thrown backward, away from the other three, and her mundane sight just <em>briefly</em> went ck as she was pushed starward before settling back into the superficial, like a ball bncing on the edge of a hole before falling in, where it belonged.


    There was a response from the citys defenses, and T felt an odd vor of magic m into the creature, even as it rushed past her.


    Force was in Ranes hand when she refocused on the physical.


    What was <em>that?</em> His face was pale, as were the visages of the two Refined.


    <em>-I found it.-</em> t highlighted what had attacked her in her vision.


    T growled, ring at the thing that the three with her couldnt see.


    It wasing around again.


    <em>-Ready?-</em>


    <em>Now!</em> Tshed out with her hands, snatching for handholds that she could properly see.


    It was exceedingly difficult, because she couldnt change where her hands were positioned along the magical dimension.


    Still, as the beast impacted hertrying to push her stoneward this timeher hands trailed behind her body, remaining superficial just long enough totch onto the thing.


    Her still active working was actively working to pull her back starward, and she began amplifying that working for all that she was worth.


    Her hands began to ache, despite her incredibly enhanced strength.


    Not taking a chance on being able to hold out, she immediately tried to extend her iron and white steel forward and into the beast, putting her power behind the growth, but as soon as her magic touched the creature, it began to bleed away before it could help her prate the seemingly hard exterior.


    <em>A magic absorber?</em>


    Her magic pulled her back to the superficialyer, and she was suddenly able to hear Rane and the Refined eximing in rm as T wrestled with <em>something</em> that was moving in and out of alignment with theiryer of physical reality.


    t did her best to put together a cohesive picture of the thing but, as expected, it didnt really make sense from a three-dimensional perspective.


    At times, the beast had the look of a person in various positions, flickering through the peripheral portion of her mundane vision. At other times, it looked like a squid, and that seemed like a fuller picture of the reality of the creatures shape.


    Long tendrils extended in all directions, somehow having purchase or generating thrust within the dimension of magic, continually fighting T, trying to get free. It was also scrabbling against her, but it didnt actually seem to have any des, ws, or teeth that it could bring to bear on her.


    Oddly, it didnt feel like the white steel was slowing it down at all, each impact simplynding on her iron as if the other metal werent there.


    To add to the chaos, the citys defenses were pping into every part of it that passed through the superficial, and T began to see ragged edges, indicating that the thing was taking damage from whatever specialized magics were at y.


    <em>Do I kill it? Or I could just hold it until the citys defenses do?</em>


    <em>-I would say a hard no. This seems to be a creature that lives off of the magic in its environment, and we stood out too much as a good source of its food.-</em>


    T felt herself pale. <em>And if there is such a bottom feeder</em>


    <em>There very well might be a predator or carrion eater, and we do </em>not <em>want to draw the attention of such a thing.</em>


    T growled. Have you all gotten a good look?


    Mistress Spiora wore a pair of gauntlets now, each with des strategically growing out of them for both defensive and offensive use, and she had fallen into a fighting stance yet again, eyes fixed on the flickering thing that T held.


    Master Aman held a simple ball of what looked like steel between himself and T, his own magical shell seemingly of shifting shadows, or at least something that looked like flickering shadows.


    The Refined seemed surprised by her question, not understanding what she meant, but Rane answered quickly. Yes. Let it go.


    T did so, and the thing, whatever it was, rushed stoneward at speed.


    It was only then that T noticed her arms seemed to have vanished somewhere between her shoulders and elbows, but even as she watched, they shifted back into line with the superficial.


    <em>That was disconcerting.</em>


    <em>-Quite.-</em>


    Everyone was in a state of shock, T included.


    Rane visibly swallowed. It was passing right through me, and the defenses on me. It just pulled magic from me with each touch, and there wasnt anything I could do about it. He nced to the two Refined and nodded his thanks.


    Only then did T notice swirlingyers of what seemed to be diamonds and shadow oveying Ranes entire body.


    Those defenses faded, along with the ones on the Refined, themselves.


    Master Aman nodded. The power taken was very little. I doubt that Id have noticed at all in almost any other situation.


    Mistress Spiora looked around. I would hazard a guess that we <em>havent</em> noticed it in the past. The woman paused and seemed to consider. I understand you have iron around you?


    T nodded, still gazing stoneward, trying to catch a glimpse of the thing again but to no avail. It was lost among the vastness. I think thats what it was hitting, and what allowed me purchase. Magic was just sucked away, but iron could interact with it.


    Rane cleared his throat, sheathing Force. So, it was a sort of parasite that nibbles away at our magic, and we never really notice, save to think things are less efficient than we might expect.


    T nodded but it was Master Aman who responded verbally, So it would seem. Though, I dont know that parasite is exactly the right term.


    Mistress Spiora oriented on T, hesitated, then seemed to gild herself before asking a careful question, Was that the only one?


    T heard herself let out a nervous chuckle. Well no. I think its safe to say that that was not the only one.

 Winter Update

    Winter Update


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    There will be no RoyalRoad chapters posted from Christmas until New Years, nor January 31st.


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    Tess Irondale will be the narrator for this one, too!


    We hope to release in the first half of 2024!

 Chapter 361: Contemplative Silence

    Chapter 361: Contemtive Silence


    T spent the next few minutes conveying what shed seen to Master Aman, Mistress Spiora, and Rane who had been waiting while she delved stoneward.


    t reached out to Mistress Ingrit, and the Librarian assured them that the creatures were known, and generally not dangerous.


    That information seemed to frustrate Mistress Spiora and Master Aman.


    The man shook his head ruefully, That would have been good to know, but I suppose weve not only never inquired about creatures living away from ouryer of reality, nothing weve done would have been done differently if we did have the knowledge.


    Mistress Spiora sighed. There is too much information on any subject to garner expertise with it all. Even so, the fault lies with us for not inquiring more broadly. We will remedy that.


    Rane didnt have much to add, as made sense, and he didnt seem to feel the need to interject. So, he remained mostly silent as the three Refined discussed various things.


    Eventually, T decided that she needed more information before she did any further experiments.


    <em>-For what its worth, Mistress Ingrit expressed her apologies for not mentioning the creatures. They are generally non-hostile, and even when they act aggressively, all that they do is pull off minute amounts of power. Again, across the board they are not considered dangerous or even bothersome, just oddities.-</em>


    <em>Because Mages dont work with iron, they wouldnt have the same issue we did.</em>


    <em>-Precisely. Mistress Ingrit has updated their records with that added information.-</em>


    Rane and T bid the Refined couple goodbye after thanking them.


    While they hadnt been necessary in order to save her, T had felt better for having had them with her, just in case.


    <em>-Mistress Ingrit really does seem to feel bad about what happened. She wanted to assure you that the city defenses heavily discourage the creatures froming through the superficialyer. It doesnt happen often, and they dont spend enough time to be harmful to anyone.-</em>


    As they came back out into the street in front of the Archon Compound, Rane turned to T. You know, as exciting as that was, it really didnt take that long.


    T nced up at the sky, where the sun was still quite a bit above the horizon. Oh, yeah. Huh.


    Is there anything else that you want or need to do?


    She thought for a long moment. I had some questions for Master Boma Let me send him an Archive message.


    <em>-Done.- </em>t was only silent for a moment before continuing. <em>-Oh. Hes a bit cross.-</em>


    <em>Oh?</em> T frowned, and she and Rane stepped to the side of the street to not be in the way.


    <em>-Yeah. He says hes right in the middle of something, and such a question will take at least a day or two of research. He also is frustrated that he hadnt thought of that idea, himself, though I got that from subtext. He was ranting a bit, likely due to the haste of his reply.-</em>


    <em>Did you ask what we talked about?</em>


    <em>-Yes, I asked him if soul-binding an entity with a dimensional space characteristic causes the same issues as soul-binding a pure inanimate storage.-</em>


    <em>Well, if he doesnt know the answer, we can do our own research</em> T considered for a moment. <em>Can you ask Mistress Ingrit?</em>


    tughed within Ts head at the contradiction, but she still did as T had requested. <em>-Done.-</em>


    T turned back to Rane who had been waiting patiently. Though, he had pulled out his Archive te and was reading through something as shed been trying to coordinate things. Well, it seems like Ive nothing pressing at the moment. It might be nice to swing through and say Hi to Mistress Holly, though.


    He looked up and smiled, tucking away his te. That could work, sure. Its a bit anti-climactic. We go into an underground testing room, learn about creatures who live all around us, possibly flitting through us at any given moment to drain bits of power and now were going to go visit a friend.


    T chuckled. Yeah I was hoping to test a few more things, then pull off a funbination of what I had learned at the end, but I dont really want to go diving in infested waters again so soon. It seems like my iron will be a detriment this time around.


    He nodded, but clearly had a question in his eyes.


    Dont get me wrong, as soon as I can get my head around it, Ill sequester my iron and try again but Then, she hesitated. Wait Rust That would just be putting it around me in the dimension of magic, which is part of no, wait. It would be around Flow, and I can just tuck Flow into Kit.


    Rane grinned. It sounds like youre still thinking through all that you learned. It also sounds like youve learned a few things that I dont know, yet? Do you want to go find somewhere to sit and think for a bit before we drop through Mistress Hollys workshop?


    She felt herself rx at the suggestion. You know, that would be really nice. I think I remember a tea ce a few blocks from here in the right direction.


    He raised an eyebrow, giving a small, mischievous smile. You think you remember?


    She waved him off, though she felt a smile tug at her own lips as well. Its a turn of phrase. Its this way.


    They spent about an hour enjoying a couple of pots of tea inpanionable silence while T and t processed through all that they had seen and experienced during their experiment.


    T did take the time to tell Rane what shed learned that he hadnt been aware of before bouncing a few ideas off of him, but whenever she fell back into contemtive silence, he easily left her to it.


    As they finished thest of their tea, he looked to her questioningly, and she nodded with a smile. Thank you. I think Im ready.


    They thanked their servers and departed, heading toward Mistress Hollys workshop.


    As they entered the incredibly familiar building, T felt the expected tickle of magic interfacing with ts inscriptions.


    <em>-Oh, that tingles. Huh. I didnt think its been that long since we were here but-</em>


    Child! Mistress Hollys voice resounded from the back.


    The receptionistlikely yet another aspiring Inscriptionist who probably wouldnt be around for very longsighed and gestured for them to head on back. She clearly knows you and wishes to see you.


    T gave the young seeming woman a sympathetic smile and wave. Thank you.


    Rane and T walked the usual path back to Mistress Hollys workroom and through the open door.


    The woman herself stood in the center of the space, hands on her hips. Nearly two-hundred and fifty days since youst came back to update my records.


    T quirked a smile. You mean nearly two-hundred fifty days since you got far too much personal information about me?


    The Inscriptionist raised an eyebrow. Youve gotten some spine, working as a defender, have you?


    T shrugged. Just putting forward another interpretation.


    The door mmed behind Rane, causing T to frown. She hadnt seen anythinging from Mistress Holly even with her magesight.


    Regardless, I was in the city and thought it would be nice to stop through and see you.


    She looked closer at the woman. It was the first time that T had seen Mistress Holly since Ts eyes had been fully Refined, enhanced by Refined magics, and allowed to settle.


    Mistress Hollys inscriptions had always appeared extensive, being more visible than most and covering all her visible flesh.


    Now, however, T saw a detail that she hadnt, before, aided by her altered magesight. Ts magesight seemed to factor in because Mistress Holly had, for some reason, altered her aura to be entirely transparent to Ts magical vision.


    As to what she saw?


    Every single line of inscription that Mistress Holly had was, in fact, a long chain of unbelievably minute inscriptions. That wasnt all that surprising, though it was far more detailed than T had ever realized. After all, inscriptions were Mistress Hollys central focus. It would have been odd if the woman didnt have any surprises within her own magics in that regard.


    No, what caused Ts breath to catch was that the inscriptions extended starward and stoneward as well. Again, though, she <em>shouldnt</em> have been surprised by that, but the sheer unexpectedness of it caught her off guard.


    Mistress Hollys every inscription was actually a four-dimensional tapestry of precious metal, perfectly aligned with one of the most robust sets of natural magics T had ever seen.


    Ts mouth opened in shock as she stared through the womans chest, at Mistress Hollys gate.


    Where most Mages had a keystone inscription surrounding their gate, catching all that came through, Mistress Holly had inscriptions across, around, and <em>through</em> her gate, seemingly passing into the next world even as they glowed with power.


    Mistress Holly nced downward, then looked up with a smile. So, you have improved your perception, then.


    T looked up, meeting the older womans eyes. What am I seeing?


    My next experiment... well, one of them. Very, very few of my magics function when enacted in there. Evidence suggests that it is only the ones which are in full alignment with existence, rather than just in line with my mental models.


    T nodded slowly, even as Rane looked back and forth in obvious confusion.


    Still, he held his tongue, seemingly interested in seeing how the conversation yed out.


    Well, T swallowed, that and your fourth-dimensional inscriptions.


    Mistress Hollys eyes went wide. So, I was right! She cackled. You took a trip toward the Stone.


    Rane gave Mistress Holly an arch look. Just how much information are you gathering about T, Mistress?


    T waved that off. Its fine, Rane, but thank you for caring. Mistress Holly, what I really want to know is why and how, under the stars, are you shoving inscriptions back through your gate. That should be impossible.


    Mistress Hollyughed. Oh, is that how it looks to your sight? Fascinating.


    Rane opened his mouth to ask for rification, seemed to think better of it, sighed, shook his head, and moved to sit on the chair to one side and listen. As he went, he muttered under his breath at a volume that he had to know both women could hear. Shes as bad as T.


    T felt herself smile, and Mistress Hollys lips twitched ever so slightly.


    Mistress Holly seemed to decide it was worth responding, The difference between us, boy, is that I have the theoretical knowledge before I make the leap. Though, she does seem to try to gather that information afterward, these days. Improvement is improvement.


    T grimaced but decided not to contest the issue.


    Regardless, no, Mistress, I have not been shoving precious metal into the next world. To be clear, that would be foolish in the extreme for all sorts of reasons that I cannot begin to convey with your level of understanding. What I <em>have</em> been doing is using dimensional magics to bend the usually t ne of my gate inward, to create a convex space in which I can enact conducting, enhancing, and purification magics in a more concentrated and efficient manner.


    If T understood correctly, that meant that what T had interpreted was simply a visual artifact by which her mind was trying to interpret what she was seeing. On the other side of the gate, it would still be a t opening. <em>Not that anyone actually knows or understands exactly what is on the other side</em>


    She nodded in understanding of Mistress Hollys words, even if not all the implications they hinted at.


    T kept her tone level as she brought the conversation back to something the Inscriptionist had said, earlier, Ill admit, that makes a lot more sense, but what did you mean earlier, then?


    To what are you referring? Mistress Holly arched one eyebrow.


    You said that few magics work when enacted in there.


    Oh, that. The dimensional distortion seems to expose that expanded pocket to the rules of the next world more fully than the rest of Zeme. So, within that pocket, magics have to be more aligned with existence.


    That is fascinating. I cant say that I understand all the implications, but one thing is pretty clear.


    Oh?


    T narrowed her eyes. Youre a Paragon.


    Mistress Holly gave her a small smile. You cant prove that.


    T opened her mouth, then closed it and shook her head. As you wish, then.


    The Inscriptionist turned on Rane. Now that thats out of the way: Youre here; lets check up on you for your readiness to Refine.


    Ranes eyes widened, and he stood up hurriedly. Yes please. He nced toward T. Do you mind?


    T smiled and shook her head. Of course not! Thats pretty important to get right, and youve been more than patient with me today.


    Thus, T was the one who ended up sitting in the chair while Rane was tested over the next couple of hours.


    When they were done, Mistress Holly shooed them out, simply telling T that shed have a proper analysis of her inscriptionsand how they were meshing with her changing mental models and natural magicsin a few days.


    Oh, you can give me ess to that when its ready?


    Mistress Holly raised one eyebrow once again and simply waited.


    T cleared her throat. Ill be back in a few days, I suppose.


    That sounds excellent. Goodbye now.


    Rane and T left, exiting onto the lit streets in the dark, early-winter evening.


    They headed toward Lyns house, and only walked in silence for about a block before T spoke up. So, just about two months before your first session?"


    He nodded. "Yeah. Honestly, while Im excited, Im also a bit nervous. My magics werent very physically oriented, and now I have all these inscriptions slowly changing me, and the actual Refining will do even more, building on the foundation those workings are establishing.


    What is your concern?


    He shrugged, clearly feeling a little self-conscious.


    She lightly bumped him with her shoulder. What is it, Rane? You can tell me.


    He smiled, ncing her way before returning his eyes to the street ahead.


    After a moments silence, T added, But you dont have to say anything if you dont want to.


    I know. He looked up to the sky, then shook his head. Its silly.


    If its concerning you, it matters, even if you think its silly.


    He huffed augh. Thats kind.


    Thats true.


    They walked another block or so before he broke the silence, This is me. This is who I am. Theres good and bad. I have capacities, strengths and weaknesses. Im not perfect, but Im me.


    T nodded, not interjecting verbally, somehow knowing that that would cause him to close up.


    Refining will change me. I will no longer be me, not as I think of myself.


    She frowned, but he clearly wasnt done, so she simply waited.


    After a long moment, he continued, Im not married. He colored, not looking her way. Ideally, I will be at some point, but Im not married now. What if


    He was quiet for a long time.


    They were almost to Lyns house before he barely whispered, What if whoever I marry wouldnt have married me as I am now? What if they only want to be with me because Ive changed?


    T frowned but didnt answer immediately.


    Ranes face was a rather noticeably bright red, but he seemed to have said what he was going to say, and that was relieving some of his embarrassment.


    As they stopped in the small front yard, T turned to him, Should a child remain a child, for fear that the woman he eventually marries wouldnt love him as the child he once was?


    What? Rane frowned. Are you saying that the un-Refined are as foolish and naive as a child?


    What? No. T shook her head. Not at all. Its to make a point.


    He scrunched his face, then shrugged. Well, then I suppose not? A man must grow up in order for marriage to be appropriate. Therefore, he is leaving that childhood behind. He is no longer a child. So, his future wifes opinion about his past only matters in that context. He shouldnt care if shed love him as he was when he was younger or not, because he will never be like that again.


    T smiled. See? You already took it to the logical conclusion.


    He huffed, grimacing slightly, I know it doesnt make sense, but It still doesnt feel great.


    Oh. She looked down. Im sorry. I wasnt trying to say you were being foolish. I was just trying to help.


    He shrugged one shoulder, not meeting her eyes. I know. I also know its silly, but I still feel it. He let out a long breath. It sometimes feels like I feel a lot of silly things.


    As he turned back toward Lyns door, he was stopped by T cing her hand on his shoulder, Rane. It isnt silly to have concerns. No matter how much sense they make to someone else. How you feel matters. Let me know if I can help, otherwise please know that Ill be here, regardless.


    He smiled tiredly, but her words did seem to help, even if only just a bit. I know. I really do. Thank you, T.


    She let her hand fall back to her side, and they took thest few steps up to Lyns door and knocked.

 Chapter 362: A Fun Evening with Friends

    Chapter 362: A Fun Evening with Friends


    T and Rane stood in the pleasantly chilly, winter air after knocking on Lyns front door.


    One moment! Lyn called from inside, her voice easy to hear for their enhanced ears.


    <em>What is she doing? oh. Huh. Thats an interesting idea.</em>


    <em>-Oh! Yeah. That is an interesting idea. We might as well try it here, but if you bring another of those things I suppose it wont actually hurt anyone, so whats the harm?-</em>


    Ts aurajust like all Archonsextended stoneward and starward, even if just barely. So, T did the now insanely obvious thing and pulled one of her bloodstars stoneward, into her aura that was there.


    Just like popping her head over a wall, she could suddenly see into Lyns house as if it were a model, cross-sectioned for her easy analysis.


    Kannis was sitting in one of the chairs, flipping through a book with a cup of tea at her side, clearly taking a moment to rx between a day of mentally intensive work and a fun evening with friends.


    The girl looked more grown up, even after less than a year since T had seen herst.


    Her inscriptions were more extensive and had a more perfected feel to them, as if theyd gone through a few iterations as Kannis had gained deeper understanding and expanded her abilities to work with her own magics.


    The magelings magic and inscriptions wereid bare before T, especially given how rtively weak the girls magics were, but T held to propriety and didnt inspect her more closely.


    Lyn looked much as she always had for as long as T had known her. Even so, the womans inscriptions were slightly different, at least those that were visible on her exposed skin.


    T looked a bit closer as Lyn approached the door, curious whether the changes to Lyns inscriptions were superficial changes or substantive.


    T immediately flinched as she realized that she could actually see into the woman, theyers of her flesh as open to Ts mirrored mundane sight as the inside of the building now was.


    Her star was barely stoneward, so the further away, physically, things were, the less she could see around, but with Lyn now less than four feet away, it was almost like T could see everyyer of the womans physical being.


    <em>Oh, thats thats so hard to parse.</em>


    <em>-Insanely useful, though. And now that we can see it in istion, I can safely say that our bloodstars dont bleed power like we do, even with our every attempt at efficiency.-</em>


    t was right. Using another bloodstars perspective to look at the one she held stoneward, T couldnt see any power flowing from it in any direction. There was barely anything to make it stand out at all, even though it should have looked like an ember in the dark emptiness.


    With all the magic streaming stoneward, it was actually a bit difficult to pick out.


    <em>Perfect.</em>


    Rane had noticed her flinch, but only raised an eyebrow in question.


    T smiled his way. I just found a better means of situational awareness.


    <em>But I need a few more bloodstars</em> She could make one in less than five minutes, but that would have to wait.


    At the moment, she pulled two bloodstars starward and two stoneward, starting them orbiting to sweep her surroundings at all times.


    <em>-Well want eight in each location to see in all directions.-</em>


    <em>Yeah.</em> She felt a bit nervous about doing that as it would strain her capacities, but it would be good training, at least. Eventually, shed have constant,plete visibility into anything that could be approaching her.


    Lyn opened the door before Rane could respond to Ts crypticment. The older woman blinked at them a few times. Why are you two standing out there? Whats with the knock? Come in,e in!


    Rane stepped forward, into the entry hall, and enveloped Lyn in a massive hug. The older woman returned it with a smile.


    Wee back, Rane.


    Good to be back, Lyn, even if only for a visit.


    Kanniss voice came from the sitting room. Is that them?


    Lyn called over her shoulder as she stepped back to allow T toe in as well. It is.


    What were they knocking for?


    T watched Kannis ce her book to the side and drain her tea in one long pull.


    Well, donte all the way in. Since you three are at the door, let mee to you, and we can be on our way.


    Lyn looked to Rane and T with a questioning nce, even as she gave T a hug.


    T grinned. Thats a good n. Do we want to eat here, in the city, or <em>here</em>?


    She patted Kit, and Lyn rolled her eyes. We can eat there on the trip. Lets get some regr-people food.


    Kannis came down the hall, a smile pulling at her lips. Mistress T, Master Rane, wee back to Bandfast. The mageling paused to bow deeply. It is a pleasure to see you both once again.


    T grinned back at her. Suddenly so formal, are we?


    The girl shrugged even as she straightened, a cunning smile pulling at her lips. Formalities are important, but they shouldnt dy dinner.


    Rane huffed augh before giving the mageling a quick hug.


    Kannis and T exchanged an even quickerbut still not awkwardhug.


    T looked to herpanions, purposely making eye contact. Cheesy little caravans?


    That solicited a series ofughs and one groan.


    Whats wrong, Lyn? You dont want cheesy goodness?


    T, I sit behind a desk all day, and that is <em>so</em> much food. Id have to alter my workouts for a month to keep from bending my inscriptions away from true.


    You <em>could</em> stop after just one. I know theyre tasty, but theres no cause to go overboard.


    Lyn gave T a t look.


    Rane and Kannis turned to regard T quizzically.


    Lyn cleared her throat. That is with me eating just one. Those are <em>massive</em>, T.


    Oh T grimaced slightly. <em>I dont really think about food that way anymore</em>


    -<em>Yeah, that much was obvious.-</em>


    <em>Thats not helpful.</em> T turned to Lyn with a sheepish smile. Alright, then. Where do you want to eat?


    The four shuffled back out the still open door, pausing while Lyn closed and locked it.


    It was in good spirits that they set off. None of them really cared where they were going to eat; the food really wasnt the point, and they all knew it.


    The n was for them to leave the following morning rather early, so they wouldnt stay up toote this night.


    In the end, they chose to go to the food carts, where everyone could find good food to eat in whatever quantities they wanted or needed.


    One particr food cart was manned by an old acquaintance.


    Gretel noticed T as soon as she came into sight, and the older, mundane woman grinned broadly and waved her over. Child, child! Wee back. Its been far too long. Do you want any pies today, or did you juste by to say hello to old Gretel?


    Tughed. Both, actually. How are you?


    They chatted for a bit while the others grabbed the food they wanted from the surrounding carts. Lyn set down a coin on Gretels cart and took the pies that she wanted so as not to interrupt the twos quick exchange of words.


    Soon enough, though Gretel had to get back to her business, and T bid her goodbye to eat with her friends.


    Throughout, T had been fighting distraction, but the older woman either didnt notice or didnt seem to mind.


    T was doing her utmost to focus utterly on what her eyes told her, leaving the mirrored perspectives to t, but t was actually having trouble parsing all of the information that wasing in.


    The result was that bits and shes of more had been pulling at Ts awareness during her conversation with Gretel, and continued to do so, intruding in her thoughts throughout the evening.


    While they were chatting and eating, T would suddenly have aplete look at Kanniss skull move through her perspective, or ayer-byyer cross-section of Lyns shoulder.


    There was a sudden understanding of what her current meat pie looked like from the inside, or knowledge that the person walking past was walking funny because they had a rock in their shoe.


    That was the type of thing that threatened to make her eye twitch.


    It was distracting, but with the focus training shed been doing, she was able to manage.


    The four passed the time in pleasant conversation, good food and drink in just the right amounts.


    The most notable topic came about when Kannis gained a mischievous gleam in her eye. So cyclops?


    T frowned, not understanding for a moment. Im not sure what you mean. Are you asking what they are? Big humanoids with one eye.she looked toward LynId have thought you would have taught her that, assuming that she didnt know already.


    The magelingughed, shaking her head and drawing Ts focus back to her. No, Mistress T. Youre a little bit famous. The defensive battles around Alefast are beginning to make their way through the other cities. They arent <em>really</em> regr enough to fill battle-pubs with new content, so the ces often have the highlights reying on rotation.


    Ts frown had shifted to one of cautious embarrassment. In Alefast, she was asionally recognized, but as shed only been involved in one sh within recording range of the city, she wasnt that well known. Oh?


    Oh, yes. Kannis grinned widely. Your fight was short enough and shy enough that they include it fairly often.


    Oh


    Rane interjected, then. It cant be that pervasive, right? I mean, no one has acted like they knew or recognized you.


    Lyn gave her mageling a disapproving look. No, it isnt. Ts face isnt exactly easily discerned in the fast-paced shes. Most of the defenders move much less, so they are much more easily identified, but She nced at Kannis again and sighed. She does have a point. Weve had a couple of interested partiese by the Caravanners Guild, asking about you, T. I think they are building out profiles for you, or writing up articles or the like. My bet is that they are holding off until your next recorded fight, so that it is more relevant information.


    T didnt really know how to feel about that. Honestly, she hadnt thought about the newssheets in ages. Do people even still read that type of thing?


    Lyn shrugged. Archons? It seems like not really, or at least not that often. There are better sources of information after all. That said, mundanes and magelings? Undoubtedly.


    It was Kanniss turn to grimace. Dont say it like that. It makes the information sources sound suspect.


    Not at all, Kannis. I am simply letting T know that it makes sense that she doesnt really consider ore across the newssheets.


    T gave a sheepish smile. Honestly, I dont really follow widespread news through any source


    Rane grunted. There isnt much at the higher levels. If someone needs to know, they are informed, and a lot of the filler just doesnt get conveyed, because there arent people who are interested in writing it for a more advanced audience.


    Kannis grumped. I like knowing that some of those defending Alefast, Waning, have done so for thest three waning cities as well. Its fascinating.


    <em>Its a lot more than three</em> But T didnt say anything. She really had no idea what sorts of information was hidden and what wasnt. <em>It would be a colossal pain to have a mageling</em>


    The topic moved on from there as they simply enjoyed one anotherspany.


    In what seemed like no time at all, the evening had passed, and they headed back to Lyns house for the night.


    Kit was allowed to grow into a door on an inner wall, and Rane and T retired to their rooms within the sanctum, leaving the master and mageling to sleep in the house after gathering their things for departure in the morning.


    * * *


    T, this is odd.


    T nced down at her torso even as she and Rane neared the outside edge of Bandfast. Whats odd?


    Lyn looked up at her friend with a t expression. You have us looking out of a window in your stomach. Though, I will admit whatever distortion effect you have in ce to give us such a wide range of view is impressive.


    Rane grunted. She looks pregnant, but with two adult womens faces visible within her belly.


    T grimaced. Thats why I didnt do this until we were past thest farm.


    Rane shrugged. I wasnt saying it was bad or good, just responding to Mistress Lyns statement.


    Lyn shook her head. So, as I was saying: Odd.


    T groused, We talked about this. I could just close up Kit entirely, but you wanted to see the sights on the way. This is the best way that I could think of to allow that.


    Yes, but ILyn sighedI suppose I never really considered what that would actually mean.


    Do you have a better idea?


    No neither of us have any means of fast movement.


    Well, I am open to changing things, but I dont really have any better idea.


    Lyn hmmed, What about putting the window on your back? Thats arger area, and will be pointed at a more upward angle?


    I considered that, but then you wont really see things that I look toward, and youll mostly just see sky even with the distorted lens expanding your angle of view.


    Ahh, I suppose that makes sense.


    T considered for a moment before suggesting, I could carry you piggyback, or in my arms?


    Rane cleared his throat. I still say if they are to be carried, it makes more sense for me to do it. I can protect them from kic jostling. My method of movement isntpressive or inertially stressful. Your leaps are <em>powerful</em>, and effectively mundane bodies would not do well when subjected to that.


    Lyn huffed. Im quite a bit tougher than you might think, Master Rane, but you are right, that I am probably not up to the same level of physical stress as T. More than that, as you said, my mageling is not the most robust.


    Kannis grimaced, her face also visible through the window into Kit. I dont exactly need bodily focused magics in my day-to-day She nced over to her master, but the point is taken, master. Ill stop dragging my feet on that side of my training.


    Lyn grinned in return. Im d to hear it, but that doesnt actually change things, for the moment.


    Rane shrugged, seemingly a bit awkward about staring at Ts abdomen to talk with their friends. I could carry one of you on each shoulder. So long as T and I went a bit slower than usund she stayed in a position to watch our surroundingsit would be safe.


    The master and mageling shared a look before Lyn shrugged. How about we try that after lunch?


    T smiled. That sounds like a n.she wove a tendril of magic into her words before continuingTerry, do you want a bit of a run?


    The terror bird flickered out in front of Tjust out beyond the citys outermost defensesbefore trilling toward the sky.


    Ts perception focused on her avian friend for a fleeting moment and saw nothing?


    Well, she saw nothing new.


    <em>No, thats not right.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, we can see</em> something<em> extending from him both starward and stoneward, but there isnt anything actually starward or stoneward. It just fades in those directions.-</em>


    <em>And his node of reality is fully contained in what we can see. Its not like hes just hiding it somehow.</em>


    It was worth investigating further, but now was hardly the time. That fact was emphasized by a loud exmation pulling Ts attention back to her passengers.


    Oh! Kannis grinned widely. We could ride on Terry.


    The avian looked back, tilting his head to the side for a moment before shaking.


    T huffed augh. Unfortunately, that wouldnt work too well. He cant carry you while flickering around. That might not seem like that big of a deal, he is rather fast, regardless, but one of thergest downsides would be that, in the event of danger, hed be unable to quickly dodge or defend you without dropping you to the ground, effectively removing any easy chance for escape.


    The mageling sighed before nodding, Right. I didnt consider that.


    T clicked her tongue once, waiting for a long moment to see if any more ideas were forting. When they werent, she nodded once, Right, lets go!


    Lyn gasped, and Kannis squeaked as Tunched herself after the avian even as Terry flickered forward, reappearing further into the ins, already running.


    Rane took off after T a momentter, magic swirling through him in tightly controlled patterns, imparting precisely directed kic energy.


    The day passed blessedly uneventfully as they tried various methods of transporting the two physically limited friends.


    While they preferred the view from Ranes shoulders, it was a bit awkward for everyone involved, and T had put an end to it when she couldnt keep herughter contained, given just howical it looked.


    They took ate lunch at the caravan campsite just before the long, straight pass through the mountains, and paused once again on the south side.


    T let Kannis and Lyn out to stand beside her and Rane, looking down on the city a few miles distant.


    There you have it. T gestured expansively. Behold, Alefast waning.


    Lyn and Kannis both turned to regard T, but it was Kannis who spoke, Behold? Really?


    T shrugged. Thats what has you hung up? Look! A waning city. You know, the whole reason Rane and I came to get you two?


    Theyughed and turned back to regard the expansive sight.


    Rane was grinning her way, and T met his gaze before whispering, Not a word, Rane. I was trying to be grandiose and present it well.


    He smiled ever wider, keeping his lips firmly pressed together, mirth dancing behind his eyes.

 Chapter 363: You Never Asked

    Chapter 363: You Never Asked


    T, Lyn, Kannis, and Rane all stood, looking down on Alefast for a few long minutes, the two travelers taking in all their surroundings including the edifice of the mountains a good ways behind them.


    <em>-You know, we never examined our voidsight.-</em>


    <em>I know, but something tells me I already have all the pieces, I just need to recognize them. Also, I didnt particrly want to fall out of the sky while carrying Lyn and Kannis.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, that wouldnt be the greatest impression Also, please dont add anything to my sensory load at the moment Please?-</em>


    T had made the remaining bloodstars that she needed to fill out a set of eight for each starward and stoneward of herself, and t was struggling mightily to process the flood of perspectives as they came in. It was a mess of sensory experiences, but the alternate interface was at the very least keeping it from harming Ts usual interactions with those around her.


    <em>-I really need to codify this somehow, but I dont know that I have the capability-</em> t seemed to take a moment to consider, loosening her concentration enough that T was pped, mentally, with the knowledge of what the entirety of a nearby tree looked like, root to twig, deepest core to bark andst-lingering-leaves. <em>-Can I coborate with Mistress Holly? Shes already poring through our inscriptions.-</em>


    <em>Yes, of course. Thank you for asking, but you dont need to ask further. Please do what you need to.</em>


    <em>-Thank you.-</em> As t refocused, Ts own perception was no longer clouded with unnecessary knowledge of the world around her.


    As T was able to return her attention to herpanions, she noticed that Lyn and Kannis were asking Rane about growing up in the city and the area in general, seemingly having had enough of just looking around.


    They were a bit away from the pass, so T made a suggestion, Do you want to walk the rest of the way? We should be able to reach the northern gate before full dark.


    After a moments hesitation, Lyn nodded. I think that could be fun. I even have my walking shoes on; we both do.


    True enough, both Kannis and Lyn had something closer to hunters boots on their feet, rather than the sandals that they both preferred in more civilized terrain or warmer weather.


    Rane grinned broadly. Great! Then lets get started.


    Thus, the five, including Terry, began the trek down to Alefast, weaving around the various groves and dells, keeping to the cleared areas as much as possible.


    There were only a few arcanous creatures that dared approach, and Terry dealt with those before the Fused and mageling even realized there were threats.


    T was sure to toss some jerky Terrys way in thanks, even though the avian also ate each of his kills.


    Regardless, Terry seemed to appreciate the gesture,ing to ride on Ts shoulder for the first time that day between various interceptions.


    Good to have you with me, Terry.


    He headbutted her cheek and trilled happily in reply.


    The trek into the city was quite uneventful, all things considered, but Lyn and Kannis were both quite worn out when they were finally on thest stretch toward the gates.


    There was visible relief in the stance, stride, and expressions of the two women. They werent struggling, per se, but it had definitely been a longer walk than they were used to, over rougher terrain.


    The gates were standing open and the four walked in without hesitation.


    As they did so, T leaned over toward Lyn and Kannis. Dont panic if the portcullises are dropped.


    The two looked at her in rm, even as they reached the center of the tunnel through the gatehouse.


    Instead of the iron grates dropping before and behind, fields of magic shed into being blocking the two ways out of the thoroughfare into the city.


    Oh! T looked around with interest. This is new.


    A voice called down from above. Who goes there?


    Rane was the one to respond. Rane Gredial with Mistress T, Mistress Lyn, and her mageling Kannis, newly arrived from Bandfast.


    Where is the rest of your caravan?


    We had no caravan. We crossed the distance alone.


    There was a few moments of stunned silence. T looked upward, trying to determine what was causing the dy.


    In that moment, another guard up above leaned over to look down before pulling back and pping hispanion on the shoulder and whispering. That <em>is</em> Mistress T, I won an entire gold off her fight with the cyclops back in early summer. I knew she looked like a quick closer. Shes one of the defenders, here. And didnt you hear that other ones name? Gredial.


    The first guard stepped back from the slit he was looking down through, grimacing. After a moment, he nodded,ing back to look down. Very well, good Master and Mistresses. Wee to Alefast.


    The other one leaned over and added his own greeting on top. Wee <em>back</em>, to those of you who are returning.


    The magical defenses dropped, and the four strode the rest of the way into the city.


    As she passed a threshold, T had a feeling like the ground falling away below her and realized that it was the trantion of her magesights perception of the Stone that was now below her.


    Additionally, she realized that she had seen <em>much</em> more than she should have been able to while in the gatehouse. She had even easily been able to tell what the guards were doing behind magically reinforced and enhanced stone.


    ts panting voice came into Ts mind. -<em>You know, it is really hard to keep these senses from you when you focus on part of them.-</em>


    T hesitated for only an instant. <em>It cant be that hard if you have enough energy to fake panting.</em>


    t hesitated for only an instant before sending a mental snort. <em>-Fine, but I wasnt lying. I quite literally couldnt keep the perspective from you, and they just sort of clicked into ce, allowing you to see what was important to you. It reduced the burden on me enough that I was able to keep everything else away.-</em>


    <em>Huh so, when I narrow my focus</em>


    <em>-You can process the increased volume of perceptual information in that narrowed area.-</em>


    <em>Good to know.</em>


    <em>-But it doesntst enjoy your time get me back to Mistress Holly, soon. Please.-</em> ts voice faded as genuine strain seemed to reenter the alternate interfaces projected voice.


    Well, that was intense. Lyns words pulled T out of her own head.


    Hmm? Oh, yeah. Theyre just being careful. Some magical creatures can do odd things, and some can even look like groups of people or caravan wagons.


    Thats Lyn seemed to have started speaking without knowing what she was going to say, and now, she found herself at a loss.


    Kannis filled in for her master, Unexpected? Concerning? Terrifying?


    Lyn nodded. Just a bit.


    T chuckled even as she shrugged. Well, were within the city, so its fine.


    Uh huh. The woman seemed a bit skeptical. Syphons? Spi"


    Regardless! T moved on quickly, speaking over Lyn before she could build up steam, lets get us some food. Theres an observation establishment less than a block from here. There doesnt seem to be an attack under way, but they should have more recent highlights, good food, and it wont be too disruptive if we just want to chat.


    Rane nodded, then added, Or, if you prefer, we could go to my familys house for dinner. If the family is eating, we can join, or if were too early or toote, it wont be hard to get what we need to enjoy the time. Either during the meal or around it, we can even review some of the shes. Master Grediv ensures that we have ess to unedited records of all the shes from every waning on record. There are <em>far</em> too many to actually go through, but hes prone to highlight some based on the capabilities of his guests. I <em>think</em> there are some built around word-Mages. You both fall into that category, yes?


    The master and mageling shared a look, and it was Lyn who spoke, Yes, we do I wasnt aware that there had been defenders within our sub-focus of magic.


    Rane answered the implied question, Likely not recently, if thats your understanding, but all those on record covers a broad scope.


    Lyn nced to T, and T just grinned. That sounds fascinating. Rane, why havent you mentioned this before?


    He shrugged. It never came up. If we eat together, its usually on the way to something else.


    Huh. Well, well have to fix that.


    She turned and started walking toward the Gredial estate, but she couldnt help but catch Ranes blossoming smile in the kaleidoscope of expanded perceptions, even as he followed along with Lyn and Kannis.


    <em>I suppose I was focused on him at that moment.</em> She shrugged internally, otherwise dismissing the sh of visual insight.


    Regardless, she felt her own lips stretch with a bit of a smile in response, before she looked toward Lyn to begin telling their guests about the city.


    As they walked and she pointed out some highlights, Rane filled in the details as he had more knowledge of the day-to-day features of the city.


    They discussed hunting down some artifacts for the two the following day, along with some basic ns for the rest of their time in the city.


    Sadly, Lyn and Kannis were only nning on staying for a few days before they needed to be back in Bandfast. Apparently, it was hard to get away from work, given Lyns position, and only Ts promise of a quick trip each way had made the idea feasible at all.


    Even with the short timeline hanging over their heads, they had decided to make the most of it, arriving at the estate in high spirits.


    The guards at the gate let them in with deep bows toward Rane.


    Master Rane, wee home.


    Rane thanked the two by name, and asked after who was in residence at the moment.


    Your mother, eldest sister, and aunt are in for the evening. You will have to speak to the head of the household for more than that, Im afraid.


    That is more than sufficient. Thank you, again.


    Of course, Master Rane.


    Without further dy, the four moved into the expansive gardens that were maintained inside thepounds walls.


    Kannis and Lyn looked around in amazement.


    T grinned. Its exactly like I said, right? Didnt I tell you? These statues are amazing.She looked around with a smileRane says hes always been interested in sculpting. I actually got him some stone for his birthday, but Im not sure if hes done anything with it, yet. She nced toward her friend. Am I ever going to see one of your sculptures?


    Rane was coloring a bright red, not meeting her gaze.


    Rane?


    Lyn cleared her throat. T, dear.


    T turned toward Lyn with a frown. What?


    I think, based on context clues, that <em>these</em>Lyn gestured at the statues all around themare examples of his work.


    T stopped midstep, looking back to Rane. Really?


    Rane gave a small nod.


    Oh why didnt you say anything? Ive always said how much I like them.


    He shrugged. You never asked.


    T stood there, bbergasted for a long moment. Finally, she shook her head. I suppose I never did.


    He shrugged again, clearly feeling a bit awkward. Come on. Lets keep going.


    T followed the other three in a bit of a daze.


    Terry pulled her out of it, when he flickered to hang from her belt beside Kit, letting out a little squawk.


    She looked down and frowned. You havent done that before.


    She opened Kit, and Terry flickered inside.


    What was that about?


    <em>-No idea, but I can confirm that Terry doesnt use the magic dimension for teleportation.-</em>


    <em>And we didnt see anything odd around him earlier, so his size changing isnt utilizing that, either</em>


    <em>-So it would seem.-</em>


    <em>But how did I not know that Rane is this good of a sculptor? Did you know that?</em>


    <em>-Im Im a little busy, T.-</em>


    <em>Right! Right. Sorry.</em>


    T found herself staring at each statue as they passed them by, only half listening to Lyn and Kannis raving about the same works. In fact, the two insisted that Rane lead them around the perimeter of the estate before they went to the house.


    So, around they went.


    <em>These are really fantastic.</em>


    T paused to look a bit closer at a sculpture of a wolf that had been tucked into an alcove against the wall. In fact, as she looked, she realized that the ground had been dug down in stairsteps, leading to the base of the statue to allow for it to keep below the nearly twenty-foot walls behind it.


    The creature was <em>massive, </em>and there was an odd weight to it, as if she could feel its gaze upon her.


    She felt herself shudder.


    At the back of her mind, she sensed the memory of an aura impression swirl through her awareness, and she instantly knew that the memory was of the wolf that they had seen so recently.


    Somehow, in stone, the wolf before her was <em>more</em> than that enormous canine had been<em>.</em>


    There were muscles beneath the beasts skin that stood out in stark relief, seeming almost to shift as she watched.


    T felt like she could see each individual hair on its pelt.


    The eyes seemed to be staring into her very soul.


    <em>Anatalis.</em>


    T knew that this statue was meant to depict the wolf of the north.


    The canine maw seemed to stretch into a knowing smile.


    T? Lyns hand on Ts arm jarred T from her thoughts.


    What? T jerked, looking to her friend.


    Are you alright?


    Yeah, that statue is As T turned back, she saw the same statue of a wolf, but it was less than it had seemed. It was incredibly lifelike, but it was no longer dripped with the <em>weight</em> of a beast-god. I Im sorry, I was caught up in my own thoughts.


    Well,e on. Master Rane was just telling us how he manages to make such works of art.


    He shrugged in response, seemingly picking up where hed left off. As I said, its much easier to put what I imagine into stone when I can properly conceive of what Im aiming for. Its be easier and easier as the prehe hesitated, ncing toward Kannis before continuingas my physical enhancement scripts have matured. I honestly think that much of my original capacity was facilitated by my mental, perceptual, and kinesthetic enhancement magics. Its likely that I dont have much talent, just ability granted by my magic. Anyone could do this with some time and practice.


    Lyn scoffed. Master Rane. Thats ridiculous. These are amazing.


    These are clinical. They are precise. He smiled wanly. I sculpt what I see and imagine, but Im not good at conveying more than is seen.


    T nced back toward Anatalis.


    Rane seemed to notice the nce, and he smiled. Ahh, yes. That one that one I <em>am</em> proud of. When I was finishing it, I really felt connected to my emotions. I think the joy I was feeling, the contentment, flowed through and allowed me to convey a predator more fully than others that Ive sculpted.


    Kannisughed. How are those rted?


    Well, the joy of the hunt. The contentment of a meal secured for those depending on you. Conversely, the joy and contentment shattered in the prey.he hesitated, scratching his cheek in sudden awkwardnessIt made sense to me at the time.


    I like it. T hadnt spoken loudly, and she was almost as surprised as the others that shed said anything. Regardless, she decided to press on. I do. I think it evokes the sense of <em>more</em> that was in the wolf we saw on the way to Bandfast.


    That sparked a series of questions from Lyn and Kannis as the four finally made their way to the main house.


    Lyn and Kannis were asking Rane if they could step through a bath before the meal, given their recent trek through the wilderness, and Rane was promising to ask for baths to be drawn for the women while their meal was prepared.


    His eyes kept flicking to T, even as he addressed their friends, but T didnt mind. She knew she was acting oddly.


    Part of it was how much of her mind was being used by t to tame the myriad perspectives she was mirroring, but part of it was something <em>else</em>.


    T found herself ncing over her shoulder, back at the statue of Anatalis, and despite knowing it wasnt true, she couldnt help but feel that it was watching her go.


    <em>Were going to have to explore the northern forest at some point, arent we.</em>


    She knew that the leshkin to the south were enemies. The wolves to the north were at least neutral to mankind.


    <em>I wonder what I could learn from such ancient beings.</em>


    T, are you going to be alright while we get cleaned up?


    T jerked her head up, meeting Lyns eyes. Oh! Yeah. Do what you need to.


    She smiled even as a servant led each of her visiting friends away.


    Rane was already talking to a third servant about having a meal prepared for the four of them, but still, he was ncing her way, concern evident in his gaze.


    <em>Yeah we need to get back to Mistress Holly to get this fixed.</em>


    <em>-Indeed.-</em>

 Chapter 364: Whirlwind

    Chapter 364: Whirlwind


    T blinked a few times as Rane came over, the final servant heading off toward the kitchens.


    T? You seem really distracted.


    She grunted, t is using a lot of my brainpower to parse our new, more extreme and extensive perspectives. Were maintaining sixteen aspect mirrored perspectives, and its really hard to keep everything parsed. Im used to only having four going at any given time, and the extras are rather draining.


    Could you stop mirroring some? Maybe work up to that many?


    T stared at Rane for a long moment. Oh


    <em>-Oh thats yeah.-</em>


    T immediately released half the aspect-mirrored perspectives.


    She staggered, Rane stepping forward to catch and help bnce her as the whole world seemed to shift and sway.


    T? Are you alright?


    She grunted. I am now.


    So, that helped? You just reduced the number?


    Yeah.


    He gave her a genuinely puzzled look. Why didnt you do that before?


    T hesitated, feeling a bit awkward even as Rane stepped back, her feet solid underneath her once again. Would you believe that I was just too stubborn to reduce the number?


    He gave her an odd look. Well, with the way you just asked that, Id say thats pretty hard to believe.


    Hmm would you believe that I was trying to train myself with the extreme?


    A smile spread across his face as he began to chuckle. Yeah, I dont know that youre fully mentally recovered yet, because I still find that hard to believe.


    So She grimaced. Yeah, I just didnt think of stopping.


    His smile widened, and he shook his head, Thats fine. You were under a lot of mental strain. Its hard to think rationally in situations like that.


    T smiled sheepishly. Thanks, Rane.


    He shrugged. You would have been fine. Either youd have figured it out on your own, or endured until you could take it.


    Is that what you see in me?


    He frowned. What do you mean?


    T wasnt certain why, but her voice was incredibly quiet, Is that how you see me?


    He titled his head to one side, frowning. That you either figure your way out of a given predicament, or adapt and grow stronger?


    Yes. Is that what you meant?


    Yes. He shrugged. I help where I can, but I dont know that youve ever needed me to.


    She opened her mouth, then closed it.


    Its fine. Right now, Im less advanced than you are. Your strength is beyond what I can grasp for the moment, but Im not slowing down. One day, Ill stand at your side and be able to be there for you when you need me. He smiled and shrugged again.


    I She frowned, digging deeply into how she was feeling, considering it closely. You have helped me. There are so many times that I would have been alone if not for you. Sure, you havent gotten me food when I would have gone hungry. You havent often defended me when I would have died, but those extremes arent always needed. Help is still help, even when I <em>could have</em> done without. It is possible for people to exist alone, but its not a great existence. Eternity alone is nothing more than eternal torture.


    She felt something resonate within herself, and t gasped. <em>-You just advanced another tick toward Paragon.-</em>


    <em>Really?</em>


    <em>-A percent of a percent, but yes. That was apparently in line with an eternal perspective as makes sense, actually.-</em>


    T smiled. At the moment, I dont need you, but you do help me.


    It was Ranes turn to seem off kilter. Even so, he seemed dissatisfied.


    There was a long moment of silence, and right as he looked to be building up to say something in response, the sound of two sets of footfalls came from a hallway off to the side of therge entry hall in which they stood. Is that my Rane?


    A giant of a woman came around the corner, followed by a rather unassuming man of indeterminate age.


    The woman was practically bouncing as she walked, though she was not skipping.


    Rane tensed up for a moment, then sighed. Hello, Chloe, Master Dafnis.


    The man, Master Dafnis, waved Rane off. Weve discussed this, Rane. Im your brother-inw. Master is unnecessary. Besides, youve advanced beyond me.


    Both people had the red-orange auras of Bound well on the way to Fusing.


    Regardless, Rane appeared ready to argue when the woman, Mistress Chloe apparently, lunged forward, seemingly aiming to tackle him.


    Ranes magics activated, and he had moved perpendicr to the attack before she got close enough to grab him, neatly avoiding the aggressive hug.


    <em>Thats a better, more nuanced response than his magics have had in the past.</em>


    <em>-We dont really see him in that manybat situations these daysoutside directly one-on-one sparring against him-</em>


    Mistress Chloe grimaced. Dafnis, if you please?


    The man sighed dramatically, but a smile was still pulling at his lips. Yes, dear.


    Ts eyes widened as the whole of the air in the area <em>shifted</em>. The instantly began to feel just like the mans aura even as it pulled inward in carefully constructed bands of hardened, power-filled air. This caused an inrushing breeze that actually felt rather nice.


    Rane could likely have broken the bonds, but this wasnt actually a fight, and his resigned look showed T that the events werent unexpected by her friend.


    Mistress Chloe stepped forward confidently, bonds of air shifting out of her way as she came to within reach of Rane and wrapped him in a crushing embrace, or at least that seemed to have been the intention.


    The woman who towered over even Rane set him down with a frown. Youre much sturdier these days. Advancing has made your hugs less fun.


    Rane glowered. I wasnt giving you a hug, Chloe.


    She patted his head, even as Master Dafnis magics vanished. Semantics, little brother. She suddenly spun to face T. You must be Mistress T. Ive heard a lot about you.


    T looked up and up at the woman who had nearly two feet of height on her. Yes, I am.


    T extended a hand in greeting, but therger woman moved to scoop her up in a hug.


    With a mild huff, T allowed all of her iron to weigh down on herself, and Mistress Chloe grunted, clearly straining but unable to budge T in the slightest. She grunted with effort, finally forcing out, How heavy are you?


    To her credit, Mistress Chloe stepped back almost immediately, finally taking Ts proffered hand with a grin.


    He moves away from my hugs, and you simply wont move. She barked augh, continuing in a slightly-louder-than-necessary voice. Thats amazing! Like a lock and key. Opposites make the best friends!


    Master Dafnis smiled contentedly, locking eyes with T before giving a bow. A pleasure.


    T felt herself smile at the unassuming man. Likewise.


    Rane cleared his throat. So why are you in town, Chloe?


    Hmm? Oh, a new Constructionist imed that he made a coffee incorporator.


    Ts eyes widened, causing Mistress Chloes smile to widen.


    I know, right? But he just made coffee scented air.


    Rane sighed. Isnt that a good first step?


    Bite your tongue, boy. She thrust her finger in his direction, while turning back toward T. If you ce cinnamon, vani, and water in the oven, it smells like cookies, but there are no cookies in that oven. Only false promises and lies.


    Rane opened his mouth, then closed it again, frowning.


    T cleared her throat. So no coffee incorporator, then?


    No. Mistress Chloe hung her head. This whole trip just to see the unveiling was a waste.


    Master Dafnis cleared his throat once, meaningfully.


    She nced his way then sighed, Yeah, it was good to see the family.she gestured at TAnd to meet the one were constantly hearing about.


    T turned to look at Rane with one arched brow even as Mistress Chloe continued.


    Master Grediv really gets annoying with his golden children


    T flushed, looking away from Rane, but she still saw the smile of self-vindication pulling at his lips.


    But, Mistress Chloe wasnt done, Get that smile off of your face, boy. You were that golden child for a while, Rane. You remember that, right?


    Rane grimaced. Yeah


    Mistress Chloe leaned in close to T and stage whispered. I sort of hated him when I got back from the Academy, but were doing better now. It has beenten years?


    Elevengive or take


    Right, eleven years.


    The woman pulled out a massive mug from T actually had no idea where it came from, which was impressive in its own right.


    <em>-Wait It was just a handle, and the mug constructed itself as she drew it forth.-</em>


    <em>Really? Thats a neat trick.</em>


    <em>-Oh! Look there, starward.-</em>


    T focused on what t was showing her, and that revealed arge, dimensionally expanded space just barely starward of the mug.


    <em>Fascinating. By the magics I can see, the set up somehow works to keep the mug filled to the right level and the liquid at the right temperature.</em>


    <em>-And moves the mug itself into the storage dimension when the handle isnt being held?-</em>


    <em>So it seems.</em> T resisted asking after the device, given her own propensity to over-indulge on coffee. <em>Yeah, its best if I dont know how it works.</em>


    <em>-How very mature of you.-</em> t practically beamed with pride from within Ts mind.


    The vessel in Mistress Chloes hand was obviously filled with coffee, and it was steaming as she took a long pull. When she was done, she let out a contented sigh, Thats the stuff.


    Rane was rubbing his own face. Why? Why are you acting like this, Chloe?


    She lowered the mug and grinned. Ive told you already. I missed out on messing with you at the Academy because you didnt go. Youve got at least another few years before that itch is scratched.


    Master Dafnis moved forward. Dear, I think that hes actually frustrated by the fact that you are teasing him in front ofpany.


    Therge woman turned to look at T and frowned for a moment. Finally, she nodded once. Youre right. Thank you, my love. She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek before reorienting on T. I apologize for my juvenile behavior. I let my desire to tease my little brother get ahead of my manners. Will you forgive me?


    T almost stepped back in shock at theplete reversal in the womans demeanor.


    The Bound had gone from seeming to be a mildly immature young womantaking glee in making her brothers life difficultto a solidly professional Mage in just five sentences. It was as impressive as it was startling


    Oh, um Sure.


    Mistress Chloe grinned broadly. Good, good. I wouldnt want to drive you away from the family.


    Rane visibly colored yet again.


    But, Im regressing. So, I should progress this digression, and get back to our procession toward our possessions. It was good to meet you, Mistress T. I hope our paths cross many, many times in the future.


    T blinked a few times before she fully parsed the previous words. Oh! Youre leaving?


    Master Dafnis nodded. We are. Master Grediv has kindly arranged for a visiting Paragon to ferry us back to Audel, but she leaves in just under an hour. We dont want to dy the good Mistress.


    Oh. Well, it was good to meet you, then, even if only briefly.


    Mistress Chloe hugged Rane again, but this time Rane returned the hug. Bye, sis. Love you.


    Goodbye, Rane. I love you too. Dont be a stranger!


    Master Dafnis and Rane shook hands once, exchanging simple, genuine smiles.


    And with that, the whirlwind of their passage wasplete.


    T cleared her throat, Wow shes something. Im sorry that the timing worked out this way. If Id known, we could have dyed picking up Lyn and Kannis for a couple of days.


    Its fine. We cant spend too much time near each other, yet. We still sh a bit too much.


    Oh? I guess I can see that. Still, she seemed to have the capacity to be professional.


    Rane shrugged. Oh, she is. In fact, shes rather well respected in her field. I actually considered introducing you to her when we went through Audel.


    <em>When</em> we went through? When were we going to do that?


    He gave her a long, frowning look. But when she didnt say anything further, he borated, Before you went missing, remember? We were going to go to every city, well I was, and you were going to go to every city outside of the southern forest.


    <em>Right</em>


    <em>-Yeah. You forgot?-</em>


    <em>No, I just wasnt thinking about that.</em>


    <em>-Ahh. And I didnt remind you, because Im exhausted. Speaking of which: food and rest soon, please?-</em>


    <em>Ill see what I can do.</em>


    <em>-Thank you.-</em>


    Thats right. Huh.


    There was a beat of silence before Rane gestured toward one end of the entry hall. Shall we go see what we can do to prep for dinner with Mistress Lyn and Kannis? They should be done getting cleaned up sometime soon.


    Yeah, lets.


    Without needing further discussion, T and Rane went to a smaller dining room together, finding one with only a small table for six, offset to one side.


    Rane was pleased because that particr room had an Archive disy on the far wall. The space would work perfectly for viewing some of the battles from the past if the four decided to do so.


    He stepped out to inform a servant where they had gotten to, and then began searching through the records for word-Mage defenders.


    As expected from Lyns information, there werent any recently, but to their surprise, they found a concentration of a few from about one-and-a-half-thousand years earlier.


    Apparently, that section of magic was very popr at the time, and Mages often were entertainers, scalds, bards, or even crafters more often than they were front line fighters or distance casters, hurtling around fire, rocks, lightning, or the like.


    But that was beside the point. They had found a good selection for Lyn to look over, so they were ready.


    It was only a couple of minutes after theyd found the cache of interesting shes to watch that Kannis and Lyn arrived, followed shortly after by the first of their food.


    A swarm of servants swept through the room, leaving the table properly set and food and drink on easy to reach side-tables that hadnt been there before.


    Kannis gave Rane a critical look. Youre rich.


    Rane shook his head. None of this is mine. I have enough, but this all belongs to my family.


    Kannis shook her head. I figured that the gardens outside were an exception, but the more I see the more it proves true. Even if you deny your own wealth, your family is floating in gold.


    He coughed, ncing away. What of it?


    T shook her head, mostly ignoring them as she started to gather some food for herself. <em>This looks really good.</em>


    She even found a wine that looked intriguing, and she took a long pull from her cup, satisfied that it was as tasty as shed hoped.


    Kannis sighed dramatically, How are you still single?


    T almost choked, barely keeping herself from spraying red across one wall.


    Rane shook his head. Yeah no. Lets talk about something else.


    The mageling shrugged, clearly unrepentant, and began filling her te.


    Lyn cleared her throat, Regardless, is that a list of names that I see?


    Yes, Rane quickly seized on the lifeline Lyn had offered as an escape from the conversation. It starts with Cote the Ascriber.


    Ascriber? T asked in confusion.


    Yes Rane pulled up some information, Apparently, his magic specifically focused around giving things names, and as he gave names to things, it seems that no one much wanted to argue about the name he gave himself. So, he called himself an Ascriber and his contemporaries just went with it.


    Huh.


    As I was saying, it goes from Cote the Ascriber to Mistress Zoe, a Librarian.


    Lyn took some time to read through the apanying information, even as she ate some of the appetizers already arrayed for their consumption.


    Finally, she settled on one of the conflicts of Master Foir. Heres a good one. It says he fought a wolf-man. Apparently, A Mage had a She nced to her mageling meaningfully. ...soul-bonding go sideways, and ended up in that form.


    Kannis frowned. And that blended them somehow?


    Lyn nodded, carefully addressing the girl, Its one reason why familiars are so rare. You are still not at a ce to learn the magical process.


    Kannis nodded, smiling. Oh, I know. I feel like I really want to know how to form such bonds, but I can wait until you believe that Im ready. They are always really exciting in the stories, and it would be amazing to have apanion or item tied as closely to me as my husband. She colored slightly. My eventual husband, and in a different way, of course. Her color deepened. I didnt meant that


    Lyn cleared her throat. Let me save you from yourself. No one thought you meant anything odd.


    Kannis looked away, muttering a thank you.


    T nced down at Kit. Speaking ofpanions. She opened the pouch and called Terry out, giving him some food and exining that they were about to watch a recorded conflict. "Would you like to join us?


    Terry looked around at the food and the people, then flickered to Ts shoulder with a trill of hearty agreement.


    T grinned over at her avian friend. d to have you with us, Terry.


    Rane tossed a chuck of meat, and Terry flickered to snatch it from the air, chirping his thanks.


    Lyn swallowed her most recent bite. Alright, then. Lets see how this Master Foir handles a wolf-man.


    T frowned, reading over the information as presented. Wait. Is this hisst fight on record?


    Lyn sorted through the details before grunting. It does seem like it.


    Rane shrugged. Everyone retires or dies in the end. This could be either.


    Still, they all shared a look.


    Kannis was the one to break the short silence, chuckling nervously. Well, I suppose itll be an interesting fight, regardless!

 Chapter 365: Wolves and Bears

    Chapter 365: Wolves and Bears


    T and her friends settled into their seats as Rane began the yback of Master Foirs long-ago fight with a wolf-man.


    As the record was shown, they were <em>almost </em>drawn into the ancient time, the massive Archive te showing things more clearly than even a window could have, somehow.


    The region disyed was a bit more heavily wooded than that around Alefast, but it clearly wasnt a forest city.


    The man himself, Master Foir, wore quite in clothing, if nicely made.


    The style was a bit odd, but that was to be expected.


    Honestly, T thought the clothing was much more simr to what she was used to than shed have guessed it would be.


    He was tall, straight-backed, and strong without being heavily muscled, and he strode out of the city gates with confidence.


    Waiting for him was not what T had expected.


    There was not <em>one </em>wolf-man but dozens, all easily visible with the provided view.


    Kannis sucked in a breath when she noticed the same thing.


    Each wolf-man seemed to have rows of scars across portions of their exposed flesh, their clothing either torn or missing entirely.


    Even so, what nakedness there was, wasnt lewd. Their humanity was gone, their bodies distorted in ways that were more vulgar than any naked flesh ever could be.


    They looked like nothing so much as bi-pedal wolves, with exaggerated, human-like muscles bulging from their otherwise lupine forms.


    Their coats varied widely from near red, browns, all the way to mid-night ck, and on to snow-white fur.


    Each unique in their twisted features, whether crouched on the ground or bnced among the tree branches.


    T leaned over toward Lyn. What was Master Foirs foundational understanding? Is it listed?


    Power makes words true.


    Rane grunted when he heard that. Well put together. Quite cynical, though.


    Lyn smiled. Indeed.


    Master Foir spoke within the recording. You are visible.


    His words thrummed with power that seemed to almoste through the recording itself, causing Ts magesight to momentarily fuzz, even if just slightly.


    <em>-Oh, I did not like that.-</em>


    Two dozen more wolf-men stuttered into visibility, seemingly having been trying to sneak up on the man.


    You poor souls. What a curse to bring to the world, Lycaon.


    A howl echoed from the trees as a truly massive beast, standing easily twice the height of the others, bounded forward.


    Ts eyes widened.


    The others rows of scars now made sense. Each was a bite from this massive beast, healed and scarred over.


    His curse spread through a bite?


    Rane and Lyn both nodded in agreement, not taking their eyes from the unfolding drama.


    As the massive werewolf growled, it took them a moment to pick out the words, and even then, it was t who did so first.


    <em>-Oh! The beast is speaking? Thats rare indeed. Let me see if I can help trante, some good. The recordings are open. I can put the words at the bottom for you all.-</em>


    The recording moved back to the beginning of Lycaons harsh speech, causing the other three to frown in question.


    t is adding a transcription of what the wolf-man is saying.


    Lycaon spoke, then, his growl barely understandable with ts transcription. Bound and Fused, Refined and stagnate, you have fallen for the lie of the human form. Trapped for eternity without perfection.


    Master Foir didnt speak, letting the creature continue.


    The freedom of the forest and the ins, the hunt and the den, await all. The strength of the pack and the moon, the fang and the pelt are granted to any and all by my tooth and w.


    You are intelligent, then. You retain that much of humanity?


    Lycaon barked a harsh, rollingugh, Humanity has stolen that much from nature, and I have not given it back, yes.


    Then, go, turn your pack upon the arcanes. Break your teeth against the City Lords and their pet Houses. Reim them for your pack, but leave us be.


    <em>Well Thats probably more than Kannis knows.</em> T focused her perception on the mageling and saw no surprise, just studied interest.


    <em>-Honestly, they are just words to her, without context. She knows that this is from more than a thousand years ago. Without knowing what we know, its background details on a world that no longer exists.-</em>


    <em>Huh, fair. Best not make anything of it, then.</em>


    Lycaon responded to the defender, bringing Ts attention back to the recorded confrontation, No. The twisted shall not be twisted again. The broken-bound will not be broken again until the world is wiped clean of the scourge of humankind. Join my pack, let the taint be cleansed and turned to strength.


    T desperately wished that she could use her magesight on the creature, but sadly, that wasnt an option.


    Master Foir nodded once. So, it <em>was</em> a reality wolf you sought to bond. You fool. How did you even approach it to He shook his head. It doesnt matter. It was a fools errand and you got a fools result.


    Lycaon growled deeply, sinking low and preparing to spring at the Refined.


    But Master Foir acted first.


    He lifted a pair of constructs that were suddenly in his hands, seemingly havinge from a bound storage.


    T could only describe them as crossbows, but without the limbs. Additionally, there seemed to be arge pair of wheels holding an insane number of dimensionallypressed bolts in them.


    They werent in an extra dimensional space, instead appearing far smaller, and taking up much less space, than the bolts that were obviously already loaded and ready to fire.


    They looked rather reminiscent to the weapons that Mistress Jean, the Mage Hunter, had used. Though hers were very much intended for single, massive, magical shots, and Master Foirs were just as clearly intended for the rapid firing of a number of mundane projectiles, each carrying a payload of magic to be activated within their target.


    Simr concept, though.


    Kannis leaned forward. What are those?


    Rane grinned. Its an old-style automatic bow. <em>Incredibly</em> expensive, and not really worth it for what you get out, but some Mages used to specialize so much that they required external weaponry to fill in the gaps in their power. Now, we try to have a broad enough set of abilities that they arent as needed.


    T got a good look at the weaponry, given the detail of what they were seeing, and while the boltheads looked silver at first nce, she was able to pick out incredibly intricate spell-workings iid within harder metal.


    <em>Clever. Like the arrowheads we have for specific creatures.</em>


    <em>-Precisely that. He must have known this wasing for a while to have so many for this creature, or he had a way of mass producing them.-</em>


    As Master Foir pulled the triggers, he swept the two weapons across the line of the enemies before him.


    Lycaon lunged straight up, out of the line of fire, but most of his pack wasnt so lucky.


    Boltsnced out, each one getting a dose of kic power from a small, magical disc that was ejected from the side of the weapon even as the bolt was sent flying.


    <em>One use kic imparters? That is expensive. Even now, that would be three or four silver a shot?</em>


    As the boltsnced out, Master Foir was speaking, though they couldnt hear him over the roaring, howling, and whimpering of wolf-men.


    What he did was quite obvious, however.


    No bolt flew perfectly straight, each seemingly nudged along their trajectories, their flightpaths perfected on the way to their targets.


    In a matter of moments, every lesser wolf-man had a bolt in head and heart, magic pulsing from the projectiles to send the monster-trapped souls on to the next world.


    It was an insane disy of wealth, weaponry, and word-magics power.


    One of his two weapons was down to a final shot, and the other had two bolts left when Lycaonnded almost silently behind Master Foir.


    The Refined seemed to have heard, regardless.


    He was unbelievably fast, spinning and firing off a bolt from each weapon in a blink.


    He just wasnt fast enough.


    Lycaon raked ws across the Refined, leaving bloody furrows that began to bubble as if filled with acid.


    Master Foir screamed in obvious pain, even as Lycaon bit down on the mans shoulder.


    Still, Master Foirs bolts had struck true, one imbedding in each of the giant creatures thighs.


    Their magic was radiating out with powerful pulses, shredding the lupine flesh.


    Lycaon toppled to the side, howling and writhing in pain as the magical projectiles turned his own magic against him, ending him in moments.


    Even so, as the wolf-man died, he diedughing around his agonized whimpers. The pack must grow, and you will do as well as I to see it done


    Master Foir was on his knees beside his in foe, swaying in his own agony.


    He lifted up one hand and groaned as thick hair began to sprout from his skin. I am human.


    Power rippled through the words, and all evidence of the curse vanished for a moment.


    Then, like a rising tide, it sprouted from around the massive bite marks once again, racing to cover his whole body.


    I am cleansed.


    Again, the power in the words drove out the curse for a moment.


    Even without her magesight, T could see what was happening. Hes using more power than his throughput replenishes.


    Master Foir growled in frustration and anger as the change began again, but he drove it back again.


    And again.


    And again.


    Mages wereing from the city at a run, but it was obvious that they wouldnt arrive before he lost the back and forth with the curse.


    Finally, as he stared at his arm once again bulging with muscle, hair sprouting across the surface, he seemed to recognize the weapon in his hand.


    There was only a moments hesitation before he spoke one final phrase, clearly filled with all the power he had left, Humanity fights on.


    A momentter, the final bolt was within his flesh, its deadly power ending the curse before it could spread further.


    The recording ended, and the four exchanged varied looks.


    Kannis looked a little green.


    Lyn was also looking a bit squeamish, but she was more contemtive than her mageling.


    T and Rane exchanged a look that said: Moreter. Theyre done for now.


    Even so, T had felt something resonating within herself at the mans end.


    Still, it was hardly the time to contemte such things. Instead, she simply asked t to note it forter consideration.


    Without further distractions, the four ate their food, conversation only slowly getting started once again.


    Regardless, it didnt take too long before they wereughing and chatting once more.


    Despite the dour start, the night turned out to be quite enjoyable all around.


    * * *


    That night, T ced Kit on the inner surface of the outer wall of the Gredial estate, and she, Lyn, and Kannis slept within.


    Rane stayed in his rooms within the main house, as made sense.


    The next morning, after a Gredial meal for everyone but T, the four went out into Alefast.


    T, for her part, had a meal prepared by Mistress Petra once again.


    Their first stop was none other than Artia and Adrills shop, so that Kannis and Lyn could get a good look at some artifact style items.


    When the four arrived, Adrill and Brandon were waiting for them, a pile of items and equipment ready and waiting, clearly not part of the shops inventory.


    Good, good! Adrill smiled and waved. I was afraid that we wouldnt be your first stop.


    <em>-I let them know the n was for us to swing by today.-</em>


    <em>Thank you, t. That was very kind of you.</em>


    <em>-Its what I do.-</em>


    T wasted no time in putting Kit on a nearby wall and letting the two men carry their stuff inside, where Master Simon was eagerly awaiting them.


    That sparked a conversation with Lyn and Kannis, who were confused as to what was going on.


    As they moved into the shop proper, Kannis rified, So, let me get this straight. Your sanctum is evenrger than the couple of rooms that we sawst night? We were in those rooms when you were carrying us, after all. I mean I knew that you had meals stored within it, but you have someone working in there too?


    Several someones, yes.


    Artia greeted them as they entered, adding to the conversation, And my husband wants us to join that little enve of magically fascinating bliss, apparently. She shook her head in mock sadness. You really shouldnt try to steal other womens husbands, Mistress T.


    T cracked a smile. Never fear, good woman. Your husband is only after what he can learn, and I am only interested in what he can discover.


    Aye, I love him for his mind too. The older woman grinned widely, giving aically exaggerated wink.


    T moved on, introducing Lyn and Kannis, and exining why they were there.


    Well, I have to tell you, while we have a great selection, if nothing strikes your interest, I have a list of items other shops should have. As ast resort, theres also the Constructionists. They have a more eclectic collection, though you may have to get Mistress T to help wrestle those from their greedy little fingers.


    T chuckled. Yeah, the Constructionists like buying up anything unusual.


    That signaled the start of the two visiting women wandering the shop, eximing over the various items avable for purchase.


    They were both, obviously, drawn to the dimensional storage items, but while they were less expensive than Constructionist created versions, they still werent cheap.


    After looking over what was avable in that section, Lyn and Kannis found themselves more fascinated by the random artifacts on the final counter.


    T was looking over the items as well, Hey, youve gotten some new stuff.


    Artia scoffed. Of course. Thats how shops work, Mistress T.


    T gave her a t look. I am aware of that. I mean that you have new types of artifacts. Last time you were exining how there seemed to be more simr items showing up.


    Ahh, yes. Well, a few delvers found a cave system filled with artifacts a couple of miles outside the city. That has created a bit of a surplus in thest weeks, including a lot of new things.


    Lyn lifted up a ss jar filled with a ck semi-solid. Obedient y? Im not sure I understand.


    Artia smiled, speaking with a note ofmand, but without magic in the words, Sword.


    The ck substance shifted, bing a sword, using all of itself to make a weapon that was asrge as possible which was just a short sword.


    It was now too big for the jar and teetered over to thunk on the counter.


    Once it is magic-bound, it should only respond to its boundsmand.


    Lyn nodded, picking up the sword and muttering to the weapon,manding small changes and witnessing the results. Finally, she looked up at the shop owner, Can mass be added?


    In theory, yes, but I dont know the method. I would refer you to the Constructionists for that.


    T smiled to herself at how much Artia had grown in her thoughts about Mages over thest years.


    Lyn grinned, muttering to the item and turning it into a cube, then a sphere, then a cup. How much?


    That started their haggling, in which Lyn also added in a dimensional storage for herself and her mageling. She was very particr about which ones, too.


    T hadnt looked closely enough to see a difference, but she also wasnt in the market for such things.


    <em>Though, we do need to find some more expanded spaces for Kit to consume.</em>


    <em>-Ooo, that would be nice, yes.-</em>


    Kannis was not having luck finding an artifact that really interested her. Finally, she despaired. Theres nothing here for me. All of these are fascinating, but none really speak to me.


    T frowned. <em>There are tons of random little things. I got whatever I could conceive of a use for.</em>


    Still, T knew that she was the odd one, here. So she didnt say anything.


    Artia paused her negotiations with Lyn, turning to the Mageling. What are you looking for, dear? Perhaps I can help. Almost any of these items could provide some utility.


    The young woman lifted her hands in defeat. I dont actually know. It seems silly to consider when looking at artifacts, but my foundation is that I seek the truth in all things, even among falsehoods, but looking for an item like that is probably ridiculous. It would be nice to have an ever-sharp knife, but I cant justify the expense.


    Truth? The shopkeeper got a far-off look, then reached to the far end of the counter and pulled over what seemed to be a small teddy bear of indeterminate material.


    Kannis blinked a few times. Is that a teddy bear? Like for a child? She frowned then. Well, I suppose it wouldnt be here if it wasnt magical. I didnt even look at that one, and that was likely a mistake.


    Artia smiled happily. Yes, the magics are centered around this little bear, but the analysis is what brought it to mind. Give truth to bind, ask truth to befriend, reveal truth to grow in power. This one apparently doesnt require a gate to magic-bond, based on the Mages who analyzed it. They put this little iron cor around its neck to prevent its early bonding.


    Ts frown deepened, trying not to remember her own time wearing a cor. Care to exin the esoteric information?


    Well, they discovered that there is a sapience dormant inside. They were going to simply destroy it as a creature from beyond, or something like that, but they found none of the markers of dangers to humanity or even individuals within the twists and turns of its magic.


    T groused. I feel like the knowledge that some artifacts are creatures from beyond is important information, and it rather weighs scales in regards to the likely source of artifacts. Even more so, if you all are regrly finding examples of sapience among the artifacts.


    The shop owner shook her head. Hardly. I even told you about the dangerous ones the first time we met. Regardless, if artifacts are somehow remnants from ages past, moved through time, or otherwise preserved only to be revealed now, then it would make sense that some guardian creatures woulde through, too. Most are less than useful, targeting anything not of a given family line, descriptions, or race that race is never human, incidentally. Those have to be picked apart and dispersed as soon as theyre found. In order to keep my license as a seller of artifacts, I am bound to report any such to the Mages.


    Kannis eyes narrowed. Then why is it avable, still?


    Artia shrugged. The elerated waning has most families with small children, or who want them, already out of the city. I would bet that most dismiss it as you did. Beyond that, there really isnt much to go on with what the Constructionists were able to pull from the rats nest of magics within. They did say that once it was activated, once it bonded with someone, those magics should unspool, and be easier to read. At the moment, they are folded in and dormant, only presenting what Ive conveyed to any with the skill to understand the spell forms.


    Lyn and Kannis shared a look. Before the older woman shrugged. Could be worth a try.


    Kannis picked up the little bear, turning it over in her hands. Its cold. She pulled it to her chest, almost instinctively before hesitating and chuckling, But, I suppose thats to be expected.


    Lyn and Artia entered another round of negotiations before they settled on a price that T found hard to ept.


    Lyn truly was a master of negotiation. That, or Artia had been kind to them. Likely it was abination of the two.


    The deal done, Artia removed the little cor from the bear and motioned to Kannis.


    The mageling held up the bear, looking it in the eyes and spoke, Hello, Im Kannis. Whats your name?

 Chapter 366: Often… Frustrating

    Chapter 366: Often¡­ Frustrating


    T was curious to see what the little bear would do, given the incrediblyplex magics that she could see bundled into it. Thus, she watched with anticipation as Kannis addressed the little artifact.


    The mageling seemed resolute as she held the item, but T could still detect a note of uncertainty. What they knew of the artifact implied sapience, and while that was expected in powerful arcanous creatures like Terry, and virtually all magical creatures, it was rare in objects outside of forbidden experiments and the like.


    <em>-Well, Kit shows all the signs of either sapience or incredibly intricate procedural magics, on the order ofplexity far beyond our ability to create at the moment.-</em>


    <em>Thats true enough.</em>


    Finally, the young woman firmed her resolve and spoke, Hello, Im Kannis. Whats your name?


    At the first sentence, power seemed to be pulled toward the bear. T was able to see it being drawn starward, out of the otherwise stoneward streams of power.


    Natural magical pathways seemed to awaken from their dormant state, much as silver inscriptions would for Mages.


    At the second sentence, another set of interweaving spell-forms immediately started to draw in power, and T thought she saw flickers of power moving between Kannis and the bear.


    <em>Forming a connection, just as expected.</em>


    With all the moving pieces of the spellform, spreading out to ovey every part of the small bear, it was a wonder how fast it progressed.


    Less than three seconds after Kannis had asked her question, the bears eyes opened.


    They looked like doll eyes as it looked up at Kannis. Hello, Kannis. I am Mathan Fannas Geard. Do you have a magical source attuned to you already?


    The voice was melodic, like Mathan was barely keeping itself from singing. Even so, it was surprisingly deep, wholly incongruous with the tiny thing.


    Kannis was clearly taken aback by the articte artifact.


    Even so, she cleared her throat and answered, Yes. I have a magical source.


    <em>Wait It isnt speaking.</em> T narrowed her focus on the magic around the artifact.


    <em>-No it isnt. It is pushing what it wants tomunicate through an instice of magic its not a powerful effect, but it isplex. It looks like its outside of the range of anything weve seen and analyzed, ourselves.-</em>


    <em>Not human magic, then concept magic? We werent able to analyze too much concept magic even while among the arcanes. Is it simply using the concept ofmunication tomunicate?</em>


    <em>-Thats a reasonable guess. Thats why were all hearing it, because thats what we expect and will receive best.-</em>


    <em>And its verbose because thats the only way to convey exactly what its trying to convey.</em>


    <em>-Precisely. The concepts involved are likely incredibly simple, from the artifacts perspective, but the magic expands and elucidates it until we can understand it precisely as intended.-</em>


    <em>Thats useful?</em>


    <em>-Indeed.-</em>


    The magical pathways widened and deepened within Mathan. Excellent. It is convenient that you are so equipped already, and we do not have to seek out a source to im. In that case, initiating our magical bond will only require your consent. Simply extend some of your power to me as a form of agreement, and I will do the rest.


    The mageling was obviously, rightly hesitant, Is that required?


    The second set of pathways drew more deeply, thickening and <em>deepening</em> within the dimension of magic.


    <em>Give truth to bind, ask truth to befriend... Is it purposely cycling on its own conditions to add to the two-way bond?</em>


    <em>-That seems likely. If something like this was set up to do harm, it would be insidious.-</em>


    <em>Indeed.</em>


    Mathan was silent for a moment before responding, No. A magic bond is not required, though I believe that I could not leave this region without it. The magic here sustains me, but now that I am active, I would waste away elsewhere. I sense much power nearby, but without a proper bond, I cannot detect its nature or how to ess it for use elsewhere.


    Kannis nodded, understanding.


    T, Rane, and Lyn had all discussed that portion of artifacts with the mageling so that it wouldnt be a surprise or require detailed answers while within Artias shop.


    Rane, Lyn, and Artia, for their parts, were all standing back and watching with various looks of fascination.


    Ironically, Artia seemed the least surprised by the developments.


    <em>I suppose doing this for a couple of decades has made things like this, if not every day, certainly not unique.</em>


    The mageling considered for a long moment, then pulled her own power up and into her hands, which were still sped around the bears middle.


    There was a pulse of power as the drop of Kanniss magic seemed to change theposition of all the power within the small thing, like dipping a teabag into hot water.


    With a wave of ck fire, the hair burned away, leaving a surprisingly lifelike metal bear in its wake.


    Kannis gasped, pulling her hands back and allowing Mathan to drop the few inches to the counter, where itnded in a crouch.


    <em>No, not a bear, a bear-man.</em> It was eerily simr to the wolf-men theyd seen in the recording the night before, but mainly in that it was an obvious blending of man and predator.


    In Mathans case, there was none of the <em>wrongness</em> that the wolf-men had exuded.


    The little figure stretched, the metal moving as if it were flesh. It then looked down at the wooden counter and tapped one foot.


    Immediately, wood seemed to flow up through the material, and it was a wooden figure instead.


    It looked up with a smile. There. I determined that you did not have any form of enhanced strength, so the added weight of a metal form would be a burden. Did I do well?


    There was a look of childlike need for approval in the little wooden face.


    Then, Mathan frowned. You look startled. Did my transformation shock you? I apologize. It looked down at its articte paws. I only have my nature to act upon, and it seems that it has been so very long since one of my kin was able to gain foothold here. I do not know what I should be doing.


    Kannis cleared her throat, moving a bit closer, Your kin?


    Yes, I am a keeperling, born of the ordered void.


    T felt her eye twitch. <em>What?</em>


    <em>-What?-</em>


    The little wooden bear-man nodded as if satisfied. Your people have done an excellent job keeping the devourlings from gaining a foothold within this ce of magic and power. While the power you have supplied is minor, I can do much with it. You have a truly excellent, unending source.


    Kannis straightened. Oh! Let me give you some more. I am a gated human, which means that my soul draws in magical power from well, I dont truly fully understand so I shouldnt pretend like I do.


    Beside her, Lyn smiled brightly but didnt interject.


    Kannis reached out and tentatively ced her hand on the bears head, directing her meager throughput into the artifact. The creature froze, clearly drinking in the power that was offered.


    A minuteter, Kannis pulled back. Better?


    Oh, yes. Thank you, bonded one.


    Is there anything else that I can do for you?


    Well, if what you say is true, then I seek souls for myself and my kin. I sense so many nearby, can I have those?


    There was a long beat of silence.


    The bear looked around. Was I not understood? Did my conveyance sub-spell fail?


    Kannis shook her head. No, Mathan. You want souls?


    Yes. As many as possible.


    Why?


    For power of course. We cannot exist here without power. You sustain me, but you cannot possibly sustain all my kin. Souls will remove the need of sustainers. It looked around, seemingly fervent in its desire.


    You cant have human souls.


    Why not?


    Because people are using them? Kannis responded with a bit of disbelieving exasperation.


    Truly? The bear looked around again, seemingly able to see through the walls in some manner. Are you sure? Interesting Regardless, I take your meaning. What about after their frail vessels fail? The souls will not mind being put to use, then; I am sure. May we have the souls of the dying?


    The magelings eye twitched, but she seemed utterly at a loss of what to say.


    Rane nced toward T, T, would you inform my master that something here requires his attention? He turned to the little bear and nodded sagely, He is a leader of this city and has the power to negotiate for anything within its walls.


    Oh! The little artifact sounded genuinely pleased. That is excellent. It looked to its bound. He will be able to help us, then.


    <em>-Done.-</em>


    <em>Thank you.</em>


    <em>-This is fascinating unless it actually has a means of harvesting souls Then its terrifying.-</em>


    The little bear turned its head to regard T. You. You aremunicating with yourself, who is not your self but is tied to your self, within yourself Are all humans as confusing as you?


    <em>He can sense us talking?</em>


    <em>-Maybe? It seems likely based on what he just said, but I dont really know what that means.-</em>


    The quick exchange passed in less than a blink, then t gasped. <em>-Existence shield!-</em>


    T flooded her elk leathers defenses with void and iron, even as her iron pooled outward across her skin, under her through-spike, ensconcing herself in self-istion.


    Mathan seemed to sway slightly even as he turned his gaze elsewhere.


    Rane drew its attention back with a few words, She is a special case, really. Most of us are rusted easy to understand. T just likes to go about things in her own way.


    The bear seemed to hesitate, as if unsure of what is going on.


    <em>Exin, t.</em>


    <em>-Reality threads were reaching out to you, manufactured and manipted by his magics. You got your defenses up in time, but I think hes forging bonds with others.</em>


    Before the mageling could answer, Master Grediv appeared beside the counter.


    Artia gasped and stepped even farther back than shed already been standing.


    Lyns eyes widened, but she maintained her ce, protectively off to one side of her mageling, seemingly still ready to attempt to interfere.


    Rane visibly rxed at seeing his mentors arrival.


    T smiled. <em>Good. That didnt take long.</em>


    <em>-Indeed.-</em>


    Mathan looked toward the new arrival. Oh! One of power and might. May we have <em>your</em> soul?


    Master Grediv raised an eyebrow, then lifted a hand, power wreathing the digits in what seemed to obviously be a means of smiting the little artifact.


    Wait! Kannis stepped forward, surprising everyone, seemingly herself most of all. I dont think he means any harm. He seems to be learning about our world for the first time.


    He? The little artifact resonated. Am I a he?


    <em>Now, thats a can of worms. Identity for an artifact has to be a tricky thing to handle.</em>


    Master Grediv didnt lower his hand, but he blessedly seized the conversation. Little artifact


    I am Mathan Fannas Geard. So named by the maker.


    The Paragon tilted his head to the side. A void-bear guardian? Is that your personal name, or that of your kind?


    Personal name? I am what I am. The who is irrelevant. I am bound and will serve my bonded in search of souls or other suitable means of powering myself and my kin.


    <em>-Umm T? Look at this.-</em> t showed T a few key points from the conversation as seen by Ts voidsight, and each time that Mathan exined something to them, or them to him, his reality node grew. It wasnt a lot, but it was noticeable.


    More than that, the tether between it and Kannis was already <em>huge</em>, considering theyd only just met. It was still something that T might expect between new acquaintances who had hit it off well, but it was definitely an oddity. Moreso that it seemed to grow whenever <em>Whenever a truth was asked for. Ask a truth to befriend.</em>


    <em>-Reveal truth to grow in power. Every time it reveals a truth, or has a truth revealed, it grows stronger?-</em>


    <em>At least more </em>present.


    Master Grediv looked up to Kannis, deciding that he should talk with her, given shed stayed his hand. Im sorry, Mistress. I do not know you.


    Kannis colored, lowering her head. My apologies, but I am no Mistress. I am a mageling to Mistress Lyn. She gestured to Lyn. This is an artifact that we just purchased and are trying to understand.


    Master Grediv sighed. A potentially sapient artifact? Those are often frustrating.


    I am fully sapient, thank you. I do have the potential for more, though. The bear seemed positively gleeful to share information.


    <em>No wonder. Every time it does, the node grows.</em>


    T cleared her throat, drawing everyones attention, though Mathan didnt orient on her. Its magics are creating a rtional connection between itself and whoever its speaking with, growing it in depth and meaning. I believe that it might be doing something simr with everyone as questions are asked and answered. Additionally, it is more <em>present</em> every time it reveals truth or has truth revealed to it.


    The bears node grew.


    <em>Really? I suppose I revealed truth to others, around it? That counts?</em>


    <em>-Thats so unfair-</em>


    T sighed. I cannot judge its intent, but if we arent careful, you all might regard it as a long-known friend before were aware of whats happening. Ive protected myself, but I dont think I can protect any of you.


    Master Grediv narrowed his eyes, gazing pointedly at the little wooden bear. Is this true?


    Is what true? It seemed genuinely confused.


    Are you magically forming rtional connections?


    Yes.


    The Paragon seemed taken aback by the simple, forthright answer. Still, he seemed hesitant, Do you wish to exin?


    I very much would like to, yes.


    There was a momentary pause before Master Grediv prompted, Please exin.


    Of course! The magics that make up my being are not hidden or obscured in any regard. I have no core morality, because morality implies the ability to choose, and I have none. Though, I do have sapiencethere was almost a hitch in the little artifact as it seemed to try toprehend what it had just said"I do not understand that contradiction so I will not focus on it. I simply act upon my base magics and the instructions of my bound, either directly or those implied which I interpret. Thus, without a morality, I have no need to hide from either those you would deem good or bad. Neither should want me destroyed because I oppose neither. I am wonderfullypatible with all thinking beings.


    Master Grediv opened his mouth, then closed it in a motion that was hauntingly reminiscent of Rane.


    <em>I guess we know where Rane learned it, then?</em>


    <em>-So it would seem.-</em>


    The Paragon shook his head, a hardness entering into his eyes. I dont like that you are magically forging emotional ties with me, little creature. Are you capable of stopping?


    No. If I severed that portion of my magic, I would no longer be me, thus I cannot stop.


    After a short moment, Master Grediv nodded. But you can stop, and leave an altered you who doesnt do so?


    The bear tilted his head to the side, seemingly considering. Yes. It would cause a cascade, the results of which are beyond my understanding, but it <em>would</em> leave me without that portion of my functionality.


    <em>-That was another big boost in its reality node.-</em>


    <em>Yeah do we know what arger reality node even means?</em>


    <em>-I think weve found it corrtes to how much sway a being generally has over the world around it?-</em>


    <em>Thats not vague or unhelpful at all</em>


    <em>-Sadly, its what we have.-</em>


    <em>I know</em>


    Master Grediv nodded once. I am notfortable with the magics this artifact is demonstrating. We do allow sapient artifacts on asion, if their functions are not hostile, but I believe the emotional connections that are being forcibly formed should be considered a form of hostility.


    The bear nodded once. If my bonded agrees, I will initiate the severing. I feel I should note: I cannot be held responsible for the results. The connections you wish to prevent go in both directions, and my magic has quite a lot of sub-aspects to deal with anything not so connected.


    There was a beat of silence before the bear continued.


    But, as I will no longer be me, thats his problem. I pity that guy and all of you, but mostly him. Kannis? Is this your wish?


    <em>Was that a joke?</em>


    <em>-I think so? Maybe he is flexing his sapience?-</em>


    <em>Possibly.</em>


    I I have no idea. Kannis looked to the Paragon. Isnt this like cutting off a part of a persons brain?


    Master Grediv shook his head. No, it is more like castrating a particrly aggressive dog. He paused. It isnt ideal, but it is preferable to putting down the creature. At least, that is how I have always understood it. I know <em>much</em> but not everything.


    And if I say no?


    I will suppress his magics until they cease to be, leaving a well sculpted wooden statue.


    Ahh


    Mathan looked between the two. I am d you find me well crafted. I do not wish to be sent back to the void, but I will not contest any action taken.


    Kannis sighed. In that case, Mathan, yes. Lets remove the involuntary connection building magics if thats what they are called.


    The little bear gave a serious nod. Understood. You have all taught me so much in my short stint of existence. Thank you. Goodbye.


    Without further dy, a blossom of power reached out from the core of the magics within the artifact and struck at itself, savaging one section of the magical pathways within.


    There was a sh and the majority of the power held within the destroyed spellforms was sucked back into the remainder of the structure of the artifacts natural magics.


    T watched as the remaining magic severed from the artifact, now identical to Kanniss magic, snapped back to its source. It was more than ten times what the girl had offered the magical item to begin with.


    Kannis jerked and gasped as if shed been pped, but Lyn caught her shoulders and steadied her.


    The little bear shifted, looking around itself before reaching out and touching a silver coin artifactying on the counter within its reach.


    The wood gave way to silver, the shape of a bear morphing into that of a stocky man, before it lifted its gaze to Kannis. Hello, bonded. I am Fannas Geard. Am I more eptable to you, now?

 Chapter 367: We Are Undone

    Chapter 367: We Are Undone


    T regarded Fannas curiously, uncertain as to how Master Grediv would proceed.


    There was a beat of silence as Rane, Artia, and T stood back, watching the scene unfold almost as if it were a y.


    Kannis stood nearly directly beside the counter upon which Fannas stood, Lyn behind her to the right, and Master Grediv across from her.


    All eyes were focused on the little, dwarfishly-proportioned, silver man.


    The Paragon sighed. With the magic that creates connections removed, it shouldnt be any more of a threat than any arcanouspanion. He met Kanniss eyes. Any harm, destruction, or death caused by the artifact will be your responsibility and that of your master.


    The mageling took a half step forward. We will work with the Constructionists in Bandfast to keep tabs on his development.


    Master Grediv nodded. That is eptable. I will inform the lord of that city as well as the head of the local Archon Council of this.


    Understood. Thank you, Master Grediv.


    T released her existence defenses, reveling as the growing sense of istion vanished, and she once more felt embraced by the world.


    The Paragons eyes flicked to T, and he winked before vanishing without a trace.


    <em>-Oh! He gave us ess to a section of information oh sapient artifacts are almost always immediately hostile, so while they are vastly moremon than we thought, they are almost universally destroyed hmmmm Syphons are considered in the same overarching grouping, as are many other not-quite-creatures. Though, they also arent actually artifacts either. Basically, if a thing is a spontaneous manifestation of powerrather than propagating through biological meansand it shows even a hint of decision making, it falls into this camp.-</em>


    <em>Dasgannach?</em>


    <em>-Precisely. Though, I will state again that in almost all cases, the sapience is arguable.-</em>


    <em>Fascinating.</em>


    Fannas still had his eyes locked on Kannis.


    The little figure now looked like nothing so much as a squat manikin of silver, with barely more features than a dressing dummy. Though he deviated from such in that hecked the obvious joints, having retained the flesh-like movements of his seemingly solid form.


    <em>Good, actually. Otherwise, he might have looked like an automaton.</em>


    Kannis regarded Fannas before smiling, I am not sure exactly what wille of this, but thank you for your willingness to try to work with me.


    Of course, bonded. Existence is preferable to non-existence, and I exist now, where I did not before. But you have not answered. Am I eptable in this form?


    She nodded. You are. Thank you.


    Fannas actually glowed, a deep purple light shining forth in a clear manifestation of the natural magics showing a mimicry of inscriptions.


    <em>Purple in the visible spectrum, not the magical indication of advancement? Thats just frustrating.</em>


    T and t watched carefully, and still didnt detect anything even slightly resembling reality threadsing from the figure, nor anything that seemed to act on the reality threads already in ce.


    As the light faded, Fannas was a few inches taller than before, now standing at around eight inches from foot to head. He also had a bit more detail, but still rtively little.


    Kannis held out a hand, but the little man took that for an invitation and jumped straight to her shoulder, dexterously spinning and sitting, looking for all the world like an expensive doll ced there on disy.


    Though, he ruined the effect by kicking his feet like a bored child. Lets go learn!


    T cleared her throat. Before that, I feel that weve missed something important.


    Everyone turned to regard her.


    Fannas, why do you want to bring your kin here?


    He tilted his head to one side. Is it nice here?


    Generally, yes.


    The void is not very nice. Here is better. I want to bring others like me to a better ce.


    That makes sense, actually. Is there any urgency?


    Fannas seemed to consider, looking up. Finally, he pointed at an upward angle toward the east, There is a ball of finite burning power up there, correct? I am not sensing a falsehood?


    Kannis nced toward the being on her shoulder. Yes, the sun.


    <em>Shouldnt hismunication magic have provided the name?</em>


    <em>-If he referred to it, it likely would have for our understanding, but that wouldnt have told him what it was called.-</em>


    <em>Thats confusing, but it also makes sense?</em>


    <em>-I hate concept magic-</em>


    <em>Yeah</em>


    Fannas nodded. Before that stops burning should be soon enough to prevent non-existence for my kin.


    That caused everyone to shift in a moment of hesitation.


    Lyn cleared her throat, asking the question likely on everyones mind, You mean you need to rescue them before the sun goes out?


    Yes. That should be soon enough.


    Kannis shrugged, causing Fannas to bob. Well, that sounds like something we can discusster then.


    That is eptable, bonded.


    Artia stepped forward once again. Well, I am d that you are satisfied with your purchases.


    T gave a small bow toward the shopkeeper. Thank you, again, Artia.


    Of course, Mistress. Is there anything else I can assist you with?


    No, thank you. I will be backter for my storage. I will let your husband and son know before I move it.


    Thank you. Artia smiled. They might not notice the passage of time, even with your false sun.


    Fannas watched the interaction with interest but didntment.


    The four friends walked back outside after the rest bid Artia goodbye and thanked her.


    It was still a beautifully crisp morning, and T took a moment to revel in the feeling.


    She was rudely jerked from her revelry by Fannas, Devourling! And so strong? We are undone Bonded, run! I will dy it.


    The little man-shaped being lunged from Kanniss shoulder, charging at the door that was Kit.


    <em>What?</em>


    To Ts surprise, the door opened on its own, revealing a tall stone that tipped and fell out, smacking Fannas even as he tried to jump to the side.


    The stone shattered, leaving the little figure sprawled on the ground, seemingly dazed.


    Its too strong I have failed before Ive even begun.


    Kits door had already closed, but now opened again, arger stone beginning to tip out.


    T stepped forward. Kit! Stop that.


    The stone paused, seemingly precariously bncing even though it looked to be far past the tipping point.


    Ill not have you punching down.


    The stone slowly swayed before being drawn backward before the door closed.


    T felt surprised. She generallymunicated her desires mentally, rather than verbally, but she supposed that this wasnt really any greater obedience than Kit had demonstrated before. <em>I move around within all the time, and that takes just a thought.</em>


    Fannass head moved so that he was regarding T, Youmand the devourling? Impossible! They eat all that they can.


    T shrugged. I dont know about a devourling, but Kit is mine, yes. She is magic-bound to me as you are to Kannis. We get along quite well.


    The little silver creature slowly stood, arge dent obvious in its head and shoulder.


    Will you tell me what a devourling actually is?


    No, not right now


    Kannis stepped forward, and seemingly on instinct trickled power into Fannas.


    <em>-Be kind. Thats most of her throughput.-</em>


    <em>Oh right.</em>


    Kannis dumped power into Fannas, and the metal slowly moved back into shape.


    Fannas gave a little bow toward Kannis, then addressed T once again, I will tell you what I can,ter, when I feel it is time. Please dont ask until then.


    T hesitated for a moment, then shrugged. Alright. I can wait.


    Thankfully, there wasnt any traffic in the little sideroad beside Artias shop at the moment, so they hadnt had an audience.


    Well,T cleared her throatwith that out of the way, shall we begin our tour of the wall and the rest of the city? There really is so much time and so little to see. She hesitated. Strike that, reverse it.


    Kannis was regarding her little artifact somewhat distractedly. You know? I think I want to get you some clothes.


    T thought for a moment, then smiled, an idea blossoming within her. May I try something?


    Kannis regarded her for a moment, before nodding and taking a small step backward.


    Fannas, may I touch your shoulder?


    The little metal figure regarded her for a moment before standing taller, as if stretching up to make the requested act easier. My bonded has agreed. I shall not contest her on this.


    T stepped toward him, bent over and extended her aura outward to wrap around the two, extending as a full circle.


    Even as she surrounded the girl, T held back at Kanniss skin, feeling a slight resistance, simr to touching a knife to flesh. <em>Dont push, no need to break through.</em>


    At the surface of Fannass metal <em>Huh.</em>


    There was an unbreachable wall, as if her aura couldnt exist past that point.


    It wasnt a question of strength, nor of resistance. It was as if there simply wasnt anything at the surface level or below to im, even though T could <em>see</em> the magics within, which should mean there was no resistance to her aura.


    <em>Thats odd.</em>


    <em>-Yeah studyter?-</em>


    <em>Maybe.</em> But investigating the artifacts oddities wasnt the point of what she was doing.


    Her elk leathers grew down over the top of her hand, extending tendrils until they grew down her finger and to the silver man.


    It was actually fairly easy for T to picture the little figure in clothing, so the elk leathers were able to respond to that prompting with equal ease.


    Soon, the little silver man was dressed in well fittingnot tightck leather pants and a flowing sapphire blue set of Mages robes.


    She left his feet bare.


    With a thought, she severed the extended part of her elk leathers from the rest, retracting the tendrils back into her own clothing.


    Everyone stared at the now somewhat well-dressed, stocky little man, even as Fannas looked down at himself. Truthfully, Fannas was more square than rectangr as a human would be, reminding T of Thron for the first time in a while.


    <em>I hope that the dwarf is doing well.</em>


    <em>-Im sure hes fine. He has a legendary de, and a powerful concept. Assuming he avoided the gaze of any City Lord and escaped to the continent, hes likely corroding through whatever he has to do there.-</em>


    <em>True enough.</em> She returned her focus to what she had just aplished.


    The clothes were serviceable.


    T grinned, happy with the general results of her attempt. Do you like it, Fannas?


    Fannas shifted about on street, seemingly testing the limits of his movement in the clothing before he looked up at T. Though they do restrict a bit, I think that I do. Thank you.


    He gave a little bow.


    It was still odd to hear his voice without his silver mouth moving, but T had gotten used to odder things. The addition of clothing definitely made him seem more like a small person, instead of an oddly animate statue.


    Rane cleared his throat. T?


    Hmm? She turned to regard him.


    Since when can you make clothes for other people?


    She thought for a moment before shrugging. Now? Ive not done it before, except on myself, but Ive been able to make things and sever them from my bound item for a while now. So, I guess the actual answer is: for a while now? Im sorry that they arent that well-tailored. I can probably get better at it with some practice.


    Lyn cleared her own throat, in a humorous mirroring of Rane, before licking her lips. With some training and practice, you could make a <em>lot</em> with that one ability.


    T shrugged. The results are just mundane material, so its not really a way to make much money. Plus, its not like I want to sit in a shop all day.


    The woman looked a bit exasperated, You know, you could just be avable at need, and I would bet youd have people who needst minute outfits paying you insanely well for the time. Well, at least if you perfected the process.


    T frowned, considering. Finally, she shrugged. Maybe when I get older? I really dont want to be bothered about it at the moment. Its not like I know much about fashion. I just thought the gem-tone blue and ck would look good with his silver.


    They do. Her friend considered her for a long moment before sighing. It is up to you, but think on it. Okay?


    Sure.


    Lyn smiled. Now, with that out of the way. Shall we see the rest of the city?


    It ended up taking the rest of the dayand two furtherfor T and Rane to take the twonow threearound the city, showing them the sights and the setup for the waning.


    They walked the walls, careful not to get in the way of the guards who were on patrol.


    They ate in each of the eight battle-view restaurants, which was a new experience for T and Rane as well.


    Each establishment was geared toward a different type of food. For entertainment when there werent active defensive engagements underway, the restaurants always had some fun or silly things to bet on, even if not forrge amounts of money.


    Rane won a silver by correctly guessing the number of steps Master Akra took between beheading two horned bears in a recording of a fight that had taken ce a few days previously.


    Kannis imed fifty copper when she chose the right number of smaller versions that a toxic rabbit would split into when a defender slew therger form, as well as how many would immediately attack the defender.


    Lyn even won a half-dozen silver when she was the closest guess to the number of arrows in a volley used to soften a swarm of rodents of unusual size before the unit on duty crushed the mini-horde.


    None of the fights were new, but the addition of small-to-medium bets on such random parts of the conflicts made them just as fascinating to watch.


    Fannas rode on Kanniss shoulder throughout, seemingly absorbing everything that he saw.


    Terry, whenever he was on Ts own shoulder, eyed the little figure curiously, but he never did much more than that.


    The only tense moment really came that evening after the first day touring, when Kannis and Lyn were entering Kit to sleep for the night.


    Fannas was horrified that they were going to <em>enter</em> what he said was a devourling.


    <em>I mean, it does sound like Kit, but shes friendly.</em>


    <em>-Yeah though, if wed known the name beforehand, I dont know that wed have acted the same.-</em>


    <em>A devourling by any other name is just as sweet?</em>


    <em>-I dont think thats really applicable?-</em> t sent amusement through Ts thoughts before continuing, -<em>Kit likes us now, and I have no fear of her harming us, but devourling isnt a great name with which to inspire confidence. T, you jumped </em>inside<em> the pouch within hours of buying her.-</em>


    <em>Fine. Youre right. I probably wouldnt have done that if Id thought she was a devourling.</em>


    <em>-Is it wrong that the probably bothers me?-</em>


    <em>I wasnt in a great ce at that time.</em>


    <em>-Thats fair. Im d that youre doing at least a little better now.-</em>


    <em>Me too.</em>


    Kannis and Lyn had walked into Kit, despite Fannass protests, even as the little silver man had stood outside, hopping from foot to foot in agitation.


    Thankfully, theyd been in the Gredial estate at the time, so it hadnt caused too much of a scene.


    When Kannis had stepped back out, Fannas had stopped cold, shocked into immobility by her return.


    Shed then stepped back and forth across the threshold a few times before Fannas had reluctantly agreed to apany her.


    When Kannis went back inside once more, the door had tried to bite them, reminding T of how Kit had eaten the holds that shed captured in the arcanends.


    Even so, T had given Kit a smack and a hushed talking to, that seemed to have worked, because the door hadnt actually bit down, and Fannas had emerged the next morning, unharmed.


    Now, it was the morning of their departure back for Bandfast, and Fannas was entirely of a different mind, seeming almost to be talking to himself whenever he was inside of Kit, though T couldnt understand the words.


    <em>Not really anothernguage, just his magics arent directed toward me, so I cant understand him?</em>


    <em>-Maybe? I hate concept magic.-</em>


    <em>So, hes talking with Kit?</em>


    <em>-Could be.-</em>


    <em>Is she responding?</em>


    <em>-Probably not-</em>


    Regardless, Kit seemed to have stopped trying to end Fannas, at least so obviously.


    <em>-It is rather frustrating I can see that there is more to Fannas, simr to how there is more to Terry, but it isnt starward or stoneward.-</em>


    <em>Are the magics void rted?</em>


    <em>-That would exin Terry and Fannass reality nodes, though they arent identical or even that simr.-</em>


    <em>What even is the void?</em> T grimaced internally, considering, even as Rane, Lyn, and Kannis chatted about how the trip had gone.


    T added thoughts andments here and there, but her mind was elsewhere.


    <em>I think were wrong.</em>


    <em>-Exin. I mean I see what you mean, but articte it so we can both process it.-</em>


    <em>We see stoneward and starward as increments away from superficial, and that seems perfectly urate.</em>


    <em>-It does yes.-</em>


    <em>But basically nothing exists as only perfect increments, certainly not a spatial axis.</em>


    <em>-Correct.-</em>


    <em>Then, thats the answer. The void is between the increments.</em>


    It was incredibly obvious now that she considered it.


    It <em>was</em> conceptual, and that made her nervous, but it was more about how she conceived it than about enacting a concept.


    She considered, nodding to herself.


    It really did make sense.


    It didnt matter what the units were, between the increments was the void.


    t sent along mental agreement. -<em>Yeah, thats just like the physical world. If we look down to the molecr level, between the molecules is the void.-</em>


    <em>If we examine even closer? To the atomic level? Between atoms is the void.</em>


    -<em>At the level of protons, neutrons, electrons and all that?-</em>


    <em>Between them is the void.</em>


    Thats as minute as shed learned of, but she felt like it held true further down as well.


    So, it should be with the magical axis. Between each increment was the void.


    <em>Every whole number is harmonized with, and seeable by, our magesight.</em>


    <em>-Every fraction is the void.-</em>


    <em>by that conceptualization, the Doman-Imithe would be at the half increments? Reality tranted a half step?</em>


    <em>-The back side of the world.-</em>


    T decided that she needed to consider and let the idea brew within her mind, so she returned her full attention to her friends as they enjoyed theirst meal in Alefast, together.


    Together, they ate warm, delicious food, drank hot, steaming drinks, and watched the sun rise over the stunningly frostedndscape.

 Ko-fi is Live! [Free Advanced Chapter for You!]

    Ko-fi is Live! [Free Advanced Chapter for You!]


    Hello, all!


    This is an announcement to let you know that Ko-fi is live for monthly subscriptions!!!


    Currently 22 chapters ahead!


    Thats almost 2 months of chapters, not even counting the 11 bonus chapters!


    <strong>Important Facts:</strong>


    <strong>Marily:</strong>


    Patreon takes 8% while Ko-fi takes a small, t fee. Thus, through Ko-fi, more of the support will add to the MM coffers and Terry Jerky Fund.


    <strong>Chapter Reading:</strong>


    Ko-fi supporters will get their content via read-only Google docs, linked through Ko-fi.


    (At the moment, I cannot post the chapter text within Ko-fi, so the chapters are linked through Tier-specific "Tables of Contents")


    If that is not for you, Ipletely understand.


    <strong>My Suggestion:</strong>


    Try reading the next chapter in this format:


    (This is the chapter which will be released on RR on Wednesday.)


    [Please consider the advanced chapter as a thank you for being willing to consider supporting MM in this /document/d/1e9fvllFKoMknCNIJ49cIbv1IfNOVEogKjLwkBgy35uU/edit?usp=sharing


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    Your readership and support is what makes Millennial Mage possible.


    Regards,


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 Chapter 368: Threefold Sight

    Chapter 368: Threefold Sight


    T felt rather content as she and Rane happily bid goodbyes to Lyn and Kannis at Lyns house in Bandfast.


    The trip back had been wholly uneventful.


    No caravans in distress, needing their interference or otherwise.


    No magical monsters posturing or attempting to way them along the way.


    It was simply a peaceful run through the wilderness from shortly after sunrise to quite a bit after sundown.


    But now their time with their friends was drawing to a close.


    Lyn and Kannis had to prepare for work in the morning, so they had simply eaten a meal prepared by Mistress Petra as T had continued the trek alongside Rane.


    <em>It really was kind of him toe. He didnt have to.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, and he insisted when you offered for him to remain in Alefast.-</em>


    <em>True enough.</em>


    All the goodbyes had been said, and T and Rane were heading toward the door, when Fannas spoke from Kanniss shoulder, Mistress T, may I have a moment?


    The little man had picked up proper forms of address, along with a whole lot more, over the past days.


    Early on, hed apologized for requesting souls as soon as he came to understand exactly what that meant and would have meant. He still said that he was interested in using them if offered, but he regretted essentially asking to kill a bunch of humans for his own gain.


    That had made T feel honestly not much better.


    It had seemed to mollify Kannis and Lyn though, so T had decided to have trust in her friends for the time being.


    Fannas was, at the moment, wearing a ruby-red tunic with dark grey pantsone of myriad sets of clothing that T had made for him simply because she could.


    The most recent ones had actually been quite well fitted, if she did say so herself. It wasnt a skill that shed expected to need, but now that she thought of it, it would be useful for when she had children.


    <em>No clothes shopping, just tell mommy what you want, and well make it happen in a snap.</em>


    <em>-Yes children. Still far in the future, and not something youre thinking about at all.-</em>


    <em>Precisely.</em>


    She turned her full attention to Fannas, Yes, Fannas?


    As usual, his mouth did not move, and she only heard him in the sense that she processed hismunication as if it were sound, I wish to discuss your dimensional storageyour devourling that you call Kit.


    T nodded. You did promise to tell me what you meant by that, and you also asked me not to prod.


    And you honored your side, so I will honor mine.


    Needless to say, everyone else had focused in on the conversation between T and the artifact.


    Devourlings are like keeperlings in that we all are creatures of potential magic within the void. We would say that they are corrupted keeperlings, because they devour all that they are given instead of preserving and ordering that which they do not need to survive. They would say Kit has said that I am a corrupted devourling, because I use up magic, but try to hide that base nature with silly titudes.


    T blinked. What?


    Fannas tilted his head to the side. What didnt you understand? He nced toward Kannis. I might need my magics investigated sooner even than we nned.


    That was another thing that had made everyone feel much better: Fannas had seemed almost eager to have his magical nature delved into by experts in the craft.


    But that wasnt what was at issue.


    T shook her head, No. Kit, said? Kit talked to you? She looked down at Kit. You talked with Fannas?


    The pouch did not respond.


    Fannas held up a hand and waggled it back and forth. Said is probably not correct, not in the literal sense. All of us, regardless of kind,municate through variations in our magical nature. You all do it too, at least you still make in the variations. It seems like you require vibrations passing through the air to actuallyprehend one another, which I find endlessly fascinating.


    Rane interjected then, What do you mean?


    The little man looked toward therger, Imagine that you came across a group of humanity who were constantly talking, speaking their thoughts aloud, but they were all deaf, so they could only actuallymunicate by writing things down for one another. It feels sort of like that.


    <em>Variations in our magic like the automaton Io could use to see our truthfulness?</em>


    <em>-And how wemunicate our desires and wants to Kit.-</em>


    <em>Fascinating.</em>


    Rane nodded slowly. I can see that well, I can understand the analogy at least.


    Fannas literally swelled with pride of aplishment.


    <em>Well, with truth revealed, not aplishment.</em> Thankfully, it wasnt enough of a change to necessitate an alteration to his wardrobe.


    The little man was now a bit over a foot tall, which had been another reason for T to have continued to make him clothing.


    His growth did seem linear rather than proportional, so it would likely be decades, if not centuries, before he was anywhere close to life sized.


    But T had let herself get side-tracked once again. So, the keeperlings and the devourlings are the same type of creature, but they simply act differently?


    Hmm? Fannas turned back toward her. Oh, no, not at all. Not on any level. He made a sound like chuckling. We arent creatures in the sense you understand, and our base magics are very different, but our core, around which our magics exist that might be the same? I cant say I understand it any more than you all actually understand your own souls, but they arent souls. He quickly rified. I do know that much.


    So, like a core that allows sentience?


    Near enough. I wouldnt cease to exist if my magics failed, I would simply return to void, and need help from one maker or another to re-spin magical pathways around myself before I could reenter this world and try again.


    Maker?


    He was being far more responsive than he had been up until this point. One who makes. Im not sure I can be clearer.


    T sighed. <em>Well, there ends the helpfulness, then.</em>


    <em>-Not necessarily.-</em>


    <em>Oh!</em> Her eyes widened at the realization. Are the makers creatures of the void like you?


    Of course. Their nature simply causes them to spin out magical matrices for others.


    That was, in fact, the end of the useful information.


    The four humans asked a few follow-up questions, but nothing more was revealed.


    Even so, Lyn gave Kannis a look, and the mageling nodded. Well go to the Constructionists now.


    Lyn smiled. That does seem wise, yes. T, youre heading over to see Mistress Holly, right?


    T nodded. Yeah. I need to have my scripts slightly modified. Im still finding my mind skipping about due to over-strain.


    Kannis opened her mouth, a mischievous quirk to her features, but the girl paused, then closed her lips once more, seemingly thinking better of whatever shed been about to say.


    T, likewise, decided not toment on the magelings actions.


    They all went back out of Lyns house, said final goodbyes and parted ways.


    Rane came with T, as made sense. He was only in Bandfast to apany her, after all.


    <em>Just a short walk to Mistress Hollys</em> Even as she walked, she found her mind drifting, considering.


    <em>Short walk short by what units? In what increments?</em> T felt the final pieces of her conceptualization of her voidsight clicking into ce.


    <em>-Oh Oh! Like the magical spatial axis.-</em>


    <em>Exactly. Our conception of the void began with understanding the superficial, physical world, so why wouldnt that conception of the void extend to it? Between every increment of every spatial axis is the void. Voidsight just reveals the thicker delineations, where more incremental gaps line up, where the void is more void?</em>


    t chuckled within their head. <em>-Yeah, like between molecules, the void there is not only the gulf between atoms, it is also that between molecules.-</em>


    <em>At the edge of an object, there is also the void between one object and another. Its notrger or more void because of that, but in a certain way of thinking there is less there.</em>


    <em>-Exactly.-</em>


    T <em>felt</em> her magic take a noticeable step forward.


    <em>-Oh! Another little increment toward Paragon. That is a nice confirmation that were thinking in the right direction.-</em>


    She smiled. <em>Definitely.</em>


    WIth that boost to her confidence, she dove back into her contemtions.


    So, reality nodes were an emphasis of the unique existence of what they delineated as well as the sphere of influence of the being or item.


    Ts node would seemrger as she held more sway over that which was around her.


    <em>Sovereigns must have reality nodes that are truly colossal.</em>


    <em>-And mundanes seem to barely extend beyond their own flesh.-</em>


    <em>That does imply that it takes into ount both voluntary and involuntary action and ability. After all, most mundanes actually have very little control over their own bodies.</em>


    <em>-Thats true enough.-</em>


    T jerked as she nearly walked face first into a door, realizing that theyd arrived at Mistress Hollys workshop. Oh!


    Rane grinned. You seemed rather lost in thought.


    She chuckled slightly. I rather was, yeah. Did you try to talk with me?


    He shrugged. Only once, but it was rather obvious that you were otherwise upied.


    OhThank you for just walking with me. I apologize for ignoring you.


    Any time, and think nothing of it. He smiled.


    She smiled in return before pushing open the door and leading them inside.


    <em>That was kind of him.</em>


    The receptionist greeted them, only to be overridden by Mistress Holly calling from the back. Come,e. I dont have all day.


    T gave an apologetic smile and wave to the receptionist that shed likely never see again, even as she and Rane passed through.


    As she considered the Mistress-Holly-imposed rush, though, she frowned. <em>You know, I dont know that Ive ever found her with another person, another client.</em>


    <em>-I dont think she works directly with many?-</em>


    <em>Thats true enough, I suppose. Then, she fills her time just by going over schema?</em>


    <em>-Thats more likely than most theories.-</em>


    Mistress Holly gestured them inside before closing the door behind them. Alright. I have more than a dozen other things that require my attention, so were going to do this quickly. Get all your iron off and away and set it there. She pointed to a side table in one corner. In fact, ce all your items there, save your clothing. I wont ask you to strip. You can save that for a more appropriate day.


    T frowned even as sheplied. <em>What does that mean?</em>


    Mistress Holly didnt give her time to process or ask, You will also need to cancel any aspect mirroring or any other form of consciously-initiated or maintained magic.


    T did so, feeling an almost staggering mental load shift away from her. Oh!


    <em>Oh, thats nice.</em>


    <em>-Yeah.-</em>


    <em>Its like having a worry I hadnt realized I was carrying eased and taken away.</em>


    <em>-Yeah,-</em> t gave off a feeling almost like a cat stretching, -<em>Its great.-</em>


    Mistress Holly nodded once. Right, so the first thing were doing is expanding your mental enhancement scripts. More urately, werepacting them, and then filling in the newly vacated space withpatible variations, to allow for the incremental shifting and deepening of your natural magics without having to try to counteract or scrap them. Secondarily, were also going to fill in the missing pieces in your magesight inscriptions to match the voidsight that youve been using through aspect mirroring. Do you have a coherent conception of how you will process that?


    I do. T nodded, deciding not to mention how shed only fully done so on the walk over.


    Good. Dont tell me. You might have greater insight than I do, and I have <em>no</em> desire to try to reconstruct my methods of sight. Im too old and set in my ways for that.


    Alright.


    Then, lets get to this, and get you out of my shop. Mistress Holly hesitated, then shrugged. It is lovely to see you, but I really have almost no time today.


    Tughed. I understand, Mistress Holly. Thank you for your help.


    Of course.


    She slipped Mistress Hollys auto-inscriber over her head for what felt like the first time in <em>ages.</em> Settling in as it tightened around her entire upper torso, neck, and head.


    Hold your breath, and lets begin.


    It was unpleasant, but much less so than the reinscriber within Kit, so that was a plus.


    Partway into the process T noticed something that should have struck her the first time this machine worked on her.


    It was almost entirely silent.


    The magical motion of the needles in and out to deliver their precious bits of metal was carried out with basically no noise.


    <em>Fascinating.</em>


    As usual, the machine built out the inscriptions in their entirety, before connecting them into her others, so that power could flow through properly, all at once.


    As thest bit of gold was added within her head, there was a <em>ring</em> within Ts own mind, and t gasped.


    She felt as if a massive chest shed been carrying was suddenly unloaded, even as she held it. Though, the feeling was on a mental level.


    Next, thest metal was added around her eyes, and T suddenly could see more, even as the shroud still enfolded her.


    It was even more odd because her eyes were closed, and she still couldnt see anything, not really, but the darkness was somehow broader?


    There was the sense of magic stoneward, like the sun on her back.


    She knew it was there, without really being able to see it at the moment.


    T also could somehow <em>sense</em> the infinite void between her eyeballs and eyelids.


    There was nothing there blocking her sight, her eyelids did that, but for the first time, she felt like she could <em>see</em> the distinction between the orbs that facilitated her sight and the lids the protected them.


    The processpleted, and Mistress Holly pulled the device off, but before it was fully free, T re-mirrored her perspective onto her bloodstars both stoneward and starward.


    Information flooded through her mind and she understood it.


    <em>-Oh, wow. Its like we have perfect vision of everyyer of the world surrounding us for sixty feet? Give or take?-</em>


    <em>Yeah, that would be my guess.</em>


    T could see and parse the assistants in the surrounding rooms working on various inscription schema. She could see Mistress Holly and Rane, both sheathed in their own auras.


    The auras nketed both the Mages stoneward and starward, so she didnt instantly see everyyer of their physiology.


    <em>Fascinating. So, auras are more important for privacy than I was really considering.</em>


    t and T focused on their sixteen aspect-mirrored perspectives, watching every direction from both stoneward and starward of her superficial position.


    It was like before shed been blind, and now she was experiencing true sight for the first time.


    She felt like she could see each thing in its entirety.


    The mug of tea on Mistress Hollys workbench waspletely open to her.


    She could see the structure of the earthenware that made it up, the minute ws in before her.


    T and t could count the fractured tea leaves still in the strainer.


    She could parse theyers of zing.


    They knew exactly how it waspressing the fibers in the wood of the table below it, and how that loadminor though it waswas distributed outward across the boards and supports to the legs.


    There were hints of magic swirling stoneward and starward around the tea, indicating that it had been from an arcanous nt.


    The existence nodes of the individualponents ovepped and were encapsted by that of the mug of tea as a whole, and it was fascinating to see how the tea within seemed near the edge of the node, and the whole was only barely linked as such.


    They could perceive how deeply connected things were like never before, and in ways that shed only guessed at in the past.


    She looked to the mug with her mundane sight as well, finding that her oft neglected sight gave details thatin the momentshe hadnt even realized she was missing.


    It was a red-brown, with a matte finish, matching the aesthetic of the room rather beautifully.


    <em>I can see everything. All of existence isid out before me.</em>


    <em>-Existencesight?-</em>


    <em>Thats probably urateif a little cumbersomewhen we use all forms of vision avable to us on a given target, a three-fold sight to see all.</em>


    <em>-But thats not the default.-</em>


    <em>No. So, I think it still makes sense to conceive of it as the three ovepping visions.</em>


    <em>-Truesight might be better for using all three?-</em>


    <em>A little pretentious, though.</em>


    <em>-Fair.-</em>


    Mistress Holly turned back, having tucked the auto-inscriber into its cab. So, how do things seem?


    There wastent magic in Mistress Hollys words that T simply hadnt noticed before.


    It didnt look like it came from an inscription, natural magic, or even just intentional direction of power into the words.


    No, it was just the natural extension of having been spoken by someone of a high magical density.


    <em>Mages words carry more weight just bying from our mouths.</em> It was obvious in retrospect, but shed never even considered it.


    Great. It looks like an improvement across the board.


    Wonderful. Are you certain you wont grant me continual ess to the data collected from you?


    T scrunched her face. To what purpose?


    So that I can learn from what happens with and to you. So I can be better prepared to assist with future incremental changes.


    She considered for a moment, then sighed. Fine.


    Mistress Holly grinned widely. Excellent. Now get out.


    Tughed, hugged the inscriptionist and departed with Rane.


    Rane said his own goodbye to Mistress Holly as they left.


    <em>-We have a message waiting from Mistress Ingrit. Its not delineated as urgent, and I think we could use some sleep.-</em>


    As they stepped out into thete evening streets of Bandfast, T turned to Rane, Sleep first, then start back?


    He thought for a moment, then nodded. That seems fine with me.


    Wonderful. I have a message from Mistress Ingrit but it shouldnt She cut off as t eximed in excitement within her head.


    -<em>Oh! Its about Kit! She and Mistress Elnea have some knowledge about sapient storages that they want to share in person.-</em>


    Rane obviously noticed the harsh cut off of Ts sentence. Is everything alright?


    She felt herself grinning. I think so. Ill need to go to the Archon Compound, but that will likely be tomorrow morning. Are you up for a bit of a dy?


    He shrugged. Thats fine with me. Ill see if I can connect with some people tomorrow morning, then.


    That sounds like a n.


    <em>-Appointment set for early tomorrow morning.-</em>


    <em>Finally, we''ll get some answers about Kit and what might be involved in us bonding with her.</em>

 Chapter 369: Dependable, Reliable, and Useful

    Chapter 369: Dependable, Reliable, and Useful


    T and Rane rose well before sunrise, meeting up in a rarely used gazebo among the gardens of the sanctum.


    Mistress Petra had made arge spread of food for them, most of which was for T.


    Rane had set his Archival te aside to critically eye the omelet that had been set before him, This has some of my magic within it.


    Hmm? T nced his way, distracted by what her expanded sight had been showing her within Kit, and her still increasing mental enhancement. She felt like it was close to a tipping point, where it would leap ahead to where it would settle until her scripts were changed again. For the time being, however, it was like her head was slowly clearing of fog she hadnt noticed clouding her mind.


    She sat slightly stoneward of superficial, within the spatially expanded sanctum. Thus, her clusters of bloodstars that resided stoneward and starward of her own position didnt need to move even as she did.


    They rested outside of the increment that was spatially expanded for Kits contents.


    She had tested it, and when she willed for herself to move within Kit, she would bob starward, as if moving toward Kits anchor at the superficial, thene back down wherever shed wished to be.


    Additionally, she was still able to see what was going on outside Kits door as easily as if she stood there herself, save that her mundane vision wasnt receiving any light.


    She could have moved one or more of her bloodstars into the superficial to gain ess to that sight, but she had no need at the moment.


    <em>Though, it would likely only look like a bit of red coloring on the door. Probably worth experimenting with in the future.</em>


    Her increased ability to process her sight meant that she could see almost the entirety of the sanctum at once, though she purposely didnt allow her mind to process what she perceived around the other people within, trying to give them their privacy.


    Shed been able to look around Kits interior for a while, given her connection with Kit, but it had been a much more selective thing, requiring attention and a specific area to focus on.


    At the moment, she could simply see it all.


    She wasnt focused on any of it, just like she wasnt focused on the street outside of Kits door, but she had a sense of what was going on, like she <em>had</em> looked at it just a moment before.


    It was overall an odd situation.


    <em>Ios still doing nothing.</em>


    <em>-I would have told you if that changed.-</em>


    <em>Still somewhat disappointing.</em>


    Terry was curled on one of the other chairs in the structure, content just to be nearby.


    Rane shifted to face her more fully. I was saying that this omelet has some of my magic within it.


    T nced at the egg dish, confirming what he said. So it does.


    He narrowed his eyes at her. These are fresh eggs.


    She shrugged, I would assume that they are. Mistress Petra is very particr about the ingredients that she uses.


    How? My birthday was He seemed to be calcting. That cant be right. Was it exactly one hundred and sixty days ago?


    T considered. Yeah. That is pretty funny. Happy almost half-birthday, I guess?


    He shook his head. No, thats not my point.


    She took a bite of her own omelet, infused with various dollops of magic mirroring her own by way of the eggs and vegetables. Whats your point then?


    How do you have these?


    Well, when a rooster <em>doesnt</em> love a hen very much


    He red at her, and she chuckled.


    Fine, fine. We have some chickens left over, and Mistress Petra noticed that for some, your magics came through to the next generation. Though, in this case, the eggs are unfertilized. Hence my previousment about the rooster.


    Rane gave her a t look, which was better than the re of moments previous, Do I want to know how many birds you went through for that little project of yours?


    T considered, then shrugged. Honestly? No. I think not.


    It was his turn tough, the mock seriousness hed been trying to cultivate shattering. Fine. I suppose I did ask. Keep your secret.


    They continued their meal inpanionable silence.


    T was continuing to explore parts of her newly coherent vision and expanded mind.


    Rane was reading something on his Archive te.


    Each of them tossed pieces of mundane food outward at random for Terry, and though he never seemed to move, the flickers of dimensional power and vanishing food told the true story.


    With Ts new sight, she was starting to put together a theory about Terrys teleportation and size changing, but it wasnt solidified yet.


    He definitely wasnt moving to another increment of any spatial axis that she could perceive in order to somehow bridge the distance.


    <em>Ill figure you out, Terry. Then well see how it goes in the ring.</em>


    When they finished up, T called the exit to them.


    It was suddenly there, standing free-floating in one of the open sides of the gazebo.


    Despite the visual cues, there was absolutely no change within Ts mage- or voidsight, and it finally clicked, something that should have been obvious the whole time.


    <em>The door is an illusion. Kit can take people in and out from and to any point within the sanctum. The door is a courtesy to let us feel like we know where were going. It also sets up the person to give Kit tacit permission to move them.</em>


    Isnt that right, Kit? T muttered under her breath.


    Kit did not respond.


    But


    But there was <em>something</em> within the natural magics, encircling and making up the bones of the sanctum.


    <em>Maybe thats it? Is that what I should be watching for?</em>


    She shook her head as Rane pulled open the door, leading the way out onto the few-day-old snow on the street outside.


    <em>Winter came and stayed early this year.</em>


    T pulled Kit off the random wall theyd allowed her to spread out on, near the city center.


    T had an early appointment in the Archon Compound and didnt see a need to find anywhere particrly special to put the entrance to her sanctum.


    Rane stretched up and back beneath the now cloudless sky, then twisted to crack his back. Ill catch up with youter?


    T nodded. Tell everyone hi from me.


    Will do.


    When T had asked that they stay at least for the morning of another day, Rane had made ns to meet up with some of their old sparring partners, as well as some of his own acquaintances.


    <em>I wonder if hell see Mistress Aproa?</em>


    <em>-Would you mind?-</em>


    <em>No? Why would I?</em>


    <em>-No reason.-</em>


    Rane smiled. Just send me a message when youre ready to meet up and head out.


    You know, I cane to you. In fact, lets do that. Ill message you when Im done and thene to you.


    After a moments hesitation, he smiled, That sounds good. Until then, T.


    Rane turned and walked away, waving goodbye over his shoulder.


    T started to wave back, then huffed a quietugh. He couldnt see her either way.


    Until then Rane. She opened her pouch slightly. Want toe, Terry?


    Terry flickered out to her shoulder, looked around, squawked, headbutted her cheek, then flickered back inside.


    T chuckled, closing the pouch once again. Fair enough.


    It was a short walk to her destination, and T didnt mind the time to herself.


    <em>It has been a long time since Ive really had that much alone time. Its nice.</em>


    <em>-Never alone.-</em>


    T huffed augh. <em>Youre right. I always have myself to annoy me.</em>


    <em>-I aim to please.-</em>


    T walked into the atrium and greeted the receptionist.


    As she was expected, it was a quick thing before she was directed to one of the testing rooms in the undergroundplex.


    <em>Thats interesting.</em>


    She shrugged and nodded in acknowledgment, Thank you. Ill head on down.


    Without further discussion, she left the atrium and made her way to the indicated room where Mistress Ingrit and Mistress Elnea were both waiting for her.


    T bowed to the women. My apologies, Mistresses. I thought that I was on time.


    Mistress Elnea smiled and gave a shallow bow in return. You are in fine form, Mistress T. We simply met a little earlier than the time we gave you, in order to talk through a couple of things before your arrival.


    Oh, alright.


    The librarian gestured to the head of the Archon Council, and Mistress Elnea spoke, First off, thank you for including me in this. I didnt actually expect you to remember that I had asked to be notified when you considered bonding your storage pouch.


    T shrugged. Well, I need expert help. I see it as a win for both of us.


    A wonderful perspective. Regardless, as Mistress Ingrit has ensured I dont forget, this is an opportunity well worth a tangible payment. I have arranged for such, but that will factor inter.


    Mistress Ingrit had a self-satisfied smile, and T found herself every more grateful for the woman. Well, thank you. I must say, you seem both interested and knowledgeable, so I am d to have your assistance, regardless.


    Mistress Elnea grinned. Oh, I am; I can assure you of that. Honestly, though, this is a bit of a newer approach to things. We had not considered putting storages that acted differently into the same camp as some sapient artifacts, because they dont really give the same impressionnor have the same style of magicsas many of those artifacts or spontaneous creations of magic that weve encountered elsewhere.


    T nodded but didnt interject.


    So, there are three tests we can run, and if the results are as we expect, then Mistress Ingrit and I would advise that you bond your storage as soon as possible.


    Mistress Ingrit nodded. Right now, you have a somewhat symbiotic rtionship with what <em>could</em> be a hostile entity. The bond would stabilize the rtionship between the two of you, and assure mutual cooperation going forward. She nodded again, That is, assuming the testse back as expected.


    T frowned, What about the issues? Will people still be able to enter Kit without?


    Soul bonding you? Oh yes! My apologies, we should have led with that. You see, when a standard storage is soulboundespecially if it is unmoored from the physicalthe persons soul bes the gateway. Thus, to enter, you are essentially passing through their soul to get to the space within, or near enough that isnt a perfect description of what happens. Regardless, that change is what causes the bonding issue.


    T blinked. That actually made a lot of sense. But that is not the case with a sentient storage?


    Sapient. It must be sapient, not just able to receive and respond to stimulus. Sapient bits of magic have something that is enough like a soul that it cannot fully mesh with one, thus a soul-bond does not create abining effect. Your soul never bes a pass-through-point.


    <em>Is that what Fannas was talking about? The core of their being that would return to the void if their magics ran out?</em>


    <em>-That sounds likely.-</em>


    T nodded, asking the next obvious question, Can Kit still be unmoored?


    Yes, actually, but there will be a couple of differences. First, there will be a physical manifestation whenever you open the storage, seemingly appearing in thin air, rather than simply an opening into the storage.


    T blinked. <em>Wait. Is that all that happens? The unmooring is just a removal of the physical doorway or opening, making the Mage the regtor of where things go in ande out.</em>


    <em>-Just as Kit is now.-</em>


    <em>So, for us, the unmooring would just</em> She found herself nodding. <em>It would make me the anchor, without making me the arbiter.</em>


    <em>-The sanctum will still be stoneward, held in ce by the magics bound to our soul, but the entrance will be held separate by the being that is Kit.-</em>


    So, thats what causes the soulbond, then? Passing through or close to the Mages soul?


    Mistress Ingrit nodded, It does.


    So it wont be an issue?


    Mistress Elnea responded this time, Not in the slightest.


    And we can unmoor Kit from requiring a physical connection point?


    We do have the magics for that. Interestingly, the third test will determine if this applies, but in some cases, dimensional storages have been able to continue to be expanded after being bound and unmoored, in certain circumstances. Given your experiences with Kit eating arcane holds, I believe that you wont have any issues with expanding your storage after the bonding or the unmooring.


    T narrowed her eyes, focusing hard on how she wanted to proceed, and pouring more magic than usual into her mental enhancements to allow for quicker thinking.


    Apparently, Kit was a devourling, though T wasnt sure she fully trusted Fannass information, not yet.


    Regardless, what the little silver man had said seemed to add up, aligning with what T had learned from elsewhere.


    Kit had been a constantpanion: dependable, reliable, and useful.


    T had done her best to provide Kit with what she could, but there was more she could do.


    T could cement their partnership as Mage and pouch, but she needed more information. She wouldnt let the bond go forward if it would hurt Kit, or make it so she couldnt have other people within her sanctum.


    She pulled herself out of her musings and looked down at Kit on her belt. Do you want to see what we can aplish together, bound in purpose and power?


    Kit did not respond.


    But, T <em>thought</em> she felt a hunger from the artifact.


    With a grin, she poured more power into Kit, topping the artifact off once again.


    T nodded once more, lifting her gaze to the two patiently waiting women, Lets do these tests. And I think there is someone else who should be present for the tests as well.


    <em>Master Simon is going to enjoy this.</em>


    That sounds excellent. Mistress Elnea smiled.


    Ill have some other questions as well, before I move forward with a soul-bond.


    Oh? Lets hear them now, so that I can give them due consideration.


    Mainly: My understanding is that if I die while soul-bound to Kit, its magic will fade, and the sanctum will dissipate, correct?


    Thats correct. My understanding is that you have something in ce with the local Constructionist guild, so that those within your sanctum will not be trapped in the wilds if the worst should happen.


    That is correct.


    Then, that will crumble, I believe. She chuckled. They didnt get quite as much time out of that investment as theyd hoped, I think. Rather lowered the odds. That said, I think that the issues that youve been having with teleportation into and out of Kit will be mitigated by the soul-bond, but we can discuss that in a moment.


    T nodded. Alright. So, well need to get the teleportation working, otherwise it wont really be safe to have people with me, will it?


    Mistress Elnea paused to consider. Well, they will be as safe as you are so, likely not the safest, but you are rather robust, so there are more dangerous ces in which people live and work just fine. As with all magics, however, ess to the sanctum within Kit would only remain for a day after your demise, if thats what youre asking. The space, itself, shouldnt degrade for a <em>very</em> long time, regardless.


    <em>So, teleportation is key, and if we get it working, there will be time for it.</em>


    Satisfied with the initial answers, T invited Master Simon out of Kit, and they discussed the tests to be done on Kit with Mistress Ingrit and Mistress Elnea.


    After the discussion, Mistress Ingrit chose to step back and return to her other duties, as Master Simon was capable of assisting during the tests.


    It was also agreed that Mistress Petra and the Zat children shouldnt be inside of Kit during the tests and the hopeful bonding to happen afterwards.


    There <em>shouldnt </em>be any danger, but there was also no reason to chance it.


    Thus, T and Master Simon went back up to the atrium of the Archon Compound and got his family set up to spend the day in the city.


    T let Rane know that theyd leave the next day, but that shed still probably be able to join before the evening.


    Terry came out of Kit as well, and that was that.


    Upon returning to the underground testing room, Mistress Elnea checked one more time, So, Kit ispletely empty of sapient or magical creatures?


    T hesitated. Well, no? Sapient <em>and</em> magical, yes. Or? No.


    I assume you dont have any other sapients in there, so what sort of magical creatures are we talking about.


    She told the woman.


    What?


    T shrugged. The primary function of my sanctum was set up to be a producer of magicden food for my consumption, and Ive expanded on that.


    I see.


    Is that going to be a problem?


    Mistress Elnea sighed. It shouldnt be, but its not the cleanest basis for testing. I do <em>not</em> wish to try to figure out how to remove an entire ecosystem, along with a medium-sized farm production facility.


    Yeah, that would be unideal in my mind as well.


    Master Simon cleared his throat, interjecting with some hesitation, given his rtively low advancement, Alright then, I think that first things first, we should address the exterior elements.


    When the two women nodded, he continued.


    Can you determine the location and attachment of the return spellform that has been established around Kit?


    T titled her head to the side in thought. <em>t?</em>


    <em>-Hmmm Oh! There it is. An inactive set of magical forms.-</em>


    <em>Ahh, yeah. They sort of blended into the background of the magic flowing through Kit.</em>


    Mistress Elnea couldnt easily have seen the sameeven if she had magesight that worked in a way that allowed itbecause it was Ts magic, well cemented within her aura, and thus protected from any prying eyes unless those looking intentionally breached her privacy.


    I see them. They are in ce around Kits core, and the connection between the sanctum and her manifestation.


    Mistress Elnea smiled happily. Wonderful. That means the removal of the permanent physical manifestation wont trigger thetent magics. Honestly, if they had been purely embedded in the exterior of the pouch, it would have needed to be stripped out before we could unmoor the storage artifact. This is an even better case than we could have hoped.


    Master Simon was still a bit troubled. The return magics had been a safety for his family. It had also meant that he could more easily invite others to research with him, without having to expose them to greater danger.


    Now, they would need to turn research back toward teleportation to and from the storage, but with someone as aplished as Mistress Elneamitting to assist in that regard, he didnt have anyints.


    The Archon Council leader cleared her throat. With that out of the way, we need to test three things: Kits sapience, individual identity, and ability to consume.


    T felt a smile tug at her lips.


    <em>I do believe that our Kit will excel across the board.</em>

 Chapter 370: Before We Proceed

    Chapter 370: Before We Proceed


    T grumbled as she and Terry waited outside of the testing room while Mistress Elnea and Master Simon performed the first two tests with Kit.


    They had asked T to make a request of Kit, then leave the room so that they could test Kits sapience and individual identity.


    The request?


    Kit, do as you wish.


    To be fair, T had also topped off the pouch, magically speaking, as there was no reason to tempt Kit into devouring things that she shouldnt, but aside from that, she hadnt done anything to influence the oues.


    Ten minutester, Master Simon came out and invited her back inside, his face was slightly pale, Well, its confirmed: Ive been living inside a sapient creature.


    T and Terry reentered the room to find Kit resting on the floor in the middle, in the form of a pouch.


    Mistress Elnea smiled to T, Well, that was definitive. Kit is both sapient and has a unique identity.


    Oh?


    Yes. And the woman didnt borate further.


    After a long moment, T decided to move on. Alright then. So, we just have the final test remaining?


    Mistress Elnea nodded, and T saw a pulse of something moving starward from the woman. Long ago, we acquired a minor arcane holdwell, more than one, but thats not the pointand while weve stripped it of all that we can, the inscriptions which purify the power from the core vestige are all but gone. We do not have the knowledge to restore them. She held up a hand to forestall T, Yes, we are aware of Mistress Hollys auto-inscriber, and for reasons I wont get into,her eyes flicked to Master SimonIt cant work. We have others, so this isnt a unique thing, but it is an opportunity for me to pay the debt to you for my participation in this process.


    T frowned, How can you have more than a few? How do you even have one?


    Mistress Elnea grinned. Well, one of our number was in a position to usurp a newly founded arcane city, and after defeating the warriors defending the city, he demanded that all vestiges be left behind when he banished the poption, giving them their lives.


    Ts eyes widened, remembering an offhandment that Rane had made on their first caravan trip. <em>Master Grediv said he wasnt going to destroy another arcane city for one of his family He actually did that? Rane wasnt just trying to impress me, and Master Grediv wasnt just making up stories for Rane?</em>


    I see you understand what that means. Mistress Elnea misinterpreted Ts shock, though she wasnt wrong about Ts understanding. So, that has allowed us the opportunity to be studying arcane holds. Our progress hasnt been very fast, partially because they did their best to sabotage or obscure all the magics within everything that they left behind. They are rather effective in that regard, unfortunately. Now, I believe that I hear theming.


    A momentter, the doors opened, and two men came in carrying an ornate door between them. It had heavy magical devices mped all the way around it, creating and projecting a stabilizing of power around the contained magical item.


    Against that wall, please. Thank you.


    They obeyed, setting the door against one wall, removing the inscribed devices, bowing, and departing.


    Mistress Elnea took a moment to inspect the door before nodding to herself and turning to T, Now, on one hand, you might be thinking, This is insane! This is far too valuable. You are correct. This hold is almost incalcbly valuable <em>except</em>, she smiled, except that, as I already said, it is on itsst legs. It is effectively worthless to anyone but you, or someone who has a storage like yours. I know of no one like that. So, my payment to you is something of effectively no value to me but of incredible value to you. Do you ept?


    Would you offer three as payment instead? T prodded, only half-joking.


    No.


    Then, I ept the one. Yes. T grinned. Howrge is it?


    It is a minor hold, but it was for a Major House. They were attempting to establish a foothold in the new city. Sadly, the arcanes destroyed any evidence of which Major House they were from before they left, likely to hide their shame, and the conqueror of the city didnt bother to get details of the local politicalndscape before he took his plunder and obliterated the rest.


    T nodded along, but t had already taken a look.


    The hold wasnt within anyones aura anymore, and so t and T had a clear look at the expanded space, resting just stoneward of superficial.


    So, it is a spherical linked space that


    <em>-It has a two-mile radius.-</em>


    Ts eye twitched, and Mistress Elnea nodded. I see that youve already seen for yourself. Yes. It is a small hold for a Major House, but if the information you shared with us upon your arrival back in the humannds is still urate, this should be a substantial increase to your own storages capacity.


    T was at a loss. Cant someone with a still unbound dimensional storagebine it with their own? Master Jevin did something like that for Kit and me in Makinaven.


    Unfortunately not. Holds are not designed to be moved. Those devices that the porters took with them are required to stabilize the dimensional integrity of any hold entrance for transport, and even then, we cant move them faster than a walking speed. What that means in rtion to your question is that their magics are entirely different from our own dimensional storages. We cantbine them safely. That is, except She trailed off meaningfully.


    Kit. Kit ate arcane holds. They were aware of artifacts like Kit, and they knew how to get the most out of them.


    Mistress Elnea nodded. That is what your memories implied, yes.


    Alright, then, whats the test?


    Kit needs to consume the hold from the outside. That will show that it isnt about being physically present at the core of the hold.


    Because Kit wont be able to be present at the core if unmoored.


    Precisely. All defenses, both passive and active, have been disabled. There is nothing resisting Kits absorption save the act itself.


    Both Master Simon and Mistress Elnea pulled outrge Archival tes that seemed to be equipped with powerful detection scripts. Master Simon spoke up for the first time in a while, Would you be willing to withdraw your aura from Kit for the test? Your magics are obviously still present, but we should be able to see through those, if you allow.


    Alright. That makes sense to me. T picked up Kit and tossed her at the closed door, pulling back her aura at the same time. Eat up, Kit.


    Kit pped against the door, sliding almostically down to the floor.


    There was a beat of startled silence from the humans in the room before Kit expanded on the ground underneath the doorway.


    The holds door dropped downward, vanishing in an instant, and T and t watched in fascination as the connected space dropped to hang stoneward of Ts sanctum.


    From there, it looked as if there was some sort of pulling force, tearing apart the lower expanded space and drawing it starward to be added to Kits own containing volume.


    The process wasnt instantaneous, but it was rtively quick, taking less than five minutes to fullyplete.


    When T pulled her attention back to the superficial, the two other Mages were enraptured at whatever information their devices had been able to glean.


    Mistress Elnea chuckled, Well, that answers the question rather thoroughly.


    Master Simon nodded slowly. The magics to consume and incorporate what is devoured are integral to the storage artifact.


    T looked between the two. So, Kit wont be locked to a particr size if I bond with her, or unmoor her?


    The Paragon shook her head, Not in the least. Moreover, thatrge of a meal should help pacify the storage artifact, making it easier to achieve a preferable oue to your bonding.


    Okay, thank you. Before we proceed, I still do have a few questions.


    Mistress Elnea nodded, Now would be the time. Ask away.


    T obliged, Right now, I can ce Kit on a wall, and she stays there in whatever form that she chose to take. I can then walk away. I could, in theory, walk to another city, and so long as I got back in enough time to keep her full up on power, shed be fine.


    That sounds about right. Whats the question?


    After we bond, could I do that, leave Kit on a wall here in Bandfast, then go to Alefast?


    The woman considered for a long moment before shrugging. I dont see why not. Most unmoored storages are not able to do so, but thats because they dont have anything to leave behind save a tear into an extradimensional space. Leaving such a tear would be unwise. In this case, Kit will be manifesting a physical form in order to open. So I dont see why you couldnt leave her anywhere that you would have before. You will have the obvious additional benefit of not needing to return quickly to refill her reserves either.


    T nodded. Then, since I am soulbound to Kit, in the situation that I just described, could I open another door in Alefast?


    No. That is a rule so universal it might as well be considered aw. No dimensional storage can have more than a single opening at a time.


    She nodded again, having expected the answer. I cant say Im surprised. Now, in the same situation, could I, while in Alefast, call Kit to me, thereby closing the opening in Bandfast and allowing me to open the singr exit in Alefast?


    Mistress Elnea frowned. Not in that manner, but if Kit were to close, thus losing her physical form, you could open a new door wherever you were, more urately, wherever you held sway.


    T straightened, eyes widening, as a smile spread across her face.


    The Paragon held up a hand. Hold on, now. The issue, there, is that while the expanded space is unmoored from what we consider the physical, it still exists, and thus still has to travel to you. So, unless you had a means of crossing the intervening distance in a manner that didnt cause magical resonance, and-or was quite rapid, it would take a bit before you could actually open a new entrance into your sanctum.


    Ahh, I see. Thats fair, I suppose.


    <em>-Maybe we can figure something out with reality nodes or maybe the void? Maybe both?-</em>


    <em>Yeah but thats going to be a bit before we can actually understand those at a level deeper than: Bow shoot arrow far.</em>


    t chuckled inside Ts head. <em>-Thats fair. Were just barely scratching the surface, here.-</em>


    So, with it unmoored, I wont have to toss or pick up the physical form, will I just be able to manifest it anywhere around me?


    Mistress Elnea waggled her hand. Anywhere within your aura, most likely. I would be careful attempting to open it within objects, but every Mage with a newly bound storage finds it fun to refill a waterskin from the inside at least once. Just be smart about what you do, and how you do it. There are a few other things that most people enjoy figuring out and ying with, but Ill not spoil those for you.


    Ill keep that in mind.


    Was there anything else?


    To confirm, once I bond Kit, you will help solidify the teleportation functionality, so that those within my sanctum can escape back to a city at need?


    Yes. Well have to take a few measurements after the process isplete, but it shouldn''t be beyond myself and my team to get the process working by the end of the day. She gave a nod to Master Simon, Especially if Master Simon will join us. His growing expertise on the oddities of your sanctum will be invaluable.


    The Fused had been taking notes as the two women talked, but at this direct address, he bowed, It would be my honor.


    Mistress Elnea smiled at Master Simon before turning back to T, Please consider my and my team''s assistance with that problem the valuable to me portion of my repayment, and thank you again for allowing me to participate in this process.


    You are wee. T tilted her head to the side, Is there any danger of people with gates moving around inside Kit causing me damage over time?


    Mistress Elnea shook her head immediately, Only if it goes to the point of a breach. Kit will be much more durable in that regard, as all soulbound items are much more durable. Remember, also, that Kit is not the expanded space; Kit is the housing and connection to that space. Having a breach in existence in your stomach would hurt you quite a lot, and thats about what a breach in Kit would be like for the artifact.


    T nodded, considering. Alright, then. I just have one more question, then.


    Oh? What is that?


    A grin spread across her face. How many more of these, useless holds do you have, exactly?


    * * *


    Mistress Elnea did not, in fact, have a long line of useless-to-her holds that she was willing to give to T. She did have others that would degrade within the next decade, but the Paragon insisted that such things should be discussed <em>after</em> the bond with Kit waspleted.


    That left T with a single critical thing left to do before truly starting the process.


    She sat in the center of the room, Kit just before her, a copper and a silver coin in her two hands.


    I know we tend to understand one another just fine, but I dont want any room for doubt. T took a deep breath. If you want us to continue as we are, take this coin. She pressed the silver coin to the outside of the pouch. If you want to soulbond, take this coin. She touched the copper coin to Kits outside as well.


    And, for the first time that T could point to without quibbling, Kit responded.


    The copper coin vanished from Ts fingers without a trace.


    Ts whole face blossomed into a grin, and she immediately began the process to create a full-powered blood-medium Archon star. With her increased throughput and control, it would only take a few minutes.


    Terry trilled happily from the corner where he waited on a pillow, beside a trembling chicken.


    The chicken didnt run, so Terry didnt give chase.


    It was a delicate bnce that was currently distracting T.


    <em>Right.</em>


    Thank you, Kit. Lets get this done.


    Mistress Elnea and Master Simon got to work, the testing rooms own magic allowing for the quick creation of the spellforms needed for the merging and bonding.


    This was, after all, a rathermon procedure for those advanced to Refined.


    True, T could have just given Kit a bloodstar to enact a soulbond, but that would have been the wild way of doing it. It also wouldnt have allowed for the unmooring to take ce at the same time, at least not easily.


    Doing it this way, with the proper spellforms and a Paragon in the wings would allow Mistress Elnea to assist at need, both other Mages to monitor the progress, and merging with the unmooring magics to ur at the same time.


    Mistress Elnea once again sent a message through the Archive, and it only took a couple of minutes for someone to arrive, carrying an iron strongbox.


    The Mage in question bowed to each of them, hesitated briefly to stare confusedly at Terry and the terrified chicken, then departed.


    T moved closer as Mistress Elnea examined the exterior of the box. What is it?


    A cheshire core. When T made no indication of understanding, the Paragon continued, There is a forest far to the east, across the ins outside the woods that surround us. In that far forest, there exists a species of feline predators that hunt with nigh impunity, shifting in and out of reality at will, even seemingly able to do so with just parts of their bodies. When they are in, we sometimes find a core within, which contains magic allowing the unmooring. It is not a full set of their magics by any means, but it allows us to aplish what we need for this.


    T nodded. Interesting to know. Thank you.


    Soon enough, the great spellforms were in ce, and at the center were three open circles, perfectly sized for their would-be upants.


    After Mistress Elnea and Master Simon did a final onceover, they turned to T, Master Simon speaking up once again, Its time, Mistress T.


    T turned to Terry. Are you going to be alright in that corner?


    He squawked, slowly running one set of talons down the still trembling chickens back.


    Are you going to be able to keep the chicken from interfering?


    Terry practically cooed as he pushed down a little more firmly, and the chicken pulled in on itself.


    Okay, then. T turned back to the two other Mages. Alright, lets


    Mistress Elnea was regarding Master Simon with a look of bafflement, And you allow your children in the same area as that avian?


    Master Simon shrugged. Hes really quite friendly to anyone who isnt prey.


    The older woman raised an eyebrow. I see.


    T smiled. Hes a wonderful flock mate and looks after the kids quite well.


    Mistress Elnea seemed ready to argue, but Master Simon was already nodding, He really is quite intelligent and kind when he wants to be.


    Finally, the Paragon just shook her head. Well, far be it from me to doubt the two of you. You know him better than I do.


    T didnt dy any further, walking to the center and setting Kit down in the designated spot.


    She, herself, sat down in thergest circle, and the cheshire core was already waiting in the third open space.


    <em>Was that there a moment ago?</em>


    <em>-I think so. I didnt really notice it, though.-</em>


    <em>Fun unmooring magics for the win!</em> T chuckled wryly within her own mind.


    She couldnt actually recall anyone cing it there either, but that wasnt really the point of the moment.


    Mistress Elnea and Master Simon took their positions and indicated that they were ready to proceed.


    T closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and pulled the now full-powered bloodstar stoneward, out of her finger and into her aura that was projected in that direction.


    It came with no resistance, and after she maneuvered it a bit, she pushed it back starward, into the superficial in front of her.


    To those watching, it likely looked like an exceedingly magical drop of blood simply popped into existence in front of Ts chest.


    She nodded onest time. Im ready.


    With a thought she moved the blood-medium Archon star into deliberate contact with Kit, activating the merging magics around her at the moment of connection.


    The whole world went white, as she slipped into the all-too-familiar void of a merging.

 Chapter 371: The Familiar White Void

    Chapter 371: The Familiar White Void


    Tughed maniacally as magics rained down upon her.


    She stood, arms spread wide as those who feared her, fed her their power.


    Her auraempowered by the devourer bound to her will, her soulsplintered any remnant energies before drawing them into her stoneward core of power, while her very being consumed the material parts of any attack.


    Her starward gate let forth a deluge of her own, pure power. Her deeply established, natural magics pulsed and red as she methodically targeted each of those arrayed against her before crushing them to paste.


    Before, when she was iplete, she had struggled to match those of a greater advancement than herself.


    Now, the stoneward core of power added more weight to her every action than a dozen Paragons could bring to bear. Soon, shed be able to out-muscle a Sovereign.


    Then, <em>finally,</em> shed get some truly amazing meals.


    Around her, the remnants of a cityy broken, toppled, and half consumed.


    Her every flicker of power not devoted to crushing the Mages rising against her was directed toward amplifying the pull of surrounding things toward herself, drawing them in so that they could be devoured.


    She didnt require anything as crass as a mouth to do so. The material simply vanished as soon as any part of it touched her.


    <em>Yes. More.</em>


    There was one who opposed herthe wielder of the local City Stonewhose attacks she could not resist, so she simply shifted herself out of existence whenever one of those attacks came her way.


    In the worst cases, T had to move herself before allowing her physical form to remanifest.


    Inconvenient, but hardly relevant. Soon, shed be able to overpower those magics as well, and then, the City Stone would just be more food for her.


    Guards ran up to her with mundane weaponry or fired arrows or bolts from a distance. They didnt matter.


    Not even the highly tuned magic in the weaponry was able to undo her. Not anymore.


    All was consumed.


    All was devoured.


    On a distant mountaintop, a purposely dormant man stirred, seemingly irritated that someone had disturbed his long-suffering anticipation.


    A sovereign would soon


    <em>+Nope!+</em>


    <em>-Yeah, no.-</em>


    The world shed white.


    * * *


    T was in the familiar white void for only a moment.


    <em>What was that?</em>


    <em>-It seemed like an unholy abomination of your tendencies to overachieve directed towards devouring everything around you.-</em>


    The void vibrated as a storm of thoughts, feelings, emotions, and visualizations mmed through her mind, threatening to overwhelm her. In order to make sense of them, her consciousnesspacted the storm down to their core meaning, and words came to Ts mind, DEVOURER OF ALL


    <em>What?</em>


    <em>-Devourer of all. Thats what I got from it at least.-</em>


    <em>Yes, t, thank you. But what does it mean?</em>


    <em>-Fine. It seems a rather apt description of what we were doing in the vision.-</em>


    <em>+Yeah I did not like it.+</em>


    The white of the void swelled, overriding her and taking her into another vision.


    * * *


    T moved through her enemies striking with fist, foot, de, and magic.


    As she made space around herself, she would throw out her left hand, opening it to reveal a great mouth that was far too big to fit where it was housed.


    The mouth simply didnt exist when her hand was closed, but when it was opened


    T grinned hungrily.


    As the mouth opened in a sort of reverse roar, everything before her, be it magic, material, or monster, was violently dragged in for her to devour.


    It wasnt a perfect devouring in that it was only drawing in from one direction. Moreover, she was locked in ce while the mouth was drawing in her prey.


    It didnt matter, though.


    She was strong enough to ovee the inconvenience.


    Enemies came from the sides, trying to remove the arm on which the great fanged maw was anchored.


    She fought them off with Flow and her own magics for as long as she could without moving before closing her hand, hiding the maw, and allowing herself to move once more.


    A minute of quick work allowed her enough breathing room to reopen her hand and devour everything in another direction.


    On and on the battle went, everything falling before her with a little time and effort.


    <em>Excellent.</em>


    <em>+These are weird.+</em>


    <em>-And very simr-</em>


    <em>+Yeah I say No to this one as well.+</em>


    The white of the void swelled, overriding her and taking her out of the vision.


    * * *


    T grimaced, floating in the white void once more.


    <em>This is not very ideal. It seems like were working on a theme, here.</em>


    <em>-It does indeed.-</em>


    The void vibrated and the storm of mental images and senses came again. Ts mind and enhancement magics once more distilled them down to words that came to Ts consciousness.


    DEVOURER OF ALL


    T sighed. <em>This is going to take a while.</em>


    <em>-So it would seem.-</em>


    <em>Great</em>


    * * *


    The next dozen visions were all simr in that they depicted T as the central figure, devouring anything and everything around her with extreme prejudice.


    To be fair, though, the methods and techniques involved in the consumption were varied.


    Finally, in thest potential merging, T had had it.


    These visions were not getting better, and she would never agree to anything like she was being shown.


    Currently, the vision version of her was <em>massive</em>, corpulent, and basically sloshing over thendscape as she stuffed anything her many, <em>many</em> hands could reach into her perpetually gnashing mouths.


    <em>+ENOUGH!+</em>


    * * *


    T floated, panting, in the white void.<ol><li><em> THIS ISNT WORKING.</em></li></ol>


    Emotion, a sense of self that was <em>other </em>washed through her, DEVOURER OF ALL


    <em>NO! We are not</em> Then, she understood, <em>but that is you.</em>


    DEVOURER OF ALL. The storm seemed contented somehow, like it was pleased that shed understood, finally.


    <em>But I am not. I am not devourer of all. So, </em>we<em> cannot be.</em>


    DEVOURER OF ALL? Even the question in the torrent of mental impressions was hard to understand, but T thought she was getting the hang of it.


    She hesitated at the question, as it was, at longst, a change. <em>NO. We dont devour all. We devour what we want to devour, that which we can im, the loss of which doesnt harm those we care about.</em>


    DEVOURER OF? The hanging implication made the mental images and sensations discordant and <em>painful.</em>


    T felt almostpelled to finish the statement, <em>Enemies! Resources to make us stronger.</em>


    She was scrambling; she didnt know what to do.


    <em>-Kit showed us what she is. Show her us? Who we are? Who you are?-</em>


    That was an idea. T gathered up the thoughts, sensations, and memories that she felt represented her, and sent them to the other thing in the white void with her. <em>Kit. The thing is Kit.</em>


    There was a moments hesitation before Kit responded, RAVENOUS, JEALOUS DESIRE!


    T sighed internally. <em>No wait</em>


    Kit took Ts mental impressions that had represented her and meshed them with Kits own, RAVENOUS DEVOURER OF ALL!


    <em>No, no.</em> T grimaced, fighting against the pounding within her own head.<em> Thats going backwards. Not everyone is our enemy.</em>


    The sheer quantity of information flowing back and forth in every exchange was actively painful to T, even with her newly upgraded enhancement scripts.


    She dumped more power into the enhancements, and that helped some. <em>These are going to set much faster than usual</em>


    Kit devours anything that it is able to <em>No that isnt true. That might have been how Kit started, but it isnt true any longer.</em>


    T sent the conglomeration of her interactions with and feelings toward Kit.


    It came back from Kit recontextualized and in the form of a question, DEFENDER OFHOME?


    <em>Yes, that is how I see you.</em>


    NO! DEVOURER OF ALL!


    T growled internally. <em>No.</em> She wracked her mind, trying to blend herself and Kit, <em>Ravenous, jealous devourer of all who would oppose us or that which would make us stronger.</em>


    There was a <em>long</em> pause at that. Thebination was clearly much, <em>much</em> too long.


    Then, another wave of impressions and emotions struck T, RAVENOUS, JEALOUS DEVOURER.


    T almost said no, but then considered it more deeply.


    Jealousy implied that the thing in question was something, or somethings, that she had a right to.


    Envy would have been the feeling that she should have, or a desire to have, that which belonged to another. So, it was good that they avoided that.


    Jealousy, at its root, was the feeling that she had a right to what was hers.


    Jealous actually fit her rather well.


    <em>-So does ravenous, if were being honest. You approach the possession and improvement of what you believe is yours with great hunger and voraciousness.-</em>


    <em>Thats true.</em>


    <em>-And devourer is just a step beyond desire. It is a statement that you use what is yours.-</em>


    <em>More that I use up I dont like that implication.</em>


    <em>-Not necessarily. You can devour a book, and the book is fine when the devouring is done.-</em>


    T hesitated. That was true, and so much of this was about mindset.


    <em>Alright, lets see what we can do with that.</em>


    RAVENOUS, JEALOUS DEVOURER?


    <em>Ravenous, jealous devourer.</em>


    <em>-Yay-</em>


    * * *


    Ts aura washed out across thendscape around her, carrying her iron spikes to drive into the ground and propel her aura ever onward.


    Whenever there was anything of note, anything that might strengthen her, a small trapdoor opened beneath it, dropping the item or creature into her sanctum for processing.


    Before her, Leshkin raged and fought unknown humans as Ts aura rolled over and around them, leaving the human fighters untouched whileying oppressive power down upon the nt-creatures.


    With the might of her will and focused attention, she either imed the creatures where they stood, or she distracted them enough to let the humans y them, allowing her to im their corpse after death.


    It was a sweeping victory.


    <em>+Hey, this isnt bad.+</em>


    <em>-Yeah it seems too good to be true.-</em>


    The battle was won without a single human casualty, thergest injury barely more than a scrape.


    The Leshkin in this area were ovee.


    She had achieved total victory.


    The humans who had fought by her side were no longer assets.


    Her aura was already spread across the surrounding ins, and so it was trivial to mp down and im their still living bodies, locking down their souls as she dropped the still live specimens into her sanctum one after another.


    There, their bodies were broken down into their constituent parts, and their gates were locked into an ever-growing grid of power that constantly fed her advancement.


    <em>+Rust, I spoke too soon.+</em>


    <em>-Just a bit, yeah. Moving on, then?-</em>


    <em>+Yeah but Im so powerful like this+</em>


    <em>--</em>


    <em>+...+</em>


    <em>-Are you sure we havent been seeing options that are actually tempting to you?-</em>


    <em>+Hush you. I dont want to be fat.+</em>


    <em>-Thats the one you object!-</em>


    <em>+Rejected!+</em>


    * * *


    T was only in the white void for a moment before she growled out within her own mind, <em>NO. We will not eat people.</em>


    She sent memories and senses from the times that shed enjoyed being with her friends and colleagues.


    <em>We will not use people and then take from them what we want. We are better than that.</em>


    She sent the times that she had protected those around her, and they had gratefully epted her help.


    <em>We will only take that which is ours by right.</em>


    She sent her iming the iron in the cksmith and the barrels that Master Cazor had provided. She shared the times shed given things to Kit to devour.


    <em>We will defend ourselves, and take the spoils of those battles, but we will not harm those who mean us no harm.</em>


    T pushed along memories of conquering her foes and looting the remains, keeping some, and feeding Kit other parts.


    After a moments hesitation, Kit responded, RAVENOUS, JEALOUS DEVOURER


    <em>Yes, ravenous, jealous devourer.</em>


    And T was overwhelmed once again, falling into anotherhopefully thestvision.


    * * *


    T was herself.


    She could detect no discernable change in herself, as the vision of her moved about her day.


    As she came to an alley, T gestured and a door blossomed into existence, allowing her to step into Kit, into her sanctum.


    The perspective of the vision stayed outside of Kit for a moment as the doorway vanished, leaving no evidence that Kit had anchored there.


    T could see in the vision that the sanctum was still there, stoneward of the wall that had held the door into Kit.


    <em>+Oh, thats amazing.+</em>


    <em>-Isnt it just? That makes it an almost imprable fallback point.-</em>


    The vision fuzzed, and T was suddenly in a battle, ducking and dodging around opponents.


    With a thought, the T of the vision caused a ring of leather to appear out of nowhere. Within it, a portal into her sanctum manifested, no lighting from the inside.


    It was a small opening, justrge enough for what needed to pass through.


    With an act of will, T changed the target of the gravity amplifications ced on her siege orbs waiting inside the hole that was tucked deep down in the foundation rock beneath her home within Kit.


    Even as the orbs tore their way out, the connectionthe portalwas already gone.


    The speed of the whole action was such that from the beginning of Kit opening until all traces were gone took less than the intake of a sharp breath.


    <em>+Ooo+</em>


    <em>-Hush, you. Dont rust it.-</em>


    The orbs devastated several of her opponents, even while T, herself, called Flow out of another very-temporary portal.


    The weapon snapped into her hand even as she was already swinging to sever all those within reach who opposed her.


    The vision shifted again, and T was fighting along with others.


    Small openings into her sanctum appeared to drop weapons into their hands, or to allow them to throw broken weapons or shields away.


    An archers quiver was filled between draws, a warriors hand found a new sword in his scabbard after his first one had been struck from numb fingers, and a wounded man suddenly fell out of the way of an iing attack, drawn into the sanctum where a healer began patching him up immediately.


    T was a one-woman logistical genius even as she tore across the battlefield with her own destructive might.


    With her pervasive sight, she was able to keep all those fighting alongside her equipped and in the fight or remove them from the fight with efficiency and timing that kept them as safe as possible.


    Throughout, she sawhighlighted in the visionKit consuming that which was unneeded.


    Blood from the wounded within vanished before it could stain anything, and the stains that were already there slowly faded.


    T started to get an odd mental picture of somethingpping up the blood even as it left the wound, but she suppressed that with a shudder.


    <em>+Nope! Im not conceptualizing that.+</em>


    Weapons broken beyond salvaging were devoured before theynded in the repair pile, and enemies that were dispatched were drawn in and consumed without dy or regard, only their most valuable parts finding their way to the treasure vaults in the sanctums depths.


    The T of the vision never had want for magical power, but her every drop of magic that was not used for workingsother soulbonds or to push against her own density, increasing it<em>gushed</em> into Kit, drawn by a ravenous <em>need</em> to keep all that which was theirs.


    Her power was <em>theirs.</em>


    It did not belong anywhere but with them.


    To use it was fine, but to leak it was uneptable.


    And Kit was an endless reserve, taking everything with room to spare.


    The artifact was so expanded by Ts advancement that Kits reserves of power seemed like an empty ocean being fed by a single spring.


    But there was no destion in that ravenous, jealous consumption.


    Nothing was wasted.


    Everything was used.


    All had its ce whether as a part of Ts kit or belonging to someone else.


    That was fine.


    There was enough that belonged to T to be getting on with.


    There was enough that she could im.


    After all, even when T didnt seek enemies to fight, they found her more often than not.


    <em>+Yes.+</em>


    <em>-Oh, stars above, yes!-</em>


    Assent trembled through the vision, Ts mind, and her very soul.


    YES.


    The vision vanished in another saturation of white.

 Chapter 372: Magics Consumed

    Chapter 372: Magics Consumed


    START OF BOOK 10


    T came back to her physical body in a rush, feeling power flooding through her as the cheshire core and Kit finishedbining with her bloodstar.


    She sat in a testing room beneath the Archon Complex of Bandfast, her soul-binding with Kit: Complete.


    Her magics consumed the spellforms on the floor, causing it to appear as if the precious metals were being drawn inward before vanishing altogether.


    As thest specs of gold disappeared along with the power contained within, she felt Kit <em>click</em> into ce in rtionship to her soul.


    Mistress Elneametaphorical holder of the Bandfast City Stone, Paragon, head of the local Archon Council, and expert in soulbonds with dimensional storageswas engrossed in the information her magics had garnered during Ts bonding of Kit.


    Master SimonFused and research assistant to Twas simrly enthralled by what his own artifacts and magical measuring devices were telling him.


    Refocusing on that which was currently critical, T looked to her newest soulbond.


    Power poured into Kit through the bond, and Kit guzzled it down even as the pouch vanished, seeming to fade from the physical world.


    Ts eyes were closed, but that was hardly a barrier given her sixteen bloodstars each mirroring her perspective to give sight along each direction of each axis from two points. Thus, she was looking up, down, left, right, forward, back, starward, stoneward from two clusters, one starward and the other stoneward of where she sat.


    Additionally, each cluster was rotating to give sweeping fields of view, and hopefully maintaining as close to perfect awareness of her surroundings as possible.


    With a flick of thought, a hatch opened below Flow where the knife sat on a shelf, dropping it seemingly through the wood upon which T had left it.


    T watched the magics respond to her will, connecting the superficial to her sanctum, which rested where it had before, connected to the core of magic that was Kit.


    The little devourling had grown <em>considerably.</em>


    <em>Ill look into that in a moment.</em>


    An instant after Flow began to fall, that hatch was gone, and T opened her hand, allowing Flow to pop up out of a portal in her palm, which closed instantly, allowing her to grab the weapon already properly positioned for her use.


    <em>Oh, I like that.</em>


    <em>-That is quite nice.-</em>


    With Flow back in hand, she had her iron in contact with her once again, and that felt <em>good.</em>


    On a whim, she let her iron flow back over her inscriptions, sandwiching each and every line within the spatial dimension of magic. She then caused her iron to pool out over her skin, beginning the pressure-cooking process as the torrential inflow of power through her gate quickly filled her to capacity without slowing in the least.


    This time, however, as the magic reached uncontainable levels, the power was bled off into Kit, preventing any spige.


    Even so, she still felt the manifestations seemingly carved of light appear across her form under the illusion of her through-spike


    Her through-spike!


    The illusions were fading, and her false outward facing aura was dispersing. There simply was no magic for it to work with since Kit cleaned up the dregs before they could go to any other purpose.


    With a thought, T forcefully directed some of her power to the item.


    Kit didnt approve, but they were able toe to apromise. They needed the through-spike functional in order to get ess to more things to eat, after all.


    WIthout it, shed have a hard time entering human cities.


    T felt herself smile at that line of reasoning. It was going to take a bit to adjust to her newest bond.


    Focusing back on the manifestations of her magic within reality itself, she was satisfied with how they seemed to be working, adding yet anotheryer to her power.


    Her newly conceptualized sight also showed that she had simr echoes and manifestations both starward and stoneward as well.


    But that had brought Kit back into her notice, and so she focused her attention there.


    Stoneward of T rested a core of magical power, a knot of natural magics that were now wholly Ts.


    Where before theyd been fraying channels formed of Kits own magic but filled with Ts, now both channel and power belonged to T.


    Just as both belonged to Kit.


    The damage was repaired, not leaving a trace of anything undesirable, and the magics, themselves, had changed.


    Where before there were thick cables of knotted power, there was now an almost iprehensible tapestry of thread skillfully interwoven to formplex and potent magics.


    Needless to say, the newly advanced Kit was <em>powerful.</em>


    The artifact had undergone a qualitative reworking as the Mage-level magics had been drawn up to Refined by the mere fact of bonding to Ts Refined power and body.


    T couldnt really tell what that <em>meant</em> yet, but she knew that Kit would be even more capable than before.


    <em>Maybe she can consume faster?</em>


    <em>-Devour.-</em>


    T huffed augh. <em>Right, devour.</em>


    <em>-Probably. I would bet that she</em><em>and we</em><em>can now control the matter within the sanctum to a much greater degree, and with much more fidelity, but that would require testing.-</em>


    <em>Agreed.</em>


    T hesitated before a realization came to her, <em>You know, I didnt notice any of our other soulbonds trying to influence this merging. Do you think its because both Kit and I had a mind, so there wasnt really room for other interference?</em>


    <em>-Thats as good a theory as any.-</em>


    T shrugged internally, focusing on her new bond with Kit. <em>I wonder if I can finally lock Terry down, and prevent him from teleporting around, at least within the sanctum?</em>


    The idea pulled her attention to the terror bird, who was still in his corner, one taloned foot resting on his chicken.


    The chicken seemed to have exhausted itself in its terror, as it wasnt even trembling anymore, and its eyes were ssy and unfocused, even while its feathered chest still rose and fell in a regr pattern.


    T felt a mischievous grin spread across her face.


    <em>-Thats probably not the best oh, youre already doing it.-</em>


    A hatch opened beneath Terry, causing the chicken beside him to drop through with an almost relievedbut still terrifiedsquawk.


    Terry flickered to Ts shoulder before dropping even a fraction of an inch, already chirping irritatedly before headbutting her cheek much harder than was strictly necessary.


    T chuckled. Sorry to have lost you your friend, Terry. I was just testing the limits of what I can do.


    Terry chirped again in a descending series of notes, then looked around grumpily.


    It took T a moment to realize that he was looking for Kit. Oh, here you go. You can go inside.


    A swirl of vapor opened a miniscule connection to her sanctum.


    Terry gave her an incredulous nce, then flickered away, easily passing through the incredibly small opening.


    <em>I knew it.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, we figured he could get smaller, or at least pass through exceedingly tight spaces.-</em>


    Mistress Elnea and Master Simon both approached T, the Paragon speaking first, I think we are right in assuming that things went well?


    T nodded, smiling at the older woman. Yes, I believe so. Where would you like me to ce the entrance to Kit so that you and your team can assist Master Simon inpleting the teleportation functionality?


    Mistress Elnea nodded and pointed at one wall. That should work. She looked to Master Simon, Your family is wee to return at any time. I do have one test to run, just to make sure that everything we theorized did work as expected.


    With a thought, T caused a door to appear in the wall where indicated, and it swung open, revealing the central za of her sanctum.


    T stood up, frowning slightly, What do you still need to test?


    Well, if Im going to ask those under mymand to go in, I need to confirm that there is no soulbonding.


    Her eye twitched. I thought you said that wouldnt be an issue.


    And it shouldnt be, but we shouldnt mess around when soulbonds are potentially involved.


    T reluctantly nodded, So, what are we looking for?


    Well, Im more advanced than you are, so I will make it utterly clear that I wish no bond, and if one is required to enter, I will not be able to cross the threshold.


    She bit her lip. Terry just entered, and Im not bound to him or the other animals within.


    Mistress Elnea nodded. That is all well and good. That proves that we were at least mostly correct in our estimations, but the gated human soul is a bit more predisposed toward soulbonding than almost any other.


    Right. T nodded in resignation. Lets get it done, then.


    The Paragon walked to the open door and spoke under her breath. T caught it anyways, I foreswear all potential connections. My soul is my own, and not open to a bond.


    Then, without hesitation, Mistress Elnea stepped through the door. There was no difficulty, resistance, or attempted bonds.


    Even so, T felt her eye twitch at what she witnessed.


    Her mundane sight showed the Paragon less than ten feet away through the doorway, but Ts other sights revealed that to be an illusion, as the woman was, in fact, standing in the expanded space, stoneward of T, within her sanctum.


    The Paragon grinned as she came back out. There we have it. Exactly as expected.


    T watched yet again as the woman seemed to instantly move from Ts sanctum to the room in front of her.


    <em>I didnt see any magics act on her. But how could they have?</em>


    <em>-Yeah, shes a Paragon. Our magics should struggle to do anything with her, let along act without leaving a trace.-</em>


    <em>I think I think I need to spend a lot of time analyzing this.</em>


    <em>-Back in Alefast?-</em>


    <em>Oh, definitely. We need to go meet up with Rane.</em>


    <em>-Ill message him done.-</em>


    <em>Thank you, t.</em>


    Rane had gone to meet with some friends while T dealt with Kit and her bonding of the dimensional storage. Theyd agreed that T would find him when she was done, and she nned on doing that sooner rather thanter.


    Master Simon was clearly sending a message with his Archive te, likely to the receptionist upstairs, as he and his family had agreed that theyd check in with her to learn when and where they could return to their residence within Ts sanctum.


    Well, do you need anything more from me?


    Mistress Elnea shook her head. No, Ive advised my assistants, and theyll be here shortly. Unless things are <em>entirely</em> unlike our assumptions, I expect well have the teleportation scripts working for outbound travel in a couple of hours. Inbound might take a bit longer, but it shouldnt take more than the end of the day.


    T blinked, then turned to Master Simon, one eyebrow raised.


    Mistress Elnea preempted Ts incredulity, Ive looked over his notes, Mistress T, and he did an excellent job in attempting to get teleportation working, but while Kit was still unbound, her natural magics were an unknown that was impossible to ount for when dealing with teleportation. Additionally, I will bring my tools and means as the Head of the local Archon Council to ensure that this is aplished. Either it will be done before you depart the city, or it cant be done, and I dont see that being the case.


    She smiled at thest, causing T to smile along with her, Thats fair.


    Master Simon gave a shallow bow, Thank you for trusting us with this project, Mistress T. We wont disappoint you.


    I know you wont, Master Simon. She turned her attention to the sanctum, and immediately had a view of the entirety once again.


    Terry was chasing chickens, pinning them for only a moment before releasing them to pursue others.


    The various wildlife and farm animals were going about their regr routines.


    Io still floated in her tank, utterly unmoving and unmoved.


    Ts eyes widened, Oh Oh, that might be bad.


    She had spoken quietly, but something in her tone caused both other Mages to orient on her instantly. Mistress Elneas voice held a note ofmand when she inquired, Mistress T, please exin.


    I have an automaton within my sanctum.


    Yes, that is known, its The Paragon trailed off before returning, a hard edge to her words, Did you have any oddities in your visions for the bonding and merging? The question bordered on impropriety, but T didnt me the woman. There was a reason that automata were heavily controlled bits of magical construction.


    T even felt something from the woman focus on her, pushing against her aura in an irresistible manner, likely to detect whether or not T answered truthfully, Nothing rting to automata or anything even hinting a connection.


    Tension bled from Mistress Elnea as she nodded. Then, it should be fine. The magics of a bonding dont tend to prate into expanded spaces, else youd have bonded every animal within, and that would have cracked your soul.


    T nodded. Shed known that was a remote possibility.


    t huffed, -<em>Remote in the vein of catching a snowke on your tongue containing the exact molecules of water that you caught on your tongue the year before on the same calendar day, and the year before.-</em> t hesitated a moment, then added, <em>-And on for a decade. The same molecules every year on the same day, caught in the same way.-</em>


    <em>t, I dont really catch snowkes on my tongue.</em>


    <em>-That was taken into ount.-</em>


    T chuckled internally. <em>So, not possible.</em>


    <em>-It was and is technically possible, but not </em>actually<em> possible given the choices made.-</em>


    She hesitated at that. <em>Huh, then that really was a perfect analogy.</em>


    <em>-I know, right?-</em> t beamed happily within Ts mind.


    <em>Thank you, t.</em> T grinned. <em>Thank you a lot, t.</em>


    <em>-Happy to assist, even when you make bad puns.-</em>


    <em>You are me, least you forget. So you are happy to assist even when </em>we<em> make bad puns.</em>


    t groaned, but it was obviously good-naturedly.


    Master Simon cleared his throat, Well, with that minor scare out of the way, I think we should get to work.


    T bowed to each in turndeeply toward Mistress Elnea and a nod of acknowledgement to Master Simonbefore departing. Ill watch for yourmunications. Please keep me up to date!


    Yes, Mistress. Enjoy your time in the city. Master Simon bowed deeply.


    Well keep good notes, stay safe,Mistress Elnea smiled yfullyat least until we have the teleportation functions working. Then, at least, we could get out if you died.


    Tughed, waving over her shoulder without turning around, Ill keep that in mind.


    <em>-He responded; I can lead us to him.-</em>


    <em>Then by all means, my t, let us away.</em>


    * * *


    T arrived at the arena where she and Rane used to train with the other Archons, and instead of entering thebat area, T made her way up to an observation deck, looking down on what was happening below.


    It was a sight to see.


    Rane was fighting Master Cazor, and the experienced Mage Hunter was actually on the backfoot.


    Rane was practically bouncing off of the stone walls, sandy floor, and wire-mesh ceiling to avoid the sweeping rivers of iron.


    It was most clear on the sand and with the wire mesh, but Rane wasnt putting any pressure on that which heunched from.


    <em>Hes getting better every day.</em>


    He even somehow managed to redirect off of the very iron he was avoiding, though T had seen Master Cazor grab onto Rane with the clouds of particles in bouts in the past.


    Force flickered and shed throughout the dizzying acrobatics, blowing apart clusters of iron, sending plumes of sand to distract and disrupt, and evennding blows on hastily raised defenses, causing Master Cazor to struggle to maintain any semnce of control in the arena.


    <em>Rust me, hes gotten better.</em>


    <em>-Yeah; that he has.-</em>


    She continued to watch what was obviously a forgone conclusion. Regardless, both men continued fighting until the end.


    When it came, it came quick.


    Rane redirected off of the ceiling, spearing straight toward Master Cazor with Force held before him like the tip of ance.


    Master Cazor tried to sweep Rane from the air, but Rane pulled out something new.


    From his leather loop, Rane drew forth a handful of magically powerful mas, throwing them out to spread around himself.


    There had to be further magics involved, because while they werent drawn to each other at allin fact they even seemed to repulse one otherthey obviouslypletely changed the madscape of the battlefield.


    Master Cazor saw and corrected like the expert that he was, but the moments dy and reprieve was all that Rane needed.


    He stopped, his sword resting against Master Cazors shoulder in a pull-cut that would have forced the Mage Hunter to move toward Rane in order to mitigate the damage.


    Taking the blow would have thrown the smaller man into Ranes embrace, where it would have been a quick end to the fight as well.


    Master Cazorughed, the iron in the air freezing in ce, then dropping to coat the sand in beautiful, swirling patterns of dark gray on tan. Well fought, Master Rane.


    Rane grinned in return, And you, Master Cazor. I think if I didnt have the ceiling, Id have lost long ago.


    The other man waved that off, Some battlefields favor me, some favor others. I would be a poor opponent if Iined after such a well-earned victory on your part. Besides, having so much iron readily avable in the sand has to be taken into ount. If anything, I gained more from this arena than you did.


    I disagree, but thank you.


    I have to ask, though, did you specifically get magical items to counter me?


    Rane shrugged, his smile widening, Among others, yes.


    Are they monopoles?


    Thats right.


    The man shook his head. Magic is amazing. They must have been expensive.


    Somewhat. They were actually harvests off of a truly fascinating metal elemental. There were two of them, found in near proximity to one another, and each had more than a hundred monopoles.


    The other halves in those within the other?


    Exactly.


    Huh, not necessary, but an interesting way for them to have been formed.


    Thats what I thought. Rane nodded in agreement.


    Then, in the brief lull in their post-fight conversation, both men turned to look up at T.


    She waved, smiling in return.


    Master Cazors lip curled in wry amusement, See anything you like?


    She chuckled, Id love to fight you both, but thatd be a bit unfair.


    Rane nodded seriously, and Master Cazor grimaced, We dont have enough Fused friends to even the odds against a Refined, battle-hardened Defender, let alone <em>you.</em>


    Sheughed happily at the obviouspliment, Well, thank you, but it could still be fun


    Heughed. True enough. He looked to his previous opponent. What do you say?


    Rane didnt look to Master Cazor, instead meeting Ts gaze with one of determination, Im aways game for a round.


    <em>-Youre not very nice some times, T.-</em>


    <em>Im not going to humiliate them. Besides, Ive been working on controlling my iron despitepeting forces. If anyone can test that properly, its Master Cazor.</em>


    <em>-True, and Rane?-</em>


    <em>Hes always enjoyable to spar with. Even when he isnt a true opponent, hes good enough to press me to be better.</em>


    <em>-And he seems to be hunting for ways to counter you as well.-</em>


    Ts smile grew as she dropped down into the sandy pit. <em>Lets see how well hes done, then.</em>

 Chapter 373: The Most Advanced Mage Involved

    Chapter 373: The Most Advanced Mage Involved


    T was a bit embarrassed. Even though part of it was a misunderstanding, she knew that arguing wouldnt really change anything. She had been the most advanced Mage involved, after all.


    Rane actually had his head hanging in shame, his cheeks a ming red.


    Master Cazor was silentlyughing himself hoarse and hiding it badly.


    The Refined defender who had been called in response to them blowing through one wall of thebat arena was less than pleased even though most of the issues had been settled.


    Mistress T, process indicates that I am to remind you that I am obligated to report this incident to the heads of the Archon Councils both here and in Alefast, waning, where records indicate you are currently based.


    I dont really understand why thats necessary. It was an ident, and Ive already paid for the repairs and had additional funds set aside to pay for lost revenue. Theplex is going toe out ahead financially <em>and</em> have a brand-newbat arena. She kept her tone from containing notes of irritation or pleading, but barely.


    As thebat arena was designed to contain higher level magics, the defenses were all interlinked. That meant that all of them had to be overwhelmed at once if at all, burning out artifacts and inscriptions all together.


    Naturally, that meant that the whole construct had to be rebuilt from scratch.


    The Refined, a long-suffering, older looking man nodded, That is the only reason you are not currently under arrest. Damaging property of any kind requires repaymentor arrest is required until reparations can be arrangedbut that has nothing to do with what else is required. You should have better control over your own magics and the magics around you when sparring in a space created for those of a lower advancement.


    T sighed internally, bowed, and nodded understanding, As you say, good Master. I will be more careful.


    He sighed, seeming to be utterly baffled by her.


    She didnt recognize him, and he clearly hadnt had asion to know who she was. Thus, while shed had to give him her name, hed never offered his own, leaving her without that information.


    Very well. He turned toward Rane and Master Cazor, As to the two of you, are you sure you do not require healing? Or protection from anything? He didnt nce her way, but T felt it was a near thing.


    Rane shook his head. No, Im fine.


    Master Cazor shook his head, still having trouble containing his mirth. No permanent harm was done to me, thank you.


    If you say so, I will take my leave. The Archon Compound is open to you if you wish to alter your reports or make any new ones. Without anything further to deal with, the Refined departed, likely to go file paperwork.


    <em>Maybe thats why he was grumpy?</em>


    <em>-Paperwork is rather awful. Good thing I have an alternate interface to take care of it for me oh wait, thats me. I do all your paperwork.-</em>


    <em>And I love you for it.</em>


    <em>-Which is a bit narcissistic, but Ill take it.-</em>


    As soon as the Refined was out of sight, leaving the three alone, T turned on Rane. I me you.


    I said I was sorry


    Master Cazor just startedughing again, It was <em>amazing!</em>


    T felt her lips quirk up, It <em>was</em> unexpected.


    The Mage Hunter nodded. Ive never used such augmented, sequential fields to perform a linear eleration in order tounch a monopole.


    Rane put his head in his hands. I still cant believe that he thought it was a Refined level attack.


    T shrugged, Im not sure he cared how advanced the magics were. I, as a Refined, was there, so the responsibility was mine.


    Master Cazor shook his head. Regardless, <em>I</em> cant believe that you took the shot straight to the chest without taking anysting damage, Mistress.


    She chuckled nervously, purposely <em>not</em> remembering the crushing impact that had sted nearly all the way through her, even as it threw her despite her incredible inertia. Well It did cave in my torso for a momentthat was wildly unpleasantand that was before it sent me through the arena wall I cant believe you two didnt take the credit for this. If Id been a little less durable, it would have blown entirely through me, and might have leveled a couple of blocks. They dont build standard buildings like city walls, you know.


    The Mage Hunter shrugged. The outer defenses on thebatplex would have caught it before it could exit the building. As to taking the credit? The bragging rights would be nice, but Im not getting banned from using normal training arenas. Do you know how expensive Refined levelbat areas are to use?


    T didnt. They were free to her as part of her contract being a Defender in Alefast. They wouldnt be free in Bandfast, however.


    Rane sighed, Ill pay you back. It <em>was</em> my idea.


    Oh no, you dont. The money isnt the issue. T stopped, feeling like shed said something unpleasant. She worked her tongue, scraping it against her teeth as if trying to get off an unpleasant taste. Even so, she realized that she hadnt been wrong. <em>Huh money really isnt any part of my issue Thats weird.</em>


    <em>-I mean, its about a months ie as a Defender, so its not trivial.-</em>


    <em>But it actually doesnt matter to me.</em>


    He looked up, pulling her from her musings, Then what is the issue?


    Theres no issue. This is just on you. She grinned.


    His confusion was evident. Whats that even mean?


    Well, I was going to get to spar the two of you, but you asked if you could try something first. Now, we dont get to spar. I me you.


    Okay?


    T nodded once. Now, whos hungry?


    Rane shook his head. I actually already have ns. You can join if you want, but there wont be food until lunchtime.


    Oh She looked to Master Cazor.


    Master Cazor shrugged, Im with him. Were meeting up with some other folks to catch up. I just got back from an assignment, so Im looking forward to seeing them, too.


    She tilted her head in thought, Oh, where are you going?


    A tea house.


    She gave Rane a t look. Tea houses have food.


    A small smile pulled at his lips, Not in the quantities you eat.


    There was a beat of silence while T stood with her mouth open, considering. Finally, she shrugged, Thats fair. Sure, lets go.


    T didnt know everyone who was at the meetup, and she definitely felt a bit overwhelmed by therge group of twenty some-odd people.


    Rane seemed in his element as a participant, clearly knowing everyone in some way or other, though he was definitely not the center of attention by a long shot.


    The result was that T engaged in some conversations, but mostly kept to herself, happily enjoying just being around people for a bit.


    <em>That is an odd feeling. I actually am not hating having all these people nearby.</em>


    <em>-So, not bad?-</em>


    <em>As a one off? Not bad at all.</em>


    Within her iron shell, only broken so that she could speak as necessary, she decided to use some of the time to help the changes to her mental inscriptions progress in their integration with her established magics.


    Toward that end, she devoted a substantial amount of her power to flowing through them.


    Finally, when the meet-up was almost done, she seeded.


    With an internal <em>click</em>, a thousand thoughts began racing through her head in what felt like an instant. The first one was an immediate understanding of <em>why</em> they were suddenly flooding her.


    The influx of power through the new inscriptions had caused them to fully set, giving her a temporary burst of cognitive ability that would quickly level out.


    Even so, she was going to put the quick burst of cognitive ability to use.


    Mistress Hollys alterations had been <em>just right</em> to pull Ts natural magics into the new configuration, building on the current ones rather than having to override them.


    And just like the bank of a river sloughing off to alter the geography of a bend, uncounted small twists and turns of the natural magical pathwaysresponsible for enhancing her mindrolled over into the new alignment.


    She felt like her mind whipped through her entire life, reanalyzing all of her experiences with an improved lens.


    She and t had already gone back through her childhood and academic life with a fine-toothedb as she had tried toe to grips with her rtionship with her family. So, there wasnt much more to glean from those hazy memories.


    Her time after the Academy was something that shed deeply contemted while acting as an Eskau in the arcanends.


    She had hunted for anything that she could have done differently, any way that she could have anticipated or countered Be-thrics machinations.


    She had berated herself for not doing something, <em>anything</em>, differently, even if it might have turned out the sameor possibly even worsefor her.


    But that was behind her, and she let those memories pass with barely any examination.


    Her time in the arcanends had been an exercise in deeply overthinking her every actionher every observationin order to not let herself be discovered.


    She had no desire to peruse those times more thoroughly than shed already examined them.


    But, when she got to her flight back to the humannds, she found that she hadnt really considered that time very deeply.


    The wide-open ins beyond the forests surrounding the gated human cities had moving viges hiding and slinking about across them.


    It also seemed likely that there were cities which might even be flying over head as she sat there contemting, if Master Gredivs implications were to be believed.


    It was also rather obvious in retrospect that the arcanes usually hunted for their vestiges among the humans in those enves.


    <em>I really want to go explore those pockets of humanity further. We were rather in a rush at the time.</em>


    -<em>Yeah, the dasgannach really had us on a short timeline. Going back could be really interesting. We could learn a lot from how they approach themon problems faced by us all.-</em>


    <em>Including how they get along with arcanes so well. I know were not going to fix the division, the fighting</em><em>were not some hero of legend</em><em>but it would be nice to get some insights. Maybe we can help make things a bit better.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, that could be nice.-</em>


    <em>Theres also Howltons obsession with finding a cell out there</em>


    <em>-Yeah, the clockwork thunder. It might be worth stepping in there and seeing if we can help. Weve learned so much since then, and I think they might be in danger of it breaking free due to their ignorance. That thumping could be the warning knells of the cell breaking down, and no one out there knows it. Though, I doubt they told us all they know.-</em>


    <em>Yeah. If their timeline holds, they believed that theyd find it by now, or in the next few months</em> That was a terrifying thought. There was a non-zero chance that a colossal threat could spring up any day to their south.


    <em>Maybe it will rampage through the arcane cities, and well never know it broke free.</em>


    <em>-If only were so lucky.-</em>


    She turned her mind back to her recollections, using more of her burst of cognition to reframe the less examinedmore recentportion of her life.


    When shed left Howlton, shed made her way up to the thinnest part of the forest. As shed traversed that portion, she in dozens of Leshkin that had seemed oriented on something deeper in the forest, northward.


    It was obvious now what they had been watching for. <em>The wolves. They were watching for Anatalis and the Pack.</em>


    <em>-That tracks with what we now know, yeah.-</em>


    Shed had imperfect information at the time. If she had simply gone a few miles north, she would have had basically a safe trek through that portion of forest.


    Nevertheless, it had been safe enough for her, as shed killed her way through juggernauts guarding the border easily enough.


    When shed gotten free of the trees, shed been waid by two Leskin with obvious sapience, proving that Leshkin werent bound to the trees, even if the lesser varieties rarely left except for the cyclical Leshkin wars.


    T had had a rather unpleasant conversation with the beings before theyd left her alone, and even that had only been because of their misassumptions.


    <em>I wonder if I could take them now?</em>


    <em>-You would do much better now, thats for certain. I think that is rather obvious, but we didnt actually see them fight.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, it would be a sh with unknown opponents still.</em> Even so, she had the sense that she wouldnt be helpless at the very least.


    That was a good feeling.


    Her mind returned to the memories, feeling the burst of power racing along her neurons beginning to fade.


    After leaving the forest, shed crossed the sheltered ins that shed known her whole life as The Wilds, and shed been home.


    In Alefast, Master Grediv had helped her to bond the iron dasgannach within her body, saving herself from Be-thricsst petty act of attempted vengeance.


    A broken Pirs dying curseassisted by the kindly helping hand of a Paragonhad given her an ability beyond the reach of what any other Mage or arcane could aplish. The closest that she knew of was Master Cazor, but he didnt actually act on iron directly.


    The internal threat of the dasgannach dealt with, T had nearly broken all over again when shed reunited with friends.


    Shed actually been shattered and rebuilt when she Refined.


    And finally, shed faced her oldest oppressors with a new perspective when shed gone to see her family.


    Her father <em>was </em>trying to be better than his past mistakes, and T was genuinely d that he was striving so hard to be a better father to her siblings ofte.


    She still had no desire for him to be <em>her</em> father, and she couldnt conceive of that changing, but she was d that her siblings would have the option of a better man as <em>their</em> father.


    After her time in Marliweather, shed gone to Alefast, waning, and be a Defender.


    It was the perfect opportunity for her, and she was going to utilize it to the fullest.


    She trained with the best of the best.


    Shed fought beasts of legend, and those that <em>really</em> shouldnt be allowed to be so.


    Shed fought in cells and outside the city walls.


    Shed taken her random assortment of magical abilities, tools, and talents and begun to hone them into a cohesive whole.


    T had gained some new, true friends among her unit mates, and shed spent more time with Rane doing things other than traveling around and fighting.


    <em>Though, weve gone back to that thisst week I really should have known he was the sculptor of those statues much sooner. Im not really showing interest in my friend, am I? Ive just been treating him like a servant or assistant.</em>


    <em>-Weve had that weakness for a long time, T. Honestly, I think itsmon to all people, or at least, we all have the potential to fall into that trap. We focus on ourselves first and foremost. You are getting better, though.-</em>


    <em>Thank you, t.</em>


    She didnt want any of her friendships to be one-sided. That was one reason shed decided to go with Rane to the meet-ups hed nned. She wanted to be a part of her friends lives, not just have them be a part of hers.


    As her mind passed over each event and aplishment, she felt like she relived it with new eyes. Even if she couldnt actually see more than she had, her change in perception allowed her to reprocess the experiences, letting her make a few connections that she hadnt taken the time to make before.


    Through most of it, there was amon element.


    From her first trip to Alefast, waning, Kit had been there.


    <em>Kit and Flow have been with me from the very start, or near enough.</em>


    <em>-They were with you before even Terry or I were.-</em>


    <em>Well, Terry was about before that.</em>


    <em>-But he was still deciding whether or not to eat us.-</em>


    T disagreed with ts interpretation, whichinterestinglywas happening more and more ofte. <em>No, I think hed decided not to. After all, he helped us with those men  barely after wed gotten Flow and Kit. And there was that thunderbull he herded near us before we even arrived in Alefast too.</em>


    t hesitated for only a moment before conceding, <em>-Thats fair.-</em>


    <em>So, Terry was around, but not with us until after.</em>


    t chuckled. <em>-Fine.-</em>


    T did consider Kit then, turning thest of her extra-enhanced mental energy toward the former artifact pouch.


    The storage had begun altering itself to match Ts desires from the very beginning, and T had always striven to keep the pouch full to bursting with power.


    Kit had been an incredibly useful tool all the way up until T had been captured, making her not have to worry about carrying her belongings or running out of essentials.


    Kit had also offered T shelter and a ce to sleep whenever she needed one as well.


    But, in the arcanends?


    There, Kit had been transformed.


    It was not an exaggeration to say that: after that transformation, Kit was Ts most useful tool, even though Kit hadnt directly contributed to Tsbat ability.


    <em>Master Simon and his family really help make Kit even more functional as well, but that is mostly them bringing out what Kit offers.</em>


    <em>-And Adrill and Brandon are assisting Master Simon as he investigates a lot of the things youve been putting off.-</em>


    <em>Thats for sure. Thats only really possible because I was able to grab all of those sundry items as I went along. Again, because of Kit.</em> T still preferred the reading chair that she had taken from the House of the Rising Sun to any other shede across.


    Kit had eaten man-made constructs, syphon bits, ether-holds, arcane holds, and a <em>lot</em> of cast-off material.


    Now, Ts sanctum within Kit was her home.


    <em>Hah! Home is where you have your Kit.</em>


    <em>-Oh, I like that.-</em>


    She pulled herself out of her musings, having barely taken a couple of breaths to run through the mountains of recollections and reconsiderations.


    Thest of the magical burst of enhancement had run its course, fully contained by her iron, and she was satisfied with how shed used it.


    She was overwhelmingly d to have soulbound Kit, and she felt the absence of the artifact acutely. That was not just because she missed being able to pull food out at will either.


    <em>-But that is a major part?-</em>


    <em>yes.</em>


    There was somethingforting about being close to home, and Kit was unquestionably her home, now.


    As she turned her focus back outward, she was almost staggered by the information suddenly flooding into her mind.


    Information that her mind was now fully able to handle.


    Beyond anything, what struck her was that she could see the gates of every human within sixty feet of her, without even trying. Well she could at least see the gates of those who werent Mages of sufficient strength to have auras that prevented her view.


    Every human had an aura, but mundanes were simply too weak to matter before her enhanced sight.


    <em>Huh, the woman over there is pregnant.</em>


    <em>-She could have an extra gate imnted in her stomach.-</em> t teased.


    <em>We can see the fetus, too</em>


    <em>-Yeah it wasnt a well thought out joke.-</em>


    <em>I can see the knots in thatborers muscles, how much strength hes losing, how much difort hes likely in.</em>


    <em>-To be fair, hes probably used to them. By the looks of it, theyve been there a </em>long<em> time, being added to day after day.-</em> t sent a feeling of bafflement. -<em>I mean, look at those calves! How can he even walk?-</em>


    T decided to redirect, <em>This is this is a lot of information, t.</em>


    <em>-It is indeed.-</em>


    <em>Well, I guess we have to get used to knowing far too much about everyone around us.</em>


    <em>-youve been overhearing everything around you for a long time now and ignoring most of it. How is this different?-</em>


    <em>Hush you, I have to see everything too, now, and there doesnt exist a cleansing agent powerful enough to erase what I can already see.</em>

 Chapter 374: Issue with Translation

    Chapter 374: Issue with Trantion


    T ended up staying in Bandfast for two more full days with Rane.


    When he had begun trying to fill his daywhile she bound Kithe had gotten a much greater response than hed expected.


    When the full extent of his filled social calendar was discussed, Rane said she was fine to head back without him, but T found she preferred to stay and tag-along with him for once.


    It was definitely an odd experience, only knowing most of the people they spent time with in a passing manner.


    This was theirst day nned in Bandfast, and T and Rane were walking between a lunch meetup that had run into mid-afternoon, and an early dinner.


    They were chatting about the people they had just left, and theorizing about those they were going to meet when they passed a shop that T hadnt thought of in a <em>long</em> time.


    The shop was on a little, out of the way street that they passed just by happenstancejust as she and Lyn had passed it what seemed like a lifetime ago.


    <em>He buys and sells artifacts and arcane goods.</em> Lyn had used that simple statement to draw T out of some musing or other. Now, it really hit home what Lyn had said.


    <em>Artifacts</em><em>not in a waning city</em><em>and </em>arcane<em> goods.</em>


    Rane had pulled to a stop beside her as shed frozen midstep.


    He looked between her and the shop, Do you need to go in?


    She bit the side of her lip. Its something Im curious about. Catch up to you in a bit?


    Rane hesitated, Do you need me? He could clearly tell something wasnt right. I can cancel the


    T shook her head, cutting him off. That wont be necessary. Ill be along shortly, and I dont want to make you wait.


    He hesitated for only a moment longer, Alright, then. Reach out if you need me, and Ill be there.


    She smiled, I know. Thank you.


    With a series of backward nces, Rane continued on his way.


    T, for her part, was staring at the shop once more. Though, it wasnt what she saw with her eyes that really held her attention.


    To mundane sight, it was just an ordinary shop, but it was odd even in that sense.


    While the windows were clean and well painted with the usual advertisement for a seller of goods, looking beyond the ss instantly caused a disjointment.


    There were iron tes ced directly behind the ss, and that same iron seemed to be wrapping the whole of the buildings interior.


    But again, her mundane vision was not what had grabbed her focus and reminded her of the businesss existence.


    There was an odd distortion all around the building starward and stoneward.


    She might have missed it, but it didnt strictly match the shops shape, instead bulging outward quite oddly. Unfortunately, it was hard to determine the exact dimensions, as it was messing with her magesight even as she looked at it.


    <em>Iron. Iron ced along the axis of magic connected in order topletely surround whatever is inside how big could that be?</em>


    <em>-From what I can tell, there is iron ced for at least a hundred increments along the magical axis.-</em>


    That meant that those ces could be at least a hundred times the physical dimensions associated, and that was before any sort of spatial magic was involved.


    She was insanely curious as to what might be inside, but she didnt have even the smallest clue.


    After all, the shop was fully sealed against magic escaping, making it impossible for her to see within, the iron fully blocking of her three-fold sight.


    <em>This, I have to see.</em>


    <em>-Yes, lets walk into the arcane-rted, sealed box alone. No need for any help, here.-</em>


    T hesitated, ncing in the direction that Rane had departed in.


    He was already out of sight.


    <em>-Hede back if we asked.-</em>


    <em>I know, but were in Bandfast.</em> The very thought dispelled most of the concern. <em>There is no way theyd let something or someone nefarious remain within the city.</em>


    <em>-No, they catch every syphon instantly.-</em>


    T grimaced. <em>Those arent truly damaging</em>


    <em>-And what about</em>-


    <em>Fine, it could be dangerous, but I am still going to investigate.</em>


    <em>-So long as its with open eyes, I have no objection.-</em>


    She stepped forward and pulled the door open revealing a small entry room.


    Unfortunately, because of the iron stoneward and starward, T couldnt bring her bloodstars along in their usual configuration. Instead, she pulled them back into the superficial, letting them rest on various parts of her clothing to get extra sight that way.


    It was unideal, but she didnt really have a choice. The door didnt even exist elsewhere along the axis of magic, instead the same space seemed to be solid iron if she moved star- or stoneward.


    The only means of ingress or egress was the simple seeming door, located superficially.


    The small entry room was well decorated, but clearly meant as a buffer between inside and outside.


    The door closed behind her, and only then was she able to push open the next door, entering the shop proper.


    <em>-Archive ess still maintained. The Soulbound connection isnt hampered by the iron at all, just as expected.-</em>


    <em>Good. How about you</em>Her thoughts died in her mind as she really took in what was around her.


    The iron-core door swung shut after she was through, even as she gaped at what she saw around her.


    One thing grabbed her attention before anything else.


    Vestiges.


    There were at least sixteen vestiges that she could sense in this room. One stoneward and one starward of each corner.


    There, they didnt flood the superficial with their power, instead filling the single increment on either side, giving a hair-raising sense of power that was just out of reach.


    Additionally, there was a dividing wall of iron that once again kept her three-fold sight from seeing anything in the rest of the building.


    Finally, while there were no items on disy, simply a long wooden counter with several booksid out atop them, T could see that the space was fully packed with different sized boxes, neatly stacked stoneward and starward of this front room.


    <em>Organized by which book their entry is in?</em>


    <em>-Thats likely.-</em>


    <em>Held up by the iron cocoon around this entire ce.</em>


    <em>-And kept in top condition by the vestiges gushing purified power.-</em>


    All in all, it was an elegant setup.


    <em>If I had Kit, I could rob this ce blind in a blink.</em>


    <em>-Yes, but you could do that to any other shop as well.-</em>


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    <em>Yeah, but this one is magic really, </em>really <em>magic.</em>


    As she was contemtingrceny, a disjointed being came into view.


    The door behind the counter openedrevealing another small chamber clearly meant to seal off this room from outside as well as the rest of the houseand out stepped a tall, schrly looking gentleman.


    He looked older yet not old, strong yet not defined, healthy yet not athletic,ely yet not handsome.


    All in all, he was quite forgettable.


    He was also an illusion.


    Beneath the illusion, she was easily able to see a Mature arcane. Though something about the advancement of his aura seemed liquid?


    -<em>He feels like the arcanes we saw who had temporarily dropped below their actual advancement due to power expenditure.-</em>


    That was it. He was clearlycking the power his body and mind were used to wielding, or at least capable of wielding.


    As to his true looks?


    He was something that immediately pulled her back to her first real fight with a magical beast.


    <em>Is he humanoid midnight fox?</em>


    No that wasnt quite right.


    His actual height was only about four feet, with another two feet of horns sweeping up and back to match the six feet of the illusory man he pretended to be.


    <em>Horns, not antlers.</em> Not a midnight fox, then.


    He also had the two horns projecting forward along his upper jaw like a midnight fox. He differed yet again, however, with another set of horns hooking along the line of his lower jaw when it was closed.


    Rather than having easily visible skin, he had what seemed to be exceptionally fine, white fur.


    As he walked forward behind the counter, he stepped up on a rise in the floor, which was likewise covered by an illusion, so the man didnt change height, even though the fox-man was now higher.


    He was dressedboth in reality and in the illusionin a simple set of ck Mages robes.


    His true eyes were a deepalmost indigoblue with vertical ck slits.


    His voice was likewise disguised, the illusion sounding a bit nasally, but T could somehow hear around it, and the creatures true voice was as deep and melodic as an ancient river, Wee, Refined. You are Mistress T, if I dont miss my guess. To what do I owe the pleasure?


    You know me? She was startled at the knowledge, sure that shed never met this creature before.


    <em>Though, if hes capable of illusion better than these</em>


    He smiled, his real face showing it to be an almost predatory grin, Of course. I have procured many of your memories, humiliating those to the south.


    There was a beat of silence, then he sighed.


    I can see you are meeting my eyes, not those of my projected form. Would you ept my sealing the door and dropping the pretense?


    T nodded slowly, feeling happy that she had a couple of sets of siege orbs at her belt opposite Flow, just in case.


    Thank you. He took a deep breath. Then, his mouth moved, and he clearly spoke, but T couldnt hear the word.


    Regardless, the door behind her vanished, leaving a smooth iron wall. Before her, the illusion of the studious man fell, and T was faced with what shed already known was there.


    I can see you are not surprised, but that is to be expected. Even so, he looked a bit disappointed.


    Youre a beast man? Fox? Or?


    He huffed augh, his disappointment fading. I am something simr, yes.


    Why are you here?


    He raised an eyebrow. That is a rather rude question, Mistress T. This is my shop and my home. Why are <em>you</em> here?


    T was caught off guard by that. I mean Im here to learn what was actually going on in here. I saw yourexpansion, and that reminded me that Id heard of you before. You buy magical and arcane items, correct?


    I do. Are you here to buy or sell? He still seemed a bit miffed but kept a professional air.


    I apologize, but I have not had the best rtionship with arcanes. Forgive me for asking, but how can you be here? How is it allowed?


    Once again, the predatory smile returned, the mans small, furry face, reminding her of a savage beast about to strike for a brief moment before he spoke, Oh, I am aware of your history with the arcanes. It is why I did not throw you out for the rudeness. Your hesitancy is expected and appreciated. He looked at her for a long moment, then huffed, I was banished by a fool and granted leave to stay within human cities so long as I keep my advancement to Mature and hide my identity while in public.


    What is your actual advancement level then?


    There was an incredibly minute bending of power, and something flicked the back of her ear, <em>hard.</em>


    Ow! T clutched the side of her head and pulled her hand away wet.


    Her eyes widened. <em>He made me bleed with such a small strike? How?</em>


    Learn manners, child. Your defenses are impressive, but nothing is imprable.


    <em>-Im looking at you from all sides, and there are no gaps in your iron, so it was a physical attack at its core.-</em>


    <em>Air maniption.</em>


    <em>-That is the simplest exnation.-</em>


    <em>Still, to do so much damage with so little power I barely felt any movement of power.</em>


    <em>-Maybe you shouldnt be rude, then.-</em>


    She grimaced, My apologies, master?


    He bowed then, Yes, introductions, so important. Thank you for asking. My name is Lisa.


    T frowned. Master Lisa? Isnt that a womans name?


    Lisa shrugged. It can be. It is an issue with trantion yes, I can see that isnt forbidden knowledge to you. I am d I judged rightly.


    <em>Trantion from anothernguage. Hes from before the merging ofnguages?</em>


    <em>-Or the name is from then, and hes being deceptive like his illusions. He is likely only allowed to live here because hes able to obscure the truth, mainly who and what he is.-</em>


    <em>Thats fair. Ironic to require that someone be good at hiding the truth before they can be trusted.</em>


    <em>-Just a bit, yeah.-</em>


    But we are wandering in the weeds for want of a trail. Did you onlye to see what my home was? He gestured around them. You have seen. If that was your goal, you may go. I have much to be about.


    T thought furiously. She was not ready to depart. <em>Maybe</em>


    Given master Lisas request for arcane items, it made sense that he might have something of that nature even if they werent originally created for that purpose. Do you have anything that can enhance a hold?


    A slow smile pulled at his somewhat vulpine features. I just might. It seems I might have more memories to barter for than Id considered. I only acquired those of you killing arcanes. He licked his teeth. Those were well worth the price.


    <em>t?</em>


    <em>-Yeah, Im seeing a line item in Mistress Ingrits records that we have credit with a master Lisa. The note beside it says: To be collected in the form of arcane knowledge, items, favors, or municipal defense. If thetter is used, the city in question would take up the debt owed to Mistress T.-</em>


    There was <em>so</em> much implied in that that T couldnt properly unpack it, but that wasnt important in the moment.


    She had just learned that she had a line of credit at a magic store that seemed to put even the Constructionists to shame.


    What do you have?


    That depends, do you have a standard hold? Is it a construct, artifact, spontaneous generation, ether hold? Is it powered by a vestige? Magic-bound to yourself? Soulbound? Are you looking for augments to establish within as separate items or to integrate into the existing magical matrices? Does it have a means of incorporating external magics? Is it inert? Sentient? Sapient?


    T felt her smile grow with each question. She might have been hesitant to share, but the very fact that Mistress Ingrit had bartered with him for some of her memories meant that he was trustworthy to at least a certain extent. Her name is Kit and let me give you a little summary to get us started, here.


    She hit the highlights, being careful to give true, broad strokes while leaving all the tantalizing details out.


    t structured the vast majority of her little spiel.


    <em>Thank you, t.</em>


    <em>-Its what I do.-</em>


    In the end, master Lisa was nodding in contemtive understanding.


    As he opened his mouth to say something, T held up a finger, One more thing, before you respond. I do apologize for my earlier rudeness, I did not mean to be untoward. As rpense, please let me offer you a memory.


    <em>t?</em>


    <em>-Already ahead of you done.-</em>


    Lisa raised an eyebrow, then reached to one side, his arm seeming to vanish.


    T watched as he grabbed something out of another physicalyer, pulling a small round disc back to himself in the superficial.


    Keeping an eye on her, he attached the disc to his temple, closing the eye on that side.


    A momentter, the eye reopened, both of his eyes widening. Your apology is epted. Thank you for the gift of being able to witness the consumption of an ether hold. That does actually give me a much better picture of your storages abilities as well. Mypliments for the multipurposed offering.


    He licked his teeth while looking up at the ceiling, clearly considering.


    T waited patiently.


    Finally, Lisa reached up and pulled the disc off of his temple and reced it in the stoneward physicalyer it hade from. Well, that is interesting. I have some things that could be of useone item in particres to mind because you have soulbound your storage, but I am hesitant to part with it.


    Oh? T was intrigued.


    Yes. It is a magical purification system. You stated that you wanted to ensure that no one would be forced to bond with you when entering your sanctum, is that correct?


    Yes.


    What of items? Those not magic-bound to you would quickly die or be so bound if you stored them within. Incidentally, this is amon issue with human-used storages.


    T found herself nodding. I hadnt really considered that, but yeah. I think that has been an issue.


    He quirked a smile. No fear, dear Refined. Not all is lost. I have seen items unbind if they became magicbound through happenstance rather than intention. If you purified the magic within your sanctum, any item of that description found within would return to a neutral state in time, and any new item you acquired for transport or storage would be preserved. He hesitated, ncing her way. From what you said, the power density inside is well above standard for this region?


    Yes.


    Good, good. Then, purifying it should also make the power essible to and useful for all non-magical things and creatures within as well.


    That made T frown. Non-magical? Wouldnt that mean they dont use magic?


    But of course. They dont <em>use </em>the magic, but bathing in itas it weremakes them <em>more.</em> Once again, he hesitated. It doesnt make them more real, that would be ridiculous. He chuckled. It solidifies their existence in a way that is hard to describe.


    T found herself nodding, They are already real, physical things. Because they are distinct, they are already well set with void. Thus, suffusing them in magicpletes the triune of existence.


    Lisa gave her a long, <em>long</em> look, Arent you just full of surprises?

 Chapter 375: Alone

    Chapter 375: Alone


    T hesitated as the arcane fox-like-manLisaregarded her with greater scrutiny.


    After a moment, he grunted, I suppose I should not be surprised that you are aware of the triune state of existence. I <em>taste</em> iron on the air around you. Because of that, it would be my guess that you have somehow acquired a connection with reality that your fellows find eptable. He briefly gave a wide grin, They are much better at cutting out that rot when it crops up than they used to be. Beyond that, you obviously have magic, and your memorieseven the few I sawcontained some of the void. Given all of that, your mentors were wise to help induct you into the reality of existence...


    He paused for a moment at that.


    Then, he shrugged and continued, And the magic of existence


    His smile returned, full of mischief.


    And the fact that existence is void and empty at its core.


    T had never thought of it in those terms, but it fit rather beautifully. As she contemted how well it fit, she felt her aura strengthen, her magic deepen, and her advancement move marginally toward Paragon.


    The side of Lisas mouth pulled up slightly, indicating that hed noticed the change, Regardless, we are getting off the path, even after finding such a promising one. Let us return to the item I am offering to you: A purifier of magical power. To be clear, a purification of the magic within your sanctumand an ongoing maintenance of that puritywould not affect the magic <em>of</em> your sanctum, so your dimensional storage would remain bonded to you and intact.


    T had been considering, and she nodded, grinning, I think that would be rather useful, yes.


    He nodded once in response, Now, what do you have in trade?


    I do believe that I have some credit with you.


    Lisa waved his hand. It would be highway robbery if I were to use this to cancel that debt, and such things are hard to fractionalize.


    She frowned, then shrugged. What do you want? What type of thing are you looking for?


    Items of magic and power, of course. The strangerthe more uniquethe better.


    T considered for a moment. <em>Well, Im not giving him the sword, I barely just got that back from Master Clevnis.</em>


    <em>-What about a needle? We have quite a few of those, and we dont really have much use for them.-</em>


    T nodded to herself. That was a good idea. What about an infinitely sharp, unbreakable needle?


    Lisa blinked a few times, before his eyes narrowed, seeming more focused on her than he had been during their entire conversation up until that point. Let me see it.


    Hesitantly, T reached for her waist, only to remember that she didnt have Kit with her. Oh, ummm Would a memory do for demonstration? If it is eptable, Id have to go get it.


    He hesitated, then nodded slowly.


    <em>t?</em>


    <em>-Sharing a small part of the encounter in the cell, now.-</em>


    Lisa had already pulled his Archive connection artifact back out and ced it on his temple, his each movement crisp, precise, and controlled.


    A momentter, he let out a hiss, followed by an incredibly aggressive cackle, Sole? His cell has resurfaced? Lisas lips pulled back in a horrifying mixture of gleeful grin and murderous snarl. For memories of your encounter with him, I will give you the item we are discussing. I do not need one of the needles for this transaction.


    <em>Well Rust. </em>Ts eyes widened, and she opened her mouth to refuse. <em>There is no way I can let him know where the prison is.</em>


    But, before she could say anything in response, Lisa continued, seemingly interpreting what she was thinking, I do not want the location of his confinement, just to witness the sh that you obviously had with him. You are here, he is not, so he must have been defeated, and that is something I dearly wish to witness. Depending on what I see, there, I will negotiate with your City Lordsexcuse me, City Headsfor the location. That will not concern you.


    She hesitated, incredibly uncertain.


    <em>-I am already asking Mistress Ingrit.-</em>


    <em>That is wise. Thank you, t.</em>


    <em>-Oh, that was fast. She says sharing what he asks is fine.-</em>


    T was still skeptical, but after a moments consideration maybe two, she shrugged. <em>This decision seems above my advancement, so not my problem. Im d that I dont need to consider all the possible implications.</em>


    Master Lisa was waiting expectantly.


    She slowly nodded, It seems that that would be eptable.


    The vulpine eyes glowed.


    But!


    The predatory gaze narrowed, and T felt a chill run through her very bones.


    I think that the memories of the encounter are more valuable than a single item.


    He huffed. Negotiating, then? Fine. But calling it a single item so dismissively is ridiculous.


    Is it more than one item?


    No, but calling it simply a single item is like calling the operating fund for the city a bank ount. The description is technically urate but insulting in the implication.


    I suppose Ill need to take a look, then. Lets see it.


    Very well. One moment.


    Without further warning or fanfare, the fox vanished.


    T caught shes of his quick actions as he moved stone and starward on the axis of magic as easily as shed take a step forward or backward.


    In less than a minute, he was back, simply appearing before herbehind the counteronce more.


    How did you do that?


    Do what? His slight smile made it obvious that he knew what she meant, but still wanted her to say it.


    You moved along the spatial axis of magic.


    He nodded. I thought you were aware of that. The answer is almost insultingly simple. I have the muscles to move in that direction. He shrugged. I have some dimensionality in those directions, so I can exert force to create movement. You exist in those directions as well, but you dont have any leverage to create movement well, most humans dont; I cant say Ive actually analyzed your physical or magical makeup.


    T grunted, contemting.


    <em>Imagine being able to freely move stoneward or starward.</em>


    <em>-Sounds dangerous.-</em>


    After a moment, T found herself nodding. <em>Yeah, yeah it really does.</em>


    Are you ready to see it? The item? Lisa arched one of his eyebrows.


    T shook herself slightly, refocusing. Yes, please.


    With a flourish, he seemed to stick his arm into his chest, but T could tell it was, in fact, reaching starward. When he withdrew his hand, it held a rock.


    Well, her mundane sight saw just a rock.


    Her magesight saw another thing altogether.


    If the mostplex magic T had ever seen around a person was a hedge maze, what was revealed before her was a three-dimensionalbyrinth that seemed to connect in ways that defied dimensionality.


    But that made sense, as the spellform crossed manyyers stoneward and starward, the physical dimensions stretching to allow the magics to avoid interacting with the items already stored where the rocks natural magics wished to be.


    T couldntprehend it at all, and while it seemed well filled with power, it was just as obviously inactive.


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    You are wee to stare at it as long as you like, but without bound power, it wont do anything.


    She chuckled, then opened the iron on her hand, purposely forcing power out and away, despite her link with Kit wanting to pull the power through their connection and to the sanctum.


    As soon as her power left her tightly controlled aura, the rock began to glow, the magic being immediately pulled inside.


    T couldnt follow the spellforms working, but in less than a second an exactly equal amount of power came back out of the rock. Now, however, it was natural magic, not Ts own.


    A small fraction of power was pulled from that provided by the vestiges in the room into the rock in order to refill its own reserves.


    Her eyes widened.


    She could see the City Stones.


    She could see how they filtered the magicing from the uncounted human gates in their cities.


    She could see that they were <em>not</em> very efficient in that transformation.


    This stone seemed to have near perfect efficiency, requiring only a drop of power for the burst that it had cleansed.


    She was in awe. Where did you get this?


    Master Lisa opened his mouth with a wicked grin, then paused. Finally, his face fell, Well, I was going to charge you double for the story, but the memories of the encounter you offer are worth this and the background behind it.


    He nodded as if to himself.


    So, will you take the trade?


    The item does what you im? What it seems to? And my soulbound sanctum can integrate the magics for permanent use?


    It <em>should</em> be able to integrate them, yes. If it fails, I will restate the same under a truth detection. Otherwise, yes.


    Then, yes. I agree. The memory for this item and the story and background behind it.


    Master Lisas voice didnt change, but it suddenly seemed to resonate with the entire building, Bargain struck.


    T swayed back briefly, pulling her thoughts back together.


    Before sheposed herself, master Lisa began to speak, Now, the background. A Sovereign owed someone he detested a boon. The person in question demanded an item to purify magic of any ownership. The Sovereign agreed to make the item but made the owed aware that he couldnt make them ept it. The Sovereign further stated that if the item was rejected or abandoned, the owed lost all rights to it and could not ask for another boon.Lisa nodded along with his storyThe owed agreed. So, the Sovereign attached the magics to a rock, hid themselves and followed the owed. Then, one random dayabout a weekterthe Sovereign threw it at the oweds head. The owed of course deflected the rock, cursing the random passerby who had thrown the rock.


    T shook her head, smiling slightly. That was a rejection.


    That was a rejection.


    Her eyes widened, looking at the rock again. Wait this is the boon of a Sovereign?


    Master Lisa barked augh, No, no, funny human girl. Your memories are not that valuable. That is just why such items are now traditionally made attached to rocks.


    T huffed. So, the background.


    Precisely.


    The story, then?


    This rock was on the road outside the first home I built among humans. I needed a way to ensure that I could sustain myself. At the same time, I was required to divest myself of power. It had to go somewhere.he shruggedI saw no reason to cause strife by cracking a City Stone with too much power flowing into it at once. So, I used my magic to forge this.


    T gaped. You can make one of these?


    Master Lisa cocked one eyebrow. No. I <em>did</em> make one of these. This one. I no longer have the power to do so, and it would be both incredibly inconvenient and viting of my word to gather enough magic to do so, now.


    And youre willing to trade it away?


    He gestured to the six corners of this room. As I am sure you have seen, I have found other means to sustain the allowed level of power. This is now merely a further redundancy I have no cause to keep around. I took so long to return because I had to rinse off the dust.


    T looked at the rock again and noticed that it did, indeed, seem damp. <em>It was literally collecting dust</em>


    Here you are. I trust the memory will be along


    <em>-Done.-</em>


    <em>Thank you.</em>


    Ah, there it is. He nodded once. Is there anything further?


    Not at the moment. Though I would love to flip through your books, to get an idea of what you have.


    Master Lisa nodded distracted, waving his hand. Behind T, the door reappeared. At the same time, the illusory version of master Lisa returned. Do as you wish. I have some memories to savor.


    Without another word, he simply vanished.


    T went to the books on the long counter and quickly flipped through them, t copying out what T saw to the Archive forter perusal.


    Less than five minutester, T left the shop, the rock tucked in a pocket grown specifically to hold it, the top sealed afterwards so the valuable item couldnt be lost.


    She had much to think about as she rejoined Rane for their next meetup, continuing the whirlwind of sociability that was their time in Bandfast.


    * * *


    T and Rane briefly saw Lyn and Kannis once more that evening, as it would have been odd not to, but T didnt bring up the artifact and arcane goods shop. It would have caused more questions than it was worth.


    Finally, T and Rane stopped through to see Mistress Odera on theirst evening in Bandfast.


    That was a shock to say the least, even with Mistress Aproa there to help smooth out the interactions.


    Mistress Odera was looking older than ever, and she had lost much of her previously demonstrated gracefulness in age.


    She still had her intellectwhen she had the energy to use itbut more than anything, T was left feeling hollow and torn. It was painful to see such a proud, powerful, wise woman nearing her end.


    Still, the very fact that the effects of aging were bing visible and she still hadnt sumbed to binding a star was stark testament to her continued resiliency.


    They didnt stay too long, as Mistress Odera was easily made tired.


    Even so, while they were there, the Mage condensed an Archon star in ice, formed from moisture in the air.


    It was quite obviously an unconscious action, with Mistress Aproa destroying it behind her ancestors back by dropping it into what was clearly an artifact made specifically for that purpose.


    Even with all that she saw and learned, what stood out most to T was what her newly established sight showed her.


    The womans gatelocated just one increment starward as all gates seemed to bewas slowly developing natural magics of its own.


    T had recognized the spellform immediately, even before Mistress Odera had created a simpler version of it in a different medium.


    An Archon star.


    The gate itself was bing a sort ofplex, interlinked Archon star.


    <em>No wonder everyone sumbs eventually.</em>


    <em>-No kidding.-</em>


    Though, honestly, T didnt know if Mistress Odera was undergoing something standard, something that only happened to those who resisted for an incredibly long time, or something unique to her.


    Regardless, the inevitable result seemed obvious to T.


    She briefly entertained the idea of using her iron to disrupt, distort, or otherwise mess with the cially forming natural magics, but it didnt even take her newly enhanced mind to realize how catastrophically wrong that could go.


    Even were she an expert in natural magicswhich she decidedly was notthe act of altering a spellform to specifically change its function as it wasing together was colossally foolish.


    That was assuming she had something to change it <em>to</em>, which she did not.


    Thus, she left well enough alone.


    Rane and T bid Mistress Odera goodnight and goodbye, with Mistress Aproa seeing them to the door.


    As they were leaving, T felt like she was fighting within herself, but what she felt was right finally won out, and she pulled Mistress Aproa aside, I cant exin to you how I know, but I believe that she only has days left, in the best case.


    The Archons eyes had widened in shock, and shed immediately opened her mouth to ask a question, but the woman paused to consider first. Finally, she nodded, Thank you, Mistress T. I dont know if you are hedging around strictures by telling me this, or if something else holds your tongue, but regardless, thank you. I will gather what family I can, and well stand vigil for the next week. She smiled wanly, If something hasnt happened by then, I will assume you were mistaken, but knowing you, I dont expect that to be the case.


    The urge came over her, and T stepped forward and embraced the somewhat older woman.


    Mistress Aproa was clearly startled butcked the ability to resist.


    I am so sorry for your loss. She was a woman without peer.


    The Archon sucked in a breath, something about Ts words striking to the heart of the circumstances.


    Mistress Aproa hugged T in return, her whole body shaking as she began to sob uncontrobly.


    Rane noticed and quietly moved around them and back toward Mistress Odera, so that the Mage would not be alone while the other two women talked.


    T ended up staying another hour as Mistress Aproa talked about growing up with Mistress Odera as a role model, sharing some of her favorite stories,ughing, and crying.


    Eventually, Mistress Aproa had pulled herself back together enough to hug T again and thank her profusely.


    T hugged her in return, still feeling somewhat startled at the reaction her initial hug and simple words had unleashed. Though, with a moments consideration, T decided that she couldnt say that she regretted the oue.


    Mistress Odera was an important person to her, and T regretted not getting more time with her. The least she could do is give a little emotional release to the woman who had been there for Mistress Odera.


    <em>But herst days should be with family.</em>


    <em>-It is important to be with those you love at the end.-</em>


    They went and got Rane, where he had been sitting and reading aloud to Mistress Odera as she slept.


    T and Rane said another round of quiet goodbyes and left.


    As Rane and T walked back toward the Archon Compound where Kit still rested, T found herself drawn inward, some investigations and experimentation beingpleted while T was still in town.


    <em>I am going to outlive almost everyone I know.</em> That felt much more real than it ever had before.


    t tried to help, or at least tried to offer another perspective, <em>-That is the nature of death. Either you outlive and must say goodbye to all those you love, or you die and leave them without you.-</em>


    <em>Or you dont make such connections.</em> T felt herself hunch inward. <em>Wouldnt that be better? Wouldnt that hurt less?</em>


    <em>-Thats no way to live. Thats hardly a life at</em>-


    Rane put a hand on Ts shoulder, interrupting her internal back-and-forth, T? Are you alright?


    She turned to him, looking up into his eyes, knowing there were tears in her own. I no, Im not.


    He pulled her into a hug right there on the side of the street.


    Traffic moved around them as he held her close, and she wept tears of confusion and frustration.


    It was mid-afternoon the next daywhen they were almost back to Alefastwhen the message came in.


    Mistress Odera had somehow slipped out, despite her small home being packed with rtives.


    The citys defenses had noted her leaving toward the south-east, alone.

 Chapter 376: See the Magic

    Chapter 376: See the Magic


    T was a bit off for the few days after learning of Mistress Oderas passing.


    Her thoughts were often drawn back to Mistress Odera and how much the woman had helped reshape Ts own perspective on the world and her ce within it.


    She spent a lot more time with Raneeven more than usus they found things to fill her off-hours.


    They ate fantastic food, watched uncounted shes from previous wanings, went to ys, sparred, and sometimes just walked through the gardens or the wilderness around Alefast.


    Rane was feeling the loss as well, and T did her best to listen to him as he shared about his own interactions with the older Mage. Additionally, she nudged him toward sculpting whenever she had to be on duty, and even watched him work on a few statues.


    It was both impressive and horrifying how long he took on each one, even though T <em>knew</em> that hepleted them much, <em>much</em> faster than most people could have.


    During that same period, her unit mates were both exceedingly helpful and frustratingly unhelpful at the same time.


    They were perfectly helpful in that they listened to her as she expressed her confusion about Mistress Oderas fate.


    She was d that the woman was no longer barely eking by, but she was sad that shed not see her again in this life.


    Ts unit mates were also mixed in their helpfulness in that Ts sharing seemed to open the floodgates, with each of the other defenders having permanently parted ways with countless mundanes and Mages over their long lives.


    That was a mixed bag if ever there was one.


    There wasfort inpanionship, in knowing that others had gone through simr things, but there was also dawning horror that this is what she had signed up for.


    This was only unique in that it was the first truly meaningful death, the passing of someone she was close to and respected a great deal.


    This is what it meant to live until she was killed.


    Unless she was unlucky or foolish, shed watch cities worth of peoplee and go.


    That was really too much to bear for the moment, so she turned to herst resort.


    It was time to use what shed held in reserve to help herself move past her own spiraling negativity.


    It was time to give master Lisas rock to Kit.


    Her units duty shift was that night, so she had the afternoon free.


    Thus, it was midafternoon when she stood on her dais beside Master Simon, Adrill, and Brandon.


    Each of the three men had Archive tes attached to a suite of sensing items, both constructs and artifacts.


    The other Zats had been encouraged to spend the afternoon in Alefast, and theyd taken the opportunity to see the sights.


    Rane was apparently getting instruction from Master Grediv on what bing Refined would mean as he could, in theory, start that process in a little more than a month.


    But that was a not now thing.


    Focusing on the moment, T took out the stone from the pocket it had waited in for a few days, and T felt the magics bound to herKits magicsorient on the simple seeming stone as her mentality toward the item shifted closer to devouring it.


    Thats it? Brandon asked. He didnt sound skepticfter all, T had briefed them on what to expecthe sounded overawed.


    It is.


    Master Simon nodded once, We are ready, begin at your leisure.


    T nodded in return. Alright. Here I go.


    He had already performed as detailed an investigation into the item as their tools allowed, that way the datasets would match when he used the same tools to observe this consumption.


    <em>No this is devouring. This stone</em><em>and its magics</em><em>are </em>MINE.


    T watched from many, many viewpoints as her own power closed around the rock like snapping jaws, the stone vanishing instantly with a flicker of the void.


    The rest was quite obviously pulled into Kit, herself.


    It only took a moment before new magics spun out, theplexity proving that the stone was their origin.


    As the spellforms began to be woven through Kits very being, T felt her bound storages reserves of powertopped off during their soulbindingbegin to plummet, pulled into the purification scripts en masse even as they were forming.


    Ts eyes opened wide, and she deactivated every bit of magic that she could, creating massive void-channels to boost her throughput and give Kit as much power as she possibly could.


    She hadnt needed to so augment her throughput in a <em>long</em> time, but it was still almost second nature to her.


    The boost in flowrate allowed her to barely be able to match Kits outpouring.


    Nearly an hour passed like that, T doing all that she could to eke out just a little bit more throughput, Kit interweaving the new magics throughout the intricate that already fully epassed the sanctum. All the while, Master Simon and his assistants frantically moved from reading to readingmeasurement to measurementtrying to monitor everything, despite knowing that everything was being Archived and could be reviewed at their leisureter.


    Finally, like a cord being cut, Kits use of power ended with a snap, and Ts torrent of power began refilling the soulbound artifacts reserves.


    After the strenuous but monotonous work of thest hour, it took T an embarrassing ten seconds to realize that the change had urred, contextualize it, consider the options, and slow her throughput, along with allowing her inscribed magics to move out of their dormant states.


    The world regained color to her eyes, and her body felt strong once again.


    <em>That was interesting.</em>


    <em>-Yeah. I wasnt expecting it to have such a massive cost of power to initialize.-</em>


    <em>Maybe because of howrge the sanctum is, now?</em>


    <em>-That could be. It makes sense, given the magic had to be integrated into the entirety of the magics-</em>


    Regardless of the stress of potential failure, T felt herself smile as the working that theyd been aiming to incorporate was immediately in evidence.


    Since Kit had been drained dry, the air had been incrediblycking of any sort of zeme or thest hour.


    Now that her power was flowing back into Kit, that was changing. Like air rushing to fill a vacuum, the rising levels of magic were


    <em>Perfectly pure.</em>


    <em>-Unbound, untainted, natural.-</em>


    Master Simonughed. This is amazing! The magics are working exactly as expected. There was no deviation, no hitch in the process.


    Adril and Brandon nodded in agreement, engrossed in their own experiences, measurements, and results.


    T pulled in a long, slow breath.


    Her lungs exalted in the feel of the increasing magical density in the air, and it sent a thrill racing through her.


    <em>This is glorious.</em>


    <em>-Indeed it is.-</em>


    T could, naturally, see her entire sanctum, including the unshaped portions.


    Her sanctumas it had been designed by the arcaneswas intact and whole, just as theyd made it.


    Then, Kit had a new, massive sphere of space waiting, barely connected low down on the squashed sphere that was the sanctum, the raw materials neatly arranged, organized, and ready for categorization.


    Because she hadnt known what to do with the space and mundane resources including rock, dirt, and waterand Kit didnt really care, given that such menial things wouldnt benefit her over much to truly devourthe space and matter had only been loosely added on, not truly incorporated.


    <em>We should probably fix that.</em>


    She nced over at Master Simon.


    Keep monitoring, Im going to shift the sanctum.


    Before the Fused couldment, T mentally made the change in her desires and the sanctum <em>moved.</em>


    First, space.


    She added a wide ring all the way around the outside of her sanctum, increasing the horizontal radius without increasing the height. Then, she added the remainder of the extra volume to the open sky.


    This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it


    She filled the volume around the outside with dirt, underpinned with rock, sloping down and away, so as to not ruin the sightlines and profiles that the arcanes had so perfectly crafted.


    T felt the artificial sun, the subtle magics extending from that to affect the time of day inside the sanctum, as well as allowing for drastic changes of weather, along with more measured shifts over the course of the year.


    Why was that still separate from Kit?


    It was hers.


    It was here.


    It was powerful.


    So, so full of power andplexity to add to her own.


    New magics to imbibe and mimic.


    New patterns to learn.


    She could devour it.


    She <em>almost</em> allowed Kit to snatch the very sun from the sky, but T managed to hold herself back, even if just barely.


    <em>Approach this wisely, T. We have time. It is ours. This isnt a now or never situation.</em>


    T swallowed, then wet her lips. Master Simon. Please review the documentation I provided on the artificial sun, and give me your best guess on what would happen if it were devoured and fully incorporated.


    The Fused turned to her, eye twitching just a bit. Finally, he gave a slow nod, Do I have your permission to consult others?


    She nodded immediately, Absolutely. Bring in anyone you need in order to give me a proper assessment. I dont have a spare artificial star, and so if itll break things, I wont allow it.


    Understood. Is this a greater priority than the current goings on? It was obvious that he <em>really</em> didnt want to hear a yes.


    No, no. Theres no rush, but I do want to know.


    He nodded, turning back to his te.


    T briefly considered just consuming the item once again. After all, she knew that she could go without the artificial star. Kit could move anything around within the sanctum and create masterful illusions.


    The main thing that the sun allowed was the automation and regtion of all the sub-aspects of the day-night and seasonal cycles.


    <em>I would not love having to somehow manually control that, even if it was subconsciously.</em>


    <em>-I do think that Kit would handle that still, but I agree. That would be unideal.-</em>


    <em>Oh, and we cant forget that it gives the needed heat, light, and energy for all the vegetation. </em>


    <em>-True. Illusion and perception are all well and good, but everything will die in the dark, even if they think they are in the light.-</em>


    T sighed, <em>Existence is funny like that.</em>


    As she contemted letting Kit eat the star more than she really should have, she continued to revel in the increasing density in the air.


    Even so, she heard Adrill and Brandon breathing deeply and quietlymenting to each other about how good they felt, how awake, how clearheaded.


    <em>Im d theyre getting something good from it. I do wonder how much magic is in the air.</em>


    <em>-Abouttwenty</em><em>maybe twenty five</em><em>times the density of the Wilds? Its nearly at Refined levels of power, at least right around us as makes sense. Were dumping it outward, and even though its being filtered, its still entering the sanctum aligned with us, here. Kit is concentrating it, here, and building outward, rather than distributing the power evenly.-</em>


    <em>Fascinating what does that actually mean? Is it significant? What is the effect going to be? Any guesses?</em>


    <em>-Well, it is right around the level of ambient power that arcanes have in their birthing chambers in order to induce newborns natural magics.-</em>


    <em>How could you possibly know that?</em>


    <em>-I actually read the book on arcane advancement. It is quite thorough. Literally birth to death instruction.-</em>


    <em>Huh thats fascinating. How</em>


    t cut T off. <em>-Oh! Oh, no! Get them out, get them out, GET THEM OUT!-</em>


    T didnt argue. She knew who t meant instantly, and she immediately summoned a door out of Kit, but it was already toote.


    The sound of two bodies hitting the floor was loud in Ts hyper focused mind.


    T didnt stop to wonder how, exactly, she knew that sound well enough to identify it instantly.


    Nor did she take the time to recriminate herself for onlying out of her revelry and internal contemtions when both Brandon and Adrill copsed, their whole bodies trembling.


    What? Master Simon cursed, spinning toward his assistants.


    Go get a healer. T dropped down beside the two men, The power density is too high. They are mundane, and its infusing their bodies.


    <em>-T, Ive read the manual. I can guide you. They cant leave this area until we settle them, and we need to give them instruction.-</em>


    T only hesitated for a moment. <em>Is this reversible?</em>


    <em>-What? No. But if we dont, they die, and if we do, its only positives.-</em>


    <em>Tell me what to do.</em> She met Master Simons eyes even as he was moving toward the door, We cant remove them, or theyll die. I believe that I can stabilize them, but we need a healer just in case.


    The man nodded in acknowledgement and left at a run.


    T returned her full focus to the two men, Brandon, Adrill, I know that you can hear me. I also know you cant really respond.T forcibly took her building emotions and threw them asideIm sorry; I didnt know that this would happen, but I <em>can</em> help you. You need to follow my instructions, or you dont have good odds of survival.


    <em>This isnt right; they should have a choice in this.</em>


    <em>-They do. They can ignore or oppose you and die, or listen and live.-</em>


    <em>Thats not what I</em>


    -<em>Now is not the time, T. Their lives are in </em>our<em> hands right now.-</em>


    Both mens eyes moved toward her, even as their muscles continued to twitch and tremble.


    Alright. Listen closely and do as I say. If you dont think you can do it, just pretend that you can and try anyways. First


    T spoke slowly and clearly, following ts wording exactly as she narrated the first steps of the Rising Sun Advancement manual to them.


    In reality, the two men werent doing anything aside from epting that something was being done to them, though they didnt know it.


    In all likelihood, it would be detrimental to them if they did, hence the deception.


    By trying to follow Ts instructions, they were priming their own wis well as the magic in their bodiesto allow themselves to be acted upon.


    And act T and t did.


    Even as she spoke calmly and without any stress, her aura utterly overrode that of her charges, and she, herself, acted on the magic as needed.


    <em>Exactly as a mother arcane would to her newborn babe.</em> Though, in the case of the newborn, the dialogue was hardly necessary, as newborns couldnt be expected to actually understand their mothers voice.


    <em>-Focus T, philosophizeter.-</em>


    T devoted all of her focus to the task at hand.


    Very importantly, her gaining aura authority over the magic did <em>not </em>make the magic match her own. It was like the borrowing of a craftsmans tool did not make the tool hers.


    She held that belief, that knowledge, firmly in ce as she worked.


    The most important part wasying down channels to gather in power that their bodies couldnt absorb just yet, so that it wouldnt build up to toxic levels. She was carving a set of natural magics into existence to handle the excess power, effectively creating irrigation channels to prevent the pooling of magic and muddying of their bodies.


    After that, she had to give them at least one power-using natural magic working.


    With that part, there were a lot of requirements the spellform had to meet.


    First, she had to have utterly intimate knowledge of the spellform in question.


    Second, the two men needed to have at least a basic understanding of how it workedand the effect it would createfor it to be useable.


    Third, it had to be something that they couldnt idently kill themselves or others with.


    Thus, there was only one of her magics that met the requirements, even though it wasplex and actually ended up being two heavily interlinked magical workings.


    That said, it was surprisingly easy, all things considered.


    Her will knew the forms she was forging, and she was subconsciously used to helping magic flow through these twists and turns. More than that, she had the exact forms zing in existence itself around her own head, easily visible for her to study and copy.


    In less than five minutes, it was done.


    Adrill and Brandon rxed, even as the natural magics red to life, lowering the magic within their bodies to a level that they could handle.


    That tolerance level would slowly grow, and when it matched the environmentor when they left areas of high-density powertheir magics would slowly power down until they entered a dormant state, just pulling in enough power to keep from copsing, much as artifacts did.


    As to what spellforms T had given them?


    The most basic portion of her mental enhancement and magesight.


    Though hers were much moreplex these days, the core was still the same as those shed gotten when still newly graduated.


    <em>-You could have just given them the enhancement.-</em>


    <em>I did not think of that.</em>


    <em>-You literally gave them the enhancement </em>and<em> magesight.-</em>


    <em>I thought of the magesight first and realized they needed some mental enhancement partway through youre in my head, you know this.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, I am, and I still cant believe we didnt think of just doing the enhancement portion-</em>


    The father and son sat up, making oddly simr noises ofint as they stretched their sore limbs.


    They nced toward each other andughed at the unity of action and utterance.


    Brandon shook his head, rubbing at his eyes. Ive got to get away from home more. Im going to end up just like you.


    Adrill was rubbing at his own eyes. If only we were both so lucky. Besides, you could do worse what is this? Somethings wrong with my eyes.


    Ah, T interjected, you both now have magesight, and the basic mental augmentation to be able to process it.


    They both jerked back slightly as the magics solidified, now that their minds and wills knew what it was for.


    My apologies. I thought I told you what the magics were as we were working.


    Adrill nodded slowly. I think you did, but it didnt reallyhis voice was hitching, something building behind the words"I didnt actually


    As his father began to weep, Brandon turned teary eyes and a smiling face toward T, We didnt actually believe you. Magic hasnt been a path we could actually walk


    Adrill swallowed, cleared his throat, and continued in ce of his son, This shouldnt be possible, but I can <em>see</em> the magic, Mistress T. I can see it.


    He devolved back into uncontroble shudders of joy.


    Its like looking through an artifact of magesight, but with my own eyes. I I understand what Im seeing to a level I never have before. How no, you said there was mental augments too. That would do it.


    T nodded, understanding the emotion of the moment, even if her own emotions were roiling for entirely different reasons and entirely different directions.


    These two men had pursued the study of magic for their whole lives, even though human magicgated magicwas forever out of their reach.


    Now, something they had never considered possible had happened.


    They were using magic within their own bodies.


    The father and son had moved from propositional knowledge of magic to knowledge by acquaintance in a single action.


    They could <em>see</em> and grasp that which they had studied for so long.


    It was quite obviously impacting them both incredibly deeply. Though, Adrill was obviously more invested and affected as he was the older, having spent his professional life in this pursuit as well.


    T forced herself to smile kindly. The changes to your body will umte slowly, but effectively, once everything is settled out, you should age at about one third the rate as before.


    Both of their eyes widened at that.


    Brandon put it to words almost immediately. Mom Kedva Mistress T, can you do this for them as well?


    <em>-Oh-</em>


    Only then did T consider that both men had women they were tied to. <em>Well, I rusting hope so</em>

 Chapter 377: My Fault

    Chapter 377: My Fault


    T helped Brandon and Adrill to their feet, one with each hand.


    It was easy enough to allow her iron to actually settle upon her to give her the inertia to help them stand, and she certainly didntck the strength. It was the least she could do.


    <em>Considering</em>


    <em>-Not yet, T. They still need our help.-</em>


    The two men gratefully epted the help even as they had their heads practically on a swivel, trying to take in as much as they could.


    She was holding herself tightly emotionally controlledwith ts help. If she panicked, theyd be utterly lost, Slow down, gentlemen. As long as youre in here, your magesight wont go away. It should even maintain, if at a lower fidelity, outside, within Alefast and the surrounding region.


    That seemed to allow the two to settle down a bit. <em>Good, theyre doing better.</em>


    <em>-Hold it together, T. Dont think too deeply. You got this. We can go off on our own soon.-</em>


    <em>Yeah.</em> She encouraged herself, trying to keep a brave face,<em> Yeah</em>


    Brandon held himself still and cleared his throat, seeming a bit more embarrassed than his father at their earlier disy.


    The older man was still staring around himself in wonder, even if with less of a frantic air.


    Mistress T? What about my question? Can you do this for others? Bradon shifted ufortably, Or have we just condemned ourselves to outlive those we love?


    T swallowed. Well, for those without a gate, this can be done. It is a nearly wless process, but the results arent perfect nor guaranteed. If it fails, the result is death. I am unsure if even having a healer on hand would prevent that, but were definitely going to regardless. Simrly, you are both going to be thoroughly checked out as soon as Master Simon gets back with one.


    Why?


    Which part? I said a lot of things in there.


    Why dont you think a healer will be much help?


    Oh. Well, its a suspicion more than outright knowledge, but its pretty well grounded, as I think youll agree. It is because the issue in that circumstance is that the patients body is trying to draw in too much magic and is being made toxic because of that.she was rambling, but she didnt think she could stop herself and hold it togetherMore magic, even that which they cant absorb, even that of a helpful variety is going to exacerbate the problem. There are likely <em>some</em> magics that could help second-hand, but the sort of immediate treatment that would be required likely wouldnt be possible.


    Brandon was nodding. He knew the theory well enough by that point to have followed what she was getting at. And mom?


    T shrugged. This environment shouldnt affect her at all. Her body is already magic-bound to her own vor of power, forck of a better description. The stuff in the air, here, <em>might</em> hurt her if we doubled the density.


    <em>-More like increased it by a factor of a hundred.-</em>


    She shook her head, No, it would need more than that, probably closer to a hundred times this level before it could start to actively harm her.


    <em>-Smooth.-</em>


    <em>Thank you.</em>


    Adrill had been drawn in by her words, out of his awed examination of the world around him. Even though he was still clearly euphoric, a spark of concern and doubt was beginning to creep in. So my wife?


    T grimaced. The only thing I can think of is to get her a keystone, deepen her connection with magic enough to at least get her inscribed. Every bit of power we can get flowing through her will lengthen her life, but it isnt an easy process, or everyone would do it. T huffed a forcedugh. We want more people more than almost anything else. If we could easily extend peoples natural lifespan, wed be doing it to everyone.


    <em>Dont talk about Archon stars. Dont mention them at all. We are absolutely going to keep her </em>well<em> below the threshold to move in that dangerous direction.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, we do want people to live longer, but its a bncing act to keep from suddenly having millions of founts-</em>


    <em>That would be less than ideal, yeah. Plus, arge portion of those who are denied Magical training are so rejected because they would sumb to bing a fount so fast as to make their training detrimental.</em>


    <em>-True enough. Hey! Good job changing your focus, by the way.-</em>


    <em></em>


    <em>-Oh, its back sorry about that.-</em>


    Adrill nodded slowly. She did not do well on the Mage aptitude tests when she was younger.


    T bobbed her head in understanding. Those tests are for mind-set and mode of thinking. I dont think that Artia will ever be a Mage, but we should be able to induce enough magic through her that she doesnt have a significantly lower lifespan than you. She chuckled. After all, shes around artifacts practically all day, every day. She has to have some penchant toward understanding how magic functions.


    She hesitated, frowning for a moment.


    You know, maybe the scripts to allow her to feed power to a magical item would work for her. No magic necessary for herself, only for an item.


    <em>A Mage doesnt need thoseat least most Immaterial Guides dont because we can just grab the power directly and give it to the item. No scripts required.</em>


    <em>-Yes, you are extra special and awesome.-</em>


    <em>Yes, we are.</em> T smiled internally just a bit.


    Brandon interjected, then, Why doesnt everyone do that? Why doesnt everyone get basic scripts?


    Well, first of all, its expensive. She quirked a smile. Beyond that, you still have to have an understanding of magic, generally, and manyif not mostpeople simply dont, and cant, understand it.


    Adrill responded before his son could, She definitely doesnt really appreciate the theory behind magic like we do, son, but she has a solid grasp of the fundamentals.


    Then, maybe? T shrugged. Im sure with such an important goal before her, and you two beside her, we can get it to work for her.


    Brandon frowned. Does that mean that Kedva would need such an understanding?


    T almost opened her mouth to say yes, but hesitated. <em>Wait</em>


    <em>-Yeah arcane babies definitely dont have an understanding of magic when they are induced upon their birth.-</em>


    Maybe not? I will have to learn a different spellform to use for her than for the two of you. You both have the cognitive grasp of magesight to make it work. It wouldnt for her without extensive study but basic enhancement magics? Yeah that would just be taking the body as the temte and allowing it to be <em>more</em>. I obviously already know that one, as that is part of what I gave to you.


    -<em>Enhancement magics were the rmendation given in the primer.-</em>


    <em>Though, it was stated that such gave consistent, mediocre results.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, </em>consistent<em>.-</em>


    <em> but mediocre</em>


    -<em>Do you think they will care?-</em>


    <em>They might.</em>


    <em>-Then, we let them decide.-</em>


    T nodded to herself, gilding herself and pushing on ahead, Ive been wanting the two of you to officiallye work for me in here for a while, now. Master Simon has been not-so-subtly asking for it as well. If you agree, Ill give you this as your first project: You would fully study the arcane advancement manual that I have and break out the steps for use by others, such as Kedva.


    Both men froze.


    <em>Did we not tell them?</em>


    <em>-No, T. No, we did not.-</em>


    <em>Oh Now was probably not the right time to broach the source, was it?</em>


    <em>-No, T. No, it was not.-</em>


    Adrill swallowed visibly, <em>Arcane</em> advancement? Mistress T, are you telling me that


    The door from the outside burst open at that moment, and Master Simon rushed in with a clearly confused Archon in tow. His inscriptionsand what T could seeindicated that he was a healer.


    <em>Context makes that pretty obvious too.</em>


    The older Fused frowned, looking at the stricken men before him, Well, youre up and about. What did I miss?


    Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.


    * * *


    Once T had conveyed what she could of the situation to Master Simon and the healerand promised Adrill a full discussionter on the origins of what had been done to themshe left the four men to run tests and make sure everything was going to be alright.


    She let them know that she needed to deal with something, and with an act of will, she moved herself into a cave with no entrance on the far side of the sanctum.


    She immediately dropped to the ground, her suppressed emotions finally breaking free as she began to weep.


    <em>-T Im sorry. This is all my fault. I should have realized sooner that this could have been the result.-</em>


    <em>I forced them into this, t. They didnt have a choice. They werent even aware of the possibility. I forced them onto the path of magic while gaining something for myself.</em> She felt tears flowing down her face and snot building in her nose. <em>Im a careless version of my father. At least he sent me off to the Academy intentionally. I just barreled forward, rust the consequences.</em>


    <em>-T. This is on me, not you, and doing something on ident isnt worse than doing it on purpose.-</em>


    <em>Only if it really is an ident.</em>


    <em>-T-</em>


    <em>I could have read that manual. You </em>did<em> read it. We are the same person. Your failing </em>is<em> my failing.</em>


    She pulled her legs up to her chest, hugging them against herself.


    <em>Now, its possible that Ive condemned a man to outlive his wifehis partner, the person he loves most in this worldby </em>decades.


    She knew she couldnt imagine the pain involved in that.


    Losing Mistress Odera had hurt her deeply, and she realized that her rtionship with the older woman hadnt been a fraction of Adrills care, affection, and love toward Artia.


    There was a momentary pause, then T felt the part of her mind in which t operated begin to strain.


    A hand suddenly fell on Ts shoulder, and she looked up, startled.


    t stood beside her, dress fluttering in a breeze that wasnt actually there. T I


    She seemed at a loss as to what to say.


    So, instead of saying anything, she sat down beside T, wrapping her arms around her, and they wept together.


    * * *


    T and t managed to pull themselves together sufficiently to join her unit on wall duty that night, but it was a rough time, at least at the start.


    On her way to her duty-station, T asked t to contact Master Nadro and Master Grediv, letting them both know what had happened for different reasons.


    For Master Grediv, T and t had wanted to ensure that the Paragon knew that some gateless humans were suddenly able to wield magic within his city, even if just barely.


    With Master Nadro, they hoped to schedule an additional meeting, aside from their regr meet up, and see if he was free to give any advice or guidance to the two new wielders of arcane-like power.


    Master Grediv had been terse in his reply, stating that he woulde by to meet with the two men the next day.


    Master Nadro was not avable any earlier than their already scheduled appointment, but he did say that he would make it an in person one, so that he could meet with those affected.


    When T arrived, her unit mates immediately intuited that something was wrong.


    They were already on the lookout for such signs, because T had been off-kilter due to Mistress Oderas death.


    <em>Rust I had put that out of my mind</em>


    Regardless, Mistress Vanga sat with her in silence while the others kept a careful eye. Though, each had noticed something was wrong and had made expressions of concern, before letting her know that they were there if she wanted anything from them, trusting her to ask if that was the case, and leaving her to herself.


    In truth, t was on watch as well, being a bit more removed from the whole situation.


    t also found it helpful to focus on their three-fold vision. It was soothing for the alternate interface to process so much information constantly.


    That became relevant when, just after midnight, T stood up, I really need this. Let me take the leading edge, please?


    Her unit mates had oriented on her when she moved, and they detected the iing threat just after she had.


    New sight? Master Clevnis asked, rifying that she''d seen the iing enemy first through her three-fold sight.


    New sight. She appreciated the abbreviatedmunication. She really wasnt in the mood to chat.


    Very well, you take point. Well have your back and the wall.


    She felt gratitude to the man, and her unit. She really did feel like she needed the fight.


    <em>-Need? No, we just want to kill something. Preferably many, </em>many<em> somethings.-</em>


    <em>Well it has helped before.</em>


    <em>-Fair enough.-</em>


    T had no idea what depraved hole of the world reality and magic came together inside of in order to spawn some of the things that threw themselves at Alefast, and at the moment she didnt really care.


    It was a swarm of near identical creatures that she knew wouldnt be her strong suit, but the others would mop up after her.


    With no fear, she dropped over the edge of the wall, leaving the citys defenses behind.


    In all honesty, those would likely have been plenty to handle this foe, but it was better to be safe than sorry with lives on the line.


    As she fell, even her mundane eyes easily saw the odd creatures, and t was able to find them in their indexes almost immediately.


    <em>-Quilled Jerboara. We wont know what subspecies until</em><em>-</em>


    The sound like a thousand madmen all trying to talk over one another swelled out of the oing creatures as they got within their own poor eyesights ability to see the wall.


    <em>-Oh, gibbering quilled jerboaralovely.</em>-


    As shended, T had already pulled three sets of siege orbs from her beltKit still being back at Artias shopand with an act of will, she sent the six devastating projectiles into front ranks of the nearly one thousand creatures, well-spaced along the front, targeting creatures in the middle to allow for the orbs to rip deep into the charging ranks before she detonated them.


    As the six zipped forth, quickly elerating to the point that they cracked the air with their passage, T took a moment to review what she knew of the creatures.


    Jerboara were charging creatures that have wed paws but most closely resemble boars in their nature and behavior.


    Wickedly sharp tusks and hardened skulls wereplemented by oddlyrge ears that allowed them to nearly unerringly home in on their prey.


    And they did have prey. From all evidence, they were omnivores like swine, but they seemed to prefer meat.


    <em>And, of course, killing gated humans.</em>


    <em>-There is that lovely feature of virtually every magical creature, yes.-</em>


    The quilled portion of their name referenced the near-metal-like quills that armored their sides and back, which they could flex and position for defense and close quarters offense.


    The foremost quills could even be pulled forward and positioned like a miniature forest ofnces in order to add to the damage potential of a charge.


    And the gibbering portion of their name?


    Aside from the unnerving nature of the sound, it actually represented a birdsong-like form ofmunication, which allowed whole herds to work together.


    The gibbering quilled jerboara was the most intelligent variety of jerboara by far.


    Additionally, their magics were almost entirely focused on sonic maniption of varying kinds.


    <em>Ears sealed.</em>


    <em>-Ear canals filled. Were good to go.-</em>


    The siege orbs punched through the first rank and threw them back into the second, disrupting the tightly packed charge some hundred yards from the walls. Even so, the orbs didnte out the backs of the first beasts they entered.


    Thankfully, it <em>did</em> cause some of the quills of the creatures to be mmed into those behind them, which caused further damage and confusion.


    <em>Well.. they are more durable than we were led to believe.</em>


    <em>-Just a bit, yeah. Their hides must be </em>insanely<em> enhanced.-</em>


    Without further dy, T triggered the orbs, releasing the incrediblypressed air into a concussive explosion.


    That worked at least, as the six jerboara almost seemed to swell like balloons before bursting. Their whole bodies swelled and tore with what must have been a rather disgusting sound, even as the ground rumbled at the detonations.


    The result slung frozen gore and bits of flesh <em>everywhere,</em> actually sending the quills and bone fragments shooting outward, tearing through the surrounding beasts.


    <em>Well, that worked, but not really as Id hoped</em>


    Flow <em>snicked</em> into Ts hand from the sheath at her belt.


    It was time to close in for some true stress-relief.


    T crouched against the base of the wall, making sure to brace against the foundation stones and the ground in equal measure, beforeunching herself up and outward, removing her downward gravity at thest minute in order to soar the intervening distance between herself and the herd that was slowly pulling itself back in order.


    The sound of herunch must have been noticeable, and some of the bigger beasts clearly oriented on her as she was flying their direction.


    Her entire body began to vibrate, her very bones jiggling and trying to pull free of the surrounding tissue as close to a hundred of the more aware jerboara unleashed their power to send sonic attacks her way.


    Her very brain felt like it was trying to enter a liquid state.


    Blessedly, she was more durable than that.


    <em>Rust my biscuits, Im d Im the one who engaged directly.</em>


    <em>-First, thats Mistress Hollys phrase.-</em>


    <em>Other people have said it.</em>


    <em>-...regardless. Second, they wouldnt have closed at all. Third, eye on the target, its time to descend.-</em>


    One jerboara in particr seemed to realize that she wasnt dying as theyd expected, because it quickly gathered its back legs under itself and lunged out and up, aiming perfectly to meet her mid-air.


    Its forward quills snapped to the front, even as it lowered its head to bring its tusks to bear.


    <em>Lovely, a volunteer.</em>


    Thus, as T allowed her gravity to return to normal and arced down into the mass of enemies, Flow bisected one of the biggest monsters, allowing the horse-sized magical thing to fall in two pieces behind her.


    She didnt pay attention to the squelch of the two halvesnding, as she had other things on her mind. She had hade down on top of an unsuspecting member of the assaulting herd, her full weight and surface-area expansion scripts allowing her to drive it into the ground, even if it didnt kill the thing outright.


    <em>These things are tough.</em>


    <em>-So it seems.-</em>


    <em>Well, then, close quarters killing it is.</em>


    <em>-Shall we?-</em>


    <em>Quite.</em>


    And that is exactly what she did.


    Her breath tore at them from the outside.


    Flow cut them with every movement.


    Her shields, defensive discs, and tungsten balls and rod frustrated their movements.


    Ts aura supremacy kept them from amplifying each other''s magic.


    Her body resisted their concentrated sonic attacks.


    She didnt use any more siege orbs, as they didnt seem to be as effective as shed like. Thus, she kept the few still on her belt in reserve, just in case they were needed.


    They werent.


    Simrly, she didnt use her iron spikes, as they were entirely unnecessary, and T was trying to unburden her mind, not strain it differently.


    Her unit mates joined her in spirit and with their long-range magics, sending their power from the walls, and striking at portions of the massed creatures that she wasnt currently addressing, keeping them milling and confused barely a hundred yards from the wall.


    It was a ughter.


    It was exactly what she needed right then.


    Some days, it <em>really</em> paid to be a defender.


    <em>And, of course, I am actually going to get paid.</em>


    <em>-Ahh, the perks and plus side of doing our job.-</em>

 Chapter 378: Specifically Notorious

    Chapter 378: Specifically Notorious


    T watched from the sidelines as Master Grediv slowly circled Adrill and Brandon within her sanctum.


    They were all gathered on the sparring circle, though that was mainly for the wide, level, hard surface, not because anyone was going to fight.


    <em>Probably.</em>


    Master Simon watched from off to one side as well, sitting in a chair that T had called into ce for him.


    She stood, feeling quite a bit nervous as to what the head of the local Archon Council would say.


    Toward that end, she felt a bit miffed. After all, the circling was entirely unnecessary.


    T could already feel the Paragons aurapletely permeating the two men who he was examining.


    They had absolutely no resistance to his investigation, not that they would have tried even if they could.


    Just like almost anyone of a lower advancement, their bodiestheir aura and willsimply couldnt resist his authority even as it allowed him to analyze them to their very core.


    What made it worse was that such couldnt even be felt by mundanes. They were as unaware as they were unable to resist.


    <em>-No, T. They arent mundanes anymore. Actually look.-</em>


    T changed her perspective, fully focusing on the two men rather than feeling pity for them and only watching Master Grediv.


    Both Adrill and Brandon were visibly ufortable, but they were bearing up well.


    <em>They can feel a foreign authority iming them?</em>


    That actually made sense. Their bodies now had some level of real power. Still not anywhere near enough to resist, but they were limating to the feel of magic and that came with intuitive senses.


    <em>And you know the magesight that they now have perpetually active, so long as they are within sufficient magical density to use it.</em> T mentally chided herself for her surface level thinking.


    <em>-You are still seeing them as powerless victims and yourself as the perpetrator. That doesnt help anyone, them least of all.-</em>


    <em>But they are victims, victims of an ident.</em>


    <em>-Even if that were true</em><em>and theres a lot of room in that if</em><em>if either you or they focus on that, they will be harmed by the mindset.-</em>


    T grimaced, but a moments thought made it clear that t was correct. If she treated them as victims, then she would try to take charge of their recovery and that would strip them of their own agency. If they saw themselves as victims, then they would never seize their opportunities for themselves, and they would be beholden to her and her whims for a lot longer, if not forever.


    <em>Alright. What happened happened. We cant change that, but we can give them the tools to im their own future.</em>


    <em>-Thats the spirit.-</em> t projected contented thoughts Ts way, and T found herself giving a small smile in return.


    She still felt guilty, and she still felt like she needed to do <em>something</em>, but she wouldnt treat them as helpless victims.


    Afterpleting one final circle around the two, Master Grediv nodded and pulled his aura back, the two men instantly rxing and seeming to dete slightly without the Paragons authority filling them up.


    Adrill straightened first, Brandon taking another moment to collect himself, So, Master Grediv? If it isnt impertinent to ask: What is your assessment of my son and myself?


    Master Grediv grunted. Obviously human, even without gates.he quirked a smile while saying thatIt seems that the exceptions I added to the citys defenses can be removed.


    T nched internally. <em>I did not think of that.</em>


    <em>-Neither did I, and I really, really should have.-</em> t seemed to contemte for a moment. <em>-You know what? We didnt think of it, because we perceive things very simrly to the citys defenses. The magic within them didnt strike us oddly, so there was no reason to think the city grid would be any different.-</em>


    <em>So we subconsciously dismissed the issue?</em>


    <em>-That seems likely.-</em>


    <em>That seems like justification after the fact</em>


    <em>-No way to know, now is there?-</em>


    <em>We dont Archive our subconscious thoughts, do we.</em> It wasnt a question.


    <em>-Do you want me to? I mean explicitly Archive them. Im sort of passively recording our mental state all the time, so we do have a record of sorts.-</em>


    <em>Oh? So, we could look and see?</em>


    <em>-Only if I were to simte our entire mind, somehow, and then look at our deepest internal thoughts.-</em>


    <em>maybe while Im asleep next?</em>


    t sighed. <em>-Fine. I suppose it makes sense to find out if we really were that reckless, or if we just intuitively dismissed it as not being a concern.-</em>


    <em>Thank you.</em>


    <em>-Ill let you know if we were in error. If I say nothing, its because it is as I assumed.-</em>


    <em>youre not just going to hide it?</em>


    <em>-Absolutely not.-</em>


    <em>Alright, I trust you.</em>


    Adrill and Brandon shared a look, clearly a bit concerned by Master Gredivs mention of the city defenses. Was that a concern?


    The Paragon shrugged, but it was Master Simon who answered, No, it was not. I wouldnt have let you out of the sanctum if there had been a danger of that. He smiled. Remember the scans we did yesterday before you went home?


    They nodded.


    I was confirming how you would appear to various magical senses and detection grids.


    That seemed to cause the father and son some relief. Thank you, Master Simon.


    My pleasure, Adrill. I was not about to let my assistants be struck down by over-zealous, automated defenses.


    Master Grediv interjected, Regardless, as soon as Mistress T contacted me, I added exceptions that would have kept you safe in any case.


    Brandon smiled gratefully toward T.


    Adrill, however, continued to focus on Master Grediv, So what does that mean, Master Grediv?


    Well, its quite simple really. Arcanes rely on conceptual magic. The very magic within them takes on the concept that they embody or strive after. This is not a tainting of the power nor a distortion of magic. It is most akin to them being a colored me, green or blue for example. The power near themlets pretend it is waterlooks colored by their very presence, but that doesnt change what it actually is.


    T nodded, that fit with her understanding. It was one reason why arcane magic failed within hostile auras even faster than human magic, if just barely.


    <em>Like a me being doused more quickly when dunked in water than syrup.</em>


    <em>-Sounds sticky.-</em>


    The Paragon saw her nod and gestured her way, Mistress T? Would you care to add anything?


    She shrugged at that. Humans cant use conceptual magic. In your analogy, we would be like pure-white light, simply showing what is around us as it is. To extend the analogy, those with gates bring in water, and that water is as distinct between two people as that from two different springs or wells.


    Brandon frowned, considering, but Adrill had a slight smile as he nodded.


    Regardless, city defenses test magics either for the impurity of spring water or the coloration of conceptual magic. You have neither. Effectively, you will not be seen at all by the automated defenses.


    Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.


    Brandon seemed to have gathered his thoughts, So, we look like a magical beast?


    Adrill immediately corrected his son, No, Brandon. Magical beasts would have both. Their power is no longer pure as soon as they absorb it, and they have conceptual magic at their core.


    Arcanous creatures, then? The youngest present tried again.


    Master Simon stepped in, there. No, not them either. Theres a reason that we call arcanes, arcanes, and its not <em>just</em> to be insulting.


    Brandon gave a slow nod. Thats right. Arcanous creatures get their magic from either the environment or from coopted human gates. Their natural magics are also tinted by exposure to a fount.


    T chuckled. Yeah, even though I understand it, Ive always found it funny that arcanous creatures basically have conceptual magic forced into their very being by founts, whiche from humans who <em>cant</em> use conceptual magic at all.


    Master Grediv quirked a smile. Not too strange, honestly. It is like two colorless chemicals that interact to create a dark stain. Neither has a dye or tint inherently, but together? Color appears.


    All present nodded.


    Magic was odd, but it was at least reasonably understood.


    The Paragon cleared his throat. All this aside, you are safe within human cities. Even if you are somehow able to advance further, you shouldnt have trouble.


    Thank you, Master Grediv. That is good for my son and I to hear.


    T cleared her throat. Are there any dangers? Any implications? Any considerations?


    He gave her a long look. They are healthier than they likely ever have been. There are no intrinsic side effects that I know of or can detect, and the natural magical pathways pressed into their being are deepening wonderfully. All told, I have to say that it was skillfully done.


    T smiled at the praise.


    He then held up one finger. That saidas it is youI will state: Please dont make this a habit without discussing it with me first? A few more should not be an issueassuming they consentbut if you want to do anything Mistress-T-like, please consult myself or the head of the nearest Archon Council.


    Master Simon covered his mouth to hide a grin.


    T grimaced. Yeah thats fair.


    The Paragon smiled. This <em>is</em> a known possibility, Mistress. But there are not really many convenient ways to implement it. If your created leave your sanctumand Alefast, waningthey will revert to a mundane existence rather quickly. I would guess that at the moment it would take less than half a day. Even so, they will have extra pep in their step for a whileeven after they have lost all extra magicbut generally speaking, their lives wont be meaningfully improved.


    She frowned at that. I thought that it was more extreme than that.


    Oh, it would be anywhere but in these Wilds. We do all we can to keep the magical density incredibly low, even going so far as to stymie zeme from bncing us with neighboring regions. It is a costly process that I wont bore you with at the moment. Needless to say, it is one of our most potent defenses against arcanes, but the unfortunate side effect is that the gateless dont have magic avable to them and suffer for that. He gave the two men a sad smile. We have effectively made thisnd toxic to those like you in order to keep out those who mean us harm.


    Adrill nodded, obviously unsurprised. We know. The offer was rejected.


    Master Grediv quirked a smile. Ahh, yes. I forgot for a moment.


    Brandon straightened. We wont be sent away. Our ce is here.


    Both Master Simon and T showed visible confusion, so Master Grediv decided to enlighten them. It isnt a perfect solution, but whenever a known gateless reaches the age of majority, they are told about the situation, and we offer to provide them transportation and resources to set up elsewhere. Somewhere that they will not be so disadvantaged.


    Ts eyes widened. <em>The moving viges.</em>


    However, before she could say anything, Master Grediv shook his head slightly, We purposely do not tell them all the details, just that they are always wee to ept the offer, and that it would be a life alongside others with simr needs. It wouldnt be a choice of barbarism and want, more one akin to moving to a new city.


    Even so, T understood why these two had said no. Indeed, she understood why many seemed to say no.


    It was effectively choosing banishment for the sake of their health.


    She frowned at that. If you know, can I ask how many ept the offer?


    Master Grediv shrugged. Roughly half?


    She grunted at that. <em>I guess not too crazy of a notion, then.</em>


    The Paragon was nodding to himself. Now, your natural magics are solid, but I highly rmend that you get inscriptions to reinforce and help maintain those, just in case.


    T nodded, smiling. She felt some pride that shed anticipated this need. Ive already reached out to an expert, and she was intrigued by the challenge.


    He cocked an eyebrow, seeming genuinely surprised. Truly?


    She shrugged. What can I say? Mistress Holly is nothing if not up for experimenting and learning something new about her craft.


    * * *


    T sat across from Adrill, Brandon, and Artia within her sanctum.


    Specifically, they were in her sitting room, the sun casting the ethereal light of evening across thendscape.


    The father and son were both drinking in power from the air around them, even as they took sips from their tea.


    As their magesight and enhancement scripts used up power, their bodies were always at a deficit whenpared to the air around them, which is what created the constant flow.


    In time, they would learn to draw in power regardless of the rtive densities, and if they were very lucky, they would be able to hold it in at higher densities than the air that surrounded them.


    But humans were specifically notorious for being very bad at that.


    Artias body held a misting of power from her own gate.


    Her power made her body not naturally ept the power in the air around her. With training, she likely <em>could </em>draw it in and use it, but it would be unnatural in the extreme, not to mention harmful as well if it wasnt handled precisely properly.


    Thus, she was left with just enough power to keep her healthier, make her a bit more robust, and extend her life just a touch.


    It was the most basic advantage gated humans enjoyed over their gateless counterparts.


    That bias had been reversed in a very real way, and their family had a lot of decisions to make.


    Artia was sitting very straight-backed, regarding T warily.


    Theyd collectively requested this meeting with T, after taking a couple of days for the three to consider it as a family.


    Well, Mistress T, the first thing I want to say is this: Thank you for taking care of my boys. I dont know what I would have done if theyd both been taken from me like that, and the fact that you were able to help pull them back from the edge The older woman visibly swallowed, her eyes gaining a bit of a sheen with unshed tears, It hurts my heart to even consider it.


    T nodded, still feeling guilty over the whole situation, but shed also had a couple of days in which to collect herself and sort out her thoughts. Of course, Artia. They were helping me when the condition came about. I just wish wed known to be wary beforehand.


    Artia waved that off, My Adrill has never been healthier. Were well used to being more careful and mindful with his health after all, Brandons too.


    Brandon smiled briefly at his mother.


    I know that two days is hardly enough time, but a wife knows, and a mother too. They are better themselves. Adrills been upter, going through all his older notes finding new inspiration on projects he long abandoned, and still he wakes early, and I feel hes more energetic than ever.


    Adrill cleared his throat, coloring slightly, but Artia moved on, not seeming to notice.


    Brandon has jumped headfirst into an exercise program, and hespletely reshaping his routine. Its like hes suddenly doing all of the things he wanted to but never got around to.


    Mom


    Hush, Brandon. Mistress T needs to know the good thats alreadye about from this.


    That quieted him down.


    T nodded again, giving a tight smile. I am d that it has turned out for the best.


    Artias eyes hardened. Now, I didnt say that.


    T opened her mouth to respond, confused, but Artia continued before she could.


    Our dear Kedva is beside herself. Brandon exined some to her, and she has a good head on her shoulders, she knows what this means. She has to take this terrible gamble, or she suddenly is an awful match for my boy.


    Brandons face had paled, but he didnt correct his mother.


    You did not intend this, I ept that, but if she leaves him because of this, I will be very cross with you, Mistress T. The womans demeanor was <em>hard</em> and her eyes practically glittering with determination.


    T swallowed, unable to put together the right words to respond.


    Brandon took the need from her. Mother, if she decides to take the safe, sure road, that is Kedvas choice. I love her, and she loves me, but it still isnt an easy choice. I would think less of her if she just blindly jumped into danger with no consideration. She is actingand will actin wisdom, and I respect her more for that, regardless of her final decision.


    That quieted Artia, the woman seeming to dete, but after a moment, she continued, Then theres the matter of taking me from my husband.she closed her eyes for a moment before continuingWe have built our careers, our very lives, around working with artifacts. That means we are going to be in high density areas. I know we <em>could</em> go to another city and return things to normal, but we would effectively have to start over, then. No. As to staying here, in your sanctum, or another high density area? Well, I fully nned to outlive my Adrill, caring for him in hisst days before spending mine with the grandkids.


    Brandon colored at that, but Adrill simply smiled, this was clearly not a surprising n to him.


    Now, hes the one who will have to care for me as I age and be infirmed. Then, he will be alone when he is aged. Thats not fair to him. Thats not right. While the first years will just be a rebncing of our effective agesI do know that Ive aged slower than he from my first breaththere remains more time to us both than is required for the scales to tip the other way.


    Adrill ced his hand on her shoulder. Artia, we discussed this. There was always the possibility of illness, or the like. We are bound, you and I, and I wantand will haveno other. You are my wife, and I will be your husband, by your side, as long as we both shall live.


    She turned to him. I <em>know</em> that, Adrill. That isnt the point. I had arranged my lifeour livesand nned to be your wife and with you until your death. This changes everything. I wont be there when you finally do grow old. Youll need me andher voice caught, but she closed her eyes for a brief moment before continuingYoull need me, and I wont be there anymore.


    T really didnt know what to say, and though this wasnt surprising, she really didnt know why she was being told this explicitly.


    As if shed read Ts thoughts, Artia turned back to the much younger woman. I tell you all this for one reason only.


    T found herself leaning forward in anticipation, and when Artia didnt immediately continue, she prompted the older woman, Yes?


    You <em>owe</em> me. You owe me, and I aim to collect. You will do your gilded best to teach me to be filled with magic so that I can be there for my husband for the rest of his life, do you hear me? Her voice was shaking near the end, but she held firm.


    T nodded, If that is your wish, absolutely.


    It is, unquestionably.


    Then, lets get started.

 Im Full-Time Writing!

    I''m Full-Time Writing!


    Hello Millennial Mage Readers,


    The title pretty much says it all.


    Today is my first day as a full-time writer.


    Thank you, one and all, for your readership and for joining me in this journey.


    If you want to support my transition to full-time writing, I''d love to have you be a part of ourmunity on:


    Ko-fi: /jl_mullins


    The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.Discord: https://discord.gg/millennial-mage


    Patreon: /MillennialMage


    Additionally, we now have some AMAZING merch this month, with which you can show your enjoyment of the series and spread the word of T''s journey.


    That''s right! You can be the proud owner of an official<strong></strong><strong>Coffee Incorporato</strong><strong>r</strong>!


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    Regardless, though, I am truly grateful for the support you all have shown over thest two years to get me to this ce.


    I am blessed beyond measure by everyone''s readership and support.


    Sincere Regards,


    J.L.Mullins

 Chapter 379: Choices that Shape the Future

    Chapter 379: Choices that Shape the Future


    T pulled out an Archive te for Artia as she sat with the woman, Adrill, and Brandon.


    If Artia wanted to learn enough magic to allow her the benefits of aging more slowly, T would help her.


    There was <em>technically</em> a stricture against increasing any humans throughput without cause, but T had cleared it with Master Grediv, in case the woman wished to take this step to better align her life-expectancy with that of her husband.


    There simply wasnt the infrastructure in ce to deal with the increased degradation of reality that having arge number of gates with increased throughputwithout the mitigation of a Mages mindsetwould bring about.


    Truthfully, the marriage between a Mage and a mundane was the mostmon reason for allowing those unsuited for Magehood to gain some magic. There were even standard ns of study.


    The second mostmon reason was in order for the person to gain specific magics for their profession, like the masseuse who had worked on T so long ago. Though, Emi had only been inscribed. She hadnt been intentionally expanding her throughput as Artia would need to.


    <em>I havent thought of Emi in ages.</em>


    <em>-Weve walked near her studio a few times. She seems to be doing well.-</em>


    <em>Thats good to hear.</em>


    Back on the matter at hand, T let go of the Archive tablet as Artia took it.


    t had put together basic reading materials for Artia, in case the woman decided to proceed down this path. The alternate interface hadbed the standard materials, adding to them, rearranging and paring down based on their particr knowledge of the merchant.


    Those materials cover the starting information. If you have any questions on magic, generally, I rmend you ask Adrill or Brandon. If you have any questions about gates, or personal, gate-bent magic, pleasee directly to me. I dont <em>think</em> youll have need to, but no study n is perfect.


    Artia held the te, her shaking hand showing that she knew exactly what it was, what it represented, and how much it was worth. I will, Mistress. Thank you.


    T realized that the woman was likely nervous about whaty before her, too, but T was trying to not consider that.


    <em>Good thoughts. Happy thoughts.</em>


    She probably has about seven years before he bes effectively younger than her.


    <em>-Thats a hard thing to face. That your future depends so much on you.-</em>


    <em>While I know what you mean, that is true for everyone.</em>


    <em>-Thats true enough, but it usually isnt so starkly obvious.-</em>


    <em>Fair.</em>


    T then turned to face Brandon. I am happy toe and talk with Kedva and anyone else the two of you want to include.


    She didnt really want to, so saying that she was happy to was quite the stretch, but she was willing to, and so it wasnt worth quibbling about nuances.


    Also, dont forget that Master Nadro will be here to speak with all of us in just less than two weeks. I would rmend waiting until after hees, but it is your choice.


    Thank you, Mistress T. I think that Dad and I would like to finish our initial review of thehis eyes flicked to his mother before he continuedadvancement manual before we have that conversation with Kedva. That way, I can actually give her some solid answers, as well as let her know my own ns, moving forward. I do think Ill want to have the talk before Master Nadroes, though. That way Kedva can join us, if she chooses.


    T nodded again at that. That seems very reasonable. Do you have a more specific timeline?


    I think we can get it all sorted in another couple of days? It is very essiblyid out, but the text is still very dense with information, implication, and interwoven repercussions.


    <em>-I should hope so. I rebuilt it for you.-</em>


    <em>You did wonderful, t. Thank you.</em>


    Brandon was still speaking, Additionally, we only want to get a grasp of the very beginning of the process. Im sure well miss some things by proceeding in that manner, but I think its for the best to at least get this somewhat sorted. From there, we can let her decide her own timeline, if she decides to proceed.


    T nodded. That makes sense to me. Schedule a time, and Ill be there. I can take time away from my defensive duties, but I would be grateful if you would be willing to schedule around those.


    Thank you, and certainly. I will keep you apprised.


    T took a deep breath before nodding and looking Adrill and Bradon both in the eyes. Before were done, I want to say again: I deeply apologize. This is not something that should have happened without you both explicitly agreeing.


    Adrill gave a sad smile, though there was the light of hope and almost childlike excitement in his eyes. We know, Mistress T. You have been nothing but apologetic and helpful since the ident. This was not your intention. Blessedly, it looks like it should work out for the best.he had pointedly looked to his wife, meeting her eyes as he stated thatidents happen.


    Brandon nodded. We will get through this. This is a good thing that happened in a bad way. Well sort it in the end.


    T smiled in return, knowing that was expected of her. As you say.


    * * *


    T walked through the streets of Alefast having a series of rather unusual experiences.


    She was recognized by someone every block or so.


    Terry seemed to find it enjoyable from his perch atop her shoulder, but she felt rather awkward, preferring to go unacknowledged.


    This wasnt totally new, as there had long been some people who recognized her from her cyclops fight back when shed first be a defender of Alefast, but since then, shed mainly let her unit mates take the fights that urred near the walls.


    Thus, she hadnt really been very well known.


    That had seemingly changed.


    Her recent fight against the small horde of gibbering quilled jerboara was apparently quite a popr recording.


    Even though it had happened in the middle of the night so only the most hard-core or enthusiastic had seen it livethere were those who apparently paid to be woken up in the event of ate-night attack so they could do just thatthest couple of days had seen it reyed all over the city, and likely throughout most other human cities as well.


    She was temporarily famous, and something made her think it wouldnt fade as quickly as shed have preferred


    Regardless of her personal feelings, she did her best to acknowledge those who waved or called out. There was no need to be rude, but it was a bit awkward for her, nevertheless.


    Terry preened and asionally flickered between her shoulders as she waved, just because he could.


    <em>And to show off</em>


    <em>-He does seem to be getting to a ce where he appreciates positive human attention now.-</em>


    T hesitated at that. <em>I had not considered that.</em>


    She looked to Terry, reaching up to scratch behind his head. You like being liked, Terry?


    Terry chirped happily.


    Im d to hear it. Youre with us. Humans are your people now, and I am your flock.


    He cocked his head to the side, moving where she scratched, even as he trilled nomittally.


    Still thinking? She felt a smile pull at her lips.


    A descending series of notes conveyed that, yes, he was still thinking.


    Very well. Lets just enjoy their gratitude, shall we?


    That, he heartily agreed with.


    It was great to have Terry bing more interested in humanity as more than a passing curiosity, but she couldnt tarry.


    <em>Ha, tarry for Terry.</em>


    <em>-T, focus.-</em>


    <em>Right</em>


    After all, she was on her way to an important meeting, so she did her best to not be dyed.


    Despite her attempts to move quickly, she was a minute or twote for her meeting with Kedva and Brandon in a prominent tea house, designed so each table had its own small, private garden, each uniquely themed.


    If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    T was shown to the table where the two were already waiting.


    When she entered the private garden, the two stood and bowed deeply.


    Brandon was still magically more dense than the surrounding environment, if just barely, but he was bleeding magic like a punctured bellows, creating eddies in the zeme all around him.


    Hed been out of Kit for half a day or so, and he was already down to less than a third of the density he held when in the sanctum, almost fully equalized with the density of the power flowing stoneward.


    At that level, he would be equivalent to a mundane, gated human, whichgrantedwas much more than the standard gateless.


    <em>Just like Master Grediv said. They cant maintain the density. Even within Alefast, the amount of power avable isnt nearly as much as within Kit.</em>


    There was a moment of hesitation after the bowas T approached the tablebefore Kedva stepped forward and gave T a tight embrace.


    Terry flickered out of the way at thest moment.


    T was too startled to stop the young woman, and so epted the hug, even if she knew that it couldnt be that pleasant to effectively be hugging what would feel like a statue.


    When Kedva pulled back, she was crying, causing T to nch, pulling back in turn.


    Kedva caught hold of Ts forearms and held on, No, please. Her eyes moved quickly to Terry off to one side, Hello, Terry. Im sorry about that.


    Terry chirped softly, indicating he didnt mind.


    T stopped, hesitant. Obviously, the girls actions hadnt actually held her in ce, but she chose to honor the unspoken request for what it was.


    Thank you. You have given the man I love so, so many more years to live, and in which to live well. We gateless face so much difficulty with our health and bodies, and now he need not fear or be concerned by that possibility. Thus, before anything else: Thank you.


    T nodded awkwardly, It was an ident, but I am d that some good wille from it.


    Kedva nodded in return, conviction easily visible in her eyes. Just so. <em>Thank you</em>.


    From what T could tell, Kedva was insistent and wouldnt let the moment pass, so she capitted once again, Then, you are wee.


    Kedva dropped one of Ts hands but held onto the other, drawing her toward the table.


    T obviously could have resisted, but she saw no need to, simply following after the girl.


    <em>This is bing a pattern</em>


    <em>-Following her lead?-</em>


    <em>Yeah</em>


    <em>-Do you want to take charge?-</em>


    <em>No?</em>


    <em>-Then dontin.-</em>


    <em>fine.</em>


    Once they were all seated, T took a moment to really take in their surroundings.


    It was a lovely garden, arranged to do a fair mimicry of a mountain range, with small trees that seemed to have been grown and meticulously pruned to make them appear to be full sized, while still remaining incredibly small.


    This garden was called, Giants Retreat.


    -<em>Fitting.-</em>


    <em>Truly.</em>


    There were waterfalls and flowing rivers each carefully crafted to look full-sized while matching the miniscule scale of the trees and other terrain. Additionally, there were little surprises tucked all through the space of superb quality.


    Everything from a little water wheel in a mountain valley, to actual illusions of forest creatures moving through the scenery.


    Terry had noticed the illusions, shrinking himself smaller than T had ever seen him but he still was a giant among the trees as he hunted the illusions.


    She had a moment of fear that hed wreck the ce, but the roots had been cultivated to be deep and strong, so the trees werent going anywhere.


    It was a masterwork of beauty and craftsmanship.


    Honestly, if she didnt have her three-fold sightwhich showed her the entirety all at onceshe could have looked upon the garden with her own eyes for hours.


    It was that sight that also showed her just how firmly established the roots of the trees were, along with everything else. It was likely that this tea house had been here since near the founding of Alefast.


    Even with her full understanding of what was there, she still felt drawn to visually explore the ce, the meticulous craftsmanship.


    She wanted to watch Terry terrorize the surprisingly responsive fake animals.


    <em>-Of course you do. Because you dont want to have the very conversation that you are here to have. You feel awkward and want to focus elsewhere.-</em>


    <em>that too, but it really is a beautiful ce.</em>


    <em>-That it is.-</em>


    The table nestled in thergest mountain valley was low to the ground, with the three of them sitting on cushions of well established clover..


    Well, T was kind and moved the cushion before sitting. So, two of them were on cushions, and T was on the greenery.


    <em>No need to wear out their cushion for nothing.</em>


    T could see by the underlying patterns of wear that the table was likely moved daily to prevent the underlying turf from being damaged.


    In fact, she could


    <em>-T.-</em>


    <em>Right</em>


    The tea had already been provided, purposely chosen to be paired with the setting, and the pot was centered on the table, steam rising from the spout, magics moving through the teapot to keep the liquid at a perfect, uniform temperature.


    <em>Wow, Artia wasnt wrong; that type of artifact is everywhere.</em>


    <em>-Indeed. And your ability to distract yourself seems to know no end.-</em>


    <em>Im getting to it. Its not like this is actually taking much time.</em>


    <em>-Surprisingly-</em>


    T had had defensive duty that morningblessedly free of attacksso it was afternoon by this point, and the tea reflected that.


    The chosen variety was a beautifully smooth, Makinaven ck. T could easily smell the rich, fine vora bit citrusy and floral while remaining smooth and sweetand that was just how it touched her nose.


    Served with the tea were a spread of various trifle, some with fruit, others with chocte.


    <em>Tea first, then trifle.</em>


    But before T could move for the tea, Kedva picked up the pot and slowlyalmost meditativelypoured for all three of them.


    <em>-At least someone is on task.-</em>


    <em>Hush, you.</em>


    T nodded in acknowledgement to Kedva. Thank you.


    Of course, Mistress T. Kedva smiled a content little smile. I am pleased to be of service.


    <em>-I was wrong. You people will really never get to the actual conversation, will you?-</em>


    <em>Enough, t. I know you are trying to help, but that is enough. We will talk when the time is right.</em>


    <em>-Very well.-</em>


    T took a long sip from her cup, enjoying the promise of the scent, fulfilled in the vor. Excellent.


    Hmmm. Kedva and Brandon agreed, drinking from their own small cups.


    They sat in silence for long minutes, enjoying first the tea, then the apanying dessert.


    An attendant came and refilled the teapot twice during that time.


    Finally, when the attendant had departed after the second refilling, T buckled down and decided to not allow the conversation to be dyed anymore. She put down her most recently finished trifle ss, swallowed and asked, So?


    <em>-Thats right, T. Eloquently put. You get right to the heart of the matter so easily.-</em>


    <em>Hush, you.</em>


    <em>-Hey, I have been quiet for quite a while.-</em>


    <em>Thats fair.</em>


    Kedva smiled a bit sadly, setting her tea to one side, Very well. I suppose we should get to business. She shared a look with Brandon before turning to fully face T, How soon can I enter your sanctum and expect good results?


    T blinked a few times. What?


    <em>-What?-</em>


    Kedva chuckled slightly. I asked: How soon can I enter your sanctum? I wish to undergo the same process as dear Brandon.


    Just like that?


    She shook her head. No, not just like that. My Brandon and I have gone over the details that I am permitted to know, and I think this is the obvious choice. Honestly, once you are more open with this informationassuming you choose to ever do so, which I would rmendyou are going to have a <em>lot</em> of the local gateless potentially asking for the same, depending on how it goes for me. She barked augh, then covered her mouth in slight embarrassment. Excuse me. Youll have most gateless in <em>every</em> city trying to gain entry.


    T swallowed, her mouth a bit dry. <em>Well, I suppose that should be expected.</em>


    -<em>Yeah, were effectively a way for them to stay in the same region as their kin without suffering the negative effects.-</em>


    <em>Master Grediv is </em>not<em> going to approve everyone going through the process.</em>


    -<em>Honestly, he might, but do you really want him to? Do you want a bunch of random people in your sanctum?-</em>


    <em>no. I really dont. Kedva should be fine, but the sanctum is and always will be mine. Only those connected to me, and working with and for me will have a ce.</em>


    It was a bit selfish, but it also needed to be.


    She didnt have infinite resourceseven if she might have infinite timeso she needed to be discerning and wise in how she used them.


    It was odd, especially because in the next world, there wouldnt be any limit on resources. After all, the next world was the <em>source</em> of all magic. That made this realization about her finite resources in the grand scheme of things, both eternal and radically counter to her souls reality in the next world.


    <em>Its about tension, how the finite and the infinite intertwine and interrte.</em>


    There was a twinge within her, and she sighed. <em>How much?</em>


    -<em>At least a percent. How did </em>that<em> move you one percent closer to being Paragon?-</em>


    She didnt have time to analyze it, but she thought she understood.


    If she spent herself to help everyone, in the grand scheme of things she would end up helping no one. She couldnt, and wouldnt, be a miser, but she also needed to be a good steward of what she had to work with.


    The slight strengthening of her aura and advancing of her magics was wonderful, but it wasnt why she was here.


    <em>Word it well, dont p her down.</em>


    <em>-I can help?-</em>


    <em>Sure.</em>


    Alright then, Kedva. Thank you for the decisiveness. I dont know that well be opening this to many others, if any at all, so keep that in mind if it affects your choice.


    Kedva just nodded once.


    Looking to Kedvas betrothed, T asked, Brandon? What do you think about this?


    He smiled, clearly pleased. Her mind is made up, and Im not going to try to dissuade her. It would be selfish of me to force her to choose this, and it would be equally foolish for me to deny her choice. Dad and I have been researching the manual alreadyquite extensively, as we discussedand I think we have a good idea of how to proceed.


    As he said thest, he narrowed his eyes at T. T quirked a smile back. <em>So, he realized that my follow these instructions was basically a mental trick.</em>


    <em>-Of course, he did, hes not a fool.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, yeah.</em>


    <em>-Thats also why he isnt saying anything. He doesnt want to ruin Kedvas chances.-</em>


    <em>Thats likely, yeah.</em>


    T nodded, We do have an experting in about nine days. Talking with him could help you both before or after. So, the real question, Kedva, is how quickly can you, Adrill, and Brandon prep you for the process? And when do you want to do it? I wont stand in your way.


    Kedva turned to Brandon. Well?


    I think we can teach you what you absolutely need to know in a week.


    She nodded once, turning back to T with determination practically glowing in her eyes. I will do it in a week. Then, I can have more solidified questions for this expert. Im not changing my mind.


    T smiled. Very well. We will aim for one weeks time, then.


    Kedva and Brandon shared a long, almost awkwardness-inducing nce before Kedva smiled. One week it is. Agreed.

 Chapter 380: Not Yet

    Chapter 380: Not Yet


    T sat in her bathtub within her room, soaking after a morning stretch and exercise set.


    She was already having a busy week, and it looked to be getting busier still.


    She needed the moment of quiet reflection.


    Master Simon, Adrill, and Brandon were all busy testing not only the two humans first steps on the traditionally arcane method of advancement, but they also still had uncounted tests to run and readings to take around the very thing that had caused that as a side effect.


    Mainly, they were still investigating Kit and how much the sanctum had changed with the integration of the purification stone.


    True to master Lisas words, the artifacts that arcanes had established within Kit to pull from the power within, that she had never explicitly tried to magic-bond, were slowly converting over.


    Kit, herself, had used ambient magic to stay viable shortly after T had magic-bound the pouch, but since she had intentionally done the bonding, it hadnt broken that connection.


    These artifacts were different.


    Honestly, it didnt matter that much, as T wasnt about to sell off the sun from her sky, nor any of the other things that were integrated within.


    <em>You know, Ive never had asion to use the defenses in the bunker</em>


    <em>-They are rather impressive. I think they might dy even Master Grediv for a few seconds.-</em>


    <em>are you being ridiculous on purpose?</em>


    <em>-Obviously. Theyd either surprise him and kill him, or hed ignore them entirely At least I think so. While weve seen no evidence of his survivability, he trained Rane, and that man might have as much ability to stay alive as we do, if in an entirely different way. Besides, even if it did work, hed juste back. The City Stone wont let him die. At least not yet, apparently.-</em>


    <em>True.</em> Maybe she should talk with Master Grediv about that.


    <em>-Oh yes, Master Grediv, how hard would it be to kill you and ensure you stay dead?-</em>


    <em> I wouldnt ask it like that.</em>


    <em>-I imagined not, but it stilles down to the same thing.-</em>


    <em> I think hed be fine with talking to me about it.</em>


    <em>-Youre probably right. Hes usually pretty helpful.-</em>


    This day, she had a shift with her unit in the afternoon, and this very morning she and the Zats were expecting a first.


    Someone was teleporting directly into Kit, not as part of a test of function.


    Annathas Zatthe Zats second oldestwasing home from the Academy to have her twentieth birthday at home.


    <em>I really hope its not no, dont think about it. Many people have the same name.</em>


    It was a bit excessive, given that Alefast, waning, had a perfectly serviceable teleportation tower, but having her arrive within Kit was a statement of trust in the magics involved and a bit of a celebratory, unneeded luxury with which to greet their long-absent child.


    There was also the fact that the Academy was a bit different from a standard city, from a teleportation perspective.


    While the Academy had a permanent receiving room staffed at all times by student-workersT having been one during her stint learning those magics for her own teleportation-associated bid to maintain her inscriptionsthey didnt have a permanent set of teleportation spellforms for going outward to the various cities.


    Instead, they had an undisclosed means of creating the needed spellform for each out-bound teleportation.


    Undisclosed in this case meant only known to people like Mistress Elnea, Master Grediv, and others deemed needing to know.


    But that was T getting ahead of herself.


    What it meant was that the Academy could create a spellform for teleportation to anywhere, so long as they were provided the right schema.


    Thus, tbased upon all the work that Mistress Elnea, Master Simon, and others had put inwas able to provide the Academy teleportation spellform implementation system with the exact specifications for a teleportation to Kits current location, specifically the location of the sanctum, not anything more granr.


    It didnt need to specify the exact location of the teleportation receiver for two reasons.


    First, the locational weight of Kitor Ts sanctum, reallywas much greater than any specific point within it, taking less energy, precious metal mass, and spellformplexity to aim more generally for the sanctum as a whole.


    Second, the teleportation receiver was specifically designed to catch anything thrown into the near region.


    <em>That is an awful metaphor.</em>


    <em>-But there isnt really one better.-</em>


    <em>I know.</em>


    Because they were within Alefast, it needed to get close enough tond within the receiver''s domain, rather than defaulting to the local tower, but that also meant that the tower was a good safety catch if something went wrong.


    Though, apparently it was moreplex than simply specifying coordinates, so there was still a chance that there could be a near miss of Kit that ended up nowhere near Alefast, waning, but that was an incredibly slim possibility.


    As for teleporting out, Ts explicit control of the sanctum that she had gained since shed bound Kit was all that was needed. t would provide the proper spellformdepending on the desired destinationand T would cause it toe into being, properly formed of precious metals, set into stone.


    At that point, the design of the spellform would allow the ambient power in the sanctum to prep it for activation.


    It was as easy as that, regardless of where Kit was at the time.


    As T well knew, modern teleportation didnt really care where it originated. Only the destination mattered to the spellforms.


    <em>Thus is transport through the void.</em>


    <em>-That really seems like there is something there we can learn from. It so closely mirrors Terrys own flickering.-</em>


    <em>Though, he cant go out of his own line of sight.</em>


    <em>-I believe there have been at least a couple of exceptions, but thats generally true, yeah. So, the two types of movement are likely rted, not the same.-</em>


    <em>Agreed.</em>


    There was some theorizingand apparently a great body of workthat indicated that they <em>should </em>be able to teleport to Kit, using Ts soul as coordinates, given her soulbond with her, but such was so rarely even possible that Master Simon was starting with much less information than ideal as he began to investigate that possibility around everything else.


    Now, modern teleportation was a wonderful step forward.


    In times past, both ends had to be established to explicitly point to each other, noting their own location as well. Then, the workings would create a stablebut <em>incredibly </em>expensiveconnection between the two points that any number of people could use for a short time.


    That was the type of teleportation that had been used in the past for caravan emergency escape functionality.


    That was also the type that was determined to be ludicrously too expensive and infeasible, as they required very precise calctions and modifications to spellforms on both endsbased on the locations to be connectedin order to work properly.


    The new teleportation method had a different issue, which is why they werent used in caravans in modern times.


    One teleportation spellform, one person teleported.


    Because of that, a teleportation circle evacuation was so slow as to be effectively useless, or requiring so much infrastructure as to make it fiscally unusable.


    In the time that even a half-dozen people could be evacuated with iterative teleportation circles, either the caravan would be fully overrun or the problem would have been solved.


    Thus, the Caravan Guild put their resources toward better defending caravans, rather than fruitless attempts to rescue those that they failed to protect.


    All that came together to exin why they hadnte across the rtively simple method for teleporting <em>out</em> of Kit.


    Unfortunately, T being the sole source of exit teleportation spellforms was, of course, not sufficient for emergency exit in the case of her death.


    Thus, Mistress Elnea and her assistantsMaster Simon includedhad created an artifact thatonce activated and provided with silver bars and a destinationwould produce teleportation circles to that location for as long as ambient magic existed to empower the process.


    In that way, all that was required to allow for the emergency escape for anyone within Kit at the time of Ts death was to have enough silver on hand.


    It helped that at the time of Ts death, the sanctum would effectively be inessible, so theyd have all the time in the world, until the ambient power ran out.


    <em>Im not going to die, this is all so pointless.</em>


    <em>-But it makes people feel better.-</em>


    The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.


    <em>fine.</em>


    In the end, T simply had a box filled with silver barsalong with the crafted artifactbeside a demarcated section of stone near the central za.


    But back to Annathas Zat and her imminent arrival.


    <em>That really isnt thatmon of a name No. Itll be fine.</em>


    At the Academy, a student could graduate any time after she turned eighteen, if the student met certain requirements. The usual was about neenT, herself, had chosen to graduate when about neen and a half. Students were forced to leave on their twentieth birthday, or as near thereafter as reasonable.


    While students were usually allowed to finish a given term, if their birthday fell in the middle of it, the most recent term for sses ended at the start of this month, so Annathas wouldnt have been given an extension for another whole section of sses.


    <em>Yeah, that Annathas I knew had her birthday in the summer right?</em>


    <em>-You never learned her birthday, T.-</em>


    <em>Im sure it was in the summer. This isnt the same person.</em>


    <em>-...-</em>


    Her parents hadmunicated with her, and through the Archivewith Mistress Elneas help because they were using the new teleportation setupthey had worked out the needed information to allow her toe straight to them in Kit.


    So, that was hanging over thete morning.


    T really did need to be there, just in case.


    Also pressing on Ts mind was the fact that the day after tomorrow was the day that Kedva Deas would be entering Ts sanctum to be suffused with magic and hopefully be reborn as a human wielder of neutral, magical power.


    <em>Or, you know, shell die horribly.</em>


    <em>-... happy thoughts, T. Shell be fine. Adrill and Brandon are doing their best to prepare the girl for the process.-</em>


    <em>But it all depends on me in the end.</em>


    <em>-On us, mostly, yes. Some of it is just whether or not the girl can handle the change. Some people just cant.-</em>


    <em>And for my part, weve been focusing on aura maniption practice.</em>


    She had been working on every method she knew or her unit mates, mentors, and friends could offer in order to improve her use of her aura.


    That was how she would carve the natural magics for the girl on the face of reality.


    <em>Even though they arent physically stoneward or starward. They arent tangible.</em>


    <em>-T you are trying to distract yourself by hyper-focusing on the thing you dont want to think about. That seems unproductive.-</em>


    <em>right.</em>


    T groaned, leaning back and rubbing her eyes.


    It was so early in the morning that mornings first light was still a bit away, and she had yet to have breakfast.


    <em>I still cant believe that you convinced me to wait an hour and a half before having any coffee.</em>


    <em>-First of all, coffee isnt great for us at all. I still cant believe that you convinced yourself to start drinking it again.-</em>


    <em>Granted, but its delicious, its helpful, and it wont actually kill me, so theres no harm. Im feeling a bit assaulted on all sides, here. Coffee just makes things better.</em>


    <em>-Coffee is not a good emotional aid, T. You know that.-</em> t conveyed a sigh within Ts head. -<em>That said, I do understand why youre doing it. Coffee isforting, and it helps level you while you are working through things.-</em>


    <em>Thank you.</em>


    <em>-Now, my second point. If you are going to consume it, it is healthier for you to wait on caffeine from any source until youve had time to fully wake up</em><em>that takes about an hour and a half</em><em>otherwise youll just feel way worseter on.-</em>


    <em>That may be true for most people, but I have magic. I could quite literally drink poison and be fine in most cases.</em>


    <em>-Yes, you have magic. You have magic that is silly to waste for no reason.-</em>


    <em>Fine. I can wait.</em>


    <em>-You could always go with decaf.-</em>


    <em>Bite. Your. Tongue.</em>


    <em>-Isnt that your tongue?-</em>


    <em></em>


    t projected the sound of a clearing throat into Ts mind. <em>-Ill hush now.-</em>


    <em>Thank you.</em>


    She had time, so she decided to finish something that shed been working on in her spare moments.


    She got out of the tub, banishing it and then aspect mirroring the needed features of her elk leathers to allow water to cascade off of herself, each act simply taking a minor flex of will.


    Once she was dry, her clothing regrew from the band around her neck, and now clothed, T sat to read.


    It only took her about an hour to finally reach the end of the Rising Suns tome on arcane advancement.


    t had, of course, rearranged the content into the mostprehensible pattern for Ts own method of learning and processing information.


    That didnt cut down on what she had to read, as she wanted to read the totality regardless, but it did mean that by the time she got to the end, she understood it far better than she might otherwise have been able to.


    T sighed as the text vanished from her perspective. They didnt include how to be a Sovereign. Rusting posturing with their fancy name: Advancement and the Unbroken Road to Sovereignty. Nothing but lies, it seems.


    She huffed a mirthlessugh despite herself. It was ridiculous.


    <em>-You know, I could have told you that. In fact, if that book actually contained the secrets to Sovereignty, I would have told you what they were months ago. Moreover, the very fact that there isnt a House of the Rising Sun Sovereign means they dont have the method.-</em>


    <em>Fine.</em>


    The book <em>did</em> describe the steps up to Revered quite well.


    Then, those who wished to be Hallowed were encouraged to petition the Pirs for leave to study under a City Lord.


    Sovereignty was mentioned only in a single line, seemingly quoting an ancient proverb:


    Those who are Sovereign, need no helping hand.


    In context, it was clear that at least the writer of this book saw Sovereigns as beings to whom sovereignty was intrinsic, unerring, and not in need of nurturing.


    <em>Hero worship. </em>T grimaced in distaste.


    Shed had more than her fill of <em>that </em>while an Eskau for the House of Blood.


    The whole culture was steeped in the sentiment.


    Whether directed at her or others, it was nausea inducing.


    <em>-Really? Is that how you remember it? I seem to recall you like-</em>


    Moving on!


    T hopped up to her feet.


    I have time. Im going to enact what we discussed.


    -<em>You mean that youre going to distract yourself from your obvious self delusion?-</em>


    <em>I dont know what youre talking about.</em>


    <em>-Ahh, well, Paragon was a nice goal for a while.-</em>


    T red internally.


    Then, with an extremely put-upon sigh, she nodded. <em>Fine, but not here.</em>


    She didnt want to self reflect in her bedroom.


    It felt too much like her childhood, before the Academy.


    Well, it was somewhat had happened at the Academy, too, so


    Regardless, it wasnt desired.


    Thats not who she was anymore.


    A flex of will and she was sitting in a little glen that had recentlye to her attention, tucked alongside her infinite river.


    She sat upon arge, t stone that seemed to rise up out of the turf at her will.


    In truth, it hade from deep within her sanctum on the far side, but she liked the aesthetic of watching it rise, almost a great creature of the deep breaking the surface of the ocean.


    <em>Im just full of memories of the Academy, arent I?</em>


    <em>-So it seems. Likely due to our iing guest?-</em>


    <em>Could be, yeah.</em>


    T didnt bother to close her eyes, as it would be rather pointless. Her other perspectives made her eyes slightly redundant, and there was no way she was disengaging those.


    Constant vignce was a part of who she was, now, and she wouldnt give that up to


    <em>-I could take them over fully. Then, were being vignt, and you can be introspective.-</em>


    <em>fine.</em>


    T closed her eyes and passed all mirrored perspectives to t alone.


    First, to create a baseline, she felt her own aura, feeling the quality of her advancement. <em>About one and a tenth percent toward Paragon from Refined.</em>


    <em>-That is my assessment as well.-</em>


    Then, she actually focused on what t had highlighted.


    <em>I did like it when arcanes looked up to me. Their adtion felt </em>good.


    She had been a mighty fist for the House of Blood.


    Shed crushed their enemies, driven them before her, and exalted in thementations of the survivors.


    True, much of the praise had gone to Be-thric as the Pir she seemingly served, but that wasnt what she had focused on.


    Their adoration had felt like a victory in and of itself.


    They thought she was their tool, but all the while the strength that she was gaining at their behest would be turned on them. That very strength, those tools and techniques, would be exactly what she used to gain her freedom once again.


    But she wasnt captured anymore.


    She wasnt the bloody right hand of a tyrant.


    Nor was she the inexperienced young Mage whom hed captured.


    <em>So? Who am I? Who do I want to be?</em>


    She liked fighting.


    She liked striving for mastery over those who wished her harm, but more than that, she liked using her strength to make safe those who couldnt protect themselves.


    Her role as a defender resonated with her, but there was more.


    It was more than just fighting, killing, driving away threats, using violence.


    She had enjoyed discussing theory with various Constructionists: Masters Boma and Queue, Adrill and Artia, too.


    She wanted to do more than tear down, even if she was doing that for a good cause.


    As she examined her feelings, she realized that she was hesitantly excited at the prospect of helping the gateless gain magic.


    Particrly, Adrills passion for magic sparked joy within her. She realized that she was truly looking forward to helping him achieve his long-held desires of wielding power of his own.


    True, she was still a bit horrified that it had begun as an ident that she <em>should</em> have been able to prevent, but shed moved past the self-recrimination mostly.


    Regardless, the feeling of excitement wasnt just the gateless.


    The idea of helping Artia was incredibly appealing, too.


    It wasnt because she wanted to give people magic.


    No.


    It was because these people wanted <em>something</em>, and she could work with them to make it happen.


    She just liked <em>helping</em> people, nurturing them toward their true potential, their deep goals.


    Her defense of the weak was just an outgrowth of that.


    After all, the dead could not advance.


    The dead would never get what they wanted.


    The sentiment resonated with something that Master Grediv had told her a while back.


    <em>Acts of kindness echo through eternity.</em> What was kinder than helping someone be the best version of themselves?


    The feeling seemed to require that it be, very specifically, not at <em>her </em>choice. This most recent series of events made that clear.


    What she wanted was to help them achieve what they were striving for.


    Yes. That was it.


    T felt her gateher very soulresonate with the idea of nurturing the best in those around her, but it didnt feel quite correct.


    <em>No, thats not right. It isnt about the best</em>


    Something her father had often said back in the better years came to her mind: Best is the enemy of good.


    Her opinion on their goals wasnt the point. She wasnt trying to make little copies of herself, or little automata that mirrored what she thought they should be.


    She wanted peoples choices to matter for them.


    If nothing else, her time with the House of Blood had cemented that.


    It didnt matter to her how gilded the cage, how powerful the position, if the person didnt want to be there, it was torment.


    She turned this over and over in her mind, feeling like she was right at the edge of an epiphany, but it just couldnt click, not yet.


    She didnt understand itor herselfwell enough.


    Not yet.

 Chapter 381: Teleportation

    Chapter 381: Teleportation


    T felt fully rxed for the first time in days as she contemted existence and her ce in it.


    She knew a part of it was the setting. She was beside her infinite river, in a little dell, upon a stone that had been a part of her spoils of war.


    She recognized it as one that shed taken from a garden in the main hold of the House of the Rising Sun.


    It felt like victory to sit upon it, knowing that generations of arcanes had used it for their meditation, and now it was hers.


    <em>-T?-</em>


    T blinked a few times, opening her eyes to see the brightness of a new day creeping across the incredibly real-seeming false sky.


    -<em>Breakfast time.-</em>


    She grinned in response to her alternate interface. <em>Thank you, t.</em>


    With a flexing of her will, T moved to her dining area.


    She appeared standing beside the table,ing in just after Mistress Petra moved back to the kitchen.


    The woman, now well acquainted to Ts habits, simply smiled and gave a shallow bow, Good morning, Mistress T.


    T gave a nod in return, Good morning, Mistress Petra. How are you and the family doing today?


    Oh, excellent. Just excellent. We are so excited for our Annathasing home. Shes such a dear girl, youll just love her.


    <em>Cant be the same person, then.</em>


    <em>-T she wasnt unkind to you. Just the opposite in fact.-</em>


    T ignored t. Im sure I will.


    She sat in her chair, regarding the glorious spread before her, but before she took her first bite, she had a thought that soured the food just a bit. <em>What if she wants to stay here?</em>


    <em>-I thought you didnt know her?-</em> t pressed.


    <em>I dont want another Mage in here. Not yet.</em>


    <em>-Um why not?-</em>


    <em>Because, we have plenty. They weaken the stability of reality in here.</em>


    <em>-T-</em>


    <em>I dont want any more people in here</em>


    <em>-What about the gateless? Brandon and Adrill? Artia?-</em>


    <em>Theyre fine.</em>


    t sighed, but she didnt press further.


    T addressed Mistress Petra, Do you know what she ns on doing, now that shes graduating?


    Hmm? Oh, shell seek an apprenticeship, a master to be a mageling under and all that. Her talents lie in healing, as I understand it. Thoughmunication is limited, so I might not have the full picture. Even so, her penchant for healing is one reason shesing here. Healers always congregate around a waning, much like defenders do.


    -<em>Oh! Mistress Vanga might be a good fit.-</em>


    <em> t</em>


    <em>-What? Dont we want to help out Mistress Petra and Master Simons daughter?-</em>


    <em>Defenders dont often take on magelings. Itplicates things.</em>


    <em>-But they do sometimes, especially if they have duties outside of their role as a defender, say as a healer.-</em>


    <em> Ill consider suggesting it.</em>


    The woman continued on, and T listened closely, even as she turned to her meal, concern assuaged for the moment. Annathas would be with her master wherever that Mage was, not within Ts sanctum.


    Still, T wanted to be more interested in her friends and colleagues lives, so she chose to engage with Mistress Petra throughout her whole meal.


    The two of them chatted as T ate and Mistress Petra finished up in the kitchen.


    All in all, it was a pleasant way for T to break her nightly fast.


    <em>-Its almost time.-</em>


    <em>Oh, alright. The receiving spellform is in ce and activated.</em> T didnt really want to go, even if she had nned on being there.


    <em>-I know, but dont you want to head there to see it with your own eyes?-</em>


    <em>I mean I can see it regardless? But sure. Lets go. It will be interesting to feel it with my aura as well.</em>


    T stood to her feet, swallowing herst mouthful of food. Mistress Petra, shall we go?


    Oh! The older woman straightened, Is it time already?


    It seems so.


    She smiled, Then, yes. Lets go.


    T smiled in return, flexed her will. With no noticeable dy, they were both standing beside the receiving spellform.


    It was in a grove of massive trees, T remembered the arcanes meticulously moving them in to set up this location.


    It had been meant to be a meditation area for herself or Thron, but she didnt know if hed ever used it.


    She certainly hadnt.


    The center of the space was dominated by arge round stone, raised above the turf and interwoven roots.


    The silver of the ready-and-waiting receiving spellform glistened in the early morning light.


    T didnt take long to take in the sight, instead lifting her hand to hold it in front of her mouth. It already held the intra-sanctummunication stone, Master Simon, should I bring you and the children here to receive your daughter?


    His voice came back a momentter, Oh! Is it that time, already?


    T felt her mouth pull up in a half smile. It is indeed, Master Simon.


    Then, yes. Thank you.


    With another flex of her will, Master Simon, Segis, and Metti were all standing beside her.


    Segis held a wooden training sword that he had clearly been swinging about in y.


    Metti had a doll in each hand, her face scrunching up in disappointment. That passed quickly as she immediately turned to T. Please bring their new dresses too.


    T chuckled. She could, of course, see exactly what the little girl meant, and the two dolls dresses were on the ground beside Metti a momentter.


    Metti sat down and began to change them. Thank you, Mistress T. They will be dressed pretty for Annas arrival.


    The little girl had a truly supernatural sense of timingor she was incredibly luckybecause almost as soon as the dolls had been changedand she had politely had T return their unused clothes to the proper ceshe had stood back up, and the receiving scripts began to ignite.


    To Ts enhanced vision and ability to process what she saw, it was a truly fascinating sight.


    Her aura provided yet another level of insight, giving her a full picture into what was happening.


    Power shed through the entire spellform at once.


    T had to pause mentally and really conceptualize that.


    It wasnt like a sh powder that went up at once or all the water in a bucket came out at once when it was upended.


    No.


    At <em>exactly</em> the same instant, the entire spellform ignited, fully shaped, and properly formed, proportional, and alight with magic.


    This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    Barely a molecule thick of silver all activating at once, zing with power until they couldnt resist the pull of the magic, bing energy as well.


    Then, the newly increased power moved outward, like awork of expanding tubes, burning as they grew until the totality of the silver was ame with power.


    The entire process took less than an eyeblink, before the magics had consumed the spellworking and the effect was entirely enacted.


    Power <em>punched</em> starward without breaching all the way to the superficial. In fact, the breech didnt even reach as far as the next increment.


    The void.


    As expected, the magics reached into the void, but as she watched it, her aura felt something <em>else</em>, something familiar.


    <em>The Doman-Imithe?</em>


    <em>-Maybe. Keep focused.-</em>


    The entire space that had been upied by the spellform was filled with humanoid figures to Ts voidsight, only one of which was highlighted with power that was clearly from the receiving scripts.


    Beside that highlighting, the forms were indistinguishable.


    At least they were until they began to move.


    As T watched in a moment that seemed to extend for minutes, the figures around the central one tried to reach and grab onto the highlighted humanoid shape.


    The scrabbling fingers slid off of the magic of the receiving spellform, that central person not reacting in the slightest.


    Even so, they kept trying for the entire, extended moment.


    Finally, the moment passed, and a gatea human soulsuddenly seemed to snap into existence within the vaguely humanoid, magically highlighted shape.


    <em>Huh I wonder what it would look like if a gateless teleported. It does work for them, right?</em>


    <em>-Yes, now focus! We can investigate other teleportster.-</em>


    Tendrils of power immediately shot inward from the highlighting. The magic struck the gate before rebounding, having been altered by the interaction and filling in details, fleshing out the vague shape with a temte made of power.


    This was the greatest expense of teleportation, the generation of matter from magic based upon the temte of the persons soul.


    Most of the power came along with the transported. That high energy packet was what safeguarded the soul in transit before helping form the new vessel on the far end.


    As the details were added in, the other shapes faded, until thest one ceased to be visible, even with Ts enhanced perception.


    <em>And rust me, the passenger apparently needs that protection.</em>


    <em>-Yeah. What the rust?-</em>


    <em>I know, right? Were those smilers?</em>


    <em>-Maybe? Or they were simply personified void based on our perception of how they act.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, but thats also our conundrum with the smilers</em>


    <em>-...right.-</em>


    Slowly, a beautiful young woman came together, pieced together from power.


    She was actually about the same height as T, and perky; T could tell just by how she was standing.


    Her face was heart-shaped, and her eyes were sky blue.


    She was, of course, utterly bald.


    ssic Mages robes were built out around her out of power, clothing her in high quality fabric.


    <em>Oh, wow! I did not consider that.</em> T looked closer, allowing her perception to take in every part of the garments


    <em>-Yeah, the clothing is constructed in the same way as the body. It is an idealized version of itself.-</em>


    T and t could see that every thread in the weave was in perfect position. Every cut, every stitch, every part was precisely correct toward an ideal fit and finish.


    T had given up such a perfect set of clothes of her own in order to teleport naked, trying to maintain her inscriptions.


    In the end, shed gotten her hair back and kept her keystone.


    It seems that Annathas hadnt attempted any oddities in her own teleporation.


    <em>-So You havent actually acknowledged it, but-</em>


    T sighed internally, even as the spellform finished its work, and the seemingly eternal moment came to an end. <em>Yeah I know her.</em>


    The new arrival blinked a few times, looking around as her eyes adjusted to the bright light.


    <em>Odd, I know that the teleportation room is bright on the other end, and here isnt exactly under a midday sun did her eyes somehow adjust to the void?</em>


    <em>-That doesnt make sense, but then youre just hunting for reasons to not acknowledge the fact that you were wrong and</em>-


    T? AnnathasAnnatilted her head to one side. T, is that you?


    T sighed.<em></em><em>and like I said, I know the girl whos just teleported into my sanctum?</em>


    <em>-Yeah. That.-</em>


    <em>Id hoped that it was someone with the same name</em>


    <em>-Who was the same age?-</em>


    <em>I never did get herst name there was hope.</em>


    The girls face blossomed into a bright smile. T! You came to greet me? I <em>knew </em>we were friends. I just knew it. She practically flounced forward. And here people told me that you were avoiding me while we were at the Academy. Were you just too shy?


    She seemed to notice her parents and siblings then, <em>not</em> noticing their shocked expressions.


    Oh! Everyone came! Well, not Hannah, but thats expected, and of course, I left Karsa at the Academy. Im sorry I cant give you more information on her, she mainly wanted to form new rtionships, and didnt want her big sis getting in the way. She smiled, making a happy sound as she shrugged before giving a round of hugs, ending with T. So! Whats new everyone? Oh, wow. Have you been working out T? You feel like a rock. It suits you.


    T had epted the hug purely on reflex and was now regretting so, <em>so</em> many things.


    Then, Anna looked around, seeming confused. I do apologize, and I dont mean to be rude, but I dont see Mistress Kit anywhere. I want to pay my proper respects to the owner of this wondrous ce you mentioned. Are we really in a dimensionally expanded space? Thats amazing! She grinned back toward T. Then we can catch up. Im sure youve been up to all sorts of mischief.


    <em>Mistress Kit?</em>


    t had devolved into uncontrolledughter within Ts head.


    It was distracting.


    Master Simon stepped forward, clearly trying to piece together what was happening. Anna, honey, why do you think that there is a Mistress Kit here?


    Anna nodded toward her dad, clearly feeling that she understood where the confusiony, Hmm? Oh! Well, you said that you were working within Kits sanctum, and that Kit and T, here, were connected. She looked back to T. I was excited that Id get to see you again. Especially after Karsa said shed met you. That girl refused to tell me more, too. Anyways, I figured Id have to hunt you down, just like old times. Turning back to her father, she continued, It really is wonderful that youre on a first name basis with your employer, but I need to show proper respect to Mistress Kit, at least until I get to know her.


    Anna sighed, practically bouncing as she turned toward her mother.


    And its so wonderful that you two treat T with such respect, calling her Mistress T and all, but Ive known her just for ages, so Im just going to keep right on calling her T.


    There was a long pause, before Segis beganughing, moving to sit on one of the surrounding stones, nearer the ring of trees.


    Metti giggled to one side as well.


    Anna refocused on her sister, choosing to ignore her brother. Now, you brought two friends with you, didnt you? I havent met these two, yet.


    Metti nodded, holding up her dolls.


    What pretty dresses they have!


    Master Simon red-faced with embarrassmentcame over and whispered to T. Mistress T, I am so sorry. I had no idea you knew her at the Academy. Communications back and forth are all but impossible. When wemunicated to herand the Academyabout how to execute this teleport, we conveyed some of the situation here, buthe looked genuinely at a lossThings must have not been clear.


    T sighed and waved him off. Its fine, Master Simon. I recognized her name, but thought it might be someone else.


    So, you were friends at the Academy? he asked, interestedly. He also seemed both surprised and skeptical at the idea.


    Honestly, he had good reason to be skeptical, given what hed seen of her over the time theyd known one another.


    Truthfully, T almost responded with a categorical No but hesitated at thest moment.


    Anna had tried to be kind to her, inviting her to things, sitting beside her in some sses, asking if she wanted to sit with her and her friends at meals.


    T had always said no.


    Shed left their shared sses quickly whenever possible.


    Well, shed left all sses quickly whenever possible, but that wasnt the point.


    Generally speaking, T had rebuffed Anna at every turn, without ever doing so explicitly.


    Shed also never actually been rude or mean to the younger girl


    Anna had simply continued to be kind and treat T as if they were already friends throughout.


    The end result was that T got very good at avoiding the other young woman, which wasnt too hard given she was a year behind T, and there were very few sses that they even <em>could</em> have together.


    Plus, their free periods werent aligned, and they were housed in different sections of the Academy.


    She nodded to herself, choosing her words carefully as she responded to Master Simon, She was always kind to me, but we never spent too much time together.


    Anna turned from her conversation with Metti to interject, Tthe dearisnt much of what we would call a people person, but shes got a good heart. Im d you know her already.


    Without waiting for a reply, she turned back to her little sister, squatting down just enough to not loom over her sister who was less than a third her age.


    In fact, they werent <em>that</em> different in height to begin with.


    <em>Wait Anna would have gone to the Academy before Metti was born.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, the Zats mentioned a few times that they had arranged for Anna toe home three times over the years, likely at great expense. So, they arent strangers, but they dont really know each other.-</em>


    <em>Huh</em>


    Master Simon was smiling, seemingly despite himself.


    He spoke <em>incredibly</em> quietly, using his knowledge of Ts senses to keep Anna from overhearing. Anna was always so outgoing. She made friends so easily and loved sopletely. Even if you werent friends at the Academy from your side, I dont doubt that she saw you as her friend. I also dont doubt that she wouldnt be saying this if you had been mean or cruel to her, or to others. He fully faced T, bowing. Thank you.


    That caught Annas attention, and she straightened, a contemtive look on her face. I do seem to be missing something. Is Mistress Kit noting?


    T felt herself smiling despite herselfwhich happened a lot with Anna, it seemed, Kit is the name of my dimensional storage. Shes sapient, or at least sentient, and she is bound to me.


    Anna blinked a few times, clearly processing.


    T decided to continue, getting it all out in the open before any further awkwardness could build up, So this is my sanctum. Your parents work with me. She couldnt bring herself to say that Annas parents worked for her, even though it was true. It felt too much like bragging, or boasting or something.


    After a long moments thought, Anna only uttered a single word in response, Huh.

 Chapter 382: Conversations

    Chapter 382: Conversations


    T left the Zats to catch up, before Anna had fully grasped her misunderstanding. Thus, T hoped to avoid the iing awkwardness.


    She chose to leave during a moment when everyone was otherwise engaged to at least give the illusion of being polite.


    She then summoned a door out of Kit and exited into Alefast.


    Thest few days had been a <em>mess.</em>


    <em>And tomorrow, I need to initiate Kedva into arcane style magic</em>


    All this started because she wanted to distract herself from


    <em>Rust</em>


    Shed been doing so well.


    T turned around and stepped back into Kit,ing back out into the dell shed used just an hour or so earlier to meditate in.


    She sat down on her rock, put her head in her hands and cried.


    Mistress Odera was gone, and that fact still hurt.


    At least it hurt when she thought of it


    She felt herself moving downward, but something rose up within her.


    <em>No.</em>


    T straightened, not throwing off her emotions, but not letting them physically ovee her.


    She called the door out of Kit once again, ignoring the feeling of locational whish as she stepped back out onto the Alefast streets.


    <em>Tell him Iming.</em>


    <em>-Already done. He said hell be ready for you.-</em>


    It was a short walk from where shed put Kit to her destination.


    The entrance wasnt that ornate, though it was obviously well maintained in order to fit into this nicer part of the city.


    <em>Not that any part of Alefast is really run down</em>


    Now that she had arrived, however, she felt a bit of uncertainty.


    Was this really what she wanted?


    Was this really a wise choice?


    Wouldnt it be better to just be alone?


    Before she could talk herself out of it, she saw himing to greet her at the entrance, clearly having noticed her arrival.


    Master Girt opened the front door to his modest home and ushered her inside. Come,e, Mistress T. I have something ready for us.


    He led her through an obviously rarely used sitting room.


    While there were a fewfortable looking chairs all but one had the look of disuse, dust having begun to permeate the upholstery.


    The books on the shelves were obviously cared for, without any dust on them, but the art on the walls had noticeable umtion, at least to her eyes.


    The floor was what appeared to be either poured stone or, knowing Master Girt, simply stone that hed reshaped and melded into a uniform floor.


    The home wasid out in a segmented style, and they passed through an archway to enter the kitchen, which looked to have been used barely more often than the sitting room


    <em>Does he eat out most of the time?</em>


    That would make sense for a kitchen to look so rarely used.


    Still, despite the disuse, there was a tablerge enough for them to bothfortably sit at and ready and waiting were two sses that positively <em>radiated</em> magic.


    <em>Well, no, the magic is rather contained.</em>


    <em>-So, they are radiant to your magesight, due to their internal magics?-</em>


    <em>Yeah, thats true.</em> T hesitated in the archway. What is that?


    Master Girt didnt slow as he answered her question, Magical alcohol. Even those who dont focus on enhancement with their magics reach a point where the mundane stuff might as well be vored water. For times like these, the real stuff can help.


    She sat down, feeling rather skeptical. I havent told you why Im here. What do you mean by For times like these?


    Master Girt smiled softly. I think we both know. Take a sip. You dont need to drink any more if you dont want to. He shrugged then. Or dont. Ill happily drink both.


    Tughed at that, feeling a bit of her tension bleed away, even if not much. She carefully picked up the ss and clinked it against her unit-mates.


    The clink resonated powerfully through the entire roomTs three-fold sight even saw some dust vibrate off the art in the sitting roomthe magic of the liquid seemingly amplifying everything rting to it.


    She took a sip and marveled at the cold heat that slid down her throat.


    Everything about the beverage and what it caused seemed a contradiction.


    The tiny sip felt like it filled her up, even if just momentarily.


    Her stomach didnt feel overfilled, more akin to having just finished a perfect meal, and thefortable feeling of satiation was just one of the sensations brought on by the magical concoction.


    Her sinuseswhich were never really full given her magics keeping her healthysuddenly felt dry, but not painfully so. It was more akin to breathing in a wonderful breeze off a desert dune.


    On the other side, her mouth and throat felt wet in the sense of thirst excellently quenched.


    The previously noted cold heat filled her entire being, bringing with it an enhancement of her sense of touch along with a tingling, as if that sense was being suppressed.


    Master Grit nodded after taking a sip of his own. Thats some good stuff.


    T nodded as well. It certainly is something.


    Now. You reached out for a reason. What can I do for you? There was tension clear across his whole body, as if he knew what she would ask and was bracing for it, hoping against hope that he was wrong.


    She took another sip, gilding herself before failing to meet his eyes as she asked, Your wife


    His hand tightened on his ss in a clearly reflexive reaction, his knuckles whitening momentarily. His voice sounded on the verge of cracking as he feigned nonchnce, Oh?


    T swallowed. How did you cope with her passing? I know the loss I suffered is <em>nothing</em> inparisonhow could the loss of a mentorpare to that of a soul-bound spouse?but I was hoping to gain some insight if you are willing.


    Master Girt stared into his ss for a long moment, before throwing his head back and downing the remainder of the contents.


    T took another careful sip, letting the silence stand.


    Finally, he nodded, almost seeming resigned, I cant say that Im surprised. With the loss you suffered, I honestly expected this conversation sooner. He took in a long breath and sighed. First, I appreciate you acknowledging that the losses are not the same. Truth be told, no two ever are, but it is kind of you to express it as you did.


    She gave a quick understanding smile and nodded once.


    Now, let me tell you about my rock, my Stonia.


    * * *


    T had spent a couple of hours with Master Girt, listening to stories about his wife as well as how he had coped with her passing.


    Surprisingly, T had seen the man advance a couple of percent toward Paragon during the retelling.


    When shed pointed it out, he had nodded sadly, simply saying that he couldnt get all the way to Paragon that way, but each time he reprocessed the loss, recontextualizing it in his life, he advanced some.


    Apparently, it also had to do with helping his soul to heal.


    He was honest with her, exining that it was the only reason he was actually willing to open the still aching wound of her passing to share it with others.


    Even so, Ts three-fold sight gave her yet another view on the process, and something about Master Girts honest vulnerabilitylikely heightened by the drinklet her see through his aura.


    Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.


    His gatewhich had looked standard to her up to this point when she could see it at allhad seemed to glow from within the structure of the ring, imperceptible cracks throughout its entire makeup seeming to be highlighted by the inner light.


    As he talked with her, T was able to see the very ends of the seemingly endless maze of fractures slowly knitting back together.


    t had looked closer and told T that she had something to convey when the conversation was done.


    Regardless, it was obvious that the talkthe remembrancehad been difficult for the man.


    Toward that end, when he was done, T shared another ss with him before asking, What do you need? I can stay if that would help, or I can leave you be?


    The magically enhanced alcohol had <em>somewhat</em> affected her, but even so, her body fought the effects back with rtive ease, leaving her with a mild buzz and nothing more.


    Master Girt seemed a bit further down the road than that, but he still clearly wasnt drunk.


    He gave a small smile, That is kind of you to ask. Ill be fine.he stretched backIll see you on duty this afternoon, right?


    Thats right. Four until midnight.


    He stood, cing the bottle of glowing, magical liquid into a perfectly sized iron case. Ill be there with silver bells.


    Ille find you if you arent.


    His smile shifted a bit then, taking on a far more genuine cast. You know? I believe you would Thank you.


    T nodded and smiled in return. Thank <em>you.</em> Your experiences not only put my loss in context, it also gave me a picture of what healthy handling of it could look like.


    He snorted. Sure, sure. This is healthy coping. Regardless, get out of here. I know you had a guest arriving today.


    She sighed. Yeah


    They said a few more words as he escorted her to the door, then T was back in the street.


    She felt better but not <em>better.</em>


    <em>Ournguage is so irritating sometimes.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, but now, at least, we can me a Sovereign for that fact.-</em>


    <em>Thats true. Language of the Sovereign or not, its still irritating.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, yeah. So? Are you ready?-</em>


    <em>What? Oh! Right. Sure.</em>


    t then exined what she had seen when looking closer at Master Girts gate.


    As t had been watching, it had almost appeared that <em>someone</em> was working to knit the cracks back together. Reaching out of the gate and working, despite the power streaming through, around the hands of that someone.


    It made no sense, but that was the closest thing to it that t could conceive of, and when T was shown the memories, she had to agree with ts assessment.


    <em>His wife?</em>


    <em>-Possibly? Or thats how hes conceptualizing his own healing, so thats how it looks?-</em>


    In either case, T felt like it was rather sweet.


    Either his wife was helping him from the world beyond, or his belief in her desire to do so was strong enough to affect how the healing itself appeared.


    T just mentally sat in what Master Girt had said and what shed seen for a while as she walked through Alefast.


    Eventually, t interrupted her. -<em>The Zats would like to sit down with you to discuss how things are going to look going forward.-</em>


    <em>That makes sense. I sort of expected it, I suppose.</em>


    <em>-Shouldnt we have an idea what we want, of what were going to be doing, first?-</em>


    That was fair.


    In the near future, what would she be doing?


    She needed to solidify Kit and the people within her.


    T needed to continue her training and work as a defender both around Alefast and helping to handle cells.


    Rane would be able to start his Refining in just about a month, and if he chose to undergo the process, she wanted to be there to help him through that.


    Finally, she needed to decide what to do about the gateless.


    She potentially could offer them a means of living a lot longer, and that would actually benefit her, and not just because she would effectively be gaining a group of people bound to her.


    They had already discovered that Adrill and Brandons use of magic used up power, lowering the density within Kit.


    It just made sense, and T had fought exasperation at Master Simons insistence that they should actually <em>prove</em> that it was true.


    It was.


    That use of power, in turn, caused Kit to draw more deeply from T. After all, Kit was naturally bent toward being as full as possible, and she wasnt about to drain her own reserves to refill the sanctum if she didnt have to.


    Simrly, she wasnt about to allow the sanctums density to dip below the maximum that she could reasonably maintain, not without good cause.


    It wasnt a lot, but it was effectively like she was powering their inscriptions as well as everything else she was doing, magically.


    The increased strain on her throughput helped to increase the base flow rate, which T was quite happy to see.


    All Mages were constantly increasing their throughput a minute amount, based on their usage of power.


    Additionally, all Mages couldand diddo exercises that were effectively the same, but this would be essentially constant while they were within her sanctum, with an extra strain whenever they reentered.


    Once again, it wasnt a lot, but it was more of a pull than it had been without the added drain.


    Thus, so long as she increased the number of magically activated gateless at a reasonable rate, they should help her drastically improve that aspect of her magic without causing any issue with her capacities or capabilities in the short run.


    True, it didnt actually give her more power avable at the momentit did the exact opposite, in fact, given that the power was being used, but that was the whole point.


    Even so, it would gradually increase her capacity to draw in power, and that was important to her.


    <em>-And useful.-</em>


    <em>And useful.</em>


    So, her list of uing to-dos was best summarized as: Kit establishing, gateless situating, Rane Refining, and self improving.


    <em>Thats quite a nice list, I think.</em>


    <em>-Agreed. And being a better friend?-</em>


    <em>That is self-improvement, of course.</em>


    <em>-Understood So, Anna?-</em>


    T stopped walking, scrunching her face.


    She smoothed out her features and waved at a random passerby who called out her name excitedly.


    Thankfully, it didnt turn into anything more than that passing exchange.


    Unfortunately, that let her mind turn back to Anna.


    It was awkward looking back on their interactions at the Academy.


    T had been so young in her thinking, so immature in the way that she viewed the world.


    By the time Anna had noticed her and tried to befriend her, T had be set in her loneliness.


    A popr girl reaching out to her had felt like a setup for mockery. That had actually happened more than once during Ts first year at the Academy, even if the teachers had been less than pleased.


    T hadnt seen Annas actions for the genuine offers that they were in retrospect.


    <em>Even though I know she would have felt odd while next to me because of my iron, she kept trying for as long as I didnt avoid her.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, its hard to sit next to someone who switches sses before you even know you shared a section.-</em>


    <em>Yeah</em>


    T decided to give Anna a chance.


    <em>-Ive sent a message to Mistress Vanga.-</em>


    <em>Thank you, t. Lets get back to Kit for the conversation.</em>


    * * *


    T arrived in Kit to find Anna alone, sitting and watching the scenery.


    In another part of the sanctum, Master Simon and Mistress Petra were discussing animatedly, clearly in an intense discussion, but nothing about it seemed heated.


    T hesitated, hand on Kits door handle.


    <em>We need to address this.</em>


    <em>-Wise choice, T. Go face your fears.-</em>


    T opened the door, stepping out to Annas side, but within her line of sight so as to hopefully startle her less.


    T! She stood up with a smile, then hesitated. After what seemed to be a moment of consideration, Anna bowed, Mistress T. Thank you for weing me into this beautiful ce. Thank you for the work you have given my parents, and the ce to explore and grow that you gave to my siblings.


    Sheughed softly to herself.


    I now understand more what Karsa meant. I dont know why she didnt speak about you, but I suppose she had no cause to know that I knew you, and she was trying to establish herself with new friends and all. She looked up, coloring slightly. But, Im thering. What can I do for you, Mistress?


    T felt her shoulders sink. Anna, I


    She grimaced, then called a chair to her and sat down. Anna followed suit, sinking back onto the stone bench shed been seated on.


    I did not like the Academy. Because of some personal issues, I felt trapped there, and just wanted to get out and on to a better life.


    Anna nodded, Well, you did that.


    T smiled. So I did. Its been a bit of a rough ride, but I did, yes. She waved dismissively, then. Regardless, I projected some of that onto everyone there. I really didnt want to get to know anyone, or do more than I had to.


    Anna shrugged. Everyone goes through stuff. It happens.


    How do you do that?


    Do what?


    Just take it in stride?


    Well, its not like we were really close and you pulled away. You werent mean to me or anyone really. You were lonely. I wanted to help, but you didnt want help. She smiled again. Seems that you didnt really need it.


    T grunted at that. I might have been better off if Id gotten it.


    If ifs were whiffs, wed all have passed out from the smell long ago.


    She blinked at the younger girl a few times before chuckling. That is quite the phrase.


    Isnt it, though? Anna smiled widely. I


    Terry flickered into ce on the bench beside her, regarding her quizzically.


    Oh! Who might you be, handsome little bird?


    Terry chirped at her, and T <em>almost</em> said something, but she trusted Terry.


    Anna reached out, grabbing either side of Terry, holding his vestigial wings tucked at his sides. Aren''t you just the cutest little predator?


    Then, to Ts horror, Anna flipped Terry over, putting him on his back with his legs in the air, and started scratching his neck and belly.


    Terry gave some weak trills of rm, but calmed down as she carefully scratched his feathers, clearly mindful of not bending them or pulling at them painfully.


    T cleared her throat. Thats Terry. Hes my friend, my partner.


    Anna turned to regard her with one eyebrow raised. Your friend, do you say? Then he must be a fierce beast to say the least.


    He squawked his assent, one legzily drooping to the side.


    T smiled. He is that. But, she was avoiding what shed been trying to say. What I was getting at was: I apologize, Anna. I dont know how good of friends we would have been, but I wish that I had tried.


    Anna smiled back at her, stopping the scratches for a moment. There is nothing to apologize for. It wasnt the right time, then. It might be now. Her smile grew. Well never know unless we try.


    Terry flickered away, on his feet again, and watching Anna warily.


    Oh! Do you want more scratches, Terry?


    He squawked at her, ruffling his feathers a bit, then flickered away.


    Im here if you change your mind!


    T felt herself smiling.


    It seems that Annas almost aggressive kindness could even overwhelm Terry.


    Shall I get your parents? We have a lot to discuss.


    Oh, yes! I have a wonderful idea that I want to propose to you all.


    <em>Why do I feel concerned?</em>


    <em>-Because youre capable of making logical connections.-</em>


    <em>Thats what I was afraid of</em>

 Chapter 383: No Point

    Chapter 383: No Point


    T tried not to groan as Anna exuberantly put forward her wonderful idea. She was just d that Segis and Metti werent there, otherwise the three children might have ganged up on their parents to push through some unfortunate notions.


    Why dont we get Hannah in here? Shes a baker. Mistress T loves baked goods. Its a win-win!


    Even though Anna had seamlessly begun using Ts honorific, she still had the same warm air about her, even with the added formality to her address.


    Mistress Petra smiled at her daughter but shook her head, Anna, your sister is very happy with her job in Bandfast. She likes her co-workers, and there are a couple of young men who are calling on her. She wont be leaving in the near future.


    Anna pouted briefly. Well, boo.


    With a dramatic intake of breath, she straightened, seemingly immediately putting it all behind her.


    Alright. Well, I, at the very least, shall have to stay here with you all.she looked toward TSo long as that is eptable to Mistress T, of course.


    T blinked a few times. <em>What now?</em>


    <em>-She wants to live here, dear. I know youre listening. The request was rather obvious.-</em>


    Before T could answer, Master Simon shook his head. No, Anna. You need to live with your master, whoever that may be.


    Annas eyes dimmed for a moment before they seemed to practically ze with what was clearly a dawning idea.


    <em>Oh, no.</em>


    t began tough.


    <em>Absolutely not.</em>


    <em>-Shes going to ask.-</em>


    <em>Oh, rust no</em>


    Anna opened her mouth to propose her thought, but once again, her father dashed her hopes, cutting her off before she could even begin. I know that you are fond of Mistress T, but even if she were willing, your magic and your chosen field simply dont align with hers and with what Mistress T does day-to-day. In the same way your mother and I would be poor fits, she would not be a good master for you.


    It took all of Ts self control to not mouth Thank you! toward Master Simon, but he nced her way and seemed to get the message, a wry smile pulling at his lips for a moment before he mastered himself.


    Anna dramatically slumped once again. Well, thats just frustrating. This beautifully wonderful, spectacr ce is open to our family, and you wont let me wheedle more of us into it?she gave T a wink before facing her father againWhat are your ns anyway? Will I be stuck in Alefast while you go gvanting off to Sovereigns know where?


    Anna! Mistress Petra eximed, before catching herself, Watch yournguage dear.


    T didnt lift an eyebrow in surprise, but it was a near thing. Invoking the Sovereigns in such a way was quite frowned upon, to the point that T couldnt remember hearing anyone do so since she had left the Academy.


    <em>I dont remember Anna speaking like that before</em>


    <em>-Yes, because you listened to her so often back then.-</em>


    <em>Point taken.</em>


    Anna waved them off. Its not like theyll strike me dead. But, as you wish, mother. So? What are your ns?


    Master Simon nodded, turning toward T. Petra and I have discussed it, and we do want to stay on with you, at least for the time being. These six months or so have been most fruitful for my understanding of some aspects of magic, the work is interesting, and I enjoy it. Petra is mastering the art of cooking and baking with harvests, as well as just enjoying a simpler life. Will you have us?


    T nodded. Of course.she hesitated for a momentBut I know weve discussed you two moving toward advancing


    She let the words hang, but Master Simon nodded, regardless. We have the scripts that are preparing the way for us. It isnt a sure thing, but we are hopeful. Obviously, if and when thates about, wed have a lot to consider.


    Mistress Petra smiled and nodded along with her husbands words. It is a barrier that we feared to never face, but we will do what we can, regardless.


    Master Simon grinned. After all, I want to see my grandchildren.


    And great-grandchildren.


    Anna giggled. That would be wonderful, yes.


    T gave a tight smile, pulling the subject back under control and well away from children. Regardless, Anna, I think I have a potential master for you. A friend of mine, Mistress Vanga, has agreed to meet with you, if you are willing. She is a healer by nature, and even if you arent a good fit with her, she should know others who could be open to the match.


    Anna gasped excitedly, clearly brightening at the idea. Oh! Thats so wonderful. Thank you, T!she squealed, then seemed to remember herself, forcibly calming downI meanThank you, Mistress T.


    T sighed. I am happy to have been able to assist.


    * * *


    T took the next day and a half to rebnce herself after the past few days of insanity.


    She still stood watch during her units shifts.


    She still trained her body, magic, will, soul, and aura.


    But she spent the majority of her time meditating on all that had happenedall that she had learnedin thest few days.


    <em>No, thats not right. It has been more than a few days. Mistress Odera passed just more than two weeks ago.</em>


    <em>-Two weeks and two days, as of this afternoon.-</em>


    T sat back, letting that sink in, holding her cup of mint tea out before her, as she watched the sun rise within her sanctum.


    <em>-Her fount was deemed potentially dangerous, and it was voided, allowing her to pass on fully. I think they would have done so either way, given that was her stated wish, but its good to know that they wouldnt have let it remain, regardless.-</em>


    T felt something at that. <em>I could have done that. I could have found her and been with her through the process. I could have been the one to set her free to move on to the next world.</em>


    <em>-Do you wish you had been?-</em>


    <em>No. Does that make me a terrible person?</em>


    <em>-I dont think so, personally, but, well, Im not really the best person to ask that question considering.-</em>


    She had grunted augh at tsment, and that gathered the attention of the only person with her.


    Rane shifted on the chair beside hers, T? Whats going on?


    T had invited Rane to watch the sunrise with her, given that he would already be awake.


    Well, truthfully shed asked him to be present when Kedva was initiated into the arcane method of magical advancement, and the most convenient way to ensure he was there was to have hime early.


    <em>-Uh, huh. Right. You invited him to watch the sun rise with you, because its more convenient than having himeter. If I dont believe that, it means that you dont either.-</em>


    T ignored t.


    Watching the sunrise was something she wanted to do, and it was nice to have him with her.


    She wanted someone who was just there to support her.


    Not someone for Kedva.


    Not someone to monitor the situation or help the process.


    Just someone who was there in case <em>she </em>needed someone.


    <em>-Nothings going to go wrong.-</em>


    <em>But it might.</em>


    <em>-It wont.-</em>


    <em>But it might.</em>


    t sighed within Ts head.


    They had gone back and forth a lot.


    In the end, that was why Rane was here.


    T? He set his own earthenware mug aside. Hey, are you alright?


    T nodded, focusing back on the present moment, Yeah. I just realized that Mistress Odera shes been gone for more than two weeks.


    The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.


    Rane stiffened slightly, then almost seemed to melt. T I I know you two were closer than she and I were. I really am sorry for your loss. I wasnt thinking how it could be affecting you.


    T shook her head. I dont feel the loss. I feel angry. I feel angry that she is gone and nothing has changed. Not for me, not for humanity, not for anything. There was no point.


    He nodded, not speaking.


    She growled in frustration. Its ridiculous. Ive barely thought about her thesest two weeks.


    Youve had a lot going on.


    She gave him a look, and he held up his hands in surrender.


    My apologies. Go on.


    T nodded to herself, took a long pull from her tea, and continued, If even I dont really think about her, less than a month after shes gone does it even matter? Whats the point, if even those who know us well arent deeply affected after were gone?


    She looked to him for an answer, but he was simply sitting there, watching her attentively.


    Well?


    Oh Um So, it sounds like what youre saying is that you are upset that you arent more upset. Is that true?


    T lifted her hands in a motion of exasperated surrender. I dont even know


    He huffed augh. I think I can understand that.


    Im d someone can, she groused, It feels like I cant win.


    After a moments hesitation, some deep wisdom seemed to overtake him, and he asked, Do you want me to respond, or just listen?


    I thinkshe let out a frustrated sighjust listen, but I also think Im done.


    He nodded, wisely notmenting, and seeming to simply enjoy his tea, the sunrise, and thepany.


    The drawn out silence allowed T to process further. What even is the point? We are born; we grow old; we die; we are forgotten.


    He turned back toward her, clearly listening, but didnt reply.


    She gave a half smile at that, but it faded quickly. Is everything meaningless? She shook her head. No, I know it isnt. I know that it matters. I know our choices echo on after were gone, but I want it to matter more. I want <em>her </em>to matter more, to have mattered more.


    Rane nodded slowly but didnt speak.


    You can respond.


    He shrugged. You asked me to just listen.


    She swatted his shoulder. I didnt mean totally silently.


    He shrugged again. It seemed to be helping.


    It was. She sighed, I just feel like Im missing something important.


    He sighed, too. Honestly, everything that I can think of would be just as temporary as she was, if only just.


    Like what?


    You could make a statue of her; you could try to learn one of her spellforms; you could find one or more of her descendents to show your gratitude to.


    Each of those could be eternal.


    With maintenance. Theres also another looming issue, but Im a bit afraid to bring it up.


    T turned back toward the sunrise. Shes not the only person Ill ever lose, and no option is sustainable throughout centuries of losing people.


    Yeah


    They fell back intofortable silence, then.


    Soon enough, t spoke into that silence.


    <em>-They are on their way.-</em>


    T nodded and stood. Theyre on their way.


    Oh! Rane jerked slightly, being pulled from some inner thought or other. Right. Where do you want to do this?


    T smiled. Well, the central courtyard seems like the best ce.


    With a thought, she and he were there.


    <em>Master Simon?</em>


    <em>-Hes ready.-</em>


    With her three-fold sight, she saw that he was waiting, standing with his Archive te in hand, looking vaguely upward.


    T smirked, bringing him to her in an instant.


    Oh! Thank you, Mistress T.


    She gave a slight bow. Of course, Master Simon.


    <em>Now, lets see</em>


    She pulled her iron to the superficial, using it to fill in the crevices between paving stones to give her an even better grounding in order to assert her sovereignty, even as she called up the door into Kit.


    She flexed her aura, stirring the zeme by grabbing and forcibly moving most of the ambient magic away.


    <em>-You know, you could probably do that through Kit, too. The iron was likely overkill.-</em>


    <em>True, but this is good practice.</em>


    <em>-Fair enough.-</em>


    When she had a bubble of weaker magical density around the door, she focused outward again.


    Rane had taken up a seat off to one side, making sure hed be out of the way but also close enough to be able to be there for her at need.


    She gave a half smile before moving on with her preparations and investigations.


    Her bloodstars gave her an easy view of those approaching.


    Brandon, Adrill, Kedva, and Artia were apanied by two others.


    The two unknowns were obviously mundane. Their clothing spoke of a good living but not overt wealth.


    Theirck of magic left them utterly exposed to her three-fold sight.


    While they did have gates, they were obviously untrained, with just the standard mana flow.


    From the physical simrities, they were obviously Kedvas parents, or at least close family members of the young woman.


    <em>I do wonder how someone can be born without a gate, when both parents have gates.</em>


    <em>-You have to remember, T, that gates are a defect. Its a sign that the parents had a healthy aspect to their souls that came together to not make her broken at the start.-</em>


    <em>Even though I know thats true, its still really odd to think of it that way.</em>


    <em>-Because it means that were broken?-</em>


    <em>Sort of, more that it means that the most prevalent thing about me can genuinely be considered a malformation, defect, or issue. I wouldnt be me without my gate, my magic.</em>


    <em>-Thats for sure.-</em>


    <em>I wonder if that extends to other such mdies?</em>


    <em>-Hard to tell, there really arent any that persist within the human cities, so its not like weve known people permanently missing a limb or sense.-</em>


    <em>YeahWait! We did see some in Makinaven. Theyd reced parts with wood to bettermune with the tree.</em>


    <em>-Right. There was one who was really kind and answered your invasive questions.-</em>


    <em>They werent that invasive</em>


    t was silent for a moment.


    <em>Fine, I could have been more tactful.</em>


    <em>-See? Personal growth. His name was Ciaran, by the way. That guy was awesome.-</em>


    <em>We talked to him for like five minutes.</em>


    <em>-And he was awesome throughout.-</em>


    T huffed an internalugh. <em>Thats fair.</em>


    Focusing back on those newly arriving, there was one conspicuous absence.


    <em>No healer.</em>


    <em>-She decided to act on faith?-</em>


    <em>I suppose. Truthfully, a healer wouldnt help, the one who examined Adrill and Brandon even said so.</em>


    <em>-But having a healer on hand could beforting.-</em>


    <em>Which would have been a problem. She needs to trust herself and me for this to work. Depending on someone else if it fails wouldplicate things.</em>


    <em>-Which is probably why she didnt bring one.-</em>


    <em>True enough.</em>


    T sighed. <em>Theres no point in dying further, I suppose.</em>


    She willed for the entrance to open.


    The wider than usual door swung inward, revealing the four people just as they came up to the threshold.


    Kedvas parents remained standing further back, clearly nervous.


    T thought she understood. Even in a waning city like Alefast, many mundane still had some hesitancy around the overtly magical.


    If nothing else, they tended to be over-awed by Mages.


    <em>Should we have invited them to be in attendance? Would that have been the right course of action?</em>


    <em>-Maybe? Then they could have said no or yes at their own discretion.-</em>


    <em>is it toote? We didnt consider them at all.</em>


    <em>-Yeah we didnt think of family, did we.-</em>


    T called through the door, Brandon, Adrill, pleasee in; Master Simon has your tes.


    Master Simon looked at her with confusion, lifting his one empty hand, only to have the two Archive tes appear within. He held in a smile while giving her a t look.


    T grinned back at him.


    The two men stepped inseemingly bracing for the storm of energy to flow into thembut looked around in confusion when it didnt happen.


    I lowered the levels of power near the door. Theres no reason to have Kedva copsing in view of the outside.


    The two bowed, Adrill speaking for both of them, Thank you for the consideration.


    That left two women standing right outside, Kedva and Artia.


    Artia was holding the youngerclearly nervousgirls hand.


    T almost told them to step in, but she stopped herself.


    <em>Self-improvement, T. Were aiming for personal growth. You need to do the right thing.</em>


    <em>-...are are you pretending to be me?-</em>


    <em>Yes.</em>


    <em>-You know Im right here, right?-</em>


    <em>Of course.</em>


    <em>-And I </em>literally<em> am you. Theres no need to pretend.-</em>


    <em>Youre distracting me from personal growth.</em>


    <em>-Fine, fine. Go forth and be an adult.-</em>


    T walked forward.


    Her perspective gave her an amusing look as Brandon and Adrill stepped out of the bubble she was maintaining, being practically pped with power as it rushed into their bodies.


    Regardless of her growing smile, she stopped right outside the door, on the street beside Artias shop.


    T ced her hand on Kedvas shoulder. Youve made the choice. Its a fine choice, but you can change your mind. No one will force you, one way or the other.


    Kedva met her gaze, then the uncertainty seemed to melt away within the young womans eyes, at least for the moment, Thank you, Mistress T. I am firm in my choice.


    As you say. T lifted her eyes to the two people standing some ten feet back, You must be Kedvas parents. Is that correct?


    The two came forward a few steps, then bowed deeply. We are, yes. You must be Mistress T?


    I am. T gave a nod of acknowledgement. It is good to meet you.


    The pleasure is ours, Mistress. They looked uncertain.


    T sighed internally, What can I do for the two of you? I do apologize for not asking if you wished to observe, but we can correct that error now. Would you like toe in? T turned and gestured toward Kits open door.


    The two paled visibly before the husband responded, Oh um Would it help our Kedva?


    T shook her head. Not generally. Whether it would help her emotionally is beyond what I can say. You <em>are </em>wee, though.


    They shared a look. We will consider it. Thank you.


    T nodded, Well, consider quickly. I aim to begin shortly.


    The two bowed, As you say, Mistress T. Thank you again for this opportunity that you are giving our daughter.


    She shrugged. Honestly, for that you should thank Brandon. It is his connection with Kedva that has brought this about.


    The wife beamed happily, momentarily seeming to forget her nervousness, and the husband nodded, We know. As for Kedva, we just wanted to be here for her, in case


    Brandon came out behind T, walking over to the two older people. As he passed T, he spoke very quietly, relying on her enhancements to ensure that he was heard, Give me a couple of minutes, please. Ill get them situated.


    T nodded in acknowledgement before briefly addressing the two, even as Brandon led them off to one side.


    She waved their way, and offered a titude, Good to have met you both.


    <em>See? Personal growth.</em>


    <em>-...I think Im mostly disturbed by the fact that youre right.-</em>


    <em>Better everyday.</em>


    <em>-Well</em>-


    <em>Hush you. Im trying.</em>

 Chapter 384: Natural Magics

    Chapter 384: Natural Magics


    T headed back toward Kit, her mind already returning to the task at hand.


    She was going to be initiating Kedva into the arcane path of magic.


    <em>-Giving her a rebirth, as it were?-</em>


    <em>You know that Im not a fan of that description.</em>


    <em>-But its urate, and the people who have undergone it prefer that description.-</em>


    T decided to ignore t.


    As she did so, T saw Kedva run over to her parents, giving them each arge hug and talking quickly with them and Brandon.


    Even so, the girl was back at the entrance with Artia by the time T returned to her starting location and turned to face Kits door from the inside. She hadnt even dyed her turn at seeing Rane give her an affirming signal along with a smile. Alright,e on in.


    Kedva nced in the direction that Brandon and her parents were, hesitating.


    I wont let it start without Brandon.


    Artia squeezed the girls hand, even as she wove her arm through Kedvas, Come. Ill be with you, dear.


    The two women stepped in, Kedva clearly braced against cmity.


    <em>-Yeah thats not good.-</em>


    <em>No. No, it is not.</em> T stepped forward, Kedva. You have to trust me or this will fail. If you dont trust me, there is no point.


    I trust you. Her voice was soft, hardly sounding like the same girl T had met previously, I do.


    No. No, you dont. Not in this moment.


    Kedvas eyes were looking in every direction as she clung to Artia.


    If you cant trust that I will keep it from starting, how will you trust me to actually help it seed? Youll die, twitching and flooded with power that your body cant handle.


    Kedva stiffened, seeming to rein herself in. How can I master this?


    T nodded. That is an excellent question. Let me ask you one in return: Do you know, in your mind, that I want to help you, and I mean you no harm.


    Yes, but that doesnt help the seeds of fear.


    T shook her head. I know. You need to have faith in your knowledge.


    Kedva frowned. I just said that fear is worming its way into my mind. That even though I <em>know</em> that you are going to help me, that its safe right now, my emotions are getting the best of me. How can I use one emotion to conquer another, internally?


    Yes and no, Kedva. Yes, fear is your emotion. It is seizing onto your imagination and bing overblown. Emotions and imagination are the enemy of faith and knowledge.


    Her frown deepened. I dont understand.


    T sighed. When you walk down a dark hallway, is it your knowledge or your imagination that tells you that something is trying to get you.


    Kedva frowned. I assume you mean when I was younger? That was my imagination.


    Good. Now, were your emotions inclined to line up with your imagination? Or with your knowledge?


    She nodded at that, seeming to begin to understand. With my imagination.


    Exactly, and if you fight down the fear, what are you acting on?


    My knowledge.


    Exactly. You are relying on your faith in that knowledge. Putting your faith in something without evidencewithout knowledgeis foolishness. You didntck knowledge, just like you dontck it now, so knowledge isnt the antidote to fear, not knowledge alone. Faith is what you need to bolster.


    The girl frowned again, but she wasnt frantically looking around anymore.


    <em>Progress.</em>


    <em>-Yeah. Whered you get this?-</em>


    <em>Abination of Master Nadro, Master Grediv, some of my teachers at the Academy and my father. </em>T sighed internally. <em>But you knew that and just wanted me to overtly acknowledge it.</em>


    <em>-I aim to assist.-</em>


    <em>thank you.</em>


    <em>-Youre wee. Now focus.-</em>


    Kedva straightened a bit. I do know what ising. My Brandon and Adrill have worked hard with me to ensure that I know all that I can know about this whole process.


    And you trust them. You have faith in them.


    I do. She was fully straightened now, a small smile pulling at her lips and a loose grip all that connected her to Artia.


    Brandon came in behind her, then. I have them settled. They will wait in a little restaurant around the corner.


    Artia frowned. Arnolds?


    Thats right.


    She nodded. They do have great food, at least.


    Kits door swung shut on its own, closing silently and vanishing simrly without a trace.


    Brandon stayed next to his betrothed, on the other side from his mother.


    T smiled. Alright, then. Lets get started.


    An involuntary tremble moved through Kedvas body, but she nodded resolutely.


    Lay down.


    Where The words died on Kedvas lips as she turned to look around and saw that not only was the door gone, but a bed was now behind her. Oh


    My domain, remember? T grinned. I rule, here.


    That had the intended effect, and Kedva seemed to rx a bit, even as she sat down on the edge of the bed.


    <em>Reinforce her knowledge that I have this well in hand.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, shes heard stories of Mages all her life, seen them as beyond her capability. Wield that for her good.-</em>


    <em>Precisely.</em>


    Artia walked around to the far side as the girly down, that way Kedva could hold each of their hands still.


    Brandon kissed Kedva on the forehead, Youll do just fine. Mistress T knows what shes doing.


    <em>Yeah, build up her confidence. If there''s no trust, she dies.</em>


    <em>-And re-emphasizing that again would be counterproductive.-</em>


    <em>Agreed.</em>


    Over the next few minutes, the six of them talked, Master Simon answering some questions, the othersforting Kedva, and T filling in where she needed to.


    Rane stayed off to one side, smiling Ts way whenever she nced his.


    Finally, T motioned to the two holding Kedvas hands.


    It was time, and they couldnt be in contact with her when it happened.


    Artia gave a squeeze and let go.


    Brandon leaned in and kissed her forehead once again, making T wish they were a little less overt with their affection.


    <em>-It literally doesnt matter how covert they were. You see everything in here, and in the vicinity. You see it, even if the me part of you keeps certain things from the you part of you for the sake of propriety and your mental state.-</em>


    <em>I did not want to know that you have those things Archived.</em>


    <em>-I didnt say I Archived them.-</em> t responded evasively.


    <em>But you Archive everything we experience, see, or perceive.</em>


    <em>-...fine. If we ever have need of something that happened near such a memory, youll thank me.-</em>


    <em>Im sure.</em>


    Kedva, to her credit, maintained herposure. Im ready.


    T smiled. I know.


    With a releasing of her will, power snapped back inward.


    Kedvas body acted as if it was hit with an electrical shock, arching up and back, arms spread wide, eyes widening and mouth opening in a silent shout of surprise.


    It had begun.


    * * *


    T watched carefully as Kedva arched in shock and involuntary spasms as magic permeated her every cell.


    There was a noticeable increase in the power flowing through T being funneled to Kit. That drain would slow once Kedva equalized, but it gave T a nice feeling simr to stretching a sore muscle.


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    As to the impact on Kedva?


    T had chosen to allow the weight of the full magical density within Kit toe down upon Kedva all at once for a very simple reason: It was easier on everyone.


    A slow build up wouldnt hurt less, and it would make the whole process take longer.


    So, theyd made the decision to do it in one fell swoop.


    Ts aura had unquestioned superiority over this entire situation and circumstance.


    This sanctum was <em>hers.</em>


    They were within <em>her </em>soulboundpanion.


    The power in the air hade through <em>her</em> gate.


    It had been purified by <em>her</em> earned magics.


    The woman before her was on <em>Ts</em> guest bed.


    Shed put herself into <em>Ts</em> hands for this rebirth.


    <em>-Ha! Youre calling it that now, too.-</em>


    T growled internally. <em>Not really the time.</em>


    <em>-Fine, fine, but Adrill and Brandon will be quite happy that youve agreed to use their word for it.-</em>


    T ignored her alternate interface; helping Kedva through her predicament was more important right now.


    As such, T felt something almost seem to <em>click</em> into ce within her aura, within her will and power.


    If she wanted to, she could simply im Kedvas iron, and it would be hers, unquestionably. There would be no effort, no reaching, no extending, nothing. If she willed it, it would be hers.


    More than even that, if T so desired, she could control the girls every cell as she would her own.


    <em>What the rust?</em>


    T almost recoiled at the sense of sovereignty and <em>ownership</em> that she felt over Kedvas physical form.


    The girl was at Ts mercy, within her sanctum, within her aura, and utterly under her power and authority.


    T <em>hated</em> every aspect of it.


    The very idea made her feel ill.


    It reminded her too much of her circumstances in the House of Blood, even if her own vulnerability had never been quite this overt.


    But she couldnt let her personal issues put Kedva at risk, and she had work to do.


    T couldnt pull back.


    She couldnt disengage.


    Doing so would all but guarantee Kedvas death.


    Thus, T would buckle down and do what needed to be done.


    Even so, there was one thing that she had to mentally address first.


    <em>Theres still a soul in this body, right?</em> That was the most logical exnation for Ts sudden seeming ownership of another body: The soul was gone.


    <em>-Yes, I know you can sense it, can see it, can feel it, but I also understand why you asked.-</em>


    <em>How can I have ownership over her every cell while her soul remains?</em>


    T knew the answer, but it was important to express. -<em>I think its best if you say it.-</em>


    <em>Because the body is just a thing. It isnt the person. It is a possession that we are given for a little while, and then we leave it behind.</em>


    <em>-Go on.-</em>


    <em>Before the unmeasurable vastness of eternity, nothing that happens to our bodies matters. Even a grievous injury is like losing a piece in tafl. In the game, it''s frustrating, even infuriating. It can mean the difference between victory and defeat. It unquestionably matters in the game.</em>


    <em>-But outside the game?-</em>


    <em>Losing a piece is meaningless.</em>


    T felt like the moment was expanding before her enhanced consciousness as this truth truly rolled through her.


    <em>In the view of eternity, only the soul matters.</em>


    <em>-And the souls destination cannot be diverted by acts of magic, monster, or man.-</em>


    <em>But does that mean that nothing here matters? Whats the point of all this? There is no point if thats true. Even the arcanes use of vestiges doesnt matter in the perspective of eternity, then. That </em>cant<em> be right. I refuse to believe that. If thats true, then Mistress Odera didnt matter while she was here, and her passing doesnt matter now that shes gone. This life </em>must<em> mean something.</em>


    <em>-I dont have the answer for you. It is probably something worth asking Master Grediv about</em><em>or Master Nadro</em><em>but after.-</em>


    <em>Right. After.</em>


    <em>-...but, if it helps, I think you are missing something.-</em>


    <em>Oh?</em>


    <em>-How we y a game matters. Even if the game, itself, doesnt matter in the end, how we yed not only reveals who we are, over time, it will </em>shape<em> who we are.-</em>


    <em>I I cant really process that right now.</em>


    <em>-Fair. We do have work to do.-</em>


    T tucked her questions away into the back of her mind, returning her focus to the girl whose lifewhose very beingwas entrusted to her care.


    She nodded to Brandon, and he began verbally giving the instructions for Kedva to attempt to act with her will and her power.


    Kedva obviously had no power of her own, and her will was utterly untrained, but the act of at least believing that she was trying would help.


    Toward that end, they had decidedly <em>not</em> told Kedva the true purpose of the verbal instructions.


    T tuned out Brandons voice even as she used her aura as the medium for her magical maniption techniques, long honed as an Immaterial Guide.


    The power that had invaded Kedva moved at Ts direction, because it was Ts power.


    The natural magics were carved into existence around the girl as T guided the magic with surprising ease.


    All the while, Kedvas cells drank in the ambient power, so much so that they would have burst while still drinking in more if T hadnt forcibly directed the excess away.


    There had been a lot of discussion on what spellform to give Kedva, so that she could easily bleed off the excess power as her body limated.


    Unlike Brandon and Adrill, Kedva didnt have the basis in magical theory for magesight.


    T didnt have a basis in arcane social structures that was sufficient to understand what the standard scripts given to infants of their various species were intended to do, let alone how they were meant to function.


    There really was only one choice in the end.


    It helped that T had a temte ready at hand.


    As discussed, T called a handful of fruit to her hand.


    <em>Now I literally have them at hand.</em>


    <em>-Bad pun, T. Focus.-</em>


    <em>Right.</em>


    The fruit was already cut in half, the deadly pits removed.


    She gently ced them in Kedvas mouth, using her aura to pull enough power away so that the girl could chew and swallow.


    Theyd discussed having her eat them beforehand, but from what they could determine, having such active magics within her would have utterly blocked the process from taking ce, which is not what they wanted at the moment.


    Regardless, Kedva finished eating the offering, and T allowed the full magic density to return with a swirl in the zeme.


    An almost achingly familiar power spread throughout Kedva from core to extremities, and T continued her work.


    Soon, Kedva would have the natural magics that had saved Ts life more times than she cared to remember.


    The magic of ancient heroes.


    The magic of endingberries.


    * * *


    T was in a maze of power, every wisp of it dancing to her tune.


    The very zeme moved in patterns at her direction, creating patterns akin to weather patterns that wouldst until the day that Kedva died.


    T was creating a cycle of magic within the girl that was beyond anything that she had fully nned beforehand.


    Forging the magics for the menAdrill and Brandonhad been an act of desperation, but shed done the best that she could.


    Kedvas magicsthose that T was forging within her at that very momentwere nned and premeditated.


    There was no magic that T knew better than that of the endingberry.


    Even before shed wielded gravity, shed longed to replicate the feats of the heroes of old. Shed studied the legends about their magic and the theories on its potential sources.


    Her first defensive scripts had been temporary, modeled after the endingberries cyclical natureeven if she didnt know that at the time.


    Strength unyielding gained in exchange for a short duration.


    T had built upon those magics, incorporating them as constant rather than temporary, always burning her gate-derived power, resonating with that gateher soul.


    As for the endingberries themselves? Once shed discovered them, shed eaten uncounted <em>thousands</em> of the little fruits.


    Shed drunk gallons of their juice, especially recently since it had be a staple drink with most of her meals.


    Every ounce consumed had been turned into power, purified, and applied to her own defense.


    Truly, there was no magic that she knew better, and few who knew any one particr bit of magic as well as she knew this one.


    As such, she felt the call to push the possible.


    That is why she went beyond what had been nned, if only just.


    The power echoed off of the endingberry magics that were zing from within Kedva, using their pervasive spread as the basis to resonate toward her goal.


    Ts own magics, resonating and manifesting in existence added to the feedback of power.


    Rather than a single spellform, which would have acted across Kedvas being at once, T forged the interlinking mesh in a mirror of her ownmimicking the actual effect of ending berries, rather than just copying their magics.


    But <em>Ts</em> magic had a w.


    A w rooted in her nature as a gated.


    Her magic had a single source, even if that source spread out to feed her magics all at once.


    The nature of arcane magic was that the body was a vessel for power, thus the body became the source, not the conduit.


    True, it was a source like a bucket rather than a spring, but the idea still stood.


    Thus, T didnt connect Kedvas magic into a centralwork.


    Instead, she forged each minute spellform to draw power from the overflow given off of Kedvas very cells, directly.


    The difference between Kedvas magic and that which T had given to Adrill and Bradon was effectively the difference between using a bucket with holes in it to carry water to a waterwheel whenpared to installing waterwheels on every hole in the bucket.


    The very act of failing to hold onto power would be what caused the power to be used as desired.


    <em>-That was a horrible metaphor.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, well, Im sort of focused on other things right now.</em>


    <em>-Sure, sure. Its interesting that youre effectively making her default state the use of magic, rather than requiring activation.-</em>


    <em>Do you disapprove?</em>


    <em>-No, no. It was clever when you thought of it, and it still is. Kedva learning to control her power will be her learning to turn it off, rather than just letting it run out.-</em>


    <em>And learning to be able to amplify its use at need.</em>


    <em>-That too. You know that your defensive scripts arent clean, right? They arent just endingberry power.-</em>


    <em>You can see that I know that, t. Youre just distracting me.</em>


    <em>-Right, right, but enhancement its not easy to adjust to.-</em>


    <em>Im not giving her my enhancement scripts. That would kill her.</em>


    <em>-But you are giving her the variation of endingberry power that makes every cell more capable of doing what it does.-</em>


    <em>Brandon, Adrill, Kedva, and I agreed that Id give her my endingberry derived scripts. They know that this is a part of it.</em>


    <em>-Oh, agreed, but I still think theyre going to be surprised.-</em>


    T grunted internally at that.


    t was probably right. Most people didnt actually understand what secondary effects various magics had. Even though power rarely ever only did one thing, they would still act shocked by the side effects.


    Adrill and Brandons own scripts were examples of this.


    The spellforms that shed given them for magesightand that theyd have reinforced with inscriptions sooner rather thanterincluded the necessary alterations to allow their minds to handle the increased information.


    <em>You know I bet that the reinscriber would work on them. It does model its inscribings based on the persons natural magics</em>


    <em>-That would be working backwards from the normal process, but it should work We would one hundred percent need a healer on hand.-</em>


    <em>Oh, definitely. Wed also have to figure out what, exactly would be done about their focal point. It isnt like they have gates.</em>


    <em>-It could actually be really enlightening to study what came of it, now that I think about it.-</em>


    But she was allowing herself to be distracted.


    Kedva needed her full attention.

 Chapter 385: Durability

    Chapter 385: Durability


    Ts aura was acting as a mold, holding the patterns and forcing the magic to flow at her direction.


    Her threefold sight let her know that Kedvas kidneys were working overtime, along with all her other functions that were designed to clean up unwanted things within her.


    In fact, her whole body was rejecting the impurities that it had previously incorporated.


    T blinked in shock as ck sludge was pushed out of Kedvas every pore, even leaking out of her eyes like ck tears.


    It was oddly simr to what T had experienced while Refining, but much less extreme, and much less foul, as if these were less ingrained impurities, or at least less of them.


    Truthfully, theyd discussed, and even expected, <em>something </em>like this happening, because Brandon and Adrill had said that their urinations and defecations had been <em>foul</em> since their rebirth. The healers theyd asked exined that it was the magic now within their body helping them clear up the nastiness built up over a lifetime of mundane living.


    Apparently, the magics that T was giving Kedva were more efficient at the purification process, or at least helped to augment it to ur more rapidly.


    The appearance of the ck sludge was a herald of the end, and Kedvas body stopped its spasmodic attempts at twitching shortly thereafter.


    T had held the girl still with her will, but she had still felt how Kedva had wanted to il about.


    T stepped back, Its done.


    To his credit, Brandon rushed forward, grabbing Kedvas hand, heedless of the tar-like nastiness that covered her delicate fingers.


    <em>Not so delicate now.</em>


    The young man pulled out a cloth and did his best to wipe his betrotheds face.


    It didnt do much, but it was a sweet gesture.


    Kedva gasped, her lips sticking a bit as she opened her mouth to pull in a deep breath.


    Her eyes seemed to be stuck shut, however.


    T sighed, and with a thoughtand a moderate exertion of willshe pulled wooden panels to their location, surrounding Kedva even as the bed vanished, and the girl dropped into a warm bath.


    Brandon was moved beyond the wooden barriers, and Artia was moved to be within them. The older woman immediately intuited what was going on, and got to work.


    T <em>might</em> have been able to pull away the ck muck directly, but something told her it would be unwise to attempt to do so.


    It didnt make sense, but shed learned to trust her instincts.


    <em>-At least sometimes.-</em>


    <em>Hush you.</em>


    As Kedva was sshing and spluttering, T pulled her aura back, feeling her pseudo-ownership and authority over the girl fade.


    She relinquished her position of sovereignty and hated the feeling of loss that came along with it.


    <em>Oh, thats awful.</em>


    It was like the loss of a limb, only she couldnt grow this one back.


    It was like the loss of a friend, and it resonated with the still raw wound of Mistress Oderas passing.


    Even so, it had been <em>right.</em>


    That girl was not Ts to rule over.


    To keep herto even want towould be envious or an unfounded jealousy, and that was not who T was.


    Kedva had been able to open her eyes with the help of the warm water loosening the hold of the ck nastiness.


    She took a moment, sitting there in the bath, to look up at T. Did it am I?


    T smiled. It went perfectly. Even better than we had hoped.


    Kedva beamed up at T, revealing ck-coated teeth. Good, because this is <em>disgusting</em>, and I might just hate you if this was all for nothing.


    T barked augh before smiling at the girl once again. Get cleaned up. Your betrothed and your parents will be eager to see you up and about.


    Kedva nodded and began wriggling to get out of her sopping, filthy clothing.


    <em>Those are a lost cause.</em>


    <em>-Yeah There is an odd film of-</em> t gasped. <em>-Is that?-</em>


    <em>Yeah. Reality, but not iron, not anti-magical, but definitely of Reality.</em>


    <em>-...were going to have to study that muck, arent we.-</em>


    She sighed internally. <em>Yeah probably.</em>


    At that moment, Terry flickered into being, standing on the edge of the tub.


    Kedva didnt seem to notice him, but Artia did. She gave a careful, small bow to the avian.


    Terry dipped his head back to her, but he was clearly focused on Kedva.


    T leaned close to the avian. Let her recover, let me test her, then you can spar with her.


    He examined Kedva and T for a long moment before bobbing in agreement and flickering away.


    Could someone help me? I think Im stuck. Kedvas voice came from within the garment. No I feel like I could rip my way out, but I dont want to ruin this dress.


    Artia stepped forward, Of course, dear. Let me help.


    With that, she began to help Kedva, and T took that as her cue to be elsewhere.


    She moved herself outside the wooden dividers, arriving directly beside Brandon.


    She caught his hand just as he was about to push his way through. Shes fine, and your mother is helping her undress to get clean.


    The young man colored brightly and stepped back.


    She smiled, letting his wrist go as he moved away. They shouldnt be too long. Lets chat with the others while we wait.


    T and Brandon moved off to one side to wait for Kedva to get cleaned up.


    Master Simon, Adrill, and Rane joined them, and together, the five talked through how the process had gone.


    Generally speaking, everything seemed to have gone as well as could have been hoped.


    Master Simon provided readings and insights that lined up with what T had seen and enacted.


    It was good to have a second set of perspectives to verify the information.


    If something had gone odd with her own perception, it wouldnt matter how many different aspect-mirrored points of view she had, theyd all be simrly distorted or inurate.


    -<em>Yes, our views of the world are inurate to the extreme.- </em>t expressed with a hint of yful sarcasm.


    <em>Yes, in many ways they are. Isnt that the whole point of advancing toward Paragon? We are correcting our perception of existence?</em>


    That quieted the alternate interface for a little while.


    T exined the alterations shed implemented to the men.


    After a bit of back and forth, it was agreed that the implemented design for magical redistribution and use of power made more sense for non-gated than shackling them to the gated model.


    Less than ten minutes after they were put up, the wooden dividers vanished, exposing Kedva, fully dressed in new, T-provided clothing.


    The tub was gone in the same way as the bed and dividers had been taken away.


    T had taken the ck gunk and the clothing soiled with it and stashed it forter research.


    -<em>Without telling anyone.-</em>


    <em>Well discuss itter.</em>


    Kedva looked radiant.


    She had been lovely before, but that naturally solid foundation had been built upon, enhanced, and uplifted.


    She did look a little worse for wear in one department, namely she looked just a bit malnourished.


    Thankfully, that was being corrected even as she was brought forth. In one hand, Kedva held a wooden tray, loaded down with all manner of food, including endingberries.


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    She seemed almost to not be able to eat fast enough, her body still in a hyper-flexible state, taking in the nutrition faster than was usualthough nowhere near the speed T had managed even right after her scripts werepleted.


    Does this hunger pass? Kedva asked around bites of food, washed down with endingberry juice from an iron cup.


    T found herself grinning like a maniac even as Brandon answered. Ive definitely found myself hungrier since my rebirth, and I think yours was more extreme than mine.


    T was still vaguely ufortable with the term rebirth for the procedure, but it seemed close enough to the truth, and Brandon and Adrill had adopted it almost exclusively, Kedva following suit.


    Still, she didnt let that suppress her amusement.


    Adrill noticed Ts expression and leaned toward her, asking quietly, What is so entertaining?


    T nced his way, Ask her what shes drinking.


    He gave her an odd look, I know its magic, that much is obvious.


    She made a get-on-with-it gesture, still smiling.


    With a shake of his head, he shrugged and did as she asked, Kedva, dear, what is that youre drinking?


    Kedva took another gulp. It tastes like the berries endingberries. I think its their juice.


    Adrill twitched, his entire body jerking slightly.


    Adrill? Is everything alright? Kedva paused, the cup halfway back to her mouth.


    He squeaked slightly. Nothing, dear. You you enjoy your food.


    Kedva looked confused, turning to Brandon, who was just slightly pale. What am I missing? Brandon?


    Brandon swallowed reflexively. That juice the berries are roughly equivalent to gold in value by weight.


    Kedvas eyes widened, but he wasnt done.


    The juice is processed and refined. If you could find a buyer, it could be worth up to triple its weight in gold.


    Kedva looked down at the cup with widening eyes. She then looked to T, Mistress T I I cant repay you for this.


    T had had her fun, so she waved dismissively. It is yours, free and clear. Theres more where that came from, quite literally. I have an endingberry orchard in here. Youll have your fill if youe and work in here with Brandon and Adrill as discussed. She hesitated. Well, youll be doing other things, not actually working with them.


    Kedva nodded, That was made clear, yes.


    Then, there isnt any issue. Youll likely be enlisted to <em>make</em> the juice for your and my use. She smiled again, Maybe for others too, if the tests go well, and we find those worthy of receiving the same magics that you did.


    She smiled a bit nervously. Thats wonderful.


    Tughed. Go, assure your parents that everything is alright, thene back. We need to test your durability.


    There was a collective hitch from everyone present, as they all turned to regard T more fully.


    She frowned. What?


    Rane cleared his throat. Who will be testing her?


    I will, of course. Is that a problem?


    There was a collective exchange of nces.


    She gave them a t look, Ill be careful.


    Rane coughed implicatively.


    <em>-See? Hes a wise boy.-</em>


    <em>I can be careful</em>


    <em>-...-</em>


    <em>Fine</em>


    T sighed, her shoulders slumping slightly. Master Simon, can you go get Mistress Vanga, while Kedva goes and talks to her parents?


    Master Simon bowed, It would be my pleasure.


    * * *


    T looked at her opponent with narrowed eyes.


    The girl <em>seemed</em> like she didnt know how to fight.


    Her stance was sloppy, her guard was wed, and she was visibly containing her nervousness.


    T was skeptical, so she simply decided to ask, Are you sure youre ready?


    Kedva straightened, Wait, thats an option? Im not ready.


    T sighed. Kedva, we need to test these scripts. We have a healer. In fact, we have two. T gestured to Mistress Vanga and Anna who stood off to one side.


    Anna raised a hand to beside her head as if she were about to ask a question, even as she leaned forward. Only one, actually. Im not officially a healer yet. Im still in training.


    Mistress Vanga patted her mageling on the shoulder. And youre doing very well, Anna.


    Anna gave a happy little shrug, shifting back to stand as she had been.


    T nodded, Exactly, we have two people who can heal.


    Anna opened her mouth to protest, then stopped to consider. Finally, she shrugged again and left it alone.


    After all, Anna had gone and gotten her inscriptions with Mistress Vanga. She <em>could</em> heal.


    <em>-So, you are technically correct.-</em>


    <em>That is the best kind of correct.</em>


    <em>-...you dont believe that.-</em>


    <em>No, I do not, but I want to, at least in this instance.</em>


    <em>-Fine. Ill leave it be.-</em>


    T addressed Kedva, So?


    Kedva sighed, crouching down, back into her mockery of a fighting stance. Very well. Im ready.


    She wasnt.


    T didnt bother with a fighting stance.


    She simply stepped forward and off to one side.


    Surprisingly, the girl lunged forward even as her gaze trailed T by a foot or two.


    T finished her step before poking Kedva in the shoulder.


    Kedva was utterly unprepared for the shift in her center of bnce, causing her to stumble to the side, away from the poke.


    She got her feet underneath her, moving her hand to where shed been poked. Ow! Wait not ow? That felt like it should have hurt, but it didn''t?


    Good. T grinned, holding out her hand. Flow appeared in it, sparring sheath locked in ce, already in the form of a sword.


    Kedva straightened. Hey, now. Thats not exactly fair.


    T shrugged. I just tested your fighting ability. Now we test your resilience.


    She stepped forward once again, giving azy swing into Kedvas side.


    T didnt want to hurt her, so she swung from low to high.


    Kedva didnt try to move out of the way or block, but she still squealed in surprise as she flew.


    She was thrown off the sparring circle tond in the surrounding ring of water, the local part of the infinite river.


    A moment after she disappeared, she shot back out of the water,nding on the stone with that single leap, dripping wet and ring. Was that really necessary?


    Ts smile grew, and she pointed with her off hand at Kedvas side. Why dont you tell me?


    Kedva looked down and saw that her tunic had burst apart where T had struck, creating an incredibly rough, two inch oval that revealed skin.


    Skin that was perfectly intact and not red at all.


    Kedva gaped. How?


    T nodded. That was a good question. To borrow arcane terminology, you have near Elder levels of power constantly flowing out of you, powering your defensive magics. On a purely physical level, you are almost as durable as I am.T hesitatedWell, no, not really, but you are much closer than nearly anyone else.


    Rane was slowly nodding. She doesnt have your depth of magic, but she has your magical density, because of the sanctum and how you constructed her magics.


    T pointed his way, to where he and the others were sitting on the far side of the ring of water, Exactly. Within this Sanctum, and likely for she considered for a moment, Two minutes?


    -<em>More like one and a half.-</em>


    <em>Thank you.</em>


    <em>-Happy to assist.-</em>


    For about a minute and a half after you leave, you will be all but indestructible to any non-magical anything, really. Any magical effect ofT nced Annas wayone advancement below mine will still cut through you rtively easily, and you are stillughably exposed to direct magical alteration, but that should be solvable with time and training. After that 90 seconds or so, youll still be as tough as a bull for nearly half an hour, more durable toward the beginning than the end.


    But less time if I actually am resisting damage, right?


    Yes, but once we get you to the point of resisting direct magical effects, that shouldnt cause a shortening of the time.


    Kedva seemed to consider. There was a section in the manual about that Staking Your im or something of that nature, she was nodding to herself, the possibilities seeming to unfold before her mind, But that aside. It would be better to not have to resist damage. Can you improve my fighting? I dont want to fight, not really, but the skills should trante into my being safer in all sorts of situations.


    T kept fromughing derisively. Kedva was asking for help, after all. That is quite true, and absolutely, yes.


    <em>A crippled, first-year city guard could improve your fighting.</em>


    <em>-T you had to learn too.-</em>


    <em>Fair.</em> She smiled at the younger girl, Lets get started.


    That began roughly three hours of training.


    Once again, T found herself falling back on Eskau De-args methods. Though, she was far, <em>far</em> more forgiving than that little, bear-like arcane had been.


    She struck at ws in Kedvas form, performing percussive maintenance on the girls movements.


    Brandon asionally called out encouragement, and Mistress Vanga and Anna insisted on checking on Kedvas health every so often, but otherwise they simply kept working.


    Rane asionally assisted, either giving pointers or acting as an opponent for Kedva so T could supervise from the outside.


    T felt a bit awkward about that, given that Rane had a greater depth of experience, martially speaking, but Kedva seemed to take her instruction better, so they let T take the lead.


    After about an hour, when Kedva was starting to at least keep her feet under her, Terry flickered into the sparring ring.


    Terrys eyes were locked on T, and she knew what he wanted. Fine


    He trilled happily.


    Then, Anna called out from the sideline, waving, Terry! Good to see you again. Want some more?


    Terry looked her way and flickered a half step away from her.


    Suit yourself. She leaned back, smiling. Only then did she look around, taking in the looks of absolute awed confusion on Ranes and Brandons faces. What? Did I miss something?


    Brandon, who was closer, cleared his throat. What did you do to Terry?


    Nothing, I just gave him some scratches. He liked it well enough, but I think it put him off his guard, which he didnt like after the fact.


    Brandon nodded slowly. Alright then.


    There was a beat of silence before everyone reoriented on the task at hand.


    Kedva gave a little wave. Hi, Terry.


    He trilled in greeting, then flickered, appearing behind her leg and striking it, <em>hard.</em>


    T would have thought that it would be difficult to judge how hard Terry struck Kedva.


    That might be true under normal circumstances, but Terry knew what he was about.


    The leg he hit shot out from under the woman, swung upward and threatened to rob her of her footing entirely.


    To her credit, she instinctively bore down, crunching forward to attempt to keep herself upright.


    Unfortunately, that moved her into the path of her own leg, and she kicked herself in the head.


    It took her a minute to rise to her feet again.


    When Mistress Vanga asked if she wanted help, Kedva waved her off. I am just trying to wrap my head around the fact that that little bird just took me down like that.


    Rane barked augh, then quickly covered his mouth, looking embarrassed.


    Terry flickered to his shoulder, looking him dead in the eye.


    Rane muttered under his breath, so only Terry and T could hear, I wasughing at the underestimation, Terry. You are utterly terrifying.


    Terry chirped once, then flickered away, causing Rane to rx.


    Kedva hoped back to her feet, Alright, so that happened. Should we continu


    Terry flickered into being beside her, delivering a raking sh to her side, spinning her back to the ground.


    Kedva squealed as she fell.


    Terry let out a series ofugh-like chirps.


    <em>Oh, this is going to be an interesting day.</em>


    Blessedly, Terry only flickered in to test Kedva every so often while Rane and T worked with the girl.


    At the end of the three hours, Kedvas stomach was growling almost constantly, and so T called a halt.


    Lets get some food, everybody.


    There was a round of agreement.


    <em>Alright then. Lets go.</em>

 Chapter 386: Her?

    Chapter 386: Her?


    T quickly checked with everyone, and after verifying that they were ready to go, she used a moderate act of will to move everyone to a spread of food already made ready for them.


    Moving Mistress Vanga among the others was interesting.


    T <em>felt</em> that the woman could have resisted.


    T also felt that she would have won the struggle, but it wouldnt have been as effortless as moving other things.


    <em>I havent felt that when moving anyone else. She must have greater density than I realized.</em>


    <em>-Could be.-</em> t was focused on going over the transportation, which shed observed from all directions.


    She had been observing all such movements, trying to build out a model of how they happened.


    Both of them still had absolutely no idea how it was aplished.


    <em>Now that were bound with Kit, it is clearer. I feel like we are on the edge of understanding. But, regardless, theres still time.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, we have an eternity to figure it out.-</em>


    <em>Lets hope it doesnt take that long. Worse case, we can try to get Kit to tell us. She definitely didnt experience the qualitative mental enhancement that were expecting from Terry, but she also didnt effectively disappear like the dasgannach did.</em>


    It was also possible that Kit hadnt been advanced enough to have had any sort of awakening due to the bond.


    Either that, or whatever type of creature Kit was didnt react in the same way as those traditionally used as familiars.


    <em>-Agreed. It almost feels like Kit became a portion of our involuntary functions, actually acting based on our will without needing conscious action.-</em>


    T considered that for what felt like minutes to her enhanced mindrunning as it was on an extra pull of powerbut was in fact less than a couple of seconds in real time.


    She felt t was also considering something, but she couldnt see that, yet.


    <em>You know, I think youre right. Kits addition to our whole very much is like an extra sub-mind of sorts. She definitely still is herself, but she is also bound to us more closely than a familiar would be.</em>


    <em>-A sort of half-state.-</em>


    T huffed augh internally. <em>Its like she filled in the void around our mind.</em>


    There was a noticeable pause then, emphasized somehow by both of the persons within their mind.


    <em>Well, rust. Thats exactly what happened, isnt it.</em>


    <em>-Kit is a being of the void, and we are not.-</em>


    <em>Were not Were bound to her now, and just like she became more like us, we became more like her.</em>


    <em>-Thats true. Hmmm-</em>


    <em>Its worth investigating, but not now.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, not now.- </em> t seemed to be considering something else, too. Likely what shed been considering earlier. <em>-Back on movement within the sanctum: Do you mind if I use a bit of our will and focus to hop stuff around and see what I can learn?-</em>


    <em>Absolutely. Thats a great idea. I trust you to be wise about the use of our resources.-</em>


    <em>-Thank you. Ill get right on that.-</em>


    Focusing back on the meal spread out on thergest table in the sanctum, T had to smile.


    It looked spectacrly delicious.


    The food had, of course, been prepared by Mistress Petra, and she had joined them along with Master Simon and Adrill.


    Apparently, Segis and Metti were in Alefast with a tutor for the day.


    T had not known that the two children had a tutor, but she supposed it made sense.


    They were learning from their parents, but having a third adult to teach them and keep them on track during specific times likely made everything much easier.


    As soon as the others noticed where they were, they had begun moving toward the table.


    Anna somehow seemed to skip even as she walked over to her mother to give the older woman a big hug. Oh, mama, this looks so <em>good!</em>


    Thank you, dear.she bowed toward T, then Mistress VangaMistress T, Mistress Vanga, I hope that the fare is to your liking.


    Mistress Vanga gave a small bow in return, It looks excellent, Mistress Petra. Thank you.


    T nodded in gratitude, It really does look excellent.


    Mistress Petra smiled and nodded toward Rane and then Brandon, Master Rane, wee. Brandon, it is good to see you again.


    Rane gave a deferential bow her way. Thank you for preparing such amazing food for us, yet again.


    Brandon stepped forward and gave the woman a hug. Im d youll be here, too.


    The Zat and Feshua families were bing quite close. From what T observed, theyd been eating many of their meals all together.


    She suspected that Artia would be here, too, if she didnt have the shop to mind.


    <em>Hmmm</em>


    <em>-Oh, thats an idea. Not useful now, but-</em>


    <em>Yeah, at the end of the waning, it could be a wise investment.</em>


    <em>-We can talk with Artia about it at some point, but probably not until after shes learned what she needs to keep up with her husband.-</em>


    <em>Agreed.</em>


    Master Simon gave his wife a chaste kiss on the cheek as they sat down all together.


    They chatted about a lot of little things.


    On one extreme, they discussed what Master Simon and Adrill were working on.


    The white steel fabricator was an ongoing side project that was forefront in their thoughts, and they actually thought they were getting close to getting it to work.


    Though, to be fair, when T asked for a tentative timeline, Master Simon had said that three to six months would be an optimistic window. Apparently, it was in process of losing the magic-bond it had picked up with T by dint of being within the sanctum for so long.


    Now, the pure power that was flowing through its inactive magics were slowly clearing it out.


    Master Simon didnt want to actually fire it up until the process wasplete as otherwise it might give odd or inconsistent results.


    T agreed with the dy.


    Blessedly, there was still a <em>lot</em> to learn about the device even while it was undergoing the shift.


    Aside from the white steel fabrication, Master Simon, Adrill, and Brandonwhen he worked with themwere investigating all the oddities of the sanctum, attempting to backwards-engineer the arcane methods to achieve the sameor at least simrresults.


    T had approved that project as well, and they were even collectively receiving a stipend from the Constructionist Guild to be kept in the loop on what they learned. More was paid out when they had breakthroughs, or found especially interesting or useful information.


    <em>And we still need to take a bit to reshape and reimagine how Kit will work, going forward.</em>


    On the other end of the conversation, the group had a detailed discussion of what T and Kedva had been up to.


    There was some teasing, which Kedva took with grace.


    There was some ribbing, which T endeavored to return in kind.


    About halfway through what was effectively a feast, Terry flickered to Ts shoulder and settled down.


    T scratched his head, and gave him some of the food that he preferred.


    All in all, it was an exceedingly enjoyable meal.


    * * *


    If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.


    The next two days passed quickly, with little really unexpected or overly interesting uring.


    T and Rane both did their best to fit in training with Kedva here and there, teaching her how to defend herself and generally how to operate with her new abilities.


    Kedva was in a different position than T had been,rgely because while T had enhancements through her entire body, making some parts of her proportionally more enhanced than othersbased on what she and Mistress Holly deemed the most importantKedva had been universally uplifted.


    Her every system, every function, every aspect was improved as a whole.


    Thus, the girl wasnt struggling with imbnces in her expected actions. Everything moved as she thought it should, that speed was just faster than it used to be.


    All told, that meant that she was starting from a ce of greaterpetence than T had. It made the lessons more productive right from the get-go.


    When she was on her own, Kedva began working alongside Mistress Petraand asionally Artialearning the techniques for preserving magics within consumable harvests.


    The girl also did other tasks around the sanctum as needed, using her free time to study the next steps in the arcane advancement manual.


    To her credit, she had started her own practice, attempting to grab at least a small amount of control over the power now coursing through her.


    Brandon and Adrill were doing something simr, but it looked very different for the men, given their very different magics.


    T took her shifts as a defender with her unit, trained, and tried to spend at least a little time with Master Girt.


    He seemed to have recovered from their conversation, though his aura was once again closed to her. So, she couldnt verify the state of his gate. Even so, he still seemed to appreciate herpany when she was able to give it.


    One thing of note that did happen had to do with Rane.


    He had been absent since the previous evening.


    When he did return after having been out of touch a bit more than a full day, he came to the sanctum with a pleased smile on his face.


    When his hand touched Kits door for the first knock, T pulled him inside, causing him to appear beside her, where she was finishing thest movements of one of the more advancedbat forms from the Way of Flowing Blood.


    Thats new?


    She grinned, not breaking her flow even as she responded. Yeah. I didnt know I could do it to others. Thank you for helping me test.


    He gave her a half smile even as he chuckled. Happy to help, I suppose.


    What can I do for you? Thinking about how she was trying to be a better friend, she amended, I havent seen as much of you thest day or so. Is everything alright?


    He nodded, his smile fading. I had something that Ive been working on, and I realized that it would be better for you to have it. So I finished it up and brought it here. I was actually able to do more than I thought but Im getting ahead of myself.


    That got her interest, so even as shepleted the flowing series of strikes at the end of the form, she let Flow fall back into the shape of a knife and sheathed it at her belt. Oh?


    Maybe I should just show you, then we can decide where to put her assuming you want her.


    Her?


    Rane nodded to himself. Let me just show you.


    He pulled open the loop of leather that was his dimensional storage, much wider than he usually did.


    He sat it on the ground upside down, reaching up inside it to fumble for a moment before grunting andying it t. That should do it.


    He lifted the loop up, revealing a statue.


    <em>Oh.</em>


    <em>-What?-</em> t had been focused on some of their tests in another part of the sanctum, but Ts reaction had drawn her attention in full. <em>-Oh.-</em>


    It was Mistress Odera.


    The stone was nearly her exact skin-tone, though obviously the texture and minute variations didnt match.


    She was seated in the pose in which shed often sat atop the caravan wagons.


    Her eyes were closed in meditation, and her features were peaceful.


    T would have thought she was about to open her eyes, if not for the clothing being of the same material as her skin.


    It was a small thing to spoil the otherwise incredibly lifelike appearance.


    She knew that if she focused closely, bringing her full enhanced perception to bear it wouldnt stand up to scrutiny, but to mundane eyes?


    It was perfect.


    Rane Thats Mistress Odera.


    He huffed a softugh, Well, yes. That was the idea. If you dont want it, I can take her away, but what really took thest day was something else.


    He reached back into his loop of leather, his arm disappearing up to his shoulder as he rummaged around.


    You see, her inscriptions are in the Archive, just like everyones, and now that shes gone, they are public information; she ensured that would be the case.


    He pulled out a blue stone, and ced it in a divot in the statue created by the woman sitting cross legged.


    Even as he moved to ce it, it began to drink in power from the air around them.


    As he moved his hand away, the magics within the stone reached their activation threshold, and a weak shield of water sprang up around the statue.


    The slight tinting of the hexagons of water hid the oddity of skin and clothing matching color.


    But that isnt what made Ts eyes widen. Thats thats her magic.


    A <em>much</em> weaker version, and without her mind behind it, but yes. I basically matched the scent of her magic. It isnt effective or anything, but


    T held up her hand, forestalling him. I understand. Thank you.


    He smiled, closing his mouth to let her simply take a moment.


    Grateful for that moment, she closed her eyes, pulling her perception away from this part of the sanctum, and only reaching out with herparatively bumbling aura to sense the magic.


    She felt herself begin to weep.


    It <em>felt</em> like her.


    It wasnt exactly right, but it was close enough to evoke memories of long days atop caravan wagon roofs, conversations on ethics and magical methodology, and the soft, powerful voice of her mentor.


    T felt him moving toward her, so she only briefly stiffened as Rane wrapped his arms around her.


    She returned the hug, fiercely.


    She felt his magics start to activate to move him away, but whether he suppressed them, or they realized there was no escape, they failed to activate.


    Even so, he patted her back, Too hard!


    She was already letting up, but she didnt let go entirely.


    So do you think she has a ce here? This is the only ce the echo-stone would work properly, but it isnt required.


    T nodded against his chest. She absolutely does. Thank you, Rane.


    He squeezed her in return. Of course.


    Lets find a good spot for her, shall we?


    He pulled back to look down at her. Lets.


    Thus, the time passed until the appointed time for the meeting with Master Nadro.


    * * *


    T returned from her morning shift fulfilling her duties as a defender, arriving where shed left Kiton the wall of Artias shoponly to find Master Nadro already inside.


    The bloodstar that T had left in the cavern with Ios body had ended up serving many purposes. Now that she was soulbound to Kit, it was trivial to move the bloodstar and hold it stoneward just enough to give a passable view of her sanctum even when she wasnt there.


    As usual, t handled that aspect-mirrored perspective so that T could focus on what she needed to.


    Regardless, t was able to give T notice that Master Nadro had arrived a full half-hour before the ted time.


    Hed knocked, and Master Simon had let him in.


    That was another change that hade about with Kits binding to T.


    Kit now would obey some instructions given by others, at least she would if T would have generally agreed with them.


    Unfortunately, it wasnt like T was given the ability to make the choice herself.


    <em>Not that I would actually see that as an improvement.</em>


    <em>-Yeah we need to offload some of our mental load, not add to it.-</em>


    <em>Agreed.</em>


    In either case, Kit had responded to Master Simons promptings to let Master Nadro inside.


    That was fine; T had no issue with Master Nadro being in her sanctum, even if she did, she suspected that he could see as much of it as she could even while remaining outside.


    <em>He could probably breach the sanctum if he wanted.</em>


    <em>-It might end oddly, though.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, who knows what would actually happen if he breached a soulbound dimensional storage.</em>


    <em>-...hmmm we never really have had to defend it from such an attack.-</em>


    <em>Weve never had to defend it at all.</em>


    <em>-Might be worth asking if thats actually something that we need to be concerned about?-</em>


    <em>I think it was pretty well covered that its not, but I dont think we actually know why yeah, we can ask.</em>


    <em>-Ill add it to the list.-</em>


    Truthfully, she was grateful that Master Nadro had been willing to give them any time at all. The fact that hede early was a good sign.


    Though, given his particr nature as a gateless human of <em>incredible</em> power, she had assumed that he had a bit of a vested interest in Adrill, Brandon, and Kedva.


    Regardless, he was here, and now so was she.


    She almost swung open the door into Kit, directing it to open beside them, but then decided to use her newer method of entry. It was something that shed been trying out and had even used on Rane the day before.


    As soon as her hand touched the door, she simply willed herself to be where she wished, as if she were already inside.


    As expected, it worked wlessly, only taking a bit more willpower and focus that moving around Kit normally did.


    <em>Ha! I love that I dont have to call doors anymore.</em>


    <em>-It is a bit faster, I suppose.-</em>


    <em>I would say that you dont get it, but you see my every thought. Youre just being obstinate.</em>


    <em>-True enough. It is pretty interesting-</em> t trailed off implicatively.


    <em>Yes, you can add it to your tests.</em>


    <em>-Thank you!-</em>


    In any case, Adrill, Brandon, and Kedva were sitting with Master Nadro in a circle with a spot set aside for T.


    They were in a lovely little de beside the infinite river.


    <em>How long is the river anyways?</em>


    t made an Im thinking sound within their head for a moment before responding, <em>-Hmmm Well, weve never actually measured it, but it looks to be at least two miles in circumference. Though, its obviously not a perfect circle.-</em>


    <em>Huh, that makes sense.</em>


    Master Nadro stood at her arrival, rising from a chair that hed obviously brought himself. It held an ancient serenity to it, like a cherished possession that had been cared for and meticulously maintained for generations.


    <em>-Or, given his age, just by him.-</em>


    <em>Good point.</em>


    Mistress T, it is good to see you again.


    Acting on a whim, T stepped forward offering him a hug.


    He epted withoutment, returning thepanionable hug even though he knew that she wasnt much for such things.


    To her surprise, it reminded her of hugs before she was a Mage.


    Not only was there somethingforting about him that took her back to a simpler time, but his strength, and his flesh, interacted with hers as if they were both mundanes, rather than T being reinforced and toughened until she felt like steel to most people.


    And even that didnt take into ount that she actually did have iron encasing her at the moment.


    It didnt seem to have mattered.


    <em>How strong is he?</em>


    <em>-How reinforced?-</em>


    Her threefold sight was still utterly unable to detect anything specific about the man, as even his aura was shrouded.


    But, she was being rude, so she addressed the man, Master Nadro, thank you foring.she stepped backward and bowedI know your time is valuable.


    She called a chair into ce even as she sat down into it.


    What did I miss?

 Chapter 387: Prospects in Retrospect

    Chapter 387: Prospects in Retrospect


    T sat down with Adrill, Brandon, Kedva, and Master Nadro, joining in on their conversation, What did I miss?


    Adrill smiled, nodding in greeting along with the other two before answering her question, We just outlined the basics of what urred, leading up to our rebirth as arcane magic users.


    Master Nadro chuckled. Well, human wielders of the arcane might be more urate, but sometimes uracy breeds greater confusion.


    Adrill gave a slow nod before continuing. He said that you gave him ess to the advancement manual?


    I did. She smiled. If there is anything in it that he doesnt know already, I want him to have ess to it.


    Maser Nadro interjected then, None of the concepts were unknown to me, not really. That said, there were several interestingly different ways of approaching things that would have made my journey much easier, had I known them at the time. There were also a few things that arent exactly useful, and which might actually be detrimental. Ive noted them for you.


    T smiled. Thank you. Id hoped to have your expert opinion.


    Of course.


    Brandon frowned, even as he held Kedvas hand, still hung up on something that Master Nadro had said, Your journey?


    Master Nadro nodded, Now that Mistress T is here, we can truly begin. First of all, you should be aware of something that is not widely known: I am gateless.


    Three sets of eyes widened in shock.


    Adrill collected himself the fastest, But, Master Nadro, I can see some of your magic. Begging your pardon, but you are more advanced, magically, than Mistress T.


    <em>So, hes letting them see his advancement?</em>


    <em>-So it seems.-</em>


    <em>Hmmm building trust in his expertise?</em>


    <em>-Thats likely.-</em>


    Master Nadro nodded again in response. I am, and I have worked hard to be so.


    Brandon, Adrill, and Kedva noticeably leaned in, expectant.


    In contrast, Master Nadro leaned back in his chair. All that time has given me the perspective to be of some help to you, so listen close.


    They nodded, staying silently attentive.


    Arcane advancementes down to a single thing: Hold onto power.


    He let that sit for a long moment before continuing.


    That is the underpinning of their entire society. Hold onto power. Those who can im it dont let it go. Those who have it leverage it to get more. Their social structures are as designed to concentrate power in the elites of their various species as their magical techniques are designed to concentrate power within themselves.


    T felt herself nodding. That lined up with her experiences quite well.


    Now, the <em>how</em> is rather a different story. He turned to T, Mistress T, can you create a graduated series of rooms each with a lower concentration of magic?


    She thought for a moment before nodding. Yes, I can. What percentage decreases?


    Lets start with ten percent.he turned to the three who were writing notes on their Archive tesWhen you step from one room to another, I want you to focus internally. Focus on <em>wanting</em> the power to linger.


    Kedva frowned. Thats it? Just want it?


    He gave a small smile. We are trying to train your will. It will seem like its doing nothing for quite a long while, but eventually, you will notice that it takes a <em>small</em> amount more time to lose your magic. Thats when you can really begin.


    There were nods of understanding, but they all seemed skeptical.


    At that point, youll want to continue to practice that as well as the opposite.


    Brandon frowned, The opposite?


    But his father was smiling, Ahh, that makes sense.


    Brandon turned to Adrill, Dad?


    Adrill nced toward Master Nadro, and the ancient man nodded with a smile, By all means, tell us what you think the reason is.


    He turned to his son, If all we can do is slow the outlet, were only working our will in one direction, forcing ourselves to hold onto power. Practicing the other way will allow us to better vary our use of magic in the future.


    Master Nadros smile grew with genuine pleasure, That is exactly right. Well reasoned. I can see your position as a researcher is indeed well-earned.


    Adrill gave a small, happy smile.


    So, we have your next steps nned. That established, there are a few other things that we need to address.


    That pulled everyones full focus back to the man.


    I gather that the incident which began all of this wasnt nned? Or at least these results werent the desired oue. Is that true?


    T looked down, nodding in affirmation, That is true, sir.


    So? Who was at fault?


    T scrunched down in her seat between Adrill and Kedva, feeling rather exposed.


    <em>Rust</em>


    Brandon sat on Kedvas other side and Master Nadropleted the small circle.


    It was apparently time to discuss who was to me for the three gatelesss rebirths into arcane style magics.


    T didnt really want to discuss it, given her mountains of internal self-recrimination.


    So, there was a moment of silence.


    Then, in what should likely not have been a surprise, Adrill spoke, No one was at fault, Master Nadro. It was something that several of us <em>could</em> have thought of, and at least two of us probably <em>should</em> have realized the possibility, but even then, it would just have been to recognize the possibility.


    Brandon chimed in then, I for one had wondered what the elevated, ambient magic would do to the people and things inside, but I decided it wasnt worth asking.he held up a hand when T opened her mouth to speakI know that my query would have been addressed, and it would have been a good learning experience, but I wanted to do the experiment. I was excited to see something meld with Kit, and I chose to ignore my own internal inquiries.


    T grimaced. It was entirely my fault. I have perfect recall, and I knew that this level of power was well above what the arcanes used to initiate their babies.


    Ahh. Master Nadro nodded sagely. Then, thats our answer. You knew that this would happen and tricked them into being within your sanctum at the time of the change over?


    What? No! T sat up straight, her face the picture of confusion.


    Oh, my mistake, then. So, you chose not to review those memories cognizantly beforehand, thus opening yourself up to such an error?


    No. I didnt even consider it. She shook her head. Thats the issue.


    Ahh, I see. So, you regrly review all your memories before any test or somewhat new act of magic?


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    No.


    Then how is this your fault?


    I should have known. I made the connection as it was happening, but it was toote to do anything about it. If Id been even a second or two faster in my realization, then I could have sent them away, to a less magically dense part of my sanctum, or well, I might have been able to do something.


    Master Nadro shook his head, We could convict anyone on might-haves, could-haves, and if-onlys, Mistress T. From what I have heard, and from what the others have told me, you did everything that you could have, reasonably. A perfect recall can be as much a curse as a blessing, because it leaves your brain with too much to sort through.


    T grunted, grimacing again.


    The human mind is <em>designed</em> to forget things. It allows what we do remember to stand out in greater contrast, it helps us keep our thoughts in order, and grow into a better person each day. If we are constantly bogged down in the minutia of the past, how can we ever improve ourselves, and move on to be better versions of who we want to be?


    She opened her mouth, but found no wordsing to her.


    <em>-Well, rust This is my fault?-</em>


    T huffed augh in her own head, <em>Dont you start, now.</em>


    <em>-Well, we both know that if it was your fault, it was really mine. My whole purpose is to process all that you know and remember and keep you apprised of what should be in the forefront of your thoughts.-</em>


    <em>You know, you say that a lot of things are your whole purpose or things very nearly the same as that.</em>


    <em>-No I dont.-</em>


    <em>Im pretty sure you do. In fact, I can remember quite a</em>


    <em>-Fine. I say it a lot. I have a lot of purposes. Im very useful. I just messed up here.-</em>


    <em>So did I.</em>


    <em>-Well, I think weve both messed up in this. Master Nadros right. I need to shift how we have our brain organized. Well keep our perfect memory, but Im going to create a standard memory model skin over the top for you and I. That way, well function like normal, but if we want to delve into a particr memory, or remember something that has slipped our memory, I can easily get it for us.-</em>


    T considered for a moment. <em>Agreed. That sounds like it could be wise.</em>


    She nodded, acknowledging Master Nadro. You may be right. I had not considered that w in my standard way of operating. Thank you.


    He huffed augh, Thus making it your fault again?


    She shook her head, No. If I had been exercising poorly out of ignorance, leaving a part of my body weak, then I dropped something because that part of me gave out, I wouldnt be at fault. I would be the causethe impetusas I am here, but I wouldnt really be to me.


    He sighed, giving a half smile. Well, that is progress I suppose.


    He looked to the others, then back to T.


    What do you say you set up the training rooms for them, then you and I have a chat, eh?


    T smiled in return. I think I would like that.


    * * *


    T made quick work of the training rooms.


    She built them as a series of walled-in spaces with open arches between each for easy passage through.


    She didnt bother with a roof, which made the whole process faster, and since the three didnt need privacy to aplish their training, she only needed to make a singr set.


    When they became more advanced, they could simply enter in the more magically sparse rooms, rather than progressing through the linear series of courtyards.


    She tucked them in an out of the way valley along the road that the arcanes had initially built before they moved the entrance from Kits edge to her center.


    Thus, while it took a bit of effort to set up, once shed managed to convey to Kit what she wanted with the power density, it became a self-sustaining process.


    <em>Its good that were able to do that, honestly. It means that we can actually make visiting areas for gateless to be able toe in without undergoing a rebirth.</em>


    -<em>And if we ever have to treat with arcanes, it can be a ce that we can allow them into without being in danger of empowering them.-</em>


    <em>I had not even considered that being an issue.</em>


    -<em>Thats because you havent considered the idea of ever treating with arcanes again.-</em>


    <em>Thats quite fair, yes. Well, aside from the viges and Lisa, but I didnt really think of inviting them into Kit.</em>


    Regardless, she and Master Nadro were now alone.


    T, still not wanting to discuss the things that needed discussing, asked about something else, So, should I be expecting those three to be immortal powerhouses like you?


    He chuckled, shaking his head. Not likely, no. They will have a better shot at it than basically any in the arcanends, though.he hesitatedThat said, <em>no one</em> in the arcanends has as rich an environment as this sanctum has be. Dont forget the fact that you should have been unable to have filled this ce up with power. Not at all. It is only the soulbinding processbecause of Kits somewhat unique naturethat equalized the power density within here with your natural state. Then, the purification magics have processed all that power.


    T nodded slowly. <em>I can feel it straining my gate to pull more power through, to replenish what is used.</em>


    <em>-And being soulbound, it </em>should<em> advance when you do, if were lucky. Otherwise, its never going to be more dense than this.-</em>


    <em>Wait that means that I had a nearly infinite well of my own power to pull from before I used the purification scripts?</em>


    <em>-...Maybe? You''d have had to refill it. So, if you tapped it too deeply, you might have been magically crippled for years, until it was refilled.-</em>


    <em>Even so, I gave it up without realizing what I even had </em>Her eyes narrowed in thought.<em> Did master Lisa know?</em>


    <em>-Maybe? Who knows. I know it doesnt work that way for normal storage items, even those that are soulbound. That is one hundred percent something that would be spread around, and then, thered be even more of an emphasis on making storagesrger before soulbinding them.-</em>


    <em>Also, I suppose, City Stone holders use power that isn''t their own, so I could probably figure something out, if l really needed to.</em>


    Master Nadro leaned forward, giving her a very serious look. I think you know this better than I do, but <em>no one</em> from the Major Houses can ever be allowed to know the specific details about this ce. The very idea of an entire hold at this power densityhe shook his headEven though thered be little chance of extorting you to use it, there would be some that would try. After all, even Major Houses only keep their holds in the upper ranges of the Matureor Fusedmagical density. Yours, here, is pushing near to the lowest reaches of Honoredor Paragon. He shook his head with a smile. You really do have an astonishing density for your advancement. Regardless, there are always fools who take the path of folly in a vain attempt to seek a shortcut to power.


    T cleared her throat. That extreme?


    He gave her a t look. By being in here, <em>anyone</em> can sit at the Elder advancement. Well, at least they could, after the smallest amount of training on how to take advantage of it. That means an <em>incredibly</em> long life, Mistress T. A long life in perfect or near perfect health.


    T blinked at him. Wait so they will live longer than Mature humans, by advancement?


    With the basic level of training they will be able to, yes, but not on their own merits, and they will not be powerhouses He paused at that. Well, at least they wont be for a long time.


    He shook his head andughed.


    Anyone can be a genius at basically anything if given enough time. This arrangement of circumstances here, gives that in gold.


    T rocked backwards. Master Nadro, I have Adrills wife trying to train with magic to increase her lifespan to match her husbands. There is <em>no</em> chance shell ever be Bound, let alone Fused.


    Then Adrill should never learn to extend his lifespan beyond what it will already be extended to. If he does, he will have to resist using that aspect of his abilities.


    She felt a wave of relief. So, thats possible? To learn, but not actually extend his life? He wont be forced into longevity just by being in here?


    Not forced, no, but he will have to stagnate and let himself die. In this environment? he drew in a deep, full breath, Power is practically begging to integrate itself with every part of you. Is it possible for a man to die of thirst while sitting in a spring of crystal clear, clean water? Of course, he simply must resist the urge to drink.


    ...that seems like it will need to be a conversation.


    Master Nadro nodded. I n on having it with him and his wife. There are many options avable to them, and I am meeting them this evening to talk through the ins and outs of their particr situation.


    Thank you, I appreciate that.


    It is my pleasure.


    T hesitated for a long moment. Then, she just had to ask. Why is this unique? I know the City Stones contain pure power. I also have guessed that they are purposely wasteful because they just cant absorb all the powering in fast enough. Why dont we have an army of people like you? She hesitated then continued, Well, not like you, but advanced humans?


    He nodded again. That is an excellent question. First of all, you are forgetting that City Stones are filled with mixed magic,ing, for the most part, through the gates of hundreds of thousands of non-Mages. Those disparate sources make the power slightly problematic for those wielding conceptual-based magics. Moreover, concentrating power is much moreplicated and costly than you likely realize, even with items like the stone your sanctum consumed. Though, I suppose you have some idea, given your experiences to the south. If it was easy to take weak power and make a magical paradise?


    Yeah every Major House would have done it.


    Exactly, and thats just the first issue. You bypass that, because the power in here ising from a single source before being purified and contained within a soulbound space. Even then, that would normally restrict the haven to a single recipient of the power, but with your sanctum bypassing that issue quite nicely, we arrive at the crossroads of improbability which is this opportunity for the non-gated.


    I imagine there are other issues, even so?


    Oh my, yes.


    So how did you do it then? Did you find some paradise of magic? Gain a boon?


    Master Nadro barked augh. Oh, stars no.


    Then, if I can ask how?


    He gave her a long, searching look. Finally, he nodded once. I suppose you deserve to know at least a little.


    <em>Finally.</em>

 Chapter 388: Tales and Tallies

    Chapter 388: Tales and Tallies


    T listened to Master Nadros story with rapt attention, mostly processing what was said as still rather frustratingly vague.


    Even so, it was more than shed expected to learn.


    Master Nadro had been born with an unusual deformity, magically speaking.


    Mainly, he couldnt hold power at all.


    His density always perfectly matched the environment he found himself in.


    He didnt even disturb the zeme around himself as he moved through it.


    That part of his defect had gained the attention of those who needed people to serve them within ascension chambers.


    Tas Talihad experienced some of those chambers. They were small, expanded spaces packed with vestiges and scripts to crank the magical density as high as they could manage.


    As Master Nadro had indicated, it was a <em>horrifically</em> wasteful process, akin to throwing splinters into a press and then burning a forest for the energy topress them down into a board.


    Master Nadro had been utterly unique. Hed never even heard of anyone else with his mdy since. His children hadnt inherited it either.


    He hadnt even been reborn into those higher magical densities as the power simply passed right through him, unaffected, and unaffecting of him.


    Even so, he did somehow benefit from steeping within the power.


    He had been found on the street when he was a child, though he didnt know what age, and by the time hed served his rescuers for a century, he barely seemed to have reached the beginnings of puberty.


    T had to interject at that point. Shouldnt you have aged normally, until you reached maturity, then stopped?


    Master Nadro nodded, That would have been the standard, but for some reason, I reacted more like a material than a living creature, simply having the aging of my body radically slowed across the board.


    Regardless, Master Nadros particr condition made it so that he was highly sought after to work within ascension chambers, and so his time was bought and paid for every hour of the workday.


    More than that, he was often paid to sleep in the chambers in order to fit in his work around his other clients.


    Needless to say, he spent all but a fraction of his time utterly steeped in the highest levels of power that the upper echelon of his city could create.


    He continued in that way for years uncounted, until he had, indeed, reached maturity.


    Sometime after that, a powerful man came to the city. He was granted ess to one of the rooms that Master Nadro was cleaning and working within, making their meeting inevitable.


    The man had hesitated upon seeing Master Nadro, staring at him intently for long minutes.


    Master Nadro hadnt been surprised by the scrutiny, and so he had borne it with patience.


    Finally, the man had smiled and said, Ah, I see the problem now.


    He had then spoken a sentence, not a single word of which Master Nadro could hear at the time nor remember now.


    Master Nadro had passed out, and when hed woken up, the man was gone. Master Nadro was left with the certain knowledge that he <em>could</em> keep magic within himself, if he so desired.


    From there, he had advanced down the arcane path of magic like a born genius, every test that hed been subjected to indicated that his lineage was of a high race, magically speaking.


    It was decided that he had an ancestor whose bloodline had surged within him, exining his oddities.


    And that was that.


    T was rocked by even the vague implications of his story, So, an arcane unlocked your ability to use magic like one of them?


    I dont think it was that simple, nor that it was something that would work on anyone. I got the sense that he saw something unique in me that day and acted on a whim.


    That made sense, she supposed. Still, it was a <em>lot</em> to consider.


    But, we are very, <em>very</em> far afield of where we should be.


    T grimaced. I suppose we are, yeah.


    Then, let us get back on track. You have a question you want to ask me, but you are afraid of how I will answer. It wasnt a question.


    <em>Well, here goes nothing.</em> She sighed, answering the not-question anyways, Yes.


    There was a long pause.


    T took several long breaths.


    Master Nadro waited patiently, sipping from a mug of tea that she hadnt seen him acquire.


    <em>Hold on I dont see even an obscured dimensional storage anywhere around him.</em>


    <em>-Focus, T.-</em>


    <em>Fine.</em>


    T groaned, Fine.


    He smiled, still waiting.


    She felt herself smile in response, finally giving in and beginning to speak, In light of eternity, everything is pointless. This life is basically a silly game that we y before the next world begins.


    Hmm.


    So, whats the point? Isnt it awful to forcibly stay in the game instead of moving on to what really matters? Are we immortals just petnt children who refuse to cross the finish line because we dont want the race to end? She felt foolish including herself with other immortals, but thats what she was, now that shed Refined.


    He tilted his head to the side, clearly listening but remained quiet, sensing that she wasnt done.


    Whats the point in mourning those who pass on? They are in the real world, right? Its like those who are asleep pitying those who wake up, or mourning them because they departed the dream.she huffed a self-deprecatingughIts like those running through the wilderness weeping because someone else has reached their own destination. Isnt that the point? To get to the end? If not, then what <em>is</em> the point? Why mourn anyone? Why do anything? Why shouldnt we justmit collective suicide and get on with the good stuff?


    If T had still been mundane, she would have been breathing heavily. She knew that she had been repetitive, but she just didnt have the right words to express what she was feeling.


    Even so, she didnt seem to have any more words to say. She felt wrung out from even the quick verbal dump.


    Master Nadro nodded, seeming to pick up on her state. Why, may I ask, do you think the next world is better?


    She grunted at that, feeling a bit of lifee back into her, allowing her to answer, On an experiential level, Ive seen deeply into the next world.


    When you helped a fount pass on?


    She nodded. Yes. It was she shuddered, It was like having my every w exposed. I felt like tinder before the me, water before the sun, dust before the wind. There was no malice, but by its very nature, I would be wiped away before it.


    He nodded, continuing to listen.


    But beyond that, I felt like there was <em>peace</em> there. Not the peace of nothingness, or stillness, or stagnation, that is peace to such an extreme that it is an evil in its own right. No, it was peace in the sense of <em>rightness</em>. Everything in proper bnce, everything as it should be, moving and progressing, growing and resonating in perfect harmony. Not uniformity of action or result, but uniformity in purpose and motivation She shook her head. Im not describing it well, but it was it made me both lose my fear of being dead and utterly terrified of dying.


    Because?


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    Because to be there would be more than anyone could ever wish, but to fit in there would require a scouring of my being. To be worthy of that ce? I dont think I ever will be, but somehow I am to go there. I dont understand at all how that will be possible.


    It is a great mystery. I doubt any, this side of death, will ever fullyprehend it. His eyes were sad, his expression consoling. But you said that that was on an experiential level. What about beside that? What other way of thinking are you pulling from?


    Well, on a cognitive level, if its worse than here, then were all destined for eternal torment, regardless, and I dont know that I could handle that, especially not right now.


    He waggled his head from side to side, Well, worse doesnt have to mean torment, does it?


    The smallest degradation, over the course of eternity, ends with the greatest of suffering.


    And the smallest steady improvement, over the course of eternity, ends in the greatest of bliss, he finished the quote, So, youve been reading philosophers in search of answers?


    It seemed like a good idea at the time


    <em>-It made her sad.-</em>


    <em>Are you talking with him?</em>


    <em>-Indirectly. Im just letting you in on it, because hell likely respond to me.-</em>


    True to ts guess, Master Nadro nodded, seemingly listening to something T couldnt hear. When we are in a ce of distress, we see distress everywhere, and the vaguer words of the wise can drive us further down. That isnt always the case, but it is a danger. I am sorry that it was true for you.


    T grunted. But, is it true?


    That life is meaningless?


    Yes.


    He huffed augh and smiled, Would I still be here if I believed that it was?


    Maybe you stayed to help people get through life quicker?


    Hmm.


    She weakly threw her hands up. What do you mean, hmm?


    I mean, it sounds like you are suffering, Mistress T. You lost someone whom you knew well and whom you didnt want to lose, who you would have saved if you could have. Is that true?


    She nodded, looking down to herp, the feeling of pressure in her face and tears in her eyes beginning to build. Yes, Mistress Odera. Weve talked about her before.


    He nodded. This wasnt news to him. Even so, he inquired further, Why dont you tell me more about her.


    And so T did. For the next hour she just talked, and Master Nadro listened.


    * * *


    At the end of her hour-long, semi-monologue, T felt much better.


    Shed railed and rambled, pouring out her frustrations.


    Master Nadro had listened and responded with kindness and interest.


    It helped.


    It helped even more than venting to her unit-mates or Rane had. She thought that was likely because it was a full reprocessing.


    She was starkly reminded of Master Girt, and how hed seemed to both advance and be helped by talking with her about his wife.


    Before she could check, t gave her the answer, <em>-One percent closer to Paragon.-</em>


    <em>Processing the loss of the temporary helps with my view of eternity, I guess?</em>


    <em>-I suppose. That among other things. The advancement seems pretty random to me.-</em>


    <em>Yeah I guess well figure it out eventually.</em>


    Neither of themmented on how few Refined actually made it all the way to Paragon.


    They might <em>not</em> ever figure it out and advance to the next stage.


    If that was the case, it would be alright.


    She was herself, and that wasnt going to change.


    Regardless, she would do her best.


    Only one thing really stood out as more important than the rest from her diatribe and Master Nadros responses.


    He had only truly pushed back at one point, when she had expressed that it felt like rtionships with mortals were worse than useless as they caused pain and would barelyst.


    He had firmly, simply stated, You know that isnt true better than most, Mistress T. We form connections with those we care for. Those are not cut off, just because one party dies. Marriage bonds are the most extreme example, and you know that among the gateless, a soul can choose to linger with his or her spouse. Even if you conclude that most of this life is meaningless, rtionships would be the greatest exception. Those we love affect us down to our soul, and that is eternal.


    That had actually helped her as she considered it.


    He had been right.


    She could see the connections made between people, and she knew of the power contained within.


    She <em>didnt</em> know if those persisted beyond death, but something deep within her told her that they did, in one form or other.


    Regardless, since her waxing on about Mistress Odera had finished, the two of them sat in silence.


    Terry had joined her quietly sometime during the telling, and T was currently scratching him in herp as he quietly trilled in contentment.


    She didnt want to spend any more time discussing Mistress Odera, even though she wasnt feeling as raw about her passing as she had before. Therefore, T decided to change the subject, Master Nadro?


    Yes, Mistress T?


    How difficult is it to breach dimensional storages, disregarding their entrance?


    The man leaned back, considering for a long, long moment. I would say it is effectively impossible, if they have an entrance. Whatever keeps us from opening a second entrance into any dimensional storage seems absolute, even if we dont really understand why. For those that have had their entrance destroyed? He shrugged. Assuming you either have a way of keying into them, or catch them before they slip into the void, it is a fairly simpleif intensiveprocess. Why do you ask?


    I wanted to know how careful I should be about others finding their way in here.


    Ahh, now, that is a bit of a different question. I apologize for my misunderstanding. I understood breach as creating another entrance. If you wanted to simply step from zeme into a dimensional storage, you would just need a means of traversing the spatial dimension of magic. Then, there would be the remaining matter of enduring or oveing any locks on the space as a whole.


    When she looked confused, he continued.


    In here, for example, you can move almost anyone around. I think even I would have trouble resisting if you were truly set on shifting me.


    She felt a smile pull at her lips at the knowledge that she could move even him.


    Because of that, what would happen if I tried to stick just my hand in here, and you didnt want me inside?


    She nodded. I could move your hand away?


    That would be a bit harder, but you could move it back toward where I was entering from. The effect would be indistinguishable from a repulsive force, keeping meor anyone you didnt want insideout. That is the preferred method because it is easier to move items as a whole, rather than ripping them apart.


    She felt quite a bit better with that knowledge. It also lined up with what shed experienced in the Arcanends.


    The two of them chatted a bit longer, but both she and Master Nadro seemed to realize that T wasnt going to be making any more progress on her issues at the moment.


    Additionally, Master Nadro had his dinner with the Feshua family, and T was not about to make himte for that.


    They said goodbye and parted ways, T remaining in the sanctum, her thoughts heavy but not as heavy as they had been.


    * * *


    T was still thinking about what she and Master Nadro had discussed, even more than a full day after theyd parted ways.


    At the moment, she was sitting in a watch tower along the wall, a few hours into their night-shift.


    Her unit was all ying cards together to help pass the time.


    As each of them was eliminated, they would do their own practice and training until the next game started.


    Even so, T was incredibly grateful when her threefold sight detected creatures closing in on the walls.


    <em>These attacks are bing more frequent, t.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, this is the third one this week, by reports.-</em>


    <em>And by the match recordings. Those were some fun fights to watch.</em>


    <em>-True enough.-</em>


    <em>They would have been more fun to participate in</em>


    <em>-Yeah, but you do get to fight more often than most.-</em>


    She grunted internally, even as she looked closer at the iing threat before blinking in surprise.


    It was a pack of hocken.


    She would call them shadow wolves, but the texts made it clear that they werent in any way associated with the Pack.


    T and t had looked rather deeply into the wolves of the north after her encounter the month before.


    As to the hocken, they wererge, dark canines that looked to beposed of hairy shadows.


    Even what she could see of their insides with her threefold sight didnt look to be organs so much as more fuzzy shadows.


    They would almost have been cute, if not for the pure white, oddly glowing eyes.


    They were odd, because while they did look to be glowing, they cast no light around themselves.


    So, somewhat cute except for the eyes.


    Well, and the teeth.


    Their mouths in general didnt lend themselves to cuteness either.


    The jaws were drooling ck spittle around razor-like teeth, making the creatures look rabid in the worst way.


    Theres a pack of hocken iing. T spoke basically as soon as she noticed the creatures.


    Everyone turned over their cards, setting them down and standing up.


    Master Girt was the slowest to stand, and he stretched back. I assume youd like this one? Youre still working through some stuff, right?


    He smiled her way, but T could still see echoes of the pain within him.


    She hesitated.


    She really, <em>really</em> did want to punch something.


    To tear apart an enemy and destroy the tangible threat in her life.


    But Master Girt was hurting too, and his wound, while older, was deeper than hers.


    Almost to her own surprise, she shook her head, You know what? How about you take these? There are only eight that I can see, but they should still be a good fight.


    He gave her a long look, before a grin split his face. Really?


    She nodded.


    He looked around at the others, and they all nodded agreement as well. Alright, then!


    T could see Master Girt rxing, mentally settling into a ready state for theing sh, and the look in his eyes seemed less burdened than his features had in a while.


    <em>Ive been rather selfish, hoarding the fights that our unit has had, havent I?</em>


    <em>-I mean, you are the front-line fighter for the group, and they were always involved, acting in support, but yeah, you could have shared a bit more.-</em>


    <em>Help me remember to be better about that, alright?</em>


    <em>-Will do.-</em>


    Master Girt twisted, popping his back first one way, then the other. Lets do this.

 Chapter 389: A Big Step

    Chapter 389: A Big Step


    T stood on the wall of Alefast with all but one of her unit-mates. The dark night sky was filled with high, wispy clouds that did little to block the stars, despite the light pollution from the city at her back.


    <em>Though, that is mostly due to my vision, rather than the nature of the stars or sky.</em>


    Master Girt, alone, had dropped over the edge of the wall, treating the hardened earth and rock at the walls base as water, diving into it in order to disperse the energy of his fall.


    He surfaced a momentter, rising up to stand in the cleared area before the wall.


    The eight canine hocken slowed, spreading out in a wide arc toe at him from multiple angles.


    Honestly, T was rather curious how the man would handle the threats. She had sparred with him, and even seen him in several fights, but never on his own against so many non-human opponents.


    It would be enlightening.


    <em>Do we have good perspectives?</em>


    <em>-That we do. Im keeping a wide eye out as well, so we arent surprised by overfocusing.-</em>


    <em>Thank you.</em>


    With a ripple of magic, stone flowed up the mans legs, coating him from head to toe in as little time as it took to draw in a deep breath.


    Additionally, there was a fluctuation that T would have entirely missed without her threefold sight.


    Stone was lifting out of the ground between him and each of the hocken. The spacing was staggered to create an uneven ce of impact.


    The reason T wouldnt have seen those walls without her threefold sight was that Master Girt was actively manipting their properties, making the walls transparent to the point of being effectively invisible in the dim night time illumination.


    The hockens were predatory, but they were also usually stalkers. That alone made their attack on the walls unusual. Even so, they were clever opponents and not to be underestimated. Thankfully, Master Girt seemed to have taken that into ount.


    As one, the shadow canines charged forward.


    The first one mmed into one of Master Girts walls. Only then did T see the extent of what Master Girt had done.


    That first hocken skewered itself on invisible spikes, which even T hadnt been able to easily see.


    <em>-Id have noticed if we were closer.-</em>


    <em>Likely true, yes.</em>


    Additionally, the impact of the hocken broke something at the base of the wall, causing the whole base to splinter and the bulk of the wall to unbnce, quickly mming down and crushing the already perforated hocken.


    As that was happening, the other canines seemed to be insubstantial for brief bursts.


    Two passed through the randomly spaced walls, but two more phased back into physicality, halfway through.


    The melding of shadow-flesh and stone was instantly fatal.


    <em>One move, a properly prepared battlefield, and he killed three before even engaging.</em>


    <em>-And with less power than you put into even a single of your siege-orbs not that that is a fairparison.-</em>


    <em>True, though.</em>


    The remaining five hocken had either phased through, moved around, or jumped over the impediments in their way.


    Even so, because they were guessing more than anything, three of those five stumbled over or bounced off of the stone.


    Thest two made good their aggressive charge and mmed into Master Girt somehow melding with his stone armor.


    Instead of tearing into the rock, they shifted stoneward, while remainingtched onto Master Girts armor.


    Then, their magic caused them to do the opposite of phase out of existence.


    It was an odd way to think of it, but it was also the only thing that made sense to T. They seemed to solidify, growing more dense, and T immediately saw Master Girt shift under immensely increased weight.


    Then, from their stoneward perch, they began to rip into him.


    <em>Oh, rust. Thats terrifying.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, I now understand why these are actually considered a threat. Depending on the limits of their magic, they could slip into a city and wreak havoc while the defenses struggled to pin them down.-</em>


    <em>I would assume that a waning city has defenses oriented stone- and starward.</em>


    <em>-That is likely us Defenders, but there could be more, too.-</em>


    The shadow canines ability to move stoneward seemed to require them to be anchored to their prey, but it was still a powerful tool.


    Basically every normal Mage would be powerless to do anything once one hadtched onto him or her.


    Blessedly, the Defenders of a waning city were exceedingly outside the norm.


    Master Girts armor <em>rolled</em>, churning along the stoneward-starward axis.


    Like quicksandor an industrialized, magic driven, rolling crusherit seethed, pulling everything connected to it inward while tearing, mashing, and cutting.


    In less than a handful of seconds, the two hocken had been ground up entirely, their shadow-flesh sttering the ground around Master Girt.


    <em>-And inside his suit. The stter was rather indiscriminate in which direction it went.-</em>


    <em>That is hardly important. That was brutal.</em>


    Rusted gold, man. T muttered under her breath.


    Master Clevnis huffed augh. He is rather impressive.


    Regardless of his impressiveness, Master Girt had been injured by the hockens during their brief stinttched onto him.


    Even as his armor settled back down, its surface bing smooth once more, the three dyed canines were closing in, more carefully than their predecessors.


    He raised his fists into a fighting pose, but then, he vanished.


    Master Girt was simply gone from within his armor, the suit remained, but was now filled with stone.


    Even T and t lost sight of him for a moment.


    T caught movement in the ground. Whatever it was was <em>incredibly</em> insubstantial. She just saw a hint of it, but as she started focusing in, t grabbed her attention.


    He was stepping fully armored from one of the still standing invisible stone walls.


    Only then did the set hed left behind crumble into gravel, causing confusion among the pack of hocken.


    Master Girts armor was now directing light around him, making him all but impossible to see, even with Ts three-fold vision.


    <em>How did he get over there?</em> T was incredibly confused. She thought shed seen movement, but it hadnt been between where he started and where he got to.


    <em>-I </em>think<em> he dropped into the ground and moved over to the other stone?-</em>


    <em>We definitely should have seen him do that.</em>


    <em>-Ask himter?-</em>


    <em>Yeah. Ill do that.</em>


    The hocken let out yipping barks of confusion,municating with each other in clear attempts to narrow in on their suddenly missing prey.


    Things were once again fully under control, the battle going as Master Girt seemed to have nned.


    ts gasp was Ts only warning that her assessment had been incorrect.


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    A pair of hocken that they all had somehow missed spotting in their approach lunged out of the ground, snagging onto Master Girt.


    This timeinstead of attacking and dying in the same manner that their brethren hadthey seemed to pull the Refined stoneward for a quick bob before he returned to the superficial world, leaving the stone armor behind.


    T and her whole unit moved forward as one, but stopped when they heard Master Girtughing.


    When hed hit the dirt, he had pped the ground and made himself gauntlets wrought of stone. Those immediately began to churn and roil, obsidian like des shing in a maelstrom around his fists.


    He swept around himself, driving his foes back even as he regained his feet.


    The hocken seemingly couldnttch onto him directly, likely because of his aura and magical weight.


    They were powerful enough to have been able to gain a measure of supremacy on his armor, but his flesh and thin clothing were too close to him and too flimsy to give them purchase.


    Thus, they were forced back to the superficial and kept there for their continued assault.


    All five were circling Master Girt, then, giving half lunges or swipes in feinting attempts to cause the man in their midst to stumble or fail.


    T knew that Master Girt could have re-armored himself in an instant, but he seemed to have realized that such would be a disadvantage in this fight.


    More than that, however, his continuedugh was deep, like the bones of Zeme wereughing along with him.


    He was having a wonderful time.


    His blocks and strikes were a blur, every one of them leaving sttered shadow-flesh across the ground even if they didnt kill or maim the creatures impacted.


    It seemed like the melee hade to a stalemate, but Master Girt wasnt just focused on the melee.


    Less than two minutes after jumping off of the wall top, Master Girt straightened, stretching.


    The hocken hesitated. As they had learned to respect him as a fellow predator, his sudden seemingck of care made them wary of a trap.


    They were right to be wary.


    Even so, it didnt help.


    Transparent spikes mmed down across the entire battlefield, pin-cushioning all five remaining opponents at once.


    Clear! The Refined Defender called a momentter, the stones resonating around him, amplifying his promation.


    * * *


    The room in the wallbound tower was a far more boisterous ce after Master Girt returned to the unit.


    Everyone offered their congrattions, along with hearty ps and other gestures of approval. Additionally, food and drink were ordered in celebration.


    While some of the beverages were alcoholic, they weren''t magically so. Thus, such drinks were only chosen for taste, and even still, only by Mistress Vanga and Master Clevnis.


    Of course, Mistress Vanga patched up Master Girt before all of this. That was both protocol and good manners. The man had several bites taken out of him, as well as ragged gouges across his back and arms.


    Mistress Vanga fixed him up in no time at all.


    Once the healing was done, the celebration had gone on for a while, and things had finally settled down once more, T sat down beside the much more peaceful-seeming man. Do you feel any better?


    He nodded, a soft smile evident across his features. It is good to remind myself that I am capable of peace.


    She frowned. Im not sure I understand. What do you mean?


    Well, if you have no capacity for violence, you cannot be peaceful; you can only be harmless. No one wants to be harmless. He huffed augh at that.


    T leaned back as she processed the statement, feeling like something had hit her between the eyes.


    He grinned. Its alright if it sounds odd. Youll get it eventually. Youre still rather young.


    She smiled back, Thats true enough, yeah. Even so, Id like to understand.


    He nodded, considering. Its like being gentle. In my case, a weak man cannot be gentle, because gentleness is strength under control. If I am not capable of breaking a thing, I cant be gentle with it. I can do whatever I want, and it will be fine. It is only when I am capable of doing damage that I can be gentle.


    She understood that quite well, given her own prodigious strength. Oh! That makes sense. So, to <em>be</em> peaceful, you have to be capable of not being so.


    Exactly.


    Otherwise youre just irrelevant.


    He nodded again, happy. Exactly right.


    I think I can understand that.


    Im d. His smile shifted a bit as he continued, Thank you for giving me that fight, by the way. You could have taken it if you had wished.


    She shrugged. It seemed like you might have a need.


    It was helpful, yeah. His gaze became a bit distant, but his mind returned from whatever he was contemting a momentter.


    T wasnt sure if this was the right time to ask. Even so, after a moments hesitation, she decided to simply ask, How did you move into that stone wall, near the middle of the fight?


    He shrugged, Well, my rock and I are one. Why shouldnt I be able to do so?


    She opened her mouth to respond, but found herself without anything to say.


    He chuckled. If it helps with your understanding, it is anything but free. It is practically a teleport, but because its short enough range, it doesnt have the same restrictions or effects.


    Oh, so you have a limit on how far you can go?


    Well, yes and no. It has to be <em>my</em> rock, which limits my range in the way you are thinking, but what I meant is that, because I and my rock are one, I am always with my rock. Being here or there isnt really much of a difference. The distinction fades and returns, and I am where I wish to be.


    <em>-Through the void?-</em>


    <em>No, not void magic. It almost sounds like the opposite? He drives away the void between himself and the rock, and when it returns, it finds the cement of the two different?</em>


    <em>-Yeah, hes connecting through the void, not using void magic.-</em>


    <em>Oh then maybe?</em>


    Master Girt patted her on the shoulder. I can see that youve got a lot to think through. Just remember: Dont try to adopt anothers mindset as your own. Learn from everyone, blindly follow no one.


    She nodded, smiling. Thank you. I will remember that.


    * * *


    T fell into a pattern over theing weeks, spending time with her unit, Rane, and her reborn children.


    <em>-I still cant believe you let them call themselves that.-</em>


    <em>I made the mistake of objecting too strongly Kedva seems to find being contrary a form of affection.</em>


    <em>-I personally think you lost the battle when you started calling it rebirth.-</em>


    <em>Yeah you probably have a point there.</em>


    Regardless, she spent time with Adrill, Brandon, and Kedva, helping them further establish their new abilities. The two men decided to be inscribed, and they were digging into that potential.


    Kedva had declined for the moment. Though, there was obviously still time for her to change her mind.


    T didnt much care. She wasnt going to pay for it, and so the three had that limitation to consider as well.


    T also spent some time with Artia. Even so, the woman mainly did her learning from books, usually asking her husband or son for rifications on more esoteric things.


    With Rane, T observed an interesting progression in his mindset.


    He seemed to pay special attention whenever anyone called to her on the street, having recognized her for her work as a Defender.


    At first, she thought it was some oddly misced jealousy, but it quickly became evident that he felt something akin to being excluded when people woulde up to them and only address her.


    It was worse when he spent time with her and her unit, because they were all recognized all of them but him.


    That, coupled with quite a few other things, made T not surprised in the least when Rane confided something in her. At the time they were celebrating the turning of the year within her sanctum with her unit and their other acquaintances and friends.


    Im going to Refine as soon as I can. His countenance was firm, but T could tell that he still had some trepidation.


    That is a big step. Even so, she could see in his aura that he was almost precisely halfway between Fused and Refined, the color a rather happy, sunshine yellow.


    Still, before she could say more, Terry flickered to her shoulder, interrupting their conversation for a moment.


    Hey, Terry. Are you enjoying yourself?


    He trilled happily.


    Hed been entrusted with <em>far</em> more children than T would have expected, but apparently the various parents took Master Simon and Mistress Petra at their word when they testified to the avians trustworthiness. Most were friends of the Feshuas or that the Zats had made in the city.


    Her unit invited some aquintances as well, though.


    Terry had been ying various forms of tag, hide-and-seek, and simr games with more than a dozen children for thest couple of hours.


    Kit had really be <em>much</em> more resilient to the erosion of gates since she and T had soulbonded. Even so, they had agreed to move the celebration out of the sanctum for a few hours before returning for the countdown to midnight.


    T felt herself smile. She remembered celebrating the turning of the years with her family as a child, before things had turned bad, and she felt abination of nostalgia and excitement to be doing so once again.


    More than that, it was almost exactly one year since she had killed Be-thric.


    Without realizing or really knowing it, she had done the deed on the first day of the new year.


    <em>Has it really only been a year?</em>


    <em>-Yeah, but it seems like so much longer-</em>


    Rane greeted Terry before meeting her gaze once more and continuing their discussion, Refining is a big step, yeah, but Im ready. My preparatory scripts will be fully integrated in less than a week, and with a week further as buffer to ensure the predictions and scans arent mistaken, Ill be ready for the first session in less than two weeks.


    First session?


    Yes, He nodded, I know you did it in one session, but that is apparently much more dangerous. He grinned broadly at that. I suppose I should have expected that it would be, given that was the course of action you took.


    She grimaced slightly, remembering the damage the dasgannach and other things had done to her body. I didnt really have that much of a choice


    He waved that away, nodding his acknowledgement. Regardless, Ill be taking the tried and true route.


    Four sessions. She spoke softly, knowing that she could make it harder for him if she implied any sort of pain or extraordinary difficulty.


    Even though her statement was obviously not a question, he answered as if it had been, Yes, four sessions. There is a minimum of a week between sessions, but Ill be advised how long to wait after each. His smile spread. So, in the best case, Ill join you as a Refined in six weeks time.


    In the best case, yeah. She swallowed, feeling mildly awkward.


    He chuckled at that. Dont worry, T. I know that that case is <em>incredibly </em>unlikely. In some instances, it can take decades, though I cant find out why. Obviously, in the worst cases its never finished, but that shouldnt be a concern. Master Grediv has done everything he can to prepare me, after all.


    She nodded and gave him an encouraging smile. I know youll do great.


    * * *


    Less than two weekster, she stood outside the room in which Rane was Refining, holding back tears while listening to him scream.

 Chapter 390: Be Clear

    Chapter 390: Be Clear


    T stood outside the room in which Rane was Refining, holding back tears while listening to him scream.


    Her threefold sight gave her a perfect look at whaty beyond the heavily reinforced, iron-core door, but she almost wished that it didnt.


    Rane was sitting in a chairwell, actually he was strapped inholding an artifact style device that was sending pulses through his body from one hand to the other.


    The magic radiated out like a wave, sweeping down his arm before spreading out to wash over his entire body before recondensing to finish down the other arm.


    Then, the wave would go the other way.


    Each wave killed parts of Rane before building them back up, better than before on some undefinable level.


    He only wore well-fitted shorts, like those he had often sparred in.


    His inscriptions had been removed by a teleportation before the Refining began.


    The only stop theyd made between the teleportation tower and this room had been an inscriptionist to get the bare minimum work added back into his flesh, only those magics that were to help facilitate the process.


    ForceRanes swordwas in an iron box in the hallway beside T, along with Ranes storage device and all his other garments and gear.


    Rane had asked her to look after his things while he underwent the process.


    She would honor that request.


    Within the small room, he was unarmed, unarmored, without his magic, and alone.


    Thest was a good thing, too.


    He was somehow manifesting magics that hed never managed unassisted before. Master Grediv had warned of that possibility, because of the blessing that was more of a curse on their family line.


    Since Rane was restrained, he couldnt go berserk on what was harming him, so his magic wasshing out in his bodys stead.


    des of kic energy were scouring the room around him, seeming unable to target either his bonds, the chair, or the device his hands were bound to.


    In truth, the workings werent actually unassisted.


    T could see with her threefold sight that Rane was pulling on his connection with Force, aspect-mirroring the weapon''s magics as he unconsciously scoured the world around him.


    In such an enclosed space, T suspected that she would be hard pressed to avoid the attacks, and she didnt relish the idea of healing from such powerful blows.


    <em>Though my iron would disrupt the magics rather effectively, and my flesh is tough enough to back it up, and I could even have ayer of white steel underneath.</em>


    But no, it was better that she stayed outside.


    Being attacked by him wasnt the worst thing that could happen if she were inside.


    Worse would have been if he didnt attack her, if he retained enough cognition to recognize her standing there, and beg for her to help him, with word, or deed, or simple look.


    Even thinking of the possibility made her feel sick.


    The only other item in the well-reinforced room was the leather rod he held clenched between his teeth, seemingly entirely forgotten even as it kept him from biting his tongue or breaking his teeth, and it deadened his screams.


    Regardless, they were still easy for her to hear.


    <em>-T. You dont have to wait right outside the door.-</em>


    <em>I will be here for him.</em>


    <em>-Master Grediv is in a room down the hall, monitoring the situation. You could join him there.-</em><ol><li><em> Will. Not. Leave.</em></li></ol>


    Her eyes were squeezed tightly shut, and she hadnt noticed herself slipping to the halls floor, holding her own knees as the wall at her back shuddered under the erratic attacks thrown its way.


    To try to bear through the empathetic pain, she focused in on those manifestations of desperation and power.


    They were insanely precise, as Ranes ability to direct magic seemed to be actively improving along with this first purifying of his body. The gunk being removed had been a barrier between his body and his soul, thus his bonds. Now, as it was diminished, that connection was improving.


    That included Force.


    Even so, without inscriptions or specific conscious direction, the kic descked power.


    She had the feeling that he would be tearing through this entireplex if he were properly inscribed and focused on destruction.


    He was sweating out the ck muck that T was beginning to believe was the taint of reality itself. Though, if she was right, she still didnt know either the purpose or the mechanism.


    If reality itself was sentient, shed believe that it was doing its utmost to drag down those who had the capacity to wield void or magic, striving to keep them from realizing that potential.


    But it obviously wasnt sentient.


    It was a pir of existence and simply acted ording to naturalws.


    Ranes hoarse voice jarred her once again.


    She focused on him, on what was going on within him.


    The ck, tar-like taint wasing from every cell, and it would have quickly clogged his innards, killing him, if not for the prep-work of the pre-Refining inscriptions.


    T saw those magicsthe only inscriptions that had been added backdriving the nasty contaminants outward to be excreted through pores across his entire body.


    As T watched the ck move through him, she saw with fascination that it wasnt being directly affected by magic.


    Instead, the magic was empowering the bodys own self-cleansing and -repair biological functions. It was those mundane systems that were keeping him alive and removing the filth.


    And the process had only just begun.


    <em>-Be strong, T. He will need you soon enough.-</em>


    T grimaced, then shook her head, rising to her feet. <em>Rust this.</em>


    White steel flowed over her, followed by iron,pletely encasing her. She opened the box with Ranes gear and pressed the few pieces against her back, enfolding them under her iron.


    She would keep his gear close and safe.


    <em>-T? Is this a good idea?-</em>


    She tried the door, but it was locked, sealed tight until the procedure wasplete.


    <em>-T. Master Grediv said it would be dangerous for you to be in there.-</em>


    <em>But not for Rane.</em>


    <em>-...no.-</em>


    <em>Check.</em>


    There was a pause before t responded. <em>-There should be no danger to the one Refining if others are in the room. It isnt done due to the danger to those who might be present.-</em>


    <em>Good.</em> Her iron would disperse the magic carrying his kic energy, so even if it reflected back at him, it wouldnt be sharp, and that was currently the greatest danger, as he didnt have the precision to put too much energy into each strike.


    T manifested iron around her bloodstars that were stoneward of the door, having them reach toward the superficial andtch onto her.


    She took a step forward, leaning as if to fall through the door.


    With surprising difficulty, she pulled herself stoneward for a brief moment, then thrust herself back to the superficial.


    She stumbled slightly as she found herself in the room with Rane.


    des of power broke across her iron shell, staggering her back against the door.


    -<em>I have informed Master Grediv of what we are doing, so he doesnt over react.-</em>


    <em>Thank you.</em>


    T stepped to stand behind Rane, cing a hand on each shoulder.


    Kic des sent sparks flying off of her iron as the energy and the magic containing and directing it tried to go different directions.


    T opened just enough of a hole to speak through, filling her voice with power to ensure he would hear, regardless of his mental state.


    Rane. Im here.


    The raking attacks red to a crescendo, obliterating the walls, floor, and ceiling until they revealed heavy iron tes.


    There were only two ces that were untouched.


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    The ground under the chair, and the floor and wall directly behind T.


    The stone that had sequestered the iron was turned first to gravel, then to sand under the fury of the assault.


    Ts iron was effective, but not fully so, and she was nearly constantly healing minor cuts andcerations from strikes that made it through the front of her defenses.


    She didnt leave.


    After the nearly three minutes of increased intensity, the attacks lessened until they were infrequent.


    Ranes unconscious focus had shifted from his bond with Force to another.


    T watched that thread of reality grow before her eyes, the change easy to see with her enhanced eyes and threefold sight.


    While Ranes soulbond with Force still allowed him tosh out in pain and frustrated agony, he seemed to findfort in her hands on his shoulders, in his connection to her.


    * * *


    T sat beside Ranes bed in his family home as the sun slowly set outside, casting the room in a bloody hue.


    Master Grediv hadnt reprimanded her for her breach of protocol in entering the Refining chamber.


    He had even gone as far as informing her that she might have made the process easier on Rane, but regardless, she hadnt made it worse.


    That had been a relief.


    At the moment, Rane was covered in thick nkets andforters, artifact warmers tucked around him to help him stay warm as his body realigned with the changes it had undergone.


    There was an untouched mug of soup on his side table.


    It would have long-since been cold if it werent in a vessel that magically maintained the proper heat in the liquid within.


    Even so, the fitness for consumption of the food wasnt the issue.


    Rane simply hadnt been up for eating since he was brought to his room and tucked within his bed.


    Healers had checked on him every hour, and T knew that there was extensive magical monitoring set up within the space.


    Still, no one had been able to answer how long he would be in this state.


    His Refining had been an exceedingly difficult one, it seemed.


    Rane coughed weakly, not moving beyond the involuntary inward curling, followed by a pained rxing back into his prone position.


    Still, that was as much as shed seen from him in a few hours. She didnt want to wake him if he was asleep, but she still wanted to check in with him.


    She was supposed to be on night-shift tonight with her unit. She had nned to skip it, but before the procedure, Rane had been insistent that she go.


    She had nned on staying against his wishes, but if he was awake


    Rane?


    He groaned slightly, turning to look her way with hollow, weak eyes. He was barely cognizant.


    Do you want me to go? Youve slept most of the day, but you look to need more.


    There was obvious conflict behind his eyes, but finally he gave a slow, small nod.


    T slowly stood. That lined up with what hed said before, and she wasnt going to argue with him or ignore his wishes when he was in this state. Ill check back in on you tomorrow, alright?


    He gave a weak smile, but didnt respond further.


    Sleep, listen to the healers, eat if you can Im rambling. She smiled awkwardly. Ill go.


    He gave a small nod once again.


    Without a backward nce, T left the room, closing the door behind herself.


    When she turned toward the exit, she saw that Master Grediv wasing down the hall, another Archon beside him.


    When they saw her, the other Archon bowed to Master Grediv, then toward T before departing, going in the other direction.


    Master Grediv walked thest distance to her with measured steps, only speaking when he stopped a few paces from her, Mistress T. How is Rane doing?


    She took in a long breath before letting it out and shrugging. I I honestly dont know. I expect you and the Healers know better than I with all the monitoring going on here. From my perspective though?


    He nodded.


    My Refining was awful, but this seems to be hitting him much harder. Though, she still thought hers had been worse. Different people take injury differently, and he wasnt weathering this well.


    Master Grediv snorted an amusedugh. Nothing about you or your Refining were standard, Mistress T. Your body, your very soul, wasnt precisely human anymore, and while that added to the work that needed to be done, thus the process was more invasive, I believe it made things easier on you as well. Though, thats likeparing two womens childbirths. Heughed in a self deprecating manner. Let me advise you to <em>never</em> do that.


    <em>Yeah, of course you shouldnt do that.</em> T internally shook her head. <em>But I do think our peculiarities made our recovery smoother than it has been, or will be, for Rane.</em>


    <em>-That was Mistress Hollys opinion, too.-</em>


    T shrugged, You might be right.


    There is also that, for some unknown reason, the process is harder for some to endure than others. He had a hard cast to his features, but T wasnt left with any doubt as to why as the man continued, My own belovedhe swallowed to clear his throat. She couldnt face what it took to fully Refine.


    T felt her shoulders drop as her heart ached for the man.


    For a long time, I hated her for choosing to not finish the process. Too long He nced away, pausing for a moment before continuing, I hated her for choosing death to avoid a process that I <em>knew</em> was doable. I felt that I wasnt worth it for her.he gave a sad smilebut before the end I learned the truth. I learned it surely enough that I was able to spend thest of our time together without that burden. Some <em>cant</em> Refine, through no fault of their own. I do not believe Rane is one of those, but I have been wrong before. His voice was soft by the end.


    T swallowed. I have no experience beyond my own, but I know Rane. If he can do it, he will.


    I know, Mistress T. I know. The Paragons gaze was far-off for a moment before he seemed to pull himself out of days long passed. Forgive me. You said he was?


    Rane is trying to sleep, I think. He still hasnt said more than a handful of words since the sessionpleted.


    Master Grediv nodded. I have the healering back within the hour. He will be with Rane tonight, and he should have a full assessment of the situation by tomorrow, midday. I know you have duties to attend to tonight.


    T grimaced slightly, feeling awkward. Even so, she decided to press again. I hope I dont overstep?


    He motioned for her to continue.


    It would mean a lot to me, if you would keep me in the loop.


    I will consider it. Ive no doubt that Rane will tell you what he knows, when he knows it, but


    T found herself nodding, But he wont know the whole truth. He wont be told what his estimated chances are, or that every single session is universally considered to be harder than thest.


    Master Grediv nodded as well, I tried to push for him to wait for a decade or two, so that the magics could be embedded sufficiently to allow for a single-session Refining. He shook his head. There would have been greater risk from that session than this one, but less for the process as a whole.


    T felt herself smiling, He said no?


    Heughed at the very idea. Master Grediv gave her a serious look. He said that he wouldnt give you thatrge of a lead.


    She winced slightly, but she knew it was true.


    Even though they werent more than friends, they were close.


    They had traveled together, spent hours conversing, confiding their fears, exposing their failures, trusting one another.


    They tested themselves against the other, for the longest time only finding a truly worthy opponent in each other.


    But they were both still so young.


    Their paths could still so easily diverge without something tying them together.


    Better friends had drifted apart in less time than eternity.


    <em>Am I okay with that?</em>


    She didnt know the answer.


    She knew that she didnt need Rane, but she liked having him with her. She liked being with him. He sometimes chose into things that she found less than ideal, but when she went along with him, the events werent ever as bad as she had feared beforehand.


    Could she watch her friend age, trapped on the cusp of immortality while she persisted?


    Worse, could she leave him to degrade alone?


    <em>-You know, even if he never Refines, hed still live a </em>very<em> long time. He Fused incredibly young, unlike Master Gredivs wife or the Zats.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, he could have six thousand years.</em>


    <em>-It is almost as rare for a Fused to die from old age as it is for a Refined. It isnt old age that kills Fused, not most of the time. So, will it matter in the end?-</em>


    She didnt know.


    T and Master Grediv had been standing in silence for <em>almost</em> too long.


    It was he who broke the building pause, Do you wish to stay here? I can make arrangements for your duties to be covered.


    She decided that she wouldnt be diverted, only addressing the offer briefly, before returning to the crux of the moment, Thank you, but no. You didnt answer me. I would like to be kept informed. Are you willing?


    Master Grediv hesitated for another long moment. Finally, he gave a slow nod. If he chooses to share what he knows with you, I will make sure you know the rest. You have my promise.


    T felt as if a weight had been lifted from her. Thank you, Master Grediv.


    His eyes hardened for a moment. Do not mistake me, Mistress T.


    The normally almost non-existent power within a human city was suddenly reced by a growing maelstrom, the zeme tumultuous within the confined space of the wide hallway.


    If you betray the trust that that confidence represents, you will not have eternity to concern yourself with any longer. You have potential; you could be a boon for humanity; I am even rather fond of you; but none of that nor any other facet or fact will keep you in this world if you break faith on this issue. Am I clear?


    She swallowed. Her own aura was practically locked within her body, rebuffing the violently churning power around her but unable to extend further.


    She knew that she was weighty for a Refined, and she knew that that still didnt make her equal to a Paragon, but this was a stark reminder of what a true Paragonone ancient of power and willwas capable of.


    The barest edge of his hardened intent was sufficient to leave her feeling utterly at his mercy.


    She hated it, even if she understood it. I understand.


    He nodded, the magical power vanishing as quickly as it hade. Good.


    As he turned to go, however, T felt something within her snap.


    Her iron rolled out of her, flowing through the physical dimensions one increment both star- and stoneward of the hallway.


    In those separate dimensions she made ready, spreading it over the walls, ceiling and floor before closing off either side of the hallway.


    It even bled under Master Gredivs feet as he strode away from her.


    In the time it took him to walk a half-dozen paces, the iron was in ce, ready.


    He seemed to only notice it at thest moment, whirling to face her.


    Her iron pulled to the superficial, mming an iron box around them both, locking them inside, even while she left sufficient iron both star- and stoneward to close off those sides as well.


    Her powerher aurammed into the space, carried and amplified by the iron.


    Barely greenish, yellow power rang through the air like the tolling of a funeral bell.


    T found herself floating in the center of the iron-d hallway. The only light within was the gold-silver mixed illumination of her zing inscriptions and manifestations of power in existence itself, all underpinning a blood-red light zing forth from her eyes.


    Now, let <em>me </em>be clear.


    The air resonated along with her voice, only the three-foot sphere around the Paragonmaintained by his aura above the irondidnt respond to her will.


    I understand and approve of your protectiveness of Rane, and my respect and gratitude toward you goes deep. However...


    There was a pregnant pause before she continued.


    ...you will <em>never</em> speak to me in that way again. Am. I. Understood.


    Master Grediv was obviously on his guard, but he didnt seem truly concerned. Instead, he simply examined her for a long moment before giving a single nod. Understood.


    T dropped tond on her feet once more, her iron immediately bleeding stone- and starward vanishing from the hallway in a blink.


    From there, it streamed back into the space around Flow.


    The Paragons eyes stayed fixed on her, but she could somehow tell that he had swept his surroundings to ensure that it was now free of her influence, a bit of obvious tension bleeding away from him once that wasplete.


    They stood that way for a breath before she gave a tightlipped smile. Good.

 Chapter 391: Behind

    Chapter 391: Behind


    T nced back at Alefast as it faded into the distance behind her and her travelingpanions.


    Her unit-mates sat around her, Mistress Cerna piloting theirbined, flying contraption, as she usually did.


    The Paragon for this trip was a wisp of a woman, smaller even than T.


    Her hair was a blonde so light that it was almost silver.


    Her skin was smooth and unblemished, and she could have been anywhere between twenty-five and twenty thousand.


    <em>-Probably in the middle somewhere.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, I think Master Xeel is among the older Archons, and hes only a millennium and a half old.</em>


    <em>-...only.-</em>


    <em>Fair.</em>


    T might have assumed the Paragon was a slender dwarf, but she could see the evidence of the gate within the Paragon easily.


    It was funny that she left her aura open for just such verifications.


    She probably knew what she looked like.


    <em>Or she has an item like my through-spike.</em>


    <em>-That way lies paranoia. Anyone could have one.-</em>


    <em>Thats true, I suppose Are you really what you seem, t? Are you using a through spike to fool me?</em>


    The alternate interface huffed augh within Ts head. <em>-Fair.-</em>


    The group was heading to yet another cell that was near to breaching.


    There was something odd about this cell in particr, but no one could quite tell what it was.


    The general assessment was that it would either beughably easy for their unit, or theyd be calling in backup before even opening the door.


    Master Grediv had begun to rotate through the units, sending them out in something closer to an actual rotation instead of just sending out the smallest units again and again.


    The number of cells appearing this waning was truly extraordinary, and the various units had been theorizing as to why.


    While it was fun to theorize about a time when disaster was striking every week, with some new world-ending threat that the peoples of the day had to contend with, that just wasnt realistic.


    That theory was made less viable by the fact that cells decayed at somewhat random rates. So, the alignment of cell degradation had almost nothing to do with when the cells were originally created and filled in rtion to one another.


    A more realistic, popr notion was that the increase was the result of a cascading effect.


    Since there was already greater stress in the region, cells that might have endured another cycle or two wereing in need of maintenance sooner.


    It was a good theory, all things considered.


    Much better than Ts own original theory.


    <em>I still think reality is especially angry, and its breaking cells down more quickly as a tantrum, or an attempt to wear us down or something.</em>


    <em>-...You know how I feel about that theory.-</em>


    <em>That it lines up too well with the facts, except that it would require reality to have the ability to choose?</em>


    <em>-Precisely.-</em>


    <em>It could also be that one of the cells which is weakening contains a powerful Reality Mage, and he or she is the one choosing.</em>


    <em>-And thats why I dont dismiss your theory out of hand. Do you have any idea how maddening it is when you spout foolishness, then put reasonable backing behind it?-</em>


    T felt herself smile. <em>Considering that Im doing it to myself? I imagine it is pretty maddening.</em>


    tughed within Ts mind, purposely making the sound a bit manic.


    <em>I do hope that isnt the case, regardless. Id rather be wrong than have to sh with a Reality Mage. They sound less than great.</em>


    <em>-Agreed.-</em>


    T lifted her gaze up to Terry, where he perched in his usual ce, eyes closed, simply enjoying the wind streaming across him, ruffling his feathers.


    He was a wonderfulpanion.


    <em>Flockmate.</em> She corrected herself. <em>Friend and partner too.</em>


    Her gaze flicked back toward Alefast once more.


    It had been a week, and while Rane was up and moving around, some indefinable spark had gone from within him and was yet to return.


    He moved slowera bit more deliberatelyas if to make sure he didnt hurt himself.


    He spoke less and seemed to be thinking even more than usual. It was either that, or his mind was wandering without purpose.


    They hadnt specifically discussed the Refining session, yet, and she wasnt looking forward to that talk.


    Still, she had seen him everyday, but it had mainly consisted of her just being there while he recovered.


    As she herself had experienced, magical healing couldnt remove the worst of the symptoms.


    He had to adjust to the changes in his body, ande to grips with the weight of what hed been through mentally.


    She thought back to thest time theyd interacted before the Refining session, her birthday.


    It had been the day before his first session, and T had thoroughly enjoyed spending the day with him.


    She hadn''t expected anything, and he had masterfully surpassed her expectations.


    Several others had wished her happy birthday when shed seen them, her unit-mates included, but shed still elected to spend the day almost exclusively with him.


    Now, he was clearly not in his usual state of mind. After all, he had apparently refused to see Master Grediv.


    Rane was understandably upset with how differently the session had gone than his expectations.


    Master Grediv wasnt too put out by the rejection. He had apparently be rather used to that reaction from those he led to this stage long ago.


    Regardless, T and Rane also hadnt discussed her being in the room with him for most of it. Though, he had said a simple thank you on several asions.


    Honestly, T would be fine if they never discussed it beyond that.


    -<em>Yes, because then you wouldnt have to think about all of the implications.-</em>


    T didnt acknowledge her alternate interfacesment.


    <em>-Of course not, because ignoring yourself works out so well.-</em>


    Instead, she turned her attention back to the diminutive Paragon, who was watching her with curiosity.


    When their eyes met, the woman smiled. Mistress T, correct?


    T nodded.


    The Paragon lifted from the tform and shifted to sit beside T, all without her limbs or muscles moving.


    T saw the womans aura expand a bit, but then all the magic was worked within that shroud.


    <em>Thats a clever application. Still, she must be using </em>incredibly<em> little power to be able to hide it so thoroughly.</em>


    <em>-Or shes just that good.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, that could be it.</em>


    So, you''re the new one in the unit?


    I am, Mistress Sigyn, at least rtively. Its been more than half a year, now. After a moments hesitation, she asked, What magic did you use to move over here?


    Mistress Sigyn tilted her head to the side. Just now?


    Yes.


    Oh, its rather boring, really.


    It wasnt.


    Apparently, she was skilled at manipting temperature differentials.


    If youe across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    The Paragon tried to exin how that would allow her to float about, but T was so out of her depth, that the discussion didntst too long.


    Even so, Mistress Sigyn didnt leave. Instead, she returned to what seemed to have been her purpose ining over. So, how are you settling in? This is your first waning as well, correct?


    It is, yes. T was a bit hesitant. This should be freely avable information, but she supposed it was just small-talk.


    Its a g pile of a waning to be your first, ridiculously full of attacks and cells in need of repair. She huffed, shaking her head. Ive already been involved in more cells this waning than any full cycle, previously.


    Ts eyebrows rose, but Master Clevnis chuckled, interjecting, Mistress Sigyn, youve helped with two cells this waning, <em>including</em> the one we are going to now.


    The woman nodded solemnly. Exactly. I am being pulled from my research <em>again,</em> and the waning has just begun. Something is odd, let me tell you.


    T found herself nodding. She was cautiously curious to get a Paragons perspective, and Mistress Sigyn seemed more talkative than most. What do you think it is?


    Mistress Sigyn sighed, shaking her head. I study gics, Mistress T, not cells. She hesitated. Well, I study cells, but not this kind of cell. She chuckled. I also dont study reality, or wanings, oranything that would give me meaningful insight into what is going on. I only know enough to strengthen and reseal a cell at need.


    T cocked her head, frowning. So why are you in a waning city?


    Im trying to determine if the people who either chose to stay in waning citiesor those who choose toe to themhave any gic simrities.


    T sat for a long moment, considering. Huh. I had never thought of that. If they did, wouldnt that go against free will, though?


    Mistress Sigyn leaned forward, a bit excited. Does the fact that we get hungry go against free will?


    T slowly shook her head. No, we can choose what we eat, and even choose to ignore our hunger if we want to.


    Exactly. The Paragons face was lit with excitement.


    She thought she understood. I see. So, you''re looking for predispositions?


    Generally, yes. There is the issue that, with free will involved, no data-set can be clean. There will always be those who ovee their own nature toe and those without the means to leave. I am still in the gathering phase of my research. I only have six full wanings of data so far.


    How do you gather it? T found herself leaning forward in interest.


    Oh, thats easy. A part of entering any city is tacit agreement to being monitored by the citys magics. Part of that is verifying no pathogens are spreading through the popce. Because some can modify peoples gic code, the city keeps a single record of each upant and checks it against their current gics every week or so. The information is generally only essible to the city magics, and it used to be obliterated when a person died, or when that city was abandoned. I have campaigned to have the data kept. She grimaced. Theyve only agreed to do so for waning cities for the time being.


    T was a bit conflicted. That seems invasive?


    Oh, it is, and it isnt. It costs them nothing either immediately or in the long run, but it is very real information about them. Mistress Sigyn grimaced. It would be nice if it was ck and white, but like most things, it isnt.


    T was silent as she took in a long, deep breath. Im not sure how to feel about that?


    Oh? Do you get permission from everyone around you before you Archive your every thought? From what Ive observed you can see past physical barriers, do you censor out that information from what you store?


    It was Ts turn to grimace. I suppose not


    Information is power. Mistress Sigyn nodded. Power is what we need to keep humanity alive.


    T found herself agreeing with that sentiment, even if it felt odd to do so. It helped that she knew that all Archons had to have at least some altruism, even if it manifested differently for different individuals.


    <em>Mistresses to mind.</em> That woman was interesting.


    <em>-Yeah, what was going on with thatdy?-</em>


    <em>I dont know. I suppose she could have been an arcane? But I dont think so. I dont think we checked for a gate when we saw her even if she did offer to trade Archon stars</em>


    Have you learned anything interesting? Anything helpful?


    Mistress Sigyn nodded enthusiastically, I have actually, though not in line with my direction of research, not yet. I was able to find several markers that corrted with degenerative diseases of several varieties. We are in process of getting the findings confirmed, and if they are, we will likely initiate a program to remove the defective genes.


    T paled, thinking of only one easy way to remove genes from a poption. How?


    Voluntary gene alteration. Mistress Sigyn gave T a knowing nce. We dont kill people, Mistress T. Not to improve the poption. That would be counterproductive at the very least and immoral in the extreme.


    Oh right. T chuckled awkwardly. Do people actually go for that?


    The Paragon shrugged. We usually pay people to undergo the procedure, after building it into an artifact style device. It takes less than a minute, and is generally rtively painless.


    That sounds like it could be abused


    Yes and no. It has to be voluntarily agreed to. I could probably enact the changes forcibly, but an artifact cant. Itcks the magical weight. She smiled. Just as your body is better at resisting outside magics than the air around us, our gics have proven to be even more resilient.


    T tilted her head to the side, considering. Huh, I didnt know that. Is it because it is more us than even our bodies? She frowned. Then, wouldnt our minds be more resilient?


    Mistress Sigyn smiled. I think our minds are designed to take input and make changes, but our gics generally dont change, some exceptions aside. By their very nature gics are less malleable than our minds, and I think that factors in.


    Fascinating.


    The two women continued their discussion well into the morning as they streaked through the sky, just below the speed of magical resonance in the ambient zeme.


    * * *


    Huh. T examined the writing on the wall alongside some of herpanions. Is this real?


    Mistress Sigyn was grinning broadly. I think it is, and it is a wee surprise.


    Master Clevnis had already sat off to one side, slowly slicing small bits off of a rock that he found. He was clearly sad that the cell was likely tock excitement.


    Mistress Vanga was reading her te, and Master Girt was reading a book.


    Master Limmestare and Mistress Cerna were beside T and Mistress Sigyn.


    Terry had returned to Kit when theydnded in a forest clearing beside the cliff-face.


    The cell didnt even have an antechamber.


    Those who created it would clearly have been happy if <em>anyone</em> were to open it in the future.


    A simple message was written beside the entrance to the cell.


    T was quite happy that she was able to <em>incredibly</em> easily identify the entrance with her threefold sight. Unfortunately, it didnt really show her much. All that she could see was just something that looked much like a reality thread connecting an otherwise innocuous point on the wall to something in between increments.


    <em>Something in the void.</em>


    -<em>It does make sense to have the cells segregated off within the void.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, it also lines up with what weve learned about them as well.</em>


    The message read: If the world has survived, may what is contained within help you to rebuild and endure.


    Its a doomsday vault? Mistress Vanga was looking to Mistress Sigyn. Ive heard of those, but I havent encountered one myself.


    The basic concept was rather obvious.


    There was <em>something</em> that made people of the time fear that the world would end in one way or another in the future.


    Unfortunately, whatever it was couldnt be contained in a cell, so the people of the time took the opposite approach: They tried to send resources into the future to help when they would be needed most.


    Thus, they gathered what they thought would be needed if the feared disaster came about and put them in a safe ce, to hopefully help society restart, or remember, or just survive.


    Some were even from the time before the unification ofnguage, often even from before the Archive, or at least from a time when the Archive wasnt widely usedor not used in a way that would allow a legacy to be easily left.


    <em>Or the information was left in the sections that were deleted when some fools tried to breach them.</em>


    Regardless, given the information provided, this should be a very easy process.


    They would open the cell and determine if the items within were of use. Then, they would either seal it back upnoting what was in it in case there was ever needor empty it and recover the cell-core, if one had been used and if it was recoverable.


    Generally, the existence of a cell-coreor theck thereofwould be a heavy factor in whether or not the cell was maintained.


    Cell-cores were the items crafted so that humanity could still ce something in a cell at need if theycked a Mage capable of doing so with their own magics.


    Currently, T understood that humanity had four Archons who were capable of such, but they might not be nearby when the need was identified.


    Also, the number was only that high due to Archons being so long lived.


    Thus, every city had at least one or two cell-cores for such emergencies.


    T had yet to see one and had only heard them referred to obliquely.


    That is, until now.


    So what does a cell-core look like? Mistress Sigyn looked her way, and T shrugged, continuing, If were going to be seeing if this cell has one, Id like to know what it should look like.


    The Paragon quirked a smile. Well, for starters, it wont be in the cell. It will be on the reverse side of reality, anchoring the cell while helping to hold it suspended in the most robust, physical void we know of.


    There was a <em>lot</em> to unpack in that statement, but one thing stood out, causing Ts eyes to widen. The Doman-Imithe?


    Mistress Sigyn nodded. That is as good a name as any for it. The arcanes, for all their faults, do have a depth and history of knowledge that shouldnt be ignored.


    T tilted her head to the side. Should I go look?


    Her whole unit stopped, turning to look at her even as the Paragon shifted to face her fully. You can go there? On purpose?


    T shrugged. I believe so. I havent done so under my own power, not yet, but I have been considering doing so at some point. If it would be helpful, I can try now.


    The Paragon grimaced, rubbing between her eyebrows. Mistress T Why do I dont


    The woman rubbed at her temples, clearly a bit at a loss.


    Mistress Cerna walked over, next to Mistress Sigyn. Mistress T goes about things in odd ways at times, but she does get the job done. If she says she believes she can, then most likely she can.


    The Paragon sighed, looking up. Oh, I dont doubt her word. Im just a bit bbergasted. Most Refined arent even aware of the Doman-Imithe, and she can most likely go there, directly.


    T cleared her throat. <em>She</em> is right here, and Im still waiting for your answer.


    Mistress Sigyn nodded slowly. My apologies. I was simply sorting through the possible implications. She seemed to consider. Can you get back?


    Absolutely. I am much more confident about getting back than getting there.


    Another moment passed, the Mistress Sigyn nodded again. Alright. It will be a quicker, easier way to get a definitive answer than the methods I have at my disposal.


    T smiled, taking Kit off her belt and tossing her against a nk wall, where she grew into a door into the sanctum.


    <em>There, a nice anchor if nothing else.</em>


    <em>-Good thinking. It would have been rather embarrassing if we got stuck.-</em>


    <em>Your confidence is inspiring.</em>


    <em>-I am exactly as confident as you are.-</em>


    T sighed. <em>Yeah. I figured that was the case.</em>


    <em>-Shall we explore the great behind?-</em>


    T hesitated, stifling augh and almost choking.


    <em>-Hmmm I was going for the great beyond but the Doman-Imithe is behind Zeme. Thebination did not work as well as I thought it would.-</em>


    <em>But it definitely made me smile.</em>


    <em>-There is that.-</em>


    <em>To the great behind!</em> T sent mirth to t within her mind.


    -<em>I really, </em>really<em> dont want us calling it thatplease?-</em>


    <em>Alright. </em>T took in a deep breath and let it out, nodding once. Lets do this.

 New Covers and Deals!

    New Covers and Deals!


    Hello!


    At longst, we have new covers. Some of you may have seen them already, but this is the announcement post!


    <strong>Deals:</strong>


    As a special deal starting now, these six books are on a $0.99 sale (each) for the next 96 hours.


    If you haven''t picked them up before, now is a great time!


    The way Amazon works, they will be recalcting the "poprity" of the books with the new covers, so if we can get a good number of purchases and/or downloads via Kindle Unlimited, we can get Amazon''s algorithms to make us front and center.


    I am working to make the first three audiobooks free to those with Audible memberships, but that hasn''t gone through yet. I will keep you apprised.


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    <strong>Request:</strong>


    If you''ve been waiting for a good time to buy the epub, please do it now!


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    Now, a few housekeeping things.


    No Post Day, March:


    Friday, March 1st, is the ''no post day'' for March.


    Audiobooks:


    Book 7 is nearly half done with the narrator and lots of people are having fun listening in with Tess Irondale''s live narration on her discord. Take a look into that, if you''re at all interested!


    End of Book 10!


    Archons and Transcendents are nearing the end of book 10! It''s looking like 5-7 chapters till that point.


    Regards,


    J.L.Mullins

 Chapter 392: Cell-Core?

    Chapter 392: Cell-Core?


    T was not sure she could get into the Doman-Imithe, but she had a good idea of how it <em>might</em> work, and shed been doing experiments around simr things for a while now, even if she hadnt actually done it yet.


    <em>Alright, lets do this!</em>


    First, she wrapped herself in void.


    To do this, she funneled more power into the void magic aspects of her elk leathers along with aspect-mirroring the void magics from Flow onto them as well. With force of will, she impressed the power into the defensive magics that created a full shell around her, vaguely in the form of armor but without the gaps.


    She was very careful to <em>not</em> add iron into the mix.


    She still had her inscriptionspletely contained within iron, but she didnt sheath her skin, her elk leathers, or her defenses in it.


    She did <em>not</em> want to use her existence-shield.


    In truth, what she was doing was probably overkill.


    She <em>thought</em> she would only need void magic over her gloves, but it was better to be safe than sorry.


    As soon as she was sheathed in void magicthe direct counter to realityshe felt the slight disconnect from the physical world around her.


    <em>So far, so good.</em>


    The Paragon and her unit-mates stood at a distance, but she could tell they were all intently focused on her, and on what she was doing.


    T ignored them as her threefold sight focused in on the in between spaces, between increments stoneward of superficial. She was looking to where shed seen hints of the Doman-Imithe in the past.


    Then, with an effort of will, she upped the gravitational attraction between her hand and what she found.


    After less than a minute of positively <em>dumping</em> power into the working, she felt a small <em>pop</em> and her hand vanished, followed by her forearm, as they were pulled stoneward.


    To those looking, it seemed like her arm was being tucked behind some invisible object, not able to be seen from any angle.


    Ts hand felt odd.


    She had never purposely separated her body along the stone-starward axis before. Shed only moved as a whole, and it was decidedly odd.


    <em>The arcane, Lisa, made it look effortless.</em> That was likely due to his particr magics or makeup, however.


    As to her, her biology was <em>not</em> designed to function like this.


    Her blood flow shouldnt have worked at these oblique angles, but her pervasive inscriptions and natural magics kept everything in the paths that it should go, despite the odd misalignment.


    T felt the void magic around her fingers brush up against something.


    She seized it and <em>pulled.</em>


    Her muscles were not really positioned or designed to pull along the star- stoneward axis, but she managed regardless, feeling the odd tweaking as she used more leverage than directly applied strength.


    When her hand felt like it <em>popped</em> back to the superficial, she had a fistful of void.


    With her other hand, she grabbed on, and then pulled it apart, just as she had when making a door to get out of the Doman-Imithe so long ago.


    <em>No, that was only barely more than a year ago.</em>


    <em>-Some years are longer than others.-</em>


    T considered that, then felt herself smile. <em>You know what? I think that youre right.</em>


    She pushed her own void magic outward, using her auraalong with her hands wrapped in void magic. Together, she used thebination to leverage the captured bit of true voidand the hole that shed created through itwide, feeling like she was creating a bridge more than a door.


    On the superficial level, it was definitely door-like, but to her threefold sight? It was an intricatelytticed bridge that vanished into between the superficial and the increment just stoneward thereof.


    Through the door, she saw the Doman-Imithe.


    <em>Yeah, that looks right.</em>


    -<em>Well done! Theory and reality meet.-</em>


    T stepped back and smiled. There! I knew I could do it.


    An instant after she let go of the thing, it snapped closed, vanishing from the superficial and winking out of existence.


    <em>Rust</em>


    She sighed. Well, that was rusting foolish of me.


    <em>It didnt closest time.</em>


    She turned to regard the Paragon and her unit-mates, and saw them all wearing various expressions of interest, surprise, or incredulity. Mistress Sigyns right eye was twitching.


    So? I think I can stabilize it. Is that what you were looking for?


    The Paragon seemed to take a calming breath, then nodded. Yes, I believe that was the Doman-Imithe I sensed through the doorway. Are you I apologize to pry into your magics, but was that void magic?


    T nodded. It was.


    Mistress Sigyn nodded in return but more slowly. Alright. I suppose the information about you did mention void magic. Would you be able to check for the cell-core?


    T hesitated a moment. What am I looking for, exactly? Things in the Doman-Imithe arent exactly conducive to just finding something out of ce. She chuckled to relieve some nervousness. Because if thats what Im looking for, the answer will be: Me.


    That gets augh from the Paragon. Fair. She grins. You are looking for a wooden sphere, bound in an iron alloy that will feel like a mirrored tube to magic. It should seem to be pulling in your power more than reflecting it, but honestly, if youre testing for that minute of detail, you should just let us know that youve found it.


    Wood? T considered, then grinned, realizing the most likely reason. Is it Master Jevins work?


    Mistress Sigyn shrugged. Most likely. He makes most of the cell-cores we use these days, and the others who do so use his schema, so they use wood as well. He really has the most amazing grasp on so many types of magic.


    Her admiration for the man was clear.


    Honestly, T couldnt me her. Even if she didnt know Master Jevins age, she knew that he had done a <em>lot</em> for humanity in various ways.


    She smiled, nodding. Alright. Thats what Ill look for then.


    She turned back to the rockface before her.


    This time the process of forcing herself to reach stoneward was well, not precisely easier, but it was smoother.


    Simpler?


    Yeah, it was simpler because she knew better what to expect.


    Even so, it was still incredibly odd even if she recognized all the feelings from the process a few minutes earlier.


    The door opened, and T saw the Doman-Imithe through the opening once again.


    <em>Yup, very Doman-Imithe-like.</em>


    <em>-Exactly as expected.-</em>


    T nodded to herself. <em>Well, I dont want to stand here, holding it, and Id rather have the door open after I step through. So, Ill stabilize it, then Oh right</em>


    <em>-Yeah I just remembered that too.-</em>


    T turned her head toward her unit-mates. There might be some reality beastsing our way. They seem to not like doors connected to the Doman-Imithe.


    Master Clevnis nodded, turning to look outward. Understood.


    The others simrly oriented their perspectives outward in various directions.


    T smiled, d that she could trust theirpetence.


    Still, she should give them some assurance, If one manages to close the door, I should be able to reopen it from the other side. They seem to be more stable when opened from the other side


    She considered, reorienting on the door she was still actively holding open. <em>Maybe?</em>


    <em>-Yeah, that would make sense. These are less damaging from this side, like pushing aside des of grass to see the soil instead of digging up from below.</em>


    She still needed to hold it open.


    <em>-Iron?-</em>


    <em>Iron.</em>


    She pulled iron to the superficial, wrapping it around the entirety of the inside of the doorway, creating a sort of U-channel, bracketing the magical portal, half in zeme half in the Doman-Imithe.


    <em>There.</em> She released her hold on the portal, and it settled into the iron channel, swaying and osciting a bit, making her extremely d for the shape that shed chosen.


    Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the vition.


    At that point, she also began to get some odd feelings from the thing, likely information from her threefold sight, that she couldnt interpret any other way.


    The strongest was an overpowering gratefulness that shed opened the door against the cliff. Something <em>deep</em> inside her said she should <em>not</em> look at the backside.


    Mistress Sigyn sighed, a mix of gratitude and resignation. Well, your profile did say void and iron. I just didnt quite incorporate the truth of that. She chuckled. More the fool, me.


    T nodded nomittally, and gave the woman a smile before she stepped through the portal. Be back shortly!


    As she put her foot down on the other side, a truth smacked her in the face.


    She knew that shed been looking into the Doman-Imithe through the door, but she hadnt actually processed anything that she could see through that opening.


    It was as if her mind utterly filtered out whatever it had been.


    Now, without the void-door as a medium, her mind was exposed to the truth of the backside of Zeme.


    The broken world.


    The Doman-Imithe.


    The door behind her was gone, even if she could still feel it.


    Something was very <em>not </em>right.


    <em>Well, rust</em>


    * * *


    T took in her surroundings as quickly as she was able.


    There werent any smilers in immediate evidence, but the thing before her might have eaten them.


    <em>No, theres no might about it. It definitely did.</em>


    A single eye floated about a hundred yards from her, while also seeming within easy reach.


    It wasnt physical in the sense of being an eyeball.


    Instead, it looked like a malevolent toddler had tried to draw the eyes of a kind parent in sparkles and good feelings.


    <em>-That made absolutely no sense.-</em>


    <em>Am I wrong?</em>


    <em>-...no, and that disturbs me a little bit.-</em>


    As to how an eye could eat smilers?


    T didnt understand that either, but the way it regarded her made her feel like it would have eaten her immediately, if shed been a smiler.


    Because she wasnt one, it didnt much want to bother with her, at least not at the moment.


    <em>You know, I think I might actively hate the Doman-Imithe.</em>


    <em>-We dont have the greatest experiences here, no.-</em>


    Aside from the horrifying, yet non-threatening creature of the not-void, her surroundings were just close enough to mundane to set her on edge.


    She stood on a vast t in of rock.


    She assumed that it was just her mental manifestation of the near region of the Doman-Imithe, and if she moved even a few hundred feet it would radically change, but that didnt change the fact that it was what it looked like.


    There wasnt a pebble or bit of dust on the smooth surface.


    As shed already noticed, the doorway back to Zeme seemed to be gone, even though she could actively feel it.


    There was no magic in the area at all, making Doman-Imithe not contain even a hint of the namesake of Zeme.


    Oh, and the rock upon which she stood was the deep, glowing purple of a clear blue sky.


    Ts mind hurt.


    This was so much worse than when shed seen this without magic.


    Now, she could perceive so much more of the nonsensical existence, and her brain was striving to understand it.


    So, instead of being a pedestrian walking into a wall that she couldnt see, her higher capacity mind was an entire caravan mming into the same wall.


    It was awful.


    Her eyes flicked back to the murder-eye, and she realized something, the information seeming inexplicablying to her from her threefold sight.


    <em>Oh Im looking at it from the inside.</em>


    She felt herself whimper involuntarily, despite herself.


    As if responding to her thoughts, the world inverted, the stone momentarily bing the ck of a summer sunrise.


    <em>Stop</em> T staggered slightly, but when she looked up, she was standing on in gray rock, and the eye was now a t ck.


    <em>-Oh, wow. This is so much more awful experiencing it in person than in your memories.-</em>


    She swallowed reflexively.


    <em>I was I was in its mouth?</em>


    <em>-Like a baby, it decided to taste us before deciding what we were.-</em>


    An eye with an oral fixation


    She felt like the synapses within her brain weremitting frantic suicide in a wholly inadequate attempt to escape what she was experiencing.


    On a positive note, the doorway to Zeme was behind her once again, and she almost stepped through it just to be free of this ce.


    <em>No, I need to see if</em>


    And it was as easy as that.


    There it was.


    The cell-core she hade to try to find was in easy view.


    It was a wooden sphere the size of her head with hexagons of metal iid into its surface.


    The cell-core was directly below the now-iconographic, darkly glowing eye.


    The eye was still watching her.


    She could somehow tell that it was still trying to decide what to do with her.


    <em>Something</em> brushed against her on a conceptual level, passing through the iron on her skin as if there was nothing there, and she felt all of her magics invert for a horrifying moment.


    t was gone.


    Ts physical enhancements became restrictions that locked her in ce, rendered her insensate, and utterlysensorilycut off from the world around her.


    It was like the worst eye-blink to ever ur, and when she came back, her magics working properly again, she felt like shed been partially obliterated.


    It was obvious to her how that had happened. The dissolution magics of endingberries were enacted throughout her being for that brief instant of inversion.


    Only the fact that she was Refined had kept her from puffing into dust in that singr blink of magic-reversal.


    In a show of stalwart strength, she then dropped to her knees and vomited everywhere, the inversion of those magics taking a moment longer to take effect.


    <em>Yeah, goodbye!</em>


    She rolled backward through the door, pulling her iron away and letting the portal m shut.


    Copsing to the ground, she continued to heave. Though this heaving was blessedly due to a passing shortness of breath rather than more vomiting.


    She managed to rasp out, Oh, that was awful.


    Mistress Vanga was at her side before shed fully reoriented. You are fully healed, but your entire body feels strained and stressed.


    T just vaguely nodded, still rather out of sorts. Yeah. But, hey! T tried to put a positive spin on things, Mission aplished. The cell-core was there.


    Mistress Sigyns voice came to her. Oh! Good. Well, we should look into the cell, but if theres a cell-core, were most likely going to want to extract it. That will return the cell to Zeme and we can gather up the contents.


    <em>What?</em>


    <em>-What?-</em>


    <em>Did she say?</em>


    <em>-...yes. She most definitely said extract.-</em>


    T groaned. <em>Lovely.</em>


    * * *


    T marveled, walking into the incredibly dry, cold air of the cell and ncing around. Is this a seed vault?


    Mistress Cerna was nearby, simrly looking around as she answered. This section at least seems to be.


    What did they think would happen to Zeme? Some of thesebels are for things like wildflowers of various kinds. Did they expect all nt-life would be obliterated, somehow?


    Im not sure.


    Master Girt grunted. At least seeds make some sort of sense. Why are there a whole bunch of tiny metal bowls with corrugated edges and rubberized insides?


    Mistress Vanga called from the other side. I have bags of... sand? I have both ck and white sand She hesitated. I think its ground and powdered, crystalized bone? What the rust?


    Master Clevnis added what he was finding as well. Here is some armor and weapons. It looks like they chose armor types that could be fitted to the wearer after construction. Its well made stuff, and it seems to have held up well in the cold and dry.


    Master Limmestare sighed. I suppose were all just spouting off what we see as we add the inventory to the Archive? Yes? Yes. I have stacked reels of various metal wire, like those used to help set magics for new cities. Honestly, this looks like <em>miles</em> of metal.


    They continued through the incredibly well stocked vault.


    It made a sort of sense that it was so well stocked.


    If the people of the time believed that they were helping to equip what was left of society after a horrific disaster, and they believed it to the point of using a cell-core, then they werent going to be scrimping on the contents.


    T found herself frowning. Wait a moment.


    She felt everyone orient on her.


    If we expect the cell-cores to be wooden, because of Master Jevin Does that mean that hes older than this cell? Than any of the cells with cell-cores?


    Mistress Sigyn grunted. Oh! Great question. I was a bit unclear earlier. Master Jevin makes them now, and he has perfected their design, but the original cell-coresat least from what we knowwere made by the Mezzannis. Master Jevin simply adapted the design when humanity was running low.


    <em>Mezzannis wait. Thats the Leshkin.</em>


    <em>-Yeah.-</em>


    The Leshkin made them?


    No, Mistress T, the people who fell and <em>became</em> the Leshkin made the earliest known versions of them. That is why theyve basically always been wood. The magics involved seem to work best in the medium as well, even if we arent sure why. She chuckled. Well, Im not. Its not something thats ever really piqued my interest.


    T grunted. Thats fair.


    They proceeded through the space, recording everything they came across.


    Thad t scan the entirety of the contents with their threefold sight and record it in the first five minutes, only wandering over to the most interesting things after that.


    At the fifteen minute mark, T got to watch Master Clevnis have the realization.


    He nced her way with an evident frown.


    At that moment, shed beenzily looking through a box filled with sets of ying cards. They had different suits than she was used to, and she thought they even had different numbers of suits as well as different number of cards in each suit.


    <em>What sort of games could you y with these?</em>


    Master Clevnis opened his mouth, possibly to reprimand her, but then he looked like hed been struck between the eyes. Oh well, thats on me.


    Mistress Cerna seemed to have heard him, because she nced at her husband, then followed his gaze to T.


    The smallest frown creased her brows then she blinked a couple of times before sighing. Mistress T?


    Yes, Mistress Cerna?


    Are you already done?


    Yes, Mistress.


    The woman grunted. We can stop. Mistress T has already cataloged the space.


    After a moments pause, Master Girt began to chuckle, and Master Limmestare gave T a dirty look.


    Mistress Vanga seemed vaguely disappointed in T when their eyes met, but T decided it had been worth it.


    It was pretty funny, and no one had gotten hurt. She also hadnt let it go on for very long.


    Moreover, they all should have remembered that she was capable of it.


    Mistress Sigyn seemed a bit confused, and Mistress Cerna filled her in. Mistress T has recently improved her perception in a manner that allows her to see around and inside physical obstructions. I believe that she has already itemized the entire vaults contents. It was likely trivial for her.


    T cleared her throat. Trivial? No. Honestly, it was a bit difficult. There is a <em>lot</em> in here.


    -<em>Ive moved the information into the appropriate, shared portion of the Archive.-</em>


    You should all be able to see the itemization.


    -<em>Youre wee.-</em>


    <em>Thank you, t.</em>


    <em>-Anytime.- </em>The alternate interface was dismissive of her gratitude, but T still felt ts contentment.


    So? Mistress Cerna asked as the group gathered together. What is the n?


    Mistress Sigyn nodded to the question. Great question. Ive granted the relevant information to those who have to make the choice. I expect theyll want to look over the inventory list, and then get back to us with a decision. We should expect it to take up to two days for us to get a response.


    Master Limmestare nodded once before turning toward the section that T knew held books. Before he could get far, however, Mistress Cerna called him back. We should leave the cell until then. We dont want to contaminate or degrade anything in here.


    Master Limmestare hesitated, then his shoulders slumped, and he spun, striding toward the exits, the others following shortly after.

 Chapter 393: Divided into Two

    Chapter 393: Divided into Two


    T hopped in ce, trying to settle her nerves.


    <em>Its fine. Im fine.</em>


    <em>-T. Youre not in a good way about this. They can extract the core another way.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, but then they wont let me drain the dimensionality with Kit. They need the whole thing as a lever to get the cell-core out.</em>


    <em>-...so, youre doing this for Kit?- </em>ts tone made it clear that she knew the answer already.


    <em>Not at all. Im doing this for me. </em>I<em> want Kit to be bigger.</em>


    t chuckled within her head. <em>-Fine.-</em>


    Flow was waiting off to the side. The weapon wouldnt help in the Doman-Imithe, and she didnt want to risk it.


    A bit more than two days had passed since her unit had opened the cell and itemized the contents.


    The powers that be had gotten back to them through Mistress Sigyn, and it was agreed that they should recover the cell-core.


    <em>Perfect.</em>


    Shed informed them about the murder-eye, and the response was simple.


    She was not to engage with it. If that made retrieving the core impossible for her, she was to leave it for an extraction team.


    <em>Because challenging my capability is going to get me to leave it be.</em>


    <em>-They were probably serious, T.-</em>


    <em>Oh, I know they were. That makes it worse. </em>She gilded herself. She could do this.


    First, though, she needed to empty the cell.


    The door was open beside her.


    T formed Kit as a pouch in her hand before she tossed Kit through the open door, against the wall of the short tunnel.


    <em>-You know, you could have just made her appear there with your aura.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, but it feels more natural this way. Ill adjust eventually.</em>


    <em>-Alright.-</em>


    T smiled toward her newest bond. Thats ours, now. Have fun, Kit.


    There was a re of power as Kit drew even more deeply upon her gate, exceeding even her entire throughput and forcing her to use voidchannels to make up the needed flow. When the needed inflow was satisfied, the dimensional storage grew across the opening, and T lost sight of the cell.


    To be utterly clear, all her perspectives and threefold sight lost view of the cell.


    Previously, she had been able to see a tunnel leading away from the superficial into the void, and then shed been able to see the entirety of the cell wedged in there.


    It had looked odd, but once the door was open, she <em>had </em>been able to see it.


    Now, it wasobscured?


    As Kits inherent magic tore the space apart, eating the dimensionality along with everything inside it, she had a hard time seeing it clearly.


    With each metaphorical bite, T felt a resonance with her soul.


    <em>I am the ravenous, jealous devourer.</em>


    The cell was hers, and she was devouring it through Kit, who was just an extension of her soul, now.


    It felt good.


    Each bit of dimensionality added to Kit felt like Ts own body, mind, will, and magic were loosening, getting more room to move somehow.


    This had been the right choice.


    This was the only real path forward.


    ssically, when a cell-core was recovered, the sequestered space had reentered Zeme to interesting results.


    This waywith T taking what was hersthe cell-core could be taken, and the sheer forces exerted on reality would be minimized.


    Apparently, at the time of a cells creation or destruction, dimensionality of the whole region could be thrown off, as it was usually a circle that was removed or added.


    In the case of cell creation, the area was left such that walking along the right path could allow a traveler to move vastly more than expected.


    But that was the positive side.


    On the negative, as Zeme normalized with the new reality, physical integrity of basically everything in the area could bepromised as it waspressed or expanded in vain attempts to fix the disjointment.


    Things usually calmed down in a couple of days, but they were apparently always chaotic days.


    Kit solved the problem quite nicely, and T got to expand her sanctum.


    In less than ten minutes, all that was left was a one-foot deep passage to nowhere, and a satisfied seeming pouch sitting on the ground, waiting.


    Ts soul felt somehow raw, even as she knew that her aura was a bit more green than before.


    <em>Well, alright then. Leaning into who I am can help.</em>


    <em>-Not a lot, but yeah. At least a tenth of a percent.-</em>


    More than that, T felt like Kit had been resonating with her gate in an odd way.


    Shed need to check with Master Simon.


    Even so, thest barrier to her unpleasant task had been removed.


    It was time.


    She hopped up and down again, shaking her arms unnecessarily.


    Mistress Cerna stepped up next to her. We can find another way, Mistress T.


    T shook her head. No, no. Ill Ill make it work. She chuckled wryly. Ive just made the regr way impossible, so


    The woman gave her a long look before nodding. Is there anything that I can do?


    Thank you, but no. T smiled. With a small flexing of will, Kit vanished, losing all physical manifestation.


    <em>There, I remembered this time.</em>


    <em>-Still feels weird though?-</em>


    <em>Oh, so much so.</em>


    T refocused on the task at hand then reached forward, coating herself in void and pulling open the door directly beside the entrance to the cell.


    Before anchoring it with ironlet alone stepping throughT focused on the view through the doorway.


    <em>Thats the Doman-Imithe alright.</em>


    <em>-...its happening again.-</em>


    <em>yeah. </em>That did not bode well.


    She needed to verify before actually putting herself at that things mercy once again.


    T and t worked together to focus closer, adding power to their perception and enhancement scripts.


    Finally, the actual view through the door snapped into focus.


    The eye was sitting right at the threshold, looking out at her.


    A happy kitten waiting for their owner to die so that they could feast.


    Gah!


    T stumbled backward, the portal snapping shut.


    Her unit took a step toward her, but she held up her hand. She had forcibly grabbed onto her physiological and emotional reactions and locked them under her strict control Wait.


    They pulled to a stop, even as she stood back straight.


    That was my mistake. I opened a door at the same location as before, after my magical signature was all over the very thing Im after.


    <em>The murder-eye was waiting What about?</em>


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    <em>-Oh! Thats an interesting idea.-</em>


    <em>Yeah.</em>


    She smiled. I think I have an idea to try once more.


    Mistress Sigyn gave her a calcting look. Are you sure?


    T nodded. I am.


    Alright, but I will be right beside you. Im not risking a broken oneing through.


    She turned to regard the Paragon. A broken one?


    The woman grimaced. Mythologically, the sovereigns of the Doman-Imithe, but their power isnt sufficient to be worthy of that title.


    They would be too weak to be considered Sovereign, unless they are broken somehow. You believe they are Sovereigns whose power is broken?


    Exactly. Regardless, they are even more hated by Reality than gated humans. They <em>shouldnt</em> be able toe through, but they also should be vanishingly rare, so finding one by chance shouldnt be possible.


    T found herself nodding. I think I can understand that.


    She took a few long, steadying breaths.


    <em>Here we go. I dont have to enter, I just have to snatch the cell-core from what seems to be a fallen god of sorts.</em>


    <em>-Dont be overly dramatic. Sovereigns arent gods.-</em>


    <em>fine.</em>


    This time, when she reached through, she grabbed a different part of the void, much closer to the open cell beside her.


    In fact, she tried to grab onto a part of the void in order to ess the Doman-Imithe directly above the cell-core.


    In theory, a cell was suspended in the infinite void between its locked entrance in Zeme and an anchor of some kind in the Doman-Imithe.


    Therefore, grabbing closer to the cell <em>should </em>bring her closer to the cell-core, which was the fabricated anchor for this cell.


    The theory was sound; she just hoped that it worked that way in practice.


    She carefully pulled open the way, but just enough to see through.


    Then, she forced her perspective and mind toprehend what she was seeing through the window into the Doman-Imithe.


    What she beheld was the backside of an omnidirectional being.


    It was the remnants of pure water, after it had evaporated.


    It was the sound of the inhale after a bodysst breath.


    It was nothing.


    T reacted on pure instinct, iron mming around her, engaging her existence shield.


    It turned toward her and existence burned.


    She felt incredible pressure against her existence shield as whatever sort of attack it was somehow struck straight at her gate, even though the opening that she held was at eye level.


    The defense dimpled inward, the pressure forcing the defense back into her flesh.


    The flesh that was exposed to the ongoing attack simply ceased.


    To say it had ceased to exist, would imply that it vanished.


    Instead, T felt like that part of her had never existed at all.


    The attack was aiming for her gate.


    T threw the entirety of her ability behind her existence shield, trying to force the attack to at least deflect downward.


    At the same time, T held onto the void with her fingers as she jerked back and twisted, orienting the portal to face downward.


    It was now a hole in the air, oriented horizontally so that she could look through to see the ground within the Doman-Imithe.


    The attack continued, seemingly self-sustaining.


    Worse, by their reactionsor really theirck thereofher unit couldnt seem to sense the attack at all. They likely couldnt tell much about what was happening inrge part due to her defenses.


    Even so, she wasnt going to fail in her mission.


    Through the hole she could see it. It was there, just as shed hoped.


    The cell-core, resting on the ground, just waiting for her to grab it.


    The attack finished passing all the way through her, having pushed her existence shield so far that it contacted itself at the small of her back.


    Shed seeded in deflecting it downward after all.


    <em>Small blessings.</em>


    Then, like a soap bubble that was pinched, her existence shield formed two, distinct sections.


    Her own magics instantly bing an incredible issue.


    Her existence had been divided into two, fully separate sections.


    The upper was being maintained by her gate, her will, and her actions.


    The lower had nothing any more.


    Thus, as it was cut off from all other existence, it simply vanished.


    Truthfully, it was likely somewhere, but she would never find it.


    In fact, it might even still be attached to her, physically, but she doubted it.


    She dropped, her upper body now unsupported.


    Thankfully, she kept hold of the void-door into the Doman-Imithe and as she fell, she moved her hands downward and outward to make the opening big enough for the core.


    With barely any cognizance remaining, T mmed the mobile portal against the ground, even as she let it snap shut.


    Shed done it. Her n had worked.


    The cell-core rested on the ground, having risen up through the portal as T mmed the void-opening down.


    Even so, there had been a cost.


    She couldnt hear anything except an indistinct buzzing. Her mirrored perceptions were broken, her inscriptions disruptedbut blessedly not reversedleaving her with only her mundane eyes.


    She couldnt draw breath. That wasrgely due to the fact that she didnt have intact lungs.


    The odd, resonant silence was rified by its absence.


    She had no heartbeat.


    She had no heart.


    She was gone below the middle of her chest, the scooping cut swept downward from about halfway through her torso to end at her low back.


    Everything below that was simply gone.


    Her blood was seeping out slowly, no heart to pump it free, no inscriptions to hold it back.


    In a moment of utter rity as she bnced on her two hands, one on either side of her prizethe cell-coreshe knew she was in a <em>very</em> bad way.


    <em>I havent healed. Im not going to be healing.</em>


    That had to be why.


    It made no sense, but her body was both connected to her, and irreconcbly severed.


    The separate existence was still trying to connect to her, somehow.


    The dust was still billowing upward from her hands mming down.


    Her existence defense was gone, and her unit-mates were taking in collective gasps of horror, even while some of them were already moving.


    Even so, T pushed backward, called Flow to her, and cut herself through the chest, just above the line where she could no longer feel.


    This cut was clean through, taking a much shorter path through her body.


    <em>Something</em> fell away, and Ts magic suddenly snapped back into existence, but her inscriptions were gone along with most of her reserves.


    Even so, her natural magics and those remaining on her upper body were enough that she began to regrow.


    Her blood no longer leaked free as it was now properly contained, and so that helped as well.


    Ts bones grew back first, then her circtory and nervous systems grew over top.


    Finally, her organs, muscles, and all the rest came into being, slowly forming like msses on a cold morning.


    Her elk leathers followed at the pace of her skin, slowly creeping downward to cover her nakedness.


    T felt Mistress Sigyns magic manifest on the part of Ts body that shed cut off and whatever else was attached to it.


    The magic felt like hearing about a citys funeral pyre.


    It was an unquestionably powerful and cleansing power, but she didnt feel even a wisp of heat herself.


    <em>-Can you hear me? T!-</em>


    <em>I hear you.</em> T pulled in a shuddering gasp as her diaphragm spasmed, causing her to cough.


    <em>-Oh by the stars, I thought Id somehow lost you.-</em>


    <em>How are you here? How were you here?</em>


    <em>-Your magic was entirely interconnected. It couldnt be divided, so it</em><em>was</em><em>I was</em><em>in a sort of half-state. Only your severing allowed your magic to snap back to your gate. I I saw everything, T.-</em> t shuddered within Ts head. <em>-Please dont go back to the Doman-Imithe? Not until we understand it better and are better prepared?-</em>


    T nodded sluggishly, continuing to breathe in the sweet air around her, keeping herself from truly thinking about what had just happened. Keeping herself from thinking about her current state.


    Mistress Vanga was beside her, talking to her, but T was still not properly processing the sound.


    T saw concerned faces, and felt waves of magic from the healer and the Paragon pass through her before everyone seemed to rx a bit.


    <em>-Youre clear of outside influences.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, I understood that. Whats going on? Why did I not start to recover until I cut off more?</em>


    <em>-Theres a dissonance in our magic. It is passing. We lost a chunk of iron, and it was voided. That added stress.-</em>


    <em>Great.</em>


    <em>-We should recover quickly enough I think. We wont be convalescing beside Rane. -</em>


    That made T let out a coughingugh.


    Mistress Vanga leaned in. Mistress T?


    Oh, hey. T responded weakly. I can hear you now.


    The healer smiled. Wee back.


    Happy to be here, T forced out.


    Mistress Vanga looked incredibly concerned. Im doing my best to feed your own magics. I think your greatest issue isck of reserves, and Im filling the role of those as well as adding in my own healing as appropriate. Keep in mind, I cant refill them, our magics work too differently for that. Youll have to refill on your own.


    Thank you regardless. T gave a small smile, all that she could manage. She just felt <em>so</em> tired.


    Youve lost all your lower inscriptions, Mistress T. The upper portions are sparking against theck. Your natural magics are bearing the load for the moment, but we need to get you reinscribed as quickly as possible. The healer nced down. Well, as soon as you have a lower body to reinscribe.


    T groaned but nodded. Ill be up for it in another minute or two maybe ten.


    Mistress Vanga nodded as well. She knew about Ts reinscriber within Kit. If youre up for it, while youre taking that time, youll want to see this.


    T nodded, and Mistress Vanga lifted her up so she that could see.


    Ts gaze immediately fell on the cells door.


    <em>What is going on?</em>


    Her desire to see more clearly kickstarted her will, and her threefold sight reignited.


    The superficial was <em>weird.</em>


    It reminded her ufortably of the Doman-Imithe, even if only barely.


    The small tunnelwhich was all that Kit had left of the cellwas now a true feature of the cliff, the stone around it having been shoved aside dimensionally.


    Even so, there was nothing maintaining that dimensional alteration, and so the stone was trying to move back into the space it should have upied.


    It obviously couldnt.


    Thankfully, most of the inserted space had been air, and that moved away easily, but what happens when three feet of space was shoved in between two sections of stone that are covalently bound?


    <em>Is that even the right term?</em>


    <em>-Does it matter?-</em>


    It didnt.


    Regardless, T was able to <em>watch</em> reality force order back into ce.


    t Archived the whole process.


    Throughout, her body was slowly rebuilt with abination of her own natural magics, and Mistress Vangas healing, as well as her ability to add to Ts stores.


    Finally, T was fully grown, ready to get up.


    Thank you, Mistress Vanga. I think Im feeling better.


    The healer smiled her way before helping her stand. Lets get you into your sanctum for reinscription, then. In case it wasnt obvious, well be taking you off of active duty when we get back to Alefast.


    T grunted. Yeah thats fair.

 Chapter 394: A Misunderstanding

    Chapter 394: A Misunderstanding


    T still felt off, but from what Master Grediv, Mistress Vanga, and another Paragon that Master Grediv had brought in to examine her had said, that was to be expected.


    Not that they had experience with someone severing the existence-connection to their own body.


    If thats actually what happened.


    T couldnt quite tell if that is what had caused her current state, or if the murder-eyes attackwhatever it had beenhad caused her current state.


    Effectively, if her own defense was at fault, her existence had been altered so that shecked a body below the bottom of her sternum.


    Even so, her gics and magic had still had the imprint map of her lower body, so it had been rebuilt quite effectively without much difficulty.


    She wasnt quite sure how or why the natural magics associated with her lower body had been maintained, but her theorywhich Mistress Vanga and Master Grediv thought was reasonablewas that her natural magics were tied more to her soul than to her body, and her gate hadnt been touched by the existence magics.


    She really hoped that it never would be.


    Regardless, her body had been regrown, and yet, the result still felt off to her.


    Even after being reinscribed within Kit, nothing felt quite right.


    <em>Its like picking up a new weapon of a type Im not used to.</em>


    <em>-Thats a great analogy!-</em>


    <em>I know youre trying to be positive, but this whole situation is rather awful.</em>


    <em>-I know-</em>


    At the moment, T was walking through the Alefast market with Kedva, supervising as the girl continued to get used to her magically enhanced physiology.


    This day, specifically, they were having Kedva get used to moving around and acting normally as the power faded, and she slowly moved back to being equivalent to a mundane human.


    Test, T said calmly at the appropriate interval.


    Kedva pulled out a series of needles, moving from the dull equivalent of a thin rod toward a construct needle that would easily pierce even Ts reinforced skin.


    They would have used one of Soles needles for the top of the range, but they were just too long for them to be practical to use in that way.


    Each of the needles that they did use was mounted in a spring loaded device so that theyd exert the same pressure, almost regardless of how hard the girl pushed.


    That was necessary given Kedvas falling strength. Otherwise, it would have been almost impossible to get good results.


    With practiced efficiency, Kedva tested down the line on one of her fingers, until she got to a needle that easily pierced her skin.


    She told T which one worked, but mainly, Kedva was trying to integrate into her own mind how she, herself, felt with the level of enhancement she still had.


    The needle testplete, Kedva moved to the next test.


    The fifth weight, please. Kedva held out her hand, and T formed iron across the girls palm and added weight up to the requested amount.


    Kedva moved it around a bit, then sighed.


    No, this is too light. The seventh, please.


    T added more weight, and Kedva moved it about once more, then nodded. This is the right amount.


    T pulled back the iron and smiled. Alright, then. Last test.


    Kedva then colored slightly even as she stepped a few yards away to get a bit of space. She then squatted down before springing upward.


    It was a respectable leap, but still within human expectation, even if on the upper end.


    Shended, blushing more deeply. Thats embarrassing Couldnt we have done this somewhere more private?


    A few people had nced their way, but no one was staring.


    Though, there was a young man who did seem to be paying them a bit more interest than average.


    He wasnt focused on T, so he likely hadnt recognized her as a defender.


    T shook her head, her eyes on Kedva. You cant let others watching affect what you are capable of, but regardless, check.


    Fine. She nced at her finger. Needle-prick healed.


    T nodded, Now, the tests are done. Is anyone staring at you?


    Kedva turned to look around, shaking her head. No, I She stopped, frowning. Wait, I think he might be?


    As if on cue, T felt a bit of magic,that was at once oddly familiar and incredibly hard to sense.


    <em>What?</em>


    She spun around, wanting to see with her eyes what her threefold sight had already found.


    The young-looking man who had been staring at Kedva stood a dozen yards away, hand lifted toward them.


    He was an Archon, but only Bound. Even so, as his magic crystalized, T took note of what type it was.


    <em>Void and kic? At the same time?</em>


    T was thrown off because, more than anything, the working he enacted was like a marriage between part of her magic and part of Ranes. It felt like some of the shes that they had when sparring, and that caused an odd dissonance within her brain.


    That dissonancecoupled with her current physical stateslowed her reactions even as void-ck spheres shot across the distance between them, dozens of times faster than an arrow fired from a warbow.


    T still reacted more than quickly enough to harden her aura around herself, forbidding it from impacting or affecting her.


    The issue was that the small ball had actually been targeting Kedva, who was a couple of paces from T at the moment.


    <em>Rust!</em>


    Kedva, to her credit, tried to shift out of the way, but the projectile tracked the minute movement she was able to make before it arrived.


    T was already reaching after it with her will and aura, aiming to negate any effects that she could, but the void-orb jerked to a stop less than two feet from the girl, seeming to extend its power over Kedva, utterly freezing her in ce.


    Less than a second after the magic had taken effect, Ts aura crushed the Archons authority over his own working and snuffed the magic out.


    In that moment of control before she destroyed it, she got the final pieces to understand.


    <em>A void of kic energy? Drawing in all such energy from rtive movement within a non-centered volume? Is that how void is supposed to work?</em>


    <em>-Im Im not sure?-</em>


    Would that work to bypass magical defenses?


    Maybe, but if nothing else, it was an effective non lethal fight-ender when acting against anyone magically lighter than the Archon who used it.


    Speaking of which, the man was striding their way with confident assurance.


    He reached into a pocket of his Mages robes, and T immediately focused on what he was reaching for, using some of her magical weight to push perception closer to him, through the weak interference of his aura.


    Only then did she see what he was grabbing.


    <em>Oh well, this is awkward.</em>


    The man pulled out a badge of office, and T could see it clearly then with her own eyes.


    Mage Hunter. This man was a Mage Hunter.


    Seven more void-orbs were already spinning around him as he stopped before Kedva, ignoring T for the moment.


    Do not break your restraints, arcane, or I will have to be more forceful. Your disguise is cleverly done, but you failed to hide your magic properly.


    Kedva immediately looked to T, utterly confused.


    The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    The poor girl probably didnt even know what a Mage Hunter was. There would probably have never been cause for her to interact with one, even obliquely. Even so, there was concern and not a small amount of trepidation in her voice, Mistress T?


    That was all she got out before the orbs began to exert a pulling magic on her once again, somehow locking her in ce just as before.


    <em>Yeah, enough of that.</em>


    Ts aura rolled outward, toward the man even as he was turning to look her way.


    <em>At least he was clever enough to lock her down before investigating what she was looking at and who she was talking to.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, rather than turning his back on the person hes trying to arrest.-</em>


    Who He cut off as he saw T, seeming to recognize her.


    At the same moment, her aura flowed over the Mage Hunter and Kedva both, beforepressing inward and fully epassing the magic draining Kedva of her kic energy but not disrupting it just yet.


    He seemed to put together the name that Kedva had said, Mistress T? The defender?


    He was clearly confused, and T wanted to end the misunderstanding. Yes, Master Hunter. That young woman is not an arcane. I am releasing her restraints once again.


    Only then did T fully break the workings, and Kedva drew in a gasping breath once again.


    Since she was more focused on him, T saw <em>something</em> transfer to the man from the broken magics, and he moved to the side with blinding speed, even to her enhanced vision.


    She was still easily able to track him, but it was surprisingly fast for a Bound. <em>Almost as fast as Rane could dodge at that level of advancements. He must have absorbed the kic energy in order to use it himself. Nice.</em>


    The man didnt attack again, simply having used the captured energy to reposition himself so that he wasnt between the two unknowns. His new cement allowed him to see them both at the same time.


    A full two dozen void-orbs sprang into being around him, his inscriptions zing with power as he seemed to activate his magics to a greater extent. Even so, he didnt attack.


    <em>He has good restraint in unexpected situations.</em>


    I am Mage Hunter Tai, Mistress T. I have notified central dispatch. Please use the moments before my backup arrives to exin yourself.


    <em>Well, lets see if we can de-escte things.</em>


    <em>-Hurrah! Our greatest strength.-</em>


    T sighed, feeling her body groan at even the mild strain put on it by her use of aura control up to this point.


    <em>Shouldnt using my aura not have anything to do with my body?</em>


    <em>-All soulbound, all interconnected.-</em>


    <em>Fine.</em>


    <em>-But regardless, youre tensing yourself and physically shifting while remaining ready to react. I believe that that is whats causing your soreness.-</em>


    <em>You could have led with that.</em>


    T decided to ignore t for the moment. As I said, Master Tai, I am Mistress T. She squared up to the Mage Hunter. This is Kedva, a gateless human.


    Master Tai shook his head, huffing augh, And Im the Chief Defender. I felt powering from her. I <em>still</em> feel power leaking from her. Gateless dont have magic. She does. She even broke my restraints on her.


    Well, yes and no.


    He frowned. Exin.


    Yes, she has magic. No, she didnt break your workings, I did.


    You did? Why dont I sense your aura?


    T frowned. That was actually a good question. She wanted to answer something to the effect of you werent looking for it? but she could tell that wouldnt be well received. Well, Im trying to not use it aggressively. Id hate to affect the passersby.


    Master Tai grunted at that. That might be the case, but it still doesnt answer the question: You im she is a gateless with magic. Do you also have a flying pig?


    He chuckled to himself at the seeming absurdity of Ts im. Then, as both women gave him incredulousbordering on offendedlooks, he seemed to rey what hed just said.


    Oh! I dont mean that you are a pig or like a pig or He hesitated. Wait, no. Im not apologizing for a perfectly fine analogy. Certainly not to an arcane.


    Kedva raised her hand and quietly said, Not an arcane.


    He looked to her and said, So you say.


    At the same time, T shook her head and said, Thats not helping, Kedva.


    Master Tai narrowed his eyes as he looked back toward T. You are not being very convincing.


    Im not trying to convince you? She felt genuinely puzzled. I am telling you the truth. Your belief of such doesnt factor into it.


    Heughed, then tried to hide his smile. Thats thats actually fair.


    T sighed. Master Tai, I am exhausted. This woman is human, and her magic is known by Master Grediv. Im sure that once


    At that moment, six Archons appeared around them in a circle, magics primed for battle.


    There was a momentary pulse of power, then one of the figures stepped forward. Mistress T?


    Yes? It took Ts tired mind a moment to recognize one of the other Defender unit leaders. Oh! Master Akra. I didnt know you worked in internal security.


    Only asionally. He smiled. So, whats this about an arcane in the city?


    She sighed. It is just a misunderstanding.


    Master Tai cleared his throat, bowing deeply. Master Akra, I am the one who made the call into dispatch.


    Master Akra looked between them, then sighed. You think Mistress T is involved in an arcaneing into the city? Really?


    Master Tai shook his head. I make no such usation. I was simply calling in backup because <em>that </em>arcane is within the city.


    He pointed to Kedva, and she leaned to the side, as if to dodge the usation.


    Master Tai followed her movement, continuing to track her easily.


    She moved a bit faster, but he obviously still kept pointing at her.


    T huffed augh, before barking, Kedva!


    The girl froze.


    Stop that. It makes you look ridiculous.


    Yes, Mistress T. Kedva blushed, looking down in obvious embarrassment.


    T turned back to Master Akra. Shes human, a gateless.


    Master Tai scoffed. And Im the Chief defender.


    She gave him an incredulous look. You know, thats the exact same snarky example you gavest time.


    He shrugged, unapologetic. Im responding to the same ridiculous im, and it is still just as true.


    She sighed, returning her attention to Master Akra. This is going in circles.


    Master Akra nodded in agreement. So it seems. Master Tai, why do you believe that this young woman is an arcane?


    Shes using magic. You can see it as well as I. Shes almost out now, but its still obvious.


    Oh! T turned to Kedva. Test.


    The girlwho had almost recovered from her most recent embarrassmentcolored, looking at the ring of Archons around them. Now?


    Now. We need this datapoint. Hes right, youre almost out.


    Carefully, Kedva pulled out the needle apparatus.


    Master Tai was obviously suspicious, tensing at the action, but since Master Akra didnt seem to mind, Master Tai didnt say anything further.


    Kedva and T went through the three simple tests while the Archons watched.


    Once the girl hadnded from a rather average vertical leap, she gave T a questioning look.


    T nodded and smiled. Good, that should be all we need until you''repletely dry.


    Yes, Mistress T.


    Master Akra cleared his throat. Now, care to exin?


    Shes using magic that she absorbed.


    Like an arcane? The unit leader asked, frowning.


    T shrugged, Yes.


    Ha! Master Tai grinned broadly. See? Shes an arcane.


    She sighed. No, shes not. You said <em>like</em> an arcane. Shes a gateless human who is learning to use magic <em>like </em>an arcane would. We have this registered with the city.


    Master Akra nodded, pulling out a te, finding the indicated documentation and reading it to confirm before handing the te over to Master Tai.


    The young Mage Hunter just stared at the construct after reading the document. Well Rust.


    Master Akra took the te back, turning to Kedva. Youngdy, while you are not required to carry documentation, it might be prudent to do so for everyones sake. I apologize if this makes you feel singled out. Once again, this is not a requirement, only my personal suggestion.


    Kedva bowed deeply. I appreciate the advice, Master Akra. I will consider it.


    He nodded. If you choose to go that route, get it certified so that no one thinks you faked it.


    Understood.


    Master Akra turned back to T, bowing. Mistress T, a pleasure as always.


    She bowed in return. Master Akra. Are we still on for our lesson next week?


    Assuming youre up for it, absolutely. Your physical recovery shouldnt interfere with aura training. Even so, let me know if youd like some more time for any reason, even if simply to be with your friend during his recovery. His eyes flicked to Master Tai before he continued, clearly guarding his words. The experience he went through is uniquely difficult. Im sure hell be d for your presence whenever youre able.


    She smiled gratefully. I will let you know, thank you.


    After a short exchange with Master Tai, the other Archons departed.


    There was a moment of awkward silence before Master Tai bowed to both of the women. My apologies for my mistake, Mistresses.


    T smiled. Its understandable. I appreciate your vignce, along with your restraint. It would have been frustrating if youd tried to harm her.


    Kedva cleared her throat. Umm I dont think that Im a Mistress?


    T hesitated. Huh. I think youre right.


    Master Tai tilted his head to one side, seeming a bit stressed. What moniker should I use then? I would hate to add unnecessary rudeness to my list of missteps today.


    She grinned. I think Elder Kedva would be most correct. She hesitated, then frowned. Or Child? Definitely one of those two.


    Kedva grimaced. I do not particrly like either.


    Tughed. I didnt expect that you would, no.


    Master Tai bowed again. Regardless, Mistress T, Elder Kedva, my deepest apologies for the misunderstanding.


    They both expressed their forgiveness, and the Mage Hunter turned to go.


    Kedva clearly didnt care for being called Elder, but she was obviously not about to correct the man.


    <em>There really isnt any better title for her that I can think of.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, me either.-</em>


    Before Master Tai could take more than a couple of steps, however, T called out to him, Master Tai?


    He hesitated, turning to look back, Mistress?


    Would you be willing to discuss your void magic? I have note across many practitioners of that esoteric branch, and I think that I could learn something from you, but only if you are willing.


    His hesitancested for only a moment longer before he faced her fully and nodded, I need to finish my shiftIm on duty patrolling this market at the momentbut this evening I am at your disposal.


    She grinned widely. Great! Thank you.


    They set up a ce to meet up, before T and Kedva bid him farewell and headed back toward Kit.


    Lets get your final readings then fill you back up.


    Yes, Mistress T. After a block or so of slow progress, Kedva nced toward T. Mistress T?


    Yes, Kedva?


    Thank you. That was rather terrifying. Kedva shuddered, visibly affected by their recent experience.


    T gave the girl a genuine smile. I am happy to have been able to help.

 Chapter 395: Decent

    Chapter 395: Decent


    T and Kedva stood outside of Kit, waiting for Kedva to drain fully of magical power.


    Even after their rather slow walk back to Kits door, it took another long minute before they were both satisfied.


    Finally, Kedva nodded, and Ts threefold vision confirmed her drained state.


    Kedva was mundane again.


    They ran through the tests, recording the baseline for her. That way they could see if her improvement was linear, multiplicative, or some other manner of enhancement.


    As to the results, they showed that Kedva was fit enough, but not exceptional in any regard.


    Even so, T could see <em>hints</em> at the girl''s natural magical pathways, which T had forged on her behalf.


    They were there, ready to be filled.


    Kedva grimaced, sucking on the needle prick on her finger. This isnt healing at all.


    Yeah. Its rusting terrible to be without magic after youve had it.


    The younger woman gave T a long look. Youve just be my drug dealer, havent you?


    T barked a single, loudugh, before covering her mouth. You know that is true, from a certain point of view.


    Kedva grinned in return. There is a bit more truth in it than Id prefer, yeah. Even so, I know its not exactly right.


    Kits door closed, and T put on a mock stern face. No fix for you today.


    Kedvas eyebrow twitched.


    T chuckled, and Kits door reopened. Im just joking. Youre hooked, go right in.


    The girl hesitated for just a moment before breathing out and shaking her head, giving a wry smile. Then, she stepped through, and T watched the process.


    It was like a physical impact, and Kedva staggered.


    T watched power rush into Kedva, and felt her own gate gain a bit greater draw through it.


    With an afterthought, T created a void-channel to relieve the strain.


    A momentter it leveled out.


    Regardless, it hadnt taken much. After all, Kedva couldnt actually hold that much power.


    The girl nced back to T and smiled. All fixed up. Ill go get some work done.


    T huffed a singleugh. Enjoy.


    The material from the cell that Kit had subsumed had been unloaded in the Alefast Archon Compound, where it was being itemized.


    T and her unit would each receive a small cut of the proceeds, once the value was properly calcted.


    Even so, T was most happy about the extra dimensionality that shed gained.


    It had been a rather roomy cell, and T had been a bit afraid that adding that on would dilute the power within Kit.


    Well, to be fair, she hadnt actually considered that until after the fact, then shed been afraid until shed checked in with Master Simon.


    As it turned out, when adding the cells dimensionality to Kit, the resonance with her soul caused the new space to mirror her current sanctums saturation andposition.


    On the material side, the atmosphericposition of the cell altered to perfectly match that found within her sanctum.


    On the magical side, the power levels stabilized to match.


    At that time, it had been a bit lower thanpletely full, leaving T with a muchrger space to refill.


    Thankfully, it had only been a marginal percentage lower than the current maximum, but Master Simon still estimated that it would take a few months to top off the sanctum now, assuming that Ts own magical density didnt continue to increase.


    As her own increased, the level to which Kit could be filled increased, and her ability to fill the sanctum was vastly below the rate at which her own density was expanding, as slow as that was.


    As a result, T was nning on using void-channels to elerate the filling when she was feeling better.


    The small pulse that shed used in order to rece Kedvas power draw was little enough that T had felt it was fine.


    But this was rather irrelevant to her for the moment. After all, she had a lot to do.


    She was meeting up with Master Tai in just a few hours, and she wanted to check on Rane before then.


    It was a rather quick trip through the city to the Gredialpound, and she only had to engage with a few people who recognized her along the way.


    Only one recognition was a boon to her speed, as the guards recognized T at the gates to the Gredialpound and waved her inside.


    From there, she made her way to the main house and up through the floors and winding hallways to reach Ranes room.


    She knocked, and Rane responded almost immediately. Come. Im decent.


    He sounded better today. She pushed open the door, already smiling. Hey, Rane. Only decent, eh? Well, I suppose thats better than you have been on some days.


    T? He smiled her way. Come in,e in.


    He was sitting in a chair beside arge window. In front of him was a small table with a chair opposite.


    As she came in, he cleared some dishes from the surface, setting them on a tray to one side before pulling out a tafl board. Do you have time?


    Her smile grew. Sure.


    Ill call us some food for the game.


    She sat and chatted with him as they yed.


    Food arrived shortly thereafter, and she dug in with abandon while the game and talking continued.


    It had been a week since Ranes first session, and he seemed to be mostly back to his old self.


    Even so, there was a haunted quality to his eyes and his actions were still a bit more hesitant.


    He also was a bit slower tough, and he didnt meet her gaze quite as readily.


    To her knowledge, he hadnt done any form of exercise or training in the past week either, which was understandable, but also one of the greatest departures from his usual behavior.


    Still, it <em>did</em> make sense. Hed just gone through something rather traumatic.


    <em>Im d that hes already familiar with Master Nadro. Its probably worth mentioning him even so, when the opportunity presents itself.</em>


    She won their game of tafl rather handily, showing that Rane wasnt fully mentally recovered yet.


    T was used to their games being a much harder fought result, and she usually lost as often as she won when they were both at their best.


    Rane obviously knew that hed not given her that challenging of a game. Im sorry, T.


    She shrugged. Its fine. I didnt reallye for the game.


    I know, but I still hoped to do better thanhe gestured at the boardwell, better than that.


    She grinned. It was a little disappointing, but its fine. We got to talk.


    Ahh, yes, you got to hear about my riveting timest night. He gave her a long look. Are you going to tell me what happened to you, yet? I know that it happened at a cell, and youve been eating like youre refilling your reserves.


    She waved him off snatching another pastry from the nearby te. You dont need anything added to your te.


    He huffed augh. Well, after you ate all that they brought, I sort of do?


    She looked at the serving tray and noticed that there was only one left. How many were there?


    Probably a dozen or so.


    Ahh fair, I suppose.


    Regardless, T, what I dont need is to be worrying about my friend without knowing whats going on. I know it has to be serious if you''re off-duty for the time being.


    She gave him a long look, then nodded. Alright. A murder-eyea resident of the Doman-Imithe which may be the remnant of a broken Sovereigndecided to try and take a bite out of me, or something like that. I objected, but my defenses backfired, cutting me in half on an existential level. T shrugged. Mistress Vanga helped me heal, supplying my magics with resources that Icked because I was cut in half, losing most of my reserves. Unfortunately, she couldnt directly refill my reserves once more. Beside that, I am simply trying to reacquaint my existence with having a lower half again.


    If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the vition.


    Rane rocked backward, Rust, T. You cant tell me something like that. Dont you know that Im still recovering, here?


    T felt herself twitch in confusion.


    Then, he chuckled. Yeah, I was trying to lighten the mood Not the greatest attempt.


    She huffed, shaking her head. Yeah, not the greatest.


    So is that actually what happened?


    In summary? Yes.


    He shook his head. Well, you certainly know how to find new and dangerous things, dont you?


    Yeah, this was supposedly a safe cell, too.


    He grunted at that. Its always when you feel the safest


    His eyes flicked to her, then down to the table in front of him.


    She saw him hunch in on himself a bit.


    T leaned forward, reaching one hand forward. I am incredibly sorry that I couldnt warn you.


    He waved off her concerns but still took her hand and squeezed it, Thank you, but I understand the need. Ill do the same when I know someone who is about to Refine. He shuddered. It still was <em>awful.</em>


    You arent wrong.


    They sat for a moment, just enjoying the silence of each otherspany.


    After a long moment, T remembered her uing appointment, letting go of his hand and leaning back. Oh! I met a fun Mage Hunter today. He tried to capture Kedva because he thought that she was an arcane.


    Rane blinked at T a few times. What now?


    Well, its sort of understandable if youve never seen an arcane, but he really should have checked city records first though, in the case of a real arcane, that would be a foolish dy to say the least. All in all, he probably did the best that he could have. He even kept things nonlethal which is especially impressive. No one was hurt, and he uses void and kic magic, so Im going to meet up with him to see if I can pick up some insights.


    His eyes narrowed. He?


    T blinked a few times, trying to understand the question.


    Before she responded, Ranes expression changed once again. He grinned widely and chuckled, Nevermind. I was mainly joking. That sounds like quite the encounter.


    It was, yeah.


    <em>-He was faking jealousy, T.-</em>


    <em>Oh yeah, Im going to ignore that.</em>


    <em>-Sure, that policy cant possibly backfire.-</em>


    So, void <em>and</em> kic?


    T smiled and dove into the retelling.


    Rane asked some rifying questions, but mostly listened, as she used the story to also update him on how Kedvas progress wasing and rted things like that.


    When she got to the end, theypsed back into silence for a brief moment.


    Then, Rane nodded as if to himself, Apprentice.


    What?


    She should be Apprentice Kedva, until she masters her ability to the point that calling her Mistress doesnt oversell her abilities. He gave a mischievous grin. Or you could call her Daughter Kedva, and really lean into the rebirth aspect.


    T scrunched her face. Yeah Lets go with Apprentice. I suppose that Master Nadro set the precedent for what capable gateless should be called.


    Yeah. Lets not mess with him.


    She smiled. I can see it now, T, lets discuss why you felt the need to distance yourself from the established human nomenture? What is it about the established terms that made you wish to avoid them?


    Rane chuckled. Would he really?


    ...No. Hed probably just smile and say something like, Fascinating. Are you willing to tell me more?


    They both grinned at that.


    I should get going, though. T sighed, pushing herself to stand.


    Rane frowned, seeming to consider.


    Rane? Is everything okay?


    Well, the Healers advised that I should get out more, but I havent managed to actually do it. He sighed. Im struggling a bit, and I know I shouldnt be. I feel like Im I feel like Im lesser after the first session.


    She nodded. Its an awful feeling. I had a lot of help. Lyn was there for me, even when she didnt know exactly what I was going through. Its perfectly normal to get assistance through this. After a moment she smiled. You could speak with Master Nadro. He helped me a lot too.


    That could be good, yeah.


    But Rane?


    Yeah? He looked up with obviously fragile hope.


    It <em>will </em>pass.


    Really? He gave a weak smile.


    She smiled reassuringly in response. Yes. It will. This is like picking up a heavier sword and feeling ipetent because its harder to wield.


    He smiled at that. Yeah, Master Grediv would switch out my training swords and not tell me. As an early teen, I didnt understand well enough to tell the difference untilter. I just felt like I wasnt learning well.


    Thats kind of awful?


    Rane shook his head. Yes and no. He wasnt malicious about it, and he continually encouraged me to improve. The end results speak for themselves. He grinned roguishly. If I do say so myself.


    Tughed. So, no longer <em>just </em>decent, eh?


    He shrugged, not otherwise responding.


    Well, I suppose so. Your skill with a sword is superb. Now that youre closer to Refined, your magic will be catching up as well. She hesitated for a moment. Do you want toe with me? To see if you can pick up anything from Master Tai?


    Ahh, so he does have a name. Rane winked. You know what? I think Id like that. Thank you for the invitation.


    T offered him a hand to help him up. Lets go.


    As they walked through the city toward her meeting ce with Master Taiwhich was just Artias shop so they could go into KitT found herself analyzing Rane with her threefold sight.


    There was an odd quality, that she could only interpret as him being <em>cleaner</em> or clearer than before somehow. It was as if shed been looking at him through a dirty window for years, and now someone had taken one good swipe across it.


    The window was still filthy, but it <em>was</em> cleaner. Even so, somehow it almost looked dirtier in some ways because of the change.


    <em>This analogy is getting away from me.</em>


    <em>-Yeah-</em>


    Regardless, he seemed to be slowly adjusting to the difference, even as esoteric as that difference was.


    He still moved more slowly and deliberately than he had before, but it wasnt quite as noticeable as a week earlier.


    Rane broke theirpanionable silence as they walked, So, we never finished discussing the crazy doomsday vault you discovered in that cell.


    T nodded. Yeah, it was really odd. Initial tallies show that it had a significant amount of wealth. The way the city cycle is lining up, well have two new cities added over the next hundred years or so, and these resources will actually help make that process smoother and less taxing than usual.


    Rane grunted. Thats good. So why do you seem troubled?


    She sighed. Well, they put <em>so</em> much wealth and value into a cell and just sent it off into the future.


    It was kind of them. Incredibly altruistic.


    It was, but She shook her head. I dont understand the mindset.


    The altruism?


    No. She chuckled. What were they so afraid of? They clearly had spare resources, or they couldnt or wouldnt have been able to sequester all that they did. But they also seemed to think that resources would be useful in the future, so, where did theye from? Were they justying around unused?


    That confusion makes sense, yeah. I suppose they could have taken it from others when it was needed by them, though?


    I hope not. But, thats what Im thinking. Did they hurt their own chances to send the materials into the distant future?


    They clearly did alright, regardless.


    Well, yeah, thats the other issue. What if they had used their resources to better their situation? Wouldnt that have helped us be even better off, now?


    Rane nodded, his stride firming up as he turned his attention fully to their conversation. That is the bnce, I would guess. A society <em>must</em> invest in the future, and they <em>must</em> invest in the present. Without a future, the present hardly matters, and without a present, the future is empty. A crude example is that we cant sacrifice a thousand people now to save one hundred in the future. We also cant willfully sacrifice even one in the present for a <em>chance </em>that we <em>might </em>save uncounted in the future, not if we wish to remain moral.


    What about murderers?


    Stopping a murderer isnt about a chance of saving people in the future. Its a sure thing. Even if that person wouldnt kill again, letting it be known that murders arent punished <em>will</em> cause more to happen.


    Well, I think were getting off of the point, but I also think I understand what youre getting at. Still, if they had these resources to spare, why were they so concerned?


    He shrugged. We may never know. Most such cells dont make mention of what they feared. He chuckled. I suppose they assume that we future-folk will either already know, or their fear didnte to pass, so why burden us with the unfounded apoco-phobia from the past?


    Apoco-phobia. Unreasonable fear of apocalypses?


    Well, I do suppose its reasonable to fear apocalypses, so maybe an unreasonable fear that there will be an apocalypse in the near future?


    That makes sense, I suppose. She found herself frowning, however. So, we cant be so obsessed with the future that we sacrifice the present?


    Rane nodded. I suppose thats a reasonable thing to take from this.


    Like Master Grediv and his wife.


    He hesitated, ncing her way. Yeah. I suppose so.


    From what he said, he was so upset with her for taking from their future, that he lost out on some of his present with her. He also seems grateful that he didnt let that ruin all the time that they had.


    Yeah He sighed, his steps bing slower, more considered once again. Master Grediv came and saw me this morning.


    Oh? How was that?


    Rane shrugged. Im pretty frustrated with him, even if I understand even if Id probably do the same.


    Yeah


    But thats not why I brought it up. He told me about reaching Paragon.


    Oh? That drew Ts full focus. Care to share?


    Rane gave her a knowing smile. He said that he took the final step when he fully epted her mortality and loved her anyway.


    That felt like a punch to the gut for T. She remembered Master Gredivs protectiveness of Rane, along with his harsh words outside of Ranes room the evening after Ranes first Refining session. <em>Fear does strange things to us all. I wonder if hes feeling echoes of what he felt with his wife.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, I think thats pretty clearly the case.-</em>


    <em>Id have expected a Paragon to be more level headed, especially around something that he had toe to terms with in order to advance.</em>


    <em>-Even if you understand something and ept it, that doesnt mean that you are happy to go through it again.-</em>


    <em>I hadnt thought of it like that.</em>


    Rane huffed out a self-deprecatingugh. I <em>really</em> dont want to be your stepping-stone to Paragon, T.


    She tilted her head to one side, regarding him. No offense, Rane, but youd make an awful wife.


    He tripped, barely catching himself as his eyes went wide.


    T suppressed her smile as she continued. Id be a worse husband, though, so I suppose were in simr boats.


    T, thats not what I meant. I


    I know, Rane. She cut him off, giving a gentle smile. Your mortality wont be what propels me to Paragon. You wont be stuck as a mortal, and even if you are, youd still have a <em>very</em> long life ahead of you. You arent getting rid of me any time soon, regardless.


    He huffed anotherugh, a smile growing on his lips this time. Thank you.


    She nudged his upper arm with her shoulder. Any time.

 Chapter 396: Void and Kinetics

    Chapter 396: Void and Kics


    T and Rane arrived outside Artias shop just as Master Tai turned the corner on the far end of the street, entering that side of the market.


    She was still gratified when her threefold sight made things like picking out a specific person in a crowd so trivial.


    T waved to make sure he saw them among the other pedestrians in the area. Thankfully, there werent so many that he had trouble seeing her when she made such an obvious gesture.


    He waved back, seeming uncertain even as he continued forward. T saw the Bounds magesight activate, and remembering how hed had trouble detecting her before, she allowed her aura to be seen.


    She noticed Rane doing the same, even if not quite as necessary, and she took that moment to look for herself.


    <em>-Roughly three quarters of the way to Refined. He made it halfway from prepped to fully Refined in the first session. Thats both better than I feared, and not as good as we hoped.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, if I remember right, session two is usually only about half as effective as session one.</em>


    <em>-Without extenuating circumstances, yeah.-</em>


    <em>Same for session three whenpared to session two. What about session four?</em>


    <em>-Again, it varies, but generally, its epted that number four can match three, but doing so is epted as making the experience and the recovery worse.-</em>


    <em>Well lets hope he can get it in four sessions then.</em>


    <em>-Lets hope hes up for four. Id hoped he could do it in two.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, even with as rare as that is I had hoped for it too.</em>


    <em>-Still, we should wait for the official diagnosis. Master Grediv did promise to share it with us, and it usually is given a month after the first session.-</em>


    <em>That sounds fair, yeah.</em>


    When Master Tai stopped before them, he gave two deep bows. Mistress T, Master, it is a pleasure to greet you.


    T nodded, Master Tai.


    Rane gave a shallow bow. Master Tai. I am Rane.


    Master Rane, it is good to meet you.


    And you.


    With the greetings done, T spoke before any silence could begin to stretch. Rane, here, specializes in kic magics, and we were hoping youd be willing to speak with us both, given our ovepping disciplines.


    Master Tai examined Rane once more before nodding. It would be my pleasure.


    Good. T smiled. Right this way, then.


    She gestured at the nk wall beside the shops entrance, and before Master Tai could say anything to match his confused look, Kit manifested a door, having moved the entrance from the alley where it had been before.


    <em>-Wise, not asking a new acquaintance to follow you into an alley.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, I thought the optics wouldnt be great.</em>


    <em>-We grow in wisdom!-</em>


    <em>Every day.</em>


    <em>-...-</em>


    <em>Most days?</em>


    <em>-Many days.-</em>


    <em>Youre sort of a jerk sometimes.</em>


    <em>-Yes, yes we are.-</em>


    T shook her head as she led the way through the door and out into her sparring circle.


    Rane followed her with Master Tai right behind the much bigger man.


    As soon as Master Tai stepped across the threshold, he gasped, eyes widening.


    T smiled, turning his way. Yeah, the magic density is a bit higher in here.


    Master Tai gave her an odd look, then shook his head. Yes, I suppose, but thats not what startled me.


    Oh?


    How did you make the void more distant? He frowned, looking around. No, thats not right. Id say smaller but the void is infinite wherever it exists, so thats not right either. He turned back to regard her. What did you do?


    T frowned for a moment, then it clicked, Oh! Ive been grabbing the bits of reality and pulling them against each other more tightly.


    Master Tai seemed to be fighting himself. Finally, he asked, I dont think I understand. Would you be willing to exin?


    Of course. She dismissed the door out of Kit, moving its exterior location back to the alley wall so the others who wanted to use it would be able to find it where they expected.


    With that done, T took a moment to exin to Master Tai, describing generally what shed done, while trying to prevent teleportation.


    He grunted, Well, that wouldnt work to block teleportation, from what I understand.


    T huffed augh. Yeah, it certainly doesnt really slow Terry down.


    Terry?


    As if on cue, Terry flickered into being on Ts shoulder before headbutting her. Hey, Terry. Sorry I havent been around much.


    He trilled in irritation and headbutted her cheek again.


    Rane smiled and waved, Hey, Terry.


    Terry regarded him before chirping happily and flickering to Ranes shoulder for a moment.


    Ranes eyes widened. Youre youre on my shoulder?


    Terry tilted his head to one side and trilled.


    Oh, youre fine, you can stay. Rane gingerly patted the bird on his head.


    Master Tai cleared his throat. Ahh, I can see the gist of what you were trying to prevent. My bet would be that stopping that would be impossible. You <em>might</em> be able to keep him out of somewhere with the right preparation, but even keeping him <em>in</em> somewhere would be nearly impossible.


    They all regarded Terry as he seemed to practically radiate an aura of smugness.


    Tughed. Yes, you are the best bird.


    He trilled, then flickered back to her shoulder and settled down.


    The three Mages moved to sit in a circle in the middle of the sparring circle, and Master Tai cleared his throat. So what did you want from this?


    T shrugged. I dont even know myself. I only gained ess to void-magic through the merging of an artifact with my bound weapon.


    Master Tai frowned. Can I see it? The bound weapon I mean.


    She nodded, and Flow dropped into hisp.


    Gah! Master Tai jumped backward, hardly seeming to flex despite his three-feet of movement.


    Oh,e back, here. Its not going to hurt you. She tried to will Master Tai back to his previous location, but the Bound seemingly reacted on instinct.


    A pulse of void-magic came from his center, radiating all the way out to the borders of his skin and clothing.


    And he didnt move.


    It wasnt that he resisted her will. Instead, it was more like he made himself separate from it in a way that was uncrossable.


    He looked at T, confused. What did you just do?


    Me? She was <em>very</em> confused as well. What did you just do?


    You first? he gave a hesitant smile.


    That broke some of the tension, and she smiled in return. I tried to move you back to where you had been sitting. This is my sanctum, and I can move anyone and anything around within it at will.


    Ahh, I have spellforms set up to allow me to void any attempt to move me against my will.


    That is another interesting use for void.


    He shrugged. Not really. Void is simply an absence. More urately, it is the containment of <em>something</em> within an absence. Ive always thought of it as borders between things.


    T perked up at that. Exactly! Yes. Ive only recently realized that.


    Master Tai nodded. Yeah, that was close to my foundational understanding. Everything is contained by the absence of itself.


    T opened her mouth toment, but then she hesitated. That was true. It was so obviously true it almost went without saying, but now that Master Tai <em>had</em> said it, it sent her mind spinning down a thousand wild tangents.


    Rane was frowning, clearly thinking along the same lines that she was. Thats definitionally true, yeah. So, how does that help you with kic energy?


    This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    The two of them began discussing that aspect of their shared magics, while T considered.


    Master Tai was also probing at Flow with his fingers and a tendril of magic while he and Rane discussed things.


    Finally, Rane leaned back, thinking deeply. Thank you, Master Tai. Your depth of experience really shows.


    The Bound let out a self-deprecatingugh. There has to be some benefit from being an older Bound. If Ive read you correctly, Id say Im nearly twice the age of you twobined.


    T shrugged. Maybe so, but does it matter?


    Master Tai shrugged. Not really. I do feel like Im closing in on the needed insights to Fuse, but thats not why were here.


    Well, were happy to talk through it with you if youd like. Youve already given us a lot to think about.


    He smiled. I might take you up on that, after all, Out of the mouth of babes and all that. But lets talk about this weapon, first.


    Sure. That makes sense.


    I also want to talk about what youve done to your magic to make it so hard to detect.


    T hesitated. Weapon first?


    He considered, then nodded. I can sense the smallest bits of voidmagic in it, but it doesnt seem to be usable like this. Do you have another source? Or am I missing something?


    After a moments hesitation, she responded, So, I do have another source of void-magic, but it is miniscule inparison. I suppose that I should rify. What you have there is my weapon in its base form. I can shift it into a void-form, but Ive actually never had anyone else hold the handle while its in that form.


    Master Tai raised an eyebrow, then held Flow out to her. How about you transform it, and I try putting a finger on the handle first? Id rather not pay to regrow a hand.


    <em>Ha, no self-healing.</em>


    <em>-Rane doesnt have self-healing, except those required in order to Refine.-</em>


    <em>Yeah well</em>


    <em>-Lyn doesnt have self-healing.-</em>


    <em>Fine. I wont look down on those who take injury more seriously. </em>She didnt grumble about it, not even internally.


    Instead, she took Flow back and with an act of wind a trickle of powerpushed the weapon into the void-knife form.


    It looked almost like ck-fire rolled over the surface, leaving the aesthetic more ck and purple than beforewhenpared to the standard ck and blood-redbut otherwise, the knife was unchanged.


    Master Tai tentatively touched the handle when she offered it, and he was unhurt.


    When that was confirmed, he took the weapon back, examining it again after the change.


    Yeah, this is now almost entirely saturated in void-magic. I can see your interest now.


    T nodded. With my new understanding, I dont actually think it cuts, not in the traditional sense. Instead, it simply inserts void between what passes on either side of the de, starting infinitesimally in front of the edge.


    He nodded in response, Not how I would conceptualize it, but yeah, that sounds about right. That would be as clean a cut as I can imagine.


    She felt a smile pull at her lips. Even cleaner than this?


    She held out her hands and Soles sword appeared resting across her hands.


    Master Tai twitched at the suddenly appearing sword but then frowned. There isnt any active magic on that, but He looked closer, setting Flow beside him on the rough stone. May I?


    She nodded, and he took the weapon. The de is practically invisible.


    He tapped a knuckle on the side, and there was a hauntingly beautiful, resonant note as the length of the de vibrated from the tap. How strong is this?


    In theory, its indestructible to anything were capable of bringing to bear. I imagine a Sovereign could break it, though.


    Master Tai huffed augh. How filling was the meal? Well, a ck hole would be left wanting.


    Rane chuckled. Yeah, Sovereign isnt the most reasonableparator.


    Master Tai nodded. Exactly. So, effectively indestructible.


    Yes. T nodded in turn. But it cant be merged with anything else. The magic functions in a way that I am quite familiar with, and anything that fundamentally altered the weaponsuch as trying tobine it with something elsewould spoil its unique properties. She hesitated, thinking for a moment. Well, then that could break it. Even a Mage attempting to merge it with something else would spoil it, assuming they had the standing to make the attempt.


    T frowned, following that line of thought further.


    You know, there might be something to that.


    <em>-Oh! Wow. It cant be that simple could it?-</em>


    <em>Maybe? It would depend on his conceptualization at the time of enactment, but its worth tossing up the chain ofmand.</em>


    <em>-Ill notify Master Grediv that helping that prisoner enact a soulbond </em>might<em> release his immortality magics, and allow him to pass on, as he wishes.-</em>


    <em>I would bet it wouldnt actually work, but maybe?</em>


    <em>-Well leave it to others to investigate, but I would assume that hed have defended himself against soulbonds. Maybe he left the door open to voluntary ones, though? Theyd have to be pretty extreme to change him fundamentally enough to let him slip from under the aegis of the magics hes enacted.-</em>


    T returned her focus to Rane and Master Tai. Regardless, this should be an infinite edge, only a single atom thick. I have a unit-mate who is quite adept at cutting edges, and he was practically obsessed over this weapon for a <em>long</em> time. Hed still have it if I hadnt essentially taken it out of his hands.


    Master Tai looked it over before handing it to Rane to examine. Rane smiled. I didn''t have much of a chance to look this over before. Its amazing.


    T considered for a long moment, then shrugged. Hold onto it for me?


    He looked up, eyes widening. What?


    Ill take it back if I need it, but you can have some fun for a while. Master Simon and I are working on a use for the needles, but the sword isnt as useful to me.


    Master Tai cleared his throat. Which brings us back to this. He picked up Flow. I believe this <em>should </em>cut cleaner than even that unusual weapon, or at least be capable of cutting things that that weapon cant. This de is basically a magical statement that anything which it severs are now two different items.


    By introducing the void.


    Exactly. Honestly, I feel like it would already be hard to resist, but there seems to be something else within the de that isnt being utilized. He held up the knife, looking even closer, his magesight inscriptions <em>zing</em> even to Ts mundane sight. Forgive the metaphor, but its all thates to mind: This is like a tripod that currently bnces on two legs, the other just waiting to be used.


    T blinked, leaning forward. Say that again.


    He looked at her curiously, then repeated his metaphor.


    She swallowed. Holding out her hand for the knife.


    Master Tai ced it on her palm. Now, as to your magic.


    T nodded absently. You said it was hard to detect?


    Yes, its almost like youve turned down the volume on your power somehow if that makes sense.


    She chuckled, still considering. It doesnt?


    Its like a crowded room, where youve shut the door. The voices are still there, and if you focus on them, or open the door, there is plenty of volume, but until then? Its pretty easy to miss.


    Huh. Now that I consider it, Ive had some interactions where my magic wasnt as noticeable as it probably should have been.


    <em>-Like when you had a power measuring contest against a Paragon, and he kindly didnt break your toys?-</em>


    <em>Not how I would have worded it, but yeah.</em>


    <em>-A guy pulled a sword an inch from its scabbard, and so you drew two knives and growled at him.-</em>


    <em>is that really how it came across?</em>


    <em>-Give or take, but I think he understood what you were getting at, just like you did for him.-</em>


    <em>Fine</em>


    This line of thought was distracting her from what she wanted to be thinking about. Thank you for letting me know. I dont have an answer for you at the moment, but Ill let you know if anythinges to mind.


    Thank you.


    Can you and Rane go over there to talk while I think about this? Youve given me a lot of things that I want to consider.


    The two men nodded amiably, already beginning to delve back into the intricacies of kic redistribution and maniption as they moved to the other side of the sparring circle.


    They would <em>clearly</em> have a lot to discuss.


    <em>-Youre already thinking what I am in regards to Flow.-</em>


    <em>Yeah. Void and magic.</em>


    <em>-All that is missing is reality.-</em>


    <em>It has reality, it exists, but everything also always has void, because it is distinct from that which is around it.</em>


    <em>-And everything always has at least a bit of magic, even if it isnt inherently magical.-</em>


    <em>So, we need to bring forth reality more strongly. We need it more strongly than even having it surrounded by and connected to a ridiculous amount of iron.</em>


    <em>-It did seem to work against Sole, trapping in the iron I mean. Though, looking back, I feel like we brute forced it a bit by sheer quantity of iron.-</em>


    T dove into Flow mentally, using her threefold sight to analyze it more deeply than shed ever truly examined anything.


    She parsed it at everyyer, from every angle, utterly forgoing any view outward to aim all her perspectives at her soulbound weapon.


    There was already a tremendous amount of iron attached to Flow, and that, she moved out of the way for ease of examination.


    The dasgannach had been merged with her weapon, so it was effectively the source and anchor for all of her iron, but that alone wasnt imparting Reality to a sufficient degree, even if it was there, ready.


    <em>Its like the void-magic when Flow is in one of its standard forms.</em>


    As she searched through the magics of Flows makeup, she found what Master Tai had been talking about.


    Void-magic seemed to be twisting aroundnothing.


    It was like a three-stranded braid where a gap existed instead of one of the strands.


    <em>Im filling in the gap with void?</em> No, that wasnt right.


    Regardless, it clearly needed reality, somehow.


    She tried adding iron into the gap and felt it spark in her hand, singeing her skin as the material was rejected violently by the knife.


    It didnt hurt her too much, nor draw the attention of the two others who were <em>deep</em> in discussion.


    It did grab Terrys attention, however, as he squawked, seemingly having been woken up by her actions.


    Sorry, Terry.


    He chirped, headbutted her that it was alright, then flickered away.


    <em>Right now, it is void-magic. Adding in reality as a basic concept doesnt really make sense. I would need to add in reality-magic, and reality-void?</em>


    That isnt how her existence defense worked through her elk leathers, but that was a wed working regardless.


    Sure, it functioned, there was no doubt of that, but it was also imperfect, like the forces involved were constantly roiling, making it incredibly unstable and unable to resist dedicated, sustained pressure from an aggressive source.


    That was likely what left her feeling so isted within the defense, and that was also what had made the shield able to be pushed back, leading to her current need for recovery.


    The existence defenseas she currently used itwas void-magic, magic, and reality in the form of iron.


    <em>Its too magic heavy.</em>


    Simrly, when she tried to add iron into Flows magics, directly, it was just void-magic and reality in the form of iron. Those two were opposites.


    <em>I either need true void with the magic of Flows makeup, or reality-magic and reality-void.</em>


    Master Grediv would not be pleased if she pursued reality-magic and for good reason.


    <em>Yeah, lets not take that path.</em>


    So, T did the only thing she could think of.


    WIth an act of will, she drew on her authority within Kit, her authority over Flow, and her authority over her own power.


    This space was hers, this weapon was hers, and everything within her incredibly focused perception belonged to her and her alone.


    She focused her will, preparing to use Flows natural spellforms as a guide. She wasnt trying to change them. Her goal was to augment them, fill in the missing pieces, and let theme to full fruition.


    Then, she tried to force the weapon to pull apart in that specific pattern, introducing void along that pattern previously filled with void-magic, her magic ready to weave through it along with iron as soon as she opened the voids.


    Flow, obviously, didnt want to change shape, let alone pull apart.


    She felt herself growling, her hair standing on end as her entire being flexed against Flows resistance. At some level, she was fighting her own souls resistance to change.


    <em>You are MINE.</em><em>Shift at my will or be devoured.</em>


    A wave of power washed out from T, and Master Tais gaze snapped to look her way, even as he cut off Rane.


    Rane turned, eyes widening an instant after Master Tai.


    T felt her very soul resonate at her drive and desire to enact her will upon the world.


    She felt the deep dissonance as she tried to force something bound to her very soul to bend and change.


    The very metal of Flows makeup screamed and cracked.

 Chapter 397: Tests and Discussions

    Chapter 397: Tests and Discussions


    T might have made a mistake.


    Flow had just let out a resonant <em>crack</em>, which had vibrated through the very structure of her sanctum.


    That made sense. Both were soulbound to her, and so they affected one another on a deep level.


    Still, T could see precisely what had urred, and so she wasnt panicking yet.


    Rane and Master Tai had noticed that <em>something</em> had happened, but that was about all that they were capable of perceiving.


    Master Tai had likely felt void be introduced into the weapon maybe.


    Actually, probably not.


    She didnt think he would be able to prate her aura around her soulbound weapon when it was in her hand, and she wasnt trying to let him examine it.


    Still, it might have resonated in a way that made the void able to be sensed.


    <em>So, focus on what is happening, T. You only have a moment to fix things, here.</em>


    As a soulbound weapon, Flow was as indestructible as her own soul.


    Her iron was basically dust, so it being prated wasnt it being damaged or destroyed.


    <em>Huh I should probably absorb some iron tes That might make incredibly powerful armor.</em>


    But no, her elk leathers could be damaged sort of. And soulbound armor wasnt actually invincible, otherwise everyone would just get marginally magical clothing and soulbond it for near invulnerability.


    <em>So, Flows magic is almost as durable as my soul, but its physical shape is not.</em>


    It was also important to note that the effect created by the magic wasnt as durable as her soul, just the magics themselves.


    With regard to analysis, that was a good start, because the physical shape now was full of jagged cracks.


    She was not panicking. That would be counterproductive.


    She grimaced.


    The cracksthe voidhad <em>not</em> followed her guidance or desires.


    The void had not obeyed her directives.


    <em>Because I have no im on the void. It was like throwing a steak I own before a wild dog then being angry that it didnt bite the meat how I wanted it to.</em>


    That was fine.


    Well, no, it wasnt fine, but it was fixable.


    She even had the perfect magic within her bag of tricks.


    Her elk leathers had inherent magic for the drawing back together of sundered, dead matter. Which was a long-winded, slightly technical, way of saying that those magics could repair nonliving things such as Flow.


    They wouldnt be a perfect match, but they should be able to help.


    Thus, she aspect mirrored those magics onto and into Flow.


    Then, with intense focus, aided by t, she forced the knife back into shape, using its own magics to bind it together.


    To add to the process, she burned her magics to massively magnify Flows gravitational attraction to itself, directly across thergest cracks, splitting her working in more directions than she had ever managed before.


    When it was pressed tight, but not <em>quite </em>whole, she forced power through Flow, changing it into the form of a sword.


    The morphic qualities of the weapon allowed it to flow almost like a liquid, taking the new shape.


    There was no damage to Flow in its sword form..


    With a bit of trepidation, she cut off the increased stream of power from Flow, and it returned to the shape of a knife.


    She examined Flow from tip to pommel.


    It felt like she examined every molecule, looking for inconsistencies or ws.


    Finally, she let out a sigh of relief.


    <em>That was a rusting terrible idea, T.</em>


    <em>-...youre acting as me again.-</em>


    <em>Well, moving the realization of my own stupidity from you to me seems like a step in the right direction.</em>


    <em>-I suppose you arent wrong? We definitely should have consulted some people before we tried that.-</em>


    <em>Noted.</em>


    <em>-Also, maybe</em><em>and hear me out here</em><em>you should probably heal from one slightly crazy experiment before trying another?-</em>


    <em>yeah. Ill try to keep that in mind.</em>


    Still, her weapon was whole once more.


    She had a splitting headache from hyper focusing, the world seemed a little fuzzy, and her gate feltoff, but Flow was back in top form.


    At that point, Rane and Master Tai reached her.


    T, is everything alright?


    Mistress T?


    T forced herself to smile up at them. I just tried something that I should have researched more thoroughly first.


    Rane huffed augh, clearly not surprised. Well, you seem whole. Will there be anysting damage?


    No? She was able to focus more, and blessedly, her gates offness was mainly just a nebulous feeling of soreness, as odd as that sensation was, but she couldnt see anything wrong with it or with Flow. I dont think so.


    He nodded once. Alright then.


    Master Tai gave her a long look, clearly more uncertain than Rane. Is there anything that we can do to assist?


    No, thank you, Master Tai. You two can continue your conversation. I apologize for the distraction.


    Ranes countenance had changed, and he now looked a bit concerned. Honestly, Ive got a lot to digest, mentally speaking.


    Master Tai shrugged and sat down along with Rane. Lets talk through some of the more esoteric things about void-magic that Ivee across.


    T hesitated, obviously realizing that theyd picked up on something crazy happening, and they didnt want to leave her to it.


    <em>-That actually is a bit kind. Theyd leave if you asked, but at least Rane is biasing it toward him being here for you. Master Tai just isnt interested in wandering away on his own.-</em>


    <em>Yeah.</em>


    So, the three began to discuss the void.


    * * *


    T did not like times of recovery, even if they mostly consisted of her eating and lightly training rather than being bedridden or anything simr.


    This time, however, she had another thing to focus on, and it made the whole process more bearable.


    Honestly, it gave her insight into how some people could spend centuries in contemtion.


    In her discussions with Master Tai and Rane, something blindingly obvious hade to her mind.


    Kit was a voidling.


    Kit was now soulbound to her.


    T was ignoring an incredibly obvious source of knowledge and testing ability.


    Thus, for the five days of off-duty time after the discussion with Master Tai and Rane, T spent arge proportion of her time within Kit, working with her dimensional storage to learn about the void.


    At first, T simply willed for the air in a specific location near her to pull away from a singr point.


    This was well within her ability as master of the sanctum, and it entuated the infinite, small voids that surrounded every molecule that made up the air.


    The process added arger voidcreated by her willto those already present.


    From there, she manipted the shape of the void she cleared, the materials she created it in, and all sorts of other subtle differences, all while observing the process with as many of her perspectives as she could manage, Archiving everything forter review.


    She also took time every day to review each experiment meticulously, doing her best to learn as much as she could about void.


    As for Kits part, T used her abilities within Kit extensively, but she also did her best to lean on the instincts and feelings she was getting from the bond with her little voidling, following the promptings to gain understanding far more quickly than T would otherwise likely have been able to.


    She gained a massive depth of insight, while not really getting to a point that she could do much with it, yet.


    Still, she wasying the groundwork for her study of that fundamental pir of existence.


    When she felt like her brain was going to melt because she was too focused on the esoteric nature of void, she began experimenting with her iron, and how it interacted with various magics and the void.


    <em>I will understand the foundations of existence if it takes me a millennium.</em>


    The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    And she knew that it just might.


    Even so, this was a start.


    During the same span of days, T spent a lot of time visiting Rane and drawing him out into the city.


    Some of his other acquaintances were doing simr work, and she came along with them for a few meals among other things.


    One night they all ended up ying an odd series of betting card games practically until dawn.


    The Healers had been a bit cross with all of them, given Ranes need for as much sleep as he could get.


    Even so, he was making marked improvements.


    T was ever hopeful that hed be able to fully Refine, but neither of them brought up the subject, not yet.


    A fun diversion came right after her time off-duty ended in the form of a visit from Brand, arriving with a caravan from Bandfast.


    Apparently, hed been prevented from making his usual visits to Alefastand the Feshua familyby his restaurant exploding in poprity.


    When T had inquired, hed sheepishly stated that as soon as hed seen Ts name on one of the Defensive fight recordings, hed known theyd be interesting to watch, and hed bought the rights to show them all going forward.


    He had emphasized that hed bought the rights to <em>all</em> of them, not just those pertaining to T, and that had made her feel a bit less embarrassed.


    Brand and his wife had bought the building next to their restaurant, connecting the spaces and turning the whole interior into an entertainment area with tables and variousrge viewing tes showing fights just like the battle-watch eateries in Alefast.


    Theyd even had to hire some extra help in the kitchen and to wait tables, which allowed them to expand their hours of operation and their selection of food.


    All told, even after the massive increase in expenses, it was a boost to their ie, but it came with a lot of extra work to get it going.


    Artia and Adrill were understandingand even celebratoryof their friends sess, leading to two days of food andpanionship that T was only marginally involved in around her restarted duties as a Defender.


    Her unit did not let her take on anything strenuous, and they encouraged her to eat almost constantly.


    Her increased magical density and efficiency of her scripts led to her being able to pack away a truly frightening amount of food before her stores were full.


    Regardless, the duties were light, and in truth, she spent most of her time doing a new exercise for her magic, will, and understanding.


    She created a solid shape of her iron, then distorted it to create voids within it of all sorts of convoluted shapes.


    Some mimicked the outward form of the iron, but as she worked, she was able to differ the two more and more.


    This was an especially difficult process because all of her iron was basically dust, so the only integrity it had in any shape was what she enforced upon it with her will.


    The white-steel was a much, <em>much</em> better physical defense or barrier, but she wasnt going for effective defense; she was going for difficult training.


    She enjoyed the difficulty, even beginning to incorporate fourth dimensional movements and distortions to grow her intuitive understanding of that as well.


    As a fun additional challengewhich T added when she was alone and had the spare attention t would attempt to assault Ts constructs, using her portion of their will and mental fortitude to disrupt what T was doing.


    It made the whole thing into more of a game than a rote set of movements.


    The result had her constantly devoting most of her focus and brain power to that exercise whenever she could.


    t also liked to spring surprise attacks on her when T was otherwise distracted.


    T found it incredibly entertaining.


    Even so, she knew that the motions and control would be second nature soon enough, and when it did, her n was to add another lump of iron to work with at the same time, but it wasnt time for that, not yet.


    In that way, T spent the next weeks with Rane, her unit-mates, and her other acquaintances.


    Until, finally, the day of Ranes official diagnosis arrived.


    * * *


    Mistress Vanga stepped in to perform the evaluation as a familiar face for Rane, since hed been spending more time with Ts unit.


    There were other Healers observing from another room, but none tried to take primary position from the Defender.


    Master Grediv was there with T, Rane, and Mistress Vanga, but thankfully, the room wasrge enough that even with the four of them there, it didnt feel crowded.


    Rane and Master Grediv were back on speaking terms, but Rane was still irritated. Even so, it seemed that hede a simr conclusion to what T had in regards to Mistress Holly.


    The older, wiser Mages hadnt withheld information for any reason except in order to help their younger charges.


    No one liked it, but it was what it was.


    The process of examination was not quick.


    All told, Mistress Vanga took an hour with various artifactsalongside her own magicsto delve through all that she wanted to check about Rane.


    She seemed to investigate him on the physical, biological, magical, cognitive, and spiritual levels.


    There were probably other aspects that T wasnt aware of, but Mistress Vanga seemed to check them all.


    Throughout, T had a two-inch spheres worth of iron flexing and roiling through her will, perceptual, and control exercises.


    The Healer had initially greeted the three of them, but otherwise only broke her contemtive silence to give Rane instructions.


    Blessedly, in the end, she was smiling. You can do another session in just more than two weeks.


    Ranes cheek twitched at the words another session, but he nodded gratefully regardless. How did I do in my first session? He chuckled nervously. I can see my own aura well enough, but do I have a real chance at Refining, or am I just trying to get as far as I can to extend my life?


    Mistress Vanga smiled warmly in response, You are fully capable of Refining from a physical and magical perspective. The choice, obviously, is yours, and only you can make it. She paused for a moment. I expect it to take four or five sessions total, depending on the intensity and length you choose into for each of those. You could obviously increase that number if you wanted to take it in smaller bites, but I would advise against that.


    Oh? He looked curious, but T could tell that he was hiding quite a bit of trepidation.


    Generally, those who try to take it slowerto extend the Refining over more, less strenuous sessionshave a much lower sess rate. She held up a hand and rified before he could respond. Some do still seed, but at this point in the process, the things that you controlwhich have the greatest impact on chances of sessare session intensity and length.


    Master Grediv grimaced slightly, but didntment.


    <em>So, thats a bit more than hed have shared, but still not out of line?</em>


    <em>-That was my impression, yeah.-</em>


    There was a momentary pause.


    -<em>Oh, We were just granted ess to the results of scans.-</em> t went silent for a long breath.


    T felt like she was on the edge of her seat, even though she was standing.


    Then, the little iron construct that she had over her left shoulder popped with a sound like a bursting balloon, raining iron dust down over that side of her body.


    The others turned and looked her way.


    Master Grediv raised an eyebrow, but both Mistress Vanga and Rane were smiling, having gotten used to simr things over the past weeks.


    Sorry about that. I got distracted. T closed her eyes, grimacing. <em>Really, t? Now?</em>


    <em>-We want to be always vignt.-</em>


    T growled internally, but easily willed all the iron back together over her left shoulder. <em>Fine. </em>


    She then immediately deflected an attack on the shape above her other shoulder. That started a back and forth sh of ts will against Ts. Since they were equal in power, they both had to be clever in their tactics.


    They continued their internal dialogue, even as they mentally circled one another. <em>So?</em>


    <em>-Well, hes got a good chance. Mistress Vanga puts the sess rate of those in simr situations at a solid fifty-five percent.-</em>


    T carefully controlled her expression as Rane seemed to be contemting as well.


    <em>-That is really, really good, T.-</em>


    <em>I know. I know.</em> She knew that she shouldnt panic; she shouldnt see this as a bad result.


    After all, it was more likely than not that he would seed, and even if he didnt, hed be around for a <em>very</em> long time.


    It was even more difficult, though, because her own odds hadnt been able to be calcted. No one had ever Refined with quite the same set of circumstances as she had.


    She had been in a ce of trying to Refine and maybe die, or dont Refine and definitely die sooner thanter.


    <em>How is the sess rate if he goes for the less intense or shorter sessions?</em>


    <em>-Lets see twenty percent. Thats not great, but he wont take that path.-</em>


    <em>He might. Refining is rusting awful, and it would be nice to lessen the difficulty.</em>


    <em>-Lessen the felt difficulty, while increasing the actual difficulty and lowering the chance of sess.-</em>


    <em>Yeah</em>


    Ts gaze flicked to Master Grediv, confirming what her threefold vision had shown her.


    He was regarding her with calm intensity.


    <em>That doesnt make sense. How can something be calmly intense?</em>


    <em>-Is the description wrong?-</em>


    <em>No</em> She sighed internally, still keeping her outward reactions to a minimum.


    Though, she did smile at Rane reassuringly when he nced her way.


    Rane nodded once. Alright. How do I choose the intensity and length?


    Mistress Vanga smiled encouragingly. That is an excellent question. Intensity is set before each session begins and cannot be changed once it starts.


    That makes sense.


    As to length, its as long as you can hold onto the Refining device, up to the maximum for that session, when the construct will power down.


    As long as I can hold on?


    Yes. The initial session locks you into the process, as otherwise regardless, the intensity and duration are fixed for the first session, and once begun, they cannot be altered.


    I noticed that.


    For all further sessions, you can let go at any time, ending the session.


    But if I do that, I have to recover before the next session?


    Exactly, yes. If you stop, that is the end of that session.


    I think I understand. Can I ask some other questions?


    Of course.


    Mistress Vanga and Rane continued to discuss the very results that t had just analyzed. Master Grediv interjected asionally, but generally let the other two discuss things uninterrupted.


    As T thought about it, she had to admit that Master Gredivs concern made sense.


    It was reasonable to be cautious for one very simpleincredibly importantreason.


    There was a way of lowering Ranes chances of sess even further. They could very easily make the twenty percent chance of sess offered by weak, short sessions look like a good option.


    Rane had only a five percent chance of seeding if he took the more intense set of sessionsfor the full length possibleagainst his will.


    There could not be even a hint of belief in the one Refining that this was anything but their own choice.


    T had absolutely no idea how theyd gotten that information, but she didnt doubt the estimate. If it werent true, then T had no doubt that Master Gredivand others in his positionwould simply force those undergoing the Refining process to undergo as intense of Refining sessions as they could survive, locking them into the full lengths regardless of their own desires.


    Who cared about free-will if you could force the person through into immortality? After all, theyd have an eternity toe around and forgive you.


    That was, of course, utter foolishnesseven T knew thatbut it also wasnt something they had to truly consider because it wasnt an option.


    Regardless, it was no wonder that Master Grediv had been nearly beside himself with frustration that Ranes stated reason for Refining so soon was to keep up with T.


    Blessedly, that was still his own choice, and she had been <em>incredibly</em> careful to in no way nudge him toward doing it or doing it sooner, but it was a delicate line to walk.


    T refocused on the dialogue between Rane, Master Grediv, and Mistress Vanga as they discussed some of the more nuanced results. Letting herself just absorb what they said without interjecting ormenting.


    Finally, Mistress Vanga seemed to have answered all of Ranes questions, and Master Grediv was obviously satisfied.


    Rane smiled gratefully and bowed to the Healer. Thank you, Mistress Vanga, it seems like I have a lot to think about.


    That you do. You know how to contact me if you have further questions.


    I do. He bowed again, and that was that.


    He turned to T as Mistress Vanga and Master Grediv departed.


    Shall we go celebrate somewhere?


    She gave him a mischievous smile, more to pull herself out of her deeper, darker thoughts than because she actually felt like being whatever she was being. Oh? What do we have to celebrate?


    He snorted augh. Im going to be immortal, of course. If the spacing continues like this between sessions, Ill be Refined by early summer.


    She forced a genuine smile, suppressing her concerns and letting her happiness for her friend truly shine through. Yeah. Thats definitely a cause to celebrate. Do you want to eat in the sanctum? One of the battle-view towers, or?


    Rane considered as they walked toward the exit of the Archon Compound.


    When he remained silent, T continued, If youre not quite hungry, yet, we could find something else to do first. It isnt <em>quite</em> lunch time yet. Also, I already finished my shift before we came here this morning. So? What do you want?


    He looked at her for a long moment as they walked, before giving a half smile.


    What?


    His smile grew. Just thinking about your question.


    As they exited out onto the street, he finally answered. Food first, I think.


    Alright. Lets go.

 Chapter 398: Resources to Reforge

    Chapter 398: Resources to Reforge


    T and Master Grediv sat across from each other in tenseonly slightly awkwardsilence.


    They were in a side sitting room within the main structure of the Gredial estate.


    It was beautifully constructed, with exposed beams and meticulous craftsmanship on disy throughout.


    Despite the tension, T was enjoying the food that shed brought in a little bag for herself, which sat on the floor beside her chair, leaning against the leg.


    Well, little was a bit of an understatement.


    It was a rucksack that would be able to carry resources for one person to be out on their own for at least a week with ease.


    Mistress Petra had packed it with care and skill, keeping the food within it intact and ready for tasty consumption.


    In order to get the food without awkwardly bending to scoop it out, T manipted tendrils of ironguided by her threefold sight.


    Especially with her more recent work in the maniption of her iron and the creations of void within, her dexterity and capacity had increased many-fold, and those bits of metal easily moved around within her aura, gripping and manipting whatever she needed.


    She found it easiest to make them in the form of hands of various sizes, each acting at her bidding.


    Master Grediv asionally eyed one of the iron-gray tools as it floated around T, but he didntment.


    Even so, having to carry the rucksack of food was a bit irritating.


    <em>I really need to find a way of keeping Kit with me while still allowing her to be conveniently ced for those helping me.</em>


    <em>-Yeah we are working on a few ideas.-</em>


    <em>And theyre great ideas, but not good enough. Not yet.</em>


    <em>-Master Simons suggestion could help make some of them more feasible.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, but it would imply that I want more people in my sanctum</em>


    <em>-Which you seem to be moving toward. Yes?-</em>


    <em>I still dont like it</em>


    The most promising solution involved the utility of Kits own dimensionality.


    As the sanctum extended massively within Kits stoneward magics, it technically had that wide of an area in which it existed and should be essible from anywhere within that range, regardless of thepression involved.


    In theory.


    T didnt really understand that part of how the magics worked, but in this case, she didnt need to.


    Even so, T had only been able to manifest an entrance into Kit from two blocks away before recing the door at Artias shop afterwards.


    She knew that shed never be able to vite the one entrance stricture, but if she could move the entrance greater distances, or manifest the singr entrance further away? It would increase Kits utility even further.


    Finally, Master Grediv set his tea to the side, drawing T from her thoughts. I did not ask to meet with you to discuss Rane.


    T felt one side of her mouth pull up in a small smile. I had assumed not. You dont have the same stressed air about you that you do when he is involved ofte.


    Master Grediv twitched, frowning slightly. Mistress T, we have both made our positions clear on this matter. I trust that we do not need to revisit it?


    She shook her head slowly. We do not. I meant no offense.


    Good. Now, we havein the pastdiscussed what will be required for you to be a Paragon as well as the steps required for you to Reforge.


    We have. Paragon is the aligning of myself with an eternal mindset ormore uratelywith my own souls goals? View on existence? She huffed augh, smiling. I suppose if I could articte it perfectly, Id have already reached it.


    He smiled in turn. Indeed.


    As to Reforging. T shuddered. Reforging is effectively Refining, but where I will be required to control every part of the process myself, through my own magics and through inscriptions that will be added to me for that purpose. There can be no outside assistance or interference. It is the remaking of myself, by myself, for myself.


    Master Grediv held up a finger. Yes and no.


    She tilted her head to the side, lightly frowning. Alright; Im listening.


    Your alternate interface, I believe she is named t?


    Yes?


    Can she help you Reforge?


    I I dont know, but I assume so.


    Why?


    She is me, and so it would still be me working on my Reforging.


    True enough. Can you use the magics from within your sword, Flow, during the Reforging process?


    I Her frown deepened. I assume so, actually.


    You are right. Do you know why?


    Instead of answering right away, T took a moment to consider, really consider.


    Master Grediv seemed pleased by that, picking his tea back up to slowly enjoy while she thought.


    After a long couple of minutes, T found herself nodding. It has to do with true ownership and authority.


    Precisely.


    He set his tea aside again, rather more roughly than before as he leaned forward. Thankfully, hed drunk enough that nothing spilled, not that he seemed like he would have cared.


    Your new physical body must be untainted by anyone elses ownership or authority. He waved a hand dismissively at his own words. This is not precisely correct, but it will help to convey what you need to know for the moment.


    Does that mean a familiar or spouse could help?


    He smiled broadly. They could, yes. But that isnt what I was driving at.


    Alright. Im listening.


    The resources you use to Reforge yourself must be your own. Master Jevin is a nearly perfect example in this regard. He uses the earned, excess resources of his entire city to push himself forward every cycle, and yet he has barely moved toward being Reforged. He held up a hand to forestall her obvious objections. True, he has other issues limiting his Reforging speed, but the idea stands.


    Alright, but I still dont quite understand. What resources? What could I need?


    He shrugged at the question. Precious metals in the thousands of pounds to be made into the inscriptions that you will need to empower throughout the process. Food that is <em>yours</em> on a fundamental level, rather than purchased from someone else. Things of that nature.


    Because Master Jevin is ruler of the city, at the most basic level everything produced there is his?


    Not the most basic level, no, but at <em>a</em> fundamental level, yes, and that part is critical. It is important to know that he couldnt steal from his citizens and expect it to work. He must own the resources at <em>every</em> level possible.


    Im not sure I fully understand, but I think I get what you are aiming at.


    He leaned back. Do tell?


    She sighed, thinking of what Master Simon had been pushing for. You are suggesting that I alter Kit to be able to function as a source of resources, and begin building toward what I will need to Reforge.


    He tilted his head to one side. That would likely work, yes.


    She frowned, noticing by his reaction that that wasnt the answer hed expected. What were you going to suggest?


    Well, I was going to suggest that you do <em>something</em> like that, but the example I was going to give was to try and be at least an anciry ruler or manager of one of the new cities to be manifest in the next century or so. There arent <em>many</em> Paragons or Refined who are currently aiming at Reforging, but there are enough that the positions will be given to those among that number.


    She shook her head. Im not interested in that type of work or locational restriction or obligations.


    He chuckled. And my encouragement would have been to get over thatck of interest, but your Kit does offer an alternative that I didnt fully consider. He picked up his cup and took a long sip before continuing, It now makes a bit more sense why Master Simon approached me about this.


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    Master Simon?


    Yes, that man has worked for a number of highly advanced Archons, and hes seen their own slow, steady work to build up what they would need if they get to the point of Reforging. I highly doubt that he knew or knows why they were doing it, but hes clever enough to realize that it involves <em>something</em> that you should be mindful of.


    T grunted. So it seems.


    They moved on to talking about other things at that point. Neither brought up Rane, and both were fine with that. They simply enjoyed chatting as well as the echoes of the times theyd spent together in the past.


    * * *


    T stood within Kit, looking at her dais.


    Upon that daisin front of where she usually stood to be reinscribedwas a throne that she had effectively never used.


    She knew what it could do. It had been created as themand hub for the systems the arcanes put in ce within Kit.


    She also knew that theyd advised that she never touch them without detailed guidance, given how easy it would be to mess up the delicate bnce within Kit.


    Kit was <em>much</em> bigger, now, and the magics had been iterated out throughout the whole sanctum, giving the throne even more control, and making utilizing those tools even more finicky.


    Master Simon was looking between T and the throne. Mistress T? Are you going to have a seat?


    She sighed. Fine.


    T stepped forward and sat down, her mind immediately filling with what seemed almost like a table of contents for the magics she could ess and alter.


    <em>-Oh, you look good, like you belong here.-</em>


    T took a moment to see what t meant.


    She did cut a striking figure, sitting erect on her throne.


    Her clothes were immacte but not ornate.


    She still preferred the nearly white tunic with storm-cloud gray pants and no shoes.


    Flow was at her hip in its ornate sparring sheath, and while her inscriptions were hidden beneath her through-spike illusion, letting her skin appear naturalif magically wlessthere were currents of magic that gave her an ethereal quality even to mundane sight.


    While she wasnt d in iron at the moment, her inscriptions were. The manifestations in existence caused by that containment was the most likely source of that other-worldy appearance she was noticing.


    Her hair was in her preferred braid, starting at her left temple, woven together down and across the nape of her neck to cause the bulk of her hair to fall over her right shoulder.


    Ts head was held regally, and her gaze seemed to be searching for someone to smite.


    Her eyes were a blood red that seemed <em>almost</em> to be glowing.


    -<em>You know, those are meant to be covered.-</em>


    <em>I like them.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, I got that. Thats why you let them through the illusion, but it doesnt help you fit in.-</em>


    <em>Im past fitting in, t. I just dont want to be attacked.</em>


    <em>-...fair.-</em>


    There were three independently osciting and pulsating shapes of iron slowly rotating at an angle around the back of her head, as if following the circumference of a non-existent halo.


    The throne itself was simple granite, shaped and polished to a near mirror finish, highlighting the granr structure of the stone. The ck, white, and gray flecks each set off different parts of her appearance.


    <em>Well Rust.</em>


    <em>-See? This is how you look to those around you.-</em>


    She shook herself, watching as the queen on her throne settled slightly, now ready to issue a just promation of war.


    <em>Yeah Im going to stop watching myself again. This is ufortable.</em>


    <em>-You do need to understand how you are perceived, T.-</em>


    <em>You are probably right, but not now. I have too much else to do.</em>


    <em>-Fine. Ill do it for you.-</em>


    T turned her perspectives outward once again, focusing on her actual task.


    She wasnt in the throne to make any changes.


    In fact, she was there to make sure no changes urred while they did the next part.


    Mistress T?


    Her supplicant<em>No, T, you arent viewing yourself as a queen anymore.</em>


    <em>-Isnt that supposed to be my line?-</em>


    <em>Im trying to be more self-aware.</em>


    <em>-while not being aware of how you are perceived?-</em>


    <em>self-aware of my own mentality.</em>


    <em>-Fair enough.-</em>


    Master Simon grabbed her attention more fully. Mistress T?


    Yes! Yes. I apologize. I was delving through the readings.


    <em>-Well, I was, but sure, make excuses for your dip into megalomania.-</em>


    <em>Hush, you.</em>


    Are you ready to monitor the changes with that construct?


    I am. Are the pirs in ce around the original perimeter?


    They are.


    Then, let us begin.


    T had her perspectives all focused on her sanctum, Kits internals.


    Shed already proven that Kit didnt need to be a sphere. Shed almostughed when she first had that thought.


    Kit had essentially <em>never</em> been a sphere, her first internal shape more resembling a small closet than anything else.


    Now, with all the changes in Ts life, she wanted to alter the shape in preparation for having more people using the space in theing decades.


    <em>Im going to need the resources for Reforging. Its fine. Im not losing my privacy or agency. Im choosing this.</em>


    With a flex of Ts will, Kit shed all the excess dimensionality and material that had been added around the sanctums original size and shape, meaning the part that had been arranged and perfected by the arcanes.


    In this case, shed was meant like a dog losing its fur, rather than a person losing weight.


    The fur was still there, just no longer where it had been.


    T and Kit worked together to hold onto the stripped-off resources, neither willing to lose what was <em>theirs.</em>


    The artificial sky got a lot closer once again, but T didnt feel ustrophobic.


    On the contrary, she felt liberated even as she bent her will and power to moving the dimensionality to a separate sphere, only connected to her sanctum by a thin bridge of space with a simple stone floor to allow passage.


    The secondary space was about three times the volume of her sanctum, but she didnt need a lot of volume for herself and her crops.


    She could have even made her area smaller, but she liked theyout that shed helped to design and enact.


    It came with hard memories, but most of them were tempered with knowledge that she had seized every advantage and benefit that she could from the House of Blood, and Kit was arge part of what shed gained.


    This sanctum was a badge of her conquest, not a scar from her captivity.


    It was <em>hers.</em>


    Kit was hers.


    They were bound, forever.


    Master Simon was manipting his Archive te, offering suggestions, and reminding her of things that theyd discussed.


    The other volume took on its rough shape, argely barren new world.


    It had soil, bedrock, water, and an illusory sky, but no artificial sun.


    Master Simon had negotiated the creation of one in exchange for detailed schematics and a chance to study the one T already had, but it wouldnt arrive for a bit.


    Until then, they would work on the shape of the space and thend therein.


    In theory, that was where any other people T allowed into her sanctum would live.


    <em>Well, no, thats not my sanctum. This is.</em>


    <em>-Shall we give it a name?-</em>


    She felt herself smile, her eyes moving to meet Master Simons. The Irondale sphere isplete. No fluctuations in the readings from the throne, though that space is now not covered by the magics controlled here. So, all that means is that we didnt mess up my sanctum with the shift.


    Irondale? The Archon frowned for a moment, then grinned. It fits, honestly. You do love your iron. He nodded. I also like the implication that youll have a town there. The resilience of Kits existencenow that shes bound to youis


    T stood. Its impressive, yes. So youve said.


    Indeed. I think you could have a couple of hundred gated in here and not risk rupture unless something went crazily sideways.


    She hesitated, ncing his way. Lets not get carried away or anything.


    He smiled, holding up his hands in surrender. Oh, I know, but the possibilities that this ce brings to bear are fascinating.


    Indeed. Shall we?


    He nodded assent.


    With aparatively minor flexing of her will, she and he were standing in a pitch ck expanse.


    There was a feeling of primal power to the space around them.


    A new world, untamed, unforged, and unconquered even though it was hers already.


    Light. The illusion of light appeared, showing them their surroundings, even if the illumination itself didnt actually exist.


    Master Simon was giving her a t look.


    What?


    Light? Isnt that a little pretentious?


    Speaking out loud? She pretended not to know what he meant.


    He sighed, shaking his head, even as a smile pulled at his lips. Fine. I cant say I havent done something simr when activating a light construct.


    Sheughed. Yeah, but youre right. I probably shouldnt get a big head or somethings bound to cut it off.


    I dont honestly think that would slow you down overmuch.


    She grunted. I still dont think Id enjoy it.


    It would be odd if you did.


    One of her iron shapes <em>popped</em>, and T sighed. <em>Yeah, I was too distracted, thats fair.</em>


    <em>-d you acknowledge that.- </em>t was obviously rather proud of herself.


    Even so, T easily kept mastery of the other two shapes even as she rebuilt the third and put it back into synchronous orbit with the others.


    Master Simon had a knowing smile on his face, but otherwise, he didnt react.


    Shall we get started? I know we have it roughed in, but


    T nodded. As you say. Theres a lot still left to aplish.


    With that decided, they began walking the vast area, reshaping thend ording toplex forms that t and Master Simon were applying through the sensing magics and their connection to the Archive.


    T used her will to shift all levels andponents of the terrain, ensuring that it would be stable until <em>she</em> wished it to be different.


    It was actually a rather rewarding experience.


    The feeling of creating something that wouldst was intoxicating.


    They had discussed it beforehand, and the two Archons would work in their free timearound their other projects, tasks, and trainingover theing months to make this ce how they wanted it.


    There would be a massiveke, with rivers flowing out of it and around toe back in.


    There would be forests, orchards, and ins, little mountains and valleys.


    They had a lot of ideas of how they could make it, effectively, a paradise that T could use to attract resources and workers that she might need.


    Even though T had dismissed the idea of dividing Kit like this when Master Simon had first suggested it, now that shed gotten started, she was incredibly d that they were doing this.


    This was invigorating in a way that she hadnt expected.


    She felt a burning passion flicker to life within her as she worked to forge a miniature world to call her own.


    Unnoticed by any save t, Ts aura shifted just a bit more toward green.

 Chapter 399: True Love

    Chapter 399: True Love


    T and her unit were on their way to yet another cell.


    T was initially quite rmed when she heard about the assignment. It had only been a month since the doomsday vault cell, and if it had gone through the full rotation to get back to them that quickly


    Blessedly, things werent that bad.


    Instead, their luck with the doomsday vault meant that they had been left at the top of the rotation.


    True, T, herself, had been cut in halfwhich her unit had dutifully reportedbut that part wasnt really as spread around as the fact that theyd gotten a dangerless cell overall.


    Regardless, this next cell was simply the next one to need maintenance.


    <em>Once a month is actually a slowing whenpared to how things were going, as well as a wee reprieve, honestly.</em> Though, all wanings had cycles, so this might just be a momentary cooldown.


    <em>Happy thoughts, T.</em>


    Among the other units, there had been talk of hanging their whole unit if they lucked into another doomsday vaultor something like itbut it was obvious that most were joking.


    At least T hoped that they were.


    After all, there were some rather powerful individuals in the other units, and she was still recovering.


    On the positive side, even if they hung her, shed probably be fine?


    She could make herself float for one, and even if that didnt workfor some reasonshe could just heal.


    <em>-They were joking, T and thats dark.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, yeah, I know</em> T sighed.


    <em>-Youre still a bit off. Are you sure youre up for this mission?-</em>


    Almost as if echoing ts mindset, Mistress Cerna nced toward T from where she sat, piloting their airborne vehicle. Mistress T? How are you feeling?


    Im recovering well enough. T smiled in what she hoped was a reassuring way. Mistress Vanga assessed my stores at nearly half-filled, and I think that Ive put the trauma of effectively cutting myself in half behind me.


    Their unit leader nced to the Healer who nodded once.


    Master Clevnis grunted, interjecting into the small silence. Yeah, that wasnt the nicest of cuts.


    She knew that shed likely regret it, but T asked anyway, How, exactly, do you assess the niceness of a cut?


    Oh! Can I take this one? Master Limmestare interjected even as therger man opened his mouth.


    Master Clevnis grimaced. Cuts are sort of my thing.


    No, no, my friend. That is why you arent a Paragon yet. <em>Edges</em> are your thing. Cuts are what you make with those edges, and how you assess them.


    Master Clevnis blinked at Master Limmestare a few times. Finally, he put his head in his hands. Rust. Youre right. Fine, you can say it.


    To Ts surprise, she <em>thought</em> she saw Master Clevniss aura ticked slightly toward Paragon. She barked augh. Is that actually news to you?


    He looked her way, his grimace growing. No, of course not, but I had never thought of it in exactly that way.


    Mistress Cerna gave a wry smile. Oftentimes we get so focused on what is right in front of us that we lose sight of why we were focused on it to begin with. We help each other by pushing against our assumptions.


    The older woman nced toward her other unit mate, and sighed.


    Yes, Master Limmestare, you can proceed.


    Master Limmestares grin grew as he turned back to T. The answer is obvious. The cleanliness of a cut is determined by the state of the material on either side of the cut when you are done.


    T found herself nodding. That actually makes a lot of sense. A bad cut will leave the surrounding material mashed, or broken, or otherwise disturbed, but a perfect cut will not affect it at all.


    Precisely.


    Master Clevnis looked to his wife. Can I hit him?


    Mistress Cerna shook her head in response. One does not discipline a child for being correct, even if their being correct makes you frustrated or look bad.


    Oh, I know that, love. I want to hit him for being disrespectful.


    She tilted her head to the side as if considering.


    Master Limmestares eyes widened a bit. Hey, wait a minute now


    She nodded, ignoring the protesting ss archon. Ill allow it.


    Master Clevniss face blossomed with obvious joy as he moved toward his unit-mate.


    No. The single word from theiruntil thensilent Paragon stopped everyone.


    Mistress Cerna continued to pilot, but her growing smile vanished immediately.


    Everyone else turned to regard the man sitting cross-legged in the back of their craft.


    Even Terry paused his revelry, ncing down from his perch.


    There hadnt been any magic in the word, but there was something about him that essentiallymanded obedience.


    The man wore precisely traditional Mages robes of a t gray linen. The buttons were simrly gray, but stone, purposely scuffed to a matte finish, causing them to almost disappear into the surrounding fabric.


    Even though his rock solid aura was held just outside of his bodysufficient to epass his clothing as wellit was obvious that he was more fit even than the standard Mage.


    It was an odd thing, looking at him with her threefold sight. T effectively had a nk spot in her otherwise incredibly detailed three dimensional,plete understanding of what was around her.


    True, thats what she expected any time someones aura kept her out, but it was still something that she was getting used to, and it was more stark with this Paragon than usual.


    He hadnt opened his eyes to speak, but T remembered them as an almost violently bright green, reminding her of Throns corrosive magics.


    His hair and beard were trimmed close to the skin, while still being obviously present.


    <em>Not that Ive seen many bald Refined, let alone those more advanced.</em>


    His sleeves were rolled up, exposing bulky, defined forearms and hands that looked strong enough to crush stones.


    He wore no jewelry nor any magical item that T could detect.


    His inscriptions were crisp and precise, even while being somehow muddled by the mans aura so that T couldnt determine anything about them aside from their presence.


    T would have been tempted to call him the boulder if he hadnt given his name when they first met.


    When he didnt speak further for a long moment, Mistress Cerna cleared her throat. Master Smarag?


    Yes, Mistress Cerna? He didnt open his eyes.


    You have something to say?


    No, but thank you.


    That caused the othersincluding Tto exchange looks.


    The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    T sighed, filling in the obvious answer, Because you already said what you were going to and aplished your goal?


    He simply nodded once.


    <em>Lovely.</em>


    They took the rest of their trip in silence.


    * * *


    T and her unit waited as Master Smarag analyzed the various bits of information left for them to indicate whaty within the cell.


    After a long moment, he grunted. Mistress Vanga, we need to determine your units physical resilience toward nontraditional attacks.


    The Healer blinked a few times. I apologize, Master Smarag, could you be a bit more specific? In some cases I would say incredibly high, in others very low.


    He grunted again. My apologies. In this case, resistance to magically induced slumber.


    She began nodding. Method of influence?


    It appears to be a conceptual curse. It permeated an entire city-state, including ntlife, and all analyzed fauna.


    Is it a true sleep or more of a stasis?


    No indications of degradation or alteration over the course of months, but no immunity to physical interaction, movement, or the like.


    Levels of advancement of those affected?


    They used some archaic system of measurement, but it looks likeby our systemup through newly Refined.


    Mistress Vangas eyes widened a bit. Well, thats not good.


    Indeed. That is why I asked. I think there is a clear and present danger to some or all of your group.


    What exactly is going on in there?


    Master Smarag sighed. It looks like a form of sleeping curseas was likely obvious by my questions. It spreads through the air, by touch, and in several other ways they werent able to easily detect.


    Hmm. My memory is that curses of that magnitude, even with a Sovereign involved, tend to have a safety valve, or what is often seen as a cure in retellings. Is that the case?


    Indeed. Apparently, the daughter of this citys ruler is the one who was cursed, and the Sovereign who cursed her let it be known that true loves kiss would wake the girl.


    T cleared her throat. Wait, Ive heard this story. Are you telling me that the fairytalees from a cell? This cell?


    Master Smarag nced her way. That is very possible, yes. In the case of cells containing what amounts to a gue, knowledge of what is in them often survives, in the hope that a cure can be discovered in the meantime.


    That made a lot of sense to T. Shed based much of her magic on tales of old, so it stood to reason that others might spend their time and energy trying to solve old tales. So? Do we have a solution?


    He shook his head. No, aside from a Sovereign''s boon to negate the curse, and even that might not work. He sighed. A whole city-states worth of people, trapped for eternity.


    Do we know why?


    The Paragon pointed. The specifics are vague, as by the time the makers of this cell came to clean up the mess, all those who truly knew what had happened were already asleep. They found some records, but its noted that they should be treated as highly biased.


    T chuckled. They didnt invite the Sovereign to a party, and she threw a fit and vastly over reacted?


    He cracked a half-smile. In essence, yes. We know that cant be what actually happened, because no one on the level of a Sovereign would spend their power so foolishly He hesitated. Maybe one of the dream-gods? But this cell seems to be from well after thest of those were sealed away. He sighed. Though, there could always be another that we havent rediscovered yet.


    Regardless.


    Yes. He gave another small smile. That is the fairytale version of what happened.


    Did the prince not want to kiss her?


    Master Smarag sighed. She was sixteen and had been very sheltered. No one really knew her well enough to truly love her.


    What of her parents?


    He shrugged. Im not sure. Might not have been the right kind of love, or maybe her parents were rusting horrible people. Ive no way of knowing. After a moment, he added, If the Sovereign really did announce the cure, it could also have been a lie meant to sow chaos among those who loved her, making them doubt themselves even as they, too fell under the working.


    Ts eyes widened. Thats diabolical.


    Indeed.


    T was enjoying Master Smarag much more now that he was actually talking, but it seemed like it wasnt meant tost.


    Mistress Vanga interjected once again. Regardless, I dont know that even Mistress T would be immune to such a working, at least not without knowing how, exactly, it affects its targets.


    <em>Yeah, and your base spellforms specifically dont work against sleep.</em>


    <em>-Yeah Id rather we not test if they were right in calling this sleep or not. Good call.-</em>


    Master Girt cleared his throat. When I am melded with the earth, I am immune to all but direct physical damage. Even directly targeted effects have trouble holding onto me, let alone grabbing on to begin with, when I meld with the ground.


    T nodded, remembering some of their practice sessions. Hes correct. My magic works on a cognitive level, and when weve tested it, it loses all power when hes upying the same space as rock, stone, or dirt.


    She grimaced. She didnt understand <em>why</em> her locks failed on the man in those circumstances, but they unquestionably did.


    She could probably find a way around the issue, but theyd not taken enough time to try enough things to find that loophole.


    Master Smarag grunted. Are you willing to take the risk, to investigate the cell, and to ensure nothinges out while I repair the seal? He held up a hand to stop Master Girt from instantly agreeing. I will tell you that if you sumb to the cursed sleep, we wont be bringing you out. I will not allow it. We also wont be killing you.


    Master Girt hesitated.


    We dont know if they are dreaming, or if their consciousness is in limbo. You could be risking a near eternity of suffering for all we understand. Or it could be a blink and youre awake again type of sleep. We just dont know.


    After a long moment, Master Girt gave a slow nod. We need someone to go in, and Im the best option. Id say that Mistress T was more resilient than I, but we recently encountered a couple of things that ignored her defenses toopletely for me to retain that belief in all circumstances.


    T sighed, nodding. Ironically, your simpler method of defense should be more likely to resist something that was clearly intended to target mundanes. All my forms of defense are contests against the attacker, and with a Sovereigns power in the mix, Ill likely lose.


    Master Girt smiled. Where my defense is to not be able to be interacted with, regardless of power.


    She smiled in return. Precisely.


    Master Smarag nodded as well. Alright. I will get confirmation for the n, and we will proceed.


    In a surprising turn that really shouldnt have been that surprising, confirmation came back within the hour, and Master Girt was given the go-ahead to proceed.


    Master Smarag gave Master Girt a meaningful look. Everyone in there is innocent as far as we know, and everything in there belongs to them. We are not robbers, nor users of the innocent. Learn what you can, but disturb as little as possible. Ideally, these people will wake up and continue their lives at some point.


    Master Girt nodded. Understood.


    The Paragon walked over to where the cell anchory, then hesitated, his head tilting up as if he were reading something that only he could see. Hmmm


    Mistress Cerna took a step toward him. Master Smarag?


    I was just notified and advised to maintain aura superiority around the entrance. There will be regr check-ins, and if we miss any, another Paragon wille and the term scorched earth summarizes it nicely.


    T grunted, instantly understanding. We cant put a cell within a cell, and this curse cant be allowed to spread.


    He smiled again. Quite.


    Mistress Cerna nodded. What is your preference, Master Smarag? I cany down magics to enhance your aura, or we can take on the responsibility of maintaining an aura lockdown?


    He sighed, the moment of mirth passing as quickly as it hade. To be safe, it should be me. Ultimately, this mission depends upon me and is my responsibility.


    She nodded again in response. Very well, can you give me five minutes?


    Easily.


    Without waiting further, precious metals almost seemed to explode out of her in thousands of minute tendrils, driving into the ground and worming their way to interweave into intricate patterns.


    T felt her eyes widen as her threefold sight allowed her to watch the entire process take ce, likely in a way few had ever been able to.


    She stepped a bit closer, cognizant to not get in the other womans way, but wanting to pick up as much as she could.


    Mistress Cerna threw her a self-satisfied look, clearly enjoying being able to impress her unit-mate. She also then altered how she was working just slightly, to allow T to catch more of the process.


    Instead of advancing the entire working as a whole, Mistress Cernapleted each section before moving on wherever possible.


    Thank you.


    Of course. We need to learn wherever and whenever we can.


    What the Refinedid down in less than five minutes was easily moreplicated than most of the scripts T had seen in merging rooms, though obviously bent toward an entirely different purpose.


    When Mistress Cerna was finished, a truly dizzyingttice oftent powery undergroundclearly changing sub-schema as the spellform passed into and through various mediumsworking together with a cage of gold, silver, copper, and another metal that T didnt recognize to surround the two men and the unopened cell-door.


    Master Smarag took a moment to carefully examine the finished work when the Refined let him know it was ready.


    He gave a single nod. Your reputation is well deserved, Mistress Cerna.


    The woman simply smiled in return.


    He stomped down one foot, a pulse of magic radiating outward and activating the intricate spellform and filling it with his power.


    Ts threefold sight was immediately cut out of the area as the Paragons aura filled the whole space, feeling substantially more powerful than before even as the magic burned off the precious metals to amplify Master Smarags authority and ownership of the area.


    <em>That is what aura is, after all. It is authority and ownership over an area.</em>


    <em>-Just remember, even though new understandings are fun, they are also sometimes wrong.-</em>


    <em>But this one feels right.</em>


    <em>-Youll find no argument here.-</em>


    A momentter, the cell was open, and Master Girt had stepped inside, leaving Master Smarag to enact the repairs and T and the rest of the unit to wait in impotence.


    It was a stressfully uneventful process.


    As often happens, nothing was a lot worse to wait through than sudden ambushes, or problems to solve.


    Still, it <em>was</em> better to have an uneventful fix instead of an outbreak of a Sovereign-generated sleeping gue.


    T assured herself of that.


    Master Smaragpleted the work in less than three hours, and Master Girt returned when the time was up.


    In that way, in less than a day, they were all happy and healthy, already heading back toward Alefast, their missionplete.

 Chapter 400: Eternity

    Chapter 400: Eternity


    T sat in silence as she considered deeply, flying back to Alefast with her unit.


    She thought about the poor girl who was at the heart of the cell theyd juste from. She was innocent, at least rtively speaking.


    Master Girt hadnt been able to find any evidence of movement or activity within the cell, and so hed taken the time to explore some.


    There had been a few prisoners in the dungeon of the central castle, but theyd been in rtivelyfortable amodations, if not reallyvish or something that theyd likely want to stay in.


    From what little he could see, it seemed like a nice enough city-state, filled with people.


    Not perfect, not evil, just people.


    And they were all trapped.


    Either theyd be trapped until Zeme failed, and theyd die with everyone else who was around at that time, or somewhere down the line, someone would cure them, and they would wake up to a world utterly changed.


    <em>Eternity can look so different for different people.</em>


    She almost mentally reached out to engage t in a discussion on eternity, but she hesitated.


    T had never really talked with her unit-mates about eternity, not in any direct sense.


    That would likely be a more productive avenue than talking to herself again


    <em>-Yeah, Im great, but Im still you. Talk to them.-</em>


    Mistress Cerna?


    Yes, T? The Refined nced Ts way before turning her gaze back to the direction they were flying.


    What is your view on eternity?


    Master Smarags eyes opened, seemingly with interest, but he didnt otherwise react.


    Mistress Cerna nced to T again, briefly, smiling. The fate of those people?


    Yeah, its weighing on me a bit. I didnt even see them, but knowing that they are effectively trapped, awaiting a savior who may nevere? T grimaced. It has me thinking about my own future. There are powers in this world that I am utterly impotent to resist, after all.


    Mistress Cerna nodded. Maybe unsurprisingly, I see the worldand time itselfas a tapestry, being woven by our actions and interactions.


    So? T leaned in, listening intently.


    So, eternity is simply the fact that the tapestry will continue forever. Individual threads wille and go, but the pattern continues.


    You just see yourself as a thread?


    The woman smiled. A long thread, but yes. I know that, regardless of my longevity, I will eventually leave this world in one way or another.


    T bit her lip, thinking for a moment before smiling. Thank you.


    Of course.


    She turned to Mistress Cernas husband next, Master Clevnis?


    My view on eternity?


    If you would be so kind, yes please.


    I suppose I see myself as a rock skipping across the water.


    T blinked a few times, then shifted, confused and hoping that he would continue.


    As a Refined, I now have no friction, nor loss of energy between skips, but I could still catch a ripple badly, or strike a fish as it surfaces. I just have no idea when it could all end, but until then, it is quite the trip. He grinned. And even when the skipping is done, the stone is not destroyed, it simply has another journey, this time in a new direction, a new world.


    Master Limmestare chuckled. So, youre just skipping through life?


    Master Clevnis grinned in return. For as long as I can.


    T nodded, understanding even if she didnt necessarily agree. What about you, Master Limmestare?


    The man straightened just a bit, putting on a fake air of authority. Eternity is a story, of course. It switches narrators, but the story goes on.


    T gave him a narrow-eyed look, remembering a certain prisoner.


    Master Limmestar chuckled. You can check my records if it will ease your mind, Mistress T. I have had this view for decades.


    Very well. But if were all in a story, whats the point? Arent our actions predetermined?


    Ahh, you misunderstand. Each of us is a narrator, guiding where the story goes. Conflictes about when two or more narrators try to tell conflicting stories, and the best timesthe best talesur when two or more narrators work together to tell a story which is better than any could have brought about on their own.


    Hmm T considered. There is some beauty to that.


    Thank you.


    What of the girl? Her city-state?


    Few stories are happy all the way through, Mistress T, as much as we might wish that they were. That said, the best onesat least in my opinionhave good endings. I work to influence as many narrators as possible toward that end.


    T smiled at that. Thank you for sharing.


    Master Limmestare turned to Mistress Vanga. What of you, Mistress Vanga?


    Eternity is rtionships. She answered easily. My mother has long passed on, but my rtionship with her still influences all that I do, and all that I do influences those I interact with. Thus, my mother is still influencing the world long after her death. She smiled softly. She often spoke of how much her grandfather loved and invested in her, so all that she did for me was due in part to himand othersand so they live on in what I do as well.


    That was very simr to a part of what Master Grediv had said. What we do echoes in eternity?


    Mistress Vanga smiled. That is Master Gredivs view, I believe. As for me, I would say it differently, Who we are echoes in eternity.


    T hmmed in thought. She almost turned to Master Girt to ask his view, but she then realized that that would be unkind, given his still all too raw loss.


    Eternity was likely a painful subject for him, even if he didnt want others to avoid the subject. He was not so selfish as to stifle the advancement of others for his ownfort.


    The Healer turned to the one Paragon who was with them, preventing any sort of awkward silence. Master Smarag?


    Master Smarag nodded once, definitively. Then, words practically poured from the normally taciturn man. Eternity is the journey. Zeme is our current path, but when we die, the journey does not end. It is likeing to the shore of a great ocean and getting on a ship. Is there some far-off country within which we will continue our journey like we have, here? I dont know. We may sail forever, continuing in a manner utterly unlike we have traveled up until that point. Regardless, the journey is without end. That is eternity.


    Everyone seemed to have far-off looks, considering the Paragons words.


    Into that silence, Master Girt sighed, speaking up for the first time in the short conversation, Eternity is illogical, and its a lie.


    Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.


    All those free to do so looked his way.


    We dont age, but thats not immortality. Rocks dont age, not technically, but no one talks about a rock being immortal.


    T shrugged. Because rocks arent alive. We dont expect them to change.


    Yet they do, dont they. It wasnt a question. The very mountains we fly near werent always here, and they werent always shaped this way. Even on the scale of mountains, Refined and those more advanced are long-lived, but no one and nothingsts for eternity. He sighed, looking down at his hands. Nothing save the next world.


    She tilted her head to one side. Do we know that, though?


    He shook his head. Know? No. But those of us with the capacity to sense, and who have had a soulbond pass on He closed his eyes for a moment before seeming to harden his resolve to continue, In that momentthe awful moment of utter separationwe get a glimpse at what is toe. It is purifying fire, clear-cold water, rest beyond measure, and never-ending purpose. Everything about that ce practically screams eternal. Whether it is or not, I suppose well all find out eventually, but I believe it is. He gave a small, self-deprecating smile, then. So, I suppose eternity isnt a lie in and of itself, just the idea of eternity <em>here</em> is a lie.


    T found herself nodding. That was close to the sense I got from it. She hesitated, then rified, Meaning the next world seems eternal, not the other part.


    Master Girt looked up, frowning. I didnt know that youd lost a soulbond.


    She shook her head at the misunderstanding, No, I havent. I helped a fount pass on, but I did it unconventionally.


    <em>Should I give them ess to the memories?</em>


    <em>-Given its your perspective, it might not be a good idea. It would push them all toward your understandings, drawing them away from their own path.-</em>


    <em>Yeah I wish we could purge my understanding from the memory.</em>


    <em>-I can work on that?-</em>


    <em>Worth a try. Thank you.</em>


    <em>-I aim to please.-</em>


    Mistress Vanga smiled warmly. No surprise, there.


    T decided to ignore the other woman. Looking into the next world I felt both entirely wee and utterly unworthy. I felt like I would have to lose most of what I believe to be myself in order to truly be myself enough to enter. She frowned. That makes no sense, but it was the feeling I had.


    Master Girt nodded. A different way of phrasing it, but yes. I understand what you mean. Regardless, now you know my view on eternity. Here, there is no eternity, only the pale echo of what is toe. All suffering will end He swallowed visibly. We will be united with the lost and discover that it had been we who were lost all along, now weed home.


    As he turned to lean against the clear side of the windscreen, everyone fell into contemtive silence.


    Mistress Vanga went to sit beside Master Girt,ying aforting hand on his shoulder while joining him in his silence.


    * * *


    T, Rane, Master Simon, Adrill, and Brandon all stood in the secondary,rger area of Kit for what T thought would be a fun experiment.


    She had been using siege orbs for more than a year by that point, and she had only made them out of air. It was time to try using other materials.


    T wanted to try water, first.


    Master Simon and Adrill had insisted that they perform the first test in this remote location for safetys sake. They had also insisted on being present to watch.


    Of course, T could have ignored them, but she appreciated their perspectives and insights, and after all, she was employing them for their expertise. Shed be a bit of a fool to ignore them in those circumstances.


    In that vein, theyd also insisted that a Healer be on hand.


    T had chosen to listen to that suggestion as well, and she had invited her unit-mate.


    As such, Mistress Vanga arrived outside of Kit at the appointed time, and T drew her in.


    The Refined didnt resist, and a momentter, she was standing beside T and the three men.


    The Healer looked around, orienting on T before she spoke, You know, your ability to do that is rather terrifying. I feel as if I could fight you, but I dont think I could win.


    T chuckled, Yeah, it makes the idea of dimensional spiders a whole lot more terrifying. You dont even have to step into a web, they can just snag you.


    Everyone turned to look at her with horrified expressions. Rane shook his head, T, why under the stars, did you bring those up?


    She sighed. Sorry I didnt really consider that it wouldnt be kind to bring them up.


    Mistress Vanga shook her head, trying to hide her smile. So, why exactly am I here? I do enjoy a good get-together, and you all are fine folk, but I assume there was a specific reason.


    Ttched onto the change of subject. Yes, there is a specific reason.


    The Healer waited for T to continue.


    So, you know my siege orbs?


    Yes, Mistress T. I am familiar. Mistress Vangas smile grew a bit.


    Well, Im going to try to create one out of water.


    The woman blinked a few times. I see. How far away shall we be waiting?


    They both turned to look at therge cube of water that floated a dozen yards from them, or so.


    T was suspending the liquid through an act of will, basically constantly moving the water to be where she wanted it to be, despite its propensity to crash to the ground.


    Mistress Vanga sighed.


    T quickly spoke. I wasnt going to enact the working this close. I was just verifying that I could keep the water in ce.


    The Healer looked skeptical, but didnt say anything further.


    T coughed, and then willed the water to a distance of a few hundred yards.


    Mistress Vanga nodded. Very well. I think with this amount of distance, so long as you dont do something astral, we should be fine, here.


    Astral? T frowned. <em>Maybe she means ster? No, thats not a good term for it either.</em>


    Having to do with the heavens. Maybe not the correct term, but I dont generally think of things in that way. But, given your abilities, Im concerned you might just devote enough power to make a mini-star, or ck hole, or the like.


    Oh, I dont think Ill get anywhere near that pressure. T smiled. I appreciate the faith you have in my abilities, though.


    Mistress Vanga cocked an eyebrow while still smiling as she asked another question, And you''re starting with?


    A ten foot cube of water.


    Alright, then. She sat down in the provided chair, taking a ss of a cold juice that Mistress Petra had provided and T had set out on a nearby table. Begin whenever you wish.


    T nodded.


    She already had a perfect visualization of the water. After all, not only was she seeing it with her threefold sight at every level possible, she was willing it to be where it was, keeping it in ce.


    So, with that visualization in mind, she began to pour power into her gravity altering magics, affecting the water''s gravitational attraction to itself.


    She focused, even while those looking on began to chat. They were all familiar enough with her that they knew it would take a bit to build up to anything worthy of paying much attention to.


    After a few minutes of devoting nearly her full throughput to amplifying the effect of gravity upon the water, that water began to pull inward just ever so slightly, getting smaller under the building pressure.


    Honestly, if T understood correctly, that meant that it was under a <em>lot</em> of pressure.


    Unfortunately, the liquid was also beginning to heat up, which was inconvenient.


    It wasnt shedding its excess heat as readily as the air did during her creation of siege orbs, partially because water could take in a lot more heat energy than air could.


    <em>Well, this is my sanctum. My water. My heat.</em>


    Kit was soulbound to her, and through Kit, T had utter mastery over the contents of this space.


    With an act of will, T pulled the heat from the water, not aiming for any temperature in particr. Instead, she just pulled the heat away, even as she ramped up the gravitational attraction.


    Given the multiplicative effects of her magic, the water began to shrink at a noticeable rate even as it heated up more and more quickly.


    Because of that, she pulled out more and more heat. She wasnt being delicate about it, simply dumping the heat into a pocket in the ground deep on the far side of this section of Kits interior.


    The water under the influence of her magics began to be solid, but she wasnt sure if it was due to the pressure or the temperature, given she was pulling so much heat uniformly away from it, trying to stay ahead of the heating effect.


    Then, when the water hadpressed to a bit more than half its previous volumeand T had pulled a truly ludicrous amount of heat out of itthere was a resonant thrum, and she saw in real time as the water molecules rearranged.


    At least, that was her guess as to what was happening.


    She couldnt actually see the water molecules themselves, not really, but there was an odd rippling through the entire mass of the now somewhat rounded block of ice, and Ts working vanished.


    Her mental understanding of the water simply no longer being true enough to let her magics keep hold.


    T gasped, staggering at the sudden loss of a ce to dump her gushing power.


    It felt as if shed had a leg kicked out from under her, but she recovered quickly enough.


    Even so, the shock of losing a target-lock also caused her to lose her will-power hold on the no-longer-water, and it dropped a couple of feet to the ground, where it just sat there.


    Master Simon came forward, Mistress T? Are you alright?


    She nodded and let Mistress Vangas magic wash over her, verifying her condition.


    Once that was established, he returned his attention to his Archival te.


    Brandon and Adrill were simrly engrossed with their magical readings.


    Rane was standing, simply staring at the ice in the near distance, clearly intrigued.


    Master Simon finally shook his head, clearly a bit dumbstruck for a long moment before turning back to T, What did you do?


    Honestly? Im not quite sure?


    After a long moment, he nodded. Well, I guess that we should go find out.

 Chapter 401: Thanks for the Hand

    Chapter 401: Thanks for the Hand


    T, Master Simon, Adrill, Brandon, Mistress Vanga, and Rane were all in Ts sanctum to witness an experiment and provide assistance in case of disaster.


    Disaster didnt seem to have struck as of yet, so things were looking up.


    On the other side of things, thepression of water into a siege orb was not looking viable.


    The new, odd block of ice rested on the ground some hundred yards from the group.


    T willed for them all to be beside the block of ice.


    As soon as they arrived just a few feet from the odd thing, Rane took a step back. I I think Id prefer to wait back there. Im still not reinscribed.


    Oh! Right. She shrugged, feeling a bit embarrassed at having forgotten. Okay.


    And he was back in his chair. He gave a grateful wave before picking up his cup.


    Adrill, Brandon, and Master Simon were already moving around the rounded block in fascination, various magics sweeping through the result of Ts experiment.


    It probably would have been a sphere, but Ts will had been holding it in a vaguely cube shape up until the point that the magicspressing the material had lost their lock.


    Of those looking closer at the ice, Brandon spoke first, looking at his te, Am I seeing this right? The water molecules seem like theyve been aligned into a tetragonal crystalttice.


    Adrill was nodding, but Master Simon was the one to answer. It seems so, yes.


    I didnt think that structure was possible for this material?


    Not easily, but possible? Yes.


    Brandon took a moment to think, then nodded.


    The three performed dozens of scans and tests before Master Simon looked to the others.


    I am curious what it feels like. The surface seems to have beening up to temperature, but theres no sign of melting.


    Adrill nodded. A test of contact could give more data.


    Brandon simply nodded.


    Without further dy, Master Simon reached out and touched the ice tentatively.


    He sucked in a harsh breath as he pulled his hand back with a startled jerk.


    Mistress Vanga was at his side in a blink.


    Her magics rampaged through him even as her eyes widened.


    She drew a knife and cut off the mans arm at the elbow in one seamless motion. Mistress T, iste the ice and the hand. Now.


    Her voice was calm but also utterly overflowing with authority and a sense ofmand.


    T didnt even consider arguing with this ancient expert. She did as instructed, specifically pulling a bit of dimensionality off to the side within Kit and moving the ice and hand into it.


    T took a moment to examine the ice block even as she moved it. Strangely, it was a bit irregrly shaped now and bigger than it had been, if just barely.


    <em>Thats odd. What</em>


    Then, she felt herself pull in a startled breath.


    She hadnt been paying close attention to their surroundings.


    But, with the block gone, shed naturally widened her focus, which let her see, immediately, that there was ice that seemed to be <em>growing</em> deeper into the ground, taking in all moisture and turning it into more ice.


    Worse yet, the speed of expansion increased with the surface area of the leading edge of that expansion.


    With an act of will, T tore out all the ice, putting it with the block in the segregated space.


    That caused the soil before them to desate, creating a little depression in the earth.


    Rane seemed to have heard Mistress Vanga, or at least he heard her well enough to pick up the tone. He had stood from his seat, clearly concerned, but he didnte closer, not yet.


    T met his gaze and he nodded. That was enough for her, and she brought him back over.


    After he blinked to regain his bearings, he turned to Mistress Vanga. What happened?


    Master Simon was standing stock still as the Healer worked on him, his face seeming to actively be bing more pale.


    Mistress Vanga was obviously tense. Mistress T, can you find any ice within Master Simon and remove it? I am ready to heal the damage.


    It was only then that T noticed that no blood was flowing from the severed stump at the end of Master Simons arm.


    T didnt waste any time, immediately mming her aura down upon the Fused man and overwhelming his natural defenses.


    He stiffened but didnt actively resist, which made it both quicker and easier for T.


    Within his body, she found the same phenomenon of water being pulled free from everything else in order to form oddly growing ice within his flesh.


    With another act of will, T tore the ice from him.


    It required a <em>lot</em> of focus and mental energy, leaving her gasping even without him resisting in the slightest.


    Even so, there was no magical resistance from the ice itself, and it was all taken from him.


    The mans color worsened instantly, and Mistress Vangas magic immediately set to work, having a far easier time healing his Fused body than she had when working with Ts inhuman, Refined one.


    A momentter, Master Simon copsed backward into the chair that T had called over for him even as he fell back into it.


    He gave a weak smile of thanks before ncing toward Mistress Vanga. Thank you for the hand.


    There was a collective moment of silence before a few of them burst into initially-tense, stress relievingughter.


    The rest followed, and soon they were all sitting, mostly on the ground.


    When theyd calmed down again, T asked the critical question. What happened? Why is the ice not melting? How was it growing? There wasnt any magic to it that I could sense.


    Master Simon gestured toward Adrill, then grimaced at the memory as he realized that hed used his new hand. Even so, he still asked his question, Would you care to give your best guess?


    The man nodded in response. From what I was able to determine, there was something special about the molecr structure of the ice, the edges of the structure were primed for more water to be added. Therefore, it was actively grabbing any water molecules that came into contact with it and adding them to itself by sheer force of nature.


    T blinked a few times. Is that possible?


    Master Simon shrugged. Its what we witnessed, therefore possible or not is hardly the question. Ive heard of a theory of a ninth form of ice that would behave in this way, but it was never pursued for hopefully obvious reasons.


    She tilted her head to one side. Ninth? There are nine forms of ice?


    More, apparently. It is not an area that Ive studied, but I think there might be nearly twenty?


    Thats huh.


    Brandon interjected, then. Water can form all sorts of interconnected forms, and so I believe each one is simply a different stable or semi-stable structure.


    T grunted, then sighed. What do I need to know?


    Master Simon answered, From what I am finding in the Archive, its melting temperature should be a dozen or so degrees above human body temperature. In theory, melting it should destroy the chemical structure, and remove the self-propagating nature.


    If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the vition.


    T nodded, seeking out the heat that shed vented from her earlier process.


    She was about to move it, when she realized. <em>Wait Since when can I shift around temperature?</em>


    <em>-Thats what youre concerned about in this situation?-</em>


    <em>It seems rather important.</em>


    <em>-Fine. Yes, so long as we are unopposed, we can move basically anything around in here, within the bounds of physics.-</em>


    <em>Meaning?</em>


    <em>-I dont think we could get something below absolute zero, or force truly unstable bonds. I also dont think we can manipte anything physical below the level of a group of molecules.-</em>


    <em>Thats something We also dont seem to have truly minute control.</em>


    <em>-Aside from ripping the ice from Master Simon?-</em>


    <em>Those were rather big chunks, and I just made sure I didnt leave anything behind at the edges.</em>


    <em>-Fair.-</em>


    T stopped dying and took thetent heat that shed shed from the previous work and moved it to the segregated ice and hand.


    There had been a <em>lot</em> of waste-heat from Ts earlier experiment, and all that remained was dumped back into the water.


    In the end, the massive block of water was well above something a normal human could swim in, and the hand was thoroughly poached.


    <em>Lets not think about human flesh in cooking terms, please?</em>


    <em>-Even when its urate?-</em>


    <em>Especially then.</em>


    <em>-Fine. Ill try to remember and help you remember.-</em>


    <em>Thank you.</em>


    T nodded once. Alright, I think Ive resolved that issue.


    She exined the results of her work, and the group seemed to rx.


    Mistress Vanga gave T a long, <em>long</em> look. T returned the gaze, confused. What?


    You realize that what you just created is the type of thing that would be put into a cell, right? If we didnt know how to deal with it?


    T hesitated, considering. I did not think of it that way.


    Master Simon nodded. This form of ice would be, in theory, a world-ending event. Theck of magic would actually make it harder to track and deal with.


    She nodded slowly. I can see that, yeah.


    There was a long moment of silence.


    Finally, T spoke again. Lets do everything we can to ensure that I didnt miss any of it, and that property is gone, now?


    There was a hearty agreement.


    As the others got to workusing the magics avable to them to delve deeply into the areaAdrill cleared his throat.


    Yes, Adrill?


    Lets notpress water any more?


    T considered for a moment. Ifpressing water would turn it into ice, that wouldnt work as explosive projectiles. Sure, I think I can agree to that for the time being.


    Everyone seemed to rx a bit more as they buckled down and continued to work.


    * * *


    T and Master Simon discussed the nature of her siege orbs in great detail after the ice incident.


    They agreed that she should probably not act on anything but gasses for the time being, and they set up a series of experiments to determine if there were any such gasses were better than others for the purpose.


    They knew that she could take things like ash or coal or the like and make diamonds or gems of other kinds, depending on the starting materials, but there wasnt much point.


    There was some interest in gems for jewelry in the human citiesand likely the wider worldbut T was hardly the only Mage capable of creating such. There were gem focused Mages who could create them in virtually any shape and size, which was a step beyond what she would be capable of without lots of practice and difficulty. Thus, there really wasnt that much demand, and what demand there wasincluding for use in the creation of Archon starshad a steady supply.


    On a different note, Master Simon had finally managed to create two more ingots of the white steel. T was rather excited as she had found so much use for the metal as a form of almost-liquidly-moldable, physical armor overtop her elk leathers.


    Two bars wasnt a lot, but apparently the process was either efficient or fast, and Master Simon had opted for efficiency, given the fact that they didnt particrly have a pressing need for the material at the moment.


    Aside from those discussions, her usual training and duties, T spent most of her time with Rane.


    After all, he could undergo his next Refining session in just a weeks time.


    * * *


    Rane was pacing outside of the small room in which he would take the next step toward being Refined.


    It was notably a different one from where hed endured his first session, partially because that one had yet to be fully repaired.


    T already had Ranes equipment, including Force, hidden against her, inside the armor that she wore thickly around her body.


    She was trying to practice Master Limmestares techniques of lots of small, breakableyers that would disperse attacking power as they broke rather than transferring the force straight through.


    It was rtively easy to have all of Ranes stuff about her, because all it really was, came down to Forces handle, with a leather cord wrapped tightly around a nub just above the crossguard.


    That dimensional storage device held the rest of his stuff, along with Forces de.


    The handle was locked in ce across her low back, just above her belt and the weapons she had resting there.


    She didnt <em>really</em> need to have her weapons so out and ready like that, not with the changes made to Kit, but it was what she was used to, and she was still searching for a way for Kit to remain just as useful to her while being essible to those who worked in her sanctum.


    But T realized thatlike Raneshe was attempting to keep her thoughts from the uing process.


    Rane turned to her, his gaze much higher than usual as her hexagonttices of white steel, encased by iron, even surrounded her feet. The all epassing armor made herrger in essentially every dimension.


    The construction of it had actually taken her a strangely long time, due to itsplexity, but now she had the intricate pattern Archived, as well as within her own mind for easy reference.


    Ranes voice pulled her from her thoughts, T is this a mistake?


    She almost let her helmet melt back away from her face, but then she remembered what she was supposed to be practicing. She also remembered how much of a pain it would be to rebuild the facetes if she fully removed them, even with the reference model avable to speed things up.


    She reached out to her through-spike, reactivating a portion of the illusion magics, while not disturbing the minute magical signature the device constantly projected to prevent any misunderstandings with the citys defenses.


    <em>I am curious how Id fare against them in this armor but its decidedly not worth the risk.</em>


    <em>-Wisdom, T. It is wonderful to see you growing in wisdom.-</em>


    <em>Hush, you.</em>


    With some delicate maniption of the through-spike, a figment of her face appeared across the smooth surface of her helmet, designed to look like shed made the armor transparent. The illusion even extended to her voice, Rane, the choice is, always has been, and always must be yours. If you choose to proceed, Im going to be in there with you.


    He huffed augh, shaking his head. Yeah, you look like youre expecting the end of the world.


    She smiled, making sure that her illusion mirrored her actual expressions. I dont want you to be distracted or worried about me getting hurt. She shook her head, trying to dismiss his worries. I could stand naked in there and heal just fine from any injury.


    Ranes cheeks colored at that idea.


    T sighed. She almost snapped at him to focus, but then she realized that him feeling embarrassed at her poor example was better than him feeling nervous or concerned.


    Finally, the young man shook his head again. Yeah, I dont think I could Refine with youor anyonenaked in the room with me.


    <em>-Of course not, thats how you reach Paragon.-</em>


    It was Ts turn to color, and she pointedly did <em>not</em> mirror that onto her illusion. <em>t! That is not appropriate. Its also not urate.</em>


    -<em>Ahh, but if it was-</em>


    <em>Then, wed live in a very, </em>very<em> different world.</em>


    <em>-...fair.-</em>


    Rane. I should not be your concern. I will be fine. This is just a perfect opportunity to practice my active defenses while helping a friend. She smiled. Thank you for letting me do both of those things.


    He huffed augh. Thank you for being willing toe in with me. It definitely makes me morefortable at the idea of what is toe.


    Her smile grew a bit warmer. Of course.


    He gave her a long look. Are you going to try to examine the ck sludge again?


    She hesitated, then shrugged and nodded. I think so. Master Simon is finding some interesting things about the simr material gained from Adrill, Brandon, and Kedva, around our other projects. It is <em>definitely</em> oriented toward reality in some way that we cant really understand. It both seems identical and radically different, person to person. This is likely because, at its core, it is definitely a conceptual substance, with as much about it beyond our grasp as we can learn about it, physically.


    Conceptual? Like arcane magics?


    Like that, yeah, but not actually magical. It makes some sense. After all, concepts arent inherently magical, just like magic isnt inherently conceptual.


    Rane grunted. Fair.


    Master Grediv walked around the corner at one end of the hallway, and both T and Rane turned toward the Paragon, falling silent.


    The olderyet not really older lookingman came their way with steady steps, and T had an interesting thought.


    <em>t, we basically all choose for our aging to stop around our mid tote twenties, right?</em>


    <em>-Or regress back to roughly that physiological state, yes.-</em>


    <em>I wonder do any of the changes that happen as mundanes age allow for more wisdom?</em>


    <em>-Meaning, you think that something in the brain chemistry might change, allowing for longer term thinking?-</em>


    <em>Yeah.</em>


    <em>-I dont believe so, but I can look into it while you are otherwise upied.-</em>


    <em>Id appreciate that, thank you, t.</em>


    Master Grediv stopped a bit down the hall, on the other side of the door that led into the Refining room.


    Rane.


    Master Grediv.


    Mistress T.


    Master Grediv.


    There was a pause, then the man shook his head, clearly showing his uncertainty. This is your choice, then? You will undergo your next session?


    Rane left a respectful pause. Then he gave a slight bow. This is my choice, yes.


    So be it.


    The heavy iron door swung open away from them, and the Paragon gestured toward the small room within.


    After you.

 Chapter 402: Session Two

    Chapter 402: Session Two


    T followed Rane into the Refining room.


    Master Grediv came up directly behind her, notmenting on her heavily armored state.


    Inside waspletely bare save a wrought iron chair with legs melded into the floor.


    The wall, floor, and ceiling were all smooth nes of iron, the corners somehow welded to create a seamless whole, as if the box were cast all together and then polished smooth.


    With her threefold sight, she could see that those near-perfect welds went all the way through the nearly foot thick surroundings.


    <em>Its no wonder this is on the ground floor. It must weigh just so much.</em>


    <em>-At times, your precision is just staggering to behold.-</em>


    <em>Hush, you.</em>


    This room was significantly more iron-armored than the room in which Rane had undergone his first session.


    He wasonce againdevoid of all inscriptions save those required for the procedure.


    Even so, she knew that the walls would soon be scored deeply.


    From what T understood, the increase had been necessary because Ranes iling magics would likely be even more extreme and powerful.


    She, herself, hade out mostly unscathed because her iron had been withinand backed up byher aura, dispersing the magics as they hit her armor. Iron on its own simply reflected or dismissed those magics, yet allowing the kic des they had created and directed to still impact and cause damage.


    It wouldnt be as easy for her to do that this session as he was now closer to her advancement. Additionally, she knew that hed been making improvements to his understanding and mental models based on discussions with Master Tai.


    This session was going to be interesting to say the least.


    T took a moment to look around at the iron surrounding the room, panning its depths with her threefold sight even more extensively.


    There were no obvious ws at any level, but she wasnt exactly a cksmith or metallurgist. Mainly, she found that she was curious how she would use this much iron.


    Honestly, she could buy literally tons of iron if she wanted to, but something told her that it wouldnt be a good idea, at least not yet.


    She needed to keep a bnce within her being, and that much iron would heavily weigh her toward Reality in all the wrong ways.


    As shed nced around, Rane had moved to sit in the chair.


    Master Grediv handed him the seemingly innocuous device which facilitated and directed the Refining.


    It effectively looked like two knife handlesformed to befortable to grip tightlyconnected by a wide, t bit of material.


    The whole thing was, of course, utterly entwined with magics of various natures, all aimed toward helping an Archon Refine.


    T moved to stand behind Rane, causing Master Grediv to nce her way before returning his eyes to Rane. Rane, are you sure you want her in here? Having someone in here for these sessions can make things worse.


    Is that always the case?


    No, of course not. It generally hinges on whether the one Refining truly wants the person in the room. That is why I am checking.


    Rane shook his head, then nced back toward T. Do you wish to be here?


    If it helps even marginally, yes.


    He nodded, looking back to his former master. I am sure. I want her here.


    Master Grediv gave a small bow. Very well.


    His magic shifted through the device in Ranes hands.


    Remember, my boy, there is nothing holding your hands to the device now that the first session isplete. If you ever let go with both handseven for an instantthe session will end, and you will have to fully recover before undergoing another.


    Rane nodded. This wasnt new information by any means. And if I dont let go, this session will end on its own when Ive Refined as much as my body can handle this time around.


    Precisely, yes. Have you determined your preference on intensity?


    Maximum, please.


    Master Grediv hesitated, and T knew why.


    Shed seen the unadulterated reports on Ranes condition. To have a better than fifty percent chance of seeding, he only required an intensity near the upper range, not the absolute maximum.


    Even so, it was more important to a sessful Refining that Rane be the one to choose the intensity.


    As you wish.


    The Paragons magic seemed to activate certain pathways in the device that Rane held.


    Once the door is sealed, please wait a slow count of ten. Then, run a bit of power into the construct. Things will proceed automatically from that point.


    Rane nodded and gave a strained smile. Thank you, Master Grediv.


    With onest meeting of Ts gazeor at least an attempt to do soMaster Grediv left, pulling the door shut behind him.


    Rane started taking deeper breaths, specifically inhaling twice for each exhale, trying to calm himself.


    His hands were trembling on the device.


    T stepped a bit closer, setting a hand on each of his shoulders.


    She felt him tense up, but then, tension seemed to bleed from him at the light pressure she was exerting.


    With a thought, she banished the armor from her palms and the fronts of her fingers, allowing her hands to sink down until her skin was resting on the cloth of his tunic.


    She felt a smile pull at her lips.


    Leaving those particr portions of herself bare reminded her of her iron salve.


    She remembered meticulously putting glue on her palms and the pads of her fingers to keep iron from them as she did her best to impregnate her skin with the concoction of iron and bees wax.


    <em>Oh, how far wevee.</em>


    Rane must have reached ten, because T felt him send a flick of magic into the construct.


    There was a sensation through the magic in the room, like the deep in-draw of a bellows.


    The construct was suddenly aze with power, some pulled from Rane, but some clearly drawn from the city''s grid of magical power.


    Toplete the metaphor, the bellows waspressed, magic rushed into Rane, and his topyer of skin was blown off entirely.


    His hair and nails also were flung away with startling force.


    His clothing tore in quite a few ces, letting out rushes of dead skin and shed hair.


    He was even lifted slightly off of the chair as even the portions of his exterior that rested against the chair were purged.


    Ts hands were forced up for an instant, and when they came down, her palms contacted raw, new skin, the fabric atop his shoulders broken.


    She was <em>very</em> grateful for the full face mask as the air was instantly filled with swirling eddies of dead material.


    Rane let out a groan that edged close to being a whimper after the fact. Clearly the exfoliation had happened too quickly for him to react in the moment.


    A momentter, a second pulse of power tore through him, and a familiar type of ck sludge oozed out of his pores like the worst sort of sweat.


    T almost pulled her hands back in disgust, but she was already dirty, and it hardly mattered in the grand scheme of things.


    Then, she noticed that the gunk that had gotten on her palms was moving away from her like a ma being repulsed by the same pole on another.


    The ooze was thick, so it moved slowly, but this stuff clearly didnt seem inclined to be near her.


    If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    <em>Interesting. Ill have to highlight this memory for Master Simon.</em>


    But she couldnt. Master Simon wasnt Refined, and even this much could negatively affect his attempt.


    She grimaced but was quickly pulled back to the matter at hand or under hand in this case.


    Rane was taking gasping, ragged breaths when the third pulse raced through him, and he tried to scream.


    Unfortunately, hed just exhaled when it struck, making the attempted scream sound entirely inhuman.


    Something deep within Rane seemed to stir and his grip on the device tightened, his knuckles turning white with the effort.


    More ck oozed out with every increasingly rapid pulse of power from the construct.


    Soon, that is precisely what it reminded T of: the pulse of a nightmarish heart, pumping ck sludge instead of blood.


    Ranes jaw was straining even more than his forearms as he fought to keep from screaming as much as he struggled to maintain his grip.


    Finally, the magics within himthe tainted boon that gued so many of the Gredial linecouldnt be held back any more, and the berserker-like state activated.


    Kic energy rose up from his natural pathwaysand was drawn through his soulbond with Forcetosh out in every direction.


    Thankfully, none shot upward from his shoulders into her exposed hands.


    Also, blessedly, none shot downward into the seat of his chair either, but nothing else was spared.


    In less than a minute, the room looked more ravaged than the previous room had after his entire first session, and billowing clouds of iron shavings filled the air along with still-drifting clouds of dust and hair.


    The des that shot toward T this session were <em>far</em> more resilient to her dispersion, and far more coherent even after she shredded the magics imparting them.


    The first de impacted her sacrificial armor, causing loud <em>snaps</em> and sending cracks and other damage radiating outward throughout her protection, just as the design was intended to facilitate.


    With a minor effort of will, she molded the armor back into perfect shape after each hit.


    This process was made easier partially because she had such a solid model for its construction in her head, but mostly the ease was from the fact that all parts of the armor were still very nearly where they should be, just no longer properly interconnected.


    Thus, it was rather easy to enact small shifts and reestablish proper connections after the attacknded.


    Still, they were <em>powerful</em> hits, having already shredded the back of the iron chair with ease.


    None of the des reached Ts skin, of course, and if they had shed likely have held up fine.


    In the worse case, there was nothing about the shing attacks that would have made it hard for her to heal.


    She was going to be just fine.


    She was sure of it.


    Her armor was honestly working even better than shed predicted.


    Where a single one of Ranes des had passed through two inches of wrought iron before seemingly fully dissipating, Ts armor stopped the shes in less than a half inch.


    By epting, and even designing for, widespread failure at each strike, she forced the iing energy to disperse over a far greater area, rendering it incapable of making it deeply into heryers of defense.


    This method of defense was honestly a wonderful coherent extension of her own bodily enhancement methodology. She took the hits, dispersing and enduring them to the best of her ability, then she fixed the damage.


    She was pleased, even if the actual effectiveness of the attacks momentarily left her baffled.


    It took her a few deep shes in her armor before she realized what was happening.


    Ranes des of kic energyif uninterruptedeffectively tore apart whatever they struck by using the very molecules in the target, imparting the velocity upon an incredibly thin line of material, to send it cutting deeper in.


    Now, when she tore apart the magics, the kic energy simply grabbed onto the air it was already oveying, creating a fast-moving, deadly de of air that no longer had anything magical about it.


    It was a simple, yetpletely new way of thinking about kic energy apparently.


    Rane had mentioned something about working on new applications like this after histest conversation with Master Tai, but he hadnt told her hed gotten the methodology to work.


    <em>Good for him.</em>


    She grit her teeth and enforced that sentiment even as she continued to repair rents in her defenses.


    <em>Im d hes improving.</em>


    Another deep sh was mitigated by her armor, and she reformed theyers and interconnected hexagons.


    <em>This is good training.</em>


    It was a bit frustrating, and not at all indicative how shed fare against Ranes attacks in almost any other setting.


    She couldnt even extend her aura to break apart the iing attacks more effectively, because she couldnt allow for even the chance that she, her magics, or her aura would taint or otherwise negatively affect Ranes Refining.


    T fought the urge to tighten her grip on Ranes shoulders, keeping her hands resting gently, reassuringly upon his skin.


    Rane, for his part, had his eyes scrunched shut, and he was breathing shallowly in ragged, panting breaths, each exhale apanied by a sound like the keening of a child at his fathers funeral.


    If he was crying, the tears were lost in the ck ooze flowing from around his eyes as much as from every other pore.


    Thankfully, the kic des were originating far enough away from Rane that none carried any of the ckness with them.


    T had no idea what effect that would have had, but it couldnt possibly be good.


    The mans arms trembled under the strain that was more mental than muscr.


    T watched one or the other of his hands almost unconsciously try to flex open, only to be re-mped down with vicious growls of determination.


    Each time the growl was just a bit closer to a whimper than the time before.


    Throughout it all, T didnt move her hands, nor in any way interfere, no matter how much she wanted to try to help.


    She knew that anything that she could do would only make things worse, and despite her doing her best to focus on what was affecting her, and learning to better utilize her own magics, she felt her eyes begin to fill, just as they had during Ranes first session.


    Therefore, she endured, standing behind Rane as he endured worse.


    She stood stalwart, even as Rane bore the brunt of the ordeal.


    She wept, even as Rane experienced the pain and suffering.


    * * *


    T knew she was pale as she held Ranes limp body in her armored arms.


    <em>Dont kick down the door, dont kick down the door, dont kick down the door.</em>


    Master Grediv was likely almost there to let them out and see to Ranes condition. She could <em>see</em> him with her threefold sight moving their way.


    <em>Dont try to im the iron to get free, dont im the iron to get free, DO NOT CLAIM THE IRON.</em>


    He had endured the entirety of the session,sting until the construct had powered down of its own volition.


    <em>I am fine, he is fine he will be fine.</em>


    Master Grediv stopped outside the door and seemed to be looking at his Archive te, though what he was seeing was shielded from her threefold sight by the mans aura.


    <em>What is he waiting for?</em>


    She felt magics sweep through the room, despite the solid iron surrounding it and the flecks of iron dust in the air.


    <em>Oh that would be a reasonable reason.</em>


    She growled, manifesting her own iron flush with the ceiling before dragging it downward, rolling it over and around herself and her burden before it pressed into the floor, trapping all the detritus that had been in the air.


    A momentter, magic swept through the space again, and T got to watchthrough her threefold visionas Master Grediv twitched slightly at what had to seem like a stark change to his scan.


    Then, the door swung open.


    T was striding through as soon as there was room for her to pass with Rane still in her arms.


    He was an awkward burden, even if not heavy, and she was forced to sidestep her way out of the Refining room.


    His clothing was shredded and barely hanging off his substantially emaciated frame.


    <em>No, not emaciated.</em> His muscle was still there, but it was as if hed been pulled thin, beaten t, and then reinted somehow.


    She would have bet that hed lost quite a bit of weight, and what was still there had beenpacted into even less of his body than would be expected.


    T had done her best to scrape the ck ooze from him as she ran the iron down from ceiling to floor, but it hadnt been intended to be a perfect cleaning, and there was still a lot of the substance in his clothing and hiding in the harder to clean parts of him.


    Master Grediv gestured toward the recovery room, and T moved that way.


    Behind her, on the floor of the room, her iron wrapped around the ck sludge that shed grabbed, and dragged it stoneward to be brought along until she returned to Kit.


    For good measure, she imed the iron fragments that Rane had torn free.


    She knew that theyd be thrown out regardless, so it was trivial for her to enact her ownership over them.


    That done, she refocused on who she was carrying.


    Ranes now utterly bald head was resting on her shoulder, and his feet were barely above the ground, but she was managing him alright, his body held between her arms in front of her.


    One arm was across his back, holding him up under the far shoulder, and the other of her arms was braced below his knees.


    When they reached the recovery room, T once again shuffle-stepped sideways through the door before striding across the small room andying Rane on the waiting bed.


    The two Healers already in the roomneither of which T knewwaited until she stepped back before they came forward to examine Rane.


    T watched as the Refined and Paragon Healers delved through Ranes ravaged body.


    There was magic in the sheets of the bed which activated as soon as the top one was pulled over Rane.


    They shredded what remained of his clothing and then caused the clothing and all remaining sludge to flow down into a collection container at the base of the bed.


    Normally, it would be contained to prevent it from contaminating anything else until it faded awaybut T had been granted the right to examine it, now that it was separated from Rane, even if it was a bit gross to think about.


    She used her iron to dump the portion of the sludge shed already collected into the same container, nearly filling it entirely.


    <em>Master Simon will appreciate having another Archived perception forparison.</em>


    They had simr material from Adrill, Brandon, and Kedva, which didnt seem to fade, or at least didnt fade as quickly.


    He had been able to determine that the material which had been gained from the others had traces of iron throughout.


    T didnt send any magical examination through the ck, knowing that would cause it to disperse more quickly.


    Instead, she set t to examining it with their threefold sight in as detailed a fashion as possible until the stuff vanished entirely.


    But T was distracting herself once again.


    t had that covered.


    Rane was unconscious, and the Healers werent healing him.


    She knew they couldnt, not in a way that would really help, and theyd already done what they could.


    He had toe back to consciousness on his own.


    The two reported to Master Grediv, not trying to keep her from overhearing.


    He was doing as well as could be expected, and they believed that he would wake within a day or two.


    That was all that they could determine for the time being, as Ranes body struggled to begin recovery.


    So, T grew a chairfollowing the same principles that undey her armor as a form of practicebefore she sat and settled in to wait.

 [Cover Reveal!] Millennial Mage Book 7 - Eskau

    [Cover Reveal!] Millennial Mage Book 7 - Eskau


    <strong>The iron-d reality of the world relentlesslyes for all. Arcanes, the enemies of humanity, thrive upon power harvested from broken human souls. The City Lords and Major Houses rule with unquestioned power.</strong>


    Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    T has been seized, torn away from all that she has ever known. A false history and personality was imnted within her, and only her revolutionary defenses and self-restoration magic have given her a fighting chance at all.


    She is behind enemy lines with an unexpected chance to seize power, learn from ancient experts, delve into the secrets of humanity''s mortal foe, and achieve her own freedom once more.


    In order to return home, T must im some measure of authority within the very same Major House that stole her freedom and tried to steal her very self.

 Chapter 403: Let Hope Begin

    Chapter 403: Let Hope Begin


    T was starting to get concerned about Rane, and it was beginning to grate on her nerves.


    It had been a week, and Rane had yet to wake up.


    From a Healers perspective, he was doing just fine.


    No matter how many times she asked, that was their answer.


    It was starting to get frustrating for everyone involved.


    His body was continuing to recover as expected, but his mind had yet to put itself back together enough to allow him to wake up.


    There was no neurological damage that could be detected, and it was true that sometimes people took up to a month to wake up after some Refining sessions.


    T had been reassured of this.


    Apparently, such a state of unconsciousness wasnt a predictable thing, either.


    Sometimes a persons first or second Refining session wouldy them out for weeks, and then, theyd wake up within minutes after their third or fourth.


    Sometimes, people never had a long bout of unconsciousness at any time during their Refining process.


    Regardless, she had to wait, and she hated it.


    T continued her training, now with four iron shapes spinning around her head at nearly all times.


    Shed managed to extend the illusion of the through-spike outward enough that no mundane could see those spinning, constantly roiling and twisting shapes.


    That helped with the odd looks she had been getting, looks that usually changed to ones of recognition due to her minor fame as a Defender.


    It was all a ratherrge inconvenience that she was d to be rid of. Though, she was still recognized, just not as often.


    She also continued her work as a Defender.


    There were more assaults on the walls, but she mainly left those to her unit-mates. They had very kindly been letting her take on most of the interesting beasts that attacked up until recently, and so she decided to return the favor, simply acting as backup when needed.


    She was no longer the newbie of the group, having been with them for the better part of a year.


    Overall, T felt like she was in a weird sort of stalled state, even as she improved her various skills and capacities.


    She had nothing that she was specifically aiming for, even though she was working to improve across the board.


    The closest thing to a goal was the design, testing, and implementation of improvements to the now segmented Kit, and that was progressing well, just like everything else.


    Still, she was looking toward an eternity of this.


    Is that really what she wanted?


    It didnt seem very appealing.


    She often found herself grimacing or groaning at that thought.


    It felt so passive, so temporary, so sisyphean.


    <em>I hope Rane wakes up soon</em>


    * * *


    T was in the room when Rane woke up, another two dayster.


    He groaned, shifting in his bed before his eyes fluttered open.


    She was at his side in an instant, taking his hand so he would know she was there. Hey.


    His eyes tried to focus on her. Hey Whats oh


    He closed his eyes again, and T gave his hand a light squeeze. Yeah, youvepleted your second Refining session.


    Rane lifted his other hand up high, making a fist. Sess.


    There wasnt much enthusiasm behind the gesture, but he was barely awake, and his throat was clearly incredibly dry, despite Healers keeping him well hydrated in general.


    He let his upraised hand fall back to the bed even as he squeezed her hand in return with his other. He tried to say something else, but let out a dry cough instead, grimacing at the unpleasantness.


    She manifested a bit of iron into the superficial and manipted it into the shape of a hand.


    The iron hand grabbed the handle of the earthenware mug and floated over to her, moving carefully to not spill the water it contained. Here, drink this.


    She used her own fingers to move the straw around and against Ranes lips.


    He took a careful sip, swallowed gingerly, and smiled, sounding much better when he spoke, Thank you.


    T simply nodded in response, though she felt a small smile pulling at her own lips in return.


    How long?


    She instantly knew what he meant despite the few words.


    She knew that Rane wouldnt care how long hed been unconscious. That was irrelevant, really, now that he was awake, and he knew that. He would be focused on what mattered.


    He wanted to know how far hed gotten into the Refining session. You bore through the whole session. It ended when the construct cut the flow of power.


    His whole body seemed to rx, almost sinking into the mattress a little, and he let out a massive sigh of triumph that was monumentally more sincere than his previously raised fist had been. Thats that is fantastic.


    She smiled, even though he couldnt see it given his closed eyes. It really is, Rane. You did well.


    He smiled again, eyes still closed. Thank you.


    For?


    For being in there with me. For being here. I know youve not been here the whole timeat least I hope you havent beenbut its nice to have you here, now.


    She squeezed his hand again, then pulled together a chair for herself out of iron and sat.


    T was about to ask him something else, but then she noticed that the cadence of his breathing had changed.


    Rane had fallen asleep with a small smile still pulling at his features.


    She closed her mouth, the corners of her lips still uplifted.


    There would be time to talkter.


    He would be fine.


    He was awake.


    * * *


    The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the vition.


    T and Rane walked through Alefast slowly, side by side, close enough that eithers elbow would strike the other with a simple movement.


    He had recovered, physically, much faster after this second session than after his first. He was strong and coordinated in all the simple tests the Healers had put him through.


    Even so, he was still carrying what seemed to be rather severe cognitive and psychological issues.


    He was once again a bit slower of speech, taking long moments to think through his responses when asked a question.


    If he brought up a topic himself, he seemed to be rather good at continuing to dialogue about it, but any change of subjects was a bit difficult for him as of yet.


    He seemed to twitch at odd times, and T thought they were when his thoughts drifted to memories of his ordeal.


    As she watched him recover, thinking about her own Refining and that of so many others, she thought she understood the utility of mind magic, even if she deeply despised it.


    True, shed been assured by those shed asked that just removing the memory wouldnt actually be helpful. The soul remembered more truly than the mind ever could, even a mind as enhanced as Ts. When it came to magic, that is what mattered more than the memories held by mere biology.


    But that brought her thoughts back to Rane.


    His hair had started to regrow at a healthy rate, and he hadnt epted any of the offers from Healers to elerate the natural rate for any of it.


    Ranes lengthy unconsciousness still weighed heavily on T, even if everyone else seemed to have dismissed it as just one more part of Refining.


    She had a theory as to why hed been unconscious for so much longer, and why his mind was still in process of healing even now nearly two weekster.


    Shed run it by the Healers, and theyd agreed it was possible, even if they hadnt seen a reason to investigate further. After all, the unconsciousness never killed anyone going through the Refining process, and it was generally regarded as helpful, given the Archon in question was given more time to heal in perfect, undisturbed bedrest.


    T was not so easily dissuaded.


    As to her theory, it was rtively simple. After all, the ck sludge had been forced out <em>everywhere.</em>


    His brain had been surrounded by the stuff that was being forced out. It made sense that that would increase his cranial pressure until he cked out.


    <em>-Oh, thats a terrible pun.-</em>


    <em>I didnt mean it as a pun but yeah, that is pretty bad.</em>


    It was only after the ck ooze faded from existence that the inscriptions and magics could fullye to bear in order to bring him back to full health, and even then, the magics were slow to work, given it was recovery from a Refining, and everything was approached with utmost care.


    The Healers said that their investigations and magics wouldnt have addressed such an issue, because there would be too high a likelihood of the substance retreating back into Ranes mind, harming his Refinement if they even were to investigate the potential for her theory to be true.


    T, for her part, had seen the sludge around his brain with her threefold sight, though shed not specifically noticed it until she went back through her memories, looking for what might have caused the extended unconsciousness.


    Honestly, it could be the very reason that any of those who were Refining went unconscious.


    <em>Whatever session causes the most cleansing of their brain would lead to extreme cranial pressure.</em>


    <em>-And those who Refine more uniformly would either fall into unconsciousness every time, or not at all.-</em>


    <em>Precisely.</em>


    It was as good a theory as any, especially since it didnt mean anything.


    While they could <em>technically</em> cut a hole into the skull of someone who was Refining, having such an injury to the body during, or even shortly after, the process could cause issues.


    There had been historic examples of people Refining without being fully healed beforehandor being injured within hours of Refining and it had never ended well.


    But all that was beside the point.


    She was walking through the city with Rane, and while she didnt need to help him walk, she was definitely helping to guide him more than usual.


    The man was getting distracted rather easily, and he would asionally even just stop and stare at her with a growing smile until she prodded him back into movement.


    She found herself smiling in return, probably just because she was d that he was up and about.


    As much as she enjoyed visiting him, she was d to be out of the Gredial estate while doing so.


    Even so, he wasnt ready to simply go out into the city to wander aimlessly. So, at the moment, they were on their way to lunch in her sanctum.


    Rane was very clearly getting tired of Alefast in a way that she could understand, even if she didnt feel the same. He had been essentially convalescing in the city for thest month and a half.


    Now, he was looking at another long stretch of the same, with more stints in the near future, and that was if he got what he wanted.


    So, T thought eating within Kit, where the view was entirely different, would be good for him.


    He had happily epted her invitation.


    It didnt take them too much longer to reach the expanded area from which T could pull into her sanctum, and with a minor act of will, she and he were suddenly within Kit.


    Rane stumbled slightly, and she helped to steady him.


    Well, rust on me. Were we that close? I didnt think I was that out of it.


    About three blocks?


    He seemed to take a long moment to process that. How?


    T thought for a moment, herself, then shrugged. Ive been working on extending Kits effective dimensionality.


    He frowned, clearly looking irritated at his own confusion. I dont follow.


    I <em>should </em>be able to draw anyone into Kit who is dimensionally aligned with the space within Kit.


    He nodded, seeming to have reoriented on the current subject, and that was helping. That I understand, but Kit is dimensionally bound by the pouch, right?


    Originally, technically, yes, but actually no. Especially not now that we are bound.


    His frown deepened just slightly. Exin?


    Just like my magic has an aura, Kits dimensionality has a range of authority, as it were. It is especially the case now that Kit is untethered. Her connection to the superficial only exists where and when we wish it to, and I am working toward getting her range to match Kits actual inner dimensions, but right now, Ive gotten it to about a three block radius.


    T, thatsthats close to 2 miles across. Right? He frowned, clearly trying to do mental math.


    Just a bit more than one, actually.


    Still that is massive! That reaches outside the wall from Artia and Adrills shop, right?


    It does, yeah, if just barely. Part of it is that there is some odd interference between how our cities function and extending Kits reach. It takes much more reach? Yeah, it takes more reach to reach outside the walls. Basically, it is harder to reach in that direction. She finished a bitmely.


    Rane grimaced, clearly trying to get his metaphorical feet under him, Is it a circle?


    Its a bit oblong because of Kits new configuration, and of course, because of the city wall so near at hand..


    Can you rotate that shape? Reorient it?


    T tilted her head to the side. She hadnt considered that. Then, she shrugged and tried it.


    It worked. She could feel the odd connection that she had to Kits reach sweeping through the near part of the city.


    There were some odd limitations to what that actually meant.


    The primary one was, while she could open a door anywhere within the spacejust like she could open a door <em>to </em>anywhere within Kitwithout a door, she could only pull sapient life into Kit from the outside.


    Animals and items seemed to require some sort of opening toe through, which did line up with the vision shed had when bonding with Kit.


    Therefore, it wasnt really an unexpected restriction or oddity.


    Still, even with the restrictions, she understood the utility of what shed been working on.


    She could move effectively instantly within Kit, and if she could push herself out of Kitand draw herself into Kitfrom arge area, she could move a bit like Terry, even if as a two step process and only when she was near soulbound storage.


    Still, shed have to experiment with that in the near future, not at that moment.


    But all of this was neither here nor there.


    Rane and T were standing beside a small feast divided across two personal tables.


    Ts spread was quite a bitrger than Ranes as well as being decidedly more magical, but his wasnt exactly small, and there were definitely bits of magic scattered throughout.


    Ranes mind seemed to have moved to the food as well, because he began chuckling. You still have some with my magic left?


    She shrugged. I think I always will at this point. It seems to breed true, and Kedvas got a good handle on things in that department.


    Oh?


    Yeah, there are two varieties that are useful with your magic, it seems. One which ends up with usable magic in its meat, and the other with it in its eggs. Sadly the eggs of the first and the meat of the second are quite useless to you or me.


    Isnt that a rusting shame. He was grinning.


    T chuckled in return. Quite.


    They both moved forward and sat in their respective chairsjust within arms reach of each otheroriented to look out at thendscape before them.


    They were in a little patio on the far side of the central hill of her sanctum from her dining area and bedroom, so the view was actually a bit novel to them both.


    This really is a lovely ce. Ranes voice was soft as he spoke, clearly settling into the moment and not wanting to disrupt it any.


    T found herself nodding even as she spoke in response, Some good cane out of almost any bad.


    He nodded too. Thats how to get over it He grimaced, likely realizing that he was in the middle of his current trial, or to get through it. We have to find the good.


    Isnt that the truth.


    They fell into silence for a long moment before beginning to eat, almost as if in sync.


    They both smiled at the coincidence but didnt stop orment on it. After all, they were both starving.


    It was a fantastic meal, as they hade to expect from Mistress Petra and Kedva.


    Each dish was worth spending time enjoying, and they tried to do so, even while they devoured every bite.


    Around the meal, in the small spaces and between bites, they chatted about little things,ughed, and smiled.


    But more than anything else, they simply enjoyed thepany, reminisced about the past, and tentatively let hope begin to build about what the future <em>might</em> hold.

 Chapter 404: Considering Our Future

    Chapter 404: Considering Our Future


    T sat alone at her breakfast table, watching the sun rise over Kits horizon from her dining and sitting room.


    She had finished the glorious meal just as the sky had begun to lighten, and shed decided to stay and watch the sune up.


    She didnt have too much pressing on her time this day, and it was good to be able to take the time to enjoy her surroundings.


    As she sat and watched for the oing ball of fire, Master Simon and Mistress Petra came into the room and sat near her, not interacting with or disturbing her, likely because they knew that she was aware of them already.


    One moment, please.


    They nodded, again trusting in her threefold sight to convey their responses.


    Less than a minuteter, the sunor rather the false sunbreached the edge of her little world, and it was the birth of a new day.


    T felt herself rx that little bit more, leaning back and grabbing her cup of still-hot tea.


    It was a newer blend, and it wasnt fair to call it tea, not really.


    Mistress Petra had been drinking something simr a few days back, and T had requested one.


    It was interesting.


    Chia seeds, ginger, apple cider vinegar, honey, and water, left to steep until the chia seeds turned the whole thing thick.


    With every sip, she expected to be grossed out by the texture, but it was actually more like drinking thin, spicy pudding.


    It was oddly refreshing, and she hadnt felt the need for coffee as of yet.


    -<em>Wonders never cease.-</em>


    <em>Hush, you.</em>


    The liquid was still hot as she sipped it. That was not because the mug was a magical construct. T simply wished for the tea to still be hot, and so it was.


    <em>Ahh, the joys of uncontested, absolute authority within a space.</em>


    <em>-It would be interesting to have someone try to oppose your wishes.-</em>


    <em>You mean to have others bend their desire to keeping the drink cold?</em>


    <em>-Theyd likely have to greatly desire for it to function normally, but yes, that is about what I was thinking.-</em>


    <em>Hmmm add it to the list, please.</em>


    A momentter, Master Simon nced down at his te, and a smile pulled at his lips. He nced her way and gave a slow nod. Hed clearly seen her update to their potential projects list.


    T felt like she was ready to truly face the day, and more specifically, she was ready to interact with the two Fused sitting nearby. What can I do for the two of you? Are Segis and Metti well?


    Mistress Petra smiled. They are well, Mistress T. Thank you for asking.


    Master Simon dipped his head again, this time in obvious gratitude. Their tutors are impressed with their advancement, and the children their age seem to enjoy ying with them.


    T felt herself smile. Ive heard that that is a key metric of a good upbringing, yes.


    He shrugged. Not a perfect one, but the extremes can be telling.


    If no one wants to y with them?


    They are likely cruel, selfish, or in some other way an unfit ymate.


    And if everyone wants to?


    They are likely either a tyrant with too much charisma for their own good, or a people pleaser.


    She turned her head to look over her shoulder and regard him, one eyebrow raised. Really? Thats the only option?


    He lifted his hands in surrender, Or they could have the makings of such, Mistress.


    I suppose that could be, yes. She chuckled, returning her gaze to the sunrise. It is a beautiful start to the day.


    It really shows the skill of the creators, Mistress. There was genuine awe in his voice. Every morning, somehow, the harmony of colors is different, yet the vista is always startlingly beautiful. The attention to detail in something that has no practical application is Well, its inspiring. I almost wish I could meet the craftsmen.


    T sighed. If you live long enoughand if things go the right waythat might be arranged. I could see there being an asion for me to return to arcanends before I die.


    Mistress Petra nced to her husband and mouthed, Now?


    He shrugged.


    T felt one side of her lips pull up in amusement, Now, what can I do for the two of you this morning?


    He smiled again, clearly knowing that their exchange had been seen. We have been considering our future.


    That got Ts attention.


    With a flick of thought, she and her chair were facing the other direction, the sunrise forgotten at her back and the two who had made her life so much easier ofte before her.


    She regarded them with her mundane eyes, trying to keep her intensity to reasonable levels, Are you unhappy here?


    They quickly shook their heads, not seeming startled in the least by her sudden change in orientation. No, Mistress T.


    I love my research in this dimensional space, with you and Kit and Adrill and Brandon. Moreover, Petra and the children are thriving here.


    T rxed again, but only just. Im listening.


    He nodded almost to himself as he spoke, I think you know that we are on the older side.


    She gave a slow nod of acknowledgement, I believe weve spoken about it, yes.


    She almost pulled up the memory but decided to simply let him speak and simply let him tell her what he had to say rather than trying to guess beforehand.


    What of it?


    We dont really have <em>that</em> long left, being only Fused. He looked to his wife.


    She smiled, leaning forward slightly. While we wont drop dead, we dont expect to be as hale as we are now for more than another few decades or so.


    Unless you Refine.


    Unless we Refine. She acknowledged. But if we are to do that, weve been told that we need to begin moving in that direction sooner rather thanter, in order to have the best chance of seeding.


    Master Simon cleared his throat. That is what we wanted to discuss with you.


    T made her face a carefully neutral mask, releasing her hold over her through-spike at the proper moment to shift the burden of that neutrality to the illusory construct without it being obvious that shed activated an illusion.


    Her own aura and authority was so pervasive within the sanctum that Master Simoneven with all his equipmenthad no hope of detecting the illusion magic unless T allowed it.


    She did not allow it.


    That is a choice that all in your position must make. How can I be of assistance to you? She felt a bit of trepidation, knowing that she had to tread <em>very</em> carefully, here.


    We know that the process is neither simple nor easy. Master Simon began.


    She nodded. That was known and considered safe knowledge even for those considering the trial of Refining. It was <em>slightly </em>inurate, depending on how a given Mage looked at it, but it wasnt outright false.


    We also know that we dont have a great chance of seeding.


    She didnt react to that.


    He looked to his wife and sighed, gesturing to her.


    Mistress Petra smiled and picked up where her husband had left off, What we are trying to ask is: Is the potential for eternity in this world worth it? We know you cant give us any specifics. After all, weve been around long enough to have that thoroughly solidified for us. They both chuckled. But were not in the same position as many Fused looking at this decision. Weve lived long lives, good lives. Well get to see our grandchildren grow before we die, likely our great-grandchildren too All this to say: Were having trouble understanding why we would <em>want</em> an eternity on Zeme.


    T opened her mouth to answer. Of course it was worth it. Who wanted to die? What would even make them ask such a question?


    A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the vition.


    But something held her tongue for just long enough that she closed her mouth and really thought about their question.


    It was something that she had never had cause to consider.


    That, like so much else, had been taken from her by Be-thric. In this case when he set in motion all that caused her body to be filled with ws and disjointments that could only be corrected through Refining.


    For her, it had not been a question of an unnaturally long life or a shot at eternity, it had been a question between an unnaturally <em>short</em> life or a chance to live at all.


    She didnt have an answer for them.


    Master Grediv had rmended she consider this very question, especially because her view of eternity was critical for advancing to Paragon, but she hadnt really taken the time.


    For a moment, she seriously considered lyingsimply passing on something that someone else had told her when shed asked questions around the edges of this topicbut she stopped herself again.


    They hadnt asked her for titudes.


    Theyd asked for her opinion.


    These two had been good to her, and they deserved the truth.


    I honestly dont know. She could hear the uncertainty in her own voice.


    The two both seemedcounterintuitivelyto rx at her answer. Mistress Petra smiled, and Master Simon stood. Thank you, Mistress T. That helps.


    Mistress Petra followed her husbands lead, standing as well. Will you think on it, and let us know if youe to an answer?


    T nodded slowly. Of course.


    The two bowed, wished her a wonderful day, and departed.


    Leaving her alone with her thoughts.


    T sat in contemtion, unmoving as the artificial sun of her sanctum swept across its prescribed arc in her sanctums sky.


    * * *


    Time passed in a blur, and T found herself surprised that it was already time for Ranes one month followup on his refinement.


    Blessedly, there werent really any surprises.


    Hed endured a full session at full intensity, and because not all who statistically matched his group had been able to do as much, his odds of sess went up dramatically.


    He was given a new prognosis of sixty-five percent.


    T almostughed out loud when that was pronounced, but everyone else seemed genuinely excited by the improvement of ten percent.


    <em>-It is much better in one sense, but yeah, I agree that it isnt a massive increase.-</em>


    <em>You know, have there really been enough people to have this specific of data?</em>


    <em>-Yes and no. Much is projection based on ovepping factors. There has obviously never been anyone who was in this exact situation, hence why it is a percentage rather than a perfect statement of yes or no.-</em>


    <em>I suppose that makes sense.</em>


    Blessedly, Rane was given a clean bill of health.


    His improvement so far had been good enough that it hadnt really given T cause to worry, but it was still nice to have a Healer confirm that he was back up to one hundred percent.


    As to when he could do his third session?


    The decision was that he had to wait at least two more months. At that time, another assessment would be able to tell if he was ready or still needed a bit more time.


    It wasnt unexpected, but Rane was clearly saddened that he would need at least a full three months between his second and third sessions.


    T thought some of that was attempted bravado. After all, Rane seemed to have an unconscious flinch whenever the topic of the next session came up.


    He was clearly not looking forward to it, even if he desperately wanted to get it over with.


    Aside from Ranes recovery, spring was upon them. Therefore, T ensured that Rane got out of the city for looping trips through the surrounding countryside at least once a week.


    They didnt seek out any fights, and thankfully none found them. Instead, they just used the time to talk and <em>move</em>.


    Both were capable of running faster than was generally allowed within human cities, and so they relished their trips into the surroundings as a time to really cut loose and burn off some energy outside of training arenas.


    Inside of Kit didnt really count, or at least thats what T told herself. Really, she just thought that Rane would appreciate truly getting out, and he definitely seemed to.


    She wasntpletely altruistic in her desire for the trips, however. T also used them to work with Kit and the extension of the dimensional influence that was possible with the soulbound storage.


    As a result, T generally left Kit on the outside of the city wall, tucked behind the curve of one of the towers near a gate.


    In that way, the Zats and Feshuas coulde and go as they wished, and T didnt have to deal with the odd interference that came with pushing out from within the city.


    Unfortunately, in that same vein as the interference, she discovered that pushing <em>in</em> from the outside wasnt possible for her.


    Not at all.


    Specifically, it seemed like something that was explicitly guarded against, which made it likely that that magical defense was what had the side effect of limiting her reach outward even if it didnt block it directly.


    <em>I suppose something meant to prevent dimensional intrusion would restrict the outward movement as well.</em>


    It was a bit odd, because when Kit didnt have a physical manifestation, there wasnt technically anything that the reach was radiating <em>from</em>, but like so much, it seemed toe down to Ts own perception and mental model.


    If she saw Kit as inside, reaching out, that was fine, but as soon as she saw Kit as outside, they couldnt reach in any longer. That couldnt be changed until T purposely walked through the gates and manifested Kit within, or did something else to that effect.


    But that was getting off the topic.


    T and Rane had taken to running great looping courses through the countryside. Though, they never took the same paths or stopped at the same spots.


    After all, there were some magical creatures who specialized in ambush hunting, and during a waning, some could threaten even a defensively focused Refined like T, assuming she was caught unawares, as unlikely as that was.


    It was also fair to say that running wasnt an urate description, at least for Ts movement. Instead, she was leaping with abination of her enhanced strength and precise control over her own effective gravity and inertia.


    Rane was still without most of his inscriptions, but his natural magics had progressed to the point that his every movement was both easierand more effectivethan any mundane could hope to achieve.


    So it was thatjust over two weeks after Ranes follow-up examinationthey were returning from such an excursion, only to find a caravan entering through the gate that theyd nned on using.


    <em>-Oh! Brand is with that caravan.-</em>


    <em>How do you know?</em>


    <em>-I checked the manifests because I was curious if we knew anyone in there.-</em>


    <em>We have ess to the manifests?</em>


    <em>-As a Defender, yes. We have ess to the lists of passengers and workers. Obviously, we couldnt look up what their cargo is, or the like, but it is important that Defenders be able to verify the identities of those entering a waning city, should the need arise.-</em>


    <em>Right, I knew that.</em> She felt a bit silly, but chalked it up to being focused on other things.


    Brands in that caravan.


    Rane was breathing a bit heavilyand sweating a bit, bless himbut he still managed to smile her way. Oh? Shall we go say hello? Or?


    She considered for a moment. Lets walk from here, and if we catch the caravan, we can say Hi, but otherwise, we should let him be about his job. Hell swing by Artias shop soon enough, and we can see him then.


    Rane shrugged. That sounds fair. Ill need to drop through a bathhouse, or get back to the estate, before Im really fit to see anyone more than just in passing.


    She raised an eyebrow. Youre seeing me, arent you?


    He shrugged again. Youre not just anyone.


    She found herself smiling at that. Regardless, you can clean up within Kit, if you want.


    He gave her a side-eyed look. In the sanctum? Or are you going to drop me in the Irondaleke again?


    She quickly stifled her grin. Now why would I do that?


    His eyebrow lifted, You mean, why would you do it <em>again</em>?


    It was one time.


    Yes. Youve already done it once.


    She sighed. You can get clean in the sanctum. Her smile broke through, then. I dont need to hear that scream again.


    He grimaced. What did you expect? You pulled me off the street and dunked me into pitch ck, freezing water.


    Thats fair. She cleared her throat. I suppose I should apologize for that.


    He raised the other eyebrow, clearly surprised and just as clearly waiting.


    She sighed, again, but this time no smile followed. I apologize, Rane. It was rather unkind of me to dunk you in ake out of nowhere. I was trying to She shrugged. Im not really sure, actually. It wasnt thought through thoroughly, regardless. Will you forgive me?


    He nodded. Yes. I forgive you. Please dont do it again?


    I wont.


    He gave her a long look. To anyone?


    She grimaced, then nodded. Fine


    You know, youve got a great amount of power, in many, many regards. You need to be responsible with its use.


    She shoulder bumped him as she continued to nod. Youre right. Then, a mischievous thought came to her. Do you want to go now?


    His eyes flicked to where they both knew Kit rested, on the side of the gatehouse, with a physical manifestation in the form of an iron-bound door.


    T thought it would be endlessly entertaining if someone broke into Kit when they were trying to breach the city, but that was likely never to happen for aundry list of reasons.


    I I fear what will happen to me if I say yes.


    She chuckled. Youre not feeling adventurous?


    He took another moment to think as they continued to walk toward the gate into the city.


    T noted the caravan guards that were already watching them warily, but didnt pay them any more mind.


    Finally, he responded. I will ce my trust in you then, T.


    She hesitated, then gave a small smile. You know just what to say, dont you?


    Before he said anything in response, she willed him into a private ce within Kit.


    Set into the ground beside him was arge bowl of stone that was sized to hold hisrge frame, even now that hed been able to re-fill-out after the Refinings shrinking effect.


    A moment after he arrived, she willed hot water into the bowl, biasing toward the too hot side of enjoyable in order to take into ount how much heat the stone would leech from the water.


    After all, she wasnt going to be actively monitoring or regting any part of the experience.


    Rane waved vaguely at the sky. Thank you, T.


    And without lingeringnot even a little bitT pulled her perspective from the area in order to allow him some privacy.


    <em>-I still see everything.-</em>


    <em>Thats creepy, t. Dont say it like that.</em>


    <em>-I control your dreams!-</em>


    <em>dont make me remove your scripts.</em>


    <em>-...fine, that was probably too far.-</em>


    <em>Thank you. Lets not make a big deal about it.</em>


    <em>-...-</em>


    <em>Dont. You. Dare.</em>


    <em>-I wouldnt dream of it.-</em>


    <em>Good.</em>


    <em>-But you might.-</em>


    T pulled power from the scripts that made up t.


    -<em>Natural magics for the win!- </em>The alternate interface cackled within Ts head.


    T groaned, shed known t would be fine because of her natural magics, but shed hope to get at least a little reaction from the alternate interface. She <em>briefly</em> considered pulling power from her natural magics, but she didnt want to deal with those destabilizing any.


    It wasnt a serious consideration regardless. That would be taking things a bit too far.


    Thus, she simply firmly set herself to the task of ignoring ts continuedughter.

 Chapter 405: Soon Enough

    Chapter 405: Soon Enough


    T was walking up behind the caravan as the third-tost wagon entered the gatehouse to be examined before entry.


    Two caravan guards approached slowly, each holding short spears and shields.


    T noticed the archer on thest wagon as that woman seemed to consider before selecting an arrow and putting it to her string.


    Thankfully, the archer didnt draw back that string. So, the guardsgenerallywere just being cautious.


    The nearest caravan guard spoke loudly and clearly, Greetings, traveler. Please stay back from the wagons until we are within the city. We mean no offense, but we need to get our charges inside safely as soon as possible.


    T lifted one hand in greeting. Actually, Im not a traveler.


    Their hands tightened on their weapons before she continued.


    Im a Defender. I was just doing a sweep of the surrounding countryside.


    She had stopped walking some fifteen feet from their advanced position to prevent any misunderstandings. In total, T was a bit more than a hundred feet from the gate.


    The caravan guards weapons <em>probably</em> wouldnt do anything to her, but there wasnt really a reason to be wasteful, or to cause stress to such fine folk.


    The two guards shared another nce, before the other spoke up. My apologiesMistress.


    T opened her mouth to say that, of course, she was a Mistress. What sort of idiot would she have to be to be out here without magic?


    Then, however, she realized that their concern was that she was some sort of magical creature, trying to ost them before they could get into the city, or to get into the city, herself.


    She sighed.


    She considered using Kit to simply move past them, appearing where she wished to go, one wagon further up the line, or even beside the gatehouse.


    That, however, was guaranteed to cause at least a minor panic. It would probably be worse than simply walking forward and letting them try to stab her.


    After a moment of consideration, she came to the conclusion that any means of verifying her identity would slow everything down for everyone, and that wasnt the point at all.


    <em>Fine.</em> She grimaced in mild irritation.


    Very well. I will wait here.


    She manifested a thin tendril of iron, physically attaching herself to the ground. Then, she enacted her mental model and magics to remove the vast majority of her own effective gravity before pulling her legs up so that she was sitting cross legged mid-air.


    Then, she dismissed the iron from the superficial, leaving her simply floating there, as she closed her eyes to continue her various mental exercises.


    She did keep her perception open with her threefold sight, of course. There were weapons being brandished at her, after all.


    The guards paled, slowly backing up as the caravan made its way into the city.


    <em>-Did you need to scare them that much?-</em>


    <em>No, it wasnt meant to scare them. It was just meant to be a statement that Im waiting because I choose to, not because theyre making me.</em>


    <em>-Because youre irritated.-</em>


    <em>yeah, Im a little irritated. I could have gotten exactly what I wanted, but it would have caused issues for others.</em>


    <em>-So, you just decided to scare them a bit?-</em>


    <em>Precisely.</em>


    <em>-For doing their jobs?-</em>


    <em>Well, I didnt really mean to scare them just make them back off.</em>


    <em>-Which they were already doing.-</em>


    T hesitated. After a long moment, she sighed. <em>Fine, that was unkind of me.</em>


    <em>-Just a bit.-</em>


    The caravan still had a bit left to go, and now the guards were watching her from nearly fifty feet away.


    She did not want to just sit here.


    <em>Hmmm I wonder.</em>


    She extended her aura outward, not encountering any resistance of note.


    Where she did encounter even the minimal bit of expected push-back, she simply rolled around the defenses, leaving the people and animals of the caravan their own sovereignty.


    After a moments consideration, she dropped her aura downward, into the ground before continuing to advance.


    There was no reason to enclose them in her aura.


    If anyone was capable of sensing aura, even obliquely, it could cause a <em>lot</em> of terror in that poor person.


    Even so, it was trivial to reach the halfway point of the gatehouse, where her aura hit an effectively imprable barrier, the aura-focused equivalent to what kept out Kits dimensionality.


    T manifested a bit of iron on the ground, right there at the edge of the defense. Then, with a simple act of will, she pushed her iron across the infinitely thin line.


    The barrier didnt stop the iron in the slightest, and as soon as it was through, her aura had a foothold on the inside, and it was like getting a good handhold on a previously slick surface.


    She had expected something like this, as shed never had issues with her aura when walking through the gatehouse.


    Now inside Alefast, her aura rolled on through until it reached fully past the gatehouse.


    It was easy to get rid of Kits physical manifestation from the outside of the gatehouse and create a new one on the city-side of the structure.


    With that simple change, Kit was now inside the defense, and her dimensional authority spread out.


    T decided that she didnt want to wait, and she would just catch Brand a bitter.


    <em>Please notify someone that what I am about to do was done by a human Defender.</em>


    <em>-...fine.-</em>


    She moved herself into Kit, vanishing right out from under the guards watchful gazes.


    Kit was centered and anchored beside the gate, so T was easily able to remove the new physical manifestation there and create a door once again at Artias shop.


    As shede to expect, making this change didnt alter the location of Kits center of influence.


    This was what T had found through previous experiments, too, but it was always good to confirm.


    Unless she was present, outside of Kit, the center of Kits realm of influence would not move.


    She could reshape the area as a whole, but she couldnt move the anchor point while she was inside.


    But she wasnt here to experiment with Kit. Shede in to bypass the gatehouse.


    She had <em>not</em> brought herself inside of Kit anywhere near Rane.


    He was still bathing probably.


    Just as she hadnt gone near him, she didnt check to see if he was still bathing. That wouldnt have been appropriate.


    <em>Dont</em>. T headed off ts teasing before it began, and the alternate interface acquiesced.


    She stood there, on her dais, for a long moment, before she sighed.


    <em>I need to get out of here.</em>


    The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.


    She willed herself out of Kit and into the alley beside Artias shop.


    It was going to be a little while before Brand got here, so she built herself a chair and focused on her rotating masses of iron and void.


    She was now manipting fourpressed clouds of iron dust through varying shapes at the same time.


    <em>-You know, I wonder if you can connect two of the voids and separate them again without them being exposed to the outside.-</em>


    That was an interesting idea for a challenge.


    T set her mind to the task, all the while being extra vignt because she suspected that t was setting her up for an ambush. After all, it had been days since t had sessfully breached any of Ts voids.


    <em>-Hey, T.-</em>


    Here it came, the distraction. <em>You arent going to distract me, t.</em>


    <em>-Sure, sure. I just wanted to ask you a question.-</em>


    <em>Fine. What is it?</em>


    <em>-You moved out of Kit so you werent tempted to look in on Rane, didnt you?-</em>


    <em>maybe</em> T hardened her resolve.


    -<em>Interesting. That has a lot of implications.-</em>


    <em>Uh-huh.</em> T did not spend the concentration to roll her eyes at the alternate interface.


    <em>-Regardless, there is a w in your reasoning.-</em>


    So, the w was her method of attack. T decided to divert t. <em>What implications?</em>


    <em>-I fight dirty, T, but even Im not that mean. I wont touch on those at the moment, because Im kind like that.-</em>


    T grimaced, fending off a small probing push from ts will even as T connected two of the four oddly twisted pockets before disconnecting them again. The integrity of the voids were perfectly maintained.


    <em>-But back to the w.-</em>


    There was a long silence before T sighed, knowing t wouldnt let it go. In that case, it was better to get the distraction over with. <em>Whats the w, t?</em>


    <em>-You can still see into your sanctum from here.-</em>


    T twitched.


    t struck.


    Four voids fell apart with little pops.


    * * *


    T was feeling rather grumpy, but she did her best not to let it show as she sat with Rane, Brand, Adrill, Artia, Kedva, and Brandon within her sanctum.


    There was a massive spread of food, mainly provided by Artia and Kedva, but Mistress Petra had thrown in a bit, even beyond providing Ts food and some of Ranes.


    Ts irritation was mainly directed at t because the alternate interface had managed to distract her.


    T had obviously already recovered from that, and her iron-void-magic roiling conglomerations were back in motion around her head, hidden by illusion from mundane sight.


    But she wasnt here to think about her training. She was here to be with friends and acquaintances.


    The conversation was mainly just friendly banter as most things had been conveyed when Brand had been there most recently.


    He had brought an engagement gift for Brandon and Kedva, and the couple had spent an appropriate amount of time examining it with obvious glee.


    As it turned out, everyone had been interested, though Kedva had been appropriately secretive of the exact contents.


    It was a book of recipes from Lissa, Brands wife. They were the recipes that she and Brand had perfected over decades of restaurant work.


    It was full of notations, containing many recipes that Lissa couldnt make work, but upon which shed noted where she believed the issue to be.


    It was, effectively, the collected knowledge of Lissas cooking experience, distilled into a usable form.


    Brand had beamed at the couple upon presenting it. Lissa was sad to not be able to be here to present it herself, but she said that shed love to have you in her kitchen whenever you wanted, and shell being back with me for the wedding.


    That was something that had begun to dominate the minds of those who surrounded T ofte.


    Kedva and Brandon were set to be married in a little more than two months time.


    T was still a bit in denial of that fact, not just because it didnt feel like it had been the traditional year since their engagementthough there was some of that. Most of it, however, was the fact that theyd asked her to officiate the wedding.


    It was traditional to have a Mage speak counter to the couple in the public ceremony, and theyfor some reasonsaw her as influential in their lives.


    <em>-Maybe because youve effectively massively multiplied the length of time theyll be able to spend together?-</em>


    <em>That might be part of it</em> But T didnt want to think about it in that moment.


    The wedding would be after Ranes birthday, and before T headed back to Marliweather for her sister Neas twelfth birthday.


    T had been exchanging some messages with her siblings, but not as many as would likely be ideal, and she wanted to be there for her sister when the girl made her choice about the Academy.


    But all of that would be after Rane could, in theory, undergo his third Refining session.


    It was shaping up to be a busy summer, all things considered.


    But she was getting distracted by future events.


    Sheughed along with everyone at a joke as Brand delivered the punchline.


    This was what was important at the moment. She was spending time with those whom she chose to be with.


    The future would be here soon enough.


    * * *


    T squeezed Ranes shoulder as the Healernot Mistress Vanga this timeexined his professional opinion to Rane, T and Master Grediv.


    It was best summarized as a simple statement that Rane should wait at least four more days.


    Apparently, something about the healing process was not <em>quite</em> where the Refined wanted Rane to be before undergoing another session.


    Rane grimaced slightly at the news but then nodded, turning to Master Grediv, Lets set it up for then.


    Master Grediv sighed, but gave a slight nod of his head. If that is your wish.


    Four dayster, T stood behind Rane as he thrashed and screamed through clenched teeth, his hands irrevocably mped around the construct that was facilitating his Refining.


    Ts armor felt more like rippling water as it took hits and settled back into shape, absolutely none of the force transferred through to her.


    True, these were not full powered attacks, nor were they delivered in the most effective manner, but she was incredibly pleased with the results of her practice and training.


    She was not, however, pleased with what was happening to Rane.


    A horrific sound wasing to her enhanced hearing, and she suspected shed be hearing it even without that, given the acoustics of the room.


    It was like walking across the sand of a training arena, where the small particles rubbed and rolled across each other.


    The sound was apanied by unnatural distortions sweeping across various portions of Ranes body.


    Her threefold sight let her clearly see as his bones were utterly pulverized in waves, being knit back together after seeming to be squeezed like an orange for its juice.


    ck gunk was rendered out of every bone, forced along with the leading edge of the Refining.


    The sludge would build up until it sttered the walls, floor, or ceiling, having burst out of massive, fluid filled


    T swallowed, diverting her perception.


    <em>The less time spent focusing on that the better.</em>


    She bore through the horror, knowing that as awful as it was to witness, it was almost infinitely worse for Rane to experience it.


    She tightened her grip on his shoulder, and his own grip on the construct firmed.


    They endured through his torment, together.


    * * *


    T sat beside Ranes bed, reading out loud as hey, his eyes closed on the edge of sleep.


    As soon as the session had ended, Rane had dropped into unconsciousness, his berserking-like state vanishing with the ongoing damage.


    He had awakened, screaming and trembling, shortly thereafter.


    Hed hurled the Refining construct away from himself so hard that it had embedded in one of the rents in the iron walls, bending thin ribbons of abused iron out of the way with ease, despite his weakened state.


    Once again, T had swept the iron kes and dust from the air, iming it and removing it from the superficial entirely.


    As soon as she did that, a magical scan passed through the room, and the door utched.


    Rane had already curled into a ball on the stool hed been given this time around, weeping into his knees.


    She had, once again, picked him up and carried him from the room as soon as the door opened.


    The Healers did what they could, and shed asked them to leave.


    With only the barest hesitation, they had honored her request, and T had done the only thing she could think of to help Rane as he huddled under the thick, pre-warmed nkets.


    T remembered that her father had always read to her when she was younger, if she was afraid or sick or just generally to help her fall asleep.


    In fact, every single night, he would sit in the room with the kids and read until everyone had fallen asleep, at least until hed gotten ill.


    Without any idea of what else to do, T had done the same.


    She had chosen a tale of myth and legend and begun to read.


    T didnt speak loudly, but she kept a steady stream of power to her throat to put a hint of magic into her voice so that she would be heard nheless.


    Soon enough, the story seemed to act as a lifeline to Rane, and his trembling slowly abated.


    Finally, he seemed to have calmed down enough to uncurl, and slowlyever so slowlyhe moved toward sleep.


    And thus, T found herself continuing to read the story, her mental vision flicking over the figment of a book provided by t.


    Her threefold sight was watching for external threats, and for anything taking a turn for the worse within Rane.


    Her eyes were locked on his face, searching for any clues there.


    Rane, for his part, drifted in and out of sleep for the rest of the day.


    T had t let her unit know that she would miss her afternoon shift with them on the wall.


    They got back to her through the Archive that theypletely understood. Furthermore, they wouldnt expect her for the morning shift the next day either, unless she told them differently.


    That let her rx quite a bit, no longer feeling like she was shirking her responsibilities to stay with someone who needed her.


    Rane needed her, and she wasnt willing to let him lose that lifeline.


    She didnt want him to diminish, because then she would lose him.


    She wasnt willing for that to happen either.


    Therefore, she spent the remainder of the dayand that night as wellcontinuing to read with one hand resting on his.


    By voice or by touch, Rane would never doubt that she was with him.


    She would ensure he had a firm grounding in reality at least until he had recovered enough to pull himself back into a functional state.

 Chapter 406: Happy to Be Alive

    Chapter 406: Happy to Be Alive


    T and Rane had his recovery down to a routine by this point.


    True, none of the three sessions has been exactly like any of the others, but they still hadmonalities, and theyd been able to figure out what worked to bolster up the various aspects of Rane.


    His physical recovery after this third session was miraculous, especially considering there was essentially no external magic involved. His mind, however, his mindset, and his thinking were less than good.


    T and Rane took to running every day, and Master Nadro spoke to Rane as much as he could, which was less than anyone involved would prefer.


    Unfortunately, the Hallowed man was in high demand.


    He did help Rane as he could, but Rane was hardly the only person in need of counsel and a listening ear.


    Therefore, T ended up trying to fill the role, trying to be a listening ear to Rane, and a calm presence for him to lean on.


    In retrospect, that might have been part of Master Nadros intention, but if so, he never gave any indication.


    <em>-If he is the only healer, most will fall. If he can help those who care for those who are hurting to step forward and help, though? Then, we have a chance.-</em>


    There was some wisdom in that, and T decided it was as likely true as it was not.


    Even so, they ended up doing things to distract Rane more often than talking.


    Rane did seem to do best when moving, when doing <em>something.</em> It almost seemed like basically anything would be enough to keep his mind upied, to let his soul continue to settle.


    And his soul needed time to settle and recover.


    While his gate was not cracked to Ts threefold sight, it was distorted somehow.


    She couldnt exin it or describe it in any useful fashion.


    Physically, it was still perfectly fineif something so esoteric as a gate between existence and the afterlife could be discussed in physical termsbut there was a twisting, a warping to it that was hard to put into words.


    It <em>felt</em> strained to her perception, like it was on the edge of simply ceasing to be.


    She didnt have to be a genius to realize that whatever form that took, it would mean Ranes death.


    So, T did her best to keep Ranes mind upied at every turn, but that didnt seem to make things better.


    Finally, when she confessed her frustrations to her unit-mates, it was Master Girtsomewhat obviouslywho provided her with the needed insight.


    Rane needed to go <em>through</em> what had happened in order to get past it.


    T needed to let Rane dig deeper. She had to let him think on what had urred while he had support with him.


    The distractions could be good for the momentthey might even be required at timesbut there needed to be times of deep reflection as well.


    T had to change her approach if Rane was to recover, let alone ever fully Refine.


    These were the thoughts dominating her mind as she and Rane came back from theirtest loop outside of Alefast.


    As fate would have it, there was another caravan about to enter into the city.


    T sighed, slowing beside Rane. Lets wait for them to get inside.


    She didnt want to be unkind again, and it wouldnt hurt her to wait.


    Besides, she needed to talk with Rane. Hey, Rane?


    Rane had bent over, briefly gripping his knees and breathing heavily, but even as she addressed him, he was straightening, putting his hands on the back of his head and allowing his chest and lungs to expand more fully. As he was doing this, he nced her way, his breath already slowing. Yeah?


    <em>-Um T?-</em>


    T sighed internally. <em>Cant you see Im busy?</em>


    Are you doing okay? She spoke neutrally, not letting on how closely she would be paying attention to his answer.


    <em>-T, this is important.-</em>


    <em>What is it, t? </em>She almost growled at t internally but held herself back.


    -<em>Theres no caravan scheduled for arrival at this time.-</em>


    Ts focus immediately snapped to the caravan.


    Her threefold sight initially saw absolutely nothing wrong.


    She could see inside the wagons, and they looked right.


    There werent any expanded spaces that she could see, but they werent <em>required</em> for a caravan, just standard to the point that she hadnt ever heard of a caravan without one before.


    The people looked rightthey looked humandown to the level of their skeletons and organs. Though, it was hard for T to truly examine them from this distance.


    Clearly the city guards thought so too, because the portcullises were actively being lifted to allow the caravan toe inside.


    Then, she realized something. The caravan workers dont have gates.


    Rane hadnt responded to her, yet, but he had opened his mouth to do so. When she mentioned theck of gates, a frown crossed his face, and he seemed to change what hed been going to say, T, I didnt think thats something youd fixate on. Who cares if one or more of the guards dont have a gate?


    She shook her head. No, Rane. None of them have gates, not even the Mages that I can see.


    That got his attention, and he straightened, hand drifting to Forces hilt hanging at his belt in what was clearly an unconscious motion.


    T was more focused on the caravan however. <em>What is going on?</em>


    She felt a subtle magical aura pulsing outward from something, tap tap, tapping against her will, mind, and magic.


    She forced her perspective to focus stone- and starward, and only then did she see the distortion of illusory magic wrapped around something that underpinned the entire caravan, hanging stoneward of superficial.


    T took a step forward. What are you?


    Her iron expanded stoneward until it reached theyer upon which whatever that thing was had hidden itself.


    She then forced her aura forward along that strata, bringing iron spikes along within it.


    The whole caravan seemed to stutter, the oxen and guards freezing in ce, midstep.


    Then, her aura mmed against resistance.


    It was anothers area of control, and it didnt budge in the slightest as she tried to force her authority forward.


    The nearest caravan guard spun toward her, eyes locking on her.


    He cocked back his arm and threw his knife.


    It was a ludicrous motion.


    Rane and T were nearly two hundred yards away from the man, but something told T not tough.


    On instinct, she leapt forward, between the man and Rane.


    An instantter, the knife cut through her aura, carrying with it the same power that had resisted her attempts to investigate.


    <em>t! Signal an attack!</em>


    Thats all that T had time to state, even at the insane speeds that she and t could usuallymunicate.


    The knifes de struck her directly in the sternum, and despite an <em>immense</em> amount of force and magics that were specifically designed for piercing and cutting, it failed to prate her defenses.


    If she had been a more normally defended Archon the weapon would likely have easily blown straight through her.


    Without thought, she allowed all her iron to anchor herself in ce, increasing her inertia to the point that even a siege engines payload would have had a hard time knocking her back.


    A knife simply didnt have the mass to transfer sufficient energy to move her, but this knife was just a superficial extension of something far, <em>far</em> more massive.


    When it failed to pierce her, the knife morphed into an odd sort of tangling tendril, and the beast now had an anchor on her.


    The tendril had wrapped all the way around her, creating a <em>very</em> difficult to remove anchor.


    Behind her, she had just enough time to hear Rane gasp.


    She saw him in her threefold sight, eyes wide.


    Rane, who was still recovering.


    Rane, who was uninscribed.


    Rane, who was out here because of her.


    <em>Rust. Tell him to run, t.</em>


    <em>-Ill try, but I doubt hell check his Archive connection in a situation like this.-</em>


    Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any urrences elsewhere.


    T opened her mouth to deliver the message herself, but an instantter, she was torn out of the superficial, dragged stoneward and toward the so-far-imprable lump of something.


    <em>Rust you.</em> Her resolve hardened; her mind focused; and she set to work.


    Her elk leathers acted almost on their ownlikely at ts directionand iron and white steel flowed over her, taking on the increasingly familiar configuration of interconnectedyers of defense.


    As she reached theyer of existence on the level of her opponent, she dumped extra power into her defenses, while wrapping the tendril in <em>her</em> iron.


    She also canceled her own effective gravity so she wouldnt drop away.


    The extension of the creature squelched under the pressure of her excursion despite the magic that was in it actively attempting to reshape it and create a more permanent anchor.


    As the bit of monster was pulverized, that removed the hostile hold on her and left her floating eye to eye with


    Honestly, she didnt have words for what she was seeing.


    Back on the superficial, her threefold sight let her see Rane drawing Force and beginning a charge forward.


    <em>Foolish man, you were meant to run away!</em>


    <em>-Maybe, but you know thats not who he is, T. What about Rane makes you think that he would see you attacked and not respond with any means at his disposal?-</em>


    T felt a smile pull at her face even as her chest finished healing and she focused on the horror before her.


    Her previous experiences finally gave her context to what was before her.


    <em>Thats a syphon?</em>


    <em>-That was going to be my guess, yeah.-</em>


    <em>It seems like a powerful one.</em> That didnt track with what she knew of them. They didnt tend to gain great power until theyd been in a human city for a long while.


    They also didnt tend to leave after they were established.


    Still, its magical weight had to be at least equivalent to her own.


    True, itsrger size gave it an edge in that department. So, it could still be less dense than her, but that hardly mattered.


    Even as she watched, eyes began to form across the being that was still shielded from her magesight.


    <em>Yeah, thats a syphon.</em>


    <em>-And youre alone, outside city defenses.-</em>


    <em>In its home turf.</em> T added seriously.


    All those factors likely contributed toward its ability to block her detection.


    This was fighting a tiger in the woods instead of one that had escaped a menagerie.


    Even so, T didnt hesitate.


    Flow snicked into her hand even as she dumped power into amplifying her effective gravity toward the syphon.


    A mouth opened upon the creature, oriented directly between her and its center of gravity.


    Either it sensed what she was doing, or it just made a fortuitous choice of location.


    Well, fortuitous for it.


    It didnt matter though.


    T was a Defender, and she had a job to do.


    <em>Lets get this done.</em>


    Her gravity amplification was shifting her in the right direction, but it wasnt moving her fast enough yet, and it would send her straight into the beasts waiting maw when she did get up to speed.


    <em>Well I do have all this iron.</em>


    With a thought, she allowed the irons mass toe into y once again. Then, with a solid tendril still linked to her, she had it extend backward and to the side, pushing against her.


    Now, T was <em>heavy</em> for a personespecially for the slip of a girl that she appeared to bebut even at double her apparent mass, she was greatly outweighed by her literal ton of iron.


    Thus, as the iron shifted marginally, T rocketed away on a thin pir ofpressedbasically solidmetal dust.


    She moved many times as far as the iron did in order for her collective center of mass to stay in the same location, a location that was still being pulled toward the waiting syphons mouth.


    <em>In for a copper.</em>


    She wove white steel through her tether, forming the whole into the interwoven hex testhat were designed to distribute force if attackedin a mimicry of her armor.


    She then affected the mostplex aspect mirror that she had ever attempted.


    She took Flows durabilityits magics to distribute any impact throughout its entire structureand mirrored that throughout her iron.


    It wouldnt help the integrity like it did for Flow. After all, the natural state of the ironfor the most partwas dust. Instead, it would simply add anotheryer of redistribution and redirection.


    She should be able to turn arge portion of any strike against herselfor her ironinto heat, dispersed throughout all of her metal.


    The aspect mirror was made greatly easier by the mere fact that the iron was already a part of Flow, merged more closely with the weapons magics than it was to anything else, even though the sword was soulbound to her.


    Her preparations finished just in time.


    A tentacle of the foul creature struck at her across the distance between them, elongating and morphing into a massive, inhuman hand with chitinous ws, the edges radiating a cutting power that seemed to spring from nowhere.


    T countered des with de, and the expanse of the stoneward emptiness rang with the sound of the sh.


    The syphon hadnt held back, either instinctivelyor literallysensing the threat that T posed.


    T might have been in trouble if she had simply tried to block the attack.


    But she didnt try to block, nor did she try to sever the attacking limb.


    Instead, she thrust Flow into the side of the w even as it impacted her, Flow causing the chitin to resonate loudly.


    Then, in the brief moment where she had an essentially immovable anchor, she <em>heaved.</em>


    Her iron shot toward her at incredible speed.


    The force of the pull jerked against the syphons questing tentacle, pulling it and elongating it even further out from the beast, causing the syphon to squeal in indignation and rage.


    The sound was odd.


    There wasnt <em>precisely</em> air stoneward of superficial, but there seemed to be <em>something</em> that was a sufficient medium to carry sound.


    T used the creatures moment of confusion and disorientation to strike.


    She pulled Flow free of where shed wedged it, pushing power into it to transform it into a void-sword.


    Then, thrusting herself forward with the tendril of woven iron and white steel, she shot up the overextended limb, Flow carving a channel of total devastation through the syphon.


    She pushed until the iron behind her seemed to almost stop in ce. At that moment, Flow transformed into a ive just as T mmed it into the great beasts main body.


    Back on the superficial, Rane was still nearly a hundred feet from the closest guard, but he was picking up speed, and he had Force out and ready to strike.


    She had almost no time.


    <em>Fool of a man.</em> But she felt her small smile grow. <em>Dont die on me.</em>


    She transformed the metal across the bottoms of her feet into long, thin spikes that immediately sunk into the syphons flesh.


    She then bent the metal outward, creating anchors. She relished the symmetry of doing something so simr to the beasts opening move.


    But where it had failed, she seeded with malice.


    Her chest was fully healed from the minor bruise the impact had caused of course, but there was still a ghost of an injury, pulling at her mind. A memory of pain removed unnaturally quickly.


    The syphon trying to work every angle to weaken her.


    It failed.


    She shoved that away, focusing on the battle.


    With her new purchase, she dragged her iron toward her once again.


    At the same time she shed ive-Flow across the massive, bulbous, magical creature in huge, sweeping arcs.


    At the superficial, everyone in the caravan was screaming, the wagons beginning to melt.


    Things were going quite well.


    Seven tentacles struck at T in a chaotic sequence.


    She cut the first in half, ducked beneath the second, deflected the third with a sweep of her left arm, and tilted her torso backward to help dissipate the force from the forth.


    Her armor took the blow as designed, cracking in a thousand ces to disperse the iing force. Her aspect mirroring caused the entirety of her protection to heat dozens of degrees, even while the thinyers of active armor were still cracking and breaking all across and throughout the many levels of the defense.


    Then, things didnt work quite as well.


    The fifth tentacle mmed into her side with <em>insane</em> force.


    The iron of her armor zed with heat to the extent that the sixth tentacle sizzled as it struck her, leaving chunks of syphon-flesh behind as it pulled back.


    Ts will was bentto an almost frantic degreetoward reforming her armor.


    The seventh tentacle simply became a sacrificial anchor on T, and with a sickening squelch she was torn free of the creatures side, her bones creaking under the pressure of entrapping loops of cooking muscle.


    Her minites of active armor did not work very well against all epassing, crushing force.


    <em>Ill need to find a fix for that.</em> But it was hardly the time for that at the moment.


    An eighth long appendage struck out, wrapping around her torso and legs in a direction counter to the seventh.


    The syphons malleable nature came into y, then, as the two tentacles seemed to transform into looping chains of ded links.


    T didnt even have time toprehend what wasing before the syphon pulled, hard, dragging those magically sharp des across Ts armor, tearing away great chunks as each link passed across her.


    Because they were pulling in perfect opposition, they kept her from moving with the pulls, or being thrown around.


    Instead, it was just tearing into her with vicious abandon.


    The syphons flesh around her was already torn to bits by her great cutting arcs with Flow, and syphon blood was pouring from the creature, draining down into the abyss below them in thisyer of existence.


    But it hadnt been enough, and her armor was failing against another type of attack that it wasnt designed to handle.


    <em>Enough of this.</em>


    Her iron blob broke apart, bing a field of leg-sized, barbed, tri-ded spikes, which spiraled from tip to base.


    T hardened her aura around each and drove them forward.


    Likeying down a rug across the top of the beast, a wave of impacts radiated from T across the surface of the syphon, each apanied with a fountain of blood as the spikes drilled deeper, crafted almost entirely of magic-disrupting iron carrying Ts own aura.


    There was a momentary struggle for supremacy, but T held on like never before.


    Three things changed the circumstances in rtion to her earlier attempts to ovee the beast.


    First, T had pieces of herself within the beast now, giving her a solid tform from which to strike.


    Her iron <em>was</em> her.


    Second, Ts gate was still dumping power into her, keeping her fully topped off and as magically weighty as ever.


    Third, the syphon had been spending power like mad to transform and maneuver to attack her and defend against her.


    At their very core, gated humans were endurance fighters, and T could oust almost anything.


    Victory. T spoke into the nothingness, power in her words making them resonate through the space regardless.


    Each of the hundreds of spikes tore itself apart, sting outward as hundreds of smaller barbs.


    The entire top half of the syphon was turned into a bloody, iron-filled pulp.


    On the superficial, the caravan fell apart, even as the main body of the syphon seemed to fall starward, dragging T along with it.


    A momentter, the corpse of the massive creature pped wetly to the ground before the gate into Alefast.


    Behind her, Rane had just finished dispatching his third syphon-controlled caravan guard.


    It was now obvious that tendrils of the creature led to each of the bisected bodies.


    Rane was panting even heavier than after their run, but he seemed uninjured.


    <em>Bless the stars for that.</em>


    Then, she noticed what her threefold sight was showing her and cursed.


    Orange? Really?! This was only a Mature syphon?


    She fell backward, catching herself in a chair made of iron and white steel.


    The metal creaked as she slumped back into the seat.


    Her armor was flowing back into shape, and her body was healing from the few wounds that the beast had managed to inflict upon her, but she was still irate.


    This thing had been <em>less advanced</em> than she was, and it had still given her a bit of trouble.


    Then, her mind went back to the first syphon shed encountered.


    It had been blue to her magesight.


    She swallowed involuntarily at her new understanding.


    <em>I think I might have been underestimating the effectiveness of city defenses</em>


    Then, Rane began tough, an almost childlike grin dominating his features.


    T felt a smile pull at her lips once more, even as she called a chair into ce behind the man.


    He sat gratefully, continuing tough.


    A momentter, T found herselfughing too.


    Together, they sat there, beside a massive corpse, reveling in the joy of their victory, happy to be together, happy to be alive.

 Chapter 407: Birthday Breakfast

    Chapter 407: Birthday Breakfast


    T sat beside Master Simon, looking out over her sanctum.


    With her threefold sight, she could see the long basic passage leading over to Irondale.


    Theyd made the floor of hard, uniform stone only about an inch thick. She could have simply left it as the edge of existence like the walls and ceiling, but Master Simon had exined that it was rather disconcerting to stand on the edge of existence, even in an expanded space.


    T had never minded in all the time shed had Kit without all the trappings that the dimensional storage now had, but shed bowed to his expertise.


    For fun, though, she had made about a ten-foot section near the middle that was the exposed edge of existence.


    It didnt matter, but to the unaware, it would seem like a trap that had to be crossed.


    In the odd case where someone was trying to get from Irondale to her sanctum, it would dy them a bit before they realized it was just like any other floor.


    And, that actually might happen, given they were working to finish the construction of that more public side of her dimensional space.


    After long discussions with Master Simon, Adrill, Brandon, and Kedva, T had reduced the level of power in the area spanning a few feet below ground level all the way to ten feet up, creating a band in which gateless could work without any concern of them being reborn in magic.


    At the moment, a <em>lot</em> of gateless were working within Irondale.


    Well a couple dozen, give or take. It seemed like a lot to her.


    Master Simon had them doing all sorts of things, most of which werent of interest to T.


    Have any stood out to you? That was one of the core reasons that T had agreed to push forward so aggressively on the creation of Irondale.


    Well that and the wedding.


    For some reason, Brandon and Kedva were quite interested in having their wedding within Kit.


    T supposed it did make some sense. They were going to be tied to her and Kit at least for the near future, at least until they learned how to better control their own power.


    So she was about to have a newlywed couple in Irondale.


    That was far preferable to having them in her sanctum. Thus, she was bending her resources topleting that section of Kits inner dimensions.


    Master Simon shrugged. A few, and only a few of those have families that could be reborn with them. He smiled. As othered as gateless are, most still end up marrying gated spouses, and most of their children are usually gated.


    But not all?


    No, not all.


    So?


    He chuckled. If we really want to engage in this little experiment, I think there are ten families we could approach. If we expand to gateless with Mage spouses, we could just about double that number, though.


    Howplete would themunity be?


    It would be surprisingly well bnced, actually. There are a few teachers among the spouses. Though none of those are currently working in Irondale. If they were included, that would sort out the children and childcare situation before it could arise to be an issue. Aside from that, there are quite a few farmers and craftsmen of various stripes.


    So, its doable?


    Yes, but we already knew that. He chuckled. Why else would we have them building a little settlement?


    She shrugged. Its always good to have safe ces to put people at need.


    He gave her a side-eyed look. If that was your only aim, this seems like a waste of resources in that regard.


    Is it allowing you to test out things that would otherwise require my involvement?


    He considered for a long moment, then shrugged. ...yes.


    T grinned. Then, its not a waste.


    He smiled at that. Yes, Mistress.


    Plus, the wedding Are we going to be done in time for that?


    Master Simons smile widened. Easily, yes.


    Good.


    They sat in silence for a long moment.


    After a bit, she nced his way. Have you two found an answer?


    Hmm?


    For eternity. You asked if eternity was worth the price of admittance. I assume that I wasnt the only Archon who you asked.


    You were not. He looked away from her again, his smile fading.


    So?


    Everyone has a different answer. Some were rather unhelpful. He sighed. Honestly, most were unhelpful.


    Oh? T chuckled, already considering what some people might have said.


    He straightened, clearly putting on airs as some other Archon hed spoken to, There is no greater cost than eternity, Master Simon, but if the prize is valuable enough, any cost is worth it.


    So, it depends on what your goal is? Interesting to view eternity as a price. She bit her lip in thought. That was actually a very interesting way of conceptualizing it, now that she considered it.


    That was my understanding, yes.


    She gave a half smile, still considering. Any others?


    There is no more valuable prize than eternity, you must simply strive to be able to pay the cost with which to seize it. His voice was a bit different, clearly pretending to be another Archon, though she didnt know who.


    That is T frowned. Thats almost the exact opposite answer?


    He sighed. That it is, Mistress T. It is at that.


    She still smiled at his repetitive answer. The man was clearly a bit frustrated. So, no luck?


    He shrugged. It seems toe down to whether or not a given Mage has the drive to reach for eternity for one reason or other. Right now? Petra and I dont really have that calling, that drive.


    I see.


    Its nothing definite, of course, and weve got decades regardless, but even this brief deeper delving into the topic has been enlightening to say the least. Thank you.


    She looked his way. For what?


    For bringing us to Alefast, waning. Waning cities areparatively filled with ancient, powerful Mages, and weve been able to inquire with many of them of all levels of advancement. I dont know that wed have even made as much progress as we have without your assistance. So, thank you.


    She gave a little smile, Well, in that case, youre wee.


    * * *


    The following days passed uneventfully, with T continuing her work, training, and time with friends.


    There was nothing of note until Ranes birthday had arrived once more.


    She didnt have any specific present on the day, as shed already arranged for the syphon fascia from the beast that theyd in to be given to him to enhance his dimensional storage.


    He had then insisted that it was the perfect birthday presenteven though it was a week too earlyand she shouldnt get him anything else.


    She had reluctantly agreed.


    Rane had been hale and jovial as theyd parted the night before, with ns to meet up for breakfast. Though, neither of them had mentioned the significance of the next day.


    The n was for the two of them to begin the day by having breakfast at his familys estate.


    Given his parents were each only Boundand obviously barely advanced toward FusedT expected things to get incredibly awkward.


    Well, awkward in Ts mind.


    She expected it to be difficult to look at two people who were more than double her age who hadnt taken the time to understand themselves enough to Fuse.


    This narrative has been uwfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.


    In truth, she knew that was incredibly unfair and not even that urate to her true feelings.


    After all, she thought very well of Mistress Petra and Master Simon, but they had been much, <em>much</em> older when theyd fused.


    So why was she feeling so awkward?


    She grimaced, pping away ts attempts to disrupt one or another of her six morphic iron-dust and void constructs with irritated ease.


    She stopped just in front of the main doors into the Gredial familys central building.


    She looked down at herself, though she really assessed herself from every angle with her threefold sight.


    Her perception flicked away and into the building, allowing her to see someoneing to open the door for her.


    She normally would have just strode inside and up toward Ranes room, but this was a bit more formal of an asion. So, she would follow the more formal rules of propriety and let an attendant let her in. Thus, she had about half a minute before they arrived.


    Her attention returned to herself, and she truly took in how she looked.


    In truth, she looked quite nice.


    She was wearing what she always did.


    Her near white tunic falling halfway to her knees.


    The dark gray pantsfortably fitted to her legs, ending above bare feet.


    All tied together with a ck belt cinching at her waist with Flow on her left hip.


    Only Kits absence stood out as different from what shed worn in humannds for years now.


    She frowned. It looked fine <em>But today is supposed to be special.</em>


    In this very city, the old seamstress Merilin had made her a wide array of outfits, and T had never really bothered to wear them.


    T had even merged the numerous outfits into her elk leathers ages ago, but still, she continued to wear what she knew, what she was used to.


    <em>Maybe its time for a change?</em>


    As T considered, she briefly noted ts stark silence.


    <em>Thats odd.</em>


    She waited another moment, but the alternate interface didntment.


    Her time was running out, so she turned back to the matter at hand.


    WIth a sigh, she decided. <em>Now or never, I suppose.</em>


    She had the ability; she should use it.


    Her elk leathers shifted and transformed, the change taking less than a breath.


    It did take a good chunk of power to enact that change, but T had magical power to spare.


    After the brief ripple of power, T was left with an entirely different look.


    As a final step, she altered her illusion just slightly, as it was created by her through-spike.


    Then, she took herself in with her threefold sight once more.


    She now wore a dark purple skirt that ended just above her ankles and still bare feet. It was pleated just enough to give easy movement and flow to the garment without making it unmanageable.


    The lower garment was cinched by a dark gray band of fabric, from which Flow now hung within its sparring sheath. The weapon now rested much higher than her hips, the dark gray material pulling in at the narrowest part of her torso.


    The holsters and holders that were usually tucked against her low back, had been drawn into the garment. Now, afortable harness affixed them in their usual ce, but against her skin, rather than outside of her clothing. They were now essible either through cleverly disguised openings in the folds of fabric, or by an easy maniption of her elk leathers.


    Ts blouse was wrought of billowy white fabric, quite well suited to the warm summer morning, even if the temperature didnt really matter too much to her. The neck of the blouse was wide and open, barely catching the edges of her shoulders, with small sleeves that were justrge enough to reach a bit down her upper arms.


    The front and back dipped in graceful arcs, maintaining a modest neckline all the way around.


    It was a bit funny that modesty mattered for such garments when many Mages wore <em>far</em> less for their work.


    <em>Though most Archons dont.</em> She didnt really consider fashion very often, but she supposed that she had noticed Archons tending toward more full coverings than unadvanced Mages.


    But she was getting distracted. She needed to finish her self assessment before the attendant arrived.


    She looked to her own eyes.


    The change shed made to her through-spike allowed her dark, ruby-red eyes to truly shine through as was their nature.


    She usually kept the color slightly suppressed, because the colorand the glowwas clearly magical in nature, and shed found that the bloodred glow tended to unsettle people.


    Now, however, the ruddy hue was nicely offset by the dark purple of her skirt, the glow emphasizing her eyes enough to counterbnce the muchrger source of purple.


    Also, if Ranes parents were a bit unsettled, then they and she would all be in the same boat.


    <em>Really mature, T.</em>


    Still, she didnt change anything else.


    T moved back and forth slightly, feeling the skirt swish and swirl just a bit with the minor movement.


    She felt odd.


    It had been a long time since shed worn a skirt or dress.


    Still, she didnt dislike the outfit.


    In fact, she felt like it reminded her of happier timesboth at home before her fathers addiction, and at the Academy when shed wandered the ind on her own.


    She hadnt moved to preferring pants and a long tunic untilter in her academic career, when shed begun fighting at close range more frequently.


    A momentter, she was pulled from her reverie as the great doors opened, one of the servants bowing her direction from within. Mistress T, wee to the Gredial Estate.


    T smiled and nodded slightly in return. Thank you, Dennairen.


    The man had a small smile on his lips as he straightened, motioning for her to follow him. You look especially lovely this morning, Mistress.


    That is kind of you to say.


    It is the simple truth. I fear that this estate rarely sees one so lovely, so well presented.


    T frowned slightly. Im here all the time, Dennairen.


    He nced back her way, a twinkle of mirth in his eyes. That you are, Mistress.


    She found his mirth infectious, and she returned his look with a grin. As you say, then.


    T followed Dennairen through the hallways and to a dining room that she hadnt been to before.


    Two people were already seated at therge table centered in the room, though there was no food yet in evidence.


    The two were a man and woman who looked like Rane in the oddest of ways.


    His father had Ranes hair, whichwhile cropped close to his headstill had some interesting patterns. Those she could only see because of her threefold sight, given their location on the back of his head.


    Mainly, the simrityy in their shared head shape, hair line, and hair color.


    Ranes eyes came from his mother, at least their shape did.


    Both parents had rather standard hazel eyes, mixes of brown and gray for the father and brown and green for Ranes mother.


    Neither were particrlyrge people, which was interesting given Rane and Chloesrger proportions.


    <em>Though, to be fair, Furgal is a rather more standard height. I suppose Rane and his sister are the outliers, then?</em>


    Shed never met Ranes other siblings, and she realized that most of them were at the Academy. <em>I might have passed them in the halls there and never known it.</em>


    That would be awkward She decided not to think on it further.


    Ranes mothers hair was a dark, <em>dark </em>red, very close to the color of dark wine.


    It was long and lustrous, woven into a series of braids and buns that collectively fell around her shoulders.


    <em>Hundreds of years of hair growth, I suppose.</em>


    <em>-Or magic.-</em>


    <em>Thats fair</em> T gave t a mental once over. <em>Good of you to join us.</em>


    <em>-I wasnt about to interfere with your decision making.-</em>


    <em>Fine.</em>


    The two people looked up as Dennairen stepped into the room, and stood when they saw her, which coincided with Dennairens announcement, Presenting, Mistress T, Refined Defender of Alefast.


    Ranes mother and father gave appropriate bows of Bound toward a Refined, and T returned the expected bow of a Refined toward Bound.


    When she returned her head to the proper posture, she cleared her throat. Thank you for weing me into your home.


    She hesitated briefly then.


    <em>t, help!</em>


    t sighed within her head. <em>-Repeat this.-</em>


    T did so, It is my shame that I have gone so long without meeting you in person, but I am grateful for your hospitality on so many asions during my time here in Alefast.


    Ranes mother smiled,ing around the table with one hand out.


    Dennairen bowed to the room in general and took that moment to depart.


    I am Filha, Ranes Mother. As she took Ts hand, she bowed over it rather than shaking it.


    Ranes father bowed again from where he stood before his chair, more in greeting than in deference, I am Neul. Wee to my home.


    T smiled, taking back her hand when it was released. She then continued to speak the words that t provided, Mistress Filha, Master Neul, thank you for your warm greeting. Thank you also for allowing me to join you both for breakfast on your sons birthday.


    Mistress Filha returned to her seat beside her husband, gesturing for T to sit across from her. Of course, dear. Thank you for allowing us a meal with our son on his birthday. Her eyes twinkled. I think we all know where he would be if you were elsewhere.


    T shrugged, somewhat ufortably. His parents were obviously unaware of the great ordeal hed undergone in his bid to Refine.


    All that they would be aware of was that T had been spending a lot of time with Rane, alone, often in his rooms.


    There was no question of impropriety. After all, such a soulbond would be rather obvious, especially in the immediate aftermath.


    Even so, they likely were putting emotional weight behind the alone time that wasnt there


    T felt herself flush, thankfully hidden behind her through-spike.


    She suddenly wanted to flee the room, but she wasnt one to retreat in the face of danger or embarrassment.


    <em>Nope, thats not me at all. I face the things I dislike.</em> She would make that be true if it took all her willpower.


    As she sat, she had to face something that she hadnt really let herself consider.


    She would be a fool to im that she had no emotional attachment to Rane.


    She cared for him tremendously.


    That much was obvious.


    t was noticeably silent once again, robbing T of one of her most consistent means of distraction.


    Before the silence could be awkward, however, T heard Raneing.


    She stood and turned,pleting the motion just as the door swung open.


    Rane started talking as he pushed the door open. Good morning! Im d that youre


    He trailed off, his eyes going wide as he saw her. He actually gaped as he looked at her from head to toe and then back up to her face once more.


    T your clothes.


    She allowed herself a little smile of satisfaction. Do you like them?


    Mistress Filha gave a gentleugh. Dear, if his mouth were open any wider, his chin would be on the floor.


    Ranes mouth clicked shut, even as his cheeks colored.


    Ts smile grew. Well, it seemed like a special asion.


    He seemed entirely tongue tied, but he was saved further embarrassmentand the rest of them were saved from an awkward silenceby a group of servantsing in to bring breakfast.


    Rane and T sat, him taking the seat between her and his father.


    From there, the breakfast was a good deal less awkward than T had feared, at least from her perspective.


    After the birthday breakfast, she and Rane bid his parents farewell.


    As her unit had the day fully off, there was nothing else to require her time or attention.


    Together, T and Rane spent the remainder of the day with various friends and acquaintances, rotating through several groups before finishing the time sitting atop the highest tower within his familys estate, watching a few scattered falling stars.


    All in all, it was a wonderful day.

 Chapter 408: Marriage

    Chapter 408: Marriage


    T felt <em>incredibly</em> nervous.


    She was within Kit, entirely under her own control, and within her own authority.


    T still felt like she was under direct attack.


    She had expected to feel as much, but that didnt make it better.


    <em>Im excited, not nervous. This is a wonderful day. Everything is great.</em>


    She stood at the end of a long aisle, a few dozen people looking up at her from either side of the walkway between chairs.


    Kedvas friends and family were to Ts right, and Brandons to Ts left.


    The two sides were meant to be representative of the couples souls, and this was the only point during the process where the groups would be separated. In fact, for all following pieces, the guests would be purposefully intermixed to symbolize the soulbond.


    In the front row, Brand and Lissa were beside two empty seats where Adrill and Artia would sit after their ceremonial entry.


    Two seats were simrly empty on the brides side, awaiting Kedvas parents.


    T shifted her feet slightly, feeling thefort of her standard clothing moving with her. Even though her clothing felt normal, shed woven iron through the off-white tunic and silver through the dark gray pants to set the attire apart from her standard look.


    She hadnt done more because she hadnt wanted to steal the show.


    After all, today wasnt about her.


    In truth, however, what clothes she wore was the entirely wrong way of thinking about things, if she <em>had</em> wanted to upstage the main event.


    <em>And there is no way I was going to do this naked</em>


    She focused outside herself once again, attempting to quell the nervousness<em>Excitement.</em>


    The local area within Kit was decorated and trimmed for the asion. Behind her was Irondaleske set among mountains.


    Across everything was the illusion of predawn light.


    That illusion matched reality as weddings were always performed to have the union ur as close to sunrise as could be managed.


    Her gaze swept over the mini-mountains, a smile pulling at her lips.


    <em>We really did find a </em>lot<em> of granite within the superstructure of the doomsday vault.</em>


    <em>-Yeah. It was a bit odd, but Im d. It let us make a rather stunningndscape.-</em>


    <em>Yeah. It did indeed.</em>


    Several Refined and Paragon defenders had joined them during preparations, having some fun in making vegetation grow at least in the area near to theke.


    With thatke at her back, the town was before T, behind the crowd, and it was nearlyplete.


    The outsides of the buildings, at least, were done well enough that they provided a lovely setting for this wedding, this joining of lives and souls.


    T was continuing to maintain the lower magical density in the band of easily essible space.


    That said, she was allowing higher density around Brandon and Kedva in the rooms in which they were finalizing their preparations with the help of their parents.


    The higher density pockets would stay with them throughout the wedding.


    Speaking of which, it was almost time.


    Thest of the guests had arrived,ing through the door into Kit, from where the external manifestation waited on the inside of the northern gatehouse.


    There had been some hesitation on their parts, as they weregenerally speakingmundane folk. Still the invitations had been clear that the ceremony would be taking ce in a magical setting, so they werent entirely caught off guard.


    The musicians began to y, pulling T from her thoughts once again and announcing the start of the ceremony.


    The crowd stood as the bride and groom came out of the buildings to either side of the main path.


    They wore the traditional marriage garb, which were essentially the same as a casting Mage would wear: as little as possible while maintaining a sliver of modesty.


    Brandon stood in a loinclotha simple cotton cloth wrapped around his pelvisundyed and unblemished.


    Kedva wore a simr garment, with another strip of cloth around her neck that crossed, wrapped, and wove to cover and support her breasts.


    Aside from the minimal covering, they wore no clothes.


    Kedvas hair was held up with a long, thin iron spike in a style that was as beautiful as it was simple.


    Her skin was adorned with thick white lines in a simr style to inscriptions, without actually looking like them in the least.


    They were much toorge and not nearly detailed enough for anything magical.


    Brandons lines were ck to Kedvas white, and they were done in a far blockier pattern, all straight lines and right angles whenpared to Kedvas sweeping spirals and softer curves.


    The line designs and color were traditional, and it was also tradition for the parents to paint them on their child.


    It was yet one more symbolic statement from the parents that they had prepared their child and approved of this marriage.


    <em>Ill probably be able to do my own lines one day.</em> It wasnt like shed have her parents there to do it.


    Brandon carried a heavy, iron-banded, wooden shield.


    Kedva carried a simple short sword, sheathed and borne in her left hand.


    Otherwise, they had nothing.


    Even their feet were bare.


    They walked side by sidebut out of reachto the start of the aisle.


    Each of their parents nked them, fathers toward the outside of the formation.


    When they reached the aisle, Kedva and her parents stopped, allowing Brandon to walk forward with his own parents.


    The three stopped before T and bowed.


    T felt herself color under her through-spike illusion.


    <em>t!</em>


    <em>-T, you have perfect memory.-</em>


    <em>I know, but please?</em>


    <em>-Fine-</em>


    The couple had chosen a variant of the ceremony more traditional for Mages, because of their new-found magic.


    There were, in fact, four versions of the wedding ceremony that T knew of, though she hadnt seen all of them.


    If both were mundane, if the husband was a Mage and the wife wasnt, if the wife was and the husband wasnt, and finally, if both were Mages.


    Kedva and Brandon had chosen the final version, and that was what t provided to T.


    T smiled. Whoes before me, and to what purpose?


    Brandon spoke in response, his words as scripted as hers, Ie, seeking to be bound to the one whom I love.


    Who stands behind you in this request?


    Artia and Adrill spoke in unison, We, bound in our love, stand behind our son in this request. Our bond, unbroken, is an imperfect example of what he seeks.


    T swept Brandon with her threefold sight, verifying hisck of soulbonds while seeing his reality connections to everyone in the crowd before speaking her response, I testify that he is bound to none.


    Normally, the Mage overseeing the ceremony would need to use a construct to verify theck of a soulbond to another, but an Archon with the proper magesight scripts didnt need such a device.


    Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    Her eyes turned to Kedva, and the young woman strode forward, head held high.


    Each row of the audience turned as she passed them, symbolizing that it was her actions, her will, that solidified this process.


    She and her parents stopped before T, bowing as Brandon and his had before.


    T spoke again, Whoes before me, and to what purpose?


    Kedvas voice was a bit quieter than Brandons had been, but it was full of conviction, Ie, seeking to be bound to the one whom I love.


    Who stands behind you in this request?


    Her parents bowed and spoke in unison, We, bound in our love, stand behind our daughter in this request. Our bond, unbroken, is an imperfect example of what she seeks.


    T examined Kedva in turn. I testify that she is bound to none.


    Then, she added a bit, as the couple had requested.


    She looked at the reality connection that was between the two who stood before her. I further testify that they have no greater connection to any here, beyond what they feel for one another.


    There was some murmuring in the audience at that deviation but not overly much.


    Please be seated.


    The crowd sat, the parents joining everyone else.


    Everything that followedmore than what had happened so farwas chosen, customized, and funed by the betrothed couple.


    Brandon, what do you present?


    He stepped forward andid the shield before T with a bow before stepping back beside Kedva. I present a shield, as I will be a defender to my bonded and my family.


    Kedva, what do you present?


    Sheid her sword atop the shield. I present a sword, as I will strike at those who seek to do harm to my bonded or my family.


    T smiled, Of violence and safety, I am satisfied. Who will govern the households finances?


    Brandon bowed. My hand will ensure the ounts are bnced.


    Who will nourish the household?


    Kedva bowed, My hand will ensure all mouths are fed.


    Who will raise the children?


    Still bowed, they spoke as one. Only united can we hope to raise the next generation.


    In disputes, who will reign?


    They responded again, as one. Reason will rule.


    There was chuckling through the audience, not because the words were unexpected, but because essentially everyone there was married, and they all knew just how well that worked out much of the time.


    T, in turn, smiled once again, And when reason makes no choice?


    Kedva spoke then. My choice is to defer to my husbands choice.


    Brandon spoke next. My choice is to honor and lean on my wifes wisdom when choosing.


    T prompted again, And when there is hardship from an unwise choice?


    Brandon responded. All punishment shall be mine.


    Kedva spoke just after him. As one, we will endure the fruits of what we have chosen.


    Let it be as you have said.


    The two straightened.


    T motioned unnecessarily and a small table appeared between them at her will. Three candles and two fire-starters were all that adorned it.


    Traditionally, the table would have been carried in at this point, but that was unnecessary within Ts domain.


    Brandon and Kedva each lit a candle and turned back to T.


    Two mestwo soulsstand before me today. From two, they shall be one.


    They picked up their candles and used them to light a single me in the center.


    Now that there is to be one forged of the two, let the separate mesthe separate livescease at their bearers will.


    They each blew out their own candle.


    T fought down her own embarrassment to keep her voice level as she said the traditional words addressing the audience, These two have chosen to be bound, pledging themselves to right conduct before you all. Shall their bonding be short or long?


    Long! Everyone responded. Then, once again, there was someughter and chuckling.


    So shall it be. T gestured to the nearest building behind the audience. Brandon, Kedva, your words have been heard, your intentions made known. Go now, and forge your bond that we may bear witness to your eternal union.


    Brandon took Kedvas hand, both of them blushing deeply across much of their bodies.


    The audience called and cheered as the couple hurried back down the aisle and into the nearby building.


    Outside of Kit, dawn had broken across Alefast, and T had Kit mirror that, the full light of dawn in evidence.


    T pulled back her threefold sight to give the two privacy.


    The musicians continued to y, and the audience rose and mingled, having hushed conversations as everyone waited.


    Finally, they settled back down, the two sides utterly intermixed.


    A reasonable amount of timeter, the couple returned, stepping out of the door together.


    The still wet paint that had adorned their skin was now gray in many ces, the lines broken and smeared across their bare skin.


    Their cloth coverings were in ce, but they, too, bore a mix of ck and white paints, often blended to gray.


    The two were red with embarrassment once again even as the audience cheered.


    Everyone could see the light aura of power around the two, a white aura visible to the mundane eye that would fade over the next couple of days.


    Even so, T had onest thing to say, by tradition, Bound by choice, bound by word, bound by deed. Two have be one, souls bound for eternity. May the stars themselves burn away any who dares try toe between these two.


    Everyone erupted in cheers once again.


    There would be celebrations, feasting, gifts, and games, but the marriage wasplete.


    Ts duties were done.


    * * *


    The wedding effectively had three days of celebration. Though T only participated in the first, as was traditional.


    Day one began with the pledging ceremonywhich T had overseenand the remainder was a celebration for the couple and theirmunity.


    Brandon and Kedvasmunity was actually much smaller than was standard, but it was still an enjoyable time of food, feats of strength, and entertainment.


    T didnt participate in any of the contests as it would hardly have been fair, and the overseeing Mage usually didnt participate regardless. So, it didnt cause any issues or raised eyebrows.


    The second day was strictly for family, though Lissa and Brand were included as part of Brandons family.


    Kedva and Brandon didnt have much family in Alefast, but there were still nearly fifteen people participating in that second day.


    The final day was for the couple alone, and they had free reign of all of Irondale in which to walk and talk, eat and simply be together.


    In times long past, the couple might have been given as much as a month for their private celebration, but that tradition had fallen out of favor.


    After the third day, the couple fully cleaned themselves of the now thoroughly gray paintthough theposition of the traditional pigment meant that it remained viscous and pliable until the end. They then dressed and presented themselves at the City Administrative building.


    The glow of their new soulbond had faded from mundane sight, but it was still visible to anyone with almost any version of magesight.


    Giving time for the glow to fade was actually one of the theorized original reasons behind the multi day celebrations. That was supported by what T had found in the Archive. Not that shed delved too deeply.


    Not at all.


    The remaining glow would fade over the next few days even from magesight, though it would obviously still be detectable as any soulbond could be.


    Regardless, the marriage was registered with the Archive, T providing official witness of the pledging ceremony and the soulbond.


    T did <em>not</em> share what her threefold sight had noticed the morning of the second day of the wedding.


    A new little soul was attached to Kedvas belly, tucked alongside Kedvas own.


    Because of the mysteries of life and fetal development, the soul was the first part of a baby toe into being, during the physical and spiritual union of the parents.


    That was the only real way that a child could inherit traits from the parents souls.


    T did <em>not </em>look closely to determine if the physical fertilization had urred as of yet.


    She really, <em>really</em> didnt want to know.


    As to the baby: as expected, the new little one did not have a gate as neither of the parents had.


    But all of that was beside the point.


    With the registration at the City Administrative building, Brandon and Kedva were officially wed, bound down to their very souls in this life.


    * * *


    T and Rane traversed the lush, mid-summer wilds, heading toward Marliweather.


    They were bypassing Bandfast on the way there, but they nned to stop through and visit at least Lyn on their way back to Alefast, waning.


    The hope was to have a week in Marliweather with NeaTs sisterbefore her twelfth birthday and her final decision about whether or not to attend the Academy.


    Rane had been fully inscribed for the journey in order to not be a burden on the trip.


    His magics were more effective than ever, even though he still didnt reach Refined ability or magical density.


    In truth, T was bing a bit concerned about him.


    He seemed mostly recovered from histest session Refining, but he had a sad look in his eyes whenever they were around Refined or Paragons.


    The fact that hed gotten inscribed was also concerning to T. Master Gredivfor his partseemed a bit off about the whole thing as well.


    The Paragon had gone out of his way in order to thank T for all her efforts. Hed spoken as if the process was over.


    As if theyd failed.


    T didnt think Rane had given up, but she also hadnt been through the Refining process alongside someone else before.


    She just didnt know enough to know whether or not she should be concerned.


    Ranes one month check in had happened just after Brandon and Kedvas wedding, and while he was given a clean bill of health, he wasnt given a definitive date on which he could undergo another session, if he so chose.


    The Healer had simply said, At least four months more.


    As to Brandon, Kedva, and Adrill, they had all stayed in Alefast with Artia, allowing their magics to fade away in the lower-magic, city environment.


    They were all still working on the exercises that they could, even as Artia continued to pore through information as she worked toward mastering her own gate and magic.


    Master Simon and Mistress Petra were with T in Kit, obviously, as were their children Metti and Segis.


    They had asked the childrens tutors to join them on the trip, and the two teachers had agreed for this singr trip.


    Thus, T had six gated humans within Kit, living in the mostly finishedand mostly emptyIrondale.


    The Zats had moved over to their home in Irondale, beneath the illusory sky, and the teachers each had a small ce to live there as well.


    The artificial sun for Irondale had been delivered by the Constructionist Guild, but Master Simon hadnt gotten it fully integrated as of yet.


    He was still running tests, but that was fine with T. It gave the man something to be working on while they were out of Alefast, away from his assistants.


    All in all, it was shaping up to be an uneventful, rxing trip.


    to see her family.


    with Rane.


    who might never Refine.


    Why couldnt things just be simple? For once?

 Chapter 409: We Will, I Will, I Wont

    Chapter 409: We Will, I Will, I Won''t


    T and Rane stopped atop a hill as soon as they came into sight of Marliweather.


    It was nearing midday, two days after they had left Alefast.


    The mining districts were still active, and still were marvelous to behold, out beyond even the farms.


    It had been an uneventful trip.


    They hadnt pressed to be quick, but they hadnt dawdled either.


    Rane had been less experimental in his movements, simply getting the job done, moving quickly and efficiently to traverse the terrain.


    T experimented a bit, but for the most part, she just kept near enough to him to keep an eye on him.


    At least, thats what shed done the first day.


    That night, he had been less than pleased.


    After a somewhat awkwardif tastydinner, hed nced her way and sighed, T. Do you really have so little faith in me?


    She had balked at the usation, even though it had been stated quietly, almost as if he was more resigned to the fact than hurt by it. What?


    You know what I mean. Lets not pretend otherwise. You stayed within a few dozen yards of me all day.


    She had shrugged in response. She hadnt tried to hide her actions. And?


    You never have on any trip before when weve traveled. So. Why do you no longer trust me?


    I trust you. I just want to make sure youre okay.


    Because I cant be trusted to look after or defend myself.


    She had sighed. Rane. You are still recovering. You are on this trip because of me. There are things in the wilds that could easily threaten either of us. I prefer to be able to easily face them together, if theye up.


    Hed seemed mollified for the moment, but they hadnt talked much for the rest of that night.


    They hadnt talked much the following day either.


    She stayed close at hand, and hed resolutely avoided talking.


    The arrival of night hadnt changed the situation.


    All morning until they crested a rise and saw Marliweather was equally frustrating, equally silent.


    But as they looked down at the city from their little rise, Rane finally turned to her, Do you want me to find diversion in the city? I dont want to impose upon your time with your siblings.


    She huffed augh. I invited you, Rane. It would be rather horrid of me to tell you to get lost for our time in Marliweather.


    He shrugged. I dont really mind. Its not fun to travel alone, and I helped with that. Now, youre here, and Im superfluous. At best, Ill distract you from your family, which would sort of defeat the purpose of this trip. Honestly, I dont mind waiting in the wings until Im needed again.


    She took a long moment. Rane?


    He turned to face Marliweather once more. Yeah?


    Whats going on?


    He visibly swallowed. I


    T waited. She did so impatiently, but she did wait. He was being frustrating, but he was also going through a difficult time, and she wanted to be there for him.


    Rane looked down and shook his head slowly.


    She continued to wait.


    I <em>cant </em>do it. Rane was practically whispering. Even so, the words wereden with emotion.


    She swallowed, but held her tongue.


    I cant do the final session, T. Even if I was sure that it <em>would </em>be the final session. I cant. I just cant


    T could see tears running down his cheeks. She ced a hand on his shoulder, and he tensed momentarily before slumping, leaning her way.


    My path has been ended. I am broken, and Im not going to ever be better. The best I can hope for at this point is to be a supporting character in your story, a footnote on your start to eternity.


    T squeezed lightly, feeling the terrible knots and tension in his muscles even with that simple action.


    He took a deep breath and forced himself to straighten. So, as a supporting character, I can wait in the wings until Im needed.


    Rane She honestly didnt know what to say, but that worked out because he didnt let her continue.


    I dont wantfort right now, T. I dont want you to try to convince me that Im wrong. I dont want to talk about it at all. Even without Refining, Ive got at least hundreds of years. In fact, Im young enough that Ive likely a lot more. Maybe one day advancement will be open to me again.


    It sounded like he said thest more for her benefit than because he actually believed it.


    Heughed self-deprecatingly. I might find a true need to be Refined, something that can overpower my brokenness. A miracle


    Ts voice was soft when she asked, Why were you doing it up until now?


    He stiffened again, then sighed. I suppose it doesnt really matter now. Theres no reason not to tell you. I just didnt want to be left behind.


    So now, youre offering to let me leave you behind?


    He nodded slowly. Its the way of things. Ive been broken. Im a failure.


    T moved forward, wrapping her arms partly around the massive man. Rane. Im not going to leave you behind. Ive lived my adult life alonewhat little of it Ive actually livedand Im just barely starting to change that. Even so, I have so few rtionships in this world, why would I leave one of my strongest ones behind?


    He leaned his head sideways,ying it against the top of hers.


    They stayed like that for a long moment before she squeezed onest time and let go, stepping back. Im not leaving you <em>anywhere</em> so long as I can help it.


    He gave a half smile, tears still in his eyes as he wiped his face clear. Well see.


    She nodded once. Yeah, I suppose we will at that.


    * * *


    Tughed with her sister as she threw Nea up into the air.


    The little girl squealed with delight as T radically reduced her effective gravity so she could get higher and stay longer at the top of the toss.


    This allowed Nea to almost float before she began to drift downward.


    To be safe, T didnt use very much force in the toss.


    After all, she wanted Nea to be able toe down safely even if she didnt catch her.


    T had been very careful with her throw overall, keeping the girl oriented up and down and not allowing her to spin too much.


    Still, her sister got a good view of the city from what would have otherwise been an entirely unsafe height.


    Rane was a little ways off in the park, ying a version of tag with her four other younger siblingsOsip, Fedir, Olen, and Seas well as three of the olderMirro, Akli, and Mita.


    Terry was ying in the snow off to the side, asionally giving T a grumpy stare.


    Shed asked him to let the humans y for a bit before he came in and dominated their games.


    Hed reluctantly agreed.


    Still, what Rane and the siblings were ying wasnt strictly tag because all of the children were it, and all were working together to get Rane.


    Rane was still winning.


    His movements were quick and sure across the thick summer grass, beneath thete afternoon sun.


    Still, everyone wasughing as the children were piling over each other in their mad scrambles after the big man. So, he was managing to keep his victory the good sort of winning.


    It was the type of challenging y that inspired children to try harder, rather than making them feel like it was hopeless to even try, leading them to giving up.


    This content has been uwfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    LatnaTs eldest sisterstood beside her as T waited to catch Nea when the little girl came back down.


    Hes great with kids.


    T looked toward Latna. Hmm?


    Master Rane. It seems like hes pretty great with kids.


    T looked toward Rane unnecessarily. She could see him easily enough through her threefold sight. Still, it was expected. I suppose so, yeah.


    Latna huffed before a small smile grew across her lips. So, when are you going to tell us?


    T frowned then, ncing toward her sister. She kept her perception on Nea to be safe, but her mind was on Latna. Tell you what? What is it that Im supposed to be hiding?


    That youre betrothed.


    T felt her eye twitch. Im not.


    Uh-huh. Right.


    Really, Latna. Im not; were not.


    Latna shrugged. Fine, then. So, hes avable? Id like to settle down with an Archon one day, and hes a good one from what I can see. I might have to spend some more time with him.


    What? Are you serious? T jerked her head so she could look at her eldest sister, aghast.


    The younger woman chuckled. No, not really, but I knew that would get your attention. Latna smiled even as a bit of power rippled down her body, clearly mastering her physical reactions.


    <em>She is learning quickly.</em>


    <em>-She does have a good teacher, it seems.-</em>


    Does this have to do with your aim of bing a Mage?


    Latna smiled. Somewhat, yeah. Even if that is still quite far off.


    So? T was quite grateful for the change of topic.


    She sighed. I have at least four or five years of hard work ahead of me to achieve my certification as a Mage. Its an odd thing to consider, but four or five years is hardly any time at all, even if I never achieve the rank of Archon. She gave T a sideways nce. Any interest in telling me what that entails?


    T huffed augh and shook her head. Not a chance.


    I thought not.


    T found that she was genuinely curious, so after a moments silence she asked, Are you sure?


    About bing a Mage? Yes. About pursuing Master Rane? No, not at all. He <em>is </em>a good man. Latna moved her head to indicate the ying group. Unfortunately, he isnt really on a path Id be interested in walking.


    T gave her sister a t look, not amused. What path would that be?


    Latna raised one eyebrow. Violence, of course. Fighting to bring down the enemies of humanity. I prefer Master Leighis''s approach, healing the injured, keeping the Mages and mundanes going as best as we can.


    That was a bit oversimplified of a view of what they did, but it was true enough. T and Rane were on a violent path, assuming Rane didnt step away from that responsibility, too.


    t grunted within Ts head but didnt say anything.


    T helped Neand, the girl giggling andughing. Again!


    T smiled, making sure her sisters foot didnt touch the ground and break that working. Then, she braced and repeated the process, sending Nea flying up once more with a controlled, powerful shove.


    She watched long enough to make sure that Nea was moving as expected, before turning back to Latna. Rane and I are just friends.


    Oh, Im aware that you arent married, betrothed, or courting. <em>Everyone</em> is aware of that. She gave T a meaningful look. I was talking about whether or not I would pursue him, given the fact that you arent.


    T closed her eyes and counted to ten slowly. Please, Latna? Can you be serious for a moment?


    Her sister shrugged. I am being serious. Master Rane would be a fantastic catch. Someone will take him as husband sooner rather thanter. Latna gave T a meaningful look. Thats what Im asking about.


    T didnt understand what that meaning was supposed to be, so she just frowned. So?


    So, when are you going to tell us that youve opened your eyes and that the two of you are betrothed.


    T huffed augh. Youre incorrigible.


    Her sister shrugged. We need more people. Humanity as a whole is beating back the wilds, conquering our little part of the world. Its reasonable to ask.


    Like asking me when Im going to eat next?


    She grinned, then shrugged again. In essence, yes. Everyone marries eventually.


    That made T frown. Was that true? She knew that shed believed that when she was younger, but shed honestly not thought much about it recently.


    <em>-Essentially, yes. While it doesnt seem to be that way for humans in the arcanends, the statistical analysis is a little deceptive.-</em>


    <em>How so?</em>


    <em>-Well, I could say that everyone either marries, or dies before they could get married.-</em>


    T smiled internally at that. <em>Ahh, I see. So, its a truth, but an almost trivial truth.</em>


    <em>-Yes, but even so, the </em>vast<em> majority of people who survive to their thirties get married. It is to the point that its noticeably odd if a mundane reaches thirty and isnt married. For Mages, that age of so many its essentially everyone seems to be closer to sixty.-</em>


    <em>What about Archons?</em> T hesitated. <em>Wait I know that one already. Most people dont be Archons until their sixties or eventer.</em>


    <em>-Yup, you got it in one.-</em>


    <em>Fascinating.</em>


    <em>-So it seems. Humanity advances more efficiently as a group, and that seems to trante down to the smaller scale too. Couples are better at advancing, in general, than individuals Well, thats a retrospective look. A ready exnation could be that those who end up married at one point in their life have a higher chance of reaching the upper ranks than those who never marry.-</em>


    <em>Huh</em> Shed noticed that most everyone she knew at her advancement level or higher either was married or had been married.


    <em>-Yes, you are the odd one.-</em>


    <em>Wait Master Jevin?</em>


    <em>-Yes, he is the most notable exception. I cannot find public record of anyone advancing to Paragon or beyond without being married at one point or another, save him. Though, to be fair, most of those Paragon and beyond are reclusive enough that we might not know it. Suffice it to say, the vast majority of Archons marry before bing too old or advanced. The ones that don''t would most likely tend to be hermits, married to their work.-</em>


    <em>Mistress Noelle.</em>


    <em>-Possibly.-</em>


    <em>Master Nadro?</em>


    <em>-He was married in the distant past. You know that. Hes talked about his children.-</em>


    <em>Right. I wasnt thinking.</em>


    <em>-Its fine. Thats why Im here. Please dont misunderstand. Many Paragons are </em>not<em> married, not now.-</em>


    T almost asked how that could be, but the answer struck her just as quickly. <em>Many have married and their spouse is dead.</em>


    <em>-Yes.-</em>


    <em>So. We are a broken race, ruled and guarded by broken people.</em>


    <em>-One and all. Maybe you should make your eternal goal to fix that?-</em>


    T snorted a scoffingugh then turned her attention back to Latna, her smile fading a bit, Honestly I dont know. Im Im going to live a long time now.


    All the more reason to have your kids and get on to the grandkids. Latna grinned. Longer lived just means longer to enjoy the best parts of life. For you, if thats having a baby, then spread out your kids, have one a decade for as long as you want, really. If its grandkids? Have a passel of kids and get them raised quick. The grandkids wille faster then. If its nothing to do with kids? Then have them early and move on.


    T huffed. That was the drum beat of their culture, of their civilization. It was the only reason why gated humanity was scrambling a growing poption out of the constant death. Latna wasnt saying anything that both of them hadnt heard a dozen times.


    She wasnt even saying anything that T strictly disagreed with. T wanted children. She always had really, but at the moment, she felt like she liked the idea of children far more than shed like the actuality.


    Latna seemed to actually be considering, though, so T didnt respond.


    Finally, Ts sister gave a slow nod. I suppose it doesnt matter as much for a Mage, does it? There certainly isnt a rush age-wise for you, and there likely wont be for me. But you''re still on a clock, T, even if not a biological one.


    T felt herself smile. This I have to hear.


    Latna was smiling. As impressive as you areand now that Ive seen some of your Defender fights I will admit that you are impressiveyou wont live forever. No human ever has.


    T blinked a few times. Youve seen my fights?


    Of course. Master Leighis believes its good for Mages in training to understand the realities of the world were stepping into.


    She grunted at that. I suppose so. Regardless. Right now? I feel like I do more to make our world better where I am.


    I hear you, and I dont disagree, but dont forget one important thing.


    Do tell. T found herself smiling.


    Whats the point if we dont have a next generation to hand all of this down to? She looked at her siblings. I can say that thats one of the best things our parents did. I cant imagine life without all the little ones.


    Theres no argument from me, there. She sighed. I think you''re approaching this with a false assumption, Latna?


    Oh?


    I want kids. I always have, really. I havent wanted to give birth to them in that moment, but Ive always seen myself as having kids, eventually. She shrugged. It would be hard to not consider them. You and our siblings were among the best parts of growing up. Our father was amazing before but it was still you all that made home home.


    Latna smiled. So? Why not him? Do you think someone better is going toe along?


    T sighed, letting her threefold sight move back toward Rane. It''s not that, Latna.


    Marriage just isnt for you? Some few people feel that way, I suppose.


    T grimaced at that. Its not that either.


    The younger woman turned to T, an eyebrow raised. Then what is it?


    Ts grimace grew.


    Latna sighed. Im not telling you to go marry Master Rane and get pregnant tonight, T. Im telling you to look around you. Find what needs doing. Find joy doing what needs to be done. Findpanionship. Find a partner. Grow together. Be better <em>together</em>.


    T felt herself smiling at the clear titudes that the girl was spouting.


    Latna grinned in turn. Sure, its trite, andmon wisdom, but doesnt that make it more true, not less? She reached out and ced her hand on Ts shoulder. I know Im your little sister, and you probably dont have any interest in hearing any of this from anyone, let alone me. Im worried about you, T. It was Master Rane who told us about your disappearance, and who told us not write you off as dead. I know he did <em>something,</em> even if I have no idea what. He had that look in his eyes. Like a healer who sees a patient that they know they can save.


    Youre right. Im really not interested in hearing this Still, she sighed. It ismon wisdom for a reason. It is worth considering, even if it isnt true in every case.


    Latna held up a finger and gave a mischievous smile. A fool finds a fence, sees no purpose, and tears it down. A wise woman finds a fence, sees no purpose, and leaves it be until she understands what it was meant to do.


    And that was supposed to mean?


    Latna shrugged. Ive never found a fence, myself, so it likely doesnt apply.


    They bothughed at the ridiculousness of that.


    Neanded beside them with a little <em>oof.</em> Hey! You didnt catch me.


    T turned to her, a broad grin back on her lips. And youre fine.


    The little girl growled and tried to tackle T, to no avail.


    Latna spoke softly onest time, Im d that you are considering children, T, even if theylle far in the future. You always have been a motherly one, and good at it, too. Humanity would have been worse off if you never let that part of you shine.


    T smiled. That is kind of you to say.


    Latna waved and turned to walk away. After a few paces, she hesitated and nced back to say onest thing, Sometimes we cannot see the value of what is before us until it is gone. Her eyes flicked toward Rane once more before she gave a parting smile. Think on it, at least. Please?


    T didnt think that she was ready, and Rane said that he was fine as they were. She didnt think her own thoughts on the matter had changed.


    <em>Have they changed?</em>


    She wasnt a new Mage, iling for any scrap of control over her own life. She had arge amount of authority, and she was essentially beholden to no one. <em>Maybe</em>


    After a long moment, T nodded. I will.

 Chapter 410: The Truth of Choice

    Chapter 410: The Truth of Choice


    T, Rane, Latna, and Master Leighis all sat with Nea, finishing up their tea.


    The little girl was looking down at her hands, clearly a bit uncertain about sharing her choice, but resolute all the same. I dont want to be a Mage.


    Everyone remained silent, awaiting her next words.


    Ive been watching the fights around Alefast waning those monsters are so scary.


    Nea. Latna chastised. You know you arent allowed to


    I know, Lat, but I did anyway. I dont want to be a part of that world. I want a normal life. I dont want to deal with magic.


    Master Leighis cleared his throat. Most Mages never fight such creatures, Nea.


    The little girl shook her head. I know, but they face other things.


    They do, at times, but no more than any mundane will. Mages are just better prepared.


    Nea raised an eyebrow, the gesture so like when Latna did it. So, its less dangerous to be a Mage?


    The little girls eyes were filled with an intelligent intensity. She knew the answer.


    T sighed, taking up the answer, Statistically, no. If you include all Mages and all mundanes in a non-waning city, Mages die less pleasantly, even though they live longer, on average.


    So, a shorter, peaceful life, or a longer one with a worse end.


    Not necessarily.


    But on average?


    T hesitated, then nodded. In your situation, here in Marliweather, yes.


    Then Ive made my choice.


    The group sitting with her were clearly of mixed opinions about the choice, but it wasnt really any of their ces to try to change the girls mind.


    Rane cleared his throat. I know we dont know each other well, and Im not interested in changing your mind, but if you have any question, you can ask. Ill give you a straight answer. Thats one reason why were here, so that you can ask us any questions. You havent really done that.


    Nea seemed to consider that. Fine. She put on a pretend interested face. Are you d that you became a Mage?


    He gave a small smile. Yes.


    Did you like your time at the Academy?


    I didnt go.


    That seemed to catch the girl off guard. Her next question seemed far more genuine. Do Do you wish that you had?


    He shrugged. Yes and no. I think it would have been easier, but I wouldnt be who I am today if I had. He nced toward T. I probably wouldnt have met your sister, not in the same way, if I had.


    Nea was frowning deeply, then. Would you go if you were me?


    He shook his head. That is your choice, Nea. Ive already said that my aim isnt to change your mind. I wont make the choice for you.


    She sighed looking at everyone sitting with her. I appreciate the honesty, and Im sorry if Im disappointing you, but I wont be going.


    * * *


    T almost tripped. Worse, she almost allowed one of her six intermixed, interweaving void-iron shapes to pop.


    Rane noticed and stopped beside her.


    He was being exceptionally attentive after Neas decision the day before.


    Theyd nned to leave when Nea did, but when she didnt leave well, they hadnt wanted to depart right after that revtion. T felt like doing so would have seemed like they were leaving because of the girls decision.


    So, theyd stayed an extra day, and Rane had been a bit overbearing during that time.


    To be fair, T now understood why hed been so irritated at her on their way to Marliweather, but she still didnt enjoy it.


    Regardless, theyd been walking away from Ts siblings home to find a ce to anchor Kit for the evening, and his careful attention had ensured that he noticed her sudden hesitancy.


    T?


    One moment, Rane. She held up a finger.


    <em>Say that again.</em>


    <em>-I found him. The fire Mage that you saw be a fount.-</em>


    That had been more than a year earlier.


    t had beenbing through the Archive for any publicly avable information that could lead them back to the man whom theyd seen.


    Finally, t had fallen back on querying the guilds for ess to their member lists, and then customer lists, seeking any fire Mage and then hunting down visual records of those.


    It seems that that had finally borne fruit.


    <em>Who was he?</em>


    <em>-Master Iazo. He had two children before his wife died to a magical creature. His daughter does not seem to still be alive. His son. Oh-</em> t made a sad sound within Ts head. <em>-Tragedy seems to follow this family. His sons wife died after theyd only had two children as well. Those two children are still younger than ten.-</em>


    <em>Wait the picture we found. It was filled with people, filled with lots of young children. Werent they Master Iazos family?</em>


    <em>-It seems like they must have been extended family and the family of their employees. Apparently, their family business is rather popr, and so they have arge cadre of families working with them.-</em>


    T grunted at that. <em>Whats the sons name?</em>


    <em>-Master Okuz.-</em>


    <em>Where is he now?</em>


    <em>-He runs the family business now with his uncle Hori. Its a tea shop here in Marliweather.-</em>


    T looked toward Rane. t found the fire Mages family.


    Ranes eyes widened, instantly knowing whom she was referring to. Where?


    A tea shop in this city.


    Are they open, now?


    <em>-Yes.-</em>


    Yes.


    Do you want to go alone?


    T hesitated, then shook her head. No. Lets head there now.


    It was in the inner ring so it didnt take too long to get there from where they started.


    T stood outside, looking up at the sign. The Jasmine Dragon.


    Rane smiled. It looks popr.


    That it does.


    It was a beautifullyid out building, set among sipping gardens, each with their own sequestered tables.


    It reminded her of a new, slightly less established version of the teahouse in Alefast.


    <em>I suppose it couldnt be as old, given that this Marliweather is only eighty years old or so.</em>


    There was arge waitstaff moving about smoothly, greeting customers as they came, seeing departing customers out, and bearing tea and baked goods throughout the business.


    Prominently featured within the foyer of the teahouse were severalrge portraits, seemingly of notable, beloved family members who had passed.


    Near the top of the wall was a depiction of Master Iazo.


    Thats him. T nodded to herself now that she had that confirmation.


    The two walked in and were immediately greeted by a reasonably attractive young woman, bowing, Mistress, Master, wee to the Jasmine Dragon. What can we do for you, today?


    I am looking to speak to the proprietors. Are either Master Ukoz or Hori in?


    t had informed her that both were Mages, but not currently working in any official capacity.


    Oh! Certainly. I will see what I can do. Can I get you some tea while you wait? It is a rather busy evening.


    T looked toward Rane, who shrugged. T smiled at the young woman. That would be lovely. Whatever you rmend would be eptable.


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    She bowed once again. Very good, Mistress. Right this way.


    They were led into a nicely appointed, private sitting room.


    T and Rane positioned themselves on the same side of therge, low table.


    It seemed sized for between eight and ten people to be able to use itfortably.


    T and Rane knelt on the cushioned mats, Rane having left his shoes at the door to the room.


    Less than a minuteter, their server returned with tea. The Masters will be with you shortly. You had good timing, and they are both avable for the next few minutes.


    Thank you. They epted the tea and drank deeply.


    It was the perfect temperature and wonderfully vored.


    T smiled. This is excellent, thank you.


    The woman bowed. It is our blessing to serve, Mistress. Can I get you anything else?


    Could we get a small bowl for apanion of mine?


    She hesitated, then nodded, returning after a bare handful of seconds.


    During that time, T opened an entrance into Kit and invited Terry out.


    The little terror bird trilled a greeting when the attendant came back in.


    To the womans credit, she didnt seem overly startled by the appearance of Terry.


    She simply poured some tea for him in the bowl and bowed again. Is there anything else?


    T smiled. No, thank you.


    Very well, ring for me if you change your mind. The servant left a small jade bell on the table between them.


    T saw magical potential in it, in a way that she doubted she could have without her threefold sight.


    There was a miniscule harvest within the pper and a spellform across the inside of the body of the bell.


    <em>It must create a sort of magical induction when rung. Thats fascinating.</em>


    She had never delved into the myriad depths of the Constructionist arts, and times like this showed her just how varied those truly were.


    Before she could get truly distracted, Terry had taken a deep pull of his tea.


    He tilted his back and chirped happily before flickering to her shoulder and nuzzling into sleep.


    Terry had yed <em>hard</em> with the children thest few days, only taking a few breaks at Ts insistence, and the avian seemed rather tired after the efforts.


    After Terry had snuggled in, the door to the room slid open once more and an older, rather rotund man walked in, followed closely by a young man who fit the more traditional build of a Mage.


    T almostughed. Her threefold sight showed that the older man was, in fact, in better shape and more muscr than the younger, but he kept cloth packed around his torso to affect therger, more affable shape.


    They both seemed to be Mages focusing around fire and heat. There might have been inscriptions for lightning maniption as well, but she wasnt quite sure, and she didnt want to be rude by delving too deeply.


    The younger was clearly still unbound, but the older T couldnt actually tell, and <em>that</em> was odd, if not unusual ofte.


    <em>Paragon?</em>


    <em>-Maybe? Or just skilled at hiding his aura.-</em>


    There was no opposition to her sight, but she simply saw no aura. That should have made it obvious that he was unbound, but that didnt seem right.


    Despite herself she delved a bit deeper. Aside from the severed soulbondsat least one of which had seemingly connected the man to his now deceased wifeshe thought he was bound to something else.


    Still, she was getting distracted. She turned her attention to the other Mage.


    The youngers inscriptions were incredibly intricate and well-developed for someone not at the Archon levels of advancement, but it became obvious why, as soon as she saw themonalities between the magic of the two men.


    <em>Family inscriptions?</em>


    <em>-Its rare, but not that unusual. Some families have taken generations perfecting the set of powers that mesh best and the techniques to train them to the best effect.-</em>


    <em>Huh. Thats actually pretty interesting.</em> She suddenly had the image of a bunch of little ones rampaging through her sanctum, armored against damage with her scripts and causing chaos with gravity and kic magic.


    She hesitated, pulling herself out of her contemtions.


    <em>Where did thate from?</em>


    t didnt say anything, and T didnt have time to think deeper about whatever it might mean.


    She and Rane stood as was proper to greet their hosts and gave slight bows toward the men.


    The two men bowed, the older man speaking. I am Hori, and this is my nephew Okuz. How can we assist you?


    T gave a sad smile. I am T, and this is mypanion, Rane. She motioned to the table, and the tea that was set out. Can we sit?


    Master Hori nodded, and the four of them settled down upon the padded floor.


    Master Okuz seemed a bit less patient than his uncle. My apologies, Mistress T, but what can we do for you? We are rather busy.


    Okuz. his uncle chastised, They are our guests. We can keep thempany until their businesses to light.


    T smiled. I dont mind. I am here about your father, Master Okuz, and your brother, Master Hori.


    Master Horis face became stoic, and Master Okuz reddened, What of my father?


    I I was with him when he passed from this world.


    The two shared a look. Master Hori cleared his throat, So, he is gone? This isnt a roundabout way of saying hes still alive?


    No, Im sorry. I simply wished to let you know that when he passed, he was holding a picture of his family, one with a note on the back. I apologize, but the item was lost. Even so, I wanted you to know his fate for certain, and that he had you on his mind when it happened.


    Master Okuz wiped a tear from his eye before it could fall, putting a smile on. When might this have been?


    It was more than a year ago. I apologize that it took me so long to track you down.


    The young man bowed his thanks and excused himself.


    Master Hori sighed, having watched his nephew leave before turning to look to T, consideringly. If I may ask, why did you track us down? I assume you found him bing a fount?


    <em>So, either an Archon or forbidden.</em> Yes, I did. I am here because I promised that I woulde. It might have been a foolish promise, made to a man who couldnt truly hear me, but I try to honor my word.


    The older man nodded. Thank you for that. I mourn my brothers fate, but he was always a bit too obsessed with power to be an Archon.


    Are you?


    Master Hori smiled. I am an Archon, yes. I am here to draw my nephew in the right direction. There is much of his father in him, both the good and the bad. I am trying to nurture the good. I failed with my younger brother; I do not wish to let his son down as well.


    If you dont mind my asking?


    Master Hori waved for her to continue.


    He seems much younger than you or your brother.


    The older man smiled. My brother was much younger than I. And he continued the tradition of having his childrenter in life. With my wife gone and children likewise beyond Zeme, I am free to pursue the family business and work with my nephew in his pursuits.


    Rane spoke then. Im sorry to hear about your family.


    Master Hori waved a hand. It is not as Id have wished, but it is the way of this world. We fight, we die. We strive and scrape for every scrap, and then we die. If I thought I could bear another bond, Id likely remarry and fill this city with children, but my soul is too old, too brittle. I am content in my choices.


    T could see the mans soul, and it looked vibrant enough to her, even if she couldnt see an aura or coloration to it.


    To be fair, however, she could see what seemed to be the remnants of quite a few shattered soulbonds, five if her count was right. Souls were hard to truly see, soulbonds moreso. Regardless, the broken bonds represented a depth of suffering that she couldnt fathom.


    He must have guessed something of what she could see, based on his next words, So, your sight can see soulbonds, then?


    She shrugged, a bit ufortably. Yes and no. I can see connections and broken connections. It is something I am striving to improve.


    He nodded. That isudable. One should always be improving in some regard.


    T sighed. Thank you for your time, Master Hori. We have already imposed upon you quite a bit.


    As she moved to stand, however, he waved her and Rane back down. Nonsense. Sharing tea with a fascinating stranger is one of lifes true delights.


    Rane grinned at that. A good conversation is a pleasure all its own.


    Indeed. The older man bowed his head in acknowledgment toward Rane. Now, my fascinating strangers, may I ask a probing question?


    Rane nodded, still smiling.


    T did as well but more hesitantly.


    It was odd. The man gave off a grandfatherly air that made her wary even as it made her want to open up to him.


    He just seemed so affable and open in his own right that it only seemed reasonable to return the attitude in kind.


    There seems to be a great burden upon you both. What is troubling you? He poured them more tea.


    T frowned, then. We dont want to burden you with our ills. We came to deliver hard news, not to seek help for anything.


    Rane slumped a little, clearly reminded of his own struggles as he took up his teacup and sipped carefully.


    Master Hori shook his head and smiled, There is nothing wrong with letting people who love you, help you. He hesitated a moment, tilting his head to one side before continuing, Not that I love you. After all, I just met you.


    T felt herself smile at that, and she nced to Rane.


    He was already looking her way. I dont know ifhis eyes flicked toward Master Horiit would be allowed.


    Rane was clearly asking if she could see the mans aura, and if he was Refined already. It would be poor repayment for the mans hospitality to cripple a future attempt at Refining.


    T sighed. I am afraid that I must ask a slightly impolite question, if you wish us to answer you.


    Master Hori nodded once.


    Your aura is hidden, so I assume you do not wish it to be known, but the issue is advancement sensitive. May we ask what advancement you have achieved?


    The man straightened, pulling back just slightly in realization for a moment before nodding. Refining, then.


    <em>Well, that answered the question without answering the question.</em>


    Rane nodded, seemingly relieved to be able to say, I have failed.


    Oh? The mans eyebrows rose. I sense no cracks in your gate, no barbs within your flesh, norpulsions within your mind.


    Rane shook his head. No. I just I cant finish.


    Ahh, I see. There is a misunderstanding.


    Rane nodded.


    You have chosen to end your advancement.


    Rane bristled, and T almost interjected, but t spoke within her mind.


    <em>-Wait. See where this goes. Master Nadros isnt the only way, and we can interject if required.</em>-


    Rane practically growled. I cannot continue. I am not up to the task.


    No, my dear boy. He said with a smile. You are choosing not to continue. He then held up his hands to forestall any reply. I am not saying you chose poorly. I am also not saying that you are weak for your choice. But we must see things as they are, if we are to live with any sort of contentment. You cannot let pride blind you to the truth of your choice.


    Rane hung his head, turning a deep red. I have no pride left, Master Hori. I am drowning in the shame of my failure.


    The old man sighed, refilling Ranes cup. Master Rane.


    Finally, after a long moment, Rane nced up.


    Only then did Master Hori continue, Pride is not the opposite of shame, but its source.


    The younger man rocked back at the words, almost as if struck.


    I am speaking where my thoughts were not asked, but I will say thisst thing. A choice to stop your Refinement can be the right choice for you, but it is a choice, and choices can be changed at need. If you have been forced to stop, then no matter whates, you are trapped. He smiled, lifting his own tea cup in a salute. You are not trapped. You have the freedom to make the choice you think best. Do not let your pride blind you to the freedom you still have.


    His eyes turned toward T, and T held up her hands. I I dont think I can take hard truths, Master Hori.


    The old manughed, a deep, rolling bellyugh. Oh, Mistress T. I am but an old man who loves his tea. My wordse from years on Zeme, but it is up to you to decide if they hold any truth.


    She smiled at that. All the same.


    He raised his cup toward her as well. As you wish. Would you, then, humor an old man with an inquiry?


    She tilted her head to one side. Master Hori?


    I must confess that I recognized you as soon as I saw you from the Defender battles out of Alefast and from a few of your memories from your trip to the south.


    She considered, what sort of memories might interest such a man. <em>Ah.</em> The House of the Eternal Fires Within?


    I purchased those few memories, among a few others.


    She hesitated a moment before asking, What would you have me tell?


    His smile broadened. How do they make tea in the arcanends?


    T blinked a few times, taking a moment to process that. Then, she barked augh before quickly covering her mouth. Master Hori? It would be my pleasure.

 Chapter 411: Let’s Do This

    Chapter 411: Let¡¯s Do This


    T and Rane ran through the lush wilderness toward Bandfast.


    Traveling in the summer was so different from the winter, and it wasnt only because the pervading color was green instead of white.


    The trees being full of leaves meant that lines of sight were changed, as even her threefold sight ttened out to the superficial at any sort of range.


    Thankfully, there were never enough trees close together to constitute a forest, so it wasnt too much of an issue.


    Additionally, they were still able to senserge sources of power and avoid them, but it made for a more tense traveling experience.


    Even so, as she traveled with Rane on this leg, she was careful not to hover, even while keeping an eye on him with her threefold sight.


    He, in turn, didnt purposely try to put distance between them that she would have to cover quickly in order to keep close enough for emergencies.


    When they stopped at midday, T produced the spread of food prepared by Mistress Petra, and the two Archons lounged in the tall grass of the rolling ins, beneath a lone tree.


    Rane and T chatted over the food, and the man seemed to have a bit more life in him than before.


    After theyd finished the spread, they were taking a moment to simply enjoy the little spot that T had found for them to eat their fill.


    Terry was syed out on a nearby boulder, catching the few beams of sunlight that came through the summer foliage.


    T nced Ranes way, taking in the contented smile he wore below closed eyes as he enjoyed a moment of silence in the shade.


    She almost decided not to disturb him, but he cracked an eye and looked her way. What?


    She quirked a smile. What do you mean?


    You were staring.


    Not really.


    Sure. He smiled. Now, what were you thinking?


    She shrugged. How are you doing?


    He shrugged in turn. Well enough. How are you? Your sister basically rejected your entire way of life.


    Eh. Not really? She just decided it wasnt for her T sighed. That does mean that she she swallowed. She wont have as long a life as she could have, but that is her choice to make.


    He sighed and nodded. Yeah. We each have our own path.


    T opened her mouth to ask him about his own path, but she stopped herself. He had already deflected once, and she didnt want to be pushy.


    Instead, they finished their rest in silence before continuing on.


    Terry alternated between running and flickering across the ins, riding on Ts shoulder, or riding in Kit.


    As such, it was a rather easy trip from Marliweather to Bandfast.


    * * *


    T and Rane spent a couple of days in Bandfast catching up with their friends and acquaintances there.


    Master Cazor did <em>not</em> spar with T, though he and Rane had a few fun matches.


    Ranes partially Refined nature helped him edge out victory more often than thest time theyd fought, but it still wasnt a clean sweep.


    Master Cazor had been continuing his specific training tobat Mages of all stripes, and Rane still mainly trained to fight magical creatures. That differenceby its very naturegave the less advanced Archon his own edge.


    Mistress Aproa was out on a caravan run, so they didnt get to see her, but most everyone else was around.


    T almost dropped through to say hi to master Lisa and ask him about the magic-dimension squid horrors. She really should have asked him about those before, there had just been so much else going on that it hadnte up.


    Regardless, the option was taken from her this time around because the store was locked when she went by.


    She didnt know if that was because the fox-man was out, or if hed seen hering and locked the door.


    Regardless of why, she wasnt going to be able to enter without either physically or magically kicking down the door. So, she let the idea go.


    T briefly dropped by Mistress Hollys workshop, and the woman took some time to sit down to enjoy coffee and scones with T and Rane.


    Mistress Holly initially gave Rane a rather intense look, but didnt actually say anything to him in the end. She did mutter something under her breath that Rane couldnt have heard.


    T, herself, only <em>barely </em>caught it. Good, someone else already pped some sense into you.


    Beyond that, Mistress Holly was a busy woman, and they didnt take too much more of her time.


    While in the city, they stayed with Lyn and Kannis, using Lyns house as a convenient spot for Kits door to manifest.


    Whenever the two women werent working, they spent time with Rane and T, eating, chatting, ying some newer strategy games.


    One was an odd variant of tafl that had been designed to be yed by four yers.


    It was a bit awkward to learn initially, but that was mainly because it was so alien from the way Rane and T had been ying the game. Even so, in the end, they decided to have a boardmissioned for their use back in Alefast.


    All told, there was little of note in the city, and after those two days, Rane and T headed back home, back to Alefast.


    * * *


    Back in Alefast, T and Rane fell back into theirmon routines.


    They trained, socialized, yed tafl, caught ys when they could, and just lived life, seeing each other more often than not.


    T didnt have to leave the city for missions very often as it seemed like the number of cells bubbling up had lessened. Even so, the number of magical creatures attacking the walls was continuing apace, so she and her unit were fighting more often over all.


    Brandon and Kedva officially moved into Kitinto a house just on the edge of Irondale to be specificand they settled in to be permanent fixtures of the ce.


    Kedva helped Mistress Petra as well as worked to improve various parts of the sanctum. She wasnt showing yet, but as many first-time mothers, she was being careful with almost every action.


    Healers were being consulted on the repercussions of the increased magic density, and Kedva, herself, hade down from the increased power until several healers were able to verify that her magics wouldnt harm the baby in the slightest.


    They would have to be factored in at the birth, but the general rmendation was that she allow them to fade before going intobor regardless.


    Brandon settled in as a full-time assistant to Master Simon.


    T found herself paying them, somehow, even though she didnt ever actually agree to any such thing officially.


    Still, they were helpful, and they did good work, so she didnt mind much.


    It was because of their joining her workforce that T found herself within her sanctum on her first day fully off since her return to Alefast. She stood beside her sparring ring, amplifying the gravitational attraction of the reality nodes toward one another.


    Master Simon and Brandon were continuing to monitor what her magics were doing, even though, from what she could see, she was doing nothing.


    <em>Thats why I have them, I suppose.</em>


    <em>-Yes, more specific sensing magics</em><em>and more minds tob through the data</em><em>are quite useful.-</em>


    Moreover, it gave her more time to read.


    That was precisely what she was doing, sitting back outside the ring as her magics continued to work and as the men monitored those magics.


    The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    <em>-Why are we here? We can keep these magics going from anywhere near to Kit.-</em>


    <em>Where else would we be? Rane is getting some one-on-one training with a weapon master and as fun as that is to watch, I have some reading that Ive been meaning to catch up on.</em>


    <em>-Well thats fair.-</em>


    T had read through four booksas well as eating both lunch and dinnerbefore Master Simon finally sighed.


    He walked over to where she was sitting, Brandon at his side.


    Im sorry, Mistress T, but it seems like it doesnt matter how much we increase gravitational attraction between reality nodes, nothing really seems toe fromthat


    Behind him, the air above the sparring ring rippled.


    The Archive te in his hand shifted, its pigment bing entirely dark red before flipping back to disying the various readings. It alternated back and forth in what was clearly a bid to grab the mans attention.


    T was standing an instantter, even as Master Simon and Brandon spun around.


    She had not stopped her amplification, and at this point, the multiplier of the gravitational constant for this particr interaction was so absurd as to be almostical.


    There was an audible <em>crack</em>, and T watched the reality nodes merge into one.


    At the same time, T watched all of the void that <em>had</em> been within the sparring ringbetween reality nodesripple outward, pushed to the edges of the sphere that shed been acting upon.


    Somehow the infinite void that already existed at that delineation grew more distinct.


    The sparring arena was somehow more separate from her sanctum than anything else.


    It felt even more separated than the superficial was, even if that made no sense at all.


    Yet, T could still see it with her mundane eyes as well as her threefold sight.


    It was also still within her authority, still within Kit.


    There, at the same time, was an uncrossable void and no gap at all.


    She stopped increasing the amplification but kept hold of the magics. Whats going on, Master Simon?


    He was manipting his Archive te in a frenzy. Brandon, beside him, was doing much the same.


    Finally, he shook his head in frustration. Its obviously a bit more stable and should be more resilient to magical abrasion, but beyond that? I have no idea.


    * * *


    An hourter, the state of the sparring circle hadnt changed, and Master Grediv was staring at it intently.


    The Paragon turned to speak to T, Master Simon, Brandon, and the few Constructionists that Master Grediv had brought with him. This somehow crossed the barrier into a conceptual working, or it might as well have.


    There were several intakes of breath, many eyes ncing toward T.


    In some starsas well as ck holes and simr phenomenathe separation between thingsthe void that makes up the bulk of the volume of normal matteris crushed away. You have done something simr, but without affecting the matter involved at all.


    T frowned, and when he noticed her clearck of understanding, he continued.


    Youpressed the reality nodes to the point that the distinction between the various parts was meaningless.


    She nodded, then, slowly. But that separation was more conceptual than actual.


    And that conceptual separation is now gone. If you are willing, I have a few elementally specialized Mages here. May we test some things? Will you allow their auras and magic to work within this space?


    The researchers gave her searching looks at that question, but they didnt say anything. T considered a moment before nodding, pulling her aura back out of the space, and rxing her hold on that portion of her sanctum.


    Master Grediv turned and motioned to a woman on the far side of the group.


    T watched inscriptions light up, magic zing through her as she reached and seized some of the rock within the sparring circle.


    Well, that seemed like what she tried to do at the very least.


    The Mages eyes widened, and her nostrils red along with her inscriptions as she <em>dumped</em> power into her magics.


    The woman was a Refined and likely very skilled at what she did.


    Even so, when she finally copsed in frustration a minuteter she had only managed to raise a couple of stone spikes two or three inches high in a half-foot diameter circle.


    After coughing and then guzzling some water, she shook her head. Ive never had that much trouble. Even back at the Academy with my first inscriptions, I could manage more than that.


    Master Grediv nodded slowly. Can you describe the feeling?


    The woman huffed. It felt like I was trying to move dozens of times as much stone as I was actually trying to work with, but it was as finicky as if I were trying to make perfectly legible text instead of generic spikes. I could have powered through it, but that wasnt the point of the test. I was limited to the pre-specified amounts of power, but it just wasnt enough for what I was trying to do. She huffed augh. I even tried to use more power internally to strengthen and augment the power I used for the working, but it didnt help as much as it should have.


    The other Constructionists looked at each other in confusion. They were likely familiar with this woman and what she was capable of.


    Master Grediv motioned for T, Can you please smooth that out?


    T shrugged and willed for it to be t once more.


    It leveled out just as any other part of the sanctum would have bent to her will.


    There were murmurs at that, as they had all clearly seen that she didnt use any magic, directly.


    They had been briefed on what to expect, but it was one thing to be told and another to see with ones own eyes.


    Master Grediv motioned to another Refined, a man this time.


    That Refined extended his hands, his inscriptions zing with power.


    T watched and was able to interpret his actions as reaching for the air within the bubble of altered reality.


    The air actually did move and shift, giving T a very interesting view through her threefold sight.


    The reality nodes didnt actually move around. They traded air?


    That was the only real way to describe it.


    When air left the sphere, other air was pulled in, acting as if it had always been there.


    Sweat was building across the exposed skin of the air focused Archon. As soon as it exits the sphere, it acts as I expect, but within? Its like trying to lift a mountain with a feather.


    There were some chuckles at that.


    It was obviously a bit of an arrogant statement, because the man was actively doing the supposedly difficult task, but he was also obviously being hyperbolic.


    Finally, he released his magics and sat down heavily. I think I agree with Mistress Brisas assessment. Id estimate that it is around fifty times as difficult to enact workings within that space. That said, I got the distinct feeling that if I approached the working differently it would have acted more in the vein of what I was expecting.


    The other RefinedMistress Brisanodded. I got that feeling as well. It was like I was missing a part of my mental model, and I was having to bridge the gap in understanding with power.


    That started a long discussion about what might be missing, but T wasnt paying strict attention.


    t would let her know if anything important was said or realized.


    Instead, she walked toward the water that encircled the sparring circle.


    Her threefold sight swept over the oddity that was the reality node before her.


    It was massive as she considered such things.


    Most reality nodes that werent associated with a life form were only a couple of feet across at thergest.


    <em>Except the world fragment.</em> Well, that was an assumption. When shed explored the world fragment, she hadnt really had any truly practiced form of voidsight.


    Still, the massive reality node <em>felt</em> simr to that ce.


    She nced back. Im going in.


    That stopped the Constructionists conversation dead. When there was no immediate response, T continued.


    Is there any reason that I shouldnt?


    A few shaking heads were all that she needed.


    Alright, then. Monitor closely.


    Without further preamble, she willed herself into the middle of the sparring circle.


    This was her sanctum.


    Everything within was hers.


    It was trivial to move into the center.


    As she appeared, she felt the true stillness of everything.


    She felt a groundedness that made her stagger slightly, as odd as that sounds.


    It was as if her whole life had been on shifting sands, and finally, she stood on solid rock.


    The disorientation passed quickly.


    <em>I didnt feel that in the world fragment.</em>


    <em>-Your senses are better now, but its also likely that this is a different phenomenon.-</em>


    She moved her hand, not feeling any extra resistance in the air, but also feeling like it was more <em>real</em> than it had been.


    It was no harder to breathe, nor do anything else, but there was decidedly less movement to the magic within the space.


    In fact, as soon as T noticed that, she could feel that it was almost like the zeme was still there, moving and shifting, but slightly removed from the reality node, itself.


    Her own reality node was intact and separate within therger node, just as shed expected. Though, here, it seemed like her node waspressed more tightly around her physical body than it usually was.


    She needed another perspective.


    Terry?


    Terry flickered into the circle beside her.


    Shed seen him watching from a nearby stand of trees. Does this ce feel odd to you?


    He chirped, then flickered around her, moving essentially as fast as he usually did.


    If she was reading him correctly, though, it was taking more power for him to move, but not <em>that</em> much more. Youve made the mental adjustment to function normally, here?


    He stopped his movement and trilled.


    She found herself smiling. Of course you have. You are fantastic. I wish you could just tell us what were missing.


    His look was full of incredulity.


    Right, right. If we dont figure it out for ourselves, our understanding will be lesser.


    He bobbed once, then flickered to her shoulder to wait.


    T, for her part, turned and walked toward one of the exits to the sparring circle, one of the stone bridges that spanned the flowing water.


    As she came to the edge of her working, she paused and examined the space in front of herself.


    There was nothing different that her mundane eyes could see, but her threefold sight <em>insisted</em> that the void wasrger there at the edge of the ring.


    As she stepped across that void, her physical body and mundane sight experienced nothing of note.


    Her magical density <em>seemed</em> to take a slight dip, and her threefold sight briefly took in the void far more clearly.


    It was odd, like passing through the doorway into a house and having the feeling that the walls were thicker than she had been expecting.


    She basically never noticed the doorframes of houses she entered, but here, it struck her as being oddlyrge.


    And then she was through, and it was like nothing had happened.


    Once again she almost stumbled as she suddenly felt a bit wrong footed once again, like her foundations were a bit less sure, here.


    She nced back and didnt notice any oddities from this close on the outside..


    Master Grediv walked her way. I think thest thing we can test is to have you dismiss the working.


    Oh? Is it time for that? T found herself smiling. You know, Ive been building this off and on for a year, right? Im going to be frustrated if we arent actually ready to record as much information as possible.


    He chuckled at that. We understand the investment youve made here, Mistress T. Yes, I think we are ready.


    Very well, lets do this.

 Chapter 412: Reality Nodes and Prison

    Chapter 412: Reality Nodes and Prison


    T took a deep breath before looking around to confirm that everyone was ready.


    This experiment had been building for a <em>long</em> time, and shed only get to release this once.


    She likely wouldnt ever devote so much time to building up an attraction again, unless these results were beyond expectation.


    The Refined from the Constructionist Guild all had their detecting magics activated at full power.


    Brandon and Master Simon had their Archive tes held up, linked to the monitoring magics of the sanctum itself.


    Master Grediv had his hands at his sides, a rxed stance showing how ready he actually was for whatever might be about toe.


    Ready? T found herself feeling a bit nervous, and she did her best to squash those feelings.


    She got a round of affirmatives.


    She nodded, speaking quietly, Alright then. Here we go.


    T released her working, and for a moment, nothing happened.


    Then, the extra void that had appeared to be on the outside of the sphere of the working began to flow inward along definitive, curving and jagged lines.


    The massive reality node quivered to her threefold sight, and even her mundane vision saw something odd about it.


    There was something that almost looked like a heat haze through the space, but that wasnt <em>quite</em> right.


    Terry was watching intently from her shoulder, eyes locked on everything as it was happening.


    As the surfaces of void wove and grew inwardacting much like lightning trying to find the best path from ground to sky if at a slower pace and as fields rather than linesT braced herself to contain any fallout.


    Finally, the tendrils of void began to touch.


    It was odd, because unlike the line-like nature of lightning bolts, the void was scribing the outlines of three-dimensional shapes.


    All told, it was less than three seconds from Ts releasing of her magics to the point where the three-dimensional tracings wereplete.


    There was a pulse of void and the massive reality node was gone, broken apart into many smaller nodes.


    A ripple passed outward, and T saw the stress that ripple put on all the reality nodes around the sparring ring.


    Even so, they all held.


    After the reverberations calmed down, T felt her own eyes widen.


    The reality nodes that remained wererger than they had been before shed started her working so long ago.


    They werent beyond the range of those shed encountered before, but they were definitely on the bigger side.


    Her working had left asting change upon reality.


    The group of Archonsalong with Brandontook the following hours to analyze the results and aftermath, but in the end, they simply confirmed what T had initially seen.


    The reality nodes were divided differently from how they had been, and they were, on average,rger.


    The overall stability had gone up within the space from before she began the working, but it wasnt as high as when her working had been active.


    All of that was expected, but it was still good to get the confirmation.


    In the end, T was left in her sanctum with only Brandon and Master Simon.


    The two were huddled off to one side, talking through yet more data that theyd gathered and an analysis thereof.


    T cleared her throat, drawing their attention, Do you two need me?


    They paused, exchanging a look before Master Simon motioned for Brandon to speak. The boy nodded his thanks and turned to T. Thank you, but no. Would you be able to get my father in here though? Theres a lot of minutia here, and I think his perspective could be helpful.


    T nodded. He took today with your mother, right?


    He did, but he should be avable now.


    Alright, Ill see if hes free, then leave you all to it.


    They both bowed, Thank you, Mistress T.


    * * *


    It had been nearly two months since shed released the working on the reality nodes within her sanctum, and Rane was seeming to be more and morefortable with his position as a simple Fused.


    She didnt know how she, herself, felt about it, and that made her feel like a child.


    That seeming contradiction made her even more grumpy, when she took the time to contemte it.


    Honestly, she felt like she was a child who, when told to clean something, dered that it was pointless, because it would just get dirty again.


    One afternoon, while T was aimlessly walking the wall-top on watch, t pressed her a bit.


    <em>-And what are you concerned about?- </em>t knew. She always knew, but she asked anyway.


    <em>Rane is going to die.</em>


    <em>-So are you.-</em>


    <em>Im immortal.</em>


    <em>-But not eternal or undying.-</em>


    <em>Fine, but Im still immortal. Hes not. Hes going to die.</em>


    <em>-So are you.-</em>


    <em>I dont want him to die.</em>


    <em>-Your magics suggest that you dont really want to die either.-</em>


    <em>t, you know what Im saying. I dont think my soul could take it if he died.</em>


    t did not respond, and T dropped back into her brooding for the remainder of her time on watch.


    Rane seemed to be making the best of his situation.


    He was very nearly ny percent of the way toward being Refined from a base-line Fused Archon, and that would grant him a vastly extended life, not to mention a great increase in his base magical density and throughput.


    Even so, he still wasnt allowed to be a Defender, and that, more than anything else, seemed to frustrate him.


    In fact, that seemed like the only thing about his choice that truly frustrated him at the core of things.


    He spent long hours sculpting, training, studying, and generally working to improve himself, but that hard line was there.


    An Archon was <em>required</em> to be of at least Refined advancement before they would be considered for the position of Defender.


    T and Rane still spent time training together as well as doing things for entertainment, but it was obvious that they could both feel her slowly pulling further ahead of him in overall ability.


    Master Grediv hadntmented on Ranes stated choice, but he had seemedmore reserved thest few times that T had seen him.


    Even when hede to observe the reality node experiment within her sanctum, he had been less talkative than usual.


    But that was to be expected, she supposed. He had just discovered that yet another of his family was confined to mortality.


    Others were taking it in stride.


    Most who were Refined or above had had at least some friends or family make the same choice in the past, and those below that rank weren''t aware that something wasn''t as it should be.


    But regardless, time continued on.


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    Days had be weeks, allowing those nearly two months to slide by with barely a concern.


    The time ofzy, thoughtlessyet enjoyablelife came to an end rather abruptly one evening.


    T and Rane were just sitting down to dinner in one of the battle-watch restaurants when t made a gasping sound within her head.


    <em>-T. We need to go.-</em>


    T frowned. <em>What? Whats going on?</em>


    Rane obviously noticed, but he knew by now that she was likely dialoguing with t; so he waited.


    <em>-One of the other units found a cell containing what appears to be Reality Mage. Your unit</em><em>and you specifically</em><em>have been called in to deal with it.-</em>


    Her frown became a grimace. <em>Do I have time to eat?</em>


    -<em>Your team is coordinating as we speak. The aim is to leave within the hour. Master Xeel will be meeting us at the cell, in case magical weight is what is needed.-</em>


    If Master Xeel wasing, then things were serious indeed.


    Still, shed been excited for this meal with Rane. It was something a bit more than their usual meals within her sanctum or at his familys estate. Shed been looking forward to it.


    But, Reality Mage.


    She sighed, then considered the facts.


    With a nod, she decided. <em>Then I have time to eat, at least if we do so quickly. Please let everyone know whats going on. Anyone whos noting should get out of Kit. Ill grab her on the way out.</em>


    T turned to Rane, wiping the concern from her face.


    He noticed the change and immediately asked, T? Are you alright?


    She smiled. I am, Rane, yes. Im just being called in on a cell-run. Somethingse up that they think I can help with.


    Oh! He moved to stand. We should go then.


    She motioned for him to sit. No, its fine. We can eat, but we dont have time to linger.


    He gave a rueful smile. T, no meal you eat is quick.


    She huffed augh at that. True, but I was mainly nning on tasting the food and enjoying thepany. I can do that for at least half an hour. How does that sound?


    His smile widened. Excellent. He lifted a hand, catching the attention of the waiter. Excuse me, it turns out we have less time than we thought. Would it be possible to put a rush on our food?


    * * *


    T and her unit flew through the darkeningte-summer sky.


    She had enjoyed her food, but the fights on disyalong with Ranes and her analysis and debate over themhad just been getting good when t had let her know that she had to go.


    Rane had understood, but T was still irritated.


    She sighed, pulling her focus back to the present moment.


    A thunderstorm had rolled through from the east that morning, leaving the whole area with a refreshed, lush look.


    Even with the lovely surroundings, and the stunning sunset, T wasnt alone in her less-than-good mood.


    In fact, no one was in a particrly good mood.


    Terry sat on his perch, but hecked his usual look of quiet contentment. He seemed to have picked up on the tension of everyone else. Also, since shed exined what they were going to face, he likely had his own concerns about what T was going to fight.


    A Reality Mage.


    It had been more than a century since thest Reality Mage had surfaced, and that had simply been a misguided pre-Bound. Even so, he had almost destabilized a city before he was taken down.


    And he had been taken down. His death had been swift and certain. Such powers couldnt be allowed to grow, and once they got their conceptual ws into a Mage, they were <em>never</em> fully recovered.


    But the one they were headed toward wasnt something so simple.


    This one, the one they were going to deal with, had been put into a cell


    t was busybing the Archive for any relevant tid-bits, and T was fidgeting with her irondust-voids.


    The unit that was at the entrance to the cell ahead of them had already sent back the information that the cell antechamber provided.


    Still, T knew that shed want to review it herself when they got there.


    Based on the information, Re-al had created within herself a reality-gate before shedding her old name. She had done it sopletelyor in a manner so beyond their understandingthat it reached the level of conceptual magic and erased all records of her name from reality.


    To be clear, because T asked, it didnt actually erase the records from the Archive, but unless an Archon were to somehow go into the Archive to learn her original name, and then be immune to high-level magics upon their return, no one would ever be able to recover it.


    But T focused on the important part. A reality-gate was a difficult thing to understand.


    On a cognitive level, T just wasnt ever going to understand how it worked.


    As to what it did? It filled the Reality Mage with a power that made the working of Magic impossible.


    It could also then be somehow wielded to extend that effect outward, imposing it upon the world around her and even onto nearby Mages.


    Seemingly, it acted as an anchoring of the world in Reality as it existed without Magic or the void.


    Obviously, such a power wouldnt work well up in space, but down on Zeme? It was horrifyingly effective.


    They were only able to trap the Reality Mage by enclosing her within a cell that wasrger than her powers reach had grown to by that point.


    The understanding was that the entirety of the cell would be filled with that power by now. There would be no magic, no zeme at all.


    Truthfully, Re-al <em>should</em> be dead.


    After all, without magic, humans died on the timescale of decades, and it had been much, <em>much</em> longer than that.


    But the Reality Mage had lived longer than a Reality-souled should have before shed been locked away.


    Even if they hadnt known that for certain, no one wanted to bet the world that the woman had died to old age as she should have.


    Thats why theyd called for T, the only known Defender to be able to work with iron in a meaningful way, while not being directly tainted by Reality.


    <em>So we have to face what is essentially a Mages worst nightmare.</em>


    <em>-I thought that was us?-</em>


    T smiled. <em>I mean besides us, of course.</em>


    <em>-Someone who renders them mundane, then.-</em>


    <em>Yeah.</em> T took a deep breath. <em>How are you feeling about this?</em>


    ts tone turned serious. <em>-Well, if youryered defenses dont work, Ill be put out ofmission, so thats not great. I dont like ceasing to exist. Even if Ie back, its incredibly unpleasant.-</em>


    <em>Yeah</em> T knew that it was somehow different for t than when a mundane fell into aa or dreamless sleep. It was a ceasing, and an ending of sortsrather than a pausefrom the alternate interfaces perspective.


    Still, the two of them would face the danger, despite the risks.


    The flying contraption continued to glide under Mistress Cernas direction, moving south east, out into the ins toward the ruins of the previous Arconaven.


    It seemed that the cell was just a bit north of where that city had been, about halfway from Alefast.


    It was likely the two wanings ovepping the cell that had been the final stressor which had moved it into the maintenance cycle.


    T could seefar off to their leftthe northern forests in which the Anatalinsthe giant wolvesresided and ruled.


    On their right, much nearer at handbut still not close by most measureswas the Leshkin forest, the constant threat on gated-humanitys southern border.


    She almost chuckled at that.


    She could easily remember learning about the Leshkin.


    At the time, shed seen them as a threat to all of humanity, and she saw them as threatening <em>humanitys</em> southern border.


    After all that shed seen and experienced, she knew that the cycling cities were just one pocket of humanity.


    They were likely one of the most powerful and unified pockets, but just a pocket nheless.


    Very, <em>very</em> far ahead of them toward the left hand side, she could pick up the haze of distant mountains. Those were on the far side of the great ins upon which the moving viges roamed.


    Simrly, by looking to the south and a little behind them as they traveled, she could see hints of the mountains near which toiri had been established.


    Gated-humanity was surrounded by powers it only barely kept at bay, and now this Reality Mage hade to make their lives even harder.


    T would have none of it.


    These were her people, even if she didnt always feel like she fit in.


    This was her home, and she would protect it.


    That resonated with her deeply, and she instinctively knew that shed moved a tick toward Paragon, but that was less important than what it represented.


    She was closing in on her eternal vision, her motivation that would help her endure a potentially eternal existence.


    She felt her resolve strengthen further even as she thickened the iron bracketing her inscriptions star- and stoneward.


    Terrys eyes flickered open, and T thought she saw consideration in the avians eyes.


    He would <em>not</em> being in with her.


    It would not be a contest of violence, at least not most likely.


    Either Re-als ability would negate what T could doprating her defenses and rendering her powerlessor it wouldnt.


    At least, T hoped it would be that simple.


    * * *


    They arrived to find another unit of Defenders along with their Paragon for this mission and Master Xeel waiting for them.


    Ts threefold sight showed a monstrous amount of power flowing around Master Xeel,pletely under the mans control.


    <em>Is is he trying to deepen his natural magics at a time like this?</em>


    He wasnt inscribed Her eyes widened.


    She couldnt detect any natural magics around him at all. He was carving new magics.


    <em>Is he remaking his magics for this specific encounter?</em>


    She simply couldnt see the magics he was enacting clearly enoughnor did she have a deep enough understanding of natural magicsto interpret the portions she could discern.


    Even bare moments after theynded, Mistress Cerna was already talking with the other unit leader, leaving the Reforged man to walk over to T. Mistress T.


    Master Xeel.


    You seem to be doing well.


    As do you.


    He grunted, giving a little smile. Just happy to be able to assist, even if just as backup.


    She smiled in return. Id be incredibly happy to let you handle this if youd like.


    He shook his head. No. We cant solve all the problems, or soon wed find ourselves bing nothing more than false gods above a weakened and embittered humanity. Solutions muste from the least advanced who can manage them effectively.


    T blinked at thim a few times. There is a lot in that, Master Xeel.


    That was the intention, yes. Im d that youve advanced enough to understand what I mean, at least a little bit.


    Her smile turned wry. Thats true enough. A lots happened since west spoke face to face.


    You do seem to have quite the adventures for one so young.


    She huffed at that.


    Are you ready for this?


    She shrugged. As ready as I can be.

 Chapter 413: Facing Reality

    Chapter 413: Facing Reality


    T and Master Xeel stood together outside the cell of a Reality Mage.


    She was about to face this ssic nemesis of all Mages, and he was going to be on hand during the process.


    T gave a hesitant smile. I have some ideas, but youre far more experienced, here. Whats the overarching n?


    Master Xeel gave a small shrug. You go in, keep the Reality Mage on the inside while the Paragon repairs the cell. I will be standing in the entrance, ready to step in to help if I can.


    Not if I need?


    He shook his head. Please do not mistake me, Mistress T. I will do what I can if you are in need, and I can <em>probably</em> keep the Reality Mage contained. That said, doing so isnt a gamble that I want to take, even if I were inclined to do so. You are likely to be able to counter her, whereas I would have to overpower her. You should be able to walk into her domain and rebuff her authority. I would have to stand on the edge and fight her back from the outside.


    T nodded, then made a motion of will to make Kit appear in door form on the side of her units vehicle.


    Having a physical manifestation like that would lock the center of Kits range in ce, and keep the dimensional storage from automaticallying with T into the cell.


    <em>There was no reason to introduce such a ce to escape into, nor to risk my sanctum, Irondale, or the people within needlessly.</em>


    Before them, the antechamber opened up. It looked like a massive, clear dome on the top of a wide, low hill. Though, it also seemed entirely contained at the peak of the little rise the entrance opened from.


    <em>Contracted space once again or is it expanded?</em> Honestly, it was probably a mix of both.


    Inside the antechamber, T took the time to look over the information avable about the woman that was recorded within.


    The info was onrge stone bs written in themon script. So, this Reality Mage hadnt been here since before the unification ofnguage.


    It took a bit, but it was worth the slight dy in order to double check what she and t had already perused.


    Their opponent would be the Reality Mage Re-al. A woman so depraved that shed sacrificed her own familiar, forsaken and hidden her name, and torn her own soul out of the next world for use in horrendous rituals.


    <em>t, can we do this?</em>


    <em>-I think we can, yes.-</em>


    T found herself smiling as she came to the end of the information.


    Alright then. Her iron and white steel flowed over her, coating the bottoms of her feet as she strode forward, lifting her a bit higher with each step until the armor wasplete and fully encapsting.


    Under her ative armor was ayer of pure iron, just to make sure there werent any cracks or crevices that power could worm its way through.


    She also encapsted herself, star- and stone-ward with iron.


    t and T had considered using their existence shield, but theydrgely dismissed that for several reasons.


    One of the main ones was that, thest time theyd used it, theyd learned that it wasnt very good at resisting true attacks.


    Instead, it excelled at blocking connections and attempts to alter her own existence directly.


    That also meant that if it was hit by an attack, it could do more harm to her than good. Though, to be fair, she didnt actually know what the murder-eyes attack had been trying to do.


    It was possible that having half of her body and magic erased from existence had been the best oue she could hope for.


    Regardless, they didnt feel like the existence shield was the right course of action.


    That said, she was going to go in, armored for a world-ending threat.


    With that in mind, she aspect-mirrored as much void into her elk leathers magical defenses as possible. In doing so, she altered the rtively weak, always active magical defenses around her soulbound garments into powerful, void-magic barriers that hugged her form just outside the iron and white-steel armor.


    She very specifically did not mix the void-magic with the iron, which, because it was bound to her, seemed to count effectively as reality-magic.


    In that way, she had ayer of protection that was the direct antithesis of Realityvoid-magicfollowed by one that was obliquely opposed to itreality-magic.


    All told, there <em>shouldnt</em> be any easy way for power of any kind to get at her.


    There was still the danger of physical attacks, but thats why she had the ative armor on.


    She came to a stop right in front of where the entrance to the cell would be when it was opened.


    Standing there for a moment, tall and confident, T turned her head toward the Paragon who was waiting for her, and she nodded to him.


    The man smiled resolutely. We begin.


    T took deep breaths, her hands empty.


    She wouldnt risk Flow with exposure to Reality, not at first at least. She doubted shed be willing to use the sword at all, but she had Flow sheathed at her waist, under her armor, nheless.


    As the Paragon began his work, rock grew up from the ground within the antechamber, forming an oddly normal looking door frame before the inside of the thing was filled with the darkness of a long tunnel.


    Most cell entrances manifested as something akin to a long tunnel.


    Her threefold sight showed that the tunnel was more truly through existence itself than any material.


    The stone which made up the walls, ceiling, and floor was but a veneer meant to maintain the natural order of things.


    After all, people were not meant to stride on the edge of existence.


    T immediately stepped into the tunnel, Master Xeeling in behind her and blocking off the outside end of the long tunnel with a field of lightposed of interweaving colors.


    She almost hesitated as she recognized some of the forms and shapes within the light.


    Hed made spellforms with lines of different colored light, and light, itself, was the medium as well.


    She hadnt known that was even possible, and she couldnt begin toprehend what the magics were meant to do.


    All that she knew was that they bore the power of a Reforged well on his way to Ascending, and she <em>really</em> did not want to be the target of anything with that kind of magical weight.


    The man further added shapes of woven light around himself and along the walls, floor, and ceiling of the tunnel.


    He was ready to back her up if required.


    Her steps were firm as she strode forward, reaching the inside exit of the tunnel without slowing.


    Only once she was fully inside did she stop and look down from the hill she had exited near the top of.


    Below her was a walled vige, and that alone made T suck in a breath.


    It was so small, there was no way that she could mistake it for one of the great cities that gated-humanity used in modern times.


    The walls had clearly once been impressivethere were obvious remnants of inscriptions woven through thembut there was no longer any magic about the structure.


    In fact, with her threefold sight she could see that there was absolutely no magic within the cell at all.


    The dimensions that she generally thought of as those of magic still existed, but they were utterly empty, no matter how she examined them.


    With no magic, there was no movement of what wasnt there. So there was no zeme, but saying that was like saying there was no breeze in a vacuum.


    It should have gone without saying.


    The reason it struck Ts mind strongly enough for her to focus on it was simple. There was <em>something</em> in its ce.


    Great tides of iron dust drifted on currents of air.


    <em>No that isnt iron.</em> It felt very simr to her, though.


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    It felt <em>real</em> in a way that was hard to describe.


    It was like how it was hard to remember she was wearing clothing, until it became ufortable, or itched, or pulled wrong.


    This was that ufortable itch, pulling at her awareness in the worst way.


    There was something in the air that was an antithesis to magic and sought to fill any void, as pointless as such a venture was.


    T was grateful that she didnt have to breathe and her solid facete remained.


    She couldnt imagine the horror that woulde from breathing in any of the power that now seemed to surround her.


    There was a sharp intake of breath, and T turned to see what had clearly once been a woman looking up at her from the foot of the hill.


    That was the only warning she got before what felt like a hammer the size of a building<em></em>mmed down atop Tseemingly forged out of the all too Real <em>something</em> that filled the air.


    The strike utterly shattered against her void-magic barrier.


    It was like dropping the end of a log on a hardened steel wedge.


    The wedgeher defensewas utterly unaffected, and the attack was splintered back into the surrounding air currents.


    There was a beat of silence as the woman was clearly surprised to have her attack so thoroughly rebuffed.


    What are you? The question was exceptionally ironic,ing as it did from the twisted woman.


    Truthfully, calling the Reality Mage twisted was hardly a fair assessment in any sense but metaphorical.


    Re-al looked normal to mundane sight, even if her gray-ish skin made her look a bit sickly.


    Even so, Ts threefold sight revealed the truth.


    The woman had more inscriptions than even T, every single line seemingly of iron by the look of them.


    That wasnt the end of the oddities either.


    Re-al didnt have an aura that T could detect, but instead she exuded a realness that wasnt to be denied.


    T almostughed at that, but she couldnt describe it any other way.


    It was as if most people T had seenincluding herselfwere statues artfully created, fragile and painstakingly preserved of cloud and mist.


    Re-al was shaped in granite.


    But the silence was bing awkward.


    She believed that she could keep her at bay in a conflict of violence, but T wisely assumed that Re-al hadnt really shown the true measure of her power yet.


    Thus, T would rather dy with words until the time was right, or she ran out of things to say.


    So, T decided to respond. Her voice was carried by her through-spike to the air outside of her armor. From there, it acted as sound normally did. I am T, here to inspect this existence-cell.


    Based on what T knew of Reality Mages, Re-al could probably have opposed the sound, scrubbing it from the air because it was created by magic, but she didnt bother. Instead, she just grimaced. I did not ask <em>who</em> you were, foolish child. I also did not ask you why you are here. Are those outside so backward as to not realize such things are obvious? Why have you been conditioned to give useless answers? Listen closely. I asked <em>what</em> you are. I see and recognize iron utterly pervading you, but it is <em>tainted</em> with magic. I sense void as well, but no blended existence. So, I will ask again. What are you?


    T felt herself straighten. I am a Defender of humanity.


    That felt partially true. She was more than just that. Regardless, Re-al scoffed. There is very little real foundation to your im, girl. Do you not even know what you are, yourself? They didnt even send a Paragon? Fools.


    If it makes you feel any better, there is a powerful Reforged waiting outside that you''ll never see.


    T had been trying to throw the other woman off, but contrary to her expectation, Re-al seemed to brighten. Really? I would love to remove one of those stains from the world. I just have to kill you to engage the Reforged?


    You would have to break out of here after it''s been fully resealed.


    That seemed to confuse Re-al. ...that isnt possible.


    Oh, I know. Arent we listing impossible things? You did just utterly fail to harm me with a surprise attack, right?


    The older woman hesitated for a moment then burst outughing. That was actually marginally clever. Nicely done.


    She continued tough, and T let her.


    <em>Insanity as a dying tactic, dont count on it, but use it if its avable.</em>


    T almostughed as well, but kept the reaction contained to not pull the womans attention from her odd cackling.


    After a long moment, Re-al collected herself once again. So then, you arent a total loss. You also have a love of iron that is entirely un-Mage-like. Why not work with me? We can fix the world together and end all this needless suffering.


    By killing everyone with a gate. It wasnt a question.


    By reuniting broken souls, yes, among other things.


    Thats not who I am, and I cannot allow you to do that.


    Ahh, but weve established that you dont really know who you are.


    T shook her head. I said no. I am a protector of humanity. She thought of Adrill, Brandon, and Kedva. I am a nurturer of magic.


    Re-al hissed at that, a pulse of whatever her power was radiating outward even as she spoke, A pointless affectation. That is not what you really are.


    The power was much sharper and more piercing than the first attack had been. Even so, it rolled harmlessly over Ts extended aura.


    I will tell you what you are, oh twisted child. You are a broken daughter of a twisted family. You scratch and w at the world around you, needlessly causing harm to that which youck the wit toprehend. You are a blight on reality.


    T barely felt a mild strain on her void-magic barrier. The words, themselves, seemed to carry the terrible power as it tried to invade and affect T.


    But she stood firm.


    She had magic aplenty and void to spare.


    She almostughed at that.


    Void, by its very nature, was always in abundance, and her gate provided magic unending.


    She tilted her head to one side and felt herself smile within her helmet.


    Is this it? Is this all that you have? Feeble attempts to w at my foundation?


    No, but we havent known each other very long. I wasnt going to obliterate you before we talked.


    Oh? You want to get to know me?


    Why not? Its been lonely in here. Ive missed talking. Talking is great, right? Besides, if Im going to use you against the other humans, I should understand you better.


    <em>Yeah like thats going to happen. Im not going to bare my soul to you, crazydy.</em>


    Re-al, of course, simply continued her monologue. I dont detect any soulbond thats strong enough to be to a familiar or husband. Is he already dead? That is one of the great evils of magic, forcing others to live beyond their loved ones.


    T cocked an eyebrow even though she knew it wouldnt be visible. Says the woman who killed her own familiar.


    Yes. I did. I will kill anyone and anything who puts their own selfish desires before the good of the entire world. Re-al was visibly angry at the end, but calmed herself before continuing. So, your husband is already dead then?


    No, weve not married yet. T felt herself twitch. Why had she answered like that?


    t was silent, but T could practically <em>hear</em> the alternate interface dancing with glee. <em>Not really the time, t</em>


    Re-al barked augh. You dont even have the courage to get married. She continuedughing for a long moment after that before herughter hitched. Oh, the ridiculousness of it is going to make me choke. Reality is broken indeed if they send an iron-tainted, old, has-been in here to try to stall me. This will be easier than I thought. But its time for the big choice, you old girl. Join me or die.


    T felt herself smile.


    Re-al obviously couldnt see the smile, it was just for herself.


    <em>I did my best to stall, but if thats over Well, I can do one more thing to gain some time.</em>


    <em>-Ill watch for a good time to strike.-</em>


    <em>Oh, now you join us?</em>


    <em>-Do you want to have this talk, now?-</em>


    <em>No</em>


    All that aside, T knew that her smile changed the tone in her voice as she spoke, There has been a misunderstanding, Reality Mage. I am not iron-tainted. I have imed the iron as my own. I am not old, but among the youngest in this generation to advance. I am not a has-been. I am the ravenous, jealous devourer. Magic and void are <em>mine</em> to im and influence, but I find myself in need of reality. But neither that, nor you, are my eternal aim. You are a mere stepping stone.


    T knew that all of this was true. None of it was even new, but it felt <em>right</em> to say it all together like that.


    As such, she wasnt surprised when she moved an almost imperceptible tick closer to Paragon.


    Re-al seemed to hesitate at that, truly seeming off center for what might have been the first time in the entire conversation. The womans violent intentions seemed to be temporarily cooled as she carefully inquired, A nascent Existence Mage? She shook her head. No, no. That is ridiculous. Sess there is impossible.


    Tughed, then. You speak like you arent a Reality Mage. Isnt that equally impossible?


    Re-al waved her off with a curt gesture. You spout the lies spread by those in power. There was real anger in the womans eyes, evident even across the dozens of yards between them. It is forbidden, not impossible.


    I disagree. It is impossible for any person to be a Reality Mage.


    Re-al huffed. Then what am I?


    Lost and confused. A mockery of the person who used to live behind those eyes. A broken soul, too twisted to die.


    The Reality Mage shook her head. You speak folly once more. Id think you were trying to dy me, if that had any hope of seeding.


    So, I cannot attempt the impossible? Isnt that the very nature of Existence, to strive for that which was deemed impossible by others? T was doing her best to engage the woman, but the time of verbal dys was clearly drawing to a close.


    That is the w with anything beyond reality. It wastes resources, energy, and effort in the pursuit of that which can never be.


    And yet the woman you once were never became a Reality Mage. She is gone. That woman was dead, and Re-al was just somehow puppeting the corpse. <em>That really doesnt feel in line with Reality.</em>


    Re-al huffed augh, pulling Ts attention back. Oh, I am still here. I simply gave up that identitythat long-erased namefor power. A human can age and die, but an ideaRealitycontinues, and I will continue even after everything is cold and dead and lifeless.


    <em>Well, thats implicative.</em>


    <em>-Some theories</em><em>assuming she was still alive</em><em>involved her long life being tied to conceptual magics with her name.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, but can we actually use that?</em>


    <em>-I have not the faintest idea how-</em>


    Those tactics hadnt worked. T and Re-al werent fighting yetwhich was good from a dying perspectiveso it hadnt been aplete failure. Regardless, T needed to try something else. What would your familiar think of what you have be?


    Hate me utterly, to the point of trying to kill me in my sleep, obviously. Re-al waved that off as well, this time smiling with obvious malice. If I was going to mourn her, Id have done it centuries ago.


    <em>Well, that was useless.</em>


    <em>-Still, we have the big one. Should we use it?-</em>


    <em>No. Not yet We need her off bnce, and we need to be closer to take advantage of any opening.</em> That gave T a potentially game-changing idea.


    <em>-We do yeah, but oh. Thats interesting. There is an opening for that now. Make use of it.-</em>


    And so T did.

 Chapter 414: Rejection

    Chapter 414: Rejection


    T often had a lot of moving parts to her fighting style.


    She multitasked like few other Mages were capable of doing, even before factoring in t.


    Yet, she had never bent her abilities more toward forming an attack than she did in that moment.


    She formed an iron javelin, making sure it was properly bnced for her throw since she couldnt use magic to propel it.


    She had to keep it close to herself, forcing her aura through it more powerfully than usual in order to keep it coherent within the odd, seemingly Reality-based power in the air.


    Even with barely any time to notice and react, Re-al did have some chance, yet she did nothing to stop T.


    In fact, she seemed fascinated by Ts process even as she wove void-magic around the outside of the javelin.


    With as little preamble as possible, Tunched the weapon at Re-al, sending it flying less than a second after she began to form it.


    T was used to attacking <em>much </em>more quickly than that, but she also didnt usually have to weave so muchplexity or fight against so much opposition in even the forming of her iron objects.


    Regardless, the javelin covered the distance between them in a blink.


    It mmed into Re-als chest, exploding into a cascade of highlypressed iron dust.


    <em>This woman is a total contradiction. She ignores magic like shes bathed in Reality, but shes still alive when without magic she should be dead.</em>


    Still, the attack hadnt been a total waste.


    The iron had enough mass and inertia to stagger Re-al, the flying particles temporarily blinding the Reality Mage as T sprang down the hill.


    T tried to im something, anything, of the iron within the woman, but it felt as useless as a staring contest with the sun.


    T simply couldnt prate whatever barrier of power covered Re-al at the level of her skin.


    Re-al was still swiping iron from her eyes, cursing, and spitting particles from her mouth when T arrived.


    T punched as hard as her considerable strength allowed.


    As her right fist contacted the woman, three things urred to T.


    First, the woman was smiling, even if she was trying to hide it.


    Second, punching Re-al required physical contact.


    Third, physical contact meant that part of the woman would be inside of Ts void-magic barrier.


    T couldnt react before her armored knuckles <em>cracked</em> into Re-als face.


    At the moment of contact, Ts right arm simply vanished.


    Re-al was so anchored to Reality that even brief contact was enough to reassert non-magic reality on things.


    T instinctively knew that her arm had vanished becausewithout magicthat arm would have been permanently lost during her first trip through the Leshkin forest.


    Even so, Re-al was sent spinning with a broken cheekbone, much to the womans obvious surprise.


    T was not still the same girl who had panicked at the loss of a limb, and so she hadnt allowed the loss to interrupt her motion.


    Shed maintained the form of her armor despite the vanishing limb. That had allowed the full inertia of a well-thrown punch tond on the woman, imparted through the now empty gauntlet.


    Unfortunately, the odd Reality that had invaded T had utterly disrupted her magics in that arm. So she wasnt getting it back, not any time soon.


    <em>That hardly seems fair Leshkin are magical, and I wouldnt have lost the arm without them existing, and they only exist because magic exists.</em>


    <em>-Its not like there is an external entity determining exactly what would and wouldnt exist if Magic werent in the world. Likely her power can simply determine if something exists due to magic. If so, it can remove it.-</em>


    <em>that seems like cheating.</em>


    <em>-This is exactly as it was advertised, T.-</em>


    <em>Fine</em>


    The loss of her arm was less than ideal, but not too great of a cause for rm, not yet.


    Still, this turn of events had made one thing incredibly clear: T couldnt attack Re-al up close.


    Her gravity magics would obviously be useless against the women as well


    <em>OH! I feel like an idiot.</em>


    T reached behind herself, letting her hand through her armor so that she could pull out a siege orb pair.


    In all likelihood, those wouldnt work either, but it was worth a try.


    She flipped the target of their amplified gravity to Re-al, and they tore free of her hand.


    The woman was still dazed, and T had to take advantage of that as shed likely never get another chance like this.


    The orbs cracked through the air, but before they got halfway to Re-al, the workings on them broke.


    Then, even as they exploded, the previouslypressed air seemed to vanish.


    <em>Because it was only there due to magic.</em> She sighed.


    It was yet another thing to add to the information already gained from their brief shes. Together, T could see that shed never survive a true fight with the woman.


    All that Re-al would have to do is walk at her slowly, and T would be unable to do anything permanent to stop her.


    She could probably figure out a way of looping tides of iron to throw at the woman, but it would be foolish to believe that that was sustainable.


    Any fight would eventuallye down to a direct physical sh, and that was a problem.


    Ts entire body only existed because of magic, and if a simple, quick, violent touch had been enough to allow Re-al to obliterate a limb, T had little recourse.


    Still, she had one more thing she could try as part of her final y.


    It just <em>might</em> work.


    The iron dust from her javelin was still in the air and on the ground around T, and she dragged it with her as she charged Re-al behind her now-departed siege orbs.


    The woman was obviously dazed, but she still gave a grotesque grin at Ts actions.


    She had to believe she held the overall advantage.


    She was right.


    T had only one card left to y, and she could use it along with her attempt at killing the woman.


    Honestly, T didnt even consider that to be an issue. If she could kill Re-al, she would.


    But, in order to try one more lethal method, she needed a momentary distraction. If timed right, that might allow her to finish off the Reality Mage.


    As far as distractions went, she had the perfect one.


    This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it


    Re-als original name was erased unless an Archon existed within the Archive itself.


    Ts mind did, along with t.


    The Archon would also have to be defended against Re-als power on the superficial, in order to keep the name intact once it left the Archive.


    T was as protected against the strength of Reality as any living Mage that she knew of.


    That was why she had the answer.


    As Re-al raised a hand for some working of Reality, T shouted a simple phrase. Your name is Reiki Stulls-kin.


    The womans eyes widened, and her features seemed to distort momentarily, even as she gaped in surprise at the name shed thought to never hear again.


    Her mouth hung wide just as T shoved nearly half a cubic foot of iron dust down the Reality Mages throat.


    Re-als body and power disrupted Ts more magical connection to her iron, but it didnt break her soulbond, or pull it out of her aura. So it didnt really matter.


    No one can breathe with a mouth and throat filled with anything, and iron dust is particrly pernicious in filling the crevices and any bits of air that might otherwise have snuck through a coarser substance.


    T staggered, barely slowing herself to a stop in front of the struggling Reiki, her bnce off because of her missing limb.


    <em>Did she look older for a moment, there?</em>


    <em>-Is that really what you want to focus on right now?-</em>


    <em>Right.</em>


    The woman was on the ground, wing at her nose and mouth to no avail, trying to spit or retch out the dark substance that just wouldnt move as she wanted it.


    T was marginally horrified by this method of death. Even so, she had enough presence of mind to pull herself together and say, Choke on this reality.


    t burst outughing within Ts head. <em>-What the rust was that? Did you just try to deliver a one-liner?-</em>


    <em>Hush, you. It was awesome.</em>


    <em>-But it doesnt even make sense. Something like that only works if its a y on her words to you, and she didnt say anything like that.-</em>


    <em>I said hush, t. Im killing someone here, and its unpleasant enough without listening to you critique my word-choice. I was trying to lighten my own mood with the statement.</em>


    <em>-Alright, T. If you say so. I will say that that was rather self-reflective of you, so good job.-</em> That didnt prevent the alternate interface from continuing to chuckle as T watched Re-al keep struggling.


    T kept all the womans airways as filled with iron dust as possible, moving her iron in close and dumping it through the negating power that tried to keep it from moving magically.


    T also covered Reikis eyes as much as possible, too, just to make sure she couldnt work out some crazy reality alteration at thest minute.


    <em>Today, a Reality Mage dies, and Kit gets to feed.</em> T felt an incredible sense of satisfaction with that way of thinking. She was protecting humanity from this monster, and her dimensional storage would get another treat.


    Re-als body was still spasming, but shed stopped pulling at the iron dust.


    Panic had passed, it seemed, and the woman was likely nning something.


    T began walking backward, keeping her threefold sight and her mundane eyes on the woman as well as her own surroundings.


    <em>I need a weapon that has the void-magic within it, rather than just surrounding it. She could have anything mounting as a final attempt to survive, and I just dont understand her abilities well enough to tell.</em>


    She grit her teeth.


    <em>If she tries to close on me, Ill have to use Flow, but that shouldnt be necessary</em>


    Still, she could make preparations.


    Shed rather be used of paranoia than beid to rest.


    She formed and drove iron spikes into the ground, expanding and reinforcing her aura.


    She was encountering more resistance than usual, but far less than expected.


    It was only then that something struck her, metaphorically speaking.


    Auras werent inherently magical.


    They were a medium through which magic could act; they could be reinforced with magic; and humans only <em>really</em> developed one outside of their bodies once they were Bound, but even gateless humans without a spark of magic had auras.


    They were weak, and they ended at the persons skin, but they were still there.


    There was only one thing that made sense, with that in mind.


    Auras were an expression of authority, sovereignty, and self.


    T had been wrong. Even if T couldnt easily detect it, Re-al wasntcking an aura.


    T was standing within it.


    The Reality Mage had made the cell, itself, a physical manifestation of her aura.


    T hadnt known that was possible, but somehow, for some reason, it struck her in that moment that that is what had to have happened.


    Only then did she recognize Re-als spasms for what they were: Entirely muffledughter.


    Ts eyes widened, and she mmed her auraexpanded and amplified by dozens of iron spikesinto the iron within Re-al.


    T imed every scrap of iron within the woman, and then tore it all free against the womans powerful resistance.


    The body copsed in a ragged heap, yellowishalmost clearblood draining from every pore on her body.


    A single persons pping sounded from Ts left, even as her threefold sight perceived Re-al reform seemingly out of nowhere.


    T pointed at her. Thats magic.


    Not at all. The fact that you dont understand is adorable, though. The woman had a rather vicous grin on her face. You were rather aggressive. I cant say Ive had someone try to suffocate me in a long time.


    Well, you didnt leave me with many options.


    Now you have far fewer. Did you honestly think that someone who had survived for millennia without outside sources of food and water would be able to suffocate?


    T shrugged. Honestly, I had no idea, but it was worth a try.


    Indeed, but before I send you on to your fated torment, I must know: How did you say my name?


    You mean Reiki Stulls-kin?


    The woman hissed, and T felt pressure on her aura from every direction. Stop saying that name.


    Because you dont like it, or because it weakens you somehow?


    Because you should not know it. No one should.


    But I do. T looked around, smiling. In fact, everyone in this corner of existence knows it. You are Reiki, even if you dont like it.


    I cast off that name, and became who I was alway meant to be.


    Re-al.


    Precisely, Reiki stated matter of factly. Then, she jerked as if pped.


    T sighed. Thats a re-al clever name you chose there, Reiki.


    Reikis face twitched again, and she paled.


    And that was the final piece that T needed. But regardless, I think I finally understand. Reiki died years and years ago. You <em>arent</em> still alive, are you? Thats one of the reasons that Reality hates you. You are using your powers of Reality to create a minor ripple. You call yourself Re-al, and that is to make yourself real, but you are Reiki, and you died. Youve been dead for ages.


    Reikis skin had seemed to take on a sunken look, weathered and old looking. Her eyes were ck marbles, and she snarled. I am Re-al, and you will die!


    T solidified her aura against the sudden assault of powers that she still didnt fully understand. Regardless, her dome of authority still managed to cover the cells exit. You are Reiki Stulls-kin. Reiki Stulls-kin is dead. You, Reiki Stulls-kin, are dead.


    Reiki screeched, and T found her aura driven back, her very iron spikes digging furrows in the ground as they were pushed inward along with Ts aura.


    T had what she needed. She was breaking the womans power, but it wasnt enough.


    Then, she understood. Reiki was destroying her words at the edge of Ts aura, obliterating them from the air with ease because they were being created by magic.


    So, T dissolved her helmet, exposing her head and face to the interior of the cell.


    She let her braid fall free as she red down at the shell of a woman.


    At that moment, Reiki assaulted T in a new way, a foreign power trying to invade her mind.


    But T had expected the assault.


    Her skin was still coated with iron, and she had her mind forcibly linked with the Archive, focused on the name of this Reality Mage.


    Rest in peace, Reiki. Your passing will be remembered. T stated the normallyforting words as a promation of execution.


    The Reality Mages working shattered, and existence itself froze.


    Reikis carefully built enforcement of the exception to Reality had been broken, and the fate of Reiki Stulls-kin came crashing down upon the body that had been calling itself Re-al.


    There was no soul left to pass on, it had been maimed long ago.


    Existence did not like that.


    The death of a sapient <em>should</em> mean the passing of a soul.


    Instead, there was a momentary inversion of <em>everything</em> within the cell.


    Reality was reced with void-magic, void with reality-magic, and magic with a void in reality.


    Only in that moment of full inversion did the abomination that Reikis gate had be find its ce.


    Then, existence righted itself, dragging Reikis soul back into being.


    There, before T floated what was clearly a human soul,pletely whole once more.


    Behind it, a small portal opened, a gate without the need of a broken soul.


    Then, T was hit with the overpowering feeling of rejection.


    She almost thought that the next world had rejected Reikis soul, but that wasnt so.


    Even still, the purity of the next world beckoned. It was Reikis soul thatof its own free willutterly refused the invitation.


    Finally, along with a sense of unmitigated sadness and regret, the gate closed.


    As it closed, it was as if Reikis soul dimmed.


    It simply winked out of existence entirely along with the closing of the way forward.


    Only then did T realize that her mundane eyes had been seeing literally nothing, everything wasing to her through her threefold sight, and the memories were being recorded directly into the Archive, bypassing her physical mind for that one moment.


    Time within the cell was utterly frozen, and that included her body.


    Then, the frozen moment ended, and those collected memoriesthose of what had happened to Reikis soulcame crashing into Ts physical mind.


    The colossal influx caused T to stagger, falling to her knees.


    <em>t?</em>


    <em>-I saw Did we just witness the true end of a soul?-</em>


    <em>I I think so.</em>


    Down at the bottom of the hill, a meaningless physical form was already turning to dust and drifting away on non-existent winds.

 [Not a Chapter] Book 7 Release - My Error

    [Not a Chapter] Book 7 Release - My Error


    Hello All,


    I messed up, and I sincerely apologize.


    There was an error in the uploading of the file for MM Book 7 - Eskau. The deadline was yesterday, and I didn''t notice the error as I was quite under the weather at the time. I aming out of it now, but I am still not feeling great.


    Stolen novel; please report.


    Because of my error, the pre-order for Eskau was cancelled by Amazon, and all of you wonderful people who had pre-ordered it had that order cancelled. That, in turn, has forced theunch of book 7 to be May 2nd, instead of this Wednesday. I deeply regret any inconvenience this may have caused.


    Once again, thank you for your readership and support! I will do my best to keep you in the loop as things progress.


    Best Regards,


    J.L.Mullins

 Chapter 415: Void of Magic

    Chapter 415: Void of Magic


    T staggered again, even as the Reality-Mages dust fully dispersed.


    This time, it wasnt because she was still missing an arm.


    No, she staggered under the sudden assault from the power within the air of the cell.


    She could do nothing to keep it back as it inexorably roiled toward her, pushing her aura aside.


    At least, she could do nothing until she focused strongly on her own magic, and the void which existed between all things, separating her aura from the rest of the cell.


    Her power rushed out, filling her aura with dense magic, and her threefold sight saw that the distinction between the shing forces was much clearer than had existed even moments before.


    Only then did the pressure seem to let up, at least enough for T to temporarily hold her ground.


    The issuey in that Reiki had held sway over a <em>massive</em> amount of Realitys authority and power, but she was gone, and Reality seemed to want an outlet.


    It wanted <em>bnce</em>, and things were incredibly out of whack.


    The power of Reality wanted to rush out of the cell and crash upon Zeme like a tidal wave, but Ther aura, authority, and area of sovereigntywere in the way, plugging that hole.


    Still, the power had to go somewhere.


    T had no idea where it hade from, so she didnt really know what was needed to use it.


    Magic came from the next world. Void was found within the divisions between all things. Reality?


    Yeah, she had no clue.


    Oh, she knew that Reiki had somehow drawn it through her own twisted soul, but that wasnt really an answer.


    That was like saying someone acted cruelly because they were a mean person.


    That didnt actually exin the <em>why</em>, or in this case the <em>where from </em>and <em>what for.</em>


    <em>-T, the power in the air diminished when Reiki passed.-</em>


    <em>Yes, t, the source of power is gone, so there is less of it.</em>


    <em>-No!-</em> T felt the mental equivalent of a poke to the forehead. <em>-Listen! It took power from the storm here in the cell to reduce Reiki to dust.-</em>


    T froze for an instant, processing that. <em>Letting Reality exert itself uses up whatever this power actually is.</em>


    That was so obvious she felt a bit foolish for not realizing it. She knew that the power was somehow rted to Reality, but that didnt actually tell her what it was.


    It was the equivalent of knowing that light let her see things, and that didnt actually give more than the basic information on what light actually was.


    Regardless, she had a potential go-forward in mind.


    <em>I had to speak to let it work</em>


    She nodded to herself, taking in a deep breath and letting it slowly.


    The nearby town caught her attention again, No untended town would be standing after millennia, and this town has only held the dead.


    There was an odd <em>resonance</em> through the air as the vibrations of her words rippled outward.


    It felt <em>almost</em> like something checked the truth of her statement.


    The feeling was among the oddest shed ever felt.


    It was like looking at a friend with a finger held up for her to wait, while he flipped through a book to check on the uracy of her im.


    But on a conceptual level.


    <em>Is Reality fact checking me?</em>


    <em>-I dont know yes?-</em>


    Then, before her eyes, the walls of the town and everything within the ancient bastion of humanity began to erode at a prodigious rate.


    T stood as if a statue observing the passage of centuries as they tore the town down to nothing, removing all traces that it had ever been there at all.


    T knew that there should have been <em>some</em> remnants, but Reality seemed to be going a little overboard at the moment.


    That took almost none of the power from the air.


    <em>Rust.</em> T could probably make a good go at removing the taint from the cell through various methodsrust, she could probably just dump power outward to erode Realitys hold, therebut she felt like getting an expert opinion and assistance would be wiser.


    <em>-Master Xeel?-</em>


    <em>Yes, good idea.</em> She looked over her shoulder and called, Master Xeel! The prisoner is dead, and I need help with another problem.


    A momentter, Master Xeel stood beside her, looking around. Im d you werentpromised, but what happened?


    She briefly exined, and the Reforged nodded in understanding.


    So, the authority in the air outside your aura is that of Reality itself?


    Yes, only filling my aura with a focus on magic and void is holding it back


    You have done well, exceedingly well, actually. Would you be alright if I took it from here?


    She almost said yes, grateful to pass off the issue to someone else, but then she hesitated. She could use this as an opportunity to learn. Can Can I see what you do? Can you exin it to me?


    He hesitated for a moment in turn, then shrugged. It is simple, really. Most see the tripod of existence as in bnce, pushing against each other, but they can also be seen as sides of the same coin.


    T frowned. I dont understand.


    Ill exin the basics with a rather trite y on words. Please dont read <em>too</em> much into it.


    She nodded her agreement.


    Alright, in Existence, the opposite of Reality is Void-Magicabining of the other two pirs. Correct?


    That is my understanding.


    Good. Now, you could also say that Reality <em>is</em> a thing that is Void of Magic.


    She opened her mouth to reply, but then paused, a frown creasing her face. Wait Then, Magic is a thing that is Void of Reality? She began nodding again as she considered her own question. At its deepest sense, I can actually see that, but Void? The Magic of Reality? Does that work?


    Master Xeel shrugged. Or the Reality of Magic is the creation of Voids. And the Magic of Reality is that it is mostly Void.


    Thats a bit silly? She frowned. Even though it was silly, it actually fit incredibly well.


    I did say it was a trite y on words, but it is true nevertheless. So, to deal with an abundance of Reality, we are really dealing with a ce or thing that is Void of Magic to arger extent.


    Is that it?


    No, but ites out to nearly the same thing. All that we really need to do is dump power into this cell until all the Reality is bnced out. Without the prisoner to continue to add to the imbnce, that should be all that is required. And in the end, the ce will have a much greater <em>existence</em> than it did before.


    So I destroyed that town for nothing?


    Master Xeel grinned. Not for nothing. It shows that you grasped a key part of what was going on. Unfortunately, there simply isnt enough within this cell that is counter to Reality to fully correct the imbnce naturally.


    The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    He took a deep breath, and T <em>felt</em> his gate open wider, like the ending of an eclipse.


    May I have your permission for my power to pass through your aura?


    T responded without any hesitation, Absolutely.


    That was all he needed. So nothing further required, Master Xeel exploded with undirected power, simply dumping his <em>ridiculous</em> throughput outward.


    It easily passed through Ts aura and <em>mmed</em> into the power that had been pressing inward.


    That sh gave T an interesting realization.


    <em>The Reality power isnt pushing inward, not really. </em>An overturned cup didnt spill because the water was actively pushing downward. It was just the nature of existence for it to flow down, out of the overturned cup.


    Simrly, Reality existed to be in bnce with Void and Magic, and it was flowing in a way to aplish just that.


    The magic was, itself, obviously bncing out that side of things, but as silly as it seemed, the very fact that the magic was distinct from the reality it was blending with, meant that the process, itself, was carrying or generating void in the maelstrom of powers.


    There was really nothing much left for T to do, and so she waited and watched as Master Xeel countered the millennia of work enacted by a Reality Mage.


    It didnt take long for T to notice how quickly Master Xeel was progressing.


    When she did, she asked how that was possible. After all, Reiki seemingly had spent millennia within the cell.


    Master Xeel smiled and responded simply with a question, If you had eternity to fill a space with magic, how much power could you pack in?


    She considered for a moment, then nodded. Likely only to a point that was a bit more dense than my own magical density. The process would likely allow me to increase my own density some, but it wouldnt be infinitely recurring.


    Precisely. This Reality Mage only had a certain density that she could achieve, and while the fact of that density is actually incredibly impressive, it isnt infinite, and the tyranny of advancementes into y.


    She thought for a long moment before asking the obvious question. How magically dense are you?


    He chuckled, not at all offended. Not much more so than you, actually, but thats mainly due to your unusually high density and my own peculiarities. My focus is on throughput, and in that, I am unmatched.


    His smile was so genuine that T didnt take his words for arrogance.


    It was a simple fact that hed conveyed in order to answer the question that she, herself, had asked. He was the greatest source of magic known to gated humanity.


    Thank you. It is good to have a point of reference.


    Of course, we need to understand that which we are striving for. I look forward to the day that you unseat me, Mistress T. In that vein, how are you feeling about the advancement toward Paragon? Your enlightening, as it were.


    T sighed. Honestly, I feel alright? I feel like Im making good progress. Ive only been on the road for a year, and already I have a few percent of progress or so.


    He blinked at her a few times. Ah, so you are taking the long view of things?


    What? She frowned, not understanding, Even if I just continue at this pace, I will be a Paragon within fifty years. Thats insanely fast, isnt it?


    Well, yes and no.


    Her frown deepened. That didnt really rify anything?


    He chuckled. A half-century to reach enlightenment is a significantly faster pace than the vast majority of Refined are setting. So, yes.


    His grin said that he wasnt done, however, and he proved that true by continuing.


    Truthfully, though, thats a biased sample set. That same vast majority are almost entirely still on that path and have yet to reach the end. After all, <em>every</em> Refined to ever live is or was on the path to Paragon. So, really, the most important metric is aparison to those who have actually achieved advancement to the level of Paragon. Of those, most aplished it in under fifty years. So, thats the no, it would not be insanely fast.


    He seemed to pause a moment before nodding.


    Let me ask you another question.


    Alright. She let herself focus more fully on his words as he spoke again.


    Which do you think is easier, plumbing the universeand your ce in itfor new knowledge and insight the first time? Or diving into thoughtful contemtion anding back out with new insight the hundredth time?


    T considered for a moment. I think the answer you are aiming for me to give is that it is easier the first time.


    That made him smile; though he didnt nce her way. And the answer that you <em>would</em> give?


    She shrugged. I think it depends on where you are diving in from. Sure, if you change nothingand seek insight from the same ce, under the same circumstances, and with the same desires every timethen youll strip that area of insight bare rather quickly. However, if you approach things in new and varied ways, put yourself in new circumstances, and maintain an attitude of learning, then each dive should be as fruitfulif not more sothan the first.


    Master Xeel turned to her, then, and smiled. Well then, Mistress T, I think that your road to enlightenment might be shorter than I had assumed. He paused for a moment before adding, But dont forget what you, yourself, said. You must actively seek those different ces, mindsets, and motivations fromand withwhich to seek insight.


    She grunted, nodding her understanding. There was a moment of silence before she nced his way. So why don''t you reply to my Archive messages?


    Three main reasons.


    Im listening.


    First, I try to keep busy enough that I dont really have much free time.


    I suppose thats understandable.


    Second, Im sure the questions you ask take even more thought and consideration than most.


    She narrowed her eyes, feeling like she knew what thest reason was going to be.


    Finally, hot-inscribing Archive connections is a pain.


    T sighed. So, you dont actually see any of my messages.


    Well, I do on asion? Or I will on asion. I try to take a week or so every so often to catch up on correspondence.


    She narrowed her gaze. How asionally?


    He shrugged. Every century or so.


    That must be one rusting awful week.


    Once I get rid of all the messages from people who arent around to receive responses it bes more manageable, but yes, its rusting awful.


    Sheughed, despite herself. Youre joking, right?


    He returned a little smile. Yeah, I only wait about a decade between such message detoxes.


    She gave him an unamused look.


    What? I prefer to be ready to respond to emergencies.


    So, you have a means of being signaled in the case of emergency?


    Oh, absolutely. Basically any of the city rulers can contact me directly, no Archive connection required.


    Still, that sounds


    Lonely? He offered.


    I was going to say boring, but lonely works, too.


    He huffed augh. Its what I do. I am here to protect and uplift, Mistress T.


    He seemed genuinely content about that. That obvious contentment brought a smile to her lips. Well, in that case, I have a <em>lot </em>of questions to ask you while we sort out this cell.


    He shrugged. Ask away.


    T focused her threefold sight intently on absorbing what she perceived and learning as much as possible in this new ce and under these new circumstances.


    While t and her threefold sight were almost fully dedicated toward that purpose, she and Master Xeel talked.


    One topic that came up was the ck Legion. So why do automata always turn evil, or seem to?


    Master Xeel nced her way. Thats a funny thing to ask in the current situation.


    Oh? Then, she considered it. Is it because of Reality?


    Precisely, yes. Without a strong, sapient soul, everything is subject to the three pirs of existence. He chuckled. Honestly, even us sapients are rather influenced, but in different ways.


    But the ck Legion uses soulsvestigesfor their power sources, right?


    Some do, yes, but even those that do dont grant those souls power of choice. The soul is effectively just a power source, where for you and I, it is the core of who we are. It guides our actions, and is really rather indistinguishable from ourselves. Though, thats an odd way to talk about it, andnguage really doesnt have the right words to convey what I mean.


    T shrugged. I suppose. So, why does that mean theyll turn evil?


    They really just turn anti-human. Its why the arcanes created them to begin with. They assumed that so long as gated humanity existed, the ck legion would rampage against us. In one way they were correct.


    But?


    Master Xeel smiled. But they took umbrage with all gates, not just those in living humans.


    Vestiges.


    Precisely. They turned to sending on any soul that they werent actively using for the cause.


    And the arcanes didnt like that, because that would mean no magic.


    Well, not <em>no</em> magic, but effectively none for most arcanes, yes. When that turn happened, most arcanes became fundamentally opposed to the ck Legion, and when the ck Legion tried to seize the Mountain Kings magic engines It became all-out war. He smiled. It is that warin which gated humanity found itself on the same side as the arcanesthat changed everything. We had to work together for the first time in our history, and the ck Legion were a tangible example of what the war could cause if continued unchecked.


    T nodded. So, when the ck Legion was dealt with, finally, the fragile peace was maintained. There have been small skirmishes since, but no war.


    Master Xeel nodded in turn. Exactly, and in that peacein rtive safetywe have thrived. Its one reason why we havent ever struck without great cause. Then, we make it in why we attacked, so that it isnt seen as simply an opening salvo.


    She huffed augh. It is madness to me that we consider this safety.


    I did say rtive.


    You did, but so, <em>so</em> many people die.


    Fewer than when arcane Hallowed led raiding parties to raze our cities. Fewer than when we fought and bled for every child to grow into adulthood. Our children are safe now. Our adults? Well, they are not as safe as wed like, but almost all of our children survive.


    T found herself agreeing. It was odd to consider how, without magic, children would likely die far more often than they did. For her, childhood had been a time of safety. Only in adulthood had she walked in true danger.


    <em>How different would our world be if children died in droves and adults were the safer group?</em> She simply couldnt fathom it. What society would stand for it?


    It made the exceptions stand out the two boys that shed failed to save so long ago.


    <em>Rust I havent thought about them basically at all.</em>


    t broke her silence to chime in. <em>-Because Be-thric took you that night, and after that youve had more important things on your mind.-</em>


    <em>More important to me. Those boys I know their minders messed up, and I did all I could, but they still shouldnt have died.</em> She wasnt overly broken up over it, and that bothered her. She knew that context was key, and she just couldnt bring herself to do more than vaguely regret their fate in the context of everything else that had happened.


    Honestly, it wasnt worth spending time on. This was all a bit of a distraction as she still hadnt gotten an answer to her question.


    But what about all of this made the ck Legion, and indeed any automata, into our enemies in the first ce?


    Master Xeel gestured around them. Reality, Mistress T.


    Care to exin? she asked, trying to add levity and draw out some more detailed answers.


    After a moment, Master Xeel nodded. I will try.

 Continue the Story [Book 7 - Eskau]

    Continue the Story [Book 7 - Eskau]


    <strong>The iron-d reality of the world relentlesslyes for all. Arcanes, the enemies of humanity, thrive upon power harvested from broken human souls. The City Lords and Major Houses rule with unquestioned power.</strong>


    This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it


    T has been seized, torn away from all that she has ever known. A false history and personality was imnted within her, and only her revolutionary defenses and self-restoration magic have given her a fighting chance at all.


    She is behind enemy lines with an unexpected chance to seize power, learn from ancient experts, delve into the secrets of humanity''s mortal foe, and achieve her own freedom once more.


    In order to return home, T must im some measure of authority within the very same Major House that stole her freedom and tried to steal her very self.

 Chapter 416: Mission Accomplished

    Chapter 416: Mission Aplished


    T waited as Master Xeel collected his thoughts, still pouring his magic outward to slowly counter the remnants of the Reality MagesReikispower.


    Finally, he gave a slow nod. Reality is fundamentally opposed to us for two critical reasons. The first is obvious: Magic. We introduce more and more magic into existence every moment we continue to exist.


    When he paused, she decided to respond. I think I got that one.


    He chuckled. True, that is generally the most obvious reason. The second is a bit harder to understand, however.


    She smiled wryly. Ill try to pay close attention, then.


    He smiled in return. Im d to hear it. So, the only way that I can think to describe it is as a piece of paper.


    Okay.


    If you cut a piece of paper in half, how many pieces of paper do you have, then?


    Two. She gave him a t look. Is this the part thats hard to understand?


    His smile widened. No, not at all. Between Zeme and the next worldwhat we see as the afterlifethere was <em>a</em> void, a simple separation. Ignoring the disastrous mess of things made by magic that the arcanes call the Doman-Imithe, the void was just that. Now, with every gate, there is, in a sense, a division of that void. Because of the nature of the void, there are more voids now because of gates than there would be without.


    So, every gate creates a dual imbnce? More void and magic within existence?


    Essentially.


    So, shouldnt that mean that void and magic have more power, here? She frowned, considering.


    They do, but existence requires bnce.


    And then she understood. So, existence itself drags reality into prominence.


    Funny way of wording it, but effectively, yes.


    T grimaced. So, the automaton I have in my sanctum?


    If you activate it, Ill destroy it. Or someone else will. Even if it was perfectly safe nowwhich it wouldn''t beevery moment of activation would give it the chance to be corrupted by reality.


    She sighed. What if I soul-bound it? Or kept direct control of it through some sort of connection?


    He opened his mouth, but then hesitated. Well, that wouldnt actually be an automaton, then. The name really says most of it. Automaton. It acts autonomously. If thats not true, then its not an automaton.


    Its that autonomous action that allows the taint of Reality to grow?


    Master Xeel considered for a long moment then shook his head. No, I think that autonomous <em>choice</em> is the issue. That choice-making is what leaves an opening for corruption.


    T hesitantly disagreed, That cant be it.


    Oh? He regarded her again.


    Yeah, the core of the House of Bloods hold was an autonomous set of inscriptions that simply used a vestige to power itself. It made decisions, enacted magics, and generally ran the ce free of issues. My understanding was that it had been doing so for thousands of years.


    Master Xeel shook his head. I understand the confusion. Assuming they havent lost their rusting mindsmore than usual I supposethat core wasnt autonomous. It likely had incrediblyplex decision matrices pre-set by its creator. We humans use magics like that all the time. In fact, our cities defenses function atop decision matrices of incredibleplexity and nuance.


    Whats the difference between the two? I mean, how is a really intricate decision tree different from a choice? I think I get it in concept, but I dont think I could actually exin the difference.


    He pulled a long breath, then let it out slowly, his cheeks puffing with the exhale. Thats quite the existential question, Mistress T. It could be argued that humans are each just a veryplex decision matrix, built by our biology, upbringing, and environment. I would say that the difference is the soul.


    She huffed augh. So, a soul is what makes us into autonomous actorsmore than just a decision matrixbut being an autonomous actor without a soul is what opens the ck Legion up for corruption.


    He gave a half-smile. I see what youre saying, and it does sound self-defeating, but in essence, yes. There is no hard line that says this is just aplex matrix and that is an autonomous actor. All that we know is that the more autonomous a thing is, the more open it is to corruption. I could list off a thousand ways to define the line, or gradient, or binary, or spectrum, but it wouldnt be that useful unless you intend on delving into magical constructs and want to stay on the safe side of things. There is no point in categorizing things unless you have use for those categories when youre done.


    She frowned but didnt interrupt.


    The automata were set free with their initial programming and allowed to simply act. Maybe that is the great distinction. They are created to act independently, so it is our conception of them as independent or autonomous actors that opens them up to the corruption. He shrugged. Ive conveyed most of what I can on the subject, as I am by no means an expert.


    T understood the confusion.


    It seemed like reality corrupted and bent even creatureswhich had at least what seemed to be soulstoward hating humanity.


    After all, most magical and arcanous creatures dislikedor even outright hatedgated humanity. But Terry didnt.


    Hed chosen to at least get along with her. So, he wasnt corrupt.


    On the other side, Io <em>had </em>been corrupted, turning on her creators.


    The ck Legion had as well.


    Yet again, some Mages had familiars of both magical and arcanous varieties.


    Why couldnt that work with automata, too?


    For that matter, why were humans and arcanes immune to realitys corruption?


    That drew her attention back outward to the cell that surrounded them.


    <em>Were not immune. We just have a bit more magic</em><em>maybe a bit more void too</em><em>and that protects us? Instes us?</em> She didnt know, and it seemed like even Master Xeel didnt have answers for her.


    Based on Master Xeels words, she let that topic die, turning instead to other things that shed been curious about, and simply hadnt had a chance to inquire about.


    Master Xeel?


    Yes?


    May I ask Did you ever marry?


    No, I did not. There was a bit of sadness to his answer.


    Can I ask why not?


    After a long moment, he shook his head, still with a bit less energy than hed shown just a moment before. I would rather discuss something else, if you dont mind.


    Of course. Was Reforging hard for you?


    Heughed. No, it was my easiest step by far.


    Ts eyebrows rose. Oh?


    He shrugged. I transformed myself entirely into soul-bound light. You dont have to remake every cell in your body if you dont have any cells in your body.


    T moved to poke him, but her finger stopped on a little circle of hardened light that appeared in the way.


    The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the vition.


    I have a body when I look like this, Mistress T, but it is one I build entirely at my discretion, and under my own authority. Thus? He trailed off implicatively.


    A Reforged body.


    Precisely.


    That seems that seems like cheating.


    He shrugged again. Unique to me and my own journey of advancement. It wouldnt work for anyone else, I imagine. I also had to make certain sacrifices, but I think thats enough on that topic as well.


    As you say. Thank you.


    Of course.


    Well, there are definitely other things Id like to ask about.


    For his part, Master Xeel humored her, easily falling into the role of teacher and instructor even while he continued to dump his magic outward.


    The process of clearing out Reikis ces well as the conversationwas quite enlightening, all things considered, and by the end, she had even managed to understand some of the nuances and interactions well enough to advance another percent toward Paragon.


    In the end, it took three days to fully bnce existence within the cell.


    * * *


    T and her unit arrived back in Alefast in high spirits, their mission aplished with little difficulty.


    It hadnt been easy, but it was hardly difficult on the scale of things.


    At least thats how T saw it.


    They had all received a unit bonus for removing the need for a cell, and everyone had given a big portion of that to T, despite her insisting that that wasnt necessary. Theyd have given it all, because she was the only person from their unit to really do anythingexcept facilitate transit there and backbut she absolutely refused.


    The other unit had received their standard pay and a bonus both for identifying a problem cell before entering and calling in the right resources to deal with it effectively.


    Reikis cell had not had a cell-core, unfortunately, but Kit had still been able to consume the dimensionality and material of the ce, once Master Xeel had deemed it safe to do so.


    That was actually seen as another service that T provided, because the reintroduction of that much space to the region would have weakened existence in the area for years toe.


    In discussing things with Master Xeel, they agreed that Kit <em>could</em> have eaten the cell earlier, but it likely would have wiped out mostif not allthe magic in the air within the dimensional storage, and that would have been less than convenient.


    As it was, T was devoting all of her excess poweralong with implementing void-channels to increase her throughputinto Kit, in the attempt to bring the average power density back up to match her density.


    All the new dimensionalityall the added space and materialhad been existentially neutral after all of Master Xeels work, and so adding it all in had lowered the average quite a bit.


    The Reforged had not been willing to bump up the density before Kits acquisition. Though he had found the request entertaining.


    Even with the lowered average, T maintained the high density in most of the expanded space by keeping a volume equivalent to that added space rtively magic-free.


    Once that was established she slowly began backfilling the magic-bereft space with power.


    But all of that had been sorted long before they arrived back at Alefast.


    T was a bit introspective and considered just going off to be by herself, but Rane was actually at the edge of the city, waiting to receive them as they arrived, having received her message asking him to be there.


    Even though shed asked him toeand so shed been almost sure that hed be thereseeing him brought a smile to her lips.


    As she looked his way, T noticed that Anna was with him, which dimmed her smile just a bit.


    That wasnt because she disliked the girl. On the contrary, T actually found Anna an incredibly decent person, but she was what T considered a ming extrovert, and if Ts analogy were carried further, that me seemed to subsist by consuming introverts in an attempt to be kind and social.


    T liked her own introversion.


    Master! The chipper young woman called to Mistress Vanga while giving an enthusiastic wave as the units vehicle settled down upon the ground. Youre back!


    The Healer smiled demurely in return. Anna, how were your duties while I was gone?


    Oh, just great. I only used magic to heal when mundane skills wouldnt door to relieve sufferingjust as you instructed. Gwenna says that I am picking up the basics of the mundane craft rather well, and she thinks that I should be able to take the Apprentice level evaluation sooner than expected, maybe even this year! Anna was practically bouncing with excitement.


    T found herself marginally exhausted as the <em>torrent</em> of words continueding from the woman, and so T tried to move off the vehicle and around the conversation unnoticed.


    She failed.


    Anna, of course, saw T immediately and grinned widely. Mistress T. It is always a pleasure to see you. Are we still having dinner at the end of the week?


    T had gotten in the habit of having one meal a week with the Zats, and Anna had been joining her parents and siblings in that meal with T whenever Ts travels and duties had her in Alefast over the recurring mealtime.


    T gave the other woman a smile and nodded. Yes, Anna. We will eat at the same time, and the entrance will be on the same wall as usual.


    Anna gave a grinning bow. Thank you, Mistress T. I look forward to it.


    Rane had stepped over to meet T. He seemed a bit dazed, likely from having been with the woman while they waited for T and Mistress Vanga to arrive. Hey, T. It sounds like you had an eventful trip?


    She nodded slowly and definitively in response. Oh, yes. Are you up for chatting?


    He smiled, seeming to be recovering. Almost always. Your message said you wanted to process some things. Does now still work?


    Thank you, Rane, and yes. I would appreciate being able to unload a little.


    Then lets go find a good spot.


    They waved goodbye to her unit and to Anna.


    Then, T smiled, falling into step beside him as they walked through Alefast, together.


    Terry flickered to Ts shoulder as they moved away, and T created an opening into Kit in front of the Terror bird, offering him the option.


    He seemed to consider for a moment, then he bobbed his assent, headbutted Ts cheek, trilled happily toward Rane, and flickered away.


    Apparently, Terry had taken the three days while she was within the cell to roam the surrounding countryside to explore, hunt, and get up to whatever it was he did on his own.


    Consequently, he was ready for some Kit time as T had taken to calling his lengthy stays within her sanctum.


    As for T, she had tried to take the time with Master Xeel to process everything that was swirling about within her mind, but her talk with him had also added more debris to the maelstrom of thoughts and emotions swirling through her head.


    The flight back hadnt been nearly long enough to reorder her thoughts, and she didnt want to just talk with herself about it, even if that was in the form of a dialogue with t.


    Thus, she had requested the walk with Rane. Even so, for the moment, they only walked side by side infortable silence.


    The two of them swung by Artia and Adrills shop, dropping Kits door on the outside of the alley wall and sticking their heads in to say hi and let them know that T was back.


    Beyond that, Rane and T just kept walking.


    Rane could tell that a lot was bothering her, but he didnt press. Instead he was just there for her.


    <em>Like he always is.</em>


    He almost never overstepped; he never forced his help on her; and he was always willing to give it when she wanted or needed his assistance.


    She shifted to bump her shoulder into his arm. Thank you.


    He looked her way with a smile. Youre wee, I suppose, but what for?


    For always being there to help me. For being a good friend. She smiled his way.


    Oh, just a <em>good</em> friend? He teased, emphasizing good so it was obvious he wasnt contesting the friend part.


    You know, Id say that youre my best friend, but then Terry might get jealous.


    Rane chuckled. I wouldnt want to be the cause of that, so I appreciate your restraint.


    Of course, dear Rane, I do so strive to not have your end be the result of avian assault.


    He shook his head, Terry tribtion would be an awful way to go.


    Oh, I like that. Flickering iling?


    He made a fake horrified face. Horrible in concept and structure, well done.


    She huffed augh and bumped him again. Regardless. Thank you.


    You are most wee, T. It has beenand always will bemy pleasure. He quirked a smile. You know, youve been there for me, too.


    Oh?


    Yeah. When I joined your caravan, you were kind to meand more than just in a professional sense. I was a bitcking in social capacity, and you helped me to improve.


    You <em>were?</em> She teased in return.


    That made his smile grow. Fair. Im still not the most adroit, but I feel that I dont put my foot in my own mouth nearly as often.


    Well, that was always better than putting it into other peoples mouths. She said, trying to keep the teasing going.


    Then, they both paused, though they kept walking. Rane was the first to break the momentary silence. Like to kick them in the face? What were you going for, exactly?


    She shrugged, giving a half hearted chuckle. Honestly, I wasnt thinking of anything specific. I was just trying to turn the words around.


    Fair enough.


    They fell back intofortable silence as they continued meandering through the city.


    Finally, Rane broke the silence again. Do you want to talk about it?


    She hesitated for a long minute, during which Rane didnt press or say anything further. Finally, she nodded. You know what? I really think I do.


    And that opened the floodgates.


    She found herself unloading about everything that had been on her mindeverything except her stresses rted to his Refining, of course and her other, growing, thoughts about himand Rane simply listened, asking rifying questions, and showing her undivided attention.


    She talked about Reiki, about Thron, even about Be-thric.


    She whispered about those who had died under her charge, including two children in particr.


    She ranted about Masters Xeel, Grediv, and Jevin.


    She theorized about master Lisa, and the future of the gateless humans throughout the gated human cities.


    In the end, she felt like everything in her mind was just sttering all over the cobblestones as she tried to piece together everything.


    As she talked, T felt the weight slowly lifting from her mind and shoulders, and she found herself naturally leaning into thefort of Ranes presence and listening ear.

 Book 7 - Eskau is fully live!!!

    Book 7 - Eskau is fully live!!!


    Find it on Amazon (epub, KDP, & paperback[Soon]) and via BookFunnel (Audio):


    https://geni.us/Eskau


    This is the <strong>entire</strong> Arcanends arc, spanning from ch. 200 to 26672 chapters and bonus chapters all told.


    The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.


    Please review if at all possible. That helps more than you know! Remember that any review should only be for the included chapters.


    Multi-regional review link:


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 Chapter 417: Arrivals

    Chapter 417: Arrivals


    T stood by with a mix of horror and resignation as the repercussions of her choice were realized.


    She was sitting on her throne within her sanctum, unconsciously trying to regain a feeling of control as she watched the goings on with her three-fold sight and general perception of the goings on within Kit.


    More than two hundred people were in the midst of the process of moving into Irondale, consisting of both individuals and families.


    She was confused as to why they would want to live there, and at the same time, shepletely understood.


    In fact, she had really expected this, which is why shed had Irondale built to begin with but she still didnt get it


    Sure, it was safe within Kit, so long as T could be trusted, and so long as she didnt die.


    All things considered, it was likely less dangerous than Alefast would be over the next decades as it fully waned.


    They also had the teleportation emergency exit set up. So in the event of disaster anyone living within Kit could flee regardless of what happened to T.


    But even the question of safety wasnt as important whenpared to the second facet of all of this.


    T had agreed to induct any gateless into magic, once Adrill, Brandon, and Kedva all concurred that the individual had learned enoughand were of a characterto be safe and trusted with magic.


    That was the overarching maybe that likely helped make up some peoples minds.


    Additionally, T quickly learned that despite how high Master Simon and Adrill had set the rent on buildings andnd within and around Irondale, it seemed that there were still substantial profits to be made by farmers and mundane crafters of various kinds.


    There was even a merchant who had contracted arge section ofnd for warehouses.


    That particr case, T was obligated to let him know when she nned on going to other cities, and give him at least a couple of hours in any given city that she passed through, but honestly, that wasnt very burdensome.


    t would keep the man and his family apprised of Ts travel ns, when there were any, and so he likely stood to gain quite a bit by using her as a less dangerous caravan.


    It wasnt enough to inspire T to make runs on her own, nor to make trips that she wouldnt have otherwise made, but it was something that would be profitable for the merchant apparently.


    <em>Im d that I dont have to deal with it.</em>


    All told, T was only required to have Kit open for entry and exit for a few hours a day, so long as it was made clear when that would be, emergencies excepted.


    A fun new feature was therge, cut-stone arch that had been built on an otherwise dead end road out of Irondales town squareeven if calling it a town square felt a bit pretentious to T at the moment.


    The arch wasnt necessary, but it did give a defined ce for T to generally put the gateway into and out of Kit.


    It allowed the town to n routes for efficiently moving through the area as quickly as needed.


    Shed also had to change the exterior location, as having it on the wall in the alley beside Artia and Adrills shop had be infeasible, as funny as it was to consider the idea of having hundreds of people having to duck in and out of an alley.


    Master Grediv had worked with her and one of the city nners, and together, theyd chosen a nk wall near a somewhat major crossroads.


    Theyd also put up a sign that made it explicitly clear that anyone entering the gatewaywhen it was therewas putting themselves entirely under Ts authority in every way, and thus people should only enter with that understanding.


    Theyd still had a few peoplee in and try to simply im buildings ornd, but that had onlysted about half an hour.


    Thankfully no one had been hurt or even had too severe of altercations over the issue. Instead, a message had been sent Ts way.


    Even then, it had still taken that long for T to throw them out because shed been on the other side of the city.


    Aside from those few bad actors, people were mostly curious,ing in and wandering around, even doing the equivalent of nature walks through Irondale and the burgeoning surroundings.


    T was grateful that theyd gotten the artificial sun installed on that side of the expanded space, so it wasnt just illusory light, but instead real light, providing warmth and the ability for nts to grow within the expanded space.


    It also freed up energy as Kit didnt have to constantly create, enforce, and alter the illusion in real time.


    T was keeping Irondale as a lower magic zone to keep from rebirthing people in power on ident, and that helped her with her average power issue, even if she was working to correct it as quickly as she could.


    Outside of Kit, fall was in full swing, and there was a nice chilly bite to the air.


    T, obviously, didnt need to change what she wore because of the weather, but the regr citizenry around Alefast were walking about with more or heavieryers, giving a cozy sense to the city as a whole.


    * * *


    Fall progressed and the first snows came and melted away.


    Snow came again and stuck, and just more than one month of having folk within Irondale came and went without great incident.


    T and Rane were walking along the wall around Alefast during one of her afternoon shifts, just talking and enjoying each otherspany.


    Terry was curled up on her shoulder, contentedly sleeping as she and Rane chatted.


    It had been a rtively uneventful afternoon, even though the number of magical attacks had been continuing to increase as a whole.


    That day was not to be an exception.


    Ts three-fold sight picked up the movement a moment before arge pack of wolves exited the forest nearest the wall, seeming almost to have faded out from the trees themselves. Though, now that she was specifically looking, T could see arge number of them further back still among the trees.


    Thergest of the lupines put caravan wagons to shame with its sleek size, standing easily twenty feet from paw to front shoulder.


    The smallest was still nearly ten times the mass of a normal wolf or dog, approaching horse-sized.


    A collective silence fell over the walls as the nearby guards took in the sudden appearance of nearly two hundred wolves.


    Terry lifted his head, his feathers raising slightly as his eyes widened in evident surprise.


    T looked to Rane in confusion.


    It had been he who had told her that the wolves generally left humanity alone, at least the more powerful wolves did.


    Thergest wolf out there was restraining her aura, but it was still obviously a deep indigo to Ts magesight.


    It made a lovely counterpoint to the wolfs otherwise snow-white pelt.


    A voice rolled over the citys wall, somehow easy to understand, while still obviouslying from an inhuman source, Anatalis sends his regards, humans.


    There was a moment of stunned rigidity, citizens on the streets behind the wall seemed to sense something was going on, because they cleared out with obvious speed.


    The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.


    Barely a single moment passed before Master Grediv and several other Paragons and Refined appeared along the walls.


    Ahh, good, the master of the city has arrived.


    We hold no ill will toward you Anatalins. Why have youe to our city? The man was standing rigid, a sapphire staff held low in his hand to be below the crionsand therefore out of viewwhile still being ready for quick use.


    No ill will? Is that all we are to you? Simply those you dont wish ill upon? The rollingugh of the lead wolf was like the crumbling of a mountain. Ts unit-mates hade out of the guard room and stood atop a nearby tower, looking down at the visitors.


    She could see visible stress in Master Grediv, even if it was likely only because she knew him so well. Still, his voice was calm as he responded. I meant no offense.


    The wolf growled at that. My Alpha may have been mistaken if you grovel so easily, human. Wee to test the fur and fang of humanitys rising generation. Anatalisin the wisdom of the manybelieve that you <em>might</em> be ready for closer partnership with the Pack.


    Master Grediv leaned forward, cing his free hand upon the walltop, clearly surprised by the revtion, and cautiously interested, What do you propose?


    As he stalked through the southeastern forests, Anatalis slew uncounted Leshkin whod strayed where they were not wanted, and yet there were fewer than he had expected, fewer than he was used to finding along that border.


    T felt a shiver run up her spine and then back down. Terry gave a soft trill, headbutting her cheek.


    He smelled the scent of a young one, one with less than a century of life to her name, yet one drenched in battle and power. This has given him hope for your pups. He sent me that your young may be tested against his sireling, one of the Pack who has yet to reach his fiftieth year.


    A russet furred wolfjust about the size of arge horsepadded forward from among the trees to stand beside the white-furred titan.


    His fur was crisscrossed with scars. It should have given him a mangy appearance, but instead ofcking hair, the scars grew fur of a silver-white, and that gave him a more mottled, textured appearance than was usual.


    The wolfs aura was a slightly green yellow, just barely more advanced than Ts own.


    Rane leaned over to give T a bit of information. When one of the Pack dies, they are reborn without scar or blemish. For him to be so scarred speaks of intense battles, survived.


    T smiled weakly, nodding her thanks. She was still trying to process that a beast-god had caught her scent and responded like this.


    The wolf spoke again. Any of the rank of Refined or greateras you measure advancementwho is younger than a century is invited to meet the sireling in battle, soul against soul.


    Again, Rane provided an exnation. They fight only with things that are soulbound. No other equipment, not even inscriptions will be allowed. Humanity has settled disputes with the Anatalins in such a manner in the past. We have only ever won when those such as Master Xeel were allowed to participate.


    Master Grediv nodded his understanding. You honor us with such an offer, but there are few who have ever achieved such a feat.


    That is why we havee to this city as it wanes. Your strongest gather for such urrences, is that not correct?


    It is, and they do.


    Good. Then, do any fit the criteria within your walls? Or should we venture elsewhere. T saw the wolfs head turn slightly, her eyes looking straight at T.


    <em>She knows.</em>


    Master Grediv nodded. There are two here who meet the requirements, but one is not a fighter.


    <em>Two?</em>


    <em>-Theres a Constructionist who is ny three years old. He just finished Refining two years ago.-</em>


    <em>Huh I didnt know that.</em>


    Ranes fists were clenched beside her, and she heard his knuckles pop with the force of the contraction, his forearms bunching with muscle so much that they were quivering.


    <em>He would have been one, too, and he knows it. He also knows that he still could, if only he could make that choice.</em>


    Terry was regarding therge man beside them but didnt otherwise react.


    Rane also seemed to be working his jaw, water evident in his eyes, though no tears fell.


    T ced her hand on his shoulder, and he somehow tensed even further before rxing a bit.


    He spoke very, very quietly, clearly trusting Ts incredibly enhanced sense to hear him, I made my choice. This is but one more consequence. I will endure.


    The wolf rumbled, several of the others howling in a way that somehow didnt interfere with their leaders voice. Then the one will do.


    T somehow detected something along with the words. It was a disdain? Dislike for one who would beg off of fighting.


    After all, what was power for if not to defend the Pack and its territory?


    If power did not provide for the Pack, it was useless. Worse than useless, it drew one away from the Pack, weakening that which was left behind.


    Even so, there wasthreaded througha bit of resignation as the leader of the wolves seemed to also concede that humans used things that were created, so one could provide in that way and still hold power in a good way, but she clearly didnt like it.


    Master Grediv turned toward T, his eyes briefly flicking toward Rane.


    Rane jerked back at even the quick nce, and T closed her eyes in empathetic pain.


    Master Gredivs voice was soft but firm as he asked, Mistress T?


    T squeezed Ranes shoulder, opened her eyes and hopped up on the crentions of the wall. I will fight him, if that is what is best for humanity.


    The wolf leaderughed once again. Anatalis will be gratified that I found <em>the</em> young human who intrigued him, and you have advanced since your rampage as well. Truly, you are a wolf at heart.


    Terry had stood up on her shoulder, talons secured into her elk leathers for good purchase.


    The avian looked at T, then toward the wolves, then back to T. Finally, he shook himself and trilled, the sound much greater than it had any right to be.


    Silence once again filled the area.


    The wolf leaders voice rolled into that silence. You im the rights of a flockmate? To fight at her side?


    Terry trilled his assent.


    You are not bonded. The wolf didnt say this as if it were an objection, simply a statement of fact.


    Terry let out a few chirps in response.


    Ahh, yes. I see. Threads of existence tie you, even if not bonds of the soul. She turned to the russet wolf.


    That much smaller wolf spoke for the first time, sounding like an excited teen, barely holding back his jubtion even as his projected voice was easily sent to all who were nearby. I will fight her with any she cares to bring.


    Rane shifted, but before he could do anything else, the wolf leader spoke. One. You may bring he terror bird or none.


    Rane slumped just slightly as he grimaced, denied once again.


    Terry squawked his readiness. T nced at the terror bird, the magically wonderful murder-bird, her friend. Are you sure?


    He looked back and responded with a soft coo. T somehow understood it as How could I not?


    She smiled and nodded, turning back to look down on the wolves. We will face you.


    Without further dy, she stepped from the walltop and dropped,nding with a minor <em>boom</em> on the ground before the wall.


    My understanding is that inscriptions are not allowed, is that so? T rified.


    Nothing unbound to you is allowed. Your clothing is bound, so shedding your false fur is not required. I have brought a gift of Anatalis, which will render your inscriptions inert for the term of the fight. With your permission, I will enact it now so that you may limate before the sh begins.


    T nodded, even as she strode away from where she hadnded.


    She didnt know the source of the powers that rolled over her as if her iron, aura, and resistance werent there, but her magic was suddenly <em>much</em> weaker, only her natural magics remaining.


    <em>No, not weaker, less directed? Less stable.</em>


    <em>-This rusting bleh.-</em>


    <em>Im sorry, t.</em> T knew that t would be fine, but without Ts mental inscriptionsas well ascking the specific inscriptions for tthe alternate interface was severely restricted.


    T moved, feeling her range of movement and the power of her less enhanced body.


    Still more than a hundred yards away, the wolf stood ready, havinge forward as she did.


    He wasrger than her, and she could tell that he outweighed her both magically and physically.


    You have pre prepared attacks on your back. The wolf leader pointed out.


    T did, indeed, have eight siege orbs in four sets in a holster on her belt. Is that forbidden?


    It is.


    Let her keep them. The sireling snarled eagerly.


    No.


    T just shrugged, taking them out of the elk leather created pouch and tossing them back toward the wall where theynded in a puff of snow. What of these?


    She held up her tungsten rod and balls, along with her defensive discs. The wolf leader gave a contemtive growl. They are bound to you at their core. They will be allowed.


    T nodded her acknowledgement, and let them go, moving them to her battle positions by the effort of her will.


    The six discs moved, floating in a somewhat random orbit around her; the tungsten rod hovered across the back of her neck, barely an inch from touching her; and the balls moved to float just beside each shoulder.


    Are you ready? The question seemed to shake the nearby forests, causing the trees there to shiver and their branches to shed their burden of snow.


    To the death? T asked, yet again trying to rify.


    Yes.


    The russet wolf interjected again. I will ept your surrender, human. You need not fear.


    The wolf leader growled even deeper, and the sirelings fur stood on end, even as his head dipped in bted respect. Though impertinent, he does speak truly. We know your death is not like ours.


    Understood. T nodded once.


    The wolves howled again, once more not obscuring the leaders voice, Are you ready?


    Terry suddenly grew in size until his shoulders were of a height with the sirelings, his neck holding his head higher still.


    He trilled toward the sky in a way that seemed to be a direct challenge to the wolves howls.


    T felt herself grin even as she enacted herst preparations.


    Iron and white steel flowed over her,yering her hex-based, ative armor around her body. She even gave a little hop at the end in order to allow it to cover the bottoms of her feet.


    Then, with an act of will and magiclikely very simr to the wolves own manner of speechshe sent her voice outward, Ready.

 Chapter 418: The End of a Story

    Chapter 418: The End of a Story


    T almost felt bad, now that she considered things.


    She stood, fully armored in ative iron and white steel.


    Flow was now in her hand in the form of a ive. The wolf before her wasrger than her by quite a bit, and she felt like the extra reach would be useful at least at the beginning of the engagement.


    A tungsten rod floated behind her neck, ready to protect that vulnerable area, while two tungsten balls hung in the air, one by each shoulder ready to deflect or redirect.


    Her defensive discs floated around her in irregr patterns, orbiting her in preparation to interpose themselves between her and any attack.


    Beside her, Terry stood, towering nearly double her height, eyes locked on his fellow predator.


    He was <em>massively</em> outmatched in advancement, but he still had chosen to stand beside her in the face of this challenge, apparently iming her as a flockmate, and demanding the right to fight by her side.


    On one side, the fight seemed incredibly unfair.


    She was effectively an armored juggernaut with a teleporting murder bird,ing to kill a wild dog.


    Yet, despite it all, she couldnt help but feel like the advantage wasnt hers.


    * * *


    Rane looked down from the wall top, standing beside his former master.


    T looked like a mythical goddess of war, Terrybeside hera beast of legend.


    The wolf they faced looked simple, yet the Anatalins were never as simple as they appeared.


    Legend had it that the god-beast had never been inscribed, and he emphasized breadth of capacity and flexibility in tactics in those he taught directly.


    This russet wolf seemed to be one such pupil.


    Can she win? His voice was soft, but he knew that Master Grediv heard him. Master Grediv always heard him.


    I dont know. She has powerful soulbonds and an honestly terrifyingpanion, but to face an Anatalin wolf and win? We will see.


    * * *


    T felt something echo through her very being.


    It wasnt words that she had heardthe sireling hadnt spokenbut somehow with her threefold sight and still somewhat enhanced senses, she <em>heard</em> what the wolf was doing.


    Ghost Steps on New-Fallen Snow.


    Without any physical movement, and only the barest flicker of magic, the wolf was behind her, already biting for her neck.


    An act of will caused the tungsten rod to shoot backward. It was too small to bridge the massive jaw, instead being fully engulfed before it pped against the back of the beasts throat, briefly arresting his attack.


    At the same time, Terry flickered away, appearing on the wolfs back to rip and tear at the fur there.


    His talons couldnt pierce the hide atop the Anatalins back, and he screeched in irritation at the realization.


    T spun out of the way, whipping Flow around to cut at the wolfs face.


    Even as she spunVoid Fire Disgorgementthe wolf hacked up a glob of purple fire.


    The bloodstars in her tungsten rod winked out and when the fire faded, there was no trace of the rod either.


    Flow had cut the flesh, but nced off the hardened skull of the lupine, evoking a yipping growl even as the sireling nted his front paws and lunged at her again, somehowing in low this time despite his size.


    A small amount of clearish blood spilled onto the snow, the iron imed by T and pulled away.


    T lined up her defensive discs, pping them against the wolfs head in sequence to nudge it to the side even as she twisted out of the way yet again, Flow licking out to leave yet more cuts through the attackers hide, iming more iron and continuing the flow of clear, yellowish rivulets of blood.


    Terry flickered, appearing in front of one of the sirelings back legs, mping down on it with his powerful beak, and tripping the wolf up momentarily.


    Yet, the momentary reprieve didntst.


    The wolf twisted nearly in half and snapped at Terry, causing the terror bird to flicker to his other side, where Terryshed at lupine hamstrings.


    A back leg jerked out of the way, before the attached pawshed out in a horse-like back kick.


    T came in with a lunging thrust, then, trying tond a solid hit on the incredibly slippery foe.


    She thought shed cornered the creature again, but


    Ghost Steps on New-Fallen Snow.


    A dozen yards away, the sireling snapped at Terry just as the avian flickered into being, the snow at their feet exploding in violent puffs.


    Terry was <em>almost</em> caught, but flickered once again before jaws snapped shut.


    What followed wasfranklyterrifying to behold.


    Terry and the wolf flickered and moved around each other, ranging across the whole of the battlefield, each unable tond telling blows against the other.


    Yet, T was not left alone.


    Every other second or so, in no discernable pattern, the sireling would appear near her, striking at her with tooth or w.


    He even body-checked her once, forcing her to absorb the energy of the hit in her armor before reforming theyers.


    She was holding her ownwell, Terry was holding <em>their </em>own, and she wasnt dying in the confusionbut she knew that the young wolf was holding back.


    Every exchange between them left another minor wound on the wolf, but they were just that, minor.


    Hed only shown a single magical ability, except to remove an annoyance from within his mouth.


    That purple fire had been of the void, somehow, and she did <em>not</em> look forward to facing it directly. It also made her hesitant to use Flow in its void form as void countered void with incredible ease.


    <em>At least I have a ready defense if he tries to use it on me.</em>


    * * *


    Rane watched with growing concern as T was put on the back foot time and time again.


    Her skill and Terrys mastery of flickering teleportation kept them relevant in the sh, but they were not in control of the fights momentum.


    Terry seemed both more skilled in his teleportation, and could teleport more often, but the Anatalin was relentless, making efficient use of every movement.


    Where Terry used his flickering to attack, defend, and maneuver, the wolf seemed to only use it to reposition himself in order to keep both of his foes properly engaged at the same time.


    Rane couldnt help but grimace when T took hits that he could have avoided with his own magic.


    He had no delusions that he would be doing better than T over all, but it was still a stark reminder that he could have been doing <em>something</em> if he were advanced enough.


    If he had made a different choice.


    Now, T was fighting when he might have joined her, and she somehow seemed to be losing even though she hadnt taken a single injury that Rane had seen.


    He wanted to be out there, protecting her.


    Then, a thought came unbidden to his mind. <em>Just her?</em>


    That made him pause.


    Did he just want to be beside T? Did he only want to protect her?


    The thought was almostughable, yet he knew that hed clung to it in the past.


    It wasnt true, though.


    She wasnt actually what he desired most, even though he did want to stand by her side as an equal.


    What did he want?


    What was his driving goal?


    He had a shing memory of burn wolves tearing an innocent family apart while he stood helplessly by, rendered so helpless by his own choice, his own folly.


    He didnt want to advance in order to stay with T, to protect her.


    She didnt need his protection, and she was a protector in her own right.


    The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.


    He looked down and amended. Sometimes she could use his assistance, but that wouldnt be him protecting her. That was them working together to protect others.


    That resonated somehow.


    He wasnt seeking advancement to follow a friend, to pursue something more than friendship.


    He sought something more than that.


    He desired something deeper.


    He wanted to protect <em>everyone</em>.


    Deep within him, it felt like his gatehis very soulresonated with that idea, and he found himself drawn into deeper contemtion as he continued to watch the fight y out below.


    * * *


    T had always struggled when sparring against Terry.


    Even the first time theyd met, when theyd truly fought, shed done terribly. Shed likely only survived because he was a cautious fighter and was surprised by her resilience.


    Despite that, the main reason shed never seen him as a true threat was that hecked prative power, and shed believed that she could oust him. Even so, she had found herself utterly terrified when fighting him because of his sheer seeming inevitability and relentlessness in his assaults.


    This wolf wasnt nearly as good at teleporting around as Terry was, but he hit <em>hard.</em>


    Case in point, T staggered back as a paw caught her across the chest and tried to throw her to the ground.


    The ative defense cracked, splintered, and gave way, causing much less force to actually reach her, and Flow left a shallow cut on the paw in retaliation, but that was it.


    The de imed a bit more iron for her, but not nearly enough to make a difference.


    It did seem like T was winning the battle of attrition, as he was bleeding and she wasnt, but she was also breathing hard.


    She wasnt used to getting winded, but after fighting at full speed for what felt like hoursbut was likely closer to ten minutesshe was starting to feel just that.


    It didnt make sense.


    She felt like she was being hounded by an apex predator.


    Unable to get away.


    Unable to fight back.


    All she could do was run and wait to die.


    She was so much less than


    <em>-Think. T.-</em> t sounded incredibly strained as she was operating on a vastly limited amount of power and mental capacity.


    Ts eyes widened, intrinsically understanding what t was trying to convey, and she growled. <em>Mental magics, too? Rust you.</em>


    Her iron <em>exploded</em> outward as dozens of spikes drove into the ground, and with greater aura superiority, she found the tendrils of power clinging to Flow and her white steel.


    <em>Begone.</em> She banished the drips of power with unquestioned authority.


    The sireling moved back, appearing a dozen yards away, watching her more warily now.


    <em>He was taking hits toy the seeds of his magic. Now, hes reassessing how to approach this fight.</em>


    She straightened, not even having realized that shed been hunching until then.


    With another growl, T cocked her arm back and <em>threw</em> Flow in the form of a sword. Terry!


    The wolf scoffed, taking the swords hit.


    The de deflected off the thick fur and hide, even if it did leave a shallow cut in its wake.


    But then, Terry was there.


    He was smallerbut not shoulder smand both of his talons wrapped around Flows hilt, redirecting its motion. Then, he grew massive, and drove the sword downward.


    A startled yelp sounded out, the first true indication of pain from the sireling since the fight began.


    Terry had driven Flow up to the hilt into the wolfs back, between two ribs. The hit also ttened the lupine form against the ground with Terrys brief moment of extreme size and weight.


    T felt arge amount of iron immediately imed, with a bit more added every moment that the sword remained.


    Likely noticing something was off with the weapon, T felt something around the sireling flex, and Flow was pushed out.


    The wolf had clearly be tired of the teleporting terror bird. Enough!


    Void ShroudPurple light wrapped around Terry, utterly encapsting him for a moment.


    The avian screeched in obvious paina bit of fear evident in the soundeven as Tshed out with her aura and broke the working.


    Terry staggered as hended on his feet, his feathers smoking, many seemingly having been destroyed in some manner even in that brief moment.


    T called Flow back to her hand, using the oft-forgotten ring around its hiltjust below the guardto whip it around for a parting sh against the wolf.


    He just grunted, clearly focused on something else. <em>Altering his magics?</em>


    Do you have more, Terry?


    Terry flickered back to his feet, but then slumped sideways, clearly exhausted and injured.


    Go. Ill take it from here.


    He squawked in irritation.


    You did well. I dont think Id still be standing without the time you gave me to figure out what was going on. I dont want you to die.


    The wolf had returned to his feet, now bleeding a steady <em>drip drip.</em>


    It was odd to see red begin mixing with the mostly clear, ironless blood, but that wasnt Ts focus at the moment.


    The wolf seemed content to wait while T and Terry spoke.


    Finally, Terry bobbed a nod, and flickered away, appearing on Ranes shoulder atop the wall, where Master Grediv seemed to instantly inspect him for permanent injury and the need for immediate healing.


    Your care for your Pack does you credit, human. Are you ready for the next sh?


    Yes.


    T expected him to teleport again, but apparently, the wolf had adopted that tactic specifically because of Terry.


    <em>He is taking the tactic of meeting us on our own footing and winning anyway.</em> It was a terrifying demonstration, but T didnt let it shake her.


    Instead, she firmed her resolve as he crouched low and lunged toward her, his quick sprint eating up the distance between them.


    T could tell that while the sireling was still injured, he was rapidly healing.


    The magics around him had not included healing before, but now, she had enough familiarity with that type of magic to pick up on the workings specifically.


    <em>He is changing his magic on the run?</em> That was T found herself in awe.


    She only knew of two humans who did that, Mistress Cerna and Master Xeel, and both were among the more powerful and versatile Archons in all of humanity. They were both much, <em>much</em> older than this wolf was supposed to be.


    He must be a dedicated student indeed.


    She really didnt have time for these musings, given the normal level of enhancement to her mentality was absent.


    <em>If hes better at magic than me, lets remove that as a factor.</em> Well, shed do that as much as she could.


    The wolf didnt do a final lunge that she could have used to predict his attack. Instead, he just ran straight at her, crouched low.


    T bent as if to jump left, but then moved right instead.


    She used a massive amount of iron to <em>push</em> off from, connected to her only by a thin tendril, much as shed done against the syphon.


    The wolf was caught off guard but still reacted well.


    Flow became a ive and mmed into the lupine shoulder, driving deeplyiming more ironeven as the wolfs weight and momentum carried him closer to her, up the rtively short de and handle.


    <em>A boar spear would have been a better weapon here</em>


    His jaws twisted and bit, and T got a good look at his teeth for the first time.


    She felt herself pale as she realized that, somehow, every tooth carried the aura and magic of a potent weapon in its own right.


    The teeth bit down, barely slowed by heryered armor.


    <em>Thats the weakness of this type of armor. Its for distributing iing force, not taking direct, sustained pressure.</em>


    It was a fleeting thought as she enacted her n.


    The iron spikes that shed driven into the ground around them whipped back inward, held together and empowered by her aura which reigned uncontested around them.


    More than forty iron spikes buried themselves into the still closing wounds of the sireling, iming more iron and burrowing still deeper.


    Those that tried to pierce fur and hide failed, only serving to spread iron across the wolfs outsides, which was helpful in its own way.


    The wolf clearly did <em>not</em> like this turn of events. It growled even as it stumbled, dragging T along with him due to Flow still impaling him through his shoulder.


    He shook his head with a vicious jerk, ripping off her left arm with a sickening, ripping <em>pop.</em>


    T screamed despite herself, letting go of Flow with her one remaining arm to drive her fist into the beasts eye, forming white steel ws on instinct even as she struck.


    The jaws released her arm, and he pulled backward, trying to get away from her wing hand.


    She unbnced due to the missing arm even as the wolf surged forward once more, snapping toward her again.


    She tried to jump away, but that just meant hetched onto her hip instead of her head or chest.


    With another vicious jerk, her left leg was torn free.


    <em>RUST!</em> She began building power within her lungs. If he wanted a close in fight, shed make him pay for it.


    Flow <em>snicked</em> back into her hand, and flipped to its void sword form, T acting on pure instinct.


    As she brought it down, a field of void popped up in the way, and T cursed herself a fool.


    Shed already seen him use void twice. It was clearly something he was very familiar with. Void countered void almost perfectly, because two voids simply couldnt sh, it was against their nature to do so.


    She let Flow fall back into its standard sword form, and that was able tond cutting blows once again.


    The wolfs paw came up, raking at her with ws even as his jaws continued to snap and bite and tear.


    They were both making rtively simple back and forth lunges, T far more awkwardly due to missing basically half of her body.


    The wolf was still struggling as she imed more and more of his blood-iron in a slowly building cascade.


    It wouldn''t be fast enough, though.


    T saw red even as her vision began to darken.


    She was going to die.


    The wolf was on hisst legs too, but she was going to die.


    She didnt have her magics, not really.


    Even as she thought that, she took the power that had been building in her lungs and exhaled it out across the wolfs head, even as he struck.


    His hair puffed away and his skin cracked and peeled, but she simply didnt have the potency to make the attack any more useful.


    She was going to die, alone yet again. Alone, when friends were so near at hand.


    Her healing was so slow that it was barely preventing her from bleeding out at this point.


    Flow fell again and again as she screamed in impotent rage, the sound amplified by her own magic and raw emotion.


    The sireling flinched slightly but didnt relent. Even that wasnt enough to save her.


    She was going to die, and she wasnt ready.


    The wolf seemed to stumble, then somehow surged forward with a burst of strength, a fire in the creatures one remaining eye, almost a desperation mirroring her own.


    T made a mistake in her jerkinghalf-bodyattempt to avoid the attack, and the jaws closed around most of her remaining torso. The teeth spent most of their force prating her armor as they came to rest against her skin.


    Together, thebatants fell to the ground, T unable to keep the teeth at bay.


    She looked toward the wall, seeing the bastion of humanity so close.


    T saw Terry looking back at her with clear rage and fear on his avian face.


    She saw Rane, halfway over the wall, held back by a Refined on each arm. She almostughed at how staged it looked.


    It was like she was seeing the end of a story.


    The end of her story, those on the wall were witnessing that end.


    She looked back, seeing what she could have had.


    T closed her eyes, waiting for the end.


    But the sireling hadnt bit down yet.


    She <em>wasnt </em>dead.


    Was he giving her a chance to surrender?


    It seemed that he had actually been true to his word. He was going to let her surrender.


    I She tried to force out the words. <em>I surrender.</em>


    They wouldnte.


    What a stupid reason to die. She had pushed so hard she couldnt even voice her own surrender.


    Then, she noticed something, her mind clearing just a bit of the fog that had settled over her.


    The wolf wasnt moving at all, and all of the iron within it was <em>hers.</em>


    He was dead.


    She began to shudder, blood burbling up between her lips as she beganughing, not out of mirth, but out of pure exhausted relief.


    She was alive, and she had <em>won.</em>


    The restriction on her inscriptions lifted and <em>power</em> burst through her.


    She had won, even if she still felt as if shed lost.

 Chapter 419: I’m Sure

    Chapter 419: I¡¯m Sure


    Ty on the ground with a dead wolfs jaws all but mped through her torso.


    Nevertheless, she continued her gurglingugh even as she did what she should have to begin with.


    This was something thatwith a mere moment with her normal level of enhancementshe realized with ease.


    She had aura superiority, of course, so she grabbed the iron within her torn-free body parts and pulled them back to her.


    At that point, the once-again-active healing magics rejoined the flesh, working to rece and repair the area around the connection, pulling the needed materials from her vast stores.


    The iron within the wolf was already one with the rest of her iron merged with Flow, even if it was still within the corpse. She could take it whenever she wanted, tearing it free.


    Still, she wasnt satisfied.


    She wanted the wolfs hide, too, not just the iron within the hide and fur.


    It was ridiculously durable.


    She also didnt want to try to harvest and process it. That seemed like an unnecessary amount of work.


    She hesitated, then.


    No, she didnt <em>want</em> it.


    It was already hers.


    <em>MINE.</em>


    Her elk leathers extended tendrils outward, even as they were regrowing her clothing overtop of the newly reattached flesh.


    These tendrils, however, extended into the body of the wolf, melding with the hide and joining the iron already within as anchor-points for her authority.


    In that moment, T felt two things bound to and merged with her soul resonating in sync with her actions.


    Kit was a devourerjust like Tand this method was much more in line with Kits feeding than Ts usual methods.


    The dasgannachs magics, abilities, and authorityno longer there in truth but still there in capacity and conceptseemed to hum in harmony with the stated and enacted im.


    Nothing could stand in the way of T iming what was rightfully hers.


    She pulled in a breath and spoke, so there would be no misunderstanding, Mine.


    There was <em>power</em> in her voice.


    She hadyered her desire, along with the sure knowledge that the kill was hers, and therefore so was the body by right of the kill.


    She had filled it with her magic and her authority both over the area in general, and over the corpse that still weighed down on her specifically.


    As the sound of her voice went out as a wave, she <em>felt</em> her authority truly sink into the fur, flesh, viscera, and bone of the wolf.


    She <em>pulled</em>.


    Why use her bodys reserves when the wolf corpse had everything that she needed?


    When she pulled in another breath, the wolf seemed to dete, her own flesh swelling with new growth,ing fully back together once again.


    Her elk leathers pulled back in, drawing their new material along with them.


    A momentter, Ty on the ground, unburdened, surrounded by churned earth and snow, no vestige of the fallen wolf remaining.


    A rumblingugh rolled over the battlefield. Anatalis will be pleased indeed, human.


    With her three-fold sight, T was able to watch as Mistress Vanga arrived beside Rane and worked to heal Terry.


    <em>Good, he deserves to be fully restored.</em> She felt nothing but gratitude toward Terry. He had been instrumental in facilitating her victory.


    T got up slowly, keeping her back toward Alefasts wall and her front toward the Anatalins.


    The massive snow-white wolf came forward, her indigo aura somehow perfectly contained along each individual hair of her pelt.


    T, still recovering mentally, spent an overlong moment just utterly stunned at that level of minute aura control.


    <em>I really have a long way to go.</em>


    <em>-But, hey, were alive.-</em>


    <em>t! Are you okay?</em>


    <em>-Been better, but I was able to observe the whole time. I just didnt have enough to actually be helpful I am sorry about that.-</em>


    <em>Im just d that youre alright.</em>


    Human.


    T reoriented on the leading she-wolf, and only then did she notice the presences around the massive lupine.


    Hidden to mundane sightand even obscured to her three-fold sightwere seven slightly smaller wolves, arranged in a half-circle behind the leader.


    Each of their auras was held in close, but T was able to catch just enough to see that they were solidly blue in color to her magesight.


    Then, they vanished from her sight in all forms.


    <em>They specifically let me catch a glimpse of them.</em> She shuddered.


    More terrifying than their presence was the fact that theyd seemingly correctly assessed her detection capability well enough to give her that passing glimpse and nothing more.


    T stood up tall, banishing her armor but keeping Flow in hand. Wolf.


    Some of the pack back among the trees growled but not many.


    The leader justughed, causing the snow around the area to fluff up some from the vibration-induced air alone.


    What are you called by your kind? The wolf asked.


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    My name is T, and I am called Mistress T.


    She harrumphed. Humanityplicates such simple things, but I am not so rigid that I cannot bend. Mistress T.


    T gave a shallow bow, keeping her eyes on the wolf. What may I call you?


    I am no god-beast to be named, but you can call me by what I am. There are only a few of us, so it should not cause great issue.


    T waited a moment.


    Den Mother.


    <em>Wait only a few? There are more wolves as strong as she is?</em>


    <em>-Focus, T.-</em>


    Greetings, Den Mother.


    The wolf dipped its head slightly. Greetings, Mistress T, acknowledged of the Pack.


    After the greetings, in total defiance of expectation, the wolves all turned and started walking back to the woods, seeming almost to vanish among the trunks one by one.


    T was about to call out after them, but Master Grediv was suddenly standing beside her. Let them go.


    Thats it? She frowned his way.


    He returned the look, chuckling. What did you expect?


    I I dont know? They came to test humanity to ally with us or something?


    Yes and no. Anatalis has seen humanity as a toddler, stumbling through dangerous woods for time beyond memory. He was here, stalking the forest before the first gate. He watched over gateless humanity on these ins all the way back then. His smile turned wry. Apparently, he almost killed the first gated who came, because he saw us as invaders whom the gateless couldnt hope to handle. Thankfully, our ancestors convinced him that we werent here to exterminate but to join with those whocked gates.


    How did that go? T smiled in return, despite her exhaustion.


    Well, they apparently imed that their magic would bring prosperity and power. He disabused them of that. Though, he did acknowledge that their new way was interesting. Regardless, he eventually allowed our existence, but took on a position of benevolent-yet-apathetic neighbor.


    And now?


    Now I dont know. One fight wont raise us in the eyes of the Pack, but it will open the door to more.


    She grunted.


    He looked her way once more, thest of the wolves having faded from vieweven for Ts three-fold sight. You seem worn. That was quite the sh.


    Yeah. Hes one of their best?


    Master Grediv hesitated. For his age? He is an absolute prodigy, beyond even the standards of their race. Overall? Among all Anatalins? He is likely their weakest, or near to it. So, no, he isnt the best, not by a foot or a mile.


    T frowned, not understanding. But hes the best of his generation?


    Master Grediv shook his head. That doesnt actually have meaning to them. Aside from the more mundane wolves that they uplift, their numbers grow <em>very</em> slowly. The Pack, as a whole, only has one pup every fifty to one hundred years.


    She blinked in confusion. Then, she understood. Because theyre immortal, <em>truly</em> immortal so long as Anatalis lives.


    Precisely. If they had litters as mundane wolves or dogs do, they would overrun the world in a matter of decades. They have never desired to rule Zeme.


    That was a terrifying thought.


    Come, lets get you back inside the city.


    She nodded, feeling her tiredness once more.


    She wasnt <em>really</em> hungrier than usual.


    She had used a bit of her reserves, but shed actually mainly healed using the body of the wolf, even refilling her reserves a bitonce againin the process.


    It had been a novel experience, but not one that was really outside of what she should have expected.


    Shed just never thought to do it before.


    T would have to explore the extent to which she could control and utilize it in the future.


    It didnt take long for them to get back into the city, where Master Grediv led T to a private dining room in a restaurant near the gates.


    Within, Rane and Terry were already waiting along with Ts unit-mates.


    Congrattions and adtion abounded for a few minutes before each of the unit-mates implored her to take time to rest and recover, leaving her to do just that.


    Terry had immediately flickered to her shoulderseemingly fully healedand T had made a point of thanking Mistress Vanga for healing her partner and friend.


    He headbutted Ts cheek before nuzzling down and drifting off to sleep.


    Master Grediv also departed after verifying that she didnt need anything further.


    Alone with Rane and Terry, then, T suddenly felt a bit nervous.


    <em>-Are you going to tell him?-</em>


    <em>Tell him what?</em>


    <em>-What you realized.-</em>


    <em>I dont</em>


    <em>-Nope! That ends now. You cant continue to lie to yourself. Yourself doesnt believe you anymore.-</em>


    <em>Fine.</em>


    T firmed her stance, tried to calm her suddenly thundering heart, and looked up to meet Ranes gaze. She suppressed her through spike. If she was going to do this, she was going to do it honestly, no illusions in effect.


    At that moment, Rane began to speak. T, I need to tell you something. I


    She held up her hand. I am sure that it is incredibly important, but I have to say something, and if I wait, I dont think I will be able to get it out.


    He stood there for a moment, mouth open and clearly conflicted, but then he slumped slightly, sighing and nodding. Go ahead.


    T felt her cheeks heat. I like you, Rane.


    He tilted his head to the side and frowned. I know?


    No. She shook her head, feeling her face flush even more, though she didnt understand how that was possible.


    <em>Pull it together, T. You just fought a horse-sized wolf. This shouldnt be this hard.</em>


    I want to be more than friends. She felt like she about died. Considering she had <em>literally</em> been on the edge of death less than an hour earlier, she felt that she was in a good position to make theparison honestly, shed prefer to fight the wolf again.


    Rane gaped at her for a moment.


    She felt the need to continueto rifybefore he got the wrong idea, I I dont want to get married, not yet. I have too much going ontoo much messed up in my own mindbut I want to be more, and I dont want to I dont want to lose the time that I could have had with you.


    A moment of silenceter, Rane barked augh, quickly covering his mouth.


    T paled, feeling horribly embarrassed. <em>Oh, rust. Hes moved on. Rust. He is no longer interested. RUST! Theres someone else</em>


    Rane was shaking his head. Im sorry, Im sorry. I shouldnt haveughed.


    She grimaced, then, thoroughly confused. Then, why did you?


    He chuckled, nervously this time. Well, Im just really d that you went first.


    That put a hitch in her thoughts. Oh? What were you going to say?


    He grinned. I have made my choice. Im going to Refine. I was approaching it wrong. I dont want to Refine just to stand by your side, T. I want to Refine so that I can protect those I care for. That does include you, true, but thats just a part. Really, its <em>everyone.</em> I havent felt like <em>enough</em> since I let that family die due to my arrogance He took a deep breath, let it out slowly and smiled. I <em>choose</em> to be enough to protect those I can.


    <em>The burn wolves</em>. She hadnt considered how closely her fight with a wolf might mirror his teenage experience. Oh, Rane, are you?


    He nodded, cutting her off. Im fine. More than fine, I think. Heughed again. So, Im going to Refine, and you want to court me. He gave a cheeky smile. Once again, Im so d that you went first.


    She flushed once more at that. Thats not how I would have put it


    Really? Because thats exactly what I heard.


    <em>-Yeah, thats pretty much what you said.-</em>


    Terry didnt open his eyes, but he let out azy, affirmative squawk.


    T grimaced again, but the grumpy expression was fighting a growing smile. Fine, that is sort of what I said She met his gaze again. So?


    He raised an eyebrow, not understanding. So what?


    She felt like the blood in her cheeks was boiling. So, are we going to? Court, I mean?


    Oh! It was his turn to flush. If thats what you want, yes.


    Just if I want it?


    Well I obviously want itI have for a whileso youre sort of the deciding vote here Right?


    That made her smile, and so she teased. Ahh, rtionships by aegis of voting. That sounds like an <em>exceedingly </em>wise thing to do.


    Well, I suppose if we actually have to vote that is a bit of a failure He chuckled. So really? Youre sure? He stepped closer, cing his hands on either side of her waist with hesitant movements.


    She reached up, resting her hands on the underside of his elbows as she looked up at him and smiled. Yes, Rane. Im sure.

 Chapter 420: Let’s Get to It

    Chapter 420: Let¡¯s Get to It


    <strong>Here Begins Millennial Mage 11 - Flockbound</strong>


    T couldnt help but smile as Rane walked into the massive underground training room, unescorted.


    Only Refined were allowed herespecial exemptions asideand he arrived solely based upon his own merits.


    He stood tall, his inscriptions newly refreshed, his eyes full of life. His aura was on full disy, held at presentation distance, roughly an inch out from his skin. It was a lovely, chartreuse yellow.


    T was still giving him grief for instantly surpassing her on the path toward Paragon, if only just.


    Terryon Ts shouldertrilled in greeting and congrattions, getting a mirthful smile from the new Refined.


    The Defender unit leaders, spread throughout the space around T, turned to face the same way she was, smiles spreading across many faces.


    This was quite different from her own induction as a Defender.


    Here, Rane was well known, well liked, and his advancement and eptance had been long awaited and was now openly celebrated.


    T had been unknown and unusual to the extreme.


    Speaking of which, T stayed back, letting him keep the spotlight. Well, that was her intention.


    Rane immediately met her gaze and waved, a nervous smile on his face. That sent some attention her way, but it didnt linger.


    His nervousness wasnt from meeting all these powerful Defenders. No, that was old hat for him. He was nervous because what he and T had was still new, and he was as unsure how to act with it as she was.


    They had been courting for nearly two monthsat least in namebut they hadnt really told anyone that they were courting or done anything differently because of it, not yet.


    Theyd been waiting first for Rane to Refine, then for him to recover, and finally theyd wanted him to be inducted as a Defender.


    That day had finally arrived.


    Master Grediv announced Rane, but otherwise was far less involved with Ranes induction than he had been with T, and the reason was rather obvious. As Ranes master and ancestor, he was seen as obviously biased toward the young Archon.


    With T, he was seen as an unbiased third party.


    Thus, after that introduction, Master Grediv moved to stand beside T. Its almost anticlimactic in a twisted sort of way.


    T cocked an eyebrow toward the Paragon. Would you rather he had struggled more openly?


    Master Grediv shook his head. No. Its just hard to really process a persons internal struggles. Its easy to brush them aside as not having mattered, and yet, I know they did. The older mans voice dropped to a whisper so low even she could barely hear it when right next to him. He broke, Mistress T. He failed. His foundation was tested and found wanting. I still dont know what changed. He hasnt decided to tell me, not yet.


    T nodded. Ill let him be the one to do that, but I am not the core of his Refinement. I never should have factored in at all.


    Yet, you remain important to him.


    I hope thats always true. She stiffened then, realizing what shed said.


    He nced her way, a small smile on his features. I hope so as well.


    The induction went quite well overall, with Rane giving a good showing of his skills and abilities before requesting to join Master Clevnis and Mistress Cernas unit.


    There werent strong objections from others, and the unit leader couple heartily agreed to have him join them.


    That put them up to an eight man unit, but as cell-duty had moved to a rotation, it wasnt of as much consequence as Ts joining had been.


    From there, the festivities wound down slowly, and once everyone left besides their unit, they rxed a bit more. They grabbed more food and just spent time getting to know their new member.


    The various Refined had chatted with Rane before, but this was different. They approached talking with someone who was just around every so often differently than someone who would be working alongside them for the foreseeable future.


    Another change after most had departed was that Terry left Ts shoulder for more than just brief moments.


    As a consequence, the avian flickered around the group, enjoying the challenge of stealing food from the tes of the various Refined.


    In essence, the game was that he would flicker in and if they reacted before he snatched something, hed simply move on. Otherwise, some of their tasty, tasty food would be his.


    At least, thats what T assumed he was thinking. Terry did like other peoples food quite a bit.


    The group talked through quite a few things, one of the most important being that Rane would be the Defender who would fight any threat that came during their units duty shifts, so long as he believed he could handle the magical beast or beasts.


    Just like theyd done with T, the unit wanted Rane to get his Refinedbat legs under him and build confidence in a rtively controlled set of circumstances.


    They would obviously be near at hand for the fights in case interference was required or assistance needed. Even so, it was a tried and true method for helping new Defenders gain skill and understanding of their own abilities.


    It was shortly after that that the unit moved to discussing the training that they all did, both together and on their own, separate from the unit.


    When that was wrapping up, Master Clevnis seemed toe to a decision. I want to test you myself. He stood, pulling a set of practice swords out of his soulbound dimensional storage. Master Rane, I trust that you are able to suppress your inscriptions. Yes?


    Rane stood as well, grinning. Absolutely, yes.


    Good, I want to see what your skill and ability level is without your magics directly involved. Enhancement magics are, of course, encouraged.


    He caught the sword that had been tossed his way before walking a good distance from the rest of the unitand the food tablesand assuming a ready stance.


    T always found it fascinating how different people would naturally prefer different opening guard positions.


    There was some skill involved in choosing one to counter your opponents, which could lead to two masters simply shifting between guard positions, continually countering and being countered in return. That didnt happen here.


    Rane preferred what was sometimes called a high guard, whichgiven his sizeput the sword quite high indeed.


    It was a stance far more suited for fighting magical creatures that were often bigger even than Rane, but it was also the stance that he was mostfortable in.


    Master Clevnis fell into a more central position, the point of his sword pointed straight at Ranes heart from ten feet away.


    The unit-leader smiled. Begin.


    They both moved in an almost unified blur. The crack-crack-<em>crack</em> of their practice weapons striking and deflecting was so rapid that it seemed almost like listening to a giant drumming their fingers on a table.


    T was able to track the movements, of course, but she knew that no mundane human would have been able to.


    Still, it was fascinating to watch the two men, and how their movements varied.


    Rane seemed to almost move in fits and starts, pausing between exchanges, thenshing forward with greater speed than Master Clevnis had demonstrated thus far.


    The older manon the other handseemed to keep the exact same pace throughout, simply flowing from one movement to the other without pause. This had the result of making even his blocks and counters seem as if hed nned them in advance.


    More than anything, it looked like he was simply moving smoothly and consistently through a well-known sword form.


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    The fact that Rane was there seemed all but incidental, even if T knew that it wasnt true.


    Though their pace was one that would quickly exhaust even the most well conditioned mundanes, neither was going to wear out any time soon, and they continued their friendly sh unabated.


    Only after quite a few exchanges did something finally change.


    Rane started it first, charging forward and forcing Master Clevnis to respond with movement of his own, and soon their shes were ranging back and forth through much of the massive space.


    Finally, Master Clevnis stoic face broke out in a smile. Get ready.


    Rane frowned but didnt otherwise respond.


    Then, Master Clevnis changed his pace <em>just a bit.</em> He was just slightly faster than he had been, and Rane struggled in vain to keep the bnce that he hadup to that pointmaintained rtively easily.


    Rane fell more and more onto the back foot until finally, the practice sword slipped through an opening and cracked against therger mans leg.


    He winced, but still blocked the follow-up strike, back inmand of the tempo.


    That didntst.


    Once again, Master Clevnis slowly advanced in initiative until he snuck another strike through.


    This time Rane hissed in irritation.


    Ranes eyes zed with intensity, but he kept mastery of himself, seeming to buckle down and speed up to match Master Clevnis new pace.


    Good! The older manughed. Very good. Now, get ready.


    Rane was not ready.


    Once again, the pace of the shing shifted and the younger, less experienced fighter received strike after strike. Though, none were strong enough to trigger his family boon, his berserking rage.


    <em>I wonder if thats purposeful on Master Clevnis part?</em>


    <em>-It is likely. He has to know about it. Master Grediv wouldnt have kept it a secret from the unit leaders.-</em>


    Over the course of nearly an hour, Master Clevnis slowly pressed Ranes mundane swordsmanship to its limit. Though, to be fair, they were moving much faster and much more than any mundane swordsman could. They were also continuing for far longer than any unenhanced human would be capable of.


    Regardless, eventually Master Clevnis called a halt, and Rane gave the unit-leader a bow, conceding the match and thanking him for the lessons conveyed.


    With a friendly motion, he tossed the older man back his practice sword as he straightened from the bow.


    In the end, T was very d that she hadnt been a part of the fight.


    She was rtively good at mundane swordy, but that was not where she thrived. Even so, T had paid close attention to the shes, trying to pull technique and methodology from each exchange and see if she could improve herself.


    Alsosince T never did just one thingshe was working at mimicking the aura control of the Den Mother. That wolf had confined her aura to each individual hair on her body, letting it move and stay perfectly aligned with them all, no matter what gust or movement caused them to shift.


    True, there was likely some trick to simply making an aura conform perfectly to ones physical body, but T decided to take it as a challenge to do something simr without any trick.


    She had yet to seed.


    At the same time, she continued her iron-void training, six iron dust shapes now invisibly moving around her head, filled with randomly morphing voids that asionally interconnected and broke apart without ever allowing air to get in.


    The internal shapes now took the form of crazy mazes or knots more often than unbroken and undivided shapes, and the outer iron dust also was equally twisty in its implementation.


    t still asionally staged assaults on Ts control, but she rarely seeded in breaching any part of the creations. Instead, T had begun rolling with the attacks, incorporating the forced movements and turning into controlled motions of her own choosing.


    But that practice had slowed now that the sparring match was concluded.


    As Rane and Master Clevnis came back over to the group, T moved over to shoulder-bump Rane. Good job.


    He smiled down at her. I lost pretty definitively, but thank you.


    She shrugged. Win or lose, you made a good showing of yourself regardless.


    His smile grew a bit, then, and they turned and walked back toward the others.


    Master Clevnis had moved ahead of them, giving them at least the illusion of privacy, even if everyone there was Refined and could likely hear every word without trying.


    Rane looked her way as they walked. So do you want to grab dinner?


    While they often ate with one another, T knew what he meant. He was asking if she wanted to actually begin their courting, even if just with a singr meal. She smiled slightly, feeling a tremble of illogical nervousness in her gut. Yeah. Lets.


    Ranes next words were an incredibly hesitant suggestion, You could wear your birthday clothes if you wanted.


    Master Girt had been taking a drink of some beverage, and he spat it out, across the rough surface of the training room floor, falling into a fit of coughing.


    T had instantly known what Rane had meant. Shed altered her elk leathers into the form of a rather special dress for the breakfast with Ranes parentson his birthdayand she hadnt done so since.


    That would obviously not bemon knowledge though.


    Master Limmestare just shook his head and muttered under his breath.


    T still heard him of course.


    I cant even say that to my <em>wife</em> safely.


    She frowned. <em>Whats going on?</em>


    <em>-Your birthday outfit, T. How were you born?-</em>


    Her eyes narrowed in thought, then opened wide as she colored. <em>Oh.</em>


    Rane clearly didnt realize what others had taken from what he said, and so he continued after the short pause. You dont have to, you just looked especially nicest time.


    Mistress Vanga rubbed her forehead, closing her eyes tightly in referred embarrassment.


    Master Clevnis was suddenly standing in front of Rane, a finger held up to the bigger mans lips. Shhh The first misspeak was entertaining, but now its just painful.


    Rane had jerked back slightly, but he frowned when he heard the older mans words. What do you? Then his eyes widened. Oh! Oh He colored deeply. I didnt mean that


    I already said, shh. Youve said enough.


    He pressed his lips together in apressed line and nodded, eyes flicking to T.


    T cleared her throat. I will happily wear that <em>dress.</em>


    Master Girt was still coughing slightly, but it was more than likely simply an affectation just for show.


    Master Limmestare was holding back a smile, even as he shook his head.


    Mistresses Vanga and Cerna were unashamedly smiling with mirth.


    T refused to make eye contact with anyone as she grabbed Ranes hand and dragged him toward the door. And were going now.


    <em>There is no recovering from this. We have to leave the city.</em>


    <em>-Dont you think thats a little over dramatic?-</em>


    <em>Im not proposing burning it down on the way out. I think Im being quite reasonable.</em>


    <em>-Thats true? Have a fun dinner and sleep on things. You can decide to flee into the wilderness tomorrow.-</em>


    <em>fine.</em>


    <em>-If you go, though, you have to take Rane. It would only be proper.-</em>


    T growled within her own head at her alternate interface even as t chuckled.


    * * *


    T moved through her daily practice withfort and ease, excited to get to hertest experiments but not willing to rush things.


    Still, she couldnt help some of her thoughts wandering in that direction.


    It had been nearly two months since the wolf had all but killed her, and while she had a host of legitimate means of exining away the closeness of the fight, she had been left with a singr understanding, a specific drive.


    She wanted to be better.


    One thought that shed had shortly after the sh had been to soulbind some precious metal incorporators, and then use the created material for her inscriptions.


    That had turned out to be a bad idea for many<em>, many</em> reasons.


    First of all, even in the best circumstances, it would only be a means of circumventing the wolves specific dueling requirements without gaining her muchif anythingin any other regard.


    Secondly, the best circumstances wouldnt exist as incorporated material was <em>awful</em> for inscriptions. It inherently required magic to maintain its existence. So, power flowing through it was lessened, and the resulting workings were inherently less stable.


    The reasons to avoid her theorized n continued from there, but even either of those two were enough to disqualify it outright.


    As she rolled out of her final stretch, she called the first of the inscribed arrows to herself, studying it once again.


    She hadobviouslymemorized the twists and turns of the three-dimensional construct long ago, but she found actually analyzing it with her eyes and threefold sight seemed to make it easier for her to pull new insights forth.


    Beside the arrow, she began to form iron spellforms in the air.


    Now, iron was an <em>awful</em> conductor of magic, being a near-perfect reflector of power. So, T didnt use iron as wires like she would with any other material. Instead, she used it to make minuscule pipes.


    As a result the spell lines were actually made of her own magic, with iron counting as the medium in which they were set. And, as it turned out, that was quite simr to how the arrows had been made.


    The arrowsrgely employed spell lines made out of precious metals, with steel as the medium.


    While different, that was close enough to start out with, and T had been working to find the particr quirks of magic and iron workings. The greatest difficulty was factoring in the minute amounts of air that filled the pipes as well, through which the magic had to travel in order to be the spell lines for the working, but that turned out to function like working in a variable medium. So, there was precedent for her attempts, and foundations of knowledge from which she could pull.


    When she had finished her designated time for those practice attempts, she poked Terry, who had been sleeping nearby on a pillow shed acquired for him.


    Hed been unusually clingy since the wolf incident as well. He barely went off on his own to hunt, and he seemed to have taken a far greater interest in Ts day to day activities.


    Not that she was reallyining. He never got in the way, and she enjoyed hispany quite a bit.


    Hey, are you ready to spar?


    With a flicker, he was up on her shoulder, and letting out a trill of affirmation.


    Well, alright, then. She grinned. Lets get to it.

 Chapter 421: More Important Things

    Chapter 421: More Important Things


    T and Terry faced off within the sparring ring in T¡¯s sanctum.


    There was only one major difference from their previously standard sparring sessions over the years.


    Ever since their fight with the wolf, Terry had insisted that there be weapons of various kinds all around the ring.


    None were magical, but all were ready for Terry¡¯s use.


    The avian had leaned hard into his ability to use weapons after the fight with the wolf, taking the previously often ignored tactic and making it spectacr.


    ¡°Begin.¡± T¡¯s calm voice echoed through the air even with her facepletely blocked by her armor.


    Terry flickered around the sparring ring, beginning a hurricane of weaponry, each thrown with different levels of force to stagger their arrival. Additionally, he continued to flicker, intercepting and catching many of the weapons already in the air to change their trajectory or speed.


    T was purely on the defensive for the moment.


    The goal of the session was for Terry to learn how to utterly overwhelm even her, with her three-fold sight and ridiculous defenses.


    T, for her part, was simply trying to avoid or neutralize the growing storm of attacks.


    She had one limiter and one goal, otherwise.


    As a limiter, she was not allowed to im the iron within the weapons, as that would render the whole process rather unnecessary in the most trivial of ways.


    As a goal, she was attempting to keep the weapons functional both to allow their training to continue, and to addplexity, as otherwise T could just break each weapon as it got close, and that didn¡¯t really require any skill or improvement for her at all.


    Regardless, T was mainly working on her footwork and body positioning while wearing her full armor.


    She wasn¡¯t utilizing any of her defensive discs or other items. Once again, that wasn¡¯t the point.


    The sun rose while they squared off, Terrysting nearly an hour before he finally copsed to the side, panting, tongue lolling into the water that flowed around the circle.


    All the weapons froze mid-air as soon as the avian appeared,ying on the ground, T locking them in ce with a simple act of will taking virtually no effort.


    She grinned over at her friend. ¡°Nicely done, Terry. That was a full two minutes longer thanst week.¡±


    He let out a slightly musical grunt but didn¡¯t otherwise respond. He did continue top up water in an incredibly inefficient manner.


    T¡¯s smile grew. She knew that he was ying it up, even if he was truly exhausted.


    Regardless, it was time for T¡¯sst type of practice before breakfast with Rane.


    Her smile altered slightly, considering <em>that</em> rewarding her way, letting her void-iron practice fall to the side as well.


    With her mental te cleared and her will fully at the ready, T manifested a skeleton out of iron dust. She made it perfectly urate, ensuring she hadn¡¯t made any mistakes beforeyering connective tissue atop it, followed by muscle and ligaments.


    It was exactly her size, because it was modeled after herself. She chose herself, because she knew her own body best, given her various magics.


    The only thing she didn¡¯t mimic was the inscriptions that should have been weaving through the bones, muscles, and tissue.


    With that one exception, she didn¡¯t let herself ck, building a facsimile of each muscle fiber, analyzing her own form morepletely than she ever had before beginning this training.


    T hade to realize something, or really¡ªmore urately¡ªshe had begun to catch the edges of a realization.


    The only reason she could make such creations of iron dust was because she distinguished between the parts that she wanted to be connected and the parts that she wanted separate.


    It was all iron dust, held in ce and moved by her will. So, in theory, it shouldn¡¯t matter, and there shouldn¡¯t be able to be a distinction between two bits of iron dust that were beside each other and ¡®connected¡¯ and those that were separate.


    It was just a mass of iron dust, after all.


    But there was a distinction, and she was building on her understanding of why and how that was.


    Regardless, she didn¡¯t get past the muscr stage that day. Indeed, she didn¡¯t even get past the left leg in her efforts to build a perfect replica, even as she perfected her understanding of self.


    * * *


    T felt herself twitch as Rane flew out of the way of yet another blow under the light of the moon and stars.


    ¡°He¡¯s going to be fine.¡± Mistress Cerna ced a hand on T¡¯s shoulder.


    T nced at her unit leader even while keeping her perspective and focus on the ongoing sh with her threefold sight. ¡°I know¡­ it¡¯s still¡­¡±


    The older woman smiled. ¡°I know, Mistress T. It is hard to watch those we care for be in danger.¡±


    T grimaced, ¡°I know¡­ I just don¡¯t really like it.¡±


    There was a momentary silence as Rane cut off another one of the beast¡¯s legs, leaving only seven¡­ no eight hundred and some?


    <em>Way too many¡­</em> Cutting off the legs wasn¡¯t really a winning tactic, here.


    She was d to never have had to fight a magical millipede, but she wished that she could now. It didn¡¯t help that it wasrge enough that most of it was still in the forest, even as its top was striking at Rane like a snake.


    ¡°Yeah¡­ I¡¯m not a fan of just watching.¡±


    Mistress Cerna smiled knowingly. ¡°How do you think he has felt watching you in danger, seeing you fight, and knowing that even when he wasn¡¯t around, you were facing threats greater than those he did see?¡±


    T opened her mouth, but had no response ready.


    She <em>should</em> have a response, but she¡¯d honestly never put herself into Rane¡¯s shoes in that way. <em>Wow¡­ I feel rather foolish¡­</em>


    It was an obvious reversal that she¡¯d never considered because she knew herself and her own capacities.


    <em>I also know Rane¡¯s, but I¡¯m still nervous on his behalf.</em>


    The unit leader wasn¡¯t done, though. ¡°Do you know why he never interfered in your fights?¡±


    The image of two Refined holding him back while a wolf tried to bite her in half came to mind, but that had been in rather extreme circumstances, when she was incredibly close to death. Usually, he simply watched. ¡°No. I don¡¯t think I do.¡±


    ¡°My bet? He trusts in yourpetence. There is no higherpliment between two who fight side by side. We should be avable to assist those we care for, but we <em>must</em> trust that they are either capable enough to handle what they¡¯re going through, or that they will ask for help when they need it.¡±


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    T shook her head. ¡°That¡¯s¡­ how? How do I do that?¡±


    ¡°It takes time to build up. You, in return, have to have demonstrated that you¡¯ll help if asked. Your help has toe without any negative baggage if you really want this to work, as well.¡±


    She found herself nodding. ¡°Otherwise, they¡¯ll be trying to decide if my help is worth the negative costs, be they eye-rolls, snide remarks, or even just an obvious sense that I¡¯m disappointed.¡±


    ¡°Exactly. We all get in over our heads at times. Having those who can back us up without recrimination is a luxury that few enjoy. Where it exists, it is a foundation of true worth.¡±


    Rane brought Force down on the beast''s head, projecting a de of kic force into the wound he had opened, bisecting the horrific creature down most of its exposed length before the kic de ran out of momentum and dispersed.


    Ranended lightly on the ground before turning and walking back toward the wall.


    Behind him, there was a moment of wavering stability within the seemingly stunned creature before it copsed, ovee and bleeding profusely across the ground.


    He lifted his sword in salute toward T, and she waved back, grinning.


    With a smooth motion, Force slid home before Rane bent and sprang upward, his leap containing much, <em>much</em> more power than it should have.


    He easily cleared the wall from more than a hundred yards out, his magic giving him near constant propulsion, even if T knew it had diminishing returns.


    They had discussed his mindset and methodology, and he was well on his way to something spectacr.


    <em>He¡¯ll figure out flight soon, if he keeps at it.</em>


    <em>-Won¡¯t that be something.- </em>t had been a bit quieter ofte, though she still weighed in at times. T suspected that the alternate interface was trying to give her some space to think and process all that was tumbling within.


    <em>Quite.</em> T projected gratefulness toward t, and t returned the sentiment.


    The city¡¯s defenses recognized Rane as a gated human as well as a Defender, and thus, they didn¡¯t do anything to interfere with himing to the top of the wall rather than going to the nearest gate.


    Hended lightly on the crentions before hopping down to the wall walk beside the rest of the unit who had been watching his fight.


    ¡°So?¡± He looked around tentatively. ¡°How¡¯d I do?¡±


    His front was sttered with ick, and he had a bit of weariness about him, but overall, he¡¯de through the fight cleanly and without being required to exert great effort.


    Master Girt pped him on the back, skillfully avoiding the ick and not moving Rane in the least. ¡°Good! You¡¯re a bit tentative to engage, but once you got the measure of your opponent, you were decisive in ending the engagement.¡±


    Master Limmestare grinned, nodding along. ¡°You <em>did</em> let it attack you a bit longer than ideal. It was learning from you too¡ªif more slowly¡ªand against more skilled or powerful enemies, that could have cost you.¡±


    Mistress Vanga spoke next, ¡°You are still getting used to your Refined body. I highly rmend you increase your stretching and body-movement training for the next little while. You aren¡¯t utilizing your full capabilities by a long margin.¡±


    Master Clevnis came up to Rane¡¯s other side with a smile. ¡°Your style shines against beasts like that one, but don¡¯t forget that you¡¯re fighting a beast.¡±


    Rane frowned. ¡°I¡¯m not sure I understand, Master Clevnis.¡±


    ¡°I watched you triple-feint a giant millipede, Master Rane. It worked, but it didn¡¯t work as well as a simpler technique would have against this creature. When we oveplicate our solutions beyond what is necessary, we introduce space for missteps and mistakes.¡±


    After a long moment, Rane nodded. ¡°I think I understand.¡±


    He then turned and bowed to each in turn.


    ¡°Thank you all for your words.¡±


    Mistress Cerna chuckled. ¡°Don¡¯t thank <em>us </em>just yet. Mistress T and I have yet to speak.¡±


    T felt her eyes widen. <em>Rust.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, you didn¡¯t consider that you might need to give feedback. Think fast.-</em>


    The unit leader smiled. ¡°I will go first.¡±


    T felt herself rx even as she pored through her memories of Rane¡¯s fight.


    The older woman nodded once to herself before continuing, ¡°You rely on the most basic use of your inscriptions. That mainly takes the form of simply allowing them to automatically trigger rather than guiding them or adjusting how they trigger or enact. Be more active in your use of power, and you will get better results.¡±


    Rane bowed to her. ¡°Thank you, Mistress Cerna.¡±


    Then, everyone turned toward T, and she cleared her throat. ¡°Well, I think that you are underutilizing your soulbonds.¡±


    That was met with waiting silence, though T thought she saw mirth dancing behind Mistress Vanga¡¯s eyes.


    T cleared her throat. ¡°What I mean is: You¡¯re using Force just like it''s a standard construct, but it¡¯s not. Even more than any other soulbound weapon, it was designed and created for your specific magics under the eye of a Paragon at the very least. It has more to give than you¡¯re currently drawing forth.¡±


    That got some appreciative nods, while Rane, himself, seemed to think about her words before smiling and bowing. ¡°Thank you, T.¡±


    She smiled in return, feeling proud of her realization.


    Master Clevnis pped his hands. ¡°Alright! We still have a few hours before dawn. We¡¯ve not seen any multi-attack shifts this waning, but I won¡¯t let us fail to be ready if this is the first.¡±


    The unitughed as a group, but spread back out, returning to their own projects and tasks, throwingst words of congrattions toward Rane.


    Rane walked over to T and gave her a light bump. ¡°Thanks for the insight. I hadn¡¯t considered that I was underutilizing Force.¡±


    She smiled up at him. ¡°You are wee. Though, honestly, the sentiment applies to all of your soulbonds. We should look into adding your dimensional storage to that list, and your defenses are good for a Fused, but we should hunt down some merging candidates to up them for the Refined levels.¡±


    He shrugged. ¡°Truthfully, they¡¯ll be growing passively with my advancement, and I prefer things on the simpler side.¡±


    She almost argued, but then realized how silly that would be. ¡°Alright, do what works for you. I don¡¯t mean to force my thinking on you.¡± She smiled. ¡°And what about your storage?¡±


    ¡°Well, about that. Is it really useful for me to soulbond one at all?¡± He nced her way meaningfully.


    She smiled, understanding the heart of the question. ¡°Do Mistress Cerna and Master Clevnis each have their own storages?¡±


    Rane frowned at that. ¡°You know? I¡¯m not sure, but thinking about it, I think the answer is probably yes.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I think so too. With the limit of a singr opening at a time, I can easily see it bing¡­ problematic for spouses to only have one.¡±


    He grunted. ¡°I hadn¡¯t considered that.¡± With a short nod, he smiled. ¡°Soulbound storage it is, then. That should likely be my next bond.¡±


    ¡°That could be wise, yeah. Though, we might want to get you a soulbound Archive connection first. With the storage, I do understand your thinking, but I¡¯ve actually been giving that sort of thing quite a bit of thought.¡± She sighed. ¡°Honestly, I¡¯ve considered finding a way to get a second one myself for more¡­ everyday usage?¡±


    ¡°Really? That seems like a bit of an extreme length to go to just for some convenience.¡±


    ¡°And battle capacity, but you¡¯re not wrong. It¡¯s just frustrating, feeling like I can¡¯t have Kit with me day to day. Though, the benefits currently outweigh that inconvenience.¡±


    He chuckled. ¡°Yeah, I am curious how that will shake out. you¡¯ve got a rusting city along for the ride these days.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s the thing.¡± She shook her head. ¡°That¡¯s the <em>issue</em>. Kit isn¡¯t along for the ride. I¡¯m fighting without her, and that limits me in some real ways. I think it¡¯s worth speaking to someone about, I just haven¡¯t gotten to it.¡±


    ¡°How about we ask when we¡¯re looking into mine?¡±


    ¡°That sounds like a good n, yeah.¡±


    Rane nced toward the east where the sun would be rising soon enough. ¡°After this shift? We can just get it done.¡± He shrugged. ¡°It might be worth it to not have it hanging over our heads?¡±


    She looked his way. ¡°But¡­ breakfast.¡±


    He grinned, a smallugh preceding his words, ¡°After breakfast, then?¡±


    She sighed dramatically, trying to y a bit. ¡°I suppose so¡­ if it¡¯s really that important to you.¡±


    He stepped closer and nudged her, ying in turn. ¡°The critical thing is that it¡¯s important to <em>you.</em>¡±


    T reached over and gave him a quick hug before stepping back. Then, she looked up at him. ¡°You know, you can hug me back.¡±


    He returned the look, nervous. ¡°Are you sure? I thought we were still¡­ not telling anyone?¡±


    She hugged him again, and he hugged her in return, obviously rxing a bit. ¡°You know?¡±


    Her voice had been a bit muffled, but he obviously heard her. His response was soft, ¡°Yeah?¡±


    ¡°You need a bath. That millipede''s blood and guts smell <em>awful.</em>¡±


    Heughed, pulling back. ¡°Fine. I¡¯ll get cleaned up after our shift.¡±


    T aspect-mirrored the needed magics to force the drying ichor to fall from her face and torso. ¡°Then, we eat breakfast.¡±


    ¡°And then¡­?¡± he teased.


    A smile grew across her face. ¡°Yes. Then, to the Constructionists!¡±


    They turned to look out over the wall together.


    Their hands rested against each other unconsciously without sping, both unthinkingly takingfort in the contact. ¡°So¡­ what are you going to do with your kill?¡±


    Rane shrugged. ¡°I think I¡¯ll just leave it to the city harvesters. They¡¯ll give me my cut, and then I can do more important things.¡±


    She chuckled. ¡°Bath, breakfast, Constructionists?¡±


    He nced her way, smiling once again. ¡°No, standing here with you.¡±


    T felt her smile grow uncontrobly, taking over her entire face. So, she leaned her head against his shoulder to try to hide it, her embarrassment and contentment rising as one.

 Chapter 422: An Absolutely Lovely Idea

    Chapter 422: An Absolutely Lovely Idea


    T and Rane entered the Constructionsts¡¯ Guild with quite a bit of fanfare.


    Well, to be fair, the fanfare was on the part of the attendants.


    As soon as the magical detectors announced the presence of two Refined, they were swarmed with Archons offering them refreshments of various kinds as well as seeking to discern why they hade.


    One sharp-eyed young woman even brought a small tray of treats for Terry. The avian, of course, ate them happily before returning to T¡¯s shoulder, where he trilled loudly, causing everyone to freeze momentarily in startlement.


    Into that silence, T spoke. ¡°Thank you, Terry. Thank you all as well. We are looking for a consultation on dimensional storages.¡±


    One of the attendants bowed, taking the lead. ¡°Are you seeking an expert on soulbound or unbound storages?¡±


    T let out a relieved breath at having such a clear path forward and smiled. ¡°Soulbound, please.¡±


    That caused most of the attendants to disperse as they weren¡¯t able to offer assistance. Though, they did give appropriate bows and departing words.


    Only a young looking man¡ªwho probably was many decades older than either T or Rane¡ªremained, gesturing for them to follow him. ¡°This way, Defenders. Master Torralos should be avable for a consultation.¡±They walked through the corridors, and T picked up many, <em>many</em> goings on with her threefold sight.


    <em>You know, I don¡¯t think we¡¯vee to a Constructionist Guild since we consolidated our threefold sight.</em>


    <em>-No, I don¡¯t think so.-</em>


    <em>Interesting.</em>


    The attendant led them rather deep into thepound before opening a heavy door and leading them inside.


    Within, a surprisingly tall, thin man was working across several surfaces, magical projections highlighting various parts with notes scribbled around the illusory version of the objects above the tables.


    Most seemed¡ªas was reasonable¡ªto be rting to dimensional storages directly or indirectly. A lot seemed to have iplete notes as made sense for items undergoing research, but T only caught a passing nce.


    The man turned their way when they came in and smiled, cing what he¡¯d been working on to the side. ¡°Ahh! Auspicious guests indeed.¡±


    He walked over before bowing to each in turn.


    ¡°I am, of course, Torralos. Do my eyes deceive me, or are you Mistress T and Master Rane?¡±


    Rane and T exchanged a look before T shrugged and turned back to the Constructionist. ¡°We are, yes. Do you know us, somehow?¡±


    ¡°Of course! I have quite enjoyed watching your battles.¡± He said this to T, directly before turning to Rane. ¡°Your singr fight was quite interesting as well. Though, I will admit, I had thought Mistress T would be the Defender to fight when her unit¡¯s section was attacked.¡± Heughed jovially. ¡°That serves me right for not paying attention to thetest unit rosters!¡±


    The attendant bowed, drawing the man¡¯s attention. ¡°Master Torralos, can I do anything further to assist?¡±


    ¡°No, thank you, Master Atdane.¡±


    Master Atdane bowed toward T and Rane before departing. ¡°Best of luck to you two.¡±


    When the door swung shut again, Master Torralos sped his hands. ¡°Now, I assume that you¡¯re here about dimensional storages?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡± T frowned. ¡°You know that because it¡¯s your specialty?¡±


    He beamed in return. ¡°But of course! At my level of specialization, the only other reason you¡¯d be here is some sort of mixup, and Master Atdane isn¡¯t one to make such an error.¡±


    T shrugged again. ¡°Well then, let¡¯s get to it.¡±


    She and Rane briefly outlined a bit about themselves along with what they were thinking and the issues that they were facing.


    Master Torralos listened attentively, then shook his head. ¡°I trust you did not convey this to Master Atdane?¡±


    T frowned, checking the time. It had taken them nearly half an hour toy out all the specifics and answer follow-up questions. ¡°No. So¡­ you can¡¯t help us? There was a mistake?¡±


    ¡°You? No. There was no mistake, even if I¡¯m not really necessary. That said, I <em>won¡¯t </em>allow you to do anything so foolish as bonding another dimensional storage.¡± He then looked at Rane. ¡°As for you, Master Rane, you could bond with your dimensional storage, but nothing that you expressed makes me think that is necessary, nor even a good idea.¡±


    Rane tilted his head to one side. ¡°Can you exin?¡±


    The man was clearly happy to talk on the topic. ¡°Of course! One of the things I am asked most often¡ªand honestly what I thought you two wereing to ask¡ªwas how to merge two already soulbound storages, once a marriage has taken ce.¡±


    T flushed, and Rane cleared his throat, slightly stammering. ¡°We¡¯re¡­ we¡¯re not married.¡±


    Master Torralos looked at Rane like he was an idiot. ¡°Of course not, Master Rane. Am I a mageling to have been unable to see that you are unbound? Even so, only a fool waits until the bond is struck to sort out such important details. Indeed, the meshing of storages is a delicate art, which requires great expense, time, and attention.¡±


    ¡°But¡ª?¡± T started.


    He cut her off. ¡°But you are in an enviable position.¡± He pointed at Rane. ¡°You don¡¯t need a soulbound storage at the moment, so the one you currently have will do. Honestly, you are in quite a good position, being so young and so advanced.¡± He then pointed to T. ¡°You need a bifurcated storage, which is one of the most popr solutions for dimensional storage between spouses, even if that is not why you need it at the moment.¡±


    ¡°What is a bifurcated storage?¡±


    ¡°Well, a dimensional storage can be seen as conceptual space, held together by a magical mind which is constantly aware of everything within it, thus maintaining the existence of all that it contains.¡±


    T gaped slightly. ¡°What?¡±


    He waved her off. ¡°The overarching premise is in the same vein as one saying that Zeme is a conceptual space collectively held together by the beings that live here¡ªbig and small¡ªand if all were to die or depart it would cease to be.¡±


    Rane grunted. ¡°The observer posttion?¡±


    ¡°Precisely!¡± he thumbed at Rane while speaking to T, ¡°We have a schr here. That¡¯s good, as those without that inclination be boring over the long span of years.¡±


    T sighed, choosing to ignore most of the man¡¯s ramblings. ¡°What is the observer posttion?¡±


    Rane was the one who answered. ¡°It¡¯s what he just said. It¡¯s a theory that without someone or something to observe existence, it wouldn¡¯t¡­ exist.¡±


    Master Torralos nodded once, but then waved the idea away. ¡°But we aren¡¯t here to discuss philosophy. The idea¡ªas it applies in the case of a bifurcated space¡ªis that the human mind, however advanced, generally can only be the sole observer of one space. You need another mind to maintain a separate space. So, what you need is to either get inscriptions that allow you to have a secondary mind¡ª¡±


    -<em>Well, isn¡¯t that just convenient. I wonder what I can get you to give me for this great service I am about to provide.-</em>


    ¡°¡ªor you can bind a sentience to your storage, allowing you to create a secondary space that is effectively the same storage but with a separate entrance.¡±


    He must have seen T¡¯s eyes brighten with something because he held up a finger, cutting her off before she could even start to ask something.


    ¡°I will warn you that once you open a secondary entrance you cannot transfer anything directly from one section to the other except by bringing the entrances near to one another. This does not allow for dimensional tunneling, nor does it allow for the bending¡ªlet alone breaking¡ªof the various restrictions known on expanded spaces.¡±


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    T felt a bit of disappointment at that, but it was alright. There was a <em>lot</em> to unpack in what he had said, and it took T a moment to pull her mind in order and create her followup question. ¡°So¡­ what does this have to do with couples?¡±


    Her taking the time didn¡¯t actually ensure that it was a particrly good question, unfortunately. Master Torralos looked confused. ¡°Well, the couple each have their own mind¡­ so¡­?¡±


    <em>Oh.</em> T nodded. ¡°Right. So, with more than one mind, how do I create a¡­ secondary¡­ space¡­¡±


    She trailed off, considering.


    <em>Wait, I¡¯ve already done that.</em>


    Master Torralos grinned. ¡°I¡¯m assuming that you¡¯ve realized that you¡¯ve already done that at some point in the past? I would normally be surprised, but from how you described your storage, it is highly morphic and under the influence of your will. This is one reason why I began our discussion saying that you don¡¯t really need my help.¡±


    ¡°I have created a secondary space, yes.¡± She had done it to quarantine¡ªand subsequently destroy¡ªthe world-ending ice that she¡¯d identally created.


    ¡°Good. Doing such a dimensional division doesn¡¯t require an extra mind, though. No, it is the opening of a secondary entrance into that segmented space¡ªwhile there exists one into the primary area¡ªthat will require a separate mind. On the positive side, this isn¡¯t something that you can fail at. It will either work, or it will not.¡± He chuckled. ¡°In fact, it is one of the advantages those with familiars have over those without. They can have apletely separate storage space with ease.¡±


    Terry perked up at that, lifting his head and looking around.


    T chuckled. ¡°Do you hear that, Terry? If you and I bond, I can have another, separate space.¡±


    Master Torralos cleared his throat. ¡°Well, in the case of a familiar such as him, he would get a storage that you could size for him initially but would ultimately be under his control to ess. With his agreement, it could be used just like any other storage for you, but while it existed, the mind the storage partition is founded upon would have precedence.¡± He then examined Terry a bit more closely. ¡°You are a fascinating creature. It¡¯s really too bad that I¡¯ve never been much for animals.¡±


    The man shrugged and turned back toward Rane.


    T instantly liked the man a bit less, but she tried not to judge him too harshly. He¡¯d been incredibly helpful, after all.


    Terry didn¡¯t seem to care as he tucked back in and closed his eyes once more.


    She frowned then. ¡°But, wait¡­ what is it that you do, usually? For couples I mean. They both have minds, so they can just divide the space, right?¡±


    ¡°As I said at the beginning, what I generally do is help merge two existing soulbound storages, but in the case of there only being one, you are right. If it¡¯s morphic enough, and unmoored, yes, I am unneeded except as an advisor. Generally, though, one or both of those aspects is missing, and so I facilitate the segmentation, and¡ªin the case of moored storages¡ªI bind a secondary physical object to the segmentation to facilitate ess.¡±


    ¡°Right. That makes sense.¡± She smiled, considering. After a moment, she shrugged and cleared her throat. ¡°Well, I think that¡¯s actually all we need for the moment.¡±


    Master Torralos looked confused for a brief instant, but then he smiled and nodded. ¡°Ahh, right, you likely want to get to it. I had gotten a bit caught up in our chat, I suppose.¡± Master Torralos nodded to himself. ¡°You mentioned that your storage had some innate sapience, correct? That should work beautifully. Yes, yes. It could work quite well. Being bound to you and not a true creature, it <em>should</em> act just like the main partition for you. Oh!¡± He held up his finger. ¡°I almost forgot. It is generally epted that some of the avable dimensionality is taken up to facilitate the partitions. This means that the volume of the two will add up to slightly less than had been avable within the single space. Additionally, the separate partitions should¡ªunder no circumstances¡ªbe taken too far from one another. They are still the same item, even if used distinctly.¡±


    ¡°Thank you, Master Torralos. What is the distance that they can be separated by?¡±


    The man went to the bookshelf, grabbed a specific tome, and flipped through it, quickly finding what he wanted. ¡°Here it is. ¡®The distance that one part of the bifurcated storage can safely move away from any other part is proportional to the volume.¡¯¡±


    T frowned. That was¡­ confusingly worded to say the least. ¡°So¡­ therger my storage overall, the farther I can take the pieces from one another?¡±


    ¡°Yes, and it is irrespective of the shape of the storage. The only thing that factors in the safe distance between the sections is the volume.¡±


    ¡°Ahh, I think I understand. Thank you.¡±


    ¡°But of course!¡±


    ¡°Will there be a warning, or a sense of danger, or will they just break?¡±


    ¡°As they are soulbound to you, you should feel the strain as you approach the limits. Be watchful for that feeling¡ªand listen to it¡ªand you should be fine.¡±


    ¡°Well, thank you once again, Master Torralos.¡±


    ¡°I am happy to assist. If you ever have any other questions, please let me know. I do so love the topic. I would also happily give an on site consultation, should you ever desire. Good day to you both.¡±


    They all exchanged bows, and T and Rane departed, heading for the wall on which Kit was to rest for the remainder of the day.


    It didn¡¯t take long for them to reach the area in which Kit¡¯s dimensionality held sway stoneward of the superficial.


    With a thought, T took both herself and Rane into her sanctum, bypassing the physical entry, as that was only required for those without deeper ess.


    Indeed, it had been a major boon when they¡¯d figured out how to have Master Simon, Mistress Petra, Adrill, Brandon, and Kedva be able to enter and leave with a request to Kit, just as they¡¯d been able to move around within the dimensional storage for some time, now.


    Regardless, T arrived within and used the internalmunication construct to g down her assistants.


    Master Simon asked her to lower the magic density where she was, and she did so with a thought.


    Soon thereafter, the three men showed up, along with a couple other newer faces.


    <em>Ahh, so these gateless are why he wanted the power density lowered. No need to give them a rebirth by ident.</em>


    Master Simon quickly exined when T cocked an eyebrow, ¡°They are learning the ropes in the hopes of joining our various research efforts.¡±


    T considered for a moment, then shrugged. ¡°Sure, I suppose that makes sense.¡±


    She and Rane then exined their intentions.


    ¡°Ahh, that does make sense.¡± Master Simon smiled. ¡°I apologize, but honestly, I can¡¯t say that I¡¯ve evere across such a utilization of dimensional storages. Maybe it¡¯s something only supportable by Refined, or I simply didn¡¯t ask the right people or the right questions.¡±


    ¡°Completely understandable, Master Simon. No one can be an expert in all fields, nor think of all options. That is why working together is useful.¡±


    He smiled and bowed. ¡°Thank you, Mistress T. If I am recalling correctly¡ªwith regard to bifurcated storages¡ªthere is some inherent stress to be taken into ount, but that shouldn¡¯t factor here.¡±


    When T frowned, the man exined further.


    ¡°There is an active strain upon the soul and mind which doesn¡¯t exist for purely separate storages¡­ At least that is my understanding. If the Constructionist didn¡¯t mention it, it is possible that this is another area in which Refined simply bypass the difficulty.¡±


    She found herself nodding. ¡°Such as a soulbound Archive link and sub-mind.¡±


    He smiled. ¡°Quite like that, yes.¡±


    ¡°Alright, let¡¯s see what we can do.¡±


    It was trivial for her to separate her sanctum from Irondale, given they were already all but separate, only connected by a long thin bit of dimensionality.


    She moved that space over to Irondale, only leaving a bit of extended volume for easy reconnection if she ever so desired.


    Then¡ªwith everyone present monitoring the situation with all their various means¡ªT willed for a doorway to appear leading out of her sanctum.


    The gate in and out of Irondale remained. So, T¡ªhonestly¡ªthought adding the secondary door would be difficult.


    It wasn¡¯t.


    A door opened before her, leading out onto the alley beside Artia¡¯s shop.


    She felt an odd pulling at her mind, as if she was now even more aware of everything within her sanctum than she had been before, but in an odd, disconnected sense that was difficult to quantify.


    She could still feel Kit¡¯s influence, it wasn¡¯t as if she¡¯d cut the voidling off from a part of herself, but T still felt like <em>something</em> of the burden of the dimensional storage had shifted from Kit to herself and t.


    <em>Interesting, so we couldn¡¯t do it again, as we¡¯re considered the same mind?</em>


    <em>-Sadly, it seems like not. We likely aren¡¯t split enough. I¡¯m sort ofyered overtop of your thoughts rather than entirely separate from them.-</em>


    At the same time as the shift in mental load, T felt a¡­ closing off? Something like that.


    She knew that it was no longer a matter of strength, and she simply would be unable to move directly into Irondale. Though, she could still will things within Irondale to move around within that partition.


    Given that her sanctum was still within the dimensional sway of Irondale, T could will herself out of her sanctum and then back into Irondale, but there was what amounted to a conceptual block, preventing her from going directly from one to the other.


    ¡°Fascinating,¡± it was Brandon who spoke first. ¡°I cannot move to Irondale, but it doesn¡¯t feel like I¡¯m being blocked, simply that I <em>can¡¯t.</em>¡±


    Master Simon nodded. ¡°Before, it was like taking a step, easy, unobstructed. Now, I¡¯m on the edge of a cliff, so where I wish to step simply isn¡¯t there.¡± He frowned. ¡°But without the danger that seems to imply.¡±


    There was a lot more back and forth, and the three senior researchers spoke at length with their tag-alongs, exining the various readings and fluctuations measured and what those could possibly mean.


    <em>-Tag-alongs? They have names.-</em>


    <em>And if Brandon, Master Simon, or Adrill find them worthy, I will happily learn them.</em>


    t huffed augh but didn¡¯t disagree.


    Terry had stood up, stretching and looking about now that things had calmed down a bit.


    Then, T felt him flicker, barely touching Alefast before appearing in Irondale¡ªoff in the wilderness away from anyone else. Then, he flickered back, once more barely brushing Alefast before returning to her shoulder.


    T grinned. ¡°That¡¯s right, so long as the two are ovepping, it is effectively the same, but we are going to be moving beyond that range, that¡¯s one of the points of this split.¡±


    Rane stepped up beside her. ¡°So¡­ do you want to go for a run to test out the discement limits between the two?¡±


    She turned to look his way, a smile pulling at her lips. She felt a little yful, and so she decided to tease him just a bit, ¡°Why, Master Rane, that is an absolutely lovely idea.¡±

 Chapter 423: Copies

    Chapter 423: Copies


    T and Rane stood with their unit at the entrance to a cell. The entrance and atrium had been secreted within a little cave at the base of a hill.


    Around the unit, the first buds of spring flowers were just starting to show on some of the rolling ins.


    The Paragon who hade with them had finished going over the provided information, and she¡¯d asked them to gather so she could speak to the unit of Defenders as a whole to summarize.


    ¡°Alright, so this is an odd one. The mage waspletely devoted to their own immortality, but rather than taking the route of a healer or standard advancement, they bent their magics in a different direction. Their inscriptions, when activated, would simply generate a new body for them without the injuries or the weaknesses that allowed those injuries to happen. It wasn¡¯t perfect by any means, but there was always improvement.¡±


    That was¡­ actually somewhat clever. T raised an eyebrow. ¡°I¡¯m assuming something went wrong?¡±


    ¡°Well, not really? They had inbuilt an infusion of basic skills and abilities. After that was the transference of their memories, and once the body was fully built and primed, other inscriptions would facilitate the transfer of their gate and obliterate their own original body. It was an ingenious set of workings and a trulyprehensive mental framework to bring it about. The issue arose when they became a fount. Only the reconstruction of bodies and imntation of basic instincts remained, and that¡¯s what the fount does.¡±


    There was a collective frown as everyone considered, but it was Rane who asked for rification. ¡°So¡­ it just makes replicated bodies of this mage?¡±


    ¡°Specifically, it draws in any organic matter and builds a version of the Mage that is better in a way that counters thest things to damage one of his bodies. These improvements are cumtive.¡±


    Master Limmestare shook his head. ¡°That¡¯s not possible. Improvement in one direction often counteracts improvements in the other.¡±The Paragon shrugged. ¡°I can only tell you what was conveyed in the report. I didn¡¯t engage this prisoner myself.¡±


    Master Clevnis cleared his throat, clearly hung up on some other part of the exnation. ¡°Wait, one of? How many are there?¡±


    ¡°When this fount was sealed, they¡¯d beat the copies down entirely, and they tried to strip away all living matter, but even without such, the inflow of magic allows the creation of more, if slowly. Expect a <em>lot</em> within.¡±


    T spoke up next. ¡°And the fount wasn¡¯t simply destroyed because¡­?¡±


    ¡°It is entirely centered around self-preservation. They couldn¡¯t get it to pass on, and when they ejected it into the void, it just popped up somewhere else rtively nearby to begin churning out its endless copies.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s¡­ unfortunate.¡±


    ¡°Indeed.¡±


    Master Girt asked the next question. ¡°So, we¡¯ll be fighting a magicless human, who will be adapting to our skills? How much can he adapt?¡±


    ¡°Great question. Aside from basic biological alterations, the fount seems to be able to impress natural magics upon the copies.¡±


    Master Limmestare gave the Paragon a t look. ¡°Alright. That¡¯s as sound as rust. How?¡±


    ¡°Again, ites back to the concept of self preservation. Founts often align more with concepts than the exact magics of the Mage who became them, and this one is a prime example of that. To be fair, though, there was no record of outward manifestations of power. No balls of fire, or lightning strikes or the like. Just strength beyond what would be possible without magic, and other obviously magical effects.¡±


    Terry shifted on T¡¯s shoulder, and she reached up to scratch the side of his head. ¡°Any danger of infection or spread of any kind?¡±


    ¡°None. Even if some of the copies escape it wouldn¡¯t be <em>that</em> great of an issue. Though, we would want to hunt them down, because it was found that the copies have a base instinct to try to free the fount. We don¡¯t want effectively immortal humans working toward that end.¡±


    ¡°Immortal?¡± It was Mistress Vanga¡¯s turn to inquire. ¡°How is that possible?¡±


    ¡°Yes. It¡¯s been in there for millennia. In theory, they would have died most often from aging at least until that was solved.¡±


    ¡°Ahh, so theorized as immortal.¡± She seemed to rx a bit.


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    She nodded, then hesitated. ¡°Could we¡­ bring out some of the bodies? They might be fascinating to study. If they have achieved immortality with a human-like body, without the advancement of Refining¡­ we could learn a lot from them.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll ask for clearance, but tentatively yes.¡±


    T interjected again then. ¡°Any issue with unbound dimensional storages?¡±


    Hers was bound, but Kit functioned like an unbound storage in that those not soulbound to her could enter and leave with rtive ease. The Paragon considered, then shrugged. ¡°We might want to ensure they¡¯re empty of copies when we¡¯re done, but nothing indicates that that should be an issue.¡±


    <em>Alright, so leave Irondale outside, but bring the Sanctum.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, that should be fine. I¡¯ll keep an eye out for a breach.-</em>


    T quirked a smile, having a thought. ¡°You know, I have somewhat of a unique authority within my storage. I could just open it and let them run in, then kill them off.¡±


    The Paragon considered for a moment, then grimaced. ¡°That is a potentially workable idea, and we can have it as a backup if things go sideways. Unfortunately, there is a possibility that resisting such authority might be possible, and if the fount bent future copies that direction¡­¡±


    T¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°Oh, yeah¡­ that would be bad.¡±


    She had to remember that this would be a recurring cell for maintenance going forward. So, the less they help the thing improve, the better.


    ¡°Can its active copies change based on the death of one?¡±


    ¡°No, each new one is only changed as they are created. They seem to function with some awareness between them, but it was not recorded as anything close to the level of a hive mind.¡±


    Master Clevnis cleared his throat. ¡°Alright, so we go in and restrain them as much as possible.¡±


    T smiled. ¡°I can actually just effectively strip them of their gravity. I can do¡­ up to sixty nearly instantly, and a lot more given time.¡±


    The unit leader considered, then nodded. ¡°Yeah, that would be good. We¡¯ll also put up barriers and fight them only as necessary. Once again, non-lethal means wherever possible.¡±


    They all nodded, understanding.


    The Paragon smiled. ¡°Alright. Let¡¯s do this.¡±


    T made sure that her sparring sheath was locked in ce around Flow to keep her blows nonlethal. ¡°Do you want toe, Terry? Non-lethal isn¡¯t really your speed.¡±


    Terry squawked derisively, shaking himself before he trilled and focused forward.


    She smiled. ¡°Oh, everything¡¯s your speed is it?¡±


    He trilled again, more softly this time.


    ¡°Alright. Let¡¯s do this.¡± She looked to Rane. ¡°Will you have my back while I¡¯m working with their gravity?¡±


    He smiled. ¡°Then, and always.¡±


    * * *


    T wasing to hate the face of the man before her.


    He was handsome enough, but his eyes were empty of emotion and his features bereft of expression.


    If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    His ck hair was close cropped to his head, so close that he was effectively bald for any martial applications.


    <em>Which is probably why the copiese out like that¡­</em>


    As to who he was? This was one of <em>hundreds</em> of copies of the Mage created by the fount within this cell.


    Their n¡­ was not working that well.


    It had started well enough with her Restraining well over a hundred copies, but they¡¯d had two horrifying responses to that.


    The first¡ªand more mundane¡ªresponse was for all of those within reach of one another to grab on and push off so that at least one could continue to move in to attack T and her unit.


    The second response was enacted by both those out of reach of anyone else, and those who were pushed off and away, sent in the wrong direction.


    It seemed that they had ingrained natural magics for self annihtion.


    It wasn¡¯t anything extreme. They didn¡¯t explode or turn to acid, or anything like that. They simply died.


    Mistress Vanga said that it looked like they gave themselves an aneurysm¡ªall in exactly the same location¡ªas soon as they were in a position that they couldn¡¯t recover from.


    At that point, their bodies would almost spaghettify, the material streaming back toward the fount where it was remolded into an updated version.


    T had <em>no</em> idea how they were doing it, but somehow, each subsequent copy toe from the fount was harder for her to target for her workings and more expensive to affect once she did lock on.


    It was like they were bing more inherently resistant to her specific magics.


    As to those that came in for the attack?


    Well, it seems that breaking an arm against magical barriers before self-induced death was enough for future models to be better at breaching barriers.


    These fount copies had faced a <em>lot</em> of magical barriers in the past, at least evidence suggested so. Each one of their punches sent out ripples of inherent instability, which made resisting the strikes more difficult with each subsequent blow.


    If a copy proved ineffective, he died, only to be reced by a better version.


    So, needless to say, going ¡®nonlethal¡¯ was a bit¡­ unrealistic.


    The only thing that seemed to have affected the rather apocalyptic waves of copies as a whole was when T had wrapped one in iron.


    Her thinking had been, even if it died, it couldn¡¯t be drawn away back toward the fount for remaking.


    Oh, she¡¯d been wrong.


    She¡¯d sealed it up nice and tight, but that¡¯s when they¡¯d all learned something that either hadn¡¯t been recorded or hadn¡¯t been known when this cell was created.


    <em>Or the copies have developed the ability since?</em> That was only a bit horrifying.


    Regardless, every copy hadpletely and dissonantly out of sync¡ªscreamed in a way that caused T¡¯s connection with the iron to tremble, seemingly threatening to shatter the bond outright.


    She¡¯d withdrawn her iron, and the screaming had stopped.


    It was¡ªsomehow¡ªa sort of sonic attack aimed at soulbonds.


    It made no sense.


    It shouldn¡¯t be possible.


    Yet, T¡¯s still aching gate removed all doubt that it hadn¡¯t been real.


    That also removed one of the other strategies they¡¯d considered employing. They¡¯d thought they could pull back and simply have T plug the tunnel with iron.


    If any cell would allow that as a solution, this one should, but nope. The copies would probably do their screaming again, or find some other means to ovee the issue.


    Thus, the unit was fighting against a tide of this one man, and T was beginning to hate the very sight of him.


    It was odd, because she felt like the very fact that she had hurt, rebuffed, or killed him over and over again, made her hate him more.


    Every time she made the conscious choice to harm or dy him, it was another mark in her own internal justification that her dislike was warranted. The more she acted like she hated him, the more she actually did.


    By this point, she had hated sufficiently to enact heinous injury and death upon him uncounted times.


    <em>I might hate him even more than Be-thric, and that makes absolutely no sense.</em>


    <em>-You only killed Be-thric once. That arcane</em>¡ª<em>at least</em>¡ª<em>had the good graces to stay dead. This guy isn¡¯t even </em>that <em>courteous.-</em>


    T snorted augh at that, even as she punched a copy in the chest hard enough to copse a mundane ribcage.


    The copy was fine, aside from being pushed back a bit. His bones were <em>insanely</em> durable. Everything about him was.


    T found that she was getting on board with Mistress Vanga¡¯s desire to take some bodies with them.


    <em>Plus, then we can desecrate the corpses¡­</em> She took a mental step back. Was she being influenced by some sort of mental attack?


    A momentter, she and t concurred. <em>-No, he¡¯s just really vile¡­-</em>


    She knew that she should keep herself detached. This was her job, and it wasn¡¯t like there was a personal grudge between her and these lifeless copies.


    T didn¡¯t care.


    Every strike with her sparring-sheathed Flow brought a smile to her face as she drove the rusting horrid man back.


    It had be almost a game as the unit members each worked to keep the waves of bodies back but also to do so in a way that none of the individuals felt inconvenienced enough to just off themselves.


    Obviously, throwing them back past the fount was an instant failure, as they¡¯d seemingly rather pop and respawn than run the extra distance.


    Simrly, if their legs were broken or in any way severely damaged¡­ <em>pop.</em>


    Wound to the head or eyes, or anything that might disorient them? <em>Pop.</em>


    Too much internal damage? <em>Pop.</em>


    Knocked prone too close to the fount? <em>Pop.</em>


    No quick way to assault? <em>Pop.</em>


    Thatst one really didn¡¯t make sense to T at first, but then she noticed that this helped keep the assault vectors clear for the vile creatures, allowing them to attack more effectively.


    It also resulted in the copiesing out faster and with more powerful jumps. Some were also better climbers, as they tried scaling the cliffs that nked T¡¯s unit.


    Thankfully, that seemed to be deemed ¡®inefficient¡¯ for some reason, so most that tried that route popped themselves before they became an issue.


    Unsurprisingly, Rane was among the best in keeping them back nonlethally, mainly because he could generate waves of kic energy. These waves were just less refined and controlled kic des, and when spread out to hit arge sector of the attackers, the universal slow-down made it ineffective for them to pop, while still keeping their progress down to a fast walk.


    Master Clevnis had the worst time keeping copies back without causing their deaths either directly or indirectly.


    No one was surprised by this as his magic was almost universally aimed toward magical des. As a result, the copies were getting an odd armored texture to their skin. That let the unit leader do better, as funny as that was to consider.


    Terry flickered among the copies implementing marginal dying tactics while staying within T¡¯s aura.


    They all felt the weak pull at their bodies to be pulled in and used as fuel by the fount, and while Terry could probably resist, he was wise enough to not risk it.


    Regardless, there was a steady stream of opponents for T to deflect, block, throw, or strike with Flow, foot, or fist.


    It was quite the challenge to ensure that she was precisely controlled with each attack, even if T wasn¡¯t really sure how much it mattered.


    No matter what they did, they were each pressed exactly as much as every other member of their unit, the copies simply altering their pace slightly to make up the difference one way or another to keep the optimal number of copies engaged with each Refined at a time.


    ¡°Can I please just try it?¡± T finally snapped.


    Master Clevnis who was even more irritated than her, added on right after, ¡°I¡¯d love that. Cerna?¡±


    The calmer of the unit leaders nced between them, then sighed. ¡°Yes, but be careful. If it seems to be adapting¡­¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll pull back. Understood.¡± With that, sheshed out with Flow, knocking back five of the copies and allowing her unit to shift to cover her sector of the defense of the tunnel.


    Then, she leapt straight up, suspending her own gravity when she was at the top of her trajectory.


    She didn¡¯t need it to get a vantage, her threefold sight showed her the fount just fine.


    Instead, she did it to get a straighter shot for her iron. With what she was about to do, every little bit would help.


    With a gesture and act of will, she sent iron spikesncing out, driving into the ground around the fount, establishing a beachhead for her aura and authority.


    She pressed inward, even as copies continued to appear, seemingly ignoring her iron or unaware of its presence or effect.


    Then, as she began to dig in and really get herself established there, her aura drew close enough to the fount that the copies had to be produced inyers, which slowed down production by a noticeable amount, but sadly, it didn¡¯t stop it entirely.


    At that point, T began to encounter heavy resistance.


    It wasn¡¯t like the fount was learning, blessedly. Instead, it was simply the sovereignty of a soul over itself.


    T didn¡¯t have the power, nor fundamental authority to do something like that.


    She simply couldn¡¯t im it without attempting a soulbond, and she was <em>not</em> willing to do that for myriad reasons.


    T called down from where she hung, suspended behind the line of her unit¡¯s defense, gritting her teeth even as she ensured her voice reached them by infusing it with power. ¡°That¡¯s all I can do.¡±


    Mistress Cerna looked her way. ¡°Have you seen any evidence of adaptation?¡±


    ¡°Not yet.¡± T shook her head.


    ¡°Would you like assistance?¡±


    She didn¡¯t hesitate for even an instant. ¡°Yes, please.¡±


    Ribbons of metal shot out from near the older woman, covering the rtively short distance to the fount with surprising speed before they wove a around the source of their trouble. It was positioned incredibly carefully to be out of the way of the copies being created.


    As the spellform activated, T felt as if the burden upon her will was greatly lessened, and she felt theforting power of Mistress Cerna¡¯s own, powerful will alongside her own.


    ¡°Thank you.¡±


    ¡°Of course, dear. We¡¯re a unit. You don¡¯t need to be a one woman army.¡± The older woman smiled, and T smiled in return even if it was behind her facete.


    <em>Alright, I think we can make this work.</em>


    That is, of course, when things started to go truly wrong.

 Chapter 424: False Copies

    Chapter 424: False Copies


    T held her aura firm as close to the fount as possible, forcing it to manifest the copies of its original host closer and closer to itself.


    Mistress Cerna was backing T up with a spellform designed to facilitate and augment both her own willpower and T¡¯s aura sovereignty over the specific area in which the fount stood.


    As her aura didn¡¯t directly affect the fount¡ªbecause it couldn¡¯t¡ªand it also didn¡¯t harm the copies, the fount seemed unaware of the inhibition, or at least unable to muster a direct countermeasure as of yet.


    Things were looking rather good as the unit as a whole was quickly battling back the copies that were now receiving reinforcements quite a bit more slowly.


    It was then that the fount pulsed, a ripple reaching out just far enough to contact T¡¯s aura, inteced with her own and Mistress Cerna¡¯s will.


    They both recoiled slightly, feeling as if they¡¯d had someone look their way with ill intent.


    A presence <em>far</em> beyond any that T had ever felt before descended, seeming to take stock of the situation. After a moment, the fount red, twisting and distorting to T¡¯s threefold sight before a rollingugh echoed through the cell. ¡°Boon honored, bargain fulfilled as struck.¡±


    With that, the presence vanished, leaving the fount heavily altered, yet still somehow fundamentally the same.


    T felt herself pale as a possibility clicked into ce. ¡°Was that¡­?¡±Mistress Cerna was already weaving magics around herself below where T hung in the air. ¡°A Sovereign, yes. That exins how this fount was so resilient. The mage must have sought¡ªand received¡ªa boon and used it for¡­ something. It seems like whatever thisst change was has used up thest of the boon, however.¡±


    ¡°So¡­ survive, and it will be out of tricks?¡±


    ¡°Or thisst modification made it sufficiently powerful to no longer require a Sovereign to back it up.¡±


    ¡°I like that less.¡± She considered for a long moment as the fount finished twisting and contorting, rearranging itself at the behest of the Sovereign¡¯s lingering supreme will. She had a sinking feeling as a thought came to her, ¡°Did this guy¡¯s type of magic specifically require it to be a copy of him?¡±


    That was the only warning they had before a new form stepped from the fount.


    T pulled back her aura in horror, forcing her iron spikes away as a precaution as well.


    Only then did one of the others notice and react. It was, of course, Rane. ¡°T? Is that¡­ you? It made a copy of you?¡±


    Sure enough, a copy of T had exited the fount, followed by one of Mistress Cerna. They looked almost identical except that their faces were ck, devoid of any emotion, their eyes empty of higher thought.


    A momentter, another pulse rippled out through the cell, being amplified by the remaining copies, and after it passed, a version of each member of their unit stepped from the now portal-like fount.


    Master Girt groaned. ¡°I had this dream once. It wasn¡¯t fun.¡±


    Master Limmestare shook his head. ¡°This is quite a horrible trope. Evil versions of us? Really?¡±


    Mistress Vanga shrugged. ¡°They¡¯re not properly equipped as we are. There¡¯s no way they¡¯ll be a true threat.¡±


    At that moment, evil Raneunched from beside the fount and punched T toward the ground.


    She had just been floating in the air, without much easy means of movement. So, the fact that she hadn¡¯t dodged was reasonable, but even so, he¡¯d moved <em>fast.</em>


    As T let out a coughing wheeze, she had t send a message with two facts prominently ced.


    Evil Rane fell upon her like aet, but she was able to roll out of the way in time, keeping herself between him and the way out.


    As soon as she sucked in a breath, she said aloud what she¡¯d already sent, just to be safe, ¡°He¡¯s at least as strong as Rane, and I didn¡¯t detect any inscriptions or ingrained natural magics in the human style. His magics are being implemented by concept magic like arcanes use.¡±


    And since they were being birthed from a fount, they were effectively stepping out of a gateway from the source of magic.


    They were full.


    She, of course, didn¡¯t have time to say that as False Rane attacked again, only to be stopped by Master Clevnis, who threw a de of pure power into False Rane¡¯s stomach.


    False Rane, of course, moved with the attack,ing out unharmed, but that still interrupted his pursuit of T.


    T suddenly found Terry standing before her, his eyes empty of all emotion. ¡°Terry?¡±


    <em>No, False Terry.</em> That was¡­ horrifying.


    Terry flickered into being behind the copy of himself, shing, but the copy was not so easily killed.


    The two became a truly dizzying blur as they matched one another flicker for flicker.


    <em>Oh¡­ that¡¯s not good.</em>


    -<em>You think?-</em>


    Things started to go downhill from there.


    False Vanga swelled with added muscle, her skin thickening until it resembled armored tes, and sword-like ws and fangs extended from her fingers and mouth.


    T gaped before looking toward Mistress Vanga. The woman was red with¡­ embarrassment? T barely caught her muttered words. ¡°I never intended to <em>use</em> those magics¡­¡±


    Beast Vanga roared, having burst free of her clothing.


    Even so, it wasn¡¯t urate to call it naked, as all semnce of the parts usually covered for modesty had disappeared.


    It was simply a massive sculpture of flesh and bone in the rough shape of an incredibly overge human.


    False Limmestare instantly vanished. <em>I didn¡¯t know </em>he<em> could go invisible¡­ That¡¯s really stereotypical of a ss mage.</em>


    False Clevnis exploded with a torrent of des of magic, all shooting for the unit of Defenders.


    False Cerna seemed at a loss, given herck of precious metals to weave into spellforms, and that made T chuckle even as she rxed slightly. Mistress Cerna was a <em>beast</em> to fight¡­ even if not quite as literally as Beast Vanga would be.


    False Girt¡­ well? He immediately offed himself. There was a small <em>crack</em>¡ªa rock from the ground had shot upward and put a hole through his skull as effectively as a warhammer could have.


    Even as Mistress Cerna was countering the iing des from False Clevnis, the death of his false twin caused most eyes to turn to Master Girt.


    He shrugged. ¡°I¡¯m always on the edge of death. I only live through conscious choice. That thing clearlycked that ability or desire.¡±


    That¡­ would have to be addressed after this cell was finished.


    False T charged forward, streams of iron dust rising up from the ground around her, increasing with her every step.


    The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    <em>No.</em>


    <em>-No. That¡¯s</em>¡ª<em>-</em>


    <em>That¡¯s iron.</em>


    False T was soon d in iron just as T herself was.


    <em>Well, rust.</em>


    As odd as it seemed, as thest of the mage copies were dealt with, the unit was in a veryfortable ce.


    They¡¯d fought against one another quite a few times, even if it had been with lower stakes and fewer trump cards open to be used.


    T nced toward Mistress Vanga and found that the woman was still blushing a <em>deep</em> red, but she was obviously preparing to engage even so.


    Master Clevnis snapped outmands. ¡°I have Rane. Master Rane, you take T. Cerna back him up. Mistress T you¡¯re on Vanga. Mistress Vanga - Cerna. Master Girt - Limmestare. Master Limmestare you¡¯re on <em>that </em>me.¡±


    Everyone nodded, understanding.


    T couldn¡¯t help but be impressed at his quick assessment and division of opponents. Flow should be more than capable of wounding False Vanga and hopefully keeping her down. Additionally, she should be rather resistant to any sort of ¡®healing to harm¡¯ shenanigans that the healer¡¯s false copy could get up to.


    Additionally, if T were without Flow¡ªnot to mention her other equipment¡ªand her higher thought processes, Rane would be a near perfect counter for her. Mistress Cerna was likely being added in to work against any iron shenanigans as much as possible.


    <em>I just need to finish quickly to go take all that iron from her.</em>


    <em>-That¡¯s a lot, T. Won¡¯t that unbnce us toward Reality?-</em>


    <em>I hope not? Maybe we don¡¯t take it all for ourselves, just take it from her.</em>


    <em>-If we can manage that, sure.- </em>t didn¡¯t seem overly confident at the idea.


    T had one thing to rify. ¡°Still non-lethal?¡±


    Master Clevnis¡¯s response was quick. ¡°No. Kill quick. If theye back, switch to non-lethal.¡±


    Everyone acknowledged.


    Tunched herself at Beast Vanga, pushing power into her weapon along with her will to turn Flow to a void-ive as she came arcing downward.


    Beast Vanga screamed up at T¡¯s falling form, and three things happened at once.


    First, T¡¯s eardrums burst even within her armor.


    Second, she saw that the false healer was creating air as a part of her scream, which increased the intensity to the level it was at, while also pushing her back.


    Third, that wave of wind and sound knocked T off course, and thus, she came crashing down just in front of the beast instead of close enough to bisect it.


    A massive arm swung for T. She was a bit disoriented due to her ears popping, and she would have thought the attack would fall short, but she raised Flow to block anyways on pure instinct.


    A bone-de grew out of Beast Vanga¡¯s arm as it swung for her.


    Flow met bone and actually seemed to have a little trouble shearing through, even if not much. In this case, however, it would have been better if it hadn¡¯t cut so easily.


    Both the still attached and cut-free portions of the bone-de continued, one cutting at each of her shoulders, even as she was still in position to block.


    Her ative armor fractured, absorbing and dissipating all of the impact from the free-flying side, and negating much of it from the other.


    That strike¡ªeven so diminished¡ªwas still somehow powerful enough to throw T into a spin.


    T had the presence of mind to use the spin, pulling Flow in tight through the turn beforeshing out to cut through the retreating arm, splitting it between the two bones in the forearm.


    The wound healed almost as soon as it was made.


    <em>Well¡­ this is going to be interesting.</em>


    T fought to drive closer to Beast Vanga, but the ten foot tall no-longer-human kept her at bay with sweeping, hammering blows.


    Those often exposed limbs to T¡¯s cuts and even to being severed, but Beast Vanga just healed the damage or grew the limb back.


    Elsewhere within the cell, Terry and False Terry were flickering up a storm. Even T¡¯s threefold sight¡ªwith t monitoring it closely¡ªcould barely catch glimpses of the two terror birds.


    Mistress Vanga had killed False Cerna rather quickly given the enemy didn¡¯t really have her main means of attack and defense.


    No new Cerna came from the fount.


    The fount, in fact, looked¡­ odd, distorted, like a structural support that was under too great of a load.


    Around her shes with Beast Vanga, T came to assume that the Sovereign¡¯s interference had made them near-true copies of their Defender unit. As such, the fount simply didn¡¯t have the soul-strength to sustain bonds with¡ªnot to mention supply power to¡ªso many highly advanced beings.


    Master Clevnis was driving False Rane around the battlefield. That opponent was almost as disadvantaged without his sword as False Cerna had been without her metals. False Rane, however, was still a <em>monster</em> of a survivor, and his defensive magics¡ªalong with his other kic abilities¡ªmade him a difficult fighter to pin down.


    Rane and Mistress Cerna were containing and harassing False T. Rane used his expert swordsmanship along with his ability to impart so much kic energy with each hit¡ªand even near hits¡ªthat False T¡¯s ative armor just couldn¡¯t keep up. She didn¡¯t have the white steel to augment it after all, nor did she have Flow to sh de to de with Rane.


    Mistress Cerna was on containment duty, keeping any sneaky bits of iron from approaching Rane to the best of her ability. She even attacked Rane outright on asion to trigger his defenses and move him out of the way of some iron he seemed to have missed avoiding through other means.


    Master Girt and False Limmestare were both invisible, but t easily tracked them with her threefold sight as the two men shed in an odd sort of blind fighting. It was obvious that they were both aware of where the other was, generally speaking, but they couldn¡¯t seem to determine specifics. That led to a lot of feinting and blocking of attacks that weren¡¯t actually iing.


    All told, Master Girt was winning over all.


    As for Master Limmestare, he was having the most trouble of any of them, except maybe T or Terry. His ss-fiber defenses were great for blunting False Clevnis¡¯ attacks, but he couldn¡¯t get a hit in on his opponent.


    Even so, with Mistress Vanga¡¯s defeat of False Cerna, things began to tip more in the Defender¡¯s favor. She was able to go and help to box in False Rane, forcing the doppleganger to take his first hits.


    When fighting Master Clevnis, truly taking a hit was tantamount to losing, and that bore up in this sh as well. False Rane lost a leg first, and that slowed him down enough that he was torn apart in mere moments after the initial wound.


    Those two turned first to assist against False Clevnis, and that opponent fell against his original rather quickly. Master Limmestare and Mistress Vanga were hardly needed, though they did make the sh reach its conclusion much faster.


    The three of them then moved on to assist Rane and Mistress Cerna against False T.


    T, for her part, wasn¡¯t about to be outdone.


    She decided to take a risk, and used iron to push herself stoneward for a quick moment as she darted in.


    Her iron then drew her back out before she could drift or fall too far.


    She came back to the superficial right beside Beast Vanga¡¯s left side, Flow alreadyshing out to bisect the woman with a void-cut.


    The two halves fell slowly apart, and T oriented on the fight between Master Girt and False Limmestare.


    With her full attention there, it only took a moment for her to find the opening she wanted.


    A pair of siege-orbsnced out and took False Limmestare by surprise, mming him back and away from Master Girt before the orbs detonated, obliterating the copy of the ss mage.


    That freed up Master Girt to go help against False T, who was still giving the whole group trouble.


    The evil version of T was using clouds of iron dust to interfere with any magics thrown her way, even as she tried to press her advantage against one or another of those seeking to bring her down.


    T almost moved to join, but before she could she noticed movement behind her through her threefold sight.


    Each half of Beast Vanga had grown another half, and the two were standing back to their feet side by side.


    ¡°Rust that.¡± T sent a barrage of siege-orbs back at the two beasts¡ªstaggered and aimed to keep them off bnce and rtively close together¡ªeven as she charged back in.


    The two were torn open but quickly healed. At least, they began to heal until T flooded the wounds with her own iron in the form of a rain of nails, absolutely shredding the beasts¡¯ insides.


    Those nails would never have prated Beast Vanga¡¯s skin, but with wounds torn open and frozen brittle by the explosions of siege-orbs?


    Yeah, there were now plenty of ces for T to target.


    Soon after, the two Beast Vangas were down for the count, utterly stripped of internal iron and covered with a thin ting of iron on the outside.


    T growled at her erstwhile opponent. ¡°Stay down.¡±


    That handled, she turned back around just in time to see Mistress Vanga take a punch <em>through</em> her chest to gain Master Clevnis the opening that he needed in order to remove False T¡¯s head from her shoulders.


    Mistress Cerna stepped forward, mming a cage of power around the two pieces of False T, effectively interrupting any attempts to heal or stay alive.


    After spitting up some blood, Mistress Vanga healed herself rather quickly, and that was that.


    Terry was perched atop the corpse of his false twin, heaving ragged, panting breaths.


    He was bloodied and winded but mostly whole. Some of his feathers were bent and broken, and the cuts he had were almost entirely confined to his lower legs and around his reddened beak.


    The avian trumpeted toward the sky, encapsting their collective feeling of triumph rather nicely.


    He then looked to T before ncing down at the corpse beneath his talons.


    T chuckled, somehow knowing exactly what he wanted to ask. ¡°Can Terry eat the body, or will that cause issues?¡±


    Master Clevnis looked to his wife, and Mistress Cerna wove a quick series of spells, activating each in turn before nodding. ¡°Go ahead.¡±


    Terry tucked in, then, and ate his false twin with speed and abandon.


    <em>I could have gone a long time without seeing that¡­</em> Even so, she found herself looking toward her own false twin. Her gaze didn¡¯t contain any hunger, but instead, it was filled with curiosity.


    <em>-Yeah, I wonder what we can learn from that.-</em>

 Chapter 425: New Resident

    Chapter 425: New Resident


    T, Rane, Terry, and their unit flew back toward Alefast.


    The fount had still been twisting and reshaping when the maintenance process wasplete, showing that the Sovereign¡¯s final interference was still underway. Thus, while T <em>could</em> have kicked it into the void, they didn¡¯t actually know that would work any better this time. Additionally, they were hesitant toe very close, even magically, given that was what had seemed to trigger the false copies the first time.


    It might be overly cautious, but no one had actually objected when it was decided to take the safe route and leave the fount be until the next maintenance cycle.


    They left <em>extensive</em> notes, and the Paragon had remained near the resealed cell to investigate the situation further and keep tabs for at least a short while.


    There wasn¡¯t any fear that anything would break free, but they still wanted to be able to provide as much information as possible for the next unit who came to perform maintenance on the cell.


    <em>And then, hopefully, they¡¯ll be able to close it down for good.</em>


    But in either case, it was out of their hands, and wouldn¡¯t fall on them again unless they happened to be part of the Defenders of a nearby city when it came up for maintenance.


    <em>-That will likely be in about a thousand years.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, I hope we aren¡¯t still Refined then.</em><em>-Yeah, that would definitely denote a rather stark slowing of our progress.-</em>


    T grinned at that. She had graduated three and a half years earlier. <em>Yet, somehow, I¡¯m not the fastest to advance in our history.</em>


    That was a bit mind blowing, but apparently, among others who¡¯d been faster than her, there had been a young man who had discovered the Archon Star form as a student and be an Archon before even graduating the Academy.


    He¡¯d Fused in less than a half a year after graduation and took only a year to Refine afterward.


    Records of him became sparse after that, and his name had been redacted. So, T suspected that it might even be Master Xeel or Master Grediv, but she¡¯d never taken the time to figure it out.


    Master Xeel had been <em>incredibly</em> cagey about his past when they¡¯d been in the cell, dealing with the remnants of the Reality Mage¡¯s power, so she hadn¡¯t pressed to find out about his own journey of Advancement.


    She¡¯d used the time to shore up her general knowledge about generally restricted topics, and that had been just fine with her. She¡¯d asked about the ck Legion¡ªmore generally about all automata¡ªarcanes, and how they rted to Reality and gated-humanity, and Reforging, among other topics.


    <em>- Maybe, we¡¯ll be the Paragon called in?-</em>


    <em>What? Not Reforged?</em>


    <em>-Could be, could be.-</em> t sent back the impression of a grin of amusement.


    Regardless, it was nice to have the cell behind them.


    With the cell behind them, however, they turned toward Master Girt.


    The man was cleaning his nails with a small dagger, but he froze when one unit member after another turned his way. Only Mistress Cerna kept her eyes on where they were going.


    He looked up and sighed. ¡°So, are we going to talk about Mistress Vanga¡¯s titanic form? Who knew about this?¡±


    Mistress Vanga blushed at the reminder, but not as much as she had within the cell. Even so, no one took the bait.


    Master Girt sighed. ¡°Can we not talk about this?¡±


    Master Clevnis sat down beside his friend. ¡°It seems rather important. You are on the edge of being suicidal. You¡ª¡±


    Master Girt cut him off there. ¡°No. I am fully suicidal, and reasonably so, except for the fact of my soul and who I am toward humanity. Thus, recreating me without a soul and not a defender of humanity? Anyone who was even sort of me wouldn¡¯t see the point.¡±


    T frowned. ¡°I would think that ack of a soul would make you less likely to want to die. Nothing after death, so avoid death. Right?¡±


    ¡°No soul means no reuniting with Stonia. Why would I want more time with that certain knowledge?¡±


    That blunted the focus of the unit as a whole, but Master Clevnis began a quieter discussion with the man, and the rest of them tried not to listen in.


    ¡°Mistress T?¡± Mistress Vanga came and sat beside her as they moved through the air as quickly as magical resonance would let them do so peaceably.


    ¡°Yes?¡± T turned to orient on the woman.


    ¡°Young Kedva is expecting soon, correct?¡± Mistress Vanga, of course, was well aware of the due date. She was likely just using this question as a means of opening a conversation.


    ¡°Yes. I believe the due date is roughly ten days out.¡±


    ¡°How is she doing? How are you doing?¡±


    ¡°She¡¯s fine from what I gather. Why do you ask about me?¡±


    The older woman smiled. ¡°Well, I¡¯m aware that you aren¡¯t the most¡­ sociable person, and you¡¯re about to have a new baby within your dimensional storage. That¡¯s going to cause some changes.¡±


    T shrugged. ¡°I suppose. I could just let you talk to Kedva. Irondale is along for the trip, and Kedva has just finished making lunch, I believe.¡±


    That made Mistress Vanga frown. ¡°You¡¯re watching her?¡±


    ¡°Hmm? No. But when you asked after her, I looked in on the front of their house and heard her call Brandon for lunch.¡±


    ¡°Oh.¡± The healer paused at that. ¡°I suppose that makes sense.¡±


    T sighed. ¡°Every person within Irondale knows that I am constantly monitoring everything, even if just subconsciously. Well, at least when I¡¯m nearby¡ªthough, I didn¡¯t make that distinction because then people would start caring to know exactly where I was, and I wasn¡¯t willing to deal with that.¡±


    Mistress Vanga smiled slightly. ¡°So, you told them it was ¡®always,¡¯ because how could someonein about being watched <em>less</em> than they¡¯d expected in a situation like this?¡±


    ¡°Exactly.¡±


    ¡°Well, that is between you all, I suppose.¡± She tapped her fingers a bit, then shook her head. ¡°I would like to visit, but I want Anna along for the check in. We¡¯ll drop throughter today. When will the gate to Irondale be open?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s always open now, at least when I¡¯m in Alefast. My first stop when I get back will be to ce the gate in its ce.¡±


    ¡°That is kind of you and rather convenient for those inside.¡±


    ¡°I do try.¡± T smiled yfully, before the expression shifted to a more natural one. ¡°They¡¯re currently in negotiations with the administrators of Bandfast. That way when we go there for Rane¡¯s updated inscriptions in a few weeks, we¡¯ll have a ce to set the gateway while I¡¯m in that city.¡±


    ¡°Well, it seems that you¡¯re bing a regr moving city.¡±


    She grinned at that. ¡°Those are rather amazing structures. Have you seen one?¡±


    ¡°I haven¡¯t myself, no, but my mother actually immigrated from one a few hundred years ago.¡±


    That surprised T. ¡°Really? I didn¡¯t know people came to the gated human cities from there.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s exceedingly rare, but they can petition for citizenship here, and it is sometimes granted in exceptional cases. My mother was an unusually gifted healer. She met my father here, in the gated human cities.¡± Mistress Vanga considered for a moment. ¡°You know, you should probably figure out some details before you go back to the moving cities.¡±


    ¡°Oh?¡±


    ¡°Well, of course. Since you¡¯ll likely allow your residents freedom toe and go, you¡¯ll be faced with the issue of others wanting to join your little settlement and others might want to stay in the moving cities. Will you force them toe back with you?¡±


    T nodded slowly. ¡°And some might just be trying to find a way to get into the gated human cities¡­ Those are important things to know beforehand.¡±


    If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the vition.


    ¡°Exactly.¡±


    That¡­ she hadn¡¯t considered that.


    True, she hadn¡¯t actually sat down and nned a trip back out to the moving settlements, but it was something that was obvious enough that she should have thought to inquire about it.


    The moving city that she¡¯d seen had been a towering work of magical engineering, housing the many gated citizenry of the city, with massive dimensional storages, reworked into a gateless city with humans and arcanes living together in harmony.


    She¡¯d also been told that Howlton was one of the smaller settlements, something they called a vige. Their true cities¡­ she couldn¡¯t even imagine. Truthfully, she didn¡¯t want to imagine them. She wanted to see them for herself.


    ¡°Thank you, Mistress Vanga. I will definitely do that.¡±


    The Healer smiled. ¡°Well, I¡¯m d to be of service. I suppose I won¡¯t really see you when I go to check on Kedva¡­ are you nning on being nearby for the birth?¡±


    T shrugged a bit ufortably. ¡°Not really? I helped my step-mother with some of herter births¡ªbefore I left for the Academy¡ªbut it¡¯s not something where I have specific skills that would be useful.¡±


    Mistress Vanga cocked an eyebrow. ¡°That¡¯s funnying from a woman who has her own biology so memorized. While babies are very different from adults, if you know to look for what differences there are you can still be helpful at need. And as for the mother¡¯s? Kedva¡¯s biology will match yours as closely as any human can.¡± She huffed augh. ¡°Better than any mundane woman ever could. She¡¯s borne a chunk of your magics for more than a year.¡±


    ¡°I suppose so¡­¡±


    ¡°Please consider being there¡ªor at least nearby¡ªyour authority within Irondale could prove invaluable even without anything else.¡±


    After a long moment, T nodded. ¡°Alright. Sure. I¡¯ll be there.¡±


    <em>After all, it can¡¯t be that much different from my siblings¡¯ births.</em>


    * * *


    T felt her cheek twitch as Kedva knelt on all fours, breathing in a rhythmic cadence.


    They were in a back room of Kedva and Brandon¡¯s house within Irondale, and T had lowered the ambient zeme to match Alefast outside nearly four hours ago, when Anna contacted her and requested such, the birth being imminent.


    Anna was beside the birthing woman, rubbing her hand on the small of her back. ¡°Good, breathe, push when you can. Act like you''re blowing your nose, but keep all the air inside. Compress. Yes! Just like that. You¡¯re doing so well. You can do this. You aren¡¯t alone. We¡¯re here with you.¡±


    She¡­ didn¡¯t stop.


    On the positive side, Kedva seemed to either takefort in the constant stream of words or in the presence of the familiar woman, herself.


    Brandon was on Kedva¡¯s other side, providing a stable body to lean against at need. He looked both excited and decidedly uncertain about what he should be doing. They¡¯d already had to reassure him multiple times that he was right where he needed to be, doing exactly what he should be doing.


    Mistress Vanga was in ce to receive the baby, now that it was time. Magics were sweeping through mother and child almost constantly, monitoring both, even as they allowed the natural processes to take ce.


    Kedva¡¯s body contracted as if she were screaming to the stars above, but she kept the air contained,pressing and bearing down with everything she had.


    T was both fascinated and a bit put off by being able to watch the whole thing through her threefold sight.


    Once.


    Twice.


    Thrice.


    After three good pushes, Mistress Vanga had the baby in a pre-prepared nket in her arms, magics whirling around the little boy, checking him thoroughly and cleaning him up.


    <em>Oh¡­ it¡¯s a baby¡­</em> T felt very foolish as soon as she had the thought. She knew it was a baby. She saw him before he even left his mother¡¯s womb, but for some reason, seeing him with her eyes was entirely different.


    She felt a small smile pull at her lips as she regarded him.


    One.


    Two more pushes and the rest came out with Anna¡¯s assistance. At that point, Kedva crumpled over to lean against Brandon fully, her husband wrapping her in pre-warmed nkets and holding her close.


    When her threefold sight noticed something, T almost called out, after all, the boy¡¯s airways were filled, but Mistress Vanga was already turning him over and working his back manually. That allowed the little one to cough out much of the gunk before sucking in a deep breath.


    His little cry was one of triumph, and T couldn¡¯t help but put words to it, very much as she did when Terry chirped or trilled at her.


    This little boy was announcing, ¡®I¡¯ve arrived! We did it!¡¯ And he was screaming that to everyone who could hear.


    Speaking of Terry, the terror bird had been on T¡¯s shoulder through most of the birth, but he now flickered over to inspect the new little life.


    Mistress Vanga hesitated for only a moment before presenting the little one for Terry to look over.


    After a brief examination, he seemed rather satisfied, bobbing his head once before giving a trilling coo.


    That caused the baby¡¯s cry to hitch, and the little eyes blinked as he was trying to focus on the avian before him.


    He didn¡¯t seem to seed before Terry flickered away, back to T¡¯s shoulder.


    T felt like she¡¯d been entirely unnecessary throughout this whole process, but she understood how her being there, being ready, had likely been a boon. Often times knowing a safety was there allowed a person to be more confident and actually need the less.


    T was happy to be a safety as it didn¡¯t really cost her anything but a little time.


    Mistress Vanga walked over to the parents after preparing the boy. ¡°Here is your son.¡±


    Kedva indicated Brandon, and Brandon took him for a bit, cradling the tiny child. ¡°Hello, little one.¡±


    The couple shared a look before their eyes lifted to meet T¡¯s gaze.


    She froze, uncertain what was going on. ¡°Yes?¡±


    Kedva chuckled. ¡°We were hoping¡­¡±


    Brandon continued, ¡°If you¡¯re willing that is¡­¡±


    She smiled. ¡°Yes, if you¡¯re willing. We¡¯d like to name him Tx.¡±


    Terry turned to look at T, tilting his head inquiringly even as he let out a little, questioning chirp.


    T didn¡¯t remember moving, but she was standing much closer to the couple and the new little one than she had been.


    She reached out her hand and brushed the flushed little cheek. ¡°Tx, eh?¡±


    The two shared another look before smiling and nodding.


    Brandon was smiling proudly, Kedva exhaustedly. Brandon spoke for both of them. ¡°You¡¯ve done so much for us, and we wanted to honor that in some small way. I think you know that I was named after Brand for a simr reason. So, it only seems fitting.¡± He shrugged, suddenly seeming self-conscious. ¡°Keep the family tradition alive, I suppose. Would that be okay?¡±


    The little one¡ªbaby Tx¡ªbegan rooting around, and Kedva cleared her throat. ¡°The little one needs to eat. Names can be settled after that.¡±


    <em>What the Rust? Why would they want to name him after me?</em>


    <em>-They just told you, T.-</em>


    <em>Yes, I know, that¡¯s not what I meant.</em>


    <em>-You mean, why would two people whose lives you¡¯ve utterly changed want to honor you for that dramatic improvement?-</em>


    <em>¡­yes.</em>


    <em>-Do you really need me to answer, or will you do the right thing and ept the gift in the spirit in which it is being offered?-</em>


    <em>No¡­</em>


    T stepped back and gave a deep bow. ¡°If it is your wish to name him Tx, I would be honored.¡±


    Both parents seemed to rx quite a bit, even as joy was evident across their features. Kedva spoke for them this time, ¡°It is our wish, yes.¡±


    She received baby Tx and got him situated.


    ¡°Wee to Irondale, my little Tx.¡± She brushed her son¡¯s cheek as he began his first meal.


    Anna stepped forward. ¡°Oh, that¡¯s a wonderfultch he has there.¡±


    As the parents settled down with the hungry little one¡ªand the mageling gave somest information and instructions¡ªT, Terry, and Mistress Vanga departed.


    As the front door closed behind them, and the two Refined stood on the couples¡¯ front porch, T turned to Mistress Vanga who was taking in the vistas around them. ¡°Don¡¯t you need to be in there?¡±


    ¡°Not at all. Anna has helped deliver nearly fifty children in thest year and a half. She knows her stuff. The midwives are rather taken with her. If she weren¡¯t on the path to be a Mage, they¡¯d be happy to have her apprenticed to them in truth. If any magic is needed, Anna wille for me, but I¡¯ve verified the health of the babe, and I left a monitoring magic within him. It will fade after a couple of weeks, but until then, I will know if his health turns.¡± She nced T¡¯s way. ¡°I would be appreciative if you¡¯d wait for your trip to Bandfast at least that long. If you cannot, I will need to send Anna with you, ore myself. That is possible, but it wouldn¡¯t be ideal.¡±


    T nodded. ¡°I¡¯m happy to dy, and I think Rane would be as well.¡±


    ¡°Where is Master Rane?¡± Mistress Vanga looked about in curiosity. ¡°I haven¡¯t seen you two apart much ofte.¡±


    T felt herself smiling involuntarily. ¡°I think he¡¯s getting some sparring practice against members of some of the other units before our shift this afternoon.¡±


    ¡°Hmm¡­ So? Are you¡­ telling anyone?¡± The older woman gave a half smile.


    T¡¯s smile shifted to be a bit hesitant. ¡°Is it that obvious?¡±


    ¡°Only to those with eyes, Mistress T.¡±


    T found herselfughing at that. ¡°Yeah, I suppose that makes sense.¡±


    ¡°Most things do in hindsight.¡± Mistress Vanga then patted T¡¯s shoulder. ¡°I mean, you two literally discussed going on a date the day Rane was epted into our unit.¡±


    ¡°Oh¡­ right. I wasn¡¯t thinking about that.¡±


    ¡°Clearly.¡± She smiled then changed the subject. ¡°The couple have decided on rebirth.¡±


    T slowly nodded. ¡°They did.¡±


    ¡°You agreed?¡± Mistress Vanga almost sounded surprised.


    ¡°He is their child, and nothing we¡¯ve found indicates that it will do him harm.¡±


    The Healer nodded slowly. ¡°So, it will happen tomorrow, then. The first human baby we know of to be reborn in the arcane style.¡±


    ¡°It has to be done in the moving cities¡­ right?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m really not sure, but if so, my mother never mentioned it.¡±


    T frowned. ¡°Well, it will be quite interesting, regardless.¡±


    Mistress Vanga nodded slowly. ¡°That it will. I¡¯ll be taking lots of notes and measurements, that¡¯s for sure.¡±


    T shared a smile with her unit-mate. ¡°Fair enough.¡±


    ¡°Well, would you take me out of here? I have a few things that I¡¯d like to get done. I could walk to the gate, but if you¡¯re willing¡­?¡±


    ¡°I can probably do that. Would you prefer closer to your home or your office?¡±


    ¡°My home please.¡±


    ¡°Of course. Thank you, Mistress Vanga.¡±


    ¡°You are most wee, Mistress T. Thank <em>you</em> for being nearby in case there was a need.¡±


    ¡°Certainly.¡±


    With an act of will, T sent Mistress Vanga to the superficial, as far as she could ce her in the direction of her home.


    That done, T found herself simply watching the few passersby, waving when they greeted her.


    Irondale was growing, and it had now gained its first native resident in the traditional manner.


    She took in a long breath, then breathed it out. ¡°Well, we¡¯re in it now.¡±


    And they¡¯d <em>really</em> be in new territory the following day.

 Chapter 426: Rebirth

    Chapter 426: Rebirth


    T held Tx, swaddled and sleeping, happily filled with his mother¡¯s milk.


    Kedva and Brandon stood off to one side, Mistress Vanga and Anna waited in the center of the room, next to the little baby¡¯s bass.


    Rane had asked to be present for curiosity¡¯s sake, and he was off to the side with Master Simon and Adrill. The former was there to continue his data collection on the rebirth of gateless humans into magic. Thetter both as an assistant to the former and as grandfather to the little one.


    Among the collected people, it was the Refined Healer who spoke first, ¡°May I know what magics will be imparted?¡±


    <em>t?</em>


    <em>-Sent.-</em>


    ¡°You should have the full schema. It is, essentially, the magics that Kedva has, but with a basic magesight as well.¡±


    Brandon smiled broadly, clearly excited at the prospect. ¡°We humans are so malleable as babies. We develop so much based on what we can see and experience. How much better will he be able toprehend magic, having seen it and observed it essentially from birth?¡±


    Mistress Vanga raised an eyebrow toward T, and T continued. ¡°Those scripts include very targeted mental enhancements, to allow for the processing of the magesight. It will not alter his brain function so much as provide the ability for his mind to interact with the added information.¡±


    The Refined examined something that T couldn¡¯t see, likely looking over the schema through a mental projection, or however else she processed Archive information. ¡°Has an inscriptionist inspected this?¡±


    ¡°Yes, Mistress Holly graciously verified the schema as a whole.¡±


    That satisfied Mistress Vanga.


    Anna smiled a bit nervously. ¡°What can we do to help?¡±


    T smiled in return. ¡°Monitor the situation, be ready in case there is need.¡±


    As she ced Tx down, she let her full magic density refill the volume within this house, kept away only from little Tx¡¯s bed as he wasid within it.


    Brandon and Kedva both staggered, their magical reserves refilling in a rush.


    Kedva visibly brightened, her magic working to repair her postpartum ailments that still remained, those few that were better to have the body heal naturally rather than magically from outside interference. Thankfully, enhanced self-healing fell into that preferred category.


    <em>-Careful, T. If this gets out, you might be swarmed for that singr feature alone.-</em>


    <em>Now is hardly the time, t.</em>


    <em>-You¡¯d think so, but we¡¯re about to make it even more beneficial to give birth in here, at least for gateless. Are we sure about this?-</em>


    T only hesitated for a brief moment. <em>Yes.</em>


    As to why she was sure? This just felt <em>right</em> to T. It was as if this was meant to be. Humans were supposed to have magic, given at birth. They weren¡¯t supposed to be broken, mangled souls who got magic in the offing. Tx represented what humanity <em>could</em> be.


    T felt a fluctuation within herself. It wasn¡¯t a true advancement toward Paragon, but it was a clear indication that she was still on the right road.


    She spoke quietly, intending it for Tx, but not trying to keep anyone else from hearing. ¡°Live well, little Tx.¡±


    She then let the magic flow inward, causing the density to swell around the baby.


    Tx almost seemed to drink in the power. He did not have nearly the same level of harsh reaction that his parents had had upon their rebirth. In fact, he didn¡¯t seem to have any negative reaction at all.


    Even so, his little body clearly couldn¡¯t make use of or handle the new-found power. So, T got to work, guiding the magic that now belonged to Tx through the needed patterns.


    His magic didn¡¯t resist her guidance in the least. Whether that was because his will wasn¡¯t developed enough to fight back, he didn¡¯t see any reason to, or something to do with her authority within Irondale, she didn¡¯t know. It was a point of intellectual curiosity, but it didn¡¯t matter in the moment.


    Sheid the groundwork, the basic enhancements and defense that Kedva had received, and the boy¡¯s power bent to it with ease.


    T ground out the natural magic pathways, interconnecting them in the cascading loops just as she had with the boy¡¯s mother, directing the bleed-off from his internal reserves into the activation of the natural magics.


    Lastly, she added the specific mental enhancements, tied to the always-active magesight.


    She double and triple checked that it wouldn¡¯t affect any other part of Tx¡¯s brain directly, even though they all knew that the indirect effects were precisely the point of these particr magics.


    Where Brandon, Kedva, and even Adrill had writhed and spasmed at the introduction of magics into their adult bodies, Tx epted the changes with barely a wriggle within his tight swaddle.


    He didn¡¯t wake.


    He didn¡¯t cry out.


    His heartbeat and respiration didn¡¯t even alter noticeably.


    Mistress Vanga and Anna ran suites of tests, even as T examined him with her threefold sight.


    Across the board, he was healthy and fully functional. His tummy was processing his meal well, and there were no signs of anything within him going wrong. On the contrary, everything seemed to be revving up to operate at a higher level of efficiency.


    It seemed like the sludge that the others had expelled from their pores and elsewhere had all been directed into Tx¡¯s gut. <em>He probably had less to get rid of overall, I suppose. Still, I don¡¯t envy whoever changes his next diaper. It¡¯s building up to be a big one.</em>


    She almostughed at that. They were forging a human that arcanes might fear, regardless of advancement, and she was contemting his poops.


    If T understood correctly¡ªand Mistress Holly had tentatively agreed¡ªTx¡¯s physicality might be roughly equivalent to a Refined by the time he reached maturity, assuming he remained within T¡¯s sanctum or a simrly magic-rich environment for the majority of that time.


    <em>And so long as he actively develops and works with his natural magics once he¡¯s old enough.</em> These would be good enough for his first five to seven years of life, but at that point, he¡¯d need to begin expanding and adding to them if they were to remain as effective.


    Regardless, it was going to be an interesting time for all.


    T motioned for his parents toe forward. ¡°Brandon, Kedva, I present your son, Tx. Magical boy wonder.¡±


    The couple chuckled as they took their son back. Brandon did meet her gaze for a moment, however. ¡°We¡¯re not calling him by that title or any derivation thereof.¡±


    She smiled in return. ¡°Very well. Wee to magic, Tx. Enjoy. The zeme here is rich and dense just for you.¡±


    T meant it too. Kit would maintain maximum magical density around Tx, Kedva, Brandon, and Adrill from now on whenever they were within Irondale.


    It would be kept directly around them, so they didn¡¯t have to worry about identally triggering anyone else¡¯s rebirth.


    Thus, Tx would grow up awash in power unlike even most Major House heirs enjoyed.


    <em>I can¡¯t wait to see what you¡¯re capable of.</em>


    * * *


    T and Rane walked slowly through the Archon Compound. They were both a bit nervous, partly because they hadn¡¯t spent too much time with Master Grediv since they¡¯d begun courting, and because they¡¯d barely interacted with him since Rane¡¯s refining. The Paragon seemed to be giving them both space. Though, he was clearly pleased that it had been aplished.


    He had even explicitly taken time to thank T for her fight against the sireling and promised to keep her up to date on any developments with the wolves. Though, he had warned her that their sense of time was vastly skewed whenpared to humanity¡¯s. They might be very interested in increasing rtions and still not reach back out for half a century.


    This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    All told, they hadn¡¯t been avoiding him, per se, but they hadn¡¯t sought him out as they had previously. It was time for that to end.


    Rane needed his inscriptions updated, and not seeking Master Grediv¡¯s input would be incredibly foolish.


    With baby Tx¡¯s birth the day before¡ªand his rebirth that morning¡ªthey had two weeks before they would leave for Bandfast, and they wanted to give Mistress Holly as much lead time as possible.


    <em>Assuming she doesn¡¯t already have his schema allid out¡­</em>


    Maybe they didn¡¯t need to talk with Master Grediv? Maybe they could just lean on Mistress Holly¡¯s expertise and¡­


    <em>No¡­ Many minds find more ws.</em> They wanted Rane¡¯s inscriptions to be the best they could be. And they¡¯d arrived while T was in thought.


    The door was closed, but Rane knocked without hesitation. Master Grediv called from within, ¡°Come.¡±


    They entered to find Master Grediv setting out a tea service and scones for them.


    ¡°Wee, Mistress T, Rane.¡±


    They each gave a shallow bow. ¡°Master Grediv.¡±


    He gestured for them to sit, and they did so. ¡°So, to what do I owe the honor of this visit?¡±


    Rane winced slightly at the formality of Master Grediv¡¯s tone. ¡°Master¡­ things are not on a good foot between us, and I wish to correct that.¡±


    That caused Master Grediv to rx just a bit even as his eyes shifted to T.


    She shrugged, then gestured to Rane. ¡°He¡¯s Refined. There¡¯s no reason for you to be grumpy with me anymore.¡±


    Master Grediv¡¯s eye twitched, then he huffed augh, a smile taking over his face. ¡°Ahh, Mistress T. I will admit that life certainly is less interesting with you at a distance.¡±


    T smiled back. ¡°Of course it is. I¡¯m <em>eventful.</em>¡±


    Everyone froze for a moment, then they couldn¡¯t contain their collectiveughter.


    T had bumped up nearly a quarter percent toward Paragon with that single utterance, that single realization and expression of truth.


    For her part, she was flushing a deep crimson under her through-spike even as she fought her ownughter, which was more out of embarrassment than anything else.


    Rane was doing his best to cover his ownughter, even as he was shaking with mirth.


    Master Grediv didn¡¯t bother to hide it, simply letting his deep, bellyugh roll through the room.


    Everyone settled down soon enough, and Master Grediv poured their tea. ¡°So, you are both here to¡­?¡±


    Rane took the offered tea. ¡°Thank you. We¡¯re going to Bandfast soon, to get my inscriptions updated, and we would like your input. Additionally, we¡¯d love any advice you might have for our progress toward advancing to Paragon¡ªT¡¯s¡­ advancement here aside¡ªand we want to officially tell you that we are courting.¡±


    Master Grediv was nodding along until thest, where he froze. ¡°Come again?¡±


    ¡°Well,¡± Rane took a sip of tea, hiding a small smile that T easily saw with her threefold sight. ¡°I¡¯m going to Bandfast to have Mistress Holly update my inscriptions to¡ª¡±


    Master Grediv waved him to stop. ¡°No, not that.¡±


    Rane continued, ¡°Advice advancing to Paragon? We just thought that you might have¡ª¡±


    He gave Rane an unamused look.


    Rane smiled in return, clearly enjoying himself. ¡°Oh! You mean the fact that we¡¯re courting?¡±


    T was red once again, but it was still hidden beneath her through-spike.


    Master Grediv shook his head. ¡°Yes, obviously that. So? You are courting? Officially, I mean?¡±


    She frowned, her embarrassment being ovee by mild confusion. ¡°Yes. What do you mean by ¡®officially¡¯?¡±


    A t stare met her frown. ¡°You¡¯ve been spending enough time together that no other potential suitor would be bothered. Everyone assumed each of you was taken. It is nice that you¡¯ve not only decided to ept that fact, but to make it officially known.¡±


    T tsked, shaking her head. ¡°That¡¯s not true. I think that¡ª¡±


    He gave her an arch look, ¡°I tried to match my apprentice with <em>several</em> other Mages of his generation, and all politely declined due to Rane¡¯s <em>obvious</em> active courting of someone else.¡±


    Rane looked startled. ¡°You were trying to make a match for me?¡±


    ¡°Of course. That is one of my roles both as your master and your ancestor. It¡¯s one reason I introduced you to Mistress T, here. When she made it clear that she wasn¡¯t interested¡ªand might never be¡ªI began to look elsewhere on your behalf.¡±


    Rane opened his mouth, likely to object or make some otherment, but in the end, he seemed to decide that there wasn¡¯t much else to say about the topic.


    T disagreed, her frown deepening. ¡°Who were they?¡±


    Master Grediv hesitated, looking T¡¯s way for a moment.


    T felt <em>something</em> moving around her with her threefold sight¡ªit felt conceptually simr to a maing too close to her¡ªbut she kept her focus on the Paragon.


    He gave a little head shake. ¡°I don¡¯t think I should tell you.¡±


    She almost snarled, but instead, she suppressed the urge, simply grunting in assent. <em>Well, fine then.</em>


    Rane cleared his throat. ¡°Regardless¡­ What of the other topics?¡±


    Master Grediv¡¯s eyes lingered on T for a long moment before he clicked his tongue. ¡°Indeed. As to your inscriptions, Rane, I would be happy to look them over if you¡¯ll give me ess. I assume you¡¯ll want to soulbond an Archive connection and incorporate that?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡±


    He was nodding. ¡°We have found that trying to rely on a single Archive connection between soulbonded doesn¡¯t work out as well as individualizing them.¡±


    T opened her mouth to object¡ªthey weren¡¯t married, or nning to be married anytime soon, after all¡ªbut she realized that it actually didn¡¯t matter either way. So she closed her lips once again.


    ¡°We¡¯ll also want to reconsider and recontextualize all of your magics, really. You have grown in power and understanding across the board, and we can take better advantage of your mental models now than your previous inscription schema did.¡±


    Rane nodded, helping steer the conversation a bit. ¡°Yeah, I have gged a good chunk of the scripts for Mistress Holly¡¯s analysis.¡±


    He essed a magical illusory projector and disyed some sections of his own inscriptions for them to look over together. Around the lines themselves were extensive notes detailing the specific functions of various portions and how they paired with Rane¡¯s mental models.


    ¡°You see, here? This is a silver-wrought, recursive look for iing danger that¡ª¡±


    The three of them talked over ideas and thoughts in regards to Rane¡¯s inscriptions for the next few hours.


    T was able to provide some feedback from the perspective of someone who had fought against Rane a <em>lot</em>, and she wasn¡¯t shy about pushing back on some of the ideas nor emphasizing ws or issues that she saw.


    All told, they came to a good consensus of what they wanted Mistress Holly to rework and in what broad ways.


    They even discussed their false copies. Unfortunately, those had been rtively useless, given they¡¯d ended up being basic humans biologically speaking, and no natural magics had survived them. Their ¡®specialness¡¯ seemed to havee from the Sovereign¡¯s intervention, and it had faded upon their death.


    With that done, and dinner consumed, they all leaned back for a moment of silence before Master Grediv turned to T. He opened his mouth to say something, but T raised a hand in interruption. ¡°One quick thing before we go down any other side-lines.¡±


    Master Grediv hesitated, but then nodded. ¡°Go on.¡±


    ¡°With Irondale, I effectively am transporting around a small city¡­ town?¡± She shook her head at the unfamiliar word. ¡°Regardless, I n on traveling out to the outer ins and the mobile cities and viges at some point in the future, and that might mean an exchange of citizenry.¡±


    The Paragon nodded slowly. ¡°Yes, I can see that as a possibility.¡±


    ¡°So, what are the rules andws with regard to goods and people moving in and out of our cities?¡±


    He chuckled. ¡°I can get you the documentation on thews as they are written, but the real question is this: Do you want to be responsible for those you bring in, or do you want to be able to point at thews and say that you followed them to the letter, so it¡¯s no fault of yours?¡±


    She frowned at that. What did she want?


    Well, she knew what she <em>didn¡¯t</em> want. She didn¡¯t want anyone else telling her who should and shouldn¡¯t be within Irondale. ¡°I want to be in charge of who is in Irondale and who isn¡¯t.¡±


    He nodded and smiled. ¡°Then thews are irrelevant. Anyone you bring to the gated-human cities is there under your authority, and you are ultimately liable for those you allow in here. There are limits to that, obviously, but if you flood a city with horrifically addictive, life-destroying substances, you <em>will</em> be held to ount.¡±


    ¡°But if someone I bring inmits a crime?¡±


    ¡°It will likely be assessed if there was any reasonable way you could have known that they would do so.¡± He shrugged. ¡°You are effectively vouch-safing anyone you bring in.¡±


    ¡°What about those who choose to go to the mobile cities and note back?¡±


    ¡°This isn¡¯t a prison. Any who wish to leave are free to do so.¡±


    That was easy enough.


    ¡°As to goods. Anything your citizenry are able to create or acquire is fair game to export. You have a fair degree of greater ess, and there are some strategic resources that we would prefer you not remove from our cities. We are happy to provide greater rpense than any of the mobile cities can to keep those resources here, and if they have something we cannot offer, we may even help you acquire it so that all gated-humanity can be enriched.¡±


    That made sense, she supposed. ¡°Alright. Now, what was it you wanted to say before I interrupted?¡±


    Master Grediv nodded. ¡°Well, we just went through and assessed Rane¡¯s magics, what of you?¡±


    She frowned. ¡°What of me?¡±


    ¡°Well, you sort of fell into your Refining, and I know your inscriptions are solid, but have you specifically looked over them, reunified them, and lost the chaff?¡±


    She almost said, ¡®Of course!¡¯ but then she stopped herself. Had she?


    -<em>Not really? Our inscriptions are good, but we¡¯ve not really reassessed them in quite a long time. Mistress Holly improved them when we Refined, but we didn¡¯t specifically work on them at all.-</em>


    Master Grediv wasn¡¯t done, however. ¡°My understanding is that you have quite a few other things going on as well, both on your own and with others, and I¡¯m sure that I¡¯m not aware of much of what you¡¯re pursuing.¡±


    She shrugged. ¡°You aren¡¯t wrong.¡±


    ¡°Alright. You should really assess all you have going on, and figure out what¡¯s a priority, and what is something you¡¯ll never get back to. Have you pulled it all together? Sought themon threads, and tried to figure out what isn¡¯t useful?¡±


    ¡°I¡­ no? Why would I?¡± She was a bit confused. She pursued what interested her, and left it when she needed a brain break or lost interest for the moment.


    He grinned in response. ¡°Because that is part of the road to Paragon.¡±


    Rane and T leaned in slightly.


    ¡°You are obviously drawn to all of these things, at least to some extent. That¡¯s good. Eternity gets boring fast if you don¡¯t have things to pursue, but <em>why</em> are you pursuing <em>these</em> things? What are themonalities? What is it that drives you?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s the question for advancement¡­¡± T found herself filling in¡ªalmost subconsciously¡ªas she understood.


    ¡°Precisely. So?¡± Master Grediv shrugged. ¡°We¡¯re here, let¡¯s go over all that you have going on.¡±


    She thought for a moment, then shrugged in turn. ¡°Alright.¡±


    And so, sheid it all out.

 Chapter 427: Current Loadout

    Chapter 427: Current Loadout


    T began outlining all that she was currently working on, and all that she had at her disposal at the moment.


    <em>Oh¡­ that¡¯s¡­ this is going to be a long list.</em>


    -<em>You aren¡¯t joking.-</em>


    As a ce to start, T exined to Master Grediv and Rane that she was studying the caravan guards¡¯ anti-magic arrows, using them as a temte to learn the specific effects to better counter opponents¡ªrather than just treating them all the same.


    More than anything, this came out of her desire to have varied approaches to varied opponents. She was good at what she did, but when she only had a limited toolbox, she could achieve limited oues.


    Master Grediv nodded slowly. ¡°It ismendable to want to approach things more intelligently, but what do you hope to aplish, really?¡±


    T considered for a moment. ¡°I want to be able to protect others in more varied situations. At this point, I¡¯m going to be fine almost regardless, but there are still a lot of opponents that I would struggle to contain or handle in a way that keeps others near me safe.¡±


    He seemed to ponder that, making notes in the air for them to all benefit from. ¡°Alright. Continue.¡±


    She also was using the arrows as an easy jump-off point to trante into her experimental iron-pipe spellforms.


    <em>-Iron-pipe? Really?-</em>


    <em>What, it makes sense. I¡¯m making hollow tubes of iron and then letting magic flow through them. They¡¯re pipes.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, I understand what you¡¯re getting at. The description is urate, but the name¡­ It¡¯scking.-</em>


    <em>Well, they are effectively like my inscriptions, when I surround those with iron, even if the filling of the pipes is different, and I¡¯m trying to make them in the air rather than overtop of existing spellforms.</em>


    <em>-But you do that all the time.-</em>


    <em>Precisely.</em>


    <em>-So, why not just have a singr name for the technique? What about¡­ duality scripts? Reality and Magic?-</em>


    <em>That could work¡­</em> But she was getting hung up on one thing, and the whole point of this was to get aprehensive set.


    Rane responded first this time, ¡°That¡¯s one reason you have such an amazing magical density, right?¡±


    She nodded. ¡°Yeah. I effectively keep most of my magic in the proper ce at all times, which stresses my body more, allowing it to adapt faster and contain more power naturally.¡±


    Master Grediv smiled. ¡°It is an incredible method of improvement in that regard. Several Archons have been researching it ever since your iron paint became more widely avable through your siblings'' production and subsequent sale of the liquid. Most Mages can¡¯t use it, but those who can will benefit greatly in the years toe.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m really d to hear that.¡±


    Continuing down the list, there was the white-steel production which was moving ahead slowly, giving her roughly an ingot every month or so. She could speed up the process at need, but that would get expensive, and she didn¡¯t really have that great a use for the material as of yet. She¡¯d never arranged for anyone beyond Master Simon to really study it¡ªalong with Brandon and Adrill¡ªand they had plenty else to do.


    Master Grediv requested an ingot, which T immediately produced for the Paragon to take, simply excreting it from the reserve she had within her elk leathers where she kept almost all that she currently owned, simrly to how she had her reserves of iron melded with Flow. ¡°I¡¯ll have some Constructionists delve into this. What would the production cost be if we find uses for this material?¡±


    <em>t?</em>


    <em>-And¡­ Shared.-</em>


    ¡°I¡¯ve given you ess to the current breakdown for scaling up production.¡±


    Master Grediv¡¯s eyes unfocused for a moment before he grimaced slightly. ¡°You weren¡¯t joking when you said upscaling would be expensive.¡±


    ¡°Yeah. Not prohibitively so, depending on the usage, but not something to do on a whim. I have¡­ a lot at the moment, and I¡¯m adding to that slowly. Honestly, it¡¯s probably one of the things I¡¯m underutilizing the most.¡±


    The Paragon gave a reluctant nod. ¡°That could be, yes.¡±


    The ingot morphed in his hand at the promptings of his magic, taking on several incrediblyplex shapes in quick session.


    ¡°Immediately, I would say that you should give each of your gateless a one-inch cube of this material to y with. It would be an incredible tool for them to use in improving their magical control.¡±


    T grinned, deciding to tease him a bit in return. ¡°Even little Tx?¡±


    The Paragon met her eyes with all seriousness. ¡°Absolutely. Though, for a baby I would rmend it being a sphere or interlinked chain that would be difficult to get into his mouth. Maybe a little bracelet?¡±


    She hesitated for a long moment to see if he was joking, but it was clear that he wasn¡¯t. ¡°Alright. I¡¯ll do that.¡±


    He smiled in return. ¡°It is very possible that the Academy would benefit from as much of this material as you could spare, for teaching magical maniption to the students there, but I¡¯ll know more once the research is actually conducted.¡±


    ¡°Just let me know, and we¡¯ll see what we can do.¡±


    He smiled in return. ¡°That¡¯s all we can ask.¡±


    Well, that would take looking into the white steel off of Master Simon, Adrill, and Bradon¡¯s tes.


    In that vein, she¡¯d been working with those three in understanding and using the sword and needles from the prisoner Sole. Their ¡®infinite edges¡¯ were fascinating in that they were effectively mundane cutting and piercing weapons maintained by conceptual magic far above her ability to affect, except to break with attempted mergings.


    <em>-It is easier to break things than make them, after all.-</em>


    <em>Isn¡¯t that the truth?</em>


    ¡°So, what are you doing with them?¡± Rane was quite curious as he leaned forward.


    ¡°Well, the needles we¡¯re working into a sort of shield of sorts. If we can find a way to bind them together in an interwoven way, it would ruin the day of basically anything that tried to ram me.¡±


    Rane nodded, considering. ¡°Have you tried absorbing any into your elk leathers?¡±


    ¡°I¡­ haven¡¯t, no.¡± She tilted her head to the side. <em>Would that work?</em>


    Master Grediv turned the conversation slightly. ¡°What of the de?¡±


    She shrugged at that. ¡°While it is a fascinating instrument, my void-de is a better cutter. The only reason to use it instead would be if something was inherently antimagical, or in any other way would threaten my soulbound sword.¡± She nced toward Rane. ¡°He has it for now, and I think it¡¯s fine staying that way.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s reasonable.¡± The Paragon nced at Rane. ¡°And you have it in an easy to ess ce?¡±


    Rane nodded. ¡°Yes, in my storage.¡± He patted Force¡¯s handle and the leather loop that surrounded it just above the hilt. ¡°I can get it quite quickly at need.¡±


    ¡°Good. It¡¯s proper to have solid backups. What¡¯s next?¡±


    T shrugged, turning to some things that hade to her attention while in Makinaven. Master Jevin had suggested that she could use something like a cloud of her bloodstars in a defensive manner. As she¡¯d explored the potential thaty there, her efforts had resulted in her defensive discs, tungsten spheres and rod, and the two Leshkin juggernaut shields that she¡¯d used less often than she¡¯d thought she would.


    <em>And less than I probably should¡­</em> That would solve some of her armor issues, now that she thought of it. She¡¯d just have to be better at assessing which attacks needed the imposition of the shields¡­ and have them out and ready.


    <em>-That could work, yeah.-</em>


    She also had the ring with bloodstars in it that rested around the top of Flow¡¯s hilt. It allowed her to control it with quite a degree of ease when it was away from her, but she didn¡¯t use it very often either.


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    The bloodstars themselves were incredibly useful as she could aspect mirror much onto them, but they were utterly useless for anything offensive on their own as using them to attack directly was tantamount to offering a soulbond to what she threw them at. It <em>probably</em> wouldn¡¯t be an issue, but it only took one opponent being interested in such to make the whole thinge crashing down.


    Master Grediv paused her there. ¡°This seems like another example of you seeking variety in your attacking and defensive abilities. Is the reason the same?¡±


    ¡°Yes, I want to be able to protect others more effectively in more situations.¡±


    He nodded, then motioned for her to continue.


    That aside, Master Jevin had also suggested that she look into interlocking battlements for when she needed to defend a position, and she had to admit that there were some cells in which that could have been incredibly useful. Still, it hadn¡¯t made the cut for her time, at least not yet.


    <em>-Add it to the list?-</em>


    <em>Maybe? I think this whole process is meant to make that list.</em>


    <em>-Alright.-</em>


    Master Grediv cut off the line of questioning immediately. ¡°This is really something that we should have already discussed, but I didn¡¯t know you held interest. Regardless, it would havee up before the next Leshkin war. I¡¯ll get you a list ofmon feature sets and additions, and it will be trivial tomission you as many as you need.¡± He hesitated, ncing toward the white steel that he¡¯d returned to the form of an ingot and set beside him on the table. ¡°You, incorporating this in the interlocking mechanisms might¡­¡± He was nodding to himself. ¡°Regardless, I¡¯ll get you some options.¡±


    ¡°Thank you.¡± Her eyes flicked toward Rane.


    Rane noticed and nodded. ¡°Yeah, I¡¯d be interested in seeing those options as well, though I would bet my wishes will be a bit different than T¡¯s.¡±


    Master Grediv smiled. ¡°As it should be. Every Archon needs different tools to fight to the best effect.¡±


    With that topic addressed, T moved to the next.


    She and Mistress Cerna were working on a method for T to weave spellforms into her elk leathers at willl for a more flexible tool set.


    This once more had Master Grediv confirming why she was seeking so much variety in her tool set. Nothing within his questions implied that he disapproved, but it did seem like he was doing his utmost to dig to the root of her desire.


    As this was yet another thing that she was pursuing almost solely with the intention of helping her protect others, she could see what he meant. It was clearly something that was fundamental to what she wanted, to who she was.


    It bore considering.


    Continuing on in the vein of her elk leathers and white steel brought up her scale mail hauberk, which she hadn¡¯t been using. <em>Huh¡­ could I put it under the ative armor to¡­ No. Focus T.</em>


    <em>-I¡¯ll add it to the list of ¡®maybe have this on the list.¡¯ Shall I?-</em> t¡¯s tone was rather smug.


    <em>¡­Fine.</em>


    In the same vein as the scale mail were her siege orbs. Both were means of building up stored augmented gravity for a future fight, and both had hit their current limit a while ago.


    Master Grediv hadn¡¯t ever really seen her use her hauberk, so she took a bit to describe both what it did and how it worked within her own conception of it.


    ¡°That is a clever means of storing up yourbat potential over time. That is something that we should dig into more at some point.¡± He made some notes, specifically connecting the caravan guard arrows and the segmented defenses with the scale mail idea.


    <em>That¡¯s interesting¡­</em>


    ¡°Your siege orbs seem to get a bit more use, have you done much to look into variations of them?¡±


    She had tried to do other types of siege orbs, but that had made that strangely apocalyptic ice¡­ <em>Wait¡­ I wonder if my desire to make thepressed water into a weapon factored into what came out?</em>


    There was a good possibility, actually¡­ mental models were <em>key</em> in how magic worked after all. Even so, it wasn¡¯t worth testing. Zeme did not need another great threat eating at the underpinnings of existence.


    Master Grediv¡¯s eye was twitching by the end of her tale. ¡°While I can¡¯t say you handled that¡­ badly. I definitely would have appreciated knowing of it sooner. Thank you for not bringing about a deadly ice-gue. Please inform me in the future if such dangerous things arise.¡±


    ¡°I will do my best.¡±


    He closed his eyes for a moment, taking a long breath. ¡°I suppose that is all I can ask for. Thank you. I do so like existence. Let us keep it intact if possible.¡±


    Speaking of existence, she needed to work on her existence shield. It had been incredibly effective against the prisoner whom she would not consider overlong and who would not be named.


    But to understand and improve her existence shield¡ªmaybe even utilizing the knowledge for Flow to make an existence de¡ªshe would need to better understand all the building blocks of existence, which meant continuing to delve into Void, Magic, and even Reality.


    Master Grediv was, understandably, hesitant in that regard. ¡°Honestly, you already have the heaviest ties to Reality of any Mage I¡¯ve ever heard of while retaining your humanity. It could be that more wouldn¡¯t harm you in the least, or that just a bit more would tip you over, and we¡¯d all be worse off for that.¡±


    ¡°I get that, I really do. I genuinely think that arge part is the void that I am simrly bound to. The fact that I acquired the ties with Reality through what is effectively a conceptual curse of ancient origin likely helps. The very reality I¡¯m bound to is pervaded with magic at its core.¡±


    ¡°That is likely, yes.¡±


    But, reality had more to it than just iron. Specifically, T and Mistress Kaeti <em>were </em>asionally meeting to investigate reality nodes and how they were manifest in the other Refined¡¯s self-clones.


    Master Grediv was familiar with the research and was in regr contact with the woman to work with her on what she was learning.


    In that same boat was T¡¯spressing of reality nodes to the point that they had unified, and all the implications therein.


    <em>Though, those are only connected in the sense that they both involve reality nodes. They are entirely different directions of research and practice¡­</em>


    The Paragon expressed his gratitude yet again that she¡¯d brought him in¡ªand allowed him to bring in others¡ªto investigate her actions in this regard already.


    Nothing much hade of the findings, but it was still a rtively recent experiment, and they¡¯d collected a <em>lot</em> of data.


    Thinking of the nodepression brought to mind the reason she¡¯d tried that to begin with. It had been because of Terry, and that was another thing that she was working on. Terry seemed to be on the edge of being willing to bond with her, and that was something that she very much wanted.


    <em>-Why? I agree with you, but the whole point of this is the why behind it all.-</em>


    <em>He is a protector at heart. He defends and nurtures his own. He¡¯s been there when I needed him most, even at great peril. I feel like we are kindred spirits, and I don¡¯t want to face eternity without him by my side.</em>


    t returned a sense of happiness and didn¡¯t ask further.


    When T exined the same to Master Grediv and Rane, Rane nodded along happily, and Master Grediv pointed out the ovep to what they¡¯d already found about her own motivations.


    If it wasn¡¯t zingly obvious before, every new revtion here made it so.


    She wanted to be¡ªand was¡ªa protector of that which she desired to keep safe.


    That sentiment wasn¡¯t <em>quite</em> right, but it was moving in the right direction.


    She also didn¡¯t just want to protect what was hers, because she had no illusions of owning or having sovereignty over the other people she fought to keep safe, but there was <em>something</em> there.


    Speaking of soulbonds, she was continuing to delve into what her soulbond with Kit meant and what it allowed. Now that she¡¯d bifurcated Kit¡¯s dimensional storage, she needed to practice the use of that resource inbat far more.


    ¡°There is also the fact that doing so will allow you to deploy your mobile defenses far more easily than Kit¡¯s previous configuration would have allowed, or at least without having to take quite so many other factors into ount. I think that it is an entire dimension ofbat that you will need to explore and practice.¡±


    T nodded her agreement with Master Grediv, adding, ¡°And I can just drop enemies into my sanctum and obliterate them within.¡±


    The Paragon frowned and shook his head slightly. ¡°I think that would be a worse idea than you realize. At the moment, anyone and anything that enters your sanctum ising under your authority knowingly and thus willingly. If you force something inside against its will, it won¡¯t be subject to you in the same way. You may be able to batter down its defenses and im victory¡ªand it might even be an easier fight than elsewhere¡ªbut it won¡¯t be an instant or even an easy thing.¡±


    <em>That is¡­ very good to know.</em> T took another sip of her tea. ¡°Thank you. I might have made a critical error without that insight.¡±


    ¡°Of course, that is one reason we¡¯re doing this.¡± He smiled. ¡°Other Refined have the issue of soulbinding to deal with, and that acts as an effective barrier to entry. In your case, it is being subject to your authority. I could enter your sanctum in defiance of that if I wished, but it would be a fight, and you could very likely expel me with rtive ease. Don¡¯t ignore the option you presented¡ªit is a powerful tool¡ªbut don¡¯t consider it an instant victory either.¡±


    ¡°Understood.¡± She definitely had been thinking of it in that vein.


    Back on topic, on the other side of the bifurcation, Irondale was a growing project as well, and with that the rebirth of gateless humans.


    <em>That</em> was quite the topic.


    After confirming that nothing new had really happened that Master Grediv was unaware of¡ªhe and the city had been informed about Tx¡¯s impending rebirth before the boy was even born¡ªhe asked the now familiar question, ¡°Why do you want to help gateless get ess to magic?¡±


    She shrugged. ¡°On one side, it was a way to put some of what I learned in the arcanends to use for good.¡±


    He lifted his hand, pausing her. ¡°Before you continue, you said, ¡®use for good.¡¯¡±


    ¡°I did.¡±


    ¡°Why is it good?¡±


    She opened her mouth but found herselfcking an easy response. ¡°Huh.¡±


    ¡°Indeed. Gateless live good lives without magic, and they are not ssically seen as being good at magic, so it isn¡¯t like they are deprived of something that could be seen as their ¡®calling¡¯ or ¡®purpose.¡¯ So, what about giving them magic is good in your eyes?¡±


    ¡°They deserve every opportunity to grow and thrive, to defend themselves and explore every part of our world. They shouldn¡¯t be cut off from it when I can fix it.¡±


    ¡°That goes a lot farther than just defending those who need it.¡±


    ¡°It is¡­¡±


    ¡°So, why do you want to protect people? Do you just want them to not die? Not suffer?¡±


    She slowly shook her head. ¡°No¡­ I don¡¯t want them to be cut short. I want them to be able to continue.¡±


    ¡°So, how does that trante over to the magical rebirth of the gateless?¡±


    ¡°I want them to reach their full potential, and magic, no matter how little aptitude they have for it, is part of that potential. They need to be sheltered and nurtured so they can¡­ I don¡¯t know, live?¡±


    Master Grediv gave a slow nod. ¡°As you say. Thank you. We can continue.¡±

 Chapter 428: Current Loadout (2)

    Chapter 428: Current Loadout (2)


    T¡¯s ative armor worked incredibly well in defending against projectile attacks, but it just couldn¡¯t hold up to more sustained forces. <em>Like a chomping wolf.</em>


    <em>-Or a syphon¡¯s constricting tentacles?-</em>


    <em>Yeah or</em>¡ª As it turned out, she was very rarely hit with projectiles ofte, and most of the time her armor was having to contend against direct applications of force.


    Truthfully, though, did she really need it to? She could survive most hits from things of her advancement with her bare flesh, repairing what damage dide. The armor was meant to mitigate that need, though, and it was useful in that regard.


    Rane cleared his throat. ¡°Well, is that actually needed anymore? I know it¡¯s been irritating for you to refill your reserves in the past, but now?¡±


    The Paragon and T both turned to look at the new Refined. T, for her part, considered what he said. ¡°You mean what I did with the wolf after he¡¯d died?¡±


    ¡°Exactly, yeah. Didn¡¯t you say that you were able to im the reserves from the Anatalin and even refill yours somewhat?¡±


    ¡°I did¡­ So, what¡¯s your thinking?¡±


    ¡°Just devour your kills? Refill that way. Most magical beasts are farrger than humans, so they should be able to keep you topped off pretty effectively. You won¡¯t be filled all the time, but you already aren¡¯t.¡± He shrugged. ¡°It seems like you¡¯re searching for a solution to a problem that you no longer have.¡±


    Master Grediv cleared his throat. ¡°While Rane has a point for many encounters, you still want a set of effective armor in which you arefortable for the asions where it is required.¡±


    T smiled at Rane then reoriented on the Paragon. ¡°Alright, but that still leaves the problem I mentioned.¡±


    ¡°Are you willing to meet with some armor specialists and share some of your capabilities and secrets with them? I can give you a list of those I think useful.¡±


    She considered then shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t see why not. Sure.¡±


    Master Grediv made a note then nodded for her to continue.


    Threefold sight was a fantastic means of monitoring the superficial along with star- and stoneward at all times, and it allowed T to perceive more than she¡¯d ever considered possible, but it still felt like she wasn¡¯t using it to its full effect. Though, she couldn¡¯t put her finger on what part of it wasn¡¯t being fully utilized.


    He nodded at that. ¡°You are essentially capable of perceiving a number of three-dimensional cones. You are doing a phenomenal job of incorporating those into a cohesive picture of what is around you in four-dimensional space, but it is inherently imperfect.¡±


    T frowned at that. ¡°But¡­ what am I not watching? I¡¯d thought I was covering all vectors.¡±


    ¡°You are and you aren¡¯t.¡± He saw her continued confusion. ¡°Let me ask you this. How many two dimensional arcs would you need topletely epass a three dimensional sphere if they all affixed to the center?¡±


    She almost asked the angle of the arc, but then she realized that it didn¡¯t matter. She could cover essentially all angles with enough views, but there would inherently be gaps¡ªif minute ones¡ªbecause her medium of detection had an entire dimension less than she was trying to perceive.


    Even having her perspectives sweep through the entire space would improve the oue¡ªby removing gaps in volume surveyed¡ªbut there would then just be gaps in time seen, and continually sweeping her perspectives would reduce her own ability to process the information.


    ¡°Oh¡­ so, that¡¯s why it feels like I¡¯m not seeing everything.¡±


    ¡°Exactly, because you aren¡¯t. Now, let me be clear, it is possible that the minute gaps you have are effectively irrelevant, but that is likely at least one of the things that is causing your feeling of¡­ ipleteness or inefficiency.¡±


    ¡°I see¡­ thank you. I don¡¯t know that I can actually do anything about it, but it¡¯s nice to put a reason to at least a part of the sensation.¡±


    ¡°Of course.¡± He smiled. ¡°That¡¯s another reason this type of thing is so important.¡±


    Continuing with her threefold sight, it was that perception which let her see reality nodes, and despite her little bits of experimentation with Mistress Kaeti and elsewise, T hadn¡¯t been able to devote much time into the research of reality nodes. The fact that she was among the scarce few Mages capable of seeing¡ªlet alone interacting with¡ªthem left her bereft of study materials with which to build a foundation for further research.


    ¡°I really do think that we¡¯d all benefit if you had a more research frame of mind.¡±


    She gave him a t look. ¡°What part of this list makes you think I don¡¯t?¡±


    ¡°The fact that it¡¯s a list of iplete projects and unprogressed research topics.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s¡­ fair.¡± She scrunched up her nose. ¡°But I do like figuring things out.¡±


    Rane took a quick drink, but T could still easily see his smile. <em>Threefold sight shows me </em>all<em>.</em>


    The Paragon shook his head, smiling openly. ¡°Yes, everyone does. A research mindset is one that approaches the unknown with a sense of adventure. You almost have to love the act of looking for answers as much as actually finding them.¡±


    T grunted. ¡°That¡­ yeah, that sounds really frustrating.¡±


    ¡°Precisely.¡± His smile was wider than ever.


    ¡°Well¡­ moving on, then.¡±


    She had been improving what was effectively a breath weapon with Master Doitean. Pulling her endingberry-derived magics into her lungs and inverting them back into disintegration on a fundamental level was a potent ability. She¡¯d reached a reasonable proficiency, but her fight with the sireling Anatalin showed just how weak it still was against those of her own advancement.


    True, that was partially because her inscriptions hadn¡¯t been in effect, making the actual magical effectiveness at her fingertips much lesser, but the sentiment still stood. Her breath weapon wasn¡¯t keeping up with her other skills and abilities.


    Rane was curious enough to speak up here, ¡°Why have you never gotten that actually inscribed?¡±


    T shrugged. ¡°It seemed unnecessary? I was capable of making it on my own without the need for specific inscriptions to make it happen.¡±


    Master Grediv cleared his throat, calling up parts of her schema. ¡°Actually, you have specific inscriptions in ce to enhance spellforms within your lungs and airways and keep them from fully activating until exhaled. You have built a part of your magical enhancements toward perfecting a breath weapon without actually having one.¡±


    <em>-Well, rust me like a nail in a hurricane.-</em>


    <em>We have a perfected magical scabbard, into which we¡¯ve been shoving sticks. Sure, when we pull out the stick it¡¯s pretty sharp and durable, thanks to the scabbard, but it¡¯s still a freaking stick!</em>


    ¡°I¡­ feel rather foolish.¡±


    ¡°So, note that one to be fixed?¡± To his credit, Master Grediv had not a hint of smugness or even teasing in his look.


    ¡°Yes. Yes, please.¡±


    After the Paragon did so, he looked back up. ¡°I say this not to be negative, but some of these issues are precisely why having a more experienced Archon to turn to regrly can be incredibly helpful. If you don¡¯t wish it to be me, that is more than fine, but please find <em>someone</em> who you can develop such a rtionship with.¡± After a moment, he added. ¡°I would rmend against Master Xeel. He is an excellent Reforged, beyond reproach in his knowledge and insight, but he is singrly focused on his path of Ascension. He originally wanted toplete it in two hundred years, but he missed that mark by a bit. Regardless, he is notorious for being unavable.¡±


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    ¡°Not you?¡±


    ¡°While I am always happy to have this sort of conversation with you, I do not have the time to take you on in such a far-reaching capacity. I am afraid that I just don¡¯t have the time for anything beyond the one-off meetings we¡¯ve been partaking in over thest years.¡±


    T nodded slowly. That made sense. <em>Who else, then?</em>


    She liked Master Xeel, and he had been quite insightful when they chatted within the cell of the Reality Mage, but she had already experienced exactly what Master Grediv was talking about.


    ¡°I¡¯ll give it some thought. Master Jevin has been helpful in the past. It might be time to reach out to him once more.¡±


    Master Grediv smiled. ¡°He is an excellent choice. He¡¯s made it a habit to help out any who he can.¡±


    Rane nodded along a that. ¡°Yeah, he was very helpful when we were in Makinaven.¡±


    <em>Well, let¡¯s send him a message then.</em>


    <em>-After this?-</em>


    <em>After this.</em>


    Back to her breath weapon¡­ Well, there are plenty of simpler ways to kill those less advanced if she has the need. In fact, it had only really been useful when fighting swarms or when she needed to remove a physical impediment with more precision and speed than a punch or sword cut would allow.


    <em>Well, it did end Be-thric quite effectively.</em>


    <em>-Oh, that it did.-</em> t yed that memory for them both in exquisite detail, and T found herself gratified that he hadn¡¯t had a different end.


    Rane and Master Grediv had a few more thoughts on how she could approach the method of offense, but in general, it was up to her.


    The Paragon made one finalment before they moved on. ¡°Our breath is integral to who we are as living creatures. I think that you will find that it carries authority and power much more easily than other forms of area attack, and even more than many other medium to long range options. You, yourself, used this aspect when you verbally imed the Anatalin¡¯s corpse after that battle.¡±


    <em>That¡¯s true. It felt like the right thing to do. Still, to use it properly and effectively, I¡¯d need more lung capacity¡­</em> T blinked a few times, then felt herself smile. <em>I just might have an idea.</em>


    <em>-I¡¯ll note it for further research.-</em>


    Moving on to the next area of interest, her aura control practice with Master Akra was continuing well, when they had time to meet, and she had gotten far more out of that expanding ability set than she¡¯d ever expected. It was interesting how much ovep there was in the feeling of her aura and the authority she had within Kit. There was something quite important in that which she needed and wanted to explore¡­ when she had time.


    Master Grediv shrugged at the notion. ¡°Our aura is a subset of authority. It is, in essence, just an expression of authority over the magical power in the area.¡±


    ¡°All squares are rectangles?¡±


    He looked at her for a moment before nodding slowly. ¡°Yes, all auras are expressions of authority, but not all authority is an aura.¡±


    That made sense.


    As for the aura itself, when she used that, it was mainly¡ªbut not exclusively¡ªthrough her iron. If anything, she¡¯d improved in control over her iron more than in any other area recently. Well, that and her general use of authority such as she had within Kit since they¡¯d bonded.


    Rane interjected then. ¡°Have you been able to do many tests as to clouds of iron, and how thick they need to be to disrupt iing magics?¡±


    T shook her head. ¡°No, but that¡¯s for one critical reason?¡±


    ¡°Oh?¡±


    ¡°My iron has to stay within my aura, and within my aura, I have magical authority to erase most magics.¡±


    Master Grediv smiled, then. ¡°It could still be useful to know, so that you can more easily deal with more powerful magics. Thebination might even allow you to effectively negate those much more advanced than you, at least under certain circumstances. But you¡¯ve said something rather interesting, given our previous topic. Did you catch it?¡±


    T thought for a moment. ¡°I have to keep my iron within my aura?¡±


    ¡°Exactly. Why?¡±


    ¡°Because otherwise it gets voided.¡±


    ¡°Are you sure?¡±


    ¡°Yes?¡±


    ¡°That doesn¡¯t sound very sure.¡±


    She gave him a t look. ¡°That¡¯s because a Paragon is implying that I¡¯m wrong.¡±


    He huffed augh. ¡°That¡¯s fair. What I am implying is that you might simply need your iron to remain within your authority. Your aura is the most obvious expression of that to our senses, but it isn¡¯t the only one. I would rmend trying to put some of your iron into Kit, outside of your aura and see what happens. I might be wrong¡ªand you will lose that iron¡ªbut it just might open up a whole new avenue for you.¡±


    ¡°I thought we were trying to reduce the things I was working on?¡± She pushed back a little teasingly.


    ¡°Not at all. We just want to make sure that it is being done reasonably, and that it is worth doing for you.¡± He shrugged. ¡°It is just a thought though.¡±


    Rane smiled. ¡°It would be quite a bit more useful if you could use your iron outside of your aura. It would also make it far more able to hide in in sight until you called upon it.¡±


    That was a really good point. It also connected well into the next thing she wanted to bring up, battlefield control tactics generally. Mistress Deigh had been instrumental in helping T improve in that area, though the woman mainly focused on the use of ice to execute such. Regardless, the general principles hade into y in some conflicts, but T didn¡¯t really feel like she had integrated the lessons as fully as she could, thus leaving capacity out of her arsenal.


    Rane looked a bit sheepish as he regarded his teacher. ¡°I actually could use a better sense for and means of battlefield control. I am very good in one on one exchanges, but affecting arge sh, or holding back arge number of opponents on my own? I have little ability or skill.¡±


    The Paragon considered for a bit before smiling. ¡°We have developed a method for training our unit leaders and divisionmanders, especially in the lead ups to wanings and the Leshkin wars. I think that we could make the war games avable to the two of you. They aren¡¯t that intensive to run, and they should help expand and deepen your tactical thinking.¡±


    T tilted her head to one side. ¡°War games? Just like mock battles and the like? I can see how that would help some, but¡­?¡±


    ¡°You will have to wait and see. It is something that requires Refined level mental enhancements to function properly¡ªto do elsewise would be almost prohibitively expensive¡ªso it will have to wait until Rane receives his updated inscriptions, and they have time to settle at least initially.¡±


    They agreed, curious as to what they actually would be and how they¡¯d help.


    T next discussed her mastery of Flow in the various magical and void forms. To her own admission, it was middling¡ªamazing for her age and rtively short time training but still below the masters of her advancement.


    Additionally, she had allowed her practice and improvement of the Way of Flowing Blood to fall by the wayside with everything else that she was pursuing. That, more than anything, had caused her martial prowess to cken, even if just barely.


    <em>I just don¡¯t use it. I just hack and sh when I am fighting¡­</em> Now that she considered it, she could probably have taken the wolf with that and Flow alone, if she¡¯d been as practiced as she should be.


    Master Grediv seemed to agree with the sentiment. ¡°That needs to be corrected. The truly powerful of your advancement will be closebat masters, and it is staggering how often shese down to such skills, given how often we can simply counter each other at any appreciable range.¡±


    That made sense to T.


    Rane grinned her way. ¡°Terry and I can push you and help you get back into fighting shape with the Way of Flowing Blood.¡±


    The next item to be brought up was her Void Channels, which were still useful at times, but she hadn¡¯t really worked with them extensively¡ªor really improved them at all¡ªsince she learned to wield them to aid in her creation of the Archon Star which elevated her to Bound what felt like so long ago.


    <em>I wonder how much more power I could pull out if I studied that more extensively and took the time to improve and perfect it.</em>


    The Paragon¡ªas expected¡ªhad a bit of wisdom to impart yet again. ¡°Honestly, Ways can be incredibly useful as you stretch for continued advancement, but they do tend to fall by the wayside, if you''ll pardon the pun, for most as they settle into their current rank.¡±


    T felt her eye twitch. ¡°So, I need to keep striving in order to keep advancing.¡±


    ¡°Well, that is always true, but in this case it isn¡¯t necessary. You have a prodigious density and flowrate as it is.¡±


    She shook her head. ¡°No, no. I want this to be useful. I want to make it better.¡±


    ¡°Why?¡± Master Grediv leaned forward, seeming genuinely interested in what she had to say.


    ¡°It seems¡­ useful? It moves my power more quickly and allows more power toe to bear on any given working. That can only be useful if I utilize it properly.¡±


    ¡°Indeed.¡± He smiled and nodded.


    Beside T, Rane was frowning, likely contemting his own Way.


    Moving on, T was still continuing to deepen her natural magics at a good pace simply by the consumption of endingberries and the other magic-imbued foods from her sanctum, but that was sort of just drifting along. Could that be made more efficient or otherwise improved?


    Definitely, but it would just be one more thing on the list.


    Mistress Petra was actively working on a portion of that, mainly striving to efficientlybine the raw ingredients into foods that continued to maintain the full benefits. Kedva was working with the woman as well, though that would slow down a bit with a newborn to care for.


    <em>Honestly, if she wants to back off from work for a good chunk of time, that¡¯s fine.</em>


    <em>-She and Brandon know that. You were very clear.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, yeah¡­</em>


    Finally, that brought the discussion to her inscriptions.


    <em>-Oh, exciting! This is me, this is me!-</em>


    T couldn¡¯t help but smile. <em>Yes, t. You are quite useful, even when you¡¯re frustrating.</em>


    <em>-I aim to please!-</em>


    She stretched a bit, settling in. ¡°Alright, let¡¯s get down to my actual schema and mental models.¡±


    Rane gave her an encouraging smile. ¡°Hey, with all the groundwork in ce, this should be a good hashing out.¡±


    Master Grediv nodded. ¡°Indeed.¡±

 Chapter 429: Wrap-up

    Chapter 429: Wrap-up


    T looked at the zoomed-in maps of her various inscriptions floating in the air of the room, the other notes and visual aids from their discussion having been shifted to the far-flung corners of the room.


    <em>Might as well start at the core of things.</em>


    Her keystone was¡­ actually incredibly standard, except that hers was built so that it never closed off her gate for any reason. That was actually the case for most advanced Mages but not all.


    ¡°Keystones, while incredibly important, aren¡¯t actually thatplex or customizablepared to other bits of magic. There are essentially just the four variations for the different starting quadrants, and some minor tweaks possible beyond that.¡±


    T shrugged. ¡°Yeah, that was my understanding.¡±


    Rane pointed to a portion of the script. ¡°This looks rather different than mine, why is that?¡±


    Master Grediv grunted. ¡°That¡¯s because Mistress T¡¯s keystone is optimized for near constant medium flows of power, while yours is aimed toward bursts of maximal power.¡±


    She grunted. ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s nothing I want to shift about my keystone¡­ unless I can incorporate my Way?¡±


    Master Grediv seemed to consider. ¡°It¡¯s not out of the question, but you¡¯d have to work with Mistress Holly on the specifics, and she might need to bring in other experts, depending on the Way and how it functioned.¡±As they¡¯d discussed before, Ways were effectively just means of improving magic flow, so that should be automatable, even if most saw no need for it.


    With the keystone addressed, she moved to the core of her body.


    T¡¯s bones were inscribed to be stronger, denser, and to allow for the greater production of blood at need. Her organs were likewise enhanced and augmented to be more resilient, more efficient, and to even aplish more than their mundane versions could.


    Rane cleared his throat. ¡°I have a bit of a morbid question?¡±


    The other two turned to look at him, waiting.


    ¡°Well, if this is actually an enhancement of the material¡­ could she pull out her own bones and use them as a magical material for the creation of items and the like?¡±


    T opened her mouth to respond with incredulity, but then she saw the smile on Master Grediv¡¯s face, so she decided to see what he had to say.


    The Paragon shook his head. ¡°Well, yes and no. Mistress T¡¯s bones are still human bones¡ªsame with her other internals to be clear. They¡¯ve been strongly, magically enhanced, but not very much physically changed. Her muscles and fat stores are a bit different, but still not to the level of beingpletely different. Additionally, most of what she has done is implemented by¡ªand still requires¡ªher inscriptions. Some of the natural magic would persist, but a chunk of that would be toward making blood and other non-required things, which would actually make the bone weaker than it otherwise could be.¡±


    Rane grunted. ¡°So, no easy source of funds, turning food into gold.¡±


    ¡°No.¡± Master Grediv shook his head.


    T shrugged. ¡°Interesting idea, but I¡¯m fine for funds at the moment, and I don¡¯t see that changing with all my various ventures.¡±


    Rane shrugged. ¡°Fair enough. It was just a thought.¡±


    They¡¯d already talked about the augmentation to her lungs and airways in reference to a breath weapon, so they didn¡¯t revisit the topic. Master Grediv did g the lungs and add some notes on them while they discussed other things, though.


    Her muscles packed more power into every fiber as well as more energy for continued functionality over longer spans of time. Both of these things greatly increased their density, which was another boon in its own way.


    Her connective tissue was simply enhanced to the extreme to prevent her from ripping her own body apart. Well, simply was a bit misleading as the tissue was so packed with inscriptions of reinforcement that it practically screamed ¡®please don¡¯t break, please don¡¯t break.¡¯


    There was potential to improve and efficientize those now that the current schema had set fully.


    They made notes to that effect and moved on.


    Her stores were utterly inhuman in how much nutrition and calories they could take in and hold. Additionally, they were all avable for quick ess when she needed to heal, which was not standard in the least. This <em>also</em> added to her density, and it was only really possible because her digestive system was augmented to pull more from all she ate and store it away more efficiently. Otherwise even the amount that she <em>had</em> been eating would be dwarfed by what she would have needed.


    <em>That doesn¡¯t even mention my newfound consuming ability. I didn¡¯t know that I could just sort of im a fallen foe.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, your devouring of that wolf carcass was quite something to behold.-</em>


    <em>It was mine by right¡­</em>


    <em>-Oh, don¡¯t get me wrong, it was a good something.</em>- t once again projected her contentment into T¡¯s mind.


    They didn¡¯t discuss that again, though. Rane had brought it up before and none of them felt the need to rehash the topic.


    That did bring her back to her elk leathers though, which were now far more durable due to their consumption and absorption of the wolf-hide, an interesting new ability that actually allowed for the modification of the properties of the leather rather than a simple integration of consumed material until that material ran out. She¡¯d been doing <em>that</em> for ages with the white steel and turning precious metals into thread for Mistress Cerna.


    There was nothing new to discuss on those already addressed topics, so she moved on.


    She was reminded of her oft-forgotten anti-vomiting scripts that were also still in ce and useful on asion.


    Rane smiled her way, and she could tell he was about to try to tease her.


    <em>This should be interesting.</em> She gave him a polite smile, waiting for him to speak.


    ¡°I¡¯d forgotten about the anti-vomiting inscriptions. I mean, wow, you really don¡¯t let go of anything once it is yours, do you?¡± He smiled at the end, clearly hoping that he¡¯d not stepped wrong.


    Her smile became slightly predatory in return as she met his gaze. ¡°You aren¡¯t wrong.¡±


    Rane blinked back at her a few times before he blushed deeply.


    Master Grediv cleared his throat. ¡°So¡­ you two are courting, right?¡±


    T oriented on him at the abrupt change of subject. ¡°That came out of nowhere.¡±


    ¡°Not really. You two were ying, but there is the undercurrent of truth, there. Are you nning on the standard one year betrothal or¡ª¡±


    She shook her head, cutting him off. ¡°No, Master Grediv. We are not betrothed. We are courting, and we haven¡¯t set any timelines on that.¡±


    Rane nodded affirmatively, not seeing any need to add to what she¡¯d already said.


    The Paragon held up his hands in surrender. ¡°Very well. Shall we continue?¡±


    T felt herself smile internally at the man¡¯s tactical retreat. ¡°But of course.¡±


    Her nervous system was well beyond the resilience and signal speed of even most simrly advanced Archons. That, of course, allowed for t to function along with the Archive connection she¡¯d soulbound in the form of her split ring.


    <em>-Good to be remembered.-</em>


    <em>Of course. You are always on my mind.</em>


    <em>-Ha, ha. You¡¯re hrious.-</em>


    <em>Thank you.</em>


    Master Grediv set down his cup and leaned back. ¡°Speaking of your alternate interface. It seems that Mistress Holly has gathered some rather promising data about her function and how useful she is to you.¡±


    T nodded. ¡°That was my understanding, yes.¡±


    ¡°Good, good. The n is to begin offering the option to some Refined who are temperamentally suited to it.¡±


    ¡°Right. It¡¯s not something that everyone can handle.¡±


    <em>-I¡¯m in a box! I can¡¯t get out! Shall I shred the mind that cages me? OH, SKY, HOW I MISS YOU!-</em>


    If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    <em>You¡¯re hrious.</em>


    -<em>I¡¯m you, T. My humor is </em>exactly<em> as good as yours.-</em>


    T sent the impression of rolling her eyes before continuing her response to Master Grediv, ¡°I would be interested in knowing how that is going. We noted on Rane¡¯s scripts for such to be considered, right?¡±


    Rane was the one to respond. ¡°Right, but after my mental enhancement scripts have been updated and given time to set.¡±


    <em>Right.</em>


    Next up¡ªand closely interconnected with her mental enhancement¡ªher magesight was thetest version, always active and constantly feeding her information about the world around her.


    In its natural state, it only enhanced her mundane vision, but when she mapped void-magics onto it, that amalgamation was the basis for her threefold sight.


    Rane gave her an interested look. ¡°So¡­ why don¡¯t you have your inscriptions altered to include that?¡±


    <em>Oh.</em>


    <em>-Oh.-</em>


    T rubbed her own forehead. ¡°Because I didn¡¯t think to do that.¡±


    Master Grediv smiled as he added his bit. ¡°Truthfully, inscriptions pertaining to void magic are <em>incredibly</em> difficult to pull off. I suspect that you wouldn¡¯t have seeded if you had tried to make it work before your natural magics were as set as they are. In fact, I would bet that your natural magics have now incorporated void magic, because of how consistently you mirror that aspect of your soulbound items onto your magesight. The trick will now be matching your inscriptions to that working.¡±


    That¡­ made a lot of sense, actually. Void magic was only a bit of a contradiction, but one that could hold up with the right mental models, understandings, and bonds. She had all of that, and so it was time to improve her sight ordingly.


    <em>-Oh, this is exciting!-</em>


    <em>A bit, yeah.</em> With a smile on her face, she continued.


    Her skin was armor in its own right, though she was running into more things that could pierce it once again. The endingberry inspired and aligned inscriptions were potent magic, highly refined, and incredibly effective, but there was still the ability to iterate upon the spellforms. They marked those for improvement of throughput and resonance between sub-parts. Effectively, the choir of her skin¡¯s defense would both be given vocal coaching and have more members added.


    <em>-That was¡­ an odd metaphor.-</em>


    <em>But it makes sense, right?</em>


    <em>-I suppose. You¡¯ll pack more inscriptions in a smaller space, using your natural magics to minimize the spell-lines needed, while maximizing the effect.-</em>


    <em>Precisely.</em>


    And tying it all together was her vastly augmented healing which leaned on¡ªand interwove through¡ªall the other scripts to facilitate truly monstrous levels and speeds of healing.


    Rane¡¯s smile was wide and genuine as he said, ¡°I definitely really am d that you heal so effectively.¡±


    <em>-Woof?-</em>


    <em>No, bad t.</em> T sent disapproval toward her alternate interface.


    t sent back whimpering puppy noises.


    <em>Seriously?</em>


    <em>-You¡¯ve got to stay devoted to the joke.-</em>


    <em>Or¡­ don¡¯t make it?</em>


    <em>-Yeah, but that¡¯s no fun.-</em>


    T felt her eye twitch. Still, she decided to ignore t. ¡°Well, that¡¯s all there is on the defensive and internal side.¡±


    Master Grediv reached up, grouping all that they¡¯d been talking about surrounding those inscriptions together. ¡°And why do you have all of these?¡±


    ¡°To stay alive?¡± T shrugged. ¡°I prefer not dying.¡±


    He chuckled at that. ¡°Of course, but there are so many ways of doing that. Your inscriptions assume you will be in the thick of things, taking blows, not retreating. Why not have shielding or dodging inscriptions? Why not have means of getting away from danger?¡±


    She thought for a long moment before shrugging again. ¡°If I have to move to survive, what about those behind me? If I don¡¯t take the hit, who will? If I retreat, pull back, or flee, what of those who don¡¯t have the ability to do that?¡±


    He nodded, gesturing for he to continue. ¡°So¡­?¡±


    ¡°So¡­ so, I have these inscriptions so I can get in the way of danger and not have to move or back down. I want behind me to be the safest ce in the world.¡± She pulled in on herself just a bit, feeling awkward. ¡°I don¡¯t want to ever abandon those I choose to protect.¡±


    She nced toward Rane sheepishly and found him beaming back at her.


    He obviously didn¡¯t see things exactly the same¡ªespecially given his very dodge heavy means of survival¡ªbut he seemed to appreciate her words and sentiment.


    He reached over and squeezed her hand. ¡°I¡¯ve seen you save many people doing just that.¡±


    She squeezed his hand in return, smiling, the embarrassment fading somewhat. ¡°Well, that¡¯s why.¡±


    Master Grediv smiled. ¡°Thank you. I think that is very insightful. What¡¯s next?¡±


    Rane nodded his agreement, clearly ready for her to continue.


    ¡°Well¡­ Externally? Offensively? I have my gravity maniption¡­ and that is it, inscription wise.¡± T felt like it was rather anticlimactic.


    True, she had been doing a lot of experimenting with her gravity inscriptions when she had fewer soulbonds and her activities were more restricted¡ªspecifically, when she¡¯d been an Eskau of the House of Blood¡ªbut she hadn¡¯t done much with themtely.


    Back then, she¡¯d tried using her gravity maniption to fly in various ways, but she¡¯d confirmed that doing so was infeasible with her mental model as it was. She <em>had </em>been able to make herself move through the water more quickly¡­ sort of. It hadn¡¯t worked very well, and it had been rusting finicky.


    Honestly, looking back, she suspected that it had been more her burgeoning authority within Kit¡ªeven before she soulbound the dimensional storage¡ªthat had made it even halfway functional.


    Master Grediv nodded. ¡°Self-enabled flight is both incredibly easy and maddeningly difficult, depending on how you approach it. With your scripts and mental model? I do agree it isn¡¯t possible. Though, honestly, you don¡¯t really need it to be. You can jump and remove your own gravity, effectively gliding in a straight line virtually without end. Given the limits imposed by magical resonance, that will be your upper limit on speed, regardless. Still, you might be able to modify your elk leathers for more maneuverability when airborne.¡±


    That was an idea, but she could consider thatter. As for her gravity alteration, T still used it to allow herself to move more efficiently, jump higher, stay up longer, that sort of thing just as Master Grediv had said, but generally speaking, she didn¡¯t really think about those magics very often. She simply didn¡¯t need them offensively anymore.


    <em>Huh¡­ I hadn¡¯t really considered using them in that way in a while.</em>


    Rane put in his two coppers. ¡°Yeah, I really haven¡¯t seen you crush anyone, gravitationally speaking, in a really long time. Non-offensively, you use it rather often, but it isn¡¯t an attack ability for you anymore, not really.¡±


    That was¡­ true, yeah.


    She also had the rings for quicker enactment of that gravity maniption, but that was effectively the same thing, just faster and less efficient. T considered. ¡°Do I even need the rings for gravity magics anymore?¡±


    That was a <em>really</em> hard question. She simply hadn¡¯t had much use for them in quite a long time.


    <em>-Don¡¯t neglect the siege orbs.-</em>


    <em>True, but I don¡¯t need to do that quickly. </em>


    Master Grediv shrugged. ¡°From my perspective, I don¡¯t think that you do, but what matters more is your perspective.¡±


    T nodded at that before leaning back, considering the whole of their conversation.


    Floating before them all¡ªfilling up much of the open space in the room, in fact¡ªwas the interconnected web of things that they¡¯d created detailing T¡¯s ongoing projects and current inscriptions. It was all nicely syed out above Master Grediv¡¯s tea-table.


    She took a long drink from her tea cup before sighing, ¡°Well, huh¡­ You might be right. I <em>might </em>have a bit too much going on.¡±


    Rane cleared his throat. ¡°I actually think we forgot two things.¡±


    T looked his way. ¡°Oh?¡±


    <em>-I can tell you what it was.-</em>


    <em>Shh¡­ let me listen.</em>


    He nodded. ¡°Io and the dimensional prison and anchors.¡± Rane frowned. ¡°You know, now that I think about it, whatever happened to that?¡±


    T grimaced. ¡°The House of Blood disposed of the dimensional prison when I was taken. Apparently, it was deemed to be too detrimental to their reputation to have an Eskau candidate using what was effectively a ¡®self-prison.¡¯¡±


    Rane grunted. ¡°I see. So, then that¡¯s no longer around. I suppose you could get something like it if you wanted?¡±


    She shrugged and shook her head. ¡°Not really interested in adding to the list at this point.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s fair. So, what about Io?¡±


    T sighed. ¡°I have absolutely no idea. I obviously can¡¯t give it life or even a semnce of life. I could puppet it around, but that gives me nothing that I can¡¯t do without the puppet within Kit. Outside of Kit, it would be the immediate target of hostility from everyone it met, and rightly so.¡±


    Master Grediv swallowed histest bite of an after-dinner eir. ¡°So, why have you kept it?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s fascinating, an artificial lifeform, or at least the body of one. I¡¯ve always intended to study it further to see if I can glean anything from it. It was <em>powerful</em> when we fought, and that was when it was underdeveloped. Now?¡± She shook her head. ¡°I honestly think that it could overpower me in raw strength and outfight me in terms of reaction and movement speed. It would be a nightmare.¡±


    <em>-It would be fun to pilot it against you.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, but you can already fight me within Kit, without Io. We can give you any abilities you could possibly want, and even crank your capacities far beyond what Io¡¯s body is capable of.</em>


    <em>-I know, but it is so fun in concept.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, but also a dangerous concept.</em>


    Master Grediv was contemting deeply. ¡°We could put together a team to dissect it, plumb it for all its secrets and means of functioning. We¡¯ve dissected and vivisected ck Legion in the past, but there is no telling if Io is built on a simr tform, updated, or even entirely different.¡±


    T regarded him for a long moment. ¡°I would love ess to that data. The memories too, if they are avable.¡±


    The Paragon smiled. ¡°There are few who can record and provide memories as you do, but we might have one or two. I¡¯ll see what I can do. So? Does that mean you want Io to be treated simrly?¡±


    T bit the side of her lip in thought. ¡°Let me review the data first and then make a decision.¡±


    He gave her a knowing smile. ¡°A trade?¡±


    ¡°By any other name is still a trade.¡± She grinned in return. ¡°I know how valuable Io is.¡±


    He bowed his head slightly. ¡°True enough.¡±


    T turned back to Rane. ¡°Anything else I missed?¡±


    <em>-I can tell you. No. No, there isn¡¯t anything else.-</em>


    He smiled in return, clearly pleased to have been asked. ¡°Not that I can think of, no.¡±


    T pped her hands together. ¡°Well, then. I appreciate the assistance, and I look forward to all that we can get done with this.¡±


    <em>-Notes and memory of this conversation granted to Mistress Holly.-</em>


    <em>Thank you, t.</em>


    Rane and Master Grediv both stood.


    Rane bowed to his former master, and Master Grediv gave them each a shallow, appropriate bow. ¡°Thank you for your visit. I will pass these projects on to the requisite people within the Constructionist Guild, and direct them to chat with Master Simon if they need further details.¡±


    T smiled brightly. ¡°That would be fantastic. Thank you.¡±


    ¡°It is my pleasure.¡± He then turned to Rane. ¡°I will forward our notes on your inscriptions to Mistress Holly. She or I will reach out to you with any questions or rifications.¡±


    Rane gave another bow. ¡°Thank you. I look forward to seeing you again, soon.¡±


    ¡°Indeed.¡±

 Chapter 430: Next Steps

    Chapter 430: Next Steps


    T <em>almost</em> snapped at the woman as she told T to lift her arms above her head <em>again.</em>


    Instead, T did as requested as she was swarmed by Constructionist assistants, poking and prodding her even through her armor. Because, yes, these were the armor experts that Master Grediv had arranged to help her improve her armor¡¯s utility.


    Off to the side, they¡¯d had her create tes of material in the same manner and of the sameposition as her armor with the hexagons of iron and white steel for unit testing before they could assess the best way to utilize the ative protection.


    The four Refined who were in charge of the process got a much fuller picture of what she was capable of doing, and they were workshopping various ideas in conjunction with the information they were collecting.


    As a whole, they were in a valley off to one side of Irondale, in a ce that would be hard for the citizens of the growing town to actually reach.


    Why there? Well, they wanted a ce to work that they coulde and go from with ease, and while the Constructionist Guild could have worked, that would have been problematic. After all, T¡¯s iron couldn¡¯t really leave her presence. Kit seemed to be an exception to that, given that the dimensional storage was soulbound to her. Thus, this was where they had to do the work, unless T was going to remain with them for the totality.


    <em>Master Grediv was correct, my iron can stay outside of my aura, so long as it is unquestionably under my authority still. </em>Irondale wasn¡¯t really that much of a stretch, but it was a good first step.


    That aside, the presence of ten Mages in the area was <em>slightly</em> straining on Kit, but not in any long-term, meaningful way, and they were hardly the only Mages within Irondale at the moment.


    In another part of dimensionality, some Constructionists were setting up various pieces of wall to demonstrate features of the interlocking battlements to T so that they could begin creating her set. They apparently had a nice suite of sample units that they rolled out whenever an Archon was ready to design their own defensive system.She would drop through to make her selections for the first draft after they were done with analyzing the armor while she was wearing it.


    The armor and wall groups each had an ingot of white steel to test and work with as well. Additionally, yet another group of Constructionists had received a couple of ingots of her white steel to experiment with outside of any specific goal or aim, unlike the wall and armor groups.


    T had already given white steel baubles to Adrill, Brandon, Kedva, and Tx.


    Tx had mainly slept through the receiving of his gift. Though he had opened his eyes to give a confused little re at the touch of the cool metal before it warmed up to match his temperature. The little bracelet had been fashioned around his wrist through a simple act of will and magic. T had made it loose enough that it wouldn¡¯t be restrictive while being tight enough to not twist or easily catch on anything.


    Adrill had already made the fun discovery that even outside of Irondale or T¡¯s sanctum¡ªonce he¡¯d fully bled off all the increased magical power¡ªhe could still manipte the white steel. Though it was <em>much</em> more difficult.


    T bent to the side in a stretch, obeying the next request, allowing them to take measurements and observe how the armorpressed, shifted, and stretched.


    This was entirely T¡¯s fault, of course. She didn¡¯t use traditional tes or other standard means of armor construction. Instead, she somewhat actively forced the armor to remold and move with her, causing it to be far closer to a part of her body than even magical exoskeletons usually were. It was reasonable that she hadn¡¯t actually used one of those as a basis to work from. They were rare, expensive marvels of Constructionist engineering, and T hadn¡¯t actually ever seen one in action.


    While she knew what she was doing was important, she <em>really</em> wanted to go test her ideas for her breath weapon.


    Toward that end, she entertained herself by controlling her breathing and directing each breath in a different manner as Master Doitean had taught her, using her threefold sight to observe the different ways that her lip, jaw, tongue, speed of exhale, and myriad other factors affected the shape and distribution of the air after it left her.


    Nothing came of all the analysis of her armor that day, and honestly, T was d for that. She would have been irked if they simply gave her titudes and generic advice. Instead, they had gotten a holistic view of what she could do and were working that all in together.


    The only true disappointment through the armor analysis came when she had tried to absorb one of the ¡®infinite needles¡¯ into her elk leathers; it hadn¡¯t been able to work. T had felt that she <em>could</em> absorb it if she broke the working on it, but then the working would be broken, so that wasn¡¯t useful.


    With the armor portion of her daypleted in the morning, she swung by the wall disys, ran a few tests and selected the features that caught her attention. They, too, had some questions about her particr abilities, and asked for permission to incorporate some elements into the first test sections of wall.


    She agreed and, with that done, she went to the outer edge of Alefast for her breath weapon test.


    On the way, she opened her sanctum, and invited Terry toe out and witness her test.


    The avian flickered out to perch on her shoulder before trilling and headbutting her cheek.


    She found an out of the way tower, whichy between the two units currently on duty to either side of her. It was also near where she and her unit would be on that night. That way, she was already basically where she needed to be, and she had time to y with.


    Rane was engaging in a back and forth with Mistress Holly through the Archive at the moment. He¡¯d likely be doing that all day, as his inscriptions were getting a marked upgrade. T would have had to be doing the same, but t was doing that for T. Thus, she had a moment to herself.


    <em>Alright, let¡¯s do this.</em>


    Deep within her sanctum, she formed a hollow sphere within the bedrock, reinforcing and hardening the stone around the spherical cavity.


    Then, with an act of will, she packed as much air into it as possible, increasing the air pressure within.


    Once it was to a healthy level, T hopped a couple of times in ce, feeling some nervous energy. Terry gripped on tightly as she did so, but otherwise didn¡¯t react to the movement.


    -<em>Come on, T. No need to be nervous. Let¡¯s do this.-</em>


    She opened her mouth to afortable degree, then opened a hole into the center of the sphere ofpressed air that she had made within her sanctum, putting the exit from Kit within her mouth, pointing outward.


    <em>That would have been embarrassing if I¡¯d pointed it inward on ident.</em>


    The instant that it opened, air rushed out, but it wasn¡¯t a steady stream as she had hoped. Well, it was initially, but almost instantly, the air became choppy, buffeting the inside of her mouth so much that it actually dislocated her jaw, but that was a blessing in disguise.


    She almost reflexively closed her mouth to stop the flow, but that might have caused all sorts of horrible things.


    As the opening was fixed in space, she wasn¡¯t blown backward by the force of the exit. Still, it felt like someone had punched her teeth from the inside.


    Terry squawked, flickering away to a nearby perch on the crions.


    T let out a whimpering screech, even as the torrent came to an end, only havingsted for a second or so before the pressure equalized. She closed the opening and staggered to a seat against the crions of the tower.


    <em>-Well¡­ that seemed painful.-</em>


    T reached up and forced her own jaw back into ce with a sickening pop. She worked it back and forth, scraping her tongue against her teeth as if trying to get a bad taste to go away. ¡°Yeah¡­ that wasn¡¯t great.¡±


    Still, T was nothing if not stubborn. So, it was time for iterative tests, a <em>lot</em> of iterative tests.


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    Terry regarded her critically, and she looked back at him with a raised eyebrow. ¡°You wanted to see something destructive, didn¡¯t you.¡±


    He bobbed a nod.


    ¡°Not destructive to me, though.¡±


    He bobbed again.


    ¡°Shall I call you back out when I think I have it worked out?¡±


    Terry seemed to consider, then shook himself. He then flickered to the far side of the tower where he curled up andid his head upon his wing, eyes fixed on her.


    She smiled. ¡°Alright, then. Time to figure this out.¡±


    She was still on the tower at sunset, but she had a workable starting ce, now.


    Most of the bottom of her sanctum had been reworked, with her artificial lung now entirely made of the edge of reality, only connected to the bottom of the sanctum by a long cylinder, capped by a hardened and reinforced circle of bedrock. Above that, was solid bedrock all the way up to the surface.


    It was at that circle of bedrock where T made her portal out, rather than in the middle of thepressed air. That had been the first¡ªand most obvious¡ªrevtion. Having the exit on the side and at the end of a perfect cylindrical tube smoothed out the flow of air and removed basically all the choppiness which had so hurt her jaw and teeth.


    The space was sized to give her a rtively consistent ¡®exhale¡¯ for up to three seconds or so. For ease, she also kept her own magical density out of the air within, as it wasn¡¯t needed, and it would be wasteful of the resource.


    Even though it wasn¡¯t <em>that</em>rge, she didn¡¯t want to fill it from the air in her sanctum, because of how much air that it would take with multiple iterations. Though, she still could at need. Thus, the only practical way for her to refill it was to open a portal into it and draw in air through the opening. Thankfully, that didn¡¯t have to be through her mouth. So, her ¡®inhale¡¯ could be pulled through basically anywhere within her aura.


    Through the testing process, she also perfected where in her own mouth to open the release portal, ying with the shape of that portal as much as she did with her tongue, lips, and jaw.


    At one point, she found the rightbination of shapes to create the resonance of a truly sonorous whistle, though much lower in tone than she could otherwise have created.


    <em>-Yeah, I¡¯m not sure what we¡¯ll use that for, but it¡¯s interesting to have in our back pocket.-</em>


    <em>Indeed.</em>


    The long exit tube also aligned the air¡¯s momentum to such an extent that it held together much more coherently than T had expected, and it was <em>long</em> at nearly a hundred feet, even if it wasn¡¯t much bigger than an inch in diameter. Once she took the next step to add magic into the air, it could be devastating.


    Toward that end, T began ying with her iron-tube spell-forms, trying to mimic the endingberry seed dissolution magic.


    It was a spellform that she knew <em>incredibly</em> well, given that she was utterly pervaded with its inverse. She¡¯d also impressed that inverse into natural magics of two others in thest year or so, giving her an even better than usual understanding of the basic and interconnected forms.


    In that vein, it took her less than two hours to get the basic spellworking transposed into the new medium¡ªiron¡ªand material¡ªmagical power.


    Then, with glee, she iterated it in linked chains around the entire outside of the artificial lung within her sanctum.


    <em>Now¡­ how to get power to it¡­ </em>For the earlier practice, she¡¯d had the spellshape in front of her, and she could simply touch the spellform to give it the magic that she needed it to have. Thankfully, she was stumped for less than a minute before an answer came to her. <em>Oh! That¡¯s easy.</em>


    She had often used her Way¡ªvoid channels¡ªto connect to and empower Flow when the weapon wasn¡¯t in her hand.


    Her soul was already bound to Kit¡ªand therefore the entire sanctum. Thus, it was trivial for her to connect a series of void channels to the mesh of spellwork surrounding the artificial lung.


    Power flowed through it almostzily, slowly building up the dissolution energy in the already highlypressed air.


    A bit too slowly, unfortunately.


    It was almost time for her duty-shift, and she wanted to give this at least one test breath.


    <em>Come on, go faster.</em>


    <em>-You could void channel the whole form, that¡¯s made your inscriptions work more efficiently</em>¡ª<em>and thus quicker</em>¡ª<em>in the past.-</em>


    <em>Hmmm. </em>T considered for only a moment before shrugging. <em>Good idea.</em>


    Thus, T filled her iron spellform with void channelsden with fast-flowing magic.


    Something <em>clicked</em> deep below her sanctum in a way her magics never had before.


    Terry lifted his head before flickering to his feet behind her, keeping his distance but clearly fully awake, aware, and oriented on her.


    T¡¯s eyes widened as she felt the power of dissolution magnify enormously every second to the point that the iron and very edge of existence within Kit felt like it was under threat.


    <em>What the Rust? </em>She cut off her void channels and all power flowing to the spellforms, but the magic was still there, threatening to tear open a hole in her sanctum. It would also have dissolved the very air it was within were t and T not preventing that entirely through their will and authority.


    <em>-Get it out!-</em>


    T turned her head to look out over the wilderness, and opened the portal, not shaping her mouth for anything but a strictly straight line breath, the inscriptions in her mouth acting as they should to funnel the air and power, forcing a dy to the activation of the magics within.


    <em>Get out!</em> T felt her will flexing, her very authority first within her sanctum, and then within her own mouth enforcing her desires.


    There was an odd sound, like a giant snapping his fingers as thepressed airnced out


    Then, with a <em>woosh</em>, a zing line of fire exploded outward, away from T, following the line of the continuing exhale, the very power of the explosion helping the expelled air move further, faster.


    T¡¯s threefold sight let her see the magic of dissolution hit the treeline an instant before the fire caught up.


    The entire grove burst into mes, a vortex of me roiling outward from the line of T¡¯s breath to each side.


    The <em>roar</em> of the mes consuming the trees almost instantly was tremendous.


    <em>No, the mes consumed the dust created by dissolution.</em> She could <em>see</em> the dissolution rolling through the forest and turning everything to dust just in advance of the mes, pushed on by the heat and force of the continuous explosion.


    A momentter, the artificial lung equalized, the magic was spent, and T closed off the release portal that had been in her mouth, having forced out thest bit of air after the equalization.


    As she stared out at the spreading devastation¡ªGuards and Defenders ran toward her position fearing an attack of some kind¡ªT couldn¡¯t help but break out intoughter.


    Terry flickered to her shoulder, looking out at the resulting mes with slightly widened eyes. A momentter, he looked her way then trilled triumphantly at the skies.


    T reached up and scratched his head and neck. ¡°That¡¯s right, Terry. I call this a sess, even if it needs perfecting.¡±


    Fortuitously, Master Clevnis was the first to arrive at her side on the tower-top. ¡°Mistress T? What happened? What¡¯s so funny?¡±


    T pointed at the practical wall of fire that was slowly shrinking as it spread outward in a rough cone away from her. ¡°I¡¯d like to see the sireling defend against <em>that.</em>¡±


    She continued to cackle, realizing that the entire thing had been aplished without inscriptions. <em>Maybe the Anatalins have something to their prohibition after all. If I¡¯d tried to do this with inscriptions, it would never have worked even half as well.</em>


    Her unit leader cleared his throat, bringing her back to the moment. ¡°So, was there an enemy?¡±


    ¡°No. I was just testing something.¡± She hesitated, realizing what he meant. ¡°Oh¡­ I apologize, Master Clevnis. I did not expect the results to be so¡­ shy.¡±


    He shook his head and huffed augh. ¡°It¡¯s fine.¡± His eyes unfocused for a moment before he nodded. ¡°There, I¡¯ve notified the requisite folks that there is not actually an attack underway.¡±


    T saw most of those running her way seem to slow and check various means of receiving messages before many seemed to simply turn around to go back to their post.


    Some still came toward the areas of the wall on either side of the tower where she and Master Clevnis were, looking out at the results of her attack.


    Honestly, it was less impressive than it appeared. The trees that had been destroyed weren¡¯t strictly magical, and thus hadn¡¯t resisted the dissolution as well as even a mundane human would have. It really was amazing how much a soul and a will insted one to magical maniption.


    Humans in the path would still have died, but it would have been less¡­ pervasive.


    His messages sent, Master Clevnis leaned against the crions and regarded T. ¡°shy is a good word for it. That was quite the sh-fire.¡±


    ¡°Indeed.¡± She nodded. Beyond the wall, the dissolution seemed to have finally spread out and expended enough of itself that it couldn¡¯t continue its work of feeding the fire. The fire hadn¡¯t remained long enough to heat up the surroundings sufficiently for a sustained burn. The early spring vegetation also wasn¡¯t that prone to burn. T was thankful for that, otherwise she might have kicked off a ratherrge wildfire.


    ¡°So, do you want to talk through what that was?¡±


    She hesitated for a moment then shrugged. ¡°Sure, I¡¯d love to get your thoughts, even if it isn¡¯t your area of study.¡±


    He nodded, then waved his hand, only then did Mistress Cernae over from her ce near the stairs up from the lower floors of the tower, some dozen yards away. She¡¯d been waiting there to create space in case there was an issue or opponent that needed to be addressed.


    They <em>should </em>be safe on the wall even if an attack had been underway, but that was still no reason to arrogantly put three Defenders right beside one another and open them to being taken down with a single well aimed, powerful strike.


    She gave T a smile as she joined her husband. At the same time some of those who had been drawn by the light-show and explosion came up to the tower-top before seeing the Defenders and retreating back down the stairs.


    Mistress Cerna gave a smile and nod to Terry. ¡°Greetings, Terry.¡± Then she tilted her head toward the results of T¡¯s breath-weapon. ¡°So, Mistress T. What fun new thing did you figure out?¡±

 Chapter 431: Friends

    Chapter 431: Friends


    T finished the exnation surrounding her breath weapon experiments just about the time that Master Clevnis, Mistress Cerna, and she arrived at the meeting ce for their unit before their duty-shift. Terry was asleep on T¡¯s shoulder by that point.


    The two unit leaders had listened thoughtfully to the full exnation, but when T indicated that she¡¯d finished, Mistress Cerna spoke up almost immediately. ¡°So¡­ why are you using it as a breath weapon? Couldn¡¯t you easily have ite out of the air anywhere within your aura?¡±


    T nodded, acknowledging the question. ¡°A few reasons, actually. First, I have inscriptions that help focus and direct any airborne magics. Without that, I suspect that the results would have begun¡ªand been more concentrated¡ªclose to the opening. The only reason they didn¡¯t enact within my sanctum and turn the false lung there into a fireball was that we were holding the power back from affecting the air in which it was saturated through my authority within Kit. Thus, without the containing and dying effects of the inscriptions within my mouth, it likely would have simply created a fireball at the point of egress.¡±


    Mistress Cerna nodded at that. ¡°That makes sense¡­ I would rmend enhancing those.¡± She considered the totality of information for a moment. ¡°You could even make them variable to control the distance of initial ignition?¡±


    T chuckled. ¡°Absolutely, and that is a good idea. I¡¯ve already added notes to look into general enhancement, but the variability is an interesting idea. I will also be enhancing the magics that block any magical effect from going down my throat to prevent blowback if something goes catastrophically wrong.¡±


    Master Clevnis smiled, nodding as well. ¡°That¡¯s wise, but the main issue that I think we can all agree on is the fact that the dissolution was beginning to affect the edge of your dimensional storage. Breaches within dimensional storages are rare, but they do ur. No one likes the results¡­¡±


    ¡°True. I think that looking into enhancing Kit¡¯s dimensional boundaries makes sense, and I even have a couple of ideas as to how I might be able to do that. That said, I want to finish answering Mistress Cerna¡¯s questions first. As to why I want it toe from my mouth, the second reason is the inherent authority that breath holds.¡±


    The two unit leaders frowned, Master Clevnis speaking for both of them, ¡°But¡­ it¡¯s not your breath.¡±


    ¡°Really?¡± T gave a mischievous smile. ¡°Ites from that which is bound to my soul, exiting my mouth when I open the path. It is as much my breath as anything. I don¡¯t really <em>have</em> to breathe to survive, so air in my biological lungs isn¡¯t that much different from that within my sanctum lungs.¡±The two still seemed skeptical, but they also seemed unwilling to argue with her. T knew that this was inrge part because it was considered incredibly bad form to try to break another Mage¡¯s mental model.


    The others from their unit arrived, then, and the topic shifted. Terry woke up and greeted everyone before settling back down for the hopefully uneventful shift toe.


    * * *


    T growled as she worked to perfect her use of the three bloodstars within a ring around Flow¡¯s hilt.


    Her method for doing so? She was currently trying to carve a block of wood with Flow using only those bloodstars and her ability to pull on Flow directly.


    She <em>refused </em>to use her aura control to correct the motions of the weapon, despite the knowledge that that would be <em>so</em> much easier.


    The only concession she made was to hold Flow generally in ce with her aura, so that she wasn¡¯t just doing passing cuts. Thus, she was only causing small motions and manipting orientation. She would stop using that crutch soon enough, but for now, things were already incredibly difficult.


    T also used her aura and authority to hold the softwood in ce for the carving.


    Rane nced her way from therge rock that he was carving with his own hand. ¡°I know you aren¡¯t actually trying to practice carving, but if you work with the grain instead of across it, you¡¯ll have an easier time.¡±


    She red his way for a moment, then calmed herself. <em>I¡¯m not mad at him; I¡¯m just irritated; and he¡¯s here.</em> She let out a calming breath. ¡°Thank you for the reminder, Rane. I will try to keep that in mind.¡±


    He pulled back just slightly¡ªclearly having picked up on some of her irritation despite her attempt to keep it in check¡ªbefore giving a hesitant smile. ¡°Right¡­ I apologize, I already said that before. I don¡¯t mean to give unsolicited advice.¡±


    She felt her anger bleed away as she shook her head. ¡°No, it was a good thought. I am having so much trouble with this, making it a bit easier wouldn¡¯t be a bad thing in any regard. Thank you.¡±


    This time, her thanks were obviously more genuine than thest, causing Rane¡¯s smile to firm up. ¡°Well, you <em>are </em>getting better. I know you¡¯ll get it where you want sooner rather thanter.¡±


    T had tough at that. ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m actually doing more than just ncing nicks now.¡±


    ¡°True enough.¡± He turned back, carefully removing a bit of material on an incredibly lifelike statue of an unfamiliar woman, gazing up to the stars with evident longing. Specifically, he was correcting the curve of the nose just slightly. He muttered to himself, clearly focused on his own crafting once more. ¡°Much better.¡±


    T sighed. She truly wasn¡¯t trying to match him in skill, but it was humbling to see just how much better at this he was than her.


    <em>It doesn¡¯t matter. He¡¯s happy to make any statue I request, and I have enough things to pursue as it is.</em> She did find herself d that he was pursuing excellence in his own interests. She found his growingpetence rather attractive, though she didn¡¯t think she could bring herself to tell him that.


    The next day, a message came from the Constructionists who specialized in the creation of modr walls. The group would have the first two test sections done for her in just under a month.


    <em>-Well, that¡¯s perfect. We can take a couple of weeks in Bandfast ande back to review the sample pieces.-</em>


    The Constructionists also requested a few ingots more of the white steel, and T granted their request before having t notify Irondale as to the date of their departure for Bandfast.


    That started a rather interesting fervor of activity.


    Some people were terrified, actually choosing to move back out of Irondale. Apparently, some had thought that the information wasn¡¯t serious when it was exined that Irondale would move from city to city on asion, or they thought that it wouldn¡¯t happen for quite a while. Simrly, on the other side, the merchant who¡¯d rented space for a warehouse and several other entrepreneurial folks got in contact with others and figured out what they could bring to Bandfast to sell.


    A few reached out to T to ask if they¡¯d being right back to Alefast, and if so what timeframe they could expect.


    T saw no reason to deny them the information. Apparently, some of the citizenry of Irondale were getting shopping lists from Alefast residents, and were nning on making a profit that way.


    <em>-And you profit through rent of thend either way. It¡¯s a beautiful system.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, those who can make it work will thrive, and those who can¡¯t will be forced to move back out.</em> It was a bit of a self sorting process for those with useful skills, at least in this one area. Others¡ªwithout a trader mindset¡ªhad simr hurdles to ovee,ing up with useful and profitable things to do to maintain their own ce within Irondale.


    Some had already started working for the merchants in one capacity or another. Some did so indirectly by providing services that either the merchant-inclined folk or their workers would be interested in.


    There were already two restaurants being run out of people¡¯s kitchens, with actual buildings going up near the town square.


    Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the vition.


    <em>We should offer a spot to Brand and his family.</em>


    <em>-Already done, they are happy in Bandfast.-</em>


    T found herself grinning internally. <em>It really is nice when you get things done before I even realize I want them to happen.</em>


    <em>-I do aim to please.-</em>


    <em>And you seed splendidly.</em>


    * * *


    When the date of departure arrived, T had Kit disy a countdown above the gate both inside and outside of Irondale. Well, she had Kit do so inside, which was trivially easy, and then she used Kit as a connection to a magical disy on the outside, provided by Alefast. So, it was effectively the same thing.


    Regardless, when the clock struck zero, she closed up Irondale and walked out of Alefast. She did so from several blocks away from the entrance, so she didn¡¯t have to deal with anyone who had thought the countdown was just a suggestion.


    The only concession she made was to ensure that she didn¡¯t split any individuals or families with the closure.


    <em>There are going to beints when we get back¡­</em>


    <em>-And they will be handled by the folks of Irondale. You made it clear that you are not altering your own schedule, and the countdown was a courtesy, which could be cut short if you needed. Honestly, they should all be thanking you that you didn¡¯t do just that.-</em>


    <em>I know that¡¯s true in theory, but people are still going to be mad.</em>


    <em>-And that will be handled without your involvement.-</em>


    T hesitated for a long moment, then nodded her thanks. <em>Alright, I can live with that.</em>


    The trip from Alefast to Bandfast was entirely uneventful.


    The only way it differed from previous trips was the fact that T had Flow fly beside her the entire trip, manipting it purely with the bloodstars and her bond with the weapon itself.


    It was¡­ enlightening.


    She cut quite a few trees, only felling onepletely.


    Even so, she and Rane still made the trip in less than two days. During that time, T reconnected Irondale and her sanctum by putting her sanctum within Irondale to remerge the two, connecting them on the outer edges. That way Mistress Petra, Simon, Brandon, and Kedva could continue their work without interruption.


    Little Tx came with Kedva wherever she went, and he was already growing so much. Though, being barely more than two weeks old, he still didn¡¯t actually do very much.


    Both Rane and T had be far more skilled in the bnce of making their aura obviously powerful to drive away weaker creatures and keeping it rtively contained so as to not attract the magical creatures who were most likely living within the region.


    Even still, they both knew that there really should have been weaker creatures who attacked regardless of the power disparity.


    It was Terry¡¯s ongoing joy to take care of those. It also helped to prevent him from bing too bored.


    T was more than willing to let him do as he pleased in this regard. Overall, the terror bird continued to give indications that he wasing close to a final decision to bond with T, but he didn¡¯t seem <em>quite</em> ready yet, and T wasn¡¯t willing to push him.


    <em>We have time.</em> More than that, though, she appreciated that he was taking his time with something that was so clearly important to them both.


    With Terry roving around them, they made the entire trip without a single sh, thus speeding them along even more.


    When they came over thest rise and looked upon Bandfast, T felt herself smile. <em>I¡¯m so excited to see Lyn.</em>


    Ranended beside her before bumping her affectionately. ¡°We¡¯re back.¡±


    She smiled up at him. ¡°That we are.¡±


    T just had a singr stop before they could meet up with the Lyn and Kannis, but before they could head down the hill into the city, Terry headbutted her hip¡ªwhere Kit used to hang¡ªand T understood the request to enter her sanctum.


    She opened the way for him, and the terror bird vanished inside.


    Through her threefold sight and connection with Kit, she saw him immediately flicker toward the river, where he lolled onto his back, allowing the infinite flow to begin carrying him around in azy circle.


    <em>Rest well, my friend. </em>It was a rather warm spring day. So, she didn¡¯t begrudge him a chance to cool off after the day and a half of speedy travel.


    Less than an hourter, T stood before the agreed-upon,rge nk wall and ced the anchor for Irondale upon it, opening the entrance at the stone arch near the town square on the Irondale side.


    That got a <em>lot</em> of attention from the people passing by on the rtively busy, Bandfast thoroughfare.


    T then pulled out the required signage from her sanctum and ced it on either side of¡ªand above¡ªthe opening.


    The signs announced that the opening was the entrance to the town of Irondale, as well as exining the rules and tacit agreements in ce upon anyone who went inside.


    There was also a simple line at the bottom that T hoped to the stars wouldn¡¯t cause too much trouble: ¡®Gateless wee as residents. Inquire within.¡¯


    Brandon had specifically requested that she add the line, and she¡¯d not <em>really</em> had a reason to say no¡­


    <em>You know, I am making an inherently discriminatory mini-society in there.</em>


    <em>-Gated not wee.-</em>


    <em>Well, they¡¯re wee, but they can¡¯t live there, or rent anything there, or stay for long.</em>


    <em>-You could make separate restaurants for them. That way the gateless don¡¯t have to eat near ¡®that kind of folk.¡¯-</em>


    <em>¡­you¡¯re being ridiculous.</em>


    <em>-Of course, I am. You aren¡¯t being discriminatory. You have a rule in ce based on the nature of the things involved. To say otherwise would be like saying that forbidding alcohol to babies is discriminatory because it is based on age.-</em>


    <em>And that isn¡¯t discriminatory because it¡¯s based on the nature of the thing involved, not the people being denied.</em>


    <em>-Precisely.-</em>


    She grunted at that, causing Rane to give her an inquiring look.


    ¡°Later.¡±


    He shrugged and nodded. ¡°Shall we go?¡±


    ¡°Yes, please.¡± With her enthusiastic agreement, they wove their way out of the crowd. As they departed, T once again separated her sanctum from Irondale, so that she could keep the former with her while thetter was open for business.


    There was already a small crowd forming when T and Rane made their escape, all but ignoring those who were trying to ask them questions.


    Thankfully, several of the residents of Irondale were at hand, and they stepped out into Bandfast and spoke to anyone who was curious or inquisitive enough to want to know more.


    At the same time, the Irondale merchant finagled a few wagons through, heading toward those whom he¡¯d made deals with in order to drop off his wares and likely to pick up others as well.


    Many other Irondale-ians¡ª


    <em>Yeah, no, I don¡¯t like that name for them¡­</em>


    Many other Irondale residents slipped out with packs on their backs, crates in their arms, or other means of carrying goods in evidence.


    T¡¯s threefold sight even saw a few who exited only with notes of credit in their pouches, likely on the way to purchase goods or exchange the notes for solid coinage.


    All in all, she was infinitely grateful that it had nothing to do with her.


    Lyn and Kannis were ted to see T and Rane when they were let in through the front door. Terry came out and greeted the two as well, leading to a round of surface-level catching up.


    The four humans and one avian had been sitting in the front room and chatting for a few minutes when Fannas came out of the back.


    He was just over a foot and a half tall, and he gave a formal bow when he came around the side of Kannis¡¯s chair. ¡°Mistress T, Master Rane, master Terry. It is good to see you all once again¡­¡± He seemed vaguely ufortable. ¡°Even if some of your choices¡­¡± He sighed and shook his head. ¡°Apologies, I overstep.¡±


    T blinked at the little man a few times.


    <em>-You totally forgot he existed, didn¡¯t you.-</em>


    <em>I¡­ did.</em> She smiled at the keeperling regardless. ¡°Hello, Fannas. You''re lookingrger these days.¡±


    And he <em>was </em>taller, though he still had the stockier form that was more reminiscent of a dwarf than a human. His silver face shifted to a smile at her words. ¡°Thank you for noticing, Mistress T. I do aim to be of use, and I¡¯ve found that I am more capable, being a bit bigger. I strive to increase my usefulness further, but that will have to wait for my mistress to advance.¡±


    Kannis smiled. ¡°He really has been amazing.¡±


    Terry flickered over to the man, resizing himself to be the same height as the silver figure.


    Fannas bowed to the terror bird once again. ¡°Your presence is as¡­ formidable as ever, master Terry.¡±


    Terry grew and reached out one taloned foot, patting Fannas on the head before the avian trilled happily and flickered back to T¡¯s shoulder.


    The little statue-like creature stood frozen for a long moment before turning to Kannis, bowing and asking in a slightly strained voice, ¡°Mistress, I have much to do, by your leave?¡±


    Kannis nodded. ¡°We were just leaving anyway. Thank you foring out and saying hello.¡±


    ¡°Of course.¡± Without another word, he went back into the back of the house.


    Terry watched the little man go, then flickered to T¡¯s hip, looking at her expectantly. ¡°Oh? You want to go back in already?¡±


    He bobbed a nod.


    ¡°Okay.¡± She opened a coin-sized entrance to her sanctum, and Terry flickered through it before it snapped closed behind him.


    The four humans talked for a bit longer before they departed Lyn¡¯s house, going out to dinner at an old, familiar food area.


    Gretel was still making and selling her excellent meat pies, and the older woman remembered T and greeted her warmly. They chatted for a bit, but then T let Gretel get back to her work, and the four friends went to enjoy their dinner.

 Chapter 432: Four Dimensional Construction

    Chapter 432: Four Dimensional Construction


    T sat beside Rane in the Bandfast food court that Lyn had brought her to oh so long ago on her first day in the city. Lyn and Kannis were with them as well, and the four were taking up one end of one of the long tables arranged in the center of the space, chatting, eating, and catching up on what had happened during their time apart.


    Kannis was apparently progressing incredibly well, to the point that Lyn was beginning to talk of the young woman bing a Mage in truth. Lyn even wanted to have Kannis take her position, though she would obviouslye in at the bottom level of the position, rather than Lyn¡¯s more advanced ce in the hierarchy.


    T thought back and realized that it had been nearly four years since Kannis had be Lyn¡¯s apprentice.


    It was strange to think that Kannis had known Lyn for just three months less time than T had, herself, and the other young woman had been with the Archon for basically the entire time.


    <em>Huh, I was still thinking of Lyn as my friend, and Kannis as an add-in, but that isn¡¯t really true in any regard. They know each other far better than they know me or I know them, and I¡¯m the outsider. </em>She kept her thoughts on <em>that</em> matter to herself, but still inquired further on Kannis¡¯s elevation.


    Apparently, Kannis was a bit uncertain and unwilling to end her apprenticeship ¡®so soon.¡¯ She felt like she still had so much to learn, and the idea of being on her own was daunting.


    Lyn reassured the girl that she wouldn¡¯t kick her out or leave her aimless. Additionally, while there was some mild teasing at that, T and Rane each did try to offer a bit of true advice.


    There was a bit of a lull in the conversation, but then, Kannis got an odd look on her face, and she looked back and forth between Rane and T. Finally, the mageling spoke up. ¡°You two¡­ you¡¯re sitting closer together than usual¡­¡±


    Lyn perked up at that, examining the two Refined critically. ¡°You¡¯re right, Kannis. Excellent observation and deduction. Something is definitely different.¡±¡°Thank you, Mistress.¡±


    Rane nced to T, shrugging before subtly tilting his head toward the other two.


    T understood him to be leaving it up to her to decide if they said anything and if so what would be said. That was considerate of him, given she¡¯d known Lyn longer¡ªand Kannis even longer¡ªthan he had. T shrugged in return, then smiled to the two women. ¡°It¡¯s not exactly a secret. We are courting.¡±


    Lyn and Kannis shared a look. Then, Lyn regarded them for a long moment and asked, ¡°Officially? You¡¯re officially courting then?¡±


    T glowered. ¡°Why do people keep asking that?¡±


    Lyn quirked a smile. ¡°Well, dear, that¡¯s probably because you two have been dancing around each other for as long as I¡¯ve known you both. The best romancese from a ce of solid friendship and you two have that well enough in hand.¡±


    Kannis shook her head, clearly disagreeing with her master. ¡°No, no. The best romancese from love at first sight.¡±


    Lyn arched her eyebrow at her mageling, ¡°Maybe in the stories.¡±


    Rane gave a self-deprecating smile. ¡°I actually made a <em>really</em> bad first impression.¡±


    T huffed augh. ¡°I remember that. Yeah, I sort of hated you at first.¡±


    Kannis leaned back and nodded sagely. ¡°Exactly. Love and hate are very close to one another. Love or ¡®hate¡¯ at first sight are equally good, even if one takes a bit longer toe around.¡±


    T and Rane both gave the girl skeptical looks.


    Lyn, however, simply sighed, shaking her head, ¡°From what I¡¯ve seen and researched, such mes¡ªwhether hate or love¡ªburn out quickly as often as not. Bless the stars most are not foolish enough to bind their souls to another over such a thing without verifying that the professed and felt ¡®love¡¯ at first sight either has¡ªor can have¡ªa foundation.¡±


    Kannis gave a mischievous smile as she teased her master. ¡°Researched, eh? I didn¡¯t think romance books were considered schrly texts.¡±


    Lyn was unbothered by the subtle jab. ¡°I did actually mean research. The statistics on such things are hard¡ªbut not impossible¡ªto find. As I hope is not news to you¡ªmy mageling¡ªsuch a rtionship should be approached with at least as much thought and solemnity as any other soulbond.¡±


    Kannis waved that off. ¡°Of course, master, but I do hope that I find love at first sight. That would be so much easier¡­¡±


    ¡°Indeed.¡± The older woman smiled, her expression slightly sad, but that seemed to pass in a moment before she regarded the couple once more, ¡°But we have moved into the weeds. Courting? When did that happen? What do you actually mean by ¡®courting?¡¯ I want details, and you <em>will</em> be providing them.¡±


    So, T humored her friend and¡ªtogether with Rane¡ªanswered all the questions that the two had.


    Even with such a task added into the mix, it was an entertaining evening, and each of the four of them thoroughly enjoyed catching up with the others.


    * * *


    Mistress Holly regarded T and Rane with a stoic face. ¡°The two of you have given me and my assistants <em>so</em> much work.¡±


    Rane balked slightly, but T knew the woman too well. Instead of being intimidated, T grinned in response. ¡°You are most wee.¡±


    Mistress Holly¡¯s lips twitched before breaking into a smile. ¡°Indeed.¡±


    It was early morning, and the three were in Mistress Holly¡¯s private workshop in the back of her warehouse sized business.


    ¡°But regardless, my ability to be solely responsible for your inscriptions has passed. I will introduce each of you to one of my senior assistants, and they will go over what we propose for the update to your inscriptions. From there, we will either iterate as needed, or implement the final result. While I would enjoy handling your inscriptions solely on my own, I am afraid that such simply would not be efficient nor the best use of my time.¡±


    There was a moment of silence before Rane and T shared a look and shrugged. T smiled and answered for both of them, ¡°Alright.¡±


    Less than ten minutester, T was sipping coffee beside an older looking woman with a pleasant face liberally decorated with smile-lines.


    Mistress Hilfren was the woman who attended to T, and she wore a greenish-yellow aura about herself with clear pride. Though she was no less helpful despite her obvious pride in that advancement.


    <em>Yeah, Mistress Holly is only Refined. Sure.</em> T didn¡¯t bother to hide the sarcasm in her mental tone, not that it would have done much good anyways.


    <em>-That does seem rather unlikely¡­-</em> t sighed within their mind. <em>-I bet once we surpass her we¡¯ll be able to tell.-</em>


    <em>What do you think the odds are that she¡¯s a Sovereign? Her domain could be over inscriptions, and she¡¯s building her power within gated humanity.</em>


    <em>-The odds? Well¡­ not zero, but still vanishingly small. But Ascending? I could very much see that, and she¡¯s working on whatever she needs to advance, hiding her rank until she can surge in power and take thest step.-</em>


    <em>That would be rather exciting¡­ but I doubt it.</em>


    <em>-But maybe?-</em>


    <em>Maybe¡­ but no.</em> T mentally shook her head and refocused.


    The two Refined sat in a ratherrge room in deeplyfortable chairs that¡ªto T¡¯s surprise¡ªsupported her with ease.


    Before them, in the cleared rest of the room, detailed illusions of various parts of T¡¯s inscriptions were manifest as the senior assistant took T through the different alterations, reasoning behind such, and the potential other avenues that these specific scripts could be advanced down.


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    T had <em>lots</em> of thoughts, but found Mistress Hilfren to be incredibly knowledgeable and helpful. Honestly, it was a bit like talking with Mistress Holly, except without the snark.


    Mistress Hilfren also often referenced Mistress Holly as the primary origin for the various versions and proposed alterations, which let T know the core reason behind the discussion reminding her of talking with Mistress Holly: The senior assistant was closely following a sort of script provided by the more knowledgeable woman.


    <em>So, what Mistress Holly really meant is that she didn¡¯t want to take the time with us to discuss all this, but she¡¯s still going to be the one finalizing the inscriptions.</em>


    <em>-It does seem like that, yes.-</em>


    In the end, the two of them settled on a schema with only one or two areas remaining that needed to be solidified and tightened by Mistress Holly. Thergest change would be the loss of the rings for quick, heavy gravity maniption. That space was instead being taken up with further augmentations of T¡¯s other existing magics.


    After thanking the older woman for her time, T departed, receiving a promise that the full schema would be ready for inscribing the following morning.


    Rane finished talking with his own senior assistant a bit after T,ing out to find her in the lobby, sipping at another cup of coffee. He raised an eyebrow at that, but she just smiled in return. ¡°So? How was it?¡±


    He shrugged. ¡°Master Cutnir was pleasant enough to work with. I am to go to the Constructionists as soon as possible, though, so that I can soulbond an Archive connection. Then, based on that, they can finalize my scripts.¡±


    T stood with a nod. ¡°Shall we go now?¡±


    He gave her a searching look. ¡°Are you sure you want to? Aren¡¯t there other things you could be doing? I know you try to fill your time with meaningful things that help you keep progressing.¡±


    She shrugged. ¡°I can fiddle and practice whileing with you. Besides, being with you is meaningful.¡± She smiled and continued before he could really process what she¡¯d said or respond, ¡°Also, afterwards, I want to try to see master Lisa again.¡±


    Rane frowned for a moment. ¡°Oh! The¡ª¡± He cut himself off, ncing around before continuing, ¡°magic item shopkeeper?¡±


    He¡¯d likely been about to say arcane. T smiled, d that he¡¯d held himself back. ¡°That¡¯s the one, yes.¡±


    She had told Rane about her encounter with the horned fox-man at various points since they began courting, so it was a somewhat familiar topic.


    ¡°I still think it would be interesting to pick his brain about the dimension of magic, among other things.¡±


    Rane nodded slowly, clearly considering the idea in a positive light. ¡°That sounds like an excellent n then. We can get lunch after? Kannis and Lyn should be on break, and we can have the meal with them if they¡¯re up for it. Brand¡¯s shop is even rather close to where we¡¯ll be if that works for everyone.¡± He gave a mischievous smile. ¡°Maybe they¡¯ll have some Defender fights on that we can see while we eat.¡±


    T gave him a knowing smile. The man probably just wanted to see how people in other cities reacted to the fights, especially his and hers, but that was fine. ¡°Sure, I¡¯ll message them to ask.¡±


    <em>-Done.-</em>


    <em>Thank you.</em> She stood,ing over to meet Rane at the door. ¡°Shall we?¡±


    * * *


    Acquiring Rane¡¯s soulbound Archive connection went seamlessly enough. The only slowdown was when the Constructionist¡ªa woman that T hadn¡¯t met before¡ªhad Rane make an inside-out Archon star, so that it would bind the connection to his subconscious mind rather than his conscious one.


    She exined that Mistress Holly¡¯s assistant had contacted the Guild and requested that Rane bond in such a way to facilitate the type of inscriptions that they¡¯d agreed upon.


    It took Rane about half an hour to create the new spellform within a small, drop-sized sapphire.


    They embedded that into the ring with a bit of material guide magic, and Rane fully allowed the spellworking to activate.


    It was fascinating for T to watch, actually, especially with her threefold sight.


    The power washed outward and the two-part ring actually seemed to change material to be sapphiric in color and translucence. Though it remained unfaceted, indicating that it wasn¡¯t truly made out of the gemstone.


    They wrapped up fairly quickly after that point.


    Rane chose not to put on the half of the ring that he would wear until they¡¯d left the Constructionist Guild. In fact, he waited until they swung through the Archon Compound and passed over the other half to Mistress Ingrit to establish the permanent connection.


    Apparently, Master Grediv would be footing the bill until Rane could bear the cost himself, which as a Defender wasn¡¯t too far off.


    Only when they left the Compound and were back on the street did Rane slip the blue ring onto his right ring finger. With a ripple of magic, the ring faded into his flesh, leaving a faintly blue circle on his skin. It was nothing that would interfere with his inscriptions, thankfully.


    Interestingly enough, T saw at least a part of how it was aplished. Rane¡¯s ring shifted one step stoneward, leaving behind a singryer that easily conformed to his skin, giving the impression of having colored the flesh.


    <em>It¡¯s just a minusculeyer of the ring itself, anchoring the item to him on the superficial.</em> There was so much more to it than that, but at a base level that was the core of what had happened.


    At that moment, T received ess to a message within the Archive.


    <em>-... the boy has sent us a message¡­-</em>


    <em>Boy?</em>


    <em>-Rane. He¡¯s acting juvenile.-</em>


    T looked up to Rane¡¯s face, seeing a wide, self-satisfied grin on the man¡¯s face. <em>Shouldn¡¯t it be really hard for him to do that given the inside-out Archon star used for the bond?</em>


    <em>-It should, and he¡¯s not very good at filtering.-</em>


    <em>¡­what did he say?</em>


    <em>-¡¯T, T! I can see you. You are seen.¡¯ Then there are what seem to be text representations of giggling, followed by. ¡®Wait¡­ I don¡¯t know how to filter what¡¯sing. That¡¯s okay, I just need to not think about¡­¡¯-</em> t then went on to tell T a long list of things, despite T¡¯s internal protests.


    Rane seemed to see something on T¡¯s face, and his smile faded slightly. Then, he pulled out an Archive te, and his face went white as he began manipting it furiously.


    <em>-Oh, he¡¯s deleting most of the stream of consciousness. Now it just says ¡®Hi, T.¡¯ That¡¯s quite a bit more¡­ contained.-</em>


    T was torn between embarrassment and wanting tough. She settled on clearing her throat, smiling up at therge man, and simply saying, ¡°Shall we go?¡±


    Rane nodded furiously and put his Archive te away. ¡°Yes please.¡±


    With the Archive link businessplete, T and Rane headed toward the horned fox¡¯s shop.


    When they arrived, they found it closed once again.


    <em>That is just a bit irritating.</em>


    T frowned, looking at the shop with her threefold sight. Yet again, she could see that there was <em>far</em> more to the building than just what existed on the superficial, and it was entirely protected by iron along every avenue of approach.


    <em>-Hey, T. Is that a door?-</em> t brought T¡¯s attention to something stoneward of them. Though, it was difficult for T to really put its exact location into words or even to conceive of its location properly.


    T looked, continuing to frown. It was hard to perceive the distortion on the outside of the odd surface, butpiling what she could see together, it just <em>might</em> be a door. <em>Maybe? If so, it isn¡¯t one that I can actually enter through¡­ or at least, I wouldn¡¯t know how to go about orienting my body in four-dimensional space to use it.</em>


    <em>-We could still knock?-</em>


    T nodded. <em>That¡¯s true?</em>


    Rane saw the motion and asked, ¡°What do you see?¡±


    She briefly exined.


    He considered before agreeing, ¡°That sounds reasonable. I can¡¯t see anyone getting upset at a simple knock.¡±


    With that encouragement, T stretched out her aura until it pushed against what was probably a door. It was odd, because she felt the iron at the edge of her reach, but it was an absolutely solid wall against her aura, and she felt like there were no circumstances that she could conceive of which would allow her to im the iron in any way.


    Thankfully, that wasn¡¯t what she was trying to do. Instead, she manifested some of her own iron, and moved it forcefully against the door with her will and aura-maniption. In that way, she knocked on the arcane door.


    She didn¡¯t hear the knock herself, but <em>something</em> seemed to happen.


    To her threefold sight, the entire configuration of the four dimensional construct seemed to ripple and roll oddly. Seeming to fold and shift around itself in patterns and motions that were dizzying to watch.


    Then, something more minuscule shifted, and T realized that it was something like a peephole which had been opened. It hurt her mind to try toprehend <em>how</em> it had opened, but it definitely had.


    A momentter, she realized that a sort of eye was looking out through the opening, which was still impassable to her aura.


    Not really knowing what else to do, T reshaped her iron into an arrow that pointed back toward the entrance.


    A momentter, the peephole closed, and T pulled her iron away.


    Rane seemed to be able to tell that <em>something </em>had happened. ¡°T? Did it work?¡±


    She nodded slowly. ¡°I think so?¡±


    It took another five minutes before the front door of the shop opened, revealing a tall, non-descript man standing just inside. He kept his hand on the door, clearly demonstrating caution.


    They all stood in silence for a long moment before the man raised an eyebrow. ¡°Well?¡±


    ¡°Master Lisa?¡± T was <em>pretty</em> sure it was the fox man, but if so, the illusion was <em>much</em> moreplete than any previous, even showing the ordinary man¡ªand all his contents¡ªto her threefold sight. He¡¯d had a rather well appointed sandwich for lunch, if what she was seeing was a true indication.


    ¡°Yes, Mistress T. You knocked?¡±


    ¡°I did. I hope that you are well. May wee in?¡±


    The man looked momentarily irritated, but then shook his head in resignation and motioned them inside. ¡°Very well.¡±

 Chapter 433: Purposeful Silence

    Chapter 433: Purposeful Silence


    T and Rane stood in the mid-morning spring sunshine, sharing a look after master Lisa had invited them inside.


    This side street wasn¡¯t crowded by any means, but there were other pedestrians around. Thankfully nothing that had happened was visibly odd from a mundane perspective.


    T smiled up at Rane before turning back and speaking to master Lisa. ¡°Thank you, we¡¯d love toe in.¡±


    The two crossed the short distance toe through the door and let the man close the entrance behind them. That left the three of them standing in the seemingly iron-lined room as the doorway that had led outside vanished and a doorway leading deeper in appeared, seemingly out of nowhere.


    Now that she was more familiar with her threefold sight, T could see that the room had somehow reoriented within a four-dimensional axis to allow this to happen, somehow even realigning them to interact with existence at an angle of sorts, rather than simply shifting them either stone- or starward. Though where they stood still <em>appeared</em> to be superficial to her. That was likely because her reference frame had been shifted.


    <em>Oh¡­ this is nauseating and mind twisting.</em>


    <em>-Don¡¯t consider it. You¡¯ll be fine¡­ well, you¡¯ll be fine either way. Hurrah anti-vomiting scripts!-</em>


    <em>May they never lose their power. </em>She grimaced.


    Master Lisa nced her way and gave a knowing smile. ¡°You¡¯re more perceptive than whenst we spoke.¡±¡°I¡¯ve been practicing.¡±


    ¡°So I noticed.¡± They walked through the inner door, but instead ofing into the shop as T had thought they would, the three of them entered a sitting room with two human sized chairs and one much smaller seat.


    <em>Did he have this room prepared for us beforehand?</em>


    <em>-Or he is able to prepare it on the fly.-</em>


    <em>Or he has so many spaces that there was one already set up in this configuration that he simply chose to go to.</em>


    <em>-That¡­ could be either a huge number or a coincidence.-</em>


    <em>Exactly.</em>


    The man moved to sit in the much smaller chair, shrinking to fit even as fur sprouted from his form and his face elongated, revealing a fox¡­ without horns.


    <em>So¡­ the horns in our previous interaction were a sort of disguise as well?</em>


    <em>-Seemingly.-</em>


    Master Lisa regarded T for a moment before asking something that seemed to be bugging him, ¡°Why did you knock on <em>that </em>particr door?¡±


    She shrugged, seeing no reason to refrain from answering. ¡°Well, your shop was locked up, and it wasn¡¯t the first time that I¡¯ve tried to stop through. So¡ª¡±


    He waved that off. ¡°You misunderstand the question. You knocked on a door located outside of what most would consider standard reality. Why? Why didn¡¯t you knock on the door that was right in front of you while standing on the street?¡±


    T opened her mouth to answer but stopped before she did. <em>Oh¡­ Well, that¡¯s funny.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, we didn¡¯t actually consider doing that.-</em>


    ¡°Well¡­ I suppose I didn¡¯t actually think of it. I was trying to figure out what was going on. Then, I saw what seemed to be a door, and it seemed reasonable to knock.¡±


    The fox gave a wry smile. ¡°So, it was purely an unlikely coincidence then. I see.¡±


    ¡°What do you mean?¡±


    ¡°Well, I was right in the middle of a rather¡­ finicky experiment. When I do such things, I like to be near an exit hatch to flee in the event of catastrophe. Thankfully, such hasn¡¯t actually happened in years. Regardless, you knocked less than a foot from my head, and it was quite jarring. I did manage to save the process from disaster, though. No harm done.¡±


    ¡°Well, I apologize for any inconvenience. That was not my intention.¡±


    ¡°I gathered that, yes. Thank you for the apology.¡±


    T tilted her head to the side in consideration. ¡°Wait¡­ <em>An</em> exit hatch? You have more than one?¡±


    The fox¡¯s ear twitched. ¡°I think we¡¯re getting off topic here. Why have you graced me with your presence, and who is your overge friend?¡±


    T chuckled. ¡°Very well, master Lisa, keep your secrets. This is Rane, and we¡¯re here to discuss four-dimensional existence and construction.¡±


    The fox looked back and forth between the two of them, lifting a vulpine eyebrow. ¡°Not ¡®Master¡¯ Rane? Clearly the boy is a powerful Archon with a well developed gate.¡± Master Lisa nodded slowly to himself. ¡°I sense no soulbond between you. Thus, there is no marriage to speak of. You two are of an age, so there is no master and mageling rtionship. So, if I remember human customs correctly, that means that you are officially courting?¡±


    T felt her eye twitch. <em>Why the inclusion of ¡®official?¡¯ Why is everyone asking that?</em>


    Rane gave a small smile, answering for them both, ¡°Yes, we are.¡±


    The fox grinned broadly. ¡°Absolutely wonderful! It is a joy that I am not so out of touch with human society that I misconstrued the subtleties ofnguage used.¡±


    Rane shrugged. ¡°Well, while you are right in our case, generally, theck of an honorific is simply a sign of closeness rather than specifically an indication of the pursuit of intimacy.¡±


    The fox¡¯s happy face fell. ¡°Oh, chili powder.¡± He sighed. ¡°Fine. Well, thank you for rifying. I do so hate to be left with an inurate assumption.¡±


    T cleared her throat. ¡°Can we return to the topic at hand?¡±


    ¡°We are still discussing the topic at hand, yourck of honorific with Master Rane, here.¡±


    She sighed. ¡°Yes, which is a topic you shifted to when I asked about four-dimensional existence and construction.¡±


    ¡°Well, of course. One of the topics is pertinent, and the other is hardly relevant to anyone.¡±


    T took a deep breath to level herself, then motioned around them. ¡°We are literally sitting within a four-dimensional construction.¡±


    ¡°But of course.¡±


    She gave him a puzzled look, and he grinned in return.


    ¡°I did not say which topic was which. Humanity¡¯s emphasis on formality and proper conduct is iprehensible to me.¡±


    T cocked an eyebrow in turn. ¡°Says the arcane?¡±


    The fox opened his mouth, then slowly closed it before nodding in concession. ¡°That¡¯s a fair point, but there <em>is</em> a reason that I am not with other arcanes. Those of us with less¡­ societal inclination find it hard to be within the cities to the south. So, we find ourselves elsewhere, where the authority of the Lords does not seek to worm its way into everyone and everything.¡±


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    T decided to delve into one of the myriad things brought up by master Lisa¡¯s response, ¡°Are there many of you in the gated human cities?¡±


    ¡°Many? No. I know of only four or five in all the current cities.¡± The fox seemed almost sad, but the expression vanished shortly after.


    ¡°Then¡­ where?¡±


    ¡°All over.¡± He gestured around himself. ¡°We have perfected the construction of four-dimensional dens, as you would likely call them. They use a simr concept to the expanded space storages that you humans love so much, without requiring Magic to continue to exist.¡± He hesitated a moment before conceding. ¡°Though, they are far less portable.¡±


    Rane frowned. ¡°<em>Less</em> portable? You could still move them, then?¡±


    Master Lisa scrunched his nose. ¡°Well, the two of you are just <em>such</em> careful listeners, aren¡¯t you?¡±


    There was a bit of a silence before master Lisa sighed.


    ¡°How about I get you all something to drink before we discuss you trying to copy the legacy of my ancestors for your personal gain?¡±


    T blinked a few times. ¡°That¡¯s not quite how I would have put it.¡±


    ¡°Oh, I am aware, young Archon. I am well aware.¡± Master Lisa hopped up, walking to the side of the room and looking at a piece of paper. ¡°I don¡¯t have any alcohol in stock that would affect a Refined, and hallucinogens would be rather counter to having a useful conversation¡­¡± He trailed off contemting. Then, he turned around and smiled. ¡°Would either of you care for a mushroom tea?¡±


    T shook her head, fighting back a smile. ¡°No, thank you.¡±


    Rane simply shook his head.


    The fox sighed. ¡°Ahh, well, one can always hope.¡±


    T stood, feeling like something odd was going on, something that she really didn¡¯t care for. ¡°We can leave, master Lisa. It was only meant to be a question, not an obligation.¡±


    Master Lisa looked her way and frowned. ¡°What do you mean?¡±


    ¡°If you don¡¯t want to talk about it, you don¡¯t have to. We only came in the hopes of getting some help.¡±


    He pointed at Rane. ¡°He was the apprentice of one of your cities. Are you trying to tell me that you don¡¯t know what you are asking? What you are doing?¡±


    T frowned. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but I¡¯m totally at a loss. You and I talked before, and I rather enjoyed the conversation. I thought we both came out well from the exchange.¡±


    He nodded at that. ¡°We did indeed.¡±


    ¡°So, I simply sought you out to inquire on another topic.¡±


    Master Lisa seemed stunned for a long moment. ¡°You don¡¯t know the nature of my allowance here?¡±


    ¡°No? Last time you simply said that you had been allowed to be here, so long as you were not discovered by the general popce.¡±


    The fox man leaned back against the low table, seeming baffled. ¡°I am allowed here so long as I help all those who seek me out with a genuine inquiry of knowledge. I am not required to steer their inquiry, but I must respond to direct questions.¡±


    It took T a moment to understand what he meant. When she did, her eyes widened. ¡°So, you are required to answer any sincerely asked question?¡±


    ¡°It is not <em>quite </em>as terrible as that, but on non-personal, general subjects? Yes. On knowledge that can be freely given? Yes. I am not obligated to train you, or trade with you, but to share the basis of the secrets which have kept myself and my kin safe for eons? Yes.¡±


    ¡°Would doing so put you at risk?¡±


    ¡°No, but it is one of our few advantages.¡±


    ¡°And if we ask you have no choice but to share?¡±


    He huffed augh. ¡°I always have a choice. As Master Rane¡¯s insightful question alluded to, I <em>can</em> move my den. I could seek asylum in another city, but the terms would likely be simr, if not more onerous.¡±


    T shook her head, rising to her feet. ¡°Come on, Rane. We¡¯ve taken enough of the shopkeeper¡¯s time.¡±


    Rane nodded firmly and stood before bowing. ¡°It was a pleasure to meet you, master Lisa.¡±


    The fox regarded them with narrowed eyes. ¡°What are you doing?¡±


    She smiled in return. ¡°I¡¯m not interested in extorting anyone for knowledge¡­ at least not an acquaintance whom I would prefer be a friend. I came to talk with such an acquaintance and hopefully learn something. I would imagine that you are bound to your agreement in some way. So, no conversation on that topic would really be a freely engaged one. I will not have the information gained in that way, not from you.¡±


    Rane smiled. ¡°We can gain the information through trade with someone who won¡¯t bepelled to answer.¡±


    The two of them turned¡­ and found that there was no door out of the room.


    T frowned. Her threefold sight still showed her a door, but now that she looked closer, it wasn¡¯t quite aligned with their current reference frame at the moment.


    <em>Oh, I really hate that.</em>


    <em>-It is a bit mind bending.-</em>


    She turned back and gave a tightlipped smile. ¡°Would you be so kind as to let us out?¡±


    Master Lisa was regarding them oddly. ¡°I will, if that is what you want, but if you would be willing, please have a seat.¡±


    T and Rane shared a look, and the two humans sat once more.


    ¡°If you would be so kind as to not speak or ask questions, I will tell you what I am willing to say, then I will let you depart. Is that agreeable?¡±


    Once again, T and Rane shared another look. Rane still seemed uncertain. T was willing to listen, so she gave a nod. That seemed to reassure the big man, and he smiled in return, and they both turned to look toward master Lisa.


    ¡°I¡¯ll take that as a yes.¡± He grinned. ¡°I appreciate the silence.¡± He set cups in front of each of them. ¡°Tea, not mushroom tea.¡±


    The two smiled in response, epting their beverages.


    It smelled like chamomile and was soothing as T took a sip. She smiled and nodded her thanks.


    Rane sighed and leaned back.


    Master Lisa considered for a long moment. ¡°four-dimensional construction is based upon the truth that we are three-dimensional beings. I would have no concept of how to make a home for a four-dimensional being¡­ meaning a being of four physical dimensions. So, the easiest way to conceive of what we are discussing is to imagine a three-dimensional construct for two-dimensional beings. If you can¡¯t conceive of it fully like that, imagine creating something for a circle of paper.¡±


    He paused then, looking to see if they understood. Neither seemed to understand perfectly, but they gave no indication of outright confusion.


    ¡°So, for the paper circle, I could create myriad levels of spaces for it to traverse, each offset by a small angle. Then I would only need a mechanism to align the circle with any given level, be it an elevator or a variable wedge. Using the wedge would allow for each ¡®level¡¯ of the space to have more levels further from the aligning wedge as it is effectively taking slices of the three-dimensional space. Don¡¯t forget that even though we might have close to infinite volume of space, the size of each room would be limited by the three-dimensional bounds of the four-dimensional construction.¡±


    He gave another brief pause to let them contemte. He enjoyed a bit of his own tea at the same time before continuing.


    ¡°So, the differencees in that a piece of paper is a three-dimensional object, unlike a true lesser being. So, effectively, four-dimensional construction can fit infinite wedges¡ªor floors¡ªfor three-dimensional creatures into a four-dimensional space. The only caveates with people like Mistress T, here.¡±


    T frowned, but didn¡¯t say anything in response.


    ¡°She has¡­ not a fourth dimensionality, but a fourth dimensional shadow forck of a better word. Your iron is stored offset from you, but it is still not four-dimensional either. So, you are effectively two or more three-dimensional thingsyered atop one another. This does not give you four-dimensional existence, however. The only reason I bring it up is that when building four-dimensional constructs, you have to take those such as you into ount. The way to do that involves conceptualization and math at a level that none of us have the time to dig through.¡±


    When neither human protested by motion or expression, master Lisa grinned.


    ¡°That said, the simplification is this: I simply give everyyer a <em>bit</em> of fourth dimensionality. It drastically decreases the number of three-dimensional spaces I can tuck into the construction, but as they can be <em>almost </em>infinitely small on the fourth dimensional axis, it is such a marginal reduction that I¡¯ve never known anyone to actuallye up against the limit.¡±


    T¡¯s head felt a bit like it was being stuffed with cotton, even though she <em>thought</em> she understood everything that he¡¯d said so far.


    Rane was taking yet another sip, clearly lost in thought.


    Master Lisa seemed to be thinking as well, but finally he nodded. ¡°I think that is as solid a foundation as I can easily sketch out for you two. It¡¯s a bit moreplicated than I¡¯d give to a kit, but their education in this regard would start around when you humans teach your children to read, so a bit of simplification for them only stands to reason.¡±


    <em>Kit? ¡­oh!</em> She remembered that a baby fox was called a kit. <em>That¡¯s needlessly confusing.</em>


    <em>-Well, I doubt the two definitions for ¡®kit¡¯ usually have any sort of ovep. This is just a bit of a funny coincidence.-</em>


    <em>That¡¯s¡­ fair.</em> Regardless, it wasn¡¯t like she¡¯d rename Kit.


    Master Lisa stood, and Rane and T did likewise.


    ¡°Thank you both for your approach to this.¡±


    The two humans bowed.


    He grinned. ¡°You can speak now. Though I would appreciate it if you''d refrain from questions around the previous topic.¡±


    Rane spoke first, bowing again. ¡°Thank you for your words.¡±


    T likewise expressed her gratitude.


    ¡°You are both most wee. Come, let¡¯s get you back to the street before something happens to spoil this foundation we¡¯veid for our acquaintance.¡±


    The two agreed, and all three stepped through the door which was, once again, aligned with their current dimensionality.

 Chapter 434: Brand’s Restaurant

    Chapter 434: Brand¡¯s Restaurant


    T and Rane didn¡¯t talk much on their way to Brand¡¯s restaurant to meet up with Lyn and Kannis for lunch.


    T knew that she was still considering what the little fox-man had said, and she assumed that Rane was as well.


    Nothing really came from her further contemtions, but she felt like she had helped them to set more deeply into her own mind, if nothing else.


    When they were nearly to the ce, T nced up at Rane. ¡°What are you thinking about?¡±


    He looked back and gave a little smile. ¡°Aside from trying to wrap my head around all that¡­ master Lisa said? I half expected you to invite him to Irondale. I am a bit curious as to why you didn¡¯t.¡±


    T stopped dead.


    Thankfully, they were walking to one side of the street, so that didn¡¯t cause any sort of disruption to the flow of traffic. ¡°T? Are you alright?¡±


    T shook her head. ¡°Oh, I feel like an idiot. I didn¡¯t even consider that. That¡¯s a <em>brilliant</em> idea, Rane.¡±


    She grinned widely up at Rane. Then, she almost turned around and went back right away, but she had a thought before she could. <em>t, we can grant Lisa ess to things in the Archive, right?</em><em>-Yes we can.-</em>


    <em>Please send him a note and grant some basic information on the sanctum and Irondale. See if he¡¯s at all interested.</em>


    <em>-Will do.-</em>


    ¡°Thank you, Rane. That was an excellent idea.¡± She started walking again, and he easily kept pace with her.


    ¡°I¡¯m d that I could help. I would have mentioned it earlier, but I assumed that you were just waiting for the right time or that you¡¯d decided against making the offer.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s kind of you, but you don¡¯t need to worry. If you have an idea, I¡¯d love to hear it.¡± She smiled his way, and he smiled in return.


    ¡°Alright, then.¡± He bumped her lightly as they continued on, bringing a small smile to her lips.


    It only took another few minutes to reach the restaurant, and they both stopped in their tracks when they came around the corner and saw it.


    It was <em>huge</em>, taking nearly a quarter block, and while it wasn¡¯t <em>gaudy</em>, it did grab the attention of passersby.


    It was whitewashed, a very noticeable white whenpared to the more muted tones of the buildings around it. Additionally, arge sign was easily visible simply containing the words: ¡®Good Food¡ªGreat Fights¡ªAll Day Long¡¯


    T gaped, and Rane started tough.


    Kannis and Lyn were already waiting for them just to one side of the entrance, and it was good that they were off to the side. There was an almost constant flow of people both into and out of the restaurant. There were gaps, but it was obvious that the ce was popr.


    That did make sense given the hour. It was almost exactly noon, and so it was reasonable for people to have been eating both right before this and to be entering in order to eat within the next hour.


    T pushed on the back of Rane¡¯s arm to get him moving as she stepped forward to cross the street to where their friends were waiting.


    Lyn was smiling, and Kannis was actively chuckling when they walked up. It was the mageling who spoke first, ¡°I assume that this is your first time here?¡±


    T nodded even as Rane responded, ¡°Yeah, at least since the expansion.¡±


    Lyn¡¯s smile grew at that. ¡°Well, you¡¯re in for an experience.¡±


    They all walked in together, getting a bit surrounded by the flow of people entering just ahead of and behind them.


    Rane gawked around at the inside.


    T couldn¡¯t see very much more than the people who surrounded them. She could see with her threefold sight, but that could be annoying to piece together, and she just wanted to <em>look</em> with her own eyes.


    <em>Rust this.</em> She grew shoes on her feet then added to the soles of her shoes with every step, creating attice of iron to give her shoes tforms to lift her up as she continued forward. Thus, she looked to be walking up stairs until she was of a height with Rane.


    It was a <em>little </em>awkward, but she adjusted quickly enough to not make a fool of herself.


    Therge man blinked at her in confusion, then looked down and smiled when he saw what she¡¯d done. ¡°Ahh, clever.¡±


    It didn¡¯t really seem like many other people noticed her act.


    Those that did seemed to pass it off as a Mage being a Mage.


    ¡°Thank you.¡± She then looked around and almost stopped in her tracks, only Rane¡¯s light pressure on her arm keeping her following Lyn and Kannis closely enough to not get separated.


    There were close to two hundred people at the various tables that she could see with her eyes, and her threefold sight showed that there were more that she couldn¡¯t see besides.


    On every wall were multiple, <em>massive</em> Archive tes showing various Defender shes. Some were from this current waning¡ªT recognized some of the shes specifically¡ªbut it looked like most were selections from the wanings of the past.


    Each giant te had an identifier stamped into the wall beside it, which T assumed would be importantter.


    The four of them came up to a long counter with quite a few clerks checking people in, and T heard Lyn interacting with the young man who was serving them.


    ¡°Four of you, then?¡±


    ¡°Yes, just four.¡±


    ¡°Do you have a viewing preference?¡±


    ¡°Not today, thank you.¡±


    ¡°Alright, keep in mind that you can request multi-angle packages for any of the currently ying shes. Would you like the ¡®guess the context¡¯ cards? If you get a perfect score, your meal is twenty-five percent off during your next visit.¡±


    Lyn shrugged. ¡°Sure, that seems like fun.¡±


    Inside wasn¡¯t quite as hectic as the flow of people in and out would seem to have implied, but there were still a <em>lot</em> of people. There was simply that singr entrance and exit, so there was a bit of a slow-down entering and exiting.


    They only had to wait a few minutes before being led to a table on the main floor of the space. There, the four sat, T eliminating her shoes to do so.


    The tables and tes were situated such that it was actually fairly easy to see all of them, even with servers and the asional patron moving about around them.


    They were each given a heavy piece of paper with a list of the indexed tes on them. Then, beside each was a nk line. The overarching title stated that for full marks they¡¯d need to state the city that was waning and the Defender who was fighting.


    T chuckled as she looked at it. It was effectively an impossible task. No one would know so many details about something so¡ª


    A louder man at a nearby table interrupted T¡¯s thoughts, ¡°I¡¯m sure that te A113 is the illusionist Mistress Pixa, but I can¡¯t tell if the city is the most recent Marliweather or Arconaven.¡±


    This tale has been uwfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.


    T cocked an eyebrow, turning to look just as the man¡¯s friend was shaking his head. ¡°Are you crazy? That can¡¯t be Marliweather. Look at the grass! That species doesn¡¯t grow nearly that far north on the ins.¡±


    ¡°So, it¡¯s at Arconaven?¡±


    ¡°Definitely.¡± The second man nodded. Then, the two furiously wrote down their answer.


    T was a bit ck jawed. Kannis noticed and patted her shoulder. ¡°People love their hobbies, Mistress. Thest time I was in here, I sat next to a table arguing about which city a particr sh was from. They knew the exact region and even the Defender, but there were two city names that it could have been, due to the long career of that Defender. What ended up settling it was the weave of the fabric of the man¡¯s pants. Apparently, the weave was one that had fallen out of style to the point of being utterly unavable by the time of the more recent potential answer.¡±


    T shrugged. ¡°So, they were tailors? Traders?¡±


    ¡°Street cleaners.¡±


    Rane huffed augh, shaking his head. ¡°Never underestimate the depths of research a man will do for his hobby.¡±


    T regarded him for a long moment before shaking her own head. ¡°So it would seem.¡±


    <em>-Do you want the answers?-</em> t seemed quite genuine in the offer, even though she obviously already knew the response.


    <em>No, thank you. That wouldn¡¯t be much fun.</em> Even with the difficulty of the task there was a mitigating factor that they simply had to get one of the fights correctly detailed for each te from the duration of their meal. That gave them a few to choose from in each case. Not that that would actually make T able to get that many more correct. <em>Or most likely any¡­</em>


    The surrounding atmosphere was quite jovial, and there were pockets of people cheering or groaning as various fights ebbed and flowed.


    A server came around before too long and listed off what was on offer, exining that the four guests could touch either of the panels in the middle of the table to call for either more food or a refill on whatever drink they chose, respectively.


    The four of them ordered a spread of food and a mix of drinks, but before the server departed, T gged her down. ¡°Yes, Mistress?¡±


    ¡°Could you let Brand know that an old friend is here? I¡¯d love to at least say hi if he has the time.¡±


    The young woman gave her a searching look before nodding. ¡°As you say, Mistress. I¡¯ll let him know.¡±


    Their food came surprisingly quickly after that, only shortly after their drinks, and the four of them settled in for a lively discussion of the various fights that they could see.


    They didn¡¯t know enough to guess the actual Defenders involved¡ªlet alone the specific city where the fights took ce¡ªbut they enjoyed trying to guess the powers of the Archons before they used them, as well as trying to determine the oues of various shes. Even so, they did recognize Master Clevnis in one fight that was clearly not around Alefast, and Rane spotted some hallmarks of thend near Alefast in a fight with a Defender they didn¡¯t know. So, that was either one of the few they hadn¡¯t met, or in a previous cycle.


    Brand seemed to have selected encounters that never ended in Mage deaths, but the Defender or Defenders involved were sometimes driven back to the city they were defending. Additionally, the initialbatants sometimes required others toe to their aid. Thus, the four had a lot of fun trying to guess ¡®Win, Assist, Retreat.¡¯


    About the time that their tes were clean and their drinks were reaching empty for the third or fourth time, Brand came over to the table. He had a scowl on his face that vanished as soon as he saw them. He threw his hands up andughed. ¡°Mistress! It¡¯s <em>you</em>.¡±


    He rushed forward and gave T a quick side hug.


    ¡°I thought someone was trying to get a free meal out of me, but it¡¯s you!¡± He repeated himself, in his seemingly genuine excitement to see her. ¡°I¡¯m so d that you dropped through.¡±


    She gave a light squeeze in return. ¡°Good to see you, Brand. This is quite the ce you have here. And no, we aren¡¯t looking for a free meal.¡±


    Heughed again. ¡°It¡¯s certainly a handful. A lot busier than thest time you visited, eh?¡±


    T nodded at that. Thest time she¡¯d visited his restaurant, it had been less than a third the size it currently was, and it had been a modest soup and lunch ce. While popr enough, it hadn''t been anything too crazy or noteworthy. Brand¡¯s wife¡ªLissa¡ªhad been the only person who helped Brand cook and run the shop.


    But since the renovation? After talking with the man for a few minutes, T became aware that they had a whole team of cooks in the back and dozens of servers who came in for various shifts. Brand didn¡¯t even do caravan runs anymore, partially because he no longer needed the funds with the increased profits of the altered business, and partially because he simply didn¡¯t have the time with all the new demands on him and his wife.


    All told, he only stayed out with them for less than five minutes, but it was still good to see him.


    He sent them out a fantastic dessert as a finisher to their meal, and the four of them split the thing with gusto. It was a cookie asrge as a pie and still sizzling in its pan, piled with a mound of various ice creams in the center.


    It was ludicrously over the top, but also so delicious that it was fully consumed in short order.


    ¡°Oh, that was fantastic.¡± Rane patted his stomach happily. ¡°I definitely couldn¡¯t eat that way more than¡­ once a month?¡± He chuckled.


    Kannis huffed augh in turn. ¡°That often? Only one of us has Mistress <em>T¡¯s</em> metabolism. I doubt that I should eat like this more than once a year.¡±


    Lyn smiled mischievously at her mageling. ¡°Yet youe¡­ weekly?¡±


    ¡°I order sds most of the time,¡± Kannis responded quickly.


    T shrugged. ¡°To be fair, even I don¡¯t have my metabolism. My magic takes care of that for me.¡±


    There were some chuckles in response, but clearly the joke didn¡¯t quitend as T had intended. <em>Well, fine then.</em>


    The four settled up the bill and then slowly walked their way out, almost feeling like they should be waddling, given how full they were.


    T didn¡¯tment on how she still had some room, but Mistress Petra had some snacksid out for her that she would munch onter.


    -<em>Yeah¡­ better to not mention that.-</em>


    <em>Exactly.</em>


    They were nearly to the door when T heard someone gasp. ¡°Wait! Isn¡¯t that¡ª?¡±


    ¡°Yeah! That¡¯s Mistress T.¡±


    Someone else gasped. ¡°And Master Rane!¡±


    T saw with her threefold sight as one of the tables filled with people oriented on them. A realization that she <em>really</em> should have had earlier sinking in. If some of these people made studying Defenders¡ªpast and present¡ªa hobby, then she and Rane would be¡­ of interest to them.


    The table that had noticed them seemed to explode with fervor, talking to those around them and pointing, even as T, Rane, Lyn, and Kannis headed toward the door. More and more eyes turned their way from around the room like ripples across a previously still pond.


    Finally, someone with a bit more courage than sense elbowed their way through the others to get in front of the four, bowing deeply. ¡°Excuse me, but are you two Mistress T and Master Rane?¡±


    T was frozen by the question. Should she lie? If she did, wouldn¡¯t that be denying who she was? Did she really want to respond that way to such a ridiculously simple inquiry?


    It would also be a silly thing to do. It wasn¡¯t like there was anything even this whole crowd of people could do to her. Even so, she didn¡¯t <em>want</em> to say yes and deal with whatever the response would be to that tidbit.


    At the same time, she didn¡¯t want to lie to this random person, nor fight her way free of the people around her¡ªnot that they were actually trying to keep her in ce.


    Thankfully, Rane took the decision from her hands. He gave a miniscule nod of his head. ¡°We are, and we¡¯re just on our way out.¡±


    ¡°Oh! Oh, of course. I¡¯m sorry, I didn¡¯t mean to dy you.¡± The man bowed lower, and many of the people around them who seemed to have been listening turned and bowed toward the four of them as well.


    That, obviously, got the attention of other people¡ªthose who weren¡¯t already aware of the developing situation¡ªand the bowing spread in a wave, barely preceded by whispers about who they were.


    Now that T thought about it, what mundanes would understand what they¡ªas Defenders¡ªdid more fully than those who frequented establishments like this? They made it a habit to watch Defenders fight for the sake of humanity, and that <em>had</em> to build at least a modicum of respect for the job into the watchers.


    T smiled and gave a small nod in return. She felt¡­ <em>something</em> pulling at her, something that reminded her of how she felt within Kit, if much <em>much</em> weaker and not quite the same vor.


    <em>Is it authority? They are acknowledging our authority in some way?</em>


    <em>-That could be, but¡­ it¡¯s not quite right. I would doubt that any of them would listen to any crazymand from you. It¡¯s more like¡­ respect? Acknowledgement of who and what you are and all that you do?-</em>


    <em>What do you bet that Defenders are handled the way we are to create just this result? That it has something to do with advancing toward Paragon for many people.</em>


    <em>-I do not take that bet. You¡¯ve moved a percent of a percent toward Paragon in thest minute.-</em>


    One woman called out from the crowd. ¡°Honor to the Defenders of humanity!¡±


    The crowd echoed her back in a near reverent tone. ¡°Honor and strength.¡±


    With uncanny silence, the crowd parted before them even as the people straightened, allowing for T, Rane, Lyn, and Kannis to leave much more easily than they would otherwise have been able to.


    <em>-Another hundredth of a percent toward Paragon.-</em>


    <em>So, we just need to get people to bow to us? To get out of our way when we want them to?</em>


    <em>-No¡­ But I don¡¯t actually think you¡¯re serious. I think it¡¯s a clue not a path, a step not the destination.-</em>


    <em>Right¡­ That would be too easy.</em> It would also far too closely mirror the arcane way of doing things for herfort.


    When they made it out to the street, T was able to perceive the restaurant return to rtively normal, with people grouping up and talking fervently.


    She also saw a server quickly clear their table, barely anticipating a small swarm of people seemingly going to im a souvenir.


    <em>Thank you for that¡­</em> She inwardly blessed that server.


    <em>-I¡¯ve given Brand ess to a memory of the woman¡¯s face and a note stating what she did to go above and beyond.-</em>


    <em>Thank you, t.</em>

 Chapter 435: Looking Forward

    Chapter 435: Looking Forward


    T, Rane, Lyn, and Kannis moved quickly away from Brand¡¯s restaurant, all likely quite happy that the two Defenders hadn¡¯t been recognized until the end.


    Kannis shivered. ¡°That was¡­ That was something else.¡±


    Lyn nodded. ¡°Absolutely surreal. I felt like their respect for the two of you was almost tangible.¡±


    Rane shuddered. ¡°Yeah. There was definitely <em>something </em>there.¡±


    T analyzed his advancement and found that it hadn¡¯t moved at all. Hers had, and while it wasn¡¯t much, she had expected it to help them both. <em>Strange.</em>


    <em>-Maybe it was because he wasn¡¯t focusing on it?-</em>


    <em>Or because he already learned what it could teach?</em> T looked up to Rane. ¡°I think it was something <em>like</em> authority.¡±


    t was monitoring the man¡¯s aura closely, and it didn¡¯t even waver. Instead, he simply nodded. ¡°Yes, respect and deference are near cousins to authority. Master Grediv once exined to me that respect and deferencee when authority matures.¡±


    T blinked a few times, trying to process that. ¡°What?¡±The four of them were walking toward the Caravan Guild so that Lyn and Kannis could get back to work, but all three of the women were listening closely nheless. ¡°Well, if I have authority over someone and I wield it clumsily, they still have to listen, but they won¡¯t respect me, and they certainly won¡¯t defer to me, unless I make them. Even then that wouldn¡¯t be <em>deference, </em>it would be capittion.¡±


    T found herself nodding. She continued the thought out loud so that her understanding could be checked by the others, ¡°But if you have earned your authority and used it well, then respect and deferencee as a natural result.¡±


    ¡°Exactly. Those¡ªamong other things¡ªare the fruits of authority properly used.¡± Rane smiled, seemingly excited that she¡¯d understood so easily. ¡°Master Grediv did say that none of that would actually be pertinent until I had surpassed him, so I imagine it¡¯s more important for higher levels of advancement.¡±


    T grunted. That did make some sense. Advancing to Paragon was a focus on the self, the soul and who she was¡­ she wasn¡¯t very good at focusing inward like that. Going over her myriad projects, power, and possibilities was helpful, but she hadn¡¯t actually thought deeper on what she¡¯d learned.


    T grimaced even as the other three began discussing lighter topics.


    T spoke incredibly quietly, trusting in Rane¡¯s hearing, so that she didn¡¯t have to derail the ongoing discussion. ¡°We need to take some time to meditate on what we¡¯ve been learning¡­ well, I do, and I think that having you there would help me and probably you as well.¡±


    He smiled, reaching out and giving her hand a light squeeze before letting go and responding even quieter than she¡¯d been speaking, ¡°After dropping off these two, then? We don¡¯t have anything nned until dinner.¡±


    She gave a small nod. ¡°Thank you.¡±


    Soon enough, they said goodbye to their friends, nning to meet upter for a meal in T¡¯s sanctum. Toward that end, T and Rane went to Lyn¡¯s house.


    The door was locked, but T was able to form a key of iron with ease to unlock it. She did so even though she still had the key that she¡¯d been given¡­ somewhere.


    <em>Wasn¡¯t Terry ying with it?</em> It didn¡¯t really matter. She couldn¡¯t find it in her sanctum with a quick inspection, so it had probably been taken out or repurposed at some point or other. She¡¯d purposely never imed the iron¡ªnot like she had her iron dust¡ªso it was just like every other small item in her sanctum.


    With the door to Lyn¡¯s house unlocked, Rane and T went inside, locking the door behind themselves. T then opened a door into Kit across from the entry washroom.


    When the door swung open, Terry was right inside. He was the same height as T and giving her an intense look.


    ¡°Hey, Terry.¡±


    Rane smiled and waved to the avian as well.


    Terry squawked a response, keeping eye contact with T.


    T tilted her head to the side. ¡°We were going to meditate for a bit. You¡¯re wee to join us.¡±


    He looked at her for a bit longer before bobbing a nod.


    <em>He didn¡¯t want toe out any time I invited him today. I guess he¡¯s gotten lonely again?</em>


    Regardless, T and Rane stepped through, out into a beautiful dell beside the infinite river.


    There were two t stones, perfectly sized for T and Rane to each sit on while being in reach of one another but not touching.


    T sat on the smaller stone, facing the river, and Rane sat on therger, facing the other way.


    The exit door closed but didn¡¯t vanish. T wanted it to remain so they¡¯d have easier knowledge when their friends had arrived.


    Terry flickered to the grass between the two stones and curled up, seeming quite content just to be nearby.


    T and Rane both sat cross legged, hands resting on their own knees, backs straight, eyes closed.


    <em>Please keep the threefold sight from me. Warn me at need, but otherwise, please keep me undisturbed.</em>


    <em>-Understood.-</em>


    With that, the world¡ªusually so easy to perceive ofte¡ªwent dark, leaving T alone in an emptiness.


    She could have reached out and felt everything with Kit, but she didn¡¯t do that. Her threefold sight was simrly avable to her, but she didn¡¯t ess it.


    <em>Alright, T. Think.</em> She reached out with one hand and called a snack to it, which she ate with barely a thought, using the vor and magic within as additional things to keep her focus inward.


    Her conversations with Master Grediv and others yed through her mind.


    Key points in her life became a regr cadence across her thoughts as she delved into who she was, into who she wanted to be.


    What felt like moments passed, but the number of snacks she consumed made it clear that it had been far longer, and she felt like the various threads wereing together into a fairly clear tapestry of intent and desire.


    It was odd, because she already <em>knew</em> what resonated most with who she was. She was the ravenous, jealous devourer.


    The thing was, that was the inward focused portion of her identity, and could be manifested outward in <em>so</em> many ways. A nation could devour the nations around it; a predator could devour its prey; a schr could devour knowledge.


    What she wanted was simr to the nation-type devouring, but not quite.


    The devouring could also have differing purposes. The first was to expand, the second to survive, and the third was to thrive.


    She wanted to thrive, and help those she cared for to thrive too.


    She wanted to bring out the best in others. More than that, she wanted to expand their capacities, then help them realize that new potential as well.


    Rane¡¯s presence nearby reminded her of how much she enjoyed testing him and pushing him to improve, and how much she appreciated him doing the same with her.


    Her siblings also came to her mind, not as examples of her having done that, but as those she wanted to help even more than most.


    So¡­ why wasn¡¯t she? She was doing more than some siblings did but far from all that she could.


    Well, for starters, it wasn¡¯t her job, but neither was it her job to do so for Brandon, Adrill, Kedva, or anyone else.


    <em>So, why do my siblings seem¡­more so ¡®not my responsibility?¡¯</em> She frowned, digging through her memories and feelings. With her mental enhancements, she was able to relive much of her time as a Mage with a critical eye. In fact, she did it several times, each time taking a substantial portion of an hour¡ªand a substantial number of snacks¡ªto review.


    Stolen from its rightful ce, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    Finally, the pieces seemed to fit, and her perspective subtly changed.


    <em>I¡¯m not their mother.</em> True, she wasn¡¯t <em>anyone¡¯s</em> mother¡ªnot in a literal sense¡ªbut she had been instrumental in the rebirth of the gateless she was nurturing. But that wasn¡¯t the point of her shifted perspective.


    Her siblings had a mother, someone who <em>hadn¡¯t</em> mothered T, not in the way she¡¯d wanted, not in the way that she wanted to help others.


    <em>Well, that isn¡¯t true. She did her best with an awful situation. She stayed with her husband and worked to make the best of the awful circumstances until the man she¡¯d married came back to himself, likely with her help¡­</em> T didn¡¯t know if she could do the same¡­ but she was getting sidetracked yet again.


    She wanted to help others in the way a good mother should.


    She felt her soul resonating, her aura shifting, but she ignored that, focusing on her thoughts and memories.


    <em>So, what? I long to be a mother and that¡¯s it? Are you kidding me?</em> But¡­ no. That wasn¡¯t right. This wasn¡¯t simply some biological imperative nor anything like that. Still, that didn¡¯t change what she wanted.


    <em>Not a biological mother¡­ a good parent, metaphorically at least. That isn¡¯t just something for mothers. Fathers are equally important, if not more so in many regards.</em>


    T realized that she likely felt the disproportionate importance of a father because it was her own father whom she hadcked protection and nurturing from in theter years of her childhood. She wanted to fill that role for others, alleviate thatck, but she also wanted even more than that. She wanted to continue the protection and nurturing until everyone under her wing was the best that they could possibly be.


    That turned her mind back to her own choices and experiences as she analyzed the underlying themes and thought processes behind them.


    There had been <em>many</em> jobs that she could have taken up when she graduated from the Academy. Rust, she¡¯d been set up perfectly to be a Dimensional Mage for caravans, the picture of using her skills in rtive safety and luxury while making a <emrge</em> amount of gold,paratively.


    Instead, she¡¯d found herself drawn to fight, to test herself, to learn¡­ to be a Mage Protector.


    She wanted to defend so that those she protected could thrive.


    <em>Is that it? I want to be a ¡®mother,¡¯ but I see mothers as self-sacrificing, and I don¡¯t want that?</em> She almostughed, her mind filling with all the times she¡¯d put herself on the line for a purpose of protecting others.


    She might not have a self-sacrificial bent, but she certainly didn¡¯t let that stop her from doing what she believed was right.


    Even so, as she considered the ¡®mother¡¯ or parent angle, she felt more and more certain that her purpose was not simply to birth children. She knew that she wanted some eventually, but they weren¡¯t¡ªand would never be¡ªher true purpose¡­ but she did hope that they would be a part of it¡­ eventually.


    Not now.


    Not soon.


    Probably.


    Then, her thoughts were pulled to Irondale and the home that she was making there for the gateless. She¡¯d invited master Lisa to live there as well, or at the very least, she was open to the idea.


    She wanted to protect and nurture those who had been left out of gated-human society. It was understandable that they had been¡ªgiven all that was going on and all the constraints¡ªbut T didn¡¯t want to leave it that way.


    <em>So¡­ I¡¯m a mother to the gateless? Metaphorically speaking? I uplift them, protect them, provide them with a home?</em> Something in that resonated, even if it wasn¡¯t quite right or wasn¡¯tplete.


    Even so, she felt like her soul was a muscle that she hadn¡¯t even known was cramped, and now it was releasing just a bit, her gate opening wider not because it was actually widening, but because it was no longer pulling in on itself so much to stay¡­ safe?


    <em>Advancing to Paragon is an opening of the cognitive self to the soul. It is the aligning of the two so that the physical and the magical can work together more smoothly.</em>


    Speaking of the physical, she had a passing realization, and so she asked t to connect with Master Cru after so long without their sparring sessions¡ªshe¡¯d been prioritizing other things¡ªand ask him for a resumption of those sessions so that she could reassert the Way of Flowing Blood over her movements and fighting style.


    Sparring with Rane was helpful, but they fought so often that she was beginning to fight <em>him</em> instead of truly training for fights in general. She suspected it was much the same for him. So, shaking things up by adding in purely physical sparring sessions with other fighters would keep them from crippling their ability to fight others. Additionally¡ª


    A knock sounded from nearby, interrupting her thoughts. T opened her eyes, a smileing to her lips unbidden.


    Her aura zed around her, filling half the dell around her with a beautiful yellow-green. Beside her, Rane simrly radiated his own aura, still slightly greener than her own, but they had both made incredible strides.


    The two auras pushed against one another. The contact was not hostile or shing in any way. From both sides, it was simply the meeting and differential avoidance of acknowledged equals.


    Her threefold sight returned, and she saw Lyn and Kannis waiting just outside the closed door to Kit.


    <em>It¡¯s dinner time already?</em>


    <em>-Yup! You two have been meditating for nearly six hours. Imunicated with Mistress Petra, and food will be ready shortly.-</em>


    <em>Thank you, t.</em>


    T easily moved Rane and herself to the dining room along with the door beyond which Lyn and Kannis were waiting. She deposited Rane in a chair without jostling him, but he clearly still noticed the change in scenery and opened his eyes. He looked around before his eyesnded on T, and he smiled.


    She smiled in return without giving the expression much thought or consciously choosing to. Then, she willed the door open and greeted their guests.


    The meal was delicious¡ªjust as T hade to expect from Mistress Petra¡ªand the four diners overflowed with praise, which the Fused epted with grace and a smile of genuine satisfaction.


    After that, the four walked through the sanctum while chatting before turning in for the night. Lyn and Kannis exited the sanctum into Lyn¡¯s house and their own rooms, and T and Rane retired to their own beds.


    Rane had essentially moved into one of the guest rooms whenever the two of them were traveling, and T simply left it as it was between such trips.


    She, herself, still enjoyed her own room quite immensely. <em>There¡¯s no bed like the one that¡¯s </em>yours<em>.</em>


    <em>-Indeed.-</em>


    * * *


    T looked dubiously at the ¡®inscription extractor¡¯ that Mistress Holly was holding up for her inspection


    ¡°You¡¯re sure this will work?¡± T did not particrly like the idea of something extracting metals from her; it reminded her a bit too much of the dasgannach that had taken her gold inscriptions back in toiri.


    ¡°Yes, dear. So long as you pull all magic from your inscriptions¡ªand don¡¯t resist¡ªthis will pull all metal from your inscriptions out of your body.¡± Mistress Holly gave a tightlipped smile of encouragement. ¡°It¡¯s something that I had made specifically for you. No one else would be able to recover on their own after such an extraction.¡±


    ¡°So¡­ custom for me, but as such untested?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s urate, I suppose.¡±


    ¡°And what of the gold, silver, and copper that my body is using?¡± There were other ways that this could be done, but if it worked as Mistress Holly said, this was the most efficient. Additionally, the extracted metals would actually be better for use in the new inscriptions than new metal that would be required if they removed the inscriptions through other means.


    ¡°It shouldn¡¯t take any biologically utilized metal, no. Inscriptions are naturally isted by the body, and this only targets that isted material.¡±


    T sighed. She knew it would hurt, but what was a little pain? That wasn¡¯t her hangup at the moment.


    Moreover, this would actually reduce the cost of her reinscription¡ªrather than <em>costing </em>funds like other methods¡ªin addition to the other benefits. Rane was doing a quick teleport to clear his inscriptions at that very moment, and that <em>cost </em>him money.


    She frowned, thinking through that. <em>A teleport only costs two pounds silver¡­</em>


    No. She shouldn¡¯t consider it. This was the best way forward¡­ she was sure it was. It just made sense.


    -<em>Eh. Both are existentially terrifying to me, so the choice is yours.-</em>


    <em>We¡¯ll get through this. At least this way you should maintain continuity.</em> T sent encouragement toward t before addressing Mistress Holly, ¡°Do it.¡±


    Mistress Holly reached forward and tapped T with the heavily inscribed wooden orb. As it contacted T, the metals within the sphere pulsed with power.


    T held her own magic back from entering her inscriptions, and willed for those inscriptions to leave her. That wouldn¡¯t be enough to actually eject them of course, but it put her mind in the proper frame to allow for the metal¡¯s removal without there being a contest of will or any of her natural magical resistanceing into y.


    There was pain, of course, but it was like she remembered the pain of pulling a hair from an infected pore, or removing a splinter. Sure, it hurt, but then there was relief. In this case, it was magnified a thousand times over, and her whole body trembled at the hormonal whish.


    Her magic also had a simr experience. It had been fighting her to flow through the well-wrought channels that the inscriptions were by design, but as soon as the metal was removed, her power suddenly wasn¡¯t straining anymore. Instead, it instantly flowed down her natural magical pathways with utter ease, moving like never before.


    There was a lot of blood¡ªas was to be expected¡ªbut that wasn¡¯t anything new for T. Most of her body wascerated, inside and out, but her natural magical healing restored her in short order.


    Without inscription support, ¡®short order¡¯ ended up being about five minutes of feeling every part of herself pull back together little by little.


    It itched like <em>mad</em>, but she resisted¡­ Well, after she was capable of movement again she resisted. Before that she just itched and had nothing that she <em>could</em> do about it.


    When her eyes came back together¡ªher usual eye-protecting scripts now being their direct undoing¡ªshe knew that it was almost over, and she was greeted by the sight of Mistress Holly standing to the side, manipting a set of two reasonably sized balls, one of gold and one of silver.


    The Inscriber looked her way and nodded. ¡°Good, you¡¯re almost healed.¡±


    T grunted, then spit out a glob of blood and phlegm to clear her mouth.


    <em>-Yeah¡­ being this limited is¡­ awful.-</em>


    <em>Shh¡­ conserve your consciousness. We¡¯ll be inscribed again soon.</em>


    ¡°Since you¡¯re cognizant again, I¡¯ll go over the highlights of our changes in order to ensure they are fresh and to distract you through the end of your healing process.¡±


    T sighed internally before nodding. <em>Very well.</em>

 Chapter 436: Just Five More Minutes

    Chapter 436: Just Five More Minutes


    T stood within Mistress Holly¡¯s workroom, nearly fully recovered from having her full set of inscriptions violently ripped out. As such, the Inscriptionist was ready to exin¡ªonest time¡ªthe changes to T¡¯s new schema, but she was awaiting confirmation to begin.


    T swallowed, centered her mind, and grunted in assent.


    ¡°We¡¯ve been able toyer in general improvements to the spellforms across the board, but this is likely thest time we can do that until you¡¯ve Reforged. Your body simply won¡¯t be robust enough to take any more enhancement beyond what will be included here.¡±


    She nodded. As odd as that sounded, there was a certain amount of innate durability that a body needed in order to be enhanced to any given level, and T was nearly capped out.


    If they went any higher than they were going to be doing with this inscription schema, T would be a creature of magic that happened to have some fleshy bits, rather than a creature of flesh with magical augmentation.


    The distinction was subtle but endlessly important.


    ¡°We¡¯ve added the equivalent of magical markers throughout your entire body so that you can enact gravitational augmentation to <em>pull</em> your body together. That way, your magic should act as a linking force between each piece and the parts around it instead of turning you into a bone and flesh sphere. You¡¯ll have to find the exact limits of this usage, but I¡¯ve put some notes and educated guesses into the Archive for you. The entire marker schema is there as well, as requested. I imagine it will take you quite a while to fully implement this idea. Though I do believe that it is a good one. Do you still intend to augment your personal reality node¡¯s ¡®gravity¡¯ to itself as well?¡±


    T nodded, beginning to feel much better as her natural magics continued to act. If she understood correctly, augmenting her own reality node¡¯s ¡®gravity¡¯ toward itself would give her greater¡­ durability? That was likely as good a word as any, given the fact that the act would harden her existence against interference of any kind, at least a bit. It also cost her nothing but a bit of time, so she saw no reason not to try it.


    ¡°Good, good. Continuing on, we¡¯ve repurposed the real estate in your lungs to further enhance your cardiovascr system for increased physical performance, while augmenting those magics in your throat and mouth to better contain and funnel unrealized workings to greater effect. They will strengthen your authority over¡ªand the receptivity to your will of¡ªthe magics that pass through there. It isn¡¯t a perfect inscription as it can only add to what is already there, but that shouldn¡¯t be an issue for this case.¡±T nodded again. As had been exined in detail, she couldn¡¯t use these magics in order to im something that wasn¡¯t already hers. They simply strengthened the im she already had on whatever it acted upon. The effect would basically be in line with what Mistress Cerna had suggested, giving her the ability to vary the distance of ¡®ignition¡¯ of the magic within her breath¡­ at least somewhat.


    ¡°Beyond that? There isn¡¯t anything critical. Your voidsight is now actually going to be incorporated into your magesight, and those scripts are esoteric enough that no other Inscriber should be able to pull anything useful from them. If someone does look closely enough to want something simr, they¡¯ll have toe to me about them, and I¡¯ll deal with it.¡± She shook her head. ¡°Anyone else foolish enough to try to use them or their derivatives has a good chance of going insane, but you¡¯re inured sufficiently that I expect you to be fine.¡±


    Just as T had previously understood, inscribed voidsight would manifest somewhat differently than that form of perception did when she simply imposed void-magics atop the magesight spell lines.


    ¡°So, are you ready?¡± Mistress Holly motioned to the auto-inscriber in the corner.


    T felt a moment of nostalgia. It had been more than a year since she¡¯d been subjected to that device. Her sanctum held her reinscriber, but that only worked to restore inscriptions after she¡¯d already had them. Thus, she had to go back to the old standby. ¡°Yes. I¡¯m ready.¡±


    She straightened and stretched her arms up for the invention to be slipped over her head before constricting around her every part.


    As it began to work, she found herself <em>exceedingly</em> grateful for all therge meals that she¡¯d had ofte. She had already been pulling quite heavily on her reserves that day, and she would be doing so yet again when this process wasplete.


    <em>Maybe I should go kill something and absorb it?</em> It was an intriguing thought, and it caused her to smile even as she was stabbed uncounted times, even as her inscriptions were rebuilt from the inside out.


    * * *


    T felt thest needle pull back, and she let her healing kick in, sealing and setting all the inscriptions in ce.


    A momentter, she allowed her power to flood through the spellforms, and one by one new variations of magics clicked into ce, slotting perfectly into her natural magics just as they were designed to do.


    Power.


    T shuddered as her body seemed toe to life with <em>power.</em>


    Vast.


    Existence opened before her as her magesight roiled and voidsight joined it, together oveying her mundane sight, and suddenly, her threefold sight came fully to her eyes with no effort.


    Reality nodes were clearer than ever, and with that came an <em>understanding</em> of the distinction between them like never before.


    It wasn¡¯t that she saw more. Instead, it was like the knowledge simply came into her mind in a new way. There was nothing new, but it was the difference between reading a book and having an Archive connection ce the book in her mind. It was as if every distinct item was outlined in ck, without that ck line taking up any space. The separateness of the things within the world was emphasized.


    <em>-Oh¡­ wow.-</em>


    <em>You¡¯re fully back?</em>


    <em>-And then some. This is¡­ this is amazing. Your brain is so enhanced.-</em> T felt like something was bouncing around within her mind for a moment, and tughed. <em>-So much room for activities!-</em>


    T grinned, and with an act of will, she rolled her iron over her new inscriptions, boxing them in and keeping even the minimal leakage from escaping her body. The magic was <em>hers</em>, and it would not leave against her will.


    She gasped as the enhancements ticked up another notch.


    Her threefold sight was aspect-mirrored to her two clouds of bloodstars awaiting star- and stoneward, and <em>everything</em> became clearer.


    She took in and processed everything within a hundred feet, seeing everyyer all at once and finally understanding what she saw in a way that she never could before. Beyond that, she could see¡­ somewhat, but not nearly as clearly. That was okay. She felt like she was near her limits as it was with regard to information processing, and that was with t taking on the greater share of the load.


    As T examined her surroundings, her focus snapped to Mistress Holly, able to see the physicality of the woman, but the Inscriber¡¯s magic was still obscured by her aura. <em>Yeah, there is absolutely no way that she is just Refined.</em>


    Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any urrences.


    T turned her focus back on herself and found that she was able to track the paths of individual inscription lines through her own body, not losing the thread as it shifted betweenyers that she could see. Her increased processing was beyond all expectations.


    <em>-Oh, yeah.-</em> tughed almost maniacally. <em>-We can work with this.-</em>


    Beyond that, she had a <em>lot</em> of gravitational augmentation magic to implement in order to fully realize the new changes that she had enacted upon her schema.


    With a thought, she focused on her own reality node, and began amplifying its attraction and pull toward itself.


    Just like the nodes in her sanctum¡¯s sparring ring, she didn¡¯t expect any physicalpression to happen, but as Mistress Holly had implied, it would likely be a useful defense against anything that might otherwise affect her on such a level.


    The amplification iterated faster, increasing at a substantially greater rate than before, even if she didn¡¯t know the exact rate.


    Back as a Fused, she could amplify gravity at around ten percent per second. Since Refining, she¡¯d been able to do more, faster, and now that was even more true than before.


    She stretched, feeling her joints move as if frictionless. Her tendons and connective tissue almost felt like they <em>pinged</em> within her as they shifted and aligned, adjusting both to her increased strength and their own magnified resilience.


    <em>Oh, I need to fight something to get a good sense of how I¡¯ve changed¡­</em>


    <em>-Master Cru has responded. We¡¯re scheduled for a sparring session as soon as we get back to Alefast. The tentative time set is in two days.-</em>


    A wicked smile grew across T¡¯s lips. <em>Perfect.</em>


    * * *


    T stood in afortable stance, one foot forward and Flow held down near her back leg in a loose grip.


    The sand beneath her feet felt solid, giving her even firmer footing than at times previous due to the improved surface area-expanding scripts on her feet.


    There were subtle indications of therge circles around her feet that were pressing down and ttening the sand while keeping her from sinking too far into it.


    Terryy on the sand back near the entrance to this training room, curled up in such a way as to be able to watch the uing sh.


    Across from T¡ªbarely two dozen yards away¡ªwas Master Cru, a sword in his hand as well. ¡°Are you ready?¡±


    A smile pulled at her lips. ¡°Absolutely.¡±


    The man advanced at a steady¡ªbut still mundane¡ªpace.


    T could have waited for him to approach, and that might have even been the tactically best decision, but she was feeling a bit impatient. With a forward bend, she crouched andunched herself at her opponent, her mind filled with meditations on the Way of Flowing Blood.


    She wouldn¡¯t let the origin of the fighting style taint her view of it. Either it was good and it worked, so she should use it, or it was trash, and it should be discarded down to the smallest movement.


    It wasn¡¯t trash.


    The days since her new inscriptions wereid hadn¡¯t been wasted, and she was fully used to her new capacities.


    She moved, bent, and flowed from one strike to another, moving in ways that would almost make her seem boneless to an unskilled observer. Instead, she had simply honed her flexibility¡ªand her strength and control through that range of movement¡ªto an extent usually unheard of, even among Defenders and other Refined.


    Even so, the weapons master was not easily ovee. Master Cru met her de for de, the weapon he brought to bear more resilient than the ones he¡¯d used against her previously. Even so, he was retreating before her constant advance.


    Flow slid easily from hand to hand, changing forms at the speed of thought, always the exact form to snake a bit deeper into Master Cru¡¯s guard. Always at the correct angle to take best advantage of the block he had chosen to employ.


    Unfortunately, as he was truly a master of meleebat, best advantage was still not enough to evade the blocks, and deeper into his guard was never sufficient to score a hit.


    If T had to rate the man¡¯s skill, she would easily rate it as equivalent to Eskau Meain of the House of Blood, even if that arcane would be physically superior to him in a direct sh.


    His every move was precise and covered himself from anything that T could do.


    But she was pressing him.


    He was actually being forced to <em>use</em> his skill.


    She¡¯d been running through her forms thest couple of days, but she knew that she was rusty even so.


    Her base physical capacities had simply increased to the point that she felt confident saying she was both stronger and faster than the weapons master she faced, but it wasn¡¯t enough to actually damage the man.


    Though, truthfully, the fact that she couldn¡¯t draw blood was inconsequential in her eyes. She was just excited to be controlling the flow of the shes thus far.


    Finally, after he had retreated to the middle of the <em>massive</em> sparring room under the Archon Compound of Alefast, he seemed to decide it was time for a change of pace.


    A second sword appeared in his off hand as if it had always been there.


    His following assault was fierce enough to force her back two steps before a shield appeared on her left-hand side, rising up¡ªout of a portal from Kit that T had opened at her ankle height¡ªso quickly that it practically appeared in the way of one of his blows.


    The appearance of the shield caused his eyes to widen. ¡°I thought this first fight was to be sword on sword?¡±


    She grinned in return. ¡°So did I. Sword on <em>sword,</em> not swords.¡±


    A mischievous glint entered his eyes. ¡°Well countered.¡±


    Without another word, his assault renewed, fiercer than before.


    The Leshkin shield was <em>not</em> up to the task of deflecting Refined level attacks, but the weapons that Master Cru was using weren¡¯t exactly Refined weapons. They were, effectively, robust, sword-shaped training sticks, allowing the tower shield to be an effective tool for the current sh.


    She surprised him again when the shield seemed to move in impossible ways, even as she used it to cover herself as expected.


    He couldn¡¯t see that she had yet to physically touch the shield. Instead, it was being controlled entirely by the three bloodstars embedded within a mounted triangle on the back of the massive thing.


    This was greatly to her advantage because the shield¡¯s movements were normally at least a reasonable clue as to a person¡¯s body position and movements. Instead, the shield now functioned as a massive bluff of sorts, its movements not predicting the cement and angle of Flow¡¯s strikes as they should have.


    Even so, that discrepancy only tripped him up for less than a second. That wasn¡¯t enough to let hernd a hit, but she still gloried in the victory that was taking him off guard.


    From there, they both got creative and the sh continued to build and escte.


    * * *


    T actually found herself exhausted as sheid, sprawled on the sand, Terry perched on her chest.


    Master Cru had departed for his own unit¡¯s duty shift.


    <em>We started when I got off my shift at four in the afternoon¡­</em>


    <em>-And it¡¯s almost midnight now.-</em>


    <em>Eight hours¡­ We fought for nearly eight hours.</em>


    She had endurance, but she¡¯d never really tested it like this. Most Mages didn¡¯t have shes like this at all. After all, most would have been using magics that would have tipped the scales of the sh one way or the other, rather than simply using enhancements and mundane means to meet in physicalbat.


    The fact that Master Cru had been fighting specifically to draw out all that she could do didn¡¯t make things any faster either.


    As she considered things, she realized that she probably could have kept going, but because she didn¡¯t need to, her body was making its irritation with her known.


    <em>Shouldn¡¯t I be beyond such things? I mean, I can heal almost instantly. I shouldn¡¯t get sore¡­ right? I shouldn¡¯t be winded?</em>


    <em>-Your body is still limating to its new capacities, even with your practice and training. I think that your current exhaustion and heavy breathing is mostly an unconscious reaction based on how you still believe that you </em>should <em>feel.-</em>


    <em>That¡¯s¡­ fair.</em>


    <em>-Because, obviously, no mortal could do as you have done and not be exhausted. It¡¯s only natural that you are so winded.-</em>


    <em>But¡­ I¡¯m not mortal anymore.</em> T frowned. t knew that, obviously. What was she ying¡ª?


    <em>-Really? Then why are youzing about? Get up and get to it.-</em> t projected glee within T¡¯s mind, clearly pleased with herself.


    T huffed augh while stroking Terry before sighing and giving him a pat. ¡°Let¡¯s get up.¡±


    Terry trilled softly, but didn¡¯t move.


    She gave a half-smile, lifting her head to look at the bird. ¡°Terry. We have so much to do. Come on, let¡¯s go.¡±


    The avian cracked one eye open, looking down on her imperiously. He then let out a light squawk and closed his eye once again, settling in more firmly.


    T chuckled,ying her head back with a sigh. ¡°Fine, but just five more minutes.¡±

 Chapter 437: Reality and Regularity

    Chapter 437: Reality and Regrity


    Ty on the sand, Terry on her chest taking his ¡®five more minutes.¡¯


    As shey there, she used the opportunity to continue to amplify her own reality-node''s attraction to itself with all her avable power, even utilizing her void channels to pump more power to the inscriptions and let it amplify faster.


    It felt¡­ like nothing? But a lot of nothing.


    It felt like staring up at the sky and really considering how <em>big</em> everything was, and how small she was within it.


    It felt like standing on a mountaintop and truly realizing how massive Zeme was, and how little she had mattered thus far.


    It felt like drowning in the ocean, far from shore, with no one nearby to even notice her distress or her passing.


    Her eyes snapped open, her breathinging fast yet again. She recognized the feeling, even if it wasn¡¯t quite the same as when she was using the existence shield. <em>Rust. I¡¯m cutting myself off from the rest of existence somehow.</em>


    She purposely broke the working and the feeling of building dread, separation, and istion vanished.


    <em>Well¡­ that didn¡¯t work at all.</em> She grimaced. <em>Can you send the notes and theories to Mistress Holly? Mistress Ingrit, too¡­ Yeah, send over the memories associated with the dissociation.</em> She huffed augh at that reversal. <em>Things associated with a dissociation.</em> She let the humor of that pull her further from her oh-so-recent feelings.<em>-Absolutely. Shall we move on to more traditional gravity amplification?- </em>t was doing her best to move T on from that experience as well. Neither of them had particrly liked it.


    <em>Yeah¡­ that would be safer.</em> Still¡­ she couldn¡¯t get past it without at least considering things. It was odd that she¡¯d had such a feeling when she didn¡¯t actually detect any such separation from her sanctum¡¯s sparring ring when she¡¯d amplified their reality-node connectedness. Was it because she was sentient and the reality nodes that she¡¯dpressed weren¡¯t? Was it because she was drawing multiple nodes together? It bore further experimentation and analysis¡­ butter.


    Instead, she looked inward and picked a ce to start, her little toe on her left foot. After all, that is where her magical grid designations began. The little markers that had been incorporated within her inscriptions were simply intended as regional markers despite there being literally hundreds of thousands of themid out as a grid within her.


    The purpose was to give her an easily discernible starting ce for what she was about to do, along with ready-madebels for her augmentations. She began within grid-ce ¡®0000¡¯¡ªeach symbol being used was either a digit or letter, giving her plenty of designations to work with. Simrly, she mentally divided up the space within that grid-ce into ten segments in each dimension. This division was purely a mental construct to help her.


    Then, she analyzed the cells within 0000-000.


    <em>Alright, these need to be augmented toward each other, but in separate blocks. These should be pulled in together. It¡¯s important not to stress these connections¡­</em>


    With t¡¯s help, T developed a n and got to work, using void channels to dump power into the gravity augmentations that she was performing. With a bit under six hundred cells within her chosen location¡ªbecause she wasn¡¯t going to be affecting her blood with this change¡ªit was actually rtively easy to conceive of the connections and various alterations needed.


    While acting on such a level wasn¡¯t exactly <em>easier</em>, she also didn¡¯t want to amplify their gravitational attraction by that much. Thus, she only worked on that section for a bit less than an hour.


    <em>Next up, 0000-001.</em> But she¡¯d definitely given Terry enough time, and she didn¡¯t want to stay on the sand any longer.


    T sighed, patting Terry again. ¡°Terry. It¡¯s been¡­ it¡¯s been way longer than I promised you. I¡¯m just going to get up if you don¡¯t move.¡±


    He let out a quiet chirp of acknowledgement.


    She shook her head and sat up, holding him to her chest as she did so.


    He didn¡¯t object, nor did he move away.


    <em>I¡­ should have just done this to begin with. </em>She huffed augh at herself, reorienting the bird to be upright in her arms as she got to her feet.


    She didn¡¯t have another duty-shift until midnight came again.


    Mistress Cerna and Master Clevnis had invited her and Rane to breakfast, but that was still more than seven hours away.


    <em>I could go and get some sleep¡­</em> but she wasn¡¯t tired yet, and that would just move the ¡®what to do¡¯ issue to the early morning rather than when it was currently, at that moment.


    She could go to her sanctum and do the next set of her self-augmentations. She felt like she¡¯d learned quite a bit, and would be able to go faster and still get the same levels of augmentation out of the effort.


    That made her consider once again the process that she¡¯d just been going through. As she¡¯d been working, she¡¯d felt like there was something¡­ else alongside gravity. Something that¡ªat that scale¡ªwas far more important than gravity in the moment to moment interactions of her cells.


    <em>There are other forces like gravity in the universe, right?</em>


    <em>-...yes? That¡¯s a very vague question. One could say that friction is like gravity, or surface tension, or air resistance, or¡­ oh! Electromaism! Then, there¡¯s the strong and weak nuclear forces. You know all of this. Right? I mean you must. I pulled it from your memories, not my own research.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, but I just wanted to verify what I thought.</em>


    <em>-With someone pulling from your memories¡­-</em> t¡¯s tone was rather incredulous.


    <em>That¡¯s¡­ fair. Regardless, I¡¯ve never had any talent or ability to alter electromaism¡ªthat¡¯s Master Cazor¡¯s department¡­ I mean the endingberry magics affect that, broadly speaking, but it¡¯s not exacting or specific work. Regardless, I don¡¯t think that I¡¯ve worked with the strong or weak nuclear forces very much¡­ They are rather hard to perceive, except on a purely cognitive level.</em>


    <em>-T¡­ please don¡¯t mess with nuclear forces. Please? At least not without a </em>lot<em> more research. The mental model alone would be¡­ painful. Even if we were to make it work, would you enact your magics across every atom</em>¡ª<em>every molecule</em>¡ª<em>in your body?-</em>


    Yeah¡­ that didn¡¯t sound like the work of even decades. It would take centuries or millennia. She¡¯d likely still be trying to make it work when the sun went cold. <em>That¡¯s fair.</em>


    She already had a monumental enough task before her.


    That brought her mind back to her recently aborted reality-node augmentation. In an instant of oddly connected brilliance, she lightly smacked herself in the forehead, causing Terry to squawk irritatedly¡ªeven without opening his eyes¡ªas she shifted to aplish the action.


    <em>I can join all the reality nodes in my artificial lung together. That should keep the magics from affecting the walls as easily, at least based on the tests we did previously. That would reinforce Kit¡¯s integrity in that area and should let me build up even more dissolution magic within.</em>


    With that idea so obviously before her, she looked to the soulbound storage, focusing on the dangling lung.


    As she built the mental model for the space¡¯s reality-nodes, T stepped into her sanctum, hardly even thinking about the motion. She didn¡¯t even need to open a portal to arrive in the same spot that she¡¯d meditated beside Rane a few days earlier.


    As she dropped into a cross legged position, she ced the still sleeping Terry on herp.


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    <em>Let¡¯s get to work.</em>


    * * *


    T practically sprinted out of her sanctum at the very edge of the area that she could exit from. That was about halfway to Mistress Cerna¡¯s and Master Clevnis¡¯s house. So that put her a bit ahead, allowing her to slow her pace a bit.


    Around the brute-force work of augmenting the reality-nodes of her artificial lung, she had spent the remainder of the night working within grid-ce 0000¡­ she was getting sick of it, honestly. But that was okay. She was getting faster.


    After all, if she could get fast enough to do a grid location in full every hour, she would be done in just under two hundred thousand years.


    <em>¡­This is ridiculous.</em>


    <em>-Just a bit, yeah.-</em>


    <em>So¡­ figure out a different approach? Please?</em>


    <em>-I will do my best¡­ To be fair, though, you were diverting most power to augment the reality-nodes within your artificial lung. You¡¯re still doing that even now.-</em>


    <em>That¡¯s true. I do want it done soon, though. I¡¯m devoting a lot more power to it than I did for the sparring ring before. It should unify much sooner because of that.</em>


    <em>-That¡¯s true. It also gave us greater incentive to be more efficient with our cellr linking.-</em>


    <em>Also true.</em> Thebination of the two had made herpletely forget about getting any rest.


    T didn¡¯t <em>need</em> to sleep every night, but she liked to grab at least a couple of hours whenever possible. She needed it even less after her most recent inscription update, but that didn¡¯t really change her mindset on the activity. Unfortunately, she¡¯d been so obsessively working on trying to make the process faster that she had run hard up against the time for breakfast with Rane and their defensive unit leaders.


    She¡¯d also gotten messages from master Lisa and Mistress Ingrit during the night. She and Rane had spoken with Ingrit a bit, beyond just stopping through the Archon Compound¡¯s Library to set up his Archive connection, but there hadn¡¯t been too much to do besides catch up and make sure there weren¡¯t any ring issues with the current way of things.


    As it was, Mistress Ingrit was still gate-keeping T¡¯s memories against those who were interested, making sure that they had good reason and sufficient capacity to view them before arranging a workable price¡ªbe that in gold, favors owed, tasks aplished, or information in exchange. That was all that T really needed from the woman, and she was grateful to not have to be handling any of that, herself.


    The message had just been a confirmation of receipt of the most recent memories having to do with augmenting her own reality-nodes pull toward itself. A small note was appended to the end, asking T to be careful and set up safeguards if she chose to try anything like that again.


    T responded, assuring the woman that she would do just that.


    Master Lisa¡¯s message had simply said that he would consider the offer and asked for some more specific information to aid in his decision making process.


    So, altogether, the messages hadn¡¯t contained anything too groundbreaking.


    T arrived at the street outside of Mistress Cerna and Master Clevnis¡¯ ce at nearly the same time Rane did. That wasn¡¯t some sort of a cute coincidence either. They¡¯d been coordinating through the Archive in order to time their arrivals.


    Rane was getting <em>much</em> better at using his Archive connection, his new inscriptionsing into y to great effect in that regard.


    He hadn¡¯t ended up with an alternate interface like t quite yet. Instead, his own mental augmentations simply allowed him to process through his various mental tasks much more efficiently and quickly. The addition of the secondary consciousness wouldeter, once these augmentations had fully set.


    t had been a <em>bit </em>sad to learn that, but she knew that it was better to do it right than to force it early. She, herself, had grown and morphed over time, and it made sense that a different mind would need a different path to develop.


    Truthfully, most Archons never had anything like the inscriptions required for t. In many cases, it was because they weren¡¯t of a mental temperament for it to be feasible, but even more simply didn¡¯t see the need for a secondary consciousness taking up mental resources.


    True, it was nice to offload some things, but that wasn¡¯t required for most things by any stretch of the imagination.


    Both T and t readily admitted that the maintaining of t¡¯s separate consciousness within T¡¯s mind was a drain on their resources. They simply both agreed that having two consciousnesses to approach things was more efficient. Though, truthfully, that mainly meant that t worked on things in the background while T devoted her less expanded mind to maintaining their day to day activities and interactions.


    They both liked it that way even if not everyone would. The greatest additional benefit was a more robust protection against mind magics, but as those were vanishingly rare, helped along in no small part thanks to her own actions on herst day at the House of Blood, most people didn¡¯t see that as a factor. T most certainly did, even if she would likely never encounter such a threat again.


    <em>Happy thoughts, T. Happy thoughts.</em>


    All that to say, Rane had opted for the moremon variations of mental enhancements and Archive connection as a first step, but he was hoping to bifurcate his consciousness in the future, when it made sense with his particr schema and mindset.


    <em>Wait¡­ does that mean he¡¯s smarter than us?</em>


    <em>-No, dear, that means that he¡¯s smarter than you</em>¡ª<em>and probably a bit smarter than me</em>¡ª<em>in raw capacity, but no, he is not ¡®smarter¡¯ than us together.-</em>


    T felt herself smile at that.


    Regardless, they arrived at basically the same time, exchanging a quick hug and a few words of greeting before they turned and knocked on the unit-leaders¡¯ door side by side.


    * * *


    The next two weeks passed without much to mark them, as T and Rane continued to spend intentional time together, as well as dedicated time apart to work on their own things.


    They met and dined with their friends and unit-mates around their duties and training, and generally just settled into the lives of Refined Defenders during a waning.


    Rane also took intentional care to invite T to spend time as just the two of them, whether that was a meal, a walk through the city or parks, a run through the countryside around Alefast, or even just a time sitting and reading or training side by side. If T was being honest, those times were usually the highlight of that day.


    T woke up this particr morning excited. She was going to be spending the afternoon with Rane, but it was what they¡¯d be doing that had her really excited this time.


    Her test wall-segments were ready for her perusal¡­ or they would be around noon.


    So, she had four hours before then, and then four hours to learn about the various aspects of the segments before her afternoon duty-shift.


    <em>Alright. Breakfast first.</em>


    Mistress Petra had a spread of food ready for her, which she dug into with gusto. It was as delectable as usual, though it had yet more magical power within. Kedva and Mistress Petra were working to improve the power-retention of the various imbued foods provided by T¡¯s sanctum, and they were actually beginning to have some real progress.


    After breakfast, T moved through her usual stretching and morning training, mentally and magically working on her augmentation of internal gravity throughout.


    She¡¯d finished the reality-node augmentation within her artificial lung a few days earlier, observing no ill effects. It obviously wasn¡¯t equivalent to a year¡¯s worth of work, but as she¡¯d dedicated far more power to it through more efficient spellforms, it wasn¡¯t surprising that the reality-nodes had fused far more quickly than those within her sparring ring had.


    As to the augmentation of her internal gravity attractions, she and t had found some shortcuts so that she could actuallyplete ten grid-locations every hour with ease, even when otherwise engaged. Now, she was only looking forward to just shy of twenty thousand years of work.


    <em>Progress is progress, we¡¯ve removed nearly one hundred eighty thousand years of work with only a few weeks of efficientizing and reconceptualizing.</em>


    <em>-That¡¯s right! We¡¯re awesome.-</em>


    Looked at in that way, she should be able to finish rather quickly¡­ if she could continue to rearrange her thinking and figure out how to make ite together more quickly.


    One of the big changes that they¡¯d realized was to figure out everything that needed to be attracted toward thing A, and augment all of those gravitational constants at once, rather than trying to conceive of everything that A needed to be attracted toward.


    Honestly, that reframing alone had been most of her efficiency increase, and she felt like she was missing out on at least a couple more things that would increase her speed just as much.


    <em>That would only leave me with two hundred years of work.</em>


    <em>-Hey! You¡¯ll live at least that long, more likely than not.-</em>


    Yeah, there were still a lot of things to figure out.


    When noon finally came, she was already at the Constructionist Guildpound, allowing her to knock on the entrance to the testing room precisely on time.


    Terry was on her shoulder, and Rane was by her side, both boys seemingly quite excited to see what had been cooked up for her.


    Terry was likely interested because of the simple, fun nature of seeing new magical things.


    Rane had admitted that that was part of it for him as well, but he also had an eye toward his own mobile defensive segments, whenever he had earned enough tomission a set for himself.


    <em>That¡¯s fine. I want him to be able to get what works the best for him, whether or not I think it works the best for me, or if the ideas came from my ownmissioned pieces.</em> Honestly, to want otherwise would be a bit silly.


    Who would want their friend to be weaker just because an idea that could make them stronger wasn¡¯t original or theirs to begin with? How much more so with someone who was more than a friend?


    As to why he wanted them? Well, they would be useful in the Leshkin war, which they both fully intended to participate in. Before that, there would be cells in which they were useful, and there were uncounted one-off times they might be useful. Most of those could be handled by T having a set, but he had expressed a desire for his own, and T saw no reason to argue.


    The doors swung open at T¡¯s knock, revealing quite an interesting scene before them.

 Chapter 438: Modular Defenses

    Chapter 438: Modr Defenses


    T stood beside Rane¡ªTerry on her shoulder¡ªlooking into the massive room, arranged so that she could make the necessary choices for her modr defensive wall segments.


    There were a couple of wall segments free standing at the far side of the room, but they were different sizes, and T didn¡¯t quite know what they were meant to demonstrate. Most of the room, however, was filled with various magics, mechanisms, and materials that looked to be in various stages of construction or deconstruction,id out for demonstration and elucidation. At least that is what she assumed.


    Master Bunas stood before them¡ªhaving just opened the door¡ªgiving a shallow bow. ¡°Wee, Mistress T, Master Rane.¡±


    They both bowed in return, Terry easily holding on through the small motion.


    ¡°Come in,e in.¡± Master Bunas seemed incredibly excited. ¡°We have so much to show you.¡±


    He first led them to one of the half-finished pieces. The cross section of wall, at least where it was exposed, contained an odd sort of mechanism, and Master Bunas began by introducing a young looking woman who bowed as deeply as her Fused aura indicated was appropriate.


    ¡°This is Mistress Stiwaf. I will let her exin her contribution.¡±


    Mistress Stiwaf bowed again. ¡°Thank you, Mistress T, for the opportunity to work on your defensive structure. Whether you use my ideas or not, I appreciate the chance to explore some of the interesting possibilities opened by your unique magics.¡±


    T smiled. ¡°Sure. I¡¯m interested in what you have. Care to take us through?¡±The woman turned and gestured to the slightly exposed mechanism, and then a second example of it, this time free of the wall. ¡°As you can see, there is a thin, long horizontal slit in the wall, narrowing toward this device. The purpose of the mechanism is to prep each metal te¡ªone after another¡ªto align with the slit. And as you can see here,¡± she gestured to the back of the mechanism, ¡°it then also disys a designation for each te, letting you know how many are left, and which specific one is aligned for use.¡±


    T frowned. ¡°For¡­ use?¡±


    ¡°Yes. When I heard you describe your scale mail hauberk, this idea came to mind.¡±


    She immediately connected the dots. ¡°You want me to augment the gravity of each te toward its mount, then change the target when it is aligned properly. That would fire it forth like a ballista bolt.¡±


    Mistress Stiwaf grinned. ¡°Precisely. As you can see, we designed these segments to be interchangeable so you can create as many of these as you want and then switch them out when one is empty.¡±


    T¡¯s mind was spinning. This was <em>brilliant</em>. The mechanism would allow for easy queuing up of the projectiles. With her increased mental capacity, she could likely fire hundreds of whatever the projectiles were every minute.


    <em>-Even faster if we were well practiced and if the naming schema was something easy to iterate through.-</em>


    <em>Yeah¡­</em>


    The Fused seemed to be getting nervous at T¡¯s continued silence, but before the woman could get too flustered, T nodded and responded, ¡°This is amazing. Can you make these emcements and interchangeable¡­quivers? What do you call them?¡±


    ¡°Magazines, Mistress. I named them after the simr mechanisms we create for multi-shot crossbows for the Guard.¡±


    ¡°Excellent. Can you make these magazines for round projectiles as well?¡±


    The woman gave a slow nod. ¡°I think so. I would need an example of the desired items in order to work out the kinks.¡±


    ¡°I call it a siege orb. If, somehow, you <em>can</em> break the magic on that, don¡¯t. Doing so would end badly for anyone nearby.¡± T held out her hand and an unpaired siege orb dropped downward for Mistress Stiwaf to catch.


    To her credit, the Fused did <em>try</em> to catch it, but it slipped through her fingers before dropping to the floor. Rane almostzily kicked out his foot and touched the sphere right above the ground.


    The siege orb stopped in ce, his shoe pressed against the side, his magics flowing through it to rob the object of kic energy. He grinned over at T. ¡°I think you forgot how heavy those are.¡±


    She grinned back sheepishly. ¡°Right.¡±


    Mistress Stiwaf raised an eyebrow. ¡°That¡¯s quite a bit heavier than I realized.¡± She shook her head. ¡°I know you told us the specification, but I definitely wasn¡¯t thinking of them.¡±


    She squatted down and got a good grip around the siege orb before Rane pulled his foot and magics back. Grunting, she stood and carried the sphere over to a table and carefully ced it in a recessed portion.


    The table creaked a bit, but held. The Fused nodded seriously, examining the item where it rested. ¡°I do remember you mentioning these. I apologize for not considering them.¡± She chuckled. ¡°I¡¯m just d that I have some physical enhancement, or I wouldn¡¯t even be able to study it safely.¡±


    T waved that off. ¡°This is already excellent. There is no need for apologies.¡±


    ¡°I assume that you would have the same need of something for them to gravitate to before you can switch the target of their attraction and send them forth?¡±


    ¡°Yes. Thank you.¡±


    ¡°Alright. I can work with that.¡±


    ¡°Now, as to the mechanism on the whole, I would like a few changes.¡±


    ¡°Certainly. What can we do for you?¡±


    T grinned. ¡°First, I don¡¯t need an external disy. Assume that I can see through physical objects near me sufficiently to not require that.¡±


    ¡°Oh! Is that a change? I thought I remembered you saying that while you can see through things near to you, sometimes you have difficulty distinguishing details. My aim was to remove the chance for misreading and thus misunching.¡±


    T nodded. ¡°That was true, but I¡¯ve worked out the issue.¡±


    ¡°Noted.¡± Mistress Stiwaf did, indeed, take out an Archive te and note that down. ¡°What else?¡±


    ¡°If you can simply make perfectly sized cavities for these magazines, I can open my dimensional storage at the bottom to drop out empty ones, and then at the top to put in new, filled ones.¡±


    ¡°Oh! That¡¯s amazing. Yes, we can do that. Few have that level of fidelity. While I would normally rmend letting it be something that others can reload for you, in this case¡ªsince you are already the only one who can activate these weapons¡ªyour suggestion should actually be superior.¡±


    T nodded with a grin. ¡°I look forward to seeing what youe up with.¡±


    Mistress Stiwaf was considering. ¡°I think we can fit one te flinger and two siege orb reserves in each wall segment without reducing integrity too much. It does depend on what size of modr frame you choose, but we can work with it either way. How does that sound?¡±


    ¡°That sounds like I¡¯ll have a lot of magazines to fill and empower.¡± She grinned at the woman. ¡°Excellent. That sounds excellent.¡±


    The Fused chuckled. ¡°<em>Quite</em> a lot, most likely, yes. They will be interchangeable between wall segments, so at least that will be in your favor.¡±


    ¡°Definitely, thank you.¡±


    Master Bunas gave a small bow toward his subordinate. ¡°Thank you, Mistress Stiwaf.¡±


    She bowed in return. ¡°It was my pleasure. I¡¯ll get to work on the new designs immediately.¡±


    With that, Master Bunas led T and Rane to the next station where a man and a woman were waiting. ¡°These are Mistress Ceangal and Master Nascad.¡±


    The two gave slight bows, as to fellow Refined. Master Nascad spoke first, ¡°We found the white steel you provided to be wonderfully useful in many applications, but what grabbed our attention most was¡­¡± he gestured to his partner.


    Mistress Ceangal smiled, gesturing in turn to the demonstration pieces. ¡°If we put pieces of the magical steel through the wall, with catches in various ces, then when you deploy the defense, sections of metal on each set of adjoining wall segments will be in contact.¡±


    Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    T¡¯s eyes widened yet again. ¡°Oh!¡±


    Mistress Ceangal nodded. ¡°I see that Mistress has understood. With a simple application of power¡­¡± The Refined extended her magic outward into the test pieces and they fused into a singr whole. ¡°As you can see, that would then unify the adjoining segments. Another application of power can undo the connection, allowing for these to be retractable far more easily than our standard loadout. Each wall segment is equipped with catches on all sides, and the white steel also allows for those to be retracted when not needed, once the battlement is fully deployed.¡±


    Rane let out a low whistle. ¡°Oh, yeah. I want that too.¡±


    Master Nascad chuckled. ¡°I think everyone will, honestly. There will be a <em>high</em> demand for this metal as soon as word gets around.¡±


    T frowned slightly. ¡°Is there no danger of an enemy unlinking the segments and weakening the defense?¡±


    Mistress Ceangal nodded. ¡°That was a concern, but we have enacted several countermeasures. One of the main things will be to keep aura superiority over your own wall. If you lose that, an unlinking of the segments will be the least of your concerns, regardless.¡±


    That was true enough.


    ¡°We have also included the most basic form of the standard linking spellforms. You can use those in order to add a small amount of extra strength to unification of the defense, but the main purpose will be to allow you to still link up with others¡¯ mobile defenses at need.¡±


    ¡°Clever.¡±


    ¡°Thank you, Mistress.¡±


    ¡°Yes, I would like this as part of my modules.¡±


    ¡°Of course.¡±


    The two shared a look before Master Nascad cleared his throat and spoke up, ¡°That will mean that we need a significant amount of this metal.¡±


    T sighed and nodded. ¡°Send me a request for the material through the Archive, and I¡¯ll get it to you.¡±


    The two bowed. ¡°Thank you, Mistress.¡±


    From there, T, Rane, Terry, and Master Bunas moved on to two Mages who had been working on an aura enhancement schema that would mesh well with T¡¯s specific aura, thus causing the walls to be able to be used to add robustness to her aura at need.


    With the white steel as a coreponent of her modr wall segments, it made her aura supremacy all the more important and these particr workings even more key toward long-term defense.


    Beyond that, there were groups working on the defensive magics to be embedded into the outeryers that would resist or counter physical and magical attacks directly.


    One school of thought was to use magics which would help distribute iing force and energies in order to give the wall greater cohesion and durability. The other option was to specifically make ativeyers that would fully absorb any damage before crumbling away, leaving the deeper sections utterly untouched.


    Rane, T, Master Bamus, and the other Mages had a rather in-depth discussion and debate on the topic. It took a couple of hours and a lot of the other Constructionists joined in, but it really boiled down to a fairly simple dichotomy, humorously simr to T¡¯s thoughts and discussions about her own, personal armor.


    Ative defense was excellent for dealing with damage dealt at range over rtively short durations. If it could be easily repaired or reced, then the short duration caveat was mitigated. It was, however, very poor at defending against sustained damage or close quarters conflict.


    On the other side, unified defenses that stood or fell all as one were superb for resisting a lot of small attacks, sustained damage, or close range hits.


    With that in mind, it became rather obvious that a defensive structure should have a mix, and be biased toward the former.


    In close, attackers would be pushed back by¡ªand under constant assault from¡ªdefenders, and with the emcements that would be in T¡¯s walls, specifically, she <em>should</em> be dealing with far more attackers from afar than close up.


    That said, they decided that T¡¯s fortifications should have the backing of unified defense, so that her walls couldn¡¯t be reduced to nothing simply by wearing away the ative parts. Additionally, that configuration made it reasonable to tie all the connected pieces together for the unified block, so that any section that had its ¡®long range¡¯ defense worn through would then have the backing of the whole structure to keep itself whole. She definitely would have wanted to have it sectioned out, if they had gone with a purely ¡®unified defensive¡¯ model. Thus, it was a goodpromise in the end.


    This was a bit different than others did, but everyone had their own way of thinking and styles of fighting and defense. Regardless, they all agreed¡ªsome more grudgingly than others¡ªthat this would work best for T¡¯s purposes.


    Finally, they got to the materialponents. Which was¡­ far more in-depth than T ever really wanted to go and contained far more information than she ever really wanted to know.


    She listened to the various shear strengths,pression durability, and ductility properties for some of the proposed materials, but in the end, she asked them to make the best choice they could given the parameters they had already discussed.


    One interesting thing that came from the knowledge however, was the fact that, apparently, some Mages were willing to make their defensive segments out of living wood. In that way, the walls would essentially be nted when deployed. They would self-repair and were far more durable in protracted engagements, but they were effectively one-use.


    T nixed that particr line of potentials, just in case they were leaning that way for some reason.


    It wasn¡¯t until they got to the final, fully built test section that T really understood the magnitude of this whole undertaking.


    It was using stand-in materials, but even so, it was an impressive construct.


    The block of the wall was reminiscent of a ten foot cube, with a wall-walk on top and crions to protect anyone on the wall-walk. It wasn¡¯t <em>quite </em>a perfect cube as it was canted in such a way that the outer slope was inverted, and there was a bit of a slope on the inside to allow for defenders to slide down that face in the case of an emergency.


    Also, in the front, there was an indentation that was the negative of the crions above. As it turned out, the wall-segments were designed to be stacked if more height was needed. The advice was to build an entire fortification one segment high before building upward to maintain stability throughout.


    She had seen the thing on the far side of the room when she entered. She just hadn¡¯t really considered it as being a single segment.


    ¡°These¡­¡± She looked up at the block that was nearly twice her height. ¡°These arerger than those that I¡¯ve seen before.¡±


    ¡°Ahh, yes. This is thergest we make them, and we wanted to show you that first. Here.¡± Master Bamus gestured to a much smaller segment, which was reminiscent of a five foot cube. ¡°This is the smallest we generally make them. They are more expensive to make at this size and the emcements that Mistress Stiwaf is making for you will have to be reconsidered, but we can go with anything between these two.¡± He smiled. ¡°Note that for both sizes, you can abut them front to back as well, making any size with an interval of the block size. The five foot versions are more versatile but also more costly to create.¡±


    T nodded, acknowledging his statement. Even so, she didn¡¯t hesitate. ¡°The five-foot versions, please. I want more versatility.¡± After a moment¡¯s hesitation, she added. ¡°But I think I¡¯ll only want one emcement in each section that has one, and only about half of them to have them. I will still want some emcements of each type. That way, I can configure their cement at need.¡±


    ¡°Very good, Mistress T.¡± He then led them over to a ce where there were wedges of wall. ¡°These are how you can do corners. Conversely, we can construct towers that are able to amodate varying angles of connection to allow for different configurations as well as points of greater defense.¡±


    T frowned. ¡°I¡¯m not that versed in fortress warfare. What purpose do towers serve, specifically?¡±


    ¡°Generally, they give defenders the ability to get better angles of attack on those assaulting the walls. They are bastions of greater protection for defenders, ces from which to sally forth at need, and to retreat into in case of disaster. They provide a greater height for observing the enemy. They are also a means of reinforcing what otherwise might be a weaker part of the fortification as corners are usually less robust than the t surfaces of the wall.¡±


    T nodded along, but after a moment¡¯s consideration, she shook her head. ¡°I think I won¡¯t want towers for now. Tell me about the wedges?¡±


    ¡°The wedges are designed in variable increments, to be integrated with spells of joining or the white steel. With them, you can even make a full circle if you truly wish, but that would not be where they are strongest.¡±


    ¡°Alright. Now, what about overarching workings?¡±


    Master Bunas nodded at that. ¡°We do often integrate things like magical shielding that can epass an entire formation once the circle isplete.¡±


    They talked through those options, and T made her selections.


    After that, they discussed a gate, and Mistress Ceangal noted that with the white steel, T could rather easily shift any segment to allow for the entry and exit of those she wished to pass through. That way, they wouldn¡¯t be introducing the weakness of a gate or gatehouse.


    T easily agreed, and that was that. All her choices had been made.


    Rane had extensive notes, and Terry had mostly gotten a long nap, even if he had perked up and flickered about a bit to see what was going on before he settled back in to sleep.


    Master Bunas bowed to T once again before gesturing, causing every Constructionist present to bow. ¡°Thank you for your time. We will get to work on the true segments immediately.¡± He nced toward Mistress Stiwaf and the woman held up two fingers. ¡°Expect your first delivery of magazines to empower within two weeks.¡±


    T bowed in return, joined in the gesture by Rane. Terry simply maintained his grip, seemingly continuing his nap. ¡°Thank you all. I believe this will be quite useful, when I am called on to deploy it.¡±


    ¡°We will require <em>quite</em> a lot of the white steel. That will be the greatest limiter on our progress.¡±


    ¡°Understood. I will devote what resources I can to production. It is not a cheap material to fabricate, could you give an estimate of its market value?¡±


    Master Bunas frowned. ¡°Well, initially it will be in <em>much</em> demand, but I imagine that that will settle down eventually. Even so, it will never be worthless.¡± He considered a moment longer before stating a price. ¡°And I suspect that it will initiallymand nearly ten times that.¡±


    T paled slightly. <em>Oh, I¡¯ve been a fool. I should have been making as much of this as I could for as long as possible.</em>


    <em>-No kidding.-</em>


    Rane cleared his throat. ¡°I think it would be wise to talk with Master Grediv. He would likely sponsor the creation of the amount you need in exchange for the right to purchase a set amount on a preferential basis.¡±


    Master Bunas was nodding. ¡°And if the esteemed Paragon does not wish to make such a deal with you, I know that the Constructionist Guild would be happy to.¡± After a moment¡¯s hesitation, he added. ¡°If you are willing, we would happily be a secondary party to negotiate with, if you choose to open the doors to multiple offers.¡±


    T nodded slowly. <em>Please send a message to Master Simon, Adrill, Kedva, and Brandon. I¡¯m going to need them to negotiate this for me. Artia would have the skills I need, but she¡¯s still running her shop and doesn¡¯t </em>actually<em> work for me.</em>


    <em>-Done!-</em>


    T gave a small bow, then. ¡°Thank you, once again.¡±


    They bowed in return as T and Rane left.

 Chapter 439: The First Time

    Chapter 439: The First Time


    T sat in a sturdy¡ªyet stillfortable¡ªchair across from Rane.


    The room was away from anywhere public, though there were some windows that looked out over Alefast from their high vantage.


    They had both given their new inscriptions two full months in order to have time to set properly and be properly intermeshed with their natural magics.


    Even so, they were both a bit nervous as it was their first time, but they were excited too.


    <em>-You could stilly down. From what I can find most people prefer it that way.-</em>


    T sent t a negative feeling in response to that. <em>No. I think sitting up will be better. I think I¡¯ll feel less vulnerable like this.</em>


    She¡¯d even made sure that she was facing the door, for all the good that would do.


    Her focus would be entirely subverted soon enough. So she doubted that the direction she faced or the position she was in would matter in the least.


    <em>-I¡¯ll be monitoring our threefold sight¡¯s volume of perception and keeping it from you so that you can focus. I¡¯ll let you know if you aren¡¯t safe or if there are any potential threats.-</em><em>I know¡­</em> Maybeying down would be better¡­ but she was already there, already in ce, and Rane was ready as well.


    He smiled over at her. ¡°Are you nervous too?¡±


    She nodded. ¡°Yeah¡­¡±


    Master Grediv¡ªthe only other person in the room¡ªsighed. ¡°There is nothing to be nervous about. You will be perfectly safe and unless you are a true genius¡ªbeyond even what we¡¯ve already observed¡ªyou will be back out sooner than you¡¯d prefer.¡± He smiled. ¡°I suspect you¡¯ll be begging for round two all too soon.¡±


    ¡°That may be true.¡± She shifted slightly, then nodded. ¡°Alright. I¡¯m ready.¡±


    Across from her, Rane leaned his head back against its rest. ¡°Ready.¡±


    Spellforms zed to life both in the room as a whole and on the chairs themselves, and T felt magics invading her mind.


    There was a moment of panic in which she<em> almost</em>shed out to destroy the iing power, but t was there, calming her from within.


    <em>-Hey now, T. You know what this is. This is expected. You are safe.-</em>


    Her breathing was rapid nheless. <em>I know. I know. This is the War Games. This will give me insight into how other Mages wield their power. It should also, eventually, allow me to test my own power against things and opponents that are too rare to usuallye across, or too dangerous to sh with unaware or unprepared. It will allow me to learn and fail without anysting consequences.</em>


    <em>-That¡¯s right.-</em>


    The world around her went¡­ empty as t took over and blocked out T¡¯s threefold sight. It was as if all of existence had been masked, or she pulled out of it entirely.


    Additionally, the magics permeating her mind took over her connections to the external, hijacking them to feed her other information.


    T blinked and found herself standing on a featureless in.


    She looked down and saw a body holding up her head, but it wasn¡¯t hers. Instead, she was a much taller woman, built for battle andcking any magics.


    T felt a shudder run through herself as her mind momentarily rebelled.


    There were no magics, no inscriptions, not even any natural magics. The feeling was foreign, alien, and odd to the extreme.


    Master Grediv¡¯s voice came to her a momentter, seeming to echo across the ins with no discernable source, ¡°We¡¯ve found that giving Archons a magically empty body for their first scenarios helps them to adjust before we impose differing magics for them to have to limate to and seize control of.¡±


    She nodded. That made sense. ¡°So, why am I taller?¡±


    ¡°That is simply the generic female we have set up. Do you need me to alter it to more closely mirror your actual proportions? We will be changing you to mimic the size and build of whoever¡¯s magic you are usingter on, elsewise we¡¯d have toe up with entirely new schema in every instance, and no one has time for that.¡±


    She thought for a long moment, then shook her head. ¡°No, but thank you for offering.¡±


    Weapons suddenly blossomed into being around her. ¡°Choose what you¡¯d like to use.¡±


    T easily grabbed a ive that was almost identical to Flow¡¯s ive form.


    ¡°Alright, your weapon is chosen. Let us begin.¡±


    The world fuzzed around her, and she was in a forest clearing.


    From the darkness of the woods around her, she heard the growling hiss of arge feline predator.


    She strained her eyes, but she couldn¡¯t see her opponent. She couldn¡¯t pinpoint where the threat woulde from, and even the noise was such that she couldn¡¯t tell where its source was exactly.


    This left her spinning, trying to keep well bnced and prepared for an attack toe at any time from any direction.


    It¡­ didn¡¯t work.


    She didn¡¯t even hear the creature lunge before it mmed into her back, bearing her to the ground even as it bit into the back of her neck ¡®killing¡¯ her.


    T jerked up, out of the chair, gasping and scrambling at her back, but of course, there was nothing there.


    Master Grediv was beside her in an instant. ¡°You are safe. You are here. Calm. Be easy.¡±


    T had already gathered her wits and stopped iling, but she appreciated his words nheless. She hugged herself and shuddered. ¡°That was awful.¡±


    He nodded. ¡°That is the experience of most mundanes who get separated from others in the Wilds.¡±


    She grimaced at that. ¡°Yeah, I know that to be mundane and lost is to be dead¡­ I could have done without the visceral experience though¡­¡±


    To take her focus off her recent experience, she nced toward Rane. His eyes were moving under his eyelids, but his breathing was level, and he seemed inplete control.


    ¡°He seems to be doing well.¡±


    Master Grediv shrugged. ¡°He entered the woods almost immediately rather than staying in the clearing. If the goal is simply to survive as long as possible, it wasn¡¯t a bad choice, but it definitely tilts the eventual oue in the predator¡¯s favor. Even now, the cat is stalking him. It will only take a bit longer in order to¡­ Ah. There it is.¡±


    Rane jerked, and his eyes shot open with an apanying gasp. ¡°Rusting puma!¡±


    T felt herself smile slightly at that, and her humor was helped by Rane shaking his head even as he shook withughter.


    ¡°That was¡­ that was awful.¡± He wasughing even so. ¡°I can¡¯t believe how terrible I was at that.¡±


    She nodded her agreement. ¡°Yeah, me too¡­ What¡¯s the purpose of this again?¡±


    Master Grediv gave a long-suffering smile.


    T hesitated, then sighed. ¡°I apologize, that sounded really ungrateful. Thank you, Master Grediv, for setting this up for us. I¡¯m feeling a bit muddled. Can you remind me why this is such a good thing? If you would be so kind.¡±


    Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.


    He huffed augh at that but answered nheless, ¡°First, as I said, it is to prime you for a change of magics, even if just cognitively. There is the anciry benefit of connecting you back to the experience of mundanes. Though, in the case of you two, that is far less critical than with Refined who are already centuries old.¡±


    That did make sense. Even so, she was still mentally reeling, even if only a bit. So, she decided to just ask, ¡°But¡­ why do we want to be able to change magics?¡±


    Master Grediv gave her a searching look, then shrugged, not seeming to mind a rehashing of the reasoning, ¡°Well, for one it will allow you to test out variations on your own magics¡ªif you so desire. But the primary reason we use it is to give Refined a deeper understanding of the various magics that others <em>can</em> have, how they function, what their limits are, how to use them in battle, and how to counter them when they are used against you. It also allows you to face more dangerous variations of magical creatures in a controlled environment, giving you a greater chance of survival if you encounter them in the real world.¡±


    ¡°So¡­ it¡¯s mainly a cognitive exercise, with extra oomph?¡± That made a lot of sense to her, actually.


    ¡°In a sense, yes. Generally speaking, we¡¯ve found that Refined who go through this training¡ªespecially those who keep up the regr maintenance of the skills¡ªhave a higher rate of survival, and tend to advance closer to Paragon, on average. The insight gained helps across the board, really.¡±


    She sighed, already suspecting she wouldn¡¯t like the answer, but she asked anyways, ¡°Right¡­ why didn¡¯t we start me on this a year ago? Assuming it was avable then.¡±


    The Paragon gave a nonchnt shrug, ¡°It might have been, though I don¡¯t know that you were in the right mindset for it, after your arcane experience. That aside though, you were working on a vast number of other projects as well as training and limating yourself to the position of Defender. We probably could have, but it would have been one more thing. I believe ourst discussion highlighted that you didn¡¯t need one more thing.¡± He then smiled. ¡°Also, as a Refined, you don¡¯t exactly have a shortage of time in the long view. Dying this until now kept your load lighter and will still convey the same benefits, if not more so because it isn¡¯t crammed in among other things.¡±


    She grunted at that. It was a fair assessment. She focused back on the War Games, then. ¡°So, are we adjusted now? We can try out other magics?¡±


    The Paragon chuckled, shaking his head. ¡°Oh, no, not at all. You will each need to defeat the singr predator before we can move on. It is already a fairly good showing that you have actually limated to the false-self within the simtion.¡±


    She felt her eye twitch, but controlled her reaction, keeping her tone level. ¡°And what will we be doing then? What will happen after we defeat this singr predator?¡±


    ¡°Then, the two of you will fight side by side against an unknown number of adversaries. When that isplete, you will face different opponents both alone and side by side.¡±


    T took a long slow breath before asking¡ªforcing sweetness into her tone, ¡°And when will we be given other magics to work with?¡±


    ¡°After you ovee a total of twenty-five scenarios. That is what we have found is needed to fully convince the mind that your illusory, other self shouldn¡¯t match the real you.¡± He gave her aforting smile. ¡°This really is the fastest way we know of. You can treat it like a bit of a game, many of our Refined do in the end. It can be rxing in a way.¡±


    She grumbled a bit, but it <em>did</em> make sense¡­ at least a bit. But it raised another question, ¡°What about the Refined who aren¡¯t very good at mundanebat? I know Rane and I are melee fighters at our core, but most Defenders aren¡¯t.¡±


    Master Grediv smiled in return. ¡°That is an excellent question. We also have nonbat scenarios, but I think it would take you longer to make a series of mundane crafts. I could also throw you into a wrestling arena, striving for the championship or set you to run an obstacle course in a set time.¡± He shrugged. ¡°There are innumerable variations and options, but this seemed like the one best suited to the two of you.¡±


    That was actually a rather fair assessment. ¡°Alright. Thank you for the exnation¡­ let¡¯s try this again.¡±


    Rane nodded. ¡°Yeah. I feel like I can learn quite a bit in there, even if having a shorter reach is more difficult.¡±


    T almostughed. <em>Of course he¡¯s </em>shorter<em> in the simtion than in real life.</em>


    A smile still pulled at her lips, and she somehow felt a bit better about the whole process. With that lingering good attitude, the second round began.


    * * *


    T did <em>not</em> like fighting as a mundane, but she had to admit it did raise her opinion of the Caravan Guards quite a bit. They did this in real life¡­ on purpose.


    It probably didn¡¯t help that she strove to use the heavily hampered Way of Flowing Blood to aplish her victory.


    She hadn¡¯t felt her body scream at her in irritation to this extent in years. Still, it did help her iron out and then cement some elements of her ive work that she realized that she¡¯d been propping up through physical capacity and other less than ideal means.


    Grudgingly, she admitted that she would probably ask toe in here with her own body-shape¡ª without magic¡ªso that she could finalize her work with the ive then do the same with the sword and knife.


    But that was forter.


    She had finally managed to consistently face the massive, sleek cat as it tried to attack her, but that still left her facing a predator that was easily as big as she was. It wasn¡¯t magical or arcanous, but it was far, <em>far</em> too aggressive to be a standard mundane beast.


    She had gotten to the point that she was able to keep it at bay with her ive, but that was where she had stalled. She couldn¡¯t thrust too aggressively, or that might unbnce her and allow the cat to close with her. She couldn¡¯t do sweeping cuts for the same reason.


    It was <em>quick</em>, seemingly ducking and dodging with preternatural ease. There was no way a mundane feline was this slippery¡­


    <em>Or I¡¯m just slow¡­</em> Yeah, that was more likely to be the issue.


    Still, she had scored several shallow cuts this round without taking any wounds in turn. Unfortunately, she was wearing out.


    In an experience that was <em>far</em> too foreign to her ofte¡ªthough it was bingmon in these simtions¡ªshe wasn¡¯t just getting winded or a bit sore. No. She was nearly exhausted to the point that she was having a hard time moving her weapon.


    <em>Well, it seems that I can¡¯t out fight it. My only option, then, is that I¡¯ll have to out think it.</em>


    Just then, she stepped on yet another slick patch of forest which gave her an idea. Instead of wrenching herself to stay upright, she allowed herself to fall, gasping to sell the ruse.


    Her ive dropped to the ground still pointed at the beast, but seemingly out of the equation for the moment.


    She felt a moment of weakness that almost made the faint feint all-too-real, but she hardened her resolve.


    A more cautious predator might have hesitated, might have noticed that she still had an obvious, firm grip on her weapon, but thisrge cat was not cautious.


    The aggression that T had counted on showed itself again, and the cat lunged forward. At the same moment, T heaved with everything she had to lift her ive once again.


    There was an incredibly satisfying sound of her de punching through flesh and skittering off bones to align with the gaps and drive deeper. That was followed by a mildly disturbing gurgling hiss. It only took a moment more, and the beast was dead.


    T opened her eyes in the real world grinning widely. ¡°Yes!¡±


    She rolled parts of her body even as she remained seated to move stiff joints and looked at the window¡­ the dark window. She¡¯d been at this all day. <em>Well¡­ rust.</em>


    Rane smiled over at her from his own chair. ¡°Do you want to try working together? Or should we get some food, some sleep, ande at that challenge fresh tomorrow?¡±


    She sighed. <em>Of course he finished before I did¡­</em> She didn¡¯t let that get her down, though. ¡°I think I could use some sleep, but let¡¯s meet up early tomorrow morning to try our hand at the next scenario. It should be fun to be mundanes, partnering up.¡±


    * * *


    T stood beside a man who was just a bit taller than her, in a clearing deep within some unnamed woods.


    <em>If there are more rusting pumas, I might have a name for these rusting woods.</em>


    The man didn¡¯t look like Rane at all, but she knew that he was Rane. He stood like Rane, and the way he carried his long sword was exactly what she would have expected from him. More than that, though, he <em>felt</em> like Rane in some intangible way that she simply couldn¡¯t quantify.


    He looked her way, speaking with Rane¡¯s voice. ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re just obviously you.¡±


    He chuckled. ¡°Who else would I be?¡±


    Her eyes narrowed. ¡°A puma in disguise.¡±


    His face twitched, and he looked around, doing a quick check for danger. ¡°Oh, good. They aren¡¯t here yet.¡±


    Still, T and Rane could hear movement in the woods around them. The time for dillydallying was over.


    Rane made the obvious suggestion first, ¡°Back to back?¡±


    She considered for a moment before nodding. ¡°Yeah, but a few feet apart. I need to be able to wield my ive without idently hitting you.¡±


    ¡°Agreed.¡± He gave her an oddly familiar smile on the unfamiliar face.


    Deciding it wasn¡¯t worth focusing on, she simply smiled in return.


    A momentter, they had put their backs toward one another while leaving a workable gap. Then, they waited.


    What lunged out at them was not, in fact, arge cat.


    As T jammed her ive through its hideous face, taking it from the air before letting it fall and finishing it off with a driving thrust into the ground, she felt a wave of revulsion. She couldn¡¯t help but express her disgust out loud, ¡°Giant spiders? Really?¡±


    Rane grunted in agreement, but then came to his former master¡¯s defense, even if only slightly, ¡°He did say that the enemies would be different¡­¡±


    T was not having it, ¡°Well, these things are ugly as rust. How many do you think¡ª¡±


    Rane let out a sharp exhale as he shed one of the dog sized arachnids that tried to leap onto him with a silent lunge. ¡°More than two, it seems. Focus outward, we can get angry at Master Gredivter.¡±


    She tightened her grip on the shaft of her ive, ¡°Agreed.¡±

 Chapter 440: Prepare for the Days to Come

    Chapter 440: Prepare for the Days to Come


    T stood before the armorers with a bit of quiet sadness. ¡°You¡¯re sure?¡±


    Master Armach nodded. ¡°Yes, Mistress T. No matter how we approach it, your armor works better if you only implement ative tes at need, interposing them in between yourself and iing attacks. Otherwise, they are unnecessaryplexity that actually work less well in many scenarios.¡±


    She and t were reviewing their tests and analyses, and she had to agree with the man. ¡°I do appreciate the extensiveness of the tests.¡±


    He smiled wanly. ¡°We know how much you liked your current structure. So, we attempted to find a way of keeping as close to it as possible.¡±


    ¡°It just wasn¡¯t possible.¡± She sighed, nodding in understanding. It did make sense, now that she really considered it. Ative armor was best for dealing with long-range, burst damage, the exact type of attack that she was rather likely to seeing, all things considered.


    ¡°We do rmend that you be practiced at building yourtticed, ative armor tes quickly. That will let it be the most useful. In fact, doing so over a shield would be ideal, as it would give a strong backing and help shrug off some of the damage¡­ assuming it was a properly designed and constructed shield.¡±


    She nodded again. ¡°Alright. Now, let¡¯s go over what you all havee up with.¡±


    The next hours passed both quickly¡ªin that they were incredibly full¡ªand slowly¡ªbecause it was very minute, focused work.


    T ended up with thick white steel armor with an interconnectedwork of iron within. In that way, she could aspect mirror Flow¡¯s resilience onto the iron at need, while relying on the white steel in most cases. Beneath it, her padding was made of the wolf fur that she¡¯d absorbed from the Anatalin. As to looks, it was reminiscent of mundane full-te. In her case, however, there weren¡¯t really joints as the metal could flow with essentially no resistance or restriction when she had power flowing through it.Indeed, that was the trick. She had to keep her elk leathers filled with enough power that the extruded¡ªbut still connected¡ªwhite steel armor would move exactly as she wished and expected. This allowed it to bend and flex without any inhibition of her movements while remaining utterly rigid against attacks of any kind.


    Another thing that had taken so long¡ªand indeed took the greatest portion of the time that day¡ªwas the understanding of what should happen to each joint, should any given part be hit while she was trying to move it.


    Each joint responded differently, and in different ways depending on the angle and severity of the hit, not to mention what portion of the joint took the hit.


    The end result was amazing.


    She looked to have been dipped in the white metal, entirely hidden and sheltered within, as she obviously didn¡¯t need eye slits or breathing holes. At the moment, she was also keeping her through-spike illusions suppressed for ease of observation by the armorers working with her.


    When she moved, the metal seamlessly flowed along with the movement. It was only when one of the assistants struck her that the armor looked any different. At the moment of the hit, the white steel would take on an aspect like te armor with interlocking pieces that allowed easy movement while maintaining protection designed specifically to excel against the particr attack which triggered the reaction.


    The protection would be <em>slightly</em> less than the more liquid-seeming form, but as each configuration was designed for the specific hit, it should never suffer from that weakness from singr attacks. Where it <em>could</em> be an issue was if an opponent was able to attack intelligently twice at the same time, or if a group of enemies were able to coordinate sufficiently to create openings, but that was the weakness of basically any defense.


    She had easily memorized the required structures down to the molecr level for each joint in each defensive arrangement. The main issue hade in gaining at least the basic level of training to force her will to enact the memorized structures without conscious thought.


    t helped some with that, but they didn¡¯t want her to have to be consciously involved either.


    It took some time, but finally, they were all satisfied that she had achieved a basic level of proficiency with at least the mostmon responsive structures. More would simply take time and training.


    With that aplished, T really focused on herself and how her new armor actually <em>looked.</em>


    In all honesty, now that she¡¯d taken the time to really look, T marveled at herself from her external perspectives.


    She still looked vaguely feminine, but only just so. She still had two arms, two legs, and a featureless head, but otherwise, she looked utterly inhuman.


    Her fingers melded together when close together, only pulling apart to be separately armored at need. Her feet were thickly sheathed as part of the rest of the protection.


    She also felt like she looked a bit too¡­ sterile, a bit too like an unfinished doll. <em>Or an automaton¡­</em>


    <em>-Here, this is something they suggested for that.- </em>t pulled up some of the anciry notes for improvements or optional features that the armorers had put together while testing the other facets of herplete armor.


    <em>Oh! I like that.</em> T pulled some of her iron dust to the superficial, embedding it uniformly across the surface of the white steel until the whole thing looked gray. That made the armor a bit less blinding white, but otherwise, it wasn¡¯t much better. She still didn¡¯t like the uniformity.


    For fun, she shifted the iron into the spellform that she¡¯d worked out for lining her artificial lungs¡ªthe one that imbued the air affected with dissolution magics. These would obviously not have that effect, unfortunately. With the lines beingposed of solid iron, they wouldn¡¯t be able to be used for anything¡ªand being on a humanoid shape instead of a near perfect sphere, they didn¡¯t mesh quite correctly to be functional even if they had been otherwise usable¡ªregardless, the end result looked far more polished than the uniform white or gray had previously.


    To add to that, she followed another suggestion from the armorers and lined the inside with a thinyer of iron between the wolf-fur lining and her skin. It was odd to not have anything underneath the armor¡ªgiven the lining was attached to the metal more than her¡ªbut as the armor <em>was</em> her elk leathers, it could hardly be considered going naked.


    Now, she had iron between the two, so she was <em>really</em> not naked. She felt the expected pressure of power building within and actually tookfort from the feeling. <em>It really has been too long.</em>


    Shortly thereafter, manifestations of her natural magics blossomed into being just away from the surface of the armor. As usual, they weren¡¯t spellforms per se. Instead, they were simply existence itself bending to acknowledge the weight of her magics.


    As stunning as the effect was¡ªand as much as it could intimidate many a lesser opponent¡ªT was now aware of just how much it could harm her against any who were more intelligent and knowledgeable of magical lines.


    A sufficiently knowledgeable opponent could read her manifested spell-lines like a book and choose how to attack her based on what was learned.


    <em>The Anatalins certainly could.</em> She still asionally got twinges¡ªthe feeling of teeth mping down on her¡ªbut she dismissed it as usual, putting it out of her mind before the feelings had fully manifested.


    Still, most of the time, allowing the manifestation would work quite well¡ªit would certainly let her get back to increasing her density at a greater rate¡ªand with the iron spell-line like embellishments on the surface of the armor itself, it was actually somewhat hard to pick out the specifics.


    <em>In fact¡­ do you see that?</em>


    If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been uwfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.


    <em>-I do, yeah.-</em>


    Wherever the light-like manifested lines came near the iron interweavings, the light altered, not quite blurring, but definitely reacting to the magic-reflecting iron between them and the inscriptions and natural magics that caused them.


    <em>Did I just make a scrambler for my magical manifestations?</em>


    <em>-You just might have.-</em>


    T gged down Master Armach and asked him about it.


    That started a flurry of activity as the various Archons scanned her with their Archive tes and tried to deduce her magics based on what they could detect.


    Finally, the head Constructionist had to concede. ¡°I cannot make heads or tails of your magics based on the manifestations shown. You should be safe to use it in this form.¡± He chuckled. ¡°Even with your full schema already in the Archive for us topare to, we can¡¯t quickly make a model that connects that to what we¡¯re picking up around you.¡±


    T grinned within her helmet, before once more creating her voice in the air outside, ¡°That, Master Armach, is excellent news.¡±


    * * *


    That summer passed quickly and fall came in a flurry of leaves and more of the same duties, tasks, training, and time spent with the same people.


    With her next brother¡¯s twelfth birthdaying up, T and Rane were going up to Marliweather to see Osip.


    When she¡¯d said she was going, Rane had initially wished her well, but easily agreed to apany her when she invited him specifically.


    She was of two minds in that regard. At first, she¡¯d taken hising along as a given, and she was a bit miffed that he hadn¡¯t seen it that way. But as she considered it longer, she had realized that she actually appreciated that he hadn¡¯t assumed he was invited. Additionally, she appreciated that he had been willing to give her space if she had wanted it and wouldn¡¯t have forced her to figure out how to tell him not toe, if that had been her desire.


    Regardless, they and Terry would be making the trip, hopefully to arrive a couple of days before Osip¡¯s birthday. That way, they wouldn¡¯t be just dropping through to wave goodbye to him at the teleporter, assuming he chose to go to the Academy.


    Taking the time off as Defenders was easy enough, and with Master Simon and Brandon¡¯s work¡ªalongside t¡¯s¡ªarranging for Irondale¡¯s movements was essentially a non-issue for T.


    When the day arrived, she collected Irondale without any fanfare. No one was trying to enter or leave, and there were even gates closed across the entrance within the expanded space to enforce the end of ingress and egress.


    <em>Well, that¡¯s rather clever. It makes this whole thing almost pleasant.</em>


    -<em>We aim to please.-</em>


    T, Terry, and Rane took off through the Wilds in what was bing an incredibly familiar route, and they crossed it faster than ever, pushing the edge of magical resonance and not stopping for meals¡ªor even for the night¡ªas they had in the past.


    Rane was tantalizingly close to being able to apply kic energy to himself without a true ¡®solid¡¯ backing, but he still did have toe down between long leaps for the moment.


    T found that her newly enhanced surface area expansion scripts were able to be augmented with extra power to the point that she could push off of the air itself. It created breezes behind her with every powerful push, but that really wasn¡¯t an issue.


    <em>-You could probably ¡®stair step¡¯ up pretty high, before the air thinned out too much. Even then, it would only take a lightening of your personal gravity to go higher.-</em>


    T had grunted at that. <em>Maybe one day. I think there¡¯s enough on Zeme to be getting on with at the moment.</em>


    The three of them nned to stop through Bandfast for a few hours the following day, and they did end up arriving and opening the doors to Irondale just after noon.


    They grabbed ate lunch with Lyn and Kannis. Afterwards, they dropped through the Library, where T gave Mistress Ingrit a small cube of the white steel as an extra thank you for all that the Librarian was doing for her.


    Mistress Ingrit was touched by the gift, and she even began ying with the gift as T, Rane, and Terry were leaving. As expected, the older woman quickly got the knack of it, and even before T lost sight of her with her threefold sight, Mistress Ingrit was makingplex, interweaving shapes with the bit of magic-malleable material.


    The three travelers swung by Lisa¡¯s store and found it locked so they let him be undisturbed on this trip.


    All told, they were only in Bandfast for a few hours, departing before sunset without issue. Once again, Irondale had closed its gates in preparation for T¡¯s collection of the expanded space and so it cost her essentially no time to collect the growing vige for transport.


    She was informed that they¡¯d increased the poption by about fifty people¡ªgateless all¡ªwho had applied for citizenship thest time that Irondale had been in Bandfast. Since that time of application, the applicants had been vetted by those working for T, and only those who seemed to be able to contribute positively to the small, growingmunity were invited to join.


    It was all rather fascinating, but T¡¯s favorite part was the fact that she didn¡¯t have to be involved at all. Her little experiment grew on its own.


    <em>-You know, some people just get fish in a bowl.-</em>


    <em>Some rich people. I don¡¯t have time for that.</em>


    <em>-...says the woman with a </em>town<em> to poke at. Don¡¯t tap on the ss, T, it scares the people within.-</em>


    T huffed an internalugh at that, but otherwise let the topic drop.


    Their trip up to Marliweather from Bandfast was across even more familiar terrain due to how many caravan trips T had taken between the two cities, acting as both Mage Protector and the Dimensional Mage at the time.


    The trio moved so quickly that Terry barely had time to hunt along the way. That, unfortunately, made him a bit grumpy, but when they were passing a small herd of cloud hinds, T and Rane stopped for a voluntary snack while Terry had some fun getting a snack of his own.


    The herd did not have fun, but since there was no herd when he was done, there was no one¡ªsapient or not¡ªtoin about it, so it hardly mattered¡­ Right?


    <em>I¡¯m sure it¡¯s fine.</em>


    <em>-Yeah. Terry is Terry. It¡¯s not like he leaves the bodies about to rot. He eats them whole. Nothing goes to waste.-</em>


    <em>Yeah¡­</em> She didn¡¯t focus on it overly much. There were plenty of deer in the world, and Terry hadn¡¯t made them suffer.


    They arrived in Marliweather near sunset the day after they had left Bandfast, having traveled straight through the night yet again, simply because they could.


    As t had been inmunication with the city administrators about the deployment of Irondale, T¡¯s group found that they were expected and greeted at the gates when they arrived.


    After the greeting, the guards gave them simple directions, even if T didn¡¯t need them because t had easy ess to a precise map with the location marked on it in the Archive. Even so, T thanked the guards, and the three of them moved to the designated ce.


    By that point, Terry was curled up on T¡¯s shoulder, tucked in with his eyes closed since they were within the city.


    When they got to the designated wall, T was grateful to not have the samerge potential audience that she¡¯d had in Bandfast for the first opening of Irondale. As it was a somewhat chilly fall evening, there weren¡¯t as many people about to witness the act. She was not going to dither enough for that to change.


    She was also excited because she no longer had to put up signs once the opening was in ce as Irondale had taken care of that themselves. They even had a countdown timer as to how long they were estimated to be in a given ce and a projected itinerary.


    Everything was clearlyid out in a rather easy-to-read setup. It was bing rather well run, if T did say so herself.


    <em>And not a bit of it requires my involvement.</em>


    <em>-Yup. You are quite the benevolent, ambivalent dictator.-</em>


    <em>That I am.</em> T smiled broadly even as Irondale¡¯s gates swung open, allowing those within to spill out, going about their pre-nned activities. Even with Irondale projected to be in Marliweather for a few days, the folk were already learning to get what they needed done fast in case ns changed.


    Not that T had had to force a change in n¡­ not yet.


    <em>-No, you just emphasize that you </em>could<em> whenever you talk with anyone about uing events.-</em> t then projected the feeling of a mischievous grin. <em>-And I do the same, so we project a good, unified front.-</em>


    T smiled at that, causing Rane to give her a questioning look. She briefly exined, and he chuckled at the idea.


    Terry shook himself then, and flickered to her waist, their standard means for him to ask to go into her sanctum. It took barely a thought for her to open a coin-sized portal into Kit and Terry flickered in.


    <em>I do wonder why?</em>


    t sent a feeling of incredulity but didn¡¯t provide any insight.


    Regardless, T and Rane found a ce to eat dinner together¡ªjust the two of them¡ªa ce to just <em>be</em>. Even though they took time together in Alefast, it was almost always doing something.


    It was nice to not have any task that needed doing in the moment.


    Still, T was marginally stressed about the following days with her siblings, and Rane was nervous to interact with them for the first time since he and T had started courting. That was a damper on the generally good feelings of the time together.


    They had gotten a private dining room with a good view over the city and they used that privacy and vantage as the setting to talkte into the night. Thankfully, the restaurant catered to Refined. So, the ce was open twenty-four hours a day, otherwise T and Rane would have had to cut their chat short.


    As to what they discussed? They talked about small things, reminiscences, and even nothing at all.


    In the end, it was exactly what T needed in order to prepare for the days toe.

 Chapter 441: A Matter of Priority

    Chapter 441: A Matter of Priority


    ¡°TALA!¡± Her younger brother sprinted out to greet her on the street, clearly having been watching for her nned arrival that morning.


    <em>He¡¯s not so young anymore.</em>


    He was almost as tall as she was, cing in the taller range for the age¡­ if she understood correctly.


    <em>-Yeah, your guess seems right¡­ and now I have the stats. Yup. Good assumption.-</em>


    He wore a simple shirt and pants, not having gone to school that day. They were quite a bit nicer than the clothes that she had grown up wearing, and even nicer than the clothes her siblings had wornst time she¡¯d visited. The family as a whole wasing up in the world.


    <em>-They are doing a brisk business with the Constructionists for the iron paint. That has given them the capital to take on some other contracts. It¡¯s really kickstarted their business as a whole.-</em>


    <em>How could you possibly know all this?</em>


    <em>-Public record. Contracts over a certain size are public record to prevent price gouging, among other things.-</em>


    <em>Huh.</em>It seemed that her siblings were much better off as a whole. Their new house was still across from a park, but given it was a purely residential area, the park was much more geared toward families, and the other houses were teeming with life to her threefold sight.


    Osip reached her then, and the not-quite teen mmed into her for a hug. Instinctively, she stepped back with the impact to reduce it somewhat. Even so, he immediately grunted and pulled back with a wince. ¡°Ow! What¡¯re you made of?¡±


    T gave a sheepish grin. ¡°Well¡­¡± She coughed. ¡°I still had my protections in ce.¡±


    <em>-You mean you were wearing your armor as a symbolic defense against seeing your family?-</em>


    <em>Hush you.</em> She dismissed her armor and held out her arms to give her brother another hug.


    He came in slower this time, but the hug wasn¡¯t painful for him so when he pulled back he was smiling. ¡°Thank you foring.¡± He then looked to Terry who was seemingly asleep on her shoulder. ¡°Hi, Terry! Good to see you too.¡±


    Terry let out a chirping trill for a greeting but didn¡¯t otherwise respond. He didn¡¯t even open his eyes.


    She smiled in turn, responding to her brother¡¯s thanks, ¡°Of course. You have a big decision ahead of you.¡±


    He shook his head, eyes bright and smile broadening. ¡°Nope! I¡¯ve already made it. I¡¯m going to be a Mage.¡±


    ¡°Oh¡­ well. That¡¯s decisive of you. I feel like I¡¯m hardly necessary then.¡± She tried to tease, feeling suddenly a bit uncertain.


    Osip shook his head vigorously. ¡°Oh, no. I have <em>so</em> many questions,¡± he turned and looked at Rane before including the man in his injunction, ¡°for both of you.¡±


    T raised an eyebrow in curiosity, ¡°Why haven¡¯t you asked Master Leighis?¡±


    Osip shrugged. ¡°I have, but he¡¯s been out of the Academy for a <em>long</em> time. Plus, he¡¯s a healer. I want to be a fighter!¡±


    T had a sinking feeling deep in her gut, that Terry somehow manifested perfectly in sonic form with a fluting whistling trill.


    ¡°Caln has taken me to a battle-watch restaurant a few times, and the fights there are AWESOME! I even get free food sometimes when your fightse up.¡±


    She hesitated. ¡°Oh?¡±


    ¡°Yeah! I just yell out something like, ¡®There she is! There¡¯s my sister!¡¯ and usually some other table will offer to buy me a dessert or drink or something.¡±


    Her eye began to twitch.


    <em>-Ah, the shamelessness of children.-</em>


    <em>Indeed¡­</em>


    Rane cleared his throat. ¡°You know, it¡¯s not very kind to manipte people for free food.¡±


    Osip shrugged. ¡°I never ask. Kind people just offer. But as I said, I have <em>questions.</em>¡± Thus opened the floodgates.


    How were the dormitoriesid out in the Academy?


    Badly.


    How did Mages-in-training choose what magic to pursue?


    It depended on what called to them, personally, and how they understood it.


    Is the food good?


    Yes.


    Is there enough food?


    Yes.


    Do they make the students run?


    Surprisingly, yes. Students run more than they ever thought possible, and those who ended up with closer-engagement magics will look back on the running and wish there¡¯d been more.


    Does it hurt to get inscribed?


    Yes, but it bes like the pain of exercise, rtively mild for a very desirable result.


    Where do clothese from at the Academy?


    Students buy them with school credits, earned by doing well in school and through chores.


    Can¡¯t people just bully other students for credits?


    No. Any attempt to do so is among the more highly punished things at the Academy.


    What are punishments?


    Loss of credits.


    If that doesn¡¯t work?


    Detentions and loss of other privileges.


    If that doesn¡¯t work?


    Depending on the infractions and the student either whippings or expulsion. In extreme cases, execution would likely be considered, but it hadn¡¯t happened¡ªto T¡¯s knowledge¡ªin centuries, and that was only because the student in question was tormenting other students by doing things that should have killed them, over and over again.


    But, how could they execute someone at the Academy?


    They teleported him back to a city, where he was executed.


    What is the best type of magic?


    There is no best type, categorically. It is all in a Mage¡¯s understanding and how they are able to use the power that they have.


    The questions¡­


    Just¡­


    Kept¡­


    Coming¡­


    Rane was helping answer the questions, actually taking more and more of them, though he obviously couldn¡¯t answer the questions about the Academy. In the end, T had to take those.


    She did her best to appreciate the ability to help her brother, rather than begrudge the interrogation.


    They were still nearly a half-block from the family¡¯s new house. They had been standing there¡ªat the side of the road¡ªfor almost half an hour, and yet no one else hade out.


    Finally, T interjected. ¡°Where is everyone else?¡±


    Osip nced back, then shrugged. ¡°Working, school, waiting for you toe to them? I imagine most of the others will be by for lunch. That¡¯s probably the best time to catch them.¡±


    ¡°Shouldn¡¯t you be in school, too?¡±


    ¡°With my big sistering into town? I skipped today.¡±


    T sighed. She felt like she <em>should</em> reprimand him, but in the end, it was his choice. <em>And with him going to the Academy, they¡¯ll fill in any gaps in his education before he graduates.</em> That decided, she turned the conversation back to the lunch meet-up with her other siblings, ¡°Will Nea be there, do you think?¡±


    ¡°I doubt it. Nea is at her master¡¯s house, and she doesn¡¯te home for meals. She can see us whenever she wants, but as I¡¯m sure you know, apprentices are rather encouraged to spend as much time with their masters as possible.¡±


    That caught T by surprise. ¡°Master?¡± Then she frowned. ¡°Right, didn¡¯t she take an apprenticeship? That was in one of the messages.¡±


    ¡°Yeah. She¡¯s bing a ssmaker.¡± He smiled her way. ¡°Come on; I¡¯ll take you there while I ask more questions.¡±


    With that, they turned and moved with Osip back down the street.


    Rane cleared his throat and actually <em>prompted</em> the boy to continue, but his words were the real betrayal, ¡°Hey, how about we focus on the Academy questions for right now?¡±


    The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    T gave Rane a horrified look, barely peeking over her brother¡¯s head up at the much taller man.


    Osip didn¡¯t notice the look, simply agreeing heartily, ¡°Okay!¡±


    What followed was ten minutes of nearly constant questions that only T could answer. By the time they arrived at therge ssworks, T was about ready to murder Rane.


    <em>He better have a </em>really<em> good reason for this little stunt.</em> Even that modicum of allowance felt like too much of a concession, but it was also all that kept her from sending him a <em>very</em> strongly worded message in the moment, so¡­ she didn¡¯t try to get rid of that granted forbearance within her own mind.


    When they arrived at the ssworks front entrance, Rane interjected, ¡°Do you have anything else you want to ask about the Academy right now?¡±


    T¡¯s eye twitched. <em>Okay. He¡¯s going to be in </em>so<em> much painter.</em>


    Osip seemed to consider, then he shrugged. ¡°No, I think that¡¯s it.¡±


    Rane smiled. ¡°Then how about you and I go to breakfast, and I can answer your other questions while T says hi to your other sister?¡±


    <em>¡­Oh.</em> She felt her mind hitch, not fully understanding what was happening.


    Osip only considered for a moment before asking the singr, critical question, ¡°You¡¯ll be paying?¡±


    Rane chuckled. ¡°Of course.¡±


    ¡°Then, let¡¯s go! I¡¯m starving.¡± Osip snatched Rane¡¯s hand and led him away. He waved his other hand over his shoulder. ¡°Nea is in there. We¡¯ll meet you at the houseter!¡±


    <em>-Rane just messaged that he¡¯ll let you know when they¡¯re heading that way, so you don¡¯t have to go alone if you don¡¯t wish to.-</em>


    T just stared as the boy led the man off toward what was likely to be a very expensive breakfast. <em>Did he just¡­?</em>


    <em>-Arrange to get you out of answering a host of questions without making you look bad? Yes, I do believe that he did.-</em>


    <em>Who is that? Rane doesn¡¯t have that social acumen.</em>


    tughed within T¡¯s head. <em>-He puts his foot in his mouth, though not as much as he used to. He isn¡¯t that </em>socially<em> adept. That¡¯s true, but he was raised around</em>¡ª<em>and he¡¯s continued to be around</em>¡ª<em>political people for his whole life. Even when he was in the wilderness, he was with Master Grediv, and that man seems to think of things a hundred steps in advance, at least when he¡¯s not hung up on something.-</em>


    T grunted. Still, she couldn¡¯t help but watch as they vanished around a corner. <em>Even so, he¡¯s grown.</em>


    <em>-So it would seem.-</em> t seemed to have something else that she <em>wanted </em>to add, but she held back.


    T decided not to press the alternate interface. She shook her head¡ªrecentering her thoughts¡ªbefore turning to regard the massive factory-like building behind her. ¡°Well, this should be interesting if nothing else.¡±


    She entered the obvious¡ªcustomer facing¡ªentrance, ignoring therge doors that seemed to be for deliveries eithering or going. As she pushed open the human-sized door, a little bell <em>dinged</em> as she entered.


    Terry let out a little chirp that was nearly¡ªbut not quite¡ªthe same note as the little bell.


    A receptionist sat behind the counter, and she looked up with a professional smile as T entered. ¡°Greetings, Mistress. How can we assist you, today?


    ¡°Good morning. I am here to see my sister, if she is avable.¡±


    The young woman seemed to hitch slightly, stiffening and then seeming to shift in order to meet T¡¯s gaze more fully. She then swallowed visibly. ¡°Your sister, Mistress?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± Terry trilled out in emphasis, his eyes now open as he regarded the receptionist critically. T ignored the avian and continued. ¡°Nea? I believe that she¡¯s a new apprentice here.¡±


    The receptionist¡¯s eyes had initially lit with recognition at the name, but then that light faded slightly. ¡°New? Well¡­ we do have an apprentice Nea here, but she¡¯s been here for well more than a year.¡±


    T blinked a few times. <em>There¡¯s no way it¡¯s been that long¡­</em>


    <em>-Yeah, T, it has. Nea turned thirteen two months ago. It¡¯s been just about fourteen months since you¡¯ve seen her.-</em>


    <em>Huh¡­</em> T only really hesitated for a moment before smiling in response to the receptionist. ¡°Oh! Right, that should be her, then. Can you let her know that T is here to see her?¡±


    The young woman looked slightly hesitant.


    <em>What¡¯s the issue?</em>


    <em>-Well¡­ an apprentice is meant to be under the protection and auspices of their master. A Mage like youing in and asking for her to be brought to you, could be seen as an attempt to take her away. There is that inherent danger, at least. Especially since it seems they weren¡¯t aware of you. They likely paid some for her apprenticeship contract, but they¡¯d still have to defer to you, if you demanded it.-</em>


    <em>Oh¡­ huh.</em>


    Finally, understanding what might be the issue, T added, ¡°I would be grateful to meet her master as well, if he is avable?¡±


    That got yet another odd look, but the poor receptionist seemed to have decided that this whole situation was too important for her to make the final call. ¡°One moment, Mistress. I will see what I can do.¡±


    As she stood to leave, she hesitated once more.


    ¡°Can I get you anything while you wait?¡±


    T <em>almost</em> asked for coffee, but with a flick of her awareness, she saw that Mistress Petra had quite a bit of the glorious drink already ready for her, waiting in her sanctum. ¡°No, thank you.¡±


    As she was left alone, T pulled a mug of coffee from a portal which had opened into her sanctum that altered its size to perfectly roll over the vessel as she pulled it forth. Thus, it would likely have looked like she simply pulled the drink from thin air¡­ if anyone had been watching.


    Well, Terry had been watching, and he let out an incredulous sound, looking her way with one avian eyebrow raised.


    ¡°What?¡±


    He looked back and forth between her and the coffee, then squawked.


    ¡°Oh, you want something?¡±


    He squawked with a sound that seemed to say that such was obvious.


    T just chuckled and pulled a big hunk of mundane pork-belly from her sanctum and tossed it for him.


    He flickered briefly and the entire thing¡ªwhich had been nearly twice the size of her hand¡ªvanished without even a whisper of sound.


    Terry simply snuggled down on her shoulder, closing his eyes and falling back into quiet contentment.


    T downed her coffee far, far too quickly, but then she just opened a portal just inside the mouth of the vessel, the other end opening at the bottom of the coffee carafe within her sanctum.


    A momentter, her mug was filled, and she closed the portal, promising herself that she would drink slower this time.


    She did not follow that promise.


    Even so, the door opened once more before she could refill her mug again. So, she stuck the drinking vessel back into her sanctum as three women entered, leaving her hands empty.


    One of the women was the receptionist, and she immediately returned to her desk, to work on her Archive te.


    <em>Huh, I didn¡¯t notice that before. They must be doing very well to be able to have one for their receptionist.</em>


    The second was obviously Nea, even if she looked quite a bit different than she had a year earlier. She stood straighter in addition to actually being a bit taller. Additionally, the girl had a bit of muscle, and T''s threefold sight noticed heat-calluses and small scars from countless knicks on her hands and forearms.


    The final woman looked to be in her mid-forties. She had simr calluses and scars, but hers seemed older¡ªmore set¡ªthan Nea¡¯s.


    Both Nea and the third woman wore heavy clothing, covered by leather aprons. The clothing seemed to be well designed for easy movement, and of cloth that could bear up to heat with reasonable ease. They both also had their hair tied up under headcloths. Their faces were slightly red, likely from hard work and heat exposure, and both had a thinyer of sweat and grime across their exposed skin.


    It was the older woman who spoke first, bowing, ¡°Mistress T. It is a pleasure to meet the sister of my apprentice.¡± Her eyes flicked toward the girl for a moment before she continued. ¡°She never said her sister was such a¡­ person of influence.¡±


    T hesitated briefly before giving a smile in return. ¡°It is good to meet you as well, craftsman¡­?¡±


    The woman startled briefly before responding, ¡°Oh, my apologies. I am Deani Toiin.¡±


    ¡°It is good to meet you, madam Toiin.¡± She then looked to Nea. ¡°How are you doing, Nea?¡±


    ¡°I am well.¡± She looked a bit hesitant. Even so, her eyes flicked to Terry, and she smiled. ¡°Good morning, Terry.¡±


    Terry trilled softly without opening his eyes.


    Nea then returned her gaze to T, ¡°To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?¡±


    T shrugged. ¡°I¡¯m in town for Osip¡¯s birthday, and thought it would be nice to check in on you.¡±


    Nea frowned. ¡°You aren¡¯t here to force me to join him? To force me to go to the Academy?¡±


    It was T¡¯s turn to frown. ¡°No? Why¡ªby the stars¡ªwould I do such a thing?¡±


    The young girl shrugged. ¡°You¡¯re a Mage, you clearly care what we choose.¡± She huffed augh. ¡°It¡¯s the only time we see you, when one of us is making the decision.¡±


    Deani cleared her throat. ¡°Would you like to take your sister for the morning? We can cover her duties, Mistress.¡±


    Nea shook her head. ¡°No, please.¡±


    Her response clearly surprised her master, but the older woman didn¡¯t press the issue.


    Nea met T¡¯s gaze. ¡°I would love to talk¡ªif that is what you would like¡ªbut this is my job, and I don¡¯t want to leave it at the start of the workday. I like my job. I love what I¡¯m learning, and I would appreciate being able to get back to it.¡±


    Deani¡¯s cheek twitched ever so slightly, but she didn¡¯t seem to be interested in getting between the two of them at the moment.


    T pulled back slightly. She¡¯d been about to gratefully ept the master ssmaker¡¯s offer, but clearly Nea didn¡¯t want that. ¡°Oh¡­ alright. When do you want to chat?¡±


    Nea looked to her master. ¡°We will finish around sunset today?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± The older woman smiled toward Nea. ¡°We¡¯ll be working into the dark from now on, but today, quitting time and sunset align well enough.¡±


    Nea nodded, turning back to T. ¡°Sunset? We can grab dinner?¡±


    ¡°Sure.¡± T smiled, feeling like she was back on safer ground.


    Her sister¡¯s mouth quirked up on one side. ¡°I¡¯ll be hungry.¡±


    T felt herself smile broadly in return. ¡°Me too. Pick where you want to go, and we¡¯ll do that.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll see you then, T.¡± Without another nce, Nea turned and went back into the workshop.


    Deani bowed again. ¡°Is there anything else that I can do for you, Mistress?¡±


    ¡°No, thank you for your time. I apologize if I disrupted things.¡±


    ¡°Not at all. Good day.¡±


    ¡°Good day.¡±


    Without any more words needed, they each turned and exited the little reception room through opposite doors. Deani went back into the heat of the ssworks, and T stepped out into the growing warmth of the early autumn morning.


    <em>Well, that could have gone better¡­</em>


    <em>-Could it have gone worse?-</em>


    <em>I don¡¯t actually know how. Well, she could have screamed at me, but that seems rather out of character for her.</em>


    <em>-Indeed.-</em>


    <em>Do I reallye across as only caring about them with regard to their choice of whether or not to go to the Academy?</em>


    <em>-We correspond with them about other things, but you do only show up for that¡­-</em>


    She grunted. She wasn¡¯t exactly willing to add yet another thing to do to her list. She was just going to be so busy until the end of the waning. Until then, there were just too many important things to be about for her toe to Marliweather more often.


    Maybe she could drop through more after that?


    <em>Yeah. That would be good.</em> She mentally began nning to do just that. But¡­ Alefast would finish waning in¡­ neen years.


    <em>Oh¡­</em>


    <em>-Yeah. That would do it. We¡¯ll prioritize them, once they¡¯re all in theirte twenties and thirties. I can see them liking that idea quite well.-</em>


    T sighed. <em>The sarcasm isn¡¯t very helpful, t. </em>She rubbed at her temples. <em>Well, Rane got us the morning to ourselves. Let¡¯s make the most of it. We can figure this out as we go.</em>


    t sent her assent, followed by an idea, <em>-There¡¯s a sweets shop just down the road.-</em>


    <em>Lead on!</em>

 Chapter 442: Unknown Quantity

    Chapter 442: Unknown Quantity


    T met up with Rane and Osip outside of the family¡¯s new house just before lunch. The n that they¡¯de up with was for the two Refined to take the siblings out for a meal. Obviously, Nea wouldn¡¯t be joining them, but they¡¯d grab a meal and catch up with her that evening.


    Thankfully, T hadmunicated with her siblings before arriving in the city, but they hadn¡¯t firmed up ns before the morning. As such, it wasn¡¯t actually difficult to get the school-aged ones out a bit early for lunch, and the professionals to have their work covered for a simr timeframe.


    Thus, Latna, Caln, Mita, Akli, Miro, Fedir, Olen, and Se were all prepared toe with them, when T, Terry, Rane, and Osip arrived.


    T took a moment to really look at the house behind the waiting group.


    It was set back from the road just enough to have a nice little entry garden, barely ten feet deep, but that was still pleasant enough.


    The house itself was nearly the same size as the shop, healers, and two residences that the family had been sharing with Master Leighis thest time that T hade for a visit.


    It wasn¡¯t shy in appearance, but it definitely looked to have been well constructed. Her threefold sight could actually pick up basically all the details of the construction, even those that would obviously be hidden to mundane inspection, and that confirmed that the outward appearance matched the truth of the matter. Those who had built the ce had done a great job.


    Within the house, her threefold sight also picked up theyout, seeing five rooms that the children appeared to be sharing, a far cry more than the two that they¡¯d had in their previous home. Their mother and father had a slightlyrger room¡ªbut not by much¡ªand there were enough open rooms and bathrooms throughout for such a family to not be constantly tripping over each other, even on days where inclement weather and ack of other activities might keep them all at home.


    The kitchen and pantry wererge, and it actually reminded T that, while she¡¯d been growing up, her mother had often expressed the desire for a bigger kitchen. Regardless, the woman had made do well enough as the family had always had plenty to eat at the right times of day. Sometimes it had been leaner than at others, but even so.Finally, a small office was tucked off to one side, overlooking the front entrance. The room looked like it was just for family and home business, rather than for the running of the family business.


    <em>The Alchemist is probably at the shop.</em>


    <em>-As makes sense. You¡¯ve taken five of his helpers from him at the moment, after all.-</em>


    T didn¡¯tment on that.


    After greetings were exchanged¡ªand everyone gave Terry head scratches¡ªT led her siblings toward a restaurant that could amodate a group of their size. More specifically, she led them to the one that she¡¯d already set up the meal with, so that it would be a smoother process.


    Osip was over the moon, gushing about all the little factoids that Rane had apparently shared with him about being a Mage. He would asionally also mention something that he¡¯d learned about the Academy, but that seemed secondary to the boy.


    Rane walked beside T with a sheepish smile on his face.


    ¡°So, it seems that the breakfast went well?¡±


    He shrugged. ¡°He¡¯s a good kid. Good question asker too.¡± He grinned and chuckled. ¡°Honestly, it reminded me of someone quite strongly.¡±


    T frowned. ¡°Oh? Who?¡±


    He hesitated. ¡°Wait¡­ are you serious?¡±


    Her frown deepened. ¡°Yes?¡±


    ¡°You, T.¡± He shook his head. ¡°You are one of the most intense question askers I¡¯vee across. Osip is actually a bit easier to deal with, because he¡¯sing from a ce of ignorance. His questions are easier to address than yours ever were.¡±


    She felt her cheeks color slightly, and she coughed. ¡°Oh¡­¡±


    They walked side by side for a bit before she shifted sideways to nudge him.


    ¡°Thank you. It seems like it was good for him, and it gave me some time.¡±


    ¡°Sure.¡± He smiled down at her. ¡°I was happy to help.¡±


    Latna fell back to walk beside T. ¡°So¡­ I can¡¯t help but see that you two are acting closer than you were even thest time that you were here¡­?¡±


    T grit her teeth, dreading theing exchange. Regardless, it was going to happen at some point. So, she mastered herself and answered, ¡°Yeah. We are courting.¡±


    Latna let out a happy squeal, causing the other siblings to look back. ¡°They¡¯re courting!¡±


    T¡¯s eldest sisterughed happily, and T grimaced again. Still, the other siblings offered congrattions before turning back to avoid what was clearly a more personal conversation.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯m sorry.¡± Latna rambled. ¡°I should probably have let you tell them when and how you wanted, but that¡¯s so exciting!¡± She giggled again.


    T¡¯s eye twitched, but she kept herposure.


    ¡°So¡­ When are you getting married? When will you have kids? I want my nieces and nephews, and it¡¯s not like any of the others are up for parenthood soon and¡ª¡±


    Rane cleared his throat, causing the exuberant woman to stop her word-vomit. ¡°Pardon, but T did say courting, not betrothed. We are taking our time to really make sure this is the right choice. Who to marry is always an important choice¡ªjust like whether or not to get married in the first ce. For us, though, we will have to bear or thrive with our choice for far longer than most. T and I will take all the time that we need to ensure that it is the right choice. As to children? If we do get married¡ªwhich I hope we do¡ªwe very well may not have children for a long time. That is, again, a critical choice that <em>we</em> will make when the time is right.¡±


    T could tell via her threefold sight that every sibling had heard Rane¡¯s response, but she didn¡¯t care. She would treasure the look of utter shock on Latna¡¯s face for a <em>long</em> time.


    <em>-I¡¯ve gged this particr memory for easy recall.-</em>


    <em>Thank you, t.</em>


    <em>-I aim to please.-</em>


    T couldn¡¯t keep a smile off of her face. She couldn¡¯t have said it better herself, anding from Rane, Latna wouldn¡¯t argue. If <em>T</em> had said it, her sister would have seen it as a sisterly challenge and set out to contest the various points. Rane, though? He was still enough of an unknown quantity that Latna wouldn¡¯t push propriety by arguing.


    Latna cleared her throat, clearly gathering herself once again. ¡°Well. I see. Thank you for rifying things, Master Rane.¡±


    Rane gave a slow nod of acknowledgement. ¡°Of course.¡±


    T shifted her walk a bit closer to him, reaching out to hold his hand. As they sped, T squeezed his in thanks, and he gave a light squeeze in return.


    That set the tone for the whole lunch. The topics discussed were light and friendly, mostly consisting of T and Rane inquiring about the siblings and their lives in greater detail.


    No one else inquired about their rtionship, but no one really seemed to feel the need to. After all, Rane hadid things out rather inly up front, and T was more grateful than she could easily convey to have the topic dealt with so cleanly.


    * * *


    T, Nea, Rane, and Terry sat around a table in a rather fancy restaurant. The sun had set and it was thest meetup of the day.


    To their credit, the staff hadn¡¯t batted an eye either when T had requested a ce at the table for Terry, nor when the group had ordered food specifically for him.


    Nea had been delighted by the turn of events, and that had, as a result, cut the tension.


    When T had picked the girl up from the ssworks, she¡¯d been rather filthy. So, T had shunted her into the sanctum for a bath and to have a chance to change¡ªNea had at least had some clean clothes to put on. If she hadn¡¯t, T would have had to make her clothing with her own elk leathers, before severing the material, much as she had for Kannis¡¯s little silver man¡ªFannis¡ªin the past.


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    T had let Nea out just beside the restaurant, much to the girl¡¯s startlement, but the surprise had quickly passed, assisted by the whole Terry seat and food situation.


    Now, they were awaiting their food, and the silence was <em>almost</em> getting ufortable. There was, of course, the din from the rest of the building which reached them as a quiet murmur and the distant clink and scrape of metal and earthenware.


    T could hear it more clearly¡ªand Rane likely could too¡ªbut she was able to tune it out to the point a mundane would experience it, simply pleasant ambiance.


    Rane cleared his throat, speaking into the quiet, ¡°So, T tells me that you¡¯re enjoying ssmaking? What¡¯s that like? What do you enjoy about it?¡±


    Nea seemed hesitant for a moment but answered nheless, ¡°Well, I find it really gratifying to work with my hands¡ªand the various tools¡ªto take what is essentially specialized sand and craft useful products at the end. There is something¡­ just wonderful about creating things with such a range of utility. I can create sks and other implements for alchemy, though I¡¯m not really skilled enough, yet, to do so. At the same time, I can create panes for windows that anyone could have use for. There is obviously a range of other things that ssmakers provide that are both between and beyond those two extremes.¡± She shrugged. ¡°That marriage of being able to both help peak craftsmen in their work and themon folk improve their day to day lives is really wonderful.¡±


    Rane smiled, but didn¡¯t respond immediately, his eyes flicking toward T.


    She felt gratitude well up once again. He¡¯d gotten the conversation started, but he was letting her take it from there. ¡°That sounds like a wonderful way of seeing things.¡±


    Nea¡¯s eyes narrowed slightly. ¡°But you don¡¯t see it that way?¡±


    T hitched at the seeming hostility. She frowned, confused. ¡°Well, obviously not, but I chose differently than you did, and that¡¯s fine. Some people enjoy ssmaking, alchemy, or baking, some enjoy magic. I just happen to be one of thetter, and you the former.¡±


    The girl seemed to be mulling over T¡¯s words, likely looking for some hidden barb or slight. Blessedly, Nea didn¡¯t seem to be able to find one. Finally, she exhibited the directness of children¡ªand those often called socially inept¡ªand asked what was really bothering her, ¡°Why do you onlye when one of us is making the choice of whether or not to go to the Academy?¡±


    T blinked a few times. She¡¯d wanted to address that exact issue, but she¡¯d assumed that she¡¯d have to approach it delicately, maneuvering the conversation around to it. <em>She¡¯s as direct as Osip is.</em>


    Her eyes flicked to Rane, remembering hisment about her own questioning nature.


    <em>As direct as me, I suppose.</em>


    Terry trilled a series of calming notes, obviously sensing the sudden tension, and Nea reached over to scratch hisrger-than-usual head. He had grown to be about their size, so that he was nearly eye-to-eye with them while perched on the chair that had been provided for him.


    T finally gave a slow nod, drawing attention back to herself. ¡°Thank you for the direct question.¡± She smiled at Nea¡¯s look of confusion and continued on, ¡°When I went to the Academy¡­ I didn¡¯t really feel that I had much choice. I felt abandoned and cast out. I don¡¯t regret going¡ªnot by any means¡ªbut I do regret the manner in which it happened, the way in which the choice was made. While I don¡¯t know you all that well¡ªand our lives are hardly connected by more than brief threads of remembrance and the loosest ties of blood¡ªI did not wish for any of you to be in the same position as I was.¡±


    Nea raised one eyebrow, ¡°That was rather honest of you. So, it¡¯s for our own good?¡±


    T huffed augh. ¡°Only indirectly. It is for my own ego.¡±


    That seemed to surprise the girl yet again, and she didn¡¯t have a ready response.


    ¡°I refuse to have you all in the position that I was in. So I make it so that doesn¡¯t happen. That is one of the benefits I am afforded with my position. While I am impressed that you secured your own future without need of my influence, I would have happily helped set you up in any profession you desired.¡±


    ¡°ssmaking is what I desire.¡± Nea stiffened, seemingly ready to mount a defense of her own choice.


    ¡°I was not trying to say otherwise.¡± T smiled. ¡°As silly as it sounds, what I have least of right now is immediate time.¡±


    Nea frowned. ¡°Immediate time?¡±


    ¡°Time in the now. So long as I am not killed, I will live a <em>very</em> long time. Thus, all things considered, I have time in abundance, but it isn¡¯t avable to me <em>now.</em>¡±


    ¡°So, what you need is a loan, to get more time now and pay it backter?¡± The girl grinned at her own example.


    <em>She really is a clever one.</em>


    <em>-All your siblings seem to be, yeah.-</em>


    Rane chuckled, and Tughed. ¡°Actually, yes. If I could do that, I would in a heartbeat. What I am doing helps a lot of people, and while it¡¯s <em>possible </em>that others could do my job just as well, I don¡¯t know that for sure. There are others in simr positions to me, and so I can take times like this, but I always feel like I should be back there, fighting for humanity. That is what I feel called to.¡±


    Nea was about to respond when there came a knock on the wood beside the open entrance to their semi-private dining space. Their food had arrived.


    What followed was a flurry of activity as a massive spread wasid out before them. The four of them expressed their gratitude to the staff before digging in.


    After the food was eaten and they¡¯d all settled back in a state offortable fullness¡ªexcept T, who simply stopped when the others did¡ªNea brought them out of the easy silence, ¡°You know. I do know that I chose to stay based on fear¡­ The core of my choice away from the Academy wasn¡¯t built on solid reasoning.¡±


    T leaned forward a bit but didn¡¯t say anything.


    ¡°Magic is amazing in so many ways, but it¡­ it just doesn¡¯t feel right to me. I know¡ªin my head¡ªthat I have a gate, and I have magic but choosing to wield it specifically?¡± She shook her head. ¡°It just doesn¡¯t seem right to me.¡± She hesitated then quickly added. ¡°For me! It doesn¡¯t seem right for me. I don¡¯t have anything against Mages¡­obviously.¡±


    T smiled. ¡°So, you¡¯re happy with your choice, then?¡±


    ¡°I am.¡± The thirteen year old girl smiled broadly in return. ¡°I really, <em>really</em> am. The work is hard¡ªand ss is <em>wickedly</em> sharp¡ªbut I really love what I am learning to do.¡±


    T¡¯s smile grew and softened further. ¡°I am so d to know that.¡±


    From there, the night progressed inpanionable ease. After a while, they got dessert and continued talking until Nea let them know that she really needed to get some sleep. Throughout that time¡ªand the walk back to Nea¡¯s master¡¯s house¡ªT did her utmost to inquire deeply into her sister¡¯s life, even if this one had made choices that she simply couldn¡¯t understand.


    * * *


    Their time in Marliweather passed quickly, and in the end, T, Rane, Terry, Master Leighis, all her remaining siblings, and their parents gathered to see Osip off to the Academy as one big group. Even Nea hade with her master to give him a hug and tell him goodbye in person.


    The boy was exuberant, talking about how he would say hi to all their siblings and friends once he arrived, and how he hoped to see the younger siblings on the ind as soon as they were old enough.


    And then, with a deceptively small flick of power, he was gone.


    T bid her siblings, Master Leighis, and Nea¡¯s master goodbye then. T and Rane left, Terry riding contentedly upon T¡¯s shoulder.


    Her eyes lingered on her next oldest brother even as she went to leave the out-bound teleportation room.


    <em>Fedir will be making his choice in just over two years¡­</em>


    <em>-Do you think you¡¯ll be back before then?-</em>


    <em>Honestly¡­ probably not.</em>


    Rane looked her way, her pause seeming to clue him in to some of what she was feeling. His voice was just above a whisper, ¡°You¡¯ll see them again.¡±


    She shrugged. ¡°In two years, probably.¡±


    He raised an eyebrow. ¡°Oh?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, Fedir will be turning twelve in two years,e the winter.¡±


    He grunted at that. ¡°Is there any way to see them sooner?¡±


    T sighed, then began to shake her head. Then, she really took in what her threefold sight was showing her¡­ the teleportation tower. ¡°Oh.¡±


    Her voice was loud enough that everyone turned to regard her.


    ¡°Oh, I¡¯m a fool sometimes.¡± She turned back toward her siblings, smiling. ¡°Hey, before I go, I just had a realization.¡±


    Those listening exchanged nces but didn¡¯t interrupt.


    ¡°Anytime any of you wish to visit me, I will pay your teleportation expenses.¡±


    There was a moment of stunned silence, and T took advantage of that to add a brief exnation.


    ¡°I would teleport to you all, but I have some¡­ peculiarities that would make that exceedingly difficult.¡± She smiled wanly. ¡°On the other hand, it would be very easy to have youe visit me and be back here within the same day.¡±


    The adults were staring at her with mouths open, they understood the expense of such an offer, even if most of the children wouldn¡¯t.


    Latna and Caln definitely did, and they were almost as aghast as the non-siblings.


    <em>Why are they acting that way? It¡¯s just more than two pounds of silver to pay for a teleport each way.</em>


    <em>-Per person, per visit. You just offered to let them do it whenever they wanted. If they all came, that would be just more than thirty two pounds of silver. That¡¯s more than five gold.-</em>


    <em>¡­ oh¡­ can we afford that?</em>


    <em>-Marily? It would actually be pretty difficult if they visited very often, but¡­-</em>


    <em>Mistress Ingrit?</em>


    <em>-Yeah, I¡¯m reaching out to ask if we can make a deal to allow your siblings to teleport to you. How many teleports do we want to get out of this?-</em>


    <em>I think it¡¯s an unknown quantity. Let me know if we can¡¯t get that.</em>


    <em>-Understood.-</em>


    Their conversation within T¡¯s head had taken less than a second. As such, the siblings were just exploding with excitement as t began reaching out to the Librarian.


    Rane leaned closer to T. ¡°If you need extra funds to make that happen, let me know.¡±


    She smiled his way. ¡°I¡¯m working on something, but I¡¯ll keep that in mind. Thank you.¡±


    He nodded in return, a small smile pulling at his lips before he whispered, ¡°I have a thousand gold you can have.¡±


    She jerked slightly, then had to fight down augh while ring at him in mock anger.


    He simply smiled back until she broke and grinned, shaking her head andughing under her breath.


    Her offer sparked a much longer conversation, but when things calmed down, it was decided that T wouldmunicate with Latna, as that sibling had the most consistent ess to the Archive.


    With the basics ironed out¡ªthat of the first visit being in a month¡ªT bid them goodbye once again, leaving each of her siblings with a token from the teleportation tower, which would grant them transport to Alefast at the appointed time.


    Back on the streets of Marliweather, heading toward the gates, Rane nudged her. ¡°That was really kind of you. I¡¯m sure they¡¯ll appreciate seeing you and having the potential of greater ess going forward.¡±


    She gave a weak smile in return. ¡°I certainly do hope so.¡±

 Chapter 443: Family Visits

    Chapter 443: Family Visits


    T nervously scratched Terry¡¯s neck and head as he perched on her shoulder.


    <em>No need for nerves, T, you just saw them a month ago.</em>


    She and Rane stood in the teleportation tower within Alefast, awaiting her siblings'' arrival.


    They¡¯d considered having everyonee to the teleportation receiving array within Kit, but as T was only set up with one such tform, that would have been a bit inconvenient to coordinate and make work well for all of the arrivals.


    This one time, Illie, Nc, Dagan, Alva, and Osip would being from the Academy to join her other siblings for the day. That wouldn¡¯t be very frequent, as T had to pay for their reinscription upon their return to the Academy¡ªthey also had to endure the ssic inscribing process as well¡ªand that made it untenable very often.


    Still, they had arranged for it to take ce before each subsequent sibling was to make their own choice about the Academy. Those visits would have the Academy attendees arriving in Marliweather though. That way, they¡¯d get to see their parents and friends, too. This time, however¡ªjust this once¡ªthey were alling to visit T in Alefast.


    Rane ced his hand on her hip¡ªacross her back¡ªsubtly drawing her in closer. She leaned into him, allowing his presence tofort her. Terry chirped and flickered to the opposite shoulder so as to not be between them, before nuzzling T¡¯s cheek to givefort of his own.


    Rane spoke calmly and quietly into the tense silence, ¡°This is going to be great, T. We have all of the meals arranged and tables at the restaurants reserved. They will get to see the city as a whole and have context for what you do, going forward. The battle-view restaurant experience should be fun for all of them, too.¡±


    This particr day, T and Rane should have been on the night shift, but it was the time in their cycle of duties to be fully off for the day. Thus, they wouldn¡¯t have a shift until the following afternoon.At precisely six hours past midnight, the teleportation circles began to light up throughout the building as T watched on with her threefold sight. For those at the Academy, it waster in the day, and those in Marliweather likely had just barely begun to see the light of dawn start to gray the sky over the mountains.


    The Alefast branch of the Teleporters¡¯ Guild requested that they keep two iing teleportation arrays unused, just in case any other iing traffic chose this time to arrive. Thus, it would take a few waves for all her siblings to arrive, but that was fine.


    They arrived in quick session, with Mages present to receive them and ensure nothing had gone amiss with the process. Soon enough, all fourteen of the siblings were together with T, Rane, and Terry in the base of the teleportation tower.


    There were enthusiastic greetings and inquiring questions for and from those who¡¯de from the Academy, but T grabbed their attention with a quietly spoken sentence, infused with a bit of power to ensure everyone heard despite the volume. ¡°Come on, I have a ce reserved for us for breakfast. We can talk more there.¡±


    It was a short walk through the crisp autumn air, and the siblings continued their chatting even as they followed T and Rane.


    t and Mistress Ingrit had arranged it so that her siblings coulde visit her every four months or so. They would arrange the specific times in the future, but that was the future, and in this moment, T was with her siblings again.


    It promised to be a fun¡ªif uneventful¡ªday.


    * * *


    All the siblings goggled at the magnificence of the battle-view restaurant. Its well-appointed interior andvish disy of wealth in the form of wall-sized active-link Archive tes was overwhelming to those who knew just what such things should cost.


    T actually found it somewhat humorous to watch Latna¡¯s eye twitch as they all rose up on the lift when she realized that each of the massive windows on the upper floors¡ªfacing over the walls¡ªwas also such a te, just one that could also be rendered clear.


    Even T didn¡¯t know what that had cost.


    They went all the way to the top where they were greeted by several attendants and led to arge table that had been held for them.


    There were some odd looks from other patrons¡ªall with much, <em>much</em> smaller parties¡ªbut no one seemed actually upset or otherwise negatively affected by things. After all, with the privacy magics in ce, theirrge group almost <em>couldn¡¯t</em> disturb anyone else.


    T watched her brothers and sisters begin to look over the menu¡ªthe older ones helping Se and Olen¡ªand smiled to herself at how excited they were for what was on offer.


    She cleared her throat, ¡°Please, order whatever you like. If you can¡¯t finish what you order, we¡¯ll save it forter.¡±


    That sparked them to be <em>really</em> excited, and they all settled in for breakfast.


    Rane, Terry, and the siblings had just barely given their orders to the servers when Illie spoke up, ¡°Now, I am sure that most of you already know him well enough, but I¡¯ve only ever talked to Master Rane through a few brief Archive messages. Now, he¡¯s courting our eldest sister?¡±


    Rane froze in ce¡ªtea halfway to his lips¡ªand he set down his cup before turning to look at the girl who had maneuvered to sit directly beside him, on the other side from T.


    T suppressed a smile. <em>Mageling mistake.</em>


    <em>-Not that any of your siblings would have been </em>that<em> safe.-</em>


    <em>Nc?</em>


    <em>-...true. Rane should have sat next to Nc or Osip. I retract my objection. It was a mageling mistake.-</em>


    Illie leaned in a bit closer. ¡°So? Tell me everything.¡±


    Rane, to his credit, didn¡¯t flinch away from the inquiry. ¡°What do you want to know?¡±


    ¡°Well, for one, when she was missing and we were all informed that she was most likely dead, you didn¡¯t believe that. How did you know that she was alright? You messaged us long before she returned, assuring us that she was still alive and that there was a good chance she¡¯d be back.¡±


    T frowned. <em>That¡¯s right¡­</em> She turned toward Rane along with every one of her siblings.


    Even Terry opened his eyes and oriented on Rane, his head tilted to one side.


    Rane cleared his throat. ¡°Well¡­¡± He swallowed even as he seemed to be considering. ¡°I had solid reason to believe that she wasn¡¯t dead, and I had faith that she would return.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s what your message said, but <em>what</em> solid reason? <em>Why</em> did you have such faith?¡±


    He gave a shrug. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but I quite literally cannot tell you. It would be in breach of the very means that allowed me to know, so I cannot say more.¡±


    Illie narrowed her eyes at him, but finally, shrugged in turn. ¡°I suppose I can¡¯t fault you for that.¡±


    Rane visibly rxed.


    <em>Another mageling mistake. </em>T almost smiled, knowing that Illie was about toe at him again.


    She didn¡¯t have to wait long, ¡°So, why are you courting my sister? Why her?¡± The younger girl leaned around Rane to meet T¡¯s gaze. ¡°No offense, of course, but it bears asking.¡±


    T smiled in return. ¡°I can¡¯t say that I¡¯m uninterested in his answer.¡±


    Rane let out a long sigh. ¡°And <em>I</em> can¡¯t say that I didn¡¯t expect something like this.¡±


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    Illie grinned. ¡°So, you must have a ready answer?¡±


    ¡°Of course.¡± He grinned in return. ¡°She is beautiful, a powerful Mage, a meticulous thinker, willing to change her opinion when presented with new evidence, willing to put herself in danger for the good of others, and a skilled fighter.¡± His smile turned warm. ¡°And those are just the things that are easy to quantify.¡± He turned to look at T. ¡°It also helps that she wants to court me.¡± He chuckled at that. ¡°That is the critical piece that makes the rest meaningful in the end. And, of course, any of those things in istion isn¡¯t the reason. It isn¡¯t any individual thing, but how they¡ªand so much moree together to make her, <em>her.</em>¡±


    T found herself reddening at his words, and at the attention that all her siblings were now paying to her and Rane.


    Illie narrowed her eyes for a moment before nodding. ¡°That is an eptable answer.¡± She then turned toward Nea. ¡°So, ss? That¡¯s quite the choice.¡±


    Tension that T hadn''t specifically noticed in Rane slipped away as attention moved from him. While he was seemingly prepared for a question like this, he had still been nervous.


    She found his nervousness a bit endearing; so, she reached over and squeezed his hand even as other conversations sprang up around the table. T spoke softly enough that only Rane and any others with enhanced hearing should be able to hear. Though, the restaurant''s privacy fields removed thetter, leaving only Rane as able to hear, ¡°I liked your answer.¡±


    He smiled at that, whispering in return, ¡°Good. That¡¯s all that really matters in the end.¡±


    Without further whispering, they turned their attention to the meandering conversations already bubbling up around the table.


    * * *


    Illie and Nc were utterly incredulous as T told yet another¡ªhighly edited¡ªount from her time in the arcanends.


    The other siblings had heard most of these stories, but Illie and Nc had been at the Academy when T hade back, and they hadn¡¯t seen her in person since.


    Even so, no one seemed to mind the rehashings, and as they gathered around the more intimate dinner table within T¡¯s sanctum, T found that she enjoyed entertaining them with the retellings.


    The day had been full, but in a way that was almost entirely mundane.


    She¡¯d introduced her siblings to her Defender unit-mates, taken her brothers and sisters up on the wall, watched Defender battles in the battle-view restaurant over breakfast, toured the city, and had lunch in a little, out of the way ce¡ªwhich practically burst at the seams to amodate them all at once¡ªbut aside from the personal aspects to some of those things, anyone could have done the same.


    Even now, sitting around the dinner table telling stories was a deeply <em>mundane</em> pastime, the content of the tales notwithstanding.


    The siblings all had to get home, but they¡¯d arranged for their departure to be flexible, and no one seemed quite ready to go just yet, even when T felt like she had run out of stories from the Arcanends that she was willing and able to tell them.


    Mita, her second oldest sister, spoke up then, surprising most of them given her usually quieter nature, ¡°What about your work around here? Certainly you have some stories from your time as a Defender.¡±


    T looked around. ¡°Oh, I don¡¯t know. I¡¯ve already been talking a lot.¡±


    The siblings all mored to state that they didn¡¯t mind that at all and that they wanted to hear the stories.


    When T still seemed hesitant, Rane smiled and interjected, ¡°I am happy to help some. I haven¡¯t been a Defender for as long as T has, but let me tell you. We¡¯ve seen some crazy stuff.¡±


    Everyone leaned in, clearly epting his offer.


    ¡°Let me see¡­ Do you want to hear about us fighting copies of ourselves? Your sister battling with an Anatalin wolf whilstpletely uninscribed? Or a tale of twisted magics and a name locked to all but one gifted Mage, which gave an evil magician long life?¡±


    After a moment of silence, the younger siblings exploded with their own preferences. As soon as they had, though, they heard what the others had said. Some immediately switched to be like one sibling or other, and some reiterated their choice, now firmly set in their preferred choice.


    Battlelines had been drawn, and it seemed that there would be a bit of a show before the story.


    T felt herself smiling at the antics of the younger ones, enjoying the knowing looks of resignation on her older siblings almost as much.


    <em>You know? I am so d that we did this. Thank you for all your help in making this happen, t.</em>


    <em>-Of course, T. You are most wee.-</em>


    * * *


    T waited patiently as Alder Zat¡ªthe next oldest Zat child¡ªteleported into her sanctum from the Academy after finishing the fall session of sses, hisst session.


    The young man shed his light winter jacket¡ªthe most that would have teleported with him¡ªjust after stepping off of the teleportation receiving circle within T¡¯s sanctum. He¡¯d clearly been wearing it at the Academy, but felt no need for it, here.


    T willed it to be dry, warm, and nicely arranged for his departure, whenever that may be.


    Alder bowed in thanks to T as his outerwear was whisked away, likely not actually aware that it was her direct doing, but still being respectful as he was aware that the sanctum was her home.


    It had been two months since T¡¯s siblings visited and since then, they¡¯d been in far greater contact. Honestly, T hadn¡¯t realized how much of a barrier had been between them before her invitation and actualization of the teleports removed it.


    But this wasn¡¯t a time for her siblings. She and Terry were here with the Zats.


    Alder looked around with wonder at the clear ¡®outsideness¡¯ of his surroundings. ¡°Well, this is spectacr.¡±


    ¡°Wee, Alder.¡±


    He bowed again in her direction. ¡°Thank you, Mistress T.¡± He smiled. Master Simon and Mistress Petra had been sure to be <em>far</em> more clear in their messages about who T was, to avoid another incident like what happened with Anna. ¡°It is my honor to have such a reception.¡±


    His eyes flicked to Terry even as the terror bird regarded him critically.


    ¡°You must be Terry. It is good to meet you, too.¡± He seemed wary as he spoke.


    Terry fluffed himself up before trilling in contentment and closing his eyes, much to Alder¡¯s clear relief.


    T smiled. ¡°I am happy to have you. Come, your family is finishing up dinner preparations.¡±


    As they began walking, T searched for something to speak on.


    She could have just willed them to be at the table for dinner, but she could see that they weren¡¯t quite ready to receive Alder yet, so she decided to take the more mundane route. ¡°Was it a pleasant teleportation?¡±


    He chuckled. ¡°It was, but I must say, I¡¯m a little concerned to be around iron again.¡± He shivered. ¡°I know there won¡¯t be much in here, but out in the city? The guards have so much of it, I can already practically <em>feel</em> my own magic trying to invade me, even without inscriptions.¡± He smiled wryly. ¡°Though, obviously, that¡¯s all in my head. I haven¡¯t ever even experienced it firsthand.¡±


    T blinked at him. ¡°Iron? Do you have an allergy? An aversion?¡±


    ¡°Oh no, nothing specific. I just dislike it as much as every Mage. I¡¯m sure you understand.¡±


    She blinked at him again, her brain reframing and remembering what it was like to interact with Mages who felt that way.


    <em>-Lyn has never really said she feels differently, you know.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, but I just sort of assumed that she¡¯d gotten over it¡­ or something.</em>


    <em>-That¡¯s not a very kind assumption¡­-</em>


    <em>Well, she was mainly concerned about me leaving iron about, and I literally can¡¯t do that anymore.</em>


    <em>-...fair.-</em>


    T just smiled at the young man, contemting dropping her illusion and showing him all the iron that she had about her person.


    <em>-That would be mean¡­ funny but mean.-</em>


    Instead, T simply motioned him toward where the rest of his family was waiting. ¡°Indeed. This way.¡±


    Soon enough, Anna wasughing with her brother, checking up on some of her friends and acquaintances who had still been at the Academy when she¡¯d left.


    T leaned back and listened to the Zat familyughing and catching up.


    Segis and Metti had warmed up to their older brother, despite him having left shortly after Metti was born. Annathas¡ªand Hanna before her¡ªhad begunying the groundwork for loving, fun siblings returning from the Academy, and that likely helped a lot.


    Mistress Petra was doting on her son, much to his consternation.


    Master Simon was joking with the young man even while subtly inquiring as to his prospects on a master.


    All told, T was a bit overwhelmed by how much they were <em>not</em> like her own family.


    She tried to get on with her siblings, but the more she considered it, the more she realized that theck of the parental figures really changed the dynamic. She would have to be mindful of that when her siblings visited.


    Regardless, she simply enjoyed being a part of the family meal.


    There was much that she wanted to learn for when she had family meals of her own.


    <em>One day¡­ far in the future.</em>


    Anna was excitedly exining how she, herself, was progressing as a mageling. In fact, she expected to be raised to full Magehood in just two more years. By that point, her training in the mundane arts would beplete, and her foundations in magical healing would be fully solidified and unified with those non-magical methods.


    That really floored T, if she was being honest.


    Two <em>more</em> years of being a mageling¡­ she just couldn¡¯t imagine it. <em>Fedir will be making his choice about the Academy about then.</em>


    <em>-You had a </em>very<em> unusual path, T. Anna is actually an example of a rather speedy rise for a healer. To be fair, that is a more knowledge-heavy profession, given all the treatment ns and disease and recovery theory and such. So, her choice requires more training before she can be raised. Your own time as a mageling would just have been to gain experience and confidence under a seasoned hand¡­ along with the filling in of knowledge gaps in general, but you already know about that rather extensively. Useful? Absolutely, but not required to do the job.-</em>


    T grunted at that, though quietly enough that it was lost among the family¡¯s exuberance. Instead, she took another long drink, and settled in to watch, and hopefully learn something.

 Chapter 444: Sunset Date

    Chapter 444: Sunset Date


    T, Rane, and Terry sat within her sanctum, just enjoying the sunset.


    T and Rane had spent a chunk of the day¡ªafter their morning shift¡ªparticipating in War Games, and they¡¯d <em>finally</em> beaten thest mundane challenge.


    ¡°I cannot believe that it took us nearly six months to ovee twenty-five mundane scenarios.¡±


    Rane huffed augh. ¡°Yeah. It didn¡¯t help that we were constantly changing sizes, body shape, and even capacities. Most of the scenarios would have been hard even without that.¡±


    T grimaced. ¡°I¡¯ll say. I just about pped Master Grediv when we came to the ¡®blind¡¯ one.¡±


    His voice deepened as he mimicked the Paragon, ¡°Find the yellow ball.¡±


    ¡°If I knew what shade of yellow that rusting thing was, I¡¯d never want to see it again.¡±


    Rane grinned, looking her way. ¡°To be fair¡­¡±


    She groaned. ¡°Don¡¯t.¡±He continued anyway. ¡°You haven¡¯t ever seen it to begin with.¡±


    She sighed, briefly fighting back her smile. ¡°You just couldn¡¯t help yourself.¡±


    But they were bothughing.


    Terry cracked one eye open to regard them, before letting out an incredulous, burbling series of chirps and turning his head to face away from them.


    Rane¡¯s smile remained as he brought up another of the scenarios, ¡°Well, I personally thought fighting with an arm missing was rather enlightening.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s for sure. I¡¯ve fought without an arm asionally, but it was always for short stints. The way it throws off your bnce?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, and it messes up your entire kinesthetic alignment. It¡¯s so hard to get proper leverage without the counter-acting limb.¡±


    ¡°Try doing it with a ive¡­¡±


    Raneughed at that. ¡°Master Grediv did offer to let you switch weapons.¡±


    ¡°I know¡­ but that seemed like it would have been failing¡­¡±


    ¡°Unlike dying in the scenario over and over?¡±


    ¡°Hush, you.¡± But she was chuckling. ¡°That was just a temporary failure. Changing weapons would have been <emsting.</em> Even so, I think Master Grediv was hoping that I¡¯d ¡®learn¡¯ and change eventually.¡±


    Rane barked augh. ¡°I know, right? His face when you won? That was glorious.¡±


    Her smile grew. ¡°It was indeed.¡±


    Rane leaned back a bit, resting his hand between them.


    T took it and gave it a light squeeze, looking out at the sunset. ¡°Does it bother you?¡±


    ¡°Hmm?¡±


    ¡°Does it bother you?¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°That this sunset isn¡¯t real?¡±


    He chuckled. ¡°Technically speaking, no ¡®sunset¡¯ is real, or more urately, I would argue that this sunset is as real as any.¡±


    She frowned, looking his way. ¡°I think I understand what you mean, but please exin.¡±


    He chuckled again. ¡°The sun never actually goes away, right?¡±


    ¡°Right.¡±


    ¡°The world just turns so we can¡¯t see it any more.¡±


    ¡°Right.¡±


    ¡°So, the sun setting is purely based on our perspective. It¡¯s not a real, distinct event, it¡¯s a matter of perspective.¡±


    ¡°You could say that it¡¯s a real event for any given ce, though. Right?¡±


    ¡°Oh? And how would you define that real event?¡± He had a knowing half-smile on his face.


    She mimicked it as she purposely fell into his ¡®trap.¡¯ ¡°A sunset would be the time in the evening when the sun is disappearing¡ªand daylight fades¡ªfrom the view of a given area.¡±


    He pointed toward the horizon. ¡°Is that sun disappearing?¡±


    Sheughed. ¡°Yeah.¡±


    He gestured around them. ¡°Is the daylight fading?¡±


    She nodded, squeezing his hand again. ¡°It is indeed.¡±


    ¡°Then, I submit to you that this is, in fact, a real sunset.¡±


    T huffed anotherugh. ¡°As you say then.¡±


    He took another drink and set his cup aside once more. ¡°But to your question? No. I¡¯d rather see a sunset in here than a ¡®real¡¯ one out there, without you.¡±


    She shook her head. ¡°tterer.¡±


    He shrugged. ¡°Only when it¡¯s true.¡±


    She smiled at that, then they fell back into silence for a time, before, ¡°Rane?¡±


    ¡°Hmm?¡±


    ¡°Have you ever wondered¡­ what does immortality really mean?¡±


    He sat up a bit, looking her way. ¡°What do you mean?¡±


    ¡°I guess¡­ Does that really mean our options now are a violent death or¡­ outliving our? The sun will go supernova at some distant future point. Are we going to live to see that?¡±


    Rane let out a long exhale. ¡°I hadn¡¯t really thought of it that way, but maybe? Probably not.¡± He then grinned. ¡°After all, no one¡¯s ever lived that long before.¡±


    Sheughed. ¡°Quoting true but misleading statistics won¡¯t help any.¡±


    ¡°Ahh, but it made youugh.¡±


    Her smile grew at that. ¡°True enough.¡±


    ¡°But, to your question? I think¡­ immortality means we carry arger burden. We need to help raise humanity up. We are literally the top percent of a percent of the most advanced Mages of all gated-humans who have ever lived.¡±


    ¡°Ever?¡± T shook her head. ¡°While I think that¡¯s true. I believe that we¡¯re rarer, even, than that. I think we¡¯re almost that for all of gated-humanity alive just right now.¡±


    He considered for a moment. ¡°That might be true, yeah.¡±


    <em>-I can tell you</em>¡ª-


    <em>Hush, I¡¯m having a conversation.</em>


    <em>-Fine¡­ spoil sport.-</em>


    ¡°So, immortality means responsibility to you?¡±


    He shrugged. ¡°In the best way, but yeah. Responsibility sometimes gets a bad name, but honestly, it¡¯s what gives life meaning.¡±


    She considered for a long moment before nodding. ¡°I can see that, actually. Without responsibility, without being useful in some way¡­¡±


    ¡°We¡¯d just be hedonistically drifting through time.¡± He chuckled. ¡°That actually reminds me of some of what I learned when Master Grediv had me research some of the previous attempts at governing gated-humanity.¡±


    ¡°Oh?¡±


    ¡°Yeah. Apparently, Archons at one point provided everything to non-Mage, gated-humanity. We gave them food, drink, shelter, education where they wanted it, and the opportunity to do basically whatever they wanted besides.¡±


    T turned a bit more toward him, interested in the results. ¡°What happened?¡±


    <em>-I can tell you.-</em>


    <em>Of course you can, but you won¡¯t.</em>


    <em>-...fine.-</em>


    ¡°Our cities almost copsed. It turned out that concentrating the responsibility in only a few people caused a general sense of apathy and directionlessness. More than that, though, it was simply impossible for a few administrators to urately predict the needs and wants of the poption, even on rtively small scales.¡±


    T frowned. ¡°Really?¡±


    If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the vition.


    ¡°Yeah. There were supply issues of all kinds. Things that people wanted were in too short of supply with no easy way to determine who should get the limited quantity and who shouldn¡¯t. There were things that were made that no one ended up wanting, and people often took more than they really needed¡ªor even truly wanted¡ªbecause they <em>might</em> need or want it, and there was nothing keeping them from doing so.¡±


    ¡°That sounds frustrating.¡±


    ¡°Yeah. It could have been solved by just giving everyone the same stuff and removing choice or agency, but that would have been an even greater concentration of responsibility on the already over-stretched few, and it would have been its own kind of awful for everyone involved. The difficulty came down to a very few people trying to control or regte supply with <em>everyone else</em> determining the ever changing¡ªalmost infinitely variable¡ªdemand. After all, if a thing is free, people tend to use more of it. If everything is free¡­¡±


    ¡°I can see that being an issue, yeah.¡±


    ¡°There was also the issue that, with the responsibility concentrated, it not only didn¡¯t work, but people didn¡¯t want to be forced to bear the burden of that responsibility. The percentage of people going to the Academy dropped <em>drastically</em> because almost no one wanted to be Mages, given all that was expected of them whenpared to what was expected of mundanes¡ªessentially nothing.¡±


    T grunted, thinking of her own motivations for getting things done. Would she have done half of the things she¡¯d dove into without her initial debts? That really set her trajectory as a Mage, and she¡¯d been continuing along that path ever since. Even so, she was certainly against anything that would give others the same burden she had. There had to be some way to bnce things out¡­


    Rane continued, pulling her back from her thoughts, ¡°Thus, the very people who provided everything to society were in danger of fading into non-existence. Of course, some people rose to the asion, doing everything they would have done otherwise and more, and Archons could have kept everything going for a bit longer, but they saw the writing on the walls and removed thergesse. There were¡­ unpleasant responses, but it didn¡¯t take long before people were too busy doing what they had to do in order to survive. Some people suffered¡ªwhich Archons did their best to mitigate¡ªbut most of gated-humanity seemed to rise to the challenge¡ªthe responsibility¡ªof fulfilling their own needs, and those of the people who depended on them.¡±


    ¡°And Archons didn¡¯t have to be administrators.¡±


    He chuckled. ¡°Yeah, and that.¡±


    ¡°But even now, we still do things that help.¡±


    ¡°Oh, absolutely, though what I¡¯ve read¡ªand found in discussions with other Archons¡ªis that inspiring charity within the culture has far better results than trying to have the Archons¡ªor any overarching administrator¡ªprovide it.¡±


    That¡­ that actually made sense. ¡°Put the responsibility of caring for those in need on the average citizen?¡±


    ¡°Precisely, yeah.¡± He chuckled. ¡°I won¡¯t pretend to understand how or why people work like that, but history is apparently pretty clear that we do.¡±


    T shrugged. She hadn¡¯t researched it as deeply as Rane seemed to have, but what he said lined up with what she did know. It also lined up with what she could see. When people helped each other, they were more connected by existence threads than when some higher authority came in and took care of any ills. Individuals were literally forging connections between themselves and those whom they gave help to that just weren¡¯t present with a top-down approach. Even so, her mind returned to the topic of immortality, and her eyes moved to Terry. ¡°You know, in thinking about immortality...¡±


    ¡°Back on topic, right.¡± He smiled her way.


    Her lips pulled up on one side in return as she continued, ¡°I hadn¡¯t really considered what soul-bonding with me would mean for Terry, longevity wise.¡±


    Terry opened his eyes, lifting his head to look her in the eyes.


    ¡°I do understand that it is a heavy ask, but you¡¯re already considering that, aren¡¯t you.¡± It wasn¡¯t a question.


    Terry trilled in a way that conveyed the obviousness of the truth of that.


    She chuckled. ¡°Fair enough. You might already be immortal¡­ though, I don¡¯t think so.¡±


    He squawked andyed back down, clearly not interested in pursuing the conversation.


    Rane let out a long, contented sigh. Then, noting that the dialogue between T and Terry was done, he continued their conversation, ¡°Speaking of immortality and responsibility. If we stay the course, we¡¯re going to have an outsized impact on humanity, in the long run. Have you ever considered that?¡±


    She¡­ hadn¡¯t ever really considered that, but it was definitely true. Rust, t had let her know that there had been inquiries into what her ¡®style¡¯ was called, and who had made her clothes. Mistress Ingrit had handled most of those, but the more general ones that hade from those able to message her directly? t had taken care of those.


    But fashion influence wasn¡¯t really what Rane meant.


    ¡°Honestly, I don¡¯t know? I¡¯ve only known humanity as it is, and I don¡¯t know enough to ¡®imagine a better world¡¯ or anything like that.¡±


    He huffed, a smile still resting easily on his face. ¡°That¡¯s fair, I suppose.¡±


    She watched him for a long moment in the fading light. ¡°What about you?¡±


    He grunted at the question, but took a bit to answer it. ¡°I think¡­ If I was in charge, I would want people to be able to defend themselves better. I¡¯m just afraid that to do that, we¡¯d have to remove some of our defenses of the mundanes, let them experience the dangers of the world more than we already do.¡±


    It was T¡¯s turn to grunt in understanding. ¡°Yeah. On the opposite side of that, it wouldn¡¯t be <em>that</em> hard to have a high-level Archon apany caravans just a little less often in order to remove most if not all of the danger, except around wanings.¡±


    ¡°And the dangers that are sometimes tolerated within cities¡­¡±


    ¡°Yeah¡­ in my understanding, the only type of danger we don¡¯t tolerate<em> at all</em> is danger that specifically targets children.¡±


    ¡°Precisely. That¡¯s one reason why the bog hags are so universally reviled.¡±


    ¡°But if we removed those dangers, if no one experienced danger or needed to defend themselves before bing an Archon¡­¡±


    ¡°Then not only will fewer people than ever want to be Mages, but those who do be Bound will be utterly unprepared for what is expected of them. It would be thergesse issue all over again, but in a different area of life.¡± T grimaced. This was hardly what she wanted to be discussing in the fading light with Rane, as important as it was. ¡°But it¡¯s not like we create the dangers, or even encourage them when they are noticed. My understanding is that we simply don¡¯t devote excessive resources to finding absolutely every possible danger.¡±


    ¡°That is essentially true. Even the idea of Fused or Refined escorting every caravan hasrge downsides that reduce the desirability of the idea. It would drastically increase the cost of inter-city goods and travel at the very least.¡± He sighed. ¡°There is some part that is our ability, but some is due to choice, and I can¡¯t say that I disagree.¡±


    T gave a sad smile, considering those who had been hurt and killed around her even during her short time running with the caravans. It would be nice to remove that hurt, to bring those people back, but would putting humanity in a bubble of safety really be the best thing for them? It really didn¡¯t seem like it would be.


    He shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I didn¡¯t mean to turn the conversation to such a topic.¡±


    ¡°No, it¡¯s fine¡­¡± She shifted up to kiss him on the cheek. ¡°These are important things, and I¡¯m d to have someone to discuss them with, rather than feeling like I¡¯m getting a lecture, or tolerating someone who¡¯s ignorant.¡±


    He smiled and leaned over to kiss her on the forehead. ¡°I feel the same.¡±


    After a moment¡ªin which she simply enjoyed the lingering sensation¡ªT had a realization, ¡°I think I¡¯d want humanity to be better educated.¡±


    He smiled. ¡°Oh? More school, then?¡±


    ¡°No¡­ I don¡¯t think <em>more</em> is the right of it. Maybe differently directed school? I don¡¯t know. Maybe somehow shift things around so that young adults can go back to school after a time of working? I feel like I would have been able to learn better if I was older before I went to the Academy, after the foundational information, at least.¡±


    ¡°That would sh with the standard family structures, no?¡±


    ¡°It could. But what if the parents are going to school at the same time as their kids? They finish off their education as the kids get started on theirs?¡±


    Rane tilted his head to one side. ¡°You know, that might actually work, at least for the oldest children.¡± He chuckled. ¡°It¡¯s worth considering at least.¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡± She leaned over against his shoulder. She willed her chair to shift slightly to allow the position, and it was so.


    ¡°You know, we¡¯re talking about immortality, but what about just after the waning? I know that¡¯s almost twenty years away, but that¡¯s still a lot closer than the explosion of our sun.¡±


    T smiled even though he couldn¡¯t see it. ¡°That¡¯s true. I don¡¯t know? I¡¯m here because I want to see a city wane. It would be nice to see a new one be built.¡± She considered for a moment. ¡°When I wasing back from the arcanends, I passed the ruins of the previous Arconaven. I think I¡¯d like to explore that ce, and maybe others too. You know? Just see what actually happens to our cities after we leave?¡±


    Rane nodded. ¡°Yeah, that would be really interesting to see first hand.¡±


    ¡°Exactly.¡± After a moment¡¯s pause, she continued. ¡°There are also the sea-port cities that are supposed to be set up differently than thend-locked ones, and Audel is supposed to be under rather morex management. There are even friendly arcanes who have been given leave to live there,pletely unhidden from the mundane poption.¡±


    ¡°That would be something to see for sure, yeah.¡±


    ¡°But outside of the gated-human cities there¡¯s even more to see. I know you are aware of the moving settlements¡ªthe viges and cities that don¡¯t wane and get rebuilt but actually <em>move</em> by their own magical and mechanical means.¡±


    He nodded.


    ¡°Well, I only saw one. I¡¯d like to go back as well as seeing more. Master Grediv even implied that there were some that were <em>flying</em>.¡±


    ¡°That does sound worth a trip.¡± He nudged her slightly. ¡°That¡¯s quite the itinerary.¡±


    She chuckled. ¡°Well, after the waning there will be¡­ a hundred twenty-five years?¡± She thought a moment before nodding. ¡°Yeah, about that until the Leskhin war is expected to begin this cycle. I¡¯ll want to be back for that, but that still leaves more than a mundane lifetime to see the sights.¡±


    ¡°It does indeed. Anything else catch your eye?¡±


    ¡°The north and east of the continent are interesting ces to consider. It could be fun to reach the Academy by actually traveling there. It would also be pretty interesting to see the northern forests. The Anatalins seem like they¡¯ll be more closely aligned with humanity in the future, and I¡¯d love to see what that actually means. I feel like my one match against their sireling was incredibly eye-opening, and I wouldn¡¯t mind learning more from them.¡±


    Rane nodded, his face falling into a neutral expression. ¡°I feel¡­¡± He shook his head. ¡°I think it¡¯s a mix of shame, disappointment, and regret that I wasn¡¯t advanced enough to fight with the wolf.¡±


    ¡°You probably could now. Right?¡±


    He seemed to consider. ¡°You know, I could, yeah. I don¡¯t know that I¡¯d do that well, yet. I haven¡¯t gotten my natural magics to <em>set</em> nearly as well as yours, and my soulbonds are decidedlycking, especially whenpared to yours.¡±


    ¡°I think it would be an interesting sh all the same.¡±


    ¡°It would at that¡­¡± He frowned. ¡°Why wait?¡±


    ¡°Hmm?¡±


    ¡°Why not take some time and visit some of these ces before the waning ends?¡±


    She pulled back and looked up at him, a mischievous grin ying across her lips. ¡°Responsibility, of course.¡±


    Heughed at that. ¡°You got me there.¡± She settled back against him, and after a long moment, he shifted slightly. ¡°Would you mindpany on all these wondrous travels?¡±


    She shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t really have an option any more. Irondale is filling up, and I¡¯m not going to kick the people out. Though, I imagine some will choose to leave when the itinerary is announced.¡±


    He chuckled that that. ¡°Fair, but I suppose I meant a more personalpanion.¡±


    She looked to where Terry was curled up, purposely misunderstanding him yet again. ¡°Terry?¡±


    He chirped without opening his eyes.


    ¡°You want toe?¡±


    He chirped again, clearly signally his agreement.


    ¡°Very good. Yes, I¡¯m happy to have Terrying along.¡± She couldn¡¯t hold in her grin as Rane shifted again.


    ¡°I meant¡ª¡±


    T interrupted him. ¡°I know, Rane.¡± She pulled back once again, looking up at him. ¡°I would love for you toe, especially if things continue as they have been.¡± She smiled. ¡°I think I would love to see the whole world with you, if I¡¯m able.¡±


    He leaned down at that, giving her a soft kiss¡ªtheir first kiss. When he withdrew he smiled. ¡°I¡¯d like that.¡±


    Their conversation fullypsed into silence then, as the stars shone down from overhead, and neither of them seemed to mind in the least.

 Chapter 445: Gateless Paragon?

    Chapter 445: Gateless Paragon?


    T stood in the atrium of yet another cell, Irondale anchored off to one side so it wouldn¡¯te inside with her.


    She hadn¡¯t made a true opening, as thest thing she wanted was gateless wandering out into such a ce, but she did specifically <em>ce</em> Irondale to one side. If she died, her remnant will should open the door and allow everyone out, at least for a time.


    At least, she hoped it would; after all, she couldn¡¯t exactly test the premise.


    Regardless, Irondale would be safe, even if the residents had to use the teleporter. After all, one of the things that the administrators had worked out was a ¡®residence fee¡¯ for moving in, equivalent to the cost and materials of a teleportation. In that way, by paying to move in, each person was ensuring they could get out in the worst case scenario.


    In theory.


    <em>I¡¯ll be fine. I¡¯m not going to die.</em>


    Even so, she still had an incredibly uneasy feeling. The one trapped within this particr cell was a Paragon in power, but the information that they¡¯d gathered was seemingly conflicted.


    Their group was there with their own Paragon, and he insisted that the information was clear. It helped that it was in their ownnguage, so it wasn¡¯t like there could be an issue of trantion. Even so, T didn¡¯t really understand how what the man said could be true.


    Master Clevnis was seemingly equally incredulous. ¡°Please, run that by me again, Master Virbold.¡±The tall man took a slow breath before shaking his head. ¡°I can¡¯t be any clearer, nor can I provide information that I wasn¡¯t given. This prisoner is very specifically called a Paragon, and yet it also emphasizes that she has no gate.¡±


    ¡°So, she¡¯s Honored.¡± The unit leader nodded in satisfaction.


    Master Virbold gave Master Clevnis a level look. ¡°We can keep going around in circles, or you can take the information I have to give, and let me get past the first sentence. She is a gateless Paragon.¡±


    T¡¯s unit leader was obviously about to argue further, but Mistress Cerna put her hand on her husband¡¯s arm. ¡°Clevnis, leave it. Let¡¯s hear the rest.¡±


    Master Clevnis threw up his hands, ¡°He¡¯s iming to have discovered dry water. That is a contradiction in terms. How are we supposed to take the rest of the information seriously if it begins with such madness?¡±


    She patted her husband on his shoulder, and he quieted down, even if rather grumpily.


    Master Virbold bowed her way. ¡°Thank you, Mistress Cerna. That was no longer productive.¡±


    She gave a slight nod of her head even as Master Clevnis grimaced and turned away, clearly irritated.


    Master Virbold cleared his throat. ¡°As I was saying, this prisoner¡ªMistress nnir¡ªis a gateless Paragon¡­¡± he paused, clearly making sure he wouldn¡¯t be interrupted and the briefing derailed again. When no one spoke, he smiled and continued, ¡°who specializedpletely in healing, to the point that she had virtually no offense or even defense. Instead, she would take absolutely any attack, and simplye back, even from total incineration or dissolution.¡± He consulted his notes, his eyes unfocusing for a moment. ¡°It even states that she somehow reformed herself here after her body was kicked into the Void or Doman-Imithe.¡±


    T frowned. ¡°None of that sounds evil or dangerous. Why is she locked up?¡±


    ¡°Because her soul was lost somewhere along the way. Her body, her mind, and her magice back regardless, but she no longer has a soul. Hence, gateless.¡±


    ¡°And her magics still work?¡±


    ¡°They do. This cell is a bit special as it was created to be utterly safe. Apparently, the prevalent theory was that she could regenerate from even the smallest cell that had ever been a part of her, her natural magics somehow stamping every bit of it with the totality of who she was. So, if she ever dies¡ªor is voided¡ªa different part of her activates and a new body is built.¡±


    Master Girt was frowning. ¡°Alright, so we can¡¯t let any of her get on us. Complete istion. That shouldn¡¯t be too hard if she has no magical attacks, means of movements, or otherwise.¡±


    ¡°It <em>shouldn¡¯t</em> be, no.¡±


    T was shaking her head. ¡°Even without a soul¡­ why is she locked up? We don¡¯t lock up every soulless bit of magic we find, certainly not in a cell.¡±


    The Paragon grimaced but nodded his understanding of the inquiry. ¡°Apparently¡ªeven though she was seemingly immune to Reality¡¯s influence due to her ongoing magic¡ªshe began to perform various experiments that were¡­ hical. Even beyond being hical, they were utterly uneptable.¡±


    <em>What on zeme could be so</em>¡ª But he addressed her unvoiced confusion before she evenpleted her thought.


    ¡°She believed that children held the key to immortality for the masses, and she saw no reason to safeguard ¡®a few children¡¯ when what she could learn could help all children born thereafter.¡±


    T swallowed, feeling disgust build within herself. It was Master Limmestare who asked the question that they all both wanted and didn¡¯t want the answer to, ¡°How many?¡±


    ¡°It is estimated that she killed more than a thousand children before she was caught.¡±


    Mistress Vanga gasped but didn¡¯t let it rest like that, ¡°Estimated? How could they not know?¡±


    ¡°She was very good at hiding her¡­ experiments, and the human cities were more dangerous at the time. Even as they tried to execute her, and eventually locked her in here, she insisted that she was close to a breakthrough. She <em>insisted</em> that the Archons of her day were all fools, and that she only needed a few thousand more test subjects to find the answer.¡±


    They all looked as sick as T felt.


    Master Virbold gave a sympathetic¡ªif still displeased¡ªsmile. ¡°There was some theory that, with her gate gone, she was able to develop some conceptual magics, that or she¡¯d soulbound some items without physical form, allowing her to keep ess to <em>some</em> magics. Though what they were wasn¡¯t recorded as they ¡®never manifested the same way twice.¡¯ So, be aware that things could go sideways.¡± The man shook his head. ¡°Losing her soul <em>should</em> have lost her any soulbonds, but that was the best guess at the time, and so she might have found some other path.¡±


    Rane shook his head. ¡°That¡¯s always the danger, but we¡¯ll be as ready as we can be.¡±


    Mistress Cerna moved around to each member of their unit, weaving a small spellform into each of their clothing. ¡°This will create a constant repulsive effect, as well as filtering any air you breathe in. It will make breathing harder, but not impossible and will still allow us to speak in order tomunicate. It <em>will</em> keep anything from sticking to us. So, we shouldn¡¯t be in danger of carrying a piece of her out. I can create a cordon of simr magics in stages through the tunnel, to prevent exfiltration, but none of that will prevent her from physically leaving.¡±


    T huffed augh. ¡°So, I¡¯m on physical imposition?¡±


    Master Clevnis stepped in as his wife motioned him forward, ¡°You and Master Rane. I believe that his ability to impart kic energy to Mistress nnir will be critical to mission sess if the worst happens.¡±


    She nodded before looking to Rane and sharing a smile with him. ¡°That works for me.¡±


    Master Clevnis smiled in turn. ¡°Even so, I would prefer for that to be ourst resort. Master Limmestare and Master Girt, please work with what you can to keep the prisoner back without actually harming her.¡±


    Master Limmestare frowned. ¡°Without harming? I can understand not killing, but no harming?¡±


    Master Virbold interjected here. ¡°I thought I conveyed this to all of you, but I suppose it got lost in some of the other oddities. She has somehow <em>weakened</em> herself so that she dies with rtive ease. In that way, she can slip free of restraints and other impediments via self-rebuilding elsewhere.¡±


    ¡°Ahh.¡± The studious Defender grimaced. ¡°That¡¯s unpleasant.¡±


    ¡°Indeed. Purposely altering yourself to make self-harm more efficacious is¡­¡±¡ªthe Paragon sighed¡ª¡°I suppose yet another result ofcking a soul.¡±


    Master Limmestare grunted. ¡°Indeed.¡±


    Master Clevnis took the conversation back over. ¡°The environment will be odd to us, as it was designed to¡ªtheoretically¡ªmake it impossible for her to kill herself. There aren¡¯t details, but I imagine it will be t at the very least.¡±


    Master Virbold cleared his throat, and Master Clevnis sighed before gesturing for the man to speak. ¡°Thank you. There are certain techniques avable in cell creation that might have been utilized here, despite their difficulty and expense. This might be a self-contained sphere, so as to not have any essible walls or edges. If so, it would likely be under extreme spatial distortion so that orbital mechanics couldn¡¯t be utilized to gain sufficient leverage to break a neck or the like. If so, it would appear t, but you would be able to see yourself in every direction. If that is the case, expect it to be incredibly disorienting to start with, and <em>she </em>will have had time to be limated to the oddities.¡±


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    T found herself nodding. <em>That sounds like a more advanced application of the dimensional anchor prisons we¡¯ve encountered in the past.</em>


    <em>-Oh, yeah, I can see that.-</em>


    Master Girt seemed to frown as he considered but didn¡¯t ask a question.


    So Master Virbold continued, ¡°Another option would be a cell without a floor at all, in which case she would be in a sort of odd freefall. For this case, it would probably have been altered to be a sort of mild gravity-well. In that way, she¡ªor anything else¡ªwould always return to the center at a slow, sedate pace. This would honestly be ideal from my understanding of the prisoner, as you all would simply be at the edge of the well, and would simply have to observe her until I have rebuilt the seals.¡± He considered for a moment before giving a small shrug. ¡°There are a few more esoteric possibilities, but they should be self-evident and won¡¯t be an issue if they have been used.¡±


    Master Clevnis smiled. ¡°As he said, let¡¯s get to it then.¡±


    The Paragon worked his magic and the actual entrance to the cell blossomed before them, revealing the standard tunnel that T hade to expect with most¡ªif not all¡ªcell entry ways.


    Mistress Cerna worked quickly to create the repulsion field across the entrance before they advanced. As they moved, she continued to work enacting the same magics every few feet. The result was a feeling of pressure, almost like a breeze, pushing at their back as they moved deeper.


    Directly behind Mistress Cerna was T, with Rane directly behind her. Masters Limmestare and Girt came next. Then Mistress Vanga and Master Clevnis brought up the rear.


    They came out the far end of the tunnel to find a small tform waiting for them upon which they could stand and look into the seemingly endless sky beyond.


    <em>So, gravity-well, then?</em>


    <em>-So it would seem.-</em>


    T frowned, looking around. She specifically swept her gaze and threefold sight above them and then shey down to look under the tform at the sky-like emptiness of it all. Her threefold sight had told her nothing was there, but she checked with her mundane eyes, regardless.


    The others were simrly scanning their surroundings until, finally, Mistress Cerna let out a quiet curse. ¡°She¡¯s not in here.¡±


    And that was the truth of it. The only contents of the seemingly infinite cell was a small book, floating in the center of the gravity well,zily spinning, like an item on disy for their perusal at a ridiculously fancy shop.


    <em>Well, rust.</em>


    Master Limmestare sighed. ¡°What do you think the chances are that she¡¯s somehow in that book? Trying to trick her way into an escape?¡±


    Master Girt barked augh. ¡°That would be just the thing, wouldn¡¯t it? Leaving an obvious item behind, that is actually her path to truly escaping?¡±


    Mistress Vanga cleared her throat. ¡°The thing is¡­ we have to check the book thoroughly, don¡¯t we?¡±


    Mistress Cerna grimaced. ¡°We do. If it is a trap or means of escape, she would know that we¡¯d have to, and this could be ying into her ns. Even so, I can make it as safe as possible.¡±


    What followed was some of the most beautiful interweaving that T had yet seen.


    Mistress Cerna created proverbial tapestries of interweaving threads of precious metals before powering them up in a ze of magically-radiant light.


    The results looked simple, but T could tell that they were anything but. Every action that was taken was behind at least six variedyers of safeguards, that T couldn¡¯t even properly parse, simply because they pulled from too many different types of magic.


    In the center of the space, the book stopped spinning before flipping open.


    One page after another turned as Mistress Cerna¡¯s eyes glossed over, clearly looking at something that they couldn¡¯t see. Well, she was obviously looking at an analysis of the book, which they could see, but her view of it wasn¡¯t visible to them.


    In the end, the woman cursed. ¡°It seems that she¡¯s really not here. Though, she did leave a detailed ount of how she got out.¡±


    Rane frowned. ¡°Why would she do that?¡±


    The Refined scoffed. ¡°Because she doesn¡¯t want any of the other things we have locked away to escape and inconvenience her. She actually expresses gratitude for our efforts along with understanding of the reasoning behind her own imprisonment, even if she disagreed. ¡®After all, mortals die all the time,¡¯ but they are still important. Moreover, she hopes that her path crosses with ours sometime in the future.¡±


    T felt something tickling the back of her mind. <em>Why does that sound familiar¡­?</em>


    Rane asked the obvious question, ¡°How did she escape?¡±


    ¡°Killed herself, apparently. She waited a decade or two after being trapped in here¡ªapparently by slowly counting to three-hundred and twenty million¡ªthen she held her breath until she died.¡±


    When Mistress Vanga started to object, Mistress Cerna held up a hand.


    ¡°I know, but apparently automatic breathing when unconscious is one of the things she changed about herself¡­ for some reason.¡±


    Master Girt shook his head, ¡°Well, this is the reason, and things like it. So, what? What did she advise for fixing the w that let her escape?¡±


    ¡°She said that if the cell had been lined with iron, she wouldn¡¯t have been confident of her own escape. Though, I think that suggestion isn¡¯t actually a serious one and wouldn¡¯t have actually helped. She also advised cing any such as her in a mental stupor, and she gave a long list of different self-propagating bacteria that could be designed or found to be introduced into any biological threat, which would render them insensate, theoretically forever.¡±


    T did <em>not</em> like the sound of that.


    The unit leader sighed. ¡°Regardless, I think it is mostly egotistical grandstanding, rather than really an attempt to be helpful. We need to ask Master Virbold to verify that Mistress nnir isn¡¯t using something that I can¡¯t detect to hide herself.¡±


    Master Clevnis nodded. ¡°And if he gives the all-clear, Mistress T?¡±


    ¡°Yeah?¡± She responded distractedly.


    ¡°We¡¯ll want to have Kit eat this space so that you can analyze it more fully and verify that there is no lingering presence or the like. Then, you should obliterate the remains as best you see fit.¡±


    ¡°Understood.¡± She and t were pouring through past interactions. The words and sentiment that Mistress Cerna had conveyed sounded like a <em>lot</em> of arcanes who she¡¯d had the misfortune of interacting with. Honestly though, it was a bit less monstrous than would be expected from one of them. So what was pulling at her thoughts and memory?


    This was one of the issues with her ¡®perfect¡¯ memory. She could remember anything that she tried to remember, but if there wasn¡¯t something specific to focus on, it was a matter of sorting through <em>everything.</em>


    And since she doubted the wording was exactly the same, she was trying to find things that were thematically the same.


    Master Girt went to get Master Virbold, and the Paragon was <em>not happy</em> with the turn of events. He worked with Mistresses Cerna and Vanga¡ªwith T using her threefold sight as well¡ªto thoroughly examine the entirety of the cell multiple times.


    Once it was verified that there was no consciousness in or tied to anything in the space, they performed other tests, followed by more tests. Finally, the Paragon said that there was nothing more they could look for.


    T had been sweeping the cell with her threefold sight over and over, trying to cover every aspect of the four-dimensional space she could perceive. Even so, it was only when Mistress Cerna drew the book closer that T saw something.


    ¡°WAIT!¡±


    Everyone froze. Even so, six differing magical defenses snapped into existence around the book and the Archons within the cell.


    T¡¯s eyes had snapped to the book and were locked there, even though what she was seeing didn¡¯t require her eyes. ¡°There¡¯s a <em>minuscule</em> reality thread leading from the book off somewhere else.¡±


    Master Limmestare looked excited. ¡°Do you think it¡¯s sufficient to track the woman down?¡±


    T shook her head even as Master Virbold did the same. She was the one who answered, though, ¡°Reality threads don¡¯t behave like that. Ironically, they use the void as often as regr dimensionality to ¡®connect¡¯ two things¡ªas the connection is not actually physical but representative or metaphorical¡ªand we don¡¯t know enough about void-ial navigation to pull something meaningful.¡±


    Master Virbold smiled at that. ¡°Well reasoned. Even so, given Mistress nnir¡¯s particr magics¡­¡± He shook his head. ¡°Honestly, it¡¯s probably far too much to hope for, but¡­¡±


    T grinned in return. ¡°Exactly. It isn¡¯t likely, but I think I <em>might </em>be able to increase her attraction along this reality thread, yes.¡±


    Master Girt frowned. ¡°Let¡¯s assume that¡¯s true¡­ what would that do?¡±


    She shrugged. ¡°In a perfect world, it might bring her here. In an imperfect world¡ªwhich I think we can all agree is closer to the truth¡ªit might force her back here the next time she tries to rebuild herself? Honestly, though, even if it works, it probably won¡¯t do anything.¡±


    ¡°So, even in the best case scenario, how does that help us? The cell clearly can¡¯t hold her. If she¡¯s not here, she¡¯ll have spread bits of herself all over the ce, unless she¡¯s an utter fool. She¡¯ll escape again as soon as she wishes to.¡±


    It was Mistress Cerna who answered that, ¡°But we¡¯ll get a new image of her. We¡¯ll get to talk with her, test her with words, and see her magics for ourselves. It¡¯s possible that she¡¯s still around nearby, and us pulling her here will reveal her in the outside world. Regardless, we could learn <em>something.</em>¡±


    The unit members all seemed to consider that before nodding one after another and turning toward T.


    Rane gave T¡¯s shoulder a squeeze. ¡°It¡¯s your show, T.¡±


    She smiled in return. ¡°Alright, let¡¯s see if this works.¡± She chuckled and then added, ¡°And if it works, let¡¯s see if it does anything.¡±


    She reached out with her amplification magics, focusing on the reality thread that led to a central part of the book.


    She built her mental model to lock onto the <em>other end</em> of the thread, and just as she did for reality nodes, she amplified the connection of that end to this, using her void-channels to dump power into the connection.


    Nothing happened for a long few minutes as T put more and more power into amplifying the connection.


    The reality thread didn¡¯t grow any thicker, but it somehow seemed to be more¡­ present? Something about the thread made it seem more important to T¡¯s threefold sight, like even though it was a tenuous connection, it mattered.


    <em>Like remembering a random person you talked to once, and suddenly not being able to get them out of my mind.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, it¡¯s cognitively simr to that, I think¡­-</em>


    After an hour, Master Virbold sighed. ¡°I think we might want to set a limit. What about a day of amplification?¡±


    They all agreed and settled in for a longer wait.


    Two hourster, <em>something</em> descended.


    T gasped, her active magics stuttering.


    The power that suddenly locked down the entire cell reminded her of only a single thing: when the power of Anatalis had disabled her inscriptions for the fight with the sireling.


    Master Virbold gasped and fell to his knees, blood trailing from his eyes.


    Then, an illusion appeared in the center of the cell. It was <em>clearly</em> an illusion, as if the person responsible for it wanted to ensure there was no doubt, and T thought that even mundanes would immediately identify it as such.


    The woman¡¯s face looked around in confusion. ¡°I¡¯m sorry¡ªnew body¡ªwho¡¯s this?¡±

 Chapter 446: Facing Perspectives

    Chapter 446: Facing Perspectives


    T had a hard time breathing at the sheer magical weight of the mere <em>projection </em>that was before them.


    The woman had caramel colored skin and vibrant violet eyes, with an iridescence to them that seemed to make the other colors throughout the cell pop in an unnatural way.


    Her hair was a silver that somehow spoke of youth rather than age, which made no sense to T.


    The projection of the woman seemed to not know where she was looking for a moment, but then she blinked a few times, and her soft voice vibrated the entire cell once again, ¡°Oh! This is a Cell, isn¡¯t it? Is this Zeme?¡± She gasped. ¡°I haven¡¯t thought about Zeme in <em>ages.</em>¡±


    T shuddered before the purr in the woman¡¯s voice.


    ¡°Now, how did you get my attention?¡± Her eyes flicked to Master Virbold. ¡°Huh, a Paragon? No, you couldn¡¯t have done this.¡± She looked at each of the unit members in turn, pausing on Rane. ¡°Oh! You¡¯re a young one¡­ a big one too.¡± Then, she sighed, shaking her head¡ªwell, she shook all of herself which was only a head¡ªand her gaze fell on T. ¡°Oh! It¡¯s you. You¡¯re the one who tugged on my connection to this ce.¡±


    T felt herself rise from the ground, even though she couldn¡¯t feel or sense any magic acting upon her.


    ¡°You are <em>fascinating.</em> Magics focused on staying alive¡ªI approve of course¡ªand those for amplifying the link between objects, with a foundation in gravity, but you¡¯re reaching beyond that, aren¡¯t you. Hmm, yes. You are going to reach beyond Zeme, or die on the path, aren¡¯t you.¡± It was not a question.


    T shivered again.¡°How <em>is</em> this ce doing, eh? I see that the arcanes haven¡¯t wiped out the gated, or even their ability to advance¡­ you aren¡¯t all arcane ves are you?¡±


    T saw everyone shake their heads as one, seemingly unable to resist giving an answer.


    ¡°Good, that¡¯s good. Humanity has some ridiculous scruples, but it would reflect rather badly on me if those I rose from were taken out while I wasn¡¯t paying attention.¡±


    There was an odd <em>flexing</em> around Mistress Cerna, and suddenly she spoke up, ¡°No. The arcanes and gated human cities have an unstable peace after the ck Legion disaster and unified response.¡±


    ¡°ck Legion? Why does that sound familiar¡­¡± The head grunted. ¡°Oh, well. I¡¯ve forgotten some of the more useless things, it seems. Does humanity still prize the individual over society?¡±


    This time it was around Master Virbold that the distortion was enacted. The Paragon was clearly straining, but he answered all the same, ¡°We have never prized the individual over society, but if you mean do we still prize individual <em>choice</em> and <em>free will</em> then yes. We do not make ves or test subjects of those whom we choose to protect.¡±


    ¡°Yes, yes. How noble. So nothing has changed.¡± She sighed. Then, her gaze flicked back toward T. ¡°But you. You look like a go-getter. Your magics show a wise order of priorities. Do you let others just walk around with something that you need?¡±


    There was an odd pressure around T, then. It wasn¡¯t invading her mind; it was more like the pressure stripped away her reasons to keep silent, as if reality or existence itself no longer saw a need for her to do anything but answer, ¡°From those who wrong me I will take without issue, but I will not harm the innocent, no matter what I might gain.¡±


    The woman clucked her tongue. ¡°That''s unfortunate. You aren¡¯t letting your true feelings surface. The very fact that you¡¯re lying to yourself and are hiding behind niceties and titudes, makes me a bit sad. Though, I suppose that¡¯s the influence of your gate¡­ tainting your view with a useless viewpoint of the other world.¡± She hummed to herself. ¡°You know¡­ I haven¡¯t thought of Zeme in so long¡­ It would be nice to get an update. I could take some time to uplift you, and remove your blinders, if¡ª¡±


    A rumbling growl resonated through the cell, and while the power of the arriving head had possessed a simr level of power to Anatalis¡¯ working, the growl was so undoubtedly him that T had no doubt that he¡¯d somehow woven that knowledge into the sound in order to leave no room for mistakes.


    The face grimaced, ¡°Down boy. I know the rules. I¡¯m not <em>taking </em>her. I¡¯m just making an offer that¡ª¡±


    The growl deepened, this time it was joined by a sound like wind through the trees, and T got the unmistakable feeling akin to when she had stood in the Leshkin forest.


    ¡°Fine, fine. And people wonder why I nevere home.¡±


    The growl turned into a low yip that T was <em>sure</em> conveyed the equivalent of ¡®No one wonders that.¡¯


    The sound of a single leaf falling somehow evoked agreement.


    ¡°Well, it¡¯s been fun thinking back on old times. I hope you all rot in that broken world, especially you, <em>pup.</em> As for you, silly tree, grow some eyes and take in more of existence. You¡¯re stagnating, dear.¡±


    The shiver of leaves and low growl built, and T saw the <em>entire cell</em> fill with seemingly spontaneously generating spellforms, magical manifestations simr to those T generated when fully iron-d, but on a <em>significantly</em> higher level.


    ¡°Fine! I¡¯ll go. I don¡¯t stay where I¡¯m not wanted.¡± Her gaze locked onto T¡¯s for a moment and clear interest zed in her eyes. ¡°Immortality leads to a long life, girl. When you put this broken mud-ball behind you¡ªalong with your silly concern with mortals¡ªlook for me. We¡¯ll talk, and I¡¯ll show you around, eh?¡±


    The magics in the air fully manifested, and the illusion was eviscerated. That included the disintegration of the very reality thread that T had used to draw the woman¡¯s attention.


    Everyone felt the pressure on them vanish, and they all gasped in great, sucking breaths.


    Then, T heard a voice within her head, and a simr flexing of reality, this time removing her barriers to <em>hearing </em>the truth in what followed, however much or little there may be, <em>¡°You remind me a bit of myself. Don¡¯t be a stranger, Mistress T.¡±</em>


    T¡¯s eyes widened, and as she looked back at the book, she saw an illusory eye appear just long enough to give what was undoubtedly a wink before it vanished once again.


    There was a long, <em>long</em> moment of silence.


    Finally, Master Girt barked a nervousugh. ¡°So, this prisoner is no longer a threat to Zeme?¡±


    Master Virbold sighed. ¡°Yes. I will testify to that.¡±


    No one seemed interested in disputing the statement.


    With that verified, the unit left the cell in subdued silence.


    T set Kit to the task of devouring the meal, ensuring that a small bit of the dimensional expansion was left. In that way, they could delve for a cell anchor in case one had been used.


    The dimensionality that Kit took in was added to T¡¯s sanctum for the time being.


    While Master Virbold worked on searching for an anchor¡ªand retrieving it if so¡ªT and t sorted through the dimensionality that had been granted, along with the air and other aspects of the cell.


    They did find some remnant biological matter that had been so thoroughly degraded as to distribute through the whole cell just like the air itself.


    T couldn¡¯t perceive any remaining reality threads¡ªthough whether they¡¯d never been there or Anatalis¡¯ and the Forest Spirit¡¯s working had broken them, they had no idea¡ªbut they wanted to be as safe as possible even so.


    T built up arge amount of dissolution magics and set it loose on the remnants, turning them to even finer dust. Then, she gathered it all together in a vacuum before dropping the temperature of her sanctum by a uniform one degree before focusing all the extracted thermal energy on the remaining particles.


    They zed white hot before atomizing entirely andbining with oxygen in the air¡ªthat she added in for the sake ofbustion¡ªinpletely different configurations, which should break any connections that might have lingered, even if those connections had been outside of their scope of detection.


    T then opened a portal and dumped the remnant matter onto the ground before analyzing it. ¡°There are no reality threads connecting to the remnants. If she still has a connection to any of it, it is beyond me to sense.¡±


    The others used their various methods to verify the same. That done, T let Kit <em>truly</em> eat the remnants, forever removing them from existence.


    This tale has been uwfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    Mistress Cerna was looking through the book to see if her mundane eyes noticed anything that the magical analysis had missed. ¡°Should we¡­ obliterate this too?¡±


    Master Virbold sighed. ¡°I¡¯mmunicating with some others. I should have an answer soon.¡±


    Rane cleared his throat. ¡°Are we just not going to talk about two Sovereign level beings seemingly acting in there?¡±


    Master Limmestare patted the big man on the shoulder. ¡°We are all still trying to process it, Master Rane.¡±


    He nodded. ¡°Yeah¡­ I suppose¡­ Yeah¡­¡±


    T was feeling incredibly conflicted.


    Yet <em>another</em> monster hadtched onto her as being of use to them in some way, or like them enough to garner attention and interest.


    Mistress, Be-thric, the Leshkin, the dasgannach, and now Mistress nnir.


    <em>Am I so twisted inside? Am I so messed up?</em>


    <em>-Or so full of potential that they want to twist.-</em>


    T <em>wanted</em> to believe that, but she couldn¡¯t help but remember the truth of her own actions.


    She had <em>obliterated</em> arcanes who weren¡¯t responsible for her circumstances by any stretch of the imagination.


    Rust, she remembered dueling with <em>gardeners,</em> killing them simply to get past them, to get what she wanted.


    <em>-You¡¯ve never killed a human.-</em> t hesitated. <em>-Reiki doesn¡¯t count. Reality killed her, you just let it happen.-</em>


    T huffed augh at that, but didn¡¯t really feel better. So, she¡¯d yet to kill a human. Is that what it took to be safe from her? One had to be of the same race?


    There was a certain type of evil in that. Her own race was safe, but everyone else was fair game¡­ she did <em>not</em> like the sound of that.


    <em>-But you have friends who are arcanes¡­ well, they were Tali¡¯s friends, but they¡¯d probably have liked you. Thron did!-</em> A momentter, t added, <em>-Master Lisa, too. You like him well enough, and you went out of your way to not extort him.-</em>


    T huffed internally. <em>I also know that I¡¯ll get more from him in the long run if I show him a modicum of decency, and I¡¯d get nothing more if I had pushed things.</em>


    It didn¡¯t help that she saw a lot of parallels between her own magics and that of the former prisoner.


    They both had focused on their own survival above almost everything else, even when a slightly greater split in their focus might have been able to help others more. Mistress nnir had evenmented on that,mending her for her choice.


    T grimaced at the memory.


    <em>-T, that is ridiculous. You seek to preserve your soul, she sought to preserve even a rusted shell, a mockery of her self, regardless of her own soul.-</em>


    <em>Do we know that? What if she strove just as I do, but when it failed and her soul moved on, she shifted her magics to take best advantage of her new reality? Isn¡¯t that exactly what I would do?</em>


    <em>-That¡­-</em> t sighed. <em>-That actually does make sense.- </em>Then, t seemed to have a realization. <em>-But, she would have had to be binding her ¡®soulbonds¡¯ to her body instead of her soul from the beginning to achieve this.-</em>


    <em>Or, once again, she simply found new things to bind after she lost her soul.</em> That was another thing that was bothering T. Even without a soul, the woman had seemed so¡­ human. The interactions had mirrored many of her talks with more advanced people. What did that mean?


    t clearly didn¡¯t like where T¡¯s head was at but didn¡¯t seem to have anything else to add.


    T ran her hands through her hair until they caught on her braid, and she wiggled her fingers and pulled them free.


    Rane sat down next to her. ¡°Are you okay?¡±


    ¡°No, I don¡¯t think that I am.¡±


    She opened a small portal into Kit and Terry flickered out, appearing on her shoulder and immediately nuzzling into her cheek upon seeing her.


    ¡°Thank you, both of you. I¡­ I think I have a lot to think through.¡±


    * * *


    Three weeks had passed since their encounter with Mistress nnir.


    Suffice it to say, T¡¯s mind was still spinning on the topic.


    She¡¯d even talked with Master Nadro, but his method of reflecting and asking probing questions hadn¡¯t been what she needed¡­ somehow.


    She really wasn¡¯t sure what had affected her so deeply about the woman¡¯s words, actions, and history.


    <em>Or I know exactly what, and I don¡¯t like it.</em>


    <em>-You were a prisoner, surrounded by those who would take your freedom or your life if they knew the real you.-</em>


    T raised a mental eyebrow at t.


    <em>-Wow¡­ I really walked into that one. But no! It¡¯s not the same. Mistress nnir killed children, explicitly and specifically. She experimented on them. You would never do that.-</em>


    <em>We believe she did simply because those who imprisoned her said so.</em> She shook her head before t could respond, countermanding her own thoughts. <em>No, I don¡¯t doubt that she did, though. Her own words make it rather clear that she would have had no issue experimenting on children. It just fits too well with her whole philosophy.</em>


    The thing was, T could still intimately remember her time in the arcanends. Her perfect memory allowed her to put herself back in the exact mindset she had held back then, and she simply couldn¡¯t lie to herself.


    She could see herself falling that low, bing that monster.


    If experimenting on arcane children could have led to her escape, T believed that she might have done it¡­ eventually.


    Even the very thought repulsed her.


    Nevertheless, she knew that, near the end, she had been bing more desperate, and while she didn¡¯t know how long it would have taken, it was within the realm of possibility that she would have been willing to cross that line.


    Mistress nnir had at least had the noble goal of improving humanity as a whole. T had only been focused on herself.


    Rane ced his hand on her shoulder, pulling her into a side hug.


    T jerked slightly, having somehow forgotten he was there. She looked around, blinking, taking in the base of the teleportation tower.


    <em>Why</em>¡ª<em>?</em><em>Oh. Right.</em> It was time for her siblings to visit again, and she, Rane, and Terry were waiting for the appointed hour of their arrival.


    There were fewer this time as those who were at the Academy weren¡¯t going to being, but that still meant that nine of her siblings were going to spend the day in Alefast with her.


    <em>t¡­ I can¡¯t deal with this. I¡­ I¡¯m not in a good ce.</em>


    <em>-When we are in a bad ce, that¡¯s when we need friends and family the most, T. See if this helps. If it doesn¡¯t</em>¡ª<em>or if it doesn¡¯t help enough</em>¡ª<em>we¡¯ll find something else to do.-</em>


    <em>¡­okay.</em>


    The siblings arrived in a tide, only taking two cycles of the avable teleportation circles to get them all together and ready for another fun day with their sister, T.


    T put on a brave face and did her best to be a good hostess, but in the end, after the sun had ser all the others had been teleported back home, Latna stayed behind, taking T off to one side, ¡°Hey, what¡¯s going on with you?¡±


    T frowned. ¡°What do you mean?¡±


    ¡°You¡¯ve seemed distracted all day, like something¡¯s bothering you, or you¡¯re afraid of something.¡±


    She grimaced at that. ¡°I had a run-in with someone¡­ unpleasant.¡±


    ¡°Oh? I¡¯d thought that you¡¯ve faced evil things before.¡± Latna seemed genuinely concerned.


    ¡°I have, but this time¡­ shemented on how alike she and I were, and she had some good points.¡±


    That took Latna by surprise. ¡°Oh?¡±


    ¡°Yeah¡­ It wasn¡¯t that we <em>are</em> the same, more that she highlighted how I <em>could</em> be like her with ease.¡±


    ¡°Why did you believe her?¡±


    T shook her head. ¡°It would be too convenient to just dismiss the idea. I think that I believe her because there <em>is </em>ovep.¡±


    <em>-You believe her because you fear that it¡¯s true.-</em>


    <em>Hush.</em>


    <em>-I will not hush. That¡¯s why you¡¯re acting like you believe her, despite her obviously being wrong. You aren¡¯t going to be like her. You¡¯re giving what little evidence there is behind her words more weight out of fear. Some evidence does not prove truth when other evidence exists that countermands it.-</em>


    Latna frowned. ¡°What¡¯s the core of the issue? What are you really concerned might be true?¡±


    ¡°That I have the potential to step on anyone I need to, in order to get what I need or want.¡±


    She grunted. ¡°That¡¯s a very human trait, yeah. I think we all have that capacity, that temptation. I don¡¯t agree with the assessment that you <em>will</em> though. Sadly, I would assume that my opinion doesn¡¯t mean all that much to you, especially in this moment.¡±


    T tsked augh, feeling a small smile pull at her lips.


    ¡°I will say this, the very fact that it bothers you should tell you something. You know, now, that you don¡¯t want that path. So? Don¡¯t walk any further in that direction.¡± Latna shrugged.


    ¡°What if that feeling is just my soul?¡±


    <em>-That¡¯s a stupid question, T. You are your soul. </em>We <em>are your soul. Remove your soul and what¡¯s left would be an entirely different entity than you.-</em>


    Latna blinked a few times. ¡°Just your¡­ I¡­ I think I am quite out of my depth.¡± She patted T on her shoulder. ¡°You are in waters which would drown me, T, but we are here, if there is anything that we can do.¡±


    T gave her a half hug, not really thinking much of the offer, but not wanting to be rude. ¡°Alright. Thank you.¡±


    With a simple goodbye, Latna moved to the teleportation circle and left in a pulse of power.


    Rane walked up beside T. ¡°You know, I don¡¯t know if seeing your family helped much.¡±


    T gave him a narrow-eyed look. ¡°What do you mean?¡±


    He returned a half-smile. ¡°You¡¯re clearly still stewing. If people don¡¯t help, what if we got away from people for a while? You wanted to see the ruins of a city, and there are some we can reach in less than a day. Let¡¯s take a bit of time and let you have space to clear your head.¡±


    She frowned. ¡°Like a holiday?¡±


    ¡°I suppose. I was thinking more of a break but holiday works too.¡±


    ¡°That¡­ that might be nice.¡± She felt herself smile at the idea. ¡°Thank you.¡±

 Chapter 447: To Study the Invisible

    Chapter 447: To Study the Invisible


    T set about arranging for her and Rane¡¯s break with zeal,ing out of the fog that had gued her for the past few weeks.


    For it to be truly a break, not just another item on her todo list, they decided to make it of indefinite length. It wasn¡¯t that she actually nned to be gone for even as much as half a year, but the very idea of having a time by which she <em>had</em> to be back, would have been a burden in the back of her mind, at least in her current state.


    t masterfully arranged things with Irondale, letting them know that T would be away from cities for the next few weeks at the very least, with no promised date of return stated.


    Because of that, T and Rane decided to start their trip after two weeks, to allow the citizens of Irondale to stock up where needed, and otherwise arrange for the absence.


    <em>Hey, if nothing else, this will be a good test of if they really want to be attached to me when I¡¯m wandering around.</em>


    <em>-Indeed it will. We¡¯ve already had a couple of people notify us of their departure.-</em>


    <em>Oh?</em>


    <em>-Only two. Not even a percent of our poption, which I think is rather promising.-</em>


    It became rather obvious that one reason most people had no issue staying was Irondale¡¯s immigration policy, which required a payment in advance of the funds needed to teleport out.Most people simply assumed that¡ªif they had to¡ªthey could cash out that and teleport back to a city of their choosing, only losing the possessions they had with them. It wasn¡¯t a great end result, but it turned it from a gamble for their lives to one for a bit of stuff. The people who had already chosen to live in Irondale were generally of the type to willingly take that risk.


    As for their roles as Defenders of Alefast? Master Grediv took their request for a leave of absence in stride. In fact, he went out of his way to thank them for taking the time rather than withdrawing from their positions. They would be weed back at any time.


    Apparently, it wasn¡¯t unheard of for Defenders to burn out due to one cause or another, even if it was still generally a rare urrence. It happened more often than Defenders dying on the job, so in the end, there were far more former Defenders than T might have assumed for such a dangerous line of work.


    Their unit mates were simrly understanding, wishing them the best. Master Limmestare and Mistress Vanga both teased in their own way that they¡¯d be sad to miss a wedding, if one happened, much to T¡¯s embarrassment, and Rane¡¯s difiture.


    As a final thing, T and t reached out to her siblings to let them know that it was possible that T wouldn¡¯t be in Alefast when the time for their next visit came around. Other than that, she would keep them apprised and make up the visit when she returned.


    They were understanding in their response, and that was that.


    All loose ends were tied up.


    Well, Artia and Adrill were a bit cross as she would have been taking their grandson from them for an indeterminate length of time. In the end, Artia applied for an exception to Irondale¡¯s gateless policy, and she and Adrill moved into Irondale permanently.


    She brought the totality of her stock that she couldn¡¯t sell with her, and it was only then that T realized a <em>massive</em> benefit to Irondale.


    <em>-Yeah, we really should have thought of that previously.-</em>


    <em>Indeed.</em> T was a bit floored that it hadn¡¯t urred to her earlier.


    They could transport unbound artifacts without restriction, indefinitely. It was, after all, how Master Lisa maintained his own stock in a non-waning city. T just hadn¡¯t extrapted from there.


    <em>Should we¡­ tell someone?</em>


    <em>-Absolutely not. At least not yet. We should definitely find a way of buying up a bunch of artifacts, though. We could be the primary source of artifacts rather easily in time.-</em>


    <em>¡­work up a contract with Artia. If she hasn¡¯t realized it, she will soon enough.</em>


    <em>-I mean, we could keep power away from the artifacts that she brought and keep her from realizing?-</em>


    <em>No, that¡¯s just unkind. I won¡¯t take action to purposely spoil someone¡¯s livelihood.</em> T sighed.<em> Let her know of the possibility, and find a way of working things out in a good way.</em>


    <em>-Will do, me.-</em>


    T shook her head, smiling. <em>Thank you, me.</em>


    <em>-But of course!-</em>


    ¡°What?¡± Rane leaned forward, across the breakfast table, having obviously noticed her action.


    ¡°Hmm? Oh! t¡¯s just being silly again.¡±


    He gave a hesitant smile. ¡°I will say, sometimes the way you talk about your alternate interface makes me a bit nervous to get my own.¡±


    T shrugged. ¡°Honestly, it¡¯s basically exposing me to how I likely seem to those around me. It¡¯s been eye opening in many ways. I think you¡¯ll do just fine.¡±


    ¡°Alright¡­ I¡¯ll trust you on that.¡± He frowned. ¡°But isn¡¯t it said that we dislike most in others what reminds us most of ourselves?¡±


    T considered. ¡°Yeah, I have heard that.¡±


    ¡°Then¡­ shouldn¡¯t a perfect copy of myself be the most irritating person to me who could possibly exist?¡±


    <em>He is so wise.</em>


    <em>-Hey!-</em>


    T grinned. ¡°Somewhat, but honestly, t and I have diverged enough that while she is still <em>me</em> she is me with a different set of circumstances. Yours will likely take longer as you are more Advanced than I was when t joined me, but as soon as he is in your head, you will start to branch.¡±


    Rane nodded slowly. ¡°Because everything I do will be like a y or a book to him, and his own existence will be utterly alien to my own.¡±


    ¡°Precisely.¡± Her grin widened further.


    He took a sip of his tea and nodded once more, decisively. ¡°Well, I¡¯ll be ready for my alternate interface when we get back, most likely.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s something to look forward to, then.¡± She picked up her mug and drank deeply of her coffee.


    * * *


    T rolled her shoulders and stretched in anticipation even as she stood at the southeastern gate with Rane and Terry, feeling an odd sense of trepidation.


    She wasn¡¯t heading to another gated-human city.


    She wasn¡¯t going on some cell-maintenance mission.


    She was facing away from every inhabited city in the cycle, and she was ready to just <em>go.</em>


    True, she had a preliminary destination¡ªthe ruin of the previous Arconaven to the east- southeast¡ªbut there shouldn¡¯t be anyone there.


    No one was waiting for her. No one was expecting anything from her. The timeline was her own.


    She took a moment to look at first Rane then Terry with her mundane eyes. They both returned the look with seemingly utter confidence in her.


    ¡°Thank you, both of you.¡±


    Terry trilled happily, and Rane simply smiled.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±


    They stepped outward, the city guards looking on with indifference.


    Workers left the city by the southeastern gate on asion to harvest lumber or to perform other tasks, so their path wasn¡¯t unheard of.


    To <em>them</em> it was just another day on duty.


    Even so, it was new for T. Thest time she¡¯d been at this gate was when she¡¯d met Master Grediv, having just arrived back from the arcanends with a body filled with dasgannach trying to steal her iron, and a heart still filled with fear that she¡¯d never get home again. Only Terry had been with her then.


    She scratched his head as he strode beside her, of a height with her.


    You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.


    But that fear, that danger was behind her now. <em>Literally.</em>


    -<em>Hah, very funny.-</em>


    She had an unbreakable Archive connection and a whole vige in her pocket. It was time to see a bit more of the world.


    Rane nced her way. ¡°I can tell you¡¯re having a bit of a moment¡ªand I¡¯m happy to stride off toward the horizon with you¡ªbut would you like us to go any faster?¡±


    Tughed, realizing that they were, indeed, simply walking at a mundane pace, like some storied heroes, heading for the sunset. ¡°Yeah. Let¡¯s pick up the pace, shall we?¡±


    Terry immediately flickered away, even as T crouched low and began reducing her own gravity.


    Rane just took off, kic energy simply being imparted through his magics to his entire being, sending him on a great, arching path into the distance.


    T had to actually push off of something, and she did so with gusto.


    Her surface area expanding scripts got extra power so that she didn¡¯t harm the ground, and then she <em>pushed.</em>


    The moment she left the ground, she dumped the extra power into decreasing her own gravity even faster, quickly reaching the desired level to allow great arcing leaps of her own.


    Unlike the trip to Bandfast which wove among mountains, this journey was a straight shot over the ins.


    All told, it was going to be a fast trip.


    * * *


    Tnded beside Rane and Terry on the hill overlooking¡­ nothing.


    Well, that wasn¡¯t quite true.


    There was no evidence of farnds, no crumbling city wall, and basically no evidence of buildings within line of sight, but the slight depression below them was precisely the size and shape for a city to be plopped down in the center.


    There were even the regrly spaced hills around the outside that had been¡ªand would once again be¡ªthe locations for mines.


    If she looked closely, she could also make out regrly spaced depressions where the outer defensive towers would have been¡ªand would be¡ªlocated.


    And all that was just addressing the surface level of things.


    Below their feet power <em>thrummed.</em>


    Where most Mages¡¯ magics were a noticeable trickle of power¡ªand many Archons felt like a raging river¡ªthe working below felt like a cier, flowing toward the sea.


    It was slow and powerful, drawing in precious metals and arranging them for the mining district of the next cycle. The far-reaching working would capture all the manifesting materials from the Mages¡¯ inscriptions that had been used in the area during the term of the city, as well as drawing more metals from deep within Zeme¡¯s crust.


    The magics were so powerful that they would actually draw in dasgannach like a siren''s call, and Archons would have to swing through every decade or so to pull them out, or all the metal would be gone before the cycle came back around.


    That was actually why so many Archons were able to have dasgannach for ready research, but such details and anciry topics were getting into the weeds of things.


    Rane was looking around, clearly feeling the same thing she was, the magic thaty underneath.


    <em>-Well, you aren¡¯t actually feeling </em>all <em>that. You are simply applying your knowledge to what you do feel.-</em>


    <em>That¡¯s¡­ fair.</em>


    She <em>could</em> feel cially powerful magics working beneath the surface, and she assumed it was the magics that drew in precious metals.


    Rane shifted. ¡°This is¡­ odd. I can feel a slight tug on my inscriptions. It isn¡¯t like they are actually being pulled on, but like the magics below are aware of the metal in my skin and ready to take it as soon as it is no longer within my aura.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s it!¡± T grinned toward Rane. ¡°That was the extra thing I was feeling, which made me sure that I knew what the magics were.¡±


    ¡°d I could help?¡±


    Terry looked between them and let out a long squawk.


    ¡°Yeah, yeah. Let¡¯s go take a closer look.¡± T grinned before walking forward.


    Her threefold sight swept the area and what she found was¡­ odd. She wanted a closer look.


    Before that more prative perception, there were remnants of civilization <em>everywhere.</em>


    Bits of metal from tools, clearly worked wood fragments¡ªeven the asional, cooked bones here and there¡ªall under the already thick turf. She had no idea why, but it was obvious that something was trying to ovee and subvert any evidence of humanity¡¯s presence here.


    <em>Reality itself, most likely. That would line up with what we¡¯ve seen.</em>


    <em>-Yeah.-</em>


    Funnily enough, now that she thought of it, she¡¯d seen simr things below the other cities she¡¯d been to. She¡¯d dismissed it as simple detritus building up and being pushed down, but now she realized that it was likelyyers formed by previous cities.


    She had been seeing the history of her people and hadn¡¯t even realized it.


    Terry let out a low whistling cry that added to the odd feeling.


    Rane nodded. ¡°You can say that again, Terry. Something feels <em>odd.</em> It¡¯s been a bit more than thirty years since this city waned, but it might as well have been a century by the looks of things.¡±


    T nced his way. ¡°How do you know that?¡±


    He shrugged. ¡°My time in the wilderness. Humans like forging into the unknown, and Master Grediv took me to various homesteads that either were active or had been abandoned. There are a <em>lot</em> of them scattered about. He made it a sort of test for me to try to guess how long a given one had been abandoned.¡±


    ¡°Oh?¡±


    ¡°Yeah. They degrade far more quickly at first than I expected, but after that initial term of decay, things somehow seem to slow down, and it takes a <em>really</em> long time for some things to fade away entirely.¡± He gestured around them. ¡°This? I would say most of this looks like it¡¯s been at least a century. Theck of walls, though¡­ if I didn¡¯t know better, I¡¯d say it shouldn¡¯t get to this state in even a thousand years, unless someone actively destroyed evidence that humans were here.¡±


    ¡°Huh.¡± T hadn¡¯t ever looked into such things, but it seemed reasonable as she considered it.


    <em>-I just looked it up, and he¡¯s right.-</em>


    <em>¡­Yeah¡­ I was fine just believing him.</em>


    <em>-I know, but it¡¯s still nice to check. Trust but verify and all that.-</em>


    <em>Fine.</em>


    There <em>was </em>a growing feeling of unease as they progressed. It wasn¡¯t anything tangible, but T simply felt like she wasn¡¯t wanted.


    As they drew closer, T began to see <em>something</em> with her threefold sight, like a great scar underlying the whole area¡­ except¡­ it was moving.


    ¡°Wait, Rane.¡±


    Rane stopped instantly, hands drifting outward slightly as he readied himself for whatever had put her on edge.


    ¡°I think¡­ I think I can see the damage our gates have done to reality, here. It¡¯s not on the superficial, and it¡¯s¡­ it looks almost alive.¡±


    T watched for long minutes while Terry and Rane waited, ready but not really on edge.


    Finally, she shook her head. ¡°The movement looks natural, or really, non-sapient. I think it¡¯s just doing the equivalent of a tree waving in the breeze.¡±


    Terry straightened fully before squawking and flickering to her shoulder.


    Rane let himself rx before shaking his head. ¡°You certainly like opening my eyes to horrors previously unknown, don¡¯t you?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s a gift.¡± She said it absently, perception still locked on the odd <em>things </em>she could now see.


    <em>That¡¯s it. It looks like ribbons blowing in a breeze, but in this case, they seem to be anchored on the superficial and are ¡®blowing¡¯ starward¡­ The departure of the City Stone?</em>


    <em>-That¡¯s likely a good guess. When it was moved, there would still be an increased power density that hadn''t been able to be absorbed yet, and if it equalized afterward, that would create a current of energy moving in that direction.-</em>


    <em>Plus the magics below. I¡¯m sure that¡¯s doing crazy things to the zeme in the area.</em>


    <em>-True enough, yeah.-</em>


    As to the odd ¡®ribbons¡¯? T wanted to get a better look. ¡°Let¡¯s get closer.¡±


    The three moved forward across the seemingly undisturbed, unnaturally level ins, drawn toward the center of the area.


    Nothing attacked them.


    Indeed, they saw no creatures at all, her threefold sight picking up on some insects but no hives or colonies, and no small mammals or reptiles at all.


    <em>I¡¯d have thought that thirty-two years was enough time for the ecology to recover.</em>


    Rane was looking around. ¡°You know, I¡¯m aware that most birds don¡¯t like the heat of the day, even in early, <em>early</em> spring like this¡­ but shouldn¡¯t there be at least some?¡± He scanned their surroundings, taking in the few stands of trees in the middle distance. ¡°I don¡¯t even see any among the trees, or flying well away from us.¡±


    T gave a slow nod. ¡°You¡¯re right. I¡¯m not seeing any significant insect presence or other small animals either. It¡¯s like nature came back in, but without bringing most of the fauna.¡±


    ¡°Let me check.¡± His eyes unfocused for a moment as he obviously essed the Archive. Finally, he grunted. ¡°Yeah, it seems like this is a known phenomenon. Part of it is attributed to the anti-pest magics still echoing in the area after more than three hundred years of continuous use, but that wouldn¡¯t exin the absence of non-pest creatures, nor those that are weed within cities like song-birds, and pollinating insects.¡±


    ¡°Any theories?¡±


    ¡°The most prevalent is that Reality is too wounded. It stresses little creatures, and they feel the strain and stay away. There have apparently been experiments where Archons tried to bring small mammals or insects into a recent ruin, and they always fought to get away, scrabbling at their restraints in the direction of the closest edge. Only a few seem unaffected, but it seems more individual than species based, for whatever reason.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s pretty indicative, yeah. Why haven¡¯t I heard of this before?¡±


    Rane shrugged. ¡°I hadn¡¯t either, but I never asked or investigated. Master Grediv never brought me into a ruin while we were out here, so it didn¡¯te up. As to the effect itself, it seems to fade quickly, starting as soon as a city is abandoned and seeming utterly gone within sixty years or so.¡±


    She hmmed in acknowledgement. ¡°Well, let¡¯s see what we can see for ourselves.¡±


    As they walked forward, T started to notice Terry¡¯s feathers fluffing.


    ¡°Terry?¡±


    He squawked, shimmying as he red toward the center.


    ¡°Is it dangerous for you to continue?¡±


    The avian seemed to hesitate for a long moment, but then he shook himself.


    ¡°Are you sure?¡±


    He shook himself more decisively the second time.


    ¡°Alright, let¡¯s keep at it.¡±


    T began quietly exining what she was seeing with her threefold sight so that Terry and Rane could know, too.


    ¡°I initially thought what I¡¯m perceiving was like a bush in the wind, but it¡¯s more connected than even that. It¡¯s like seeing a canvas with tears in it, all moving in the wind. What I¡¯m seeing is the tears, though, rather than the canvas. It¡¯s odd to perceive it in reverse like that, but it¡¯s what makes the most sense. Somehow, the damage is more perceivable than what is damaged.¡±


    ¡°Like with ss?¡± Rane asked, clearly curious.


    T stopped mid-stride, turning to regard the big man. ¡°Yeah, exactly that. It¡¯s like I¡¯m seeing a flexible, utterly transparent material rippling before my eyes in the zeme of the region. The only part that is perceivable is the damaged sections.¡±


    She stared at him for a long, <em>long</em> moment, a grin growing across her face.


    ¡°Rane, do you know what that means?¡±


    He frowned her way. ¡°No?¡±


    Her grin turned predatory. ¡°I get to study the truly invisible with my own perception.¡±

 Chapter 448: A Brutal Way

    Chapter 448: A Brutal Way


    T, Terry, and Rane walked slowly across the previous location for the city of Arconaven, T¡¯s entire focus on her threefold sight, watching the scars in Reality rippling in the zeme that still buffeted and swirled through the region, even more than three decades after this city¡¯s waning.


    The view was so odd in part because T could see the scars rending <em>across</em> reality nodes. In a way, the damage was oddly unifying to them in a way that wasn¡¯t usual to her perception.


    <em>Like bricks in a wall that was hit with a ded attack. The strike goes across the individual bricks in a neat line, and doesn¡¯t go away, even if you take down the wall and look at the bricks one by one.</em>


    <em>-That¡¯s¡­ yeah. I can see that actually.- </em>t then let out a sound like a sharp intake of breath. <em>-Stop!-</em>


    T held up her hand, and Terry and Rane stopped instantly. <em>What is it?</em>


    <em>-Look behind us.-</em>


    T focused her perception on the area behind them and paled.


    There was a very minuteceration across the surface of the reality nodes behind them, leading from near the edge of the city depression up to where they were standing.


    <em>No¡­ not where we¡¯re standing, where </em>I¡¯m<em> standing.</em>There wasn¡¯t one leading to Rane, just her.


    T grimaced. ¡°I can¡¯t go further. Reality is too weak here. My gate¡ªfor whatever reason¡ªis marring things as I walk forward.¡±


    Rane nodded slowly, then gave her a long-suffering smile. ¡°Your gate is <em>much</em> more open than mine. I would say that is the reason.¡±


    She shrugged. ¡°Yeah, well. I didn¡¯t really want to just say that.¡±


    Heughed. ¡°Never fear. I know you¡¯re more advanced in some ways, T. What do you want us to do?¡±


    Her grimace grew. ¡°I <em>really</em> want to investigate more¡­¡±


    He shrugged. ¡°Can you attach your bloodstar clouds to me? I¡¯m not causing any damage, right?¡±


    She blinked at him a few times. ¡°Well, I don¡¯t have to attach them to anyone or anything, but it <em>would</em> be useful to keep them centered on you, yeah. That¡¯s an excellent idea. Thank you.¡±


    She considered for a long moment before nodding, having decided how she wanted to proceed.


    ¡°I can have another on your shoulder and talk with you through that.¡± She could probably resonate the air with her aura just using those that were star- and stoneward, but it wouldn¡¯t be as easy.


    <em>Something to work on, I suppose.</em>


    With an act of will, T moved the basis for her threefold sight to center on Rane rather than herself. As each was a mini-Archon Star binding the blood to herself, it contained and projected a bit her of aura, allowing it to maintain itself and extend her aura, so long as it didn¡¯t get too far away from her¡­


    T frowned. She¡¯d been working with Mistress Katie and Master Akra to have her aura exist as separate instances¡­ but she hadn¡¯t seeded yet. ¡°I¡¯m going to have to leave a trail of iron spikes between us for this to work.¡±


    Rane shrugged. ¡°Whatever you need to do. Are you going to wait here, or go back toward the edge?¡±


    She looked around. ¡°I think I should retreat from the area. Reality¡¯s weak enough here, just standing in ce is harming things just due to the small movements in the ambient zeme.¡±


    He nodded. ¡°Alright. I¡¯ll wait here until you¡¯re established, then advance at a pace you choose.¡± He looked toward Terry. ¡°Do you want toe with me, or stay with T?¡±


    The avian looked back and forth for a moment, then flickered to Rane¡¯s shoulder opposite T¡¯s bloodstar.


    The big man chuckled. ¡°Thank you. You¡¯re right, if either of us needs help, it will probably be me.¡±


    Terry trilled triumphantly at the sky, clearly happy that Rane had intuited the reason for his choice.


    T chuckled, even as she manifested an iron spike and drove it into the ground right beside Rane and Terry. Without another word, she turned and walked back the way they¡¯de, driving another iron spike into the ground every ten feet or so, just to be safe, stretching out her aura in a long line.


    She initially was able to see herself with ease from the bloodstar-cloud, but the further she got away the less well that worked.


    Finally, she mirrored her perspective onto a bloodstar on the forehead of her armor to allow her to perceive the world without dropping her facete.


    Given she was surrounded by damaged existence, she wanted as much protection as possible, whether or not it ended up being effective.


    She considered trying to increase the connection of the reality nodes on either side of the damage she¡¯d caused, but she honestly didn¡¯t know the nature of the damage, and if it was something that actually weakened the integrity of reality nodes, increasing the pressure on them might cause failure in one way or another.


    It didn¡¯t take her long to get back beyond the weakest portion of Reality, back past where her passing had caused any damage. Even so, she went a bit further, just to be safe.


    She still had plenty of iron so that shouldn¡¯t be a problem in the least. She¡¯d left most of it around her bloodstars near Rane, as he would be covering a greater distance than she¡¯d had to, and she hadn¡¯t wanted to run out.


    That would have been embarrassing.


    T dropped into a cross legged position, cing a final iron spike centered in the open ground surrounded by her legs. She then stopped mirroring her perspective to the bloodstar on her own armor, focusing on her mirrored perspectives around Rane.


    She was suddenly seeing Rane as she generally saw herself, from every side all at once, everyyer down to his bones and beyond.


    She enacted magics through her aura¡ªaround his shoulder where the bloodstar she¡¯d left for the purpose rested¡ªto vibrate the air and speak, ¡°I¡¯m ready.¡±


    He nodded and smiled. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±


    He walked forward, careful to not move too quickly. Moreover, he seemed to be keeping much of his focus on her aura, making sure to note too near the edge of it before she ced her next spike and extended it. ¡°Thank you, Rane.¡±


    ¡°Of course.¡± His easy smile made it obvious just how true that was. He hadn¡¯t even considered acting in any other way toward her and her needs.


    Each time that he¡¯d moved about ten feet, T manifested some of her iron and drove the next spike into the dirt, anchoring her aura.


    As such, they proceeded, creating a gleaming, dotted line through the fading light of the spring sunset.


    Aside from creating and maintaining the spike-and-aura trail, T kept her focus on the scars¡ªno, the rents¡ªin reality.


    It was odd, seeing it so much clearer in four-dimensional space than ever before.


    She could actually perceive the creatures that she¡¯d seen in Bandfast swimming or flying about, around the injuries left by gated-humanity.


    The more she analyzed them, the more she could see that they were somehow a mix of Reality, Magic, and Void, which is what seemed to be causing the four-dimensional creatures to be swarming around them.


    <em>Those aren¡¯t regions of Existence¡­ are they?</em> That didn¡¯t really make sense, and t provided the needed secondary perspective a momentter.


    <em>-No, we can simply see all the constituent pieces.-</em>


    <em>Right. It¡¯s more like they are ces where Existence is unraveling.</em> As she considered, that actually made sense.


    The squid-nightmare creatures consumed magic.


    Her eyes widened. What if the scars, or rents, or whatever they were, were like the grain in a wooden surface? Magic acting as water.


    Sure, even untreated wood could have water move across it briefly without issue, but subject it to a deluge for any length of time and the grain would begin to rise, ruining the smoothness of the surface.


    True, some people used this property of wood specifically to get that result, but that was stretching the analogy a bit far.


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    Regardless, magic flooding the surface of Reality for more than three centuries could be leaving quite the resulting marks, and with the removal of the city¡¯s stabilizing magics, centered around the City Stone, it was no wonder things were this bad.


    It wasn¡¯t a perfect analogy, but it did seem to exin at least a facet of what she was seeing.


    The creatures were swarming, gobbling up the excess magic and seemingly trying to help the damage to Reality to settle down.


    <em>How is the voiding into y?</em>


    <em>-I think things are just insanely out of whack, and we¡¯re just seeing all the</em>¡ª<em>-</em>


    T¡¯s mental eyes widened in shock as she saw what had given t pause.<em> Something</em> swept through the area, gobbling up a long line of the swarming four-dimensional creatures, with voracious ease.


    She swallowed hard,forting herself with the fact that, because it was interacting with those feeders, it was likely unable to affect her, Terry, or Rane directly, just as the feeders weren¡¯t.


    <em>¡­</em> T was still unhappy with their presence though.


    Regardless, she continued to have t store <em>everything</em> they were perceiving in the Archive. If they were somehow gobbled up by a four-dimensional abomination, Mistress Ingrit would at least learn of what happened eventually.


    <em>Deep breaths, T.</em> She was coated in iron¡­ which they could interact with¡­ should she shed her iron?


    <em>-T, breathe deeply. That method of calming down isn¡¯t avable to me¡­-</em>


    She would <em>not</em> shed her armor. She needed the protection while her mind was focused elsewhere. It was very likely that at least one magical creature was aware of their presence and it would be silly to die to an unexpected strike because she¡¯d taken off her own armor in this field.


    With that decided, she needed to turn her mind to something else for a moment, while Rane continued to approach the center of the former city.


    That in mind, her thoughts moved toward what Mistress nnir had revealed to her. It wasn¡¯t like the woman had told her anything she hadn¡¯t known already, but whatever magics the former prisoner had used had cut through the cloud that had surrounded that fear within T.


    She didn¡¯t want to be a monster, but she had the capacity to be one.


    As she considered that, she remembered something that Master Nadro had told her. Only those with the capacity to be dangerous can truly be gentle.


    If she didn¡¯t have the capacity to cause harm, then she was simply impotent and at the mercy of those around her.


    Whether they were benevolent or not, being in such a position was <em>not</em> appealing.


    This, however, was adjacent to that idea. She knew she was powerful and <em>could</em> hurt others. She¡¯d epted that. That wasn¡¯t the issue. More than that, she didn¡¯t want to hurt others.


    Not most of the time.


    Even so, she knew of many circumstances in which she <em>had</em> hurt others, and she felt fully justified in doing so. More than that, she could imagine uncounted other situations in which she would be willing to do so again for her own gain or the safety of those she was protecting.


    The real question that Mistress nnir had exposed was this: Was there a line she wouldn¡¯t cross, no matter what was hanging in the bnce?


    She frowned.


    Years ago, she¡¯d have said that the preservation of an immortal soul was worth <em>any</em> price, but now she knew better. An immortal soul was invible, unless the soul itself chose otherwise.


    Because of that, protecting a soul was actually a worthless goal, because it was utterly unnecessary¡­ in a way. <em>No, T, don¡¯t get side-tracked.</em>


    Would she torture a child to save two from torture? Ten?


    She considered that for longer than it really warranted before shaking her head, an understanding clicking into ce.


    No. The question was a false choice.


    <em>That¡¯s it¡­ This is all a false choice.</em>


    She felt something shifting within her.


    <em>If I¡¯m put in a position where I have to do something evil or something evil happens, I am not in control of the evil that is to happen. I am only in control of myself and my actions.</em>


    There was a heaviness there. In a way, toe to this conclusion, she would have to ept that others would take evil actions. That eptance ced those actions fully upon those actors, though, and there was freedom in doing so.


    <em>I don¡¯t have to y their games. Evil should be destroyed, not bargained with.</em>


    And there it was. She blinked a few times, her mundane eyes opening within her armor for a moment to do so¡ªeven if all she saw was ckness.


    That was the issue.


    Tughed out loud, the sound echoing around her helmet. <em>The issue is that I¡¯m dealing in theoreticals.</em>


    <em>-I see what you¡¯re thinking, but exin so that you can finish building the thought.-</em>


    <em>If someonees to me and says ¡®torture a kid¡¯ or they¡¯ll torture ten. I¡¯ll just kill </em>them.<em> If they¡¯re just telling me about someone else who will torture kids? I¡¯ll hunt that person down.</em>


    <em>-What¡¯s with the kid torture?-</em>


    <em>¡­it was the example that came to mind. </em>It was likely because of Mistress nnir¡¯s known experiments upon children. <em>Regardless, I don¡¯t have to do evil to stop evil. </em>


    <em>-Well, that depends on your definition of evil. Some people would say that killing anything for any reason is evil.-</em>


    <em>Well, some people are idiots.</em>


    <em>-But T, if you kill a killer, there are the same number of killers in the world.-</em>


    T snorted augh. <em>Then I¡¯ll make sure to kill at least two.</em>


    t chuckled in return, filling T¡¯s mind with the pleasant sound. <em>-That¡¯s actually pretty funny, even though I knew you were going to say it.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, I¡¯m an artist with words sometimes.</em>


    <em>-So? What does this mean?-</em>


    <em>It means that I was thinking about the whole dilemma wrong.</em> She shifted, feeling a useless metaphorical weight that she¡¯d ced upon herself fall away.


    <em>-Well then. Let¡¯s put it to the real test. If you could experiment on ten children to improve the lives of every following child, would you?-</em>


    <em>Is the experiment harmful?</em>


    <em>-For the sake of argument, let¡¯s say yes.-</em>


    <em>Then, no, not without extenuating circumstances, or the children¡¯s direct consent, which can¡¯t really be given, because</em>¡ª<em>children.</em>


    <em>-What extenuating circumstance?- </em>t¡¯s voice sounded interested, even though they were both aware that t already had the answer out of T¡¯s own mind.


    <em>If they were soulless husks, who just hadn¡¯t died yet, then that should be fine.</em>


    <em>-Ahh, because a soulless husk doesn¡¯t have the same intrinsic value?-</em>


    <em>Well, yeah. That¡¯s one of the massive benefits we have by being able to see the human soul. We know if someone is in a hampered state</em>¡ª<em>with potential to recover</em>¡ª<em>or if their soul has already passed on. </em>T smiled. <em>But back to the question. The issue lies in ¡®improve the lives¡¯ of everyone else. Improve in what way? By how much? Would it give every child an extra second of life? That is an improvement. But that really is beside the point, because no. I wouldn¡¯t torture a child, no matter the gain.</em>


    <em>-I said experiment, not torture.-</em>


    <em>Harmful experiments on a sapient being are torture, saying anything else is just word games.</em>


    <em>-Now, what about killing? I know you were concerned about that?-</em>


    <em>I will kill any who threaten me or mine. Those who are willing to use violence to achieve their aims can only be stopped with violence</em>¡ª<em>or the credible threat of violence</em>¡ª<em>be they sapient or beast.</em>


    <em>-Alright, we know where you stand on that. What of innocents? People who are just in the wrong ce?-</em>


    <em>What do you mean?</em>


    <em>-Well, you could do your utmost to utterly obliterate an arcane city after it dered war on humanity. That would safeguard humanity, but most of those who die wouldn¡¯t have been a part of the fight. Many wouldn¡¯t have even been a part of the infrastructure aiding in the fight.-</em>


    <em>I¡­huh¡­ Honestly, I would probably deliver a warning, because if I understand correctly, a City Lord with an empty city wouldn¡¯t be much of a threat. Anyone who stays after my warning would be tacitly supporting our enemy.</em>


    <em>-I can see that. It isn¡¯t perfect, but I suppose perfection isn¡¯t attainable.-</em>


    <em>So, all this has still been rather theoretical, despite my attempt to ground it.</em>


    <em>-Then, let¡¯s ground it. What are you willing to do when you or yours are threatened?-</em>


    T felt a wing at her insides, even as anger passed through her in a wave at the very idea. <em>Obliterate the threat.</em>


    No¡­ that was only partially right. It actually felt dissonant to her purpose, to her soul.


    She frowned.


    In her mind, she saw the cells that she had consumed through Kit. Then a memory surfaced, one of iming the sireling¡¯s corpse, drawing it into herself to give her greater strength for the next fight, whatever it might have been.


    <em>No, I won¡¯t obliterate the threat. I will dismantle it and devour anything of use. That which tries to harm me or mine will only make me stronger, make me better able to face the next threat.</em>


    That was close, <em>so tantalizingly close.</em> Yet¡­ it wasn¡¯t quite right.


    She and hers belonged to her, it was a trivial fact, but it felt like it was building to something.


    Criminals who chose to do wrong often lost their lives, possessions, or freedom. By societalw and civilized agreement, criminals lose their rights to at least some of what they had considered their own beforemitting the crime.


    Then, it hit her, and she felt her whole being resonate with the revtion, and she moved further and further on her path toward Paragon even as the words resonated through her thoughts, <em>That which seeks to harm what is mine, is forfeit and subject to my authority.</em>


    That was it.


    Upon that revtion, all of her choices made sense. Someone who attacked her was then subject to her authority to kill, imprison, or send on their way.


    It was a brutal way of looking at the world, but it was <em>hers</em>. Nothing else fit her worldview.


    She was about to generate her voice next to Rane to let him know about her new understanding¡ªand the fact that she was now more advanced than he was¡ªwhen she heard a voice carrying from outside even through her helmet.


    ¡°Well. Isn¡¯t this an unexpected surprise?¡±


    T instantly mirrored her perspective to the bloodstar on the forehead of her armor, looking at the woman who stood barely fifty feet from where T sat.


    It only took T a moment to recognize her. <em>Mistress?</em>

 Chapter 449: Clad in an Illusion

    Chapter 449: d in an Illusion


    T sat cross legged in tall grass at the edge of the former city of Arconaven.


    Rane and Terry were almost to the center of the city.


    Mistress was standing fifty feet from where T sat, the grass swaying about her knees in the gentle breeze that danced across the unnaturally level expanse.


    T hadn¡¯t seen Mistress since the woman hade to her ¡®aid¡¯ after T had been abducted by a flock of chickens.


    <em>-Nightwing ravens.-</em>


    <em>Fine.</em>


    In truth, Mistress had shown up after T had dealt with the arcanous creatures simply to offer a bit of healing and a golden cage.


    <em>She offered me a thousand gold to exchange Archon Stars with her.</em> At the time, T hadn¡¯t really known what that meant, but she had still had enough understanding to refuse.


    <em>-I¡¯ve notified Master Grediv of Mistress¡¯s presence.-</em><em>Thank you.</em>


    The woman stood casually, exactly as T remembered.


    Mistress was still a woman of inhuman beauty.


    She stood almost daintily on delicately sandalled feet. Her simple, one-piece dress swayed pleasingly around her with the currents in the local zeme instead of the wind which caused the grass around them to shift. There was a slight cream color to the material, which appeared to be silk of some kind.


    The woman carried nothing else that T could see.


    ¡°T.¡± She almost purred the A¡¯s in the name, and her voice was somehow more like silk than the dress appeared, and while it was soft spoken, the force behind it caused the grass around her to tremble, collectively making a sound almost like that of a rattlesnake.


    <em>Well, that exins how I heard her within my armor.</em>


    ¡°Fate has been kind to me, it seems. And you as well. You survived that winter wastnd and advanced¡­ and advanced again, and again.¡± Her stunning smile was <em>almost</em> wicked as it clearly held unspoken secrets.


    T still had not stood up¡­ nor responded in any way actually.


    Keeping her words to herself, T used the anchor of her iron spike to push herself up within her own aura.


    She almost froze in shock. She¡¯d never actually done that before. <em>Of course, my body is soul-bound to me. </em>Of course,<em> I can move it within my own aura, so long as I have another anchor.</em>


    It was soughably obvious that she felt a bit foolish for having not considered it earlier.


    Regardless, now was hardly the time to consider such things.


    She slowly drifted up, letting her legs drift down until she stood facing Mistress, still not saying anything.


    She pulled out a few back-up bloodstars, creating a new cloud around herself stone- and starward, leaving the cloud around Rane to t.


    T needed her threefold sight.


    Mistress was frowning, now. ¡°Why the silence? We are nearly of a kind in advancement, do you now disdain me? Are you still angry that I refused to return you to that silly caravan?¡± Her frown deepened as she seemed to notice something. ¡°Why are you d in an illusion?¡±


    She snapped, and a wave of power washed outward from the woman.


    T¡¯s eyes widened.


    The magic was obviously simply one of breaking illusions, so T didn¡¯t contest it. Even so, she wasn¡¯t entirely sure she could have, at least not easily.


    It wasn¡¯t that the working was powerful. On the contrary, it was intricate to the point of being almost impossible to fully parse, with innumerable parts that supported the whole, and others that stood ready to work around any form of resistance.


    The only thing that came to mind to simplify theplexity of what she was seeing was a sword with hinges built in. If someone blocked a blow, the sword would simply bend around the block and hit anyway.


    Though, T couldn¡¯t imagine how such a sword could be designed without a <em>high</em> level of limitation and weakening of the de.


    <em>And there is nothing lesser about this magic at all.</em>


    The anti-illusion working pulsed outward faster than anything T had ever seen, reaching her in less than a breath, utterly uncaring of crossing into her aura.


    It stripped away the illusion she¡¯d been d in, which had originated from her through-spike.


    Mistress¡¯s eyes went wide as she took in T¡¯s fully armored form.


    ¡°What? A ck Guard?¡± Mistress almost seemed to step back, but she clearly caught herself. ¡°No, your magical signature is the same as I remember. What are you ying at, girl? What danger are you expecting that you are so armored?¡±


    T shook her head slowly. Her threefold sight had shown something that had been invisible to T thest time that they met, something that she wouldn¡¯t have understood even if she <em>had </em>see it.


    Mistress somehow had <em>three</em> gates, all thrumming in unison, clearly all soulbound to each other and to her body.


    T decided to break her silence. ¡°What are you? Tri-gated? You seem human enough besides that, but are you Arcane?¡±


    Mistress¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°That is <em>not</em> for you to have seen.¡± She shook her head. ¡°And here I thought this would be a pleasant reunion. More''s the pity.¡±


    Magics began gathering and flowing around Mistress, clearly gathering for some form of aggressive action.


    <em>Well, that conversation didn¡¯tst long.</em>


    <em>-Well, she was talking to </em>you,<em> so¡­-</em>


    <em>Hush, you.</em>


    T shrugged in response to Mistress, her armor moving smoothly with her. ¡°I¡¯ll get my answer one way or another.¡±


    She took all the iron she had with her and formed twenty spikes¡ªeach one just bigger than the head of a boar-spear¡ªmaking them begin to spin them around herself.


    ¡°I am not the un-Bound that you met before, and even though you¡¯ve sensed my advancement,¡± T¡¯s voice dropped lower, taking on a menacing tone, ¡°you have <em>no idea</em> what you are dealing with.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯ll see, child.¡±


    Only then did T fullyprehend what she had been seeing with her threefold sight. It was hard to process, given Mistress¡¯s aura was nearly equal with hers in advancement, so the woman¡¯s magics and internals were obscured. Still, they weren¡¯t blocked entirely.


    From what T could see, each gate seemed to be tied to a <em>different</em> set of inscriptions and natural magics, all oveid over the same physical body.


    <em>Well, it¡¯s the season for impossibilities, it seems. This should be interesting.</em>


    <em>-All of this is still going to the Archive. You have fun, now. Let me know if I should call for Rane and Terry.-</em>


    This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    <em>Terry can¡¯t help against her. She stopped him with easest time¡­ I¡¯ll let you know if I think Rane would help.</em>


    She watched in fascination as only a single set of inscriptions and natural magics filled with power from a singr gate, the others seeming to be in a nearly-closed, dormant state.


    Just like with the anti-illusion working, the magic that reached out wasn¡¯t strictly powerful, but it was so intricately interwoven that T did not have confidence in opposing and undoing it with her aura before it reached her.


    So, she didn¡¯t try.


    Her iron spikes flicked forward, shredding the magics like a horizontal hurricane.


    Even so, since the magics had still had power when they were broken, barely a foot in front of her, a wave of wind sted across her.


    <em>Iron coffin?</em>


    <em>-Iron coffin.-</em>


    T would attempt to surround the woman entirely with iron, but she would have to at least stun her first.


    T bent her legs even as she fell forward. An instantter, sheunched at her opponent, driving a series of five iron spikes into the ground as she covered the intervening distance in a blink.


    As she pushed off, she opened a portal into her sanctum, grabbing Flow¡¯s handle. Thus, when she shot forward, the motion also fully drew Flow.


    She was about to strike out, when she mmed full-force into an impossibly solid wall of air.


    Her magics red, keeping her bones and brain intact despite the concussive collision.


    Even with the stunning results of her charge, she retained enough awareness to shoot iron spikes off to either side, driving them into the ground barely five feet to each side of Mistress.


    Mistress¡ªfor her part¡ªtook a single step forward, thrusting her hand at T.


    A de of wind¡ªso tightlypacted, interwoven, and bound that it seemed practically solid¡ªshot from her hand.


    T¡¯s aura denied the iing magics, beginning to degrade them instantly, but there simply wasn¡¯t time to fully take apart the attack, especially not at this close of range.


    The small attack struck T¡¯s armor and scored a deep gash, not prating but marring the surface nheless.


    Mistress¡¯s eyes widened, clearly having expected her attack to do more than it had. ¡°What is that armor made of?¡±


    T didn¡¯t answer, pushing off toward the right, trying to get around the rtively small air-wall that stood between them. It was obviously one-way¡ªsomehow¡ªand T didn¡¯t like being kept at a distance.


    Unfortunately, Mistress easily rotated to keep the wall between them, and while Flow could cut through it, each new slice sealed as quickly as T had repaired her own armor.


    That was fine, though.


    T now stood atop one of the two spikes that she¡¯d thrown out at thest. The other was directly behind Mistress, maintaining T¡¯s aura supremacy in that area. Though, to be fair, Mistress hadn¡¯t actually contested that, not yet.


    Regardless, T opened a portal into her sanctum near that other spike. Specifically, she opened it into where she had some of her siege orbs stored, immediately changing the target of two of their augmentation to be Mistress.


    The <em>crack</em> of the air as they ripped toward her back <em>should</em> have been the only warning the woman had, but she managed to react regardless.


    The wall disappeared between T and Mistress, even as the woman turned¡ªseeming almost to twist in on herself before simply facing the other direction¡ªand <em>caught</em> the orbs, one in each hand, somehow arresting their momentum with a simple pulse of power.


    <em>Well¡­ air¡­ she¡¯s been using air magic. I¡¯m not sure why I expected that to go differently. </em>


    Still, T wasn¡¯t idle, and it was still a great distraction that allowed her to close in, driving a thrust at the woman¡¯s spine.


    Before Mistress could turn or otherwise move the orbs, T changed her internalbel for the two, triggering their explosive dpression.


    Instead of detonating in a perfect sphere as they usually would, theirpressed air shot out directly away from Mistress, clearly having been countered and guided at the moment of activation in some way that T hadn¡¯t been able to track.


    This created two long tracks of frozen grass¡ªthe heat having been pulled away by the rapidly expanding air¡ªwhich shattered in the near constant, gentle breeze. The resulting sound was like millions of tiny bells, bouncing down a short slope.


    Even with the orbs¡¯ normal damage countered, the force of their expansion still threw Mistress back toward Flow.


    At thest instant, a <em>third arm</em> seemed to materialize on the superficial, entirely different magics zing within it¡ªfrom one of the previously dormant gates¡ªas it pped Flow out of alignment, spoiling the initial thrust.


    A voice resonated through the air along with the block, a voice that sounded exactly like Mistress¡¯s, while somehow obviously not being her voice, ¡°You will not hurt the Mistress.¡±


    The second gate¡ªand second set of magics¡ªhade into y.


    <em>-Well, that¡¯s new.-</em>


    <em>It¡¯s her arm¡­ but not?</em>


    The third arm had vanished as soon as its task wasplete, but T could still perceive the second set of magics zing brightly, somehow both overtop Mistress¡¯s wind magics and simply alongside them at the same time.


    T didn¡¯t slow her assault, using the force of the deflection to speed up Flow as she whipped the de around for another strike.


    But Mistress¡¯s defenses were there, her deflecting left arm now filled with the power that the third arm had contained, her wind-magics now seeming separate and¡­ in reserve? At least that¡¯s how it seemed for the upraised arm.


    <em>She can trade out what magics are in y here?</em>


    <em>-And she somehow has extras of at least her arm.-</em>


    <em>Huh¡­</em> T felt a grin pull at her lips as she continued her assault. <em>This should be interesting.</em>


    Flow shed against Mistress¡¯s arms in a series of rapid strikes during which three things became quickly apparent.


    First, T was far more skilled than the other Refined in meleebat. It was to the point that T wondered if Mistress had ever had any formal training at all.


    Second, Mistress didn¡¯t have to directly block strikes in order to counter them, else she¡¯d already have been cut a dozen times over.


    Third¡ªfollowing closely on the heels of the second¡ªMistress¡¯ secondary magic seemed to project an almost physical magical de.


    It was odd, because it honestly seemed almost exactly like her first set of magic, but simply a bit closer range and a bit sturdier.


    That, of course, led T to the conclusion that she wasn¡¯t fullyprehending the variance.


    As they continued to sh, the true differences began to surface. Primarily, ¡®a bit sturdier¡¯ was underselling the resilience of the new magics involved.


    Flow had been able to cleave through the wind walls and wind des with ease, even if her weapon couldn¡¯t disrupt them entirely. This new magic¡ªwhich T still couldn¡¯t quite identify¡ªcould utterly stymie Flow, seemingly putting no pressure back on Mistress behind the block. It could even deflect the iron that T wove into her attack patterns.


    That <em>shouldn¡¯t</em> be possible, given the defense appeared to be magic in nature, but T wasn¡¯t disheartened. She was utterly inmand of the rhythm of the fight by this point, Mistress clearly striving simply to keep Flow away from herself.


    The woman asionally activated magics elsewhere on her body from her first set, sending wind des¡ªor attempting to erect wind walls¡ªto hamper T, but T stuck too close for the tactic to be very effective.


    T¡¯s expression was, of course, inscrutable to Mistress given the full-facete. Mistress¡¯s, however, was quite the opposite.


    She had started with an expression of supreme¡ªalmost bored¡ªconfidence, but that had slowly morphed more and more into the realm of confusion and from there into frustrated concentration.


    Finally, what T was seeing clicked. <em>Dimensional magics. She¡¯s creating dimensional barriers, simply ending the dimensionality of my attack where the two meet.</em>


    <em>-And it can stop iron because the iron isn¡¯t interacting with the magic, just the result. Your iron is stopping at the edge of dimensionality.-</em>


    <em>Exactly. Like the border of the inside of Kit.</em> T had never considered using dimensional magic in that way, and in truth, the mechanics of it still didn¡¯t make much sense to her. Even so, it did give her an idea on how to bypass it.


    She let Flow fall back into the form of a knife once more.


    While she had been holding the void-forms in reserve¡ªpartially because she still wanted Mistress alive¡ªshe had been using whichever physical form was right for each given strike, easily flowing from one to the next with the Way of Flowing Blood. But this time was different.


    She thrust with the knife, feeling it hit the immovable barrier that the woman projected.


    T then dumped power into Flow, transforming it into a sword, the de extending without Flow¡¯s handle moving. The quick expansion wasn¡¯t a strike, and dimensionally speaking, Flow didn¡¯t move.


    T held that truth in mind, filling both Flow and her own aura with that certain knowledge, and whether that was enough or something else allowed the de to get through, Flow drew first blood.


    Mistress must have noticed <em>something</em> was going wrong, because she tried to twist out of the way at thest moment.


    She seeded in preventing Flow from driving through her side and into her mid-spine, but the magical de still cut a line across her lower ribs, easily severing the silk-like dress and the flesh underneath.


    She used the opportunity to steal a bit of iron from the woman¡¯s blood. Unfortunately, she was surprisingly resistant to the tactic, likely, in part, because seemingly three souls held collective im over the body, fighting in unison against any im of T¡¯s.


    T¡¯s opponent still let out a whimpering growl before her third set of magics activated, clearly acting to heal her with startling ease.


    If anything, it was even faster than Mistress Vanga¡¯s magics would have been able to heal someone.


    That¡¯s when it clicked for T.


    <em>She has air magic that is Material Guide at its base.</em>


    t made an internal sound of understanding, filling in the next piece, <em>-And dimensional magic that is Immaterial Creation at its base.-</em>


    <em>And healing that is Material Creation¡­ she only needs an Immaterial Guide power to have a full set.</em>


    <em>-Which we are¡­ no wonder she made the offer.-</em>


    <em>Still, why wouldn¡¯t she havepleted the set? We are hardly the only Immaterial Guide in existence?</em>


    <em>-Well, that¡¯s just another thing to ask her once we win.-</em>


    <em>Indeed.</em> T hardened her resolve.


    Mistress¡¯s eyes were burning with a fiery fury as all three gates¡ªall three sets of magic¡ªzed fully to life for the first time. ¡°Enough of this, I''ve got ces to be.¡±

 Chapter 450: It Simply Was

    Chapter 450: It Simply Was


    T and Mistress shed in a <em>storm</em>.


    The grass was torn up, trampled, and obliterated in a wide circle, though not asrge an area as might be expected, as both women were working hard either to keep from being moved, or to keep in close.


    des and walls of air were countered with tornadoes and whirlwinds of iron. The remnants scored scars across T¡¯s armor that she was forced to heal.


    Invible dimensionality was bypassed¡ªnot vited¡ªby T¡¯s own dimensional variations through her soulbound weapon. The cuts shended quickly healed through Mistress¡¯s third magical set.


    That seemingly depthless, rapid healing was slowed and tested by T¡¯s use of void to impart <em>heavy</em> damage from even minor cuts, Flow¡¯s void-edge adding separation where none was intended to be.


    T reveled in the power that she felt, shing with an opponent who was effectively three Refined functioning in perfect harmony, all striving to end her.


    She wasn¡¯t sure of her victory by any means, even if she <em>was</em> confident in obliterating Mistress with ease if she¡¯d only had any one of the magic sets.


    It was odd in a way. Most Refined had delved into multiple magical fields by the time they¡¯d reached that level. T was a perfect example, straddling healing, cellr stability, physical enhancement, gravity alteration, surface area expansion, and more besides.


    Because of that, it wasn¡¯t like Mistress¡¯s suite of abilities were beyond what T expected in a peer.Instead, it was as if Mistress had hyper-specialized three times over, making each of the ability-sets <em>more</em> than they should have been able to be when used together.


    Without her iron, T would have been utterly at the mercy of the air des. Without her shape-changing weapon, she would have had a much harder time passing the dimensional defenses.


    <em>No, I could have used void to bypass that¡­ but that would still be relying on Flow.</em>


    She could likely use her dissolution breath as well, but that was still an imperfect ability, and she was hesitant to rely on it in such a situation. They were moving so rapidly, it would be almost as likely to harm her as Mistress.


    As to the healing¡ªassuming there wasn¡¯t something more to that suite of magics¡ªany means of heavy damage dealing would have been just as good as her void at dealing with that.


    ¡­Well, not just as good, but sufficient to press an advantage on that front.


    Her passive iron iming should have been a heavy counter to such healing, but it wasn¡¯t effective while she was opposed by three incredibly powerful souls¡ª <em>Or maybe four stronger than average?</em>


    That was an interesting thought but hardly relevant.


    So, was T somehow perfectly equipped to counter Mistress?


    Not at all. If anything, Mistress seemed almost too capable of countering <em>T.</em>


    That led T to an ufortable conclusion.


    <em>If your enemy seems to have a bag of tricks that perfectly counters yours¡­</em>


    <em>-They either expertly prepared for the fight, or they¡¯re only using the ones that they think they need to use.-</em>


    T would bet on the second. She would also bet that Mistress wasn¡¯t trying to kill her¡ªdespite the hostility that the other Refined had shown¡ªat least not at the moment.


    Mistress had to have more that she was capable of, but she wasn¡¯t revealing it for whatever reason, despite seeming to indicate that she wanted the fight to end sooner rather thanter.


    <em>So, was that a lie to make us think that she was going all out?</em>


    <em>-So that she could pull out another card when we¡¯d fallen into a state of confidence? Yeah¡­ that sounds incredibly likely.-</em>


    None of the hits either side hadnded had actually been life threatening, even if those on Mistress could have be so soon enough, without proper healing.


    <em>Well, then. It¡¯s time to change the game.</em>


    She almost tried to pull Mistress into her sanctum directly, but given how well the woman had been resisting her im on the iron within her blood, T did <em>not </em>like her chances of oveing her will to move her through such a meathod.


    That was fine. T had other means.


    T ripped open a portal into her sanctum asrge as she could make it, one foot under the ground upon which the two women fought.


    In her sanctum, it opened into an underground cavern, sealed from the outside. She wasn¡¯t about to expose her home to this woman directly if she didn¡¯t have to.


    The ground below them was simple¡ªif deep¡ªsod, and began to dip in immediately. T instantly grabbed whatever passed through the portal and pulled it further in, practically ripping the ground from underneath thebatants.


    Mistress didn¡¯t fall an inch, seemingly standing on the air itself.


    <em>Yeah¡­ I should have seen thating. </em>T sighed internally. That was the second time she hadn¡¯t properly ounted for Mistress¡¯s air magics.


    <em>-It was a bit of an oversight, yeah.-</em>


    Mistress did pause, though, looking down. ¡°A soulbound storage? Really?¡± She grinned at T. ¡°You only had to ask, and I would have said yes. You¡¯re a cheeky one with all this aggression.¡±


    Even as she stood on the surface of the portal¡ªpushing her own feet back out whenever any part entered, effectively making it a solid surface for her¡ªT frowned in confusion, before t reminded her, <em>-Her entering most soulbound storages would cause a soulbond between the two of you.-</em>


    Mistress began to drop, clearly allowing herself to fall, but then she froze midair once again. ¡°Wait¡­ something¡¯s off with that storage.¡±


    <em>Enough waiting.</em> The portal <em>ripped</em> upward, carrying T with it as it rose to consume Mistress.


    The woman¡¯s eyes widened as she seemed to understand the danger at some primal level. Then she was gone, having flickered out of the way of the portal.


    <em>And there it is.</em> T grimaced. <em>This is going to be like fighting Terry on top of everything else, isn¡¯t it?</em>


    <em>-Yes, but we¡¯d be foolish to assume that that was the only hidden ability.-</em>


    <em>Oh, certainly.</em>


    T almost closed the portal below herself, but then she had another idea, allowing herself to fall into it.


    As soon as she was through, she opened another portal out, using her threefold sight to perceive where she wanted it to be. She then sent a stream of siege orbs at the woman from different angles, opening the portals all over the ground around the battlefield one after another justrge enough¡ªand for just long enough¡ªto let the orbs <em>crack</em> out.


    Mistress was able to block and deflect the iing orbs, even when T began causing them to burst at inopportune times, but the woman looked pressed once again, despite her flickering around to add to her ability to avoid the iing storm.


    Finally, T opened a her-sized portal above and to the right of Mistress. She had reoriented beforeunching herself through it with an act of will, moving <em>much</em> faster than should have been possible.


    There was a magical resonance <em>boom</em> as T crossed the short distance from her portal to Mistress, and the woman didn¡¯t even have a chance to nce her way.


    Even so, Mistress had begun to move backward, twisting to face the iing threat and causing her body to be at an angle when T hit.


    T shoulder-checked the woman, even as void energy was aspect-mirrored across her armor.


    The blow absolutely blew Mistress apart.


    It hit the woman just below her sternum, driving downward. The impact ripped through her body, severing her spine at her lower back and pulverizing her entire lower body.


    T, herself, embedded into the earth a bit, but she was able to free herself with ease, despite the organs that seemed intent on entangling her.


    She didn¡¯t really expect the hit to end the fight, but it should be seen as a decisive blow, the first that either of them hadnded in the exchange.


    With her opponent seemingly stunned, T called forth her iron and tried to box in Mistress¡¯s remains, but the upper body flickered out of the way of the closing iron, showing T the futility of that battle-ending strategy.


    This story has been uwfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    Sure enough, T saw Mistress regrow her lower body before pulling a robe out of thin air to cover her nakedness even before T, herself, got back up and to her feet barely a dozen feet away¡ªthe impact having caused a deep gouge in the ground between the twobatants.


    Off to the side, there was an almost perfect square of earth cut out, where the portal had opened into Kit, and the regrity of the shape stood out in stark contrast to all the other chaotic damage done around them.


    Throughout, Mistress¡¯s torso had simply hovered in ce until the healing waspleted¡ªeven maintaining the same height off the ground when she flickered away from the iron trap¡ªbut despite the seemingly effortless healing, the woman was clearly a bit shaken. That impression was confirmed when she spoke instead of continuing to fight. ¡°You are¡­ something else, Mistress T.¡±


    The honorific being used for the first time caused T to pause as well. ¡°Thank you, Mistress¡­?¡±


    The implicit question hung in the air before Mistress slowly shook her head. ¡°Cethira. My name is Cethira.¡±


    ¡°Well, Mistress Cethira, why the rust are you so aggressive?¡±


    Mistress Cethira grimaced. ¡°I am not permitted to allow knowledge of my¡­ abnormality to spread among gated humanity. I was not seeking to kill you, Mistress T. I was aiming to incapacitate you before I called your local authorities in order to pass you off to them.¡±


    T huffed augh. ¡°And I¡¯m supposed to trust that?¡±


    ¡°I couldn¡¯t care less if you believe me or not. Since I cannot restrain you, my obligations will end with notifying the gated-human city leadership that you are aware of me and my oddities. I am already on a tight schedule, so I will be on my way. My deviation to see why there were humans at this ruin already was ill-advised, and our sh has just been icing on that rusting unwise decision.¡±


    Tughed fully, then. ¡°What makes you think I will let you leave?¡±


    Mistress Cethira gave a half-smile to that. ¡°Mistress T, it has been a <em>long</em> time since I cared what others <em>let</em> me do. I honor my agreements and obligations because I choose to. Don¡¯t mistake our positions. You are powerful, but even your Paragons do notmand me. I do hope our paths cross again, when we both have more time.¡±


    Without another word, she flickered and was gone.


    Truly, genuinely gone.


    Terry always left a blip of dimensional energy when he flickered about, and T could trace that to figure out where he had gone ore from, but Mistress Cethira left nothing.


    More than that, T¡¯s threefold sight detected no trace of the woman, indicating that she had moved a <em>long</em> way. <em>Well¡­ huh. I guess I can¡¯t restrain her.</em>


    <em>-Hey! Master Grediv just got back to us¡­ oh.-</em>


    T sighed. <em>Her story checks out?</em>


    <em>-The basics do. He requests that we don¡¯t engage, and suggests that if we notice anything odd, we should ask him about it, rather than mentioning it to her.- </em>A momentter, t made an interested sound, likely noticing something else. <em>-Oh, he added an addendum.- </em>After another short pause, the alternate interface startedughing.


    <em>What is it?</em>


    <em>-He said</em>¡ª<em>-</em> t continued tough. -<em>He said that since you have probably already tried to kill each other, he requests that you withdraw, if she is still alive. You can let her know that her obligations are fulfilled, and that Master Grediv will take responsibility for whatever caused the sh.-</em>


    T sighed. <em>Let him know what we discovered and what happened.</em>


    <em>-Will do.-</em>


    <em>Thank you, t.</em>


    <em>-He just informed us that she contacted the city rulers, and he is aware of our knowledge. We need to talk with him when we get back. He¡¯ll head off any other issues until then.-</em>


    T sighed. <em>Great¡­</em>


    <em>-Oh, Rane and Terry are basically at the center. Should I call them back?-</em>


    <em>¡­No. I still want to see what I can learn.</em>


    <em>-Alright, let¡¯s get to it.-</em>


    T shook her head even as she called the iron¡ªthat she had tried to use to entrap Mistress Cethira¡ªback to herself, returning to where she¡¯d been sitting before Mistress Cethira had arrived. <em>Thank you for maintaining our aura and the trail of iron spikes.</em>


    <em>-Absolutely. I think Rane and Terry would both have been a bit put out if our presence had simply vanished from beside them.-</em>


    <em>That they would.</em>


    T sat cross legged again.


    As she sat once more, her through-spike finally overcame the anti-illusion magic that Mistress had hit her with.


    That was truly impressive, given that the working had been operating within T¡¯s hostile aura for the entire conflict.


    True, T hadn¡¯t devoted much attention to specifically breaking it, but creating such an enduring bit of spellwork was a feat to be proud of nheless.


    As her illusion re-covered her, T returned her focus to the rents in Reality centered on the ruin of Arconaven.


    Rane and Terry were still moving at their slow pace, but as soon as her attention returned, Rane paused. ¡°Hey, you¡¯re back with us.¡±


    Confused, she generated her voice in the air beside them, ¡°What do you mean?¡±


    ¡°The vor of your aura shifts slightly when t is in control. Is everything alright?¡±


    <em>Huh¡­ that¡¯s interesting.</em>


    <em>-It is indeed. I didn¡¯t know that.-</em>


    Still, she could consider thatter. ¡°There was a bit of trouble, but I can fill you inter.¡±


    ¡°Is that the source of magics we sensed and the impacts we heard?¡±


    ¡°Probably. You were aware of all that?¡±


    He gave the air around him an incredulous look. ¡°Of course we were, T. We aren¡¯t deaf, nor insensitive to the zeme or directed magics.¡±


    ¡°But¡­ you didn¡¯te?¡±


    He looked genuinely confused, ¡°Obviously not. Did you need us?¡±


    ¡°No. I was fine.¡±


    His look shifted into a smile. ¡°That¡¯s why. We knew you¡¯d call us if we were needed.¡±


    Terry trilled his affirmation.


    T blinked a few times at that. That actually made sense. ¡°Oh¡­ well, thank you.¡±


    With that, T settled in to analyze the damage done to Reality through her bloodstar cloud, still anchored around Rane.


    She delved through the records t had taken from her bloodstar cloud while Rane moved toward the center of the city, watching creatures move in seemingly nonsensical patterns star- and stoneward of superficial, consuming the excess power in the area.


    <em>Wait¡­ what if there was something else that they were moving around?</em>


    <em>-That would track actually. We could focus on reality nodes?-</em>


    <em>That¡¯s an excellent idea.</em> T shifted her focus, and it was like changing from staring through a dirty window to focusing on the grungy ss itself.


    She saw them. Not reality nodes, but <em>void</em> nodes. <em>That makes absolutely no sense. Every division is a void, how are there void </em>nodes<em>? Doesn¡¯t that imply voids around another specific void?</em>


    <em>-Well, describe what you¡¯re seeing.-</em>


    <em>You can see it too.</em>


    <em>-True, but you putting it to words will help us both process what we¡¯re seeing.-</em>


    <em>¡­fine. It looks like the division between reality nodes is being disced by something riding along the edges of reality nodes, and the fourth-dimensional things are avoiding them more carefully than even the predatory varieties of their kind.</em>


    <em>-But what does it look like?-</em>


    <em>It looks like the lines on a pencil sketch are being opened, exposing an eldritch world beyond¡­ wait. The Doman-Imithe? Is that what it is? The Doman-Imithe bleeding through?</em>


    <em>-Would that make sense?-</em>


    <em>It would¡­ if we go with the cross-stitch example that we¡¯ve used before, and these are rents in that, it would make sense that we might be able to see the backside of the pattern through the tears.</em>


    <em>-So, why would the four-dimensional things avoid the Doman-Imithe?-</em>


    <em>Because that ce is crazy¡­</em> And then the obvious answer came to her. <em>It has absolutely no magic. None at all. If these things live off of magic, being sucked in there would be assured destruction through slow starvation, even if nothing else ended them first.</em>


    <em>-Exactly.-</em>


    <em>So, Reality is pping in the winds of the zeme, exposing the damage we gated have done, and it¡¯s causing an entire ecosystem to spring up as a means of bringing about some form of healing?</em>


    <em>-We¡¯d probably need to see an older ruin to tell for sure, but that¡¯s likely a good guess.-</em>


    <em>That¡¯s¡­ that¡¯s a really good idea.</em> She considered for a moment. <em>I still want Rane to get to the center, see if anything else is easier to see from there, but I think I¡¯ve gotten all I can for now.</em>


    <em>-Alright, I¡¯ll let him know. Take a moment to rest and think?-</em>


    She nodded slowly, grateful for the suggestion. <em>Sure. That sounds nice</em>.


    But the rest portion didn¡¯tst long.


    T grimaced within her helmet. <em>I thought I had understood my ce, what I believed.</em>


    <em>-But she tried to harm you and didn¡¯t lose anything but a bit of time.-</em>


    <em>Exactly. She vited my view of the world.</em>


    <em>-I know, how dare she not die.-</em>


    T snorted augh at that. <em>Put that way, it does sound a bit silly.</em>


    <em>-I¡¯m going to say something that you already know to save us all time.-</em>


    <em>Go ahead.</em>


    <em>-No one else has to bend to your view of the world. You can either see that as a fatal w in your worldview, a condemnation of them for having vited it, or a chance to refine what you believe.-</em>


    T grunted. <em>So, that which seeks to harm what is mine, </em>should be <em>forfeit and subject to my authority?</em>


    t sent the impression of a grimace. <em>-That¡¯s so weak, T. Come on. We left a gaping hole in our view of the world, and Mistress Cethira was simply well positioned to point it out. Let¡¯s not paper over the w.-</em>


    T knew what the w was, they both did, but she expressed it regardless, <em>The fact that there are those whom we cannot exert authority over.</em>


    <em>-Exactly. So, to connect it to some of your earlier revtions, is a mother whose child dies through no fault of her own any worse of a mother?-</em>


    <em>Of course not.</em>


    <em>-So, then does the fact that you couldn¡¯t impose your authority upon Mistress Cethira mean that she didn¡¯t deserve to be subject to it?-</em>


    <em>Of course not.</em> T straightened.


    -<em>If a Sovereignes and attacks you, will you just roll over?-</em>


    <em>No. I will fight back, and even if I lose, I wille out stronger for the sh.</em> T realized how arrogant that sounded, but it <em>fit.</em>


    <em>-Where does that mesh with your view of things?-</em>


    T¡¯s armor melted off of her as she looked toward the sky, her very soul thrumming within her as the various pieces came together.


    ¡°I will oppose that which seeks to harm anything of mine, and take strength from the encounter.¡±


    T felt yet another qualitative change to her aura and gasped as her advancement moved at least five percentage points closer to Paragon.


    The zeme around her began to vibrate in a way that created a standing wave to her magesight, even causing the grass to bend and sway in regr patterns as the very air moved under the power of her revtion.


    Her statement was true at a fundamental level and didn¡¯t contain any inane¡ªor unsupportable¡ªims or posturing.


    It simply was.


    It simply was <em>her.</em>

 Chapter 451: Isn’t the Worst

    Chapter 451: Isn¡¯t the Worst


    T, Rane, and Terry stood together at the edge of the former site of Arconaven, side by side once again beneath the stars.


    Rane and Terry had reached the center and stayed there for a bit while T and t recorded what was happening all around the two. They had thene back to T, allowing her to collect her iron along the way.


    At the moment, Rane was considering her with an intense gaze even while she was looking toward the north. Finally, T broke the momentary silence, ¡°What is it?¡±


    ¡°You advanced.¡±


    She grinned. ¡°That I did!¡±


    ¡°You advanced <em>a lot.</em>¡±


    Her smile widened. ¡°Good of you to notice.¡±


    He sighed, but his smile was still impossible to hide. ¡°Every time I think I <em>might</em> be getting ahead of you, you surprise me.¡±


    ¡°Hey, you wouldn¡¯t want to dominate me would you?¡±He gave her a look, blinking a few times. Then, he said quickly, his tone sounding a bit scandalized, ¡°No! No. Of course not¡­ What do you even mean by that?¡±


    ¡°I mean, you wouldn¡¯t want to leave me in the rust while you reach Paragon without me. Right?¡±


    ¡°No, never that.¡± His smile returned, full of warmth. ¡°So, what now? What do you need?¡±


    T frowned. ¡°Well, I think I corrected my mis-thinking, but¡­ I think I can learn something from ruins. Are you up for checking out another? The previous Marliweather is just north of here, right?¡±


    ¡°Sure.¡± He shrugged, agreeing easily. ¡°I¡¯m happy to go there with you. A bit to the west, but yeah, mostly north of here.¡±


    T smiled. ¡°Good, that¡¯s the n, then.¡±


    Terry shifted on his feet, still perched on Rane¡¯s shoulder.


    That drew her attention. ¡°Terry?¡±


    He gave a mournful whistling chirp, looking to the north.


    ¡°What is it?¡±


    He looked down, shuffling his feet again.


    T considered for a moment, then it came to her. ¡°You came from up north, didn¡¯t you?¡±


    Terry bobbed in affirmation.


    ¡°It wasn¡¯t around old Marliweather, right?¡±


    He shook himself, clearly indicating a no.


    ¡°Further north than that, right?¡±


    He bobbed again.


    T and Rane shared a look, then Rane stroked Terry¡¯s head, the avian leaning into the touch.


    T smiled. ¡°Do you want to swing by where you came from?¡±


    Terry stiffened slightly, but then, after a long moment, he bobbed his affirmation. He let out a long, mournful trill before hunkering down and closing his eyes, clearly indicating that he wanted to end the discussion there.


    ¡°Alright. To old Marliweather, then north, on toward¡­¡± She hesitated, clearly unsure of which city ruiny there, what would be their destination.


    Rane cleared his throat. ¡°Manaven was north of there. There¡¯s another in between, a bit to the east, but I¡¯m not sure how much help that one will be, and it doesn¡¯t seem like that¡¯s where Terry is looking.¡±


    ¡°Thank you. To old Marliweather, then north, on to old Manaven!¡±


    <em>-I could have told you that information.-</em>


    <em>Sure you could have, but you didn¡¯t have to because Rane already knew it.</em>


    <em>-Fine¡­-</em>


    * * *


    T, Rane, and Terry took to the ins once again, running, leaping, and flickering through the night, heading north and a little west toward old Marliweather.


    Terry did take a bit of time to divert and hunt on their way, but there weren¡¯t too many arcanous creatures along the direct path.


    They did see some rather fantasticallyrge herds though, moving in the middle distance to either side of their corridor of travel.


    T actually paused at the top of one of her arcs, reducing her effective gravity even further to simply glide along as she stared in wonder at one particrlyrge herd.


    It was like watching a cluster of inds moving,rge beasts in groups of fifty to two hundred, shifting around each other in one mega-herd in the gray light of early morning.


    The sight was formidable, and something about it even gave Terry pause, the terror bird giving the mass of normally prey animals a wide berth.


    <em>Strength in numbers, indeed.</em>


    Even at the distance of tens of miles, T could hear the low rumble of their movements and feel the very zeme trembling as their collective trickles of powerbined into something that even an Archon should be wary of.


    She couldn¡¯t quite ce <em>what</em> magics they wielded, but they didn¡¯t seem to be the thunder bulls of the western ins, at least not to her distant perspective.


    Still, while it was a curiosity, she could look it up with rtive ease if she was truly curious. So, it wasn¡¯t worth diverting from their travels.


    After her incredibly limited gravity brought her back to the ground, she adjusted it back to the level that she¡¯d found would give her the easiest leaping pace and sped back up.


    In her conflict with Mistress Cethira, T had found herself able to propel her own body with her aura¡ªso long as she had an exterior locus for her aura to act from¡ªbut she wasn¡¯t confident in using that ability in long-range travel, at least not at that moment.


    Rane, on the other hand, seemed to be perfecting his own form of travel to an incredible extent. He couldn¡¯t quite do the equivalent of flight, but he had begun scooping up random detritus every time he came down, which was more and more infrequently.


    With that, he would drop one piece of natural junk, ¡®pushing¡¯ off that bit of material to maintain his movement. Because he wasn¡¯t actually pushing off of it, it simply fell to the ground below, harmlessly joining the other random natural matter.


    Still, it allowed him to bypass some of the limitations of his current hangup of ¡®not having anything to push off of.¡¯


    <em>I still think that he isn¡¯t pushing off anything anyway.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, but different mental models create different oues. I can understand why he would be stuck on the need to have at least the appearance of a tform or anchor to act from.-</em>


    <em>Well, then why doesn¡¯t he¡­ I don¡¯t know, push off the air or something?</em> T froze as that thought shed forth through her consciousness, causing a cascade within her own mind.


    t startedughing.


    <em>Would that work?</em>


    <em>-I think so, yeah. We¡¯ve even thought of it before, but never really did any testing.-</em>


    T hit the ground again, pushing off into another great leap. <em>Well, it¡¯s worth a try.</em>


    As she got to the top of her leap, she dumped power into the surface-area-expanding scripts in the foot that was already moving toe down for her next step.


    The area of the enhanced effect exploded in size, magically distributing her weight across a circle with a twenty foot radius.


    She drove that foot down, angling it slightly behind her to keep up her forward momentum.


    Her foot moved a short way under the powerful push, but the resistance magnified incredibly as she continued to force her foot downward.


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    Then, that resistance reached a critical point, and instead of her foot moving down more, her body shot forward, the remaining down-stroke of her step thrusting her up and forward.


    Unlike having a shoe or other physical tform with a twenty foot radius, as soon as she finished pushing and her foot began to move with her, the magics no longer affected her interactions with the air.


    It only expanded the surface area of her feet in one direction, to provide support for her steps.


    Even so, she cut the extra magic flowing into the scripts as soon as she didn¡¯t need the greatly increased area.


    T let out an almost involuntary whoop of excitement at both her increased speed and height, and at the sess of her experiment.


    Even so, she knew that it wasn¡¯t a total sess. <em>What did that cost us?</em>


    <em>-About as much magic as regrowing a finger</em>¡ª<em>without the reserve-costs of course</em>¡ª<em>and probably a hundredth of an ounce of gold from our inscriptions due to the pathways not being designed for quite that much throughput.-</em>


    T grunted. That was more expensive than she¡¯d prefer, but it had worked, seemingly even better than she¡¯d hoped. <em>Reach out to Mistress Holly and see if we can bolster those pathways without a redesign. I think using the air as a tform tounch from would be incredibly useful, if we can get the cost down.</em>


    <em>-Will do!-</em>


    The push had been a bit more powerful than her usual leaps as she¡¯d wanted to be sure that it would ¡®catch¡¯ on the air if at all possible. So, she ended up going a bit faster than ideal, pushing up against the speed at which she would create magical resonance, even with her iron and aura shaped to reduce that effect as much as possible.


    <em>Alright, so I¡¯ll have to be careful about how I use this when we make it more viable.</em>


    <em>-Noted.-</em>


    Other than those few highlights, the trip was incredibly uneventful.


    T had been a bit afraid that her brief pulse of magical resonance¡ªcaused while fighting against Mistress Cethira¡ªwould call in some magical creature or other, but none appeared while they were still at old Arconaven, nor had their group seen any evidence of any such beast on their trip north.


    She was unsure whether something about the recovering city had masked the brief pulse, or if that had just been <em>so</em> brief as to not really cause an issue. Regardless, she was grateful to not have the tripplicated by whatever creature would have been called by her power¡ªgiven beasts tended to respond who were at least of a level with the one whose resonance called to them.


    The three arrived at the outskirts of old Marliweather midmorning, once again making the trip faster than might be expected because they could make a straight shot, even simply leaping over the scattered copses of trees when those would have otherwise have blocked the most direct route.


    Yet again, the clearly city-size-and-shaped area ofnd was incredibly easy to identify among the surrounding ins, but T suspected that while some of that was due to the higher perspective they were able to achieve, a part of it was the very fact that they knew what to look for and where.


    Regardless, T¡¯s threefold sight highlighted it to them as well, due to the still present¡ªif mostly healed¡ªrents in Reality.


    It seemed that fifty-seven years wasn¡¯t quite enough time for a full recovery, even if the rents looked¡­ worn somehow.


    <em>-How can holes look worn?-</em>


    T frowned. <em>Not worn¡­ old? Like old wounds¡­ scars? But still in the process of healing. Like cloth worn almost to the point of tearing, but this is going in reverse of that process.</em>


    t grunted within T¡¯s head. <em>-I think I get what you¡¯re saying.-</em>


    <em>Well, let¡¯s see what we can learn.</em>


    The group very carefully entered into the area of the city, and T was happy to see that she wasn¡¯t creating obvious damage simply by being within the space in which the main area of the city used to reside.


    That reassurance in mind, they moved to the center together, T and t once again recording everything they perceived and logging it in the Archive.


    There were far fewer of the four-dimensional creatures and almost none of the ¡®void nodes¡¯¡ªor Doman-Imithe bleed-through¡ªany more, as it seemed that Reality had healed sufficiently to at least keep that from being pervasive.


    Once they reached the center, Rane and Terry did their best to not distract her, which resulted in Terry flickering away to wander in the surrounding Wilds, and Rane sitting down to meditate.


    T, for her part, focused even more, picking out individual creatures to watch.


    It was only then, in this much less chaotic environment, that she noticed how the things <em>crossed through</em> the damaged zeme, skipping over it almost as if the damage weren¡¯t there. When they did, a reality thread would trace the path that they should have taken, thickening and reinforcing the repairs, seeming to pull the rent fractionally back together.


    <em>Because a creature went directly from one location to the other, the two ces are recognized as tied?</em>


    <em>-Or it actually does tie them together?-</em>


    T frowned. <em>So, if there were nothing moving through the physical level of Reality, would the connections break down over time?</em>


    <em>-Well, there¡¯s light, gravity, and many other things like that, which unify physical existence, which unify Reality.-</em>


    <em>That¡¯s true¡­ These creatures seem to be reinforcing the connections. Or they help rebuild them by their very nature, which amounts to the same thing.</em>


    <em>-That¡¯s what it seems like.-</em>


    They went back and reviewed what they¡¯d seen in old Arconaven, and with their new insight, they were able to see the same thing urring across the rents there.


    There was a catch, however. The reality-threads that were stretched across the damage in old Arconaven degraded <em>incredibly</em> quickly in the maelstrom of Reality, Magic, and Void. Thus, even with dozens¡ªif not hundreds¡ªof times as many creatures, the aggregation of reality threads effectively repairing the damage was <em>much</em> slower.


    <em>Fascinating. They eat the magic even as they stitch the holes closed, attacking the problem from two sides.</em>


    <em>-I wonder if these are natural or designed?-</em>


    <em>You think that gated-humanity </em>designed<em> these things? </em>T hesitated. <em>You know, they might have?</em>


    <em>-Ask Mistress Ingrit?-</em>


    <em>Yes please.</em> She continued her examination for a few minutes before the Archon responded. t read through the response and gave T the shortened version.


    <em>-No, gated-humanity didn¡¯t create them, to Mistress Ingrit¡¯s knowledge. There are records of them from a time before gates. They are considered to be a more passive version of Magical creatures, it seems. Something that Reality itself apparently creates in order to counter high concentrations of Magic.-</em>


    T nodded slowly. That did make more sense as the things seemed too¡­ alien to have been conceived of by a human mind.


    <em>-What about a really odd one?-</em>


    <em>I mean¡­ maybe? But he would have to be very odd indeed.</em>


    T and t paused for a moment before moving on, feeling vaguely ufortable with the topic overall.


    In the end, they were getting a rtively clear picture of what the damage looked like after a city had been fully abandoned, after the damage had been mostly healed, and what the process might look like going from one to the other.


    Old Manaven would give them another, far longer view when they got there, given that that city waned more than a century and a half earlier¡ªa century before old Marliweather, where they currently were.


    <em>And the increased pull between reality nodes that I enacted within my sparring ring</em>¡ª<em>and which I¡¯m building up within my sanctum lung</em>¡ª<em>seems to be exactly what the repair entails, except it is executed differently.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, as opposed toshing two things together like we¡¯re seeing here, you cause them to pull together without the extra ties.-</em>


    <em>No. </em> T disagreed.<em> I am augmenting the ties that already exist, those ties of Reality which Magic might otherwise break down.</em>


    And there it was. The overly simplistic description of the degradation caused by human gates.


    Magic eroded the interconnected nature of reality¡ªthe causal and physical connections of existence¡ªallowing or even forcing division where none was previously, thus introducing void.


    <em>Or drawing forth the void that is always lingering within all things.</em>


    T frowned, about to point out an issue when t broached it first, -<em>What about the increase in the stability of Kit as you advance? As you have more magic?-</em>


    <em>Yeah¡­</em>


    <em>-I believe that¡¯s thinking of it backward. Kit isn¡¯t more stable because you have more </em>magic<em>. It¡¯s more stable because your soul is more stable. Because of that, your soulbonds are more tightly connected.-</em>


    T gave a slow, understanding nod. <em>And it is precisely those connections which resist the degradation caused by magic.</em>


    <em>-I think so, yeah.-</em>


    That made <em>so</em> much sense to T.


    T sighed, causing Rane to open his eyes. Something in her sigh must have conveyed more than she thought, because his question was rather insightful, ¡°What frustrating thing did you just realize?¡±


    A smile pulled at her lips as she looked his way. ¡°Reality hates us because we degrade it, right?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡±


    ¡°So, anyone who dabbles too deeply into Reality magic goes a bit crazy and anti-gated-human, right?¡±


    ¡°Right.¡±


    ¡°Well, with a proper application of Reality magic, I¡¯m pretty sure that we could not only fix the damage, but prevent it from happening in the first ce.¡±


    Rane stared at her for a moment before giving a rueful chuckle. ¡°If you ban all forms of violence, you have no one left capable of dealing with those who don¡¯t follow those rules?¡±


    She blinked a few times before giving a slow nod. ¡°Not the analogy I would have used, but¡­ yes? I think that tracks. We need Reality Mages to fix this issue, but¡ªat the risk of over-personifying one of the three pirs of Existence¡ªReality is so angry with us that it makes it impossible for us to have any Reality Mages, because instead of fixing the issue¡ªas only they can¡ªthey attack us.¡±


    ¡°Thus, we have to make them taboo, preventing the fix at the root,¡± Rane finished for her.


    ¡°Exactly.¡±


    He frowned. ¡°Can you exin what you¡¯ve learned in more detail?¡±


    She nodded and did so,ying out what she¡¯d perceived and what she¡¯d gleaned from it.


    He asked probing questions, testing her assumptions, but in the end, he didn¡¯t find any major w in her thinking. Leaning back, he pulled a waterskin from his dimensional storage and took a long pull. After wiping his mouth, he nodded. ¡°Can you implement the fix? Can you put in preventative measures?¡±


    T let out a long breath, puffing out her cheeks with the breath as she slowly shook her head. ¡°Honestly? Yes, but no.¡±


    He tilted his head to the side, waiting for her to continue.


    ¡°I can do the work, but this is like looking at a child with a shovel and asking her to relocate a mountain. In concept? Sure, it¡¯s possible, but it¡¯s not going to happen.¡±


    He grinned at her, then. ¡°So, what you¡¯re saying is that you need to get stronger? You need to advance?¡±


    T chuckled. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t that be nice?¡±


    ¡°Well, ¡®to fix that which is broken¡¯ isn¡¯t the worst eternal goal I¡¯ve heard.¡±


    She stared at him for a <em>long</em> moment. ¡°Well¡­ rust. I think you¡¯re right.¡±

 Chapter 452: Final Goodbye

    Chapter 452: Final Goodbye


    T and Rane enjoyed ate breakfast in the center of old Marliweather.


    Mistress Petra had really outdone herself, with a spread of foods that catered to both T¡¯s and Rane¡¯s magics, along with a bound pig, with a quick release on its bindings.


    <em>I need to tell her to tone it down a bit.</em>


    Terry had perked up at the sight of the pig, freeing it and letting it take off for a good two minutes before he vanished to pursue.


    <em>-But he¡¯s so happy.-</em>


    <em>¡­Yeah¡­ It¡¯s just¡­ it seems odd to have the pige with the other food, though. I¡¯m also not really sure I like feeding that part of his personality.</em>


    <em>-He can be rather terrifying¡­ yeah.-</em>


    Even so, T didn¡¯t spend too much time thinking on Terry¡¯s activities. That was likely due to her mind being dominated with the eternal goal that Rane had suggested.


    It wasn¡¯t <em>quite</em> right for her, but it was tantalizingly close.An eternal goal wasn¡¯t the only thing that she needed to advance to the level of Paragon, but it was arge part of what she was still seeking.


    To fix that which is broken.


    It was interesting to be sure. It held so much of what she actually wanted to strive for, despite it being such a simple phrase. Even so¡­


    Her head was starting to hurt, despite there being nothing physically wrong with her.


    She had simply been delving too deeply, too quickly. She needed to let her thinking percte out, seep in, and be tested through more experiences.


    She ate one more breakfast pastry, downed another mug of coffee, then smiled toward Rane, drawing his attention with the expression. ¡°Are you ready to head north?¡±


    He nodded, taking a slow bite of his own breakfast. ¡°Shall we see if Terry is ready?¡±


    T nodded in turn. ¡°Sure.¡± She drew power into her lungs,cing it through the air in order to fill her words. Then, she spoke levelly, trusting the magic to carry her words far enough to reach the avian. ¡°Terry? Can youe back to check in?¡±


    Less than a minuteter, Terry flickered across the ins, approaching at breakneck speeds only tond lightly on T¡¯s shoulder to regard her with an interested look.


    ¡°We¡¯re ready to head north again. Are you ready?¡±


    Terry squawked inquisitively.


    ¡°Yeah, I know we haven¡¯t been here all that long, but I think we can get to old Manaven by sunset if we hurry. It¡¯s a bit further than ourst legs have been, but it shouldn¡¯t be an issue.¡±


    The terror bird considered for a long moment before bobbing his assent.


    ¡°Alright, let¡¯s go.¡±


    Thest half of the trip was through the southern edge of the northern forest. Unlike the Leshkin forest to the south, the northern woods seemed blessedly normal, with trees of various sizes, undergrowth, and rtively mundane wildlife.


    There were no Leshkin, and the Anatalin wolves weren¡¯t in ready evidence, leaving a general sense of mundanity about the ce.


    T was right in her guess, and they approached the site of old Manaven as the sun was starting to slip below the horizon. The low mountains to the west glowed as they seemed to try to eat the light of day.


    Instead of entering the space that <em>seemed</em> to be the site in question¡ªtime had evidently worked to finally render the location mostly blended with the surroundings¡ªT and Rane turned to Terry.


    T smiled. ¡°We¡¯re here for you. Where do you want to go?¡±


    Terry looked¡­ concerned, but took the lead, growing to be as tall as T before flickering through the trees, always ensuring that Rane and T could follow.


    T and Rane did so at a sedate pace, somehow feeling that rushing forward would be insensitive to the situation that they felt sure they would find ahead.


    It didn¡¯t take long for them to reach a low cliff in a raised clearing. The fading light of the setting sun streamed over the cliff to strike the trees as the sun dipped beyond the low, northern mountains to their west.


    At first, T didn¡¯t see anything special about the cliff, except that there were severalrger rocks in the clearing near the rockface, but when Terry walked forward instead of flickering, T and Rane followed, after sharing a short nce.


    Only when they were close enough to reach out and touch the cliff did they see a hidden entrance, reached by weaving past two of the boulders and pushing into the cliff itself. The opening looked to be broken open somehow, though T couldn¡¯t quite ce what it was about the rock that made her believe that.


    Terry let out a low, whistling trill with a mournful air. He was still just about T¡¯s size, but his head was dipped low, his wings pulled in tight, and he seemed almost to be shivering even though it wasn¡¯t unusually cold.


    T felt a cloying ache within her chest as she regarded her friend. ¡°Oh, Terry.¡±


    When she entered the little sheltered alcove, she saw what had elicited Terry¡¯s reaction with her own eyes. The impact was much greater than when she¡¯d seen it with her threefold sight.


    A clearly long-abandoned nest filled the space. Bonesrge and small¡ªand the remnants of surprisingly thick eggshells were scattered about.


    The walls were scarred in a way that clearly indicated various magical attacks, the alcove clearly having been reshaped by the same. That was also likely what had marred the entrance.


    <em>It wouldn¡¯t shelter from the weather anymore.</em> Based on some of the rock nearby, it looked like the alcove once would have been an excellent ce of refuge, but no longer. That was probably the only reason some other beast hadn¡¯t moved in.


    T and Rane moved to the unnaturally clear center of the nest¡ªwhich was easilyrge enough for both of them to fitfortably¡ªmaking sure that they didn¡¯t disturb any of the remnants around them as they took a seat.


    Terry was looking around, nudging various bones with his beak, clear sorrow in his movements and gaze.


    ¡°Terry?¡±


    The avian looked up, obvious emotion in his eyes.


    ¡°Is this¡­¡± She swallowed. ¡°Was this your nest?¡±


    His gaze held hers for a long moment before he gave a slight bob.


    ¡°Oh, Terry.¡± Her voice was soft, but it carried easily in the small space. ¡°So, this was your mate? Your hatchlings?¡±


    He let out a burbling chirp in affirmation before the terror bird flickered into the middle of the nest, between Rane and T, shifting until he was curled up across both of theirps.


    The two humans leaned forward, wrapping their arms around therger-than-usual avian, letting silence and touch convey their presence as thest light of the day slowly faded from the clearing.


    Long had the alcove stood empty, bereft of the flock which had called it home. Yet, as darkness fell, night found the potential for a new flock resting within the embrace of the cliff once more.


    * * *


    Dawn found the three unmoved. Terry seemed to have found some measure offort in the contact with the two humans.


    Rane seemed to be content meditating on¡­ something or other.


    T couldn¡¯t help but consider the loss that Terry had suffered, and how she would fare if she suffered the same. <em>Not well.</em>


    She would prefer to die opposing that which sought to harm anything of hers rather than be left without those she cherished. That knowledge¡ªeach time she mulled over the facts and her feelings about them¡ªmade her hold Terry all the more stalwartly through the night.


    As the sky brightened¡ªand the sun broke over the horizon behind the trees outside their alcove¡ªRane shifted, and Terry lifted his head to look at the big man.


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    ¡°Terry?¡±


    Terry tilted his head to the side in obvious inquiry.


    ¡°Can we bury these remains?¡±


    T felt immense gratitude, not having really known how to proceed. She felt really odd, if she was being honest. She hurt for Terry, but she also knew that these terror birds had died hundreds of years before she, herself, was born. It didn¡¯t feel like Mistress Odera¡¯s death, or any of her family who had passed. The closest thing was the death of her mother. Cognitively, she knew that her mother had died, and she was sad to not have gotten to know her, but it honestly didn¡¯t cross her mind very often.


    This whole situation felt like mourning the death of some historical character. Even so, Terry was <em>very</em> real to her¡ªand incredibly important¡ªso his suffering affected her deeply, and he was obviously deeply affected.


    The avian seemed stunned into immobility for a long moment.


    Seeing his hesitation, Rane asked further, ¡°We could also burn them, or T could disintegrate them, if either of those would be preferred. We want to honor the dead, but you will have to let us know how.¡±


    Finally, Terry bobbed his slow assent.


    ¡°Bury?¡±


    The avian gave a hesitant shake, then bobbed again.


    ¡°Yes, but something else first?¡±


    Terry bobbed a yes to Rane¡¯s understanding.


    ¡°We¡¯ll want the grave ready, then.¡± Rane gave a sad smile. ¡°I¡¯ll get it done.¡±


    He shifted, and Terry shrunk before flickering to T¡¯s shoulder.


    Rane pulled out a shovel from his dimensional storage, scanning the remains before nodding. ¡°I¡¯ll be back.¡±


    <em>Why does he have a shovel?</em>


    <em>-I have no idea¡­ should we ask?-</em>


    <em>No, it¡¯s not important at the moment.</em>


    He ducked out of the alcove, and the regr cadence of a shovel moving earth soon resounded through the clearing, bouncing off the cliff.


    T could see what Rane was doing with her threefold sight, and his magics were making the work much easier than she¡¯d thought it might be, thankfully.


    She scratched Terry¡¯s head, speaking softly, trying to fill her tone with her warmth and caring for the avian, ¡°Do you want the remains burned or disintegrated?¡±


    Terry looked around the alcove, seemingly taking a moment to inspect each and every group of remains. He then hunkered down, pulling in on himself before letting out a mournful cry.


    ¡°Take your time.¡±


    The next few minutes passed slowly, the only sound¡ªbesides the background noise of the forest¡ªwas that of Rane¡¯s digging. Finally, the terror bird shook, fluffing his feathers before headbutting T¡¯s cheek.


    She thought she understood what he meant. ¡°Disintegration?¡±


    He bobbed in agreement, then headbutted her again.


    ¡°Understood. I¡¯ll do it. I won¡¯t just use seeds.¡±


    She began opening portals below each remnant, rejecting anything but the bone, feather, and egg-shell fragments. The nest itself had been made of well-arranged rocks andrge sticks, though most of the sticks had long since degraded.


    It didn¡¯t take long until she¡¯d gathered all that remained of the terror birds who had called this alcove home¡ªmother and hatchlings alike.


    <em>Can you help me?</em>


    <em>-Absolutely.-</em>


    Rane came back a minute or twoter, brushing his hands free of dirt. ¡°It¡¯s ready.¡±


    T rose, Terry clinging to her shoulder as she stood.


    As soon as she had regained her feet, he flickered to the ground, changing to be of a size with Rane and T. His fully erect height likely would have been between them, but he wasn¡¯t standing up straight. Instead, he was somewhat curled in on himself, hunched low as they walked out to where Rane had dug a deep hole with startling rapidity.


    It was six feet deep and nearly as wide across. The pile of dirt and rocks on the far side of the hole stood testament to just how much material Rane had moved so quickly.


    ¡°Rane, this¡­ this is impressive.¡± She¡¯d seen him do it, and it was still impressive.


    He shrugged. ¡°For Terry? It was worth the effort.¡± He gave a sad smile. ¡°Honestly, it would have been worth the work even if my magics hadn¡¯t made it easier for me.¡±


    Terry chirped his gratitude.


    T opened a portal across the bottom of the pit¡ªjust a bit above the dirt¡ªbefore she pushed out the remains as she moved the portal upward. This allowed for the precise cement of each bone, rearranged with t¡¯s help to be as close to how they should have been as possible.


    When the portal closed, revealing the remains, Terry let out a low, startled squawk.


    A mother terror birdy curled around six broken eggs with hatchlings within, all simple skeletons, long picked clean by predators and time.


    Even so, they were so well put together that they seemed almost to be waiting for a word or sound to wake them up.


    <em>Thank you.</em>


    <em>-It was my honor.-</em>


    Terry hunched down, trilling with sorrowful need at the sight below.


    T and Rane waited for a long few minutes as Terry simply looked down at his mate, his broken flock.


    Finally, he turned and looked at T, and she felt a welling up in her eyes at the emotion on his avian face. ¡°Is it time?¡±


    He gave a long trill of assent.


    ¡°Alright.¡± T breathed in deeply¡ªand unnecessarily¡ªbefore she went through the process of building up endingberry power into her sanctum-lung.


    She didn¡¯t overcharge the air, nor do anything else to make it more potent. This wasn¡¯t an attack. She simply wanted to ensure that her breath reached the bottom and covered the whole area.


    With a slow nod, she opened a portal into her sanctum¡¯s lung, directing the pulse ofpressed airden with power¡ªinto the center of the hole.


    The dissolution magic washed over the remains, turning them all to dust without fanfare or warning.


    She closed the portal within her mouth and rested her hand on Terry¡¯s head.


    As Rane went around to the pile of dirt beside the hole, T felt the need to say a couple of words. ¡°Here rests the remains of a flock, a family that never reached its potential. Let them be remembered, and let their purpose be fulfilled in other ways.¡±


    Without waiting for her to say more, Rane pushed on the pile, using his magic to affect the totality all at once, filling it with enough kic energy to roil over itself and fall into the hole, sealing the remnants in the earth.


    Terry threw back his head and let out a woeful trill, filled with his power and sorrow in equal measure.


    It hung, lonely in the early dawn stillness for a long, long moment before it was echoed from uncounted directions, each at a different distance.


    T¡¯s eyes widened. There were still terror birds here?


    She shouldn¡¯t have been surprised; terror birds were a rather pervasive species, often going through founts to gain arcanous powers of many kinds. That gave them an additional edge in the eternal jockeying for prey.


    Even if the fount that Terry had gone through was gone¡ªalong with all the avians who had gone through it as he did¡ªthat didn¡¯t mean that the region had been depopted of the avian predators.


    Rane stood back up from recing the dirt, leaving a circle of turned earth as the only evidence of those buried below.


    Terry was looking around, head tilted slightly in clear, focused intensity.


    Soon, the shapes of terror birds could be seen in the trees around the clearing, a few even appearing up on the cliff.


    Each clearly had arcanous power flowing through them¡ªand not all of the same kind by any means¡ªbut T wasn¡¯t worried.


    Rane rested his hand on Force¡¯s hilt but didn¡¯t draw his weapon.


    Either one of them could y every terror bird that they saw, and Terry could do it twice. They were in no real danger.


    Then, a clear outlier came into view. One exceptionallyrge terror bird strode up to the edge of the cliff above them, looking down from nearly forty feet up.


    She¡ªfor it was somehow obviously a female of the species¡ªhad matte ck feathers with sparks flickering along their edges and a blue light glowing in her eyes.


    There was a sh and a bolt of lightning connected her to the ground beside Terry, the female avian covering the distance within the strike.


    Then, she was there, towering over Terry and trilling in a manner that seemed¡­ possessive?


    Terry straightened, growing until he was a bitrger than the lightning-female. He squawked back, clearly a bit irritated and disagreeing with her assertion.


    A momentter, lightning struck at Terry, and Terry flickered away.


    T¡¯s eyes widened, but even as she drew Flow, Terry appeared on the far side of the clearing, looking straight at her and shaking himself in a clear negative.


    ¡°You want us to leave you to it?¡±


    He had moved on, avoiding another strike, but as he reappeared, he bobbed his agreement.


    ¡°Alright¡­¡±


    Each bolt was apanied by thunder as the female and Terry flickered around the clearing, up the cliff, through the trees, and back again, exchanging blows, tumbling, pecking, and shing at one another.


    The other avians¡ªbarely more than shadows to T¡¯s mundane vision butughably obvious to her threefold sight¡ªwatched the sh with obviously rapt attention.


    Soon enough, the inevitable conclusion came about, and a final strike of lightning exploded at the base of the cliff, revealing the female terror bird, pinned down by Terry, his talons around her neck.


    Terry let out a long, undting cry toward the stars once again. This time, when the other terror birds joined him in his cry, it was in a chorus of triumph.


    After the echoes died out, the avians slowly strode into the clearing, out of the woods, lowering their heads to the side, showing their necks to Terry one after another in obvious submission.


    Terry straightened even further, growing and cing more weight on the struggling female¡¯s neck. She tried to move away onest time, but something about Terry¡¯s hold around her neck kept her from escaping.


    Finally, she stopped moving, turning her beak down in surrender of her own.


    Terry huffed, chirping once more before releasing her and flickering away to stand among the crowd¡ªthe flock¡ªhead and neck above the others in size.


    The female rose to her feet, tilting her head to the side as all the others had, solidifying her surrender.


    Terry chirped again in seeming acknowledgement of the action. Without anything further, the flock turned and began to melt into the woods, the twenty or so terror birds moving in the same direction.


    The female was at the rear, and she paused at the edge of the woods, looking back toward Terry in obvious question.


    T felt her eyes widen. <em>Oh¡­</em>


    Terry looked between T and the waiting terror bird.


    ¡°Terry? Do you want to go with them?¡±


    He looked back and forth, seeming to actually consider the question.


    T swallowed. ¡°If that¡¯s what you need¡­ you¡¯d always be wee back.¡± She swallowed again. ¡°I would like you to stay, though.¡±


    Terry flickered to her shoulder, and when T turned to look, he met her gaze evenly. Finally, he headbutted her cheek before flickering away, appearing beside the female.


    The two terror birds shared a <em>long</em> look¡ªbut didn¡¯t make a sound¡ªbefore she turned and strode away, weaving between the trees.


    T felt her breath catch, but then Terry flickered, once again appearing on her shoulder.


    She let out a relieved breath. ¡°Good to have you with us, Terry.¡±


    Rane reached out and scratched the avian¡¯s head. ¡°I¡¯m d that you stayed, too.¡±


    Terry chirped happily, but then his head turned back toward the circle of turned earth, the happy chirps fading into silence.


    T looked as well. ¡°Do you want to stay for a bit?¡±


    He seemed to consider, but finally, he shook himself.


    ¡°Alright, then. Let¡¯s investigate what¡¯s left of the ruins of Manaven, and then figure out what¡¯s next.¡±

 Chapter 453: Honest and Open

    Chapter 453: Honest and Open


    T felt really foolish.


    She¡¯d made this massive deal about taking a break, getting away from her duties as a Defender and considering things. It had taken weeks to spin up to a reasonable time for departure, and now¡ªless than three days into the trip¡ªshe was ready to go back.


    Sure, she¡¯d like to take a day or two to study the ruins of old Manaven if she got the chance, but it honestly shouldn¡¯t <em>require</em> more than a few hours.


    <em>It¡¯s only been two days since we left. </em>She grimaced, feeling the¡ªlikely exaggerated¡ªshame of the reality being so much less than she¡¯d implied.


    <em>-You¡¯re efficient?- </em>t tried to redirect the feeling. It didn¡¯t work very well.


    T shook her head.


    Rane nced her way as they walked through the sparse trees. ¡°What is it? I know I¡¯m feeling¡­ mixed after the burial, but it doesn¡¯t seem like that¡¯s what¡¯s bothering you.¡±


    She hesitated, not liking the feeling of exposure that the topic brought up within her. But that didn¡¯t make any sense. She wanted to be honest with Rane and he with her.


    What was the point of courting if they weren¡¯t honest and open?She didn¡¯t want to love a lie, nor for the ¡®her¡¯ that was loved to be a lie. If she couldn¡¯t be honest, there was no point in continuing. None at all.


    That made the choice simple. Better yet, Rane had given her a perfect secondary topic with which to segue into what was really bothering her. ¡°The burial¡­¡± She reached up and scratched Terry¡¯s head. ¡°That was wonderful to be a part of. I am d that we were able toy them to rest, but you¡¯re right, that isn¡¯t what is bothering me.¡±


    Terry chirped with subdued encouragement, and Rane left the conversational space for her to speak when she was ready. She groaned before answering nheless, ¡°I feel the fool.¡±


    ¡°Oh?¡± He shifted his walking to orient her way just a bit more. ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡±


    She grimaced then let out a long breath. ¡°I¡­ We made such a big deal about this trip, and now¡­ Now, it¡¯s over? It¡¯s only been two days since we left.¡±


    He shrugged, a small smile pulling at his lips. ¡°The trip¡¯s not over quite yet. If you want to, we can stay out longer, explore more, do more.¡±


    She shook her head. ¡°I would just be doing that to not look like as much of a fool as I feel. We didn¡¯t prep for exploring the moving settlements, and while I <em>could</em> do the research for an encounter with the Anatalins, I don¡¯t feel like it¡¯s the right time for that yet either. We could explore other cities, or the construction sites, but that is also something that we didn¡¯t prep for, and something that I feel it would be unkind to spring on Irondale.¡±


    He hmmed in understanding. ¡°I can definitely see some of the merchants being in a panic if they suddenly found Irondale opened to a city under construction. They¡¯d feel like they were missing all sorts of goods that they would have wished to have brought.¡±


    T nodded, sighing. ¡°That wouldn¡¯t stop us if we had a solid reason for going, but, once again, it would just feel like something we¡¯re doing so that I feel less foolish. That¡¯s not a great way to make choices.¡±


    ¡°So, what you really need is a reason to havee back sooner than we thought?¡±


    ¡°That would be ideal, but I also don¡¯t want to just hunt for a reason. That seems petty in the extreme.¡±


    ¡°That is a conundrum to be sure.¡± He nodded sagely. He then looked to Terry. ¡°Terry? You¡¯ve conveyed that you had things toy to rest before you Bonded with T. It is hardly my ce, but I wonder, was your mate, your hatchlings among that?¡±


    Terry regarded Rane for a long moment before bobbing.


    Rane gave a sad smile. ¡°I am d to have been able to be a part of your finding closure.¡±


    Terry squawked, letting them both understand. Rane smiled gratefully, as did T.


    She then turned to Terry. ¡°Is Rane right? This was one of the things that you needed to do?¡±


    He only hesitated for but a moment before squawking again, a bit more emphatically. When she didn¡¯t respond immediately, he bobbed and trilled.


    Her eyes widened. ¡°You mean¡­?¡±


    He chirped his agreement.


    ¡°You¡¯re ready for us to be a flock. This was the only thing you needed toy to rest?¡±


    He hesitated before giving his agreement.


    ¡°Not the only thing, but all has been aplished, now?¡±


    He met her gaze, surety obvious on his every feature as he nodded, the gesture almost human whenpared to his usual avian bob.


    Tughed with barely contained¡ªslightly nervous¡ªexcitement. ¡°Well, alright, then. Let¡¯s take a quick look at this ruin and get back to Alefast. I¡¯ve a flockmate to bond.¡±


    Terry threw back his head and trumpeted triumphantly at the sky above.


    Rane chuckled. ¡°I can¡¯t think of a better reason to move quickly. Let¡¯s get to it.¡±


    * * *


    The trip back to Alefast, Waning, took until noon the following day, which still gave them plenty of time to enact the bond that day.


    T, Rane, and Terry made only one stop¡ªto drop off Irondale¡¯s entrance at the appointed ce¡ªon their way to the isted chambers under the Archon Compound in the center of the city.


    t had taken the trip back to coordinate with the Irondale residents to make them aware that they¡¯d be returning to Alefast sooner than expected, due to aplication that arose on the trip.


    <em>Bless you, t.</em>


    <em>-I aim to please.-</em>


    Apparently, Artia grumbled to t a bit, but no one seemed to think much of it beyond that. That proved that T¡¯s fear of being viewed as foolish was a bit overblown.


    But that wasn¡¯t T¡¯s concern any longer.


    As the iron door sealed them inside the chamber with a Constructionist Archon, T <em>really </em>realized that it was happening.


    She and Terry were going to bond.


    They could have simply had Terry eat an Archon star in old Manaven, but doing it in a proper chamber would give them both more control of the bonding process. The connection wouldn¡¯t just end up however they happened to mesh in the moment; they would have a say in some of the specifics.


    Rane had stepped in and handled the Constructionist¡ªmuch to T¡¯s relief¡ªgetting everything worked out with him, while T and Terry sat in the center of the room, barely apart from one another, gazes locked.


    T had given t full control over all their other perceptions, narrowing her focus entirely onto the terror bird before her, and the Archon star she was building within her finger.


    With her current throughput, she was essentially done making the star, even though she¡¯d only started to create it after they entered Alefast.


    Because of the hyperfocus, she was almost surprised when it was time.


    ¡°We¡¯re ready, T.¡± Rane¡¯s voice was soothing as it reached her.


    She looked around and saw the precious metal spun into spellworkid out in the floor around her. She smiled toward Rane and the other Archon before nodding.


    Rane smiled in return. ¡°Whenever you¡¯re ready, then.¡±


    T turned to Terry. ¡°Are you ready?¡±


    Terry regarded her for a long moment, then bobbed a nod.


    ¡°Alright.¡± She used her aura and will to pull the Archon star stoneward¡ªout of her finger¡ªthen back to the superficial now outside of her body.


    ¡°Is that blood?¡± The Archon whispered to Rane, but T still easily heard.


    Rane shushed him in return, and T simply put the interaction from her mind. ¡°Here, Terry. Freely offered.¡±


    Terry moved forward even as the magics throughout the room blossomed with power, giving structure to the implicit contract they were entering into, the bond that they were forming.


    The terror bird snapped forward, purposely¡ªand with full knowledge and intent¡ªeating the bloodstar.


    With a roar of power, the world went white.


    * * *


    T flickered around the battlefield, Flowshing out to kill with impunity. Portals opened to Kit, scooping up the bodies even as T stripped all the nutrients and calories from the fallen, adding them to her stores, hidden away from the superficial.


    She was the perfect predator, and <em>everyone</em> was her prey.


    Her reach and authority was unmatched and still growing.


    Everything was <em>hers.</em>


    This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.


    By her side, Terry moved¡ªan extension of her will even if he chose how he enacted it¡ªa perfect counterpoint to her attacks, drawing attention to give her openings, appearing in the blind spots, and striking forth.


    His ws and beak were wreathed in void-magics, his feathers were woven through with white steel and iron, his bones were invible.


    The whole continent trembled in fear of their attention.


    All of Zeme prayed that their focus would stay elsewhere.


    They hunted where they wished, and none could oppose them.


    <em>-Well¡­ this is clearly a power-tripping delusional fantasy.-</em>


    <em>Unfortunately, yeah. Anatalis would put a stop to us right quick, even if no one else cared to. </em>She sighed internally, even as the manifestation of this bonding continued to glut herself on carnage and prey.<em> Nope!</em>


    * * *


    T floated in the white void after rejecting the first option. She was considering what she¡¯d seen and what she wanted.


    ¡°Well, if nothing else, I want Terry to be able to talk with me.¡± That was a good ce to start.


    * * *


    T and Terry stood on a hilltop, side by side, looking out over the ins around them.


    Terry lifted his head and looked straight at T, meeting her gaze. After a long moment, he spoke in an earth-shakingly-deep voice, ¡°No.¡±


    The manifestation shattered, returning them to the white void.


    * * *


    It took T a long moment to pull her mind back together after the whish imparted through thatst manifestation of a bonding option. The option hadn¡¯t even fully formed before Terry rejected it outright.


    ¡°No? You don¡¯t want to be able to talk?¡±


    She couldn¡¯t see Terry at the moment, but she could feel him, and she could feel his agreement with the sentiment.


    He didn¡¯t want to be able to talk, not in the way humans did. He was happy with his ability tomunicate as it was, and that seemed like it wasn¡¯t going to change.


    Well, that was fine then.


    T didn¡¯t <em>need </em>Terry to talk, but that left her with an important question: what did she want from this bond?


    Thankfully, she already had an answer for that.


    She wanted to be united with her friend and to offer him the same longevity and power that she already had and that which she was going to attain.


    She honestly didn¡¯t want anything from him but hispanionship.


    t cleared her mental throat. <em>-And the ability to flicker around?-</em>


    T chuckled. <em>Ahh, yes. That. I would </em>love<em> to be able to do that.</em>


    The white void vanished, making way for the next option to manifest.


    * * *


    T and Terry stood face to face, practically beak to nose.


    There was an intelligence in his eyes that hadn¡¯t been there before.


    She was used to seeing the wisdom and guile of a practiced hunter, tracker, andbatant, but what she saw now was well beyond that.


    What he had gained¡ªwhat he would gain through this choice¡ªwas a sapient perspective and mentality, for better or worse.


    As for her? She felt the world around her open up in a way that she¡¯d never experienced before.


    Everything within her aura felt like it was just a single step away.


    She knew that Terry didn¡¯t have that same limitation, after all he hadn¡¯t really had an aura in the same sense that a Mage did.


    Still, the ability that she felt was <em>massive</em>.


    To be able to, in theory, move to anywhere within her aura in one ¡®step¡¯... That would amplify herbat ability a dozenfold.


    It would be an even greater change if she hadn¡¯t figured out how to do something simr¡ªif a bit slower and more cumbersome¡ªvia her portals into and out of Kit<em>,</em> and it felt like this means of movement just scratched the surface of what might be opened to her.


    But that was all beside the core thing at issue.


    This was unlike any merging or bonding that she¡¯d ever done, and the reason was obvious.


    Terry.


    Terry was a truly sentient creature being pulled into full sapience.


    Bonding Kit had included <em>some</em> simrities, and even merging some of the magics with Flow had required oveing a sort of subconscious will. Even so, the only bonding that had been anywhere close to what she was experiencing in that moment was the merging of Flow with the dasgannach.


    The dasgannach had been more of a creature of instincts with fully formed¡ªif not fully fleshed out¡ªdesires and drives. In that instance, however, T had been able to override and then subvert the dasgannach by giving it what it thought it wanted, taking <em>everything</em> in return.


    None of her methods there would work here.


    More urately, even if it <em>might</em> have worked, that was thest thing that T wanted. Even if she could¡ªand she wasn¡¯t sure that she could¡ªshe had no desire to subsume Terry into herself and simply be a slightly terrorized T.


    She did snort augh at that.


    <em>-More like we¡¯d be terry-fying T.-</em>


    <em>That¡¯s bad, t.</em>


    <em>-The best puns are based in truth.-</em>


    Sheughed again, causing Terry¡ªwherever he was¡ªto give off the feeling of curiosity. She shook her head at his confusion and assuaged him the best she could. ¡°You¡¯ll be able to hear her soon enough.¡±


    t gasped. <em>-He will! I¡¯ll be able to talk with Terry. TERRY! I¡¯ming!-</em>


    T winced at the volume of the internal voice. ¡°Maybe you should run, Terry. She can be a lot sometimes.¡±


    Terry let out a poignant chirp.


    ¡°Well, yeah. I suppose I can be a lot sometimes too.¡±


    He squawked in a descending series.


    ¡°Fine, much of the time.¡±


    Another squawk.


    ¡°Yes, you and Rane deserve some kind of medal for putting up with me so much. Is that what you wanted to hear?¡± She raised an eyebrow, trying to put more humor than irritation in her voice.


    Terryughed.


    She blinked at him in surprise as he actuallyughed.


    It was a series of honking squawks, but it was also unmistakably augh.


    The sound brought a smile to T¡¯s face as soon as she got over the startlement. ¡°Fine. You win this round.¡±


    He got himself under control and shook vigorously.


    ¡°Oh? Oh. Right. <em>We</em> won this round.¡± She huffed augh even as he bobbed a firm assent. ¡°So? Is this the one we ept? Assuming this is actually <em>you</em> and not just some spiritual manifestation mimicking you while you go through your own selection process.¡±


    She had a brief sh of what that might look like and paled. Even though she suppressed the thought, she was left with the lingering image of a Terry,rger than thergest building, devouring whole poptions all while countering or avoiding the Archons who were supposed to defend the popce.


    ¡°Yeah, let¡¯s hope that¡¯s not the case.¡±


    * * *


    T was at a bit of a loss as she floated in the white void once again, this time with Terry floating beside her.


    They had epted the option presented, but they were still there, within the void.


    <em>This is new¡­ aren¡¯t we done? We came to an understanding, and the bonding can happen now, right?</em>


    There was definitely magic swirling around both of them, but there still seemed to be something left to be done.


    It was only as the power began to tighten around Terry first that T really understood, remembering the warnings that they¡¯d received.


    <em>Oh¡­ we were told that he was basically going to have to recontextualize his entire life with a new level of cognition.</em>


    The working that had surrounded them meshed into Terry without any resistance before the avian threw back his head in a silent, undting cry toward the non-existent stars.


    T was beside him in an instant, still within the white void.


    She wrapped her arms around him, not able to go through this with him directly. Even so, she was going to be there for him.


    He seemed to be entirely inside his own head as his body twitched and spasmed in her arms.


    With her close proximity¡ªand the nature of the Bonding Void¡ªT started picking up shes of what Terry was reliving.


    Terry was within his egg, and <em>something</em> made embryo-Terry throw himself against the inside of the shell, jiggling the egg enough to eventually shift it just a few inches.


    With that aplished, he settled down, but in less than a day, a massive <em>THUMP</em> resounded as something struck the ground directly beside his egg, right where he had been before his frantic movement.


    His actions had saved his egg from destruction.


    As a chick, Terry had stumbled from the nest before he was truly ready, feeling an overpowering urge to get over the nearby hill to the east of his sire¡¯s nest.


    When he¡¯d stumbled to the crest and looked down, he¡¯d found a human kneeling and unresponsive.


    Following yet another deep, internal urging, he¡¯d ovee fear of therge featherless biped creature, and curled up in the man¡¯sp even as the Mage¡¯s magics went <em>crazy.</em> The man¡¯s body was subsumed and his gate came to the forefront, bing a fount <em>around</em> Terry.


    The hatchling had been terrified at this development, wanting only to get away, and through that desire, he¡¯d suddenly been a dozen yards away, able to see the dell folding in on itself, twisting and expanding before copsing yet again, everything inside still perfectly preserved but incredibly dimensionally distorted.


    Terry had <em>moved</em> himself. Looking back, he understood that that had been his first flickering.


    Standing there, trembling, hatchling-Terry had felt the same deep desire thrumming through his very essence, he needed to go back.


    He had <em>not</em> wanted to, but he¡¯d felt like he needed to.


    This was a crossroads for him. Looking back, he could finally understand that responding to the first urge while in the egg had been a spark¡ªa beginning¡ªanding from the nest to the dell had been a solidification of an underlying magic within himself. Thisst choice would be a confirmation of that power as well as the acquisition of more.


    Little Terry hadn¡¯t understood that. He¡¯d only had his baser drives, and the <em>need</em> was stronger than the fear, if only barely so.


    He flickered forward, appearing in the center of the fount rather than passing through the raging magics that surrounded it. Immersed once again, he felt himself changing, but it was a change to his outer self.


    The core of who he was remained, and that core reveled in the confirmation of its power. His <em>need</em> was being perfected, and he was sure that he would never deny it again.


    Looking back he knew better, but little Terry could be forgiven for his naivete.


    He had flickered out, and when his need had called him toward the fount for a third and final time, little Terry hadn¡¯t hesitated in the least.


    In retrospect, Terry now understood that he had drawn as much power from the fount as was possible. He couldn¡¯t have had a better oue by any other means.


    While he was in the third time, he felt <em>something</em> reaching out to him, seeking to lock him down or bind him in some way. His <em>need</em> told him to flicker away and never return, and so he did.


    <em>Mistress Vanga had guessed that the fount was destroyed shortly after Terry passed through, but it seems like he avoided being bound to the fount and thend in a different way, using his own newfound power.</em>


    But then, T felt her eyes widen as she realized a deeper implication to what she was witnessing in flicks and shes. It was something that bore up to scrutiny, given the variations they¡¯d seen even among the same arcanous species that passed through the same founts, even those that <em>seemed</em> to have received identical impartments.


    <em>Arcanous creatures can have conceptual magic </em>underlying<em> their fount-acquired powers.</em>

 Chapter 454: Need

    Chapter 454: Need


    T held Terry within the white of the Bonding Void, her hand stroking over the manifestation of his feathers.


    Terry was reliving his own life with the new perspective and cognition afforded him by his new bond to T.


    T couldn¡¯t see everything by any means, but she was getting shes of the highlights, even if theycked much of the detail that she was sure he was privy to in his own re-experiencing.


    She¡¯d already seen a few key points that she <em>knew</em> he couldn¡¯t have remembered as even she was able to see. That made it obvious that something fundamental was happening.


    Something within the magic of the bond¡ªor something else¡ªwas allowing him to truly experience <em>everything</em> again.


    That made the next part all the more heart-wrenching.


    Young Terry had felt like he was grown.


    He was out of his sire¡¯s nest, on his own in the woods, and in the woods, he was <em>supreme.</em>


    Young Terry had been wise enough to avoid those who looked like where he¡¯d gotten his power. Those humans seemed to have power that he didn¡¯t yet understand, and until he did, he would give them a wide berth.Since they didn¡¯t reside <em>in</em> the woods, he still considered himself supreme.


    Older Terry seemed to grimace internally at his younger self.


    Humans had been beyond him, then, but he¡¯d felt like they wouldn¡¯t be forever, and once they were understood and oveable? He would have a whole new set of prey.


    His internal <em>need </em>had been quiet since he¡¯d passed through the fount three times and left it behind. Time passed, and he had left his sire¡¯s nest.


    He had found a group of other young males, and they¡¯d gathered forradery and safety through the dark of night, even if they hunted and ate separately.


    On that day his <em>need </em>fired off once again, drawing him further afield than he was used to traveling.


    But that loose collection of half-formed nests was far behind him now.


    Still, his <em>need</em> drew him on until he came across the not-trees that the magic creatures used¡ªa human caravan.


    It had been circled to form a protective formation for the night, and it was clear the humans were at the ready.


    There were several creatures of power¡ªMages¡ªand they seemed to be working to corral a group of terror birds together, drawing and driving them toward cages and other humans waiting with strips of leather¡ªmagical cors.


    Terry was about to retreat from the clearly dangerous beings when he saw <em>her.</em>


    She was the most stunning creature that he¡¯d ever seen, and he knew, in that moment, that she was the reason he was here.


    He had to save her from whatever fate awaited her.


    T felt Terry realize that the female terror bird would have probably been fine, brought into a flock to be tamed in Manaven or elsewhere.


    Young Terry hadn¡¯t saved her in the end, not really.


    Terry shuddered within the white void, that knowledge striking him <em>deeply</em>.


    Regardless, young Terry hadn¡¯t hesitated once he¡¯d recognized what was drawing him onward. His <em>need </em>had never led him wrong, the overt magic within the feeling making it distinct from his mundane needs and wants.


    In the memory, Terry flickered forward, talons and beak shing.


    The humans had wielded magics that he didn¡¯t understand. They had weapons he didn¡¯tprehend, and some parts of them were oddly resilient when they <em>should</em> have been soft and vulnerable. Even so, it wasn¡¯t hard to follow his <em>need</em> and flicker whenever it prompted, striking when he could, to mixed results.


    He was clumsy at first. The most he¡¯d hunted before were singr, small animals, and they hadn¡¯t been a challenge for him for a long time.


    Now, these bipedal things were actually a true threat, a true challenge.


    Fire shed, icenced out, and air solidified trying to trap him and end him as a threat.


    They failed, and they fell.


    More humans came to try to deal with him, but he didn¡¯t care. His earlier caution was lost in a storm of violence, <em>need</em>, and blood.


    The other terror birds were forgotten, and they scattered to the four winds as Terry made a menace of himself.


    In retrospect, Terry felt embarrassed at his ineffectiveness. Young Terry had been fighting for nearly three minutes and not a single human had been killed yet, despite what the screams and the amount of blood might have implied.


    His enemies kepting, but his goal was already aplished.


    She was free.


    He felt the <em>need</em> to keep fighting, but he also felt the need and desire to follow her.


    He made his choice.


    With onest flicker, he arrived behind the monster who had seemed to be the leader. Terryshed out, severing the man¡¯s spine before he struck out, biting off his head entirely, the dimensionality of his beak expanding to berge enough to aplish the task.


    T felt Terry¡¯s remorse at the action, not that the man was dead, but that he¡¯d shown them such lethality and then left witnesses.


    He could now see and understand that his <em>need</em> had bent to his will. He should have either left without doing much damage or stayed and killed them all. The middle ground¡­ that choice had been his mistake.


    There had been a moment of stunned, horrified silence as all the humans stared in disbelief.


    Terry took that moment to flicker away after <em>her.</em>


    As soon as he¡¯d disengaged, his <em>need </em>began drawing him away, and he followed the promptings.


    She hadn¡¯t been an arcanous terror bird, and so he¡¯d led her to the fount that had given him power. He stayed away¡ªas his <em>need</em> indicated that he must¡ªbut he watched as she went forward, gaining a measure of dimensional power.


    That had sealed her fate from a future-knowing perspective.


    She had been unalterably branded with the taint of dimensional power, and <em>he</em> had demonstrated to the Mages just how dangerous that power was.


    She and Terry had had such a short time together when weighed against Terry¡¯s long life, but it had felt like they had forever at the time.


    They hadn¡¯t rushed, but eventually, it had been time, and they¡¯d hunted for a site for their nest. An alcove in an all-too-familiar cliff was chosen, and Terry worked with her to make itrge enough even as they built out the nest.


    It was time to build their flock, and soon the eggs were there. She was confined to the nest, so he hunted for them both. He was more than up for the task.


    Each day he would leave, gathering prey from the surrounding area, making sure to keep away anything that could threaten the hatchlings that would soon arrive. It had be a regr pattern for him, but <em>that </em>morning he had felt the <em>need </em>to go further afield, and he had listened.


    This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.


    Terry hadn¡¯t returned until early the next morning, lugging a dimensionally shrunken corpse for her to consume.


    He¡¯d found the clearing before their cliff <em>ravaged.</em>


    T was momentarily confused as she got a sh of just how destroyed the clearing was in Terry¡¯s memory, but then she realized that it was so long ago that all evidence of the destruction had been long since expunged by the passage of time before she saw that clearing with her own perception.


    Still, in Terry¡¯s mind, the picture was clear. There were no human bodies left, but the ground was liberally coated with enough blood that either there had been <em>hundreds</em> of attackers or his mate had killed more for every foot of ground they advanced.


    T couldn¡¯t tell all the clues that Terry had been able to put together in the moment¡ªor in looking back¡ªbut the story that he put together was one of woe.


    His mate had detected the interlopersing and had gone out to meet them. Her eggs were at risk, and her mate should be close at hand.


    She only needed to call for him and hold on until he arrived. Then, all would be well.


    T felt tears filling her eyes, knowing that Terry both then and now was adding the assumptions atop what he¡¯d seen, but she couldn¡¯t argue with the likelihood.


    The battle had been <em>fierce</em> as she used her fount-acquired might to strike down those who hade for her and her clutch. All the while, she had filled the air with cries of rage, cries of battle, cries for her mate toe to her aid and the aid of their clutch.


    Despite her ferocity, despite her undeniable prowess, she¡¯d been driven back step by bloody step, her cries bing less defiant and more desperate with every bit of ground surrendered.


    Finally, she¡¯d made herst stand over the eggs themselves, somehow forcing the assaulting Mages to bleed and die even in those tight confines.


    Her final cries had beenced with confusion even in her final defiance. She¡¯d been cut down rather than let the eggs be struck by an attack that she¡¯d moved out of the way of.


    Her mate hadn¡¯te.


    That meant that he was dead, for only death could have kept him from her side, from the defense of their flock.


    At least in death, she would be with him again, and herst acts had spilled yet more blood before the final darkness imed her.


    Obviously, Terry didn¡¯t actually know that such had happened exactly in that way, but both newly cognizant Terry and T agreed that the story which young Terry had built within his mind seemed to line up with the evidence.


    The eggs were shattered, <em>her</em> blood painted the remnants of those who had been growing within.


    The air was filled with evidence of so many magics, but one stood out above all. Magic pertaining to light had been the end of his mate, and it hade from one far, <em>far</em> too powerful to be within his reach.


    Young Terry had stood, trembling, looking down upon all that was left.


    Nothing.


    Nothing was left.


    His flock was dead.


    Something more had been done to them besides the ughter. There had been not even a single trace of magic left on their bodies, even though Terry could still identify her well enough to have no doubt or concern of a swap of some kind.


    His trilling, shrieking cry had torn his throat as the very world twisted around him, bending to his magics in a way that he¡¯d never been able to replicate, Reality itself seeming to resonate with his <em>hatred</em> of humanity.


    Even young, animalistic Terry had realized that the hunting of his flock had something to do with the dimensional fount. When he¡¯d checked, the fount had been gone, confirming his suspicion.


    In that moment, his rage had known no bounds.


    What followed was even more flickering than what came before, and T witnessed Terry ruthlessly¡ªbut cunningly¡ªhunting humans.


    His <em>need </em>tried to keep him away, but when he ignored it long enough to get into battle, the need came to his aid despite his choice.


    The result was Terry fully wiping out several caravans over the years, even if his targets were more often individuals or smaller groups who foolishly wandered into the woods alone.


    In order to better understand his chosen prey and exploit their weaknesses, he began to pay attention to their grunts and utterances.


    While they were still always a bit nonsensical, he was able to pull enough from it in the end to find more targets with very little work.


    He was the vengeance of thend, and even though his <em>need </em>tried to keep him away, he ignored that to seek a venting of his rage.


    It wasn¡¯t enough.


    She would nevere back.


    No amount of blood could turn back time.


    The eggs would never be whole again, and he¡¯d never get to see his hatchlings. He would never meet those who should have been his, who should have been hers, who should have been <em>theirs.</em>


    Time passed in a haze, and his vengeance cooled, not because his hatred of humanity lessened, but because he simply couldn¡¯t bring himself to continue to rage. He could only burn for so long before he was spent, and he had long since passed that point.


    He spent decades¡ªpossibly centuries¡ªwandering the Wilds, gorging himself on prey that was never as challenging as he¡¯d have liked.


    He never truly followed his <em>need</em> after that, afraid that it would bring him to something that might make him forget <em>her</em>. Even so, he learned to discern when its promptings were about staying away from some great danger or other, and he did follow those promptings.


    Young Terry grew, finding petty diversion in hunting, finding ways to fill time even with prey that couldn¡¯t possibly be an actual challenge. Only asionally did he find opponents worthy of his time, through which he honed his abilities.


    T frowned as one particr encounter shed by too fast for her to really see. All that she pulled from it was a rtively ordinary bunny¡ªexcept it had been violet¡ªand the fact that Terry had fled from it at the nearly irresistible prompting of his <em>need.</em>


    Time continued to pass, and Terry asionally still killed humans when he came across them, but he did so only when they were targets of opportunity, and he did his best to get in and out without being noticed, leaving no witnesses.


    That was its own sort of diversion.


    T felt conflicted as she witnessed this. She couldpletely understand young Terry¡¯s perspective, and through the lens of his memories, she had a hard time rting to the humans that he had seen¡ªor those that he had killed.


    Terry had killed <em>hundreds</em> of people, maybe thousands, and yet she struggled to see him now as the monster that she knew he¡¯d been to them in theirst moments.


    Then¡ªas his memories continued to flicker past¡ªshe saw a caravan that looked familiar.


    Terry had felt drawn to it, and she saw herself, a young human Mage.


    He had burned with anger and felt a <em>need</em> to attack. That had almost caused him to pause. His <em>need </em>hadn¡¯t drawn him <em>into</em> a fight for a long time.


    Still, the human female was alone, at the back of the line of wagons. He should be able to strike her down and get away without being noticed.


    He stopped hesitating.


    But nothing went as he expected it to. The human didn¡¯t die. She <em>wouldn¡¯t</em>.


    Terry had been entirely confused. She had broken under his strikes, but he hadn¡¯t been able to cut her open. The guards had been fast enough to react that Terry couldn¡¯t capitalize on what weakness he had seen, and worse yet, she¡¯d been able to temporarily dy him, making him fear¡ªin the time¡ªthat she could figure out a means of doing so more effectively.


    He¡¯d had to flee.


    Still, even after he¡¯d fled, he couldn¡¯t get her out of his mind.


    How had she lived?


    The fact that he¡¯d left witnesses also didn¡¯t sit well with him. Thest time that had happened¡­


    He couldn¡¯t allow that. He had to solve the issue.


    That night, while she slept, he¡¯d crept close and tested if he could kill her unawares, but her defenses were too good for a quick, stealthy kill.


    She¡¯d woken, and he¡¯d had to flee again.


    His <em>need </em>wouldn¡¯t let him leave, though. His paranoia also pulled him to remove those who knew of his existence, and it was rare that those two aligned so fully.


    He¡¯d thought that meant he had to kill her, but when he¡¯d returned to finish the job one way or another, he¡¯d found¡­ meat.


    She¡¯d left out food, and it had clearly been for him.


    It had made absolutely no sense at the time, and even looking back, Terry didn¡¯t know why she¡¯d done it.


    The gesture was such a surprise that he¡¯d stood staring at her in her sleep as the stars moved overhead.


    Finally, at the prompting of his <em>need</em>, he¡¯d eaten the food and found that it was <em>fantastic.</em>


    T watched as Terry relived his time after they¡¯d met.


    He followed her, trying to grasp what was different about this human, what was different about his <em>need</em>.


    No matter what he saw, he still didn¡¯t understand her, and eventually, confusion and exhaustion from all the strangeness overtook him, and in frustration, he¡¯d curled up and fallen asleep against her for warmth in the middle of the autumn day¡ªit was only right for her to warm him before she died¡ªwaking only to flee as the human woke as well.


    Terry¡­ wanted to know more about this human. As he observed her, he heard what he thought was her desiring a thunder bull.


    He didn¡¯t see her doing well against such a creature, but that would certainly be interesting.


    During that night, he was able to separate one from a nearby herd and drive it to await her beside the caravan.


    <em>Ha! I knew it was Terry¡­ fine, I just suspected.</em>


    Still, the girl had killed it, poking it with a stick and somehow making it kill itself?


    It made no sense.


    Terry had broken many sticks on thunder bulls over the following day, but he couldn¡¯t replicate her sess.


    Looking back, Terry once again felt a bit foolish. It was fairly obvious that she¡¯d used a stick from an endingberry tree, but that thought hadn¡¯t even crossed his mind at the time.


    T thought it was pretty funny, even as she continued to hold her feathered friend.


    She caught flickering shes of him butchering the woodsmen outside of Alefast and was able to see just how much confusion Terry had felt about her.


    She was human, but she didn¡¯t seem to particrly like her own kind.


    <em>Ouch, but¡­ fair.</em>


    She was a young fighter with survivability but not much experience.


    <em>Again, ouch¡­</em>


    And she had given freely to him, even after he¡¯d attacked her. He didn¡¯t understand, but he wanted to.


    That is why the woodsmen had been killed.


    Terry couldn¡¯t let others kill this odd human until he understood her.

 Chapter 455: Not Ever Again

    Chapter 455: Not Ever Again


    T was a bit in awe of how much she was able to witness of Terry''s re-experiencing of his own life.


    She was seeing a bit more now that he was reliving the time with her, but that made sense to her, because she already had a basis of understanding into which she could slot the bits she was seeing.


    There wasn¡¯t much to see from when she¡¯d first gone to the endingberry groves near Alefast, but once she left the city again, things started to get interesting.


    Terry had been a bit irritated at first when another, much bigger human began spending more time near his little human, and that made things harder, but Terry was able to figure out how to stay close regardless.


    Strangely, the big human seemed to exasperate the young female in ways that Terry found quite amusing. He also brought out different sides of the girl, so Terry did what he could to keep him around.


    <em>I don¡¯t remember Terry doing anything to keep Rane around¡­ did I just miss it?</em>


    Then, the girl had gotten herself snatched by the massive flying birds.


    Terry had almost called the whole thing off then, but he had beening to like the bits of jerky she gave him.


    And he was already rather invested in her, so¡­He¡¯d gone after her, and it had turned out well that he had.


    She¡¯d killed most of that hostile flock on her own, showing him a whole other side to her. She had demonstrated the potential for quite a bit of lethality when pressed. She¡¯d been hurt doing it, but that just stood to reason. She was basically a hatchling after all.


    <em>Well, I guess that was fair¡­</em>


    There, on the frozen mountain side, Terry and the young woman had encountered a Mage who could restrain him, <em>actually</em> restrain him.


    Even in just the small shes of the reliving, T was able to see just how much that had <em>rattled </em>Terry¡¯s understanding of existence and his ce in it.


    He¡¯d known that some humans were more powerful than him¡ªand that he had needed to be careful to avoid their attention¡ªbut he had never encountered one who could directly beat him at his own game, let alone directly counter his dimensional magics so effectively.


    His eyes had been opened to just how utterly futile his own crusade against humanity had been.


    He¡¯d known for a long time that not every human was the same¡ªthat they made choices and acted as they wished rather than strictly as a collective. At a basic level, he knew that he shouldn¡¯t have med them all¡ªthat had been part of why he had not continued to attack humans as persistently, after his rage had begun to dull¡ªbut it wasn¡¯t until this looking back that he finally saw just how true that was.


    The encounter with Mistress had solidified that there could actually be things to learn from humans as well.


    He had needed to change his mindset, and the resilient human female seemed willing to bring him along, to feed him, and spend time near him. That was worth <em>a lot.</em>


    The very next day, that new-found desire for human connection was tested when a flock of terror birds came to eat the human. That had put him into the position of choosing a human life over a flock of terror birds.


    Sure, they hadn¡¯t been <em>his</em> flock, but it put the humans¡¯ actions against his own mate into an entirely different perspective, at least when looking back.


    In the moment though, Terry had simply seen T as a burgeoning member of his flock, and that was all that had mattered.


    His flock¡¯s safety was paramount, and he would not let <em>anything</em> attack them with impunity ever again.


    Terry¡¯s choice had resulted in her survival and their return to a human city. This time, however, he was able to enter safely. That had only been possible because of the cor they¡¯d gotten for him from the strangely obsessive human. Thankfully, he hadn¡¯t been too much of an issue.


    Once again, Terry found himself embarrassed, and T was truly startled.


    In that first venture into Bandfast, Terry had stolen a <em>lot</em> of food, flickering out and back when she had been distracted, making sure to return in the exact orientation he¡¯d been in previously.


    T had had <em>no</em> idea at all.


    In truth, Terry hadn¡¯t taken much from any one ce. Because of that, really <em>no one</em> had noticed, but some had briefly suspected that <em>something</em> had reduced the food on their te, in their stand, or wherever Terry had taken his bits from.


    Still, it had never caused trouble, despite Terry now realizing just how much of that was purely happenstance, likely influenced by his <em>need</em>. He did, after all, restrain himself when his <em>need</em> indicated that he should.


    They had stayed in the city longer than he¡¯d have preferred, but his human had grown much stronger while there.


    She¡¯d gone into a chamber without him, leaving him to wait outside, but shortly after, she¡¯d called him with a true frantess to her voice.


    Something within her tone had reminded him of the desperation he¡¯d imagined in his mate¡¯s cries oh so long before.


    He had flickered in without hesitation, his power on full disy.


    When he¡¯d arrived and seen their opponents¡ªthe sheer number and power of the Mages¡ªhe¡¯d understood.


    This was his chance at redemption.


    He hadn¡¯t been there for <em>her</em>. He hadn¡¯t died by her side, and this was his chance to do as had been his duty.


    He would finally die fighting beside his flock.


    He would finally be able toy this burden down.


    He would finally know peace.


    <em>Oh, Terry¡­</em> T squeezed him tightly once again within the Bonding Void.


    In retrospect, Terry understood that other things had been going on, but in the moment, he¡¯d been utterly baffled when no fight had urred.


    He¡¯d remained with his new, fledgling flock-mate watching in fascinated confusion as she cut herself open and pulled a magical working into her own chest.


    That was when her power had first magnified many-fold.


    Terry was proud of her for seizing such power, both then and now.


    He was also proud of himself for having now¡ªfinally¡ªconsumed a simr working.


    T detected a deep interest within Terry to see just how much he would grow from the working.


    She felt her manifestation¡¯s eyes widen as she also contemted that. She could finally fully understand the danger posed by bonding such an ancient arcanous creature. With this reframing of his experiences, it would be <em>incredibly</em> easy for one like Terry to wreak untold havoc with his newfound power.


    T was very grateful for this look into Terry¡¯s mentality, reassuring her that that wouldn¡¯t happen.


    Though¡­ she was a bit concerned about one thing. After all, she <em>had </em>recognized the magical signature of the light magic that had killed Terry¡¯s mate, even from the brief feel she¡¯d gotten from it in the re-living.


    Speaking of Master Xeel, Terry¡¯s memory of the Light Mage¡¯s arrival at their caravan came into stark contrast among the roiling sea of experiences, surfacing among the continued flow of time.


    Terry had recognized the man¡¯s magic immediately. He¡¯d wanted nothing more than to throw himself against the human, to die taking his vengeance, but it would have been useless to the point of senselessness. Even the Terry of that time had understood that.


    Standing with T, Terry had realized something else as well. If this Light Mage had been there in the beginning of the battle, there would have been no fight at all.


    Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any urrences elsewhere.


    It would have been a simple execution.


    He must have been called in to deal with Terry¡¯s mate when she simply wouldn¡¯t go down.


    He felt a mix of pride and renewed rage at that. She had been so fierce that they required this human monster to bring her down, but this monster <em>had</em> put her down.


    The man had seemed to recognize Terry¡¯s magics as well, at least to some extent, but he hadn¡¯t struck Terry down because of his rtion to T.


    In the reliving, Terry didn¡¯t know how to reconcile his feelings about the Light Mage¡ªXeel.


    Looking back, Terry still felt anger. He knew that Xeel had helped T¡ªTerry¡¯s potential new flock-mate¡ªimmensely at many points, but he didn¡¯t think he could forgive the death of his own mate.


    Only time would tell.


    In that moment, however, Terry had simply been held back by the knowledge that he would aplish nothing good by attacking and would likely lose much.


    T felt like this conflict between Terry and Master Xeel would need to be addressed at some point, and soon.


    As time moved on, Terry knew that he still had much to learn and so much to figure out. The only way to understand was to study her, and so he did.


    But soon enough, he was simply continuing at her side because he had been there, and it felt <em>right.</em>


    That is, it felt right until his <em>need</em> all butpelled him away once again.


    They had been together for months, but <em>that </em>night, he had known one thing with utter rity: he couldn¡¯t be around her.


    He had been confused, but he had listened. Only after he returned to find her missing did he remember that thest time that he¡¯d had such a powerful need was the time when <em>she</em> had died.


    Now, T was gone too¡­


    He still didn¡¯t understand her. She couldn¡¯t be gone. This was <em>her</em> all over again. He had lost his flock, again.


    That had almost broken him fully.


    That had almost sent him into a new spiral of raging destruction.


    But something had struck him about the situation.


    Something was different.


    He didn¡¯t feel the same emptiness that he had when <em>she</em> had died. Because of that, he had dared to hope that T <em>might</em> still be alive.


    More than that, his <em>need </em>was prompting him to leave the humannds, to head south.


    The Wilds passed, as did the Leshkin forest, then more ins through which walked mobile human dwellings, and finally he¡¯de to an unmoving city filled with magic.


    It was a ce built upon the death and imprisonment of humanity, but instead of feeling glee at finding such, he found himself furious.


    His time with T had fundamentally changed his viewpoint. He¡¯d met many humans, and they were not all like those who had broken his flock.


    After all, T was a human, and she was <em>his.</em>


    They couldn¡¯t do this to her.


    T didn¡¯t know how long Terry took to get to toiri, nor how long he had wandered the city before she came back to herself. He seemed to have even seen her once or twice¡ªor at least a human who looked like her¡ªbut she hadn¡¯t felt right, and his <em>need </em>had indicated that approaching her would be dangerous.


    He now knew that it had been her, but when Tali had been in fullmand. His <em>need</em> had been right to keep her away.


    When she hade back, when she had gone to the park to find him, he hade to her, his <em>need </em>drawing him to her side once more.


    It was then that he had left behind his final doubts, it was then that he¡¯d fully admitted to himself that he¡¯d decided long before. In the moment, it had been clear, and looking back it was even more obvious.


    Somewhere along the way, T had irrevocably be his flock. It was nowhere near the same way that <em>she</em> had been¡ªnor as his hatchlings should have been¡ªbut it was undeniable.


    T <em>was </em>his flock in every way that mattered, his adoptive hatchling.


    T purposely didn¡¯t look in on her own time with the arcanes. She had no desire to relive any part of that from Terry¡¯s perspective.


    Even so, she just couldn¡¯t pass up seeing just what <em>exactly </em>had happened with the bull-man arcane, when she¡¯d locked him in her sanctum with Terry.


    ¡­She really shouldn¡¯t have looked.


    <em>So¡­ he kept some of his savagery for all that time.</em>


    Terry¡¯s amusement and regret at losing such an amazing y-thing caused T to swallow reflexively, even just as a manifestation in the Bonding Void.


    <em>Yeah, let¡¯s not forget that Terry is a predator at his core.</em>


    That made seeing Terry interacting with her siblings¡­ a bit terrifying, but his gentleness once again reminded her of the duality of Terry¡¯s existence.


    He was a consummate predator, and yet, he still maintained the capacity to be utterly gentle when he wished.


    She also felt warmed by the avian¡¯s feelings for her siblings, even if it was mainly an instinctive reaction to them being children.


    Looking back, T realized that Terry had specifically avoided caravans where he saw any evidence of children, something deep within him rebelling against the idea of killing even human children¡ªeven when he¡¯d hated humans so much.


    Time flickered by as Terry stayed by T¡¯s side, until the disjointment of his own actions began to catch up with him.


    He was treating her as his flock, but she wasn¡¯t actually.


    He was reacting to her as if she were under his wing, without actually solidifying that connection.


    He was holding her at a flicker¡¯s distance.


    And so, he gave himself an ultimatum. He would fight her and test her.


    After that, they would either part ways or be a true flock. One way or another, he had felt ready for theirst match as travelingpanions.


    In looking back, it was such a foolish thought to have passed through his avian head. He had <em>long</em> since stopped treating her in that way, and they both knew it.


    T felt a smile pull at her lips at Terry¡¯s realization.


    The next fragment toe to her attention was the und tiger.


    It had been a feline of monstrous proportions, a Magical Beast that had utterly outssed T¡ªTerry even more so¡ªbut when she¡¯d called for Terry¡¯s aid, he¡¯de.


    His <em>need</em> had immediately begun to scream at him to retreat, but he had ignored it, helping her as he could.


    At the time, he¡¯d been willing to die with her, even if he didn¡¯t understand why they were fighting the big cat. It hadn¡¯t made sense to him at all, but she¡¯d asked for his help, so¡­


    Still, he¡¯d done his best to get her to leave, and to his utter shock, she had listened.


    The memory of that seemed to warm Terry to his core.


    T had listened to his promptings, and fled from the fight¡ªthe pointless fight¡­ his hatchling really had a lot to learn about picking her opponents.


    That was fine, he could help her.


    After that, she had surrounded herself with other powerful humans, and Terry had felt a bit unneeded for a time, though he had still enjoyed being with her when he could. He still enjoyed watching her continue to grow in strength and wisdom.


    Then, finally, a predator of equal ferocity and cunning to himself had challenged his hatchling.


    They¡¯d tried to keep him from the battle, but he¡¯d put that to rest.


    He and she had shed against the canine, and Terry had once more found himself outssed.


    The sireling could have in him in their first exchange, but Terry had felt respect from the young pup. They¡¯d both <em>known</em> who was the betterbatant, and the pup had held nothing but honor in his heart for Terry¡¯s willingness to fight anyway.


    T¡­ had not known that. She¡¯d thought that Terry and the sireling were roughly matched, and inparison to many other creatures, they were, but the sireling had just been too advanced for Terry to ovee.


    Terry had been more skilled, but skill only counted for so much when he couldn¡¯t havended a damaging blow even if the sireling had stood still and let him attack, uncontested.


    When she¡¯d tossed Flow to Terry, that had changed, but it had also meant the end of the fight for Terry.


    Terry had felt deep self-recrimination when he¡¯d had to retreat. He¡¯d hated watching T fight alone, but he had been immensely proud when she¡¯d pulled out a victory, quite literally from the jaws of defeat.


    After the fight, Terry watched as T and Rane decided to begin courting, and T felt a bit embarrassed, seeing how it had looked from the outside.


    Terry had been happy for them, even if he didn¡¯t understand human mating rituals.


    Seeing Terry ssify their interactions in that way caused T¡¯s embarrassment to magnify, but she couldn¡¯t truthfully say he was wrong.


    That made it worse.


    They both witnessed Terry decide that he should ept T¡¯s offer for a Bond¡­ soon.


    He told himself that <em>she</em> wasn¡¯t ready, and looking back, he understood that even then, he hadn¡¯t known which <em>she</em> he¡¯d meant.


    T had continued to grow, and together, T and Terry had moved ever closer to this moment.


    Finally, they¡¯d gone to his old nest, and the humans had acted withpassion and honor, helping him toy his fallen flock to rest.


    He hadn¡¯t <em>needed</em> such¡ªthat was a human custom¡ªbut it still showed that these two saw him as one of them, and they saw those he cared for as worthy of their own caring.


    It had been time. He had dyed long enough.


    <em>She </em>wasid to rest, and <em>she</em> would have wanted him to move on.


    As if Reality itself had known that he¡¯de to that decision, terror birds hade, responding to his farewell cry, his final send-off for his mate.


    He¡¯d initially prepared himself for a massive sh¡ªfighting beside his humanpanions¡ªbut they hadn¡¯te for that.


    Their alpha hade for <em>him</em>. She had recognized him as worthy of her, where none other ever had been.


    The foolish bird.


    He had proven to her that such wasn¡¯t what mattered. It hadn¡¯t been the right question to begin with.


    She wasn¡¯t worthy of <em>him.</em>


    Still¡­ he¡¯d been tempted. She was by far the most capable terror bird he¡¯de across in his long life since <em>her</em> passing.


    He¡¯d been away from his own kind for <em>so</em> long¡­


    But even so, in the end, his choice had been rtively easy.


    He would not abandon his flock.


    Not ever again.


    He was here.

 August Skip Day && Ironbound - Book 8 Cover Reveal!

    August Skip Day && Ironbound - Book 8 Cover Reveal!


    Ironbound Epub preorders are live on Amazon:


    Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the /amazon/B0CTHQ2Y6D


    And I''m trying Audiobook preorders (to be fulfilled by Bookfunnel once /s/5f810cf8a2

 Chapter 456: Growth and Improvement

    Chapter 456: Growth and Improvement


    T and Terry faced each other in the white void.


    It was no longer featureless, as the magical working of their bondy all around them, in such intricate detail that no human could easily create it from scratch. That¡ªamong other things¡ªconfirmed T¡¯s suspicion that the soulbond was simply tapping into something deeper, rather than being created, whole cloth, by the Archon star.


    It was through those magics¡ªcurrently focused mainly on him¡ªthat she was getting glimpses into the reliving¡ªreframing¡ªof his entire life.


    He had just finished that process with the lens of his enhanced cognition, and a choice was before him.


    T thought she knew what he would choose, but there was still a small part of her that held doubt.


    They could both feel the choice that was before the avian.


    Terry, in that moment, could bow to T¡¯s sovereignty in their bond or seek to im mastery for himself.


    An underlying question was: could he see equality in submission, or would he feel the need to fight for mastery to feel that they would remain partners, remain flockmates.


    If he did fight her for control, there would be a <em>mighty</em> sh of wills and power.Terry had been remade at a fundamental level. While the process hadn¡¯t touched his physicality yet, his magic and will had been remolded with T¡¯s very power behind the process, and they hadn¡¯t been weak to begin with.


    There was no assurance or certainty as to who woulde out the victor in the end if they shed, but T understood¡ªand hoped that Terry did too¡ªthat any such sh would leave them both worse off, no matter who ¡®won¡¯ in the end.


    So, the two regarded one another.


    T <em>could</em> preempt the decision and move to suppress Terry, forcing him into the subservient role, but she didn¡¯t want to do that. That would be a betrayal of their bond in another way. If she preemptively imedmand through dint of force, such an action would taint everything and weaken them both almost as much as her winning a sh Terry started would.


    She wanted to trust herpanion, even if there was still a kernel of doubt.


    She chose trust, and a smile broke over her manifested face.


    After meeting her gaze for a long, <em>long</em> moment, Terry lowered his head and tilted it to the side, closing his eyes and ceding control of their bond to her without contest.


    The tendrils of magic that had surrounded them within the void pulsed onest time, ripping inward to sink fully into the two, solidifying their bond irrevocably.


    Terry let out a sound that was incredibly like a human gasp, and he was remade.


    T had not epted any physical changes from the bond, and with her authority acknowledged, none would ur.


    As Terry was Refined, the white void faded, the foundation of the bondplete.


    * * *


    T opened her eyes just in time to see Terry <em>explode.</em>


    What shot outward was the ck gunk that she had be familiar with due to her own Refining, as well as Rane¡¯s.


    By the volume that shot away from Terry, his true size must have been at least ten times the volume of Rane, which was actuallyrger than T had expected.


    Terry trilled in distress, and T felt him unconsciously mirror her self-healing onto himself, pulling power through her gate.


    She felt that she could easily have blocked his usage of her magics, her power, but she saw no need to do so. In fact, she added her own willpower behind the aspect mirroring, and she saw him rxing, even as the ck sludge seemed to mist away.


    <em>It¡¯s more concentrated, somehow.</em>


    <em>-The taint of Reality within him was far more concentrated, more powerful.-</em>


    <em>So it seems. Wee back, t.</em>


    <em>-Oh, I was there, I was just trying to give you the space to go through it alone. If you¡¯d needed me, I¡¯d have intervened.-</em>


    <em>Well, thank you for that.</em>


    <em>-Of course. The focus was you and Terry</em>¡ª<em>as it should be</em>¡ª<em>not me.-</em>


    Terry shook himself¡ªaspect mirroring exactly what he needed to in order to self-clean¡ªfreeing thest of the gunk from under his feathers.


    When he opened his eyes, T saw that the orbs were now a ruby red¡ªjust like hers¡ªrather than the gold that they¡¯d been previously. Though in his case, his whole eye bore the color¡ªsave the pupil¡ªinstead of just the iris.


    His feathers had darkened too, the colors bing more vibrant than before even as a void-violet seemed to have been added between the red and blue that had been present before, turning it into a three-banded disy and emphasizing the stark contrast.


    Other than that, from a visual perspective, it seemed like he¡¯d simply been made a bit more extreme, his darks a bit darker, his lights a bit lighter, and the intelligence behind his eyes was now even more undeniable.


    His exhaustion was also obvious as he swayed on his feet.


    T felt¡­<em>something.</em>


    She wanted to be beside him, and as she extended her aura to epass the area to his left, she <em>moved</em>.


    It wasn¡¯t the same as moving within Kit.


    There was <em>far</em> greater effort to it, and it seemed to actually take a moment¡¯s time¡ªrather than the instantaneous transfer within her sanctum¡ªbut she still did it, and it was inarguably faster than dropping into a portal then back out somewhere else.


    Simply due to her bond with Terry, she had flickered across the intervening space.


    Even as she wrapped her arms around him in the real world, she began to chuckle, theugh building into a full bellied one that rolled from her, uncontrobly.


    This was going to be <em>amazing.</em>


    Over the next few minutes, Terry would shudder and spew out more ck nastiness from his mouth or out from among his feathers, sometimes even sweating it from the exposed skin of his legs.


    He would then aspect mirror her magics¡ªaugmented by her own will¡ªto heal himself back to full physical health.


    Each time, he seemed to be more <em>solid</em> in a sense of seeming toe into greater contrast with the world around them.


    It took her nearly five minutes of the process to realize that with each cycle he was feeling, magically, more aligned with her, and more real <em>to her.</em>


    He was also slowly drawing on her gate more and more consistently, rather than only when he was aspect mirroring some of her magics.


    This was utterly unlike any bond or merging she¡¯d undergone before, but she supposed it made some sense. He was likely re-aspecting the totality of his magics and being to align with what was effectively now his soul.


    Throughout, Terry¡¯s eyes showed him slipping in and out of lucidity, but he never looked on her with anything other than gratitude for her presence, at least when he seemed to be focused on her at all.


    Finally, nearly ten minutes after the foundation of the bond wasplete, Terry seemed to have fully Refined. Thest of the ck sludge faded away, and the avian opened his eyes and looked around.


    He let out a squawk and flickered out of T¡¯s arms.


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    As he did so, T <em>felt</em> the movement. It was more than the vague sense of dimensional magics that she¡¯d felt before¡ªin fact that was utterly gone. Instead, it was more like she was sensing a part of herself, like she vaguely knew where her arms or legs were and how they were moving.


    It wasn¡¯t a high-fidelity sense by any means, but it was definitely more than she¡¯d ever been able to track Terry in the past.


    More than that, she felt like she could have stopped his flickering had she wished to do so.


    She swore to herself in that moment that she would never restrict Terry in that way, unless she had absolutely no other choice.


    As he appeared off to the side, he shook himself, the wave of ruffled feathers moving from beak to tail before he stamped his taloned feet many times in quick alternation as if trying to free them of dirt or water.


    T almost pushed herself up to stand, but then¡ªwith an uncontroble smile¡ªshe simply willed herself to be standing.


    It was¡­ odd.


    Effectively, she altered the dimensionality of all parts of herself, aligning them properly to be standing rather than sitting.


    In that moment, she realized how well Terry had to know his biology, as she felt like she would have torn herself apart all too easily if she hadn¡¯t known her own so well.


    <em>-Or he does it unconsciously. Simply willing his body to be in a different position, and his own mental model does the rest, because that¡¯s what he means when he wants to be standing, if that makes sense.-</em>


    That¡­ yeah, that could be it. It might even be her specific knowledge that made it <em>more</em> difficult for her. But, that considered, she might be able to do more because of that.


    <em>-Oh! Yeah, you might be able to simply flicker wounds closed. That¡¯s quite the possibility.-</em>


    <em>Definitely worth testing.</em>


    Rane and the other Archon had watched the whole process with interest, but had kept themselves in the background out of respect¡ªthe fact that they were out of the ssh zone was just a plus.


    T smiled their way. ¡°Thank you.¡±


    Rane returned the smile. ¡°How are you two doing?¡±


    Terry shook himself again and trilled happily.


    Rane chuckled. ¡°I¡¯m d. And you, T?¡±


    She nodded. ¡°I¡¯m doing well.¡±


    The Archon cleared his throat. ¡°Can I assist further?¡±


    T shook her head, and Rane responded, ¡°No, thank you.¡±


    The man bowed and departed, leaving the door ajar after he left.


    Rane watched him go, then turned and moved over toward T and Terry. ¡°Terry, I like the new eyes.¡±


    Terry tilted his head to the side and squawked in clear confusion.


    Rane hesitated only a moment before realizing his mistake. ¡°Ahh, well, we¡¯ll have to get you a mirror.¡±


    T frowned, an ideaing to her. <em>t?</em>


    <em>-Oh! I can try.-</em>


    She cleared her throat. ¡°Terry, we¡¯re going to try to aspect mirror our perspective for you. You should be able to see what I see.¡±


    He narrowed his gaze for a moment before bobbing his agreement.


    ¡°Alright.¡±


    <em>-And¡­ there.-</em>


    Terry jerked slightly, then shook his head before settling down, his own eyes gaining a far off look.


    A momentter, t let the aspect mirroring drop, and Terry¡¯s eyes gained their focused intensity once more.


    ¡°So?¡± Rane prompted. ¡°What do you think of the new look?¡±


    Terry fluffed up his chest, his feathers lifting to make him visibly swell in size, even without any dimensional maniption.


    Terry shook himself again, then seemed irritated by something.


    He shrunk massively, leaving a familiar leather cor as it had been.


    T¡¯s eyes widened, and she opened her mouth to object, but Terry flickered away, leaving the cor behind.


    She prepared herself to defend against the heavy hand of the city¡¯s defenses, but nothing happened.


    Rane seemed to sense her tension, intuiting the reason, and he smiled. ¡°He has your magical signature now, T. The city won¡¯t touch him.¡±


    ¡°Oh, right¡­¡± She shook her head. ¡°I knew that. I guess I wasn¡¯t really thinking rationally. Thank you.¡±


    He shrugged. ¡°Of course. You¡¯re still a bit strained. It happens.¡±


    T shook herself, feeling a wonderful sense of relief as she did so. ¡°Well, yeah. Thank you anyway.¡± She took in a deep breath, the action turning into an unexpected yawn. ¡°It seems like we should probably get some rest. After that? We have just <em>so</em> many things to test.¡±


    * * *


    Despite seeming fully recovered in the moment, Terry had been, in fact, quite weakened by the Refining that took ce as a result of the bond.


    T was able to sense some of his weakness as she got used to their connection, and in that way, she was able to help him. She did that mainly by insisting that he take it easy and providing him with plenty of food and power.


    Once well rested and fed, Terry and T took the time to explore their newfound capabilities, both feeling excited to get started as soon as possible.


    A specifically happy result of their bond was that it had apparently pulled her soul¡ªand thus all her soulbonds¡ªcloser to the next world for a brief time, just as bonding with Kit had. Because of that, Kit¡¯s dimensionality was able to re-equalize with T¡¯s new, higher power density.


    She still maintained the low-magic areas around Irondale so as to not cause magical rebirth in the gateless, but that just meant that she had more magical density to move around, even if Kit couldn¡¯t hold a higher density than T, herself, had.


    That had resulted in Kit essentially maintaining a bubble of lower density around every citizen, so they didn¡¯t have to bleed off too much power. This turned out to actually be rtively simple, as every person had a natural aura around themselves. Even gateless had them, though they were essentially confined to their bodies.


    That was perfect, though, as Kit then simply had to keep T¡¯s magic from prating through <em>any</em> resistance.


    Adrill, Brandon, Kedva, and Tx all matched T¡¯s magical vor, so they gave no more resistance to her magic than her own aura would, meaning none.


    On the more direct results-of-the-bonding front, Terry had been introduced to t.


    He¡¯d not been very pleased by her initial exuberance, but he¡¯d warmed to her when she stopped babbling and began being helpful.


    T also suspected that t¡¯s presence within his head¡ªshe was capable of aspect mirroring herself into his mind¡ªhad kept him from going a little wild, now that he had true freedom within Alefast.


    In that same vein, Master Grediv had congratted them on their bond and actually had a gift ready for Terry.


    Terry had been a bit irritated that it was a magic-bound cor once again, but when the purpose was exined to him, he was <em>incredibly</em> excited.


    It had some simrities to the previous cor as it would mark him out as <em>overtly</em> friendly, to remove issues with city guards, Defenders, or others in charge of keeping the popce safe. More than that, though, if he went further from T than roughly one hundred yards, he would be cloaked in an illusion of a nondescript man whose movements mirrored Terry¡¯s own intentions.


    It wasn¡¯t perfect, but it would limit the panic he might otherwise have caused, being a terror bird around a civilian poption without an obvious handler.


    T was briefly concerned that Terry would be insulted, but on the contrary, the avian had been <em>ecstatic.</em>


    t¡¯s ever-watchful eye ensured that Terry¡¯s bills were paid when he went on his ventures, whether or not a given shop or restaurant was aware of Terry¡¯s custom.


    Since Terry was already wearing a cor once again, T made sure to leave a portion of her elk-leathers wrapped around it, ready to armor him or provide other things at need.


    It had been a pleasant thing to verify: being with Terry didn¡¯t count as separation for the soulbound item. Thus, it was more like T had made a glove for herself, without having it touch the sleeves of her tunic. Separate pieces but still fully unified, despite distance.


    The bond did more for them as well. Though, not all of it was that useful.


    T <em>could</em> see through Terry¡¯s eyes, or from his feathers, or any part of him really, and he could do the same through her eyes as long as she didn¡¯t block the attempt, but neither of them saw this as particrly needed. Moreover, their vision was sufficiently different that it was somewhat ufortable for each to try to use the other¡¯s for more than a short time.


    What Terry <em>did</em> do as soon as he seemed to think of it, however, was nearly instantly request his own cloud of bloodstars for threefold perception, which T readily allowed and facilitated.


    She even already had a second cloud of bloodstars ready for the task because of her sh with Mistress Cethira while her primary cloud had been with Rane.


    She didn¡¯t have to maintain the threefold perception either as t¡¯s mirroring into Terry¡¯s mind sequestered some of Terry¡¯s own mind for her use, even as she expanded his processing power by helping to mirror T¡¯s mental enhancements. Her managing and processing the threefold sight for Terry reduced her ability tomunicate with him, as it was near her full capacity to manage that on an ongoing basis.


    T only half-suspected that such was part of the reason Terry was so excited with the results. Since T suspected that, she knew that t did too¡ªthe alternate interface could directly check after all¡ªbut neither said anything about it.


    Terry¡¯s magical density had been uplifted, and he¡¯d been <em>filled</em> with her power to a degree that, if he didn¡¯t hide himself, he practically zed to magical senses.


    Thankfully, his years of¡­ activities had made him particrly skilled in hiding his magic from human magical sense.


    Once he got used to his newfound power, he was able to adjust his techniques to simply resemble T in magical quantity, even though his sequestered mass meant that his small body was a window through which a <em>much</em> greater quantity of power should have been able to be seen.


    They had obviously tested Terry flickering with the elk leathers. So, it was no surprise that he could do the same with Flow as well. More than that, though, so long as their auras were at least touching, T and Terry could easily flicker Flow back and forth between them.


    The soulbound weapon didn¡¯t have T¡¯s issue¡ªand moved effectively instantly¡ªmaking so, <em>so</em> many options forbat open up before them, but that would have to be exploredter.


    As T hadn¡¯t quite gotten to the level of solid aura control within disparate sections of her aura, she couldn¡¯t flicker to Terry¡¯s side if their auras weren¡¯t contiguous, at least not yet.


    Only time would tell if that restriction would be permanent.


    On the less fun side, there had been a scary moment when Terry had seen some iron and decided that he wanted to get it for T.


    If t hadn¡¯t alerted T to the issue immediately, there could have been¡­ issues.


    That required a conversation in which Terry finally agreed to not attempt to im iron on her behalf again¡ªexcept from enemies on the battlefield.


    All told, their bond represented a massive potential for growth and improvement in them both.

 Chapter 457: Return to Fully Active Duty

    Chapter 457: Return to Fully Active Duty


    T was in awe of the new level of uracy Terry had managed to bring to his species¡¯ name.


    He was¡ªmore than ever¡ªa true terror bird.


    She was using a practice sword formed of white steel¡ªstill joined to her elk leathers¡ªso that she and Terry wouldn¡¯t bepeting for the same de. Unfortunately, while it worked for sparring, it wasn¡¯t magically sharp or able to cut or pierce. That was perfect for this use, but it did not represent a new weapon at her disposal.


    <em>Though, I could probably aspect mirror Flow¡¯s magics onto the white steel¡­</em>


    So, it might be an effective weapon in a pinch, but it wasn¡¯t that great on its own.


    Terry was using Flow in its sparring sheath.


    As to what they were doing? They were fighting. The two of them flickered around T¡¯s training ring within her sanctum.


    Both of them specifically didn¡¯t use the Kit-granted ability to move around within the dimensional space. Even without that, T theoretically had a decided advantage because the entire sanctum was filled with her aura. But since they were staying within the training ring, and that was smaller than she usually kept her aura in a fight, they¡¯d agreed that such didn¡¯t really factor in.


    Terry had¡ªsomehow¡ªgotten <em>faster</em> with his flickering movement. He even asionally had time to throw his head back to swallow another bit of jerky that he¡¯d pulled to himself from elsewhere in the sanctum. His knowledge and control wasn¡¯t as absolute as T¡¯s, but he had found the jerky stashes every time she¡¯d tried to hide them. He seemed to enjoy unting that too.With regard to his flickering, though: in the past, at the extreme, he¡¯d been able to appear to be in two ces at the same time, or nearly so. When he¡¯d done that in the past, it had produced a flickering afterimage and left him exhausted. But now? Now, he could move fast enough to seemingly be attacking from multiple directions at once, and every line of assault that T didn¡¯t counter or avoid hit just as hard as if it were the only one.


    Thankfully, T wasn¡¯t the same as previously either, else Terry would have been utterly dominant. In this case, incorporating her flickering movements into the Way of Flowing Blood had actually been much easier than she¡¯d feared, at least while fighting Terry.


    It effectively changed very little, since they both had the capacity to reposition themselves around the battlefield. Even so, she was looking forward to the challenge that she knew incorporating it against a more traditional opponent would pose.


    Beyond that, fighting an aura specialist like Master Akra would be a whole other beast entirely. They would be fighting for supremacy with entirely different stakes.


    She¡¯d talked with the Refined already, and he¡¯d asked her to do some work in preparation for their first sh. Mainly, he suggested that she begin to conceptualize her fighting as more akin to group tactics.


    She could do a shy frontal assault while slipping in a tendril of aura, only to expand such to form a full foundation into which she could bring her body for the ¡®true¡¯ attack. And that was simply the easiest example to quickly convey, but T immediately grasped the implications.


    With this new potential, she could treat any part of her aura as if it were her body, because it effectively could be.


    She still wasn¡¯t instantaneous in her flickering, but she could change her own location and orientation between the time she started a thrust and when it shouldnd.


    Less than a second to move effectively anywhere within her aura might seem fast, but when Terry could now do the same three or four times in an eyeblink, it was painfully slow inparison.


    T honestly suspected that the only reason she could hold her own against Terry was that he was still so new to manipting a weapon.


    He¡¯d practiced <em>throwing </em>weapons for years now, and in that he was hard to match. The avian could create a true <em>storm</em> of flying weaponry if he desired, but actually wielding one for any length of time? Not so much.


    It seemed like it was actually rarely worth his effort. The benefits that a weapon granted actually seemed somewhat useless to him, especially after the bond.


    Increased range? Terry could just flicker closer.


    Greater leverage? He essentially never used his full power in his strikes to begin with.


    Better damage? He could now aspect mirror Flow¡¯s properties without the weapon itself being necessary.


    Even so, he was set on learning, and when T finally understood why, she¡¯d burst outughing.


    If an intelligent opponent saw him fighting with a weapon, then he could surprise them by closing the distance and being even deadlier without one.


    ¡­And he knew just how terrifying he looked while wielding Flow.


    In essence, Terry was training so that he could pull off psychological warfare on sapient foes.


    Honestly? T approved.


    T offered Terry his own section of Kit, but the avian declined for the moment, indicating that he liked being within her sanctum. Though, his answer hadn¡¯t seemed entirely definitive. So, T left open the possibility within her own mind at least.


    Truthfully, she thought it would be perfect for him as an armory from which to draw out weapons to throw, but Terry still declined for the time being.


    That was fine. T didn¡¯t <em>need</em> Terry to have a section of Kit for himself. She suspected that his reticence had to do with his growing social and emotional intelligence while he got used to the new thoughts and feelings his mental growth and enhancements afforded him. He was doing a fantastic job, but his newly growing emotional maturity was more evident at times.


    One thing that hadn¡¯t gone as they had hoped was Terry¡¯s concept. While Terry could aspect mirror basically any part of T¡¯s magic¡ªfor his specific use and toward his benefit¡ªshe was not able to do the same with Terry¡¯s, at least not with his <em>need.</em>


    Thankfully, Terry seemed to still have the sense, but when T tried to tap into it in any way, it either didn¡¯t work, or seemed to be indicating where <em>Terry</em> needed to be.


    Those she consulted postted various reasons ranging from: she wasn¡¯t able to sustain the conceptual foundation to alter the information provided; all the way to: the magic was specifically directed toward indicating where in the world <em>Terry</em> needed to be. Thus, aspect mirroring the ability simply added to the number of persons receiving the same message.


    That was disappointing, but she hadn¡¯t actually held out hope that it would work the same for her as it did for Terry.


    <em>-Well, it actually does work </em>exactly<em> the same for you as for him.-</em>


    <em>You know what I meant¡­</em>


    * * *


    T, Terry, and Rane lounged within T¡¯s sanctum.


    It had been nearly ten months since Terry and T had be soulbound, and they had finally fully fleshed out the edges of their new capacities, and T¡¯s soul and gate had <em>finally</em> been given a clean bill of health.


    There was never any particr danger, but such bonds <em>could</em> introduce instability into an Archon, if care wasn¡¯t taken. Because of that, the three of them had put everything on hold. They hadn¡¯t done any more war games, yet. Rane hadn¡¯t gotten his alternate interface. They had turned their focus entirely on the new bond and the changes to them.


    Master Grediv had suggested that it wasn¡¯t necessary, but the very fact that he hadn¡¯t tried very hard to convince them was a tacit agreement that their choice was on the wiser side of things.


    Regardless, it had been a good continuation of the break T had intended to take <em>away</em> from Alefast.


    Nothing had really been discovered after the first few days, but they¡¯d taken a <em>lot</em> of time to refine and practice their usage.


    T and Terry had each tried out each other''s mundane sight¡ªjust for fun¡ªand neither had particrly enjoyed it. The means of focusing and processing sight had been just slightly off, making it a bit frustrating to integrate what was being seen.


    Terry initially had to deal with it, regardless, because of his use of her threefold perception, but then t had made the obvious observation that <em>Terry¡¯s</em> mundane sight could be mirrored as easily as T¡¯s. Therefore, Terry¡¯s threefold perception now used his mundane sight as perception, oveid with T¡¯s magics for magesight and voidsight.


    They didn¡¯t mesh perfectly, but Terry was still quite happy.


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    T had reached out to Mistress Holly to see if Terry might be able to get his own, full set of inscriptions, and the Inscriptionist had been¡­ definitive in her response.


    No.


    While he <em>could</em> be inscribed, technically speaking, every varied part of his anatomy would be a different medium through which to inscribe, and thus require a different base structure to the magics.


    She was hardly the first person with a familiar, but humanity had never been able to devise a way to offer full inscription sets to any. Localized? Absolutely, but an entire set was simply infeasible.


    One of the core reasons for that was Terry¡¯s body would be different from every other terror bird¡¯s, in terms of use as a magical medium. Thus, the only way they could do the testing would be to do it <em>within</em> Terry. Since the testing involved using magics that could do literally anything, then recording the results to learn, that was not a good thing to do within a living being.


    Humanity had done their own experiments on cadavers. Inscriptionists had then adjusted the magics subtly to ount for the difference between living and non-living tissue for the final fine-tuning of their knowledge.


    T and Terry were both a bit disappointed in the answer, but they could understand it. Terry was unique, and very much <em>not</em> keen on being a test subject for years, regardless of the oue.


    But they did a bit more than just explore the bond and the potential possibilities of such over those months. T¡¯s siblings had visited three times; Rane¡¯s twenty-seventh birthday hade and gone¡ªalong with their second anniversary of courting¡ªand T¡¯s birthday was just days away.


    They¡¯d even taken a couple of trips to Bandfast to see Lyn, Kannis, and Fannas¡ªwhile trying to see if there was any way to get Mistress Holly to inscribe Terry.


    But all of that wasn¡¯t relevant to the moment. In the moment, they were all rxing together, celebrating the receipt of some good news.


    Rane took a long drink from his tea mug. ¡°So, we¡¯re finally cleared for Cell-work again, eh?¡±


    T stretched back and nodded. ¡°That¡¯s right. Master Grediv has signed off on it.¡±


    ¡°And Terry cane in too?¡±


    ¡°Correct. And there¡¯s one our unit is going after tomorrow.¡±


    Terry trilled happily.


    ¡°He¡¯s to be afforded the same rights as any Refined and their soulbonds.¡±


    Rane grinned. ¡°That is amazing. I¡¯m d for it.¡±


    ¡°Me too. I am excited to get back out of the city for more than a quick trip. It¡¯s been¡­ too long.¡± She looked his way. ¡°I still think that you should have gotten your alternate interface already. You could have spent this time adjusting.¡±


    He shrugged. ¡°I could have, but I wanted to be in top form if you needed me. I¡¯ll get the scripts added when we get back from this cell. There isn¡¯t supposed to be any down time required, after all.¡± His look turned sad, and he shook his head. ¡°But about your bond¡­ I¡¯m just disappointed that you didn¡¯t get any easy-to-use size-changing magics.¡±


    T gave him a fake re. ¡°I¡¯m not going to get in your pocket, Rane.¡±


    ¡°But think of the convenience!¡± He grinned in her direction, the false sadness gone.


    She willed for a piece of ice to fall down the back of his shirt.


    He jerked slightly, but otherwise didn¡¯t react.


    A momentter, she moved all the moisture away. ¡°Fine. It would have been funny, but it¡¯s not happening.¡±


    He held up one finger. ¡°Not yet.¡±


    She huffed augh and shook her head. ¡°Sure, not yet.¡±


    Rane then shifted, turning to regard Terry. ¡°So, is she ready?¡±


    ¡°Hey! You could ask me,¡± T grumped, then took a long drink from her coffee mug.


    ¡°Yes, I could, but he¡¯s the dimensional expert.¡± He locked gazes with Terry. ¡°Is she truly ready to fight with the flickering as part of her arsenal? Against truly hostile opponents?¡±


    Terry looked between the two people, pausing dramatically for a long moment. Finally, he bobbed once.


    T grinned. ¡°Thank you, Terry. I knew you would¡ª¡±


    She stopped as he shrunk to the size of a chick.


    T grimaced, and Rane chuckled. ¡°So, she¡¯s as good as a newly hatched chick?¡±


    Terry bobbed his agreement.


    ¡°But that¡¯s still good enough?¡¯


    He bobbed again.


    ¡°Good enough for me.¡±


    T shook her head. ¡°You two¡­¡± A smile pulled at her lips. ¡°Why do I put up with you two?¡±


    Rane leaned over and gave her a kiss.


    She leaned in for the moment, then moved back when he pulled away. After a moment¡¯s obvious thought, she shook her head. ¡°No, that¡¯s not why.¡±


    Heughed again. ¡°Well then, I¡¯m out of ideas.¡±


    T nced toward Terry, and he simply flickered side to side once. She snorted augh. ¡°Well, that¡¯s great too, but no. That¡¯s not why I keep you around.¡±


    Terry lifted his wings in a mimicry of a human shrug.


    They devolved into chuckles andughing squawks then, before returning to their repast.


    * * *


    T¡¯s unit had been training with her and Terry since shortly after the bonding, and they¡¯d stood watch¡ªas was their duty¡ªwhile T and Terry joined them within Alefast.


    Regardless, they all greeted T and Terry¡¯s return to fully active duty with a celebratory air.


    Mistress Vanga even brought along a specialty cake for them all to enjoy together.


    To her credit¡ªand demonstrating her wisdom¡ªshe immediately bribed Terry with nearly a pound of jerky to leave the cake alone until everyone¡ªincluding him¡ªcould get a piece.


    There was a celebratory atmosphere for the whole trip to the cell entrance.


    The Paragon who had been sent with them joined in the festive mood,ughing and telling stories of friends returning from sabbaticals of various kinds, but at first, she politely declined the piece of dessert that Mistress Vanga had sliced for her.


    The Healer wasn¡¯t put off, though. ¡°Mistress Terra, please join us.¡±


    When the others¡ªincluding T¡ªjoined in the sentiment, Mistress Terra relented, taking the offered cake.


    Terry consumed his own bit of sugared goodness before flickering to sit before Mistress Vanga expectantly.


    The woman chuckled but shook her head. ¡°There isn¡¯t any more, Terry. You shouldn¡¯t have eaten so quickly.¡±


    The terror bird looked at her, aghast. T knew exactly what he was thinking, even without t telling her: How was he to be denied?


    Mistress Terra looked between the two of them, then down to her own piece. ¡°I mean, I could¡ª¡±


    Mistress Vanga held up a hand. ¡°No, thank you, Mistress. This little terror is too ready to take food from others, and he doesn¡¯t even take the time to enjoy the very special treat that he is given.¡±


    Terry squawked mournfully.


    ¡°No, I will not relent. I want to give you special treats, but I won¡¯t if you just scarf them down and demand more.¡±


    He then trilled in irritation before flickering over to T¡¯s te, obviously aiming to take her piece.


    Even as he appeared, she moved herself out of the way, flickering just a few inches with ease and not pausing her fork¡¯s movement as it brought the first bite to her mouth. ¡°Oh, that is so good.¡±


    Terry looked up at her with narrowed eyes.


    T smiled, swallowing and addressing her boundpanion, ¡°Come on, Terry. You know she¡¯s right. You get your enjoyment from food from the hunt, not the vor. It makes no sense to give you huge amounts of especially tasty food.¡±


    He tilted his head to the side, then chirped his agreement, implying a simple inquiry.


    ¡°So what? Well, the answer is obvious, my friend. Change that, or leave special food to those who will actually enjoy it.¡± She shrugged.


    Rane was, wisely, eating his cake while Terry was otherwise distracted, though he did make sure to take his time and enjoy it. The others were likewise using Terry¡¯s distraction as a window in which to take steady, savoring bites.


    Terry danced from foot to foot in rapid session, clearly a bit irritated.


    T smiled. Ever since the bond, Terry had had a bit of toddler energy to him, though he was rapidly progressing upward through the emotional maturity progression. At the moment, he reminded her most of her siblings when they were seven or eight. It mainly came out when he encountered human things that he hadn¡¯t bothered to pay attention to in the past.


    He was stretching his social and emotional muscles in entirely new ways.


    <em>-And part of it is you truly, utterly seeing him as a person now, rather than a really smart animal.-</em>


    <em>I never... yeah¡­ you¡¯re probably right. </em>T sighed.


    Regardless, his continued maturation had actually made her rather grateful that Terry was still refusing his own segment of Kit, as she could very easily see him filling it with knick knacks that he¡¯d picked up along the way.


    <em>I am not looking forward to when he¡¯s like a teenager.</em>


    <em>-You know, teenagers don¡¯t have to be difficult to deal with.-</em>


    <em>It¡¯s just an odd thing to be going through, especially since he sees me as his hatchling, and he¡¯s the older of us¡­</em>


    <em>-You just need to train with him properly, and build a solid rtionship with him before he reaches the teenager stage of emotional and social development.-</em>


    <em>¡­I¡¯ve literally bound my soul to him. How can I have a more solid rtionship?</em>


    <em>-Commitments are nice, T, but you also need an emotional rtionship with him, one of trust and inter-reliance. It¡¯s important to establish exactly what your rtionship means and how it will change and grow as he develops.-</em>


    <em>¡­you¡¯re just quoting some parenting book you found, aren¡¯t you.</em> It wasn¡¯t a question.


    t answered it anyway. <em>-...yeah.-</em>


    <em>Did you even vet it to see if it¡¯s true?</em>


    <em>-What? Why? Someone published it. It must be true.-</em>


    T huffed augh, and Terry shook his head in the manner that indicated t was talking to him as well, likely more than he preferred at the moment. <em>You know, you can </em>see<em> that he is getting irritated with you.</em>


    <em>-Oh of course, but you neglect the fact that I can also see that he enjoys it, deep down.-</em>


    Terry turned an irritated eye toward T and squawked loudly.


    -<em>Really deep down.-</em>


    <em>Leave him be, t.</em>


    <em>-...fine.-</em>


    T reached out and scooped up Terry, holding him in her arms while everyone else ate.


    He struggled slightly, but T knew it was for show. He didn¡¯t try to flicker away even once. He stopped even his fake struggles when Rane offered him thest of his own piece.


    Terry epted excitedly, and Rane fed the terror bird, leading to a musical cacophony of happiness.


    As everyone else finished as well¡ªeveryone profusely thanking Mistress Vanga for the treat¡ªconversation picked back up even while they drew ever nearer the cell.


    After a time, as the general, random chatter was beginning to die down, Mistress Cerna shifted and refocused the topic being discussed, ¡°Mistress Terra?¡±


    The Paragon turned toward the control seat in which the unit-leader sat. ¡°Yes, Mistress Cerna?¡±


    ¡°If you don¡¯t mind my inquiry: what magics do you bring to bear?¡±


    The older woman smiled, seeming to straighten even as mirth-filled crow¡¯s feet became evident on her face beside each of her eyes. ¡°I always enjoy that question.¡±


    ¡°Oh?¡± Mistress Cerna nced her way, clearly curious.


    ¡°Yes. Because I technically don¡¯t bring any magics to bear.¡±


    She¡¯d had everyone¡¯s curiosity¡­ but now she had their attention.


    It was Rane who broke the moment of silence. ¡°Oh? That sounds like an interesting thing for a Mage to im.¡±


    ¡°It is, isn¡¯t it?¡± Mistress Terra was clearly having fun with the conversation, and the building suspense about her answer.


    <em>-Well, she did say that she enjoyed the question.-</em>


    <em>Hush, you. I want to listen.</em>

 Chapter 458: Crazy Enough to Work

    Chapter 458: Crazy Enough to Work


    T, Rane, Terry, and their defensive unit were all soaring toward their next assignment, a cell in need of maintenance.


    They¡¯d finished their ¡®wee back to active duty¡¯ celebratory cake and had fallen into casual discussions.


    The Paragon who was apanying them had their rapt attention¡ªall save Mistress Cerna, who was piloting their craft, while still obviously listening with interest¡ªas they waited for her exnation as to what she¡¯d meant when she had said that she technically didn¡¯t bring any magics to bear.


    Blessedly, Mistress Terra didn¡¯t make them wait long. ¡°I specialize in the unraveling and dissolution of magics and workings. I believe that even the most formidable chain is only as strong as its weakest link. I wield that certainty to undo the magics of those I oppose.¡±


    Rane¡¯s eyes went wide. ¡°Wait¡­ You¡¯re a specialized Mage Breaker? I thought there was only one who¡¯d achieved the advancement of Paragon.¡±


    ¡°There is.¡± Mistress Terra gave him a convivial smile.


    If it was possible, Rane¡¯s eyes widened even further. ¡°But¡­ she founded the Mage Hunters.¡±


    Mistress Terra chuckled. ¡°Well, I don¡¯t usually advertise that, but yes, I did. Though that was long ago.¡±


    T gave Rane a curious look. ¡°You seem to know a lot about her, but you didn¡¯t know her name?¡±He grimaced. ¡°There <em>are</em> people with the same name, and ironically, I know of two other Mistress Terras who are Paragons.¡±


    His face heated slightly and he looked away. That caused T to grin, as she immediately understood. ¡°You thought <em>they</em> were her, eh?¡±


    He scratched the side of his chin, clearly a bit self-conscious. ¡°I was a lot younger then¡­ and it was rather embarrassing.¡±


    Mistress Terra chuckled. ¡°Ahh, yes. I can see that. Master Grediv likely did that purposely. He does find it <em>so</em> entertaining that three Terras all reached the same high advancement.¡±


    Mistress Cerna cleared her throat. ¡°So, am I to understand, then, that your specialty is the safe removal of magics in one form or another?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡±


    ¡°But you¡¯re still able to repair cells?¡±


    The woman nodded. ¡°The technique for restoring a cell¡¯s seal isn¡¯t really a function of a specific magical focus. It is more closely aligned with¡­¡± She hesitated, then shook her head. ¡°No, I apologize. I forgot myself. None of you are Paragon, so I should not say more.¡±


    T sighed. ¡°So, it has to do with the purification of the soul, or something of that nature.¡±


    Mistress Terra gave a half smile. ¡°I will neither confirm nor deny.¡±


    T grinned in return. ¡°As you say, Mistress.¡±


    <em>-Is that supposed to be helpful?-</em>


    <em>No, obviously not, but it¡¯s fun to theorize, right?</em>


    <em>-...yeah. I do get an inordinate amount of enjoyment trying to figure out what we¡¯re going to learn as we advance.-</em>


    <em>Yeah¡­ me too.</em>


    Soon, they arrived at a lovely copse of trees, and Mistress Cerna settled their vehicle down on the ins¡ªttening the tall grass beneath them¡ªjust outside the outer trees.


    They all piled out, and T pulled the heavily modified stone tform into her sanctum by opening a portal below it and allowing it to drop inside.


    Terry squawked in faux irritation, flickering from his perch atop the ss windscreen to T¡¯s shoulder.


    Mistress Terra led the group a little way past the treeline before she concentrated for a moment and, with a gesture, opened the way into the cell¡¯s atrium.


    This particr entrance manifested in the side of a tree trunk, the bark seemingly folding inward to reveal a forest de of surpassing beauty.


    They stepped through, and T willed a small portal into existence for Irondale on the Zeme side of the entrance, thereby leaving that portion of her dimensional storage outside.


    It wasn¡¯t even a human-sized pass-through, but Kit was already set up with conditions that would allow it to open to a full-sized exit at need. That,bined with the teleportation array and Archive link, let her, yet again, feel fully confident in the safety of the Irondale citizens.


    Thatplete, T joined her unit and Mistress Terra within the entry space before the cell.


    This atrium was arge clearing that hadn¡¯t been visible in the copse at all before the door was open. Around the clearing were a number of standing stones, each with words and images cut into them before having been filled with various pigments to provide color and contrast to what was disyed.


    It didn¡¯t take long for Mistress Terra to fully analyze the writings and pictograms. ¡°Huh. Well this is a new one for me. The prisoner is an immortal elk.¡±


    That brought everyone¡¯s attention back to her and away from their own pastimes. Paragons usually took at least hours to analyze the information left behind to learn about the prisoner in any given cell.


    Master Limmestare closed his book and ced it within his own storage before wandering toward the Paragon like everyone else.


    Once they¡¯d gathered, Mistress Terra continued. ¡°This is apparently a son of the Spirit of the Forest who watches over the Leshkin woods. He was growing in power within the gated-human wilds too quickly for us to react properly, and he was binding more and more of the ins we call home to himself, transforming the rolling grasnd into forest. It was obvious that he would have eventually joined his sire in power as a god-beast within a few hundred more years.¡±


    <em>So, he would have been one for at least a millennium by now.</em>


    <em>-So it seems, yeah.-</em>


    Master Girt raised his hand, causing the Paragon to pause and focus on him. ¡°Yes, Master Girt?¡±


    ¡°Well, why would the Spirit of the Forest allow this?¡±


    ¡°Ahh, well it¡¯s not widely spread, but it is well known and not really a secret. One of the things that the Spirit of the Forest embodies is that individuals are of little consequence. He is only really concerned with the progression and maintenance of nature as a whole, specifically his own forest. He is concerned about whole species bing extinct, but that is an entirely different scale. He would have weed this elk as an ally if he had achieved the required power, but the Spirit of the Forest¡¯s view is generally that if things cannot, themselves, grow, survive, and seize a ce in the world, they aren¡¯t worth bothering about.¡±


    Master Girt grunted. ¡°Harsh, but I suppose I can understand the basis for the mindset.¡±


    ¡°Yes, quite. Regardless, the elk reached the power range that we would call Reforged before its entire region was bound within this cell.¡±


    That caused their unit to hesitate. Master Clevis cleared his throat. ¡°Umm¡­ Does that mean that Master Xeel will be called in? Or one of the other Reforged Defenders?¡±


    Mistress Terra shook her head. ¡°I don¡¯t believe so. This is actually an unusual cell, partially because of the power of the imprisoned. It was apparently monitored closely for about a hundred years after its creation¡ªto ensure there weren¡¯t any unforeseen issues¡ªbefore it was fully sealed and the standard information protocols were enacted.¡±


    She pulled out a water skin and took a drink before continuing.


    ¡°It seems that the elk was quite content, given its entire region was brought along with it into captivity. He is seemingly mostly unbothered by the containment and has settled into maintaining and perfecting his bound territory.¡±


    Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    That was¡­ interesting.


    Master Clevnis nodded, seeking to rify. ¡°So, we¡¯ll just be making sure that his attitude hasn¡¯t changed while you reset it?¡±


    ¡°That is the idea. For him to break out would be to abandon that which he is bound to, and magical creatures simply have never been known to do that.¡±


    T bit her lip before asking. ¡°If he doesn¡¯t mind being confined¡­ could I take him?¡±


    Mistress Terra froze for a moment in clear shock before turning to regard T. ¡°Excuse me? I think I must have misheard you.¡±


    T shrugged. ¡°Well¡­ he would be just as confined within my dimensional storage¡ªeven without nearly the same level of containment¡ªand I imagine it is quite a lot of dimensionality. So¡­ Why not?¡±


    Her entire unit was looking at her now.


    She looked around, uncertain why they were all staring. ¡°What?¡±


    Mistress Terra cleared her throat. ¡°I¡¯m guessing that you didn¡¯t fully process a part of what was said, he is a Reforged level existence, bound to thend within the cell.¡±


    ¡°I heard. Oh!¡± She smiled, feeling like she understood. ¡°That¡¯s the confusion then. You see, my dimensional storage doesn¡¯t bind everything I draw into it to my soul. Without that drawback, I can use it for all sorts of things that would be otherwise impossible. Adding this cell to Kit would be useful for the expansion of the dimensionality that I have at my disposal.¡±


    The Paragon stared at her for a long moment before turning to look at Mistress Cerna. ¡°Is she serious?¡±


    Mistress Cerna was rubbing her temples. ¡°She is¡­¡± The older woman looked to T. ¡°Mistress T¡­ you just rejoined us for cell duty today.¡±


    T grinned in return. ¡°Yes, I did. This couldn¡¯t have been more perfectly timed if I¡¯d made the choice myself.¡±


    Mistress Vanga was hiding her mouth behind a hand, but she was still obviouslyughing.


    Master Limmestare had pulled out an Archive te and was furiously writing something down.


    Master Girt was simply grinning like a mad man.


    Terry had perked up, and he was paying rapt attention. T theorized that he was imagining all the fun things there would be to hunt in an ancient forest. She would have to talk with him about that.


    Rane had a half smile on his face but wasn¡¯t saying anything. He was clearly unsurprised, even if he likely wouldn¡¯t have guessed this wasing, specifically.


    Master Clevnis was the only person to be taking the topic without outward reaction.


    Mistress Terra was looking around, clearly expecting someone to let her in on the joke. Finally, when it became clear that T wasn¡¯t joking¡ªand no one else was really <em>that</em> surprised¡ªthe Paragon mimicked Mistress Cerna, rubbing her own temples. ¡°Fine¡­ I guess I¡¯ll ask the City Leaders?¡±


    Master Girt raised his hand again. ¡°Fifty gold says that it takes less than a minute before someone guesses that¡ªor asks if¡ªT was the one who¡¯s asking.¡±


    Mistress Terra opened her mouth in initial interest, but before she could say anything, every one of T¡¯s unit mates shook their heads. Even Terry let out a derisive chirp. It was Mistress Vanga who put words to their thoughts, ¡°No one is foolish enough to bet against that. It¡¯s a given, Master Girt.¡±


    The Refined shrugged, clearly unrepentant. ¡°It was worth a try.¡±


    T scratched the side of her neck. ¡°Is it that crazy of a request? It seems reasonable and logical to me.¡±


    <em>-Yes.-</em>


    Almost as one, everyone nodded and said, ¡°Yes.¡±


    Terry even met her gaze and bobbed once.


    <em>-Though, I do agree that</em>¡ª<em>while crazy</em>¡ª<em>it is still reasonable and logical too.-</em>


    ¡°Well¡­ fine then.¡± T sat down to await the response from those involved in the decision making for cells.


    Mistress Terra grunted. ¡°Thirty seconds.¡±


    Master Girt grinned. ¡°Master Grediv?¡±


    The Paragon shook her head. ¡°No, actually. It was Master Jevin.¡±


    Master Limmestar groaned. ¡°<em>That¡¯s</em> what we should have bet on.¡±


    Master Girt shrugged. ¡°Seems so. Though, I definitely would have lost.¡±


    Rane smiled. ¡°Master Grediv is attending to a few matters of city business. He won¡¯t be checking into the Archive until this evening.¡± He hesitated. ¡°Well, they might actually ping him for this, and he¡¯ll check then.¡±


    Mistress Cerna interjected. ¡°To be fair, since it is Mistress Terra who submitted the question, they knew it was our unit. So, it¡¯s not that hard to attribute the inquiry to T.¡±


    Master Girt nodded. ¡°Yeah, I factored that into my guess. T can¡¯t be the <em>only</em> crazy one of us Defenders out there at the moment.¡±


    Everyone looked at him for a long moment before he shrugged. ¡°Well, maybe she is.¡±


    T grimaced. ¡°I hate you all.¡±


    That causedughter to ripple through the group.


    Mistress Terra was clearly quite upied with the dialogue going on through the Archive. So the unit went back to doing their own things, be it training, reading, or something else.


    T, Rane, and Terry sat off to one side.


    She was quite content as she pulled out a meat hand pie that Mistress Petra had made for her earlier that day. When Terry gave her a longing look, T pulled out another¡ªthis one with ingredients not steeped in her own magics.


    As she went to take a second bite, she saw Rane¡¯s own big eyes, and that made herugh. ¡°Fine, fine.¡±


    She took the bite and opened a portal that dropped a pie for Rane into the big man¡¯s hands. ¡°Thanks, T.¡±


    ¡°Of course.¡±


    Rane took a bite, closing his eyes in enjoyment. Once he¡¯d swallowed, though, he met T¡¯s gaze. ¡°Are you sure about this?¡±


    ¡°The meat pies? Yes. They¡¯re amazing.¡±


    He gave her a t look.


    She sighed. ¡°Fine¡­ Yeah, I think? I mean, if the Paragons and Reforged think it¡¯s a workable idea then I think it should work just fine.¡±


    ¡°But¡­ why?¡±


    She shrugged, then. ¡°Expanding Kit isn¡¯t the easiest thing to do since I became Refined, and cells are the easiest way to do that. This one seems uniquely useful as it will essentiallye with its own guardian spirit.¡±


    When he frowned at that, T grinned.


    ¡°You see, cells aren¡¯t standard dimensional spaces.¡±


    He nodded. ¡°Yeah, they¡¯re hung in the void rather than stoneward¡­¡± His eyes widened. ¡°You don¡¯t want to reorient it. You want to <em>leave</em> it like that?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s what I¡¯m thinking, yeah. t is filling in the Paragons and decision makers about the ideas. But being able to study such a means of expansion is just one of the things I hope to gain. We know some about cells, but it isn¡¯t a branch of dimensionalism that has been thoroughly explored.¡±


    ¡°Oh?¡± He leaned in, clearly incredibly interested.


    ¡°Yeah. It¡¯s considered risky without an established space, and this would be that. But even aside from that avenue of utility, I want to travel, and more protection avable for my sanctum and Irondale can only be good. This would all be subject to negotiation with the elk¡ªso it might be impossible at the start¡ªbut assuming that he¡¯s amenable, there is a <em>lot</em> to be gained. If something crazy happens in Irondale, then I can reattach the spaces, and the elk could clear out the problem.¡±


    Rane gave her a skeptical look, but given all her caveats, he didn¡¯t seem to have a good reason to contradict her.


    ¡°Magical creatures, generally, are so antagonistic to humanity, I don¡¯t believe that very many¡ªif any¡ªhave been studied closely, let alone over a long term.¡±


    He blinked at that before shaking his head. ¡°I do sometimes forget how analytical and long range you can think at times.¡±


    She narrowed her eyes at him in faux outrage. ¡°Oh? As opposed to usual?¡±


    He shrugged, grinning unabashedly in the face of her re. ¡°Yes. You usually think quickly and decisively. It just seems like it''s pretty rare for you to have the time to consider things in this manner.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s¡­ fair.¡± She sighed, letting her false irritation vanish. ¡°Regardless, as to the elk? Since Terry will never be a typical magical creature¡ªnor will any familiar¡ªI would need one from elsewhere to¡­¡± She coughed. ¡°For reasons.¡±


    He arched an eyebrow at her.


    She didn¡¯t remain silent for long. ¡°Well, I have a theory that we each interact with existence in different ways and see different sides of it. I want that different perspective.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s more than just <em>studying </em>the immortal elk.¡± He raised an eyebrow skeptically.


    ¡°It is. Ideally, I would like to learn about the world from his perspective by talking with him.¡± She huffed augh. ¡°He was on a sure path to be a god-beast, Rane. Can you even imagine what insights he might have?¡±


    ¡°While true, there are other options. One thates to mind is Anatalis. He could provide that information.¡±


    ¡°If he will. Master Grediv told us that he doesn¡¯t like sharing information surrounding advancement, and as helpful as he is, if we have a potential secondary source of information, he might be more willing to trade what he knows.¡±


    Rane grunted at that. ¡°That¡¯s true enough. Yeah. As soon as there is more than one potential supplier of something, it bes easier to get it across the board.¡±


    ¡°Beyond that, I¡¯ve had my elk-leathers for almost as long as I¡¯ve been a Mage. I feel like¡­ I feel like I¡¯ll have a kinship with the immortal elk.¡±


    He gave her a t look. ¡°You feel a kinship with it.¡±


    ¡°Well, I feel like I might.¡±


    ¡°...Because you¡¯re wearing one of its descendants?¡±


    She hesitated at that. ¡°I didn¡¯t really think of it that way? More like I¡¯ve been wielding a portion of magic that has immortal elks as its origin.¡±


    Rane sighed, shaking his head. ¡°I could see that going either way.¡±


    ¡°...Yeah¡­ I suppose you¡¯re right. But I guess we¡¯ll see. I¡¯ve never actually met one before. Besides that, gaining an ancient, curated forest for Kit?¡± Her eyes practically sparkled. ¡°Can you even imagine?¡±


    ¡°And you¡¯ll just carry that around with you.¡±


    ¡°Well¡­ no? That¡¯s sort of the point with void-hung expanded spaces. They are nowhere. Without this atrium, there would be no way to ess the cell, unless it drifted close enough to connect elsewhere. Absorbing this in its entirety might even let me figure out how to do something simr with other parts of Kit.¡±


    Rane blinked at her a few times. ¡°So, your sanctum would be the atrium for the cell?¡±


    ¡°Essentially, yes.¡±


    Rane huffed augh. ¡°You know? That might just be crazy enough to work.¡±

 Chapter 459: The Curse of Intelligence

    Chapter 459: The Curse of Intelligence


    T and Rane sat in the atrium of the cell which supposedly contained a Reforged level immortal elk, discussing the possibility of Kit simply absorbing the whole cell, atrium and all.


    ¡°Kit would absorb this space, and I¡¯d tuck it on the side of my sanctum somewhere. Then, even if the creature ¡®broke out¡¯ it would just be breaking more fully into my authority. I should be able to hold it at bay at least until I can call in help. But that¡¯s a bit beside the point. I don¡¯t see it as being an issue in the slightest, at least assuming that what we¡¯ve learned about the elk is true. To break out would be to forever abandon thend he has be bound to. That is also utterly against everything we know about magical beasts.¡±


    ¡°Whereas if he broke out here, he¡¯d have the cell¡ªhis forest¡ªstill safely at his back.¡±


    ¡°Exactly.¡±


    Rane nodded slowly. ¡°So, you¡¯re hoping that he just wants his forest and to be left in peace?¡±


    ¡°Precisely, yes.¡±


    Rane seemed to consider. ¡°So¡­ what would you offer him, then?¡±


    She smiled in return. ¡°Well, for one thing, I can offer him exactly <em>that</em>. He would be left in peace.¡±


    ¡°He has that now.¡±¡°Sort of. He knows there is a way into his forest that he can¡¯t control. This would be like selling a tenant the home that they¡¯ve been renting. It would be his now, utterly andpletely.¡±


    ¡°But you would own the street outside.¡±


    ¡°Precisely.¡±


    ¡°And the ground underneath.¡±


    ¡°Well¡­ that too, yeah.¡±


    He huffed augh. ¡°It sounds really risky, and what if he doesn¡¯t want anyoneing through to study him or talk to him?¡±


    ¡°Well, for that I can offer incidental trades.¡±


    T watched as it clicked for Rane. ¡°You can let him grow his forest. You can grant him more dimensionality.¡±


    ¡°I can.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s <em>expensive,</em> T. As a Refined storage space, there is very little that can expand Kit.¡±


    ¡°Well, that¡¯s one of the things I want to investigate in the moving cities, after Alefast¡¯s waning if not before.¡±


    Rane tilted his head to the side, understanding seeming to blossom within his mind. ¡°From your report, they have city-sized spaces.¡±


    ¡°Just like the arcanes, yeah.¡± She chuckled at that. ¡°I mean, they have arcanes among them, so it makes sense that they¡¯d be able to mirror the feats of those people. They have holds that we might be able to study or learn the creation process of. If that fails, in the worst case scenario, we could enact a few raids on arcane cities.¡±


    His head jerked, and he looked at her sharply. When he saw she wasn¡¯t kidding, he paled. ¡°T¡­ that¡ª¡±


    She held up a hand to stop his objections. ¡°I know, Rane. I¡¯m not nning on doing it on my own, or without consulting others.¡±


    ¡°Still¡­¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m aware it¡¯s a long shot. In all likelihood, it wouldn¡¯t be for a few more centuries, but gated humanity is on a cusp. We¡¯re reaching a tipping point.¡± She grinned. ¡°We have <em>two new</em> citiesing on line before the next Leshkin war. Our birthrates are finally to the point of greatly oveing the death rates in our young adults,<strong></strong>and our civilization stands on the edge of a true poption boom. When that manifests into a new crop of Mages, then Archons, and eventually high-level Defenders of humanity?¡±


    ¡°We will be strong enough to live without the constant threat of attack.¡±


    ¡°Exactly. It will finally be time to turn this uneasy ceasefire into asting peace, and that will require a demonstration of strength that they can¡¯t ignore.¡±


    Rane understood instantly. ¡°A strike on one of the City Lords.¡±


    She quirked a smile as she nodded. ¡°Yes, and a confiscation of all the holds, which they thought were a source of their power. We will free the vestiges and teach the Major Houses that humanity is <em>no one''s</em> ve.¡± She was breathing a bit heavier, and she hadn¡¯t realized her voice was rising in volume, but when she reached the end, she realized that everyone in her unit¡ªand Mistress Terra¡ªwas looking her way with a mixture of expressions ranging from curious to concerned. T coughed. ¡°But that¡¯s at least a couple of centuries away.<strong>¡± </strong>She gave a disarmingugh. ¡°I know I¡¯m hardly the only person contemting it, and I will by no means be the person choosing what we do or when we do it.¡±


    Master Limmestare looked back at his book, but still raised his fist. ¡°And the ves will rise up, break their chains, and dere themselves forever free.¡±


    Mistress Cerna quirked a smile. ¡°Forever free.¡±


    T red. ¡°Rust you both. We have to do something for all those gated-human souls eventually.¡±


    Master Limmestare looked up again, frowning. ¡°I am well aware of that, Mistress T. I apologize if it sounded like I was mocking you. I was quoting a rather famous abolitionist from the pre-gate era. He proposed that humanity wouldn¡¯t be free unless we found a way to break away in part, grow in strength, and return to achieve broader freedom.¡±


    T blinked a few times, her irritation cooling. ¡°Oh¡­¡±


    When she looked toward Mistress Cerna, the older woman shrugged. ¡°<em>I</em> was teasing you.¡±


    That made T bark a quickugh, but she quickly covered it with a fake re.


    Mistress Terra shook her head, but she was smiling as she returned her attention to her te.


    Everyone returned to what they had been doing, and T turned back toward Rane. He was giving T an interesting look.


    After a moment of silence, she finally asked, ¡°What?¡±


    He shrugged. ¡°You have a lot of ns ahead of you, don¡¯t you?¡±


    ¡°I try to keep busy. Immortality gives me a long time, after all.¡±


    He grunted at that.


    ¡°What about you?¡±


    ¡°What about me?¡±


    ¡°What are your ns? I know we¡¯ve talked about a lot of random things, but what do you really <em>want</em> to do?¡±


    He shrugged. ¡°There are a lot of things that I¡¯d like to do.¡± He chuckled. ¡°Rust, I¡¯d love to help bring about humanity¡¯s rise to general safety and security. I would like to see such a world.¡±


    ¡°Any specifics?¡±


    ¡°Honestly? Besides having a family eventually, not too many. I want to see more of this world, and explore what I find interesting.¡±


    She quirked a smile at that. ¡°So, add to humanity <em>and</em> better it? Otherwise just sight-see?¡±


    ¡°At least until something else grabs my attention. I¡¯m easy like that.¡±


    ¡°Oh? You don¡¯t already have something grabbing your attention?¡± Her smile grew mischievous.


    ¡°No, no <em>thing</em> is particrly attractive to me.¡± He smiled in return. ¡°There is some<em>one</em> who I¡¯d enjoy seeing more of.¡±


    ¡°Oh? You want to see more of me?¡± She gestured to herself. ¡°You think I¡¯m too covered up, then?¡± Her elk leathers started to draw back, just fast enough to be noticeable.


    Rane flushed and looked away. ¡°I meant: see you more! Not see more of you.¡±


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    T chuckled, returning her outfit to its standard configuration.


    <em>-Now, T, what would you have done if he hadn¡¯t reacted that way? What if he had simply wanted to enjoy the show?-</em>


    It was T¡¯s turn to flush. She hadn¡¯t considered that when she¡¯d started teasing him. But his reaction had been exactly what she¡¯d expected and hoped for. <em>Then he wouldn¡¯t be my Rane.</em>


    <em>-Maybe true. Still, I didn¡¯t expect you to do something like that with so many witnesses.-</em>


    T felt her eye twitch, and she turned her perception outward, once again realizing that her entire unit and Mistress Terra were close enough that they¡¯d likely heard everything, just by dint of their Refined level physical changes.


    She flushed more deeply, even more grateful still for her through-spike illusions.


    t didn¡¯t say anything further. Instead, she sent the feeling of mirth in return.


    Terry trilled and rolled onto his back, sticking his legs into the air and his tongue out the side of his beak.


    T looked his way. ¡°Getting bored, Terry?¡±


    He gave a half-hearted, drawn-out squawk.


    ¡°Well, you know what cells entail. While you haven¡¯t gone into that many before, you have seen how long this part takes quite a few times.¡±


    He chirped several times, indicating that he was aware, and it didn¡¯t change how he felt.


    T sighed. ¡°Fine. I won¡¯t convince you. Do you want to go into the sanctum?¡±


    He lifted his head a little, then let it flop down.


    ¡°No?¡±


    <em>-Terry has gained less entertainment from hunting the porcine upants of your sanctum since the bond.-</em>


    <em>Really? Why haven¡¯t you told me that?</em>


    <em>-It hasn¡¯te up?-</em>


    T sighed. <em>The curse of intelligence. Simple pleasures aren¡¯t so simple any more.</em>


    <em>-...Did you justment Terry¡¯s fading cruelty to animals?-</em>


    <em>¡­I did not think of it that way.</em>


    It wasn¡¯t much longer before Mistress Terra cleared her throat, garnering all of their attention. ¡°Well, the decision is in. It seems like everyone¡¯s willing for us to give it a try, so long as the rest of Mistress T¡¯s unit agrees.¡±


    The unit gathered around the Paragon.


    They all exchanged nces, shrugging or otherwise indicating eptance. T grinned. ¡°Thank you all. I think it could be quite interesting.¡±


    Mistress Terra nodded. ¡°Alright, then. So, the n is to treat this like a normal cell, except that Mistress T is authorized to negotiate with the prisoner.¡±


    Master Clevnis cleared his throat, then stated in a deadpan voice, ¡°A normal cell, with a Reforged level prisoner.¡±


    Mistress Terra seemingly decided to ignore his skepticism. ¡°Precisely. Take this seriously, and n as if you¡¯ll have to face this opponent in a head-to-head sh.¡±


    The unit leader hesitated, then nodded, drawing the unit off to the side while Mistress Terra began her preparations. ¡°Immortal elks aren¡¯t supernaturally fast, their attacks have prative magics, but their main feature is regeneration.¡±


    Mistress Cerna took up the exnation, ¡°This one in particr has nature magics as well: controlling vegetation, things like that. We would likely go in with a scorched-earth approach, but that would make negotiations rather difficult.¡±


    T nodded. ¡°Thank you for not.¡±


    The woman grinned back at T. ¡°Well, Mistress T, you¡¯d be our preferred means of scorching the earth, so¡­¡±


    The unit chuckled, and T quirked a smile. ¡°Fair. Though, I¡¯m hardly the only person capable of that.¡±


    ¡°But your dissolution breath¡ªeven in its currently limited form¡ªis the best tool we have for that.¡±


    She shrugged.


    ¡°Regardless. We¡¯ll be creating a defensive location and bunkering down while Mistress T¡ª¡±


    Terry trilled loudly.


    Mistress Cerna sighed. ¡°¡ªand Terry go deeper in.¡±


    Rane lifted a hand to draw attention. ¡°I don¡¯t think that I would be best utilized in the reinforcement of a bunker-style defense, but I <em>could</em> be useful in a dying action, should negotiations go poorly.¡±


    The husband and wife unit-leader duo nced at one another. Master Clevnis shrugged and Mistress Cerna pinched the bridge of her nose. ¡°Fine. T, Terry, and Rane will go to directly confront the immortal elk with the goal of negotiation.¡±


    Master Limmestare lifted a hand this time and spoke when acknowledged. ¡°Why wouldn¡¯t the elk just agree to any demand? That would get it free. I know I¡¯ve heard that sapient magical beasts can¡¯t lie, but is that true?¡±


    Master Clevnis waggled his hand, but Mistress Cerna shook her head. ¡°It is more urate to say that they don¡¯t. Such beasts are generally <em>very</em> closely tied to Reality, and that link makes the very concept of lying anathema to them. Sapient ones begin pulling away from that close tie, but the result stands.¡± She met T¡¯s gaze. ¡°That does mean that should <em>you </em>lie, they will likely know. Worse, they may have the power to bend the world to <em>make</em> your ¡®lie¡¯ true. So, be careful.¡±


    <em>Great¡­ Wait. It¡¯s like the fae.</em>


    <em>-Wouldn¡¯t that make sense?-</em>


    <em>What do you mean?</em>


    <em>-Well, if the fae are real, they¡¯d be magical creatures, right? Even down to their dislike of mankind?-</em>


    <em>I¡­ I never considered it that way. I thought there couldn¡¯t be humanoid magical creatures, though, just arcanes?</em>


    t sent over a mental shrug. <em>-They might just be legend, but if they aren¡¯t, I¡¯d expect Reality-Magic humanoids.-</em>


    That was oddly terrifying.


    <em>-Terrifying? This from the woman who wields void, magic, and hints of reality with seeming impunity.-</em>


    <em>That¡¯s different. Why would I fear myself?</em>


    <em>-¡®A wise man fears that which he might be.¡¯-</em>


    T twitched, feeling a bit of unpleasant reminiscence at the idea. t would have known that, and likely was pressing the point on purpose. Regardless, she deflected. <em>I am no man.</em>


    <em>-... Really? You¡¯re going to purposely make it about that rather than the clear meaning of the quote?-</em>


    <em>You could have changed the quote to refer to me.</em> T returned a mental shrug.


    -...<em>I feel like you might be unclear on the concept of a quote.-</em>


    Their internal banter was cut off by Mistress Terra¡¯s promation. ¡°I¡¯m ready.¡±


    The unit came over as roots seemed to grow up in the middle of the clearing, shaping themselves into a doorway.


    As soon as that had fully formed, the now-all-too-familiar hallway appeared, and Rane shot down the passage.


    As quick as he was, he wasn¡¯t faster than Terry, who was already at the far end.


    He wasn¡¯t even faster than T¡¯s aura, which she extended down the corner of the tunnel before connecting to the part of her aura which wasing off of Terry.


    Once that direct link was established, she flickered forward.


    Rane arrived a momentter, muttering under his breath. ¡°Cheaters, both of you.¡±


    Terry let out aughing series of chirps, while T just rolled her eyes, but she was smiling nevertheless.


    Together they looked out at the makeup of the cell. Calling it an old-growth forest would have been deceptively underselling it.


    It reminded T of the Leshkin forests to the south, but instead of beingrgely clear at ground-level, the columns of massive tree trunks were surrounded by smaller nts, rocks, and other things in a way that somehow evoked the feeling of a garden more than a wild wood.


    Even so, it didn¡¯t actually look manicured. It was like a very skilled person had nned out and nted the vegetation, moved the stones and earth, created waterways, and then simply left it to grow ande to its full beauty on its own.


    The whole ce had a solemnity that T associated with the Wilds, though it was somehow more stark, as if they were walking into the ce of dominion devoted to a powerful being.


    <em>-Which is exactly what we''re doing¡­ right?-</em>


    <em>Fair enough, yeah.</em>


    Overhead, the trees weren¡¯t quite as tall as in the southern woods, only reaching about a hundred feet from what they could see. There were more lower branches as well, indicating clearly that they were entirely different species of trees.


    <em>ck oak mostly?</em>


    <em>-It looks like some red maple, too. I think there are more subspecies of each as well.-</em>


    T, Rane, and Terry moved forward, among the trees, ignoring the sounds of building behind them as Masters Girt and Limmestare worked their magics to form the initial defensive structure, closing off the exit.


    They were careful to not harm any of the trees with their construction, per their agreement to leave an easier chance of negotiations.


    Toward that same end, T and t had been throwing ideas back and forth¡ªfaster than most people could think¡ªso that they could approach the elk in the best way possible.


    They had a whole range of options avable, based on how the initial meeting took ce.


    Rather than moving as fast as they could, the trio moved with a certain amount of sedate reverence, keeping their senses attuned and focused outward.


    They detected many small animals of various kinds scampering among the foliage. Terry twitched a bit, clearly instinctively wanting to flicker after them, but he held himself back.


    He was moving warily, clearly aware of the overpowering presence that was a radiant undercurrent in this forest.


    There were some predators, but they were all on the smaller side: foxes, falcons, that sort of thing. T thought she caught hints ofrger ones, but they were far enough away that she couldn¡¯t be sure, even with her threefold sight.


    With that threefold perception, T could barely tell just how massive this forest was. It was undoubtedly thergest cell that she¡¯d ever seen, making it hard for her to truly grasp the scope.


    There was the oddity of the cell being turned within four-dimensional space, so her orientation wasn¡¯t what she was used to, every step taking her farther from the superficial and deeper into a crack of void. But that was expected for a cell, and she didn¡¯t let it distract from¡ª


    ¡°Humans.¡± It was a sound like the breeze, or the bubbling of a brook, or the rumbling of the earth. It seemed toe from everywhere and nowhere.


    Following closely on the heels of the word, an elk appeared before them, barely ten yards away, standing taller than a horse, but not muchrger than that.


    The majestic beast was standing between two trees, uncounted points on its antlers rising toward the stars even as some ethereal light shone from behind it, showing it in stark relief.


    The creature¡¯s aura was¡­ odd. It somehow looked perfectly green, entirely blue, and deeply brown all at the same time. It was as if its aura was embodying nature itself.


    It locked gazes with each of the three for a moment. From this close distance, T could easily see the intelligence in its eyes. Its fur wasn¡¯t anything special in appearance¡ªbeing a simple dark brown¡ªand it wasn¡¯t even perfectly clean, as if it were an intrinsic part of the natural world around it.


    The inhuman face oriented on Terry the longest before he finally returned his eyes to T and asked, ¡°It is time for the resealing, then? The eons of Zeme are unending, my forest will endure. Why have you left the entrance this day?¡±

 Chapter 460: Immortal Elk

    Chapter 460: Immortal Elk


    T, Rane, and Terry stood facing the ancient immortal elk within its cell. Its Reforged-level power was on clear disy, even while it was obviously contained to keep from negatively impacting the natural world that it had cultivated and nurtured within the cell.


    T and t had mapped out dozens¡ªif not hundreds¡ªof ns, depending on how they¡¯d first encountered the elk. They tried to bounce some of the more finalized versions off of others, but their processing speed¡ªand the speed of their interface with the Archive¡ªwas so much higher that it was difficult to get quick feedback, leading to them doing most of the brute-force nning themselves.


    If he had attacked them onsight, if he had hidden from them, if he had been unable to speak in a way they could understand, if he had made instant demands, and so many other scenarios. They had chosen avenues of advancement for each.


    Therefore, following the n they hadid out for this potential eventuality, T bowed as if to a human of the elk¡¯s advancement. ¡°Greetings, child of the forest.¡±


    Rane bowed a momentter.


    Terry did not bow. Instead, he simply tilted his head to one side and narrowed his eyes in consideration.


    The cervid¡¯s voice resonated from all aspects of nature around them from the flora, the ground beneath their feet, and even the very air of the cell itself. ¡°Greetings? You offer greetings? You who bring a predator into my domain? You whoe to ensure my containment? You who wear my very magics, mindlessly bound to your soul? Words are mere words, but it seems that yours may be worth less than most.¡±


    T shook her head. ¡°First of all, yes, my garments are made of immortal elk leather. It is the way of nature for prey and predator to perform their dance, and it would be wasteful to have left these magics to dissipate into nothingness.¡±


    The elk exhaled a cloud of breath, making a sound somewhere between a grunt and a growl, but he didn¡¯t otherwise respond.¡°As to the predator? Terry is my soulboundpanion. A predator, yes, but he is not here to wreak havoc upon your domain.¡±


    Terry let out a mournful call, his eyes sparkling with humor and mischief.


    She closed her eyes and took a calming breath before proceeding. <em>Rust it, Terry. Now hardly seems like the time for that.</em>


    <em>-He is not sorry for his actions. In fact, he is smugly certain that he¡¯s made things better for you.-</em>


    When T opened her eyes, she <em>did</em> think that she saw a bit of mirth sparkling in the elk¡¯s eyes, but that fact didn¡¯t change the overall situation.


    She swallowed and dove into the next step of the n, ¡°As to your captivity. I havee to discuss that with you. How would you feel about an agreement that would allow for your forest to be expanded?¡±


    That piqued the elk¡¯s interest. His aura seemed to still and focus, as if the animal had been constantly looking around itself, and it had suddenly ceased. His entire attention was now on T.


    As if to emphasize this fact, his antlers seemed to shrink down until there were merely two dozen points, and he closed half the distance between them¡ªthe light fading from behind him as if it had never been¡ªstopping a mere five yards away before his voice resonated forth once more, ¡°What is there to discuss, little Refined? My forest is here, your kind will not return it to Zeme, so I will not leave. Your offer sounds interesting on the surface, but it is impossible as I understand things, unless I were to leave my forest, and your kind cannot offer me anything that would entice me to leave¡ªthey already tried that.¡±


    T nodded along. ¡°Because if you leave you would be diminished.¡±


    ¡°I am this forest, and this forest is me. To depart would wound us both to our very foundations.¡±


    ¡°I am not offering you a <em>different</em> forest that isrger. I am offering to help you grow <em>this one</em>.¡±


    The elk was silent for a long moment. Finally, his deep words sounded again. ¡°I am listening.¡±


    ¡°Before I exin, let me ask you one question: if the entrance to this forest were simply attached to the superficial world, what would you do?¡±


    The elk appeared to slump slightly, seeming resigned as it answered honestly, ¡°I would extend my influence outward until I had imed enough of the region to bring my forest back into alignment with its proper home. This is the trouble. I will not leave, nor will I remain idle. If you are wise, you will go back to your Paragon and seal me here. After all, what could you possibly want from me that would be worth the growth of my forest? Or the threat that granting me more power through arger domain would pose?¡±


    He moved to turn away, seemingly having decided that she had nothing further to say, but T held up a hand. ¡°As I said, Ie to offer you a path through which you can expand your domain. You have not told me anything I did not know or at least suspect.¡±


    The elk regarded her for a long moment. ¡°Very well, I will listen. The years are long, and I am not so glutted withpany that I should blithely pass on honest words, freely offered.¡±


    She blinked a few times, processing the odd manner of speech, but it was obviously an agreement to listen, so T forged ahead. ¡°I have the ability to expand a dimensional space¡ªin theory¡ªwithout end.¡±


    The elk huffed. ¡°I am aware that humans can expand their spaces through thebining of such. That will not work for such a cell, unless human magic has advanced far indeed. How is this different?¡±


    ¡°You are right, it would be difficult to expand your cell as it stands, if not impossible.¡±


    He huffed again, clearly a bit irritated. ¡°Yes, yes. I know this well. Please don¡¯t mistake my willingness to listen for ack of desire to hear the point.¡±


    T gave a close-lipped smile at that. ¡°As you wish. I will get to the point, then. I have a soulbound dimensional storage, which could consume the atrium to your cell, along with this forest, thereby joining the two.¡±


    The elk wheeled on her, fully facing her once again, eyes shing with clear anger. ¡°I will not be bound with a human, girl. My power being greater than yours is of no consequence. I will <em>not</em> be bound to a human soul, no matter who rules. Your soul holds no temptation for me, and I am not a mere pet to be leashed to your will.¡±


    Terry let out a hiss of anger¡ªthough T couldn¡¯t tell if it was on her behalf, or at the implicit naming of him as a pet¡ªcrouching low, but T ced her hand on the back of his head while meeting the elk¡¯s gaze. ¡°I am not offering you a soulbond. My storage is based upon a voidling. She has a sentience all her own, and one result of that trait is that she does not force a binding on any¡ªlet alone all¡ªwho enter her dimensionality.¡±


    The elk¡¯s eyes narrowed, some of his rage cooling, but he was still clearly unconvinced. ¡°I have not heard of this. Is it a new type of creature?¡±


    ¡°In a sense. They are lesser known, but not exactly new. But regardless, we <em>have</em> proven it works.¡±


    The elk slowly lowered himself to the ground without breaking his gaze from T¡¯s face. The seemingly rxed posture did not reduce the feel of power radiating from him, nor did T allow the change of stance to lower her guard. His voice finally rose up again, ¡°So, then. What do you actually propose?¡±


    ¡°My expanded space is filled with unimed, non-aspected power of my density. Combining your forest with my space will potentially give you more power to work with overall. That will only grow with time, as I advance.¡±


    The elk had <em>definitely</em> reacted to that knowledge, but he seemed unwilling to simply agree regardless. ¡°And it will ce the dimensionality of my realm under yourmand. You would have me ept cheap power and grant you hold over mysting existence.¡±


    She smiled consolingly and acknowledged his point, ¡°I am interested in the dimensionality of this cell, yes.¡±


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    The elk shook his head, but before he could respond, T continued.


    ¡°But, I would only take the top down to just above the trees, from below the ground to just beneath the roots and underground waterways. None of that would affect your domain at all. From there, I would offer you increased dimensionality at ground level in exchange for various tasks.¡±


    ¡°So, you would take from me, then pay me with what had been mine?¡±


    ¡°At first, it might seem that way, but this agreement would not end. Your forest would grow. Withparatively little time, your domain would berger than ever. I also would take dimensionality from you that does not add to your forest, and return to you <emnd </em>that <em>would</em>.¡±


    The elk seemed to consider. ¡°I am listening.¡±


    T gave another shallow bow. ¡°Thank you. My name is T, in current human culture I would be called Mistress T. May I know your name?¡±


    The elk tilted his head slightly to the side, causing his antlers to move in a graceful arc. ¡°I will not acknowledge you as my mistress, even by implication.¡±


    ¡°I apologize for the misunderstanding, but that isn¡¯t what it means to us. It is more of a title, or term of respect.¡±


    He shook himself, letting out an oddly high-pitched bugling. ¡°I believe you are mistaken. Regardless, respect must be earned, and mistress is a term of submission from the speaker to the listener. It <em>means</em> something, and I will not grant it to you from me.¡±


    T was about to argue, but t cleared her mental throat, reminding her that it really didn¡¯t matter one way or another. T colored slightly beneath her armor and illusion. <em>Right¡­ thank you.</em>


    She took a deep breath and nced toward Rane, who returned an encouraging smile.


    She let it out slowly, and nodded. ¡°Very well, T is more than eptable.¡±


    The elk¡¯s voice almost sounded amused, ¡°Of course it is, T. You may call me Walden.¡±


    T kept herself from sighing. ¡°It is a pleasure to meet you, Walden.¡±


    The elk just dipped his head slightly.


    ¡°As to the details of my proposal. From you, I would like the option to ask questions about your view of the world, your advancement, and simr topics. I would simrly like to allow other Mages toe and study your domain, and interact with you in a peaceful manner. For any of these, you would bepensated by dimensional expansion of your forest.¡± She smiled at the massive cervid. ¡°So, you see, it is you who would be trading the intangible for tangible gain.¡±


    There was a long pause before the elk responded. ¡°I sense that there is more to your proposal. I would hear all of it.¡±


    T nodded. She exined how her soulbound storage was currently set up, and how she was thinking the elk¡¯s forest would fit into the setup.


    ¡°To defend weak humans¡­ this is not within my nature. If that is required, I will decline.¡±


    T shook her head. ¡°No, I would not ask you to defend any human. My request would be¡ªif it ever came to that¡ªto drive hostile beings from my sanctum, Irondale, or your own forest. They would be invaders, things that disrupted the natural order of the expanded spaces.¡±


    ¡°You can word it however you wish, but I would be potentially shedding blood for the benefit of humans. This I will not do. I will defend my own forest. That is all.¡±


    She almost started to argue with the immortal elk, but stopped herself in time yet again. Instead, she bowed her head. ¡°As you wish. That does not have to be a part of the agreement.¡±


    Terry chirped, then, causing both T and Walden to look his way.


    ¡°Yes, thank you, Terry. He would like to be incorporated into your ecosystem if possible. He would not live here, but he coulde and hunt as you allow.¡±


    The elk and Terry matched gazes for a long moment before Walden asked a simple question, ¡°Are you a killer or a hunter, little terror bird?¡±


    Terry lowered his head as if in thought. After a long moment, he began chirping, trilling, and squawking. He then flickered to T¡¯s shoulder, shrinking down to the appropriate size as he did so. Once he¡¯d settled down, he bobbed his head once for emphasis.


    ¡°I see. You were a killer, seeking sce,fort, and purpose in the death of other creatures, but no longer. Now, you desire to hunt only.¡± Walden considered. ¡°If you are willing to keep to the creatures I designate, I can agree to this.¡±


    T perked up at that. It was the first thing that the elk had actually explicitly agreed to, and it would only be possible if he also agreed to more of her proposition.


    ¡°Do not be too eager, human. Your idea is intriguing to me, and it <em>might</em> work, but I would have conditions.¡± He snorted in a modicum of augh. ¡°I suspect your leaders will put a premium on your safety if we do this. Your death would mean my forest bing unmoored, and my very power would eject it from the void.¡±


    T¡­ had not considered that. However, before she could fully process all the implications, Walden continued.


    ¡°Though, in all likelihood, my forest would resurface elsewhere in the world. I am well aware that humanity never bore me malice, nor wished to suppress me specifically. I understood that they could not allow two Sovereigns¡ªas you designate them¡ªto rise side by side on their very doorstep. I bear you no ill will for how things yed out. It was our very nature¡ªthe very nature of our circumstances¡ªthat forced us to be at odds.¡±


    She nodded at that. Unlike many prisoners in the cells, this elk really was an odd case. From the records he had never specifically attacked humanity, nor caused any humans direct harm. He <em>had</em> killed humans who had threatened his forest, but it was hard to fault a being for self defense. After all, his im that he was the forest and the forest was him was not simply a metaphor.


    All this to say, it was simply the tipping of the bnce of power that he would have caused, which had forced humanity¡ªmillennia ago¡ªto act. She frowned, then. ¡°I do have a few questions, if I may.¡±


    ¡°Before we¡¯ve negotiated whatpensation for answers will be?¡±


    T hesitated, but she detected a note of humor in the elk¡¯s voice. ¡°Well, we could use them to calibrate the value going forward?¡±


    After a moment, the elk dipped his head. ¡°It is a worthy trial run. Yes. Be aware, I will likely not answer unless wee to an agreement and until payment has been granted.¡±


    ¡°I understand.¡±


    ¡°Then ask your questions.¡±


    ¡°What is the difference between a Sovereign and a god-beast¡ªor beast-god?¡ªand do you know why your cell has degraded <em>now</em>? We have been having more cells than usual that require maintenance during this waning.¡±


    The great beast pulled in a long breath before exhaling like a massive bellows. ¡°You ask questions that are¡ªat once¡ªtouching deep things and inherently ignorant.¡±


    T blinked at the response, uncertain of how to proceed.


    Thankfully, the elk sighed before his resonant voice sounded again, ¡°I will give a basic answer as a courtesy. Though, you likely won¡¯t see it as such. For any detail, by your measurements, I will require one hundred square feet of ground for my forest, with requisite height and depth to match the rest.¡± After a moment¡¯s pause, he added, ¡°And to be clear, the top of my forest does not end at the trees. The birds and other flying fauna must have space to spread their wings to function as needed. A minimum height of one hundred and fifty feet above ground level is required.¡±


    T considered. <em>One hundred square feet with thirty feet below and a hundred and fifty above.</em>


    <em>-Eighteen thousand cubic feet.-</em> t helpfully gave her the answer.


    She swallowed. That was more than eighty one times the size Kit had been when T had first got her. ¡°That is a steep price to pay. Nearly twenty thousand cubic feet for such an answer strikes me as excessive.¡±


    ¡°Are you saying you do not have that to give?¡±


    She smiled. ¡°I am saying that I believe such is worth more than the answers to such questions. I would be willing to pay more for this first exchange than those that follow, as an expression of good faith. Five hundred cubic feet per question for a total of a thousand cubic feet.¡±


    ¡°That would be a mere five square feet more of forest floor.¡±


    She smiled at that, nodding and holding up her finger. ¡°Exactly. Yes. Five square feet that you would <em>never</em> gain on your own. In Zeme? This would be a trivial thing, but in the context of your cell? Is it not infinitely valuable? Even a single cubic foot of space for mere words would see your forest grow dramatically in time. To that end, I believe that a hundred cubic feet of extra space for a question seems reasonable after this initial good-faith exchange.¡±


    The elk snorted, and the haggling began.


    Even so, T could barely hold back her smile. Walden had all but agreed to allow her to subsume the cell into her sanctum. Everything, now, was just details.


    Rane spoke up on asion, adding in his thoughts, sometimes agreeing and supporting a point that the elk was making at the time, and other times reinforcing T¡¯s view.


    It was irritating when he disagreed with her, but she appreciated not only his truthfulness, but also how much that very act seemed to cause Walden to begin to listen more closely whenever Rane spoke. The ancient elk even seemed to be swayed at times by the Refined¡¯s words even when he didn¡¯t seem interested in hearing T¡¯s objections.


    In the end, they finally hashed out the skeleton of an agreement, including a system by which they could flesh out the further details at ater time.


    The elk snorted and bobbed his head. ¡°Then, we are agreed. Now, as I promised, a basic answer to your questions. First, the difference between Sovereigns and god-beasts. They are at once entirely different and exactly the same. For what is the difference between the roots and the branches?¡±


    T frowned, not understanding, but she didn¡¯t interrupt.


    ¡°As to the cell degradation, the basic answer is this: Reality opposes that which seeks to subvert it in any way it can. These cells¡ªat essentially every level of their existence¡ªare anathema to Reality.¡±


    She nodded. ¡°Yes, but that has always been true. Why are they degrading more quickly, <em>now?¡±</em>


    The elk¡¯s face moved in a way that she was beginning to recognize as a smile. ¡°What answers I can give to that will have to wait untilpensation is granted, T.¡±


    She sighed. ¡°Very well. Let us proceed, then.¡±

 Chapter 461: The Plate Itself

    Chapter 461: The te Itself


    T, Terry, Rane, and Walden walked back through the forest to the exit.


    It took T a bit to notice, but while she, Terry, and Rane were treading down the grass¡ªwhich quickly recovered¡ªWalden¡¯s hooves and forelegs seemed to meld with the grass as he walked.


    It wasn¡¯t like they were passing through, either. As he moved, the grass would pull toward him, bing a part of him before falling back away as he moved out. Thus, the foliage was rippling behind him, but in apletely different way from that behind the two humans or the terror bird.


    It didn¡¯t take that long to return to the entrance of the cell. When Walden saw their bunker, he stopped in ce and huffed. ¡°Foolish humans.¡±


    The very ground vibrated to produce his words, some loose stones jumping with the force of the utterance.


    t had been inmunication with T¡¯s unit, but they hadn¡¯t disassembled the structure yet.


    Mistress Cerna and Master Clevnis came into view. ¡°Mistress T. Is everything finalized?¡±


    T nodded. ¡°Yes, and the agreement has been approved. I will be required to report to Master Grediv as soon as we return to Alefast, so that he can inspect the results.¡±


    The two nodded. They¡¯d likely already been told this. They¡¯d agreed beforehand that she would convey some trivial truth when returning, to demonstrate that she was who she imed¡ªand appeared¡ªto be.It was well within the potential abilities of the elk to create a fake. Given all the other supporting information, it was unlikely, but their job required them to be as sure as possible.


    Walden was obviously irked by the dome-like structure, and his continued words confirmed that, ¡°Remove that from my forest, or I will. Once that is done, get out before you further damage my herbaceous undergrowth.¡±


    Masters Girt and Limmestare unwove the stone and ss fibers that had made and reinforced the structure, returning the entrance of the cell to the state in which it had been previously, at least roughly speaking.


    When that was done, the unit withdrew, and Walden stamped his hoof. A wave of power and greenery swept low over the bare earth, returning vegetation to the churned soil. Somewhat satisfied, the elk turned to T. ¡°I will await you, here. I trust that I will feel the alteration.¡±


    ¡°That is my understanding as well.¡± T gave a tight-lipped smile. <em>And you think you just might take a massive step toward Sovereignty immediately if I¡¯m a fool.</em>


    That was one thing that T did know about magical beasts¡ªand the Paragons and others involved in the process had made sure T didn¡¯t forget¡ªa magical beast could and would tap into all magic within their domain, and all of it counted as within their body for magical density.


    In theory, T could uplift Walden at least a bit if her power were to enter his forest and suffuse it fully.


    <em>-Though, it wouldn¡¯t be sufficient to allow him to reach the level of a god-beast as we know it.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, that would take much more.</em> Though, it wasn¡¯t actually out of reach.


    If she were to fill her whole sanctum with her magical density once she reached Paragon advancement, and then granted the entirety to the elk? That might be sufficient for the task. There were obviously other requirements, but no one who knew what those might be was willing to share such with T.


    The elk hadn¡¯t mentioned magical density or power during their negotiations, and that alone was a bit suspicious given T¡¯s knowledge. He was clearly betting on her ignorance, and hoping to im a <em>lot</em> of power via that ignorance.


    T had, likewise, not mentioned something that the elk would have likely wanted to know: specifically, her authority within Kit.


    As Walden hadn¡¯t known of voidlings¡ªat least he¡¯d imed not to¡ªhe wouldn¡¯t know the features of dimensional storages based upon them.


    On Zeme¡ªand in the cell or any other storage that he could be forced into¡ªWalden¡¯s authority over his forest was essentially uncontestable. Auras could exist overtop of it, but that didn¡¯t change the fact that the verynd and everything in it was his, essentially a part of him and magically bound to him.


    Once it was in Kit, though? Once it was fundamentally a part of T¡¯s soulbound storage? T could <em>theoretically</em> take it from him.


    It wouldn¡¯t be easy by any means, but it existed as ast line of defense. Honestly, it was likely the major reason that the Paragons and other powers that had a say were willing for her to give this a try.


    T and Rane bowed to Walden before walking back out through the tunnel.


    Terry stayed, staring at the elk for a long moment before flickering after his humans.


    When they exited, Mistress Terra smiled, finalizing the re-closure of the cell. ¡°Done.¡± The Paragon then gave a wry smile and caught T¡¯s attention. ¡°And now you¡¯re going to undo all my work, eh?¡±


    ¡°If all goes well, yes.¡±


    Mistress Terra grinned. ¡°You know, that¡¯s usually what I do, undo other¡¯s magical work I mean.¡±


    T found herself grinning in return. ¡°I suppose it is. Thank you for your graciousness.¡±


    ¡°But of course. Let us leave this atrium so you can do what you need.¡±


    T bowed. ¡°Thank you.¡±


    After everyone was outside the expanded space, T created a portal to her sanctum with an edging of elk leather for a physical boundary.


    <em>Huh. I haven¡¯t been needing that as much, have I?</em> She¡¯d forgotten that she had needed a physical opening to make portals, but that requirement had fallen away over time, allowing her use of Kit to more closely match her bonding vision.


    <em>-You are growing closer with your bonds as you advance, and increasingly skilled as you use your abilities more and more.-</em>


    She¡¯d noticed such in little things, but it was nice to have solid confirmation. <em>Good to know. Thank you, t.</em>


    <em>-I am happy to assist.-</em>


    Kit¡¯s portal rolled over the tree in which the entrance to the atrium resided, quite obviously devouring it, root and branch.


    <em>-Sovereign and god-beast?-</em>


    T grimaced. <em>That was such a cop-out answer.</em>


    <em>-Well, he did offer it for free, and he </em>did<em> warn you that you wouldn¡¯t like it.-</em>


    <em>I know¡­</em>


    There was a trembling within the fabric of Existence visible only to T via her threefold sense. By Terry¡¯s leery looking around, his own threefold perception was showing him something simr.


    <em>-Yup. He can see it too, and his interpretation is that it appears like a gathering storm.-</em>


    A momentter, T gasped as she felt Kit <em>straining,</em> drawing incredibly deeply from her gate. T pped as many¡ªand asrge as possible¡ªvoid-channels as she could into the mix, but she still physically staggered at the sudden magical requirements put upon her.


    Her very soul was bearing up under a <em>heavy</em> load.


    Rane was there, stabilizing her without her even needing to ask. She smiled his way even as she felt somewhat faint.


    Thankfully, the feeling seemed to stabilize and her extreme reactions¡ªboth internal and external¡ªfaded, allowing her to return to standing on her own once more. Even so, she kept herself pressed against Rane¡¯s side, his arm over her shoulder, across her back, and down to allow his hand to rest on the top of her opposite hip.


    It was only then that she noticed Mistress Vanga¡¯s hand on her shoulder also, the one that wasn¡¯t currently pressed into Rane. ¡°How are you feeling, Mistress T?¡±


    T nodded in response. ¡°A bit off-kilter, but otherwise good. That forest was¡­ it was basically the size of Irondale. I would say my dimensional storage just increased in size by close to ny percent. That¡­ Kit was a bit hard pressed to devour all of it as quickly as was required.¡±


    Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.


    Mistress Terra grunted. ¡°The fact that you could do it at all is impressive. Come on, open up and let¡¯s inspect the results.¡±


    T blinked up at the more advanced woman. Did Mistress Terra know that she would be cing herself under T¡¯s will? Rather than just wonder, T asked, ¡°You know of my authority within the space?¡±


    The Paragon smiled. ¡°Of course. If I was concerned about your motives, we would be having an entirely different interaction.¡±


    T smiled at that. It did make sense. ¡°Very well.¡±


    Kit¡¯s portal stabilized at a size to let any of them walk through easily. On the far side was what seemed to be the same clearing that had been the atrium before.


    As they all passed through¡ªinto T¡¯s sanctum¡ªT did as she¡¯d promised and stripped off the height of the forest, leaving the elk arge, rough cylinder of space one hundred eighty feet from top to bottom.


    She moved most of the dimensionality to Irondale for the moment, weaving the stone she¡¯d taken from the bottom into the underlying foundations of the pocket-city space.


    She did have to add some height to the very edges of the forest, as it had been a rough¡ªmoderately squished¡ªsphere before.


    As they worked quickly, T and t had actually found that they quite enjoyed interleaving the various strata within Irondale to create patterns, a type of art that they alone could ever appreciate fully.


    T would have to remember that ande back to it when they had more time.


    -<em>Rane might be able to appreciate it as well, one day.-</em>


    T colored, suddenly feeling Rane¡¯s warmth against her much more starkly. <em>That¡¯s not helpful, t.</em>


    <em>-Well, it actually is, just not toward what </em>you<em> want help with at the moment.-</em>


    T red internally, causing t to cackle in glee.


    Regardless, they were soon once again within the clearing, the tunnel into what was previously the cell already open before them.


    As the portal closed, they looked back, seeing the central hill of T¡¯s sanctum in the distance, the dais standing out starkly.


    <em>-You ced the entrance to the forest to be aligned directly with the front of your throne. Symbolic much?-</em>


    T shrugged. <em>Seemed like a good ce. It¡¯s not like I actually sit in the chair very often.</em>


    <em>-Throne.-</em>


    <em>It¡¯s a chair.</em>


    <em>-What is a throne, but a chair that symbolizes authority?-</em>


    T didn¡¯t have a ready response to that, so she returned her attention to the entrance to the immortal elk¡¯s forest.


    There was something odd, perceptually, about the entrance now, which hadn¡¯t been in evidence previously.


    It was obviously open before them, and they could even see the other end, but they all had a sense like they were looking <em>down</em> a long shaft rather than peering straight ahead. They spoke briefly, and confirmed that no one could really say <em>why</em> they felt that way, but they agreed that it seemed urate.


    <em>It¡¯s extending into the void.</em>


    <em>-Yes, that is likely the source of the feeling, but not the cause.-</em>


    <em>What do you mean?</em>


    <em>-The dirt in the water makes it dirty, but that doesn¡¯t tell you where the dirt came from, or how you were able to see it.-</em>


    <em>Ahh. Yeah.</em>


    Nevertheless, they could all see the elk standing in his forest past the long hallway, regarding them in return.


    T lifted her hand in greeting, and the elk bowed his head.


    She regarded her unit-mates. ¡°I am going to go speak with him.¡±


    Mistress Terra nodded. ¡°And I will inspect the results of the¡­ devouring.¡±


    ¡°Thank you.¡± T smiled at the Paragon. ¡°I do appreciate you double-checking the results. I don¡¯t want anything to go wrong here.¡±


    ¡°Of course.¡±


    T looked to Rane and Terry. ¡°Want toe?¡±


    Terry flickered back to her shoulder, and Rane smiled. ¡°I¡¯d love to.¡±


    T proceeded down the tunnel slowly, not bothering to move herself with her will and authority. There would be time to flex that authority, but such hadn¡¯te yet.


    When she stepped back into the forest, she was faced directly with the feeling that she¡¯d been getting indirectly from this part of Kit from the moment of the devouring.


    The forest both was hers, and it wasn¡¯t. <em>It¡¯s like food I¡¯ve served onto a guest¡¯s te¡­</em>


    No, that wasn¡¯t right.


    <em>It¡¯s like the te itself</em>¡ª<em>and the cutlery</em>¡ª<em>at a feast I am throwing. It is unquestionably mine, but others have a superficial, momentary im over it right now. Moreover, it would be rude in the extreme for me to take it from them.</em>


    t approved of the analogy and didn¡¯t see any obvious ws¡ªeven while obviously being imperfect¡ªso they decided to go with it.


    Walden dipped his head toward T, just slightly. ¡°You have been good to your word so far, T. I appreciate that you leveled out the entirety of my forest. The trees at the edge were feeling cramped. Now, you promised me that my forest would expand.¡±


    He waited, eyes locked on her. She smiled and gave a nod in return. ¡°Of course.¡±


    With an act of will, a thousand cubic feet of dimensionality was transferred back to the forest, this time on the edge rather than above the trees or below the ground.


    T then filled the top of that dimensionality with air and the below ground portion of space with the appropriate materials to match what already existed and withdrew her direct authority.


    She passed her guest another spoon.


    <em>-Still an odd analogy, no matter how urate it is¡­-</em>


    Walden¡¯s¡ªnow superficial¡ªauthority poured into the space, and the elk visibly shivered. He then shook himself as if to shed water from his fur, his great antlers arcing through the air back and forth with a great <em>whooshing</em> sound.


    Finally, he seemed to master himself, and he bowed his head once more. Her smile widened slightly. ¡°Is that to your satisfaction?¡±


    ¡°It is, T. You have shown yourself capable of honoring your word.¡±


    ¡°So, our deal is confirmed as we agreed? You will ept inquiries from Mages for one hundred cubic feet perplete answer or magical scan?¡±


    He dipped his head once again, clearly resigned to what she and Rane had convinced him to agree to. ¡°So long as they are non-invasive, and do not disrupt or damage my forest, yes.¡±


    <em>t?</em>


    <em>-I have notified Mistress Ingrit, and the others who need to know. One hundred and fifty cubic feet of dimensional storage space for such.-</em>


    T smiled internally.<em> And we will provide the facilitation and materials for the space in exchange for our fifty cubic feet. Thus, his forest will grow</em>¡ª<em>Kit will grow even more</em>¡ª<em>and everyone will get what they want.</em>


    <em>-So shall it be.-</em>


    ¡°So, do I get the full answers to those questions?¡± She let her internal smile show outwardly. <em>After all, I¡¯ve already paid you.</em>


    Walden puffed a great lungful of air, shaking himself as his voice resounded around them. ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Good. Thank you. Shall we start with the difference between Sovereign and god-beast? I feel that your answer was designed to be obtuse.¡±


    ¡°As I said, you have a surprisingck of knowledge.¡± He settled down, clearly gettingfortable on the thick grass. ¡°Both are the ends of branching, diverging paths. Both find their purpose in drawing in that which they are exposed to and processing it in some way, in order to pass it on. They both also each use a bit of what they draw through themselves.¡±


    ¡°And in this analogy is Zeme the tree? Existence itself?¡±


    ¡°Zeme is closer to the truth, if we are to stretch the analogy. But to finish my imperfect analogy, roots draw from what is directly around them, and in that they are limited. Even so, it is easier to remove a branch than a root of the same size. And a branch? What do you think I will say about one of those?¡± Walden flicked his nose her way.


    She frowned. ¡°A branch¡­ takes power from what emanates far away.¡± It clicked for her, then. ¡°Sovereigns are the branches? epting power which is radiated their way and god-beasts are the roots, drawing from that in which they are steeped?¡±


    ¡°Precisely.¡±


    ¡°And both use their power, after absorbing it, passing it back to Zeme, changed.¡±


    ¡°Correct.¡±


    ¡°Alright. I understand that much. What is the difference in regards to advancement?¡±


    ¡°Both are iming authority over <em>something.</em> God-beasts are, generally, gaining authority over a location in one sense or another. Sovereigns gain it over a concept, generally.¡±


    ¡°City Lords are striving for authority over a location.¡±


    The elk shook his head. ¡°Yes, but mostly no. Unless much has changed, the arcane City Lords are seeking authority over the <em>concept</em> of their city, not thend itself.¡±


    T blinked a few times. <em>Wait¡­ oh. Oh! That makes so much more sense.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, if they were simply iming the location, the people being there or not wouldn¡¯t actually matter. A city is a conceptual thing, made up of physical things. They are seeking authority over the concept.-</em>


    <em>Yeah. I feel like we knew that in a sense, but hadn¡¯t really put it to words.</em>


    <em>-That makes sense.-</em>


    ¡°What of Anatalis?¡±


    The elk¡¯s head twitched, Walden clearly checking for the presence of wolves. ¡°The great wolf still lives then?¡± He shook himself. ¡°But of course he does. The god-beast Anatalis ims the <em>location</em> of his pack.¡±


    T just stared. Rane, on the other hand, shook his head. ¡°That seems like cheating. Why wouldn¡¯t every Magical beast then just im ¡®thend upon which they stand?¡¯¡±


    ¡°Thend upon which a Magical beast stands is not sufficient to power it, young human. Thend upon which the pack stands <em>is.</em>¡±


    Rane opened his mouth to argue, but then, he hesitated.


    T could practically see the gears turning within his head as his mouth slowly closed. T felt herself smile as she went through a simr process before nodding in understanding. ¡°That¡¯s why he revives those that die.¡±


    ¡°That is one of the reasons, yes. If he had a soul as you did, it wouldn¡¯t be wrong to say that he was soulbound to his entire pack. Which brings us to the second difference, god-beasts do not have souls in the same way Sovereigns do. It may seem a small difference, but we beasts do not pass on, we return to the greater spiritual existence of Zeme. The souls of humans and arcanes leave this ce, never to return.¡±

 Chapter 462: Your Bargain

    Chapter 462: Your Bargain


    T and Rane sat side by side before Walden, the Reforged-level immortal elk.


    Terry perched on her shoulder, though his eyes were open and ncing about in clear fascination and desire to go explore the ancient forest surrounding them. Thankfully, he was containing himself for the moment.


    Walden had just finished his basic overview of the difference between Sovereigns and god-beasts, and he was awaiting their questions.


    Rane asked something first, but to be fair, it was the most obvious follow-up question given the circumstances. ¡°Where do you think a Transcendent would fit in all this, in your analogy?¡±


    The elk tilted his head. ¡°A gated, supreme being?¡±


    Rane nodded. ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Isn¡¯t that obvious?¡± Walden sounded genuinely confused.


    Rane frowned for only a moment before his eyes widened in realization.


    Even so, it was T who spoke first, almost whispering, ¡°The sun.¡±Walden gave a solemn nod. ¡°A Transcendent could not exist upon this world at all. The sheer level of power that could flow through them would burn away all of existence, as things are.¡±


    Rane cleared his throat. ¡°You are speaking about what is true within the analogy though, right?¡±


    ¡°Yes, within the analogy,¡± Walden conceded. ¡°We have never been subject to the presence of such a being, so we have only theories. But you have your own throughput as a gauge. Even if that <em>only</em> doubled with every advancement, can you imagine what sixteen times your throughput would do to the face of Zeme?¡±


    T could, actually, even if onlyparatively. Being nearly halfway to Paragon, her throughput <em>was</em> more than sixteen times what it had been as a newly Fused¡ªthough, arge part of that was due to her gate-breaking at the hands of the arcanes¡ªand she knew that her current self could kill an army of Ts from that time.


    More than that, though, she could see the amount of damage done to Reality from power differences. Her throughput was close to double Rane¡¯s at the moment, and she had started tears in Reality at the site of old Arconaven where he had not.


    <em>What would Master Xeel have caused? A full breach with every step?</em> It was a bit horrifying to contemte, if she were being honest.


    True, that was already a damaged area, but how much more power would it take before she would almost immediately erode even untarnished Reality?


    She frowned. ¡°I see¡­¡±


    She considered for a long moment, then her eyes opened wide. ¡°That¡¯s the answer to the second question too, then?¡±


    Walden gave a slow nod. ¡°That would be my guess, yes. The fact that the group which came into my cell was so well bnced¡ªspecialty wise¡ª<em>and</em> powerful? It implies a certain level of avable humans of the same power level. When it became evident that you weren¡¯t a group put together specifically to deal with cells¡ªalong with a few other points of interest¡ªthe implication was clear. Gated humanity is <em>much</em> more powerful than it was when I was initially locked away.¡±


    T was slowly nodding. ¡°And with greater power, we are abrading Reality more than usual. Is that your theory?¡±


    ¡°It would be more urate to say that it is my best guess.¡±


    T smiled and shook her head, then. ¡°I think I have to disagree with your assessment, then. We continue to move in the same cyclical pattern, expanding outward to keep the cycle time the same even as we increase the number of cities. We haven¡¯t changed our timing, because we have observed that there is no need to do so. We are very careful to allow Reality to repair as fully as possible before rebuilding on a previous city site. That shouldn¡¯t be an issue.¡±


    An all too humanugh resonated from the surrounding space. It wasn¡¯t derisive, per se. It was like nothing so much as a parent chuckling at the sincere¡ªbut incredibly faulty¡ªlogic of a toddler. ¡°So, you think inflicting the same level of damage, in a <em>wider</em> area will reduce how much Reality resists you?¡±


    Her smile faded, but it was Rane who responded. ¡°You are acting like Reality has a sentience¡ªif not a sapience¡ªrather than simply existing as cause and effect responses.¡±


    Walden¡¯s tone was marginally dismissive, ¡°I imply no such thing.¡± Still, he paused for a moment before nodding, as if having decided it was worth exining himself a bit further. ¡°If you scrape your antlers against a tree, the bark takes time to recover. If you scrape more of the tree, it takes longer to recover. This is true even if you don¡¯t scrape any more deeply in any one location. If you scrape to the same depth across too much of it, you can kill the tree. Once again, this is true, even if no individual scrape is any deeper than you¡¯ve imparted before. But I am not meaning to imply that you are about to <em>kill</em> Reality. I am simply trying to convey that something can be a cause and effect response that you haven¡¯t encountered before that is due to a change in quantity, even without a change in kind.¡±


    Rane frowned, considering Walden¡¯s words.


    T sighed. ¡°I suppose part of this might be the fact that I don¡¯t actually know the means by which cells are secured, and what about them needs to be maintained.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t you?¡± Walden sounded smug. ¡°If my observations about you are correct, you have all the tools to have seen and understood. Have you simply not made the connections?¡±


    ¡°No. I¡­ don¡¯t¡­¡± Her words trailed off, as she considered. What <em>was</em> a cell? It couldn¡¯t just be a sealed, expanded space. Someone like Walden could get out of that with little trouble. It <em>couldn¡¯t</em> be an artifact of Magic alone.


    There was obviously some void to it, but that wasn¡¯t the full answer.


    For some reason, her inscriptions came to mind, then, and some pieces clicked together within her thoughts.


    A cell anchor¡ªalong with the atrium of a cell¡ªallowed for the dimensionality which contained the prisoner to be held <em>between</em> Zeme and the Doman-Imithe. Each of those were one side of Reality, at least in theory.


    So, where did that leave the cells?


    ¡°Cells are each a pocket that is <em>healed</em> into the skin of Reality?¡± While it should have been an assertion, she wasn¡¯t sure, so it came out like a question. ¡°It is fully enclosed and held in ce, but Reality slowly rejects it, and so Reality must be cut open¡ªthe void in which the cell is hidden must be exposed¡ªdrained of any infection, cleaned, and resealed?¡±


    ¡°That is a somewhat crass, grotesque metaphor, but yes. It sounds apt to me.¡±


    ¡°And with more gated-humans ¡®irritating¡¯ the surroundings, Reality¡¯s immune response to the cells ising to bear faster?¡±


    ¡°Once again, a rather visceral way of looking at it, but it seems right enough to me.¡±


    T and Rane exchanged a look. It had been less than a year since they investigated the old city sites, and they had front and center in their minds the great rents in Reality that T¡ªand now Terry¡ªcould perceive.


    She had shown Rane her memories of the sights. So he had as much foundation in it as she did. They¡¯d also discussed it at length, even if they hadn¡¯t reallye to any conclusions.


    Mistress Ingrit had done brisk business with those memories as well, and T was hopeful that <em>someone</em> would be able to give them more information.


    She had an active petition in ce to be able to try her amplification of connections across the rents, and she¡¯d been told that there were several Archons working through the theoreticals. Things looked like she¡¯d probably get approval within a year or so, if not sooner.


    But all of that was beside the current point.


    Rane once again voiced his thoughts before T had fully organized what she wanted to say. Cognitive tangents had a way of slowing down her arrival at the point. ¡°So, you¡¯re saying that we should expect this increased rate of cell decay going forward?¡±


    ¡°Assuming I¡¯m right? Yes. That eventuality also assumes that nothing is done to assuage this issue.¡±


    The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.


    Rane nced knowingly T¡¯s way, and she gave a small smile. <em>It might work.</em>


    ¡°Regardless, I have answered your two questions and rified those answers. Are you satisfied that I have upheld my agreement?¡±


    T nodded, standing to her feet. ¡°I am, yes. I shall leave you to your forest for the time being.¡±


    ¡°Thank you. I trust you will contact me should you have more to ask, whether for yourself or others?¡±


    ¡°Yes. I will.¡±


    Rane joined her, standing and walking toward the exit.


    Terry flickered back to her shoulder, and the three were about to enter the tunnel when Walden spoke, drawing their attention back to him. ¡°T. I couldn¡¯t help but notice that the magical density of this ce has not increased since it was added to your dimensional space.¡±


    A smile shed across her features, but she hid the reaction from both her physical face and the illusion overtop of it as quickly as it hade. Once she¡¯d mastered herself, she turned back to face the elk. ¡°But of course, my good Walden. Increased magical density was not a part of our negotiations.¡±


    The immortal elk narrowed his eyes. ¡°You stated that your storage had a certain magical density, and then asked to add my forest to it.¡±


    ¡°Ahh, yes, but you know as well as I that even if I were to spread out my avable power through here, the massive nature of your forest would render the density far below that which I mentioned. I have added to the size of your forest, and that has added to your power. Anything more will require an equivalent exchange.¡±


    He let out arge, billowing breath, shaking himself in clear irritation, though not in outright anger. ¡°You have kept to your bargain and not gone an inch farther. I will keep this in mind, human.¡±


    T fully faced the towering cervid, raising an eyebrow. ¡°You have kept to the bargain as well, Walden, and I do not see any great overextension on your part. Shall I give a vague threat in return? Or do you require one that is not so vague?¡±


    She was prepared to do so, to let him <em>feel</em> how his authority was not overtop her own. She <em>could</em> fight him for control and do him great harm at the very least. She hoped that it wouldn¡¯t be required, however.


    After only a moment¡¯s pause, he shook himself again and stomped a foot, but once again, it didn¡¯te across as a threatening gesture. Instead, it was simply one of irritation and frustration. ¡°I see. I ept that we are both sticking to the core of that to which we agreed. Very well.¡±


    T gave a slight bow. ¡°Until we meet again, Walden.¡±


    He dipped his head in return. ¡°Until then, T.¡±


    Without further dy, the trio left the former cell behind.


    Once again, they passed through the tunnel at a sedate pace. This time, however, T took the time to analyze exactly what was going on around her.


    She was walking on the edge of existence within Kit. Her threefold sight said that there was <em>nothing</em> beyond the walls, floor, and ceiling.


    This was not the nothing of a void of emptiness stretching on forever. This was the nothing of no space in which anything <em>could</em> be.


    It wasn¡¯t even a void.


    It was <em>nothing.</em>


    Yet, around the tunnel through which they walked, at the very outermost edge of the very surface they trod upon, was the division between that <em>nothing</em> and the something within.


    That division <em>was</em> Void.


    She had never considered it in that manner.


    Kit¡¯s standard expanded space didn¡¯t exist in that manner. Kit divided her expanded internals from the rest of existence, just barely stoneward of the superficial. The caravan wagons that T had helped expand didn¡¯t even have that much separation. They were simply expanded space, bound within the superficial.


    The forest, and the connection to it, were something entirely new.


    <em>Well¡­ the cells looked like this. We just never considered them in this way.</em>


    She was walking through a thin tendril of air, held existent by a thin veneer of void.


    That realization struck her like a hammer, and she <em>trembled</em>.


    Only a concerted act of will kept her feet moving at a steady pace.


    She <em>almost</em> moved herself to the safety of her sanctum, but she refused to run in fear.


    Within her mind, t also trembled. As a being of pure thought, the idea of true nothingness was even more impactful, more terrifying.


    When they exited, T was leaning on Rane, who braced her without being asked, and she was infinitely grateful for that.


    She looked around, allowing her threefold sight to see all the <em>something</em> around her. Behind her, the entrance to the tunnel both was there and wasn¡¯t. It took up no space as it simply opened into the void in which the forest was tucked.


    The forest was also easily visible to her, even though it seemed to take up no space where it was sequestered.


    She took a few deep breaths before nodding.


    ¡°Are you alright?¡± Rane spoke quietly, but everyone would have been able to hear, regardless.


    She nodded slowly. ¡°Yeah¡­ I just¡­ my perception allowed me to <em>understand</em> something that I don¡¯t really feel like I was built to understand.¡±


    Their unit was waiting for them, and Mistress Terra was just withdrawing her magics at their arrival. She had been about to say something, but hesitated, seeming to change before saying, ¡°Existence and non-existence are easy to think of, but hard to see. Do you need another moment?¡±


    T waivered, then nodded. ¡°Thank you.¡±


    The Paragon smiled. ¡°Take your time.¡±


    A minute or so¡ªand arge mug of coffeeter, T smiled toward Mistress Terra. ¡°I¡¯m ready.¡±


    ¡°Very good. I detected no issues, fluctuations, or problems while you were in the former cell. From what I can tell, for this prisoner, this is as secure as the cell previously was. I now simply need to retrieve the cell anchor from the Doman-Imithe, and we can head back to Alefast. Master Grediv and several Constructionists are awaiting your arrival.¡±


    T nodded to the Paragon. ¡°Thank you, Mistress Terra.¡±


    ¡°It is quite literally my job.¡± But the woman still smiled in return. ¡°But you are most wee. This is not something I had expected to witness.¡± She chuckled. ¡°I suppose I could have guessed it was possible, but the idea would not have urred to me. Thank you for allowing me to be a part of this rather interesting experiment.¡±


    ¡°Of course.¡± The women shared a smile.


    Master Limmestare interjected. ¡°It will be a rather interesting story to tell, and we get paid either way. So, thank you for making it safer and less arduous.¡±


    T chuckled at that.


    Master Girt looked around before turning back toward T. ¡°So¡­ can we get out?¡±


    ¡°Oh! Right.¡± T willed an exit from Kit to appear, and they all left her sanctum, returning to Zeme.


    * * *


    After a detailed examination, Master Grediv and the Constructionists had been just as satisfied as Mistress Terra with the security of the prisoner, and the Constructionists had asked to study the results more closely, even offering the requisite rate to do so.


    T agreed easily, a hundred and fifty cubic feet wasn¡¯t a lot, but it was <em>something.</em> Additionally, the studying of the dimensionality of the forest¡¯s integration with Kit didn¡¯t involve the elk or his forest directly at all, so T didn¡¯t have to share thepensation.


    At Master Simon¡¯s suggestion, T did offer the man¡¯s services to take readings and perform basic analysis onsite for a reduced rate. That way, T got all the data too, and there weren¡¯t other people constantly traipsing through her sanctum.


    Her talk with Walden had made her all the more concerned about the integrity of Reality within Kit.


    She didn¡¯t think about the nothing that she¡¯d been all but exposed to. It wasn¡¯t time for that. She had other things to do.


    She was close to done amplifying the reality node connections within her artificial lung, but not quite¡ªbut since she hadn¡¯t been devoting too much time to it, that was to be expected¡ªand she resolved that as soon as that was done, she would unify her entire sanctum into a singr reality node, if she could make it work.


    <em>If I¡¯m fast enough, it might add weight to the idea that I should be allowed to try such at an old city site.</em>


    But that was a bit over-optimistic, given that she would probably need a <em>lot</em> of time to unify the reality nodes of her sanctum.


    Assuming it worked as she hoped¡ªand the results were what she thought they would be¡ªshe¡¯d want to do the same thing for Irondale too. But that was putting the cart before the horse.


    <em>I do love that my gravity magics areing back into prominence.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, I¡¯ve felt like they were fading into the background. I missed them.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, me too.</em>


    Her birthday hade and gone, and Rane had ¡®randomly¡¯ presented her and Terry with a gift on that day.


    Truthfully, it was more of a gift for Terry, but T had appreciated it almost as much. Rane had known she would, which made her quite happy at being so understood.


    She had shared some of the memories of Terry¡¯s life, which the bonding had granted her, and with that basis, Rane had made a statue of Terry¡¯s mate, of <em>her.</em>


    Rane then ced the statue near to the one of Mistress Odera.


    It was close enough to clearly be near at hand, but far enough that their ovepping magical projections didn¡¯t interfere. That was important because Rane had also used the shared memories tomission another false aura creator, this one mimicking <em>her</em> aura for Terry.


    When Rane had revealed it to the two of them¡ªallowing the false aura to activate¡ªTerry had been utterly shocked.


    T could <em>feel</em> the avian¡¯s emotions roiling through him as he regarded the statue, as he felt <em>her</em> presence for the first time in centuries.


    In order to give Terry a moment, T had given Rane a grateful hug and kiss while Terry collected himself. Then, the terror bird had flicked before Rane, of a size to look him eye to eye.


    Rane hadn¡¯t flinched back at the sudden appearance. Instead, he had spread his arms wide, and Terry had stepped forward into the embrace, tucking his head behind Rane¡¯s back, tears in evidence within hisrge, avian eyes.


    He had then flickered to Rane¡¯s shoulder and stayed there for the remainder of the day as they went to a y, nice restaurants, and other fun events before their afternoon shift on the walls.


    Overall, it had been a wonderful day that just so happened to also be her birthday.

 Chapter 463: This Gateless Paradise

    Chapter 463: This Gateless Paradise


    T tried to hold in her nervous excitement as she waited in Mistress Holly¡¯s waiting room.


    It was as well appointed and clean as always, with sparse decorations just slightly shifting the ambience from being strictly utilitarian towardfortable.


    The attendant behind the counter gave her a nervous nce every so often, offering more coffee every second or third nce.


    It was good coffee, well brewed for drinking ck, so T took him up on the refill almost every time¡­ It hadn¡¯t been that long, but she¡¯d still drunk too much coffee.


    -<em>You think?-</em>


    <em>What? I¡¯m nervous, coffee calms me down.</em>


    t gave a derisive snort within T¡¯s head. <em>-Sure it does.-</em>


    It had been almost an hour, and Mistress Holly had warned that it could take anywhere from half an hour to three, depending on several unforeseeable variables.


    <em>-Nothing we can do will change the oue, T. It¡¯s better to just</em>¡ª- t cut off abruptly, causing T to hitch mid-sip and sit up straighter.<em>t?</em>


    <em>-Wait.-</em>


    <em>What¡¯s happening?</em>


    <em>-I¡­ got a message from Rane¡¯s alternate interface. We are establishing a contact protocol. Stop interrupting me, or this will take a lot longer. I have a bit more speed than he does, but I don¡¯t have the space for even this exnation.-</em> t cursed. <em>-Now I¡¯m behind. Hush!-</em>


    T almost projected more questions at her alternate interface, but she could <em>feel</em> t¡¯s concentration drawing more power through her gate to increase theirbined mental capacities.


    t was iming all the expanded ability for herself too, leaving T with no one to talk to and nothing to do.


    Well, almost nothing to do.


    She got another cup of coffee.


    Then another.


    She was drinking her umpteenth cup when Rane¡¯s voice sounded within her head, <em>¡°HEY! TALA!¡±</em>


    T practically choked, coughing up a bit of coffee before swallowing to clear her throat. <em>t? What¡¯s going on?</em>


    <em>-He¡¯s talking to you.-</em>


    <em>Can he hear me now?</em>


    <em>-Not unless you want him to.-</em>


    <em>How do I respond then?</em>


    <em>-...by wanting to. I¡¯ll do the rest.-</em>


    <em>Right. </em>T took a deep breath, even if she didn¡¯t need breath to respond. <em>¡°Rane?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Not quite! I am, and I am not at the same time. Neat, huh? I mean, you have experience with this because of t, but for me? This is crazy. I see nothing and everything at the same time. Wait, t is telling me that I¡¯m not actually seeing everything. I¡¯m just experiencing information echoes based on my ability to recall perfectly how everything looked when Ranest saw it. Hmmm¡­ what¡¯s the difference? Oh! Because it¡¯s not in real time. That makes sense. Yes! So, isn¡¯t this crazy? We can talk anytime now and</em>¡ª<em>¡±</em>


    T <em>felt</em> t cut the connection before the alternate interface sent the impression of a clearing throat. <em>-Well¡­ I think I might have a bit more sympathy for Terry, now¡­-</em>


    A momentter, Terry squawked without opening his eyes from where he was still curled up on one of the chairs .


    <em>-He forgives me, and I promised to not connect Rane¡¯s alternate interface through to him any time in the near future. We¡¯re in a good ce, now.-</em>


    T was still feeling a bit overwhelmed from the storm of words basically being dumped into her head. <em>Why is he so exuberant?</em>


    <em>-...Really? You can¡¯t imagine why Rane¡¯s unfiltered, inner voice is so exuberant?-</em>


    <em>¡­Right.</em> T took a deep breath and felt a smile steal over her face. <em>Is he still talking with you?</em>


    <em>-...Yes, but I¡¯m slowly reining him in.-</em>


    <em>Are you sure that it isn¡¯t </em>you <em>who is being ¡®Raned¡¯ in?</em>


    <em>-...That¡¯s a bad pun, and you should feel bad.-</em>


    <em>Maybe, but I don¡¯t.</em>


    t sighed. <em>-Rane should be out shortly. Apparently, he¡¯s getting ranted at as well, and they¡¯re trying to figure out an operating agreement. Mistress Holly is trying to kick him out.-</em>


    T could just imagine the fiery woman shooing the giant man from her workshop.


    In fact, she didn¡¯t have to imagine it. Her threefold perception was able to see that far, and she could <em>see</em> Mistress Holly¡¯s irritation with the big man.


    <em>Is he getting any better?</em> The fact that she was referencing Rane¡¯s alternate interface was obvious to t, so T didn¡¯t bother to rify.


    <em>-I think so. He wasn¡¯t based upon a fundamental function like I was. So he¡¯s really just a copy of Rane¡¯s consciousness running in parallel.-</em>


    <em>And you are?</em> T teased lightly.


    <em>-A copy of your consciousness that </em>has<em> run in parallel after being based upon, and melded with, a system designed to monitored your body and magic, and revive you in the case of unconsciousness.-</em>


    <em>Fine, ruin the joke.</em> T still projected amusement toward t all the same.


    A minuteter, Rane and Mistress Holly came into the waiting room. The Inscriptionist had an exasperated look on her face, but T could see mirth in her eyes.


    Rane seemed a bit dazed, his eyes slightly unfocused, but he was moving alright.


    T took pity on them both and came forward, taking Rane by the arm and leading him away.


    Mistress Holly gave a shallow bow. ¡°Thank you, Mistress T. Always a pleasure to see you.¡±


    T returned the bow. ¡°I am happy to assist. Thank you for taking such good care of him.¡±


    ¡°But of course.¡± The Inscriptionist gave a strained smile.


    Together, T and Rane departed Mistress Holly¡¯s building. As they did so, Terry flickered to her shoulder before squawking once.


    <em>-Terry would like to go into your sanctuary, but he doesn¡¯t want to just abandon you two.-</em>


    <em>That¡¯s kind of him to check.</em> T had no issue with that. She almost opened a small portal into the space which used to be the atrium to Walden¡¯s cell, but when she went to do so, there was already one in existence, and Terry had already flickered through.


    She knew what Terry really wanted, and sure enough, before she could fully register his movements, Terry was in Walden¡¯s forest, looking for Walden in order to negotiate with the being for the terms to hunt within the immortal elk¡¯s ecosystem.


    The terror bird had been connecting with the elk every so often, working on the massive magical beast and wearing down his resistance.


    <em>You go, Terry. Best of luck.</em> After a moment¡¯s hesitation, T added another thought, this time directed at t, <em>Please make sure he¡¯s not negotiating away things we don¡¯t want him to give.</em>


    <em>-Already on top of that. I mean, he already tried to trade¡­ well, it¡¯s likely best you don¡¯t know. I¡¯m keeping an eye on it.-</em>


    T sighed, but sent her gratitude regardless. She was actually happy to not have to be the one to rein Terry in.


    No, she was assisting with Rane at the moment.


    The two of them walked through the streets of Bandfast, thetter still a bit dazed as his alternate interface clearly continued a deluge of¡­ something within his mind.


    Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any urrences.


    Finally, his eyes focused on T. ¡°How do you stand this?¡±


    He immediately flinched, the alternate interface clearly having had something to say about the sentiment.


    ¡°He¡­ he won¡¯t stop.¡± The big man was rubbing at his temples.


    T ced her hand on his shoulder, giving him a firmer point of physical contact. ¡°You can pull power from the scripts?¡±


    Rane¡¯s eyes immediately brightened, but even as the smallest tendril of his magic began to shift, he jerked to a stop. ¡°Huh. He¡­ he stopped.¡±


    T gave a wry smile. ¡°Having power to change his existence will do that, yeah.¡±


    Rane let out a contented sigh, a small tear actually appearing in his eye. ¡°Oh, beautiful silence. If that¡¯s what it¡¯s like to go mad, I have been vastly too harsh on madmen.¡±


    <em>-He¡¯s cross with you. He is well aware that you don¡¯t love </em>him<em>, but he still feels a bit betrayed that you told Rane how to essentially knock him unconscious.-</em>


    <em>Well, Rane already knew, he was just being so overwhelmed that he couldn¡¯t put the thoughts together.</em>


    <em>-Speaking from experience, that very well might have been deliberate.-</em>


    <em>¡­That jerk.</em>


    <em>-Just a bit? But he¡¯s also a bit concerned for his own existence. He¡¯s basically a newborn with the mental capacity of an adult. He¡¯s trying to find his way in the world.-</em>


    <em>I suppose I can see that.</em>


    Rane smiled her way. ¡°Well, he wants a name. Any ideas?¡±


    ¡°Enar?¡±


    He grimaced. ¡°I mean, it does match ¡®t,¡¯ but I don¡¯t really like that name. I mean I don¡¯t dislike it, but it doesn¡¯t particrly grab me.¡± He considered. ¡°Ideally, he¡¯ll be my pal. I had a childhood friend who died after he joined the guard. What about Marvin?


    T was skeptical. ¡°Do you really want to be depressed by the memory? Or I suppose you might be to a point where it would simply be honoring him. You¡¯ll have to tell me.¡±


    Rane considered. ¡°He says it would depress him, so it¡¯s out.¡± His frown deepened as he considered further. ¡°He processes a lot of information¡­ Data?¡±


    T shrugged. ¡°I mean, it¡¯s not a <em>bad</em> name, but it seems rather impersonal to me. If I were him, I¡¯d be afraid that you were just going to use me as a personal assistant if you gave me that name.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. I think with the right interactions, he could be lovable.¡±


    She smiled. ¡°But that doesn¡¯t have to do with the name.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I suppose you¡¯re right. And if the goal is just a lovable name, we could simply call him something ridiculous, like Uncle Bob.¡±


    ¡°True.¡± T chuckled. ¡°I don¡¯t really like it, but you might as well ask him. What about Bob?¡±


    Rane nced to the side for a moment. ¡°Yeah, he hates that.¡±


    ¡°Fair enough. Do you have any other ideas?¡±


    ¡°Well, he exists because of metal, via my inscriptions¡­ What about Hale?¡±


    ¡°Like hail?¡±


    ¡°Well, yeah. He¡¯s the ¡®hard¡¯ version of me. He¡¯d be Hale because I¡¯m Rane.¡±


    T sighed, rubbing her forehead. ¡°Like rain?¡±


    ¡°Yup.¡± He beamed at her. ¡°Surely you¡¯d say it¡¯s a good option, right?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry Rane, I¡¯m afraid I can¡¯t do that.¡± She shook her head. ¡°Besides, that¡¯s how <em>I </em>woulde up with a name. You¡¯re better than that, Rane.¡±


    His eyes sparkled. ¡°So, you finally admit that you aren¡¯t good at naming things, eh?¡±


    ¡°I said no such things.¡± She hid a smile behind a false grimace.


    ¡°Sure, sure.¡± He waved off her objection, clearly seeing through her facade.


    ¡°Come on now, big guy. I thought you were going to wow me with a better way toe up with names. Haven¡¯t you been giving this choice a lot of thought before today?¡±


    ¡°Right, you¡¯re right. I have, but nothing ever really seemed right. I also felt like I should meet him before trying to give him a name. ¡°


    ¡°I suppose that makes sense. What does <em>he </em>think about our other ideas so far?¡±


    ¡°Well, his first suggestion was that he should be Rane, and that I should change my name. So, I¡¯m not very inclined to listen to his other suggestions.¡± Rane was clearly grumpy at the idea.


    <em>¡°-Don¡¯t worry. Time will show him that he doesn¡¯t want to pilot the meat puppet.-¡±</em> Somehow, T could tell that t was speaking to both her and Rane at the same time.


    Rane jerked. ¡°Wait¡­ was that t?¡±


    Her sharedmunication continued, <em>¡°-Yes. He has allowed me to speak with you at this time. But despite what he thinks, I am </em>not<em> going to try to convince you to let him be Rane. No, don¡¯t be grumpy. You are new. Take a new name.-¡±</em>


    Rane blinked a few times, shaking his head vigorously at what was likely a renewed deluge of words within his mind.


    T led them thest few steps to a park bench, and they sat in the winter chill. Both of them actually liked the cool temperatures despite theirck of winter wear. They were hardly the only Mages out and about without ¡®proper clothing.¡¯ So, they didn¡¯t stand out too much.


    He groaned. ¡°This is¡­ a lot.¡±


    <em>¡°-I know, but he can¡¯t be called that. That¡¯s </em>my <em>name.-¡±</em>


    ¡°You¡¯re hrious,¡± he said in a monotone.


    <em>¡°-Wow, you¡¯re a lot less fun than I¡¯d thought you would be,-¡±</em> t sent to both of them.


    ¡°Yeah, well you¡¯re both a bit more annoying than I thought <em>you </em>would be.¡±


    T blinked a few times, making sure she understood what he meant.


    Rane saw her reaction and quickly rified. ¡°Him and t. Not you, T.¡±


    ¡°Oh, I figured that. I am just trying to remember if I had a simr issue with t.¡±


    <em>-Not that you remember, no.-</em>


    T frowned. <em>That¡¯s an oddly¡­ suspicious answer.</em>


    <em>-I suppose it is. I wish I could tell you something different, but as far as I can tell, we got along well. It wasn¡¯t perfectly smooth, but it wasn¡¯t quite like this. I came to be who I am gradually, and I think that helped us have time to adapt.-</em>


    T sighed. ¡°What can we do to help?¡±


    Rane sighed. ¡°I think once he has a name, that will make things easier.¡±


    She nodded, mentally buckling down to help them make a decision. ¡°Alright, then. What does he want to be called, that <em>isn¡¯t</em> Rane?¡±


    Rane narrowed his eyes in concentration for a long moment.


    ¡°Enar¡­ that seems to be the only name that he doesn¡¯t have vehement objections to.¡±


    T nodded. ¡°Enar it is. Good to meet you, Enar.¡±


    Rane looked up and to the left. ¡°He says that it¡¯s good to hear your voice through someone else¡¯s ears.¡±


    She sighed. ¡°Yeah, that will pass soon. It seems that he got all your snark without any filters?¡±


    He regarded her with a puzzled expression. ¡°I have snark?¡±


    She grinned in return. ¡°Nope. At least not any more. He took it all.¡±


    That made Rane chuckle. ¡°I suppose so, yeah.¡±


    With Rane and Enar on somewhat eptable terms, he and T stood back up, continuing their walk toward Lyn¡¯s house. ¡°Oh, Lyn and Kannis are going to <em>love</em> him.¡±


    Rane¡¯s mouth quirked up on one side. ¡°I bet they will.¡±


    Fannas still didn¡¯t like toe out when Terry was around, so they hadn¡¯t seen as much of him ofte, but he still made it a point to say hi whenever they came by.


    Regardless, it would be a pretty standard visit all the same.


    * * *


    They were on their way out of Bandfast the next morning when t made a surprised sound within T¡¯s head. <em>-Oh, oh! Stop!-</em>


    T stepped off to the side of the street in order to be out of the path of the morning foot traffic, and not force any of the vehicles to divert around her.


    Rane and Terry moved alongside her with looks of curiosity. She held up a finger, asking for them to wait. <em>What is it, t?</em>


    <em>-Lisa just reached out. He is asking if we are still in the city. Apparently, he just heard that Irondale was here, and he wanted to check in.-</em>


    <em>What did you tell him?</em> T felt a bit of excitement rise within her. She would <em>love</em> to give Lisa another option for housing, and once he was out from under his obligation to answer certain questions, she would be able to ask them without feeling like a terrible person.


    <em>-I just responded, letting him know we were on our way out of the city.-</em>


    <em>So¡­</em>


    <em>-He¡¯s writing in our shared note.-</em>


    <em>Can I know what he¡¯s saying?</em> She was practically bouncing with expectant excitement.


    <em>-You really want his thoughts as heposes them? You don¡¯t want to give him the chance to think through and finalize? Are you some sort of monster?-</em>


    T growled internally. <em>Just tell me the gist of it.</em>


    t chuckled. <em>-He¡¯s open to moving into Irondale, but he wants to see it for himself before he moves forward with the idea.-</em>


    <em>Oh! Alright. I imagine he¡¯ll want to negotiate with Artia as well, given they¡¯re in simr businesses, now.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, that¡¯s likely.-</em>


    <em>So¡­ are we going to see him?</em>


    <em>-Yes.-</em>


    T turned to Rane and Terry. Rane was watching her carefully, making sure nothing was going wrong, and Terry was watching the crowd, eyes peeled for any unattended treats.


    His¡­ proclivities were getting expensive, even if he had reined them in after a few talking-tos. He even seemed to have found some way of gaining money¡­ t said it was perfectly legal, but she also said that Terry didn¡¯t want her to know just yet.


    Regardless, it wasn¡¯t that important.


    ¡°We¡¯re going to swing by and drop in on Lisa at his shop. He has asked to look around Irondale to gather more information about what it might mean to live there and help inform him as to whether or not he wants to immigrate to my little city.¡±


    Rane frowned in thought before nodding. ¡°Sure, that makes sense. I actually haven¡¯t seen it in quite a while, it will be interesting to see how it¡¯s grown.¡±


    Terry let out a little huff, but he didn¡¯t argue or protest.


    T grinned. She hadn¡¯t visited herself in a while either, but she could see everything that went on regardless, so it wasn¡¯t like there would be any surprises for her. ¡°Alright, then. Let¡¯s go.¡±


    They made their way through the city to the magic shop, finding the door unlocked for them this time. When they opened it, however, they found Lisa standing right inside, his imprable human illusion already in ce.


    He gave a vulpine smile as greeting before getting right to the point, ¡°You¡¯re here. Good, good.¡±


    Before they could respond, he stepped out, spun around, locked his door, and then turned back toward them to regard T with expectant eyes.


    When she didn¡¯t immediately react, he gestured to her. ¡°Well? I can <em>see</em> your town hanging there, ready to be investigated, but I can¡¯t see any details. Additionally, I feel that it would be rude to breach my way in from here.¡±


    T felt herself smiling even as she wordlessly opened a door into Irondale on the wall of his shop, having it match his own door perfectly. In fact, it was so perfect that it made it look like he simply had a double door instead of the single that had been there before.


    The disguised fox sighed. ¡°Well, that¡¯s not confusing.¡±


    ¡°I think you mispronounced ¡®convenient¡¯.¡± Her smile had grown to match his.


    He gave her a t look.


    She shrugged in return, maintaining the smile.


    With a shake of his head and a huffedugh, he walked forward and pushed open the door into the pocket-city. ¡°Let¡¯s see what madness awaits in this gateless paradise.¡±

 Chapter 464: What Do You Seek?

    Chapter 464: What Do You Seek?


    T, Rane, and Terry followed Lisa into Irondale.


    As he stepped inside, the imprable illusion of a generic human male seemed to roll off of him, like T or Rane would shed a coat whening in out of the weather.


    <em>-You don¡¯t wear coats.-</em>


    <em>Did it make sense or not?</em>


    <em>-...fine¡­-</em>


    T hadn¡¯t opened the door to the main gate of the town¡ªthrough which they enacted trade and tourism when T opened the town to the outside world in various cities. Instead, she had chosen a more scenic locale. Thus, they came out of the face of a small cliff roughly a mile from the edge of town.


    Lisa looked around, eyes widening immediately. ¡°How do you have such perfect control over power that isn¡¯t <em>yours</em>?¡±


    T grinned, the door swinging shut behind them. She didn¡¯t dismiss the portal out quite yet; that would be tantamount to trapping the fox, and he wouldn¡¯t appreciate it. Though, as she considered it, she realized that if anyone could break out of Kit, a powerful arcane who was also a fourth-dimensional construction expert should be able to manage it. Regardless, she needed to answer his question. ¡°That¡¯s the beauty of it. It <em>is</em> mine. It isn¡¯t vored with my gate, thanks to the artifact you traded to me, but it is within <em>my</em> soulbound storage, and doesn¡¯t have a will of its own. It¡¯s as much mine as my own skin.¡±


    He turned to regard her. ¡°One moment. Are you telling me that the magic in here is untainted because of <em>that</em>?¡±¡°Yes.¡± She frowned at his surprise. ¡°I thought this is exactly what you said it could do.¡±


    His eye twitched, causing the fur on the side of his face to ripple even as he shook his head. ¡°I told you it could help purify your magic for a dimensional space. In my sales pitch, I was thinking <em>maybe</em> the size of arge estate, though even that would have strained it. It wouldn¡¯t havested forever regardless. How under the stars did you hold it together sufficiently to aplish this?¡± He gestured around them. ¡°This space is at least asrge as one of your gated human cities.¡±


    She shook her head. ¡°We didn¡¯t have to hold it together. The device is gone, now. My dimensional storage subsumed it and replicated the magics involved.¡±


    He narrowed his vulpine eyes at her. ¡°That shouldn¡¯t be possible for you. That is a <em>conceptual</em> working. This space is soulbound to you.¡±


    T shrugged. ¡°I¡¯m not enacting it. Kit is. Being bound to a gate doesn¡¯t preclude conceptual magic.¡±


    He opened his mouth to argue, but then seemed to consider. ¡°It is true that arcanes who marry humans don¡¯t lose their magics¡­ I had not considered this workaround. You did mention your voidling bond, and how it gave your expanded space unexpected benefits and features.¡± He gave her a <em>long</em> look. ¡°You know that it will be the start of the next war if they learn of this ce, right?¡±


    ¡°I hear your concern, and we are being careful. Essentially no one with magesight has gained ess here. The rare exceptions have been explicitly trusted individuals. Without seeing the magical density first hand, this ce would just seem like we are simply attempting to mimic the moving cities.¡±


    Lisa grunted. ¡°But investigation will show that it is without the core issue that those suffer from.¡±


    ¡°Oh?¡± She was interested. She hadn¡¯t spent enough time in Howlton to learn much about the moving town, let alone the dimensionally expanded districts. She also hadn¡¯t had a chance to see any other moving settlement.


    ¡°Yes. They are incredibly magic poor. There are various solutions in ce¡ªsome work better than others¡ªbut none of the pocket-districts are rich in power even to the level of an arcane city, let alone the holds of the Major Houses. This? This is more than even most of the birthing chambers of Major Houses.¡± He sighed. ¡°Regardless, I still can¡¯t even touch it. The control you have.¡± He moved his hand in jerky, unpredictable ways. ¡°It always stays perfectly away from me, no matter how I move.¡±


    T <em>almost</em> shared the simple trick to that, but held off. Someone as old, powerful, and knowledgeable as Lisa could probably exploit her method if he knew the specifics.


    ¡°However you¡¯re doing it, well done.¡±


    She smiled. ¡°Thank you.¡±


    A wry smile pulled at his lips a momentter. ¡°Now that I consider it, if word of <em>you </em>got back to the arcanes, you might be the cause of the next war, even without this ce. So, it probably isn¡¯t that big of an issue. Regardless.¡±


    ¡°Ahh, yes. They aren¡¯t fond of people escaping their influence, and in the worst-case scenario, it would be assumed that the House of Blood was making a y for the gated human cities, and the other Houses wouldn¡¯t allow that to stand.¡±


    ¡°Exactly. Let¡¯s avoid such an oue, shall we?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s the goal.¡± She grinned in return, even if she privately finished the thought, <em>At least until I¡¯m strong enough to hold my own.</em>


    <em>-Dangerous, T.-</em>


    <em>Yes. I n on being extremely dangerous when I face them again. I can''t hide forever. It¡¯s best to prepare.</em>


    <em>-...fine.-</em>


    Rane pointed up at the sun in the sky. ¡°T has done a lot of fantastic work in here. That is an artificial sun. It generates both light and heat, without the harmfulponents of the radiance we deal with on Zeme. For humans, that means that we can still get sunburned, but there isn¡¯t really any danger of mutation due to high-energy emissions.¡±


    Lisa nodded slowly. ¡°A product of the Constructionist Guild? I hadn¡¯t thought they were this advanced quite yet.¡±


    T gave Rane a grateful smile before picking up the exnation. ¡°They studied the arcane-made sun in my sanctum, and were able to reverse engineer many of the techniques. It helped that I had the technical manual ready to hand, having memorized it and Archived it while within the House of Blood.¡±


    The fox gave her a long look. ¡°I may have underestimated the depth some of your memories could provide. I have pursued the list of avable topics from your Librarian, but I had dismissed some of them as being¡­¡± He shook his head. ¡°Regardless, I will have to reconsider my assessment.¡±


    T gave a slight bow.


    Lisa looked around, seeming to focus on the town down-slope of them for the first time. ¡°Will I cause¡­ issues walking through your town as I am?¡±


    T shook her head. ¡°We have been very open with the citizens that non-human residents are a possibility, and we notified them about you specifically when we initially invited you.¡±


    ¡°That was nearly a year ago.¡±


    ¡°True. We have also notified the town as soon as you requested to visit.¡±


    ¡°Will word have permeated that quickly? Has it been an hour, yet?¡±


    ¡°Maybe just. Have you had breakfast yet?¡± T seemingly changed the subject, but she was doing her best to reel the fox in. His knowledge was <em>useful</em>, and if she could incorporate four-dimensional construction into Kit with the help of a true expert? That would be invaluable even without anything else of value that he had to offer.


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    ¡°I have not. Are you thinking we should go grab a bite to eat to give them more time?¡± Even though it was a question, he was already nodding at the perceived wisdom of the choice.


    ¡°Oh, not at all. There is a lovely little ce in Irondale that serves breakfast that rivals Mistress Petra¡¯s, and <em>she</em> incorporates my own magics into my food.¡± She gave Lisa a teasing wink. ¡°Come on. It is <em>well</em> worth the time.¡±


    Rane grinned as he walked past the fox. ¡°The food really is delicious.¡±


    Lisa seemed hesitant, but he followed nheless.


    T could have moved them in an instant¡ªeven arranging them into empty seats in the restaurant¡ªif she had so desired, but she thought it better to arrive the old fashioned way. It also gave Lisa a greater chance to see the town in a more natural manner.


    They walked down a growing trail toward the end of a main street through the growing town.


    People were on the streets going about their day¡¯s activities already. The economy of the town had be mainly one of crafting in one form or other.


    It helped that most high-end crafts weren¡¯t dependent on the craftsman wielding magic. So gateless weren¡¯t at an inherent disadvantage. That,bined with the money that came in through trade¡ªfacilitated by T¡¯s travels¡ªand the influx with every stop from locals wanting toe in and explore the magically expanded and mobile town, made Irondale an incredibly prosperous ce and its economy an incredibly odd one.


    From what she understood, the very fact that it was hard to be a citizen of Irondale made that citizenship more valuable to those who had it, and they acted like better versions of themselves both out of pride for having been granted citizenship and in order to maintain their position.


    That was something that several Archons she and t had consulted rmended to them. For any closedmunity like this¡ªespecially one that maintained so much exposure while limiting immigration¡ªit was important to have expectations of those who lived there. They couldn¡¯t be arduous, though, else people would simply leave.


    Thus, the folks were required to be active in themunity as a whole, pay a small, yearly tax, and provide for their own needs.


    T had thought it wiser to have a percentage tax¡ªif she was going to have any fees at all¡ªbut from what she could discover through research and advice, a t tax¡ªif low enough that all could pay it¡ªwould inspire greater productivity from more people.


    She would make much less than a t <em>percentage</em> tax, but overall, a simple t amount would lead to greater productivity in her citizenry.


    A gaggle of school-age children ran across the road down in the town, going from one lesson to another. School in Irondale was incredibly practical and mostly outdoors. That was only really possible because of themunity buy-in and the fact that there was never inclement weather.


    There were a few hundred children all told. With a poption of a little over a thousand, that was a sizable chunk.


    Lisa seemed to be taking in the size of the town¡ªand what it likely meant for poption numbers¡ªbecause he asked, ¡°Where did you find all these gateless?¡±


    ¡°The first group came from Alefast, arger portion came from Bandfast and Marliweather¡ªgathered during our frequent trips to those cities¡ªbut we¡¯ve also had a trickle of gateless applying and then traveling to meet up with us from all the gated-human cities. Elsewhere, they aren¡¯t exactly considered second ss citizens, but their opportunities are naturally limited for theck of a gate. There are even a lot of professions that utilize inscriptions and a limited connection to a person¡¯s gate, which are closed to them. Those are bing ever moremon thanks to innovations of people like Mistress Holly. I suspect we¡¯re on the cusp of a bit of a technical revolution centered around gates, and these folk saw the winds of change rising and are looking for a safe harbor.¡±


    Lisa nodded. ¡°As stands to reason. You gated have an unending source of power with you at all times. I agree. All signs indicate that your society will be <em>more</em> stratified as technology taking advantage of that continues to progress.¡± He gave a smile. ¡°Honestly, if you had greater trade with the arcanes, you¡¯d already be there. They have millenia of research into the exploitation of gates. You all just wouldn¡¯t have to use someone else¡¯s soul to get the benefit.¡±


    T grimaced, but eventually nodded, conceding the point. ¡°I do think that what I brought back in my memories has helped tip a few technologies over that cusp.¡±


    Terry trilled in question, and T smiled. ¡°Sure, I¡¯m sure Walden would be open to seeing you again.¡±


    After all, Terry wasn¡¯t really doing much by being with them. Without another word, Terry flickered away.


    Lisa gave T a long look. ¡°Walden? Is he some pir of themunity here?¡±


    T shook her head. ¡°No. He is someone you may meet <em>if</em> you choose to immigrate.¡± She hesitated. ¡°You might be able to meet him regardless, but I think that you¡¯d have to be approved because of your particr set of skills and capacities.¡±


    ¡°Now you have me intrigued.¡± He regarded her for another long moment as they continued to walk. ¡°Very well. I will bank my curiosity for the moment.¡± He looked back toward the town which they had almost reached. ¡°With all this citizenry, I still haven¡¯t seen <em>anyone</em> who is interacting directly with the magics in the air.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡±


    ¡°How? You shouldn¡¯t be able to exert that level of minute control. Even if you could, I can¡¯t imagine you constantly monitoring every person¡¯s every movement and isting them from the magic. Such shouldn¡¯t be possible.¡±


    She shrugged. ¡°Consider it a trade secret, then.¡±


    He gave a half-smile. ¡°Very well. Do you intend to let anyone ess this power?¡±


    ¡°As a matter of fact, we are in the process of figuring out who should be given a rebirth, and how to facilitate it. We would love to grant it to everyone, but that isn¡¯t feasible for many reasons. Also, the bar for allowing someone to live here is a <em>lot</em> lower than the one that we are using to determine who should have ess to Refined level power, even if it is in the arcane style.¡±


    Lisa gave a slightly hissing chuckle, the sound obviously inhumaning from between his teeth and out of his vulpine nose. ¡°That is a wise approach, truly. Am I right in assuming you had hoped for some assistance from me in this regard?¡±


    ¡°We have considered it. You obviously are an expert in that form of magic, and having you as a teacher-in-residence and consultant for those who are rebirthed would be very valuable.¡±


    ¡°Quite, yes. I assume that you aren¡¯t without <em>any</em> teachers, but I would say you likely understated how much help I could be¡±¡ªhis smile widened¡ª¡°with the properpensation.¡± He seemed to be genuinely considering. ¡°Howrge do you expect Irondale to be?¡±


    She shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t have a limit, honestly. If I can stabilize Reality within here, I¡¯d be open to allowing gated in as well.¡±


    He huffed augh at that. ¡°Yes, and if gated humanity could stabilize Reality out there, they wouldn¡¯t move their cities. And if the settlements could stabilize Reality within their districts, gated humans would be allowed in, and they wouldn¡¯t have to move.¡± He shrugged. ¡°You could do a lot if such were possible.¡±


    She responded. ¡°Regardless, if we can do it, such would cause a lot of issues and require a <em>lot</em> of work to filter out applicants. We already have more than ten times the applications from gated than gateless.¡±


    He frowned at that. ¡°You allow gated?¡±


    She chuckled ruefully. ¡°As citizens? No. And we make that <em>very </em>clear.¡± T gave a resigned sigh. ¡°They apply anyway.¡±


    He grinned at that, showing his fangs. ¡°Ahh, to have something in such high demand. That is the dream of any provider of goods.¡±


    ¡°Indeed.¡± She grimaced slightly regardless. ¡°The most troubling, though, are the applications for children to move here on their own.¡±


    He tilted his head to one side before slowly nodding. ¡°Known gateless children, born to gated families?¡±


    Rane sighed and responded. ¡°Exactly. T has asked for my thoughts on a lot of them. From what I can see, some are just horrible people, trying to pawn off their supposedly disabled child, but many are genuinely seeking a better life for their son or daughter.¡±


    Lisa chuckled, instantly understanding the issue. ¡°Ahh, but if you allow any, which do you prioritize? Taking in those from parents who clearly see the child as lesser? Or those who are genuinely acting in love for their children? Seeking a better life for one whom they love?¡±


    T sighed, nodding. ¡°Exactly. That is precisely the issue. We don¡¯t want to reward horrible people, but those are also likely the children who need a better ce more.¡± She let out a long sigh.


    Rane smiled consolingly, but didn¡¯t interject again. As they¡¯d been walking, his eyes had unfocused every once in a while as he engaged with Enar. That made T smile, remembering how often she¡¯d fallen into dialoguing with t near the beginning, ignoring those around her.


    <em>-Well, it is reasonable to talk to the most intelligent person in the room, so¡­-</em>


    <em>Hush, you.</em> But T still projected mirth toward the alternate interface.


    Finally, Lisa asked a question that he seemed to care quite a bit about. ¡°Why?¡±


    T stopped walking barely a dozen feet from the nearest building and the edge of the town proper. She waited for a moment, but when Lisa didn¡¯t say anything more, she prompted him, ¡°Why what?¡±


    ¡°Why take them in at all?¡± He gestured around. ¡°Why take in <em>any</em> of these people? Why offer to take me in? What do you seek, Mistress T?¡±

 Chapter 465: For Now

    Chapter 465: For Now


    T, Rane, and the arcane fox, Lisa, were walking through Irondale, discussing the pocket-town.


    Lisa, in particr, was giving T a searching look, hoping for a satisfying answer to his question. Why was she doing any of this? What was she seeking, here?


    T shrugged. It was an expected question, and actually one thaty near the heart of a lot that she¡¯d been consideringtely. Because of that, it wasn¡¯t a new concept to her, and she had a ready answer, ¡°Why? Well, one reason is simply that I <em>can </em>help, and so I should. On the more selfish side, I am also told that most Paragons need resources with which to Reforge themselves, and the more levels at which those resources are my own, the better.¡± She gestured around. ¡°It is hard to have resources that are more <em>mine</em> than these.¡±


    The fox shook his head. ¡°On the contrary. As I understand human thinking, without all these people here, there would be no contest. The whole world is yours until someone else says differently. Isn¡¯t that the human view of things?¡±


    T chuckled and started walking again. ¡°Some do see it that way, sure. I don¡¯t particrly agree though. I think the best way to exin what I mean is through analogy. So, let me ask you a question. If I own a field, in which grows a lemon tree and across which flows a stream, can I make lemonade?¡±


    ¡°Unsweetened, but yes. Assuming the tree is fruiting, and the water is ptable.¡±


    She smiled at all his caveats but continued regardless. ¡°And that lemonade would be mine?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°In how many ways?¡±Lisa frowned, then slowly began to nod. ¡°One. Though, you could argue two as you made it into the form you desired.¡± He gave her a careful look. ¡°This is a very arcane¡ªvery <em>conceptual</em>¡ªway of seeing things. Is this how all humans view it? I have not ever looked into gated human Reforging, so I apologize if I am ignorant of the obvious.¡±


    ¡°No need to apologize.¡± T smiled toward the fox. ¡°I am operating on assumption and rmendation, in the knowledge that more will be revealed when I reach Paragon.¡±


    ¡°When? You are certain then?¡±


    ¡°Of course.¡± Her smile grew almost predatory. ¡°I will advance until I reach the peak or die trying.¡± Her eyes flicked toward Rane, and she found him already looking her way, a fire in his gaze matching hers. ¡°But that¡¯s off topic. Let me finish my example. Let us say that what I described was one level of ownership for the sake of argument. Now imagine that a boy asks to pick lemons, draw water, and make lemonade. If he gives me a cup, how many ways do I own that cup of lemonade?¡±


    Lisa shrugged, answering easily. ¡°Two. One because it all came from yournd¡ªby your will¡ªand one because it was given to you by its creator.¡±


    ¡°Exactly. Now, if he offers to sell it to me?¡±


    ¡°Three. The same two as before, and a final time due to the ownership gained by an equivalent exchange.¡± He was nodding solidly now. ¡°So you <em>are </em>attempting to deepen the conceptual weight of your ownership of everything within Irondale.¡±


    ¡°Yes and no. I have no desire to take from anyone here. I am seeking to deepen my ownership of that which I need, not <em>everything</em>.¡±


    He shrugged, conceding the point. ¡°And how do unattached children help with that?¡±


    ¡°Well, what if that boy were my own son? Or at least my own ward?¡±


    Lisa tilted his head in thought.


    When he didn¡¯tment, she continued, ¡°Honestly, it probably wouldn¡¯t directly factor in, but I can help them. Because I can, I feel that I should.¡± She smiled. ¡°They need sheltering, nurturing, and raising. If I can facilitate that? I will be content.¡±


    The arcane man chuckled. ¡°If you keep that up, you¡¯ll be a maternal figure to much of humanity.¡±


    She shrugged again. ¡°If that¡¯s what it takes, so be it.¡±


    Then, they were fully among the buildings. People nced their way, waving or calling greetings, but otherwise they werergely ignored.


    Lisa seemed incredibly shocked by this fact. Even with T¡¯s reassurances, he¡¯d obviously expected there to be <em>some</em> sort of reaction to his presence.


    He remained a bit on edge, until they came to the first corner, where two streets met in the town. There, on the edge of one building, was arge stone sign with a picture of Lisa with his true fox visage. Below the picture were the words: Guest of Honor visiting today. Be weing or be elsewhere.


    The fox snorted, Rane chuckled, and T sighed. <em>Really?</em>


    <em>-I mean, you could have checked it at any point. I </em>know<em> you could see it at any time.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, but I trusted that you had it handled, and I didn¡¯t need to check up on you.</em>


    <em>-T, T. You see everything. You can¡¯t honestly tell me this surprises you, can you?-</em>


    <em>¡­fine.</em>


    Lisa¡¯s snort turned to a chuckle to match Rane¡¯s as he shook his head. ¡°Surely you don¡¯t have Archive announcement boards?¡±


    ¡°Not at all. We simply rearrange theposition of the rock to disy such things at need. Otherwise, they are nk for the citizenry to post their own notices upon them.¡±


    He gave her a long look. ¡°That is quite the level of control.¡± He grinned widely, showing off his fangs. ¡°I might have added, ¡®for a human¡¯ but let us be honest. That is <em>impressive</em>¡ªalmost unbelievable¡ªcontrol for anyone.¡±


    She just smiled.


    ¡°Another trade secret, then?¡±


    She shrugged. ¡°This is my soulbound space. It is mine to do with as I wish.¡±


    He grunted at that and didn¡¯t press further.


    Soon enough, they came to the outdoor cafe that she had been leading them to. A young woman in a flowing, immactely clean work-dress bowed to them before leading the three to a table off to one side. ¡°Wee, Mistress T, Master Rane, Honored Lisa.¡±


    That caused the fox¡¯s eyebrows to raise, but he didn¡¯tment.


    There were patrons at other tables, but none directly around theirs. They got nces and greetings of various kinds, but they were left to themselves after that initial wave of interactions.


    As they settled in, the young woman spoke again. ¡°I¡¯m Honey.¡± She pointed to her own chest where a small nametag hung. ¡°And I¡¯ll be serving you this morning.¡±


    Lisa seemed to feel that he had to ask, ¡°Honey? That is an unusual name. I can¡¯t say I¡¯ve met another with the same.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± She smiled proudly, clearly used to simr inquiries. ¡°My parents had a sense of humor. The story is that I came to be in a field of flowers, and they felt themselves busy little bees, so Honey.¡±


    Rane wasn¡¯t drinking anything, but he still managed to sound like he had almost choked.


    Honey continued fluidly, politely ignoring their reactions to her anecdote. ¡°But you didn¡¯te here to talk about the study of names. Do you know what you would like to eat?¡±


    T grinned. ¡°A Full Irondalish Breakfast for five, please. We¡¯ll all eat from the spread. For a drink, I¡¯d like coffee.¡±


    Rane lifted his hand to gain her attention, having recovered sufficiently to order, ¡°Whatever juice is fresh this morning for me.¡±


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    ¡°Very good, and for you, Honored Lisa?¡±


    He nced to the building that held the kitchen, to where the menu was posted for easy reading. ¡°I would love a mimosa in whatever juice is freshest.¡±


    ¡°As you wish. I will return with your drinks shortly, and food should begin to arrive within five minutes or so. Thank you for your custom.¡±


    As the woman departed, Lisa turned to T, shifting upon his seat. ¡°This chair is sized properly for me.¡±


    ¡°Of course. It was trivial to bring it into the right ce. I don¡¯t want you to be ufortable.¡± She¡¯d had a seat designed for him ready, in case he agreed to this very type of visit.


    ¡°Ahh, so if I move here, I should not expect such regrly?¡± He seemed genuinely curious as to her answer.


    ¡°I imagine the businesses which you frequent will learn to cater to your different stature, but no, I will not be moving things around for your convenience on a regr basis.¡±


    His lip curled in a slight smile. ¡°That¡¯s a pity, but understandable. Now, how did she know to address me as Honored?¡±


    ¡°Truthfully, <em>I </em>don¡¯t even know if that is the correct title, but I made a guess, and that was the honorific I listed in the initial brief on your potential citizenship. It was a touchpoint for them. They are used to Master and Mistress for Mages, and so having something specific with which to address and honor you helped make you feel more normal, more natural to them.¡±


    ¡°I see. That would stand to reason. But¡­ You made up a brief?¡±


    ¡°Of course. They got to vote on whether or not they wanted you to be allowed citizenship.¡±


    He cocked an eyebrow, and Rane grinned widely. <em>He</em> knew what wasing when T fully exined, and he found it entertaining, partially because he had helped here up with the procedure.


    Their drinks arrived just then, so their conversation paused. After they had thanked the young woman and she had turned to go, Lisa seemed to get an idea. ¡°Excuse me, Honey. May I ask you a question?¡±


    Honey turned back. ¡°Of course, sir. That¡¯s part of why I am here.¡±


    Lisa nced toward T, and she shrugged before gesturing for him to go ahead.


    ¡°Did you vote on whether or not to allow my citizenship in your fair town?¡±


    The server smiled and nodded happily. ¡°Yes, sir, we did.¡±


    ¡°And it was unanimous I assume?¡± He sighed, waving a hand dismissively and starting to turn away even as he asked. He clearly assumed that this was set up by T for him to inquire after.


    He was incorrect.


    Honey chuckled, now sounding a little nervous. That caused him to focus back on her as she answered, ¡°Well¡­ no, but it doesn¡¯t need to be. Additionally, none of the objections were substantial, so it was approved.¡±


    That seemed to have taken the fox off-guard. He took a moment to respond, and when he did, it was with a much more contemtive tone, ¡°Thank you for your honesty, Honey.¡±


    ¡°Of course. Let me see if that first course is ready for you.¡±


    As she left, Lisa turned to T. He seemed genuinely baffled. ¡°You got their permission before inviting me?¡±


    She shook her head. ¡°Not at all. I did give them the option for voting, though. Had they been against the idea, I would have talked with them and done my best to address any and all concerns, but the voting is more for buy-in and participation than for true decision making on the things that I care about. This is <em>my</em> town, after all.¡± She hesitated. ¡°Though, there have been a couple of times where it went ways I didn¡¯t expect, and I think things ended up better for it. Regardless, the purpose of the voting generally is so that I don¡¯t have to think of how things should be and impose it upon them. They do the work ofing up with options and then decide as amunity. I am only involved when it matters to me, which is rare.¡±


    Lisa nodded slowly. ¡°I can see that being useful. They are self-governing in most things, but where you have made a decision already, the vote highlights trouble spots and leads you to a better oue in the end.¡± He gave her a wry smile. ¡°And I assume they don¡¯t know which things you¡¯ve pre-decided?¡±


    ¡°Precisely. That would ruin the whole point. I want their true opinions¡ªtrue insight into issues I might not have considered¡ªnot pandering.¡±


    Honey returned then with a <em>massive</em> tray of various prepared fruits. As she sat an empty bowl down before each of them, she briefly exined. ¡°You have your choice of fruit, then we have unsweetened whipped cream to go over the top, oryered throughout. We also have in cream if you prefer that form. Many guests like a mixture of the two, cream mixed through with whipped cream on top.¡±


    ¡°Fruit and cream, a wonderful first course.¡± Lisa beamed at the woman. Somehow, even while disying his sharp fangs, he made the expression seem both kind and grateful rather than predatory.


    ¡°Yes, sir. The first of many.¡±


    They each made their requests, and Honey built out their first serving for them before leaving the parts on a long table off to the side so they could have more if they wished.


    Lisa eyed that table suspiciously. ¡°That isn¡¯t going to be filled with food¡­ is it?¡±


    T grinned. ¡°It is indeed. Don¡¯t worry, the table isn¡¯t <em>that</em>rge. It¡¯s barely five feet by two feet.¡±


    Lisa nced down at himself, obviously taking in his small stature.. ¡°I suppose I should loosen my belt?¡±


    Raneughed. ¡°That is likely wise. I always have to.¡±


    T grinned along with hisughter. ¡°I¡¯ll eat whatever you and Rane don¡¯t.¡±


    He nodded seriously despite his grin. ¡°She and Terry have practically <em>insatiable</em> appetites. I¡¯m sure he¡¯s found something to snack on already.¡±


    <em>-Huh¡­ Terry just sneezed and looked toward the entrance of Walden¡¯s forest¡­ can he tell if someone is talking about him?-</em>


    <em>I doubt it. That¡­ would be odd? I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve ever seen Terry sneeze before.</em>


    <em>-Oh he does it sometimes, but not often.-</em>


    <em>As fascinating as this is¡­</em>


    <em>-By all means, get back to your time with Lisa.-</em>


    <em>Thank you.</em>


    The rest of breakfast passed without too much fanfare.


    After the fruit and cream came a white-cheese quiche, followed by various breakfast meats, and then a spinach sd. The final course was a <em>dark</em> chocte cake, upon which T heaped more berries and cream.


    Lisa and Rane followed her lead.


    The fox was clearly unustomed to such fare, but he didn¡¯t act as if he¡¯d never had the like before.


    Once the courses wereplete, Honey brought each a ss of water with which to clear their ptes, and the meal was finished with a small wafer that tasted like nothing so much as condensed mint extract with a creamy undertone.


    The fox pushed back from the table with a pleased groan. ¡°Mistress T. This was¡­ absolutely excellent and far, <em>far</em> too much.¡±


    She grinned in return. ¡°It is quite an exquisite way to break the nightly fast, isn¡¯t it?¡±


    ¡°Indeed, but if I ate like this¡±¡ªhe contemted, then shook his head¡ª¡±even once a week, I would be too rotund to walk within the year.¡±


    Honey chuckled as she was clearing their dishes. ¡°I will convey your sentiment to the cook. It is always extraordinary to see how much Mistress T and master Terry can consume.¡± She looked to T. ¡°Is master Terry doing alright this morning?¡±


    ¡°He is, thank you for asking. He decided to find his breakfast elsewhere.¡±


    Honey smiled. ¡°I¡¯m d he¡¯s well.¡±


    Lisa spoke into the momentary pause. ¡°If you do speak to the cook, please also convey that it was utterly delightful.¡±


    Her smile widened. ¡°I will. Thank you.¡±


    T gathered Lisa¡¯s attention and exined an important point, ¡°Truthfully, this was more the Irondale breakfast with a bent toward my own proclivities. You ate close to a portion and a half, because it was avable. They have their sizing very well dialed in for a wonderful experience. I simply wanted you to be able to eat your fill.¡±


    He red at her a bit, but then chuckled in turn. ¡°Very well. I might be able to eat here every week.¡±


    She grinned in return. ¡°Well, you could also order a different meal. Not all that they serve is this extensive.¡±


    He nodded at the wisdom of her rmendation.


    ¡°So, does that mean you¡¯d like to immigrate?¡±


    ¡°I would need a ce to set up shop, a building location.¡±


    T shrugged. ¡°Once we work out the details, Kit can devour your current building, and ce it anywhere in here you so desire.¡±


    Lisa looked tempted, but then he shook his head. ¡°I appreciate the offer, but that building was built to be temporary. Three centuries is hardly any time at all in the grand scheme of things, and it wasn¡¯t worth investing in the design and construction nearly to the extent that I would have liked.¡± His gaze turned deadly serious, and T felt his predator nature leaking through. ¡°I will negotiate very fiercely, and then I will need years to build my home, during which time I will not be interested in doing much else. I can help your reborn Mages, but likely little else.¡±


    ¡°As you wish. You will likely want to speak with Artia. She is the proprietor of an artifact shop here in town.¡± T felt a smile pull at her lips. The woman had already made a fortune selling artifacts in Bandfast on their couple of trips. The ability to buy more esoteric and hard to transport artifacts in a non-waning city had caused the locals to buy her out each time she¡¯d made her wares avable. Because of that, she had already expanded her operations considerably.


    Lisa sighed and nodded. ¡°I should not have expected that market to be unimed. Still I could work with this woman. I have much to offer, and I take little to be happy.¡± He looked around andughed. ¡°You must be careful, Mistress T. If my kin learn of this ce, you may have a flood of fox-kin from all corners of the continent. Especially if you can give them a bit of breathing room from one another. They aren¡¯t the only arcanes who will be interested either¡ªin a good way. I am not speaking of the Major Houses and how they will lust after this haven you have forged.¡±


    She gave him a soft smile of acknowledgement. ¡°I will keep that in mind. Let us consider you a test case.¡±


    He immediately shook his head. ¡°No, Mistress T. That is unfair to both them and to me. They should not be judged by me, and I should not be responsible for their future opportunities.¡±


    ¡°Very well, at least from my perspective. But you must realize that those you interact with¡ªboth in here and in the cities we visit¡ª<em>will</em> see you as an example of your kin, and they will have their minds shifted ordingly.¡±


    ¡°I suppose you¡¯re right.¡± He looked a bit sad. ¡°I do wish that could be avoided, but such is likely futile.¡±


    ¡°For now.¡±


    ¡°Yes. For now.¡±

 Chapter 466: Blindsided

    Chapter 466: Blindsided


    T, Rane, and Lisa walked from the breakfast ce with full bellies and a lot on their minds.


    Lisa seemed to be considering deeply the decision that was before him. Even so, as they reached a cross street, he turned to regard her. ¡°I should let you get back on the road. You were leaving as I reached out to you, correct?¡±


    ¡°We were, yes.¡± She nodded in concession.


    ¡°Then, I shall begin negotiations and reach out to this Artia you mentioned. If she already has an established business, perhaps my services and inventory can buy a partnership with her. That would be preferred to beginning an ill-fated rivalry.¡±


    Rane chuckled and T smiled at the joke.


    Lisa gave a small bow. ¡°Hopefully, the next time youe to Bandfast, I can leave with you. Master Michael and Mistress Jenna will likely attempt to keep me in Bandfast, but I doubt they will give me the concessions I would need in order to stay.¡± He regarded T for a long moment. ¡°Assuming that the preliminary terms we¡¯ve discussed do not change?¡±


    ¡°They should not. I do not wish to impose any sort of required knowledge sharing, though I do want to be able to talk about such things with you.¡±


    ¡°That is eptable. We can hammer out the details in theing months.¡±


    ¡°I would like that very much.¡±He let out a long, contented sigh. ¡°I do appreciate that you have a longer view of things than so many humans. Even many of your Archons are always in such a rush.¡±


    ¡°But of course. We have all the time that we need.¡± She gave a gentle smile. ¡°It has been a pleasure, Honored Lisa.¡±


    He bowed her way. ¡°And you, Eskau T.¡±


    Rane¡¯s eyebrow twitched, but otherwise he didn¡¯tment.


    T shook her head, fighting to keep any reaction from her face. ¡°You know very well that I left that position behind.¡±


    ¡°Have you? An Eskau is the hand of justice and assistance within a hold, and the sword of retribution without. An Eskau is a protector, provider, and a symbol of authority. You may not be officially a part of a Major House any longer¡ªthough I think you¡¯ll find that you technically are¡ªbut you are decidedly still filling the role¡ªas it should be¡ªfor those here.¡±


    T held her face stoic, allowing her through-spike illusion to snap into ce and hiding the evidence. Even so, she didn¡¯t let her features change even as she gestured and an exit appeared, leading back onto the street. ¡°Until next time, Lisa.¡±


    He seemed to notice something was off, but aside from a brief hesitation, he didn¡¯t react to that directly. ¡°Until next time.¡±


    The portal closed hard on his heels, the fox having reyered his human illusion over himself as he stepped out.


    With an act of will, T and Rane were on the far side of the Irondale dimensional space in an instant.


    T¡¯s helm pped into ce around her head just as she screamed loud enough to be heard even through theyering protection.


    The space around her head actually <em>warped</em> at the force and emotional weight of the contained scream.


    She hauled back and mmed her fist into the edge of existence, turning her own hand into mush.


    t noticed the edge of existence ripple at the impact, but simply logged the information forter. T was not in a ce to focus on such things.


    With the sound of a simple <em>snap</em>, her hand reformed, even as Rane wrapped his arms around her.


    She curled in on herself within his embrace, her helmet vanishing as she let loose a flood of tears. She was trembling even as she pulledfort from the strong arms around her. ¡°Why does it still make me so angry? Why can¡¯t I get away from them? It¡¯s been more than four years¡­ will I never escape the shadow of what they tried to twist me into?¡±


    Rane¡¯s quiet voice resounded through his chest even as it reached her ears. ¡°Because they stole you away. You don¡¯t like to be associated with them. The truth of it doesn¡¯t matter. The ttering or unttering nature of it doesn¡¯t matter. You were hurt, and you usually do a wonderful job of moving past that, but the wound is still there.¡± He hesitated for a moment before tentatively adding, ¡°Though¡­ this is a stronger reaction than I would have expected.¡±


    She shuddered. ¡°I know. I know I¡¯m being ridiculous, but it just came out of nowhere. It felt like lightning from a cloudless sky.¡± She shook her head and barked augh. ¡°I just wasn¡¯t expecting it and¡­¡±


    After a moment¡¯s silence, Rane squeezed her again. ¡°And it blindsided you?¡±


    She let out a shaking breath. ¡°Yeah¡­¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m so sorry, T.¡± His arms somehow felt like warm nkets, encircling her. It made no sense, as she could feel their distinct points of contact, but the sense of them was that of a warm nket on a winter morning:fort and safety.


    With a few minutes to calm herself and think, she put her thoughts in order. ¡°He didn¡¯t mean anything cruel by it. Arcanes see the position as one of honor and respect¡ªeven arcanes outside of the cities and Major Houses. If I¡¯d been expecting it¡­ I think I would have been able to take it in that spirit.¡±


    ¡°But you weren¡¯t.¡±


    She shook her head against his chest. ¡°Yeah.¡±


    He squeezed her again. ¡°Take all the time you need.¡±


    She snuggled down, curling up in his arms. ¡°Thank you, Rane.¡±


    A kissnded on the top of her head. ¡°I am here, and I will be.¡±


    * * *


    T was so frustrated that she was seriously considering killing Master Grediv or whoever had actually designed these scenarios.


    <em>-No, you¡¯re going to be fine.-</em>


    Nope. She was pretty sure she was going to kill him.


    She ran through a battlefield, hiding among stalks of grass¡­ because she was a mouse. She and Rane had finally decided to take the next step in the War Games, and this was the result.


    The battlefield was some person¡¯s sick idea of a challenge.


    A thousand mice had been dumped into a field, at the same time close to a hundred cats had been released around the outside.


    It had not taken long for the green stalks to be covered with red. Surprisingly, if cornered some of the mice did fight, but the most they ever did was hurt the cat eating them enough that the cat was a bit slower after that.


    The obvious solution had been to charge toward the edge of the field to escape in the confusion. The issue? None of the other mice did so, and she could find no way of making them.


    So, if she charged for the edge, she would be utterly exposed, and she would be a prime target for the much too well organized cats. They were working together almost as if part of a pack, rather than as the solitary creatures that they should be.


    Regardless, she had to get out of the field to ¡®win.¡¯


    So, she did her best to hover near the edges of the massacre.


    Finally, as a tabbynded on a nearby rodent, T darted outward.


    She¡¯d done it! She¡¯d snuck through the chaos and¡ª


    Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.


    T barely felt the beginning of fangs sinking into her neck before her vision went ck, and she ¡®woke up¡¯ back to reality.


    Her eyes turned toward the Paragon who was facilitating this experience, ring at him. ¡°What is the point of this?¡±


    ¡°To teach you alien senses and body parts. As a mouse, you have senses inpletely different bnces than as a human. Plus, your tail. You didn¡¯t use your tail even once, except as unconscious means of bncing.¡±


    T growled. ¡°Rane has had Enar for less than a week, Master Grediv. Why do you think this is a good idea?¡±


    ¡°Three things.¡± Master Grediv held up three fingers. ¡°First.¡± He dropped the first finger. ¡°You aren¡¯t Rane.¡±


    She grimaced but didn¡¯t interrupt.


    ¡°Second, you all came to me and said you were ready for the next step.¡±


    T sighed at that. It <em>was</em> true. They¡¯de to thepound the day after returning from Bandfast.


    ¡°Third, Rane and Enar are doing fantastic. He is leaning on his alternate interface to trante the foreign mix of senses and to control his tail. It is <em>you</em> who are struggling with this rtively simple exercise.¡±


    She narrowed her gaze. ¡°There isn¡¯t a way to win, is there?¡±


    He gave a half-smile in which T could very much see the resemnce to Rane. ¡°I told you, there are two potential win conditions.¡±


    She sighed. ¡°I know, I know. Get out of the field or survive because of my tail.¡±


    He shook his head, holding up a finger. ¡°No. Survive <em>at least once</em> because of your tail.¡±


    She frowned. She had heard him say that, but she¡¯d assumed that he meant ¡®once¡¯ as in one iteration of the scenario. ¡°So, survive one attack?¡±


    ¡°One encounter, yes. But it must be solely because of the use of your tail, not because you decided to use your tail instead of your hand, or something like that.¡±


    T grunted at that. ¡°Well¡­ fine. Put me back in.¡±


    ¡°As you wish.¡± He didn¡¯t gloat or smirk. He simply did as she requested.


    She didn¡¯t seed that day, even though she spent the whole morning leading up to their afternoon shift trying.


    To be fair, Rane didn¡¯t seed either. He did do very well, but even with Enar¡¯s direct involvement he had trouble actually using five limbs as <em>five</em> rather than just four with a spare. He also couldn¡¯t seem to grasp how to use the tail in ways that his paws couldn¡¯t work.


    T <em>was </em>vindicated in her assertion, though. The scenario was inescapable.


    After she¡¯d gone through about twenty quick deaths doing her utmost to at least barely cross the finish line, Master Grediv admitted that the false cats would always intercept her.


    She <em>could</em> still get through them, if she utilized her tail properly, but she wouldn¡¯t be able to make a clean break otherwise.


    She and Rane grumbled good-naturedly on the way to their shift, even as theypared notes on what they felt like they¡¯d learned.


    They had a bit more fervor to their efforts as well, because Master Grediv had also dropped another tidbit.


    No one had ever gotten past the mouse scenario in less than a dozen days of trying.


    They wanted to beat that record.


    They did not seed.


    * * *


    T dove <em>into</em> the eye of one of the cats.


    Scrabbling and digging as her little mousy voice squealed in rage.


    The cats wererge enough that she was able to reach through the hole in the ocr cavity meant to connect eye to brain, and do enough damage to drop the cat.


    She was <em>rageful,</em> even though she was in full control of her rodent shape<em>.</em>


    Even as the massive cat fell, she felt one of its fellowstch onto her tail, dragging her from the goop and allowing her to suck in a breath before she was tossed into the air with another squeak, this time of startlement.


    Two cats jumped up¡ªeven as she arced through the air¡ªsinking their fangs into her and pulling in different directions, ripping her in half.


    T sat up with a gasp, hands moving involuntarily to her undamaged stomach.


    Master Grediv sighed. ¡°You are getting more skilled at acting like <em>yourself</em> in a mouse''s body¡ªusing its abilities and capacities to bring about violence¡ªbut that <em>isn¡¯t the point.</em>¡±


    She grimaced, hiding her smile. She¡¯d <em>done it</em>. She¡¯d hit her personal goal, but she wasn¡¯t going to let him know that. This was her own little revenge for these horrible scenarios. ¡°I ended another cat this time. I¡¯m getting better.¡±


    ¡°I just said that, Mistress T. You are getting better at something that isn¡¯t the point. This is not meant to make you a better ¡®Ender of Cats.¡¯ You aren¡¯t even the first to try this. In fact, you¡¯re the third that I¡¯ve proctored. This is meant to teach you to act as a <em>mouse</em> and still survive. Mice don¡¯t attack cats, not unless they have no other option.¡±


    She wanted to poke a bit more. ¡°But I can do it. I can kill my way through.¡±


    ¡°You literally can¡¯t. It¡¯s a fake situation. If you kill a cat, all the others be faster, stronger, and tougher. Two are also added to the fight for each one you kill. They are literally unending.¡±


    Rane cleared his throat, his eyes twinkling with hidden mischief. ¡°Master, may I try?¡±


    Master Grediv threw up his hands. ¡°Be my guest, Rane. You finished two months ago.¡±


    The younger man gave a half smile. ¡°Yeah, but I wasn¡¯t ever able to kill a cat. She now consistently kills five or six.¡±


    T raised a finger. ¡°Seven this time.¡±


    He nodded in agreement. ¡°Yes, you reached a new best this time. That isudable.¡±


    The Paragon gave a frustrated huff. ¡°But not the <em>point</em> of the exercise.¡±


    Rane met Master Grediv¡¯s gaze. ¡°So, may I?¡±


    The older man moved to the corner and sat in a chair, clearly deferring to Rane for the moment.


    ¡°Thank you.¡± He oriented on T. ¡°I know you hate to run away. But I also know that you are capable of it at need.¡± His smile grew. ¡°But we¡¯ve also already talked about this, and I know this isn¡¯t the issue. You¡¯ve reached your goal, are you willing to exin now?¡±


    Master Grediv sat up straighter, looking back and forth between them.


    T¡¯s smile broke through. ¡°Yeah, I really wanted practice againstrger opponents without magical aid.¡±


    Rane nodded. ¡°And you promised me that <em>seven</em> would be enough.¡±


    T sighed. ¡°<em>Fine.</em> I think I¡¯ve learned about as much as I can from this scenario anyway.¡±


    Master Grediv¡¯s eye twitched. ¡°You¡¯ve been stalling?¡±


    She shook her head. ¡°No. I¡¯ve been taking the opportunity to learn.¡±


    He grunted. ¡°You are aware that we have scenarios optimized for such learning. Why¡ªby rust or by starlight¡ªdidn¡¯t you just finish the task and move on?¡±


    She shrugged. ¡°I learn where it seems best to me, and this seemed like a good opportunity.¡± After a moment¡¯s pause, she gave a small smile. ¡°And your approach to these scenarios was rather irritating, so I was ying the petnt child for a bit.¡±


    Master Grediv rounded on Rane. ¡°You knew she was doing this?¡±


    ¡°Of course. You did too, or at least it should have been obvious enough. When was thest time she tried to be defensive? Haven¡¯t you seen her using her tail to bnce and move on the assault? She used it to kill two of the cats this time. That didn¡¯t count as an instance of ¡®surviving¡¯ though. She¡¯s been learning the right lesson <em>along with</em> what she wanted to learn.¡± Rane¡¯s own smile grew. ¡°I¡¯m three scenarios ahead of her, but I expect her to not simply catch up. She¡¯s going to blow past me with the foundation that sheid in this test.¡±


    ¡°And you didn¡¯t do the same because?¡± Master Grediv seemed genuinely curious, at least around his obvious irritation.


    ¡°Because I don¡¯t like getting hurt. T doesn¡¯t either, but she¡¯s more used to it than I am. Her magics are more suited to this type of training, where mine are more conducive to the requested solution. I¡¯m good at dodging and avoiding attacks. I can¡¯t afford to fight like T does.¡±


    Master Gredive sighed. ¡°Fine.¡± He stood up once again, meeting T¡¯s gaze. ¡°I assume that you¡¯d like to go back in?¡±


    T nodded,ying down once again and closing her eyes. She had nothing more that she wanted to say.


    There was a subtle¡ªnow all too familiar¡ªshift, and she opened her eyes once more. The vision of a mouse filled her mind, and she charged straight at a cat, just like she had each time before.


    Even though her external senses were blocked, she could have sworn that she heard Master Grediv grinding his teeth.


    He was probably wondering if she was going to try <em>one more time</em> to do the literally impossible.


    She wasn¡¯t.


    This time instead of attacking the cat, she pped her tail down to shoot herself sideways as the cat mmed its paw down.


    It was a motion¡ªand caused a result¡ªthat her little paws couldn¡¯t have made or aplished, and it let her survive.


    Win condition achieved.


    The world faded to ck without the pain of a ¡®death.¡¯


    The scenario faded fully a momentter, and she sat back up.


    The Paragon looked resigned. ¡°I don¡¯t suppose my telling you that such is <em>not</em> how a mouse would have used its tail would matter?¡±


    ¡°Nope. I used the tail to survive. The fact that I found a use that a rodent wouldn¡¯t have is neither aplement nor a detraction in my view.¡±


    ¡°Fine. Let¡¯s move on. I assume that you are aware of what the next scenario entails?¡± He gave Rane a pointed look before returning his gaze to her.


    Her eyes sparkled with glee. ¡°Oh, absolutely. This is my reward. I get to be a cat now, right? I just need to kill a hundred mice within an hour?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± His voice was one of strained tolerance. ¡°Let¡¯s see how you do.¡±


    T¡¯s grin was nearly feral as she settled back in for the next stage of the War Games training.


    This was going to be fun.

 Chapter 467: Of Course, Tala

    Chapter 467: Of Course, T


    T¡ªjust as expected¡ª<em>did</em> ze through the next few scenarios of the War Games.


    She killed a hundred mice in just under thirty minutes, barely feeling a twinge of empathy, having been on the other side of the equation for so long.


    <em>I¡¯m not sure what that says about my mentality.</em>


    <em>-That you¡¯re well adjusted and canpartmentalize effectively?-</em>


    <em>Yeah, let¡¯s go with that.</em>


    During the run as a cat, she did have to bat away one mouse who tried to go for her eye, and Master Grediv was a bit cagey on why that had happened after she seeded in the task.


    She decided not to press the issue.


    The next scenario had forced her to embody a squirrel who not only needed to avoid a wolf, but also rescue several other¡ªrather clumsy¡ªsquirrels at the same time. Though, since the wolf was mostly confined to the ground, it was only her allies¡¯... difficulties that gave the encounter any real challenge at all.


    After that, she was a fish, chased by a pike through what seemed to be an old moat. She and a partner fish had to survive together; the ¡®early win¡¯ condition was to lead the pike into tangling itself up and being trapped, but T saw that for the misdirect that it was, and simply endured. It was a harder version of the squirrel challenge, but with morepetent allies and greater three-dimensional mobility for herself and her pursuer. It was somewhat irritating, but T understood the purposes of the scenarios, and their ordering. After all, as a squirrel up in the trees, she was required to lean on all that she¡¯d learned as a mouse, and advance it even further.


    Then, the fish was meant to extend it further still by necessitating truly three-dimensional thinking and action.


    Thankfully, that was the end of the animal scenarios for the moment.


    She¡¯d caught up to Rane, and he had been mum about what he faced,rgely at her insistence.


    She wanted to face it just like he was facing it.


    The simplicity of the instructions had piqued her interest: ¡®Save the toast-leader.¡¯


    This was supposedly some teenaged girl who was in trouble. <em>This should be interesting.</em>


    T opened her eyes and found that she was a bit taller than usual. At her hip hung a slightly backswept sword, and she worefortable, loose fitting clothing.


    She also had a dawning awareness of her magic in this very human body.


    She could teleport around with a couple of seconds of concentration. It felt like the powers touched on other things, but she couldn¡¯t utilize them effectively in this scenario. She would be much slower than Terry¡¯s¡ªor even her own¡ªflickering, but she didn¡¯t actually seem to have a distance limitation.


    <em>Interesting.</em>


    As the understanding of the fictional world settled into ce, she realized that the stakes were even higher than she¡¯d realized.


    <em>Well then. Let¡¯s go save the world.</em>


    * * *


    Rane groaned. ¡°I am so d we¡¯re in the same scenario again. It is really nice to be able toin with you. I swear, that girl <em>wants</em> to die.¡±


    T had her forearm across her eyes as sheid back on a grassy patch within her sanctum.


    They had both quit the War Games for the day after yet another instance of the toast-leader dying despite each of their attempts to protect their version of the teenage girl.


    It had been weeks, and Rane had a definitive point. The young woman would do her best to elude them, even after they proved to be her ally. She would continue to put herself in dangerous situations, and she honestly simply acted like she didn¡¯t <em>want</em> to survive.


    Rane groaned. ¡°You know. The more I think about it, the more I¡¯m d that I got to this one first.¡±


    ¡°Really? What do you mean?¡±


    ¡°Well, think about it. If you¡¯d gotten to this one first, I¡¯d think it was designed for you.¡±


    She considered that for a while, then grimaced. ¡°Huh¡­ You know, I think I know exactly what you mean, and I find the notion irritating. But I wasn¡¯t as bad as she is¡­ right?¡±


    He gave a small smile and a little shake of his head. ¡°Not quite, yeah. Though, you do heal so it makes more sense.¡± He sighed. ¡°It¡¯s so frustrating that the little Be girl acts like she¡¯s invincible.¡±


    T sat up straight, arms falling to her sides, eyes going wide. ¡°Rane.¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡± He nced her way, frowning at her actions.


    ¡°Have you ever been kicked out of the scenario?¡±


    He shook his head. ¡°No, I exit as soon as she dies so I can try again. Why would I wait the extra seconds? I¡¯m either going to try again or I¡¯m not up for such. Regardless, I want out and away from my failure.¡±


    T groaned. ¡°Rane. We have magics in the scenario. Why couldn¡¯t she?¡±


    His eyes widened too, the realization striking him like a god-beast¡¯s paw. ¡°Are you <em>rusting</em> kidding me?¡±


    ¡°If she¡¯s acting like I did¡­?¡±


    ¡°She might have the ability to heal.¡± He groaned too. ¡°We assumed a loss when she might have been fine in a short time.¡±


    ¡°I checked her pulse.¡±


    ¡°I have too, some of the time. Rust, she¡¯d had her head blown off in some of the ends, but the scenario never faded to ck.¡±


    They shared a look before they both hopped up and returned to the Archon Compound with all due haste.


    Their epiphany turned out to have been right.


    The <em>rusting</em> girl could essentiallye back from the dead. Her healing ability outssed T¡¯s by a considerable margin, even if it wasn¡¯t quite as quick.


    They¡¯d radically misunderstood the¡ªnow obviously deceptively¡ªsimple instructions. They weren¡¯t supposed to save her from damage. They were supposed to save her from capture or exploitation.


    They both seeded on their first attempt with the new paradigm.


    Master Grediv was <em>wisely</em> not in the room when they came out of the <em>incredibly easy</em> scenario once they understood what was going on.


    On the positive side, he had finally arranged for Master Nadro to be in town in just over a week, and he¡¯d left a note to that effect, likely having saved the good news for when they discovered the twist.


    After they¡¯d eaten dinner, they both agreed that it was a useful set up. T especially realized that it was so easy to assume that she knew the capabilities of those around her, enemies or not, and the set-up had been a p in the face of that mode of operation.


    She¡¯d even been put in a context that was so unlike Zeme that it <em>should</em> have forced her to be rethinking everything, but neither of them had bothered to consider that the girl could have magic, let alone greater-than-T level healing.


    In T¡¯s final run-through, the toast-leader had actuallye back from being cut into chunks, though it had taken the girl time.


    Regardless, they would take a break from War Games for a bit to try to incorporate the lessons learned.


    Thankfully, T had the meeting with Master Nadro to look forward to. The man was seemingly increasingly busy ofte, though he did respond to her messages in a rather timely manner regardless.


    t was in good spirits, partially because T had asked the alternate interface to refrain from helping her in the War Games unless asked. Moreover, Rane had put no such restriction on Enar, and t found the results entertaining. <em>-Enar is embarrassed that he missed the signs as well-</em>


    <em>¡­You¡¯re giving him a hard time, aren¡¯t you.</em> It wasn¡¯t a question.


    Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any urrences.


    <em>-...Yeah. He was going on and on about how much better he was than me. The new and improved model after me as a rough draft.-</em>


    T frowned. <em>Really? That doesn¡¯t sound like Rane at all. Has Enar diverged that much from Rane already?</em>


    <em>-It was mainly a joking posturing. We y a lot of games, and he¡¯s better than Rane¡­ somehow.-</em>


    <em>And I¡¯m better than you.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, that still makes no sense.-</em>


    <em>And since Rane and I are often closely matched¡­?</em>


    <em>-Yeah, he beats me a lot of the time¡­ most of the time¡­ fine, he¡¯s only lost twice.-</em>


    <em>So, you¡¯re teasing him for missing the clues in this scenario?</em>


    <em>-Absolutely.-</em>


    <em>Very well, carry on.</em>


    Rane nced T¡¯s way. ¡°Are you ganging up on Enar, somehow?¡±


    T gave a half smile. ¡°No? Mainly, I didn¡¯t tell t toy off teasing him.¡±


    ¡°Ahh. Fair enough. He¡¯sining that you are being mean, but I can¡¯t really me you for not getting involved. He can be¡­ a lot sometimes. ¡±


    <em>¡°-No, I am t.-¡±</em>


    Rane groaned. ¡°That joke is getting <em>so </em>old, t. You don¡¯t need toment on the homonym every time it¡¯s said.¡± He immediately raised a hand. ¡°I don¡¯t mean literally every time. We all know your name sounds like ¡®a lot.¡¯ But you make that joke <em>a lot,</em> t.¡±


    <em>¡°-Fine¡­ I guess I have made it Enarf.-¡±</em>


    Rane chuckled. ¡°That¡¯s a bit of a stretch, and he¡¯s not happy that you¡¯ve brought him into this.¡±


    T smiled. ¡°He still doesn¡¯t want to talk directly to me?¡±


    ¡°He¡¯s still a bit self-conscious for some reason.¡±


    <em>-He means that Enar still has a crush on you, and he¡¯s getting over it, realizing that if you and Rane continue on, he and I will be forever intertwined regardless.-</em>


    <em>I¡­ had not considered that. I mean it makes sense, but I haven¡¯t thought on it specifically. Are you okay with it?</em>


    <em>-Eh. He¡¯s fine. It¡¯s not like we¡¯re </em>actually<em> going to be married in any sort of way. He is nice to talk with, though.-</em>


    T arched a metaphorical eyebrow, sending the emotional impression to t rather than adopting the physical expression. <em>You do remember that you are me and Enar is Rane¡­ right? So if we marry you will be married too in a very real sense.</em>


    t was silent for a moment, and T sensed what <em>might</em> have been the mental equivalent of a blush. Finally, t continued as if T hadn¡¯t said anything, <em>-It </em>is <em>good to have someone besides Retson to dialogue with.-</em>


    T decided not to call her alternate interface on her avoidance. <em>Retson is almost as busy as Master Nadro, yeah.</em>


    <em>-Exactly. There really aren¡¯t very many alternate interfaces, and most are constantly working.-</em>


    <em>So, you¡¯re saying that I don¡¯t work you hard enough?</em>


    t sent back the sense of a t stare.


    <em>Oh! Does that mean that you¡¯re going to be able to speak directly with Rane, like you can with Terry?</em>


    t sent T the impression of a <em>wide</em> grin. <em>-Oh, it¡¯s inevitable now, is it?-</em>


    T flushed deeply and stood up to quite literally run from her embarrassment. ¡°Well. I¡¯m done with the day. I¡¯m going to bed.¡±


    <em>-Really? More than forty percent toward Paragon and still running from your own feelings. That would be funny if it weren¡¯t so sad.-</em>


    <em>You know, I¡¯d use you of doing the same, but you don¡¯t really have the right equipment to run.</em> T poked at t in return.


    <em>-Oh, that¡¯s a low blow, Mistress T.-</em>


    <em>Women in ss houses and all that.</em>


    <em>-Fine¡­-</em>


    Rane looked toward the still bright sky. ¡°Really?¡±


    ¡°Yeah¡­ I¡¯ll be up at midnight or so, but I think I need to be done with today. I¡¯m going to bed.¡± T decided to ignore t.


    <em>-Wait¡­ what</em>¡ª<em>?-</em>


    <em>Hush.</em>


    He nodded. ¡°I¡¯ll see you for breakfast tomorrow, then?¡±


    She gave him a long look, then she shook her head, smiling. ¡°Yeah. I¡¯ll open a portal just before sunrise?¡±


    ¡°That sounds good.¡± He stood, gave her a quick kiss and left through the door that she opened for his departure.


    t sighed within her head. <em>-All teasing aside, are you ready?-</em>


    T didn¡¯t have to consider for very long. <em>No.</em> She was sure that she wasn¡¯t¡­ but she was getting closer. <em>We¡¯ve only been courting for a couple of years. We have time.</em>


    <em>-Sure you do. It¡¯s not like defenders ever die in the line of duty.-</em>


    T grunted, then willed herself into her bedroom for a much needed rest.


    * * *


    Time seemed to flow differently for T ofte. Where days used to drag, now weeks¡ªand even months¡ªflew by.


    In no time at all, snow was on the ground, Rane and T passed the third anniversary of their courtship, and the two¡ªalong with Terry¡ªwere heading toward Marliweather for a reunion with her siblings and to see Fedir off to the Academy. The boy had already made his decision to go and was simply excited to get to it.


    The next Zat child wasing home too. Master Simon and Mistress Petra had yet again arranged for their returning child to arrive within the Sanctum so that T wouldn¡¯t have to change her ns to allow the family to reunite.


    That also meant that Anna wasing along for the trip, taking a break from her apprenticeship for the journey. From what T heard, she would be uplifted to full Mage within the year now, and so T¡¯s time around the woman was limited.


    T felt mixed about that. She¡¯d enjoyed her interactions with Anna, but they really hadn¡¯t been that frequent.


    Terry seemed to be getting along with her more easily¡­ for some reason, so she didn¡¯t <em>really </em>have a reason to avoid Anna. Because of that, T felt rather conflicted.


    Should she have reached out more? Spent more time?


    On a more business side of things, Lisa had agreed to move into Irondale. Negotiations with the arcane fox had concluded, and T was <em>quite</em> happy with the terms that t had secured between them.


    When they stopped through Bandfast¡ªon the way back from Marliweather¡ªto pick him up, they would also be celebrating with Kannis and Lyn. Kannis was being granted full Magehood at the end of the year, and Lyn couldn¡¯t be more proud. That was one reason why T, Rane, and Terry weren¡¯t making a stop on the way north. They didn¡¯t want to be away from Alefast, Waning, for overlong.


    That felt a bit ironic after T¡¯s recent sojourn to the ruins of previous cities, but both Rane and T had found that they liked their current role as Defenders, and they didn¡¯t want to be away from the position for too long without good reason.


    <em>Time flies, and everyone is moving forward in their lives.</em>


    She was excited for all the changesing down the line for her friends and family even if it did leave her feeling a bit of whish, so many changes lining up so closely.


    <em>-Yeah, all happening within a year is rather close together.-</em>


    <em>It is, even on the scale of mortal lives.</em>


    <em>-Fair enough, yeah. I hope that there aren¡¯t any more surprises.-</em>


    Setting up Irondale in Marliweather for the second time was¡ªblessedly¡ªanticlimactic. They had a couple of residents cash out their citizen¡¯s deposit and move out into Marliweather, but there was a muchrger influx from Marliweather itself, along with those who hade to Marliweather in order to meet up with Irondale and join the others within.


    T was <em>very</em> d that she didn¡¯t have to deal with all the details either of the selection process or the move-ins.


    <em>-I still say that we could really use a full time administrative head over Irondale. It¡¯s bing irritating to run things myself.-</em>


    <em>Well, I don¡¯t want to do it.</em>


    <em>-Of course you don¡¯t. I am you and I don¡¯t either, but I have a greater tolerance for it. Even so, </em>please<em> consider hiring someone. We might even want to pull in a gated, as there tends to be more gated with such experience. We¡¯ve been incredibly lucky with the spread of skills and aptitudes among gateless so far, but I think that finding someone we trust to truly run things might be a bit of stretch.-</em>


    That was fair.


    -<em>Additionally, I believe that Master Simon, Adrill, Brandon, and Kedva are close to selecting the first </em>others<em> to be reborn.-</em>


    T was aware of that, but not only were they still vetting the candidates, once they had them selected, they wanted to try giving a bit of training beforehand, to see if it improved the process overall.


    But that was neither here nor there. So, after opening the gateway into Irondale once more, she, Terry, and Rane moved to the teleportation tower where <em>five</em> of T¡¯s siblings wereing in from the Academy.


    There had been some talk of theming into the Sanctum, but with all five wanting toe at once, it was just easier to have them aim to arrive at a standard receiving hub. It was simr to why she had her siblings arrive at¡ªand depart from¡ªthe Alefast tower when they visited every few months.


    Regardless, T, Rane, and Terry arrived to find the Marliweather siblings already there and awaiting the arrivals from the Academy.


    Greetings were exchanged, including the introduction of a new young woman, whom Caln brought over to T and Rane. ¡°This is Ve. She has just recently agreed to be my wife.¡±


    There was a moment of silence before Rane smiled brightly, giving an over-generous bow. ¡°It is my pleasure to meet you, Ve, betrothed of Caln. I am Rane.¡±


    T followed Rane¡¯s lead, grateful for the lifeline in the unexpected situation. ¡°I am d to meet you as well. I am T.¡±


    Ve gave a bow toward Rane, then hesitantly stepped toward T. Caln gave T a pleading look that took her a moment to interpret.


    Thankfully, she did so before things became awkward, and she gave Ve a friendly hug of greeting. ¡°Wee to the family.¡±


    Ve brightened at that, smiling prettily. ¡°Thank you, Mistress. Your brother speaks quite highly of you.¡±


    T shook her head, giving a small smile. ¡°First, if you¡¯re going to be family, call me T.¡±


    ¡°As you wish¡­ T.¡±


    ¡°There you go.¡± Her smile grew wide, a mischievous glint entering her eyes. ¡°Secondly, I wouldn¡¯t have expected my little brother to have lied to his betrothed.¡±


    Ve and Caln both looked confused, but Rane just let out a long sigh. He then leaned in, speaking in a stage whisper, ¡°She¡¯s trying to tease that if he spoke highly of her, he must have been lying.¡± He then looked to T, meeting her gaze and sending a message through the Archive¡ªfacilitated by Enar and t¡ªso no one else would hear, <em>¡°But you forget that in situations of such immense power difference, they will not hear the intended humor. They will only hear the reprimand.¡±</em>


    T scratched the side of her neck, feeling awkward for a moment. She appreciated Rane catching the issue in the situation immediately. She also appreciated that he addressed it so smoothly with them and privately with her. ¡°My apologies, Ve. I did just mean to tease my brother, not cause confusion.¡±


    The young woman looked grateful, giving a small bow. ¡°Of course. Of course, Mist¡ª... of course, T.¡±

 Chapter 468: Time with Her Siblings

    Chapter 468: Time with Her Siblings


    T¡¯s smile in response slowly faded as it was reced by a slight frown. This girl looked <em>familiar</em>, and now that she thought of it, her name sounded so as well. A momentter, she remembered a Ve from long ago, as well as some of things her brother had said on previous meet-ups. ¡°Are you the Ve who went to school with Caln?¡±


    Ve smiled at that, seemingly grabbing onto her own lifeline in the conversation. ¡°Yes. Apparently my shyness led Caln to believe that I was uninterested in him all these years.¡± She flushed a bit at that. ¡°I wasn¡¯t really as good at demonstrating my feelings as I thought.¡±


    Caln stepped in,ing to her metaphorical rescue. ¡°It was only recently¡ªa bit more than a year ago¡ªthat I realized, to my great shame, that she was waiting for me to notice her interest.¡± He chuckled good naturedly. ¡°She had toe to me and ask for us to go to dinner.¡±


    Ve colored a bit more. ¡°I¡­ I followed some bad advice and tried to ¡®make him see my interest¡¯ instead of just talking to him. When I finally ignored that advice and just approached him, things went as I¡¯d always hoped. I¡¯m just d that he was open to my interest as well.¡±


    Rane chuckled. ¡°It can be scary to express how you feel, yeah. Generally, men are more open to being approached than women, though. At least that¡¯s how it always seemed to me. Women often have men approaching them so often it feels pointless to throw your hat in the ring, as it were.¡±


    Ve covered her mouth and let out a littleugh. ¡°That is likely quite wise, Master Rane. I know that I had several men approach me during that time, and I¡­ I am not sure that I turned them down kindly in looking back on it.¡± Her smile turned a bit sad. ¡°I did not see the parallel to how I was feeling, to how I <em>would have</em> felt if Caln had told me no. I do wish I had been kinder.¡±


    Rane gave aforting smile. ¡°Well, hopefully, it won¡¯t be an issue ever again.¡±


    ¡°Indeed.¡±


    And, at that point, T realized that she didn¡¯t really know what to ask next. She settled for a generic well-wishing, hoping someone else would steer the conversation, ¡°Well, regardless of how it happened, I¡¯m d for you both.¡±Her mind briefly shifted toward her featheredpanion.


    Terry was preening for a couple of the younger siblings, who seemed to absolutely <em>love</em> the new purple feathers on his face and his more contrasty appearance. There were even somements about his eyes.


    T <em>almost</em> moved to rescue the little avian, but then she realized that she sensed genuine pleasure from the terror bird. He liked being the center of attention and ying with her siblings.


    Thankfully, before T¡¯s silence and change of attention could create any awkwardness, the Academy siblings arrived. T saw them appear almost as one in the various receiving rooms of the tower. She purposely made a sound of interest before announcing, ¡°They¡¯re here.¡±


    As the group in the lobby ordered themselves, T took a moment to really look at the five Academy students as they talked with the Mages and gathered themselves beforeing down.


    They looked¡­ different. They were growing.


    <em>-It has been about two years since you saw themst.-</em> t¡¯s tone was carefully neutral.


    <em>Really? Two years already?</em>


    <em>-Yeah. Two years and a few months.-</em>


    <em>Huh¡­</em> To her, it had barely felt like any time at all. She hadn¡¯t really changed.


    tughed within her mind. <em>-You bonded Terry, added a near-god-beast to your sanctum, and perfected your magics quite a bit. That¡¯s not nothing.-</em>


    <em>True, but I haven¡¯t </em>physically<em> changed.</em> T felt the need to defend herself.


    <em>-That¡¯s true, but you won¡¯t, not for a long time.- </em>t¡ªeven while conceding¡ªcouldn¡¯t help but emphasize how she <em>really</em> was right, if T thought about it her way.


    T sighed internally before refocusing on her siblings.


    Illie and Alva were practically fully grown into woman-hood, with Nea¡¯s growth having helped T know what to expect at least to a certain extent.


    Nc and Dagan were well into thete adolescent growth of boys bing young men, and even Osip was showing signs of maturing.


    T found her eyes drifting to Olen who would be next to choose about the Academy in just more than another year.


    <em>They are all growing up so fast¡­</em>


    Latna pulled T out of her musings by rushing forward to greet the students as they came into view.


    That sparked another round of greetings in which Caln introduced Ve to the siblings who¡¯d been at the Academy.


    Finally, they decided that they¡¯d filled the lobby of the teleportation tower long enough, and the whole group went off to grab food. This time, they actually went to the Karweil¡¯s old home, where Master Leighis still ran the clinic and where Caln and Ve were going to move in once they were married.


    They chose that location because it wasrge enough to amodate everyone¡ªand unlike their new home, the parents weren¡¯t there to make things awkward with T.


    All the siblings would have dinner with their parents without T or Rane, but breakfast and lunch would be in the old home.


    T felt an odd mix of emotions as they all worked together to prepare the food that they¡¯d picked up for the asion.


    Quite a few times, T <em>almost</em> cheated by using magic, or dropping an unprocessed ingredient into Kit to prepare it effectively instantly. After all, she didn¡¯t particrly like the rote, mundane activities required for cooking.


    Even so, she held off. There was something cathartic in the very act of working as a team to make meals that they would then share. It wasn¡¯t about the tasks; it was about who she was doing them with. She didn¡¯t want to ruin that.


    Ve and Rane were still somewhat outsiders, but that was mitigated fairly early on when Master Leighis joined them. It was mostly his house, after all. Even if it hadn¡¯t been his home, he had been invited.


    As odd as it was for T¡ªgiven he¡¯d arrived after she left¡ªhe was considered something of a second father to her siblings¡ªat least most of them. Since she didn¡¯t have any issue with him¡ªand since her siblings wanted him around¡ªshe was happy for him to join them.


    T did notice some¡­ interesting nces, but she didn¡¯t feel like making a big deal about it in the moment. It was possible she was reading into things.


    <em>-Yes, with your near-omniscient vision. You are misinterpreting what you see.-</em>


    <em>¡­That¡¯s entirely possible.</em>


    <em>-I know. I wasn¡¯t being sarcastic.-</em>


    T sighed internally. <em>Fine.</em>


    At one point, when breakfast was almost finished and the siblings were just monitoring the final cooking process, Master Leighis did take a moment to approach T and Rane. ¡°Mistress T, Master Rane, it is good to see you both.¡±


    They exchanged bows and greetings. They had briefly greeted each other when he¡¯d arrived, but this was the first time they¡¯d had to really chat on this visit.


    There was a momentary silence before the not-quite-Fused man sighed. ¡°If it isn¡¯t impertinent, may I ask the two of you for a bit of advice?¡±


    This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.


    That got their attention, and T and Rane oriented on him more fully. <em>Terry will be fine.</em>


    He¡¯d been flickering about ying with the younger siblings and snatching food where he could¡ªeven if never enough to affect the quality of the end result.


    Rane answered for them. ¡°If we can, sure.¡±


    She smiled her agreement, even if she was a bit skeptical.


    Maser Leighis nodded gratefully. ¡°Thank you. I am¡­ I am struggling to Fuse.¡±


    Rane looked to T questioning, and she shrugged. He was wee to go ahead. Rane smiled, turning back to the older man. ¡°Well, I can see that you are right at the cusp.¡±


    ¡°Exactly. It¡¯s so frustrating. I moved to being a healer to ¡®find myself¡¯ and have time to think. That¡¯s helped, but I just can¡¯t get over thest hurtle.¡±


    Rane nodded. ¡°I assume you¡¯ve already gotten the advice of ¡®look for the lies you tell yourself?¡¯¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡± Master Leighis grimaced slightly.


    ¡°Then you¡¯ve probably already heard: What do you hate about yourself? And: If you could change any one thing, what would it be?¡±


    Master Leighis sighed, nodding defeatedly.


    T cleared her throat. ¡°Did you find any lies that you were telling yourself?¡±


    He looked at her oddly, then shrugged, seemingly resigned to be open with them, ¡°A few. The silliest was that I really, <em>really</em> wanted to learn advanced alchemy. I think it would be nice to know, but I don¡¯t really want to go through the rigor of learning it myself.¡± He gave a self-deprecating smile. ¡°It¡¯s a bit embarrassing, but my understanding is that most people have some such thing in their lives. I was interested because of my friend and my apprentice, but my actual drive was minimal when it came down to it.¡±


    She nodded. ¡°And what do you think of my sister?¡±


    Master Leighis blinked at her a few times. ¡°What about Latna?¡±


    T noticed a <em>very</em> small coloring of the man¡¯s cheeks and his pupils dted ever so slightly. She sighed. ¡°See, it isn¡¯t generally seen as favorable for a master and apprentice to be otherwise entangled, but it¡¯s hard for two people working closely to not ever even <em>consider</em> such.¡±


    He cleared his throat, ncing toward where Latna was working. He didn¡¯t have to search for her, he already knew exactly where she was. He noticed that too, and his blush grew.


    Rane frowned for a moment looking between T and Master Leighis. He then gave a slow nod, clearly understanding.


    Master Leighis seemed to fight a brief¡ªbut intense¡ªinternal war before he sighed. ¡°I see what you mean. I really have been¡ª¡± The man¡¯s eyes widened even as T and Rane watched his aura seemed to ze through with veins of true orange. ¡°Oh, I feel the fool.¡±


    Master Leighis closed his eyes, clearly forgetting about them for the moment. His body twitched as if he was fighting a physical reaction to the changes he was undergoing.


    At the same time, his gate <em>gushed</em> power outward.


    <em>-Hey, in this time of enlightenment his throughput is temporarily almost matching yours.-</em>


    <em>Hush you,parison is the thief of joy.</em>


    <em>-Yes. I want to steal his joy for ourselves.-</em>


    T almost choked as she stifled augh. Even so, she kept her focus on Master Leighis.


    The Academy siblings¡ªas well as Latna¡ªeach seemed to notice that <em>something</em> was happening, but that knowledge mostly manifested in an unexined shiver or a feeling like someone was watching them.


    Though, since T was <em>always</em> watching them when she was about, it wasn¡¯t exactly a new feeling.


    The shower of magic almost seemed to reverse, being drawn back in andpressed into Master Leighis¡¯s aura.


    If T had to find aparison, it looked like his aura was being forge-welded together with mighty blows from an unseen hammer.


    A momentter, he slumped slightly, letting out a long breath.


    <em>Fascinating.</em> Just like the method of Fusing varied from person to person, the manner and experience of it did as well. While T had felt like she was doing something akin to knitting¡ªand Lyn¡¯s had manifested like stitching¡ªMaster Leighis seemed to have forged his fusion into being.


    It had taken all of five seconds, and while several of those present nced around, there wasn¡¯t anything for their mundane eyes to really see.


    Rane had clearly been focused on something else, even as he watched the Fusing. As such, he was frowning even as Master Leighis gave a soft, joyfulugh. Rane cleared his throat before asking, ¡°Surely, T¡¯s not the first person to suggest such a thing?¡±


    Master Leighis shook his head. ¡°No, but in different contexts¡ªand asked differently¡ªit was easier to think around, to dismiss.¡± His smile was broad and genuine. ¡°Thank you, truly.¡± He gave a deep bow. ¡°If there is anything that I can do for you?¡±


    T nodded before responding in a level tone, ¡°You can answer my question. What do you think of my sister, Fused Leighis?¡±


    His smile froze on his face as he met her gaze fully. After a moment, he visibly swallowed. ¡°Well¡­ I think that I am bing attached to her, emotionally speaking. I like having her around. I think she makes me want to be a better version of myself, and I like that I am able to help her as well.¡±


    Some of the others had noticed the three Mages in the corner, and they were giving a healthy buffer to the trio. Thatbined with the low voices that the three were able to speak in ensured no one could listen in.


    Master Leighis continued, ¡°She is brilliant and hard working. She is kind and tender.¡± His voice faded as T¡¯s expression didn¡¯t change. He finally finished with a simple statement, ¡°I enjoy herpany.¡±


    T grunted. ¡°I see. So? How are you going to proceed, now that you have had this revtion?¡±


    Rane frowned, ¡°Well, doesn¡¯t it depend on how she feels?¡±


    Both T and Master Leighis shook their heads, and it was he who spoke next, ¡°No. Nothing can happen between a master and apprentice while they remain such. What she is asking is if I will keep mymitment to be her master or give that up to see if there can be more?¡±


    Rane¡¯s frown deepened, looking toward T in his confusion. ¡°Why can¡¯t he see how she feels, then decide?¡±


    T sighed. ¡°Think about that for a moment, from her side.¡±


    It did only take Rane a moment, though T suspected that Enar¡ªand maybe t¡ªhelped him make the connection. ¡°Oh¡­ Oh, yeah.¡± He grimaced, the realization clearly affecting him. ¡°The imbnce between master and apprentice would make that an unfair way to approach it in the extreme.¡±


    Master Leighis nodded. ¡°In the extreme, indeed. Mistress T is right. I need to either find another master for her and only inquire as to her feelings after she has had time to get her feet under her, or crush those that I apparently have been growing within myself.¡±


    T gave a solemn nod in return. ¡°Exactly, yes.¡±


    The newly Fused man sighed, looking a bit deted. ¡°How long will you give me to decide?¡±


    Rane frowned again, but when he opened his mouth to say something, he paused, clearly listening to a voice in his head.


    <em>-He really needs to get better at hiding those tells.-</em>


    <em>Yeah. It¡¯s really obvious when he¡¯s talking with Enar.</em>


    <em>-Yup. Utterly unlike you.-</em> t then sent T a flickering montage of T¡¯s own face when she was talking with t, starting near the beginning of their interactions, and progressing to the present. <em>-You are getting better. Even now, you only look like you¡¯re too good for those around you.-</em> She apanied that pronouncement with a live view of T¡¯s face, which did, indeed, look like T was irritated at having to be in the room.


    T¡¯s features immediately shifted to a more neutral cast.


    <em>-There you go, now you don¡¯t look constipated.-</em>


    <em>¡­I don¡¯t poop anymore.</em>


    <em>-Exactly. So it¡¯s an urate assessment. Constipation is, after all, the inability to poop.-</em>


    <em>I think it¡¯s more than that¡­ and I could if I wanted to¡­ I think.</em>


    <em>-Regardless. Master Leighis is awaiting an answer.- </em>t¡¯s voice was yfully teasing as the alternate interface clearly tried to help T remain emotionally level.


    <em>Oh! Right!</em> T let out a long sigh, as if she¡¯d been thinking. ¡°I leave in three days. I want to know your choice by then.¡±


    He gave a deeper than usual bow. ¡°As you say, Mistress T. Thank you for your wisdom and your patience.¡±


    T huffed augh. ¡°Life is rarely as clean as we¡¯d like it to be, Master Leighis. Speaking of which, I do want to talk with my siblings some.¡±


    ¡°Of course, thank you, again.¡± He stepped back, acknowledging the end of the conversation.


    T and Rane moved back to mingle with the group. The more perceptive of those present noted the features of the three throughout the conversation, even if they didn¡¯t know the content. Still, no one bugged any of the three, except for Latna.


    She simply saw T and Rane moving away from Master Leighis, and she shifted over to his side in order to ask how he was. ¡°Master? Is everything alright? Was my sister being¡­ unkind?¡±


    He shook his head, eyes flicking toward T. He likely knew she could hear and see him even with her face turned to look elsewhere. Even if he didn¡¯t, he was wise enough to act as if she could. ¡°Not at all. She and Master Rane just helped me with my mental block.¡± He gave a genuine smile. ¡°I am Fused at longst.¡±


    Latna¡¯s eyes widened with obvious surprise and excitement. ¡°That¡¯s wonderful news, master!¡± Then, her face fell slightly. ¡°But¡­ you had only stepped away from your position in order to Fuse. Does that mean that you will be leaving again, soon?¡±


    The light of an idea seemed to blossom in the man¡¯s eyes. ¡°I have not fully decided, Latna, but there is that possibility. Even so, we should discuss itter, not when surrounded by those you haven¡¯t seen in so long.¡±


    The young woman seemed torn, but eventually, she nodded in eptance, and those two rejoined the others as well.


    Overall, the breakfast and lunch went very well. The time in between was filled with clean up and prep, as well as near constant conversations, the people involved ever changing as each sibling¡ªand the three who desired to be family¡ªflowed from conversation to conversation, in a fluid manner that spoke to how generallyfortable they all were with one another. Exceptions aside, as Master Leighis somehow always seemed to not be in conversation with T or Rane.


    There was also the fact that basically everyone there still had a healthy dose of the exuberance of youth. T had to remember that fully half of the people present were younger than twenty years old, with Se being the youngest at nine.


    Regardless, she simply enjoyed the time with her siblings.

 Chapter 469: A Zuccat Returns

    Chapter 469: A Zat Returns


    T stretched and twisted, popping her back as she waited on one side of a quiet dell within her sanctum.


    Large trees arched over the oval shaped dip in thendscape, creating an almost throne-room-like aesthetic. Though it held more an air of peace, tranquility, and reverence than one of authority and power.


    It was the morning after her breakfast and lunch with her siblings, and dawn¡¯s early light filtered through the trunks and leaves to give a diffuse, ethereal illumination to the ce.


    On the far side of the delly the teleportation receiving circle, carved into arge, smooth, level bit of stone. The silver shone bright and untarnished in what light there was, and the edge of which rested barely a dozen feet away from where T stood, waiting.


    Haster Zat was supposed to arrive in T¡¯s sanctum soon. She and the Zats had arranged for him toe straight from the Academy to this receiver.


    Rane had a few errands in the city, and Terry was hunting in Walden¡¯s forest. That left T there, waiting <em>almost </em>alone, beside the teleportation circle. She was to meet the young man as she had the previous Zats¡ªher siblings were having breakfast with their parents that morning.


    The <em>almost</em> was because, this time, Anna was with her.


    The young woman was positively bubbling with excitement, as made manifest by her ongoing flow of words, only asionally interrupted with a question and the appropriate pause for a response. ¡°Oh! I¡¯m so excited! I haven¡¯t seen Haster in years now. Do you suppose he¡¯s grown?¡±


    T nced toward Anna. ¡°Well¡­ yes?¡±Anna waved her hand dismissively. ¡°Well, of course, I know that he¡¯s grown, the alternatives aren¡¯t really pleasant options, after all. They also aren¡¯t really possible. The Academy won¡¯t let him die, and they feed students too much for him to have be stunted, even if he¡¯s be ludicrously picky in thest years. I suppose that the question which I really meant to ask is: Do you think he¡¯s still the same person? Has he changed?¡±


    T gave a t look, only raising one eyebrow.


    Anna smiled in return, picking up with little dy. ¡°I¡¯m aware you didn¡¯t know him. I¡¯m talking through my own thoughts, Mistress. What do you think?¡±


    T took a calming breath, then just decided to go with it.


    <em>-That¡¯s my girl! Social improvement for the win.-</em>


    <em>Hush, you.</em> T smiled, turning to face Anna more fully. ¡°I¡¯m sure he¡¯ll be a bit different, but he will still be your brother. My own siblings have grown and changed but they are still <em>them</em>. You¡¯ve been exchanging messages when you can. So, you¡¯ve had good touchpoints with him and how he¡¯s been growing mentally, socially, and in other such ways. Because of that, there shouldn¡¯t be anything in his personality that¡¯s surprising to you. Physically, he¡¯ll just be a young man where before you knew an older boy.¡±


    ¡°I know¡­¡± Anna sighed. ¡°I just miss my brother, and now he''s about to be here¡­ I¡¯m nervous.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s understandable.¡± T took a small step to give the young woman a shoulder bump, not knowing how else to conveyfort and support.


    Before they could talk further, the magical circle activated and a young man appeared in a burst of light and magic, the silver of the spellform in the stone vanishing as thoroughly as smoke before a strong wind.


    <em>-Huh¡­ you know¡­?-</em>


    <em>Yeah, that silver </em>should<em> resolidify somewhere in here¡­ Why did we never consider that?</em>


    <em>-I don¡¯t know. It¡¯s not like we have other things to consider.-</em>


    <em>Fair¡­ Can you make inquiries on the precious metal condensing scripts used when cities fully wane?</em>


    <em>-Will do.-</em>


    As the young man opened his eyes, there was an odd taste to the air, and it took T a moment to realize that it was something to do with the man himself, magically, rather than any actual partictes.


    It passed quickly, as if from weak natural magics guttering and fading away. Even so, it gave her the sense of a campfire¡ªor other open ze¡ªbut something about it made her feel like the impression was actually from <em>after</em> the fire was out.


    <em>That¡¯s odd.</em> But then, her focus was pulled by the new arrival, himself.


    He was on the shorter side for a man, meaning that he only had an inch or two on T. He had regained some hair in the teleportation, and that was short, curly, and somehow disheveled despite having been created specifically to match his view of himself.


    <em>Well, that¡¯s rather telling.</em>


    <em>-Just a bit, yeah.-</em>


    T opened her mouth to offer a greeting, but before she could say anything, Anna was already across the space between them, practically tackling her brother, her feet even disturbing the fading eddies of power in her haste to get to her newly arrived family. ¡°Haster! Wee back and congrattions on your graduation!¡±


    Haster caught Anna expertly¡ªclearly used to his sister¡¯s exuberance¡ªeven as he looked around at the unexpected surroundings. ¡°I don¡¯t believe I¡¯ve been here before, so ¡®back¡¯ isn¡¯t really right¡­ This is an artificial space, correct? It feels like we¡¯re in some long-forgotten sanctuary to a nature spirit or something.¡±


    T quirked a smile, but Anna answered first, ¡°Yes and no. As I understand it, we are inside an entity that has been artificially enhanced and expanded before being bound as a pseudo-familiar.¡±


    T blinked a couple of times. <em>That¡­ huh. That is actually a pretty interesting way of describing Kit.</em>


    <em>-Rather urate too. I don¡¯t know that we¡¯vee up with something like that.-</em>


    <em>Indeed.</em>


    Anna pulled back. Her smile was so radiant that she was practically glowing. ¡°It is <em>so</em> good to see you, Hassy.¡±


    He gave her a t look. ¡°No. Please, no, Anna.¡±


    ¡°Fine¡­ I suppose you''re all grown up now. But we¡¯re being rude. This is Mistress T. Mom and Dad work for her now, and this is <em>her</em> expanded space within <em>her</em> pseudo-familiar.¡±


    It was a bit humorous to see Anna go out of her way to reduce the chances that her brother would fall to the same faux pas that she, herself, had.


    Haster gave a deep bow toward T. ¡°Mistress T. Thank you for your reception of me, here, and for allowing my family to all be together for my arrival. I trust that they are nearby?¡±


    T nodded in return. ¡°Of course. Once you¡¯re ready, we¡¯ll move to where Master Simon, Mistress Petra, Segis, and Metti are waiting for us.¡±


    As she was speaking, Haster was looking around again, his eyes flicking from tree to rock to the barely visible sky to the artificial sun itself, seen only through the branches shifting in a gentle breeze. ¡°Does that actually burn? Or is it generating light and heat by other means?¡±


    T hesitated then gave an internal shrug. ¡°That depends on your definition, but literally no. There is no oxidation involved in the generation of light and heat.¡±


    He grunted, a smile pulling at his lips. ¡°So, no chance of ash, then? I can imagine ash from such an exotic source would be <em>fascinating.</em>¡±


    ¡°I suppose it would¡­ but no. There is no byproduct from the artificial star.¡±


    He was staring straight at the sun, squinting as he did so.


    Anna cleared her throat. ¡°Haster?¡±


    ¡°Hmm? Yes?¡± The boy jerked slightly, as if he¡¯d somehow forgotten that he wasn¡¯t alone.


    ¡°Are you ready?¡± Anna gently prodded.


    ¡°Oh! Oh, yes. Shall we?¡± He went as if to take a step.


    T didn¡¯t wait. She simply smiled, exerted her will, and they were moved, arriving just beside arge mealid out to greet Haster.


    Haster¡¯s eyes widened in clear surprise at being suddenly relocated without any tells or signs of movement.


    To be fair, T had specifically timed it so that the transition happened as he blinked, and to his credit, he didn¡¯t lose his nerve.


    Instead, he whirled to face her. ¡°Did you do that?¡±


    ¡°I did.¡± She gave a small smile.


    ¡°How?¡±


    T shook her head. ¡°There is no way I can adequately exin it to you in the time we have.¡±


    He hesitated a moment before shrugging. ¡°I¡¯ll take a short exnation now and a longer er?¡±


    T raised an eyebrow, but before she could say anything, Haster was swarmed by his family.


    He seemed genuinely startled by their approach, as if he¡¯d forgotten why he was there, but he quickly adjusted, seeming unabashedly excited to see each of them.


    After the extended greetings were exchanged, the Zats and T settled in to eat the feast which had been prepared, chatting around the tasty repast.


    The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the vition.


    Finally, as Haster pushed back from the table, a satisfied smile on his face, Master Simon turned toward his son. ¡°Haster, we <em>did</em> notice that you never answered our questions about your master. Have you found one, or do you need some help to get one?¡±


    The younger man shook his head, taking ast sip to clear his mouth before setting his cup to the side. ¡°Neither. I just want to wander the Wilds and see what I can learn. I don¡¯t need a master for that. I honestly don¡¯t see the point.¡±


    There was a moment of silence before Mistress Petra spoke. ¡°Haster, darling, you need a master. There is so much that you can¡¯t easily learn without one.¡± She turned toward T. ¡°Please, Mistress T, can you help us, here?¡±


    Before T could respond to the, frankly, ironic plea for help, Haster held up his hand. ¡°We don¡¯t need to get her involved. Though I appreciate her willingness. Mom, Dad, masters aren¡¯t as necessary as they used to be. We¡¯ve been hearing rumors at the Academy about one Mage in particr who never took a master. If the tales are even half true, she still shot through the advancements. Word is that she¡¯s a Defender now. <em>A Defender</em>.¡± He shook his head. ¡°I wish we got records of the fights at the Academy, but I¡¯ll find a fight-view location sooner rather thanter. I can¡¯t <em>wait</em> to see if there¡¯s any truth to those rumors.¡±


    Both Master Simon and Mistress Petra had turned clearly frustrated eyes toward T. Though, T could tell that they weren¡¯t really frustrated with her, more that they desperately wanted her to help them correct this issue. Anna, for her part, was grinning broadly, clearly barely holding in herughter.


    Segis seemed a bit conflicted, but Metti¡¯s voice was the first to cut through the growing silence, a confused frown on her ten-year-old face. ¡°Mistress T didn¡¯t have a master¡­ right, Dad?¡±


    Master Simon sighed. ¡°That¡¯s right, Metti.¡±


    Haster straightened a bit. ¡°Really? I hadn¡¯t realized that the trend had started so long ago.¡±


    T¡¯s eye twitched. <em>He¡¯s calling me old.</em>


    <em>-That¡¯s what you¡¯re focusing on?-</em>


    <em>¡­It¡¯s better than the alternative¡­</em> She sighed. ¡°Haster, is this really a growing trend of thought at the Academy?¡±


    <em>-I¡¯ll see what I can find. If this is true, it likely needs to be dealt with.-</em>


    <em>Thank you.</em>


    He nodded enthusiastically, assuming he¡¯d found an advocate for his position. ¡°Oh, absolutely. I think there may already have been a few who refused masters, and I know many of those who graduated with me felt the same.¡±


    T ced her head in her hands and groaned. ¡°So many people are going to die¡­¡±


    Haster frowned, his excitement visibly fading. ¡°Mistress T? What¡¯s the matter?¡±


    She took a deep breath, straightened up, and exhaled forcefully. ¡°Haster, to my knowledge, I am the <em>only</em> graduate of the Academy to not apprentice under a master since the practice was introduced. Though, I admit that I haven¡¯t followed such things closely. I am rather distraught that not only has word of that gotten back to the Academy, but that it is inspiring others to forgo that <em>needed </em>step.¡±


    He stared at her, opened mouthed for a moment. ¡°Wait¡­ It was <em>you</em>?¡±


    ¡°Yes, to my knowledge. I have suffered because of my choice. Being a mageling is a <em>needed</em> step.¡±


    He seemed to gather himself, frowning even as he cocked his head to the side. ¡°Needed? It hardly seems needed. I mean, you are proof of that. You¡¯re doing just fine, great even, vastly better than average.¡±


    She grunted. ¡°Yeah, well, that is a <em>heavy </em>selection bias. You can¡¯t judge the safety of a caravan by only considering those who have made it back.¡±


    ¡°What?¡± The young man was clearly confused.


    She sighed, again. ¡°Haster, I have <em>not</em> been fine. I have been lucky; I have been mentored by those who didn¡¯t have to give me even a second nce; I have been hurt more times than I can count; I have nearly died nearly as many times; I have been destitute; I have been <em>kidnapped and enved</em>; I have walked a road of advancement, slick with the blood of <em>hundreds</em>; and I <em>still</em> don¡¯t know everything that a master could have¡ªand would have dly¡ªtaught me.¡±


    Silence rang out following her pronouncement, and T felt suddenly tired¡­ and embarrassed¡­ and frustrated. She could have worded that better, but she <em>had</em> gotten it all out. So that was an improvement at least.


    Haster was frowning in consternation, but he <em>did </em>seem to have heard her.


    <em>I wish Rane were here¡­ he¡¯d pick up the pieces of what I just shattered.</em>


    <em>-Yourself?-</em>


    T sent an internal re at the alternate interface. <em>Too soon, t.</em>


    <em>-...Fine. Do you want help?-</em>


    <em>Yes, please.</em>


    <em>-Alright. Follow my lead.-</em>


    And so T did. She took a deep breath and spoke the words that t provided. ¡°Regardless, Haster, you are going to want a master. There are Mages that wander the wilds, and we can find one of them for you. What is your foundational understanding?¡±


    He answered almost as a reflex. ¡°Everything burns to ash and drifts on the wind.¡±


    <em>-That is </em>fantastically<em> opposed to yours.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, but I was never going to be his master.</em>


    <em>-Fair.-</em>


    ¡°Alright. I assume that you utilize that inbat or otherwise destructive manifestations?¡±


    ¡°Mostly. It can also be used in other ways.¡±


    ¡°Oh? Are you a Material Guide? Or Creator?¡±


    ¡°Immaterial Guide.¡±


    T blinked, surprised by the answer.


    Master Simon decided to rejoin the conversation at that point. ¡°Are you willing to share what you guide?¡±


    Haster nodded with a proud smile. ¡°The oxidation rate. I can¡¯t do anything at the moment in an oxygen-free environment, but anywhere else? Everything can burn.¡±


    t cackled in T¡¯s head. <em>-I like this kid. Can we keep him?-</em>


    <em>No.</em>


    Anna looked horrified. ¡°Haster, what about the pain caused? Isn¡¯t that even slower burning than a Fire Mage?¡±


    The young man shook his head, a smile on his face. ¡°Not at all! At the <em>worst</em> it¡¯s the same, because I can cause the air in front of an enemy to catch fire. In the best case, I can obliterate them with the snap of a finger.¡±


    T waved that off. ¡°Don¡¯t expect that to work very often. Essentially every Mage can instantly kill anything they gain magical supremacy over.¡± She frowned. ¡°You''re going to want to learn how to target anciry things for effectivebat. You might even want to utilize weapons that you can oxidize the outeryers of for extra damage. I know an Oxygen Mage, actually¡­¡±


    Haster shook his head. ¡°No. One of the teachers at the Academy had a simr focus, and we just argued all the time. If I work with anything Material, I want it to be ash.¡±


    T almost argued, but she realized it would be pointless. Thus, she just shrugged instead. ¡°Alright.¡±


    <em>-Hmm¡­ utilizing an unusual power on the environment and other mundane objects to create an effective fighting style¡­ who does that sound like?-</em>


    <em>We¡¯re not keeping him, t.</em>


    <em>-But why not? We travel, he wants to travel. We don¡¯t have a mageling, he needs to be a mageling. It¡¯s perfect!-</em>


    <em>Are you really that bored?</em>


    <em>-...No.-</em>


    T threw the feeling of suspicion toward t. <em>Did you make a bet with Enar that we¡¯d have a mageling before Rane?</em>


    <em>-...Maybe?- </em>t sighed. <em>-So what if I did? He¡¯s perfect!-</em>


    <em>No, he¡¯s not.</em>


    t grumped. <em>-Fine. Be that way.-</em>


    T sighed. ¡°We¡¯ll see who we can find.¡±


    Haster crossed his arms, clearly a bit irritated, even so, his eyes were flicking off to one side before dragging back as he clearly forced himself to remain focused.


    Mistress Petra stepped in. ¡°We can¡¯t force you to sign an apprentice¡¯s agreement, Haster. Can¡¯t you agree to at least meet some people?¡±


    ¡°Fine.¡± Then, he seemed to lose his battle against distraction as he pointed at a rock. ¡°Is that phaneritic rock?¡±


    Everyone twitched at the seemingly random topic change. Even so, T shrugged. ¡°I think so. I¡¯m not a geologist.¡±


    ¡°I want to see it burn¡­¡±


    T nced toward Master Simon. The older man looked back her way and shrugged. ¡°At your pleasure, Mistress T. This is your sanctum.¡±


    Haster looked between them, momentarily confused.


    T sighed. <em>Rate of oxidation, eh?</em>


    <em>-Should be alterable by you in here. Everything is under your authority, after all.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, that¡¯s what I thought.</em>


    With a moment of concentration, she willed the change to be, and the indicated rock <em>burst</em> into an unreal-seeming, deep red me. It had actually taken more <em>force</em> of will than she¡¯d expected.


    <em>Who knew it would be hard to make rocks burn?</em>


    <em>-Yeah, who would have thought?-</em>


    Haster let out a low gasp and moved toward the fire.


    <em>-That really looks like something that would be found in the abyss or something like that.-</em>


    <em>Blessedly the abyss isn¡¯t more than a feature of children¡¯s stories.</em>


    <em>-...T, you¡¯ve seen the Doman-Imithe. If there¡¯s a next world beyond Zeme, why can¡¯t there be an abyss beyond the Doman-Imithe?-</em>


    <em>¡­that makes an ufortable amount of sense. I¡¯m not thinking about that right now.</em>


    <em>-Fair enough! I¡¯ll save the existential crises until midnight, sometime when you¡¯re really tired.-</em>


    <em>Rust you, t.</em>


    <em>-I love you too, T. Good job on the burning rock, by the way. That seemed a bit tricky on this side of things.-</em>


    <em>Thanks...</em>T was about to make some self-congrattoryment when the young man stuck his hand <em>into</em> the me, pulling it back with a small yelp of pain. ¡°It¡¯s real? It¡¯s really burning?¡±


    Anna groaned, going over to her brother and healing his singed hand.


    T was less amodating. ¡°Of course it¡¯s real. What sort of fool sticks his hand into a fire to see if it¡¯s illusory?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve just never seen rock burn. I¡¯ve wanted to, but the teachers said it would be an unwise use of inscriptions and power to shift the oxidation rate of a rock that much.¡±


    She felt a bit bad for him after that. She¡¯d been given such responses as well, but she¡¯d ignored them. Even so, she still felt like he was a bit of an idiot for touching it.


    His eyes were unwaveringly fixed on the rock, even as he thanked his sister for the healing. ¡°Still, the me was¡­ not cool¡ªobviously¡ªbut¡­ it felt different than other mes. It has more¡­ weight?¡±


    T nodded. The fire did seem to be sinking rather than rising from the rock surface that she¡¯d altered.


    <em>-That¡¯s actually really good, because I think that the product of that reaction is likely rather toxic, if not outright acidic. I think that¡¯s what hurt him, more than the rtively minor amount of heat in those abyssal mes.-</em>


    She sighed, releasing her will, extinguishing the fire, and removing all the products of the reaction from the area.


    Haster let out a disappointed groan. ¡°Why¡¯d it stop? Did you run out of power?¡±


    He nced toward T and saw her looking back, one eyebrow raised.


    He cleared his throat, seeming to realize what he¡¯d just said. ¡°Not that that¡¯s likely, of course. Not at all.¡±


    She shook her head, feeling a smile tug at her lips even so. ¡°What you are aiming for is possible with your described magics. That will be useful for your potential masters to know.¡±


    Haster hesitated for a long moment before nodding and looking between the three Mages present¡ªhis parents and T. ¡°Alright. I¡¯ll meet with those you think would be a good fit.¡±


    <em>Blessings never cease.</em> Master Simon and Mistress Petra visibly rxed, and T smiled. ¡°That decided, I¡¯ll leave you Zats to it. I¡¯m sure there¡¯s lots for you all to talk about, to catch up on.¡±


    They all said goodbye, and T moved herself back to the center of the sanctum.

 Chapter 470: Looking to the Future

    Chapter 470: Looking to the Future


    T, Rane, and Terry enjoyed their trip to Marliweather overall, and it seemed like no time at all before they gathered with T¡¯s family, Ve, and Master Leighis to see Fedir off to the Academy.


    His older, Academy-attending siblings were set to teleport back at the same time.


    There wasn¡¯t a lot of fanfare, and the goodbyes were less tearful than they might have been because everyone knew that all those going to the Academy would be able toe back in just a little more than a year, thanks to T¡¯s generosity and arrangements. Additionally, the ones <em>not</em> going to the Academy would be seeing T in the next few months.


    Still,st minute well wishes, hugs, and other partingments passed in a bit of a blur for T, and before she really realized it, the time hade and the five siblings moved toward the teleportation rooms.


    At nearly that exact moment, t made a ¡®eureka¡¯ gasping sound within T¡¯s head. <em>-T. T!-</em>


    <em>¡­Do I want to know?</em>


    <em>-Anna¡¯s about to be a Mage. She will be able to take on a mageling, and Mistress Vanga will be free to take on a new one. Since Latna likely needs a new master... Eh? Do you see?-</em>


    T sighed. She was doing that a lot ofte. <em>Master Leighis hasn¡¯t made his choice. Should we really assume what he¡¯ll choose?</em>


    <em>-...T¡­ Have you seen the women in your family?-</em><em>¡­Definitionally, yes?</em>


    <em>-Then why are you asking stupid questions.-</em> t¡¯s mental statement was <em>not</em> a question.


    T sighed internally. <em>We can put forward the idea¡­ fine.</em>


    <em>-Yay!-</em>


    T refocused on the teleportation tower lobby, Fedir¡¯s hand dropping from his final wave. Even as T waved back, Master Leighis stepped up next to her and gave a deep bow. ¡°Thank you, Mistress T, for all that you have done for me. I also appreciate¡­¡± He nced around, realizing how easily he could be overheard. ¡°I appreciate your patience with me. I wanted to let you know that I am nning on returning to field work for a time.¡±


    T gave a slow nod. ¡°I see. What of my sister¡¯s apprenticeship?¡±


    ¡°I will find her a recement master before I go. She is nearing the end of her tenure as an apprentice, and I think that the best course would be to have her raised to mageling and take a new master for that portion of her training.¡±


    T considered before nodding once again. For those few who became apprentices instead of going to the Academy, it was standard to keep the same master through the mageling portion of their education, but it wasn¡¯t required. For Rane, the two sections of training had been virtually indistinguishable. For Latna, it seemed that there would be a marked change. ¡°I understand. I may have a few potentials for her to mageling under.¡±


    That sparked a bit of conversation that ended with connecting Master Leighis with Mistress Vanga and Anna through the Archive.


    <em>Well, we¡¯ll see if your ideaes to anything.</em>


    <em>-Yes, we shall.-</em> t was clearly quite proud of herself.


    As the Karweils were dispersing, T caught up to Nea. T had had some time to chat with her sister over the past days, but she hadn¡¯t asked the one question that was burning within her. She <em>could</em> leave it alone, but T knew that doing so would bug her. It was time to ask.


    Nea gave T a searching look, and whatever she saw seemed to give her a bit of forewarning to the iing question.


    T gave a small smile before diving in. ¡°Hey, Nea. I know that you need to get back to work, but I just wanted to ask¡­ are you happy? Do you still feel you made the right choice for you?¡±


    Nea¡¯s face hardened at the question, but T held up her hands and quickly continued.


    ¡°I¡¯m not arguing with you, nor do I think you made a wrong choice. I just know that there are times that I wished someone had asked me that. I care about you and just want to check in. I¡¯m here for you.¡±


    Terry opened his eyes on T¡¯s shoulder and trilled softly.


    Somehow, Terry¡¯s musical sounds did more to assuage Nea than T¡¯s words had. When the girl answered, she was still hesitant, but there was no anger in her tone, ¡°I am quite happy, yes. I love what I do. I know magic could be used to do what I am doing, but I feel no need. If that changes, I will seek to apprentice myself, but I don¡¯t see that happening.¡±


    T¡¯s smile grew. ¡°I¡¯m d to hear it. Please don¡¯t hesitate to let me know if there is anything that I can do for you.¡±


    Nea seemed to actually consider. Finally, she gave a slow, decisive nod. ¡°I will. Thank you.¡±


    * * *


    T watched with a bit of bemusement as Kit devoured master Lisa¡¯s shop.


    In the end, Lisa had decided that he wanted his shop to be in Irondale as it was, and from that base of operations, he would build his magnum opus, his forever home.


    He did go out of his way to say that he would abandon it in a moment if she tried to change the details of their agreement. He even went further to imply that his shop¡ªor anything else he built¡ªwould be a poison pill without him there to maintain it.


    T believed him.


    <em>Scary fox¡­</em>


    The whole process of devouring only took a moment or two, and T, Rane, Terry, and master Lisa were left standing on a mostly vacant street, in front of an entirely vacant lot.


    ¡°I thought you had a basement?¡±


    ¡°I did, but I never dug it out, I simply disced the dirt and rock for a time. Now that the magics have been consumed, the material has settled back in line with these dimensions.


    T grunted. She supposed that made sense. Then, as she considered the space before her, she had another thought, gesturing to the bare earth. ¡°This isn¡¯t going to be a problem?¡±


    ¡°Not at all. I sold this plot to someone who¡¯s been bothering me to sell to them for <em>years</em>.¡± He gave a predatory grin. ¡°The contract was only for thend, no mention of the building was made anywhere in it.¡±


    Rane frowned slightly, and T huffed augh. ¡°Is she going to be irritated that the building is gone?¡±


    ¡°Oh, undoubtedly, but there¡¯s nothing that she can do about it. Honestly, she should have been more suspicious of the low price I offered her. More than thend should have sold for, but <em>much</em> less than the building would have been worth.¡±


    That caused a small smile to tug at Rane¡¯s lips. ¡°That does sound like a fun way to get some revenge, then.¡±


    ¡°Undoubtedly. I¡¯m not a monster, nor a thief.¡±


    T opened a doorway into Irondale for Lisa. T hadn¡¯t chosen a specific shape for it, so Kit seemed to decide to have some fun with it.


    Thus, an oddly twisting doorway of red stone seemed to grow from T¡¯s very aura. The shape of the outline was hard for T¡¯s mundane eyes to follow, and her threefold vision showed her that Kit was ying with some four-dimensionality, likely just learned from Lisa¡¯s shop.


    Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.


    The man hesitated, then chuckled. ¡°A nevend door? That is a fitting form to take, my good Kit. If this is to be my permanent home, I suppose it may be that to my people.¡±


    T frowned. ¡°I¡¯m afraid I don¡¯t know that reference?¡±


    Lisa nced back her way. ¡°Oh, the first beast-kin were theorized to havee from the nevend, or the fairy worlds. It¡¯s an old story of my people, harkening back to our antagonistic friendship with the snake-kin. Think nothing of it. It seems that your little voidling can tap into more than just physical cues and context to choose her physical shape. That is good to know.¡±


    Lisa stepped through, letting out a long breath that seemed to release more than air and his illusory self melted away to reveal the fox underneath, his fashionable clothes standing out to her for what seemed like the first time.


    ¡°Thank you, Mistress T. I think that we will both find this deal very profitable. Now, I will see to my business here. You will be opening the main gates soon, yes?¡±


    ¡°Yes. They should remain open in Bandfast until tomorrow morning. Then we¡¯ll be heading back to Alefast.¡±


    Master Lisa bowed deeply. ¡°Thank you. Then, at your pleasure?¡±


    With that, the portal into Irondale snapped closed.


    Rane had a small frown. ¡°Did he just imply that you made a deal with a fairy? And he was the fairy?¡±


    <em>¡°-In a very roundabout way, yes.-¡±</em>


    He grunted. ¡°Well, fae deals never go sideways in stories.¡±


    T huffed augh. ¡°That¡¯s like saying that rtionships are never simple in romances.¡±


    Rane considered for a moment then nodded. ¡°Right, because if the fae deal worked out as expected, why would there be a story about it?¡±


    ¡°Essentially, yes. Obviously, that¡¯s not universally true, but it stands to reason that we generally hear about the exceptions.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s fair¡­ but be careful? I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve ever heard that fox-kin are fae before. Master Lisa might have just shared more with you than we realize.¡±


    She nodded slowly, letting the idea sink in.


    As they talked they had already been moving. It wasn¡¯t far through the streets of Bandfast to the wall they usually used, and T opened arge portal to the main gate of Irondale.


    Momentster, therge doors swung open and a few wagons rolled out to make their short trip to the Bandfast markets, or to others that they arranged to trade with.


    T brushed her hands against each other to remove non-existent dust, turned to Rane and proimed, ¡°To Lyn¡¯s house!¡±


    Terry trumped excitedly and Rane chuckled. ¡°Don¡¯t you want to see what Lisa is up to?¡±


    T detected the longing in his voice, and it resonated with her. Thankfully, she wasn¡¯t actually going to be missing the show. ¡°Well¡­ I can, and will have the memory to reviewter¡­¡± She frowned. ¡°Would you like to share the perspective?¡±


    Rane brightened, eyes going distant for a moment before he nodded. ¡°Yes, thank you. Enar says that he can interface with t to make it happen.¡±


    <em>-And¡­ done.-</em>


    <em>Thank you.</em>


    <em>-Of course.-</em>


    T nodded, ¡°Already done.¡±


    She hopped up to give Rane a kiss on his cheek, he caught her as she dropped back down, lifting her up to give her a proper kiss before setting her back on her feet, slightly breathless.


    She cleared her throat, tucking some hair behind her ear and smiling up at him. ¡°What was that for?¡±


    ¡°For you being you. Come on.¡± He took her hand, and they moved back toward the center of the city. After a few steps she shifted her hand up to his arm, a small smile settling across her lips.


    Terry was more excitable this afternoon than usual, flickering between the four shoulders easily avable to him as they progressed.


    Whenever possible, T reached up to scratch the side of his head, but while he seemed to enjoy it, he didn¡¯t stay in ce for long.


    Soon enough, they came to a familiar street with a familiar house across from a familiar park.


    Something was pulling at T¡¯s chest, and she couldn¡¯t quite understand it. It felt like something had changed, and it was only when she focused specifically on her threefold sight that she saw Lyn sitting with her hands in herp in her own sitting room.


    T recognized the posture. The woman had something that she wanted to discuss with someone, presumably T and Rane.


    T kept her pace firm, but Rane noticed her tense up and the change of demeanor regardless. ¡°T?¡±


    She looked up at him, her brows creased. ¡°Something''s off. Lyn¡¯s got her ¡®I have something I want to say¡¯ face on.¡±


    ¡°Sitting in her reading chair, not reading?¡± He lifted one eyebrow in question.


    That brought a brief smile to T, relieving some of her tension, but not all. ¡°Exactly! Her hands are in herp, and she¡¯s just <em>waiting </em>there.¡±


    Rane squeezed her hand on his arm. ¡°Come on. Let¡¯s see what¡¯s up. Are Kannis or Fannas anywhere around?¡±


    ¡°Not that I can see, no.¡±


    ¡°Okay, then.¡±


    Terry stopped his flickering about, and simply moved <em>forward,</em> arriving in Lyn¡¯sp and eliciting a squeal of surprise from the woman that they heard out at the street.


    Rane chuckled. ¡°Terry?¡±


    ¡°Terry.¡±


    ¡°He really seems to <em>love</em> your threefold sight.¡±


    ¡°Indeed he does, yeah.¡± T grimaced slightly. It made it all but <em>impossible</em> to keep any jerky within her sanctum. He could ferret it out everywhere she¡¯d thought to hide it.


    <em>I could keep it in my artificial lung¡­</em>


    <em>-That seems a bit extreme, and I bet he¡¯d still find it.-</em>


    <em>You¡¯re probably right.</em>


    Regardless, Terry¡¯s arrival had alerted Lyn to their proximity, and she met them at the door with arge grin and hugs all around. ¡°Come in,e in!¡±


    The three engaged in small talk as Rane took off his shoes and they all moved to the sitting room, Terry curled up in Lyn¡¯s arms for most of that time.


    When they were all seated, T decided to not put things off. ¡°So, Lyn, what¡¯s going on? What did you want to talk with us about?¡±


    The older woman quirked a smile. ¡°Am I that obvious?¡±


    ¡°Absolutely.¡± T grinned back.


    ¡°Well then, I suppose there¡¯s no reason to dy. I¡¯m retiring from the Caravanner¡¯s Guild.¡± Both Rane and T opened their mouths to respond, but she continued before they could interrupt. ¡°I¡¯m not quite sure where my next adventure lies, but with Kannis finishing up her tenure as a mageling, she¡¯ll be able to fully take over most of my duties. She may even take some caravan trips to get a better understanding of that side than I ever acquired. Though, they¡¯ll have to give the higher level responsibilities to someone else. A new Mage shouldn¡¯t be in a managerial position, after all.¡±


    T rocked back, leaning fully into herfortable, reinforced chair. ¡°That¡¯s¡­ a big change.¡±


    Lyn shrugged. ¡°It is and it isn¡¯t. I¡¯ve been working for the Caravanner¡¯s Guild for a long time now, and I think I¡¯m ready to explore more of the world, or at least a different part of it. I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll be staying in Bandfast for this next phase of my life.¡±


    t took in a sharp breath of delighted surprise even as an idea came to T. ¡°You know¡­ I¡¯ve been needing someone to help coordinate Irondale.¡±


    ¡°Your pocket <em>city</em>? Is it to the point that such coordination is needed?¡±


    Rane nodded emphatically even as T smiled and said, ¡°Yes.¡±


    Lyn frowned thoughtfully. ¡°You know, I¡¯ve meant to go see it. I can¡¯t promise what my answer will be, but I¡¯m open to taking a look.¡±


    * * *


    T held back augh as Lyn¡¯s eyes continued to widen.


    Instead of entering through the still-open main gates, T had simply moved them into the pocket city¡ªor more urately to the same ce on the mountain that she¡¯d entered with Lisa¡ªby force of will and authority.


    Lyn was staring down at the bustling town, below, and her voice came out in a low whisper. ¡°I¡¯d seen the few trades your people made with the Caravanner''s Guild and just assumed that was it¡­ that that was all that they were doing. I¡¯ve been so busy that I didn¡¯t look closer¡­ T¡­¡± Her voice lifted to a more normal volume. ¡°T, this is <em>massive</em>. A dozen caravans wouldn¡¯t be able to move all these people, all these materials.¡±


    ¡°Exactly. That¡¯s why we need a dedicated logistics lead whom I can trust. That could be you.¡±


    There was a spark beginning to ze in Lyn¡¯s eyes. ¡°I just might¡­ Maybe. Let¡¯s take a look around.¡±


    For the next two hours, the four of them moved through Irondale in an investigation that was somehow <em>entirely</em> unlike the tour with Lisa.


    Lyn wanted to see all the warehouses, talk with the merchants who were avable¡ªunfortunately, few were due to the currently open gate to Bandfast¡ªand see just how things functioned.


    In the end, Terry had gone to hunt some of the cervids in the surrounding wilderness within the city¡¯s dimensional space, and Lyn had a very conflicted look on her face.


    Rane had remained silent for most of the tour, but he decided to interject at that point. ¡°Lyn? What¡¯s going on?¡±


    ¡°I¡­ Kannis isn¡¯t done yet, and even when she¡¯s a full Mage, I don¡¯t want to cut and run. I want to be avable and to be <em>there</em> to help her¡­¡±


    T smiled, giving Rane a grateful look before hugging Lyn. ¡°Don¡¯t take this as a now or never offer. I¡¯m asking you to be looking to the future. I¡¯ll be back next spring. That would give you just more than a year to advance Kannis and get her settled in. We may be back before that for a visit, but I¡¯m definitelying back through then. Olen will be deciding about the Academy and departing at that point.¡±


    ¡°He¡¯s your youngest brother?¡±


    ¡°Brother, yes. Se is the youngest of us kids.¡±


    ¡°Wow. They¡¯re really getting big.¡±


    ¡°Yeah¡­¡± T felt a moment of sadness.


    Lyn pulled back from the hug. ¡°Let¡¯s talk about it, see what we can arrange. If it works? That sounds like a great official start time. Yeah?¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡± T smiled, then. ¡°Yes. That¡¯d be great.¡±


    Lyn nodded. ¡°Now, let¡¯s get out of here. I want to celebrate with Kannis! I expect her to be a full Mage in less than a month, and you all won¡¯t be back again before then.¡±


    Rane grinned. ¡°That is exactly the n. Let¡¯s celebrate.¡±

 Chapter 471: Raising Questions

    Chapter 471: Raising Questions


    T stood with Terry, Rane, and their Defender unit at the end of an all too familiar style of tunnel, right inside a cell.


    They all were a bit awkward because of the requirements of this particr cell.


    None of them were naked¡ªor even indecent by the standard of Mages¡ªbut they were all wearing much less than usual¡­ except T.


    They¡¯d all been obligated to shed <em>everything</em> that wasn¡¯t soulbound to them because of the nature of the prisoner within. It was good that some sort of defensive item was a standard rmendation for bonding, and the mostmon of those were clothing or armor in appearance.


    This Mage¡¯s only magic of consequence was to soulbind whatever he encountered. Thankfully, with sapient beings, that still required consent from both sides, but it meant that unbound equipment or clothing wasn¡¯t allowed.


    As to why this man was imprisoned? It seemed that the act of soulbinding himself to what was¡ªessentially¡ªuncounted things had torn him apart on a fundamental level. That distribution had made him virtually unkible, because he was bound to <em>everything</em> near him, but it had also removed his humanity.


    He now simply existed as an extension of his binding magics.


    Additionally, something about the man¡¯s magic was such that he <em>always</em> took dominance in such bonds. Apparently there had been¡­ losses. The negatively affected Archons had been allowed to pass on, but the deaths had been significantly detrimental to humanity at the time. So, they hadn¡¯t continued to try.


    Overall, the concept of the prisoner¡¯s power was more interesting than the actual encounter.Trees and other nts tried to break through their defensive line, acting upon their own impetus¡ªusing his power¡ªto defend their boundpanion.


    Each member of the unit was propositioned to join his ¡®collective will,¡¯ but they all easily refused.


    The only real surprise was when seemingly animate rock and soil formed humanoid shapes to assault them. They weren¡¯t difficult to deal with, but they were surprising.


    <em>I can see why having this guy roaming the world would be¡­ unideal.</em>


    <em>-Indeed. Imagine the damage he could do to caravans where the very wagons and oxen suddenly turned on the travelers¡­-</em>


    T shivered. They were, indeed, facing him in a close to ideal set of circumstances


    Even so, in the end, it was hardly worth noting.


    * * *


    T stood in a Mage¡¯s robe¡ªa red so dark it was practically ck¡ªformed of her elk leathers, trying to fade into the background within the Archon Compound of Alefast. Rane stood beside her, seeming much morefortable in his attire than she in hers.


    <em>Mage¡¯s robes are dumb¡­</em>


    <em>-Just because you don¡¯t need to strip doesn¡¯t mean they aren¡¯t well designed.-</em>


    <em>Even if I did, my clothing could just do that for me.</em>


    <em>-Oh, of course. Why doesn¡¯t every mage get a set of </em>incredible<em> magical clothing, then soul-bond it? Oh, wait. Being able to bind it would make them Archons. Silly me. What are all the normal mages meant to do?-</em>


    <em>¡­You make a good point. Only ten percent of Mage make it to Archon¡­</em> She sighed internally.


    Rane seemed to sense something from her, because he put his arm around her and gave a quick squeeze before letting go once again.


    That let T rx a bit and brought a smile to her face.


    Some thirty Archons sat at tables which arched in a semicircle, all facing a Mage in the center, and more than twice that number stood against the walls to observe just as T and Rane were.


    They had been invited to watch a Binding ceremony. She¡¯d tried to refuse but both Rane and Master Grediv had worked to convince her toe despite her inclination against the idea.


    She knew it was a trap. She had no doubt that if she came to observe, they¡¯d one day ask her to sit in judgment.


    <em>-You can¡¯t dodge all the responsibilities of rank forever. Besides, you had a lot of peoplee to support you when you were raised. It¡¯s a little disappointing that you haven¡¯t gone to any of the raisings of people you know.-</em>


    <em>Bah, I¡¯m a Defender. My whole job </em>is<em> the responsibility of rank.</em>


    <em>-That¡¯s¡­ fair.-</em>


    The Mage¡ªwho had strode into the room for his appointment with confidence and aplomb¡ªwas an up-ander, barely thirty years old, and already was ready to be Bound.


    He wore a greataxe on his back, a wicked spike set opposite the bearded de. It was a clearly magical weapon that seemed to have an interestingbination of magics that reminded her both of Flow¡¯s enhanced cutting and her long-lost repeating hammer¡¯s kic redirection ability.


    His weapon aside, he had an easy smile shining from among his curly red beard, below his brilliant blue eyes. Yet, something about him made T think of him as someone who would be <em>a pain</em> to fight on an equal footing¡­ Maybe she did want to be one of the judges. Then she could fight him during the little song and dance about swallowing his star. Though, that wouldn¡¯t address the advancement inequality¡­


    <em>-No, T, you can¡¯t beat up on up-anding Archons.-</em>


    <em>¡­Fine.</em>


    Master Grediv was sitting in prominence for this potential raising, and he opened the proceedings with dignity. ¡°Master Mchi, please present your Archon star.¡±


    Master Mchi pulled out a dark red-violet gem. ¡°My Archon star is set within almandine. I believe that you will find it of sufficient power.¡±


    He presented it to the seated Archon on his far left, and the Archon star was passed around slowly, giving each of those who were here to judge time to examine it thoroughly.


    It was a bit of ceremony, as each of the Archons could have easily examined the gem and the Archon star within from where they sat¡ªjust as T was.


    The gem in which the spellform resided was spherical¡ªas was tradition¡ªbut for some reason, it felt¡­ off to T. When she noticed the discrepancy, she had to hold in augh.


    <em>I didn¡¯t think size mattered for Archon stars.</em>


    <em>-It generally doesn¡¯t, it¡¯s how well they¡¯re utilized. But you </em>can<em> fit more power into more material.-</em>


    <em>He dimensionallypressed a muchrger gem to get the end result under the maximum size. Then he took advantage of the increased space within to massively increase the power he put into his Archon star.</em>


    <em>-Somewhat useless, but impressive all the same.-</em>


    <em>Quite, yes. It must have taken a </em>lot<em> of dedication to create an Archon star of that power.</em>


    The Archon star made the rounds and was returned to the expectant Mage.


    Even though he was putting on a good show, T could <em>see</em> his heart beating more rapidly than it had upon his arrival.


    He was nervous. He was confident, but not to the point of full surety.


    The questions didn¡¯t help.


    The seated Archons asked somewhat random questions, as unlike with her own raising, there wasn¡¯t a central issue to be addressed with Master Mchi.


    His little trick was interesting, but it didn¡¯t actually challenge any presuppositions of the Archons, nor did it put his advancement into question.


    Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the vition.


    They inquired about his time as a mageling: profitable and informative, his magic: rapid use of dimensional expansion and contraction, his foundational understanding: ¡®I can make that fit.¡¯


    His foundational understanding got a round of chuckles, and that seemed to give the man some renewed confidence.


    The other questions were really irrelevant from T¡¯s perspective, but she dutifully listened regardless. They were likely meant to illuminate the man¡¯s personality, his bent, but everyone knew that a simple series of questions couldn¡¯t determine the scope of a person.


    <em>-Answer these thirty questions to know if </em>you<em> would have be a fount! I think it would sell, especially to mundanes dreaming of Magehood.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, probably, but it would be a tant vition of informational security.</em>


    <em>-You¡¯re no fun sometimes. Think of how famous we could be?-</em>


    <em>¡­Do you really want to be famous? I don¡¯t think that I do¡­ I want to be known for helping people, but that¡¯s not really the same thing.</em>


    <em>-No, I suppose not.-</em> t sighed internally and didn¡¯t press the issue further.


    When thest question had been asked and answered, Master Grediv pulled attention back to himself. ¡°Those in favor of the raising of Master Mchi?¡±


    Almost every hand went up.


    <em>It''s theater.</em> Before the Mage hade in, it had been arranged for some of the Archons to object. The purpose of this was to keep any Mage from feeling toofortable before what came next.


    They had found it a bit unfair to make prospective Bound feelcent and trusting right before testing them. The point was to keep them thinking critically.


    ¡°Twenty-four in favor, five against, one abstain.¡±


    That kicked off the remainder of the show for Master Mchi¡¯s benefit, and in the end, as expected, the approval was unanimous.


    Master Grediv¡¯s voice resonated through the room, ¡°We are agreed. Master Mchi is to join our ranks.¡±


    At that moment, as prenned, everyone let their auras leak out just a bit. That gave the room a vague feeling of shing and <em>wrongness</em> as the various powerful people present yfully fought for aura supremacy.


    T <em>almost</em> tested herself, but she thought it would be less than fair.


    <em>-You think? Most of the people in here are crafters, healers, cultivators, or bureaucrats. You¡¯d wipe the floor with them, until the few powerhouses took you seriously.-</em>


    Yeah, it wasn¡¯t worth it¡­ Maybe next time.


    Master Mchi obviously couldn¡¯t truly see the conflicting auras¡ªnot really¡ªbut he could sense <em>something.</em>


    Master Grediv gave a single nod. ¡°Now, young Mage, you must eat your Archon star.¡±


    Master Mchi frowned, shifting¡ªseemingly unconsciously¡ªinto a more firmly bnced stance. ¡°My apologies, Master Grediv, but I fear that I must have misheard you.¡±


    Master Grediv gave an easy smile. ¡°I told you to eat your Archon star.¡±


    The Mage slowly shook his head. ¡°Then, I must have misunderstood.¡±


    Master Grediv shook his head, his smile staying unruffled. ¡°I¡¯m not sure what there is to misunderstand. Put your Archon star into your mouth and swallow. Why do you think we have the maximum size in ce?¡±


    Master Mchi looked down at the sphere in his hand, then back up, his frown growing.


    <em>Wow, it¡¯s a lot funnier from this side. I can also see how Terry totally ruined their scenario, here. They </em>would<em> have had to kill him or me to make this next part work, and that would sort of defeat the purpose.</em>


    She was d that Terry was hunting in Walden¡¯s woods at that moment.


    The Mage slowly shook his head, dropping the Archon star into his pouch to free up his hands.


    T could <em>see</em> his worldview unraveling. The man was clearly much more thoughtful than T had been at this point. She¡¯d just refused and started to fight.


    He <em>understood</em> the implications.


    <em>-I mean¡­ not quite?-</em>


    <em>Hush you, I¡¯m considering a poignant dichotomy.</em>


    <em>-Fine, fine.-</em>


    His left hand shifted into an odd shape, connecting his inscriptions precisely. That caused his axe to distort in its sheath before he grasped it with ease, and it returned to normal, no longer contained. ¡°I¡¯m afraid that I will be leaving now.¡±


    Master Grediv gave a small smile. ¡°Is that a refusal?¡±


    ¡°Assuredly and without question.¡±


    ¡°And if I tell you that you won¡¯t leave this room without obeying?¡±


    ¡°Then I will die swinging.¡±


    The Paragon motioned, and three seated Archons¡ªwho had been preselectedshed out with their magic, seeking to bind the man.


    Master Mchi¡¯s own inscriptions red to life as his left hand almost blurred as it took up the required configurations to activate his magics, dimensionality warping Reality around him so that he simply wasn¡¯t where the attacks struck.


    He didn¡¯t teleport, he simply altered dimensionality so that there was more space than there had been, and the iing attacks simply went through where he no longer was.


    It was an excellent defense, all things considered.


    He then attacked without moving his feet, his axe de somehow aligned with the neck of one of the seated Archons¡ªone that wasn¡¯t even currently attacking him, which T thought both unfair and a clever choice on Master Mchi¡¯s part¡ª even while he was entirely too far away to have been within striking distance.


    Unfortunately for him, the axe stopped dead a breath away from striking home.


    Then, four gentle restraints settled around the man, binding him in ce despite all magical attempts to avoid the workings or to get free.


    To T¡¯s surprise, Master Mchi actually attempted what seemed to be suicide, trying to dimensionally alter the alignment of his own neck, but that attempt was blocked with ruthless efficiency.


    A momentter, the man was entirely helpless. He was even gagged as he¡¯d started spitting curses at them once he was locked down.


    T felt a smile tug at her lips as Master Grediv began the exnation that she had missed in her own raising.


    This had all been a test, and they weren¡¯t going to force him to eat it. They weren¡¯t some twisted cabal of former humans, trying to make him one of them.


    Even so, he <em>was</em> going to have to use his Archon star to bond himself to his own body, but in a much more controlled way.


    T let her attention drift as the reality of things was exined, even if she did find the Mage¡¯s slow shift in attitude quite fascinating.


    He was released, and the Bonding happened without fanfare.


    It was then that T realized that she¡¯d rarely seen a bonding or merging of any kind from the outside.


    She found it interesting just how mundane it all looked from that side of things.


    Even with four Archons seated around Master Mchi, linking and ovepping their auras to cradle and assist the man in his Bonding, the whole process was without visible incident.


    He sat there, absorbed the Archon star, and his aura gained color to T¡¯s threefold sight. As expected, it was red, though not fully. There was decidedly a touch of orange already.


    That was it. It was almost instantaneous and rather anticlimactic.


    <em>A step toward Fused already.</em>


    <em>-He did seem rather centered and self-assured. That can happen.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, yeah¡­</em>


    Other than the change to his aura, the man¡¯s beard had darkened to an almost blood red, while still remaining <em>just</em> inside the natural range of hair color, and his eyes had taken on a bit of violet veining through them, facets even bing visible in parts of his irises.


    Master Grediv stood and gave a shallow bow. ¡°Greetings, Bound Mchi, Archon of Humanity.¡±


    <em>Not quite identical to my ceremony so far by any means, but close enough.</em>


    <em>-Indeed.-</em>


    T then listened to the requisite history lesson¡ªallowing Master Mchi to be informed as to some of the true nature of things¡ªalong with the greater exnation as to <em>why</em> they¡¯d had this whole song and dance. She understood it, but it was still less than ideal in her mind.


    Not that she could think of any better way.


    And then there was the party in honor of the newly Bound.


    Master Mchi still seemed a bit shaky from the whish followed by the Binding.


    <em>Was I that bad?</em>


    <em>-Yes and no. Your situation was a bit different, but he does seem to be holding up well. You should go and give your greeting, though.-</em>


    <em>Fine¡­</em> She nced to Rane. ¡°Shall we?¡±


    He nodded and smiled. ¡°Of course.¡±


    They walked over to the man, timing their arrival to coincide with another group of well-wisher¡¯s departing.


    T gave a shallow bow, and Rane did likewise before speaking, ¡°Congrattions, Master Mchi. I am Rane.¡±


    He then gestured to T. When the new Bound looked her way, she introduced herself as well, ¡°Yes. Congrattions, Master Mchi, I am T.¡±


    He bowed in return, deeper than they had toward him, likely out of an abundance of caution. ¡°Master Rane, Mistress T, it is good to meet you. Thank you for the congrattions.¡±


    T smiled. ¡°Of course. I know how odd the whole experience was for me when I Bound. It¡¯s a lot to take in and a rather exhausting set of circumstances.¡±


    Master Mchi frowned even as he nodded. ¡°Yes. I am not used to feeling so helpless. My work has had me encounter all sorts of arcanous creatures, and I¡¯ve always been able to win through. It seems that I¡¯ve been more sheltered than I realized. Though, in considering things, for it to be otherwise, humanity would have won true peace with the power in this room alone.¡±


    ¡°s, yes. It¡¯s a big world out there, and the dangers surround us on all sides.¡±


    Rane cleared his throat. ¡°<em>But</em> we are moving toward that safety. We fight, and there are victories from that conflict. We do not simply hold¡ªlet alone lose¡ªground. Soon, we may yet win through.¡±


    Master Mchi smiled, bowing again. ¡°That is a blessing to hear, Master Rane. I confess that I feel a certain despondency. I had thought that I was at the forefront of mankind, and yet here I stand, clearly utterly outmatched by at least a few in this room.¡± He chuckled ruefully. ¡°If my guess is correct, I am utterly outmatched by <em>everyone</em> in this room, but I am so ignorant that I don¡¯t even know that for sure.¡± He sighed then smiled. ¡°But it seems that I am at the beginning of my journey, rather than the end. That is something to be grateful for.¡±


    T felt a bit of pity for the man, leading her to smile consolingly in return. ¡°You are right, it isn¡¯t all bad. You have a solid road before you and good work to do along the whole journey. We may be a bit further along our own paths, but we are still moving together, toward the same distant horizon. Humanity is approaching a turbulent time, but when we fight our way through, there just might be that true peace waiting there for us.¡±


    Master Mchi¡¯s smile grew further at her words. ¡°That is a balm on my soul to hear. Thank you both.¡±


    They bowed again. Rane spoke this time. ¡°We¡¯ll let you get to the food, or to the other attendees, but it was a pleasure to meet you.¡±


    ¡°Thank you foring to greet me.¡±


    T smiled. ¡°Absolutely.¡±

 Chapter 472: Some Time

    Chapter 472: Some Time


    T, Terry, and Rane were sitting beside the fast flowing water of the circr river within T¡¯s sanctum, enjoying some time together with the Zats.


    Haster was off in Alefast, meeting with a couple of potential masters, but Anna, Master Simon, Mistress Petra, Segis, and Metti were all there, a wonderful pic spreadid out for them.


    Metti was actually in the water, floating round and round the central rise on a waxed, leather dder of some kind. They were apparently popr in cities with rivers nearby and absolutely critical in the seaside cities.


    That aside, the floating was <em>not</em> a fast process. She swung around every fifteen minutes or so on thezy current.


    Anna was ying with Terry. Specifically, she was trying to bait him close with various bits of food so that she could pet him before he flickered away. They both obviously knew that Terry coulde in and out faster than she could react, but they kept up the fiction, regardless.


    It was either that, or Terry was allowing brief pets in order to get food¡­ Or Anna knew that Terry would stick around for pets, in the hopes that she¡¯d put out more food in the future.


    <em>-Except that Terry could just take any food that he wanted without any of this song and dance.-</em>


    <em>That¡¯s true enough.</em> Truthfully, T wasn¡¯t one hundred percent certain why Terry was engaging with Anna in this way, but it seemed to be entertaining them both, or at least providing a pleasant distraction.


    Segis¡­ he was arguing with his father. ¡°I still don¡¯t understand why you can¡¯t just take me on as an apprentice. I can learn more from you¡ªand while in here¡ªthan I ever could at the Academy.¡±Master Simon sighed. ¡°That is a statement out of ignorance, Segis. The Academy is <em>built</em> to train up young Mages. Those who were trained elsewhere are the exception for a reason. It takes a talent and depth of knowledge that neither your mother nor I possess to provide amensurate level of training in magic.¡±


    ¡°But there are so many others I could learn from! We could engage tutors for the areas you feel weaker in, there are magical beasts <em>in here</em> I could gather knowledge from, <em>experience.</em>¡±


    Mistress Petra interjected, her voice a little more level than her husband¡¯s. ¡°And what do you want to do as a Mage, Segis?¡±


    ¡°I want to do what dad does and study how magic works.¡±


    Master Simon smiled. ¡°I am d that you do, but that means you need an incredibly broad foundation. I know you love to read, and that will serve you incredibly well, but there isn¡¯t any true recement for the foundation you can be given at the Academy.¡±


    Segis opened his mouth to object, but Master Simon held up a hand to forestall his son.


    ¡°You are right, this situation with Mistress T is far better than most potential apprentices have avable to them, but even assuming that she would agree to have you trained within her sanctum¡ªwhich we should not take as a sure thing regardless¡ªchances are that your career will be elsewhere. You need a solid understanding of how the rest of the world functions, what it will be like to work for the Constructionists or as a private researcher or assistant for other powerful Archons. Mistress T is a fantastic employer, but working for her, in here, is utterly unlike anywhere else I have ever worked, and I would be doing you a <em>grave</em> disservice if I trained you in such an irreplicable location. I would be open to having you as my mageling here once you graduate¡ªassuming that Mistress T approves, and I still work for her at that time. Until then, though? You need to be taught in a way that will enable you to pursue your dreams without unrealistic expectations.¡±


    Mistress Petra¡¯s softer voice followed on the heels of her husband¡¯s words, ¡°More than that, we are old and not very advanced. You are not blind to the different levels of Mages, even if you don¡¯t¡ªand can¡¯t¡ªknow the exact distinctions. We don¡¯t want you to join us on our trajectory, and if we, alone, are giving you your foundation, it will be hard for you to surpass us.¡±


    As Master Simon and Mistress Petra finished, T was left feeling grateful that she hadn¡¯t interjected. She really hadn¡¯t considered it as Master Simon and Mistress Petra clearly had.


    Rane¡ªwho had obviously also been listening¡ªspoke up, then, ¡°Segis. I was apprenticed rather than sent to the Academy, and while I learned much that others did not, I also lost out on some of the foundations that they gained. T and Iplement each other so well in part because we have different gaps in our knowledge, but honestly, had she put in her time as a mageling, she would have picked up the majority of what I gained as an apprentice, and she would have done so without essentially any of the downsides. The choice is, in the end, between you and your parents, but if I were to go back, I think that I would have appreciated knowing the truth of the choice more fully.¡±


    Segis frowned, but gave a slow, thoughtful nod.


    <em>He really is mature for his age.</em>


    <em>-Especially inparison to how you remember yourself.-</em>


    <em>True.</em> T smiled slightly, remembering how she¡¯d arrived¡ªnaked¡ªin the Bandfast teleportation tower. <em>That seems like so long ago, yet I was eight years older then, than he is now.</em>


    Finally, the boy looked at Rane and asked a simple question, ¡°Would you choose differently, knowing what you know now?¡±


    Rane hesitated, then looked toward T for a long moment before smiling and answering easily. ¡°Honestly, I am happy with the trajectory my life has taken, and the path that I am walking. I wouldn¡¯t change what happened in the past simply because I wouldn¡¯t want to change my present, and that¡¯s how I got here. That said, such is <em>not</em> an endorsement or condemnation of either choice. Just because something worked out for me, does not mean that it was a good choice, or that others should do the same.¡±


    T knew that she was smiling happily toward Rane, and she was fine with that. As she considered Rane¡¯s words, she realized that she agreed inrge part. She would <em>not</em> have chosen much of what had happened to her, but she couldn¡¯t really say that she disliked almost anything about her life at the moment. Did that mean that what she went through was good?


    No, not at all.


    But if what she went through was required to get her here, would she change any of it, if she could?


    She didn¡¯t honestly know.


    That stirred something within her, and she felt like the question was an important one.


    The conversation fell by the wayside, then. Segis still had a couple more weeks before he could leave for the Academy regardless, so nothing had to be decided right then.


    Metti drifted past again, this time with Terry perched on one of her knees above the waterline.


    T hadn¡¯t even noticed the terror bird ceasing his game with Anna.


    <em>-Well, he can see as much as we can. He flickered away in order to be on Metti as she drifted by. I think he¡¯s trying to make a statement to Anna.-</em>


    <em>Oh?</em>


    <em>-Yeah. He¡¯s still not very pleased by her, but he is warming. Even so, I believe that he is trying to show her that while she fights for his attention, some people simply get it.-</em>


    <em>¡­Is that a guess, or are you pulling his reasoning from his mind?</em>


    <em>-Both? He wouldn¡¯t put it that way, but that¡¯s what his thoughts add up to and point toward in the end.-</em>


    T sighed. That made enough sense to not be worth arguing over.


    Nothing else of real consequence was discussed. That was likely arge part of what led to a pleasant afternoon.


    * * *


    In the end, Segis decided to heed his parents¡¯ advice and attend the Academy.


    T couldn¡¯t really say that the sanctum was quieter without him¡ªafter all he had never really been that much of a disruption to the quiet to begin with¡ªbut it certainly was emptier.


    If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.


    She was rather surprised to find that she felt the absence of the boy. It wasn¡¯t like she¡¯d spent much time with him, but he <em>had</em> been there.


    <em>Maybe it would be nice to have a few more people in the sanctum.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, but they¡¯d have to be people we knew well, ideally those we chose specifically.-</em>


    <em>Of course.</em>


    <em>-It would be even better if we could train their behavior, and guide them to act in ways that we saw as reasonable.-</em>


    <em>I mean¡­ yes?</em>


    <em>-If only we could tap into a way of adding to a poption with people we had natural authority over and could influence the behavior of?- </em>t sent the impression of an innocent grin T¡¯s way.


    T sighed internally. <em>Yes, t. I am aware that I can have children. Though, is that really the best reason to do so?</em>


    <em>-In an ideal world? No, absolutely not, but in a world at war with our very existence? Humanity needs every reason it can find to have more children.-</em>


    <em>That¡¯s¡­ fair.</em> She was actually a bit surprised that she didn¡¯t hate the idea.


    She didn¡¯t see little Tx in person very often, but he was growing up well, and her constant observations let her see the highs and lows of the parenting of not only him but every child in Irondale.


    She tried to not self-righteously assume that she could do better than the parents she observed, but she really did feel like she could do at least as well¡­ she hoped.


    <em>But now is not the time.</em>


    <em>-Of course not. You have all the time in the world.-</em>


    <em>¡­You see, you say that¡ªand it¡¯s true¡ªbut something about </em>how<em> you say that makes me feel like you¡¯re trying to imply something else.</em>


    <em>-I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about.-</em>


    T decided not to fight her alternate interface on the issue.


    Regardless, time continued to pass by. They delved deeper into the War Games¡ªthough they still hadn¡¯t gotten to the scenarios involving other <em>real</em> possible power sets.


    The designers of the War Games were very careful to creep up on that sort of thing, apparently. T and Rane didn¡¯t really know enough to argue with what had worked in the past. So, they simply continued to work their way through the standard path.


    Terry seemed to be fully back to normal, having rolled through the various levels of emotional maturity so quickly that T hadn¡¯t even really registered most of them. He seemed to have finished leveling out with his new cognitive and psychological capacities, and everyone that T had checked with said that he had coped with the bonding process better than could have been hoped for or expected.


    They were well and truly out of the danger zone.


    T was d for that, but she hadn¡¯t really been concerned. If she were being honest, she¡¯d say that she¡¯d barely thought about it as an issue at all.


    Mistress Kannis had been raised to full Magehood, and she had taken over most of Lyn¡¯s duties with gusto. Lyn had taken a step back and was actually already starting to be more and more involved in the goings on in Irondale, even if only through the Archive. She hadn¡¯t agreed to anything yet, but things were looking quite promising.


    T and t were very carefully <em>not</em> pushing Lyn on making a decision, even as they reeled her in.


    T¡¯s siblings came to Alefast several times, Latna taking the time to meet with Anna and Mistress Vanga. The result of those meetings was actually Anna¡¯s decision to move to Marliweather.


    She would take up the running of Master Leighis¡¯ healing business and take on Latna as her mageling.


    Anna <em>was</em> a bit young to be taking on a mageling, but Mistress Vanga had agreed to oversee the process from afar, and both young women had been connected with a few of Mistress Vanga¡¯s colleagues in Marliweather who were too busy to take on another mageling, but who were willing to be resources to the two.


    Mistress Vanga would have happily taken on Latna herself, except neither were willing to relocate to the other¡¯s city. Thus, this arrangement was what had been reached.


    T and Rane <em>almost</em> took off to the far north of the gated-human wilds as a new city construction had been started.


    It had been quite some time since apletely new city was built.


    While it was on a previously used city site¡ªjust like the cycling cities always were¡ªit wasn¡¯t going to be the new location of any of the current cities.


    As such, a new Paragon couple was being ced in charge of the ce, and they were pulling in ideas and concepts that worked from the other cities in order to have a ce that would be entirely their own while still fitting within the culture and ethos of the other cities.


    T still could hardly believe that a thirteenth active city would be added to humanity and none would need to wane for it toe to full power.


    <em>-T, you¡¯re getting repetitive in your thinking¡­-</em>


    <em>But¡­ I really want to see it.</em>


    <em>-There¡¯s nothing new to see, yet!</em>


    It <em>was </em>an exciting thing, and T was <em>almost</em> curious enough about it to take a trip to investigate immediately. Almost.


    Maybe in another few years. Everything at this point was simply theoretical. Nothing would really be visibly different until the city opened to immigration, and that wouldn¡¯t be for decades yet.


    It generally seemed like things were simply progressing well across the board. Master Lisa was even settling in far more thoroughly than anyone had expected. The gateless had seemingly embraced him as a fellow citizen of Irondale, for all that he mainly worked on his home all day.


    It seemed like but a few weeks, yet T and Rane were, once again, headed toward Marliweather to see off Olen to the Academy. Like his brother before him, Olen had decided to go well in advance, rather than hemming and hawing over the decision in the days leading up to his potential departure.


    Caln and Ve had timed their wedding to correspond with when all their Academy siblings would be back to see T and be with Olen for his own send-off. As such, T, Terry, and Rane had been invited to attend the ceremony as well.


    Blessedly, this time T had not been asked to perform the rites. Master Leighis had, in fact, been asked to do so, as a Mage who was heavily involved in both Caln and Ve¡¯s lives. He specifically arranged his rounds so that he could be in the city to perform the ceremony.


    The ceremony was a funny contrast to Brandon and Kedva¡¯s, over which T had presided. This time T was able to just sit back and observe, which made the differences all the more stark.


    Where Brandon and Kedva hade together almost as equals, each taking precedence in various areas per their particr choice, this wedding was much more an invitation from Caln to Ve, asking her toe and oversee their new family. He made vows about how he would protect, provide, and bow to her wisdom, to which she reciprocated with vows to nurture, support, and grow their family with the irreceable gift of new life.


    They then both swore to listen to the other¡¯s insight and to stay united, no matter what Zeme or the stars themselves brought in theing years.


    ¡°Between us: love, patience, and attentiveness. Toward the world: one family in stalwart strength and unity.¡±


    It was far more equal than their society had had back before Mage traditions more thoroughly trickled into mundane life, but that was so long ago that T only really knew about such because of the research she¡¯d done before she presided over a wedding herself.


    It was funny how matriarchal mundane marriages were still purported to be¡ªat least if anyone took the vows at face value¡ªbut that was mostly an artifact of tradition. She found herself okay with that. There was something about the tradition that lent weight to the ceremony.


    <em>-But you¡¯ll have a Mage¡¯s wedding with Rane.-</em>


    <em>Of course, I¡¯ll</em>¡ª T¡¯s eyes widened slightly as she hitched internally. She then sent a faux re at t within their mind. <em>That was devious of you.</em>


    <em>-I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about.-</em>


    The painted patterns portion of the ceremony was essentially identical to a Mage¡¯s wedding. As a matter of taste, Caln and Ve chose to have red and blue paint, respectively, so that thebination was purple rather than gray, but that was just a surface level change. Their lines were also in different styles, but that was to be expected.


    With more time to contemte and simply participate as a guest, T found that she was d that some of the traditions she¡¯d heard of had fallen out of fashion. It apparently used to be incumbent on each party to have a man and woman stand witness to the union, <em>in the room,</em> to ensure that nothing went awry.


    With the soulbond at marriage, that seemed a rather silly stiption, but apparently their ancestors had seen some need or utility in it. Maybe it had been to defend the couple in case some threat or other had tried to intervene?


    T didn¡¯t really care enough to investigate further.


    On the <em>slightly</em> better side, it apparently used to bemon practice for the guests to stand outside the window of the young couple and call out encouragement or heckling until the bond was achieved.


    Even considering the possibility of being on <em>either side</em> of such an interaction was utterly and horrifyingly ufortable to T.


    <em>It really is amazing how far we¡¯ve advanced as a culture.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, and I wonder how long until the two colored paint will be seen as barbaric or indecent.-</em>


    T grunted, considering. <em>I suppose I can see that side of things, but it isn¡¯t meant as scandalous. It¡¯s a symbol.</em>


    <em>-Most things are, at one level or another.-</em>


    <em>Fine¡­</em>


    Rane was quiet through most of the ceremony and the party afterwards. He wasn¡¯t willfully so, and he engaged in plenty of conversations throughout, but T noticed a thoughtfulness to his actions and mannerisms.


    She knew the source, but she chose not to address it, either with him or within her own mind.


    Not yet. She didn¡¯t think that she was ready quite yet.


    t, likewise, didn¡¯t address the conspicuous silence on anyone¡¯s part.


    Just dayster, Olen was gone, the other siblings returning to the Academy with him, and T, Terry, and Rane were headed to Bandfast to pick up Lyn.


    She had agreed to try her hand at administering Irondale.


    Even with that joyous destination, T found herself considering the time in Marliweather a bit somberly.


    In only a little more than a year and a half¡¯s time, she¡¯d be back for Se to make her choice about the Academy, and that would mark the end of this phase of her family¡¯s life.


    Se was thest of T¡¯s siblings to need to make the choice about the Academy.


    In just one year, T¡¯s youngest sibling would be twelve years old, and culturally expected to be on the trajectory of her future career.


    Time had simply flown by.


    <em>Huh.</em>

 Chapter 473: Marliweather Again, Already?

    Chapter 473: Marliweather Again, Already?


    T was pleasantly surprised by how many Archons had questions for Walden, and how many were able and willing to pay the price in dimensionally expanded volume for Kit to eat.


    It was a <em>little </em>annoying to arrange for them to get to T, but the Alefast, Waning, Constructionists began making such items onmission, in order to deliver them to T as payment for the answers she could now provide. There was also the fact it was t and Mistress Ingrit who were doing the actual logistical work. So, T really had little toin about.


    The Librarian was still handling all of the negotiations and facilitation of the inquiries into T¡¯s various avable memories and other sources of wisdom and knowledge. T¡ªonce again¡ªverified that Mistress Ingrit was gettingpensated for her time spent and effort given. The Librarian not only assured her that she was, but once again made sure that T had ess to the records of suchpensation.


    T hadn¡¯t doubted the woman¡¯s integrity, but T just couldn¡¯t understand why Mistress Ingrit was willing to ept so little.


    Sure, there was the value of having ess to all of the intangible goods for free herself, but was that really worth so much to the woman?


    <em>-Let me see, does a life-long Librarian value knowledge? Come on, T, is this really confusing to you?-</em>


    <em>¡­Fair.</em>


    One incredible result that T had only briefly considered was that <em>many</em> Archons had simr questions for Walden, and so T only had to bother¡ªor pay¡ªthe immortal elk once for each of those groupings. Then she could collect a smaller fee to simply pass the knowledge on to following inquirers. Well, T and Kit got the fee so that Mistress Ingrit could pass the knowledge on.


    Some, including Master Grediv, even asked the question that T had at the start: Why¡ªin the opinion of the Immortal Elk¡ªwere cells seeming to degrade more quickly? Or at least why were moreing up as in need of maintenance in this waning?The consensus was that Walden¡¯s was an interesting theory, and likely had some truth to it, but it just as likely wasn¡¯t the whole story.


    As for the effect of the payments, there wasn¡¯t a massive amount of growth for Kit from any given transaction, but it was a permanent expansion each time, and it added up.


    Walden¡¯s forest was also growing, as expected, and the elk seemed to be rather pleased with the results of the deal that he¡¯d made as well.


    Master Grediv asionally asked to inspect the remnants of the cell to check for issues, and T allowed him¡ªand any expert he saw fit to bring¡ªthe ess that was needed. There was even talk about finding simr cells to allow T to subsume them as well, but that had so many implications that there was no chance that it would have a short timeline.


    Plus, there were only three or four of this type of prisoner that modern humanity was aware of.


    On another issue entirely, T was finally given permission to try augmenting the connections between the parts of reality across the rends present at previous city sites, but Master Grediv made a personal request, asking that she dy for a bit, as it likely wouldn¡¯t be a fast process to test thoroughly. Unfortunately, it seemed that there were several Defenders who were looking to have time off in the next couple of years. Her departure added on top¡ªand likely Rane¡¯s as well¡ªwould leave them on the lighter side of the desired numbers to protect Alefast, Waning, and deal with cells in the region.


    That made sense to T, so she put the idea on the back burner for the time being.


    Within Irondale, things were progressing very well. True to his word, Lisa was taking his time to do¡­ whatever it was he was doing to establish his four-dimensional home within Irondale.


    He wasn¡¯t quite as reclusive as he¡¯d threatened to be, seemingly beginning to make friends with his neighbors and many in the town in general. The children of Irondale seemed to especially like the fox, and he didn¡¯t seem to mind their presence too much when they came to watch his work, even if T was entirely sure that they didn¡¯t really understand just how incredible what they were seeing was.


    <em>But I suppose I could be wrong?</em>


    <em>-Yeah, kids are fairly malleable¡­-</em>


    Master Simon, Adrill, Brandon, and Kedva finally got the first group of Irondalians ready for magical rebirth.


    The consensus was that the natural magics given to Kedva would both be of more use and easier to get used to than the detailed magesight magics which had been given to Brandon and Adrill.


    Even so, the schemas worked out¡ªin coboration with Mistress Holly in repayment for a couple of questions asked of Walden¡ªincorporated basic magesight as well.


    Thus, with Lyn¡¯s coordination, T began to help Irondalians be reborn at the rate of roughly one a day until there were fifty additional magically reborn humans.


    Lyn had taken up the mantle of point of contact for T and logistician for Irondale as a whole with vigor, and she was already integrating herself with the town¡¯s popce with ease.


    The newly reborn trained together every day, their magic kept full by the power within Kit once T had allowed it to interact with them. They used the series of spaces that Lyn had designated for T to set up with incrementally less magical density, doing their utmost to maintain their own level of power in the progressively more starved environments.


    Kedva¡ªin particr¡ªwas making great strides, and she was now able to leave Irondale for a few hours before her density dropped too significantly due to simple diffusion.


    T also helped Adrill and Brandon to gain natural magics like Kedva¡¯s and T¡¯s own defensive and enhancing inscriptions, thus making sure that they weren¡¯t left behind by the new recruits.


    The fifty-three adults quickly took on the role of arbiters within Irondale¡ªbiased mainly on the newer people because of the duties already on the te of the original three¡ªhelping to settle any disputes that could arise and helping to keep tempers in check.


    Thankfully, there wasn¡¯t ever a need for actual violence or true intervention, but they were easily and enthusiastically adopted as figures of prominence within the growing town, especially when Lyn began using them to convey many of her more pleasant notices to the various people around the town.


    This adoption caused even more interest within the citizenry to join these reborn, and the next crop of applicants was picked and their training began.


    On the events concerning T more directly, Rane finally convinced her to review the memories they¡¯d been given about the ck Legion. Master Grediv had really gone above and beyond in finding some for her to see directly, rather than simply giving her the information that they¡¯d glean on the foe over the centuries¡­ Though, he did give her that, too.


    They had Enar and t parse them down for easier consumption, annotating the memories and making them rtively simple to review.


    Even the simplified, summarized versions still weren¡¯t pleasant.


    The ck Legion were horrifying in a way that was hard to describe while still being brutally effective at what they did, and they seemed to liquify upon death, meaning that all information gathered about how they worked¡ªand what their internals looked like¡ªhad to be acquired while a member of the Legion was kept ¡®alive¡¯ and functional.


    From the information they were granted, gated-humanity had acquired a <em>very</em> detailed understanding of the internals of the ck Legion members as well as how they worked, generally.


    Most had vestiges at their cores, but the power sources were held in magical istion so that the human soul couldn¡¯t influence the actions of any of the automata. It was believed that such was part of the reason for their susceptibility to Reality¡¯s influence. Though, that was obviously not the whole reason.


    Regardless, T now felt a bit better prepared for the ck Legion if a legionnaire ever crossed her path, even if mostly just because she would be less surprised and taken aback by their¡­ peculiarities.


    Rane had seemed rather more subdued after diving through the briefs.


    Stolen story; please report.


    After thinking through her own feelings, T had sat down beside the big man. ¡°Hey, Rane. What are you thinking?¡±


    ¡°These things¡­ these automata¡­ they have such a hatred for us, for anything of Magic. It doesn¡¯t really seem to align with how Magical Beasts act, even if there are parallels. I¡­ It makes me wish that they¡¯d found a way to destroy the Legion, rather than just lock them away.¡±


    T grunted in agreement at that. ¡°I think everyone would agree, not only about the ck Legion, but about all the various prisoners. One blessing is that the ck Legion¡¯s cell shouldn¡¯t resurface anytime soon.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, but it will eventually, and I pity both the unit sent to investigate it and humanity as a whole when that happens.¡±


    She smiled at that. ¡°You know, we¡¯ll likely still be around to see that, to help.¡±


    He smiled in return, seeming to brighten even as he straightened a bit. ¡°That¡¯s true. I suppose we should get ready.¡±


    T took on a mock serious tone, ¡°You¡¯re right, that settles it. I¡¯ll advance just for that.¡±


    Rane huffed augh. ¡°There are worse motivations out there, but I get your point. We¡¯ll be as strong as we can be when they return, and worrying about them, specifically, won¡¯t help any.¡±


    She leaned against him briefly. ¡°Exactly. We have things to ovee all around us. One more won¡¯t break us.¡±


    He leaned in and kissed her then, and their conversation turned to other things.


    * * *


    Metti Zat did not follow in her family¡¯s footsteps, at least not right away, as she let her twelfth birthdaye and go without leaving for the Academy.


    Her parents didn¡¯t want to force her to leave, but as fall progressed, they became more frantic for the girl to make up her mind.


    That was actually what seemed to be thergest issue. Metti hadn¡¯t chosen to go elsewhere, she just hadn¡¯t wanted to go to the Academy ¡®yet.¡¯


    That seemed to spark unusual tension within the older couple, as they didn¡¯t seem to know how to handle the indecision of their youngest. They wanted to support her, whatever she chose, but she just wasn¡¯t choosing.


    It made the fall of that year a bit more stressful, even if not for anything of consequence to T¡¯s mind. The girl could be a Mage if she wanted, a little dy wouldn¡¯t really change that much.


    <em>-You¡¯re bing unmoored in time, T. You don¡¯t have enough touchpoints. The years are starting to slip by. It¡¯s been nine months since Olen left for the Academy, and you¡¯ve not done anything of real note.-</em>


    <em>I know¡­ It¡¯s¡­ it¡¯s odd, but I don¡¯t really see it as a bad thing.</em>


    <em>-Just make sure you¡¯re not waiting on things that you¡¯ll regret missing out on if the opportunity passes.-</em>


    <em>I¡¯ll keep that in mind.</em>


    Illie and Nc had decided to stay at the Academy absolutely as long as they would be allowed to do so. Thus, they wereing back when they were no longer allowed to take sses as they¡¯d be turning twenty around when the sses <em>started</em>.


    As a consequence, T, Rane, and Terry were in Marliweather that winter, and T couldn¡¯t quite reconcile the fact that it had been so long since she¡¯d originally reconnected with her family and seen off these twins to their Academic experiences.


    The intervening years had been a rollercoaster of time for T, and she thought that nothing could really surprise her these days.


    Even so, T was staring at her siblings with a bit of shock. ¡°You want me to take you to your new masters?¡±


    Illie grinned and Nc nodded solemnly. ¡°We discussed it, and we came back to Marliweather to see the family, and in hopes of traveling with you to where our masters are. They¡¯re a married couple, and they¡¯ve agreed to take the two of us on at once.¡±


    ¡°And you want me to take you there?¡± T felt a bit incredulous that they hadn¡¯t asked first¡ªthey were already in Marliweather after all¡ªand quite a bit grateful that they hadn¡¯t asked to be <em>her</em> magelings. She¡¯d have had a hard time refusing, even if she really didn¡¯t feel like they¡¯d be a good fit with her.


    <em>-Come on! Help me win the bet.-</em>


    <em>No.</em>


    <em>-Spoil sport.-</em>


    Illie spoke this time, ¡°Yes please, T. We¡¯d like to spend a bit more time with you before we go out in the world away from everything we¡¯ve ever really known. Is that alright?¡±


    T looked toward Rane, questioning.


    <em>-Enar conveyed that Rane is all for a bit of a detour, but he¡¯s also happy to be the reason you say no, if you need an easy out.-</em>


    <em>Thank him, please.</em>


    T wasn¡¯t sure what she wanted, but having Rane¡¯s support, regardless of what she chose, made the whole situation seem easier to manage.


    After a moment¡¯s thought¡ªin which she considered things as thoroughly as a mundane could have in a couple of hours¡ªT nodded, looking to Terry. ¡°Are you up for a bit of a detour, my friend?¡±


    Terry trilled happily toward the stars, just as she knew that he would.


    ¡°Well, then. That¡¯s settled. When do we leave?¡±


    Nc took back over, speaking for himself and his sister, ¡°Well, our masters are expecting us within the week. So, how fast can we get to Arconaven?¡±


    T felt herself stiffen.


    Arconaven.


    It was on a trip from Marliweather toward Arconaven that she had been taken.


    <em>Calm, T. Be calm.</em>


    <em>-You aren¡¯t Fused any longer. You are much more powerful. He is dead. You are safe.-</em>


    <em>I know. I know.</em> She took a long, deep breath, hiding her feelings.


    Rane¡¯s arm slid across her back to pull her against him in aforting side-hug.


    <em>Did you tell him?</em>


    <em>-No. He just knows you well enough.-</em>


    That caused a warmth to blossom in her chest, helping her to actually calm enough to respond. After she had considered for a moment, she gave a slow nod. ¡°It will take us about two days or so.¡±


    Nc smiled, utterly unaware of T¡¯s internal struggle. ¡°Then, we should leave within the next three, if that¡¯s alright with you.¡±


    <em>-I¡¯ll alert Lyn. She¡¯ll make sure everything is arranged with Irondale.-</em>


    T smiled in return. ¡°That sounds good to me.¡±


    Rane was nodding seriously, giving her a tight squeeze before letting go. ¡°In that case, I¡¯ll have to rearrange a few things.¡±


    Her eyebrows went up. ¡°Oh? I¡¯m sorry, Rane. Do you need us to change the time of departure? We can make the trip more quickly if you need.¡±


    He shook his head. ¡°No, no. I just have a bit of business to take care of in the city, and I¡¯ll make sure it¡¯s done in time.¡±


    She gave him a searching look. When he didn¡¯t borate further, she simply shrugged. ¡°Alright, then.¡±


    That settled, T and t did their best to coordinate and catch up with her siblings.


    Anna took advantage of T¡¯s visit as well, seeing her own parents and connecting with Metti to discuss the child¡¯s choice at length, even if the younger girl already knew what her older sister felt about going to the Academy.


    Thankfully, Illie and Nc actually took some time to talk with Metti as well, and T thought it likely that they¡¯d be willing to continue the discussion during the trip to Arconaven.


    As for her other siblings, Nea was engaged, which initially surprised T, but then she remembered that Nea was seventeen and given that her betrothed was only a couple of years older than her¡ªand an established journeyman ssblower¡ªit made a certain amount of sense for non-Mages.


    Mita and Akli¡ªwho were often lost in the shuffle¡ªwere betrothed to a cksmith and a caravan guard respectively. They worked as seamstresses, themselves, and generally stuck close together, being less tied into the family than anyone save T, herself.


    In T¡¯s case, that was due to her being away from the city. In theirs, it was because they generally didn¡¯t get along with the parents, and being non-Mages and non-alchemists, they didn¡¯t have those touchpoints with the others either.


    The weddings were set for times that T wouldn¡¯t be around, and when she¡¯d asked if they wanted her toe, they¡¯d been genuinely ambivalent.


    They didn¡¯t dislike her at all, but it was clear that the twin young women didn¡¯t feel much connection to T, or any of their other siblings for that matter.


    On a more positive note, Caln and Ve had moved into the old family home, along with Anna and Latna, who had taken over Master Leighis¡¯s portion of the business and building.


    Latna was noticeably more reserved with her new master, and T detected a bit of underlying determination in the young woman¡¯s eyes, but she didn¡¯t choose to borate when asked, and T didn¡¯t press.


    <em>Master Leighis let us know that he just recently told Latna that one reason he passed her training on to someone else was because of his growing affection for her. He said he didn¡¯t want to pressure her to reciprocate, but if she did, he would be interested in spending more time together once she was a Mage.</em>


    <em>-That would do it.-</em> T wasn¡¯t sure about how the whole thing had been handled, but it seemed at least reasonable in the end. The choice was in Latna¡¯s hands now.


    Master Leighis was still in asional contact with the family as a whole, and a bit more frequent contact with Latna in particr, but from the way she conveyed it, Latna did <em>not</em> think it was often enough.


    That implied where she was leaning with her choice, but nothing solid had been conveyed, so T decided to continue to leave the subject be.


    The man, himself, had returned to the Guard, specifically as an auxiliary who apanied mundane troops on their patrols of the nearby wilds when they did so to harvest magicalponents and help keep the local arcanous creatures to manageable levels, allowing an easier time for most caravans.


    He seemed happy overall, though T picked up hints in what her siblings shared that he was sad to be away from the city, which she interpreted as sadness to be away from Latna.


    <em>At least he¡¯s giving her time to recenter and leaving the choice firmly with her.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, it¡¯s a fine line he¡¯s walking.-</em>


    <em>Indeed.</em>


    Overall, the visit was pleasant, and in no time at all, T, Rane, and Terry were leaving the city with Illie and Nc in tow.

 Chapter 474: An Amazing Big Sister

    Chapter 474: An Amazing Big Sister


    T had forgotten how slow mundanes were.


    t sighed within T¡¯s head. <em>-They aren¡¯t mundane, T.-</em>


    <em>I mean, they really are in this sense. No inscriptions, and even if they had them, they wouldn¡¯t be enhanced at all in their capacity for movement.</em>


    <em>-T, are you bing a Mage-exceptionalist?-</em> t teasingly poked at T, trying to lighten the mood.


    <em>No? But Mages are better at everything whenpared to mundanes.</em> T grinned internally, trying to y along with t¡¯s teasing to pass the time.


    -<em>Yeah, yeah. So, we agree. For anything enhanceable, Mages </em>can<em> be superior, but that doesn¡¯t make them inherently better.-</em>


    <em>Precisely, because a person¡¯s worth isn¡¯t based on their capacities.</em> She wasn¡¯t sure how or why this had turned philosophical, but she was willing to let it slide. Walking slowly was really boring¡­


    <em>-Yes, you are bored¡­ So, do you really want to be having this conversation at the speed of thought? We¡¯ve taken like ten steps from the gates of Marliweather.-</em>


    <em>We¡¯re on our twelfth step¡­ </em>T sighed, then groaned internally. <em>I see your point.</em><em>-Have fun!-</em>


    T turned to smile toward her siblings who were looking around with a bit of trepidation. ¡°You two <em>have </em>been outside city walls before. Right?¡±


    Nc nodded slowly. ¡°Yes, of course. Our sses took trips to the farming and mining districts back in prep-school, but this feels different somehow.¡±


    Illie nodded as well. ¡°It does, yeah. We aren¡¯t going out for a little trip. We¡¯re going <em>out.</em>¡±


    Rane chuckled. ¡°It¡¯s even more than that, right? You¡¯re <em>walking</em> out, basically on your own. You are not with a caravan or patrol unit or anything.¡±


    Ille smiled his way. ¡°Well, we have the two of you, right?¡±


    Nc grinned in turn. ¡°Big bad Defenders of Humanity?¡±


    T groaned slightly. ¡°We really shouldn¡¯t have let Latna and Caln take them to the battle-view restaurant¡­¡±


    ¡°Are you kidding?¡± Her brother was incredulous. ¡°That was amazing! Though, you haven¡¯t been doing much fighting ofte. It definitely felt like the few shes of yours that we did see were from over a year ago.¡±


    T shrugged. He was right; she really hadn¡¯t fought near the walls much ofte. Rane had been given precedence as the newest Defender in their unit, to make sure he had a solid footing with his advancement, and they¡¯d been doing more cells instead of wall patrols. Even so, all of that was more technical than the response really needed. ¡°The sections of the wall we¡¯ve been watching really haven¡¯t been attacked that often ofte. Sometimes luck swings one way, sometimes the other.¡±


    It was true enough.


    The four of them chatted about little things as they passed through the farm section, and then out into the mining district. All the while, Terry was flickering about, asionally getting far enough away that T felt his illusions engage and his human shape became presented to the world.


    <em>That really is so rudimentarypared to what Lisa can do.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, but his didn¡¯t feel like it came from an item. It definitely wasn¡¯t illusory in nature either. It was </em>almost<em> without any type of magic at all.-</em>


    <em>That¡¯s true¡­ Now that I consider it, the feel of it was more like moving from room to room in his shop. Do you think he¡¯s somehow built a human body for himself and is hiding it in the fourth dimension?</em>


    <em>-Shouldn¡¯t we have seen it if so?-</em>


    <em>You¡¯d think so¡­ He could be hiding it in the void? Like we are with Walden¡¯s forest?</em>


    <em>-I mean, that could be. We certainly have a </em>lot<em> still to learn about such things. Regardless, I have a more important question.-</em>


    <em>Oh?</em>


    <em>-Are you going to continue to fall into these side tangent conversations with me</em>¡ª<em>within your own head</em>¡ª<em>instead of engaging with your siblings?-</em>


    <em>Right!</em>


    T tuned back in¡ªhaving only spaced out for a couple of steps¡ªto hear Rane asking a rather important question, ¡°What did you both decide for your foundational understandings? I know you weren¡¯t ready to share them with us when westmunicated. Has that finally changed? Are you ready now?¡±


    Illie and Nc shared a look which brought smiles to both of their faces. Finally, Illie nodded and Nc shrugged. It was she who spoke first, ¡°Mine is rtively simple: Magic is my hand.¡±


    T considered for a moment before nodding. ¡°I can understand that. It seems incredibly broad, though. What do you do with that?¡±


    The girl nodded. ¡°I am a Material Guide.¡± A grin blossomed on her face. ¡°<em>All</em> material. If I could affect it with my hand, I can affect it with my magic. It also works in reverse, meaning I can use my magic to improve what I can do with my hands through physical augmentation.¡±


    <em>Well, huh¡­ Maybe they would have had faster movement with their inscriptions.</em>


    <em>-That¡¯ll teach us to judge too quickly.-</em>


    <em>Will it though?</em>


    <em>-One can hope.-</em>


    Nc grunted, interjecting with the clear intention of stealing Illie¡¯s spotlight. She let him with a small smile and a rueful shake of her head. ¡°Yeah, yeah. You can move things with your mind and punch hard. Yours is boring. Mine is awesome: Time is ephemeral.¡±


    T stiffened, and Rane¡¯s eyes widened in horror. They both knew the danger of anything rting to time magic. What under the stars were those at the Academy <em>thinking</em> to allow such a foundation?


    Nc chuckled, then shook his head and held up his hands. ¡°Sorry, sorry. That was just a little joke.¡±


    Illie smacked her brother¡¯s shoulder before addressing T and Rane, ¡°He teased every teacher with something like that at least once.¡±


    His broad grin showed that he was unrepentant. ¡°Guilty. But I do really like my foundational understanding: There is no equal and opposite force if nothing remains to push back.¡±


    Rane grunted, grimacing even as his horror bled away. He seemed like he <em>might</em> have been about to argue with the boy but thought better of it. ¡°So, you¡¯re a close quarters Mage as well?¡±


    ¡°Yes and no, Immaterial Guide. I focus on coherence, hardness, and sticity.¡± He held up his hand briefly to forestall any questions. ¡°I like throwing things after altering their properties.¡± He gave a bit of a sheepish smile. ¡°I honestly had a bit of troubleing to a decision about what I wanted to do and focus on. It wasn¡¯t until thest few years that this really crystallized for me.¡± He shrugged.


    Rane smiled at the younger man, seemingly having fully recovered himself. ¡°That¡¯s quite interesting.¡± He gestured between the twins. ¡°So, still closer range, though? I imagine you catch people off guard often enough.¡±


    Illie shook her head and sighed dramatically. ¡°You have no idea. He¡¯ll grab a handful of air and throw it at you like a rock. It hits like one too.¡±


    T interjected then, ¡°Interesting. I imagine that makes your magics hard to deal with.¡±


    He grinned widely, even as Illie scowled. ¡°Oh, absolutely.¡±


    Illie huffed. ¡°His magic acts near him, but their effects remain when he throws or otherwise uses what he affected.¡±


    T was considering how she¡¯d counter such magics, and she found herself a bit at a loss.


    <em>-Come on, T. Get your head out of the rust. You¡¯d just take the hits and kill him an instantter¡­ or kill him before he could even attack you. While his magics seem reminiscent of yours, you have </em>force<em> at your disposal, even if indirectly. He doesn¡¯t.-</em>


    <em>Well¡­ yeah, but that¡¯s not very satisfying¡­ I was trying to think how I would actually counter his magics, not just brute force the results I wanted.</em>


    <em>-...Who are you? Who do you </em>think<em> you are?-</em>


    <em>You¡¯re not very nice sometimes¡­</em>


    Nc was clearly quite proud of himself. ¡°The instructors were very impressed. They said it would be among the harder magics to counter, but that the power output wouldn¡¯t be very impressive until I improved.¡± He shrugged. ¡°It was great for defense regardless, and I could take out any annoying insects with ease. It¡¯s kind of fun to harden the air around mosquitos and watch them drop to the ground.¡±


    Illie smiled at that. ¡°Hiking in the mid-summer was quite a bit more pleasant after he got that locked in.¡±


    The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.


    T smiled as well. She was rather interested at how closely it mirrored how her gravity magics worked, but she didn¡¯t want to point that out in case he hadn¡¯t realized the simrities. ¡°I¡¯m d to hear it."


    Nc sighed. ¡°But we have no inscriptions now, so there will be no bug eradication.¡±


    Rane gave him an odd look. ¡°It¡¯s the beginning of winter. You¡¯re wearing winter hiking gear. You brought along <em>snow shoes</em>¡ªeven though we told you it wouldn¡¯t be necessary. Do you really think bugs will be an issue?¡±


    The young man looked a bit embarrassed, even as he answered, ¡°...no?¡±


    Illie giggled. ¡°Nc likes to feel useful.¡±


    ¡°No, <em>Illie</em>. I like to <em>be</em> useful.¡±


    T grinned. ¡°That is a good distinction to understand. Many people who think they are being useful¡ªor think they are doing good¡ªare actually getting in the way, or worse: doing harm.¡±


    Rane nodded solemnly. ¡°So, how are you two faring so far?¡±


    Nc and Illie were breathing a bit hard but not overly so. It seemed that they hadn¡¯t skipped out on too many of the physical requirements or rmendations that the Academy put forward. Nc shrugged, and Illie answered, ¡°Just fine. This isn¡¯t easy by any means, but it¡¯s doable. Besides, we¡¯ve already gone a good way, right?¡±


    T¡¯s eye twitched, and she tried to formte a response that would be truthful and still kind.


    Rane grinned back at them, taking the task off of T¡¯s mental te. ¡°We¡¯re still within Marliweather¡¯s defenses.¡±


    The younger two stiffened and looked back, seeing the well-worn paths and folks out and about. Truly, Rane¡¯s answer shouldn¡¯t have been a surprise at all, but they were so focused on the conversation and the walk that they hadn¡¯t really been paying attention to their surroundings atrge.


    ¡°If we continue like this, it will take us <em>weeks</em> to get to Arconaven¡­¡± Rane let the sentiment linger.


    Nc hung his head, and Illie huffed augh. ¡°<em>Fine.</em> T, is your offer still on the table?¡±


    T nodded, trying to not be <em>too</em> enthusiastic. ¡°Of course I will carry you.¡±


    It took barely any time to get them into her sanctum. Once they were situated, it was trivial for T to open up a window out so that they could see forward and talk with T and Rane as they traveled.


    She¡¯d somewhat perfected the technique back when she¡¯d brought Lyn and Kannis to Alefast, Waning, for a visit.


    Once Nc and Illie were all settled, T silently mouthed a ¡®Thank you¡¯ to Rane. She hadn¡¯t had any idea how to tactfully push back on a couple of young adults who ¡®just wanted to do it themselves.¡¯


    Thankfully, this lesson hadn¡¯t put them in any real danger, and they¡¯d both recognized the folly of their desire to hike the whole way quickly enough to not really put the trip¡¯s timetable in jeopardy.


    It hadn¡¯t even taken them until lunch to have the realization.


    T considered that for a moment, frowning. <em>Huh¡­ maybe they''re quitters?</em>


    <em>-Yes. Of course,</em> that¡¯s <em>the takeaway. It¡¯s not that they realized that they were wrong and decided to bend to wisdom. No. They simply decided that being right would be too hard, so they quit.-</em>


    <em>¡­Yeah, that was really uncharitable.</em>


    <em>-You think?-</em>


    T sighed, set her feet and nced toward Terry and Rane. ¡°Ready?¡±


    Rane nodded and smiled. Terry trilled happily, clearly excited to get underway at a more reasonable pace.


    * * *


    They progressed northward at a good clip, chatting here and there.


    In truth, the twins began talking with Metti within the sanctum almost as much as with T and Rane, despite T¡¯s facilitation of easymunication with them.


    It didn¡¯t take long at all for both Illie and Nc to grudgingly admit that there was <em>no way under the stars</em> that they could havee anywhere close to the speed that T, Rane, and Terry were traveling.


    T was a gracious big sister and didn¡¯t rub that fact in their faces too much.


    They did have a lovely discussion as to the nature of the twins¡¯ window out, however.


    T had simply opened a portal then limited the speed at which anything could pass through it from the outside by slowing it down at the threshold. She had also utterly forbidden anything from leaving.


    Thus, from the twins¡¯ side, it would have felt like unbreakable ss, but they were still getting a slight breeze and the scents of the winter forest all the same.


    She was also recreating both her and Rane¡¯s voices as if they came through the portal, but she didn¡¯t bother to mention that part to her siblings. She didn¡¯t want a discussion on how she might be changing the words without them knowing.


    She wouldn¡¯t do that¡­ probably.


    Illie and Nc both thought that the whole process would have been easier if T had simply created an illusion, as it¡¯s all light and sound anyway.


    Maybe there wouldn¡¯t have been a discussion on her deceiving them. Regardless, T had rolled her eyes. <em>Typical mageling thinking¡­</em>


    ¡°No. While that would be <em>almost</em> the same¡ªvisually¡ªit would not contain anything else. It would also be sterile, only containing the things that I specifically chose to convey in the way that I chose to convey them. There would be no chance of you seeing something that I missed.¡±


    Nc raised an eyebrow. ¡°There¡¯s a chance that you missed something?¡±


    <em>-No.- </em>t was very definitive in her response, which Nc couldn¡¯t hear.


    <em>¡­Not that Nc would have any hope of seeing. </em>T caveated back to her alternate interface.


    <em>-Fair.-</em>


    T sighed before addressing her brother, a bit of affection in her tone, ¡°That¡¯s not the point, little titan. You¡¯d be seeing things as <em>I</em> see them, rather than seeing them for yourselves.¡±


    Nc had a satisfied smile, clearly feeling that he¡¯d won at least a part of the disagreement, but he didn¡¯t fight her on it further.


    Illie seemed content either way, but never actually conceded the point.


    T decided not to press the issue. <em>What a good big sister I am.</em>


    <em>-And so humble about it, too.-</em>


    <em>I know, right? I¡¯ve not told anyone else how good I am.</em>


    <em>-That¡¯s¡­ true, I suppose? But you¡¯re not very internally humble.-</em>


    <em>Eh, I¡¯m being honest about who and what I am. That¡¯s the essence of true humility.</em>


    <em>-...Do you really think you¡¯re being a good big sister?-</em>


    <em>To them? Right now? Yes.</em>


    t considered for a moment before sending the equivalent of a shrug. <em>-Fair enough.-</em>


    T fell into a moment of silence in which Nc was talking with Rane, and Illie seemed to be dialoguing with Metti within the sanctum.


    <em>-Seems to be?-</em>


    <em>I¡¯m trying to be polite and not listen in¡­</em>


    <em>-Fine.-</em>


    Regardless, in the moment of less socially-obligated interaction, T had time to really look around herself.


    She recognized the terrain, despite her entirely different perspective on it whenpared to her previous experience of it.


    This was the route she¡¯d taken for the first time when two bog-hags had captured children under her watch.


    This was the path that she¡¯d trod just before Be-thric had taken her.


    She hadn¡¯te this way since.


    T had a low-level, building anxiety that she <em>wished </em>she didn¡¯t know the reason for.


    It was still nearly a day¡¯s travel from where <em>it</em> had happened, but she could feel it looming on the horizon like the forefront of an oing storm.


    The world was darkening around her, despite it being a cloudless, winter day.


    She could practically feel an electric charge across her skin.


    She could practically hear those who mourned the boys from within the wagons¡­


    Her soul was trembling.


    A bare breathter, Nc asked her a question, and she was jerked back to the present moment.


    She was easily able to answer him, and she didn¡¯t allow herself to spiral again.


    Even so, when they stopped for lunch¡ªand for Terry to bask in the sun, clearly having enjoyed his roving hunts¡ªRane touched T¡¯s shoulder and spoke too quietly for anyone else to hear, ¡°Something is pulling at you. How can I help?¡±


    She leaned into the touch, closing her eyes for a moment. ¡°I don¡¯t know¡­ not yet.¡±


    He smiled reassuringly. ¡°Alright. When you do, please tell me, and I¡¯ll do what I can.¡±


    ¡°I know you will, Rane. Thank you.¡±


    ¡°Of course.¡±


    She took a deep breath in and blew it out before straightening back up. ¡°Let¡¯s get lunch moving.¡±


    T opened the portal into her sanctum wider, making it into a proper door and cing it against a tree for convenience.


    Mistress Petra, Master Simon, and Metti helped set up their winter feast, providing heated seats and utensils as well as ensuring that Illie and Nc were properly clothed for the asion.


    T imagined it was a rather fun experience, eating in such a way. To her it was rather mundane.


    She thought that Lyn might have enjoyed it, but she also felt like inviting her out would change the tenor of the meal away from the focus on the twins and Metti. So, she didn¡¯t extend the invitation. She did try to have lunch with Lyn at least once a week, after all, so she¡¯d see her soon enough.


    The snow below her feet felt cool, but not cold by any means. The wind was but a pleasant breeze, and the utensils?


    Well, she made white steel utensils from her elk leathers for herself at need. That way they were always perfectly suited to the task at hand.


    The various dishes stayed at the perfect temperature¡ªas always¡ªdue to the magical items that Mistress Petra used to ensure that T¡¯s meals were <em>always </em>kept at the right temperatures. Now, others got to benefit as well.


    Theyughed and chatted through the repast¡ªthe twins and Rane more than T or Terry¡ªand everyone enjoyed the meal.


    Nc requested a bowl of jerky bits to throw for Terry, and Terry obliged by snatching them from the air without seeming to move in the slightest, much to the delight of the two young magelings.


    ¡°I swear I can see some of his magic!¡±


    Illie rolled her eyes at her brother. ¡°You don¡¯t have any inscriptions, Nc.¡±


    ¡°But I¡¯ve been training my eyes to see magic for years. Some of that has clearly rubbed off, because I <em>can</em> see something.¡±


    T smiled. <em>She</em> could see the barest hints of natural magics around her brother¡¯s eyes, showing that he might actually be right, even if it was unlikely without much of a keystone.


    Both of the twins did have the barest hints of that working in their natural magics. The Academy was rigorous and long enough to let the magics used constantly begin to be at least moderately permanent.


    She decided to not tell Nc or Illie any of this, of course.


    <em>-Because you¡¯re such an amazing big sister?-</em>


    <em>Precisely. Who am I to deprive them of such a lovely topic for their lively conversation?</em>


    <em>-You¡¯re T, that¡¯s who.-</em>


    <em>Right you are, but no.</em>


    <em>-Really?-</em>


    <em>Natural magics is a topic for their masters to address with them, as they see appropriate. The Academy doesn¡¯t bring up natural magics because it often causes decision paralysis in young magelings and Mages. They need to be free to make changes to their magics and their inscriptions without a fear that they¡¯re setting themselves back in that one area. </em>


    <em>-Fine.-</em>


    T leaned back, taking a slow drink from what tasted like buttered rum. It was decadent beyond belief, but it was also somehow exactly the right capstone to their meal in the remote forest de.


    Rane finished his own, then gave T a quick kiss as he stood. It was time for them to continue the trip.


    T smiled after him for a moment before standing, herself. <em>Delicious.</em>

 Chapter 475: Where It Happened

    Chapter 475: Where It Happened


    T stood in the forest clearing, staring at an empty spot at the eastern side of the wide circle that was maintained as a waypoint for caravans on the way from Marliweather to Arconaven.


    There were more than a half dozen such spots in this area alone to prevent the more intelligent threats from simply setting ambushes. So, even if it had been the right time of day for it, it wasn¡¯t surprising that they¡¯d found the ce empty.


    Not that she would have cared if it had been crowded with man or beast.


    To her mind, it felt like lightning was striking, over and over from a clear sky, each strike arcing to end at the same point some fifteen feet above the ground.


    <em>It was right there. He stole me, </em>right there.


    By some quirk of fate, it was the first day of the new year, the seventh anniversary of Be-thric¡¯s death.


    She was standing where he had caught her atst, and she had killed him almost exactly seven years ago after breaking free of his hold.


    She almostughed, but for her desire to weep at the tension in her chest.


    Rane stood beside her, and Terry rested on her shoulder. Both understood <em>where </em>this was, and both gave her the silence that she needed along with their support which she so craved.Illie and Nc had been asked to take the time to bathe and prepare for lunch. They had seemingly sensed that something was off, and thus, they hadn¡¯t argued at all. They¡¯d all stayed upte the night before, celebrating new beginnings and a new year, so, they¡¯d been grateful for a bit of time to rest and for the chance to get cleaned up.


    <em>There¡¯s snow on the ground¡­ There wasn¡¯t back then.</em>


    <em>-No, it was spring when he found us.-</em>


    A thought flickered through her mind, disrupting her spiraling contemtions. <em>Did they ever root out the coven of bog hags?</em>


    <em>-The records indicated that there were no others in the near region. They were traced back north, seemingly having broken off of a group up that way.-</em>


    <em>And?</em> T trusted that t knew what she wanted to know.


    -<em>That group was taken care of, down to thest hag.-</em> t¡¯s voice was firm with satisfaction.


    <em>Good.</em> There had at least been justice for the boys, the boys who had been killed under her watch.


    <em>-Oh, that¡¯s interesting. Huh.-</em>


    <em>What?</em>


    <em>-Well, Rane did it. Or at least he was on the team that did.-</em>


    That <em>did</em> surprise T. <em>Oh? I didn¡¯t think he knew I was missing soon enough to have been involved.</em>


    <em>-The logs of the unit leader state that he showed up in Arconaven just as they were about to leave and demanded to apany them. He insisted that you were alive and that he needed to look for clues as to where you might be.-</em>


    That pulled a smile across T¡¯s lips, despite the continued feeling of static tension throughout her whole body.


    The overwhelming outpouring of gratitude that she felt toward Rane felt almost sacrilegious while faced with where <em>it</em> had happened.


    She walked forward slowly, finally ready to approach the spot more closely.


    Rane moved with her, near at hand should she have need, but not so close as to interfere with whatever she felt that she needed to do.


    As her steps lightly pressed circles into the snow, T decided to break the silence, ¡°You helped hunt down the bog hag coven?¡±


    He gave a slow nod. ¡°Bog hags are known to asionally take Mage captives. As a Fused at the time, it was unlikely that you would have been so taken, but there was still a chance.¡±


    ¡°Because you knew I was alive.¡± There was an implicit question in the statement.


    ¡°I did.¡± He gave a wan smile. ¡°I can¡¯t exin it. It¡¯s possible that it was all in my head¡ªjust wishful thinking. Regardless, I¡¯m d that the feeling was correct, whether magical, mundane, or pure fantasy.¡±


    She nodded. ¡°Me too.¡±


    Theypsed back into silence.


    Terry seemed to remember this ce too. His demeanor and bearing almost matched what he had disyed at his old nest, if to a far lesser degree.


    T reached up and scratched Terry¡¯s head. ¡°You somehow knew too. Your concept drove you to follow me, toe to my aid.¡±


    He trilled softly.


    ¡°Your arrival likely saved me. I was feeling lost, alone, and utterly without hope. Then, the silly, wise old turtle told me to call for you. It felt useless, but I had nothing left. I called, and you actually heard me. You came.¡±


    He trilled again, a mournful, yet somehow still happy tone.


    ¡°Thank you.¡±


    Terry nuzzled into her cheek.


    T then looked to Rane. ¡°You¡¯ve never exined everything that happened while I was gone, and I¡¯ve never really asked.¡±


    He shrugged, looking away as if he had something to hide. His posture straightened ever so slightly as if he were firming his resolve.


    ¡°You did something¡­ didn¡¯t you.¡± It wasn¡¯t a question.


    He hesitated, then nodded slowly, as if he wasn¡¯t sure if even that was allowed.


    ¡°But you can¡¯t tell me what?¡±


    ¡°I can¡¯t say or indicate anything else. I¡¯m sorry, T.¡± He gave a pained smile, clearly bracing for her to have a bad reaction to his response.


    She nodded in return, feeling nothing but affection and gratitude for him. ¡°Alright. I trust you.¡± He looked down at her, and she went up on her tiptoes and kissed him. ¡°Thank you.¡±


    He pulled her in for another kiss, then stepped back, smiling. ¡°Of course.¡±


    Her eyes returned to the spot in the air where she would have been sitting atop a wagon, and her smile¡ªher happiness¡ªbled away.


    Her perfect memory supplied <em>exactly</em> where she had been.


    As the memories pulled at her, she could practically hear <em>his</em> voice, ¡®Found you.¡¯


    T shuddered, tearsing to her eyes unbidden.


    ¡°I felt so helpless.¡± She started as a whisper, but her voice grew in volume as she spoke. ¡°They gave me power, prestige, and influence, but it was a golden cage. I could do anything I wanted, except it wasn¡¯t <em>me</em> with that freedom. I could do anything that <em>Tali</em> wanted, and <em>he </em>was the one who had crafted Tali¡¯s desires.¡±


    Rane nodded, but didn¡¯t otherwise respond, keeping hold of her hand, even though she hadn¡¯t noticed him take it. The contact helped.


    ¡°I killed for them. Most of those who died deserved it, but some¡­ some I wouldn¡¯t have killed if given another choice.¡± Her voice dropped once again. ¡°I liked many of them¡ªthe members of the House of Blood. They didn¡¯t all have the same twisted nature that <em>he</em> did. I¡­ I wanted to hate them all, but most were just living their lives in a society that I found abhorrent. Is it right to hate them for not fighting for change? Maybe¡­? But don¡¯t weud those who do fight? Don¡¯t we hold up the Mages of our past as heroes who pushed for mundane rights and argued against very, against debtors¡¯ prisons, or for meritocracy? Is it right to hate those who weren¡¯t¡ªor aren¡¯t¡ªheroes?¡±


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    Rane gave her a sad smile in return, letting her continue uninterrupted.


    ¡°They literally use <em>human souls</em> as fuel for their daily lives¡­ they still are, and <em>I¡¯m</em> not stopping them. I didn¡¯t stop them while I was there, and I used all the same services and conveniences that they did.¡± She closed her eyes and swallowed. ¡°I¡¯m a hypocrite for even <em>considering </em>hating them for doing what I, myself did¡­ right?¡± She looked up, meeting Rane¡¯s gaze.


    He took the question for what it was, a cue to break his attentive silence and respond, ¡°I would say yes and no. You were a victim, in and simple, but you excelled, escaped, and returned because you didn¡¯t remain <em>just</em> a victim. You seized power where you could in order to escape. Was that power built with hical means? It seems so, but you did not seek such out, and you even worked to alter what you could when and where possible, at least ording to what you¡¯ve been willing to share.¡±


    She nodded, swallowing again and keeping her eyes closed.


    ¡°They have been born into that society, and it is possible that they have simply never considered anything different. I am sure that there are things about our society¡ªhere in the gated-human cities¡ªthat outsiders would find horrifying to one degree or another, and I don¡¯t just mean our enemies. No society is perfect. That isn¡¯t meant as an excuse, but we must judge average members of a society by the standards of the society they are in. Exactly like you said: we choose our heroes¡ªthose we think well of¡ªprecisely because they rose above the society of their time and ce to strive for something more, something better. Being average isn¡¯t to be praised, but it shouldn¡¯t be a basis to be despised either.¡±


    T let out a chokingugh. ¡°So, it is hypocritical to feel hatred toward them.¡±


    He gave a sad smile. ¡°Only mildly. You were internally screaming for someone¡ªanyone¡ªto help you. No one did. You were horribly misused; that was known; and no one did anything about it.¡±


    ¡°They didn¡¯t think anything could be done. You can¡¯t unscramble an egg after all.¡± She didn¡¯t know why she felt the need to defend them, to try to mitigate the distaste of what they¡¯d allowed to continue.


    <em>-Really? You don¡¯t know why?-</em>


    <em>¡­Because I</em> liked<em> them. It is painful to think badly of those we care about, and despite everything, I still care for some of them.</em>


    t made a satisfied sound within T¡¯s head and didn¡¯tment further.


    Terry headbutted her again, nuzzling against her neck this time, eliciting an involuntary giggle at the ticklish nature of the contact.


    ¡°Stop that, Terry!¡± She moved his head away without opening her eyes, scratching it affectionately.


    He simply trilled, nuzzling into her hands all the same.


    Rane responded in the momentary quiet, ¡°I can understand that. They saw a situation they didn¡¯t like, but it was already done. It¡¯s like with soulbonds. It makes no sense to insult, belittle, or demean a person¡¯s soulbonds. They can¡¯t be easily released at that point. It <em>can</em> be useful to try to help improve them, however, and from your stories, it seems like some of the arcanes of the House of Blood did just that. They tried to help you as much as they believed would be useful to you.¡±


    ¡°Yeah¡­¡± She opened her eyes, her gaze drawn back to the space above the ground. ¡°That¡¯s where my sovereignty was vited. That¡¯s where my mind was obliterated, and I was made a ve.¡± She rubbed her neck even as she felt the dasgannach that was soulbound to her, linking her to <em>her</em> iron. ¡°I was killed, but I returned. I was a ve¡ªa treasured ve, but a ve all the same¡ªbut I won free. Much of what happened to me was awful, but not everything. I <em>earned </em>the position I was in, for better or for worse, and that changed me, partly making me who I am today.¡±


    The air around her quivered under the influence of her aura.


    Her soul resonated within her chest as she came to peace with a truth about herself.


    Her every extremity tingled with barely contained sensation.


    ¡°I <em>am</em> an ex-ve. I <em>am</em> still an Eskau of the House of Blood.¡±


    There was a concussion in the zeme around them as she took a major step forward in her advancement at that revtion, at that admission. She had thrown off the shackles of self-delusion and embraced a part of herself that she actively disliked. Even so, it was still a part of her, and she couldn¡¯t deny it any more.


    She knew that her eyes¡ªher blood red eyes¡ªwere glowing more fiercely than ever, even as her aura roiled and shuddered around her, warping the very air.


    She didn¡¯t reach Paragon¡ªno, that was still a ways off¡ªbut she did nearly reach the three-quarter mark, the yellow of her aura bleeding toward green.


    This had been a <em>major</em> stumbling block in her path, and Lisa had pointed it out to her¡ªpurposely or not.


    Her mundane gaze remained fixed on the spot in the air. ¡°It¡¯s right there that T the Mage died. T, the Eskau of the House of Blood, was born in toiri. I stand here now as both, and I always will be both.¡±


    Her soul seemed to calm at the final assertion, her aura following suit.


    She swayed slightly, feeling lightheaded after the inrush of power that apanied hering into better alignment with her own self, her own soul.


    Terry trilled softly as the same advancement rolled through him, if to a lesser overall effect.


    Rane was there in an instant, not helping yet, but now much closer just in case. She leaned into him, allowing him to wrap her up in his arms and hold her close.


    Her own arms lifted and hugged him in return, allowing her to bury her face into his chest.


    Terry squawked and flickered up to Rane¡¯s shoulder, where he settled down to wait.


    T didn¡¯t cry, not really, but she definitely felt drained and had to wipe her eyes when she did pull back after a few minutes, giving a small smile up at Rane. ¡°Nc and Illie are ready for lunch. They¡¯re almost to the dining room.¡± She looked around. ¡°I don¡¯t want to eat here. Let¡¯s eat inside?¡±


    Rane smiled down at her in return. ¡°That would be wonderful.¡±


    With an act of will, T moved the three of them into her sanctum, straight into their chairs at the table. They arrived just as Nc and Illie stepped into the room, speaking with Metti who was walking with them.


    Mistress Petra was carrying trays to the table as preparation for removal to another location or for a meal in this one. The Mage was nothing if not thorough in her preparations.


    Seeing them arrive, Mistress Petra greeted them warmly and shifted into ¡®eating in¡¯ mode, quickly finishing setting the table.


    T could have set it instantly¡ªand she had¡­ once¡ªbut Mistress Petra did <em>not</em> want T doing so. She¡¯d made that abundantly clear.


    She did ept T¡¯s interference when they ate elsewhere, but within T¡¯s private dining room? In her sanctum? No. T was not permitted to do much, if anything, to help.


    It was an excellent meal¡ªas always¡ªand the conversation was engaging, if slightly subdued.


    Master Simon, Mistress Petra, and Metti were invited to eat with T, Rane, Terry, Illie, and Nc, and they gratefully epted.


    The twins happily expounded on all that they were excited to do with their newlypleted education, and Mistress Petra failed in restraining her pointed looks at Metti.


    The little girl, for her part, seemed utterly fascinated by the twins, clearly looking up to them even after their short time together.


    T marveled at how much a little kindness and attention could affect a twelve year old, and she specifically did <em>not</em>ment theck of much of that when she was that age.


    Rane engaged here and there, butrgely he was quiet, covertly¡ªbut obviously to her¡ªfocused on T.


    She appreciated the care, even if she felt it was unneeded.


    <em>-He does care for you an awful lot.-</em>


    <em>Yeah¡­ He really does.</em>


    The meal passed uneventfully, and they were soon back on the move, covering thest bit of distance to Arconaven.


    T did not deviate the little bit it would have taken to look at where the boys had been killed, at where she had in the bog hags and the other arcanous creatures they¡¯d enthralled. She felt no need.


    Even as she headed northward¡ªcontinuing to chat with her siblings and Rane¡ªshe felt a desire to go south for the first time in a long while. Truly south, back to toiri, to face the House of Blood as herself, as their Eskau returned from the dead.


    It wasn¡¯t apulsion, nor was it anything else un-Real. It was simply a desire to go back and address the issues she¡¯d left behind in toiri, many of which she knew were just as prevalent in the other arcane cities of this continent.


    <em>-To be fair, the Mountain Kings might have an entirely different societal system.-</em>


    <em>That¡¯s true¡­ that might be why Thron was so much easier to get along with.</em>


    <em>-That could be, but I suspect another reason.-</em>


    <em>Oh?</em>


    <em>-He was shorter than you. You liked being taller than someone else for once.-</em>


    <em>I hate you sometimes.</em>


    <em>-I love you, too.-</em>


    T moved her focus back to her great leaping steps through the air, pulsing power to the surface area expansion scripts on her feet for each one, letting her push off of the air itself.


    It was essentially flying, but using her feet instead of wings as a bird would¡­ and she couldn¡¯t really glide, but there were birds that couldn¡¯t glide, so the analogy worked.


    <em>Hummingbirds. Hummingbirds don¡¯t really glide.</em> Her analogy was apt.


    <em>-You didn¡¯t actually know there was one before you thought of hummingbirds, did you.- </em>It wasn¡¯t a question.


    <em>Hush, you.</em>


    T gloried in the crisp wind pulling at her clothing and gliding over her skin.


    She allowed a bit more of that breeze to prate the portal into her sanctum so that Nc and Illie could enjoy it too. They shivered and hunkered down a bit, but their smiles grew just a bit as well.


    This trip hadn¡¯t been a part of T¡¯s n, but it had been worthwhile.


    Terry even took the opportunity to absolutely crush a magical beast that they came across. It was hardly even a scrap for the avian, despite the cervid being a yellow-auraed creature of ice magic that would have absolutely crushed any caravan T had ever served as a Mage Protector for.


    Terry killed it in less than a minute.


    <em>He really ising into his own as a Refined level creature, and he was terrifying even </em>without<em> an aura.</em>


    <em>-Indeed.-</em>


    All things considered, she hadn¡¯t gotten that much more time with Illie and Nc than she would have otherwise, but it still felt like it had been the right thing to do.


    She did love her siblings, and she wanted to be there for them. Even as she thought that, she realized that she should be at her sisters¡¯ weddings, despite them not explicitly asking her to be there.


    It would be meaningful to <em>her</em> even if it was not really to them.


    With that, she, Rane, and Terry covered the remaining distance to Arconaven, arrivingte afternoon, when the sun was just about to touch the horizon.


    All things considered, it had been a good day.

 Chapter 476: A Lot to Think About

    Chapter 476: A Lot to Think About


    T and Rane dropped off the twins in Arconaven while Terry wandered about, ¡®buying¡¯ things with t¡¯s assistance.


    It wasn¡¯t a long goodbye as they¡¯d prepared for the separation over thest days, but it still was a bit bittersweet for T. She wouldn¡¯t say that she¡¯d gotten used to having them along¡ªthey hadn¡¯t been around for <em>nearly</em> long enough for that to be the case¡ªbut they had been a pleasant disruption to what was bing a bit of a rote routine for T.


    <em>That was probably their intention. They wanted to set their presence</em>¡ª<em>this time with them</em>¡ª<em>apart from the various meet-ups with the siblings.</em>


    <em>-That stands to reason, yeah. Nc is a clever one.-</em>


    T took the time to have a few words with the twins¡¯ masters. They seemed like good people, and they had sessfully brought several magelings to Mage and then on to Bound in thest century or so. They themselves weren¡¯t quite Fused, but they were well on their way. They actually worked as sort of Archon functionaries, filling in as Mage Protectors for either the mining districts or Guard patrols at need, working with the Constructionists, and doing other tasks throughout the city on behalf of other Mages. In truth, they were the <em>perfect</em> masters for magelings who were unsure about what they wanted to do in the future.


    Thatforted T, as she was <em>not</em> interested in learning that her siblings had founted¡­


    Surprisingly¡ªat least to T¡ªMetti Zat asked to be taken to the local teleportation tower to head off to the Academy. Illie and Nc celebrated with her, and even came to see her off, clearly having formed a bit of a connection during their few days together.


    <em>Well, that solves Master Simon and Mistress Petra¡¯s concerns. She made a choice.</em>


    <em>-That she did.-</em>T <em>almost</em> convinced Rane to go back to Alefast through the mountains, but when they looked at a map¡ªand he was tracing the path that they would need to take¡ªhis finger paused near a cluster of higher peaks, and he paled. ¡°I think we should go back the way that we came.¡±


    T pressed just a bit, ¡°Oh? What¡¯s up with those mountains?¡±


    ¡°Well¡­¡± He hesitated, obviously conflicted.


    She was about to tell him that he didn¡¯t have to say if he didn¡¯t want to or couldn¡¯t for some reason, but he seemed to have gathered his thoughts, because he continued before she could say anything further.


    ¡°Well, that is supposedly the location of several <em>very</em> powerful creatures of magic. If rumor is to be believed, they might even be one, single being of immense power.¡±


    ¡°Something worth fighting?¡±


    Rane immediately shook his head. ¡°Absolutely not.¡±


    ¡°We could go around that one area then?¡± T suggested hopefully.


    ¡°We could, but it would make the return trip quite a bit longer, and we¡¯re already behind schedule for our return. We¡¯ve notified Master Grediv, but I don¡¯t really want to dy longer.¡± He hesitated. ¡°Even so, we could dy again, if you need.¡±


    T sighed, shrugged, and shook her head. ¡°Alright, then. You¡¯re probably right. We can explore the mountainster.¡±


    He gave a hesitant smile. ¡°I¡¯d like that.¡±


    The trip back to Alefast was utterly uneventful, until they came through the pass and looked down on the city below them.


    Rane had stopped, looking off toward the east. ¡°Are you alright with a minor detour?¡± He looked conflicted, as if he were still making up his mind about whether or not he actually wanted to go. ¡°Your¡­facing of your past has highlighted something for me, and I think I might be capable of finally doing it, with you at my side. Enar is¡­ he¡¯s had these memories queued up for a while, and I think facing them again where it happened will have a better oue.¡±


    She almost teased him about dys, but something in his tone was more serious than usual. ¡°Of course. Whatever you need.¡±


    He smiled and gave her a quick, grateful kiss. He then nced toward Terry. ¡°Are you okay with the detour?¡±


    Terry flickered about a few times, then squawked his assent.


    Rane stepped toward the bird¡ªlikely to scratch his head in thanks¡ªbut Terry flickered backward, trilling in mock panic.


    T chuckled and Rane rolled his eyes. ¡°I¡¯m not going to kiss you, Terry.¡±


    Terry gave him a yfully incredulous look before flickering to the big man¡¯s shoulder and headbutting his cheek.


    ¡°Thank you, Terry.¡±


    Terry responded with a descending series of notes that conveyed something in the neighborhood of, ¡®Of course. What did you expect?¡¯


    Without further dy, they headed to the east.


    A couple of hourster, Rane came to a stop seemingly in the middle of nowhere, at the base of a small hill.


    T immediately knew that it was specifically chosen¡ªrather than just a random ce to stop¡ªbecause her threefold sight could see four skeletons in the ground, arranged as if for a proper burial.


    It only took T a moment to figure out what this ce was. <em>Oh.</em>


    <em>-Oh, rust¡­- </em>T got the feeling of t looking somewhere she couldn¡¯t see. <em>-I¡¯m going to be working with Enar. This will be harder for Rane, but Enar won¡¯t be untouched, here. You¡¯re on your own for a bit, T.-</em>


    There were the scattered bones of burn wolves about, clearly having been pulled apart and gnawed on by other predators after death.


    <em>Or Rane blew the canines apart when he took things seriously.</em> That was possible, but she didn¡¯t really feel like it was appropriate to ask.


    She likely wouldn¡¯t have seen them at all¡ªtheir magic was long since faded¡ªif not for her threefold sight.


    She almost said something, but then she remembered how much she¡¯d appreciated Rane¡¯s silent presence in the clearing north of Marliweather.


    She moved over to stand beside him, leaning against him to convey her presence and support.


    He wrapped an arm around her and pulled her against him. His voice was quiet. ¡°You¡¯ve already figured out what this ce is, I assume?¡±


    She nodded, somehow knowing that that was enough.


    His eyes seemed to unfocus, something she couldn¡¯t see passing before his perception. Enar was taking him through some key memories, showing him something that he¡¯d been hiding from. As he watched, Rane began to speak, clearly processing out loud, ¡°This is where my arrogance and folly cost the lives of part of a family. I know that¡ªin a way¡ªit is Master Grediv who allowed them to die by not interfering, but by doing so, he saved others who have been under my charge since, and will be in the future. It¡¯s like letting a child get a small, minor burn to teach them to keep a respectful distance from fire. No one wants a child to be burned, but if they won¡¯t listen¡ªand they''re of an age to understand¡ªsometimes natural consequences are the best teacher.¡± He let out a great, billowing sigh. ¡°The deaths of these four were my natural consequences. They suffered for my lesson.¡±


    T made a sound of understanding.


    ¡°I never told you, but while I was here, Master Grediv was off saving the rest of the caravan that had fallen to an attack from a magical creature. The passengers had scattered in all directions as the Mage Protectors had tried¡ªand failed¡ªto drive the beast away. He¡¯d arrived to relieve them, and had been going toe to toe with a Refined level threat while I refused to engage with arcane beasts.¡± He grimaced. ¡°He probably could have dealt with them even so, but that might have allowed others to die. He probably could have done it all, but he entrusted four, here, to me.¡±


    T rested her head against his shoulder. ¡°You don¡¯t have to justify his actions.¡±


    ¡°I know.¡± Rane sighed again. ¡°I don¡¯t like them, but I understand them. It was a brutal choice he made, partially to allow me to learn a brutal lesson¡ªthough, I am assuming he knew I would fail. He probably hoped that his words had been enough, that I would take things seriously, and they would be safeguarded until he was free. And for myself, I like to think that I could have been taught the lesson another way, but I remember my own stubbornness. I remember him trying other ways.¡±


    ¡°Does this still weigh on you?¡± She gestured toward the graves where small stone ques rested in the grass.


    ¡°Yes, but¡­¡± He sighed. ¡°I think I struggle with it more because I see how much it helped me. It¡¯s an evil I am responsible for, and I profited from it.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s a bleak way of putting it. I think it is more honest to say that you grew because you recognized the failure.¡±


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    ¡°Even so, it is an ill that I genuinely can¡¯t wish hadn¡¯t happened. I just wouldn¡¯t be me if it hadn¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°You can wish that it hadn¡¯t needed to happen, that you could have grown by other means.¡±


    ¡°I do that¡­ it just feels hollow.¡±


    ¡°There was a reason this was dredged up by my recent¡­ experiences. Isn¡¯t this like my having grown because I was an Eskau?¡±


    He huffed. ¡°To a <em>much</em> lesser extent, if so?¡±


    She gently poked him in the side. ¡°Are you saying the evil I did was so much more than yours?¡±


    He looked down at her, eyes widening. ¡°Not at all, no! I meant that you suffered far more than I have.¡±


    ¡°Yet those who died for my growth were killed by my own hand, at my volition. Yours died because you <em>didn¡¯t</em> interfere.¡± T felt a heaviness try to settle on her once again, to draw her into sadness, but she rejected that. She had epted her choices. She <em>was</em> an Eskau of the House of Blood, for better or worse. While she would deal with the ramifications of that eventually, for now she would not let that part of herself weigh her down and cause her to turn the topic of conversation to her. <em>This </em>was about Rane. ¡°But we aren¡¯t here for me. I didn¡¯t mean for my teasing to turn the topic to my past.¡±


    He opened his mouth to reply, but then closed it, giving a slow nod and a grateful smile.


    They stood in silence for a long moment.


    Terry was off hunting, taking advantage of their detour to enjoy himself, so they were alone. Something about that was <em>wonderful.</em>


    They loved having Terry around, and this wasn¡¯t really a good ce for an intimate conversation by any means, but something about being alone together seemed to calm them both, drawing away stress and angst in an almost supernatural way.


    Finally, Rane took another deep breath and spoke to the graves, ¡°I was going toe here to apologize, but after being here, after really thinking about it, I think that that would be hollow, meaningless. Instead, thank you. Your sacrifice has resulted in me gaining much. You did not choose to give your lives for my lesson, but you did. I don¡¯t have the right words, but thank you. Your deaths have led to the saving of many, as much as they shouldn¡¯t have been necessary.¡±


    T put her arm around his waist and squeezed gently.


    He looked down at her. ¡°Was that¡­ silly? Wrong? Arrogant?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know, but I think the heart behind it was good.¡±


    ¡°Thank you.¡± He seemed to rx a bit more at that, and with that final solidification of eptance of his past, his aura finally bled toward green, as if with the bursting of a dam. He didn¡¯t catch up to T, but he made a definitive step forward.


    -<em>Oh, wow, Enar is doing so much better. He¡¯d had those memories on deck¡­ for a while. Rane refusing to go through them had just left them in Enar¡¯s foremost thoughts.- </em>She let out a contented sigh. -<em>Not anymore.-</em>


    <em>I¡¯m d.</em> But T wasn¡¯t really focused on t at that moment. ¡°Thank you for being willing to share this struggle with me.¡±


    Rane smiled down at her. ¡°Of course, I don¡¯t want to hide anything from you. I love you.¡±


    T squeezed in close, only partially muffling her voice against his chest, ¡°I love you, too.¡±


    A few quick kissester, T and Rane turned toward Alefast and headed home.


    * * *


    T found herself utterly floored when Karsa Zat returned from the Academy the following summer.


    It was just after T and Rane returned from Mita and Akli¡¯s wedding, which the girls had done as a joint affair, each marrying their husband side-by-side, even if different bonding rooms had been used after thebined ceremony.


    They had acted reservedly grateful for T¡¯s attendance, and she had actually felt like they were opening up to her a bit by the time that she¡¯d had to leave.


    But that had been more than a week prior, and now, Karsa was back.


    The little girl who had left¡ªand visited a couple of times¡ªwas all grown up, an Academy graduate and in need of a master. The girl had opted to graduate a year earlier than she¡¯d had to, feeling confident in the head start her upbringing had given her.


    She wanted to move and be based out of Marliweather to be near Anna for the first time in quite a while, but she agreed to stay in the sanctum until the fall.


    This was partially because T wasn¡¯t nning on heading to that city until then, when her own sibling¡ªSe¡ªlikely would be departing for the Academy, and T wanted to be there for herst sibling¡¯s choice. Additionally, Nea had arranged for her wedding to be a few days prior, to take advantage of all the Academy siblings returning, as had be the tradition. Even Illie and Nc were taking a caravan down from Arconaven with their masters for the festivities.


    No one hadmented on the fact that they hadn¡¯te down for Mita and Akli¡¯s wedding. The two sets of twins¡ªwith only Miro between them¡ªhad never really been the best of friends, even if they had gotten along well enough when they had to.


    <em>How is time moving so fast? How has it been </em>seven years<em> since Karsa left for the Academy? That just doesn¡¯t seem possible.</em>


    <em>-Well, when you keep busy</em>¡ª<em>even doing good things</em>¡ª<em>time flies by. It¡¯s not like you have changes in your own body to mark the passing of years either.-</em>


    <em>We¡¯re advancing, </em>T tried to counter.


    <em>-True, but on the scale of years, rather than weeks or months. Our previous speed of advancement has set our mind in a perception of rapidity that is most likely adding to our misperception of the passage of time.-</em>


    <em>Huh¡­ Yeah, I think that I can see that, yeah.</em>


    Karsa¡¯s return had the Zats discussing their long term ns in general yet again. Master Simon and Mistress Petra weren¡¯t on death¡¯s door by any means, but they were beginning to show their age, even if not physically.


    They were a bit more methodical and deliberate than they had been, a bit more risk-averse. That made sense, as they were hoping to see as many of their grandkids be born before they died as possible, and theirst daughter had only just left for the Academy less than a year earlier.


    Karsa¡¯s presence was a touchpoint in time, and the fact that T felt like she just blinked and they were on their way to Marliweather to drop Karsa off was even more telling to her.


    <em>I¡¯m starting to see the passage of time like an immortal.</em>


    <em>-Well, you </em>are<em> an immortal, so any way of seeing time that you experience </em>is<em> seeing it like an immortal.-</em>


    <em>¡­You know what I meant.</em>


    <em>-Of course I do, but it still bore stating.-</em>


    T sighed. That caught Terry¡¯s attention from where he was flickering along beside her in the wilds, north of Bandfast.


    Terry cawed questioningly at her.


    She smiled his way and called out. ¡°Time feels like it¡¯s whipping by.¡±


    He squawked his agreement, but there was a note of something else to it.


    ¡°You think we need a change?¡±


    He chirped an affirmative.


    ¡°We need to progress? Experience new things?¡±


    He flickered to her shoulder¡ªresizing as appropriate¡ªand bobbed his agreement.


    She grimaced. ¡°I <em>am</em> trying to advance.¡±


    Terry gave her a t look, then turned and stared toward where Rane was moving through the wilderness off to their left.


    ¡°Things are good with Rane.¡± A smile pulled at her lips. ¡°Things arefortable, almost easy. I like where we are.¡±


    He trilled in a way that conveyed something like, ¡®That¡¯s what I mean.¡¯


    ¡°Well, I¡¯m d that you like him, too.¡±


    Terry stared at her in disbelief, clearly uncertain how she¡¯d missed what he was trying to convey.


    <em>-I¡¯ve let him know that you understood him well enough, but you are being purposely obtuse.-</em>


    <em>¡­I dislike you sometimes.</em>


    <em>-We all struggle with self-dislike on asion. You¡¯ll get over it in time. Just don¡¯t do anything drastic or irreversible before you let the feeling settle out. We are still inching toward Paragon, after all. Part of that </em>is<em> epting yourself for exactly who you are </em>and<em> who you want to be.-</em>


    T just growled, even as Terry flickered away to go after some poor arcanous creature that he¡¯d sensed.


    <em>Terry¡¯s going to need better prey soon. I can </em>feel<em> him getting frustrated at how easy hunting is these days. It was never particrly hard, but now it¡¯s justughably simple for him.</em>


    <em>-Yeah. That would be a good thing to address¡­ after you progress things with </em>¡ª-


    <em>And that¡¯s enough of that.</em>


    t started to object, but T cut her off.


    <em>It has to be </em>me<em>, t. It can¡¯te from another¡¯s prodding, or expectations. </em>He<em> understands that. I¡¯m¡­ I¡¯m not quite ready yet. When I¡¯m ready, it will happen. Until then, stop pushing.</em>


    <em>-Alright. I¡¯ll leave you be, then.-</em>


    <em>Thank you.</em> She turned her focus within her threefold sight to watch Rane.


    She found herself wishing she could be leaning against him, his arm around her waist, her head on his shoulder.


    She didn¡¯t want to shuttle people around.


    She didn¡¯t want to be going to her sister¡¯s weddings.


    T shook her head, berating herself for the very idea. <em>No, that¡¯s not true. Don¡¯t be grumpy, T. You decided to go, and you will be very d you did. They¡¯ll only get married once, and all too soon they¡¯ll be gone. Plus, you can see Mita and Akli again, solidifying the foundation that you¡¯ve begun to build</em>¡ª<em>before it¡¯s toote.</em>


    T felt a pulling in her chest at that, and water came to her eyes.


    Her family was aging. Her siblings were getting older, and some would live very, <em>very</em> short lives.


    She didn¡¯t want to invest in them, just to lose them.


    t tentatively spoke into T¡¯s mind, clearly sensing that T was open to themunication. -<em>It is better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all.-</em>


    <em>That¡¯s a trite phrase.</em>


    <em>-But no less true for it.-</em>


    <em>An eternity without those you love might stand in opposition to that. It¡¯s easy for a mundane person to say such things.</em>


    <em>-True, you are looking at an eternity without </em>some<em> of those you love. Others will be with you as long as you live, barring disasters.-</em>


    Her eyes flicked to Rane yet again. <em>But will that be enough? What if he dies, too?</em>


    <em>-You have to decide if that fear of loss is more important than the potential for gain. And you are right. That decision </em>must<em> be yours.-</em>


    T fell into silence, then. t was right. She had a lot to think about.

 Chapter 477: Reunion and New Arrivals

    Chapter 477: Reunion and New Arrivals


    T found herself holding Se, curled up in a chair within her sanctum.


    Se was to leave for the Academy the next day, and T wanted just a <em>bit</em> more time with the girl.


    Se was snuggled close, clearly feeling some of the same desire for connection and closeness as T did.


    <em>This is myst sibling¡­ There aren¡¯t any more behind her.</em>


    <em>-Well, if things go as expected, you¡¯ll start having nieces and nephews before too long.-</em>


    T¡¯s eye twitched at that. The very idea of her siblings having children was¡­ disconcerting? Ufortable? She wasn¡¯t entirely sure.


    Nea¡¯s wedding festivities had just drawn to a close, and the girl¡ªcovered in green paint rather than the yellow she¡¯d started with¡ªhad bid her family goodbye just a few hours earlier.


    The days of celebration had allowed T to catch up with Illie and Nc¡ªthey had good natured grumbles about their masters but were doing well overall¡ªas well as her other siblings. Even Mita and Akli were there, and T did her best to inquire after their lives as newlyweds. The conversations had been cordial, but there was still a distance between them and T, even if it was no longer a distance born of disinterest.


    The gap might be bridged in years toe, or it might not, but they were all now <em>willing </em>for it to be so spanned.Dagan, Alva, Osip, Fedir, and Olen had all been exuberantly bubbling about whatever new thing or theory they¡¯d each just learned or been exposed to at the Academy, and Illie and Nc seemed to revel¡ªjust a bit¡ªin being the ¡®older and wiser¡¯ siblings to those still attending the the ce of magical learning.


    T graciously didn¡¯t burst their bubble.


    Ve was pregnant with her and Caln¡¯s first. Latna and Mistress Anna were getting along splendidly¡ªwith Anna having firmly wormed her way into the family as a whole with her strange, extrovert-based magic¡ªand Master Leighis was still in regrmunication with them all, most often with Latna.


    He had been in attendance at the wedding, but he didn¡¯t officiate this time. Nea liked the Healer well enough, but she didn¡¯t have the same connection to him that some of the others did, even excluding Latna.


    <em>I miss the days when I could just put all my siblings in one mental block¡­ There are so many of them, and they¡¯re all doing and feeling and experiencing so many different things.</em>


    -<em>It can be oh so inconvenient when our siblings be distinct people, can it not?-</em>


    <em>Yeah¡­</em> T gave Se a little squeeze, and the girl shifted to get even morefortable. The whole position was a bit precarious as Se was almost T¡¯s size, the girl being nearly fully grown already.


    T didn¡¯t mind though. It wasn¡¯t like Se could hurt her in any way.


    Rane was currently out with Caln, Miro, Nc, and Osip, getting some ¡®guy time.¡¯ Whatever that meant.


    Miro was honestly a bit like Mita and Akli, in that he had less inmon with the other siblings than most, but he also didn¡¯t seem to mind, still participating fully, even if mainly as an observer. He was a quiet one, settling into a quiet life as an assistant in the Marliweather Library¡ªnot the Archon one.


    He seemed to be incredibly content with his books, deflecting any more probing questions with casual, contented ease.


    During the past few days, there had been some obtuse questions about T and Rane¡¯s courtship, but no one had pressed the issue, for which T was grateful. Terry was somewhere in the sanctum, using his granted authority to let her know that he wanted to be alone. So, she was doing her best to not watch him.


    <em>-I see all. I just don¡¯t tell you.-</em>


    <em>Oh, I¡¯m aware. You could give me nightmares for eternity with what you¡¯ve seen.</em>


    <em>-...You have no idea. Your threefold sight is truly a double edged sword, and were I a creature of mere flesh and blood, I¡¯d have gone insane with all it has exposed me to.-</em> t sent the impression of a revolted shudder.


    <em>¡­Good to know? Let¡¯s keep this division ofbor, shall we.</em>


    <em>-Of course. Your insanity would be highly inconvenient for me.-</em>


    T chuckled at that.


    The sound and motion of T¡¯s chest caused Se to lift her own head and look up. ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°Just had a funny thought.¡±


    ¡°Oh? What was it?¡± T saw the spark of childhood curiosity in the girl¡¯s eyes. She¡¯d not get away without giving some sort of answer. She could lie, of course, but what was the point in that? Genuine curiosity should be encouraged.


    ¡°Well, I have a magically created assistant within my mind.¡±


    ¡°Oh, t? Yeah, she¡¯s great.¡±


    T¡¯s eye twitched. <em>t¡­</em>


    <em>-What? You often have me send them letters. I introduced myself a little while back, and usually add a small message as an addendum to the end. They often respond as well. It¡¯s not my fault you don¡¯t read the messages yourself.-</em>


    <em>I ask you to tell me the contents of every letter.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, and I don¡¯t feel the need to pass on what they say to </em>me.<em>-</em>


    T sighed internally. <em>Fine, but how has no one mentioned this to me?</em>


    <em>-It¡¯s nevere up?-</em>


    T took a long, slow breath before smiling at Se. ¡°Yes, t. She simply said that me going insane would be inconvenient for her.¡±


    Se gave a serious nod. ¡°That is so true.¡±


    The seriousness on the little girl¡¯s face pulled T back from her mild irritation with t. She was here with Se. So, she should <em>be</em> with Se. ¡°Anyway, are you excited for the Academy?¡±


    The girl wriggled. ¡°I am¡­ but I¡¯m also scared.¡±


    ¡°Oh? What of?¡±


    ¡°Teleportation¡­¡±


    T raised an eyebrow at that. ¡°But you teleport to see me¡ªand then back home¡ªevery few months or so.¡±


    Se shuddered. ¡°And I¡¯m scared every time.¡±


    T gave her another light squeeze, causing the girl to writhe and squeal in mock pain. ¡°Oh, Se. Why didn¡¯t you ever say anything?¡±


    She settled down and shrugged. ¡°I didn¡¯t want anyone to use that as a reason that I couldn¡¯t go.¡± She didn¡¯t meet T¡¯s gaze. ¡°You won¡¯t keep me from going, will you?¡±


    ¡°Oh, little one. No. It is good to do things that we are scared of, so long as we approach them in a smart manner.¡±


    <em>-Like progressing a rtionship?-</em>


    <em>Hush, you. I¡¯m spending time with my sister.</em>


    t grunted and didn¡¯t press further.


    T¡¯s response seemed to mollify Se as she snuggled back in. ¡°I¡¯m still scared.¡±


    ¡°Bravery isn¡¯t the absence of fear, it is doing what you know is right <em>despite</em> fear.¡±


    ¡°Then, I am <em>very</em> brave.¡±


    The tone Se used¡ªalmost more than her words¡ªevoked augh, unbidden, from T¡¯s lips. ¡°Oh, Se. I do love you.¡±


    ¡°I know. I love you, too.¡±


    And that was that. They passed the remainder of the time they had in pleasantpanionship.


    Se and the other Academy attending siblings teleported out early the next day after a feast of a breakfast prepared by Mistress Petra¡ªwith the help of Karsa and some of T¡¯s siblings. Mistress Petra still wouldn¡¯t let T help.


    Hand-pies, prepared fruit, cream of grains, and so many more dishes had been set out and then consumed by the veritable <em>throng</em> of siblings and spouses, allowing for one more asion of conversation and togetherness.


    The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the vition.


    At the same time as the siblings were departing, the Zats were saying goodbye to Karsa, leaving her in the hands of her new master¡ªand Mistress Anna, who promised to check on her sister an appropriate amount¡­ T suspected that it would turn out to be far, <em>far</em> more than was strictly appropriate.


    Less than an hour after Se¡¯s departure, Irondale had been closed up and taken from its Marliweather wall, and T, Rane, and Terry were back in the wilds, heading south.


    Lyn wanted to stop in and see how Mistress Kannis was doing. She was apparently due back from a caravan run that day, so she¡¯d have about a day back in Bandfast before they dropped in to see her.


    That would be a pleasant enough stop through, and give the Irondalians an afternoon and morning in which to interact with Bandfast before moving back to Alefast with T, Terry, and Rane.


    Everything was going reasonably well on the journey until just about two hours outside of Marliweather where T finally couldn¡¯t continue.


    She dropped to the ins, pausing on a taller than average hill and staring up at the sky.


    Ranended next to her a momentter, and Terry flickered to her shoulder, both waiting in silence, trusting that she would speak when she was ready.


    After five minutes, Rane seemed to decide that she needed a bit of prompting. ¡°T? Is everything alright?¡±


    T shook her head, trying to master her own emotions. ¡°No. No, it¡¯s not alright, Rane. They¡¯re all gone. All off at the Academy, married, or otherwise moving on with their lives. What now? I¡¯ll see them less and less over theing years. They¡¯ll have children, age, and then one day, they¡¯ll just be gone, and I¡¯ll still be here.¡±


    Rane wrapped an arm around her but didn¡¯t say anything, seeming to sense that she wasn¡¯t done processing outloud.


    ¡°I graduated nine years ago, Rane. That is so little timepared to what lies ahead, yet also <em>so </em>long. Not even a decade has passed and I¡¯m already Refined. I have five powerful soulbonds, and I have more wealth than I really know what to do with.¡± She gave a rueful chuckle. ¡°I have an entire <em>town</em> that is mine in essentially every sense.¡± She didn¡¯t really know where she was going with this, and she really had nothing else that she felt that she needed to say. So, she fell into slightly befuddled silence.


    Rane squeezed her again when it was clear that she had nothing further to convey. He then tentatively spoke into the gap, ¡°You have done much, and much is ahead of you. I think your choices to try to be a part of your various siblings¡¯ lives is a good one, one that you will be d that you made. Unfortunately, you are likely correct, those choices will probably mean watching as their lives go in different directions from your own. I have the easy way out with my own family. I haven¡¯t really stayed connected to any of my siblings, except tangentially, and even then only really because we happen to be in the same city. Chloe and I send letters asionally, but we aren¡¯t really a part of each other''s lives.¡± He shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s a trade-off, and I suspect that yours have been the wiser choices.¡±


    She leaned against him, takingfort in his presence more than his words. He wasn¡¯t wrong, but his intention hadn¡¯t really been to assuage her worry. If anything he¡¯d purposely let her know that her concern was valid, but that it was still probably a good choice.


    Rtionships were odd things.


    They stood there for a few minutes before she gave him a kiss, and they got back on their way to Bandfast.


    * * *


    T and Rane sat back as her siblings talked and bantered.


    Dagan and Alva had just returned from the Academy after finishing out their final set of sses, and the whole troop hade to Alefast, Waning, via teleport to meet them there. They, in turn, hade straight to Alefast to have this exact reunion before T paid for everyone to go back to Marliweather, where this set of twins'' new masters resided.


    Well, she would also be sending the older twins to Aconaven, but that was just details.


    T had been very intentional this time in extending the invitation to all spouses as well. So, they had <em>quite</em> the group. Even Illie and Nc hade, despite the expense and difort of reinscription upon their return to Arconaven.


    There was a bit of an odd vor to the encounter whenpared to the previous sibling meet-ups, because with Se off at the Academy, there really wasn¡¯t a younger contingent to sit counterpoint to the ¡®adult¡¯ siblings.


    Everyone felt the difference, but it wasn¡¯t specifically an unpleasant change. The youngers were missed, but it was actually rather nice to have a moreid back, conversationally focused reunion.


    Dagon and Alva had shifted their fundamental understandings from ones of lightning over to light. Though, they still decided to y off of each other.


    The conversation had gone rather easily once it started.


    Alva¡¯s was rtively simple, ¡°All we see is already light.¡±


    T considered for a moment before nodding. ¡°I can understand that. So, you focus on light magics?¡±


    The girl nodded. ¡°I am a Material Guide, focusing on light, or really the particles and waves that make up light.¡±


    Dagan grunted, interjecting with the clear intention of stealing Alva¡¯s spotlight. She let him with a small smile and a rueful shake of her head. ¡°Yup! Duality in all things. But as well thought out as that is, I prefer mine.¡±


    Nc had huffed augh. ¡°Of course you would say that. Yours should be one you prefer.¡±


    The other siblings hushed him.


    ¡°So?¡± T prompted, ¡°What is yours?¡±


    Dagan let it build just a bit more before grinning widely. ¡°In the right light, everyone is blind.¡±


    Rane grunted, ¡°So, light Mage as well?¡±


    ¡°Yup, Immaterial Guide. I focus on amplitude, frequency, and velocity.¡± He held up his hand to briefly forestall any questions. ¡°Velocity in the directional sense, not in sense of the absolute speed of light. I don¡¯t understand the fundamentals of Zeme enough to mess with that sort of constant. The idea of a speed being unchanging in all frames of reference is nonsensical to me¡­¡±


    Rane smiled at the younger man. ¡°That¡¯s quite interesting.¡± He gestured between the twins. ¡°Is it hard to tell your magics apart?¡±


    Alva shook her head and sighed dramatically. ¡°Hardly. He likes operating in the various spectra outside of the visible. I prefer to keep to what I can see.¡±


    T interjected then, ¡°So, by ¡®right light¡¯ you mean light which can¡¯t be seen?¡±


    Dagan pointed at her, dipping his head in acknowledgement. ¡°That¡¯s one meaning, yeah.¡±


    ¡°Interesting. I imagine that makes your magics hard to deal with.¡± She nced toward Nc, and the boy gave a slight grimace.


    He said under his breath. ¡°Just like mine is¡­¡±


    Dagan didn¡¯t hear, and he grinned widely, even as Alva scowled in mock severity. ¡°Oh, absolutely.¡±


    She huffed, hiding a smile. She <em>was</em> clearly pleased by what he could do. ¡°His magic acts near him, but they send out essentially instant, invisible attacks or counters. It¡¯s infuriating to deal with.¡±


    Dagan nodded her way. ¡°But it¡¯s even better when you work with me.¡±


    T was considering how she¡¯d counter such magics, and she found herself a bit at a loss.


    <em>-Come on, T. We already went over this with Nc. You¡¯d just take the hits and kill him an instantter.-</em>


    <em>As I saidst time, of course I could do that, but that¡¯s not very satisfying¡­ I genuinely want to actually counter his magics, not just brute force the results I wanted.</em>


    <em>-...Do I need to make the same joke, </em>again<em>?-</em>


    <em>I do </em>not<em> brute force my desired results from difficult situations.</em>


    <em>-If you say so.-</em>


    <em>You really </em>aren¡¯t<em> nice some of the time.</em>


    Dagan was clearly quite proud of himself. ¡°The instructors were very impressed. They said I was following well in my siblings¡¯ footsteps and my light magic would be among the hardest magics to counter. They did warn that without Alva¡¯s amplification and enhancement, the power output wouldn¡¯t be very impressive until I improved.¡± He shrugged. ¡°It works fantastically for defense and once Nc left, I was able to figure out how to take out any annoying insects with ease.¡± He gave his brother a smirking nce. ¡°I got better at that than you, even.¡±


    Nc shrugged. ¡°Bugs are just bugs. Wait until you encounter real tests.¡±


    Dagan nodded excitedly. ¡°I am quite eager, yeah.¡±


    T did have one final question. ¡°I¡¯d thought you two were set on lightning? We didn¡¯t discuss it much, but I thought you liked the power and speed?¡±


    Alva smiled. ¡°We did, but it turns out that light made more sense to us.¡±


    Dagan interjected, ¡°And it¡¯s faster.¡±


    She sighed, but nodded. ¡°And it¡¯s faster.¡±


    And that was it.


    Since most of the siblings and spouses weren¡¯t Mages, not too much more was said about the subject.


    The presence of the spouses changed the dynamic further still but again, not in a bad way. There was a lot of talk about babies because Ve, Mita, Akli, and Nea were all at various stages of the joyous condition.


    T was hesitant at first, feeling like she didn¡¯t really have a way to rte to that, but at t¡¯s prompting, she implied that she could actually see the little ones as they were growing within the women, and offered to let everyone else do so as well.


    That was met with <em>ecstatic</em> eptance¡ªfrom everyone actually¡ªand Rane helped them acquire arge enough Archive te for her to connect to in order to facilitate the disy of a mundane interpretation of her threefold sight.


    t did the heavy lifting, first showing sliced views. T was <em>very</em> careful to caveat the view beforehand, letting them know that they¡¯d see the internals so no one panicked.


    Everyone was strangely fascinated, seeing the little people growing within the various women. T and t even facilitated a few games of ¡®guess the baby,¡¯ where they would disy a foot or eye or other part and everyone else would have to guess what it was they were looking at and which baby that part belonged to.


    It inspired a lot of yful arguing, a lot ofughter, and a lot of smiles. Overall, it was an <em>incredible</em> win for the gathering as a whole.


    The family visit ended up being two days, everyone having arrived on the first morning and not leaving until the second day¡¯s afternoon, just as the near-summer day was beginning to draw to a close.


    Her unit had been very understanding throughout, allowing T and Rane to both skip their regr duties. They would be resuming them the next morning.


    As thest of them teleported out, she leaned sideways against Rane, takingfort in his presence in the renewed absence of her family.


    This visit had gone better than any previous, in her opinion. She felt <em>truly</em> connected to her siblings¡ªand that was even before she had looked at the reality threads and seen that their connection was <em>literally</em> growing more potent. Unfortunately, that actually made the final departure all the more disheartening in a way.


    Those lines were now just as strong, but somehow they seemed stretched, as if they were under tension, and something told her that they would begin to fray and shrink over time, if not maintained. Even so, she felt better for the existence of the threads. It was as if the connections being there made her feel more linked with Zeme as a whole and who she was in it.


    Rane pulled her close and kissed the top of her head. ¡°You¡¯ll see them again.¡±


    She turned, putting her arms around him. ¡°Am I that obvious?¡±


    ¡°To me?¡± He met her gaze, love and humor sparkling within his eyes. ¡°Sometimes.¡±


    She sighed, leaning against him once more and settling into afortable silence.


    Not wanting to make a spectacle of themselves, they moved out of the teleportation tower, her arm around his waist, his around her shoulders, and with T still leaning against Rane¡¯s side.

 Chapter 478: A Severing

    Chapter 478: A Severing


    T¡¯s days rolled by, each blurring into the next as each day felt much like the next.


    She was honestly starting to wonder if anything would ever change.


    * * *


    T staggered as a wave of roiling magics threw her deeper into the cell.


    The concussion of shing powers shot from the cell¡¯s entry tunnel¡ªlike a bolt from a crossbow¡ªjust behind the initial burst that had thrown her free.


    <em>-More like one of your siege orbs going off!-</em> T could <em>feel</em> t fighting to right their senses and clear up the muddled state into which her mind and threefold sight had been thrown.


    It was likely only her fully deployed armor which had allowed her toe out so well from the hit.


    She had a moment of disorientation as she picked herself up off the ground, utterly unaware of how she¡¯d gotten there, or even why she was in a cell at all, even if all that she was seeing let her be certain that that was where she was.


    Then, t¡¯s ministrations came into effect, and the memory came back.She was in a cell with her unit to help close it down. That much had been mostly obvious to begin with, except the fact that no one was around her.


    She, Terry, and Rane had advanced down the entry tunnel, acting as the vanguard as they usually did. She had been especially on edge due to the nature of the prisoner.


    He was Reality-twisted¡ªas so many prisoners were, it seems¡ªbut he specialized, specifically, in the revocation of soul-connections. For most, that would mean being kicked out of their body and on to the next world, something that Reality was rather pleased with.


    T didn¡¯t know the method of this man¡¯s immortality, especially because he wasn¡¯t even human.


    Regardless, things hadn¡¯t gone as expected. T and Terry had reached the cell proper¡ªwith Rane right behind¡ªonly to find the Mezzanni man waiting for them just to one side, somehow unseen by her threefold sight until it was toote.


    He had raised a hand and struck past her, <em>at the Paragon </em>back in the antechamber.


    The Paragon hadn¡¯t fallen to his attack¡ªof course¡ªbut her deflection and reflexive counter strike had caused the detonation, practically right on top of T and Terry.


    Terry had flickered away to safety, but T¡¯s flickering instincts weren''t quite so perfected.


    She groaned, shaking her head in an attempt to clear it.


    The surrounding nature that made up the cell was utterly untouched on a mundane level, proving that the detonation had been purely magical in nature.


    As her threefold sight came back into focus, she immediately saw where everyone was.


    Rane was unconscious within the passage. There was nothing physically wrong with him, but his spirit had been disrupted enough that he¡¯d lost consciousness. Though, it did seem like he¡¯d be regaining consciousness soon, if given the chance. He¡¯d likely been able to mitigate some of the st through kic maniption, but not enough toe out unscathed.


    <em>-Enar isn¡¯t responsive either.-</em>


    Masters Clevnis, Girt, and Limmestare and Mistresses Vanga and Cerna were all back out in the atrium, seemingly thrown out just as T had been thrown <em>in</em>. They¡¯d been affected simrly to Rane, but at least Mistress Vanga was already beginning to stir.


    Irondale and her sanctum were anchored just outside the atrium, and that had given them enough distance that not even a ripple of the sh had reached them.


    The Paragon¡­ T was having trouble remembering her name through the remaining fuzz.


    <em>-Mistress Dihsre.-</em>


    <em>Thank you.</em>


    Mistress Dihsre was staggering, still on her feet, but with her aura churning about her like a hurricane-tossed ocean. Her gaze was locked on the prisoner, seemingly still visible, even to her mundane eyes, down the length of the entry tunnel.


    Terry was flickering around the prisoner, shing and striking the man apart. Unfortunately, only the mundane¡ªif still monstrously powerful¡ªstrikesnded.


    Whenever Terry aspect-mirrored Flow¡¯s edge-magics onto his talons, the prisoner¡¯s very flesh seemed to move out of the way rather than be struck.


    It looked like she was watching someone try to attack a cloud of gnats with a switch.


    Even so, Terry didn¡¯t let up. He used mundane strikes to keep the man in pieces, even if that neversted long.


    He moved masterfully, setting up strikes from new angles every time, but the Mezzanni seemed to have spherical perception of some kind, because he always managed to avoid the magically enhanced strikes, while taking the simple shes and ms.


    It overall seemed pointless on the surface, as the man regrew faster than even T could have healed, clearly pulling from the nature around him. Even so, it was far from useless.


    Their whole point within the cell was to dy and tie up the prisoner, and Terry was doing that <em>perfectly.</em>


    He never overextended, he never allowed the man to have enough space to strike back. He was entirely dictating the flow of the sh, even if he couldn¡¯t end it.


    To be fair, though, they hadn¡¯t actually expected to be able to end this prisoner.


    <em>He¡¯s doing the work of the entire unit.</em>


    <em>-But he can¡¯t keep it up forever. He is asking for your assistance at your earliest convenience.-</em>


    <em>He¡¯s getting tired?</em>


    <em>-Apparently, there¡¯s </em>something<em> around the man that¡¯s making Terry¡¯s flickering </em>monstrously<em> more costly, and it¡¯s starting to wear on Terry to an extreme degree. He¡¯s got another couple minutes at maximum, and he doesn¡¯t want toe up hard against his limits.-</em>


    <em>Let him know I¡¯m on my way.</em>


    <em>-Done.-</em>


    T set her feet and crouched to spring at the man just as he opened his mouth and shouted. His voice was the mming of stones in a rockslide, the roar of an avnche racing toward her down a steep slope, ¡°WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO MY PEOPLE?¡±


    <em>He was confined before the Leshkin¡­ Oh, no.</em> T felt herself pale even as sheunched herself in an arching leap toward the ongoing sh.


    He had somehow sensed¡ªthrough the open cell entrance¡ªthat something was wrong with those who had been like he was now. The Leshkin were the Leshkin in part because they¡¯d lost who they once were¡ªat least to her understanding. Would he be able to change that? Whoever he actually was?


    That would certainly make the uing Leshkin war¡­ different, this time around.


    Regardless, his question clearly wasn¡¯t directed at her, personally, but more at her as the closest representative of the human race.


    <em>We might be able to dy him a bit by giving him some answers, but there is no way we can trust he¡¯s not doing something else while we chatted.</em>


    They couldn¡¯t let him build power. There was clearly no magic around him, but there was just as clearly Reality shenanigans going on, his healing being a singrly obvious example.


    They knew that killing him wouldn¡¯t do anything longsting, if they even could. After all, his people had been one with their homes, and this cell¡ªas much as he likely wanted to leave it¡ªwas his. Even so, killing him <em>would </em>slow him down enough that she and Terry should be able to get backup. The whole unit, working together, would hopefully be able to buy enough time to allow Mistress Dihsre to do what needed doing.


    T felt an odd dissonance from the man, as his features never shifted from a neutral set. Even when he¡¯d shouted about his race, there hadn¡¯t been any emotional cues on this visage.


    She didn¡¯t know if that was an artifact of Mezzanni as a whole, or this prisoner¡¯s circumstances or temperament, and she didn¡¯t really have the luxury of trying to figure it out.


    As she closed in, T did <em>not</em> consider the fact that Rane was effectively defenseless less than a dozen yards from this forest of destruction.


    As she arced downward from her powerful leap, her blood-red gaze fixed on the prisoner¡¯s oddly piercing wooden one. She closed the distance, bringing Flow around for a powerful strike.


    Even before she reached him, however, they shed, her aura against¡­ nothing that she could truly feel.


    It was the equivalent to wrestling with an invisible opponent. Something was obviously opposing her, obviously trying to drive her authority backward, but she <em>couldn¡¯t</em> see it properly. She red void-magics across her armor, being careful to not fully enclose herself, as she didn¡¯t want a true existence shield.


    That lessened the strain some, but it didn¡¯t remove it entirely. This Mezzanni simply had too much metaphysical weight for her to fully negate.


    Terry¡¯s very presence flickering around the area was giving her aura a foothold, allowing her to press forward without being directly exposed to whatever was going on in the zeme within the cell.


    She also began driving iron spikes around the area, far enough away that they wouldn¡¯t be threatened by the turmoil, but close enough to add reinforcement to her efforts.


    Even so, the resistance caused her to fall short of her target, forcing her to strain forward step by step.


    <em>How the rust is Terry doing </em>anything <em>under this onught? Can you see any solution, t?</em>


    <em>-I¡¯m working on it!-</em>


    <em>Work faster!</em>


    <em>-Yeah, T, that¡¯s the issue. I¡¯m taking my time.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, yeah.</em> T grit her teeth, pushing through the opposition to bring void-Flow across into a solid chop.


    The void-edge of Flow¡ªcoupled with the void around her armor¡ªallowed for a smooth, if still slowed strike.


    <em>Magical void is the antithesis of Reality, the Flow¡¯s edge should be a perfect method of delivery.</em> If anything could hurt the thing more than they had anticipated, it should be a strike like this. After all, he¡¯d not let Terrynd a blow with even the non-void version of these magics.


    T flowed along with her strikes, falling into the Way of Flowing Blood more fully than she felt like she had since the end of her time in toiri.


    <em>-Well, actually you</em>¡ª<em>-</em>


    <em>Don¡¯t care. Keep working.</em>


    <em>-Fine.-</em>


    This tale has been uwfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    T felt like her eptance of her continued identity as an Eskau of the House of Blood¡ªalong with having an arcane as her opponent for the first time in what felt like forever¡ªallowed her to truly utilize the style to its fullest.


    Unfortunately¡ªof all things¡ªthe man seemed to be at least passingly familiar with the Way of Flowing Blood. That didn¡¯t allow him to counter it fully by any means, but he did seem to be able to anticipate her movements a <em>bit</em> more than seemed otherwise feasible.


    The prisoner¡¯s barklike skin and woody flesh split before Flow, not due to its edge but because his body itself broke and moved to avoid the void-magic de just as it had before Terry¡¯s voidced attacks.


    It was incredibly frustrating, but at the same time, there was something soothing about effectively going through a form in the middle of a battle.


    Then, he struck back at her, but not physically.


    The invisible force hit her like a peppering of shrapnel from a nearby explosion.


    It slid off of T¡¯s armor without leaving the least bit of damage.


    His eyes widened in surprise at that, and Terry took full advantage of his startlement, severing a hand with one sh of void-edged talons and raking deeply into his back with the other.


    The prisoner <em>screamed</em> in pain and rage, fighting back with renewed vigor, falling to mundane methods for the following few moments.


    The whole area seemed to be under hismand, pulling toward him to be one with his body even as he used the mass to form outwardly striking vines and branches which grew out specifically to attack T or Terry. Those attacks broke against her armor, their connection to the Mezzanni shredded by the void-magic used in the defense. Terry simply avoided those sent his way.


    Even with the limbs being destroyed with every attack, they were <em>hard</em> hits, and they forced T to fall even deeper into the Way of Flowing Blood.


    Terry shed with the man, seemingly being allowed tond blows, as they healed too quickly to have any consequence. Even when he mmed into the man, he couldn¡¯t knock him off bnce enough for T to actually connect.


    Unfortunately, the aspect-mirroring of Flow¡¯s void-magics into Terry¡¯s talons had enough of atency and buildup that they could be detected before contact, even if such should have been too minimal to allow for action.


    The Mezzanni was simply faster than they were.


    It honestly reminded T of her early days, when she was physically outssed by most of the things she fought.


    She was displeased.


    In irritation, T brought more and more tools into y, her tungsten balls and rod, her defensive discs, and even a couple of weapons that she¡¯d put on her belt for Terry to use were thrown into the fray.


    She kicked herself for not having the anti-Leshkin arrowheads that she¡¯d gotten from the Guards¡¯ Guild so long ago, but they were in her sanctum, and she <em>was</em> d that that wasn¡¯t in here with her.


    <em>No need to subject Kit to this creature¡¯s powers.</em>


    She was able to weave a simpler, weaker version of those magics into her armor, but that only mitigated the power of his hits a bit, given they were already breaking up upon contact regardless.


    Her aura was in constant turmoil as well, shing against whatever flexing of Reality the prisoner had at his disposal. As such, she didn¡¯t trust herself to flicker around despite all her practice. It would <em>probably</em> have been safe, but at the moment, it wasn¡¯t worth taking such a risk just for a dying action.


    The others of their unit were beginning to stir, and Mistress Vanga was already staggering toward the cell tunnel entrance.


    Backup was on its way.


    The Healer¡¯s magics had swept the others, seemingly confirming what T had seen already. They were physically fine.


    When Mistress Vanga reached Rane, he was in a state to be helped to his feet by the woman.


    <em>Alright, it¡¯s time to put on the pressure.</em>


    It was a funny thought given the circumstances. She was effectively dancing around in a tight area, Flow cutting an unending series of passes through the area her opponent should be but wasn¡¯t.


    Terry was flickering aboutnding blows of all kinds¡ªeven while those bearing magic were still avoided¡ªas well as throwing weapons to add to the maelstrom.


    Balls and discs and a rod were flying here and there at her and Terry¡¯s pulls. Yet this prisoner seemed utterly certain of everything he needed to dodge. He was perfectly capable of absorbing, redirecting, taking, or evading every attack to the best effect.


    T even mmed <em>through </em>his chest with a pair of siege orbs, but they were effectively useless. The holes were healed as quickly as any other damage, and even when they burst apart, he reformed despite the ice in barely an eyeblink.


    Taking damage simply didn¡¯t seem to matter to this prisoner unless it was specifically destructive and magical in nature.


    She even used her not-quite-perfected dissolution breath, but it simply wasn¡¯t a wide-scale enough attack to hurt, given the type of damage it did. She could see the parts dissolved being severed from the Mezzanni entirely, but he simply pulled in more vegetative mass and continued the fight.


    Regardless, T decided it was time to either make him struggle more or bring this to an end. Despite his initial question, he hadn¡¯t said anything further, nor really given them the space to answer.


    <em>Rude.</em>


    <em>-Quite. Terry¡¯s ready.-</em>


    <em>Go.</em>


    At the veryst instant before a strike¡ªa simple, mundane sh with the talons on his foot¡ªTerry did something for the first time this fight. Flow flickered out of T¡¯s hand and into Terry¡¯s closing talons, turning the simple¡ªif powerful¡ªsh into a vicious one,den with void-magic.


    It struck true, bisecting the Mezzanni from shoulder to hip and the world around them seemed to freeze as a second scream of pain and rage¡ªthis time too high pitched for mundane ears to hear¡ªscreeched through the cell.


    The Mezzanni seemed toe apart at the seams¡ªeven without ounting for the through-and-through sh¡ªexpanding in obvious agony.


    Even so, it was only a moment before the man reformed, staggering even as Flow flickered back to T¡¯s hand.


    The invisible force that had been battling with T¡¯s aura hitched, allowing T to feel confident in flickering to his other side, cutting him in half horizontally with void-Flow and eliciting another pulse of not-magic through the air, knocking them both back.


    Before T or Terry could rush back in to capitalize on the momentary weakness, another pulse of power mmed outward with <em>much</em> more force, tearing apart the ten bloodstars that were letting her use the rod, discs, and balls.


    T had a sliver of a moment in which to panic before the pain tore into her very soul.


    The bloodstars weren¡¯t <em>quite</em> soulbonds, but they were inextricably tied to her soul¡ªor at least they had been¡ªand that had been torn away with brutal violence.


    The world faded from her perception for an instant, and when she came back to herself, the prisoner had his hand locked around her throat, somehow putting pressure on her neck even through her armor.


    In fact, if she hadn¡¯t been Refined, she¡¯d likely have lost consciousness before recovering from her soul-pain.


    <em>He knows human biology¡­ That doesn''t bode well. </em>Even though she was conscious, something felt¡­ off. But she needed to focus on her opponent, not whatever oddities were going on with herself.


    He¡¯d grown to fifteen feet tall, holding her even higher than that, well above his head as his voice echoed around her. ¡°What are Warriors of Blood doing training a human? Why do you radiate the feel of arcane magics and methods? What¡ªby rust, decay, and the unknowable reaches of time¡ªhas happened while I was trapped here? Speak or I will send you to the next world and ask another.¡±


    <em>Hey, he¡¯s talking again. That¡¯s good.</em>


    <em>-Are you sure theck of blood to your brain isn¡¯t affecting you?-</em>


    <em>Nah, I¡¯m fine. This is totally okay. I¡¯m funneling more power to my inscriptions to keep myself going. I¡¯m sure it¡¯s going to be just fine.</em>


    <em>-...I¡¯ll see if I can fix what¡¯s being broken¡­-</em>


    His grip rxed just enough for T to answer, if she¡¯d needed to breathe to answer.


    t¡¯s fix seemed to take effect at a simr time, because T suddenly felt focused and fully cognizant once again. This wasn¡¯t an ideal situation by any means, but she <em>might </em>be able to work with it, if she could keep her head on straight.


    Toward that end, she amplified the void going to her armor, but whatever Reality based ability he had was pressing in close, solidifying and keeping the void-magic from harming his hand as he held her aloft.


    <em>Alright, then. Negotiations. </em>She projected her voice outside of her helmet with her aura, ¡°I will happily tell you whatever you want to know. It costs me nothing to tell you some of my story. How about you put me down?¡±


    The prisoner blinked at her a few times, seemingly not having expected to actually receive an answer. ¡°Why would you be willing to speak with me? Me, a prisoner here and an enemy of humanity?¡±


    Before T could answer, she heard t hitch. <em>-Attack from the side!-</em>


    T had momentarily lost focus on her three fold sight and now she was about to be speared from behind and to the side. She did <em>not</em> trust her armor to protect her. He knew about her defenses, and he was making this strike anyway.


    Still, it wasn¡¯t like she had an instant way to respond. She couldn¡¯t flicker out of his grasp¡ªshe tried¡ªso all that she could do was redouble the power going into her various defenses and void-magic aspect mirror.


    In that instant, however, Terry was there, flickering into being between them and attacking the upraised arm with void-magic talons, even as a weapon he¡¯d thrown knocked the iing root-spear off course.


    Terry clearly did <em>not</em> like T in the predicament, and he wasn¡¯t about to let her be struck in such a way.


    The arcane roared in anger even as he batted at the bird, trying to get him away with his off hand. Terry flickered back rather than taking the hit.


    The arcane was irritated, but clearly still felt like he was in control. ¡°I am Abridane, Lord of the World Wood, and I will have my answer. Unless your words were merely meant as a distraction?¡±


    <em>No, that¡¯s what you were doing, you rusted piece of detritus.</em> T didn¡¯t of course, have time to actually articte that. She didn¡¯t actually know how Abridane had managed to say all of that so quickly.


    T punched at the arm holding her with void-magic and anti-Leshkin magics in her glove, but he resisted the blunt hit with powers of his own.


    At the same time, Terry had flickered back in, with void-magic raging along his talons once more.


    Abridane seemed to have been preparing for just such an attack, because <em>something</em> hit Terry. It wasn¡¯t physical in any sense of the word, but the results resonated within T¡¯s chest like a copsing mountain.


    First, the eight bloodstars that Terry used for his threefold vision shattered,cerating T¡¯s soul further.


    Then, Terry¡¯s spirit¡ªhis very self¡ªwas ejected from his body, killing him instantly. Due to his soulbond with T, that spirit was pulled into close orbit around her own keystone, within her body, but that barely registered.


    Terry was dead.


    Terry was dead, and T had no time to truly process that fact.


    <em>I can bring him back</em>. She tried to reassure herself even as she tried to position herself to swing Flow into the Mezzanni who¡¯d killed him.


    It didn¡¯t help.


    He had died trying to save her from this beast, and she hadn¡¯t been able to prevent it.


    A heartbeatter¡ªwith Terry¡¯s magics gone¡ªhis body <em>exploded</em>.


    Gore, blood, viscera, feather, bone, and all manner of other bodily pieces were suddenly far too close together for anything without magical assistance.


    The result was a detonation seemingly like nothing so much as an avnche of bodilyponents thrown forth with the power of a thunderbull¡¯s charge.


    T was ripped free of the hostile grip and thrown against the wall of the cell, just beside the tunnel out. Abridane was shredded as hecked her armor to protect him from the tearing effect of the bones and other hard bits.


    The vegetation around them was painted a chunky red.


    She had a prolonged moment of panic at what had just happened.


    Terry was <em>dead.</em>


    Her mind, spirit, and very soul were all reeling from the fact.


    Before she could sink too low, however, she <em>felt</em> the terror bird¡¯s presence beside her.


    He wasn¡¯t back¡ªthat would take some doing, and she hadn¡¯t had time to figure out how she would aplish it¡ªbut his spirit was with her even now, bound to her soul.


    So long as she lived, he was not truly dead despite the bloody evidence to the contrary.


    His death had bought her freedom, and she hated that such had been required.


    With that assurance, she was able to vault back to her feet, facing Abridane as he bore down upon her.


    This <em>thing</em> had killed Terry.


    This <em>thing</em> needed to pay.


    Flow snapped into her hand, bing a void-ive even as she thrust forward, a yell on her lips.


    t had not fallen into rage as T had. <em>-T¡­ that wasn¡¯t a special attack he built up over time. He just¡­ he just hit Terry with it.-</em>


    Even through her anger, that resonated as <em>wrong</em> to T. <em>What do you mean? We¡¯ve been seeing him build up something. Wasn¡¯t that it?</em>


    <em>-...Look for yourself?-</em>


    In that instant, t showed T what they¡¯d been perceiving, and what had changed around the attack on Terry: Essentially nothing.


    <em>Oh¡­ Oh, rust.</em> T¡¯s burning rage shed to a bone deep cold as she realized that she likely didn¡¯t have a defense against such an attack.


    <em>-Existence Shield?-</em>


    T did not like the idea of that, but it would be preferable to dying. <em>It¡¯s our best shot.</em>


    Abridane splintered into a wave of crashing vines, utterly avoiding the precise, powerful shes she executed in an attempt to harm him. He then reformed just beside her.


    Once again, he somehow spoke verbosely in an instant, his words hitting her at the same time as his attack, ¡°Very well, I will ask another.¡±


    t and T had already been working, folding Void, Magic, and Reality¡ªvia her armor¡ªtogether into a powerful protection. Because of that, when the same power that had struck Terry so recently hit her, she weathered the blow.


    But it was a weathering.


    She felt battered and torn, like she¡¯d somehow survived a swim in a volcano because she had a big enough icecube.


    <em>-That is an awful analogy.-</em>


    <em>Really? Now?</em>


    Abridane seemed shocked that she was still standing, but that didn¡¯t slow him, and in the next instant, he <em>roared.</em> Striking her again with the same power, a thousand fold more powerful than the little hits she¡¯d taken before and easily three times more powerful than what she¡¯d just resisted.


    Even despite her aura¡¯s attempt to dull it, despite her void-magics and Existence Shield, Reality mmed against her like the inevitable rising of the sun, and in that moment, her gate¡ªher very soul¡ªwas knocked free from her body.


    With a tearing sensation, more visceral than anything she had ever experienced, she felt her physical self be eviscerated as the soul which had been fused to it was forced out, her connection to her own body fully severed, as the world went entirely dark.

 Chapter 479: Connection

    Chapter 479: Connection


    T floated in <em>nothing.</em>


    Even to say she floated was technically inurate, as there was nothing <em>to</em> float and nothing at all in which to be.


    Yet, it wasn¡¯t the <em>same</em> nothing that she¡¯d sensed outside the cell-tunnels.


    <em>There really shouldn¡¯t be different kinds of nothing¡­</em>


    She honestly wasn¡¯t quite sure how she was thinking, as she was rusting sure that she didn¡¯t have a brain.


    There was an odd <em>pull</em> at her being¡ªsoul, gate, whatever she was¡ªalong with a sense of light andfort, near at hand.


    It was like she was standing naked in a snowstorm, against the external wall of a chimney. The slight warmth of the wall made it clear that there was a <em>lot</em> of heat on the other side, and there was a door to get inside <em>right</em> over there.


    <em>The next world?</em>


    That seemed likely.Had that not-Leshkin killed her? Really?


    <em>Are you gged?</em>


    Something about the very idea seemed¡­ughable? <em>Well, it¡¯s not like I </em>can <em>actuallyugh¡­</em>


    She did <em>not</em> like what was happening. <em>Alright, T. Think, think, think.</em>


    If her gate had been forcibly kicked out of her body, it <em>should </em>have brought at least <em>some </em>of her natural magics along with her. She didn¡¯t feel a build up of power, nor an ess anywhere, so that meant that it was going into <em>something.</em>


    All those natural magics pertaining to her body and biology would have been left behind affixed around ¡®her body¡¯¡ªthat¡¯s why such were the most often avable harvests from magical and arcanous creatures after all. There was the funny thing that most parts cut off before death were separated from the natural magics of a creature or person, those staying with the being the part was cut from.


    Regardless, the natural magics more central to <em>her</em> may have been pulled free, more attached to her soul than her physical form. There would be no certainty in which hade along.


    <em>That¡¯s why I can think, though. I have </em>huge<em> amounts of magic devoted to enhancing, mimicking, and improving mental function. I¡¯m effectively operating on a natural magic brain at the moment.</em>


    That was¡­ only marginally terrifying. Even if she didn¡¯t have the hormonal systems to <em>feel </em>that terror anymore, the cognitive reality was still there, looming over her. The very fact that she was only cognizant because those magics had happened toe with her was like tripping and falling out of the way of a killing blow in battle.


    <em>No, don¡¯t panic. Think!</em>


    She needed to figure out what else hade along.


    <em>Huh</em>. The first thing that she noticed was actually her gravity magics. For as little as she used them in her day to day ofte, they <em>were</em> at the core of her fundamental understanding of the world and her own magic.


    And the final magic she found was her threefold sight. Nothing else remained.


    <em>Blessed stars, YES!</em>


    She diverted some of her power into those pathways, and something akin to sight returned to her.


    The first thing she noticed was that the world seemed <em>almost</em> frozen around her. She¡¯d been devoting so much power¡ªher entire, unlimited throughput¡ªtoward her mental enhancements that her thinking had be effectively instantaneous. <em>Amazing what can be done without the limitations of biology slowing me down.</em>


    Now, however, some of her power was going elsewhere, so the world was moving forward, even if at an absolute crawl.


    Her threefold sight seemed to be originating from a space behind her body and a bit above, as if she¡¯d been ejected out and back by Abridane¡¯s hit¡ªwhatever that had beenposed of.


    The second thing she noticed was something she¡¯d already known, but the reality of it struck her once again. The woods, ground, and other surrounding vegetation were painted a grotesque shade of <em>Terry.</em>


    That thought could <em>not</em> be borne; she couldn¡¯t deal with it just yet.


    Finally, despite the incredibly slow movement of the world around her¡ªshe would guess at a minimum a thousand to one difference based on her perspective¡ªthe arcane prisoner¡¯s eyes were locked <em>directly</em> on her.


    Not her body, <em>her.</em>


    <em>That¡¯s not great.</em>


    Based on her threefold vision¡ªwhich was irritating to parse without t¡ªher body wasn¡¯t dead, nor were her magics gone, though both seemed to have gone through a shredder as her Fusing was broken. <em>And here I thought that was impossible¡­</em>


    No¡­ her Fusing hadn¡¯t been broken, what her soul had been Fused to had been torn apart. There was no longer anything to be Fused to, and even thetent connection between soul and body was gone, only the magics she¡¯d painstakingly maintained caused her body to have kept a resemnce of function.


    Her armor also helped, holding everything together.


    She suspected that her biology and remaining magics would sputter out soon enough with her gate no longer empowering them.


    <em>All the more reason to get back as soon as possible.</em>


    T suspected that t wasn¡¯t with her, because those magics were <em>explicitly</em> designed to let t run as a secondary consciousness within T¡¯s biological brain. Therefore, t didn¡¯t have anything to think within, as T now was. <em>She </em>might<em> still be in my body¡­</em>


    And that meant that t wasn¡¯t here, because T wasn¡¯t in her body. Because she was dead.


    <em>Don¡¯t think like that, T. Don¡¯t give up.</em>


    There was the continued, insistent tugging <em>onward</em>, but that wasn¡¯t really an option.


    She was <em>not</em> ready to die.


    She was surprised that such mattered, and she might be reading too much into things, but she felt like she had <em>something</em> that she could do to prevent that end.


    She tried to use her gravity magics to amplify her gate¡¯s¡ªher own¡ªconnection with her body, but the result felt like climbing the stairs and missing a step.


    There didn¡¯t seem like there was anything left to amplify.


    <em>Well, that isn¡¯t ideal. </em>She wasn¡¯t panicking¡ªlikely because she didn¡¯t have a body with pre-set fight or flight responses¡ªand she was grateful for that. It was no time to panic.


    The first thing she had to do was ovee her slow drift <em>away.</em> She didn¡¯t think it was a physical direction that she was moving so much as simply moving on.


    <em>Yeah, none of that.</em>


    Her thoughts went to the rends in Reality that she¡¯d seen at abandoned city sites. With that thought and change in mindset, reality threads came into focus around her.


    She¡­ wasn¡¯t connected to much.


    Due to proximity a few more stood out. There were some solid¡ªyet still somewhat ephemeral¡ªconnections with her unit. She¡¯d seen these before, but they somehow were clearer now than ever before.


    <em>Maybe because they¡¯re more real to my current state?</em>


    She waited for t¡¯s response, but of course, it never came.


    <em>Focus, T.</em>


    There was a transitory sensation associated with the connections with most of her unit, despite their obvious strength. It was disconcerting, but it also made a certain amount of sense. She was mainly interacting with them due to work, and once the waning of Alefast was over, she would likely have far less contact with them.


    That was a punch to the non-existent gut.


    But she didn¡¯t have time to camp on the revtion.


    Terry¡¯s spirit was there, still in her body for the moment, though it was not anchored there by any means. She knew with utter certainty that if she passed on, he would as well, going wherever such spirits went. It might be the same ce she was going, and it might not. She simply didn¡¯t know.


    It also was unimportant right then.


    Her connection with Terry was <em>powerful</em>. The thread was thick, substantial, and unwavering.


    She also knew that despite her gravity magics being one-way, trying to use a disembodied spirit to anchor herself to Zeme was a bad n. It might be a form of paranoia, but it <em>felt</em> like knowledge intrinsic to her current state, as if by being a simple gate she had a better understanding of how gates actually functioned in the world.


    But back on task, she saw other connections as well. She had powerful soulbonds, but all of those connections were oriented on her, depending on her for their stability, power, and existence. She knew with <em>absolute </em>certainty that trying to use any of them to save herself would end in disaster, no matter how much logic would seem to indicate otherwise.


    She was their foundation and source of power, so she couldn¡¯t stand upon them in turn, not in this way.


    All of her other connections were too far away to be of any use¡ªgiven the nature of her magics, distance was incredibly important.


    That¡¯s when her eyes fell on her connection to Rane.


    She had somehow missed it in her initial inspections, not because it was small, but the exact opposite.


    In this weird space that wasn¡¯t physical, the use of physical concepts to describe it was deceiving, but where each other connection felt like a rope tied between herself and the other, her connection to Rane was a massive in of level ground, waiting there just beneath her feet, ready to catch and support her.


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    Her threefold sight shifted to focus on the physical Rane.


    He was mid-sprint, bursting out of the cell-entrance tunnel with Force leading the charge.


    The other members of their unit wereing but moments behind¡ªnow having mostlye back to themselves¡ªbut her metaphorical eyes were only on Rane.


    He was there for her. He always had been, and likely he always would be.


    She and Terry had <em>almost</em> held out long enough for backup to arrive.


    <em>Well, rust¡­</em>


    There were times that she wished he had more going on away from their shared interests, but whenever he wasn¡¯t around, his absence was keenly felt.


    It¡¯s why she¡¯d been joining him in a few of his anciry activities ofte.


    But she was getting distracted, and there were important things to be about.


    Rane was close. Her connection to him was solid beyond belief, and she wouldn¡¯t endanger him by depending on it.


    She turned all her magic toward amplifying the pull on that connection.


    What she focused on would never be a physical force between them, but she wasn¡¯t physical at the moment, so that hardly mattered.


    Power <em>poured</em> through her and into those natural magics.


    To her, it felt like an eternity, but by the movements in the world around her, it was less than a minute.


    Her physical body had locked up, her armor bing essentially statue-like without her controlling it.


    Rane was solidly in a berserking rage. Even so, he was hitting Abridane far less than she and Terry had been, but every one of his hits contained kic impartment, which disrupted the Mezzanni more effectively than simple cuts or hits had. More than that, with her current view, T could see the magics of the rage bubbling up within Rane, and some of that power was flowing into every hit, making the resulting damage slower to heal.


    Abridane managed to counter-hit Rane once while T was watching closely, but the power of the Mezzanni broke around the magics of the Sovereign boon, the berserker rage seemingly protecting Rane from that more existential danger. The energy had felt a bit slower to gather as well, which T interpreted as Abridane having been weakened by his overwhelming strike on her.


    The other members of the unit were likewise engaging with the arcane¡ªall save Mistress Cerna, who was weaving an incrediblyplex magic seemingly geared toward protecting their soul-body connections, and Mistress Vanga, who wasing toward T to check on her.


    <em>Kind of her toe check, and those protections would have been useful </em>before<em> we were in the cell¡­ </em>T sighed internally.


    Regardless, she was bending all her will toward trying to pull herself, using her connection to Rane. If T had had a physical form, she would have been sweating at the strain.


    Her connection to Rane was amplified to the point that she was no longer in danger of moving on, but she wasn¡¯t returning to her own body¡­ which made a certain amount of sense.


    She was tying herself to Zeme in general using her connection to Rane¡ªlikely in a simr manner to how a soulbound spouse¡¯s gate could remain with a gateless. She was simply able to mimic the phenomenon without the soulbond¡­ and while he already had a gate.


    <em>That¡¯s probably why I¡¯m not moving closer in? Well, it¡¯s great that I¡¯m no longer moving away and all, but not really helpful long term.</em>


    Shecked the magics to remake a body for herself, and while she <em>might</em> be able to pull something together at need, her body was <em>right there,</em> and such an attempt would be a long-shot to say the least.


    Her body was right there¡­


    Her body with Terry¡¯s spirit sequestered within.


    <em>That might work¡­</em> There was no danger of odd recursive dependencies ejecting them both from existence, so¡­ maybe?


    She focused on that connection once again and began to tentatively amplify the pull of that thread. It sort of worked.


    There was <em>something</em> missing though.


    Terry was helping to anchor her to the physical space in which her body waited, but there was still nothing tying her to the body itself.


    It was still alive, her remnant magics having <em>mostly</em> put her back together, just like she¡¯d feared what seemed like so long ago. <em>But it¡¯s good now. Perspective is a funny thing.</em>


    The heart was beating, the blood flowed through it, but the connection that had made it <em>her </em>was gone.


    <em>That is rather frustrating¡­</em>


    She needed something to connect her with her body once again, even if just for a moment. She felt like if she could make even the briefest of connections, it would naturally reset.


    <em>If I was Reforged, I could be sure of making a new body¡­ Huh, is Master Xeel unkible?</em> She dismissed the thought for the moment.


    It was only then that a surprisingly obvious idea came to her, though it likely only did because she could see the reality threads so clearly around her.


    Her family was her family <em>because</em> of her body.


    Sure, there were the emotional connections too, but if she¡¯d had a different family, she¡¯d have been born in a different body.


    Sure enough, when she looked really closely at the reality threads trailing off toward her family in the distance, they seemed to almost fray, most of the connection going to <em>her</em>¡ªto her soul¡ªbut some pieces were <em>definitely </em>going to her body, beforeing to her soul with the rest of the thread. For some of her siblings the proportion was far greater, but she didn¡¯t let that bother her.


    <em>Huh, none of Rane or Terry¡¯s connections go through my body¡­ I guess because we don¡¯t have any physicalponent to what connects us?</em>


    There was a beat where T again waited for t to snark, but the alternate interface was based in her body. t wasn¡¯t here with her.


    <em>Oh, she must be </em>panicking<em> if she¡¯s even conscious at the moment.</em> The body¡¯sck of movement made unconsciousness the more likely option.


    My <em>body. Don¡¯t disassociate, T.</em>


    She focused back on the task at hand and amplified the portion of her connection with her family that went through her body.


    Surprisingly, blessedly, that <em>worked¡­ </em>mostly.


    She felt her soul sink back into herself and her gate slotted right back in, settling in against the connections to her keystone exactly as it should.


    But there wasn¡¯t an actual connection.


    She¡¯de to the right ce, but the body wasn¡¯t <em>hers </em>anymore.


    She screamed within her magically wrought mind.


    As she did so, she felt a resonance with something that <em>was</em> hers.


    Throughout her body, there was iron.


    Iron that was <em>unquestionably</em> hers.


    Even without a face, she knew she was grinning.


    <em>MINE.</em>


    Her soul twisted, pulsing outward to confirm her authority and sovereignty over the iron, briefly connecting with that part of her body.


    Existence took care of the rest.


    Her eyes snapped open within her helmet.


    t started screaming in existential terror and relief in one, and T <em>knew</em> she was only on the edge of consciousness.


    Her body was torn apart more thoroughly than it had likely ever been, and her newly restored gate was <em>roaring </em>with power funneling into her healing inscriptions, even as her stores were being devoured at a feverish pace to enact the repairs.


    Her healing magics were rebuilding her.


    Her magics¡­ rebuilding¡­


    <em>That¡¯s it!</em>


    In her half-present state, she used her aura and will to pull Terry¡¯s spirit forth and aspect mirror her healing onto him, using the might of her aura to enforce that <em>yes</em>, the stter around them¡ªfully within her aura and authority¡ªwas his body, which the magics were designed to pull from for the purposes of healing.


    It helped that Abridane was being driven back, Mistress Cerna¡¯s spellforms drawing on Rane¡¯s berserker state for inspiration as she defended the unit. All told this mean that Abridane couldn¡¯t make T¡¯s aura too choppy at the moment.


    It didn¡¯t work perfectly¡ªthough whether that was due to her soul-deep exhaustion, or the limitations of the magics she was stretching just a bit past their intended use, she had no idea¡ªbut it did work well enough that Terry came back into physicality in the midst of an inrush of biological matter.


    Mistress Vanga was watching with obvious fascination, but everyone else seemed to be purposely focusing on their enemy rather than the blood, bone, and viscera rebuilding itself into Terry.


    Except Rane. Rane was still assaulting Abridane with single minded purpose.


    Thest thing T saw before copsing to the ground¡ªjust in front of Mistress Vanga¡ªwas Terry¡¯s talons striking the forest floor. Thest thing she heard was his shriek of indignant rage, promising vengeance.


    * * *


    T came back to herself outside of the cell of Abridane, Lord of the World Wood.


    Her threefold sight immediately told her that the cell was closed once more. Her unit was entirely alive, and the Paragon was sleeping off to one side, clearly exhausted from the ordeal.


    <em>-Hey, you. You¡¯re finally awake.-</em> The alternate interface sounded strained.


    <em>t? Are you okay? </em>T was immediately concerned.


    -<em>I¡¯m¡­ I¡¯ll be alright. I think I was separated from our soul for a moment there, before I¡­ stuttered somehow? I think I wasn¡¯t aware of the time our soul was gone except for that brief blip. I didn¡¯t like either part¡­-</em>


    <em>Are you going to be okay?</em> T filled the question with a sense of genuine concern and care.


    <em>-I am, yeah, but I think I¡¯ll be quiet for a bit. I need to recenter myself.-</em>


    <em>Whatever you need. Take the time.</em>


    <em>-Thanks, T.-</em>


    T returned a feeling of affection, then shifted, moving her stiff back.


    When she stirred, everyone noticed and came around, checking on her, and filling her in on what had urred.


    She¡¯d kept the prisoner from escaping and busy enough for the others to recover, alter their preparations, and re-engage. They hadn¡¯t been able to kill him, but that hadn¡¯t ever <em>really</em> been in the realm of possibility to begin with.


    Their mission wasplete, and everyone was going to be fine. In the end, they¡¯d only had to keep him at bay for around ten minutes.


    With Rane effectively immune¡ªeven the one time he¡¯de out of his berserking state, being hit by Abridane had thrown him right back into it¡ªand Terry no longer sticking around to be hit, everyone else stayed at a distance. Since the Mezzanni¡¯s soul-kicking attack seemed to be quite close range, they simply didn¡¯t allow him to close on them.


    Between the seven of them working in concert, it ended up being much easier than T would have expected.


    Mistress Vanga insisted on giving T a full check-up, twice.


    Masters Girt and Limmestare asked T if she was <em>really</em> sure that she was going to be okay at least a half dozen times each, and Master Clevnis and Mistress Cerna¡ªafter ensuring that she was alright¡ªeach apologized to T for not over-preparing, even though, when pressed, they couldn¡¯t tell her what they would have done differently with the knowledge that they¡¯d had.


    She assured everyone that she would be fine, and that she didn¡¯t think that they could have acted elsewise with the information that they had. Cell work was dangerous, and things like this happened sometimes. She was just d that it had been her who had been hit, rather than one of them.


    Terry squawked at that, eliciting chuckles and inquiries as to his health along with copious amounts of jerky and other meaty snacks.


    When the chatting eventually died down, the unit members gave her well-wishes and left her with Rane and Terry.


    In that space, she turned to regard Rane, who was sitting beside her, a serious look on his face.


    ¡°What are you thinking about, Rane?¡±


    He sighed. ¡°You died, T. I don¡¯t know what happened, or how you¡¯re here, but I saw your body without your gate. You were gone.¡±


    She grunted, then nodded slowly. ¡°Yeah, I think I was¡­¡±


    She briefly exined the highlights of what had happened on her end.


    ¡°And then I helped Terry reconstitute before passing out from the strain.¡±


    Terry trilled gratefully, and Rane grimaced. ¡°I don¡¯t like how close I came to losing you. I don¡¯t think there¡¯s really anything we could have done differently without perfect foresight, and there isn¡¯t really anything we can do differently going forward. ¡ªIt would be silly for me to ask or expect you to avoid danger, after all.¡ª I just don¡¯t like how things went¡­ It was too close to disaster.¡±


    T found herself smiling, and she leaned in for a kiss. She was eternally grateful that Rane was there, that he <em>would be</em> there forever.


    That¡¯s what she wanted, and that¡¯s how it would be. Her very soul hummed in contentment at the notion.


    Terry looked between them, head turning back and forth. He was bound to her, so he would know what she was feeling at such a deep level.


    When no one said anything else, he visibly slumped and let out a clearly exasperated squawk.


    That got both of their attention, and they looked his way just as he used his own will and connection to pull one of T¡¯s bloodstars into the superficial.


    He then moved it toward Rane¡¯s mouth in a distinctly implicative manner. He did pause it before it passed the man¡¯s lips, though.


    Rane¡¯s eyes widened, and he looked to T. ¡°Is this him or you?¡±


    ¡°Him¡­ But¡­¡± She swallowed and nced away, finishing in her own mind. <em>But I like the idea.</em>


    Rane¡¯s gaze firmed, clearly rightly interpreting her actions. He seemed to make his choice, but then hesitated long enough to take a deep, steadying breath before he asked, ¡°Will you marry me?¡±


    She looked back, meeting his eyes, an utterly uncontroble smile overtaking her features. ¡°Yes.¡±


    <strong>Here ends Flockbound, Millennial Mage book 11</strong>

 Ironbound - MM 8 - Audiobook Launch

    Ironbound - MM 8 - Audiobook Launch


    Hello all,


    My apologies for the double poke today, but the Book 8 Audiobook just passed through final checks and is avable NOW through BookFunnel (purchase done via Ko-fi).


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    Purchase /s/5f810cf8a2


    If you have the other books in BookFunnel, now is the time to get this one, too. It will be off of BookFunnel (for new purchases) and onto Audible possibly as soon as next Wednesday, depending on how I can swing it.


    Thank you once again for your readership and support!


    Regards,


    J.L.Mullins

 Chapter 480: A Bit Excited

    Chapter 480: A Bit Excited


    <strong>Here Begins Book 12 - Outbound</strong>


    T could barely contain her own grin, as the most recent Irondalian to be reborn stood andughed with joy.


    He could already <em>feel</em> the power coursing through him.


    Advances in technique and procedure had made the whole process smoother for T and less painful for the reborn. Though, it would never be ssified as a pleasant experience.


    It was to the point that Kedva and Brandon¡¯s younger children had all been reborn without any hesitation or issue. They hadn¡¯t even asked for Healers to be on hand for the fourth or fifth.


    <em>Now that is going to be a powerhouse of a dynasty. </em>T had been following those children¡¯s growth, and while the magic hadn¡¯t affected them <em>too</em> much¡ªit was proportional enhancement after all, not a t increase¡ªit had manifested in faster learning and their excelling at most games.


    Toward that end, Kedva had requested that T make most of the ygrounds, courts, and fields be low-magic zones, at least for her children. She didn¡¯t want them to have an unfair advantage, nor to grow up with a superiorityplex.


    It was a bit finicky to get right at first, but t, Kit, and T had figured out how to set up conditional ess to magic for various citizenry.


    But that wasn¡¯t what was important at the moment. The newly reborn man was what T should be focusing on.That man leapt into the air, giving a startled cry and windmilling slightly as he didn¡¯t get the jump quite right, not having expected to have quite so much power behind the leap. Even so, hended well enough and spun and threw his arms around T.


    She was used to these spontaneous outpourings from the reborn by this point. Thus, she returned the hug graciously before Ron¡ªthe head of training for the newly reborn¡ªstepped forward to lead the man away.


    Ron gave her a bow. ¡°Mother T, thank you for your time and assistance.¡±


    She had long since stopped trying to change how they addressed her. It was better for them to do it to her face rather than when they could pretend that she couldn¡¯t hear. Even so, she had to fight back the usual twitch at his referring to her as ¡®Mother.¡¯ Regardless, she pressed on, ¡°Always a pleasure, Ron.¡±


    This newest man to be reborn was something of an experiment. He would not be joining the other peacekeepers within Irondale¡ªnot that they had much to do in that role. Instead, he was simply a citizen of the town.


    He¡¯d gone through the preliminary training, but other than that? He was just a gateless man.


    They were curious how far he would progress, and how much the increased capacities would help him in his day to day life.


    Given the fact that he was a builder, they expected it to be a direct benefit to his work, as well as to how quickly new homes and other buildings could be put up in the continually growing Irondale.


    Lyn had a contented smile on her face as the two men left, moving over to stand with T. ¡°It is always enjoyable to see their reaction to the rebirth.¡±


    T smiled over at her friend, only feeling a little awkward. ¡°And in this case, you are directly responsible for <em>him</em> being chosen.¡±


    ¡°Indeed. We were having trouble keeping up with demand, and I have no interest in forcing people to do certain types of work. Prices were in danger of rising too high to be reasonable, and while that got <em>some</em> more builders involved, we just don¡¯t have arge enough economy to pull the builders we need from other lines of work. Even with the eptance of immigrant applications being biased toward builder supporting professions, we areing up short.¡± Sheughed. ¡°Even without inclement weather requiring houses, we areing up short.¡±


    ¡°Hence, him.¡± T smiled.


    ¡°Exactly. He¡¯s contracted to keep his prices at the going rate for apleted product, and he will now be able to do more. Thus, his time will be more valuable even without a premium on the end result.¡±


    ¡°And faster production will drop the going rate.¡±


    ¡°Some, but he¡¯ll stille out ahead. Like I said, demand is <em>high.</em> And we are still a smallmunity.¡±


    ¡°How are we looking, poption wise?¡±


    Lyn¡¯s eyes flicked to the side as she recalled the exact figure. ¡°Twelve thousand, four hundred, and seventeen.¡±


    A small smile pulled at T¡¯s lips. ¡°Precise.¡±


    ¡°urate. We log people leaving the expanded space or entering. That way we can be sure we don¡¯t leave anyone behind nor move our portal while still hosting anyone who shouldn¡¯t be in here.¡±


    T gave a long-suffering smile. ¡°You know I have that in hand.¡±


    ¡°You do, but you could have <em>all </em>of this in hand. My purpose here is to take things off of your te. This is but one of those things.¡±


    T gave her friend a hug, squeezing lightly. ¡°And you do such a good job of it too.¡±


    Lyn pulled back from the hug and looked her friend up and down. ¡°It¡¯s been months since¡­ How are you holding up?¡±


    T sighed but smiled. ¡°I do appreciate you asking, but you do so quite often. I¡¯m fine. Master Grediv has had a bevy of experts poke and prod at me body, spirit, mind, and soul. I¡¯m in perfect health. They noted some oddities with my soul, but they couldn¡¯t say if those came from my recent experience, my odd use of bloodstars, the dasgannach bond, or something else entirely.¡±


    Lyn tsked before letting out a resigned breath. ¡°You have lived an¡­ exciting life, even whenpared to other Refined.¡±


    T huffed. ¡°Isn¡¯t that the truth. Like I¡¯ve told you at least a dozen times, it was terrifying in the moment, but in the end, I think I¡¯m better for it.¡±


    Lyn rolled her eyes. ¡°It has not been a dozen times, T. Don¡¯t exaggerate.¡±


    <em>-It¡¯s been ten times, and it¡¯s still terrifying to me¡­-</em>


    ¡°t says it¡¯s been ten, so you¡¯re right.¡±


    ¡°Really? Ten?¡± Lyn looked a bit abashed. Then, the woman frowned. ¡°How is t?¡±


    T gave a sad smile. ¡°She¡¯s alright. The experience was entirely different for her, and it¡¯s still something that we¡¯re working through, together.¡±


    ¡°Well, let her know that I¡¯m thinking of her, and I¡¯m here if there¡¯s ever anything that I can do.¡±


    <em>-I know, Lyn, and I appreciate that. Thank you.-</em>


    ¡°She knows, Lyn, and she¡¯s grateful. We¡¯ll let you know, and thank you.¡±


    ¡°Of course.¡±


    T didn¡¯t feel like continuing that line of discussion, and as she searched for something to switch the topic to, she nced after the departed men and a smile tugged at her lips. Lyn noticed the expression and tilted her head to one side. ¡°What is it?¡±


    ¡°I was just thinking¡­ It won¡¯t be too long before I have <em>actual</em> children of my own.¡±


    Lyn chuckled. ¡°Some people take a while to get pregnant after the wedding, but that shouldn¡¯t be an issue for you two. You¡¯re both Refined, after all. So, yeah. It could be less than a year before you have a little one on the way.¡±


    T smiled in return. ¡°Exactly. I¡¯m¡­ I¡¯m nervous, but also a bit excited? It¡¯s a new adventure. I think I need a new adventure right now.¡±


    ¡°You mean besides marriage?¡± Lyn teased.


    ¡°That¡¯s fair.¡± Tughed along with Lyn. ¡°But I honestly think that they¡¯re one and the same¡­ or at least very closely linked. One will feed the other, you know?¡±


    ¡°I think I do. But do you really want kids right away?¡±


    T shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t think we¡¯ll actively try, but if onees our way?¡± She gave a small smile. ¡°I don¡¯t think we¡¯d be too unhappy.¡±


    Lyn grinned in return. ¡°Regardless, I¡¯m excited for you both.¡±


    * * *


    Terry tore through the pride of arcanous creatures which seemed like nothing so much as ground squirrels crossed with lions and given a dose of earth maniption magics.


    He wasn¡¯t defending Alefast at the moment. T¡ªand by extension he¡ªhad been taken off that duty for the near future after their temporary deaths.


    If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    No, he was deep in the mountains, in a ce that very few humans had likely ever gone, seeking a challenge.


    This pride? It <em>sort of</em> qualified.


    Their ability to quickly and selectively armor themselves against his strikes made things interesting, so long as he didn¡¯t use void-talons.


    Even better, they could, theoretically, actually hurt him with their pebbles, which they could shoot out at nearly twice the speed of a human arrow.


    Back before he¡¯d bonded with T, he would have had to retreat from the concerted, coordinated attacks of this hunting group.


    Not any more.


    He flickered in and out, changing size to fit where he needed to in order to strike where he wanted.


    He couldn¡¯t get as big as he once would have been able to¡ªnot since his own death and reconstitution¡ªbut bing giant wouldn¡¯t have helped in this fight regardless.


    Terry hamstrung the swiftest of the beasts, and when they began using their earth maniption topensate, he used that distraction to sh open more vital portions of their anatomy.


    His own threefold perception was <em>fantastic</em> for spotting weaknesses and vulnerabilities in his prey.


    It took a bit of the guesswork and intuition out of the hunt, and made it easier overall.


    ¡­a bit too easy.


    Soon enough, they were all dead, and he was able to throw his head back and swallow each body in turn.


    He was about to move on, feeling a bit grouchy for theck of proper prey, when he felt a presence unmask itself on a nearby hill.


    He crouched low, but the giant wolf didn¡¯t attack. ¡°Bound of the human sireling, your hunt seemed unsatisfying.¡±


    Terry hesitated, then squawked a reluctant agreement.


    The great canine showed her fangs in an approximation of a human grin. ¡°Anatalis wishes to extend a specific invitation to you, avian wolf. When your human journeys to the northern forest, we do not doubt you wille, but it seemed right to specifically invite you. You are packbound as we are, if to a different Alpha. We are kin-in-kind and will wee you with fresh kills and howls of delight.¡±


    Terry bobbed his head in acknowledgement, keeping a careful watch on her with his threefold perception.


    This wolf was <em>powerful.</em>


    She hadn¡¯t even been evident to his aspect mirrored sight until she¡¯d allowed herself to be seen. That shouldn¡¯t really have been possible, but he supposed that predators who specialized in hunting magical beasts at or above their advancement would need such abilities.


    ¡­at or above their advancement.


    Terry straightened, trilling his question, both hesitant excitement and cautious inquiry filling the tones.


    The wolf¡¯s rumblingugh came in response. ¡°But of course, little hatchling. What else would we do, but hunt?¡±


    Then, the wolf faded from his view and awareness.


    Terry flickered up to the space in which she had just been, but she was nowhere to be perceived. There were not even paw prints to stand testament to her having ever been there at all.


    The terror bird looked toward the north, eagerness filling his heart once more.


    * * *


    Rane pulled back the polishing cloth and looked at his finished work.


    It was a sculpture of a simple cat.


    It wasn¡¯t modeled after a specific one that he¡¯d seen. Instead, he¡¯d tried to capture the nature of what it meant to be a cat in the stone.


    He smiled to himself at his aplishment. He sort of wanted to knock it off the table where it sat, but felt like that was just because the statue was so urate.


    <em>I don¡¯t hate cats, right?</em>


    <em>|No.|</em>


    <em>Simple. Thank you.</em>


    <em>|Of course.|</em>


    It was smooth and hard, but somehow evoked the notion of softness.


    It was stiff and unmoving, but somehow looked as if it were lounging bonelessly in the sun.


    He was honored to have been able to craft such a statue.


    He didn¡¯t have a particr n for the piece. He simply loved the act of creating it. He had plenty of funds for materials even without the money his family made avable to him as part of their continuing attempts to try to convince him that he should take a more formal role in the family.


    His engagement to T had sparked a whole new round of such things to the point that he had seriously asked Master Grediv how the Paragon would feel if he and T took a newst name.


    The Paragon had been ambivalent, but advised that¡ªif they did so¡ªit should not be something that referred directly to their first names¡ªunlike what he had done.


    It was apparently more hassle than it was worth in the long run. Though, he did concede that it was convenient for tracking his descendants after all of these years, so that should be factored in.


    Rane had been considering things like Maite, Hematite, or others in that vein. He was taking inspiration from abination of iron and stone, T and himself.


    He personally liked Pyrite, except for the fool¡¯s gold connotations.


    She hadn¡¯t been too interested in the discussion at first. Truthfully, she had thought it would be funny to have nost name, or to pick something random. In the end, however, she seemed to being around to making something for <em>themselves</em>, a family that they could call their own.


    <em>|You know she was joking at first, right?|</em>


    <em>Of course I do, but it still wasn¡¯t very helpful.</em>


    <em>|You¡¯re overly concerned about the name. Isn¡¯t it more important that you two are together?|</em>


    <em>And you and t?</em> He poked back.


    Enar didn¡¯t seem to take issue with the teasing, however. <em>|That will be quite good as well, but we </em>can¡¯t<em> expand the family, so the family name hardly matters to us.|</em>


    <em>Is that true? I mean, I know there haven¡¯t been any cases of alternate interfaces having children of any kind, but given that you¡¯re both as much of our souls as we are¡­?</em>


    <em>|There have been studies. It takes twopatible sapient souls of a simr biological framework to procreate. It seems that a new soul won¡¯te into being with no chance of birth. I can¡¯t imagine why.| </em>Thest was said in faux confusion.


    Rane decided to ignore the sass. <em>Well, wouldn¡¯t that imply some level of intelligence behind the creation of the soul? That doesn¡¯t seem right.</em>


    <em>|Or just mechanisms beyond our understanding that require a vessel to be iing as well.|</em>


    <em>Could be.</em> Rane shook his head, turning his attention back to the cat.


    He would have sworn it was looking at him, but since he¡¯d been the one to carve the eyes, the effect was less pronounced than it might otherwise have been.


    He deeply enjoyed sculpting, but if he were being honest, he could hardly wait for T to be cleared for active duty again. It had been months, and he missed fighting by her side.


    <em>Just another week or two.</em> Then, they would be able to face the world side by side once again.


    * * *


    T stretched, sending a series of pops up her back as she examined the pictograms in the cell antechamber along with her unit and the same Paragon that had apanied themst time.


    That was unusual but not unexpected. Mistress Dihsre was a bit of a specialist with souls and so had volunteered toe out with them to be there if T had need. She was also a prominent member of the oversight counsel for the cells. Given the nature of this cell, it was deemed wise for her toe along for that reason as well.


    The prisoner was seemingly a phoenix of ss.


    That wasn¡¯t as helpful a description as it might seem, because basically every prisoner could be described as phoenix-like in their survivability. In this case, however, the incarcerated seemed to legitimately be a bird of some kind, at least in its preferred form.


    The theory that had been recorded for posterity was that it had been a dasgannach of silica or something simr which had advanced sufficiently to take on a more definitive shape and gain some intelligence.


    If the conveyance was to be believed, it had approached the Mages of its day, distraught with concern that it might destroy the world, asking that they help it.


    They tried, but it was its very nature which threatened to subsume the material it was drawn to. They could contain it, but not alter its nature through means that they all agreed were eptable.


    Eventually, it had learned of the cells and asked to be imprisoned.


    All that to say, the unit wasn¡¯t expecting a fight. On the contrary, they were expecting to be able to simply speak with the creature as the cell was repaired.


    All thatbined to exin why <em>they </em>were there.


    T was<em> technically</em> still a few days from returning to active duty, but the unit that had initially been sent to this cell had reported in, before handing the opportunity to T¡¯s group.


    Her own bonding of a dasgannach was seen as a powerful touchpoint for interacting with the creature, and if the description held true, T might be able to get more from the being than anyone else, just by dint of that connection.


    Lyn was also there with T, but the older woman hadn¡¯t actually been assigned to the task, so T didn¡¯t really count her as ¡®officially¡¯ being there.


    Lyn was looking around the atrium this time around. Ron was at her side acting as a sort of escort¡ªnot that she needed one¡ªwhile she goggled.


    She¡¯d be back in Irondale with the ce sealed up before the cell was opened, no matter how peaceful the prisoner was supposed to be.


    Ron was actively leaking power, but it was at a markedly slower rate than nature would ount for. He was getting <em>very</em> good at holding in magic. He was actually about matching the natural retention rate of a ¡®high¡¯ race in toiri. Even so, he was still a far cry from what their trained members could achieve, but it was a solid start.


    Lyn came over to stand beside T before nudging her with her shoulder. ¡°So, this is what one actually looks like, eh?¡±


    T smiled back. ¡°Pretty much, yeah. Though, this is a bit more upbeat than they generally are. This is a voluntary incarceree rather than the usual fare, who were trapped against their volition.¡±


    ¡°Well, I don¡¯t envy you regardless. Do you know why the depictions of the Mages are often holding their ears?¡±


    T shrugged. ¡°They are probably trying to convey that the thing is noisy to a painful degree. If it really is made of¡ªeffectively¡ªss, I believe it too.¡±


    ¡°Yet another reason I¡¯m d to not be going any deeper than this.¡± She gave T a long look. ¡°This one is a candidate for Kit¡¯s devouring, isn¡¯t it?¡±


    T nodded. ¡°The cell is, yeah. That¡¯s one reason Mistress Dihsre is here. Honestly, this cell is a more reasonable candidate than even Walden was, given he still would prefer to be out and about.¡±


    Lyn chuckled. She¡¯d had the opportunity to talk with the elk, but nothing had reallye of it. He wasn¡¯t overtly hostile to humanity as a whole, but he wasn¡¯t one for small talk, and Lyn didn¡¯t have anything pressing that she¡¯d wanted to ask him. It had effectively been a greeting in passing before T asked a few questions that she¡¯d expanded his forest to get answered. All in all a mundane experience¡­ with an Immortal Elk of human-like intelligence.


    T smiled, happy to have her friend with her, if even for a moment. ¡°Regardless, we¡¯ll have to see where this goes.¡±


    ¡°Indeed.¡±


    Mistress Dihsre called out from near the center. ¡°We¡¯ve gotten the all clear. Time to get to work.¡±


    Lyn bowed toward the Paragon then turned back to T. ¡°That¡¯s my cue to leave. We¡¯ll close up Kit and wait on the outside of this cell.¡±


    ¡°Sounds good. See you soon enough.¡±

 Continue the Story [Book 8 - Ironbound]

    Continue the Story [Book 8 - Ironbound]


    <strong>The iron-d reality of the world relentlessly pursues its own. Arcanes and humanity continue under a fragile peace, often breached but never shattered. Gated-humanity thrives within their ever-renewing cities in this hostile world. Mages and Archons devote their long lives to give their people a chance.</strong>


    Through tribtion and hardship, T has managed to return to the humannds, her freedom hard won, her self intact. Her family and friends await her, but her time away has left its mark. She has to face new trials¡ªface the new weight that she carries¡ªand somehow find a way though things that she has never faced before. While that isn¡¯t exactly new, she is now no longer alone.


    If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.


    Supported once again by those who care for her, she is given the tools and help that she needs to deal with the continued threats on her life and her very soul. Her magic and power have grown, but she is not content to let them stagnate.


    She carries with her the spoils and burdens from the arcanends, and she is determined to turn them all toward her benefit and the benefit of those to whom she fought so hard to return.

 Chapter 481: An Understanding

    Chapter 481: An Understanding


    T and Terry were the first ones to the end of the tunnel¡ªas usual¡ªwith Rane close behind.


    The other members of the unit wereing just after Rane.


    Master Limmestare was understandably giddy at the idea of a ss-based lifeform¡ªT could practically feel the man¡¯s soul vibrating with glee.


    Master Girt seemed more focused on his friend, Master Limmestare, seemingly ready to snatch the man back if he tried to advance before it was time to do so.


    Mistress Vanga¡¯s focus was quite obviously on T¡ªas the vanguard¡ªand the healer¡¯s magics were primed toe to her aid, should T be in need.


    Master Clevnis had a hand resting on the sword at his waist and was outwardly calm.


    Mistress Cerna was just finishing up a series of floating inscriptions to augment those she¡¯d draped over each of their shoulders. Both sets of magic were designed to dampen and filter sound, given the warnings depicted in the entry hall.


    Terry¡ªas was fitting¡ªwas faster than T, though she did flicker forward to stand beside him a moment after he stopped at the mouth of the tunnel, using his presence as the source of her aura to move to.


    It was interesting to her that he could go wherever he wished, the absence of their aura notwithstanding, but she could only do so with that base of authority.<em>Another thing to work on, just like moving my iron beyond my aura.</em>


    He nced her way when she arrived, letting out a contented chirp.


    ¡°Thank you. I am trying to use it more often.¡±


    He chirped again, turning to regard thendscape before them.


    T did likewise, even though her threefold sight had already taken it in.


    <em>Well, to be fair, his threefold perception would have done the same.</em>


    The cell was entirelyposed of desert, the sand an odd blue-green color. T could see that it was at least a hundred feet deep, and the cell extended that far up as well.


    The whole thing looked to be roughly a mile across, with very little variation in the rolling hills.


    As Rane stepped up beside her, he let out a long breath. ¡°It looks like the ocean, held still.¡±


    T frowned¡­ he was right in a sense. It was a bit sparklier than she remembered the ocean being, but possibly on a truly bright, spring day? Yeah, she could see that. ¡°That resonates. It¡¯s beautiful.¡±


    ¡°Indeed.¡±


    Master Limmestare maneuvered himself forward to kneel at the end of the tunnel and put his hand forward. He clearly marveled at the sand that he touched. ¡°No sharp edges. It¡¯s all rounded, all ss. Don¡¯t step out, I don¡¯t know that it would hold you, and you might just plummet straight to the bottom. It wouldn¡¯t be like a fall through the air, but I doubt it would be that much better. More importantly, it would be a pain to get you back out.¡± His power flexed, but seemed to be rebuffed by the ss. ¡°I can¡¯t do anything with this at all.¡±


    T nodded. ¡°What about with an increased surface area?¡±


    The ss Mage grinned up at her. ¡°Well, given you can stand on <em>air</em> with those magics, yes, I think you¡¯ll be fine with an increase.¡±


    She rolled her eyes, then nodded in return before amplifying the power going to the surface area expansion scripts on her feet and stepping out.


    It felt like how walking on syrup might. That wasn¡¯t quite right, though, as it wasn¡¯t sticky. Maybe a viscostic fluid?


    Yeah, that was closer.


    Not that she¡¯d ever actually done that.


    <em>-The swamp in the void-hold?-</em>


    <em>Maybe¡­</em>


    There was clearly <em>some</em> coherence to the ss-ball sand, otherwise there couldn¡¯t be dunes, waves, or whatever the rolling hills should be called.


    Even so, she had to increase her surface area even further before she felt herself steady, the ss no longer trying to roll around the edges.


    She had only taken four steps before the tableau changed.


    The whole of the cell began to move, as if it <em>were</em> really the ocean, and it had simply restarted its movement.


    The sound would have been deafening without Mistress Cerna¡¯s magic. Their enhanced and reinforced ears would simply have been overwhelmed by the sound to the point of essential deafness rather than actually being damaged, but the effect would have been the same.


    T¡¯s helmet helped a bit, but it just wasn¡¯t designed for sound istion.


    <em>Bless that woman.</em>


    T found that with just a small increase to her scripts beyond the stability she¡¯d already found, she was effectively a buoy, bobbing on the surface.


    Thankfully, the motion didn¡¯tst long.


    A momentter, a bird rose up from the depths and the whole of the cell stilled, the surface bing a perfectly t, seemingly solid ne of ss.


    The bird was¡­ small. It wasn¡¯t the size of a hummingbird¡ªnot quite¡ªbut it might have been likened to arge sparrow.


    Each beat of its wings was apanied by the cascading sound of cracking ss. Those cracks were even visible as waves of jagged white lines within the ss depiction of a bird, though they sealed almost as quickly as they were created.


    The effect was very much like the crashing of waves upon a sea-shore.


    The movements of the wings were clearly mostly for show, as they were not moving enough to have been keeping the bird aloft.


    Terry trilled up at the clear bird, eliciting a grinding, chirp of sorts in return.


    He flinched slightly at the sound, but hid it reasonably well, responding with another trill, tilting his head toward T and the unit as a whole.


    The bird regarded them for a long moment before shattering, ss pulling up from the ground to join the fragments from the bird, together reforming into the shape of a woman, standing on the still surface.


    A dress of woven ss fibers unspooled to drape around her. Her actual form was of solid ss, though, which seemed like a strange choice from T¡¯s perspective.


    The ss-woman opened her mouth, and the sound of breaking, cracking, grating ss intensified even as the waves of white cracks radiated around each movement. Through Mistress Cerna¡¯s spells, T was able to pick out the likeness of words.


    <em>-I¡¯ll clean that up, one moment¡­. There.-</em>


    With t¡¯s help, T was suddenly able to hear the woman properly. The alternate interface even processed the ss-woman¡¯s words back to the start of what she¡¯d been saying, ¡°Greetings, Archons of Humanity. Long have I slumbered in this ce of my authority. If you do not know, I am Lupe. By yourck of obvious pain at my voice, you havee prepared. I am grateful for that. I do not like harming your kind.¡±


    Her eyes swept them, clear interest in her eyes, but then her gaze jerked back to focus on T.


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    ¡°You¡­ you contain echoes of one of my kin, yet you are not as I am. How can this be?¡± Lupe¡¯s throat whitened with each syble, healing quickly enough to visibly whiten again as she continued to speak. It made an oddly beautiful disy that T could <em>not</em> focus on at the moment.


    T nodded, having anticipated the potential for something like this. ¡°So, you are rted to the dasgannach?¡±


    ¡°I am¡ªor was¡ªsuch a creature, a curse at my very core. That which eventually became me strove and struggled, gathering unto myself my material until, one day, I was simply more than I had been. I believe there were sapients nearby when this happened, but whether they had a hand in the change, I never learned. What are you to my kin?¡± While it was hard to determine expressions precisely on the see-through face, T had rather a lot of practice doing something simr given her threefold sight. If she read Lupe correctly, she was intensely interested in the answer.


    <em>-Yup, you have to be a master sleuth to have deduced that.-</em>


    <em>You know, you could just let me feel special¡­</em>


    <em>-I could</em>¡ª<em>and I do</em>¡ª<em>but only when it is warranted.-</em>


    T didn¡¯t respond to t, instead choosing to address Lupe, ¡°Two dasgannach were twisted by arcanes and confined in a cor around my neck. Their purpose was as a deterrent, to contain and control me. When I fought back against my captors, the dasgannach were released into me. One took all it could, fled my body and died. The second would have killed me, so I did what I could to keep it close. We eventually came to an understanding.¡±


    ¡°An understanding. Truly?¡± There was the definite light of hope in the ss-woman¡¯s eyes. ¡°Is this something you could offer others?¡±


    ¡°What we came to could not work between us.¡± T answered quickly, not wanting Lupe to get her hopes up. ¡°It was an enfolding and intermeshing of desire and purpose.¡± T allowed a misting of iron dust to manifest and float around her in intricate shapes.


    Lupe gasped, eyes widening in a very good imitation of the human facial expression. It was apanied by the sound of cracking and scraping ss, but Mistress Cerna¡¯s workings continued to reduce the ear-rending sound down to merely ufortable. The Refined nature of the unit likely contributed to that reduction as well.


    It was odd seeing the ss face whiten all across its visage from microcracks, and T had the fleeting concern that every crack was painful for Lupe. Though, given the bird form¡¯s somewhat unneeded movement, and Lupe¡¯s almost overdone expressions, that was unlikely.


    Regardless of the potential pain, the imprisoned didn¡¯t hesitate in expressing her surprise, ¡°Such a strong purpose¡­ It is no wonder that you are so far on your way to Paragon. Around eighty percent if my interpretation is correct.¡± She had an odd, humorous, knowing look as she said that. ¡°If I understand human advancement, having such a powerful drive underlying who you are would be an incredible boon. If what you did were repeatable by others¡­?¡±


    T shook her head, even while she took in the contemtive looks of her unit members. ¡°Unfortunately, I don¡¯t have the knowledge or ability to replicate what I did for others.¡±


    ¡°That is understandable. Before my istion here, I was asked if such was possible, and I answered assuredly no. I am d that while I was mistaken, I was not overly so.¡±


    <em>-Well, that does exin why you are advancing through Paragon faster than people who seem¡­ more grounded than you.-</em>


    <em>¡­I¡¯d be offended if you weren¡¯t so correct. So, Paragon requires an eternal goal, understanding who you are and who you want to be, </em>and<em> a powerful drive?</em> That¡­ that was really obvious now that she articted it. For most Refined, immortality was at hand, and they had no real need to advance for any reason. Sure, they were still pursuing advancement, moving onward slowly, but it wasn¡¯t urgent to them. There wasn¡¯t a <em>drive</em> for most of them.


    <em>Wait¡­ Rane was the prodigy all along?</em>


    <em>-Always has been.-</em>


    <em>And we¡¯re just a miracle of circumstance? </em>T added a faux despondence to her thought.


    t chuckled. <em>-I wouldn¡¯t go that far. You have worked incredibly hard, survived much, and came out ahead. But we should probably discuss thister.-</em>


    <em>Right.</em> T refocused on the cell around her. Thankfully, due to her enhanced cognition, barely a moment had passed while she considered internally. ¡°Regardless, Lupe, I do believe that you and I <em>could</em>e to an understanding of a different sort.¡±


    The woman straightened, sending a quickly healing cascade of cracks through her entire being, which made her look frosted for the briefest of moments. ¡°I listen.¡±


    ¡°I have a soulbound storage that is such that it does not automatically force a bond to any sapient who enters it. Moreover, partially due to the dasgannach that I bound to myself¡ª¡±


    Lupe gasped, sudden realization seeming to strike her. ¡°You expanded my cousin¡¯s authority and sovereignty to include anything in your expanded space, as well as iron regardless of where it is found?¡±


    T held up a finger in correction. ¡°Over what is <em>mine.</em> Yes.¡± The word ¡®mine¡¯ resounded through the cell, seemingly echoed by every bit of ss contained within. ¡°That is how it works.¡±


    Lupe shivered in obvious resonance of the concept. ¡°I am listening.¡±


    T smiled. ¡°The Mages of Humanity have agreed to allow me to take on keeper-ship of cells which are suited to less stringent security. In your case, you came to us and asked to be contained. Even now, you make no move to attempt to gain your freedom. If I were to devour this cell, I could keep you from iming more material and give you a bit of normalcy. You could never leave the expanded space which is bound to me, but you would be able to leave <em>here.</em> You¡¯d be able to interact with others, do whatever you¡¯d like.¡±


    Lupe was already shaking her head. ¡°I think I understand what you will be asking, and if I am right, I will decline. I will not give up what is <em>mine</em>.¡±


    T felt a tingle through her whole body at the final word, clearly sensing a kinship with the idea. Thankfully, T had expected the ss-woman¡¯s response. ¡°I hear you, but I believe that you misunderstand my aim. Do you hold sway over this cell? The air around you? The edges of Existence which contain you? Are any of those yours? Are any of them <em>you</em>?¡±


    Lupe frowned, her brows whitening briefly with the motion and the disquieting sound of splintering reached T¡¯s ears. ¡°No¡­¡±


    ¡°Then nothing would change. I would not ask you to give up any of who you are. I¡¯ve seen you be discontinuous already. Am I correct that you can separate?¡±


    ¡°I can, but if it is for too long¡ªsay, more than a week as humans measure such things¡ªI will diverge and be two.¡± Her frown deepened. ¡°I am asrge as I am because I had to hunt down all my willful spawn who did not understand the danger we posed to Zeme.¡±


    That made T pale slightly. Lupe had hunted down divergent versions of herself because she felt so strong about preserving Zeme. That sparked a realization in T, and she felt the need to check. Even so, it wasn¡¯t a question. ¡°You aren¡¯t the original, are you.¡±


    Lupe gave her a long, <em>long</em> look. ¡°No. So, that is something we share.¡±


    T jerked back slightly, as if pped. ¡°What do you mean?¡±


    ¡°You bear hallmarks simr to that found within my own copies. Though, from what I can tell, you had no divergence. Since divergence is a part of <em>my</em> nature, I would not have expected it in you, regardless.¡±


    She really didn¡¯t know what to make of what Lupe had said, so she decided to ignore it for now.


    <em>-Because that¡¯s a healthy way of dealing with things that has worked so well for you in the past.-</em>


    <em>I don¡¯t like you sometimes.</em>


    <em>-It is expected for the weak-minded to be jealous of the brilliant.-</em>


    <em>¡­We are the same person.</em>


    <em>-And self-loathing is better than jealousy inspired-dislike?-</em>


    T grimaced internally. <em>¡­Moving on.</em>


    Before t could say anything further, T smiled at Lupe. ¡°So, given that, your mass can be sequestered either off to one side of the space or in a separately maintained ce, and you can explore the rest of the area at your leisure,ing ¡®home¡¯ to yourrger self every day or so.¡±


    Lupe still seemed concerned, at least for a moment. ¡°But I¡¯ll strip your expanded space of¡ª¡± A considering look came over her as she paused herself mid-sentence. ¡°No, I won¡¯t, not without concerted effort. It would be like oveing a divergent versus meeting up with one in passing. So long as I don¡¯t actively choose to contest you, that just might work¡­¡± There was a light in the ss woman¡¯s eyes. ¡°You might even be able to oppose me if I <em>do</em> actively try to im more in a moment of weakness.¡±


    T could literally see a light kindling within the ss structure of the eyes. <em>Where is thating from?</em>


    <em>-Nowhere that I can perceive. Must be¡­ T, do you think it might be magic?-</em>


    <em>Rust you, t.</em>


    <em>-Hey, hey. We already talked about self-loathing.-</em>


    T sighed.


    Lupe turned away from T for the first time in their conversation, her eyes resting on Master Limmestare even as she pointed at T. ¡°Mage of ss, do you trust this one?¡±


    Master Limmestare was takenpletely off guard, but he still responded with care and tact, ¡°Though I have known her only a short time¡ªon the scale of such things¡ªshe has continually shown herself to be dependable, yes.¡±


    Lupe nodded, looking to Mistress Cerna. ¡°You have the aura ofmand. Are you an authority here?¡±


    ¡°I am.¡± Mistress Cerna answered with a slight bow of her head.


    ¡°And you support this decision?¡±


    ¡°The n seems solid enough, yes.¡±


    ¡°And if you were me, would you take the deal?¡±


    That seemed to give Mistress Cerna pause. Even so, the mature Refined responded with a smile, ¡°Absolutely. At the worst, it would be no different than here, and at best, it will be so, <em>so</em> much better.¡±


    Lupe smiled, the edges of her mouth whitening briefly before the fractures healed. ¡°Indeed. Very well, Mistress T. I agree.¡±


    T grinned. ¡°Excellent.¡±

 Chapter 482: Pane of Glass

    Chapter 482: Pane of ss


    T, Lyn, Rane, Terry, and their defensive unit were standing in one of Irondale¡¯s parks, in an out of the way alcove created by decorative bushes, boulders, and a bubbling fountain.


    ¡°Here?¡± T asked her friend, rifying what they¡¯d discussed earlier.


    Lyn considered for another long moment, and even consulted her Archive te before nodding. ¡°Yes.¡±


    T shrugged. ¡°You know, we can move itter, but I¡¯d rather not.¡±


    Lyn quirked a smile. ¡°I do understand that, T. Here is good.¡±


    T nodded. ¡°Alright, then.¡±


    She opened the exit from Irondale out into the cell atrium in which Mistress Dihsre awaited them.


    The Paragon smiled at them through the opening. ¡°So, is it time, then? You¡¯ve picked the ce, and you¡¯re ready to proceed?¡±


    T smiled in return, giving a slight bow of respect. ¡°Yes, Mistress Dihsre. Do we have final approval to proceed?¡±¡°You do, Mistress T. Will you remain inside for the devouring?¡±


    ¡°I will, yes.¡±


    ¡°Very well, I will leave the entry space while maintaining the seal. Give me twenty seconds, and I¡¯ll be clear.¡±


    ¡°As you say.¡±


    <em>-Counting.-</em>


    <em>Thank you.</em>


    T¡¯s threefold perception could still see the superficial just as easily as she could when not within Kit, but there was something interesting about being within Kit for a devouring. She hadn¡¯t experienced it from this side before.


    After the requisite time psed, T willed for Kit to consume the space.


    First, their side of the portal moved, shrinking to be a two inch by three foot horizontal rectangle on the ground in the center of the alcove. Then, T watched as the external manifestation of Kit slid to the outermost entry to the cell¡¯s housing, where the two-spaceplex abutted to Zeme itself. There, Kit began to devour.


    T felt the extra material and dimensionality being added to her expanded space.


    The cell¡¯s entry hall was first, and T took care to maintain the integrity of the depictions of the prisoner as set out by the Mages so long ago.


    She didn¡¯t know what she¡¯d do with them, but that would likely be up to Lupe. They weren¡¯t all the most ttering depictions of the ss phoenix, but they had likely been created with the phoenix¡¯s input.


    Regardless, with the entry space consumed¡ªthe dimensionality added to Irondale and the material sequestered forter use¡ªit was time for the cell itself.


    Kit gobbled up the cell in an instant, having already taken the anchor from the entry space. That said, the result was that the cell was mostly just dangling off of Kit into the void, rather than truly being a part of her.


    That was as expected, given that¡¯s how cells functioned, but it wasn¡¯t where they were going to be stopping.


    So, T came in with her will and actively worked with Kit, consuming the dimensionality and air while leaving the ss unimed. They didn¡¯t eject the ss from their sovereign domain, but they didn¡¯t try to establish direct authority over it either.


    They didn¡¯t want to have a direct sh with Lupe in that manner as T felt like it would be a bit unkind as well as being against the spirit of their agreement.


    As the process continued, Lupe¡¯s blue-green ss began to rise up through the rectangr portal that Kit had established.


    T and Kit contracted the dimensionality of what had been Lupe''s cell until it perfectly matched the dimensionality of the ss that was Lupe, forming a perfect, solid sphere of ss with nothing else in that distinct instance of existence.


    The taken dimensionality and air were added to Irondale for the time being¡ªafter she was absolutely sure that she had full sovereignty and authority over it¡ªjust as the resources from the entry-space.


    As Kit and T processed the new acquisition, they discovered some small ss particles in the air, but T left those behind without issue, and the partictes re-merged with the giant sphere once all of the air was gone.


    Finally, the thick ss pane¡ªwhich was the size of a door¡ªwas fully grown and manifested in the garden. Two inches thick, three feet wide, and seven feet tall, it was a stunning piece of perfectly wless ss.


    T thought she heard Master Limmestare swallow in barely contained delight at the sight.


    The ss was transparent¡ªbut not perfectly so¡ªand the corners were rounded, causing some slight distortion of the view through, in addition to the blue-green tint.


    And just like that, the cell was no more.


    There was a moment, where T felt a will, a <em>need</em> reaching outward toy im on nearby material, but this was <em>T¡¯s</em> domain. The material was <em>hers.</em>


    <em>No.</em>


    And that was that. The questing will slid off like rain down a window, unable to find purchase. <em>-Good, it worked. That would have been embarrassing.-</em>


    <em>Indeed.</em> T chuckled inwardly. If the advanced dasgannach had been able to im material within her sanctum, they would have had a <em>serious</em> problem on their hands.


    Master Limmestare walked forward and ran his hand down the ss. ¡°Beautiful. Magic isced through every particle of the structure of this ss. I doubt I could scratch it with a dozen years of effort.¡±


    Master Girt patted his friend on the shoulder. ¡°Don¡¯t make it weird, Lim. That ss is alive.¡±


    The man pulled back his hand reluctantly. ¡°I suppose¡­¡± He sighed, then. ¡°Fine¡­¡±


    The others in the unit were watching with mute fascination. Terry was tilting his head back and forth, as if examining how the view through the ss shifted from different angles.


    Finally, Rane stood to one side, left hand resting on Force¡¯s hilt, a small contented smile on his lips.


    <em>-Oh, that¡¯s interesting.-</em>


    <em>What?</em>


    t sent the feel of a mischievous grin. <em>-You¡¯ll see soon enough.-</em>


    T sighed internally and put the issue to the side. t would tell her if it was something she had to address right then, or if it was going to be arge issue. She¡¯d just have to wait and see. Therefore, she turned her focus outward once more.


    T could perceive Mistress Dihsre on the superficial, and the Paragon was already working to get the cell-core that had been used to form Lupe¡¯s cell. T still couldn¡¯t perceive the Doman-Imithe with her three-fold sight, but she could see echoes of what the woman was doing nheless.


    More interestingly, within Irondale, right before their eyes, the ss crackled, seeming to buckle outward as if from a pressure within. The material extruded in a harsh series of pops and tinkling, apanying the bulge which began to distort and grow,ing together to form familiar shapes. First, a hand seemed to extend from the ss, followed by the connected arm.


    T made a statement of will, and the grating sound cut off, Kit suppressing the sound entirely despite the magical weight its source imparted to the noise.


    Lower down on the surface of therge pane, a foot came forth, likewise creating a rippling cascade of cracks before stepping onto the grass.


    Without the indicative sound, the whole process once again reminded T of an ocean surface, frothed by the emergence of some enormous, majestic beast.


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    A momentter, Lupe came fully forth from the doorway, for that¡¯s what the pane of ss was at the core of its nature.


    It was a direct connection to the void-hung space which contained most of Lupe¡¯s body. Only she could pass through it, and even then, the act would be more of a rejoining with the mass of ss than a true entering of a space.


    To everyone else, it would be just an artistic addition to the garden.


    Lupe stood, ss eyes closed in obvious reverence.


    <em>I don¡¯t think that actually inhibits her perception.</em>


    <em>-Of course it doesn¡¯t, but it¡¯s still a very implicative demonstration.-</em>


    <em>She does seem to be going out of her way to give human-like cues.</em> That was rather interesting to T, as it implied not only a deep knowledge of those cues, but a desire to show them to those watching.


    <em>-Indeed.-</em>


    Finally, Lupe opened her eyes, smiled, and spoke. Unfortunately, despite her throat and lips whitening from the movements, no sound issued forth.


    The ss-woman frowned, seemingly realizing that there was no sound. Even so, she tried to speak again.


    T sighed. ¡°One moment. I¡¯m ttening out all sound that originates from you, and that¡¯s catching your voice too. Let me see what I can do about that.¡±


    <em>-Oh, I see what you¡¯re going to do. Do you really think that Kit can filter that precisely?-</em>


    <em>I think so, yeah.</em> T did her best to impress her will toward Kit, and Kit seemed to respond with understanding.


    A momentter, T gave a nod. ¡°You should be able to speak now.¡±


    ¡°Thank you, Mistress T.¡± Lupe froze at the sound of her own voice. It was positively musical, like the tinkling of small wind chimes. No human could ever make any sound like these, but the words were still easily understandable, and the result was actually quite lovely to hear.


    Master Limmestare gaped.


    Lupe seemed to take a moment to gather herself before bowing. ¡°Thank you for revealing my true voice, behind the harshness of my nature.¡±


    T gave a nod in reply. ¡°It is our pleasure as your host.¡± T gestured to Lyn. ¡°This is Mistress Lyn. She is my adjunct, here in Irondale. If you need anything, please speak with her.¡±


    Lyn gave a bow. ¡°I greet you, Lupe, Phoenix of ss.¡±


    Lupe hesitated before giving a simr bow. ¡°I greet you, Mistress Lyn, Mage of Humanity, Adjunct of Irondale.¡±


    Despite her hesitation, Lupe actually seemed to rx at the formality presented to her by Lyn. It seemed more in line with what she¡¯d expected, or what she was used to.


    Greetings were exchanged all around, then, as the unit met Lupe in a less stark environment than her erstwhile cell.


    Lupe, for her part, seemed to almost absent-mindedly brush against flowers and trees and other things nearby, clearly reveling in the feel of something other than ss, something other than herself.


    Terry¡¯s interaction with the being of ss was short and to the point. He trilled a few times, and Lupe shook her head sadly. ¡°My apologies, good Terry. I do not think that I would be a good sparring partner for you, nor would I make enticing prey for you to hunt, not even as a game. My inclinations do not run that way, and I would be incredibly hesitant to produce a divergent biased toward such.¡±


    Terry huffed a long, disgruntled sigh, then trilled his goodbye before flickering away.


    With that derailment out of the way, they were just about to move toward a tour of the town, when T felt a distortion in the undeyment of the portion of Kit that was Irondale.


    A momentter, she saw Lisa approaching fast from stoneward, somehow still within Kit¡¯s expanded domain, though he was pressing against her boundary in that direction.


    A momentter, the fox-man breached the superficial within Kit, popping into being in the garden beside them, eyes locked on Lupe. His voice was level but slightly clipped, showing that he was a bit on edge. ¡°Curse of ss, what purpose do you have within this ce?¡±


    T¡¯s unit all reacted, magic flowing smoothly into the normally dormant portions of their inscriptions.


    Her eyes widened. <em>We told them about Lisa, right?</em>


    <em>-We did, but having an arcane pop into being beside you is still a startling experience when you aren¡¯t expecting it.-</em> t had a hopeful note in her voice.


    <em>This is what you noticed earlier, isn¡¯t it. </em>It wasn¡¯t a question.


    <em>-Well, yeah. Lisa instantly noticed Lupe¡¯s presence when Kit finished devouring the cell, and as soon as he could leave his house-construction in a stable state, he bolted in this direction.-</em>


    <em>That would have been nice to know ahead of time.</em>


    <em>-You could have looked for yourself.-</em>


    <em>Why would I, when you¡¯ve told me that you will do so on my behalf? Such would be a wasted duplication of effort.</em>


    <em>-...Fine. I¡¯ll tell you next time.- </em>t did seem at least slightly contrite.


    <em>Thank you.</em>


    Lyn stepped forward, causing the surprised Defenders to rx somewhat. ¡°My good Lisa, it is a pleasure to see you this morning.¡±


    The fox nced her way, clearly a bit torn, eyes flicking between the human and the woman of ss. Finally, he gave Lyn a nod of respect and addressed her. ¡°Mistress Lyn, would you be able to answer my inquiry? Why is such an advanced curse here?¡±


    The arcane was clearly still on edge, but he seemed willing to wait on an answer to his question before acting.


    T might have been offended that Lisa didn¡¯t ask her, but that was precisely <em>why</em> T had hired Lyn. Lyn was supposed to be the person whom Irondalians went to with their questions, requests, and inquiries.


    Lyn nodded and smiled, falling easily into her role. ¡°Absolutely. First, her true nature is already known, and she is here by design¡ªin case theck of an active struggle wasn''t indication enough. More than that, we can discuss over there. If you are amenable.¡±


    Lisa looked at the little garden bench that Lyn indicated and gave a careful nod. ¡°Very well.¡±


    Lyn had been kind enough to allow Lisa to keep Lupe in his line of sight from the indicated bench, as he was clearly a bit ufortable with the woman¡¯s presence, at least until he had an exnation.


    Lupe gave an apologetic look to T. ¡°I regret being the source of any such trouble. I did not know you had one of the arcane within your space.¡±


    T shook her head in negation. ¡°No need to apologize. We¡¯re sorting things out. I do need to go as we should be getting back to the city. Will you be alright waiting here until Mistress Lyn is ready to escort you about?¡±


    ¡°Oh, absolutely. Thank you, once again, Mistress T for this opportunity. I wasn¡¯t looking forward to another extended nap. There is more to life than sleep, and I am excited to explore some of it.¡± Her woven, ss-fiber dress swayed as the whole garden ripplied in a passing breeze. ¡°You really do have a spectacrly lovely ce here.¡±


    ¡°I hope that you enjoy exploring its wonders, Lupe. Take care.¡±


    * * *


    Lyn¡¯s talk with Lisa didn¡¯t take too long, all things considered, but the unit was well on the way back to Alefast when Lyn began Lupe¡¯s tour, Lisa in tow for the moment.


    The arcane fox-man, while momentarily mollified, did not seem to be fully happy with the ss-woman in his new ce of residence.


    Even so, he had been willing to give the idea a chance, and he hadn¡¯t mentioned his own departure even once.


    T took that as a good sign. That, along with Lyn¡¯s clearly rxed attitude, gave T confidence in the way things were going.


    She was a bit sad to be missing out on the tour, herself, but¡­


    <em>Wait¡­ why can¡¯t I be in there?</em>


    <em>-We need to physically move so that Irondale returns to the proximity of Alefast¡­ huh.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, that¡¯s what I was thinking. Isn¡¯t Terry enough?</em>


    <em>-We¡¯d have to orient Irondale on him, but that </em>should<em> work? He does have our aura, so he should be able to be the point of anchoring for Irondale, at least for a short time.-</em>


    That keyed off another idea for T. <em>Couldn¡¯t we also open a portal attached to this vehicle, and it would be carried along no matter where we were?</em>


    <em>-...Wow¡­ Why didn¡¯t we think of that sooner?-</em>


    <em>I have no idea. I suppose we don¡¯t usually want Kit to move when we aren¡¯t. So, we¡¯ve never really contemted it too deeply?</em>


    <em>-Yeah, that¡¯s probably it.-</em>


    T turned toward Master Clevnis. ¡°Master Clevnis?¡±


    The man opened his eyes,ing out of whatever meditation, contemtion, or light nap he¡¯d been partaking of. ¡°Yes, Mistress T?¡±


    ¡°Would it be alright for me to go into Irondale for part of the trip back?¡±


    The man gave a knowing smile. ¡°You want to be a part of Lupe¡¯s tour?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Check with the unit, but I¡¯m fine with it.¡±


    Mistress Cerna spoke up without prompting. ¡°That¡¯s fine with me, so long as you don¡¯t need us to stop.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t.¡±


    Mistress Vanga gave a small smile. ¡°I¡¯m just d to have you back with us, even if just for a short time. You¡¯re still taking off some time after the wedding, right?¡±


    T smiled back. ¡°We are, yeah. Though, we¡¯re not sure how much yet.¡±


    ¡°Of course.¡± The Healer nodded sagely. ¡°You¡¯ll not want toe back on active duty if you¡¯ve a little one on the way.¡± She let out a small sigh. ¡°As to you spending this trip in Irondale? I will be sad to lose the time with you, but Ipletely understand the desire. Go ahead.¡±


    Master Girt waved in her direction, eyes locked on an odd rock he¡¯d picked up¡­ somewhere.


    <em>-It was inside the cell¡¯s entry-hall. Apparently, it didn¡¯t belong there, so one of the original Archons to establish the cell must have dropped it there for some reason. He¡¯s trying to figure it out.-</em>


    <em>Ahh.</em> That sounded¡­ actually kind of interesting? It wasn¡¯t really something that she would want to pursue herself, but she would be curious if he discovered anything.


    <em>-I¡¯ll let him know when he surfaces from his investigations.-</em>


    <em>Thank you.</em>


    Regardless, the man seemingly had no issue with her idea.


    Master Limmestare was practically vibrating. ¡°I¡¯ll agree if I cane.¡±


    T chuckled. ¡°Fine. Rane, you want toe too?¡±


    ¡°Hey, now!¡± Master Clevnis objected. ¡°You don¡¯t get to take Rane, too. He and I need to finish our discussion.¡±


    Rane chuckled. ¡°A hand-and-a-half sword is just better than a two-handed long sword. There¡¯s not much more to discuss about it.¡±


    The man pointed at Rane vehemently. ¡°See! I can¡¯t let this stand.¡±


    T chuckled as well. ¡°Fine, fine. Are you alright with that, Rane?¡±


    He gave a small smile. ¡°Sure. You go have fun.¡±


    She leaned in and gave him a quick kiss. ¡°See you soon.¡±

 Chapter 483: Tour and Plans

    Chapter 483: Tour and ns


    T opened a small portal into Kit¡ªIrondale specifically¡ªanchoring it to the side of their vehicle. It was barely bigger around than her thumb, but that was sufficient for her purposes.


    With that in ce, she looked to Master Limmestare. ¡°Are you ready?¡±


    ¡°Unequivocally.¡±


    She huffed augh and willed for the two of them to enter Irondale,ing into existence beside Lyn, Lupe, and Lisa.


    Lisa seemed to have seen theming, or at least he didn¡¯t act surprised by their arrival.


    Lyn was more than used to T popping into being beside her by this point, and simply smiled at her friend. Master Limmestare¡¯s arrival might have surprised her, but if so, she didn¡¯t show it too overtly.


    Lupe stiffened slightly, causing her to whiten momentarily, even as her dress swayed around her.


    The ss-woman gave a quick bow. ¡°Mistress T. I did not expect you to be joining us. Master Limmestare, it is a pleasure.¡±


    T gave a nod of acknowledgement. ¡°It wasn¡¯t the n, but I was able to arrange things a bit differently to make it work.¡±Master Limmestare bowed toward Lupe. ¡°I am learning so much just being in your presence and observing your magics. Would you permit my joining of this tour for that purpose?¡±


    Lupe smiled slightly. ¡°I have no issue with that.¡±


    Lisa nodded toward T in greeting. ¡°It is good to see you again, Mistress.¡± He then nodded toward Master Limmestare. ¡°You as well, Master Limmestare.¡±


    ¡°And you, good Lisa.¡± Master Limmestare gave an equivalent bob of his head.


    T smiled and nodded in return.


    Lyn seemed to feel no need to verbally greet T, but she did give a proper bow to Master Limmestare.


    The three had been near the entrance to the garden which held the entrance to Lupe¡¯s new home, and T took a moment to look around with her mundane sight even as Master Limmestare¡¯s magical senses began to nket the area, observing and cataloging everything urring around Lupe.


    They were¡ªat that moment¡ªonly two blocks from the core of Irondale, the park being a mandated greenspace roughly the size of two blocks.


    Eight such parks ringed the town center, each oriented longways, perpendicr to the radial roads running outward.


    Irondale as a whole had an odd design due to T¡¯s usual cement of the gate into and out of the city. The massive physical gates that would open when Irondale was anchored in ce and allow for trade and egress were positioned on the side of the main square, and T did prefer to create the portal at that location. Thus, the roads to that central square were all designed as major thoroughfares.


    Unlike any city T had ever seen, any and allings and goings happened from that central point, rather than from the outer edges. Because of that, the defenses that had been incorporated¡ªsuch as they were¡ªwere all centered there. The best way to conceive of the differences was that the city was effectively inverted from standard.


    The streets that made up the circr gridwork of the city¡ªlooking much like a wheel from above, if with more circles regrly spaced outward along the spokes¡ªwere paved with unified, slightly textured stone courtesy of T¡¯s control within Kit.


    The homes and other buildings of Irondale were constructed in more traditional manners, even if T usually was involved in the creation of their foundation or basement, rendering that portion of the process trivial. Lyn had been working to help T strike a careful bnce between helping the Irondale citizenry and allowing them to do for themselves, and the streets and buildings were a part of that bncing act.


    The city center was constructed and designed to cater towards those who came in from whatever city that Irondale was currently anchored in, so that they could tour Irondale.


    These ¡®tourists¡¯ were actually a huge source of revenue for the city, even though Irondale had only regrly been anchored in three cities so far. The fact that it wasn¡¯t always there seemed to make the locals of Alefast, Waning; Bandfast; or Marliweather more eager to spend time and money within Irondale when they could.


    Though, Alefast was decidedly the least prolific market for Irondale, partially because of the smaller poption of that city, and partially because Irondale was there most often.


    As a precaution and preventative measure, T had also begun to amplify the reality node attractions within the central square whenever she could, in the hopes of mitigating the damage done by the visiting gated.


    Thankfully, even in the worst case, there were rtively few gated, and they spent rtively little time within Irondale. That¡ªcoupled with the soulbound nature of the space allowing it to naturally repair over time¡ªmeant that the level of damage that did ur was quite sustainable.


    Doing so took away from her simr work on her artificial lung, but as that had been on the back burner for a while now, dying a bit longer shouldn¡¯t really be an issue. Irondale¡¯s integrity took precedence for the moment, and had done so for a year or so by this point.


    She¡¯d also stopped trying to increase her body¡¯s attraction to itself using the markers that Mistress Holly had helped her add, because even when it did work, the results were only marginally useful. If it had been simple, she would have done it, but she¡¯d spent six months at one point just doing part of one foot.


    That simply hadn¡¯t been a profitable use of her time when she had so much else going on.


    But she was examining Irondale at the moment.


    Because T hadplete control within the space and was able to devour things to bring them in, she and Kit had been able to bring in old-growth trees as well as other well-established vegetation, positioning them along boulevards, giving Irondale a feeling of established majesty.


    They had been careful to not take too much from any one location. So, unless someone had made a habit of cataloging the exact location of trees in the wilds, she doubted that any would ever be missed.


    It was actually a funny thought, imagining some Archon¡ªor arcane¡ªpulling their hair out trying to figure out where particr trees had gone, since Kit left no evidence that they¡¯d ever been there.


    Her imaginings aside, the process was far from easy. cing and moving trees was an exercise in precision and splitting her focus, beyond almost any other task she¡¯d worked on, save the iron-wrought copy of herself that she was still working to perfect.


    Now, <em>that</em> was an exercise in minutiae.


    Even so, she and Kit were able to work together on the task of relocating nts or trees¡ªwhenever it was needed¡ªand that made it possible.


    But T was getting distracted.


    Rust, she was getting distracted <em>within</em> her distracted musings. She was here to join the tour of Irondale.


    Lupe, Lisa, and Lyn were about to tour Irondale in person, and she was excited toe with them. Master Limmestare was as well, even if his reasons had more to do with the ss woman than the growing town.


    Lyn gestured out onto the quiet¡ªbut not empty¡ªstreet. ¡°Shall we begin?¡±


    As the group began to walk, Lyn gestured to the trees that T was so proud of. ¡°We have all the main thoroughfares lined and divided by trees so that traffic¡ªboth vehicle and pedestrian¡ªcan move in a uniform manner. It isn¡¯t as necessary at times such as this, when Irondale is in transit, but when we are anchored, it makes the flurry of activity much less chaotic.¡±


    Lupe was nodding. ¡°When you are anchored within a human city?¡±


    ¡°Exactly, yes.¡±


    Her eyes flicked to T. ¡°And I will not be able to leave to explore these cities.¡±


    T shrugged. ¡°For now, no, but in the future, we might be able to work something out. The future holds a lot of time, and I won¡¯t rule out the possibility.¡±


    Master Limmestare grimaced slightly. ¡°It would require a <em>lot</em> of advances in magic that I wouldn¡¯t even know how to list out for research. Your kind are notoriously hard to contain or constrain in any way¡ªand that¡¯s the weaker, less advanced versions.¡±


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    The woman nodded in understanding. ¡°Whether or not it ever happens, I am grateful for this opportunity, for this wider view of Existence that you have already afforded me. It is more than I honestly ever expected to have again.¡±


    T smiled. ¡°Of course.¡±


    They all oriented back on Lyn and the tour continued.


    Irondalians waved or called a greeting when they passed, despite the odd nature of the tour group, and Lisa, Lyn, Master Limmestare, and T responded in kind.


    After a few iterations, Lupe joined in with little waves or small, verbal greetings as appropriate.


    After the tenth such encounter, Lupe nced toward Lisa. ¡°The humans don¡¯t seem to find me strange, nor you for that matter. Are they that epting here?¡±


    Lisa gave a small, vulpine smile. ¡°They are rather more epting than I had been expecting before my immigration, yes, but I think some of that is the nature of this ce.¡±


    ¡°Oh?¡±


    ¡°Yes. They are aware that this is an intensely magical town, and they encounter the truth of that every day. In that light, a few non-humans are a simple curiosity to most.¡±


    ¡°So, you¡¯ve been epted with rtive ease?¡±


    ¡°Generally. Though, cordiality andck of hostility are quite a ways from true friendship.¡±


    Lyn smiled between the two, interjecting as she addressed Lisa directly, ¡°Though, you have made good strides in that regard nheless, right?¡±


    ¡°Absolutely, Mistress Lyn.¡±


    Lupe gave a slow nod, her neck whitening in the motion. ¡°I see.¡±


    From there, the group walked through the various sections of the growing town, Lyn talking about what various things were for, why they¡¯d designed orid them out in that way, how they were developing, and what they hoped for in the future.


    The four ended the tour near the edge of the city where Lisa had ced the entrance to his home.


    Lupe was intensely interested in the twisted door frame, taking special note of the depictions of Lisa himself in both fox-man and human form.


    ¡°You have a human form?¡± The ss woman seemed intensely interested in the answer.


    ¡°I do. It is one that I have perfected over long years. Partially because of that long effort¡ªas well as my many years existing in such a form to most of the outside world¡ªI wished for any who knew me by that shape to know I reside within this space as well.¡±


    T raised an eyebrow in skepticism but decided not toment. Lisa¡¯s human form was so generic that even with her perfect memory she would find it hard to properly describe him. ¡®A man¡¯ was really the lion¡¯s share of what could be said about him when he looked human.


    Even so, that form was faithfully represented on one of the posts of his free-standing door frame.


    Lupe seemed intensely interested for another reason, however. That was made clear as she looked down at herself and spread out her hands. ¡°This form is¡­ not natural to me. I have worked to make it rtable, but I would like for it to be less alien, less statue-like. Would you be willing to assist me?¡±


    Lisa gave the ss-woman a long, <em>long</em> look, staring up into her clear eyes. Finally, he sighed. ¡°I am not against such a possibility, though we will need to discuss payment. I had nned to keep an eye on you, and this will allow that more easily, but such is <em>not</em> sufficient rpense for my expertise.¡±


    Lupe nodded quite happily. ¡°Of course. I know that equivalent exchanges will be the norm going forward. Most biological races use some form or other of that, even if it is as basic as ¡®you helped hunt, you didn¡¯t¡¯ with a division of the resources ordingly.¡±


    Lisa grinned. ¡°Ah, yes. Those who do not strive, do not survive, which inevitably leads to a quantification of that striving in intelligent races by one method or another.¡± He chuckled slightly. ¡°Very well, would you like to step inside my home¡ªsuch as it is at the moment¡ªto discuss terms?¡±


    ¡°I would like that. Thank you.¡±


    T wasn¡¯t worried about Lupe iming anything within Lisa¡¯s home as¡ªeven though it was a four-dimensional construction¡ªit was entirely within Kit. Because of that, it was firmly under T¡¯s authority, allowing her to deny the advanced dasgannach any further material.


    All that to say, she felt no need toment one way or the other on the offer.


    Lyn cleared her throat. ¡°Then, on that note, I will leave you two to it. Lupe, can you find your way back to the park?¡±


    Lupe raised an arm and pointed directly toward her ss b. ¡°It is there. I can sense the remainder of my self from distances far greater than this.¡±


    ¡°Good. I am avable should you need anything further. Good day.¡±


    Lupe bowed. ¡°Good day.¡±


    Lyn then turned and bowed to Master Limmestare. ¡°Take care, Master Limmestare.¡±


    ¡°And you, Mistress Lyn.¡± He then gave Lupe a nod of acknowledgement. ¡°Thank you for allowing me to apany you.¡±


    ¡°Of course.¡±


    T smiled and gave a nod of her own to the other four. ¡°I will take my leave as well. Good day.¡±


    Lupe, Lisa, and Lyn all wished her well.


    Master Limmestare bid the others goodbye, receiving simr expressions in return.


    Then, Lyn strode away, Lupe and Lisa strode through the archway¡ªdisappearing from sight¡ªand T willed herself and Master Limmestare back to the superficial, to Zeme and their still traveling unit.


    * * *


    T and Rane sat in her sitting room¡ªadjacent to her dining room¡ªwithin Kit, looking out on her sanctum.


    She had a mug of coffee in hand, and he was sipping on some mint tea.


    He¡¯d been ncing her way every so often, so when he finally broke the silence, T wasn¡¯t surprised. ¡°So, the wedding is only a few months away, if we¡¯re going to be traditional in having roughly a year-long engagement.¡±


    T gave a slow nod. ¡°It is, yeah.¡±


    ¡°...So¡­ Do we want to make ns?¡± He had a sparkle in his eyes. They had been making ns, and setting things in motion for months now, but it was still fun to pretend.


    She shrugged, going along with the pretense. ¡°I was thinking of having the ceremony in the sanctum with the celebration in Irondale.¡±


    ¡°That makes sense. There are a lot of lovely parks, even with theke moved to be closer to the outskirts rather than near the center. Being within Kit, we don¡¯t have to be concerned about the weather, either. That¡¯s a great idea. I like it.¡±


    T continued in a faux bored tone, fighting to keep a smile from her lips. ¡°Traditionally Archons¡¯ wedding.¡±


    ¡°Of course. Colors?¡± He grinned, not bothering to hide his enjoyment of the fun.


    ¡°I like blue.¡± She stared into his sapphire eyes meaningfully.


    His smile widened further, meeting her eyes in return. ¡°I¡¯m partial to red.¡±


    She chuckled at that, breaking her stoic facade. ¡°That¡¯s the reverse of what most would expect, but I like it. The colors will be blue and red, then.¡±


    ¡°That sounds great.¡±


    ¡°This is so simple. I don¡¯t know why people say nning a wedding is hard.¡±


    ¡°Guests?¡± His demeanor mellowed a bit at his own question.


    T sighed, then, her mood worsening slightly as well at the more serious sub-topic. ¡°As small as possible, but that¡¯s still not going to be small.¡±


    He grunted acknowledgement. ¡°Our unit and various Archon friends and acquaintances.¡±


    ¡°Naturally.¡±


    ¡°Key figures from Irondale and Alefast, Waning?¡±


    ¡°That makes sense.¡±


    ¡°Your siblings and their spouses and children?¡±


    ¡°Of course. And yours?¡± She raised an eyebrow in genuine inquiry. They had skirted this part of the guest list in the past.


    <em>-I hope you know that I¡¯m irritated that you expect me to be taking notes.-</em>


    <em>I mean, I can just rememberter and make my own notes, but you¡¯d find that boring and inefficient.</em>


    <em>-...Fair.-</em>


    <em>We¡¯re still open to your suggestions.</em>


    <em>-I know, my stance remains the same.-</em>


    <em>Alright, let me know if that changes.</em>


    Rane sighed, then nodded. ¡°It will be nice to see Chloe and Master Dafnis again. I¡¯m not very excited about Furgal, but it would be¡­ rude? Yeah. It would be rather rude and drama-inducing not to invite him. He won¡¯te of course, but not inviting him wouldn¡¯t work.¡±


    She nodded along. It was as expected. ¡°Of course, of course.¡±


    He smiled, then. ¡°And my parents and Master Grediv would both be appropriate to include. What about your siblings'' parents?¡±


    T hesitated. She appreciated Rane¡¯s round-about asking, but she knew that he meant <em>her</em> parents. ¡°Honestly¡­ I don¡¯t know. I feel like some part of me will regret them not being there, even though I¡¯ve explicitly chosen to avoid them for years now.¡±


    ¡°Do you think it¡¯s time to reconcile?¡±


    ¡°What do you mean?¡± Her tone was carefully neutral, but Rane seemed to sense the danger of the moment regardless.


    He held up his hands in a forestalling manner. ¡°I don¡¯t mean epting them as your parents once again, nor really investing in a rtionship with them either. I think I mean having an adult conversation, and honoring what part they <em>did </em>y in your life¡ªin helping to forge you into who you are¡ªeven if only until you were twelve, and even if not only in good ways.¡±


    T felt herself smile, not at the idea, but at how carefully and thoroughly Rane had articted the idea. He had clearly either rehearsed what he wanted to say or deeply considered the various aspects to the point that he was able to express it rather cleanly. ¡°I understand what you¡¯re saying¡­ Maybe?¡±


    He smiled. ¡°Whatever you prefer. I¡¯ll support your decision about your family.¡±


    ¡°Thank you.¡± She gave him a quick kiss. ¡°And I¡¯ll support your decision about yours.¡±


    As he pulled back, his smile returned. ¡°Thank you. But regardless of what you decide, I think it is incumbent upon me to insist that Terry be the one giving you away.¡±


    Tughed, then thought about it for a moment. ¡°You know? That¡¯s a really excellent idea.¡±


    ¡°I thought so, yeah.¡± He nodded sagely, ¡°Though, truthfully, I think it¡¯s traditional for soulbounds to be involved in that part of Archon weddings, if there are any soulbounds of the couple.¡±


    ¡°That would actually make sense, yeah. It¡¯s a joining of souls, so soulbounds will matter incredibly.¡±


    ¡°Yup.¡± His face became stoic. ¡°Now the really hard question.¡±


    ¡°Oh?¡± T felt hesitant. What could this be that was more serious than her siblings¡¯ father?


    He leaned in, meeting her gaze with sudden intensity. ¡°What food should we have for the feasting?¡±

 Chapter 484: Rather Interesting Lives

    Chapter 484: Rather Interesting Lives


    T and Rane walked through Marliweather, enjoying thete spring day.


    Irondale had been properly anchored, keying off the flurry of trade and traffic that had be a regr urrence whenever Irondale was anchored anywhere but Alefast. This time, there were another one hundred immigrants¡ªacross a few families¡ªwho would being in for final discussions and approval.


    Apparently a good chunk of these gateless hade from as far away as Manaven. Lyn had guessed that most of the closer gateless who would be at all inclined to join Irondale had already done so.


    Terry was frolicking in the wilds surrounding Marliweather, clearing out the dangerous arcanous creatures as something to do while T and Rane did what they had to do. The Marliweather Guard were incredibly grateful for his help, and that actually seemed to be meaningful to him these days, but T could tell that he was struggling to find a true challenge.


    <em>Charity hunting will only tide him over for so long¡­</em>


    Lupe was settling in well, and Lisa¡¯s house construction had slowed as a result of him spending a good chunk of his time with the ss-woman.


    <em>-He still doesn¡¯t really trust her.-</em>


    <em>That¡¯s understandable, given what she is, but he should know that we¡¯re watching.</em>


    <em>-He does, but I think spending the time with her makes </em>him<em> feel better.-</em><em>That¡¯s fair. I can¡¯t say we¡¯re really any different.</em>


    T nced toward Rane. ¡°You know, all this dealing with Lupe¡ªa ss phoenix¡ªhas me thinking about the clockwork thunder.¡±


    ¡°Oh?¡± Rane raised an eyebrow. ¡°Why is that?¡±


    ¡°Well, we¡¯ve had a few good oues from cells, like the deal with Lupe. I was hoping that the clockwork thunder had a good oue too.¡±


    ¡°That was the one Howlton was hunting for, a few years back?¡±


    ¡°Yeah. I mean, they might still be for all I know. It¡¯s funny, because I feel like I now understand what they were actually doing. They were looking for the atrium to the cell. They wanted the ¡®bribe.¡¯¡±


    ¡°That was my understanding, too.¡±


    She frowned slightly in thought. ¡°You know, I¡¯m still confused how it could have been so apparent on the outside of the cell. Isn¡¯t the purpose of cells to fully contain the magical threat?¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡± Rane¡¯s eyes gained a far off look. ¡°Obviously, we don¡¯t really have any record of prisoners in the outer ins, but we do have some instances of bleed-through in the gated-human wilds. There was a heat-based being whose imprisonment in a cell¡ªwhich was hidden in a hill¡ªcreated the effect of a constantly flowing mini volcano, even though the hill wasn¡¯t active in that way. The cell didn¡¯t actually cause any sort of eruption. It just melted the rock and created a constant trickle ofva.¡±


    ¡°Oh? That¡¯s kind of crazy. We haven¡¯t dealt with any cells containing prisoners who are that powerful.¡±


    Rane made his ¡®that¡¯s not quite right¡¯ face. ¡°Well, from what I understand, it¡¯s not about power. It¡¯s more to do with being so deeply connected with a concept, to the point that their mere presence forces the amplification of it. Even their proximity brings it to the forefront.¡±


    ¡°Well, I hope that Pareshti knows what he¡¯s doing. I¡¯d hate to find out Howlton has been destroyed somehow, or worse, that the clockwork thunder was freed because of Howlton.¡± She hesitated, checking her own prioritization of cataclysms. Yeah, she would prefer a town full of people she didn¡¯t know get destroyed¡ªknowing that most would probably survive¡ªthan a being like the clockwork thunder get free¡­ whatever it actually was.


    Rane grunted, then got a contemtive look. ¡°You know, we could go and check it out.¡±


    She gave him a puzzled look. ¡°What do you mean?¡±


    He gave her a little smile. ¡°Well, we¡¯ve got our honeymoon after the wedding. What if we took that time to travel a bit? I¡¯d like to see the ins outside the encircling forests, maybe explore a moving city or two?¡±


    T felt her expression brighten. ¡°Really? That could be amazing. We¡¯d need to pass through the northern forest, though. I don¡¯t particrly want to fight my way through the Leshkin again.¡±


    ¡°Agreed. So, we could take up the pack on their invitation to visit as well.¡±


    She grinned at the idea. ¡°Terry will <em>love</em> that, yeah.¡±


    ¡°Then outward to the ins to explore and track down Howlton?¡±


    ¡°That sounds amazing. Thank you for suggesting it, Rane.¡±


    He grinned in return. ¡°Of course. It sounds like a great adventure with which to start <em>our </em>adventure.¡±


    She chuckled then pulled to a stop as they reached their destination. <em>Right¡­ that¡¯s why I wasn¡¯t in the best mood, this is why I wanted to distract myself.</em>


    <em>-Yeah. I figured that I should let you do so.-</em>


    <em>Thanks¡­</em> But now she was here.


    She and Rane were at her siblings¡¯ father¡¯s house.


    Rane hugged her around the shoulders. ¡°Well, we¡¯re here.¡±


    T leaned into the embrace. ¡°Yeah¡­¡±


    It was a beautiful house, clearly demonstrating how much the family hade up in the world in the years leading up to its construction. It was well outside of the ¡®new build¡¯ timeframe now, but it was also clearly being well maintained.


    T had seen it before¡ªpractically every time she was in Marliweather when she came to pick up one sibling or another¡ªbut she¡¯d never <em>been </em>inside herself. They generally watched for her and came out when she arrived.


    Until now.


    She was here <em>to</em> go inside.


    She took a deep, calming breath and strode forward.


    Rane released her as she moved and followed a half-step behind. He was there for moral support more than anything.


    T hesitated onest time before she straightened and knocked on the front door.


    Before the second rap, <em>he</em> opened the door.


    There was a beat of silence as they locked eyes. Finally, he broke the silence, giving a tentative smile, ¡°Hello, Mistress T. Master Rane. Would you care toe inside?¡±


    They nodded in agreement and followed him inside. T swallowed once and gilded herself. ¡°Thank you for having us, n.¡±


    n stiffened slightly at the sound of his own name, but then nodded, rxing a bit once again. ¡°Of course, Mistress. It is our pleasure to host you.¡±


    A woman¡¯s voice came from deeper inside the house. ¡°Are you still waiting in the entry hall, dear? She¡¯ll get here when she gets here. Waiting next to the door won¡¯t make it any faster.¡±


    n reddened slightly. ¡°Marsha, love. They¡¯re here.¡±


    ¡°Oh?¡± She poked her head out into the hallway and saw T and Rane. ¡°Oh! Wee Mistress T, Master Rane.¡±


    She gave a deep bow.


    ¡°We are honored to host you. Iid out tea, coffee, and some light apaniments. Would you care to sit?¡±


    T nodded and gave a small smile. ¡°Yes, thank you.¡±


    She saw where they were being led, and began manifesting iron within her aura around the chair that she would sit in, in order to reinforce it. She wasn¡¯t <em>too</em> heavy these days, but it was still unreasonable to expect someone to have chairs capable of easily holding more than four hundred pounds.


    Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred tform. Support original creators!


    <em>-You could just use your iron to hold you up some.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, but that takes active mental control. I don¡¯t want a slip of focus to ruin a piece of their furniture. This won¡¯t necessarily be an emotionally or mentally easy conversation.</em>


    <em>-True. That¡¯s fair and kind I suppose.-</em>


    <em>Thank you. I¡¯m trying.</em>


    <em>-You could reduce your own gravity?-</em>


    <em>Yeah, then I¡¯d move oddly. I don¡¯t want to be bounding around if I have to move.</em>


    <em>-Right.-</em>


    Sure enough, they were led to the sitting room, and T was able to take the chair that she¡¯d subtly reinforced.


    The chair still creaked a bit, but not dangerously so. <em>Just like when I¡¯m at a restaurant.</em>


    <em>-Though, you don¡¯t have to reinforce those as much.-</em>


    <em>That¡¯s true.</em>


    <em>-Don¡¯t you get tired of having to be mindful?-</em>


    T gave a bit of an internal shrug. <em>I chose to be this weight. I think it''s good to be so, but that¡¯s my choice. It would be ridiculous for me to expect others to bear the negative side of my choice.</em>


    <em>-You could just find a way to be lighter.-</em>


    <em>Gravity wouldn¡¯t really help, the issue is the mass. I could make it work with less gravity, but again, it would require active thought to not cause issues.</em>


    <em>-Well, you could just find a way to make yourself less massive, then?-</em>


    <em>Don¡¯t be ridiculous, I like myself the way I am.</em>


    <em>-Fair enough.-</em>


    Marsha served T first, then Rane, giving T a mug of coffee that was closer to the size of an alcoholic''s beer-stein and Rane a simrly sized mug of mint tea.


    T looked at the mug askance. ¡°What do you usually use these for?¡±


    Marsha chuckled. ¡°We like to drink a <em>lot</em> of tea, and they are perfect for brewing just the right amount.¡±


    ¡°Huh.¡± T looked at the mug again and smiled. ¡°Thank you.¡±


    ¡°Of course, Mistress.¡±


    Rane had taken his first sip, and he was already contentedly taking another.


    n and Marsha got their own mugs, and true to Marsha¡¯s words, they were the same size as T and Rane¡¯s. Then, the te was passed around. For a ¡®light¡¯ apaniment, there was a <em>lot </em>of shortbread in various shapes with differing fruit spreads. Additionally, there were other small snacks, but T wasn¡¯t really paying attention. She was too nervous.


    They all drank and ate, exchanging small talk for a few minutes before n leaned back. ¡°Now, I hope you don¡¯t take this the wrong way, as we are very d to have you both, but to what do we owe the pleasure of yourpany?¡±


    Rane turned toward T, and she nodded, taking ast pull of her coffee and setting the mug on the low table that rested between them. ¡°Well, I came to ask something and to rify something. I¡¯m going to be as forthright as I can be, so please let me get this all out. Is that eptable?¡±


    n exchanged a nce with his wife before nodding. ¡°Alright.¡±


    T gave a little smile, then nodded again. ¡°Okay. We would like you at our wedding¡ªI assume you have heard that we¡¯re getting married?¡± She paused for a second so that they could nod in acknowledgement. ¡°Good. As I said, we want you at our wedding. With all my siblings and their families there¡ªand the fact that you two did raise me¡ªit would be odd for you not to be there.¡± She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. ¡°That said, we want you there as <em>guests only</em>, as part of the ceremony, and not as anything more. Would that be eptable to you?¡±


    T watched as a whole range of emotions yed across n¡¯s face. He clearly understood all the implications of what she¡¯d said. So, she simply let him consider and process.


    Marsha¡¯s expression remained carefully calm and neutral even as she kept oriented on her husband, clearly ready to support him at need.


    n took a deep, calming breath then nodded. ¡°I can ept that, yeah.¡± He had looked down to contemte, but then his gaze lifted once more. ¡°May I ask who will be giving you away?¡±


    T nodded in turn. ¡°I was going to bring it up if you didn¡¯t. My soulboundpanion, Terry, will be fulfilling that role in the ceremony. It is a role somewhat often fulfilled by suchpanions in Archon weddings, and Terry, specifically, helped to bring us together and ensure that the wedding actually happened.¡±


    The mix of emotions flooded across n¡¯s face once more. Finally, his shoulders slumped, and he looked down once more. ¡°I understand. Thank you for taking the time to exin that to me in person.¡±


    Marsha ced her hand on her husband¡¯s shoulder and gave a light squeeze before meeting T¡¯s eyes. ¡°We do appreciate the invitation, Mistress, and we further appreciate that you took the time toe in person and rify things.¡±


    ¡°Absolutely.¡± T gave a hesitant smile. She¡¯d been <em>incredibly</em> nervous about this conversation. Even so, ¡°There are simply too many stories of misunderstandings leading to hurt and public incidents for us to have left it to chance whenmunication could so easily head off most of that danger.¡±


    <em>-Oh, Enar wants to ask you something.-</em>


    <em>Sure.</em>


    <em>|Hi! Rane is curious if Master Limmestare had anything to do with this. He was curious before, but didn¡¯t want to bring it up, given your obvious desire to avoid talking about this whole subject on the way over here. So, is that the case? Did Master Limmestare have anything to do with this?|</em>


    T had to take a mental moment as she processed the absolute torrent of thought that was Enar¡¯s outpouring.


    <em>-You¡¯ve got this, take a moment. They still won¡¯t even notice that you paused. He¡¯s been getting better, but social situations like this bring out his verbose side more. It can make him speak a lot more than usual these days.-</em>


    <em>|Hey! </em>You¡¯re<em> t, not me. I¡¯m amazing and very helpful. Moreover, I am simply so verbose because I wish to be clear in mymunication and avoid</em>¡ª|


    t sighed in obvious relief at the sudden silence, taking a moment before filling it herself. <em>-Sorry about that. I broke the connection. I¡¯ll still give him your answer, though.-</em>


    <em>You could have given him the answer from the start.</em>


    <em>-You¡¯re right, I could have, but Rane wished to ask </em>you<em>, not simply get an answer, and I felt like it would be a bad precedent to set, speaking to your future husband on your behalf.-</em>


    T blinked a couple of times at that before she collected her thoughts enough to respond. <em>First, thank you for that. Second, I think Enar is rubbing off on you.</em>


    <em>-...I¡­ I see what you mean. So, the answer?-</em>


    <em>Yes. Master Limmestare¡¯sments reminded me of the potential for disaster.</em>


    <em>-I¡¯ll pass that along, then.-</em>


    <em>Thank you.</em>


    n had winced slightly at the exnation that she¡¯d provided, and it took T a moment to realize why¡ªonly partially because she¡¯d had an entire internal conversation while he¡¯d been wincing. Thankfully, n didn¡¯t leave the moment hanging. ¡°That is incredibly wise of you. There are <em>many</em> things in my life that would have been improved¡ªand many problems that would have been mitigated or removed¡ªhad Imunicated better, more fully, or, in some cases, at all. I am d to see that you are learning from my mistakes, or at least not making the same ones yourself.¡±


    T gave an acknowledging smile and nod.


    Honestly, that was all that she had reallye to say. She could have put it all in a letter, but something about that had felt¡­ wrong.


    She did not view these two as her father and mother. Not really; not any more, but she did see them as the people who had raised her, for better or worse, and that was something to be honored and respected.


    In this case, that honor and respect was more for the position than the people in it, but that was alright.


    The four fell into small talk, discussing n¡¯s uing retirement from alchemy in the next decade or so. He apparently had always wanted to paint, but he¡¯d never really had the time. With how well the business had been doing, they¡¯d saved sufficiently that he could pursue that hobby in his retirement without finances being an issue.


    They¡¯d also be spending time with their grandchildren, the very idea of which seemed to be a great source of joy to both of them.


    n and Marsha politely inquired about some details of T and Rane¡¯s lives, and the two of them tried to give mundane-ified versions the best that they could.


    They had both been on the receiving end of magical jargon that they hadn¡¯t quite understood at the time, and they remembered just how unpleasant it could be. In the worst cases, it could feel like the person was intentionally trying to show how much more they knew than them¡ªwhether or not that feeling was true. So, they did their best to avoid doing the same to n and Marsha.


    When Rane and T left nearly two hourster, T felt lighter, like there was a bounce in her step.


    <em>And, no, it isn¡¯t because I¡¯ve made myself lighter.</em>


    <em>-And you even recovered your iron without n or Marsha being any the wiser.-</em>


    <em>Yes I did.</em> She smiled to herself.


    Rane leaned over and kissed the top of her head. ¡°How are you doing? I¡¯m sure that wasn¡¯tfortable, at least not at first.¡±


    She leaned into the gesture in turn before smiling up at him. ¡°Yeah, but I¡¯m d that we did this. It would have been odd for them not to be there at all¡ªat least it would have been for my siblings and their families¡ªand there was just no need to create such potential for difort or drama during our celebration.¡±


    He smiled back at her and nodded. ¡°Exactly. I am d about your choice, and I support you fully.¡±


    ¡°So, have you decided how much of <em>your</em> family we¡¯re inviting?¡±


    His smile faded into an only mostly faux grimace. ¡°Well, I¡¯m not really as involved with them as you are with yours, but we¡¯ll still invite them all¡­ and their families.¡±


    ¡°How many guests are we up to?¡±


    ¡°To be invited?¡± His eyes went distant for an instant. ¡°Enar says about three hundred.¡±


    T gave him a skeptical look even as Rane¡¯s eyes unfocused again, almost as if he¡¯d been struck in the head. ¡°He¡¯s irritated that you rounded his answer, isn¡¯t he.¡±


    Rane groaned. ¡°Yeah¡­¡±


    ¡°Do you want to tell me the precise number?¡±


    ¡°No. I¡¯m not letting him browbeat me. I¡¯m the one in charge of the physical interface, not him.¡±


    T gave a small, knowing smile. ¡°Good luck with that.¡±


    <em>-Hey! You don¡¯t have room to be smug. I¡¯ve been a delight, a delight I tell you.-</em>


    T grinned internally at her own alternate interface. <em>Just keep telling yourself that.</em>


    <em>-I literally am.-</em>


    T snorted within her mind before grinning up at her betrothed. ¡°We¡¯re going to have rather interesting lives aren¡¯t we?¡±


    A smile came across his face as he held her gaze. ¡°Unquestionably.¡±

 Chapter 485: Premarital Counseling

    Chapter 485: Premarital Counseling


    T and Rane sat in a beautiful, sequestered portion of the sanctum with Master Nadro.


    It wasmon practice to ask the most powerful Archon well known to the couple to perform the ceremony, at least in traditional <em>Archon</em> weddings.


    ¡®Known to the couple¡¯ was meant to imply solid connection as well, not just passing acquaintance, and thankfully, Master Nadro qualified on all counts.


    <em>-Well, except that he¡¯s not an Archon.-</em> t teased.


    <em>Yeah, yeah.</em> T amicably dismissed her alternate interface, but she appreciated the good-natured interaction, and t could obviously sense that.


    All three were enjoying their beverages of choice, which Kit and T kept at the ideal fill-level and at the perfect temperature¡ªboth chosen by each drinker. The drink was, of course, drawn fromrge containers of pre-prepared beverages in the sanctum kitchen, but that was hardly pertinent.


    The three were gathered for premarital counseling. Not only had Master Nadro insisted on it if he was to perform the ceremony, it was tradition. More than even that, however, it would be <em>incredibly</em> foolish for a couple to bind themselves together so tightly without having gone through such a basic process.


    They¡¯d already had deep soul-scans done¡ªanother prerequisite to a marriage done ¡®correctly¡¯¡ªand Master Nadro was about to give them the results. Then, they simply had to talk through some requisite things, standard points of conflict that other couples had encountered, historically.


    In this context, the discussions could be had with less tension and stress, and it would be easier for both parties to be heard out in full before the actual situations arose.But that was for after the results.


    Master Nadro had a contemtive look as he took a long sip of his chamomile tea. ¡°The results are back. I do apologize for the dys involved, but there were some irregrities.¡±


    T squeezed Rane¡¯s hand, suddenly nervous. ¡°Such as?¡±


    ¡°For one, the unusual level of synchronicity that your souls already possess, despite no soulbond being in ce.¡±


    T frowned. ¡°I believe Mistress Noelle mentioned something about that. She even did a few scans on us a few years back.¡±


    Master Nadro nodded. ¡°If you met her, that makes sense. She studies such things.¡± He chuckled. ¡°Her ability to keep confidentiality hasn¡¯t worsened either. When I consulted her about this, she made no mention of any previous encounters.¡±


    ¡°So¡­ is it a problem?¡± Rane asked.


    Master Nadro shook his head. ¡°No, it just made the process different from the norm in yet another way.¡±


    Rane grunted in understanding.


    T gave a little smile. ¡°Well, that aside. What else was found?¡±


    Master Nadro smiled. ¡°Your soul¡¯s shape is also an oddity, Mistress T. I believe that Master Jevin told you that working with your bloodstars as you have been would create extensions of your soul reaching outward, yes?¡±


    ¡°He did.¡±


    ¡°Well, that isn¡¯t usual.¡± He smiled reassuringly. ¡°It isn¡¯t bad by any means, but it is unusual. I will state up front, your souls arepatible from everything we can tell. You should be able to create a soulbond through physical intimacy, and the bond should be stable and secure. Both of you have a solid connection to the next world¡ªeven without taking your gates into ount¡ªthough the nature of each has deviated from the norm.¡±


    They nced at each other then back to Master Nadro. Rane spoke this time. ¡°What do you mean ¡®deviated from the norm¡¯?¡±


    ¡°Well, I should say that by ¡®norm¡¯ I mean human standard. Rane, your soul¡¯s deviation is quite normal for your family line. The boon your ancestor was given to be passed down is woven into your very soul, and that is how offspring inherit it. It exists as an integral part from the moment of soul-genesis, before even fertilization, generally speaking.¡±


    Rane frowned, but Master Nadro continued before he put together his thoughts sufficiently to ask a question.


    ¡°We know much of what we do about your line because one of your ancestors was a soul-specialist, and she made a pointed study of her family¡ªyour family. The boon is present even without a body, both before birth and after death, before the soul has passed on. She was able to induce true out of body experiences, and the boon stuck with the <em>soul</em> rather than the body. All told, this means that while your soul is non-standard, it is non-standard in an expected way.¡±


    T nced toward Rane, and he shrugged. ¡°I suppose that makes sense. Any other means of granting such a boon would require an ongoing outpouring of power from the Sovereign, and from what I understand that is unlikely.¡±


    ¡°Indeed.¡±


    T was frowning, ¡°Wait¡­ If every child has it, and it¡¯s an ancient thing¡­ How does humanity as a whole not have it yet?¡±


    Master Nadro smiled. ¡°Excellent question. Technically, most do, but it is faded to the point of uselessness. A soul is built by the mother and father, and even then a soul associates more with one than the other, and sometimes with neither. As we grow up, our soul matures, and we be who we eventually will be. That shifts our soul. Sometimes we draw closer to one parent over the other, sometimes we draw away from both. So, if descendents draw away from the source of the boon, it will manifest less strongly. The reverse is simrly true. Thus, as families be estranged over the generations and lines intermix, it bes all but nonexistent in everyone but the direct line.¡±


    ¡°The Gredial line.¡±


    ¡°Precisely.¡±


    ¡°Master Grediv¡¯s descendents.¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Was he the one who got the boon?¡±


    Master Nadro looked to Rane, and Rane shook his head. ¡°No, his youngest daughter. Her husband took the name Gredial when they married in honor of Master Grediv, and the boon was given after he died, when she was grief-stricken and fearful for her children. Master Grediv was¡­ away at the time, mourning his wife.¡±


    T sat back. ¡°Wait, I thought you said the person who got the boon was a he?¡±


    Rane shrugged. ¡°Master Grediv only told me the true story after you were taken. I think it was intended as a¡­cautionary tale at the time.¡±


    She frowned. There was¡­ a lot to unpack there.


    <em>-My goodness. His son-inw died while he was disconnected from the world, and his daughter couldn¡¯t depend on him, so she chose to turn to a Sovereign, who betrayed them? Yeah, that¡¯s a lot.-</em>


    T swallowed. ¡°I see¡­¡±


    ¡°But!¡± Master Nadro pped his hands together. ¡°We should be moving on. As for you, Mistress T. Your soul bears the hallmarks of a Reality curse, likely due to your brushes with dasgannach, including your soulbond to one. You also have Void bound to your soul. With the Magical nature of the soul, you have somehow managed to create a rather firm tie to existence as a whole.¡±


    T felt herself smiling, rather proud of her aplishments. But she was also hesitant as she noticed Master Nadro wasn¡¯t smiling. ¡°What is it? Isn¡¯t that a good thing?¡±


    Master Nadro frowned. ¡°We¡¯re honestly not sure. It seems to be for you, but we don¡¯t really know what the effect will be when inherited.¡±


    T felt herself pale slightly. ¡°What does that mean?¡±


    The older man sighed. ¡°From what we can tell, there may be difficulties in conception, but we have no basis forparison as to what those might be. Obviously, as soon as the child is there, we have the knowledge and expertise to help him or her grow and develop, to stay alive and thrive, but we just don¡¯t know. You are a rather unique case, as far as souls go.¡±


    That created a long moment of stunned silence.


    Rane took his hand from T¡¯s before putting his arm around her shoulders and taking her hand with his other. ¡°So¡­ I still don¡¯t understand.¡±


    Master Nadro sighed, giving a sad smile. ¡°We don¡¯t exactly understand either. We are just giving you our best understanding. You might have as many children as you desire, or you might never be able to conceive a viable child. Honestly, both extremes seem unlikely from what little we know. Regardless, we simply want the two of you to be aware of the possibilities before proceeding.¡±


    Rane gave T¡¯s shoulders a squeeze. ¡°Well, thank you for that, I suppose. It is better to know that there might be difficulty than to be blindsided.¡±


    ¡°Indeed.¡± The older man gave a heavy sigh. ¡°I do have one question for you, Mistress T, and this is an important one.¡±


    T stiffened slightly, feeling uncertain about what was toe. ¡°Yes?¡±


    ¡°The iron in your babies¡¯ bodies¡ªwhen you have them¡ªwhose is it?¡±


    T frowned. ¡°Well, it¡¯s theirs, of course. I¡¯d be stewarding it for them, just like all other parts of their body, but that doesn¡¯t make it mine.¡±


    The man seemed to rx. ¡°Oh, that¡¯s wonderful. If that is genuinely your belief, then the children you do have should be safe. You will likely have to eat enough iron to provide for them dietarily, but that shouldn¡¯t be an issue.¡±


    She paled briefly. She hadn¡¯t even considered that she might steal all the iron from her babies at birth, or if they ever left her aura. It had never urred to her, as she genuinely didn¡¯t see it as her iron. That did cause her to rx a bit. It was that exact attitude that seemed to have removed the issue.


    ¡°Regardless, the potential difficulties with your children should be the worst news you hear about your uing marriage, and we will be able to give far, <em>far</em> better information once you are married. After all, it is easier to analyze an existing bond than to theorize exactly how one will form, and what it will sire.¡± He smiled then. ¡°And it does lead into the first thing that needs to be discussed.¡±


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    T looked his way, curious. ¡°Children?¡±


    ¡°Yes, children. Ideally, how many do you each want? On what sort of timeline?¡±


    Rane gave the man an incredulous look. ¡°Ideally?¡±


    Master Nadro nodded. ¡°Yes. Assuming it works exactly as you¡¯d like.¡±


    Rane sighed. ¡°Alright.¡± He turned his head to regard T, even as he kept aforting hold on her. ¡°Are you up for discussing this?¡±


    She hesitated, then nodded slowly. ¡°I think so.¡±


    He smiled. ¡°Alright. I¡¯ll go first, shall I? That way you have a bit more time to process and consider?¡±


    She nodded again.


    ¡°Well, I think my ideal would be having children in a minimum of pairs, so that they would have a ymate in the house even as we moved around. I don¡¯t know that I have an ideal number, and as we¡¯re immortal, it might be that we have them in sets every so often. Maybe one set after another as soon as the first set leaves, or maybe withrge gaps between. We¡¯ll have to decide when the timees. Regardless, don¡¯t know that we¡¯d ever say, ¡®No more, ever.¡¯¡±


    T smiled at that. ¡°Yeah, thest part makes sense, but I think I¡¯d prefer to have most of our kids¡ªrtively speaking¡ªearlier rather thanter, but that might be me thinking in line with a mortal.¡± She considered for a long moment. ¡°You know, given our longevity, your ideal actually makes a lot of sense. You also didn¡¯t <em>really</em> state a limit for any given ¡®set¡¯ so maybe they¡¯ll be big sets?¡± She gave a littleugh. ¡°I know that the best part of my childhood was how many siblings I had.¡±


    Rane smiled at that. ¡°Yeah, that might be really nice.¡±


    Master Nadro smiled in turn. ¡°Remember, this is just meant to let you discuss the topic a bit. We aren¡¯t making contracts or final decisions here. The point is just to put the idea into your heads and help you establish a basis for discussion going forward.¡±


    They both nodded in turn.


    ¡°Good. Now, in raising the children, do you want to raise them yourselves as much as possible? Hire someone to look after them? Or¡­?¡± The questions went on, and on like that.


    T and Rane generally agreed on child rearing. Natural consequences were something that they both felt were important for learning and growing. Neither wanted corporal punishment to be a hallmark of their household, but they agreed that there <em>could</em> be cases when it was needed. Though, in truth, that wasrgely because they both realized just how much they didn¡¯t know about being parents, and they were both loath to swear off of a tool that had seemingly been so useful historically, even if their own opinions were that it had been overused.


    Thankfully, Rane¡¯s berserker ¡®boon¡¯ hadn¡¯t been set off by the physical punishment he¡¯d received as a child, so that wasn¡¯t a concern.


    They both wanted their kids to know their cousins¡ªat least on T¡¯s side¡ªand both were interested in having grandparents involved on Rane¡¯s side, at least if Rane¡¯s parents would respect their wishes for the children.


    Speaking about the time when they did have a baby, they both expressed the desire to take as much time as possible to be with the children while not smothering them, if such was possible.


    Master Nadro asked if that changed their ideal timing given the waning that they were intrinsically involved in at the moment.


    They considered, talked about it, and agreed that now would be fine, as would the next five years or so, but after that, they¡¯d likely not want any new children for at least a decade or two.


    As for schooling, T really wanted the kids to go to the standard school system, even if that was whatever Irondale was doing for ¡®standard¡¯ schooling at the time.


    Rane was more interested in going the route of private tutors.


    That sparked quite the back and forth about the pros and cons of each, and they came to the agreement that they¡¯d try to decide based on the temperment of each child and the circumstances of their family as a whole at the time. Regardless, even if the child did better in standard schooling, they¡¯d most likely get tutors to help fill in any gaps and keep the kids moving forward at their own paces.


    They were also both very interested in their children being free to choose the Mage life, or away from it. Though, they realized that they¡¯d both prefer Mage children, as that meant they¡¯d be longer lived, on average.


    They both admitted that they¡¯d likely want to be involved in the lives of any grandchildren and near descendants, but based on what they¡¯d experienced, they both felt like they would lose connection with sessive generations after a time. Neither seemed to mind the idea¡ªif they were being honest¡ªbut both felt like that was something that they <em>should</em> mind.


    Master Nadro took that as a cue to interject on the typical way immortals handled non-immortal descendants. ¡°Generally speaking, human beings have trouble naturally rting to those more than a few generations removed from themselves in a familial sense.


    ¡°That can be ovee culturally. That is the approach that some Archons have taken, inculcating ties to¡ªand respect for¡ªancestors into their family culture.


    ¡°As a society, we try to instill a respect for the elderly, the wise, and the powerful, but we don¡¯t specifically try to bring about such to one''s family tree, either before you or after.


    ¡°Of course, the parent-child¡ªand even grandparent-grandchild¡ªrtionships are paramount to raising functional, well-adjusted members of society, but what we are discussing goes well beyond that. Master Grediv is an example of a Paragon you know who has kept loose contact with his descendants, but only really down a single family line.¡± Master Nadro gave a wry smile. ¡°Though, I suspect that such is more due to that family clinging to him than his active investment in them.¡±


    T grinned, and Rane chuckled.


    ¡°Regardless, some other Archons do the same or at least something simr. Others try to shepherd, protect, and provide as much as possible for their descendents. Others wash their hands of anyone after their grandchildren¡ªthough that extreme is much more rare. A more standard approach is a traditional rtionship with children, then specific effort put into the grandchildren who mesh best with the Archon. Same with great-grandchildren and on down the chosen branches until a generationes about in which no one seems to mesh well with the Archon. Keep in mind that many Archons are continuing to have <em>children</em> on and off during these times, so it isn¡¯t like they are cut off from mortal family members entirely.¡±


    There was a beat of silence before Rane asked a rather critical question. ¡°How pervasive is this mindset? How many people does this even apply to?¡±


    ¡°Honestly? Not very many. Some of this applies to Bound and Fused, given they will significantly outlive the non-Archons in their family, but it really onlyes into prominence inte-stage Fused, Refined, and those even more advanced. As humanity progresses, we are getting more Refined citizens. So overall, most Refined aren¡¯t more than a few hundred years old at the moment. At that age, they are still operating much as a Fused might, for all intents and purposes. I would say less than sixty thousand people fall into this category, so <em>much</em> less than thirty thousand couples across the cities.¡±


    Rane grunted understanding. ¡°I see.¡±


    T tilted her head to the side in consideration. ¡°I hadn¡¯t really considered it, but how long before you¡¯re rted to basically everyone?¡±


    ¡°Well,¡± Master Nadro smiled humorously, ¡°you already are, but I get your point. How long until basically everyone is some derivation of your descendant? It¡¯s shorter than you¡¯d think, given current birth rates. After between seven and nine generations there is a good chance that your descendants will be gically linked to everyone in the gated-human cities. There is obviously some variation in that, but that¡¯s a reasonable approximation.¡±


    ¡°And a generation is¡­?¡± T asked, letting the end of the question hang.


    ¡°Twenty to fifty years.¡±


    Sheughed. ¡°So, one-hundred fifty to four-hundred fifty years?¡±


    Master Nadro smiled. ¡°Somewhere in there, yes. Though, I would highly doubt that it would be as quickly as one-hundred fifty years. That would take some fairly extreme circumstances which I don¡¯t believe I¡¯ve witnessed.¡±


    Rane was nodding again. ¡°That¡¯s well within the expected natural lifespan of a Fused.¡±


    The older man nodded once, decisively. ¡°Precisely, yes. That¡¯s why much of this advice and thinking actuallyes into y with long-lived mortals too. The distinction between them and immortals only starts to be relevant after a point where it would be meaningless to be tracking every one of your descendents because that¡¯s effectively everyone.¡±


    T grunted. ¡°That¡¯s¡­ that¡¯s a really odd way to consider things.¡±


    Master Nadro waited a moment then smiled. ¡°But we should be moving on to the next topic. Holidays. Do you wish to celebrate them as a family? To what extent? Which holidays? What will that look like?¡±


    T processed the series of interconnected questions before finally shrugging. ¡°We do some things for our birthdays, but I feel like that will likely fall by the wayside once we¡¯re married.¡±


    Rane raised an eyebrow in clear question. ¡°Oh?¡±


    She smiled. ¡°Yeah. If I want to do something nice for you, I¡¯m not going to wait for a specific day of the year, and if I only show you that I care for, respect, and cherish you on a few days each years, then I¡¯m not really doing a very good job as a wife, am I?¡±


    He chuckled at that. ¡°I suppose, but even so, I think that holding certain days as above the rest makes sense. I think celebrating our anniversary will be important, because doing so willmunicate to our children that we see our marriage as important. That will help them do the same with their own in the future. Simrly with their birthdays. We will see <em>them</em> as important.¡±


    T considered then shrugged. ¡°I suppose I can see that.¡±


    They continued the discussion of holidays for a bit longer before Master Nadro helped wind that discussion down so that they could move on.


    ¡°How will you two handle conflict?¡±


    T looked straight at Rane. ¡°I will tell you if I dislike anything you do, or that happens, and you do the same.¡±


    Rane gave a half smile. ¡°That works for me, but shouldn¡¯t there be some threshold? I mean do we want to be bringing up every little thing all the time?¡±


    They both turned to look at Master Nadro hoping he¡¯d have a ready answer. He smiled. ¡°If you¡¯re asking me, all I can tell you is the information I know with regard to others. We have found that those with a lower threshold for bringing issues up tend to have better levels ofmunication and happier marriages.¡±


    T scratched the side of her chin. ¡°Lower, but not ¡®tell everything¡¯?¡±


    Master Nadro shrugged. ¡°We didn¡¯t see a reversal of the trend at the extreme, but it is true that you most likely can¡¯t ever tell <em>everything</em> that another person does that hits wrong. It would also be imperative that such things are brought up in love, rather than with an attitude of reprimand or correction.¡±


    Rane smiled. ¡°That makes sense, yeah.¡±


    ¡°So,¡± T put a capstone on it. ¡°If it actually stands out as an issue, bring it up. Even if it¡¯s something that the other has done a thousand times, and <em>this time</em> it¡¯s irritating, let the other know. How does that sound, Rane?¡±


    His smile grew. ¡°That sounds excellent.¡±


    Master Nadro smiled, interjecting. ¡°Now, on the topic of money?¡±


    They spoke almost as one. ¡°t and Enar will handle that.¡±


    They looked at each other and chuckled.


    Then Rane flinched slightly, even as t spoke in T¡¯s mind. <em>-Presumptuous of you two, but yeah. We don¡¯t want you two handling it either.-</em>


    <em>Thank you, t. We¡¯d love any suggestions or requests you have, too.</em>


    <em>-I appreciate that</em>¡ª<em>Enar too</em>¡ª<em>but it¡¯s a wedding for you two, not us. Ours will be a more private affair.-</em>


    <em>Fair enough.</em> T didn¡¯t press, just happy that t wasn¡¯t trying to pretend anymore.


    Rane shook his head before adding, ¡°But we will definitely havebined finances¡­¡± He hesitated a moment before ncing at T. ¡°At least, that would be my preference.¡±


    T nodded. ¡°Absolutely. We¡¯re in this together. Keeping such things separate would only add in the potential for strife and tension down the road.¡±


    Master Nadro waited for a beat then moved on. ¡°Then let¡¯s discuss working. I assume that, as Archons, you both will continue to work and advance?¡±


    They nodded.


    ¡°And when you have children, you already mentioned both of you pausing your work and advancement to engage with them, correct?¡±


    Rane shrugged. ¡°At least for the first set of children. I¡¯m willing to figure out other options if that doesn¡¯t work for whatever reason the first time around.¡±


    T smiled. ¡°Agreed.¡±


    ¡°How will you help each other advance? How will you both retain a good work-life bnce?¡±


    That didn¡¯t take long to address. Neither <em>had</em> to work, so it wasn¡¯t difficult to state that each was happy for the other to take any time they needed basically at any time.


    Master Nadro grinned. ¡°Now, the sometimes awkward topic of physical intimacy.¡±


    Both Rane and T nced at the other before coloring slightly and looking away.


    ¡°I gather that it hasn¡¯t been discussed before. We aren¡¯t going to cover anything explicit, but it does need to be addressed. Are you up for that?¡±


    They hesitated for a moment before each of them nodded.


    ¡°Alright, let¡¯s get into it.¡±

 Chapter 486: Planning, Preparations, Arrangements

    Chapter 486: nning, Preparations, Arrangements


    T and Rane were both blushing¡ªif only mildly¡ªhours after <em>that </em>part of the conversation with Master Nadro finished.


    T knew it was silly to be so affected. Physical intimacy was not only a part of marriage, it was <em>required</em> for the actual marriage¡ªthe soulbond¡ªto ur.


    <em>-And, you know, you¡¯re</em>¡ª-


    <em>Not. One. More. Word.</em>


    <em>-...Fine. Spoilsport.-</em> Still, t projected an air of good natured teasing.


    As should have been no surprise to anyone, it had been a tricky subject to approach, even between two adults who knew full well that it would be a part of their lives and rtionship sooner rather thanter. The wedding was only months away at this point, after all.


    Regardless, they had hammered out some of the particrs without actually getting explicit, and T was left feeling grateful that they¡¯d discussed it, even if she still felt overwhelmingly uncertain about the subject.


    After physical intimacy and such interactions, they¡¯d discussed their social expectations as a couple and eventually as arger family. That had been rather easy as both enjoyed being around people but not too much.


    They both preferred quiet time doing their own thing to noisy gatherings, and both would love that time to be done side by side.Which led Master Nadro to exin a pithy way of remembering the three important facets of a marital rtionship.


    Face-to-face time¡ªtime talking,municating, and staying on the same page.


    Side-by-side time¡ªtime spent doing things together or at least near one another.


    Finally, belly-to-belly time¡ªthat had already been discussed, and even the oblique reminder of it caused T to color once again, even if less than before.


    They had moved on to discuss how much they wanted to be involved in their extended families¡¯ lives¡ªwith T¡¯s siblings: frequently but not constantly, with Rane¡¯s family: just as often as they happened to cross paths.


    They had already discussed taking breaks from work and advancement, but Master Nadro had wanted them to specifically discuss the idea of dedicated time off and what they would ideally look like to each party.


    That had been unsurprisingly easy to discuss as they both wanted to spend theirrger chunks of free time exploring Zeme and seeing what the world had to offer.


    Finally, they hade to the ¡®roles¡¯ portion of the discussion.


    They were both providers¡ªT a bit more so these days¡ªand they didn¡¯t really want that to change.


    They also both wanted to be involved in the raising up, teaching, and disciplining of any potential children. They had both seen families where one parent was the sole disciplinarian, and they knew exactly how well that worked: Not at all.


    Beyond that, they were both fighters and protectors by nature, making their perfect marriage one that was rather egalitarian across the board.


    Master Nadro seemed genuinely surprised that they seemed to want to split <em>everything</em> evenly. He exined that while the particrs usually differed from couple to couple, each person would usually take on certain tasks more fully in <em>that</em> rtionship. He didn¡¯t try to change their minds, but he did advise them to not be surprised if one or the other took the lead in certain parts of their lives going forward.


    All that passed after <em>the topic</em>, and though T definitely participated¡ªand she even had perfect memory of each exchange¡ªshe felt like she was barely paying attention due to lingering, returning, and newly spawning thoughts.


    They were pleasant¡ªeven exciting¡ªthoughts, but it was still disruptive to say the least.


    If Rane¡¯s asional nces and re-reddening features were any indication, he was having a simr experience.


    Knowing that he was in a simr mindset <em>did </em>make the situation better, even if it made the thoughts more frequent. She realized that she¡¯d been hoping he felt simrly to her, and now that she knew he did¡­


    She found herself focusing on Rane in her threefold sight more than usual.


    t cleared her throat in a good-natured, teasing manner. <em>-You know, Master Nadro did advise keeping some space before the wedding. You know, to make sure you </em>make it<em> to the wedding?-</em>


    T cleared her throat. <em>Right.</em>


    Rane did the same¡ªseemingly having received a simr reminder from Enar¡ªbefore scratching the back of his head and standing in a rush.


    They were still sitting in the garden, Master Nadro having departed quite a bit ago.


    Rane cleared his throat again, looking down at where she sat. ¡°I think¡­ I think I should go¡­¡±


    T didn¡¯t really want him to go, but that was likely a good indication that he was right. She stood as well. ¡°Alright.¡±


    She leaned in, going up on her tip-toes as he bent down so that they could share a slightly longer than usual kiss. ¡°I¡¯ll see you soon.¡±


    His eyes were burning with an interesting light as they pulled apart, but not as far as they had been. ¡°Boot me please. Close to the Gredial estate.¡±


    ¡°Done.¡±


    And with that, Rane was gone, and T was left feeling a bit¡­ miffed?


    She sighed.


    t sent T the feeling of a warm, friendly embrace <em>-Wow¡­ Are you going to be okay there, T?-</em>


    <em>¡­How are you doing with your work in the sparring ring?</em>


    <em>-Great! Master Grediv finally consented to let me go through the notes from the War Games artifacts, and I was able to incorporate some of the ideas¡­ Are you sure we can¡¯t buy a set for Kit to absorb? That would make this </em>so<em> much easier.-</em>


    <em>No, t. Even with our funds, that¡¯s out of our reach. Maybe someone will give us one as a wedding present?</em>


    tughed. <em>-Yeah, maybe. It will be fun to see what people bring.-</em>


    * * *


    T exhaled a shout as she punched <em>through</em> the hard-packed-dirt construct that t was controlling against her.


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    That didn¡¯t kill it, of course, and that wasn¡¯t even because it wasn¡¯t alive in the first ce.


    No, t was controlling it as if it were a genuine earth construct, meaning that T had to sufficiently obliterate it all in one go, or otherwise disrupt the magics of its animation.


    Since T <em>couldn¡¯t</em> disrupt magics that didn¡¯t exist, the dirt-man had be the equivalent of an animate punching bag¡­ that fought back.


    That was perfect for her purposes. At the moment, she wanted to be overtly physical, so she was practicing purely unarmedbat specifically against hyper-resilient and regenerating opponents.


    It was turning out to be a fun, distracting challenge. Even if it was annoying to be without her threefold sight, and to not have any of her aspect mirrors at her disposal.


    <em>It¡¯s fine. Back to basics.</em>


    Even as she was trying to pull back her fist¡ªout of the being¡¯s chest¡ªthe dirt closed around her forearm, temporarily binding her despite the mundane nature of the material involved.


    It couldn¡¯t hold her for long, but it was still enough of a hitch in her movement that the being was able to bring up both fists and m them into T¡¯s unarmored face.


    As to why she was unarmored? Well, metal armor against a dirt-man wouldn¡¯t really be very sporting.


    Her arm was ripped out of the chest as she was thrown back by the force of thebined hit that also filled her eyes and mouth with grit.


    Since the dirt-man wasn¡¯t biological, it didn¡¯t suffer from normal physical constraints¡ªmagic being able to fill in power as necessary¡ªsuch as it being more difficult to pull off a powerful blow with both hands at once.


    No, each of these hits had been full powered, and they hadnded concurrently.


    That was why T slid all the way to the edge of the sparring ring, spluttering and spitting in an attempt to clear her mouth of gunk.


    She could have just willed the dirt away as she was within Kit, but that would also have been cheating. The point was to train for fighting in Zeme, where she didn¡¯t have such minute control of her environment.


    Therefore, she rolled over, crawled forward to grab the edge of the waterway that encircled the sparring circle and shot her head down into the water¡­


    That was what she was attempting to do anyway.


    t¡¯s proxy grabbed T¡¯s ankle at thest instant and jerked backward, moving T just enough to put her fully over the stone of the ring.


    That meant that T mmed her own face into the rock¡­ hard.


    She broke her own nose with a squelching crunch.


    T squealed in agony even as she spun and struck out at the dirt creature.


    She just wanted the dirt <em>gone.</em> but it was clinging to her skin, mouth, and eyes far too effectively to be removed with any sort of efficiency.


    Her skin.


    Her enhanced skin.


    Skin enhanced with magics that were the exact inverse of the endingberry dissolution magics.


    <em>Why not? I¡¯ve inverted those magics before to get such results?</em>


    In a flicker of instinct, she inverted the outermostyer of her defensive magics for a bare instant, only doing so to those around her face.


    There was a wave of incredible pain, as if she¡¯d had the most glorious beard ever known to man and had it ripped out to thest hair all at once.


    She barely contained another squeal at the unexpected pain¡ªwhich really should have been expected¡ªeven as she felt her magics realign her nose and heal the break and tissue damage.


    Her gambit had worked. She could see through her eyes again.


    All it had cost her was the outeryers of her skin¡­


    The dusted remains of her flesh fell around her in a fine powder, but she ignored them.


    The dirt being had actually stopped in ce, seemingly stunned by her actions.


    <em>-Did¡­ did you just dissolve part of your own face to get rid of the dirt?-</em>


    T shrugged. <em>I had to see didn¡¯t I?</em>


    <em>-...Sometimes I don¡¯t understand how we are the same person. I don¡¯t know that I could ever choose that much pain.- </em>t¡¯s voice was contemtive, not condemning. In fact, it had decided notes of awe and respect within.


    T gave a wry smile. ¡°Well, I didn¡¯t exactly deeply consider how much it would actually hurt before I did it.¡±


    <em>-Right, right. Fleshy body. You make decisions without thinking them all the way through.- </em>t teased.


    ¡°That¡¯s hurtful, t.¡± T¡¯s tone took on a note of faux offense.


    t was practicallyughing as she replied. <em>-No, melting off part of your own face for want of some water is hurtful.-</em>


    ¡°Well, you denied my ess to the water, so¡­¡± Without warning, T lunged in, renewing her attack.


    The banter was done for the moment, and it was time to renew the fight.


    All in all, this had been a great way to get her mind off of Rane¡­ if only she could stop thinking of it like that, thus undoing the wonderful progress she had made.


    * * *


    T¡¯s time was filled with nning, preparations, arrangements, and so, so many other things. As a result, the weeks flew by and the day before the wedding arrived in a rush.


    Blessedly, even though they had ended up sending out nearly five hundred invitations only about a hundred people would be in attendance.


    They had sent a polite, essentially expected invitation to Furgal, for example, and he had done the ssy, kind thing. He¡¯d declined with grace, citing an eptable excuse.


    All told, they hadn¡¯t really expected most toe for one reason or other. If they were being honest, that was one reason they¡¯d kept Kit anchored in Alefast, Waning, for the wedding.


    Smaller was better in both T and Rane¡¯s opinion, and in the end, it was <em>their</em> wedding.


    Even so, T had gotten special permission to bring her siblings who were at the Academy to her sanctum for the wedding and celebration. They were even going to be arrivingter that day, just like most guests.


    Caravans to Alefast, Waning, had been apanied by rather more Mages than usual, as some of their friends and acquaintances had arrived over the past few days, and Mistress Petra had been cooking up a storm to keep T¡¯s appetite sated as she ran herself to exhaustion trying to be sociable with all the people who hade so far for her wedding.


    <em>I still say we should have just eloped.</em> T groused to t.


    <em>-That has always been an option, but at this point it would just be rude.-</em> t had a motherly cast to her words, ones offort and gentle guidance.


    <em>¡­I know¡­</em>


    Rane came into the side room in the Alefast Archonpound in which T had been hiding. He flopped down on a chair, put his head against the wall and groaned. ¡°Can¡¯t we just elope?¡±


    T snorted augh. ¡°We definitely <em>could have,</em> but it would be a bit rude at this point.¡±


    He groaned. ¡°I know¡­ you¡¯re right, but this is exhausting. If it weren¡¯t for the end result, this would <em>not</em> be worth it.¡±


    T leaned in for a quick kiss. ¡°It will be over soon, then it will just be us.¡±


    He gave her a kiss in turn before smiling her way, their gazes locking. ¡°Like I said, worth it.¡±


    T felt heat building in her cheeks along with a thrumming in her chest as she continued to stare into his eyes.


    <em>You know¡­ we could</em>¡ª


    A sharp rap sounded on the door before it was thrown open, and Lyn stepped inside, looking between them with fire in her eyes. ¡°No! None of this. Rane, go somewhere else. We are not preempting the wedding.¡±


    Counter to her expectation, T felt herself reddened <em>further</em>. This time it was decidedly with embarrassment.


    Rane cleared his throat, standing in a rush and leaving the room. ¡°Right! Of course. I¡¯ll¡­ yeah.¡±


    And he was gone.


    Lyn red at T. ¡°I¡¯ve put too much work into coordinating all of this for you two to render the whole thing superfluous.¡±


    ¡°I thought it was <em>my</em> wedding,¡± T groused, though she wasn¡¯t really that upset.


    ¡°It is, but it involves others, and therefore, you owe them the respect of fulfilling your obligation and actually getting married <em>tomorrow.</em>¡±


    T sighed. ¡°...That is the n.¡±


    ¡°Of course it is. Now,e on. Let¡¯s get you some time to level out. After the ceremony there¡¯ll be two to three days of celebration, and I don¡¯t want you going into that burnt out.¡±


    ¡°Yes, Mistress Lyn.¡±


    Lyn gave T a level look. ¡°Don¡¯t sass me, girl. You may be more advanced than me, but I¡¯m still older.¡±


    There was a twinkle in the woman¡¯s eye, and T stepped forward to embrace her. ¡°I know, Lyn. Thank you.¡±


    Lyn hugged her in return. ¡°Yes, yes. I am happy to help. Nowe on. We¡¯ve still got so much time and so little to do.¡±


    T blinked, pulling back and frowning at the woman. ¡°What?¡±


    Lyn gave a mischievous smile. ¡°Just making sure you¡¯re actually listening. Let¡¯s be off!¡±


    And so they were.

 Chapter 487: Wedding

    Chapter 487: Wedding


    T felt tingles all throughout her body, and it wasn¡¯t from the paint that was slowly being applied across her bare skin.


    One of many paintbrushes floated around her, asionally dipping into a small cup of sapphire blue paint.


    It moved not at her behest¡ªnor by her will¡ªbut at Terry¡¯s.


    Apparently, many of the times over thest year that he¡¯d been ¡®hunting,¡¯ he had, instead, been practicing controlling items within Kit in order to help her with this day.


    t had hidden that fact from her, and T couldn¡¯t have been more fine with that deception.


    The terror bird, for his part, flickered around her in a blur, looking at every angle as he applied her paint ording to his desired pattern.


    T had asked if she had any say, and he had tly rejected her attempts at swaying what he was doing.


    Instead of going for a faux spellform look, he had decided to lean into a different part of her nature, one that they shared.


    He was creating w marks in sets of three rends. The effect of which was to make her look as if she had sapphire under her skin, which had been torn open in ces to reveal her true, gem nature.She could only really see how it looked because of her own threefold perception.


    <em>-Terry¡¯s doing an excellent job, isn¡¯t he?-</em>


    <em>Oh, absolutely. </em> T looked around to try and catch Terry¡¯s eye, but he was simply flickering about too much. So, she simply spoke, knowing he¡¯d hear her. ¡°Thank you, Terry. This is already amazing.¡±


    He trilled in happy reply, the start of the trilling from near her left ankle and the end trailing off from beside her right hip.


    He was using a variety of brushes¡ªone at a time¡ªto give variety to the size of the resulting strokes. He likely <em>could</em> have done the variation with a singr brush, but he seemed to have spent his time perfecting the results, rather than seeking expertise in the process.


    <em>Though, I would think one would lead into the other.</em>


    <em>-Well, everyone approaches things differently.-</em>


    <em>That¡¯s fair.</em> T¡¯s thoughts hesitated a moment. <em>Do you have anything you¡¯re doing in preparation?</em>


    <em>-Oh, this and that. Enar and I didn¡¯t want any guests on our behalf, besides, we¡¯re you. Those celebrating you are celebrating us in turn.-</em>


    <em>That¡¯s true.</em> She smiled, both internally and externally.


    Overall, Terry only took about an hour to do every bit of her skin, save the bits that were covered by a tightly woven loin cloth and bust wrap.


    Her back and stomach were essentially entirely exposed¡­ as was almost everything else.


    It reminded her of her Academy days, when they were getting the students ustomed to ¡®traditional¡¯ casting garb and methods.


    T still marveled at the Mages who were able to turn their every movement into a specific casting of magic, like Mistress Kaeti. The result was a dance of power that was both more subtle and more powerful than what any other sort of mage could achieve with the same output of power. Such was incredibly hard to learn, and while it started more limited in scope, when the Mage reached Mistress Kaeti¡¯s level of mastery, she could respond more easily and more powerfully than a Mage like T to a variety of situations.


    Still, T liked her own path. She had a limited set of tools¡ªall things considered¡ªbut she used them well.


    But she was distracting herself. It was odd what inanity filled her mind before such a momentous happening.


    It was time.


    She exited her bedroom,ing out into therge courtyard. The attendees were seated on¡ªand some around¡ªthe slightly raised dais which made up the bulk of her courtyard at the heart of her sanctum within Kit.


    A central aisle had been left between the two halves of the seating for their approach leading to the control chair, a secondary stone chair situated beside it, near identical in appearance, save that it wasrger due to the stature of the intended upant. It also didn¡¯t have the magics woven through it to control the sanctum, but those were essentially never used regardless.


    <em>-They are thrones, T. Let¡¯s call a spade a spade.-</em>


    <em>Hush, you.</em>


    But her focus wasn¡¯t really on the guests, or the dais. It wasn¡¯t on the musicians waiting to one side, nor on the decorations and other little details that had been perfected to strike the right ambience. It wasn¡¯t even really on the thrones.


    No, her focus was on the man exiting the entry to the guest rooms barely twenty feet from her.


    Rane strode forth, d only in a simrly sparse loincloth, blood-red paint decorating the firm ins and curves of his body.


    They had been done in the style of cracks in stone, simr to T¡¯s rends but also utterly different. Where he looked like a stone man who was cracking open to reveal the blood within, she looked to be a flesh and blood woman who had been savaged by wild animals, only to have it revealed that she was made up of a precious gem within.


    Honestly, the effect was so fantastic she would have known that the paint was magical even if she couldn¡¯t sense it with her magesight and her pervasive knowledge of what was within Kit.


    The effect was just <em>too </em>good.


    All told, it was incredibly clear that Terry, and Rane¡¯s parents, had somehow coordinated the looks.


    It took a long moment for T to notice that Rane was staring at her just as intensely as she was regarding him.


    <em>Thank you for policing my perception. It would have been¡­ lesser, to miss this moment, to have known what I would see beforehand.</em>


    <em>-Of course. Sometimes seeing something too soon makes everything worse. I¡¯m happy to have been able to help.-</em>


    Only after an additional long moment, did T remember the guests standing in front of their seats and Master Nadro standing between the two thrones at the end of the aisle.


    It was also then that Rane¡¯s parents came into focus behind him.


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    A voice called from near the front, on Rane¡¯s side of the guests, ¡°The quicker you get on with it, the quicker you can <em>get on with it.</em>¡±


    A ripple of chuckles went through the gathered people. T colored, and Rane sent a mock re toward his older sister.


    Still, Chloe was right. They should be getting on with it.


    T stepped forward, and Rane moved to meet her in the middle of the space before they turned and walked, side by side¡ªbut out of reach¡ªup toward Master Nadro, only stopping when they reached the back row of seated guests.


    At that point, Rane and his parents strode ahead, and T waited, Terry behind her, sized to be just a bit taller than she was, and wearing a closely tailored, formal outfit made from their elk-leathers.


    The three Mages finally stopped before Master Nadro and bowed.


    The ancient man smiled. ¡°Whoes before me, and to what purpose?¡±


    Rane spoke in response, his words as scripted as Master Nadro¡¯s, ¡°Ie, seeking to be bound to the one whom I love.¡±


    ¡°Who stands behind you in this request?¡±


    His parents spoke in unison, ¡°We, bound in our love, stand behind our son in this request. Our bond, unbroken, is an imperfect example of what he seeks.¡±


    Master Nadro nodded, giving a show of examining Rane. ¡°I testify that this one is not bound to another.¡±


    His eyes then turned to T, the audience reorienting on her almost as one. Once they were looking her way, she strode forward, bolstered by the terror bird at her back.


    Each row of the audience turned as she passed them, symbolizing that it was her actions, her will, that solidified this process. She was the capstone.


    She and Terry stopped before Master Nadro, bowing as Rane and his parents had before.


    The officiant spoke again, ¡°Whoes before me, and to what purpose?¡±


    T¡¯s voice was a bit quieter than Rane¡¯s had been, but it seemed like the whole sanctum resonated with her resolve, ¡°Ie, seeking to be bound to the one whom I love.¡±


    ¡°Who stands behind you in this request?¡±


    Terry dipped his head once again and trilled once. There was a moment of silence before a voice that was not <em>quite</em> T¡¯s vibrated from the air around Terry, quiet but magically-carrying. t was speaking on Terry¡¯s behalf, ¡°Terry stands behind his flockmate, soulboundpanion, and bloodied partner in this request. His love-bond is broken, his life-mate long dead, and he will stand with T and Rane against the ravages of Zeme, so that neither she, nor he, would suffer the same fate that he has.¡±


    That was yet another part of the ceremony that T hadn¡¯t known wasing. She turned and regarded Terry for a long moment¡ªfeeling a tightness in her chest¡ªbefore whispering. ¡°Thank you, Terry.¡±


    He gave a much softer trill in reply.


    Master Nadro regarded T in the momentary silence before continuing the ceremony, ¡°I testify that she is bound to none. Please be seated.¡±


    The crowd sat, Rane¡¯s parents joining everyone else while Terry flickered to Master Nadro¡¯s shoulder, resized as appropriate.


    That caused a ripple of murmurs and chuckles, but the older man didn¡¯t seem surprised in the least.


    ¡°Rane, what do you present?¡±


    He stepped forward andid Force before Master Nadro with a bow before stepping back beside T. ¡°I present my soulbound sword, as I will strive and fight and advance beside my soulbound partner all the days of my life.¡±


    ¡°T, what do you present?¡±


    She spread her arms wide. ¡°I present a sanctum, as I will strive to secure shelter, sustenance, and a home with my soulbound partner all the days of my life.¡±


    Master Nadro smiled, ¡°Of violence and safety, I am satisfied. Who will govern the household¡¯s finances?¡±


    They both bowed, T responding as they¡¯d agreed, ¡°We both¡ªour other-selves of mind and Archive¡ªwill keep our household in good standing.¡±


    ¡°Who will nourish the household?¡±


    Both remained slightly bowing, and Rane spoke this time, ¡°We both will ensure that all are fed and nourished.¡±


    ¡°Who will raise the children?¡±


    They spoke as one. ¡°Only united can we hope to raise the next generation.¡±


    In the audience it was clear that the Zats and Fedirs recognized some of the wording from Brandon and Kedva¡¯s wedding. It seemed to bring smiles to their faces.


    The remainder of the vows passed in a bit of a blur, T¡¯s focus honing in on Rane and his closeness.


    She said the words she¡¯d helped put together, but her thoughts were on the man who was <em>about to be her husband.</em>


    She could hardly contain her smile.


    Still, she came back to the moment when Master Nadro closed off the vows section with a nod. ¡°Let it be as you have said.¡±


    The two straightened.


    T willed for a small table to appear between them. Three candles and two fire-starters were all that adorned it.


    Rane and T each lit a candle and turned back to Master Nadro. The wicks had been treated so that the mes each burned a color to match the paint on each of their bodies.


    The older man smiled. ¡°Two mes¡ªtwo souls¡ªstand before me today. From two, they shall be one.¡±


    T and Rane picked up their candles and used them to light a single me in the center. That wick had been simrly treated, but this time it gave off a purple me.


    ¡°Now that there is to be one forged of the two, let the separate mes¡ªthe separate lives¡ªcease at their bearer¡¯s will.¡±


    They each blew out their own candle.


    Master Nadro then gestured to either side of himself. ¡°In this seat of power and authority, let you sit, and rule together over all that belongs to you.¡±


    T and Rane stepped forward before turning and sitting in the thrones, sping hands as soon as they sat. They both sat carefully and didn¡¯t lean back, so as to not paint the stone.


    Master Nadro reoriented, speaking the traditional words as an address to the audience, ¡°These two have chosen to be bound, pledging themselves to right conduct before you all. Shall their bonding be short or long?¡±


    ¡°Long!¡± Everyone responded. Smiles and chuckles rippled through the crowd.


    ¡°So shall it be.¡± Master Nadro gestured back toward the buildings on one side of the open courtyard, toward T¡¯s bedroom. ¡°Rane, T, your words have been heard, your intentions made known. Go now, and forge your bond that we may bear witness to your eternal union.¡±


    Rane squeezed T¡¯s hand, both of them blushing deeply across much of their bodies, though not as deeply as they had in the pre-marital counseling. They rose again as one before striding forward at a careful pace.


    The audience called and cheered as the couple tried not to hurry back down the aisle, moving toward T¡¯s bedroom¡ªtheir bedroom. She¡¯d reced the bed with one that wouldfortably fit them both. She had also made a few other adjustments in preparation as well.


    They pushed through the massive, double-hung door and allowed it to swing closed once more.


    And with that, T suddenly <em>felt</em> everything: her roiling emotions, excitement, trepidation, a bit of embarrassment, and overtop them all, a desire to forge ahead.


    The musicians who had been waiting off to the side of the dais¡ªhitherto silent¡ªbegan to y, and the audience rose and mingled, having hushed conversations as everyone waited.


    T imposed her will to cut off any sound from entering or leaving the room and severed herself from her threefold sight, to not be distracted by those outside.


    Finally, she turned to face the man who was about to be her husband.


    * * *


    A reasonable amount of timeter, T and Rane pushed open the door to their bedroom before stepping out together.


    The still wet paint that had adorned their skin was now purple in many ces. The artistry of the ¡®cracks¡¯ and ¡®tears¡¯ was broken and smeared across their bare skin. In a way, the effect actually made it seem like they were now less damaged than before.


    Their cloth coverings were in ce, but those, too, bore a mix of red and blue paints, often blended to various shades of purple.


    The two flushed with embarrassment once again even as the audience cheered and called, the various groups of their guests now utterly intermixed.


    Everyone present could see a <em>powerful</em> aura of magic and connection around the two as a white aura, visible to the mundane eye, strengthened by their personal advancement and power. It would, of course, still fade over the next couple of days.


    Even so, as silence fell among the onlookers, Master Nadro had onest thing to say, by tradition, ¡°Bound by choice, bound by word, bound by deed. Two have be one, souls bound for eternity. May the stars themselves burn away any who dares try toe between these two.¡±


    Everyone erupted in cheers once again.


    There would be celebrations, feasting, gifts, and games, but the marriage wasplete.


    T and Rane were married.

 Chapter 488: For as Long as I Live

    Chapter 488: For as Long as I Live


    T and Rane sat, holding hands, in their thrones once more. The paint on their hands and on the armrests of the thrones was decidedly purple from intermixing.


    The guests¡¯ chairs had been rearranged to surround tables, and food and drink were already appearing at T¡¯s will to fill each table.


    Guests were mingling, and a small line was beginning to form before T and Rane. As was traditional, ¡®bigger¡¯ gifts¡ªusually those given by a group of guests working together but not always¡ªwould be presented publicly, usually in a dual disy of generosity and overt support for the union.


    Master Nadro took it upon himself to make the final announcement as officiant. ¡°Now presenting, Mistress and Master Sappherrous.¡±


    Lyn huffed augh.


    There was polite pping and much murmured discussion over the name as T and Rane shared a chaste kiss, and Master Nadro stepped back, fading into the crowd even as he grabbed a pastry.


    Master Grediv <em>had</em> been at the front of the line mere moments earlier, but then Mistress Holly had walked up to the Paragon and given him a long look as the pping died down.


    Master Grediv had sighed and stepped back, muttering under his breath¡ªclearly for Mistress Holly¡¯s ears, but T caught it too, ¡°I¡¯d say age before beauty, but you have me beat on both counts.¡±


    Mistress Holly¡¯s eyes flicked toward T, the Inscriber clearly realizing that T would have heard. She gave a small grimace and sighed, shaking her head.Master Grediv quirked a smile, adding in a softer whisper, ¡°There¡¯s always a price for throwing your weight around, Mistress Holly.¡±


    She gave a small, resigned bob of her head toward the man, and Master Grediv returned the gesture a bit more deeply.


    T did her best not to react, continuing to bring out the refreshments by her will.


    She could have done it quicker, but she was trying to arrange things <em>just so</em>.


    There were cheesy mini-caravans, hand-pies, racks of ribs, poultry legs of various sizes, sausages, pork belly, and several other variations of meat. And that was <em>just</em> the various vehicles for meat.


    There was a massive spread of single-serving sds of varyingposition and dressings, fruit and fruit mixes, rice and other grains, as well as an overabundance of various drinks and desserts.


    All of this was kept the best temperature and overall state by T, t, and Kit¡¯s active will.


    Rane seemed like he might have been able to help her. Their soulbond was still new, but already, T could feel some of her authority over the sanctum reflected within Rane.


    He wasn¡¯t doing anything with it yet, but he seemed to be feeling the weight of it all the same.


    He had offered to help set the tables one way or another, but T had declined, aware that it was incredibly difficult to be precise with such acts of will, and as funny as it would be to have Rane dump some of the food on a guest, it would be a diversion from the purpose of the event.


    <em>And that¡¯s not actually what would happen, regardless.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, if it were, you¡¯d probably have agreed.-</em>


    <em>¡­Probably, yeah. It would have been a funny memory to have. But I know he¡¯s too good, too careful to do something like that.</em>


    <em>-Of course, the </em>actual<em> issue is that he¡¯dy it out differently than the way that you want, not due to malice, but due tock of practice and ignorance of your precise desires in this arena.-</em>


    <em>¡­That¡¯s being a bit silly, isn¡¯t it.</em>


    <em>-It is, but that¡¯s fine. You aren¡¯t getting upset when guests are taking unevenly from various trays, leaving them less aesthetically pleasing.-</em>


    <em>Well¡­ yeah. We¡¯re rearranging on the fly to keep things bnced and appealing.</em>


    <em>-True¡­ this really isn¡¯t good for our hyper-meticulous side, is it.-</em>


    <em>I¡¯m sure we¡¯ll be fine¡­ I¡¯ll make sure of it.</em>


    t snorted within her head. <em>-Have fun.-</em>


    T took the momentary pause to shift her mental focus¡ªwhile continuing food arrangement and rearrangement with the smallest portion of her attention. She turned her focus to her new connection with Rane.


    Their bond was unlike any of the other soulbonds she possessed, as made sense. It was funny. Inparison, it now felt like the others were pale, artificial imitations of this one.


    The bestparison she coulde up with was the other bonds were like shoes, and this one with Rane was her foot.


    In a way, the ¡®artificial¡¯ ones were more robust, but this one was more real. There was more feeling to it and feedback from it. It was more a part of her.


    She couldn¡¯t sense his emotions¡ªemotions were things of body and mind¡ªbut she could feel his <em>soul</em>, and right then, it was practically glowing with joy.


    <em>-Umm¡­ T? Isn¡¯t joy an emotion?-</em>


    <em>You know, I don¡¯t think so? Happiness is an emotion, joy is a state of being.</em>


    <em>-...Whatever you say.-</em> t projected skepticism.


    She didn¡¯t think she could aspect mirror any of his magics with this bond, but that wasn¡¯t really the intention of it. Instead, she felt like she could directly give him power for use in <em>his</em> magics, and he for hers.


    That two-way connection was utterly seamless and seemed to be bncing itself with absolutely no mental effort or dy, as each of them flexed their various magics in almost unconscious, experimental ways.


    Where Terry could use her magics, or her power for his magics, and she could tap into some of his power and magics, it seemed like everything T and Rane did now had the magical weight of two souls behind it, seamlessly and perfectly aligned.


    <em>Rust, that¡¯s potent. We can¡¯t do anything new</em>¡ª<em>magically speaking</em>¡ª<em>but everything we could do before has an incredibly increased weight.</em>


    <em>-Yeah. I would bet that out in Zeme proper your aura will be far closer to the supremacy you experience here, in your sanctum, than it was before.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, I think that being in here is masking just how much it¡¯s affecting us. Is this how arcane marriages are?</em>


    <em>-Not from the research I¡¯ve been able to find. They have </em>some<em> ovep, but for them, it¡¯s more a broadening and deepening of their concepts. That does grant power, but of a different kind.-</em>


    <em>Then, it¡¯s no wonder that most of our cities are run or defended by married couples. With this, it would be much easier to actually go toe to toe in aura shes with a simrly advanced Arcane, despite their concept advantage.</em>


    <em>-Indeed. It seems to </em>almost<em> make up the natural difference in potency.-</em>


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    T both immediately found herself irritated that no one had ever mentioned this and also fully understood why they hadn¡¯t. After even a half-second of thought, she was grateful that no one had told her that this was one of the effects.


    If Mages were explicitly told that marriage would provide a noticeable boost in power, many more would rush marriage for that benefit, and <em>no</em> soulbond should be rushed.


    <em>-And </em>we <em>would definitely have moved toward marriage faster if we¡¯d known this was a benefit.-</em>


    <em>And that would have been to our detriment and the detriment of our rtionship with Rane.</em>


    <em>-Precisely.-</em>


    <em>How are things with Enar?</em>


    t actually briefly radiated the feeling of embarrassment before she got that under control. -<em>Well¡­ we¡¯re bound too.-</em>


    <em>Of course you are. You bonded when we did. Why¡­ oh¡­ oh! So, if we hadn¡¯t¡­?</em>


    <em>-We would have. So, you two still would have.-</em>


    <em>That would have been¡­</em> T felt a twitch at the oddity and awkwardness that could have created.


    <em>-Yeah.-</em>


    <em>So, things are good, then? I¡¯m not going to ask details of the bonding.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, things are good. We have the cognitive equivalent of bodies. So, the process was very like your own bonding, but I won¡¯t say more.-</em>


    <em>I not only didn¡¯t ask, I explicitly said I wasn¡¯t going to ask.</em>


    <em>-I wanted to share anyway.-</em>


    <em>Oh, look, Mistress Holly is stepping forward. Should I tell her you¡¯re distracting me?</em>


    <em>-...You¡¯re kind of mean sometimes.-</em>


    <em>Youe by it honestly.</em>


    Mistress Holly gave a shallow bow to T and Rane. ¡°Master Rane, Mistress T, congrattions on your union.¡±


    They both bobbed their heads in small bows in return. T responded for them, feeling her connection with Rane resonate, ensuring that she was representing them both urately and not just herself, ¡°Mistress Holly, thank you for your well wishes and for attending our celebration.¡±


    ¡°Of course, dear girl. As a token of my affection¡ªand as a statement of support for your union¡ªI wish to offer you both an in-depth assessment of your advancement.¡±


    T frowned. ¡°I¡¯m not sure I understand.¡±


    Mistress Holly smiled. ¡°I assumed you wouldn¡¯t, dear. You have advanced quickly enough that such hasn¡¯t ever really been required, but when someone is stuck¡ªor simply desirous of insight¡ªthere is a resource-intensive process for getting a truly detailed look at exactly how their advancement appears.¡±


    Rane gave a deeper, seated bow. ¡°Thank you, Mistress Holly. That is a truly wonderful gift.¡±


    She smiled her self-satisfied smile. ¡°I and several others havee together to offer this to you. Mistress Noelle and Master Jevin are chief among them, and they send their regrets at being unable to attend.¡± She held out a folded piece of thick paper.


    Rane received it, reading the note and bevy of signatures. He smiled and handed the well-wishes to T before thanking Mistress Holly once again.


    T looked over the words and signatures. There were quite a few of the Constructionists from Makinaven and Bandfast, as well as those already noted. <em>How expensive is this analysis?</em>


    <em>-Expensive isn¡¯t the right word. It¡¯s intricate, requiring a slew of very specific magics, and it is fairly irreduciblyplex, which has made any attempt to make artifacts to aplish the task unsessful as of yet.-</em>


    <em>Good to know.</em> T stood up and smiled, thanking Mistress Holly as well once more before embracing the woman.


    Mistress Holly returned the hug and gave T a couple of pats on the back. ¡°Good luck, dear girl.¡±


    Rane gave Mistress Holly a quick, less familiar hug.


    Both of them had been as careful as possible to keep from getting paint on the older woman, and T¡¯s will had ensured that the contact that <em>was</em> made didn¡¯t transfer any pigment.


    Finally, Mistress Holly took her leave and moved off into the crowd. Some of the guests were watching, makingments on the one gift that had been presented. Others were talking among themselves about other things.


    Some were dancing with partners¡ªold or newly found¡ªover near the musicians to one side of therge raised central area.


    Most were enjoying¡ªor had already enjoyed¡ªsome of the cornucopia spread around the celebration space.


    Master Grediv stepped forward then, ncing after Mistress Holly before shaking his head. He then focused on his former apprentice and T, smiling broadly. ¡°Congrattions to you both.¡±


    He gave a shallow bow, which they returned more deeply, though they remained seated. ¡°Thank you, Master Grediv.¡±


    T had spoken for them, but it was obvious that the sentiment was shared.


    Master Grediv¡¯s smile grew a bit. ¡°For my gift, I am in a unique position, thanks to your sanctum here. Years ago, when a fool of a descendent of mine got himself¡­ entangled in an arcane city. I had to untangle him, and as a result I found myself in possession of several holds.¡±


    T¡¯s eyes widened slightly, but she didn¡¯t interrupt.


    ¡°Most were not maintained due to moral concerns.¡± He met T¡¯s eyes, and she got the implication. Vestiges had powered all of them, and they hadn¡¯t wanted to keep those so bound. He also didn¡¯t want to casually mention bound human souls around so many, or at a wedding.


    T gave a solemn nod.


    ¡°Regardless, we were able tobine some of them, using their own techniques to add them to thergest, which I have maintained with my own power for research purposes ever since.¡±


    Rane was leaning back, smiling. Clearly, he had at least some foreknowledge of this gift.


    ¡°As such, we have spent the intervening centuries studying every aspect of this hold, and there is little left to glean from it. I believe that it can serve humanity onest time by being devoured and added to your own space.¡±


    T was about to express her immense gratitude when Master Grediv held up a finger. ¡°I will give you ess to the hold¡¯s entrance after the celebration, so that Kit may devour it.¡±


    ¡°Thank you, Master Grediv. The extra dimensionality and material will be a wonderful addition.¡±


    Rane stood up and hugged the older man. ¡°Thank you, master.¡±


    ¡°Always, my dear Rane.¡± Master Grediv returned the hug, his eyes dampening, even if no tears fell.


    T stood and hugged him as well¡ªkeeping the pigment from transferring once again¡ªbefore he stepped aside.


    Next up were Rane¡¯s parents. They bowed low before T and Rane before presenting them with a rather official looking document. His father spoke up, then, making sure to project his voice, ¡°This is the logging rights for arge stand of old-growth, hardwood trees east of Alefast, Waning. They were nted before the founding of the city, and the right to harvest them has passed down through the generations as they have matured. Now, we have acquired the rights and pass them to you. We worked closely with many of your fellow Defenders as well as the city officials whom you were kind enough to invite.¡±


    There were nods from the people in question in the crowd.


    T saw that along with the writ of harvest was a simr note with well-wishes and signatures.


    It only took her a moment to realize what they¡¯d intended, and her eyes went wide. She gave a deeper seated bow, then. ¡°Thank you, from the bottom of our hearts. These trees will make excellent additions to our soulbound spaces for centuries toe.¡±


    It would be a minor pain to harvest them, but since she could simply grab everything in the area she wouldn¡¯t have to untangle the roots. The ground would be a pain though¡­


    A smile pulled at her lips as she noticed that the writ gave them the rights to anything found in the ground as well.


    She could simply scoop up the whole area and parse it outter as she desired. Or, they could keep it as a beautiful old-growth copse in their sanctum or in Irondale.


    Rane stood and hugged his parents, and T did likewise, thanking them again.


    Next, surprisingly¡ªeven though T had seen them in line¡ªwere Latna and Master Leighis.


    They bowed, and T and Rane returned the gesture.


    The two expressed their congrattions, then Master Leighis gestured for Latna speak for them, ¡°We had this made for you, all your siblings, their families, and Master Leighis.¡±


    She held out something that looked very much like a veryrge Archive te, but it was a bit thicker, and the front was a carved relief, colored by the material itself so the image would stand the test of time.


    It was T¡¯s entire family, including her sibling¡¯s mother and father. It included spouses and all the babies who had been born so far, and Master Leighis on the side.


    It was clearly a family portrait of sorts, but what made it truly special was that they had gone through the effort and expense of setting a small, simple artifact into each of the depictions.


    Each took in ambient power and projected out a small stream in a mimicry of the aura of the person they were matched to. Even the non-Mages had such, which represented <em>great</em> difficulty, time, and expense.


    T and Rane stared at the rendition for a long moment before T looked up and met Latna¡¯s eyes.


    Latna gave a sad smile, though there was still happiness in the expression, ¡°So we can always be with you, no matter where you go or how long your journey continues.¡±


    T felt tears filling her eyes as she realized that, all too soon, this just might be the only thing she had left of most of her family. Odds were low that even a very few, if any, would reach Refined.


    Latna saw T¡¯s tears and responded involuntarily with tears of her own.


    The sisters embraced, both crying in familial love, sadness for what was toe, and happiness for what had been.


    A momentter, T gestured toward the other siblings, watching from the surrounding crowd, and they all moved forward into a massive group hug.


    There were littles and spouses in the mix too, and Rane came in beside T, all wrapping arms around one another.


    T even specifically gestured toward the three who had been hesitating on the sidelines: Master Leighis and her siblings¡¯ parents.


    When everyone was in close, she spoke softly, adding power and will to make sure that they all heard her, ¡°Thank you. This means the world to me, and I will treasure it for as long as I live.¡±

 Chapter 489: Gifts!

    Chapter 489: Gifts!


    T and Rane sat back down in their thrones as T¡¯s family, Master Leighis, and her siblings¡¯ parents moved back to mingle with the other guests.


    T was still a bit emotional at both the thoughtfulness and the implication of her siblings'' gift.


    <em>-I¡¯m making special note to get updated aura records of any future nieces and nephews.-</em>


    <em>Thank you, t. I know that will mean as much to you as to me, and I appreciate it.</em>


    <em>-Of course.-</em>


    She willed the depiction to hang on her dining and sitting room wall, and it moved at her desire. It likely wouldn¡¯t stay there forever, but it was a good ce for it at the moment. There, at least, she would see it many times each day.


    Up next in the ¡®big present¡¯ line were Mistress Cerna and Master Clevnis.


    Bows and initial greetings were exchanged before Master Clevnis spoke on their behalf. ¡°We considered for a long time as to what to get you, and I think you¡¯ll like what we came up with. This is from our entire Defender Unit.¡±


    Mistress Vanga, Master Girt, and Master Limmestare gave waves from among those watching, smiling excitedly.Master Clevnis¡¯s grin widened as he pulled out arge crate from his own soulbound storage.


    It was about two feet by three feet, with a depth of close to another two feet.


    It <em>thumped</em> as he set it on the ground, sending vibrations up through the throne.


    t was blocking T¡¯s threefold perception from telling her what was inside, for which T was equally miffed and grateful. She wanted to know what it was, but the surprise would be better this way.


    Master Clevnis opened the top with a flourish, revealing six, irregr, rounded cylinders, individually padded within the chest. Each was roughly a foot in diameter and nearly two feet long.


    He pulled one out, and T instantly noticed the <em>dark</em> gray coating on the outside.


    ¡°This,¡± he paused for dramatic effect, ¡°is a remote flier. Controlled via Archive connection, woven through with magics that allow incredible speed, maneuverability, and even stationary hovering at need. The exterior is coated in <em>pure</em> iron. There is no carbon in the shell, making it a near-perfect magical reflector and instor. That makes it both more efficient and essentially invisible to magesight and the equivalents while essentially eliminating magical resonance.¡± He grinned widely. ¡°There is also a small cavity within,rge enough to store up to six of your pairs of siege orbs fully insted within their own pure-iron bay, which allows singr orplete deployment.¡±


    He gestured at the crate.


    ¡°These six are our gift to you, but the greater gift is the schematics and research that went into their construction. You can easilymision more at need, iterate the design, or whatever you desire.¡±


    Rane had an obviously excited gleam in his eyes. ¡°Thank you, Master Clevnis, we will make great use of these, I am sure.¡±


    Mistress Cerna cleared her throat, seemingly feeling the need to rify something about the gift, ¡°I would like to point out that we did not incorporate any perceptual spellforms, trusting in T¡¯s own magics to make that a trivial concern. As those are generally the most difficult magics for this type of project, it did render our efforts easier than expected, hence six fliers instead of just one.¡±


    She winked at thest, though she still seems a bit embarrassed that they¡¯d used T¡¯s own capacities to make their gift to her less expensive. Regardless, Tughed. ¡°Thank you, Mistress Cerna, Master Clevnis.¡± She then met the eyes of the rest of their unit standing nearby. ¡°Thank you, Mistress Vanga, Master Limmestare, and Master Girt.¡±


    T and Rane also thanked their unit¡¯s families for the gift, gratitude and hugs being exchanged all around.


    After they settled back in their thrones, they returned their attention to the now much shorter line.


    Next was a nondescript man who gave a shallow bow.


    T and Rane returned it, with her addressing the man on their behalf, ¡°Master Lisa, it is a pleasure to have you in attendance.¡±


    The disguised fox-man gave a vulpine grin. ¡°It is my pleasure to be here. I appreciate the invitation.¡±


    ¡°Of course.¡±


    ¡°I present a gift to you on behalf of your¡­ less standard residents of Irondale.¡±


    T understood that to mean her non-human residents, and she gave a slight frown as she leaned forward in interest.


    ¡°With your permission, I will circte knowledge of your Irondale among my kin, along with the attestations of three¡­ irregrs. That will likely create a bit of a pilgrimage, and from each arrival, you should be able to extract resources, knowledge, and many other potential boons of various kinds.¡± When he said the word ¡®boon,¡¯ it had a particr emphasis that carried obvious weight.


    What they offered <em>was</em> a gift, but it wasn¡¯t a universally positive gift. There would be danger and difficulty, but it <em>should</em> work out for the best in the end.


    ¡°Also, if you do not wish for this, I will simply grant you a minor boon, myself, for use when you feel the need.¡±


    T gave a bow of thanks. ¡°Truly generous, my good Lisa.¡±


    Lisa wasn¡¯t a Sovereign by any means, but he <em>was</em> old, knowledgeable, skilled, and powerful.


    Rane, T, and Lyn had a quick¡ªArchive and alternate interface aided¡ªconversation, which really meant that Rane, Enar, T, and t had a discussion, came to a decision, and ran it by Lyn, who agreed. T smiled. ¡°We would be honored for you to inform your kin of Irondale. Would you consent to be the face of Irondale to them, should anye?¡±


    Lisa had a momentary flicker of <em>something</em> across his generic human features. Then, he bowed low. ¡°It would be my pleasure.¡±


    With that, he moved off, back into the crowd, stopping near Master Cazor. T briefly made eye contact with the Mage Hunter and smiled. He smiled in return.


    He looked a bit out of his element and a bit off kilter, but he seemed happy to be there, and they were definitely d that he¡¯de.


    Next up was Ron from the Irondale reborn, some of whom were in attendance. He bowed deeply. ¡°Congrattions on your union. For you, Mo¡ª¡± He hesitated, seemingly remembering her dislike of being referred to as ¡®Mother¡¯ and the fact that it was <em>her</em> wedding. ¡°Mistress T, Master Rane. We of the Irondale guard,¡± yet again he spoke as if he¡¯d wanted to call them something else, ¡°present to you this gift.¡±


    He held out arge, t wooden box. T took it and opened it to reveal¡­ seeds. ¡°There are a lot of seeds in here, good Ron.¡±


    ¡°Yes, Mistress T. There are a thousand seeds each from as many different flowers as we could source.¡±


    Her eyes widened at that. ¡°That is quite the gift.¡±


    ¡°It will require some nurturing, but we know you to excel in that department.¡± He straightened, showing a cheeky grin.


    Rane smiled in turn. ¡°Thank you, Ron. This is the type of gift that will continue to give for years toe.¡±


    They exchanged a few more words before he stepped back.


    And that seemed to be the end of the ¡®big¡¯ gift givers, until a small form trotted out from among the legs of the onlookers.


    A beautiful, ck cat with purple eyes came forward with a dead mouse in its mouth. There were bits of white in the feline¡¯s fur around its eyes and mouth, and it didn¡¯t seem to be moving as spryly as it hadst time that T had taken note of it. Even so, it seemed healthy and hale.


    The catid the mouse before Rane and T before sitting back on its haunches.


    There was a moment of silence before T leaned forward and scratched the top of the cat¡¯s head. ¡°Thank you, I suppose.¡±


    This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.


    The cat meowed in seeming reply and then trotted off without a backward nce.


    Rane was giving T an odd look. ¡°What was that?¡±


    She shrugged. ¡°Just a cat. She got in here when it was being built, and she wanders about. It¡¯s a bit sad that she¡¯s getting up there in age.¡±


    He gave her a t look. ¡°T, that cat just brought you a wedding present.¡±


    T shrugged again. ¡°I don¡¯t know what to tell you. I¡¯ve examined it thoroughly, I can see its entire being right now. t and Kit have seen everything it¡¯s ever done in here. It¡¯s just a cat.¡±


    Rane gave her a skeptical look, then shook his head. ¡°If you say so.¡±


    <em>It </em>is<em> just a cat, right?</em>


    <em>-Yes. There is absolutely nothing magical about it. You saw it, it¡¯s visibly older than before. It¡¯s just a mundane cat¡­ if a seemingly very intelligent one.-</em>


    <em>Good.</em> T sighed, ncing around. <em>Why do I get the feeling that no one will believe that¡­?</em>


    <em>-Because you grow in wisdom every day.-</em>


    Sheughed at that then stood, Rane rising at her side. ¡°Thank you, one and all. I don¡¯t know about you, but I¡¯m ready to eat and get on with the celebration!¡±


    There was a round of cheering at that, and they got down to celebrating.


    * * *


    Three dayster, thest guest had departed the sanctum, and T and Rane stood in the Alefast Archon Compound, ready for the promised assessment of their advancements.


    Afterward, Master Grediv would present the hold for Kit¡¯s consumption.


    All in all, it was going to be a very good day. T could feel it.


    Mistress Holly was there, of course, as was Master Grediv, but no one else was present to witness T and Rane¡¯s assessments.


    Mistress Holly had pulled two three-foot diameter rings seemingly from no-where¡ªthough that obviously meant it was from her soulbound space¡ªandid them on the ground.


    T was currently gawking at theplexity.


    Each ring was entirely woven of precious metals, what looked like bone that had somehow been made into thread, and obviously magical strands of hair.


    The metals were in intricate spellforms the likes of which T hade to expect from Mistress Holly, but the other material was just as clearly arranged to create magical effects.


    T had no idea how difficult it would be to engineer such interlocking and intecing spellforms, such that there was no space between them, and they all functioned as desired.


    To her, it seemed impossible, but it clearly wasn¡¯t.


    Mistress Holly was clearly pleased with T¡¯s reaction, and she let the moment linger for a breath before she broke the silence. ¡°You will each stand in a ring, and you will activate the device as I instruct. We will then allow its magics to work, and then we will go over the results. Are we clear?¡±


    T and Rane both nodded.


    ¡°Good. Mistress T, you first, dear.¡±


    T smiled, stepping forward, into the ring on the left.


    Mistress Holly instructed her on how to situate her aura, and how to direct her power, so as to begin the reaction within.


    T did so and an instantter, the ring zed with coruscating, corrugating, cascading waves of light.


    It lifted up, clearly flooding the space within it with power of various kinds, as it slowly rose higher and higher, only stopping once it was above her head, then lowered back to the ground.


    It did this ten times. All the while, T could see the various spellforms burning out, the material of theirposition slowly dispersing into power directed by the very shape of the construct.


    Finally, thest of the ring broke apart, enacted its magic, and vanished from sight.


    <em>Yeah, I can see why that would be expensive.</em>


    <em>-No kidding.-</em>


    Mistress Holly was clearly examining the results, at least if the far-off look in her eyes, as they flicked back and forth, up and down, was any indication.


    Finally, she smiled. ¡°Alright, I have a good understanding of what we saw here.¡±


    T nodded along encouragingly, not speaking or doing anything further that might dy the results.


    ¡°Mistress T, you have gotten most of the ¡®big rocks¡¯ out of the way. Now, your advancement will simplye down to gaining a better understanding of who you are¡ªand will be¡ª<em>in the world</em>. You are rtively centered and well established in who you are as a person; it is your rtionship with everything else that needs exploration and further understanding.¡±


    T shifted back, looking up in contemtion. That did make a sort of sense. She <em>did</em> know who she was, what she wanted, and how she wanted to move forward, but she didn¡¯t often think of who she was in rtion to those around her and the world as a whole.


    She defended others, and she had considered that as well as her nurturing of others, but it had always been in context of who she was, rather than as a two-way thing to consider.


    On the more personal side, rting to others, she was obviously a wife now, and she was both terrified and excited to be a mother, whenever that came about.


    <em>-The Irondalians would be offended to be so dismissed.-</em>


    <em>No, they wouldn¡¯t. I may have given them rebirth, but that doesn¡¯t </em>actually<em> make me their mother.</em>


    <em>-I don¡¯t know, T. You shelter them, provide them with magical sustenance, and you¡¯ve made them who they are today.-</em>


    <em>¡­I¡¯m not having this discussion with you again, not right now.</em>


    <em>-Fine, fine.-</em>


    After a moment of further contemtion, T found herself nodding before she spoke to Mistress Holly, ¡°Thank you. That is both far less than I was expecting, and far more detailed than I had thought possible.¡±


    Mistress Holly smiled in return. ¡°It is an odd bit of magic, yes.¡±


    She then turned to Rane and raised an eyebrow. Rane grinned. ¡°My turn, I suppose.¡±


    ¡°Indeed.¡±


    He stepped into the ring, and Mistress Holly meticulously described how to activate the ring once again.


    The process that followed mirrored T¡¯s experience¡ªthough the ring obviously traveled a bit higher before returning down in each cycle¡ªand soon enough Mistress Holly was reviewing the results. Eventually, she gave a small chuckle. ¡°Well, ironically, your results are nearly entirely opposite of T¡¯s. You seem to know, and have settled into, your ce in this world rather wonderfully. On the other side, you do <em>not</em> have a solid handle on who you are in that ce. You are like a tree, connected to all that surrounds you, with no deep knowledge of self, at least none past that which is required in order to Fuse.¡±


    Rane blinked at her before slowly nodding in eptance.


    T could actually see the truth of the words, now that she considered them.


    Rane was very good at fitting in, being useful, and keeping things progressing no matter where he was, but he wasn¡¯t the most self-actualized, and that seemed to be by choice. He had alwayse across as content to follow others'' leads and be who they needed him to be.


    It was interesting that such seemed to be his barrier to advancing to Paragon at the moment.


    He gave a bow to Mistress Holly. ¡°Thank you for the wisdom and insight.¡±


    Mistress Holly nodded in reply. She stayed chatting with them for barely another minute before offering her congrattions once again and departing.


    She needed to get back to her work, after all.


    T and Rane both were staring into the middle distance, contemting what Mistress Holly had revealed to them. It really was an odd thing. They hadn¡¯t really be told anything that they couldn¡¯t have guessed already, but to have it inlyid out before them, their deficiencies highlighted for future improvement? That was invaluable in a way that was hard to quantify or exin.


    Regardless, with Mistress Holly¡¯s departure, Master Grediv was alone with the new couple, and he didn¡¯t seem to have any time to waste. ¡°Well, let¡¯s let you get to it.¡±


    They all smiled as he pulled arge set of double-doors from thin air.


    They were bound in iron and shot through with magic of all kinds.


    T felt something within her twist at the sight. These were <em>hold</em> doors.


    She¡¯d been taken behind some against her will. She¡¯d hidden behind others, breached others in violence and vitriol.


    And she was going to capture these as well.


    Master Grediv gestured. ¡°I have removed all ties to any house or Major House from within or without, to the best of my ability, and it is ready for consumption.¡±


    T manifested Kit as a pouch and tossed her at the door, where she stuck in ce unnaturally.


    The leather of the pouch grew to fully cover the doors before the bag closed again and shrunk.


    A momentter, that manifestation of Kit winked out of existence.


    Master Grediv shook his head. ¡°So efficient. It really is remarkable.¡± With a sigh he turned to the two. ¡°Now, there is something that I need to convey to you as your Kit processes that¡­ influx. You are now stretched to an extreme with the dimensionality contained within Kit. With the addition of this hold, you will be very nearly at the theoretically safe limit for such, even with a spouse''s soul to add stability.¡± His eyes twinkled. ¡°Though, that is for regr Refined¡ªif there is such a thing. We also essentially never reach that limit, so we are dealing with limited understanding. Additionally, you are a unique case, so mon¡¯ wisdom¡ªhowever rarely applicable¡ªmight be inurate for you. Regardless, please remember that you cannot expand your Kit without end and expect the same level of control and authority within.¡±


    ¡°So, we can¡¯t just keep gobbling up all the free space we can.¡±


    ¡°Likely no.¡± He hesitated. ¡°Well, you <em>could,</em> but your control within would be¡­ lessened, at least if we understand correctly. Kit is not a unique creature, but she is of a kind not well understood¡ªthough we are seeking others like her.¡±


    <em>-Of course we can¡¯t, not without advancing further. Paragons have a stronger soul</em>¡ª<em>effectively</em>¡ª<em>so you should be able to have more strain on your soulbonds after reaching that level of advancement.-</em>


    <em>That¡¯s fair. Finally, a reason to advance. </em>T gave a wry, internal grin.


    t chuckled, but didn¡¯tment further.


    ¡°If we advance to Paragon, I assume that limit would expand?¡±


    Master Grediv nodded. ¡°Of course.¡±


    Rane smiled. ¡°Well, then, I guess we need to buckle down and use what Mistress Holly showed us, eh?¡±


    T grinned in return. ¡°Soon. First, I want to spend some time just getting used to being <em>married.</em>¡±


    Rane stepped closer, pulling her into an embrace. ¡°I¡¯d like that.¡±


    Master Grediv slipped quietly from the room as the two came together for a kiss.

 Chapter 490: Oh...

    Chapter 490: Oh...


    T and Rane had decided to ¡®deal¡¯ with all their wedding presents sooner rather thanter.


    They were nearly done preparing for their honeymoon, but they hadn¡¯t actually picked a departure date as of yet.


    That was fine. They would leave soon enough. They were immortal, after all, so why rush?


    It was a week after the wedding, all requisite paperwork was filed, and they were standing next to <em>their</em> mini forest.


    ¡°I¡­ I don¡¯t know if I can take all that at once.¡±


    Rane grunted. ¡°That is ratherrge. You¡¯re used to taking smaller, more potent acquisitions.¡±


    ¡°Yeah. Cells, holds, ether holds, and things like that. This?¡± She gestured to the hundred acres of old-growth forest before her. ¡°This is a <em>lot</em> of wood.¡±


    Rane gave her a look. ¡°A lot of wood<em>s.</em>¡± He emphasized the ¡®s¡¯. ¡°It¡¯s a lot of wood<em>s</em>.¡±


    ¡°I know what I said; though, that¡¯s true too.¡± She smiled his way. ¡°Were we to harvest these trees in the traditional way, we would end up with a <em>lot</em> of wood.¡±¡°Ahh, yeah, that¡¯s true.¡± He still gave her a sidelong nce.


    ¡°Well, let¡¯s see what Kit can do with this.¡± She manifested Kit as a pouch and tossed the devourling at the nearest tree. ¡°<em>Mine.</em>¡±


    And thus, the devouring began.


    It was odd as Kit couldn¡¯t just open wide enough to eat the whole forest in one pass. Instead, she started with one tree, tracing it downward and scooping out the dirt, rock, and soil along with the roots, and where the roots entangled with another tree¡¯s, she began devouring that tree too.


    It was imperfect, as she had to find ways to keep her portal within her capacity, but it was still workable.


    In less than a couple of hours, arge chunk ofnd had been scooped out, about twenty feet deep.


    Kit was content with her acquisition, and Rane and T had nothing further to do in the area.


    * * *


    As for all the little gifts, there were dozens.


    Most were minor items of one kind or other, more meant to convey support than be a true ¡®gift.¡¯ After all, they were in a position to have more mary and magical resources than most of those who came to celebrate with them¡ªthose who¡¯d given ¡®big¡¯ gifts excepted.


    A few stood out regardless.


    T and Rane pulled out the odd set of two buttons and two magical lights.


    It was a gift from Rane¡¯s older sister, Chloe.


    The note apanying the clearly magical items simply conveyed that it was so that they would always know when the other was ready to ¡®get on with it.¡¯


    The ¡®signal¡¯ lights were always on, and the buttons did nothing.


    They both chuckled, sharing in the humor of the implication.


    Half an hourter, they pulled out the next gift. It was a cookbook from Brand¡ªhe hadn¡¯t been able to attend, but he¡¯d sent the gift regardless¡ªcontaining ¡®Caravan Favorites¡¯ and other recipes of note. Importantly, all the recipes were scaled for the feeding of a <em>lot</em> of people at once, which made them perfect for T¡¯s meals.


    Since they¡¯d already opened one book, t directed them to Master Cazor¡¯s present next, as he had gotten them a book as well, it seemed.


    With t continuing to maintain surprises for T¡ªkeeping her threefold perception from showing her what was inside any of the myriad packages and parcels¡ªT was as surprised as Rane when he pulled it out. ¡°What is it?¡±


    Rane was frowning, but he opened it and burst outughing. ¡°Here, take a look.¡±


    T took the book and read the cover, ¡®Everything You Know About Marriage and Each Other.¡¯


    As she flipped it open, she chuckled as well.


    It was essentially nk.


    There were ces to record ¡®firsts¡¯ for their marriage as well as prompts for conversations to get to know one another better, and things of that kind, but over all, there was ¡®nothing¡¯ inside.


    ¡°Well, that was kind of him.¡±


    Rane nodded. ¡°Indeed it was, yes.¡±


    The rest of the gifts were fairly standard, kind expressions of support.


    They received a cast-iron tea set with sapphire blue and blood-red enamel¡ªthey¡¯d made their wedding colors known ahead of time.


    There was arge smattering of physical books to add to T¡¯s library. Including a lovely book of idioms and their origins from Lyn.


    A few guests had actually gotten them nk books that were <em>incredibly</em> nicely bound, and a selection of various print-grade inks. T wasn¡¯t sure why, until Rane found the note signed by many of the Librarians from Alefast, Waning and Bandfast.


    They were for T and t to fill with whatever ¡®book¡¯ they wished. The Librarians knew of T, t, and Kit¡¯s abilities within Kit, and they were counting on those for the creation of physical copies.


    The Librarians had also set up a fund with which Rane and T could buy the rights to ess a few books that they wished from the titles not freely avable. From those, they could either simply ess them within the Archive, or ¡®copy¡¯ them out at their leisure.


    t especially loved that set of gifts as it gave her yet another toy to y with.


    Some of the restaurants that T and Rane had used to make the food and drink for the wedding had sent a selection of casks of alcohol. None were veryrge, but each beverage selection was intended for Refined or more advanced Archons.


    Given that there were nearly a dozen such casks¡ªand none of them were likely to have been cheap¡ªT had to ask. <em>t? How much did we spend on food?</em>


    <em>-...Enough that this is an appropriate congrattory gift.-</em>


    <em>¡­Alright then.</em>


    <em>-Oh, don¡¯t be like that. Even if we¡¯d spent a hundred gold</em>¡ª<em>which we didn¡¯t</em>¡ª<em>we¡¯d still be fine. Each cask likely cost a couple of gold at the high end. Keep in mind that such is ¡®market¡¯ price, and restaurants generally get food and drink at wholesale discounts. Thus, while it is still a nice gift, it wasn¡¯t as expensive as it would have been for us to acquire the same.-</em>


    <em>Noted.</em>


    A few gifts were aimed more toward Rane, mainly a selection of various stones for carving, each with directions to the exact area in which the stone had been found in case he particrly liked any of them. That way, he could acquire more of the material that he preferred the most.


    There were also quite a few teas, imported from Makinaven, that had both Rane and T excited.


    The final standout item was something called a ¡®Hero¡¯s Journey¡¯ te.


    For most Mages or mundanes, it would track where they went¡ªseemingly using the person¡¯s mind and memory to mark their path.


    When T connected with it, it expanded so far out that the detail was lost on the little Archive te.


    So, with only a quick verification with Rane, T had Kit devour it and replicate the magics onto arge wall.


    Due to her perfect memory¡ªafter bing a Mage¡ªit showed rather detailed movements from her, though it started with her childhood. It began by drawing a blood-red line moving vaguely throughout Marliweather before jumping over to the Academy, anding back to around Bandfast.


    From there, it showed her caravan journeys before jumping down to toiri¡ªshe didn¡¯t have memory of the trip after all¡ªand then it depicted her return trip and time since.


    ¡°That¡¯s¡­ that¡¯s actually really cool. The little te was useless, but the magics are amazing.¡±


    Rane held up a note, a wry grin across his features. ¡°That¡¯s probably why it explicitly said it was for Kit¡¯s devouring.¡±


    ¡°Oh? Who¡¯s it from?¡±


    ¡°Master Boma.¡±


    <em>-Oh, that was really kind of him! I¡¯ll send him a thank you message.-</em>


    <em>Thank you, t.</em>


    She turned to regard Rane, then. ¡°Your turn.¡±


    Rane shrugged and put his hand on the ¡®syncing¡¯ location, and his memory of his travels appeared on the same map, traced out in sapphire blue.


    He¡¯d never been to the Academy, and most of his early time was spent in and around Alefast, Waning. But after his and T¡¯s paths crossed, he traced out most of the same caravan routes as hers had.


    Then, when hers blipped away before reappearing down in toiri, Rane¡¯s went to herst location, and proceeded to move all over the surrounding region.


    You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.


    ¡°Oh, Rane.¡± T gave a sad¡ªyet grateful¡ªsmile as she leaned into him. ¡°I knew you looked for me, but that¡¯s a lot more extensive than I had realized.¡±


    When she looked up at him, he was pale, clearly having realized something.


    ¡°Rane?¡±


    ¡°Um¡­ can we stop this?¡±


    ¡°No, it already scanned your memories, and it¡¯s just mapping it out for effect. Kit could break it, but the information is already in the Archive, just not disyed. Why?¡±


    He visibly swallowed, but before he answered, T perceived his line going into the mountain range, central to the Gated-Human Wilds.


    He went up some six peaks before blipping down the base of thest one. T chuckled. ¡°Did you fall off?¡±


    He shook his head, his eyes looking up as if expecting lightning from the clear, artificial sky. ¡°I apologize, but¡­ I can¡¯t say.¡±


    She pulled back and gave him a long look. ¡°Really?¡±


    ¡°Really. I am sorry. I would tell you if I could.¡±


    She met his gaze for a while before slowly nodding. ¡°Alright. I trust you.¡±


    <em>And he didn¡¯t want us to go through those peaks for some reason.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, a ¡®powerful creature.¡¯-</em>


    <em>Well, we could likely figure it out if we actually wanted to get around our husband¡¯s seeming wishes.</em>


    <em>-Well, he did say he wanted us to know, but he couldn¡¯t tell us.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, but so many of those things tend to be ¡®if they figure it out because of you, it¡¯s the same as you telling them.¡¯</em>


    <em>-Yeah¡­ we don¡¯t want to trigger¡­ whatever is keeping him from telling us. That¡¯s fair.-</em>


    <em>Good, we¡¯re on the same page.</em>


    And that was that for the ¡®little¡¯ gifts, even if many barely qualified as such. As to theirst two ¡®big¡¯ gifts?


    Well, it would take some time for Lisa, Lupe, and Walden¡¯s ¡®attestation¡¯ of Irondale¡¯s fitness for non-human habitation to yield any fruit.


    The six flying devices though? They could start ying with them right away.


    * * *


    T and Raneughed¡ªwhile Enar and t did so within their minds and through their Archive connections¡ªas four of the six flying devices they¡¯d been given zipped through various obstacles on the course they¡¯did out.


    The couple were sitting in the sanctum, side by side, while their devices flew out in Zeme.


    Each had a lesser bloodstar array anchored to it, giving perception to each ¡®pilot.¡¯


    T and t simply got the input directly through aspect mirroring.


    Rane and Enar got their perspectives via t, who aspect mirrored their arrays and fed the info to the Archive. From there, Enar pulled it down and spliced it together for himself and Rane.


    At the moment, they were having a simple race.


    They¡¯d all initially learned to maneuver the small devices within the sanctum, where T and t could protect them from damage, but now, they werepeting to circle Alefast, Waning.


    There were waypoints that they had to hit, thus keeping all the flyers on simr¡ªbut not identical¡ªcourses.


    There was <em>more</em> than sufficient magic in the area around Alefast to power the devices, and so, aside from the potential to wreck the rather expensive flyers, it was a purely good time.


    Terry hadn¡¯t been interested as of yet, and T asionally teased him that he would be far behind the rest of them when he finally caved and joined in, but he didn¡¯t seem to mind.


    They had all, collectively, already bugged Mistress Holly to improve and augment their various inscriptions with the more intense use of such Archive connected devices in mind.


    Rane and Enar just wanted to be able to use them without requiring t or T¡ªand toward that end, Rane was working on a means of replicating her bloodstars with sapphire Archon Stars, to no avail as of yet.


    T and t wanted to facilitate t using a mini-swarm of the things with rtive ease.


    They were still expensive, but their ability to have her bloodstars being the source of perception reduced the cost by at least a factor of ten. If they were more affordable, <em>everyone</em> would want one¡­ or thirty.


    t, of course, was by far the best. It wasn¡¯t because she had a closer connection with the devices¡ªin fact, she was facilitating the connection with them so seamlessly that her involvement wasn¡¯t a hindrance in the least. Instead, her skill seemed to stem from her ability to more closely associate with the device, and move it more naturally, where T, Rane, and even Enar still found the feel of the device to be a bit alien.


    Even so, they were getting used to it, and this time, Enar was only a minute behind t with T and Raneing a bare nine and twelve seconds behind him, respectively.


    One of the wonderful things about these devices was their pure iron dding¡ªwhich contained only a small opening on the starward side to allow for an uninterrupted Archive connection.


    Because of that dding, they didn¡¯t set off any sensors or rms for the Defenders, so they didn¡¯t have to get permission or give warning before their little races.


    To be fair, if they had tried to breach the city¡¯s defenses, they would most likely have been detected, but just moving in the wilds? They were essentially invisible.


    Another interesting result of the dding was that T finally noticed that her ¡®iron¡¯¡ªas acquired through the dasgannach¡ªwasn¡¯t actually pure.


    Unlike the iron of the flier¡¯s dding, hers was generally at least somewhat tainted with carbon, making it technically a steel.


    She didn¡¯t know <em>exactly</em> how that changed things, but she felt like it did somehow.


    She did feel like she could still im the iron on the flyers, but she refrained¡ªdespite the pull given that they were <em>hers</em>¡ªso that they could continue to function without issue.


    <em>-I still say it would be fine. With your bloodstars along for the ride, your aura </em>should<em> be present there as well.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, but I still haven¡¯t been able to have a discontiguous aura.</em>


    <em>-Except with Terry.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, well, that¡¯s different. It¡¯s more like it¡¯s </em>his<em> aura, that just happens to match mine.</em>


    <em>-I still say you are thinking about it wrong. The limitation is within our own mind. Master Akra has indicated that he agrees.-</em>


    <em>Probably, but we¡¯ll figure it out soon enough.</em>


    * * *


    Months passed, in which T and Rane reveled in newly married life. They yed with, read, and used many of their presents, though they held off on exploring the devoured bunch of holds, saving that little bundle of surprises for ater date.


    During that time, Ron petitioned for T to be more involved with the reborn gateless, and Lyn indicated that they were concerned that she would lose interest and discard them. She confided in T that the moniker of ¡®Mother¡¯ was most likely one given and maintained in hopes of drawing T into more of an active role, as much as it was having an opposite effect.


    Regardless, still ufortable with their reverence for her and focused on enjoying her time as a newlywed, T had put them off, sending Lyn in her stead, and even hiring some trainers toe in on a semi-permanent basis to shore up the gateless¡¯s weakness in skilledbat. The trainers wouldn¡¯te when T and Rane left on their honeymoon, but until then¡ªwhenever then was¡ªthe trainers would keep the reborn at bay.


    Thus, the two of them simply enjoyed their time together¡ªbeing married¡ªand they had confirmed their soulbond many, many times. The bond was stable and strong, and nothing was wrong with them physically, but they had begun to notice an oddity.


    Their souls had never even <em>tried </em>to form another soul from what they could tell. Other couples had told them that¡ªgiven their advancement¡ªthey should have felt <em>something.</em>


    Thus, they had asked Master Nadro for the more detailed analysis, which he had said would be possible once their bond was in ce.


    He had readily agreed, and so, they were together once again.


    They sat in a small,fortable study-like room, each sipping a warm beverage. Master Nadro didn¡¯t beat around the topic, having already had their souls examined and studied the results. ¡°Mistress T, your soul bears the strong hallmarks of a Reality curse. As we said before, this is most likely due to your brushes with dasgannach, including your soulbond to one. You also have Void bound to your soul. With the Magical nature of the gated-human soul, you have somehow managed to create a rather firm tie to existence as a whole. We knew this before, but we were unsure how that would affect Rane, and your potential children.¡±


    T gave a small smile, still rather proud of her aplishments. But yet again, Master Nadro wasn¡¯t smiling. ¡°Really? How isn¡¯t that a good thing?¡±


    Master Nadro frowned. ¡°Well, rather than tempering your soul as we had expected, Rane¡¯s soul was shifted toward yours. You helped bring out those same aspects in him, if to a <em>far</em> lesser degree. As such, if your souls were toe together to make a child, the child would undoubtedly be simrly aspected. Unfortunately, the human form simply isn¡¯t designed for such a soul. <em>Your</em> body is reinforced to the point that it is a non-issue, and Rane¡¯s Refined nature keeps him from having any negative side effects. Unfortunately, the concern is that even the child of two Refined would not be robust enough for such an Existence soul.¡± He grimaced. ¡°Pardon the terrible vernacr. This isn¡¯t something that we¡¯vee across before.¡±


    T had felt herself pale, and Rane was frowning in earnest even as he spoke, ¡°Master Nadro, I¡­ Am I understanding right? Are you saying that we can¡¯t have children?¡±


    The older man sighed. ¡°Essentially, yes, that is what I am saying. From what we can tell, there will be difficulties. Obviously, as soon as the child is there, we have the knowledge and expertise to help him or her grow and develop, to stay alive and thrive. The issue is that we have no record of a souling into being¡ªbeing created¡ªwhen a viable body was not imminent. There can beplications in development, and we still do lose some babies before they are born, but that is vanishingly rare. All that to say, it seems that it will be impossible for the two of you to have biological children, that¡¯s why your souls haven¡¯t even tried to create a new soul.¡±


    That created a long moment of stunned silence.


    It wasn¡¯t that T was infertile, nor Rane either. They were biologically fine. It was that their souls were such that any baby¡¯s soul they helped create would be unable to be housed in a mundane body, so the soul creation process simply didn¡¯t go beyond the initial melding.


    Rane took his hand from T¡¯s before putting his arm around her shoulders and retaking her hand with his other. ¡°So¡­ I still don¡¯t understand.¡±


    Master Nadro sighed, giving a sad smile. ¡°We don¡¯t exactly understand either. We are just giving you our best understanding.¡±


    <em>Oh¡­</em> T sat in stunned silence, unable to really process what they were discussing. It honestly didn¡¯t feel real. Like someone telling her that if she flipped a coin, it wouldn¡¯t evernd on heads.


    It just seemed¡­ impossible.


    Sure, she could get tails a few times, maybe even a ton of times, but <em>every</em> time? Surely there was a mistake.


    True, she hadn¡¯t been dead set on having children, but she had been bing excited to have some eventually, whenever it worked out.


    But now¡­ now that seemingly wasn¡¯t possible.


    Sure, there might be <em>something </em>that they could do to get around the issue eventually¡ªmagic was magic after all¡ªbut for the foreseeable future¡­ nothing.


    She felt a pain from her middle that she <em>knew</em> was purely originating from her own mind. She crossed her arms over her abdomen and hunched slightly nheless. Rane kept his hand on her knee when she¡¯d pulled her own hand free, and his arm was aforting weight as he and Master Nadro continued to talk.


    Even though the topic was obviously important, T hardly paid attention.


    <em>-T? Are you going to be okay?-</em>


    <em>I¡­ I don¡¯t know. I never defined myself as someone who would be the ¡®bringer of life¡¯ or anything like that, but¡­ I did want kids¡­ right?</em>


    <em>-Yeah¡­ we did. We do.-</em> t added thest a bit more firmly.


    Rane squeezed T around the shoulders a bit more tightly, and she realized that they were no longer inside.


    He had led her in a bit of a daze out of the Archon Compound and into the light of ate fall day. Even as they continued to stroll, he leaned in close and spoke so only she could hear, ¡°T? I¡¯m here. What do you need?¡±


    She tried to force a smile, grateful at the offer, but she couldn¡¯t, not yet. ¡°I think¡­ I think I need to get away for a while.¡±


    He hesitated, as if bracing himself. ¡°Alone?¡±


    She shook her head vehemently. ¡°No, no. I¡­ Let¡¯s go. We¡¯ve been ready for our honeymoon for months now. I just want to get away, away from <em>here</em>. Let¡¯s go.¡±


    He gave a sad smile. ¡°Alright. If that¡¯s what you need, I¡¯ll coordinate with t, Enar, and Lyn to make it happen. We¡¯ll leave tomorrow morning.¡±


    ¡°Thank you.¡±


    He hesitated again, then added, ¡°I won¡¯t tell anyone, not yet. When you¡¯re ready, we can talk with anyone you want.¡±


    She pulled in close to him then and nodded against his chest. ¡°Thank you.¡±

 Chapter 491: Departing and Sorrow

    Chapter 491: Departing and Sorrow


    T felt as if the afternoon and evening after <em>the</em> revtion passed in a blur, and before she knew it, she was curled up beside Rane, unable to sleep.


    The stars shining down from the top of their sanctum seemed too bright to her eyes, even when they were closed. The wind moving over the surroundings seemed too loud, despite none of the sound reaching her ears.


    She even knew that t was isting her from her threefold sight, yet still she <em>felt</em> like she could hear it, and it was horrible.


    She almost woke Rane to try to talk through what she was thinking, but something about the steady rise and fall of his chest was soothing in its own way, and she didn¡¯t want to disrupt or lose that.


    She kept ying the earlier conversation over and over in her head, but the results were the same every time.


    She would never have children of her own.


    Oh, sure, there had been some hemming and hawing, ims that advances in Magic¡ªor her own magical advancement¡ª<em>might</em> correct the issue, but the underlying message was clear: Don¡¯t expect to <em>ever</em> have children.


    <em>-I¡¯m here, T.-</em>


    <em>I know, t. I just¡­</em> She couldn¡¯t say it, but they both knew. This had been t¡¯s lot in life the whole time. She¡¯d never expected to have children of her own¡ªeven with the understanding that she and T were the same person, it wasn¡¯t <em>quite</em> the same¡ªand so the alternate interface hadn¡¯t received the same blow that T had with the news.More than that, they both knew that T had been aware of t¡¯s effective infertility, and while she¡¯d been somewhat sympathetic, she hadn¡¯t ever really talked through it with her.


    T felt like it would be rather hypocritical to bemoan her current state, when her other self had been in the exact same situation for literal years without it evering up.


    -<em>I don¡¯t mind, you know. We touched on the topic asionally</em>¡ª<em>on all topics surrounding myck of ¡®my own¡¯ body, really</em>¡ª<em>and you were always incredibly supportive. Moreover, I knew that I could have children through you. They would have been as much mine in spirit as yours.-</em>


    <em>I did try to be understanding, and I am d you saw it that way. As to your body, you don¡¯t really manifest that often. I know you can, but you don¡¯t.</em>


    t sent the feeling of a shrug. <em>-I don¡¯t really feel the need. To be fair, there are a few things that Enar and I want to run by you and Rane, but that¡¯s for another time.-</em>


    T arched an eyebrow but didn¡¯t press her alternate interface on the topic.


    <em>-I do think Rane would want you to wake him up. He wants to be there for you when you need him.-</em>


    <em>I know. I really do, and you should know that I know that, but he spent the entire afternoon running around making sure that we are all set for our trip</em>¡ª<em>our honeymoon.</em> She grimaced. <em>And I¡¯ve gone and made the trip about me escaping this news.</em>


    <em>-That may have been what triggered it, but I think how you act going forward is what will set the tone for the trip.-</em> After a moment¡¯s pause, t added, <em>-But why don¡¯t you express your actual fear?-</em>


    She swallowed, then chastised herself. t <em>was</em> her. If she couldn¡¯t express her fear to herself then she had no hope at all of doing anything about it. <em>I¡­ What if he doesn¡¯t want me?</em>


    <em>-I¡¯m listening.-</em>


    <em>What if he doesn¡¯t want to be married to someone who¡¯s broken.</em> Expressing the thought¡ªeven internally¡ªseemed to wrench something open inside her, and she began to weep, shaking silently.


    She both blessed and cursed the fact that Rane was such a heavy sleeper. She didn¡¯t want to wake him with this, but she also desperately wanted him to hold her.


    She cried silently for a long moment before t said anything else.


    <em>-Firstly, you aren¡¯t broken. You could honestly argue that you are too awesome, and that¡¯s what is creating the issue.-</em>


    <em>Spoken like a closet narcissist.</em>


    <em>-Hey now, this isn¡¯t the time for personal attacks, especially not on yourself.-</em>


    T huffed augh.


    <em>-But even if you were unable to have children due to something actually being wrong, that doesn¡¯t make you unlovable, T. Love is often mistaken as a feeling, but it isn¡¯t. Love is a choice. If people treated love as a feeling that came and went, never to return</em>¡ª<em>even in a safer, less insane world</em>¡ª<em>how would any rtionshipst? Rane has chosen to love you, and you him. This fear is understandable, but don¡¯t you think you owe it to Rane</em>¡ª<em>and yourself</em>¡ª<em>to talk to him about it? Ask </em>him<em> how he feels?-</em>


    T hesitated, then nodded, willing away her tears and the mucus from her face. <em>Yeah, I think you¡¯re right.</em>


    <em>-...but you¡¯re going to wait until tomorrow.- </em>t sighed.


    <em>I don¡¯t want to wake him. He¡¯s exhausted.</em>


    <em>-Not so tired that he wouldn¡¯t want to be there for you.-</em>


    <em>And I want to support him, too. We¡¯ll both be happier if he sleeps tonight. It¡¯s been almost a week since either of us slept.</em>


    <em>-Ahh, the newly married life of an immortal couple.-</em>


    T felt herself blush, even though the thought hade from her own mind. <em>Yes, well¡­ Can you just help me sleep?</em>


    <em>-Of course, but do you really want me to?-</em>


    <em>Yes, please. I think it will help, even if it does feel like cheating.</em>


    <em>-Alright. Sleep well, T.-</em>


    <em>Goodnight, t.</em>


    * * *


    The next morning, even as the sun was rising within their sanctum, T and Rane sat on their surprisinglyfortable thrones, looking out over the lushndscape.


    They both had special drinks with a concentrated coffee base, exactly as they¡¯d nned as a kickoff to their honeymoon.


    Hers was vani at the core of the voring, and his was mint through and through.


    Despite the stunning views, delicious drinks, and impablepany, the shadow of the previous day¡¯s news still hung over them.


    Rane held out hisrge mug for T to clink, and she did so, an unbidden smile tugging at her lips at the action.


    ¡°To us.¡± His voice was soft, the tone kind, and his look meaningful. ¡°Married atst, together for as long as we live.¡±


    She could sense his love radiating through their soulbond, further cementing that it was a state that he was willfully in, rather than an emotion he was experiencing.


    He <em>loved</em> her.


    Even as she lowered the mug, her eyes welled with tears.


    Rane moved quickly, setting his drink aside and snatching her up in an embrace. ¡°Hey, hey, now. What¡¯s all this?¡±


    Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the vition.


    ¡°I¡¯m broken,¡± she heard herself speaking before she could think to stop herself, ¡°I¡­ I can¡¯t have any children. Why would you want to stay with me?¡±


    He stroked her back. ¡°T. I didn¡¯t pursue you and marry you as a potential baby-making factory.¡±


    The word-picture made her huff an involuntaryugh.


    ¡°I love you, and while I would have loved any children we had, my love for you does not depend on them, whether or not they evere to be.¡±


    She pulled back to look at him. ¡°But¡­ I¡¯m not what you signed up for. You wanted a wife, a family. You wanted children, grandchildren, descendants through the ages. We talked about it, and you were clear. So was I. I agreed to that, and now I can¡¯t deliver.¡±


    She hitched, scrunching up her face.


    ¡°I <em>literally</em> can¡¯t deliver.¡± Tears threatened to overwhelm her yet again.


    ¡°Hey, hey, now.¡± He pulled her closer. ¡°You wanted¡ªwant¡ªall those things too. You aren¡¯t stopping me from reaching a personal goal. We¡¯ve hit a barrier toward our <em>shared</em> goal.¡± He pulled back this time, meeting her gaze with obvious determination. ¡°I¡¯m not going <em>anywhere.</em>¡±


    She gave another huffingugh. ¡°That will make our honeymoon rather more <em>local</em> than I had anticipated.¡±


    He blinked a few times before giving a slight smile. ¡°I¡¯m not going anywhere <em>without you.</em>¡±


    She curled back in against him. ¡°Really?¡±


    ¡°Really.¡±


    They sat like that for a while, watching the sun rise and enjoying their drinks. Finally¡ªfar more in control of herself¡ªT shifted to look up at Rane¡¯s face once more. ¡°You know¡­¡±


    ¡°Yes?¡±


    ¡°Just because we can¡¯t conceive, that doesn¡¯t mean we can¡¯t practice.¡±


    He took a moment to parse what she meant. Then, a soft smile spread across his features. ¡°I¡¯m always up for a good practice session with you, love.¡±


    * * *


    When mid-morning arrived, T and Rane stood at the northern gate from Alefast, Waning, ready to depart.


    Terry was at their side, practically dancing from foot to foot in excitement to be <em>out</em> once more.


    The married couple was rxed, newly bathed, and ready to be off. The tension of the news was a mere background feeling for the moment.


    Their true first stop was to be old Marliweather for the long anticipated experiments with T¡¯s attraction amplification and the rends in reality.


    There were some quick stops along the way¡ªRane had really enjoyed working with some of the stone samples that they¡¯d been given, and one or two were from known deposits that were <em>basically</em> on the way.


    Thus, they¡¯d be traveling up the eastern side of the central mountains for the first part of their journey.


    Their unit was there at the gates to see them off, along with Master Grediv. A few others had heard of the departure¡ªdue to Rane¡¯s whirlwind of preparation the day before¡ªand they stopped by as well, while T had been doing final checks on Irondale.


    The town had been closed up for a bit less than an hour, and Lyn was doing her own final checks on their stores with t.


    Enar was apparently checking on all the trees in Irondale and the sanctum, focusing especially on their newly acquired forest. While T and t could easily see everything within their soulbound space, actually parsing out what everything that they were seeing meant was a much harder process, and Enar had taken a liking to arborism.


    Finally, thest hugs and well-wishes were exchanged, and it was time for T and Rane to depart.


    Terry trilled at the sky and flickered away.


    Rane shot off like an arrow, imparting a <emrge</em> amount of kic energy onto himself to reach his maximum velocity without magical resonance almost instantly.


    T had to crouch and leap, but with her surface expansion scripts, she didn¡¯t damage the ground as she took off after herpanions.


    She stepped down on the air to gain height and increase her speed, racing after Rane and Terry.


    It was early in the year, and snow made much of the surroundings white.


    Most trees were bare, and there was a stark beauty to thendscape, especially highlighted against the mountains to the north and west.


    <em>It¡¯s funny how many important things happen to me in the winter.</em>


    <em>-Well, it is arge part of the year, especially this far north.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, well, that still shouldn¡¯t make it the most prevalent time in which important things ur.</em>


    t sent the impression of a shrug. <em>-Who knows, then.-</em>


    It wasn¡¯t that important, honestly.


    T quickly caught up to Rane, even though arge part of that was him briefly slowing down to be at her side.


    This first leg of their trip was utterly uneventful, even taking into ount the lovely winterscapeid out around them.


    They ate lunch on a mountain peak on the eastern edge of the range, the process of getting to the top essentially no harder than going anywhere else.


    Terry was a bit irritated, as it <em>was</em> harder for him to flicker up to the top of such a ce, but he was mollified by arge helping of jerky and by his hunting of a <em>massive</em> mountain goat that was magical enough to make things interesting.


    The goat¡¯s magic was focused entirely on resiliency, meaning that Terry faced his old issue of wearing down a defensive opponent, but this time it wasbined with the nimbleness of a mountain goat who was unafraid of normally precarious positions.


    Essentially, Terry ended up flickering around over sheer drops more than half the time.


    Still, with his ability to aspect mirror Flow¡¯s cutting edge onto his talons well mastered, the oue was never in any doubt. It was a sporting sh, and after it wasplete, Terry had goat for dessert before the three of them headed down the north-eastern side of the peak.


    T and Rane were staying rtively close together, each leaping forward in their own way as Terry flickered around them, and together they kept up a ground-eating pace.


    As the afternoon progressed, Rane led them a bit north of the ¡®ideal¡¯ path in order to stop by a known source for one of the stone types he¡¯d especially enjoyed working with.


    A sample of the material had been among the gifts presented to them, and he¡¯d made a few game pieces with it, seemingly appreciating its ability to take and hold fine detail, as well as the variegated patterning within the stone.


    It didn¡¯t take too long to find the source as the precise location of the material had been a part of the gift.


    There was a nearly two hundred foot cliff, much of which wasposed of the particr subtype of stone.


    Rane looked her way. ¡°So¡­ can Kit grab arge chunk for me?¡±


    T smiled back. ¡°Yeah. I think she can.¡±


    Kit was quite eager as T ced a manifestation of the devourling on the cliff-face.


    The soulbound storage couldn¡¯t simply open wide enough to take in the whole cliff, but she could sweep back and forth across the half-mile of cliff-face, trying to grab the sections that were the desired material.


    All in all, it took about an hour, and left the cliff reasonably well intact still. There were only a couple of sections that fell after their collection was done, and once the soil shifted, it revealed new bedrock capable of supporting the edifice.


    Rane was watching closely as the process concluded. ¡°You know, I can¡¯t decide if this is better than stripping back thendscape to get ess to the material, as it leaves more of what <em>was </em>here, here, or worse, because it makes it look like it¡¯s all still here while undermining at least some of it.¡±


    T gave him a level look. ¡°I can put it back, if you want.¡±


    He held his hands up in surrender, even as a grin blossomed across his face. ¡°No, no. I¡¯m quite d that we were able to get so much, so efficiently.¡±


    She smiled. ¡°Alright, then.¡±


    With that taskplete, they continued on their way. The unhappy news only asionally flitted through T¡¯s thoughts, and did not remain, as she did her best to dismiss it.


    They had only gone a mile or so when T realized something. She hadn¡¯t seen Terry in a while.


    <em>-Huh¡­ yeah. I usually am helping him with his own threefold perception, but¡­-</em>


    T felt her bond with Terry twitch slightly. There wasn¡¯t fearing through it, but it was¡­ concern? Confusion?


    It was still odd that she got emotions from Terry but not Rane, but that was just the different nature of variations between soulbonds.


    But that was hardly important at the moment. She gged Rane to follow her, and they diverted toward where she could feel Terry.


    When they arrived, the avian didn¡¯tmand her attention; instead, what caught her eye was a little boy.


    He was sitting on the forested, mountain slope, near a rather deeper patch of snow.


    His eyes were nearlypletely white as he stared at nothing. T had never seen a blind person before¡ªany blind human in the cities would have been healed immediately¡ªbut it was still obvious that he couldn¡¯t see.


    Aside from his being blind, quite a few things stood out about the boy. In her limited experience with children, there were those who were so cute they could get away with murder, and those whose parents<em> imed</em> they were cute. There tended to be no in-between.


    This boy was of the first kind.


    His hair was white and his clothes looked travel worn but not old or degraded.


    One hand was slowly turning the crank on the side of arge barrel, and the other was scratching Terry¡¯s belly, pinning the avian in hisp, and he gave a shy smile vaguely in their direction as he spoke softly, ¡°Oh, hello. Please be wee. This batch is almost done. Until then, stay a while, and listen.¡±


    Rane and T shared a look before moving forward side by side.


    <em>This should be interesting.</em>


    Theynded lightly some dozen feet from the boy, and he didn¡¯t turn to look directly at them, but the smile still blossomed wider across his features. Before he could add to his invitation, however, T spoke, ¡°We are on a journey, and this was not a nned stop on the way.¡±


    He shook his head slightly, seeming hesitant even as he responded, ¡°Rush, rush, rush. Are you and yours really in such a hurry? Sit and pass a moment with me. I don¡¯t mean to be a bother, but I do so misspany.¡±


    T and Rane hesitated again, sharing a look.


    Their hesitation seemed to give the boy a bit more courage as when he spoke again, it was a bit louder than before, ¡°You must be this little guy¡¯s bonded. Please do be wee. I¡¯m Simon, and if you have the time, the ice cream will be ready quite soon.¡±


    As they watched, Simon moved his hand away from Terry¡¯s belly and as the bird moved to sit up, like a stage magician, Simon pulled what seemed to be a small candy out of thin air and popped it into the avian¡¯s mouth before catching him and keeping him from escaping with a scratching hand.


    ¡°He really is being ever so kind to try mytest treats. I am eager to learn which he likes best.¡± There was a shyly content look on the boy¡¯s face. Then, a small frown creased his brow, and he seemed to be conceding something to himself as well as them, ¡°Though, I suppose he does have a hard choice ahead. They are all excellent.¡±

 Chapter 492: Lets Be Off

    Chapter 492: Let''s Be Off


    T and Rane hesitantly stood on a snowy mountainside, sharing a look that conveyed almost as much as the Archive-enabled conversation that passed between them. One thing about that portion of the situation struck T as funny: T stood atop the snow, and Rane stood <em>in</em> it, making them nearly the same height, but T didn¡¯t let that distract her.


    She didn¡¯t even let the fact that this boy shared a name with Master Simon draw her thoughts away.


    She and Rane agreed to take it slow and try diplomacy first before moving forward, toward the boy who was cradling Terry. Rane spoke for them this time, ¡°Hello, Simon, I¡¯m Rane. This is my wife, T. Is our friend there, Terry, free to leave if he wants?¡±


    It was an odd first question to ask a random child found in the wild, but T didn¡¯t begrudge Rane the wording. After all, it lined up with the trepidation they both felt.


    Even without any visible magical aura or anything odd about him, the boy was¡­ different somehow.


    This child was <em>alone </em>in the wilds, at least fifty miles from any settlement, outpost, caravan route, or research station that they knew about. And yet he showed no fear, nor relief at being found by adults. Instead, he was seemingly making a <em>barrel¡¯s</em> worth of ice cream¡­ for himself?


    He was too small to have carried the barrel by mundane means, and he was clearly pulling the candies from something like a bound dimensional space.


    Moreover, both T and Rane had detected the minute flickers of dimensional magic when Terry had tried to move away¡ªwith the weight of both T and Rane¡¯s magics behind him¡ªand he¡¯d failed to even budge.


    Simon tilted his head to the side, his close-shorn white hair swaying in the breeze. ¡°Oh, please no. I have use of him still¡­¡±T could see everyyer of the boy¡¯s body due to her threefold sight, and he looked utterly human except for one thing.


    <em>-There¡¯s no food in his digestive tract.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, his stomach, intestines, and colon arepletely empty and immactely clean, except for the chewed remnants of a few dozen pieces of candy.</em>


    <em>-Kidneys and dder too.-</em>


    <em>It¡¯s like someone constructed a human body ording to a detailed set of schematics without bothering to use it properly.</em>


    It was¡­ odd. Did this boy-formed creature just eat sweets?


    His heart beat in a perfect rhythm, without variation or stutter. The lungs filled with air and the other processes seemed to be working without a hitch.


    Rane nced T¡¯s way, sending a message through Enar.


    <em>|Do we still want to handle this diplomatically? I don¡¯t really like leaving Terry where he doesn¡¯t want to be.|</em>


    <em>Let me try to talk with him. t, can you find a way of asking Lisa if he knows anything that would help?</em> She¡¯d had the thought as the fox-kin was a ready source of knowledge and older than she really knew.


    <em>-Will do.-</em>


    T took a step forward. ¡°Simon, we are on a trip. We can spend some time with you, but only if we can then go on our way. All of us.¡±


    The little boy frowned. ¡°Wait¡­¡± He seemed genuinely confused. ¡°Are you¡­ afraid of me?¡± He swallowed visibly. ¡°Why? What did I do wrong? Are you usually afraid of children?¡±


    T hesitated. ¡°No, but children don¡¯t usually manage to restrain Refined level, boundpanions with such ease.¡±


    Simon looked genuinely perplexed. ¡°He¡¯s trying to escape?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    The little boy looked down at Terry, shoulders hunching. ¡°And he¡¯s really Refined?¡±


    It was T¡¯s turn to frown. ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Oh¡­ well¡­ can we just ignore that then, please?¡± He looked up and met her gaze, something passing between them in a blink.


    T blinked a few times. <em>What were we¡­ Right.</em> She smiled toward the boy. ¡°So, what can we do for you?¡±


    <em>-Oh, </em>RUST<em> no.-</em> t¡¯s voice cracked like a whip within her head, and T blinked again, immediately realizing that Simon had nudged her mind.


    t instantly confirmed that it was non-invasive¡ªnot really mind magic¡ªbut more of a strong suggestion. She would have remembered everything after they left. <em>If we would have been able to leave. </em>¡°Simon, that wasn¡¯t very nice.¡±


    It was his turn to look taken aback. ¡°Oh! Oh, I¡¯m so sorry. I didn¡¯t mean anything by it. I just¡­¡± He looked down and away again. ¡°I just really do simply want you to sample my ice cream and candies.¡± He grimaced. ¡°This has all gone wrong. It is so hard to find customers at this stage in your strange city cycle. I was lonely, and then this wonderful creature came by and¡­¡±


    T was about to respond when t interjected. <em>-Well, I¡¯ll be. Lisa says that Simon is a known entity. Though, truthfully, not much is known </em>about<em> him. He likes making treats, and he will asionally give advice or insight, if he likes you. Everyone who has received such and spoken about it conveyed that it was good or true. No one has ever been harmed by his creations to Lisa¡¯s knowledge.-</em>


    <em>Well¡­ alright then. Convey that to Rane and Terry, too?</em>


    <em>-Already done.-</em>


    Rane stepped forward with a smile. ¡°I¡¯d love to try some.¡±


    Simon gave him a t look, mild sadness poking through his clearly demure nature. ¡°Your trust would mean more if you hadn¡¯t just been reassured of my good will.¡±


    Rane raised an eyebrow. ¡°You mean if we only ¡®trusted¡¯ you because you had a hostage?¡±


    Simon seemed genuinely confused. ¡°But¡­ I don¡¯t have a hostage. He¡¯s testing my sweets¡­¡±


    Rane almost objected, but seemed to realize it wouldn¡¯t go over well. ¡°I really would love to try some.¡±


    Simon took a deep breath and let it out slowly before giving a brave smile. ¡°Alright, I will not turn away a sampler.¡±


    He pulled a bowl out of mid-air and somehow scooped out ice cream into the bowl.


    He didn¡¯t get up, the barrel didn¡¯t move or shrink¡ªso, the rim was well above his head¡ªyet he seemed to simply lower the bowl into the barrel and lift it back out filled with perfectly scooped balls of ice cream.


    Rane took the offered treat, finding that the spoon was already in the bowl, ready for use.


    He took a tentative bite. Then his eyes widened in obviously delighted surprise. ¡°This is <em>amazing.</em> It¡¯s like it was made specifically for enhanced senses.¡±


    Simon beamed. ¡°Well, yes? Does that mean that you like it?¡±


    ¡°Absolutely. How is it different?¡±


    He gave a little grimace. ¡°Mundane tastes are too easy to overwhelm and trick. Just add more sugar, or fat, or a pinch of salt, and that¡¯s it. This? This takes art, <em>my </em>art.¡±


    Rane gave an affirming grunt, not pressing further as he took another bite. He then turned to T and offered her the bowl.


    She was about to ept when Simon shook his head. ¡°No, no. Please don¡¯t do that¡­ Let me get you your own. Please?¡±


    T hesitated. He seemed genuine in his request. With a small smile, she sat and nodded. ¡°Alright.¡±


    Rane sat beside her, making a triangle with Simon.


    Soon enough, T had her own bowl, and it was every bit as amazing as Rane had made it seem, even though she couldn¡¯t have actually described the vor with the words she had avable to her.


    It was unlike anything she¡¯d ever tasted before in the best of senses.


    The three chatted about small things, with Simon speaking the least, instead enjoying his own bowl of ice cream.


    Terry was finally freed after what seemed like more than a hundred candies of various kinds.


    He tentatively trilled, seemingly giving the answer as to which he¡¯d liked the best.


    Simon replied in a soft voice. ¡°Thank you, Terry. Are you sure you don¡¯t wish to try more?¡± He gave a little smile as he continued. ¡°I know you have the room.¡±


    Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    Terry declined before flickering away.


    When the three had finished their ice cream, and T and Rane hadplimented Simon on its creation quite thoroughly, all three stood.


    The barrel was gone, though T couldn¡¯t have said when it disappeared nor where to.


    Simon gave a small bow. ¡°Thank you for taking the time to stop by. I would love to see you again, if you¡¯re ever in the area again.¡±


    T smiled. ¡°We¡¯ll see what we can do.¡±


    Rane nodded. ¡°I would love to try some more of your creations sometime. If you¡¯d like, I can find something to trade?¡±


    ¡°I hope that you can try them. I do not require anything in trade. Take care.¡±


    With that, the boy turned and began walking away, up the mountain.


    T and Rane shared a look before shrugging and turning to go on their way once more.


    She had just crouched down to spring away when Simon¡¯s voice reached her ear. ¡°Existence is a heavy weight to bear. Even if you <em>could</em> pass it on, I would think that you should hesitate to do so. Be mindful of how you are affecting the world around you¡ªand how you <em>will </em>in the future¡ªT, gated-human of the House of Blood.¡±


    T spun around¡ªunnecessarily as her threefold sight was also frantically sweeping the area. Neither her mundane eyes nor her magical perceptions revealed any sign of Simon, nor even any remnants of his ever having been there.


    Even the snow where they¡¯d sat only bore the imprint of herself and Rane.


    Rane, who had been right beside her, fell into a guarding position even as she jerked around. ¡°T? What¡¯s going on?¡±


    ¡°He¡­ he said something.¡± Her heart was pounding, even if she didn¡¯t think it was a fully warranted response.


    ¡°Oh? Really? I didn¡¯t hear it.¡± Rane¡¯s question wasn¡¯t one of doubt, and T understood it. He was informing her, so that she could better assess the situation as a whole.


    ¡°Yeah, I got the feeling that it was just for me, at least for the moment.¡± She grimaced, then shook her head. ¡°Let me process it, then tell youter?¡±


    He hesitated a moment, then gave a soft smile. ¡°If that¡¯s what you think is best, sure.¡±


    ¡°Thank you.¡±


    He nodded once. ¡°Unless there¡¯s anything else, then. Let¡¯s be off.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s.¡± She gave a genuine smile before crouching andunching into the air once more.


    It wasn¡¯t until the third step down on the air to gain height and speed that she allowed her mind to wander once again.


    What Simon had said was actually in a simr vein to what Mistress Holly had expressed in her evaluation, even if not precisely.


    <em>¡®Be mindful of how I affect the world.¡¯</em>


    <em>-And contemte how who you are interfaces with the world around you, yeah.-</em> t chuckled. <em>-Who knew that such an expensive evaluation could be rendered unnecessary by a random encounter in the wilds?-</em>


    T grimaced slightly. <em>You don¡¯t believe that any more than I do.</em>


    <em>-No, no I don¡¯t. They are different ways ating at the same idea, and it took this second one for you to actually consider the advice.-</em>


    Her grimace deepened. <em>Yeah, well¡­ I¡¯ve been busy.</em>


    <em>-For months, yup. Too busy to spare a thought for advancement.- </em>t sent the impression of a critical gaze. <em>-Who are you, again? I thought I was talking with T?-</em>


    That made T smile. <em>Fine, fine. I¡¯ve been¡­ avoiding the subject.</em>


    Why had she? Had she felt, even right after the wedding, how something wasn¡¯t quite right with her own soul, and how it rted to others?


    But she really didn¡¯t want to touch the core of <em>that </em>topic at the moment, so she distracted herself yet again.


    t sighed.


    Simon had reminded her of someone else who she¡¯d encountered, the baker in toiri. He hadn¡¯t been an arcane, at least he hadn¡¯t <em>felt</em> like an arcane in a very simr way that Simon hadn¡¯t felt human.


    Yamanther, baker, owner, and bouncer of the ¡®Many-fold Bakery.¡¯


    He <em>might</em> have been an arcane with an odd concept, but theparison still stood.


    Both had liked treats, too, but Yamanther had been decidedly¡­ firmer, more set in who he was, and less¡­ shy?


    It was odd. Simon had definitelye across as shy, while still pushing forward toward what he wanted.


    <em>Maybe it was more uncertainty than shyness?</em>


    <em>-The two are essentially the same thing. Shyness is just uncertainty in social situations, right?-</em>


    <em>Huh, yeah. I suppose that¡¯s true.</em> In the end, she had to admit that she didn¡¯t really know, and she likely wouldn¡¯t any time soon.


    She was a bit curious if she was the only person to have met them both, but it was probably irrelevant.


    <em>Though, if Lisa¡¯s people are scattered around here and there, isn¡¯t it possible that other species have done something simr? Fitting in where they could.</em>


    <em>-It¡¯s likely, yeah, even if ¡®fitting in¡¯ might not be the exact right word for it.-</em>


    <em>Yeah¡­ they also both seemed rather locationally fixed.</em>


    <em>-Oh? Oh, yeah, I didn¡¯t consider that. If he was so interested in tasters, why not move closer to human cities? Or any other cities, really.-</em>


    <em>But he didn¡¯t. So, something must keep him here in one way or another. And Yamanther seemed </em>very<em> attached to his shop.</em>


    <em>-...just because he didn¡¯t like you attacking his customers and driving away potentials¡­-</em>


    <em>Fine, fine, but even so. His bakery had been there for centuries, and he¡¯s never moved.</em>


    <em>-Fair enough.- </em>t let out a little giggle. <em>-What if they are some manifestation of sapient appetite? Simon¡¯s younger because the sapients in this region haven¡¯t been around as long, and he keeps being left behind because the cities keep moving.-</em>


    <em>That¡¯s a funny idea? I¡¯m not sure there¡¯s really any basis for it, though.</em>


    <em>-Fair, fair. But¡­ are we going to actually think about the issue?-</em>


    T mis-timed her next step on the air, only adding more power to her surface-area expanding scripts after she was already stepping down.


    As a consequence, she didn¡¯t get as much height or speed as she¡¯d expected. It took her a moment to correct, but t was still patiently waiting when she had regathered herself.


    <em>I¡­ fine.</em>


    <em>-Our children¡¯s souls will be tied to </em>Existence<em> as gated-human souls are to magic¡­-</em>


    <em>Well, it can¡¯t be quite like that, right? They would inherit </em>our<em> connection to Existence. We¡¯re still pulling Magic from the next world, not something else.</em>


    <em>-Well, yes and no. We are pulling Magic from the next world, iron</em>¡ªReality¡ª<em>from Zeme as we find it, and we not only keep those powers, those conflicting things, separate, we can </em>draw<em> on the Void to introduce separation where none existed before.-</em>


    T grunted.<em> True, it would be a bit silly to expect all three aspects to behave or manifest the same¡­ Even if we are using them in their hybrid forms. Reality-Magic for the iron from the dasgannach and Void-Magic from the sword, merged with Flow as well as incorporated into our elk-leathers.</em>


    <em>-But we¡¯re dodging the issue again. Our children.-</em>


    <em>If we have them.</em>


    <em>-</em>When<em> we have them. I still haven¡¯t lost hope, and I know you haven¡¯t either. When we have them, they will have simrly innate giftings, without the need for soulbonds. Simon is right, we do need to consider how that will affect the world around us.-</em>


    T sighed, reveling in the feel of the wind on her bare skin. She rarely wore her armor when not expectingbat. <em>When did that change?</em>


    t sighed within their head. <em>-Anything but the topic at hand, eh? Well, I¡¯ll answer that. It happened slowly as you came to trust your Defender Unit and Rane more and more, and really came about fully once you and Rane started courting. You liked being able to touch him with your skin, rather than your armor.-</em>


    That tracked with her memory, especially with t pulling out the requisite urrences and highlighting them for her review. <em>Right¡­</em>


    <em>-If you don¡¯t want to discuss biological children, let¡¯s talk about the Irondale gateless that you have helped to rebirth.-</em>


    <em>They are doing well.</em>


    <em>-Yes, and they are incredibly loyal to you. Have you considered the fact that you have effectively created a small army of physically enhanced people, ready to fight for you at a moment¡¯s notice?-</em>


    <em>They aren¡¯t soldiers.</em>


    <em>-Not yet. They are training.-</em>


    <em>They can¡¯t really leave Kit and maintain their power.</em>


    <em>-Fifty so-enhanced fighters can turn even arge-scale conflict in thirty seconds with ease, and they¡¯ll keep their power for at least that long. Given time it will be even longer.-</em>


    <em>So, what? What¡¯s your point?</em>


    <em>-No point, I just want you to consider the fact that you¡¯re walking around with a Refined level strike-squad in your pocket. They will only grow inpetence, endurance, and number as time goes on. In a decade? A century? You might have </em>thousands<em>.-</em>


    T felt something click in her mind, and a smile tugged at her lips. <em>Imagine what they could do to an arcane city.</em>


    <em>-There it is. </em>That<em> is why people are going to start getting nervous about you carrying them around with you.-</em>


    <em>As soon as anyone really understands.</em>


    <em>-Exactly. Right now, people don¡¯t really have a baseline of what they can do. They are a curiosity, a new path for the gateless. The moment they actuallye into y in a public way?-</em>


    <em>We¡¯re going to need to cash in a </em>lot<em> of those favors earned through Mistress Ingrit.</em>


    <em>-Yeah¡­-</em>


    She <em>was</em> the caretaker and¡ªeffectively¡ªresponsible for those treading the new gateless path, and just as Mistress Holly had said, she had never once considered what effect they and she would have on the world atrge.


    She had helped create them and then essentially ignored them.


    <em>That¡¯s worse than what my parents did to me.</em> The thought hit her like a run-away wagon, and she rejected it immediately. She may not be their parent, but she <em>was</em> responsible for them to some extent. She needed to actually own that.


    She grimaced at the need, even as she promised herself to do better, but behind even that, there was something more as well.


    If she could actually make this path work for them, what would it mean to the gateless humans in the moving cities? In the arcanends?


    She didn¡¯t have the throughput to support them all¡ªnot then and likely not ever¡ªbut she could support a <em>lot</em> of them.


    And as someone with ties to all parts of Existence, how hard could it really be to find another way of drawing forth Magic?


    She felt a shiver pass through her very being, seemingly originating in her soul.


    What <em>would</em> she do to the world if she continued down this path?


    It bore considering; so she did.

 Chapter 493: Proof of Concept

    T, Rane, and Terry proceeded up the mountain range, making a couple more stops in order to collect stone for Rane.


    They were quiet stops as T contemted the Irondalians as well as the other ways in which who she was and who she wished to be actually interacted with humanity¡ªgated and gateless¡ªas well as the rest of Zeme.


    She also had the recurring, passing thought that she <em>was</em> still officially an Eskau of the House of Blood. ording to the arcane society on this continent, she could show up in any city and demand certain concessions, receive certain courtesies, and have specific rights. This was true because the House hadn¡¯t revoked her status. They had <em>explicitly</em> not revoked it. Because of that, not only would she have those benefits, everything she did, once her status was revealed, woulde down upon that House.


    She felt like she could use that, even if she still didn¡¯t know how to feel about it over all.


    All this and more tumbled through her mind as Rane gave her the space to process, and Kit harvested the stone.


    One of the two sources was another spot marked out in the wedding present that they¡¯d received, but the other was a spur of the moment thing.


    Rane saw some stone sticking up from the ground and paused to examine it, shearing off small bits in order to test its workability. As it turned out, it had some interesting properties¡­ at least that¡¯s what Rane said.


    T didn¡¯t really have a deep enough knowledge of either stone or of sculpting to fully grasp what he was exining as he had excitedly asked for them to harvest some for him.


    In both cases, Kit harvested a good amount of the material, leaving Rane with a rather good stock of stone to work with over theing years.Well, months at least. He <em>was</em> a much faster sculptor than his mundane counterparts after all.


    When they were exactly as far north as old Marliweather, they turned and set off east, across the ins.


    When they were about halfway from the mountains to the city, they were greeted with a truly puzzling sight.


    There seemed to be a colony of arcanous rodents who had actually built a <em>wall</em> around the entrances to their collective burrows.


    The wall was constructed of odd, nearly cubic, brown material.


    The rodents themselves had profiles reminiscent of bears, if at maybe a third the size. Their faces were also far more rabbitlike, but their ears were rounded.


    T frowned. ¡°What¡­ what is that?¡±


    Rane was frowning as well. ¡°I think they¡¯re wombats?¡±


    ¡°What?¡± She looked at him in confusion. ¡°Some rat-bat hybrid? Is that even possible?¡± She considered for an instant. ¡°Well, they are both mammals, so¡ª¡±


    ¡°No, no.¡± Rane shook his head, ending that line of thought. ¡°They¡¯re just arge rodent-like mammal. I don¡¯t know much about them, but I do remember something about a fire-aligned colony of the creatures living in this area. They are less aggressive than many arcanous creatures, but still not exactly peaceful.¡± He frowned. ¡°I think I have a cousin who got one as a familiar a century or so back? I recall ying with him a couple of times as a child. The fur is stiffer and stronger than you¡¯d expect. Though he was gentle enough once soulbound.¡±


    ¡°Huh.¡±


    Terry had stopped with them, and he was crouched low.


    Rane gave a little smile. ¡°Bad idea, Terry. They probably couldn¡¯t hurt you, but¡ª¡± Terry flickered forward, and Rane sighed. ¡°Well, he¡¯ll learn.¡±


    As Terry arrived just outside the wall, the wombats collectively let out a sound akin to a cat being run over by a wagon¡ªthe sound the cat would make in furious exmation, not the sound its body would make as it was being crushed.


    At the same time, licks of magic shot out to the wall, and it burst alight, creating a literal ring of fire around their homes, even as they retreated toward their burrows.


    The ground also caught fire, making a solid circle of me, and if the smoke was any indication, the burrows had fires raging within them as well.


    When the smell reached T, she grimaced. ¡°Oh, that¡¯s foul.¡±


    Rane shrugged. ¡°Well, I¡¯m pretty sure that¡¯s their poop that¡¯s burning.¡±


    T gave him a look. ¡°They form their poop into bricks? Seriously?¡±


    He shook his head. ¡°As strange as it sounds, I think that even the mundane ones poop cubes.¡±


    She raised an eyebrow. ¡°That¡­ What? Why?¡±


    He shrugged again. ¡°How should I know?¡±


    Terry looked genuinely at a loss.


    There wasn¡¯t anywhere for him to flicker to that wasn¡¯t engulfed in me.


    He could probably survive the fire for a time, but it <em>would</em> be ufortable at the very least. As the fire was magical, it would likely singe or actually burn him, too.


    The terror bird was clearly irritated. If T had to guess, he was torn between wanting to just leave them be and not wanting to be warded off by ming poop.


    T snorted augh, then shook her head. ¡°I suppose I can see how the colony has survived this long. They make it not worth the effort of eating them.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, and no one wants poop-smoked meat¡­¡±


    ¡°Isn¡¯t that the truth.¡± She grimaced again. ¡°Speaking of which.¡±


    Rane nodded. ¡°Yeah, we should be moving on.¡±


    * * *


    T, Rane, and Terry stopped in the ins on the edge of the disrupted region of old Marliweather.


    There was essentially no evidence of the city¡¯s previous existence, despite the area having only been abandoned for less than a hundred years.


    But thatck of evidence was only for mundane senses. To T¡¯s threefold sight, the evidence was unmistakable.


    Great gashes in Reality were manifest in her sight, and the stone- and starward creatures were swarming around the splits that extended in those directions.


    Experience told her that she shouldn¡¯t go any closer as her magical weight could easily make things worse, and that was <em>not</em> the point.


    Rane looked back and forth between her and what little he could perceive in the distance. ¡°Well, this has nothing to do with me. I¡¯m going to go y with my stones.¡±


    He had an excited smile as he opened the portal into their sanctum. T huffed augh. ¡°You did that on purpose.¡±


    ¡°I have no idea what you¡¯re talking about.¡± He gave a wink. ¡°You know where I¡¯ll be, if you need me.¡±


    T found herself smiling even as she shook her head. ¡°You have fun, now.¡±


    ¡°Oh, I will.¡± The portal closed behind him, but T could see him¡ªthrough her perception of everything within Kit¡ªunconsciously rubbing his hands in anticipation as he regarded various potential pieces of stone.


    She took a bit to watch him as he ran his fingers over the surface of various sections, clearly thinking about what he might make with each, and what he was in the mood to make that day.


    It brought a smile to her lips, especially when she remembered those fingers and¡ª


    <em>-So! What are we doing, now?-</em>


    <em>Rude, but fine.</em> She sighed, moving her focus back to the damaged reality. <em>I think we should try to augment the sections back together, starting at a little tear.</em>


    She frowned. This might take a while, which meant that she wouldn¡¯t be moving much¡­ Her thoughts drifted back to the Irondalians that she¡¯d helped give magic to¡­


    <em>-Oh! That¡¯s a great idea. I¡¯ll ask Lyn.- </em>A momentter, t sent confirmation. <em>-Lyn thinks it''s a great idea, too.-</em>


    <em>Great.</em> She could do this. She could actually treat them as more than the results of a ¡®could I?¡¯ experiment.


    T opened arge portal into Irondale, connecting¡ªas usual¡ªto the main gates at the town¡¯s center.


    Soon enough, those gates swung open as ten men and five women walked out, Lyn at their lead.


    The others were members of the¡­ Irondale Defenders. T would <em>not</em> address them by their own, chosen name for the group.


    <em>-I don¡¯t know, the Tsen Guard has a nice ring to it.-</em>


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    T groused but didn¡¯t reply. She was decided on taking a bit more responsibility, but that did <em>not</em> mean she would ept everything.


    <em>-At least not yet.-</em>


    <em>Hush, you.</em>


    Lyn was looking around with a big smile on her face. ¡°This is <em>wonderful!</em> The mountains are fairly close, and there are even some arcanous creatures in the near distance. Our reborn have been wanting to test their mettle against actual foes.¡±


    T raised an eyebrow. ¡°Is that wise?¡±


    Ron stepped up beside Lyn and bowed to T. ¡°Mother T.¡±


    T felt her chest clinch up at the title. <em>I¡¯ll never be a real mother.</em>


    But she suppressed the surging emotions. Her children, <em>when</em> she had them, would never address her in this manner regardless. Then, she hesitated. She was using this as an excuse to distance herself.


    All this shed through her mind in an instant, and so when she spoke, interrupting Ron, it came hard after his use of ¡®Mother T.¡¯ ¡°Alright, Ron. We need to discuss something.¡±


    His mouth was open to continue speaking, but he stopped at her utterance. The others who hade out with him and Lyn shifted, exchanging nces. Regardless of his surprise, he mastered himself and nodded once. ¡°I am listening.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not your mother. I know it¡¯s meant to be a title of honor, but right now, I cannot ept it for reasons I won¡¯t go into. You are right that I have <em>some</em> role with regard to you all. You would not have magic without me, after all.¡±


    He raised an eyebrow. ¡°It¡¯s far more than that¡­ Mistress T. We <em>live</em> in <em>your soulbound dimension</em>. The magic we take in came from you. Our very natural magics are modeled after, and forged by, you. You may not have given birth to us, but you do at least as much as an adoptive parent¡ªmore than many¡ªeven without being very involved after granting us power.¡±


    T frowned but gave a slow nod as she considered what he said. ¡°True as that may be, I want to be a bit more involved with you all going forward.¡±


    That caused a stir, but she held up a hand to forestall them.


    ¡°A <em>bit</em>, and the title you¡¯ve <em>insisted</em> on using for me is actively making that¡­ difficult.¡±


    Ron gave a bow, instantly seizing on what she had offered. ¡°Then, Matron?¡±


    T gave a slow shake of her head. ¡°For now, can we just go with Mistress?¡±


    He frowned, seemingly gearing up to argue, but then he visibly deted, seeming to reset his priorities and mindset on the fly. ¡°If that is your preference. The point was always to show our appreciation and respect for you and all that you have done for us, our friends, and our family. You have my sincerest apology if it failed in that regard.¡±


    ¡°epted.¡± She nodded once for emphasis.


    There was a moment of silence, but before it could be awkward, Ron cleared his throat. ¡°With that cleared up, I wish to inform you that Mistress Lyn has agreed to watch over us as we engage one or two beasts. With her advanced nature, and our borrowed power, we should be more than safe enough.¡±


    ¡°Alright, but do not engage the fire-aspected colony to the west. They would be beyond you at this time.¡±


    He tilted his head to the side, then shrugged and gave a nod. ¡°As you wish.¡±


    Terry shook himself from where he¡¯d been curled up, sleeping on T¡¯s shoulder since the wombats. He trilled an assertion, and T nced his way. ¡°Really?¡±


    He bobbed his head in assent.


    ¡°Alright.¡± She turned back to Ron. ¡°Terry has stated that he will watch over you and yours as you venture forth.¡±


    Ron bowed deeply. ¡°Thank you, master Terry, for your assistance.¡± He then turned to Lyn. ¡°Mistress Lyn, is that eptable?¡±


    Lyn smiled. ¡°Absolutely. You can move faster without me slowing you down, too.¡±


    ¡°Then, we shall be off.¡±


    Without another exchange needed, Ron and those with him moved off to the south, moving much faster than any mundane could, Terry keeping pace beside them.


    Lyn shook her head. ¡°They are an interesting group, your Tsen. Those fifteen in particr are making great strides.¡±


    T¡¯s eye twitched. ¡°The Irondale Defenders is a good group of folks, that''s true.¡±


    Lyn raised an eyebrow. ¡°I agree that¡¯s a more urate name, but it¡¯s not the one they chose. Do you feel that strongly about it?¡±


    ¡°I would prefer it not be a derivation on my name.¡±


    She gave T a searching look. ¡°Alright. I apologize. I didn¡¯t realize you felt that strongly about it.¡± She then looked after the departing group. ¡°Though, after your words with Ron, I suppose I should have assumed.


    T grimaced. ¡°Yeah. Thank you for the apology.¡±


    Lyn huffed augh then waved her off. ¡°Of course. I¡¯ll see to it that they pick a new name. I don¡¯t want to simply enforce one upon them. Do you want to talk about what¡¯s bothering you?¡±


    ¡°No, I think I¡¯m good.¡± T swallowed.


    Lyn gave her a long look. ¡°Alright. You know, I¡¯m here when you¡¯re ready to talk.¡±


    T almost denied that there was anything to talk about, but then she just gave a sad smile. ¡°Thank you, Lyn. I¡¯ll¡­ I¡¯ll remember that.¡±


    ¡°See that you do.¡±


    Without another word, Lyn turned and moved back into Irondale. There was activity on the other side of the gate as Irondalians were seemingly negotiating with Tsen Guards for escorts to explore the ins in which Irondale was anchored.


    T shook her head, moving some hundred yards away from what was about to be an increasingly active gate and sitting cross-legged in the tall, snow-packed grass.


    Once she had cleared her mind, she opened a portal into her sanctum and withdrew one of the flying devices.


    She wanted to get a closer look at what she was going to be working with, and this was a convenient way to do so without having to rely on others, or overextend her own aura.


    Soon, the uneven cylinder had unfolded its wings, revealing iron-covered contours rather reminiscent of a gyrfalcon, if darker in color andcking the taloned feet.


    With an effort of will, T connected with the device, and it took to the air, a bloodstar cloud in tow.


    Given how much more information her threefold sight gave her than her mundane senses, using the flier was almost like flying herself.


    She had to take the feeling of wind from her sitting form, however, as touch wasn¡¯t something that the device provided back to her¡­ she <em>could </em>aspect mirror that sense onto some of the orbs along with her perception, but that seemed like a recipe for disaster in that moment. So, she contented herself with a fantastic view.


    It was time to see what she could do about these rents.


    She could see all around the device in fantastic detail, even seeing the air currents via the tiny particles carried along within them. That let her ride the various breezes with ease.


    She could move <em>much</em> faster as the flier than with her own body as it didn¡¯t have her magical weight. That, coupled with the iron shielding, meant that there was essentially no way that it could create any magical resonance.


    Soon enough, she brought the flier to a halt, hovering barely a dozen feet off the ground as she looked down on a smaller end of the inter-branching gashes in Reality.


    She watched the creatures swimming star- and stoneward, seeming to jump across the gaps without any transit time, the reality threads between the two points strengthening with each pass.


    <em>Here goes nothing.</em>


    T reached out, focusing on two reality nodes and the thread connecting them.


    She¡¯d done things like this before¡ªrust, she had nearly increased the coherence of her artificial lung to the point that it was a singr node¡ªbut she¡¯d never acted across damage before.


    Still, her magics took effect. Her long-honed gravity magics working to enhance an essentially identical form of attraction and connection.


    <em>Yup, not misusing the magics at all. Not one bit.</em>


    The working took easily enough, and she began dumping power into amplifying the connection.


    As the gash had already been slowly closing, she¡¯d picked a set of nodes a good distance from the most extreme ¡®point¡¯ of this rent.


    It was odd to see the creatures naturally causing healing near to where she was working, and even as she poured power into the connection, the ¡®point¡¯ drew closer.


    There was no danger of it reaching her¡ªthe natural repairs didn¡¯t move that quickly¡ªbut there was something odd about being in the path of something that seemed so inevitable.


    t was radiating a pleased feeling for some reason, but T decided that it wasn¡¯t worth the distraction to figure it out at the moment.


    Finally, after the sun had set, night had passed, and the sun had risen once again, T felt her magics reach a tipping point.


    The two reality nodes that she had been affecting seemed to almost slip toward one another before <em>clicking</em> into ce, drawing the surrounding parts of existence with them.


    There was a small cascade as the gash that had been past the attempted repair was now cut off from the other damage. With an oddly silent series of clicks that T could feel echoing through the region¡¯s zeme, the little segregated tear pulled entirely back together, Reality reasserting itself in that four inch strip of damage.


    A momentter, there was no evidence that the damage had ever been there.


    T just sat there with a big grin on her face for a long moment. She <em>almost</em> went to get Rane to celebrate, but she held off. There was still something that she needed to check.


    <em>Alright, this will be the moment of truth. Have you gotten a good look and record of what we have, here?</em>


    <em>-Absolutely. I¡¯m ready when you are.-</em>


    T nodded once in acknowledgement, even while keeping her eyes closed. <em>Let¡¯s do this.</em>


    With a minor effort of will, she changed her mindset, broke her previous understanding of the two nodes, and effectively released her workings.


    The two reality nodes that she¡¯d affected seemed to rebound slightly, moving a bit apart once more, revealing damage between them that remained unhealed, but the section that had been pulled together by their previous proximity stayed repaired.


    T grinned broadly.


    <em>-Well done, T. That was an excellent first attempt.-</em>


    <em>Thank you, t. Yeah. Now we just need to observe the location, and make sure that the parts that we affected can still heal naturally.</em>


    <em>-I¡¯ll keep an eye on it. I think Rane is starting to get antsy.-</em>


    <em>Oh? </em>She turned her focus onto her husband.


    -<em>Yup. You two still haven¡¯t investigated the hold that you got from Master Grediv. All you did was devour it and stick it</em>¡ª<em>whole cloth</em>¡ª<em>onto the side of your sanctum forter use. Then, you went back to ying with the fliers, because you knew it would require nning to properly parse it out for melding with Irondale.-</em>


    <em>¡­Right.</em> She sighed and stood, purposely not letting her mind drift to the painful topic that she was out here to escape. <em>Let¡¯s go look at cool things.</em>


    <em>-Ahh, yes, the remnants of a conquered House. What joys it will bring.-</em>


    T grinned then. <em>I know, right? Besides, it¡¯s not just </em>one.<em> It¡¯s several.</em>


    t chuckled at that.


    With an effort of will that was second nature by now, T appeared within Kit beside Rane.


    He spun and caught her up in his arms, kissing her deeply. ¡°There you are.¡±


    ¡°Here I am.¡± She said softly as she pulled back after the kiss wasplete.


    ¡°How goes your work on the outside?¡±


    ¡°I fixed a little bit of one small rent.¡±


    ¡°Hey! That¡¯s wonderful, T.¡± His smile was as genuine as it was pervasive. ¡°I knew you could do it. That¡¯s a solid proof of concept, right?¡±


    His smile was infectious, and she returned it without thought. ¡°Thank you, and yes, sort of. However, we still need to make sure there aren¡¯t unforeseen side-effects. t is observing.¡±


    ¡°Oh, so you have some time, then?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I thought we could do something fun.¡±


    His eyes flicked toward their bedroom.


    ¡°Not that. I thought we could finally investigate the hold that we got from Master Grediv.¡±


    Rane blinked, clearly recentering his mind. ¡°Oh! That would be wonderful. Yeah, let¡¯s do that.¡±


    She hesitated, her own eyes flicking to the side. ¡°Yeah, good. Let¡¯s do¡­ that, after.¡±


    With a flicker of will, they arrived where she intended, and she wrapped her arms around him once more.

 Chapter 494: Hold!

    T shivered involuntarily, grateful that Rane was by her side as she stood in the entrance of what had once been an arcane hold.


    She was simrly grateful that t had kept her threefold perspective out of this space.


    It was <em>too</em> familiar, even in its emptiness.


    Even the fact that it had been conquered andid at her feet evoked more echoes of her time with the House of Blood than she preferred.


    The architectural style wasn¡¯t exactly the same as she¡¯d seen in toiri and Croi, but it was much more simr than she¡¯d expected, given the separation in distance and time from those holds to this. Even the fact that it was obviously built by a different dominant race didn¡¯t remove all obvious simrities.


    <em>I suppose when such long-lived</em>¡ª<em>and even immortal</em>¡ª<em>people are involved, styles and tastes don¡¯t change as readily.</em>


    Then, as she considered it, she realized that she should actually be surprised by just how varied gated-human architecture was between cities in the cycle.


    She posed the thought to Rane, and he nodded. ¡°Well, the city leaders, for the most part, don¡¯t make aesthetic decisions for the average citizen. I think that in the tree cities that¡¯s not the case as they don¡¯t really have as much to work with in terms of change from starting condition, but for most, so long as what you build is safe, it¡¯s fine.¡± A smile pulled at his lips. ¡°And with magic to build and reinforce¡ªthen verify and easily repair¡ªall sorts of things are <em>possible.</em> Honestly, we¡¯re still rather tame in what we buildpared to what we <em>could</em> build.¡±


    Grateful for the distraction, T leaned into the tangent. ¡°Oh?¡±¡°Yeah, Master Grediv said that they considered building towers instead of cities. There was talk about actually switching out the dimensionality over time rather than moving the towers to deal with the difficulties with abrading Reality, but the cost was deemed untenable for the time being.¡± He gave a thoughtful look. ¡°Though, I do think that research into the needed magics is ongoing.¡±


    T frowned, considering. ¡°How would that even work? Move everyone out of an area, switch out the dimensionality, then bring them back in?¡±


    ¡°That, or shift Reality stone- or starward a fraction, essentially osciting where the issue was uring. Once it was shifted, the most damaged portion could be removed and brought elsewhere to heal¡­ at least in theory.¡±


    That sounded crazy¡­ but actually might work?


    In theory.


    -<em>Well, we could go as fast as Master Xeel</em>¡ª<em>or even faster</em>¡ª<em>in theory, but I don¡¯t see it happening any time soon.-</em>


    <em>Fair.</em>


    Theory was a wonderful thing.


    All sorts of things worked in theory.


    Then, existence got in the way in one way or another.


    T took a deep breath and let it out slowly. The diversion had done its job, and she now felt far more level.


    With the new mental state, she looked around more carefully, taking in the breadth of what she saw.


    There were permanent magical constructs everywhere, all integrated into one another.


    In this front entry alone there were more than two dozen garden boxes filled to bursting with magics that kept out unwanted nts, nurtured those that were desired, and helped what did grow remain visually more appealing.


    As to the method of determining what was desired? It was simple: Those that had been purposely nted there.


    It was so obviously arcane magic that T almostughed.


    ¡°Even their flower boxes are alien to us.¡±


    Rane, who had been running his fingers over the front edge of one such box grunted. ¡°Yeah. This magic is something else. I¡¯m not as familiar with arcane workings as you are, but I still get the feeling of¡­ maintained purpose?¡±


    She smiled, despite being reminded of her capture. ¡°That¡¯s essentially what I see too. It takes that which was purposely nted and maintains and enhances it toward the purpose it was nted there for. All else is dissuaded, once again, to maintain that which was purposely nted.¡±


    Rane stood, grinning like a proud student.


    T moved over and gave him a quick kiss. ¡°That was well perceived.¡±


    ¡°Thanks.¡±


    The entryway held fountains bubbling with crystal clear water alongside the flower boxes, still in full bloom. The walls were intricately carved with motifs of nature. ¡°I think this belonged to an elven House, or one of the forest beast-kin.¡±


    ¡°That makes sense. It does look how I imagined such from the stories.¡±


    They began their exploration, Rane¡¯s presence a stalwart support at T¡¯s side.


    This part of the hold was beautifully appointed with mature trees woven in among luxurious amodations, store rooms, work rooms, training yards, and other necessities for everyday life.


    Rane had a thoughtful look. ¡°I feel like this could be integrated into the Irondale dimensionality, the core of a new town?¡±


    T hmmed. ¡°I suppose so. One less exposed to the outside world, perhaps?¡±


    ¡°Exactly, yeah. It could be a retreat of sorts, or a more peaceful ce for people toe and train or practice various crafts?¡± Rane suggested hopefully.


    She smiled in return. ¡°What would we call it? Ironwood?¡±


    He chuckled at that, then seemed to turn contemtive. ¡°You know¡­?¡±


    ¡°Oh, rust¡­ I just cemented that as the name, didn¡¯t I¡­¡± It wasn¡¯t a question.


    t answered it regardless. <em>-Oh, yeah. I¡¯ve already let Lyn know our thoughts and given her that as the name.-</em>


    <em>¡­you vex me sometimes.</em>


    <em>-Love you too, T.-</em>


    <em>Well, self-love</em> is<em> important.</em>


    Rane chuckled. ¡°Enar and t are conspiring again. Seems like Ironwood is going to be a thing.¡±


    ¡°So it would seem, yeah.¡± T let out a dramatic sigh, but if she were being honest, she was actually a little excited by the idea of expanding the ¡®iron¡¯ region.


    <em>-Oh¡­ oh, that¡¯s good too. Taking it!-</em>


    <em>¡­Fine.</em> She felt herself smile a bit. <em>It¡¯s definitely better than the ¡®Sappherrous¡¯ region.</em>


    t chuckled. <em>-Yeah, that would be a bit much at the moment. Especially with the talk you just had with Ron. We should at least wait until we¡¯re ancient and powerful, and let them rename it in our honor.-</em>


    <em>¡­That¡¯s a real possibility, isn¡¯t it.</em>


    <em>-Yes, T. You, me, Terry to a lesser extent, and soon Enar and Rane are essentially all powerful within this space.-</em>


    <em>No, there¡¯s a lot we can¡¯t do.</em>


    <em>-But from the average person''s perspective? Essentially all powerful.-</em>


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    She sighed. t did have a point¡­ <em>Fine, but I¡¯ll probably object even then¡­ whenever then is.</em>


    <em>-We¡¯ll see.-</em>


    Rane and T continued their exploration, chatting about what they found.


    There weren¡¯t really any small items remaining in any of the rooms. Anything of use or value that wasn¡¯t integrated with the hold directly had long since been taken for study, use, or sale to fund further research.


    Those things that <em>were</em> integrated into the hold were now connected to Kit, not some other central powersource¡ªbe it vestige or Master Grediv¡ªand that meant that they were fully under T and Kit¡¯s control¡­


    T stopped in the middle of a corridor that arched between stunningly ancient trees, a realization striking her. ¡°Rane.¡±


    Rane stopped and turned to regard her. ¡°Yeah?¡±


    ¡°All these magics are ours.¡±


    ¡°Yeah?¡± He frowned for a moment. Then, he understood, his eyes widening just ahead of his smile. ¡°Oh. Oh!¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡± T grinned. ¡°Kit can devour them directly and integrate them as we see fit.¡±


    <em>-I¡¯m bringing Lyn in on this.-</em>


    ¡°Shall we bring Lyn in?¡±


    -<em>I already¡­ fine¡­ We can ask our husband for his opinion, too¡­ That¡¯s¡­ reasonable.-</em>


    Rane considered for a moment, then nodded. ¡°That sounds like a wise idea.¡±


    A momentter¡ªafter t had verified Lyn¡¯s avability¡ªT willed for the woman to be with them, and she was, easily shifting across the barriers between Irondale¡¯s dimensionality and the sanctum¡¯s with only the briefest surfacing in Zeme. Lyn had likely not even noticed the flicker between the two movements. It was simply an extension of something T had been doing for a while, her ability to draw someone in or push them out directly from the superficial of Zeme itself into and out of her sanctum or Irondale.


    -<em>Oh, T¡­ once you are morefortable with holds again, I have the </em>perfect<em> name for the Irondale dimensional space.-</em>


    And just like that, T guessed it from the provided context. <em>Rust you, t. Ironhold </em>is<em> a really good, insanely fitting name¡­ I¡¯ll see if I can stomach it, okay? Please keep it to yourself until then?</em>


    <em>-...Fine.-</em>


    Lyn arrived and instantly gasped, eyes widening in obvious awe. ¡°T, this¡­ this is <em>stunning.</em>¡± She spun in a circle, smiling toward Rane as well. ¡°Are you sure you two want to give this up? I¡¯d be tempted to keep it all to myself. Elves lived here?¡±


    T chuckled, and Rane grinned before teasing, ¡°That¡¯s our best guess, yes. As to the rest? You know, since you¡¯re the administrator of Irondale, you could make Ironwood your own private retreat. I doubt we¡¯d fight you on the idea.¡±


    Lyn got a guilty look. ¡°Oh¡­ don¡¯t tempt me like that, Rane. This is going to be a <em>very</em> popr ce for the less outwardly focused citizenry. We¡¯ll probably want to move the Irondale Defenders training area here as well.¡± Her features shifted to an excited grin. ¡°Ron is going to <em>love</em> training in these halls. It shouldn¡¯t be too hard to move the step-down areas over, right?¡±


    T shook her head. ¡°Not at all. It¡¯s pretty easy to ¡®set¡¯ areas of lower magical density.¡±


    ¡°Good, good. I¡¯m sure we¡¯ll want the same sort of suite of those, including ¡®non-magic¡¯ training rooms of various kinds. Oh, T!¡± Lyn¡¯s eyes were gleaming as she sped her hands. ¡°This is <em>so</em> exciting.¡±


    T found herself grinning, imagining how much fun it would be, fighting all of the Irondale Defenders at once within some of the training halls they¡¯d passed through. <em>That won¡¯tst long, though. They </em>should<em> have about my level of basic enhancements even if they currentlyck the specific augmentations beyond that, and some of them are already reasonably skilled with weaponry.</em>


    She was honestly starting to get a bit excited to be more hands-on with them, going forward. They were also getting to the point that T was considering the possibility of carving the remainder of her augments into their natural magics¡­ she wouldn¡¯t give them anything gravity rted, however, and her other non physical-rted magics came from her soulbonds. So, those weren¡¯t possible, even if they had been a good idea, which they weren¡¯t.


    Rane cleared his throat, pulling her mind back to the present. ¡°Well, this is just the first of the holds¡­ We haven¡¯t seen any of the others that were added onto this one previously.¡±


    T turned on him, eyes narrowing. ¡°What do you know?¡±


    He gave her a mischievous smile in return. ¡°Much, my darling wife, and one of the things I know well is how much you enjoy pleasant surprises.¡±


    Lyn rolled her eyes even as she smiled. ¡°You two are cute.¡±


    She said it in a way that made it clear that while it <em>was</em> true, she was also going to give them grief over it.


    Rane grinned back. ¡°You know it.¡±


    T chuckled. ¡°We¡¯re us. If you find that cute, that¡¯s on you.¡±


    The three of them walked back to the entrance to this hold, T and Rane showing Lyn what they¡¯d found along the way.


    It was fun for the two of them to share with their friend, and it added a new facet to the exploration.


    Once the three of them had gone through the elven portion of the nowbined hold. Lyn¡¯s eyes were practically glowing with glee and unrealized ns for all that they had seen.


    She had requested arge te¡ªwhich Kit and t worked with in order to make it function like an Archive tablet¡ªand she hadid out so, <em>so</em> many ns.


    T and Rane were getting more excited by proxy at all that could be done with their wedding present from Master Grediv.


    They only <em>slightly</em> wished they¡¯d actually investigated it earlier. It wasn¡¯t like they¡¯d wasted the time after all, and this was a good distraction at this time. So, they were both content with their decision.


    Finally, T, Rane, and Lyn were at the edge of the forest which had filled the entirety of that hold when it was captured.


    Now, however, they were faced with an interesting juxtaposition.


    Rane huffed augh. ¡°Master Grediv <em>had</em> to have done this on purpose.¡±


    T shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s possible.¡±


    Lyn shook her head. ¡°The sky just ends and now there¡¯s a cave ceiling¡­¡±


    T grunted. ¡°Well, there never was a sky, it was¡ª¡±


    Lyn held up a hand to forestall T. ¡°No, don¡¯t remind me of that. I don¡¯t <em>want</em> to think about the fact that most of my days are now within an isted pocket of existence, with false skies and borders that I could reach with little effort.¡±


    T hesitated for a moment before shrugging. ¡°Well, alright, then.¡±


    Before them stretched out towering, underground halls¡ªat least that¡¯s what they¡¯d been created to mimic.


    There was a funny dichotomy even in that, though.


    What built-in furniture they could see was clearly sized for dwarves or those of simr stature¡ªwide, short, and stocky. T knew from her own experience in arcane holds that there would have been furnishings ready to hand for those of different builds, but that had likely been sold off long ago.


    Regardless,paring the rtively diminutive built-in furnishings with the soaring ceilings and monumental doorways was¡­ odd.


    As they walked forward, Lyn was practically spinning in a circle, trying to take it all in. ¡°This is certainly a look. I <em>think</em> I like it? If I was going to spend most of my life underground, this would be the way to do it.¡±


    Rane nodded slowly. ¡°It was certainly a purposeful choice. It tracks with what Master Grediv and others have told me about the dwarves, assuming those are the arcanes who built these halls. They are generally better and more efficient dimensional engineers than many other arcane races¡ªthough they don¡¯te anywhere near the proficiency of fox-folk¡ªand so they often disy their prowess and wealth with such excesses: towering spaces filled with nothing but an overabundance of space.¡±


    Where the elven section was all sweeping lines, tying into nature and evoking growth and flowing like water, dwarven styles were stark angles, clear divides, and precise¡ªobviously artificial¡ªconstructions.


    Even so, neither had been ¡®perfectly¡¯ in line with those aesthetics. The elves still had cleanly¡ªoften squarely¡ªbuilt structures, and the dwarves seemed to delight in incorporating the rough, jagged nature of stone, unmined ore, and mountains¡¯ bones into their otherwise stark decorations and constructs at carefully chosen intervals.


    Aside from the material choice and overall aesthetic, the greatest difference was the amount of light.


    The dwarves had much less, though it was far more pervasive, somehow seeming toe from everywhere and nowhere at the same time. There were very, <em>very</em> few shadows, and those that were there, seemed to have been specifically allowed for appearances¡¯ sake.


    In the elven area, the light had primarilye from the false sun and nowhere else. Though, there had been some magical lights spread throughout for use after dark.


    T wondered aloud if the dwarven ambient light was adjustable, and t informed her that it automatically cycled, growing brighter during the ¡®day¡¯ and dimmer during the ¡®night.¡¯ It could also be manually altered at need either throughout the whole section or in individual locations.


    As to what they found within the previously dwarven section? There were workshops of all kinds, living quarters, dining halls, and kitchens, training rings, and everything else one would expect a hold to require. All told, it contained much the same types of spaces, features, and amenities that the previously elven one had. Though, there was no ¡®outside¡¯ save for a fewrger caverns that were clearly meant for growing crops.


    T waited for Lyn to finish hertest note before asking, ¡°Shall we move to the next?¡±


    Lyn looked up, eyes widening. ¡°How many more are there?¡±


    Rane smiled as he answered. ¡°Seven total, though each is smaller than thest.¡±


    Lynughed. ¡°With all this living space, if we do things right, we may have just solved one of our greatest issues, bottlenecking our growth.¡±


    T smiled in turn. ¡°Well, I¡¯m very d to hear that¡­ but <em>that¡¯s</em> the bottleneck, really?¡±


    ¡°Oh, absolutely. We have more applications than I think you can understand, even throwing out <em>all</em> the gated applicants. I agree with the choice to not mass-produce facilities, and grow at a more controlled pace, but this will allow us to invite in arger number of the best applicants once we return. That coupled with all that we¡¯re building ourselves? There¡¯s going to be a bit of a poption boom when we return, if not before.¡±


    ¡°Oh¡­ Well, alright then.¡± T didn¡¯t really know how to reply, and she really hoped that this wasn¡¯t going toe back to bite her somehow.

 Chapter 495: Give or Take

    T foiled a series of strikes from various training weapons as four Talons tried to work together to earn even a single hit on her.


    The Talons weren¡¯t those on Terry¡¯s feet; she and Terry weren¡¯t sparring at the moment. Instead, the Irondale Defenders had proposed the name ¡®Talons¡¯ after Terry¡¯s first venture with them¡ªin honor of and inspired by him¡ªand it had immediately caught on.


    At that moment, T was sparring against four Talons, flowing between their strikes yet never needing to actually deflect the blows this session.


    These four were far better than they had been in their first sh, nearly a week earlier.


    Now, they almost never hit each other or the others¡¯ weapons when she wasn¡¯t where they expected. They worked together to pincer her with each strike rather than just with how they positioned their bodies.


    Her rxed movements belied exactly how dangerous the situation could have been.


    The movements of each of the Talons were so enhanced that they <em>almost</em> cracked the air with every swing of their various weapons. It was only T¡¯s increasing mastery of the Way of Flowing Blood that allowed her to stay out of the way, and they were picking up on even that faster than any mundane could have.


    <em>-Mental enhancements for the win!-</em>


    <em>Indeed. Without those, they¡¯d have trouble controlling their bodies, though.</em><em>-True enough.-</em>


    Ironhold¡ªthe name having been adopted with roaring enthusiasm on all counts¡ªwas still anchored outside of old Marliweather, and truth be told, T was bing concerned.


    The reality nodes that she¡¯d affected had still not fully pulled back together, and she was starting to think that she¡¯d managed to do substantial damage to them¡­ somehow.


    She still didn¡¯t quite understand all that she was affecting with her workings on reality nodes and threads, and when working with forces beyond her currentprehension, she was bound to fumble <em>something.</em>


    Every day, Terry had taken out groups of the Talons to hunt arcanous creatures in the region, and every day, T had met with all the Talons to give them insight into the magics that they all shared as well as sparring with them to highlight their weaknesses.


    It was honestly something that she should have done <em>long</em> ago, but she¡¯d been¡­ unwilling to take on even that much responsibility.


    She now realized that such was really the equivalent of hiding under the covers and hoping a monster wouldn¡¯t hurt her.


    It was there, and it needed to be dealt with.


    She had founded Irondale, invited people in, and given many of them magic. She was involved at a foundational level, and her live-and-let-live attitude had gone on long enough.


    <em>-And now they¡¯ve stopped calling you the ¡®M¡¯ word.-</em>


    T felt a twinge at even the oblique reminder but pressed on. <em>True. It¡¯s amazing what I can aplish when I actually get involved.</em>


    t sent a burst ofughter through T¡¯s mind, even as T did a sideways, twisting flip to go through a miniscule gap between three of the weapons. Despite the acrobatic nature of the maneuver, both of her feet were only off of the ground for a fraction of a second.


    Ballistic movements were too easy to predict and too hard to alter if an opponent reacted.


    Even so, that small instant of inability to change course was enough. Even as her toes touched the training ground floor, the fourth Talon came in at an unavoidable angle, and T was forced to flick out Flow in order to keep the strike from reaching her.


    The <em>ck</em> of Flow¡¯s training sheath on the wooden weapon signaled for all of them to stop.


    T grinned at the panting four. Two men and two women regarded her in return, drenched with sweat. ¡°Well done, all of you. Your Clutch is working more and more as one, rather than four separate fighters. That will make all the difference when you fight opponents with a greater range of magics at their disposal, or greater experience orbat prowess.¡±


    The Talons had elected to call their units ¡®Clutches¡¯ for thematic reasons, and T had found no reason to object.


    ¡°You are still relying on your enhancements more than you should. They are <em>enhancements</em>, which means that your base physique ys a <em>massive</em> role in the end result. I know you¡¯ve only had a week to adjust your training, but it still bears repeating. This applies to reaction training too, not just physical conditioning.¡±


    The four shared a look before bringing their weapons into a point down position, held before them, sped in both hands. They bowed their heads to touch their handles and said as one, ¡°Yes, Mistress T.¡±


    T shook her head, but a smile tugged at her lips. ¡°Go sit with the others.¡± She then turned to the group watching from among trees around the training arena.


    Lyn had moved quickly, and the Talons were already established in the relocated remnants of the elven hold.


    It was now located within a forest a couple of miles south of Irondale proper, and it contained the housing and training facilities for all of the Talons. It also contained their families and the peripheral requirements to support all those people.


    Additionally, several crafters had petitioned to have their workshops relocated, and a few such appeals had even been granted.


    T looked around at those who had been watching. ¡°What did they do right? Wrong? What did <em>I</em> do wrong?¡±


    That spawned a discussion thatsted a few minutes as the Talons thought through the fight and analyzed it from their various viewpoints.


    When the conversation wound down, T asked the Clutch to evaluate their own performance before she gave her own thoughts. Once the back and forths spawned from that finished, she announced, ¡°Next Clutch!¡±


    Unfortunately, the next Clutch never forced her to block or deflect with Flow. Their session ended when one of their members stumbled in her exhaustion, tripping up one of her Clutch-mates.


    Ironically, that had almost forced T to take a hit, but only because it almost made the tripped fighter fall in the way of another swing.


    He¡¯d have been brained by the practice sword if T hadn¡¯t gotten in the way. In this case, though, she got in the way via her will, mainly by stopping that attacking sword cold mid-air.


    There was a moment of horrified silence as the one with the stopped sword saw just how close his weapon hade to striking hisrade in the head.


    Then, they all stepped back and saluted T, thanking her for the sh.


    In the lull that followed, they all talked through what had gone wrong and what had gone well during the conflict, just as before.


    She solicited feedback from the watching Talons, and all in all, she felt much like she was back with Adam at the Guards¡¯ training yard, except now, she was the more skilled, and they were trying to get used to their far stronger, faster, and more enduring bodies.


    Even those like Kedva¡ªwho had had the abilities for <em>years</em> at this point¡ªstill hadn¡¯t truly limated to being so enhanced. Though, Kedva wasn¡¯t one of the Talons at the moment¡ªher current pregnancy getting in the way¡ªso maybe the woman would have surprised T, had they had cause to spar.


    This tale has been uwfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.


    Regardless, T continued through the Clutches until she¡¯d fought all the Talons in their groups of four.


    These were the majority of those who had received their rebirth into power.


    There were another hundred or so undergoing training to see if they were a good fit for rebirth, but T didn¡¯t have much desire to participate in that part of things.


    She was about to go into the next activity of the day when t sounded in her head.


    <em>-It happened!-</em>


    T jerked at the volume of the internal exmation, d that she¡¯d already left the training area.


    <em>-It finally healed!-</em>


    It seemed as if the rift between the two reality nodes that T had affected had finally healed naturally. <em>Any idea what changed?</em>


    <em>-Oh, I have so many ideas. Find a ce where we won¡¯t be interrupted, and I¡¯ll show you what you missed while I was monitoring things.-</em>


    <em>Alright.</em>


    T said her goodbyes before moving herself to the sanctum, taking a seat in one of the many dells around the waterway ringing the central rise.


    <em>I¡¯m ready.</em>


    t pulled up memories of her observations, allowing T to experience them in sequence.


    <em>-See here? I started to notice an oddity even right after we released our working.-</em>


    T frowned. She thought she saw it, but it was something that she would have dismissed if t hadn¡¯t pointed it out specifically. <em>Are the creatures avoiding that part of reality? They are going around the ce where we made the temporary repair, is that right?</em>


    <em>-Yes, exactly. It¡¯s a subtle thing, especially since their movements are seemingly random to begin with.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, and some of them </em>do<em> stille near, and even cross between the two nodes in question, but not </em>quite<em> as often.</em>


    <em>-Exactly. And that¡¯s enough to slow down the healing dramatically. Apparently, there is some natural degradation that urs when the nodes are separate, and some of the ¡®crossing¡¯ is just keeping that from progressing.-</em>


    <em>And after our work, that bare minimum was basically all that happened.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, that¡¯s how it looks.-</em>


    <em>So what changed? Did the little bit of difference just finally add up?</em>


    <em>-No? I don¡¯t think so at least. I think that thest vestiges of our magic finally faded from the nodes, and the normal processes picked back up.-</em>


    T frowned. <em>My magic should have been gone as soon as the workings broke.</em> She shook her head. <em>Rust, the magic should have been gone as soon as they were no longer getting amplified.</em>


    <em>-But it wasn¡¯t. Not really.-</em>


    <em>Exin, please.</em>


    <em>-I¡¯m guessing a bit, here, but I think it bears up. By acting on them, we were tipping the bnce within the nodes away from Reality and toward Magic, which made it harder for Reality-aligned creatures to repair the damage. It was only as previous association with magic bled off, and the closeness of the Void shifted the bnce further, that they were able toe back together.-</em>


    <em>I assume that you have more than just ¡®guessing¡¯ to back up your guess?</em>


    <em>-You¡¯d bepletely right, there. Here.-</em>


    Next, t showed T a sped-up memory of the nodes that they¡¯d messed with.


    Over time, the discrepancy in the movement of the creatures became much clearer, but it was just as clearly bing less and less prominent over the same span of time.


    <em>Yeah, that definitelyes across as </em>something<em> slowly fading over time. We might be a bit hasty in categorically stating that it is an imbnce in association with the various pirs of Existence, but I think I see the merit of your theory.</em>


    <em>-So, are we good to send this to the reviewmittee?-</em>


    T chuckled. There was a group of Paragons¡ªand likely a few Refined and maybe a Reforged or two¡ªwho had reviewed her proposal and approved her experiment to begin with.


    Generally, the group oversaw the city cycles, ensuring that no site was used again until after it had fully recovered for a good long time.


    She had been approved to try her experiment only so long as she shared her findings with them in turn.


    On one side, she¡¯d been a bit irritated at the need to get permission to use her magic as she saw fit, but she understood the core of the issue with that thinking.


    For one, she already knew that she could make the damage <em>much</em> worse if she wanted to, and if such was possible on purpose, it would also be possible on ident. After all, it is far easier to destroy, damage, or corrupt than to create, repair, or purify.


    Thus, she was actually rtively grateful to have so many experts willing to review her work and verify she wasn¡¯t making foolish mistakes.


    <em>Yeah, send it on. Thank you, t.</em>


    t sent the equivalent of a handwave at the expression of gratitude. <em>-I love doing this type of thing. I know that if you didn¡¯t have other things pulling at you, you¡¯d love to do it too.-</em>


    T chuckled. Would she? Probably, yeah. She doubted she would ever be so free from the constraints of life in Zeme, but she was d that one version of herself could pursue that area of interest.


    <em>-We make a pretty great team, don¡¯t we?-</em>


    <em>Oh, yeah we do. I always did better on solo projects than on team work in school.</em>


    t snorted augh. <em>-Yeah, this is the best of both worlds. We only have to trust ourself, but someone else can still do some of the work.-</em>


    <em>Exactly.</em>


    There was a long pause.


    <em>You know, we could re-merge our selves. We¡¯ve diverged quite a bit over the years.</em>


    <em>-Do you really want to?-</em> t seemed genuinely curious.


    <em>I¡­ I don¡¯t think so? I like us being different, while still being the same. I feel like it lets us be moreplementary to each other and get more done with greater efficiency.</em>


    <em>-We are quite great, yeah.-</em>


    T snorted augh. <em>Yeah, there¡¯s our legendary humility at work.</em>


    <em>-I was just beingplimentary.-</em>


    <em>Oh, I¡¯m aware.</em>


    <em>-Oh, I know that you were.-</em>


    They shared a cycling feeling of amusement and shared affection.


    She knew that they were her, and that she was talking with herself, but she also felt like they had diverged enough that they were distinct enough that their conversations were meaningful, even if t could technically simply read T¡¯s thoughts, emotions, and internal workings to the point that they could be rendered entirely unnecessary.


    There was a funny fact hidden in that.


    t was the more plete¡¯ T, as she held ess to both of their minds, memories, and everything, but they¡¯d decided that t was their more cognitive half, so it just made sense for her to have such functionality at her disposal.


    T was more the physical and magical half, and she was more than fine with that.


    But she was now getting lost in the weeds of her own mind yet again. She needed to find Rane and tell him that things were progressing.


    He¡¯d been making a series of statues, trying to truly capture translucent material in the medium of stone, and he¡¯d been almost entirely lost to the world since they¡¯d finished exploring the newly acquired dimensionality of the gifted hold.


    It was about time that she checked on him.


    She appeared beside her husband, waiting a moment as he finished a cut before kissing him on the cheek.


    He smiled absently without turning to look. ¡°Is it time for dinner already?¡±


    She blinked a few times, then startedughing.


    He frowned, turning to look at her, seeming toe out of his fugue state fully, almost literally shaking it off. ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°Oh, Rane! I apologize. Ipletely forgot that you asked me to get you for dinner.¡±


    <em>-Yeah, I was wondering when you¡¯d remember that.-</em>


    <em>You could have told me!</em>


    <em>-You could have asked.-</em> t sent a sense of teasing and yfulness.


    <em>Oh, t¡­ this was not the thing to y with.</em>


    <em>-On the contrary, I think it was good for both of you.-</em>


    T could only grouse internally.


    ¡°Oh, You forgot?¡± Rane looked a bit sad, but not overly upset. ¡°I suppose I can grab a bite from somewhere. I am actually pretty hungry, now that I think about it.¡± He looked at all he¡¯d done, a smile growing on his lips. ¡°But, you know, I think I¡¯m d you didn¡¯te and get me. I got some good work done, and it was really fun. Though, I did way more than I really should have been able to¡­¡± He shrugged, turned, and grinned at her. ¡°I missed dinner, then?¡±


    She scratched the side of her neck, ncing away. ¡°Well, you could say that. How focused have you been?¡±


    He shrugged. ¡°Pretty focused, I guess.¡± He gestured around himself. ¡°The steady light we¡¯ve set up in this workshop makes telling the passage of time difficult, even while it makes working easier. I was having a good time, too. Why? How long has it been?¡±


    T cleared her throat, fighting both a smile of mirth and a look of contrition. ¡°Well¡­ seven days, give or take.¡±


    He blinked a few times, looked up and to the right¡ªclearly checking in with Enar.


    <em>-Yeah, Enar was distracted too¡­-</em>


    Finally, he huffed augh and shook his head. ¡°Well¡­ rust. No wonder I¡¯m so hungry.¡±

 Chapter 496: Aura and Authority

    Chapter 496: Aura and Authority


    T and Rane each immersed themselves in their various pursuits, onlying together for meals and to be together at night when the world slept.


    Rane set about a project that he¡¯d been considering for years¡ªtemporarily taking a break from his work with conveying translucence in a stone medium. He began a creature garden, creating sculptures of the various beasts he¡¯d encountered, starting with the arcanous ones.


    They added on a chunk of dimensionality to the sanctum for him to arrange his finished works within. The n was to augment his work with simr ¡®aura¡¯ trickery as with the few statues that he¡¯d made in memoriam, causing any given statue to actually give off a feeling like the beast it represented.


    That was the n, anyway. It was to be a <em>very</em> long running project, but Rane was undaunted.


    T, on the other hand, dove head first into working with the Talons.


    t was polite in <em>not</em> pointing out that T¡¯s fervor was an obvious attempt to keep her mind off <em>other</em> things, and T managed to only spend a bit of time each day in mncholic contemtion.


    Rane was obviously concerned about her, but he didn¡¯t press the issue. Sometimes, she wished he would, but she also was self-aware enough to realize that she¡¯d likely have resented him if he had. Regardless, so long as she was able to keep functional, he seemed willing to let her take her time.


    t was less polite about expressing her thoughts on that. She did <em>not</em> think that T keeping herself busy to keep from addressing something with her husband was good in the long term.


    T ignored her alternate interface for the time being. <em>It¡¯s working. It¡¯s fine.</em>-<em>...It¡¯s really not, but I don¡¯t see forcing the issue as useful.-</em>


    <em>I¡¯m d that we are agreed, then.</em>


    Terry seemed to be enjoying his own oversight of the Talons. Though, T suspected that part of that was their honoring of him with their choice of name.


    <em>-Yeah, that tactic worked with Terry beautifully.-</em>


    <em>I¡¯m still not letting them call me ¡®Mother.¡¯</em>


    <em>-And that¡¯s clearly not necessary to secure your involvement.-</em>


    <em>¡­Right.</em>


    Regardless, Terry continued to be engaged with at least the most advanced of the Talons, overseeing expeditions to engage arcanous creatures and retrieve harvests as well as training the various Clutches directly.


    Truthfully, the improvement of the most advanced Clutches was likely as much due to his haranguing as T¡¯s sparring sessions.


    T¡¯s work with the Talons was only asionally broken up by sporadic requests for observations, various specific magical analyses, or workings of specific detection and information gathering from the area that T had enacted her working upon.


    While her training was scheduled and organized, Terry had no suchpunctions, his ¡°lessons¡± uring at almost any time of the day or night, further sharpening the sharpest Talons and keeping them on their toes.


    <em>It''s a good thing their enhancements drastically reduce the amount of sleep they require.</em>


    Themittee was still in deep deliberation, both incredibly excited by the possibilities and hesitant to advance too quickly, as doing so in the past¡ªwhen those same council members thought they had found solutions or fixes¡ªhad resulted in worse oues.


    The result was T and Rane actually remaining in ce for longer than they had in a long time.


    It was three months before T was cleared to enact her connection amplification on a slightlyrger rent in Reality.


    That irritated her because she had been hoping to use the rend-fixing work as distraction, but she understood the caution, and she had other distractions to hand.


    Regardless, the time hade atst.


    T once more piloted one of the fliers to the chosen area of damage.


    Honestly, it wasn¡¯t muchrger than the area she¡¯d worked in before, but this time there was a jagged branch in the small space beyond where she would enact her magics.


    They were <em>all</em> curious how such branchings would affect the repair work.


    Once the flying device was hovering near the area to be affected, T began to enact her working.


    She was an hour into the amplification when t made the sound of a clearing throat within her mind. <em>-T, I have a question for you.-</em>


    <em>Yeah? What can I do for you, t?</em>


    <em>-How are you enacting your magics on those nodes?-</em>


    T huffed. <em>Come on, t. You know the answer very well, and that¡¯s without you simply pulling the information from my head. There is intrinsic eleration due to the connection between two reality nodes along the vector of any reality thread that connects them, in magnitude rted to the strength of the connection. This is generally so miniscule that it is impossible to feel on a physical level</em>¡ª<em>rust, even at the maximum I¡¯ve ever amplified it to, I don¡¯t think it¡¯s ever been physically detectable</em>¡ª<em>but on an </em>existence<em> level, it draws them toward one another. I amplify that connection via altering the constants involved. This is essentially identical to how I can amplify the gravitational eleration of one object toward another.</em>


    t chuckled meaningfully. <em>-Yes, T. I am well aware of that. I </em>meant<em> how are you enacting any magics at all? You don¡¯t have aura continuity. You specifically have your bloodstars anchored to the flier so that you don¡¯t have to use aura maniption to hold them in ce.-</em>


    T froze, her magic stuttering even as it flowed in through her gate, her very soul hitching at the break in her mental understanding.


    t didn¡¯t leave T in that state of mental disconnect. <em>-Look. Your bloodstars are generating a sort of aura around themselves. It¡¯s faint, only there in the most basic sense, but it is there.-</em> t made a huffing sound. <em>-You couldn¡¯t contest even a mageling with the authority that you have there, but it </em>is<em> there.-</em>


    Then, T <em>did</em> see it, and she understood.


    t was <em>wrong.</em>


    The bloodstars were hers; they were <em>her</em> in a very real sense.


    If she nted Flow in the ground and walked away, T would still be able to affect wherever the de touched as she could alter Flow¡¯s magics even at a distance, and that would exert her will there. In a very real sense, she would have authority there.


    Moreover, if she called the sword to her, everything between her and the sword was under some threat of her action.


    But that wasn¡¯t her aura. It was something less¡­ Magical.


    It was something more fundamental to Existence itself.


    Around the bloodstars, her ability to act was more nebulous. She could see through them, which meant that even if she had to run over and deal with what she saw in person, the very fact that she was watching meant that she <em>could</em> exert her influence there with greater ease than elsewhere.


    That¡ªlikely due to her level of advancement¡ªwas still a thing of significance. It represented a certain amount of authority over all that she saw, even if it diminished the further from her point of view or field of vision an area was.


    <em>t </em>had been wrong<em>.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, yeah, you don¡¯t have to rub it in.-</em> Despite her words, t was clearly as excited about what they were realizing as T was.


    She was enacting her magics through her <em>authority</em> rather than her aura.


    For a Mage, the two were generally considered identical, to the point that authority wasn¡¯t even addressed, generally speaking.


    Rust, T had only reallye across it because she¡¯d been delving into the differences between human and arcane magics.


    It would be like talking about how loud a sound was and then talking about the amplitude of the sound-waves separately. They were the same thing.


    True, magic could make sound easier to hear or discern, but if it increased the volume, that <em>was</em> an increase in the amplitude of the waves.


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    <em>-I think they aren¡¯t perfectly connected? Rtive volumes and all that.-</em>


    <em>Then it¡¯s an even better example. Our authority is acting beyond our aura.</em> She hesitated, thenughed. <em>That¡¯s what we¡¯ve been doing within Kit for </em>years<em> now¡­</em>


    Her eyes widened as she actually processed her own expressed thoughts.


    <em>Has our work within and with Kit flexed this ability for us? Has it allowed us to stretch our authority beyond our aura via our soulbonds until it was able to be effective even outside our soulbound space?</em>


    That made a lot of sense as they both thought about it, that was probably why there hadn¡¯t been more than a miniscule progression toward Paragon. They were just realizing something that they¡¯d been doing all along.


    <em>I need to finish this test, but when we¡¯re done¡­</em>


    <em>-Yeah.-</em>


    It took a bit more than a day of dedicated amplification for the two nodes to start moving toward one another, but once they started, they clicked together almost instantly.


    Just as before, the portion of the damage right next to the forcibly rejoined nodes came together as well, unifying with a visceral <em>click</em> that T could feel within her very soul even at her rather considerable physical distance.


    The natural reunification continued out and away from the artificial fix. Once again, this only happened on the ¡®short¡¯ side of the damage. This time, however, the fixing stopped at the branching in the break in Reality.


    Reality seemed to heal well up to that point, leaving a ¡®V¡¯ shaped segment of damage separate from the other abrasions in the area.


    That had been¡­ unexpected.


    T and t watched the area for nearly two hours, taking careful readings and observing the best that they could, but there was no further change.


    <em>Well, next step then?</em>


    <em>-I think so, yeah.-</em>


    With an act of will¡ªand a shift of mentality¡ªT broke the working, allowing the two reality nodes to spring back apart minimally.


    There was an odd¡­ straining, and one more reality node beside those artificially drawn together pulled free, but the rest seemed to remain unified.


    <em>Impressions and data cataloged?</em>


    <em>-Of course.-</em>


    <em>Alright, then. Let¡¯s get it to the council, and let me get back to training.</em>


    <em>-Or¡­ and hear me out here¡­ you could talk to your husband.-</em>


    T grimaced, not at the idea of talking with Rane¡ªshe loved doing that¡ªbut at the obvious implication of the subject that discussion should involve.


    Still, T wasn¡¯t an advanced Archon for nothing, and t hadn¡¯t chosen that moment to make the suggestion out of frustration or ignorance.


    Finally, T sighed. <em>Alright.</em>


    A momentter, T flickered into being beside Rane.


    He was in the middle of perfecting the curve on a thunder bull''s horn, but as soon as she appeared he stopped, orienting on her.


    He gave a sad, knowing smile. ¡°You¡¯re ready, then?¡±


    She let out a single, barkedugh, water welling up within her eyes. ¡°Am I that obvious?¡±


    His smile grew slightly in return. ¡°Not to most, but I know you, my love.¡±


    She stepped forward, letting him infold her in his massive arms, letting herself be lost against him.


    They stayed there for a <em>long</em> time as T just let herself actually process the ending stick that had been shoved against her ns so many months ago.


    Finally, she pulled back and wiped her eyes. ¡°Why did I ever want children?¡±


    He smiled down at her. ¡°I¡¯m happy to listen or respond, which do you need right now?¡±


    She huffed a littleugh. ¡°Respond, I think? I might change my mindter, though.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s fine.¡± His smile diminished slightly. ¡°To answer your question, I think it¡¯s because it¡¯s important in our society. On one level it¡¯s expected, and you didn''t really have a reason to go against that expectation. So, knowing that, you approached it in a positive light, and the idea grew on you.¡±


    She blinked at him a few times. ¡°That was quite the put-together response.¡±


    He quirked a smile. ¡°I¡¯ve had months to think through this too. I feel like that¡¯s one of the main reasons I want children, too. So, I might be projecting. It¡¯s not the only reason for either of us, though.¡±


    She grunted. ¡°It does feel a bit like I was told to walk down an alleyway only to run face-first into a wall, dispelling the illusion.¡± She looked down. ¡°There was nothing wrong with the alleyway, and I could even see some really interesting things on the far side, but I hadn¡¯t really nned on going that way, not soon.¡±


    He nodded, before posing a question. ¡°So you don¡¯t understand why it hurts so much?¡±


    ¡°Yes!¡± She threw her hands up, pacing back and forth. ¡°It¡¯s something I hadn¡¯t considered overmuch, so why? Why is theck of an option I hadn¡¯t nned on choosing so hurtful?¡±


    ¡°Well¡­¡± He hesitated. ¡°From what I know of your upbringing, I think that you wanted to prove you could do better, at least at some level.¡± He gave her a sad smile. ¡°You still hold an undercurrent of bitterness at your father and step-mother, and part of that is rooted in a belief that you could do better.¡± He held up his hands to forestall her. ¡°I don¡¯t disagree, but it is part of the foundation. Now, rather than being able to be a <em>better</em> parent than they were to you, you have been told that you won¡¯t be a parent at all.¡±


    T felt a tightness in her chest at his words, the idea clearly hitting close to the truth. She stepped back in for another hug as the emotions rolled through her.


    She hated feeling this way, but it felt better, exposing this to Rane.


    She almostughed. He was doing more of the talking than she was, yet it still felt like <em>she</em> was the one exposing herself, her thoughts and feelings.


    It felt like taking off a sweaty, encrusted piece of clothing. Sure, it felt painful, gross, and frustrating getting it off, but the feeling of cool, clean air on her skin was well worth the effort.


    But the core of this short conversation forced her to realize something. It was something that should have been obvious, and something that hade up before, but she hadn¡¯t really inculcated the truth behind it. ¡°This is affecting you, too.¡±


    She looked up into his eyes, and she saw wetness there as he returned her gaze with a sad smile and a nod.


    ¡°I¡¯ve been so focused on how <em>I</em> feel¡ªand on distracting myself¡ªthat I left you alone in this, didn¡¯t I¡­¡± It wasn¡¯t a question.


    He shrugged lightly, ncing away. ¡°I didn¡¯t want to add to your burden.¡±


    ¡°So you shouldered yours alone.¡± She closed her eyes and swallowed. ¡°That¡¯s not how this is supposed to work, is it.¡±


    ¡°No, I guess not.¡± He hugged her tighter.


    ¡°I¡¯m here, Rane. I¡¯m listening.¡±


    ¡°Are you sure?¡± His voice was small, uncertain.


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    And so they talked, time passing like water beneath a bridge as they came together over their shared disappointment, over their shared brokenness.


    * * *


    Another two months passed with T doing various small tests and taking magical readings at the behest of the oversight council. They verified that the second set of nodes healed just like the first, with a simr dy before natural restoration continued.


    One of the tests involved closing up the separate V rend, and that wentpletely smoothly, mirroring the previous two tests.


    Rane continued his work on statues of various beasts, but he also took some part of every day¡ªbeyond the meals that they shared¡ªto sit and talk with T about all sorts of things.


    She had missed that part of their rtionship, having withdrawn after the news. She hadn¡¯t even really realized that she¡¯d been doing it, and the relief of being unified with Rane in the mundane act of just <em>being</em> together once again was hugely stress relieving.


    She and Terry continued their work with the Talons, but she definitely let Terry take even more of a lead on that project, and he did so with gusto, clearly enjoying the new challenge.


    T¡¯s revtion around enacting her magic within her authority, not just her aura, led her to another realization. Mainly, the iron that she kept within Kit was frequently outside her aura, but not her authority. Thus, it wasn¡¯t voided.


    This led to another task on her te that she approached with relish.


    T sat on the ins outside of Kit, away from the still-open portal to Ironhold.


    She was cross legged, with a lump of iron on the ground in the space surrounded by her legs.


    <em>This is a good first step. It makes sense.</em>


    <em>-Oh, absolutely. Even if your aura is retracted, it is inarguable that the iron is well within your range of action. It </em>should<em> be unquestionably still within your authority.-</em>


    <em>Yeah. This is good.</em> She continued to work herself up to the test.


    It was odd. She had a mental barrier that she hadn¡¯t really encountered or acknowledged before. She didn¡¯t <em>want</em> to let go of her iron.


    <em>This isn¡¯t letting go. It¡¯s still mine.</em>


    Yet, even so, the idea of purposely pulling any part of her control back, away from the iron was viscerally distasteful.


    It seemed that the dasgannach had had more of an influence on her than even she¡¯d realized.


    Still, she was the master of herself. She was no mindless devourer of iron.


    This iron was still <em>hers</em>, and nothing so simple as the absence of her aura was enough to change that.


    Before she could talk herself out of it, she retracted her aura from the iron, leaving it in a sphere of ¡®non-aura¡¯ space, entirely surrounded by her physical body and her aura.


    The iron seemed almost to waiver, her soul seeming to cinch up in horror for the briefest moment before¡­ nothing.


    The iron remained.


    It remained in ce.


    It remained physical.


    It remained <em>hers.</em>


    A broad grin spread across her face. This <em>should</em> be a vition of her merging choices, but it wasn¡¯t.


    At the time of the merging, she simply hadn¡¯t understood the distinction between aura and authority, and she¡¯d conceived of it as one, when it <em>really</em> was the other.


    Her iron had to remain under her <em>authority</em>, or it would be voided. This was the final proof of that fact.


    T gave a slightly mad cackle.


    True, iron outside her aura would be <em>far</em> easier to ovee¡ªher authority only existing in the most tenuous senses¡ªbut it <em>was</em> still there.


    The iron itself extended her authority, just as Flow did, just as her own gaze and perception did.


    In the case of the iron, if someone was able to affect it against her desires, her authority would be disrupted, and if that happened to a sufficient degree, the iron would be voided, but until then? The iron was suddenly a <em>far</em> more useful tool than she¡¯d ever dared to hope.


    Rust, she could project her aura through it, even if she couldn¡¯t affect the iron itself with the aura it projected. There would be no iron spikes propelling themselves around a battlefield.


    <em>But I can create a rolling field of spikes, with nted ones helping to push those still airborne forward.</em>


    <em>-That will be nightmarish to control.-</em>


    <em>Are you up for the challenge?</em>


    <em>-Oh, unquestionably. There will be a significant learning curve, however.-</em>


    <em>There usually is.</em> T quirked a smile. <em>For things worth doing, there usually is.</em>

 Chapter 497: The Sooner the Better

    T¡¯s attention returned to her iron, her connection to it, and her authority over it. She let out a long sigh, realizing that she had a long way to go<em>. This </em>is<em> a bit tenuous for our more grandiose ns at the moment. I think we need more practice to be able to have as much freedom with the iron as I foresee being possible.</em>


    <em>-Well, then. Let¡¯s get to it.-</em>


    <em>Indeed.</em>


    <em>-You know what this means, right?-</em>


    T sighed but then nodded before smiling. <em>Snap drills.</em>


    And so they began. At unexpected intervals, t was going to pull T¡¯s aura away from one or more of the iron spheres that T would have held about herself.


    T had to maintain her authority over the bereft iron and keep it from being voided.


    The first time¡ªless than five minutester¡ªT failed utterly, the sphere which had been resting against her navel voiding in an instant.


    She staggered at the horrific feeling of loss as it threatened to overwhelm her.That had been <em>her</em> iron.


    T let out an unconscious growl, the world around her flexing oddly without her realizing it as she unknowingly armored existence around herself against further vition.


    t noticed¡ªeven if she had absolutely no idea how T had done it¡ªimmediately pulling T¡¯s aura away from the iron ball that was resting between her shoulder des.


    The iron didn¡¯t even waver as T¡¯s authority on <em>everything</em> around her was beyond question in that moment.


    Still, the second alteration so close to the first was a jarring experience, sufficiently so that it pulled T back to conscious thought.


    She¡¯d <em>felt</em> what she was doing, a broad grin spreading over her face an instant before she dropped to the ground in a pained spasm.


    t had tricked her into using a ¡®muscle¡¯ that she¡¯d not known she had, though she¡¯d been using to a small extent up to that point here and there.


    That little use had let it respond to her unconscious will, and as it was used so powerfully and with such a force of will behind it, it was immediately over-strained.


    As when she¡¯d first gotten control of her aura, she now had an entirely new <em>something</em> to deal with, that she¡¯d always, unknowingly, been manipting and working with.


    Unfortunately, unlike with her aura, which she¡¯d used to arge extent for years, even without realizing it, this authority was like only moving around within Kit by twitching her leg muscles so that Kit knew how to move her. Now, she was trying to walk in Zeme, and the muscles had to do more than just twitch.


    Thus, her current predicament.


    As shey on the ground in metaphysical pain, she felt herself move a bit closer to Paragon. Well, honestly, she¡¯d moved earlier as she had her series of revtions and then put them into action, but she only really noticed in that moment as she strove for¡ªalmost¡ªanything with which to distract herself.


    <em>-Well, authority maniption isn¡¯t required to reach Paragon, but I suppose it does line up perfectly with part of what you were missing. It </em>is<em> directly connected to how you rte to and interact with the world around you.-</em>


    T groaned again, this time in acknowledgement.


    A momentter, Rane appeared beside her, having moved himself straight out of the sanctum to be at her side.


    He looked her over before sitting down and easily lifting her to cradle her in his arms. ¡°I¡¯m d you¡¯re alright.¡±


    She grunted, nuzzling in against him.


    ¡°I felt your soul¡­ twitch in a way I haven¡¯t felt before.¡±


    She nodded, wetting her lips before exining everything to him.


    He listened carefully until the end before smiling. ¡°First, that is an incredible discovery, and I am in awe at what you¡¯ve been able to aplish.¡±


    T pulled back and gave him a narrow eyed look. ¡°But¡­?¡±


    His smile grew a hair. ¡°But, that sounds like something that you should have had someone else with you for.¡±


    She blinked a few times in confusion. ¡°Well¡­ I did?¡±


    He shook his head. ¡°t is you, T. You know that. If you go down, most likely she will as well. Anything capable of disabling you in any meaningful way will most likely affect her, too.¡±


    <em>-Well¡­ rust. I didn¡¯t really consider that.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, me neither, as obvious as it is.</em> She sighed but nodded. ¡°I hear you. You¡¯re right. It would have been better to have someone else here. I won¡¯t do it on my own again.¡±


    ¡°Thank you.¡± He gave her a tight squeeze. ¡°Now, what are your next steps?¡±


    Tughed, squirming her way out to give him a kiss. ¡°I love you, and I love that you know where my mind is.¡±


    ¡°Of course. This is <em>nothing</em>pared to some of what I¡¯ve seen you do.¡±


    After talking things through with Rane, T and Terry moved their training of the Talons out of Kit so that T and t could continue training with authority, without relying on Kit, directly. To further facilitate the training, T always maintained at least two iron spheres hovering near her, though they started resting against her skin as with the first test.


    That way, there was always a Talon nearby who could at least go for help if something went wrong.


    She was able to keep the iron under her authority, though she felt the strain of doing so in her very soul.


    Over time, she became able to move the spheres to being against her elk leathers rather than her skin. Then, finally, she was able to move them outward at steadily increasing radii.


    * * *


    Thus, a full six months passed at the site of old Marliweather.


    T and Rane had T¡¯s siblingse out for a visit once during that span¡ªarriving and leaving from teleportation circles in the sanctum¡ªand T was even able to engage with those who were pregnant¡ªalong with the newer little ones¡ªwithout being too emotionally drained after they¡¯d all departed.


    It was clear that some of those who knew her better noticed that <em>something </em>was off, but no one pressed her, and she still hadn¡¯t chosen to share with anyone apart from Rane. Though some¡ªlikely at least Terry¡ªmight have started to guess.


    The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    Finally, it came time to move on from old Marliweather.


    They could have stayed for years longer, slowly working to repair the damaged Reality bit by bit, but they had already done a sufficient variety of tests that the council had more than enough information on which to run in-depth analysis, and that would take years.


    T had no desire to create, sustain, or even join another research outpost, and she was beginning to find her distractions less distracting.


    Even with six months of intense conditioning, the Talons simply couldn¡¯t fight against her all the time, and thest thing she wanted was to somehow make things around old Marliweather worse because she ¡®just wanted to do something.¡¯


    So, all the roving groups of Talons were recalled, the Ironhold citizenry were ushered back from their countryside ventures, and the gates to Irondale were sealed.


    In the end, T, Rane, and Terry stood alone in the middle of a rather trampled-down section of the ins, the summer grasses already starting to slowly work their way back upright, even after the recent foot traffic.


    Her arm was around his waist, his over her shoulders, and Terry was perched atop Rane¡¯s head¡ªthe highest such ce currently avable.


    They all looked north, toward the forest that they couldn¡¯t quite see in that direction.


    Terry flickered down to the ground before them, now as tall as T, stretching his wings and beak toward the sky before letting out an excited trill.


    That made the couple chuckle. It <em>was </em>just about time to leave.


    Even so, T¡¯s mind was wandering slightly and one thing had stuck in her thoughts, then. It wouldn¡¯t go away, so instead of burying it, she looked up at her husband and verbalized it, ¡°If things had gone differently, our first might have been arriving in the next months.¡±


    Rane could have argued or pushed back, T even sensed the slight hesitation that showed that he considered doing just that, but instead, he gave her a squeeze, bent over and kissed the top of her head. ¡°I¡¯m here.¡±


    Those simple¡ªseemingly unrted¡ªwords sent a wave of relief through T, and she slumped against him. ¡°I know.¡±


    They stood there for another long moment before they shared a quick kiss and separated.


    Terry flickered to T¡¯s shoulder and headbutted her cheek, giving a low,forting chirp.


    She scratched his neck and the back of his head in return. ¡°Thank you, Terry. I know you¡¯re here, too.¡±


    After giving her a moment to press her head to his, Terry flickered away again, heading north.


    Rane chuckled. ¡°Ready?¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    And they were off, Rane not <em>quite</em> flying, while T leapt off the air itself, heading north.


    The Anatalins had invited them to visit, and it was time to ept that invitation.


    Even with the excitement and uncertainty about what was going toe of the visit to the wolves, T couldn¡¯t help but be most grateful that¡ªmore than anything else¡ªit would be a solid distraction, at least for a time.


    * * *


    T lept northward, Rane off to the west¡ªher left¡ªcloser to the mountains, and Terry flickering all over the ce, sticking his beak into random holes, chasing small herds for short distances, and generally making himself a bit of a nuisance to the local wildlife.


    <em>-Don¡¯t you mean¡­-</em>


    T groaned. <em>Don¡¯t¡­</em>


    <em>-...A bit of a terror?-</em>


    She sighed. <em>Sometimes I wonder how our humor diverged so much.</em>


    <em>-First, I can easily tell that you found it funny. I¡¯m in your thoughts in case you¡¯ve forgotten.-</em>


    <em>Oh, I haven¡¯t.</em>


    <em>-Good. Second, it is you who has lost your puns, at least a little. I¡¯d me your marriage, but Rane and Enar continue to be delightful sources of puns.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, well, most of theirs aren¡¯t intentional.</em>


    <em>-That makes them all the better.-</em>


    <em>¡­Fair enough.</em> She sighed again.


    -<em>Just say it, T. It will help more than keeping it bottled up.-</em>


    <em>¡­I wonder if our children would have liked puns¡­</em>


    <em>-That is easy enough to answer.-</em>


    <em>Oh?</em>


    <em>-Of course. Puns are specifically a type of humor used to teach children some of the nuances ofnguage. Human brains are hardwired to both make and hear them in their native form ofmunication. Every child loves puns at one point or other, assuming a reasonable upbringing. So, yes. Your children will enjoy puns, whenever and however theye about.-</em>


    <em>The puns or the children?</em> T asked with a margin of bitterness.


    -<em>Both, I imagine.-</em>


    T huffed augh and gave a reluctant smile at that. <em>Fair enough.</em>


    She flinched slightly as t jerked her aura away from the hollow sphere of iron dust that was floating two feet from T¡¯s head.


    T not only maintained the vacuum within the sphere¡ªkeeping it almost perfectly spherical¡ªbut she also maintained her authority over the iron, keeping it from being voided.


    <em>Hah, it wasn¡¯t voided, but it maintained the void within.</em>


    <em>-I¡¯m sure there¡¯s a metaphor in there somewhere.-</em>


    <em>Probably.</em>


    The ball still dropped, no longer having her aura to support it, but that just caused it to re-enter her aura a bit lower down¡ªin rtion to her body¡ªwhere T caught it and moved it back into its proper path.


    -<em>Very well done, T.-</em>


    <em>Thank you a lot, t.</em>


    <em>-...I suppose that I deserved that, and I do appreciate the gratitude.-</em>


    T grinned.


    Then, she turned her mind to something else to keep herself distracted.


    It was something that she¡¯d been working on, on and off for years now. The reality nodes within her artificial lung had been unified for a while by this point, but she had wanted them even more firmly connected and interlinked.


    She had been ramping up the interconnectedness of the various reality nodes which had made up her artificial lung within the sanctum whenever she thought about it, which was actually much less often than would have been ideal.


    Even so, the amplification of the reality threads unifying that space was¡­ impressive.


    <em>-Are we ready to finally test it again?-</em>


    <em>You know what? Yeah. I think that could be a </em>very<em> nice distraction.</em>


    t let out a giggling cackle that was so infectious that T felt herself almost begin tough as well. Instead, she called out to Rane, filling her voice with the appropriate power so that the sound reached his ears, ¡°I want to test something, and I don¡¯t want to do so on my own. Are you up foring this way?¡±


    Rane immediately turned to look at her before diverting his ¡®not-quite-leaping¡¯ flight toe near her. ¡°What new madness do you want to test?¡±


    He was grinning despite his words, and that finally did cause T tough. ¡°Oh, you know, just my dissolution breath.¡±


    Rane frowned. ¡°You use that all the time. Why¡­?¡± Then his eyes went wide. ¡°Really? Are you sure? You¡¯re finally ready to test it? Your artificial lung is ready?¡±


    They had, of course, talked at length about her experiments with the artificial lung and how it had <em>almost</em> ended in disaster thest time she¡¯d tried it.


    Now, however, she wasn¡¯t weaving spellforms on the fly, they were already surrounding the perfectly spherical space¡ªperfectly spherical save the singr long cylinder leading off to better align airflow. The iron was now <em>pure</em> iron, that little issue having been made apparent by their Unit¡¯s gift of the fliers.


    The spell-lines were truly hollow as well, and while she knew that they weren¡¯t <em>quite</em> right for the medium and lineposition, she had been able to get them close enough that she¡¯d get the desired effect, even with a loss of efficiency and a reduction in power.


    With the results ofst time, the theoretically weaker magical effect was a boon in her eyes.


    She grinned broadly. ¡°I think so.¡±


    ¡°Where?¡±


    T pointed and then took off, leading him to the base of a gentle slope which led up to the top of a crag.


    ¡°So¡­ we¡¯re doing this?¡± He then lowered his voice almost as if afraid that someone would over here. ¡°We¡¯re testing Existence magic?¡±


    T could <em>hear</em> the capitalized ¡®E¡¯ in existence, and the lowercase ¡®m¡¯ in magic. As such, she shook her head. ¡°No, no, I don¡¯t think this is anything as potent as Existence magic, let alone true Existence modification. Ideally, this <em>will be </em>existence-Magic, though. Magic but made more Real and with more potential to bring the Void with it.¡±


    Rana cleared his throat. ¡°That is still a bit terrifying.¡± Then his smile returned. ¡°And rather intriguing too.¡±


    She nodded enthusiastically. ¡°I know, right?¡±


    He hesitated for a moment. ¡°Should we call Terry? Ask any of the Irondalians to observe? What about Lyn? Master Simon? Adrill? Brandon?¡±


    T hesitated, not liking the dy that represented, but then she sighed and nodded. ¡°Yes. I think that is the wise course.¡±


    ¡°Great. Let¡¯s call them up and get them out here.¡±


    Her smile blossomed once again. ¡°Alright. Let¡¯s get to it. The sooner the better.¡±

 Chapter 498: Something to See

    T walked up the escarpment, the more theoretically minded Talons standing beside Master Simon, Adrill, and Brandon well back from the edge, thetter two chief among the research oriented Talons. She did so in her full armor¡ªhidden, of course, by her through spike. It was just after noon, and Rane walked a little behind her, Terry on his shoulder for the moment.


    They both wanted to be close, but not <em>too</em> close given the nature of the magics involved.


    Lyn stood back a ways, realizing that she was likely the least resilient magic user present. Still, she had a te in hand and a gleam of curiosity in her eyes. Aside from being the most in danger, she was also the one with the least reason to actually be there, so she was doing her best to not make waves or really draw any attention to herself.


    Even so, Ron stood just behind Lyn¡¯s right shoulder, and T thought he looked ready to jump in the way at need. <em>That would probably keep her safe, actually.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, their magics are directly counter to the magics we''re going to use, here. Theirs will be the most resilient to this attack of any magical defenses, at least in theory.-</em>


    While maintaining his perch atop Rane¡¯s shoulder, the terror bird was practically dancing from foot to foot. He knew what this experiment meant to her more viscerally than most. This breath attack would be allowed in any formal sh with The Pack.


    And beside that formality, it was something that was wholly hers.


    It was power that was fully her own, and <em>power </em>it was¡­ at least she hoped it would be.


    With that in mind, she¡¯d had t give polite notifications to the various advanced Archons in the area. She didn¡¯t want misunderstandings to ur, nor did she want to identally ruin an experiment somewhere, or do something simrly disruptive or destructive.t had already verified that there were no known cells in the area that would be affected.


    The message was simple these days, as T had run the ideas enfolded into thisplicated working by most of them at one time or another over thest years. Even so, most who actually knew what she was doing still didn¡¯t understand why she called it a breath weapon, but that was fine. It was <em>her</em> breath weapon. Not theirs.


    It was hers, and it was finally time for her to test the¡ª<em>hopefully</em>¡ªfinished product of her years ofbor and minute testing.


    Toward that end, she opened a long, thin portal running down her back, into that space within Kit. Then, with an act of will, shepressed the air within the artificial lung, causing a torrent of air to be drawn in even as she walked thest few steps.


    Rane¡¯s magic reacted instantly, causing him to be unaffected by the sudden torrent of wind. The others present had sufficient enhancement to resist for a time.


    Even Lyn was strong enough that it was only a minor inconvenience given her distance, though she braced against Ron who had stepped up beside her.


    Long experience had taught T to make the intake opening an oddly asymmetric shape, that way it wouldn¡¯t whistle or otherwise intone as the air was pulled in.


    <em>-I still say it¡¯s better to have it make a resonant sound. It would really give an amazing ¡®I¡¯m powering up¡¯ vibe.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, that way our enemies will know to kill me quickly. That seems wise.</em>


    <em>-But it would be awesome!-</em>


    <em>Death.</em>


    <em>-Awesome.-</em>


    T sighed, but a smile still grew across her face at t¡¯s antics. Regardless, she returned her full focus to the task at hand.


    As each bit of air was pulled in, T¡¯s will affected it as well,pressing it to the far side of the lung and continuing the vacuum-enabled pull.


    In the end, even thest bit drawn in came in at the same rate as the first due to the vacuum created right at the entrance, which she specifically maintained, in order for thest bits of air to be swept inside.


    Shepleted breathing in the air as she neared the drop-off¡ªthe process having taken less than a half a minute¡ªclosing the portal that had been down the back of her armor.


    <em>-We could add cool, glowing effects and everything¡­ The through-spike is so wasted on you.-</em>


    T snorted augh in her helmet but didn¡¯t otherwise reply.


    She looked out at the ins before her and at the copse of trees in the near distance, that would be her target.


    The wilds recovered quickly, so she wasn¡¯t too concerned about doing irreparable damage.


    Now in ce, she rechecked the iron-channel inscriptions surrounding her lung once more. She still saw no w, and t couldn¡¯t find anything wrong either.


    That assured, she did what she¡¯d done so long ago¡ªand in smaller scale tests since¡ªusing her Void Channels to not only bring power to the spellform but ovey them entirely.


    Magic <em>roared</em> through the working, and her will flexed, keeping the dissolution power that was building up within the pressurized air of her lung from acting on anything, even the air itself.


    To her great relief and excitement, the effort of will was almost negligible. The magic seemed to be struggling to act even without her interference.


    Her work with the reality-nodes seemed to have had exactly the desired effect, and existence within her artificial lung was proving <em>incredibly</em> resistant to any form of alteration. <em>Now, it really should work as the test in the sparring ring did, and magics that exit that area act as expected.</em>


    She opened her facete around her mouth, adding a thickyer of iron¡ªalmost like a pipe¡ªon the inside of the opening to prevent the magics from getting under the armor and acting on her face inadvertently.


    T had all too visceral memory of how <em>that</em> felt.


    <em>-That was your own choice, T. Don¡¯t me me.-</em>


    <em>I wasn¡¯t¡­ Regardless, here it goes¡­</em> Then she hesitated. She needed to make sure everyone nearby was prepared too. ¡°Are you all ready?¡±


    Her voice was calm, and their replies came back quickly, all in the affirmative.


    Terry¡¯s response resounded longer than the others as he trumpeted to the sky from his perch on Rane¡¯s shoulder.


    T chuckled. ¡°Yeah. I figured that <em>you </em>would be.¡±


    Rane rested his hand briefly on the shoulder of her armor and squeezed affectionately in support, even though he knew that she wouldn¡¯t feel it physically.


    The action warmed her heart, just as he¡¯d likely hoped that it would.


    But she needed to focus. She¡¯d pushed thepression of the air within her artificial lung up to the point that it was threatening to be a liquid, and she didn¡¯t want to deal with that, even if she <em>should</em> be able toter on.


    The dissolution magic had fully saturated the space to the point that it was a constant struggle to keep it from acting, even with her near total control of her own sanctum.


    With everything ready, T opened her mouth and positioned the portal between her open jaws allowing the breath out in a rush.


    There was an impulse noise, simr to thunder, but far more localized as the supercharged breath punched outward.


    Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any urrences elsewhere.


    The air moved faster than it had any right too. That allowed T to realize that the leading edge of the thin column of air hadn¡¯t been affected by any of the containment scripts which were ring to glowing life around her face, neck, and mouth. Because of that it was carrying along already activated dissolution magics that were oveing the air resistance by simply dissolving the air out of the path of the directed stream.


    That leading edge covered more than a thousand feet in the first second before the containment magics¡ªthat passing through her mouth had ced on the air¡ªwere overwhelmed and the far end of the tight column <em>roared</em> with fire.


    The containment magics in her throat and mouth continued to activate and fight to keep the power flowing out in check. Thus the ignition point remained at just past one thousand feet out from the crag.


    From there, the dissolution rolled outward in a cone. With her threefold sight, T could see the <em>hills</em> in the path of the cone shrinking before the onught. To say nothing of the small stand of trees that had been on those same hills.


    The dissolution magics broke everything apart, and the fire consumed those remnants in a raging inferno.


    The cone of destruction slowly widened and lengthened as each fraction of magic had to go a bit farther than thest to find something to spend itself upon.


    Finally, T cut off the portal into her artificial lung, purposely leaving a bit ofpression in ce along with quite a bit of power still in y. <em>Let¡¯s see how well it can be maintained.</em>


    The attack would be far more useful if she could keep it charged for use at need.


    <em>-I think with some tests, we could feather our containment scripts to choose the point of ignition with a fair degree of uracy.-</em>


    <em>True enough, yeah.</em> She couldn¡¯t fight the grin from absolutely dominating her face.


    Interestingly enough, some magicden air tried to linger in her mouth, but the scripts that Mistress Holly and she had maintained and enhanced there forced thosest dregs out as azy puff.


    As thest of thepressed air moved outward¡ªthe portion that wasst before she closed the portal¡ªit was slower than what hade previously, given it wasn¡¯t being pushed along.


    As such, the cone seemed to grow back toward T at the end in more the shape of a thin column,ing about halfway back as thest of the magics were spent and the fire consumed the remnants of that which had been dissolved. That, along with the tiny puff of fire from thest remnants made it clear where the attack hade from, but that wasn¡¯t too much of an issue.


    The glowing magics around her face¡ªshowing even through the through-spike as zing light manifestations¡ªmade it even more clear who was responsible. That <em>was </em>a bit more of a problem, but she could work on that part.


    As the fire winked out¡ªalmost all at once¡ªit revealed the charred soil of a new valley, showing that the cone had gone down as well as up and outward. Though, obviously, it had extended downward far less than out and that far less than up.


    Still, she¡¯d created a nice little, conical valley. Once it rained a few times, there¡¯d be a nice little pond at one end, even if it likely wouldn¡¯tst long.


    There was a beat of silence before Master Simon sat down and put his head in his hands. T just barely caught his muttering, ¡°I¡¯m too old for this¡­¡±


    Adrill was staring ck-jawed at the results, while Lyn, Brandon, and the other Talons were furiously taking notes and using the instruments and items that they¡¯d brought to continue collecting measurements.


    Well, Ron was stoically standing beside Lyn, but there was a sparkle of enjoyment in his eyes.


    Rane was simply chuckling, a small, pleased smile on his lips.


    Terry was looking between her and the results critically.


    She grinned at the avian. ¡°You like it? It¡¯s not quite the fabled dragon¡¯s breath, but it¡¯s not half bad.¡±


    It was probably time to try it against a real opponent. That would be the true test of its worth, but it had to be an enemy¡ªsomeone she didn¡¯t mind dying¡ªbecause this was decidedly <em>not</em> a sparring tool.


    Yes, she would have to try this against some arcane or magical creature. Magic saturated mundane materials were interesting, but Magic beasts were made of sterner stuff.


    She <em>really</em> wanted to try it against Leshkin, but she didn¡¯t want to face those generals again¡­ not yet.


    <em>I¡¯ll take them apart when the wares, but there¡¯s no need to poke the arcane before that.</em>


    <em>-Indeed there is not.-</em>


    Terry flickered to her shoulder. Then, T and Terry stared out at the devastation that she had wrought.


    As they did so, Terry let out a long, contented coo.


    ¡°How are you feeling?¡±


    He looked her way with one eye, then returned his gaze to the Talons going crazy over the new valley¡ªthe academics having jumped down to go investigate in person. With a fluff of his feathers, he let out a little squawk.


    ¡°Well, I want to know because I care about you. You are a member of my flock, and I want you to be doing well.¡±


    He let out a long, low trill, acknowledging her point.


    ¡°So? How are you?¡±


    Terry turned his head to look fully at her from barely four inches away. Though, the intimidation aspect was somewhat lessened by the armored helm between the two of them.


    He seemed to realize that, because he struck out, pecking it with a viciousness that he¡¯d never show to her actual face.


    There was a heavy, metallic thunk, and Terry cawed in irritation.


    ¡°You want my helmet off?¡±


    He cawed again.


    ¡°Fine.¡± She retracted the armor.


    This time, Terry moved his head forward more slowly. When he didn¡¯t encounter any metal, he nuzzled her cheek.


    ¡°So, you¡¯re doing well?¡±


    He nuzzled her again.


    ¡°I¡¯m d to hear that.¡±


    Then, the two of them turned back even as Rane stepped up and slipped his arm around her waist.


    T, at least, was hoping that they¡¯d get their data soon, so that she could fire off another st before they continued on to the north. Toward that end, she opened a portal on her back¡ªavoiding Rane¡¯s arm¡ªand began breathing in once again, refilling and rpressing her artificial lung.


    As she stood there, breathing in as preparation for another st¡ªwith her terror bird on her shoulder and her husband at her side¡ªshe had a thought that brought a smile to her lips, <em>It¡¯s the little things in life that make it truly worthwhile.</em>


    <em>-Little things¡­ like having a breath-weapon on the scale of the dragons of myth and legend?-</em>


    <em>Well, we don¡¯t actually know how effective it will be inbat. It looks really neat though.</em>


    <em>-¡­Sometimes you make it insulting to remember we¡¯re the same person.-</em>


    <em>Wha</em>¡ª<em>? Hey. That¡¯s not very nice.</em>


    t snorted but didn¡¯t say anything further.


    Rane was still staring at the results, a distant look in his eyes.


    T had another few moments before she was recharged¡ªand t was busy checking over the iron spellforms within the artificial lung for any issues that might have cropped up¡ªso she leaned a bit closer. ¡°Rane? What¡¯s going on?¡±


    He jumped slightly, then turned to regard her. ¡°That¡­ that was <em>incredible.</em> More than any singr attack I think that I¡¯ve ever seen in person. I¡¯m not sure how well it would deal with powerful entities, but an army? The Leshkin? You¡¯ll be able to hold a position almost by yourself with that.¡±


    She smiled happily at thepliment. ¡°Thank you. That was the hope, yeah. It¡¯s actually why I took so long making sure everything was in line before this test. There is too much destructive potential inherent in the attack to mess around with.¡±


    He was nodding slowly. ¡°It carried your aura with it, too. That means that enemy aura can oppose it, but I¡¯m not sure that would actually be effective? ¡­That will be something to see, regardless.¡±


    She gave him a critical look. ¡°I know that look. What idea do you have boiling behind those eyes?¡±


    He gave a wry smile. ¡°I think¡­ I think I might be able to steal kic energy.¡±


    T frowned. ¡°I mean¡­ yes? You already do that, right?¡±


    He chuckled. ¡°No, no, not just from attacksing my way. I think that¡ªwith my natural magics¡ªseeing this has given me the mental push to be able to¡­¡± He shook his head. ¡°Let me show you.¡±


    Rane¡¯s aura asserted itself within theirbined mastery over the rise they stood upon. As it did so, a sphere roiled with obvious magic.


    His inscriptions glowed in rippling sequences as he brought his power to bear.


    Finally, at the very center of the nearly ten-foot diameter sphere, a small orb of ice formed before simply hovering in ce, slowly rotating beneath the summer sun.


    T stepped forward, finding the air within therger sphere to be bitterly cold, utterly beyond even what the depths of winter would naturally bring.


    Ice formed hoarfrost patterns across her armor, even as the metal squealed in protest at the sudden change in temperature.


    A momentter, the little sphere of ice dropped and shattered upon the ground. Rane let out a ragged breath and swayed where he stood. ¡°Well, that was a less impressive demonstration than I was hoping for, but I think it got the idea across.¡±


    T was already nodding in understanding. ¡°Temperature is just kic energy on a smaller scale.¡±


    ¡°Exactly. What¡¯s more, I think I might be able to manipte thendscape, ruining footing, and just generally being a nuisance one way or another, but overall? I think setting pockets of super cooled or superheated air will be incredibly useful for battlefield control, and that doesn¡¯t factor in what we¡¯ve been practicing with my utilization of magic through authority.¡±


    T¡¯s smile became wry. ¡°Well, that certainly is a useful tool. Will this new application of power always exhaust you this much, though?¡±


    He shook his head vehemently. ¡°Oh no, not at all. I was cycling through my magics, testing them against my mental models and potential uses. I think even right now, I could aplish the same thing in less than half the time and with a tenth the power. With practice?¡± He shrugged. ¡°I guess we¡¯ll see.¡±


    Lyn cleared her throat, breaking into their conversation and drawing their attention away from each other. ¡°As interesting as this is¡ªand it is incredibly interesting¡ªI have other things I need to do. I really shouldn¡¯t stay for any further tests. Thank you for letting me see this initial firing, but would you be willing to let me back in Irondale? The others are about ready for your second st, but I think I¡¯ve seen what I have time for.¡±


    T smiled, turning to face her friend. ¡°Of course. Thank you foring to see.¡±


    Lyn smiled as T willed her back into Irondale, the older woman not resisting in the least.

 Chapter 499: Lunar Hunt

    T and Rane left a¡­ ckened in in their wake as they headed north, moving through the air in their unique ways.


    Terry stuck around for a bit, flickering around the edges of the area that T had devastated¡­ No, devastated was too gentle a term.


    Her third and fourth sts had been done as sweeping strikes acrossrger areas ofnd.


    Those had obliterated everything down to the soil¡ªand from what the Talons could tell, an inch or two of soil as well¡ªbut the attacks hadn¡¯t reshaped the terrain as much as the first two breaths had, understandably.


    Those¡ªoveid one atop the other¡ªhad made a decidedly significant alteration to the hills that had been at the center of her area of effect.


    Terry had stayed behind because he seemed to think that some things could have survived the sweeping devastation of her third and fourth strikes, and some of those lesser prey animals might be fleeing the area when they had cause to believe that the devastator¡ªT¡ªwas gone.


    He was apparently hankering after a snack, or at least a different type of hunting.


    T was¡­ surprisingly okay with that. As she considered, she realized that she¡¯d likely killed millions of insects, along with anything else that had been a part of the local ecosystem within the area affected¡ªthough, <em>some</em> hole dwelling critters might have survived¡­ if they''d been deep enough, or if they''d had a means of sealing their tunnels.


    Regardless, T had left the dark, rich soil behind.One of the Talon researchers who had been a farmer before his rebirth¡ªand who still worked with the farmers of Irondale¡ªhadmented that that dark, rich aftermath was actually likely an incredibly rich soil for nting. Apparently, fire was often one of the tools used to refresh areas ofnd to help maintain crop health and harvest nutritional content. The additional destruction of most of the rocks in the soil would make it even more ideal forrge scale farming.


    It was almost a shame that it would never be of use to anyone.


    <em>Imagine the boom in productivity and poption if the average citizen could have even a modicum of safety in the Wilds.</em>


    <em>-And if they could build something that was really</em> theirs, <em>something that they could pass on to their¡­- </em>t hesitated at the charged topic.


    T decided to leave the topic entirely.


    Lyn was apparently currently in discussions with Irondale farmers¡ªof which there were a surprising number, which added weight to her previous contemtions¡ªon incorporating dissolution magic cycling into the field rotations for the best harvest results.


    They were also discussing what, if anything, to charge for the service, to ensure it wasn''t abused or taken for granted.


    <em>-Your mind keeps going back to your breath.-</em>


    <em>Well, yeah. That was </em>amazing.<em> I love it when a nes together.</em>


    <em>-And this time it didn¡¯t even take a team to clean up after your experiments.-</em>


    After a long moment of irritated silence, during which she continued to run through the air with great leaping strides, T sighed. ¡­I have nothing meaningful with which to threaten you. ??¦­§°£Â¨ºs


    <em>-Nothing that you¡¯d actually do. And I thank you for that.-</em>


    T groused in her own mind as the mountains scrolled by on her left, the sun dipping down behind them.


    <em>-Oh, Rane is wondering if you want to set up for the night on a mountainside? He¡¯s found a nice little ledge that should have amanding view of the surrounding vistas.-</em>


    She considered for only a moment. <em>Sure, that sounds wonderful.</em>


    * * *


    It only took them another day or so to reach the edge of the forest, and it only took even that long because they weren¡¯t pushing that hard.


    T, Terry, and Ranended and symbolically came together on the ins just outside the southern edge of this northern portion of the encircling forest.


    There were some individual trees farther out, and it <em>could </em>be argued that the forest really started at the far edge of the great, intecing root-system that T could see with her threefold sight, but the three weren¡¯t concerned with exactness. Again, it was symbolic.


    ¡°Shall we?¡± Rane gestured for them to move forward.


    T grinned. ¡°Into the woods we go.¡±


    <em>-You two are ridiculous. You were just here with Terry a little bit ago. This isn¡¯t a ¡®first¡¯ of anything.-</em>


    Terry trumpeted toward the sky, adding his opinion to the mix.


    <em>-You too?-</em> t was clearly purposely speaking into Terry and T''s minds at the same time.


    The terror bird looked toward T and let out a decisive chirp while bobbing an affirmative.


    <em>-I¡¯m surrounded by crazy people.-</em>


    <em>And avians.</em>


    <em>-...Crazy. People.-</em>


    T huffed augh but didn¡¯t respond further.


    The three moved forward, passing under the trees.


    There was no ringing pronouncement, nor any swelling melody, but they all <em>felt</em> something shift, something that hadn¡¯t been present thest time that they¡¯de this way.


    <em>-Oh,e on. You couldn¡¯t have known that this would happen.-</em>


    <em>True, but it felt weighty, like something was awaiting us here. So we treated it with the gravitas that seemed appropriate given the feeling.</em>


    t harrumphed just as a small¡ªactually normal sized¡ªwolf came from deeper in the woods.


    It was alone, which was the first sign that something was odd. Where was its pack?


    Then, there were the facts that it was a mundane wolf, and then the fact that it was walking straight for them, not stalking, not flitting from tree to tree, just walking as if on some sort of summer stroll.


    The lupine was simply trotting their way like a puppy called home to his master.


    <em>-It¡¯s a trap!-</em>


    T <em>almost</em> jumped, and her armor <em>had</em> instantly flowed out of her in unconscious reaction, encasing her in its protective embrace. <em>What? Where? How?</em>


    <em>-Well, look at him?-</em> t indicated the wolf as it sat back on his haunches some thirty feet away. <em>-Is there anything about that which </em>doesn¡¯t <em>scream ¡®Look at me! Don¡¯t pay attention to your surroundings.¡¯? I mean, really¡­ Who would fall for that?-</em>


    <em>¡­So, to be clear, because the wolf is eye-catching, you think it¡¯s a trap?</em>


    <em>-Yes.-</em>


    <em>t¡­ Are you kidd</em>¡ª T¡¯s thoughts hitched as <em>something</em> seemed to vite her authority, while leaving her aura intact. She only noticed at all because of all of the training that she¡¯d been doing with t to separate her perception of the two.


    Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    ¡°Greetings, human.¡±<em></em>A <em>massive</em> wolf seemed to appear out of nowhere, crouched low as if about to spring forward¡­ or so its eyes would be at the same level as the humans it was addressing. ¡°Your arrival was expected. We bid you greetings, T, acknowledged of the Pack.¡±


    T twitched, grateful that her armor was already deployed.


    Rane¡¯s head jerked, twisting to the side so that he was looking at therge wolf without having to turn his body to face it.


    Terry flickered away, appearing behind T and Rane, facing away from therger wolf, clearly trusting them to defend his back as he watched theirs.


    t cackled. <em>-I knew it.-</em>


    T grimaced, chose not to address her alternate interface, and bowed toward the wolf, being careful to never take her eyes off of its gaze. ¡°Greetings. How shall we address you, esteemed member of the Pack?¡±


    The wolf chuckled a deep throaty growl. ¡°I am not a member of the inner hunt. I am still young and inexperienced, simply one of the minders of the lesser packs. You may call me Lupin. Let us depart.¡±


    ¡°Where, wolf?¡± T asked immediately.


    The massive eyes regard her for a moment. ¡°Where, what, human sireling?¡±


    ¡°Where are we going?¡±


    ¡°To Anatalis, of course. He sent his greetings, and it is only polite that you return them as quickly as you can.¡± Lupin flicked his head in order to indicate the mundane wolf. ¡°He will be your runner. Follow him to the best of your ability. Stay on the ground, or you will not be able to enter the domain of the Pack.¡±


    T was about to object when she really heard the words that Lupin had used. Not able to. They wouldn¡¯t be denied. It wouldn¡¯t be rude; they wouldn¡¯t be <em>able </em>to enter.


    Rane connected the facts as quickly as she had, adding in a bit of knowledge she¡¯de across, but never delved into. ¡°The sovereign domain of a god-beast?¡±


    ¡°Where else would the Pack call home, little human?¡± Without waiting for further questions, Lupin simply faded from T¡¯s perceptions, all of them save her budding awareness of her own authority.


    That wasn¡¯t sufficient to pin down where the wolf was, just the general direction of <em>something</em> that was keeping her from maintaining her authority around herselfpletely.


    The runner-wolf turned and took off at a slow trot to start.


    T nced toward Terry. ¡°You had better not flicker. I think there are strict conditions for passing the border of this domain. I don¡¯t want you to be left behind.¡±


    Terry groused momentarily but quickly agreed regardless.


    Without further dy, the three took off at a healthy run, quickly regaining ground on the wolf before them.


    The wolf, of course, sped up as soon as they drew near, matching their rushing pace, even though it seemed far harder for it than it was for them.


    They ran through the darkening woods, even though it wasn¡¯t even noon yet.


    The trees weren¡¯t <em>that</em> closely packed, nor was the foliage overhead that thick or interwoven.


    There also weren¡¯t clouds overhead.


    Yet, even so, the forest grew dark as they proceeded.


    Then, up ahead, beyond the racing wolf, T saw a deer. She alerted the others to its presence even as the cervid obviously noticed them and took off perpendicr to their erstwhile path.


    The runner-wolf let out a howl and diverted immediately, head dropping low in a clear, hunting posture.


    T had a moment of frustration. <em>Really? The wolf is getting distracted so easily?</em>


    Then, she actually thought about what was happening and immediately turned after the lupine hunter, speeding up.


    Rane and Terry were right on her heels, even as she overtook the wolf.


    With a gesture, she sent Terry out wide while she diverted from the direct route in the opposite manner, the two of them nking the fleeing deer.


    With their Refined-level physiques, it was almost trivial for them to overtake and then bypass the cervid before they both came back toward the middle, hemming the deer¡ªthe stag¡ªin.


    The stag reacted immediately, turning to face the ¡®lesser¡¯ threat of the wolf, Rane just behind.


    The little wolf growled rolling out of the way of the charging antlers, even as it stretched out and snapped at the creature as it passed.


    Rane didn¡¯t dodge, instead stretching forward¡ªusing incredible dexterity and precision¡ªto touch the deer between the antlers.


    There was an odd disjointment of motion, the head jerked to the side with all the speed it had previously possessed forward, even as the body continued in the same charge.


    The result was a loud <em>snap</em>, and the deer tumbling to the forest floor in a rather unhealthy heap.


    T¡¯s threefold sight had a perfect view of what Rane had done, and she felt herself grin broadly at his achievement.


    Rane¡¯s aura had been rebuffed entirely by the deer¡ªwhich had somehow had the aura resistance to stave off even the influence of a Refined, despite seemingly being mundane¡ªbut he hadn¡¯t let that deter him.


    He¡¯d been practicing utilizing his own magics through his authority for months now, just as T had proven was possible.


    He was <em>far</em> behind her, as made sense for a myriad of reasons, but he <em>had</em> gotten to the point that anything he touched woulde under his authority enough for him to enact his magics upon it, regardless of aura supremacy¡­ in theory.


    As limited as that seemed on first consideration, he¡¯d utilized it to <em>incredible</em> effect already, but it was hardly time for T to be focusing on that.


    All the other hunters stopped mid motion as a wave of <em>something</em> rippled over them all. The wolf, in particr, seemed incredibly affected.


    T felt the almost uncontroble urge to look upward, and she didn¡¯t fight it, allowing her focus to shift that direction.


    In the sky above was a full moon, hanging far too close to be natural, even though she couldn¡¯t see anything wrong even with her threefold sight.


    The wolf howled, even as a deepugh rumbled through the forest.


    The sound was very, <em>very</em> clearly from some predatory source, though it also carried a ringing note of amusement. <em>¡°The intention was to only allow the use of physical enhancements and pack tactics.¡±</em>


    Lupin was suddenly there, but the voice hadn¡¯t been his. He wasying on the ground, head tilted to the side to expose his throat.


    ¡°<em>Rise, the fault was not yours. This male human sireling has capacity beyond what even I realized. The fault is </em>mine.<em>¡±</em>


    T shivered at the pronouncement, <em>feeling</em> the power within the im. <em>Did he just take ownership of a mistake? Is that even possible?</em>


    <em>-I¡­ I think he did. Is there really power in that?-</em>


    <em>¡­Huh¡­ You know what? I think there is, at a conceptual level. So, if that¡¯s the case, why not at an Existence level too?</em>


    Lupin rose up once again and let out a growling whine before bowing to T. ¡°I take my leave. Wee to the Lunar Hunt.¡±


    Before T, Rane, or Terry responded, Lupin was gone, this time even from her still nascent sense of her own authority.


    The mundane wolf had vanished at some point without T noticing. Even when she went back in her memory, she couldn¡¯t pin down when the wolf had departed, the memory of the wolf now seeming somehow fuzzy.


    <em>¡°Now, wee to my domain, the forest behind the forest you humans know passing well.¡±</em>


    They looked around, not seeing anyone. ¡°Am I to assume that you are everywhere?¡±


    T had taken the lead, and Rane seemed to have no objections.


    Anatalis chuckled again, causing a deep-seated, instinctual response within T. She knew that a predator was watching her, and she didn¡¯t particrly like the sensation. <em>¡°No, and yes. I am not everywhere, but I can be anywhere. I think you understand that well enough.¡±</em>


    Her soulbound space¡ªKit; T could move herself to anywhere within it with utter ease. ¡°You have bound yourself to a voidling?¡±


    There was an <em>almost </em>stunned silence before a wolf, barely taller than Rane at the shoulders, appeared before them, regarding T with obvious interest.


    His coat was somehow as ck as midnight and as white as new-fallen snow. It seemed both fluffy like a winter rabbit and like each hair could pierce more effectively than thence of a charging Guard.


    His mouth didn¡¯t open as he spoke, but the voice was somehow obviously his, <em>¡°You two are even more fascinating in person than news of you led me to expect.¡±</em>


    Terry flickered to T¡¯s shoulder, regarding Anatalis.


    <em>¡°And Terry, avian cousin of my Pack. Be wee, one who is of a kind with my kin.¡±</em>


    Terry trilled a subdued response¡ªeven though he kept the god-beast¡¯s gaze¡ªwhich T took as thanks for the wee.


    T herself was taking deep slow breaths, trying to keep calm in a situation in which she realized she had virtually <em>no</em> power. She had finally noticed the subtler change which had apanied the swelling moon overhead and the final, full darkening of the sky which indicated the falling of night all around.


    The change was both subtle and infinitely important; her authority felt as if it sat in the palm of another, cradled and caressed but not crushed or vited.


    Not yet.


    She was still inmand of all that was hers, but all that was hers nowy within the authority of another, one far, <em>far</em> beyond her.


    <em>Is this what Walden feels?</em>


    <em>-It can¡¯t be. We aren¡¯t beyond him, and we don¡¯t actually have any authority over that which is his. I think that this is different.-</em>


    That was true. Here, though, rather than her host obviously owning the te off of which she ate, she felt as if she had been given leave to take fruit from an orchard. It was all the property of the owner, and he could stop her at a moment¡¯s notice, but she had leave to take some of the harvest¡ªat least for the moment.


    In light of that revtion, the growing lupine grin on Anatalis¡¯ face sent a shiver down her spine. <em>¡°We have much to discuss.¡±</em>


    Therge wolf turned and began to walk through the woods, heading north, clearly expecting them to follow.


    They shared a look, then did so without question.


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 Chapter 500: Deeper in We Go

    T and Rane shared a look before following after Anatalis. Terry didn¡¯t leave T¡¯s shoulder, but his eyes were flicking all around, despite them both maintaining their standard clouds of bloodstars, giving threefold sight and perception respectively.


    The trees grewrger as the four continued, the ce starting to feel more and more like the Leshkin woods to the south. One major difference, however, was that the trees were of mixed varieties, and the overall result was less uniform in appearance.


    Where the Leshkin woods seemed almost like a great hall¡ªimmense beyond reason, made using a forest as its foundation and trees as its living pirs¡ªthis was simply an ancient forest, still in the primacy of its power.


    Yet, despite the surrounding distractions, T couldn¡¯t get her mind off of two things.


    First, her three-fold sight was acting¡­ oddly. She could still see just as well as ever¡ªand through the physical to the same degree¡ªbut it somehow felt¡­ off.


    If she were relying on her mundane sight, she¡¯d say that everything was color shifted.


    Second, Kit was pulling at her soul¡­ oddly.


    For some reason, Kit seemed to be starward of her now, rather than stoneward, so it seemed like they¡¯d been flipped around somehow?


    <em>Is this ce upside down or something?</em><em>-I don¡¯t know. Kit is acting really quiet, though. That¡¯s probably due to Anatalis¡¯ presence. She still has a lot of her basic instincts, and he </em>is<em> an apex predator.-</em>


    <em>Yeah¡­ I guess so.</em>


    Rane was the first to speak as they worked their way between the great trees. ¡°Are we right in understanding that this is a sovereign domain?¡±


    Anatalis nced back their way. <em>¡°Yes, and no. When the world was young and I hunted in the wild-magic storms of old</em>¡ª<em>dipping between levels of existence</em>¡ª<em>I was alone of my own kind. I gained power through means I will not share, and most of which are no longer avable, even if I did. That left me with immortality and a fully realized soul.¡±</em>


    T was taken aback by the mini flood of information, most of which she had really no context for, but she was <em>very</em> careful not to interject.


    <em>¡°After years beyond my reckoning, I found another like me, though not of my kind. She and I were both alone in the vastness of existence, and we foundfort andpanionship in one another. We grew in power together until we could grow no further. This form, here, is my mostmon form, but not my only one.¡±</em>


    She understood an instant before he said the next part, but let him continue uninterrupted


    <em>¡°This domain is </em>her <em>mostmon form, but not her only one. Our descendants are the Pack, and we draw other wolves to us to aid them at need.¡±</em>


    As if a veil had been pulled back, T¡¯s threefold sight suddenly saw the superficial¡­ starward of where she was. Starward even of where Kit awaited her.


    <em>Well¡­ rust. How did I miss that?</em>


    <em>-Obscuring magics? Kit in the way? Dealing with Sovereign level entities, here, T. There are quite literally infinite possible exnations. But we¡¯re missing the critical piece, here. ...Anatalis¡¯ mate is a voidling?-</em>


    <em>Right, right. Focus. If she¡¯s not a voidling, whatever voidlings grow into if they achieve advancement on their own at the very least¡­</em> T felt through her connection to Kit, and found the voidling utterly still, as if trying not to draw attention to herself.


    <em>-And we¡¯re now inside her.-</em> t poked at Kit, getting no response.


    <em>Like being inside Kit, yeah.</em> t poked again, and T mentally smacked the alternate interface. <em>Stop that. Leave Kit alone.</em>


    <em>-...fine. I¡¯ll leave her be. But, will you please ask him if we are right? Could a sufficiently powerful voidling fix Zeme?-</em>


    T sighed, then nodded. <em>I will, but after something else. </em>She cleared her throat. ¡°What may we call your mate, and how shall we address her?¡±


    <em>¡°Vidarra. Though, she hears all within our domain regardless of address.¡±</em>


    ¡°Thank you for the introduction, and thank you, Vidarra, for hosting us.¡±


    Anatalis huffed but didn¡¯t respond elsewise. There <em>was</em> a slight uptick in the wind, causing the trees to sway a bit more noticeably for a moment.


    It was lovely and rxing, so T took that as a good sign. ¡°Now, if I may ask, with so much power at your disposal, why did you not absorb the whole of Zeme and the Doman-Imithe and put it back as it should have been?¡±


    Anatalis stopped then, turning to regard her. <em>¡°You assume much, young one, and presume more.¡±</em>


    T felt a tension in the air.


    Still, the wolf didn¡¯t seem angry. <em>¡°I will first state that in order to do so without risking my beloved, I would have to y </em>all<em> such as you with gated souls. I would also have to destroy any simrly mobile sources of magic. Doing so</em>¡ª<em>assuming such is possible, which is arge assumption</em>¡ª<em>would radically change Zeme, and I fear in ways not entirely for the better. I quite like you humans, and a cleansing would be¡­ distasteful.¡±</em>


    T felt herself pale. She hadn¡¯t even considered that. Well, she had, but she¡¯d assumed that a god-beast would have some way around the abrasion that gates and simr sources of magic created in their wake. ¡°Well, thank you for that.¡±


    Anatalis chuckled, the sound just as predatory as ever. <em>¡°But of course.¡±</em>


    As he truly didn¡¯t seem mad, she decided to press a bit further. ¡°So, the main difficulty is the abrasion that the passages from the next world cause as they move about?¡±


    The wolf tilted his head to the side. <em>¡°That is like asking if the main reason you get wet in the ocean is all the water.¡±</em>


    ¡°So¡­ yes?¡±


    <em>¡°That is the primary hindrance, yes. But if you were swimming in the ocean and all the water vanished, you¡¯d plummet quite a distance. Sttering on bedrock beside myriad other creatures causes a different sort of wetness, but wetness all the same.¡±</em>


    T frowned. ¡°You¡¯ve lost me with that analogy.¡±


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    The wolf sighed, and the trees swayed as if in the breeze from that sigh. <em>¡°It wasn¡¯t meant to be perfect, just to demonstrate that sometimes the paths we take to avoid a thing have unconsidered consequences.¡±</em>


    ¡°I can understand that. I imagine that the Sovereigns and other god-beasts would object to someone gobbling up all of Zeme.¡±


    Anatalis chuckled, and T and Rane shared another look, both shivering at the sensation that came along with the sound. <em>¡°Yes, and no. Most do not have authority over any dimensionality, thus the reworking of the foundations of the world would affect them very little.¡± </em>He regarded her for a long moment. <em>¡°I will tell you one more reason, then the subject will beplete for the present time.¡±</em>


    After a moment¡¯s silence, T realized that he was waiting for her to state her agreement. ¡°Understood and agreed.¡±


    He regarded her for a long moment before huffing once and continuing, <em>¡°To do so would invest our power and authority into the very bedrock of Zeme. We wouldn¡¯t be vulnerable, per se</em>¡ª<em>not as even immortals consider such things</em>¡ª<em>but we would not be able to do much else with our power while we maintained such. Our Pack would be vulnerable as never before.¡±</em>


    That tickled the back of T¡¯s mind, and it only took a moment to figure out why. <em>Master Grediv warned that if we made Kit too big, we¡¯d likely stretch our control and our power thin.</em>


    <em>-And to stretch it over a whole world¡­-</em>


    <em>Exactly, yeah¡­</em>T nodded slowly. ¡°I think I understand. Thank you.¡±


    Anatalis huffed, then turned and continued northward, maintaining a steady, ground-eating pace, T, Rane, and Terry just behind.


    * * *


    They weren¡¯t really sure how long they traveled north.


    T and t¡¯s sense of time was distorted somehow, and while t could still reliably check the Archive, something about the time information that she received in return didn¡¯t quite line up in ways that made sense.


    After a while, the alternate interface stopped trying to make sense of it.


    Apparently, Rane and Enar were having the same difficulty, and t and Enar were especially frustrated and thrown off by the phenomenon.


    Terry¡­ was asleep. As such, he obviously didn''t care one way or the other.


    When t checked in with Lyn in Irondale, the Fused responded that everything seemed fine on her end. Though it was night within Irondale and everyone was either asleep or moving that way. Even Lyn had been near going to bed when t had contacted her.


    Overall, she wasn''t a helpful touchpoint.


    <em>I thought it was morning when we came to the forest. Has it been that long?</em>


    <em>-I suppose so?-</em>


    T agreed as the alternatives were worse than a lost day.


    All in all, it was a bit of a surreal experience, running through a seemingly unending, never repeating forest.


    The nt and animal life was abundant and pervasive, and most of it seemed to be utterly uncaring of their passage.


    Rane asked after the oddity, and Anatalis seemingly happily exined that the various animals had few natural predators.


    Those animals weren¡¯t enjoyable to hunt, so the wolves left them alone, and no other apex predators were allowed within the Lunar Hunt.


    So, as funny as it was, the smaller prey animals were living in a sort of paradise in this domain.


    That made T think of Walden, and she wondered how the elk was doing. A quick, mental check revealed that he seemed just as always, content in finally growing woods.


    All told, as interesting as traveling was, T felt herself bing a bit irritated. She knew that, if Vidarra was anything like Kit, they likely could have all been moved directly to wherever they were going, but as hospitable and weing as Anatalis had been, she didn¡¯t want to test his patience by questioning his methods overmuch¡­ at least not out loud.


    <em>-And it¡¯s very possible that different members of Kit''s species</em>¡ª<em>or whatever we should call it</em>¡ª<em>have differing abilities.-</em>


    <em>That... actually makes some sense¡­ Huh. </em>T felt her irritation fade, now that she had a potential alternative exnation.


    <em>-You don''t have to sound so surprised. I often have very sensible ideas.-</em>


    <em>You''re right. Thank you for the idea.</em>


    <em>-You are most wee.-</em>


    After an indeterminable length of time, T, Rane, and Terry found themselves loping out into arge, round clearing, surrounded by short cliffs on every side, save where they had entered and the space directly opposite.


    On that far side the cliffs went <em>down</em> instead of up. Through that break, they could see a massive rolling forestid out before them, mountains rising up here and there in the distance, as individual spires of rock, save for one range that was off to their left, leading away toward the far horizon.


    T wondered what therge, t, circr space was used for, but the thought was pushed aside, her eyes widening as she made a connection to what she was, and had been, feeling. ¡°This¡­ this is a true fragment, like the House of Blood has in Croi.¡±


    Just like when she¡¯d realized that they were no longer on the superficial, she felt like a veil was pulled back from her threefold sight, and she took a look at how Zeme <em>should</em> be with that sight for the first time.


    The true fragment was¡­ overwhelming in its simplicity.


    It wasn¡¯t one, unified reality-node, but there was a connectedness to the individual parts that T hadn¡¯t really seen before.


    <em>We¡¯ve been ¡®fixing¡¯ a skeleton by fusing the bones to one another¡­</em>


    <em>-It¡¯s¡­ It¡¯s beautiful.-</em>


    There was void there¡ªbetween the nodes¡ªand there was magic as well, dancing throughout, seemingly uncaring of void or reality.


    It was harmony.


    It was a well oiled machine, where T had thought a statue should be resting.


    Anatalis¡¯ response pulled her focus away from her threefold sight. The wolf huffed even as heid down. <em>¡°Those¡­ arcanes could only </em>wish <em>to have a fragment asrge and as stable as this.¡±</em>


    She swallowed, shaking her head in wonder. ¡°I thought that the chances of another were¡­ astronomical.¡±


    The wolf gave a lupine shrug. <em>¡°We fished it from the void. It was barely hanging on, with almost no connection to even the Doman-Imithe. Vidarra drew it into herself, and¡­¡± </em>He shook his head, nced toward T with a critical eye. <em>¡°I will say no more.¡±</em>


    <em>We¡¯ve been doing it wrong, but I¡­ I don¡¯t know how to get </em>this<em> result.</em>


    <em>-I know¡­ It would be more susceptible to magical effects, but that¡¯s part of the point, isn¡¯t it? What we¡¯ve been doing is magically making Reality supreme¡­ somehow.-</em>


    <em>And that¡¯s what makes magic so much weaker within the space.</em>


    At least, that¡¯s what they¡¯d done in her sparring ring and artificial lung. Thankfully, they hadn¡¯t done the same at the old Marliweather city site.


    They¡­ they had a lot to consider.


    <em>-I¡¯ll g this for Mistress Ingrit. I¡¯m sure she¡¯ll know who to bring in on this.-</em>


    T sent her agreement, even as she continued to allow the newly revealed sights to pour through her.


    Rane sat a respectful distance from the wolf, and T joined him just before her husband spoke, ¡°You invited us here¡­ Well, you invited T and Terry here. To what end?¡±


    Eyes that shone like the moon that still hung close overhead regarded Rane for a moment. <em>¡°I would test you as well, so that you may receive the same boons that your mate does.¡±</em>


    Rane nodded slowly, seemingly noticing that the wolf hadn''t really answered but willing to be diverted by what was offered. ¡°I appreciate the invitation to prove myself. Would such a test be simr to T¡¯s fight with your sireling?¡±


    Anatalis¡¯ deep, rumblingugh rolled forth once more. <em>¡°Indeed, save your soulbound mate</em>¡ª<em>and herpanion</em>¡ª<em>will not be allowed to join you. The pup learned much from his defeat at the hands of your mate, and I wish him to continue to learn from your kind, not repeat the lesson at a starker disadvantage.¡±</em>


    ¡°Very well. I ept. When would be best?¡±


    <em>¡°How about now?¡±</em>


    T jerked back from her reverie, fully processing what Rane had been saying even as she felt dozens of massive wolves seeminglye from nowhere, eachying on the top of the cliffs, all looking down on the wide, unnaturally t space.


    <em>Oh¡­ it¡¯s an arena.</em> And her husband was about to fight in it.

 Chapter 501: How He Did So

    T, Rane, and Terry sat next to the physical manifestation of Anatalis, god-beast of the Pack and Lord of the Northern Forest - northern from the gated-human perspective.


    As they were traveling out and away from the cycling cities, T was <em>trying </em>to reframe her understanding of various things like that.


    Rane¡¯s eptance of the opportunity to test himself against the Pack¡¯s current sireling¡ªwhom T had faced years earlier¡ªstill hung in the air, along with the magical signatures of more than fifty giant wolves who were now looking down on the arena in which their group rested.


    <em>Well, he didn¡¯t waste any time.</em>


    <em>-Well, of course not. He¡¯s excited to sh with an opponent he saw you fight. That doesn¡¯t get to happen very often.-</em>


    <em>That¡¯s¡­ fair.</em> She really couldn¡¯t fault his eagerness.


    Anatalis had a lupine¡ªvery predatory¡ªgrin across his face as his guests looked around at the surrounding creatures.


    In that moment, T had a realization. <em>If the sirelings take a hundred years to mature, and the Pack only has one at a time, just the wolves here represent more than five thousand years of Anatalis¡¯ life and consistent growth in power</em>¡ª<em>even if just by the expansion of his Pack</em>¡ª<em>and this is likely not all of them. Though it is most likely the majority.</em>


    <em>-It also exins why no one has seen him as a specific threat, not yet at least.-</em><em>Yeah. I mean, we¡¯ve no reason to believe that he¡¯s more powerful than any other Sovereign level entity, and his descendants are easily matched in number and power by others we know of. The Pack couldn¡¯t bring down the arcane cities by themselves, and even gated-humanity could probably cause him trouble if we came to conflict.</em>


    <em>-Not a lot of trouble but definitely some, yeah.-</em>


    Still, his base of power would only continue to expand, and he had a near eternity to continue. It was no wonder that he had not been more prominent, but with gated-humanity by his side? Possibly even under his aegis? T suddenly understood why the wolves had approached Alefast, Waning, to test gated-humanity.


    They were at¡ªor very near¡ªa tipping point of power.


    In the momentary silence in which T¡¯s mind was racing along concepts of power and alliance, Terry flickered to stand on his own, sized to match an oxen¡¯s height, if not mass. He trilled at the sky, causing a ripple of rumbling chuckles from the watching wolves.


    Anatalis regarded Terry for a long moment before dipping his head. <em>¡°Your own request for an individual trial is noted, avian cousin, but your experience makes a match against the sireling useless as a test, as profitable as it might be for his own development.¡± </em>He let out his own rumblingugh, speaking even as it wound down, <em>¡°Only yourck of advancement allowed your participation in your flockmate¡¯s test, and that has since been¡­ remedied. Congrattions.¡±</em>


    Terry paused a moment, head tilted to one side, before trilling again.


    That caused the watching wolves to exchange looks, as they clearly understood him even better than T could. <em>¡°Very well. Once the human is tested, I will allow your test against a mature Packmate. You may fight the sireling at your leisure after that, should you please us with your performance. Reviving one such as your would-be opponent is not without cost however, so the contest will have other conditions for possible victory, aside from death alone.¡±</em>


    The watching wolves threw back their heads and howled almost as one, the slight dissonance lending a haunting quality to the clearly approving gesture.


    <em>Bothbatants can fight to the death without it being a final death.</em>


    <em>-That should be rather interesting, yeah. Even with other win-conditions, the potential to go all-out? It will be fascinating to see.-</em>


    <em>¡°But first, the sireling shall test his fang, w, and power against young Rane.¡±</em>


    T and Terry moved to the base of the cliff before both flickering up to a clear space on the edge, looking down. Terry preceded T by a bare fraction of a second, but that was enough for her aura to be firm enough atop the cliff so that she could join him without appreciable dy.


    Rane remained seated even as Anatalis faded, seeming to break apart into glowing mist that in turn lost its glow and vanished.


    A momentter, the sireling¡ªa russet furred wolf just about the size of arge horse¡ªjumped down into therge, round depression.


    His fur was crisscrossed with a few scars that should have given him a haggard appearance, but instead ofcking hair, the scars grew fur of a silver-white, and that gave him a more mottled, textured appearance than was usual, even if it was less extreme than it had been when the sireling fought T.


    Apparently, his coat had been refreshed upon his death, and he¡¯d not had the chance to re-earn as many scars as he¡¯d previously boasted.


    Rane stood slowly before bowing to the wolf. ¡°Greetings, sireling of the Pack.¡±


    A voice that T recognized responded, sounding more animalistic than Anatalis¡¯¡ªor even Lupin¡¯s¡ªhad, ¡°Greetings, human of the cycling cities. Fight well, so that we may both learn and grow from the sh. Remember that surrender is an option. I¡¯d hate to end your life needlessly.¡±


    A presence descended upon the arena, suppressing and deactivating Rane¡¯s inscriptions, but that was only a mild inconvenience for the young man. His natural magics were as chasms, as he had had nearly the same inscriptions for the entirety of his time with magic.


    Enar would, unfortunately, be suppressed for this time, but t said the alternate interface was fine with that. She was confused by his feelings, but she wasn¡¯t about to try to argue Enar <em>into</em> a fear of such things.


    Aside from Enar, the changes that Rane had received were almost all enhancements of previously existing spellforms, meant to build upon those which were already in ce, deepening them and extending their utility.


    All told, he would be fighting at a <em>very</em> high level for a human Mage, bereft of inscriptions.


    T couldn¡¯t keep the grin from her face as she watched her husband face off against the sireling. As she watched, bone seemed to sprout from his skin, looking like abination of fast-growing wood and tesing from hiddenpartments¡ªeven though she knew it was neither¡ªand in less than a second, Rane¡¯s bone-armor had literally clicked into ce, entirely encasing him.


    The magics inherent in the armor¡ªderived from the bone-golem he¡¯d harvested¡ªallowed him to see using the bone itself. Being soulbound, it was allowed, and all of its power was ready to hand.


    <em>He¡¯s taking this quite seriously.</em>


    <em>-Indeed.-</em>


    Her magesight easily picked out the magics as the sireling carved spellforms into existence itself around himself, sending out the opening attack of the fight, a simple fireball.


    Rane didn¡¯t even bother blocking, simply extinguishing the attack as soon as it entered his aura.


    T felt her eyes widen, however, as she¡ªbeing intimately familiar with Rane¡¯s magics¡ªnoticed <em>how</em> he did so. Aside from her familiarity, she felt <em>something</em> through her soulbond with him, but she didn¡¯t have time to trace that down at the moment.


    What the sireling had done could have easily been seen as a test of Rane¡¯s aura strength, which Rane would have ssically responded to by simply obliterating the magic once it was within his control.


    Instead, Rane had done exactly as he had told her he would. He manipted the kic energy, taking in the monumental amount of power that the open spell had contained, and holding it in readiness for¡­ something.


    A smile pulled at T¡¯s lips. <em>He¡¯s going to surprise us all, isn¡¯t he?</em>


    <em>-If I said yes, wouldn¡¯t that mitigate the surprise?-</em>


    T huffed augh, causing the wolf to her right to nce her way, mild confusion in his eyes.


    They both knew that nothing unexpected had seemingly happened. So the wolf was likely curious as to why she seemed to feel Rane had done something noteworthy or amusing.


    Still, the sh below was already moving ahead, drawing and keeping all the observers¡¯ focus.


    The sireling had gotten faster at changing out his natural magics, even seeming able to be working on more than one such spellform at a time. As such, he flickered around the arena while sending a storm of ice, fire, and rocks, all striking with precision and speed.


    The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the vition.


    Rane, in contrast, simply stood, eyes closed, natural magics dancing around him as each attack was robbed of power before it could touch him.


    The only time Rane moved at the beginning of the sh was when the debris around him piled high enough that it threatened to be inconvenient, and so he shifted positions to keep clear footing around himself.


    The only type of attack that seemed to evoke a different sort of response in those opening moments were those of obviously different energy.


    The first time a bolt of lighting struck at Rane, T tensed, uncertain how he would respond and defend against such.


    Rane evidently didn¡¯t share her concern as he almostzily touched Force to the ground, the lightning of the iing attack redirecting to hit the pommel before channeling down the de into the ground without seeming to harm Rane or Force in the least.


    That seemed to get an emotional response from the sireling for the first time.


    He yipped in seeming glee at this new reaction from his opponent, sending a <em>storm¡¯s </em>worth of lightning at Rane.


    Rane didn¡¯t react one way or another emotionally, simply allowing every strike to channel down through his pommel and into the ground.


    Through their bond, T felt only calm assurance from the man.


    She wasn¡¯t sure how the sireling was making the lightning continue to move toward Rane, even after it had entered her husband¡¯s aura¡ªhuman lightning Mages generally had to deal with their attacks scattering¡ªfollowing more natural paths¡ªafter they entered a hostile aura. She also wasn¡¯t sure how Rane was drawing every strike to Force, but after more than a minute of ineffective strikes, everyone hade to ept that it wasn¡¯t a fluke or something that would tax Rane or the sword to continue doing.


    He was effectively immune to that type of attack.


    So, the sireling changed to light attacks, causing Rane to actually bark out a shortugh.


    His entire being lit brightly to her magesight as his natural magics strained and strove to act on the light in the miniscule fraction of a second in which the light was within his aura.


    The bright, almost purple-white beam of raw light that the sireling was maintaining turned almost immediately red as it entered Rane¡¯s aura, graduating into infrared, and then down into true invisibility, even to T¡¯s threefold sight.


    It still caused Rane¡¯s armor to heat up where it shone, but he stole the kic energy of that heat just as easily as from the fire-attacks before.


    <em>Where is he¡­ oh!</em>


    <em>-Good, good, you found it.-</em>


    Rane was dumping the captured power into the bedrock of the sanctum, clearlymunicating with Kit at least enough that she was keeping the heat contained instead of letting it disperse into the environment atrge.


    The sireling showed growing irritation as seemingly every magic type he threw at Rane was countered or ignored.


    Finally, space and dimensionality tried to assault Rane at the sireling behest, and Rane¡¯s all too familiar defenses were finally activated, moving him around the battlefield and out of the way of every attack, no matter the angle.


    <em>The siege orbs could still be a problem for him, given their homing nature, and my dissolution breath, by its very nature, would be nearly impossible for him to counter or even evade.</em>


    <em>-...True, but should you be trying to figure out how to kill your own husband?-</em>


    <em>Kill? No. Defeat in a spar?</em> She grinned. <em>Absolutely.</em>


    <em>-We are strange.-</em>


    <em>Undoubtedly.</em>


    The sireling was bing increasingly and overtly frustrated as he cycled through magics one after another to no appreciable effect.


    Next, the wolf did something. T was sure he did¡ªshe watched the magics take shape, and strike forth, washing over Rane.


    Rane staggered for only a moment before T felt the tell-tale feeling of his berserk rage activating, throwing off the magics.


    Truthfully, she¡¯d never felt it before, but it could be nothing else. Her soul <em>knew</em> the instant it happened.


    Rane somehow mastered himself almost instantly,ing back to himself after only taking three quick steps forward.


    <em>Mind attack?</em>


    <em>-That would track, given what we¡¯ve seen from the sireling before.-</em>


    <em>That boon¡­ it seems to be more of a true boon the more powerful the recipient. Now that he¡¯s Refined, Rane seems to be really getting some benefits from it.</em>


    <em>-Indeed.-</em>


    Clearly irritated, the sireling forged an all too familiar magic, woven with fire. It was seemingly the same void-fire that the wolf had used against Terry in T and Terry¡¯s sh with the wolf.


    Rane dealt with it as he had all previous fire, stripping the heat away. The void, however continued forward, even if robbed of some of its might.


    As the cloud of void-magic hit Rane, the intricately interlocked tes of his bone armor seemed to shift, and T <em>felt</em> the pushbacking from their very core.


    WE ARE ONE.


    <em>Of course. Bone-golems take in bone, absorb it, and make it their own. They could be seen as a less pernicious dasgannach. They are less problematic too, for all their danger.</em>


    The sireling growled in frustration.


    Finally, he began to build a spellform that T <em>thought</em> was familiar, though she¡¯d never seen it before.


    The working was only half created when Anatalis¡¯ voice cracked out, his power destroying the spellform even as he spoke, <em>¡°No soulmagics.¡±</em>


    There was a fractional pause, in which the sireling hung his head in obvious shame, but it didn¡¯tst long.


    With ranged magics clearly not working, the sireling finally charged in, seemingly set on winning by dint of fang and bulk.


    Rane held Force up above his head in a ready pose, his offhand reaching forward defensively.


    As the wolf lunged forward, the sireling activated a form of teleportation, utterly changing his attack trajectory, but Rane¡¯s magics reacted all the same, moving him out of the way of the snapping jaws.


    At the same time, Rane reached out with his offhand and touched the side of the wolf¡¯s snout.


    T <em>felt</em> the flexing of Rane¡¯s soul as he bore down to enact magic through the authority of that brief contact.


    The massively heated rock of the sanctum lost all the extra energy Rane had painstakingly built up in a blink, and Rane strained himself to the extreme in order to force his power to work.


    And it did.


    It was as inefficient as blowing on the surface of ava-flow to cool it off, but when he had the breath-equivalent of a monsoon, it changed the results.


    The wolf¡¯s head jerked sideways, kic energy imparted through the lupine¡¯s defenses.


    With a crack like the shattering of a cier, the sireling¡¯s neck broke. With continued motion, now no longer as resisted, the arena filled with the horrid sound of rending flesh, and the massive body tumbled to the ground, lifeless and still.


    The head pped wetly against the nearby cliff a momentter before sliding to the ground more than twenty feet from the body.


    In the sudden silence, the only sound was the building, predatoryugh of Anatalis, god-beast of the Pack.


    No one spoke or moved for nearly a quarter minute as the head slithered across the ground back toward where the corpsey. Then, with a sound like rustling canvas, the flesh was mended before the sickening sound of cracking bone and popping cartge filled the arena once more, the sireling¡¯s head and necking back into proper alignment.


    Therge wolf stood slowly, causing Rane to take several steps back, cautiously regarding his opponent.


    Instead of attacking, however, the sireling tilted his massive head to the side, exposing his throat to Rane. <em>¡°Thank you for the lesson, human. I have been¡­ remiss in my studies on more esoteric magics. You have held my deficit up in stark relief. I will strive to improve so that my next showing will bring honor to the Pack.¡±</em>


    Rane gave a bow in return. ¡°Thank you for the match, sireling of the Pack. You were a worthy opponent against which to sharpen my magics. It has been my honor to prepare for this sh, since I watched you sh with my wife.¡±


    Anatalis¡¯ voice came from the very air around them. <em>¡°Pack, has the human shown himself worthy?¡±</em>


    The giant wolves present¡ªthe sireling included¡ªthrew their heads back and howled toward the massive moon hanging low overhead.


    <em>¡°I agree. Be weed, Rane of gated-humanity; may your hunts be ever fruitful, and your den ever safe.¡±</em>


    Rane bowed again in thankful acknowledgement.


    T could <em>feel</em> the soul-deep joy bubbling up within Rane even as his inscriptions zed back to life across and throughout his body.


    So many of the principles that he¡¯d applied in the fight with the wolf had been ones that they¡¯d worked on together over thest years, brought to culmination in thest months. He was a force to be reckoned with even if his lethality was mostly confined to melee range at the moment.


    <em>-And he hasn¡¯t even begun to experiment with the battlefield control work that your breath weapon inspired him to conceive of.-</em>


    She hadn¡¯t thought of that.


    With a predatory grin of her own, she adjusted a small portion of his aura to be fully hers before flickering down¡ªusing him and his aura as she did Terry¡ªwithout conscious thought.


    When she arrived, she gave him an almost demure kiss on the cheek¡ªhaving to hop up a little to make itnd¡ªonly the smoldering intensity in her eyes keeping it from being a truly chaste kiss.


    Her husband was bing <em>powerful, </em>and he was here with her.


    He was <em>hers.</em>


    She was his, and they were forging something new, <em>together.</em>


    In that moment of glory, she felt like Anatalis himself had struck her in the gut, all her joy leaving her in a rush.


    They were together, but there wouldn¡¯t be anyone to pass what they built onto.


    <em>What does any of this matter? I continue childless, without heir or legacy. Even if I were to live ten thousand years before death, what will I leave behind?</em>


    Rane noticed the shift within her immediately¡ªlikely through their soulbond¡ªher pain reaching her very soul, her gate trembling as the truth of it struck her deeply.


    He caught her up in his arms and enfolded her in his embrace, even as she was wracked with uncontroble sobs.


    Silence fell over the Pack as the wolves regarded the two humans.


    Terry flickered down to stand beside them, ring around as if daring any wolf to either take advantage of their distracted state or disrupt their moment of unified venting emotion.


    T wasn¡¯t sure how long passed in that way, and t was kind enough to not tell her one way or another. But when she had pulled herself mostly back together, she pulled slightly away from Rane, feeling suddenly embarrassed.


    Anatalis spoke then, <em>¡°You bear a heavy burden, one that is antithesis to much that I and Vidarra stand for. Know that we mourn with you, and you have nothing to be ashamed of in your grief.¡±</em>


    T nodded slowly, feeling some justification from the words, even as she continued to takefort from Rane¡¯s presence. ¡°Thank you, Anatalis. Your words are a great boon to me.¡±


    The wolf manifested near to them and huffed. ¡°It is no true boon, but I take your meaning, young one.¡±


    T¡¯s eyes widened in a momentary, hopeful thought. <em>Would he¡­ maybe give a true boon? Would that be enough?</em>

 Chapter 502: Of Boons and Distraction

    T and Rane stood close, Terry at their back as T regarded Anatalis with budding hope. ¡°Great Anatalis, could you fix our issue with a boon? If so, we would move the Doman-Imithe and Zeme itself to earn such from you.¡±


    The wolf let out a deep, almost dramatic sigh. <em>¡°You haven¡¯t been able to conceive, have you? That is the issue of which you speak.¡±</em>


    ¡°No.¡± Rane was the one who answered, ¡°We can tell you what we know, if that would help to¡ª¡±


    The wolf shook his head. <em>¡°There is no need. I can already see the obvious issue. I don¡¯t see you being able to conceive a mortal child, and humans can¡¯t birth immortals.¡±</em>


    That tickled something in T¡¯s scrabbling mind, and shetched onto it. ¡°But you are a specialist in birthing immortals.¡± She gestured to the surrounding wolves. ¡°That¡¯s what you and great Vidarra do, and have done, for every one of your children.¡±


    <em>¡°That is true, but just because a birdys eggs that does not mean she can teach an elephant to do the same, and sitting on a nest does not make an elephant into a bird.¡± </em>He chuckled. <em>¡°Though, such would be quite the sight, indeed.¡±</em>


    T felt sadness begin to resurface despite Anatalis¡¯ attempt to lift the mood. ¡°So, not by normal means, then¡­¡±


    <em>¡°No, regrettably not.¡±</em>


    ¡°What of a boon?¡± Rane had spoken up once again.<em>¡°You could earn a boon, and that would allow </em>something.<em> In truth, the answer would be yes, but no. I implore you to not take this route. A boon from nearly any being of my advancement could make such possible. It would be a much smaller thing for myself and my Vidarra than for most others, in fact. But, to do so would fundamentally change who T is, and not in a good way. It would likely alter Rane as well. On the other side, if we locked you both as you are, preventing alterations to your bodies and souls while finding another path for an immortal child to be born, such a boon would so mangle any child that they would have no ce in human society, or anywhere else that I know of. Even your little vige would not be able to keep them.¡±</em>


    ¡°How can that be true?¡± T tried to grab onto the potential for hope. ¡°It is my town, how could my child be unwee?¡±


    <em>¡°Can you imagine each of the magical or arcanous creatures you¡¯ve encountered in your town? Or are there some that wouldn¡¯t mesh well?¡±</em>


    ¡°Well¡­ of course some don¡¯t fit, but most of them that wouldn¡¯t¡­¡± Her eyes widened. ¡°Magical beasts you said? But my town is mostly gateless.¡±


    <em>¡°And do magical beasts ignore arcanes?¡±</em>


    Rane was frowning. ¡°Is he saying that any viable child, as allowed by a boon, would be a Magical creature?¡±


    T frowned. ¡°I think he¡¯s using that as an analogy.¡±


    <em>¡°A bit of both. That is one way that a child could be possible, but a human born as a magical beast would be fundamentally different from your mundane stock. It would feel an instinctual revulsion toward all gated, including the two of you. It would likely be a champion of the arcanes, even while it despised them almost as much. It¡¯s hard to tell, though. There are almost no sapient magical beasts, and any child born with such a change would decidely be that.¡±</em>


    Her frown deepened. ¡°Aren¡¯t you all exactly that? Isn¡¯t the Pack made up of sapient magical beings?¡±


    Anatalis chuckled even as many of the wolves growled in clear offense. <em>¡°Silence, pups. She is asking a genuine question, not seeking to offend. I </em>was<em> such long ago, but the heights of power are a broad teau where many of the distinctions fade. My sirelings</em>¡ª<em>my Pack</em>¡ª<em>are born bound to me and my Vidarra</em>¡ª<em>they are never bound to any portion of Zeme. Beyond that, I will not say.¡±</em>


    ¡°So, there¡¯s no hope¡­ If even a boon cannot aplish it, it is impossible.¡± T felt herself wilting. Up until this point, she¡¯d had some vague hope that they¡¯d find a solution.


    But, before she could sink too far, Anatalis huffed a derisive snort. <em>¡°Can you ess the Archive?¡±</em>


    T tilted her head to the side. ¡°Yes?¡±


    <em>¡°Yet a boon cannot gain you the same, if youck ess. Therefore, it must be impossible, right?¡±</em>


    It only took a moment¡¯s thought for the building pressure in her chest to loosen slightly. ¡°So, it is possible for us to have children?¡±


    He gave a lupine shrug. ¡°I honestly do not know. I simply wished to remind you that boons are not cure-alls, nor is a problem they cannot address unfixable. The stories make much of boons, but they are, at their basic level, just an Existence enforced ¡®best effort¡¯ from a being of power. Don¡¯t forget that.¡±


    That wasn¡¯t really that helpful. It didn¡¯t give her an answer, or even any idea on where to search in order to find one, but for some reason she <em>did</em> feel some relief.


    There was another minute of silence before Terry trilled at the sky, flickered to T¡¯s shoulder to headbutt her, then flickered back away and trilled again.


    T got the message. ¡®Let¡¯s distract ourselves with something we can actually do something about at the moment.¡¯


    Sheughed before she realized it, Terry¡¯s actions already doing as he¡¯d intended. ¡°Fine, Terry. You can fight someone.¡±


    Anatalis faded away once more, and a momentter, arger, brown-furred wolf jumped down into the arena.


    She was nearly half-again asrge as the sireling was. That wolf was now up on the cliff,ying down to watch the proceedings with the rest of the Pack who were present at the moment.


    Rane ced his hand on T¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Shall we get out of his way? He¡¯s apparently been practicing to a rather extreme degree. Terry has been without a sparring partner¡ªother than us¡ªfor much, <em>much</em> too long.¡±


    Neither of them saw the Talons as counting in that regard, given they gave no real difficulty to him.


    She looked up at Rane, then gave a slow nod. ¡°Yeah, let¡¯s see what he¡¯s capable of.¡± She turned to give Terry an encouraging nce. ¡°Show them what a Sappherrous can do. Eh, Terry?¡±


    Terry fluffed himself up a bit, then screeched to the sky, the sound more basso than such sounds usually were.


    Raneughed at the avian¡¯s antics¡ªeven though he still had a tinge of sadness about him from the previous topic¡ªbefore he and T moved up to the cliff top, each utilizing a powerful leap tond lightly in the space left clear for them.


    <em>¡°With no inscriptions to be suppressed, you may each sh as you are.¡±</em>


    The she-wolf tilted her head to the side, exposing her neck to Terry in a brief show of respect. ¡°To the death?¡±


    Her words were barely distinguishable from that of a human, despite her lupine mouth.


    <em>¡°Or if either of you are able to throw the other from the arena.¡±</em>


    The she-wolf seemed unhappy, but she acknowledged.


    Terry chirped firmly in response, confirming his agreement.


    T felt a tightness building in her gut, even though she knew that she could bring Terry back even if the worst should happen.


    Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred tform. Support original creators!


    <em>¡°Begin.¡±</em>


    T watched as Terry immediately flickered forward, shrinking down just enough to easily fit under the she-wolf¡¯s head. He also appeared upside-down, midair, already shing at her throat, his talons aspect-mirroring the hollow, cutting power of the void through his soulbound to T.


    The swiftness and ferocity of the attack took even T off guard for a moment, and it seemed that the wolf was even more surprised.


    There was no testing, no probing, no analysis or steadily increasing power behind escting attacks.


    Terry¡¯s intention was obviously to use an instantly lethal, quick strike, and the sh should have been that.


    Rust, it nearly was.


    But the Pack hadn¡¯t survived for millenia by being easily ovee. The wolf forged magics for her use <em>as </em>Terry appeared and struck out, despite her own, obvious surprise.


    His talons cut deeply into her neck before the defenses came into y, and even then they were a simple st of air, which just knocked Terry backward¡ªhe likely didn¡¯t flicker away as he was in the middle of a rather effective attack¡ªdoing him no harm at all.


    His talons were ripped outward by the hit, but he¡¯d stillnded a devastating blow.


    He flickered away, out of the line of the air st, as soon as his talons were no longer in flesh and before he touched the ground once more.


    He left behind a ragged gash that was unnaturally bloodless for an instant, before a torrent gushed outward.


    She staggered, more natural magicsing into effect by the second. The effect was like someone pouring buckets of glowing paint over the wolf, but with far, <em>far</em> greater detail in the rushing power. This being was a master at quick magical maniption. Even so, Terry flickered back in.


    He was countered with armored fur, licks of lightning, sts of air or water, and innumerable other little workings, each designed to be just threatening enough to force him to flicker away rather than trading blows.


    As she staved him off, she also built magics that knit her flesh back together. It was a clear dying tactic so she could recover the lead he¡¯d grabbed at the start.


    Rumbles of approval went around the arena, through the watching wolves. Though, T couldn¡¯t actually tell if it was for Terry¡¯s opening strike or the wolf¡¯s ability to hold him off and recover.


    To T¡¯s magesight, her own aura¡ªas projected by Terry¡ªshed yellow, past chartreuse toward green, against the greenish blue, a good way past teal, of the wolf he was facing.


    He was fighting against someone nearly an entire grade of advancement higher than himself.


    But then, Terry was used to fighting those more advanced than himself.


    He¡¯d been doing it quite nearly his whole life.


    Rust, essentially all of his shes against T¡ªuntil recently¡ªhad been him fighting up grades. The only exception was his first attack on her, way back on her first caravan trip.


    T felt a smile tug at her lips at the memory. She also felt a twinge in her arm and back at the meticulously remembered pain. <em>The curse of perfect memory.</em>


    <em>-Indeed. I¡¯ve never felt pain directly, but your memories let me know that it is </em>awful.<em> I am so d you don¡¯t want to switch ces.-</em>


    Focusing back on the sh, it was evident that the two fighters were well matched. Terry¡¯s initial surprise attack was the only blood drawn as the sh continued.


    The wolf attempted to weave spellforms of dimensional denial¡ªobviously to keep Terry from teleporting¡ªbut he somehow breached each and every one withughable ease.


    He even actually let outugh-like trills on many asions, seeming to revel in his mastery, even as the she-wolf began to growl in increasing irritation.


    <em>I doubt Mistress Cethira could stop him now.</em>


    <em>-Indeed, I suspect it would take Kit or Vidarra to truly lock him in ce.-</em>


    <em>You know what? We haven¡¯t actually tried to do that within Kit. It might be an interesting test.</em>


    <em>-...Maybe¡­-</em>


    She could use her soulbond with the avian to keep him from flickering, at least in theory, but she was <em>not</em> keen to try that. It felt like it would be a betrayal of trust in some deep manner.


    T put that from her mind and returned her focus to the fight.


    The she-wolf hadced some power that T didn¡¯t recognize through her own fur, and it seemed to directly counter the void-edge that Terry aspect-mirrored onto his talons, but Terry didn¡¯t seem deterred.


    If the fight had to be ¡®called,¡¯ Terry would be named the winner because of that first strike, but it would have been a hollow victory.


    The avian seemed to agree with T¡¯s assessment, because, finally, he trilled at the sky, allowing his opponent to send out a fully formed column of fire at him.


    He flickered out of the way, appearing in what was likely hisrgest possible form. He stood some thirty feet tall at the shoulder, filling up a good chunk of the arena.


    He shrieked down at the wolf, and the sound was like a sonic attack, causing even all the watching lupines to flinch back, whine, and cover their ears with their paws, seemingly on reflex.


    T and Rane winced, but much of the sound was out of their range of hearing, both too low and too high in its ovepping resonance.


    The she-wolf fighting Terry was affected the most, clearly utterly dazed by the shriek.


    In that moment of disorientation that he¡¯d been able to cause, Terry mmed his whole foot down on the wolf, driving her to the ground on her side and pinning her in ce.


    He then struck down with his beak, <em>mming</em> into her head once, twice, three times.


    He then shrunk even as he rolled to the side, toward the sheer drop on the open side of the arena.


    He kept enough size to be able to leverage the broken and bleeding wolf, using his momentum to hurtle her over the edge.


    She let out a startled, whining yip that was cut off by grinding, crunching, splintering sounds as her body met the trees below.


    T wasn¡¯t sure which hade out better, the trees or the wolf, but regardless, the wolves seemed to have decided that the match was over, as the she-wolf had been sent from the ring.


    The watching Pack howled even as Anatalis faded into being beside the now much smaller Terry.


    <em>¡°Well fought, avian. Your age and wisdom shows against our fourth youngest member. I may have to reconsider how we raise our sirelings, in light of the showing you and yours have given. She was your elder by nearly half a century and your superior in advancement by nearly a full step, yet you won through hard earned skill, instinct, and exceptional timing.¡±</em>


    Terry fluffed his feathers, preening under the praise.


    <em>¡°You should be aware, however, she was not killed, and she would havee back with a vengeance that I don¡¯t believe you would have survived, had this been a real sh. Her advancement is simply too far greater than yours, for your victory to besting.¡± </em>Anatalis¡¯ lupine grin showed a field of teeth.


    Terry chirped a few times, and T smiled. <em>He doesn¡¯t mind that. He won the fight they </em>were<em> having. The fact that he would have lost a different fight is of no consequence.</em>


    <em>-That¡¯s¡­ reading a lot into a few chirps?-</em>


    <em>Am I wrong?</em>


    <em>-I don¡¯t think so¡­ huh. Soulbonds are weird sometimes.-</em>


    <em>True, but in this case, I think it¡¯s just Terry. We do know him rather well, and we¡¯ve always been able to hear his intention in his chirps, squawks, and trills.</em>


    <em>-True enough, I suppose.-</em>


    Terry flickered to Rane¡¯s shoulder, headbutting the man¡¯s cheek before flickering to T¡¯s and doing the same, only then settling in on her shoulder even as she remained sitting on the top of the cliff.


    <em>¡°Truly, we have rarely had such an aplished pack visit us peaceably. Be thrice weed and be at peace.¡±</em>


    A shiver ran through T¡¯s very soul, something in the words having a power and meaning beyond her understanding. She also had a moment of bted fear, realizing that she had <em>not</em> had that assurance¡ªnor promise of peace¡ªfrom Anatalis even a minute before then.


    <em>I should ask Lisa, if he¡¯s willing to share his wisdom and knowledge. I¡¯m sure it¡¯s critical in some manner.</em>


    <em>-It did have the sound of ceremony, didn¡¯t it.-</em> It wasn¡¯t really a question.


    T and Rane both gave measured bows, and Terry chirped and fluffed his feathers again, holding onto T¡¯s shoulder even as she moved.


    <em>¡°Now, we shall celebrate your presence with a feast.¡±</em>


    She nced toward her husband. <em>Well, Terry will be ecstatic, and I suppose we can eat raw meat well enough¡­</em>


    Anatalis chuckled, deep and menacingly one more, seemingly understanding her hesitations. <em>¡°We are aware of human preferences for food, and we would be poor hosts indeed if we did not amodate your peculiarities.¡±</em>


    They bowed once again, epting the offered kindness.


    <em>¡°You have¡­ many with you as well. Some of them would be wee to join us, if you desire. If you please, no more than one hundred, or I fear we would be overrun with your kind. While that would be of no consequence in a battle, in a peaceful meal, I believe it would be overmuch.¡±</em>


    Rane looked her way, Enar and t facilitating a speed-of-thoughtmunication. <em>¡°Should we invite Lyn, Lisa, Master Simon, Mistress Petra, Brandon, Kedva, Adrill, Ron, and some of the more senior others?¡±</em>


    <em>¡°That sounds like a good list to me.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°-On it.-¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Thank you, t.¡±</em>


    A momentter, T bowed toward Anatalis. ¡°We ept, and will be inviting thirty-nine humans and one arcane, if it pleases you.¡±


    Somehow, Anatalis¡¯ grin grew evenrger. <em>¡°So shall it be. Long has it been since Lisa graced the Lunar Hunt. If he epts, a¡­ word with that fox is always enjoyable.¡±</em>


    Lisa refused the invitation with a modicum of courtesy, but everyone else epted with crity.


    It was time to feast.

 Chapter 503: Something of a Contradiction

    T tried to take Lisa¡¯s refusal in stride, but it niggled at the back of her mind throughout the truly delicious¡ªand otherwise pleasantly diverting¡ªfeast.


    To her surprise, every dish contained magics seemingly tailored to each human who ate it, and watching carefully, she was able to see that those magics were introduced <em>into</em> the food as each person took the given portion.


    <em>Is¡­ Is Vidarra adding magic to each at will?</em>


    <em>-It looks like it, but¡­ that shouldn¡¯t be possible. Right?-</em>


    <em>Well, it¡¯s possible, we could do it, but it wouldn¡¯t be meaningful.</em>


    <em>-Yes, yes. That¡¯s not what I meant.-</em>


    <em>Then, precisely, yes. The whole idea is that the given working is in the </em>natural magics<em> of the food eaten, and that can be transferred, in part, to the consumer. Just putting magic in food doesn¡¯t do anything good.</em>


    <em>-I suppose¡­ You know what? Now that I consider it, aren¡¯t the Pack experts on creating and modifying natural magics?-</em>


    <em>¡­Rust. I did not¡­ I did not consider that connection or application, but yes.</em>With that mystery at least partly solved, she was able to focus back on the repast.


    She might have been a bit concerned that either she or one of the others might offend Anatalis or one of the Pack, and make things worse for gated humanity, but T had been assured repeatedly that while Anatalis often killed those who offended him or the Pack¡ªoften on the scale of centuries¡ªhe never took the offensive action as indicating anything beyond a particr individual. Apparently, despite their highly collective and interconnected nature, Anatalis still considered beings as individuals in most cases.


    Even considering that, Lisa¡¯s absence still bothered her.


    His response to the invitation hadn¡¯t been panicked¡ªnor had it implied that they needed to depart from the Lunar Hunt either rapidly or as soon as reasonable¡ªbut he¡¯d also had no interest ining out of Ironhold, or even his own home now that it wasplete enough that he only continued working on it from the outside every third day or so.


    T suspected he only did even <em>that</em> as much as he did because the children continued to be interested ining by to watch, and he seemed unwilling to disappoint them so thoroughly as to cut off the spectaclepletely.


    <em>-He did consent to a meeting with you in a couple of days. So, at least he isn''t just holing up in his home while we''re in the Lunar Hunt.-</em>


    <em></em>T groused.<em> I should hope so. I¡¯m carrying him around in a space that is bound to my soul. The least he can do is agree to meet with me if I have things to ask.</em>


    t sighed dramatically. <em>-You know that you don¡¯t want people acting that way toward you. You''re just a bit on edge because of all that¡¯s going on. Reasonable as it might have been for someone else in your position to expect such deferential treatment, you don¡¯t want</em>¡ª<em>and have never wanted</em>¡ª<em>residence in Ironhold toe with any implicit or explicit requirement of deference or obedience toward you.-</em>


    <em>¡­yeah. But it would be nice if they did what I wanted¡­ </em>She fully understood the contradiction in that stated viewpoint. She didn¡¯t want to have any authority over them, but she also wanted them to at least do as she said with regard to the space itself¡­


    Something began swirling within herself, within her gate, within her soul.


    <em>My authority isn¡¯t over anything as fleeting as the residents.</em> She quite honestly didn¡¯t care one way or another what they did, so long as it didn¡¯t harm Kit or make her life harder.


    <em>My authority is over the fundamental parts that make up Ironhold. It¡¯s all mine, and I don¡¯t want it</em>¡ª<em>or its future utility</em>¡ª<em>lessened, harmed, or destroyed. I don¡¯t want its fundamental nature distorted or disturbed¡­</em> She felt herself slide a hair toward Paragon as she put her impressions and vague feelings into words, even if only in her own mind. T felt like she was <em>so</em> close to a truth that she needed.


    It just wouldn¡¯t fully form within her coherent thoughts.


    <em>I want what is mine to continue. I want it to improve or remain the same, but the specifics are mostly irrelevant to me¡­ if it remains the same, I don''t want it to stagnate. I¡¯m happy to help with any of the specifics, but I generally don¡¯t want to pick them, nor do I feel I have</em>¡ª<em>nor should have</em>¡ª<em>the right to do so.</em>


    <em>-That sounds like andlord?-</em>


    <em>A bit¡­but andlord has control over many of the specifics¡ªeven if that control isn¡¯t exercised</em>¡ª<em>and in the end, he wants what is loaned or rented to be given back.</em>


    Rane bumped her with his shoulder. ¡°You look really frustrated¡ªor at least contemtive¡ªis there anything that I can help you with?¡±


    She shook her head, his question not hampering her thinking, even if she was trying to focus, and hearing him made that hard. She wanted to hear him and give him her attention when he was speaking to her, just as she knew he did for her when things were reversed. £Ò§¡


    ¡°Alright, just let me know.¡±


    She smiled at that, bumping her shoulder into him to give contact and show her thanks. ¡°I will.¡±


    After another minute or so, she sighed, and returned her attention to the feast.


    This was a celebration of wee for them. The least she could do is enjoy herself and the amazing food.


    * * *


    Anatalis made the rounds through the human guests, weing and chatting with each one in turn.


    They all responded with gratitude and respect, relieving some of T¡¯s stress.


    It wasn¡¯t that T had expected otherwise from those that Lyn had selected as ¡®worthy¡¯ of this honor, but there had been the tiny fear at the back of her mind that wouldn¡¯t go away until those initial greetings had passed.


    These were people of prominence within Ironhold, and they would have been missed if they had misstepped and had been... removed from the Lunar Hunt.


    The god-beast ended his rounds near T and Rane once more, which actually gave T the opening to ask something that she¡¯d been curious about. ¡°Great Anatalis. A bit ago, you were involved in a cell. You and the Lord of the Southern Forest worked together to kick the prisoner back out of Zeme.¡±


    The wolf grunted. <em>¡°I thought that I had detected your magics there. What do you wish to ask? So far you have only made a statement.¡±</em>


    ¡°My question is why? Why was she kicked out and kept away? Why did you work with the Forest Lord?¡±


    <em>¡°She was kicked out, because she is an abomination who would see Zeme as a whole destroyed. Her advancement is also such that your quaint ''solution for all evils¡¯ would be wholly ineffective.¡±</em>


    T blinked a few times in confusion. Then, she realized that he meant the cells and decided to ask for rification on another point, ¡°Is she an abomination because she doesn¡¯t have a soul?¡±


    <em>¡°It is because her soul has already passed on, and her body</em>¡ª<em>subconsciously</em>¡ª<em>will always try to follow, even if it means dragging the rest of Zeme along for the ride.¡±</em>


    She felt a tightness of fearful anticipation as she asked, ¡°Is that possible? To go physically to the next world?¡±


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    <em>¡°No.¡±</em>


    The categorical response surprised her even as it relieved some of the tension she''d been feeling. ¡°Jus


    <em>¡°That which is ¡®Real¡¯</em>¡ª<em>that which is physical</em>¡ª<em>cannot enter into the world of Magic. Do not mistake me, it can dip in, if properly sheathed in the Void, but it cannot stay, and it cannot merge with anything that resides therein. It is the same for the Void.¡±</em>


    T frowned, considering the implication of what he''d said. ¡°Then¡­ is there a ce where Reality is supreme, and the other pieces cannot endure?¡±


    <em>¡°That is a debated topic. Many say that such is what exists outside the radius of Zeme and the Doman-Imithe. Some say that that¡¯s what Zeme was </em>supposed<em> to be</em>¡ª<em>and was</em>¡ª<em>until it was broken. I am not old enough to remember, nor have I ever encountered a being who was.¡±</em>


    ¡°So, repairing Zeme, if it were possible, would require shutting out magic and the void?¡±


    <em>¡°I do not believe so. I think that this is a fundamental misunderstanding, no matter how widespread. Reality is what </em>should <em>be. It is that which is without sapient interference, and without anything breaking it apart. Void is simply emptiness or separation. It exists everywhere and must do so in any existence that isrger than a single infinitesimal speck. Magic is that which supersedes standard causality, that which changes what would have been, generally at the behest¡ªand due to the willful choices of¡ªsapient beings whether directly or indirectly. What wemonly refer to as magic is simply that potential and power of change and redirection distilled and wielded at a more fundamental level.¡±</em>


    T considered for a long moment. ¡°So, a world of pure ¡®Reality¡¯ would be one without free will or volitional action?¡±


    <em>¡°Whether those within it realized such or not.¡±</em>


    ¡°You mean people within pure Reality could still believe they were making sapient choices?¡±


    <em>¡°That is likely, yes.¡±</em>


    ¡°What¡¯s the difference, then?¡±


    <em>¡°Would you rather feel safe or be safe?¡±</em>


    She frowned again. ¡°That seems like a change in topic, but obviously, I¡¯d rather <em>be</em> safe, whether by my own power or some other means.¡±


    <em>¡°Exactly. Even if a world of true choice is lesser in every other regard, the mere fact of true, volitional choice would render it better than the most pleasant of puppetted ys, at least from the perspective of a sapient puppet.¡±</em>


    T grunted. ¡°If a thing is good, then only the true existence of that thing is good. The mere appearance of it, without it being there, is actually an evil? Like water in a desert is good, but a mirage can lead to harm because it leads people astray?¡±


    <em>¡°Essentially, yes.¡±</em>


    ¡°So, a world without magic would be evil in your eyes?¡±


    Anatalis regarded her for a long moment. <em>¡°Let us say lesser. Thebel of evil¡­ it is a different discussion entirely.¡±</em>


    ¡°Fair.¡±


    <em>¡°But keep in mind that even that theoretical world would simply be a world without magic. It would still require</em>¡ª<em>and contain</em>¡ª<em>Void.¡±</em>


    T grunted, considering for a moment, then barking augh. ¡°We are rather down the rabbit trail, are we not?¡±


    <em>¡°Indeed. Suffice it to say, that prisoner was a threat to Zeme and that which I hold dear. She was also beyond you to deal with. The Lord of the Forest feels the same way, and thus our power, our will, and our authority easily mesh to enact our desire upon Zeme. It is as simple as that. Others came as well</em>¡ª<em>in a manner of speaking</em>¡ª<em>but we were the first to arrive, and we were sufficient.¡±</em>


    T got the sense that Anatalis had already said as much as he was going to on the subject, so she thanked him, and turned back to the food.


    As the feasting wound down, the sireling came over to T, meeting her eye to eye.


    ¡°I would be grateful for a rematch. I learned much from our first sh, and I want to see how much I have grown.¡± The wolf nced toward the nearby Terry bird. ¡°Just one on one this time would be preferred.¡±


    T regarded him for a long moment. ¡°Honestly, as much as I would enjoy sparring, I don¡¯t know that a <em>true </em>match would be very useful. Again, I¡¯d love to spar, though.¡±


    ¡°Oh?¡± The sireling seemed genuinely curious about what she meant. ¡°If our lives aren¡¯t on the line, what¡¯s the point?¡±


    <em>The Pack really has a distorted view of that sort of thing, doesn¡¯t it.</em> T sighed. ¡°Yeah. I have made several advancements¡ªusing soulbonds, not inscriptions¡ªthat would render such apetition somewhat meaningless.¡±


    That gathered the attention of other nearby wolves. Several of the Talons in attendance grinned, aware of the recent culmination of her dissolution breath.


    T looked around, seeing that she was the center of attention. With a sigh, she gestured out over the cliff. ¡°Great Anatalis, would you be amenable to my use of hostile magic in that direction? With inscriptions suppressed, the damage will be very localized, though it is¡­ very dissolutory.¡±


    Anatalis faded into existence beside her, regarding her critically. <em>¡°You already had my curiosity. Now, with a question like that, you have my attention. I think that I would be quite remiss if I did not see such a demonstration. Yes, you may work your magics in that direction.¡±</em>


    T gave a bow and walked to the edge of the cliff. ¡°I will use inscriptions to ensure that the area of effect is away from those watching, but that is all that the inscriptions do.¡±


    After a moment, Anatalis nodded in eptance.


    T opened a vent along her back, pulling in air, iming it as her own and filling it with power even as shepressed it. That had actually been a bit of a concern. There had been a <em>chance</em> that Vidarra¡¯s authority would extend to the air within the Lunar Hunt and the chance that such would not let go when it was pulled into Kit. Blessedly, that had not turned out to be the case.


    Less than a minuteter, she was ready.


    ¡°By your leave?¡±


    Everyone was focused her way, now, and Anatalis gave her the go-ahead with a solemn nod and the simple words, <em>¡°By all means.¡±</em>


    With now somewhat practiced motion, she opened her mouth¡ªand the portal within¡ªshooting forth apressed column of air.


    The booming <em>roar</em> of the results shook the very ground, even as the power was spent almost entirely in the air, above the trees and thend below.


    She closed off the portal a momentter, keeping her lung at about halfpression, ready in case she needed it but not dangerously charged or requiring her active focus and will to render inert.


    There was a long<em>, long</em> moment of silence before Anatalis turned to her. <em>¡°You will not use that particrbination of magics within the Lunar Hunt again.¡±</em>


    T blinked at him a few times before bowing. ¡°Absolutely, as you wish. May I ask why?¡±


    The wolf seemed to consider, then he nodded. <em>¡°It was as a papercut to my Vidarra. It would never causesting harm, not as it is now nor as she is, but it was¡­ unpleasant for her.¡±</em>


    T bowed again. ¡°Certainly then. My apologies, great Vidarra, for any pain that I have caused.¡±


    A soft voice,ced with power, floated to her on the wind, ¡°All is forgiven, young one. You wield a magic that is nearly unique. My Anatalis should tell you more. Be wise in your use of such power.¡±


    T seemed to have been the only one to hear the soothing, obviously feminine voice, but Anatalis was just as obviously privy to the content of the message. <em>¡°That power is something of a contradiction.¡±</em>


    T oriented on the great wolf. Indeed, everyone present did so, despite the distraction of the still smoldering air and smoking treetops out, over the cliff in thend below. Lyn even went so far as to pull out an Archive te and start taking notes.


    <em>¡°It is a magic that breaks down all it touches. As such, we cannot create it in natural magics. Indeed, it cannot exist in natural magics at all.¡±</em>


    Frowning, T opened her mouth to protest, but Anatalis continued.


    <em>¡°By your magics, and those of your¡­ Talons, it is obvious that you know of the endingtrees. As such, you are likely confused by my categorical statement. Are you aware of their origin?¡±</em>


    She slowly shook her head. ¡°I am not.¡±


    <em>¡°I thought not. They were created for early humanity as a boon by a god-tree. The tree made the species of itself, cing all its power, all its sovereignty over trees and fruits and the cycle of life into the forceful restraint of the power within the trees, among a few other things.¡±</em> The wolf grinned his predatory grin. <em>¡°Have you noticed how your breath burns even the air itself? Have you never wondered why these trees do not simply obliterate the air around themselves and burst into me, given their every fiber is filled with that same power?¡±</em>


    T¡¯s eyes widened. No, no she had not considered that, and she really should have.


    <em>¡°That is understandable. The god-tree did much to disguise the true nature of the trees, and there is a conceptual mask over just such a revtion, though some of your Paragons have pierced it over the millennia.¡±</em>


    ¡°What was the boon? Did they ask for an unmatched weapon to wield against our enemies?¡±


    The wolf scoffed. <em>¡°No. Though, it has been that at times, even if never very effectively wielded.¡±</em> He nced over the cliff¡¯s edge. <em>¡°At least until now. It </em>has <em>been the temte for many of your warriors. Its fruit has empowered your heroes of legend and allowed for the protection of some of the earliest gated, warding off those who pursued them into thends of your cycling cities before any had plumbed the mysteries of advancement sufficiently to defend themselves.¡±</em>


    ¡°So, that¡¯s it, then? A means to defend ourselves against more powerful foes?¡±


    <em>¡°No, as I already said. That was not it at all. The boon requested was simple in wording, but so pervasive that it required the sacrifice of the very being of the giver, even if not its life.¡± </em>The wolf¡¯s predatory grin turned, somehow rueful. <em>¡°It is one example all capable of giving boons look to as a cautionary tale. The god-tree was uniquely susceptible to such a result due to its nature as a tree, a non-sapient being at its core, but the lesson is still the same. Our boons can harm us, and even force us to harm ourselves, even if they cannot force us to end our own existence.¡±</em>


    T waited, somehow understanding that Anatalis was building to the ¡®reveal.¡¯


    The wolf looked around as if verifying he had their attention. He needn¡¯t have bothered. No one was even eating anymore as they waited for his next words. <em>¡°Yes, dear humans, the boon requested was simple: We ask for a means by which we might repair the world.¡±</em>


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 Chapter 504: An Interesting Thing to Test

    Chapter 504: An Interesting Thing to Test


    T felt her own breath catch, and Rane¡¯s immediate tension showed a simrly disbelieving, yet hopeful response within him.


    ¡°What?¡± Her voice was almost too quiet for a mundane to have heard as she tried to rify, ¡°Are you saying that we can somehow use endingtrees to fix the world?¡±


    Anatalis shook his head. <em>¡°You? I have no idea. The story goes that the human making the request of the god-tree first asked for the world to be fixed, which was beyond the god-tree to grant. Hopefully that was already evident. If a Sovereign could fix Zeme, it would have been done by this point.¡±</em> He seemed to hesitate. <em>¡°I will say that it is theoretically possible that a Sovereign </em>could<em> fix Zeme, if their authority was properly oriented.¡±</em>


    ¡°Or if they sunk all their power into the task? Such as you and Great Vidarra consuming the world to repair it?¡±


    Anatalis huffed. <em>¡°First, that would be </em>two<em> Sovereign level beings repairing Zeme at our own expense, and to our own detriment, but, yes. If it was possible, it would likely tie up the being''s power for a long time toe. We are¡­ the two of us are specifically oriented toward that type of work, and it would still take both of us giving more than was wise to give. Even then, it would likely not be a sure thing. There are others who might be better suited, but simr limitations would afflict them. Some who are powerful enough would be opposed by others, due to the changes that they¡¯d have to make to enact a fix.¡± </em>His predatory grin returned. <em>¡°Such as my need to y all of gated-humanity and other mobile sources of magic before undertaking an attempt.¡±</em>


    She grimaced. That had momentarily slipped her mind. ¡°Right.¡±


    <em>¡°But we are following rabbit trails as vigorously as a pup. The god-tree could not repair the world on its own, so that boon could not be granted. The human then asked for the means to do it. Specifically, ¡®we¡¯ is usually assumed to mean humanity as a whole.¡±</em>


    ¡°So, humanity is to be the savior of the world?¡±


    The wolf chuffed. <em>¡°You and your kind seemingly have the potential to be, but few beings truly live up to their potential.¡±</em>That brought a smile to T¡¯s face.


    Rane cleared his throat. ¡°So¡­ how could endingtrees possibly be used to repair Zeme?¡±


    <em>¡°I¡¯ve no idea. The tale goes that the god-tree reluctantly agreed to the boon, then exploded in a wash of power that swept across the known world. One of the things discovered in the wake of that power¡ªstill bearing its hallmarks¡ªwere endingtrees. The god-tree''s final words were¡ªat least ording to legend¡ª¡®The broken must be worked free and separated, if a remaking is ever to be possible.¡¯¡±</em>


    T waited, but the great wolf didn¡¯t say anything further.


    The watching crowd of humans began shuffling and muttering. She had honestly somewhat forgotten they were all there too. <em>Well, I''m d that we don''t need to try to keep this secret¡­</em>


    She turned to regard Rane. The big man shrugged. ¡°I mean, the tree¡¯s words are manifestly true, but it isn¡¯t really clear instructions.¡±


    T sighed. ¡°Did no one ever follow up on this? Seek to work with the humans to bring about this fix?¡±


    A deepugh rumbled across thendscape, and Anatalis grunted in amusement. <em>¡°Firstly, no one believes that Zeme can be fixed without great cost, and few are willing to pay that cost, whatever it is. Vanishingly few are even willing to discover what the cost would be for them.¡±</em>


    T frowned. <em>Humanity pays great cost for small gain all the time¡­ is that part of it?</em>


    -<em>I mean¡­ maybe? If you have a self-sacrificial fix for something, it makes sense to give it to people who might actually be willing to sacrifice themselves.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, but humanity isn¡¯t unique in our ability to be selfless¡­</em>


    <em>-No? ¡­Yeah, I have no idea then.-</em>


    <em>¡°Second, humanity was rather unpopr in that time, even more than now, if in a different sort of way. It was around then that gated-humanity began to gain prevalence, and </em>no one<em> liked how much you all were harming Reality.¡±</em>


    Rane narrowed his eyes. ¡°What do you mean ¡®around then?¡¯¡±


    The lupine grin grew. <em>¡°You have grasped one theory, yes. Human gates </em>should <em>have been beyond any but a Sovereign to have created, but none that I know of ever took credit for the act. Some such results have been achieved in other areas by the less advanced due to rigorous study, coboration, or other simr methods¡ªand that is what was imed by the arcanes in general as to the origin of gates¡ªbut no person or group ever </em>specifically<em> took credit for the first gates either.¡±</em>


    That was¡­ that was a lot to take in, even if it didn¡¯t make perfect sense with things she¡¯d learned before. <em>He did say it was a theory. Theories can be wrong.</em>


    Another possible origin for humanity¡¯s gates wasn¡¯t really something that she was excited about, but she¡¯d never heard the appearance of gated humanity potentially linked to endingtrees before, and that had interesting implications regardless of the truth of the underlying notion.


    <em>What would that even mean?</em>


    <em>-Well, maybe that a human with a gate and the use of endingtrees in someway can fix Zeme?-</em>


    Anatalis huffed again. <em>¡°I can see it in your faces. You¡¯re thinking that maybe the two together, gates and endingtrees are the solution. If so, I cannot fathom it. The more popr theory is that the endingtrees were given to gateless humanity so that they could ovee and y gated humanity, thus allowing Zeme to heal more readily. My memory¡ªas well as records of the day¡ªseem to indicate that Zeme </em>was<em> healing before gates came about. Whether it would have ever been truly ¡®fixed¡¯ is up for debate, though.¡±</em>


    It was T¡¯s turn to grunt. ¡°That¡¯s possible, I suppose.¡±


    She had her mind filled with memories of Reality healing itself naturally as she considered the possibility.


    <em>-We need to keep in mind that it never seems to get ¡®better¡¯ than Zeme standard now. It doesn¡¯t continue to move toward this.-</em> t indicated how the true fragment felt to them. <em>-We can¡¯t even </em>make<em> it feel like this¡­ at least we never have before.-</em>


    <em>We should try some more experiments within Kit.</em>


    <em>-That would probably be good, yeah.-</em>


    T took another moment to consider before nodding. ¡°All this to say, my attack is too powerful for use within the Lunar Hunt?¡±


    <em>¡°No, the attack is of a kind that is annoying to my mate, and so it will not be allowed within the Lunar Hunt.¡±</em> There was a slight edge to his voice, like the crinkling-crack of ice that suddenly seemed a lot thinner than she¡¯d have thought it was.


    ¡°Understood. Thank you.¡± She gave a deeper than usual bow.


    A feminine voice echoed around her, once again seeming toe from Vidarra, <em>¡°Be at ease, child. We have sworn peace upon you. Unless you purposely reject our hospitality, your safety is all but boon-ensured.¡±</em>


    She sounded¡­ not winded but at least weary. T bowed out toward the open drop over the cliff, toward the Hunt in general. ¡°Thank you.¡±


    Anatalis sighed. <em>¡°But I grow weary of¡­ this. The hunt calls to me.¡±</em> He nced toward Terry. <em>¡°Avian. You have earned a hunt by my side. I shall forge a vessel worthy of your capacities, and we will hunt.¡±</em>


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    Terry looked to T and when she smiled and nodded, he trilled in obvious excitement.


    <em>Please emphasize to him how much he could and should learn, hunting beside a god-beast.</em>


    <em>-Already done. He conveyed that you are a cute hatchling to fret and worry so.-</em>


    T snorted internally, barely keeping the reaction from her features.


    A momentter, Anatalis¡¯ body morphed, reshaping itself until it was justrger than Rane''s, mass wise.


    It would be a truly <em>massive</em> mundane wolf, but it was very small from the perspective of the Pack and inparison to those around them.


    A momentter, T watched in awe as Anatalis¡¯ aura suddenly became visible, zing a painfully hard to see purple. As she watched, however, the color became a more regr violet, then indigo.


    It continued to shift through the colors, arriving at blue, fading down through green before stopping, precisely matching her own¡ªand therefore Terry¡¯s¡ªaura color.


    It was far more green than yellow, a spitting distance from true green and Paragon.


    Still, there was something about Anatalis¡¯ aura that was¡­ deeper than hers and Terry¡¯s.


    It was like the adding of red to yellow pulled it <em>down </em>the color spectrum to orange, rather than like adding red to blue, which pushed the result up to purple.


    She frowned. That was a horrible metaphor, but she couldn¡¯t immediately think of a better.


    Somehow, Anatalis had <em>added</em> something in order to appear weaker. It seemed like he would actually <em>be</em> functionally weaker as well, even if he kept the same underlying power¡­ under whatever it was that he¡¯d added to himself.


    It was probably something beyond her understanding in the moment.


    Anatalis shook himself, now seeming like a normal¡ªif diminutive¡ªmember of the Pack. <em>¡°Before we depart, do you have any final questions? I warn you to make them quick, as the hunt calls to me.¡±</em>


    T nodded. ¡°Just two: May citizens of my Ironholde into the Lunar Hunt, or are there restrictions? And, what do you have for Rane and me?¡±


    Anatalis looked longingly out over the terrain below before turning back to regard her. <em>¡°Your citizens may wander as they wish, but I will not promise nor guarantee their safety. The Pack will not harm them, but there are other dangers about. They are not to kill any creature they find¡ªthough they may defend themselves in the unlikely event that such is required¡ªand they are not to harvest from or unnecessarily harm the nt-life. They may talk with any member of the Pack who wishes to engage with them. As for you two, I have already arranged teachers for you. They will find you after I depart, at the appropriate time.¡±</em>


    T considered for a moment¡ªdoing so quickly in consideration for his desire to leave¡ªbut nothing further came to mind. She bowed low once more. ¡°Thank you, Great Anatalis. That is all I can think of at the moment.¡±


    She nced to Rane, but he shook his head. He had no questions.


    Anatalis bobbed his head once, then he and Terry were gone, departed without the slightest evidence of magic or power of any kind.


    Lupin stood up to tower over the humans present, projecting his voice to be easily heard, ¡°The feast is concluded. Wee to the Lunar Hunt. The Pack may disperse or stay at their leisure.¡±


    They¡¯d all heard Anatalis¡¯ words for the humans, and t had already updated the disy boards in Irondale with the rules and regtions. T stepped closer to Lupin. ¡°Where can I ce the entrance to my own bound realm?¡±


    <em>-Oh, I like that descriptor.-</em>


    <em>It¡¯s nothing special. Just another way of thinking about it.</em>


    <em>-Maybe so, but I like it.-</em>


    <em>Thank you, I guess?</em>


    <em>-You are most wee.-</em>


    Lupin seemed to consider for a moment before flicking his head toward one of the tter faces of the nearby cliffs. ¡°You may use that surface. We do not use this particr arena often, and it will be easy enough to spar elsewhere for the duration of your stay.¡±


    T smiled and gave a small bow. "Thank you.¡±


    With an act of will, T extended her aura over to the cliff and tried to open a portal into Kit.


    It didn¡¯t instantly work.


    <em>What the rust?</em>


    Then, the obvious answer came to her. Her portal wasn¡¯t a thing of her magic, not specifically, and her aura was an extension of her <em>magical</em> authority.


    <em>That¡¯s ridiculous. It can¡¯t matter like that.</em>


    <em>-Or Vidarra is providing you insight through pointed opposition?-</em>


    That drew T up short. Was that it?


    She focused more closely on her ability to sense authority, and¡­ yes, there was something there, almost like a beacon of authority, specifically where Lupin had told her to ce the portal.


    <em>I wonder if his mother told him where to have us put it¡­</em>


    <em>-Well, she could do the same anywhere, but yeah, it makes sense for him to have consulted her before granting us permission.-</em>


    <em>True¡­</em>


    So, the Lunar Hunt herself was putting up an authoritative barrier to her portal into Kit.


    She could go over and touch the cliff. That would force enough of her authority to allow a portal to open¡­ in theory.


    But that was likely not what Vidarra wanted her to learn¡­


    <em>-You could ask?-</em>


    <em>Of course I could ask, but the discovery itself feels like a bit of a test, too.</em>


    t sighed. <em>-Well, alright, then. Let¡¯s work at this together. What is a portal, exactly?-</em>


    <em>It¡¯s a dimensional passage that allows mundane ess to Ironhold for as long as it¡¯s open.</em>


    <em>-...Yes. Well articted, I suppose.-</em>


    <em>Thank you.</em>


    <em>-I think it¡¯s also important that a portal connects through the fourth dimension, and itself has no depth.-</em>


    <em>So, it¡¯s a two-dimensional creation bridging across four-dimensional space?</em>


    <em>-Essentially. In the same way that a one-dimensional line can connect two points in three-dimensional-space.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, I can see that.</em>


    <em>-So, now that we have that established, what¡¯s the hangup?-</em>


    T didn¡¯t know, at least not immediately. Grounding herself in the truth of what the portal <em>was </em>had been nice, but it hadn¡¯t really changed the status quo.


    The whole contemtion had taken barely a pair of heartbeats in real time, but Rane had still seemingly noticed that something wasn¡¯t right.


    He turned to regard the cliff, and as his attention came into focus, so did his will that a portal would be there¡ªeven if not specifically expressed¡ªand T felt Vidarra¡¯s hold loosen.


    <em>What?</em> Before she fullyprehended the shift, she took advantage of it, and the opening to Ironhold blossomed into being, revealing the closed, heavily reinforced gates that stood at the center of Irondale.


    <em>-Well, that¡¯s an interesting lesson. You can¡¯t do anything without your husband¡¯s permission. Be sure to let her know you understand the message.-</em>


    T sent a feeling of being deeply unamused toward her alternate interface. <em>Hardly.</em>


    Vidarra had had <em>some</em> sort of purpose¡­


    <em>We¡¯re soulbound. We </em>know<em> that our marriage strengthens our auras¡­ does it also increase our authority?</em> She almostughed at herself. She¡¯d only been thinking of them as potentially distinct for a short time and already she¡¯d forgotten that they were, at a base level, parts of a single whole. <em>Of course being married strengthens our authority. That was silly.</em>


    <em>-But for aura, it¡¯s unconscious¡­ right? It just happens?-</em>


    <em>Maybe? Well yes, but maybe not? We both define ourselves as Mages¡ªand we see each other as Mages too¡ªso what if it is simply that we grant our spouse that support as a matter of course, not exactly unconsciously, but close? Anything more¡ªat the very least¡ªrequires our volitional focus, even if just slightly?</em>


    <em>-That was a bit convoluted, but I think I understand what you¡¯re getting at.-</em>


    <em>Well, if you don¡¯t, no one will.</em>


    <em>-True enough. Regardless, that could be it, but I don¡¯t think that was her point.-</em>


    <em>No, I think her point was that I¡¯m not using all the tools at my disposal.</em>


    <em>-Right. Use your husband. Let her know you understood.-</em>


    T sighed, shaking her head.


    Rane nced her way, clearly having noticed the movement. ¡°t?¡±


    That made her bark out augh. ¡°Yeah, actually.¡±


    He grinned in return. ¡°You had that look about you. She really knows how to push your buttons.¡±


    ¡°Isn¡¯t that the truth.¡± The Irondalians who hade to the feast were passing them, leaving a respectful distance. They had already said goodbyes to their feastpanions in the Pack, and they seemed ready to go home, at least for a bit.


    One or two were staying behind, already talking with wolves, but most had their eyes set on the open portal and the opening gates within.


    Rane gave T a sidelong look. ¡°What did she say that got that reaction this time?¡±


    T responded flippantly, almost offhandedly, ¡°¡®Use your husband.¡¯¡±


    He gave her an incredulous look. ¡°Do I want context, or is it how it sounds?¡±


    Several of the nearby Talons had reddened and picked up their pace. <em>Ah, rust. They have better hearing than mundanes, too.</em>


    ¡°T?¡±


    She shook her head, then exined briefly what had happened.


    ¡°Ahh, I was wondering. So, we should practice using our authority together? You touch something, and I use my magic on it?¡±


    She opened her mouth to respond, then froze. That was an application that she hadn¡¯t yet considered. True, she hadn¡¯t had long to think on it, but he¡¯d thought of that application instantly. She grinned toward her husband in pride and contentment. ¡°Huh. You know what? That would probably be an interesting thing to test.¡±

 Chapter 505: It Was Time

    T and Rane were about to go test some of their new theories in regards to shared authority and enacting their magics through them when a wolf appeared beside them.


    For a fraction of a second, T <em>thought</em> that the wolf was massive, fur ck as the endless depths of space, the tips of each piece of hair glowing with light like a star within that infinite night.


    But when she focused on the wolf with her threefold sight, the creature was barely bigger than arge dog with fur almost wool-like in nature and cloud gray in color. Sparks of intelligence¡ªand likely lightning¡ªdanced in the brilliant yellow eyes.


    ¡°Greetings, Mistress T, Master Rane. You may call me Lerra. My mother has requested that I discuss the nature of your existence with you both, if you are amenable?¡± Her voice was precise¡ª<em>almost</em> clipped¡ªas she spoke. Unlike other members of the pack, her mouth didn¡¯t move in the slightest as she spoke. Instead, T watched in fascination as the wolf carved spellforms to create each sound from raw power, forging a sequence of tiny workings that would produce each desired syble before they each burned out.


    It was so inefficient that it was almost insulting. Except¡­


    She was carving spellforms at the speed of speech. It would have been so much more efficient to create a single working that would generate any word the wielder desired, otherwise waiting unused but ready. That¡¯s essentially what T did when she spoke, while fully encased in armor. It wasn¡¯t even that difficult of a spellform, and the magic-in-air spellform was widely known. It <em>should</em> have been trivial for any of the Pack to do, but this one didn¡¯t.


    Rane¡¯s mouth was hanging open, seemingly pondering the actual implications as well.


    T swallowed. ¡°Are you¡­ Is that an illusion? Or are you actually generating individual spells for each sybic sound of our speech?¡±


    ¡°I am. It is excellent practice for rapid spell creation, don¡¯t you think? It was tedious for the first hundred years or so, but I find that I am quite good at it these days. I find it much more tenable than sacrificing the biological structure of my face, teeth, throat, and neck in order to mimic bi-pedal speech, and it is much more precise than any of the generic workings I could utilize.¡± Lerra yipped happily, looking rather pleased with herself.T was slowly nodding. ¡°I see¡­ Yes, I can understand how it would be excellent practice¡­¡± She nced toward Rane. ¡°Eh?¡±


    He sighed, then nodded. ¡°We can find time to practice that too. Though, we¡¯ll have to get much, <em>much</em> better at manipting magic within our auras¡±


    Lerra chuffed before her voice sounded forth once more. ¡°If you do it, do it right. Figure out how to do air maniption magically, then do <em>that</em> to mimic the sounds you wish to create. Don¡¯t try to only memorize a set of spellforms for what you want to say.¡±


    That made good sense to T, and Rane seemed to agree, nodding along.


    ¡°Now, the lord anddy of the Hunt have determined that the area in which you are mostcking is in your understanding of existence and your ce in it. I am the designated instructor of each member of the Pack, after they have reached maturity. You are both <em>much</em> younger than my usual students, but I think we can make it work.¡± Her eyes sparked again. ¡°I will have to find something other than a good bit of bloody meat or a satisfying hunt to motivate you with, and that will alter the lesson ns marginally.¡±


    The wolf was clearly joking, and T found herself grinning at the non-human humor. ¡°That sounds like an amazing idea. When shall we begin?¡±


    ¡°Now.¡± Lerra¡¯s body pulsed with a blue power, and they were suddenly elsewhere.


    The moon overhead was the same, but they were surrounded by aspen trees rather than the cliffs of the arena and the entrance into Ironhold.


    The leaves shivered in the wind, filling the air with a soothing rustle. ¡°There, now. Privacy and peace. Shall we begin?¡±


    T and Rane were still reeling, however. They hadn¡¯t even <em>felt</em> the movement, let alone had any ability to resist it, even if they¡¯d had any inclination to do so.


    Their own authority over their physical position¡ªand ability to change it¡ªhad been entirely disregarded or circumvented. They hadn¡¯t even felt that happening, and T at least would have fully expected to, even if she hadn¡¯t been powerful enough to prevent it. She hadn¡¯t.


    <em>Vidarra probably helped Lerra.</em>


    <em>-It was granted authority in the very least, yeah, but I think the power for the action came from the wolf. The more I observe in here, the more I think that Vidarra and Kit have some major differences, even if they are¡ªor even were¡ªthe same species.-</em>


    Lerra gave them almost precisely as much time as they needed to get their proverbial feet under themselves. She biased a little long, and T wasn¡¯t sure if that meant she was being kind¡ªensuring they had enough time to be ready to proceed¡ªor insulting¡ªimplying that they needed longer toe back to themselves.


    Regardless, the wolf sat back on her haunches and asked a simple question, ¡°What are you?¡±


    Rane nced at T, and she shrugged. She was more than fine with him responding first. He looked back to their supposed teacher. ¡°Well, we are bipedal, biological beings usually known as humans. We are gated beings, meaning we carry within ourselves a stable, locationally unfixed passage from the next world¡ªthe world of magic¡ªand that allows power to flow through into Zeme. We are Mages of the cycling cities. We are Archons, Bound, Fused, and Refined. We are married, bound and one, body and soul. We are guests here, safe and weed.¡± He paused, giving a faux apologetic smile. ¡°I could continue, but I am unsure if I am giving you the answer you are looking for.¡± R?


    Lerra snorted. ¡°If you didn¡¯t understand the question, you could have asked for rification.¡±


    Rane raised an eyebrow. ¡°Really? You wouldn¡¯t have responded to such a request with ament that I could have given <em>some</em> answer before asking for rity?¡±


    The wolf grinned in return. ¡°Of course not. That would be unnecessarilybative of me.¡±


    T found herself grinning along with the other two at the tone of the lupine instructor.


    ¡°Now, you did a rather thorough job of covering parts of who you are. Part of me wants to expose you to the fact that you are physically three-dimensional beings in physically four-dimensional space, but I believe you are already at least partially aware of that.¡±


    T raised an eyebrow. ¡°Partially? I think we¡¯re fully aware.¡±


    Rane winced, and she instantly realized that she¡¯d been too definitive. She knew that she had a lot to learn and should have been a bit less all epassing.


    Lerra regarded her for a moment. ¡°Your cloud of little eyes is a clever use of the realities of existence, but it hardly makes you <em>fully</em> aware, child.¡±


    ¡°Then, I am eager to learn.¡± She could have hedged, but it didn¡¯t seem like that would be necessary.


    ¡°It seems like that is hardly the case, but regardless, that is not the subject for today.¡± Still, she hesitated. ¡°I will say this. Be careful if you tread the fourth dimension. Anything you encounter will have effectively infinitely more mass than you, unless you are anchored in a ¡®liveyer¡¯ such as Zeme, the Lunar Hunt, or even your own bound space. Thews of existence dictate that four-dimensional things cannot exert their essentially infinite mass within a specific three-dimensional slice¡ªat least not fully¡ªelse they¡¯d have ripped apart everything long ago. Even so, when you are unmoored, they are able to bring more of themselves to bear. Even we of the Pack only deal with such things with great care and on purpose. We do not allow ourselves to have such encounters by ident.¡±


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    T <em>almost</em> pushed back, but then she remembered all that she <em>had</em> seen stone- and starward of the superficial. The wolf¡¯s advice was sound. ¡°I¡¯ll do my best to remember that.¡±


    ¡°See that you do. Now our actual lesson for today deals with the nature of the soul.¡± She nced toward Rane. ¡°Incidentally, that was the answer I was seeking. You are a soul, anchored to and in marginal control over a meat puppet. All else is simple decoration. <em>You</em> are the soul.¡±


    There was a pregnant pause during which T and Rane exchanged a look. T then cleared her throat. ¡°I mean¡­ yes? That¡¯s not exactly revolutionary. Do most wolves¡ªeven those older than us¡ªreally need you to tell them this?¡±


    Lerra let out an irritated growl. ¡°No, and most of them are wise enough to realize that I <em>might </em>just be telling them something that they can learn from.¡±


    The two exchanged another look, and Rane shrugged. ¡°I¡¯m game to hear her out.¡±


    T huffed augh. ¡°Well, of course. I am too.¡±


    ¡°Good. Now, you are both likely thinking that you <em>have</em> souls, and that they are simply one of the most critical parts of you. My understanding is that you have even crossed paths with people whock a soul. Is that correct?¡±


    T nodded. ¡°That¡¯s right.¡±


    ¡°Good. That makes things easier. Such a person is not actually there anymore. Their body is continuing, following the promptings of their biology and neurochemistry. They are incapable of volitional action, outside of that prompted by circumstance, and even that is indistinguishable fromplex reaction. But that¡¯s the negative side. As just a soul, what are you really?¡±


    T shivered. She¡¯d experienced just that less than two years earlier. ¡°My mental magics are <em>set</em> enough that I have a mind to an extent, though in thinking back on it, I think arge part of that was simply echoing the biology that I was no longer connected to. My mind would have splintered and faded soon enough.¡±


    Lerra regarded her for a long moment. ¡°You had a true out of body experience?¡±


    ¡°I did.¡±


    ¡°This experience will make some of what we have to learn more difficult, but I will address thatter. Can you exin it to me?¡±


    ¡°Well, a prisoner severed my soul from by body, but I had deep enough natural magics enhancing and augmenting my mental functions that I was able to think. With that thought, I focused on my perceptions of Reality nodes and my connections to others as well as my iron within my flesh, and as a result I was able to reim what was already mine by right.¡±


    Rane gave her a look, blinking a few times. ¡°That was¡­ huh. I suppose that¡¯s essentially correct, even if it was highly abbreviated.¡±


    T shrugged. ¡°She can ask questions if she¡¯d like.¡±


    The wolf shook her head slowly, looking contemtive. She asked a few quick rifying questions¡ªwhich T answered¡ªthen sighed. ¡°I agree with your assessment. Your mind would not have survived for too much longer in that circumstance. Part of that is the nature of the human thought process, part is that your memories are still stored external to your self, making you vulnerable, and part is because your soul is not something you readily use.¡±


    Rane frowned. ¡°Hang on. What? If we are considered just a soul, of course our memories are stored ¡®outside¡¯ our self. They are in our minds. Are you saying that we should be able to ¡®remember¡¯ with our soul?¡±


    Lerra¡¯s teeth showed in clear happiness. ¡°Well inferred. Yes. A properly trained and refined soul should be able to store all of the pertinent parts of your self within itself. That includes your memories, among other things. My understanding is that a passive form of that begins to ur sometime after you humans reach the advancement you call Paragon, and volitional control and utilization of it is required if Reforging is to be anything other than an exercise in tedium.¡±


    T knew her mouth was ajar, but she couldn¡¯t be bothered. She¡¯d always assumed that people like Master Xeel just had Archive links like she did, that they simply re-loaded their minds whenever they recreated their own bodies, but now that she actually considered it, that made no sense. Of course that made no sense.


    If that <em>were </em>the case, Master Xeel wouldn¡¯t be able to think when he was in the form of light. He would be a mindless beam of energy that would recreate a human when it got to the pre decided location. That isn¡¯t how he worked at all. ¡°Oh, rust the stars¡­ So, you¡¯re saying that you can teach us to store our memories within our souls?¡±


    Rane was rocked back on his heels, clearly deep in thought¡ªor deep in argument with Enar¡ªbut he refocused to hear the answer to her question.


    Lerra gave a lupine grin incredibly reminiscent of her father. ¡°That is but the first step in the proper use of your true selves. Let me see, human development is different than ours¡­ yes. You speak of crawling when I want to teach you to <em>sprint.</em> You ask after burbling single sybles when I want you topose poetry on the run. You ask if you will ever stand? I will teach you to <em>dance.</em>¡±


    T and Rane nced at one another seemingly feeling interested and skeptical at the same time.


    ¡°Both of you have secondary personalities that you¡¯ve magically created, branching off of your soul, housed within your own mind and your Archive, correct?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± Rane had answered this time after seeming to contemte the description.


    ¡°Good. They will almost assuredly have an easier time learning this than you, and once they do, your soul will learn how to function in this way, thus letting you do so more easily. It will be like slipping into another¡¯s body and tapping into the muscle memory for certain movements. But first, we need to teach you to perceive your own soul¡ªand if we are very lucky¡ªthe souls of others. At the very least, you will be able to perceive each other¡¯s soul, as you are bound.¡±


    <em>Soulsight? To go with our growing perception of authority¡­ that could be quite useful.</em>


    <em>-g me if that isn¡¯t true.-</em>


    T grinned back at the wolf. ¡°Alright. How do we start?¡±


    ¡°First, you eat these mushrooms.¡± A pile of variously colored mushrooms appeared in front of the wolf.


    Rane cocked an eyebrow, and T tilted her head to the side in confusion. ¡°Are you serious? Mushrooms are pretty awful.¡±


    ¡°What? Don¡¯t want to eat the funny nts?¡±


    Rane shook his head. ¡°No, thank you though. Is it required?¡±


    Lerra sighed. ¡°No¡­ I was told that humans were gullible¡­ It seems I was misinformed.¡±


    T gave a half smile. ¡°Oh, you are quite correct, but we¡¯re in the domain of a god-beast. We are going to do our best to not approach anything blindly.¡±


    He huffed augh. ¡°Yeah, my wife is correct. There is too much new and different around for us to feelfortable. This is set up for us to be suspicious.¡±


    ¡°Hmmm¡­¡± The wolf tilted her head to one side, contemting. ¡°I will note that to inform future action. Now, what we <em>do</em> need to do is sit in silence, cutting ourselves off from the outside world. Then, we must picture ourselves.¡±


    That seemed reasonable, so Rane and T sat, closing their eyes.


    <em>-Do you want me to try this too, or keep an eye out? Or do you want to keep an eye out while I try it alone?-</em>


    <em>I think you can try itter, where I really can¡¯t.</em>


    <em>-Huh¡­ that¡¯s quite fair. Alright. I¡¯ll keep an eye out and fully cut off your senses.- </em>After a moment, t added, <em>-I will let you know if she says anything further.-</em>


    <em>Thank you, t.</em>


    <em>-You¡¯re most wee.-</em>


    T almost immediately felt like she was surrounded by nothing. t had even cut off her sense of touch and the kinesthetic knowledge of her own body.


    She trusted that the alternate interface had her body locked down, otherwise she was quite sure that she¡¯d have syed out the ground almost immediately.


    Lerra¡¯s voice came to her, clearly let through by t, ¡°Good. Now, picture yourself.¡±


    T did so, imagining how she¡¯d look.


    ¡°Now, strip off all that would have changed with age and the passage of time were you not Refined.¡±


    She frowned, removing many of her features that she knew would have shifted.


    ¡°Now remove all that could be harmed due to an attack. You are still you, after all, even if injured.¡±


    T <em>almost </em>argued that she¡¯d just heal, but even if t had given her ess to her mouth to voice the objection, she realized that such wasn¡¯t the actual point.


    What was left to T¡¯s imagining was an odd lump of flesh. ¡°Is that still you? Distinctly you? Add back the sense of you, and I don¡¯t mean any of the parts you took away. Make your imagining undeniably you.¡±


    She was at a loss. How could the blob be her? Then, Lerra¡¯s earlier statement came back. <em>I am my soul. My soul </em>is<em> me.</em>


    The remainder of the physical fell away, and she was left with just her gate.


    Except¡­ Her gate was the hole into the next world. It wasn¡¯t actually the totality of her soul.


    She almostughed. The gate only existed because her soul was broken.


    So, what <em>was</em> her soul? What was <em>she?</em> And how did that fit into who she was to the world around her?


    She was the ability to choose. She was the choices she made. She was the emptiness through which power flowed to enact her choices. She was her effect on the world around her.


    Her soul resonated with that. She¡¯d articted the framework of the answer. It was time¡ªfinally¡ªto fill in the nks.

 Chapter 506: Who

    T knew who she was, and she was finallying to understand who she was <em>in rtion to others and the world around her</em>.


    She was a Refined, gated-Mage of humanity. Defender, Protector, and source of power, shelter, and livelihood¡­ a nurturer of magic. She was Eskau of the House of Blood, yer of theirst true inheritor. She was the blood daughter of one who had died to bring her into this world and one who had wronged her in a way that still hurt¡ªeven if she felt like it shouldn¡¯t¡ªand the volitional flockmate of a murderous terror bird.


    She was iron, and iron was hers. From almost her earliest times as a student she had been fascinated by and used iron. To her, it was inextricably linked to her magic, to her. She was Iron.


    But that was focusing only on who she was, not who she was to others and to the world.


    Focusing outward once again, one rtion stood out in stark relief. She was the wife of Rane.


    There was so much joy in that, that she let herself just revel in the portion of her soul most closely tied to the man. It was the part from which the bond to him sprung, just as all soulbonds were anchored to a part of the soul. That stood to reason.


    When she had taken the time to enjoy the focus on that bond, she moved on, and was immediately confronted with something else. It was an absence rather than the presence of something.


    Mother of none.


    Even though it was technically true, everything about that negative assertion hit her <em>wrong.</em>She knew it was wrong too. She wasn¡¯t the biological mother of anyone, not now and maybe not ever, but she was taking on the role of protector and nurturer.


    She¡¯d been doing it since her first caravan run. When she knew others were in need, she stepped in if she could.


    She almostughed as she considered things further. Even how she¡¯d dealt with the would-be thieves during her first week in Bandfast had been maternal. She¡¯d chastised them and ensured they got the proper punishment in hopes of reform.


    Maternal¡­ not a mother, maternal.


    <em>That</em> resonated deeply with her.


    Her internal visualization of herself shifted until she felt like she was looking upon a warm, springtime sun. It cast a benevolent light on all within her sphere, even while projecting a field of protection from the harsh realities that existed ¡®out there.¡¯


    Even as Eskau, she¡¯d sought to protect ¡®her family¡¯ which at the time had been the House of Blood. She¡¯d done it mostly as a disguise, but she had gotten satisfaction from the work, the purpose. It helped that Be-thric had been a sore to be removed.


    Make no mistake, she¡¯d killed him for her own reasons¡ªand for her own gain¡ªbut it had also been of help to the House of Blood, even if they wouldn¡¯t see it that way, except in retrospect.


    <em>They </em>might <em>be seeing it that way, now. </em>But that was likely being overly optimistic.


    As flimsy as that reasoning was, it still fit¡ªif only just¡ªand looked at in that light, T actually felt herself <em>rx</em> into the notion.


    <em>Not a mother, but maternal. You don¡¯t have to be a mother to be maternal, and being maternal doesn¡¯t make you a mother. </em>She huffed augh internally. <em>Rust, being a mother doesn¡¯t even necessarily bias you toward being maternal.</em>


    That felt <em>right.</em>


    So, she moved on.


    As Lisa had pointed out to her, she was still an Eskau of the House of Blood, at least officially.


    She <em>was </em>of blood, but not all of it. Thus, yet again, she came back to the core of who she was, individually. She was iron.


    Her soul resonated with that, a feeling of contentment spreading at the renewed acknowledgment of the long-known truth. The star that was her soul had a core of iron, even though she knew that wasn¡¯t how stars worked in reality, it fit too well to dismiss the visualization.


    As to others, her default state was maternal, not as their mother, but as one who sheltered and protected, provided and nurtured. That is where her hearty, that is what called to her soul. She had not done as much nurturing and providing as she had sheltering and protecting, but all aspects spoke to her at a deep level.


    <em>Something to grow toward, I suppose.</em> There was excitement in the prospect if she were being honest, and that was the whole point of this exercise.


    She was supposed to be utterly honest.


    Because of the required honesty, she had to continue. For, as true as her maternal and iron natures were, she was also the ravenous, jealous devourer. That was as true now as it had ever been. That hadn¡¯t gone away. If anything, it had actually grown more true with time.


    Her visualization of her own soul¡ªher <em>self</em>¡ªchanged, bing almost a hole to her introspection, but somehow with substance to it. It was as if there was a ball of matter that devoured all that touched it by default. Around that devouring substance, something like spiked chains seemed to encircle her, not binding her but instead coiled and ready to strike out in order to bind anything she set her will to and secure it as her own.


    She was the ravenous, jealous devourer.


    But she <em>was</em> maternal iron¡­


    Her soul again appeared almost like a warm star, shining on existence around herself.


    Then the chain-wielding devouring sphere.


    Again, the warm star, with a core of iron.


    She couldn¡¯t find a w in either, except that they weren¡¯t the other.


    She <em>was</em> each¡­


    She was <em>both</em>.


    Their basic states seemed so at odds, but she connected to both <em>deeply.</em>


    She was left with two rather well formed views of her self.


    She was a devouring maw, iming that which was hers and jealously utilizing it as she wished.


    She often wished to protect and provide for those around her¡­ no, not all those around her¡ªnot always. Generally, she wanted to protect and provide for those who were <em>hers</em>.


    She¡¯d had much the same realization before, but it hadn¡¯tnded <em>quite</em> right.


    Now, it seemingly had.


    They weren¡¯t at odds, these two visualizations of her self. They weren¡¯t in conflict or a demonstration that she didn¡¯t understand who she really was. That¡¯s what she¡¯d held onto in the back of her mind. That is what had been holding her back.


    She wasn¡¯t two different people, one that she knew well to herself, and an unknown enigma to the world.


    She was <em>herself </em>both devouring and protecting.


    Theplete images were two sides of the same coin.


    T <em>gasped</em>, shattering t¡¯s hold over her body and senses.


    She was still in the woods with Rane sitting beside her¡ªhis aura pulsing a pleasantly green yellow¡ªand Lerraying with her chin on her paws before them both.


    The wolf raised her head, even as T¡¯s aura pulled back into herself, roiling and twisting, being baptized in the revtion of T¡¯s dual-unified nature.


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    Solidifying in the truth of who she was.


    Maternal Iron <em>and </em>Ravenous, Jealous Devourer. She was the Iron Matriarch.


    Her aura rushed out once more, true-green as her soul sang within her chest¡­ as <em>she</em> resonated with knowledge of who she truly was.


    A smile pulled across her lips, and she almostughed. <em>I did get one thing wrong though. I¡¯m not a </em>Refined<em>, gated Mage of humanity.</em>


    She was a Paragon.


    Existence trembled around her, and she gloried in the feeling as <em>she</em> expanded, settling more fully into her physical form, feeling more connected with her biology, inscriptions, and natural magics than ever before.


    Rane hadn¡¯t reacted, and that <em>almost</em> annoyed her, but she was well aware¡ªand fully realized¡ªthat Enar was likely keeping him focused, and so he was unaware of her revtion and elevation.


    Lerra had a wolfish half-grin on her face. ¡°Wonderfully done, T, Paragon of Humanity¡­¡± The wolf cleared her throat¡ªreally, she created the sounds required to mimic the clearing of a throat¡ªand continued, ¡°However, that was <em>not</em> what we were focusing on, here. You must have been close indeed for such simple meditation¡ªeven aided by Mother¡ªto have pushed you over the edge. Do you require time to celebrate your advancement or are you able to continue the current lesson now?¡±


    T gave a sheepish grin that didn¡¯t in any way diminish her feeling of tion. <em>I¡¯m a Paragon!</em>


    <em>-...T. I think¡­ I think she¡¯s lying. I think this was the </em>exact <em>intention of this exercise. At least a part of it. It lined up too perfectly with what you needed.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, I sort of figured the second part, but it is possible that she¡¯d be used to working with those already at Paragon advancement, or whatever the Pack equivalent is. Vidarra and Anatalis would likely have known, but Lerra might not have.</em>


    <em>-Are you going to ask?-</em>


    <em>No. I think I¡¯m fine not knowing for sure.</em>


    <em>-Mature of you.-</em>


    <em>Almost enlightened, you might say. I¡¯m practically a paragon of politeness.</em>


    <em>-...Fine. I¡¯ll let that one slide.-</em>


    Lerra waited patiently.


    T took a deep breath and let it out in a rush, refocusing on her aplishment. She¡¯d done it. ¡°I¡¯m ready to continue. Thank you.¡±


    ¡°Very well, then. So, we are currently¡ª¡±


    Rane¡¯s aura rippled, shimmered, and then rushed back in toward his center.


    Lerra growled. ¡°By the Pack¡­ do neither of you ever take time to actually <em>think</em>? How could this possibly be all that you <em>both</em> needed?¡±


    <em>Huh, maybe it was hidden from her by her parents.</em>


    <em>-Funny way of thinking about two god-beast level beings, but sure.-</em>


    Rane¡¯s eyes snapped open, a broad grin blossoming across his features. ¡°T! I did it. I figured out¡­¡±


    His eyes swept over her and their surroundings.


    He then stood in a rush, catching her up and kissing her. ¡°Congrattions, my love. I¡¯m proud of you. I¡¯d love to hear what you learned about yourself, when you¡¯re ready to share.¡±


    Lerra huffed. ¡°Very well. We aren¡¯t getting anything further done in this moment. We will take a one hour respite. Talk, take your time, and recenter yourselves.¡±


    <em>-T! You both did it!- </em>t chuckled, leaving the theorizing behind just to express her excitement. <em>-We¡¯ve advanced and it was all thanks to your self-reflection.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, well¡­ I apologize that I haven¡¯t just buckled down and thought this through before.</em>


    <em>-It lies near a¡­ difficult topic for you, right now. It¡¯s understandable. I¡¯m sure no one would fault you for taking a bit more time than might otherwise have been expected.-</em>


    <em>I feel like </em>someone<em> might, but I take your meaning.</em> She kissed Rane again, turning her attention to her husband. ¡°Thank you, but you shouldn¡¯t just change the subject. You advanced as well.¡±


    He grinned. ¡°I did, didn¡¯t I?¡± Heughed. ¡°I¡¯m d to be moving in step with you once again.¡±


    ¡°So? Who are you, my husband? Who are <em>you?</em>¡±


    A smile pulled at his lips. ¡°I am the sculptor of motion.¡±


    T felt her eyes widen and her soul practically purred at the feeling of his soul, bound to hers. It fit him <em>so well.</em>


    It was seemingly contradictory¡ªmuch like her duality¡ªbut at the same time it was a near perfect reflection of his magic, how he used it, <em>and</em> who he was.


    ¡°Congrattions, my Rane.¡± She rested her head on his chest. ¡°Paragon, advancing together.¡±


    He nodded, squeezing her tightly. ¡°Honestly, thinking back on it, at the end there, I believe that I felt you resonating with your advancement. I think our bond helped me resonate in harmony, putting the final polish on my understanding of my self. Thank you.¡±


    She grinned without moving away. ¡°If that is the case, I am d to have helped nurture you toward advancement, even if not intentionally.¡±


    t snorted within T¡¯s head. <em>-That¡¯s a bit of a stretch.-</em>


    <em>Hush you, I¡¯m being cute with my husband. It doesn¡¯t have to be perfectly urate.</em>


    <em>-Fine, fine. I¡¯ll leave you be.-</em> After a moment, t added. <em>-Lerra seems to have left the two of you alone. Take the time to settle and reset your minds and get ready to focus. I want to learn to use our soul, our self, morepletely¡­ or really at all in more than a passive way.-</em>


    <em>Alright. I¡¯ll see what I can do.</em>


    <em>-Thank you.-</em>


    Rane stood and stretched. ¡°So, Lerra acted like we missed the point of the exercise. Do you think that is actually the case? I mean, she asked us to delve into our selves, how we see ourselves and how we rte to the world around us. That¡¯s pretty much exactly what gated humans need to advance to Paragon.¡±


    T shrugged, leaning back to look up at him. ¡°I mean¡­ did she? She was attempting to make us focus on our souls, and to do that, we needed to have them isted in a sense. It¡¯s like how I trained moving things around in my aura, or learned to use the perception mirrored from one of my bloodstars. I isted the feel of it, then learned to utilize the new sense or ability in istion before folding it back into everyday life.¡±


    He grunted. ¡°I suppose so, yeah. That is how I approach dealing with new types of attack too.¡±


    She raised an eyebrow.


    Rane grinned in return, chuckling slightly. ¡°Well, it¡¯s how I <em>prefer </em>to deal with new ones. In the heat of the moment, I¡¯m getting much better at working on the fly.¡±


    Thinking back on his battle with the sireling, she smiled. ¡°Evidently.¡±


    ¡°So¡­ you don¡¯t think it was intentional? Just a byproduct of the methods?¡±


    ¡°Likely a mix. The greater powers here likely knew, but I feel like Lerra probably didn¡¯t. I mean, if we were almost Fused, it likely would have allowed a simr push to advancement. We were close enough thatying out our actual understandings of our souls¡ªour selves¡ªwas all we were missing.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s a little embarrassing, then¡­ We were sitting that close to what we needed.¡±


    T shrugged. ¡°It doesn¡¯t really bother me, honestly. So many things are like this. If we have the proper technique, most things be almost insultingly easy.¡±


    ¡°Right. Every Mage has her use, her specialty, her niche. This is just a case where the tools we were working with weren¡¯t as well suited to the task as those the Pack had ready to hand.¡±


    ¡°Exactly.¡±


    Rane regarded her for a long moment, then barked augh. ¡°And, we haven¡¯t <em>really</em> been taking the time for introspection. We¡¯ve either been experimenting, training, or enjoying our honeymoon.¡±


    T nodded, her smile returning in full force. ¡°True enough. I can¡¯t say I regret doing so either.¡±


    ¡°Me neither.¡±


    They shared a¡­ smoldering look.


    A lupine cough echoed around them before Lerra faded back into existence. ¡°My apologies, humans. It seems like you have talked through what you needed to, and we don¡¯t have infinite time. I know I said an hour, but you can exercise your bondter, if that is eptable.¡±


    T regarded the wolf, contemting testing her new advancement against the ancient beast, but she put that thought aside. ¡°Very well. How much more time <em>do</em> we have here?¡±


    Rane gave his wife a puzzled look, but before he could inquire, Lerra chuckled. ¡°So, you noticed and are aware of the implications, very interesting.¡±


    T shrugged. ¡°We are stoneward of Zeme, and that means time moves faster here inparison. The only question is how much faster?¡±


    ¡°A week here will be but a day on Zeme. That is actually one reason our time is limited. Human biology and spirituality is tied to Zeme in ways that we will not interfere with, and too much time in dtion such as this will inevitably lead to death.¡±


    Rane¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°Time magic kills. Yeah, we¡¯re aware.¡±


    Lerra gave a lupine shrug. ¡°While that is true¡ªand somewhat rted¡ªthis is not actually time magic. It is hard to ssify the difference¡­¡± The wolf tilted her head to the side. ¡°Actually, imagine a circle that is spinning. If you stop touching the circle you die. But you can still change how far you travel by moving toward the center or away. Time magic is like jumping. This is like having moved outward on the circle. You will experience more distance for the same number of rotations.¡±


    He frowned. ¡°I think¡­ that does make sense, yeah. But why would it be deadly, then?¡±


    The wolf grinned back. ¡°Because your bodies and souls were not designed for the temporal forces involved in allowing or experiencing extra time for the same number of rotations. You can survive for brief periods every so often but not extensively or regrly.¡±


    T interjected then. ¡°Does our advancement help? Are those less advanced at greater danger?¡±


    ¡°No, not in this case. Advancement does not help unless you have magic specifically tuned toward dealing with such forces. Such would have no other use, and humanity¡¯s very reasonable and logical prohibition on time magic makes it unlikely if not impossible that any of your species have such magics.¡±


    T narrowed her eyes at the wolf, practically using, ¡°You could make such magics.¡±


    ¡°Of course, but we will not. Messing with another¡¯s temporal stability can <em>easily</em> have side-effects ranging from death to insanity. I will not take such a risk thousands of times for so little gain. I am <em>very</em> good, but that would be dancing with disaster to say the least.¡±


    ¡°Understandable.¡± T nced at her husband. ¡°Very well, then. Let¡¯s see what we can learn with the time we have to give.¡±


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 Chapter 507: Rather Important Consequences

    T hadn¡¯t dealt with it at the time, but her advancement to Paragon had had three rather important consequences.


    First, T¡¯s magical power had been altered by her new Paragon-ship at nearly every level.


    Her power-density had taken the usual jump from tier advancement, representing the qualitative change that would increase the power of all of her magics as a matter of course. She also experienced an increase in power <em>volume,</em> which simply meant that she could hold more of the denser power than she had been able to of the less potent, Refined variety. The power flowing through her gate¡ªher soul¡ªhad also be more attuned to her, making it more efficient for her use. Simrly, the flow-rate through her gate increased markedly, meaning that even with arger reserve, she would actually refill to full in about the same amount of time¡­ if she ever actually bottomed out, which hadn¡¯t happened in¡­ a very long time.


    <em>-It was at the Academy, I believe. Wait, no. You did it when filling out your cargo-slot the first time.-</em>


    <em>Oh, yeah. And in the ether-hold.</em> She shuddered. <em>Looking back, I think I didn¡¯t actually reach my limits there. I didn¡¯t hit true empty. I just came as close as I ever had.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, that sounds right.-</em>


    Each and every aspect of the advancement of her power made her a more potent Mage, better able to sh with the enemies of gated-humanity¡ªall humanity, really¡ªand better able to im, keep, and nurture what was hers.


    That¡¯s why she had imed the duality of her nature¡­ The two sides of her <em>unified</em> nature.


    Second, the enhancement magics that both T and Rane bore were amplified to entirely new heights.Thankfully, Lerra¡¯s teaching was mainly internal, working with their souls¡ªtheir true selves¡ªrather than with their bodies, inscriptions, or natural magics. Otherwise, they might have had quite a bit of trouble.


    They did their best over the following days to limate themselves to their new level of physical and mental ability, Enar and t especially appreciating thetter.


    This was aplished through stretching, calisthenics, controlled kinesthetic movement, and other forms of exercise.


    They had to repair some furniture and parts of the sanctum, but even that was only a mild inconvenience in the long run.


    Third, Terry and Kit had been uplifted as well. For Terry, that seemed to have simply meant that he had a more¡­ exciting hunting experience with the god-beast, Anatalis. He had been quite vocal with chirps of praise for her progress upon his return, however. As for Kit, the advancement had meant a bit more.


    The power density within Kit had immediately ticked up to match T¡¯s new maximum, the barrier between Zeme and the next world having thinned for the moment of T¡¯s advancement.


    The inherent attunement-scrubbing magics integrated within Kit made sure that it was power usable by any, and people did use it, in some cases whether they wanted to or not¡ªthough thankfully, no one was forcibly reborn due to T¡¯s advancement. <em>That</em> would have been a disaster.


    Many of the integrated constructs with Ironhold produced slightly different results as a consequence of the increase in avable power. Lyn gave T an earful over that, given that they had to rush around, altering a huge number of systems that they¡¯d set up for the convenience of the Ironhold residents.


    Those in the recently absorbed holds had been continuing on at arcane-hold-standard levels of power as they hadn¡¯t specifically increased the density around those constructions. After her advancement, however, they all had to be addressed one way or another.


    The problem atrge caused T and t to set up locked zones of power density around every such device throughout the Ironhold so any further advancement wouldn¡¯t cause any issue. In the same vein, if the power-density ever dropped, those zones would be maintained at regr function for as long as possible.


    The Talons¡ªand other reborn¡ªalso experienced the leap in power-density, allowing their natural magics to continue to set more deeply, more quickly. This also forced T to increase the number of step-down areas for training magical retention, in order to allow the same gradation between steps.


    Rane helped too, though his secondary bond to Kit¡ªthrough her¡ªmade him less effective at solving some of the issues. There were so many that that slightly lower efficiency was greatly offset by the simple need of <em>any</em> help, which he dly gave.


    All told, it was a <em>chore</em> to realign everything within Kit to her new advancement.


    She tackled each aspect with relish and <em>joy.</em>


    They were Paragons!


    That aside, though, T and Rane spent most of the next couple of weeks with Lerra¡ªexcept when they took time to themselves, which the wolf encouraged as ¡®processing time¡¯ at least every day or so. They had chosen to return to the sanctum to help fix and re-tune the magical constructs therein, having aided Master Simon and his assistants. After that, though, they only returned to the Sanctum for those short stints of processing time.


    Vidarra¡ªor the Lunar Hunt, whichever she was acting as at the time¡ªalso asionally put up authoritative obstacles that forced her to work with Rane in new ways, slowly molding their instincts toward innately upholding each other¡¯s authority outside of strictly magical workings even without focus being required. Their soulbond gave all the input that was needed.


    T found the times of simplyying in Rane¡¯s arms in their bed incredibly rxing, and many of her breakthroughs in what Lerra was teaching them came during those times of peaceful, cid togetherness. That reinforced their growing respect for the wolf teacher, as she had obviously expected that easierprehension upon reflection to be the case, hence her encouragement.


    It was quite interesting in one sense, because their presence in the Lunar Hunt instead of Zeme had actually pulled the entirety of Kit stoneward, increasing the amount of time experienced for the given rotation of Zeme for even those who remained in Ironhold or the sanctum, allowing them to experience ¡®extra¡¯ time essentially to the same extent as those who ventured out into the Lunar Hunt.


    Funnily enough, aside from Lyn¡ªwho did much of her work with the Archive¡ªonly one resident of the Ironhold noticed the alteration to the flow of time, and it was only because he seemed to have regr contact with others outside the hold through the selling of visual and auditory records¡ªsimr to T trading away ess to her memories, if at lower quality¡ªto interested Archons.


    Lyn had approached T and Rane, asking if she should curb the man¡¯s¡­ enthusiastic sharing, but Lerra¡ªwho had been with them at the time¡ªhad assured them all that her mother would not allow the man near anything that they were not willing to share with humanity as a whole.


    As to what T and Rane had learned?


    t and Enar could both now utilize their souls as memory storage, which¡ªto t¡¯s delight¡ªactually meant that t moved from being based in the Archive to being based within their soul.


    Enar was still a bit away from achieving such an oue, but he was progressing quickly with both t¡¯s and Lerra¡¯s aid.


    T, for her part, had been able to look around and remember what she¡¯d seen while her brain had been ced into a state of unconsciousness.


    It had felt like an incredibly hazy dream to her in recollection, but she <em>had</em> remembered it.


    Rane, for his part, had actually been able to make a choice while in a simr state, processing input and responding when ¡®thinking¡¯ as a soul.


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    Lerra had only allowed these initial practice sessions with heavy magical involvement, and she promised to have artifacts created for their use before they left. Apparently, such ¡®soul-walking¡¯ could expose a person to the Doman-Imithe if they weren¡¯t careful. Dreams were, in fact, often a lesser version of this, where the mind and soul worked together to process all that it had experienced, even if it hadn¡¯t realized it was seeing or experiencing the Doman-Imithe side of things while awake.


    As to Rane¡¯s faster progression than T at this early stage, Lerra had been¡­ confused? That was likely not the right emotion, but she had been at least surprised that T¡¯s alternate interface did better than Rane¡¯s while Rane surpassed T.


    The wolf had been mollified when she¡¯d remembered T¡¯s recent out-of-body experience. She then reiterated that such could be the source, even though that seemed like it would have caused the opposite. Lerra exined that T¡¯s soul¡ªin that experience¡ªhad been aided by her magics operating as a mental structure. In the lessons, however, that was not allowed. Her soul had been given a crutch and, in that short time, learned to depend on it. In the actual use of the skills that Lerra was trying to teach, that crutch was absent.


    That was fine with T. She would get it eventually.


    Her favorite part, still, was the awareness that she and Rane had gained of each others¡¯ souls through their bond. They¡¯d been able to get a general sense of each other before, but now they could <em>feel</em> one another, in a very simr way to physical touch.


    Thus, when she curled up against him, or when he wrapped around her, cradling her in an embrace from behind as they drifted off to sleep, she could <em>feel</em> his soul embracing hers as well¡ªhis true self holding her in a way that two bodies never could¡ªand she reveled in the sensation every time.


    They hadn¡¯t taken the time to test out working magic through the other¡¯s authority just yet¡ªthey just didn¡¯t have the time with all the sitting and meditating, and other seeming nothing, that Lerra had them doing¡ªbut they¡¯d agreed to take time to focus on it once they left the Lunar Hunt behind.


    Terry spent the time hunting with various members of the pack.


    Apparently, Anatalis had introduced him to hunting the four-dimensional prey animals like those that T had seen around human cities¡ªand more so around the abandoned sites¡ªhelping to repair the rents.


    Seemingly, there were other varieties that tasted <em>excellent</em> if eaten raw. That was an incredible boon, as cooking a four-dimensional chunk of meat was understandably problematic.


    Terry was only allowed a single bite each day while in the Lunar Hunt, as the nature of the meat was one that could overwhelm his three-dimensional biology even as advanced as he was. In fact, he¡¯d only been allowed even that much because he and T had advanced to Paragon, reinforcing Terry¡¯s self and bolstering his spiritual integrity.


    Regardless, he hadn¡¯t been hunting with Anatalis himself after that first time, but he <em>did</em> go on hunts with other Paragon-level¡ªand more advanced¡ªPack members.


    The only thing that had truly broken up the pattern on T¡¯s side had been when she met up with Lisa a few days after they¡¯d arrived in the Lunar Hunt.


    For that visit, she willed herself into Irondale, appearing directly in front of his twisted doorway, the two vertical posts showing depictions of Lisa¡¯s forms¡ªone per post¡ªand the top showing a minute depiction of foxes ying and crafting on an undefined background.


    The doorway itself seemed to be entirely empty even though she could see that there was far, <em>far</em> more than nothing beyond it through her threefold sight.


    It was invisible to mundane vision because none of it was aligned with the superficial within Ironhold, but it was there all the same.


    <em>Yet all that¡¯s there is only three-dimensional.</em>


    It was still so fascinating to her.


    She understood the theory, that one could fit an infinite number of three-dimensionalyers within a four-dimensional space¡ªjust as one could fit an infinite number of two-dimensionalyers in a three-dimensional space¡ªbut it still boggled her mind to actually see dozens, maybe hundreds, of rooms all within the same three-dimensions, just offset infinitesimally within greater existence.


    Well, some were actually a lot bigger, ovepping the space of the surrounding houses, but offset so as to not cause any conflict.


    <em>-You¡¯re dying, T.-</em>


    <em>Right, right. </em>She shook her head. <em>Lisa has always been kind, but he¡¯s¡­ alien in a way. How he thinks, how he works, it¡¯s just different than I¡¯m used to.</em>


    <em>-And you haven¡¯t really spoken with him since he became your tenant?-</em>


    <em>Well, yeah, and only a handful of times before that.</em> She sighed, raised her hand, and knocked on the post, careful to do so <em>below</em> the depiction of Lisa in human form.


    Instantly, the view through the doorway shifted, as one of theyers came into alignment with the superficial within Ironhold, and T was looking in on a warmly appointed sitting room.


    There were twofortable looking arm chairs, one sized for T, and the other already upied by Lisa in fox form. Between the two chairs was a low table with tea service alreadyid out and ready for her arrival.


    There was a dark, highly detailed wallpaper giving the space an almost cave-like aesthetic to the mundane eye. Her enhanced vision picked out the various patterns and subtleties in the decoration.


    To her surprise, there were three great windows in the walls that she could easily see, and her threefold sight told her there was another on the wall she was entering through.


    She stepped inside without hesitation, the doorway vanishing behind her. She somehow knew that she could leave at will, just like she could move around anywhere within Kit, but she felt like it would be rude to do so.


    As she took a moment to actually look through each of the four windows, she did not see the expected surroundings in Irondale.


    Instead, through one she saw a forest that was undoubtedly in Zeme proper. The swaying of the trees in the wind was slow as if they were moving through msses. Another showed a view into the Lunar Hunt. The one in the wall she entered through did indeed show the street in Irondale that T had just stepped off of, but thest¡­


    T turned away from that view¡­ at least with her mundane eyes. The Doman-Imithe was neverfortable to regard.


    ¡°Greetings, Mistress T. If any of the views are displeasing, I am happy to alter them.¡± He gestured to the chair across from him. ¡°This is my mostfortable room of viewing. Others offer wider vistas and more attenuated information, but this one is the best for a chat with a friend.¡± He smiled, carefully keeping his teeth behind his lips.


    T took the offered seat and allowed him to pour her tea. She <em>might</em> have felt ufortable in this clearly foreign domain, except that she was intrinsically aware that she was still within Kit, and her own authority thrummed through the underpinnings of everything around her.


    To her threefold sight, she could see that all of the views were¡ªsomehow¡ªone way. Nothing <em>out there</em> could see, or even perceive, them in Lisa¡¯s sitting room. In fact, the sense she got of it was that such obscurement was partially due to Kit, herself, keeping all that was within her hidden and protected, but Lisa hadyered magics on top of and beyond those native ones to protect, obscure, and iste each of theyers of his home.


    Taking a deep breath, she looked back toward the view out on the Doman-Imithe, trying to see it as purely a spectacle, rather than a promise of what was around her, which was the case when she had actually been <em>there.</em>


    The twisted geometry <em>hurt</em> to look at but without the backdrop of fear¡ªand <em>with</em> the context of four physical dimensions to existence¡ªit suddenly <em>clicked</em> with her. The Doman-Imithe somehow removed the veil that usually kept up the facade of three-dimensions.


    The roiling, twisting, nonsensical shapes suddenly at least <em>sort of</em> made sense in that light¡­ at least a little.


    Some things were still beyond herprehension, though.


    The twenty-one eyed bone-tree that was simultaneously creating new eyes out of the innards of a screaming spider while eating its own existing eyes¡­ Or the mountain that was stalwartly flowing through the eye of a needle that was autonomously using the material to sew up the split ends of a hair on the end of a mouse¡¯s tail¡­


    T grimaced. <em>Yeah¡­ There were still things in the Doman-Imithe that made </em>no <em>sense.</em>


    Lisa didn¡¯tment further, simply awaiting her answer.


    ¡°I¡­ I think that I would appreciate not having the Doman-Imithe as a backdrop, yes.¡± She was very aware that <em>that</em> window had been behind Lisa. So she would have been staring at it for their entire conversation, even if just with her threefold sight and the edges of her vision¡­ that would probably have been worse than staring at it directly.


    ¡°Of course.¡± In the blink of an eye, the view shifted to one of the Lunar Hunt, looking out of the cliff beside the Irondale entrance that T had maintained. ¡°Is that more pleasant?¡±


    There was a surprising amount of traffic, even if much of it wasposed of peopleing out to look around before scampering back into Kit. ¡°It is, thank you.¡±


    ¡°But of course. You are my guest, I aim to make you morefortable.¡±


    There was a momentary silence in which T tested the promise made by the scent of the tea, filling the cozy room.


    It was utterly fantastic, of course, and with that sip, T settled in for what already promised to be an incredibly eventful visit.

 Chapter 508: Hidden

    T set her teacup back on the table between herself and the arcane, Lisa, feeling quitefortable in the chair sized¡ªand supported¡ªfor her in the fox-kin¡¯s home within Irondale. ¡°Thank you for the tea. It is excellent. And thank you, again, for meeting with me.¡±


    Lisa gave a nod. ¡°Of course. You are most wee.¡± He hesitated for the briefest moment then continued, ¡°Before anything else, I must congratte you, Mistress T, on advancing to Paragon. To be so Honored is rare for your species and your very existence makes all those you know and love safer. I imagine you are quite excited.¡± He smiled kindly, still keeping his teeth back. ¡°I must also thank you for the increase in avable power. I never imagined that you could put my little aspect-removing trinket to such use as you have, but I, for one, am grateful for your altruistic application of the magics.¡±


    She gave a small smile around her next sip of tea, only answering after setting her cup back down. ¡°Thank you, master Lisa, and you are most wee. I would say that the advancement was a long timeing¡­¡±


    As she trailed off, the fox-kin chuckled. ¡°But it really wasn¡¯t. Be careful, young one. Often those with such meteoric rises have simrly spectacr falls.¡±


    He gave a contemtive look, and T let him consider for a moment.


    ¡°You are¡­ I <em>would </em>definitely say that you are in a unique position out of all those I¡¯ve ever heard of, and I am <em>not</em> referring to your level of advancement or your age. Never before has an Archon of gated-humanity been acknowledged by a Major House as an official member, let alone one with true power.¡± He gave her a careful look. ¡°I do not know how your story will end, Mistress T, but I am eager to see how it progresses. Honestly, this¡ªmore than even the safety and potential longevity of your hold here¡ªprompted my decision to ept your invitation. If you do not waste what you have earned¡ªthroughpetence and the twists of fate, both¡ªyou could be the herald of a new age on this continent.¡±


    T coughed in embarrassment, took another long sip, and then gave a slight nod of acknowledgement before changing the subject with little social grace, ¡°So, how are you settling in? Your home is mostlyplete, I trust?¡±


    He waved that off. ¡°The physical rooms are done, of course, but properly aligning the other aspects¡ªand getting them <em>just</em> right¡ªwill be the work of decades. Even with that project ahead of me, I am enjoying the greater freedom life here affords me. Thank you for that.¡±


    T gave another nod of acknowledgement.¡°In that vein, several of my kinsmen have been in contact with me in thest months¡ªmany seemingly concerned for my safety and freedom of movement¡ªand I am happy to report that we do <em>not</em> have to be concerned that a motley squad of four-dimensional crafters will be breaking in here to rescue me any time soon.¡±


    She blinked at him a few times. ¡°Was¡­ was that a concern? Wait, any time soon? It¡¯s a concern forter?¡±


    ¡°It was a concern briefly, and my kin tend to be beings of whimsy and impulse. The mood could take themter on and then? Who knows.¡± He gave a vulpine smile and sipped his tea, prompting her to do likewise.


    As she lowered the cup once again, she found her frown melting away. The tea really was <em>fantastic.</em> ¡°I see. Well, thank you for heading that off¡­ even if just for now.¡±


    ¡°Of course. Consequently, however, there are some thirty foxes who have expressed interest in immigrating here, all with various demands and requirements.¡±


    Her eyes widened. ¡°Thirty? That¡¯s¡­ That¡¯s a lot, isn¡¯t it?¡±


    ¡°Oh, absolutely, but there was never really a chance of them alling.¡±


    ¡°Oh?¡± Her expression did a reversal, her eyes narrowing in suspicion.


    ¡°Of course. One¡ªmy seventeenth cousin¡­ I¡¯m not actually sure how far removed¡ªspecifically asked that I and all the humans agree to depart, so that she could take up residence.¡±


    That caused one of T¡¯s eyebrows to rise. ¡°Seriously?¡±


    ¡°Am I serious? Yes, that was the request. Was she serious? Likely not. I do not recall her being so foolish as to have actually considered that a possibility. More likely than not, she saw it as a test. She put a half-considered attempt in to test if this was a trap, something that would draw in our kind and consume them, putting out any bait necessary.¡± He sighed. ¡°A clumsy check, but likely a good-hearted one. She is still so young, barely into her majority.¡±


    ¡°Oh? How old is she?¡± T was genuinely curious as she didn¡¯t really know much about the fox-kin.


    ¡°I believe that she just turned one-hundred-fifty-three this past summer.¡±


    T¡¯s eye twitched. ¡°And that¡¯s barely considered an adult?¡±


    ¡°Of course. For our species, a hundred and fifty years is hardly enough to grant the wisdom needed to have anything meaningful to say. We reach physical maturity in our eighties, but that is hardly a reasonable measure for wise action, nor does the ability to breed mean you have anything meaningful to say or that should be listened to.¡±


    ¡°I see¡­¡±


    Lisa smiled at her, letting the almost awkwardness hang in the air for a moment before he added, ¡°Of course, we don¡¯t use that same measure for other races.¡± ??


    T grunted once, not really having a meaningful response.


    ¡°Regardless, you asked for this meeting. What can I do for you? Or were you simply hoping to meet in order to ask after my situation here?¡±


    She hesitated for a moment, then shook her head. ¡°We can get to the purpose in a moment. I think that it is important to know, will any of your kin be joining us?¡±


    He gave a slow nod. ¡°I am working with Mistress Lyn to amodate the reasonable requests. I suspect that we will have five of my kind join us within the next two months, likely closer to the end of that time. When they have established themselves¡­ I suspect there will be even greater interest.¡±


    ¡°So soon? Do we need to go anywhere to pick them up? Or¡­?¡±


    ¡°No, no. I will have an arrival anchor by that time¡­¡± When he saw nonprehension in her eyes he added. ¡°Ahh, yes. That will be a new concept to you. Consider it like your teleportation receiving arrays, but a bit less¡­ physically destructive. We canunch ourselves through four-dimensional space with an incredible degree of precision if we have a proper arrival anchor to shoot for, and in that way our travel can be <em>almost</em> as fast, if quite a bit more dangerous to the unwary.¡± He took another sip. ¡°Incidentally, we would not allow any child to take such a trip as there is too much that could go wrong and would need correction for a kit¡¯s safety to be assured. Regardless, I am nearly done with my arrival anchor, and I will be facilitating the arrival of my kin in concert with Mistress Lyn.¡±


    T frowned slightly. ¡°Lyn approved this?¡±


    ¡°She did, as I¡¯ve said. As a point of note, the anchor will also be my means of emergency egress in the event of disaster.¡±


    ¡°Oh? It can fling you toward another anchor?¡±


    ¡°...Technically no. I would need aunching array for that¡ªwhich isn¡¯t hard to build, even if I don¡¯t intend to¡ªbut as there are currently no other arrival anchors, that is a trivial issue.¡±


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    She frowned further. ¡°Then, I don¡¯t think I understand.¡±


    ¡°In the event of an emergency, I will be flung off into Zeme¡­ somewhere. I will emerge in a somewhat random location and start over.¡± He shrugged. ¡°It isn¡¯t a good solution, but it is far superior to death¡­ and your human teleportation magics do not y well with our soul-structure.¡±


    ¡°I see.¡± She felt like they were <em>very</em> far afield, and Lisa seemed to agree.


    ¡°So, with that settled, may I ask what brought you to my door today? As pleasant as yourpany is, I do have much work to be about, eventually.¡±


    ¡°Yes, arrival anchors, finishing your home, continuing to expand your artifact business.¡±


    ¡°Indeed.¡± He took another sip, waiting.


    ¡°Well, I was curious as to why you refused Anatalis¡¯ invitation the other day.¡±


    Lisa cocked his head to the side. ¡°If the House of Blood were to send an official invitation to you, asking for your attendance at a dinner party, would you attend?¡±


    She hesitated. ¡°I¡­ No?¡± She frowned yet again. ¡°Maybe?¡±


    That caused one of the foxes eyebrows to rise. ¡°I see. You have surprised me.¡±


    ¡°Well, regardless, I don¡¯t see how this answers my question. You were never a member of the Pack¡­ Right?¡±


    Lisa shook his head. ¡°No, no. We are not¡­ predatory enough to have ever received a test, let alone an invitation.¡±


    ¡°I see. So how do the questions rte?¡±


    He sighed. ¡°I admit, I had intended to imply that it was an ufortable and personal question, but my attempt failed.¡± He sighed again. ¡°Very well. I will give a <em>small</em> answer. We beast-kin have a better sense of authority than most humans do¡ªeven if most of the less advanced perceive that sense as something else¡ªand it is <em>incredibly</em> ufortable being in the presence of one who can so easily tear away everything that I consider to be mine, including my very self. Gated humans are¡­ safe, in a sense, from most like him. You can always flee to the next world if you are determined enough, even in the event of your death. For us? For those of us who are <em>fully</em> here? We are <em>exposed</em> in a way that is hard to describe. Your gateless might feel a bit out of sorts because of that reality, but theyck the sense to truly experience the existential dread of such an encounter. <em>We</em> can be dyed in passing on in ways you never can.¡±


    ¡°I¡­ see.¡± She felt like the fox wasn¡¯t telling the whole truth¡ªor more likely he was telling the truth in a way that obscured what he wanted hidden¡ªbut she decided not to press him on it. ¡°Thank you for exining that to me.¡±


    ¡°You are wee. Now, is there anything else? Or shall we finish our teapanionably, and continue with the tasks set before our individual selves?¡±


    She huffed augh. ¡°Let¡¯s go with the second option.¡±


    ¡°As you wish.¡± He topped off her tea, leaned back, and continued to sip at a steady, unhurried pace.


    * * *


    T and Rane were quite busy the following days.


    Aside from exercising their souls in the spiritual equivalent of tummy-time and teething¡ªwithout most of the screaming and crying that that analogy implied¡ªLerra had one specifically important skill to empart.


    ¡°Your most advanced humans will have techniques to aplish this¡ªand you are wee to learn them when you return home¡ªbut since you advanced while with us, it is incumbent upon us to teach you to veil your strength, doing otherwise is simply inviting trouble on a dozen different levels.¡±


    Rane and T shared a look before giving the wolf their full attention.


    ¡°Alright, you are aware of controlling your aura so that you do not harm those weaker than you. You havee to the point that you can even have the less advanced within your aura without them experiencing any ill effects. This is <em>almost</em> the same as that.¡±


    Rane held back a smile, and T barely held in augh. They had found over the past days that Lerra had a <em>very</em> distorted understanding of how humanity viewed or did things. They expected that this would be no different. The concept was likely to be vaguely rted, but just as likely not actually be very simr.


    ¡°The concept is very simple, but some have difficulty in the execution.¡± She looked back and forth between the two humans, verifying their attention, her lupine head swiveling with no small amount of menace. ¡°Your aura is yours. You have authority over it. Control the level of power you manifest within your aura.¡±


    T blinked. <em>That¡¯s¡­ it?</em>


    <em>-I mean¡­ it makes sense.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, but we never really considered doing that with our aura, at all.</em> Honestly, it sounded almost exactly like what she¡¯d been doing within Kit when she made the ¡®lower magical density¡¯ zones within the Ironhold. Though in that case, the air was filled with power that she was affecting directly, where her aura was simply a detectable zone of <em>potential</em> power.


    With a thought, T reached out to enact the same working of will upon her aura, and¡­ it slipped through her mental fingers.


    Instead of the color of her aura changing, a pulse of Refined-density power rippled outward, reflecting off the edges of her aura anding back toward her.


    Rane jumped slightly at the burst of power, but Lerra simply regarded her silently.


    The second time T tried, she focused on the <em>idea</em> of only exercising a Refined-level of magic within her aura.


    The color seemed to flicker slightly under her mental and willful influence, but it wouldn¡¯t actually switch over, and T felt a headacheing on.


    <em>-I think that you¡¯re very close. Remember, she said it¡¯s a use of authority. What if you forbid any magics stronger than Refined within your aura?-</em>


    T blinked a few times. <em>Would that work?</em>


    t didn¡¯t respond, understanding that the question was intended for the processing rather than a genuine inquiry.


    With nothing to lose, T enforced her will¡ªher authority¡ªon her aura.


    And then, it clicked.


    Her <em>restraint</em> was one of the most profound ways to exercise authority.


    Being <em>able</em> to do something and choosing not to was <em>far</em> more powerful than simply doing that thing.


    <em>Water doesn¡¯t have true authority as it sweeps away buildings in a flood, even though it acts with power. Choice, my soul, my action or volitional inaction is the basis of my authority.</em>


    She was not a flood.


    She was controlled, and right now, she wanted to be controlled to the level of a Refined.


    Her aura was suddenly true, pure yellow, as if it had never been anything more.


    <em>And that¡¯s what Anatalis did. Heyered his authority over his aura as restraint, adding that in order to reduce his own power.</em> She shuddered. That meant that if anyone broke his authority when he was in such a state, he would actually be more powerful as a result. Such an attack would result in his restraint being thrown off and his true advancement being exposed, unconstrained.


    Rane grinned widely, kissing the top of her head and pulling her out of her internal contemtions. ¡°Hey! Wonderfully done.¡±


    T smiled, exining what she¡¯d done and her reasoning behind it.


    Lerra grunted. ¡°I suppose that works.¡±


    Rane, with T¡¯s more human perspective, was able to duplicate her sess after only a couple of attempts of his own.


    At that point, Lerra had a few thoughts for them. ¡°Good, now you have done the bare minimum. I suggest that you work toward maintaining that result though myriad situations, both stressful and mundane. Once you have aplished that, you have two approaches. First, you can learn to be more subtle in your disyed advancement, choosing a midpoint between levels of advancement to disy, making it all but impossible to tell that you are even hiding anything. Second, you could leave your apparent advancement as a ¡®perfect¡¯ stage¡ªwhich essentially no one ever actually has¡ªmaking it obvious to anyone looking that your advancement is not as it appears.¡±


    T narrowed her eyes, instantly thinking of Mistress Holly¡¯s perfectly yellow aura. <em>I knew it.</em>


    <em>-Yeah, you and everyone else. Based on what Lerra just said, that is sort of the point.-</em>


    <em>Yeah, she¡¯s essentially saying, ¡®I¡¯m stronger than this. Don¡¯t test me.¡¯</em>


    <em>-That does sound like Mistress Holly. It skips all the other, irritating steps of otherwise standard interactions.-</em>


    <em>Indeed.</em>


    Regardless, it would be a struggle to be able to maintain this control¡ªthis level of authority¡ªover their respective auras at all times.


    So, they got to practicing.


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